A Fallen Hero?
This story takes place during Passage and explores the relationship between Stevie and Henry. It ends up AU as there were bits of the episode at the end that I didn't like. From reading other stories I understand that some of you are not fans of Stevie, but given some of the other comments in the series about her relationship with Henry I figured that thinking he was having an affair would be destroying her, and that is where this story starts. It's a two-parter so here is part one. Enjoy.
He was her childhood hero, the one person who could do no wrong. She remembered having an amazing time with him. Her mom was working with the CIA and with him going back to Divinity School it had often just been the two of them. She would go to the college crèche hwhile he was in classes and then they would do whatever they wanted. She had memories of trips to the park, the zoo, the library, and various museums. They'd had a blast, especially at the Air and Space Museum when her Dad showed her all the cool planes that he had loved to see as a child. He had been out of the Marines by the time she had been born but she could remember seeing the joy in his face as they walked around the museum when she was about 4. It was a big place and she got tired so without any effort he picked her up, sat her on his shoulders and she saw the rest of the museum from that vantage point, and she had loved it.
Even after Allison came along it was often just her and her Dad, she didn't mind it was brilliant. As she grew up she realised that many of her friends didn't have such a great relationship with their fathers and she was so grateful for hers. They didn't always see eye to eye and sure she did often play her Dad off against her Mom but she thought her Dad was the best in the world.
Or, she did. She did, before she saw him in the café with that woman. It wasn't unusual for him to be out with other people and when she sent the first text message she had assumed he would look up, wave at her and everything would be fine. She would head to her work and ask him about it later. But her Dad had a look on his face that she had never seen before, one of guilt. She hadn't thought anything of him not going to India, she had been around for all 8 of his books and he did get completely lost in what he was researching, but this look was different. He wasn't guilty at being discovered out of his office, this looked relationship guilty as if he was worried at being discovered with the woman. On first seeing them she had wondered at how closely they were sitting; the woman hanging on his every word, it appeared, and him staring at her in a way that she had seen him looking at her Mom.
When he had come over there had been something in his manner that had set her senses crazy. He often used big words when discussing his theories but this was just plain weird. He talked about being incredibly rude to the woman which just didn't ring true. Surely before he had left her he had said who she was, why someone would believe he was being rude for leaving for a minute to see his daughter, unless there was something else going on. She wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, she didn't look back at him when she left but the whole time she had a really nasty feeling, he was keeping something from her and she had never felt that way before.
For the rest of her day at work all she wanted was to forget that look in his eyes when he had seen her across the road, and no matter how busy she was it was that look that she kept seeing. Her Dad couldn't be having an affair, could he? No, it was crazy, her Mom and Dad loved each other. Sure this job of her Mom's had brought some chaos into their lives and it felt a little like when she worked for the CIA and couldn't tell them about her work but they loved each other, right? She went through her day doing her duties but the question kept nagging at her. She got off at 11 and made her way home, maybe if her Dad was there she could talk to him, get him to discuss his book and why he needed this 'grad student'. But her Dad was not there when she got home, not in his office, not watching T.V, she even checked her parent's room and the bed was not slept in. She tried not to panic, no-one would be stupid enough to continue an affair when they had been spotted that day, he had to be working. She had slept fitfully until 2 and then heard her Dad come in, she kept still in her bed when he opened her door a little and she could see the light behind her eyelids from the corridor. When he closed the door she took a deep breath, he had been at the archives, she shouldn't have worried. She slept better for the rest of the night but things got weird again over breakfast. She'd asked the name of the student and he had paused, not a big one, but enough to get her wondering again, the peace of the night wiped out.
She had decided at that point to do a little checking for herself. He had told her Mom that he would be at the archives the whole time so when he got up to leave she asked if that was where he would be and he had made a joke about being covered in dust from 400 years ago. She hadn't pushed, just nodded, told him to have a good day and let him leave. She figured if there was nothing wrong then he wouldn't mind her popping to the archives and rescuing him for lunch so she showered, got her stuff together, glad that she had the day off and headed for the archives where she knew her father would be.
Only, he wasn't. He hadn't been there for weeks. The old lady behind the desk seemed to know her father well, even knew the family from anecdotes given by her father. The woman had known her name when she had asked where Dr McCord would be. She knew that her Mom was in India, said she had seen on the news that she had taken her brother and sister with her. Stevie had simply stared at the woman who had no idea that in this one conversation she had helped to destroy her childhood hero. The woman eventually was a little concerned, wondering if Stevie was ill or needed some water. Stevie had backed away from the desk apologising for bothering the woman and had quickly emerged from the dark reception to the bright sunshine totally at a loss of what to do now. She had a free day but couldn't bear the thought of seeing her Dad that day so she couldn't go home. He was having an affair, he had told her Mom that he needed to work and he wasn't, he was out with 'her' and the thought devastated Stevie.
She walked aimlessly for a while, grabbed some food but couldn't really eat any of it. She thought about calling her Mom but what with the time difference and the fact that her Mom was working she didn't think it was the right thing to do. She suddenly realised something that she hadn't before, she was alone, totally and completely alone. She had no friends to talk to, no-one to confide in, all her friendships had ended when she left college and most of the people at work didn't know who her mother was and those that did would love a bit of gossip about the Secretary of State. She was cold, tired and at this point she needed a drink. She had obviously drank before, with her parents and without them. She liked cocktails, mainly because they tasted nice, she needed a Long island. She had a fake I.D. from one of the geeks at college who had made one for all of her friendship group. It simply put her birthday back a year, nothing too obvious although she had changed her surname on it once her Mom had got the job in D.C. She walked into a bar near her Mom's work, perhaps seeking the closeness to her mom that it gave her which she was missing in real life.
The first drink had been just what she needed, it took away her pain. But then she was watching the T.V. behind the bar and her Mom was on, she had been at some chemical plant making a speech and Stevie broke down again, she was going to have to break her Mom's heart. All her life her Mom had told her that her Dad was like her own Prince Charming, they fought as other couples did but he was her life. Oh God, this was going to destroy her. And suddenly she needed not one drink but many, she needed to get drunk and forget any of this was happening. So she did.
Of all the people to bump in to it had to be someone who worked for her Mom. Daisy was nice, however her entire plan was to make Stevie sober and that wasn't good but because, for the first time that day, she had someone to talk to she let her feed her coffee and a sandwich. It was all going so well, Daisy didn't ask anything while they drank coffee or when she ordered the food but then she asked the question, why? Why was she getting drunk in a bar?
Because he is a cheater. She actually voiced it, she voiced the thing that was going to break her Mom's heart, her family, her cherished relationship with her dad. It wasn't a boy that done this to her, it was her Dad that was doing it to her Mom and that knowledge was destroying her.
Daisy put her in a taxi, paid the fare before they left and called the detail at the house to ensure that she got home, leaving out the drunk bit, fortunately. She had arrived home to her father waiting for her. There had been an earthquake and her Mom and siblings had been caught up in it. She had been worried, very worried but her Dad had assured her that they were all ok and in fact her siblings were already booked in for a flight to come home. Stevie was quiet but did ask where he had been at lunch, why he had not been at the archives. He had told her that it was not the time and stormed off. This more than anything confirmed her suspicions of the affair. She went to her room and turned on the T.V, it was all about the earthquake and she spent a restless night combining watching her Mom doing her job in India and then dreaming of her father staring at a new woman across a café table with the old archives lady placating her as she watched in horror at her father kissing the woman the way he kissed her mother.
_MS_
AN: So I hope I did the episode justice. At this point it is running totally cannon to the episode but will diverge in chapter 2. Thanks for reading.