Part Two in the "Reflections" Series
Short Story Based on the WB TV Series "Tarzan"
~*~
Disclaimer: Don't own any of it… not the characters, or the series in any form… I am making no profit off of this, or ANY of my other fanfics… I'm writing it purely for my own enjoyment, and hopefully for the enjoyment of some of the fellow fans.
Distribution: If you want it, you can have it… just drop me a line and tell me where it is going… ;)
~*~
Author's Note – This is the second part in an on-going series of mine, and is the sequel to "I'm With You"… Although all of these stories CAN be read as stand-alone pieces, I do hope that you will take the time and read all of them in order, if you have not done so already… This story is noticeably shorter than the first one, but nonetheless one that I hope you will enjoy!
Welcome To My World… and Watch Your Step…
~*~
Summary – "Sometimes the lie tells more than the truth…" ~ From Michael's point of view, right before he died in the second episode "Secrets and Lies"… Part Two of the "Reflections" series ~
~*~
"Lies"
Sometimes the lie tells more than the truth, he thought back ironically. He had had no idea at the time that he had spoken those fateful words to Richard Clayton, just how true they would prove to become.
Standing there, muscles clenching from adrenaline and body soaked with sweat, he watched in agony and a heavy sense of betrayal and heartache as Jane placed herself between him and John. Stopping him from rushing the young Greystoke heir, telling him that if he wanted to hit someone, that he should hit her, because she as the one who had hurt him. She was the one who had lied.
As if that even needed to be said. She was right. Michael felt like he had been lashing out at everyone around him because of the way he had felt her pulling away from him. Taking it out on those who were innocent of any wrong doing that he could hold responsible for what he was feeling.
But John Clayton wasn't innocent… he was the one that was responsible for this rift that had formed between Jane and him. He was the one pulling her away from him more and more with every night that had gone by since his appearance in her life, until Michael hadn't even been able to recognize the woman standing right in front him. And this knowledge had filled him with a sense of personal justification for what he had been planning now for the last couple of days.
He had noticed the changes beginning when he had taken her out for a night of fine food and slow dancing, and it had only escalated from that point on. No matter what he had done, no matter what he had tried, he couldn't seem to break through the walls that were inexplicably being built higher and higher around the woman he had wanted to spend the rest of his life with. He hadn't been able to pull her out of whatever damn, hypnotizing spell that for some reason John Clayton was capable of casting about her.
Which had led him to this night. To this point… And to the only way that he had left to fight.
And he had used it. Pouring all of the anger and betrayal, the hurt and the confusion, into his assault on the one who was responsible for taking her away from him. There had been no trace of a cop… no sense of right or wrong in his mind at the time. Only the need to take down and destroy in whatever way he could the threat presented to his claim on the woman that he loved.
He had wanted John to give him a reason to kill him. Had wanted John to hurt… Had wanted him to feel just a small fraction of what he had unknowingly made Michael feel.
Once upon a time, before all of this, Michael had believed he had it all. So it was unthinkable that he would be willing to throw all of that away, just to have Jane look at him once… the way that she looked at him.
He remembered the first time he had seen Jane… the first time he had heard her laugh, seen her smile. The first time that he had taken her out on a date, and kissed her mouth… touched her skin.
He remembered the day that he realized just how much he had fallen in love with her. How his world seemed complete, now that she was in it.
They were perfect for one another. Both striving for the same goals in life, or so he had thought.
Lies. They could be such little, simple things. There wasn't a human on the planet that hadn't one time or another taken advantage of them. And some of the time, they were harmless. Little white lies usually uttered under the guise of not wishing to hurt or anger another, but were almost always nothing more than an attempt at self-preservation.
But other times… they could split your entire world wide open. Killing everything that you had ever hoped or dreamed or prayed for. Exposing your vulnerabilities, and violating your very soul. Making you feel weak, defenseless, and spinning out of control.
And for someone like him, it was an unacceptable outcome.
So what had gone wrong? Why had that changed?
Whichever way he tried to explain it, it always came back to this… he had known from the very first night that John had escaped from his uncle, that he had begun to lose her. Despite his attempt to believe otherwise.
He had a talent for reading people, for seeing inside their heads. It's why he was so good at his profession. He had known from the first time he had seen that faraway look in her eyes that Jane was slipping away from him… And he had known from that inevitable encounter between himself and John on one of the upper floors of the police station that John was the reason why.
It had made him nervous. Made him think that maybe there was something that she needed, but wasn't getting from him. Made him stop and think things through. Made him realize what he was and wasn't willing to give up or let go. Made him realize that maybe waiting to ask Jane to marry him, for being comfortable with where they were at, for taking their relationship for granted, believing that they had all the time in the world to start their life together, and not wanting to rush into anything, was a very bad idea. Which had then sparked off an insane notion that if he could get a promising response out of her, then maybe… just maybe he could hold on to her. Keep from losing her altogether.
But whether he was willing to see it or not – or whether she was willing to admit it or not – it was too late. She was already gone. It was already over. He knew it, even if she didn't.
And there was a part of him that found it incredibly ironic that that little bit of knowledge had made him want to become every bit the savage that he believed John Clayton – a man that he had come to despise above all others with such an overriding instinctual hatred – to be. Maybe even a little bit worse.
But that rage masked an even greater irony… a heart that he had always believed to be strong enough to withstand anything that ever came its way, was now shattering into a million pieces as he watched her leave him and go to him… the way she touched him in concern, and the way he, in response, reached out to caress her cheek in reassurance and possessiveness. The way his cold silvery blue eyes turned from being intensely primal and challenging in their un-blinking stare on Michael, to an overwhelmingly warm tenderness as he looked at Jane. A look of stark desire and need reflecting there openly.
Seeing that look on John's face, made Michael want to lash out in blind hatred. Made him want to rend and tear Clayton from limb to limb.
But it was the responding look in Jane's gaze as she reached up and placed her hand over his, that made him want to lift his head to night sky and scream out in agony.
The woman that had claimed to love him all along, the one that he had wanted to marry and spend the rest of his life with, had completely forgotten that he was even standing there, as he watched a transformation come into those beloved eyes. He saw something there that was rare and extraordinary and achingly beautiful. Like what she was looking at just wasn't a potential love interest, but an intimate part of her soul…
It was a look that she had never given him.
Feeling that knife twist even further into his gut, he reacted. He didn't even think things through as he did it… he just wanted to find some way to make the pain stop. Somewhere to pour all of that blinding hatred and agony so he wouldn't have to feel it anymore. Destroy the memory of that look, which now seemed to be burnt heavily upon his memory like an excruciating brand.
But most importantly, rip away the one that she had given it to.
He lunged. Hitting John unexpectedly, violently tearing him away from Jane, and hearing with a sense of basic satisfaction as the breath was knocked painfully from his body as Michael's shoulder rammed into his solar plexus.
In retaliation, his hands came down on Michael's arms with a strength that threatened to crush muscles and tendons as he took the brunt of the momentum of Michael's attack. Taking them both into a roll away from the woman that they both loved… and unknowingly right off the concrete top of the parking garage's roof into open space, as some twist of fate had Michael being the one who was flung out into the cold night air instead of vice versa…
The sound of Jane's screams echoing harshly in his ears all the while…
~*~*~*~*~*~
Okay… that's it. I was uncomfortable with the idea of going back through the scenes following the fall over the ledge, and seeing as how that I will be doing just that in sort of a flashback from Jane's (and possibly Tarzan's) point of view in the next story, I figured that it wasn't necessary to keep going any further than I did with this one. I know that its short in comparison to "I'm With You" but it was supposed to be. I just wanted to create a little bit from Michael's perspective while he was up on that rooftop… From the moment that I had seen the way he looked at Jane with eyes so full of agony when she had stopped him from further attacking John, I knew I had to do this one before I could move on to the next story. What can I say… tortured men do it for me. (shrugging)
So hopefully you enjoyed it, and even though it isn't of the same caliber as the first story in this series is, I still hope you will still take the time and review and let me know what you thought!! Thanks!