For the Sake of…Sanity
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Red Eye!
Summary: Jackson and Lisa reflect on each other. Part One: Jackson Rippner reflects on what could have been, had he been a different man. He knows that he could never have had Lisa Reisert, yet he can't stop thinking about her. Part Two: Lisa Reisert is surprised at her feelings when she is hit with news about Jackson.
Part One: Logic
Beep…Beep…
The machines surrounding him often interrupted his confused thoughts. It annoyed Jackson Rippner to no end, but he knew that the machines were to help him recover. If he were not so weak, he would have already removed himself from the annoying monitoring machines and smashed them into smithereens.
He smirked at the thought.
He would get his revenge against the infernal machines one of these days. It would be the only revenge that he would be getting. He had originally planned to get revenge upon the person responsible for his incapacitated condition. Lisa Reisert, the victim-turned-assailant, haunted his mind whether he was asleep or awake.
Jackson had eventually realized after plotting revenge after hare-brained revenge, that none of his plans would help him. He was infected with love for Lisa. He had always been attracted to her, which had invariably made his job ten-times harder. The hardest part was knowing that he had blown his one chance with her.
After what he had done to her, there was no way that she would stand to be around him. Not that he could blame her. He had, after all was said and done, threatened to kill her beloved father and nearly killed her in his blind rage. All over a stupid job that he had never wanted to take! When he lost his grip on his male-driven, fact-based logic, he lost Lisa for good. Any feelings that she might have reciprocated were gone forever once he snapped.
Yet, sorrow had filled her green eyes as he lay dying on the floor, thanks to the combined effort of her and her father. She could have kept going and shot him again…and again…to kill him. But she stopped and by doing so, gave him a few extra hours of life in which to think about her.
The punishment for failure in his line of work was death. Jackson would soon be dead and there was no sense in fighting the inevitable. There was nothing anyone could do about it.
Lisa had stopped him from hurting anyone else ever again. She had found his fatal flaw and used it against him. His feelings had turned against him and he let her get away.
He let her get away because he loved her. That's what that feeling was.
It was not your ordinary kind of love. No, this was obsessive, possessive love. Lisa was his, and no one else deserved her. She was his equal—she had proven it in their fight and on the plane. She was the first to defy him and to win. Not just win the deadly game she was playing, but to win the stone-cold, emotionless manager's heart.
By the time that the hit man came in to finish the job that Lisa had started, Jackson was ready to let go. He was ready to die and be alone with his thoughts as to what have might have been, but never would be.
Jackson would never be able to change, and he could have never been a different man. The life he led allowed for no regrets. He loved Lisa, but it did not change matters. He was an assassination manager, condemned to pay for his mistake, and she was the strong-willed, unwillingly victim of his scheme.
Happily ever after would never have been possible. Neither of them would have wanted it. Their relationship would not have been perfect—volatile would be a more appropriate word—and it would not have lasted. They were simply too different.
Even if he had not been a manager, they could never have been together.
Despite this knowledge, Jackson Rippner died with a smile upon his face. Peace had finally come, thanks to the woman with a field hockey stick.
Author's Notes:
These are just two related one-shots that I came up with. They are short little pieces, but hopefully reflect the strange attraction that is JacksonLisa. The way I see it, Jackson always liked her, but he knew that she would never be his. She likes him too, but his actions change everything. Enjoy!