AN ~ Ok, so before I go further with this, I just want to point out that I sat writing this on my dad's computer on the boat out of boredom. Well… not necessarily boredom, but I had a muse and I ran with it. However… I don't know whether or not to keep this going. How to… or whether it's even worth it. I have NO storyline idea for this whatsoever. In the bottom line because I know Mag's upset, but I also feel awful for Nathan. Should Nathan comfort Mag? Mag comfort Nathan? You tell me. I feel badly for both of them. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE R&R! It will be greatly appreciated. Any kind of constructive criticism will be greatly appreciated as well, compliments, whatever. Who knows, you guys could help turn this into something great. Any ideas? Email me. . I'm literally open for any ideas.
Nathan Wallace sat with his head in his hands, gripping the sides of his greying hair as inner turmoil began once more, tormenting every ounce of his well being. The Monster was fighting to take control, and Nathan, slowly hating what he was becoming, seemed helpless against it.
Coward.
"No--" Nathan's fist struck the side of the wall behind him.
It's your job. She's betrayed the company. Take her down.
"She was Marni's best friend--!" Nathan whirled around, finding himself staring at his reflection in the mirror. Staring back at him wasn't the Nathan he knew. A sinister reflection of him stared back, criticising, belittling, taunting. Nathan yanked his glasses off his face, his chest heaving as his heart pounded in his ribcage.
Oh, boo-fucking-hoo. She's a traitor to GeneCo. She's up for repossession, goyge the eyeballs out of her skull.
"Marni's eyes?" Nathan protested. "I can't... I can't do this job."
Yes
you can, and you will. You're GeneCo's top Repo Man. We both are. I'm
doing this whether you like it or not." "I CAN'T."
"Dad?" Nathan froze, hearing Shilo's voice. His seventeen year old daughter was peeking out at the top of the stairs.
"Shilo--" Nathan began, trying to catch his breath. "What are you doing out of your room, precious?"
"You forgot to lock the door," Shilo said softly, taking a step down the stairs. "Dad, are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, Shi. Go back to bed," Nathan responded. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, Dad--"
"--Stomach aches?"
"No, Dad, really, I'm fine--"
"Nausea? Headaches? Are you sure--?"
"Dad, I'm fine." Shilo insisted.
"Did you take your medicine?"
"Yes, Dad."
"Alright, then go up to bed, sweetheart, I'll go up and check on you in a minute," He said.
Shilo shuffled upstairs. And Nathan waited until he was sure she was back upstairs and he was out of earshot. He lifted his wrist communicator, dialing a number.
Now calling Magdalene DeFoe.
Nathan waited a moment before he heard the velvet, liquid soft voice answer the call. "Hello?"
"Mag," Nathan responded with almost a sigh of relief. He heard a pause on the other end before he heard the voice again.
"Nathan," Mag responded. "I have to say, you're the last person I expected to hear from."
"I know, I'm sorry for phoning this late." Nathan responded, sitting down on the couch, taking off his glasses and squeezed the bridge of his nose.
"No, no, its quite alright." Mag assured him. "Is everything alright?"
"Yes--well--no," Nathan responded. "Kind of. Listen, can we meet? There arw some things I want to talk to you about."
"Seventeen years and suddenly you... wow," Mag commented. "Well, of course. You know I'd love to see you. Tonight?"
"If that's possible," Nathan said. He heard Mag exhale over the phone, seeming as though she were doing something in the process.
"Well, I just got home, so I have nothing planned," Mag said. "Why don't you come over?"
Go over to Mag's house? Nathan couldn't remember being there since Marni was alive. The idea caused his stomach to flip in the slightest, but he knew he had to do it. Plus a part of him really wanted to see Mag. He glanced over his shoulder at the clock. It was almost eleven. He'd check on Shilo, put her to bed, then head over to Mag's. "Alright, I'll be there in about half an hour?"
"Sounds good. I'll see you when you get here." Mag answered. Nathan hung up with Mag and headed upstairs to where he went to the master bedroom and changed into a dark grey button up shirt and black dress pants. He poked his head in Shilo's room, seeing his daughter seemingly asleep in bed.
"Shi?" He said quietly. No answer. Reluctantly, he left the room, locking her door behind him. He couldn't risk her going out of the house. Not with her blood disease. There was too much of a risk, and Nathan knew he couldn't bear to lose her.
He left the house and headed toward Mag's in his car. He pulled up to the manor ad parked the car, getting out and walked up to the door. He knocked on it, and held his breath as someone answered it.
There she stood. The face he had seen on so many screens, posters and billboards. Blind Mag stood in the entrance of the door, those unsettling genetic eyes staring back at him as she opened it, seeing him standing at the door.
"Nathan," She said softly, moving to embrace him. Nathan froze for a moment, the feeling of someone with their arms around him almost alien to him for a moment, but it was Mag. Familiar, safe, reassuring Mag who he had always known. And it was a strange but comforting feeling being hugged again, after so many years of being alone, and not quite knowing how to show affection to his own daughter. With his arms moving around Mag, he returned the embrace.
"How are you, Maggie?" He asked softly, feeling something different in Mag's body when he used the nickname Marni, and occasionally he, had always used.
"I've been alright," Mag responded, not quite ready to let go of him just yet. For that matter, Nathan wasn't ready for her to let go, either. "Its been awhile since someone's called me that."
"It's you." Nathan responded as Mag finally did let go, feeling the phantom warmth of her body in his arms still lingering even after she wasn't. Mag motioned him in and Nathan accepted, closing the door behind him.
"Not as many people seem to see me nowadays," Mag said quietly. "All they see is Blind Mag, and the face on every billboard in Sanitarium Island, and the voice they hear for GeneCo."
"You're far more than a face and a voice, Mag," Nathan assured her softly. Mqg nodded slowly, but didn't really say anything. As she turned, Nathan's eyes fell on her. Even without makeup, with her hair partially pinned back but falling to her lower back in loose ringlet curls, she was as gorgeous as always. Slender with fair skin and dark hair, Mag was always a head turner. The fact that GeneCo had hired her as the image couldn't have been a better move. But Nathan knew how Mag felt. It wasn't easy feeling like nothing more than an item half your life.
"Sit down, make yourself at home," Mag offered. "You're practically family."
That sentance stung, only because Nathan had alienated Mag since Marni's death, probably when he needed her most, and when she needed him, he was an idiot. He felt like on, but he nodded in response, taking a seat.
"Do you want something to drink?" Mag offered. "I have scotch."
"How does Rotti feel about the Voice of GeneCo consuming alcohol?" Nathan asked, his voice mildly teasing. Mag caught it. He knew she did. She was very quick with playful remarks and wit. He always felt as though he could safely joke with her and she would never take it too seriously. Also, Nathan knew that alcohol wasn't exactly the greatest for a singer's voice.
"He's not happy with it." Mag mused, shaking her head, taking the initiative and set out two glasses, filling them with ice and pouring the contents of a large, expensive looking bottle, a small amount, into each glass at the bar, screwing the cap back on and set it on the countertop of the bar, bringing both glasses to the living room where she sat beside Nathan, handing him one glass which he gratefully took. "But, there's not much he can do about it."
"I figured," Nathan said with a light chuckle, glancing her way, nodding in thanks for the drink.
"What about you, Nathan?" Mag asked, crossing one elegant leg over the other. "How've you been? You said there was something you wanted to speak to me about?"
Nathan took a sip from the glass, consuming a bit more than he had originally planned at the idea. Concealing a grimace as the liquor seared down his throat, leaving an actually enjoyable warmth in its wake down Nathan's throat and into his stomach. It wouldn't be long before the drink would take some of the edge off. But for the time being, when it came to the courage to tell Mag what he was about to in a little while, he was on his own. He set his glass down in his hands, staring forward, feeling Mag's eyes on him, unable to face them just yet.
"I heard you're retiring." He said. He chose not to answer the first question of how he was doing. The truth wasn't a positive one. Nathan was just barely hanging on.
"I am," Mag responded.
"Mag, let me cover the cost of your eyes," Nathan said.
"I can't ask you to do that, Nathan."
"You're not asking. I want to."
"Absolutely not." Mag said softly. "You know me, you know I could never let you do that."
"Mag, you know what they'll do to you if you retire." Nathan said. "You'd be off contract. You'd be marked for repossession. Mag, you were Marni's best friend and you're a dear friend of mine. I can't let that happen."
"Nathan, I have heard nothing from you for seventeen years." Mag said. Her voice was still gentle, graceful, elegant, and caring even when Nathan felt the last thing he deserved was her care. "I love you dearly as one of my close friends, but how can I be a friend to you if you shut me out for the past decade. ...And then some since Marni's death?"
"I know, I'm sorry for that," Nathan lowered his gaze. "I didn't know how else to handle it. I felt guilty, like I was to blame for it. But regardless, that's not the point. The point is, they will send a repo man after you if you retire."
"Nathan, I'm willing to accept that." Mag said. "I've made my peace, I don't hold any grudges. I'm willing to embrace my fate, whether Rotti wants me repossessed or not."
"Mag, you're worth more than that. You have far too much talent for Rotti to just throw it away," Nathan insisted, looking up. Mag's eyes were fixed on his, which Nathan almost found unnerving.
"What happened, Nathan?" Mag asked. "What could have been so horrible aside from Marni's death that you had to shut everyone who would have been there for you out of your life?"
"Mag, if only you knew what really happened," Nathan said, shaking his head, then realised what he was still trying to hid was exactly what he had come to tell Mag in the first place.
"How can I know if you don't tell me?" Mag asked, turning more toward Nathan as she searched his face. "Nathan, I lost her, too. Out of everyone, I would know exactly what you're going through."
Nathan remained quiet, his shoulders hunched for a moment as he set his glass on the coffee table, taking off his glasses as he rubbed his eyes with a heavy sigh with bot his thumb and index finger of one hand. Mag set her own glass down and moved closer to him, and felt her gentle hand on his back.
"Nathan," She said softly. "Its alright. Talk to me. I'm not going to accuse you of anything, judge you, any of that. You know me better than that."
Nathan lifted his head, searching the room as he searched for the right words, fighting the lump that rose in his throat at the mere thought of what he was about to relive.
"Mag, I killed her," He murmured softly, trying to keep hs voice steady. He felt Mag's hand moving gently up and down his back. "I thought I had a cure for her illness, and it killed her."
He dropped his head into one hand with an elbow on his knee with an almost wavering exhale. He was too close to becoming emotional for his own comfort. Mag shook her head.
"Nathan, that wasn't your fault. You tried to save her. I know you had her best interest at heart. Things happen, horrible things, you aren't to blame." She murmured. Nathan heard Mag's voice sounding as though it was cracking in the slightest. He knew this was a hard topic for them both to relive. Nathan shook his head.
"There's... there's more to it." Nathan said. "I told you Shilo died with her.
Mag's hand stopped on his back and he knew that it was already registering in her mind.
"No... Nathan, please don't... " Mag muttered, shaking her head. "Please don't tell me what I think you're going to... "
Nathan's breath left him in a quick sound that almost sounded like a dry sob, shaking his head. "No... no, Mag, please, just listen." He pleaded. "Before Marni... before she died, she begged me to save Shilo. Here she was... dying in my arms, there was nothing I could have done, and Shilo was slowly slipping. I had to do something--I just had to, and--and I took her down to the basement where a lot of my things are, and I had to do a cesarean on her... God, Mag, it killed me, it absolutely killed me--her blood was on my hands, but Shilo... our daughter... she was alive when I pulled her out."
Tears blinded Nathan's vision as he looked over at Mag, feeling her hand leave his back. He saw Mag staring forward, her hand covering her mouth. Shock, devastation and complete bewilderment were clear across her face. Nathan immediately moved toward her.
"Mag, please forgive me," He pleaded, his voice hitched. "When the police showed up, Rotti made an agreement with me. I had to, otherwise Shilo would have been taken from me. I was charged with murder, Mag, and Rotti cleared it under a condition. I can't... I wish I could tell you, but I just can't... I would have lost everything, Mag. I had just lost Marni, I couldn't lose Shilo, too. And I couldn't tell anyone."
"Nathan, all these years... I was Shilo's godmother, I promised her I'd be present in Shilo"s life, you robbed me of that..." Mag's voice broke, shaking her head and Nathan watched with his heart feeling as though it was being ripped in two as tears started streaming down Mag's face. Especially when she looked in his direction. Nathan hadn't had the nerve to look her in the eye when he was speaking to her, but she wasn't afraid to.
"Mag, I couldn't tell you, I just couldn't," Nathan's voice was broken itself, completely distraught by the going ons, by seeing Mag so upset. Mag was never one to get upset. She was alwyas so composed, so graceful. Nathan knew one woukd have had to do a hell of a lot to hrut Mag after everything she'd been through and he had done exactly that unintentionally. Although he knew knowing Shilo was alive was going to break Mag's heart, but he felt she had the right to know. "Rotti held too much at stake, he would have done everything he could."