Title: Control of life
Author: Loz
E-Mail: loz06@yahoo.com
Rating: PG 13/R
Category: Leo/Margaret
Series: Stand-alone
Spoilers: Dead Irish Writers and possibly other minor.
Archive (if applicable): The National Library http://westwingstories.com/library
Feedback: But especially this time, sympathy feedback because this story follows Two in Twenty Million and IMHO has a lot to live up to.
Summary: Domestic violence is about control and she who doesn't have control usually comes out second best.
Disclaimers: As always I make no claim to the recognizable characters in this story who feature weekly on the West Wing. I get the gargling, dribbling, vomiting baby but she is cute! :0)
Disclaimers of another type: I haven't read Jayne or Natalie's interpretation of Sam Jack's challenge (No offence guys, you're top priority once I finish writing) my point being any similarities between mine and the other lovely ladies stories are purely coincidental.
Author's Notes: I reluctantly took this on with some gentle encouragement and desperation on my part due to having no other ideas. I don't really like the topic much, it's a bit to close to home with a good friend of mines mother going through the same thing.
I confess to not doing as much research on this one, however what I did notice was that most of my searches returned male instigated domestic violence and a scattering of gay relationships. I'm sure there are cases of female instigated violence, I just couldn't picture Margaret going there unless she was really pushed as you'll find out.
Behind the title: Yes I finally got around to seeing what all the fuss was/is about, Russell Crowe, Meg Ryan - Proof of life, thus Control of life. I liked the movie, 'nuf said.
Rating dilemma: Immediately I want to rush out and slap an NC-17 on this one (Some ratings classifier I'd make) so I wandered into a web page on Enough with Jennifer Lopez, knowing it was based on a similar thing to find it was rated PG13. I've seen the previews and figured my disjointed descriptions couldn't be any worse than Jennifer Lopez getting hit by mild mannered Rick Sammler (Billy Campbell - O&A) and then coming after him sporting all sorts of Eastern defense kicks, guns and knives. You may disagree with my rating, but there has to be children out there, younger than thirteen who are exposed to this sort of violence as opposed to the James Bond fantasy style, everyday without the protection of a guideline rating.
*
"Every now and then beautiful angels appear cleverly disguised as ordinary human beings."
Adele Basheer
______________
Margaret doesn't hear the almighty crack as the rolling pin connects with her upper arm, the pain crippling and blinding her to the spinning world around her.
"I said I didn't want fish tonight." NASA's head of analysis of the first phase of the aerospace program roars.
"I'm sorry." Margaret trembles, holding back her tears. Her words are lost as the rolling pin cracks again this time across her shin where she'd crumbled from the pain in her arm.
"God dammit." Andrew Prior yells, upturning the table and the two salmon meals Margaret had prepared in the half hour before he had arrived home, the vegetables scatter over the floor, the good china she'd put out to impress, crashing into dozens of pieces. They'd been an eighteenth present from her mother and until now had been in tact, it was enough to break Margaret.
"Don't you cry." He continues with distain, bringing the rolling pin down onto her hip this time.
"I'm sorry." Margaret begs, her eyes never leaving the wooden rolling pin, her daughter's cries saving her from another beating.
"Jesus." Andrew swears dropping the kitchen item and moving for the stairs.
"Don't I'll go." Margaret pleads wobbling to a standing position after him. Upstairs she can hear Andrew yelling for her six month old daughter to shut up.
Around the door she watches her baby daughter being shaken in an attempt to stop her crying.
"Andrew don't!" Margaret cries, reaching for her daughter who is passed over to her without hesitation.
"I'm going out, you'd better be here when I'm back." He says gruffly. Margaret stands, soothing her daughter as she listens to him stomp down the stairs and slam the front door.
In the bathroom she surveys herself in the mirror, Andrew's smart he only ever hits her in places that can be covered by long sleeves and pants, the only distress ever on her face is tearstains and red blotches.
Clutching her daughter for dear life she uncovers her diary, hidden in the depths of the dirty laundry basket. Nursing her upset daughter on her knee she records the events of the night against the days date along with all the other insults and demeaning comments, the pushes, shoves, face-to-face tirades over the past months. The times he'd smashed things in anger and then made her clean them up. The intimidating words which had escalated to physical punishment, the beatings, kicks, slaps, punches and objects that had been thrown at her.
Like all the other nights she takes a sleeping pill before going to bed, so she won't be awake when he comes home less he thinks she's checking up on him. Like so many other nights she slept in Alyson's room.
*
"Margaret, when's he asking you to marry him." Ginger exclaims pulling back from the roses that had been delivered to her desk.
Quickly Margaret grabs the card and stuffs it in her pocket, she knows what they're for... she doesn't want anyone else to.
They know the funny, warm and caring Andrew who had come to the White House to update Leo on the latest projects at NASA. He'd stopped by three times and charmed her with his jokes, his questions about her job and his conversations about her daughter. The other assistants knew about the romantic Andrew who took her out on dates, who wasn't phased by the fact Margaret was heavily pregnant and abandoned by her babies father. They were amazed by his generosity at offering to have Margaret move in when she was struggling on her own.
Slowly he had broken away her hesitancy after having been burnt once, and slowly she had let him into her life.
Margaret remembers the times when he was really nice and he'd take her to the movies and then the way it disintegrated. She'd only have to say something he didn't like or get stuck in a traffic jam and he'd go off. Margaret believed him when he told her work was stressful with a new top-secret project.
Slowly however he cut her off, demanding she come straight home after work, calling numerous times during the day to check on her, to the point where Margaret was afraid to venture down to the mess for lunch in case he called while she was away from her desk.
He scrutinized the phone bill each month making sure she hadn't called her sister or any of her friends.
She's lost count of the number of times she turned down Ginger, Donna and Bonnie for a girls night out and they'd coo about her spending a romantic night with Andrew and Margaret knew the only thing that would happen to her would be the battering of her body because she was home ten minutes later than he required.
He controlled her life.
*
It was no secret Andrew had turned her life around, Margaret had been struggling in a cold, drafty and run down apartment which was not at all suitable to bring up a child in. When Andrew offered his three bedroom, centrally heated apartment, it seemed to good.
It turned out to be just that.
Alyson however was thriving, Andrew provided things for her Margaret would never be able to afford alone, clothes, toys and the most modern of nursery furniture, all of which he held over her.
So Margaret kept trying for her daughter's sake. Kept trying not to trigger his violent rages, kept trying to make him happy and kept trying to ignore the next purple bruise which had appeared overnight.
But most of all she was embarrassed to ask for help. Embarrassed because she ran the office of the Chief of Staff and couldn't fathom being thought of as a victim of any sort or being unable to control some aspect of her life.
*
Author: Loz
E-Mail: loz06@yahoo.com
Rating: PG 13/R
Category: Leo/Margaret
Series: Stand-alone
Spoilers: Dead Irish Writers and possibly other minor.
Archive (if applicable): The National Library http://westwingstories.com/library
Feedback: But especially this time, sympathy feedback because this story follows Two in Twenty Million and IMHO has a lot to live up to.
Summary: Domestic violence is about control and she who doesn't have control usually comes out second best.
Disclaimers: As always I make no claim to the recognizable characters in this story who feature weekly on the West Wing. I get the gargling, dribbling, vomiting baby but she is cute! :0)
Disclaimers of another type: I haven't read Jayne or Natalie's interpretation of Sam Jack's challenge (No offence guys, you're top priority once I finish writing) my point being any similarities between mine and the other lovely ladies stories are purely coincidental.
Author's Notes: I reluctantly took this on with some gentle encouragement and desperation on my part due to having no other ideas. I don't really like the topic much, it's a bit to close to home with a good friend of mines mother going through the same thing.
I confess to not doing as much research on this one, however what I did notice was that most of my searches returned male instigated domestic violence and a scattering of gay relationships. I'm sure there are cases of female instigated violence, I just couldn't picture Margaret going there unless she was really pushed as you'll find out.
Behind the title: Yes I finally got around to seeing what all the fuss was/is about, Russell Crowe, Meg Ryan - Proof of life, thus Control of life. I liked the movie, 'nuf said.
Rating dilemma: Immediately I want to rush out and slap an NC-17 on this one (Some ratings classifier I'd make) so I wandered into a web page on Enough with Jennifer Lopez, knowing it was based on a similar thing to find it was rated PG13. I've seen the previews and figured my disjointed descriptions couldn't be any worse than Jennifer Lopez getting hit by mild mannered Rick Sammler (Billy Campbell - O&A) and then coming after him sporting all sorts of Eastern defense kicks, guns and knives. You may disagree with my rating, but there has to be children out there, younger than thirteen who are exposed to this sort of violence as opposed to the James Bond fantasy style, everyday without the protection of a guideline rating.
*
"Every now and then beautiful angels appear cleverly disguised as ordinary human beings."
Adele Basheer
______________
Margaret doesn't hear the almighty crack as the rolling pin connects with her upper arm, the pain crippling and blinding her to the spinning world around her.
"I said I didn't want fish tonight." NASA's head of analysis of the first phase of the aerospace program roars.
"I'm sorry." Margaret trembles, holding back her tears. Her words are lost as the rolling pin cracks again this time across her shin where she'd crumbled from the pain in her arm.
"God dammit." Andrew Prior yells, upturning the table and the two salmon meals Margaret had prepared in the half hour before he had arrived home, the vegetables scatter over the floor, the good china she'd put out to impress, crashing into dozens of pieces. They'd been an eighteenth present from her mother and until now had been in tact, it was enough to break Margaret.
"Don't you cry." He continues with distain, bringing the rolling pin down onto her hip this time.
"I'm sorry." Margaret begs, her eyes never leaving the wooden rolling pin, her daughter's cries saving her from another beating.
"Jesus." Andrew swears dropping the kitchen item and moving for the stairs.
"Don't I'll go." Margaret pleads wobbling to a standing position after him. Upstairs she can hear Andrew yelling for her six month old daughter to shut up.
Around the door she watches her baby daughter being shaken in an attempt to stop her crying.
"Andrew don't!" Margaret cries, reaching for her daughter who is passed over to her without hesitation.
"I'm going out, you'd better be here when I'm back." He says gruffly. Margaret stands, soothing her daughter as she listens to him stomp down the stairs and slam the front door.
In the bathroom she surveys herself in the mirror, Andrew's smart he only ever hits her in places that can be covered by long sleeves and pants, the only distress ever on her face is tearstains and red blotches.
Clutching her daughter for dear life she uncovers her diary, hidden in the depths of the dirty laundry basket. Nursing her upset daughter on her knee she records the events of the night against the days date along with all the other insults and demeaning comments, the pushes, shoves, face-to-face tirades over the past months. The times he'd smashed things in anger and then made her clean them up. The intimidating words which had escalated to physical punishment, the beatings, kicks, slaps, punches and objects that had been thrown at her.
Like all the other nights she takes a sleeping pill before going to bed, so she won't be awake when he comes home less he thinks she's checking up on him. Like so many other nights she slept in Alyson's room.
*
"Margaret, when's he asking you to marry him." Ginger exclaims pulling back from the roses that had been delivered to her desk.
Quickly Margaret grabs the card and stuffs it in her pocket, she knows what they're for... she doesn't want anyone else to.
They know the funny, warm and caring Andrew who had come to the White House to update Leo on the latest projects at NASA. He'd stopped by three times and charmed her with his jokes, his questions about her job and his conversations about her daughter. The other assistants knew about the romantic Andrew who took her out on dates, who wasn't phased by the fact Margaret was heavily pregnant and abandoned by her babies father. They were amazed by his generosity at offering to have Margaret move in when she was struggling on her own.
Slowly he had broken away her hesitancy after having been burnt once, and slowly she had let him into her life.
Margaret remembers the times when he was really nice and he'd take her to the movies and then the way it disintegrated. She'd only have to say something he didn't like or get stuck in a traffic jam and he'd go off. Margaret believed him when he told her work was stressful with a new top-secret project.
Slowly however he cut her off, demanding she come straight home after work, calling numerous times during the day to check on her, to the point where Margaret was afraid to venture down to the mess for lunch in case he called while she was away from her desk.
He scrutinized the phone bill each month making sure she hadn't called her sister or any of her friends.
She's lost count of the number of times she turned down Ginger, Donna and Bonnie for a girls night out and they'd coo about her spending a romantic night with Andrew and Margaret knew the only thing that would happen to her would be the battering of her body because she was home ten minutes later than he required.
He controlled her life.
*
It was no secret Andrew had turned her life around, Margaret had been struggling in a cold, drafty and run down apartment which was not at all suitable to bring up a child in. When Andrew offered his three bedroom, centrally heated apartment, it seemed to good.
It turned out to be just that.
Alyson however was thriving, Andrew provided things for her Margaret would never be able to afford alone, clothes, toys and the most modern of nursery furniture, all of which he held over her.
So Margaret kept trying for her daughter's sake. Kept trying not to trigger his violent rages, kept trying to make him happy and kept trying to ignore the next purple bruise which had appeared overnight.
But most of all she was embarrassed to ask for help. Embarrassed because she ran the office of the Chief of Staff and couldn't fathom being thought of as a victim of any sort or being unable to control some aspect of her life.
*