A scene from Charlie and Leona's shared past.

Summer, 1996

This was their fourth meal in two days. They had been in the private dining room for hours now, their lunch dishes littered in places on the table, newspaper pieces mingled with magazines and other papers.

Charlie's jacket was on the back of his chair, his necktie loosed but still around his neck. Leona had just learned in to whisper something when the dining room door burst open.

"I figured I'd find you here with that son of a bitch! Why haven't you made the god damned announcement?" Leona's husband, dressed to go out for the evening, walked towards the table.

She sighed, standing from the table and coming around to the front of it to close the distance. "Because you're not going be the President of the Network News Division. I'm hiring someone else to do the job."

"That is complete bullshit Leona! You fucking owe me!"

"Owe you? I don't owe you shit. The entire time we've been married you've done nothing but spend my families considerable wealth for yourself. You don't know anything about the fucking news! I want to succeed, not fail fucking miserably. I'm going to hire Charlie! You should want me to succeed too so you can keep in sports cars to impress your line of whores!"

Instead of a verbal response, he wound his his arm back and punched Leona in the face.

Charlie Skinner climbed on his chair, stepped on the table and dove to tackle Leona's husband.

Leona was stunned as she stumbled backwards and leaned against the wall, holding her face as she slid to the ground. The men were going all out, rolling around on the ground like a pair of cartoon cats and dogs. Finally, Charlie had the advantage and was able to solidly connect his fist with Lansing's face to return the favor.

Lansing was stunned and could taste blood in his mouth. He grabbed Charlie's neck tie, pulled them face to face and spit a mixture of blood in Charlie's face before connecting a punch with his face.

Charlie returned the favor and crashed Lansing's head solidly with the floor, knocking him out. Charlie got up slowly off of Lansing, his breathing heavy. "Are you alright, Leona?"

"I got better treatment from the North Vietnamese." She popped off, holding her face.

"Leona, NOT FUNNY." Charlie roared. "Tell me that was the first time he fucking hit you."

"The first and last time Charlie, I swear to god."

He nodded, looking at the unconscious man on the ground. "We gotta get you to a hospital." He removed his necktie and dumped it on the ground.

"What are you doing?" She asked as he came to get her off the floor.

"That is the last time I'm wearing a necktie. Jesus, it's just something to grab on to. Let's get the hell outta here."

Leona had enough presence of mind to grab her purse as they ran out of the private dining room.