Broken
Disclaimer: I do not own Mortal Kombat or any of the characters.
Summary: The one where she still wears her wedding rings in public and he still introduces her as his wife. Why are they divorced again?
Author's Note: Alright guys, I know you're more than likely peeved that this isn't an update to Parental Bond but I promise I'm working on that too! This is just something that popped into my head but doesn't necessarily fit into the PB universe as it's not really family-centered; it's more Jonya than anything. Set after the events of MKX and I hope you guys enjoy!
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Sonya could feel someone's eyes on her as she sipped at her martini at the bar. Nonchalantly swiveling her stool, she scanned the crowded restaurant in an attempt to find the culprit. A Special Forces agent could never be too careful about the attention they received but her efforts were in vain. She tugged a bit on the hemline of her dress as she turned back to the bar and tuned back in to her daughter's recountment of her most recent mission.
She wasn't comfortable in something so short and she really wasn't comfortable in this restaurant, it was entirely too rich for her tastes, but Cassie enjoyed it. She found that the more time Cassie spent with her father, the more she enjoyed dressing up, going to expensive clubs and bars and, strangely enough, taking her mother along for the ride. Sonya had no qualms humoring her. If her little girl wanted to get dolled up on occasion, drink expensive drinks, eat expensive food and flirt with rich men, she was all too happy to comply.
At least she wasn't getting into trouble or getting poor Jacqui arrested...again. And, not that she'd ever admit it, but Sonya missed this part of her relationship with Johnny.
In all honesty, she missed a lot of her relationship with her ex husband but being on his arm with him showing her off like some sort of trophy wife held a special place in her memories of them. When she had been out with Johnny she hadn't been General Blade, she didn't save the world, no one had looked to her for orders. She had just been Sonya and that was always one of the more endearing things about the Johnny Cage she knew and loved.
He had loved and wanted her for her, because she was just Sonya and around her he could be just Johnny. He had treated her like a woman, not an army brat. It had been nice.
Being out with Cassie reminded her of that part of herself. She wished she could get back there again but she was afraid that, without Johnny, she didn't know how.
A shiver ran down her spine and she knew that she was being watched again. Before she could turn to see if she could spot the unwanted spectator to her one night out with her daughter, the hair on the back of her neck suddenly shot to attention.
There was only one person in the entire world who made her hair stand on end. One man who put her entire body on point and jumbled her mind in such a way that basic functions such as breathing and talking were too hard to conjure commands for.
John Carlton was somewhere in this restaurant, she could feel it.
Every base, animal instinct inside of her told her to run, that sharing the same space after all that had happened was a bad idea. She was so muddled and confused; he had almost died...again! It was part of the reason she'd pushed him away, not wanting him with her as she'd dealt with Kano in the refugee camp. Not only was he the biggest distraction that fate could have possibly thrown in her path but he died entirely too easily. It wasn't that she didn't have faith in him, she did but she also knew that, if faced with a life or death situation, he would more than likely die.
History said so.
She hadn't seen him since the doctors had taken his cast off and he'd no longer needed her assistance and she just couldn't face him right now.
"Well, looks like I've hit the jackpot," a smooth voice announced, cutting Sonya off just as she was about to suggest leaving. "I believe I've just stumbled upon the two finest ladies I've ever had the pleasure of setting eyes on. What do you think, Blake?"
Before Secretary Blake could summon a reply, Cassie had abandoned her bar stool and launched herself at her father who caught her with ease. Sonya bit her lip, trapping the chastisement about such behavior given Johnny's very recent recovery behind clenched teeth. No point in wasting the energy, she would only be ignored anyway.
"Daddy," Cassie practically squealed as Sonya silently marveled at Johnny's uncanny ability to seemingly revert their daughter into a five year old child. "Shouldn't you be resting?"
Johnny only laughed and kissed her temple. "It's a business meeting, princess. We're here to eat dinner, not hunt, kill and skin it." His sass did nothing but land him on the receiving end of a patent-Blade glare that had him raising his hands in surrender. "I'm fine, really."
And that he was. He was the epitome of dashing in tailored pants and a white, casually buttoned dress shirt that contrasted nicely with his swarthy tone. In fact, aside from the hint of salt that peppered his hair and the oddly attractive lines that framed his eyes and mouth when he flashed the toothy, charming grin that he was known for, he looked exactly the same as he had on their wedding night.
She shook her head, scolding herself. Thoughts like that would do her no good, no good at all. They were still divorced and a few shared moments during his recovery didn't change that.
"Secretary Blake," Johnny began, one arm still wrapped gallantly around Cassie. "You remember my daughter Cassandra and my lovely wife Sonya," he presented, gesturing to Sonya with a smile.
"Ex," she blurted, prompting everyone to look at her curiously. "Ex wife."
To anyone who didn't know him, Johnny was the very definition of unaffected but Sonya noticed how the smile left his eyes at the reminder. "Right," he drawled with ease. "Ex wife."
If Secretary Blake noticed the air of tension that settled over the Cage clan at Johnny's slip of the tongue he was well-mannered enough to ignore it.
"Of course. It's a pleasure to see you both again," he expressed genially. "You know I was planning on treating John to dinner tonight to thank him for the wonderful job he did with the Outworld situation. Would you both like to join us? I mean it's only proper since the mission wouldn't have been such a success without your influence."
Sonya opened her mouth to decline but Cassie, seemingly sensing her mother's distress, beat her to it.
"Oh we couldn't possibly," she began, lying with a proficiency that unnerved her mother. "You probably have reservations for two and they're so busy it would be unfair to ask for a table upgrade. We'll be fine here at the bar. You boys go ahead."
Should she be proud or punish her?
And where on earth had she learned to lie like that?
Secretary Blake seemed content to take the youngest Cage's excuse at face value but Sonya could see Johnny's eyes narrowing thoughtfully at his daughter before flicking over to her.
Johnny knew that Cassie would never turn down the chance to spend time with him and if they had happened upon her with friends or alone she would have jumped at the dinner invitation. Sonya knew this as well and it sent a stabbing pang of guilt through her to think that her very presence was unintentionally driving a wedge between them.
A lopsided, cocksure grin crept over Johnny's face as he expertly maneuvered his way between his daughter and his ex, winding a muscled arm around each of them. "Ladies, I'm hurt," he mockingly groused, tugging Sonya closer meaningfully. "Do you mean to stand there and tell me that you don't believe that Johnny Cage, the Johnny Cage, can upgrade a table for two to a table for four?"
Cassie shared a look with her mother behind her father's back as he winked conspiratorially at an amused Secretary Blake. "Alright dad, you caught us," she began slowly. "We were cruising for guys."
Sonya jerked around, almost giving herself whiplash, to glare at her daughter who just shrugged sheepishly in return.
"Well isn't that a coincidence," Johnny began slyly. "Because we were just looking for two enchanting ladies to share dinner with. And since you were looking for companions," he teased glancing at them both. "And we were looking for companions, we can kill two birds with one stone."
Cassie caught Sonya's stare, brows furrowed helplessly as if to apologize for getting them into this mess in the first place.
"Alright, Johnny," Sonya conceded with a sigh. "You win."
Blue eyes brightened in victory and as Johnny removed his arm from around Cassie to wave down a waiter to change their table, Sonya glanced at Secretary Blake, who seemed to be laughing behind his hand.
In all honesty she couldn't say she was overly surprised by the turn of events; Johnny always won. No matter what the battle was about - whether it was how to discipline Cassie to the divorce to integrating himself in her life and work at the base - he always found a way to persevere.
Johnny bowed and offered his arm to her with a wink as a waiter came by to escort them to their table. Looking up to see Cassie and their dinner companion already following the waiter arm in arm, and not wanting to seem ungrateful, Sonya sighed and looped her arm through her ex husband's.
It was going to be a long night.
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No amount of polite conversation or shop-talk could distract Sonya from the glint in Johnny's eyes. Sitting across from him was downright unsettling. She caught every flicker of his eyes, every clench of his fist, every tick of his jaw.
When they had been married Sonya had never worried about the straying eyes that she'd heard many other women talk about. Johnny had always treated her like she was the only woman in the room no matter how many attractive females threw themselves at him and tonight was no different. Their waitress had made her attraction very clear from the beginning, immediately striking Cassie's ire, but Johnny paid the much younger woman no mind as he nursed his scotch.
Half of her wished he would flirt with the waitress, if only to give her some kind of reprieve from his undivided attentions.
"Well," Cassie began yawning. Their run-in with Johnny and Secretary Blake, who they were now on a first name basis with, had made the night much longer than they'd originally intended. "This was a blast but I've got a five o'clock training session in the morning." With that she stood, prompting the two men at their table to stand as well.
Sonya followed her lead. "Yes I do believe it's time to turn in. We both have a very early morning ahead of us," she agreed, casting a playful glance at Kent Blake. "Who do you think is running the training session?"
Laughing, Kent made his own polite excuses. "This has been fun, John but I too have business early in the morning. We should definitely do this again sometime, though. I'll have my people call your people."
As the trio turned to leave, Johnny cleared his throat. "Actually, Sonya, I was hoping you'd stick around a bit longer. I had some things I wanted to discuss with you."
Sonya froze and turned desperate eyes to Cassie. Why the hell couldn't she think with him around? If he were anyone else, she'd have an excuse at the ready and be half-way to the door by now.
"Uh...um..." Cassie stuttered, seemingly sharing in her inability to form coherent thought. "I'm sure she'd love to but...uh...we...took a taxi together and neither of us likes to take taxis alone." An uncomfortable pause and then: "You know, safety first."
Johnny cocked a disbelieving brow and flashed a toothy grin. "Oh I'm sure if we put our heads together we can come up with a solution to your transportation issues, angel."
"I'm sure my driver won't mind an extra stop, John," Kent suggested cordially. "I'd be glad take her home."
Johnny reveled in the deer-in-headlights look his ex wife now sported. There was nothing she could say. There was no way she could deny him his request, not in front of company. She had to save the tough-as-nails general reputation the soldiers at the base spoke of.
"Sure." Her voice was surprisingly calm while her insides, on the other hand, were dancing around and performing origami.
Cassie's mouth dropped open and she gaped and sputtered for a few minutes.
"Now, princess," Johnny began, crossing over to her and dropping a kiss to her forehead. "Daddy will make sure she gets home alright."
And somehow, Sonya didn't think she liked the sound of that.
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"Have I told you that you look absolutely ravishing tonight?" Johnny wondered aloud as soon as Kent and Cassie were out of hearing distance. "Absolutely beautiful," he affirmed, holding out her chair and gesturing for her to retake her seat.
She smiled graciously, though her eyes held a tight edge at the corners. "Thank you."
Grinning easily, he waved their waitress over. "Would you relax?" he asked with a laugh.
Sonya watched as he ordered them a bottle of very expensive wine and smiled in thanks as the waitress brought them the bottle and poured them both a glass. "What makes you think I'm not calm?"
Cocking a teasing brow, he leant toward her. "Do you really want to get into that here?"
Gulping down a good portion of her wine, gaining some liquid courage in the process, she met him half way. "I think this is the perfect place to get into it seeing as how this is where you started it."
Letting out a husky laugh, he reached across the space between them and gently lifted her glass from her hand and set it out of her reach. While he wanted her tipsy enough to ease up and play along with his advances, he didn't want her so drunk that she lost the biting wit she was known for.
He didn't want her to lose her fight. The fight was what he wanted.
She just wasn't Sonya without it.
Holding fast when she would have liberated her hand from his grip, he ran his thumb across her knuckles. "Where would you like me to start?"
"How about from the beginning?" she shot back with an arched brow.
"Alright. What were you really doing here tonight?"
"Cassie told you: we were cruising for guys." She internally scoffed at herself. She could hardly believe that just came out of her mouth.
Tugging on her hand to acquire her full attention, Johnny lowered his voice as his eyes dropped to their hands. "In that dress I might believe you," he drawled coolly, giving her a heated once-over. "You know, if you weren't wearing your wedding rings."
Aghast, Sonya glanced down at their hands to see that she did, indeed, have on both her engagement diamond and her wedding band. Pulling back, she desperately tried to free her hand but he wasn't letting go so easily. "Force of habit," she supplied lamely, looking away with the hint of a blush on her cheeks.
Nodding in mock understanding, Johnny shifted, settling into the seat Cassie had vacated beside her. Scooting the chair closer to hers, he brought his other hand up to support her elbow, massaging the sensitive bone tenderly as he continued to stroke her knuckles. "Can I tell you something without you decking me?"
The low timbre of his tone contrasted just enough with the content of his words to keep her from falling completely under the spell of his charm. "Depends."
"I don't think I like that answer," he laughed, leaning closer to her.
"Well that's the only answer you're getting," she informed seriously. "I don't make promises."
He nodded with a smile. "Well I guess I'll have to take my chances then," he stated decisively, bringing his mouth to her ear, affording them a bit of privacy in the still happening restaurant. "You know when I first saw you at the bar in that dress -" the statement broke off, giving way to another impassioned sweep of darkened eyes. "And I use that term very loosely, I didn't think I could possibly be more turned on. Then as I approached and was blinded by the light off this impractical and...what was it you used to call it? 'Ostentatious display of my ownership of you?'"
She nodded and blushed at the memory of when, where and in what context that statement had been made.
"Well I can honestly say that was the best sexual experience I've ever had."
Laughing, she slapped his arm. "Would you get serious?"
Her laughter was contagious and while it prompted him to join her, their shared mirth didn't discredit his declaration. He had been aroused to the point of pain at the sight of those rings on her finger after all this time. He didn't even know she still had them let alone would condescend to put them on without prodding from anyone.
"Sonya," he whispered, suddenly grave. "Why did you put them on?"
She looked up at him, fully intending to say whatever she could to deceive him, to keep him off the trail of her true feelings, her true desires but her eyes caught his before she could begin the lie. So open and vulnerable was he.
In that moment Johnny Cage was gone. He wasn't the confident, sure, larger than life superstar that had everyone and their grandmother fooled as to who he really was. Right now he was John Carlton. He was the man who loved her, the man who had tried so hard to make their marriage work. He was the man who gave her up because he thought that was what she wanted. Right now he was the father of their little girl. The man who had been at every little league game, every parent-teacher conference. The man who had opted out on the red carpet so that he could make their daughter's graduation.
She couldn't lie to that man. She'd lied to him too many times already.
She averted her gaze to search for her wine glass but found it on the far side of the table. She really needed a drink for this. She couldn't do this without a drink first; just a small one.
He must have read her gaze because he suddenly released her hand to grab the glass. He handed it off to her silently and watched as she downed the rest of it. She took a deep breath, as though to speak but seemed to think better of it and turned to reach for the wine bottle instead.
Johnny intercepted her sneaky little fingers, returning them to their previous home between his much larger ones and, with a gentle squeeze, brought her back to him.
She took another deep breath and looked down at their connected fingers. "I always wear them when Cassie and I go out."
He held his breath. He wouldn't get his hopes up until he heard the words he wanted to hear come from her mouth first. He couldn't be disappointed again. "Why?"
She shook her head and tapped her chin with the index finger of her free hand. "Cassie's forever choosing these types of dresses and with her it's always bars and men."
He nodded. Unfortunately that sounded like his warrior princess to a T and he could definitely see Cass' influence on his ex wife's current state of dress. Short, tight, lots of flare; trademark Cassie Cage.
"It's easier to politely turn away the attention we get if it looks like I'm still married."
And it was, that definitely wasn't a lie. She fought every day of her life; going out to a bar with her daughter shouldn't be a fight. Flashing a couple of diamonds under a pushy guy's nose usually did the trick and if it didn't, then the guy was just asking for a beat-down.
Sliding to the edge of his seat, bringing their proximity to just this side of scandalous, Johnny made his way back to her ear. "And why would you want to turn away the attention?"
She shivered as his breath warmed her neck. "I-It's just that," she faltered as his lips boldly met the skin behind her ear.
How had she ended up here, being sent to heaven and back by her ex husband in a crowded restaurant?
And more importantly, why wasn't she stopping him?
Why didn't she want to stop him?
She should stop him.
"Johnny," she breathed, placing a hand on his chest with the intent of pushing him back to give herself some space. "We can't do this here."
Pulling back just enough to catch her dazed expression, he caught her jaw in one hand. "But we can do this?"
The question was hopeful and it was hard to see such a strong, confident man reduced to the soulful, insecure shell sitting in front of her.
"We shouldn't."
The hand on her jaw dropped to her knee before slowly sliding upward to the hemline of her dress. "That's not the same as can't," he groaned against her ear. "Because I want you and believe me, I can."
Her breath quickened as the tips of his fingers crept under her dress and the flat hand she'd placed on his chest to push him away turned into a fist, gripping his shirt and pulling him closer. "If we do this, it shouldn't be just because we can."
He nodded. "We've done too many things just because we can," he agreed, brushing his thumb across the rings on the hand he still held as she tugged harder on his shirt, bunching it around his already tense biceps. "We got divorced because we could and I don't know about you but that was the biggest mistake I've ever made in my life."
Her eyes shot to his, shining with unshed tears and his hand stopped the progress it was making up her thigh. "What are you saying?"
His hand unconsciously tightened on her leg as he brought her hand to his mouth and kissed the base of her ring finger, just below the rings.
Her rings.
His rings.
"I'm saying that you better think long and hard before you let me keep going because if I ever get you back in my bed, there's no way in hell I'm ever letting you leave it again."
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This became a monster. Like literally. I was not expecting this at all when I envisioned this scenario and I really don't know what to say. Since I've never conjured up a lemon before, I'm content to leave this as is unless enough people want me to continue it. If that happens, well then I'll try to channel all the sexy I'm capable of and finish what I started so everyone remember to review and let me know what you think.
