Title: Death Comes Calling
Fandom: Olympus Has Fallen
Pairings/Characters: Margaret "Maggie" Asher, Maggie Asher/Benjamin Asher, (pre-slash) Mike Banning/Benjamin Asher, (friendship) Maggie Asher & Mike Banning
Summary: Of course, all good things come to an end and in this case, that end came in the form of a falling tree as snow swirled around their convoy one wintry night. One snap of a limb and the world flipped. Tires squealed, bodies slammed against hard metal and glass.
Series: Hope, Family, Promise and Love - Part 1 in the Series
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Canonical death wrote in a semi-graphic way.
Spoilers: Set during the first 15 minutes of the film.
Author's Notes: So, Olympus Has Fallen... yeah, I have huge feels about that movie (even though it's a "shoot 'em up" action movie). I remember watching it getting major slashy-feels between Mike Banning and President Ben Asher, so this story and the ones to follow it in the "Hope, Family, Promise and Love" series are a direct result of all those slashy feels. I have another character study ficlet that is going to be posted tonight and I am getting started on a multi-chapter story that is the main focus of this series called "After the Fall" that will hopefully start with posting soon. If you haven't watched the movie, you are seriously missing out... from the slashy tones to the absolute BAMF Mike Banning character played by Gerard Butler... well, it's definitely worth a watch. :)
Maggie Asher had known for a while that her husband and Secret Service Agent Mike Banning were in love. It wasn't something that she abhorred or felt threatened by, truth be told… she was a little in love with Mike herself, at least in the platonic sense. Rather than it being some tawdry love affair or shameful secret, it was the glue that helped them to make a quasi-family together, even if it was a little bit left of normal.
She remembered when she first had the inkling of something forming between Ben and Mike… when they looked a little too long, when they touched a little too firmly, when that spark shot into their eyes whenever they had a moment to just be Ben and Mike instead of the President and the Agent in Charge of his security detail. After that she kept an eye out, looked closer at how they interacted with each other and over time it began to blossom and grow.
You might wonder why she was so comfortable with the idea that her husband and his unofficial best friend were in love… well, the truth is that Ben and Maggie had always had an open relationship or rather the idea of one. Political aspirations put that concept on the backburner, but they'd talked about it; about their attractions to other people and the possibility of more down the road. When things went to that next level when feelings were involved it just felt natural to talk to Ben about his feelings for Mike, about what that meant for all of them.
Nothing happened between them of course and probably nothing ever would. One of the biggest reasons being that Ben was completely oblivious about how Mike felt about him and vice versa… God love 'em, but those men were a bit slow on the uptake when it came to feelings and emotions. But another reason, the biggest hurdle besides the obliviousness that is, was the fact that Ben and Maggie knew the price Ben paid for the presidency and something as polarizing as a married president in love with his male Security Detail agent and in a polyamorous relationship with both of them would cause irrevocable harm to the goals Ben had for his time in office.
The thing was… the love between them all was a natural progression to the agent's entry into their lives; after all, Mike fit into their family like no one else ever had… like there was a Mike-shaped hole waiting for him to fill that they'd never realized was empty until he arrived. When Ben won the presidency and was assigned a Detail, Mike headed up the Secret Service Detail that would guard their family. Like some fated destiny, Mike's arrival was like an explosion in their lives that gave them all a little bit of something they'd always needed.
For Maggie it was a sarcastic friend who seemed to always have a moment for witty banter, for quiet conversations about life and an investment in seeing that her family stayed happy and safe.
For Connor it was a loving father figure who was there for him when Ben's duties kept him away for long hours into the day and the night.
For Ben it was a strong man to lean on who provided a solid soundboard, who knew him at his best and his worst, who understood Ben in a way that no one but Maggie ever had before.
Seeing Ben and Mike together, talking and laughing, a soft loving look in their eyes made Maggie feel like nothing and no one could hurt her family. It put warmth in her heart and in her life, like they would never be as happy as they were when they were all together, laughing and sharing each others' company.
Of course, all good things come to an end and in this case, that end came in the form of a falling tree as snow swirled around their convoy one wintery night. One snap of a limb and the world flipped. Tires squealed, bodies slammed against hard metal and glass. She cried out as she felt her head strike the cold window beside her… warm wet blood seeped from the wound as she stared dazedly out the window witnessing the expanse of the frozen river just below them, half of the limo teetering precariously over the edge of the crumbling bridge rail.
Maggie knew she should be moving, trying to get out of the limo before it tipped too far and slid over the edge of the bridge into the river, but her body wouldn't move like she wanted it to. She heard yelling as agents swarmed the car, trying to pry open the doors and get them free, but if Maggie could have talked she would have told them it was too late… she could feel death coming for her. She'd never been an overly spiritual person, but at that moment she just knew her time was up.
"Connor…" Maggie pleaded as she was finally able to roll her head to the side and gaze at her husband.
Her baby, her boy, her fear for him trumped anything else. She wanted to whisper to Ben to take care of their son, to make sure he knew that Maggie loved him, but like her body her voice wouldn't cooperate.
Ben's door was shoved open and Mike began to try and pull Ben out as the limo teetered even more. Ben wanted to save Maggie first, her brave strong man who never thought of himself but of others. And Mike, she really did love that man… he'd be good for Ben when she was gone, Mike was determined to do his duty no matter his feelings and get Ben out.
"The seat belt, it's stuck," Ben told Mike as he tried to get Maggie free, ripping with as much force as he could, but the jammed clasp wouldn't release.
"Sir, get out of the car… I'll take care of her!" Mike yelled, but Ben kept trying.
Maggie caught Ben's eyes, blood starting to blur her vision, and she tried to put all of her love and hope for their family's future in her eyes as they locked onto his. Ben stared back at her with pain in his eyes as the yells got more frantic and the groan of metal started to drown out their words. The limo groaned and rocked as the weight of the front end gave in to gravity, slipping farther over the edge of the bridge.
"Take Maggie," Ben told Mike as the Agent pulled a knife from his pocket.
If Maggie had ever seen a man more in despair of doing what he knew he needed to do, she couldn't remember. Mike's eyes looked from Maggie to Ben and then back to Maggie with the same kind of pain as Ben's in his eyes. The kind that ripped you to shreds and left a hollow shell as the inevitable came to fruition, when you knew you were going to lose someone you loved and couldn't do anything about it. Mike, he knew what was coming too and wanted to save her from her fate, but all three of them knew he couldn't… there wasn't enough time.
Maggie took one last look at the two men she loved and wondered what her death would do to them. Would her death draw them closer together or would it rip them apart? Would the weight of raising Connor without her cause Ben to pull away? Would the fact that Mike couldn't save her make Ben's love for him shrivel and die?
Maggie hoped not. If there was one shred of goodness left in this life she hoped they would be together like they wanted to be, like they had all wanted to be.
From one moment to the next Maggie saw Mike whisper a broken "I'm sorry" and then Ben's seatbelt was cut and Mike pulled him from the limo just before it tipped over all the way.
Maggie wouldn't say that her life flashed before her eyes before she died, but she would say that her family's future did. She saw pain, regret, anger and fear… but she also saw hope, family, promise and love, so much love… and that was what she focused on as death came calling.