Rating: safe for all ages, A for Angst.
Spoilers: that one with the egg and the poker game and the attempted suicide by police guy. Evidence of Things Not Seen, i think it's called. CJ's past a little (just a smidge) and up through season five.
A/n: tried to be a 100 word drable for the leonard cohen song titles thing. 100 words was so short (95, actually), so I gave that one to CJ, and then I let myself add another for Toby, which also turned out to be ninety-five words without trying. So there's one-ninety. And then it just kept growing. Hope it worked out. it's rather a long drabble
Summery: "…the wind, the wind is blowing, through the graves the wind is blowing, freedom soon will come." -the great Leonard Cohen, blessed be.
Marjorie Apsell had red hair. It's possible that it was the only reason they had been friends, CJ thinks now. This woman in her office, she sees little to be fond of. Was I ever that…? but she can't find the word.
And then she remembers they had fought the women's fight. It had been their blood. But time was like cotton batting.
Magic was a flick of the wrist, so her boys learned to throw cards. Twice in her life she's seen a bullet meet glass. She sometimes wonders if she's a lightning rod.
wxwxwxwx
By now, he's had so many lives he doesn't think they all were his. Jewish. Writer. Soldier. Politico. Boy, Man, husband. Father and son. He could be his own holy trio, if that were his religion.
He's looked on so many battlefields that he can't see which takes priority. Except his daughter's eyes are brown and his son's hair is curly, and they will eat knowledge. That's more than he predicted.
He's possessive of his collected pain. What he has witnessed, and what has been gouged across generations. It's the muscle behind the balancing act.
wxwxwxwx
"My god, what did you do to your hair?" he said in'94, "it's blond."
"I guess," She laughs, "Take my bag."
Later.
"When will you return to the fight?" he asks late that night over drinks.
"I am fighting. EMILY's List-"
"Is a kitchy LA organization. You belong in the big leagues." he interupts.
"You mean, I belong with you?" she accuses
She has beautiful fingers and she had good hair. She runs one through the other. She doesn't regret the decision.
"Yes," his tone even, undeniable
She probably wouldn't regret that either. But… He has restless fingers. It's a rocky world in the big leagues and she's clumsy. She's looking to change the system from outside.
wxwxwxwx
Too many people think the best cleanser is blood. Blood is a heavy stain. Even when it's only figurative. Even when it's loyalty and not spite.
wxwxwxwx
Much, much later, when these are only glory tales, people still are sighing for liberation. She remembers shuffling words like the best magician's assistant, her nerves remember the tricks, she can still feel the sounds inside her mouth. But she also remembers Marjorie Apsell. Regret, inadequacy, they are a bitter aftertaste.