Madison Paige knew the minute she first laid her tender brown eyes upon Ethan Mars that she was in love with him. She tended to all of his wounds whenever he would return to the Cross Road Motel injured, and even when he rejected her love, she still couldn't get him off of her mind; she still sacrificed everything she could for him.
That was probably why it was so heartwrenchingly painful to watch the love of her life get shot to death by Lieutenant Carter Blake and his fleet of men while trapped in the squad car of Detective Ash, the Lieutenant's partner.
"ETHAN, NO!" She screamed as she pressed her face and hands against the window, fogging up the glass as she sobbed.
With each individual gunshot, Ethan's body spasmed, and another stream of blood shot out of him. When the gunfire came to a slow halt, Ethan slumped over lifelessly. It wasn't long after that when little Shaun Mars, so disoriented even before this happened, stumbled out of the old warehouse he'd been trapped in and collapsed down next to his beloved father.
"Dad, no...! Dad, wake up... Don't leave me alone...!" The child cried as he held tightly to his dad. Sitting in the police cruiser, Madison found herself feeling immensely jealous of the kid for some reason, even as she continued to bawl.
It was mutually decided to bring Madison and Shaun back to the local police station. They were brought back in separate cars, however, so they later felt no real connection to one another, as they had never been properly introduced.
Upon entering the station through its typical underground parking lot entrance, being led by a rather anxious-looking Lieutenant Blake, Madison had no clue what exactly she felt about anything anymore. A part of her that she'd discovered in Ethan was now dead, and that fact was ripping the rest of her apart.
As soon as they walked into this cluttered station, the first thing that Madison vaguely noticed was that someone was marching toward them, anger showing through in his movements alone. After a brief moment of thought, Madison came to recognize this person as Agent Norman Jayden of the FBI, whom she only knew due to her connection to the press.
Blake opened his arms wide as Jayden approached, so judging by this, Madison suspected that he must have been taken aback when the Agent raised his hand and delivered to his cheek a rough slap. He then pointed his finger at the older man as some sort of threatening gesture and got up in his face, his own face drained of color, though the red hot rage could be seen in his desaturated green eyes.
"You and I, whatever we had; it's OVER." He snarled through grit teeth in a voice dripping with contempt. And then, just as abruptly as he'd arrived, he shoved past Blake and everyone behind him, and promptly left the station.
Blake spat and rubbed his face a bit, grinding his teeth as he did so. "Fuckin' asshole... Thinks he's so fuckin' high and mighty..."
Madison then watched as Blake stormed out into the parking lot after Jayden. He quickly caught up and grabbed the taller man's arm, yanking him around to face him. They would still be within earshot of Madison if she lingered around by the doors, so for some reason she couldn't quite understand yet (though she subconsciously called it her woman's intuition), she did.
"So, what are you gonna do, huh, Norman? You just gonna run away from your problems like the fuckin' coward you are, huh? Huh?!" Blake bellowed loud enough to be heard in Seattle.
"I wouldn't have to, Cahtuh, if you weren't such an ahsshole! I told you that you were wrong, but oh, no, you just couldn't buhlieve me, because Cahtuh Blake is the only pahson who can ever be right!"
"You're just butthurt that you don't have anyone to run and cry to anymore! What, you thought that Mars would always be there for ya? Well guess what, Norm? He's fuckin' dead now! He's DEAD! And, and what the fuck made you think that he'd even want to be around a faggot like you anyway, huh?! I bet he couldn't fuckin' stand you!"
Madison watched in numb shock as Jayden's mean front shattered, and the younger man started to tremble.
"I cahnnot buhlieve you, Cahtuh. You aren't even human!" He choked as he wiped at his face a bit, but then with new-found strength, he toughened up a little bit and pointed back toward the doors of the station.
"Get the fahck out of my face, Cahtuh. Get away from me."
"I'll be happy to. Now just go back to Washington and fuckin' drown there for all I care." With one final middle finger raised to Jayden, Blake turned around and stormed back into the station, walking right past Madison.
It wasn't hard to tell just how hurt Jayden had been by this argument, what with his horribly distraught facial expression, how he covered his mouth to muffle his weak, ragged sobs, and how he was seemingly unable to do anything more than just stand there in the middle of the parking lot and just unleash all of his emotions, built-up to supposedly unbearable proportions by the case that had just been completed, in the form of some kind of emotional breakdown, just out of everyone's eyesight but Madison's.
Madison, however, didn't care too much for Jayden's troubles at that moment. She was still reeling from the revelation that Ethan and Jayden had been a thing together. It registered that Ethan had rejected her because of Jayden, and because of this, she was overcome by a violent, all-encompassing hate for this pitiful man who stood crying not too far away from her.
However, as Norman coincidentally happened to slump to his knees and begin crying just a little bit louder, Madison's thought process recoiled due to the sheer level of incomprehensible hate that had suddenly flooded through her.
Norman's love was what Ethan had wanted, and now he could never have it...
... or could he?
It was then that Madison had an idea that had never, ever, occurred to her before.
If Ethan wanted Jayden but never had the chance to show it or have it reciprocated, then she would pursue this love for him...
... and as him.