Disclaimer: Characters are owned and produced by The Disney Channel and It's A Laugh Productions. I am just borrowing them for these stories. Original characters are owned by the author of this story.
The Search for Tomorrow
Chapter 10
The Real World: Boston
Wednesday, April 18, 2018
The shrill sound of the alarm signaled to London that it was time to get up. Lying on her stomach, she blindly slapped in the general direction of the alarm clock in an attempt to silence it.
"Make it stop." Maddie grumbled as she rolled her body away from the irritating beeping. After seven failed slaps at the alarm clock, London finally connected with the snooze button.
"It's dead." London groggily announce before drifting back to sleep. Nine minutes later, the cacophony of the alarm clock pierced the air again. "I don't want to go back to work!" London whined before reaching over and turning the alarm clock off. Maddie remained in the same position, on her side facing away from her wife.
London rolled over and pressed her body up against Maddie and wrapped her arms around her causing the blonde to moan softly.
"Mmmm. For someone to be so petite, you sure are warm." Maddie purred.
"You're not so cold yourself." London responded in her purring voice.
"We have to get up, don't we?" Maddie asked.
"I've got to start working on the cancer gala today. October will be here before you know it." London said.
"I know." Maddie said with resignation. "I've got… stuff to do at work too."
"I tell you what. Let's go brush our teeth, I'll put on some coffee and meet you in the shower." London said.
"I like good clean dirty fun." Maddie said with a smile as London held her.
"That's the best kind." London said with a devilish grin before sliding out of the bed.
"Oh, baby?" Maddie said. London turned around as Maddie rolled over to face her. "Don't make that crap your mother concocted in Miami. Great for a hangover, but terrible for everything else."
"You got it." London said as she sashayed out of the bedroom.
Maddie stretched some of her sleepiness away before staring at the ceiling and saying out loud to herself, "Time to get back in the saddle again."
London stepped off of the elevator at her Tipton International office with a cup of Starbucks in one hand, her purse in the crook of her arm, a Boston Herald in her other hand and a gigantic smile on her face. She was in love, married, rich and on top of the world. She stepped into her office to see Sandrine sitting at her round meeting table looking over some papers. Sandrine heard someone come in and looked up as she removed her reading glasses.
"London! You're back!" Sandrine said as she hopped up and embraced her boss and good friend.
"Of course I am Sandy! I told you I was coming back today." London chirped.
"I assumed that you were going to take the rest of the week off and enjoy being a newlywed." Sandrine said as London walked around behind her desk to sit down.
"Today is April 18th, which means we have six months to put together the cancer gala. Time stops for no man." London said.
"Well I was just looking at the budget for it. Here." Sandrine placed a soft binder in front of London. "So how was the wedding?"
"It was simple, elegant yet beautiful." London said. "I am so sorry that you couldn't be there."
"London, in my heart you and Maddie have been married for the last seven years. I have already witnessed your union first hand when we were in Paris." Sandrine said.
"You are very deep." London said.
"I am not deep. You're love for Maddie is deep. I am… avant-garde." Sandrine said.
"That you are." London said. "Sandy, my mother came."
"Your mother as in Sandra?" Sandrine said.
"Yes. We talked and she apologized… I don't know what the wedding would have been without her. She was incredible." London gushed.
"So are you going to see her more often?' Sandrine asked.
"She's moving to New York! Can you believe that? Oh! And get this, she and Moseby once had a thing." London dished.
"Are you serious? How did you find out?" Sandrine asked.
"There was a moment of… palpable tension after the wedding between them. Sparks were flying." London said. "I think they're going to get together."
"That is so great. Love is in the air. Now if I can just get a whiff." Sandrine said sarcastically.
"You will! Look at you! Jet black wavy hair hanging down your back, face like a model, legs for days, nice rack, nice booty…" Sandrine laughed. "You're calendar will be filled soon enough."
"Maybe you're right." Sandrine said.
"You know what your problem is? You're almost too pretty. I should know." London said before putting on a fake air. "I've been cursed with stunning beauty myself. People like us are unapproachable."
Sandrine began laughing again. "You are too much!"
"Yes. Yes I am." London said. "Now I am going to get a fresh cup of coffee and read this paper and then you and I are going to start planning the black tie event of the year!"
"It's good to have you back… Mrs. Fitzpatrick." Sandrine said, using London's married name for the first time.
London smiled and looked down to play with her wedding band. "It's good to be back, Sandy. It's good to be back."
Maddie walked into her office without seeing anyone, an odd circumstance at nine in the morning. She put her bag down next to her desk and walked around to the other side, kicking her heels off as she settled into her big comfy leather chair. She looked at the stack of folders in her inbox for review and took a deep breath.
"Coffee. A big cup of coffee is what I need." Maddie said to herself before getting up and heading to the executive pantry. When she arrived there, she saw Chloe fixing a cup. "That stuff'll kill ya. So pour me one while you're at it." Maddie said.
Chloe spun around. "The soon-to-be Madeline Tipton, I presume?"
Maddie grinned and held up her hand, fingers pointing upward and wiggling showing off her wedding band. "How about the current Madeline Tipton."
"AAAAHHHHH!" Chloe screamed and bear hugged Maddie. "YOU GOT MARRIED? Tell me all about it!"
"Well, her surprise was a romantic dinner at Niagara Falls!" Maddie beamed.
"WHAT?" Chloe exclaimed.
"Yeah! We flew up there for a romantic dinner in the most beautiful restaurant that overlooked the falls." Maddie recalled. "Then after dinner, she took me to this beautiful park and right there under the stars, SHE proposed to ME!"
"She beat you to the punch?" Chloe said.
"With twelve carats of bling!" Maddie said, holding out her hand to show Chloe her rock.
"Damn! I was so excited, that I didn't even notice it!" Chloe inspected the ring close up. "Good grief!" Chloe stretched her eyes before looking up at Maddie. "That's a big fucking ring!" Maddie laughed. "So when did this wedding take place?"
Maddie motioned for them to go to her office. Chloe quickly poured two cups of fresh coffee and fixed them up as Maddie talked. "So right after she proposed and I threw my little stank proposal on top of it, we literally ran to the limousine and she whisked me on to the plane, and whisked us to New York to pick up Chelsea and Raven, and whisked us to Nashville to pick up Miley, Lilly and London's stepmother, and then she whisked us down to, are you ready for this… MIAMI… and the biggest, most luxurious resort mansion for the wedding on Saturday morning!" Maddie said, emphasizing the word "whisked" at every opportunity.
"God! I wish I could have been there!" Chloe exclaimed as they walked into Maddie's office. Maddie went to sit down at her desk. Chloe sat the two cups of coffee on the desk and sat across from Maddie.
"Well if I had known that London's biological mother was going to not only show up, but commandeer London's jet and fly our families and friends down, I would have told her to come pick you up!" Maddie said.
"Wait. Your mom and her biological mother were there?" Chloe asked incredulously. "And all hell didn't break loose?"
"They were both so loving and supportive and… motherly." Maddie said in an awestruck voice. "They were wonderful."
"I just noticed that you are absolutely glowing." Chloe said.
"I feel like it." Maddie said. "I haven't stopped smiling since Thursday."
Just then, Ray Collier walked by the office and noticed Maddie and Chloe sitting there.
"Well, welcome back Miss Fitzpatrick. We missed your smiling face around here." Ray said as he stepped into Maddie's office.
"Actually, Mister Collier, it's Mrs. Tipton now." Chloe said.
The look on Ray's face morphed into a look of contorted look of shock as he processed what he had just heard. "You and London got married?"
"Saturday morning. It was a one-year anniversary surprise." Maddie said.
"Well, come here and let me congratulate you!" Ray said the shock still evident by the look on his face. He opened his arms to embrace Maddie as she came from behind her desk to meet him. "I'm thrilled for both of you." He said as he embraced her.
"Thank you Ray." Maddie said smiling as they broke the embrace.
"Now we just changed the signs and the letterhead, and we're going to have to do it again." Ray said playfully.
"No you won't." Maddie said chuckling. "Professionally, I'm still Madeline Fitzpatrick."
"Even if you weren't, I'd change the signs today." Ray said.
"You are so sweet! Thank you." Maddie said.
"You won't be saying that when you look at next year's intern budget. I put it in your inbox." Ray said.
"Okay, you can leave now!" Maddie joked.
Ray laughed. "I'll talk to you two later. And again, congratulations."
"Thanks." Maddie said as Ray made his exit. "He's a sweetheart." Maddie said just as her phone rang.
"I'll get it." Chloe said before picking it up. "Collier, Beckett, Fitzpatrick. Madeline Fitzpatrick's office… who's calling… just a minute please." Chloe hit the hold button. "Greg Perry from Re/Max Exclusive Properties."
"I'll take it." Maddie said as she went to sit down. "Lunch, twelve o'clock. You and me." She said to the retreating Chloe, who nodded and put a thumb up in acceptance. "Greg, Maddie Fitzpatrick. How are you?"
"Not as great as you will be when I tell you that I found you and London THE perfect house in Wellesley." Greg said.
"That's great! When can we see it?" Maddie asked excitedly.
"Whenever you want. Today if you're free." Greg said.
"Gimme a sec. I'm gonna call London." Maddie said before putting him on hold.
"London Tipton."
"L, Baby, it's me. Greg found a house. We can go to see it today if you want." Maddie said.
"YES! Tell him two o'clock."
"Okay, babe. Love you."
"Love you too. Bye."
"Greg, my wife and I will meet you at two."
"Your wife? Congratulations!" Greg said. "You two believe in moving fast!"
"Life can't hit a moving target, Greg." Maddie chuckled. "See you at two… okay… you too." Maddie hung up the phone. I know I'm not a Yankee fan, but I can't resist. She thought to herself before paraphrasing the most famous line from New York Yankee baseball great Lou Gehrig's retirement speech complete with the stadium speaker echo. "Today, today, today, today… I consider myself, myself… the luckiest girl, girl, on the face, face of the earth, earth."
London walked into the Boston Celtics' headquarters at 11:30 to take care of some paperwork that she had left on her desk. As she went in, she was met by general manager and vice president of basketball operations, Terry Garvey.
"London, you know you didn't need to come in. I would have emailed the budgets to you for your signature." Terry said.
"It's okay. I like coming here. Plus I always learn something while I'm in the office." London said.
"Well, when you get a chance, look at the scouting budget. We had to cut it this year. Revenues are down." Terry said.
London thought about it for a moment. "Eliminate my expense account and concierge service. That should free up enough money to help out."
"London, you can't…"
"I can and I will. We can't win without good players. We can't find good players if we don't have the bodies and the resources to do so." London said. "I'll be fine. I can get my own drinks during games and I can pay for my own hot dogs."
"You're a piece of work." Terry said, shaking his head and smiling as he walked away pleased with his encounter with the boss.
London called out to him. "As long as you don't call me a piece of shit, then I'm cool with it." Terry laughed and kept walking.
London turned the corner to head down the executive wing on the way to her office when she saw a familiar face in the hallway.
"Well hey stranger! Fancy seeing you here!" Mary-Margaret said. She was returning to her desk following a meeting with her boss.
"Hi Emme! How are you?" London said as she embraced the Nubian beauty.
"I'm doing fine." Mary-Margaret said with a smile. "Thank you again for dinner last week. You and Maddie are very gracious hosts."
"You're welcome! We've go to do it again sometime soon." London said.
"So how is the love of your life?" Mary-Margaret said laughing.
"The love of my life is so lovely that I just had to up and marry her on Saturday." London said with reserved glee as she showed Mary-Margaret her ring.
"Shut… up! You two got married?" Mary-Margaret whisper-yelled. "That is… incredible!" She said as she embraced London. "I'm… beyond happy for you!" Seconds later, Corrie came strutting around the corner and saw the two women gleefully embracing.
"You better have a good reason for putting your hands on my woman!" Corrie joked.
Mary-Margaret turned around to Corrie. "Corr! London and Maddie got married! Look!" Mary-Margaret held out London's diamond-laden hand.
Corrie's face registered shock. "Marr—Married? That's… that's wonderful!" Corrie had been floored by the news of their nuptials. "Let me… kiss the bride." London stepped forward as Corrie gave her a hug and a quick kiss on the cheek. As she stepped back, Mary-Margaret noticed that the sparkle that normally resided in Corrie's eyes had dimmed considerably. Upon seeing this, yet another small piece of Mary-Margaret's heart broke, leaving her with a sour feeling in the pit of her stomach. It was in this moment, however, that the sour feeling was washed away in a tidal wave of unexpected resolve.
"London, do you mind if I talk to you for a moment in your office? It's about a personnel matter." Mary-Margaret stated.
"Sure. No problem." London said. "Corrie, I'll see you later?"
"Yeah! Yeah." Corrie said with half-hearted, halting enthusiasm.
"Okay. C'mon Emme." London said as they disappeared around the corner, leaving Corrie in the hallway to contemplate the loss of her white whale.
London and Mary-Margaret stepped inside London's office with London closing the door behind them. Mary-Margaret went over to the chair in front of London's desk to sit down, but London sat down on the leather couch on the other side of the office and motioned for Mary-Margaret to do the same.
"So who is this personnel issue about?" London asked.
Mary-Margaret dropped her head in contemplative thought for a moment before lifting it to speak. "It's not really a personnel issue. It's a… personal issue." She said before pausing. "I didn't want Corrie to know about this conversation."
"Okay. What's on your mind?" London inquired.
Mary-Margaret looked at London and had one last bit of reservation about baring her soul to a classmate that until recently she hadn't seen in over a decade and wasn't terribly fond of in school. But Mary-Margaret saw something kind and inviting in London's eyes that made her knew that talking to her wasn't a bad idea after all.
"London, I am hopelessly in love with Corrie. She has been my best friend since the fifth grade and she knows me better than anyone in the world." Mary-Margaret said.
"That's wonderful." London said.
"It's not wonderful because she has this obsessive fascination with you." Mary-Margaret said. London had tried to dismiss the warnings that Maddie tried to give her, but given the revelation from the woman that spends the most intimate time with Corrie, there was no dismissal of this information. It was as real and as accurate as it gets.
"Okay." London said flatly.
"I mean, she is the most devastatingly sexy, sensual, funny, thought-provoking person when we're together…" Mary-Margaret said with undeniable passion in her voice. "But then she sees you and she turns into a… goddamn puppy dog!" London simply nodded as she listened. "I mean, I bust my ass trying to please her and be everything to her and she hits me with this open relationship bullshit and I know…" Mary-Margaret was beginning to get agitated. "I know it's because she's holding out for you, for some sliver of hope that you will come to your senses and fall head over heels in love with her…" Mary-Margaret was then suddenly hit with a wave of emotion as she loudly and audibly gasped, signaling the onset of tears. "And I'm telling you because you're her obsession and I know that you aren't returning her affection, I just… I'm so fucking miserable because I know I should leave, I know I shouldn't play second fiddle to anybody, I know I should be loved and respected by someone who loves and respects me back, but I can't because I love her so much and does this make any sense? DOES IT?" London silently watched the onset of Mary-Margaret's meltdown. "I'm just so… fucked… up." Mary-Margaret dissolves into a quivering heap of tears the result of years of built-up angst pouring out.
"Come here." London whispered softly as she cradled Mary-Margaret's head and guided it to her bosom. Mary-Margaret openly and bitterly wept in the arms of the woman that was the inadvertent and indirect source of her pain. "If you really love her, if you really don't want to lose her, you've got to fight for her. You've got to call her on what she's doing. You don't say much to her, do you?" Mary-Margaret shook her head as her sobbing gradually began to subside. "You get frustrated and wonder 'what more do I have to do'." Mary-Margaret nodded her head yes. "And she acts as if she doesn't have a clue what you're getting upset about." Mary-Margaret nodded her head yes. "She's in total denial." London said as she stroked Mary-Margaret's hair. "You are going to eventually have to grab her and shake her, either figuratively or literally, to snap her out of her self-induced delusion. You're going to have to say, 'I love you goddamnit and I need you to love me back on my terms!', and you're going to have to mean it."
"I think I can do that." Mary-Margaret whispered as her head still rested on London's chest as she stared off into nothingness.
"Sure you can. And if she has one active brain cell, she'll come to her senses." London said.
"Sounds like you're an expert on this." Mary-Margaret said.
"Slightly different circumstance but the same idea." London said as she thought back to the darkest period in her life and the verbal snapback she received.
FLASHBACK (Saturday, June 14, 2008, 1 pm, London's suite at the Tipton Hotel)
London was sitting on the settee in her room staring at some program on the television that she had no interest in. After the death of her father in October, London suffered a nervous breakdown in January and narrowly survived a suicide attempt in February. She had officially dropped out of Harvard at the end of the spring semester and had resorted to sitting in her room vegetating, eating only when forced by Maddie, Esteban or Marion.
It was one in the afternoon and she hadn't moved from her spot since she crawled out of bed at ten. Only a persistent knock at her door roused her. London slowly rose to her feet and shuffled over to the door and eased it open.
"Hey Princess." Maddie said in a playful but reserved tone.
"Hey." London said lifelessly.
"It's a beautiful day outside. Let's go for a walk in the park, go find that mime guy. You love him." Maddie said with a smile.
"I'm not in the mood." London droned as she sat back down on the settee.
"Come on. You're doctor said it's good for you to get outside, get some sun on your face, the wind in your hair, you know, simplify." Maddie encouraged.
"I'm watching TV. It doesn't get much simpler than that." London said before turning her attention back to the screen.
Maddie stood and looked at London for a moment, contemplating her next sentence. "So this is it, huh? This is London. Sitting on the couch watching… The History Channel and turning into a dust ball."
"Pretty much." London replied dryly. This was followed by more silence.
"Have you eaten today?" Maddie asked.
"Not hungry." London's responses were becoming more and more lifeless.
Maddie walked over to London and reached for the remote. "Put down the remote, we'll go get something to eat, get some sun…"
London suddenly snatched away from Maddie. "I don't want anything to eat and I don't want any sun! Will you please just get out of here and leave me the fuck alone!"
"I'm not going anywhere!" Maddie said as her spine stiffened. "I am your best friend and I'll be damned if I'm gonna let you do this!"
"Do what?" London said with fatigued exasperation.
"Wallow in your own shit!" Maddie exclaimed. "Your father died. It ripped your guts out. I get that. You lost a piece of your soul. I get that too. There is nothing wrong with grieving. Grieve for years if you have to. I know you loved the man and he loved you. But do you think he'd want to see you like this? A shell of your former self, letting the television watch you waste away?"
London's head shot around. "My father died! The only man in my life that loved me died and I wasn't there for him when he needed me!"
"Wake up London! You were there for him! You got two days with him at the end! Some people don't even get that! And HOW DARE YOU say that he was the only man in your life that loved you!" Maddie fumed. "Moseby WEPT for you when you were lying in that hospital room clinging to life! HE WOULDN'T FUCKING LEAVE YOU HE LOVED YOU SO MUCH! And Zack and Cody and Esteban and even Lance, your ex-boyfriend have all shed tears for you, and checked up on you, and worried sick about you." Maddie's eyes filled with tears as they spilled onto her cheeks. "You have so many people in your life that love you and care for you that don't want to and can't lose you! So EXCUSE ME if I don't go running scared because you raise your voice to me, curse at me and tell me to leave, because I won't do it! I won't let you wither away and die, because I love you too much, LONDON!" Maddie was now sobbing. "I WILL NOT FUCKING BURY YOU! DO YOU HEAR ME! I WILL NOT LET YOU DIE!" Maddie screamed as she sobbed. "So you get your ass off the couch right now, because if you don't I will pick you up and fling you over my shoulder like a sack OF POTATOES!" Maddie paused as London looked at her in shock, like a light had just clicked in her head. Then Maddie snapped and raised her volume to its highest level as she exploded. "DO YOU FUCKING HEAR ME LONDON? DO YOU?" Maddie was at her wits end.
London stood up and walked over to Maddie and embraced her as Maddie broke down and wept bitterly. "I hear you, Maddie." London whispered softly. "I hear you."
END OF FLASHBACK
"If you lay your heart open to her with no tricks, and she still doesn't respond to you then you know she's not the one for you, no matter how painful it is to admit." London said as Mary-Margaret slowly sat up and looked London in the eyes. "But I have a feeling that you will crack her. I remember Corrie to be a lot of things, but stupid isn't one of them."
"I'm a mess, aren't I?" Mary-Margaret said chuckling.
"You're not a mess. You're in love." London said. "But like somebody recently told me, dependin' on who you ask Darlin', they're one in the same." London recalled Miranda's response to her wedding/execution comparison.
"Thank you London. This meant a lot." Mary-Margaret said sweetly.
"We all need a little help sometimes, especially when it comes to love." London smiled. "Now go in the bathroom and clean yourself up. You can't go back out there all puffy and red." Mary-Margaret nodded and went to the bathroom as London had suggested.
London sat back on the couch and stared at the bathroom door for a moment then down at her wedding rings before letting her head fall back as she stared at the ceiling.
"Ahh, Corrie. She really loves you." London said out loud to herself. "Don't fuck this up."
Welcome back to Beantown. As you can see, the drama was waiting for their return. What's gonna happen next? You know what to do to find out. PLEASE REVIEW.