The Complications of Marriage
(Gale/Madge)
(Modern Day)

Today was going to be a long day. Cameras would be flashing and reporters would be shouting out incoherent things at them. Sometimes it sucked being married to the biggest pop star in the world. But that was life and no matter what, he loved her.

Madeline Donner was the biggest name in music and was known universally, but Madge (Undersee) Hawthorne was known by a small group of friends – and one of those friends happened to be her husband of five years, Gale Hawthorne. They couldn't go anywhere without seeing her name in lights, or her face on a billboard, or crazed fans wanting him to take pictures of her with them. It was a wild rollercoaster that wasn't always easy and they had their fair share of fights about it, but they stuck with it. And today was just another day.

"Are you ready!?" She yells from the bathroom. She comes out in a sparkling, bejeweled, silver gown that took his breath away. He completely forgot about the nuisance tie around his neck, his hands falling to his sides and his lips parted in awe. "What?" she questions, a rosy blush spreading up her chest and face.

"W-W-Wow, you look…" he shallows thickly and flexes his hands, trying is damn hardest to not run over there and rip her dress off right there, right then, "you look beautiful."

If possible, her blush runs even hotter, turning from rosy to crimson. She pushes her hair behind her ear and looks at the ground with a small smile. She glances up through her eyelashes at him; she saunters over to him slowly, sexily. She brings up a perfectly manicured hand and slowly runs her hand down his arm from his shoulder to his fingertips, never leaving eye contact. She smirks when his breathing hitches and he shallows thickly a few times. For a brain surgeon, she could really affect him sometimes. Around her, he seemed to lose his focus, something he could never do at work. Around her, his heart pounds a little too fast and his temperature rises. Around her, he felt his veins light on fire and his blood pumping in ears. And she could do that with a simple touch, a simple look, a simple gesture.

"Do you need help with that?" At first he didn't understand what she meant. She smirks again and tugs on both ends of the tie still slung around his neck. Her nimble fingers twists and turn around the tie until it's in a beautiful Double Windsor. She tugs swiftly on it, causes his head to come down to her level. She pecks him on the lips twice before wrapping her arms around his middle and resting her ear over his heart. His heart was pounding and she enjoyed knowing that she could do this. She buries her face into his chest to hide her smile.

"Is this award show really this important?" he whispers into her hair. His fingers grazing her skin through the open back of her sparkly dress. She tightens her arms around his ribs as his fingers run up and down her spine, feather light.

"Mmmhmm, I am a nominee for ten awards. Or did I forget to mention that?" she laughs lightly and stretches her neck to kiss his jaw. "And I look pretty!"

"I know another way you look pretty." His voice was husky and dark, his eyes darken. She leans up again and kisses his chin again and glances out of the glass wall behind their bed. The sky was darkening and the sun was starting to set. They needed to go soon.

"Ready?"

He rolls his eyes, "As I'll ever be."

She slips her hand into his and marvels at the fact that their hands fits together so perfectly. She glances down at their interlinked hands for a moment before tugging him out the door.

…

In the limo on the way there, she kept smoothing out the wrinkles in the cuffs of his suit jacket sleeves. Award shows always made him nervous. It wasn't his element. Now surgery and being surrounded by people dressed in white lab jackets and light blue poke-a-doted, backless gowns were his element. Being surrounded by famous people in expensive suits and dresses that cost more than his med school was foreign to him.

"Gale, calm down," she laughs at her husband, "You've done this a million times."

"No, no, I've done brain surgery a million times…This…This award thing is so much harder than surgery."

She soothes his hair back off his sweaty forehead, "You're being silly." Her playful smile never leaving her face. "I appreciate you coming, though." He nods quickly, trying to get his wits about him. He closes his eyes just as the limo rounds the corner towards the flashing lights and the red carpet. He takes a deep breath and hops out of the limo, extending his hand back to her.

The crowd starts screaming out, "Maddie! Maddie! Maddie!" the second her heel hits the red carpet, "Maddie! Maddie! Maddie!"

She smiles brightly at them and even brighter when she looks up at Gale. She waves and walks through the blinding lights like a pro, only slightly dragging Gale behind her. She never forgot him though, their hands stayed linked and she would look back at him every once and a while, mouthing, "Are you okay?" back at him. Of course he was he just had to pose and smile and look lovey dovey at his wife – which was easy enough to do.

But it wasn't until a reporter was asking Madge about something the tabloids had been reporting on for the past few days that caught his attention.

"The world wants to know who Madeline Donner's mystery man is. Can you tell us a name!?" a reporter from E! shouts at her. "You've been seen an awful lot with him during your husband's work hours!" His eyebrows furrow at the reporter, but other than that no one would know the questions affected him.

"Oh no, no, no, he's just a friend!" she corrects the implications of the reporter. "Really."

But Gale's stomach tightens anyways. Was she cheating on him? With who? No, no she wouldn't do that! I trust her, I trust her. Her hand squeezes him but she doesn't look back him. She continues to make her case to the reporter but he was no longer listening. His mind was in a whirlwind, going back and forth, back and forth between believing her and not believing her.

"Gale…Gale?" the reporter gives him a funny look.

"Gale, honey." Madge squeezes his hand once again and swings his arm a little, her eyebrows wrinkles together, "She asked you a question."

He appears to be startled, "Oh, what? Sorry?" he could hardly think clearly. Not even when the beautiful Taylor Swift came up and hugged Madge and him really quickly.

"What do you think about this whole ordeal with your wife?"

He scratches the back of his head, "Uh-um, I trust her. If she says she didn't, then she didn't. End of story." His voice started out weak and confused but at the end it was strong. Madge shot him a sweet smile and they moved onto the next photographer and a few more reporters before heading into the arena.

The rest of the show flows with ease. He actually manages to have fun and dances with Madge all night. They share sweet, quick kisses in between commercial breaks and when Madge went up to accept her awards. The people around them were ohhing and ahhing at them all night, some even made comments about how cute they still were, and how they kept the magic alive. But the Mystery Man was always lingering in the back of his mind.

…

The limo ride back was when the fighting started.

"Who the hell is the Mystery Man?" he exploded. He couldn't take it anymore. Here he was, going to work every day and saving lives, and here she was, getting all close to some man that wasn't him!?

"I'm not cheating on you!" she screams at him, her hands dive for his but he moves away. Her hands collide against the black leather seat alone and her heart pinches tightly. He doesn't believe her. Her face falls in sadness and disbelief, her pain clearly written across her face. Betrayal was written on his.

He wanted to comfort her, he did, but he couldn't find it in himself to move. Who was this man? And why couldn't she just tell him his name?

He felt like he couldn't catch his breath when he asked, "Who is he?" His chest was heaving and tears were brimming his eyes. The stress from his day at work (he lost two patients) and the stress of the award show and more were just bubbling to an explosion. He couldn't take it anymore. He loved this woman and she was lying to him, hiding things from him. Did they vow they wouldn't?

"Gale –" she starts but the limo rolls up to their front drive in their gated community.

"Just…Just drop it." He shakes his head and slips out of the car, heading up the dark drive toward their beautiful home. He unlocks the heavy stone door and shoves it opens, not even bothering to turn on the lights. He just walks up to wooden steps and kicks off his shoes at the top of the stairs. He still felt like he couldn't breathe.

He realizes that he's exhausted. Everything is finally catching up with him and he feels sick to his stomach. He doesn't know if he wants to just break and pull all his hair out, cry for those two patients (one was a child and one was an older man) and his screwed up life, or scream some more. He was just done.

Furiously, he twists the shower knob to full blast and strips from his suit. When he's down to nothing and has nothing to do but wait for the water to warm up, he pulls at his hair and clenches his jaw.

"Why can't she just tell me?" he grumbles and kicks the sink, "Ow!" he whines and then curses under his breath for his own stupidity. He gives up on waiting and hops into, what was supposed to be still cold, hot burning water. He jumps and nearly flings himself into the shower wall to get away from the shower's hot spray. He reaches his long, slender arm out into the water to turn it to halfway.

Now he wasn't just mad, he was beyond furious.

He finishes quickly and glares at his wife as he pulls on clothes before stalking out of the room. He angrily grabs a bowl and the box of Captain Crunch: Oops All Berries cereal and snacks on it harshly.

He doesn't even notice when Madge walks into the kitchen with a box. She stays on the other side of the counter and clears her throat.

"It was –"

A beep cut her off. His pager. He was being called in for emergency brain surgery.

"Shit." He says, "Shit!" he rushes out of the kitchen, not even bothering to head up stairs to change. He just grabs his pager and his bag and leaves for the garage. He pulls out of the garage and Madge watches the headlights pull out of the drive.

"Shit." She whispers and collapses on the floor, "Shit." She cries. She was so close to getting it out. She hated when he was mad at her. And yet work interfered again. It was always one of them lately.

…

He didn't come back for several hours. And she worried that he'd lose another patient again today. Well tomorrow – their Anniversary. She knew how much it hurt him to lose them, how hard it was to keep going through his day. But she believed in his ability – as did most of the country. He wasn't the top surgeon for nothing.

But when he did, she was still awake. She was curled up in the middle of the bed. She always waited up for him when things like this happened.

"I need a favor." He says as they curl up into bed in the middle of the night after their long day.

She laughs a little, wrapping her arms around his waist from behind and nuzzling her nose in between his shoulder blades. She smiles into his back as his scent – pine and peppermint – filled her senses. "And what is that?"

"I need you to love me forever."

"Will do." She whispers against his back. They fall asleep soon after with smiles on their faces and their hearts swelling with love.

A/N: Tumblr: Smilerforyou