Lex talionis
Chapter 01. Splendid creature with a hundred eyes
Grudge, risks, lies and atonement in Isobel's odyssey to save Jubal's life.
Author's note: A story to liven up the time between seasons. Takes place shortly after the 4th season. This is a translation of my story "La ley del talión". If you find any typos or grammatical errors, please, let me know.
That frigid winter morning the call came in not only that Rina had been hit by a gunshot. Jubal had been wounded as well. The ADIC had been taken to the hospital, but he had failed to survive.
And Isobel's heart had stopped as if it was no longer capable of beating.
The device had not jammed, it had recognized Jubal's face, just as it had recognized Rina's, and had riddled him with bullets. He had just died, lying in the street. Isobel could see him there, on the sidewalk, in the middle of the pool of his own blood.
She knelt down beside him. The knees of her pants got stained of red. She reached out her hand to his pale, lifeless face, but dared not touch it.
The gut-wrenching emptiness it left inside Isobel was impossible to handle. The notion that she had lost him forever, that she would never be with Jubal again, never speak to him, never laugh at his jokes... Her soul just could not bear that pain.
When Isobel woke up, her face was soaked with tears and her heart pounding, as usual. It was not the first time she had had that nightmare, no. Almost every week she woke up with that particular anguish. It usually took her hours to fully recover and she could never go back to sleep.
She was not the only one given bad dreams by Vargas' diabolical devices. Jubal had told her that several times he had dreamed that his children were threatened by those cursed boxes. Moreover, even if he didn't mention it, he surely dreamed about Rina too.
On top of that, the feeling of guilt was just crushing. Everything that had happened was her fault. If she hadn't threatened Vargas' family... She should have found another way to make the capo of Durango give in.
And to find a way to fix it tormented her... But, Rina, as well as that innocent woman and child, were dead. Nothing could change that now.
Isobel could never forgive herself for that. And if she couldn't, surely Jubal, even less so.
·~·~·
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" exclaimed everyone in the JOC.
Isobel looked around, startled.
Late in the afternoon, Jubal had taken her to the central room with some routine excuse. Now he was smiling at her, beaming. "What, did you think you were going to dodge us for the third year in a row?" he asked with sparkling eyes.
It was indeed Isobel's birthday, but even she herself had kept it in mind. It had been a quiet day. However, after a night of nightmares, Isobel had been feeling odd all day, as if her soul did not match her own body. It had taken her completely by surprise. "But how did you know...?" she asked, puzzled.
"These people are the best at their job," said Jubal, putting his arm around Elise and Ian's shoulders. "Do you really think they're not capable of figuring something like this out?
Everyone began to gather their things.
Jubal handed her jacket and handbag. Isobel looked at him dumbfounded. When had he taken them from her office?
"Let's go. We've booked a nearby pub with Karaoke to go celebrate," he said with a resolute nod of his head.
"But I don't…" Isobel tried to resist, overwhelmed.
"Uh-uh," Maggie denied, grabbing her arm, "We won't take 'no' for an answer." And they took her drinking, dancing and singing.
At first, Isobel had felt very self-conscious, in front of all her subordinates, but little by little, especially thanks to Jubal's, Maggie's and Scola's carefree attitude, Isobel had managed to relax and enjoy herself.
They even ate cake and had a gift for her: a pendant enameled with the spread out and studded with eyes colorful tail of a peacock.
"It represents the unique, splendid creature that has more than a hundred eyes that never closes. Just like you," Jubal had said as he handed it to her, winking. He had managed to make her blush, and Isobel had to hide it by examining the jewel closely. Its size was elegant and discreet, and at the same time, its workmanship, exquisite.
"Let's have a toast," Jubal proposed, unknowingly saving her from that embarrassing moment.
When much later, everyone began to leave, Jubal insisted on walking Isobel home. They walked slowly side by side. It was a pleasant late spring evening, warm without being hot.
"I didn't know you could sing like that..." he observed, still impressed by her version of Shakira's 'Ciega, sordomuda'. She had a beautiful voice that sounded especially warm and exotic when she sang in Spanish.
"Well, I haven't always been over forty, you know?" Isobel replied with a smile and a sidelong glance that quickened Jubal's pulse but without her noticing.
"Of course..." He cleared his throat slightly, calling his reactions to order.
At no point in the party had she ever lost her composure, she was a very classy woman, but the smiling image of Isobel, singing and dancing, was not going to disappear from Jubal's mind any time soon.
"Thank you very much for this…" said Isobel as they reached the door of her building. It's been... a lot of fun," she admitted.
"I think we all needed a bit to relax."
"The truth is that it has been a while since I had such a good time..." Something in her chest had her so overwhelmed that she did not even dare to look at him directly.
Jubal faced her and gently grabbed her arm above the elbow affectionately. "We've been neglecting you a lot since..." he grimaced slightly, "well, for too long. You're always taking care of us. It was about time we took care of you. You can be sure we care a lot about you," he affirmed.
Jubal's smile struck her as endearing, and Isobel found herself fighting with herself not to yearn so strongly for even more contact. Fortunately, he withdrew his hand.
"You've had enough on your plate," Isobel argued, "without having to worry about me." Her heart ached at Jubal's grief because of Rina's passing, because Tyler's illness. And he had lost Jess too...
Yes, it was true that it had been a bad time for both of them, but Jubal shook his head, playing it down.
"I know how much you will miss Jess. But you're not alone. Please count on me-" he cleared his throat. "Count on us. We're here for you. Always. You don't have to deal with everything by yourself all the time, okay?"
Isobel clutched at the pendant she had been given, and was now wearing, lest she do something foolish, such as seek his embrace.
"All right," she nodded. "Thank you. Really," she tried not to sound as moved as she really felt. She looked up and was suddenly caught in Jubal's hazel eyes… until her guilt choked her once more. "See you tomorrow," she murmured, and had to make a great effort to pull her face away and turn to enter her house.
He shoved his hands deep into his pants pockets.
Isobel sternly forced herself not to look over her shoulder at him as she opened the front door and stepped inside. In doing so, she didn't get to see him swallow hard or sigh deeply and quietly as he replied to her.
"See you tomorrow."
·~·~·
A few days later, Jubal still had a bittersweet feeling. He was glad that he had thrown Isobel that birthday party. He thought it had managed to cheer her up a bit, and it had been great to see her enjoying herself and smiling...
But, on the other hand, he wasn't sure it had succeeded in getting Isobel to feel confident enough to come to him if she needed it. She was still hiding behind her walled defenses.
He was very concerned about her. She was under a lot of pressure from her bosses, plus recently someone had attacked her in her own home and she had in addition been ill.
He was driving to the 26 Fed, deep in those troubled thoughts. He just happened to catch the third red light in a row. Jubal sighed, summoning his patience. It was Friday. Traffic was hellish, as always is on Fridays. That weekend Abi and Tyler were supposed to spend it with him, and he had to pick them up in White Plains after work, so he was taking the car instead of the subway as usual.
Also, Jubal knew that Isobel felt very guilty about what had happened to the Vargas family and the revenge the gangster had sworn to them all. He feared that Isobel was punishing herself without seeking help...
The traffic light where he had stopped changed to green and he started up again. He was somewhat distracted and had priority. However, when the huge garbage truck rammed at the intersection at full speed, thanks to the adrenaline rush and his training he was able to react: he held on to the steering wheel and put his foot down on the accelerator. The vehicle leapt forward like a rearing horse.
Unfortunately, even then he did not manage in time to get out of the path of the truck, which was coming at him like a projectile. The armored nose slammed into the back of his car.
Suddenly, Jubal found himself spinning around, with airbags going off and glass shattering all around him.
~.~.~.~
A/N 1: Lex talionis. Law of retaliation. It is a principle developed in early Babylonian law and is also present in the Bible as 'an eye for an eye'.
A/N 2: The Greek goddess Hera placed the hundred eyes of her faithful servant Argos Panoptes, the giant who never slept, on the peacock's tail so that they would be preserved forever.
A/N 3: I chose "Ciega, sordomuda" by Shakira because because it has a lot of Mexican ranchera (for the origin of Isobel) and because the lyrics resonate with how she feels in my story 😉. Look it up if you're curious. You can easily find it on youtube.
