Desolation, Part VII

Author: Sirius

Dislaimer: See Part I

Author's Note: As always, reviews are welcome

Chapter summary:  As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that Ron Butterfield knew more than anyone thought.

Abbey, having arrived a few short minutes before the confrontation in the parking lot, met the group just outside the doors to the Residence.  Charlie didn't even notice when his two supporters set him on the couch.  Ron's voice murmuring in the background offered quiet testimony to the fact that he was telling Security to stand down, that Charlie had been located. 

"Abbey, have someone call the rest of the Staff and tell them Charlie's been found.  They can stay here or they can go home and get some rest, but they should know that he's here."  Abbey nodded, worried eyes locked on Charlie, knowing that Deena was gone but not yet aware of the details.

Charlie was shaking… endlessly, quietly shaking, desperately trying to rebuild that wall.  Need to think.  Have to get out of here; have to protect them.  Had to protect Deena, but Deena's gone now.  Zoey.  Can't be anywhere near Zoey, but Zoey's in France, so that's good.  He didn't notice Bartlet sharing worried glances with Josh, didn't see the eyes resting on his too pale face, didn't feel the arms around him – the arms that belonged to the only real father he'd ever had.  The other one hadn't been around much – jackass.  Think, Charlie.  Just stop and think for a minute.  NO!  Charlie argued with himself, back and forth. I don't want to remember Deena like that. His brain whispered the words again, over and over, endlessly; it wouldn't stop.  The sister, then her, and then you, Charlie.  Sister, then HER, and then you, Charlie. 

"Ron."  Charlie's voice, hoarse and strained nearly to breaking, drew everyone's attention, but the only person he noticed was the lanky Service Agent.  "They'll be after Zoey next.  They don't know we broke up.  I get her to go to France and she's still not safe.  They'll come after her as soon as she sets foot in this country, and there's no way that pansy-ass boyfriend would try to protect her if it meant his own skin." 

Bartlet's gaze went ice cold as he looked at his Security Chief.  Charlie had lapsed back into silence by the time the President spoke.  "Ron," he said, "what haven't you been telling me?"

Ron didn't answer him immediately, but came instead to stand before Charlie and place a hand on the younger man's shoulder.  Charlie looked up at him, and the look they shared was one of brothers, two warriors fighting for one cause.  Charlie saw a question in the agent's face, but couldn't speak… not at first.  He nodded, and then said – slowly, "Tell him all of it.  There's no need to keep it from him now – no depositions, no re-election campaign.  We've still got the inauguration to worry about, but what the hell."

Ron nodded, walked to the door and leaned out enough to speak to his nearest subordinate.  "Eagle wants to know what's up with Knight.  Bring me a copy of the file."

Obviously, Ron knows a lot more about this than he's been telling anyone, and so do the rest of the agents, if they automatically know which file Ron wants.  In Josh's mind, that couldn't be good.  What the hell had Charlie been keeping from them… and why?

The agent moved once more to stand before Charlie – once again oblivious even to Bartlet's arms supporting him – and, with the President's permission, took a seat in the chair directly across from the three.  He had not yet started speaking when Leo and the remainder of the staff silently entered the room.

"Now would be a good time to fill us in, Ron.  Whenever this mess started would have been better."  Butterfield acknowledged the reprimand with a nod and began to speak.

"Everyone here is aware that Charlie began to receive hate mail here shortly after the first publicized photo that had him standing next to you, sir.  The frequency of such letters increased when it became known that he was dating your daughter.  Per SOP, we investigated the mail, recorded anything we could find, but even after Rosslyn, the only letters there were standard – they said a lot, but didn't plan to do anything.  West Virginia White Pride never actually sent him hate mail; they chose to act, instead.  Shortly before the depositions, Charlie began to get new letters – letters that showed in-depth knowledge of the planning that went into the Rosslyn attack.  Most of the previous mail had only threatened physical harm to Charlie himself.  These newer letters also targeted Zoey and Deanna."  Ron paused for a moment.

"Charlie was worried about you, sir; he believed that you had enough to deal with and didn't want this placed on your plate, as well.  Charlie made sure that Deanna's lessons were more frequent than they had been, and Zoey's detail was increased – without her knowledge.  He made a valid point that knowing about the extra agent might well "freak her out," and I went with it.  A month before Zoey's graduation, Charlie started getting the letters at home… and they had art.  Each of these letters had pictures – Charlie in public, running errands, entering his apartment, or Zoey heading into her dorm room, to or from classes, visiting Charlie.  He knew as well as I did that people were watching Zoey, that if they could get close enough to take pictures without anyone knowing they were there…"

"They would be close enough to fire a gun without anyone knowing they were there."  Josh finished Butterfield's sentence as Donna moved to stand behind the couch, putting one hand on Josh's shoulder and one on Charlie's. 

"Exactly.  I don't know exactly what happened between Charlie and Zoey after that, but I am aware that he spent more time in the office and she didn't come by as often, that they rarely spoke to one another, and I was soon informed that she had every intention of making a post-graduation trip to France."

"He pushed her away."  Abbey spoke from where she stood – to her husband's other side.  "He pushed her away so that she would distance herself from the danger.  And what could provide more distance than an ocean?"  Ron nodded.

"Right now, he needs her," Ron said.  "But he would and will sacrifice everything to keep her safe.  We had several long talks when he became aware that she was coming back for the holidays – and he had more than a few sparring sessions with the younger agents after every talk with her new interest."  Ron's face slipped from its detached mask into a distinct scowl.  "Jean-Paul was baiting him, and is damned lucky Charlie didn't rise to it.  Something would have been broken if he had."

Charlie heard none of this, lost in the images of a very long day, shivering with reaction and heading into shock.  Bartlet looked at Abbey with a plea in his eyes and she, with Toby's help, maneuvered Charlie off the couch and set about getting him to a guest room.

Once Charlie was out of hearing range, Josh spoke.  "Charlie doesn't know that Zoey's on a plane back here right now, and Zoey has no idea what's happened,"

"She might," Bartlet responded.  Everyone looked at him, confused.  "Zoey called this afternoon, while Toby and I were engaged in a game of chess, and asked if everyone was alright.  She said that she had a feeling that something was wrong and that she was headed back home.  The boarding call was announced before I had a chance to figure out what exactly was going on."

"Her detail doesn't even know the full story, sir," Ron commented.  "They just know that around 10-10:30 am our time, she told them to pack and book tickets on the next flight back to DC."

"DiMenna said that he took Charlie down to the morgue to see Deena about twenty after ten," CJ stated, wearily rubbing her forehead.  How much more can Charlie take?  How much more can any of us take?

Bartlet closed his eyes.  "He's terrified for her.  Hell, I'm terrified for her, Ron; she's my daughter.  There's a part of me that's glad she's not involved with him anymore – because of the danger.  The larger part of me wants to kick both their asses six ways till Sunday and tell them to get their act together.  He needs her, and from what you're telling me, she never wanted to leave him.  Where do we go from here?"

"Give Charlie a detail, and when he wants to work, let him.  For now, I would recommend against telling him that Zoey's on an airplane home.  In the mindset he's in, he'd probably lose it completely, thinking that there would be no way to keep her safe if she's on U.S. soil.  What we can tell him is that if he tries to leave, we will find him and drag him back here.  He has had his sister taken from him in a manner so violent that very few people would be able to deal with it, but he still has family left, and most of the Service would watch over him in their off-duty hours if they weren't allowed to do it officially.  He's our brother now, and we look after our own."