Mr Brightside, a captain power fanfic

Title: Mr. Brightside

Rating: T

Summary: Pre-war and pre-series. How Lyman Taggart and Morganna Power came together.

Disclaimer: I do not own Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future. If I did, I would have marketed it better and not ended it so stupidly.

January was colder than ever that year. Snow fell all day and night and the streets were almost empty because of the bitter cold. People left the comforting warmth of their homes only for dire necessity. A wonderful way to start the New Year.

Was visiting friends a dire necessity? Lyman Taggart wondered. Not really but he could use a few hours away from his dull apartment anyway. It was getting depressing just lying on an empty bed, staring at his left side, remembering it used to be warmed by Janine's body. But it would never be warmed by her body.

Stuart had invited Taggart over to have dinner with him and his family on New Year. He'd said just a few days earlier, "Lyman, I know it's still hard for you being without Janine and all. But you can't keep yourself locked up in your apartment and buried in your work. Just take it easy, okay? Come and have dinner with us…Morganna will be delighted."

And so here he was now, with a bottle of French red wine in his hand, pressing the doorbell. He was dressed in black, matching his hair and he drew his long coat tighter around him. People would have to be crazy to get out in this weather, dire necessity or not.

A moment later, the steel door slid open and there was little Jonathan Power, dressed warmly in an emerald green sweater and blue jeans. His black hair had been trimmed very elegantly, probably because of Christmas and his mother's acute fashion sense, and he looked up at the older man, recognition in his blue eyes.

"Uncle Lyman!" he said with a huge smile, stepping aside to get the older man in.

Taggart smiled back, relief flooding through him as he felt the heat inside the house envelope him. He took off his coat and hung it on the back of the door. "Hello, Jon," he said as his brown eyes lit up for a moment with genuine affection and he patted the boy on the head. "Is your father in?"

As an answer to his question, there was a deep, warm voice calling through the corridor. "Lyman! Is that you?" Dr. Power came through the corridor with a grin.

"Evening, Stuart," Taggart shook hands with his colleague and handed him the bottle of wine. "Hope I'm not too late."

"Not at all," Stuart led him into the living room. Jon followed them quietly and he sat in the corner of the room, going back to playing with his toys. Taggart would never admit this but there was something about the boy that unnerved him. He had lately starting feeling uneasy whenever Jon was around but he tried not to show it.

The two men sat on the couch, facing each other. There was a brief silence. And then Taggart cleared his throat.

"Stuart," he said in a hushed voice, at last ready to talk about one of the two things that bothered him. "I've made an important discovery with Overmind…I have an idea…"

Stuart dismissed the idea with a wave of his hand. "For God's sake, Lyman, can't you let your work rest for a single moment? We'll talk about this when the holidays are over."

Taggart went silent and then he nodded. "All right." He wished he hadn't brought work up.

"I just want you to relax, all right?" Stuart went on with an exasperated sigh. "You can't keep thinking about work all the time…you'll go crazy."

The trouble was, Taggart already considered himself to be half-mad. Half mad with desire for another man's wife, a woman he could never have.

"The weather's terrible outside," he changed the subject.

"Yes," Stuart agreed, "Morganna was wondering if you'd be able to make it or not. I'm glad you came."

Taggart smiled. "Speaking of Morganna," it was the first time that evening that he'd said her dear name out loud, "where is she?"

"She's still in the kitchen," replied Stuart. Then he got up. "I'll go check up on her. Excuse me."

Taggart found himself still smiling.

He was now left alone in the living room with Jon, who seemed more interested in his building blocks than in the older man. He cleared his throat again and adjusted his collar. At that moment, he caught Jon looking up at him with piercing blue eyes.

Sometimes he could actually swear that the boy could see right through him.

"So, Jon," he said, trying to strike up a conversation. "How's school for you?" What a boring thing to say to a child (but then again he couldn't discuss Overmind with him, now could he?). He'd never really gotten along with children anyway.

"Fine," John solemnly replied.

"How old are you?" Taggart knew the answer but he asked anyway.

"Eight," Jon's gaze never faltered. It was unnerving.

After just two questions, Taggart was already running out of things to say to the child. He'd known Jon since the latter was four years old and the two saw each other quite often. On some occasions, he'd had to pick Jon up from school when Stuart had been too busy to make it and Morganna was doing a fashion show in some exotic place like Paris and Vienna. He most certainly had nothing against the child (that would just be way too ridiculous) but he felt rather uneasy around him.

Perhaps it was guilt. There was nothing to be nervous about. His guilty conscience just made him feel that way. He had no reason to be afraid of Jon Power.

He noticed that Jon had already started working on a huge puzzle.

"What's that you're making?" he asked, his interest peaked. He liked puzzles and riddles.

Jon held up the cover of the puzzle box. "It's a picture of Venice. Mom and dad got it for me for my birthday."

Taggart looked at the picture, admiring the stone bridges, dark waters and gondolas. "Very nice," he nodded, feeling better. "Have you been able to finish it yet?"

Jon shook his head and said that he was still trying.

Taggart was saved from having to continue the conversation when Stuart's head peeked in. There was a huge smile on the bearded man's face. "Dinner's ready," he announced.

Taggart's heartbeat fastened. It was the moment he had been waiting for and dreading at the same time. It was odd that he should feel this way as he had been to dinner parties in their house before. He gingerly followed Stuart and Jon into the dining room where a very beautiful woman was setting the table. She stopped to look at him and then she smiled. "Hello, Lyman," she said, her voice soft and sensuous, rolling in honey.

Taggart nearly died right there, having been caught like a deer in the headlights.

Jon's face lit up at the sight of the woman and he ran to her arms. "Mommy!"

Stuart chuckled and took Taggart by the arm to lead him to a chair.

Morganna started laughing as she picked up her son and kissed him. "Hey, there, baby," she said. "Careful now." She looked at the two men and laughed again. "You'd think that he hadn't seen me in years!" She kissed her son again. "Why don't you help mommy set up the table?"

Jon nodded eagerly, got down from her lap and ran to the kitchen enthusiastically.

It was this woman that Taggart had been afraid to see and at the same time yearned to see. It was for her that he had come all the way across town in the freezing weather.

Morganna Power. Stuart's wife. Jon's mother.

Jon came into the room with a bowl of peas and mashed potatoes. Soon they took their seats, Stuart sitting at one end of the table, Morganna and Taggart beside him, opposite to each other. Taggart would have been perfectly satisfied with the sitting arrangements if Jon hadn't been sitting beside him. At least Jon was paying more attention to his mother, obviously enamoured with her, Taggart noticed.

Then again, who wouldn't be? Morganna Power was smart, beautiful and sexy. What was more was that she was a world-famous supermodel. Nearly ten years ago, she'd been involved with country singer Thomas Reynolds and everyone who followed her work expected them to tie the knot. But Morganna, who'd never been predictable, had instead gone ahead and married Dr. Stuart Power, a brilliant military scientist working towards bringing together all the Biomechs of the world.

It had been an unlikely match, fashion critics had said. Who had ever heard of a supermodel marrying a military scientist? They had wondered if the marriage would last. So far, regretfully for Taggart, things looked good. 'Looked' being the keyword.

"I'm glad you were able to come, Lyman," Morganna smiled at him. She sounded like she really meant it. "The weather's so bad outside, we weren't sure if you'd be able to make it."

"Oh, believe me, Morganna," Taggart smiled back at her, his heart fluttering in his chest. "It was my pleasure. I wouldn't pass this chance for anything in the world."

She laughed lightheartedly and then grew serious. "I'm so sorry to hear about Janine."

For a moment, Taggart could not remember who Janine was. He was about to say something silly like "Huh?" but he quickly recovered and forced out a thin smile. "Well," he said. "You know how it is with marriages. They take a lot of work." He might have been talking about a stranger. "Janine and I gave it our best shot but unfortunately, we weren't as lucky as you and Stuart."

Stuart smiled softly and reached over to take hold of his wife's hand. "Yes, we have been very lucky," he admitted. "I feel so blessed."

Morganna gave her husband an indulgent smile. Taggart noticed that the smile did not reach her eyes. She turned that gray gaze on him again. "When is your divorce finalized?"

"In another three months."

"Oh, I'm so sorry."

I'm not.

He couldn't help noticing how ironic it was that the cause of his divorce was apologizing. He was reminded of his last few days with Janine, when she'd finally looked at him with eyes red from crying, saying, "I can't stay married to you when you're so obviously in love with her!"

Taggart had denied it but she'd gone on. "I can actually smell her on you, Lyman. I know you're thinking of her every time you're with me, why you scream out her name when we make love! I can't take it anymore, Lyman; I want a divorce."

And so he'd given her a divorce. He knew that he loved Janine with her extraordinary qualities and weird idiosyncrasies but he was more deeply in love with Morganna. What he didn't know now but would find out a few years later that Janine was pregnant at the time of their divorce.

Jon was saying, "I want some more beef, mommy."

Taggart turned to look at the little boy. Perhaps one reason he felt so uncomfortable around Jon was the boy's resemblance to his mother. Yes, Jon did look very much like Morganna. He had her black hair, her smooth skin and sweet smile. It was from Morganna that Jon had gotten his good looks. Taggart could already tell that the boy would break hearts when he grew up.

Just like his mother.

Morganna got up from her chair with the plate of beef and she went to her son's side. "Here you go, sweetheart," she gave him a generous helping of beef. Then she turned to Taggart. "Why don't you take some, too, Lyman?"

He held his breath as she stepped close to him without waiting for his reply. She scooped up a spoon full of beef and bent down, lower than she needed to, and served him. Was it his imagination or did she just brush her left breast against the side of his face?

"Have you started seeing other people?" she was asking as if nothing had happened.

"Uh, no," replied Taggart, relieved and disappointed at the loss of proximity as she returned to her seat. "I'm not ready yet, I think."

Stuart nodded understandingly, taking a sip of red wine and wiping his lips. "I've talked to him about it," he said to Morganna. "There's this pretty young woman at the lab who seems to like him but he won't even look at her."

Taggart rolled his eyes but said nothing.

"Aww," Morganna said sympathetically, making him blush.

"Janine doesn't know how lucky she is," Stuart patted him on the shoulder.

And you don't know what a lucky man you are, Stuart, he wanted to say. You're married to one of the most beautiful women on earth and yet you choose to work late every night. If I had a woman like your wife, I'd never leave her side.

Aloud, he said nothing. He just smiled. He looked at Morganna. He had a sudden vision of her in a suit of shining steel, walking down the aisle in a fashion show, black hair replaced by metallic silver strands, gray eyes replaced by ruby ones, being photographed by everyone. Horrifically perfect.

If only she were his.

But she was married to Stuart Power.

Stuart fucking Power.

I wish I'd met you first.

"How's work going?" she wanted to know.

"It's going all right," Taggart replied, glad to finally have a topic that he was comfortable with. "We're still working on developing Overmind."

"Overmind?" she raised an eyebrow and looked at her husband. Taggart was a little surprised that she didn't know.

"Our supercomputer," explained Stuart. "It's powerful enough to control the Biomechs. They've caused enough damage as it is."

Taggart shook his head. "It's not powerful yet," he said, taking a drink of water. "But it's easier said than done, to control the Biomechs. You see, Overmind needs human brain patterns to work."

"Really? That's fascinating…but how do you get it to work then?" She looked very interested. Had Stuart told her nothing about their work?

"Well," he said carefully. "So far, we've managed to work around it." He then wished he had a better, more impressive answer. Clearing his throat, he added bravely, "I'm actually thinking of…"

Right then, Stuart's vidphone started ringing. He took it out of his pocket with an annoyed look and grumbled, "Now what is it?" He flipped it open to see the image of young man in a police uniform.

"Dr. Power?" the man was saying.

"Yes, who is this?" said Stuart.

"I'm Sergeant Chase. I'm really sorry to bother you but we've made an arrest earlier this evening…your nephew Mason Parker is in jail for graffiti."

"Oh, damn!" Stuart exclaimed angrily. "I…I'll be right there." He switched off the vidphone and started getting up from the table.

Morganna looked at him. "Where do you think you're going?"

"I have to bail him out." Stuart shook his head. "Damn it, I told the boy so many times to stay out of trouble!"

"Well, why don't you just let him stay there?" she said. "It would teach him a good lesson.

"I can't," he replied darkly. "My sister would kill us both."

"I'll come with you, Stuart," Taggart offered.

"No, no," said Stuart. "That's all right. The police station's just a few blocks away. I'll hopefully be back in an hour." He took the car and left.

An awkward silence hung in the air…well, at least it was awkward for Taggart. He was alone in the house with Morganna. All right, Jon was there, too but he didn't take that into consideration.

"Mommy, I'm done," Jon said, blue eyes fixed on his mother.

"Okay, honey, put your plate in the sink," Morganna sounded distracted. Taggart didn't know what to do all of a sudden. He felt like the third wheel. In a short time, Jon was back in the living room, playing with his toys. They finished their dinner and Morganna started clearing the table. Taggart went towards her.

"Let me help you with that," he said.

"No, that's okay."

"I insist."

And so, she let him.

In the kitchen, they washed the dishes together in silence. The dishwasher was out of order, she'd explained. They stood at close quarters, their bodies touching and not touching and when she handed him a towel to dry his hands, her fingers brushed against his.

It reminded him of a few dinner parties, including the one at last year's Christmas party when he had been trying to brush past her while getting drinks. Janine had noticed. Stuart hadn't.

If Taggart died right now, he would have been the happiest man on earth.

"Let's go to the balcony," she suggested.

It was cold outside but he didn't care as long as he could spend time with her. They stood next to each other, leaning against the iron railing, watching the few cars buzz by in the streets. He could see Jon in the living room through the glass door of the balcony (which was also connected to the bedroom) and he felt uncomfortable again.

"It's beautiful tonight," Morganna commented. She looked lost in her thoughts, her eyes glazed and unfocused.

Taggart looked at her and agreed. He wanted to give her a secret kiss, a furtive embrace. She looked beautiful in the dim light of the fire burning inside, her pale skin looking golden, her features softened. There were no stars in the sky that night, as if Heaven were ashamed of the illicit passion that he felt for this woman.

What would Stuart think?

"Are you working at the moment?" he asked, breaking the silence.

"Hmm?" she looked at him. "Um, no…not right now. I just did a show six months ago in Madrid. You've heard it, I'm sure?"

Not only had he heard of it but he'd also collected very magazine photo of her in that fashion show. He wouldn't tell her this, of course.

"Stuart wasn't there," she went on, looking sad again. "I really wanted him to be there but he was at work."

He nodded understandingly. He was at a loss for words suddenly. Here she was, opening up to him but he didn't know how to comfort her. And he felt guilty again, that she was confiding her disappointment with her husband in him.

"Well, Morganna, work really is important," he said and mentally slapped himself.

She raised an eyebrow at him but said nothing. He thought it was the end of the conversation but then she took him completely by surprise:

"He thinks I'm still in love with him."

He looked at her in shock, dumbfounded for a moment. "Well, aren't you?"

"I…I don't know…" Morganna shook her head with a sigh. "I'm tired of him working late every night. He doesn't even talk to me like he used to …you saw for yourself that he hadn't even told me about the work that you do."

"Perhaps he didn't think you'd be interested."

"Why wouldn't I be interested?" she looked offended. "Because I'm supposed to be a dumb model?"

Another awkward silence.

Then Taggart said, "I didn't mean it that way."

She sighed and nodded. After a moment, she looked up at him with a strange look in her eyes. His throat ran dry.

"There's something I've wanted to do for a very long time," she whispered huskily. He held his breath as she put her hands around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss.

She tasted like sea breeze, peppermint and so much more. It was too soon, too sudden but he didn't care. And as he slipped his arms around her, pulling her into a passionate embrace, letting her lead him to the bedroom, he was truly glad that he had come this evening.

Outside, through the glass doors, Jon sat on the carpet near the fireplace, watching the stranger make love to his mother.

A/N: I was inspired to do this fic for two reasons - there aren't many pre-series stories around and Mr. Brightside by The Killers is a great Taggart/Morganna song, I have also included the lyrics, no copyright infringement is intended.

I'm coming out of my cage

And I've been doing just fine

Gotta gotta be down

Because I want it all

It started out with a kiss

How did it end up like this?

It was only a kiss, it was only a kiss

Now I'm falling asleep

And she's calling a cab

While he's having a smoke

And she's taking a drag

Now they're going to bed

And my stomach is sick

And it's all in my head

But she's touching his—chest

Now, he takes off her dress

Now, let me go

And I just can't look, it's killing me

And taking control

Jealousy, turning saints into the sea

Swimming through sick lullabies

Choking on your alibis

But it's just the price I pay

Destiny is calling me

Open up my eager eyes

'Cause I'm Mr Brightside