Mother's Day Chapter 5
Victoria Stetson walked into her family home to begin cleaning the cups and plates from the day. After drying the dishes and putting them away, she walked around the empty house. It was the same as it was when she grew up. Family pictures still adorned the walls, books still lay along the bookshelves, and even their rooms were still as they left it when they moved out.
Climbing the stairs brought back a memory of her sliding down the narrow banister and busting her lip open. She had to have been no more than four at the time it happened. Her Dad was so mad at her. He tried to catch her and couldn't. Now that she thought more on the subject he must have been more frightened than mad. He could fight against terrorist and face a thousand bullets, but tears and blood from his family shook him to the core.
Stepping into her parent's room she was surprised to see clothes belonging to her mother still hanging in the closet. She pushed the clothes around and saw the wedding dress that her mother had shown her once. It was the one she wore when her mother married her father. His tux was there with it. She had seen pictures from the wedding. They were a beautiful couple.
Sitting on the bed she saw a photograph of her dad in a golden frame. He was on a boat and must not have known the picture was being taken. He was steering and the sun was setting behind him with pinks and purple hues in the back. His skin was sun kissed and golden, the blond showing in his hair from the summer exposure, and he was laughing. She missed that most about him.
Picking up the phone next to the bed she dialed a number, holding her breath until she heard the person answer. "I have no right to be asking anything of you, but I don't want to be alone right now and well, I need you. Can you meet me? Thanks see you soon." Victoria made sure all the windows and doors were locked before getting into her silver sports car and driving back into DC.
Walking up to his partner, Jackson Fletcher, stopped as he noticed she was doing something he had never seen her do. She was crying. If he knew anything about Victoria Stetson it was that she didn't take any crap from any one and most importantly she never cried.
"Vic, what's going on?" He asked cautiously first thinking that she was injured.
"It is my fault my father is dead, did you know that?" She said never taking her eyes off the building she was staring at.
"Vic, no, it isn't your fault. Come on, he died because of terrorism. You didn't take out the Pentagon." Jackson placed his arms around her from behind to hold her close to him as she cried. He stood holding her, whispering soothing words, feeling her pain and wishing he could take it from her.
She finally pulled from his embrace looking Jackson in the eyes and told him the last conversation she ever had with her father.
"What do you mean you will be gone for two weeks to New York? You can't leave you promised me that you would go to my piano recital!" She yelled at her father all the way down the stairs into the kitchen as he began to make his coffee.
"Look, if I could go at a different time I would but I have to finish this before my retirement. Do you think I want to miss your recital? I promise it is the last one I will ever miss. In a months' time, I will be here twenty four seven and you will be dying to get rid of me." Smiling his big dimpled grin at her didn't seem to deter her.
"No! I come before that job of yours, I am more important, and I say that they can just send you whatever they need you to do and you can do it here. You cannot go!" She faced her father with all the looks and attitude of being his daughter. She had his eyes, her mother's nose, and his short temper; which at the moment was about to land her in hot water with her father.
"Victoria Lee Stetson, I am not going to argue with you. I am going to New York, I will be back as soon as I can, and if you continue to act like a two year old that is not getting her way then I suggest you stop that now or I will not be the only Stetson in this house missing your piano recital. Is that understood?"
"I hate you! You have always let this job take precedence over me. I bet if it was Phillip or Jamie you would be right there cheering them on! I am so sorry that I am not the child you wanted!" She stormed from the kitchen and left her father standing there in complete and udder shock.
"He called me when he got to New York and Mom made me take the call. I never said a word, I just listened to him tell me that it was okay if I hated him because he was just going to keep on loving me no matter what I did or said to him, or in my case what I didn't say."
"Do you know how many parents and kids fought prior to those attacks? You aren't the only teenager that said that they hated their parent at some point. Parents know that kids say dumb things why do you think he called to tell you that he loved you in spite of that? He wanted you to know that you still mattered."
"I know how much I mattered. He came back early so he could go to my recital. I had stayed at a friend's house the night he came home. I didn't even know he was back. I got up and went to school. He went into DC to pick up some flowers for my recital and a new charm for my bracelet. While he was out he decided to stop by the Pentagon first, forty five minutes later he was dead. He never made it to get the flowers or the charm."
"How did you know about them?"
"Mom told me. I saw all of this on the news at school. No one could believe it. It seemed so unreal to watch the news coverage. I didn't know he was even home. I got home from school that day and Mom and the boys were at the table. I could tell they all had been crying. The first thing I asked was if Daddy was okay in New York. Mom just looked at me telling me that he wasn't in New York but that he had been at the Pentagon only she said she hadn't heard anything from him and he wasn't answering his phone. No one slept that night yet at the same time no one spoke. The later the day went without word from him the more we all came to realize that we weren't waiting for him to get home, we were waiting for someone to come and tell us he wasn't coming home. The next morning a Marine that Daddy help save came to bring us the news. He said it was an honor to know someone as heroic as my Dad."
Jackson held her tighter and continued to rock her in his arms. They stood looking at the Pentagon for what had to be at least twenty more minutes, neither one saying a word. Occasionally Jackson would kiss the top of her head or wipe away some of her tears. Finally he couldn't do it any longer.
"Victoria, Baby, you didn't kill your dad. You feel bad I get it because you said some pretty hateful things to him before he died, it happens. He came home to be with you. Honey, you didn't blow this building up. You said that a Marine came by and said your dad was a hero? How many other lives did he save? How else do you think that the Scarecrow would have died? He went down fighting to save others, the same thing he had done for all those years at the Agency. You have got to let this guilt go. Your last words to your father may have been said in anger but he knew his family loved him and if he thought for one moment that you wouldn't have survived without him, he would still be here."
Victoria looked at the man that for the last six years had put up with her at work. They had been partners from his first day. Jackson had been in the Marines right out of high school and already had a couple of tours under his belt. He always had a smart ass comment about something or the way she ran her opts at times. The last six months had been the hardest for her. She always felt an attraction to him, but she had kept him at arm's length until she needed a physical release and Jackson was always happy to help in that area. She finally admitted to herself that she was falling in love with him only to find out it seemed he had felt the same toward her.
"I want to apologize for this morning. I know that wasn't the reaction you were hoping for when you told me that you loved me. I never wanted to fall in love with anyone that is why I choose this career. In this type of career you have to keep your mind focused and your personal feelings separate. You can't get bogged down in emotions. I failed that too, Jackson I do love you very much. Will you ask me again?"
"Victoria Lee Stetson, you have made my life better than I ever thought I could imagine. I love you very much and have for a very long time. I waited telling you because you weren't ready, well, I'm telling you now and even if you aren't ready you need to know how I feel. Would you give me the honor of allowing me to be your husband for the rest of my life?"
"Yes, yes, a million times yes." She turned kissing him until he pulled away from her.
"What changed your mind?"
"My mother did. She told us today about her and Daddy. The more I listened to her and about their life together, the more I realized that if they could do it, so could we. I do know that we can still work the same division but we have to be on separate teams, so it may be difficult for a while until we get some kind of routine down, but I think we will be okay." He tilted his head back and laughed as she rambled. He loved her rambles.
"Slow down, Princess, we have plenty of time to let work know about this, I am more concerned with meeting your family. How are they going to react to you bringing someone home they have never met and tell them that you are marrying him?"
"They are going to love you, especially Mom; she is a sucker for a guy with dimples."