Margaret's brain shut down. How did he kno-
"Know?" Johnathon didn't laugh, but looked at his wife directly. "God Margaret, do you think I'm that stupid?"
Margaret didn't say anything.
"1. Shelly shows up after Shego's death. 2. There's a fight involving a returned Shego which conveniently leaves no body behind." He paused, looked as if he wanted to start shouting at his wife, "3. Shelly's body type is much like Shego's if you allow for age. And 4. Margaret Possible, who is practically a second mother to a good chunk of the Middleton Cheer Team not only isn't so to Shelly, but makes it a point to ban her from our house, even though she's done nothing at all to merit it." Now his glare was directly on his wife. "And five…my wife isn't nearly as good at lying to my face as she thinks this is, so tell me Margaret, am I right?"
"…"
"Yes." It came out as a whisper.
"So." Johnathon quietly said, "In addition to everything else, you've been lying to me." Margaret couldn't say anything about that. The gulf between them on the couch was as great as the gulf between stars.
"She's not…Shego anymore." Margaret said desperately, "I-"
"Don't you think I knew that?" He quietly said, "If you believed for an instant that she was I don't care what Kim and Ron said—and it was them, wasn't it?" Margaret nodded. "Would have kept you from calling down everything you could down upon her head." He looked at her, and she felt something shrivel inside.
Well of course I had to lie. You were the one taking care of the twins, of our children who hadn't been maimed. What about me? Too hard for you in your ivory tower so you leave holding Kim while she cries to me? Margaret remembered that and dozens of other vicious conversations held quietly when their children were asleep or loudly when they were gone. She hadn't told anyone about them, not even Cindy. It wasn't fair. Johnathon had held Kim as well, had come to the hospital and sat by her bed after she'd tried to commit suicide.
But it had felt so good to find a target, a target that was there and alive, a target you could hurt.
It may be an ivory tower, but at least my work is worth something. You keep telling me how good a surgeon you are, but I guess that's only for other people, not our daughter. Johnathon remembered that, thrown back into his wife's face, and the expression—like she'd been physically punched in the face.
"If you can't tell me the truth." He quietly said, "I don't know how much we have." He paused, "We need to… make a decision."
"We can't get…" Margaret couldn't say it, "separated, not right now, not now that Kim's finally getting better." She paused, "And the Twin's deserve better."
"Yes." The word came out quietly. "I almost went home with Vivianne Porter today."
"Why didn't you?" Margaret asked. It didn't shock her as badly as she thought it would, which as a pretty clear sign of how far things had fallen.
"I…I wish I could say it was my choice…but." He turned and Margaret noticed the fading imprint of a hand across his face, "Vivianne expressed herself forcefully. She told me that she wasn't going to help wreck our family and that…"
"What?"
"She owed me everything for her job and career, but if I ever even hinted of this again, she'd resign that very day and leave town. She told me to come and talk to you."
"And we're talking."
"Yes."
"But not…" Margaret closed her eyes. "communicating. Are we?"
"No…. I didn't… I didn't mean…" He stopped. "Yes. Yes I did. I wanted to hurt something. You were closest."
"I know. It was the same for me." We've saved our children, but what about us? She looked at the Man she'd loved more than anyone else on the planet, and realized that that love may have taken a fatal wound.
"I-" Johnathon didn't say anything. Margaret was also silent thinking of a bed upstairs that had become an exercise in tension, two people sleeping in it, as far from the other as they could get.
"We can't do this." She said finally.
"I know." He paused, "Who knows about Shego….who we can talk to."
"Rabbi Katz and Cindy." Margaret said.
"We need…" He paused, face working for a few seconds. "I think we need help Margaret. Do…do you think that Rabbi Katz or Cindy would be willing to…help us, as a marriage councilor?"
"Rabbi Katz yes…." Margaret said. "Not Cindy—she has to keep her responsibilities to Kim in mind."
"Yes. I'll make the appointment for tomorrow."
It should have made everything better, Margaret thought. Now that the decision had been made Hollywood mandated a torrid reconciliation.
It didn't happen. They both just sat on the couch, silent, getting no closer to the other, until much later, still without speaking, they went to bed.
TBC.