Chapter 3.4 - Regrets (Or Lack Thereof)

“We shouldn’t have done that.”

Alaric raised one eyebrow at Madeline, managing to keep himself collected even as his temper rose. “Whyever not? You said you don’t love Beckett anymore…”

Madeline looked faintly surprised, then laughed sardonically. “You know, I wasn’t even thinking about that part. No, I meant in your office. Anyone could have walked in!”

He shrugged a little. “I see your point. That said… we should talk about it.”

“Do we really have to? I’m sick of talking. Whenever I go home, Beckett wants me to talk about division of labor and whether we’re doing the right thing and whatever random lizard he found in the woods. I don’t want to have to talk anymore.”

Alaric touched her back softly, trying to reassure her. “I can understand that -” He couldn’t. Alaric had never met a situation he couldn’t talk his way out of. “- but Madeline, you’re married. To my brother. We really have to talk about it.”

She sighed. “Alright. But… not right now, okay?”

He nodded. “Saturday night. Come to my house.” He wrote down the address for her.

She took it, but lingered. “What if I want to come before then?” It was only Tuesday. “Not to talk. For… other things.”

He hesitated, but when she bit her lip, he nodded. “I’ll bring my spare key in tomorrow. Just… try to be stealthy about it.” His reputation was on the line, after all. But… she was the only thing he’d ever wanted even close to as much as he wanted his career. She would be worth the risk.

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“You wanted to see me?”

Tori looked up from her paperwork to smile coldly at him. “Mayor Doe. Yes, I wanted to talk about the coordination of your next campaign. You plan on running for state legislature, yes?”

“That would be ideal.”

Tori nodded shortly. “I agree. Here are the plans for your campaign.”

He scanned the papers. A public appearance here, a commercial airing here… “Seems fairly standard.”

“It is. All you have to do is keep your nose clean and stick to the schedule, but I want to make sure that you do both of those things particularly well. The local party has no room for scandal, not after what happened with Tamara last election.”

He nodded. “I’ve done an excellent job so far, haven’t I?”

“You have, I just want to warn you that now would be the worst possible time to change that. And remember… if you step even a toe out of line…”

“I’ll never work again in the state. I remember.”

She smiled at him. “Good. As long as we’re on the same page.”

As Alaric left Tori’s office, he made two mental notes. The first was to make sure to get his spare key so he could give it to Madeline tomorrow. The second was to make sure Tori never found out about the first one.

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Madeline got to work early the next day. She had been eager to get out of the house. It was next to impossible to sleep next to Beckett, knowing that she was betraying him with his brother. Between that guilt and the (predictable) difficulty they had getting the baby to sleep, she was exhausted. Still, she opened her laptop and tried to get some work done.

Alaric got in maybe half an hour after she did, and as he walked past her desk, he dropped something. It didn’t have far to fall, but it seemed to take that short distance in slow-motion. It knocked over one of the pictures on her desk, then hit the polished wood with a soft thud.

She picked up the small object. It was a key. It took her sleep-deprived brain a moment to remember Alaric’s spare key, and she felt slightly triumphant until she reached over to pick up the picture that had fallen over and found herself staring at the smiling face of her son, Jonah. Immediately guilt hit her. What was she doing? Forget about Beckett, she had already realized that she didn’t love him, but what was she doing to her son? She remembered her own childhood, remembered the all-too-soon realization that her father wasn’t faithful to her mother, how it had hurt her. And now here she was, doing the same thing to her son.

She shook her head, in a strange state somewhere between shock, panic, and despair. In a haze, she picked up the key, walked into Alaric’s office, and set it on his desk. “I can’t do this. I’m taking the day off. Please -” her voice broke “- please, don’t try to contact me.”

And just like that, she walked out.

Author's Note: Look at that! I finally got out a chapter that's been done for two weeks! I've had a lot of stuff going on, but honestly, don't I always? On the plus side, though, I finally played D&D, so I feel like I've been inducted into the nerd-cult for the third time (the first was when I started watching Doctor Who, the second, what else, playing Sims). In case you were curious.

I have another few chapters done, so they should be out... at some point. Hopefully soon. The first two children of Generation 4 have been born in-game, so I want to get more done so that I can play ahead some more. Next chapter... we get a peek at Madeline's home life (and finally see her baby)!