Part Two

The next week flew by as Link was immersed in her work. With Allura and Keith off for a week, she was left to shoulder much of the responsibilities that they would otherwise have overseen, but she reveled in it. She knew Lance wasn't too happy about her work schedule, for she often got home around midnight and did nothing more but collapse onto the bed, but he didn't say anything. They puttered around the kitchen now, a cool Sunday evening, preparing dinner, and he seemed perfectly happy frying up some sort of Terran meat that he assured Link she would like.

She was in the middle of pouring their drinks when her communicator beeped. Lance rolled his eyes when she took it out and she slapped his arm playfully. He smiled but it didn't quite have the same light it usually did but with her back turned, Link missed it. She popped in an earpiece and walked to the double glass doors that led out to the backyard. Listening intently, her eyes widened when her assitant got to the important part of the message.

"HE WHAT???" she shrieked suddenly.

Startled, Lance almost dropped the plate he was holding and he threw her an irritated look, but she was too involved with the conversation to notice. Jaw clenching, he turned back to the stove.

"WHY DID HE DO THAT??" Link was still yelling.

"Who did what?" Lance asked. A spark of mischief lit up his smile and he went to her side, poking her with the spatula he held.

"Shhh..." she hissed, walking to the dining room.

Determined, he followed her, continuing the poking.

"Tell Raner that it's Sunday night," he insisted. "You were at the office all day yesterday and all week..."

Link told her assistant to hold on and grabbed the spatula with her hand. Her gray eyes were the color of a violent storm as she let loose her rage on Lance.

"Lance! This is important! You have to understand that I have matters to attend to that do not adhere to a nine-to-five schedule!"

His face remained studiously blank. Without a word, he slipped the spatula from her grasp and padded back to the kitchen, whistling tunelessly as if she hadn't just screamed in his face. Bewildered and a little worried at his non-reaction, Link wrapepd up her business as quickly as she cold but it was still another fifteen minutes before she could put the communicator down. Lance had already set the table and he held out her seat.

"For the busy, working, modern woman, a meal fit for a king," he said, putting on what Link liked to think of as his 'suave-face'. "A king fancier than Keith that is."

Link chuckled at the joke, still unsure about how to broach the subject of his actions, but deciding quickly that a quiet, relaxing dinner was better than a fight. They chatted easily as they ate, and later when they cleaned up. They were just getting ready for bed when link realized Lance had not touched her once since the incident. In all the time they'd known each other, which wasn't that long, she could barely recall an instance in which he did not at least have a hold on her hand. She looked at him from across their bed, brows knit with worry.

"Lance?"

"Link?"

Her mouth parted as she saw a look on his face that she'd never seen before. Then, he smiled and she thought she imagined it. When he reached across the bed to pull her gently to him, she convinced herself that she'd been seeing things.

For how could the man kissing her with such abandon now be the same man who had been looking at her as if she was a stranger only moments before?

 

Standing by her desk, Link read a datapad, her brow furrowed in concentration. She'd been on her way out but was handed this new information by her assistant. Vaguely, she was aware of Raner gathering her things so that she could go home. A moment later, someone entered the room and Link looked up, expecting to see Raner. Instead, she grinned when she saw that it was Lance. He grinned back, shoving his hands into his pockets, and leaning casually against the doorway.

"I have an appointment with the Mayor," he said. "Would you happen to know where she might have gone?"

Ignoring Raner's interested glance, Link put down the datapad and put her hands on her hips. "I'm sorry but she's stepped out for the day. I think she went home."

Lance feigned shock. "The Mayor? Gone home on time? Was she fired?"

"No. She said something about spending time with her husband and ran out of here like her feet were on fire. Why do you suppose she'd want to ruin her image by running in heels?"

Lance stepped into the room, touching the keypad by the doors and they slid shut right on Raner's face. Laughing, he put his arms around Gwen, kissing every part of her face he could get to.

"Oh, it's nice to see you," she said huskily when he was done.

"Tough day?" he asked gently, tucking a short, curling strand of midnight black hair behind her ear.

"No, just another day, but you always make it better."

He gave her a resounding kiss on the lips. "You sure know how to sweet talk a fella. Let's go home then, Mrs. Lance. We have other things to do. I've got a surprise for you."

Link untangled herself from his arms reluctantly. Forcing herself not to look at him, she began shuffling things on her desk. He sighed.

"Come on, Link," he said, all the gaiety in his voice gone. "You should have been home an hour ago. I doubt there's nothing here that can't wait until tomorrow."

"Yes, but when I come back there'll be more stuff to deal with..."

Lance ran an angry hand through his hair and began to pace the room like a caged lion. "Do you honestly think that you'll ever finish?"

"No...do you want to go to dinner?"

"Will you stay home afterwards?"

Link felt her own anger rise. "No. How many times do I have to tell you that I have important things to attend to..."

"Enough times," he spat, turning his back. "Stay here then."

The door chimed and Link called for the visitor to enter. Raner came in hesitantly.

"Link, I can stay for a bit and help you out if you want. I should have done half of what you did today, but since you told me to just..." she stopped when Lance turned too look at her and Link covered her eyes with dismay.

Lance managed a quick smile. "Could you give us a second, Raner? I just need a quick word with Link and I'll be out of here."

"S-sure," Raner answered, sure she'd gotten Link in trouble but not exactly sure how.

When the doors closed behind her, Lance went to Link's desk, slamming his hands on its surface.

"So in addition to the work you have to do, you're doing Raner's job too?"

"Some things are too delicate for her to handle."

"Link!"

"What?"

He threw her a look that she couldn't comprehend and straightened. "Fine. If you want to be super-Mayor, that's just fine with me."

Link gestured wildly with her hands. "I'm just trying to do my job!"

Lance stared hard into her face, a muscle on his cheek jumping as he struggled to get a grip on his anger. "And Raner's too? Who else's job are you trying to do? You better figure out where your priorities are, Link..."

"Are you threatening me, Lance?" Link said, her voice low.

"No. I'm warning you."

With one last look, he left the room.

 

Link sped down the street, half-listening to Wester Eura complain about the problems of road upkeep with the funds she was given, and half-concentrating on not tripping on the cobblestones that had gotten loose. They had decided to go on a working lunch when Wester didn't appear to lose any steam during the scheduled meeting they had an hour earlier---rather, Wester decided on a working lunch and Link wasn't quite sure why she'd agreed, only that she had been starving before and was still starving now.

Wester paused in her speech and the silence made Link glance at her.

"Isn't that your husband?" she asked hesitantly.

Link looked to where she'd indicated and squinted against the bright sun to see a chestnut-haired man walk out of a restaurant with a tall blonde. His build was similar to Lance's, but she couldn't be sure because of the glare. Before she could get a better look, the couple turned a corner and were gone.

"Well, it's not as if he's the only man with brown hair," Wester said with a shrug. "Anyway, Mayor..."

Link mentally shrugged it off herself. Lance was usually up at the Castle at this time, catching up on the mountains of paperwork he told her time and again that he had.

When he was still talking to me anyway, Link thought bitterly, but she pushed that particular crease in her life to the side to pay attention to what Wester was saying.

When they got back to Link's office and Wester still wasn't close to stopping, Link finally put her hand up, silencing the other woman.

"I get it, Wester," she said tiredly. "I'll do what I can about the budget and you'll get the money you need. After taking a walk through that obstacle course we call a street, I completely agree with you."

Wester beamed. "Thank you, Link. And thanks again for letting me talk to you. I was expecting Councilman Nicol to speak with me since he's in charge of the budget, but I'm honored that you made the time for me."

Link's smile froze on her face. "Uh...sure, Wester."

With a jaunty wave, Wester left. Link sat back in her seat, her mind going back to the argument Lance had thrown at her the day before. She honestly hadn't thought of passing Wester on to Nicol, but it would have saved her a lot of time--and she would have at least gotten some work done. Sighing, she picked up a datapad from the pile Raner had left for her and began to read.

Yet, her mind kept on drifting to Lance. They'd argued before, but he'd never acted like he was now. The silence at their house made Link's heart ache. There were no more jokes, no more laughing, and most of all...no more kissing. She missed Lance's touch, his voice, but she could not bring herself to apologize for the things she said. They were both at fault, and he was not making any moves towards a reconciliation. Her only consolation was that he was still sleeping in their bed, but as far from her as possible.

Resolutely, she picked up the datapad and held it up to her face. Forcing herself to read it, she lost herself in her work, making a conscious decision to avoid her pain as long as possible.

 

On the fourth day of silence, as Link had begun to think of them, she decided it was time to act. Ignoring the pile of datapads on either side of her, she gathered her things and stood from her desk. Raner threw her a strange look as she walked past, but determined, Link didn't slow her steps.  She didn’t expect Lance to be home since he was busy with his own work, but she wanted to be there when he did go home.  Fairly humming with excitement, Link made it to their house in record time without even breaking into a sweat.  She was making her way around the corner when a sight that she never expected to see greeted her eyes. 

She knew then what it felt like to have her heart ripped out of her chest.  Clutching her bag to her chest, she watched as Lance hugged the tall blonde leaving their house, kissing her cheek.  She gave him a wave and Link could hear her laughter as Lance said something funny.  She could only watch, frozen, as the woman got into her groundcar and drove away.  By then, Lance had gone back into the house.

Not sure how she got there, Link put a trembling hand on the keypad and the front doors slid open.  Lance stuck a head out from the kitchen, brow furrowed.  His eyes widened with shock when he saw her standing there.

“Link…”

Hurling her bag at him with all her might, Link immediately followed it, her fists connecting with any part of his body she could reach.  Surprise gave way to training and he took her wrists in his hands, his grip firm but not painful.

“What the hell are you doing?” he demanded.

“You bastard!  Who was she?” Link screamed.  “How could you bring her into our house?  In our bed?  Riaru damn you, Lance!”

It didn’t even register to her that he had gone still as a statue.  He stared at her as if he would a stranger and with a soft push, he distanced himself from her. 

“If you think that I would turn my back on my vows to you, then you don’t know me at all,” he said, his voice low and giving her pause more than if he had yelled.  “If you would look up from your desk for even just a little while, then you would see that I would never do that to you, but you’ve got other priorities besides us.  I see that now.”

Then he said the words that had been bouncing around her head for the past few days.

“This isn’t going to work.”

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