Part Three

For the last three weeks, nothing made any sense to Link.  Datapads piled up but Link could not do anything beyond picking one up, placing it in front of her, and just staring.  She hadn’t been able to sleep, had not been able to do more than cry and move like an automaton through her duties.  She looked pale and ill which combined with Lance’s heightened presence in the castle, only fueled speculation of an impending divorce.  No one dared ask her to her face, but she knew what was happening behind her back.    

It did not take long for her to figure out that Lance was staying at the Castle of Lions and though she had reached for her communicator more than once, she could not bring herself to talk to him.  The sting of his betrayal sat heavily on her shoulders and for her, it cancelled out any other feelings that she may have for him.  She could forgive Lance many things, but not that.  Her imagination had been ruthless in creating scenarios that involved her husband and the tall blonde, almost to the point where she was making herself sick.  Link hated feeling jealous, hated the weakness of it, but there it was. 

She heard the door to the outer office open and close, and wondered if Raner had come in, but then she remembered that it was the weekend.  Link opened the door to her office just as Allura was raising a hand to knock.  The Queen looked healthy and aglow from pregnancy, which was moving along nicely, but her mouth was set in a stubborn line that Link only knew too well.

“I don’t want to hear it, Allura,” she said, standing.  “Don’t you dare stand up for him.”

“If you two weren’t such idiots, I wouldn’t have to be here,” Allura retorted.  “And nice to see you, too, Link.”

“Right.  If Keith cheated on you, you would react the same way and I would never try to talk you out of it.”

“If Keith cheated on me, he would be dead,” Allura said.  “But he would never do that and Lance would never do that to you.”

Link glared at her.  “I saw her leaving our home, Allura.  In the middle of the day!  Lance should have been at work, but instead he was using our house…”

She sank back into her seat, covering her face with one hand.  Allura sighed and sat down across from her, having some difficulty because of her rounded belly. 

“He wasn’t having an affair, Link.  That woman was a wedding planner.”

One gray eye stared incredulously at Allura as Link peered at her over her hand.

“He wanted to surprise you,” Allura explained as gently as she could which was not very.  “Rowena was helping him because he has about as much style as…well as Keith.”

 

“Are you sure?”

 

“I have the invitation.”

 

She slid the cream colored paper across the table and Link picked it up with nerveless fingers.  In red script, the invitation bade the reader to come to the celebration of the marriage of Lance and Link Branegan at their house in a week.  Her heart sank like a stone.

 

“Oh shit,” she muttered.

 

“That’s an understatement,” Allura said.  “I think he forgot that he sent these out, but everyone who got them knows what’s happening between the two of you.  I’d stay away from Gwen, if I were you.  Keith, too.”

 

Link met Allura’s frank blue gaze.  “But you’re here.”

 

“I like Lance when you’re with him,” she said simply.  “Are you going to talk to him?”

 

“I…”

 

“Pride aside, just think of what your life will be like without him.  Peaceful, sure, but…”

 

“Where is he?”

 

“He boarded himself up in his old room.  He, Keith, and Hunk have been sousing it up every night and frankly, I’m about ready to join them.”

 

Link rose and came around her desk to put her arms around the Queen.

 

“Thank you for this,” she said.

 

Allura patted her back, awkwardly it seemed.  “I just want him out of my house.”

 

Despite herself, Link laughed.  Allura gave her hand a squeeze and left. 

 

An hour later, Link found herself standing outside Lance’s room.  She pushed the buzzer for the fifth time and was rewarded with the sound of something heavy hitting the floor.  The doors slid open a moment later and she got an eyeful of her shirtless husband, his pajama pants were threatening to slide past slim hips.  Her mouth went dry as an intense desire washed over her, but she turned her eyes up to his face.  Lance could only gape at her, eyes rid-rimmed and hair mussed, but he quickly recovered and blanked his face.  The emptiness in his normally warm brown eyes cut her to the core and she hated herself for doing this to him.  

 

“Did I forget something at the house?” he asked flatly.

 

“No,” she said.  “Can I come in?”

 

He stepped aside to let her pass and she was immediately assailed with the smell of old laundry and liquor.  Allura had not been lying when she said Lance and the boys had been drinking.  Empty bottles of vodka and used shot glasses littered the room and Link’s hands itched to start cleaning.

 

“Did you bring divorce papers?” he asked, crossing his arms and leaning against the closed doors.

 

“Far from it,” she answered, sitting herself down on the edge of his unmade bed. 

 

She held out the invitation she still held in her hand and he took it, not sure what it was at first, but then recognition dawned.

 

“Where did you get this?” he demanded.

 

“A little bird brought it to me,” she replied.

 

“Allura,” he said between gritted teeth.

 

“Lance…why didn’t you tell me?  Why did you let me accuse you without standing up for yourself?”

 

His jaw worked as he stared at her.  “Why did you accuse before asking?  Why didn’t you trust me enough to give me the benefit of the doubt?”

 

Link could not find the words to answer him. 

 

“I thought that maybe giving you the wedding you wanted, that we both wanted, we’d be able to remember why we got married in the first place.  The past couple weeks have been hard and I felt like we were roommates instead of a husband and wife—fighting roommates on top of that.  I don’t belong in your world because there’s no room for me there.  This wedding was just a last ditch effort to save a sinking ship.  You know as well as I do that we’re not going to work, Link.  I’ll never forget you, probably never stop loving you for the rest of my life, but it’ll only get ugly if we try to force this.  I don’t want you to hate me and I don’t want to grow to hate you so let’s just let it be.”

 

“I could never hate you.  Lance, it’s not like you to give up so easily.”

 

“Listen, no hard feelings, alright?” he said emotionlessly, tearing up the invitation.  “We’re just not the marrying types.  You’re busy with your work and I’m busy with mine and there isn’t enough time in the day for us.”

 

“I can make the time,” she said quietly.

 

He gave her a disbelieving look and she could see his bitterness in that one gaze. 

 

“No, Link, you won’t.  If anything, extra time would only have you trying to do Allura’s job, too.”

 

“I’m going to make the time for you, Lance.  I love you.”

 

Something in his expression broke at her words and she wanted to put her arms around him, but she doubted it would be welcome. 

 

“I love you and I want to make this work,” she continued.  “That’s why I’m going to quit.”

 

He blinked and she could see that she had thrown him for a loop. 

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“Without you, nothing matters.  I just sit at my desk, doing nothing, and for once, people are actually doing their jobs because I’m not.  I can’t function, I can’t think, and then I come home and I see your things but not you…I can’t live like that.”

 

“You’d quit for me?”

 

“Yes.”

 

He looked hard into her eyes, searching, and finding nothing but sincerity.  If there was one thing he knew about this woman, it was that her word was her bond.  He could see it in every line on her face that she would throw her entire career without a second thought just to get him back.  It was flattering…and very convincing. 

 

“I suppose I should have known you wouldn’t do anything halfway,” he said bemusedly.  “After all, you did marry me.”

 

“It was the best decision I ever made.”

 

She could see his indecision and knew that it would not be easy to get him back into their house.  She had hurt him deeply, deeper than he probably expected her to, and she needed to heal that wound before she could not reach him anymore. 

 

“Lance…I’m sorry.”

 

He looked sideways at her.  “That was probably harder to say than quitting.”

 

“No,” she said, standing and putting a hand on his cheek.  “I mean it with all my heart.  I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions, and I shouldn’t have doubted you.  Worst of all, I took you for granted.  I didn’t realize how much I needed you until you were gone, but believe me, I’ve learned the hard way just how important you are to me.  I thought being Mayor was who I was, but it’s not…I’m your wife and I think I like that role better than anything else.  If I ever feel like doing any work, I can just look to your desk.  See what you get out of this deal?  A wife AND a secretary.”

 

He visibly softened and she released a breath she did not know she had been holding.  Stepping forward, he put his arms around her slowly even as she wound hers around his neck.  His lips came down on hers a moment later and she reveled in the familiar taste of him, at the familiar feel of his touch. 

 

“I can’t let you quit,” he said when he raised his head again.  “You’d regret it a couple years down the road and we’ll be back to square one.”

 

“Well I’m going to do it so you’ll have to get used to having a housewife,” she said stubbornly.

 

“I’d rather eat my shoe.”

 

“What?”

 

“You’re not quitting but you are going to let your deputies do their job and relieve you of some work so that we can get started on our family.”

 

She smiled and the heavy weight that had bowed her shoulders lifted in that instant. 

 

“Family?”

 

“Yeah, I want babies to play with.  Keith’s getting boring in his old age.”

 

“You forgive me?”

 

“I don’t go around kissing women that I planned to send packing.”

 

To both their surprise, she burst into tears.  Lance cradled her face in his hands, a quirky smile on his face.

 

“Never thought I could make you cry,” he said softly, wiping her tears away with his thumbs.

 

“I missed you so much,” she sniffled.

 

“I miss you too, sweetheart.  There were a couple hours last night when I didn’t miss much of anything, but I did think of you.”

 

“That just warms my heart.”

 

He laughed. 

 

“I just have one more request,” she said even as her hands untied his pajama pants.

 

“Lemme guess…”

 

She smiled.  “Besides that…”

 

 

 

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