Broken Palace

[yukitamashii]

Parker Townsend's love for Christina Reese has never pleased his snobby parents, but when he finds out exactly why his father doesn't want him to be with her, he's shocked and horrified to discover a secret that may tear his fragile family apart. When his girlfriend's own parents get involved, it threatens to separate Parker and Christina forever...

Yes, this series is incredibly soap-opera-ish, but in a fun way. It's an answer to all the what-if fics where people wonder what might have happened if a certain pair of enemies were not quite what they seemed...well, one of them isn't, anyway.

Again, combining one-shots...

Part I--Love or Social Standing (PG13 for swearing and a bit of suggestive dialogue)

Heading to confront his father over the treatment of his girlfriend, Parker overhears something he was never meant to: his father has a secret love for another woman. Brad’s married to Parker’s mother, but apparently can’t get over his infatuation with this other woman. Who is she? Why not marry this her instead of Lavina? And what’s it got to do with Parker’s dating Christina Reese? He stays to find out, but then wishes he hadn‘t.



Disgusted, Parker Townsend strode quickly into his house without so much as a nod of greeting to the housekeeping staff, with whom he was normally on friendly terms with. Kicking off his muddy boots in a corner and yanking his jacket off, he dropped it on the ground before a butler could grab it. He headed up the stairs to his father’s study.

Brad had reduced Christina Reese, Parker’s girlfriend, to tears yesterday. Not that she’d cried in front of him; no, she’d waited until halfway through her and Parker’s date before bursting into a bewildering flood of tears.

“Did I do something…?”

“No,” she sniffled, “it’s not you. It was…oh, nothing.” She gasped a couple of times, then blew her nose, trying not to attract the attention of the others in the park’s outdoor café for this supposedly romantic evening. He reached for her hand on the table.

“Chris--”

She pulled away and gave him a weak smile. “No…it’s nothing, Parker--”

“Chris, tell me what’s wrong,” he demanded.

So she told him.

His father was rather ruder than usual to her yesterday when she’d shown up unexpectedly at his house--Parker hadn’t been home. Chris never went to his house if she could help it because of his father, but had been excited about some news of her horse’s future, dying to share it, and Parker hadn’t answered his phone (low battery).

But Brad had burst her bubble quick enough. Enraged at something--who knew what--he’d laced into her about coming over, about dating his son. There was no future for them, they belonged to different worlds. “You’d wake up one morning to find he hated you for not being good enough,” he’d said hatefully at her, among other things. Christina fled.

‘Who does he think--no, he knows who he is; the all-powerful Brad Townsend,’ Parker thought angrily. ‘Well, he’s not ruling over my life any more.’

He stepped quickly up the lushly carpeted stairs, their diamond patterns rushing into blurry lines; he was almost running. When he reached the hall, he paused to catch his breath and compose himself before walking on. Coming to the partly open study door, he heard voices.

“…You to tell me, Brad, how long have you been in love with her?”

Parker froze by the door. It was his mother’s voice.

“What the hell are you talking about, Lavina?”

“You’ve known her a long time. Have you loved her since you met her?” Lavina’s voice was flat, unemotional. His father’s, a moment later, was quiet but angry.

“Is Mary here?”

Lavina hesitated. “No. Mary’s gone.”

“Ah,” Brad said sarcastically. “So the student has become the master, and she’s left you to evolve paranoid theories all on your own. Just don’t forget what all that bullshit did to her own marriage.” Lavina didn’t say anything.

Parker strained to hear more, not even breathing, but his heartbeat thundering in his ears made it difficult. He closed his eyes and took a deep, slow breath, swallowing hard, hand still on the warm golden doorknob.

“…Just had it! I’m sick if her interfering in our marriage! You’re not married to her too, you know!”

“No. I’m married to you. But I wonder who you’re married to, in your mind?”

“What!”

“In your heart,” she said softly, accusingly, “do you pretend that I’m her? When you kiss me or touch me or make love to me, do you image you‘re doing it all to her?”

There was a slamming sound. His father must have hit his fist on his desk.

“That’s it, isn’t it? You wish I was her, don’t you? That’s why you sometimes call me by her name! That’s why you’re so angry about Parker’s dating Christina!”

Parker blinked, confused. What? What could he and Chris have
to do with any of this?

Lavina gave a brittle laugh, which dissolved into a tearful gasp.

“Lav--”

“No! I don’t want this anymore! It’s a lie! Our marriage is a lie!” she shrieked, then broke down crying.

“Lav…it’s not…not…”

The crying stopped abruptly. “Don’t you lie to me, Brad Townsend,” she hissed, as coldly as a snake. Quiet menace. She could scare you and you didn’t know why you were scared, because all she was doing was standing in front of you there with a black expression, but her words chilled you, they were so cold.

“Don’t lie to me ever again. You don’t love me. You love her. And you can’t have her--so why should Parker get to have her daughter?”

‘Daughter?! Chris!’

“It’s not fair, is it? Well, you made your choice, so live with it.” There was a rustle of clothing; she must be straightening wrinkles out of her outfit. “I’ll live with my decision,” she said calmly, like she’d never cried in rage and sorrow, “I’ll even do it with a smile. But don’t you ever lie to me again. And if Parker wants to date Christina,” her tone turned sickeningly, vengefully sweet, “then I’m all for it.”

Brad didn’t say anything.

Footsteps sounded, coming to the door. Parker broke out of his stunned paralysis and scampered into a bathroom. His mother passed by, gaze straightforward and challenging, head held high, as always.

Parker crept out and dared to peek around the now fully open study door. His father was sitting sideways on his large, ornately carved desk, looking at the smooth, highly polished wood.

“All right,” he said quietly. Parker’s heart leapt in his chest, and for a moment he thought Brad was addressing him. But he had lifted his head slightly and was talking to the air where Lavina had been in front of him, the imprint of her heeled shoes in the carpet. “All right, let him live happily ever after.” Then, even quieter, he said, “At least he’s smart enough to choose love over social standing.” He closed his eyes.

Feeling cold and strange, full of confusing, unwanted secret information, Parker backed up a step, then another, soundless on the thick carpet. Then he turned and nearly tripped down the stairs, catching himself at the bottom by grasping the rail.

He could feel the stares of the servants like they were hot stage lights directed at him, and he bent his head, gulping in air like he was drowning. He felt like he was.

His father was in love with Ashleigh Griffen.

He closed his own eyes, and continued to breath deeply. And when he could, he raised his head as proudly as his Lavina had, standing tall. He went back out to his car and bravely faced this new, darker world. Like his mother did.

[yukitamashii]

Part II--The Confession


Parker was edgy. He twitched every time his father came into the room he was in, and he couldn’t look him in the eye. His mother he tried not to be a pain in the ass to, because he felt bad that she was trying to deal with all this pain without letting anyone know. But it was getting to him that he felt so guilty even being around his girlfriend--and he had recurring thoughts like, ‘She could’ve been my sister if my dad had…okay, stop thinking that *right* now.’

He’d gotten into a tiff with Christina yesterday about his acting weird, not even wanting to hold her hand.

“So what? You’re taking your dad’s advice and breaking up with me?” she’d asked angrily.

“No! I’m just…” ‘I’m just creeped out.’ Couldn’t say that without explaining why.

“Just what?”

“Just…just…” he stammered, then recovered. “Just don’t want you to be hurt. If we break it off now…Chris, I can’t imagine waking up and not loving you anymore, or saying cruel things to you. I’d rather you hate me than be hurt by me.”

She was quiet a moment, then said, “That won’t happen to us, Parker. Not if we don’t let it.”

He heard the forgiveness in her voice and took her hand, and for a while everything felt right again.


And so he found himself biding Christina farewell over the phone the next day as she, her dad, and her cousin went out to the grocery store one night, and to do a bit of errands, leaving their mother in peace. It was getting dark early, and raining, but mouths must be fed, he agreed to her before he hung up (he personally hadn’t felt hungry in days). He stared at his tv blankly, contemplating going down to dinner and potentially meeting up with his father, when he fell into a doze sitting on his bed against the wall. A door slamming woke him.

‘What the…? Whose going where in this lousy weather?’ He got up and peeked around the door to see his father descending the stairs to the main floor two flights below. That was odd, because normally if Brad was going somewhere he’d be sure to oh so smugly inform his son about it, because his time was so valuable, and this is valuable people did with their valuable time (as opposed to "jumping around on horses that couldn’t cut it on the racetrack").

“Jerk,” Parker muttered at the memory, getting up to follow him.

‘Should I being doing this?’

Sure. Why not?

‘’Cause last time you wished you hadn’t.’

Parker stopped in the hallway as the front door closed.

That’s true.

‘So…?’

So…I’m still gonna go. I have to know if…I just have to know. This isn’t like him. What else could be up?

‘Okay. Your funeral.’

He went downstairs and opened the front door, then closed it softly. “What am I doing? I’m stalking my father. I’m talking to myself in my head. Great.” A maid coming around the corning looked at him strangely, and he managed a brief, embarrassed smile. She didn’t comment (the Townsend staff knew better than to do that) and he left quickly.

He followed his father to where the cars were parked, then, after a brief hesitation, got in his own car after Brad. He felt like a toddler escaping his babysitter to go to the adults’ soiree, for some reason; wandering along behind trying not to get caught and sent back to bed. Or in his case, boarding school.

‘Oh, no way.’

Brad drove to Whitebrook.

Pulling off the side of the road a little beyond Whitebrook, he sacrificed his clean, dry clothes to the rainstorm, trailed the taller dark haired man to the cheery Griffen/Reese home and hid in the bushes. Like a would-be burglar. He tried not to feel pathetic, because after all, it was his father who’d lived an affair out in his head all these years.

‘So my *father* is the loser, not me, that’s so much better--’

Brad knocked on the door and Ashleigh opened it. “Brad?”

“Can I come in?”

“Uh…” By the look on her face, Ashleigh was trying to think of a way to say “Hell no” without being rude, and was failing. “Sure, I guess. If you must.”

Parker almost laughed at that response, then realized a) he’d be found out and b) he wouldn’t be able to hear what his father was going to say when he went inside. ‘All this way for nothing? Oh, no, I don’t think so.’ He snuck up and carefully slid the living room window open an inch. It took a minute because he only did a few centimeters at a time. Luckily, the rain was so loud it didn’t much matter if a window was closed or not to block out the sound. Hopefully he would be able to hear them and they wouldn’t notice him.

“…Don’t know why you want to talk about the past, Brad,” Ashleigh was saying, sounding a little annoyed. Her arms were crossed over her chest in the universal sign for don’t-wanna-talk-to-you-now.

“Because not doing so is wrecking my future. Of course, this is all your fault.” Brad ran his hand through his hair, looking angry.

The look on Ashleigh‘s face was priceless. “…Excuse me? Did I hear you correctly? You’re blaming me for--what the hell are you blaming me for?”

“For ruining my life, d**n it! First you come onto *my* farm, act like a brat, show me up at every turn with your stupid wonder horse, and win my father’s affection. Then you chew me out for dating your sister--”

“You were such a jerk--!”

“It was none of your business!”

“Like hell it wasn’t--”

“Then you brought Mike around so he could get free training tips from Charlie--”

Ashleigh’s eyes blazed. “You ass--”

Brad started shouting to be heard over her. “Then, *then* you had the nerve to not notice the way I felt about you!”

There was a stunned silence for several minutes before Ashleigh spoke.

“How you feel about me is you hate me,” she said flatly.

“How I feel about you is I love you,” Brad replied in an equally level tone.

“What?” Ashleigh laughed, sounding bewildered. She moved back a step. “Get real. No you don’t.”

Brad shook his head. “Ashleigh, there is no one I’ve thought about more than you.”

She moved back another step.

He moved forward. “I used to go out of my way to see you, even though we usually ended up bickering. I think about you all the time. How hard you worked for everything you wanted, how proud you were for Wonder and Pride and Goddess. How you proved me wrong every time I said you couldn’t do something.” He was mere inches away from her now, speaking so softly it was hard for Parker to hear. “How beautiful you were in the winner’s circle. Your face just glowed.” He reached out and touched the tips of his fingers to her cheek.

She flinched, but didn’t pull away. “Why are you telling me this?” she asked in a low voice.

“Because…because Lavina knows.”

Ashleigh jerked away at the mention of his wife, as if suddenly recalling that they were both married.

“She knows, and wants nothing to do with me, even though she doesn’t want a divorce. What do I have to lose?” He laughed bitterly. “I lost you the day I refused to swallow my pride and tell you the truth. I lost my happy illusionary marriage when my wife found out I loved another woman. I lost my son I long time ago. Why shouldn’t I tell you how I feel?”

Ashleigh swung around him to pace the on the other side of the room. “Because you’re messing things up for me. How can I…what the hell do you expect from me, Brad?” She stopped and buried her face in her hands. He watched her back.

“I don’t know, Ashleigh.”

She lifted her face. “I can’t say I’m dying to fling myself into your arms and divorce Mike. I don’t even like you. I respect that you hold a lot of power in your hands,” she admitted. “But I don’t respect you as person.” She turned, looking upset. “And now I can’t even hate you--or Lavina, because what you’ve just told me is…completely pathetic.”

Brad watched her silently for a few moments, then shrugged. “I wanna make things up to you. I want us to be friends.”

“Why?” Ashleigh asked wryly. “So you can convince me to have an affair with you? I won’t do that.”

“I know. I wouldn’t. All I want is for you not to look at me with hate in your eyes.” His voice went very soft, and he swallowed hard, looking away at the carpet. “That would make me very happy. Very few things really do any more. Can I have that?”

“I…” Ashleigh held her hands palm up helplessly, no answer held there, “don’t know.” She looked like she wanted to wake up now from this bad dream.

“Can we try?”

“How do you expect me to explain it to everyone?” Ashleigh asked, sounding angry again. She crossed her arms over her chest once more and took up a defiant stance. “Suddenly we’re sweet as pie to each other?”

“Let’s start with civil,” Brad said dryly. “We can work from there.”

“We are civil.”

“No, we’re not. You subtly insult me and glare at me and I mock and openly insult you every time I see you. We’re barely polite to each other.”

“You see,” she argued, “everyone would know something’s up.”

He smiled at her like she was a stubborn teenager not willing to compromise even for her own benefit. “Lots of people learn to get along as years pass. Can’t we have that, Ashleigh?” his voice went soft, persuasive. Ashleigh hesitated.

“Oh…Geez. I guess. If you must. Whatever, fine.” Now she sounded confused.

A clock chimed. Startled, Parker remembered to breathe, sucking in a breath. Fortunately, a crack of thunder covered the sound. It was like coming back to self-awareness after a riveting movie. Brad glanced at his watch.

“Time to go. Ashleigh,” he said. “Until next time.”

“Please don’t drop any more bombs like this next time you see me,” she said drolly. Brad smiled faintly at her, then Ashleigh’s face grew solemn. “Please leave.”

Brad obligingly turned to go, without saying another word.

Parker stayed crouched under the window for a second, then scrambled back behind a bush, just getting hidden in time. The front door swung open.

After his father left, Parker went and sat in his car, soaking the seat.

What now?


A/N: Don't worry, Ash isn't the cheating type, so none of that.

For those hoping Parker would be more angsty because of and sneaky with the secret information, that would likely happen in the next fic! I figured it’d be more interesting if Parker knew about this and knew Ashleigh knew too.

This was difficult to write, because I had a hard time imagining what it would be like for Brad to admit to Ashleigh that he loved her without being overly sentimental. And what must also be taken into account in this fic, unlike ADPOV, is that obviously, though she’d be shocked and maybe even pitying to Brad, Ashleigh won't love him back. And of course, Parker had to have a way to know about this confession, or the whole story’s pointless. That was particularly hard to arrange, so he took the same sneaky hiding-listening route as last time. I did the best I could with this part of the overall story. Hope I don’t disappoint anyone!

[horselover]

I'm so glad you posted this over here, Yuki. I love this series you wrote.

[yukitamashii]

It's so melodramatic. But I'm kinda fond of it, I'm glad you like it. I'll post the rest after vacay.