Things That Mattered More
Jul. 27th, 2009 11:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tellshannon815Title: Things That Mattered More
Characters: Eloise Hawking, Charles Widmore, Richard. Mentions of Daniel.
Warnings: Spoilers up through S5, plus references to a character death.
Pairings: Eloise/Charles
Rating: PG-13
Summary: For![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
siluria, who requested rain (sorry for the lateness of this!) Eloise says goodbye to Charles and the island in the middle of a rainstorm. Sixteen years later, they meet again for the first time after Charles is exiled from the island.
The rain lashed against the windows of the café as Eloise waited, wondering if he would come. It had been raining just like this the last time they’d seen each other, she remembered, the day she’d left the island.
Sixteen Years Earlier:
“I’ll just give the two of you some privacy to say goodbye,” Richard had said as the three of them had stood on the dock, waiting for the submarine to take Eloise from the island that had been her home all these years. He’d reached out and shaken her hand before touching her awkwardly on the shoulder, uncertain how to react. As well he might be, since to the best of Eloise’s knowledge, no island leader had ever left of their own volition before.
“Good luck, Ellie,” he’d said, looking at her one last time before making his way quickly through the rain back to their camp.
Left alone, Eloise and Charles had stared at each other for what felt like a long time.
“I wish it didn’t have to be this way,” Charles said at last.
“You’ve seen what happened ever since the incident recently caused by the DHARMA Initiative,” Eloise pointed out. “We’ve lost two of our pregnant women in the second trimester. And it’s been happening to them, too,” she continued, gesturing in the direction of the DHARMA barracks. “If I’m to carry our baby to term, I have to leave the island. But you’re right, it doesn’t have to be this way. You could come with me.”
“You don’t understand, Eloise,” Charles had replied. “As leader of our people, I have to do what’s necessary to protect the island, to make whatever sacrifices need to be made.”
“You’ll leave the island for whatever reasons of your own that you have, for the child you fathered in England, and yet you won’t do it for me,” Eloise had spat. “Or for our baby. Are we just necessary sacrifices too?”
“The island made its decision,” Charles had stated. “I’m sorry it had to happen, of course, but it’s clear to me that the island wished for our son to be sacrificed.”
“Don’t speak to me of sacrifice,” Eloise had replied coldly, shivering as the rain ran down her neck. “And I would prefer that you didn’t speak of him as our son. You’ve made your choice, therefore you won’t be involved in his life.”
“Ellie, please - “ Charles had begun, pushing his wet hair out of his eyes.
“Maybe one day you’ll understand that there are things that matter more in life,” Eloise had said, turning her back on Charles for what she expected to be the last time and walking quickly through the rain to the submarine.
She didn’t look back at Charles and the island as she stepped down into the sub, placing her hands on her stomach and thinking of her baby, still to be born and yet already gone, face familiar to her even though the face she had seen did not yet technically exist.
The universe had a way of course correcting, they had always believed that. Yet the day before, as Eloise had met with Jacob for the last time, he’d told her that it didn’t have to be that way. And Eloise determined that she would do whatever she had to do to change things.
Daniel had to be sent to the island, of course. After all, it had already happened. But Eloise would do whatever it took to make sure he changed the past.
Sixteen Years Later:
The jingling of the bell of the café door startled Eloise out of her reverie as she realised someone else had arrived.
“Ellie,” Charles said stiffly as he removed his mackintosh and struggled with his dripping umbrella. “I wasn’t sure you’d show up.”
“Neither was I,” Eloise admitted, thinking about how nobody had called her Ellie in years, the last person having been Charles himself when she left the island. She wasn’t sure how she felt about hearing it again, with the memories it conjured up of the days they’d led their community together, the nights they’d spent together on the island.
“I’m glad you did.” Charles replied. “It’s been a long time.”
“Sixteen years,” Eloise stated, taking a sip of her tea. She knew Charles had visited the mainland several times in the last sixteen years, but they had never met up at any of those times. Eloise had preferred it that way.
“So why now?” Charles asked. “Now that I’ve left the island for good. Are you here to gloat, as Linus was when I left?”
“Gloat?” Eloise repeated incredulously. “You really think that’s the reason I came here today?”
How had it come to this, she wondered as she scanned the face of the man she had first loved at seventeen, grown to form a deeper connection with over time, and had still loved him even as they had both been forced to admit that they could have no future together, not while they wanted such different things.
She’d thought of Charles again when Daniel had been born, remembered their early hopes and dreams of the family they would raise together before they realised it could never be. She had named her son Daniel because she knew she had to, knew it from the times she had encountered him in her past, in his future. But she had given him the middle name of Charles, still feeling the need to retain some connection with the man she had loved once.
How had they gone from the people they were then to the people who sat opposite each other today?
“No, I’m not here to gloat,” Eloise said at last. “But I am here out of a certain curiosity.”
“You’d be perfectly entitled to gloat,” Charles admitted, seeming not to have heard what she had said. “After everything I said about how the only thing that mattered was protecting the island and all our people, and in the end they decided they’d prefer to follow Linus, and I had to leave.”
“So was your sacrifice worth it after all?” Eloise asked. “The choice you made to sacrifice me and our son in favour of the island, which then chose to sacrifice you.
“Daniel is doing well, by the way,” Eloise continued when Charles failed to respond. “I’m sure it was an oversight that you failed to ask. We’re hoping that he’ll go to Oxford, to study physics.”
“So you’re still hoping to send him back so he can change what happened,” Charles said, sounding dismissive to Eloise’s ears.
“You asked me why I agreed to meet with you today,” Eloise said as she reached for her umbrella before getting to her feet. The rain was coming down more heavily now, but she didn’t care. “I wanted to know whether you had yet understood that there were things that mattered more than the island. It’s clear to me that you have not.” She turned on her heel and walked out, struggling with her umbrella as she left.
“Ellie, wait!” Charles exclaimed.
But Eloise was gone. There was nothing further for them to talk about.
Not any more. Nothing had changed.
Until the day Daniel told Eloise that he had been offered a research grant by a man named Widmore. Eloise couldn’t explain why she was so pleased to hear this. But she had wondered now if Charles could at last be beginning to support and understand her after all.
Characters: Eloise Hawking, Charles Widmore, Richard. Mentions of Daniel.
Warnings: Spoilers up through S5, plus references to a character death.
Pairings: Eloise/Charles
Rating: PG-13
Summary: For
siluria, who requested rain (sorry for the lateness of this!) Eloise says goodbye to Charles and the island in the middle of a rainstorm. Sixteen years later, they meet again for the first time after Charles is exiled from the island.The rain lashed against the windows of the café as Eloise waited, wondering if he would come. It had been raining just like this the last time they’d seen each other, she remembered, the day she’d left the island.
Sixteen Years Earlier:
“I’ll just give the two of you some privacy to say goodbye,” Richard had said as the three of them had stood on the dock, waiting for the submarine to take Eloise from the island that had been her home all these years. He’d reached out and shaken her hand before touching her awkwardly on the shoulder, uncertain how to react. As well he might be, since to the best of Eloise’s knowledge, no island leader had ever left of their own volition before.
“Good luck, Ellie,” he’d said, looking at her one last time before making his way quickly through the rain back to their camp.
Left alone, Eloise and Charles had stared at each other for what felt like a long time.
“I wish it didn’t have to be this way,” Charles said at last.
“You’ve seen what happened ever since the incident recently caused by the DHARMA Initiative,” Eloise pointed out. “We’ve lost two of our pregnant women in the second trimester. And it’s been happening to them, too,” she continued, gesturing in the direction of the DHARMA barracks. “If I’m to carry our baby to term, I have to leave the island. But you’re right, it doesn’t have to be this way. You could come with me.”
“You don’t understand, Eloise,” Charles had replied. “As leader of our people, I have to do what’s necessary to protect the island, to make whatever sacrifices need to be made.”
“You’ll leave the island for whatever reasons of your own that you have, for the child you fathered in England, and yet you won’t do it for me,” Eloise had spat. “Or for our baby. Are we just necessary sacrifices too?”
“The island made its decision,” Charles had stated. “I’m sorry it had to happen, of course, but it’s clear to me that the island wished for our son to be sacrificed.”
“Don’t speak to me of sacrifice,” Eloise had replied coldly, shivering as the rain ran down her neck. “And I would prefer that you didn’t speak of him as our son. You’ve made your choice, therefore you won’t be involved in his life.”
“Ellie, please - “ Charles had begun, pushing his wet hair out of his eyes.
“Maybe one day you’ll understand that there are things that matter more in life,” Eloise had said, turning her back on Charles for what she expected to be the last time and walking quickly through the rain to the submarine.
She didn’t look back at Charles and the island as she stepped down into the sub, placing her hands on her stomach and thinking of her baby, still to be born and yet already gone, face familiar to her even though the face she had seen did not yet technically exist.
The universe had a way of course correcting, they had always believed that. Yet the day before, as Eloise had met with Jacob for the last time, he’d told her that it didn’t have to be that way. And Eloise determined that she would do whatever she had to do to change things.
Daniel had to be sent to the island, of course. After all, it had already happened. But Eloise would do whatever it took to make sure he changed the past.
Sixteen Years Later:
The jingling of the bell of the café door startled Eloise out of her reverie as she realised someone else had arrived.
“Ellie,” Charles said stiffly as he removed his mackintosh and struggled with his dripping umbrella. “I wasn’t sure you’d show up.”
“Neither was I,” Eloise admitted, thinking about how nobody had called her Ellie in years, the last person having been Charles himself when she left the island. She wasn’t sure how she felt about hearing it again, with the memories it conjured up of the days they’d led their community together, the nights they’d spent together on the island.
“I’m glad you did.” Charles replied. “It’s been a long time.”
“Sixteen years,” Eloise stated, taking a sip of her tea. She knew Charles had visited the mainland several times in the last sixteen years, but they had never met up at any of those times. Eloise had preferred it that way.
“So why now?” Charles asked. “Now that I’ve left the island for good. Are you here to gloat, as Linus was when I left?”
“Gloat?” Eloise repeated incredulously. “You really think that’s the reason I came here today?”
How had it come to this, she wondered as she scanned the face of the man she had first loved at seventeen, grown to form a deeper connection with over time, and had still loved him even as they had both been forced to admit that they could have no future together, not while they wanted such different things.
She’d thought of Charles again when Daniel had been born, remembered their early hopes and dreams of the family they would raise together before they realised it could never be. She had named her son Daniel because she knew she had to, knew it from the times she had encountered him in her past, in his future. But she had given him the middle name of Charles, still feeling the need to retain some connection with the man she had loved once.
How had they gone from the people they were then to the people who sat opposite each other today?
“No, I’m not here to gloat,” Eloise said at last. “But I am here out of a certain curiosity.”
“You’d be perfectly entitled to gloat,” Charles admitted, seeming not to have heard what she had said. “After everything I said about how the only thing that mattered was protecting the island and all our people, and in the end they decided they’d prefer to follow Linus, and I had to leave.”
“So was your sacrifice worth it after all?” Eloise asked. “The choice you made to sacrifice me and our son in favour of the island, which then chose to sacrifice you.
“Daniel is doing well, by the way,” Eloise continued when Charles failed to respond. “I’m sure it was an oversight that you failed to ask. We’re hoping that he’ll go to Oxford, to study physics.”
“So you’re still hoping to send him back so he can change what happened,” Charles said, sounding dismissive to Eloise’s ears.
“You asked me why I agreed to meet with you today,” Eloise said as she reached for her umbrella before getting to her feet. The rain was coming down more heavily now, but she didn’t care. “I wanted to know whether you had yet understood that there were things that mattered more than the island. It’s clear to me that you have not.” She turned on her heel and walked out, struggling with her umbrella as she left.
“Ellie, wait!” Charles exclaimed.
But Eloise was gone. There was nothing further for them to talk about.
Not any more. Nothing had changed.
Until the day Daniel told Eloise that he had been offered a research grant by a man named Widmore. Eloise couldn’t explain why she was so pleased to hear this. But she had wondered now if Charles could at last be beginning to support and understand her after all.