Amy (amychen) wrote in neogenesisrpg, @ 2009-02-09 00:10:00 |
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Entry tags: | amy chen, hugh canning |
Who: Amy Chen, Hugh Canning
What: Selling your soul for your future.
When: Friday evening
Where: Hugh's office
Rating: PG
Status: Complete
Her arm was still giving her trouble from the sting of the needle. She was pretty sure it had left a mark - if not the syringe then at least the nausea and the sickness she had had to contend with once it was over. But if the calendar was correct, then it had all be worth it. As long as he agreed.
Waiting until the clock struck six and her work day was officially over, Amy stood from her desk, palms sweating, as she made her way to knock on Hugh's office door.
Hugh looked up from the documents on his desk he was reviewing. A glance at his clock confirmed that it was six. While majority of the firm clocked out at that time, Hugh was notorious for working overtime.
If it was anyone else he would have ignored the interruption, but she was already the exception before the law required her to be his wife. The only thing that changed was instead of returning to his work and waving her in, he set the stack of papers aside and spoke, "come in, Amy."
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything--" she cut herself short when the rote became ridiculous. Of course she was interrupting and of course she knew. He wouldn't be at the office if he weren't working.
"Sorry. I can leave you to it. I just wanted to let you know I, uh, went to get the serum. Just so you know. In case."
Hugh's eyebrows lifted in surprise. While he had went along with the paperwork that was required of him the man had yet to go in to take the serum. He didn't see a point of putting him through the process if there would be no children produced from it.
"In case what, Amy?" Hugh motioned for her to sit, genuinely curious as to the woman's reasoning.
"Well..." she began, stopped and sat down in a senseless succession of false starts. "We're married. I don't mean to imply anything. I'm just saying. You should know. It's important, right? The sort of thing we discuss as a... well, as a family." When she was nervous, she tended to speak faster than usual. And not make much sense.
"As a family," Hugh repeated slowly. He considered her words carefully, too cynical from years of being a lawyer to take anyone's words at face value. "Is that what you want? I do not want to start a family with someone only because the law requires me of it, especially a poorly written one at that. If you are willing to start a family because you want a family, then it would be different."
He took up his legal brain and pitted it against her own, but brought his years of experience in ferreting out lies that she couldn't hope to equal. It left her biting her lips and glaring from behind thick frames. "It's the law, Hugh. We're married, we have to have children."
"Whatsover thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven," Hugh countered, quoting scripture that he held higher than any law. "Unless I am truly married, I refuse to have children with any woman. It would go against what I believe to do otherwise."
He met her gaze and stared at her pointedly, "Amy, I am not going to compromise my soul or the souls of my children to follow the laws passed by men."
She pursed her lips, annoyed because she couldn't retaliate with anything other than laws and edicts that he mastered no doubt better than she did. "You're not going to compromise." Okay. What did that mean. What did any of it mean?
"Is that... is that what you told your other wife too?"
"I will not compromise on this matter. There is a vital difference between a lawful wife and a celestial wife, or wives, Amy. I told this to Sarah as well." Hugh reached into his desk and pulled out a book bound in worn leather. He set it on the desk and slid it across. "This is what guides me, and this is what will guide my family. Unless you can agree to that, the marriage will be annulled."
Amy turned the book her way and read the cover. It wasn't news. She knew about his ideology and his beliefs. She didn't judge. She didn't care. "You want me to convert?"
"I would prefer to share my life with someone who shares my beliefs," Hugh smiled warmly, "or at the very least promise to allow me to bring up my children in light as scripture requires the head of a household. You see, in scripture, what family a man builds in this life will exist in the hereafter. It is very important to me."
Her head was beginning to ache. She hadn't factored religion into this. "Hypothetically speaking, what if I was Buddhist and refused to... convert." It was beside the point. She wasn't and she didn't. Exactly.
"In that situation, as long as you didn't indoctrinate my children in false beliefs and raise them to respect and follow their father, I would not request to dissolve the union." Hugh answered without hesitating, "that is if the Lord would allow me to have children in such a situation."
She blinked, speechless for a long moment. "What... Hugh. Are you serious?" Who was this man and what had he done with her usually so reasonable, so logical boss?
"This is not because the seed was not good, neither is it because the fruit thereof would not be desirable; but it is because your ground is barren and ye will not nourish the tree, therefore ye cannot have the fruit thereof." He responded with a slight smirk, he was not above wielding scripture in an argument as he would pulling obscure legislation to win a case in court. "In short, just because one wishes a child does not mean the Lord deems them worth having one."
Amy shook her head. "That's..." Her lips stretched into an uncomfortable smile. "That's not going to be a problem. I wasn't raised religious but I suppose this is just as good a time as any." He'd dangled the only carrot she cared about before her eyes. Cruel. "I want a family. With you. I'm prepared to do anything."
"Is that so?" Hugh recognized the posture, her body language was easy enough to read that even someone untrained in interpreting the unspoken words a body could convey would tell she wasn't entirely telling the truth.
"You don't have to do anything you don't want to do. I want you to consider things carefully instead of live an eternity with regret."
"I'm in no danger of regretting anything," she answered quick. Too quick. "Not this." Her heart may've been in her throat, but she sure as hell wasn't going to let him take this from her. She'd earned it.
Hugh stood and moved around the desk. "You are, even if you can't see it. If it is truly God's plan, it will happen. There is no need to rush it. I'll be here for you. Do you understand? "
She really didn't, but she wasn't going to tell him that. "So I take it you won't be taking the serum?" Was that what he was saing? That it was in 'God's' hands? Oh God.
That earned a hearty laugh from Hugh, and he shook his head. "You misunderstood me," he chuckled and dropped to a knee so that he was at eye level with her. "The church's official stance is that the serum is necessary but does not guarantee conception.
"Once the serum is administered, the rules that governed before it was necessary apply. In short, I won't take the serum unless I believe there is a true reason to attempt bringing a child in the world. Does that make more sense?"
"So you won't sleep with me." That, she found, made a lot more sense. And it was so predictable she wasn't even surprised. Motivation aside, it really was the same old, same old.
She drew her hands back. "Okay. I get it. I understand that."
"Good. I thought you would, you are a smart girl," he smiled warmly, "what do you think of the Serranto? I was thinking if you are serious about starting a family, I would like to have the ceremony there."
Amy plastered a smile on and nodded. "I like it. It would suit us fine... Should I draw up a list of possible guests or would you rather keep it private?" She didn't want to think what her parents might say. What her mother would think if she knew. Second wife - the name still carried a wealth of distaste, even two generations late.
"Only between family and close friends. And before you ask, this will be your wedding," Hugh pulled out the planning books he had been flipping through and passed them to her, "yours and mine."
Eyebrows arched high past the rim of her glasses. "No Sarah?" There was a surprise, but a pleasant one for once.
"No Sarah, that isn't how it is done," Hugh lightly patted her knee and stood. "Every woman deserves to have her own special day. Besides, while Sarah has entered into the legal marriage, I am not sure she is as committed to starting a true marriage as you are."
He towered over her, but she towered over the other woman. An ugly little smile bloomed on her lips and it wasn't all his doing - she just attributed to him. "I'd say I'm sorry to hear that, but..." It would be a lie. She clutched the books to her chest and nodded. "I'll get started on the arrangements."
"Keep me updated on your plans, I trust you can handle the bulk of it. I would assist more, but you more than anyone can understand how much work I have to do." Hugh realized he sounded more like her boss than a husband, but old habits were hard to break.
"Of course, I'll take care of everything." And she would. She knew how to plan a party, even if it had never been her own. She knew how to keep him involved without making him take tedious decisions, even if it had never been as her husband