Oxterionn: Of Love and Fast Cars

Kat strolled through the halls of the building trying to waste time as she waited for Red to finish talking with Charlie. She realized, as she climbed the steps to the second floor, that no one had been up there for a while. It was not dusty or anything like that, it just had an 'unused' feel to it. Nothing was out of place, and there was nothing that did not belong. Except Kat, of course. She did not belong in Charlie's house, or whatever this was. Regardless, she kept snooping. Mostly because she was bored, but she was curious about him. What exactly had he been doing for the past six months, and why had he decided to disappear?

She looked through a few rooms, but did not touch anything. Nothing looked personal, or like it even belonged to Charlie, so she did not glean much. She was about to head into the next room when she heard voices downstairs. She came to the edge of the balustrade in time to see Red and Charlie leaving the room she had left them in, but they did not see her, so she hid behind a plant.

"So, you're a chauffeur now? Why?" Charlie asked with a laugh.

"It's, umm, complicated." Red ran his hands through his rusty-colored hair and turned around. For a second, Kat thought he'd seen her, but he kept turning and faced Charlie again. "Her dad got me out of a.... hard situation, and at first it was just a distraction, but now..."

Charlie raised an eyebrow, the only indication that he was interested in what Red was saying. "Now it's what....? You actually like driving people around?"

"I don't mind it, Kat is a really great person, she's-" Charlie interrupted Red with a smile.

"Oh, I see, it's all about the girl now. Is this why you don't want to get back into racing?" Charlie teased.

"I never said that!" Red blushed, and Kat could see it clearly from her hiding spot at least thirty feet away and behind a plant. "I never said I was giving up racing. I'm just taking a year of two off."

"Right. But the girl, she's... special, right?" The Brit asked, almost like an older brother talking to his sibling.

"It's complicated, she's been through a lot this summer I don't want to make it worse," he paused. "And then of course, there's..."

"Fiona." Charlie nodded solemnly and the two exchanged some kind of look that obviously meant something, but Kat was clueless. Fiona? Who's that? She had never heard Red talk about a girlfriend, or even his family. She had never thought about it, but there was a lot she did not know about him.

After a pause, Red cleared his throat. "It's getting late, maybe I should get Kat home." He looked around, and she realized he was looking for her, so she moved away from the plant and pretended she was just coming out of the library and totally not eavesdropping.

"Miss Katherine! There you are. I was wondering where you'd scurried off to. What are you doing up there anyway?" Red smiled up the stairs at her and ignored Charlie mocking him for calling her 'Miss Katherine.'

"Nothing, I was just...looking for the kitchen. It's a little late, I was hungry, I thought maybe I would find some food, or something," she explained quickly as she descended the stairs, proud of herself for lying on the spot.

"Maybe we'll pick up something to eat on the way home," Red reached out as if to put his arm around her, but ended up awkwardly resting his hand on her shoulder. He caught Charlie's eye and removed his hand, shoving it back in his pocket. "Know any good places around here?"

Charlie shrugged. "I don't get out much, I've been kind of busy..." He gave Red a look before turning his gaze to Kat.

"I don't think we've been introduced yet, but I'm Kat," she held her hand out and they shook. He nodded, but did not say anything. "It's nice to meet you." She withdrew her hand and got the feeling Charlie did not like her very much. He shifted his gaze back to Red and nodded politely.

"It's really great to see you again.... Maybe I can come back some other time, if you want," Red said, sounding as emotional as Charlie was not. He looked like he was on the verge of tears again, his hand shaking slightly. Kat had only known Red to be fun, light hearted, and seemingly optimistic (given his situation), so this came as a surprise. She wanted to comfort him and put her arm around him or something, but she felt weird with Charlie there, and because she did not know who this 'Fiona' was.

. . .

As expected, the media blew up at the news that Emmeline Saxon and her husband were having a baby via surrogate. She could handle the negative feedback from people calling her lazy, or a workaholic for not taking time off to have a baby herself. The hardest part was the praise she received for being brave and standing up for herself in a male dominated sport. Emme could handle criticism; she had been doing that her entire career. But compliments? Or the fact that she was apparently a 'role model' for working women? This, Emme did not know how to deal with.

When one reporter asked before a race how she felt being away from her newborn son so much, Emme responded that she was sure she felt the same way other male drivers or professional athletes in her position felt. "After all, my husband is home with him, and we have a nanny as well, so I know Alex is in good hands."

Winston had been fired soon after Emme's discussion with him, and replaced with the loveable Jacques. He came out of retirement to take this position and he seemed much more sympathetic to Emme's circumstances. He had a daughter who was interested in racing and looked up to Emme, so Jacques tried to help Emme out as much as he could.

The first photos of the new family were publicly released at the close of the 2014 F1 season, conveniently after the last race in Abu Dhabi. Emme was able to hide in her new 'home' of Georgia with her in-laws and generous extended family. She got to experience what it felt like to have a real family, unlike her crime-driven parents and siblings. She felt welcomed, and they were very inviting, but Emme never quite fit in with the Montgomerys of Georgia. She and Gavin were happy with baby Alex for a couple of months, until she had to start preparing for the 2015 season.

Due to her schedule it was nearly impossible for her to remain state-side once the season started. Emme moved back to the home she had occupied in Monaco since her start in F1 nearly seven years ago in 2008. She was terribly lonely at first, and called Gavin crying every night. She insisted he send her videos and pictures of Alex every day, and soon she was placated. Emme got used to seeing her son and husband from afar as they kept promising to visit as soon as Alex was old enough to fly. Gavin had all but given up acting; most thought it was due to his new position as father, but honestly he could not get many roles after his reputation as a difficult actor spread through Hollywood.

Instead, Emme flew across the Atlantic every few weeks to Atlanta, and made the long drive out to the old Montgomery homestead just to see Alex and Gavin. She was flying halfway around the world to race every other weekend anyway, so it did not seem that much of an issue to fly a little further. They adjusted to this kind of long-distance life, each finding their own way of coping with it. For Emme, that involved throwing herself into training and racing, and soon this extra training started showing positive results on race weekends .

* * *

Whoever this 'Fiona' was that Red had mentioned stayed in Kat's mind as they drove home. Red said he did not want to talk but he was not mad, so she let him be. When they got home he wanted to be alone, so she did not bother him and did some homework instead. It was not until the next night that she saw him again, and it was obvious he'd been drinking.

Kat was sitting in the kitchen doing her homework when Red appeared and leaned on the doorway. "I wanted to thank you," he said quietly. "That was very kind of you."

"Why don't you sit down before you fall over," Kat pushed out the chair across the table from her for him. He sat down and did not say anything for a while, so she continued working on her homework.

"Charlie is.... he's Charlie," Red laughed, but it sounded hollow and empty of joy. Kat noted his Boston accent got stronger when he'd been drinking. "He's great once you get to know him."

"I'm sure he is," Kat smiled. "You seem to be very close to him."

"We were definitely very close, best friends even," he paused and stared thoughtfully at his bottle of Jameson before passing it over to Kat so she could have a drink. "If he had been mad at me it would have been so much better. I've been hating myself for months, so if he hated me too it would have seemed right, somehow."

Kat reached across the table and took his hand. "It must be hard for you being here. I don't know why, but I thought it would make it better. At least you know he isn't dead, but I never really thought about what you'd do after. I guess I thought things would go back to normal."

"Normal," Red repeated and laughed that empty, hollow, laugh again. It hurt Kat to see him like this, and she felt guilty about it now. Maybe he had been better off not knowing.

"Is that what you want? To go back to the way things were?" She asked. "I can see why you'd want that; you must have had a pretty nice life as a World Champion racing driver." She smiled encouragingly and took another drink, deciding her homework was done for the night.

"I was certainly very lucky in many aspects, but near the end, a lot things were starting to fall apart," he shrugged, as if to say 'it happens.'

Kat hesitated before asking the next question. She knew it was not really any of her business, but she was curious. "Did you – or, do you, have a girlfriend, or anything?"

His face changed, and he looked tense, maybe angry, but suddenly he laughed. "Yes, at some point in my life I have had a girlfriend. Do you mean recently? I, um, yeah there was someone for a long while, but she and I are over. That was one of the 'many things' that fell apart when I, uh, left Formula One."

"Fiona?" Kat asked apprehensively and took another drink before handing the bottle back to Red.

"I was away too often, she found someone else." He hung his head and took another drink.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to bring up bad memories; I just wanted to try to help, somehow."

"Kat, you have already helped me in more ways than you could imagine. You have kept me from falling into depression again, and every day I have looked forward to driving you, and hearing you laugh, and watching you giggle when I take a corner too fast." He smiled, his greyish eyes distant as he held her hand in his. "Miss Katherine, you don't know it, but you have saved my life and given me a reason to live."

The quiet pause that fell between them was filled with so many questions. Kat's heart was beating fast, her palms sweating, and her mind raced as she tried to find an appropriate reply. Instead, she leaned across the table and kissed him on the lips.

~ ~ ~

Millie sat up unnaturally straight as she divulged her deepest and most secret sins to a man she had just met. Andy was so calmly and quietly confident that he seemed nothing but trustworthy. Years of practice allowed Andy to extract the information he wanted from even the toughest of subjects, but he took a less painful approach with Millie. He would not want to mess up her red lacquered nails unnecessarily, and watched her tapping them on her desk top as she recounted her story.

"Johnny liked to hang around my university. I think he found a thrill in picking up nicely dressed posh girls looking to stick it to their parents by bringing home a bad boy. When we met I was in my last year of my business degree and most definitely wanted to tell my parents to shove it. He picked me up for a date one Saturday in his loud '74 Aston Martin," Millie paused to reminisce the many memories she had about that car. "I thought my dad was going to have a heart attack when that thing roared down our quiet suburban street."

Andy was familiar with Johnny's car and smiled at the image Millie painted. Andy had certainly picked up a few girls like that in his day in his black Oxter.

"With John and I, it was not love at first sight. At least for me it wasn't. He had to work for it, but once I got past the novelty of dating a known gang member I realized how perfect we were together. For a while, things were really great. It was like my own, weird, fairytale. But I knew it wouldn't last. I couldn't stand the thought of living off of Saxon money, not since I knew how it was acquired. John said he'd go straight a countless number of times, but he always fell off the wagon for 'one last time,' or for 'the deal of a century.' If he wasn't a crook he'd have made an excellent salesman." Millie paused to smile at John's ability to charm his way out of anything, then her smile melted. "We got married secretly after an emotional night of promises and plans to start his own business—a car dealership, can you believe it? It was a mistake, but we were young, just 22, and realized it a few months too late. He was always coming home late, or not at all, and he knew I could see through any lie he tried to tell me about his whereabouts."

"'I was just helping out my dad, he's getting sick you know' he'd say. And I'd forgive him like I'd done dozens of times before. Why?" Millie laughed, "we were in love, and we were young. But pretty soon it started to get old, so I moved back in with my parents for a bit. John didn't come around so much after that."

"We were on and off, still legally married, just taking a break. My parents had somehow managed to successfully set me up with a family friend. He was closer to my parents' age than my own, but he was still attractive and was quite easy to talk to. Unfortunately, he was an admiral in the Royal Navy, which meant I was often alone for months while he was away. Johnny knew when George was away and would come round spouting convincing declarations of his intention to sack it all and move to the countryside with me."

"Sadly, I truly believed he could do it, that last time. He had a new motivation, a new reason to create a safe environment. I'll never forget his reaction when I told him I was pregnant. It was like he could see clearly for this first time in his life, and he knew what his purpose on this planet was. He was so excited, he raced home in that Aston Martin to tell his parents the news, and that he was really done with the family business." Millie paused, and Andy knew what was coming so he took another drink. "Except he never made it home." Millie continued quietly, blinking back tears. "He accidentally ran a red light, and.... Well, he did not die as quickly as the Saxons would like us to believe. He made it to the hospital where he managed to tell his mother, Rosie, that he was going to be a dad. Rosie herself was just 17 when Johnny was born, so she was not even 40 yet, and already losing a son, but gaining a grandchild. She took it pretty hard," Millie paused and stared at the wall behind Andy.

"I can imagine," Andy added, knowing Rosie's temperament well, and Millie was quiet for a few more minutes as she sipped her drink.

"It ruined her; she became an alcoholic and got into some harder drugs for a while. Rosie wanted her grandson to replace Johnny, but she couldn't bring herself to even tell her husband what Johnny had told her on his deathbed. She threatened me, so I did the only thing I could think of. I was young, scared, and pregnant, so I got married again. George had left just before I found out I was pregnant, so I convinced him it was his baby. He was happy, and being the upstanding Englishman he was, he didn't hesitate to ask me to marry him. I felt so guilty, but I thought it was the only way to protect Callum. I worried he wouldn't look like George and he'd find out he wasn't the father, but they have the same eye color and that was enough. However, Callum inherited the Saxon blond hair. I lied and told George my hair had been blond when I was a kid, and that he would grow out of it. As you probably know, he hasn't grown out of it, but George didn't live long enough see that."

Andy nodded. Red often referred to Callum as a 'blond haired sailor boy,' with perhaps a few more unnecessary adjectives.

"When the lawyer finally got around to sorting out John's will, his parents were furious. He had written a new will after we married and left everything to me, since I was his widow. I told them I didn't want their blood money, but their lawyer insisted, so we set up a fund for Callum once he came of age. When he was just a toddler Rosie came around to check on him, and when she saw that blond hair she knew for sure Callum was a Saxon. She was still very bitter and resentful about Johnny's death and blamed it on me. I don't think she needed money, she was just angry at me, but she said she wanted John's inheritance back unless I acknowledged Callum was John's son. I couldn't do that! The boy idolized George, and it would break his heart. I said I would tell him once he was old enough to understand, once he came of age and could access the inheritance. I really did not want anything to do with the Saxon's anymore, and I definitely didn't want Callum knowing he was part of the biggest crime family in London."