Out of the Darkness...Light (24/?)

[dublinscot.livejournal.com]

TITLE: Out of the Darkness...Light (24/?)
AUTHOR: DS
E-MAIL: lotr58@bellsouth.net
RATING: R--Violence, Angst
PAIRING: Orli/Viggo
DISCLAIMER: I don't own these guys (though I wish I did). No money is being
made from this endeavor and no disrespect is intended. It's all for fun!
And thanks so much to those of you looking it over for me:) Your time and
comments are much appreciated.
FEEDBACK: Yes, but be kind, gulp:)
ARCHIVE: Anywhere, just let me know. Thanks.
**********************************

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR


"So what you want to do is lay it down slowly, with reverence, almost as if
you're afraid to be touching it. Got it?"

Caught in the act of trying furtively to look at his watch and
appear to be listening attentively at the same time, Viggo's gaze snapped
back up to Peter. Having only caught half of what the portly director had
said, Viggo simply nodded, then froze when Peter smiled and gestured towards
him with his hand.

Uh-oh. Now what was he supposed to do? Looking frantically
over at Beanie, he tried-and failed-to read the silent message the Brit
seemed to be sending with his eyes. Well, that was no help. And then,
inspiration.

Turning once again to Peter, he asked, "would you mind going
over that once more, Peter?"

The affable director suddenly didn't look so affable as he
sighed heavily and closed his eyes, rubbing the bridge of his nose as if
trying to contain his temper. The eyes opened and focused on Viggo who
suddenly felt like a speck under a microscope.

"Viggo. Would you please stop fidgeting and daydreaming. I'm
only going to say this once more. You want to lay the shards down slowly,
with reverence. You feel that you don't even have the right to touch the
thing. Okay? Do you have it this time?"

Mustering a small smile, Viggo nodded.

"I've got it. Sorry, Peter. Don't know what's wrong with me tonight.
Guess I'm just tired."

'And why shouldn't I be,' he thought to himself. 'We've been
here all day. Hell, it's almost eleven o'clock at night!'

He and Sean had been summoned to the studio by Peter. A private
meeting, they'd been told. A special rehearsal. Just to go over a couple
of scenes. Well, they'd done that, all right. Over and over and over.
And it didn't look as if there was an end in sight anytime soon. Stifling a
yawn, he nodded and rose to do as his director had requested.

An hour later, Viggo was still reenacting the scene in which Aragorn
and Boromir meet. He was still replacing the Shards of Narsil where they
belonged. He was still gazing at the figures reverently. For the
thirty-seventh time!

And then, music to his ears. And Sean's, too, he was sure.

"Very good, then. Why don't we call it a night?"

If he hadn't been so god awful tired, he would have laughed at
the speed with which Sean leapt to his feet. Just as he was ready to bid
his director good-night, Viggo felt a hand on his arm. Peter.

"What is it?" he inquired.

Peter hesitated, as if weighing his words, judging what to say
and what not to say. Finally, he decided.

"Viggo, Sean. I have a request."

The two men watched him in silence, waiting to hear what he had
to say. The man stood quietly for a moment, a stern look on his face, very
uncharacteristic for him.

"There is a rather...delicate.matter at hand."

Casting his eyes over to Sean, Viggo's questioning gaze was met
with a raised eyebrow and nothing more. He listened as Peter continued.

"A.complaint, for want of a better term.has been lodged against
the both of you. Viggo, you in particular. And a request."

Viggo's brow furrowed in consternation. A complaint? Against
him? And Sean? What could they have possibly done? To the best of his
knowledge, they'd done nothing. Who? And then he realized-it hit him full
force. Orlando's mother.

A suspicious look on his face, Sean looked Peter straight in the
eye, but said nothing. The director stood his ground.

Looking around the room, empty save for the three of them, Viggo wondered
not for the first time why only he and Sean had been summoned here. Why
were they the only ones who had to rehearse all day? And into the night?
Something wasn't right and he was beginning to wonder if their spur of the
minute rehearsal had anything to do with the complaint lodged against them.
Beanie, as usual, cut right to the chase.

"Peter. Why are we here?"

Viggo watched curiously as Peter looked at Sean in confusion, as
if not quite understanding his question.

"What do you mean? Here on the set?

When both men nodded, his expression grew troubled, as if he
didn't want to fully answer the question. But he did.

"Well, Sean. Viggo. I called you in because.because..."

Viggo watched in amazement as the usually composed director
stumbled and hesitated, apparently flustered. But why? When Peter shook
his head and heaved a huge sigh of frustration, Viggo got his answer.

Viggo decided to make it easy on Peter, who looked decidedly
uncomfortable with the situation and the part he was playing in it. The
normally relaxed and laid-back director was actually squirming in his chair,
as if trying to escape the room and the entire situation.

"Peter," he began, seeing the dawn light in Sean's eyes as he,
too, realized the truth. "Does this have anything to do with Orlando's
mother?"

At the mention of Sonia Bloom, Peter's head shot up and Viggo
knew he'd hit on the truth. That was it, then. But before he could go any
further and explain the situation, Peter recovered his sensibilities and cut
in, taking control once more.

"Viggo, Sean. I don't know exactly what happened, but I do know
this. Mrs. Bloom came to me, quite upset. Said you were interfering with
Orlando's recovery. Interfering with private family business. She claims
you were responsible for his transfer to the psychiatric ward. She also
maintains that you deliberately said hurtful things to Orlando, in order to
get a reaction from him. Viggo, she says you told him lies."

Viggo sat there, too stunned to respond. What was Peter talking
about? What he had just described wasn't what had happened at all. And
lies? He would never lie to Orlando-for any reason. Dimly, he heard
another voice speaking, tight with anger. Sean.

"Peter! Surely you don't believe that?"

Numbly, Viggo watched as Peter shook his head, his face deeply
troubled.

"No, Sean. I didn't say I believed it. But I did have to
respond to her in some way. I decided to keep the two of you busy while the
others were at the hospital and then...well, we'll see."

"She's lying, Peter! I don't know why, but she's lying!" Viggo
couldn't contain himself any longer and his anger and confusion poured out,
his words filled with pent up emotion. "Why is she doing this?"

"Yes. That's a very good question. Why?"

Peter was at a loss, as were they all.

Sean stood, his tightly controlled movements evidence of his
emotional state of the anger barely held in check.

"Peter. Something's not right here. I was there. Viggo never
lied to the boy. He was only responding to something Orlando had said.
That's when the boy got upset. Viggo lied about nothing."

The portly director looked at the two of them, totally confused.

"If I'm going to be able to handle this correctly, I need to
know what's going on, guys. You need to tell me-give me something, at
least."

Glancing up at Sean, who nodded slightly, his eyes urging him to
go for it, Viggo wrestled with the ethics of what he was about to do. Aware
that it wasn't his place to publicize Orli's personal history, Viggo grappled with himself, 
his respect for Orlando's privacy warring with his
need to get this resolved. In the end, deciding that since Peter already
knew a portion of what had happened and since he was, ultimately,
responsible for them all while in New Zealand-he decided to explain.
Nodding his head, as if to convince himself he was doing the right thing,
Viggo began.

"Do you remember last Monday, at the hospital, when the doctor
came out and told us what had happened?"

At Peter's nod, he continued. But it was hard; he practically
had to force himself to say the words.

"Do you remember when the doctor asked what we knew of Orlando's
previous history? She mentioned scar tissue from-something-in his past."

Watching the emotions run across Peter's face, Viggo could tell
that he remembered. At Sean's nod of encouragement, he continued.

"Well, Orlando's sister, Samantha, knew what had happened. She
didn't want to tell us at first. Said she'd promised Orlando. But finally
she did."

Without even realizing it, Viggo's voice had dropped until he
was almost whispering, the pain of what he was about to reveal evident in
his face. Drawing a ragged breath to bolster his courage, he forced himself
to continue.

She said that.evidently after their father died...they had..." he
stopped. He wanted to, but at the moment he couldn't go on. All he could
think of was five-year old Orlando, helpless under the onslaught of his
'uncle's' ministrations. He shuddered, closing his eyes for a moment to
gather himself together again. And then he heard it-his savior at the
moment-Sean's voice, continuing with the story, picking up where he'd left
off.

"Orlando was only four years old when his father died.
Evidently, a good family friend stepped in to.help. He was someone they
all knew and trusted."

Opening his eyes, Viggo watched as Peter's expressions ran the
gamut from total loss to a glimmering of understanding what was to come.

"What happened?" the Kiwi asked in a hushed voice.

When Sean glanced over at him, Viggo nodded, urging him to
continue.

"Samantha didn't really give many details, but it looks like
this *man* molested Orlando for nearly ten years."

Viggo looked at his friend in sympathy, noting the slightly
trembling hands, the catch in his voice at the end of his pronouncement.
Sean was a rock, but he wasn't impenetrable. This had affected him, too.

"Are you sure?" Peter looked dazed, as if he couldn't process
what he'd just heard. And who could blame him?

Both men nodded somberly, sorrow lining their faces. Peter
looked at each of them, his eyes widening in horror as understanding dawned
on him.

"But that would mean he was." he trailed off, unable to
continue.

"Four or five years old," Viggo finished for him. Then, he dove
in for the finish. "That's what started the whole thing. This entire.
situation. Orlando was so despondent, upset. He kept saying that if we
knew what he was really like, we would want nothing to do with him. He
claimed he was damaged goods. Worthless. I told him that I knew what had
happened to him in the past, that I knew what his uncle had done. I said it
made no difference-didn't change who he was. That's when he got so upset."

Finished, Viggo took a deep breath and leaned back, regrouping
now that the news was out. Peter, on the other hand, leaned forward,
running his fingers through his already unruly hair. He looked stricken.

"This is unbelievable. Horrible. I mean, you hear about things
like this happening, but it's always someone else, someone you don't know.
Some nameless person. But to know someone you care about went through
something like that." he stopped abruptly, unable to continue.

The other two nodded, silently agreeing with him. Words weren't
necessary.

"I just can't imagine. I mean, I think of my children. If
someone were to do something like that to them I..." Peter clamped his mouth
shut, obviously not wanting to broadcast what actions he would take. But it
was pretty evident to them all.

"I know, mate. If anyone ever touched my girls like that I'
d.well, I couldn't be held responsible for my actions."

Viggo and Peter just nodded in agreement. The room descended
into silence as all three men contemplated the situation and thought of
their own children. Viggo's thoughts drifted from Henry, who was safe and
secure at home with his mother, to Orlando, hurt and broken, and once again
he felt a surge of protectiveness for the boy lying in the hospital.

"What I don't understand, though, is his mother's reaction. Why
would she be so upset if you were only speaking the truth?"

Viggo shook his head in frustration.

"I don't know, Peter, unless she was just upset at Orli's
reaction. But why ban us from the hospital? That's not doing the boy any
good and it seems a little overboard in my opinion." Sean.

Nodding thoughtfully, Viggo agreed. "It just doesn't make
sense."

"No, it doesn't," Peter replied. "But until we get to the
bottom of it, I want you two to steer clear of her-and the hospital."

Steer clear? That wasn't what Viggo wanted to hear.

"But Peter."

The director raised a hand, forestalling further protests.

"Wait a minute. Just hear me out. Let me talk to her, see if I
can find out why she's so upset-so against you visiting. Give me a day."

Though he wasn't really happy with the solution, at the moment
Viggo realized he had no other choice.

"All right. A day. Do what you can. We'll be waiting."

Glancing over at Sean, he saw the Brit nod in agreement. They
would wait.

Comments

[ireth06.livejournal.com]

I think if anyone can figure out why Sonia is acting the way she is, it's Peter. She must have a reason and the only one I can come up with is overprotecting her son now, because she failed before.....So in short: GUILT!! Tough emotion to deal with.

This is a really terrific story, so thanks again for sharing, hugs and kisses!!