rp for mutantwatch

[fever_crusade]

When she asked for advice on the subject of dating, she had been told "practice makes perfect."

This seemed true enough, and would have worked fine if Martha wasn't too skiddish to go out and find someone to practice with. Instead, she has turned to her fellow senator from Kansas, who in the last year or so has proven to be perhaps her only true

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[mutantwatch]

Robert is already there, seated at a table in one of the restaurant's quieter corners, although the place is hardly packed. He's looking particularly dapper - a haircut, and Nic leaving out appropriate clothes for him had seen to that - and he's currently working his way through a pitcher of water. A night off from the campaign trail is more than welcome, particularly if he somehow manages to help Martha with her little relationship problem. Trouble is, as he'd said to JP just the other day, he has no idea why anyone would want to take relationship advice from him, of all people.

But he stands up when he sees her, and smiles, stepping out from the table to give her a welcoming hug. "Hi, how are you? Did you find the restaurant okay?"

[fever_crusade]

She's still a little frazzled from all the trouble the evening has brought so far. "Finding the restaurant wasn't a problem. It was just...everything leading up to it," she replies, with a sigh, as she sits down across from him. "My meeting with Durbin ran until blood was pouring out of my ears, then my car broke down, and I couldn't catch a cab, and...I took the metro."

Normally she wouldn't be so snobbish about the whole thing, but when she'd taken office, the first thing she had been warned about was that - never take the metro. She understood why the first time she took the train to Metro Center and nearly got herself killed.

She picks up the wine menu and begins scanning the contents. "But. I'm here. And I'm not the least bit nervous, or rambling, or anything like that." Lies. All lies.

When the waiter shows up, she closes the wine list, looks at Robert apologetically, then orders herself a glass of Riesling. "I'm going to need it."

[mutantwatch]

At least he's smiling. It's a relief to find someone who appears about as nervous as he usually does on dates. "Well, I hear it's very good. Trouble with Durbin?" He takes a sip of water and glances at the waiter before ordering a salad. "I seem to live on water and vitamin pills these days. My wife despairs of me."

[fever_crusade]

She shrugs. The majority whip gives her so much trouble these days that she'd rather not think about it. "The usual," she replies with surprising ease. "He just seems to be under the impression that since we're both from Midwestern states that our 'working relationship' should be...more intimate." She opens up the actual menu and begins scanning down the list. "Though I swear, most days, I hardly consider Illinois to be Midwestern."

[mutantwatch]

Robert laughs, settling back in his chair. "Our good friends in Washington seem to think that a shared interest in farming subsidies equates to a shared interest in everything. As if national defense, or mutant rights had any bearing on dairy farms." A pause. "At least, I hope they don't."

[fever_crusade]

"Let us all hope they don't."

Having decided upon an entree, she puts the menu down and leans back in her chair, waiting anxiously for her glass of wine. "So. How are you? I really cannot thank you enough for doing this for me, you know. I hope it isn't awkward for you."

[mutantwatch]

"No, not awkward. I think the press has mostly given up trying to insinuate that I'm having scandalous affairs with everyone I work with." Robert scratches his jaw. "I'm tired. The campaign trail is endlessly interesting, endlessly supportive... but it does often seem simply endless. At least I'm fortunate enough to get home most nights and see my family. Nic keeps my feet on the ground."

He looks at her curiously. "Clark doesn't come out here often?"

[fever_crusade]

She tries to sympathize - and she can with the exhaustion in general - but the campaign trail is something she has somehow managed never to experience in her political career, and this is something that embarrasses her greatly and makes her feel enormously inadequate among her colleagues. "I can only imagine. I dread the day when I need to start running for re-election. If I run for re-election." The jury's still very much out on that one.

Her glass of wine arrives, fortunately, and she gratefully accepts it. "No. Clark is...very, very busy." She looks down at her wine, tracing her index finger over the rim. "Between you and me? I think being around me reminds him too much of his father."

[mutantwatch]

Robert is very much aware of being on sensitive ground, and gulps down more water as he thinks. "He's growing up. I think we all push our parents away around that age as we try to be independent. But, I know... My Dad died when I was thirteen, and I was never close to my family again after that... Not for a long time, anyway. Still, Clark seems to be a very well-balanced young man, all things considered."

[fever_crusade]

She looks up at the mention of his father. "I'm sorry."

But her gaze is back to the wine glass again when speaking of the distance between her and her son. "He is. He's wonderful. But I don't think I could stand it if he pushes me away. He's all I have now. With Jonathan gone, and...Lionel..."

The last bit is quiet. There isn't a man or woman in Washington who doesn't know about the Senator's close personal relationship with the richest man in Kansas, though exactly what the close personal relationship consisted of prior to his death is unknown.

[mutantwatch]

"I'm sorry too," he says, and reaches across the table to give her hand a reassuring squeeze. "But I'm a big believer in finding people when you need them most. You're not going to be alone, Martha."

[fever_crusade]

She laughs a bit cynically, shrugging her shoulders. "I've been alone for nearly three years. Never in my life did I expect something like that."

She takes a long sip from her wine glass. "But then I guess that's mostly my fault. I seem to have taken my role as widow...very seriously."

[mutantwatch]

"Well, I can see that it would be a difficult step to take... dating again. My mother remarried very quickly, and while I can see now that it would have been immensely difficult for her to carry on alone, with three teenage boys around, at the time it felt like a betrayal. Still, three years..." Robert looks over at her earnestly. "Do you feel like you're ready for someone new?"

[fever_crusade]

She's been asked that question so often lately, and she still doesn't feel like she knows the answer. Is she ready not to be alone anymore? Yes. God, yes. But is she ready for anyone beside Jonathan to touch her? No. Probably not. But then she has to wonder, if she isn't ready now after three years, will she ever be?

"I don't know," she says eventually. "I guess if I met the right person. I certainly don't want to go near speed dating or online...matchmaking sites. I'm not that desperate." Am I? "I just...I wasn't built for loneliness. I've never lived alone a day in my life, I went straight from my father's house to my husband's house with no in between. And I find I literally have nothing to do when I go back to my apartment, and I...well, I don't know what else to do about it but this."

[mutantwatch]

"Well, you don't need to be dating to have a social life," Robert points out. And perhaps he's not the best person to talk about that either. Once his 14 hours or so at the office are over, snatching some time with his family is all he's thinking about. "Besides, I bet there have been some eligible bachelors hitting on you already without you even realizing it. Oh - and I have to introduce you to Nic, too, when you come to see the kids. I'm sure you'd get on like a house on fire."

[fever_crusade]

"It's not necessarily a lack of fish biting - they're biting all right - but...I'm very particular. I was married to a near-perfect man for twenty-six years, I could never settle for anything less. And since I'm convinced I'll never find anyone half as good as he is...I may never find anyone ever again. My standards are just too high." She sighs. "It was easier when Lionel was here. He was sort of...my bodyguard. My way of having a relationship without actually having a relationship. He saved me."

Then she smiles. "And of course I'd love to meet Nic. It's a wonder we haven't met already, all my time in Washington."