The hair on the back of Ben's neck stood up and a chill ran through his arms. When Gaius
proposed? Of course Ben hadn't expected that there would be anything to this at all, in reality — Ben assumed whatever encouragement November might have given Macmillan was only in Macmillan's head, because his sister's character was unimpeachable — but even in his wildest imaginings of what might have happened, he had never entertained the notion that it might have been going on so long. Maybe,
maybe he could have seen his sister accepting a gift that she shouldn't have — flowers, or something equally innocuous — a few weeks or maybe months ago, when the novelty of her marriage had worn off and Gaius was mostly distracted elsewhere and her children were proving taxing. Ben hadn't been through that himself, obviously, but he knew that these things happened; that even happy marriages could get a little stale, sometime. Maybe,
maybe he'd expected something like that — something mostly innocent but still a little beyond the bounds of propriety, and only because things had gotten a little boring in her day-to-day life. Not — not something that had been ongoing since
before Gaius proposed.
Holy fucking shit, were Ben's nephews even legitimate?
No, of course they were. Of course they were. November would not have gone
that far. She hadn't admitted to anything, really, and Ben wasn't going to ask, because he didn't want to know, but Nova wouldn't have — wouldn't have actually
betrayed her husband, whatever thoughts and feelings she was harboring. Right? Being unfaithful to a spouse wasn't even something that
Ben had entertained, even in the worst and darkest moments with Melody. He couldn't believe that of his sister, no matter what she said.
"Yes," he agreed tensely. His voice conveyed neither encouragement nor reprimand; it was like he was merely stating facts. "I'm sure you do." She had to love him at least a little to be willing to risk so much for him, or at the very least she had to have convinced herself she did — the difference, in this case, was not really material. "But he doesn't love you, Nova. He can't. Because —" his voice faltered slightly here, a hint of emotion slipping in despite his efforts to remain aloof about this. "— because that's not what love is. When you love someone you want the best for them, even if it's difficult. Even if it's not what's best for you."
A few months ago Ben would have felt like a hypocrite trying to talk about love, but now he thought he could say at least this much. That was the one through line of his whole relationship with Melody: that he was willing to make himself miserable for her sake. He'd bought that potion for her to try and give her a way to be happy while married to a man who could provide for her better than Ben could. When the situation had changed and marrying him was her only option, he'd stayed with her despite the circumstances. He did love Melody, and sometimes it was hard — usually it was hard — and sometimes it made him miserable, but he kept trying because he loved her.
"If he loved you, he would have called this off rather than risk your marriage — your
family — your whole
life for his sake," Ben continued firmly. "Because there's no risk for him, don't you see? He has nothing to lose by toying with your feelings, which is the only reason he's still doing it. The
best thing that could come of this is that he'll eventually get tired of you and break your heart. And the worst — he'll ruin you, Nova," Ben said, as gently as he could. "He's already been indiscreet at least once. He'll do it again, because he has nothing to lose and he doesn't
care. He'll ruin you."
MJ made this <3
