The Danish Delight (Mads Mikkelsen)

Chapter 22: "Rationalizing"

Chapter 22: "Rationalizing"

"Um, hey mom." I reclined in the light leather seat and anxiously awaited my mother's voice on the other end of the line.

I was naturally exhausted as a result of two things: The first being that I had hardly slept during the flight from Denmark to LA and managed to then, finally, surpass the peak of my energy. The second contributor, and frankly the most alarming, was the overwhelmingly surreal course of events that took place shortly after our arrival back. Such time in which Mads went berserk.

Something changed in Mads when we left Denmark, something about him became broken. While I was still unsure of everything that had happened within the time that we landed in LA and, quite immediately, left, I knew that whatever it was that blew up would inevitably become resurrected and haunt the both of us.

From the exact point that we left the studio, we followed a strict sequence. Mads drove me by my apartment to gather anything extra that I wanted to take with me to New York, then followed forth to his house to do the same. After we had what we needed, Mads took us straight back to the jet for take off; where he still kept me oblivious to the situation at hand.

"Hello darling, I'm surprised that you called me for once. What's up?" My mother answered energetically, as she always did.

"Hey... Umm... Uh, would you mind if I came home a bit earlier than expected? Um... Like... Now, in fact?"

Her voice carried concern as a result of her motherly instincts. "Well of course darling, but your flight doesn't leave until next week. Is everything alright?"

"Yeah! Yeah, everything is fine. And don't worry... Mads already paid for the flight." I was slightly hesitant; trying not to leak the fact that we were flying in on Mads' private jet.

"Oh! He did? Where did he come up with the money for that? I hope that it wasn't too much trouble for him. Elise, please tell him that we'll reimburse him for his troubles!"

"No. Mom, it's fine. You could say Mads is... um... on the 'wealthier side' of the spectrum. It's really no issue at all."

She giggled, "Oh? That's certainly something you've managed to leave out."

"Because it's not that big of a deal, Mom. Does it really matter whether he is or is not wealthy?"

"No M'am." She struggled to contain her laughter. "So when should we expect you? I'll have Dad meet you at the airp-"

"No!" I shrieked through the phone, which startled Mads from the remarkably peaceful nap he was taking in the seat just across from me; dreaming away his worries.

He looked to me and mouthed Are you okay? as I nodded and continued to my mother. "No, we'll get a cab and meet you at the house later tonight. Don't worry, I remember the way."

".. Okay. Uh, I guess we'll see you when you arrive then."

I sighed with relief. "Alright Mom, I'll see you later on. Love you."

Her docile smile struck me through the phone as she finished the conversation. "I love you too, Elise. See you soon."

Mads, now fully awake, leaned forward and grazed his hand over my thigh. He breathed heavily, releasing the stress that he had held within himself ever since the incident occurred.

"Elise..." He gulped and looked into my eyes. "I cannot express to you how infinitely sorry I am about what happened today, back at the studio. I have no reasonable explanation to justify my behavior. I acted violently, and I did so in front of you... that should never have happened."

"You're right, Mads. You should not have acted that way at all. You could have permanently injured Arnie! Shit, he was barely conscious when we left him there with Sam." My eyes narrowed. "You could be in serious trouble for that."

"Elise, protecting you is, and will always be, my top priority. I had to do what I thought best to protect you at the time. Arnie was being irrational... he might have hurt you."

I could no longer contain the fusion of emotions that I'd kept bottled-up until that point; so I began to cry. "Fucking EVERYONE was being irrational! Christ! Why can't you just tell me what the fuck is going on?!"

"Oh, baby.." He stood-up and took me into his arms, swaying softly from side-to-side, as I continued to ball.

He moved his hand back-and-forth across my back and gently shushed me until I caught my breath once more. As I removed my wet-mess of a face from the crook of his neck, he slid his thumbs across my cheeks to wipe away the remainder of my tears, leaving behind his tender kisses after each reassuring touch.

"Listen..." Mads titled my chin up. "I know that everything seems like a mess and you are only trying to make sense of it all, but for now, I have to figure this out on my own. I promise that I'll tell you everything when the time is right. Just keep your trust in me, like you always have, and bear with me until then? Please?"

"O-okay."

"Thank you." He pulled my face further into his as he abruptly curved his lips entirely around mine.

His kiss takes away all of my worries.

Jessica knocked on side of the wall with her eyes shut as she entered. "Am I okay to come in?"

Mads and I both chuckled a bit as we parted our kiss.

"Yes, Jessica. Please, come in." Mads flattened out his navy blue dress shirt.

"Thank you, sir." She regarded back as she opened her eyes. "Captain Adams has instructed me to inform you that we should be landing within the next hour or two. Also, you have an urgent telephone call from..... uh...."

She paused and stared at me for a brief moment before whispering the caller's name into Mads' ear.

"I see... Thank you, Jessica. That'll be all." He scurried to the back of the jet to answer the mysterious caller.... privately.

While he was gone, I roamed around in circles; contemplating whether or not I should even attempt to eavesdrop on his conversation.

What are you thinking, Elise?! Don't you dare sneak around and listen in on his private conversation. It's obviously private for a reason. He's just trying to organize the mess that was made and keep you out of harm's way. Don't meddle in and cause any more trouble than needs be. But what if he's hiding something from you? No... No! What are you talking about? You're being crazy. Mads will tell you everything in due time. He would never hide anything from you.... Would he? No! He wouldn't!... I mean, at least not without good reason. He's just trying to protect you, Elise, that's all...... That's all he's trying to d-

As if on cue, Mads came back and appeared to be slightly more disoriented than before. Although, once he'd noticed that I had seen him walk in, his expression changed completely.

"Elise!" He exclaimed. "I'm sorry about the call, darling. It was just messy business-related stuff, nothing to worry about."

"Are you sure?" I bit my lower lip with concern.

"Yes, of course I'm sure. Trust me, everything is going to be much better soon. You needn't stress yourself anymore over it.... As a matter of fact, what you truly need to do is get some sleep."

"Is it really that apparent?" I laughed as I tried to rub away the dark circles from under my eyes.

Mads grabbed a large blanket and gestured for me to sit with him. I relaxed my body upon his lap while I buried my face into the core of his chest. Cloaked in the intensifying warmth of both the furry blanket and Mads' arms, I effortlessly shut my weary eyes and slept.