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Coffee Break
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Russia, Chloe and Elena were safe and sound in a secluded cabin, where no one could find them until the men got back. Sully was there a lot of the time, but for now he was off doing his own thing, despite the ladies having no idea what his 'own thing' was. Nevertheless they could take care of themselves, even Chloe who was now noticeably pregnant with Vergil, her new husband's baby. The two woman sat comfortably at a table both with two smoking mugs, Chloe drinking camomile tea and Elena black coffee. Although they were concerned about where their husbands were, they tried not to fixate on it, at least for now.
"So how are you feeling today?" Elena asked Chloe, sitting back in her chair.
Chloe scoffed. "Oh, I feel wonderful." she said sarcastically. "I'm just sick of drinking this rubbish. I've wanted to pound a beer for seven months now." she admitted, reluctantly taking a drink of her tea, which she never cared for.
Elena let out a small, sympathetic laugh. "Oh, I'm sorry, sweetie." she said, patting her hand.
Chloe just shook her head. "I'm just kidding. I'm grateful to be having this baby, I can stand to sacrifice my partying ways for a little while." She took another sip of her steaming tea. "But God, I want my body back, that's for damn sure."
"Come on, you still look fantastic." Elena admitted. "And I'm sure Vergil still thinks you have a...what did he call it? A 'smackable ass'?" She grinned after her statement.
"Indeed, and now, with the size I am, I'm sure he thinks it's twice as 'smackable'." Chloe laughed.
Elena laughed with her as well, but it was stopped by a long, loud yawn.
Chloe looked at her with a crooked brow. "And what's gotten you so tired Missy?" she asked. "I thought the coffee was odd since you don't normally drink it, and now you're yawning me, a seven month pregnant woman under the table." she told her.
Elena began to speak but caught herself. "No. No it's stupid." she said with an embarrassed smile.
Chloe sighed. "Oh, come on Elena, we were just talking about my ass you can tell me what's got you so exhausted."
Elena hedged once more before she finally gave it. "It's just...hard for me to sleep away from Nate. Being away from him, it makes me nervous."
Chloe just sat there and looked at her for a moment, she knew Elena had more to say and wanted to hear her out.
"I don't know. I just..." Elena trailed off but then began again. "I feel like something...bad is coming and I don't know what. When he's in bed with me I feel, in control, like I can keep him safe, but when he's away...I feel helpless." she said, peering into her cup, to ashamed to look at Chloe.
Chloe took her hand and placed it on Elena's. "I know, I worry about my husband too." she said. "God, I can't believe Vergil is my husband. Not to mention his most likely clone inside of me." She joked, getting a small laugh out of Elena. "Listen, sunshine, it's only been a handful of months since you watched Nate die in your arms, I couldn't imagine going through something like that. But you both got through it, he's fine." she assured her.
"It's not just that." Elena went on. "When I am in bed with Nate, he...talks a lot in his sleep."
Chloe narrowed her eyes and sat back. "Now, when did this start?" she asked.
"A few days after Nate found out that Vergil and he were brothers. Since then, every night since then—that I was with him at least—he spoke out in his sleep. He sounds so distressed. In the morning, he wakes up and doesn't say a word about it. I'm not even sure he knows he's even dreaming it." Elena told her.
Chloe drew on her words and thought for a moment. "Well...what does he say during the dreams?" she asked.
Just as Elena opened her mouth to answer the question a loud bang came from the wooden door of the cabin and it swung open. There stood Nathan, Cutter and Vergil, all drenched to the bone and looked pretty banged up. Cutter used the door as leverage to stand while Nate was too busy supporting Vergil to worry about himself. Elena and Chloe darted up from the table and ran to them.
"What the hell happened to you three?" Elena asked in horror, leading Nate and Cutter to the sofa, while Chloe guided Vergil.
Nate fought to catch his breath. "We were ambushed by the camp. Someone tipped them off to why we were there and they pulled out all the damn stops to kill us."
"Aye he's right." Cutter jumped in. "Snipers, RPGs, everything they could to blast us into bits. We finally had to jump off the side of the bluff to the getaway boat to even have a shot at surviving. And I can't believe we did."
Chloe's eyes darted to Vergil. "You jumped off the bluff?" she said in horror.
Vergil nodded with a pained face. "Yeah, it was either that or get cut to pieces by snipers."
Chloe looked over his body to make sure he wasn't bleeding or harboring any broken bones. "Well, what about your-"
"Fear of heights? Oh, that came up." Nate said standing up as fast as his injured body could and stormed across the room. Elena noticed he was cradling his arm as he did so. She grabbed a medicine kit from a nearby closet to aid him.
Elena opened up the kit and pulled out some disinfectant and gauze. "Woah, woah, slow down. What happened? What do you mean it came up?" she asked.
Vergil forced himself to sit upward, wincing as he did so. "I had some stage fright when it came time to jump off the side of the cliff."
Nate whipped his head around to Vergil. "Stage fright!? That's what you call it!? We all almost got obliterated because you couldn't grow the hell up, Vergil!"
"Nate, listen-" Vergil began only to be cut off by more of his brother's shouting.
"No, you listen!" Nate yelled back. "Tonight you almost made both our wives widows and left your child without a father! Is that what you want, your child to not have a father like we did!"
Vergil couldn't say anything so he just sat there for a moment. Sure, he had put everything he had ever loved at risk, but it wasn't intentional. As hard as Nate was being on him, he knew that he was right. If he didn't try to work harder and be more careful, it would destroy the lives of his wife and child. He watched Nate just shake his head and storm off into his room, Elena following after him. Before she left the room she stopped and mouthed, "I'm sorry."
Chloe took a wet cloth in her hand and began to wipe off Vergil's cuts and scrapes. "That wasn't exactly called for." she said in an angry voice.
Vergil shook his head and stopped her from helping him further. "No." he said to her. "He's right. He saved my life tonight." he told her.
"Yeah. It's true." Cutter chimed in. "Although he was a rather dick about it."
Vergil's face was filled with ache. He tried to shake it off and focus on his wife. "So...how's Bruce?" he asked, rubbing Chloe's stomach softy.
Chloe sighed and took his face in her hands. "Vergil, darling. I love you. I married you, but I am not, under any circumstances naming my child Bruce Wayne."
Vergil just took her hands from his face and laughed, kissing her hands sweetly.
"Chloe, I've missed you so much, but...would you mind if I went for a walk alone for a few minutes?" Vergil asked her. The last thing he wanted to do was leave but he had a lot to sort out. "I'll only be gone a little bit."
Chloe nodded and kissed him on the forehead. "Sure. Use that time to think of more names." she said with a wink.
Vergil laughed weakly. "Thanks. I love you. Be back soon." he told her.
In the other room, Nate and Elena were alone. Elena closed the door so they could talk more privately. Nate winced sharply at the now even more opened wound on the side of his arm. Elena sighed and sprayed the disinfectant on it and began to wrap the gauze over it. Nate soon felt his boiling blood begin to cool.
Nate sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm an asshole." he said, sitting down on the bed next to him.
"I wouldn't go that far, but you're pretty damn close." Elena told him.
Nate closed his eyes hard and buried his hands in his face. "I know. I know." he said through his hands. "I know this can't be easy for him either. I just...ugh, I don't to see Chloe and her baby go through what I saw you go through with me. I want him safe, that's why I stay close to him, so I can watch over him. I just want him to be careful." he told her.
"Well, maybe instead of yelling at him you can try and teach him more of what you know? Couldn't hurt to try, right?" she said. She watched Nate nod in defeat. "Nate, you're not a bad guy. You don't have a bad bone in your body. The tough love approach was a good thought but it's not working with you. Just, try and be the caring Nate I know you can be with him." she said, stroking his hair.
Nate leaned over and kissed his wife on the lips. Once it ended, he rested his head against hers. "Thank you." he said softly.
Elena kissed Nate on the cheek then patted him on the shoulder. "You're all fixed up, so go in there and make peace with him, all right?" she said.
"Yes ma'am." he said, rising from his bed. "Oh, God, I'm one of those husbands who does everything his wife says like a trained dog." he whined.
Elena nodded, "And don't you forget it, boy." she warned him.
"Woof." Nate said playfully in response. "I love you." he said with a wink.
"Right back at ya." Elena said with a wink herself.
Once Nate made it into the other room, he was surprised when he didn't see Vergil there. "Where did Vergil go?" he asked as he entered the room.
Chloe sat next to Cutter on the sofa reading a thick novel. "He went for a walk. If you have another tongue lashing for him it'll have to wait until he gets back." she snipped at him.
"No. No tongue lashings, I promise. I actually want to apologize." Nate said to her, the sincerity coming through more than Chloe thought it would. She sighed and paused before she answered. "Please, Chloe?" he asked of her.
"He left about a minute ago, you can still catch him if you hurry." she told him reluctantly.
Nate let a small smile come through. "Thank you. I really appreciate it." he said to her, then darting out of the room after his brother.
Cutter just sat there silently for a moment in sheer shock. He shook his head back and forth. "I swear, you all don't even need books and television in this drab cabin, this whole place is like a bloody soap opera."
"Ain't that the truth." Chloe said, trying to focus on her book, but all she could think of was Nate finally accepting Vergil as his brother.
Would that day ever come?
