Home Is Where The War Is.
I've decided to grace everyone with another chapter. I just don't want to study or go to bed. Might as well keep myself occupied with something, right?
Thank you to everyone who favourited. 3
klutzygal112 - You're a doll (: Don't you worry about that, I'm going through a timeline of both sides so you will be able to witness your 'nutters' character :D. Besides, he has to be the only calm one at the moment. I think Hans Landa is a bit too much to bare as it is ;).
She found herself seated at the breakfast table earlier than normal. She noted the chefs were not prepared breakfast for once when usually they're preparing lunch when she wakes up. She glanced towards the end of the table, deciding to read the newspaper while she waited patiently. She flicked the paper into a standing position and skimmed throughout the paper slowly. As she was reading through the French articles, she couldn't help but notice that all the articles seemed to have been lacking on the tragedy of the war. Instead, the columns seemed to have reflected what they thought were the 'positives' of the war. What are the positives of war? She couldn't help thinking. Adele wasn't a foolish girl, she was aware that obviously the newspapers were edited to make the Germans sound like saints and martyrs. She was startled when the paper suddenly rose from her hands. She jumped to attention while sitting down to reveal Hugo Stiglitz sitting across from her.
"I was reading that." She huffed.
"Not anymore."
"But you can't even read French!" She protested.
"Yes, but you can. Like I said, shielded from the outside world." He stated.
"By my uncle's orders?" She questioned.
"No, by mine." He retorted.
"You have no authority over me." She was stubborn.
"Yes, I do." He laughed at the irritated expression on her face.
"You have no business reading about politics, Adele. It will just bring you worry." He told her genuinely while he beckoned the maid over.
"So everyone else in the world can read about these issues but I cannot?" She questioned.
"Precisely." He smiled at her.
"Do the talking, will you? Her English isn't the best at all." He offered while scrolling through the papers, glancing at the pictures no doubt.
"What would you like?"
"Surprise me." He mused as he remained gazing at the paper.
She spoke with the maid for several minutes in French as she ordered crepes for breaking with orange juice. The pastries arrived before the food as normal. She pulled out a croissant from the basket, picking at it with her fingers.
"Are you seriously just looking at the pictures in the newspaper? What are you, five?" She teased.
"You can learn a lot from the pictures." He retorted.
"How about you just allow me to translate it?" She offered.
"Why are you so desperate for the newspaper?" He looked up to give a slight smirk to her expression.
"I'm not 'desperate'. I'm merely just interested in the outside world and I don't think it's fair that you're sheltering me from it, father." She reflected his cocky smirk.
His smile coiled into a tough line.
"I just don't think that there's much to these French newspapers anyway to begin with, they're just fabricated anyway." She stated afterwards.
"Fine." He reconciled his defeat and threw the newspaper in her general direction.
Just as she snapped the paper to attention their breakfast arrived. The maid came in, balancing the plates before placing them on the table in front of Hugo and Adele. Hugo eyed the food, recognising it as a crepe suzette. The orange juice was quickly placed on the table while the maid waited for further notice.
"Merci, Madam Neville." Adele dismissed her with the name she learned earlier.
"Bon appetite." She retorted gracefully.
Hugo and Adele sat across from each, as usual. He took interest in the twisting facial expressions as she read the articles.
"What you reading about?" Hugo asked.
"Nothing worth mentioning. Did you hear about this Fredrick Zoller?" She questioned.
"Yes, apparently he's not a German hero." Hugo scoffed.
She hummed in response noticing the disgust in his voice.
"Not a fan?" She questioned.
"Just seems unlikely."
"That I would believe, not the French articles." She admitted, placing the paper down to give her attention to her breakfast.
"Is he returning today?" She questioned.
"By 'he' I presume you mean Colonel Hans Landa. But yes, he is returning today supposedly. Why do you ask?" He questioned, curious.
"Honestly, I was enjoying the freedom." She admitted.
"You consider my presence as freedom, now?" He questioned in a playful manner.
"I guess I do." She smiled at him, causing to him to place his gaze towards his breakfast in embarrassment.
He leaned slightly on the table with his elbows; a serious tone hit the air.
"You have to promise me something." He demanded.
"What?"
"You will not tell Colonel Hans Landa what you saw in the forest." He made it almost like a demand.
"The girl?" She questioned.
She noticed he was staring intensely at her.
"Girl?" He growled.
It was only now that she realised what she said. She mentally slapped herself for answering too quickly. She knew better than to leave her guard down around others and to respond before thinking.
"Did I say girl? Strange." She forced a slight laugh, "I meant the clothing and stuff. The debris they left behind." She attempted to cover her tracks with fake confidence even though she knew it was too late.
"Adele, you saw a girl? Jewish without question, too." He looked down in deep thought.
"No, I didn't mean to say that at all." She made another attempt to regain her composure.
"Adele, I'm not foolish." He said in a serious tone, "I can't believe you would disclose that information from me."He looked up at her with hurt masking his face. She instantly felt guilty and allowed her head to fall to the floor.
"I don't see why it's such a big deal. It was only a child and her mother." She retorted.
"You don't seem to see the seriousness in this. There were obviously males present in the group. They could have been either just passing through or planning an attack on the manor. To be honest, it didn't really seem like they were just settled in to pass through, Adele. I must inform the others and your uncle right away." He moved from his seat.
She began to panic, not only was she nervous for the Jewish family, she was also nervous for herself and Hugo Stiglitz. She knew that if her uncle discovered that she enclosed information about a Jewish family from Hugo Stiglitz's patrol she would be in serious trouble. Her guess what that she would be married off immediately or never allowed contact with the outside world again. She also new that her uncle would place the blame on Hugo Stiglitz also for allowing her to engage in activities that were forbidden to her. The only thing she could do now was attempt to convince Hugo otherwise.
"Please don't overreact. I'm sure they were just passing through. They seemed absolutely terrified by our presence." She attempted to replace the mistrust she laid between the two.
"Of course they were petrified by our presence. They knew they were discovered. Adele, you have to understand that this is for all your and your uncle's protection. You have to understand the fact that just because you don't mean them harm doesn't mean the feeling is mutual. They could be extremely dangerous with intensions to hurt you or your uncle. We cannot seize to take that seize, especially with you around." Hugo told her with affection smouldering his words even though his anger was submerging throughout his composure.
"Why should everything change now that I'm here?" She retorted angrily. She was tormented by the thought that the male society had about women. She despised the fact that Hugo and Hans Landa assumed that since she was a woman she needed to be watched over like a useless child.
"Because, I'm sure your uncle is not prepared to loose you to the war and neither am I!" He startled her with his angry tone.
Although his words were with the intentions of affections towards the girl, his tone was set for disaster. He wasn't surprised when she suddenly raised herself from the table with the expression of hurt pooling in her eyes.
"I'm not hungry anymore." She stated as she began to move away from the Sergeant's presence with anger.
"Adele, please, stop being so stubborn and childish." He asked with a slight tone of annoyance.
"I'm not being stubborn or childish; you're just being an asshole!" She exclaimed.
"Adele, stop!" He demanded as he caught a hold of her wrist to harshly pull her back to him.
"Stop that childish behaviour. You have to realise that you can't get everything you want and that includes saving Jewish families from Colonel Hans Landa's property." He attempted to desperately explain reality to the stubborn child.
She finally discovered that there was truth behind his words but she wouldn't care to admit that.
"You've got to learn, Adele, the world isn't going to react to your single touch. I know you would like to help but you shouldn't convince yourself that playing hide-and-seek with a bunch of Jews will have a positive outcome, especially with the presence of your uncle." She had to admit once again that he was right.
His grasp slowly uncoiled itself from her wrist. Adele's breath became unsteady as she struggled to understand this current situation. She unknowingly held her breath as Hugo's hand rested on the side of her cheek. His thumb gently rubbed tiny circles, attempting to calm her. She couldn't help but struggle to control her breathing.
"Can't you recognise the fact that I'm doing this with your safety in mind?" He asked her with softness.
Adele couldn't help but slowly push herself towards Hugo. When there was only an inch between the two, Adele noticed figure from her peripheral vision.
"What the hell is going on?" A voice bellowed with shock and anger.
Hugo jumped to attention, saluting the Colonel.
"I can see the two of you got extremely close while I left. I gave specific rules, Hugo." He said with a calm composer.
"Yes, sir." He bowed his head.
"It's not what you think, uncle. My temper was flared and Hugo was attempting to calm me down." Adele mumbled gently.
"Oh, I could see that. Furious with what?" He questioned.
She looked up at him before dropping her gaze. She could tell that Hugo was attempting to play on his words also.
"Furious with what?" He asked louder.
"I wandered in the forest yesterday and Hugo found me." She stated.
"And?" He pushed. He was good.
"I stumbled across a Jewish camp."
His gaze suddenly widened.
"Was there any Jews there?" He questioned.
She bit her lip.
"No, sir. It was recently abandoned but the fire was still hot indicating they only left moments before. They must have heard me." He told Hans.
"I see, I want an immediate patrol of the forest. I will be out in a moment to join the patrol." He turned his heel to make his way into the study only to stop moments later.
"And Sergeant, you're not on patrol in the barracks. I will appoint someone else to attend to Adele." He said without turning to face them.
"Yes, sir." Hugo complied.
Satisfied, Hans continued his journey into the study.
Hugo set a glance towards Adele that spoke a thousand words of grief. Once he exit the household, Adele was heard her uncle's voice from the study.
"Adele, come here."She sighed as she walked towards her uncle. She stood in front of him with a pleasant manor.
"He didn't..." He played on his words for a few moments until Adele realised what he wanted to know but couldn't phrase it.
"No." She retorted quickly, "We told you the honest truth, Hans." "Very well. I will believe you but if you're lying to me, I will discover quickly and you will lose my trust." He told her sternly.
"I understand but I'm not lying." "That's what I like to hear." He told her.
"Uncle, do you have to move Hugo into the barracks? He worked extremely difficult to keep me from trouble over the past two days and I assure you it didn't make it easy for him. He is the only person I am currently able to accept to watch over me." She tried her best to voice her opinion to the intimidating man.
"I suppose you do serve a good argument, Adele, but you have to understand it from my perspective. I do not need my niece fondling with a Sergeant when I have bigger prospects for you." Hans told her in a warning tone.
"I am not 'fondling' with Sergeant Hugo Stiglitz or anyone for that matter." She retorted back.
"You better not be, Adele. If I find out you are, there will be great consequences for you and the Sergeant. Do you understand?"
"I understand." She looked towards the floor to avoid eye contact.
"I will consider giving him another chance then if it makes you feel more comfortable."
"It definitely will, Hans."
He nodded his head in response and excused himself.
She found herself sitting in the study with a glass of whiskey she poured herself. She waited impatiently for her uncle to return with news of the captured Jews. She knew that he wouldn't disgrace his reputation by coming home empty-handed. It was a prediction that she was going to come home with a little extra information that he left the house with and Adele could only hope it wasn't information from Hugo. She brought the glass up to her lips again in thought.
She was so concentrated in thought that she didn't notice the cold draft flooding throughout the house. She finally snapped from her thoughts as she heard her uncle's boots harshly stamping the floor.
"I see you helped yourself to the whiskey." He told her.
"Yes."
He waltzed over towards her to only seat himself across from her - the seat that Hugo occupied for the past two days. He began to pour himself a glass, also.
"How did it go?" She asked curiously.
"I don't want to bother you with my career." He told her.
"I'm just asking." She sunk her head.
"Well, we found the camp. According to Hugo there was less equipment there than previously so they obviously came back to collect their belongings. So as Hugo suspected, you both definitely startled them to hide." He told her before taking a drink.
"I see."
She was desperate to know about Hugo now that he mentioned it but wouldn't dare to ask. Colonel Landa looked at her with curiosity before titling his head to smile slightly. Although he knew the answer to trouble expression, he would not dare to answer her question. He didn't feel the need to encourage her infatuation with one of his soldiers. She was also not naive; she knew that he was purposely avoiding the confrontation of mention Hugo. She had to admit, she was gaining an extremely good attribute from being in the constant presence of the Jew Hunter, she being to think like he would during a particular situation.
"How was the mission, by the way?" She asked changing the conversation and attempting to bring them closer some how.
The attempt to bring them together was also a hidden attempt to get close to Stiglitz. The more he comes to trust her, the more he began to trust her, the most flexible his commands will be.
"Successful." He admitted with a hidden grin.
"You found them?"
"Yes, there was only three but they're all successfully deceased."
She could only hum in response.
"May I be excused? I'm going to go to bed." She told him.
"As you wish."
When she was leaving, she didn't notice that Colonel Hans Landa's eyes were fixated on her. She was oblivious to the fact that he was planning a future for her that involved replacing Hugo Stiglitz with someone else.
I'm terribly sorry about how bleak this chapter is, I have a horrible writers block but still wanted to provide you all with something (: