Travelling back to Vienna felt depressing without the feel of a sleeping child in her arms. Elizabeta did her best to swallow her tears back as the carriage pulled up in front of the mansion, but her heart broke to pieces when she passed the empty nursery. All of Heinrich's belongings were gone; Liz could only think of how much of a 'waste' of money she and Roderich spent to buy clothing and toys for a child that wouldn't be living with them.
Liz couldn't help but stand in the middle of the room, staring at the empty cradle before her. Tears streamed down her cheeks as he hands fell onto her flat stomach, she choked on her sobs. She heard a few of the maids gathering by the door, muttering gossips underneath their hushed breaths. "Go away!" Liz hissed at them. Without asking anymore questions, they left, leaving Liz alone once again. She closed her eyes, patting her stomach as her sobs decrescendoed.
Several weeks after Elizabeta's visit, Ludwig noticed a change in his brother. Gilbert seemed much more cheery than usual, carrying his son everywhere and playing with the baby toys (though Ludwig was positive Gilbert enjoyed playing with the toys more than Heinrich did). The elder brother didn't seem to mind the constant crying from the child, constantly giving his full attention when Heinrich needed him. Is he usually this caring? Ludwig would ask himself, watching Gilbert walk around in circles to soothe Heinrich back to sleep. Was he like this when I was younger?
"Who's a little awesome baby?" Gilbert chanted, laying Heinrich down on the couch and laughing. "You're a little awesome baby!"
"Gilbert," Ludwig grumbled. His albino brother picked up a rattle that was laying on the floor and gently waved in front of the child.
"Do you want your rattle?" Gilbert asked. Heinrich kicked his small legs, only staring at the toy. "You're such a cute, little, awesome baby, aren't you, Heinrich?"
"Gilbert," the younger brother repeated, louder this time. His brother continued to ignore him, saying ridiculous things to his son as he shook the rattle around and gave the cooing baby other toys. "Gilbert!"
"WHAT?" Gilbert snapped, dropping the rattle on the floor. "I'm busy!"
"You're playing with baby toys!" Ludwig shouted back. Gilbert stuck out his bottom lip, pretending to pout and shaking the rattle a bit. "It's been a few weeks since you've been to work; don't you think it's time to go back?" Gilbert shrugged, beginning to make goofy faces in hopes to make the baby laugh. "You know once grandfather's back gets better he's going to drag your lazy ass to that printing press."
"Let me ask you a question, okay?" Gilbert murmured. "If I'm working, who's going to take care of Heinrich for me, huh? Certainly not you since you work on the farm with grandpa. Unless you know someone who'd be willing to be a nanny, I'm staying here."
As if on cue, there was a sudden, soft knock at the front door and Gilbert slowly opened the door. Behind the door stood an extremely tall, smiling man Ludwig had never seen before. "Gilbert, it's been some time since you've come to work." The man said light-heartedly, but came across creepy. "Is there something I should know about?"
"Uh, Herr Ivan, what are you doing here?" Gilbert asked, nervously. "Work? Er, yeah, I kinda forgot." Ludwig gently pushed his brother aside and looked up at Ivan.
"Are you the owner of the newspaper company, Gilbert's boss?" he asked. Ivan nodded, shifting his eyes back and forth to look at the two brothers. "You should probably come inside instead of standing in the doorway; Gilbert's got a long story to tell you." Ivan gave a confused look as he stepped inside of the house. The two German brothers exchanged glances, Ludwig tilting his head in Ivan's direction, silently telling Gilbert to speak.
"Um, Ivan, I know I just started working and all but, I'm not sure how soon I'll be able to come back." Gilbert awkwardly began. Ivan's smile faded away, his expression becoming stern as he narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "You see, I kind of have a head injury." He pointed to the small swollen bump that was on his forehead, and then pointed to Heinrich who was calmly sleeping against his chest. "And then I have this little one here; I can't leave him alone. So if you wouldn't mind, I'm not coming back to work." Gilbert grinned proudly as silence fell in the room, the three men awkwardly staring at each other, waiting for Gilbert to continue. Ludwig let out a frustrated sigh, rubbing his temples.
"Herr Ivan, let me explain this so it's much clearer to you." he mumbled. "To make a long story short, my idiot brother slept with a woman who's married to another man and you can probably guess what happened from there. The other night, the woman basically came to visit saying that Gilbert needed to be the one to raise the child, Gilbert fainted and crashed his head against the corner of the table." Ludwig paused, raising his head up to look up at the tall Russian. "If you would be so kind, please excuse my brother from working at the printing presses for a few more weeks for his recovery and so we can possibly find a nanny for the baby." A smile grew back on Ivan's face, he chuckled lightly and crossed his arms.
"Is that all?" Ivan asked. "Silly me, I thought it was because you didn't like working for me, Gilbert." Gilbert scowled, muttering under his breath.
"Gilbert would love to come back as soon as possible, but considering our situation…" Ludwig continued.
"I understand now. Yes, it is no problem that you take a few more weeks off, Gilbert." Ivan interrupted. He reached into his pocket, pulling out a wallet and flipping through his money. "Since I am in a good mood, I'll give a little extra money to help you." He handed the money to Ludwig and headed for the door. "I wish you the best of luck." With that, Ivan left the two brothers standing in shock and confusion. Snapping out of his confusion, Gilbert shook his head and looked over his brother's shoulder.
"How much money did he give?" he demanded, watching Ludwig slowly count the money in his hand. "Probably some measly amount; you have no idea how cruel that man is! I barely get enough money to buy myself lunch!"
"Gilbert," Ludwig muttered, calmly. "He gave us close to five hundred Marks."
"What?!" Gilbert exclaimed. "You're kidding, right?" Ludwig shook his head, raising his eyebrows and smirking.
"Guess Ivan's not as cruel as you thought, huh?" he joked, turning away to put the money somewhere safe. "You better hurry up and find someone to watch over Heinrich; you don't want to get on that man's bad side."
He was home, finally home where he belonged.
Roderich was thrilled to go home to see his smiling wife and meet his newborn child. Elizabeta's short letter was still in his coat pocket and occasionally, Roderich would pull it out and scan over it, grinning to himself. It was a strange letter, he still thought; there was so much information she had been careless to leave out. Roderich did his best not to think much of it; Elizabeta might've simply wanted to surprise him.
"Bring my luggage to my room as quickly as you can." Roderich ordered the servants. As he stepped in, one of the maids was passing by, carrying towels to the rooms. "Excuse me, do you know where Elizabeta might be? Is she in the nursery?" The maid smiled sadly.
"She's reading in the parlor." she answered simply. Roderich nodded and like a child on Christmas morning, hurried down the hall to find his beautiful wife sitting by the window, reading. He quietly walked behind her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and gently kissed her cheek.
"Guten Abend, liebling." he greeted. Elizabeta turned to him and smirked.
"Roderich!" she exclaimed, pulling him in for a hug. "I heard so much about your tour; how did it go?" The Austrian frowned. Strange; shouldn't she be excited to show him the baby?
"It was fantastic." Roderich replied.
"Good; I'm glad." she muttered, turning back to her book.
"Uh, Elizabeta," Roderich stammered. "Where's our child?" Elizabeta stiffened, closing her book calmly.
"Roderich, dear, I…the baby…" she began.
"I found it odd that the letter you sent me was rather short." he continued, chuckling. "Is he sleeping? I'll go to the nursery then."
"I lost the baby, Roderich." Elizabeta confessed, lowering her head. Roderich froze, staring at her in disbelief. "I-I wish….I didn't mean…I'm sorry." He narrowed his eyes, feeling anger rise within him. "We can try again, dear."
"You're lying." he hissed through his teeth. Elizabeta jumped at the sudden anger in his voice. "Where's the baby?" She stiffened, looking away from him. "Elizabeta, answer me!" He was furious; he watched her sit still as a doll, her eyes shifting back and forth, searching for lies. She couldn't have…she didn't…
"I lost him…he was a stillborn." she whispered. Roderich pursed his lips.
"The baby was Gilbert's, wasn't it?!" he snapped. Liz refused to look up, letting her hair fall over her shoulder, covering her face. "Answer me!"
"Yes…" she finally replied. Angered, Roderich clenched his fists and closed his eyes. "Roderich, please listen to me…"
"How could you?" he yelled. "How dare you sleep with someone of the likes of him?"
"Roderich, I'm sorry! It didn't…it doesn't…" Before she could finish, Roderich stormed out of the room, shoving doors open and rushed to his beloved music room. Elizabeta was trailing behind him, begging for him to stop and listen. Once in the doorway, Roderich turned to face his wife, the woman whom he loved and shattered his heart, and scowled. "Roderich, bitte."
"I wish to be alone." he snapped, gripping the door handles. "If I am disturbed while I'm in a peace of mind, I will pack every single thing in this house that you own and throw it out of the window."
"But we need to—" With the little tolerance he had left now gone, Roderich slammed the doors shut in her face and locked them. Elizabeta began banging and kicking the door, demanding that he open the doors right away. Roderich ignored her, quickly sitting down by the piano, pounding away at the keys; letting the minor melody soothe his tattered heart.
The sun was beginning to set as Ludwig and his Italian friend made their way back home from the market. "So you have to find someone to take care of little Heinrich while Gilbert's at work?" Feliciano asked, opening a piece of candy. "I can do that; I never do anything on the farm anyway." Ludwig sighed, shifting the bag of food to his other arm.
"No, Feliciano, for the last time you may not take care of Heinrich." he replied.
"Why not?" Feliciano questioned. "Your grandpa always yells at me for sleeping; if I'm taking care of a baby, he won't yell at me anymore."
"Taking care of a few week old baby is much harder than you make it out to be, Feli." Ludwig grumbled. "There's lots of crying and feeding and changing involved." Feliciano frowned.
"Are you the one who has to deal with all of that stuff?" he asked.
"No; for whatever reason Gilbert won't let anyone near his son. He's extremely protective over him." Ludwig said. "I mean, he lets me hold him for a little bit, but then he just freaks out and has to hold him again. Don't even ask about my grandfather; Gilbert refuses to let him see Heinrich." The two friends stepped up the small steps to the porch as Ludwig pushed the door open.
"Well, if he's protective, then he definitely won't let a stranger watch over Heinrich! I can do it! I won't let anything happen to the tiny baby!" Feliciano reassured. "And you won't have to pay me either, just give me dinner every night and—"
"Oh Ludwig!" someone called behind them. Ludwig spun around to see Antonio and Francis standing at the bottom of the steps. "We were wondering if Gilbert could come out and play today." Francis teased, putting his hands on his hips and swaying a bit.
"Oh great, the dimwits are here." Ludwig grumbled, pushing Feliciano inside the house. Antonio and Francis glanced at each other, smirking. "Go away."
"Always the welcoming type, Ludwig." Antonio said. "The last time we saw Gilbert, he was an emotional wreck. We wanted to see if he was doing any better."
"I said go away! Gilbert's sick!" Ludwig reiterated, closing the door. Just as relief settled in, Ludwig felt someone pushing all of their weight on the door to keep it open.
"Liar!" Antonio exclaimed.
"C'mon Ludwig! We promise to play nice!" Francis pleaded. "Just open the door!"
"Why can't you two mind your own damn business?" Ludwig hollered, doing his best to close the door.
"Everyone shut up!" Gilbert yelled. "Heinrich's sleeping!"
"Heinrich? Who's Heinrich?" Antonio and Francis asked simultaneously.
"Gilbert and Elizabeta's so—" Feliciano started.
"NO ONE!" He managed to slam the door shut, but failed to lock the door. "Idiots! Let go of the doorknob!"
"No! Not until we meet this 'Heinrich'!" As the three continued to fight over the door, there was a soft cry from the baby who was just woken up.
"I told you guys to shut up!" Gilbert hollered. "Now you woke him up!" Ludwig sighed, letting go of the door which resulted both Antonio and Francis falling forward on their faces. "Oh great, what do you guys want?" Gilbert muttered, bouncing the unhappy child up and down, hoping it would soothe him back to sleep. Francis and Antonio gawked at their German friend before exchanging glances at each other. Francis smirked before pushing Antonio away from him.
"I told you he was telling the truth!" he gloated. "Gilbert and Liz slept together, and there's the proof! A baby!"
"Congratulationsis typically the better way to say 'congrats, you're a parent', Francis." Ludwig muttered.
"You owe me lunch, Antonio! I told you Gilbert was telling the truth!" Francis stood up and rushed towards Gilbert. "Can I hold him? Please? Pretty please?" Gilbert narrowed his eyes, moving back a little bit before carefully handing over his son to his friend. "Oh, he's so cute! Antonio, come look at the little baby!"
"His name is Heinrich." Gilbert mumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets.
"Heinrich?" Antonio repeated. "Why Heinrich?"
"I don't know, I didn't give him the name! Liz did!" Gilbert spat back. "You've held him for long enough; give him back!" Francis frowned.
"I held him for barely a minute!" he shouted. The child wailed, squirming a tiny bit in Francis' arms. "Hey now, what's wrong little one? Are you hungry?" He lifted the child above his head, smiling.
"He doesn't like it when you do that!" Gilbert yelled. "He's upset because you two lame-wads came in and woke him up!" Gently, the albino German took his son out of Francis' arms and held him close, rocking back and forth. Once Heinrich's crying settled down, Gilbert glared at his two friends. "Why are you guys here anyway?"
"We were here to see if you wanted to go to the pub with us tonight." Antonio answered. "But since you've got your hands full, I guess we'll have to meet another time." Gilbert slowly nodded, sitting down on the old, beaten up couch. "So you're going to be raising little Heinrich, then? Do you think Elizabeta has told Roderich yet?"
"She hasn't, and she's planning to lie to him; saying she lost the baby in labor." Gilbert explained, lowering his head. "We'll see what happens, but either way, Roderich won't take it well."
"I can imagine!" Francis muttered. "Poor guy thought that the child was his! To find out that the woman you love slept with another man before the wedding would be heartbreaking, if not soul crushing!" Gilbert only nodded, patting sleeping Heinrich's head, brushing his wispy hair. "Well, if there's anything we can do to help you with raising Heinrich, we'd be glad to help! Won't we, Antonio?"
"Of course! Anything you need, Gilbert!" Antonio added, grinning.
"I don't trust you guys enough to babysit him." Gilbert hissed. "I'd let Feliciano spend a day with Heinrich before I let you two watch him." Feliciano sprinted into the room from the kitchen, grinning.
"I can babysit him?!" Feli asked, eager. "I promise I won't let anything happen to him, Gilbert! And to think, I'm much cheaper than hiring a nanny of some kind! You only have to pay me by giving me dinner every night!" Gilbert bit his lip and shook his head. Feliciano frowned with disappointment, glancing over at Ludwig. Ludwig ran his hand through his hair, sitting down next to his elder brother.
"Gilbert, you can't always hover around Heinrich." Ludwig whispered, in German. "You're going to have to go to work, Heinrich's going to get older and go to school. You have to know that we care about Heinrich and will protect him just as much as you will."
"Ich weiss," Gilbert murmured. "But—"
"But nothing." Ludwig interrupted. "Let Feli, Francis and Antonio take turns watching Heinrich." Gilbert remained silent, but narrowed his eyes and sighed with frustration. "Are the three of you alright with that? Feliciano can watch Heinrich in the morning and early afternoon, and one of you…or both, can watch him before Gilbert comes home. Fair?" The three nodded, all ginning and doing their best to contain their excitement. "Gut. That settles everything then." Ludwig patted his brother's back and smiled reassuringly.
"One thing that the three of you should know," Gilbert murmured, standing up to the staircase, ready to put Heinrich to bed. "If Heinrich's first word is any language but German, you can say goodbye to your babysitting jobs."
The house was silent except for the faint echo of Roderich's piano playing coming from the music room. After their huge argument, Elizabeta stood still for minutes, unsure of what to say. Roderich was furious, and instead of screaming and yelling like any other person would do, he locked himself up with that stupid piano. Liz could hear him pounding away at the piano, letting the music soothe his emotions. "Frau," the maid called softly. "I think it would be best if you left him alone for a few hours."
"He wouldn't listen to me." she whispered.
"Would you listen to him if he had an affair with another woman?" the maid muttered. "When he is upset, he can play that piano for hours, even days. He's been that way ever since I've known him." The maid sighed. "Things could've been better if you would've kept the child."
"Either way, my life would have gone straight to hell!" Liz snapped. "I can care less if he's angry and refuses to speak to me; we're talking about this now. Where's the key to the music room?"
"I-I'm not sure…" the maid stammered. "Frau, I strongly advise you to stay away from him."
"Well, I'm going to make some tea and by the time I get back, I want these doors unlocked and held open for me as if I were a princess." Liz demanded, storming off. "That's an order!" Before the maid could respond, Liz had already turned the corner in the direction of the kitchen. She put the kettle on the stove to heat up while looking around helplessly through the teas that were all in German. Hoping the tea she chose would suffice, she dropped the tea bags in the tea cups, poured the boiling water and waited patiently for the tea to steep.
"Um…Frau Edelstein?" the maid called. "I've found the key and I'm ready to open the door whenever you're ready." Liz picked up the tray and nodded.
"Ready." she muttered. The two women ventured back to the music room's entrance, the maid shaking as she carefully unlocked the door, trying to be quiet as possible. "What's taking so long?" Liz snapped.
"Es tut mir leid," the maid apologized, stepping aside. "You may go in; but don't say I didn't warn you." she added, before scurrying away. Liz stepped inside the room just to hear Roderich slam his hands down on a terrible chord.
"That's an interesting style, dear." Liz said, setting the tray on a small table. "Who is that you were playing? Schubertmann?"
"I told you I didn't want to be disturbed." Roderich grumbled. "I suggest you leave immediately."
"Not until we settle this between us." Liz sighed, offering him the second tea cup. "I made some tea for you." She stood there, persistent until Roderich relented and took the cup, simply resting it in his lap. "Roderich, what happened between Gilbert and I was a mistake."
"Was it really, or is that just your cover up to try to make me feel better?" the musician snapped.
"Will you let me explain?" the Hungarian woman spat back. "Gilbert and I have been friends for years and were talking normally and…things just led to another." Silence. Roderich quietly sipped his tea, collecting his thoughts.
"When, exactly, did this happen?" he asked.
"Why should that matter?" Liz answered, a little too quickly. "Let's not dwell on this."
"It was the day before our wedding, wasn't it?" Roderich glared at her, already knowing the answer. "Elizabeta, answer me." Liz pursed her lips and slowly nodded. She watched him put the tea cup down and place his hands, folded, in his lap. "Elizabeta, I want to ask you a question and I want the truth. Liebst du mich?"
"Roderich, that's absurd! Why would you—"
"Liebst du mich?!" Roderich yelled. "It's a simple 'yes' or 'no' question, Elizabeta."
"Yes, of course I love you, Roderich." Liz muttered. "There's nothing between Gilbert and I." She reached for his hands, holding them between hers. "I love you and only you, Roderich." Elizabeta leaned forward to kiss his cheek. "I'm sorry for what I did, but let's put it behind us, shall we?" Roderich remained silent, pulling away from her. "Roderich, please! Why can't you believe me?"
"I never said that." he murmured, standing up. "I need to think about this. Excuse me." As he headed for the door, Liz followed him, grasping for his hand. "Elizabeta, what—" Before he could finish his thought, Liz was pressing her lips against his. She cradled his jaw, pulling away slightly.
"I love you so much." she whispered softly. She knew she was lying, but in order for them to keep things the way they were, she had to lie to Roderich and herself. "We can always try again, to start our family I mean." Roderich stepped away from her, keeping quiet and his face emotionless. "We can forget about everything, put this incident behind us and continue with our lives the way it's supposed to be. Don't you want that?" A small smile grew across Roderich's lips as he brushed back a strand of her hair.
"O-of course, liebling." he mumbled. "But what you did was—"
"What I did was a mistake and is in the past; we can forget about it and move on." Liz snapped.
"But…"
"Forget about it!" Liz's voice bounced off of the walls in the acoustic room, fading away slowly. "We can start a family, Roderich, and everything will be just perfect. Just you wait."
Author's Note: Sorry it took so long to get this chapter posted. I had a lot of work to do with it and was doing my best to make sure each section of the chapter didn't end lamely. If that makes any sense. Reviews and critiques are welcomed and much appreciated!
Translations:
Liebst du mich? = Do you love me?
Es tut mir leid = I'm sorry
