Warnings this chapter is not for the faint of heart. MAJOR issues in the this one, you've been warned. Oh, one more thing before we begin. Thank you FallenHero93 for you prediction. You were way off, but I like your ideas, thanks again and enjoy the chapter. Evil Smirk. :)
Chapter Ten: From Bad to Worse
Christina leaned again the kitchen wall; she stood there silently as the tears ran down her cheeks. She observed her husband who was sitting at the dinner table drinking his sixth bottle of beer. Since Hans' mother's visit a little of over three weeks ago, things had taken a turn for the worse. He had taken his mother's advice and not disrespected her anymore, but he had completely shut down and turned to alcohol for comfort.
Christina had been there as Hans and his mother had conversed. She had hidden behind a nearby wall close to the living room. At first she was going to do what her mother-in-law had suggested and go rest for a bit. She had actually journeyed into her bedroom and sat down on the bed, but after a few minutes her curiosity had gotten the better of her and she headed back to the living room.
She had approached with the intention to hear what Hans was going to reveal to his mother, that he didn't want to disclose to her. Sadly, he had not given up anything to Mrs. Gruber either. He had become very defensive and had blamed on their problems on her. That had hurt to listen to own husband confess those things about her to his mother. Granted, she did agree that she had been smothering him and she could leave him alone more, but she was only staying by his side because she cared. He had done the same thing when she had first told him she was pregnant. He had been so attentive; he treated her as if she was a fragile doll. She had told him to relax and everything was going to be alright.
Everything had been so perfect, all the way up to the point where he had planned to do the Nakatomi job. She had requested that he hold off until after the baby was born, but he had told her that everything was ready to go and he didn't want to start over. He had been planning the heist for months. So he had left. He kissed her goodbye at the airport and she had watched her husband walk away, but another man had returned in his place. She wanted her husband back and the man that was sitting at their kitchen table getting drunk was not him.
This could not go on any longer, he was destroying himself. He needed to fix himself up and if he didn't want to, she was going to make him for her sake and their children's. It sounded selfish to her ears, but if that was the only way, so be it, she would use it.
Christina moved from the wall, making her way to where her husband sat at the table. She reached out and plucked the glass that he was about to bring to his lips out of his hand. She grabbed the bottle as well and poured both out in the sink. She ignored Hans as he started roaring and swearing at her. That had been the most reaction she had gotten out of him in the past two weeks. She should take away his things more often, if he was going to react like that.
She rinsed the glass clean and set it aside. She turned to face her husband, who was staring at her eyes ablaze. "Are you finished?" she asked calmly. "Because this is going to stop," she told him sternly.
Hans chuckled. "You don't tell me what's going to stop."
Christina raised an eyebrow. Clearly he wasn't as drunk as she thought, if he could still think and talk straight. "Bring me back my drink and then get out."
"Excuse me, what did you say to me?" She was not going to put up with his behavior anymore.
"Give me back my drink and then get out," he repeated more forcefully.
Christina looked him dead in the eye when she answered. "No."
"No?"
"I don't have to explain the meaning of no to you, do I?"
Hans sneered at her and wheeled over to the fridge. He opened the door and grabbed another beer. His fingers had barely gripped the bottle when it was ripped out of his hand. His head snapped up to see his wife's enraged face standing over him with his beer in hand.
"ENOUGH!" she bellowed.
Her yelling had caught his attention. Never in the two years of marriage or anytime they had been together had she shouted like that. He sat there stunned as he watched her gently set down the bottle on the counter next to her.
She walked behind him and grabbed his wheelchair and began to rolling him out of the kitchen. He didn't protest, he just let her take him wherever she was heading. She pushed him into the bathroom, placing him in front of the mirror.
"Look at yourself," she said, gesturing towards the image.
Hans lifted his head and stared at his reflection. He looked terrible. His hair was filthy and in disarray. He hadn't shaved in two weeks and his well-groomed beard was fully grown out. He was pale, his eyes were bloodshot red and he was all sweaty.
"When is the last time you washed Hans, because you stink if you haven't noticed. In other words, you're a complete wreck. Are you going to really let this accident control your life or going to try to work through it and get back to normal? Because you have to do it, Hans, or you're going to destroy yourself. If not for yourself, at least do it for your family. Why don't you sit here and think about it?"
Christina turned without a glance in his direction and walked out slamming the door behind her, leaving Hans to gawk at the broken man which he had become.
Hans lay in the bathtub gazing up at the ceiling. The water had gone cold a while ago, but he was so deep in thought he hadn't paid much attention. He had hardly slept that night, Christina's words echoing in his mind over and over. She was pretty upset with him. If he really thought about it he could see why.
For over a month he had been the worse person to live with. He had been angry, depressed and most of all he had been disrespectful to anyone that had confronted him about his issues. The past few weeks after his mother's visit, he hadn't cared anymore - like his wife said, he had hit rock bottom. Christina had dragged him into the bathroom, making him face himself. She was still bitter; she hadn't come to bed the previous night. He assumed that she had slept in the spare bedroom, he wasn't about to go look for her and suffer her wrath again. Hopefully she had cooled off enough so they could sit down and work things out. She had been right, everyone had been right - this couldn't go on any longer.
Hans had finished dressing and headed out the bathroom. He sat there in the middle of the hallway wondering where his wife had gone to. He wheeled himself into their bedroom and found she wasn't there. He checked the spare bedroom and also found it empty. He decided to head to the kitchen, she might have been there. He passed the screen door that led to the inside pool. He stopped and stared at it for a few moments. He hadn't been in there since he had ended his therapy - he actually liked the outside pool better, but it was freezing outside and the water was dirty from all the snow and debris that had built up during the season.
He moved on and reached the kitchen a second later. Hans was just about to sweep into the door when he heard voices. Hans made out his wife, his mother and brother all conversing. He decided not to go in and see what the topic of the day was, he was sure it was about his person. Who else would they be discussing?
"Do you think you were able to get through to him?" Mrs. Gruber asked her daughter-in-law.
They were all sitting at the kitchen table to have a spot of breakfast. Christina sighed before she answered the question. "Maybe, I haven't seen him today so don't know where he is right now."
"You don't know where he is? He could be anywhere," Mrs. Gruber complained.
"Good for him," she said, sounding frustrated. "He was the main one that kept complaining I was smothering him, so now he can have some alone time."
"Good for you, Christina," Simon encouraged while taking a swig of his drink. Mrs. Gruber frowned at her eldest son.
"What that's supposed to mean?" Christina demanded.
Simon shrugged and went back to his drink, but Christina didn't let it drop. She wanted to know what he meant and so did Hans who was still listening behind the wall.
"Come on Christina, he hasn't been the same since he returned from the States. Even you admitted that. He's been neglecting you."
"Simon, Hans has been through a lot. He can't walk or hardly do anything for himself. That is very degrading to someone. If you had a brain, you would realize that" Christina scolded him.
Simon placed his glass down on the table and folded his arms across his chest. "You didn't say that when you came running to me, about how your husband wasn't paying you any attention."
Christina closed her mouth and paled at Simon's word. "Who came crying to me when Hans yelled and disrespected you? Who listened to you all those hours when you complained about how he wasn't doing this and that?"
Simon took a breath; he looked Christina in the eye and whispered. "Who was it that took you to your doctor's appointment and sat there holding your hand when you learned that you were pregnant with twins?"
Christina was about to say something, but stopped when she saw her husband rolling into the room. He had an upset look on his face and it was directed right at his wife.
"Hans," she said, calling out to him. She could see that he had cleaned himself up - that didn't go unnoticed to the other two occupants of the room either.
"Hans, I see you fixed yourself up, good for you," Simon mocked him.
Hans briefly turned his gaze towards his brother, narrowing his eyes. "Simon, please?" his mother asked.
"You let him take you to your doctor's appointment?" Hans questioned his wife.
Christina opened her mouth to answer but nothing came out, she was unsure what to tell him, but Simon answered for her. "That's right, I did, she didn't think you were…how shall I say it… up for the job."
"I don't believe I was speaking to you," Hans spat at him. "Christina?"
"Yes, Simon took me to my appointment. "
"And what's this I hear - that your pregnant with twins? I was not made aware of this. "
"That's because you were too deep into your own depression to pay attention to anyone else's needs, but your own," Simon addressed Hans.
"As I said before, I was not talking to you, Simon."
"Ah, but little brother, I was talking to you."
"But clearly I wasn't, so get out of my house; this is between me and my wife."
"Oh," Simon laughed, trying to pick a fight. "You're a big man now, trying to kick me out of your house. If you want me gone, come over here and do it yourself."
Hans turned his attention from his wife to his brother. "Get out," he repeated sternly.
Simon grinned and answered back. "Make me."
Hans sat there saying nothing as Simon continued his rant. "You can't, can you? You're just a helpless cripple who's bitter because he's useless to society."
"Simon, that is enough!" Mrs. Gruber yelled at her son.
"Why?" Simon asked, turning to his mother. "You've babied him since birth, it's time for little Hansy to know that he's no longer everyone's favorite star. "
Simon rose from the table and strolled over to Hans. Hans looked up at his brother, his face full of pure hatred. Simon leaned down so he was only an inch from Hans and muttered to him. "I guess the star has burned out, no one loves you anymore, not even your wife - that's why she came running to me."
Hans drew back his arm and planted a fist right in the center of Simon's face. Simon shuffled back, his hand flying to his mouth. He glanced at it, his fingers dripping with blood. He looked up from his bloody hand and back to his brother. He made a threating move towards him but Christina reached out, grabbing his arm and restrained him.
"Enough, both of you," she shouted at the two men. Simon jerked his arm from Christina and glared daggers at Hans. Christina turned to Simon. "You have no right to say those things to him," she chastised.
"Why?" Hans murmured. Everyone turned to look at him. "Why should he not say those things, it's what you've done."
"What?" she asked.
"Don't play innocent, Simon already told me enough. You go running over to him and talk to him about your problems and how you can't deal with me, how I'm not paying attention to you. If you had a problem, you should have come to me."
"I did, but that was the main problem, you weren't listening to anything I was trying to tell you."
"So? That didn't give you a right to run over to my brother. You are my wife; we deal with our own problems."
"Oh, now I'm your wife, all before you kept pushing me away, which is it? Am I your wife or not?" she asked, becoming angry.
"I don't know, you tell me?" Hans asked sarcastically.
"What?" Christina asked, taken aback.
"I wonder the reason why you didn't tell you were carrying twins is because they are not mine?"
"Are you crazy?" she inquired, shocked that he would even suggest that.
"I don't know." He turned his gaze on his brother. "Am I?"
"What are you saying?" Christina implored.
"Is my brother the father of your unborn children?"
"NO, how could you even entertain that idea?"
"Well, you are the one that's been running to him, but the big question is, how long has this been going? Do you run over there every time I leave or has this been going on since the beginning of our marriage?"
"Your mental," Simon snarled. "I see the accident has warped your brain and made you hallucinate."
"Am I hallucinating or is my wife some two timing whore?"
Christina gasped and stared at Hans, not believing what he had just uttered. Mrs. Gruber voice sounded like thundered as she reprimanded her son. "That's an enough Hans; you will not call her those things."
"Why not, mother?" Hans turned to the gray haired lady. "Why should I not call her out for what she is - a slut that sleeps with her brother-in-law and tries to pass her twins off as her husband's own children."
There was dead silence in the room. No one spoke as they glared at one another. The only thing that was heard was each individual's breathing. Finally Christina gathered herself. She spoke with all the venom she could muster.
"If you think that low of me then that is your problem, because I have stayed here and supported you through everything and have done what a wife is supposed to do. I have never cheated on you, because I love you. But since you don't love me, I will take my things and your unborn children, yes; your children and we will go to my sister's house so you don't have to worry about us anymore."
She moved to sweep past him and exit the kitchen, but Hans reached out and gripped her wrist, stopping her. "Christina wait..." Hans began feeling guilty. He knew he had gone too far.
"NO," she shouted, yanking her arm away. "You don't get to talk, you have gone too far this time and I will not put up with your behavior any more. I'm done; I'll mail you the divorce papers in a few days."
She pushed past him and continued to leave. Hans turned his chair and called after her. "Christina, please don't do this," he begged.
Christina stopped and turned to face him. With tears streaming down her face, she looked at her husband with contempt. "Just drop dead Hans, just drop dead." She then turned and headed towards their bedroom to pack her things.
Hans sat there frozen, gazing at the spot where his wife had just stood. He was too traumatized to think properly at the moment. He heard movement behind him and realized that his mother and brother were still there. He had no energy left to fight, he didn't care anymore.
"You can let yourselves out," Hans told them in a dead voice.
Mrs. Gruber and Simon watched Hans roll out of the kitchen looking defeated. When he was out of sight, Mrs. Gruber turned to her son with an angry look in her eye ready to blast him for his foolishness.
Hans rolled himself into the living room. He sat there with his head staring at his lap. After a few minutes he lifted his head, glancing in the direction of his bedroom. He knew Christina was in there now doing whatever. He wondered if he should try and confront her again. He put his hands on his chair and began to move in that direction, but he stopped himself. She didn't want to see him right now or whenever. He backed up and headed over to the sliding glass door that led to the indoor pool. He went inside and came to another door that took him to the outdoor pool.
Hans opened it and moved through. He took a deep breath and released it slowly. He watched his breath blow away in the cold mid-morning. He slid the door shut behind him and slowly wheeled his chair up to the pool edge and surveyed the greenish water. It had to be less than forty degrees outside based on the light wind that was blowing on him. The water looked much colder. Although it wasn't frozen, it had chunks of ice floating. Small leaves and branches floated on the surface as well. He was surprised that he could see the bottom that of the twelve foot pool because the filthiness of the water.
Hans breathed the cold air into his lungs, trying to control his trembling. He didn't know if it was from the chilliness or the grief. He had messed up badly, he had gone to Christina this morning to tell her he was sorry for everything, but he had made things worse. He had accused his wife of cheating and called her a whore. That had been uncalled for.
He felt a sob escape him and the first tears travelled down his face. Christina was right he hadn't appreciated her. This whole time she had been there encouraging him, helping him and he hadn't seen it. He had taken his anger out on her and pushed her away. She had been nothing but supportive and he had thrown it in her face. Perhaps Simon had been right, the star had burned out and no one loved him. His wife no longer loved him for sure and now wanted to end things between them.
Hans eyed the pool more closely. Maybe he should end things himself. He had become useless; he would never walk again. He was making everyone around him miserable, including himself. He knew after his wife divorced him, he would have nothing left. He would be some cripple sitting in this house alone without anyone. No one cared from him anymore and neither did he, so what was the point in continuing to live? Hans took his gaze off the pool and looked up at the sky. There was no sun and the gray thunder clouds silently moved by. It was a wretched cold day and that was just how he felt inside, cold.
Hans began to back away from the edge all the way up to the screen door behind him. He took one more look around. He closed his watery eyes and took his last deep breath to try to calm his breathing and get himself to relax. His body wouldn't, the trembling began to increase. He opened his eyes and fixed his gaze onto his soon to be watery tomb. One leap into the pool and less than two minutes everything would be over he told himself.
His fingers gripped the wheels of his chair and began to move forward. He came closer and closer, his chair picking up speed. Before long all he saw was the green water and nothing more. A split second later, his chair hit the edge. He and his chair went flying into the pool, hitting the water face first and immediately began to sink like stone. As he sank, the water soaked through his clothes, hitting his skin. The icy water smashed into him like a thousand knifes stabbing him all over. He gasped from the shock trying to breathe, but all his lungs sucked in was chilled water. His upper body struggled a bit, but no more than thirty seconds later it became too tired and gave up the fight.
He was losing consciousness fast, probably from all the water he had breathed into his lungs. Hans' body relaxed and sunk lower and lower into the waiting hands of death. He did not see any flashes of his life before his eyes. Instead, his last conscious thought was of the dream he had of his unborn children's and their smiling faces. A part of him was sorry he had done this - now he would never know what they would be like.
HansGruberForever has hid and taken shelter, as arrows coming flying at her, because she ended this with a huge cliffhanger. She is waiting to receive hate mail from her readers for doing this to everyone's favorite character. The next chapter is coming soon, stay tune. I make no promise that Hans will live, remember its called healing. I never said he was the one that has to heal. Review (I love drama). Ha ha ha.