Chapter Sixteen

What is a person supposed to do when they find out that they were right...but they wished they were wrong? You can't just...say "I knew you were lying to me." Even Violet knew that that was a little too insensitive. But you can't just leave it alone either. You can't simply leave the issue to fester, especially when it not only bothers you but harms the people you care about. And if that person being harmed doesn't know how to handle the problem either than what is left to do?

Was it wrong to care about someone who willingly let harm into their life? Was that supposed to ruin the idea of being with that person? Or was it meant to do the opposite? Should she want to save her friend or was she supposed to cut him off entirely for allowing himself to be abused?

These were not questions that Violet Evergarden was ever taught to answer and she was now worried, for the first time ever, that she may never be equipped to answer them.

When Trevor had admitted to her that he was being abused by his father in that roundabout way...she hadn't known what to say. They'd gone to bed that night in separate rooms and she hadn't seen him since the morning after that. Granted, that was normal. They didn't live together and didn't work together so naturally, they could not see each other every day. It had only been the rest of the weekend that she'd been apart from him but still this...rotting and uncomfortable, unwelcome feeling had risen in her stomach.

She felt...guilty? Perhaps. She wasn't sure if that was the right word but she was sure she hated the taste of it. Guilt would perhaps explain the way she felt empty. Like she should be with him right now but she couldn't be. That somehow, having the knowledge that he was in pain but she wasn't able to simply eliminate the thing causing him pain made her useless. She hadn't felt this useless since being in her hospital bed.

A weapon with no one to kill. No enemy to fight, no orders to carry out. Just Violet, her mattress, and her thoughts. It had been the hardest thing she'd ever done up to that point. Fighting was easy. Killing was easy.

Sitting still and waiting for the Major to tell her she could come back to the front lines was most certainly not.

Now just the thought of the number of people she'd killed made her stomach churn and her metallic fingers tremble.

And now she had a new problem. One that probably could be solved by killing, but that wouldn't help Trevor nor would it help Violet. She was a civilian now. Killing or even intentionally hurting someone was a crime. She couldn't just walk into the Belle company and confront his father. It had nothing to do with her. Especially after what Cattleya had told her. He'd been reported before so clearly, the police didn't believe his accusers.

She'd told her to get Trevor to fess up though. At the very least that was what she'd hinted at. That the cops might believe it if it had come from within the family but even then...what if they didn't believe him.

What if Trevor was afraid to fess up for a good reason. What if, when he stood up for himself and told the truth, his father did something in return that couldn't be fixed with a cast and some bed rest.

Not all wounds can be healed with silver prosthetics.

Not all things can be fixed. She wasn't even sure that Trevor took this seriously enough to want it to be fixed in the first place. He had admitted to her that he felt stuck, implying that he did want to find a way out but that it had proved to be easier said than done.

Violet's head perked up from her work as the lunch bell shouted over the rest of the noise of the building. She let out a long breath that she hadn't realized she'd been holding and headed for the door. When she got there though she found Hodgins about to knock.

"Violet," he said and she noted that he looked a little more stiff than usual.

"President Hodgins," she acknowledged and opened the door the rest of the way. "Did you need something?"

"Actually I was," he began as he scratched the back of his head. "Wondering if you could come join me in my office for a few minutes."

"Of course," she blinked and though she was curious she didn't let it show on her face. Her mind was elsewhere. She followed him back down the hallway and into his office where she found Benedict standing in the center of the room.

"Thanks for coming you two," Hodgins sighed as he headed to his desk. Violet joined Benedict and she could tell he seemed a bit uneasy as well. It wasn't like Hodgins to grab them on their lunch break. It was odd for him to need to have a meeting with Violet at all. Benedict was in and out of this office all the time but Violet was a perfect employee. Never late and never caused problems, well, not anymore anyway.

"Is something wrong?" Violet asked as she watched her boss reach into his deck and retrieve what looked to be a photograph.

"Well I wouldn't say wrong," he answered before he placed the photo down on his desk. "I just don't really know what you'll think of this. I can't tell you how to feel about this...nor do I know if you'll believe it…" he sighed and motioned with his finger for them to come to the desk.

Benedict and Violet slowly stepped up to the desk and looked down into the picture. Both of them fell silent for more than a few heartbeats and Violet could feel the air of the room change around Benedict. She looked over to him out of the corner of her eye and found him wide-eyed and surprised by the contents of the photo.

Four people, all blonde and all with brilliant blue eyes. Two parents, one little boy, and one even younger little girl. It wasn't hard for Violet to tell who the boy was. He barely looked any different and even had the same hairstyle as her co-worker. In the bottom corner of the picture, there were a few words that only served to confirm what Violet suspected, and likely Hodgins had called Benedict in his office for.

"That's you," Violet breathed and looked back at her boss. "You found Benedict's family?"

"Is this real?" Benedict finally asked as his hands went to the picture and lifted it closer to his face.

"I can't prove to you that it's fake or not," Hodgins admitted. "But I see no benefit of it being a fake. That picture came from an old abandoned library in Liefheim. Public records were stored there until a fire broke out in the town twelve years ago and they've been slowly sifting through them ever since."

"You've...been looking for my family this whole time?" Benedict looked up at his boss but was surprised to find Hodgins shaking his head.

"No, actually that's...the reason that Violet is here as well. That letter was not sent to me for you," he glanced back at Benedict. "That picture was sent to me to show to Violet."

"Wha-" she breathed before her vision flicked back over to the photo. Benedict looked a little confused at first but then, Violet watched him hold the photo up beside her face and watched his eyes flick back and forth between his friend and the laminated piece of parchment. "You can't mean that…" she trailed off as she watched as Benedict's eyes got wider and wider. She thought that they may fall out of his head, he was gawking at her so much.

"As I said, I can't prove it to you but the fact remains that that photo was sent to us as a response to one of the dozens of letters I've sent out trying to find out where you came from Violet." Hodgins took a breath and rested his chin in his hands. "That's the only response I've received in over two years of trying to figure out how you came to be in Major Gilbert's home that day. They probably had no idea that Benedict worked here as well. An astronomical coincidence I know but...I felt you should both see it anyway."

"I do not understand," Violet began and she could feel her bottom lip threatening to tremble. "I do not understand what you are saying."

"Violet you…" Benedict started slowly and her eyes tracked back to him. He held the picture out to her and her eyes met the little girl's blue eyes. "She does look like you," Benedict admitted quite easily and Violet felt her fingers begin to flinch.

"You did not tell me you were looking for my family," Violet said as she looked back to her boss. "You are trying to say that this girl is me?"

"Like I said there's no way to be one hundred percent sure but...no one else has ever responded to those letters before Violet. The record keeper wrote that the Blue Family's house burned down in the fire and people were only able to find one child in the building," he nodded toward Benedict. "They weren't able to locate any other family you may have had. There was no orphanage in the small town so they shipped you off to Leiden. The parent's bodies were unrecognizable from the fire and buried but the little girl's body was never found."

"You're saying...that I am...that we are," Violet gasped as she looked back up at their boss.

"I'm saying that if either of you has any real family left in this world...it might just be each other," Hodgins answered and actually smiled a little.

His smile confused her even further though and the more she thought about the more her mind and body began to fight each other on the subject.

This news was meant to be joyous. At least, Violet was pretty sure it was. But it made her insides feel like they were melting. She felt sick. Nervous and worried and all mixed together with the weird sensation of her lips twitching as if they wanted to turn up into a smile. It made no sense. There was pressure behind her eyes too and her throat felt dry and as if it were closing up.

"Vie," Benedict started and she felt his hand touch against her shoulder. She flinched and looked over to him, their bright blue eyes meeting suddenly and her vision swam. "Violet are you okay?" He asked and Violet began to feel as if she were sinking.

It was like one of those dreams you had sometimes where you found yourself very suddenly falling. Her thoughts were nothing but whisps and her legs felt like slush. Cold and heat flashed through her face and limbs as she began to fall, but she was quickly caught by Benedict as he grabbed for her other shoulder and held her up.

"Violet!" He raised his tone at her and walked her over to a vacant chair in the office. He helped her into the seat and crouched in front of her, hands gripped on her metal forearms to steady her. Violet shut her eyes tight and tried to suck in a deep breath but her throat still felt so tight. There were fingers on her skin then, on her cheeks and she let her eyes crack open just enough to find Benedict staring back at her with worry filling his face. Hodgins was out of his chair too and rushing around the room. He was more of a blur than her co-worker was and Violet could hear the distant sound of clinking, like teacups bumping into one another.

Soon enough her suspicions were confirmed as Hodgins came back into view and she felt a porcelain cup meet her lips. She could hear them speaking but it was all muffled as if they were trying to speak to her through a thick blanket. The cup tipped up and she felt the cold water rush down her throat and the feeling of it was enough to snap her up a little. She blinked a few times and began to swallow while the room slowly stopped spinning around her.

"You okay?" She heard Benedict ask again as the cup was removed from her mouth.

"I-" she began but couldn't find the words. All her mind was filled to the brim with the thoughts that her issues were no longer a secret. Her business was now their business.

They would know she'd only been getting worse since her first stress attack.

"I'm sorry," she blinked and brought her hand to her face, using the cold metal to cool her forehead. "I'm okay I-" she looked back to Benedict and tried to find the words. "I just became overwhelmed."

Benedict's easy smile spread across his lips as he stood from his perch before her and stepped back. "I can't say I blame you. That was some serious news," he said as he folded his arms across his chest. "Do you really believe that Hodge?"

Violet found her boss's expression a little mixed at first. She figured he wanted to scold Benedict for addressing him so informally but Violet thought he was probably holding that scolding in. This wasn't the right time to be correcting Benedict about such insignificant things.

"Well there's no denying that you two resemble each other, and the kids in the picture. I see no real reason to not believe it," he finally mused.

"I did not mean-" Violet began and the two men returned their gazes to her. She drew back into the chair as she felt their eyes on her and she swallowed hard. "I hope that you do not think I do not want it to be true," she finished softly and jammed her thumbs into the lining of her dress. The room was quiet for a moment and Violet was afraid that she'd said something wrong until her eyes met Benedict's again. He was smiling more brightly than she thought she'd ever seen.

"No Violet," he chuckled and Violet felt herself finally exhale. "You didn't."

"I just...I do not know what I am feeling. It was just so much all at once that I-" she started but fell silent when Benedict held his hand out to her. She felt a small grin pull across her lips as she rested her fingers in his and let him help her to her feet. She felt a little wobbly for a few moments but allowed herself to be steadied against Benedict's arm before Hodgins spoke up.

"Why don't you two take this," he said as he held out the opened letter and the photo to Benedict, "and take the rest of the day off huh?"

"You sure?" Benedict asked before Violet began to protest.

"I am still capable of completing my duti-"

"I know you are Violet," Hodgins held up his hands. "I just think you two should have a little time to talk about this together. That's all."

Violet drew in a breath again before nodding. "Yes sir."

"Thanks," Benedict breathed softly, still a little surprised. He turned to Violet and looked down to find her hesitating. "Why don't we go get lunch?"

Violet just nodded and let Benedict lead her out of the building and out onto the sidewalk. They walked in silence for a long time, neither of them able to break the silence and the longer they walked the more Violet's mind began to bubble over with all the words she should be saying. None of them felt right though. They were all half-thoughts and unfinished sentences that seemed to go nowhere but if she kept quiet for too long then Benedict really was going to get the wrong idea. She didn't want him to think that she didn't believe, or didn't want to be his sibling but what was she supposed to say?

There was a far more sinister reason for her silence though. The reason that all of her sentences melted away in her mind before they could reach her lips.

She hadn't been found.

Someone had pulled Benedict from that building and they hadn't found her there with him. Someone else had snatched her up and never looked back. What if it wasn't an accident.

"Are you really okay?" Benedict finally broke the silence. She looked over and found him walking with his hands buried into his pockets.

"No," Violet shook her head. Why hide it?

Benedict hummed a little in amusement. "Well good for you for saying so at least."

"I am a bad liar," she admitted and Benedict couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped him.

"That's a good thing. Don't ever let anyone tell you different."

"You do not think I don't want to believe it...do you?"

"No...I think you'd tell me if you didn't believe it to be honest with you Violet," he shrugged and Violet stopped in her tracks. Benedict stopped and turned back to face her. "I think something else is bothering you and that's why you're so...jumpy," he finished carefully and Violet gave him a strange look.

"Jumpy?"

"You know, like," he tried to explain. "Emotional."

"Emotional," she breathed. "Overwhelmed?"

"Yeah," Benedict blinked. "Yeah, like you said in Hodgin's office. Feeling too many different things at once," he said and suddenly all the pieces seemed to snap together in his mind. She could see the question on his face too and she pressed her lips together tightly, hoping he wouldn't ask.

"Wait have...have you been fainting more lately?" He asked slowly and Violet's fingers tightened around the fabric of her dress. Something hurt in her chest now. It hadn't before but now it felt like her chest had been hollowed out. Something was coming but it didn't feel like an attack. Rather, it felt like something vile was crawling and scratching it's way up her throat and she was powerless to stop it. It wanted out and Violet didn't even know what it was until the word had hit her own eardrums. A word, probably what was the first of its kind, passed through her lips, and as soon as it had Violet felt a wave of something that she knew all too well. She didn't have a handle on a lot of emotions but she knew that one like the back of her new hands.

Regret.

"No. I haven't."