Author's Note: Hello again! I got really inspired this week so here ya go! Let me say, although it may seem like it, I do not dislike any of these characters, with the exception of Zeke. I'm simply trying to write an accurate account of how Addie would view them. Please enjoy the update!
Addie covered her ears and closed her eyes when she heard a clanging after Eren grabbed Hange and pulled her into the bar of his cell. She couldn't say she blamed him. The woman had annoyed the hell out of her too by saying the word fight at least two dozen times in half as many sentences.
She hated to hear angry people argue. It reminded her of when her parents would fight. Some scars never heal. Even as a grown woman, raised voices and hateful words spoken in a rage made her tremble, reducing her to that scared little girl hiding in her closet.
The tears leaking from her eyes astonished her. She thought by now she had none left to cry. Humming while rocking back and forth with her forehead resting on her knees and hugging her legs, she tried to soothe herself like she did as a child.
Addie allowed her imagination to ponder a what if she had considered at least a hundred times. What if she and Reiner had been able to escape together? Where would they have gone? Would they have truly been a happy family if given the chance? Or would they start to hate each other, fussing and fighting over everything?
How many children would they have had? Two? Four? Maybe more. Six kids and a farm for all of them to run free. They could roll on the lawn with the puppies that would grow up to help round up the cattle or pet the kitties that keep the mice out of the grain in the barn.
She would have a garden behind the house. They would have fruit trees and fields of grain. In the evenings, she and Reiner would take a horseback ride right into the sunset. As night fell, they would return home to feed and bathe their brood then fall into bed with each other, exhausted but happy.
Addie stopped humming and lifted her hands. Only the occasional drip of water echoed off the brick walls. Stretching out her legs onto the thin and unbelievably uncomfortable bare mattress, she dropped her hands to lay limply at her sides. She exhaled; a long dramatic sigh she would have to admit. But she was sick of this shit.
Eren received a constant stream of visitors. All of them furious, most of them screaming their questions at him. Why did you do that? What were you thinking? How could you kill all those people? What is Zeke's real plan?
Why the hell did they put me in the cell right beside him?, she wondered, having a question of her own and a bit peeved at him herself.
They tossed her in jail because they were still trying figure out who she is and what to do with her. Eren's actions had already confused an alienated his comrades so much they had no idea what to think about him much less her. They could not decide if she was in league with Eren and Zeke. Her being put in the cage beside him in an otherwise empty cell block was an obviously strategic move made in hopes they would talk to each and divulge their secrets.
Her ties with the Liberio Eldians in custody were still unclear as well. They locked up both the kids in another part of the prison. Understandably so since Gabi the psychopath killed Sasha.
Addie wiped her drippy nose on the sleeve of Levi Ackerman's shirt. She had spent hours ripping the fabric into shreds. They had at least allowed her to take a shower and gave her a change of clothes. She rather liked the loose, ankle length peasant skirt made of a soft beige cotton fabric. The top was not quite so comfortable. It was too big, baring one shoulder and made of a somewhat scratchy dark brown material.
She sniffled and rolled her eyes to the ceiling, willing herself to calm down. How long did they plan on keeping her here? She was not even sure how she had been here anymore. Her groan of self-pity reverberated off the walls back into her own ears.
"Hey, Addie," Eren called out to her.
"Hey, Eren," she returned, her voice rising in feigned cheerfulness.
He chuckled. A joyless sound that ricocheted between their cells.
"Good to hear you still have a sense of humor," he said.
Addie noisily blew out a breath in annoyance.
"What do you want, Eren?"
"Are you okay?"
"As good as I can be all things considered." She inhaled deeply then exhaled slowly. "Eren, why did you do it?"
"Why shouldn't I kill them before they come kill us? The Marleyan Eldians want to kill all of the Island Devils, don't they?" he asked rhetorically, his voice a low growl full of hate and malice.
Technically they are Liberian Eldians since they are all contained within the walls of Liberio, Addie thought, but now was no time to split hairs. Eren completely understood the concept of being separated by walls. The Edlians of both places shared not only the same heritage but so many other similarities.
She could not understand why they were fighting each other. At least Marley went out conquered other people rather than fighting amongst themselves. Although there greed and fear were not admirable reasons for killing and imprisoning people either.
"I suppose you're right. That's not so different from Marley's military strategy. Strike first and subjugate. Repress them before they can vanquish you," she said, reciting the words as she had heard her father say them many times.
There was another part to his philosophy she left unspoken. Never let the captured enemy forget who is in control. Should they rise against you, use deadly force. Do not allow the rebellious to live to come back and kill you another day
Silence filled the air between them a pause much more pregnant than her. Drip. Drip. Drip. Damn that annoying drip.
"Addie?"
"Yeah, Eren?"
"Who are you...really? You're more than just a nurse. Why does so many people know your name? How do you have access to the information you do? You put the puzzle together to figure out who I am after all."
Addie patiently waited for him to shut up so she could actually answer one of his twenty questions. These are the questions they all wanted to know the answers to. No reason not to answer them anyway. She figured if they were going to do away with her, they would put her to death regardless of her answers.
"It's not about who I am. It's about who my father was," she exhaled, getting up from the bed to pace her cell. "Luka Wagner. Captain of the Public Security Authorities. He made it his personal mission to keep the 'Eldian scum' in line."
As commander, Luka Wagner believed in keeping an iron grip on the Eldians and watching their every move. 24/7 patrols were instituted around the Internment Zone encompassing several blocks of the Marleyan districts on the surrounding edges. Heaven forbid any Eldian stray beyond the ghettos and go where they didn't belong. There was hell to pay.
Addie went on to explain he not only condoned but encouraged excessive violence toward the Eldians - whether they actually committed a supposed crime was inconsequential. These heinous acts of torture often resulted in the death of the 'offender,' mostly for the entertainment of the officers committing them.
There were a few things she did not tell him which she discovered during her information expedition of Eren Kruger. Being the Captain at the time, Luka Wagner was the man who made the final decisions and signed off on the choices of Warrior Candidates of the group which included Reiner. He was on the government committee who decided to send them as spies to Paradis. Those two juicy tidbits of information would surely warrant her death despite her father's decisions having absolutely nothing to do with her.
"So Eren, you're not the only genocidal maniac I've known. The first was my father. What a proud legacy he left me," she snarled derisively, pacing faster in the excessively small space that seemed to be closing in on her.
Once again, silence filled their cell block. If Eren had anymore questions, he did not ask them. So she finally decided to ask one that had been on her mind.
"Why did you really bring me here? I don't think your intention was to have me put in jail no more than you bargained for your own imprisonment."
"I actually brought you here to take care of Historia. She's pregnant. She will be having her baby in a few months. I don't want anything to happen to her...or the baby," he added.
"Are you in love with this woman?" Addie inquired, her curiosity incurred by the wistful lilt of his tone.
"Not in love with her. I do care deeply about her. We've been through a lot together. I admire her and respect her. She's our Queen after all," he said.
Addie smiled in response to hearing the pride and joy in his voice evidenced by the way the his tone lightened and perked up.
"You actually remind me a lot of her," he said. "Beautiful. Smart. Tough. Decisive. You're even little and blond like her."
"I remind you of a Queen, huh?" she scoffed, taking his words as a compliment since he seemed to mean them as one. "Well, I'm flattered Eren Jaeger. But that's not going to make me like you."
"Fair enough," he sighed. The springs of his bed creaked as he sat down. "Before that though, she was just Krista. My friend and a fellow Scout. We went to hell and back together."
Krista. She remembered Reiner saying that name. He had been in love with a girl named Krista. Her smile faded, morphing into a deep frown. It was ridiculous for her to feel jealous, but feel it she did - powerful and heavy, weighing down her heart.
She couldn't help but think maybe she had become a substitute for Krista, the woman Reiner had really wanted but couldn't have. Then she snorted, shunning the thought. Addie had damn sure been unattainable in her own right; a Marleyan who would have ensured him of the death penalty had they ever been caught together. Here she faced an uncertain future without him which was actually far worse.
"Do you love Reiner?" Eren asked her, snatching her out of her thoughts should she decide to stew in envy some more.
"With all my heart," Addie answered without hesitation. "We had no business falling in love with each other...but we did. And now..." She rubbed her belly. "At least I'll always have a part of him with me."
"Is that why you're so attached to that kid, Falco? He reminds you of Reiner doesn't he? He was supposed to inherit the Armored Titan from Reiner, right?" he asked.
Addie rolled her eyes. Falco himself probably told the man he believed to be Eren Kruger that in confidence.
"Yeah, he was. You inherit the person's memories when you take over their Titan don't you?"
"Yeah," he confirmed.
Wow!, Addie thought, the heat of embarrassment warming not just her face but her entire body. That could have been problematic and downright humiliating.
"Reiner shared everything with you I guess," Eren murmured.
"I think he did."
Reiner Braun gave her his pain and suffering, unintentionally losing his heart to her a little piece at a time. Somewhere along the way, she returned the gift by loving him as well. Nausea overwhelmed Addie, but the queasiness had nothing to do with her morning sickness which had a tendency to last all damn day.
The metal hinges of the heavy outer door groaned and squeaked as someone entered their area. Both of them ceased speaking.
The man called Jean, a friend of the woman Gabi murdered, stepped up to the bars of her cell. Rather than looking irate, he appeared sad today, his eyes swollen and red rimmed from crying. When he wrapped his fingers around the bars she could see his knuckles on his hands at the bottoms of his fingers were red and raw where he had punched something time and time again ripping the skin off.
Addie stood on the opposite side of her cell from him despite the fact the metal bars separated them. She crossed her arms and stared at him, keeping a neutral expression on her face not giving him a hint of her anger or her fear.
"Did you come back to finish the job you started at the house?"
When he looked thoroughly befuddled, she stuck her forefinger under her chin, her thumb bent as if holding a gun.
"Gonna pull the trigger this time?" Addie asked, raising an eyebrow when her eyes met his.
"Not yet. Firstly, I want to apologize," he said, exhaling with a hiss as if physically pained him to say the words. "For that and how I treated you in the airship. You were only trying to help."
She shrugged, averting her gaze from his eyes glassy with the overwhelming sorrow of mourning.
"You were panicked and worried for your friend. I've had people do much worse to me when they or their loved ones were in pain," she said.
"Would you...would you have been able to save her?" he asked, his fingers tightening around the metal until the knuckles turned white. The fragile thin over his damaged knuckles on his fist split and grew shiny with oozing blood.
Addie could devastate him with a lie, add to the pain he was already being crushed under. But when her eyes met his, seeing the despair and heartache, she could only speak the truth to alleviate a modicum of his suffering.
"I doubt it. But...I would have tried like hell to save her. In the end, she would have most likely died anyway. Taking into account the placement of the wound and how much blood there was, I believe an artery was severed. The bleeding could have been slowed but not stopped. I'm sorry," she apologized like she had to so many people whose loved ones had died.
Yet it never got any easier. Seeing that haunted helplessness in their eyes, the bereftness of having lost someone dear to them, always ripped her heart to pieces. It was no different with this man.
"Who were those kids? What are they to you?" Jean inquired, glowering at her.
Addie could practically feel the heat of his angry glare pricking her skin, making goosebumps rise along her arms. Her eyes met his. She might as well tell him the truth. She believed if they were going to kill the children, they would have done it on the airship after Sasha died.
"Gabi is Reiner's cousin. She's the front runner to inherit his Armored Titan. She's also a fucking psychopath. You think you've seen some scary Titans before? Just let that little freak become a Titan and see what kind of goddammned nightmare you have on your hands," she said, watching the corners of his mouth twitch.
"What about the boy? You seemed to care about him. Who is he to you?" he demanded.
"He is also a candidate to receive the Armored Titan. As much as I hate the idea of giving the kid a death sentence, I believe him to be the better choice. Although a bit soft hearted, he's much more logical, less prejudiced, and a hell of a lot less brainwashed than Gabi," she stated flatly.
"Do you always speak your mind so honestly and frankly?"
"Yes."
"I have one more question," Jean said, letting go of the bars and dropping his hands by his sides. "You said they would bomb Liberio if things got out of hand. Why didn't they?"
"This is a test, isn't it?" she shot back.
Jean had a cocky grin on his face as if he had successfully caught her in a lie. Or perhaps he was just happy to point out that she was wrong. But she wasn't.
"The Edlians were not rebelling against the Marleyans and attacking outside of the Internment Zone. The Eldians were attacking and killing each other. Why should the PSA waste the ammunition by bombing them if they were doing the work for them by killing each other?" she asked, sitting back down on her bed.
Eren chortled next door having heard their entire conversation.
"What the hell are you laughing at asshole?" Jean snarled.
"Give up, Jean. You'll never win against her in a battle of wits," he snickered derisively.
"Who's the real dumbass here? You're the one in jail. From where I stand, you look like the dumbest motherfucker alive after what you did," the other man retorted.
"Oh, yeah?! Well, what the hell would you have done? I had to do something to save us all before they sent more Titans to kill us!" Eren yelled passionately, shaking the bars on his cage like a madman.
"I certainly wouldn't have went on a rampage and murdered hundreds of innocent people!" Jean countered just as vehemently.
Oh, no not again. More arguing, Addie thought, hugging her knees to her chest and preparing to curl back into her ball of solace to soothe herself. She felt dizzy and sick and tired of the pointless arguments, the mind games, and the general bullshit. Covering her ears, she started to hum to block out their shouting.
"Hey! Hey, you! HEY!" Jean bellowed, finally getting through to her.
Addie chose to purposely ignore him. Although she could not see him due to having her face hidden and her forehead pushed into her knees, she could feel Jean staring daggers at her with his wrathful eyes. Earlier, when she looked into those piercing eyes of his, they were not full of resentment and fury. They expressed the sorrow of losing one friend and the hurt of being betrayed by another.
She exhaled in frustration when he kept calling her. Dropping her hands, she lifted her head to look at him. He stared at her through the bars. The myriad of feelings torturing him showed on his face in the way the tension pulled the skin taut over the hard angles of his jaw and nose.
"Is there anything else you want, Jean?" she asked, standing up from the bed and boldly approaching the door.
"Yeah," he said, reaching into his coat. "There's one more very important thing I have been sent here to do."
Addie immediately retreated, pressing her back against the cell wall furthest from him. Not that it would do any good. If he wanted to shoot her he would because there was no where for her to hide.
The jingle of the keys he held up caused her to tilt her head in bemusement. She still could not quite comprehend what was happening when he slipped the key into the lock and turned it.
"I need you to come with me," he said, waving his fingers for her to come toward him when she did not move.
"Jean, what are you going to do to her?" Eren asked.
"Shut up, Eren," he growled, casting him a lethal glare. "This isn't any of your business."
"Where are you taking me?" Addie inquired, pushing her back more firmly into the wall as if she could sink into it and escape by permeation. "What are you going to do to me?"
"Dammit," Jean hissed. Entering the cell, he grabbed her, and she screamed. But no one would be coming to help her.
~\'/~
"Damn them," Reiner ground through his teeth. He punched the brick wall, not feeling an ounce of the pain. "Damn them all to hell."
"Hey, Reiner," Porco said behind him, making him wince in surprise from his sudden appearance. "What's up with you?"
"What do you mean?" he inquired, taking the handkerchief out of his pocket to wrap it around his bloody knuckles. "Is it really that shocking I'm so upset? Those bastards have Gabi and Falco."
Porco's hazel eyes narrowed as he carefully studied the man in front of him. Something was definitely up with him. True he would be upset because those Island Devils kidnapped his little cousin and Falco Grice whom he had grown close to due to the boy being a possible inheritor of his Titan, but his fury went beyond justifiable outrage.
Reiner had been acting odd for a little while. A few months ago, it was if he had miraculously found the will the live again. The night before the kids disappeared, he instantly lost it. Seeing him in that battle with Eren Jaeger convinced Porco he would have allowed himself to die then and there had Eren had the desire to take his life.
But for some reason the Attack Titan running amok stopped after knocking off the deformed Armored Titan's jaw. It was as if Eren Jaeger had sensed Reiner had given up which made him lose interest in the fight. Or was there something else that made him stop short of killing Reiner?
"We'll be leaving for Paradis in a few weeks," Reiner announced. "It doesn't seem fast enough though."
"We're having to mobilize an entire army and devise an attack strategy. We're cramming the work that would otherwise take at least six months into three weeks," he reminded his fellow Warrior.
Reiner rested his forehead on the brick wall resisted the urge to head butt it again and again until he bashed his brains in. Although relieved Addie is alive, assuming Eren was not lying to him, he could not be rest in that knowledge. They could always execute her and the kids on Paradis.
A whole new set of worries stemmed from her being in the hands of his enemies. These are the people he befriended and betrayed so horribly. How long would they allow her to live once they found out about her ties to him? What kind of hell would they put her through before mercifully ending her life?
Eren had told him something else as well. Addie is pregnant. Just when he thought the circumstances could not be anymore dire for her life, or for his already tenuous emotional situation he finds out there's a baby to be consider as well. Every little bit of possible happiness had been torn from him.
Reiner slowly lowered to his knees as the tears rushed to his eyes. Having a breakdown, especially in front of Porco, was something he had been trying to avoid. There was no way he could tell him the extent of why he is truly so upset. He would have to continue to lie and say it's the obvious reason of Gabi and Falco being their clutches but that was only half of the truth.
However, rather making him give up and go through with pulling the trigger to end his life, this ignited an inferno inside. He had had enough dammit. He would go to that hell on earth and take back everyone who meant anything to him.
~\'/~
Though conscious, Addie hung lifelessly over the rear end of the horse being jostled around like a ragdoll as it trudged along the dirt road. She had been bound and gagged again. She had fought Jean tooth and nail as he dragged her out of the jail. If she was going to be executed, she was not going down without a fight.
Annoyed and aching from being punched in the head and back along with being kicked in the butt, quite literally, Jean grabbed her and wrestled her to the ground outside of the underground prison. Yelling for assistance from the nearby guards who brought him rope, it took three men to tie her up, shut her up, and get her on the back of the horse.
"Listen to me," Jean began as the horse casually moseyed along the winding dirt road. "I'm not going to kill you."
Addie groaned in frustration. Well, you coulda told me that to start, moron, she thought. You really aren't the sharpest tool in the shed. Good thing you're handsome.
"I'm taking you to the Queen's Orphanage. There's a child that's sick and needs your help," he explained. "We'll be there soon."
Addie held up her head to look around despite the pain it caused in her neck. All she could see was fields seeming to stretch endlessly in front of her. Eventually, a fence made of wooden beams appeared with crops behind them. She guessed wheat, corn, possibly rye, and tall grass, most likely for hay. She could hear the lowing of cattle and nicker of horses, the reasons for growing the hay.
Barns and other outbuildings started coming into view next along with people working around and inside of them. The people out and about, adults and children both, called or waved at the man riding the horse. Some stared at her in silent confusion or anger. Others pointed and laughed.
Jean stopped the horse in front of the first house positioned in a half circle of four. Two people walked out to meet him. Connie assisted him with sliding her off the back of the horse while Mikasa took the reins to lead the animal back to one of the barns to be tended to.
Addie stood still and quiet as the two men untied her. She glared at Jean standing in front of her wearing a cocksure grin on his face while Connie untied the gag in her mouth. Completely free, she slapped Jean so hard it wiped the smug smirk right off his face.
"Hey!" Connie yelled, grabbing at her hands to pull them behind her back.
She screamed in anger , twisting her wrists and extricating herself from his grasp.
"You stupid bastard! You could have just told me what you were doing!" she shrieked at him.
Addie smacked him again; this time an open handed strike to his chest. Jean lowered his eyes to the ground. Hitting him on the shoulder, she waited for him to react.
The man did not grab her or hit her back. He did not bother to defend himself, to shield his face from another stinging slap, giving him a matching handprint on his other cheek. Instead he stood there, head hanging down, looking defeating and sad. A weary soldier. A beaten man.
"Come on! Do something!" she shrilled at him crazed with rage.
She actually wanted him to fight back, to hit her; to give her an excuse to really unleash all of her frustration and anger, a lot of which was not even meant for him.
Jean raised his head, his eyes meeting hers. The fire had gone out of his eyes.
"No...you can't do this," she whispered, shaking her head. She knew this look all too well. "What the hell is wrong with you? You can't give up!" she screamed, slapping his chest with her hands rather than her fists. Hitting him again and again, she planned to keep thrashing him until he defended himself at least.
"Stop!" Connie hollered at her, trying to seize her wildly flailing hands.
People, curious about all of the commotion, stepped out onto the porch of the house and a few of the others in the semi circle of buildings.
Tired and winded, Addie finally ceased hitting him. She dropped to her knees in front of him, bawling shamelessly. Eventually her wailing stopped leaving her a pathetic sniffling, hiccupping mess.
"Are you done?" Jean asked, squatting down in front of her. He pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket.
"For now," she replied in a hoarse whisper. Her raw throat would not allow her to speak louder. She took the offered hanky from him.
"Come on," Connie said, his voice gentle as he grasped her under the arms to lift her. "We need to get you cleaned up first then take you to your patient."
"Sorry," she apologized as they walked up the steps to the nearest house.
"We're all in a hell of a mess here," he rejoined sympathetically, leading her through the front door Jean had opened. "I can't even begin to imagine how you feel. Alone among devils. Pregnant by a traitor."
Addie blanched at his words spoken with an acidic and bitter tongue but said nothing. She could not defend Reiner because it was true. He had done many wrong things which he had freely admitted to her over the course of their relationship.
She hated the way he referred to himself and his friends by the degrading nickname given to them by their own kind in Liberio. Although only defending themselves, they had committed many misdeeds as well.
No one is truly innocent including her. Right and wrong had become too subjective, too many blurred lines, especially considering she had been put in the unique position of seeing the suffering of both sides.
"Sasha was your friend, right?" she asked as he led her down a hallway.
"Yeah," he replied, opening a door.
"I'm sorry about what happened to her," she said, glancing into the bathroom.
Connie nodded in acknowledgment. His eyebrows drew together over the bridge of his nose as he frowned deeply. His golden green eyes shimmered with tears.
Addie walked into the bathroom to wash her hands. Glancing at her face in the mirror while she scrubbed, she saw the bruise on her jaw had faded to a gross green and brown. Her entire face was puffy and swollen, her eyes red rimmed and bloodshot from crying. The tears had cut trails through the dust on her cheeks. She looked liked hell. After washing her face, not worrying about her tangled hair, she was ready to see her patient.
"What's wrong? What are the symptoms?" she asked, shifting into her professional capacity as a nurse while they climbed a flight of stairs to a second floor.
"It started with a runny nose and a headache. We thought she was allergic to something so we took her out of the fields, and let her work in the house. Then she began complaining about hurting all over. Today she couldn't get out of bed," he explained, opening the last door on the left side of the upstairs hallway.
The room was dim, light imparted by the flame of a single candle in a brass holder on a small table in the corner. The space was cramped with two other beds. It was stuffy and excessively hot. The bed all the way across the room near the window contained a tiny body.
Crossing the room, Addie flung open the heavy curtains and opened the window. Not only did she need the sunlight, the fresh air would do them all good. She blew out the candle and sat down on the bed. The entire mattress quaked from the girl's shivering.
The child appeared to be about five or six. The redness of her face made it easy to see she was running a high fever. The dark blond ringlets around her face had been straightened and plastered to her cheeks with sweat.
"Connie, I need some things," Addie said, rattling off a list of the required items.
"Yes, ma'am," he replied, taking his instructions like a good soldier.
"What's wrong her? Is she going to be okay?" Jean asked, walking toward the bed with his hands in his pockets.
"I'm not sure yet. It's definitely not an allergic reaction. Unfortunately it's not something simple like a cold. Flu? Pneumonia? I'm not sure yet."
Addie peeled back several layers of the blankets to begin cooling off the little girl. If her body temperature was too high for too long of a time she could suffer brain damage. She had seen that happen before in soldiers experiencing extremely high fevers from infections after surgery. Although sometimes it was difficult to distinguish a brain injury from the fallout of the ongoing emotional wounds incurred during the war.
The little girl opened her eyes as Addie tucked the sheet and one thin blanket around her. Her eyes were a bright molten gold color. She smoothed back the child's damp hair as those brilliant eyes studied her face. Would my little girl look like this? A smile touched her lips as she gazed at the child and wondered.
"Who are you?" the little girl croaked.
"My name is Addie. I'm here to help you. What's your name?"
"M-Millie," she stammered.
"Oooh, that's a good name. It means strong," she said, grinding out the word in an exaggerated way while bending her arms at the elbow and making a muscle with her biceps.
Millie chuckled then began coughing. The fierce, body wracking coughs lifted her little body from the mattress.
Addie could hear the distinct rattling of phlegm in the hacking coughs. Pulling the child up to a sitting position, she patted her back forcefully.
When Jean rushed forward, she held up her hand warning him to stay back. Trusting that she knew what she was doing and was actually helping the child and not hurting her, he backed away to stand by the window. She greatly appreciated his faith in her.
The cough sounded wetter and the child gagged. Leaning her back, she covered Millie's mouth with the handkerchief to catch the wad of mucus that had been dislodged.
Connie entered with a pitcher of cool water, washcloths, and towels. He handed her a wooden cup of water setting the earthenware pitcher on the table.
Addie held the cup to Millie's lips, urging her to take a sip. To her dismay, the child kept her lips stubbornly and firmly pressed together. Dehydration would be a huge danger at the present time.
"Come on. Just a little sip. Please," she begged.
Relief flooded her body when Millie parted her lips allowing a little of the fluid to run into her mouth. After the tiniest of sips, she closed her mouth again.
Addie poured water over one of the cloths to pat down the child's face, chest, and arms. After soaking a towel, she laid it over the small girl's entire body.
"I'm going to need you two to help me for the next few hours. Our priority is to bring down her fever and get as much water into her as possible," she said.
"Okay. Just tell us what to do," Connie replied.
"It's imperative we get her fever under control before nightfall. For some reason, they always get worse at night." She glanced at the other two beds. "We also need to relocate the other children so they don't get sick. If they do show signs of illness, they need to be quarantined in here immediately. Understand?"
"Understood, ma'am," returned the two men in unison.
Impressive. Very good soldiers. Addie got a horrible sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She feared for Reiner and whoever would be coming to seek retribution for the attack in Liberio. Another war was coming - and it was going to be far worse than the last.
~\'/~
Millie had finally stabilized. After many hours of applying cool, wet towels, emptying numerous pitchers of water, the fever had broken. The child had tried to drink water only to vomit it back up minutes later along with expelling mucus which was actually good for her lungs. Within the last two hours, she had been able to keep the water down.
Around bedtime Addie held Millie in her lap, feeding her a few spoon fulls of chicken broth from the soup everyone had for dinner. She bathed the child while her magnificent helpers changed the sheets on the bed and brought clean blankets.
It was probably close to midnight now, the full moon floating high in the black sky, when Addie stepped outside for a literal breather. Closing her eyes, she inhaled deeply then exhaled a long, long breath.
The soft breeze blew over her damp skin fresh from the shower making her shiver. She had been given a rough brown dress akin to a burlap sack with a belt. Aware she was in no positin to complain, she was grateful for the clean clothes.
Someone lay a blanket over her shoulders, making her jump. Addie whirled around to see Connie standing behind her. He gave her a shy smile as if apologizing for frightening her.
"Are you okay?" he asked, handing her a glass.
She sniffed it more out of curiosity of the contents rather than paranoia of poison. It smelled like grapes and decidedly alcoholic. Wine! Taking a tentative sip, she was surprised by the delicious sweetness with no alcohol burn followed by the warmth that pleasantly heated her entire chilled body.
"Oh, this is good," she said. "Thank you."
"I figured you could use a little more than water after the day you've had. The week you've had," he scoffed, raising his own glass to his lips.
Like any good wine snob, Addie took another sniff, swirling the fluid around, then took a second drink.
"This is amazing," she said, following him toward the swing hanging from the ceiing at the end of the porch spanning the entire length of the farmhouse.
"It's our own wine. We make it right here. Grow the grapes. Press them. Age the juice in barrels in that barn over there," he explained, pointing to the one nearest to the house. He took a seat in the swing after she did.
"I'll be happy to help with that process," she offered, giggling a little - mostly out of nervousness due to her raw nerves. He was right - it had indeed been a rough week.
"Do you think you'll be here that long?" he asked.
"I don't know," she replied. She didn't want to be.
When her eyes met his, he continued by saying, "Reiner will eventually come for you and those kids. We all know that. We're counting on it as a matter of fact."
"I bet," she sighed, finishing off the wine.
It had only been about four sips. A taste really. She wanted more but was too embarrassed to ask for it. Besides, she shouldn't drink too much wine because of the baby.
"So when that happens...are you going to be our ally or an enemy?" Connie asked pointedly.
Addie didn't want to be either. She wanted to be a neutral party, not taking any sides. All had endured great hardship, suffering the loss of numerous loved ones not to mention their own peace of mind. They have been left with the scars of actions they could never take back and memories that would repeatedly remind them of the horrors they had both witnessed and perpetrated.
However, she knew, at some point, she would have to choose. Her hand pressed to her belly. The instinct to protect overshadowed her logic. In the end, she knew what her choice would be.
Addie glanced at Connie and gave him the best answer she could under the circumstances.
"I don't know."
Connie stood up.
"When you get tired, you're welcome to stay in the room with Millie. We made up one of the beds for you," he said, walking away.
Addie said nothing, staring up at the millions of blinking stars in the sky.
Reiner, I love you. I want to keep our baby safe. Please hurry.
~\'/~
Reiner opened his eyes, awakened out of a fitful sleep. On several occasions, he had heard Gabi's voice calling to him in his dreams. Tonight he heard Addie.
I know you will do everything in your power to protect our child, Reiner thought. Be the courageous, strong woman I know you are. Those are two of the many reasons I fell so damn hard for you, Adelaide Wagner. Stay alive. I'm coming for you.