Disclaimer: I do not own Lilo & Stitch or any of the characters therein.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN:
A MOTHER'S LOVE

Le'Kruune left me strapped to the table for the rest of the night. In the morning, however, he released me from my bonds and sent me back to my detainment cell. He gave my clothes back to me - a nice, clean suit I was wearing for my appeal - and told me to get cleaned up and make myself presentable for my mother's arrival. Whether he had actually made contact with her, I didn't know, but I was praying to God that he hadn't. I couldn't bear to have her come to my rescue again, not when the price of my survival meant the selling of her body to that monster.

I was fed gruel and tepid water, which I accepted. Later a physician of some sort came and looked me over, applying ointments and creams in an obvious attempt to downplay my wounds for Mother's sake. It didn't do much good, though. I was still a ghastly sight, and Le'Kruune knew it. He didn't seem too worried, though. Perhaps he thought that the worse-off I looked, the more my mother would be willing to give herself to him in order to protect me from further harm. Yes, that was it. Better to make the threat look real, not that it would have mattered how badly I'd been treated. I think Mother would have traded herself for me no matter what. Not that I was ungrateful; far from it. I just couldn't stand the thought of Le'Kruune touching her, let alone being within a hundred light-years of her.

It was late afternoon according to the simulated wake cycle onboard the Kaizaxx ship when an incoming transmission requested permission to dock. I was in my cell when the transmission was broadcasted over the intercom. When I heard the voice of the individual on the other end, my heart sank into my stomach. I recognized the voice as my mother's, and a fresh wave of tears threatened to erupt at that moment. Oh God, no! I thought when, several minutes later, I heard footsteps outside my cell, then the click of the lock, before the door opened. Sure enough, there stood Le'Kruune, resplendent in a gold-trimmed, shimmering black suit that boasted the muscular frame beneath it. Obviously he wanted to impress Mother.

"Well, don't just sit there, Pleakley!" he bellowed. "Come and greet your mother with me!"

He sounded so excited. A stranger would have thought that he was about to meet an old flame, one for which he still had strong affections. I wondered irritably why he had to be so pleasant all the time, and couldn't just learn to act like the monster he was. It didn't matter right now, anyway. Mom knew him for what he was, and she wasn't about to be won over by a pathetic show of charm.

We headed down toward the docking bay, Le'Kruune and myself. It was the first time I had gone anywhere on his ship unescorted by monsters armed with plasma cannons. Le'Kruune didn't appear to be armed, but I didn't take his reputed strength and viciousness for granted. I simply walked along beside him, trying to still my rapidly beating heart for what was to come. We stopped by a small security station just outside of the docking bay. Le'Kruune spoke into the panel next to the door, and I heard a staticky reply.

"I had security personnel bring Vay in for a strip search," he informed me with a perverted grin. "We can never be too careful about concealed weapons and the places in which one might hide them." He grinned still wider, showing his teeth. I felt like belting him one in the mouth. Mother barely sets foot aboard this ship and already she's being harassed and degraded! I didn't say anything, though. We waited outside the door of the security station for about a minute when I heard muffled cursing and struggling inside. Then there was the sound of gunfire… two shots, then a man's voice yelling in pain. Something crashed, then more curses. I distinctly heard Mother's voice, furious as she shouted profanities the likes of which I had never heard her utter before today.

"Captain!" Le'Kruune shouted, pounding on the door, "What the hell is going on in there?" When no clear reply came (save the sound of continued cursing and struggling), Le'Kruune proceeded to open the door himself, punching in a code on the door panel, then having his palm scanned for identification. When the door finally opened, he and I both gasped simultaneously at the scene inside the station: Two guards, both Rapturian (the orange raptor-like alien guards in the movie), and my mother, in the aftermath of a fight. Mother's clothes were torn and her hair was wild as she sat straddling the neck of one guard, twisting his arm back while the other guard lay unconscious across a control consol, his leg smoking from a plasma blast.

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Le'Kruune shouted, stepping across the threshold. Mother saw him and jumped up immediately. The guard she had been beating rolled over onto his back, groaning. Le'Kruune looked down at him furiously.

"I ask you to do one little thing, and you can't even -" he trailed off, seeming to notice my mother for the first time. "Well, hello, Vay," he purred, extending a clawed hand. "It's been a long time."

"Not long enough," Mother replied, her voice quivering irritably.

"As stunning and voluptuous as ever," he continued, ignoring her anger. "I hope you won't judge my hospitality based on that of my men," he indicated the two guards.

"Why shouldn't I?" she demanded, "when they were following YOUR orders! I'm quite surprised you didn't come down to do the strip search yourself, or at least supervise it."

Le'Kruune laughed. "I assume you did all this yourself? Unarmed?" He gestured again to the suffering guards. Mother didn't answer. "Then I will also assume that you're clean. I suppose I'll be finding out later anyway. There's only so many places you can conceal a weapon on that petite figure of yours." His words sounded wet with lust, and I imagined he was close to drooling. If only I had a weapon, even a primitive one like a zizzball stick, I wouldn't have hesitated to bludgeon him in the head with it.

"First thing's first," said Mother, sounding impatient. "Where is my son?"

Le'Kruune stepped aside so she could see me. When she did, she rushed forth to embrace me, and I met her halfway.

"Oh, Wendy!" she sobbed, crushing me in her arms. "Oh, sweetie, are you okay? Did they hurt you?" She pulled back to look me in the eye, and gasped. For the first time she seemed to notice my wounds. My eye, still swollen and bloodshot, half my face purple, dark red gashes made by Le'Kruune's claws, and the tazer burns. She just stared at me for a long moment, unblinking. When she recovered, she frowned, turning slowly to face Le'Kruune.

"You…" she hissed, taking a step toward him. "You MONSTER!!!" She lunged on him. He flung an arm out, and she met it, and was repelled. She flew backward into me and knocked me down. Before either of us could get up, we were surrounded by guards.

"Escort these two to detainment cell D7," Le'Kruune instructed, and we were both hoisted up off our feet and dragged away.

D7 was a much larger cell than my previous one, with cozy bunk beds and a few other creature comforts. It fell just short of being labeled a guestroom, or at least a Motel Zixx. As soon as we were alone, Mother demanded to know what Le'Kruune had done to me, down to the tiniest detail. I told her I was tired and didn't feel like going into it right now, but her nagging was relentless. Even as I lay down to rest on the lower bunk bed, she had to sit right beside me on the same bed and examine all my wounds individually. She made sympathetic noises over each one repeatedly, and I knew she was just trying to guilt me into telling her, so finally I gave in, though I wasn't looking forward to her reaction. Sure enough, she gasped and cursed Le'Kruune for each and every wound I had received, and there were many. I told her everything… except for the terrible secret he had shared with me.

"Well, don't you worry, honey," she told me. "I've dealt with this man before. I'm sure I can talk him into releasing you. But don't think I'll let him get away with this!"

Something strange took over me just then. I suddenly felt as if I were possessed by another facet of myself, a me that wasn't me at all. Just then I found myself asking Mother a question, though I felt like a bystander, watching and hearing myself as I asked it, and not in control of myself at all.

"How do you know Le'Kruune?"

"Excuse me?"

"How do you know Le'Kruune?" I repeated. I already knew, but she didn't know that I knew, and I didn't know why I was asking. "You said you've… 'dealt' with him before. What happened? And when?" God, why was I doing this? It wasn't enough for Le'Kruune to humiliate her, but now I was doing it, too. I still don't know what came over me. I guess somehow I had to tell her that I knew her secret, and it was wrong of me not to give it back to her. So for some reason I found myself playing Twenty Questions as a means of beating around the bush. I could tell she was uncomfortable; she fidgeted with her torn clothes and didn't make eye contact with me.

"Oh, it was a long time ago," she sighed. "You were just a baby then, and Le'Kruune was an elite member of the Federation." When I failed to register surprise at this, Mother looked at me suspiciously. I told her quickly that I had heard that before, and she accepted it. When she did not elaborate, I asked her again about what happened between her and Le'Kruune.

"I'd rather not talk about it right now," she said tiredly.

"Hey! I told you everything that happened to ME on this ship, even though I really didn't want to," I replied. "C'mon, Mom, you can tell me. I promise I won't be upset, or think of you any differently. Please."

She turned away then, sighing even more sadly than before. "Not now, Wendy. It's the last thing I want to talk about at this point, but I promise I'll tell you later."

That did it. I couldn't keep it from her any longer. I had to tell her the truth.

"That's okay, Mom. You don't have to tell me… I already know."

When she heard this, she turned around sharply to face me. "You - you do?" she squeaked, looking frightened. I nodded, casting my eye down at the bed sheets. I couldn't bear to see the look on her face just then. "Le'Kruune told me everything. How you needed money and -" I couldn't continue. The words caught in my throat and I choked on them. More tears were threatening to break loose, but I fought them. I had to be strong for my mother, and not let her know how much the revelation of her past had pained me to learn. I felt her arms around me again, and forced myself to look at her. She looked like she was about to cry, although she was doing a valiant job of fighting back the tears.

"Oh, Wendy, I'm so sorry you had to find out this way! I probably would have taken that horrible secret to the grave, and regretted it. I know I should have told you sooner, but -"

"No, Mom, I'M sorry. I didn't have the right to know about that… and I'm sorry I made you do it."

"What are you talking about? You didn't make me do anything. I chose that option myself, because there was no other way."

"But you did it for ME!" I shouted, half furious with her and half with myself. "You only did it because I was sick, and my food and medical bills were too high to pay for on a 5th class Civil Agent's salary! If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have had to sell yourself to that - that - grinhapa kurrish'ta!"

Mother gasped, startled by my word choice to describe Le'Kruune. "It wasn't your fault, Wendy," she insisted, looking angry again. "It was NEVER your fault. I did it because I love you, and if anyone's to blame for a mother loving her son that much, it's me. I knew I didn't have to do it, and I knew I would regret it for the rest of my life if I did, but none of it mattered because I loved you, and I wasn't about to let go of you." She hugged me close and kissed me on the forehead. "I still love you, more than ever, and I am NEVER going to let go… no matter what."

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