A/N: Apologies for being gone so long would be ridiculous. I really don't have any explanation for my absence except for a complete and total lack of time. I am so, so thankful to all of those who have continued to review, and a special thanks to Marz: your review really inspired me to keep going with this fic. Thank you, and everyone else who has stuck with this story for so long.
A lot is revealed in this chapter but it's not fully explained. Expect chapter 19 soon, hopefully most of the questions that you have/will have will be explained then. On that note: Enjoy!
Disclaimer: See previous chapters.
…
Rei walked down the road with Kai the next morning, holding his hand. They hadn't really spoken since last night when Kai stormed out of Tala's room only to lock himself up in his office. It took Rei much coaxing to get him to come out after that, but the Chinese teen didn't need to ask his koi what had happened—he'd practically heard the entire thing they way they were yelling at each other. Neither of them had seen Tala come out of his room since.
Squeezing Kai's hand a bit, Rei looked up at him worriedly. "Are you alright?"
The blunette sighed, looking anywhere but Rei's eyes. Feeling helpless, the Chinese teen turned his gaze at to the ground, and continued walking in silence.
"…I'll be alright," Kai answered somewhat apologetically after a long moment. "I just need to think some things through."
The raven-haired teen's eyes saddened. "There isn't a whole lot of time Kai…" he trailed off.
"I know."
"Then what are you going to do?" he asked quietly.
Narrowing his eyes, Kai stuffed his other hand in his pocket and led them to the park where they could sit for a little while.
"I'm going to call Bryan."
…
Max laughed hysterically when Tyson proved for the fourth time in a row that he had no idea of how to flip pancakes properly.
"Hey!" the Japanese teen snorted, despite himself. "I will get this right."
It took a second for Max to stop giggling, and wipe the tears from his eyes. "Yes, but in this century?"
Tyson stuck out his tongue indignantly, and turned around to pour some more batter on the skillet for a fifth try. He was glad that his boyfriend was feeling much better this morning, but he had never really discovered why Max had been so upset in the first place. He respected that, but it disturbed him just the same.
Whatever it was, he wasn't going to bring it up with Max again just yet. The petit blonde deserved some rest. Maybe he'd talk to Rei about it later…
"Alright Maxie, you ready for this?"
He looked over his shoulder with a grin and waited for his koi to stifle his laughs and watch him seriously. Readying himself comically, Tyson tossed the pancake—
And got it stuck on the ceiling.
Max nearly fell out of his seat, roaring with laughter. "You're kidding me!"
"Oh come on!" Tyson yelled at the ceiling, flailing the hot skillet dangerously. "When does that EVER happen in real life?"
The American shook his head, unable to answer, tears beginning to pool on his long lashes. Tyson finally just doubled over, succumbing to his fits of laughter. By the time they had both calmed down, their sides were killing them, and their faces stretched from smiling so much.
"Alright," Tyson puffed. "That's it."
Max grinned, choking back more laughter. "Tyson…"
But it was no use, his koi was back on his feet, placing the skillet back on the stove again. Throwing one last glare over his shoulder at the pancake chilling on the ceiling, he waited for the pan to heat up. Max stood up and took his seat again, unable to keep from smiling at the prospect of Tyson's renewed breakfast vigor. He laughed happily when the blunette winked at him while pouring batter onto the hot surface of the skillet.
"Alright Maxie…you ready for this?"
…
Kissing Kai goodbye, Rei straightened out his shirt and headed into the tall office building where he worked, feeling strange as he walked through the glass doors and into the entrance hall. He turned one last time for a moment to see Kai standing on the sidewalk, watching him.
He didn't want to leave Kai alone after last night, but he needed to check in at work if he planned to keep his job. Offering a small wave and a smile, Rei sighed, and walked up the carpeted stairs. Absentmindedly, he looked up towards floor he'd been standing on when he'd heard footsteps in the building, thinking someone was coming upstairs to find him and Tala. He watched the floor come into view, remembering that night.
He jumped, startled badly by a sudden hand on his shoulder, and whirled around. A pair of curious green eyes stared back up at him from the stair below the one he was standing on.
"Rei?" came the sweet voice.
"Oh, Delilah, I'm sorry, I was…thinking." He smiled.
She offered a smile back. "It's alright, are you heading up to your office?"
Rei nodded, and started back up the stairs again, Delilah falling into step beside him. With a guilty look he turned to her. "Sorry for being gone so long…" he trailed off when she laughed.
"It's alright, I needed something to do anyway."
The Chinese teen groaned slightly to himself. I must be making an awesome impression on everyone here…hey, if you need something to do, just ask Rei, he never does any of his own work!
"Is Kenny in?"
Delilah nodded. "Yeah, he wanted to see you actually."
Nodding as they reached the next floor, he started to turn, when the petit brunette called him back.
"Was there anything that you wanted me to drop off in your office? I'm heading back to work now."
He looked over his shoulder with a smile. "No, I ran my story, I don't have anything new yet…thanks though."
She smiled back and waved him off, and each of them went their separate ways. Stopping at Kenny's office, Rei was greeted by Dizzy again.
"Fancy seeing you here," she quipped. "Come to ask for a vacation?"
He glared, even though he was only looking at a speaker box. "Delilah said that Kenny wanted to see me."
"Imagine that…"
Rei sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Dizzy," replied tiredly. "Could you please just tell the Chief that I'm here?"
"One moment please," came the sweetly sarcastic answer. He waited, looking around the sitting area distractedly. Finally he heard a small metallic 'click' and the doors to Kenny's office unlocked.
"Thank you Dizzy," he smiled, at the intercom as he slid through the door and closed it behind him.
The familiar clicking of computer keys greeted him as he entered the spacious office and he relaxed, if only slightly. Running a hand through his hair he moved further into the room, taking a seat when the Chief nodded at a chair in front of his desk.
"Welcome back Rei," he greeted the Chinese teen, though not unkindly. Still, Rei grimaced.
"I'll only be a moment," Kenny continued, glancing between the files on his desk and his computer screen. "Dizzy? Do you have the final draft of Gibbons' report?"
"Not yet Chief, it should be delivered within the hour."
"Give him a call then and tell me where we stand. I want that story on the front page."
"Sure thing Chief."
Rei swallowed, looking down at his hands guiltily. How long had it been since he had come back to work? A week? Two weeks?
"So," Kenny spoke, finally turning around to fully face him, startling Rei out of his thoughts.
"Sir, about my absence, I know I'm not—"
Kenny cut him off, coughing nervously.
"Rei, to be perfectly honest with you, you have brought more to this paper than any of us ever expected."
"Thank you…" Rei breathed, taken aback.
"Yes, this story that you brought to us had an overwhelming impact on the media worldwide. Everyone wants a piece of this story."
Rei felt his heart leap onto his throat; partially from pride, partially from fear.
"Fortunately for us," Kenny added, cutting him off reassuringly before he could object. "You are the only insider and no one knows who you are."
The Chinese teen couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
"Which," Kenny continued. "Brings me to my point. We are looking for a follow-up story."
For a long moment, Rei couldn't answer. He was well aware of how these things worked, but a follow-up story would come down on Kai…hard.
"Chief…I appreciate the offer, but…" he trailed off when Dizzy's voice cut through the room through the intercom.
"Chief, Gibbons is sending the report up now."
Kenny glanced apologetically at Rei before answering.
"Thank you Dizzy. I'll take care of it in five."
Rei took a deep breath and continued to try and explain his situation.
"Sir, I can't…I don't think a follow-up is necessary, do you? I mean, the consequences of this story on the lives of those involved could be catastrophic. I can't, in good conscience, continue this story."
Kenny pushed his glasses up nervously.
" Rei, I'm afraid that you can't just let the public in on news of this magnitude and them leave them with a cliff-hanger. We aren't a publishing firm Rei, we report the news."
"But Chief—"
"Rei, either you take this story or I'll hand it over to someone else."
For a few seconds Rei floundered. He sat and stared at Kenny as the petit brunette shuffled papers on his desk and checked his computer again. What was he going to do? There was no other information to give. He wasn't willing to put Kai and Tala at risk, but he was less willing to leave this project to someone else either.
With a sigh, Rei raised his golden eyes to meet Kenny's.
"Alright Chief. I'll take the story, but I'll need my sources and information back from your files."
Kenny had momentarily broken into a bright smile, completely relieved, but as Rei finished his sentence, the tiny American faltered.
"My files?"
Rei nodded slowly. "I was relaying my drafts through Delilah the week the story was printed."
Kenny looked absolutely bewildered. "Are you sure?"
"Yes," he answered, a cold feeling sinking into his stomach.
Kenny frowned and reached for the intercom. "Dizzy, did you receive any draft files from Delilah Hayes last week?"
"You mean hard copies Chief?" she asked.
Rei shook his head at Kenny's glance.
"No Dizzy, check the digital files."
There was a pause and Rei found himself hanging off the quiet sound of Dizzy's typing.
"Sorry Chief. Delilah took her vacation days early after we printed the Balcov story. I've got nothing coming in or going out from Ms. Hayes."
Rei felt his blood run cold. Vacation? But she had promised to take care of his files so that he could work from home. If she hadn't given them to Kenny, then who had his information?
"Chief, the information in those files is confidential."
Kenny nodded, turning to his computer again, his fingers flying over the keyboard. Reis mind was a blur. There had to be an explanation. Those files came from his computer—his sources were on those files.
"Rei I'm afraid Dizzy is right. Delilah took that week off. She hasn't been working."
Rei couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"But she has those files, I know she has them," he began desperately, the seriousness of the situation finally settling on his shoulders. "Chief, maybe there's been some kind of mistake—"
"Dizzy doesn't make mistakes," Kenny answered abruptly, still scanning his computer screen. "If she says that we don't have the files then we don't have them."
"Where did Delilah go?" he asked suddenly, his anxiousness peaking in his chest.
Kenny sighed, turning back to the intercom.
"Dizzy, do you have the information on Delilah Hayes' leave of absence?"
"Sure thin Chief," came her cool voice.
Rei was practically on the edge of his seat. How in the world was he going to explain this? He tried not to panic. Kai and Tala had to know. They had to know now.
"Hayes…Hayes…" Dizzy muttered though the intercom. "Here we go."
"Delilah left for Yaroslavl early last week."
"Yaroslavl?" Kenny asked, flustered. "Where is that?"
Even before Dizzy answered Rei felt the bile rise in his throat.
"Just north of Moscow, Russia Chief."
…
A/N: Uh oh. Seems like maybe Delilah was up to a bit more than everyone thought. Just what in the world was she doing in Russia anyway? And with Rei's files? :smiles: We'll see, soon enough. Thanks again for reading!
'Jade
