Happy one year anniversary! :D
But I'm still haven't gotten past Alice being sick after a whole freaking year ;u;
Day 41
"We have a problem", Warner said.
Delalieu looked up from sorting his reports with a slightly alarmed look. In sector 45 a problem could mean almost anything from forgetting a pen to having an uprising amongst the civilians.
"A problem, sir?", he wondered as the conversations around the table died down.
Warner picked up a clip of documents and tossed it to slide over to the lieutenant.
"A signature", he said just in time for the bundle of paper to come to a halt before the lieutenant. The sergeant next to him, Johnsson, leaned over a little to have a look.
"Signature?", Delalieu repeated in bewilderment.
He was looking at a consent for surgery contract, and at first he couldn't find what was missing. He was flicking the page and to look some more when Johnsson perked up beside him.
"There's no consent from the guardian."
And indeed, the line at the bottom of the page was clean.
"Correct", Warner said from over the head of the table.
"Is this about the girl?", someone asked from across the table.
"Yes", Warner replied.
Plenty of meetings had been dedicated to discuss the plague research and the measures that were to be taken with the civilians, so the ongoing and fruitless search for her origin weren't news for the base.
And before someone could comment that this wasn't written up as a topic to discuss he added:
"I thought it was ready to be sent further on, but apparently we're missing the actual consent."
There was a pause amongst the men around the table.
"Do we really need such a consent?", a third asked.
The whole table turned their heads to look at the speaker. A Sergeant.
He cleared his throat at the sudden attention, especially from the burning gaze of the chief commander.
"The parents aren't located", he agreed to no one in particular,"But is that really a problem considering we have full authority over the civilians?", he wondered.
"That's another problem, Morgans", Warner said.
"She's not a citizen of the Re establishment, and we do not have any power over her."
A hush fell over the table with the young chief commander at the top, daring anyone to speak up with his piercing green eyes.
It was Delalieu who dared to break the silence.
"Sir…", he said, and he suddenly felt 24 pair of eyes looking at him. He felt a light sweat break out on him. But he focused on the blond. He cleared his throat.
"Sir", he repeated a little clearer,"Considering that she's a subject of research and medication, for plague research none the less; it's inevitable that she must be granted custody, with or without the parents knowledge; assuming that the parents are alive."
It was something they had discussed. It wasn't the fact that Alice description led to nothing, but that no one had stepped forward and asked for her. They had stepped forward with publishing her missing person to most sectors in, what used to be, Scandinavia and North America. But it hadn't shown any results either. He had never lifted the idea to Alice, and he wasn't planning to either.
Warner listened, and then his finger started tapping against the table. Signalling that he was thinking.
The men sat in silence and waited.
Warner suddenly released the deep breath he had been holding, straightened his posture and said:
"Delalieu."
"Yes sir?", Delalieu said.
"Set Private O'lander to research the necessary procedures after the meeting", he ordered. Then as if the topic had never interrupted the meeting, he opened the protocol and thus started the meeting.
Delalieu said a quiet 'yes sir' as he slid the contract back to Warner, which he swiftly caught and put away.
She was sitting in the bed behind a mountain of folded over duvet when he came in.
"Hi Mr Delalieu", she greeted in a gentle voice. The treatment, or the first-face-treatment as Veens had explained it, had been initiated. It had only been a few days but it was already showing results. She didn't spend the daylight hours sleeping anymore. The mucus in her lungs had thinned out as well, making it easier for her to breath without pausing to cough. Even if he hadn't had much time to visit her since then he knew that she enjoyed it very much.
"Good morning miss!", Delalieu greeted back as he closed the door behind him.
"But I guess that will be Miss Sjögren from now on", he smiled as he sat down by the bed. Neatly pushing in his chair. As he looked up again he saw that Alice didn't seem excited at all.
His face fell.
"D-did I pronounce it wrong?"
She stared at him for a few moments, not understanding what he was asking; but then she shook her head.
"You just need to work... on your ö. It's supposed... to sound like ugh. Like the ugh in… in birch", she instructed.
He made a mental note of the foreign letter, but Alice still didn't look pleased.
"What is it dear?", he wondered. Was she in pain? Was the fever returning?
She looked a little uncertain.
"W-was it something I said?", he asked, getting more panicked than worried at this point.
She frowned at him. Then she averted her eyes to her lap. Fingered some at the duvet.
"I… I like it much more when you call me Alice…", she confessed.
"Huh?"
"You don't have to call me miss Sjögren… or miss anything actually. I like you calling me just Alice, Mr Delalieu…", she said.
"Oh", he said.
"O… okay then. Alice it shall be!", he declared and chuckled a little at his theatricality.
"What's your name then, Mr Delalieu?", Alice asked.
That seemed to bring a shift to the atmosphere. For a moment she thought he wasn't going to answer at all, but then-
"Jasper", he replied,"It's Jasper."
"Jasper!", she repeated.
"Jasper Delalieu", she said and nodded at him. Seeming to deming it worthy.
"Alice Sjögren", he returned.
She giggled.
"Is it French? It sounds French", she said.
"Jasper?", he asked.
"No!", she laughed,"Delalieu!"
"Ah, that's what I thought", he said.
"And you're correct, it is", he continued.
"Does it mean anything?", she wondered.
He smiled at her interest.
"Let me see… ah yes. So De la means of the, and Lieu means place or position. So De la lieu means of the place, or of the position."
She sat and thought about it for a few moments.
"Jasper of the place… What's 'the place'?"
He shrugged.
"I don't really know to be honest. It was my father who was from Quebec; it's a place in Canada where they speak French. I think it's just one of those names the colonists made up when they came to North America, because I don't have any known family in France."
"Okay", she said.
And as much as he enjoyed to just sit there and chat with her he was there for a reason. He took the pause that followed to change the subject.
"I'm was actually here to tell you about something, dear", he said and scooted his chair a little closer.
"Hmm?"
He picked up a folder he had brought with him.
She leaned forward to see, flattening down the duvet with her arms.
"What is it?", she asked.
"Alice, did Dr Veens tell you about your lungs?", he asked, avoiding the question.
"He always talks... about my lungs…", she said a little unsurely.
Of course he had talked to her about her lungs.
"About what's going to happen when you get better again", he clarified.
"Oh", that lit up something.
"Yeah, I'm getting operated", she said.
"Yes", he agreed.
"You're getting surgery. And you know why, right?"
She nodded.
"Because a little part of... my lung won't work anymore, and it's better... to take it out", she told him, pausing to cough a little.
"E-exactly dear", he stammered, getting a little angsty at the taking out bit.
"And Doctor Veens gave you some papers to sign, right?"
She nodded.
"He even gave me one to read through in Swedish!", She told him. Obviously very pleased.
"I didn't understand most of it, but he explained it to me."
"How nice of him", Delalieu pondered, and he wondered to himself how he was going to explain this to her.
He shifted in his seat.
"Now dear, as you know, your parents aren't here, we're still looking for them…", he said, keeping his voice as gentle and forthcoming as possible.
He gave her a pause to nod.
"It has turned out that they have to sign that document, because you're not old enough. You know about those sort of things, right? But don't worry!", he hurried to say as he saw a look of worry cross her face.
"The doctors are still going to remove that bad part of your lung, this isn't going to change anything. But in the meantime, since your parents aren't here, you'll be granted custody here in sector 45. When we've done that we, the Re establishment, can sign instead."
"All you have to do is to sign these documents", he said and brought them out from the folder for her to see. He also brought out copies in Swedish O'lander had gotten for her specifically.
"This one is for becoming a citizen in sector 45 and to get a citizen card", he explained and gave her the first.
"As you can see Sir Warner has already filled in most of the information. You can look it over if you want to", he told her.
She seemed to make a quick scan of it, but didn't seem very interested. She just looked at him.
"And this one is for consenting to the shift of guardianship…", he said and gave her the other.
She took it into her hand and her light gray eyes ran over that one as well.
"Any questions?", he asked her.
She didn't say anything for a long while.
"Why does it say adoption?", she wondered.
He blinked.
"W-where does it say that?"
She held it out for him and pointed.
It was the same word. 'adoption av undertecknad'
He looked at the English document he was still holding in his hand.
It didn't match.
'granted custody of [signed]...'
"No, love, we're just going to make sure you're taken care of until we find your parents… it's nothing so major, it's just temporary…", he replied. Bewildered by the translation.
"So why is Warner's... name here?", she asked.
"And yours", she added and looked at him.
"You know I said that the Re establishment will sign?", he asked her.
She nodded.
"Well, as you know, an organization as a thing can't make decisions or talk. So while the Re establishment is your 'legal guardian'", he said with air quotes,"Warner is signed as the, um, decision maker, and I as the spokesperson. So Warner will have the final say with the legal things, and I'll be the one people will talk to, since Warner doesn't have that kind of time on his hands...", he tried to explain. He still wasn't very sure of what his role actually demanded of him, just that it was more fitted for him than it was for Warner.
"But why Warner?", she suddenly asked.
"Huh?"
The look she gave him was enough on it's own.
Despite Warner's high standing he was still only seven years older than her when you thought about it.
"Well, he's the highest authority in sector 45, so it wouldn't be correct if anyone else was held responsible", he tried.
"But you're older…", she protested.
It took a moment too long for him to realize what she was implying. And he couldn't help but to feel a little flattered, even if she was probably latching onto anything but to have the young commander having the final say in her young life.
He took her hand that was laying on the mountain of duvet and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
"Don't worry dear, I'll do my best to make sure he doesn't make any rash decisions. And I'm sure it won't last very long."
She did seem a little more comfortable with that.
If anyone doesn't like Delalieu's first name: FIGHT ME or come up with a better one! :)
It's was between Jasper or Rupert. But Rupert sounded too much like my grandfather's name (Herbert). So I settled on Jasper.
Oh! And Warner is NOT becoming Alice's dad in any way! He's way too young for that! xD (just making that clear since the adoption thingy might make people think that! haha)