NachtcGleiskette – More? You know me! Of course there's more!
"It's about damn time!" Joe gritted his teeth. He had let himself be delayed and distracted long enough. Another minute of standing in this hallway and he was going to break the door down.
Jemaine rushed forth and wrapped Kurt in a great hug, grateful he was alive. "Kurt!" She sobbed against his shoulder as she clung to her brother. "Oh, thank God..." With a sigh of pure love, Kurt returned the embrace. He had been so intent on Rachel all this time, it had not occurred to him that his family might actually be glad to see him alive and well, too.
But when the pretty blond tried to let herself in to see Rachel he stopped her, blocking the doorway. "Kurt, what is wrong??" she demanded. "Let us in!"
Kurt swallowed and shook his head. "Rachel..." How did he even say this?? "She...she is not well..." he started weakly.
At that, Joe forced the blue mutant aside and pushed his way in like an angry bear. He stopped short at the sight of the woman's sleeping face covered in cuts and bruises. She looked as though she'd had the hell beaten out of her. Thankfully, other indicators of abuse were hidden under her soft, long sleeved cotton gown. Urgently, he rushed to her side, looming over her, picking up the hand that Kurt had just laid down. "Rachel?" He called to her, trying to wake her up.
Jemaine joined Joe by Rachel's side. Her horror and disbelief playing in her grief stricken eyes. "Mein Gott, Kurt...What happened to her??" She stroked her sister-in-law's hair and put a comforting hand on Joe's shoulder.
Only Lumi lingered behind in the doorway. She stood beside Kurt and took his trifingered hand in her old, gnarled one. "This is not your fault, child." She whispered the forgiveness he wanted to be able to accept. "You did not do this to her."
For a second, Kurt reflected on how many years it had been since she had called him 'child.' He hung his head low, holding Lumi's hand grateful for the support but unwilling to accept the pardon. "This would not have happened at all if not for me." He refuted.
If he had just been content to stay her friend instead of becoming her lover, eventually her husband, Rachel would have never been dragged into the nightmare of the last four months. Perhaps neither of them would have.
"Do you think this was the first time Ben Gammon beat her?" Lumi was already waiting for Kurt's eyes to meet hers in disbelief. "Do you think it would have been the last?" Kurt felt like an absolute fool. It had not even crossed his mind that Ben could have been the one that beat her so savagely. If it had, he would have killed the man on the spot, instead of just letting him shoot himself and leaving him to die at his own hands. The German mutant had just assumed Stryker's men had treated Rachel with the same care and concern with which he'd been treated. Beatings were part of the guards training program and God knew Kurt had gotten his fair share of them. In fact, the beatings only stopped in time for him to heal up before his 'mission'.
He started to demand how Lumi knew this when he felt himself being jerked up by a pair of big angry hands. He turned his head towards them when suddenly, Joe punched him in the jaw with a great fist. Stumbling back from the furious man, Kurt rubbed his burning jaw and waited. Despite Lumi's and even Logan's absolution, he deserved this. He wanted this. This was his penance for the suffering Rachel had endured because of him. This was far easier to bear than the guilt that had been building up in him since he had regained his memory. This kind of pain he could deal with.
With a roar of anger, Joe grabbed Kurt by his shirt and shoved him into the door frame. Kurt grunted as his back impacted hard against the wood. The older man landed another blow, this one causing the taste of blood to rise in Kurt's mouth. Still he said nothing, nor did he try to defend himself. In a perverse way, the pain felt good.
His willing abuse was cut short as Logan shoved himself between the two and pushed Joe away. "Back off!" Logan warned, his fists clenched, ready to enforce his order.
"It's alright Logan." He heard Kurt speak in a low, distinct voice behind him. "He has the right to be angry. I broke my word to him." Kurt met Joe's glare head on with shame in his eyes. He stared at his wife, blissfully unaware of the scene playing out around her. "To both of them..."
"Did you do this to her?" Joe's voice was a dangerous growl.
Kurt shook of his head, sadly. "No."
"Then who did?" His voice was like the angry thunder of a storm cloud looming on the horizon.
"Who do you think?" Jemaine stood up from the chair she had sat down in, after the shocking sight of her sister by marriage. "The same man who has done this to her in the past. The man who thought loving her meant owning her." She turned her head back to Rachel and whispered the name as if afraid Rachel would hear it. "Ben Gammon." She knew beyond doubt that Ben had done this; she felt his anger on her skin and in her wounds. She was beginning to understand Lumi's advice that her gifts could be used to help her family if she'd just stop fighting them.
Joe stood at the foot of the bed. He had always suspected Ben hit Rachel, but she had consistently denied it. She fell, she hit herself with the door, she tripped. Even when he had begged her to tell him the truth, she lied. He never understood why. Surely, she had to know he would have protected her. She didn't even have to ask. All she had to do was tell the truth...
"Where is he??" Joe was a man of action. This brutality had to be punished. No one hurt Joe's family.
"He'd dead." Kurt answered, going back to Rachel's side. Gingerly, he picked up Rachel's right hand. Her arm had not been broken, thank God, but it was bruised right to the bone. He never realized his tail was that strong. Then again, he'd never tried to hurt anyone with it. At least until Stryker told him to and he obeyed like a trained animal. He closed his eyes at the memory of his wife's fear and her painful cries.
"According to Rachel, this is what happened whenever Ben got angry" Jemaine's was distant as all eyes fell on her. She turned to Joe. "The day you found her with a black eye." She shook her head, ashamed for Rachel. "She hadn't fallen on the corner of the end table. She forgot to make dinner reservations." She sighed. "All those bruises you found on her back. She didn't fall down the stairs...she wasn't wearing the dress he'd picked out." Rachel had confided so much more to her. Much more than she would ever tell Kurt, and a few things she'd never dare hint to anyone. It was the common joke that Jemaine couldn't keep a secret, but that was not entirely true. She knew there some secrets that should never see the light of day. "He was a monster." A handsome, charming, controlling, violent monster.
"How do you know this?" Kurt demanded. How could she have kept these things from him?? She had admitted that Ben had hit her in the past. But she had led him to believe it was a simple slap or a shove. Not that that made it permissible. But, this was almost beyond his comprehension. He felt betrayed in a strange sort of way.
Lumi stepped forward. She looked at the two men with a sigh. "Do you have any idea how humiliating it is to be hurt by someone who's supposed to love you? To let it happen and then be convinced that you're the one to blame?" She came to her niece's side. "There are some things that only another woman can understand."
The old midwife spared a look at every one who had was gathered around the dark haired woman as she laid a hand on Rachel's midsection. The people here could 'treat' Rachel and give all the confidences they wished. She was not going to be happy till she knew for herself.
"Speaking of which, you three – out." It was at that point she realized Logan had already left. She was surprised; not many people could come and go without her knowing it. "You two, then." She pointed brusquely to the two men on either side of her patient and pointed her finger to the door. With a final look of concern they left as ordered.
"Lets see how both of our little ones are doing, shall we?" Jemaine helped pull Rachel's gown up enough for Lumi to examine her. With an experienced gentleness, she laid her hands on the expectant mother. Still, Rachel tensed and whimpered, even in her comatose state, traumatized by the dozens of times she had been violated by strangers poking and proding at her like a lab animal with no respect or even human decency.
"It's ok Rachel. It's just Lumi." Jemaine whispered, encouraging her to relax. She had assisted Lumi several times when their tiny circus got larger by one new born member. "How is she?"
Her faced etched with deep concentration, she moved her hands over the expectant mother's abdomen, pressing here, pushing there. Always careful to be gentle and respectful. This was a time for her niece to feel happy and expectant. Not frightened and angry as Lumi sensed had been her experience up till now. With a final nod, she rearranged Rachel's gown and pulled the covers back over her. "They are both fine...all things considered." She sighed and taking her right hand gently, Lumi pulled the sleeve back, revealing the horrible bruise Kurt had left on her.
'Lumi..." Jemaine's voice was cracked with emotion. "Kurt would never..." But yet, there it was. No one else could have left that kind of mark on her. Then her mind replayed the surveillance video for her once again to remind her that Kurt had the potential to be as much a demon inside as out. She shuddered wondering if the monster that wore Kurt's skin for a time was really gone or just biding his time in hiding...