Chapter 21: Side Effects
Tia shot up with cold sweat dripping down her face. Vomit swelled up in her mouth as she jumped off the bed and headed straight for the toilet. Clutching the toilet seat, Tia hacked up last night's dinner. She almost screamed in fright when she felt someone touch her back but she recognised the warm touch and was quite thankful for it. Her body continued to shake violently, as she threw up more dinner down the toilet. Once she had finished, she sat back against the strong, supportive chest that supported her from clasping on the floor. Her body had completely gone into shut down; she was surprised that she didn't start crying but then again she had been crying non-stop when she had first met these people who were now her family, so she guessed her body was just fed up with being a wimp. Trying to make her body relax, she closed her eyes and took deep breaths, letting Rocket wipe away the vomit around her mouth, stroking her hair and telling her he loved her. All of a sudden, she felt her body being lifted up and was carried back to the bedroom, where Rocket placed her back under the silk covers.
"You ok?" He questioned her, stroking her hair out of her face. She nodded back with a small smile on her face and enjoyed the small comfort that Rocket was giving her. The nightmare she just had was horrible, all she could see was Jonathans face as he bedded her maliciously over and over again, she had been screaming at the top of her lungs that Rocket would come for her but all her husband did was give her a confuse look and spat in her face, saying he didn't exist. Honestly, the dream itself seemed so real that it had almost killed her from the grief and pain it made her feel; imagine what she would of felt if it was actually real. Taking a deep breath she sat herself up and leant her heavy head on Rockets shoulder.
"I hate being weak." She muttered sadly, circling a scar that ran along his muscular shoulder blade, thinking about all the brave stuff he must have done that got him the insane scars like this. At that moment, Tia felt two strong fingers being place under her chin and lifted her face up until her emerald eyes met Rockets shining hazel ones.
"Tia, you're the strongest woman I've ever met, don't sell yourself so short." Rocket informed her, admiration burned in his eyes. Tia was shocked, she had never had anyone who admired her before, her parents had loved her (she knew they did like any other parent) but they criticised her a lot, making her feel useless all the time and Jonathan... well, he was Jonathan. So what she saw in Rockets eyes touched her deeply. Leaning up, she kissed the corner of his mouth before snuggling back into his arms again and let him play with her hair.
Tia's conditioned worsen over the last two hours, as the side effects of the paralyzing tackle that Sinedd had used on her settled in. Nearly losing her last night gave Rocket cold shivers, thinking that her heart would of only stopped it her body had been having a panic attack or something; nearly being stolen through the window probably did that. Cold sweat broke down her forehead and she shook violently, vomiting up anything she had eaten the day before. Mary was tending to her now, while Rocket was outside listening to Sonny trying to negotiate another time for Tia to meet up with Brim Simba later on in the day when the worse side effects would have worn off. He winced when he heard Tia vomiting again. Just as he was about to go back up stairs to see her the front door slammed open and in stormed Mei with a huge box hanging under her arm.
"You guys are never going to believe this." Mei stated, stealing the phone from Sonny and slamming it down on the receiver, before Sonny had a chance to swear back at her the Queen of Spies kicked him butt first into the living and then indicated her finger at him. Rocket didn't need to be told twice to follow Sonny into the living room, otherwise she would of yanked him by the ear like a five year old kid –he knew because she had done it every time Micro-Ice acted a bit slow- staying low, as he sped off into the living room. Once she had also joined them she dumped the box on to the table and put on the radio and went around closing all the curtains in the room like she thought there were spies outside listening; possibly habit she had gotten into when she was given out secret information. "Ok we'll start on the big...no, huge problem we have on our hands." She gestured, sitting on the sofa and started going through her book full of papers, searching for something in particular. Rocket and Sonny just gave each other funny faces and sat down next to her. "Emperor Maddox is gathering evidence to fight for custody over Tia."
"What?" Sonny and Rocket both cried out at the same time, nearly falling off the seat in shock. Mei (be use to all the weird dramatics the men and their friends did in this family) seemed not to noticed their unusual behaviour because she was too busy trying to find whatever she was looking for.
"My spies in the Emperors unit have reported that he requested his top lawyers to find some kind of loop hole in the arrangement. One of the lawyers said that if he can somehow prove he is legally related to her in anyway then he can gain custody." After she finished, Mei pulled out a large rolled up piece of paper. Pushing the large box off the table and stretching it out across the table. She pointed to two names on the graph. Leaning forwards, Rocket examined the family tree to find that Emperor Maddox was a distant uncle of Tia's. He couldn't help but make a funny face at the discovery, it wasn't like they were blood related or something (he was only related through marriage apparently) but still it was kind of creepy. Feeling the discomfort in the room, he looked over at Sonny to see that he did not have a happy expression on his face either.
"Is there any way we can overcome this?" Sonny questioned, circling his finger around Tia's name. Rocket sent a quick pray to God for some kind of good answer, since no one trusted Maddox's 'parenting skills' to look after anyone properly; especially his white angel. A huge grin spread across Mei's face –scaring both Sonny and Rocket.
"Well, there was one name on here in particular that I thought you might recognise Sonny." Mei smirked, moving the piece of paper over to Sonny's side, so Rocket couldn't get a good look at it. He watched Sonny's facial expression as he looked down on the name the Mei indicated. It was funny to watch Sonny's eyebrows disappear into his hair line, snatching the paper up and holding it close to his face, before putting it down with a shock expression still on his face.
"Is this true?" Sonny asked his future daughter in law, who in return, nodded her head.
"Tripled checked it myself." Mei answered, assuring Sonny that the information was correct because everyone knew that if Mei had double check the information (let alone triple checked) then you would know that there was no way the information could be wrong.
Tia downed the banana and strawberry smoothie down in one gulp, since it was the only substance her stomach allowed to swallow at the moment. Mary was in the room looking after her; since Rocket had gone downstairs to sought out some business, along with D'jok and Rosie, who had joined her a few minutes ago to see how she was. She made sure she was dressed in her pyjamas before she let anyone else in because the last thing she needed was people getting suspicious to what she and Rocket got up to in her spare time; alone. The twisting feeling in her stomachs warned Tia what was about to happen next, quickly grabbing the yellow bucket and vomiting into it. Mary was next to her in seconds and helped rub down her back. Just when I thought I was getting better as well, Tia thought, leaning against the wall behind the bed.
"How's are sick patient doing?" Rocket laughed, as he and Mei walked in to the room, Rocket sat on the end of the bed, while Mei cuddled into D'jok. Tia still felt a bit light headed to think of some kind of come back, so she just sent back a glare before settling back into the cushiness of the bed, her technique didn't work since everyone began laughing at her. She didn't notice that Sonny had been leaning against the door frame, watching the whole scene take hold; a huge grin spread across his face.
"Isn't this a nice family scene?" Sonny joked, making everyone else laugh as well. However, Tia never failed to realise the strange looks on Rocket and Mei's face that made Tia think he was more behind the remark then met the eye. She decided that she would question Rocket later about it but right now she was too happy to ruin anything at the moment.
After two hours, Tia still had no idea what was going on. She still didn't understand the excuse that Sonny told her when she asked why Rocket was taken her to see Brim Simba instead of him. What made her more confused was that when she asked Rocket he changed the subject instantly. What the hell is going on? Tia wondered but kept it to herself since she was mad at Rocket and everyone for keeping something from her. Rocket also failed not to know this until they arrived at the United Allies Head Quarters, when he went to help Tia out of the car and she just brushed him aside. She didn't mean to be angry with him but she was starting to get fed up with people keeping secrets from her even though it was obvious that they were secrets about her. Stomping towards the front desk, Tia thought she saw the same woman at the front desk that she had seen at the protection agency, until she got a bit closer to realise it wasn't. The similarities were confusing though, since she was showing off the same amount of cleavage as the other one. She let Rocket do all the talking, since she didn't trust herself to stay polite with the way the girl was looking Rocket up and down. What so great about him anyway? Tia cursed, as they made their way across the room. Tia sat on the side that only had one chair, so Rocket was forced to leave her side and sit on the opposite side of the room. Looking the other direction, she forced herself to look at the door instead, so she wouldn't fall for his pleading gold eyes.
"Tia please don't be like this, we're only..." His appeal was quickly cut off when Tia shot him hot daggers that looked like they could blow up anything if she concentrated enough. Moments went by and the anger fired up in Tia began to dim down and was swamped with guilt. They had done so much for her and she was getting mad over one little thing. Taking a deep breath, she made her way over to him and kneeled beside his chair.
"I'm sorry." She muttered, bowing her head in shame. Movement caused Tia to look up and see Rocket getting on the floor and kneeling beside her. Taking her hand in his, he placed it against his lips and kissed it before placing it on his cheek.
"I'm sorry too." He smiled. Tia could only guess what he was apologising for but was grateful for it nevertheless. It must of looked weird for anyone walking past to see two people sitting on the floor instead of the chair but Rocket and Tia were too busy enjoying each other's company to notice the odd stares. The little moment was broken when an assistant of the Flux Leader came out and announced that Brim Simba was ready to see her now. Giving him a small smile, she kissed Rocket on the cheek and followed the man into the office.