The Ambassador Ch. 13

"Princess America! Princess America! Why have you come to Illea after all these years?" the reporter asked as I stepped off the plane with a twin's hand in each of mine.

I smiled my best princess smile, "To help with the baby, of course."

"Did Prince Maxon ask for your help?" another one called.

"Oh, no! In fact, if you all are live this is the first he's hearing of me coming." The news reporters blew up, asking questions over themselves, but I just smiled, "Have a good day."

Ben laughed, trading Guiseppe in his arms to pick up one of our bags. An armoured car rolled up in front of the air plane and we all crawled into it. The cameras were still flashing when the vehicle drove away.

(*&*)?

She didn't move when I opened the window in a flurry of motion.

"It's time to get up, Kriss."

"Go away." She waved at me, feebly.

"No. I shan't." I went over the radio and started playing music, "Your kid is hungry."

"I don't want it."

"I know. But it's not a question of want. He's your son. You're his mother. He needs you. And whether you like it or not, you need him." I looked her over, the greasy hair and stained clothing. "Funny how that works."

"I can't see him. Or feed him. Or anything."

"So, you want me to?"

She didn't move.

It was time to take more drastic measures. "Come on, Kriss. I already stole your husband, you want me to steal your baby too?"

"Shut up."

"No, Kriss. I can't."

"Go away."

"Not until you're out of bed. Or your hormones settle back down. Whichever one comes first."

Kriss just groaned, "I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because."

"Because why, Kriss?"

"I don't have the energy to," she all but whispered.

"We'll work on that."

(*&*)?

"Exercise helps. So does the sun."

"I hate this."

"That's what I said when Ben made me do this too. But, it does help. A walk every day puts you back on your feet faster than you'd think."

I held onto Kriss' arm, almost pulling her along, even though I was walking as slow as I could.

Two weeks of yanking her out of bed, of trying to get her to eat, of bringing her to doctors was starting to pay off. At least for now.

Kriss had still not fed her baby, or looked at it, but every afternoon I would bring the baby into her room. We would sit in the bed with her, the baby cooing at the woman who refused to turn her head towards him.

"This is normal," I always reminded her.

She would never acknowledge that she heard me.

(*&*)?

"She won't take her pills?" Maxon ran his fingers through his hair.

"Not without me jamming them down her throat."

"And you're sure that we're doing all that we can?"

"No."

"No? You're not sure? What else could we be doing?"

"You could go visit her." There was silence for a minute, "It's been two weeks since she's seen her husband."

"She doesn't want to see me."

"And you think she wants to see me?" I asked him, astonished.

"But you're helping her! I—I can't. I don't know how. I don't know what to do! She hates you and me, and only one of us knows how to help."

"You help by being there, Maxon. You help by walking her around the garden. You help her by smiling. You help by letting her know that she still has a husband."

"I married her out of spite, America! She never had a husband."

"Then I suggest you start small and start acting like she's a human being."

Maxon stayed quiet.

"No body deserves to go through this alone. Trust me. So, shape up and try talking to her."

(*&*)?

"Ami?" Ben looked down at where I was sprawled across the floor, "What are you doing?"

"Trying to save a marriage that I wrecked."

"Oh?" he smiled at me, "And how is that going?"

I looked at the door that I was sitting next to, "I haven't heard any yelling for a while now. That's a good thing, right?"

He shrugged, "I have no idea." He sat down next to me and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. We stayed quiet for a minute before Ben looked at my quizzically, "This is a weird situation, right?"

"Absolutely."

"This is weird."

"So weird."

Even so, we stayed at the door to the couple's room. Listening for any sign that things were going wrong.

(*&*)?

I watched Kriss for the next three weeks, and, slowly, I could feel her watching me. After a couple months of suffering and doctors visits and walks in the garden, I saw her old observant and meticulously brilliant self return.

"I need to make a public appearance soon," she said one day, holding my arm as we walked in the garden.

"I would recommend you wait a while longer but it's your choice."

"I've already been out of the public too long."

"Even without your illness, people would understand. You have a new child, and those take up the majority of your time."

"And yet, my baby knows you as more of a mother figure than me."

"Does that bother you, Kriss?"

She became silent for a while, "You're happy here."

"I am."

"With my husband."

"No, Kriss. I mean…yeah, I guess he's part of it, but that's just as a friend."

"You're sure about that?"

I nodded, "Completely. We were friends to start with, and we will be friends to end with."

"I suppose there's some…irony to that."

"I know I hurt you. I hurt you both and my husband and my kids and our countries….I was stupid."

Kriss shook her head, "I always thought you were cruel. That you knew exactly what you were doing, but now that I've gone through the same thing…You weren't cruel or stupid. You were just sick. You were down and you needed someone to pick you up."

"Doesn't excuse me."

"No. No, it doesn't. But…you're not stupid. Never have been."

"Thanks. I guess."

Kriss shrugged, "That doesn't explain why you're so happy here."

It was my time to shrug, "I've got my husband and my kids and a sense of purpose."

"Helping me?"

"Helping you."

Kriss continued walking, "And a country to take care of? Making sure that Italy has a bright future? Or your children? Those aren't good purposes?"

"Yes, but selfish ones?"

"How is raising children selfish?"

"If they flourish I flourish. Same with my country."

"But helping someone like me, someone you should hate—"

"I don't hate you."

"That makes you feel better about what you've done."

"It…relieves some guilt."

"We've turned ourselves into quite the bitches."

I laughed, "Yeah. We have. And there's no way of taking it back."

"Only a way forward."

I raised my eyebrows, "You've been thinking."

"I've had a lot of time in bed."

"And what has your brain cooked up?"

"Well." She smirked at me, "The Italian Embassy just opened up. With enough space for a family."

"You want me to be the ambassador again so that Maxon can see his kids."

"And you can help a lot of people through your work. Think about it for a while. Being a princess is impressive enough, but adding Ambassador to your title might be nice."

"Hmm. The Ambassador."

"Has a ring to it."

I smiled, "…The Ambassador."