Chapter Twelve: Jealousy

Aubre Naluri:

Vincent rested his head in my lap as I gently pressed the ice pack to his face. My father reacted exactly how I had imagined he would. A smile crossed my face at the thought.

"How will I explain this to Hojo if he sees me?" He asked as if asking himself. I ran my fingers through his hair with my free hand.

"Would he punish me if we say I hit you?" I laughed after the words left my mouth knowing that Hojo would never buy that my little hand did this kind of damage.

Vincent chuckled softly and then groaned as I put slight pressure on his face with the ice. "You know..." he paused for quite a while and I could feel him staring up at me.

"Hm?"

"I actually feel a little better now... Maybe I just needed a good punch in the face."

I looked down at him, he met eyes with me and we both laughed. Our laughter was broken suddenly when there as a knock at the door. "Go to the bathroom. If it's Hojo he's only looking for me anyway." I whispered quickly. Vincent grabbed the ice pack and hurried into the bathroom. I walked to the door and put my hand on the knob. I pulled the door open to a crack and looked out. It was Lucrecia... With tears on her face. I opened the door completely.

"What's happened?" My initial worry was that Hojo had done or was going to do something terrible.

"Is Vincent in here?" She asked. Was she actually expecting him to be somewhere else? His instructions were to not leave me in here alone. I swallowed hard prepared to lie. I honestly didn't want him to have any more to do with Lucrecia. However, I couldn't find it in me to lie to her tear stained face.

"Yes..." I moved to the side so that she could walk in. I closed the door behind her and walked over to the bathroom door. "Vincent, Lucrecia is here for you."

"Shit." I heard him mutter from the inside. He opened the door slowly and stepped out. He was bruised badly from his left eye down to his left cheekbone. His eye was swollen just enough to make it appear slightly more closed than his right eye.

"Oh my... what's happened here?" She looked back at me. Vincent cleared his throat.

"I just got into a little fight with another Turk. It's no big deal. I'm fine and it won't happen again."

Vincent Valentine:

The lie went over well.

"Would you step outside with me a moment, Vincent?" Lucrecia asked me. Her voice indicated how congested she'd gotten from crying. My immediate thought and prepared response was that it was not my place to consol her. Then I had a second thought. If Hojo had done something to upset her badly enough, we might have one more core person on our team. I gave Aubre a look of assurance and she nodded in return. I followed Lucrecia out of the suite and a little ways down the hall.

"What is it?" I whispered.

"Hojo is not going to set you two free after the birth..." she whispered back looking up at me with guilt in her eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"He's going to kill you both." a tear fell down her soft cheek and she brushed it away quickly. "It's all my fault, Vincent, I'm so sorry." Her shoulders shook as she began to sob heavily. She took a step towards me expecting me to embrace her but I took a step back.

"What did you have to do with it?" I asked suspiciously. She stopped crying and stared at me with wide eyes for a moment. She collected herself and began to whisper again.

"It made me jealous to see how you were with her... I thought maybe if I told him you two were getting too close he'd just assign a new Turk to take care of her. You'd done your job successfully, but..." She began to sob and apologize again. While she was busy apologizing I was formulating yet another plan. I looked down at the floor and squeezed my eyes shut trying to force tears to them.

"Vincent..." she reached out and touched my shoulder.

"I knew it was a mistake getting so close to her..." I lied, sniffing as I felt the first fake tear trailing down my cheek. "I couldn't help it. I had never... touched a woman in that way and she was just so innocent and Hojo couldn't have picked a more beautiful young woman."

Lucrecia squeezed my shoulder in her hand. "I'm so sorry I put you in that position. I would have never chosen you for the project if I had known it would end up like this... Not only did I know you'd have a good heart not to destroy the girl, I just thought..." her voice lowered to barely even whisper. "That we would get to spend more time together as well..."

"There's got to be a way to get her out of here... I don't care if I die, but she doesn't deserve this." I meant that last sentence and as I said it I looked Lucrecia right in her eyes.

"I couldn't stand it if you were killed because of me... I could get you out of here, Vincent, but the girl..." she looked away. Of course, now that she was jealous Aubre's life meant nothing to her. All of a sudden, Lucrecia became a stranger. She was nothing like I originally thought she was before this whole project came into play.

"No." I interjected in a normal voice. She instantly shushed me placing her finger against my lips. I pushed her hand away from my face. "If Aubre dies, I will die beside her." I said firmly. "I need to get back to her, it's getting late and she needs her rest." I hurried through the door and slammed it shut before locking all of the locks. Aubre rushed to me and I covered her mouth before it could explode with questions. I lead her into the bedroom and shut the door.

"Vincent? What happened? Why are you crying?" her voice began to shake with panic. I immediately hushed her with a kiss.

"I'm fine, I was faking it." I smiled at her to prove it. She rolled her eyes and smiled back at me. I looked away and then back up at her seriously before I broke the bad news. "She did tell Hojo that we were getting 'too close.'"

Aubre's smile faded. "And?"

"He plans to kill us both after the project's finished." I answered staring her directly in the eyes. She sighed heavily and looked away. It was quiet in the room for a while.

"I guess it's a good thing we have an escape plan..." she whispered. Her voice was trembling again.

"Lucrecia offered to save me." Her sad eyes turned into an evil glare. "But, Aubre I made it clear to her that if you die, I'm dying right beside you." I grabbed her shoulders and gave her a light shake. Her glare then softened into a smile and she kissed my lips. "I... love you, Aubre."

Her eyes widened and I realized the extent of what I just said. I stuttered as I started to correct myself as if I had said something wrong, but then I knew I hadn't. I loved her and she needed to know that. I stared into her eyes as she looked at me with that bewildered look on her face. After she didn't say anything for the longest time, I chuckled softly. "Don't look so surprised."

"I love you, too." she said suddenly and it was my turn to stare at her in shock. How could she have possibly fallen in love with me? In that particular moment, I didn't care. I dove at her attacking her lips first and body next. We made love off and on in between quick naps until it was time to call for breakfast. My face was twice as sore the next day and the bruising was much worse, but I would take a thousand more of those punches if it meant I could get us out of here alive...

Aubre Naluri:

A few weeks passed after Lucrecia confessed her jealousy and nothing came of it other than the rumor of Hojo intending to kill us. He hadn't even called to see me since she'd come by. I sat on the couch next to Vincent as he laid his hand on my stomach trying to feel Mila's movements. I could now feel her kicking and moving and it was amazing.

I giggled as I felt the tickle of her kick. Vincent gasped and pressed his hand firmer against my belly. "Wow..."

I looked up at him and smiled. "I really hope we can be a family... Vincent. We'd have such a perfect family." He would make such a great father.

"I know, Aubre. I'm going to do all I can to make that a reality." he smiled back before reluctantly removing his hand from my belly. He was beginning to get permanent dark circles under his eyes from not sleeping. Laying next to him at night I could always feel him tossing and turning, his body stiff beneath the covers. It was as if he was expecting Hojo to barge in at any given moment and snatch us both from bed to slaughter us. I reached up and touched his cheek.

"You need to rest, Vincent, you're starting to look terrible."

He shook his head and looked away. "I can't..."

I leaned over and gave him a kiss on his jaw line. "Our plan has a lesser chance of working with you not in top shape."

"I'm fine." he answered quickly leaning towards me and kissing my cheek. "Shall I call for dinner?"

"Call for dinner and order us a movie." I made a bet to myself internally that he wouldn't last a half hour into a movie. Dinner arrived and I purposely coaxed him to stuff himself full before we returned to the living room to watch the movie he got for us. I requested a romantic chick flick and it started off telling the story of a lost girl looking for love. Around ten minutes into the move I felt his hand that was rested on my shoulder twitch. I stole a glance at him out of the corner of my eye and saw his eyes slowly dropping. I moved ever so slightly and he jumped, clearing his throat and rubbing a hand down his face. I sighed and mentally shook my head at his stubbornness. Another thirty minutes into the movie, though, and he was out, snoring, and dead to the world. If I could have carried him like a baby into our bed, I would have, but instead I shut off the TV, covered him in a blanket and went to bed myself.