A/N: ..I guess I'm the only Nerdfighter here...
I've noticed how to combat the delayed emails from Fanfiction at 5:45 am. The reviews (and chapters) post to the website, but an email alerting to this fact is delayed. So if you think "surely she's put up a new chapter by now"...check the actual website.
Rebel: You asked for ages last time and I just totally forgot to give them to you...sorry. Scout's 16 now, William and Rosalina are 24, Daniel 23, Kane 25, Carissa 20, Caitlyn is 13, Ace 21...does that cover what you were looking for?
Raider: You're back :) And just in time because your favorite character is up!
Disclaimer: I'm not John Flanagan. And still not Australian.
Gabby led the midwife to Kane's apartment. She knocked lightly on the door before opening it and stepping inside. "Talia?" she called out.
"You're sure this is the right apartment, Gabby?" the midwife asked.
"Certain," Gabby replied. She tightened her grip on the cane. "Check the rooms, would you?
"Gabby I don't even know if this is the correct apartment."
"Why not? I told you…"
"You're blind."
Gabby sighed with frustration. This wasn't the first time she'd had to prove she knew where she was. She put the cane in a corner and left it there as she walked with her hand stretched out in front of her. "Chair," she said before her fingers brushed against a comfortable armchair she'd fallen asleep in many times while Kane read to her. She turned and walked with her hand out again. "Couch and in front of it is a wooden coffee table. In the middle of the coffee table is a glass bowl. Kane's mother puts flowers in it often but I don't smell any right now. You'll probably find some leaves or something for proof." She walked with her hand outstretched again naming what it found before she touched it.
"Alright I believe you," the midwife sighed. Gabby went back to retrieve her cane while her companion checked each room. "Nobody's here."
"Do you see a note somewhere?"
"I can't read the personal notes of Royal Scouts!"
"So there is one? Just tell me if it's from someone named Talia."
The midwife let out a frustrated sigh. "Yes, it's from Talia."
"So you've read it. You might as well tell me what it says."
"You won't let up will you?"
"No."
Gabby rested both her hands on her cane as she waited for the midwife.
"It says, 'Dear Kane, I'm sorry but I can't stay. Don't worry about me I'll be fine. Talia'…Gabby is this woman fit to travel?"
"She couldn't have been more than four or five months. She barely had a bump."
"I really hope she's alright but I've got others to tend and so do you."
"She's in her forties. She's going to have issues because of her age if she doesn't get care."
She felt the midwife take her arm. "I'm sorry, Gabby. She isn't here and it doesn't look like she's coming back."
Gabby sighed. "Alright. Sorry I brought you here."
"It's fine. My next patient has come to see me every day the past week with false symptoms. Want me to lead you back to the medical wing?"
"No. I can get there on my own."
"You sure?"
Gabby tried to show as much frustration as possible even though she didn't have a clue what it looked like. "It is possible for blind people to be independent you know, especially when they've been blind since childhood and are walking a path they've walked dozens of times before."
"I'll see you later then."
Gabby made her way back to the medical wing tapping her cane back and forth as she walked. She knew every obstacle along the way but didn't want to lose good habits. She was halfway there when someone put their hands on her shoulders and shoved her back. She tried to yelp but a hand clenched over her mouth as the other secured her wrists above her head. A bad memory flooded back and caused her eyes to swell with tears. She trembled as the person hissed in her ear.
"I'm not going to hurt you. Don't scream, alright?"
Gabby nodded. The hand was slowly removed from her mouth. "Talia," she whispered.
"You know my voice after just one meeting?"
"Talia…please let go of my wrists. I need my hands." Gabby tried to keep her voice steady but she was shaking now.
The restraining hand softened. "I didn't mean to scare you so badly," Talia's voice said as Gabby jerked her wrists away. She knelt down and retrieved her cane from where she'd heard it fall.
"I need my hands," she repeated. "I…I can't…"
"Did someone pin you like that before?"
Gabby wiped her eyes as she nodded. "Yes. Kane got me away."
"I'm sorry I brought back the trauma, really. I understand what that's like. I never meant…"
"It's over. Why didn't you meet me and the midwife? Why did you leave that note?"
"How do you know what the note said?"
"Don't worry about that. Why, Talia? You need real care. This could be dangerous."
"I know and that's why I wanted to speak with you alone. I can't be here with Kane. He's got a life. He doesn't need me slowing him down."
"He wants to help you and you need help."
Talia took Gabby's hands and squeezed them. "I'm so sorry I pinned you. Listen, could you check the baby and see if it'd be good to travel a few days?"
"Why?"
"I'm going to Redmont."
"Redmont? You can't do that alone."
"Not safely but hardly anything I ever do is safe. Just tell me how to take care of the baby while I travel and we'll both be fine."
"No Talia! I can't do that. I don't know enough."
"Yes you do. You've dealt with this thing loads of times before, have you not?"
"Yes but…"
"Gabby please help me. I don't want to be irresponsible."
"I…I don't know. Truly, I don't."
Talia let go of her hands and gave an exasperated sigh. "I can't go to a midwife because then there will be record of my being here. I just need to get to Redmont. I've got friends there that are better equipped to help me and if they find out I was staying with Kane they'll think I'm incapable."
"If your connections to Redmont are the same as Kane's then I highly doubt that." She reached out and, oddly enough, her finger first found Talia's middle. "You had Kane, right? Surely you remember the travel guidelines from then."
"I was chained to a bed the entire time I was with Kane."
Gabby froze for a few moments before finding Talia's hands. "I don't know what happened but I'm so sorry. That's terrible."
"I wasn't ready for him but I tried everything I could think of to protect him. I wanted to keep him so badly but looking back he got better parents with his adoption. Listen Gabby I want to do right by this baby without destroying or even slowing Kane's life. I need to get to Redmont."
"You've got to tell Kane first. He'll be upset if you disappear."
Talia groaned. Gabby moved closer and pressed a hand against her firm stomach. "It's nothing," she insisted but Gabby took her arm and gripped it tightly.
"You don't know that. Your body just tensed. I felt it. The baby is telling you to see a midwife."
"You don't understand."
Talia tried to leave but people had done that to Gabby enough times for her to know how to stop them. She lunged forward and kept an iron grip on Talia's arm. "That's not fair, using my blindness against me. Please don't just disappear. That wouldn't do either of your children any good."
"You really don't understand. I'm not Kane's mother. I'm just the woman who gave birth to him."
Gabby traced Talia's arm up to her shoulder. "I understand Lady Pauline is Kane's mother. She's more or less adopted me too even though I've got my own at home. She's kind and unlike most she made an effort to understand me before judging me. I have a feeling you want to go to Redmont because Lady Lina would do the same for you."
Talia's eyes widened at the blind girl in front of her. "How do you know that?" she asked quickly. Gabby had just verbalized exactly how she felt.
"A lot of people don't know what to do about my blindness. They jump to conclusions and decide I'm either much more dependent or independent than I really am. Sometimes they ignore me altogether and pretend like I don't exist. Some think that just because my eyes don't work my brain doesn't either and some write me off as a charity case. It's because I'm different than they are. You're different too. There aren't many expecting mothers without a man at their side."
Talia composed herself the way she'd been trained. The girl understood more than she'd thought. She felt guilty that she'd written Gabby off too. The night before Kane had clearly displayed his trust in and love for her but Talia just saw her clouded eyes. "Kane is a good man. He doesn't need me in his life."
"He is a good man and that is why he brought you here. He's likely to be denied a portion of salary and maybe flogged for going against orders and bringing you here. He told me to bring salve tonight just in case. You'll let him go through that with no explanation?"
"You can tell him."
"Weak answer and you know it. Come, Talia. You can lie down in Kane's apartment for a while and then we'll go to the midwife together."
"I'm not very keen on having more strangers than necessary there."
"Don't worry. I won't see anything."
Talia smiled. "You're so open about your…um…difference."
"I've found it makes others feel more comfortable."
"How is it you understand so much?"
"I think it's because I don't have the distractions of normal people. Is it alright that I'm still holding your arm? I don't have to but it's how I know exactly where you are and it's a lot easier to walk quickly when someone who can see is leading the way."
Talia turned back towards Kane's apartment. "I don't mind. How long have you been with Kane?"
"On and off the past few years. He's the first man to show interest that actually tries to understand me and succeeds."
Talia hugged herself as she studied Gabby carefully. "Has he ever…mistreated you, Gabby?"
"Never," Gabby assured her.
"Halt and Pauline raised him well."
"Very well," Gabby agreed. "I hear he's saving for a ring but don't let him know I told you."
"Of course not. I take it you plan to marry him one day?"
Gabby smiled. "If he'll have me in the end. Royal Scouts don't typically go for blind physician's assistants.".