Chapter 7! Sorry about the delay, life was rough, these past two days.

Warnings: references to non-con

Unbeta AF

Enjoy!

Can you Keep a Secret?

Chapter 7

Kept Family Secrets

"Daddy, where are we going?" The little boy asked his father, as the man led him through the massive backyard of their family home, based in the mountains of Switzerland, "I've never been to this place before, Grandpa and mother told me that I wasn't allowed to come over here."

"Hmm, it's almost your 10th birthday, son," The man said to his child, leading him to the woods that appeared in the courtyard, "Soon, you and your cousin will have your birthday party, I just want to show you what you stand to gain."

The boy and his father walked through the woods, which grew thicker and larger, blocking out the sun, until finally the only light that they had was the lantern in his father's hand. The boy paused, almost scared as they began to pass by trees that were wrapped with thorns which were getting larger and sharper. The boy turned to his father and whimpered, "Where are we?"

"Someplace only certain men in our family can reach," The boy's father with a smile as they stopped before a small mausoleum like building that was wrapped with thick veins full of deadly thorns, "Here we are, son, your destiny…"

"My destiny? How do you know that, Daddy?" the boy asked, watching the man hold his hand out to prick his finger on a thorn spike, "That looks painful, Daddy."

The thorns began to fold away from the structure, to reveal a set a doors. The man opened the door and then turned to his child saying, "I have a secret to show you, son, come here…"

The boy grabbed his father's hand and let himself be led into the room. There were dim, blue lights, from roses that dotted along the thorny veins. They glowed and gave off a sweet smell. In the middle of the room was a bed, covered in veins and blue roses, with blankets of silks and satin of the same color.

The boy tilted his head and his eyes widened as he took in the small form on the bed , tucked under the blankets. It was a woman, with curly black hair and brown skin. She was dressed in a gown of blues and she had a tiara in her hair and seemed to be asleep, but she wasn't breathing.

"Is she…dead?" The boy asked his father, who shook his head and then walked the boy around a chuckle escaping his mouth, "Why is she here then?"

"She's here because it's our family's duty to protect her," The man said to his child, and the boy let out a gasp of shock, looking at his father and then to the woman's still form, "Soon, it'll be your time to protect her too."

"Me? But you said something about my cousin too," The boy said and his father scoffed and shook his head.

"No, it will be you to protect her," The man said to the boy, looking at the woman's form, "I can sense it, I know it, son, you will carry on our family secret."

"Why do we have to protect her?" The boy asked and his father looked to him and smiled, "Why us, and no one else?"

"I'll tell you when you are chosen. For now, let's go back, it's almost dinner time." The man said walking out the building with the boy, "This trip will be our little secret, son."

Here he was, several years later, standing before the same thorn covered structure, his hands in his pockets as he looked at it. The boy, now a man, turned his head slightly, as he heard footsteps getting closer and closer to him.

"So, the Unmentionable finally shows his face," A man said, making the other man sigh, looking away to the structure, "What is it that they call you now? Diesel…Diesel, very original."

"I try, Dad," Diesel said, his hands still in his pocket as he looked at the structure, "Better than my real name, right?"

"Your name is very much distinguish," The man laughed and then turned to look at the structure himself, "Diesel, what are you doing here, the last time I saw you, you told us you were never coming back, to find someone else to do this job."

"…I was wrong," Diesel said to his father, turning to look at him with, light brown eyes, his blond hair shifting in the cold breeze, "Dad…I sort of understand it now, I sensed her."

Diesel's father looked from his son and then to the door saying, "You sensed her? Really?"

"Her magic, I felt it," Diesel said walking up to thorns, "Have you felt it, before, her magic, that is?"

"No, I didn't think any of us would, in our lifetime, possibly none of our family's lifetime" Diesel's father said frowning, "She hides, scared to be found by the one that put her in her current state."

Diesel held his finger out and let a thorn prick his finger. The vines folded back and together the two men walked into the structure, over to the woman's still form. Diesel held his hand out his fingers hoovering over the woman's cheek, before he pulled his hand back and down to his side. He closed his eyes and said, in a low voice, "I felt her, I knew it, I really did. It was like I knew her all this time, even though that's not possible. She's been like this for...ages, right? Dad, what's going on?"

The man looked at his son and said, with a shrug, "I don't know, this is something out of my knowledge, I'll see if I can find something about this, but for now, let's go back to the house, it's quite cold out here."

Diesel tucked his hands into his pockets and then turned away from the still form and walked out the structure, not turning his back as the thorns unfolded themselves and wrapped around the structure once again, with his father, trying to wrap his head around what was going on. Had his grandfather feel this, what about his great grandfather? Why was it only him and why did it ache, when he left the woman's still form?

(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)

Stephanie let out a yawn, climbing downstairs, her nose leading her to something that smelled sweet and delicious. It was well late into the night, early morning, one could even say, but the smell of something baking woke Stephanie up and she had to check it out. The only lights that were in the house that were on was coming from the kitchen and she padded softly into it, to find Brittany cutting out Christmas shaped cookies, her hair pulled back and a smear of flour on her cheek. It was just Brittany in the kitchen, and every surface was covered in cookies.

Stephanie stood in the doorway, watching her friend, almost manically cut out and place cookie dough on the baking sheets. She stopped wearing the sunglasses, but wore an eye patch, stating that her left eye was fine but her right eye was the issue now. Stephanie found it odd, but she shrugged it off, whatever helped her friend cope.

Brittany tossed the cookie sheet in the oven and turned, jumping when she saw Stephanie in the doorway, her hand coming up to her chest. The woman gave Stephanie a glare and the middle finger before reaching for her phone and typing out, "You're worse than the men! Say something when you appear, you wench!"

"Sorry," Stephanie looked around at the cookies and asked, "What's with all the cookies? It's-" she looked to the clock and frowned, "It's 3AM, how long have you been up?"

"A couple of hours," Brittany typed, as she turned to wash dishes, "I couldn't sleep, had a nightmare, so I tired what I used to do, when I had bad dreams."

Baking and lots of it, Stephanie mused, watching Brittany clean up, her hands shaking as she did, "Was it bad dream?"

"Yes," Brittany typed, looking to Stephanie before she dropped her phone and finished washing, "I don't get them often, thanks to my sleeping pills, but when they happen, they're the worse."

Stephanie sat on a stool, watching Brittany as she cleaned. While Stephanie felt like she was healing, getting past the horrors they had gone through, It felt like Brittany wasn't healing at all. Between the what news outlets gave Barton Wilke's wife the time of day and her own demons, Brittany spent more time in the closet of her bedroom. The woman refused to leave the house, unless needed, too many people made her jumpy and loud noises made her run off. She was getting better at eating, she used a fork now but that could hardly be called progress when she was still shoveling things into her mouth, scared to lose her food.

Meanwhile, Stephanie felt herself getting better. She took more walks often, with Lester, James or Carlos. She enjoyed spending time with her family and she felt confident that by mid-January, she would be back in her old place of job. Of course, unlike Brittany, she had an amazing woman in her head, named Heidi, helping her out, giving her advice and just being there to bury the worse of Stephanie's nightmare. Stephanie could say that she had an unfair advantage, meanwhile, Brittany had nothing, therapy didn't cure everyone in one session and she was struggling hard.

Stephanie turned to the TV, which was on some mindless cartoon show and picked the remote up and changed the channel, channel surfing before landing on a news channel that had breaking news happening. The news anchor looked almost smug as they said, "breaking news, just in, we have audio from the 'Bunker' of Barton Wilkes that raises more questions than answers, in regards to the captivity of the Jane Doe A and B, were they really held hostage or was it a ploy. Now, we must warn you, viewer discretion is advised."

Stephanie's mouth opened in shock as she heard the static noise and through the static noise, she heard the man's voice, distorted as always, "Why do you act like this, you want this, don't you, my petite lamb?"

There was a whimper and then Brittany's voice, small and broken responded with a, "Y-yes, I want it. I'm sorry, Mister, f-for lying."

"Good, now take me in your mouth, no biting…" Stephanie jumped, hearing something shatter on the floor and turned, seeing Brittany, staring at nothing the ceramic bowl she held in her hands falling from them, her eyes filled with tears.

"Brittany?" Stephanie asked, just as she heard the sound of footsteps go by her and Alejandro was there, taking a broom and sweeping the bowl shards away and then going over to Brittany and leading her out the kitchen.

"Steph," Stephanie turned to see Carlos turning off the oven and then looking over to the TV, which was replaying the audio, "Sick fucks," he snarled, before he turned the TV off, and pulled his phone out, calling Jeanne, "Jeanne, there was a leak, look at channel 35, now. Okay, thank you, we'll be there tomorrow morning."

"W-what was that? Carlos?" Stephanie asked the man, who had a firm look on his face, "That was fake, right, that was fake, he didn't…I would have-" Stephanie grabbed at her throat, which was closing up, her breathing became labored, "We would have known…"

"Easy," Carlos said to Stephanie, gently sitting her on a chair, as she began to whimper and pant, "Stephanie, look at me, you're about to have a panic attack."

"I should have-he-why didn't I-" Stephanie whimpered, her vision going far away, "H-he didn't to me-"

"Stephanie, pay attention to me," Carlos lifted Stephanie's face to his, his warm brown eyes soft as he looked at the woman, "Tell me, five things you see, what do you see?"

"Cookies, floor, the window, the TV, you," Stephanie gasped out, tears dripping in her eyes, and Carlos nodded his head.

"Four things you hear, what do you hear?" The man asked and Stephanie nodded her head, hiccuping, "Come on, Steph."

"Your voice, my voice, th-the oven clicking off, footsteps," Stephanie whispered,

"What do you feel, tell me three things," Stephanie let out a whimpered, "Your hands, on my face, the cold floor, the chair…"

"Match my breathing with me, can you do that?" Stephanie nodded her head and began to breath with Carlos, inhaling and exhaling, continuing with the man, until the tears were stopping and Stephanie was just breathing, looking at Carlos, who stood crouched before her.

"Good job, you did wonderful, Stephanie," Carlos praised her holding her head still, "You did fantastic."

"Thank you," Stephanie whispered and then she was leaning forward and hugging the man tightly, sobbing as she did, sagging into his arms as he wrapped them around her. She didn't even know when he got her up from the kitchen table to the couch in the living room, didn't even feel it as he wrapped a throw around her frame, as she continued crying.

Stephanie didn't know why she was crying, was it because part of their time in the bunker was leaked, was it because she was starting to have flashbacks to that time or was it because her friend hid something that horrible from her. Not that she could blame Brittany, if she had been in the woman's place, she would have most likely tried to have bury everything done to her as well.

Stephanie must have fallen asleep, during her crying, because she was waking up, hearing murmuring from Carlos, talking to Alejandro. She kept her eyes closed as they spoke, they were talking about Brittany, it seemed.

"Sedated, I couldn't calm her down," Alejandro said, in his soft voice, "We'll call the psychiatrist tomorrow for an emergency meeting and stronger medication. The biggest thing we have to worry about is the leak."

"Agreed, I called Jeanne, we have a meeting in the morning," Carlos said, his voice lulling Stephanie back to sleep, "Run a background check on…."

Stephanie woke up, once again, this time in her room, a frown on her face. Brittany, last night or early morning, the fucking news. Stephanie had to go check on her friend. She slid out of her bed and then padded down the hallway. Brittany's bedroom door was slightly ajar, so she looked in and found her friend, sleeping, heavily sleeping, sedated most likely. She wouldn't wake for a while it seemed and Stephanie left her to go downstairs, where four mean and one Jeanne Ellen sat, speaking softly to one another. Stephanie looked at the clock on the wall and was surprised to see that it was 2 in the afternoon, how long had she been sleeping?

Stephanie walked into the room and everyone looked to her. She bit her lip, feeling nervous energy rise and she asked, "Is everything okay?"

"Stephanie, I have a serious question to ask," Jeanne said patting the empty spot beside her, so that Stephanie sat down beside her, frowning, "I want you to see if you can remember anything but, was there anyone else that came into the bunker?

Stephanie shook her head and said, looking around, "No, no one else came down, not that I know of, it was just Brittany and I…and Barton."

Jeanne looked around at the group and then said to Stephanie, "Stephanie, the audio that was leaked to the news…wasn't ours. Someone has access to things Wilkes had from the bunker, we're looking into it now, but, I really need to know; did Barton Wilkes sexually assaulted you?"

No, never, "Stephanie said, looking around, at the group, "Never, that's one thing I would have remembered," she looked down at her hands and then whispered, "Brittany, she-"

"From the sounds of it, was a victim of sexual abuse from Barton Wilkes," Jeanne said, softly, making Stephanie let out a sob and close her eyes, "I know, it's rough to hear this, Stephanie, I'm sorry."

"H-He made it seem like, he wasn't going to do anything, until up to when we escaped," Stephanie whispered, wiping at tears, "I-it must have been when he took her away for personal fun, as he called it."

"Can you tell us about this personal fun?" Jeanne asked, but Stephanie shook her head, shrugging her shoulders.

"I don't know about it, he would just….take her, for days, I know it was days, he only turned the light on in the room, once a day to do whatever he planned on doing. I think the longest he took her was a week or so, I don't know why, he was so angry, at something, he took her and when she came back, she was just…quieter. I don't know, but she stopped speaking a lot, then," Stephanie said, playing with the hem of her sweater, "He told us, we weren't going to be used that way…what changed? What pissed him off?"

"We're looking into this who situation, Stephanie," Jeanne said, reassuring the woman, who just listlessly nodded her head, "With a complex place like that, there's no doubt in my mind, the man had help, somewhere along the line, but who…"

Stephanie continued to nod her head, her vision blurring, the thought of her friend, being raped, by that monster. She felt a firm hand on her shoulder and Carlos was saying to her, in a soft voice, "Stephanie, I know, it's hard to hear this, jarring, but I believe in Jeanne and her team, at the very least, she's going to find that second person, if she has turn over every stone, she will."

"I-if there's a second person, we're not safe, right? They could find us," Stephanie's chest tightened at that very thought and her eyes widened, "What if they find us, what if they want revenge!?"

"Shhh, look at me," Carlos said, making Stephanie look up at him, with tears in her eyes, "That's not going to happen, my men and I aren't going to let that happen, the day someone tries to come after either you or Brittany, is the day they'll regret, we're going to work on your self-defense, get you stronger, physically and mentally, okay?"

Stephanie nodded her head, wiping the tears from her eyes and she whispered, "Okay, Carlos, okay, we'll get stronger."

"Good, that's the spirit," Carlos looked over to James and Lester, who gave her a thumbs up, "After the holidays, we'll get you both set up with a regime, keeping that mind of yours busy, might be helpful."

"I think so too," Stephanie agreed, wiping at her nose, "I don't want to spend all my time thinking about the what ifs," she frowned and looked over to the men, "But, Brittany, she's-"

"I've got her," Alejandro said standing up, fixing his white dress shirt, as he did, "I won't push her, we'll be training at her own pace."

"Good," Stephanie said, releasing the breath she had been holding, scared that Brittany might be pushed to far, too hard, that she might break into smaller pieces, "Thank you."

"How about we deal with all those cookies," Lester suggested and Stephanie smiled at it, "Your friend is a wonderful baker, we shouldn't let them go to waste, right?"

"I suppose, a cookie or 4 won't help," Jeanne said, standing and walking over to Lester, who perked up, when she came over to him, "Don't suppose you have any milk?"

"I think we do," Lester said, looking at the woman and then to everyone else, "So, uh, you joining us?"

"I wouldn't mind a cookie," Stephanie was standing, along with James, "They are sugar cookie too."

"That stuff will rot your teeth," Carlos said, but he followed the group into the kitchen, "I'll eat an avocado."

"Sure, Bossman, sure," James said, shaking his head, "And we'll eat green beans for dessert too."

(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)

They say the eyes are the window to one's soul, Heidi mused as she walked to the edge of the field, looking out at the world, through Stephanie's vision, that is sort of a true statement, if one knows how to properly view them.

The woman continued weaving the netting of roses for Stephanie's little friend, as she looked on at the people surrounding Stephanie. They seemed to be of pure intentions, not a dark desire to hurt either Stephanie or her friend. Not textbook good or purehearted but, in their own way, pure hearted. She could sense Stephanie's intrigue with the one named Carlos Manoso, and my, he was a handsome man, but it was his older brother that had Heidi pausing. He felt off, in a way, something inside of him that was either forced from him or formed inside of him that was different. It reminded Heidi of Brittany, when she looked at the woman. Before she had her panic attack that night, Heidi had seen where her gifts laid, in her eyes, not just one eye, but both eyes. It would be interesting to see what gifts would affect her vision, but for now she weaved the rose netting and waited for Stephanie to come talk to her about her friend's situation. She might even ask if Heidi had known about it.

Yes, she had, she had seen it, in the haunted woman's look, past her vision and into her soul. She hoped the poor dear would find some peace soon, but Heidi doubt that would happen anytime soon, not with the way things were happening in the outside world.

She herself felt the stirring of unrest. It had the woman wary, unsure of what was to come and it made her want to deepen the bond she had with Stephanie, to protect them both. Though she trusted the men around her, Heidi still knew there were dangers out there that even a hardened mercenary could be bested from.

TBC…..

With a place like the bunker, someone had to have helped the bastard create it, or worse.