Family Reunion (77 page)

He sat thinking of
how he could make her drink it, he'd tried forcing it down her and only ended up making her throw up on him, that would never work. "Why Lena? Can't you now see what it’s doing to you? This is not you, you have to fight it, you have to fight back…not fight me, I'm only trying to help you."

"No you're not! You don't love me! If you did you would give it to me!"

"Drink the tea, and in a couple of hours, we'll give you a bit."

"Give me a bit now!"

"No."

"It's what I need."

"Why did you start taking it?"

"It helped me! Helped me sleep at night! Made all those little faces that kept coming back to haunt me, go away! I did try once Manny, but when I did, these awful headaches began, they wouldn't go away. When I take it, all the pain goes away…" Before she could say another word, the pain came slamming back in her head with a vengeance, fiercer than before, Lena knew she would die if she didn't get it.

"Manny pleeease! I can't take it! Manny please, please, please!!"

"Lena listen to me! You have to fight it, drink this tea!"

Gaitsu walked in with a fresh batch, letting Manny know that the men had slowed the progress of the ships as he’d ordered. All wondered at the change, a few happened to hear the screams but knew to mind their business and enjoy the respite while it lasted, Manny's second mate seeing to matters in his absence. "It hurts ... it hurts... get it away from me!" She growled, slapping Manny's hand that held the tea cup. "Please Lena, drink just one cup…come on!"

"No! I don't want it!"

"Leave it cool first boss!" Gaitsu advised, setting it down afraid to let her have it right then, she was still too strong, too much fight left in her yet.

"I don't want that damn tea ...I want my med-…"

"Stop that shouting!!" Manny yelled.

"You horrible cruel man! I don't want that tea, I want my medicine!" She wailed; she wanted to run, she wanted to scream, she wanted her medicine.

"You're going to drink this tea damn it, I've had it up to here with your refusal to help yourself. Give it a chance."

"Nooo." She moaned, rolling on the bed. Manny set it down thinking, taking a deep breath, he knew what he had to do.

"Fine…this is it. You have two choices and they are, one…drink the
tea or two, I get in one of the small boats, paddle over to the Royal, pick up Mike and bring him back here to see you as you are now. His mother, Princess Ceś alena, grovelling, begging for a fucking whores drug like some common gutter snipe…
one
or
two
?"

That made her look at him. His stomach tightened with the look of tortured illness in her face, it was the second day and already her body was losing fluids. "Don't ... don't you dare!" She protested weakly, the thought of her Michael seeing her this way was more than she could bear and Manny knew it. "Then you drink this tea! Or by God I swear I'll go get him. You think I'm bluffing?"

Tears fell from Lena's eyes as she stared at him. "You cruel, horrible man!"

"The tea Lena!"

"I don't want that tea!" Manny stood to leave the room. "No wait! Oh please, oh – I’ll do it, I'll drink it!"

"Whenever we ask you?!"

Lena nodded defeated, gasping, she folded over as a barrage of cramps gripped her stomach, she rolled groaning, "Ohhh - oooh I can't stand it!" Manny picked up the tea, "Try the tea Lena, it will help…right now." She rolled and sat up taking it from him as Gaitsu picked up the bucket to empty it. And so it went on, day after day. Just as Gaitsu had said, it got worse.

"Why are you doing this to me ...I would never hurt you. Not the way you're always hurting me. You never cared about the pain you caused me, not ever – of course you wouldn't care now. You always sought to break my heart, and now my soul; you chose her, over – over me – you chose her, you chose her." She whimpered.

* * *

"What in the world is going on?" Leon muttered at the change in course the Princess was taking. "What? What's going on?" Mike asked standing beside him. "The Princess, she's slowed down to a crawl almost." Mike looked out at the majestic vessel, wondering as well. "What should we do?" He asked Leon. Leon lowered the spy glass staring out at the Princess, thinking a moment. "We will follow and wait to see what she does next." He answered. "Maybe something's happened and we should get as close to them as possible and board her." Mike suggested. Leon shook his head. "If something were amiss and he needed our help, he'd send up a powder shot. No, we will follow his lead."

* * *

"I can't believe we caught up with them so quickly?" Hope Commented. "I know, perhaps they slowed so that we could." Joe answered his wife as they stood at the rail, wondering at her father's reason for slowing the Princess. She smiled and then leaned onto her husband's shoulder, saying. "Maybe, they've decided they need a little more time together. So they slowed it down a bit."

Joe smiled, "Can't say that I blame him, not one bit."

* * *

Lena whimpered pathetically as she turned her head away from Manny, who was trying to get her to drink more tea. "Come on darlin', just a litt-…"

"Get it away from me."

"I can't, you need this tea, badly…please-…"

"I said get it away from me!"
She screamed, snatching the cup and throwing it against the wall and breathing hard, staring at Manny, who stared back, lost for words. Her expression suddenly changed from fury to pain as she began breathing hard.

"Lena?"

"Oh God-...."

"Lena?!"

"...-I'm gonna be sick!"

"Here, here, here, here!" Manny alerted her as she bent over the side of the bed and began vomiting into the bucket he held. Her stomach felt as if it were being torn from the inside out. She couldn't stand for him to see her this way but he refused to leave her side. She whimpered and lay over the side of the bed, unable to move as the compulsion to vomit, for the time being, subsided. Manny held her there as he placed the bucket down.

"Lena-…"

"You're killing me. I'm gonna die and you don't even care." She wept. "Lena don't say that, I love you, that's-...oh baby." Manny cried as she pitched forward vomiting again. He held the bucket up as her body tightened and squeezed, forcing from herself fluids she needed and refused at times to replace with the tea. "Oh God... -(she vomited again)-...I'm gonna die ... oh Manny... -(More burst from her uncontrollably)-...Help me ... please ... Oh God... -(still more)..." Manny wiped his tears on his shoulders as he held her.

"G
aitsu!" He yelled afraid she wouldn't stop throwing up. “Gaitsu!!" He bellowed again. Gaitsu came running in immediately. "Give her some now!"

"Too soon!"

"Give it to her damn you!!"

"Not yet!! Not yet!! Leave room, I take over now!"

"No! Make it stop Gaitsu, please…make it stop." Manny cried.

"She must drink more tea!"

"She's throwing –
it
up!"

"No matter, she must drink it!" Gaitsu ordered as he sat on Lena's other side rubbing her back. Manny took a towel and wiped her mouth. "You don' - love me anymore!" She whispered pitifully.

"I do, I love you…I love you always."

She shook her head crying, sounding small and weak. "Sandra took care of me ...Rollo took care of me. You - want to see me sick, you don't care. Get it over with, just kill me, I'm gonna die anyway." She whimpered and began throwing up again. Manny swallowed the pain of her words unable to stop his tears from falling. "Leave now." Gaitsu said softly but firmly, knowing Manny was weakening.

"I can't."

"You can not take ... leave her, I take care."

"No! No…I will not leave her, she is my wife…I will not leave her – I’m the reason she’s like this – she’s like this – because of me – I won’t – I won’t leave her."

Gaitsu sighed. Despite his determined declaration, three times Manny was forced to leave her unable to deal with her pain when he felt his weakest, he paced in the other room, fighting the image of her dead, the thought brought him to his knees, sobbing. Seven days of hell later, Lena's eyes fluttered slowly open, then closed again. She tried to turn over, but her whole body hurt. She felt as though she'd been in a fight with the world and lost. A soft moan sounded deep in her throat, she winced from fatigued muscles that rebelled from her even daring to move. She whimpered softly as she brought her hand to her head, licking her dry peeling lips, her throat dry and scratchy, hurting her to swallow. She couldn't help wonder what in the world was wrong with her. She felt awful. Wiping her hand over her face, she wished she didn't have to yawn but did, it hurt. She turned her head slowly, looking around; everything appeared to be high up,
'I'm on the floor? Why in the world... am I on the floor?'
She slowly rose to one
elbow with her stiff muscles protesting. Her hand rose to her hair. It was a mess.
'Ugh ...I must look awful?'

Leaning up seemed to drain her, so
much so that she remained still for a moment to muster strength to sit up. Looking down her body she noticed she was naked and wrapped in a sheet. "What is – going on?" She muttered softly, looking at the room around her which was a mess.

There were buckets, lines strung up with towels drying and the rug rolled up against the wall. She moved her legs trying to loosen the sheet, holding it up to her breast with one hand as she unravelled it with the other, doing so she wondered,
'Where's Manny?'
Having loosened the sheet, she sat up. The room dipped and swayed, tempting her to lie back down, she ignored the need, waiting until the room corrected itself. Staring at the door, the ship sounded deathly quiet, motionless as if it were anchored. She wondered about the time, what day it was? Confused by her foggy memory, she turned, leaning on one hand to raise up, when she saw Manny sitting to the side and behind her on the floor against the wall.

She was quietly stunned by his appearance. His head was leaning back against the wall as he slept, rolled to one side. His hair was a tousled mess and his beard growth was un-groomed, so unlike him. He was so still, seeming to be in a deep sleep. With her heart pounding, Lena jumped to her knees, quickly she crawled to him, holding the sheet to her breast. Feeling weak and dizzy she fell to the side as the floor dipped and swayed beneath her, she stopped, with one hand on her head, and the other on the floor to keep from falling again. After a pause, she carefully came up beside him and covered her mouth with a startled gasp as she saw scratches and bruises on his face.

He wore no shirt or socks, just his breeches. Scratches were also visible on his chest, as were bite marks and large blue and purple bruises covering his arms. Seeing him that way brought it all back, what had happened. A lump of shame, horror and sadness clogged her throat, making her eyes water. He looked worn out and haggard. Reaching up, she gently brushed the hair back from his brow; she noticed the dark circles beneath his eyes.
'My God ... what have I done to you.'
S
oftly she called his name. "Manny." His head snapped up so fast, she flinched back from him as he made ready to spring forward to her floor bed. He stopped when he realized she knelt by his side, his eyes were so tired it tore at her heart, as he quietly searched her eyes and face for a sign of awareness. Lena stared back into his eyes as she swallowed and blinked rapidly washing tears from her vision.

"Lena?" He called her name softly, unsure of her. She reached up andwiped away a stream of tears. "Manny I'm... I'm so sorry...I'm so sorry…please forgive me, look what I've done to you ... I'm so sorry."

Manny stared at her, still a little unsure. "Are you okay Lena?" He
asked softly, almost afraid to hope it was over. She nodded gently, wiping away more tears. "Please believe me…I didn't mean it…none of it. I didn't mean it-…" She didn't get a chance to finish for being snatched from where she knelt into his arms and onto his lap as he crushed her to him; rocking and crying beyond belief that it was over. "Thank you God, thank you. She's okay, she's okay. You made it baby, I knew you would, I just knew it." He cried as he held her. Lena's sore body protested at such a rough embrace, gritting her teeth, she forced her arms around him, holding him as tight as she could. "Manny-…"

"Yes … what my sweetheart? He asked, kissing the top of her head, her forehead, the bridge of her nose, her temple, cheek and ear.

"Forgive me." She cried, holding him.

"Nothing to forgive, it's over…it's over."

"I didn't know Manny...I didn't know what it was. I didn't know, I didn't-…" She assured.

"Shhh, I know." He said, panting, still hugging and kissing her as if he'd never get enough.

"I love you so much ...I do Manny."

He pulled her up to his shoulder, squeezing her to him with his eyes closed, she cried out unable to stand the strength of him hugging her so tightly. "I'm sore all over." She whispered, close to his ear.