Panzerfaust

Chapter 45 - Stand off, stand down

16th of December, 1945, Berlin, Greater German Reich

Instead of putting his gun against her head, Max Wünsche grabs her face and pushes it into his broad chest, drawing comforting circles with his other hand on her back.

'Hey, it's alright. It'll end soon. You can go home to your sons and forget about this.' 

'Just...please...'

'It's fine, it's alright. I trust you. Come on, hug me. It will feel good.' Squeezing her shoulder, he rocks her in his arms and Sophia remembers crying on another reconnaissance officer's shoulder as Adrian von Fölkersam held her after Lily's death. 

'You've been through a lot. But you are still strong.' 

'I'm not.' She sniffs into the material of his suit, stained with patches of her ruined makeup and faint smell of the Schutzstaffel man's own fragrance; Max Wünsche smelled like lemons. 

'Yes, you are. You have no other choice. You will survive. Like your cherry tree did. There is always new life blooming from blood.'

Tucking up his sleeves, he shows her the vena still a little purple on his forearm, with a tiny pinch of a needle matching hers. 

'You gave me the transfusion.' 

The blond head nods against her brow, kissing her temple.

'Of course. It's me in your veins now, rebel little Grafin Edelsheim.'

When she thought she needed blood to survive, Sophia realized that what she really needed was family.

She has no idea how long Wünsche held her in the marble bathroom, gently rocking her in his arms, whispering comforting words into her hair until the door to the bathroom opens again and she wants to raise her head to see the newcomer only to meet with a gentle push against her nape, keeping her face buried in the dress uniform.

'Oberst' Heydrich. This is the ladies' room, if you missed it.' The hand on her head leaves to disappear on his side, tracing the suitjacket's saddle. 

He is reaching for his firearm, she realized, listening to Wünsche's even heartbeat as she tries to ignore the blood pounding in her ears. 

'I was looking for Frau Skorzeny; people in the antechamber are getting worried.' The loathed voice replies, feigning nonchalance.

'Well, you found her, and she is safe and sound, aren't you, Frau Skorzeny?' 

Sophia nods into the perfectly tailored suit, inhaling the aroma of citrus. Heydrich cannot hurt her now, can he? Max will not let him.

'You have children yourself Heydrich, I am sure you know all too well how volatile women can feel after childbirth. Their hormones are acting up.'

'Of course. She must be eternally grateful for a friend like you. Or a friend like Joachim Peiper. Or Karl Brandt. Frau Skorzeny seems to have many popular, powerful friends.'

Is that how he thought of her?  An expedient little harlot, who collects high ranking men in her circle? Sophia felt the bite of bile return to her throat - it seemed like that came naturally for her when in the same room with Reinhardt Heydrich. 

'I guess the secret is to have a sizzling personality instead of... uh, a lack of one? You should have seen how many people wished her well. All the leading ladies of the Kanzlei... now that you say, Lina Heydrich didn't sent anything. The Führer would be so disappointed when he hears about it.'