As de Pique (Ace of Spades)

Chapitre Cinq: Conseils et Rire

Tobias paced the length of his room, unable to get a certain red-haired woman out of his head. He couldn't help but think about the way sat in the chair next to him, blushing as she shared that she liked to write.

Tobias sat down at his desk, bringing up the display on the touchscreen glass and checking his comms. He had one from a few moments ago alerting him to the Council meeting at four o'clock.

He sighed. "It never stops, does it," he remarked aloud.

Tobias smoothed his white button down and straightened his jacket. He checked the mirror by his door to make sure that his hair was presentable and headed in the direction of the conference room. As he walked the halls, he remembered how large the halls of the house had seemed when he was younger. He'd barely been there as a child, though. Most of his memories were set at the boarding school in Northern France. He longed for the simplicity of back then, when all he needed to worry about was passing his classes.

Tobias was brought out of his memories by Cecelia's greeting. "Hello Mr. Jericho. Are you headed to the conference?"

Tobias nodded. "Excuse me," he said and opened the doors to the conference room.

He took his seat at the head of the table. "Well," he said, "What do we need to discuss?"

A dark haired member of his council, named Cain, spoke up. "It's about your, ah, guest," he said, obviously making sure that his words were perfectly chosen.

"Louise?" Tobias asked. HIs retinal display alerted him that his heartbeat had accelerated.

"Yes. Ms. de Noir is a member of an elite agency, the king's most trusted. You should not trust her the way you do. She should be locked up, at the very least," Cain said, folding his hands on the table, becoming bolder by the minute.

Tobias exchanged a glance with Mar, who was sitting on his right, and spoke. "Forgive me, this is very foolish of me, but it sounds like you're questioning my decision."

Cain looked around, trying desperately to maintain the bravery that he'd had before. "No, Mr. Jericho. I simply am suggesting that your...fascination with Ms. de Noir may be blinding your judgement on just how dangerous she can be to us."

"She's not dangerous," Mar snapped suddenly, "She's my daughter."

"She - what?" Cain said in surprise. His previous composure had dissolved completely.

"Louise de Noir is the girl that was stolen by the Monarchy ten years ago," Mar said. Her fists were clenched in anger.

Tobias placed a hand gently on her arm. "It's all right, Mar," he said, too quietly for anyone else to hear. "She's right. Ms. de Noir is one of us. The DNA test results came back and they are a match to Mar's."

A younger member of the council spoke up. "Then I suppose Lars is coming back from the dead as well?"

"I don't know how that is relevant, could you enlighten me?" Tobias said. His lips curled into a snarl as he leaned forward, folding his hands on the table. Tobias could be very frightening when he wanted to be.

Fear flashed in the younger boy's eyes. "I didn't mean - "

"I know. That's the problem," Tobias snapped. "Louise isn't going anywhere. I'm done here."

Tobias stood up from his seat and tried very hard to walk out of the room with an air of dignity. When he stepped out of the room, he nearly ran into Louise, who was standing outside of the door.

"You look like a storm cloud," was the first thing that came out of her mouth. "Thank you for sticking up for me."

Tobias took a deep breath. "You belong here, it was nothing."

"Well, thank you anyway, Tobias," Louise said quietly, knowing how angry he was. She wasn't angry at him for dismissing her thanks.

Tobias sighed. "Any time, de Noir," he said. "How did your talk with Mar go?" he asked as he began to walk down the hallway, eager to get out of earshot of the council.

"Fine," Louise said.

Tobias notice the bandages surrounding Louise's slim hands. "What happened?"

"A bad habit," Louise said, shrugging her shoulders. "It's nothing."

Tobias nodded, knowing better than to push the stubborn redhead, "Did she talk to you about the surgery required to unblock your memories?"

Louise nodded. "She said that I needed to settle into a routine here before we can go ahead with the procedure," she turned to look at Tobias.

"She's right," Tobias said.

"I know. I'm just a little nervous. Brain surgery isn't your everyday operation," Louise admitted.

Tobias hesitated before placing his hand gently on Louise's jacket covered arm. "I know. I've had brain surgery before."

He wanted to tell her so badly, but he wanted to wait until they were closer. Springing the fact that one was part computer isn't the best idea for someone who's found out that their life is a lie.

"You have?" Louise asked, bringing him back from out of his thoughts.

Louise smiled, he was finally speaking to her like a human being. Not some formal leader. That was all she wanted from him. She wanted to see the real Tobias Jericho, not the mask he put on every day for the sole purpose of being a leader. She didn't have a problem with that, but when he acted like he was talking to an important political leader when he spoke to her, it got a little annoying.

Tobias noticed Louise smiling to herself. It was one of the few times that he'd seen her smile since she got to the house. That made him sad, he wanted her to be happy here. He shook off the melancholy thoughts. It was going to be hard for her to be happy when she missed home so much. Tobias wished that he could bring Louise her poems and her notebook from New Paris.

Louise realized that they'd been walking in silence for a while now, lost in the depths of their own minds. So long, that they'd reached the dining room. Louise became aware that she was hungry when her stomach made a very unladylike growling noise.

Unable to contain himself, Tobias broke into peals of laughter. At this Louise began to giggle as well, until they were leaning against the wall, gasping for breath.

"Are you hungry?" Tobias asked sarcastically, gasping for breath.

"A little," Louise replied, wiping tears of mirth from under her eyes.

"Come on, I'm sure that lunch is ready." Tobias said.