The Peacekeeper

Stress, It's a Killer

Gage's POV

Rae seems very strange lately, I think the stress is getting to her. She has been a bit off. "Rae, are you ok?" I ask as she stares off into space. "Hmm, oh yeah I am fine." She smiles at me. I know she is lying but I can't figure out what is bothering her. "Smoke and Alex are coming by today, we are all going out for lunch, you need a break." I tell her. She nods. "I'm going to grab a quick shower. Where are we going?" I smile at her, "Out." She sticks her tounge out at me making me laugh and heads off for her shower. I would normally join her but I need to figure out what has her so freaked out and I am going to ask her to marry me today so I need to go and pick up the ring. Smoke had agreed to distract ther, but at this point, I am not sure he needs to.

There is a knock on the door and I know it's Smoke. "Hey, man how you dong?" He asks as i open the door. I greet him and Alex and let them in. "Rae is stressed about something I just have no clue what it is. It is more than just the whole queen thing." I tell them and they nod. "I have noticed it too. I will ask her." I nod, "She is in the shower now, then we will head out for some lunch." Alex grins at me, "I picked this up for you, so you don't have to find an excuse to leave her." He hands me the small ring box. I thank him and open it to show them the ring. It is a platinum band with a large princess cut diamond surrounded by smaller round saphires. It is beautiful and unique, just like my Rae. "It's perfect." they both coo and I nod stuffing it in my pocket right before Rae comes out looking perfect. She is wearing a dark blue dress that falls to her kness and matching shoes. Her hair is pulled up in a clip with curls escaping around her face and a small touch of make up. "Are you ready? Hi, Smoke, Hi, Alex." She says meeting our eyes.

We get to the resturaunt and she beams me a smile, "I love Italian food!" We laugh at her enthusiasum, Rae and her food. We are seated at a nice table and share good food and laughs. When the meal is over, I stand up and look at Rae. "My sweet Rae. I love you more than Life itself. You are my heart." I bend down on one knee and pull out the ring box. "Will you marry me?" Tears fill her eyes. "Of course I will, I love you so much." I place the ring on her left ring finger and she wraps her arms around me. "I have a seceret." She whispers in my ear. "I am pregnant." I jump back like I have been shocked. I could almost see her heart breaking in her eyes, but before I could say a word, she bolted out of the resturaunt.

I look at Smoke and Alex, they look at me with simpathy in their eyes. "What are you waint for, go after her, you moron." Smoke growls at me and I take off like a shot. I run out of the resturaunt and look both ways down the street. I have no clue where she went. Then I see her guards following her down the street and I take off running. "Rae! Wait! You didn't let me say anything! Rae!" I shout and she stops and looks at me, tears streaming down her face. Then a shot rings out and she hits the ground, blood pouring from her chest. Chaos erupts.   

The guard flanks out , looking for the shooter while I hit my knees next to the fallen Queen. Smoke and Alex appear next to him and everyone is shouting. I gather Rae up in his arms and rushes her back to the HC HQ and straight into the infirmary. Me, Smoke and Alex are in the waiting room and it has been hours since Rae was brought in.  Various Council members have come in and out getting the details behind the shooting but no one has seen the Doctor yet. I am growing restless and my heart is frozen in fear. What if I lose my Rae, My mate, My love, My heart. I can't loose her. "Where is that fucking doctor?" I roar and Smoke puts a hand on my shoulder. "I know that this is hard, it is hard for me too, but he is doing his best right now and we need to wait." I sigh, I know that he is right I just can't figure it out in my mind who would shoot Rae and that this is all my fault, I reacted badly when she told me about the baby. Oh shit, my baby! Now I am doubly worried.

Finally, Doc comes out covered in blood, with a grim look on his face. "Rae will heal in a few hours, we have to dig the bullet and she kept healing, so that is why it took so long." I sigh in relief, "But what about the baby?" Doc hangs his head, "I'm sorry, Gage, The baby is gone." He gives me a look of sympathy and leaves. I bust through the doors and find Rae's room. She is pale and looks so small in the hospital bed. "Rae?" I whisper, she looks into my eyes, with tears rolling down her face. I rush to her side. "I am so sorry, Rae. This is all my fault." Her eyes blaze with anger, "This isn't your fault, it is the bastard who shot ME's fault. He did this, he killed our baby and he will pay dearly." I hug he close, "I didn't mean for you to think I didn't want the baby, I was just shocked." She laughs, "I was too when I first found out. I don't know why I Reacted that way, but it hit me that maybe you didn't want this. I doesn't matter now." She said sadly. I rocked her while she cries for the loss of our baby. My heart breaks with hers, I know I won't feel the loss as strongly as she will, but I won't let her do this alone, I will be there and when she is ready, we will try again.

After several hours of Rae sleeping, she stretches. "Ok, let's blow this popsicle stand, I have work to do and it's not getting done with me laying around. First stop, shower, then food and a meeting to figure out who knows what." She rattles as she hops off the bed and out the door. I just stare after for a second and then take off after her, shaking my head. We pass a shocked Alex and a smiling Smoke on the way out of the waiting room. They fall in line behind us and I hear Alex ask Smoke "Do I want to know" and Smoke answer, "I will tell you later." I laugh and follow Rae right to our room. She stops and turns to me, but I stop her. "You shower and get dressed, I will call the meeting and grab food. We can meet in the meeting room, instead of the council hall, so that you can eat and meet at the same time." She laughs at me. "Cheeky bastard, I love you." She kisses me and darts off to shower. I turn and Smoke stops me, "Change your shirt, you are covered in the Queens blood. " I shake my head, No time, plus they need to see this." He nods and we split up, seven members to round up and food to grab.

Twenty minutes later, Rae breezes into the room. She shoots me smiles as she sees everyone is here and that there is food. "As you all know, I was shot earlier but what you don't know is that I was pregnant. I lost the baby due to the shooting. I am not a happy camper right now and I need to you who knows what in the ever loving fucksticks is going on here." Rae says calmly before starting to eat her sandwich. Her eyes meet each pair on the Council, they each flinch from the barely contained fury in there. Finally, Peter speaks, "I do think I may know what happened, Rae." Her gaze snaps to his," Continue." He takes a deep breath, "Only a human would try to shoot you, everyone else knows that wouldn't kill any super, let alone you. So I think we should look at the humans, but don't rule anyone out, because they may be trying frame humans to start a war." Rae nods and seems deep in thought.

"I agree, I think they want us to think it was the humans, but this was a stupid move even for those with out the knowledge of supers. I have been going over what happened and I remember wings. Silver wings. I know it wasn't an Angel, their wings are either solid white or solid black. I am thinking Fae. They have metallic wings. Silver is a common color for them. Let's start there and with anyone who may be planning a serious revolt for the new changes." They all nod. Then there is a knock at the door.  Rae opens it to find the leader of her Royal Guard, Tony standing there. "My Queen." He bows. "I have a suspect in custody. He wishes to speak with whomever is taking your place now that you are dead." He says with a snicker, causing Rae to smile. "I guess, I need to talk to this dillweed. What is he?" Tony looks nervous, "He is a hybrid, Fae and Human." Rae quirks an eyebrow and looks back at Peter, "I guess we were both right." He smiles and she turns to me. "Let's go talk to a dillweed." I nod and we walk off, following Tony to the jail.