Adeline

Chapter 17 - Recovery

"Merry Christmas, big brother." Celeste smiled, handing over a small gift wrapped in brown paper. It was Christmas morning, and a little under a week since the night of terror. People were still recovering from the disaster, and many people were mourning the deaths of their friends and family. The whole country had stopped to mourn.

Celeste was bound to a wheelchair for the Christmas season. She had been told by her doctor that she must exert herself as little as possible so that her gunshot wound not get any worse. Arthur's arm was re-stitched and he was told to stay in bed as much as possible. It wasn't ideal, but it was Christmas so the both of them let all of their worries slide to the back of their minds.

After they returned to London on the early morning of the 20th of December, the riots had pretty much fizzled out. Unfortunately, the army was required to intervene and many people were arrested. By the time they reached hospital, some order had been returned to the city that previously blazed with flames and men running through the streets with cricket bats and lead piping. With the sunrise, the street-rats had scuttled back to their shaded holes and the streets were bare and empty. It was finally peaceful. They arrived at the hospital where both of them received treatment. Celeste had to have an operation but luckily for her, the bullet didn't hit her spine or any major blood vessels. All they had to do was remove it, as it was lodged in her shoulder, clean the wound and bandage it. She was told to get as much rest as possible and was, for the next three days, sleeping and recovering. She didn't really feel up to it, but she managed to get up and ready for the party that they were going to have that day. And of course, being there for her brother. Arthur was cleaned up, all the blood washed off of him and all of his wounds were dressed. He didn't have any major damage, only his arm which had been skilfully stitched in the first place so there was no infection. The doctor's asked who had stitched it, and Arthur replied that it was just his friend.

They were sent home to rest – away from the city, in Hertford - and once again, making it twice in two months, the police paid a visit to their home. Along with them, came two detectives and the chief of police at Scotland Yard. They were very concerned as to what happened that night, and wanted to ask some questions. They were, Arthur supposed, rather in the dark about the whole situation, with everything happening both behind their backs and under their noses. They started off by asking Arthur what he recounted from that night. Then he went to ask Celeste. Arthur decided that he wouldn't want to get Celeste into trouble, especially since she did what she did to save him. He honestly didn't believe that she had it in her to do something like this, but instead of keeping himself at a distance from her, he comforted and forgave. She saved his life, and the way he saw it, there wasn't much else that could have been done. Arthur bent the truth, slightly, to save his sister's life. He wouldn't normally do this, as he was an upstanding follower and believer of the law – however, he was a lawyer – and he knew what to do and say to either convict or prove the innocence of his clients, no matter how wrong they were.

"So, I went to Westminster," Arthur said to the two police officers that sat across him in the sitting room.

"To find Miss Dainford-Brown?" The detective continued to write notes in his little paper book.

"Yes, sir." Arthur said. His voice and hands shaking from the severity of his injuries. "And I found her there. I believed that if I could appeal to her, using what I had learned about her when she uh... kidnapped me... to prevent her from lighting the fuse to the bombs that were placed within the building."

"What happened next?"

Arthur explained that he stalled her long enough for Mark to arrive and reveal his plan all along. He told the officers that Adeline had been tricked into working for him, and that when she found out that he had killed innocents, and that when she lit the fuse, she would die too, she turned against him and refused to do anything for him. Arthur elucidated that there was a violent struggle, which was won by himself when he smashed a mirror over Mark's head. He wasn't about to lie to protect himself from assault, like he did before. He would accept his fate, as an honest person. Or at least, it was the tiniest bit of honesty that he could attempt, to perhaps try to redeem himself. He said that Adeline and himself escaped, and in that prevented the destruction of the parliament because Mark wouldn't have done it himself.