A Partisan's Fight - COMPLETED!

Chapter Thirty-Four

Weeks had flown by and there was no denying that although Mina hadn't felt anything out of the norm, she was still growing rapidly. With the growth came more lack of movement, but it wouldn't hold her back.

She made it a point to continually go to Armina's women support meetings. The vibe in them was encouraging. The energy she felt brought about more of the desire to make a difference. And she was making friends. Perhaps the more accurate term would be allies.

After some digging and being overly friendly, she'd found a guard or two from Flossenburg that was discreetly joining in on the meetings. She'd found her way in to the camp when she was able to go to work. She'd have no problem making her move. If things continued in the right direction, she was hopeful to get the help of her new guard pals to help intervene. Anything was worth a shot at this point. She had to be careful though.

Her thoughts were interrupted as soon as she walked through the doors home. It was inevitable. She left before the men got back from the camps and she returned hours after they had been home. One or both either needed to talk to her or needed encouragement. Her work was never done.

"Mina, can we talk?" Aldrik had drifted her way from the kitchen. He didn't look overly worried, but something was still clearly bothering him.

"You are not going to forbid me from going to these meetings are you?" She eyed him up warily, gently hanging up her coat.

"You know I do not like you going out so late at night." He looked at her sternly, but shook his head. "But no, that is not what I wanted to talk to you about. I want to speak to you about Markus."

Narrowing her eyes slightly, Mina waited for Aldrik to say more. "What about him? Is he not doing his job all right? I will talk to him about it if that is the case."

"No, no actually he is doing very well given the circumstances." He nodded casually. Glancing over his shoulder for a moment, he refocused on Mina. "It is the way that he is looking at you, Mina."

"Looking at me? What do you mean?" She felt like she should be uneasy with where the subject was going, but she felt unusually calm about it. She couldn't change the way a person felt about her, just simply be careful with how she reacted to them.

"He protects you, Mina. He makes sure that you are the first one he watches out for. If he starts to be unstable, you are the one that he comes to you to have calm him down. Do you see where I am going with this?" He watched her carefully. His arms loosely hung at his side, but he fidgeted them like he wanted to cross them over his chest.

"Are you telling me this to protect me? Or because it threatens you?" The words were simple yet potent.

He glared at her for a moment before shaking his head and turning to walk away from her. "I just wanted you to know. To be safe."

Mina watched him begin to walk away from her. She had been a bit more brash then she had wanted to be. He was just watching out for her after all — like he'd always done. Running her fingers through her hair, she fought for the right words. "Aldrik, wait."

The broad-shouldered man stopped. He didn't turn around, just stood there listening, deciding if it was worth him to turn around and re-face her.

"I am sorry for snapping. I am just tired, Aldrik. Thank you for warning me." Apologizing seemed to be the only right way to proceed. The way she should proceed, any way. "How are you doing?"

Rubbing his shoulder, he slowly turned around. "I will not lie, Mina, it is rough. I hated delivering to these places, and now... and now I am working at one. It is a little smaller than where Markus is, but they work the people in tunnels."

For the first time, Mina could notice exhaustion under her friend's eyes. He looked like he'd aged nearly ten years since before starting all of this. She hadn't been giving him nearly any of the credit he deserved. She'd been a terrible friend over the last few months. In spite of all these thoughts, the only word that fumbled was the angle she was considering. "Tunnels?"

He shook his head. "Not the ones you want them to be, Mina. They might have another use though."

Her curiosity was peaked. "What do you mean?"

"Let me just keep this one to myself for now. I do not want to bring it up unless I know for sure we can utilize it." The obstinacy was there, but so was something else — a beg for trust.

Swallowing the desire to argue, Mina nodded. "Okay. If you think that will be more beneficial."

"I do." He nodded refusing to tear his eyes away from her.

"I trust you." She wasn't sure if she had ever really told him that, but it was true. She had hoped that he had known that sooner than just now. He was her rock. It didn't matter how independent she was, he was still always going to be that unmovable force of a friend. The one that kept her accountable. The one that kept her safe.

"I know." He gave her the briefest of smiles and walked away, leaving her alone to ponder what he'd said.

She hadn't even noticed Albtraum lying next to where Aldrik stood until the dog got up and followed his master. She didn't realize he was there most of the time, but that little extra protection when the guys weren't around was comforting.

It didn't take long for Mina to fix her thoughts back to what Aldrik had been saying. If Markus was beginning to fall for her then he had another thing coming. She didn't fall in love with murderers. Correction, she didn't fall in love with men who partook in murdering her family. Her papa. There was no amount of penance or sugarcoating possible to change her mind. If he wanted to fall in love with her then he had every right as long as it didn't hinder his ability to do his job.

She would tread lightly, but she would tuck away that little bit of information that her friend had given her. Tuck it away and try to remember that it didn't matter anyway. Nothing would become of it. They all had a job to do and she'd be damned if she let distractions get in the way of that happening.

A slight flutter in her belly stopped her from walking to the living room. Placing her hand over herself, she felt for the movement again. True to its brief movement, the baby moved again. This time it was more than a flutter, it was a full on kick. Whatever it meant, the movement pulled her wide eyes into a tender smile. "You are alive, Kleiner." My little one.

It was the best news she'd had in quite some time. And more welcoming then anyone could ever have imagined. No matter who this child's father was, she was his mother and that made him the most important thing to her in the world. There was hope after all.