A Partisan's Fight - COMPLETED!

Chapter Fifty-Eight

"I could not catch up to her. What did you say to her?" Aldrik ran a hand through his hair, pinning Markus with a look. He'd heard Mina stumble down the stairs in time to see her run out the door. She had clearly not been all right.

"I didn't say anything to her. She just took off... She just freaked out after she kissed me." Markus looked confused. Aldrik could hear the exhaustion in his voice. There was no way he'd done anything to Mina. At least, not physically.

"She kissed you?" That phrase grabbed his attention quickly. A move like that was bold. Intentional.

"I know what you're thinking. There is absolutely no way I made the first move." Markus shook his head emphatically enough to make Aldrik cringe at the thought of the headache he must have felt then and there.

"If you were able to move around more, I would maybe have thought that." Aldrik's jaw hardened thinking of Mina. "Did she say anything?"

Markus looked away from Aldrik. "She said she loved me before she ran. She looked terrified."

"Because she was." Lotte interjected, adjusting Markus's pillows to make him more comfortable.

"What do you mean?" Aldrik crossed his arms over his chest, eyeing his woman up. Maybe she could provide some insight to what neither man clearly understood.

"Remember when I told you to treat her like an adult and not like a child anymore?" She looked pointblank at Aldrik. He knew she all ready knew he remembered. That discussion had been hard to forget.

He shifted a bit uncomfortably, remembering how many times after that conversation he'd ignored the advice and paid a price. "Yes."

"Things are changing for her, Aldrik. Things are changing daily. She is no longer a child able to fall in love and be naive like she was with Roland. She has her future to think about, and quite frankly, none of our futures are looking too grand right now. She is terrified that she is going to fall in love and not be around to enjoy it. What happens if you both do not make it back after your plan goes into effect. It terrifies me to think you will not be coming back to me. How do you think she feels just now realizing how she feels about someone she hated just months ago?"

Aldrik glanced over at Markus. He cocked a brow as if he knew exactly what Lotte was saying.

"You look at me like this is my fault." Markus reached for his throat to rub it, but refused to give into the pain. He was too stubborn, as he glared at Aldrik.

"It is your fault. Maybe you should have showed her more of the ugly side of you; not the protective, likable side."

"The ugly side? I did show her that side! Do you not remember me killing her father when I was ordered to stop? I cannot help how she feels about me. It just happened... for both of us." Aldrik watched the man look away. He recognized the shame radiating from his face.

"What is done is done. How are you going to fix it?" There was no other way of going about this. Even if Markus wasn't able to help them right now, Mina still had to have a clear mind. They needed her at her best. Anything less simply wasn't good enough. They had to be perfect. Pristine.

"Oh gee, how am I going to fix it? Well, let's just see." Markus looked up in mock pondering, the irritation raising the level of his voice. "Maybe I will just walk right out of here, hunt her down, and make her see that I am a monster. Maybe I should tell her all the things I feel toward this country. Maybe I should... no wait, I have all ready told her all of those things. Or made her see them fact for fact. I have done my part, Aldrik. I cannot do any more until she comes back here."

"Aldrik..." He could feel the warmth of Lotte's hand on his arm. "He needs to rest."

"I was not mad at him, Lotte. I simply asked him a question. He is the one making this a bigger deal then it has to be." Aldrik pulled his focus away from Markus for a brief second to acknowledge his woman.

"It sounded more like an accusation." Markus retorted back.

"I did not mean it that way." Shrugging, Aldrik unfolded his arms. Perhaps he had been a wee bit sharp with his tone. Lotte and him had finally been starting to talk about the things they hadn't talked about when the incident happened. He was finally making progress with being more open. This... this had stopped that progress. He was going back two steps before having a chance to even begin to take a step forward.

"Could have fooled me." The man looked as thought he'd lost a little bit more color through the conversation.

"What do you want me to say? Do you want me to apologize?" Aldrik took an intimidating step forward. He didn't mean for it to go anywhere, but he wanted straightforward answers. He just wanted all of this resolved. "Things have not been easy for me either, Markus."

Looking away the man snorted. "Things have not been all that difficult either, Aldrik."

"Do you want me to confess our plans to the SS and let them beat me like what happened to you? Would that make us even? Would that make us the blood brothers you seem to want to bring us too? I have news for you, buddy, we have blood on our hands. We have more blood on our hands than any normal person I know has."

"We are far from being normal." Sweat beaded along his hairline.

"No kidding!" Aldrik rolled his eyes, allowing a deep breath to slide from his lungs.

"We are far from being a normal family, Mom. Dad should have never brought us here. America will not accept us. Not like you want to be." Markus was staring at them, but his eyelids were flirting back and forth with remaining open or closing.

Aldrik stood frozen in place. He could feel his blood turn to ice as he listened to his friend's words. He wasn't speaking to them; he was speaking to people who weren't around. "Lotte..."

"Markus?" Lotte inched her way over to him. She felt his forehead, running her hands down his neck and over his arms and shoulders. She shook her head, looking up wide-eyed. "He is burning up, Aldrik. He is dangerously hot."

Aldrik closed the gap between them and felt Markus. He was hotter than anyone he'd ever felt. He could barely touch him. He pulled his hand back, watching Markus's eyes flutter closed. His breathing was shallow and far from being consistent. Walking away from the bed, he shouted over his shoulder. "Get some cold, wet rags, Lotte. We have to get that temp down. He is too hot."

"Where are you going?" She called after him.

"I am going to call Decker. We need to know more of what to do. Get the sheets off of him." He yelled back at her on his way down the hallway, toward the steps. "Maybe Mina's with him."

The phone kept ringing. The thought that he wouldn't answer had crossed Aldrik's mind, but there wasn't much else he could do. The man said he was going to lay low. He'd hoped that laying low meant staying at Armina's. He was about to hang up the phone when he heard the click of it being picked up. Nobody answered, but he knew someone was there.

"Decker, it is Aldrik." He kept his last name quiet in case someone was monitoring the phone. Considering Armina was in a prison camp anything was possible. "We have a situation. Meet me at my place as soon as possible."

Clicking the phone down, he knew he got his message relayed, but only time would tell if it was to the right person. He rubbed his hands over his face. They didn't need this. Any of this. Their plan had seemed impossible to accomplish, and now, now it was in the palm of their hands and new issues were surmounting.