Post by journeycat on Apr 2, 2011 7:21:57 GMT 10
Title: Rescue Me (II)
Rating: PG
Word Count: 866
Pairing: Team Temptation (Jon/Kel)
Round/Fight: 1/F
Summary: Anders has a solution for Kel. Part of My Sister’s Keeper. Warnings: mentions of abortion (the characters’ beliefs about this subject do not necessarily match mine).
-----
“Anders.”
He glanced up from his sword, though he continued to polish the blade. Kel stood uncertainly in the doorway of his chambers, one hand on the frame. She didn’t look like the strong woman he watched become a knight of the realm or seemed anything like the bold warrior in the ballads; she looked very much like his little sister right now, sad and drained and scared.
“Kel,” he said. “Come in and sit. I want to talk to you.”
He patted the space beside him on the bed, and she obediently sat there, smoothing her tunic absentmindedly. Was it just him, or was it already looking tighter around her belly? She wouldn’t look at him, and he wondered if it was because she thought he was going to judge her. But he couldn’t, not when it wasn’t her fault.
Ilane had told them all about Kel that night she arrived, calmly stating, “Kel has come home because she’s pregnant with the king’s child. She will stay here as long as she wants, until she figures out what she wants to do. And this will not leave this room, do you understand? Don’t discuss it in front of the children or servants, or your father will disinherit you faster than you can blink.”
Kel herself hadn’t been present, but Anders and Inness were, and their wives, and Oranie, who had come to visit. He and his brother had leapt out of their chairs, shouting in denial; not because Kel was lying, but because, well...this was their king.
How could he have betrayed them like this?
Tilaine had just stared in confusion, while Oranie wept and Vorinna...well, Vorinna just sat there, calm and...almost smug. But no, she would never be so spiteful as to take such pleasure from his sister’s pain. She was a good woman, but the pressures of raising his five sons was a lot for any mother to handle.
And since then, Anders had watched Kel without approaching, observed her grave demeanor as she thought, and wondered, and debated. Then he made his decision.
“I have—I have a proposition for you. I’ve talked to Vorinna about it, and she’s agreeable.”
That part wasn’t entirely true, but Anders knew she herself would never agree to it if she wasn’t sure it was the best possible choice. Vorinna will accept it eventually, he told himself. She’ll come to love it.
“What is it?” she asked.
I’ve given you plenty of sons, Vorinna had said bitterly. Why do you want another child? One that I’ll have to raise, when it’s not even mine?
“Let us have the baby,” Anders blurted out before he could think of a better way to frame it. “We’ll adopt it, pretend it’s Vorinna’s. It’ll never know it’s not ours.”
Now Kel did look at him, her typically serene expression discarded for one that was gaped-mouthed and disbelieving.
“You want my baby?” she sputtered. “Why?”
He reached out for her hand, warm and calloused as his own with their mother’s long fingers. “Because you’re my sister,” he said. Because I didn’t do right by you, didn’t believe in you or help you like a big brother should have. “And because it’s the best option for both of you.” Because I can make it up to you, by helping what’s yours.
“Give it up?” Her voice was a whisper. “I hadn’t—I was going to keep it or take a potion for it—”
He winced, but said, “That’s your choice, Kel, not mine, and I won’t lift a hand to stop you. But if you keep it—”
“Oh, I know I can’t keep it.”
Kel got up suddenly and moved to the window. She hugged herself as she leaned her brow against the glass. “I’m carrying a potential heir,” she said, still quiet. “I can field questions about its paternity for as long as I like, but someday someone’s going to realize it, and then where will I be? It could become a pawn, to be used against Jon; it could be in danger for just that reason. All I’ll do is hurt everyone.”
“The potion—”
“I can’t—it’s best, but—I want to see it grow and learn and laugh, and—and it’s all I have left of me and Jon.” She passed a hand over her face with a shuddering breath. “I love him, you know. And he loves me, in his way.”
In his manipulative way, Anders thought darkly, but he wouldn’t say it. It would not fix anything. All he could do was go to her and wrap his arms around her and hold her close, this little sister who proved, once again, she was braver than anyone he had ever known.
“Let us raise it,” he murmured into her hair. “Then you can have it, and it’ll be safe, and you can still watch it grow and learn and laugh.
“I have to think about it,” she said, her voice muffled by his chest. “I have to think about it.”
The next day, Kel came to him with her answer, and he began to prepare Mindelan for the birth of his sixth child.
QC by: inthefire
Rating: PG
Word Count: 866
Pairing: Team Temptation (Jon/Kel)
Round/Fight: 1/F
Summary: Anders has a solution for Kel. Part of My Sister’s Keeper. Warnings: mentions of abortion (the characters’ beliefs about this subject do not necessarily match mine).
-----
“Anders.”
He glanced up from his sword, though he continued to polish the blade. Kel stood uncertainly in the doorway of his chambers, one hand on the frame. She didn’t look like the strong woman he watched become a knight of the realm or seemed anything like the bold warrior in the ballads; she looked very much like his little sister right now, sad and drained and scared.
“Kel,” he said. “Come in and sit. I want to talk to you.”
He patted the space beside him on the bed, and she obediently sat there, smoothing her tunic absentmindedly. Was it just him, or was it already looking tighter around her belly? She wouldn’t look at him, and he wondered if it was because she thought he was going to judge her. But he couldn’t, not when it wasn’t her fault.
Ilane had told them all about Kel that night she arrived, calmly stating, “Kel has come home because she’s pregnant with the king’s child. She will stay here as long as she wants, until she figures out what she wants to do. And this will not leave this room, do you understand? Don’t discuss it in front of the children or servants, or your father will disinherit you faster than you can blink.”
Kel herself hadn’t been present, but Anders and Inness were, and their wives, and Oranie, who had come to visit. He and his brother had leapt out of their chairs, shouting in denial; not because Kel was lying, but because, well...this was their king.
How could he have betrayed them like this?
Tilaine had just stared in confusion, while Oranie wept and Vorinna...well, Vorinna just sat there, calm and...almost smug. But no, she would never be so spiteful as to take such pleasure from his sister’s pain. She was a good woman, but the pressures of raising his five sons was a lot for any mother to handle.
And since then, Anders had watched Kel without approaching, observed her grave demeanor as she thought, and wondered, and debated. Then he made his decision.
“I have—I have a proposition for you. I’ve talked to Vorinna about it, and she’s agreeable.”
That part wasn’t entirely true, but Anders knew she herself would never agree to it if she wasn’t sure it was the best possible choice. Vorinna will accept it eventually, he told himself. She’ll come to love it.
“What is it?” she asked.
I’ve given you plenty of sons, Vorinna had said bitterly. Why do you want another child? One that I’ll have to raise, when it’s not even mine?
“Let us have the baby,” Anders blurted out before he could think of a better way to frame it. “We’ll adopt it, pretend it’s Vorinna’s. It’ll never know it’s not ours.”
Now Kel did look at him, her typically serene expression discarded for one that was gaped-mouthed and disbelieving.
“You want my baby?” she sputtered. “Why?”
He reached out for her hand, warm and calloused as his own with their mother’s long fingers. “Because you’re my sister,” he said. Because I didn’t do right by you, didn’t believe in you or help you like a big brother should have. “And because it’s the best option for both of you.” Because I can make it up to you, by helping what’s yours.
“Give it up?” Her voice was a whisper. “I hadn’t—I was going to keep it or take a potion for it—”
He winced, but said, “That’s your choice, Kel, not mine, and I won’t lift a hand to stop you. But if you keep it—”
“Oh, I know I can’t keep it.”
Kel got up suddenly and moved to the window. She hugged herself as she leaned her brow against the glass. “I’m carrying a potential heir,” she said, still quiet. “I can field questions about its paternity for as long as I like, but someday someone’s going to realize it, and then where will I be? It could become a pawn, to be used against Jon; it could be in danger for just that reason. All I’ll do is hurt everyone.”
“The potion—”
“I can’t—it’s best, but—I want to see it grow and learn and laugh, and—and it’s all I have left of me and Jon.” She passed a hand over her face with a shuddering breath. “I love him, you know. And he loves me, in his way.”
In his manipulative way, Anders thought darkly, but he wouldn’t say it. It would not fix anything. All he could do was go to her and wrap his arms around her and hold her close, this little sister who proved, once again, she was braver than anyone he had ever known.
“Let us raise it,” he murmured into her hair. “Then you can have it, and it’ll be safe, and you can still watch it grow and learn and laugh.
“I have to think about it,” she said, her voice muffled by his chest. “I have to think about it.”
The next day, Kel came to him with her answer, and he began to prepare Mindelan for the birth of his sixth child.
QC by: inthefire