Hi everyone!

Sorry for the delay with this one! We had a bit of a personal emergency so I couldn't access the computer I had this story on for a little while! BUT all is well and I'm back! Thanks for your patience!

I hope you enjoy and don't forget to vote and comment!

The next chapter will be up shortly as well!

Love,

Luckycharms <3



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Thea and Milo sat silently in their office while Luana leaned against the wall, all of them staring at the phone that Thea had just put down.

Niall had just called with the confirmation that they were hoping they would not get.

Miriella was pregnant before she was killed.

"Fuck." Luana cursed as she turned to look away. "It's like the universe is trying its absolute hardest to destroy that man's soul."

Thea nodded in agreement, her heart in so much pain as she tried her very best not to cry. Crying would do nothing in this situation.

She knew for certain that Rue had no idea... if he had known, he would most certainly have mentioned it–he had told her everything else, after all. Maybe Miriella herself hadn't even known, seeing as there was no reference to a pregnancy at all in any of the letter she had read from the last months of Miriella's life.

"Do you... need to tell Rue?" Luana suddenly asked. "What he doesn't know won't kill him. Especially in this situation"

"Yes. He needs to be told because he will find out one way or another," Milo answered for Thea. "This news will come out... he'll find out eventually. And it's better for him to hear it from Thea than from some strangers."

Thea felt an invisible hand squeeze her heart and the anxiety welled up inside her. She hated that she was going to have to do this, but she knew Milo was right.

"Okay... fair," Luana agreed. "So what now? Are we heading to the State Police Headquarters? I hate that place."

"Niall gave me the go ahead," Thea responded. "You two will have to come with me of course. Niall mentioned that he'd have preferred for Aaryan to have been here too but he's gone dealing with the recording of the President, and we have no time to waste."

Luana stood and took a deep breath. "Alright. Let's go do this."







Thea had not a single idea of what to expect. At this point, she didn't even know if Rue was awake or how he was even doing since the State Police were so uncooperative–all they ever told her was that he was alive. That was it.

Frankly, she wasn't even sure if she'd get to see him today, even if she had permission to use Niall as a threat. The State Police were so unpredictable that there was really no certainty in anything.

And of course, there was the added issue of Adrien being in charge of all of this.

Thea was certain that he would make things more complicated for all of them than need be.

As usual, Luana drove them down the streets of Achlis, and when they arrived at the gloomy headquarters of the State Police, Thea, Milo and Luana entered trying to seem as confident as possible. It wasn't safe to be scared or nervous in the State Police Headquarters

"We have been granted permission from the Secretary of Defense, Niall Killian, to gain access to visit Rue," Thea began as soon as they reached the receptionist's desk.

The receptionist, a rather beautiful Aiverian woman, eyed Thea up and down before letting out a frustrated breath and picking up the telephone at her desk. Without saying a word to any of them, she dialed a number, her eyes still on Thea. After a few seconds, someone seemed to have picked up. "Theavi Rhaanan is here to see the Crow prisoner Rue," she said, surprising Thea by knowing her name.

When the receptionist put the phone down, she spoke up. "The Police Chief will be here shortly. You can have a seat."

'Shortly,' was a lie.

It was nearly forty-five minutes later that the frustratingly calm and casual Police Chief strutted through the doors and made his way to the group. "Who are you here to see?" he asked, rather lazily.

"Who else?" Thea snapped, annoyance overwhelming her. "We have authorization already so let us in."

The man frowned. "I cannot let you in to see the Crow without the approval of Karney Junior. So unless you have his consent, you can turn around and go home."

"I'm sure you can repeat exactly that to General Killian," Luana responded. "Give his secretary a call and she'll connect you to him. He's busy right now–General Killian has more significant responsibilities than whatever it is that you do all day–but I'm sure he'll be more than pleased with reminding you of who's in charge. Especially if it means the privilege of dealing with you when he gets back."

The Chief scowled. "My orders come from the President."

"The President told you to hide Rue behind Karney?" Luana scoffed. "I highly doubt that."

"Then take it up with the President," the Chief snapped back. "This is none of my concern–"

"I will be sure to bring this up with him," Thea responded, remarking on how she and the President were on agreeable terms... if him accepting a potential bribe from her meant they were on agreeable terms. "But for the time being, tell Karney to get over here."

Luana and Milo looked at Thea with an expression of surprise.

"Tell him if he doesn't want any trouble then he better come here now and deal with us face to face. We won't leave until he gets here."

The Chief let out a sharp, frustrated breath. "Fine... but he's not going to be happy about this and don't come crying to me once he says no."

Thea ignored him and walked off, returning to her seat with the assumption that they were going to have to wait for another hour or so.

However, that wasn't the case.

In fact, Adrien Karney appeared at the main entrance of the State Police Headquarters in about ten minutes, dressed in his usual three piece suit, looking as prim and proper as he usually did. When he walked in and spotted Thea, he broke out his usual amused expression, despite everything that had happened between them. Normally, it would have upset her but she had way too much on her mind to really care about that right now.

"You need to let us in to see Rue," Thea said, standing up and approaching him, not caring for any other formalities or banter.

"I don't need to do anything," he simply responded, the smile on his face making it clear that he enjoyed the control he had. "Especially since I have specific orders to not allow in any visitors. For his safety... of course. Something you seem so keen on making sure I care about."

"We have orders from Gen-Secretary Niall Killian," Thea pushed.

That made Adrien hesitate, his smirk faltering ever so slightly. "What do you need to see him about? It's not like you know for certain that he's awake."

"We'll wait until he's awake," Thea responded. "And Secretary Killian wants us to pass on a message to him."

"What is the message?"

Thea felt her frustration grow, knowing he was doing this on purpose. Nevertheless, she took a deep breath. "We need to let him know that Miriella's body has been found."

"Ah... the body's been found," Adrien nodded, feigning thoughtfulness. "Though I must ask, why would you burden an already down-trodden man with such horrible news?"

"Because he deserves to know the truth."

"Well then, I will pass on the message."

"Absolutely not. He should hear it from people he cares about before hearing it from anyone else," Thea responded quickly. "Not from the likes of you."

"It is not your say-"

"Oh, for crying out loud," Milo snapped as he stood from his seat, making everyone turn to him in surprise. Not once in all her time knowing him, had Thea heard him raise his voice like that. He made his way over to Adrien with an angry glower, his hands curled into tight fists, and despite how skinny and lanky he was, he stood to be a few inches taller than Adrien, something that Thea could see as Milo now stood only a breath away from him.

"Stop this game you're playing," Milo hissed. "I've had enough of it. I'm sick and tired of seeing you people act like you make the rules in this place simply because you wear a uniform or you have the favor of your father's last name. If you have any comments or questions or concerns, I suggest you take it up with Secretary Niall Killian, not with us. Right now, you will let us in to see Rue because whether you say no or not, we are going to go in. And if you, or any of your rowdy officers try to stop us, I can guarantee you that it won't just be Secretary Killian coming after you...it will be the entirety of Aiveria."

Adrien raised a brow, though Thea noticed him jerk back a little, clearly surprised by the seriousness that Milo was displaying.

Franking, she couldn't blame him, because so were Thea and Luana. Clearly, Milo had had enough of this.

"I can promise you that, because if we leave here without seeing Rue, you will see the news we were meant to tell him plastered in the morning papers tomorrow and I promise you that we will not fail to add in our comments that you did not let us in to break the news to him first." Milo continued, his glare still fierce. "I hope you haven't forgotten that despite him being a Crow, Rue has garnered the favor of the Aiverian public and I'm sure the public will have a lot of questions for you when they find out that you have contributed to breaking the man even more."

Thea would have smiled if the situation wasn't so depressing, though, despite that, she felt pride. She was proud of Milo.

Especially since Adrien seemed rather taken aback. He held Milo's glower for another moment before letting out a breath. "Fine. Since this is such a... pressing matter... I will allow you to see him. But, I will come inside with you." Clearly, he wanted to best the group on one way or another.

Milo let out a breath before settling down and turning to look at Thea.

Thea didn't hesitate. "Be our guest," she responded. "Like Milo said, all of Aiveria will be hearing what we have to say by tomorrow anyways."







There was no other way to put it except that Rue was in a hospital bed that was locked within the dark cell of a prison. There was nothing pretty about it and though it was a step up from the cell he was in at the State Prison, it was a substantial step down from the hospital room... not a window in sight.

However, what caught Thea's attention was that Rue was, in fact, awake-though barely. When the cell door was opened by the Police Chief, Thea rushed in, grabbing Rue's hands in hers with a force that was strong, but gentle at the same time. "Rue," she gasped.

Milo and Luana were by her side when Rue turned to look at her, and her heart broke when he had to blink a few times to even recognize her. "Thea." He finally said, his voice sounding as weak as he looked.

He was frail, and quite obviously in pain, and it was clear that the State Police Officer's only concern at this moment was simply keeping him alive.

How alive? Well, that was not their problem, clearly.

"If they... let you in..." he began, saying each word slowly and between pauses. "Then... I assume you come... with news."

Thea smiled sadly and nodded. "Niall... found her."

Rue held her gaze for a moment before he let out a weak, shaky breath. He closed his eyes tightly, silent for some time, before opening them and staring at the ceiling. "Foolish... it was... for me to think... even a little... that maybe..." he paused, taking a breath. "Maybe... this was all some... elaborate trick by Rivier..."

Thea tightened her hold on his hand.

"And that... she was alive."

She felt the tears coming, though she did all that she could to hold them back, pressing the back of Rue's hand to her lips. "There's... more."

Rue looked back at Thea and it was only when she felt Milo's hand squeeze her shoulder that she worked up the courage to simply just say it. "She was... pregnant."

Though his face didn't change, his weak, somber expression still on his face as he gazed back at her, Thea could see it in the one eye he had left. She could see the shock, the anger, the sadness... all of the emotions mingling together as he took in her words. "How..."

"She may not have even known herself," Thea answered, knowing what he was going to ask. "The fetus was... very young... not fully developed."

Rue let out another breath.

"I'm sorry, Rue," she kept her grip on his hand.

He didn't respond.

Instead, he continued to stare at the ceiling... and it was only after quite some time that Thea saw the tears escape from his eye.

The sight of that was enough to make her own tears finally escape, though she continued to hold it back. "I'm going to stay here with you, Rue," Thea said. "Until you're ready. However long that takes-"

He shook his head. "No... you have more... important things..."

"It doesn't matter... at least for a little while," Thea responded. "I won't let you go through this alone."

It was rare that Rue expressed any desire for people to stay with him, and after spending all those years alone, isolated in a cell, it may have simply been because he had gotten used to it. But his response to Thea was to squeeze her hand back and she knew he wanted her to stay. She knew, this time around, he needed her to stay.

Her heart still ached but she felt some comfort in knowing that she could at least be present with him... at least he would not suffer alone.

She turned, nodding her head at Luana and Milo, both of whom had an expression of utter sadness washed over their faces. They didn't have to stay, and she trusted Milo to be able to handle things while she was gone.

Then, she looked at Adrien.

To her surprise, she saw that he had paled, his lips parted slightly as he stared at them all.

For a moment, Thea wondered if this was the line for Adrien... if this was how much Rue, or any Elorian for that matter, had to suffer for him to feel some sympathy for them. Surprisingly, for the first time in a long time, Thea was able to consider that maybe Adrien was human.

When his eyes met Thea, however, he tried to compose himself, straightening himself up and allowing a glower to return to his face. "I'll allow it... only this once," he said, as if Thea had asked for permission.

She let out a breath and then decided once more that he was unimportant. So, as Luana and Milo made their way out, Adrien following behind them shortly after, Thea kept her old of Rue's hand... making sure he was certain that she would stick by him through all of this.

He was not alone.