Chapter Seven – Veronica
It felt odd to be around humans again. It made the pain of losing her family and friends fresh and cutting all over again. Veronica hadn't been able to sit through the whole 'human support' meeting, leaving about halfway through. She needed to find Chapec. She needed to talk to him. He hadn't told her what he was going to do. Was he going to stay and be a part of their child's life? Was he going to leave?
Veronica knew better than to kid herself that he might want to stay for her. Besides knowing each other only for a little while (it felt like a long time, but it had only been a few 'standard months' and apparently those were shorter than the ones she'd known on Earth), he had never expressed any sort of romantic attraction towards her.
Love and lust were two very different things. At least, Veronica had always thought so until she met Chapec. The fact was that she was pretty sure she was falling for him, and it wasn't just lust. She didn't know if the same could be said of him.
The sound of shouting broke Veronica from her thoughts. She paused. Was that Dievca's voice? She hurried forward only to stop dead at what she saw once she rounded the corner.
Chapec was trading blows with another T'shav. This one was leaner than Chapec, covered in tattoos, with a strangely blank expression. Dievca dove in from the left, jabbing a fist towards the T'shav's ribs, but he easily blocked her while at the same time twisting Chapec's arm sharply behind his back. Her T'shav stumbled while the stranger caught Dievca in a headlock.
"I don't want to hurt you, but I will if I must," he said. "Right now, I could easily break your sister's neck. Stand down and I won't hurt her."
Dievca struggled in the stranger's grasp. Veronica's heart was in her throat as she stared at the scene before her. An uncomfortable, sick feeling slipped into her stomach. What was going on here? She stepped forward silently. Chapec himself stepped back from the stranger and rose his hands. An expression of hate twisted Dievca's face.
"I surrender. Let her go."
The stranger released Dievca. The woman stumbled away. She turned a black glare on her brother, and as she did so, she saw Veronica. Her gaze flicked to the human's belly, and a strange expression crossed her face. The T'shav female jumped forward, out of sight. There was a feminine scream and the stranger started forward only to stop suddenly. The thin cry of a baby rose in the air.
"Don't!" the strange T'shav shouted, the red of his skin paling to almost pink. "Please, don't hurt her!"
Dievca stepped back into view holding a baby. Veronica was flooded with horror and she rushed forward. Chapec jumped when she grabbed his arm. He whirled on her, fist rose to strike, but froze. His eyes widened as he realized who it was.
"Veronica—"
"What are you doing?"
"Slide over that knife strapped to your thigh," Dievca hissed.
A woman stood behind the T'shav, her face white as a sheet, clinging to the doorway she stood in. "Don't hurt my baby. Please!"
Veronica dug her fingers into Chapec's arm. "What are you doing?"
"He killed our father," Chapec said, his voice quivering, uncertain. "That's the reason we came here. The reason we brought you here. We needed to get into the Sanctuary to kill him."
Dievca's whole body shook. "The knife!"
The strange T'shav pulled a knife from a sheath under his var'ki and dropped it, kicking it over to Chapec. He shook off Veronica and picked it up. Dievca's eyes were wide, staring at the other T'shav. The baby in her arms squirmed and cried, tiny fists flailing.
What sort of monster was she to threaten the life of a baby? This was the woman Veronica had come to think of as a friend!
"Kill me if you must," the strange T'shav said, dropping to his knees. "Please. Don't hurt my child."
The woman behind them cried out.
Veronica's eyes widened. The sick feeling in her stomach increased double fold. She reached for Chapec, but he shook her off and went to stand beside Dievca. His sister's chest heaved, eyes locked on her brother.
"Kill him," she rasped. "This is what we have been working for. Kill him and avenge our father!"
"Don't, please," the woman cried from behind them. "He never wanted to be in the gladiator games. He had no choice. If he did kill your father, he didn't want to!"
"Chapec, please." Veronica trembled, tears flowing freely down her face. "Don't do this. Please."
He glanced at her then closed his eyes. "It's too late to live here peacefully."
"Kill him," Dievca whispered.
He turned to her, shaking his head. "You know that Dad would be horrified if he could see us right now. You're threatening a baby, Dievca. If he saw us, he would not recognize his own children. This isn't who he wanted us to be. If we kill this T'shav, we're going to die. Do you think that Dad would have wanted that?"
"Don't do this to me, Chippy."
"We're going to leave the Sanctuary. We'll leave him alive and get out of this alive."
Dievca's eyes narrowed. "You mean take away his child to—"
"No. We leave the baby here unharmed – although we don't give it up until we're safe in our ship."
"They'll blow us up as soon as we leave the docks!"
Chapec looked torn for a moment. He turned toward Veronica. She opened her mouth, whether to beg him to change his mind or to try to convince him that he could receive mercy here, she didn't know. But even as she scrambled to find the words to say, he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her in close against him.
"Zon won't destroy a ship that contains a pregnant human."
Veronica struggled against his grip. "I'm pregnant with your child! How can you do this?"
Chapec looked briefly torn, but his expression hardened quickly. And Veronica couldn't hold back a sob. Her heart felt like it was breaking into a million pieces. Everything she thought she had gained in this new life was gone. She had no friends. No safety. The man she had trusted was now using her as a hostage.
Just breathe. Just breathe.
"You'll escort us to our ship," Chapec said to the T'shav. "And once we're in orbit, we'll put you and your child into an escape pod and release you."
The T'shav nodded and stood. "I'll be back soon, Bianca."
The human woman trembled. They headed off, Veronica in tears, the baby wailing, both twins wearing uncertain expressions. None of them spoke as they headed for the docks. Several guards joined them as they walked, but the T'shav always told them to stay back. Veronica considered punching Chapec in the face and running, but she didn't know what he'd do in this situation.
What if he hurt her or the baby? She couldn't risk it. Not when she didn’t know the man she had fallen in love with.
***
Chapec kept his word and sent the strange T'shav and his child back to the Sanctuary after they were in orbit. Several ships followed them away, occasionally blocking their way. The T'shav twins kept Veronica in the cockpit with them, and eventually they slipped past the blockade and headed into the black of space.
As soon as they were away, Dievca started screaming at Chapec. Neither of them paid any attention to Veronica as she went to the room that she had called home for so long. There, she sat on her bed, too numb with shock to even cry.
Some time later, Chapec came into her room. He brought a fruit that resembled something like a banana mixed with a mango with him. It had become Veronica's favorite fruit out here, but when he held it out to her, she just glared at him. Did he really think he'd get off so easily?
"You need to eat."
"I'm not hungry."
The T'shav ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "Veronica, I know you must be furious with me."
"Furious doesn't begin to cover it."
"I don't blame you. But I've lived years blaming that man for the death of my father. I saw him die. Do you have any idea what that's like?"
"That's no excuse."
"I was left with my twin sister and my mother to care for, and both of them took my father's death so hard… Dievca didn't get out of bed for almost a month. I thought she was going to starve to death. And my mother… She was fragile. She might not have died right away, but her soul was killed when my father was."
Veronica stared coldly at him. "And so you used me. You made me think that you were my friend. You made me think… You got me pregnant so you could kill a man!"
"No." Chapec shook his head. "It was never the plan to get you pregnant. It wasn't the plan to develop feelings for you, but I have. I love you. I—"
"It doesn't matter." If everything up to this point was a lie, why should she believe him now?
"I changed my mind about killing him for you. Because I want to be with you."
"It doesn't matter," she repeated. "You used me. When this child is born, he or she will never know you’re the father. I am going to return to the Sanctuary and I will raise him without you."
Chapec's eyes widened. His skin paled. He reached for her, but she moved back, away from him. Her lip trembled, but she was determined.
He swallowed. "I'll find a way to get you back, then."
"Good."
He left without another word.