Shielded
Chapter 10 - Negotiations

What was I, chopped liver? Ray’s foster mom didn’t even acknowledge that I was in the room before kicking us out. Not that there was a lot of privacy in an ER anyway. I would just shamelessly listen in from the other side of the curtain. Connor had said that Ray wasn’t staying at this woman’s apartment and I didn’t like the way Ray reacted when she heard this woman approach. I readjusted Maria on my hip and spoke quietly to her in an attempt to lessen her struggles to get back to Ray. Not that I blamed the little girl. After everything that happened and seeing Ray covered in blood, I wanted to crawl into her hospital bed and wrap my arms around her too. But Ray had trusted me with her protected and after experiencing the protective surge that she was feeling right now I knew it was a huge honor. I wasn’t going to let her down. I moved to follow Elijah out of the room but he dropped the curtain before I could reach it and when I reached out to pull it back my hand went through the thin material. Like, my hand ghosted through the curtain. I had to run my hand through it several more times to believe what I was seeing. Then Stella walked to check that Elijah had moved away from the curtain and literally walked through me. I jumped back and ended up stumbling through the other side of the curtains and was standing in the middle of a chair when I regained my balance. What the fuck was happening right now?

--Derik

Stella waited a moment to make sure that Elijah was far enough away to not overhear us, dropped her fake ass simile, and promptly slapped me. Her palm made contact with my already bruised cheek and I felt the throb of pain even through the haze of pain meds. I bit down on the side of my bottom lip to keep from crying out and gave Stella my best ‘are you fucking kidding me face.’ I hadn’t seen this bitch since the last home visit over two months ago and her first reaction was to slap me. Yeah, she was one hell of a polite southern lady.

I bit back the first three things that came to mind because I was assuming that Derik hadn’t really left to give us privacy. Being spied on from the void was a strange experience and I figured I deserved it after all of the private conversations I had overheard.

“Nice to see you too, Stella. How has life been treating you? Run over any puppies lately?” I said in an overly sweet tone that I knew got under her skin.

“How dare you give me snark, young lady. First, that boy invades my home and then today I get a call from the hospital and have to drag my ass across town because of you. And who is going to pay for these hospital bills? This wasn’t a part of our deal, Delia. You need to make this right. If I have to pay for these bills then you need to come back and clean my house and cook for me. Money doesn’t just grow on trees you ungrateful twit.”

I counted to ten in my head and only barely kept myself from saying what I really wanted to say. It was really hard to remember to keep my mouth shut through the drug induced fog. But if I went overboard with Stella then she would just return me to the state. I actually liked my life right now. I liked my bus and Skyline was just as good as any other school. I wouldn’t make it as far up in the rankings if I was moved to another school. Jake and Amy depended on me here. And I was just starting to figure out what it was like to be around other Valkyrie. I wanted time to explore a friendship with the Three Musketeers and a chance to learn more about my race. None of that would happen if I screwed things up with Stella right now.

“I will talk to the people down in billing and figure out a way to pay for the hospital bills,” I told Stella in a voice that very nearly crossed the line into growling.

“Damn right you will,” Stella hissed and brought one of her ruined nails to her mouth and started to bite it. “But what about today. I had to pay a taxi to drive me all the way across town in traffic. It cost me a fortune. Not to mention that boyfriend of yours that trasped through my apartment and wrecked all my stuff. Who is going to pay to fix everything?” Seriously? I had just heard her tell Elijah that she took the bus here. And I really doubted that Connor did any damage. This leech was just looking for any excuse to drain me dry. She was already getting to pocket all of the money that the state provided to take care of me. Why did she need to take my hard-earned cash too?

I took a deep breath and reminded myself and in less than four months I would turn eighteen and the state of California wouldn’t have any more say in my life or where I lived. I could grin and bear it for four more months. I knew from experience that trying to talk to Stella would only make her screech louder until she was making such a scene that other people would try to intervene. Then she would somehow spin things so that I was at fault and she got all of the sympathies. It would be easier to just give her what she wanted. I just had to swallow my pride and corporate.

I got up from the hospital bed and walked over to the small table that held a bag that contained my wallet and ruined clothes. I reached in and pulled out my wallet and turned to face Stella. She snatched the faded old fabric billfold from my hands and started rifling through it. I felt light-headed and had to reach out and steady myself on the table as she pulled all of the cash out of the main pocket. At least she didn’t take my driver's license too.

“Jesus,” Stella murmured as she counted the bills in her hand. I had a little over four hundred dollars in my wallet. I always liked to carry around a good amount of money because I never knew when I was going to need it. It wasn’t like I had an ATM card that I could use in an emergency and I never really worried about getting robbed. “How the hell did you get this kind of cash? You selling yourself? Cause if the police pick you up for prostitution they are going to blame me for your nasty habit.”

Of course, Stella thought that the only way a woman could make money was flat on their back. I made pretty good tips at Polly’s. I would be able to make up the cash that Stella was taking from me in two or three shifts. “I am not selling myself,” I said and I moved to sit back on the bed. The blood loss and pain meds were starting to make me woozy.

“Well if this is the kind of money you are making, maybe we need to reconsider our deal,” Stella said with a clear interest in her voice.

“That is all the money I have in the world right now. I don’t have anything else to give you Stella,” I lied. I closed my eyes and let the enormity of the day wash over me. Maybe if I fell asleep Stella would leave me alone. Unfortunately, the nurse chose that moment to come in with my discharge paperwork. Stella covered up her inner monster and engaged in small talk with the nurse while I looked over everything that the nurse had handed me. I would need to keep the stitches clean and dry over the next two weeks and then make an appointment with a doctor to remove them once everything was healed. It was going to be a bitch to take care of at the truck stop bathroom, but I would figure it out.

There were two-quarter pieces of paper with orders for prescriptions. One was for an antibiotic and the other was for pain medication. Stella saw what I was looking at and snatched the papers from my hands. Jesus that woman had quick hands.

“Oh look at this, honey. You have prescriptions that I should fill before we leave the hospital. I think that they have an in-house pharmacy.”

“Yes ma’am. Up on the third floor,” the nurse said and I caught the excited gleam within Stella’s eyes. Damn druggie bitch was going to steal my pain meds and probably even make me pay for them. God, paying for an ER visit was going to seriously cut into the money I have been saving for when I hopefully get into a college. But I was thankful for the doctor’s help and wasn’t going to flake on the bill. I was just going to have to figure something else out. Maybe this summer I could pick up another job or convince Camila to give me hours at Polly’s. Or maybe college was too ambitious of me. I now had Maria to consider.

“Well, then I will just go fill these and be right back,” Stella said before walking out without so much as a backward glance at me. I clarified some things with the nurse and asked her about the bill before she disconnected my I.V. and pulled the port out of my skin. She left me some scrubs to change into and then left me to get settled.

I stood next to the bed, took a deep breath, asked for just a little more courage to get through this next conversation, and pushed back into the void. Derik was standing not two feet from me while cradling a sleeping Maria to his chest. He did not look happy. The moment I made eye contact with him he started whisper yelling at me.

“What the fuck was that. Why did you let that despicable excuse for a human being talk to you like that? You are a Valkyrie. A fucking female Valkyrie. No one should ever talk to you like that, let alone actually strike you. Why would you allow such a thing?”

Well, that was interesting. I would have thought Derik would have been more concerned with the void than the tense relationship I have with my foster mother. This was not the conversation I had been preparing for and it was hard to concentrate through the dizziness and drugs.

“I have been placed in nine different foster homes in the last four years. Before Stella, the longest that I stayed somewhere was five months. I have a problem controlling my temper and won’t let anyone seriously hurt me or the other foster kids in a home so I was labeled as a troubled kid and none of the better places will take me,” I said and even I could hear how tired I was. I seriously needed to get some sleep. I think I deserve at least that much after a day like today.

“When I was placed with Stella I did things differently. I made a deal with her that she could keep checks provided by the state if she reported that I was living with her and was a model foster kid but I don’t actually stay with her. Stella is a selfish bitch that I am using so that I can live my own life. If I rock the boat it could all fall apart and I will be forced to move again. I need Stella because, without her, I would be considered a runaway. And runaways don’t get to work waitressing jobs, or graduate high school, or get scholarships to go to college. Runaways get put into juvenile facilities. The world doesn’t care that I am female Valkyrie, and I am just doing everything I can to survive.” I looked at Derik and silently pleaded with him not to judge me too harshly. I really was doing the best I could do with the cards I was dealt.

“Jesus Ray, that is seriously fucked up,” Derik said without the anger from before. Now I could hear the disbelief and pity within his voice. “I don’t think you realize how fucked up because you don’t seem to understand how female Valkyries are treated in our world. Say the word and we can make all of this shit go away and you will be treated like the princess that you are.” I used my good hand to rub my forehead as a bout of dizziness overcame me. All of this was just too much to think about right now.

“Whoa there,” Derik said as he reached out to steady me. The moment his skin touched mine I felt that familiar warmth and I let out a sigh. How did they not all just walk around embracing each other all the time? This feeling was even better than the pain meds. However, Derik’s sudden movement caused Maria to wake up and look around the room with sleep-laden eyes. When she saw me she reached out her arms and I wasn’t able to deny her request. I hauled her into my arms and almost tipped over my own feet.

“Umm Ray,” Derik asked as he redoubled his efforts to keep me standing. “Can you bring us back from being ghosts now?”

I looked up into his brown eyes and wished that he wasn’t wearing contacts before saying, “this wasn’t the conversation I planned on having. The guys made it seem like you don’t know about cloaking. I was going to see if I could convince you not to say anything about the void.”

“And why would I do something like that? My brothers deserve to know what you are capable of.” Oh good. The asshole version of Derik was back. I didn’t want to fight with him, but I also didn’t want to let him win yet another argument. He would start to think I was a pushover. I may be too tired to argue with him right now, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t win this argument. I stepped away from his grasp and pushed Maria and me free of the void leaving him behind. I leveled a challenging glare at the spot where I knew he was still standing and made my threat clear. I could leave him in the void if he didn’t agree to my terms.

I decided to let him think about it while I got dressed. I was too tired to carry Maria and I told her as much when I set her down and took her hand in mine. Then I gathered up the scrubs and went to search out a bathroom. I washed up and awkwardly got dressed as Maria watched me with wide eyes. I so wished I could replace a corner for us to curl up and go to sleep, but that just wasn’t going to happen right now. I still needed to figure out how to keep Maria safe.

When I returned to my designated curtain room I saw that Elijah was back. Maybe he would let me take Maria home for tonight. It was late and I hadn’t seen any social workers around. Placing a child took time. That time could be what I needed to figure out the best move forward. Maybe I could get Jack’s mom to register as a foster parent and have Maria stay with them while I took care of her. No, Cherry was crazy and Jack already had his hands full with Amy. Adding Maria to that mix wasn’t a good idea.

“Hey Ray, how are you feeling?” Elijah asked as I sat down in the chair and pulled Maria on my lap. She immediately curled into my chest and tucked her head under my chin. I was sure that it would only take a couple of minutes for her to fall asleep. It was a normal response to stress and after having her own mother try to shoot her at point-blank range, I knew her little brain needed to shut down for a while.

“Tired,” I told him honestly.

“Well, I think we can get out of here pretty soon. I am registered with CPS and have talked to social services. Maria is going to stay with us while we further investigate her next of kin and decide what is best for her.” A Valkyrie foster dad. Couldn’t get much worse than that. It was like he had searched through my nightmares and picked out the two things I was most afraid of and decided to put them together. God, what was I going to do? Somehow I needed to get myself invited into that house too so that I could keep an eye on things.

“You are more than welcome to stay with us too,” Elijah said. “I know the boys would love to have you and this way you can help Maria through this hard time.” Wow, that was easy. Almost too easy. I wonder.

I am pregnant and Max is the father, I thought and carefully watched Elijah’s reaction. He started choking on nothing and turned to look at me with wide surprise-filled eyes. Well fuck.

“So you are a telepath and have been reading my mind this whole time,” I accused with a hard voice. My father had been a mind reader and he used it to make sure I never had a single moment of privacy. At least this was one of his Gifts that I figured out how to defend myself against. I quickly cloaked just my brain and felt a bout of dizziness swamp me as I pushed myself towards my limit.

“It’s not something that I can control,” Elijah said in a defensive voice.

“Funny, that’s what Derik said about Connor compelling me this morning,” I retorted and I took a moment to consider my options. I could either leave Maria in a house filled with Valkyrie I didn’t fully trust that included a telepath and a compeller and go back to my bus, or I could bite the bullet and go with her. Yeah, not really a choice at all.

“Thank you. I appreciate you opening up your home to me,” I said in an emotionless voice. I was doing this to protect Maria, but that didn’t mean I had to be happy about it.

Then I gathered the last of my strength and stood with Maria in my arms and walked out of the emergency room. The moment I passed the admission desk all three of the musketeers jumped to their feet and rushed towards me. Blake didn’t hesitate to pull me and Maria into a hug. I breathed in his clean pine needle scent and soaked up the energy boost that he was giving me. The jostling woke Maria up and she struggled in my arms to see what was happening.

Blake pulled back enough to look down into her oval-shaped face and gave her a heart-stopping smile before introducing himself. “Well hello there pumpkin. My name is Blake. I am a friend of Ray’s.” Maria didn’t say anything but she did reach up and rested her small palm on Blake’s cheek and I could practically feel him melt from her sweet gesture. Blake looked at me with pleading eyes and I knew that he wanted to hold my little charge. Considering I was about to drop her from exhaustion I nodded my head and passed her over. I trusted Blake to watch her for a little while.

Once Maria was transferred to Blake, Max pulled me into his arms and squeezed so hard that I actually let out a little squeak. Yes, his embrace felt good, but I had rolled through a pile of glass earlier in the day. “Sorry,” Max murmured and lessened his hold but didn’t let me go. I was blown away by the level of reaction I was receiving from him. I had known him for less than a week but it felt like he had been actually scared for me.

Instead of questioning it too much I just wrapped my good arm around his waist and returned the embrace the best I could. Max meant something to me too and he deserved to feel that. We must have stood like that for a solid two minutes and I felt a lot steadier on my feet when we finally broke free. A glance around showed me that Blake was playing peek-a-boo with Maria and Elijah was standing with Connor at least a dozen feet away. Connor looked rough. Bloodshot eyes and a pale complexion. Derik’s words about how Connor thought he was a monster who didn’t deserve forgiveness ran through my head and I knew that I had to fix this.

I walked over to Connor and hated the way that he wouldn’t meet my eye. When I stood in front of him I could tell that he was so tense that a stiff wind would knock him over. “I started having flashbacks and I overreacted,” I said in a vulnerable and sincere voice and Connor’s eyes snapped to mine. “I know that you are nothing like my father and I am sorry I ever said such a thing to you. Please forgive me.”

“Please don’t apologize. You were right. I crossed a line and didn’t even think twice before doing it. I am the one who should be apologizing to you,” Connor replied in a voice that cracked with emotion.

“Okay, then I accept your apology.”

“Really?” he asked with heartbreaking hope.

“Connor I wouldn’t let the EMTs touch Maria and I shielded her for hours. I understand doing extreme things when you feel that protective urge. And now that you know I don’t want to be compelled, I believe that you won’t do it again. Now, it has been a really long day. Can I please have a hug?” When he hesitated I almost broke down and started crying. For some reason, I needed the reassurance that we were okay right now. My rapidly filling eyes seemed to be the tipping point for Connor and he stepped forward and wrapped his massive frame around my own. I let out a breath in relief and allowed the warmth, peace, and feelings of safety to wash through me.

“Can we go now?” I murmured against Connor’s chest and I felt the slight vibrations from his laughter.

“Where did Derik go?” Elijah asked and I mentally palmed my face. I had forgotten that I had left Derik in the void.

“I am sure he is around here somewhere,” I said and Connor pulled away enough to look down at my face and I knew he was looking for an explanation. “He pissed me off, so I cloaked him and haven’t lifted it yet.”

“Seriously?” Connor asked and at my nod, he started full-out belly laughing. It made the corners of my lips tip up in a small smile to see him let go like that. I checked in with Maria to see that she was now sleeping on Blake’s shoulder and told the guys that I would be right back before pushing back into the void.

Derik was standing next to Elijah with his arms crossed over his chest and a seriously pissed-off look on his face. “You can’t force me to do what you want by leaving me here. It won’t work,” he clipped out and set his jaw. Derik must be the stubborn one of the group.

I tipped my head back, clenched my jaw, and told myself that this was the last conversation I was going to have today. If I got through this one then I could shut down and get some sleep before having to deal with the next emotionally draining conflict. “I don’t know you,” I said through clenched teeth.

“Hell, I only met the guys five days ago. And in those five days, you people have turned my entire life upside down. I don’t know you, yet you know things about me that I am completely uncomfortable with you knowing. Today I have been compelled, had a panic attack, talked through some pretty emotional shit, been dressed down by an unknown asshole Valkyrie, got shot at, claimed a new protected, got about a million stitches, got slapped, got stolen from, and now I’m staying with Valkyrie I don’t entirely trust. All I am asking is that you not jeopardize my one safe place and give me time to tell the guys in my own way and in my own time. Do you think you can do that for me?”

About halfway through my rant Derik had uncrossed his arms and his pissed-off expression morphed into one that was close to pity. “Yeah, I can do that,” he said in a small voice.

“Great,” I said with attitude and then turned and started walking towards Blake and Maria as I pushed us out of the void. I didn’t stop walking until I was standing next to Maria and I reached out to hold onto her small little foot. Then I pulled the fabric of reality around me until I was fully cloaked. Blake stepped sideways until our shoulders were pressed together and I appreciated the silent support.

After I disappeared all eyes turned to Derik and Blake asked, “Dude, what did you do to piss her off?” Derik just clenched his jaw and leveled Blake with an intimidating stare until Elijah told everyone it was time to head home. I rode in the back of Connor’s jeep with Blake and Maria while Max rode shotgun. I honored the promise to myself and remained silent for the rest of the night. When we arrived at their house I sat unmoving in the car thinking over all the ways that this could go wrong. Eventually, Connor opened my door for me and I followed them into the big house, but I was too tired to take any of it in. Max showed me to the guest room, and I pulled Maria out of Blake’s hold before closing the door in their face. I just needed some time to myself right now. I locked the door and took the time to pull Maria’s little shoes off her feet. Then I placed her in the middle of the queen-sized bed and crawled behind her small body. Before I knew it I was fast asleep.