Lovers in a Dangerous Time

Lovers in a Dangerous Time

By Coventry Cullipher, aka InspectorZenigata

Lupin the 3rd Fanfic inspired by \"Lovers in a Dangerous Time\" By the Barenaked Ladies
And my RPG friends.

Disclaimer: Wren belongs to me. In fact, I created her to be a version of me. But she has evolved, becoming her own person. Other then that, Toshiko may belong to Monkey Punch, but was brought to life by Skymouth. :D Other then that first other then that, it’s all Mr. Punch’s to claim.

It could have been a painting for as little as the scene outside the window had changed in the five hours she had been staring at it. Save the creeping shadows and the wet wind that tore the last faded leaf from the tree, leaving it barren. Nothing had changed.

*If only life could do the same.* But it had changed. Changed in ways that were almost too much to bear. Her slim fingers clutched about the damp tissue in her hand, as much as the cast sprawling from shoulder to palm would allow.

For only the second time since entering the room, she let her gaze stray to the figure in the bed. Looking past the tubes and wires, past the bandages and bruises, to the woman beneath them.

\"Wren........\" The mantle of guilt became almost too heavy to with stand as blue haired woman shifted in her pain-filled sleep, revealing more damage to her once beautiful face. There would be scars. More then just the physical ones.....

Unnoticed to even herself, Toshiko’s unhindered hand ghosted against her midsection, canvas for her own scars. They would always be there, but her mental ones had closed over thanks to the pure love of her soul mate. They had been painful, hurt more then the healing wounds. And now Wren would suffer the same inner death.

Toshiko slowly dragged the plaster heavy limb upright, the tissue laden hand brushing away the gathering tears. She was surprised there were still tears left in her body. Yet she could feel more threatening to fall.

Weary from worry and grief, Toshiko’s head dropped forward, supported by her chest as the cop slipped into a troubled sleep, her mind whispering a prayer for the nightmares to stay at bay.

But if Toshiko’s prayers were indeed meant to be answered, neither would be there, in that impersonal room, harsh lighting twisting colors and casting shadows. With out a moments hesitation those equines of moon tide terror gathered about, casting their evil magic

~~~~***She glanced down at the papers gathered in her slightly shaking hands. It was a big step, but one she felt she was ready for. And a perfect gift for her Wren. This was something her love had always wanted. And now, on their five-year anniversary, she would have it.

The pamphlets on Artificial Insemination fluttered in the sudden wind, tugging from her hand, dancing it about as she chased it. Wren was the only one whom could bear a child. Horrors visited upon her had taken her chance long ago. A twist of colors as it floated down, flipping about before settling in a puddle. Smiling to the reflection of their bedroom window two floors up from the alley where she stood as the damp information was retrieved. The expression faded as shadow blocked out the light that painted her home in the brackish water.

She knew the scent that drifted past. It was him... that punk who had cornered her in the laundry room more then once. A few swift jabs had always ended his advances on her. But something was different this time.... The sun faded away, giving into the gray clouds that usurped its place, draping the alleyway in cold. Frozen in her half crouch to gather her still sleeping loves gift, the chill seemed to invade her body. He wasn’t alone. The shift of many feet on gravel, the sound of many lungs breathing........

\"I know why you wouldn’t put out. Its because yer a dyke. That blue haired bitch and you are lezzies. But I say you just haven’t been with a real man. And that’s a crying shame....\"

Dread closed its cold fist around her heart, robbing her lungs of air at his acidic, mocking words. Dark eyes flitting to the fire escape, the grated landings, the window to the room where she held her love close at night. Judging...

\"So told my friends here all about this little problem and nice guys that they are, they agreed to help me show ya what yer missing.\" He laughed, the sound gathering the voices of the others as they joined in. And she acted, moving quickly, stretching, reaching for the rusty dirty ladder...for hope of escape.

Hands closed about her, her minds eye making it akin to the grasping demons of the underworld as they pulled her down, down into a hell she would never leave. Not again... she couldn’t survive this again. Desperation took hold. A crazed fight filling her. Kicking, clawing, biting. All rational thoughts lost. The attackers held back at her frenzied attack. All but him.

\"Still trying to punch me, huh?\" His tone was black, darker then the rain calling sky that hung above them. Diving in, he fought her, grappled with her. She couldn’t control the terror that infused her, her attacks unplanned and ill timed. Too swiftly he had her pinned to the damp ground, his foul breath spreading across her face.

\"Lets take some of that fight away....\" Turning her face away from his twisted grin, She clamped her eyes closed, trying to shut out reality. The hands holding her down doubled, tripled. Muscles tensed as a bruising grip closed about her wrist, pulling the limb out straight. Her fight to keep it in one place as lost as hope.

Her clothing was shifting, pulling hard against her body the seams pressing into her flesh before tearing. No.....not again...not ever. Wren.... *please god.. let her sleep through this.* their window stood open, sounds surely drifting in. There was too many of them. Yet her love would never hesitate for a second. Even if it meant her death. She knew that. Biting back the screams of terror and fear, trying to save her from hearing.

The sound of cloth rending couldn’t hide the sound, the sharp crack. Her strongest will couldn’t cover the scream. They laughed, dark mirth spilling from them like waters from a sewer as he threw the bat aside. The metal surface clanging to the ground. Her arm.. Pain devoured her being, crumbling what little resolve remained. Dark eyes snapping open at a sound she feared more then any. A growl of pure rage coming from above.

\"Go away..\" she gasped, glazed vision focusing on the looming figure that leap the peeling iron railing, landing into a half crouch before her. \"Wren....\" She hated herself in the moment, the inner light that sparked at the sight of the woman. no matter the danger.

Brown eyes drank her in as the men slipped backwards in the face of the Amazons rage. \"Toshiko....\" The one word held all the love of a million songs and badly written poems. But the umber gaze changed, growing dead as it moved to the thugs. Wren changed...Toshiko could feel it. Something primal took over in that instant.

\"Well.. this one is ready for us!\" He laughed, trying to cover the moment of panic. \"All prettied up.\" He leered, shifting to one side. Pink lace and feathers had never looked so out of place. Like a hungry Tigress decked in ribbons. Wren despised the color. But the lingerie had been a gift for their first year together. And Wren wore it every year, on the night before their anniversary. And Toshiko loved the way it looked on her. But loved even more that the fact she wore it just for her.

\"Five against one? Those are odds I like..\" Her love laughed, a foreign and misplaced sound. This wasn’t the woman she knew and loved, the gentle peace wanting person she shared her life with.

The bat grated against crazed concrete as he swung it up from the ground, shouldering it. \"I’m gonna mess you up Bitch.\" Sneering, hate filled words. They would kill her....
She shifted, moved, reached for the woman she once knew. \"Don’t!\" The single word closed about her, as if she was nothing more an animal pinned down by a strong hand.

A single bird against a pack of jackals, their laughter announcing the feast to come. They circled the disturbingly calm woman.

\"WREN!\" The screamed name ripping from her soul as they advanced, closing in on her as one. And the woman smiled...........

Smiled. As the ring tightened, impromptu weapons held tight. An arc of silver and a low grunt of pain as her pink goddess went under, down, the demons falling upon her.
The avian to be devoured alive by the canines....

Screaming, crying, shrieking, the sandpaper surface of the brick wall tearing into her skin as she pushed against it, moving, reaching, failing.......***~~~~

And she was awake again, tears soaking the dark brown fabric that was pressed to her face. Strong arms held her tight, the scent of old fashioned after shave wrapping about her. Calming her slightly.

\"Dad..\" She sobbed, holding him tighter. He may have not been there for her childhood, but he was here now. And she could forget the betrayals of the past for that moment of fatherly embrace. He shushed softly, one large hand petting through her nightmare damped hair. \"What happened?\" She whispered into his blazer jacket.

\"We caught four of them. Wasn’t to hard. She did a number on them. The two that could run didn’t get very far.\" Four?....but there was five. The truth dug its claws into her heart, rending it with a wicked grin. They arrested only four? The sorrow her Fathers rugged features told it all as he gazed at his daughter in law. \"She’s a strong woman.. Wren will pull through this.\" They both knew it wasn’t the injuries they talked of, but a silent agreement was spoken and kept. Neither would say it aloud, for fear it would somehow become more real.

\"Her brother is on his way. He and Fala are picking something up for her.\" A small smile slipped through at her father’s words, a fleeting thing, but welcome nonetheless. \"Promise me that no matter what he brings-\" He turned to her hurt in his eyes that shared their dark hue with hers. \"Toshiko.....Lupin could bring her the crown jewels right now and I would place them on her head. Nothing else matters right now but you two.\"

Knuckles rapped on the false wood of the rooms numbered door, changing to the squealing rasp of simple mechanics moving as the door was pushed open. It wasn’t the monkish persona they both waited for but a weary unknown face.

\"Ma\'am?\" He spoke, the tone flat, sparse and empty. But Toshiko didn’t hear his single question word. Her eyes were fixed to the bag he carried. The power to breathe seemed to become a memory, a simple act she could no longer perform. The strong hands on her shoulders left as her father almost appeared in front of her, breaking her line of sight. But the picture still burned in her mind, playing over unfinished dream images. Red on Pink... even the frosted plastic couldn’t hide the colors

\"Honey?\" The hands returned to their shoulder perch, closing in a gentle, yet tight, hold. \"Honey? Toshiko....\" This voice was so different from the last, the concern and worry almost overtaking it. \"Dad?\" The arms wrapped about her, back into the familiar scent and calming hold. \"He was bringing Wrens possessions.\" she nodded against the rough cheap fabric of the dark suit, the feel of it on her face breaking down the nightmares.

\"I told him to toss it out.\" He said, voice soothing her frazzled nerves as much as they could be at a time like this. \"Thank you.\" She never wanted to see that shade of pink again, tainted by the crimson of Wrens blood, feathers matted, the graceful openings in the lacework painted over.

\"All but this..\" Toshiko looked down to her father’s slightly quaking hand, grasping a light blue rectangular sleeve of paper. Fingerprints drawn in her loves blood smeared along the surface. Toshiko smiled lightly at the almost childish scrawl; Wrens handwriting was always messy, close to unreadable.

Through the tears welling in her eyes, Toshiko’s lips moved without a sound as she read off the words inked there. To My Forever Love...

The rest of the world seemed to melt away as she slowly turned the envelope over, eyes locked to the half sealed flap. They hadn’t woke her. She was already up. Toshiko could see her, leaning over the side of their rumpled bed, bedside lamp casting shadows on the nightstand surface. Wrens face soft in concentration as she penned the poetic words Toshiko was sure to find within.

Unsteady fingers flitted under the triangular opening, testing the force of the half held adhesive. She wasn’t sure if she could do it, open this card, letter, doodle.. whatever way it was Wren had chosen to explain the feelings she never was able to do out loud. At least not as wonderfully as she could with ink and horrid penmanship.

A soft rap at the door solved the indecision for her. \"Never thought I would be glad to see you two.\" Her father’s gruff tones traced with humor and hurt. \"Never thought I would be glad to be in the same room as three Interpol Inspectors.\" The Master thief teased in return. But his face didn’t echo that same amusement as he looked to his sister lost in the impersonal off white bedding.

\"How bad is it?\" Lupin’s gaze never left the sister he had known for only a little over five years. Thief and Cop. Yet closer then most siblings. Even though Wren was assigned to his wife’s case. Neither cut the other any slack and didn’t expect it in return.

\"She’s going to be okay...\" it was lie, and the still air of the room filled the scent of the untruth. Lupin took his gaze from the bedridden woman to afford Toshiko a small look. Fala sat down the large paper wrapped gift they had brought and made way to beside the Father and Daughter. \"Soeur... I know when you are lying. You do it as badly as your Dad.\" Her eyes shining with a soft mirth, under the pain.

Soeur.... Toshiko sighed, the pet name that normally enraged her now instead breaking her. \"She.. she...\" choking on the truth, she looked to the titled floor, the words bitter on her tongue, foul in her throat. How could she say those things that doctor told her? How could she say them to her loves brother? Lupin would hate her for this damage done; this was all her fault. French perfume moved about her in a soft concerned grip as The Raven held her. \"Tell him... he is worried.\"

So many willing to hold her... to comfort her. But would the most important one of all wish to do the same after she woke? The room seemed smaller, everyone to close... pushing Fala off her with slow movements, Toshiko stepped back and looked at the faces about her. \"She has four cracked ribs, ninety-one stitches in total, bruising to over half of her body, internal injuries, a shattered wrist and she was stabbed three times\" Her voice was dead, calling off the damage with no emotion. Just like the doctor had.

So much pain.. Yet Wren was still standing. Fighting, raged filled words and sounds pouring from her in that dark alleyway. She was beyond reason, only failing and falling when the cops arrived. Then she crumbled, a puppet whose strings had been severed. \"You’re safe now..\" she had whispered, a weak smile threading across her face, glassy eyes finding Toshiko, before those brown orbs rolled back as the darkness swept over more then Wrens mind. it had taken Toshiko’s heart as well.

\"Oh my god...\" Fala fell back, sitting hard in waiting chair, its plush surface too soft to be comfortable for waiting. \"Wren. I promise I will find them and make them suffer for this.\" Lupin swore, pushing back the blue curls that lay across the woman’s forehead, covering stitches and welts. Toshiko knew he spoke true. Suffer too kind a word for what the thief would do. but...

Zenigata cleared his throat. \"Lupin.. we caught them. they wont be out anytime soon. A video camera for the store next door saw it all.\" Fala stirred, noticing the lies that stood in the older mans voice. He also spoke in the language of half truths.. a tongue the thieves knew all too well.


\"Don’t lie to me Pops.. If even one of those Bastards got away, I will find him. With or without your help.\" He stared at his long time rival, waiting the truth. \"We didn’t get them all.... I’m sorry Toshiko.. I have to tell him. He deserves to know.\" She felt betrayed, already adrift in a sea of despair, now her scrap of drift wood was stolen from under her. If he knew what had happened in that moment.. what Wren had done..

\"We arrested four of the five attackers Lupin. We didn’t need to arrest the last one..\" he looked to the floor, unsure, it seemed, if saying this was the right thing. The silence was crushing, bearing them all down, circling, closing them off... until Lupin spoke

\"She killed him....didn’t she?\" Toshiko looked up. How did he? He could he know? Wrens only promise in a life filled with everyday danger, a promise few cops could keep... never to take the life of another. It wasn’t her right. The Interpol Inspector didn’t even carry a gun. She armed herself with blades and wit. To subdue and bring justice. Her motto. And she had beat the man to death with her bare hands.

There was no answer needed. The truth was as easy to see as the lie had been. Toshiko waited.. for a movement, a sound. For Lupin to rage, to walk out. Sister or not, he also refused to kill. What was his thoughts now? Would he leave? Lupin hated killers. Instead, he leaned down, pressing lips damp with tears to his little sisters forehead. \"They killed her innocence\" Softly, as if the words them self were more painful then the wounds she carried. In truth, they would be, once she found out.

*there’s more.. so much more taken from her.* Toshiko dared not speak, knowing any words would state she and her father where still bearers of a worse secret. A larger sin against the woman all gathered there loved. The scrape of stiff cotton against itself drew all eyes, bright, teary, sad, pained to the bed. \"Wren?\" Hope flared, bright and burning itself out, feeding on dreams that had been taken away. It died out, leaving only embers, at the realization of the crushing words that would be spoken when her love did wake

\"..bloody hell...\" British accented muffled by sleep, but there all the same. Not a breath was drawn or released as Wren stirred, eyes fluttering open. They stared at nothing, save maybe the paneled ceiling. The sound of the clock gracing the otherwise bare wall ground into her brain, its insistent ticking mocking her somehow. A deep gasp. As if the true world had suddenly washed away the dreamtime spell Wren had been under.


\"Where the hel-\" Swift motions, ended in a cry of pain as Wren sat upright quickly, bandaged hands wrapping about her midsection. Tears slipped free, their acidic nature surely biting into her facial wounds. Whimpering, showing a weakness that the woman would of never normally allowed to get free, Wren fell back on the pillows, sobbing openly as she held aloft her hand, looking over the plaster encased wrist and palm.

As one, they moved forward, surrounding her in their joint love and concern. Toshiko could feel their inner gaze on her, even while their eyes were locked to Wren. They were waiting for her speak, to say the first words. But there was nothing written by the hand of man, spoke by his tongue, that Toshiko found worthy of Wrens time or loss.

But she tried. \"Wren..\" moving between her father and the head of the bed, Toshiko leaned over, taking the larger woman’s torso in a crushing hug. Trying not to let her newly found reserve of tears fall. \"Ow..ouch.. Toshiko.. not so tight.\" Mirth danced about the injured woman’s voice, just under the pain and confusion.

Laughing what would not be referred to as completely sane, Toshiko stepped back. \"I’m sorry Honey... its just...\" The giddy crazed joy was quickly slipping away, moving

\"Okay..\" Wren stated as the hold was removed. \"I take it I’m in the local body shop. Did I get a bit knocked up? Cause it feels like I received a complete overhaul.\" She teased, tears still sliding unnoticed from her brown eyes. Zenigata made a small odd sound at the choice of words and Toshiko knew why. They dug deep, hurting her.

The thief gave both Zenigata’s a glace from under his raised eyebrow, questions sure to follow had Wren not spoken. \"Don’t worry Pops.\" She sighed, laying back slowly. \"I keep forgetting I’m not in the bloody British Isles anymore. Knocked up... Its slang for car crash. I’m not pregnant. No grandkids for you old man! Not yet anyways.\" She joked

Pressing the hurt aside, she slipped into the chair next to Wren, simply enjoying the nearness.
That is, until her love posed the question again, in less teasing terms then the first, her voice cracking in fear. \"Toshiko… please? Why are you so quiet? What happened to me?\"

How could she open her mouth and let such vile truths out? How could she hurt the woman whom was already in pain? But Wren had to be told the truth. You cannot lie to your angel anymore then you could sheer her of her wings. \"Toshiko?\" Wren leaned towards her as she drew a shuddering breath \"What’s wrong honey?\"

Even laying there in that bed, its numbing color overtaking her, the tubes and wires and lights, revealing every movement of her body, the bandages and plaster coating her...Wren was still more concerned for her. For her, the one who caused all this, the weak woman whom allowed the jackals on her Angel.

Toshiko was going to cry again. She could feel it coming on, the thick burn like the unspoken lies, crawling up her throat, seeking to break free. \"Oh Wren..\" sobbing, face buried in her arms, the sleeve and plaster acting as the blankets of childhood. If ever a fright was near, they could be pulled over you. And thus you were safe. No hurts or evil could break in.

No... she had to be there, to support her when the truth hit. \"Wren...You..you..\" She couldn’t make her body, mind nay even her soul form the words that would destroy her. Biting hard on the inside of her cheek, Toshiko prepared to start again. \"Wren! Honey! look what I-OW! I mean we got you!\"

Well, that wasn’t what she had been struggling to say. Over the large dull brown paper of Wrens gift, Lupin shot her a glance. \"Get your self together, you\'re scaring her\" look. More of a \"You’re scaring my little sister and that’s not good\" glance. Toshiko sighed, allowing a smile yet fleeting smile to break free in the warmth of the thief’s love for his sister.

He was still rubbing the rib that received a firm elbow for the forgotten mention of his wife in the present giving, when Wren’s less injured hand tore at the covering of the flat rectangle. The sound of paper rending was earsplitting to Toshiko, rivaling the dominance the ticking clock had held. It echoed in her mind as a different sound, similar, yet so different.

The snap of each strand, she could hear it, in slow ripples, passing over her like waves. Outside her mind, Wren gasped in surprise at the gift she was receiving. In her mind, it was a growl of anger as a tumble of blue was ripped from her unkempt curls.

\"Lupin, you better not of..\" her fathers shocked voice carried awe, like she had never heard directed at the thief before. \"Please Pops! Do you think I stole this? Goodness no! My grandfather did, years ago.\" Toshiko leaned over into her loves bed a little, to see what it was that she had received from her brother as a gift.

Her eyes grew wide, unable to not drink in the dark, yet beautiful colors. The swirling brushstrokes, paint thick. Rolling hills, the leaping stretching tree and sleepy village below that still showed life in the few lit windows. but most of all was the sky. His soul had been poured out into that sky. The yellows, blues, blacks... a dance of light, darkness and lines that moved with a fluidness that water was only blessed with.

\"Its true, the one on display is a fake.\" Fala nodded, slipping off her husbands arm to approach her sister in law from the other side. \"He wanted to give you a Monet. Can you belive him?\" Behind her, Zenigata sputtered in barely contained rage. \"A Monet?! He has a Monet too?\"

\"Hey, old man.. its not like I stole! I tried to return stolen things once before, but you-\"
\"Its one of the only things you haven’t stole the-\"
Both men stopped in mid rant and turned to Wren. She had the Van Gogh propped on her knees, splinted and stitched fingers tracing the thick surface with the utmost of care, tears pouring out as if the very feel of such genius would end her.

\"Lupin...you gave me Starry Night.\" Toshiko pushed the distraught woman back against the pillows, which cracked at her pressure. \"I told you we should of given her Water Lilies.\" The thief grumped to his wife, earning another set of sore ribs. \"Shhhh...Honey...\" Toshiko murmured, running her fingers through the thick tangled bangs that lay against the distraught woman’s forehead. \"I’m dying, aren’t I? I’m bloody dying.\"

Toshiko started, suddenly understanding the fear and heartbreak in those tears she wiped away. Everyone was there. Thieves and Cops in the same room. Her brother gave her one of the family’s greatest treasures. She couldn’t speak, couldn’t say what was so much simpler then what Wren feared. No wonder she thought such things.

\"Is this what you have been hiding, both of you?! Is this the thing you haven’t been able to say? Only talking in secret glances BETWEEN EACH OTHER?!\" Lupin bellowed, voice rising greatly in the last few words as he struggled in his wife’s tightening grip. \"Damn it! Let me go!\" he growled, lashing out the angry words to his wife. The Raven did just that without saying a word.

The fear and rage that seemed to boil off the man faded in less then 3 steps, replaced by guilt and defeat. \"Fala.... I’m sorry. I..... I don’t know what to do now. I just found her, it seems like yesterday.. I found I even had a sister. I can’t lose her now.\" He muttered, sitting in the only empty chair. Softly, as only love can do, Fala moved behind him, wrapping her arms around his shaking shoulders in a hold of comfort.

\"She’s not dying....Wren, you’re not dying. I promise you on our love that you are not dying.\" She soothed, her lips curling ever so as hope began to again glow in those brown eyes, framed in laugh lines and freckles. Soft both, but there.

Dark brown over laid by tan moved past the corner of her eye as her father headed towards Lupin. He was going to tell it. The lie this moment of calm was. The real death of her love. Toshiko knew it, felt the chill of her father’s actions to come, even as she wrapped in Wrens warm thick arms.

\"Oh my god..\" The hushed, quiet horror in Fala’s voice, the way Lupin’s hand gripped the arm rest, clutching as if tearing it apart would destroy the attackers, Toshiko knew her thoughts had proved true. Her father had told them. Suddenly, Wren shifted, out of the careful hold, sitting up taller in her bed. Pain traced her battered face at each slight movement, but a tinny, muffled jangle was the companion to the shock now on her face.

\"Toshiko...Why am I foot cuffed to the bed? Why? Oh bloody god, Toshiko! Get it off!\" Her words were a jumble of panic, and terror. The beeping that sang out her hearts working were now almost a rushed din, somehow the mechanical noise sounded panicked itself. The bed jerked as Wren tugged her leg hard against the metal hold, her face twisted in unearthly panic. \"Toshiko!\" Please!\" She begged, tears running freely down her face.

Wrens fear. To be held, bound, unable to move, to get away, her freedom severed. The tubes and wires, small leashes, easily overlooked. But this could never be ignored. Her Father scrambled for his large set of keys, his breathing labored as some of his daughter in laws fear seeped in. \"Pops... Pops! Breath...look.\" Fala pointed as Lupin removed the cuff in a shaky show of skill. \"7.8 seconds. I’m sorry it took me so long, little sis.\" He pulled the chain away, dashing to the far side of the room.

\"I think we need to be alone for a while.\" Toshiko stated, hand resting on the once strong woman’s quivering form. Lupin nodded, taking her father by the arm, dragging the resisting man away. \"Good Luck, Soeur.\" Fala offered as the door shut behind her.

\"Why? Why was I cuffed to the bed? Why would you let them, Toshiko?\" Wren whispered, drawing the stiff blanket up around her, eyes darting about as if the bearer of her fears would appear, offering more.

\"You were in here already when they let me in. I didn’t realize they would do it, even after I asked them not to.\" She was calming... the machines keeping guard slowed, each word from Toshiko seeming to sooth the erratic beeping.

\"Why? What happened? Why would they need to cuff me?\"
Toshiko sighed, looking away. \"You were arrested. A mere formality until they could proved without a doubt it was done in self defense.\" The silence centered in, marking the two of them in their own world, erasing them from everything. \"What was done in self defense? Did I hurt someone Toshiko?\"

\"What do you remember? Before waking up here?\" Toshiko asked gently, removing the masterpiece from the larger woman’s lap. \"You...screaming... there was men all around you, your arm..\" Wren shook her head, blue curls bobbing with the movement. \"That’s all… everything after that is a haze, like a dream.....Oh God. I hurt one of them, didn’t I? I hurt one of those men bad, didn’t I?\"

Wren the peace lover... the quiet one, the cop who refused to carry a gun. How could she tell this model of compassion she had not only hurt all of them badly, but she had killed one?
\"Wren...promise me you will try to stay calm...promise me.\" She nodded, but the machines spoke of her lie, already crying out her heightened pulse. No more stalling. \"You killed one of them. The others are here.\"

The red and purples bruises displayed the only blood left in the woman’s face as the words struck, each one that before calmed her, breaking her. \"No... I couldn’t of killed someone. I couldn’t of. \" The words repeated, moving in tone as Wren herself rocked back and forth.

\"Wren… you saved my life and your own. You fought with a power I have never seen. You protected me from them. Without you, I would be dead of worse off now.\" The bed creaked with the addition of Toshiko’s slight weight on its edge. Merely holding her.

The clock returned, each second sticking away loudly, the mocking tone gone in its place a sense of nothing. Nothing changing from that clicked off moment, as if they had always been frozen in their quiet poses.

\"You can love a murder?\" The words brushed against her neck, each one a statement of loss and worry. \"I can love the woman who has saved me from so much. A lonely life, a loveless life, and the destroying of my life. To name a few. You are everything to me. My happiness is found in every breath you take. Every time you smile, I find myself wondering how I keep you. You are perfect. And nothing can change that. Wren. I love you. That’s why I have to say the rest.\"

Wren pulled away, out of her arms, leaving her chilled, in body and soul. The first truth had almost destroyed her.. what would the second one do? \"You.....They deserved what they got.\" She growled, sudden venom in her voice at the recalling of the doctors hollow words. \"They are lucky it was you Wren.. they are lucky I wasn’t able to fight. That I didn’t have my gun.\"

The heavy hand on her shoulder the plaster wrist digging into bone, but the slight pain was forgotten in the comfort the touch brought. \"I’m alive and so are you. We still have each other, Toshiko.. Nothing else matters now. \" Her gaze drifted to the light blue envelope that still sat on the small night stand where Toshiko had abandoned it. \"I see you got my card. Open it up.\"

Numb with a bittersweet mix of guilt and grace, it seemed the hand that reached out to the paper smeared with red was someone else’s. It couldn’t belong to her. Nothing here was real. She wished for it, but knew no matter the pain this was her truth. At least Wren was awake. She had awakened to a world of hurt, but it was better then forever swimming in a coma induced land of her mind’s making.

Holding it between plaster encircled thumb and forefinger, Toshiko slid her unfettered fingers under the flap, finishing the action she couldn’t do before. The sound of the adhesives pull in its attempt to stay in place, the slid of the cards edge against the thinner blue was oddly hushed compared to the ringing tones of other ordinary sounds.

The front had puppies on it. Big, drooling thick furred dogs. Toshiko felt a tremor pass through her, tugging at her lips before it spilled out. She laughed. A true sound of happy and joy. Simple things that woman did was her perfection. Wiping away the tears of mirth, Toshiko gently whapped Wren with the card.

\"You nut job...\" She accused, voice thick with emotions. She was allergic to dogs. Wren was grinning broadly, enjoying the first laughter to pass from her loves lips since she woke in this drama. \"Open it..\" She urged gently, hand tugging upwards lightly on the closed card.


Words can not tell you my feelings.
Song cannot reveal my emotions.
Actions would fall short, be a joke..
As shows of my love for you.

You are the truest thing in my life
The world about me is dull and colorless
Monotone fingers gripping my heart
When you are away

Five years ago, with fear and joy racing through me,
I handed you my fragile soul
You have nurtured it, made it strong, made it yours
And your it shall always be, forever.

Happy Anniversary Toshiko, My Queen
Love, Your little bird.

The little bird became a smudge of black swirled ink as a tear fell to the card. \"Oh! Crap!\" Snuffing loudly, Toshiko dabbed it with her damp tissue, blotting it up before too much damage was done. \"Nothing you say or do can change the way I feel Toshiko. Ever since the day I confessed my love and heard it in return it has been true. Please, tell me......\"

She had always been so trusting. Nothing could ruin her Toshiko in her eyes. Just like her brother and a woman of the past had once been. But unlike the late Ms. Mine, Toshiko returned those feelings.

\"Please forgive me.. I know this will hurt....\" She paused biting her lip, as Wren leaned against her pillows, worry again crossing her swollen features, no matter her words of moments before.
\"You cant bear children anymore. They stabbed you......the bastards took your dream.\" She was shaking, trembling in anger again at the thought of any of those men being alive, having the freedom to live each day.

Time passed, as if the world had paused for dramatic measure. Then they were there, moving at the same time, taking the other in her arms. Ignoring the flaring pain, the awkward sitting.....Ignoring everything but each other. Each crying and comforting at the same time.

\"You held this yourself, for so long....trying to tell me.\" Wren sobbed against her neck, the hot tears gathering and pooling before sliding down her shirt front. A river of grief.

\"I couldn’t tell you.. I couldn’t hurt you like that!\" Toshiko clung tighter, face pressed to those thick curls. \"You are more important then that Toshiko! If I traded my womb for your life.. Its nothing compared to you. I love you.\" Those truth laden words did nothing to stanch the tears of either one

But as all things must, the crying slowed, the grips loosened. closing her eyes to the warm press of lips to her forehead, Toshiko leaned back in her chair, their uninjured hands threaded together. \"We can try to adopt.\" But they knew it was a task few surmounted

Both worked in dangerous jobs, no promise from day to day they would come home
They owned nothing, lived paycheck to paycheck, most of it going to rent on their meager one bedroom flat. And they were both female. The fact that destroyed most hope.

\"You don’t have to do that.\" Fala called softly from the doorway as she slipped in, Lupin and her father following. \"We were talking in the hallway and....\" Fala dragged her lagging husband in, shutting the door behind him before closing the short distance between herself and the women. \"I want to be your Surrogate. You are both my sisters, all of you here are my family. Its the least we can offer to you guys.\"

Hope. Just like that, hope returned. Pandora’s box had been opened by fate, the horrors flaring out about them, as Pandora sat watching it devorer them. But a few words from this thief, the woman they as cops should seek to confine, had drawn the young woman of myth from her spell, long enough to close the box, returning hope.


\"So...when my wife gives birth, would that make me an uncle or a dad?\" Lupin oofed slightly as the pillow hit him in the face. \"Don’t make me beat your ass brother.\" Wren threatened, already armed with the second pillow. Fala laughed as her husband tried to hide behind her smaller frame. Beside her, her dad plucked at her sleeve. \"Does this mean I’m going to be a grandpa soon?\" A note of fear mixed with pride in his voice.
Things were already returning to normal.. or as close to normal as all present would ever want.

THE END