Redemptio Animae

by Sydney Gibson

  Kit looked down at the ice pack in her hands, "You are playing god, Claire." She said it softly, but it still bit at me. She rolled the now luke warm pack in the palm of her good hand.

  I looked away from her, "If that's how you choose to look at it, I cannot change your mind."

  I felt my heart sink when what I expected began to settle in the room, thick unspoken disapproval. Kit was like everyone else, seeing the breakthrough I had accomplished as another dastardly attempt at taking the control out of the lord’s hand and deciding humanities fate. I did hold the power to make people live longer, but not forever.

  I stood up from the chair I had sat in, feeling my jaw clench as tears wanted to fall once again. I had hoped that there was something different about Kit, it was already different in the way she lit my heart on fire with the unique and foreign feelings she pushed into me with the looks she gave me. Now it was what I expected, nothing different, but the same distaste and lack of understanding of why I was doing what I was. I went to leave the room, "If you want to quit, I will understand, but I will have to have you sign a non-disclosure agreement."

  I dropped my eyes down to the redhead still transfixed on the monitors, "My life is in danger every day and has been for the last few months, I cannot allow any of what I told you to be spoken past these walls as you take your leave." My tone had shifted to that of the one I used when I was Senator Avondale, I was slowly letting go.

  I brushed past Kit when I felt her grip on my wrist, gentle, but firm enough to stop my movements and pull my eyes to settle right onto hers.

  "Claire, why on earth would I quit now. You need me more than ever." Her voice was full of honesty and so heartbreaking soft.

  Overwhelmed was not the best word to explain how I felt. I honestly did not think there was a word in any dictionary to accurately describe what was swirling around me. My head was swimming with words and images that I couldn't believe were real. The woman was truly brilliant and beyond, the genius title she carried was well suited.

  At the beginning of the speech Claire was giving me, I barely paid attention. What she was telling me was beyond my basic knowledge of biology from high school and my required college classes. The more she told me, rapidly in an excited tone that I had never experienced from the woman, the more I began to understand why Claire was hunted and hiding. Hearing that made me want to protect her more, keep her even closer, act sooner and faster on those who came her way.

  I watched the video of a grey spotted lungs shrivel away to be replaced by a pair of pink and happy new set and how the blondes eyes lit up as she tapped away on the tablet, pulling apart the foundation all humans are built on and rebuild it as she saw fit.

  She was playing god. She had unlocked the secret of life and how to extend it.

  The sudden weight of what Claire was doing and how much danger she was putting herself in, hit me like a ton of bricks. More when I saw the glimmer of fear in her eyes when she spoke of previous threats from outside extremist groups and from inside the government she served.

  I also knew that when her tone shifted when she finished, Claire was worried I was casting judgment on her with my silence. When she stood up, telling me that I could quit if I wanted, I saw the fear again in her eyes. Fear that I was judging her and that I was going to leave her.

  Claire mumbled something else and brushed against my arm, I reached out, gently snagging her wrist with my good hand, tugging it to stop her from leaving. "Claire, why on earth would I quit now? You need me more than ever."

  I held onto her wrist and stood up to be face to face with the woman who would forever surprise me. I smirked when her eyes met mine, "You can't get rid of me that easy."

  Claire's brow knitted together as she let out a small nervous laugh, looking at my hand on her wrist, "I wasn't sure you would want to stay, your silence..."

  "Told you more. I know." I let my hand slide from her wrist, taking her hand in mine, I looked back over at the monitors. "Your work is remarkable." Turning back to face her, "You are remarkable."

  Claire turned her eyes to the floor, the light smile she had on her face fading slightly, gently pulling her hand free from mine, "But I am playing god."

  I watched her tuck her hands into her sleeves and back away from me.

  I cringed as my own words cycled back around, it was clear she had heard it a thousand times before in polite company and while men attacked her. I reached for her again, my hand finding her elbow through the thick material of her sweater. "Claire, look at me."

  She shook her head ever so slightly, trying to back away as she tried to blink away the tears, whispering, "Religion and science, the great good vs. evil battle."

  I held her and stepped closer, reaching up to run my hand over her cheek, "Claire, look at me." I asked again quietly, she only then lifted her eyes to meet mine. I smiled to put her at ease, "Religion and science mean nothing but the same to me, I don't fully understand either of them or how they control the world in their own ways." I stepped closer to Claire, feeling her body heat radiate through the sweater she wore, "All I understand is this, whatever it is between us, I would still stand by your side even if you were creating nuclear weapons."

  Claire raised an eyebrow at me, and I shook my head to cut off anything she was going to say, continuing on, "You are remarkable and for the short amount of time I have known you, you have only shown that you want to help people, care for them and make them see the best in themselves." I moved my hand from her cheek to slide down her neck and settle on her shoulder, "You did that for me." I squeezed her elbow, "I will keep you safe. I am far too beyond running from you or the fears that sit in the back of my mind. Waiting for the first opportunity to creep up and cast doubt over me." I looked up in her glassy sea green eyes, "More importantly, I could not bear to see anyone stand where I stood if I left you." The last part came out as a choking whisper. I smiled through my own building tears, "You are stuck with me."

  I swallowed hard, the love she had shown me over the last few weeks was killing me in the best way possible, killing the last few strings of despair I held onto from my past. I held the eyes that looked deeper in my soul than anyone I had ever met and still made me feel whole. "You have tasted all of my pain and yet you are still here."

  "Oh Kit." My name fell from her lips like a painful whisper before her hands fell to the sides of my face, pulling her towards me at the same time, our lips meeting quickly. We kissed hard, hard and full of relief that neither of us had done what the other expected, revealed another insurmountable mountain of truths and stood tall at the top asking what next?

  I ran my tongue over Claire's bottom lip, asking her to give me a little more. She moaned as she honored the request, pushing her body flush against mine. Kissing this woman for the second time was equally as amazing as the first and I loved the way just the feel of her lips and tongue with mine, set off tiny electrical shocks and shortages through my body.

  My body was building a want for more, but I shoved it away, all I wanted from Claire was what I was getting right now, kissing me until she broke away from me for air, flushed and smiling. I picked up she wouldn't look me in the eyes after we kissed, as if Claire was memorizing the moment before she had to face the reality of my eyes.

  Claire finally looked up, running the back of her hand over my cheek before it moved down to land at the curve of my neck and shoulder, "Things will change Kit, the danger, the threats, the fear." She smiled tightly, "It will get worse, it already has." I saw the fear edging in again, this time it was a fear directed at my safety.

  I nodded, "I will take the risk. You are worth it." I wrapped Claire in my arms, holding her tightly. This was complicated, beyond complicated compared to falling for an Ambassadors brother and still trying to do the job. I was falling in love with the woman I had to protect, faster and harder than ever before, and I would take the risks presented to me.

  I sighed, nuzzling into Claire's shoulder, I was even willing to sacrifice my l
ife to keep her alive. I squeezed my eyes shut, holding Claire tighter, the slow realization washing over me, that I wasn't falling in love with the blonde in my arms, I already was in love with her.

  I held Claire for a few moments before she slowly leaned out of my arms, smiling and looking down at my shoulder, "There is one more thing I want to show you."

  I cocked my head, what else could she possibly show me? I had just spent the hour watching Claire tell me about how she was able to trick the genetic code and how much my heart was hers now. "Please tell me you aren't growing a person in the closet over there?"

  Claire laughed, "No I am not." she paused shuffling papers on the desk, looking up at the ceiling, "Well not yet, maybe next month."

  I looked at her mildly horrified, "Claire, please tell me you're kidding?"

  She winked at me, "Maybe, maybe not." she pointed to the chair that I had sat in, "Sit?"

  I backed up, flopping into the chair and cringing at the sharp pain of my bruised and battered shoulder. I grimaced at it, the shoulder would take at least three weeks until it moved like normal. I would have to revert to using my left hand to shoot, meaning I would have to spend every day in the closest gun range to get it back to where it once was. I grabbed my very warm ice pack, looking at Claire's back as she tinkered with a desktop lab set. "You don't happen to have a first aid kit down here?"

  Claire shook her head and spun back around to me, sitting down in the rolling chair with a handful of needles and a small silver metal box, "I don't, but I have something better for your shoulder."

  I looked at the needles she was preparing. "Um, I only do booze, not drugs."

  Claire smiled, rolling her eyes and reaching out for my hand on the bad side. "I need a drop of your blood."

  I stared into her eyes, slowly giving her my hand, "Are you going to grow me a new arm?"

  Another eye roll followed by a prick of the needle on my finger. "No." Claire moved to the silver box, dropping the small amount of blood she had taken from me into a tiny well in the center. "A side effect of the work I did on the organs and the regrowth process was that I also unlocked the ability to encourage rapid healing." She pressed a button on the box, making it whir quietly. "I took your DNA and am currently stripping the code apart, then rebuilding it to be stronger than before." Two seconds later the box made a beep sound, Claire opened the box, taking out a small vial and slipping it into an injection needle. She turned and held up the vial with a light violet liquid swirling in the glass, "This is only temporary, lasts as long as it takes for the healing serum to find the damage area, set to work repairing the tissues and it will fade away when the job is done. No lingering side effects."

  Claire smiled and took my hand, rubbing a tiny alcohol patch right under the edge of the massive bruise, she met my eyes to ask permission to inject me, "This won't hurt."

  I nodded slowly, giving her permission to jab a needle of unknown liquid into my arm. I sucked in a breath, wondering if I was trusting her too much for a split second. Claire nodded to reassure me and slowly stuck the needle in, releasing the violet liquid into my arm, instantly warming the entire shoulder up as if I had a heating pad on it.

  When the vial was empty, Claire set the needle down and waved at my shoulder, "Watch." I set my eyes on the horrible black and purple bruise, frowning at how dark the bruise had become in the last hour.

  In a few seconds my arm grew warmer as the soreness I had carried for the last forty-two hours began to edge away, I focused more when the bruise seemed to change color. From a deep black and purple to green and yellow, then finally to nothing, just to the pale white color my skin normally was under my sleeves. I sat, somewhat shocked as the bruise faded away like nothing had ever happened.

  I shot a look at Claire, smiling, she shrugged, "Can you move it?"

  I lifted my shoulder expecting excruciating pain, instead it was pain free and moved like nothing really didn't happened, actually better than nothing happened, it was like I had the shoulder I did before I entered the academy and destroyed my body up from aggressive training.

  I rolled my shoulder then swung my arm, excited I had full free range of motion, smiling awkwardly at Claire, "I have no pain."

  Claire laughed lightly, standing up, she offered her hand to me. "Good, I need your shoulder to be as perfect as the day you were born."

  I slid my hand into hers, relishing in the strange warmth and tingles touching the woman now always seemed to give me. I stood up and looked down at our hands together, taking a huge breath, I whispered, "We can do this, right?" I moved my gaze up, looking deep into Claire's eyes, "I can do this, right?"

  It was a question that held more in the answers than just a simple yes or no.

  Claire ran her thumb over my knuckles, "We can and we will." She grinned out of nowhere, "Let's go find something to eat, I'm starving and I think we need a break."

  I grinned in return, things seemed to be easier around us now, easier to breath, easier to smile, and easier in general. "I agree, but I think I ate all of the leftovers last night."

  Claire laughed harder, tugging me to follow her out of the office. "I think I can make us something with what’s left in the fridge." She turned to look over her shoulder at me, "While I cook you can ask the questions you still have about the Criterion Centre and my work."

  I smirked, blushing, "I only have a few thousand about this magical process you created." I dropped her hand as we left the office, closing the door behind us I walked after the woman, "I do want to know what happened five years ago that makes you keep a gun by your bedside and a bodyguard two doors down." I looked down at the stairs as I climbed up them, following Claire, "Did someone try to break in and steal some of the expensive art you have here?"

  Claire paused at the top of the stairs suddenly, making me almost slam into her. I placed my hand on her back, feeling how rigid she had gone. Pressing my hand against her back, "Hey, are you okay?"

  Claire did not turn around, speaking to me while she still faced forward, "They broke in to try and kill me, and they almost succeeded." She turned her head slightly, "If it wasn't for Rebecca coming home early from the gym, I would have bled out on my bedroom floor."

  Claire stood still for a second before she took the last few steps out of the basement, "My attackers bled out in the hallway after I shot them both." Her voice was cold and thick.

  I stood on the stairs watching her turn the corner and disappear into the kitchen, I was frozen at what she had just told me. Claire had as many secrets as I did, she just carried hers better than I did. She carried them gracefully while I carried them in the bottom of a bottle.

  I took a steadying breath, one to steady the anger that came from nowhere at Rebecca and the intruders. Yes, it happened five years ago, but it still had a profound effect on me, she told me she almost died like she was reading a phone number off to me. If she had died I would have never met the woman who was changing my life and my heart.

  It only had a profound effect on me because I suddenly realized that I didn't dare think about a time when Claire was not in my life.

  I slowly climbed the stairs, trying to relax my emotions before Claire read them and it would add another complication to our lives.

  Chapter 12

  Pulling open cabinets and searching through the random bits and pieces of canned goods and boxes of pasta, I debated what actually to make for Kit and I. Also waiting for Kit to ask about the small piece of information I had laid out to her on the staircase.

  I pulled down a box of pasta and a jar of sauce, looking at Kit as she entered the kitchen, meeting my eyes and looking away just as quickly, she wanted to ask but didn't know how.

  I set the two ingredients on the marble counter top, the jar making a heavy clunk sound that seemed to echo in the strange silence of the kitchen. I held up the box looking at the side for instructions, "It seems all I have ingredients for is a basic pot of spaghetti." I set the box down with a sliding sound, "Or I can put in
a delivery order for more Thai food or pizza." I smiled lightly at Kit, watching her roll her now fully healed shoulder with ease and amazement at how easily it moved.

  "Uh, yeah, sure. I can eat anything." Kit looked at the jar and box, "But I will leave it up to ladies' choice." Kit smirked, leaning forward on the counter top, glancing here and there at me, questions visibly bubbling in her head.

  I nodded, "I am craving lasagna, but I really don't want to make it." I pulled open the drawer in front of me, shuffling through the stacked mountain of carry out pamphlets. I shook my head when my fingers grabbed the edge of the Italian place three streets over. I really should stop eating like I was on vacation; it would make for a hard adjustment when I returned to the capital and had to return to my diet of healthy food in moderation and plenty of exercise.

  I slid it the pamphlet over to Kit, "Their calzones are excellent."

  Kit glossed over the bi-fold pamphlet for a split second, "I will have a spinach and feta one."

  I nodded and hit the speed dial on the house phone, smiling as I turned to look out the window when the kid who answered recognized my number. Cracking a joke about already knowing my order. I placed the order and hung up; setting the phone back on its charger I walked over to Kit, “Should be here in a half hour, I am going to go upstairs and change. I feel like a bum if I stay in my pajamas for too long."

  Kit smiled, keeping her eyes on the bright white marble strands in the counter top, "I probably should get dressed too." She stood up, holding out her hand for me to go first. We walked in silence to our separate bedrooms, I hovered around my door listening until I heard hers click shut before I let out a sigh.

  Kit was trying to figure out what happened without asking me, I could tell in the way she looked at me, her mind spinning with unspoken ideas. I would have to tell her that when I brought something up, even if it was a secret, it was okay for her to ask.