Trouble

[Christian Ward]

Christian practically snarled at the mention of Silas' name. The bastard had evaded them for too long as Christian sat around the safe house playing husband and soon-to-be daddy. He was as much enraged at himself as he was at the man who was actually attacking Diana.

"We can't leave her like this," he said roughly gesturing to the door behind which Diana was hopefully napping. They couldn't leave Diana with his mother. If Silas was able to regain control of Diana's body as he had before, there was no way Roselyn was going to fight him out.

[Derek Burke]

"You should stay with her. You're her anchor after all. I'll look for Silas." there wasn't anything cocky about his decision, but he was confident he could get the job done.

"I have a few contacts in Italy, and your mother seemed at home there, perhaps we should think about relocating her, if Diana is a liability then Roselyn shouldn't be here."

[Christian Ward]

What the hell was happening? Christian felt lost and not in control as he normally was. His concerns over Diana's wellfare were getting to him and he couldn't even come up with a plan to get his mother to safety. Burke had to do it for him. He didn't like this, but he wasn't sure how to resolve it, either.

"Fine," he said gruffly. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do as Diana's anchor, but it seemed logical that he needed to stay by her side because of it. Christian wasn't the kind of man to be left behind. He wasn't happy, but he could come up with any better alternatives. "You find Silas, but I want updates. I'm not sitting about the house like a woman. When you find him, you notify me."

He nodded at the suggestion that his mother go to Italy. Another country should, hopefully, be far enough away from the danger. "I'll send some of my men with her. Not that I don't trust your contacts." But it was his mother.

[Derek Burke]

The fact that Christian was agreeing to the plan at all meant that they had come along way. He was trusting Derek, and Derek didn't take that trust lightly. He would message his contacts tonight and have Roselyn moved in the morning which gave Christian time to notify his men.

As for Silas, Derek had a few leads. Nothing concrete, but he had been working on it while they had been cooped up in the safehouse, he could chase down those leads as well if not better than his men could hopefully they could bring this current threat to an end and get back on track with the final board member. Derek decided he was through with 'charity' after that. Diana, Vanessa, and Lyra the other night, all these women he tried to help were giving him a headache.

"I'll get word to my contacts to expect her tomorrow, you can get your men on board."

[Christian Ward]

Christian nodded and turned immediately to retrieve his communication mirror and set up a security team for his mother. When that was finished, he informed Roselyn who was determined to "set him straight" about his plans for his family and didn't seem overly concerned with being forced out of the country. She commented that she was certain she could find some nice gifts for Alyx and Liam there.

When his portions of the plans were settled, Christian returned to Diana's bedroom and removed the silencing spell. If he was going to be holed up in this room with her, he wanted to be able to hear what was going on outside of the doors.

[Derek Burke]

Derek moved quickly to do his own chores and set up in his room for a while to go over what leads he had as well as where he would begin his search for Silas.

***

Diana was sleeping by the time Christian reentered the room. Sleeping or was unconscious rather. The dreams were taking a stronger foothold in her subconscious, and while she only slept for a short while, days passed on the other side.

She was with Christian again, and even though she was in the psych ward, she had been relocated to recovery. Christian visited every day, they talked, they were falling in love. Diana didn't fight it. It was easy, and ordinarily that would make her suspicious, but Dr. Westin's explanation about purposefully making things harder than necessary to compensate for her earlier failures had a strange sort of logic to it. Diana was enjoying the easier life.

[Christian Ward]

Christian was both pleased and concerned to find her napping. Silas had entered through her dreams before and even gone so far as to pull her into dreams when she was awake. He couldn't be sure that that wasn't what was happening now. He watched her, but noted that her body was peaceful unlike the previous times Silas had gotten to her where her body writhed around until the sudden calmness struck and he had managed to see through her.

After a short while standing at the doorway and watching the steady rise and fall of her chest as she breathed, Christian gave in to the emotions and joined her in the bed. He laid next to her, watching her and thinking on how gorgeous she was. The worry slowly subsided as he laid with her.

[Diana Ward]

Diana felt him join her and her eyes opened. Her immediate response was a smile. Christian in bed with her was always a welcome sight, but as she thought upon what that meant her smile waned. She was back in 'this' reality. The harsh reality, where but for a few fleeting moments she hadn't known happiness in two years.

Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes. She was tired. She didn't want to do this anymore. It was too much. A psychological torture she had never experienced before, something she couldn't prepare for. How did she survive it?

[Christian Ward]

Christian rolled to his side and draped his arm over Diana, pulling her tight against him as he saw the liquid pooling at her eyes. He didn't know what to say. He wasn't the greatest with words, unless they were ones that his mother would have scolded him for using when he was younger. He could have communicated in another way if it weren't for the fact that they'd done that most of the morning and he was sure wearing her out wasn't going to help the problem any.

Diana had told him a little about how they got on, back when he could still remember. It was believable that he would fight with her and scream at her and then make passionate, aggressive love to her. That sounded like something he would do, although 'making love' was stretching it a bit. But Christian thought that maybe he could see even that, if he had loved her enough. He thought now that he probably could have loved her then. And maybe he was falling in love with her now, but he couldn't be sure. He had nothing to compare it to. There were certainly more emotions with Diana than there had been with Betty, and she was probably the closest thing Christian had had to a steady relationship (despite the only feelings he ever felt for the blonde were from below his belt). But did more emotions mean love, or was this something related to her being the mother of his children?

[Diana Ward]

"They're telling me it isn't real..." she confessed to him once he pulled her close.

"This...it feels real." her fingers spread against his chest, her ear against his heart listening to its steady thump. "But it feels real there too...I don't know. It's like when I'm there it all makes sense, but when I'm here..." she didn't know how to explain, but she felt lost.

[Christian Ward]

That was an unsettling confession. Christian looked at her for a moment the brought his hand up to the back of her hair and lifted his chin to rest on top of her head, disguising his look of concern as a comforting embrace. He wanted to shout at her. He didn't know why, but he felt it. He wanted to scream.

It's a f*cking trick, Diana. An illusion to pull you in so Silas can kill you! Is that what you want? For f*ck's sake, woman, use your head. Silas certainly is!

"Who's 'they'?" he asked instead, still masking his worry and anger as he held her.

[Diana Ward]

"Dr. Westin... who looks like Dr. Hanley." she admitted, " You..." she sighed, "The staff at St. Annes."

On some level she believed it to be a trick, but on another level she truly wondered. What if she simply broke down? Had a psychological fracture? Didn't that explain so much? It wasn't like she hadn't experienced it before.

[Christian Ward]

St. Anne's. Christian thought a moment as it sounded familiar. Then he remembered. Diana had told him, briefly, about the mental institution she was locked away in after she thought she lost Alyx to a drunken carriage accident.

Christian pulled back slightly and turned his head down to look at her. "Dr Hanley is telling you that you're in a loony bin? With me?" It didn't make sense to him. Why would she believe it was real?

[Diana Ward]

"After my father confessed what he had done, I couldn't cope with the idea of abandoning my daughter. I had a psychological break, and I have been creating fictitious enemies to defeat in order to earn Alyx's love." she explained as it had been explained to her.

"I know it sounds ridiculous..." but there had been so many things to happen over the past two years that also simply didn't make sense. Too many hardships. Too much pain.

[Christian Ward]

"To earn Alyx's love," he repeated. His voice conveyed his skepticism. "And I'm, what, some nutter in the room next to yours?" He shifted on the bed as he attempted to see her face better. She looked tired and sad.

[Diana Ward]

She laughed, impossible as it seemed, his comment amused her, "No." she shook her head, "You're... well honestly you're helping me." she had a softer look on her face when she talked about the 'dream' Christian. There was a warmer tone to her voice, and a slight smile on her lips. Dream Christian was quite the man. Of course to Diana, Christian in any reality was magnificent to her.

[Christian Ward]

"I'm helping you? In the loony bin. And what is helpful me getting in return for helping you? How did you find me if you were locked up?" He needed her to think things through and realize her dreams or psychotic visions or whatever they were, she needed to see that they were not real. Her life now, as horrible and tragic and complicated as it was, was real.

[Diana Ward]

"No, no!" she said shaking her head, "It isn't like that it's..." he wasn't solely in it for himself. He cared about her.

"Before I was admitted to the hospital I made arrangements to find Alyx. To find you...to tell you what had happened." she explained, "You found Alyx. You've been with her the whole time. You've been checking in on me. The doctors at St. Anne notified you because the treatment was working and I was coming back around. If I stop having episodes then I'll get to see Alyx." she said trying to explain what was holding her to the other reality. But the only way to stop having episodes, was to stop coming back to this reality and this Christian.

[Christian Ward]

That was enough, he didn't need to hear anymore. This was utterly ridiculous and the fact that she was falling for it was beyond dangerous. Christian pulled his arm out from under her head as he turned and stood up from the bed. 

"Do you hear yourself?" he asked her more harshly than he should have. "I found Alyx and we're just waiting for you to suddenly not be a nut job anymore? Really, Diana, you believe that sh*t?" He began pacing. "And what about Liam, huh? Do we have a f*cking son in your little daydream? Or is that something you think you've made up now too?"

[Diana Ward]

She winced when his tone changed. This wasn't 'dream' Christian, she couldn't confide in him. This Christian judged her, and harshly at that. It made her angry suddenly, it made her defensive.

"What's so unbelievable about it?" she asked sitting up and glaring at him, "The fact that I don't have assassins after me? That I could finally meet my daughter? That you would check in on the mother of your child if she were ill?!

When he mentioned Liam however she grew quiet. She couldn't recall Christian ever really referring to their son by his name after she wiped his memories. She was upset that this would be how she remembered it. Yes, if the other reality was to be believed, Liam was a product intended to keep Diana locked in the 'dream' world.

She didn't say whether or not she believed it.