Mercy

"I'm asking you, Miss Haughty Bitch. Is that who you mean? Is that the Sam I know?"

The woman drew up in offense, but Mercy didn't care. She was giving rude for rude today, she was done.

"Ishmael Whitter does go by Sam to his close family and friends," the man who'd come in with the woman agreed, his accent also British. "We do need to know about your involvement with Duke Whittier?"

"Is his name Duke or Ishmael?" Mercy demanded.

"Duke is his title," the man spoke up quickly.

"Oh..." Mercy blushed, feeling stunned. He had a title?!?

"So... you do have a relationship with him?" the man prompted.

"I know him, I think, if it's the same man," she agreed, blushing furiously. "We don't have what anyone would call a relationship."

"So you won't be relocating to England?" the woman asked.

"To Reading?" Mercy asked, her heart pounding slightly as she thought of Sam.

"Yes, that is where his family's estate is."

"Ahhhh... ummm... look, I haven't even spoken to Sam since all of this happened..."

"He is arranging an emergency visa for you, did you know that?"

"Has arranged," the woman corrected.

"Ummm... well, before I answer any questions about Sam, I need to speak to him. Umm... do you have his phone number? A way to contact him? Can I let him know I'm alright?"

"He knows. He's the one who arranged for you to stay in this hotel, or did you truly think the American FBI would put you up in a 5 star suite? And he sent those clothes, along with all the things for the baby. Is it his child?"

"What? No! That's... ridiculous! I didn't even meet Sam until after Everett was born. Why do you care about any of that? That's no one's business! Who even are you people asking these questions? None of these are relevant to the case at all. I need to speak with Sam, do you have a way to get in touch with him?"

"If he wishes to speak with you, he will be in touch with you," the woman scoffed.

"He has applied for the emergency visa," the man went on. "It won't be put through unless you agree that you want sanctuary with him, so we have to ask."

"I want to talk to him before I answer that," Mercy told them, still blushing. "Is that all of the relevant questions? I haven't slept and it's really late. Everett's about to wake up and once I feed him, I plan on going to bed."

"We'll let you sleep and we'll be right across the hall," Agent Fontanelle told her, standing. "Gabe and I will both be close if you need anything at all, and there will be uniformed officers on shift in the hall too, on both ends and in front of your door, as well as a car out front."

"Thank you," she told him with a nod.

"We'll be back in the morning too, with more questions," the other set of agents told her. "Can we bring you anything? Coffee?"

"Coffee would be great," Mercy agreed quickly.

As soon as they were all gone, Mercy fed Everett, then fell into bed. She meant to think about Sam, figure out how to get in touch, but she passed out almost immediately in the huge, soft bed.

Everett woke her at his normal time and Mercy sighed, still so tired. She felt half asleep as she fed and changed him, then showered again just because she could. She was curled up in the robe when the front door opened.

Mercy looked up, ready to chew someone out for not knocking, then grinned and jumped up when Sam came in, looking completely terrified.

His face relaxed when he saw her and Mercy grinned as he hurried to her, standing up on the couch she was sitting on so she could throw her arms around his neck.

"Miss Mercy! Oh, my sweet girl, are you alright? I was so afraid for you! I did the best I could as quickly as I could, but I couldn't stop the plane from taking off! Not when they touched down either, I am so sorry!"

"Hush! I'm fine, Sam, we're both fine, just tired now. How did you do it? How did you manage to get him arrested?"

"It's a long story, but I told you I had a cousin and friends? I just reached out as quickly as I could. Oh, Miss Mercy, I was so afraid!" he wailed, hugging her even closer, then spinning her as she laughed and hugged him back. "I have a visa ready for you to come back with me, Miss Mercy? Please say you will?"

"I'm so sorry to interrupt," Agent Fontanelle called from the still open door. "She will need to stay for a few days? And possibly through the hearing as well? There's a lot to be done here and she will be needed the next few days."

"Can't you take her statement and let her go?"

"It's not that easy, she was integral to a lot of his money laundering, even if she didn't know it at the time. She has inside information and we are going to need her to testify. Not just about the kidnapping and rape... unfoturnateley those are small potatoes comparitively as far as the other things she can testify to. She will need to stay throughout the hearing and we will need to keep her in protective custody."

"Then I will stay with you," Sam told Mercy quickly, setting her down to stand on the couch again as he took hold of her face. "I can stay right here with you through everything."

"Are you sure you want to, Sam?" Mercy asked a little fearfully. "It will be dangerous?"

"I have my own guards here to protect me as well. I'll just rent out this whole top floor and bring in a chef to prepare food for us so we don't have to risk food being brought in."

"He won't try and poison or kill her," Gabe told Sam. "Only you. She's saying you won't be safe. Some of his men might think to keep her from testifying, but he's already put down a blanket statement that she's off limits. No one can go after her, even if she does testify. She's his to keep safe and his alone to punish if she goes against him, so he says. He won't hurt her, but... if he finds out about you? He will send men after you all out. Maybe her too if he thinks she's cheating on him."

"So do not tell him?" Sam told him, confused.

"He knows. First thing his lawyer told him was who got this big ball rolling and who bankrolled it, and her protection. By now he knows you met her back in Croatia and you and her were probably hooking up."

"We did not!" Mercy cried, horrified.

"He believes that, he told his lawyer that you weren't lying when you said you hadn't been with another man. Still, doubt will creep in if he knows this man is here now and staying in your room with you. There won't be a way to keep it from him, he has people everywhere and if he doesn't have people here, he will get them. Won't be hard to pay a maid for information. Threaten a cook for how many meals come up. He has ways of knowing things, always has."

"I was not intending to sleep in her room! I will have my own room on this floor! I will stay close to her! Or let me bring her back to England with me where I can more easily keep her safe! She can testify over video feed!"

"We'll see what we can work out, we just need you to be aware of everything. Also, there isn't a soul in the city who doesn't know that some British nobility is staying here at this hotel, you're all over the news and internet right now. If you step out those doors you won't have a moment's peace. My 14 year old texted me half an hour before you got here to tell me there was a prince in our city and he would be staying here."

"I'm by no means a..." Sam began, affronted.

"Yeah, you're in the states now. No one really cares about semantics, you're basically a prince. Same difference to all the little teenage girls who're already swooning over the pictures of you getting off the plane. Like it or not, you're now a celebrity with the way you came here, using your name and title to get here as fast as you could. So yeah, Murakami knows all about you by now, and he knows you've been in the same little village as her the past month. He'll put two and two together."

"We didn't do anything!" Mercy cried, horrified.

"Doesn't matter," Gabe shrugged. "Perception is everything."

"Miss Mercy," Sam called gently, getting her attention. "It's alright. I knew the risk and I made my own choice to come anyway. Look at me, my sweet girl. There now. It doesn't matter. I have my own men to keep me safe, you have a great many men to keep you safe, we will be just fine. We'll get through this and I will get you home and properly married as I've wanted all along. Now. Where's my little chap at? I've yet to say hello to him?"

Mercy let out an incredulous laugh, shaking her head in wonder. "He's laying down back in that little bedroom. There's a bassinet in there, he's asleep I think."

"Then a visit won't bother him," Sam told her brightly, lifting her up with one arm and carrying her back to the bedroom to look down at Everett. Everett was sleeping soundly, a single little fist out of his blanket and pressed to his cheek. "There's my old boy!" Sam cried in a whisper, grinning as he reached down with two fingers to shape Everett's hair into a fauxhawk. Mercy giggled and hugged Sam, closing her eyes and breathing him in.

"I've missed you so much," she told him.

"It's only been just over a day?"

"It feels like so much longer! It feels like it's been a week!"

"I've missed you too, Miss Mercy. I know I didn't ask... but I am now. Come back with me? Marry me?"

"You never said you had... complications?"

"Complications?"

"A title."

"Is that a complication?"

"A bit."

"I don't tell people who I am because..."

"It complicates things?"

He chuckled then and carried Mercy over to the bed to sit down with her. "I wanted a bit of peace for a while. When Connie passed... it was all anyone wanted to talk about, everyone wanted to know, they wanted interviews, no one would let me have any peace. So I left. I left and I never mentioned it and I tried to just... live, Miss Mercy. Live like she would want me to and see the good things I knew were out there. The beautiful things. Then I found you, the most beautiful thing I've ever seen and my soul... it finally felt whole again. You and my little chap here, what else could a man possibly want? I didn't tell you all of who I was... and that wasn't fair. You didn't tell me who you were and I went budging in anyway as if I had a right even though I kept things from you too. I'm sorry, Miss Mercy."

"No, it's alright. I'm glad that you did, it ended up saving Everett and I. I was never mad that you looked into him, Sam. I wasn't mad at all, I was just... it was just seeing him again. I was reminded of why I was running and I just needed a moment to myself. I wasn't upset with you, just myself for becoming complacent. And I was complacent, and look what it got me? Keen showed up in person to get me."

"The man, the writer fellow? They turned on him right quick. Joe and the others. Burned his check the man gave him and ran him out of town. I think they did more, but I never stayed around to ask, I was busy. I was so afraid for you, Miss Mercy."

"Will you ever stop calling me that and call me by just my name?" Mercy asked, smiling sadly as she lay her head in his lap.

"Soon as I can call you Mrs Whittier."

Mercy giggled again and hugged the arm he put around her shoulders. "Thank you, Sam. For saving me and... for showing me I could be happy again."

"So that's a yes, then?" he asked teasingly.

"We'll talk about it after the trial. I don't want anything getting out before the trial where he might hear about it."

"That IS a yes!" he crowed jubilantly.

Everett let out a grumpy little admonishment and Sam jumped up.

"You hear that old boy? Your mother said yes! Basically. In so many words! Know what that means?" he asked, picking Everett up to snuggle him close and smile at him. "I get your beautiful mother and you along with her!"

Mercy grinned again as she got up and pulled Sam back out front.

The other agents were back, all of them, and one of them had coffee for Mercy. Mercy took it with a happy sigh as she snuggled into the corner of the couch to drink it.

"We weren't expecting you, Duke," the woman spoke with a deferential nod to Sam.

"You weren't? That seems unlikely," he laughed in confusion. "Where else would I be?"

"You were arranging the emergency visa, we assumed you would try to get her to you, not come to where a powerful man already had an open hit out on you."

"I doubled the hit on him and had it sent directly into the system. His lawyer spoke to him and as of 45 minutes ago, the hit was called off of me. Once it has been off a full three hours, I will recall the hit on him and he is in solitary until it is."

"What if he puts it back out?"

"I already had my people reach out to his lawyer, if he does it again, or Mercy or I either one gets hurt, he won't survive the hour and his house will fall. I... made an arrangement with him."

"An arrangement?"

"I won't adopt Everett and change his last name. Mercy promised him she would allow Everett the last name Murakami and I promised not to adopt him and change it. In return, he won't try to take me out again. He tried to make more stipulations, but that was the only one I would agree to. As it is, I am having to reach out to a great many people to call them off. When he put the hit out on me, he sent up a lot of flags and retaliatory actions. You don't have to worry, Miss Mercy, I promise you. No one is going to hurt either of us."

Mercy stared at Sam a little wide eyed as the two british agents gave the other four agents very smug looks.

"Yes," she said suddenly, not really caring anymore about staying quiet or waiting. "I will," she told Sam. "I'll marry you."

Sam grinned, then leaned in and kissed her. "We'll do it here in the states then. We go home and it will take a year just to get the formalities out of the way! Day after tomorrow? That's enough time isn't it? We can..."

"Day after tomorrow is April first," Gabe spoke up.

"April," Sam smiled. "Spring. Perfect, it will be easy to remember!"

"No... April first," Gabe told him pointedly.

"April fools," another agent offered.

"Yes? Does that mean you can't also have a wedding on that day?" Sam demanded, confused. "Is it celebrated more heavily here than it is back home?"

"No!" Mercy told him quickly. "Actually, that will be perfect. A wonderful thing to think of on that day! I would like that!"

Sam grinned, then kissed her again before letting her go and pulling out his phone. "I will need to make arrangements and so will you, Miss Mercy! Someone get her a laptop or tablet so she can shop for a dress!" he called out into the hall.

Mercy was laughing as Sam pulled her into his lap to text and make calls.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Four short months later, Mercy Whitier stepped into the gray room with the plexiglass wall and stood waiting patiently as she watched the door on the other side of the glass.

When it opened and Keen stepped in, her heart tried to beat out of her chest and she tried hard not to panic. He looked very much the same, he was even in a suit and not a prison jumper. The place could hardly be called a prison, it was a country club for men who weren't allowed to leave.

Immediately, Keen's eyes dropped to Mercy's swollen belly and he moved to the glass quickly, putting his hands on it as he looked down at Mercy. "You're pregnant! It's mine?"

"Yes," she agreed softly, her hand on her tummy.

"Where's Everett?"

"Outside with Sam."

"I want to see him too! You... married him. You're still mine, Mercy. You'll always be mine."

"You get out next month, charges are all falling away one at a time," she stated, ignoring his words. "Your luck is still holding, it seems."

"It is."

"Because I am happy, Aikeen. I will let you see Everett, but only over video calls. If you try and press the issue, I won't allow that. You know I will win that case. He will know you over video calls and never in person. He can make that choice when he turns 18. He's going to know everything, Aikeen. Everything."

"What about this one?" Keen demanded, going to a knee to look at her swollen belly. "This one will have my name too!"

"They will," she agreed. "Sam already said that was fine, but he will care for them both as his own. He loves Everett and Everett loves him. I'm sure this one will adore him too. Boton if it's a boy."

Keen's face lit up as he looked at Mercy with grateful eyes. "After my grandfather! Akari if it's a girl? After my grandmother?"

"That's acceptable as well, but don't be upset if they go by their middle name. They will know you and their heritage, Aikeen."

"Why did you finally come to meet me now, after I have been asking for months?"

"We're about to leave, Keen. We're going to England to live. You won't follow us, you won't try to reach out in any way. I will set up the video calls when Everett is a little older. About a year old or so when he starts walking. Until then, I will send physical pictures to your home address, but you will not contact me at all, do you understand?"

"Mercy! You are still my wife and I still need you!"

"No, Aikeen, I was never your wife. I was only a girl you stole and raped. I bear you no ill will... but I don't ever want to see you again. Ever. Do you understand?"

"No! No, Mercy, I don't! Do you not understand how I feel?"

"I'm telling you how I feel, Aikeen. I'm married, happily so. He's amazing and he's a wonderful father and a perfect man, the example I want my children to have growing up."

"He doesn't fuck you like I do," Keen half snarled, looking her over in a proprietary way.

"No," Mercy agreed with a small smile. "He doesn't. We've actually never... not yet anyway. We're waiting until after I have the baby so there won't be any issues. It isn't about that with us. You think that's important to me, to a relationship. It isn't, Keen. I love him and he loves me, that's what's important. He doesn't try to own me or force me to do anything and I don't have to cater to his ego. I can be myself. None of this matters, Aikeen. I came to say goodbye in person and to tell you to stop trying to contact me. If you keep doing it, you will lose all rights to both your children. Take the win, Aikeen. You will get to see your kids and they will have your name. In 18 years, you might get to see them if they decide they want to. Find a girl who wants to be with you and make your own family. You're being given a second chance, getting away with all of this again. Don't ruin it by doing something stupid. Goodbye."

"Mercy! Wait... just a moment. Stay. I will take care of you and our children and I will give you more! So many more children!"

"I'm not a broodmare, Aikeen. You never seemed to understand that. I never wanted kids and I never wanted you. I love Everett more than anything and I'm glad he's in my life, but you took the choice from me."

"I will take care of you then! Keep you happy and..."

"No, please understand me! I don't like you, Keen! I love Sam and I'm married to Sam. I'm where I want to be and if you can't accept that, then you won't get to see Everett or this one."

"Mercy? You look very lovely. Blue is your color, isn't it?"

Mercy said nothing, turning and slipping out the door.

Keen watched her go, then smiled slightly.

"I will see you soon," he whispered.