TS 2 Part V Chapter 22

Chapter 22

March 16^th, 2010

Austin

“How are you feeling?” solicitously asked Constantin when Guntram opened his eyes, still dazed but without feeling any kind of pain. “You were sleeping for one full hour more after the intervention.”

“I was there and fell asleep. How was everything?”

“Very well, perfect. The doctors told me you will start to feel much better in the next two to six weeks. You have to stay for three days more, but nothing else. We can stay in the city for another week as you liked it so much and you can go around and draw or go to a ranch so you have your peace.”

“I would prefer to stay here, if you don't mind, Alexander.” Guntram used his most polite voice, aware that the Russian hated rudeness. A “please” meant a whole world difference in their dealings. He held his breath as Constantin considered his options.

“All right we stay here. You were very brave, my angel and I'm very proud of you,” he conceded with a sweet voice.

“Where is Dr. Sverdloff?”

“Signing autographs for the young residents,” Constantin chuckled. “He's a celebrity in his field.”

“What was he doing working for you?”

“He has a clinic in St. Petersburg. Excellent doctor and scientist but a disaster with finances. He had debts for over 200 million dollars in 2006 and was about to file for bankruptcy. I spoke with him and offered to pay the debts and give him a fifteen million dollars yearly stipend to maintain his clinic in exchange of taking care of you for a year. Once we return to Russia, he will go back to his clinic and send another doctor to monitor your health. He has learned that you can't be so generous if you have a private foundation.”

“How could he make so many debts?”

“New equipments, free surgeries for poor people -he still lives in the Soviet times and has no idea about the value of money-. I let him keep the clinic, with a board, of course, and has a good budget for research and charity. He has to raise the rest of the money by himself.”

“I thought he was a normal doctor,” Guntram sighed.

“I wouldn't have had an incompetent regarding your welfare. He's more into heart transplants nowadays, but was part of the team which developed this technique. He brought it to Russia and has done this procedure hundred of times.” Constantin fixed his gaze upon the young man and he couldn't hold it, looking embarrassed at his covers for a while.

“You look very tired,” Guntram commented, desiring to escape the awkward silence.

“It was the longest hour in my life, angel, but we are fine now.”

“Thank you, Constantin,” he said earnestly as the realisation that his life might have really changed hit him. 'Maybe he wasn't lying about me being healthy again.'

“It's not over yet,” the Russian smiled and patted the small hand. “You have to stay three days more and then wait a little more before you get the defibrillator. It will be very good if we could reduce your medications and you can lead a normal life,” he said softly.

“You still haven't start the campaign against my former doctor for not trying this. Or against Konrad,” Guntram said bitterly, chewing his lower lip but leaving his hand where it was: under Constantin's.

“I can understand his position. A thirty percent risk exposure is too much for any banker. But to have you crippled just for a few years more was not an option, neither for you or me. Don't you agree with me?”

“Yes, I do. I would have accepted this surgery in the blink of an eye if I would have known about it earlier,” Guntram agreed very sadly. “If only for my boys.”

“We are together in this and I only want a chance with you. Please, give it to me, like you did on your birthday.”

“What if this doesn't work?” Guntram asked wondering why he had done it.

“I will let you go away in two years. That's all I ask. I would need time to disappear again.”

“Thank you very much, Alexander. I give you my word of not trying anything if you give me yours of letting me go if this does not work.”

“We have a deal then, my angel,” he agreed and reverently kissed the hand, enjoying the broken smile from his lover. 'Once we have the baby, you will be completely mine.'

End of Part V 

The Silence

 The Silence

July 9^th, 1966

Zurich

More than a year after Karl Maria's accident, Konrad still was unable to speak. The visit to his grandmother in Venice had been a total fiasco as he had refused to speak no matter all the tactics his tutor and his grandmother had employed. He would obey and work hard on his studies, yet he would not speak to anybody.

Friederich didn't know what else to do. First, he had tried with rewards, then with threats, afterwards with his own silence and praying, but there were no positive results at all. Konrad remained mute regardless the doctors' opinions that there was nothing physically wrong with him.

“Nothing wrong, dear? Everything is wrong about him,” Friederich's mother had told him once when he had taken the boy for a short visit to Salzburg, in hopes that seeing her would encourage him to talk.

But Konrad had only smiled sadly and shyly at her, not even coming closer for a hug when before he had always jumped on the old lady.

“Your sister Lotte was very affected after your father passed away. She was terrified of strong noises for a long time, and mute almost all the time. She began to recover once we arrived to Salzburg and she went to school. This child needs to be with other children and nothing else.”

'My mother is most probably right, but no school in its right mind would accept him if he doesn't speak,' thought Friederich. 'Only one for children with special needs would do, and that would be the end of Konrad's future as Griffin.

'He has improved a little since Marianne left us, but we don't have the time he would need to be fine again. His father is too stubborn to send him to a psychiatrist, insists it would be perceived as a sign of weakness from the child.

'There should be something we could do. Where do we get children for him to play with? The gardener's sons are too vulgar to be with him.

'I’ll have to speak with Karl Heinz; maybe he could provide an answer.'

* * *

TS 2 Part V Chapter 21

Chapter 21

March 4^th, 2010

Guntram finished lacing the silk tie around his neck, smirking at the thought that the “confidence” measure of the past two months had been to get shoes with laces and ties for dinner. 'As if I would know how to became a super killer with a tie!' He combed his hair, wishing he could get rid of it, instead of symbolic trimmings he had been allowed as Constantin loved to entangle his fingers in the silky mass. 'You have no idea how beautiful it is, angel. It matches the softness of your skin.' He was well aware that his life depended on Constantin's whims and nothing else. His babies' lives depended on his “good behaviour”. The photos of Konrad, Klaus, Karl and Eberhard had been disturbing because Constantin still considered them as a target. 'Why did Konrad take Eberhard instead of me? Couldn't he wait longer? He must think I'm dead and in a way I am.'

'Tonight should be easy. Alexander is satisfied with what he got yesterday and with today's work. He will only want to speak. I can manage it. I can do it. For them I have to do it. I will return to Konrad and my children. They must be almost six years old now and I will miss their birthdays.'