Moons Beloved Purest Rose 10

Lucia's trial made national headlines, during which her masterpiece was unveiled without her. McGarrett was at the unveiling and after party. It wasn't so much of a party as a wake. McGarrett was confronted by the inevitable question, will he still marry her?

He honestly wasn't sure. He was at every part of her trial, from her arraignment to the presentation of evidence, and listened to the DA and her defense lawyer duel over everything.

And he watched her every day as well. Some days it was Lucia sitting in that chair, still wearing the ring he put on her finger, looking pale, sickly, and sadder than any woman he had seen. Sometimes she would look back at him in the front row, and in those moments when their eyes met and the gravity of their situations seemed to fade, he almost felt happy again.

But then the voices of the battling attorneys would bring them back, and slowly Lucia would turn her eyes to the proceedings.

Then there were the days when the Prince, the murdering Prince of Darkness sat in the defendant's place, like it were no less than a throne. The Prince never looked at McGarrett, never slowed any qualm over her actions. In the Prince's decayed mind she was at no fault, and shouldn't even be on trial. She only sat there and put up with this because of that shred of respect for these men of law.

She was probably thinking that they just needed to blow off steam, and then she would be back in the free world.

McGarrett hated the Prince; hated the Prince more than anyone else in his entire life. He hated her because she killed, because prevented the law from coming down on Alika and Greenwich, because she stole three innocent lives; Moore and Menndermen with her cold blade, and Lucia - his sweet Lucia - with her own cold blood. He wanted the Prince behind bars, but he wanted Lucia in his arms. Yet they were inseparable, two minds in one body.

McGarrett ran into the judge presiding at the bar of the Ilikai. They had a few drinks together. Later the judge commented, “I'm glad you sat down with me Steve. I don't usually do this kind of thing, but then again neither do you.”

“Truth is - I needed this. This trial, what this poor woman is going through. God...I've never seen anything like her, and I've been on the bench more than twenty years. One day I see a frail and remorseful young artist who probably has no memory of the crimes. And then the very next day I see a demonic murderer. She is definitely insane.”

“But, I think it would be best to send her to an institution rather than the penitentiary. She needs counseling not iron bars in her face.”

“I'm sorry, and I want you to know that the reason I'm doing that is because I want you to have her back. The real Lucia is a wonderful woman that you deserve above all else. I want to be able to attend your wedding some day Steve. And I'd really like to be able to say that I helped you win your bride back.”

Steve looked at him and a few crystalline tears trickled down his face. “Thank you.”

A few weeks later the final arguments were made and the jury went out. One day later they were back with a verdict of guilty. Lucia never looked so defeated. McGarrett only wished he could have held her for this. All of her charisma and beauty seemed to have been drained by the trial, or the Prince. With her existence out in the open, the Prince no longer needed to keep Lucia strong.

But then, the jury recommended that in stead of jail time, she be admitted to the state's psychiatric facility. The judge agreed. Lucia was taken away, to be placed with the other loonies.

Outside the courtroom, McGarrett ran into Jane Greenwich. She said that she didn't blame Lucia for her ex husband's death or his lawyer's. She worked at that facility and promised that she would do everything in her power to help Lucia back to sanity.

But Lucia didn't recover. Even when she finally confessed her horrible past to a doctor, she continued to languish away. The Prince seemed to disappear when Lucia was found guilty, but she never regained that same splendor.

Then one day her doctor gave McGarrett a call. Her blood tests had revealed her to be pregnant. Apparently it had happened just before she was arrested. McGarrett's mind briefly turned back to the night to the few hours just before he found out about the evidence - to their last night together.

For hours he sat in his office, staring out at the night. Then he made the decision to marry her. Maybe, he thought, maybe with his added support and a baby on the way, Lucia might begin to heal.

They were married soon afterwards, in a small room in the hospital. Lucia wore a long white thin dress and a single veil draped over her head. A meager amount of sunlight came in through the windows, and though her skin was ashen and she had lost a catastrophic amount of weight, when she looked up at him with a light of love in her eyes she was beautiful again.

There wasn't really a wedding night. He stayed as long as he could, and during their fleeting moments together he gave her what pleasures he could before he was asked to leave his pregnant wife.

He visited everyday, and for awhile Lucia slowly regained her life. She ate more and laughed more, and as she gained back her weight, the baby inside her began to grow as well. Soon she was very happily five months along, and they both were looking forward to meeting their baby.

One day they were walking along in the gardens and the doctors said that if her improvement continued he saw no reason not to let her go home for the remainder of her pregnancy.

Then, the day before McGarrett had arranged to pick her up, the Prince resurfaced.

McGarrett got a frantic call from Jane saying that his wife had tried to forcibly terminate the pregnancy.

He rushed over to the hospital to be at his wife's side, but when he got there, he found not the woman he married and loved, but the Prince, strapped to the bed and screaming at the top her lungs.

She was angry enough that she was not free, but what really riled her so much was the fact that she was with child. For some reason the Prince found it disgusting and indignifying that she had to carry a man's child. That was why she tried to get rid of it.

McGarrett couldn't stand it anymore, first she puts Lucia behind bars, then tries to kill their child. He didn't have any specific memories of what he said, but remembered yelling at her as loud as he had ever. No one had ever insulted the Prince to her face and she retreated.

Lucia was left drained and teary eyed, having no idea what happened or why she was tied up. McGarrett begged to stay with her that night. Reluctantly the doctors agreed. Husband and wife spent the night wrapped in each others arms, terrified of the person sitting inside of her and what she might do to them or to their child.

As the weeks passed, Lucia engaged in a losing battle against the Prince. Her control slowly weakened no matter how much she fought. The Prince was doing everything in her power to win that body. Lucia only thought of keeping her baby alive. In the few moments she was herself, she would eat or take whatever medicine the doctors suggested. Then she told her husband that the instant her baby was at full term she wanted them to either induce labor or perform a C-section.

“It’s me. Steve she only wants me, just get the baby safe as soon as she's strong enough, please.”

Ultrasounds told them that the baby was growing as she should, but at the rate her mother was going it was going it would be hard to get this pregnancy to full term.

McGarrett began visiting everyday, trying to support his wife and suppress the Prince. Lucia said several times it was all that was keeping her alive.

Two months later and at Lucia's urging they induced labor. McGarrett arrived minutes after being called, but was not allowed in the room. Jane informed him that the Prince seemed to be running from the intense pain and was leaving it all to Lucia. He was thankful that Lucia might get to deliver the baby without trouble, and with the pregnancy over, perhaps the Prince would finally lose her power and fade away.

After hours of waiting outside he heard Lucia scream and for an instant thought she was hurt, till he heard the wail of a newborn.

He stopped for a moment, the rest of the world faded away as he heard his baby's voice for the first time.

He charged into the room, and saw his baby writhing in a white blanket. The nurse holding her smiled and handed her to him.

His little girl was no bigger than a loaf of bread and still wet and bloody. But she seemed unnaturally strong. Her hand worked its way out of the wrapping, and grasped his fingertip, cutting off a little of its circulation. McGarrett smiled and placed a kiss on his daughter’s face. A tear worked its way down his face and landed on hers. He wiped it away with the tip of the blanket, rubbing off some of the blood.

He heard his wife moan a bit. He brought their daughter over to her, Lucia reached up; stoked her face; and murmured a name; “Selene”

She then smiled weakly, and passed out. McGarrett heard the heart rate monitor flat line, and a doctor say; “Get some plasma and a red blanket kit, she's lost to much blood!”

He looked down and saw the bed soaked in blood; Lucia had torn and was bleeding out.

McGarrett was forced out of the room, still holding his baby. He sat down with her in his arms, knowing that Lucia was too weak to recover from that much blood loss.

One week later, and McGarrett watched as the casket holding his wife and Selene's mother was lowered into the cold hard ground. Selene was quiet in his arms.

On the other side of the grave stood Lucia's parents. They hadn't even bothered to watch her trial and he was surprised they had turned up for her funeral. As the last rights were said Mrs. Cornwallis started working her way around that grave.

Even with her black veil and heavy makeup, he could tell she was not anywhere near the happy and stunning woman of her portrait.

She was far beyond her prime, her skin sallow and showing deep wrinkles, her eyes dull and teeth stained. She was all skin and bones, trying to recapture her youth by exhibiting a sexuality she had already lost.

Mr. Cornwallis was no better. His once regal looks had to faded, and his eyes looked like a corpse's.

Mrs. Cornwallis approached McGarrett stared at him, and then turned her eyes to Selene and reached for her. McGarrett drew back and kept her firmly in his grasp.

She snarled and reached again. “You murdered her mother; she is not safe with you.”

McGarrett slapped the woman, she stumbled and nearly fell into her own daughter’s grave. She tottered for a moment, then regained her balance. She looked at him as if no one had ever dared to that to her.

“I'm not the one who killed Lucia. The Prince did, the Prince that your disgusting lives forced her to create. You destroyed Lucia's life and I am not going to let you destroy Selene's.”

“I suggest you mourn this daughter. It’s the least you can for her. And never show either of your faces to me or Selene again. If you do I will have you charged criminally.”

McGarrett then walked away with his baby. He strapped her into her child seat in the back of his car and kissed her. She cooed and settled down. As he drove past the grave he saw the Cornwallis's heading to their car, Mrs. Cornwallis still rubbing her cheek and complaining to her husband who was obviously ignoring the old crow.

He looked to his rear view mirror and saw Selene's joyous face. She loved car rides.

Chapter 1	Chapter 2	Chapter 3
Chapter 4	Chapter 5	Chapter 6
Chapter 7	Chapter 8	Chapter 9