White Sheets - 10. Background Check

"Hey..." Cain nudged Remy and he blinked.

"Hmm?"

"You should go to bed, Remy, you don't look well."

Remy sighed and shrugged. The other three had long since left the kitchen while he was still sitting here- more to keep Cain company than to actually do anything.

"I'm serious." Cain leaned against the other side of the kitchen island with an appraising look. "I was under the impression the tension between you and Anduin was gone, but you've been walking around all day today like you had a knife at your throat."

Remy grimaced, not realizing he'd reached for his throat until Cain leaned over and pulled his hand away from there.

"Literally, man. Your collar won't strangle you."

"I know," Remy muttered and now intertwined his fingers. "It's just... Claire made a comment that..."

Cain gave an oddly snide grunt. "The girl's stabbing you in the stomach while complimenting you," he muttered, shaking his head. "Whatever she said, forget it."

"That's easier said than done, Cain," Remy grumbled back, pressing his palms together as he felt again the urge to make sure there wasn't an authority mark hanging from his collar.

"You were wearing an authority mark, right?" Cain asked with a sigh.

Remy nodded.

"How many times?"

"Even once is too many times, don't you think?" Remy made a face, and Cain grinned wryly.

"True enough."

The walnut-sized baby blue authority marks that could be attached to a slave's collar were a visible sign to all that the wearer had messed things up big time, and reactions were often accordingly negative. The things were available even with additional marks to be attached to the cage, but they all contained high-precision tracking technology and shock functions. Once you had worn one of these marks and had experienced the shock function for 'testing purposes', you didn't soon forget it. And Remy had actually had the dubious pleasure more than once.

"Still," Cain then began, "think of other things. Go to see Bella. Or Keira. Great Mother, really, she looks at you like she wants you all to herself. Or just go to bed."

"Just say you're tired of me." It was supposed to sound funny, but came out rather miserable. Remy slid off the chair and grimaced at Cain's critical look.

"Well, I can do without such a dull figure for company. But seriously, you haven't been yourself for the last few days. I've known you for five years now and you've never been like this."

Remy sighed and shrugged. What was he supposed to say to that? That his past seemed to catch up with him after ten years? "Feels a bit like Marmion sent Anduin out to collect debts I don't know about."

"Debts to Marmion? Ouch." Cain made a face. Being in debt to Marmion the Gambler, son of the Great Mother, was anything but desirable.

Remy shrugged again. "A seafood phobia is definitely not my biggest problem."

Now Cain laughed softly, but the sound was not overly joyful. "Would be nice if it was, huh?"

They exchanged a look, Remy's stomach churning as he noticed how much understanding and support there was in Cain's entire demeanor. Did he even deserve it? Probably not.

"All right, I'm going to bed," Remy finally said, nodding to Cain, who slowly nodded back.

While he climbed the stairs, he tried to push all the garbage of the past away from him. It had worked out quite well for him the last years...

Joy and Sarah were talking in the hallway of the first floor- it was about cocktails- and from upstairs he heard a muffled greeting from Flavius before a door clicked.

Outside his own door, though, he paused and then turned away, remembering that he needed fresh towels. That was just what he needed, to get into the shower tomorrow morning in a sleep-drunk daze with no towels on hand. He went to the linen closet down the corridor, grabbed clean towels, and suddenly felt fatigue settle on his limbs. If his head could rest appropriately, it would be almost a miracle.

But first, he winced violently as a door opened beside him.

Anduin was standing in the doorway of the room that was normally used as a temporary room when a new slave arrived earlier than the old one had left the house. He looked puzzled, but then grabbed Remy- who shouted "Hey!" more in surprise than in protest- by the arm and pulled him into the room.

The door closed and Remy almost expected to be pushed against it, but he found neither lust nor greed in Anduin's face, just serious concern. "Uh..."

"What did you tell the others about us?", Anduin wanted to know in quiet hard words.

"Uh...", Remy made again, a little caught off guard, and pressed the towels to himself. "Nothing? I mean, yeah, that we know each other, but what was I supposed to say? Like, the truth?"

"No, definitely not. What do they know about you? Where did you come from? When did we meet and where?" Anduin continued.

Remy's mouth went dry as it dawned on him what Anduin meant. "It's common knowledge by now that I was raised religiously and know quite a bit about such things," he said slowly, pondering what he might have said in unguarded moments. "I just told Claire and Keira this morning that I have been serving women for a very long time."

Anduin nodded curtly. "I told Claire I have brothers. But I was talking to Cain earlier, and he didn't find my evasive answers about you very amusing. Riri, I have no idea what's in my file."

Remy nodded. "I don't know what's in mine either. But Anduin, we don't have to talk about something like that if we don't want to."

"You seem to have a better relationship with the others than a simple 'we live and serve together,' though. You guys are friends. And Cain cares about you," Anduin returned seriously.

"Maybe so, but-"

"No buts, Riri. Do you know where our files are?"

"Yes, but-"

"Can you get to them?"

"Anduin, I can't-"

"Maurice. I wouldn't mind a pretty little scandal involving our old convent, but I wouldn't mind a few years of quiet peaceful living either."

Remy took a deep breath and squeezed the towels so tightly to his chest that his arm muscles protested. "The files are in a locked cabinet in Mistress Therese's office."

"You know where the key is?" Anduin interrupted, and he nodded weakly. "Good, you'll have to see what's in it. I don't want details, I really don't, but we need a plausible explanation as far as we're concerned." He paused and tilted his head. "Unless, of course, you prefer scandal."

Now Remy shook his head. Attention from the authorities was the last thing he wanted.

"Take care of it. Quickly." Urgently, Anduin looked at him and he swallowed. "Come on, Therese is out of the house all day every day from now on, after all, and Ellen's out all the time, too, from what I hear. That'll take maybe five minutes."

"I don't like going behind my mistresses' backs," Remy muttered, averting his eyes.

Anduin sighed irritable. "Your whole identity is one big betrayal, so don't bullshit me." He furrowed his brows, and Remy felt like he was shrinking under that gaze.

"I don't want any trouble, Anduin." He'd definitely had enough of that.

"I know that, and I understand, but some things just have to be done."

A shaky sigh escaped Remy's throat and he nodded. He could definitely see that Anduin was right, but he still didn't like it. Anduin being here was messing everything up.

"Hey...", Anduin then made much softer and he looked up. "I trust you."

He nodded and was almost glad for the tender kiss that sealed his mouth, otherwise he might have said something extremely stupid.

~
 

"Oh damn!" Keira jumped up. "I have to run!"

"Where are you going?" Remy asked curiously, looking up from the laptop sitting on the table in front of him.

"Today is the first volleyball practice. Damn, damn, damn..." Hastily she gathered her papers and ran off, Remy looking after her, puzzled.

Sarah beside him sighed. "Come on, a few more clicks and it's done."

He nodded, turned back to the book and stationery orders, but then paused for Sarah looked at him critically. "What?"

"Is everything all right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Oh, well..." She leaned back and her gaze intensified, making Remy swallow. "It's just strange to see you so serious and almost jumpy. I got that you already knew Anduin, but you'd think he'd mistreated you."

"Miss Sarah!" His indignation came out more fiercely than he had thought, but by now it was quite apparent to himself that he was not as well in control of his emotions as he would have liked.

"Sorry, I'm just saying." Apologetically, she raised her hands. "Flavius seems a little on edge too..." she then added, and Remy shrugged.

"He's nervous about Claire and Joy's little girls' night. He doesn't want to be used for entertainment."

Sarah grumbled disapprovingly. "Well, they'll see what they get out of disturbing the peace around here. Anyway. What about the orders? Miss Ellen told me to take a look at the laptop afterwards."

Remy nodded hastily, glad the subject was off the table.

He had just left Sarah and the laptop behind when Anduin appeared, a bucket filled with dirty rags in his hand.

"Well?" he whispered.

Remy shook his head. "The key is now part of a bunch of keys she's taking with her."

"Are you sure?" Anduin looked anything but thrilled, but Remy could only nod helplessly. Mistress Therese had color-coded many keys, and the key with the baby-blue rubber handle had literally sparkled on one of her three key rings. "Damn."

"I don't know if she leaves these keys here when she leaves the house for occasions other than university, but-"

"Who knows when that will happen. No, it takes too long." Anduin shook his head and Remy exhaled heavily.

"You want me to sneak around the house at night like a thief?" That's probably what it would come down to, but he really didn't like the idea.

"I was thinking more of a distraction. Those two are having sex regularly, don't they?" Anduin raised a brow.

"Yeah..." Remy made a face because the idea wasn't much better, but Anduin slapped him on the shoulder- it was a done deal.

~
 

The grocery bags rustled as Remy stowed the supplies with Cain and Flavius, who had just returned from shopping. They all three lifted their heads as the front door slammed loudly into the lock.

"Remy!"

He missed as Flavius handed him a package of meat.

"Run." Cain muttered as if it were an encouragement to flee from Mistress Therese rather than an admonition to obey.

Remy swallowed, nodded, and hurried out of the kitchen into the entrance hall, where Mistress Therese stood with curled lips, furiously tapping on her phone. "Mistress?" he quietly announced his presence.

"Where's Ellen?" she wanted to know without lifting her eyes.

"I think in the studio, mistress."

"I want to see her in the bedroom. Now. And preferably naked. Take my bag to my office and then prepare a bath."

"Yes, mistress." Remy nodded hurriedly, though Mistress Therese probably didn't even see it, before grabbing her heavy briefcase and hurrying upstairs to Mistress Ellen's studio.

Adrenaline made him all tingly as he listened not much later to the sounds of his mistresses over the rush of water from the filling bathtub. The two of them were definitely busy with themselves.

He thanked the architect of the house that the bathroom was accessible from both the bedroom and the study and slipped through the door. Mistress Therese's briefcase he had placed directly on the desk and he approached, but then hesitated before opening the side pocket where she kept her keys. His fingers trembled and the keys jingled as he opened the file cabinet and flipped through the current slaves' compartment.

Anduin's file was the first one he found. It was surprisingly thin and seemed to contain only one baby blue page of authority, but Remy didn't look. He looked only at the cover page and the page documenting the first sale, then slid the file back into place and searched for his own. It was significantly thicker and contained significantly more baby blue pages- to his surprise there was even a copy of the cover page on baby blue paper which had the words 'origin questionable' in large reddish-brown letters at the bottom of the page. This now made his fingers tremble even more and it took him two attempts before he could close the cabinet properly again.

His heart was still hammering when he turned off the water at the tub a little later. As he straightened up, his eyes slid over the towels, washcloths and sponges laid out ready, the woven bowl with a selection of bath additives, and then lingered on the box in which his mistresses kept their 'water toys'. He took the precaution of not touching that one, although from an aesthetic point of view it was a bit disruptive to the current picture.

He hadn't quite finished the thought when the door to the bedroom opened and his mistresses entered, both flushed and sweaty, but at the same time decidedly relaxed. Before he could react, however, Mistress Therese made a tired gesture.

"Thank you, Remy. You can go now. Remind me sometime in the next few days that we need to talk about a few things."

"Yes, Mistress." He bowed slightly, then held out his hand to help her into the tub.

Mistress Ellen smiled sleepily at him before she too allowed herself to be helped into the tub.

He bowed again, then left the room with a measured stride.

~
 

"Anduin!" Remy knocked hard and loud on the door. "Anduin!"

"Come in before you break the door!" it sounded from inside, and when Remy entered, standing in the tiny bathroom was a dripping wet Anduin, naked except for his collar. "You're pretty conspicuous, you know that?"

Remy, already on edge all day, was now definitely ticked off at Anduin's tone. He snorted. "Tsk. Claire told me to tell you that she wants to see you as soon as possible." Spoke it and turned around, but Anduin sighed loudly.

"Andros' balls, chill."

Remy stopped, made a grimace and let it disappear before turning back to Anduin. "I succeeded."

Anduin nodded encouragingly.

"You came from one of those really rotten children's homes, and at twenty-two you were handed over to the temple, who declared you unfit and sold you."

"Real rotten? Sounds lovely to me. How about you?"

"My mother's name is Irene Ross and she turned me over at 19 to the temple, who declared me unfit and sold me."

Anduin grimaced. "Great."

Remy shrugged apologetically, then asked quietly: "Do you think that was really Ma's last name before she joined the convent?" The first name, at least, was right.

"Possibly. But the question is still: how do we know each other?" Anduin made a thoughtful face and finally reached for a towel.

"As well as we know each other, we would have to have grown up together, because everything after the sale by the temple can be verified and is the truth," Remy said, leaning against the doorframe of the bathroom door.

Nodding slowly, Anduin dried himself off. "No names on my record?"

"No."

"Hmm. Details on your mother?"

"Nothing except the name, no."

"Hmm.", Anduin made again.

Remy chewed on his lower lip for a moment. "Actually, that's the answer. My mother worked at the children's home where you lived with your brothers. From what I understand, most of the boys are sold between twelve and sixteen, but hey... a crappy children's home surely has money problems, so they may well have made extra money with a functioning team like us."

"And when they really couldn't keep us any longer, they got rid of us," Anduin added, but then frowned. "But why would they give boys to the temple for free and not sell them?"

"No woman owes a slave an explanation." Remy put on a sweet smile and received a decidedly rude gesture in response.

"Still: a good explanation for us," Anduin then murmured.

Remy nodded slowly. His mind wandered back to the convent, to his parents and the real Remy, to his oldest brother Isidore, whom he could barely remember, and to the nuns, whose faces he mostly refused to remember. Anduin pushed past him, touching him gently on the hip, but he didn't pay much attention. "I never had the courage to ask Pa how he actually ended up there at the convent," he said as Anduin slipped into a fresh pair of underwear.

"I asked him," he returned quietly. "After you left and Remy was dead."

Remy swallowed and nodded.

Anduin took his shorts from the bed, but hesitated to put them on. "He was given to the temple when he was ten. But instead of castrating him and making him a temple slave, they took him to the convent as a living toy."

A sickening feeling spread through Remy's stomach.

"There was another slave like him then, and his youth must have been quite similar to ours. Well, and in his place, they just castrated his firstborn later and made him a temple slave."

Isidore... I really hope you get the respect tradition says you deserve.

"I guess Pa has every right to walk around with sad eyes all the time, in the very least," Remy muttered, his eyes beginning to burn.

Anduin nodded slowly and they were silent for a moment, during which he did now put on shorts and a T-shirt. Then, in a harsher tone which surprised Remy a little, he continued: "The convent, as far as I know, is downright famous for selling deflowerings as a show."

If Remy's eyes had been burning a moment ago, now his cheeks were burning, but he didn't like the way Anduin's mouth twitched at all. "What do you mean?" he asked quietly, though some very unpleasant thoughts were beginning to take shape.

"What shall I mean?" Anduin asked back bitterly. "Unlike you, Remy fought back. Was rather ugly in the end."

Remy, the fake Remy, felt dizzy and nauseous. "Great Mother..." he whispered, swallowing with difficulty, not missing how tense Anduin suddenly was. "And... you...?"

"What do you think...?"

"...Pa?"

A nod.

"Great Mother..."

"She didn't help any of us, Riri, not Alvin, and not his sons."

With difficulty he fought down the nausea, but he couldn't hold back the tears. "Why didn't you tell me this before?" He almost choked on the words and he literally clung to Anduin as he embraced him.

"I had to be strong for both of us, remember?" Anduin murmured in his ear, his voice full of old pain.

He nodded, then lifted his head so as not to immediately smear Anduin's clean shirt with tears and snot. "I..."

Anduin shook his head, his face like his voice sad and bitter. "I love you, Riri, and I protected you as best as I could."

From yourself, you didn't protect me, though...

Remy nodded silently, letting the tears be kissed off his cheeks, and then pressed a real kiss to Anduin's now salty lips. "I love you too."