Distorted Views

It hurt Elena to leave and once she arrived in Washington she was angry to find who she was going to work with on the cases. Glaring at the man before her she restrained he want to beat him senseless.

“They figured we‘d get the job done faster if they had two detectives on the case,” Hans Landa says.
And with that Elena was forced to work with her estranged father. A couple of months passed and many fights later, Elena did her best to not to get on friendly terms with her father. Hans was doing all that he could to bond with Elena but she would have none of it.

On the third month, Aldo came to surprise Elena. He came with flowers when Elena was tucked away in some obscure restaurant. She smiled brightly and got up immediately to greet Aldo with a kiss. Her eyes lit up and she ignored the stares that were on her.

“I can‘t believe you‘re here,” she smiles.
“Yeah well it wasn‘ easy,” Aldo admits sitting down next to her.
“Thank you for the flowers, they‘re lovely.”

Aldo stared at Elena as she lightly touch the flower petals with her fingertips. He couldn’t help but notice the bags under her eyes and the lack of color to her face. It looked as though she hadn’t slept for weeks and she even lost a bit of weight by the looks of her ever so prominent cheek bones. As she promised she wrote to Aldo’s family but it seemed as though her words were not honest.

“Elle, are yew alright?”
“Of course, just been busy that‘s all,” Elena replies with a faint smile, “How are you?”

“Elle don’ lie to me,” Aldo counters.
“I‘m fine Aldo, don‘t be such a worry wart,” she answers as she lifted the glass of whiskey to her lips, “I was just going to write you guys.”
“How‘s the job?”
“I‘d be a liar if I didn‘t say I hate it,” Elena states honestly, “I truly hate being caught up in all this political bullshit. Its tiring to have the answers and no one listening because I‘m a woman. I lose sleep at night thinking that these awful people are running amuck and continuing in their crimes just because the agency has their heads up their asses. Pinche bendejos.”
“Are you feeling ill at all?”
“I‘m inside all the time, working long hours and refraining from assaulting my father on a daily basis, that‘s why I look like hell, sure I‘m sick, sick of getting blackballed.”
“Wait, did you just say your father was here?” Aldo says giving Elena a look. She let out a heavy sigh.

“Apparently they thought he‘d have more information to relay. And he‘s convinced himself that this is some sort of bonding time with me, I swear it never ends,” she mutters sinking further into her chair.
“Come on, yew need to get some sleep,” he responds grabbing both his bag and Elena’s.

Elena grumbled incoherently in protest but obliged to Aldo’s requests. They left the restaurant and they held hands as they walked towards Elena’s quarters. The agency set up Elena with a very small studio apartment of sorts in a rather dingy looking building and Aldo thought it resembled most of the condemned ruined places he’d see overseas during the war. He didn’t say anything until his eyes fixated on the discolored mass on the ceiling.

“The pipes are leaking, they keep saying they‘ll fix it,” Elena mutters setting her things down on a table. The rest of the place was actually pretty spotless. It was too little of a space for her to leave a mess without anyone noticing. Aldo fiddled with the small box in his coat pocket somewhat nervous as Elena turned to look at him quizzically. He took a depth breath gripping the box tighter.

“I‘ve been meaning to ask yew something,” Aldo finally says somewhat nervously.
“Ask away.”

There was a knock on her door and Elena gave Aldo an apologetic smile as she went to answer it. Unfortunately for them Hans Landa decided to make an impromptu visit. Once Hans’ eyes landed on Aldo he let out a feral growl.

“What impropriety is this?” Hans demands.
“Don‘t start, I have a headache,” Elena warns.
“A young woman such as yourself should not have older men in her room alone.”
“Right well if that rule was followed you wouldn‘t have a daughter.”
“Don‘t be a smart aleck,” he retorts, “And just when were you going to tell me about your relationship with my sworn enemy? Is this punishment?”
“God, get over yourself, this has nothing to do with you-” she counters but then she began coughing violently. Elena gripped the door for support with one hand as the other covered her mouth. With each cough her muscles ached more and more, each cough making her weaker and weaker. Eventually the whooping cough made her so light headed she felt herself faint.

Aldo caught her just in time and he took notice of the blood on her hand as well as the small trickle that escaped the side of her mouth.

“Elle can yew here me?” Aldo questions in a frantic state. Her eyes flutter open slightly.
“Hey what are you doing here?” Elena says faintly. Aldo lifted Elena in his arms and grew more alarmed at how light weight she was. Hans watched as Aldo carried Elena to her bed and set her down gently. While doing this action the small box fell out of Aldo’s pocket and Hans picked it up before anyone noticed then slipped it into his coat pocket.

“I‘ll fetch a doctor,” Hans announces as he left the small room. Of course he was worried for Elena’s health but the overwhelming need to kill Aldo was much higher as he opened the small box to reveal an engagement ring. Hans got the doctor but once the doctor took in the state of Elena he told them she needed a hospital immediately. Doctors frantically worked on Elena whilst Hans and Aldo were left in the waiting room. The gears in Hans’ head were turning and his need to get back at Aldo grew higher and higher.

Next to him was the man that scarred him for life and the man who was pursuing his daughter. To Hans, it was Aldo trying to pull one over on him again. But Hans wouldn’t allow it, not by a long shot.

“My daughter will never marry you,” Hans states pulling out the ring he took from Aldo.
“Yew better give that back or I‘ll-”
“You‘ll what?” he retorts, “She won‘t marry you, look at this ring, not even half the size she was given by Viktor. If you haven‘t noticed but Viktor had lots of money and power. Besides she‘s just using you, you know, she only pursues men I despise then leaves them deranged and brokenhearted at my request. Always trying to prove herself capable to me. She’s rather good at what she does wouldn’t you think? What’s that American expression? A chip off the old block?”

Aldo clenched his fists tightly ready to murder Hans Landa right on the spot. Before he could even make his move the doctor came out of the room. Landa tossed the box to Aldo and passed the doctor to enter the room. Aldo tried to do the very same thing but the doctor stopped him.

“Sir you can‘t go in there, you have to be family.”
“He‘s not family to her, he‘s the Jew Hunter for Christ‘s sakes.”

“I am sorry sir but you are just going to have to wait out here.”

“Then at least tell me how she‘s doing,” Aldo counters.
“She‘s not well, she suffers from anorexia nervosa,” the doctor states. Aldo looked at the doctor like he was completely insane. He refused to believe that Elena’s was harming her body by refusing to eat. To him Elena didn’t seem to be the type to be self conscious about her body; to Aldo, Elena was perfectly fine before she left Tennessee. But then again he had seen how Elena looked, so frail and lifeless. He didn’t want to believe she was sick.

Aldo waited outside as he was told but then when he tried to get into the room when no one was looking, the security escorted him out. Hans Landa was most pleased that Aldo was making it so easy for him to make Aldo out to be deranged.

Elena on the other hand was very ill. She was vomiting blood, forgetting where she was at and not getting any better. The doctors all thought she had an eating disorder but it was nothing of the sort. Landa grew worried and even frantic when the doctors were not healing Elena. It was in the middle of the afternoon when the very weak Elena opened her eyes to look at Landa standing at her bedside. Her whole body hurt, and she felt like death. Tears streamed from her eyes, now she was unable to speak because of all the coughing and vomiting that caused her to lose her voice.

Moving her lips she mouthed out Aldo’s name hoping to find out why he wasn‘t there with her.

“He‘s gone, he started act like Viktor had and got violent.”
Elena furrowed her eyebrows together and studied Landa’s expression as best as she could but she was so weak she closed her eyes. Every time she breathed she wheezed.
“Have you been making yourself sick?” Landa questions Elena. In response Elena shook her head weakly.
“Its those damn dingy quarters they gave you,” he states angrily as he remembered the black mold on the ceiling of the apartment. The agency didn’t care much for Elena because she was not only his daughter but once stole files from them. Of course they gave her a less than livable place to stay.

Landa left Elena’s side to speak with the doctors about possible sickness from toxic black mold. It took about two weeks for Elena to recover, even then she couldn’t remember things as well as she wanted to while she was sick. All she remembered was that Hans Landa was at her side the whole time in the hospital; that Aldo had disappeared and she believed that she hallucinated the whole visit. She wrote letters like she always did but never got any replies.

After a long arduous argument, Hans Landa got the agency to compensate Elena for not only finding the said subjects but because they placed her in a dangerous environment while she pledged her time. Elena received a large settlement but she wasn’t particularly thrilled to get it so she just went back to Tennessee. Being that Landa was still dubious of her well being he tagged along, promising to be good and to get a hotel room.

Arriving back in Tennessee Elena was greeted by a few of the townspeople who whispered about the man she traveled with. Maria did not know how to react to Elena bringing back Hans Landa to Tennessee. Having never met Hans before she only heard murmurs of him through both Adele and Elena’s stories about him. By all means Hans was charming and polite to Maria but being that Elena did not trust Hans completely she would only allow him to interact with others as long as she was present.

Oddly enough she was warming up to Hans, that was obvious when she actually let him accompany her home. Two days of being back home Elena couldn’t wait any longer to see Aldo and his family so she got dressed and headed towards the car. She was stopped by her brother Michael.

“What are you doing?”
“I was going to take a trip to Maynardville to see the Raines,” Elena replies simply.
“You can‘t go on a drive alone, what if you get sick when driving then you‘ll be all alone and-”
“I‘ll be fine Michael, just hurry along you don‘t want to be late for classes.”

“Mr. Landa could you drive Elena?” Michael responds looking over Elena’s shoulder to Hans who was just getting out of his car.
“Its not even a bad drive, everyone needs to stop treating me like some porcelain doll.”
“Elena Alejandra Diaz you will not be driving an hour long drive into the countryside alone,” Maria adds sternly. Elena cringed slightly at the use of her full name and eventually let out a sigh.
“I‘ll be happy to drive you Elena,” Hans offers as Michael left.
“What are you doing here anyways,” she retorts.
“You are the only ones I know in town Elena.”
“Good for you,” Elena counters grumpily.
“Get in the car Elena I‘ll drive you.”
“No.”
“Elena do not be stubborn let your father drive you to Maynardville,” Maria says.

Hans stiffened slightly and looked at his daughter who shifted uncomfortably. He quickly regained his bearings and put on a smile.

“I’ll be delighted to, come now Elena,” Hans says leading her to his car.

Once the pair set off driving it was deathly silent.

“I don‘t want you there,” she states.
“Why must you insist on being with men who are completely deranged?”
“He isn‘t deranged, he‘s been nothing but kind to me and I am worried something happened because I haven‘t heard back from him.”
“Maybe he just doesn‘t want to be with you,” Hans suggests.
“Well then I don‘t care, I‘d like to hear it from his mouth,” Elena counters.

“Fine,” he grumbles. They drove in silence only with Elena speaking to tell Hans where to go. Once they pulled up to the driveway Elena grew slightly nervous.

“Stay in the car at all times,” Elena orders as she opened her door to get out.

Hans watched as Elena made her way towards the steps of the modest home. He never really imagined seeing what he saw next. Ben saw Elena and immediately ran full speed then embraced her in a hug. Elena smiled hugging the young boy.

“Papa said you‘d never come back. But I knew you‘d be back Ellie, I prayed you‘d come back every night,” Ben exclaims happily.
“Ben go inside,” Aldo says walking towards Elena with a fierce look in his eyes.
“But papa I want to be with Ellie.”
“Inside now.”
“Okay papa,” he says quietly as he gave Elena a sad look before leaving her. Once Aldo saw the door shut behind Ben he turned his gaze to Elena.

“What are yew doing here?”
“You never wrote back, I wanted to make sure everything was okay,” she replies feeling hurt with how harsh he was acting.
“Everything is just fine now leave.”
“Why are you being like this?”
“Yer the one that told the doctors yew didn‘t want me around, I‘m just obliging to yer requests,” Aldo retorts.
“I didn‘t have the energy to do such a thing, all I heard was that you were roughing up the doctors, even that is hard for me to remember.”
“Oh yeah and what about yew usin‘ me to get back at Landa?”
“What are you talking about? How could you even think that?” Elena responds looking at him with disbelief, “How dare you even say that, I couldn‘t even imagine being with anyone after what happened with Viktor!”

Elena’s breathing grew ragged and the anger only made it worse. Hans saw this and knew if his daughter kept stressing herself it could lead to her having an asthma attack because the toxins were not fully out of her system from the mold. Hastily Hans got out of the car to stop the argument. It was a bad choice because when Aldo’s eyes landed on Hans he looked ready to murder.
“How dare you bring him to my home!” Aldo exclaims angrily.
“I had no choice, I‘m not allowed to do anything on my own anymore,” she snaps rubbing her chest that burned slightly.
“Elena get in the car, the doctor said you shouldn‘t be shouting.”
“I know what the fucking doctor said, now what the hell did you do?”
“I didn‘t do anything,” Hans states.
“Liar!”
“He carved a swastika into my forehead,” he retorts.
“You fucking deserved it,” Elena counters.
“I did not deserve it.”
“Really because I have a list of dead Jewish families who can attest to you deserving that mark, don‘t you dare exempt yourself from the consequences of your horrendous actions! You only want to reconnect with me because I am the only the one that is forced to deal with you. The only one who won‘t run in the other direction because of that mark! Do me a favor and stay away from me!” Elena exclaims as she turned to walk away.

“Elena stop,” Hans says grabbing her hand. Before he could react Elena balled her left hand into a fist and landed a left hook to his jaw.

“I said stay away,” she growls, “Weeks in the hospital is not going to stop me from beating you to death.”

“When are you going to stop hating me?”
“Maybe I‘ll stop when you retract that medal of honor you did nothing to earn and tell the truth instead of tarnishing the memories of people that actually fought for a cause.”
“I ended the war for the Allies.”
“You wanted to be on the winning side, you selfish bastard, your loyalties are only to yourself,” she growls.
“I‘m still your father,” Hans argues.
“Then act like one,” Elena croaks finally starting to lose her voice, “I‘m done.”

Elena turned her back on everyone and started walking towards the road. Hans saw the absolute defeat and misery Elena’s eyes held so he thought her words over. He needed to start doing things for others and not himself. His eyes went to Aldo who still looked murderous and Hans decided to try to do something right.

“I hate you, and you ruined my life so I wanted to keep you away from the only person I care about,” Hans says once Elena was further down the road, “She‘s actually a lot like her mother being that she is loyal and sweet. Look she isn‘t going to ride back with me so would you mind taking care of her? She‘s still not fully recovered from the black mold sickness.”

Aldo didn’t say anything just started walking to catch up with Elena. She kept walking faster hoping to hint that she didn’t want to be bothered.

“Go away,” Elena croaks.
“Elle, I was wrong, I shouldn‘ have jumped to conclusions,” Aldo says trying to stop her.
“I was worried sick that something happened to you and your family.”
“I‘m sorry, I went to D.C. to ask yew to marry me and things got fucked up, there‘s no excuse for how I was actin’ and even Ben thought I was bein‘ crazy sayin‘ yew weren‘ gonna come back.”

Elena stopped in her tracks and turned around slowly. She didn’t say anything for a while and she brought her gaze up.

“You were going to ask me to marry you?”
“Well yeah,” he mutters scratching the back of his neck.
“So what now?” she asks.
“Yew can start by getting better and then I‘ll think of some other way to ask yew.”
“I‘d like that,” Elena says with a small smile.