When a situation escalates past a certain point, it is no longer able to be defended or denied. When things get to a point of extremity, they must be dealt with directly or you will find them to never be dealt with at all. This was a lesson Irena knew very well.
She had allowed the matter of Melkior's alienation from himself to blossom to a point where it was bursting out of him in uncontrollable and maddening waves. At the current moment, it was hard for her to recognise him. His storm blue eyes had become glossed over with insomnia as he stayed up each night studying how to advance the benefits he'd found in her gene code. He had set a strict diet for the both of them which was meant to be the absolute most healthy for the growing baby, and one which his team believed could advance the effects of the gene and ensure it activated dominantly.
His study had become a mess, books and files open and lying about in disarray. Before he had always been very particular about what went where and why it was all ordered as such. Dr. Saliba had called her on several occasions to ask of her husband's whereabouts and whether he was coming to the next expansion meetings. She had become so worried about the future of his business, that she hired an advisor and an assistant for her husband. Likewise, he spent the brunt of his time worried about herself and the health of their baby. He had halted Irena's trips back to Drovikstead and hired a maid to help with all chores on their island. It seemed he couldn't stand to watch her do anything. Bending over to pick up dishes was far too risky, taking a ride off the island was too risky. It seemed he was completely obsessed with how the child would fare, and more importantly, whether they would inherit their mother's genes.
Her labour was an estimated two weeks away now. It was no longer possible for her to halt the monstrosity that had started and, in truth, she feared for her child. She didn't want to admit it, but this new Melkior was much scarier than the one she had married. He still tucked her into bed each night with a kiss and dried her hair after she got out of the bath. In fact, he treated her with every bit of kindness and affection that he always had.
What worried her most was the way he spoke of the baby. He hadn't seemed conscious of the change in his speech pattern but he had changed from referring to the coming child as "them" and began referring to them as "it". Furthermore he seemed completely uninterested in naming the boy or matters relating to picking his clothes. His interests had shifted from their life as a family and became a matter of maximising the efficiency of the child- and what manner he meant it was lost on her.
So Irena gritted her teeth and took in a very slow breath before stepping into his study. If she didn't do something now, she would likely never get the chance.
__________________________________________________________
"Melkior."
The waver in his wife's tone shook the man from the mess of papers on the desk and he snapped his head up instantly. She had sounded very nervous, almost to a point of pleading. His eyes scanned her for any sign of harm. She was dressed in a comfortable silk nightgown with her hair brushed and orderly enough, seemingly no redness about her eyes to indicate she had cried. What, then, was the matter?
"Yes, darling?"
He pushed the round framed glasses up his nose and opened his posture to indicate his welcoming of her into the room. Irena looked at him the way he suspected a mouse peered out into the room where they knew of a cat to be and the expression caused a curious pain in his heart. She had never looked at him that way before.
"Come in dear, what's the matter?"
Irena nodded to him, moving into the room and over to him with little hesitance until she had gotten to the edge of his desk. Melkior felt a mild irritation in him as he slowly moved from his position so he could take her hand in his and tug her closer to him. Irena made no move to deny him, allowing him to pull her until she was standing between his open knees, staring down at him.
"Melkior, I need to discuss a matter with you."
He nodded at her, trying his best not to cringe at the waver in her otherwise beautiful, smooth voice. Whatever she asked of him, surely it could be done.
"Yes, Irena. What do we need to discuss?"
The use of her name shook the remnants of anxiety from her and she moved slowly until she was sitting on her knees in front of him. The man had moved on impulse, helping her to be seated and then cupping the side of her face in his hand affectionately.
"Darling, you haven't been to work in nearly a month now."
Her voice was smooth, not at all accusatory either. Melkior thought it curious. If the matter didn't upset her, why was she bringing it up?
"Is there an issue with the money?"
Irena quickly shook her head, heart shaped lips pouting ever so slightly.
"Your study has become completely disorganised."
Melkior furrowed his brows and scanned the room, realising for the first time that it had. He had been distracted, he supposed.
"Yes, it has. Why do you mention it?"
Irena's lovely blue eyes were watering now and his heart had resumed its mess of agony as he tried desperately to understand, and stop, whatever was worrying her.
"I'm worried about you, Melkior."
Her admission shook him with a mix of emotions. For one, he thought the whole matter to be very silly and thus very cute. For two, he was completely perplexed by how he could possibly have worried her. Sure, his actions had changed a bit in the last few months but from what he could remember he hadn't done anything that should upset or hurt the woman.
"Whatever are you worried about, my darling?"
He caressed both sides of her face now, leaning over and planting delicate kisses on her forehead and damp eyelashes. The softness of his voice soothed Irena's nerves again and she took a steady breath before looking at him.
"Melkior… Are you going to experiment on our child?"
_______________________________________________________
Melkior found himself to be mildly shocked by the manner of her question as he stared at her, but upon finding her face to be completely serious, he deliberated on the matter internally. Within a very short span of moments, he realised the answer. He looked at her teary eyes and the pout of her lips and found himself to become irritated.
"Irena, this gene code, it's a miracle. Have you any idea the potential of it? If we can find how to replicate it in our children and in their children, we can set in motion a generation capable of wonderful things."
Irena stared at him with a mild sort of despair in her chest. His answer had not been a 'no' by any means as she had hoped.
"Melkior, you can't. I cannot have it."
The man studied her face closely in the dim light of his desk lamp and found there to be a great fear and remorse in her eyes. Tears had begun to slip freely now as she made no move to stop them and he realised this could truly ruin them if they allowed it to. His heart ached quite terribly and he ran a hand through the mess of curls on his head.
There were a great many things in this world that Melkior could stand to lose. His money, sure. His prestige, so be it. The island, whatever.
However, the woman sitting in front of him was not a loss he thought himself capable of taking. She was, by far, the very best thing that had happened to him. No, Melkior could not lose Irena. Suddenly his frustration at both sentiments became a downpour of scientific frenzy as he sought for her to understand him.
"Irena, dear. You must listen to me. This gene, it is a wonder. The more we study it, the more perplexing and beautiful it all is. It allows a maximisation of nearly every human capacity we have. Intelligence, agility, speed, health, everything."
When he found himself to be rambling, he pulled the lenses from his face and ran a tired hand across it before returning his eyes to her. Her full belly protruded between them with more scientific potential inside of it than she could possibly realise and her brilliant blue eyes were shiny and wet from the tears.
"Melkior, I-"
Her voice broke and shattered a fragment from his heart as he stared at her. Never before had he been in such an excruciating situation.
"I cannot. I can't have it."
She did not speak the words with any sense of dramatisation to them, and all at once it became frightening to him. Irena's face was one of complete despair and she had taken to clutching the edge of his button up in her fists as her head sunk and tears littered the beautiful gown she wore. He realised that this was not a matter of whether his wife would leave him- it was a matter of life or death. He held her very lifeline between his lips and if he wasn't very careful with his words, he would lose her in an irreversible sort of way.
"Please. Please. Melkior, I will do anything, but I cannot allow this."
Her chest shook with sobs and she was unable to look at him, complete desperation and surrender had taken hold of her mind as she pleaded. Suddenly, Melkior took her head between his hands and lifted her chin so she looked at him. His heart squeezed tightly and he reached down, pulling her up into his arms, hugging her tightly to his chest.
"Alright."
She cried against him, hugging him so tightly it was painful as it appeared his words did not register to her.
"Irena, I won't. I promise, on everything I have- on my mother."
The woman scanned his face with desperation and a mild disorientedness. His words finally clicked in her mind and she began to cry harder in gratitude, kissing him wildly and pulling him tightly to her.
Whatever happened, it didn't matter. She had secured the safety of their children and there wasn't a thing more she could ever ask of him. A moment passed and she had calmed down some when Melkior allowed his next sentiments to be spoken.
"But we must come to a compromise."
_____________________________________________________________