Cardinal Caged (2 of Cardinal Series)

Chapter 1

A/N: I haven't read anything about the boot camp or whatever they go to yet, so I'm just making this up. It's AU anyway, so I will be diverging for this as well.

"Sang," the person said, snapping me from my thoughts.

I looked up, meeting Dr. Roberts' kind gaze.

"I'm sorry what?"

"I said," he repeated. "Are you going to tell us about the person that kidnapped you? You've only mentioned his name, uh," he looked down at his notes.

"Tarik Veseli," I said, somewhat sad all my injuries had healed. The bandages gave me something to fiddle with when I was nervous.

"Right," Dr. Roberts said, looking up again. He studied me for a moment as I stayed quiet. "Listen, Sang." He closed his notebook. "Psychiatry is not my strong suit, but I can help you if you let me." I didn't say anything. "You sang like a bird--no pun intended--when it came to Nikolai Ivanov, and Karl is using that information to the best of his ability, but you need to tell us about this Veseli character."

"I told you," I said. "He's dead. He had a two-man empire, and the other guy is dead as well."

Dr. Roberts frowned. "It's not about putting a criminal behind bars, though I'd very much like to see justice done to the kind of man that would--" he cut himself off, gathering his thoughts. "Sang, this isn't vital information. Lives are not in the balance. You need to talk about it just to talk about it. It's not healthy to hold in everything that happened to you. Even when you tell us about Ivanov, it's only the information that's related to his crimes. I want fewer facts and more feelings, as cliche as that may be."

I looked out the window. The two-way mirrored glass was a good way to have a view of the city of Charleston without outsiders looking in and seeing anything but an abandoned building. "I don't see what the point is."

"The point is to help you work past the things that were done to you, that happened to you, that you had to live through."

"What about all the stuff that I've done?"

He leaned forward, eager and supportive. "We can talk about that. You have this guilt that no one has been able to guess at. We could talk about why you feel that way."

I shook my head.

Dr. Roberts sighed again before leaning back in his chair. "Okay, let's talk about your life now, here at the Academy. How are you adjusting?"

"Well enough," I said.

"You've healed up nicely, or so I've been informed since Sean insists on handling all your check-ups." I cracked a smile at Dr. Roberts' jesting exasperation with his protege. "You start training soon, right?"

"I start tomorrow, actually."

"And how are you feeling about that?"

"Well, I'm not allowed to take any computer classes yet. I think they're afraid I'll try to track down Ivanov by myself or something. I'll take physical training and some elective classes that I could choose-- any class that doesn't involve a device with wifi, that is. The classes might be fun. I like to learn. Physical training is...well, I'll like seeing Nathan and Marc. I've missed all of them."

"It's been, what, a month?"

I nodded, not wanting to correct him that--aside from the home check-ups with Dr. Green--it had been over a month. But hey, who was counting?

"Well, good. I'm glad to see that you've made connections. That's healthy. Speaking of, how are you connecting with the Cardinal Birds?"

"I learned their names," I said carefully.

"You're not calling them by their Disney princess names any longer?" Dr. Roberts said, amused.

"No, at least, not out loud," I said. "They started calling me Rapunzel, so I learned really quickly after that to stop."

Dr. Roberts choked on the sip of water he'd taken. He cleared his throat a couple of times. "Rapunzel?" he said neutrally, but there was this glint to his eyes.

I bit my lip. "You can't tell anyone! Doctor-patient privilege or something, right?" I prodded again when he didn't give me an answer. "Right, Dr. Roberts?"

He grinned at me but didn't answer my question. "You haven't started doing any of the team-building training yet, have you?"

"No, Karl said that it would be better for me to build up my strength first as an individual. Something about needing to learn myself before I could be a good team player," I mumbled.

"That's good advice. You're lucky to have him as a mentor."

I shrugged, but it was true. Karl and the guys had blown into my life at my lowest point, saving me beyond description in ways I could only imagine though I tried my best not to. "He's a good guy. I don't know how I could possibly repay everything that he has done for me."

"Well, Karl is in a pretty self-sufficient place right now. Perhaps...have you heard the saying: pay it forward?" I shook my head, so he explained. "It means that if someone is kind to you, you can always pass that kindness along. Karl helped you, but you can always help others. That will help with your self-image. I also think it will help you deal with a lot of the guilt you are still carrying around...of course, you don't have to pay any penance. Talking about it would help also. I don't suppose you're ready for that...? No, I can see you're not. Okay, well, if there isn't anything else, you can be on your way. What's your schedule for today?"

I fiddled with my sleeves. "Well, I'm still on a sort of house arrest, though that should be lifting with my healing all finished up. They're letting me take the classes, but they wanted it to be a gradual change...so I don't have anything really planned until my training with Nathan and Marc tomorrow."

"Good, that will be good for you," he said.

"I'm just glad you don't have to meet me at the Cardinal's house anymore."

"Why do you say that?"

Always analyzing everything I said. Dr. Roberts might claim that psychiatry wasn't his strong suit, but that only meant it either came to him like breathing air or he was lying.

"Well, I was going stir crazy. I hadn't left until today with you. It was good for me for a while, to heal and...and come to terms with...Kaz," I swallowed past the ball of grief that had wedged itself in my throat. "But, I think I'm ready to get back on my feet. Karl keeps going on about how I need to get to know 'Free-Sang,' but it's hard to do that from a gilded cage."

"Quite right, Rapunzel."

That cheeky, sly...

Dr. Roberts chuckled. "A fair warning, Miss Sang. Your face is such an open book. You might be careful about how you mentally prepare my demise, lest you give away your plans to the intended victim."

I groaned to myself, giving up my dark fantasies that hadn't really been well thought-out anyway. I'd stew about it later.

I got to my feet, already knowing that my team's moniker for me would be spread around the Academy hub before lunch to those that knew of me...so, just the guys, since they were still trying to protect my anonymity. Dr. Roberts was an unashamed gossip and felt things within the Academy worked like one big family, so patient confidentiality...about something like an embarrassing nickname? It didn't exist.

It seemed I would be officially joining the ranks of the Disney Princesses.