"Mom? Momma?" Cat blinked up at Jade and I, her brown eyes searching our faces with complete confusion, "momma, where am I?" she looked at me, her lip jutting out in a pout.
"Cat? Do you know who you are?" Jade asked, clearly nervous after watching Cat tumble and smash her head on the stairs.
Cat giggles, covering her mouth with her hand, "Of course, mom, that's a silly question. I'm Cat."
Jade looks visibly startled, her eyes twitch to me, "What's your full name, Cat?" She asked her voice sounding strained.
"Cat West-Vega." Cat replied with a giggle, "Are you okay mom?"
"Stop calling me your mother!" Jade screamed. Cat flinched, tears building up in her eyes, she turned those deep brown orbs on me, "Cat don't cry…." Jade whispered.
"Momma, why is mom so mad?" she asked me, sitting up and burying her face in my shoulder. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and kissed her head softly, more than a little freaked out she was referring to me as her 'momma'.
"Cat, don't cry, Jade's just cranky." Cat sniffles and puts her arms around my waist; she turned to look at Jade who was sitting near her feet on my sofa, she darted off the couch and stormed upstairs, on the phone with someone. When she came back five minutes later she was screaming, "She's gone bat shit crazy! She's calling me her mother!" she came back in the room
"Now Cat…you know Jade isn't your mother." I said softly, as if talking to a child that might explode in a fight of tears if you talked too loudly. I stood up and stepped away from Cat, standing behind Jade who was shaking with anger.
"What are you talking about? Of course she's my mom. So it Tori…but they should be older." Her eyebrows drew together and she stared at us completely confused, "but they're my moms."
"No we're not!" Jade screams. I grab her arm and jerk her so she looks at me, she looks like she's going crazy, I give her arm a gentle squeeze and she sighs, jerking her arm from my grasp. She crossed her arm and grabbed her opposite elbow, and put her hand on her forehead.
"Come on, Kitty Cat." Jade whispers, "Tor and I will take you home." Jade and I helped Cat out of my house; I walked with her-holding her hand at her constant insistence-while Jade carried her bag.
Cat was silent in the backseat on the ride to her house, Jade didn't say much and I was too scared Cat would start calling us her moms again and Jade would try and strangle her. At her house Cat refuses to get out of the car. Jade throws her bag at me, grabs Cat's arm and forcibly picks her up from the back of the car.
"Great another nut job!" Cat's mom raves after Jade and I explained what happened in depth. Cat looked like she was about to burst into tears as her mother rubbed the bridge of her nose.
"If you want she can stay with me…" Jade offered, "My moms a doctor so she'll be able to help if something goes wrong, besides the way Cat is maybe she'd be more comfortable with us." She quickly tacked on when Cat's mother looks offended at the suggestion. Jade's mother might have been a doctor but I doubt she'd be any help. She was a terrifying bitch.
Cat's mom sighs, her brown eyes softening, "That's fine." She caves in, "just call me and keep me updated." We lead Cat to her bedroom and she squeals with delight, dropping down and bouncing on her bed.
"Now Cat, you've got to grab your clothes from here, okay?" she smiles up at us and nods, bouncing off the bed and heading straight for the closet. I sink down onto Cat's bed and watch her wander around as if she was normal Cat.
"Do you think she's fucking with us?" Jade asked, leaning against the dressed beside me, "I mean seriously, she knows this place like the back of her hand, do you think she knows something about us and wants us to admit it?"
"I have no idea." Cat finished packing up her hello kitty backpack and swings it around her shoulder, "ready to go?" she beamed at us, rocking from the balls of her feet to her heels.
"Lets go." Jade grunted, leading the way out of the house.
Jade's house, no matter how many times I saw it, was always breathtaking. It was very creepy and old, like a mansion from some scary movie. But inside was immaculate; her mother was a plastic surgeon, as well as a private doctor for celebrities, and she preferred having a large house to throw lush parties in. Jade complained about it daily.
The huge oak doors swung open into a fancy foyer with off white marble floors and a hanging chandelier. A staircase twisted up the wall with an intricate banister made of dark oak accents led up to the second floor, and to the many rooms hidden within the place.
Below the staircase was a dark archway that led into the main room and a small hallway led to Jade's mother's office. Jade led us silently up the stairs, Cat bouncing happily behind her. I kept my ears sharp, not wanting another run in with Jade's mother like the one this morning.
We made it to Jade's room without a sound from anywhere in the house that could mean her mother was around. Cat made herself at home on Jade's bed and just watched Jade pace in front of the bed. I sat down on the window seat, staring down into the lush back yard garden.
"Cat why do you think Tori and I are your mothers?" she asked, halting in front of the bed. Cat looked up from her hands and she looked really confused, "Cat?"
"Because you just are. You're my mom, and Tori's my momma and you two are in love and I don't know why you're pretending you're not my moms…" she bites her bottom lip and I swear she's about to cry.
"Do you want some cookies, Cat?"
"Yes!"
"Stay here and be a good girl." I tell her, I stand up, grab Jade's arm and drag her out of the room, down the stairs and into the kitchen. I dig around for a cup and some milk and grab a few cookies I'd made yesterday while hanging out here listening to Jade ranting.
"Tori, what if Cat is fucking with us?"
"So what if she is?" I sighed, "just let her keep it up, it's not like we have to cave in, eventually she'll give up."
"Do you really think she'll give up? What if she finds out?" Jade asks nervously.
"I didn't know you were ashamed of me." I snapped, snatching a cookie off of the plate and taking a huge bite out of it.
"Tor, I'm not ashamed of you…" she walks toward me, reaching out and cupping my cheek in her hand and then we hear the clicking of her mothers shoes coming into the kitchen. Vera West stepped into the kitchen, her eyes lifting from the tablet in her hand to her daughter, cupping my face lovingly.
"Jade. I didn't know you were home." She said, narrowing her eyes at Jade's hand, "Tori, it's wonderful to see you again."
"You too, Miss West." I managed to say. Jade looked terrified, my heart was beating in my throat.
"Those cookies?"
"Yes." I swallow nervously, Jade is frozen, "I made them yesterday…"
"May I?" she asks, tucking the tablet under her arm as she steps up to the counter, she takes one bites into it and smiles at me, walking out of the room, her heels clicking. Jade drops her hand from my face, staring after her mother with confusion.
"Come on Jade, before Cat wanders." I pick up the plate and head upstairs without her. Jade had been super weird about me meeting her mom, nervous that her mother would react badly to us being together. I'd since run into her mom about five times, this morning being me sneaking across the hall into the bathroom in Jade's shirt and my underwear.
I pushed the door to Jade's room open and handed Cat the plate of cookies, she ate them happily and drank down her milk, "where's mom?" she asks, staring at the open door.
"I don't know, Cat." I shrug, sitting down in the window seat once again.
"Momma?"
"Hmm?" I retort, eyes searching the garden until I found her, standing under the archway covered in flowers, like she always was when she was panicked. She eventually moved further, this time sitting down on the bench beside it, staring up at the sky. Eventually her eyes turned to me; she gave me a small smile.
"Does she hate me?"
"No."
"I want to go play in the garden!" I follow her downstairs as fast as I can, she's out the back door in a matter of seconds, racing toward Jade. Jade stood up as Cat crashed into her, hugging her with all her might before racing off down the path of the garden.
Jade sighs and follows, reaching back and taking my hand, dragging me along behind her, "Hopefully she'll be back to normal soon." Jade comments, "I don't know if I'd be able to handle having that calling me her mother for the rest of my life."
"Cat! Be careful around that pond!" Jade yelled, as she said it, Cat slipped on a wet stone and she went down, her head smacking a stone hard, "Go check on her!" Jade dropped my hand and ran into her house while I ran for Cat.
She was out like a light, but breathing, "Cat, can you hear me?" I hear running as Jade and her mother make it out to us. Her mother gently pulls me out of the way and kneels beside Cat. Jade grabbed my hand in a vice grip, her eyes wide as she watched her mom try to rouse Cat.
By the time Cat woke up the ambulance had arrived and the EMT's had loaded her onto the gurney. We followed them to the hospital, meeting Cat's mother there, after a long examination we were finally allowed in to see her.
"Jade! Tori!" She squealed in delight, "look I've got a bracelet with my name on it! Isn't it pretty?" she waved her wrist through the air and pointed at the white band.
"It's pretty, Cat." I tell her with a nervous smile.
"Thanks Tori. My mom said I was staying with you because I hit my head earlier. What happened?"
"Nothing, you were just a little loopy and we decided it'd be okay if you came with Jade and I." I shrugged, "you don't remember…"
"No, I remember seeing you guys downstairs, but I don't remember much after that." she shrugs on shoulder. Jade and I exchange glances.
"Well, you get some rest kitty Cat, we'll come back to see you tomorrow." Jade says, stuffing her hands in her pockets, she wandered out of the room, nudging my arm with hers; we walked out of the hospital together silently.