Eternal Love: 9 Lives Is Not Enough

Summary: Future AU, No Killer. In the year 2022, Rachel and Audrey are now living together, but have started to drift away from each other. Can a furry problem bring them back together? Rated for Language, and other warnings inside.

Thank you, ThePlotMurderers, for helping me out with this story. Couldn't have done this without you. And thank you, VanillaAshes, and PedRock for beta reading this story.

Just as a warning to anyone reading this, this story does contain references to depression, past abuse, self-harm, and possibly PTSD. If any of that is potentially upsetting to you, it might not be the best idea for you to read this story.

I don't own anything. This disclaimer covers the entire story.

Chapter 1

Lakewood, Louisiana, 2022

"Shit!" came an irritated voice from the kitchen, followed by a string of other expletives.

Rachel got out of her chair and ran as fast as she could to the sound. "What happened?"

Audrey looked over from the running sink and replied, "Knife slipped and cut some of my fingers."

Rachel sighed as she looked over at the cutting board. Sure enough, the knife had some blood on it, and so did the vegetables. So much for vegetable stew for supper. She walked over to one of the cabinets and got out the well-stocked first-aid kit. As she took out the gauze, Audrey spoke.

"I've got it." She said glancing over.

Rachel looked up and asked, "You sure?"

"Yeah."

They sat in silence as Audrey started to patch herself up, but only after Rachel had insisted on looking at the wounds herself. The cuts weren't as bad as they had thought, and the knife hadn't gone to the bone.

But the cut had been across the top of three of her fingers, and had been at the knuckles. Which meant that she was going to have to wear splints until the wounds finally closed. But they couldn't do that until they had stopped the bleeding.

As Audrey finished wrapping the gauze around her fingers, Rachel decided to start a conversation. "Howard called."

Audrey looked up from her fingers and asked, "He still coming over tonight?"

"Yeah," replied Rachel, before she looked down at her left wrist. The scars were long faded, but still there. A reminder of a past that she didn't want any part of anymore.

Audrey nodded as she started to wrap an ace bandage around the gauze. "Good. Anything else?"

"Amanda said she wanted to spend dinner with her brother, Emma's on date with Kieran, and Noah and Riley are still coming."

They fell into another silence. Rachel glanced over to the kitchen and began to clean up the blood- It was the least she could do. Wasn't like she brought in the big money, Audrey's Indie films did that just fine. Compared to that, Rachel's articles in the local papers didn't amount to much. It was just like Pamela had said before she kicked her out. She'd never amount to anything, and that she'd always be nothing but a worthless piece of…

Stop it! Right now! You are not worthless, Rachel thought to herself before she took a deep breath. Dr. Buffington had been a lifesaver. If it hadn't been for Dr. B- Rachel didn't like to think about what might have happened if she hadn't started seeing her.

As she set the knife and cutting board in the sink, and went to get a clean set out, she felt arms wrap around her waist and Audrey's head rest on her shoulder. "I love you."

Rachel smiled before she turned around and gave a Audrey a light kiss. "I love you too."

After Howard had said the blessing, they started to eat and Rachel couldn't help but smile. Seven years ago, she would've never imagined that her life would turn out like this, let alone that she'd still have a wonderful girlfriend, or even friends who actually cared about her.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Howard asked, "So, how's the week been, Audrey?"

Rachel looked over to Audrey as she replied, "Work's been ok, I guess."

"Has Greg gotten any new scripts?" asked Riley.

"A couple that he wants me to look over," was Audrey's curt response. Rachel frowned at that. Usually Audrey always shared what kinds of scripts Greg gave them.

"Any good ones?" she asked.

Audrey took a deep breath and said, "I just got them yesterday, and I haven't had a chance to look them over, ok?"

That silenced everyone for a few minutes. It was in that tone that Audrey used when she didn't want to be bothered anymore. Rachel looked over to Howard and saw a frustrated look on his face.

He finally said, "Audrey, I'd like to speak with you after supper, ok?"

Audrey nodded as she focused on her food. And with that, the conversation turned normal again. Or at least, as normal as it could be.

In the last few weeks, she and Audrey had been growing distant, and as much as she didn't want to admit it, Rachel was going into a bad episode. But she couldn't tell Audrey that right now. Not when they other things to worry about, like getting a good enough script to turn into a movie.

Soon, dinner had eaten, and Howard had gone with Audrey to talk in the living room privately, while Noah and Riley helped Rachel with the dishes.

"Hey Rachel, I got your deposit for this month," said Noah as he dried the dishes as Rachel washed them and she had to smile.

"You're a great landlord, Noah."

"And an even better husband," piped Riley and Noah gave her a quick peck on the lips at that. Noah had been given the store when the previous owner died, along with the apartments above it and was now their next door neighbor.

Rachel happened to see Noah turn around and stare at the living room. He asked, "What do you think they're talking about?"

"No clue." Rachel answered as she felt a slight pang go through her heart. She had a pretty good idea what they were talking about. And it wasn't something that she and Audrey had ever really talked about.

God, she wanted to walk down the aisle one day. But not the way her mo-Pamela, she corrected herself- had wanted. She wanted to walk down that aisle with a person she loved. Not somebody that was chosen for her.

Later on, after everyone had left, she found Audrey on the couch, a bottle of beer in her good hand, and in a sulk. Rachel plopped herself down next to her and asked, "You want to talk about it?"

Audrey downed the rest of her beer and gave her a strange look. "Why doesn't my Dad ever get mad at me?"

Rachel raised an eyebrow.

"No matter what I do, he never gets mad. He never yells, or shouts. I just…" Audrey began before she gave a sob, "I'm tired of being spoiled! I want him to yell at me! Just once!"

Rachel frowned and asked, "What'd you two talk about?"

Audrey gave a chuckle and said, "He…he wants to know when we're gonna get married."

"Oh..." Rachel wasn't surprised. Howard hadn't exactly been subtle in the fact he wanted them to get married.

Audrey frowned and asked, "Do you want to get married?"

Rachel looked over at her girlfriend and couldn't help but blush a bit as she asked, "Is that an offer?"

Audrey scoffed as she said, "No. I…I'm not ready for that."

Rachel shouldn't have been as crushed as she was. It shouldn't have hurt as much as it did. She took a breath and asked, "So we're just play house forever then?"

"Is that what you think this is?" It wasn't Audrey's face that betrayed anything, it was her quiet, hurt voice.

"No. I'm sorry…I didn't mean it like that."

Audrey put her face in her good hand and started to rub her eyes. Silence overtook the two women as they moved farther away from each other on the couch.

Rachel would be the first to admit that they didn't talk like they used to. They used to tell each other everything. Now? She felt like she barely knew the woman she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.

She finally got up and said, "I'm going to bed. See you in the morning."

As she pulled the covers over her, tears started to come to Rachel's eyes. What had brought them to this? To barely even knowing the other?

A couple of hours later, Rachel felt movement on other side of the bed. She stiffened up as the covers were pulled over. The last thing she remembered before she dozed off was Audrey putting an arm around her waist.

"Audrey, I'm not in the mood," was what Rachel muttered as she rolled onto her back. The tapping to her chest had woken her up.

Audrey had always been an early riser, and as Rachel had found out several times, she sometimes liked to wake her up in…unconventional ways.

But Rachel was still upset from last night, and if Audrey thought that trying to butter her up with sex was going to change that, she had another thing coming.

That's when she felt something climb on top of her chest and make it's way to her head. Then came the licking. It felt harsh, when did Audrey's tongue become so rough?

She opened her eyes, ready to tell Audrey to knock it off, when she saw it. It was a black kitten with yellow streaks sitting on her chest.

Her heart melted as she blinked a few times to make sure she wasn't seeing things. Audrey knew that she loved cats and that that was the answer to any problem. She reached over for it sniff her hand.

"Audrey, she's adorable! Where'd you find her?"

No answer came, so she called out again. When nothing came, she finally took a look at the clock…How the hell was it ten in the morning?

"She must be at work," she said to herself. She reached over and picked up her phone and texted Audrey 'I found your gift and I love her'.

Only seconds after she had hit send, she heard something from the living room. Taking the kitten in her arms, she got out of bed and made her way to where the noise had came from…Audrey's phone, that had just received her text.

She never leaves for work without it, Rachel thought to herself, before she went into the kitchen and got some milk out for her kitten.

As it began to drink it, Rachel happened to notice what was on it's neck. It was a silver chain necklace, with an Angel of Death pendant attached to it. The second part of a matching set Rachel had given Audrey for her 18th birthday. And as she turned it over, sure enough, the inscription read, 'Eternal Love'.

Rachel's hand went to her neck, where she had the other part of the set.

"Cute," she said before she got out her phone again and made a quick call to Greg. A few rings later, he answered, "Hello?"

"Hey Greg, it's Rachel. I was wondering if Audrey was with you? She forgot her phone."

"She's not here, Rachel. Never showed up."

Rachel hung up at that and began to tap her fingers against her phone. And as she did, the kitten started to rub against her arm.

She dialed another number, and soon a voice answered, "Rachel? Is everything ok?"

"It is, Howard. I was just wondering if Audrey was with you?"

"No, I haven't seen her since last night."

After that, she made several more calls and learned that Audrey wasn't with Noah and Riley, Amanda, Emma, or Brooke for that matter.

"Where the hell are you, Audrey?"

She felt guilty for doing it, but she looked over to the door, and sure enough, Audrey's keys were still there.

Rachel walked back into the bedroom to get dressed, and noticed what she hadn't earlier. Audrey's Batwoman PJ's and matching shirt were on her normal spot on the bed. Funny thoughts went through her head as Rachel imagined Audrey streaking in the streets of Lakewood.

A few minutes later, Rachel came out with a good set of jeans and a t-shirt on and walked back over to her kitten. And that's when she saw it.

On it's left front paw, there were splints, or something similar to them, on three of it's toes.

No way. That's impossible! Things like that just didn't happen…But the fur color, the splints, the pendant….Audrey's not run off, and she's not with any of our friends…

Oh God.

She leaned in close to her kitten and asked, "Audrey…is that you?"

The kitten silent for a few seconds, before it reached out and bopped Rachel gently on the nose.

The next few minutes seemed to go by entirely too slow. As Rachel picked the kitten up and held it to her chest, she began to accept what had happened.

And then she let out a long, bloodcurdling scream.

What do you think so far?