Seth/Kate pairing. (AU)
Disclaimer: Don't own the from Dawn till Dusk the Series.
Her parents were damn near obsessed with two things, church and charity. Kate could agree that both were worthy in their own way, but neither were exactly in line with what an 18-year-old wants to spend the rest of her life doing with her every evening and weekend. She had respected their wishes and had taken to doing charity work on her own in the evening's. It was primarily to avoid her father's sermons and any and all church work outside of Sunday service, which there was no avoiding. Goodness what would the neighbors think? Her relationship with her dad had once being loving but has long since disintegrated in line with his ever-increasing temper, it was something only her mother had ever been able to soothe. She loved her mother dearly and while she avoided her father where possible, she adored spending time with her mother. Every Saturday without fail they spent together.
The most recent place she had started volunteering at was a nearby soup kitchen in a rougher area of town most weekday evenings. The work was easy, mostly hauling in groceries and pre-prepared pots of food. She would occasionally serve, but largely since she was young she primarily was on carrying and lifting duty. Which she didn't mind what actually wore on her was the boredom and on her many trips to and from the van she found her eyes wandering over to the TV repair shop in the next-door lot. A TV repair shop, that she doubted very much repaired many if any TV's at all. It screamed criminal element, not the violent kind but more the I steal things and boost cars type. She felt no reason to be afraid though and she had never been one to judge, everyone had their own story. Still, her eyes kept looking over wondering about what happened behind those closed doors.
One day on her third week volunteering there, her eyes fell to the next-door lot and landed on a man stalking back and forth arguing with someone over the phone. Her footsteps slowed and stopped as she watched him. He was gorgeous, with a strong build, dark hair and eyes. He was wearing a black suit with what looked like a plain white t-shirt underneath, all of which struck her as odd in this neighbourhood. She could see the barest hint of a creeping tattoo up his neck which made her lick her lips. She must have stared too long as his eyes suddenly fell upon hers and she felt self-conscious under his intent gaze. She pulled her attention immediately back to the task at hand and hurried inside. Her face burned bright red once inside but she still found herself rushing outside again, determined to get another look at the gorgeous man but she felt a pang of disappointment when he was no longer there. Still, it made for far more interesting fantasies about what went on behind those closed doors.
From then on, she saw him semi-regularly to the point where she wondered if perhaps he was looking out for her too. She hoped he was but figured that it was more than likely it was all in her imagination, given he had to be at least ten years older than her. She couldn't imagine him ever showing real interest in a teenager like her but something about him drew her in anyway. He was an interesting puzzle for her to solve, of course to do that would involve talking to him. They had long since begun to exchange smiles and waves and a very occasional hello as she hauled the pots and groceries inside. Each brief interaction making her feel giddy like she was fourteen again. Then again, she never exactly had a normal teenage upbringing under the constant watch of preacher daddy. Most boys in her congregation would barely look at her, and those brave enough to want to date her tended to be the type to quote scripture which was tedious and not remotely appealing to her. She couldn't wait for college or at the very least just not to be here anymore.
These interactions were traded back and forth for many weeks and since seeing him she had only missed two weekday evenings, the night her mother died and the night of her burial. That had been a couple weeks ago now and a part of her still felt numb, like she could barely breathe. Nobody was interested in offering her more than platitudes and the lord Jesus as help for her grief. She felt alone as even Scott had retreated to the company of his weed smoking friends and her father had retreated to the comfort of the bottle and the church. She had nothing but her charity work to cling to now, so she never missed a day. Especially since daddy was now even more overbearing and aggressive with her now all while preaching sweet comforting words from the pulpit. Her mother wasn't around to soften any of his anger anymore and most of it was directed at her.
Her now almost daily brief interactions with the mysterious man had now become her only source of anchoring in the world, her only brief burst of happiness in the gloom. One she desperately needed and was so afraid of losing every day. One night she was carrying a box of groceries in when she caught his eye and he smiled and waved. She was basking in the afterglow of the interaction as she left the box down and was about to head out again when she heard her gruff father's voice come from behind her. She froze, why was he here? Had he found out about her flirting? Oh god had she been flirting? Was she in trouble? Wait shouldn't he be in church? She turned and he was standing there only mere feet from her.
He went to hug her and she pulled back "Hey Katie Cakes, thought we could spend some time together" he said with an almost convincing smile.
"No" she said and went to leave.
"No? but I barely see you anymore" he went to grab hold of her but she deftly avoided his grip and headed out the door.
"That's the point" she whispered as she kept walking right by the car and off down the road.
She practically ran as she heard his footsteps come after her, hot tears streamed down her face. Why did he have to ruin this too? This was all she had left in the world. God knows she hadn't poured his drink down the sink despite how tempted she had been every morning since her mother died.
"Katie, please your mother wouldn't have wanted this" he called after her. He would have almost sounded reasonable to her ears, but she knew him too well. She had been fooled before by his gentle words and it had cost her.
"Mom is dead" she shouted back as she kept walking. He grabbed a hold of her shoulder this time.
"Get your fucking hands off me" she spat back at him.
"I am your father Kate" he snarled, there was the man he really was, peeking out from behind the covers.
She felt her head raise in defiance "Then start fucking acting like it" and she pulled herself away from his grip. He advanced on her and she knew that face. It was his face that meant he was about to throw a punch, she had been hit by enough of them and had avoided far more. She had the advantage here though, he would never want to look less than pious in public. She may pay for it later but she had long since learned how to avoid the worst of it.
"You want to hit me daddy, go right ahead, let these lovely people see the man, the preacher you really are. Let's show them old testament what do you say?" she said stepping into his personal space. He gritted his jaw but turned and walked away, she smirked and muttered to herself "Didn't think so". She turned and walked away in the opposite direction, she had no idea of the neighbourhood she was in but she didn't care. She needed to think, she needed to breathe. Her chest still heaving, still jittery and angry she stormed down the largely unknown street she was so fucking done with everything. Maybe she would just get a bus out of this shitty town tonight.