Keiko Fujiwara: I've had this little story in my mind for a while…, and finally, I've had time to write it down since BATB 2.13 "Till Death" (which was an AWESOME episode by the way!).
Things to know:
This piece will have sort of a Faulkner style to it. So read carefully because it will flip from present to past and back to present (et cetera) unexpectedly. The following bullet points should aid you in reading this story.
*Present || Normal Font
*Past || Bold + Italicized Font
*Several sentences will be split. The first half may be in the present…then a past memory will infiltrate the sentence…. The rest of the phrase will continue after the memory has completed itself. (sometimes the memory will cut off abruptly and return to the present)
**If, after this chapter is over, you are utterly confused, please let me know.
Title | A Matter of Time
Fandom | Beauty and the Beast (CW)
Description | What happens if Gabe turns out to be hiding more secrets than Catherine or Vincent ever realized? What if one of them found out about it? What would he or she do? More importantly, how would Gabe respond in order to keep control of the 'situation'? This is my little masterpiece in which my mind created as an addition to the ending of BATB 2.13 "Till Death."
Rating| This fanfiction will be rated T for language, suggested themes and anything else T-rated I might throw in it. If anything, read at your own discretion.
POV | Third Person Omniscient
Disclaimer | While CW owns Beauty & the Beast, I am the owner of this Masterpiece.
Claimer | I am human; there are bound to be mistakes. If you feel like something should be changed, you have the power to send me a review/private message. I can't guarantee if I'll change it every time but I do read all of my reviews and all of my private messages!
A Matter of Time
Written by: Keiko Fujiwara
~Beauty & the Beast~
Catherine hissed in pain as she slowly made her way into her apartment. It had been a long, agonizing drive back from Gabe's, and she knew she was in for a rough night. The moment she entered her bedroom, she inhaled a sharp breath and walked into her bathroom. Before she did anything, she gazed into the mirror, and observed the jagged marks stretching across her abdomen. Blood was seeping through her dress—lots of it.
While she continued to stare at her injury, she bit her lip and gasped as she reached backwards to unzip her dress. For Vincent's sake, she needed to destroy her dress as soon as possible. Once she pulled the zipper down towards the small of her back, she released her long-held breath, and slid the black, sequenced material over and off of her shoulders. The dress fell to the floor, and she proceeded to remove the rest of her clothing so she could clean off in the shower. Once fully naked, she noticed the extent of her wounds, and her thoughts of cleaning her injuries in a hot shower was long forgotten.
It's a wonder how she even managed to drive home without fainting!
To try and stop the blood from flowing out of her stomach, she pressed both hands against the four clawed cuts and clenched her teeth as well as squeezed her eyes shut in response to the pain searing out of her body.
When she opened up her eyes, she smiled at Gabe as he pulled her inside of his apartment. They were finally going to make the next big step within their relationship—or so she hoped. As he locked the door, he told her to make herself at home. She walked further inside his apartment, nervous. She couldn't explain it, but she felt like something was missing. The last time she had…was with Vincent. And a memory like that doesn't just disappear overnight. As she slowly walked about the living room, she realized she had never really had a chance to notice all of the ancient artifacts decorating Gabe's apartment.
"See something you like?" she heard him ask as he approached her from behind.
"Your collection…I didn't know you like medieval weapons." Catherine replied while he walked in front of her with a smile.
"It's a…guilty pleasure." Gabe laughed. "I've been collecting for many years. But," he paused, "I didn't invite you into my apartment tonight just so we could talk about my collection."
"I know." Catherine nodded as she tried to hide the fact that her mind was reeling with uneasiness. Something—call it a gut feeling—was nagging at her, but she didn't know what it was. "I guess I'm a little nervous…. That's all."
"We don't have to do anything, Catherine. If you still want to wait, I'm okay with that." Gabe replied, still smiling. "I told you, I'll wait until you're ready."
But would she ever be ready? For Gabe, at least? "Is it okay…if I have a few moments to myself?" She needed to get herself together; she couldn't very well do that with him standing in the room.
"Of course. I need to make a quick trip to the lobby anyway. You think ten minutes would be long enough?"
"Should be." Catherine nodded.
"All right. I'll see you in ten." Gabe said and backed away from her. "Feel free to look at my collection while you collect your thoughts."
"Thanks." Catherine gave Gabe a small smile. After he had left, she pulled her hair off of her neck and took in a deep breath. What was she doing? Did she really want to go through with this? What was she trying to prove? That she could move on from Vincent? Thousands of thoughts entered her head as she mindlessly sauntered about the loft. She twiddled her fingers behind her back and teetered back and forth on her feet as she gazed at the walls. Gabe really had quite the collection—how could she have not noticed it before?
Suddenly, she saw two manila folders sitting on his desk; unable to defy her curiosity, she walked over to it and felt so weak; her skin was paling. She looked at her crumpled dress and undergarments on the floor and saw a small puddle of blood growing around it. Her hands were too small to prevent her stomach from bleeding, and if she didn't call for help, she was sure she wouldn't make the night. After grabbing her towel off of the towel rack, she pressed the material firmly against her abdomen and walked out of the bathroom. She needed to find her phone and call him. He needed to know. He had to know. She didn't care that she was buck naked; she was in too much pain to even think about her indecency. However, if she should pass out before his arrival, she grabbed her bathrobe and dragged it with her as she walked out of her bedroom.
Catherine strolled down her hallway and gasped when she saw the headings of both folders. One was labeled with Vincent's name, and the other one was entitled Catherine Chandler. Why would Gabe have files of Vincent and of her? Slowly and quietly, she flipped up the top flap of the folder listed with her name, and scanned through its contents. Among the papers she found within the file, Gabe apparently had copies of her monetary transactions within his possession. She continued to thumb through the files, and saw a sealed, mini-manila envelope as well. Quickly, she unwound the thin red string from around its coil, and pulled out what seemed to be pictures…of her…. Some were pictures taken of her when she was a little girl; others were recent—very recent. Was Gabe having her followed? And for how long?
Catherine put the pictures back into the envelope and resealed it before placing it back inside the larger envelope. Instead of continuing to investigate her file, she moved on to Vincent's. Again, Gabe had collected many of Vincent and JT's monetary transactions from the past two years. He also had pictures of both of them among other things. However, inside the small envelope that contained the dozens of photos of Vincent, she also found a small key. Shoving the key inside her pocket, she tidied everything back up, made the desk look like she had never touched it and started looking for a safe. He wouldn't have hidden his safe in plain sight—or would've he?
If Catherine knows anything about Gabe, it is that he's smart. He's an ADA after all; if he was really hiding something, he wouldn't have all of his secrets on showcase. They would be hidden in a place only he would have most of the access to—his room. Without a second thought, her detective skills kicked in. She snuck into Gabe's bedroom and searched his chamber. Nothing seemed too out of the ordinary. Hang on—why would a dresser drawer have a lock? She raced over to his bedside dresser and pulled the key out of her pocket. "Could it really be that simple?" she asked herself as she looked at the key.
Wasting no more time, she pushed the key inside the padlock and twisted the lock open. Success. With urgency, she removed the padlock, and opened up the drawer. Not even Vincent would have been able to guess what she had found.
She turned on her phone light, directed the LED down into the drawer and held onto the wall as she made her way to the main room of her apartment. As she made her way to her counter, she lazily dropped her bathrobe on top of her couch's armrest so Vincent would be able to find it.
She remembered placing her purse on the counter—her phone had to be in it. Wherever her phone might be, she hoped to God that she didn't leave it at Gabe's. With the cloth pressed against her stomach, she finally made it to the kitchen counter. While she reached for her purse, she suddenly felt dizzy; her legs felt like Jell-O. The room around her started to spin as absentmindedly released the towel from her stomach and grasped her head. Forgetting about her purse, she tried to take a step away from the counter, but lost her balance, falling to the floor.
She shrieked in agony, grasping her side as she tried to erase the pain resonating within her body. She squeezed her eyes closed, and muttered his name under her breath—praying for him to come to her aid. She was wrong to have ever trusted Gabe. And now, it might be too late to make amends. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed her purse lying on the floor. It must have fallen. Biting her bottom lip as tears threatened to fall from the corners of her eyes, she continued to hold her stomach with her left hand while she used her free hand to move around the objects hidden inside the drawer. She saw a vial with some sort of red concoction…among several burner phones and a medieval mace? She picked up the only burner phone that wasn't inside a plastic bag. Against her best judgment, she turned it on. As she waited for the mobile device to boot up, she placed it beside her and pulled out the mace. Why would Gabe have a mace hidden inside a dresser drawer?
She pointed her phone's light at the spikes. Her stomach suddenly felt ill. She had seen those spikes before…, and if she was right about the when and where, she had every reason to pack up and leave Gabe's apartment as soon as possible. Just as she was about to lock up the dresser and sneak the items out to her car by use of the Fire Escape, she heard Gabe's bedroom door slam shut, causing her to jump a few inches into the air.
"Gabe!" she exclaimed after whipping around to find him standing a few feet in front of her. "I didn't hear you come in."
"You really couldn't keep your curiosity to yourself, could you Catherine." he said as she shined her phone light at his face. To her surprise, however, he didn't block the bright light; he just stared at her with a frown plastered on his face.
"Explain all of this." Catherine demanded. She gulped, uncomfortable with how close he was to her. Between the bedside dresser, the bed, wall and Gabe, she wasn't left with a lot of room to move if in case she needed to defend herself.
"I don't have to tell you anything." Gabe sneered and crossed his arms over his chest. At least he wasn't preparing to attack her.
"I think I deserve an explanation." She retorted.
"Why? So you can run off and tell Vincent?" Gabe raised his eyebrow, but did not change his expression.
"No." Catherine shook her head, even though he was speaking part of the truth. "I'm tired of lies, Gabe. If you don't have a valid explanation for all of this, and for those files on your desk, I'll walk out that door and never come back."
"And what if I don't tell you?"
"Then yes, I will go tell Vincent, and for once, I'll let him be the judge, jury and maybe the executioner." Catherine replied with a shaky voice.
"Fair enough." Gabe suddenly shrugged. "I guess I have no choice then."
"No choice for what? Kill me? Kill Vincent?"
"No." he shook his head, "I can't kill you, Catherine. If I do, Vincent will be chasing my ass for as long as I live. I obviously can't kill Vincent, but there is someone I can kill—or rather, have an arranged kill."
"You're bluffing."
"Am I?" Gabe challenged. "Then let's see how your sister, Heather, is faring in Miami. Perhaps a few good pals of mine can have some fun with her."
"Keep my sister out of this." Catherine frowned, giving Gabe an implied threat. "She doesn't know anything about beasts; I want to keep it that way."
"Well, if I call my friends up, I'm sure that can still be arranged." Gabe smirked.
Catherine sighed in defeat. "Fine. What do you want of me?"
"Let's see…do what I say when I say it, and don't say a word about what you found today. If you do, I will have your sister killed, Catherine. You can count on that. Do we have an agreement?"
If only to save Heather? Then, "Yes." Catherine nodded. "Now, if you excuse me, I need to get home. Fishes to feed, you know?"
"You don't own fishes." Gabe deadpanned.
"Then take a hint." Catherine retorted as she pushed Gabe out of her way and headed for his bedroom door. She walked out into the living room, and grabbed her purse. Gabe followed her, and grabbed her arm.
"Wait."
"What?"
"How do I know you won't tell Vincent the moment you walk out of here?"
"The same way you'll know if I do." Catherine challenged him. She has just about had it with men and manipulation. At this point in time in her life, a nunnery wasn't a bad option for her to consider. "Now, if you don't mind, let me go."
"I didn't say you could leave yet." Gabe said and squeezed her arm tighter. "You did agree to basically being my personal slave back there."
As if. Catherine ripped her arm out of his grip and slammed her foot into his chest, knocking him backwards. "I'll leave when I want to leave."
She turned around and started storming out of Gabe's apartment. However, she heard him sprint towards her. The next thing she knew, she felt claws sinking into her body. They ripped across her stomach at an angle, causing her to immediately double over in pain.
She looked up at her assailant, and saw fangs, claws and yellow eyes. Shock washed over her. "G-gabe…y-your b-beast!" Catherine muttered slowly as blood spewed out of her mouth.
Anger swept across Gabe's face; something was different though. He wasn't as horrid-looking as the last time. It was almost like he also had an upgrade like Vincent. He started for her again, but she whipped out a tranquilizer gun from her purse and aimed it at him. Without a moment to lose, she fired three tranquilizers into his leg, making him lose consciousness and fall to the floor.
Catherine pulled herself up to stand, and zigzagged out of Gabe's apartment, hoping that she would make it home in time to dress it.
...reached for her purse. She stretched her arm muscles as far as she could, but her purse wasn't close enough. As her vision started to feel hazy, her right hand slipped off of her stomach, and her left hand went limp.
There was only a matter of time now.
~Beauty & the Beast~
Keiko Fujiwara: How was it? Did you like the style?
Note that this work of fanfiction is only planned for at most 4 chapters. I will not extend it further than 4 chapters, as I have a plan for the story. In my free time tomorrow, I will write and add chapter 2. Three and four will come eventually.
