Disclaimer: I do not own the show Bomb Girls nor any of its characters.

I just finished watching the entire first season of this show and I am now addicted. I live in the US so I haven't been able to watch any of the second season, but the season 1 finale left me inspired enough to write this. I read every review I receive so please let me know if you like it and if I should continue!

He will surely kill me this time… God, please…just let me die… Kate begged as the familiar burning in her lungs intensified. The edges of her vision were beginning to darken and she just wanted it all to stop.

Her father was crushing her windpipe in his fist, forcing her mouth open in a silent scream. The rush of water flooded into her throat and filled her lungs, but Kate didn't get her wish this time. Instead, Vernon Rowley yanked her head back above the water and she sputtered at the sudden plentiful supply of oxygen.

"God has given you a second chance, Marion…," his voice was low and gravelly, etched with a thinly veiled threat that Kate knew all too well. He didn't have to tell her what would happen if she stepped one toe off the straight and narrow.

When she had come home, Kate had known that the abuse would continue, but her mother had passed away almost as soon as she returned, causing the violence to escalate even further. Her mother had been her only ally here and Kate missed her terribly, but her father wouldn't allow her to speak of her without being severly punished for it. The only time she could safely mourn her was at night, alone in bed where she often cried herself to sleep.

Of course her father blamed Kate for his wife's death and punished her frequently for even the smallest of infractions, claiming those sins were what caused God to take away her mother. Alone at night, sometimes she couldn't help but agree with him.

Her father gave her one last burning glare before leaving Kate alone in the washroom still gasping for much needed air.

Wanting to get out of the water as quickly as possible, Kate slipped her leg over the edge and slid to the tiled floor, leaning against the tub in exhaustion. She let her eyes drift closed as her breathing began to return to a normal tempo.

Shaking uncontrollably, Kate's thoughts drifted, as they often did, to how she had gotten herself back into this situation.

She had come back home because she honestly wanted to be punished for her sinful ways. She was terrified of who she was turning into. She helped build bombs to kill people, she used God's gift to sing impure songs, had lurid photographs taken, and worst of all… Betty.

The usual pain shot through her heart at the thought of the blonde woman who had befriended her back in Toronto. Kate let her face fall into her hands as she remembered the hurt look on Betty's face as she pushed her away when they kissed.

No! She kissed me! Kate corrected in her mind, trying to erase the feeling of those lips from her memory.

That was really the instance that she knew she needed to come home. Of course she had been worried about her mother's health, but the feelings she was having for Betty were unnatural. Kate had convinced herself that she had been seduced by the blonde woman, but the truth was that all Betty had done was act on her feelings. Kate had chosen freely to spend her time with the blonde, knowing full well that she wasn't like the other girls. Truthfully, that's what Kate liked about Betty.

What really scared her was that she truly enjoyed Betty's company even if she was a deviant. Everything Kate had ever been taught about homosexuals was that they were perverts and would burn for their sinful behavior.

Yet… after all her time spent with Betty… it didn't feel wrong. When she was a little girl her mother would tell Kate that she could always tell when something is immoral by the way it feels in her heart. God would pull at her heart strings to remind her that what she is doing is sinful. Not once in all the time she was around Betty did she have that feeling. Not even when Betty kissed her.

Not to mention, after working so hard to escape her father and everything her mother had done to help her do it, Kate couldn't help but feel she had betrayed her mother coming back here. That immoral feeling in her gut was telling her that she didn't deserve to be treated this way. But every time she had these thoughts, Kate reminded herself that she was a sinner and her father was being noble in trying to salvage her immortal soul.

Kate still couldn't help but think that Betty didn't seem like a bad person. In fact, she was a strong, hard working woman who was forgiving. Kate could remember her first day when she dropped the amatol can and instead of firing her on the spot, Betty gave her another chance. After that Betty became a good friend who looked out for her and many nights were spent staying up just talking.

Beginning to shiver from the cold of her soaking wet clothes, Kate pushed these dark and conflicting thoughts from her mind and lifted herself up from the floor.

She could feel the stares. How could she not? Her secret was out to almost all of the girls at Victory Munitions and now their barely concealed gossip could be heard throughout the factory. Betty flicked the butt of her cigarette to the ground, eyeing the twittering women around her until they came to rest on a familiar brunette approaching her.

"Hey, you look your usual miserable self," Gladys greeted with a smarmy smile directed at the blonde woman.

"Lay off, Princess. I'm not in the mood," Betty replied, noticing how the other women were eyeing them before beginning to line up to enter the factory. Vera and Edith were heading towards them as well and Betty sighed in relief seeing more friendly faces. Ever since… the incident… at the boarding house, rumors had spread like wildfire, but some of the girls paid no mind to the talk around Vic Mu to which Betty was infinitely grateful.

There was no point in hiding it anymore, not now that Kate was gone. The girls whispered about the bruise on her face when she returned the next day and it was all over from there. No one but Gladys, Vera, Edith, Mrs. Corbett, Leon, and Marco would speak to her with a kind word. Everyone else treated her like she had some kind of disease and if they got too close to her they would catch it too. Betty kept up her rough façade but the talk was really starting to get to her.

The men at Vic Mu were the worst and would say awful and disgusting things to her when Mrs. Corbett wasn't around, causing the other women to snicker in response. Shower time at the end of shift was just as terrible. No one would shower with her, except the few women still on her side. Betty could tell though that Edith was slightly uncomfortable taking a shower next to her, but she did it anyway. The only person who completely accepted her was Gladys and Betty couldn't thank her enough for her friendship.

There was no relief when shift was over either because all of the women in the boarding house knew about her too. All of her friends had abandoned her and there were more than a few nights where she would spend the night alone drinking in the darkness of her room. She almost had enough money to buy her a little house like the one in that recruiting film she had been in. Then she could live alone and nobody would bother her.

Betty lined up beside Gladys and Edith and Vera and joined in their pre-shift banter while Mrs. Corbett signed them in for the day. Gladys turned to her after Vera and Edith began a side conversation and whispered,

"I found her, Betts."

Betty's heart stopped and her breathing became shallow. Had she just heard her right?

"What? How?" Betty hissed, glancing quickly around to see if anyone was listening in on their conversation. They both moved forward with the line, getting ever closer to Mrs. Corbett and time for shift.

"I'll explain everything later…," Gladys told her in a hushed whisper as they walked in to the factory.

Betty's thoughts were racing as she and the other girls got dressed for that day's shift, their wary eyes watching her as they changed into their white jumpsuits.

She and Gladys had made a promise to each other that they were going to keep looking for Kate if Betty helped Gladys get her job back and they had both upheld their end of the bargain.

Betty had somehow miraculously convinced Mrs. Corbett to sercretly hire Gladys back and now they had both committed to looking for Kate.

Betty had spent almost every waking moment not at work flipping through directories and calling operators in towns across Canada, but to no avail. No where she called had heard of a Marion Rowley and Betty was beginning to lose hope after months of searching.

The blue shift workers stepped out onto the floor and took the places of the green shift women and began work on the line. All the while Betty thought about the possibility of finding Kate. As much as Kate had hurt her, Betty couldn't let her stay with that evil man who called himself a father.

She could remember Kate's first day of work at Vic Mu and seeing the scars all over the red head's pale back in the showers. Anger rose in her throat at the thought of how Kate got those scars and the man who gave them to her. Now she was back with her father and Gladys actually knew where she was.

Now that it finally seemed real and like she would see Kate again, Betty all of a sudden felt terrified. Of course she was going to help the other woman, but she was sure that Kate wouldn't want to see her. Part of her was afraid to see her too.

She called me disgusting… Betty reminded herself as she poured the amatol into the twenty-five pounder shells. Shaking her head, this was not the time to be distracted by these self-deprecating thoughts.

The shift finally came to an end and the red shift workers took their places. Betty and Gladys hadn't said much all day, each lost in thought. They made their way to the showers and the women that were there glared at her and vacated the room quickly with their towels wrapped tightly around themselves. Gladys stepped confidently right into the showers along with Edith and Betty followed hesitantly behind.

"I can wait if you want," Betty muttered, not in her usually confident way, but Gladys would hear none of it.

"Nonsense," the wealthy brunette waved her in and Betty gave her an appreciative smile.

They finished up, dressed, and began walking away from the factory when Betty couldn't wait anymore.

"So…spill," Betty demanded as they walked, grabbing Gladys' sleeve at the elbow.

"I didn't want to tell you but… I hired an investigator," the brunette told her in a hushed, conspiratorial tone. Betty's eyes snapped to hers. She had no idea you could do that and the price that must cost…

"And?" Betty urged anxiously, wanting to know if this was real.

"And he found where Vernon Rowley, his daughter Marion Rowley, and his two sons live. It's a quick car ride. We could take James' car and be there and back before supper…," the excitement in Gladys' voice was apparent and Betty could feel her own heart begin to race.

They reached the bus stop as their usual bus approached and Betty looked straight into Gladys' dark eyes.

"Tonight?" it wasn't really a question and Betty could see Gladys nodding her affirmation already before she replied,

"Tonight."

After a long day of doing chores, Kate headed to her room to freshen up a little before she had to make her father and brothers dinner. Her back smarted a bit from a beating earlier in the week but she continued looking through her drawer for presentable clean clothes. Eventually she found what she was looking for in a modest dress, as she pulled it out she felt something poke her fingers. Glancing into her drawer, Kate could see exactly what it was.

It was the hair comb Betty had given her. A wave of pain shot through her at the memory of the blonde woman giving this to her.

Without really thinking about it she began to sing one of her favorite songs. The one she had sung to Betty at Tangiers all those weeks ago…

"I wished on the moon,

for something I never knew"

Memories of Betty filled her mind against her will. One in particular brought a smile as she sang; the night she and Betty danced together, carefree.

"Wished on the moon, for more than I ever knew," Kate sang as she slipped the hair comb into her auburn curls, remembering Betty's trademark smirk as she sung this on stage with Leon.

A voice behind her scared her out of her reverie and turned her blood to ice.

"Oh, daughter of mine… how you disgrace God's gift with that devil music," Vernon Rowley reprimanded her with an eerily calm tone. Kate shot around and backed as far away from her father as she could in the small room.

"I'm sorry father…I…I was just singing," Kate stuttered, already knowing what was coming. How could she be so foolish?

Her father swiftly approached and grabbed her arm roughly, but paused when he noticed the comb in her hair.

"What is this? You know full well vanity is for whores and sinners, Marion," he yanked the comb out of her hair, tossing it to the ground before unclipping his belt buckle.

"Father, please!" Kate begged, trying to pull away from him, but he already had his belt off in one swift motion.

"You must be punished, daughter. It is for your own good," he claimed calmly, raising the belt above his head and bringing it down as hard as he could on her back.

Kate cried out in pain as the leather belt cut into the skin of her back, tears sprang to her eyes. The belt came down hard across her back and again and again, shredding already torn flesh. Kate could feel the blood trickling through her tattered dress, but she soon became numb. Too weak to stand, she allowed herself to fall to her knees.

Was this really what God wanted for her? That immoral feeling that her mother used to tell her about crept up into her throat. Kate could no longer believe that she deserved to be punished for using God's gifts or trying to be happy. Defiance was rising in her as her father continued the beating.

Eventually, she could vaguely hear feet running up the stairs of the trailer and then suddenly the beating stopped.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Betty asked as they stood in front of a rundown looking shack of a house. The thought that Kate lived in a place like this made her home in the plains of Saskatchewan look like a palace.

"This is the address the investigator gave me," Gladys replied, eyeing the house with uncertainty. Betty opened her mouth to make a snarky comment when she heard the distinct sound of someone screaming in pain.

"Kate…," Betty didn't wait another second, she rushed up the stairs to the door of the trailer to find it unlocked. Gladys followed closely behind her, but Betty hardly noticed because she was already sprinting into the trailer.

Pausing only to strain her ears for any tell tale sounds, Betty looked from room to room until she heard a chilling sound: leather whipping against skin.

"Betty!" Gladys hissed to her, but it was too late. The blonde woman was already racing through the trailer. All she could see was red and she didn't need another excuse to sock Kate's father right in the kisser.

It didn't take long to find them and it was everything she feared and more. When Betty entered the room Vernon had the belt high above his head, but he paused to look at her incredulously. He continued to hold Kate in a vice-like grip while she cowered in pain on the floor.

"Get…your…paws…off…her…..now," Betty practically growled at the preacher, who had lowered his arm. Gladys appeared behind her and froze in shock before glaring angrily at the man before her.

"She is my daughter and I must punish her for the deviance you seduced her with," he replied getting over his shock at seeing them and raising the belt once more. Betty wasn't going to let this man hurt Kate ever again, no matter what. So, she did something she had dreamed of doing for a long time… she pulled her arm back and socked him square in the chin.

He stumbled backwards, releasing Kate in the process. Leaning against the far wall he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, looking at the blood there before turning on the blonde woman. As he approached her she wasn't afraid because now that his attention was on her it gave Gladys the opportunity to slip past and help Kate.

"You will not corrupt my daughter again," Kate's father warned before charging her with surprising speed. Betty hadn't been expecting such a bold move so he was able to wrap both hands around her throat and shove her against the wall violently.

The force of it knocked the wind out her and caused her to see stars, but she could still see Gladys helping Kate to her feet so she had to keep him distracted as long as possible.

Betty mustered her strength and kneed him soundly in the groin, forcing him to loosen his grip on her neck. He doubled over in pain giving her the opportunity to punch him in the nose, knocking him to the floor.

Thinking she had bought them enough time to escape, Betty turned to help Gladys get Kate out of there. Gladys had managed to get Kate up and halfway to the door, but Betty couldn't help but see the blood dripping from the back of her torn dress.

Shedding her jacket, Betty quickly threw it over Kate's shoulders and pulled it tightly around her.

"Are you okay?" Betty asked, gently tilting Kate's chin up to look into her eyes.

"No homosexual will pervert my daughter," Betty turned to respond to the preacher when the buckle part of his belt crashed into the side of her face, knocking her to the ground in pain.

"Leave her alone!" the blonde could hear Kate's angry voice and squinted through the searing pain in her forehead to see the auburn haired woman shove her father back to the ground.

Kate and Gladys lifted Betty to her feet and they all ran as fast as they could out of the trailer and down the stairs. Betty could hear Vernon struggling to get up, but she didn't make the mistake of looking back this time.

James' car was waiting where she and Gladys had left it and despite the pain in her head, Betty made sure Kate was in first before throwing herself in beside her.

Gladys could see Vernon bust out of his front door and she rushed to get the car started. The preacher spotted them and sprinted towards the car as Gladys hit the gas. He raced behind them before the wealthy brunette sped away, leaving the preacher in the distance.

That's it for chapter 1. Please let me know what you think and if it's worth it to continue! Thanks for reading!