Hello wonderful readers! welcome to another chapter of my PPG version of the movie 'Enough'! this is actually really fun, and I have a nice long chapter for you guys today! SQUEE! SOO HAPPY!
But one thing before go on! This week is Boomercup Week! Yes, that is a thing now! Thanks to an amazing writer on this site named ConformityisNonsense, there is now a whole calendar for Shipping Weeks and Character Appreciation Days. There are prompts for every day of that week and during that time (if we can get enough people involved) you would see a whole bunch of stories and drabbles for that couple or character!
Example:
August 27 is Bubbles Appreciation Day!
This day, anyone can submit oneshots, songsfics, drabbles, ANYTHING to show their appreciation for Bubbles!
Sept 7-13 is Boomubbles Week!
During this week, check out ConformityisNonsense's profile, and go to the story called "Powerpuff Girls Fandom Week" and find out the prompts for each day. Submit your stories or drabbles and make sure you include in the summary that its for a fandom week!.
I'm submitting my own Boomercup drabble tomorrow because I like tomorrow's prompt: "Lose"
More silence, and Mitch's phone beeped indicating that Princess had hung up. BC was frozen, the phone practically glued to her ear. She released a deep breath that she hadn't realized she was even containing inside her lungs, and yanked the phone away from the side of her face. She stared down the hallway, toward the bedroom her and Mitch once shared happily. Now she wasn't even sure if she could lay in the same bed with him.
"That bitch was French" she whispered to herself, finally acknowledging the woman's obvious accent. Too obvious actually. Maybe that's why she had missed it, because the woman was trying way too hard to have an accent. She was one of those people who think that just because they lived in another country for a year or two, that they suddenly have an accent and tries too hard to convince everyone of it.
BC's eyes wandered to the pile of toys which sat near Bella's tea table. Blocks and small hand puppets were scattered around the legs of the table. BC got her hands and knees and pulled the toys into one big pile in front of her so they would be easier to clean up. Sitting on her legs, she froze, the pain of Mitch's disloyalty returning to slap her in the face. She breathed a small whimper, and flicked one of the toys across the floor with a dainty figure.
Mitch stood in the doorway, a look of confusion and a hint of annoyance spread across his face. He made his way up to BC, standing over her fallen form. "Hey." He said gently.
BC looked up at him for a moment, making it clear that the situation wasn't casual enough for a simple 'hey'. "She paged you."
Mitch was completely lost, "Who?"
"Number thirty-three, Princess." BC could see the sudden tension build up inside him, he knew he was caught. "I guess you're late, huh?" Mitch avoided her gaze, guilty. "Wow" she breathed. He wasn't showering to wake up; he had been showering to go to Princess'. Mitch knelt down in front of her. "She's French?!" BC asked, her voice shaky.
Mitch gripped BC's shoulders reassuringly, "She's not important."
"Really?"
"You're important."
"Yeah…" BC looked away, unconvinced.
"And Bella."
BC laughed for a brief second, "I must be brain-dead, huh?" BC tried to yank herself out of Mitch's hold, but fought to hold her down with him, muttering 'stop'. "I mean, I must be the biggest moron on this fucking planet, because I thought we were happy!" BC stopped her struggling and glared at Mitch, but her tear stained eyes made it hard to be too intimidated. "-And I used to think that we were so lucky!"
"BC, please" Mitch begged, holding her down as she made another attempt to get away.
"No" she muttered like a stubborn child. "You said I was safe with you!" she yelled.
His voice remained calm and collected, "You are. You are, I promise!" He stared into her bright green eyes, guilt clear in his eyes. He rubbed her shoulder, "I'm sorry." When BC did nothing but stare at him with a hurt glint in her eyes, he pulled her closer and pressed his forehead to hers. "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry." He whispered apologies between light kisses he placed on her cheek, and once he realized that she wouldn't return the gesture, he placed his hand in the curve of BC's neck and brought her into a hug. Slowly, with Mitch still whispering his apology, BC wrapped her arms around him tightly, and he tightened his hold as well.
"Everything's going to be okay" he said.
…
The very next week, BC took in a deep yet subtle breath, taking in Mitch's scent as they embraced each other. Her eye brows knitted together in anger.
"I can smell her" she said, shoving Mitch away and walking into the kitchen.
Mitch chuckled, "What?"
"Her perfume." BC began to stir the contents of her skillet, "Princess, or whoever."
Mitch waved it off, "BC, we just had a drink-"
BC slammed the metal mixing spoon down, "Stop it!" she yelled. Confidence flooded her system, and BC spoke with the anger she felt that first night to back her up. "You're caught! I caught you okay! And you won't talk your way out of this one!" Mitch only gave her a bored and irritated expression in response. "How many Mitch?" He took a deep breath, as if trying to keep from snapping, but BC paid no attention to that, and continued, "How many are there? How many have there been?"
"What does it matter?" he finally said. BC tilted her head to the side, her left eye twitching with shock. "It's not that our sex life hasn't been good. It's been great BC. But I'm a man-" BC rolled her eyes and turned away from him. "Men and women have different needs… and that's okay. Princess is … she's willing to take care of that. And maybe… maybe that's better for everybody."
BC whipped around, "You know what, it's better for you!" Mitch sighed and listened to BC though he looked like he's rather be somewhere else. "You have a pretty good deal, don't you? I mean, you go out, you fool around!-" BC took a towel and a handful of silverware and slammed them onto the counter as rage entered her voice, "-and I sit here and take care of your house and your kid!" The silverware caused an ear shattering clatter, breaking a few of BC's favorite glasses. But she didn't care; she was standing up for herself. "Well no more, Mitch! That's it! You're little party is over!"
"Calm down-"
"No! I'm not gonna do this anymore!" BC shouted over Mitch's attempts to quiet her down. "Okay, I'm not gonna sit here, and take it, and take it, and take it! Sorry! I love you, yes! But I am not a doormat! I'm your wife! I'm your wife!" she jabbed her figure into Mitch's chest as she spoke, but the entire time, all he did was stare at her with a blank expression. "And you cannot do this to me! You cannot do this to me anymore!"
Her head swung to the side, and just as quick as it happened, her hand held her stinging cheek as her mouth dropped open. She gasped and she stared up at Mitch while he slowly circled her. "What?" he asked, "I can't hit you?"
Was he serious? The tone is his voice suggested that he was. BC dropped her hands from her face, trying to erase all evidence of cowardice, and stood up straight. "No you can't!" He stared into her eyes, no emotion left in his. He lifted his arm and swung his fist with full force.
BC yelped and collapsed to the floor, her face hitting the hard wood. She beamed at the floor, but turned to her side as if she were about to attempt to fight back somehow.
"You wanna fight?" BC now sat properly, but leaned back in fear as she gawked up at the man standing over her. "I'm a man, honey, it's no contest. You have to understand BC, and I thought you did. I make the money here, so I set the rules, right? It's my rules. You with me?"
BC blankly repeated, "It's your rules."
Mitch smiled, "Yeah."
"And what if I don't like the rules?" she asked in a hushed tone.
Mitch knelt down to BC's level, eye to eye. "If you don't like 'em? Well come one, sweetie, life isn't just stuff we like, is it? We have to take the good with the bad, don't we? That's what marriage is-" Mitch reached up to caress her cheek, but BC pulled her head away. It was then that she felt pain on her cheek. She stood up, Mitch following her. "So, for you, maybe today is a bad day. Tomorrow may be great."
"Tomorrow will be great." BC repeated, like a robot under the command of its master.
Mitch smiled, "Yeah. Today... is the price you pay for having such a good life" he reasoned. "Now, I'm gonna go out… okay?" He moved a strand of BC's hair out of her face. "This is going to be better don't you think? I don't have to sneak around and pretend I'm going to work. I can just say: 'I'm going to Princess'. I'll be back in a few hours.'"
BC remained still and silent and watched Mitch grab his keys from his suit case. Before he left he held up a card. Her identification card. "Just so you don't do anything later you might regret. Okay?" Mitch leaned and kissed BC's forehead, but she jerked away. She gave him not another glance as he left the house.
Pain surged through her face when she gently felt her nose and cheek. She could make out the outline of a scratch on her cheek from when he punched her. BC grunted with frustration. She wondered how she could have allowed herself to get so far into a situation like this. The car's engine sounder from the drive way, and BC was sure he had left. She picked up the house phone with shaky hands and punched in numbers.
9-1-
A loud knock on the window in front of BC made her jump. It was Mitch. He stood outside the window, expectant. BC curled the edges of her lips into as much of a smile as she could. It was barely noticeable. She twisted the window's lock and Mitch pulled it open, peering inside.
"Who're you calling?" he asked.
BC's lips trembled as she racked her mind for a believable excuse. "Your mother."
"What are you gonna tell her?"
"Well, I was supposed to bring Bella by so I guess I better cancel" she tried to keep her voice from cracking.
Mitch huffed, "You know love is a scary thing. How powerful it is, what it does to you. That's what happened here. You see, if I ever think of… I just- I can't… I refuse to live without you. I think you understand what I'm saying."
And he closed the window and was gone within seconds.
…
The next day, BC drove to her step mother's house. Without Bella. She pulled into her driveway and the woman rushed up to the car.
"Hey! You're late" she laughed. "Where have you been, you are late. I was worried you weren't coming at all." BC put on the best smile she could manage as Mitch's mother peered into the SUV. "No Bella." She looked at BC and smiled warmly as if she understood exactly what was going on. "Oh okay, you and I will have a regular girls' luncheon-" she opened BC's door and leaned forward to give her a welcoming hug. "And we will gossip about absolutely everybody-"
Mrs. Michelson gasped softly when she pushed back BC's black hair to get a better look at the long cut along her cheek. "My poor baby. My god" she said sympathetically as she held BC, who whimpered quietly. "Oh honey, I'm so sorry. What did you do? What did you say to him?"
That wasn't the reaction she had expected. Mrs. Michelson spoke as if she had known the whole time that Mitch was capable of acting such a way. His mother wasn't going to be of any help.
…
"Men are like land mines" Bubbles said, placing her hand on top of BC's.
"She makes a good point BC," Blossom added, setting down a glass of iced tea next to BC. "Some you trigger the first week… others it's years in."
"Yeah, and the problem is, you want a man-man." Blossom and BC cocked their brows at Bubbles.
"A what?" BC asked, talking a sip from the glass.
Blossom tapped her chin in thought, "You know, somehow I understood that, Bubs." Bubbles grinned giddily.
"So…" BC moved her hand in a circular motion, telling Blossom to continue.
"Meaning, his veins run thick with testosterone, which is good. But then he can just turn around without any warning and just… hit you." Blossom explained.
BC shook her head, frustrated. "I'm not this person. I'm not a person whose husband beats her up." He voice shook and she began to sob again. Bubbles hopped off the bar stool and threw herself onto BC, wrapping her arms tightly around her.
Blossom rubbed the little bit of BC's arm that Bubbles wasn't covering. "I know."
BC partially buried her face into Bubbles' embrace, but was able to beam up at Blossom. "What do I do?"
For a few moments, Blossom was silent. The sound of the restaurant's plates clattering and customers chatting filled BC's ears until Blossom found the strength to speak again. "You have to go to the cops."
BC let out a louder whimper, and shot out of Bubbles' hold. She gathered her purse and keys and stood from the stool, "He is the father of my child, okay? I am not goingto put him in jail!"
"BC!" Blossom reached out to stop her but she rushed out of reach. Bubbles acted quick and gripped BC's sleeve, gently pulling her back. BC caught Bubbles' eyes and couldn't find it in her to pull away from her. They were just trying to help.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry okay? Just sit down, relax for a second" Blossom pleaded. BC set her purse down and reclaimed her seat on the stool. "I'm just saying that, either you endure this-"
"-And you live it out some god damn country western song" Bubbles added, making BC smile, just a little bit.
"-Or you take you kid, you take Bella, and you get out."
BC nodded slowly and grabbed the two of them into a tight hold.
…
Later on, BC arrived at Bella's daycare. Children scurried every which way to their parents' cars, shouting their names and jumping into their arms. BC rolled the window of the car down just as Bella's teacher walked up.
"Mrs. Michelson, how are you? Your husband got her." the teacher said cheerfully.
BC's heart dropped. She didn't show it though, "Oh, ha, I must've forgotten."
"Yeah, Bella was totally psyched. I told him he should do it more often."
BC nodded, "Okay" she muttered. BC threw the gear shift into drive and hit the gas pedal. Luckily the streets were practically empty, and BC made it home in record time.
"Mitch!" She called once she entered the house. "Cutie!" She called for her daughter, tossing her purse and keys onto the coffee table. "Bella!" BC cursed as she wandered the halls and realized that her daughter was nowhere to be found. She quickly rummaged through her purse and dialed 9-1-1. She put the phone to her ear but quickly snapped the cell phone shut. Instead, she dialed Mitch's phone and pressed it to her ear again.
"Is that my little croissant?" Mitch asked flirtatiously with a horrible imitation of a French accent.
BC rolled her eyes, "No, it's your loaf of bread."
"Oh, hi. How's it going?"
She ignored the question, "where are you?"
"Zoo" he said.
"Well why didn't you tell me that you were goin-"
"I called you at home, left messages."
"Hey dad, here! Come here!" BC sighed with relief when she heard Bella's high pitched voice in the background.
He chuckled, "It's your mom, honey."
Mitch must have handed the phone to Bella because the next thing BC heard was, "Hey mom! The elephants are peeing!"
"She's a little excited" he said, taking back the phone.
"Hey dad, here! Come here! Look at the giraffe!" she said happily.
BC turned on the faucet in the kitchen and splashed some water on her tired eyes. "So, when are you guys gonna be home?"
"I don't know. I'm gonna take her for a pony ride, maybe get a cotton candy. You want a cotton candy, honey?"
"Yeah! A green one!"
"I'll see you later" he said.
"Bye mommy!"
…
That night, Bella sat in the living room experimenting with and assortment of chalks and crayons to draw a picture. Mitch sat at the dining room table, enjoying a plate of dinner, and BC set a basket of rolls down as she joined him. She took her seat in silence, wanting to avoid any and all conversation with him. But of course, Mitch wasn't going to let that happen.
"Made me nervous when I couldn't reach you today." BC spared him one glance, and then focused all of her attention on the plate in front of her. "I thought you were gonna cancel with my mother." She still said nothing. "And, did you have to go crying to the old gang at that greasy spoon? Whatever happened to privacy?"
BC's eyes pierced as she looked at him. "Well, I guess it's dead along with chivalry and fidelity." **
Mitch nodded, seeming amused by BC's hostility, "Tell me, do you have any idea how bad things can get?" he asked, stuffing another forkful of food into his mouth.
"Educate me."
"BC, I'm a determined man. I was determined to have you, and I did. This house, my company… I am, and always will be, a person who gets what he wants. And-" he wiped his mouth with the cloth napkin and took a drink from his glass. "I still want you. You can either accept that or you can fight it. Which way you wanna go?"
BC finally looked Mitch in the eyes for the first time that night, "I wanna be happy."
After processing her answer for a moment, Mitch smiled. "Good" he said.
It bothered her, how calm he always was. Even when he was angry with her, he broke her with his chilling serene attitude. His entire speech was said like it was a casual topic for dinner time. BC glanced at Bella, who had stopped playing and was watching Mitch. Her expression innocent and confused. She didn't know whether her parents' conversation was good or bad. Then Bella's eyes averted to BC. Her chest tightened as she met her daughter's gaze. She was her baby. And she wanted to be happy.
…
"Can I help you?"
"Yeah, um…" BC leaned nervously against the desk at the police station. Her sunglasses shielding her marked cheek bone from anyone's sight. "I have a friend… whose husband beats her up."
"Well she should come in here and file a complaint. And if she has physical evidence of abuse on her person, we'll go out and arrest him" the officer advised.
BC nodded, "And if he has money, he can bail himself out."
"That's true."
"And then… he's free until it goes to trial-"
"If it goes to trial. It's up to the city's attorney's office whether to prosecute."
BC sighed, shaking her head with an unamused smile, "Okay so, she comes in here, she has him arrested and… pisses him off, and then there's no guarantee that he won't come after her once he's out on the street."
"…She could get a protection order."
"What's that, a little piece of paper that says he can't come around?"
The officer nodded, "Right."
BC actually laughed a little at the uncertainty of the situation. "And when he comes around… what does she do, throw it at him?"
"She calls us" he said with a smirk.
Things were coming together; there was just one more thing she had to be sure about. "And, what about the kid? Is the- is the paper good for the kid, too?"
The officer's face twisted into one full of conflict, "There's a child involved?" She nodded. "That's a matter for the family courts. But unless she can prove that he's a danger to the child, she can't legally bar him access-"
That was it. She walked away without another word. The officer called for her to come back, but she ignored it. But this wasn't enough to keep her from getting out.
That night, she lay tense in bed, next to Mitch. She wasn't asleep. She was waiting. The wall clock ticking and the singing of crickets were all that kept her company. Until she heard Bubbles' signature owl call.
It was nice to have a friend with such a talent.
**Chivalry- The Medieval knightly system
Fidelity- A person's sexual faithfulness to their spouse or partner
Hope you enjoyed!
Review! and Please take a look at the Powerpuff Girls Fandom Calendar on ConformityisNonsense's account. She worked super hard on that and we'd both love to see this community bursting with life and SHIPPINGS!
XOXO