Pains of Sacrifice

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N:

Chapter 11 (Cruel Twist of Fate)

It took some maneuvering, but Trina wound up managing to get her sister to accepting an actual job. She talked her supervisor into hiring her sister and letting her train the girl. There were some lessons she had to teach Tori on the job, such as why their work was so important. Trina got Jade's class to act up when she made Tori skip vacuuming their messy room. It was interesting to see Tori actually brought to the point of tears by the kids, and even Jade was stunned that Trina used children to teach her sister a powerful and important lesson.

As time went on, Tori kept focusing on the job. This Hudson continued to call her, and Barbara kept threatening her. Trina called Hudson out on his shit once, but after that, Andre and the others held her from trying to communicate any further with them.

They were monsters, they manipulated Tori for everything and kept her suffering; and this time Trina didn't know what she could do to save her, if anything.

She kept her distance, once she saw herself delving into being overly concerned about Tori. It was difficult, because on one hand she was her sister and it was right to take care of your sibling if they fell on hard times; but for her, it could be too easy to cross the line where that became too much.

Part of her felt great to have someone to take care of and worry about. There were her parents to worry about, of course. She didn't know what would happen with her father if something happened to Holly, and Holly's health had taken a turn for the worse. David could take care of himself just fine, but Holly did a lot of the literal leg work.

It didn't help that Tori was ignoring them. Holly wanted to talk to her daughter so much, but Tori seemed afraid of them. As if she couldn't accept the reality that her father was in a wheelchair and her mother was dying. Unfortunately, Tori's actions did little to aid Holly's physical and emotional health. Her avoidance of them sent Holly spiraling into another depression that caused her to slip into a comatose state.

Trina was gutted by the turn of events. When the doctors told her and David that Holly would not be likely to return to them without brain damage, they were grief-stricken. Trina wanted to hang onto her mom, but ultimately David told her they needed to pull the plug. Holly's own will stated she didn't want to be left in a comatose state, and if she ever entered such a state that she could not return from, not to keep her on life support.

When Tori was called to the hospital, David was furious and bitter. He had little good to say to Tori, and could not bear to be in the room with her. Trina had to step out herself after a while.

Still, there was something to Tori the night their mother died. Tori grieved over Holly, and a change occurred within her. A change that may have started sooner than that, but she couldn't be sure. She noticed it before when Tori began asking her questions about an orphanage she'd visited. She asked her about her opinion on giving a baby up for adoption, asked her opinion on abortion and other matters.

She'd never told Tori about her daughter, so she didn't know why she'd be interested in her thoughts on the matter.

When Holly's funeral took place, Cat stayed behind with Tori to help her grieve a bit. After that, the change in her sister seemed stronger. Tori was asking about volunteering at the orphanage. These talks lessoned due to Trina having to move in with their father, it wasn't so much that she wanted to as much as she felt she needed to. David was in terrible state and she wanted to be there for him if he needed anything. This left Tori to deal with things on her own.

She would continue to pay the rent and bills of the apartment, since it was still in her name, for Tori. This would go until the lease ended. She was trying to take everyone's advice and let Tori live her own life. Hard as it was, she'd do her best to do so.

Truth be told, the orphanage terrified her. She knew what it was. It was home to children that couldn't find families, among other things. Perhaps children who had gone through so many fosters they couldn't get adopted, or had grown to such an age that no one wanted them. The thing that terrified her more than anything was the thought that her own daughter could potentially be there.

She wasn't sure why this fear was present. Over the years, she did want to find out how her daughter was doing; but was scared at how the child might respond to her. If nothing else, she was also afraid of how the adoptive family would react.

One occasional worry when it came to parents that adopted was the birth family wanting their kid back. While Trina did want her daughter, and always had, she would never try and take her from a family that raised her well.

But the fears of Rachel potentially winding up in an orphanage had to be unfounded, in her mind they were. There was no reason for her to believe her daughter could have wound up there.

But what if she had? The level of grief and guilt Trina felt if such a scenario was true scared her. It would mean that her child ended up going through the very things that Trina didn't want her to go through.

It was too much to think about, so whenever the thought came up, she tried to push it from her mind.

At Andre's place, Trina watched with pride as she and Ophelia watched him munch on a cupcake they baked. It was Ophelia's project, but Trina helped give the girl instructions. The cupcakes were chocolate flavored with cream cheese icing and a colorful array or sprinkles.

"This is good," Andre said while holding his hand underneath the cupcake. His eyes were lit up and he had a huge grin on his face. "You did a wonderful job, Ophelia."

"Thank you, Daddy!" Ophelia started to hop up and down. "Katy helped a lot." Katy was the girl's nickname for her. She found it easier to say Katy as opposed to Katrina or Trina. "She helped me put in the right amount of flour." Trina pat the girl's shoulder, smiling at the young child.

Ophelia hurried over to her father and hopped into his lap, hugging his waist. Andre hugged her back, chuckling softly. "We'll make a chef out of you one day, sweetie." Ophelia giggled and nestled her head under his chin. Trina took a seat in the recliner next to him and studied the child, remembering Taylor with fondness.

"She's a pretty good baker, just like her mom and grandma…You still don't hear much from them, Andre?" Andre frowned and shook his head.

"I hear from her little sister, Frankie, from time to time. Her parents, not as much. I'd like to say I don't know why; but you know…"

"Yeah." Trina pressed her lips together and breathed in softly. For whatever reason, her parents blamed him for Taylor's passing. It wasn't his fault, and everyone knew it, but sometimes people needed someone to point fingers at in tragedies.

They never approved of Taylor's sexual relationship in college, and weren't thrilled when she became pregnant. They were ready to accept the baby, but they were struggling with Andre for whatever reason. When Taylor died during labor, her mother was so grief-stricken that she couldn't function. Her business eventually went under and she had to move in with Frankie.

"All this time and it's still hard on the woman. Ophelia's seen her grandma maybe once or twice." Trina looked down, her heart sinking as his words tore her apart. He cocked his head at her and furrowed his brow. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing. Just…just thinking about my own mom. All she ever wanted was to spend time with her grandchildren before she died. Sometimes, I think about Rachel and…well, you know…" Andre smiled sadly and nodded at her. "Twelve years, Andre. Twelve years."

"You did what you felt was best. No one can fault you for that. You know as well as anyone what you were struggling with back then."

"I know…but things changed so quickly for me after that, at least it seemed like it."

"You didn't have any reason to think it."

"Yeah…"

Ophelia hopped off her father's lap and ran for the hallway. They watched her until she disappeared around the corner. Andre looked back with a sigh and pushed his hands forward along his knees. "Speaking of children. You know Tori's apparently decided to volunteer at that orphanage, and is taking one of those kids to a museum."

"Oh? How'd you hear about that?"

"Robbie. It's one of his students. She's taking the girl to an art museum." Trina raised an eyebrow and reclined her chair. She knew there was a kid in Robbie's class that he talked often about, praising her drawings and artwork. She shared a name with the baby she'd given up. "It's the kid he's always talking about."

"Huh?" Her hands closed around the tips of the armchair and she sat upright. Her brow furrowed a bit. "Rachel? He never said his student was in an orphanage."

"Well, you know the rules of the district Trina." She closed her eyes and nodded. Robbie could talk about the work his students were doing, but there was a line. He certainly couldn't tell people which of his students were in an orphanage and which weren't.

"Yeah, confidentiality laws and shit. Nice to know Tori made a connection with that kid."

"Robbie thought maybe you'd like to drop in on them." Andre smiled a bit and Trina laughed.

"It's tempting. Tori, taking a kid to an art museum of all places."

"He said your sister got Jackson Pollock's name wrong."

"Who?"

Andre started to sigh and circled his hand in the air. "The artist that you say just splashed paint onto a canvas and everyone calls it artwork." Trina snapped her fingers and leaned back, gasping out.

"Oh yeah! That guy."

"Robbie says it's called abstract art and it has meaning as well as importance."

"What meaning?" Trina pressed her lips together and hummed softly. "The guy had drinking problems. He splashed paint on a canvas. He was an aggressive alcoholic. I'm sorry, but I fail to see the deeper meaning, Andre." Andre started to laugh, nodding his head swiftly. "But you know something…maybe I will pay them a visit. It'd be interesting, that's for sure. Tori's really started to come around, you know."

"Yeah, we're all amazed. No clue what brought it on, but it's refreshing."

"That it is, Andre, that it is."

Before long, she was at the museum in question. It was a nice place, full of intriguing pieces. She didn't know exactly what to expect by being there. She had a nagging sensation in her gut that she couldn't explain, and every step she took towards trying to find her sister was filled with a strange, growing anxiety.

Finally, she found them, in a room full of paintings. She leaned against the doorframe, watching carefully and chuckling at a question she heard a child ask. "Why are there so many paintings of people naked?"

"Maybe you should ask Mr. Shapiro that," Tori answered. Trina tilted her head. Her arms were crossed and a wrinkle formed in her brow. Tori moved a bit and the child came into full view.

Suddenly, all of time stood still and Trina's heart stopped on a dime. This child wasn't too tall, had short brown hair feathering out and warm chestnut eyes. The most stunning thing was, this child resembled her in some way; but that couldn't be possible.

Blinking a couple times, she waited as Tori showed the girl a few more artworks. Eventually coming up to a picture. "I like the pictures," the girl said, "How they capture everything in one moment."

Trina smiled, closing her eyes and thinking on the picture herself. She had to agree, if considering artwork, she'd always been the most fond of pictures as opposed to anything else.

"Yeah, Tori replied, "You can capture so much in a picture. Sorrow, joy, love, anger…yeah I agree, I like pictures a bit more too because, well-"

The girl boasted proudly, as though repeating something her favorite teacher had said. "You can capture something great in painting, but pictures seem to bring something more out." The girl paused, her nose crinkling. "I'm not sure how to say it."

Trina chuckled a second time and walked forward, deciding she'd had enough of watching. "I think you've said it pretty well right there." Tori jerked her head upright and looked over, gasping loudly and grinning from ear to ear.

"Trina? What are you doing here?"

"Well, when I heard you were bringing a child to an art museum, I just had to come and witness it." Trina looked to Rachel, sharing a glance with the young girl. There was a stillness in her heart and she struggled within to figure out what it was she was feeling. "Hi there." She smiled and Rachel answered shyly.

"Hi."

"Okay." Tori chuckled a bit and moved forward. "So Trina, this is Rachel, the one I've been telling you about." Trina raised her eyebrows and nodded. She remembered those conversations, but partially ignored them because of the child's name. Rachel was a common enough name, however. "Rachel, this is my sister. The one I've been telling you about."

"Oh." Rachel waved at Trina, still not saying much. "She has talked a lot about you." Trina smiled softly, but froze up when she caught another familiar sight. The backpack the child was wearing had the head of a small stuffed toy sticking out of it. It was a white gingham dog, just like the one she'd given to the baby that she'd given up twelve years ago.

It couldn't be. No, this was some strange coincidence. There was no way that Rachel, and this Rachel, were one in the same. What could be the chances that her sister would come home, volunteer at an orphanage, and meet the very child that Trina had given up?

Trina forced a laugh, trying not to appear as though she'd just been floored. "I hope she's been saying good things about me." Rachel grinned from ear to ear and Tori rolled her eyes, smiling as well.

So we see Trina's daughter for the first time. Of course, Trina doesn't believe it at first, it would mean her greatest fear realized. Yet, it's hard to deny what is standing right in front of her. What are your thoughts?