I have the greatest beta on this planet. Hugs and kisses to wollaston.
Enjoy!
ChapterEleven.
September 11th, 2001
"Daddy, I don't want you to go to work today."
Catherine Crane rubbed her eyes tiredly as she watched her father lace up his boots. He looked up at her in surprise.
"Hey, Caty-bird," he said, double-knotting his shoelaces and standing up. "Isn't it a bit early for you to be up?"
"Can't you stay home today?" she asked, padding forward to rest her head on his stomach.
"I'm sorry, honey, but not today. You have school, don't you? Even if I did stay home, we wouldn't be able to see each other."
"I'll stay home, too! Please, Daddy, don't go today!"
He disentangled himself from Catherine and knelt down so they were at eye level with each other.
"Catherine, I have to go. Fires don't fight themselves." He pressed a kiss to her forehead and slipped on his FDNY jacket. "I'll be back at four."
"Okay," she mumbled dejectedly. "I love you, Daddy."
"Love you, too, Caty-bird," he said. "Keep an eye on your mother and sister for me."
"I will," she promised. And then he patted the top of her head, opened the door, and left the apartment.
She had just taken a seat at her desk when the principal's voice came over the intercom, slightly shaky and cracking at weird parts. The children listened and the teacher grew paler and paler with each passing second as the principal told them all about the airplanes that had crashed and how we were to remain calm.
Within minutes of that announcement, another was made letting all of the students know that school was canceled for the rest of the day, and Catherine immediately raced from the fifth grade hallway to the kindergarten hallway, where her younger sister was waiting patiently at her desk, tears streaming down her face.
"It'll be okay," Catherine told her, rocking her small body back and forth. "Daddy will save all those people for their families, don't worry."
But nobody was able to save their daddy for them.
October 9th, 2001
"I'm very sorry, Catherine," her uncle Brutus told her in a voice that did not sound very sorry at all. "It is a shame that your mother was so weak-minded. I sincerely hope you are not the same way."
Three days ago, Catherine's mother had driven off a bridge with her sleeping sister Primrose in the back seat. The horrific suicide had shocked news stations and reporters all over the state. Catherine had not yet progressed from the initial numbness she had felt when she heard the news.
She loved her mother very much, but she knew she wasn't her favorite. Catherine was the spitting image of her father; they had the same grey eyes, the same dark hair, even the same cupid's bow lips. They even had the same mannerisms, the same love for song. Primrose was a carbon copy of their mother, and they had always been thick as thieves. It was not a shock to Catherine that her mother had taken Prim with her.
But it still killed her inside just the same.
She knew her dad was gone, but wasn't she reason enough to stay?
"We will go back to your apartment tomorrow morning," Uncle Brutus told her, "and collect your things. Then we will head back to my home tomorrow evening."
Catherine had never known she had an Uncle Brutus. Apparently, he was her mother's brother. They never spoke to or about her side of the family. Catherine's mother, Flora, had gotten pregnant with her when she was still in high school. Her parents had tried desperately to keep her away from the man who had gotten her pregnant- Oliver Everdeen.
They had forbidden them to be together until she was eighteen, and by that point, Catherine had already been born. Since the pair were not married, Flora's parents had insisted that she give the baby her last name, which was Crane.
Flora and Oliver were unable to marry until a few years later, due to the fact that Flora's parents had thrown her out once she decided to be with Oliver when she turned eighteen, and they had virtually no income. Soon after their long-awaited marriage, Flora found out she was pregnant again, and that's when they moved to Brooklyn and Oliver joined the FDNY.
It had been eleven years since Flora's family had made contact with her. When the police retrieved her body from the water, it took them two days to track down her family, and they found that her brother Brutus was the closest in location. He lived on Long Island, and it was determined then that he would become Catherine's legal guardian.
She did not like him. Not one bit.
But it had been almost a month since she liked anything at all.
March 19th, 2005
"Marvel, stop it."
His grimy hands continued to work their way underneath Catherine's tank top. She pushed them away again.
"Marvel, I said stop."
He pulled back, his jaw set in a firm line. Her lips were sticky form his saliva and she wiped them on the back on her arm.
"Catherine, don't be such a prude. I thought we were having fun."
The shed behind her uncle Brutus' home was growing more and more cramped as the seconds ticked on. A cold sweat began to break out on her forehead.
"I-I don't want to do this anymore," she said hurriedly. "I'm sorry. Thank you for being my first kiss and all, but I don't really want to do anything else-"
"Are you kidding me?" Marvel cried, shoving away from her. He stood up and brushed off his pants. "You're such a cocktease, Catherine."
"I'm really sorry, Marvel." Catherine blinked back tears that threatened to spill over. He cast her a disgusted look.
"Whatever, Catherine. It's not like I'd go all the way with you anyway."
"You- you wouldn't?" She didn't want to, that's for certain. But why wouldn't he?
"No," he scoffed, opening the door. Moonlight streamed in, temporarily blinding her. " Kissing is one thing- I mean, our eyes are closed. But you wouldn't even let me get to second base, and you're not even that pretty. So no one will probably ever want to go all the way with you."
Then he walked out of the shed, leaving Catherine on the ground, her cheeks growing wet with tears.
May 14th, 2012
"Come on, come on, come on."
The line at Sears was so long that it almost looped around register. Catherine shifted from foot to foot, anxiously trying to contain her bladder. Gale glanced sideways at her.
"Are you alright?" he asked with narrowed eyes. He stood stiff, facing straight ahead, but with his hands in his pockets. As long as they stayed in his pockets, Catherine thought. Everything will be fine as long as they stay in his pockets.
"I just have to use the bathroom, that's all," Catherine told her husband with a smile. He didn't return her grin, but after a moment he shifted his body towards her.
"Give me your dress," Gale told her, motioning to the thin cotton fabric draped across Catherine's arm. They were going to a barbeque next weekend in celebration of Memorial Day, and he insisted that she get a new outfit for the occasion. "I'll wait here while you go to the bathroom."
"Oh, it's okay. I can hol-"
"Catherine." Gale's voice took on an edge, and she silenced. "You look like you're about to wet yourself. Go to the bathroom."
Catherine nodded numbly, but forced a smile onto her lips and she handed her husband her dress. "I'll be back in just a few minutes, honey." She pressed a kiss to his chapped lips and then maneuvered herself out of the line.
The nearest bathroom was just outside of the department store. Catherine hurried towards it, moving as fast as she could without peeing her pants. She shoved open the door to the bathroom, and almost collided with a petite redhead.
"Sorry!" she gasped, then noticed the long line of people. "Is this the line?"
The redhead nodded with a contempt scowl. "I've been waiting for nearly ten minutes."
Catherine swallowed a groan and fled from the cramped bathroom. There has to be another one around here, she thought desperately. A mall cop passed by her on his scooter, and she flagged him down.
"Excuse me," she asked breathlessly. A sweat was beginning to form on her brow. "Is there another restroom around here?"
"There's one down that hallway," he told her, pointing to the left wing of the shopping mall. "It'll be on your right, just past Abercrombie & Fitch."
"Thank you," she gasped, and took off. Her ballerina flats smacked loudly against the tiled slabs under feet until the facilities were in view. Her shoulder hit the door and it flew open with ease, and Catherine was relieved to see that it was as deserted as a parking lot after store hours.
She hurried into a stall and sat down on the cool porcelain. Once she had relieved herself, she stood up with a relieved sigh and opened the door to the stall.
"The funniest thing happened just now."
Catherine froze, halfway out of the stall. Gale stood a few feet away from her, leaning casually on the closed door. A Sears bag sat on the counter. She took a shaky breath, and then continued to the sink.
"What happened, honey?" she asked. Her hands shook under the tepid water from the faucet.
"Well, just about a minute after you left they decided that it would be a good idea to open up a few more registers, thus making the line move a lot faster. I thought, 'Hey, wouldn't it have been great if they thought to do that a few minutes ago? We could've gotten out of here sooner.' But at least they did it, right?"
"That was sensible of them," Catherine agreed. Her palms slapped loudly against the soap dispenser.
"Then, it was almost my turn to go up to the register. I started looking around for you, but I wasn't worried, because I knew you'd be back to me soon."
One of Gale's hands sneaked up and clicked the lock on the door. The snap echoed throughout the empty bathroom.
"But you weren't," he said, "were you?"
"No," Catherine said slowly, rinsing the foamy soap residue from her hands. "I wasn't."
Gale clucked his tongue against the roof of his mouth in a 'tut-tut' manner and slowly shook his head.
"But it was only because the bathroom by Sears was completely full. If I hadn't gone to this one I probably would've been waiting still."
The hulking man took a small step forward as the shaking woman turned off the faucet.
"I wasn't finished with my story."
Catherine froze, her hand in midair as she reached for the paper towel dispenser. Gale took another step forward, then another, and another, until he was standing directly behind her. One of his massive hands snaked up her side and wrapped a strand of her sunshine hair around his finger.
"Finally, it was my turn," he continued. "And I was a little upset that you weren't there, because I was buying your dress, wasn't I?"
He didn't pause for her to answer.
"And when the stupid bitch at the register rung it up, do you know what the price was?"
Catherine's voice came out as a squeak. "It was on the fifteen dollar rack."
"Well it sure as hell wasn't fifteen dollars." Gale's hand crept dangerously close to her throat. "Come on. Guess. How much do you think I paid for you to have something nice, you greedy little twat?"
"I don't know, Gale, I thought it-"
"You didn't think!" Gale roared. His hand retreated from her through and instead caught a fistful of her hair. He yanked hard, and she cried out as her head snapped back and searing pain shot through her scalp.
"You never think, do you Catherine? I had to spend seventy-five dollars on that fucking thing because you wanted it. I looked like an idiot because I didn't have enough money and some fat fuck in line behind me had to loan me some cash! All because you're so goddamn selfish, Catherine!"
He released her hair and shoved her away from him. Her body thumped against the cool tiled walls and she hastily tried to wipe away the tears streaming down her face whilst massaging her burning scalp. I'm so stupid, she thought as she hiccupped and wiped her nose. I should've double-checked the price. I'm so, so stupid.
"Gale, I'm sorry," she tried, stepping forward. The back of Gale's hand made contact with her cheek, and the slap of skin of skin resonated throughout the room. Catherine gasped, but it was a pain she was used to. She resisted the urge to cup her cheek, and instead tried to speak again.
"Gale, baby," she whispered. "I'm sorry. It was my mistake. I should have made sure the dress was the right price. Someone must have put it on the rack by accident."
"That is just like you, Madge!" Gale snapped. "Blaming others for your mistakes."
Catherine cringed. "But I said it was my mista-"
"SHUT UP!" Gale's fist struck out, and then all Catherine could see was red as her nose crunched under the blow and blood splattered across her face. It dripped down her chin and onto her cream colored blouse. Catherine choked back a sob as she tried to wipe the liquid from her eyes, carefully to avoid brushing her nose. It wasn't the first time her husband had broken it, but the pain didn't lessen.
"Now look what you did," he snarled at her. "Now that shirt is ruined."
And then he was on her, ripping at her shirt and telling her how stupid she was. The button on her jeans was popped off and a hand was in her underwear. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Her face was on the countertop and his hand was tight around her throat. Why don't you think, Catherine? And he was inside of her and it hurt so bad and she was still so stupid and the blood in her mouth made her want to vomit and she could barely breath and please stop it hurts so much please I won't be stupid anymore I'm sorry.
"Clean yourself up," he spat at her once he was finished. Her body crumpled to the ground. "You look disgusting."
Gale splashed some water on his face and took out his cell phone as she laid there, naked on the bathroom floor of the mall, with a busted nose and dried blood on her lips and fresh blood between her thighs. He tapped the screen of is phone idly as she hauled herself to her feet.
She wet some paper towels and gingerly dabbed at her face, trying to ignore the stabs of pain and stop her body from trembling. Bruises were already beginning to form on her throat and cheek. The water in the rink ran red and she rinsed off the paper towel and began to clean between her legs. When she was finished, she looked to the ruins of her clothes and then back at her husband.
"Here," Gale shoved the Sears bag towards her. "Make yourself look somewhat presentable."
Catherine took the dress from the bag and slipped it over her head. It weighed her down like she was wearing a lead coat. She put her tattered clothes into the bag and then Gale grabbed it from her, shoving it deep into the trash can.
"You know I don't like this," he told her as they left the restroom, his voice gentler now. "I don't want to treat you like this. You're just such a goddamn idiot sometimes, Madge."
"I know," Catherine muttered as he grabbed her hand and led her through the mall. A strand of blonde hair fell into her face and she resisted the urge to rip it from her scalp. "I know, Gale."
I've had this chapter written since the beginning. It is the backbone of this entire fic, and almost the hardest one to write. Any confusion you have will be cleared up next chapter, I promise.
xoxo