A/N: Alternate universe Cat
January 1st 2014
"mun why canty I spek normal" asks Cat
"you have mild dyslexia Cat, when you get stressed it gets worse, normally you're just fine, why are you so stressed, please do your breathing exercises first before responding" says Maria Valentine as Cat does her breathing exercises
"tomorrow is take your daughter to work day at school and all my classmates are going with their dads, dad hasn't been here in weeks" cries Cat
"you know your dad just started a new job in D.C yesterday, I can always call him and ask if it's ok, I don't see why he wouldn't let you go there" says Maria
"mom I hate living in New York City, why did we have to move from LA to here, the only person that talks to me is Tori" says Cat
"I'll make the call, just please do your homework" says Maria
"finel" says Cat as Maria calls her husband
"hey hun, small favor" asks Maria
"it's that time of year again isn't it, why can't she go with you to work" asks Greg Valentine
"I work for a publishing company, she had mild dyslexia remember, besides you always had a cool job, put yourself in her shoes, would you rather go with me to a place where you can't read a single thing or with you where you don't have to read" says Maria
"I understand hun it's just that there is this big bill going through about disabilities and I don't want her to be scared" says Greg
"when are we gonna tell her that her friend Tori's dad is your boss, I have a feeling Tori has feelings for Cat and I think it's freaking her out" says Maria
"Cat has always been closer to girls than boys Maria, I don't think she's scared Mari, I think she's worried of either rejection by Tori or ridicule by her classmates" says Greg
"so you'll agree to take her tonight right, she's sad because she hasn't seen you in weeks, I can get her on a train leaving in an hour or I can have Chad fly her out" says Maria
"yes, your brother is an amazing pilot and right now I trust him over letting her ride in a train alone, hell maybe Tori and Cat can fly in together, I'll ask Frank what his plans are" says Greg as he hangs up
In D.C
"hey frank, tomorrow is bring your kid to work day at our kids school and I was wondering if you'd made plans to bring Tori out, I'm bringing my daughter out for a few days because I don't get to spend a lot of time with her" says Greg
"I would but Tori doesn't like trains, and she refuses to let me pay for a plane ticket, don't tell anyone I told you this but she has a massive crush on Catarina" says Frank
"my wife's brother is a pilot, cat loves flying with him every weekend, arrange for it with your wife and I can have them here tonight" says Greg
"ok I will but it seems kinda pervy to me that your daughter flies with him every weekend" says Frank as he texts Tori
"trust me he's not like that, he has a husband and Cat asks him almost every day what it's like to be a gay pilot, Cat is dyslexic and has a stutter that comes out every so often, trust me if my brother-in-law did anything to her we'd know, she's very upfront about that kind of thing, a guy was stalking her last year and she'd come home all jittery, also she's terrible at keeping secrets, back in LA her friend Andre tried to put together a surprise party for her other friend Jadelyn and Cat couldn't keep that secret to save her life, with Catarina the more you tell her to keep a secret the more she feels she has to tell someone" says Greg
The next day in D.C as Cat and Tori wake up after landing the night prior
"hey Cat, sorry if I got kinda snuggly on the plane last night, planes aren't exactly my preferred method of travel" apologizes Tori
"d-d-don't apologize, it's fine Tori, I just wish I had more friends" says Cat
"you know you really are pretty" says Tori
"with a s-stutter and in kiddie pajamas, I highl-ly d-doubt that" says Cat
"I follow every style trend and you are my only friend Cat, I don't know what that fact tells you but what it tells me is fashion isn't a way to make friends and neither is money, my dad has more money than I could ever dream of and people make fun of me for it" says Tori
"you like me don't yoy" asks Cat
"If I say yes does that mean I lose you as a friend" asks Tori
"no, I admit I have feelings for you tow bus ther lasr crusf I have made fun of me, I jusr neyer time" says Cat
"can we still have sleep overs, I promise to bring a sleeping bag" says Tori
"no sleeping bau, I like yoy cuddels" says Cat as she does her breathing exercises
"you know people judge you because of your dyslexia and stutter, most people don't see past it, you are a smart and beautiful young lady Cat and I have honestly never met anyone as pure hearted as you" say Tori as House "pubilican" leader George Walker walks in
"hello girls, I hope you enjoyed your overnight stay at the grand Washington hotel, since you will be shadowing your fathers at the capitol today I have badges for you" says George
"thanks George, you know Cat's dad Greg is a demi right" asks Tori
"yes I did know that actually, however your father while being a publican is more center than the rest of us, he won his house seat by following the issues, gun regulation among others, he had overwhealming support from both sides of the isle and public support as well, not to mention he is delivering on his promises" says George
"so he doesn't mind my daf beign a demu" asks Cat
"no he doesn't, I have a question to ask, Catarina clearly has a mental handicap, the latest bill Frank introduced was the equal employment bill for people with mental disabilites like dyslexia and autism, I was wondering what you guys think of it" says George as Cat yet again does her breathing exercises
"I find it rude some of the wording the media is saying is in it but I like the idea" says Cat
"yeah Frank didn't put those in, one of our more extreme members added those as he said if it wasn't added he wouldn't vote for the bill, funny thing is nine out of ten demi's support the bill, Frank is very popular with them, he hasn't put together a common sense bill they haven't agreed with, wait are you two a couple" says George
"yeah, you gonna hate us for it" says Cat as Tori's jaw drops
"no actually I don't and I won't, I don't cling to past tropes like our more extreme members do" says George
"if they are that extreme why not remove them from power" asks Cat as Tori is still processing everything
"because while I may not agree with them they were still elected to office, if I were to apply that same logic to the demi's I'd end up believing they shouldn't be in office because I believe some of their ideas are extreme, it's up to the voters to come to the conclusion if someone is out of wack, I can restrict their committee assignments but I'd never pull anyone out of office because of their views" says George
"I respect that, though I highly doubt they were ever fairly elected into office, anyway Tori and I need to talk, we'll walk over to the capitol building when we're done" says Cat as George nods and leaves
"did you just tell the publican house leader we were a thing….., you said you wanted to wait" sputters Tori
"ya well then I got lost in your eyes and changed my mind, your eyeth arr sii …" says Cat annoyed she couldn't finish the sentence
"we really should get going, the capitol building is easily a half hour walk" says Tori as she kisses Cat's cheek
At Capitol building in Franks office
"hey Greg can we talk for a minute" asks Tori
"sure, Cat George wanted you to meet someone" says Greg as Cat rolls her eyes and walks to the door at the end of the hall waiting for George
"has it ever occurred to you that maybe Cat doesn't have dyslexia, there's a condition called Diffusive speech confusion disorder that messes with a person's ability to speak" says Tori
"she was officially diagnosed with Dyslexia and Autism Tori, are you suggesting her doctor made a mistake" says Greg
"no, I'm not saying her doctor messed up, I'm saying the doctor didn't have all the data, the disorder mainly affects girls, it's similar in two ways to Stress confusion disorder, one is both are affected by stress, the other is cheek biting, trust me she knows how to read just fine, we had a mandatory reading day last week and while she tried to object she gave in and the next day she couldn't stop talking about the book, we were required to talk about what we learned from the book and give examples as proof, Cat went first and she literally messed up every other word but I later recorded her saying everything perfectly, Cat asked me to because if she didn't give a report she'd have gotten an F on the assignment" says Tori
"do you have a frame of reference to base your theory on" asks Greg
"yes, ME, I have it, my aunt died of cancer suddenly last year and I was so consumed by grief and stress of my mom having to sell all my aunt's belongings to pay off my aunt's debt that I couldn't speak for six weeks, I literally couldn't form words, and after that I'd continued to mess up words, hell I still do sometimes" says Tori
"does it have a visual component, because she does have problems reading sometimes, which is when we took her to the doctors and she got the dyslexia diagnosis" asks Greg
"yull it can ya, it generally comes in waves for me, some days I can put my face three inches from my make-up mirror and still not see clearly enough to put my make-up on righf, I junce put lipstick on my eyes and eye-liner on my lips, it was not fun trying to get bleed resistant eye-liner off my lips" says Tori
"ahh ok I understand, you really do love her huh" asks Greg
"this wasn't exactly how I was planning to tell you, at first she said she had a bad something about her last crush and wanted to wait, then George asked if her and I were a couple and she told him yes, which completely blindsided me, so I guess we are together now" says Tori
With Cat
"so you work Capitol security, that's cool" asks Cat
"yeah, it has it's perks, you've grown cuz" says JJ
"last time you visited JJ I was six, I sure hope I've grown since then, I'd rather not have been a three and a half foot mini human for the rest of my life, doesn't help I'm the shortest in my class" says Cat
"so what you're seventeen now, you're taller than I was at your age Cat, I was only four foot six, hell I'm only just barely five foot two now" says JJ
"no I'm not quite seventeen, not for a few months anyway, also I'm with Tori now" says Cat
"from what I hear she's a great girl, Frank used her as an example a few times for this current house bill, one day last week he told a story about how she once saved three girls from killing themselves, also how she tried to save a few teachers from doing the same thing, then he stated all the problems she faces herself every day and how her diagnosed conditions literally bar her from ever being able to apply for a job, he said that isn't right, he said there are hundreds of thousands of people just like his daughter who deserve to be allowed to make a living, they deserve the option to try, it's so sweet, I swear almost everyone in the chamber that day cried after that speech" says JJ
"oh shoot, I completely forgot Tori and I would have to tell frank we're a couple, now I'm scared" says Cat