Chapter Fourteen
Mike sat next to his daughter holding her hand. Noticing a piece of hair in her face, Mike brushed it aside. He then noticed the necklace around Lucy's neck, it was a locket that her mother had put on her while they were gone. She had pretty much worn it for three months straight, but he was curious as to it's contents. He opened the locket and found a picture of Katherine holding Lucy as a newborn in the hospital, and on the other side she had a picture of her and Katherine more recently. Mike grabbed his phone and shot Katherine a text. "Hey, could I have one of those pictures of Lucy when she was born? -Mike", the text read, he wasn't expecting Katherine to answer right away, she was probably asleep still.
"Lucy, I know you're in there...please...wake up." Mike said to her, but Lucy still wouldn't wake. As he held Lucy's hand he thought he felt something, he thought he felt Lucy's fingers move. Mike stood up and examined Lucy. "Lucy? Lucy?!" he called, trying to get a response, but nothing. A few moments later he felt it again, this time it was more than just a slight twitch. He let go of her hand and saw her fingers moving. "Lucy! Can you open your eyes please?" Mike asked her, but Lucy wasn't able to, at least not right now. Mike grabbed his phone and called Katherine. "Hello?" Katherine asked, half asleep. "Katherine it's me, Lucy's trying to wake up, get over here now!" Mike told her.
Katherine quickly hung up and put her shoes back on before rushing downstairs. "Katherine? You should get some more sleep. It's only been two hours." Susan said to Katherine as soon as she saw her come down. "Lulu's trying to wake up, I need to go back." she said. "Did Mike call you?" Susan asked. "Yes, please take me back. I'm fine, I just want to see my little girl." Katherine begged. "Alright, we'll go." Susan said. They left the house with Katherine locking the doors and went back to the hospital. When they got there Katherine practically ran to Lucy's room.
"Lucy? Lucy I'm here, please open your eyes." Katherine begged her as she kissed her hand. Her eyelids started to flutter, but she was still unconscious. "Lucy, please...I need you...keep trying, for me okay?" she begged once more as she held Lucy's hand. Her eyelids fluttered once more until she finally woke up. "Lucy? Thank god you're alright!" Katherine said as she hugged her, forgetting about her injuries. Lucy wrapped her left arm that wasn't in a sling around her mom and cried. Mike looked at his daughter and hugged her next, but was more careful of her injuries.
"I...I thought I would never see you again." Lucy sobbed as she hugged them. "You're okay Lucy, we were so worried about you." Mike replied. "Lucy, why didn't you answer my call or texts?" asked Mike. "I had earbuds in and I muted my phone because I was in class. I...I didn't even hear the shooting. I just felt something hit me in the back and it hurt a lot...I looked down and I was bleeding. I fell and couldn't move...then I passed out." Lucy explained. "So that's why you didn't answer." Mike said. The doctors came in to check on her now that she had woken up and examined her wounds. "I just want to go home." said Lucy.
"Sorry Lucy, you have to stay here for a little while longer, at least a few more days." said Julie as she looked at her. "Thank you for taking care of Lucy for me." Katherine said to Julie. "You're welcome." Julie replied to Katherine. "Are you hungry Lucy? We can get you something to eat." Julie told her. "I'm starving." Lucy told her. "Here is the menu, pick out what you want." said Julie. Lucy looked over the menu of terrible hospital food before deciding on some chicken tenders and mashed potatoes and orange Jello for dessert with water to drink. As she ate her food she started to feel a bit better, she wasn't hungry or thirsty anymore at least. A week later Lucy was finally released from the hospital, but was ordered to be on bed rest. Since her mother needed to work and Susan was home all the time she would be watching Lucy to check on her wounds and keep an eye on her seizures.
Katherine brought Lucy over with a pillow that she had purchased that was super comfortable, but rather heavy because it was a water pillow and contained water and a throw that she had, she was supposed to be resting and not doing anything so she figured she would just sleep on the couch. Katherine knocked on the door as they stood there and Susan answered the door. "Hi Lucy, how are you feeling?" asked Susan. "Sore still." replied Lucy. "Thanks for keeping an eye on her Susan." said Katherine as she looked at her. "It's no problem, I mean you watched MJ when he was younger, it's only fair." Susan replied. "Lucy will probably be asleep most of the time so you shouldn't have to do much, if Midna starts barking start timing the seizure." Katherine told her. "Yeah, Mike showed me what to do. Come on in Lucy." Susan said as she let Lucy and Midna in. "I'll let you know if her seizure goes over five minutes." added Susan. "Bye mom, I love you." Lucy said as she kissed her cheek. "I love you too." Katherine replied. Katherine left to Bree's test kitchen and Susan went back inside.
"Come on Lucy, I'll take you to the couch so you can get some rest." said her step-mother. Lucy had never really seen the rest of her step-mother's home, she had only been in the main room near the door and the kitchen. She followed Susan into the living room and put her pillow down on the couch before taking off her shoes and curling up underneath her throw blanket and fell asleep with Midna on the floor underneath her. Susan went to work on a book, but she checked up on Lucy every half an hour or so to find her sleeping. Soon Lucy started to toss and turn as she had a nightmare about the shooting, which turned into another night terror. She shot up off the couch and started to run, which she shouldn't have done. Susan noticed Lucy running out of the front door and stood up to follow her. Lucy ran into the middle of the street when a car was speeding by. She quickly grabbed Lucy and pulled her out of the way just in time. "Lucy! What were you thinking?!" Susan yelled as she turned Lucy around, but she wasn't responding.
Susan remembered what Katherine had told her, that Lucy had night terrors and would occasionally sleep walk if she became too stressed. "Lucy, you are safe, nothing is after you, calm down, it's alright..." Susan said as she tried to pull Lucy out of it. Lucy started to calm down and Susan led her back inside and over to the couch. She got Lucy to lay back down and covered her with her blanket. Susan knew that she needed to keep a better eye on Lucy and so she decided to move her work into the living room so she could keep an eye on Lucy. Mike came home at lunch to check on Lucy and Susan, he walked in the door and went into the living room. Susan had just finished her work and was watching Lucy sleep.
"You know you don't have to watch her sleep." said Mike as he looked at Susan. "Apparently I do because she had a night terror and almost got hit by a car." Susan replied as she looked at her husband. Lucy had woken up, but was pretending to be asleep still. She heard them talking about her and felt really awkward and terrible. She was going to leave as soon as they left the room, and luckily they went upstairs, thinking Lucy was still asleep. Lucy got up and put her shoes on before grabbing her things as well as Midna's leash and went home. She used her house key to open the door and lock it behind her. She was better off not being over there, she wasted enough of her step-mother's time and just wanted to be left alone. So what if she had a seizure, she would feel less weird this way. Lucy went up to her room and put her pillow back on her bed and decided to go back to sleep.
When Susan and Mike came downstairs they went into the kitchen so Mike could get some lunch. He grabbed his sandwich and went into the living room to see if Lucy was hungry, but discovered that Lucy and her things were gone. Mike came back into the kitchen. "Have you seen Lucy? She and her things are gone." asked Mike. "Wait...are you serious?" Susan asked as she ran into the living room. "Katherine is going to kill me!" Susan panicked. "She probably went home. I'll go check alright?" Mike said as he set his food down and went across the street to see if Lucy was home. Luckily Katherine had given him a key so when he realized that the door was locked Mike used the key and looked around for Lucy. He went upstairs to her room and opened the door to find Lucy asleep in her bed.
Mike sat on the edge of the bed and gently woke up Lucy. "Hey, you're supposed to be at my house." said Mike as he looked at her. "I just wanted to sleep in my own bed." Lucy said sleepily. "Tell you what, I don't have to work anymore today, I'll stay here with you alright?" Mike offered. "You don't have to...I'll be okay." Lucy said as she yawned. "Lucy..." he said sternly. "Really I'll be okay by myself." she insisted. "I'm not leaving you by yourself." Mike told her. "Okay..." she told him. She would have to come up with a better plan for tomorrow, and just like that she thought of one. Her parents would both be at work then so unless her father gave her step-mother the key, she could just tell her mother she would go over there and not show up. It was either that or stuff pillows under a blanket and take off when her step-mother used the restroom. Which could work, she had to do this for a month before returning to school. It wasn't that she hated her step-mother, but she felt awkward around her. Susan said she didn't hate her, but she could tell that this was uncomfortable for the both of them, after all she was just some illegitimate child of her husband's, how could she not feel that way?
She wondered if Will's mom could take over watching her instead. It would be much less awkward that way, after all she treated her like the daughter she always wanted, where as Lucy was pretty sure that Susan tolerated her at best. Mike called Susan to let her know what was going on and decided to sit down downstairs and check on Lucy every once in a while to make sure she was alright. Susan decided to come over and check on Lucy herself. She knocked on the door and Mike answered it. "How is she?" asked Susan. "She's still asleep. Lucy said she came back here because she wanted to sleep in her own bed, but I think she's partially lying." said Mike as he let her in. "Why would she lie?" asked Susan. "Isn't it obvious? This whole thing is really awkward for her, I'm sure she still feels like a third wheel, like she doesn't belong." Mike said to her as they sat down.
Mike looked at Susan who had looked away. She didn't hate Lucy, but she didn't like the fact that she was a constant reminder that she was Mike's child from Katherine. No matter how hard she tried, Susan couldn't get over this feeling. But it wasn't Lucy's fault that it happened, but she just wished that Lucy never existed in the first place. "You resent her. I know you do, and Lucy can tell." Mike figured out. "I never said that." Susan replied as she looked at Mike. "You don't have to, I can see it on your face." he said. "What do you want me to do Susan?" Mike asked. "I can't stop feeling this way, I'm sorry, but every time I look at her all I can see is you and Katherine were once together and it drives me insane. I don't want you to see Lucy anymore...do what Katherine wanted you to do in the first place. Forget about her please...for me and our family" Susan begged. "You want me to give up on a girl that hasn't once had a good stable male role model in her life? Are you insane?" he asked. He and Susan argued for a while about the whole thing and Mike finally told Susan to leave.
Susan knew she needed Lucy out of her life forever. She couldn't take it anymore, she had never been jealous over a thirteen year old girl before, but Mike was always paying attention to her and it's like he forgot the rest of them even existed. It made her so angry sometimes that she wanted to scream. So Susan thought of a way to get her and Katherine out of their lives forever. She decided to pay Katherine off with the money from the strip club that she sold years ago that she had been sitting on for years because Mike was too stubborn to take it. Susan got out her checkbook and wrote a check for Katherine, she wanted them gone for good, she just couldn't deal with this anymore.
She went to their house when Katherine came home. "Susan, what a pleasant surprise. What can I do for you?" asked Katherine. "Here." Susan said as she handed Katherine the check. "What's this for?" asked Katherine as she opened the check and saw the amount. "I can't take this." Katherine said as she handed back the check. "It's a check for you and Lucy to stay away from us permanently. I just can't get over this...I'm sorry. Mike is only doing this out of obligation. He feels obligated to deal with her, he doesn't actually love her. So please...take this and go start your life somewhere else." Susan said. Lucy started to cry. "Please mom..I don't want to be forced to be around someone that doesn't want me..." she said with tears streaming down her face. "Alright...we'll go while you guys are out of town." Katherine said to Susan. Susan nodded and left.
Katherine bought a house in Australia and everything went according to plan. Once they left for their vacation Katherine and Lucy left, Katherine decided to rent out her house to someone else while they left for extra income and have a rental company take care of everything. Once they came back Mike tried to visit Lucy, but someone else was living there. "Who are you?" Mike asked, seeing an older couple now living in Katherine's house. "We're your new neighbors. This is my wife Margaret and I'm John." the older man said. "What happened to the woman and her daughter living in this house?" Mike asked. "Oh they moved last week." John said to him. Mike became angry and stormed off back to his house. "Can you believe it? Katherine took off with Lucy!" he said to Susan as he tried to call them both, only to learn that their numbers were out of service. "Damn it!" he said as Susan looked at him with a very suspicious look.
"Susan!" he said as Susan tried to sneak away only to be grabbed the the shoulder. "What did you do?!" he asked angrily. "Nothing!" Susan swore. "Susan, if I find out that you had anything to do with this then we are over." Mike yelled. Susan gulped and knew she had covered her trail very well, and that Mike would never find out, even with a private investigator. "Look Mike...Katherine and Lucy came by the day before we left while you were at work. Katherine had finally gotten enough money to start her own business and said she and Lucy were moving...Lucy told me that she didn't want to see you anymore because she knew it bothered me, so I wished them a safe trip. They didn't say where they were going though." Susan lied. Mike left to go talk to each of the neighbors who each told him a similar story. That Katherine didn't say where they were going, only that they wanted a fresh start.
Mike hired a private investigator to look for them, but they just said that Katherine and Lucy had left the country and didn't know where to. He was devastated and Susan finally got what she wanted, her husband to focus on their family. Sure it took a while, but Susan was finally able to breathe without Lucy always there. She was a sweet girl, but she couldn't stand being constantly reminded of Katherine almost marrying her husband. And now that he had given up the search for Lucy, she felt free.