Chapter 22 "For Those Who Cannot Out"
A/N: Sorry it's been a while I know. But the holidays caught up with me and school starts next week..ugh..but here I am. Also I had thoughts about where to go in this next chapter, but I couldn't get it into the right words. So anywayz, enjoy.
A/N #2: This is set immediately after where chap. 21 ended. There's too much important stuff in that scene to just skip ahead from it.
SIDE NOTE: The title is taken from the end of a book called "The House on Mango Street" It's a collection of vignettes (short stories) about a Hispanic family living in a city. It was a very good story about a girl's struggle and change growing up.
*****
"Baby are you hurt?" Ming pulled back from her death lock embrace to look her daughter over
Cree shook her head, a bit sadly. She WASN'T hurt today. She had been hurt so many times in the last three years that she had scars on top of scars on top of scars. She looked to her mother, wanting to ask her if they could get outta there. But where would they go? Right here and now was what she wanted to remember most. Hugging someone she thought she would never see again.
"Everyone got out man" Kirk, another fireman announced to Ty, giving him a slap on the back "Nice work"
Ty turned to him "For you too man" Ty then turned to look over at Logan "You're not gonna say 'I told you so'"
Logan only shrugged a smile in return before his eyes turned back towards Cree and her mom.
"She deserved this moment so much" Max spoke up beside him
Logan turned to her "Yeah, but its not over"
"Don't think I don't know that"
*****
CRASH
For some reason, everyone wound up at the Jam Pony worker hang. Ming was there too, in the seat next to Cree. She had tons of questions, worries and concerns to talk to her daughter about. But she was still her mother and knew that they both needed to wind down from the emotional roller coaster they were just on.
Ming looked at her baby. So much the same, and yet different. She had grown up, but not in the way she should. Way too fast, a woman before her time. Her eyes, her hair, they were all the traits of her, but the way she held herself, the way she walked, it all came from Peter. Despite her pain and the horror of what she must've undergone Ming was in quiet awe of the person, the woman her daughter had grown up to be.
The bar was loud, crowded, but so was every other bar in the United States. Ming was no stranger to drinks, especially after a hard day, or the past three years. She swore she would never go nuts and make a mess of herself, but that didn't stop her from downing her fair share of straight Tequila shots.
Which was what she was having right now. Tequila and lime on the rocks.
"Are Jade and dad-"
"They're fine" Ming reassured Cree when she asked, forcing a tight smile on her face. "Be better then that after I call them"
Cree smiled, a real one, touching her mom's hand.
Ming placed her other one on top of Cree's. "Everyone thought I was crazy-"
"What? That I might be alive?"
Ming's look was her daughter's answer
"I was alive" Cree went on "But there were days I wished I wasn't"
*It's a shame our reality is deveastain'
People prayin' for a cure dyin' while they waitin'
Askin' the Lord for the comfort and the strength to face it
All the kids with dreams won't get the chance to chase it
Makes me sad, think about lives they coulda had
Think about the orphan babies got no moms and dads
How can we sit back and not try to make it right
We gotta come together
We gotta fight for life*
Ming's look held compassion for what her baby must've gone through "I'm sorry baby" it was all she could think of to say at that moment.
Cree looked at her straight in the eyes, not saying anything, not knowing what to say.
A song came across the sound system. The familiar melody made Ming turn "You remember this?"
"You and daddy" Peter wasn't Cree's biological father. Ming had gotten married before to a man named Chris Yu, someone her parents raved over at first but Chris started to abuse Ming, beating on her pretty badly so she left, but it took two years to get up enough nerve to. She met Peter at a coffee shop in downtown LA while she and Chris were still married, but staying apart. He had been working to build a cooperate office building. At the time Ming was seven months pregnant with Cree. Chris knew of the baby, and wanted Ming back, but Ming feared for her life. So she got a restraining order against her estranged husband before filing for divorce. Her parents disapproved thoroughly, even more so when Ming started dating Peter regularly. They moved in together after two months of dating. Ming was still in a bad place to make a full commitment to a man. Cree was born almost immediately after they moved in together.
Peter was African-American and Ming's family felt that it would start the rumors going that the baby wasn't his, and that she had slept around. But Ming didn't care. She had already joined the police academy at the LAPD, something her mother hated with a passion. She and Peter continued living together for another year and a half before finally getting married. Cree got to be flower girl at her parents wedding. She remembered nothing of Chris and Ming kept it that way, only telling her that she had another daddy before Peter. The courts granted her full custody of Cree given the abusive nature of her first husband. Cree's called Peter "daddy" from the first moment she could talk, and Peter loved her just like his own. Which she almost was. He knew her since she was born.
Ming graduated from the academy and became a seasoned cop, shortly after Jade was born and the family bought a comfortable, nice two story old town house in LA.
But the song playing now, it was the first song Ming and Peter danced to at their wedding.
*If tomorrow is judgment day (sing mommy)
And I'm standin' on the front line
And the Lord ask me what I did w/ my life
I will say I spent it with you
If I wake up in WW 3
I see destruction and poverty
And I feel like I wanna go home
It's okay if your commin' with me
Cause your love is my love
And my love is your love
It would take an eternity to break us
And the chains of Amistad couldn't hold us..*
"Seemed so long ago" Cree remembered the innocence of the time, when she only worried about her dress being the wrong color to match the flowers she was holding. "Everything changed.."
"Time can't stand still sweetie" Ming spoke up
"How did you find me?" Cree changed the subject "I was scared to call, I thought someone might-"
"I ran into my boy Jack-" Ming spat out the words
"He told you?" Cree sounded surprised
"I got what I wanted by my methods"
"I'm sorry mom," Cree looked to her mother with sad eyes "I should've waited for Jade-"
"Baby you didn't do anything wrong" Ming interrupted "You were just being you. And as frustrated as that made me sometimes you did NOT deserve the crap that that little bastard put you through" she found it hard to keep a straight voice "I looked for you every moment. Even when I slept, if there was some part of you I could still feel then you weren't-" she couldn't even say it.
"Mom please don't cry. I'm the one who got messed up, permanently dirty-"
Ming hugged her "You're NOT dirty Cree. What happened to you was dirty baby. You didn't deserve it"
Cree started to cry then too. She thought she had no more tears, but she was wrong. And some part of her was glad for it, to be able to still feel.
*****
END.
That was short, but I couldn't think of anything to add to it to make it good. But I'm doing the next chap right now, they'll be posted together.
Songs used again are:
"What's Goin' On? WTC All Star Tribute" (Eve's rap)
"Your Love is My Love" Whitney Huston
A/N: Sorry it's been a while I know. But the holidays caught up with me and school starts next week..ugh..but here I am. Also I had thoughts about where to go in this next chapter, but I couldn't get it into the right words. So anywayz, enjoy.
A/N #2: This is set immediately after where chap. 21 ended. There's too much important stuff in that scene to just skip ahead from it.
SIDE NOTE: The title is taken from the end of a book called "The House on Mango Street" It's a collection of vignettes (short stories) about a Hispanic family living in a city. It was a very good story about a girl's struggle and change growing up.
*****
"Baby are you hurt?" Ming pulled back from her death lock embrace to look her daughter over
Cree shook her head, a bit sadly. She WASN'T hurt today. She had been hurt so many times in the last three years that she had scars on top of scars on top of scars. She looked to her mother, wanting to ask her if they could get outta there. But where would they go? Right here and now was what she wanted to remember most. Hugging someone she thought she would never see again.
"Everyone got out man" Kirk, another fireman announced to Ty, giving him a slap on the back "Nice work"
Ty turned to him "For you too man" Ty then turned to look over at Logan "You're not gonna say 'I told you so'"
Logan only shrugged a smile in return before his eyes turned back towards Cree and her mom.
"She deserved this moment so much" Max spoke up beside him
Logan turned to her "Yeah, but its not over"
"Don't think I don't know that"
*****
CRASH
For some reason, everyone wound up at the Jam Pony worker hang. Ming was there too, in the seat next to Cree. She had tons of questions, worries and concerns to talk to her daughter about. But she was still her mother and knew that they both needed to wind down from the emotional roller coaster they were just on.
Ming looked at her baby. So much the same, and yet different. She had grown up, but not in the way she should. Way too fast, a woman before her time. Her eyes, her hair, they were all the traits of her, but the way she held herself, the way she walked, it all came from Peter. Despite her pain and the horror of what she must've undergone Ming was in quiet awe of the person, the woman her daughter had grown up to be.
The bar was loud, crowded, but so was every other bar in the United States. Ming was no stranger to drinks, especially after a hard day, or the past three years. She swore she would never go nuts and make a mess of herself, but that didn't stop her from downing her fair share of straight Tequila shots.
Which was what she was having right now. Tequila and lime on the rocks.
"Are Jade and dad-"
"They're fine" Ming reassured Cree when she asked, forcing a tight smile on her face. "Be better then that after I call them"
Cree smiled, a real one, touching her mom's hand.
Ming placed her other one on top of Cree's. "Everyone thought I was crazy-"
"What? That I might be alive?"
Ming's look was her daughter's answer
"I was alive" Cree went on "But there were days I wished I wasn't"
*It's a shame our reality is deveastain'
People prayin' for a cure dyin' while they waitin'
Askin' the Lord for the comfort and the strength to face it
All the kids with dreams won't get the chance to chase it
Makes me sad, think about lives they coulda had
Think about the orphan babies got no moms and dads
How can we sit back and not try to make it right
We gotta come together
We gotta fight for life*
Ming's look held compassion for what her baby must've gone through "I'm sorry baby" it was all she could think of to say at that moment.
Cree looked at her straight in the eyes, not saying anything, not knowing what to say.
A song came across the sound system. The familiar melody made Ming turn "You remember this?"
"You and daddy" Peter wasn't Cree's biological father. Ming had gotten married before to a man named Chris Yu, someone her parents raved over at first but Chris started to abuse Ming, beating on her pretty badly so she left, but it took two years to get up enough nerve to. She met Peter at a coffee shop in downtown LA while she and Chris were still married, but staying apart. He had been working to build a cooperate office building. At the time Ming was seven months pregnant with Cree. Chris knew of the baby, and wanted Ming back, but Ming feared for her life. So she got a restraining order against her estranged husband before filing for divorce. Her parents disapproved thoroughly, even more so when Ming started dating Peter regularly. They moved in together after two months of dating. Ming was still in a bad place to make a full commitment to a man. Cree was born almost immediately after they moved in together.
Peter was African-American and Ming's family felt that it would start the rumors going that the baby wasn't his, and that she had slept around. But Ming didn't care. She had already joined the police academy at the LAPD, something her mother hated with a passion. She and Peter continued living together for another year and a half before finally getting married. Cree got to be flower girl at her parents wedding. She remembered nothing of Chris and Ming kept it that way, only telling her that she had another daddy before Peter. The courts granted her full custody of Cree given the abusive nature of her first husband. Cree's called Peter "daddy" from the first moment she could talk, and Peter loved her just like his own. Which she almost was. He knew her since she was born.
Ming graduated from the academy and became a seasoned cop, shortly after Jade was born and the family bought a comfortable, nice two story old town house in LA.
But the song playing now, it was the first song Ming and Peter danced to at their wedding.
*If tomorrow is judgment day (sing mommy)
And I'm standin' on the front line
And the Lord ask me what I did w/ my life
I will say I spent it with you
If I wake up in WW 3
I see destruction and poverty
And I feel like I wanna go home
It's okay if your commin' with me
Cause your love is my love
And my love is your love
It would take an eternity to break us
And the chains of Amistad couldn't hold us..*
"Seemed so long ago" Cree remembered the innocence of the time, when she only worried about her dress being the wrong color to match the flowers she was holding. "Everything changed.."
"Time can't stand still sweetie" Ming spoke up
"How did you find me?" Cree changed the subject "I was scared to call, I thought someone might-"
"I ran into my boy Jack-" Ming spat out the words
"He told you?" Cree sounded surprised
"I got what I wanted by my methods"
"I'm sorry mom," Cree looked to her mother with sad eyes "I should've waited for Jade-"
"Baby you didn't do anything wrong" Ming interrupted "You were just being you. And as frustrated as that made me sometimes you did NOT deserve the crap that that little bastard put you through" she found it hard to keep a straight voice "I looked for you every moment. Even when I slept, if there was some part of you I could still feel then you weren't-" she couldn't even say it.
"Mom please don't cry. I'm the one who got messed up, permanently dirty-"
Ming hugged her "You're NOT dirty Cree. What happened to you was dirty baby. You didn't deserve it"
Cree started to cry then too. She thought she had no more tears, but she was wrong. And some part of her was glad for it, to be able to still feel.
*****
END.
That was short, but I couldn't think of anything to add to it to make it good. But I'm doing the next chap right now, they'll be posted together.
Songs used again are:
"What's Goin' On? WTC All Star Tribute" (Eve's rap)
"Your Love is My Love" Whitney Huston