Summary: Sebastian has to decide whether to go through with the rest of the plan after Annette gives him some unsettling information concerning Kathryn.
Chapter 10: Little White Lies
Sebastian was happy. Waking up naked from the previous nights adventures, wrapped snugly around Kathryn he was quite content. Kathryn was sleeping soundly with a small smile on her pretty face. Sebastian wondered if she was dreaming, maybe about him. At the thought he leaned down and kissed her neck.
He realized last night he was taking a chance falling asleep in Kathryn's bed. Anyone including their parents could walk in on them and there would be no way of explaining themselves. However Sebastian thought it was worth it. He loved watching Kathryn fall asleep and then waking up with her warm body covering him but as he awoke he knew he should leave.
Getting up ever so slowly Sebastian disentangled himself from Kathryn as he got off the bed. As quietly as possible he dressed in his clothes from last night. While slipping his shoes on he noticed a vase of red roses sitting on her windowsill so he plucked one from the bunch and rested it beside her. Leaning down he brushed her dark hair away before giving her one last light kiss and whispering in her ear "I love you."
Sebastian was still grinning as he exited her room and headed across the hall to his own. As he opened the door his face fell when he saw Annette standing with her back to him looking out the window. "Annette what are you doing here?"
Slowly she turned around and with a small smile replied "I wanted to surprise you. Where have you been?"
"I..." quickly he scanned his brain for a believable alibi and came up with "I went out to an early breakfast."
"Oh, your bed is still made"
He nodded "yeah the maid must have made it up while I was gone." Walking over to his girlfriend Sebastian gave her a kiss on the forehead before saying "so not that I'm complaining, but what are you doing here?"
"I needed to talk to you. It's sort of important."
Judging by the serious look on her face he could tell it wasn't good. However Sebastian had something important to tell her as well that couldn't wait any longer. Sitting back on his bed he said "yeah I have something to say as well. It's about our plan against Kathryn."
A flicker of concern crossed her face as she asked him "what about it?"
"I want to put an end to it."
"What?"
Pulling his eyes away from hers he continued "I know how badly you want her out of our lives and...I want that too. However this plan...it's just taking things too far. I can't do that to her. I'm sorry Annette."
Annette had sat down beside him on the bed and was staring out into space as he told her. As soon as he said her name she broke out of her trance and said "you can't be serious. I can't believe you want to back out now."
"This is the best time, before things go too far."
"Things have already gone too far!" Annette exploded suddenly. "Kathryn has taken things too far and you want to back out now, just like that? After everything she's done and continues to do to us?"
Sebastian gave her a curious glance as he asked "what do you mean continues to do to us? What has Kathryn done?"
Annette was quite for a moment as she turned back around and stared out the window. Finally she said "I'm guessing she didn't tell you. Then again why would she?"
"What are you talking about?"
"There's a possibility that I might have to go back to Kansas" she said suddenly facing him. "Thanks to Kathryn."
"What?"
"There was a school board meeting at Manchester yesterday. Kathryn attended along with my father. When he was out of the room Kathryn supposedly had a talk with the school board and convinced them that they should look into hiring a new headmaster. She threatened to pull some of the Merteuil money if they didn't."
The news stunned Sebastian to say the least. It seemed unbelievable which made Sebastian wonder if Annette was possibly mistaken. "How do you know this?"
"My father's close with one of the board members and he told him what was going on after he got a call from the chancellor saying he was under review. Don't you see Sebastian this is classic Kathryn. She's trying to control you by getting me out of your life for good." Shaking her head she muttered bitterly "she threatened to go after my father but I didn't think she would ever be so ruthless as to go after an innocent man but apparently I was wrong. So do you still think we should drop the plan? Do you still think Kathryn is worthy of your mercy?"
Collapsing into the leather chair behind him Sebastian's head fell into his hands as he tried to process what Annette told him. He didn't know why it was so inconceivable to him that Kathryn would do something like this. She was right it was classic Kathryn. Thinking back to the previous day Sebastian remembered the conversation he had with her:
"You're jealous"
"Should I be jealous of her?"
He told her there was no reason to be but he doubted Kathryn was convinced. After all she knew the obstacle Annette posed in their relationship so of course she would be threatened. Sebastian knew better than anyone that when Kathryn felt threatened she pushed back. Getting rid of Annette would definitely qualify as that.
Still even if Kathryn did as Annette said Sebastian still wasn't sure he could go through with their revenge scheme. As ruthless and manipulative as Kathryn might be he still loved her. The question then was could he trust her? If he couldn't was it worth throwing away what he had with Annette? He couldn't be sure.
"Are you honestly conflicted about what to do?" Annette asked astonished.
Sebastian looked up at her and admitted "yes. Look if Kathryn did do this-"
"You think I'm lying?"
"I didn't say that. I'm just saying in these past few weeks I've seen a different side of Kathryn and I don't know if ruining her is the answer to our problems."
Shaking her head she hissed "wake up Sebastian. It's all an act. She'll never change."
"You're wrong"
Annette stared at him a moment before saying in a voice barely a whisper "please, Sebastian please don't tell me I'm loosing you to her."
He got up from his seat and sighed "don't be ridiculous."
"I'm not, you've been wanting to end this plan for weeks now. Is it because of her? You have feelings for her again don't you?"
"Annette" he said as he walked up to embrace her.
"No" she told him holding up her hand to stop him "not now. I can't be here now."
Walking past him she headed for the door as he called out "where are you going?"
"Home I need to be by myself for a little while."
Before Sebastian could protest she was gone. He knew he should have told her it was insane for her to think he had feelings for Kathryn but something had stopped him from telling that lie. Slowly he walked out to his balcony and watched as Annette disappeared into a cab.
Sebastian stood out of the balcony for a little while thinking about what to do when he felt something soft caressing the back of his neck. Spinning around he came face to face with a grinning Kathryn holding the rose he left for her. "Where did you run off to?" she inquired.
"I thought I should get out of there before anyone noticed I didn't sleep in my own bed last night. And I needed to change and shower."
Giving him a once over she noted "you're wearing the same clothes from yesterday."
He looked down and gave her a small smile "yeah I was just getting to that."
As Sebastian walked back inside Kathryn followed after him and asked "is something wrong?"
"No what could be wrong" he said with a shrug as he sat back in his desk chair.
Kathryn gave him a sly smile as she straddled his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I enjoyed last night" she told him leaning in for a kiss. It was a great kiss, one of those kisses that could make him forget at least momentarily everything Annette just told him. However as they broke apart he remembered and realized he couldn't let himself get tempted.
In the most casual manor possible Sebastian asked her "so you never told me, what did you do yesterday?"
"Oh" she sighed "I had a meeting at Manchester with the school board."
Sebastian's heart sank slightly at the news. "How was it?"
She shrugged "pretty boring. Although it is fun to throw my power around a bit with those old men." She smirked mischievously "make they realize that with only a few phone calls I can end their so called careers."
"Why, what did you do?"
"Nothing really" she said "and since when are you interested in school politics?"
"I'm not" he told her as he got up from his seat and placed her down on the chair.
"Ok what is going on with you this morning?"
Turning away from her Sebastian sighed because he desperately didn't want to do what he was about to. However he realized he had no choice. He loved Kathryn, he always had and it was completely possible that she truly loved him but it wasn't enough. Sebastian didn't trust her even though he very much wanted to.
For as much as he loved her he knew she could never truly change. Kathryn was a manipulator through and through that would never change and she proved it by going after Annette. Even though he told her Annette wasn't a threat Kathryn still went behind his back and did something she knew he would hate. And then of course she lied about it. As much as it pained him to admit it he knew this wouldn't be the last time she did this. Kathryn always put her own interests ahead of everyone else's.
Upon seeing the look in Annette's eyes when she thought he might have feelings for Kathryn, Sebastian realized he couldn't choose Kathryn. He couldn't take the chance and be with her because he knew it would only destroy everything. So even though Sebastian loved Kathryn, possibly more than Annette he would stay with his girlfriend. He would go through with their plan because it was the only way to keep Annette.
After a second of assuring himself that he was doing the right thing Sebastian turned back to Kathryn and asked "do you love me?"
"Yes I thought we established that last night"
"Then would you leave with me if I asked you to?"
As he expected Kathryn seemed a little taken aback by the request. "Leave with you where?"
"Paris, Nepal, Maui, it doesn't matter. I want to start over with you and in order to do that we have to leave New York."
"Sebastian" she said as she got out of her chair and approached him "we can't just up and leave."
"Why not? What's keeping you hear? Our family and so called friends? I love you Kathryn and you know we could never be together if we stayed here." As he told her this he realized for the first time how true it was.
"But...what about school? And money? I seriously don't see mother handing me over my trust and telling me to go have fun, do you?"
"I have plenty of money for us to live in whatever lifestyle you want and you can always finish school through correspondence if it's that important to you."
"This is insane" she sighed as she sat back on his bed.
Sebastian knelt down beside her and cupped her face in his hands. "I could make you happy Kathryn. We could be happy. I know you want this, I know you want to get away from this life as badly as I do."
Judging by the look in her eyes he knew she did. "Sebastian they would never let us go. If we left my mother would have us tracked down and brought back. Then everything would be ten times worse. She would make sure I never saw you again."
"That's why we'd tell them before we left."
"What?" she asked confused.
"At their anniversary party" he explained. "We'd tell them in front of everyone that we're leaving together."
Kathryn looked over at him as if he was insane. "You want me to go up to my mother and say what I'm in love with you and we're leaving town and there's not a damn thing she can do about it? Oh right because she wouldn't go too insane. She would fucking lose it Sebastian!"
Sebastian grinned "that's sort of the point." When Kathryn still looked at him completely puzzled he explained his reasoning. "You told me awhile ago you would give anything to tell the society cows and your bitch mother to go to hell. Well here's your chance. You can stand up in front of all of New York and tell them to go fuck themselves. I'm offering you a way out Kathryn. We can finally be happy, together if that's what you want."
As he told her his plan he could see Kathryn's eyes light up at the possibility. He knew it was her secret dream to rid herself of the life she had partially created for herself. Right then he knew she would agree to his suggestion but deep down he wished she wouldn't. "We would be risking everything" she said more to herself than to him.
"Yes"
Turing to him she asked "but I would have you right?" Sebastian didn't say anything he only nodded. As he did as slow smile formed on her lips "then it would be worth it. Plus telling everyone, especially my mother to go to hell is more than a little appealing."
"You'll do it?"
"Yes" she told him as she leaned in and gave him a gentle kiss.
"Thank you"
Kathryn buried her face in his neck and practically purred as she said "at this point I think I would do anything to be with you. I love you Sebastian."
Swallowing his disgust with himself he whispered "I know."
* * * * * *
"Sebastian what are you doing here?"
Stepping inside the Hardgroves modest apartment Sebastian explained himself by simply saying "the plan's on."
"What?"
"I love you Annette and I don't want to loose you. If getting rid of Kathryn will prove to you that you're the only one I want to be with then that's what I'll do."
Annette studied him a moment before saying in her typically sweet manor "I'm sorry Sebastian for doubting you. I know you love me. It's just your past with Kathryn...it's more than a little threatening. The idea that you might not be over her is hard to take but I know you. I know you would never let yourself get pulled back in by her. I'm sorry for thinking other wise."
"It's understandable" he said avoiding her eyes.
Her hand came out and gently caressed his face. "Your heart isn't really in this anymore, I realize that. But if we don't get rid of Kathryn for good we could never be happy. She wouldn't let us."
"I know"
Wrapping her arms around him she told him "everything will work out. You'll see."
- to be continued (Please Review)
