Disclaimer-Passion is not mine
Conflict At Tabitha'a
"Kay-Kay! Kay-Kay!" Gracie pounded on the door to Tabitha Lenox's house.
At the sudden loud noise, Maria set up a wail.
"For Hades' sake, Kay!" Tabitha yelled, using her favorite line. "I didn't count on you having TWO children!"
"Oh, shut up, Tabitha!" Kay yelled, stomping out to the front door and jerking the door open. "What's wrong with you, Grace?"
"GRACIE!" Gracie shouted. "My name is Gracie!"
Maria wailed louder.
"Listen to that! You're scaring Maria!"
Gracie wilted a little under the chastisement, but immediately brightened. "I brought you these for you and Tabby and Mari!" She stuck out her hand. Clutched in her fist were two yellow flowers.
Kay took them, not very gracefully, and tossed them down on the stand where she often put her keys. "Is that all?"
"Kay-Kay!" Gracie said, exasperated. "I wanted to see Mari!"
"Well, you're not going to!"
Gracie smirked impudently. "Sammy said you have to let me see her. If you don't, I'll tell, and then Sammy will get mad at you."
Kay's lip moved into an angry scowl. She didn't want Gracie near her daughter, but she didn't want to upset Sam. "You get two minutes with her."
"Yay!" Gracie pushed past Kay and charged up the stairs.
"Badness, but she does have energy!" Tabitha muttered, cuddling Endora. "I don't think she was this wild when she actually WAS 6 years old!"
"All I care is that she doesn't upset Maria," Kay said, picking up the flowers Gracie had brought and chucking them into the trash basket.
Tabitha was about to say something, but Kay was making her way up the stairs to see Gracie and Maria.
"Grace Bennet!"
Gracie looked up at Kay. She was sitting on the bed, holding Maria in a very undignified way. She was holding the screaming baby by the armpits, letting the rest of her body hang down.
"You give me Maria!"
Gracie held Maria closer. "No!"
"Grace, if you don't give me my baby right now, I'm going to kill you!"
"No you're not!" Gracie stuck out her tongue.
Kay ran towards Gracie and Maria, but Gracie scooted away. "Catch me if you can! Catch me if you can!"
"Grace Bennet!"
"Kay-Kay can't catch me! Kay-Kay can't catch me!"
"You little brat!" Kay swung her hand, palm outwards, towards the moving figure of Gracie.
CRACK
The sound of the slap split the air. Maria slid slowly to the floor and continued wailing. Kay was seething, breathing hard.
Gracie felt her cheek with her. She slowly brought her hand down and looked at the livid Kay, tears in her eyes. "Kay-Kay…"
"The name is Kay. And I never want you near Maria again. You hear me!? Never! You, you…you ruined my chance with Miguel and now you want to hurt my baby…"
Gracie's filling eyes overflowed and the first tear spilled onto her cheek.
Kay stopped in mid-rant. Never before had she seen Grace cry. She'd seen her about to, she'd her yell, but she'd never, ever, seen her mother cry.
"I…I'm sorry, Kay-k…I'm sorry Kay." Gracie's voiced suddenly raised. "I try not to be such a burden to you!"
She turned and ran out of the room and down the stairs. Kay picked up Maria and settled her in her arms just as she heard the door slam.
She heard footsteps come up the stairs and Tabitha entered the room.
"What was that all about?" Tabitha asked. "She went flying like a bat out of my home."
"She…she was presenting an endangerment to Maria," Kay said. "I punished her thus accordingly."
"Oh, so that was why her cheek was red as a tomato! Well, Kay, I'd say you've done quite enough to drive her away! She won't come back again!"
"Y-yeah," Kay said.
At any other time, she would've felt exalted. But for some reason, never seeing Gracie again gave her an unsettled feeling in her stomach.
5 minutes later, the phone rang.
"I'll get it," Kay called, running to pick up the phone. "Hello?"
"Kay?" The voice sounded hysterical.
"Jessica?"
"Oh, Kay, it's Mom!"
There was suddenly a pit in Kay's stomach, a deep emptiness waiting to be filled with dread. "What about her?"
"She was running across the street…she was crying so hard…she didn't look where she was going I guess, and, and this car…it just hit her! It just hit her!"
The pit was overflowing now. Kay suddenly sat down, hard, on a chair.
"Dad called 9-1-1 and…oh, God, he's sitting in the street right now, holding her. She's bleeding all over and I think she broke something…oh, God, Dad's crying! What did you do to her?! Did you yell at her!?"
"She was hurting Maria. I…I yelled a little and…and slapped her."
"You, you…Oh my God, Kay, how could you do that?! You know that she thinks she's 6 years old! How could you hurt her like that! She's weak!"
Jessica was sobbing.
"If Mom dies, it's your fault! It's all your fault! You just can't stand only taking Miguel away from Charity! You have to take Mom away from Dad and me! Mom's going to die because of you! I…I hope you go to Hell!"
Jessica slammed the phone down.
Kay let the phone drop on the floor. She stared at the distant wall with hollow eyes.
"Kay?" Tabitha entered the room. "Who was that?"
Kay turned and stared at Tabitha. Then she buried her face in her hands and cried.