Disclaimers: Not mine

Spoilers: Inside The Box

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THE PERFECT FAMILY

(Chapter 8)

Catherine entered her mother's room not without hesitation. She wasn't sure if it was possible to be as speechless as she was despite the vast amount of thoughts running through her mind at the moment.

"I thought you would've left by now." Her mother said upon seeing her.

"I'm sure that's what you want but I promised Katie I'd stay for a while so I guess I have to." Catherine regretted the harshness of her words but was unable to hold herself back.

"If it's that hard for you to stay, then why force yourself to do so? I wouldn't want you doing something you didn't want to do because of me."

"You know, when Katie called me, she told me I should get here as soon as possible. I guess I should take it as a good sign that you still have the energy to hate me so much."

"I don't hate you, Catherine." Her mother responded sincerely. "You know I don't."

"Do I?"

"You're my daughter, of course I don't hate you! I never have, despite what you may have thought."

Catherine, at a loss for words, said nothing.

"I know that you're still very angry at me for not letting you come home when you left. But I had my reasons, Catherine..."

Shaking her head, Catherine tried to keep a strong front. "Of course you did."

"Do you think it was easy for your father and I to do what we did?"

"I don't care, Mom! I don't care about how hard it was for you because it couldn't have been half as hard as it was for me! When I needed a home to come back to, it was gone! I was only 17, for God's sake! You never even tried to help me, to reach out to me." She stopped for a second, wiping away the tears that had begun to fall. "I understand why Dad would do something like that..."

"What?"

Catherine seemed almost as surprised as her mother of the words she had just said. "I..."

"What did you mean?" Her mother asked with a concerned voice.

Taking a deep breath, Catherine knew it was time to let everything out into the open. "I know about Sam Braun, Mom. I know that he's...my real father."

This time, it was her mother's turn to be speechless.

"And don't even try to deny it because I've had enough of your lies. I know that Sam's my real father and that the man who I thought was my father, was just a man who was either really righteous or just stupid enough to raise me."

"Don't you dare say that about your father!"

"Which one?" Catherine spit back in anger.

"Your father was a good man with a good heart. He raised you like his own, even when he didn't have to."

"Oh, that's good...that really makes it all better for me." Catherine laughed bitterly, getting up from her seat.

"Catherine, I never meant for you to find out this way."

"I know. You just never meant for me to find out, period." With that, Catherine exited the room, leaving behind yet another failed attempt at reconnecting with her mother.

*To be continued*