Chapter Thirty Nine
Dr. Barnette sat silently in the chair across from Kat watching her closely. Her hands were folded in her lap, her legs crossed at the ankles and she stared directly at Judy. Dr. Barnette looked down at her notepad and made a few notes before glancing back up at Kat wondering if she'd even blinked once in the last five minute span. She checked her watch; their hour was almost up.
It had taken four months for them to get to where they'd been before Kat's abduction and supposed death. Kat had finally begun to open up. She'd finally begun to talk about her past; about her mother, the man she'd thought was her father, the wrongs she'd suffered as a child, and everything that had happened since her entire world had turned out to be a lie. Four months of hard work seemed wasted as she noted the young woman's rigid posture and tightly clasped fingers. They were back to the beginning. Back to the beginning where the hour was spent in silence. She would make notes, ask a question every once in a while that would always go unanswered and Kat would stare out the window, watch the clock or stare directly into her eyes in utter defiance.
It was no surprise to her, knowing now that Jack Bristow was the girl's father. She remembered very well the first time he'd sat in her office, told her everything and nothing all in the same breath. He'd told her everything she wanted to hear, pausing to take breaths, struggling at times for words but there was something that told her it was all an act. Indeed it had been, and it was exactly the same as his daughter's silence. Neither of them had been willing to let their guard down, to appear vulnerable even for an instant.
She was strong; he was strong and so was Sydney. But one could only get by on strength alone for so long.
Her first meeting with Kat had gone exactly the same. The subsequent few that followed remained unchanged. Dr. Barnette pressed her at times but still received no response until she'd exercised her last option, one she hadn't wanted to do. She asked Kathryn about Joshua.
Joshua was her weakness. Her eyes had darkened and then turned to fire at the mere mention of his name. According to Kat's file, her son Joshua had died during childbirth when she was thirteen. He'd been buried in New York on Hart's Island in an unmarked grave but during her interviews with Director Kendall and Bob Lindsey she'd called him by name. It could be that she'd named him after his death but her reaction, the look in her eyes and the way she carefully chose her words led Dr. Barnette to believe that Kat was lying and her child was very much alive. He might very well be alive, but to Kat and everyone else concerned, he was dead. It was obvious to Judy that if the child was indeed alive as she guessed he was, his recorded death had been for his protection and while they eventually did discuss Joshua, she kept her suspicions to herself and left those thoughts out of her notes. If Kat was lying to protect him than it was not her place to run the risk of exposure.
Judy sighed and put her notepad down. "Katarina-"she began
"I don't go by that, only he calls me that," she quipped.
"By he you mean your father?"
"By he I mean Jack. Kat's fine," she said in a disgruntled tone.
"Alright then Kat, for the last forty eight minutes we've sat here, in silence. When I met with you yesterday you were at least willing to talk to me, to tell me what happened during your absence. You've been through a lot yes, but now you refuse to speak and I can't help you if you won't talk. Now do you want to tell me what changed between yesterday afternoon and this morning?"
Kat folded her arms across her chest remaining silent.
"Alright, that's enough for today." Dr. Barnette stood and moved to her desk setting the pad down. She turned to face Kat who was quickly on her way out the door. "Wait," she caught her arm but quickly let it go when she saw the anger in the younger girl's eyes. "I only want to help you Kat, to help you deal with what has happened and to move on with your life, but I can't do it alone. Now I want you to think about that. Think about in five or ten years from now and decide if you still want to feel the way that you do now. I will see you tomorrow and if need be we will sit in silence for another hour but you can't hold out forever, and I'm not going anywhere."
"Good afternoon Dr. Barnette," Kat turned away and left her office, the door slammed behind her. She leaned against the wall, her hands clenched into fists at her sides.
"Hey you," a familiar voice called to her.
"What are you doing here?" She forced a smile.
"Oh just thought I'd pop by and see if you wanted to join us for lunch?" Carrie tapped the baby stroller handle.
"Kendall called you in didn't he," Kat shook her head walking over to Carrie and the baby.
"That he did," she nodded. "He wanted me to examine the documents Sydney and Vaughn brought back from Cairo."
"I thought they weren't Rambaldi's?" Kat asked.
"They're not," Carrie confirmed. "He just wanted to see if there was any relation. So lunch? On me?"
"Okay," she nodded. "But I should probably tell Jack-"
"I already told him," Carrie interrupted. "Besides they're in debrief, but he did send your shadow."
Kat looked around Carrie and rolled her eyes, "hi Alex," she called waving a few fingers at the Security Agent she'd nicknamed Mr. Shadow. "And they say he's supposed to blend in," she said sarcastically noting his dark business suit. Mr. Shadow did anything but blend in. Kat leaned over the stroller to get a better look at baby Kate. "She looks like Marshall," she decided.
"I know, I'm hopeful she'll grow out of that," Carrie teased and began pushing the stroller down the corridor. They were silent for a few moments before Carrie spoke again. "So have you given any more thought to being Kate's godmother?"
"Sort of," Kat looked down at her feet as they walked. "Is the position still open?"
"It's all yours," Carrie smiled. "I'm happy you changed your mind."
"Me too," she grinned deciding that she had just made her first long term commitment since coming to LA.
~ ~ ~
"Analysis has been going over these for the past week and they still haven't been able to break the code." Sydney handed Kat the confidential file folder containing the documents she and Vaughn had brought back from Cairo. "We'd like you to give it a shot."
"Sure," she nodded setting the file beside her sandwich.
"Katy are you alright, you barely touched your lunch?" Sydney asked pulling a chair over to her sisters make shift desk.
"I'm fine, just not hungry" she shrugged tapping her pencil on the edge of the desk in irritation.
"Come to think of it, I haven't seen you actually eat anything in days," Sydney said concerned. "You know you need to keep your sugar levels in check if you don't-"
"I said I wasn't hungry alright," Kat said angrily and dropped her lunch in the garbage.
"Okay," Sydney held up her hands in surrender style. "But honestly Kat, you look like crap did you even sleep last night-"
"Syd, leave me alone alright," Kat turned to her. "I can take care of myself, just......back off."
"Where are you going?" Sydney grabbed her wrist.
"To see Barnette," she jerked her arm away. "I have an appointment, I'll look at those codes when I get back."
Jack watched Kat walk away and motioned for Security Agent Fowler to follow her. He approached Sydney, "care to explain what that was about?"
"I wish I knew," Sydney shrugged. "She's having a bad day?"
"Well then she's been having a bad day, every day for the past week."
"Is she still having nightmares?" Syd asked searching for an explanation as to her sister's strange behavior.
"No," Jack shook his head.
"Well something is wrong. I just wish I knew what."
"We have a briefing with Kendall," he reminded her.
"I'll be right there," Sydney walked over to her desk to get her notes.
Jack turned to go but a piece of paper caught his eye. He pulled the pad of paper out from under a file on Kat's desk. She'd been doodling, but it was what she'd blacked out that interested him. A series of knives with blood on them had been scribbled out, as had the faces of two people. He held it up to the light and through the blacked out scribbles he could make out Sydney and himself. He quickly flipped through the rest of the pages seeing different versions of the same images. Knives of different sizes dripping with blood, a nursery rhyme repeated over and over again and more scribbled out faces, but it was the last page that he stopped on. He swallowed hard unable to understand exactly what he was looking at. It was a drawing of Sydney and him, their hands were tied behind their backs and what looked like blood was all over them. There was a woman standing beside them holding a bloodied knife. Jack sank down in the chair studying Kat's rather disturbing drawing. Although he couldn't be sure, he assumed she to be the one holding the knife.
He went to his office taking the pad of paper with him and slid it in his briefcase. Sydney was right. Kat wasn't eating or sleeping; she was moody, withdrawn and short-tempered. Though she hid it well, he knew there was something seriously wrong. Jack picked up the phone and dialed a number.
"Yes this is Jack Bristow, I need to see Dr. Barnette as soon as possible," he told the secretary. "You don't have anything sooner? No that's fine tomorrow morning at nine. Thank You."
He set the phone back in the cradle deciding not to mention anything to Kat or Sydney about the drawings until after he'd spoken with Dr. Barnette. ~ ~ ~
Jack turned restlessly in his bed. He'd dozed off several times but none of them took. Kat's drawings disturbed him. She'd been even more distant and touchy after dinner, hadn't eaten anything, feigned a headache and gone to bed early. She'd been sound asleep when he checked on her earlier before going to bed himself. He glanced at the clock as he got out of bed and pulled on a pair of sweatpants. It was a little after 3 AM.
Quietly he opened the door to his study allowing just enough light in to see if she was sleeping; she was. He started to close the door but then realized that something was wrong. Kat never slept with the blankets on the bed. She always slept curled into the fetal position with the blankets kicked down to her feet.
Jack turned on the full light and pulled the comforter back. "Damn it," he swore pulling out the two pillows she'd stuffed under to make it appear as though she were sleeping. "Where the hell are you?"
~ ~ ~
Weiss yawned loudly as he padded to his front door. It was quarter after three in the morning when he'd awaken to the sound of his doorbell ringing. He'd almost considered taking his gun with him but decided against it. If there was trouble they certainly wouldn't be ringing the doorbell.
He checked the peephole, "what the..." He quickly opened the door. "Kat what is it? Are you all right? What's wrong? Did something happen at Jack's?" Weiss cupped his hands around her face and down her hair, neck, shoulders and arms checking to see if she was injured. "Are you hurt?"
Kat shook her head and Weiss noticed that she was crying and that she must have left Jack's in a hurry. She wasn't wearing any shoes, only socks a tank top and pair of pajama bottoms and it was freezing out.
"Does Jack know you're here?" Weiss asked pulling her inside.
Kat shook her head and Weiss put his arm around her rubbing her shoulder in a feeble attempt to warm her up as he led her into the living room.
"Wait here," he instructed and left the room to get her a blanket. Dialing the phone he closed the door to his room so Kat wouldn't hear his conversation. "Mr. Bristow, it's Eric Weiss, yeah, yeah she's here. She's fine, she snuck out? Did something happen?......no I don't know why she left or came here but she's upset about something." Eric peeked out his door relieved to see that Kat was still sitting in the living room. "No, it's fine, yes I'll call, see you tomorrow." He hung up the phone and quickly grabbed a blanket from the closet and a bottle of water from the kitchen before returning to the living room. "Here you go," he said handing the water to her and draping the blanket over her shoulders.
"You called him didn't you," she said softly staring at the unopened bottle in her hands.
"Kat, you snuck out, he was worried sick, he thought maybe Khasinau..." Eric sighed and squatted in front of the chair. "What happened? Did you and he have a fight? Did you have a nightmare? What?"
"I don't want to talk about it," she looked away.
"You did have a nightmare didn't you," he said realizing that it must have been a really bad one for her to leave like she did. "But I thought you weren't having them anymore-"
"They'll never stop!" she cried suddenly. "Don't you understand, they've never stopped!"
"What?" he was surprised. "Then why did you lie?"
"Because it didn't matter, they won't stop, they're not ever going to stop."
"Yes they will-"
"No!" she cried, "they won't. Eric I've had them every night of my life for the twelve years. I haven't slept through the night since I was six years old. They're never going to stop. If it's not one thing its another...and I'm just so sick and tired-"
"Don't cry 'Shiner," he brushed her cheeks with the pad of his thumb. "You know I hate to see you cry." He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear wondering how they all could have missed it. Her nightmares were bad yes, and in several instances they'd heard her screams but how could any of them have missed the fact that she'd been having nightmares every single night. How could she have hid it so well? "That's my girl," he smiled at her wiping her cheeks once more. Instead of being rewarded with a smile, Kat threw her arms around his neck crying even harder. "It's going to be okay," he whispered rubbing her back gently and stroking her hair.
"I just want them to stop," she said in a muffled voice.
"We'll work it out, we'll find a way I promise," he said softly and for a moment she almost believed him. He managed to finally pry her arms from around his neck and sat next to her on the couch. He patted the area in front of him and she wasted no time in settling in his arms and resting her head on his chest, just below his chin, her favorite spot because she could hear his heart beat.
Weiss reached over and pulled the blanket up around them. "We'll figure it out Shiner, I promise," he whispered and gently kissed the top of her head.
Kat lay there in his arms listening to Eric's quiet and slightly off-key rendition of Tomorrow from the musical Annie and decided that she had indeed made the right decision. She just couldn't stay at Jack's anymore, not with the way things were now. She'd taken to avoiding both Jack and Sydney as much as possible. She hid out in her room as soon as they got back to his apartment, pretended to sleep through meals, and just pretending to be sleeping all together. So she'd left on the spur of the moment. She couldn't tell Jack, there's no way he would have let her go, not that she really needed his permission anyway but staying so close to him was no longer an option.
Eric stopped singing several minutes later having been through the song three times already and thinking that she'd finally fallen asleep but knew he was wrong when he felt her uneven breathing against his chest. "Kat," he whispered softly. "Why did you come to me?"
She looked up at him, her eyes still red and swollen. "I tried to think of the one person or the one place that I felt the safest," she whispered honestly. "Every time I closed my eyes...... I saw you."
A/N – As always please review. Pretty Pretty Please with a cherry on top?
Dr. Barnette sat silently in the chair across from Kat watching her closely. Her hands were folded in her lap, her legs crossed at the ankles and she stared directly at Judy. Dr. Barnette looked down at her notepad and made a few notes before glancing back up at Kat wondering if she'd even blinked once in the last five minute span. She checked her watch; their hour was almost up.
It had taken four months for them to get to where they'd been before Kat's abduction and supposed death. Kat had finally begun to open up. She'd finally begun to talk about her past; about her mother, the man she'd thought was her father, the wrongs she'd suffered as a child, and everything that had happened since her entire world had turned out to be a lie. Four months of hard work seemed wasted as she noted the young woman's rigid posture and tightly clasped fingers. They were back to the beginning. Back to the beginning where the hour was spent in silence. She would make notes, ask a question every once in a while that would always go unanswered and Kat would stare out the window, watch the clock or stare directly into her eyes in utter defiance.
It was no surprise to her, knowing now that Jack Bristow was the girl's father. She remembered very well the first time he'd sat in her office, told her everything and nothing all in the same breath. He'd told her everything she wanted to hear, pausing to take breaths, struggling at times for words but there was something that told her it was all an act. Indeed it had been, and it was exactly the same as his daughter's silence. Neither of them had been willing to let their guard down, to appear vulnerable even for an instant.
She was strong; he was strong and so was Sydney. But one could only get by on strength alone for so long.
Her first meeting with Kat had gone exactly the same. The subsequent few that followed remained unchanged. Dr. Barnette pressed her at times but still received no response until she'd exercised her last option, one she hadn't wanted to do. She asked Kathryn about Joshua.
Joshua was her weakness. Her eyes had darkened and then turned to fire at the mere mention of his name. According to Kat's file, her son Joshua had died during childbirth when she was thirteen. He'd been buried in New York on Hart's Island in an unmarked grave but during her interviews with Director Kendall and Bob Lindsey she'd called him by name. It could be that she'd named him after his death but her reaction, the look in her eyes and the way she carefully chose her words led Dr. Barnette to believe that Kat was lying and her child was very much alive. He might very well be alive, but to Kat and everyone else concerned, he was dead. It was obvious to Judy that if the child was indeed alive as she guessed he was, his recorded death had been for his protection and while they eventually did discuss Joshua, she kept her suspicions to herself and left those thoughts out of her notes. If Kat was lying to protect him than it was not her place to run the risk of exposure.
Judy sighed and put her notepad down. "Katarina-"she began
"I don't go by that, only he calls me that," she quipped.
"By he you mean your father?"
"By he I mean Jack. Kat's fine," she said in a disgruntled tone.
"Alright then Kat, for the last forty eight minutes we've sat here, in silence. When I met with you yesterday you were at least willing to talk to me, to tell me what happened during your absence. You've been through a lot yes, but now you refuse to speak and I can't help you if you won't talk. Now do you want to tell me what changed between yesterday afternoon and this morning?"
Kat folded her arms across her chest remaining silent.
"Alright, that's enough for today." Dr. Barnette stood and moved to her desk setting the pad down. She turned to face Kat who was quickly on her way out the door. "Wait," she caught her arm but quickly let it go when she saw the anger in the younger girl's eyes. "I only want to help you Kat, to help you deal with what has happened and to move on with your life, but I can't do it alone. Now I want you to think about that. Think about in five or ten years from now and decide if you still want to feel the way that you do now. I will see you tomorrow and if need be we will sit in silence for another hour but you can't hold out forever, and I'm not going anywhere."
"Good afternoon Dr. Barnette," Kat turned away and left her office, the door slammed behind her. She leaned against the wall, her hands clenched into fists at her sides.
"Hey you," a familiar voice called to her.
"What are you doing here?" She forced a smile.
"Oh just thought I'd pop by and see if you wanted to join us for lunch?" Carrie tapped the baby stroller handle.
"Kendall called you in didn't he," Kat shook her head walking over to Carrie and the baby.
"That he did," she nodded. "He wanted me to examine the documents Sydney and Vaughn brought back from Cairo."
"I thought they weren't Rambaldi's?" Kat asked.
"They're not," Carrie confirmed. "He just wanted to see if there was any relation. So lunch? On me?"
"Okay," she nodded. "But I should probably tell Jack-"
"I already told him," Carrie interrupted. "Besides they're in debrief, but he did send your shadow."
Kat looked around Carrie and rolled her eyes, "hi Alex," she called waving a few fingers at the Security Agent she'd nicknamed Mr. Shadow. "And they say he's supposed to blend in," she said sarcastically noting his dark business suit. Mr. Shadow did anything but blend in. Kat leaned over the stroller to get a better look at baby Kate. "She looks like Marshall," she decided.
"I know, I'm hopeful she'll grow out of that," Carrie teased and began pushing the stroller down the corridor. They were silent for a few moments before Carrie spoke again. "So have you given any more thought to being Kate's godmother?"
"Sort of," Kat looked down at her feet as they walked. "Is the position still open?"
"It's all yours," Carrie smiled. "I'm happy you changed your mind."
"Me too," she grinned deciding that she had just made her first long term commitment since coming to LA.
~ ~ ~
"Analysis has been going over these for the past week and they still haven't been able to break the code." Sydney handed Kat the confidential file folder containing the documents she and Vaughn had brought back from Cairo. "We'd like you to give it a shot."
"Sure," she nodded setting the file beside her sandwich.
"Katy are you alright, you barely touched your lunch?" Sydney asked pulling a chair over to her sisters make shift desk.
"I'm fine, just not hungry" she shrugged tapping her pencil on the edge of the desk in irritation.
"Come to think of it, I haven't seen you actually eat anything in days," Sydney said concerned. "You know you need to keep your sugar levels in check if you don't-"
"I said I wasn't hungry alright," Kat said angrily and dropped her lunch in the garbage.
"Okay," Sydney held up her hands in surrender style. "But honestly Kat, you look like crap did you even sleep last night-"
"Syd, leave me alone alright," Kat turned to her. "I can take care of myself, just......back off."
"Where are you going?" Sydney grabbed her wrist.
"To see Barnette," she jerked her arm away. "I have an appointment, I'll look at those codes when I get back."
Jack watched Kat walk away and motioned for Security Agent Fowler to follow her. He approached Sydney, "care to explain what that was about?"
"I wish I knew," Sydney shrugged. "She's having a bad day?"
"Well then she's been having a bad day, every day for the past week."
"Is she still having nightmares?" Syd asked searching for an explanation as to her sister's strange behavior.
"No," Jack shook his head.
"Well something is wrong. I just wish I knew what."
"We have a briefing with Kendall," he reminded her.
"I'll be right there," Sydney walked over to her desk to get her notes.
Jack turned to go but a piece of paper caught his eye. He pulled the pad of paper out from under a file on Kat's desk. She'd been doodling, but it was what she'd blacked out that interested him. A series of knives with blood on them had been scribbled out, as had the faces of two people. He held it up to the light and through the blacked out scribbles he could make out Sydney and himself. He quickly flipped through the rest of the pages seeing different versions of the same images. Knives of different sizes dripping with blood, a nursery rhyme repeated over and over again and more scribbled out faces, but it was the last page that he stopped on. He swallowed hard unable to understand exactly what he was looking at. It was a drawing of Sydney and him, their hands were tied behind their backs and what looked like blood was all over them. There was a woman standing beside them holding a bloodied knife. Jack sank down in the chair studying Kat's rather disturbing drawing. Although he couldn't be sure, he assumed she to be the one holding the knife.
He went to his office taking the pad of paper with him and slid it in his briefcase. Sydney was right. Kat wasn't eating or sleeping; she was moody, withdrawn and short-tempered. Though she hid it well, he knew there was something seriously wrong. Jack picked up the phone and dialed a number.
"Yes this is Jack Bristow, I need to see Dr. Barnette as soon as possible," he told the secretary. "You don't have anything sooner? No that's fine tomorrow morning at nine. Thank You."
He set the phone back in the cradle deciding not to mention anything to Kat or Sydney about the drawings until after he'd spoken with Dr. Barnette. ~ ~ ~
Jack turned restlessly in his bed. He'd dozed off several times but none of them took. Kat's drawings disturbed him. She'd been even more distant and touchy after dinner, hadn't eaten anything, feigned a headache and gone to bed early. She'd been sound asleep when he checked on her earlier before going to bed himself. He glanced at the clock as he got out of bed and pulled on a pair of sweatpants. It was a little after 3 AM.
Quietly he opened the door to his study allowing just enough light in to see if she was sleeping; she was. He started to close the door but then realized that something was wrong. Kat never slept with the blankets on the bed. She always slept curled into the fetal position with the blankets kicked down to her feet.
Jack turned on the full light and pulled the comforter back. "Damn it," he swore pulling out the two pillows she'd stuffed under to make it appear as though she were sleeping. "Where the hell are you?"
~ ~ ~
Weiss yawned loudly as he padded to his front door. It was quarter after three in the morning when he'd awaken to the sound of his doorbell ringing. He'd almost considered taking his gun with him but decided against it. If there was trouble they certainly wouldn't be ringing the doorbell.
He checked the peephole, "what the..." He quickly opened the door. "Kat what is it? Are you all right? What's wrong? Did something happen at Jack's?" Weiss cupped his hands around her face and down her hair, neck, shoulders and arms checking to see if she was injured. "Are you hurt?"
Kat shook her head and Weiss noticed that she was crying and that she must have left Jack's in a hurry. She wasn't wearing any shoes, only socks a tank top and pair of pajama bottoms and it was freezing out.
"Does Jack know you're here?" Weiss asked pulling her inside.
Kat shook her head and Weiss put his arm around her rubbing her shoulder in a feeble attempt to warm her up as he led her into the living room.
"Wait here," he instructed and left the room to get her a blanket. Dialing the phone he closed the door to his room so Kat wouldn't hear his conversation. "Mr. Bristow, it's Eric Weiss, yeah, yeah she's here. She's fine, she snuck out? Did something happen?......no I don't know why she left or came here but she's upset about something." Eric peeked out his door relieved to see that Kat was still sitting in the living room. "No, it's fine, yes I'll call, see you tomorrow." He hung up the phone and quickly grabbed a blanket from the closet and a bottle of water from the kitchen before returning to the living room. "Here you go," he said handing the water to her and draping the blanket over her shoulders.
"You called him didn't you," she said softly staring at the unopened bottle in her hands.
"Kat, you snuck out, he was worried sick, he thought maybe Khasinau..." Eric sighed and squatted in front of the chair. "What happened? Did you and he have a fight? Did you have a nightmare? What?"
"I don't want to talk about it," she looked away.
"You did have a nightmare didn't you," he said realizing that it must have been a really bad one for her to leave like she did. "But I thought you weren't having them anymore-"
"They'll never stop!" she cried suddenly. "Don't you understand, they've never stopped!"
"What?" he was surprised. "Then why did you lie?"
"Because it didn't matter, they won't stop, they're not ever going to stop."
"Yes they will-"
"No!" she cried, "they won't. Eric I've had them every night of my life for the twelve years. I haven't slept through the night since I was six years old. They're never going to stop. If it's not one thing its another...and I'm just so sick and tired-"
"Don't cry 'Shiner," he brushed her cheeks with the pad of his thumb. "You know I hate to see you cry." He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear wondering how they all could have missed it. Her nightmares were bad yes, and in several instances they'd heard her screams but how could any of them have missed the fact that she'd been having nightmares every single night. How could she have hid it so well? "That's my girl," he smiled at her wiping her cheeks once more. Instead of being rewarded with a smile, Kat threw her arms around his neck crying even harder. "It's going to be okay," he whispered rubbing her back gently and stroking her hair.
"I just want them to stop," she said in a muffled voice.
"We'll work it out, we'll find a way I promise," he said softly and for a moment she almost believed him. He managed to finally pry her arms from around his neck and sat next to her on the couch. He patted the area in front of him and she wasted no time in settling in his arms and resting her head on his chest, just below his chin, her favorite spot because she could hear his heart beat.
Weiss reached over and pulled the blanket up around them. "We'll figure it out Shiner, I promise," he whispered and gently kissed the top of her head.
Kat lay there in his arms listening to Eric's quiet and slightly off-key rendition of Tomorrow from the musical Annie and decided that she had indeed made the right decision. She just couldn't stay at Jack's anymore, not with the way things were now. She'd taken to avoiding both Jack and Sydney as much as possible. She hid out in her room as soon as they got back to his apartment, pretended to sleep through meals, and just pretending to be sleeping all together. So she'd left on the spur of the moment. She couldn't tell Jack, there's no way he would have let her go, not that she really needed his permission anyway but staying so close to him was no longer an option.
Eric stopped singing several minutes later having been through the song three times already and thinking that she'd finally fallen asleep but knew he was wrong when he felt her uneven breathing against his chest. "Kat," he whispered softly. "Why did you come to me?"
She looked up at him, her eyes still red and swollen. "I tried to think of the one person or the one place that I felt the safest," she whispered honestly. "Every time I closed my eyes...... I saw you."
A/N – As always please review. Pretty Pretty Please with a cherry on top?