Embers Chapter 15: Confrontations Can be Painful, a cyborg 009 fanfic

(!Author's note: Howdy ya'll an' welcome to the first chapter of the New Year! I'm sure you all are just as excited as I am.

Before we get into some specifics on this chapter, let's get down to business. First and foremost, Thank you, GoldAngel2 for beta reading and reviewing my last chapter (I have to warn you, the ending has some stuff added - I re-read it and found that you were right. I hope you like the additions!). Secondly, I must thank my reviewers who have made this process very rewarding. So: Thank you, Anya Urameshi; Thank you, Strata; and Thank you, Crazyfairy! Thirdly ...

Nope, no thirdly this time. And nothing to discuss either - looks like you guys get off easy today ;)

So, here's Chapter 15 .... Enjoy! !)

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Cathy walked into the kitchen and found Maria sitting at the table. She seemed almost ... pensive. It wasn't an expression she usually saw on Maria's face and it did nothing to put her at ease. Whatever it was that Maria wanted to talk about, it had to be serious.

Maria asked her, very politely, to sit but Cathy declined. She was not interested in reenacting a police drama type interrogation in her own kitchen. Even though, after the trip to the grocery store, that other chair did look good.

After a long moment of tense silence, Maria spoke. "Why is he here?"

There was no need to ask who 'he' was. Cathy sighed. Well, it wasn't as if she hadn't expected this question. "Remember when I stayed in the hotel? Well, if it wasn't for Jet coming in after me I would have died." Maria's expression remained stony "He saved my life, Maria."

Anger flitted across Maria's face so quickly that Cathy wasn't actually sure she'd seen it. Then she stared at Cathy with sad eyes. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Cathy found herself crossing her arms, feeling like a disobedient teenager instead of a grown woman. She hated when Maria did this. "I didn't think you'd care."

"You didn't think I'd care?" Maria actually sounded hurt. "Why wouldn't I care? I'm your friend, dear."

"Please don't call me that," Cathy said, trying not to snap at her when all she was trying to do was be friendly, "you know I don't like it."

"I know," Maria at least had the grace to look apologetic, "I just can't help it sometimes." Before Cathy could change the subject, Maria changed it for her. "Why him, Cathy?"

What a strange question! "How should I know? You should ask him - he's the one who came and saved me!"

The older woman's expression softened for a second before her eyes narrowed. "That still doesn't make it right."

"What?"

Maria seemed pained. "I know you're an adult and I know you've been having a rough time lately but I have to tell you, as a friend, that I think you're making a terrible mistake." She paused as though unsure she should say what she wanted to. "At the very least, it isn't fair to your son."

For a long moment, Cathy could only stare. She tried to figure out what Jimmy had to do with Jet rescuing her back at the hotel and failed. Maria had officially lost her. "What does Jimmy have to do with it?"

Maria frowned. "I'm sure that it was just some harmless fun to you, but I doubt Jimmy's going to understand the difference!"

Cathy had the feeling that she should know what Maria was getting at. She also had the feeling that she probably didn't want to know what Maria was getting at. Unfortunately, she was tired, emotionally and physically, and all she really wanted at that moment was to put the groceries away so she could sit down for a while. Unfortunately, in order to do that, she had to find out what was going on with Maria, fix it, and send the woman on her way.

"What are you talking about?"

The older woman stood. "I'm talking about that young man in the living room!" She walked around the table, her voice became louder and more angry with every word she spoke. "Do you think I'm stupid? Did you think I wouldn't notice? For God's sake Cathy, just because he saved your life doesn't mean you owe him sex! And, if that wasn't the reason, why? Of all people, why did you pick some teenaged delinquent to knock boots with!"

Now she stood in front of Cathy, obviously not taking note of Cathy's clenching fists. "Goodness knows you've got rotten taste in men - I mean, how you ended up with a scumbag like Daniel just boggles the mind -, but -"

There was a loud crack and Maria abruptly stopped talking. She stepped back, a look of shock and a hint of fear on her face. Cathy's hand stung but it wasn't until Maria's own hand had strayed to her already reddening cheek that Cathy realized what she'd done. And, in that moment, she found that she didn't care.

"How dare you?" She spoke softly, but felt herself start to shake with rage.

Maria, hand covering her cheek, didn't even try to answer.

It was just as well, because Cathy was almost certain that anything Maria said would just make her angrier. "You don't even know Jet and you don't even know me if you think I could sleep with someone I didn't love.

"And, I'm not sure what exactly you 'noticed' but if you had actually looked, you would have seen the damn towel around his leg! I don't know what you'd do, but I couldn't let him stay on his own after he hurt himself rescuing me. Fine way to pay him back after he carried me out of that place with a broken leg!"

Cathy felt her composure slide away as she recalled what had set her off in the first place. "And I can't believe you; you say you're my friend, but you just had to bring up Daniel, didn't you? You just couldn't help yourself! Some friend you are." Her eyes started to ache with unshed tears. "I don't need you to remind me of my mistakes, I can do that on my own."

What was left of her rage fled and sadness rushed in. All of her control had left her and she felt like she had on that first night when Daniel had gone. She brought her hands up to her face, not caring that she had an audience, and began to sob.

Suddenly, she felt herself being enveloped in warmth. A distant part of her mind told her that Maria was hugging her and that she should still be mad but Cathy didn't care who it was. She sank into it and she stayed in that embrace for, she didn't even know how long.

Eventually, she felt herself calm and with calm came embarrassment. She backed out of the hug and Maria let her. She dabbed at her eyes, not knowing what to say. Then she swallowed hard, remembering that she'd just slapped this woman. And that she'd stayed. And that she'd helped her. "I'm sorry."

Maria smiled slightly and shook her head. "No, dear, I'm the one who's sorry."

Cathy stared, unable to believe her ears. Maria was apologizing to her? Maria never apologized for anything!

"You were right," Maria said, her voice gentle and her expression contrite, "I shouldn't have been so hasty and I shouldn't have spoken to you that way." Her hand, which had stayed on Cathy's shoulder, fell to Maria's side. "I just jumped to conclusions and my concern got in the way of my common sense is all." She smiled with sudden good humor, "I guess I had it coming."

Despite her tears, Cathy smiled too. "I'm sorry I hit you."

"And I'm sorry I was an ass." Maria's smile faded. "Are you all right, now?"

Cathy nodded, finding, to her surprise, that she actually was.

"Good." Maria briefly clasped Cathy's shoulder again."Well, I won't keep you."

As she started to go, Cathy felt as if she should be saying something, anything! But, in the end, the only words she could force out were: "Thank you for looking after Jimmy."

"No problem," Maria said with a dismissive wave, "he's always such a little angel." She had started to walk by Cathy but stopped. "I just want you to know, whatever your decision, that I won't stand in your way."

Cathy nodded wordlessly.

Maria grinned and walked out of the kitchen, shutting the door behind her and leaving Cathy alone with her groceries. Cathy chuckled a bit, feeling better than she had in days. And, after cleaning her face, she started putting her groceries away.

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Jet, for his part, was at least partially aware of what was happening in the kitchen. It wasn't that he was trying to eavesdrop, it was just that, between the thin walls and the raised voices, he couldn't miss it. He'd turned up the TV but it hadn't done much good - he could still hear them.

And then it stopped. Completely. He turned down the TV and listened. And worried. Yelling, he could deal with. But yelling and then silence ... Well, it was worrying. And it was probably not a good sign.

He wanted to find out what was happening but was stuck where he was and he had the feeling that if he yelled for Cathy, it'd only make whatever was wrong worse. So, he sat there, staring at the kitchen door, and waited for something to happen.

As he waited, his thoughts started to drift. From what Jimmy had told him, during those times when the kid actually talked about his home life, Cathy didn't have many friends. It made sense - with her two jobs, when would she have the time? Then he'd only cared about it in that it affected Jimmy, now ....

Mrs. Malley, as much as he didn't like her, was Cathy's friend. He didn't like the thought that Cathy could lose her because of him. They had been talking about him; he'd heard Mrs. Malley yell something about a teenaged delinquent and he'd heard Cathy shout his name. Obviously, Cathy hadn't appreciated the woman's imagination any more than he had.

Jet turned away from the kitchen and leaned back into the cushions. What good did it do to worry? Whatever was happening would happen and he'd have no say in it. And staring at the kitchen door wouldn't tell him anything he didn't already know. It'd be best if he just took his mind off it.

He turned the TV back on and tried to convince himself that he was watching Julia Child(1) cook a roast something or other instead of worrying about what was happening in the kitchen. It wasn't really working and he'd been about to change the channel when he heard the kitchen door open.

He twisted towards the kitchen and found Mrs. Malley walking out the door. She seemed tired and she sighed as she turned and shut the door. Then she noticed that he was watching her. She didn't say anything at first and her face had twisted into an expression that he couldn't identify.

A minute passed before the expression faded and she spoke. "Jet, I'd like to speak with you."

'Tell someone who cares,' he thought. He almost said it too but figured that he might as well let her talk - the sooner she said what she wanted to say, the sooner she'd leave. Still, being twisted around as he was was uncomfortable and he wasn't about to put himself through any discomfort for her sake. He leaned back and laced his hands behind his head. "What?"

There was a short pause. "I think I owe you an apology."

Jet blinked and turned his head so that he could see her. "An apology?"

She nodded. "I don't know you from Adam, but I thought I knew enough to come to some conclusions that I'm not proud of."

He looked forward and chuckled without humor. "That's an understatement. You figure that out on your own, did you?"

"Actually no," she admitted, "Cathy put me straight."

"Did she?" he said flatly, signaling that anytime she wanted to get to the apology and end this conversation would not be soon enough for him. Actually, he didn't care if he got an apology or not; he just wanted her to go.

"Yes, thanks to her, I know better now - I won't be making that mistake again."

There was a long pause. Despite himself, he turned back to look at her. She seemed to be waiting for something. It took him a minute to realize that this was as much an apology as he was going to get. Jet was not the most forgiving person he knew, and he still wasn't very fond of this woman (had she given him a reason to be?), but he figured that, this once, he'd be gracious. Besides, it was possible that, if he didn't accept her apology, that she might come by to try again!

"I'm sure you won't." Still flat but he couldn't help it - accepting her apology was one thing; being friendly was another.

Mrs. Malley smiled. "All right then." Her expression turned serious and Jet wondered if maybe he'd been too quick to accept that apology. "I just want you to know that I care about Cathy a great deal - I don't want to see her hurt; she's been hurt enough already. And I don't want to see her end up with another scum bag."

He opened his mouth to protest either the fact that she was alluding that he was a scum bag or the fact that there was no way that Cathy was going to 'end up' with him, but hadn't managed to settle on one or the other before Maria started speaking again.

"If you end up being the one she picks, I won't stand in the way." As Jet tried to wrap his mind around that scenario, Mrs. Malley walked towards him until they were close enough to touch. When she spoke, he voice was soft but full of feeling. "But you better take good care of her. And you better never make her cry."

For one of the few times in his life, Jet Link was speechless. He looked up at her and she stared back. What was she waiting for this time? Whatever it was, she was going to be disappointed because he wasn't sure if he'd be able to say anything if his life depended on it.

After a while she got tired of waiting. "Will you do that?"

He thought about it as best he could with his mind still racing and decided that, even though there was little chance that what Mrs. Malley had described would apply to him, he might as well say yes. Anyway, it looked like she wouldn't be leaving anytime soon if he didn't. Jet nodded.

"Good." She smiled. "Take care, Jet," she said as she started for the door. "Take care."

And Mrs. Malleywas gone.

Jet sat on the couch and Julia Child put her roast in the oven. As Julia extolled the virtues of preheating, Jet could only wonder what he was going to do now.

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1) Come on! Who doesn't know Julia Child? She's a pretty famous cook - like Martha Steward except, you know, without the pole up her a- hey, isn't that Elvis? Right there, behind you! Oh! Oh, you missed him. Never mind, he's gone now. Wow. ....What were we talking about again?

(!End note: You might have noticed the 'space's, that's because this Document thing won't let me use periods there or shift 8 stars or colons or undercores or anything. When will the indignities end! !)