With Jade that night
"hey officer Wild, any chance you know where a young lady named Alice with a connection to the Valentine's would be, I don't have a last name but I believe it's British or Canadian in nature, Carter Valentine is looking for her" says Jade
"she's sneaky, we keep tabs on her but she moves around so much it's hard to pinpoint a specific place at any given time, though if I had to guess I'd check the golden gate bridge" says Officer Wild
"any particular reason you suspect the bridge, that's a pretty busy place and a pretty good suicide spot" says Jade
"not on the bridge but under it on the south side, more often then not that's where she sleeps, though if I were you I'd keep your distance, she can be pretty cagey when she's trying to sleep, she broke my wrist last year when I saved her from her kidnappers, the moment she got in the cop car and we passed the bridge she screamed at me to let her out, I tried to convince her that she should at least sleep in a bed for one night but she refused so I had to let her out, she's been ok with us police officers watching and monitoring her but if any of us step within a few feet of her she screams, just be careful please, she is a genuine suicide risk, she promised she wouldn't do it as long as people kept their distance" says Officer Wild
"ok thanks for the information I'll let you know how it goes" says Jade getting in her car
20 minutes later at the bridge's south side
"Alice where are you" asks Jade as Allison whimpers
"you sound familiar….., please don't cross the white line in the grass" says Allison 'Ally' West
"wait that voice…. Ally West, is that you" asks Jade
"only one person ever called me that… sis is that you" says Allison
"it is I Jade Jadelyn West, can I see your face please" says Jade
"you always did hate your full name, does dad hate me for running away, I spent so much time at Carter's when they handed me the restraining order I didn't feel safe enough to come home" says Allison 'Ally' West barely moving out into the moonlight
"he blames himself not you, none of us ever blamed you, not even mom, though she divorced dad shortly after you ran away, I never understood why and I never trusted her after that, can you please come back with me to the hotel and get cleaned up, Carter misses you" says Jade
"I'll come with you but I can't go back, the restraining order was for ten years, it's only been six…. Or maybe four, I don't know, I've never been good at time management or telling time, my internal clock doesn't work" says Allison
"the order is no more, Brenda asked a federal judge to rule it invalid and the judge agreed, it officially ended this morning" says Jade
"why'd they get it to begin with then" asks Allison as she gets dressed
"police pressure, at the time Carter was of age and you weren't, even if it's only a four year difference, to the police at that age that's the difference between love being 'coerced' and 'legally consenting', they pressured Brenda into getting the restraining order, it was either that or they arrest Carter, Brenda saw the restraining order as the lesser of two evils, the choice that would likely traumatize you less, she didn't want to do it but if she didn't they'd have arrested Carter and possibly put you in forced therapy" says Jade
"ok I'm ready, please don't laugh at mittens" says Allison as she brings out her stuffed Cat and follows Jade to her car
"oh mittens needs a bath" says Jade hugging her sister for the first time in almost seven years
"no washer, manual cleaning" says Allison as they get in the car
"you did always see things that way, dad always called you an old soul now nap, I'll carry you to the hotel room" says Jade as they start driving
"don't lie you can't carry me, you never could" says Allison
"times have changed sis, I'm not the weakling you knew back then, I'm stronger, man I've missed you" says Jade
In the hotel room after a good shower
"I'm sorry I had to ask for help with the shower, I haven't had a good shower in a long time, I know it was awkward" says Allison
"nothing I haven't seen before sis, I have no problem helping you, your legs are clearly in pain from all that walking you do, you had dirt in places I didn't even know could collect dirt and keep it there, did nobody provide you with soaps these past six and a half years, where did you bathe" says Jade
"people tried but their wording scared me, they'd say things like 'here is some special homeless person shampoo, I normally charge fifteen dollars but you need it more than I need the money' or 'here's some bar soaps that I've been using', I've had many people call me the S word or the W word even though I'm clearly still a virgin, when people say things like that you learn to not trust people no matter what, the only reason I'm here with you right now is because I know I can trust you, when I needed a bath I'd go to baker beach where the sand meats the rocky edge and have a bath, nobody ever caught me ….. well I mean Officer Wild would come by and stand guard when he wasn't on duty but he'd never be looking at me, one time I lost my panties he bought me new ones and he always provided me with towels, I don't trust him as much as it sounds" says Allison
"so you just have a pile of towels under the bridge" asks Jade as Ally leans in to cuddle her
"oh god no that would stink, I'd put them in a cardboard box labelled 'laundry' and he'd come by while I'm not there and pick it up… sometimes I wish we weren't sisters but something else" says Allison
"oh I know that feeling Ally but we are, you know full well we can't go there, I have a girlfriend and Carter misses you, like really misses you, I was delayed getting here by an hour simply because he couldn't stop talking about all the things he loves about you" says Jade
"wait you like like me… I never knew that, I thought it was only me, I thought I was a freak for feeling that way" asks Allison
"legally speaking Ally we are freaks for feeling this way, talking it out like this is a good thing, acting on these feelings though would be bad, like really bad, not just for us but for dad, is people found out how we feel they could accuse him of grooming us and he could go away, we both know there is no one stronger against how we feel than dad, I tried to beat these feelings back for years hoping dad wouldn't notice and mom wouldn't catch on, do you still love Carter" says Jade
"i-i-i-I don't know, probably it's just his condition's probably gotten way way worse, I don't know if I can help him anymore….. you're with Cat right" says Allison
"I was but not now, I'm with Victoria Vega's sister now, Cat loves Victoria more than she loves me, I willingly let her go… wait why bring her up, what did you do" says Jade
"back then…. Almost seven years ago I…. uhhhh snuck into her bedroom every once in a while, I wasn't supposed to, something about Cat's mental stability being at stake, anyway you know I draw in detail, she'd ask me to uhhhh draw her in what people would call inappropriate ways, also uhhh how do I say this for a few weeks there I was kinda dating both Carter and Cat, I called it off with Cat to focus on Carter instability and Cat didn't take it well, she yelled at me saying 'YOU'RE MY AGE YOU SHOULD BE WITH ME NOT CARTER', quite honestly Carter agreed for a time but he needed me more, dating Cat was a mistake, I never should have done that, I got greedy, felt I could live on both sides of the sexual 'fence' as it were without causing an issue, Cat's response showed me I was wrong, shortly after that I was given the restraining order" says Allison
"and you think it's all your fault because your choice caused Cat to yell at you shortly before it happened" asks Jade
"that's the only logical option isn't it" asks Allison really settling into Jade
"ok don't get too comfy, you need a good night's sleep and this isn't sleeping, this will lead to us cuddling and talking all night and I need to drive tomorrow morning, also don't think Cat's reaction had anything to do with the restraining order" says Jade
"but Cat's the sane one in that family, surely she'd have a say in what happens" says Allison
"she's not as stable as she appears, certainly not after what you just told me, her meds cloud a lot, she can be very airheaded at times, some people, aka dad have called Cat a 'space cadet', an example being Tori had her over for a total of forty sleepovers between the beginning of grade twelve and Halloween that year then another fifteen between Halloween and Christmas, that alone spells an interest in Cat but Cat remained oblivious to that fact until a few days ago when Trina mentioned it, by graduation Tori and Cat had a total of four hundred sleepovers, more than the past years combined, almost everyone saw what was going on except for Cat, Beck being the other exception" says Jade
"I don't like the phrase 'space cadet', it implies that the person you apply the term to has absolutely zero focus, I know Cat has focus, when she's off her PTSD meds she's absolutely able to focus, it's the PTSD meds that send her down no-focus lane most of the time" says Allison
"she's not on that medication anymore, they switched it up to a better one, you're right she has been able to focus better but it's still not perfect, she still gets easily distracted, unless it's one of her special interests then focusing , they include, Tori, Dancing, Singing and making clothes, anyway tomorrow before we go I want you to show me where you took baths" says Jade
"uhhh it's a homeless secret, I can't just show you, I had to beg a fellow homeless person after I got here because I stank and they didn't want to give it up, I can show you the general area but I can't show you exactly where, why do you want to know anyway" says Allison
"hygiene issues, specifically between the legs infections, if I know where you bathed I can search a database for a specific yeast infection capable algae and see if it's ever been in this area, it's been in LA before as well as Malibu, Cat got a yeast infection last year because of it" says Jade
"I've never been itchy or had a rash down there" says Allison
"if you're going back to be with Carter he has a right to know if you've had an infection or were just exposed to the algae within the past four months, it tends to linger even if it doesn't cause an infection it can mess with other fragile processes, you'd be more susceptible to bruising, it can be treated with ointment but only if I have proof you've been exposed to it, anyway we'll speak more tomorrow, the general area is enough to get the data I need" says Jade as Allison nuzzles her
"I've missed us cuddling, ok night" says Allison as she slowly falls asleep
