Trapped
Text appearing like this indicates flashback events.
It's been two weeks since Kaitlynn learned of Vincent's blackouts, and that him being around her caused them. So, she's kept her distance, only communicating with J.T. via cell calls or text messages, but it's been over a week since she's had any updates on Vincent. With a heavy sigh, Kait tapped J.T.'s name in her 'recent calls' list and put her phone to her ear, the line ringing six times before going to voicemail. "J.T., it's Kaitlynn, again." the brunette sighed. "I'm just..." she closed her eyes and pursed her lips together, "...look J.T., it's been over a week, just call me back and let me know how Vincent's doing, or at least text me back. I worry about him too, you know." she hung up and ran her hand through her hair, her mind flashing back to the last time she saw Vincent; through the bars of the cage and the somber look he had in his eyes when he said "It's you." and he pulled his hand from hers as he broke eye contact.
"Katie!" Heather called from the kitchen. "Breakfast is ready! And there's a delivery for you!"
"Yeah, coming!" she called back, looking over her reflection in her bathroom mirror. She pulled a portion of her straight brunette locks with a clip adorned with fake, blue crystals and wore a light blue, silky tank top with light colored jeans and her suede white ankle boots that were a birthday gift from Catherine's boyfriend, Byron. Kait touched up her makeup, applying some soft bronze eyeshadow, some mascara and a coat of pale lavender lip gloss. She opened her gun safe and clipped the holster onto her belt and secured her weapon, slipping a chain around her neck that had her badge attached and grabbed her white leather jacket as she walked out of her bedroom.
"Morning big sis." Heather greeted, sitting at the counter and eating a bite of her scrambled eggs. A few inches from her was a bouquet of multiple colored flowers. "Someone sent those to for you."
Kaitlynn glanced at the card which read, 'Beautiful flowers for a beautiful woman. -S.A.'. "Okay this secret admirer is delving into stalker territory." she muttered, taking the bouquet and tossing it into the trash. "And he's starting to creep me out."
The younger Chandler's jaw fell slack, "Why did you throw them out, they were gorgeous." she watched as her older sister poured herself some coffee and scooped some eggs and bacon onto her plate. "Besides, what's the harm if someone likes you and sends you flowers?"
"The harm is that whoever this secret admirer is, he's leaving gifts at my work and now my home. At this point, he's becoming more of a stalker." Kaitlynn huffed, biting her fork as she ate her eggs. "Frankly, it's creepy."
"Oh." Heather muttered, sipping her coffee.
J.T. rolled his eyes as he listened to the fourth voicemail Kaitlynn has left him this past week. "This girl is officially obsessed with you." He stated, setting his phone down and looking across the loft at his best friend. "And, I can't believe I'm going to say this, but maybe if we get her over here-"
"What, are you crazy?" Vincent cut him off. "I barely have enough warning as it is before these fugues or these blackouts or whatever the hell they are."
"But, if being around Kaitlynn really is the cause of these blackouts, forget synthesized endorphins. Use the real thing, have her come over." J.T. suggested. Vincent shook his head, leaning against the edge of his nightstand. "She's seen you, Vincent." the professor reminded. "She hasn't run."
He sighed heavily, his eyes falling on the small photograph of Kaitlynn. "I don't know how much longer I can expect her to put up with all this." Vincent admitted.
J.T. could see that the situation was really getting to Vincent, and from the look in his eyes as he stared at the picture, he knew his friend was missing the detective they've befriended. "Alright." the professor cleared his throat. "A cocktail of endorphins and my good friend lorazepam to keep you chill while I evaluate your Kaitlynn-allergic ass." he chuckled, trying to lighten the mood just a bit.
His cell dinged, alerting him to a text message from Kaitlynn saying 'Is he okay?'. "Otherwise my phone bill's a hit the roof." he added under his breath and shook his head.
Kaitlynn stood in the precinct break room, checking her messages. She could see that J.T. had read the text she'd sent but he didn't reply to it, which only made her worry more. Someone knocked on the open door and in walked Kimberly, "Hey partner, we've got a new case." she informed. "And you're not going to believe it."
"Aliens landed and knocked over a liquor store?" Kaitlynn joked, her and KC walking towards a larger meeting room.
KC glanced to her partner, "Thanks, Mulder." she chuckled, nudging her arm. "No, an attempted murder."
The younger detective quirked her brow, "And that's Special Crimes because...?" she questioned as her friend opened the door.
"Our vic is a celebrity." the dark-skinned woman answered, the two detectives walking into the meeting room, where a teenage male sat at the end of the table, in the chair next to him was an older male in a nice, designer suit, and standing at the other end of the table was Catherine. "Meet Jake Riley. You may recall some of his songs being featured on the Billboard charts."
Kaitlynn cast a quick glance to her sister, "Hey Cat." she greeted. "What're you doing here?"
"High-profile target Katie, my boss wanted me kept in the loop." Catherine answered.
"Ah." Kaitlynn nodded, turning her attention to the young pop star. "I'm Detective Kaitlynn Chandler." she smiled politely at Jake.
"And this is Jake's manager, Chris Miller." KC added, motioning to the older male at the table.
"Katie." Jake repeated the nickname Catherine had called her sister. "And Cat." he tapped his finger against his chin. "Katie-Cat." he chuckled, looking between the two sisters, who just arched their brows in confusion.
"Yeah, okay, so, diversity Barbie has had us waiting here till you showed up, and I'm running low on patience." the manager cut in, snapping at the two detectives and ADA. "You three do realize my client is the victim, yeah? He was shot at."
Catherine rolled her eyes as she looked to her sister, who gave a subtle nod in agreement. "Mr. Miller, do either of you know someone who would want to hurt Jake?" Kaitlynn asked, bracing her hand on her hip. "An enemy, or-"
Her question was interrupted by a hip-hop ringtone coming from Jake's phone, "One of my ladies. I'm in demand." Jake grinned, scooting his chair back as he answered. "What's good, shorty?" he chuckled, heading for the door, "Yeah, baby, I miss you, too. Popo got me on lock..." his voice trailed off as he stepped out of the room.
Chris sighed and pulled out a bag from underneath the table, overflowing with papers. "I didn't want the kid to see it." he admitted, dumping the contents of the bag onto the table, revealing all the papers to be letters.
"Fan mail?" Catherine questioned, moving to stand beside her sister.
Chris nodded in agreement, "The more rabid ones, and not all of them are exactly fans." he elaborated.
"Hate mail." KC simplified.
"Well, goes with the territory." the talent manager folded his arms over his chest. "Look, JR doesn't know about these. And this doesn't even cover the social media ones." Chris picked up one letter and handed it to Kimberly. "This one here is particularly vocal. No return address."
"It's a good place to start." Kimberly said, glancing to her partner as the pop star opened the door, blowing a kiss into the speaker of his cell before ending the call. "So, since he's a celebrity, the Chief ordered a protection detail on him until we catch the perp." the African-American detective informed.
"Protocol has one of them on you at all times." Catherine added, motioning between Kait and KC.
"No way." Jake scoffed.
"You won't even know they're there, and you can still do your thing." Chris assured, looking to the two detectives. "He can still do his thing, right? See?"
"A'ight." the pop star agreed after thinking on it for a minute, casually walking closer to Kimberly, "Only if I get her, though."
Kimberly's eyes went wide as she shot her best friend a pleading look, but Kaitlynn could only smile and pat her partner's shoulder before walking out of the room with her sister right behind her.
Kaitlynn took the bag of hate mail down to the morgue to ask for Evan's help. She walked in seeing him hunched over his microscope, wearing a leather jacket that was covered in dirt. "I completely forgot it was Mud-bogging Day." she giggled, walking up behind him.
Hearing the detective's voice come out of nowhere made Evan jump and spin around, his hand over his heart, "You ever think of, I don't know, stomping before you sneak up on someone?" he asked, trying to catching his breath.
Kaitlynn laughed at the medical examiner's expense, brushing some of the dirt from his jacket, "What the hell were you doing?" she asked.
Evan sighed and shrugged the garment off, walking past the detective and heading for his desk, "I can't get what happened out of my head." he answered, dropping the jacket in the desk chair. "So, I went back."
"To the subway tunnels?" Kaitlynn questioned, to which Evan nodded. "Evan, you were kidnapped and almost killed by a psycho frat boy."
"And then saved by some mysterious vigilante." Evan added.
Kaitlynn sighed, her shoulders sinking, "It's understandable that you're traumatized." she said calmly, stepping closer towards him. "What you went through two weeks ago was brutal."
Evan slowly nodded his head, flashing back to when he was tied up and had a knife to his throat, before hearing his kidnapper's screams and the sounds of flesh tearing. "It just happened so fast." he breathed out. "I heard a psycho getting ripped apart by something, and then you saved me, bullets start flying." Evan grabbed an evidence bag that contained a bullet that was fired from Kait's gun.
"Evan." Kaitlynn licked her lips and took another step forward, her eyes locked with his. "Whoever this vigilante is, it is not a 'something'." she assured.
The British male stared down into her eyes, "Kait, it's just, you were right there, and he was right there."
"Yeah, I was too busy trying to save your ass." Kaitlynn replied, lightly jabbing Evan's shoulder with a chuckle.
Evan barely flinched, "Well, you were the only one in a position to see him, and you say that you didn't. So, what does that give us? What's less than nothing?"
Kaitlynn's smile fell and she reached down to gently take his hand, "Can't you just let it go?" she asked in a low whisper.
As he stared into her eyes, Evan felt himself smile and he interlocked their fingers, "I never did thank you." he told her. "So, thank you."
"Well, I will exchange your gratitude for a favor." Kaitlynn smiled, pulling her hand back and grabbing the bag of hate mail and dumping its contents onto Evan's desk. "I was hoping that you could run the DNA from these letters through CODIS and the juvie system."
"You really think that your shooter is some mall-dwelling teen?" Evan asked, taking a seat.
"It's too early to rule anything out." Kaitlynn shrugged, some of her hair falling over both her shoulders. "Could you put it to the top of your list?" she shot him a pleading smile.
Whenever she smiled at him, Evan could feel himself smile too, and he could never refuse anything she asked of him, "For the woman that saved me from an extremely traumatizing near-death experience..." he sighed before nodding, "...all right."
Kaitlynn's smile grew wider, "Thank you, Evan." she leaned down and pecked his cheek before spinning on her heels and walking out.
J.T. finished mixing what was needed to help induce Vincent's blackout so they could further understand what was going on. He held the syringe ready as Vincent pulled the bars shut and secured a chain in place with a padlock. "Try not to kill me while I study you." J.T. warned, stepping up to the cage. "Ready?"
"Yeah." Vincent nodded, rolling up his sleeve, exposing his upper arm for his friend to inject him.
J.T. took a deep breath and exhaled as he pushed the needle into his friend's arm. Vincent's body suddenly relaxed as he slumped against the bars, his eyes fluttering closed and his breathing growing labored. "It's gonna be okay, dude." J.T. assured, though his voice sounded distant and echoed as Vincent slipped into unconsciousness, hearing the sound of an airplane's engine.
"It's gonna be okay." a woman's voice assured as she injected something into Vincent's neck.
The solider barely budged, "I barely even felt it, Doctor." he replied, sitting straight up on the stool in the medical facility.
"You'll start to feel the first effects of the steroids and antivirals within days." the female doctor informed. "Other effects you'll notice over time."
Another solider, an African-American female with long, black hair pulled into a ponytail. "What's it feel like?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
Vincent took a couple deep breaths, feeling something like fire coursing through his body. "Like taking your first shot at a bar, feeling the alcohol burning through your stomach." he answered with a laugh, before bracing his hand on his thigh as he felt the effects of the injection. "Now it's like, I just feel like...I'm ready for action, you know?" he added in between deep breaths, getting to his feet.
"A little more of these vitamin boosts and we'll be unstoppable." the female soldier smirked.
"Hell yeah." Vincent agreed.
"There will be limits." the doctor informed, the two soldiers turning to face her. "But the progress we're seeing is better than any outcome we could have projected." The woman stepped out of the shadows, revealing herself to be a little under middle aged with dark skin and black hair.
Vincent's head snapped up as he came out of the fugue, panting hard and sweating. "Dude, what happened?" J.T. asked. "You were like talking and then..."
"I was in Afghanistan when they were injecting us." Vincent answered, still trying to wrap his brain around what he remembered before he came out of the fugue state. "I saw Kaitlynn's mother."
"It had to have been real." Vincent sighed after spending ten minutes going over what he remembered and taking it all in. "I've barely had any full memories of my time in combat, but this was like I was right there. It was so visceral." he explained, grabbing one of the medication bottles, "I don't know, maybe the Lorazepam, it allowed me to remember things I'd forgotten."
"Being turned into a Super-Soldier complete with killer canines seems like a hard memory to forget." J.T. pointed out, sitting in the chair next to Vincent. "Almost like those memories were suppressed by someone else."
"You mean, by Muirfield." Vincent noted. "But, why now?"
"Maybe it's what you're thinking when you go into the fugue." J.T. shrugged.
"I was thinking about how I got into all this, you know, when I joined up." Vincent listed. "Kaitlynn's mom?" he shook his head, still not believing that Vanessa was involved in directly in creating the beasts.
"If Kaitlynn's mom was part of all this, don't you think she needs to know?" the professor inquired.
"So she learns things about her mom that are gonna hurt her?" the former solider rebuffed. "No, I do not want her to get her involved, J.T."
"Vincent, you know Kaitlynn." J.T. reminded. "When it comes to you, she wants to be involved."
Vincent lowered his head, "No, but this is different." he admitted. "She doesn't want to know that her mom was responsible for turning soldiers into monsters."
"You can't protect her forever, man." J.T. stated. "It's not just about her mom. It's about you. What do you think she'd want?"
Vincent sighed heavily, folding his hands and resting his elbows on the table, knowing his friend was right. He grabbed his burner phone and tapped Kaitlynn's contact name, pushing back from the table and getting to his feet, pacing back and forth as the line rang.
Kaitlynn and Catherine walked into the bullpen, seeing Jake sitting across from Kimberly and singing to her, which annoyed KC to the point she was glaring at the teen pop star. He glanced over and saw the sisters, "What's up Katie-Cat?" he greeted with a chuckled.
Catherine rolled her eyes, "Not loving that nickname." she muttered.
"And only my family's allowed to call me Katie." Kaitlynn added, her hand on her hip.
"Well, once a nickname's been given, it's yours for life." Jake replied, turning back to KC, "Isn't that right, Manslayer?"
"Say that again, I pummel you." Kimberly threatened, her eyes set in a glare.
"Don't tease me." the teenager smiled flirtatiously.
"Go." Kimberly snapped her fingers. "Just walk away and stay at least ten feet away from me." The pop idol held his hands up in defense and walked away, heading towards the locker rooms.
Kaitlynn shook her head and chuckled lightly. "If it helps..." she walked up to her friend's desk, "I think I found us a new lead."
"It helps if it means getting rid of the Backstreet Boy wannabe." Kimberly groaned, leaning back in her chair. "Now I have to take him to his basketball practice."
"Well, looks like he's in this Twitter war with tween-sation Lil Tap That." Kaitlynn informed. "No joke. And it sounds ugly."
"What, the name or the Twitter war?" KC scoffed.
Kaitlynn's cell vibrated in her back pocket and she pulled it out and saw 'V' pop up on her screen and she shot her sister a quick look and stepped back into a secluded part of the hallway. "Vincent." she whispered. "Everything okay?"
"Yeah." Vincent answered on the other line. "Everything's fine. Where are you?"
"Uh, I'm at work." Kaitlynn replied, quirking her brow in confusion.
"Is there any way you could come by for a bit?" Vincent asked. "You and Catherine?"
Kaitlynn blinked in surprise, because she was not expecting him to ask for both her and Catherine. "Umm, yeah. Cat's actually working with me on this case." she replied. "We can be there in twenty minutes." She adjusted her stance and leaned her shoulder against the wall, "Vincent, what's this about?"
"I um, I can't tell you over the phone." he told her, and she could hear him let out a shaky breath. "It's better I tell you in person. I'll see ya in twenty minutes."
"Vincent wait." Kaitlynn spoke quickly, trying to stop him from hanging up. "Uh..." she sighed, licking her lips, "...it was nice to hear your voice. See ya soon." She hung up and sighed, tucking some hair behind her ear.
"What's wrong Katie?" Catherine asked, walking up to her sister. "Is Vincent okay?"
"Yeah." the detective nodded. "He said he needs to talk to us."
"About what?" the ADA raised her brow.
Kaitlynn shrugged, "I don't know." she answered. "Apparently it's something he wants to tell us face-to-face."
"Alright, I'll drive." Catherine offered, taking her sister's hand as they left the precinct.
The sisters stood speechless after hearing about what Vincent remembered during his last blackout. "No." Kaitlynn shook her head. "Our mother wasn't in Afghanistan."
"She was." Vincent corrected. "I remember it now."
"What?" Catherine questioned
"We think your mother was a player in Muirfield." J.T. informed, currently mixing another batch of endorphins and sedatives.
Catherine and Kaitlynn looked to one another, their expressions a mix of shock and disappointment. "And neither of you don't look surprised." J.T. noted, staring at the sisters.
Vincent could hear the slight fluctuations in Kaitlynn's heartbeat, "Kaitlynn, what is it?" he asked, staring at the younger brunette.
Kaitlynn sighed heavily and pursed her lips together, her eyes meeting Vincent's from across the room, "The agent from Muirfield who abducted us..." she motioned to herself and Cat, "...he showed us a picture of our mom with other Muirfield scientists." She braced her hands on her hips.
J.T.'s jaw dropped and his eyes went wide, "And you never thought to tell us?!" he exclaimed, directing the statement. towards Kaitlynn.
"I didn't believe him." Kaitlynn admitted, running her hand over her hair. "Silverfox was using whatever he could to turn me against you. That picture could've been photoshopped for all I knew." she exhaled heavily, "It couldn't have been real."
"Well, it is." Vincent leaned against the metal table, his eyes still locked with Kait's. "You never thought to tell us about this?"
Seeing the slightly hurt expression in his eyes made Kaitlynn's shoulders sink, "Vincent, I'm sorry." she apologized.
"I thought we were done with all these secrets, you know?" the Army veteran questioned, leaning off the table and sliding his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "That's why we called you both over here." both sisters exchanged a glance. "Look, it's okay. We don't actually know how involved your mom was." he added in a slightly assuring tone.
"But we know she wasn't innocent, since it was enough to get her killed." J.T. pointed out, filling a syringe with the cocktail he mixed earlier while Vincent stepped into the cage.
Kaitlynn's eyes widened, "Wait." she gasped, "You're inducing another blackout?" She walked over to the cage just as Vincent closed it.
"If it has the same effect as last time, it may be the only way we get to know more about your mom." Vincent told her, looking down into her eyes. "Don't you want to know?" Kaitlynn didn't answer, but she placed her hand on his forearm, keeping her eyes locked with his. "Okay, J.T., I need to be under longer this time." He case a quick glance to his best friend, clicking the lock in place around the chains to secure the cage doors.
J.T. added more of the medication into the syringe, having an uneasy look in his eyes. "I need the answers to get out of this cage." Vincent added, exposing his upper arm through the bars for the injection. "Come on."
Kaitlynn moved her hand from Vincent's forearm to his hand and clasped it in hers as J.T. injected the syringe into Vincent's bicep. Vincent's hand tensed up in Kaitlynn's for a few seconds as his breathing grew labored and his eyes closed.
Vincent sat at a table with the black haired female friend of his, both of them sharing a beer. "It's amazing." the dark haired woman grinned, "Like there's all this new energy just bursting out of me."
"You're not the only one. Did you see Thrace bodyslam Harris?" Vincent laughed and shook his head, "I mean, it was like the WWE comes to the desert."
Lafferty chuckled, tapping her fingers on her bottle, "You weren't too bad out there yourself." she noted with a smile. Vincent returned the smile and accidentally broke the beer bottle in his hand, barely applying any pressure to it at all. "Okay..." Lafferty stood up, "I know they're giving us vitamins, but what kind of supplements they hiding in there?"
"I don't know, but I like it." Vincent laughed. He noticed a subtle change in his friend as she stood motionless with a blank expression. "Lafferty?" he questioned. The next moment, the woman grunted as she slammed her fist down on the table, breaking a portion of it, which made Vincent jump to his feet as two officers ran over and restrained Lafferty while Vanessa injected something into the younger woman's arm. "Dr. C, she just completely zoned out." Vincent warned as Vanessa and the officers escorted the female soldier inside the compound.
Vincent slumped against the wall of the cage, breathing heavily, almost panting and his eyes rolling back. "Is he okay?" Kaitlynn asked, casting a quick glance to J.T. before focusing her attention back on Vincent, gripping the bars.
"He's having a hard time coming out of it." J.T. replied, calmly.
Seeing the distress in her sister's eyes, Catherine reached over and squeezed Kaitlynn's shoulder, "It's gonna be alright Katie." she assured.
Vanessa walked around the compound, taking notes on the physical condition of the soldiers. She approached the weight bench where Vincent was currently working out, "Keller, is it?" she asked.
Vincent sat up and wiped the sweat from his forehead with a towel. "Yes, ma'am." he answered, grabbing a bottled water as he stood up.
"How are you feeling?" Vanessa questioned, walking with Vincent as she wrote a few things down in her olive-green notebook.
"Incredible. Never felt better." he replied, following her. "Ready to get out there."
"After that last session, you don't feel any fatigue? Impaired sensory awareness? Memory loss?" she listed, glancing up at the soldier.
"Uh, no. My hearing's getting better though." he informed, unscrewing the lid of his water. "I feel like I can hear a conversation from, like, a mile away." Vanessa nodded her head and wrote that down in her notes. "Is that normal?"
"Nothing's normal about you anymore, Vincent." Vanessa replied with an assuring smile, "But we couldn't continue this war without you."
"You mean without soldiers who can put their fists through a table." Vincent added, remembering the incident a few days prior with Lafferty.
Vanessa sighed heavily, "What matters is that after we win this war, we're all going home to lead healthy, long lives. To our families." she told him, flipping to the back of her notebook and unfolding a picture she kept tucked away, a small smile crossing her lips, "That's why I joined this project in the first place. To protect my daughters." she added. "Our country."
"Daughters." Vincent repeated, slightly intrigued, because to him Vanessa looked relatively young, mid-to-late thirties, and had more than one child.
"Yes. Three." Vanessa elaborated, showing the young soldier the photograph she carried with her.
Vincent took the photograph offered to him and saw three teenage girls sitting grouped together on a large fountain. They all shared similar features; medium-tanned skin, brown hair and brown eyes, and all were wearing different styled white sundresses. Vanessa stood beside him, pointing to one of the teens, who's hair fell over her shoulder and wore a short halter-styled sundress, "That's my oldest, Catherine. She already has plans to become a lawyer, like my husband." she informed, then pointing to the second teen, who wore a strapless sundress and had her hair in a ponytail, which fell over her shoulder, "My second, Kaitlynn. She wants to be a writer. And my youngest..." she pointed out the third pre-teen, who was laying across her sisters' laps and had shoulder length hair, "Heather, she doesn't know quite what to do yet, but she's still young." the older woman laughed.
The corner of Vincent's lips turned upward as he looked over the smiling faces of the three girls. "They're beautiful, Dr. C." he complimented, handing the woman back the photo.
"Thank you, Vincent." Vanessa replied, folding the picture and securing it back in her notebook. "Now, if you feel anything strange or have any questions, you can come find me." She politely nodded and turned to leave.
"Dr. Chandler." Vincent called out, the woman stopping and glancing back in his direction. "Is everything okay with Lafferty?" he asked, concerned for his friend. "You know, we haven't seen her since she went down I mean, what happened? You created us and you never mentioned these side effects."
"We didn't expect them." Vanessa admitted. She took a deep breathing, trying to figure out how to explain what happened to her. "She lapsed into a fugue state. She temporarily lost cognizance."
"And the serum you gave her?" Vincent prided.
"To treat the blackouts." the doctor answered. "Hopefully alleviates them altogether."
"Wait. Is it gonna happen to all of us?" the young soldier questioned.
Vanessa's shoulders sank, but she tried her best not to let her unsurance on the subject show in her facial expression, "At some point it could be likely." she answered honestly, but in a calm tone. "But everyone's DNA is responding differently to this project. We don't know when or why these side effects are showing up."
"Well, you must have some idea." Vincent noted. "You don't have any causative evidence?"
"I'm sorry." Vanessa apologized, "If you'll excuse me." She gave him a warm smile and walked off.
"Do you want to lose your arm?" J.T questioned, as Kaitlynn grabbed the key off the table and moved towards the lock.
"J.T., move." Kaitlynn ordered, shoving past the glasses-wearing male and unlocking the padlock. She pulled off the chains and opened the cage doors, kneeling down eye-level with Vincent, who was panting by this point. "Vincent." she said in a soft voice, placing one of her hands over his.
Suddenly Vincent's eyes shot open and he braced his back against the wall, trying to catch his breath. "Vincent, you're okay." Kaitlynn soothed, caressing his cheek. "It's okay." she repeated, giving him a warm smile. "You're okay." Kait kept gently caressing his cheek, her eyes never leaving his.
Vincent regulated his breathing, everything slowly coming back into focus. The first thing he registered coming out of the fugue was a soft, warm hand on his cheek, softly caressing his scar, followed by a voice that brought a sense of comfort, and finally his vision cleared and a face came into view, Kaitlynn's face. As soon as his eyes locked with hers, his heartbeat leveled out and he turned his face into her palm.
"C'mon." Kaitlynn looped her arms around Vincent's and helped him to his feet and helped him over to the table to sit and catch his breath while J.T. filled a glass of water for his friend.
"You're not the reason for the blackouts." Vincent told Kaitlynn, after he gulped down half the glass. "The blackouts are a random side effect of the experiments."
Kaitlynn shared a confused glance with J.T. and Catherine. "How do you know?" she asked.
"Because your mom told me." Vincent informed, making both Kait's and Cat's eyes widen. "Okay, your mom may have created us, but she was trying to stop these side effects." That revelation made the two Chandler sisters look to one another.
"Oh my God." Catherine breathed out, running a hand over her hair.
Kaitlynn scoffed lightly, "I always thought she was this doctor who helped people." she muttered, pursing her lips together. "But she did this to you." She glanced back to Vincent, "Vincent, I am so sorry." she laid her hand on top of his as their eyes met.
"Don't be sorry." he replied, taking her hand and interlocking their fingers. "We don't have to stay away from each other anymore."
A faint blush rose to Kaitlynn's cheeks at hearing that, and she couldn't help but smile as she looked down at their clasped hands, Vincent's thumb caressing the back of her hand. "All this time I idolized her and I didn't even know who she was." she muttered with a shake of her head. "I have to make this right."
"We do." Catherine corrected, placing her hand on her younger sister's shoulder. "You said she was working on fixing it." she looked to Vincent, who nodded. "She wouldn't have just let her work disappear. It's got to be with her things that dad packed away years ago." Cat glanced down and met Kait's eyes.
"You're right." the detective agreed, her hand slipping out of Vincent's as she stood up. "Let's go."
Catherine headed for the door, but Kaitlynn stopped a few feet away, looking back to Vincent. She laid on her hand on his shoulder, "I'll be back soon, I promise." she assured with a small smile. Kaitlynn leaned down and kissed Vincent's forehead as she gently squeezed his shoulder before pulling back and following her sister.
Catherine pulled her car into the driveway of the house she and her sisters grew up in, cutting off the ignition and her and Kaitlynn stepping out, their father, Thomas Chandler, standing on the front porch ready to greet them.
"I'll admit, I was surprised to get your call that you girls were coming up." Thomas noted, leading his daughters into the kitchen.
"It's only a couple short months until you're getting married." Catherine pointed out.
"So, Cat and I thought that in the spirit of moving forward, we would clean out some of Mom's things." Kaitlynn added, shrugging off her white leather jacket as she leaned against the countertop.
Thomas sighed, "I don't think that's such a good idea." he admitted, leaning against the counter opposite his daughters as he turned to face them. "There's a reason they're packed and stored away."
Catherine and Kaitlynn exchanged a glance, "Okay." they said in unison, glancing back to their father.
"Your mother kept a lot of secrets." Thomas informed, "She did a lot of research, a lot of lab work for the government. It was highly classified."
"Why didn't you tell us?" Catherine asked with a shake of her head. "After all this time?" Kaitlynn braced her hand on her hip and looked down at her boots, licking her lips.
Seeing the looks of disappointment in his daughters' eyes, Thomas sighed, "I was scared." he admitted. "I was scared that the mother you both loved and adored wouldn't be the woman I found in those boxes."
Kaitlynn took a deep breath and exhaled, biting her tongue to avoid saying something she'll know she'd regret later. Seeing her sister's hesitation, Catherine spoke up again, "What boxes, Dad?" she asked again.
"I locked her stuff away." Thomas answered, earning heavy sighs from his daughters. "I thought it was best."
"Best for who?!" Kaitlynn turned to face her dad, biting her lip to suppress the urge to cry.
Thomas leaned off the counter, "I wanted to protect you girls." he defended. Kaitlynn scoffed and looked away, tucking some hair behind her ear.
"But you didn't even know what you were protecting us from." Catherine pointed out, glancing to her younger sister and seeing the moisture well in her eyes.
"Okay, girls, you have to understand that we are nothing more than our memories." Thomas explained. "Our stories, the people we love. How other people remember us."
"Daddy, you didn't even give us a choice." Kaitlynn scoffed again, a gleam of moisture in her eyes. "All these years I..." she exhaled a shuddering breath, regaining her composure, "...you have things that could've given us answers." she spoke calmly, folding her arms over her chest.
Thomas sighed and opened one of the drawers beside him, pulling out keyring with a single key. "The storage room behind the wine rack." he stated, holding the key out towards his daughters. "Choice is yours."
Kaitlynn took the key without hesitation, only thinking that whatever was in those boxes held the answers to helping Vincent, and she would do whatever it took to find those answers. "Thanks Daddy." she muttered, turning on her heels and heading for the storage room with Catherine behind her.
The two sisters sat on the floor of the storage room, going through their mother's various boxes. Kaitlynn found a medium sized box labeled ' '02' and started digging through it. "These are Army medical files of every soldier in Vincent's unit." Kaitlynn informed, noticing some of the names. "Wait." A familiar name caught her eye and she pulled the file, "Keller, Vincent, R." she read off, flipping open the file and finding a photograph of Vincent paperclipped to a stack of pages.
"R?" Catherine questioned, raising her eyebrow as she pushed the box she finished going trough aside. "His middle initial is R."
Kaitlynn arched her brow and looked at her sister, "So is yours." she pointed out. Catherine mirrored her sister's arched brow.
"Ryan." J.T. clarified, getting the two sisters to look at the Kaitlynn's cell phone. "His middle name is Ryan."
"Ryan, huh?" Kaitlynn murmured, glancing back down at the picture of Vincent, her lips curling into a smile. "Nice." She set Vincent's file by her leg and opened another box and went through it with Catherine.
Catherine pulled a file and scanned through it, finding a photograph of Vanessa with two Muirfield agents. "Mommy Chandler was a looker." J.T. chuckled.
Both Kaitlynn and Catherine shot him a quick glare over their shoulders, "Not helping, J.T." the detective rolled her eyes.
"So, Vincent saw your mom taking notes in an olive notebook both times." the professor informed, "It had to be where she kept her observation and research notes." Over the video call, he watched as the two women sorted through the boxes. "Check the big box."
Kaitlynn sighed, "I really don't need backseat detectiving." she shot him another glare and arched her brow, "I've been doing this for five years." she muttered under her breath.
"Just trying to help." J.T. defended. "It's not like it's gonna be labeled 'Cure for Vincent'."
Kaitlynn rummaged through the box and found a small, olive-green notebook, "Got it." she smiled, pulling out the notebook.
"Look for something that could be a formula." J.T. informed. "Equations."
Cat scooted closer to Kait and looked over her shoulder as she flipped through the notebook. "Okay, I have no idea what we're looking at here." the ADA quirked her eyebrow in confusion as her sister continued to flip through the pages.
"Wait." J.T. halted, "Turn the page back."
"Why, you see something?" Kaitlynn asked, looking over her shoulder at her video call.
"To see something you'll have to turn the page back so I can know if I see something." J.T. answered in a sarcastic tone of voice.
"It's a miracle that he has so many friends." Catherine said to her sister, cracking a small smile that only Kaitlynn would see.
The younger brunette chuckled lightly, "I know right?" she agreed, sharing her sister's smile.
"Hilarious, you two." J.T. deadpanned, not too pleased with their sarcastic tone. "Keep turning." He watched closely as Kaitlynn flipped through the notebook, finally catching something. "Wait. Show me that last page. What's the notation say at the bottom?"
"Psychogenic fugue." Kaitlynn answered.
J.T. looked closely at his computer screen, reading over the notes, "Your mom's notes about Vincent's genetic makeup are crazy thorough." he noted, impressed with the late scientist's notes. "She mentions side effects including memory loss and it looks like she was working on formulas to counteract them. Only problem is to replicate these, I need better equipment and Vincent's blood."
"Better equipment like?" Catherine pressed.
"A Spartan RX real-time DNA analyzer." J.T. answered.
The two Chandler sisters exchanged another confused glance, before Kaitlynn looked back to her phone screen, "Where the hell are we gonna find one of those?" she quirked her brow.
The professor let out a sigh, "A police forensics lab." he replied. Kaitlynn and Catherine exchanged another glance, their shoulders sinking with a combined heavy sigh.
J.T. sat in the back seat of Catherine's car. "That is a lot of cops." he noted with a gulp, nervously chewing on a plastic fork.
"You ready?" Catherine asked, glancing in his direction.
The professor turned to look at her, his eyes wide. "How'd you get 'you ready' off 'that is a lot of cops'?" he asked. Kait just shot him a narrow-eyed look. "I know you're Sarah Connor with a kung fu grip and all, but I'm pee-in-your-pants terrified." he elaborated.
Kaitlynn rolled her eyes and took the fork from him, breaking off one of the prongs. "I'll text you when it's clear. The outer door to the morgue will be open, so you don't need a security card." she informed. "But I can only buy you a couple hours at the most, so you need to make that serum fast."
"Two lefts then a right. Got it." J.T. nodded, repeating the instructions Kait had given him earlier.
"Good luck." the sisters said in unison. Kaitlynn pecked Catherine's cheek before stepping out of the car, followed by J.T.
Kaitlynn entered the bullpen and went right to her desk, grabbing the keys to her squad car. "How the hell could you leave me alone with him the whole day?" KC questioned her partner, her eyes set in a half-glare.
"My dad and Brooke needed to talk to Catherine and I about some wedding details." Kaitlynn lied, flipping her hair off her shoulder.
Kimberly rolled her eyes and dropped some files down on Kait's desk. "By the way, it turns out that Jake's manager, Miller, had a publicity deal with Lil Tap That's manager." she informed. "That whole Twitter feud was staged."
"Really?" Kaitlynn questioned, resting a hand on her hip. "You think Miller staged the shooting as a publicity stunt too?"
The older detective shrugged her shoulders. "Don't know, but I did look into his financials." she added, handing another paper to her partner, "He withdrew large amounts of cash out of his work account. I think we got enough for a warrant."
The younger brunette quickly glanced over the paper before dropping it on her desk, "I'll get on it." she volunteered, pushing her chair in and heading out.
"No." KC halted, grabbing her friend's arm. "You are not leaving me alone again to go gallivanting off."
"I'm not gallivanting off." Kaitlynn rebuffed, looking her partner in the eyes. "I was gonna go sweet-talk my big sister into getting us a warrant to search Miller's office." They both heard a 'thump' and turned their heads in the noise's direction, seeing Jake struggling with the precinct's vending machine. "Just think of him like he's Pinocchio." Kait noted, glancing to her friend, "You know, he just wants to be a real boy."
"Fine." Kimberly huffed, crossing her arms over her chest, as Kaitlynn left the bullpen.
Kaitlynn poked her head into Evan's office and lightly knocked on the door. "Still waiting on those DNA swabs." the medical examiner informed, looking back to his computer, going over the crime scene photos taken in the subway tunnels.
"Actually, I am heading over to the manager's office." Kaitlynn replied, hopping up onto the side of Evan's desk and crossing her legs. "I was hoping you'd come with me."
Evan looked up at her with a quirked brow, "Where's Kim?"
"She's playing nanny." Kait answered with a slight chuckle. "So, what do you say?"
"Go out amongst the living?" Evan leaned back in his chair, "It's not really in my job description."
Kaitlynn rolled her eyes and lightly jabbed the ME's shoulder, "Come on, I'm partnerless, and you could use some field hours." she pointed out. "Besides, do you really want to sit around waiting for analysis on envelope spit?" she arched her brow.
"Point taken." Evan nodded, getting to his feet and grabbing his jacket, "But you owe me one, and I plan on collecting." He flashed the detective a smile and pecked her temple before they walked out.
Kaitlynn sent J.T. a quick text that her and Evan were leaving as they approached her squad car.
The duo of medical examiner and detective sleuthed around the talent manager's office. "What makes you so sure that Riley's manager staged the shooting?" Evan asked as he and Kait looked around. "Seems like a bit of a stretch to me."
The younger brunette shrugged her shoulders, "After all the stunts he's had Jake pull in the past, not really." she rebuffed, smoothing out her white leather jacket. "Also unprecedented sizable bank withdrawal. He withdrew 30 grand, in cash." She browsed through a stack of magazines, just to see if something was hidden between them.
"For what?" Evan asked.
"Not a yacht." Kait replied. "Still, if that's not a flag-raiser, I don't know what is. Money probably went to the shooter."
The duo walked into the office, "What kind of person hires a gunman as a publicity stunt?" the medical examiner questioned.
"My psychological diagnosis, a crazy person." Kaitlynn answered with a small smile. "The shooter did miss, and Miller had this handy bag of possible suspects just waiting for us."
They kept searching around the manager's desk, with Evan going through Chris' computer. "I have to admit, this is kind of fun."
"It is only fun if you..." Kaitlynn began to say, as she lifted a record off the wall, finding a small USB drive taped to the back, "...find something."
She cracked a grin and handed the drive to Evan, who then plugged it in to the laptop, a word document appearing on the screen. "'My Unexpected Rise and Fall in the Music Industry'." he read off the title page. "Sounds like a bestseller." he cast a glance to Kaitlynn who nodded in agreement.
Evan scrolled down the document, stopping on the last page, "The last chapter isn't written yet, but there is a title." Kait noted.
"'Tragedy: the Death of Jake Riley'." Evan read off. Kaitlynn sighed heavily, wondering how she was going to break the news to Jake that his manager set him up to be killed.
After sneaking out of the morgue, careful not to be seen by Kimberly, J.T. drove back to the warehouse and ran up to the loft. "Vincent! I broke into the morgue, made the serum, snagged Stallone from the U." he set down a cage with a white lab rat and shrugged off his jacket. "Time to pump this guy full of untested fugue deliciousness."
He turned his head when he heard a small, creaking noise. "Vincent?" he called out again, looking around, and that's when he saw the bars of the freight elevator bent and broken. " Oh, this is bad." J.T.'s eyes widened at the sight of the giant hole in the cage, and his best friend apparently nowhere to be found.
Catherine, Kaitlynn, and Kimberly stood opposite Jake as they explained what they found about his manager, and he was quick to say it wasn't true. "I know this is hard to believe." Kaitlynn sympathized. "Miller played on your trust of him."
"It's not true." the idol rebuffed.
Catherine sighed, "Okay, we don't have enough to book him, but we do have this." she pulled the manuscript of the book that Kait had printed off.
"We found it in his office." Kaitlynn added. "Check out the title of the last chapter." Jake hesitantly took the manuscript and flipped through to the last page. "It's called 'Tragedy'." she continued. "He expected you to die in that shooting or at least, it seems that way, which means that he arranged it."
"And I'm guessing 'Tragedy' isn't a chapter he's gonna want to change, and you're about to do a live radio show. A very public event." Kimberly pointed out. "Seems like a good twist in the story to me. Just when I thought J.R. was safe."
Kaitlynn sighed, leaning into the corner of the table, "Jake, a hit man that didn't finish his job isn't gonna back off." she stated. "He is going to finish what he started."
Jake sighed and pushed the manuscript away, leaning back in the chair. "How sure are you you're right?" he asked, directing the statement towards the two detectives.
"Let me put it this way." Catherine licked her lips, glancing to her younger sister. "Katie's gut hasn't steered her wrong yet."
"Vincent!" J.T. called out again, searching the loft for his friend. He heard a low growl from behind him and turned around, seeing Vincent in beast mode staring right at him with canines bared.
"Dr. C.!" Vincent called out as he burst into a room with lockers and equipment on shelves, looking around for Vanessa, hearing automatic gunfire outside the compound. His Army uniform, as well his face and hands were covered in blood.
Vincent heard footsteps coming near the room and hid behind one of the shelves as the Army Colonel and Vanessa ran in. "Colonel, slow down." the female doctor halted. "Just tell me what happened."
"The soldiers you created are out there, tearing apart this entire compound." the Colonel answered in an accusing tone as he stared down the woman.
From his position behind the shelf, Vincent looked down at his hands and his eyes widened when he saw all the blood. "That's why I wanted time to test it." Vanessa tried to explain to the Colonel.
"Time's up." the Colonel interjected. "Either you fix the side effects, or the project's aborted. Terminated."
Vanessa looked downright horrified when she heard the words aborted and terminated. "You can't kill your own men." she told him.
"Those aren't men. They're animals." the Colonel corrected. "You can't communicate with an animal.
"They're not animals." Vanessa rebuffed, trying to keep her composure. "I might not be able to reverse the full transformation yet, but the side effects, the lost time, the aggression, if you just contain them instead of..."
"Do you want them to keep moving through the country?" the Colonel interjected again. "To keep killing?"
Five more soldiers ran past the room, carrying fully-loaded automatic weapons. "Aren't you going with them? Or are you leaving the dirty work to someone else?" Vanessa accused, glaring at the Army Colonel. "You can't leave this locked down forever. The world will find out about them."
"Is that a threat, Doctor?" the Colonel questioned, pulling a hand gun from his belt, clicking the safety off. "You don't know when to stop talking, and that's a problem."
The Colonel held the gun to Vanessa's head, but before he could pull the trigger, Vincent, in beast mode, knocked him aside, saving the woman.
In his fuge-state, Vincent knocked over a shelf in the loft and stalked towards J.T., who was scrambling to figure out a solution to the situation. He glanced to the side and saw the tranqu gun laying on the table next to his briefcase.
Vincent growled as he grabbed the Colonel's arm and forced him to drop the gun, before throwing him over his shoulder. The Colonel jumped back to his feet and pulled a combat knife from his belt and lunged for a strike, only to be blocked by Vincent. However, during the altercation, the Colonel managed to slice the right side of Vincent's face, causing him to growl in pain and stumble back, his hand reaching for his cheek.
Vincent touched his scar and shook his head, letting out another growl, while J.T. tried to make a run for it and grab the tranqu gun. The loft door opened and Kaitlynn ran inside, with Catherine right behind her. The older sister's eyes went wide at the sight of Vincent in his full transformation. "Oh my God." she breathed out.
"Cat, stay behind me." Kaitlynn whispered, glancing over her shoulder for a brief second before turning her eyes back to Vincent. "Vincent." she said in a calm voice to get his attention, his gold eyes landing on her. "Vincent, it's okay." Kait repeated, taking a small step forward.
"Kaitlynn." Catherine whispered harshly, only for her younger sister to hold her hand out and take another step forward. Vincent stared her down, his hand reaching out and grabbing hold of the nearby shelf.
"Vincent, it's okay. It's me, Kaitlynn." Kaitlynn assured, still remaining calm. "Please, come back to me." she begged, biting her lip, her brown eyes locked with his gold ones. "Please, you're my friend and I need you." Kaitlynn's eyes welled with a hint of moisture, "After what I leaned about my mom I..." she took another step forward, "...I need my friend. So please..." she swallowed the lump in her throat, "...please come back."
Vincent's grip loosened around the shelf as his features slowly returned to normal. The moment his eyes faded from gold to their normal brown, Kaitlynn sighed in relief and ran right to him, looping one arm under his and wrapping the other around his shoulders. "It's okay." she whispered, turning her face into the nape of his neck, her right hand holding the back of his head. "You're okay."
Vincent relaxed and returned the embrace, wrapping both of his arms around her back and taking a deep breath as he inhaled her scent. In that moment, it felt like they were the only two people in that loft, and he didn't want to let her go. A few feet away from them, both Catherine and J.T. stood perfectly still and just watched as Vincent and Kaitlynn hugged eachother, before sharing a glance of their own.
Kaitlynn was the first to pull back and she reached up to caress Vincent's cheek, their eyes meeting one another's, and a smile crossed her lips. "It's alright." she repeated in a soft voice.
"He's okay?" J.T. questioned, his hand on the tranquilizer gun. Catherine sighed heavily in relief.
Vincent caught his breath and stepped back, but kept one of his arms around Kaitlynn. "Did I hurt you?" he asked, glancing from Kait, to Catherine, and J.T.
J.T. glanced to the small cut on his palm and shook his head, "Nothing a Care Bears Band-Aid can't fix." he chuckled. Getting back to the serious matter, he continued explaining that he mixed the serum they needed. "We'll test Vanessa's serum on Stallone and it's just a matter of time before we test it on you."
"No." Vincent stated, taking a seat by the cluttered, metal table.
"Come again?" J.T. questioned.
"Vincent." Kaitlynn sighed, still keeping her eyes on him even though he was looking at the floor. Catherine walked up and wrapped her arm around Kait's shoulders, the two sisters sharing a glance.
"I am not gonna spend my life in and out of a cage, waiting for the lab rat to tell me to get out." Vincent defended. He grabbed a syringe full of the serum and injected himself in the upper arm before anyone could stop him.
"Vincent!" Kaitlynn ran straight to him and took the empty syringe from his hand. "We don't know what this does. What if it makes you worse?" she draped one of her arms around his shoulders and held his hand with the other.
"Or kills you?" J.T. added.
"You think living in a cage isn't doing that?" Vincent retorted, looking up at his best friend. "Well, it turns out I'm monstrous enough to get out of it anyway."
Kaitlynn leaned down and rested her forehead on top of his head, squeezing his shoulder and hand, "You're not a monster." she whispered, letting out a shaky breath. Vincent sighed and interlocked his fingers with hers and leaned his body against her.
"So what now?" Catherine asked, stepping up beside J.T.
"Now, we wait." the professor answered, his hands slapping down against his sides.
Catherine let out another sigh and looked to her younger sister, seeing how close her and Vincent were and the obvious concern reflected in her deep, brown eyes. "Katie, we have to get going." she reminded. "We still have the case to close."
Kaitlynn lifted her head and sniffled, "Right." she agreed, wiping her cheeks with the sleeve of her leather jacket. She still kept her hand clasped in Vincent's as they met eachother's eyes, "I'll see you later, yeah?"
"Yeah." Vincent replied with a nod, using his free hand to wipe away the next tear that fell. Kait put on the best smile she could, slipping her hand from his and walked with her sister out of the loft.
Kaitlynn stood outside the room where Jake was finishing up his radio interview, and standing beside her was Chris Miller, who was on his cell phone. "I hear there's a crowd out front." Miller informed the young detective.
"There isn't out back." Kait replied. "Let's stick to the plan." she gave a small, subtle nod to Jake, who zipped up his black jacket and pulled up his hood. The two of them walking towards the back exit while Chris stopped to send a quick text message.
As Kaitlynn stepped outside into the cool, New York night, she caught sight of Kimberly walking past dressed in fashion similar to a homeless person as part of their plan. Kait also caught sight of someone hunched behind one of the parked SUV's and saw Chris run and hide behind the nearby streetlight.
The shooter ran straight at the detective and hooded teen idol, only for KC to kicks the gun from his hand and grabbed his wrist, flipping him over her shoulder and rolling him onto his stomach. The next second, Kait had her weapon drawn and her finger on the trigger, "NYPD!" she yelled, "Stay down!"
"And that's how it's done." Kimberly chuckled to herself as she handcuffed the shooter.
Kaitlynn lowered her gun and looked back over her shoulder, "Mr. Miller, step out." she ordered, holstering her weapon.
"What's going on?" Miller asked, feigning distress and a bit of shock when two police cars pulled up, as did a silver squad car, which Catherine stepped out of.
"You saw that shooter before anyone else." Kaitlynn stated, pulling her handcuffs from her belt, "Put your hands behind your head."
"This is ridiculous." Miller scoffed as his hands were cuffed behind his back. "Jake?" He looked towards the teen in the black hood, only for it to be revealed as an undercover in a bullet proof vest, where the real Jake was standing a few feet away.
"Chris Miller, you're under arrest for the attempted murder of Jake Riley." Kaitlynn mirandized. "Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law..."
"Aside from us, you and Jake were the only ones who knew the plan to come out this way." Kimberly informed, while her partner finished reading off his rights.
"You and him." Catherine added, motioning to the shooter.
"Jakey, come on, mate." Miller chuckled lightly. "You don't believe all this rubbish..."
"Shut up." Jake interjected, staring down his, now former, manager. "You wrote a book about me, Chris. My death would make it a bestseller." he shook his head, "You tried to kill me for a book."
"Let's go." Kaitlynn pushed him forward and she and KC pushed them into the back of one of the NYPD cruisers.
After returning to the precinct, Kaitlynn and Catherine walked into the bullpen with Jake, "I'm gonna go and tell Joe everything that went down." Cat winked at the two before walking up to the Lieutenant in question.
"I'm really sorry your manager lied to you." Kaitlynn apologized, her fingers hooked through her belt loops.
"At least I know what he really thought of me." Jake sighed, his hands in his pockets. "I just can't believe I had no idea. You know, I saw him all the time. I practically lived with him."
Kaitlynn sighed, tucking some hair behind her ear, "Don't let this change anything. You can't stop trusting people."
"Yeah, trust them with one eye open." Jake scoffed, shaking his head. "That sounds pretty sucky to me."
"Yeah." Kaitlynn agreed with a sigh. "But that's a part of growing up: things get more complicated." she pursed her lips together. "You know, my mom, she used to say, 'Forgive, but never forget'." The corner of her lips turned upwards at mentioning her mother, but it faded when she remembered what she learned earlier that day.
Jake smiled at the detective and gave her a hug, "Thank you." he whispered, rubbing her back before pulling away.
"You're welcome." Kait replied with a genuine smile. "Also, if you don't mind." She picked up a photograph of Jake that was lying on her desk and a sharpie, "My younger sister Heather would kill me if she knew I had met you and not gotten an autograph for her."
The teen idol grinned and nodded, "A'right." he took the sharpie and signed the picture, adding a heart by his signature. He leaned against the desk and saw Kimberly heading in their direction, "I know you were not about to let me leave without saying good-bye." he chuckled, and KC just rolled her eyes. "C'mon, Manslayer."
"Night partner." Kaitlynn smiled at her best friend.
"Night, Katie-cat." Kimberly chuckled, winking at her friend before walking out of the precinct with Jake.
Kaitlynn and Catherine enjoyed a glass of Moscato after their long day, and laughed as they listened to the new song Jake Riley had recorded in honor of the two detectives that saved his life. There was a knock on Kait's front door and she ran to answer it, seeing her dad in the hallway, "Daddy, thanks for coming." she smiled, pecking his cheek.
"I was swinging by work when I got your text." Thomas replied, kissing her forehead before moving to stand by Catherine. "So, you girls left the house pretty quickly today."
"Yeah, we're sorry about that." Catherine apologized, leaning against the counter. "It's just...um-"
"Just that we've blamed ourselves all these years." Kaitlynn continued, brushing her bangs from her face. "I left the vanity mirror open in Cat's car and she had to call Mom for a jump start. And when we were going through her things..." she licked her lips and glanced to her older sister, the pair taking eachother's hands. "...we realized it wasn't either of our faults. That when we stay stuck in the past, we stay hurt. We stay victims and we don't want that anymore."
Thomas couldn't help but smile at his two daughters, standing there like the strong women he always knew they'd grow up to be. "Your mother would be so proud of what you two have become." he praised, placing his hands on their shoulders. "Catherine, you've got her strength." he smiled at his oldest daughter, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear, "And Kaitlynn, you've got her heart." he tapped his middle daughter's nose. "In so many ways I see her in the both of you."
He pulled them in closer and wrapped his arms around them, kissing the tops of their heads. The three just stood there in the kitchen, taking in the moment of family. Kaitlynn felt her heart swell with joy and feeling a sense of closeness she hasn't felt with either Catherine or Thomas in almost a decade. This was a feeling she wanted to hold on to.
Catherine and Kaitlynn stood before Vanessa's headstone, their arms around eachother. Cat laid down the bouquet of Calla Lillies at the base of the headstone, "Dad's getting married soon. A few short months. He wants to start a fresh life." she sniffled, rubbing her sister's arm as she rested her head on her shoulder.
Kaitlynn bit her lip and exhaled shakily, her breath visible in the crisp, night air. She knelt down and placed her hand on top of the headstone, "He knew you had secrets, and he tried to protect us from them." A single tear fell down her cheek as she remembered learning about her mother's involvement in Operation: Muirfield. "I have to believe that, whatever you were doing, you thought it was right." She bit her lip and let out a faint sob, and Cat reached down and squeezed her shoulder for comfort. "I want to bury this but..." she sniffled again, "...you left this mess, and now I..." she closed her eyes, letting more tears fall, "...I have to do everything I can to make it right. For Vincent." she added the last sentence in a hushed whisper as she rose to her feet, turning her face into her sister's shoulder and letting more tears fall.
Catherine tightened her arm around her younger sister and stroked her hair, letting her cry. "It's okay, Katie." she soothed, kissing the top of the young brunette's head. Cat sighed heavily and looked down at her mother's headstone, blowing a kiss towards it, "We love you, Mom."
As the two walked back towards Catherine's car, Vincent stepped out from behind a tree. "Hey." he greeted with a small smile, looking from Catherine to Kaitlynn.
"Hey." Kaitlynn replied, wiping her cheeks.
"I'm uh, gonna go warm up my car." Catherine lightly nudged her sister's arm and smiled, walking away and leaving the two alone.
Kaitlynn took a deep breath and exhaled, shoving her hands into the pockets of her coat. "So, how much of that did you hear?" she asked, referring to her's and Cat's conversation with their mom's gravestone.
"Enough." Vincent answered, taking a step towards her.
Kait blinked and saw a different look in Vincent's eyes, and realized the serum must've worked. "It worked?" she questioned, quirking her brow.
"Yeah." Vincent nodded. "J.T. still wants to run some more tests, but, so far-"
"Vincent, that's great." Kaitlynn laughed, throwing her arms around his neck in a tight hug. "I'm so happy for you."
Vincent returned the hug and took in the moment, "Yeah, but it doesn't change what I am, though." he reminded, the pair pulling apart and Kait dropping her arms to her sides, "No serum for that." He dug in the pocket of his coat, "I also, wanted to return this to you." he handed her Vanessa's notebook. "I think she'd want you to have it."
"Even though I don't understand anything in here?" the younger brunette quirked her brow.
"I was referring to this." Vincent opened the notebook and pulled out the old photograph of the three Chandler sisters that Vanessa had kept in the back. "She talked about you three all the time." he informed. "You and your sisters were the reason why she did everything she did. To make the world better for you."
A smile crossed Kaitlynn's lips as she traced her finger over the image of her and her sisters, remembering when the picture was taken. She sighed and slipped the photo back into the notebook and pocketed it. "Any suggestions on how I'm supposed to move on with my life, knowing what my mom did to you?" she asked, looking up at Vincent with a pained look in her eyes.
"Kaitlynn." Vincent sighed, hearing the subtle change in her heartbeat. "Your mom had no idea what she was getting into. That innocent people were gonna die." They walked slowly through the cemetery towards Catherine's parked car. "Your mom was a brave woman. You know, she really cared about us. It's just, she got backed into a very dark corner."
"She kept it all from us." Kaitlynn sighed, exhaling a shuddering breath. "She lied, and that's exactly what I am doing to my friends and family right now."
"Yeah, and it's my fault." Vincent admitted, the two of them stopping in their tracks. "I'm the reason you're doing all of this."
"No, you didn't have a choice, Vincent." Kaitlynn reminded. "My mother did."
"Yeah, but if I had..." Vincent stepped closer to Kaitlynn, their eyes meeting eachother's even in the dimly lit cemetery, "I would make that same choice again if it meant that I could be in your life." Kait's eyes widened slightly at his statement, and her heartbeat picked up. "You know, I think we've lived with enough guilt. Maybe now it's time to ease up on the past."
Kaitlynn sighed heavily, biting her lip and glancing down at her boots before meeting his eyes again, "What if I can't do that?" she sniffled, another tear falling down her cheek.
"You can." Vincent assured, reaching out and wiping the tear away. His palm lingered there and he caressed her cheek with his thumb, "Because I'll do it with you." Vincent leaned down and kissed her forehead, his hand cupping her cheek. His lips lingered on her skin for a few, long seconds, before he pulled away.
Kaitlynn exhaled the breath she held and couldn't help but smile. Vincent pulled her closer and wrapped his arms around her, and she let herself relax against him, her arms snaking around his waist and embracing him. "I don't know what I'd do without you." she admitted in a low voice, though she knew he could hear her.
This time Vincent couldn't help but smile. "I promise, I will always be here for you." he vowed, kissing her temple and running his fingers through her hair.
A/N: Finally, I got this chapter done! So much development in Kaitlynn and Catherine's relationship, and of course Vincent and Kaitlynn. I hope ya'll enjoyed it. As always reviews are greatly appreciated. Now, a heads up, the next chapter is an original one, with a Halloween theme (because why the hell not?) so I hope you guys will look forward to that. I've been working on it here and there and am shooting to have it posted on Halloween.
Next chapter: This Is Halloween