2 weeks later Karen Valentine's birthday
"where is that failure of a daughter" asks Karen
"Mom please, she's not a failure" pleads Cat
"she hasn't remembered a birthday in five years except your own, if you know something I don't then spill it" says Karen
"she lives here now" says Cat
"but she has an amazing apartment, why would she live here, she's not doing drugs again is she" asks Karen
"MOM shut up, ok you want the story fine, she tried to get you a dress worth five hundred grand, it was a bet auction deal thing, she didn't expect to win with a bid of five grand, she did and when it came out of her account she scrambled to get money for rent, she was a day late and her landlord told her to go find somewhere else to live, real ass that man, he said any mail that came for Athena he'd burn" says Cat
"do you have a print out of the auction website" asks Karen as Cat hands it over and Karen's jaw drops
"see mom, look at that beautiful dress, now it's going to be burned to ash because she bothered to buy you something" says Cat
"Uhh Catarina you need to get that dress" says Daren
"and why is that Daren" asks Cat getting angry
"because that dress hasn't been seen in five hundred years, it was supposed to be on display in Rome last year but had been stolen" says Daren
"well good luck explaining that to the cops, I already tried, they say it's a non cop matter" says Cat
"was it tracked shipping" asks Jade
"well ya" says Cat
"when is it to be delivered" asks Jade
"later today" says Cat
"I'll be back, Karen go comfort your eldest daughter" says Jade as she leaves
"I-i-I can't" stutters Karen
"fine then Daren you go comfort your sister" demands Cat
"damn was I ever wrong about you, fine I will" Daren
"damn right you were" says Cat
With Athena
"what do you want Daren, can't you see I'm depressed, you already took my ability to walk, do you want to take my ability to eat now too" cries Athena
"no my sister I don't, I never wanted to hurt you, do you know the actual value of the dress you bought" asks Daren
"could Cat please stop embarrassing me, it's bad enough I'm out five grand, now she had to tell mom of my failure" cries Athena
"that dress is over five hundred years old Athena" says Daren clearly on his meds
"yes I know, mom collects old dresses" says Athena
"Athena that dress is worth over half a million dollars" says Daren
"great now the Italian government is going to be out for my head over possession of stolen property, could my day get any worse" asks Athena
"Athena the Italian government has an open reward for it and that new guy Gustav doubled it, the reward is twenty million dollars plus a bonus if you have any leads to the thieves themselves" says Daren
"it's going to be ash, what does a reward matter now anyway, Cat tried to negotiate with that stupid landlord Luke but he threatened to sue if she didn't get off his property" cries Athena
"you clearly underestimate Jadelyn West, she has a connection to the FBI for a reason, as the CEO of Westland Batteries she's helped stop several trafficking rings as well as drug rings, the FBI owes her for those" says Daren
"I don't understand, how could Jade find that stuff out" asks Athena
"it was more a sub company thing, certain drug rings were spiking their drugs with lithium and stuff like that, one company she owns is a community surveillance for kid safety, she'd made it very clear to the people of LA none of these cameras would be placed inside their homes without explicit consent, that it was part of their neighborhood's community watch program, they had also made clear that there was a trafficking ring targeting LA girls, she did lots of good without a cent of public attention, anyway please come out and mingle" says Daren
"I can't walk remember" says Athena
"how did you get up here then, don't you have a wheelchair" asks Daren concerned now
"Jade carried me, no I don't have a wheelchair, I did but my ex destroyed it so I couldn't possibly cheat on him, only for him to cheat on me" says Athena
"then I'll carry you out to the couch" says Daren
"as nice as that would be Daren, we both know you aren't that strong, maybe go ask Tori for the one she used when she had to get new feet" says Athena
"ok, please don't be sad, it makes mom sad, losing dad was hard enough on her" says Daren as he goes to talk to Tori
With Tori
"what is it Daren I'm busy making your mom her birthday gift" says Tori
"can Athena borrow your wheelchair, pretty please" asks Daren
"man you both are more like Cat than you realize, yes of course she can, I don't know why she didn't just ask me" says Tori
"we have a thing about respect in the Valentine family, a general rule Catarina often flouts, we were taught that the respect is for the person and the object you're borrowing, Catarina just views the respect for the person as what is important, while I agree to a point it is not how we were raised" says Daren
"I have to disagree with you on the base of her reasoning, she is firm on her belief that objects can be replaced, it's people who can't, this whole building could burn to ash along with everything in it and as long as everyone got out she'd be ok with losing everything, that's why she lets homeless people live on the first floor, she said her grandfather was taken in after he bought Cat a dress to calm her down and lost his place" says Tori
"That makes sense, granddad Theodore and Catarina were very close, often too close for moms comfort, especially given Cat's many mental health issues" says Daren
"she speaks very highly of him, says you look like having him and she wishes she could be close to you again" says Tori
"I wish I could be too Victoria, that place did a lot of damage to me, I'm ok right now but I might not be in a few hours, my insanity comes in waves thanks to them" says Daren
"I'm glad you brought that up, Sadie might have been raped by doctors there, Andre j's worried she will be just like you" says Tori
"I have no doubt they did rape her, most likely every day, the difference between Sadie and I is she has Andre, family helping you is good and all but someone romantically love you and help you work through it hits different when it's someone you love" says Daren
"I know what you mean, somehow Cat makes everything easier to understand, Andre could use some help, Sadie's having near night terrors, Andre is trying and failing to make her feel safe" says Tori
"does he love her" asks Daren
"of course he does, what kind of question is that, you haven't seen the way he looks at her, he's had many a girlfriend and not once had he looked at them with such love and care as he does to Sadie" says Tori annoyed
"then he must prepare for the worst, I know what they must have done to her, she might take the lives of her parents" says Daren
"how could you say that, she loves her parents" asks Tori
"because their main objective was to make girls believe the rapes, the punishment they received at that facility, they are made to believe its their family's fault, if he is unable to tame her with his love then if her parents die at her hands it won't be her that goes to jail it will be Andre" says Daren
"so what you're saying is she's a ticking time bomb with a fuse that can't be put out" asks Cat standing at the door
"sharp as ever Catarina, I assume you have a plan" says Daren rolling the wheelchair to Cat
"yes you live here, de-program Sadie, you have first hand knowledge of how they would have programmed her, she wants so badly to be happy brother, you were put back there several times during the time Sadie was there, if there is anything you can tell us please do" says Cat
"I was in the room beside her, I recorded everything they did to her, thanks to Athena's tech knowledge I was able to hack into the cameras in her room, they'd give her a choice, usually while doped up on meds, either she got the daily injection or she could do 'tasks', usually involving her being naked and them taking pictures, then when they were done they'd inject her with an excess of the medication anyway, she'd twitch for an hour while the meds rewired parts of her brain, they gave me free reign over her room and her, luckily they wrongly assumed I'd rape her, while that was my initial intention, when I looked at her eyes I realized it was Sadie and I'd hold her and comfort her, therefor I know exactly how to fix her, the problem is it's just as painful as the programming they did, tell Eliza Sadie needs Magnesium and low dose Potassium" says Daren
"why those two in particular" asks Tori as Cat goes to get Athena
"the medication they used restricts the brain of 'food', her body no longer absorbs those specific nutrients meaning her body won't stretch well at all, yes that includes down there, even with sufficient pre-play, their main goal was to cause pain when girls 'misbehave', their mission was never to fix but to make worse so they could never leave, especially girls like Sadie who were taken there by the legal system" says Daren
"is that the only way to fix her" asks Tori as Andre walks in the door
"unfortunately yes, what's important to know is her muscles are barely able to function, especially the reproductive one, the treatment to reverse the damage from that treatment will make her feel like she's on fire, I certainly recommend supervised cold baths" says Daren
"are there any risks with this, I don't want her hurt" asks Andre
"I assume my mom wants cake and to open presents in private, the only risk is nerve damage if they went too far but it is not a result of the reversal but of the massive overdose of the medication they gave her, the reversal treatment only reverses what can be saved and allows her body to accept magnesium and potassium from the food she eats again" says Daren
"so like she won't be able to feel me hold her hand……" asks Andre
"the damage is most likely to be between the legs if they went too far, to be honest they did that a lot, when I told mom my story about a girl who had died because of that medication, she told the FBI or as Cat often called them FIBB, they asked if I'd like to work for them, I needed the money to pay for my meds so I agreed, the last mission I took on at that facility was Sadie, the FBI found it extremely odd that unlike most of the female clients, Sadie was not getting her normal meds or after a short time ANY meds period, when you called the feds to arrest doctors they had already planned to do so and would have done so two days after that, Sadie is beyond lucky to have you" says Daren
"did she talk about me" asks Andre
"oh all the time, her biggest fear was not having you by her side, that you'd hate her if she ever did get out of that facility, she used to call you her hunky bear, she'd say 'hunky bear is going to hate me, I'm not pure anymore', the doctor that had killed the girl I had feelings for in there tried to offer me Sadie, I'd agreed, only to save her life though, when I first made that deal Sadie despised me for 'treating' her like property, when I showed her my badge she calmed down" says Daren
A/N: 1 more chapter to go, I'll be aiming for 3k words
