One week later as Selena arrives with Jennabelle
"oh my she's adorable" says Tori
"yeah did I not mention she's small, oops" says Cat
"she's thirteen but the meds she was forced onto when she was six by the facility stopped her growth in its tracks" says Jennabelle quietly
"why isn't she responding to our voices" asks Trina
"we took a flight to Vancouver after I got the go ahead to serve the release papers to the facility three days ago, she's wearing a slim set that allows it to be hidden under her hair, they set it all up for her there in Vancouver, being able to hear normally on the plane ride back kinda freaked her out so she shut it off when we landed, I'll tell her to turn it on now" says Jennabelle as she taps on Selena's shoulder and points to Cat as Selena's eyes get wide
"susu" squeals Selena as she runs to hug Cat
"what's susu mean" asks Tori
"susu is the only words she will willingly speak, it literally means everything and everything for her, in this case it means sister, she's actually really smart, I asked her to draw a tree and she drew a cherry blossom tree" says Jennabelle
"aww my favourite tree, hey Seli, mom and dad are coming by" says Cat as Selena covers her face and cries
"they won't be taking her home Cat, the judge gave you soul guardianship of her, all the judge had to say was 'I bet you can't wait to see mom and dad huh' my God the sheer terror in here eyes would scare anyone, then he said 'ok not mom and dad, how about your older sister Cat' Selena's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree" says Jennabelle
"so what they don't get to see her at all" asks Cat
"they can visit her here but they are to be monitored, Selena clearly doesn't trust them" says Jennabelle
"I imagine being torn from the family over an hearing problem at three years old would destroy anyone's trust in their parents" says Jade
"so she's my responsibility" asks Cat
"yes but the judge made it clear that anyone in the house here that Selena decides to trust can help but legally it's your responsibility to make sure she is fed" says Jennabelle
"susu susu" says Selena as she points to Jade as Cat smirks
"you know what that means I assume Cat because I have no idea" asks Jennabelle
"it's kinda obvious actually, she pointed to Jade when she said it and said her word twice really quick" says Cat
"I'm lost" says Jade
"in english, 'cute girl, dance dance', basically she wants you to dance with her Jade, which kinda makes it obvious she likes girls" says Cat
"do you have some sort of lexicon or something for translating it" asks Ashley as Jade dances with Selena
"speed, tone and context" says Cat
"suuuuu sususu" says Selena pouting and stopped dancing with Jade
"uh oh" says Cat
"what" asks Trina
"she said cruuuuush died died" says Cat
"can you ask her who" asks Jenna as she walks over with lunch
"su suuuuu sususu suus" asks Cat
"suusuusu" says Selena pointing to Jade's hair
"explain" asks Ashley
"Lucy Sue black hair, does that name ring a bell Jennabelle" asks Cat
"yeah, she had a fight with a Lucy sue on several occasions, according to her file Lucy took several clippings of Selena's hair" says Jennabelle
"it wasn't a fight was it Cat" asks Jenna
"Seli was Lucy fighting with you" asks Cat as Selena shakes her head no
"Seli, was she kissing you" asks Jade as Selena shakes her head no again
"biting" asks Tori as Selena bites Tori's neck
"ok that was no normal bite" says Cat
"no it was definitely not, were you in love Seli" asks Cat as Selena nods yes
"what happened to Lucy" asks Anna as she sits on the floor and hugs Selena as Selena gestures to several spots
"medicine ear red bleed" says Cat as Selena nods furiously
"how'd you figure that out" asks Jenna
"she pointed to the red couch, then mimicked taking a pill, pointed to her ear then ran her fingers on her face" says Cat
"how do you know it wasn't tears" says Ashley
"because if it was tears she'd have pointed to the sink, plus she used three fingers, dragging them from her forehead to her chin and last I checked you don't cry from your forehead" says Cat
"ok so either she took the wrong pill or the doctor gave her the wrong medication on purpose" says Jade as Selena shakes her head no
"what then Seli" asks Jenna as Selena gestures more
"oh I think I got it, Lucy had pressure in her head and they tried meds for it but she died anyway" says Anna
"you know the reaction to the meds along with the ear bleed sounds very familiar Anna" says Jenna
"oh my God you're right, Lucy probably had what I have, medicine intolerance, Lucy's body was trying to tell the doctors to stop the meds, Selena probably could tell this by the taste of her neck when they made out which is clearly what was going on between them, my neck tastes extremely salty when my body reacts to meds of any kind, even headache meds" says Anna
"and Selena had no way to get help because of her problem speaking, which explains the hair" says Cat
"huh" asks everyone simultaneously as Selena curls up into a ball and cries
"Selena was two and the only time she was ever behaved was at the hospital when my uncle was dying, he loved my hair so I gave him a snippet of my hair to take to heaven with him for when he died, she was copying me" says Cat
"holy cow, ok she needs some rest after that trauma, is there anywhere she can have a nap" says Jade
"ya I'll take a nap with her on the bottom bunk in our room, wake me up when my parents get here" says Cat as she carries Selena to the bedroom
"ok I think Jade and I should ask to move back in with dad, it's getting a bit crowded here, I wouldn't want to hurt Selena's feelings" says Trina
"sorry to break it to ya Trin but Selena danced with Jade, if Selena is anything like Cat Jade isn't going anywhere" says Tori
"she's gonna be so sad if she can't find another love Tori, she needs her space, there isn't enough room here and we can't make her live in the safe room, it's not safe" says Jade
"you easily forget I own this complex Jade, that's exactly where she'll be sleeping once we add a real door to it, also having a room next to where Cat sleeps is the only option right now as she is Cat's responsibility" says Tori
3 hours later as Mr and Mrs Valentine arrive
"where is our Selena" asks Mr. Valentine
"sorry Doug you don't legally get to take her home" says Jenna
"we're aware, Tori texted us the reason, given Cat solved the problem we didn't know she had that caused her behaviour I'd say we don't have a right to be her parents now anyway, Tori also said something about Selena having a girlfriend in that place" says Vanessa Valentine
"yes, Lucy, she had what my sister Anna has, medicine intolerance, they kept giving Lucy meds and waved away any concern about problems on Lucy just being fussy about taking the meds, Lucy and Selena were deeply in love, they'd started hanging out three years ago and slowly fell in love over the course of a year, they hadn't really done anything kissy wise till just about three months before Lucy died" says Jenna
"oh God" says Vanessa
"please dear God tell me people are going to prison for that" says Doug Valentine
"they were fired yes as of about an hour ago when Jennabelle brought it to their attention, ten people were fired" says Jenna
"ten people to look after one person….." asks Doug
"no, in the course of their internal investigation which is only beginning they found three other people who died from the same condition as Lucy, oddly enough all friends of Selena" says Jenna
"Selena knew, there is no way she didn't know, can she speak" says Vanessa
"yes and no, su is the only thing she says, cat seems to be able to understand it which confuses us all, Selena says su in different ways with tones or something to speak" says Jenna
"that's because Cat had to do a similar thing till she was four, her ear wasn't formed right, not like bad bad but enough that most words she'd try and say would make her sound like she was deaf which she wasn't, she could hear just fine but her voice was too high pitched for her to hear certain letters, once she was eligible for the operation she was fine" says Vanessa
"what was her word word thing" asks Jade
"kya, anyway may we go see Selena" says Doug
"I mean they're probably still asleep, Cat was snoring ten minutes ago, ya go ahead just be quiet" says Jade
In Cat and Tori's room
"shh mom she's sleeping, dad not yet" says Cat as Vanessa strokes Selena's hair
"she's so pretty, I'm kinda sad that we can't fix her hearing" says Vanessa
"mom there is no fixing her ears, her susu is because her ears are too sensitive, she hears everything which is why she can't speak words, well I mean since she's been cuddling with me when we first walked into this room I taught her how to say Lucy and pain, I'm hoping to teach her more words soon" says Cat
"but if her ears are too sensitive to sound how did she learn to say Lucy and pain" asks Doug
"dad walk over slowly and look at her ears, or rather what's in them" says Cat as Doug tiptoes in
"wait headphones, how does that help" says Doug
"dad they're special headphones obviously, my lawyer Jennabelle got her from the facility once she was allowed to and flew her to Vancouver where they make special headphones that lower what she can hear to a normal level, they're off right now which is why she isn't waking up" says Cat
"what if there was a fire" asks Vanessa still stroking Selena's hair
"it's not fully off, it's just not sending her ears any audio, it has special features that are always on, so like if as you suggest a fire or smoke alarm went off it would buzz in her ear and then send the audio to her ears" says Cat
"how long has Lucy been gone from this earth" asks Doug
"few weeks" says Cat as Selena activates her headphones
"oh god so it's all still fresh, wait did you pay for the plane tickets and the headphones with your own money" says Vanessa
"duh mom, it's one of the reasons I got into music, I'd been kinda focused on Seli lately and by lately I mean since I started dating Tori for real and my ears started acting up and you know how that goes then I was like huh, Seli did that all the time, then a few weeks went by and I looked up the symptoms for hyper sound sensitivity and everything clicked together and I was like holy chiz how has everyone been so stupid so I kindly asked my lawyer Jbelle to go talk to her, see she'd been in an accident and her voice was affected so she talks real quiet and when Jbelle said my name to Seli her entire demeanor changed from hyper agitated to super calm" says Cat
"you know your father and I feared you having kids, we had feared you'd have kids because you used to say you wanted lots of kids and that having kids was what girls did…. But seeing how you took a stand with your music and willingly did it anonymously so the songs were in full focus then saved and diagnosed Selena and saved her, we realize we couldn't have asked for a better daughter" says Vanessa as Selena wakes up
"mumu" asks Selena
"yes Seli it's mumu, I guess you heard all that huh" says Vanessa as Selena hugs her
"sisi care, sisi love, sisi stand me" says Selena
"you said you only taught her two words" says Doug
"guess she's like her big sister, learns fast" says Cat as Selena hugs her dad
"do you know if she's autistic like you" asks Doug cherishing the hug he's getting from his daughter
"what I know is that facility didn't do jack to diagnose shit with her, Lucy would still be here today if they cared, she died because the doctors there outright assumed her problems with the meds were just her being fussy about taking them, had Seli not fallen for her Lucy's story would have been buried, solely because of her slightly age-inappropriate actions in kissing Lucy we were able to determine why Lucy died and launch a full police investigation" says Cat
"hey Seli where are Lucy's parents, you want them to stand right" asks Doug as Selena pokes his forehead
"kya Hooklay Twem" says Selena
"I swear Cat you and Selena could be twins, you both soak up information like a sponge" says Vanessa
"ok uhhh Hockey Team, who's team Seli" asks Doug as she pokes him again
"dad she's saying YOUR hockey team" says Cat
"but I'm not on a team" says Doug
"DAD come on, what team do you watch on hockey night" says Cat
"the….. oh my god they're in Anaheim, by any chance do you have her full name Seli" says Doug
"Lucy Sue is the name the facility had" says Cat as Selena shakes her head no
"Susu medmu nomi, fue nam Lucy….. Isabelle….Susy….Black…." says Selena chewing on the name as she throws a hammer at the metal safe
"Lucy Isabelle Susy Blacksmith?" asks Vanessa as Selena nods and continues
"d-d-dad deaadaa" says Selena
"dad dead…. I'm confused" says Doug
"Dad geez she's saying Lucy's dad is dead, which means the mom probably doesn't go by that anymore, now let Seli calm down, for her talking that much so suddenly is hurtful to her, especially given the topic, why do you guys care so much anyway" says Cat
"because we don't want Lucy's family to hear from the cops that their daughter or sister died, we want to bring them here so they can hear it from the girl Lucy loved that she didn't die, sad or alone, that she was loved, because we had the same fears about Selena when she had to go in there, we thought we'd never see her again, that she'd grow up in that facility without knowing what love was" says Vanessa as Selena jumps into her arms and cries
"mumu, I know it not you fault I in there, you mistake help me save life" cries Selena as Doug starts bawling