Merry early Christmas!
Kate had never had a normal Christmas. Even before her birth parents separated when she was five, Christmas hadn't been good. Her mother took her out of the house and to a diner every year, where she'd get one or two presents. Despite her family being financially well-off, her father hadn't cared enough to buy his only child presents or even a tree. It had stayed the same once Kate and Lisa had left New Jersey: stopping at a local diner and giving presents. It was the norm; it was what Kate expected.
This year, however, was different.
This year, Kate had a stable family that loved Christmas.
This year, she didn't have to feel guilty she didn't get her mother a present because she couldn't go shopping by herself.
No, this year, Kate could have a nice Christmas. She was excited to be able to have a Christmas tree and shop for presents for other people. She was going to bake cookies, watch Christmas specials, and sing carols. She'd get to open presents in a living room instead of in a crowded Denny's. She'd get to wear her pajamas without a winter coat over them. No Lisa, no Mike, no bad things this year.
Oh, who are we kidding? It's South Park on Christmas. Something bad is going to happen.
Our Christmas tale begins a week before Christmas, as the winter snow fell around the school on the last day before winter break. Mr. Garrison's class was having their class Christmas party before school let out. Kate, being so gung-ho about Christmas this year, had made peppermint fudge and handed it out to all her classmates except Cartman, who decided to tease Kate and Kyle about the 'true love's kiss' thing that had happened a couple weeks earlier by hanging mistletoe above their heads while they were talking. That ended with Kate decking him in the jaw and withholding his share of fudge.
"Owie, Kaaate!" he whined. "Give me some fudge and I won't tell Mom!"
"Shut up. I'll tell her it was your fault for teasing me."
"Well, it was funny."
"No, it wasn't." Her cheeks were almost the same color as the Rudolph nose Butters was wearing.
"Is somebody falling for the J—" Kate shoved Cartman into Heidi Turner in embarrassment. Heidi yelped and glared at Cartman.
"Shut up and leave her alone, Fatass!" Kyle snapped, blushing just as hard.
"Okay, children," Mr. Garrison announced. "The bell will ring in just a minute. I want you to all go out and have a fun Christmas, but we're going right back to work once break is—"
BRRRINNNG!
"YAY!" all the kids yelled, running out the door. Our 'heroes' got on the bus and started heading towards home. Kate was sitting by the window, her mood still high and happy from the excitement over the holidays. Her eyes scanned the streets as they went by, and her good mood faded at a stoplight as she caught sight of a man on the corner.
He was tall and solidly-built, his skin tanned and his hair gelled. Despite his winter clothing, Kate knew it was him. She'd know him anywhere.
For a moment, they locked eyes and he gave her a smirk as the light changed and the bus surged forwards.
The next afternoon, Kate was lying on her bed, holding the handgun she'd only touched to clean for the past four months. She contemplated just putting a bullet between his eyes; she was a good shot, after all.
No. That would only lead to more death.
She'd think of something else.
She put the gun back in the jewelry box and shut it, leaving it unlocked for later.
"Kate!"
She shut the box in her drawer just as the door opened and Liane poked her head in.
"The boys are going skating," she told her adopted daughter. "Kyle asked if you were coming along."
"Yeah, I'll be down in a minute."
"I got you a pair of skates." Liane held out the box. "I bought them right after the adoption went through. I hoped you'd want to go skating with your brother."
"Thank you, Mom." Kate gave her a tight hug, as if she was afraid she might die.
"Go on and play with your friends."
"I will. I love you, Mom!"
Kate rushed down the stairs, throwing on her coat and taking the skates out of the box. Cartman glared as if she was the reason they would be late.
"Just like a girl—taking forever to get ready!" he sniffed.
"Shut up, Fuck Trash," she snapped. "I just found out about this two minutes ago."
"Let's go!" Stan cheered.
As they left the house, Kate caught sight of the man watching her again. She shuddered but ran to keep up with the boys. Kenny noticed her odd behavior but decided to ignore it in favor of winter fun.
Kate stared at the skates on her feet. She'd never been skating before, and she'd thought it'd come to her once she'd gotten the skates on, but… nothing.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Kyle asked.
"I… don't know how to skate," she admitted.
"It's easy. C'mon." He took her hand in his and pulled her onto the ice. She slipped with a yelp and hung onto him. "Just put your skates so the blades are straight."
"Okay…"
"Keep them like that to go faster, and turn them inwards to slow down."
"Got it."
"Hold onto me until you feel like you can do it on your own."
Kate held onto him for a few minutes before she skated around by herself, figuring Kyle would prefer to join the impromptu hockey game that had started up on one side of the pond. She was happily going along until she saw the man by the edge of the pond, waving at her. He was smirking like he had the day before. Kate lost her balance and crashed into Butters.
"H-hey, Kate!" he greeted her before noticing her panicked expression. He followed her gaze to the man that was walking away. "Who was that? What's wrong?!"
"N-nothing. I'm going home!" she squeaked, stumbling to the edge of the pond and taking off her skates. He tilted his head in confusion before skating over to Cartman and the others, who were watching Kate run towards town.
"Do you fellas know what's up with Kate?" he asked.
"No, what happened?" Kyle replied.
"She saw some fella with gelled-up hair and freaked out. I-I think she's scared of him."
"Kate, scared?!" laughed Cartman. "That's hilarious! We're talking about the girl who can seriously maim a prep-school girl and get off scot-free. She can burn a stuffed animal and come out of a coma like it's nothing!"
"Everyone's afraid of something," Stan sighed. "I guess that guy's just one of them."
When they got back to Cartman's for some hot cocoa, Kate wasn't home. According to Liane, she'd taken off for Wendy's to hang out for the rest of the afternoon. Not five minutes later, there was a knock at the door.
"I'll get it!" Liane sang, opening the door to see a man on the doorstep. He was tall and solidly built, with too-tan skin and over-gelled hair. He smirked at her.
"Liane Cartman?" he asked. Cartman watched as his mother eyed the man suspiciously.
"Yes, who are you?"
"My name's Mike Silverton. You adopted a girl recently, right? Katherine?"
"Yes, but you need to leave. She's not here and you can't see her."
"You know who I am?"
"I know your name, not your face. You need to leave, now."
The boys looked at her in confusion.
"You know why I'm here. Let me see Katherine."
"The answer is no."
"I'll be back later, and you will let me see her."
"I'll burn in Hell first."
She slammed the door behind him as he left, fuming with anger.
"Who was that?" Cartman asked.
"The reason Kate lives with us instead of her mother," Liane replied. "He's someone I want nowhere near any of you."
"We'd better call Wendy and warn her not to let that guy in," Kyle told Stan.
"Got it." Stan hit Wendy's name in his contacts and called. She picked up within a couple rings.
"Hey, Stan!" she greeted him.
"Hey, Wendy. Listen, there's this creepy guy in the neighborhood and he's after Kate. Could you tell her not to go outside alone? I know she's hanging out with you."
"What are you talking about? Kate's not here. I haven't seen her all day."
"She's not there? She told her mom she was going to hang out with you."
"No, sorry, but if this guy's so bad, you need to find her."
"We will! Thanks, Wendy!"
Stan hung up and turned to the guys, who were staring in shock.
A few hours later, Kate entered the house, shaking snow from her boots and carrying her purple backpack. Cartman tackled her to the ground, shoving chloroform in her face to knock her out. She lost consciousness and woke up in the basement tied to a chair with a gag in her mouth.
She faced a serious-looking Cartman, who was accompanied by Stan, Kenny, Kyle, and Butters.
"We met someone interesting today, Kate," he replied. "A man by the name of Mike Silverton." Kate's eyes widened. "He claimed to know you and he wanted to see you. What was suspicious is that our mother, the woman who is one of the kindest people in South Park, treated him like a leper. She yelled at him to go away and never come back, that she'd burn in Hell before she'd let him see you. Who is he?" Kate couldn't answer, so she sounded like a bundled-up Kenny. "Search her backpack!"
Butters unzipped Kate's backpack and pulled out a few things: a book, a blanket, her phone and earbuds, and… a handgun.
"Oh, jeez!" he yelped, dropping the weapon.
"Ungag her!" Cartman ordered Kenny, who took the cloth out of Kate's mouth. She bit his hand and he screamed in pain.
"FUCK YOU!" she spat. "YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO KIDNAP ME TO FIND OUT THE ANSWERS! YOU COULD'VE JUST ASKED!"
"We all know you would've evaded answering, so we had no choice."
"Fine. What do you want to know?"
"Everything. How you know Mike. Why there's a gun in your backpack. Why you came to South Park."
"Fine. You want my story, I'll tell you.
"I was born in a small town in New Jersey to Lisa and Mike Silverton. Lisa was a kind and loving mother, while Mike was an abusive asshole. He hit my mom, and when she wasn't around, he hit me. She tried not to leave me alone with him, but sometimes, she had no choice. After he almost killed me when I was five, my mom snapped and got me out of New Jersey. I spent four years on the road with her, Mike right behind us until she sent me to live with her old friend, Liane.
"The gun was a gift from Mike on my fourth birthday. He claimed it was a practical gift, and my mom held onto it when we left for our protection. I've never fired it, and I only want to use it once: to put a bullet between Mike's eyes and end this whole thing."
She finished her story and the boys were staring at her, open-mouthed.
"No wonder your mom refused to let him see you," Kyle choked out, untying her arms. She flexed her fingers before curling them into a fist and popping Cartman in the nose.
"OW! SHIT!"
"That's for kidnapping me!" she snapped.
"So, are you going to kill him?" Stan asked, ignoring Cartman's whining.
"Not yet. He's just being a creeper right now, so I don't have any reason to kill him besides this." She lifted the hem of her shirt to reveal a scar that was long and thin. "This is where he stabbed me. If my birth mom hadn't come home, I might not have made it."
"Jesus Christ."
"If he messes with you guys, let me know and I'll kill him."
The following afternoon, the guys went looking for Mike. They thought if they found him, they could get him to leave Kate alone. Little did they know that Mike wanted to find them, too. They managed to 'track' him to an old abandoned warehouse, where they found themselves trapped.
"Hello, boys," Mike greeted them as the door locked.
"Leave Kate alone!" Kyle declared, sending her a low-key text that said, 'Warehouse at 32 Elm'.
"You mean Katherine."
"Her name is Kate, dumbass," Cartman sighed in exasperation.
"She's my daughter; I can call her what I want. If I want to call her a stupid little whore with a Jew-fag boy-toy, I can."
"HEY! ONLY I'M ALLOWED TO CALL HIM A JEW-FAG!"
"Thanks, Cartman," Kyle muttered sarcastically.
"I love my daughter—"
"Yeah, that's why you tried to kill her!" snapped Stan.
"My daughter was a bitch! I was just trying to discipline her! Ugh! Fuck you kids!" He pulled out a gun and aimed it at the boys. "Who first?!"
Suddenly, a gunshot rang out and Mike clutched his thigh, which was bleeding profusely. Kate stepped out of the shadows holding her gun, a determined and defiant grin on her face.
"The next one goes through your skull if you don't get the fuck out of here," she threatened in her calm voice that told the boys she was about to get violent.
"KATE!" the boys cheered.
"You… little… whore…"
"What else? I'm exactly like my mother?! GOOD! I want to be like my mother, both of them! Strong women who don't take shit from fuckers like you!"
"Fuck you, you little bitch!" Mike fired the gun and it ricocheted off a pipe behind Kate. It hit a few more pipes before it hit Kenny in the head, killing him instantly.
"OH MY GOD, YOU KILLED KENNY!" Stan gasped.
"YOU BASTARD!" Kyle added.
Cartman and Kate used Mike's distracted state to tag-team-tackle him to the floor. Kate managed to kick Mike's gun over to Kyle, who picked it up and pointed it at the man. Cartman used some rope from a crate nearby and tied his arms and legs together.
"You brats!" Mike yelled. "I'll kill all of you!"
"No, you won't," Kate replied. "You won't hurt me or my birth mother ever again!"
Sirens sounded in the distance. Kate had her foot on Mike's throat with her gun to his head, nothing but frozen contempt for the man below her in her eyes. All four living males in the room were afraid of her in that moment.
Within minutes, several officers arrived and arrested Mike.
"You have the right to remain silent," one of the officers recited. "Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney…"
On Christmas morning, Kate and Cartman eagerly opened their Christmas presents. Liane handed Kate the newspaper, which read 'Murderer, abuser, and rapist behind bars!'. Kate smiled because her father had finally been brought to justice. As she helped Liane throw away the last of the wrapping paper, there was a knock at the door. Cartman opened it himself for once and found a woman with light brown hair on the doorstep.
"Hello," she greeted him. "Is Liane home?"
"MOM! SOME LADY'S HERE FOR YOU!" Cartman announced. Liane gasped.
"Lisa?!" she squealed.
"Mommy!" Kate yelled, running into the woman's arms.
"Come in!" Liane invited.
"I'm not staying long," Lisa laughed as her daughter clung to her jacket. "I just came to hand you these." She held out a manila envelope. "It's Kate's birth certificate, vaccination records, and medical history, along with the official adoption certificate."
"You mean I'm staying here?" Kate asked in confusion.
"Yes. You're happier and safer here than you ever were with me. I think living here is good for you."
"It is." She smiled. "Will I see you?"
"I moved into my parents' old house not too far away as soon as I heard Mike had been arrested, so yes, you'll see me."
"Yay!" Kate threw her arms in the air in joy. "THIS IS THE BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!"
So that concludes my first Christmas anything!
As far as suggestions go, I've gotten six suggestions for episodes to include Kate in so far. They are:
Raisins
You Got F'd in the A
Stupid Spoiled Whore
South Park is Gay!
Medicinal Fried Chicken
Coon and Friends
If you like any of these episodes and think adding Kate would be a good idea, let me know so I can do that. The next chapter will be up in a couple weeks.
So long and thanks for all the fish!