Patrick reached over and took Kat's hand in his as he drove down the street. It was beginning to sprinkle and tiny drops of water were landing haphazardly on the windshield, not enough to turn the wipers on yet, but enough to notice.
Her hand was icy against his palm and her eyes were wide with a brand new surge of panic. He wondered what she was thinking.
She didn't belong in the middle of all this. This was his world, not hers. She shouldn't be here, shouldn't be anywhere near all the filth and degradation that made up his life. She was too innocent, too pure for this life. He had known that all along. Part of his draw to her was the fact that she was so removed from the shit he put up with everyday. He hadn't meant to sully her, to taint her with the dirt that he had inherited.
" I'm taking you home. I'll deal with all this." He announced, making the decision on the spot.
She shot a look at him that made him, at first, think she would agree with his decision. But then her head started to shake, sending tendrils of loosened curls around her shoulders. " I'm not leaving you." Her mouth moved slowly around the words as if they were difficult for her to say. " Besides I'm no safer at home. They know where I live."
" You're safer there than you are with me and if I do what I said I would, which I plan to, they'll have no reason to go to your house." He reasoned.
" Patrick," Her hand curled into a fist inside his larger hand. " We both know they'll still come. Getting them their drugs won't make us safe. It'll just make us – Lenny." He thought he saw the beginnings of tears in her eyes, but it was hard to tell in the dim light from the dashboard so he ignored it. He wasn't exactly sure how she would want him to react to her crying in front of him, anyway. It was so out of character for her.
" We'll think of something." He tried to reassure her as he spied his house coming into view at the end of the block.
There were several cars parked along the road and Patrick felt his own sense of panic when he realized his stepfather was having a party. That shot the odds of them actually getting the drugs back down to nearly zero.
" Does he do this often ?" Kat asked, seemingly out of nowhere.
" Does who do what ?"
" Your stepfather, does he normally steal drugs from people in the park ?"
He shrugged. " It isn't unheard of for him. This whole thing is like a game to him. He's been playing it since he was our age."
" That's what you meant when you said your mother only has an opinion if he gives her one, right ? He's got her messed up too?"
" It started right after they started dating." He confirmed for her. " She never did drugs before, at least not that I know of. He started her off on weed. She became an instant pothead. I thought, wow ! This is great. She can't very well complain if I get stoned when she does it, too." He laughed to himself. " But it got worse, quick. Pretty soon the weed just wasn't enough for her anymore. Jeff, my stepfather, started giving her other crap, meth, smack, coke, whatever he could find. I was actually in the house the first night they tried X together. It was disgusting, the noises they were making." He shuddered at the memory. " That was the night I found the cave. I had to get out of there."
She turned in her seat and gave him a watery, sympathetic smile. " I'm so sorry, Patrick."
" Don't be sorry." He told her, finding an empty space three houses down from his. " I don't want you to feel sorry for me."
She huffed in annoyance. " I didn't say I feel sorry for you. I said I'm sorry you have to deal with all this. There's a difference."
He opened the door and got out, leaving her sitting in the car to wait for him. Then he leaned down and stuck his head in the window. " Pity is pity. Doesn't matter what fancy words you use to justify it."
He started walking towards the house, but stopped when he heard her car door shut and he turned around to find her hot on his heels.
" You aren't coming with me for this." He told her firmly.
" Yes, I am." She insisted.
" Kat, get back in the car. We don't have time to argue."
" Then stop arguing. I'm coming, end of story."
She planted her hands on her hips and looked at him defiantly. He was suddenly very glad not to be Walter Stratford. He never wanted to have to contend with a daughter that was capable of that look. It must be hell for the poor man.
" You are not coming, that is the end of this story. This could get nasty. It certainly will be dangerous and I don't want to have to worry about where you are if I need to make a run for it." He rattled off the lists of a things that made this a bad idea.
She dropped her hands and her eyes, letting them land somewhere near her feet. " Please don't make me stay out here alone." She told him, her voice so fragile and quiet it was like delicate glass.
He caved. Of course, he caved, how could he not. It was impossible with her looking at him like that and sounding so vulnerable. If she asked him to fly, with that look and sounding that breakable, he'd be jumping off the nearest building, flapping his arms like an idiot and giving it his best shot.
" Stay close to me. And I mean close. I don't want to lose sight of you for a second." He told her, taking her hand in his.
" Well, maybe for a second." She smiled at seeing him relent.
" No, not even for a second." He shook his head.
" But I have to pee." She whined and he almost laughed in spite of himself.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Patrick moved into the house as stealthily as possible, holding onto Kat the entire time. He nodded to several of the many people milling around his living room, hoping they were doing a descent job of blending in with the rest of the crowd. He lead her down a hall and stopped at the door just before his room.
" Bathroom." He nodded towards the opened door. " Hurry."
She darted inside and he closed the door behind her, holding onto the knob and guarding it carefully.
When he felt it jerk in his hand a few minutes later, he let her pull it open and step out.
" That was quick." He told her, pulling her back against his chest as they started back down the hall.
" You said hurry." She answered.
" Yeah, usually for girls that means five minutes instead of ten." He explained.
" I'm not a typical girl. I don't need to mess around. I've been doing it for years. I've gotten pretty quick at it, actually." She answered as they maneuvered around a couple trying to sit together in a straight-back dining room chair and eat each other's faces.
" They're probably in here." He nodded towards a room off the cluttered, messy kitchen.
Several empty liquor bottles and turned over beer cans littered the island. A stack of dishes filled both sides of the sink and a trash can was overflowing in the corner.
A thought suddenly occurred to her as she looked around the crowded house. " Where is Spock ?"
Patrick glanced around himself, searching for his dog under all the feet. When he didn't see him, his eyes widened and his back stiffened in anger.
This had happened before during one of their little parties. He banged on the shut bedroom door where he was sure his parents were holed up. Not waiting for an answer, he opened it in a rush and looked around the tiny, smoky room, letting his eyes adjust to the sudden dimness.
" Where is my dog ?" He shouted, temporarily forgetting about the actual reason he was there. There were few things he really cherished in the world and the dog was one of them.
His mother jumped up, removing herself from where she had been sprawled over Jeff, his stepfather. Patrick tried to avert his eyes from the slight of the enormously overweight man sitting on the bed shirtless. Several rolls of fat shifted as he sat up a little straighter. His dark eyes took Patrick and Kat in with a dangerous glare. A mirrored tray sat beside him on the bed with several white lines raked out across the surface.
" I thought I told you not to come back here." His stepfather said coolly.
" Yeah, well I've been here a lot longer than you," Patrick shrugged. " So I ignored you. Now where is my dog ?"
His mother, dressed in a pair of ripped, dirty jeans and a shirt that looked ragged and filthy came to him and tried to grab his arm. He jerked it away and she turned her head quickly sending an array of stringy, bleached blond hair around her shoulders. He tried not to look to closely at the dark circles under her eyes or the pallor of her skin. She had always been such a beautiful woman, so elegant and graceful. He wanted to grab her and shake her. He wanted to scream at her to look at herself and what this dirt bag she was married to was doing to her. But he didn't do any of those things. He was too angry to get into anything with her at the moment. He would inevitably end up saying something he didn't mean or worse something he did.
" He's in your room, Sweetheart. I put him in there to keep him out from under everyone's feet." She told him in a voice that didn't sound anything like her.
" I wanted to shoot the damn thing, but she wouldn't let me." Jeff added from his lounging position on the bed.
His mother sniffled and rubbed her hand across her nose hastily as if trying to hide any evidence of her state of mind from her son and the girl he'd brought home. " Who's your friend ?" His mother asked, reaching out to take Kat's hand.
Patrick quickly stepped in the way and gritted his teeth. " You don't get to touch her. Not like this. You don't even get to meet her like this."
He felt Kat move in closer to his back and he put his arm around behind him in a way of some reassurance for her. He knew she should have stayed in the car.
" I need the drugs you stole from the guy in the park." He held out his hand as Jeff sat up all the way. "Please don't bother. I know you took them." His eyes flashed to the eagle tattoo on Jeff's upper arm with the name Maggie written across a banner in its mouth. It was old and a little faded and the globs of cellulite weren't doing the artist's work any justice but it was there.
" I wasn't going to say I didn't. The little weasel was an easy mark and I took the opportunity." Jeff shrugged as if jacking drugs from a greasy slim ball was the most common place thing in the world. Kat inched closer to him still and he winced at her reaction.
" The little weasel was just shot in front of us by the cops who owned those drugs. Now I need to get them back to them before they come after us." Patrick explained tersely.
His mother actually did grab his arm this time and he wasn't fast enough to pull away, especially since Kat was now practically clinging to his shoulders. " Are you alright, Sweetie ? They didn't hurt you, did they?"
" I'm fine." He assured her without really looking at her as he attempted to shake her off his arm. " I just need the drugs so I can get them back to them."
" Well, I guess that's your problem, because I don't have them. I sold most of them." Jeff answered, rising up a little and trying to look past Patrick to Kat.
" You Ass, just give him the damn drugs." Patrick's mother hissed at her husband. " He's going to get hurt."
Jeff got up from the bed with a bit of a struggle, the broken down mattress not aiding his attempt and his fat causing problems as well. He came up to his full height and walked over to Patrick's mother. In a move that was faster than the large man seemed capable of, he struck out, landing the back of his hand across Maggie's lip. " I'll let you know when I need your opinion on a matter." Then with a bit of a stagger, he came towards Patrick. " Now, let's see, maybe we can work something out." When he got to him, he tried to reach around and grab hold of Kat. Patrick put himself between them quickly. He had expected the move. It was one of the many reasons he hadn't wanted Kat anywhere near Jeff.
" If you try to touch her again," Patrick said, his teeth gritted, his voice low and deadly, " you won't leave this room in one piece."
" Do you really think you can stop me, tough guy ?" Jeff asked, poking his chest out menacingly.
" I stopped you last time I wanted to with no problem." Patrick told him with all confidence that he could make it happen again. " You remember that, don't you ?"
Jeff took an unsteady step back and eyed him carefully. " Oh, I remember it. Your mother remembers it, too."
Patrick winced as Jeff grabbed her and hauled her shirt up enough to show off the bruises on her chest. He wasn't sure if he was more disgusted by the discolored flesh or the fact that he could clearly see her every last one of her ribs in detail. The saggy skin that covered them was pale and frighteningly thin. It was the first time he'd actually seen how bony she had become.
" This is what happens when you piss me off and you aren't around to take it out on. Someone has to pay, after all." Jeff boosted.
" Let her go. You're hurting her." Kat shouted from behind him and Patrick nearly spun around in shock.
She so should have stayed in the car.
He hadn't even noticed his mother struggling in Jeff's grasp until Kat yelled. But his eyes quickly shot to her face and he could clearly see the pain etched there.
" Wow, you have yourself one with a little bite in her. I could cure that for you, if you want." Jeff offered.
It happened before he knew what was going on. Kat just rushed out from behind him and threw herself with all her weight into his stepfather. He didn't know what to do at first. They were just a scrambled up mess of arms and legs and he couldn't tell who's appendage belonged to whom. Then a beautifully rounded shoulder caught his eye a second before she staggered back into him with a trail of blood leaking from her lip.
It was the blood, he was pretty sure. Looking back on what had caused the blind rage that consumed him, he was almost certain it was seeing Kat bloody and knowing Jeff had been the cause of it.
Fists swinging and legs kicking at anything that moved, he grabbed hold of Kat and almost tossed her out of the way before barreling into his stepfather with everything he had. Jeff fought back against him, swinging out with his own fist and actually connecting a time or two. He saw his mother out of the corner of his eye. Kat had her by the arm, pulling her free of the tangle and hauling her to safety. He was grateful for that. He didn't want to accidentally get her instead of his intended target.
His breath rushed out of his lungs as one of Jeff's beefy legs caught him square in the chest. How he had managed to lift it that far was still a mystery as Patrick's ass connected to the floor for a moment. Realizing he had landed a direct hit, Patrick's stepfather reared back and kicked him again, in the same spot, this time sending him toppling over sideways.
He tried to get up, knew he needed to get to his feet and quickly. Jeff took the opportunity to get to the women cowering in the far corner trying to stay out of the flay.
He watched in horror as Jeff reached out and took hold of Kat's arm. " Let her go!" He ground out around a mouthful of blood.
" Doesn't really look like you're in much of a position to make demands, Kid." Jeff told him.
Patrick sat up, rather shakily and tried to balance himself despite the fact that his head was swimming. Slowly getting his feet under him, he was propelled upright by the sound of Kat whimpering quietly. When his eyes finally found them again, Jeff had her in a sort of choke hold with her back pressed into his chest and one arm around her shoulder holding her in place while the other moved up her side.
" Now like I was saying, maybe we can work something out. I like this one. She's feisty." He grabbed a handful of her hair, which was now completely undone and falling around her shoulders and yanked it behind her. " What's your name, Sweet thing ?"
" Kat." She spat at him as she struggled against his hold.
" How fitting." Jeff smirked. " I wonder how long it would take to de-claw you, Kitty Kat."
Kat lunged her elbow into Jeff's stomach. " No one calls me Kitty Kat !" She lashed out at him, only causing him to tighten his hold further.
Patrick had used the temporary distraction to get his feet under him and came to his full height. He tried to draw in a few lungfuls of air and was glad to not feel much pain in doing so.
" I told you to let her go." He repeated with a lot more volume that he had before.
" And I told you to piss off. I'm done talking with you. This is between me and the pretty little girl here. "
Patrick found his mother's eyes and silently pleaded with her to do something as Jeff's hand came up to cup the underside of Kat's breast. His mother looked away from him as soon as he looked at her. They fell to the floor and she stared at her feet in shame.
Giving up on getting any help, he began to cast his eyes around the room. Sober he could take Jeff with no problem but hyped up on cocaine was a different story and he couldn't take the chance of losing. Losing was unacceptable, losing would mean leaving Kat alone with him.
He glanced everywhere, finally letting his eyes dart over the cluttered desk in the corner of the room.
When he did, he spied it. It wasn't much, just a tazer very similar to the one Kat kept in her purse. He wondered for a moment why she hadn't brought hers along for the night. That would have been helpful.
Easing towards the desk, he kept his eye on Jeff who was still struggling with a very vicious Kat in his arms. She wasn't backing down. She wasn't giving up and he was sure Jeff would have the bruises in the morning to prove it.
" Look man, I know you want me gone." Patrick said, stalling for time as he got closer to the tazer. " I know I put a huge damper on your lifestyle. If you'll just give me the drugs and let her go, I'll leave and you'll never see me again."
He was at the desk now and he paused to watch as Jeff mauled over his offer. Then his hand formed around the handle of the devise and he lifted it slowly, adjusting it in his palm until it felt right.
" I have a better idea. Why don't I keep the drugs, I'll keep the girl and you can go and never came back again." Jeff countered.
" I'm not leaving without her." Patrick shook his head. " You'll have to kill me first."
" Ah, how about that!" Jeff exclaimed, finally getting Kat under control he turned his head towards Maggie. " This one's different from the others he's brought here. I think he's got a girlfriend."
Maggie looked up and Patrick watched as she caught Kat's eye for a moment. The look they exchanged was hard to read, but he could tell Maggie didn't like what she saw because she immediately looked back down to the floor.
" Seriously ?" Patrick said finally, no longer able to stomach his mother's behavior. " You have stood by while this piece of shit tried to beat the shit out of me. You're let him beat the shit out of you. And now you're just going to stand there while he tries to negotiate for the ownership of my girlfriend ? Are you even my mother anymore ?"
" Just let her go, Jeff." Maggie finally joined the conversation. "Why do you want her anyway ?"
Jeff turned to give her an evil smile. " I want some fresh meat. I'm tired of the ground beef I usually get. I thought maybe I could go for a steak."
Maggie made a move for him, sinking her teeth into the arm that was holding Kat to his chest. Kat took the opportunity to spin around and get her hands up to Jeff's throat. With one woman biting into his arm and the other pushing at his throat with everything in her, he stumbled, nearly falling backwards even as his arms flailed out around him trying to grab hold of either of his attackers.
Patrick dashed in, grabbed both women and threw them off of his stepfather before hitting the trigger on the tazer and sinking it into his massive stomach.
Jeff twitched where he landed on the floor and Patrick stood over him long enough to confirm that he was in fact down at least for the moment. His first thought after that was Kat.
He turned around, searching for her and finding her sprawled on the floor trying to right herself and get to her feet. His next thought at seeing she was okay was his mother. He found her, too, mostly unharmed and getting to her feet as well.
" Is he dead ?" Maggie asked coming up to Patrick and putting her hand on his arm.
" No, he's just out. I need to get you both out of here."
Kat came to him and immediately wrapped her arms around his waist. She tucked her head into his shoulder and he leaned down to kiss her softly. " Are you okay ?" He asked searching her face with concern.
" I'm fine. What an asshole though." She muttered. Then looked up at his mother sheepishly. " I'm sorry."
" No," Maggie shook her head. " You're right. He's an asshole."
" Are you alright ?" Kat asked, letting her hands glide over his chest as if checking for anything out of place.
" I'll be alright." He tried to hid the anger and disgust as he turned his face to his mother. " How about you. Are you okay ?"
He watched in disbelief as his mother sank down to the floor beside her husband and began to smooth the hair from his face. " He'll be okay, won't he ?"
" Mom!" Patrick snapped at her. But she refused to look up. " You've got to be kidding me."
She snatched her eyes up to Patrick's face and what he saw looking back at him was truly the most pitiful thing he'd ever seen. " He's my husband." She tried to reason.
" And I'm your son. I guess that doesn't mean as much." He huffed. " But then I'm not your dealer, too."
She was about to say something else, but Patrick cut her off by raising his hand. " Are you going to give me the drugs or do you care that people are thinking about killing me ?"
" In the top drawer of the night stand." She muttered as she went back to fawning over her fallen love. " I don't think you should come back here tonight."
" I don't plan on coming back here until he's gone. I'm just going to grab some stuff and I'll be gone." He reached into the nightstand and grabbed a wadded up paper bag. Taking a quick glance inside, he saw what he was hoping to find and jabbed the sack into his pants pocket before giving his mother one last look.
Then he shook his head and went to the door, stopping once her was there to put his arm around Kat again. Then he looked at his mother one last time. " Dad would be so proud." He muttered loud enough for her to hear him before leaving the room and slamming the door behind him.
" Oh God, Patrick." Kat whispered into his shoulder, when she stopped outside the door for long enough to put her arm around him and hold him tightly.
" Oh great. Just what I was hoping for, more pity." He mumbled even as his arms went around her and he held her against him.
" But this time it isn't for you, it's for her. We should get her to come with us. There is no telling what he'll do when he wakes up." Kat insisted. " We can't just leave her there to deal with him."
" She's where she wants to be." He shook his head.
" She isn't in her right mind." Kat argued.
" You don't think I know that." He spat, feeling the anger rising in him and knowing it wasn't directed at her, but at his own feeling of helplessness. " That isn't my mother in there. Once she was a lot like you."
Kat's eyes widened suddenly and he knew he had said something wrong but he had no idea what it was. Something changed in her face and she drew away from him hurriedly. " Can we get out of here ?"
" Yeah, just let me grab a few things and check on my dog." He told her concerned over the sudden change in her.
" We should bring him with us." Kat announced. " He can stay with at my house until you find a place for him."
" Are you sure ?" He asked, stopping in his tracks and turning to look at her.
" I'm sure. We have a huge backyard and we may have to leave your mother here with that monster, but we shouldn't leave him here. He's even more defenseless than she is." She told him.
" Thank you." He said in all sincerity. He didn't want to leave the dog with Jeff. It would be just like him to shot him in the morning to get back at Patrick for the night's events. He'd done it before. Patrick had managed to get the dog to the vet in time and Jeff wasn't a great shot, but Spock was older now and his chances of survival were much slimmer. " Jeff shot him once before." Patrick told her, not understanding why he felt the need to share the information with her. " We got into it. I jumped him because he was beating up on Mom. The next day while I was at school, he shot him. I got home just in time to get him to the vets. Had to steal his car to do it, but I got him there."
Kat stopped walking this time. " He shot your dog ?"
" Right in the shoulder. I had to work for the vet for a month to pay off the bill." Patrick nodded as he opened his bedroom door.
Spock looked up from the center of Patrick's bed as soon as the door opened. Patrick went to him and patted him on the head, causing Spock's entire body to shake with the wagging of his tail.
" How long have you had him ?" Kat asked, shutting the door behind her.
" Since I was ten. The last thing my Dad ever gave me." He answered. " We should hurry. I want to be gone before the asshole wakes up and we are running out of time."
Kat glanced at her watch in horror as she suddenly remembered they were on a tight schedule.
" What can I grab ?"
" Just a few of those notebook there on the desk." Patrick said as he began hauling armloads of clothes into a backpack. Once he got everything he could manage, he patted his leg and Spock got to his feet lazily.
He followed them as they made their way out the door. Then he stayed right on their heels as the moved down the sidewalk towards Kat's car.
Opening the backdoor, Patrick paused before inviting the dog inside. " Are you really sure about this ? He sheds, you know."
" Yeah," Kat answered. " There have been far worse things in the backseat of my car. Cameron James threw up back there once."
" Seriously ?" Patrick raised his eyebrow at her and patted the seat for the dog. Spock jumped up stiffly and paced around the seat for a minute before finding a spot to lay down.
" Yeah, seriously." Kat answered getting into the passenger seat. " Took me forever to get the smell out."
Once Patrick was behind the wheel and pulling out onto the road, Kat put her hand on his leg and gave him a small smile.
" Where will you stay ?" She asked, quietly.
" The cave probably." He shrugged. " Or Keith's."
" Maybe we can talk to my dad. We have a guestroom downstairs." She offered.
" Right, he's going to let me move in knowing I'm your boyfriend." he rolled his eyes at her.
" Alright, but not the cave. If you have nowhere else to go, my window's always opened for you."
" We can't keep that up. It's just a matter of time before we get caught and I won't take that chance." He tried to explain to her as nicely as he could. He wanted her father to like him. It was important to him for some reason. He didn't know why for sure, but we needed the man's approval and finding Patrick in his daughter's bed was certainly no way to go about it.
" I've been thinking about my dad actually." She said out of the blue.
" What about him ?"
" We should go to him. Tell him everything. He can help us." She told him. " He'll understand."
" Dr. Stratford, I was trying to have sex with your daughter in this cave by the beach and these policemen came in and shot this guy right in front of us over drugs then they threatened you and your other daughter." Patrick monologued. " Yeah, that ought to do it. He might even call me son by the end of that speech."
Kat laughed. " You have a point but we're running out of time."
" I think I might know someone that can help." Patrick mumbled not even wanting to contemplate what it would cost him to seek out the help they needed.
" Who ?"
" My grandfather."