I don't own The Professional or any of its characters. They belong soley to Luc Besson. I receive no money for any of this.
Shattered
Chapter 6: Closer to Normal
"Shh." said Mathilda as Kiesha's giggles got a little too loud. It was 4:30 Monday morning, the teachers had an inservice meeting today so they would'nt have class. The party they'd gone to was insane. It was on one of the bad sides of town at Kiesha's brother's house so they were as loud as they wanted to be. Both girls were too trashed to leave when they'd originally planned so they were just goin out the door now.
"Hey." said a groggy male voice behind them. They turned and saw a young man about Kiesha's age, maybe a little older watching them. He was one of Kiesha's few white friends aside from Mathilda and two others.
"What Seth?" asked Kiesha.
"Where are you two goin?"
"Why?"
"Just askin. Why the fuck you gotta be so damn defensive all the time?" he slurred out. He wasn't drunk anymore though, he was just tired. He had short messy hair and also need a shave.
"Go to bed Seth. We gotta go back to that school."
"And? Why not stay? You don't have any classes today do you?"
"No. What you wanna do girl?" she asked Mathilda.
"I don't care."
"You see? Quit your fuckin yellin at me. Besides, your brother wanted you for a minute Kiesha. " said Seth.
"What the fuck does he want? I don't gotta talk to him about shit."
She walked off regardless. Seth stayed in the hall.
"Your name's Mathilda right?"
"Yeah."
"You wanna go get breakfast?"
"Sure. KIESHA!" she shouted. Seth winced, his hangover was bad today.
"WHAT!" she shouted back.
"I"M GONNA GO GET BREAKFAST!"
"FINE! MEET ME BACK HERE THEN!"
"Jesus. You two done?" asked Seth.
"Yeah. Sorry. My head hurts too."
They walked out the front door.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
He pressed the corners tightly then tossed it. Three seconds after taking flight it landed right on its intended target. Kim's face. She didn't even open her eyes.
"What the fuck did you just throw at me?" she asked half asleep and irritated.
"It's a paper airplane." replied an extremely bored and wide awake Norman. She grabbed it and crunched it into a ball wipping it back at him.
"You missed." he taunted.
"I don't care. Shut up and let me sleep."
"Aww. The beauty queen needs to rest. Forgot your Highness. Forgive me?"
"It's way too fuckin early for you to start Norman, so shut up. It's not even five so unless you're dying over there leave me alone."
"I am dying. Of boredom."
"Apparently. I don't care. Leave me be dammit."
"Fine. I'll wake Luke up then."
"No you won't!" she fiercly whispered back.
"Why? He can sleep whenever during the day. So can you ya know?"
"Ugh!" she got up and walked over to his bed taking the seat opposite Luke's side. Stan was now on his back, he'd healed enough and the pain meds were doing their job. She crossed her arms and had a scowl on her face.
"I think I made a mistake. You're face is permanently stuck in that expression. It's kinda scary." he said.
"You are such a dick Norman."
"I meant it as funny. Don't get defensive."
"Too late. What do you want?"
"I just wanted some company is all. If you're gonna be like this I'd rather you go back to bed though."
"I'm awake now. How long have you been awake?"
"About two hours. This is gonna be a long week. I can already tell."
"No shit. Same here. So, what's your deal?"
"The doctor was in here about an hour ago."
"And? This is a hospital. There's usually doctors in a hospital Norman."
"Thank you smart ass. The doctor said that if I'm goin somewhere this week she needs to brief the person who'll be helping me. She needs to know today apparently."
"Why?"
"So that whoever it is will know how to help me. They apparently need to be paying attention now to how I'm recovering and how I need to behave."
"Are you asking me about my final decision?"
"Basically."
"Okay...Yes. I'll help you for the first period of recovering at home. You can stay in my place with me and Luke. "
"Thank you."
"I'm doing this for Luke, Norman. Not you."
"I know." he nodded. She almost thought she saw sadness on his face for a moment, then figured it was just the way the light hit him.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Hope you enjoyed your meal. Thanks for coming." said the tired waitress as Seth and Mathilda got up to leave. They hadn't done much talking while there, their heads had hurt a little too much and the food was quite good. They walked out the door and headed for the direction of Curtis's place. Curtis was Kiesha's older brother.
"So..." began Mathilda. She was a curious as to why he'd randomly asked her to go to breakfast after not even really meeting him fully. She was beginning to like him though. He made her feel shy and weak in the knees.
"Huh?" he asked.
"I was just wondering. Was this ...um...nevermind."
He smiled. She unwillingly did so in return.
"Food good?" he asked.
"Yeah. Isn't any food when you have a hangover though?"
"This is true." he was more awake now and slurred less. He pushed his glasses up his nose.
"How the hell did you end up being friends with Kiesha?"
"Oh, well, I was in a lot of classes with her brother. He was cool. I'm not like a really close friend or anything. I just saw him yesterday and he asked if I was interested in partying, so I said yes."
"Ah. Okay."
They reached the front door. He started to walk away.
"Hey Seth!" said Mathilda. He turned.
"What?"
"I know you don't know me very well but...um...would you consider going out with me?" she asked quite quickly.
"Huh?"
"Would you go out with me?"
An amused smile crossed his face and he grinned sympathetically.
"I would but, I have a girlfriend. Sorry."
"Oh, okay." she replied, downhearted but not letting her feelings reach her vioce.
"Bye."
"Bye."
He walked off, crossing the street he was quickly out of sight. She nearly felt sad when she remembered he'd said he would, hope came into her heart. For the first time in a while.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
As afternoon rolled into the day, Luke and Norman could be found drawing a castle together. Being the end of August Luke's fascination with scary stuff was already becoming apparent. Kim was talking with the doctor and getting all the information she'd need. Norman was due to leave that Friday as long as his attempts to walk would be successful. The doctor left and Kim walked over.
"Nice." she commented on the picture.
"Daddy's still coming home Friday right?" asked Luke.
"Yep. As long as when he tries to walk tomorrow it goes okay."
Luke beamed and went back to the picture his Dad had just pushed back to him.
"I hope you can walk tomorrow. " said Kim.
"Why? Are they telling you part of my recovery is for you to torture me?" asked Norman, his eyebrows raised.
"No. I'm tired of being in a hospital."
"Same here. You don't have to eat their food."
Luke laughed.
"He knows. How bad was that shit they gave me yesterday?" asked Norman.
"Really bad. Mommy it was so bad I thought I was gonna throw up." said Luke making a disgusted face.
Norman laughed, so did Kim, at Luke's seriousness about how terrible the food was. The mood was much lighter the rest of that evening.
Later that night in bed, Kim marvelled at how easily Luke could put his parents on good terms with each other, regardless of how temporary. It's irony was astounding. They had seperated because Kim didn't feel safe with Norman anymore, let alone keeping their infant son around him. She had left for fear of Luke's safety. Now, Luke seemed to be bringing them closer. She fell asleep on that note. Across the room Norman's mind had wandered to the same topic. Everytime he thought about the times he had hurt her he felt like shit. His heart ached with guilt and sadness. He knew it was his own fault and that he shouldn't expect her to ever give a shit about him anymore. He also knew the problem. His temper was nearly uncontrollable. It was totally uncontrollable when he was on his pills. When he was high he would snap on the turn on of a dime. She had tried so hard for him and he'd taken it for granted and knew it. He was too proud to admit it though, it would mean admitting almost all his wrongs. He fell asleep on memories.