BTR's season was short and they were finished in a few short months before packing everything away and leaving. They said their goodbyes to Katie and kept in touch right after their vacation. They had 3 weeks off to themselves before getting into a refresher for their upcoming tour later in the year. Carlos went home to Minnesota, James went on vacation, Logan bought himself a house in a gated community in Beverly Hills and Kendall stayed behind with Mrs. Knight to just relax. He had no reason to go home to Minnesota since his family was here with him.
Carlos came back to LA after 2 weeks and hung out with Kendall for a week. The two often visited Katie on set and helped prepare for an episode they would be guest starring in next season. The season soon wrapped up and instead of going right home, Katie was detained for a few extra weeks as she was assigned new projects. She became the manager of the marketing and design department where she would help design new merchandise. As part of her contract, she was supposed to begin a singing career and although she was actually good, she turned it down for now, being too nervous and shy to do something like that.
Once finished in LA she returned to her home in CT where things had gotten bad in her family. Everyone was fine physically but Katie was always on a short leash at home. She was talked down to, threatened and sometimes starved. She was overweight when she first started acting but had dropped several pounds since being in LA and working long hours. Despite this, she was still restricted on caloric intake. She was weak at home and spent much of her time at the academy where it was much more relaxing to be despite its fast paced and busy schedule.
The show was taking a bit of a hiatus as new episodes were written and the ones they made, slowly rolled out, right after BTR. Katie enrolled in 2 semesters of school and finished up her degree and graduated in December although she would be holding off the ceremony until Spring to walk the stage with her classmates. She had little difficulty fitting back in to the swing of things but it was pretty clear that her fame was getting strong. Students, teachers and children approached her for autographs and pictures on a regular basis, which she happily obliged but she was getting annoyed and a little stressed out at the timing of all the interruptions as she was studying. She even got reprimanded for having media hound her at school, disrupting the flow of the school environment; like it was her fault that the paparazzi were always following her. Her calm demeanor and impressive people skills often were enough to gently tell of the pap not to follow her at school and they happily obliged when she posed for pictures.
All the actors from all the live action shows from Kids Network were invited to Katie's graduation. Naturally the media caught wind and there were numerous trucks and cameras rolling as Katie walked across the stage and the stars mingled with the crowd for pictures, autographs and more. The stars had a private after party right on school grounds in the smaller café of the school where they conducted some interviews with the media before having the school security and their own body guards turn them away and keep any one who wasn't on the guest list out. Friends, family and coworkers from the academy were all invited and despite the way she was treated at the school, she allowed anyone from her department to join the festivities and there were a few takers who mingled with their favorite stars. Carlos, Kendall and Katie spent much of the night together as they mingled with the other stars.
Word soon got out in the press that the only people on that didn't show up were almost all of the cast members from Katie's show. With an open invitation sent out to all the live action show staff, that had been instagrammed by numerous stars as proof, it was left to wonder why Katie's cast mates didn't show up. Other stars who where there gave their speculations that maybe they were busy with something else, they could have forgotten, or didn't get the invite. But soon the truth leaked out as they didn't want to come; they were clearly invited but never RSVP'd and a history of dysfunction in the group surfaced shortly after.
The internet and media blew up about the dysfunction between cast members and at first no one could believe it. People were surprised at just how good these actors were that they could be best friends on screen and enemies off. Katie's bright and caring personality didn't seem like it was easy to ignore and just hate but after doing research it mostly stemmed from jealousy, and attention seeking. Numerous people took Katie's side, but she declined to comment on the matter.
After a busy summer and holiday season, Katie returned to LA to begin the third season of her show, right after the new year. It felt great being out of the cold city and into something warmer, although while everyone else were wearing jackets in the 70 degree weather, she was in a t-shirt as happy as could be. Halfway through shooting, BTR came back for some re-shoots again. Katie stayed locked in her room whenever possible, scared to come out; she had a lock installed both to lock with a key and to bolt it from the inside so she would be thoroughly protected when inside. She no longer lived on the stage though, she moved out after the last season to room with Jess in the bunk house before buying a small house in a not so good but not totally rotten section of town. It was super small at only about 700 square feet but it was all she needed since she lived alone with her dog, who she had brought with her.
She didn't have that much stuff with her so she really didn't need all the room that she had but stuck with it for Shadow's sake. He couldn't go to the stage with her everyday so he definitely needed some room to walk around or sleep which is what he most likely did while she was gone. Her cast minutes didn't like her dog and she didn't feel it was safe to leave him in her dressing room with the way they had been acting recently. They were clearly upset at the assumptions made about why they didn't attend Katie's graduation although they were invited. Katie had nothing to do with the accusations and all the magazines and other media sources had given the identity of all the celebs that spilled the beans but they still took it out on Katie. Walter had even cornered Katie in her dressing room at one point after she came back from set. She was busy getting settled and had her door open but was expecting Walter to be right behind her when she turned around. She screamed in shock but quickly settled at the sight of it being just him but was still nervous since he looked tense.
"Hey, Walter. Do you need something?" she greeted with a friendly smile
"I want to know why you started all those rumors with the media!" he barked at her
"What? What rumors?" she asked cautiously, not entirely sure he was talking about
"The ones about us not showing up too your lame ass graduation. Big fucking deal, you graduated, I don't have to be there, I have more important shit to do! But noooo! You had to go and whine to the reporters that we weren't there and now we have this reputation that we don't care about you and the whole group doesn't get along! Everyone is against us! I've seen nothing but hate from twitter and all that!" he explained hastily with an attitude.
"Wait a minute! I didn't have anything to do with those rumors! I invited everyone from the network to come and no one was obligated to show up, it was in the freaking invitation! Beck, Jade, Sam, Kendall and Carlos are the ones who pointed it out to the media and only when they were asked! My own cast mates were the only actors that weren't at the graduation or the after party; did you really think that was going to go unnoticed?!" she defended
"Then you shouldn't have invited the whole fucking neighborhood! That wasn't fair to us and now we're a laughing stock!" he yelled back, taking a step forward and flailing his arms around in anger
"You're just upset that the truth hurts! You cant deny that we don't get along. I don't even understand why you guys hate me so much! I've been nothing but nice to all of you, including plot lines to revolve around each of you characters, talked positively about you, even after all the bull shit you guys have given me that I don't deserve!" she stated
"You deserve every bit of the torment you get! You don't deserve to be a star! You have no talent, you suck, and you're the ugliest person I have ever met!" he barked
"What the fuck is your problem, Walter!?" she said taking a step forward to face him. She was angry now and stood her ground even though she felt threatened.
"You're my problem you stupid bitch! Get it through your head that no one likes you and they never will like you! You don't deserve to be famous and it should be anyone else in your place, especially me or Brady! You got this job by pure luck, not because of your talent! You don't have any and all the training in the world wont be able to help you get any better! You should just quit now, no one likes you; they all just use you for the laughs. What's funnier than laughing at an ugly fat bitch?" Walter snickered. Katie was hurt at his words but she didn't let that show and continued to fight with him.
"I don't understand it. You know, we could have been friends! Why should my appearance or my position here have anything to do with me as a person?! Are you that self centered, arrogant and misogynistic that you have to be an asshole?!" she asked sarcastically
"Dumb whore!" he yelled back as he punched her in the face. Katie screamed in pain and fell back with a thud. As soon as he realized what he did, he panicked. "If you know what's good for you, you wont say a word of this to anyone!" he threatened before making a hasty retreat down the hall. In a matter of seconds, Logan showed up at her door, hearing the commotion as he was walking to his room down the hall, opposite the way Walter ran. He walked to Katie's room, curious to find her on the floor in an awkward position.
"Katie!" he called out before rushing to her side. "Are you alright?! What happened?!" he asked as he used his medical skills to assess her.
"I…uh… I fell…" she said.
"What were you doing?" he asked curiously, not really buying her excuse
"Um…I was uh, moving to fast and tripped on the table!" she lied, coming up with an explanation really quick. Logan looked behind him and saw the table but his math and physics skills told him a different story. The table was too far away and not the right height to fit with the story she was giving him. He helped her up, and checked her over, noticing a red mark on her jaw that was starting to bruise but didn't say anything. Once satisfied that she was alright he left her, mind buzzing away with theories of what really happened. Walter came back right after Logan left.
"What did you say to him?" Walter demanded
"I told him I fell." she said quietly
"Good. Keep it that way. I didn't want to hit you but you made me do it. If you want to make this show work, you better stay out of my way." he said before leaving to his room. Katie heard his door slam and she dropped to her couch to bawl her eyes out.
Walter tormented her everyday, sometimes only for 2 minutes other times it was every hour. He vented all of his frustrations out on her, usually in words but it was uncommon for him to use his fists; however he learned to hit her where it wouldn't show so no one would ask questions. Brady and the girls weren't in on Walter's torment and they had no idea; he was careful to keep it on the down low to avoid any suspicion. Eventually though, questions did arise when Katie started to slow down, her bright smile and the life in her eyes faded, leaving her an empty shell. The days were long and so were the seasons and everyone assumed it was just exhaustion but when Katie suddenly collapsed on set and rushed to the hospital, it was revealed, the level of torment and pain she had been going through.
Doctors and other specialists, worked to revive her and keep her alive after she nearly died from blood poisoning and internal bleeding from her injuries. They were determined to be from a blunt object or even someone's fist but the bruises and lacerations were all mixed together, making it impossible to measure a print and get an idea of the size or shape of the object. Katie refused to talk to much about the subject and just kept saying that she had fallen at different points. She went on to say that she was just over worked, working hard to try to better herself in talent and appearance and that she was tired, which was why she had been weak and fallen a few times.
No one was buying it but without any evidence to go on, there wasn't anything else to do except let it go and just believe her story even though it was clearly false. Psychiatrists, doctors, family, even Carlos tried to get the truth out of her but she stuck with the same story, even getting frustrated with all the questions. She healed soon enough and was as strong and healthy as ever and was released to go back to work. She was kept on a close watch and for several weeks, nothing out of the ordinary happened. Katie seemed back to her old self, full of life and smiles as she worked on set in peace. She felt safe and comfortable but took her own precautions and avoided Walter whenever she could. When she left, she left with other people and never used the same entrance more than once in a row, nor in a pattern.
When the guys of BTR were around, they often left with her, even if it was just one of them. They really enjoyed Katie's company and personality and were concerned for her health and well being, even James who had grown a bit fonder since she often took care of his puppy, Pepper when the guys were touring. They never bought her story, despite all the progress she made and no signs of reverting back to that state. It was a habit that one of them followed her out or at least met her inside when they were around; even if they weren't set to record shows that day, one of them would drive just to meet her and follow her home.
By this time, everyone had seen the area she lived in and no one gave it a second thought, it could be a better neighborhood but it wasn't all that bad. No one had actually been inside but because of the size of the house, it was easy to see why she might not want to let people in, it'd be cozy and probably a mess. As the months went on, Katie's life was the same as it always had been as she traveled back and forth between LA and Connecticut; or it least it seemed that way to everyone. Once the guard was lowered, Walter wasted no time in belittling her again but he didn't hit her as hard or as often this time. Katie took all his beatings and threats like a champ and no one was the wiser, she hid her feelings well and although emotional exhausted by the torment, she put on a smile each and everyday.