This is Prompt No. 74-Purple
Caitlyn was sure that he was going to have a heart attack. She sat in the corner of the room, rocking her newborn baby boy, watching nervously as Shane's face changed, morphing into different shades of purple. Unconsciously, her shoulders rounded as she waited for him to explode. Nate noticed her face and moved almost silently to sit next to her while Jason settled himself "next to the fire" at her feet, rocking Shania who had finally conceeded to a nap. Feeling protected, Caitlyn worked up enough nerve to ask in a quiet, meek voice that she rarely used, "Shane?"
For a moment, she wasn't sure if he had heard her or not. He was still scowling at the piece of paper in front of him so hard that Caitlyn was beginning to worry that he might create a perpetual crater in between his eyebrows. After a long moment, he turned to look at her, still wearing the same frown. "What?" he asked, and the word came out harsh and pained.
Caitlyn's eyes narrowed and she found the courage she was looking for. She handed her son, Benjamin James, to Nate and stood up from her chair, planting her hands on her hips. "Don't you use that tone of voice with me, Shane Gray," she warned him. "I won't stand for it. If you can't act civilly and tell us what's happened, than you can just trot on back to your own apartments, because I certainly don't want you in mine!"
They stared each other down for a moment, both knowing that she would never do it. After a moment, though, Shane backed down and muttered, "Yes, mother."
Caitlyn ignored the jab and whirled around, her skirts flaring out in silent offense, and seated herself in the rocker once more, reaching for her son. "What's happened?" she asked. "Who was the letter from?"
Shane's brown eyes seemed to darken until they were almost completely black. He glanced down at the letter and pressed his lips into a hard line. "It's from Jeffery Blake. It's about Mitchie."
Caitlyn sucked in a gasp and Jason's eyes widened. "You didn't," he said softly. "Tell me you didn't."
"Well who else was there?" Shane asked, his tone irritated and clipped. "He's not in any real danger, plus, he's the one that got me out of that trap in Cheapside a couple of years ago. He was a big help on that mission and I'm sure he can do it again."
Caitlyn gritted her teeth. "Shane, you can't!" she cried. "What have you asked him to do?"
Shane shrugged, and Caitlyn saw the guilty look he was trying to hide. "I just asked him if he would go in and take a look around to see where Mitchie might be, and if she was alright." When he saw Caitlyn's furious expression, he quickly added, "I gave him the chance to say no, and besides, there was no one else!"
"After what you did for him?" Caitlyn asked, her voice rising. Shania awoke and began fussing, as did Ben, but she didn't glance at either of them. "That boy idolizes you! He'd do anything for you!"
Shane glared at the ground, knowing that she was right. He'd brought the boy into a safe home where his adopted parents had paid for a schooling he never would have had otherwise. "He's not a boy," he said sullenly as his only defense.
"Shane! He's sixteen! Just sixteen!"
Shane whirled on Caitlyn so fast that Nate actually stood from where he had been sitting, just in case his brother lost control. "I was sixteen when I completed my first mission."
Caitlyn shook her head. "You had years of training though! This isn't fair to Jeff, or to Amy!"
"Amy will get over it," Shane said coldly, thinking of Jeff's small little sprite of a beau.
Caitlyn laughed harshly. "Fine thing for you to say. What if someone had you go somewhere and leave Mitchie behind? How would you like that?"
"I have left Mitchie behind," Shane answered her immediately, his voice deadly quiet. "I know what it feels like to be away from someone you love, and that's why I'm trying to get her back."
They stared at each other for a long time again, and it was Jason who broke the silence first. "I'm sure Shane knows what he's doing," he told Caitlyn, trying to gauge her reaction. Her scathing look said it all. She didn't appreciate being overruled. "He thinks of Jeff as another brother. He'd never do anything to intentionally put him in danger."
"But perhaps he'd do it unintentionally," Caitlyn said softly, gazing right at Shane as she said it.
Shane glanced back at her, unflinchingly. "You know I wouldn't," he told her softly.
Jason clapped his hands, hoping to break the silence that had settled over the room. "Now that that's settled, what did the letter say?"
Shane turned from Caitlyn to look at Jason. "It says that Mitchie's in trouble, and that we have work to do," he said honestly. He looked from face to face around the room at his three family members. "For this to work, I'll need everyone's help." He looked right at Caitlyn, not sure what she would say.
She paused, thinking, drawing the suspense out. "You have my help," she said after a moment. He waited, knowing that there was going to be more that she had to say. "But please," she went on, "make sure that Jeff gets out." She bit her lip, showing a strange amount of emotion as she spoke. "I had a brother. You remember him, right?" This question was directed at Nate, who nodded.
"Will," he said, regret in his eyes. Though the other two men in the room didn't know where this story was heading, he did, and it was clear that he didn't want to hear it again.
"Right," Caitlyn said softly. "Will, my baby brother." She looked up at Shane, flipping her hair out of her face in order to hide the beginning of tears in her eyes. "He was a soldier for the Confederates," she told Shane, "and he was only sixteen. I was on a mission here at the very beginning of the war, and I watched him die on the battlefield, practically right in front of me." She met Shane's eyes again and said, "Please Shane, he had his whole life ahead of him, and he lost it because someone was a lucky shot. Please don't let Jeff's life end like that."
Shane and Jason both worked hard at not tearing up as they listened to Caitlyn's story. Shane nodded as all eyes turned to him. "I won't," he promised. "I'll make sure that he lives a full life."
Caitlyn nodded tartly, and the old Caitlyn returned as she asked, "So what do we do first?"
A loud crack resounded around the prison, accompanied by a hiss, and Mitchie slumped to the floor of her cell, trying not to show just how much pain she was in. She glanced down at the floor, trying to block out Lonnie's high laugh, and instead, her eyes focused on her leg. She knew that she would never walk the same, but she had managed to set it by wrapping it in the hem material of her skirt. It no longer curved inwards, so she might simply have a slight limp for the rest of her life.
As she reached down to arrange her slightly short skirt so that it covered her legs completely, she noticed with revulsion that the bruises on her arms had turned a deep purple color. She looked away, sickened. She knew that many did not survive what she was being put through, since she went through daily fights with Lonnie and George, but even the knowledge that she was being very brave did not ease her mind or help heal her body. The errant jailers had long ago decided that she would stick to her resolve of not telling them anything, so they had resorted to punishing her for her acts as a spy, as well as her ability to keep her mouth shut at the most "inconvenient" times.
She glanced down at her wrist, already able to see the deep violet swelling that had begun. She was glad that Shane couldn't see her now. Though she had no mirror, she knew that she must look like a mess. Her hair was not even close to the careful style she had had it in when she had appeared before the queen, and almost every inch of her body was covered in bruises of varying degrees. She knew that if she could see herself, she would be repulsed, and if Shane were here, he would be horrified.
"I just want to go home," Mitchie thought as she gritted her teeth and yanked on her wrist, holding her breath against the scream that threatened to break forth as the bone grated back into its original spot. Her face grew hot as she continued to hold her breath, and Mitchie was sure that her face had turned purple by the time she let her breath out. At the painful points in her life, Shane had been there with her, but not this time, and his presence was sorely missed.
She heard the door to her cell open, and she looked up. George walked in, and Mitchie slid herself back against the wall of her cell as he advanced towards her. "I really want to go home," was all she could think of at that moment when his bulky shadow loomed over her, completely engulfing her small frame.
A/N: There you go, DrmmGrl! ;) Sorry to disappoint you, Kacee, but it's not a girl! For the rest of you, please review. It WILL get better, I promise! :D I feel so bad writing these parts, but they must be written!! So review, and I'll get to the good parts faster! Hope you liked it overall! :D
