Soaked
He comes early, clad in a suit that was well beyond its years, color washed out from multiple times of use. He bows when she opens the door, smiling at her, eyes twinkling as if he's the happiest man alive. And perhaps he is, what with his beautiful family at home, supportive friends, and his self made business. Even if he was an immigrant, he found ways to make a living in this country and opportunities to thrive. After all, he was the type of man who pursued what he wanted with the utmost sincerity. They type of man who others would look up to, had he been of British descent instead of Spanish.
"Pleased to see you again, Ms. West," he greets her, drawing himself to his full height, appearing quite regal even in his worn out suit.
"Go back to the factory," she dismisses him after giving him a quick look over, in no mood to converse this early in the morning. She could never truly function without her arbuckle's. She walks away from the man, towards the kitchen, leaving him outside, his smile slowly turning downwards.
"Ms. West, may I come in?" he requests, calling after her.
"If you must." He steps inside, watching as she orders her butler to brew her some coffee. It is at this point in time Mrs. West comes eloquently down the stairs, making a small show of brushing aside her hair and holding her chin up high. When she reaches the floor, she nods to him.
"Good morning, Mrs. West. You are looking exceptionally lovely," he compliments her, ever the gentleman. He bows again, grinning up at her.
"Good morning to you as well. I trust the trip here was well?" As he begins to answer, she cuts him off. "Yes, well, you should begin your lesson with Jadelyn. The sooner the better as Mr. Oliver is taking her out in only a few hours time." Jade, who had been leaning against the wall, watching the exchange between the two, snorts. She's met with her mother's scathing gaze. "Please stand straight," she demands of her daughter. Jade only looks back at her defiantly, arms crossed tightly over her chest. "Jadelyn."
Lane clears his throat awkwardly. "Yes, well, we will get to it Mrs. West. You need not worry, I will certainly teach her all I can," he assures her, giving another quick smile to Jade who only narrows her eyes.
"You can use the room we were talking in last time. I will be upstairs getting ready for a party." Mrs. West leaves the pair and begins climbing the stairs. Jade doubts she has a party to get to, but rather does not want to be around when Jade refuses to learn anything.
"Shall we?" Lane asks, hand extending towards the right.
Jade nods and starts to walk over to the next room. The quicker this ended, the better. Lane follows her and once at her destination, she plops down on the couch. She looks warily up at Lane, one eyebrow raised as he skeptically looks around the room.
"So...What?" she asks, and Lane is about to answer when he is interrupted by the butler. The butler issues an 'excuse me' before handing Jade her coffee and then leaves, no other words exchanged. Jade notices the steam coming off the cup, but drinks it anyway, enjoying how the hot liquid scorches her tongue. Pain was always something she liked.
"Anyway, I was thinking we could get to know each other first. Just quickly," Lane added the last part as Jade rolled her eyes. "I'm Lane Alexander-"
"As you've already told me."
"Please," he tells her and her eyes widen a bit in surprise at his audacity. He ignores her and plows on with his needless introduction. "I'm about thirty minutes walk from here in a small community in Kings. Right on the outskirts. I have a family o-"
"I don't care."
"First lesson. Try to avoid saying things like that. It gives people the impression that, well, you are downright rude and mean. Instead try something along the lines of, 'I would rather we not talk about this subject as it makes me uncomfortable please.' Do you understand?" Lane tries to explain.
"But it doesn't make me uncomfortable, it just makes me bored."
"Yes, but you don't let them know that-"
"But then wouldn't that be called being dishonest? If I'm bored, I have a right to say I'm bored." Jade smirks as Lane presses his lips into a thin line, hands balling into small fists and then releasing over and over again. She takes another sip of her coffee. This one's easy to break, she surmises.
"If you want to impress Mr. Oliv-"
"But I don't. My mother wants me to. I, on the other hand, have no reason to want to impress him. I do not like him, nor will I ever," she huffs dismissively.
"Jadelyn, I realize that you want are an independent young woman and it is hard to let go of something you've had most of your life, independence that is, but you're growing up and a man has taken interest in you. It's bound to happen sooner or later-" Lane ignores her groan of exasperation, "and it can be scary, but once you take the plunge you'll realize it isn't so bad. So how about we go back to the lesson?"
"Whatever," Jade gives in, done with arguing. The lesson goes more smoothly after that, though still disjointed as Jade made it a point to do the opposite of whatever Lane said to practice or say. So after a few hours of frustration Lane eventually ends up leaving with a tense nod and a goodbye accompanied with a forced smile. As he's almost at the sidewalk, Mrs. West comes hurriedly down the stairs, alarmed that the man was going without saying goodbye to her.
"Mr. Alexander," she calls, "I hope she was alright!"
He turns around quickly, yelling back, "Yes she was fine! Feel free to contact me if you need anything else!" God bless his patience, Jade thinks with a snort even though she finds the short man quite annoying. She hears her mother shut the door but doesn't turn around, but instead heads upstairs.
"I hope you're going to put on something nice," her mother urges and Jade just rolls her eyes and continues forwards. In an hour's time, Beckett would be here. So she takes the time to make herself look somewhat decent (because, after all, she is going out in public) and puts on long black dress. After she's made herself over she goes back downstairs to wait.
Upon seeing her mother she scowls and says, "I don't want to go."
"It's a little late for that considering you're dressed and Beckett will be here soon. You have to go, Jadelyn," she adds when she sees the obstinate look her child gives her. "I can easily take something away from you," she threatens.
Jade sighs but doesn't debate. Instead she sits down on the steps, waiting for the man her mother so wished for her to marry. She thinks marriage is dumb considering not many wives seem to be to thrilled with their husbands. After all, her mother completely closed down when she married Mr. West. Even Mrs. Valentine went astray from her husband when Mr. Valentine left for the war. Jade inwardly groaned at the thought of the Valentines. Caterina. She would have to deal with the illogical girl later and try to teach someone who could not properly read or write all about tuberculosis. Go figure that the family she swore she'd never have ties with she is now helping.
A light rapping against her door rouses her from her thoughts. "Come in!" she growls, not bothering to stand up. The door swings open and, sure enough, reveals Mr. Oliver dressed in an extravagant white suit. Something to expensive for just a simple outing. He steps inside, silly smile plastered on his face like always.
"Ah, Jadelyn! Hello. You look lovely this evening, as always. How are you?" he launches into small talk, giving a quick bow. Jade quirks an eyebrow at the gentleman before her, wanting nothing more than to slap him and be done with the whole affair.
"I'm fine. Can we get on with this date now? I would appreciate it if we'd hurry," she says, voice monotone. He doesn't even flinch at her words, now hardened against her insults from the time spent in her house.
"Of course," he agrees and then holds open the door for her, extending an arm outwards. "Ladies first," he winks at her. She hardly gives him a glance as she stomps from the threshold. Beckett is quick to follow her. "I was thinking we could take a walk through the park. Would you like that?" he questions.
"I don't like parks," she deadpans.
"Look Jade, I-"
"Jadelyn."
"Jadelyn, I think you'll have fun. It's just a stroll through the park and then we could have lunch an-"
"Ugh. Fine!" Beck smirks at this small victory and he begins to lead them towards the park. On the way there, he chatters amicably; however, he elicits no more than single sentence responses from his companion. She, instead, answers only when required and otherwise watches the houses as they walk past, comparing them to her own and thinking that her house was much better than the majority of these. She finds herself drifting off, completely blocking out Beck until they reach the park and he puts a hand on her shoulder. She snaps her head to look at him through narrowed eyes.
"We're here," he shrugs, removing his hand. "If you want we can sit down for a bit. There's a bench over yonder so we could rest there for a bit." And as much as Jade wants to say no, her feet are beginning to become sore so she nods her head yes and he leads them over to the wooden bench. It's fairly new, the only hint of use is on the arm rest as some of the wood was pointed up, a sure way to get a splinter should some foolish person rub their arm against it.
She takes a seat, fluffing down her dress as to not reveal anything, as he does as well. Quite closely in fact. He drapes an arm across the back of the bench and crosses his legs. "So Jade," he begins, "how's your work coming along?"
"It's coming fine."
"That's splendid. I've heard that business is slow lately. No one comes anymore," he points out offhandedly.
"They can't afford to. The practice is run well, it's by no fault of my own that they don't come," she hisses.
"Oh no, no, I didn't mean that you weren't doing your job well. You misunderstood. I only meant that the rich go to a different practice for medicine and the poor can't afford to anymore," he quickly corrects, "even though I've heard that many of them are becoming very sick. I'm glad no one has done anything drastic yet."
She snorts at his comment, thoughts of Caterina Valentine filling her head. The stupid girl having actually done something over the top just to cater to her mother.
"What?" he asks, having taken the response to mean that he did not get his facts right. "Am I wrong?"
"Yes." She takes a moment to relish in his confused expression and debates whether or not to tell him why just to piss him. She decides against it finally. He should know why he's wrong. "Some stupid girl tried to break in and demand medicine."
"Do you know who?" Beckett wonders.
"Caterina Valentine," she spills with a disgusted grimace. Beck eyes widen in surprise. Of course he knew the Valentines. For some reason or another, Beckett knew almost everyone in New York City, including the poorer citizens. He made it a point to be kind to everyone and accept them for who they are and what they have. Jade bets if she asked him, he could list everyone on the outskirts in a total of twenty seconds.
"She's alive?" he nearly chokes.
"What are you talking ab-"
"She's been gone for years! One day she just disappeared and no one knew why. We all just assumed she caught tuberculosis like her mother."
"Did no one ask after her?" Jade inquires, finding this story very unbelievable. If someone went missing in their richer community, the police would be looking for them and everyone would be asked if they knew the whereabouts of the missing person. She supposes, though, that the poor function different than them.
"Oh, we did. No one was particularly fond of her, but we asked. Her father answered with something different every time. She was at her aunt's house, or she was visiting her friends, or she was sick, and sometimes he would say he didn't know. Eventually everyone just stopped asking," he shrugs. "We assumed she was dead and her father just didn't want to believe that both of his children had died," he explains and it baffles Jade how Beckett can be so in the know with the poor. She doesn't understand his kindness and how he could even care about them. There's no point. Beckett's rich. He could have everything he possibly needs without affiliating himself with these dirty people, yet he doesn't care.
"There was another child?" Jade asks, startled by the news, but then, as more time went by, realizing she didn't care all that much and regrets asking the question as now she would have to listen to another long winded speech of Mr. Oliver's.
"Yes, he was the older of the two. He was a good boy and unlike Caterina, everyone liked him. At least from what I hear. He would be around my age if he was still alive, maybe a few years younger. But anyway, one day he and his dad went into the woods and it began to storm. Apparently a tree was struck by lightning or something because it fell right on the boy. The tree that fell couldn't be found later, so his body remains lost; however, this might all be a hoax because some people think his father killed him. Really tragic. The family wasn't the same after that and Caterina became...," Beck takes a moment to think of a word that wouldn't be to insulting, "crazier." Clearly his search failed.
"Oh," is all she says, becoming bored with the topic.
"Glad to hear Caterina's alright though. Perhaps she was just staying away at a friend's, or maybe Mr. Valentine really is insane. Now, would you like to get some lunch now and skip the walk? I'm feeling rather famished." So they leave the park and eat lunch, Jade withdrawing into her previous static state where she provided almost no answers for the ever inquisitive man before her. Lunch takes a long time to finish, both persons bored and tired. One tired from asking questions to keep conversation flowing and the other tired from ignoring the former. Once lunch ends, Beckett pays and walks her back to her house. On the way they there they are interrupted by Victoria Vega. Beckett's eyes immediately light up.
"Hello Victoria!" he greets her, smiling lopsidedly, a boyish trait of his that he never quite grew out of.
She smiles back. "Hello Beckett! What a coincidence seeing you!"
"Yes, indeed. Victoria, I would like you to meet my close friend," he smirks as he says the word close if only because of Jade's instant bristling, "Jade West."
"Jadelyn."
"Jadelyn West."
"Nice to meet you Jade!" she says too enthusiastically, adding a small wave for emphasis.
"The pleasure is all yours," Jade agrees, instant dislike for the overly happy woman drawing a snarky reply from the otherwise monotone teenager.
The smile on Victoria's face wavers and she looks to Beck who just shrugs. "Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed," she lightly says in a joking manner. Jade has heard about this behavior. Victoria was prone to disperse awkward tension in the air by joking. Usually it never worked; however, most people liked Ms. Vega and found her charming. In fact, many men liked Vega, but she was very oblivious to this fact. In fact she was oblivious to most things. Humble and down to earth, as well as kind and considerate with a knack to try to fix everyone's problems, she essentially made the almost perfect person, a fact that appalled Jade and made her want to knock Vega off her high horse, not that there was a horse to knock her from considering she wasn't conceited. It was odd since one would expect someone as rich as Vega to have at least some arrogance, even if her money was potentially obtained illegally. The Vegas were Spanish, meaning they were immigrants and the chances of them becoming rich honestly weren't very good. Because of this, if one was prone to stalking the Vegas, they would see that whenever Mr. Vega went places, cops would always be looking out for him, sometimes even following him. However nothing was to obvious and no one cared that much. In all probability, most cops were tipped off to keep from investigating this oddity.
"Watch yourself Vega," Jade snarls and Vega narrows her eyes slightly at the taller girl, but says nothing.
"So how's Katrina?" Beckett suddenly speaks up, trying to quell the animosity that had arisen.
Victoria rolls her eyes. "She tried to cut up all my dresses yesterday. She calls it the new fashion and promises that it will be the next big hit. It's painful living with her." Beckett laughs.
"Sounds like Katrina."
"She's starting to have everyone call her Trina now. She thinks Katrina sounds too sophisticated."
"Yeah I really don't care," Jade injects herself into the conversation, giving a glare to Beck.
"Alright, well we better be going. I'll see you later Victoria," he says his goodbyes and after she says hers, they continue on their way. The trip there is cold and mostly silent. Once at the West household, Jade begins to head towards the door, but a hand on her shoulder stops her.
"I'm sorry if you didn't have fun," he apologizes. "I should have picked something better to do. Next time I'll find something else to do."
"Next time you should just take Vega," Jade growls and then rips her shoulder out of his grip and stalks off towards the door.
"Come on Jade, you know it isn't like that!" Anything else Beckett attempts to say is cut off by the slamming of a door.
Jade leans against the door, anger curling inside her chest at the audacity of Beckett to take her on a date and then ignore her when Vega shows up. She doesn't care what others think because Beckett is definitely not a gentleman nor anyone she would ever want to associate herself with. She hopes he doesn't have the nerve to visit her house again because she will certainly beat him if he does.
"Jadelyn. What in Heaven's name are you doing?" the sounds of her mother's screechy voice fills her ears because of course she's here. The woman is home all day long with no friends to visit and no one to socialize with. Jade just groans, extremely frustrated with how her day is turning out. "Jadelyn, what happened? You did not ruin it, did you?" her mother accuses, eyes slanting into slits. "You did ruin it. I can't believe you Jadelyn. You were only to have lunch with him and you me-"
"He ruined it actually, thanks for asking," Jade spits, not in any type of mood to be arguing with the crude woman before her.
"You need to stop blaming other people and take responsibility for you-"
"Not my fault he has the hots for Vega," Jade snips before opening the door and walking out, glad to note that Beckett wasn't still lingering. She ignores as her mother howls at her, stating things like she can't just walk away and she needs to grow the fuck up. That she will have to go apologize to Beckett and the rest is muted because Jade is to far to hear her anymore. As she's walking, Jade kicks amiss rocks on the sidewalk, steaming and fuming about the events so far. And now she has to go to work and see Caterina because the girl is a fucking pyscho. She can't even recall how exactly she got sucked into this arrangement with the smaller, more feeble girl. All she remembers is that Caterina threatened to wake up Mr. Wellington and then Jade was giving in to all her demands.
Jade kicks another rock, completely done. She considers just skipping work, but then who knows what Caterina would tell Mr. Wellington and besides, she has no where else to go. A sinking feeling takes over her as she acknowledges that should she ever want to leave her mother, she couldn't. She has no friends, no known family, and no husband or man in her life. But it soon passes because she's Jadelyn West and she feels no weaknesses ever. No, she was a machine, built to withstand all emotional and physical attacks from the world she lives in.
She stops kicking rocks and just walks to the medical practice, accepting that she will have to meet Caterina and she will have to try to teach the thick headed girl a thing or two about consumption. Eventually, with her extremely slow pace, she reaches her work place and enters, kicking off her shoes once inside like she lived there.
"Jadelyn!" Mr. Wellington greets her, ever the enthusiast and ever blind to the tell tale signs that Jade was not in the mood for anything other than to sit in her room all day. "Glad to see you. How did your day with Beckett go?" he questions, jolly blue eyes searching her for answers. His smile is wide and sincere and his expression one of the utmost happiness. Jade sometimes wonders if all of this is an act. If he just pretends to be content because, in truth, there was nothing the man really had to be jovial about. He was running a business with no money, had to put up with an overly angry teenager most of the day, and was constantly running about, trying to find more business opportunities.
"It was fine," she quips, eyes drifting over to the desk next to her.
He takes the hint. "That's good, that's good. Glad to hear it," he tells her before ambling off over to the stack of books in the living room. Jade slides into her chair at the desk with a long sigh and taps her nails against the wooden desk. Really there was nothing for her to do since the medical practice was doing so poorly. So she would have to spend the next few hours sitting at a desk, doing absolutely nothing. And sitting for the next few hours she does. Mr. Wellington eventually gets up and heads to bed, leaving Jade by herself and informing her that she can leave whenever she wants to. That he doesn't really mind. Because of course he doesn't. Jade has been working for him for a while now and he trusts her. Trusts her not to steal and not to scribble all over his records and not to break anything. Which is, she supposes, precisely why she must steal (well that and her boredom). Because she is not to be trusted. She has attachments to no one and Mr. Wellington has to realize this. Honestly she'd like it if he had to watch her twenty four seven. It would mean she was a threat and a powerful one at that. Powerful enough to wreck his business even more than it already was.
In the next thirty minutes, Caterina arrives, bursting through the door with a huge smile on her face. Jade gives her an icy glare, but it does nothing to deter the effervescent girl from bouncing over to where Jade sat. "Jade!" she coos. "I'm ready to learn! I got my thinking cap on." It annoys Jade how this girl who had just been threatening her yesterday was acting like they had known each other for years.
"Just sit down," she orders to which Cat obeys and sits cross legged on the floor, looking up at Jade with wide, wondrous brown eyes. Jade cuts right to the chase. "What do you want to know about consumption?"
To this Cat shrugs and says, "I dunno." It only serves to infuriate Jade.
"What do you mean you don't know? Are you a complete idiot? You must have something you want to know. Something that will help you sister w-"
"Mother, Jade! It's my mother," Cat corrects her, still smiling, still happy. "I don't have a sister."
"Right. You only have a dead brother. Sorry, I forgot," Jade comments offhandedly, trying to get under Caterina's skin just because the other girl was so happy and happiness pisses Jade off. She doesn't know why, but it rubs her the wrong way. There is nothing to be cheerful about in this world.
At Jade's reply, Cat's eyes start to tear up as she remembers her brother's death. All the memories fly through her head, misconstrued and jumbled. She can hardly recall anything about him perfectly anymore. The tears roll down her cheeks and Jade is taken by surprise at Cat's outlandish reaction.
"Right, well we sh-"
"He's gone forever," Cat whimpers. "He left me alone with daddy and mommy and he's never coming back." There's silence as Jade tries to figure out what to do. Comforting the girl was out of the question as Caterina deeply annoyed her and was now balling her eyes out over something that happened years ago.
"Yeah." Sometimes Jade was a genius with words.
"I miss him."
"Well back to consumption. I'll just start by telling you the basics." Immediately Caterina brightens up, grin returning to her features like she had never cried in the first place. Jade's eyebrow raises in confusion at Caterina's mood swings. She had heard the younger girl was crazy, but never like this.
"Should I write this down?" Cat questions.
"If you want."
"Oh...But I can't write. Can you write it for me?" Before Jade can even object Cat is up on her feet and retrieving a piece of paper and pencil from the desk Jade sat at and extends it towards her. When Jade makes no move to take it, Cat just drops it in her lap. "Thank you!" she chirps.
"I never said I would write it."
"Please?"
"It wasn't part of the deal."
"But...But..." Cat's eyes begin to tear up and to avoid another awkward conversation, Jade gives in.
"Okay fine. But only this once. Learn to write," Jade admonishes before picking up the pad of paper and placing it back on the desk in front of her. She grabs the pencil and begins to write as she talks.
"You should use sanatorium. Do you know what that is?"
"Does it have something to do with squirrels?"
Jade spares a glance at the inquisitive curly haired girl. "No. Why would you- Never mind. Sanatorium is exposing the debilitated to the healthiest lifestyle possible. If possible, you should bring your mother to high altitudes, like up on a mountain or something. You should also open a window in her room, assuming she is bed ridden. Fresh air is essential to prolonging death," Jade plows on, ignoring the frightened expression Cat's happiness had morphed into at the use of the word death. "Also, a healthy diet will help. You may also want to prop her pillows up if she's coughing. For fevers you should apply a cold, wet rag to her forehead. Other than that, there's nothing else that can be done without medicine, meaning she will not last."
"You mean that's it?"
"Yeah, that's what I tried to tell you last time."
"She's going to die?" The question is so softly spoken, so innocent, and it almost makes Jade pity the girl on the ground before her. Almost. Jade hands her the piece of paper she had been writing on, ignoring the question. Cat takes it somberly.
"Any other questions? Because we don't need to see each other again as I just told you everything about consumption, so better ask anything on your mind now."
"I still want to come." Cat asserts, not ready to lose the arrangement they had and not ready to give up the freedom she had taken every night that her father was out. If this ended, where would she go? She would truly be trapped inside her house.
"What? Why!" Jade complains with a groan.
"Because you still need to teach me how to read and how to be a nurse," Cat pushes, recalling the statement she flung at Jade as she left yesterday.
"Why would you want to? There's no reason to. I don't have a reason to."
"That wasn't part of the deal Jade," Cate explains. "You help me. That was the deal."
"Ugh. Aren't you supposed to be dead anyway?"
At this Cat looks down at her hands and begins to play with them. "Is that what they're saying?" When no response comes from Jade except an expression of grief for having been stupid enough to ask such a question that would surely spark an emotional speech, Cat continues. "My dad keeps me locked up in the house. Let me come here? Please? Just a few more meetings, that's it. Maybe I can help you with work.
"There's no work to be done," Jade tells her, confused as to how any parent could keep their child locked up. If she was in Cat's position, she would have left long ago and never came back. So what if her mother has tuberculosis? She's going to die anyway. Jade would have beat it the minute her father started keeping her in the house.
"Please Jade?" Cat begs, now locking eyes with the taller girl. For a second, a small bit of pity blossoms in her heart and that's all it takes for Jade to agree. Reluctantly. Because she can imagine how being stuck in one place without any control would feel. Cat jumps up gleefully, yelling thank you, thank you, thank you over and over again, forgetting to mention the next time their meeting would be. The minute the girl leaves Jade instantly regrets her decision, wondering how she could let such a small, annoying girl penetrate her defenses.
The next day, after her meeting with Jade, she slides into her mother's room holding a bowl of water with a hand towel thrown over her shoulder. She grabs the mask laying on the floor to her right and slips it on with one hand before rushing over to the window to her left and opening it. Then she sidles up to her mother and presses the back of her hand to the woman's forehead. It's hot. She soaks the towel in the cool water she brought and then puts the bowl on the floor, rings out the excess water, and then lays it across her mother's forehead. Afterwards she takes a discarded pillow and lifts her mother's head up gently and places the pillow underneath. Throughout the encounter, her mother never stirs.
"Mother?" she calls softly, placing a hand on her cheek, feeling how warm the woman's body temperature actually is. Unsurprisingly, the woman does not wake. Cat leaves her bedside and continues to cater to her by changing up the towel every twenty minutes or so. After all, she has nothing else to do. The whole day her mother does not stir. No, it isn't until it is nearing the night time when her father has left the house and stowed Cat away that Mrs. Valentine wakes. Cat finds her (after jumping out her window once more) with eyes flung wide open, breathing haggard and wild. Some of her breaths are shallow and some are long and drawn out, like she's holding her breath, and they were accompanied by frequent groans.
"Mom? Mom, what's wrong!" Cat exclaims, but her mother doesn't answer. "What do I do? What's wrong? Mother what's going on!" Cat's own breathing starts to quicken and she feels herself beginning to hyperventilate.
"Pain," her mother is able to get out.
"I'll be right back, I'm sorry!" Cat assures her mother, heart racing. She runs out the door, the only thing on her mind being Jadelyn. She springs to the medical practice in five minutes flat and throws herself through the doors, relieved to find Jade sitting at her desk, scratching drawings into the wood.
"Jade, there's something wrong with my mom!" she panics, her vision blurring as her thoughts, breathing, and heart races. Like she's running a race for her life. Jade is taken aback, clearly unsure of how to deal with the mess that has just entered her office and in her pajamas as well.
"Uh, okay. Calm down," is all the other woman says.
"You have to come. You have to come now," Cat pleads with her.
"Caterina, I can just tell you what to do. I don't have to come w-"
"Now," Cat tells her, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the door. Having not expected Cat to physically make her come, Jade is easily pulled along and it is only until they're standing outside in the dark, chilly night air, that Jade yanks her hand from Cat's hold.
"Cate-"
"She's hurting," Cat tells her simply, urging Jade to help. She might as well be on her knees, Jade thinks.
"Okay, fine, let's go. But I am not running." She ends up running anyway as Cat takes off, bellowing that she thinks her mother's life is in danger and as much as Jade hates exerting herself, she sprints anyway because, to hell with it, she's a nurse and she's supposed to help people so this is just a perk of the job unfortunately, as much as she hates it.
They burst into the house, Cat a complete mess, tears streaming down her face, movements jerky and hasty. She leads the nurse to her her mother's room where the woman is still having her fit. Jade immediately goes up to the woman, remembering all that she has read about consumption, and diagnoses her within seconds.
"This is Jade, Ma, she's here to help!"
"I need pillows Caterina." Caterina dashes to her living room and grabs all the pillows she can carry and then returns, dumping them at Jade's feet. Jade works fast, lifting the woman's head up gently before scooting the pillows already on the bed back so that the leaned against the backboard. She adds another one and then starts to softly pull the woman towards the pillows, letting her head finally drop against the angled pillows. It takes a minute or two but eventually Mrs. Valentine's breathing returns to normal and in a heartbeat she's falling back asleep.
"It was a simple fix really. Sometimes it hurts the consumption patients to breathe so to avoid it, they might start acting like your mother did. Almost as if they've had the wind knocked out of t-"
Jade cuts off as Cat suddenly falls to her knees, hands covering her face. She was shaking, clearly not equipped to deal with crises like this. She was sobbing again and left Jade in an awkward position. She had never in her life encountered someone with such volatile emotions such as Cat and frankly, it took her out of her element. Her usual abrasiveness had no affect on the bubbly personality Cat had and any attempts to brush the girl off were ignored. Meanness did not intimidate her simply because she did not understand it. Jade had no idea how to deal with her. All of her usual techniques for scaring others off were nullified. Instead, she held no power in this odd relationship and she was the one who was constantly being taken off guard, just in the three days she had known this oddity.
She decides she better go and begins to head out the room when she feels a hand grab at her wrist. It misses, but has the same affect should the girl have actually gotten hold of her wrist. Jade stops and turns around. She's met with Cat stumbling to her feet and encompassing her in a hug. It is not returned.
"Thank you," Cat tells her.
And for some reason or another, Jade finds herself awkwardly patting the girl on the back, if only for a brief moment.. It's not much, but it's as close to comfort as she's going to give.
Important
Author's Note: So I notice that not very many people are enjoying this story...I think this will be the last chapter as I have no time or energy to really write a story that not many people are in to. I apologize to anyone who enjoys it, but it's very hard to do something when you don't actually have time for it...Unless people seem interested then I will continue. My sincerest apologies!