Disclaimer: I do not own Big Time Rush or anything to do with it.
The next day Celia loaded Maddie into her car and headed to the Palm Woods.
"What are we doing with Kendall?" asked Maddie curiously.
"I do not know" answered Celia honestly.
"Do I have to watch you two make kissy face?" asked Maddie giggling.
"Maddie" she said with a laugh shocked as she glanced in the rearview mirror at her sister. "As long as you behave you don't" she joked pulling into the Palm Woods parking lot.
"Wow" said Maddie as they went inside the lobby.
"I know" said Celia with a smile as she ushered her sister into the elevator.
They quietly rode the elevator up and walked to the apartment "go ahead and knock" Celia told Maddie.
"Hey Celia" said Katie opening the front door with a smile "you must be Maddie."
Maddie peaked out and from where she was hiding behind her sister and nodded.
"She can be a little shy at first" explained Celia, Katie just nodded before opening the door the whole way and ushering them in.
When they made their way in and were met by a surprise "Surprise!" everyone shouted. All the guys were there plus Katie and Mrs. Knight.
Celia looked around and noticed that the whole apartment was decorated and there was a cake sitting on the table.
"What is this?" she asked with a happy laugh.
"A do over birthday" announced Carlos happily.
"Thank you it's great" said Celia.
"This must be Maddie" said Mrs. Knight gesturing to Maddie who was still partially hiding behind Celia.
"Yeah, it's okay Maddie" she said "Mrs. Knight won't bite."
"No biting I promise" said Mrs. Knight "Actually I was wondering if you could help me with a project."
"What?" asked Celia curiously coming out from behind Celia.
"Well I baked this cake for Celia, but I have no idea how to decorate it. I thought maybe you could help me?" Mrs. Knight asked.
"Okay" said Maddie smiling as walked over to the table with Mrs. Knight. Celia was surprised at how fast Celia warmed up to Mrs. Knight.
"Surprised?" asked Kendall coming up to her.
"Yes, thank you" she said giving him a kiss.
"Here I did not have a chance to give this to you last night" he said handing her a small gift box.
"You really didn't have to get me anything" she said with a smile as opened the box. Inside was a beautiful silver locket. Inside the locket on one side was a picture of her with her dad and the other side was a picture of Maddie. She felt tears come to her eyes.
"This is perfect, thank you. How did you get the pictures?" she asked wiping at her eyes.
"Your mom" he said with a smile "I had the idea last week and went to see your mom and she gave me the pictures."
"I'll have to thank her too. Can you help me put it on please?" she asked handing him the locket as she turned around.
Kendall put the locket on as he was doing so he noticed a nasty bruise on her neck and shoulder "Celia what happened?" he asked concerned.
Calvin threw me on the floor she thought "work accident couple days ago, not big deal" she said with a shrug hoping he bought her story.
"I don't remember you having that bruise last night" said Kendall concerned.
"You just couldn't see it because my hair was down" lied Celia.
Before Kendall could respond Maddie called for Celia "we finished the cake" announced Maddie proudly.
"Let me see Maddie Paddy" she said ignoring Kendall's concerned look.
"Wow it's amazing" said Celia, they covered the cake with white icing and drew little stick figures of people with colored icing.
"I drew all the people in the room" said Maddie smiling.
"Very creative" said Celia smiling.
"And the finishing touch" said Mrs. Knight sticking a number one and a number seven in the cake and lighting them.
As everyone sang Happy Birthday Kendall could not help but stare at Celia who was ignoring his gaze. He knew she did not have that bruise last night, he had an idea of how she got it but he hoped he was wrong.
Due to Kendall's busy schedule he was not able to take Celia out for another week. He decided to take her to the beach. He was finally going to talk to about her step-father.
Celia sighed in frustration. The bruises from when Calvin had pushed her on her birthday were almost gone, but she had some fresh ones. Calvin had gotten mad at her yesterday for some insane reason and grabbed her and shoved her a few times. She now had a scatter of bruises on her arm and across her collarbone. She had on her favorite tank top but she had to put on a light sweater to layer it and cover the bruises.
Just as she was finishing up she heard the doorbell ring and knew it was Kendall, Celia was glad that Calvin was out at a business dinner. She made her way downstairs and saw Maddie talking a mile a minute to Kendall. It seemed Maddie had finally come out of her shell.
"Hey" said Kendall with a smile when he saw Celia. Celia could not help but notice he looked nervous.
"Ready to go?" she asked with a smile.
"Yes and don't worry Maddie kept me entertained" he said ruffling Maddie's hair, Maddie just giggled.
"I'll see you later Maddie" she said giving her sister a quick kiss on the head before leaving.
They set in the car in silence "Kendall you okay?" she asked worried, he really did seem nervous and off.
"Fine" he answered "I thought we could go to the beach and talk."
"Yeah, sounds good" she responded. This was it, he was dumping her she knew it. She had been too distant and lied too much and Kendall had enough so he was ending it. She quickly blinked to keep from crying. She promised herself when Kendall did dump her she would not cry, she had enough in her life that made her cry this was not going to.
After they parked they silently walked along the beach until they found a spot where they could be alone. Kendall laid out a blanket and they sat down. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Kendall finally spoke.
"Celia is there something going on with your step-father?" asked Kendall finally bringing up the subject he had been worried about for weeks.
Two things happened at once Celia let out a breath she did not realize she was holding and her heart dropped to her stomach. Good news he was not dumping her bad news Kendall had probably figured out what was going on with Calvin.
Celia starred at him for a moment before finally deciding to tell him the whole story. "My mom started dating Calvin about two years after my dad died. He was always so sweet to her, actually to both of us. He was always bringing gifts and offering to help me with my homework; but something always seemed off about him. They had only been dating for about six months when my mom found out she was pregnant" said Celia stopping and taking a shaky breath before continuing.
"Calvin convinced her that the best thing would be to marry him, and they were married around a month later. When they where first married Calvin stayed about the same and slowly he began to change. He was more demanding and had always had these insane rules that we had to follow or he'd scream and berate us. When I was about thirteen in went from verbal to -" Celia stopped talking suddenly.
"I should keep my mouth shut I should have not even told you this much, just forget everything I said" Celia said not meeting his eyes.
"No I am not going to forget Celia, you need to tell someone what happened" Kendall said.
"Just drop it" Celia said standing up and walking away.
"No I am not going to drop it! If you're in trouble I want to help" he cried grabbing her wrist.
"Celia" gasped Kendall, when he grabbed her, her sleeve rode up revealing a nasty bruise.
Celia just broke down she knew she had to tell him she gently pulled out of his grasp and removed her sweater so she was just in her tank top. He could now see the various bruises on her arms and around her collarbone.
"Celia, did Calvin do this?" he asked all but shaking with anger, Celia just nodded her head as tears ran down her face. It all made sense to him why Celia never talked about her step-father or why she looked so scared around him and the various injuries she explained away with unusual accidents.
"We have to tell someone I can take you to the police" he said grabbing her hand.
"No" she said pulling out of his grasp "don't you think I have tried that. When this first started years ago I told my school councilor and she reported it to the police. The police investigated and Calvin being the smooth talking lawyer managed to turn it around. Calvin talked them into believing I was harming myself for attention. I was labeled as an emotionally disturbed child and put under a seventy-two psych hold. Calvin told me if I ever reported him again he would make sure I was put in a psychiatric hospital for good. Or worse leave my mom and get sole custody of Maddie, either way no one would be there for my mom or Maddie" she finished wiping the tears away.
"Celia there has to be something we can do" said Kendall taking her hands.
"Yeah in a year I am eighteen and legally adult I can leave. Trust me I have been trying for years to figure out a way out, that is the only one" she finished squeezing his hands.
"What in the mean time let him keep hitting you?" he asked angrily.
" No I just have to keep him in a good mood, when he is happy he won't hit I just have to make sure not step out of line, well his line."
"Celia anything could set him off though, you said it yourself" Kendall said the thought of it making him sick.
"Please just trust me" she said with a sigh "can we just forget it for now I only have a few Calvin free hours left and I really don't want to think about any of it I just want to enjoy myself" she said with a small smile.
"Ok" said Kendall reluctantly, he pulled her against him and hugged her wishing he knew a way to save her.
"Are you sure you are going to be okay?" asked Kendall. It was a few hours later and they were sitting in his car outside her home. During their whole date he just held her and let her talk. She told him about everything that had happened since her family had met Calvin.
"I'm fine, I know it's hard but please try not to worry" said Celia squeezing his hand.
"It's hard not to worry. Especially when someone I love could be in danger" he finished.
"What did you say?" asked Celia barely above a whisper. Kendall mentally slapped himself when he realized what he just said.
"I said I love you, and I know it's too soon and you don't-" before he could finish Celia leaned over and kissed him.
"I love you too" she said smiling "and it's not too soon." Then she started laughing at the thought she had.
"What?" asked Kendall curiously.
"Calvin was afraid we were getting serious and he was right. Oh well for him" she said with a shrug.
"Calvin" muttered Kendall becoming tense and balling his fist up, Celia could not help but notice.
"Maybe you should not walk to the front door because if Calvin is there it won't end well" she said taking his hand and forcing him to uncurl his fist.
"Maybe, we can just say goodnight here" he said leaning over and kissing her "I love you" he finished.
Celia could not help it her heart thudded and she felt like she had butterflies in her stomach "I love you too" she replied before climbing out of the car. She made her way into the house feeling like she was floating on air.
(A/N: I know the story Celia told Kendall about what happened with Calvin is a bit unrealistic, but for this story it is realistic.)