DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Halloween series in anyway =(. But I DO own Katarzyna and my other OCs.

AN: So I'm sorry this took so long! I am preparing to leave for college this weekend so things got a little hectic…

Chapter Thirteen

/oo/

I would like the wish A HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY to my dear friend and fellow reader Domo2010. I'm so sorry I couldn't update on your actual birthday like you had hoped but hopefully I can be forgiven ^.^

/oo/

It wasn't long until the mixture of crying and my pain medicine had successfully knocked me out. When I woke up, I felt even more exhausted than I had all week. Through my blurred vision, I saw Loomis sitting in his usual seat, reading a book.

"What time is it?" my voice was scratchy thanks to my dry throat. Loomis looked up from his reading and offered me a small smile. He passed me a full cup of water from my food tray and I gladly drank every drop.

"A little past twelve," he answered, "The doctor should be coming soon to check how you're healing before discharging you,"

I nodded, suddenly feeling sick at the thought of returning to that house. Sighing, I looked over at my nightstand where more flowers were placed. That's when I noticed it.

My dagger was stabbed nearly halfway into the wooden surface. A piece of paper was being held in place by the blade and with a shaky hand, I carefully pulled it away with a loud tear breaking the silence.

It was crumpled with splotches of what looked like red paint. My stomach twisted as I tried not to think of what it, most likely, really was. I recognized Michael's handwriting immediately in bold, black crayon.

LIAR

Liar? What the hell was he playing at now? Half of me wanted to be angry and hunt him down, while the other half reminded me why I was in the hospital in the first place. I hadn't even realized Loomis had stood up and made his way to my side until he spoke.

"Are you going to be okay?" he asked softly. I didn't know how to answer as a lump formed in my throat. I opened my mouth just as the door opened and Dr. Ashton and a nurse walked in. I hid the paper in my fist and took a few deep breaths to calm myself.

"Good afternoon Katarzyna," he smiled, "How are we feeling today?"

"Tired," I replied as he looked over my chart before pulling my gown down just enough to see my bandages, "Will I be going home today?"

"Yeah, I think you are well enough for a discharge," he smiled, "But you need to take it easy; any internal damage is slower at healing, no matter how superficial it is,"

"Will I be able to continue my classes at the college?" I asked.

"I don't see why not," he said, "but I think it is best that you don't walk there. See if you can get a ride with someone until your side heals. You're going to be pretty sore for a while,"

"I can drive you to your classes Kat," Loomis said from his seat. I gave a small grateful smile before turning back to Dr. Ashton.

"Okay, well I will write a prescription for some pain medicine because that cut of yours is going to be hurting. Again, take it easy, no heavy lifting. I know you have a child living with you so I don't want you picking her up or anything like that until those stitches are out and everything is healed,"

"Yes doctor," I said politely.

"I will see you back here in ten days to check your stitches," he said as the nurse relieved me of all my needles, "Take care," he smiled before leaving the room. The door opened a few minutes later and a smiling Emmy bounded in with Laurie behind her, holding a set of clothes for me.

"Officer Sorrento dropped us off," Laurie said as Emmy climbed into Loomis's lap. She had grown quite fond of him over the last few days. She would often comment on how his thin, white hair made him look like a grandfather, leading me to believe she probably looked up to him as such.

In retrospect, she wasn't that far off considering how she was Michael's daughter and Loomis spent at least fifteen years looking out for Michael and trying desperately to keep him in check. Even though that was all shot to hell when he escaped…

"You could have called me," Loomis pointed out, bouncing Emmy on his knee, making her laugh happily. It wasn't the first time that I was painfully aware she had the same laugh as Michael from when he was a kid.

Suddenly, something struck in me. I looked down at my fist where Michael's note was crumpled. Liar. I had lied about Emmy…

"He knows!" I shouted in my mind, feeling my stomach drop and my heart jump into my throat. I knew that he would put it together sooner or later, but not now, not after what happened. If things were different…what? It wasn't like we could be some happy little family. A daughter who was beginning to take more and more after her homicidal father, who had a body count well into the hundreds after spending more than half his life in a sanitarium for killing his sister and four others. And a mother who was once considered a reckless, brave, and cynically morbid genius who had been reduced to some pitiful girl who could barely function anymore if left alone.

Yeah, picture perfect.

"He wanted to see how Kat was doing," Laurie's voice brought me out of my thoughts and I saw she had casted a mischievous smirk in my direction. I inwardly groaned when I realized she shared her brother's old smirk from whenever he was up to no good. Everything was against me that day, I knew it.

"Ah, I see," Loomis too smirked before placing Emmy back on the ground, "Well, let me go wait in the hallway while you change," he nodded towards us and left the room.

"So, you ready to get out of here?" Laurie asked, helping me slowly from the bed. My legs felt like Jell-O from their lack of use and I fought to stay upright for a few moments.

"You have no idea," I muttered, but immediately regretted it. My mind flashed back to the house and what awaited me. If Michael knew than he was probably waiting for me to come home. He probably wouldn't hesitate to kill me if we fought again. That would most likely seal Emmy's fate to become the next Michael Myers.

"Over my dead body," I thought, mentally slapping myself at the choice of words.

"Kat, are you okay?" I looked over at Laurie and quickly shed my hospital gown and reached for my clothes.

"Yeah," I smiled, "Leftover morphine haze I guess," she nodded in understanding.

"Been there," she laughed bitterly and I could only imagine the injuries she endured over the years of coming face to face with Michael. Emmy wandered around the room, bored, as Laurie helped me into my black T-shirt; Dr. Ashton wasn't kidding when he said my cut would be hurting me. He seemed to neglect mentioning lifting my arms was almost impossible.

After pulling on my black, pleated skirt and slipping on my matching sneakers, Laurie insisted on brushing my knotted hair.

"You haven't tended to it in days Kat. Believe me you will feel much better," she said. Once I was finally presentable, the nurse came in with a wheelchair and we made our way to the exit.

/oo/

Ethan was leaning against his car when we came out of the hospital. It was weird seeing him in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt instead of his uniform.

"There she is!" he laughed, his face looking just as boyish as it did in high school, "How are you feeling,"

"I'm alive," I sighed and lifted myself from the wheelchair, Ethan and Loomis each grabbing one of my arms for support.

"Thanks," I said as I steadied myself.

"I will get a ride from Dr. Loomis and Officer Sorrento can take you and Emmy home," Laurie said.

"When I'm off-duty, please call me Ethan," he laughed.

"Why can't we all just take one car and someone follow behind us?" I asked, uneasy.

"I need to speak to Dr. Loomis about something," she said cryptically, but I could see it in her eyes; Michael's return yet him not coming near her had left Laurie beyond unsettled. Who could blame the poor girl?

"Bye Laurie!" Emmy smiled, unfazed, and wrapped her arms around Laurie's waist. I looked at the smiles at both the girls' smiles and felt myself frown. How would Laurie feel when she finds out the little girl she has come to love was actually her niece by the very man she feared would come after her again one say and kill her?

"Bye Emmy, I will see you tomorrow after school," she smiled before they piled my flowers into the car before she and Dr. Loomis left. Ethan let Emmy into the back seat of his car first before helping me into the passenger seat, taking care not to brush any sore areas when he helped me with my seatbelt.

"You didn't have to do this," I said once we were on the road.

"I wanted to," he insisted, "What kind of friend would I be if I left you at the hospital after all you've been through?"

"I could have gotten Loomis to drive me," I said. Then, Ethan's mood seemed to change as he casted a quick glance at Emmy to make sure she was still looking out the window and not paying us any mind.

"But seriously Kat," he continued, his voice low, "You're lucky to be alive,"

"Ethan-,"

"No, I'm serious," he said, "I've never gone up against him but I've witnessed two officers who did. I was still a rookie and believe me when I say I will never forget what he did to them. That knife of his is almost just for show! He stabbed one before getting the other with his bare hands,"

"Thanks Ethan," I deadpanned. Just what I needed to brighten my day; a mental image of what Michael could've done to me that night, but had done to other people.

"Sorry," he muttered. The rest of the ride home was in a tense silence.

/oo/

Ethan drove us to the pharmacy and thankfully Dr. Ashton had called ahead and my prescription was ready. When we got back to the house, Emmy had passed out in the back seat. Ethan was nice enough to carry her into the house and lay her on the couch. Once we got all my flowers into the house, my living room looked like a florist's heaven. As I walked him to the front door, he turned back to me.

"Listen Kat, this probably isn't the best time to bring this up but," he trailed off and I noticed he looked like the nervous high school kid he once was.

"What is it?" I asked, cautiously.

"Well I wanted to ask this back in high school but you were so wrapped up in Myers and all that crap then you moved away-,"

"Ethan," I growled, feeling cranky from discomfort. I needed my medicine.

"I'm sorry, I'm rambling," he laughed, "I'm twenty-six years old and I am acting like I'm sixteen again-,"

"Sorrento!"

"Do you want to go out to dinner some time?" he asked and I felt the air suddenly leave my chest.

"What?" I asked softly.

"Like a date?" he said, "I mean unless you don't want to or something. I'm not trying to pressure you or anything,"

I didn't know what to say. I had been asked out all the time in California but I always rejected them; I was a mother after all and at the time, my heart belonged to someone else. I had never bothered with anyone else; Michael was the only person I had ever been with.

"Kat?" I looked back at Ethan and saw that he was mentally beating himself up for asking and I made me feel terrible. He didn't deserve this, he was a good guy.

Then again, I once thought Derek was a good guy.

"I should go," he said as he turned and began to leave.

"No!" I surprised myself as I grabbed his sleeve. He looked back with wide eyes as my mouth hung open in shock. I was about to make an excuse when Loomis's words rang through my head,

"I know how badly you want to relive the past Kat, but you can never go back. You need to let go,"

The thought sickened me but I knew, deep down, that Loomis was right.

"Okay," I said, my voice cracking.

"Okay?"

"Okay," I repeated, "We can go to dinner," I smiled softly, letting go of his sleeve. His face lit up with a smile.

"Great! I will pick you up tomorrow at eight!" he said, "If you're up to it of course. If you don't feel well than call me and we will reschedule," I nodded and watched him leave before closing the door and going into the kitchen to take my medicine.

Maybe if I had been more aware of my surroundings, I would have noticed my masked company in my dining room, hiding in the shadows where the sun didn't reach.

Maybe, if I did, I would have known he had witnessed the entire exchange between Ethan and I.

Maybe I would have known how much that seemed to anger him.

Maybe I could have saved my neighbor from such a horrible fate later that night…

/oo/ /oo/ /oo/

BONUS CHAPTER: (Dedicated to "Domo2010")

(Michael)

When he returned to the hospital, Michael had found Kat completely cried out and in a deep sleep. As much as he wanted to grab her shoulders and shake her until she woke, he knew it would only make things worse.

Reaching into his suit, he pulled out a piece of paper he had kept when Emmy had given him her notebook those weeks ago. When he returned it, he had taken a couple sheets despite himself.

Now he was thankful for it.

It was stained in some blood that must have bled through his clothing when he killed some of those animals when he was trying to scare Kat. He looked around for something to write with and saw a couple crayons sitting on the nightstand by the flowers. Emmy must have left them there. Grabbing a black one, he left a simple note for Kat to decipher and placed it on the nightstand, stabbing the dagger into it so Kat would find it when she woke up.

Then, he returned to his home and wandered around aimlessly. He wasn't sure how much time had passed before he heard the sound of a car out front. He walked into the dining room and looked out the window, seeing Kat carefully exit the vehicle, her body looking very stiff from being on bed rest for the last few days.

He felt his blood boil when he saw Ethan Sorrento get out on the driver side of the car and smile towards Kat. His rage had flown through the roof the moment that boy had opened the car's back door and lifted his sleeping daughter into his arms. His daughter!

No one should touch her! Especially another man!

He was certain the handle of his knife was going to break as he remained hidden but watched Sorrento enter the house and place Emmy on the couch, draping a blanket over her as Kat brought in a small vase of flowers. It took everything in his power not to yank the boy into the dining room and stab him until he was long dead.

But he couldn't risk Emmy waking up and witnessing such an act. Kat was already beyond pissed at him not to mention terrified, he didn't need their seven year old child to be affected even worse.

At that moment, he didn't care that he had grown soft for Emelyn. She was the only one that was for sure. At this point, even Kat was becoming an enemy. Even if he was the reason for it.

"Do you want to go on a date?" he heard the boy ask. Michael found himself mentally begging Kat to reject him. Why should he care who she went out with? Why should he care if she was moving on with her life and date other people? It wasn't like they were anything.

Maybe as kids he and Kat used to laugh and joke about how they would end up together one day. Hell, everyone would say it. Even his mother would say that they would have the most unusual yet perfect relationship. Such sickly sweet words would make Kat blush and feebly deny it while he gagged exaggeratedly, earning him a smack upside the head from both his mother and best friend.

But that was the past.

"Okay, we can go to dinner," Kat's voice brought him back to reality as he stared at her from the shadows. She was smiling softly as Ethan told her when he would pick her up before he drove off. She let out a sigh before closing the door and going into the kitchen, that small smile never leaving her face.

Michael felt his rage return and there was only one way he could get rid of it…

That night, he stalked along Lampkin Lane, looking for someone to become acquainted with his blade. It was a quiet night, not a soul was outside. But what should he expect? It was still too early after Halloween. People still feared he would strike and make up for the holiday he had lost this year.

That's when he saw her. She was walking down the street, her back to him. Her dark brown hair was the same mixture of curly and wavy as Kat. It bounced the same way as she walked. He gripped his knife tightly and slipped further into the darkness. She may have only looked like Kat from behind but she would have to do.

The girl was too busy listening to whatever was on her music player to realize he was stalking her closely. She had her earphones turned up so loud she didn't hear him whenever a twig snapped under his boot or when the leaves on the bushes rustled as he slid amongst them. She had no idea until he grabbed her.

Michael wasn't sure how many times he had stabbed her before he finally decided to stop. Even then, he was reluctant to keep from driving his knife further into her chest. She looked nothing like Kat once he turned her around, but he didn't care. She didn't look like anyone now; his rage had been larger than he had thought.

There was blood everywhere, more than usual. He looked down at himself and saw that he was drenched in the red liquid. He would need to clean off.

Could he risk going back to the house? He was still angry and he couldn't risk seeing Kat or running into Emmy. If his rage didn't scare her than the fact he was a walking bloodbath could raise some alarm in her. Sure she had seen such a sight before, but she was still seven.

Not to mention the bathroom was next to the girl's room. He couldn't risk waking up Emmy by turning on the shower. Not to mention it was well past one in the morning, the house would be so silent that the sound of running water would alert Kat and that was the last thing they all needed.

He would wait until morning, once the girls left for the day. Then he would shower and scrape off all the blood. He would have to clean his knife too.

He needed to be at his best for tomorrow night.

Ethan Sorrento was taking Kat out on a date. He needed to look out for Kat after all, no matter how much she may hate him at the moment.

He would need to have a little meeting with Sorrento after he and Kat are through with their date but before anything could happen between them.

Yes, tomorrow night would be a very important night indeed…

Review! Okay so I know you all may hate me but it seems Michael has a plan to make you all love me again. Next chapter is Kat and Ethan's date. What do you think will happen?

And what do you think Michael is planning for their little… meeting?

Until next time, read and review!