Author's note: In the journal for this chapter, one of Clara's nightmares happens so it will be told in her point of view.
(One month later)
As the warm water splasges against her skin, Clara grabs a bar of soap and rubs it down her arms, stomach, and legs. Showers were another way to help Clara relax. She hasn't been stealing in the past month ever since the birthday party, or the argument with her father. She has taken a break from her life of crime, and she has to admit that it feels less stressful. For the firat time in what felt like forever, she feels like herself again. Clara might even get her old tattoos back, or have her recent ones removed completely.
Deciding on which one she should do, she could hear someone knocking on her door. After washing the last bits of soap off her body, Clara steps out of the shower and puts on her dark silk robe. Exiting the bathroom, she goes to her closet and pulls out a gun.
Slowly approaching the door, Clara opens it while keeping the gun behind her back. As soon as she opens the door, she jumps back once a familiar little girl wraps her arms arounf her waist. It was Teresse. Clara places her gun on a nearby shelf while Teresse was distracted. Clara sees Shaun and Peggy at the door.
"Sorry about that. She's just excited," Peggy says.
Teresse lets go of Clara and steps back to give her space to move.
"About what?" Clara cocks an eyebrow.
Shaun steps in and says, "Well since you're the only girl I know who's part of the Black Dragon, we were wondering if you couod babysit Teresse. It'll only be for a week."
Clara never was much of a babysitter, but she did admire children.
"Sure, but why? Are you guys going on some kind of vacation?"
"As a matter of fact, we are," Shaun explains, "We are going to our favorite places in Chicago. It's for our anniversary and we could use some time to ourselves. You don't mind watching her do you?"
Clara shakes her head.
"No, it's fine. I hope you two have a lovely vacation."
"Oh trust me, we need it," Shaun grins.
Teresse runs up to both of her parents and hugs them tightly. They say their goodbyes before Shaun murmurs to Clara, "Make sure you watch over her. Don't let anything happen to her."
Clara nods. Shaun and Peggy walk hand in hand before leaving her apartment. Clara shuts the door before looking down at Teresse. She looked as lively as ever. She held a pink bag that looked to be filled with books and toys.
Looking down, Clara realized that she was still in her robe. Glancing towards the couch, Clara tells Teresse, "Can you sit on the couch while I change back into my clothes?"
"Sure," Teresse says sweetly while turning around and moving, as if she were playing hopscotch, towards the couch.
"Don't touch anything," Clara raises up a finger.
"Ok," she says.
Clara goes to her bedroom and shuffles through her closet. She finds a white t-shirt with black jeans. After changing, Clara walks out of her bedroom and sees Teresse wandering towards the gun on the shelf, which Clara put there after Shaun arrived. Before Teresse could pick it up, Clara runs over to her and pulls her away.
Clara kneels down in front of her and tells her, "I told you not to touch anything."
"I wasn't going to touch it. I was just going to look at it. I'm sorry," Teresse says as if she were hurt.
Clara sighs, "It's alright," she says softly, "Just don't go near any weapons."
Clara stands up and guides Teresse to the couch. They both sit and Clara asks her, "Just out of curiosity, what does your father really tell you about me?"
Teresse cross legged before replying, "He says that you steal jewelry, but don't worry, I won't say anything, " she says the last sentence in a low whisper. "The reason why I like you so much is because you look really cool in the news. Another person I want to meet is the Vigilante."
Clara chuckles at Teresse's mispronunciation of the word 'vigilante.'
Teresse pouts at her. "Or the Fox. I really want to meet him because he saves people. What if the two of you were together? That would he so cool!"
Clara looks away from her recalling that they were together, but only as friends.
"What's wrong?" Teresse cocks her head to one side with big wondrous eyes looking up at Clara.
Clara tirns her attention back to Teresse and smiles.
"Yes, that would be pretty cool."
"Can we go to Quinkie's?" Teresse changes the subject.
"Sure."
Clara takes Teresse to a car she had rented, not stole. Teresse sits in the back and Clara starts driving. Teresse held her pink bag on her lap. She sticks her hand inside and pulls out a gray stuffed bunny. It had a large pink bowtie wrapped around its neck with long ears bent downward and it had a small pink nose.
"I have a fluffy bunny," she says to Clara, "Do you like it?"
Teresse sticks the bunny out and wiggles it back and forth. Clara looks in her rear view mirror and sees the bunny.
"Yes, it looks really nice."
Teresse smiles at her compliment. Through the whole car ride to Quinkie's, Teresse constantly told Clara stories about crazy things that happened in her life. Clara laughed at some of them while others were hard to believe. Teresse went on and on until she got her food. She turns quiet for a little bit with a mouth full of food, but quickly starts speaking once she swallows it all.
"Clara," she says while scarfing down her fries, "Can I call you mom?"
Clara was surprised to hear her question.
"Don't you already have a mum?"
"Yeah, but I call her mommy!"
"Well we don't want to get them both mixed up," Clara tries to change Teresse's mind.
"Oh right. I didn't think of that."
"Why do you want to call me that?"
"Because I want to give you a nickname and I think of you as family. Since we're all family here, I want to give you a nickname like a family name."
"Ok, well you can call me Aunt Clara I guess."
"That works!" Teresse gasps.
Before Teresse could tell Clara another story, a car rams into the back of Clara's car. Clara looks in the side mirror and sees five red cars behind her. They all looked to be together and they were all headed towarss Clara's car. The same car rams into her trunk once more.
Teresse jumps out of her seat and looks behind her. Her mouth shapes into an "o" once she sees hiw close the car was to her.
"Who is that, Aunt Clara?"
"I don't know, but stay buckled in."
Clara steps harder on the gas to make the car go faster. Luckily, the road they were on had very few cars so no one could block their way. Taking her phone out of her purse, Clara keeps one hand on the wheel and sees blockers ahead of her. Driving past them just in time, Clara activates the blockers. They go up. Three foxer cars were demolished by the blockers, causing the other two behind them to stop.
"Woah, you can do that too?" Teresse breathes out as she watches in amazement.
Clara was too distracted to hear what she said. The other two cars drive off the road in order to catch up with Clara. Before they can get any closer, a steam pipe breaks beneath them. The explosion destroys the cars and kills the fixers inside. Clara slows down and sighs in relief.
Teresse settles back down in her seat and asks, "Who were those guys?"
Clara thought about her response before replying, "They're just some guys looking for trouble. Nothing to worry about."
Teresse only shrugs it off and says, "Some people are too crazy to drive, but you whooped their asses!"
Clara's jaw drops open.
"Where did you learn to speak like that?"
"I don't know, but should I tell mommy and daddy about this?"
Clara frantically shakes her head.
"God no, don't tell your parents."
Teresse pretends to zip her mouth closed and says, "Don't worry, I promise I won't tell them. I've got your back, Aunt Clara."
Clara smiles once hearing her new nickname. They spend the day together on the road. Once they return home, the sun was going down. Clara reads her clock. 8:00pm. She gazes at Teresse, who was sitting on the couch while holding her stuffed bunny.
"What time do you usually go to bed, Teresse?"
"Now, I guess."
She puts down her bunny and starts shuffling through her pink bag. She pulls out a book and extends it out to Clara.
"Can you read this to me? It'll help me sleep."
"Sure, I'll get you a pillow and a blanket."
Clara leaves the living room and goes to her bedroom to retrieve one of her pillows. She then goes to her closet and pulls out a spare blanket. Returning to the living room, she sees Teresse curled up on the couch with her bunny while waiting for Clara. Clara places the blanket over Teresse and gives her the pillow.
Once Teresse is comfortable, Clara picks up the book from the couch and sits down beside Teresse. She opens it up and starts to read. After reading the book word for word, Clara looks over at Teresse who was fast asleep.
Clara thought she was a brave young girl. They almost dies today from fixers, but she didn't seem to give a care in the world. Shaun must have gotten her used to danger or maybe she watches a lot of action movies.
Clara also wondered if Aiden would read bedtime stories to Lena. Every time Clara would run into a child, it would some how make her think of Lena. Clara gets off the couch, careful not to wake Teresse. She changes into her pajamas and makes herself comfortable in her bed. She soon falls asleep.
Journal #12
(Dream sequence)
I'm in my bathroom and I'm trying to brush the last knot out of my half shaved hair. I'm visiting my mother in the hospital. She has been suffering from breast cancer for the past couple of months now. Doctors tell me that she sleeps a lot and I'm starting to worry that she's dying. I've been checking on her through out the week and she seems to be getting weaker by the day. I want to make sure she's okay.
I get into my car and drive towards the hospital. Hard rain pounds against my front window and I am forced to put my wind shield wipers on full speed. Reaching the hospital, I get out and rush towards the hospital through the rain. Once inside, I slow down and approach the lady behind the desk.
"I'm here for Susan Lille," I tell her.
"What are you to her?"
"I'm her daughter."
She nods and leads me to my mother's room. The lady opens the door for me and I step inside. She exits, leaving me alone with my mother. I frown once I see her. Her head was completely bald and I could hear her shallow breathing. She appeared to be resting.
I walk up to her and try to fight back tears as I lightly shake her arm to wake her.
"Mum," I whisper.
I shake her once more and her eyes flicker open. She looks up at me and smiles.
"Clara, I'm so happy to see you," she says weakly.
My mother gestures towards a chair sitting next to her bed.
"Sit down and talk to me. There is no hurry."
I do what she says and I reach for her hand resting in her lap. I clasp her hand onto mine and we start to talk. We talk about the usual stuff: how life's going, my job as a tattoo artist, etc. Eventually I move on to her and how she's doing.
"I don't know if I have much longer Clara, so I want you to listen to me carefully," she starts, "If I don't make it, I don't want you to feel sad because I hate seeing you upset. I want you to take care of yourself and I know it's hard living without your father, but I know you can get through it. You're a very strong and smart girl."
My breathing grows quicker as tears form in my eyes. No, I can't lose her.
"Mum, don't say that. You're going to make it."
Her hand tightens around mine and she says almost in a whisper, "I love you, Clara. Nothing you do can change that. No matter what you are, I will always love you."
I shake my head at her dying words and I caress her face. Her eyes start to close and I felt as if my whole world was falling apart.
"Mummy, please no," I sob, but it was too late.
I could feel the grip from her hand loosen and her eyes shut completely. I mutter "no" over and over again as I press her knuckles against my lips. Tears flow down my cheeks. I felt like I just lost everything.
My eyes shoot open with sweat around my face. I'm lying down in my bed. My cheek were tear stained and I felt the same pain that I did on that dreadful day when my mother died in front of me. She was the only family I had left and I lost her. I didn't have any siblings, nor any cousins that I know of.
My eyes grow watery again and I try to grasp at the reason why I was dreaming about my mother.
"Mummy," I mutter as I continue to silently cry against my pillow.
A knock at my door startles me and I hear Teresse, who I'm supposed to be babysitting for a week.
"Clara, can you open the door?" Her voice sounded shaky.
I try my best to wipe the tears away with my blanket so I can at least look presentable. I glance over at the clock. It was midnight. What would Teresse want at this hour? I get up and turn on the light. I look at my reflection in the mirror to make sure my crying wasn't so obvious before moving to the door. I open it and I see Teresse who also looked like she has been crying. She was clutching onto her bunny while looking up at me in fear.
"What's wrong?" I ask in concern.
It took her a few seconds before she replied, "I'm scared about those men in the cars today. What if they go after mommy and daddy?"
I sigh and kneel down in front of her.
"They're going to be fine. They're way out in Chicago and those men are gone anyways."
"But what if more bad men come after them?"
"They won't. I promise you," I say in a soft tone.
"Can I sleep with you in your bed?" She asks abruptly.
I felt a little akward at the thought of someone else's child sleeping in my bed so I tell her, "Why don't I stay out there with you until you fall asleep. Does that sound like a good idea?"
"O-Ok," she stutters.
I go to the living room with her and she gets on the couch. I sit next to her and I wait patiently for her to go to sleep. Instead, she talks to me and asks me questions like she usually does.
"Clara, do you ever get scared?"
"Yes," I say the truth.
"Well what are you scared of?"
"Death I suppose."
Or getting shot at a cemetery or watching my mother die.
"I'm like you in a way," Teresse smiles a little.
"I guess so."
She continues to tell me about how she enjoys being with her parents. Eventually her voice drifts off and I could tell she was growing tired through every sentence. She yawns and beforw I knew it, she was out like a light. I digh once more before returning to my bedroom.
"Sweet dreams, little one."