This is based on Episode 10 "Rex Dies". Don't own, never will, just enjoying it. :)
Thanks for Boris Yeltsin's review on the last chapter. :)
Now, enjoy! I had some fun with this chapter, although it took a bit to do. I had to figure out some approaches, and I like what I ended up creating. :) I hope you do too.
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If anyone needed to be going to the hospital, it was Jade. If anyone needed to avoid going to the hospital, it was Cat. But first, one needs some background on what lead up to the events of that evening.
She had known it was a bad idea when Sikowitz put her and Cat on lighting. She would have preferred a role in the play as an actor. She did understand, albeit grudgingly, that acting in each production was not an option, nor was writing, directing, or producing. Lighting was a job that would have her brush off a few skills from her theater tech class that she had taken the previous year. It would add a bit of diversity to her resume, so although it was not a role that was making her jump with joy, she set out to do it well.
However, working with Cat could sometimes feel like babysitting. Cat was not the most safety conscious person in the world. Neither was Jade, but when she saw a delighted Cat prancing up and down the catwalk while they were installing new light bulbs, she knew that as fun as it would be to watch other people slip and fall, that was not a fate she wanted to await Cat.
"I love that they call this a catwalk, because my name is Cat and - look! - I'm walking! Walking on the catwalk!" Cat said excitedly.
Instead of telling Cat to be careful, which would feel too conventionally caring to Jade, she asked in an ominous tone, "If someone was pushed off this catwalk and they landed on the floor really hard, do you think they'd live?"
"Why are you asking that?" a confused Cat asked, peering down at the distance and finally seeing the potential danger that Jade wanted her to see.
"No reason," Jade said with a hint of careless warning in her tone.
Cat gasped and ran away, finally processing the warning. Although she was now more scared of Jade being there than being on her own far above the ground, it would still serve the same purpose - Cat would be more careful. And now Jade had the catwalk to herself while she finished working on adjusting the lights.
Although Jade saved Cat from injury to herself, it did not translate into safety for Jade. On the night of the show, Jade was making a final adjustment to lights above the stage. She was holding several wires as she carefully and safely made the adjustments. As a precaution, she yelled out to Cat, who was already in the lighting booth, "Cat, don't turn on twenty-one!"
"Don't what?" Cat yelled back, having only heard part of the request due to talking to Sinjin about another matter right before Jade called to her.
"Turn on twenty-one!" Jade yelled, turning her attention back to the wires. She did not think how assuming Cat would apply the negative to her sentence was a bad idea.
"Twenty-one on!" a cheerfully helpful Cat yelled.
"Nonono!" Jade yelled in panic, before the shock hit her. The metal tool she was holding conducted the electricity sharply. Her hands tightened automatically due to the electric flow, and she could not loosen her hold until after an agonizing three seconds of being trapped by the current. It did not hurt too badly, but it was still a frightening experience.
"Cat, you just shocked me!" she said in disbelief. If it was anyone else, she would be headed toward them to electrocute them back, but Cat was already looking sorry enough as she yelled back, "I'm sorry!" and covered her face, cowering a little in the lighting box.
Jade unsteadily climbed off the ladder - somehow she had maintained balance through the ordeal (thanks, dance lessons!) - and went off to find Beck. Maybe he could help her regain orientation. She felt okay - but still a little startled. Thankfully she had been on a plastic stepladder with rubber covering the steps, which likely helped to ground herr. If it had been metal, there was a good chance that she would have been in a lot more trouble.
No one besides Jade - and an intensely sorry little Cat - seemed to have noticed the potentially dangerous situation. The final run-through of special effects started, and Jade, free of animosity toward her friend, worked beside Cat as they followed the cues Sikowitz gave them. Then, halfway through the practice, all focus immediately shifted to Rex (or really, Robbie's reaction) when Tori accidentally vaccuumed the puppet into a wind prop.
Seriously?! I get shocked while doing a job properly and carefully, and Tori has ONE button to push and somehow messes it up?! Jade thought to herself in her slightly disoriented state. Maybe the shock had gotten her to be quieter than normal for a few minutes.
Jade and Cat raced down from the light box and assisted Sikowitz in holding back a panicked Robbie. It was hopeless. Robbie started going into hysterics and insisted upon Rex going to the hospital, while Sikowitz (for once pushing the right issue) was insisting that Robbie uphold his professional obligation and act in the play.
Tori finally convinced Robbie to let Rex go with her so she could "take him to the hospital". Beck offered to drive, and Cat immediately said that she was going as well.
"Okay, does anyone else think this is bizarre? It can't just be me!" Jade said, not tolerating the dramatic scene quite as much as the others but still being more understanding than if this viginette were occurring with people who were not her loosely-termed friends.
As the three volunteer "Rex-cuers" disappeared with the puppet, Jade announced, "Well, I'm not missing this," and took off after them. When she found them, Cat was certain they were going to the hospital. A bored Jade chewed gum and let Beck and Tori explain the truth to Cat.
If anyone needs to be seen by a doctor, it's me! Jade wanted to snap at the ridiculousness of the whole situation, but she did not. Cat already looked so upset on Robbie's behalf, and there was no reason to make her feel worse.
Somewhere in their crazy conversation, Jade had a stroke of brilliance - let the puppet die! Although that might have been as insane as the idea of him being "healed", she felt that at least it would be the final effort required toward Rex that she would ever have to make, and that would be worth it.
So the four students set off for the hospital with one very battered puppet.
...
Plotting and planning with a Cat asking questions about uncles who soak their feet in chicken fat - those things do not go well together.
In her best attempt at sugary sweet and patient, with wide eyes and faked enthusiasm, Jade asked Cat, "Why don't you go make friends with the nice lady at the desk?"
"Kay kay!" Cat cheered, thrilled by the misdirection. She ran over to the desk to talk to the nurse, and her chatter was absent from the rest of the situation as the other teens convinced/bribed/battered a doctor into helping them give Rex a medically-assisted death.
At one point Tori asked about Cat's whereabouts. Jade jiggled the fatty lump specimen jar that she had found and shrugged.
"Cat wanders. She probably found the vending machine and is eating candy, or talking to the nurses. She'll be back soon."
Unfortunately, she was wrong.
Every parent of every sort carries some sort of regrets. Long beyond Cat's remembrance of what happened, Jade would carry a lot of guilt and regret over what had happened to Cat. When she finally went searching for Cat - Tori had bombed their one chance at ridding Robbie of Rex forever - she discovered that Cat had been admitted ... to the psyche ward. At her demands - who cared if she was family or not?! - she figured out that the nurse she had told Cat to talk to had heard Cat's rambling explanation of why they were there and judged her to be insane. Granted, the situation was insane, but Jade knew that Cat was not (as of yet).
The idea of her already vulnerable friend (she could use that word with Cat, at least internally) being admitted because of her advice and lack of oversight gave Jade a distinctly sick feeling. The last thing Cat needed was to have an official (or more official) history of mental illness, and being admitted to a psych ward was not going to be interpreted in the future as her telling a true story about an incredibly weird day.
Thankfully, Jade was a force of nature, particularly when feeling a bit desperate and extremely protective.
"I don't need to be family to take her! You admitted her incorrectly, so it's not like a real case!" Jade argued. She dashed away and grabbed Beck, giving him a quick summary and pleading with him to help her explain. Together the two of them spoke over one another as they tried to explain.
"Cat's just an enthusiastic storyteller and doesn't always realize when the details sound strange."
"She's as sane as any teenager is in Hollywood."
"She's a sweet kid and would never harm anyone."
"Let us take her home before we sue!"
Jade was hoping that her father would answer if she called and asked him to take a legal case for her, but it thankfully did not come to that. Beck, used to corralling the unfortunate doctor whom Tori had wrangled into helping them with Rex, spotted the frazzled doc and pulled him over to corroborate their story. Finally, the deluged nurse believed them and sent an orderly to remove the ward's most fascinating patient.
"Can't we admit her for something? She can't be normal!" one student observer commented ... and immediately looked like he was going to faint when Jade gave him her most deadly glare. She wrapped her arms around Cat, who was excitedly telling her about her experience.
"I was in this small white room that was super cozy but lonely 'cause no one would come visit me, and I got to wear a special outfit AND cubes on my hands and they were super fun to play with and I pretended I was a superhero, but then I couldn't scratch my nose and..."
"Shh, Cat," Jade said authoritatively but without any bite. She just wanted to get Cat out of the hospital without anyone else trying to take her friend from her. She looked into the innocent brown eyes and quietly said, "I'm sorry, Cat. I shouldn't have told you to go talk to the nurse, even if you were being ... yeah."
"But why are you sorry? It was fun, Jade!"
Jade almost argued it, then stayed quiet, pulling Cat out to the parking lot, looking for where Beck was waiting with the car. Despite Cat's relaxed attitude, Jade still had her concerns about Cat's mental health history - past, present, and definitely in the future.
If parenting is anything like this, I don't want kids, she thought to herself. Anyway, I'll probably be busy taking care of Cat. She's going to need it.
"Jade, can we do something fun? Can we go see the goldfish pond at the park? And have a picnic? Pleeeease? I don't want to go home yet."
Jade turned her focus back to the present Cat, who was as mentally sane as was satisfactory. At the mention of her not wanting to go home, Jade nodded understandingly.
"Whatever you want, Cat, I'll do it with you."
"Yay!" Cat squealed excitedly, dashing ahead to wave Beck down and tell him about their new evening plans (because if Jade was going on a picnic with her, he would want to come too). Jade stood back a little, feeling so much regret and worry. For most of her friends - even the improperly attached Robbie with Rex the survivor - she could see a bright future. For Cat? All she could see were clouds around her sunshine.
"Jade, are you coming? Hurrrrrrrrry!" Cat yelled from next to the car where she was bouncing excitedly on tip toe.
"Coming, baby girl, I'm coming."
And no matter what, she always would.
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Sending virtual love! Stop by in the reviews or pms if you want to chat, and hopefully you'll be able to come back for the next chapter whenever it is ready. :)
