By the time Jade had arrived at Cat's house, police and an ambulance were already there. She cursed her grandmother for living so far away, but she was greatful she was already in the car to just turn around and drive straight over. She'd driven like a madman to get there, her brain's urgency kicking in all at once as soon as she'd given all the details to the operator. She couldn't remember how many turns she took, or how many red lights she must have ran- only that she was here now. She'd barley remembered to turn off the engine before jumping out of the car- when suddenly her eyes were fixed on the stretcher being wheeled toward the ambulance. Her girlfriend laid motionless upon it, being guided by two paramedics.
As the stretcher was wheeled through the ambulance doors, Jade's resolve hardened. She couldn't let her Cat go alone—not like this. She took a deep breath, wiping the tears from her cheeks, and rushed forward, determination fueling her steps.
"Wait! Please!" she called out, her voice cracking as she approached the paramedics. The world around her blurred, and all that mattered was getting to her girlfriend. The paramedics exchanged quick glances, their faces serious yet compassionate.
"Miss, you can't go in," one of them said firmly, but there was a gentleness in their tone. "We need to keep the space clear for medical treatment."
"Please!" Jades heart raced as she pleaded, desperation creeping into her voice, she hadn't begged like that in - well ever. "She's my girlfriend! Please!"
The paramedic softened, glancing back at the stretcher. "She's okay, just unconscious." He reassured her. But you need to stay back so we can focus on her."
A swell of frustration and fear threatened to overwhelm her. She felt a knot in her stomach, a mix of anger at the situation and helplessness.
"Please, I won't get in the way," she said, her voice trembling. "Just let me be there with her."
After a tense moment, the paramedic sighed and stepped aside. "Okay, but you have to stay sat down and not interfere with her care. Understand?"
With a nod, the girl hurried into the ambulance, her heart pounding in her chest. The space was cramped and filled with the sharp scent of antiseptic. She found herself at Cat's side, one paramedic following her in as the other jumped round to the driver's seat in the cabin.
"Hey," she whispered, squeezing her Cat's, desperate for any sign of acknowledgment. "I'm here. I'm right here with you." It was gut wrenching to see her like that- she didn't just look asleep, she looked in pain. Her skin was a ghostly white, her usual tan banished, she looked almost translucent under the harsh ambulance lights.
As the ambulance rocked to a start, the paramedic inside leaned over with practiced precision, his hands steady as he prepared the IV. He tore open a sterile package, exposing a delicate needle glinting in the overhead light. Gently, he positioned Cat's arm, then guided the needle into her vein with one smooth motion, attaching the IV line in place. He connected it to a small bag of clear fluid hanging beside her, squeezing it slightly to ensure the flow.
Next, he prepared the heart rate monitor, sliding the fingertip monitor onto her index finger. The soft beep of the monitor came to life, matching the rhythm of her pulse—a gentle, reassuring sound.
Jade saw none of this happen, her eyes locked with intent on her girlfriend's face, with her non-monitored hand held securely within her own. Nothing would have made her let go in that moment. Cat's hand shifted, her fingers twitching ever so slightly. It was a movement so small it could have been imagined, but either way it came with a rush of relief as Jade tried to maintain a brave face, even as fear gnawed at her insides.
Cat laid there motionless, her chest rising and falling in shallow breaths. The ambulance's siren wailed, creating an eerie soundtrack to Jade's rising anxiety. She felt utterly helpless, longing to take away Cat's pain but being only able to offer her a comforting touch.
Minutes felt like an eternity as the ambulance finally arrived at the bustling entrance of the hospital. Jade was reluctantly ushered out of the vehicle, her worried eyes never leaving Cat's limp body. She held her breath as the paramedics whisked Cat away, disappearing into the maze of medical corridors.
All Jade could do next was pace nervously in the sterile white waiting room, her thoughts swirling in a whirlwind of fear and anguish. Each tick of the clock echoed in her ears, all she could think about was the time. It had only been about 20 minutes but it felt like days, each second stretching into eternity. She glanced at anxious faces around her, the silence only disrupted by her footsteps and the low murmurs of concerned loved ones.
Finally, a nurse emerged from a door, calling her through it. Jade's legs felt weak as she hurriedly rose, her heart pounding loudly in her chest. Following the nurse's lead, Jade entered a small private room, her eyes immediately finding Cat lying in a hospital bed.
The sight that greeted her shattered her heart into a million pieces. Cat's face was etched with pain, her once vibrant eyes now dulled with exhaustion as she looked straight up at the ceiling, unnoticing of Jade entering. "You're awake." Jade gasped, pushing her way past the nurse and towards Cat.
Cat's eyes flickered with recognition, a glimmer of determination shining through the pain. She took a deep breath, wincing at the discomfort it caused, and began to recount the events that led to her current state. "Jade?" She asked, she was not who she was expecting. "How did you get here?"
"That doesn't matter." Jade dismissed, a trembling hand found its way to Cat's. There was more pressing questions. "What happened?" She asked, she was sure she knew from what she'd heard over the phone, but she couldn't be sure. "How hurt are you?" She shot out quickly after.
"She has two broken ribs and some bruising on her back." A nurse interrupted. "We are to monitor her for a few hours until a parent or guardian can sign release forms."
"My parents aren't here?" Cat asked suddenly, looking between Cat and the nurse. Her eyes suddenly flooded with sadness.
"They-" Jade paused. No she hadn't seen them actually, and she'd certainly been there long enough for them to have had time to turn up. Did they not care that Cat was taken away in an ambulance?
"I will give them another call." The nurse nodded, leaving the room quickly.
"They'll be here." Jade reassured, stroking her thumb over the back of Cat's hand slowly. "Can you please tell me what happened?" She asked again, she couldn't keep letting her mind spin without answers. Two broken ribs? Anything could have happened to cause that.
After another deep breath, Cat painstakingly recounted the accident that left her unconscious and injured. As Cat's voice wavered, Jade felt an indescribable mix of emotions flood over her. Shock and anger swirled within her, and she held Cat's hand tighter. Jade listened intently, her heart breaking with each word, but she didn't dare interrupt. She needed to hear every detail, no matter how painful, so she could understand and support Cat.
Cat conveyed that Matteo wasn't at fault, highlighting her failure to recognise his feelings of being overwhelmed. His actions were not deliberate; he had no intention of hurting her.
"You shouldn't have to live with that, Cat. I understand he's your brother, but it's unfair for you to walk on eggshells around him like that. It hurts me to say it, but... I think he needs to be sectioned again." She said honestly. He couldn't be at home anymore if he was capable of doing this. What if Cat's dad hadn't been home to stop eventually stop Matty? Would he have stopped on his own?
"They can't help him anymore, Jade." Cat replied, eyes brimming with tears as she recalled the last time he came back from the psychiatric hospital. They told her parents that their methods weren't going to work forever and he needed more intense and maybe even permanent care. Her parents had ignored them of course, and pulled Matteo out as soon as possible, insisting that they could treat him at home.
"But he can't do this again Cat." Jade pleaded.
"I... I don't want that either," Cat responded as tears streamed down her face. "I..." She paused, debating if what she wanted to say next was true. "I don't want to go back home Jade." She tried to hold back another sob to no avail as it escaped her lips. Her ribs rattled with each gasping breath, the gauze holding her torso together constricting her lungs from their usual capacity.
Hearing that shattered the final part of Jade's mask of bravery. There was so much going on behind the closed doors of the Valentine household, that Cat had been dealing with for so long and finally it was just too much for her. She'd been so brave and dealt with so much, but everyone has their breaking point; and honestly Cat's should have come a long time ago.
"You don't have to." Jade decided in that moment. "You can live with me and Dad."
"No- I." Cat stuttered. "I can't do that, I'll find somewhere I'll-"
"Like hell you will Cat." Jade rolled her eyes. "We have a spare room for your stuff, Dad loves having you over so he won't have anything to say- plus you've practically been living there anyway!"
"Are you sure?" Cat asked, eyes pleading for Jade to not be joking.
"Deathly." Jade replied, squeezing Cat's hand.
It was hours later when Cassandra arrived at the hospital, long after Cat had been cleared to go home but couldn't without parental approval. Jade has long since argued with the doctor over this, Cat was only a few months shy of 18 so why on earth couldn't she sign herself out. But alas it was hospital policy. And also, Cat reminded Jade, it would blow up more further down the line if Cat didn't at least talk to her parents about her sudden want to move out.
That decision, however, was made a lot easier as Cassandra walked into the room. "We're moving." Were the first words to leave her lips, not 'Are you okay' not 'We're so sorry Cat'. Just 'We're moving.' She looked exhausted. This afternoon was meant to have been one of her rare outings with friends, but suddenly her husband called, police were arresting Matteo and Cat was in hospital. She just could not get a break. Her and Leo had been at the police station for the past few hours, begging with the officers to let their son go back to them and that they would take him somewhere secure. Which is when they were given the choice - he would either be in maximum security prison or a psychiatric hospital in Idaho, they knew instantly what needed to be done.
"I beg your pardon?" Jade questioned, standing slowly from Cat's beside. She didn't realise how angry she was at Cat's parents until she saw her mother. "She's been here HOURS and you've just turned up! I bet you didn't even know I was here so you probably thought Cat was here alone. How DARE YOU?!" She snapped, stepping closer and closer to the woman.
"Jade-" Cat tried to call out to her girlfriend, swinging she legs off the bed before the sickening pain from her ribs overtook her, making her gasp again.
"And what the FUCK do you mean by moving?" Jade continued, now only a few feet away from Cassandra.
She had no words to reply, she was tired, so so tired. She understood Jade's anger.
"How can you just let this happen?" Jade demanded, her voice wavering with anger. "Matteo may not realise what he's doing, but Cat—she's just become a punching bag at this point! When is enough enough?"
Cassandra expression stayed weary but firm. "I'm doing what's best for Matty," she said, her voice quieter but no less resolute. "It's not easy, Jade. I have to look out for him—there's no one else who can. I'm his mom. It's all I can do."
The frustration building in Jade's chest boiled over. "You're her mom too!" she spat out, her voice nearly breaking. "Cat is just as much your child as he is, and she's suffering because of him! You can't keep putting his needs first every single time."
There was a beat of silence, a thick, painful tension filling the room. Cassandra's gaze dropped to her hands, her mind full of a thousand thoughts.
"Jade…" Cat's voice came behind them, she'd finally gotten herself up, fighting the pain on her back and ribs, her voice soft but insistent. She stepped forward, taking a breath as she glanced between her mom and her girlfriend. "Mom, she's right. I mean, I get it—you're doing what you can for Matty, and I know he needs help. But… you're my mom too." Jade felt a surge of relief and pride, watching Cat's quiet resolve. Cassandra took a shaky breath, nodding as if truly seeing her daughter for the first time in a long while.
Cat was so grown now it had all happened so fast. She saw, really saw, the quiet resilience in Cat's eyes, the independence in her hands. Her heart ached with the realisation that while she'd poured herself into caring for Matteo, making sure his every need was met. Cat had been learning to fill her own needs, growing up in the shadows without the guidance or attention she'd deserved. Her daughter had raised herself, and the thought left a hollow sadness in her heart. But even now, Matteo still needed her- as awful as it was, Cat had adapted to be okay on her own, but Matteo could never do that.
Cassandra's expression softened, and she looked at Cat with an aching sadness in her eyes, as if the weight of every decision, every sacrifice, sat heavy on her shoulders. "I know, sweetheart. And I wish… I wish it could be different. But I'm stretched so thin—between keeping everything stable for him, and making sure he doesn't hurt himself, or…" She trailed off, pressing her fingers to her forehead. "What happened?" She said, a near whisper as if it had only really just hit her that Cat had been physically hurt during all this. Just another thing she'd unintentionally made Cat deal with alone.
"2 broken ribs and bruising to my back." Cat replied honestly, unable to look her Mom in the eyes.
"Oh Cat I'm so sorry." Cassandra murmured, reaching out to place her hand over Cat's. "I... we're going to take him away, we're going to move to Idaho to get him the help he needs we-"
"What?" Cat interrupted her, in a tone of voice that Jade had never heard before. It was so weirdly deep for a girl who normally spoke with such high placement. "Move? Now? Mom I've still got half a semester of Highschool- I can't move I-"
"I'm sorry Cat but we had no choice we-"
"I'm moving in with Jade." She interrupted again, taking Jade's hand in her own. "Tomorrow I'll pack my bags."
"I-" Cassandra was taking a back. Firstly by Cat's words and secondly her actions, it hit her all at once that her daughter and Jade were seemingly closer than she'd realised. "Cat you can't just leave home you-"
"Please... please go." Cat replied, eyes once again full of tears. "Move to Idaho, I'll be one less thing for you to have to worry about. Focus on Matty. I'm staying with Jade." Her tone was one of decisiveness, and her grasp on Jade's hand was so tight the older girl was slightly concerned she would break one of her fingers within it.
"Cat I-."
"She said go." Jade spoke up finally, glaring at Cat's Mom. She looked so confused and broken; but knew deep down it was best to just respect her daughter's decision, as much as it hurt her. She knew Cat was making the right choice, it wasn't right to drag her away from LA right now. In a few months she would have left for College anyway- "Sign the papers or I'll fake your signature." Jade added, handing over the clipboard that the nurse had left. "And then go."
"I'm sorry Cat." Cassy nodded, signing the documents and walking out of the room. "We'll talk tomorrow, when you come by?" She asked and Cat nodded back.
As the door shut behind her, Cat finally broke, the emotion she'd been holding back finally breaking through. Her face crumpled, and her shoulders started to shake. Jade barely had time to react before Cat's knees buckled beneath her, her strength giving out all at once.
Without a thought, Jade reached forward, catching Cat just before she sank fully to the floor. She held her, careful of how her hands much have felt against her sore body. She felt Cat's fingers clutching her shirt as if it were the only thing grounding her. Cat's sobs were raw and unfiltered, each one wracking her body, and Jade could feel the weight of everything Cat had been carrying alone.
"It's okay," Jade whispered, her voice soft, full of fierce protectiveness. She stroked Cat's leg gently, steadying her. "I'm right here."