A/N: This fic contains potentially triggering subject matter including but not limited to: suicidal references, gun violence, sexual trauma, homelessness, drug abuse, depression, homophobia, and cancer. It may contain inaccuracies. No copyright infringement intended. Thanks for reading!
BOOK THREE - PART ONE - CHAPTER NINETY-TWO
Cat and Sam were lying in Cat's brother's bed together. So far, there had only been pillow talk—emotions were too high for anything more tonight. They cuddled for a while, saying very little, though they were too awake to sleep.
At exactly 11:57 pm, the room's door flew open, and Cat's father barged in, looking furious.
Sam immediately scrambled away from Cat and jumped off the bed. They were both in only their bras and underwear.
"Dad!" Cat exclaimed in disbelief, "Get out!"
"I warned you to keep your hands off of my daughter," he growled at Sam. "I made myself very clear."
For once, Sam actually looked scared. "I wasn't… I don't…"
He marched across the room, grabbed Sam by her injured shoulder, and shoved her towards the door. "Get out of here." When Sam didn't move, he grabbed her arm and led her there. Sam didn't fight back. "If I find the two of you together like that again, you won't be staying here any longer. Understood?"
Cat watched as her father forced Sam back into her room. It was jarring to see Sam barely defending herself. Then Cat realized it was probably because she had promised not to get physical with Cat's family. She felt horribly guilty. She ran in between Sam and her dad, but it was already too late. Sam had a strange, vacant stare on her face. "Sam?"
Sam stood there, still as a statue, and didn't respond.
Cat ignored her father's demands and cupped her cheek. "Sam, are you okay?"
"What's wrong with her?" he snapped.
"Sam, it's okay. That was my fault. I won't let him touch you again—you don't have to be scared." Cat expected Sam to at least complain that she never got scared. She didn't say anything at all, and now Cat was truly worried. "Hey. Are you stuck? Can you move?" Her eyes were unusually cloudy. Cat herself had frozen in response to fear before, and this looked very similar.
But after a minute, Sam blinked several times, and tears started running down her face. "I'm sorry."
Cat's father looked extremely uncomfortable now—clearly, he hadn't known about Sam's traumatic past.
"Shhhh, it's okay." Cat had her arms wrapped around her and was rubbing her back. "Do you want to go sit down?"
"I don't know," Sam croaked, barely containing her sobs.
"Here. Come on." Cat took her hand. "Let's go sit down. I'll help you." And she did just that, leading Sam over to the bed and sitting her down on the edge. "Just breathe. I'm here. No one's gonna hurt you."
Sam continued crying quietly and leaned into her. "I'm such a fucking coward."
Cat wrapped her arms around her and held her, looking her father in the eye and silently daring him to do something about it. He didn't. "No, you're not. You just got a little triggered. My dad didn't know about your PTSD."
Cat's father looked guilty now. It was going to be very hard to pull his daughter away from the side of an abuse victim—especially when he was the one that caused the upset. "Sam, I… I apologize for getting physical. I was angry and went too far. Believe me when I say I have no intentions of harming you in any way."
"We were just cuddling," Sam forced out, "We weren't even having sex."
"Like I said, I don't condone your behavior," Cat's dad answered sharply. "Trust me; if I'd found you that way, you'd really have gotten hurt."
Sam started sobbing again, and Cat looked at her father incredulously. "Dad, you should just leave. You're only making it worse."
"I'm sorry." Sam stood up. "I just… I'm sorry." She hurried out of the room and into the bathroom across the hall, shutting the door and locking it behind her.
"Damn it, Dad," Cat sighed in frustration.
He shifted uncomfortably. "I didn't mean to… cause anything…"
"Why do you have to be so mean?" Cat asked. "If it was Robbie, you'd have no problem with it."
"Well, Rob is a man, Cat," her father responded pointedly.
"So, I can't be in love with Sam 'cause she doesn't have a penis?" Cat questioned daringly.
He rolled his eyes. "We've been through this. Men and women were created with different bodies for a reason."
By this point, Cat was angry. "Well, guess what? Sam does have a penis. It's purple—about this long—and it straps on around her waist," she growled out, knowing it would infuriate him.
"That is beyond inappropriate, young lady—"
"Go away. I'm staying in here with Sam tonight," Cat stated firmly.
Sam returned just then, looking much more composed than before. She had put on a tough exterior and stepped up to Cat's dad without fear. "Hey, man. I mean—Sir. Um, sorry about all that."
Cat disliked this version of Sam—the one with a wall up. "Sam, he's the one that should be apologizing here; not you."
"Can we all just not talk about it?" Sam requested weakly.
"Get some sleep," Cat's father said, nodding at the bed. Then he turned to Cat and put his hand on her arm. "Come on; we're going back to Frank's room."
Cat yanked her arm away. "I'm going to bed. Good luck stopping me." She went to the side of the bed and climbed in. Then she lifted up the covers for Sam. "C'mere," she smiled sexily just because she knew it would piss her father off.
Sam hesitantly went to the bed and crawled under the blankets. Cat's dad was just standing there, staring at them. She felt incredibly awkward and wasn't sure where to put her hands.
Cat seemed to have disregarded her father's presence entirely as she snuggled up to Sam. They kissed, and Cat's dad nearly choked. Cat glanced back at him uninterestedly. "Um, you might wanna leave. Y'know, before things get…"
He was horrified, but knew he could do nothing. He forced himself out of the room and returned to his own. There was no way he'd be able to sleep knowing that that was going on in his house. So, he sat down at his desk, grabbed his notes, put on his soundproof headphones, and opened his Bible.
END OF BOOK THREE - PART ONE