4:8 Idiot

 Caution: References to violence

 "Hey, Kaity, you need to wake up now." A gentle stroke on the cheek and a soft whisper pulled her from her sleep and into the real world. Morning. Actual morning, with light and everything, not like earlier.
"What time is it?" She moaned, not even bothering to open her eyes.
"Quarter to eight. The first talk is at nine, but I thought we could use some breakfast." Winter leaned down, planted a kiss on her cheek and mumbled into her ear: "I don't know about you, but I really worked up an appetite last night."
"I don't want to get up yet." Kaity yawned. She lazily half-opened an eye to glance at Winter and his reaction. He was just lying there, smiling.
"Why not?" Kaity closed her eye again, determined to stay on that bed as long as possible.
"This is the first morning in two and a half years that I've had the chance to wake up on my own. No babies screaming, no toddlers climbing on the bed, no shop to open. I want to make the most of it." Winter breathed a laugh and she smiled. "And you went and ruined that by waking me up anyway."
"Sorry." He stroked her cheek one last time, before rolling over and sitting on the edge of the bed.

Kaity groaned her disapproval loudly.
"Do we have to get up? Really?"
"Well, the whole point of us being here was to go to this conference. It seems a bit silly to stay in bed all day instead."
"Not really. Not at all. I don't even want to go, it will be boring."
"Why did you come, then?" Winter questioned. Kaity rolled onto her stomach and moaned into the pillow.
"Because I never think anything through, and just do it." She replied, propping herself up and stretching a little.

"Well..." Winter began, not really sure how to continue. "You're here now, may as well come down and learn something."
"Hmpf." Kaity sighed, wishing her stupid pheramones worked on him as they did on everyone else.
"I'm going to have a shower. Are you going to start getting up?" Winter spoke as if she were a child throwing a fit.
"Yeeeees" Kaity replied. "I think I'll ring Shaena first. Check my kids are ok."
"Shaena?" Winter questioned.
"My cousin, best friend, and free babysitter." Winter nodded before heading to the bathroom.

Slipping herself off the bed and recovering her phone from her bag, she saw she had two missed calls. One from Shaena, probably asking why she hadn't rung yet, and one from her mother. She couldn't work out why Taylor would be ringing, maybe Shaena had called her panicking about not being able to make contact, but she'd return Shaena's call first anyway.
"Hey hun, sorry I didn't call last night I was... Uh... Busy." Kaity smiled as she remembered the night before.
"Yeah, I figured." Her cousin's voice sounded tired on the other end.
"Are you ok? Did the twins keep you up?"
"No, yeah, I'm fine..." She trailed off, obviously debating on saying something.
"'No, yeah'? What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well, I didn't get much sleep, but it wasn't the twins. They've been perfect little angels, actually. Ate all their dinner and-"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure they were fine, so why didn't you sleep?" Kaity cut her off, a little worried at how evasive she seemed to sound.
"Well..." She heard Shaena sigh on the other end. "It was Alex." Her voice cracked a little.

"Alex? What's he done? If he's gone anywhere near-"
"Kaity, please, I don't need this." Shaena cut Kaity off this time, Kaity could tell she was fighting tears back.
"Just tell me what he did. I swear to plumbob I'll get on the next plane home and kill that-" She was shouting now, not caring how thick or thin the walls were.
"Kaity! Please!" Shaena's reply cut her off again, before she could think of a strong enough word to call Alex. "He didn't do anything, ok? It's not really your business anyway..."
"Are you kidding? Not my business? You're my best friend. You're family. You know how I feel about you being with him, and I think you know why. You need to tell me what he did or so help me." She was almost certain Winter could hear this conversation over the shower.
"As I said, he didn't do anything. He knocked on the door, but I didn't let him in under your strict orders, and I obviously couldn't leave the house because the twins were in bed. He just got a bit angry, that's all, ok?"
"'A bit angry'? What does that mean, Shae? Did he hit you?" Kaity was shaking with anger now. How dare he go anywhere near her house?

 "No, he punched the wall. And no, he wasn't aiming for me, so don't get the wrong idea."
"I don't care if he was aiming for you or not. Did you call the police?"
"Not then, no."
"'Not then'? So he didn't go home? Just tell me the whole story before I hit you."
"Please stop shouting!" Shaena was audibly crying now. "I thought he did go home. I'd explained you not wanting him near your kids, so he just walked off, and I went back inside. It was a few hours later, I locked the door and went to bed. I heard this movement downstairs. I freaked out thinking it was a burglar or something, so called your Mum because... I dunno, I just did. I trust her."
"And it was Alex, breaking into my house?!" Kaity guessed, trying her best to keep her voice down as she'd been asked, but not doing a very good job.
"Just... Just leave it, Kaity."
"Leave it?! How can I just leave it? You realise you're never going to see him again, and you're moving in now, too. Don't go back there, I'll get your stuff when I'm back-"
"Kaity, I've got a customer, I have to go."
"No, just close up- Shaena? Shae?!" Sighing, she threw her phone onto the bed. She'd hung up.

Taking a deep breath, she hugged herself and tried to fight back the tears. She'd never been so angry in her life. She heard the bathroom door open, and covered her face to hide the tears that were starting to fall.
"Kaity? What's happened?" Winter sounded concerned, but she didn't want to turn around to see his expression.
"It's a long story. I'm going to call my Mum, ok?" Not waiting for a reply, she grabbed her phone off the bed and called Taylors number.
"Hey, Kaity. Have you-"
"Mum. What the hell? You only tried to ring once after all that?!
"Well, I-"
"It doesn't matter, just get me on the next flight home."
"No."
"What?! WHY?!" Kaity was sure her tears were evaporating she was so hot with anger.
"Well, for one thing, you're not letting me finish a sentance." She paused, waiting to see if Kaity would interrupt. "And for another, there's nothing you can do here. You need to stay there and find out all the answers you've always wanted. You'll regret it if you don't."
"Oh, and I suppose I won't regret not being there for my best friend?"
"Kaity, she wants to be alone. That's why I only called once last night. I didn't even let it ring much because she told me she didn't want you to come home yet."
"I don't care what she wants." Cutting her mother off again. "She's wrong. Just get me on that flight."
"No. I've arrested Alex, I'm taking as long as possible to charge him so he shouldn't be released until you're back anyway. She's in no danger. The twins are with Rose, after work she's going to stay at Madi and Geoffs'. There is nothing you can do. Just, please, attend these talks. You've always wished you knew more or could control it better, and this is the best way to do it. Plus, it'll be good for you to have a few days with no ties."
"But, Mum-"
"No buts. Have fun. I'm hanging up now. And, if I find you've come home early I'll... You don't even want to know what I'll do. Goodbye. Love you." She hung up, and Kaity once again, threw her phone onto the bed.
"Kaity...?" Winter didn't know what was going on, but even if he wasn't able to sense her emotions he knew something awful had happened.

He circled around in front of her and rested an arm on her shoulder. She buried her face in her hands and threw herself into his arms, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Hey..." Winter soothed, stroking her back as he pulled her closer. He held her while she cried for a few minutes, before she started mumbling into his chest. "I'm sorry, I can't hear you."

She pulled away from him, and wiped her cheek with the back of her hand. Winter looked very concerned.
"I'll try and shorten this, because it really is a long story." Winter nodded, and waited for her to continue. Composing herself a little with a few sniffs and a couple of deep breaths, she told him the story of all that had happened. Starting with the vision she'd had of Alex being violent towards Shaena, moving on to her lying about it, explaining the plate incident just a few weeks ago, and finishing with what she knew of last night.
"... So, basically, if I'd just told her about my vision at the start, none of this would have happened. It's all my fault. She's an idiot for staying with him. And I'm an idiot for not telling her in the first place."

Winter took her arm, making her look up to his eyes for the first time this whole conversation.
"You're not an idiot. And if you are, I am too. I'd have done the same."
"She doesn't understand." Kaity sighed, unable to move her eyes from his. "She knows I hid a vision from her, but she doesn't get it."
"No." Winter shook his head. "Nobody will ever understand. If they don't see the future like us, then they can't understand. They don't understand why anyone would keep something so big from them. I just hope your friendship is strong enough to get through this."

His hand flew up to her face, and he gently ran his thumb across her cheek in an attempt to calm her down and cheer her up.
"It is. The actual vision hasn't happened. The vision I had happened in warm weather, and it's been snowy since. Hopefully I can stop it from happening completely."
"I hope so too." Kaity stroked the back of his hand with her fingertips, enjoying the affectionate way he touched her. She'd never had someone touch her like this before, it was nice."This is what you were scared of?" He questioned. Kaity suddenly realised what he'd meant the day before. Why are you scared? She hadn't thought she was, but he hadn't meant in that moment. She must have been projecting her emotions onto him unknowingly. She'd have to learn to control that.
"I guess it was."
"We can stay here if you want." Winter spoke after a few moments of silence.
"No. My Mum would kill me. I'll have a shower and then we can get down there." Winter nodded, and Kaity stole a quick kiss before heading to the bathroom.




For those of you who don't know, I'm now taking part in heaven's fairytale contest over at Mod The Sims, so updates may slow to one a week for the next 10 weeks. I have a week off at the end of May, though, so hopefully I'll get loads done and have a few waiting :)