4.11 Emotional

Caution: References to violence
"Fleck" - count that as the censor for the 'F' word.

Sorry, but this wouldn't work without it. 

It was mid afternoon when the plane landed, her taxi was waiting. It was a forty-five minute drive back to her house, and Kaity spent the time pushing her trip out of her mind. She needed to focus on Shaena now. But she couldn't help notice the snow had melted and made way for some rain. She'd hoped the snow on the ground would help with the separation, as Winter was cold and soft too.

First things first. She thought after a quick shower and change of clothes. She had to see the twins, as much as she wanted to go and convince Shaena to press charges, she'd missed her daughters more than anything. She rang Rose, announcing her arrival back home, and in the same breath asking after the girls. Rose wanted to know about her long weekend, but she didn't want to think about that now, she wanted to hug and kiss her children and then sort out the mess with Shaena, she couldn't afford to think about Winter.

Rose insisted on bringing the twins over, and so Kaity spent an agonising ten minutes waiting for the knock on the door. She couldn't understand how she'd managed three days without them, because those ten minutes felt like an eternity.

As soon as Rose arrived, Kaity flung the door open. She hadn't even had a chance to knock before Kaity grabbed the girls from her arms and spun around, holding them to her. Rose stepped through the door herself and smiled at the toddler's excited squeals and Kaity's obvious happiness.
"Missed them, then?" Rose joked.
"Oh, Mummy's missed her babies soooo much!" Kaity replied, speaking to the twins more than her sister and hugging them tighter to herself.

Rose watched her sister and niece's crawling around on the floor, barking like dogs and howling like wolves. The feeling of pure joy radiated out from the small family and she couldn't help but laugh. The twins had been nowhere near this happy at her house.
"I hate to break this up, I really do..." She began, wishing that Kaity could enjoy the happiness a moment longer.
"Shae?" Kaity asked, scooping the twins back up with a playful growl.

"Yes. She's now convincing herself that someone forced Alex to break in. Aunt Madi said she's sure the bruise on her face-"
"She has a bruise on her face?! She told me that he didn't lay a finger on her! She told me he punched the wall in anger, and made no attempt to hurt her!" Kaity had gone from happy and playful, to murderous anger in point five of a second. The twins didn't seem to mind, and still fussed over her, playing with her hair and face.

"Sorry, I thought you knew. She's been telling everyone she fell over playing with the twins, but Bonnie said that you-"
"How dare she blame my children for that man's pathetic anger?!" Rose now worried that Kaity was about to drop the twins she was shaking with anger so much. "I'm going over there. Now. Can you stay here for an hour or so with the girls, please?"
"Of course. But Kaity..."
"Yeah, yeah, cool it. I know."
"No, really. She's closed up tighter than anything, she won't respond to you like this at all."

"I'm not going to Shaena." Kaity said, placing the twins on the floor and kissing their heads one last time. "I'm going to sort out him." She threw her arms around Rose, confusing her sister no end.
"Please, don't do anything stupid."
"I never do anything stupid." Kaity lied. She'd done no end of stupid things over her life, and it was highly likely she'd be stupid again now.
"Well, be careful, then." Kaity nodded to her sister as she left the house.

_____

She couldn't have timed her visit better. As she walked into the station, Shaena was at the front desk signing out, clearly nervous now she'd seen Kaity was home. Taylor was on the other side of the desk, and attempted to send Kaity to her office to talk. Kaity was having none of it.
"Shaena! Oh my God, your face! Are you flecking kidding me?!"
"I-" Shaena wasn't going to be let to speak until Kaity had this off her chest.

"Why did you lie to me?! Why do you let him get away with stuff like this? I swear to God, Shae-"
"That's enough, Kaity." Taylor cut in. Desperate to diffuse the situation before her daughters temper got the better of her and she had to arrest her.

"Look at you, Shae. How can you let anyone treat you like this? Why can't you see what he's doing to you?" Kaity's voice was trying to break, but she was not going to cry. It started getting harder though, as she looked at her best friends face again. Her mascara tears hiding some of the bruise on her eye, and her fringe covering the rest. "If he'd do this to you, what do you think he'd have done to my kids?"

Tired of the screaming, Taylor jumped the counter and took her daughters arm.
"My office. Now."
"Fleck off!" Kaity shouted as she broke free of her mothers hold and marched towards the holding room.
"No, Kaity, please!" Shaena wept in a small voice.

"You flecking piece of dirt!" She screamed as she saw the cause of the mess calmly pacing the cell. There was no way he hadn't heard her arrival, the walls here weren't that thick.

"Kaity, stop this now!" Taylor's voice of reason sounded behind her as she followed her into the room. She could tell by the gentle sniffling that Shaena had come in too, but right now she didn't care. Maybe if Shaena heard this too, maybe it would change things.

Alex didn't respond, much to Kaity's anger. Instead he fixed his gaze on Shaena, who was against the far wall. Whether she was scared of him or Kaity was another matter.
"Go on. Say something, you llama. We both know you want to." Kaity's voice taunted him and pulled his gaze back to her.

"What do you want from me?" He hissed, grabbing her wrist as he spoke so she couldn't move away.
"Get off me you-"
"What do you want? Hm? Why come storming in here screaming if you have no reason?"
"I have a reason. Get off me."

"Mr. Farrah. Do you want another assult charge added? I can do that, you know." Taylor threatened. She just wanted this whole thing to be over with, in her opinion it had gone far enough.

"You heard her. Get off me." Kaity spat.
"Tell me what you want." Alex growled his reply, loud enough that only Kaity could hear.
"I want you to leave her alone. I want you to get out of our lives forever so I can pick up the pieces that you've smashed her into." Kaity whispered her response too, as if they were making a secret pact.
"I love her." Was Alex's response, loud enough for the room to hear this time.

"You're a compulsive liar. Why can't you let her live a happy life? She thinks she loves you too, but she's wrong. How can she love someone who beats her up? How can you beat up someone you love? You're a liar and a mess, if you walk free from this you'd better watch your back. I'll be watching, waiting. You'll never get away with this." Kaity screamed in his face, before spitting in his eye. Shaena winced at her words, wishing there was some way to change all this around. Wishing she could go back in time.
"I love her." Alex growled, digging his nails into Kaity's wrist as he wiped the saliva from his face.
"You're incapable of love. You're a heartless monster." Kaity raised her hand to hit or scratch him through the bars. Taylor wasn't sure, but it wasn't going to end like this.

"Enough!" She shouted as she pulled her daughter away from the situation. "My office. NOW!"
"NO! I'm not leaving Shaena alone with this monster!"
"He's behind bars, Kaity! Get into my office now!" Taylor dragged her, kicking and screaming towards the door. Kaity refused to let up her death-glare on Alex, and felt her heart break for the second time that day as Shaena walked over to Alex.

"I love you." Kaity could just make out his words as he stroked her face. How could he be so gentle when a few days ago he'd hit her?

"Don't listen to him! Shaena, please!" Kaity cried, she wasn't even aware that she was crying until a tear hit her outstretched arm. "He doesn't love you! If he loved you, why would he hurt you?"

Shaena didn't say a word as Alex pulled her closer for a kiss. His way of proving he'd won this battle, but unbeknownst to Kaity, Shaena wasn't kissing him back.
Taylor finally got Kaity through the door, spun her around and pushed her towards her office.

"Take a seat." Taylor demanded quietly. Suddenly absolutely certain that she'd done the right thing in making Kaity stay in Starlight Shores. Shaena had healed a little since then, if this had happened that first day... She didn't even want to think about it.

"I will not take a seat, mum!" Kaity replied, slightly calmer than she had been in the holding room, but still fuming. She attempted to wipe the tears from her face, but they were still flowing too fast.
"You're lucky I'm here." Taylor sighed. "Rose rang me when you left your house. She told me what state you were in, and I headed straight over here. It's my day off, Kait. I don't want to do paperwork for you assulting him." She paused a moment. "Or that traffic violation you must've got to get here so quick."
"I've got your old police cruiser, I-" Kaity tried to explain.
"I gave you that because you promised you wouldn't abuse it. Do you know how many hoops I had to jump through to get my boss to agree to disable the sirens and lights?"
"I'm sorry." Kaity knew how much she put her family through. If it wasn't her temper, it was leaving her kids with the first willing relative, or getting so drunk she couldn't remember what she'd done.

"How dare you?" Shaena's weak voice demanded from behind. Kaity spun around, shocked by how angry she looked.
"Shae-"
"No. This is none of your business. It's not your place to say who loves who. Especially as you don't even know what love is!" Kaity felt all the air leave her lungs as if she'd just been punched in the chest. She froze. She knew what love was. She wished she'd known earlier today - or, later today, she got confused with the time-change - but she knew what it was now.
"I do. And even if I didn't, I'd know that he doesn't treat you like he loves you. Why can't you see how much he hurts you? How much him hurting you hurts everyone around you? What do you think your Mum, Geoffrey, Luis think? What about Liana and Lyris? What about my babies? What about my mother? Having to see you kiss a criminal every flecking day? Please, I'm begging you, and I'll get on my hands and knees if I have to, please move in with me. You know I'll be here for you forever. You know how much I love you, how much the twins love you. Please."

Taylor listened to her daughter's pleas, and couldn't bear to look at them as she waited for her niece's response.
"I'm not going to let you dictate my life, Kaity." Shaena's response was quiet, but bitter.

"How can you say that?! How can you accuse me of dictating your life, when he's the one controlling you?!" Kaity was shouting again now.
"Kaity, I think you should leave. Let me talk to Shaena. You're too emotional right now, and you're not getting your point across as you want." Taylor calmly responded, trying to break the tension.

Kaity spun on her heel, and slammed her hands on the desk, making Taylor jump backwards and fall into her chair.
"How dare you say that to me? You have no idea what I'm trying to say! How could you? You don't see what I see! None of you do! Winter is the only one who can ever understand me!" She immediately regretted screaming at her mother like that, and scolded herself for bringing up Winter. Why couldn't she just get him off her mind?

"Get out of my office. Go home. I'll ring you tomorrow when you've had time to calm down." Taylor tried her best to keep calm. Luckily her years of experiance in the SVPD helped a lot.
"I am calm!" Kaity screamed. Taylor shot her a look, and Kaity screamed in frustration before storming out to the car park.

_____

After an hour or so's drive to calm her down, Kaity arrived back home. She couldn't bear to let her children see her in that state, and it was early evening now. She could put them to bed then go to bed herself and cry herself to sleep. That's all she wanted to do right now.

Rose told her that the twins insisted on sleeping on her bed, and Kaity dismissed her, thanking her for staying with them, before going upstairs to put the girls in their cribs.

But seeing her daughters sleeping peacefully on her bed, she changed her mind. She grabbed the old t-shirt and shorts she used as pajamas, and pulled her daughters to her for the night.

As she drifted off to sleep, she made a promise to herself to never let her children get in the same situation as Shaena. From here on out, she'd tell her kids about every vision that would affect their lives in a big way like this. If she could, she'd never let them go, but she knew they'd grow up one day.





Thank you to ShakespearsSunshyne for helping to proof some of the harder bits. Without you, this would probably make no sense :)
Oh, and for the attempt to share her police station/jail, and all the CC involved.