Author: Casay
Title: A Tale of Two Friends
Part: Chapter 5
Summary: Richard finds Jake and Kate; no way they're having sex.
Keywords: mf, cons, rom

Author's note: Holy crap. I debated whether to post this for a long
time. I expect either a lot of praise or a lot of complaints in my
inbox from this. =/

Jake woke with a start. Groggily, he sat up; Kate was sitting up next
to him. "Ugh," he muttered, "what's up?"

"I thought I heard something," she said. They sat quietly for a
second. "I could have sworn I heard something."

"Probably nothing," said Jake. He lay back down, and Kate followed
suit. And then Jake heard a noise, too. They both sat straight up.
There was a tapping noise coming from downstairs.

Suddenly, there was a loud shattering - someone had smashed a window.
Jake rolled out of bed and said, "Get your clothes on." They put on
pants and shirts, and stood by the closed door. They could hear
someone on the stairs.

"What do we - " Kate started, but was cut off by a hand gesture from
Jake. There was the click of a door being opened, and then shut again.
Jake pointed at the bed.

"Go hide," he whispered. Kate tiptoed to the far side of the bed and
crouched down. Jake flipped off the lava lamp and stood so that he
would be behind the door when it opened. He relaxed, and put a hand
over the doorknob.

The doorknob moved under Jake's hand, and began to rotate. The door
opened; Jake stood back and braced himself. Then he slammed himself
into the door. The person on the other side let out an "Ooph". The
person pushed back, harder, and Jake was pinned between the wall and
the door.

"I'm gonna kick your fucking ass!" It was Richard. He grabbed Jake
from behind the door and pulled him out. Richard punched him, full in
the face, and blood began to drip from his nose. Jake stumbled as
Richard pushed him, but he recovered, and came back.

Richard was a small man, certainly smaller than Jake. Jake could have
subdued Richard, had Richard not chosen that moment to pull a small
revolver from his pocket. He levelled it at Jake, who froze, then
slowly put his hands up.

"That's right, don't move, you piece of shit. Where's my daugther?" he
demanded.

"Wherever she is," said Jake, his gaze fixed on the weapon in
Richard's hand, "I suggest she stay there."

"She's in the room? Kate, come out, right now!"

"Stay," said Jake. The light was poor; he could disarm Richard if he
was careful, but he didn't want Kate in danger. "How did you get a
gun, anyways?"

Richard laughed. "You can buy guns ten minutes over the border. I went
and got one when you called me. And I intend to use it." He pointed
the revolver at the ceiling and fired. Kate screamed. Richard pointed
at the noise, and Jake moved; he ducked and charged the man, hitting
him in the stomach.

Richard jerked and fired, and Kate screamed again. Jake pushed Richard
through the door and into the wall of the hallway. Wrapping his
arounds around him, Jake pulled him to the floor. They landed hard,
and Richard lost his grip on the gun. Jake pulled to a standing
position, and kicked Richard hard in the side.

Richard grabbed his leg and twisted; Jake collapsed. Richard pushed
him down and punched down at him; Jake rolled out of the way, and the
fist hit the floor, hard. Richard pulled up, whimpering in pain, and
Jake, smashed his hand into the man's stomach.

Jake pushed him up and punched him, knocking him back. He saw the gun
and grabbed it; he was aware of sirens; someone must have heard the
shots and called the police. He stood unsteadily. Richard wasn't
moving, so he tossed the gun down the hall away from them and called
out, "Kate! Come out here. The police are coming."

Kate didn't come. Puzzled, Jake walked back in. He could hear sobs; he
jumped up onto the bed and crawled over to Kate; she was lying on the
floor, blood all over her chest, and around her mouth. When he talked
Richard, the shot must have hit her.

"Oh, fuck, Kate," he cried, "Kate! Are you all right? Say something!"
He could see where the bullet had penetrated her - it had hit on her
left side, high up, just below her shoulder. Her breaths came
jaggedly, and she was coughing up small amounts of blood.

"Help," she gasped. "Please." Jake could hear sirens outside - police
and ambulance.

"Stay here," he said, and ran to the hall. The doors downstairs burst
open. "Up here," he yelled. "Please, get an ambulance, Kate's been
shot. Help, please!"

He ran back inside the room to Kate; pulling a sheet off the bed, he
held it against her would, trying to stem the flow of blood. There
were boots coming up the stairs; police came storming into the room,
guns out.

"Please," Jake cried, tears at his eyes, "help her." He was pulled
away from Kate; there was shouting that he couldn't make out. Men with
a stretcher came in as he was pulled out; Richard was still lying on
the floor, with a police officer kneeling over him.

"Please," he sobbed. "Help her." His vision started to blur. He was
half led, half carried down the stairs and outside. There were
flashing lights, more arriving, and lots of yelling. A woman stood
over him, and shone a light in his eyes. She put some fingers up and
said something Jake couldn't make out.

Jake focused, suddenly. "Is she okay?" he mumbled.

"She's going to be all right," said the woman.

"Don't... Don't... Don't let him get away," he said, starting to slur.
"He has a gun, he shot her." The world blurred again, and he passed
out.


When he awoke, he opened his eyes and shut them again, quickly with a
groan. Everything was bright white. Carefully, he opened his eyes
again, and took stock. Something bad had happened, and he'd gotten
hurt. He must be at the hospital. He sat up.

"What..." he murmered. Someone walked over.

"Good, you're awake," said a woman, standing nearby. "How do you
feel?"

"Uh," said Jake. "I'm okay. What happened?" And then his memory came
back. "Oh, God, is she all right? Is Kate going to be okay?" He tried
to climb out of the bed, but was pushed back by the nurse.

"Stay in bed. Are you talking about the girl they brought in with
you?"

"Yeah," he said.

"She could be better." The nurse grimaced. "She's lucky, though. It
could have been a lot worse."

"How long have I been asleep?"

She smiled. "Not long - it's about eleven in the morning. There are
some people who want to talk to you, by the way," she added. "I'm
going to send them in, okay?" Jake nodded, and the lady left the room.

A man and a woman came in; they showed Jake badges, and identified
themselves as detectives from the Burnaby Police Department.

"We'd like to talk to you about what happened this morning," said the
woman. "Do you remember?" Jake nodded.

The man pulled out a notebook and pen. "Who was the man in the house?
Is he related to you?"

"No, uh, his name's Richard. Kate's dad - she's the girl." The
detective began to write.

"Where are your parents?" asked the female detective.

"Uh, away on a trip, they're back Friday or Saturday. I don't know how
to get in touch with them, they said they'd call when they were coming
home. I get the house to myself."

"And it's their house?"

"Yeah."

"And who's... Kate? How do you know her?"

"She's my, uh, my girlfriend."

"And why is she staying with you?"

"Her dad hurts her, I took her away so she'd be safe."

"He hurts her?" asked the detective with the notebook. "You mean he
hits her?"

Jake nodded. "Yeah."

Slowly, the story was revealed. Jake was protecting Kate from her dad;
they had been going to school, which was probably how Richard had
found them. Richard had broken in with a gun; Kate had been
accidentally shot while Jake was fighting Richard.

The nurse came back in as Jake was finishing. "Um, am I interrupting?"
she asked hesitantly.

"Not at all," said the male detective.

"The girl - Kate - is awake. She wants to see you," she said to Jake.

Jake looked at the detective, who nodded. "I'll go with you."

Jake was helped out of his bed, and down the hall to Kate's room. She
was hooked into an IV, and had a tube running into her mouth. There
was a digital writing tablet on her lap, and when she saw Jake she
made a noise.

"Kate! Oh, God, are you all right?" He ran to her side.

She picked up the pad and wrote on it, 'Im ok, Im really sore. Are you
ok?' Her writing was messy, but Jake could read it.

"Yeah," he said, tears coming to his eyes. "I'm okay."

'Whats going to happen to us?' she wrote.

"I'm not sure. I don't think we're in trouble, we didn't do anything.
I don't know if we can go home, though." He looked up at the
detective. "Will we be allowed to go home?"

"Well," he said, "you'll be allowed to return home. Kate will be in
the hospital for a few more days, and then she'll be put on foster
care until we can locate a relative to look after her."

Kate made a noise, and wrote in big letters, 'No!' She cleared the
screen and wrote, 'Ill stay with jake. He can look after me. Im not
going anywere else!!'

"Please," pleaded Jake. "By the time she's able to leave the hospital
my parents will be home, and they can look after her. They'd be happy
to. She'll be okay with us." He put his hand on Kate's, and continued.
"Please?"

"I can see if it's possible," said the detective. "I don't know,
though. This is a weird case." A nurse came in at that moment.

"All right, everyone out," she said. "This girl needs some rest."

Jake gave Kate's hand a squeeze, and whispered to her, "I love you so
much," before he was guided out of the room and back to his bed.


It was Friday morning, and Jake hadn't been to school since the
attack. Kate had been released from the hospital - she was coming to
him in a cab. It had been arranged that she would stay with him until
his parents returned home. Then they could decide whether to take
responsibility for her, or ask that she be placed elsewhere.

A car pulled up outside, and Jake walked to the door - there was a
garbage bag over the smashed pane in the window, where Richard had
broken in. The driver had gotten her wheelchair from the trunk and
wheeled it to the door; Jake helped Kate from the cab and into the
chair.

Handing the driver a fifty and telling him to keep the change, he
wheeled her to the door. The doctor at the hospital had instructed her
not to do any physical activity until the next Monday, and that the
wheelchair could be returned on that day, or the day after.

Inside, Jake kicked the door shut. He silently picked Kate up, and
carried her up the stairs to her room. He had called in cleaners to
get her blood out of the carpet when he got home, thrown out the
bloody sheet, and put the rest of the blankets in the wash.

He laid her out on the stripped matress, and pulled off the clothes
the hospital had provided - sneakers, socks, plain pants and a plain
shirt, cotton panties and an ill-fitting bra. She hadn't looked at him
the whole time, staring up at the ceiling.

He went over to the dresser, where he had filed away her washed
clothes, and pulled out a loose shirt and shorts. He went over to the
bed again, and pulled them onto her. She continued to ignore him.

Sighing, he went out of the room to the hall closet, and took out a
sheet and blanket. He brought them inside and lay them out over her;
she pulled them into a cocoon around her, and lay with her back
towards Jake. He stood quietly for a few minutes.

"Kate?" There was no response.

"Kate, do you want to talk?" With no reply forthcoming, Jake left the
room, turning off the lights and closing the door as he went.
Downstairs, he curled up on the couch in the living room, lost in his
own thoughts. Eventually he drifted off to sleep.

The phone rang, and Jake woke up with a start. He picked it up off the
end table and put it to his ear. "Hello?"

"George! It's great to hear your voice."

"Oh, hi, Mom," he said, trying to sound better than he felt.

"Oh, hi, George," said the voice on the other end. "We're at the
airport, in Richmond! I'd have called you before we left, but your dad
slept in and we were really late leaving, so you've got about an hour
to clean up the house before we get here." She laughed. "So, did you
break anything? Any tragedies occur while we were gone? Is the house
still standing?"

Jake didn't know what to say. "Um, yeah. Uh, just so you know... Um,
the front door, the window is broken, and, um... I spent a day in the
hospital, and my friend is over, and she was shot, her dad did it, he
broke the window, and. I got. Um. I got the blood out of the carpet
but I had to throw away the sheet in the guest bedroom and, we're out
of milk and the TV remote needs new batteries." The line went quiet -
the shock was almost audible. "Um. The house is still standing,
though."

"Are you joking?" asked his mother, hesitantly.

"No."

"Well... It's... Good to hear the house is still standing. We'll talk
to you more when we get home." The line went dead, but Jake held it to
his ear until it started to beep angrily at him. He turned it off and
tossed it onto the couch.

Numbly, he set about cleaning: The kitchen, the living room, the
dining room, his bedroom, the Oven. Anything to keep his mind off his
imminent reunion with his parents. In hindsight, he should have waited
until his parents had arrived hom to tell them what had happened.

There was a screech outside as a car pulled in, fast. He went to the
door and opened it. His mother ran up to him from the car and pulled
him into a hug, his father not far behind. She was crying; he was
standing soberly. Jake simply stood and felt himself being slowly
crushed by her.

"We were so scared," she said through tears, "what happened? Tell us!"

Jake managed to get his parents inside before telling his story. He
sat them down in the living room, and told them how Kate had come
over, and how he insisted she stay where her father couldn't hurt her
anymore. He detailed the events from that first day until the hospital
- carefully leaving out their night time fun, of course.

Then came a round of intense questions - Jake answered them as
honestly as possible, while sidestepping the more intimate events of
his time with Kate.

"So, her dad found you?"

"Yeah."

"How?"

"I dunno. I guess he followed our bus from school, or something."

"And he came here?"

"Yeah."

"And he broke in?"

"Yeah."

"And he had a gun?"

"Yeah... I've already told you all of this! Why are you asking again?"

"So, where is this girl, anyways? Kate, right?"

"Yeah, Kate. I'll go see if she's awake, you guys bring in your bags
from the car or something."

He got up and went upstairs to Kate's room. Inside, he walked up to
Kate and said quietly, "You awake?"

"Yeah," came the quiet reply.

"Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah," she said again.

"My parents are here, do you feel okay with talking to them?"

"Yeah." She pushed the sheets off herself and climbed out of bed. She
put her arm around Jake's neck, and he helped her walk out of the room
and down the stairs. They sat down in the living room as his parents
came back into the room.

Jake and Kate sat side by side on one couch; his parents sat on the
couch next the them. Between them, Jake and Kate held hands, quietly
supporting each other.

"So," said Jake. "Uh. Mom, Dad, this is Kate. Kate, these are my
parents, Judy and David." Kate smiled a little smile and waved.

"Nice to meet you," she said. "Thanks for not freaking out."

"Oh, we freaked out, honey," said Judy, laughing. "We were freaking
out all the way here from the airport. I'm just glad to see you two
didn't get hurt."

"Um," said Kate. Judy looked at her and said,

"Oh." Thrown, she said, "Well, you know what I mean."

"So I understand you intend to stay with us," said David.

"If you'll let me stay," said Kate nervously.

"Don't worry, honey," said Judy. "We're not going to kick out our
son's girlfriend." She looked at their clasped hands. "I take it you
two are a couple now?"

Jake looked away and Kate blushed. "Yeah, I guess so," she said.

David smiled. "Good; it's nice to know Jake is finally taking an
interest in girls. I was beginning to worry." Kate laughed, and Jake
threw his dad a dirty look. "Well, it's not going to be a completely
free ride for you," he continued. "There are some rules you'll need to
follow. Clean up your own mess, keep your room clean, no noise from
ten to six.

"And no sex, please, you two." He gave them a knowing look. "Or, if
you're going to, we don't want to know about it. Follow these rules
and you won't find your ass on the street. Okay?" Kate nodded in
agreement.

Judy stood up and said, "Now I'm sure Kate should be resting. Me and
David are going to unpack our stuff." She smiled at Kate. "It's good
to have you here, sweety. It'll be nice to have another woman in the
house." With that, she headed out of the living room, tailed by David.

"How are you feeling?" asked Jake.

"Better, now that I'll be staying with you." She put her head on his
shoulder, and he placed his arms around her.

"Good. Too bad about the sex, though, eh?" He laughed.

"Yeah." She sighed softly. "Things are looking up, aren't they?"

"Yeah," said Jake. They sat, not speaking. It had been chaos since
Richard, and the peace was a welcome change.

Jake noticed Kate had dozed off against him. He kissed her on the
forehead, then slipped out from underneath her. Sliding an arm under
her legs and another behind her back, he picked her up and carried her
up to her room. He tucked her into bed, brushed the hair out of her
face, and placed another kiss on her forehead. Then he walked out,
wondering what the future had in store for them.