159. As The World Turns

Warning: language

Bridgeport, present day...

Carmen had just sat down for breakfast and was browsing through Bridgeport Times when she saw Knick-Knack in the 'Classifieds' section of the community news page.

There was no doubt in her mind that the cat staring back at her on the newspaper was Knick-Knack. She’d recognize him anywhere, she’d personally hand-picked him from several cats in the pet store because of his midnight black coat; it had reminded her of a starry night sky.

“You son of a bitch!” Carmen screamed as she flung the newspaper on the floor. 


She got up from her chair, it fell backward in a clumsy heap but she didn’t bother with it. It was the least of her worries. She approached her wall and stared up at the man responsible for her heartbreak.

“Why? Why Krisis?” She asked her wall paper. “How could you take him to a shelter? You were supposed to take care of him!”

“I thought you loved him! I thought you loved our baby. Now see what you’ve gone and done! I hate you! I hate you Krisis Frost!” She screamed over and over as she ripped Krisis’ face from her walls. She’d spent weeks plastering his face all over her house, but taking it down took less than an hour, that’s how pissed she was.

Drained at last from her rant she fell on the sofa and wept.

Krisis giving away the cat was a slap in the face. It was an insult. He obviously didn’t appreciate her gift and that made him an an ungrateful prick. She had to teach him a lesson on gratitude. Teach him some manners.

She sat up as another notion crossed her mind. Maybe it wasn’t Krisis who’d taken Knick-Knack to the shelter. Maybe it was that Ashleigh “pinch face” Starlington.

Yes, the longer she thought about it the more it made sense. Knick-Knack didn’t have his collar, which meant Krisis was holding on to it, so he obviously appreciated her gift and he took the collar as a memento. She wouldn’t be surprised if he was hiding it from Leigh because he knew she’s a witch and she would have him made him give it up, just like Knick-Knack. 


Yes, Krisis was innocent. But Leigh was guilty. Guilty as sin!

“Oh my poor baby,” she wailed as she fell on the floor and picked up the torn pieces of Krisis’ faces. She clutched them to her chest and rocked herself back and forth like a mother does when she’s trying to put a baby to sleep.

“Ashleigh will pay for this. Don’t worry. She made you give up our Knick-Knack? I’ll take care of her!” Carmen vowed silently with a glazed look in her eyes…

Across town Krisis met with Nick and Tony at O+ Positive Records to discuss Leigh’s security. So far their duties had just included escorting Leigh around town, red carpet control, airport pickups, and controlling the paparazzi and rowdy fans whenever he and Leigh went out. 


Tony wrote the figure for the extras Krisis wanted on a notepad and passed it to him.

Krisis looked at it and snorted, “I don’t care how much it costs. Just get it done. There has to be at least one man on site 24/7. This person came to my home while my kids and Leigh were sleeping. It could have ended badly. So let’s avoid such situations in future,” Krisis told them.

He showed them the cat’s collar. Like him, they found the idea behind the cat and collar disturbing and creepy.

Nick asked if he’d reported the intrusion.

“No. It was just a cat and a collar, I think cops have more serious crimes on their hands,” he replied with a casualness he didn’t feel.

He headed straight to the Vampire Council Headquarters after his meeting with Leigh's bodyguards. His father was about to leave for a conference, but he had ten minutes to spare.

“Gene latency! When were you going to tell us?” Krisis got straight to the heart of his visit.

Thornton looked taken aback. He quickly regained his composure though and the calm mask was back in place.

“When the subject came up. We didn’t get a chance to talk at length the last time you were here,” he explained. He moved back to his desk and sat down.

Krisis did the same, but on the couch, the same one he’d occupied on his last visit.

“Kristian is like Krimsyn, they are both fire starters,” Thornton began as he laced his hands behind his head and propped his feet on the desk.  “Azalea gets her ability from you. Yours though wasn’t the problem; Lily could live with a broken icebox or gramophone. But she couldn’t live with Krimsyn’s blisters. She worried for your sister. Dr. Orson and his team were doing a secret study on hybrid children; they were still a rarity back then and he needed subjects.”

“So you entered us into his freak show project?” Krisis roared at him.

“It helped. Krimsyn is fine. You are also fine. You didn’t suffer any long term damage. In fact you didn’t suffer any damage at all!” Thornton retorted.

“And that’s supposed to make it okay?” Krisis snorted. He got up from the couch and approached the door.

He didn’t even know why he came. It was silly to think he and Thornton could have a sane discussion. It was obvious the other man felt justified in his actions. 

Having seen Kristian’s ability,a part of him didn’t really blame Thornton though. It was the withholding of the truth he was upset with the most. He came to him just days earlier and bared his soul, heck he’d even cried in front of the man, but his father had failed to be upfront with him. How the hell was he supposed to have a relationship with someone like that?

“I would have told you,” Thornton answered his thoughts.

“Fuck you! I thought I could try, for Leigh and the kids. But I can’t do that if I can’t trust you. I’m out!” Krisis told him over his shoulder.

“Wait. There’s something you should know,” Thornton stopped him from leaving. He looked through his desk drawer and took out a file. He pushed it on the desk towards Krisis, who gingerly took it.

“What’s this?” Krisis asked as he leafed through the document.

“I think it’s self-explanatory,” Thornton replied.

“They can’t do this! They can’t make it illegal,” Krisis slammed the file harshly on Thornton’s desk.

“They can. The Bill is coming into effect on the 1st of January, Krisis.”

“Four months? A mere four months! What am I supposed to do?” Krisis demanded. Even when he asked this he knew the answer. He had to turn Leigh before January 1st.

“You can’t allow this!” Krisis cried again.

“It’s out of my hands. I’ve stalled them long enough and they are not willing to wait any longer. You have the information, use it.” Thornton murmured as he showed him out.

“Good luck, son!” Thornton told him as he got in the waiting limo.

Krisis stood there and watched the limo grow smaller and smaller. He’d never felt as alone as he did then. He couldn’t understand how his life had grown complicated in a matter of minutes.

As he looked up at the sky he wondered if perhaps God was testing him. It certainly felt that way. So fucking many obstacles at once...

Leigh tried to restore some normalcy to their lives in the wake of the cat and her doomed fate by sticking to her routine.

She bundled up all four kids in the car and they collected Eloise and Blake on their way to the playschool to drop off Lily and her nephew.

Their next stop was Jesse’s place.

“Excuse the mess,” Jesse apologized as he ushered them upstairs. He was in the middle of renovations, the whole downstairs area was a mess, fabrics, mannequins, sewing machines were strewn everywhere.

While Eloise and Jesse got down to business at the island, Leigh settled the kids in front of the TV and put on a Barney DVD she’d had the sense to bring along.

She hated using the TV as a baby sitter for the kids, but they were pressed for time with Eloise’s wedding around the corner.

She lingered in the room, watching the triplets sing and dance along to Barney. Most of the time her kids were generally happy, carefree, except Ariel who saw things a child her age shouldn’t have to,  but at that moment, even her youngest seemed happy. 


Leigh wanted to bottle this moment, and keep it forever.

“Want some coffee?” Jesse’s deep voice boomed behind her.

“Please,” she replied as she wrapped her arms around him. She couldn’t believe he was back in Bridgeport for good. She’d really missed him.

Jesse linked their hands and led her to the kitchen.

Eloise, with her mobile stuck firmly to one ear, stepped out to the balcony when they came in. From the bits of the one sided conversation drifting through the open window Leigh guessed she was speaking to the florist.

“So what’s been up with you?” Leigh asked. She sounded too chirpy and Jesse, knowing her as well as he did, knew something was up.

“No, what’s up with you? Is it still the triplets?” He raised a questioning eyebrow at her.

Leigh didn’t know if she should, she knew how Krisis felt about Jesse, and sharing her problems with him might be seen as crossing a line, but she really, really needed a friend, someone she could off load on and Jesse was there.

When he saw tears shimmer in her eyes, he stopped everything he was doing and rushed to her. He took her in his arms and held her.

“What’s going on?” His kindness, the gentle way he held her undid her and she found herself opening up to him. She told him about Ariel’s prediction, their visit to the Genetics department, the cat and the creepy message on the cat’s collar.

“Krisis will fix this,” he told her, and at that moment, she couldn’t have loved him more.

Leigh knew how he felt about her, knew he still harbored feelings for her, but he respected her wishes to be with Krisis. She knew if he was any other man, if he wasn’t the darling that he was, he would have exploited her vulnerability, used it to come between her and Krisis.

“I know. He’s been spreading himself thin since Ariel’s prediction, trying to keep me safe. I can see what the fear and worry is doing to him and it breaks me to know I can’t help him. I wish he’d just turn me already,” Leigh explained as she left his arms and brushed away her tears.

Eloise came back then and they spent a long time talking about Leigh’s dilemma. They couldn’t help her, but just talking about it helped.

“If something has to happen to me, I need you both to promise me you’ll look after the kids,” Leigh said suddenly. She got up from the stool and paced.

Eloise and Jesse had stunned looks on their faces, taking care of her kids wasn’t the problem at all; they were just shocked at her resigned tone and her quiet acceptance of her fate.

“Dr. Orson said Ariel’s ability is exceptional. She scored extremely high on all her tests, so chances of her being wrong about this, are one in a million. Krisis doesn’t want to discuss it, but we need to be practical. So I’m asking you both, as my friends, to take care of my kids, take care of Krisis, allow him to grieve and mourn me, but also help him to move on and find happiness again, help him celebrate our kids-“ she choked on her words as she said this.

The humming sound from the fridge stopped and they all knew Azalea had tuned into her emotions.

“I just bought this fridge,” Jesse joked and they all laughed, tearfully though.

“I have to check on her,” Leigh left the room to go see to her kids. Alone Jesse and Eloise exchanged looks. Leigh’s words had a finality that couldn’t be denied; though they didn’t want to, they found themselves imagining their lives without her, it was strange and depressing.

Jesse suddenly craved caffeine, but he popped a bottle of wine instead, he needed some liquid courage to get him through the next few hours, and of course to lift his spirits, he couldn’t get creative if he was depressed.

When Leigh came back, Jesse was already on his second glass. They didn’t mention her request again for the rest of that day, in fact they didn’t talk about it until months later when her words would come back to haunt them.

With their false sense of cheerfulness from the wine, Jesse managed to steer them back to the reason for their meeting. He took their measurements, showed them the fabric samples, and the rough sketches of their dresses.

Eloise was blown away, and she couldn’t contain her excitement.

Leigh loved her dress too. But as excited as she was for her friend, she found herself thinking about her own wedding, she wondered if she’d ever get to walk down the aisle. With everything unfolding the way it was, it didn’t look like it would happen.

Always a bridesmaid, never the bride. That line popped in her head and she laughed, sadly.

“What?” Jesse and Eloise turned to her.

“Nothing,” she shook her head. She really was happy for Eloise and her brother, they both deserved a fantastic wedding, and an equally fantastic life together. But a small part of her couldn’t help but be sad, chances were she wouldn’t even be around for their wedding, and that’s what was making everything so unbearable.

Not for the first time since her daughter’s predictions, Leigh wished there was a way for her to know the date and the time her life was supposed to end, that way she could prepare herself, make plans and structure everything around the event…

The reckless pounding on her front door woke Bianca from her semi- conscious sleep. Groggily she dragged herself out of bed and approached the noise.

"Okay, okay," she grumbled as she unlatched the door.

As soon as it swung open, Beau had her up against the wall with one hand, the other crushed her throat.

"What did you do Bianca? Where's my son?" Beau growled at her.

If she could talk she would have told him Vladimir was being kept overnight for observation at the hospital and she'd come home to grab a change of clothing for the two of them but she’d ended up falling asleep somehow.

But she couldn't talk, faint gasping sounds rushed out through her nose, and her mouth stayed frozen in a perfect “Oh” as Beau continued to squeeze the life from her.

She felt the dark cloud of unconsciousness threaten to take over her, and just as she was about to give in, Beau let go of her and she crumbled on the floor.

"Where is my son?" Beau roared again.

Bianca rubbed her throat, unable to speak, convinced he had left a terrible mark there.

"Where is he? I went to pick him up from playschool and lo and behold, his teacher told me he's gone in for surgery. What the fuck is that?" Beau grabbed her arms angrily.

Bianca forced her way out his hard grasp. She crawled to the sink and grabbed a glass of water, her throat felt swollen and parched.

After gulping down three glasses she felt like her old self again, but she was still shaking from anger and fear as she set the glass down in the dish rack.

"He’s at the hospital. I took him in for the latency procedure. It's done now. There's nothing you can do about it," she told him defiantly.

The look in Beau’s eyes when she made her announcement was murderous.

"On whose authority? I’m his father!”

“Not on the birth certificate you’re not!” She told him calmly.

When Vlad was born she didn’t think she and Beau would ever get back together or that she’d ever see him again so she didn’t list him as the father. But when she returned to Bridgeport, she’d come clean with him, and she’d even suggested they should get a new birth certificate, but like his weekend visits with their son, Beau had shrugged it off, always postponing and canceling on her at the last minute.

Looking back, with everything she’d been through these last few months, Bianca couldn’t help but feel thankful that they never changed Vlad’s birth certificate. If they had the doctors would have needed Beau’s consent to perform the procedure.

Beau glared at her for a long time, and just when she thought he’d pounce on her, he released a long, angry howl. The sound was terrible. Bianca wanted to block her ears, run away, anything, just as long as she didn’t have to listen to him.

“You don’t know what that fucking procedure will do to him!” He kicked her chair and sent it flying in the air; it hit the fridge and left a noticeable dent in its wake.

“I had no choice. I kept begging you for months to get him help and you wouldn't listen. Being called in at playschool when he took that kid's form in class was the last straw Beau. It had to stop," Bianca explained, but her ex brushed off her explanations. He hurriedly made his way to the front door.

He turned back and gave her an icy look, “I will never forgive you for this. NEVER!”

When she heard the front door bang shut, Bianca released the long tearful breath she’d been holding all along.

On shaky legs she slowly made her way to the couch and sat down, thinking about their confrontation. Beau had taken it surprisingly well. She knew though this wasn’t the last of it, there’d be hell to pay…