Post by angelofmusic1992 on Sept 29, 2016 1:26:47 GMT
((Takes place after this thread: bpdothersunit.freeforums.net/thread/183/freaking-out-tag-pitch))
The result of Yang’s hospital stay was pretty much what she expected. Her health wasn’t in jeopardy from her near-drowning experience and she was sure to be fine. Omar arrived to pick her up near sunset. Yang had been planning on telling him the story herself, but he got the scoop from one of the nurses before he even arrived at Yang’s room, and he promptly freaked out. Yang had to assure him a million times that she wasn’t in any immediate danger from the Elemental Gang and that she’d be fine.
The one big surprise of the evening was that one of the nurses informed Yang that Pitch had paid in advance for any of her medical expenses, which surprised both her and Omar. Yang didn’t know how the police officer had known that she was worried about her hospital bill, but she appreciated it all the same. At least now, she wouldn’t have to beg for money from her friends.
The car ride home was quiet. Omar kept sneaking glances at Yang, who seemed to be deep in thought about something. Soon enough, he came to the street where the Stella Theater was.
“Alright, I”ll let you out here,” Omar said as he pulled into a parking spot near the curb. “Is that okay?”
Yang didn’t respond for a moment. She was still looking out the window of the passenger seat, obviously thinking hard about something.
“Yang? You okay?”
“Omar…what do I tell the kids?”
Omar blinked. He hadn’t expected that. Yang saw the confusion on his face and quickly elaborated.
“I mean…how much do I tell them? The whole story might freak them out. Heck, I’m still freaking out about it. But…I can’t just pretend nothing happened. They’ll know something’s wrong. And they need to be on the lookout for the Elemental Gang. I don’t want them going anywhere near people like Cinder and Mercury.”
“Yang, relax.” Omar put a hand on her shoulder. “Just tell them what they need to know without going into too much detail, okay? Inform them, but don’t frighten them. Leaving out the scary details is part of Parenting 101.”
Yang gave a little laugh. Omar did have some experience in that department. “Yeah, you’re right. I guess…I’ve kept away scary stuff from them for so long, I don’t really know how to tell any of it. I just don’t want them to worry about me.”
“People are going to worry about you, Yang, including your kids. It’s a fact of life. The important thing is to not make them paranoid. Like, you worry about them sometimes, but you’re not about to stop them from leaving the hideout, are you?”
“No.”
“Exactly. You just give them the broad picture, and they may get a little worried about you. But that’s okay.”
Yang sighed. Omar was right. Not wanting people to worry was a big flaw in her personality. It was usually coupled with her avoiding asking people for help. But, in this case, she knew getting her kids worried was unavoidable. She just had to remember what Omar said, and not get them scared to death.
“Right. Thanks Omar.”
She gave a smile as she got out of the car. She waved at Omar as he drove off. She let out a slow breath as she faced the abandoned movie theater that was her home. It almost felt weird, being back here. She felt like so much had happened. She curled her hands into fists, almost as if steeling herself up, and walked inside.
“Hello?” Yang made her way to the main auditorium of the theater, where rows of seats lay in front of a big screen, as well as everybody’s mattresses and belongings. “Kids?”
She heard a voice gasp, before it said “Guys, it’s Yang!”
“Yang’s back!”
Yang smiled. Those two voices definitely belonged to Penny and Cody. Sure enough, the two siblings soon emerged and jumped into Yang’s arms, hugging her tight. Jenny wasn’t far behind them, and she threw her arms around Yang’s waist. Louie wasn’t quite as physically affectionate (he always claimed he was too tough for that sort of thing), but he did have a smile on his face.
“We were so worried about you,” Penny said, looking up at Yang with her big brown eyes. “Omar said you got hurt. What happened?”
“Yeah, what happened?” Jenny asked. “Louie was going to drive us all crazy with his worrying.”
“I was not!” Louie instantly protested. “You were the one who said we should figure out which hospital she was at, even though Omar said we should just wait for her to get back.”
Yang laughed. “Okay, okay. Just sit down and I’ll tell you the whole story.”
That got the kids’ attention. They instantly formed a circle, almost like a class would when their teacher was reading them a story. Yang wasn’t sure what kind of tale they were expecting though.
“Well, I was on my way to that fight last night, when these gangsters said they wanted to talk to me. Have you guys ever heard of the Elemental Gang?”
The kids’ faces visibly darkened at that. It definitely looked like they had. Yang continued.
“Well, they were after this friend of mine, who’s a cat burglar. He stole some stuff from them, so they wanted to get some information about him through me.”
“You told them no, right?” Cody asked.
“Of course I did,” Yang said with a grin, giving Cody an affectionate jab on the arm. “You know I’d never sell someone out like that. But the leader of the gang, Cinder, and her two lackies, Emerald and Mercury weren’t so happy about that. They…” Yang paused for a moment, trying to choose her words carefully. “They decided to try and hurt me instead, to give my friend a warning. They thought if he saw me all beat up and stuff ‘cause of them, he wouldn’t steal from them anymore.”
“You gave them a good fight though, didn’t you Yang?” Jenny asked. “Did you shoot out a bunch of fireballs, like pow! Pow! Pow!” She jabbed her fists rapidly back and forth, the same as Yang did when she was fighting.
“I tried,” Yang replied. “They were tough, though. But that was when a police officer, Pitch, found me.”
“Pitch?” Penny tilted her head to the side quizzically. “Isn’t he the demon cop that almost caught you once?”
“That’s the one,” Yang answered. “Anyway, he came in and…well, he kind of saved me. And he even caught Emerald too. He saw I was…kind of in bad shape though, so he decided to send me to the hospital. And he paid for everything too.”
“He did?” That seemed to surprise Penny, as well as the rest of the kids. Yang nodded in affirmation.
“Does this mean we can trust him?” Louie asked. Like Yang, he was wary of most cops. The only ones he regarded as good were the ones she was friends with.
“Well…” Yang thought for a moment before answering. “I think so. He’s sort of a scary-looking guy, and really serious, and it’s hard to know what he’s thinking. But…he helped me out. A lot.”
“So…he’s a maybe?” Jenny ventured.
“Yeah, we’ll call him a maybe,” Yang replied. Pitch wouldn’t be quite as high on the list of trusted cops as some other people, like Sunshine, Esmeralda, and Shadow. But he wasn’t a guy you should avoid at all costs either. Yang wasn’t sure what to think of him personality-wise, but when it came to life-threatening situations, and big hospital bills, he could be trusted.
“I’m just glad you’re okay,” Penny said, snuggling up against Yang’s side.
“Yeah, me too,” was all Yang said in response. It looked like Penny, Cody, and Jenny bought her edited version of events well-enough. She wasn’t so sure about Louie though. It looked like he was thinking about something hard. Was he suspicious of her story? Yang decided to try and change the subject, for the moment.
“You guys ready for some dinner?” She hopped to her feet and headed over to the tiny fridge that lay near the back of the theater. “How about we stay in and have a leftovers night?”
“Yeah, we can finish up the spaghetti Louie got last night,” Cody said as he went to follow Yang.
“And the hamburgers from Monday,” Jenny added as she hurried to do the same.
Penny and Louie soon joined them and picked out what they wanted from the fridge. Yang’s hospital stay wasn’t mentioned the rest of the night, and soon enough, the kids started falling asleep once it got late. Yang, however, couldn’t get to sleep as quickly as the rest of them. She had a lot on her mind, and needed to think things through.
Around eleven, she was on the rooftop of the movie theater, looking up at the sky. Lots of clouds were out tonight, which made everything a bit more dim. But Yang didn’t mind. As long as it wasn’t too cold, she could sit up here for hours and just think.
She was seriously starting to wonder if she was losing her touch. Thrax had dug up those bad memories of hers, which had hurt her a lot more than any kick or punch he had aimed at her. Cinder had somehow decided to kill her using the one method that she was afraid of the most. It was like her enemies were somehow getting inside her head. Then, there was the matter of Pitch, who confused her a lot. He was such a scary, stone-faced guy. Yet, he had let her go when they had first met. And now, he had saved her life, talked her out of a panic attack, and paid for her hospital bill. Just who was this guy?
“Yang?”
Yang nearly jumped at the sound of another voice. She spun around to see that it was actually one of her kids.
“Louie? What are you doing up here? You should be asleep.”
“It’s kind of hard to sleep when your emotions are as loud as police sirens,” Louie replied as he moved to sit beside her.
Yang got quiet at that. She should have known that Louie would be able to tell she was leaving things out of her story. No doubt he had been able to feel all the confusing, frightened emotions that were turning about inside her.
“Yang, what really happened?” Louie asked. “When you were talking about it, there were some parts where you sounded so…scared. I’ve never felt that from you before. At least, not like that.”
Yang sighed. “I did tell you the truth, Louie. I can assure you that much. I just…left some things out.”
“Like what?”
“Stuff I didn’t want the other kids to hear. It’s too scary.”
Louie frowned. “Yang, come on. I’m your second-in-command here. Can’t you trust me with what’s going on? I’ve seen some messed-up stuff too, you know.”
Yang bit her lip. Louie was getting stubborn about this, and when Louie got stubborn, he never backed down. It looked like Yang had no choice but to give him the full story.
“Well, Cinder and the others, they didn’t want to just beat me up. They…” Yang paused, trying to muster up the courage to get the next few words out. “They wanted to kill me. They took me to the river and strapped an iron ball to my foot. They tried to drown me.”
Yang closed her eyes, trying not to think about that moment too hard. But the memories were hard to block out. She had never been so frightened in all her life. It was her worst fear, made reality. She looked at Louie, who’s eyes had widened.
“You’re really scared of that, aren’t you?” he asked quietly.
Yang nodded. “I thought I was gonna die. I was panicking, I couldn’t breathe. But, Pitch managed to get me out. I was…really freaked out, by what had happened. Pitch had to calm me down before the ambulance arrived.”
“I think ‘freaking out’ is putting it mildly,” Louie argued. “I’ve only felt this fear a few times. Like, when a criminal is close to getting caught. Or when Penny’s having a bad nightmare.”
“I guess,” Yang said.
Louie hesitated for a moment before asking “We’re not…in danger here, are we? We don’t have to, like, move or anything, right?”
“No way,” Yang replied. “Cinder and her henchmen won’t come near me with a ten-foot pole, not when they’re afraid that Pitch might come after them again. We’re not going anywhere.”
“Good. ‘Cause I don’t wanna leave.” Louie wrapped his arms around his knees. “This is the only home I’ve ever had. And the other kids are safe. And we can do whatever we want and eat whatever we want and we don’t have to go to school.”
“That’s right,” Yang said with a little smile as she put an arm around Louie. “We’re gonna stay here and I’m gonna take care of you.”
Louie leaned into her touch, seemingly forgetting trying to keep up his macho persona. Yang knew that when it came to hugs, Louie could never get enough of them.
“Although I wouldn’t say you can eat whatever you want,” Yang pointed out. “You guys aren’t about to have ice cream for dinner every night.”
Louie laughed at that, which made Yang happy. It looked like the conversation about what had happened to her yesterday was over. It would stay just between them now.
“Come on, let’s get to bed,” Yang said, standing up as she took Louie’s hand. “We got a busy day tomorrow.”
“Okay.” Louie squeezed her hand as they headed back down inside the movie theater. Yang’s tumultuous emotions had settled down for the moment, and she and Louie were soon fast asleep.
The result of Yang’s hospital stay was pretty much what she expected. Her health wasn’t in jeopardy from her near-drowning experience and she was sure to be fine. Omar arrived to pick her up near sunset. Yang had been planning on telling him the story herself, but he got the scoop from one of the nurses before he even arrived at Yang’s room, and he promptly freaked out. Yang had to assure him a million times that she wasn’t in any immediate danger from the Elemental Gang and that she’d be fine.
The one big surprise of the evening was that one of the nurses informed Yang that Pitch had paid in advance for any of her medical expenses, which surprised both her and Omar. Yang didn’t know how the police officer had known that she was worried about her hospital bill, but she appreciated it all the same. At least now, she wouldn’t have to beg for money from her friends.
The car ride home was quiet. Omar kept sneaking glances at Yang, who seemed to be deep in thought about something. Soon enough, he came to the street where the Stella Theater was.
“Alright, I”ll let you out here,” Omar said as he pulled into a parking spot near the curb. “Is that okay?”
Yang didn’t respond for a moment. She was still looking out the window of the passenger seat, obviously thinking hard about something.
“Yang? You okay?”
“Omar…what do I tell the kids?”
Omar blinked. He hadn’t expected that. Yang saw the confusion on his face and quickly elaborated.
“I mean…how much do I tell them? The whole story might freak them out. Heck, I’m still freaking out about it. But…I can’t just pretend nothing happened. They’ll know something’s wrong. And they need to be on the lookout for the Elemental Gang. I don’t want them going anywhere near people like Cinder and Mercury.”
“Yang, relax.” Omar put a hand on her shoulder. “Just tell them what they need to know without going into too much detail, okay? Inform them, but don’t frighten them. Leaving out the scary details is part of Parenting 101.”
Yang gave a little laugh. Omar did have some experience in that department. “Yeah, you’re right. I guess…I’ve kept away scary stuff from them for so long, I don’t really know how to tell any of it. I just don’t want them to worry about me.”
“People are going to worry about you, Yang, including your kids. It’s a fact of life. The important thing is to not make them paranoid. Like, you worry about them sometimes, but you’re not about to stop them from leaving the hideout, are you?”
“No.”
“Exactly. You just give them the broad picture, and they may get a little worried about you. But that’s okay.”
Yang sighed. Omar was right. Not wanting people to worry was a big flaw in her personality. It was usually coupled with her avoiding asking people for help. But, in this case, she knew getting her kids worried was unavoidable. She just had to remember what Omar said, and not get them scared to death.
“Right. Thanks Omar.”
She gave a smile as she got out of the car. She waved at Omar as he drove off. She let out a slow breath as she faced the abandoned movie theater that was her home. It almost felt weird, being back here. She felt like so much had happened. She curled her hands into fists, almost as if steeling herself up, and walked inside.
“Hello?” Yang made her way to the main auditorium of the theater, where rows of seats lay in front of a big screen, as well as everybody’s mattresses and belongings. “Kids?”
She heard a voice gasp, before it said “Guys, it’s Yang!”
“Yang’s back!”
Yang smiled. Those two voices definitely belonged to Penny and Cody. Sure enough, the two siblings soon emerged and jumped into Yang’s arms, hugging her tight. Jenny wasn’t far behind them, and she threw her arms around Yang’s waist. Louie wasn’t quite as physically affectionate (he always claimed he was too tough for that sort of thing), but he did have a smile on his face.
“We were so worried about you,” Penny said, looking up at Yang with her big brown eyes. “Omar said you got hurt. What happened?”
“Yeah, what happened?” Jenny asked. “Louie was going to drive us all crazy with his worrying.”
“I was not!” Louie instantly protested. “You were the one who said we should figure out which hospital she was at, even though Omar said we should just wait for her to get back.”
Yang laughed. “Okay, okay. Just sit down and I’ll tell you the whole story.”
That got the kids’ attention. They instantly formed a circle, almost like a class would when their teacher was reading them a story. Yang wasn’t sure what kind of tale they were expecting though.
“Well, I was on my way to that fight last night, when these gangsters said they wanted to talk to me. Have you guys ever heard of the Elemental Gang?”
The kids’ faces visibly darkened at that. It definitely looked like they had. Yang continued.
“Well, they were after this friend of mine, who’s a cat burglar. He stole some stuff from them, so they wanted to get some information about him through me.”
“You told them no, right?” Cody asked.
“Of course I did,” Yang said with a grin, giving Cody an affectionate jab on the arm. “You know I’d never sell someone out like that. But the leader of the gang, Cinder, and her two lackies, Emerald and Mercury weren’t so happy about that. They…” Yang paused for a moment, trying to choose her words carefully. “They decided to try and hurt me instead, to give my friend a warning. They thought if he saw me all beat up and stuff ‘cause of them, he wouldn’t steal from them anymore.”
“You gave them a good fight though, didn’t you Yang?” Jenny asked. “Did you shoot out a bunch of fireballs, like pow! Pow! Pow!” She jabbed her fists rapidly back and forth, the same as Yang did when she was fighting.
“I tried,” Yang replied. “They were tough, though. But that was when a police officer, Pitch, found me.”
“Pitch?” Penny tilted her head to the side quizzically. “Isn’t he the demon cop that almost caught you once?”
“That’s the one,” Yang answered. “Anyway, he came in and…well, he kind of saved me. And he even caught Emerald too. He saw I was…kind of in bad shape though, so he decided to send me to the hospital. And he paid for everything too.”
“He did?” That seemed to surprise Penny, as well as the rest of the kids. Yang nodded in affirmation.
“Does this mean we can trust him?” Louie asked. Like Yang, he was wary of most cops. The only ones he regarded as good were the ones she was friends with.
“Well…” Yang thought for a moment before answering. “I think so. He’s sort of a scary-looking guy, and really serious, and it’s hard to know what he’s thinking. But…he helped me out. A lot.”
“So…he’s a maybe?” Jenny ventured.
“Yeah, we’ll call him a maybe,” Yang replied. Pitch wouldn’t be quite as high on the list of trusted cops as some other people, like Sunshine, Esmeralda, and Shadow. But he wasn’t a guy you should avoid at all costs either. Yang wasn’t sure what to think of him personality-wise, but when it came to life-threatening situations, and big hospital bills, he could be trusted.
“I’m just glad you’re okay,” Penny said, snuggling up against Yang’s side.
“Yeah, me too,” was all Yang said in response. It looked like Penny, Cody, and Jenny bought her edited version of events well-enough. She wasn’t so sure about Louie though. It looked like he was thinking about something hard. Was he suspicious of her story? Yang decided to try and change the subject, for the moment.
“You guys ready for some dinner?” She hopped to her feet and headed over to the tiny fridge that lay near the back of the theater. “How about we stay in and have a leftovers night?”
“Yeah, we can finish up the spaghetti Louie got last night,” Cody said as he went to follow Yang.
“And the hamburgers from Monday,” Jenny added as she hurried to do the same.
Penny and Louie soon joined them and picked out what they wanted from the fridge. Yang’s hospital stay wasn’t mentioned the rest of the night, and soon enough, the kids started falling asleep once it got late. Yang, however, couldn’t get to sleep as quickly as the rest of them. She had a lot on her mind, and needed to think things through.
Around eleven, she was on the rooftop of the movie theater, looking up at the sky. Lots of clouds were out tonight, which made everything a bit more dim. But Yang didn’t mind. As long as it wasn’t too cold, she could sit up here for hours and just think.
She was seriously starting to wonder if she was losing her touch. Thrax had dug up those bad memories of hers, which had hurt her a lot more than any kick or punch he had aimed at her. Cinder had somehow decided to kill her using the one method that she was afraid of the most. It was like her enemies were somehow getting inside her head. Then, there was the matter of Pitch, who confused her a lot. He was such a scary, stone-faced guy. Yet, he had let her go when they had first met. And now, he had saved her life, talked her out of a panic attack, and paid for her hospital bill. Just who was this guy?
“Yang?”
Yang nearly jumped at the sound of another voice. She spun around to see that it was actually one of her kids.
“Louie? What are you doing up here? You should be asleep.”
“It’s kind of hard to sleep when your emotions are as loud as police sirens,” Louie replied as he moved to sit beside her.
Yang got quiet at that. She should have known that Louie would be able to tell she was leaving things out of her story. No doubt he had been able to feel all the confusing, frightened emotions that were turning about inside her.
“Yang, what really happened?” Louie asked. “When you were talking about it, there were some parts where you sounded so…scared. I’ve never felt that from you before. At least, not like that.”
Yang sighed. “I did tell you the truth, Louie. I can assure you that much. I just…left some things out.”
“Like what?”
“Stuff I didn’t want the other kids to hear. It’s too scary.”
Louie frowned. “Yang, come on. I’m your second-in-command here. Can’t you trust me with what’s going on? I’ve seen some messed-up stuff too, you know.”
Yang bit her lip. Louie was getting stubborn about this, and when Louie got stubborn, he never backed down. It looked like Yang had no choice but to give him the full story.
“Well, Cinder and the others, they didn’t want to just beat me up. They…” Yang paused, trying to muster up the courage to get the next few words out. “They wanted to kill me. They took me to the river and strapped an iron ball to my foot. They tried to drown me.”
Yang closed her eyes, trying not to think about that moment too hard. But the memories were hard to block out. She had never been so frightened in all her life. It was her worst fear, made reality. She looked at Louie, who’s eyes had widened.
“You’re really scared of that, aren’t you?” he asked quietly.
Yang nodded. “I thought I was gonna die. I was panicking, I couldn’t breathe. But, Pitch managed to get me out. I was…really freaked out, by what had happened. Pitch had to calm me down before the ambulance arrived.”
“I think ‘freaking out’ is putting it mildly,” Louie argued. “I’ve only felt this fear a few times. Like, when a criminal is close to getting caught. Or when Penny’s having a bad nightmare.”
“I guess,” Yang said.
Louie hesitated for a moment before asking “We’re not…in danger here, are we? We don’t have to, like, move or anything, right?”
“No way,” Yang replied. “Cinder and her henchmen won’t come near me with a ten-foot pole, not when they’re afraid that Pitch might come after them again. We’re not going anywhere.”
“Good. ‘Cause I don’t wanna leave.” Louie wrapped his arms around his knees. “This is the only home I’ve ever had. And the other kids are safe. And we can do whatever we want and eat whatever we want and we don’t have to go to school.”
“That’s right,” Yang said with a little smile as she put an arm around Louie. “We’re gonna stay here and I’m gonna take care of you.”
Louie leaned into her touch, seemingly forgetting trying to keep up his macho persona. Yang knew that when it came to hugs, Louie could never get enough of them.
“Although I wouldn’t say you can eat whatever you want,” Yang pointed out. “You guys aren’t about to have ice cream for dinner every night.”
Louie laughed at that, which made Yang happy. It looked like the conversation about what had happened to her yesterday was over. It would stay just between them now.
“Come on, let’s get to bed,” Yang said, standing up as she took Louie’s hand. “We got a busy day tomorrow.”
“Okay.” Louie squeezed her hand as they headed back down inside the movie theater. Yang’s tumultuous emotions had settled down for the moment, and she and Louie were soon fast asleep.