Chapter 22: It All Started When I Was Born

While Charlie let Beatrice rest, she wondered around halls of the hospital. There was really no telling how long they would be there for, so Charlie decided to see what there was in the way of food or water.

After roaming for a bit, she found some cans of food in the cafeteria, though there was really no telling how old they were. There were also a few vending machines which had bottled water and various snacks (which were probably stale, but still food nonetheless).

Charlie found a crowbar in one of the store rooms and used it to smash open the glass fronts. Then she carefully reached inside and retrieved all of the bottles she could carry before coming back for the snacks.

When she came back into the room carrying an armful of tiny chip bags, Beatrice sat up and rubbed her head.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"Getting food and water, just in case." Charlie said, plopping her bountiful harvest onto the couch.

Beatrice nodded, sat upright a little bit more.

Charlie walked over and sat beside her on the edge of the bed.

Guess I better go ahead and get this over with. Hopefully she won't take it too badly.

"Beatrice, I need to tell you what prompted me to take matters into my own hands and break you out of prison." She said.

"You mean it wasn't my 'pretty nice butt'?" Beatrice asked with a bit of a tired smirk.

"Well, uh—" Charlie sheepishly rubbed the back of her head and began to stutter. "I mean, that's part of it. Not your butt I mean. You know, just like all of you, as you know, like a whole person—"

Ah fuck. I'm getting sidetracked, like usual.

Charlie cleared her throat.

"But, uh, no." She said. "It's was actually because of your mother."

Beatrice's playful smile immediately vanished, and her body went rigid.

"What? What about her?"

"She escaped from prison—" Charlie carefully started.

"What?!"

"...and she stole the compound from Delacqua Tech." Charlie added.

Beatrice threw the covers off and got up.

"No. No." She started hurriedly pacing around the room, arms wrapped around herself. "Charlie no. This can't happen. This can't fucking happen."

Charlie reached a hand towards her.

"Beatrice." She said softly.

"Charlie—" She said something else, but it came out as a desperate, garbled sob. She collapsed her face into her hands, and her shoulders started to shake.

Charlie quickly dashed over to her side, and gathered her in her arms. Beatrice wrapped her arms around her and squeezed her so tightly that it was uncomfortable, her face pressed hard against her chest as she cried.

Charlie held her like this for an such a long time that her arms grew tired and stiff, though she didn't mind it. She would stand right there and hold Beatrice for the rest of the day if that was what she needed.

"What are we gonna do, Charlie?" Beatrice cried against the spandex on her chest.

Charlie ran her hand over her back.

"It's going to be okay, B." Charlie said. "I promise."

Beatrice shook her head.

"I hate that bitch." She said.

Charlie simply nodded and continued to squeeze her, figuring it was best to let her get her emotions out.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Charlie asked.

Beatrice let out a small whimper, her fist clenching and unclenching.

"Everything that's wrong in my life is her fault!" She said. "I didn't— I didn't ask to be born. Because of her, I never had a chance! I never had a fucking chance..."

"Yeah?" Charlie said.

"It was her fault TJ died. I always blamed Linton, but it was her fault. If she hadn't been such a shitty parent, TJ wouldn't have had to take care of me. And if he wouldnt have had to take care of me, he wouldn't have had to break the law."

Beatrice paused to take a shaky breath.

"And now—And now she thinks she can just come and take his powers? After everything she's fucking done?"

Charlie continued to try and comfort her while she cried it out, all the while trying to silently piece together what she was saying in her head.

"If it's going to upset you this much to see her," Charlie said. "Why don't we just hide out here and until she's apprehended?"

"No." Beatrice vehemently shook her head. "I'm not just going to hide while I let her do this. I want to be the one to take her down."

"Okay." Charlie said with a nod, though she wasn't so sure about how good that would be for her mental state. "Come on, why don't we go sit on the bed for a moment?"

Beatrice nodded, and as they walked over, Charlie grabbed a water bottle from the couch and handed it to her. Beatrice opened it up and took a careful sip before rubbing the dingy sleeve of her prison jumpsuit across her face.

"You said, you always thought your brother dying was Linton's fault?" Charlie asked quietly.

Beatrice nodded.

"Why is that?"

"Because he could have told the authorities to leave him alone." Beatrice said, drawing her knees up to her chest. "He was his boyfriend, after all. You'd think he would have done everything he could have to keep him safe."

"Oh." Charlie said. "Wait— his boyfriend?! What?!"

"Yeah, his boyfriend." Beatrice said it as if it should have been obvious.

"You're telling me the Copper Knight is gay?" Charlie said.

"Yeah." Beatrice said. "He didn't want anyone to know, but yeah."

Charlie was surprised, confused, and more than a little upset that her own gaydar hadn't been able to pick up on that.

"How did they even meet?"

"I don't know." Beatrice sighed. "I didn't even know they were together until like a month before TJ died and they had been together for years at that point. They kept it secret from everyone, even from me.

They would fight in public but it was really all just an act, probably for publicity. I assume the fights were real at first, and that's how they met, but I've never asked Linton to confirm that."

Charlie gaped at her, still not fully processing this revelation.

"When I found out I told TJ to ask Linton to help get the authorities off our back, but Linton wouldn't do it. He was worried about being outed.

He was worried that if the public found out he way gay and dating a known criminal, that he would lose the image of the All American Hero that he has spent so many years crafting."

Charlie reached over and grabbed her hand.

"I guess I've been a little hard on him." She said more quietly. "I'm sure he blames himself too. He's the only person I have to talk about TJ and I get too upset to even talk to him.

Everyone knew Shadow Witch, But no one really knew TJ except for us. It feels like he didn't even exist sometimes, and it hurts.

I don't care what anyone thinks. He didn't deserve to bleed out alone in a dirty allyway."

Charlie regarded her sadly for a moment. She remembered when Shadow Witch was killed, and she knew she had ever given his death much thought.

She had never considered that he might have friends, or a family, or anybody that could be suffering from the loss of him.

Charlie knew she had a tendency to live in a well insulated bubble, but she had never really considered the repercussions of that until now.

Did someone really deserve to get shot when they had only wrongs they ever had to their name were things like theft and burglary? No, Charlie didn't think they did.

And yet nobody had batted an eye.

It was no wonder Beatrice thought she needed to take things into her own hands.

Charlie pulled the covers up around them.

"You can tell me about him, if you want to." Charlie said. "I'll listen."

"Ah, well— Okay."

And so they talked for some time.

Charlie listened to Beatrice talk about how her brother hadn't actually wanted anything to do with his super powers at all, and had instead wanted to be a painter.

She talked about how she had spent approximately one month in public school before she begged her brother to pull her out, as she got too nervous around the other kids to learn.

Slowly but surely, Beatrice's spirits began to lift, and the two of them even started to joke around about the sad things that had happened to them.

Eventually they delved into other topics as well, and Charlie recounted every story she could think of that involved one of her private school shenanigans.

"—And that's when I realized that the doctor said defibrillation not insemination!"

Beatrice doubled over with laughter.

"I like to spend time with you." Charlie said honestly. "I feel like you actually listen to me. You don't just laugh at things I say to try and flatter me."

Beatrice didn't say anything, but she did smile and lay her head down on Charlie's shoulder.

"You know, I wish I would have brought a change of clothes." Charlie said. "After almost twelve hours, this spandex is starting to get really uncomfortable."

Beatrice glanced away from her.

"You can take it off...if you want." She said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "I'll help you."

Charlie blinked. Was Beatrice... coming onto her?

Nah, stop being weird. She told herself. Not everyone wants to fuck you.

"Uh..." Charlie said. "Okay."

She stood up, and Beatrice followed suit, walking behind her and fiddling with the zipper.

As Beatrice slowly pulled the zipper down, Charlie shuddered at the feeling of the cool air against her skin. Beatrice's fingers moved up, and she carefully started to peel the bright red spandex from Charlie's skin.

Charlie helped her, until she pulled it free from her ankles, and she was left standing there in only her underwear.

She chuckled nervously and shivered, turning around to face Beatrice with her arm covering her naked chest.

Beatrice took a step closer, eyes unfocused and dreamy, cheeks beginning to turn just the slightest bit pink.

"Kiss me."