Hard Times

Here's an addition to the new universe I created. Let's fast forward a decade or so and catch up with some of our heroes. It opens up a few avenues for other stories so don't look for all of the answers to the questions here.

This one's for the holiday contest so please leave a rating after reading. Enjoy -- BH.

*****

I sat at a small desk in one of our large city's smallest public library branches. It was quiet, hardly used, and kept a fairly current supply of the latest novels. I'd given up on buying books as an early New Year's Resolution, as my bookshelves at home overflowed, and I just couldn't bring myself to read e-books yet.

I wasn't an old codger who didn't want to use modern technology or anything like that. I simply loved the smell and feel of a book in my hands. I was sure I'd get over it and bite the bullet eventually, yet I wasn't ready for it then.

The librarians were hanging non-religious "holiday" decorations, and I remembered I needed to call my mom and dad about Thanksgiving to see if I needed to bring anything.

"Hello, Miss," came a shy, masculine voice from above. "Could I trouble you for a dollar or two?"

I looked up and saw a young man who couldn't have been older than twenty yet had the lines of experience written on his otherwise youthful visage.

"Um, sure," I said, not wanting to get attacked by a drugged out homeless teenager in my fortress of solitude.

I dug through my purse, trying to be discrete about its contents, hoping still he wouldn't rob me, and only found two twenties.

"Here," I said looking at the young man, who was actually quite handsome, after I took a second look. I don't have anything smaller than a twenty but take this."

I handed him the forty dollars, and his eyes went wide.

"Thanks," he said with an alarmingly gorgeous smile. "We'll eat for a week on this."

He turned and walked towards the bathrooms, and I wondered what he was doing until he stopped in front of the ladies room and waited.

A few moments later, a pretty young girl walked out with damp hair pulled into a ponytail. Her clothes were in much better condition than his, and she carried a backpack.

When he showed her the forty dollars I gave him, she hugged him. I wished I could hear what they were talking about.

After getting a good look at them, they didn't look as if they were homeless long, but something was off in the way in which they acted.

When they were leaving and they neared my table, I heard her say, "Aiden, we can do our laundry too, and can we get McDonalds?"

"Thank you, again, Miss," he said ignoring her as they passed me.

The softness in his shimmering blue eyes melted me, and I couldn't speak. I simply nodded.

"Kat, we have to stretch it out," he answered her once they passed.

"Wait!" I called out.

They stopped and turned.

"Can I buy you lunch?" I asked. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

He was about to say no, but as the word formed on his lips, she answered, "Yes. That would be awesome."

He snapped his head towards her and chided, "Kat, no. We can't, and you know why."

"Does she look like she'd do that, Aiden? Miss, we'd love lunch."

He pulled her aside, and they argued for a few seconds before she said something that made him take a step back and pale.

She walked over and said, "Do you think we could have Olive Garden? They have all you can eat pasta, soup, and breadsticks."

He stood where he was, looking at the ground as if she'd told him his cat died.

I wanted to grab him and pull him into a hug, but I couldn't find the courage.

I said, "Sure, but I need to watch how much of those I eat. My thighs are big enough."

She giggled and said, "Shut up, you're beautiful. I'm Katherine, and that's my big brother Aiden. Don't mind him, he gets broody sometimes. Oh! And call me Kat, I hate Kate or Katie. Oh! And Kathy. I can't stand Kathy."

I laughed and said, "Okay, Kat."

She grabbed Aiden's hand and kissed his cheek. It seemed to snap him out of whatever funk he was in.

"Sorry, and thank you for being so generous," said the big brother, as he pulled his long hair behind his ear.

"Okay, my car's out in the lot, come on."

He picked up his backpack which was clearly heavy and held Kat's hand as they followed me to my car.

"Wow! A Mercedes," said Kat, with the amazement of youth. "Are you rich?"

"Kat!" Aiden warned. "That's not a polite question to ask someone. Sorry, Miss."

I shrugged and said, "Please call me Cassidy, you make me feel old when you call me Miss. I'm only twenty-four."

"Okay, Cassidy. Thanks again for everything. I'm sorry if I came across as unappreciative. I just have to look out for my sister, you know."

"How old are you, Kat?" I asked as I tuned the radio to one of the endless Christmas music stations.

Mariah Carey sang her hit that will never go away, and Kat answered, "I'm eleven."

"And you, Aiden?" I asked.

"Twenty almost twenty-one."

"You're sure you want Olive Garden? I can take you anywhere."

I didn't really want the carb fest, but I'd go there if her heart was set on it.

"They'll let us take a lot to go," he said quietly answering the question.

I felt stupid for not understanding why she was so excited for all you can eat.

"Got it. Olive Garden it is."

*****

There wasn't much chance to talk while they ate. I'd never seen anything like it as they ordered three different plates of pasta each, and what seemed like an amount of soup and breadsticks that would make a normal human explode.

I noticed on the second plate that they only ate half and boxed the other half to go. I didn't think they'd be allowed to do that, but the server didn't seem to care. It wasn't like it was his food anyway, and I think he felt sorry for them too.

What surprised me the most, was the way they ate. They didn't wolf their food down crudely, or rush to eat as much as they could as quickly as they could. They held their forks and spoons properly and didn't shovel the food into their mouths either. It was time I got their story.

"Okay, Aiden, now that you have a full belly, how about telling me your story. What brought you to my table at the library today?"

He took a long drink of his Coke and sighed.

Kat shook her head and said, "Tell her. She might not do it if you're honest with her."

"Do what?" I asked.

"He thinks you're going to turn me in to Child Services."

That idea never occurred to me. Then I thought how crappy that made me that I didn't think to try and get her some real help. She was only a child after all.

"Do I need to call Child Services? Again, why don't you just tell me your story."

He began, "Our father died in a car accident a few years ago. I was told that when I turn twenty-one, I'll have access to some kind of beneficiary trust money, but that's a few months away. We're just trying to make it until then."

"Where's your mother?" I asked.

Kat snorted, and Aiden shrugged, "Probably high somewhere. When she got Dad's insurance money, she went off the rails."

"Why aren't you living with her, or did she blow all of the money?"

"She's still got a lot of money," Aiden said. "I left after I kicked her boyfriend's ass and put him in the hospital when I saw him go into Kat's room in the middle of the night."

"I'm sorry." It was all I could think of to say. I couldn't imagine how that felt. God! What if Aiden hadn't been there? I shuddered at the thought, and by the look on Kat's face, she thought the same thing.

He shrugged again and continued, "So, our mother didn't believe me and said I did it just to get rid of him. It was cold in our house for a few days, but then the cops came to me at work asking all kinds of questions. It was obvious to me that they didn't believe me either, and when the police came back, I took off out the back door and went home to pack."

"You're on the run from the police?" I gasped.

"I guess. I mean, why would they have come back with two cruisers, if not to arrest me?"

Kat picked up the story, "I had just gotten home from school, and I had a visit from the police that day too. I was questioned by the school's principal, the counselor, someone called an advocate, and the police. Since I was asleep during the start of the fight, I couldn't answer any of their questions about what happened. I answered a bunch of questions about that jerk being inappropriate with me, but he never really had before."

Aiden continued, "So, anyway. I got home and packed as much as I could into as many gym bags and suitcases I could find and left. I had a few thousand dollars from birthday money in a savings account, so I found a cheap crappy motel that rented by the week and didn't ask questions."

Kat said, "Meanwhile, when the jerk got out of the hospital, he kept saying gross things to me and kept telling me that my protector wasn't there anymore. Mom didn't believe me, so I called Aiden and begged him for help."

He nodded, "I moved her out, and in with me. The only problem was, my money didn't last, and we got kicked out of the motel last month."

"Where are you living now?"

"We sleep in shelters when we can," he said.. "One of them has a space where we can keep most of our stuff locked up. Like I said, we're just trying to last a few more months."

Kat frowned, "When there's no beds at the shelters, we found a warehouse that's been keeping the worst of the cold out. It hasn't been that bad yet, but I'm sure it will get worse soon."

Aiden said, "There are some scary people there. They haven't done anything yet, and I usually stay up most of the night watching over her. If anything happened to her I'd die."

She hugged him and told him she loved him.

I was in over my head with them. I wondered if he would be considered a kidnapper, as opposed to just runaways, since he was an adult.

I sat back in my seat and said, "I'm going to help you."

He laughed, "What can you do? You're barely my age."

I smiled and said, "I'm older than you, not by much, but that doesn't matter. I'm going to call in the big guns and get my mom's lawyers to help you with your legal issues, and at the very least, I can offer you a place to stay for free and all the food you can ever want."

He grunted, "Your mom has lawyers just sitting around waiting for things to do, huh?"

I leaned across the table and whispered, "Would you like to know who my mother is?"

*****

I pulled into the driveway of my parents' sprawling estate and saw my twin brothers throwing a football to each other.

When they saw my car, they ran over.

"Hey, Sis," Junior said.

"What's up?" Ben, my other brother said.

As we hugged, they noticed Aiden and Kat sitting in the car.

"Who's that?" Ben asked.

"You guys can come out. They're just my meathead brothers," I said, bracing for the punch in the arm I knew was coming from Junior.

"Guys, this is Aiden and his sister, Kat. Aiden and Kat, this is Braden, but we call him Junior, and that's Ben."

They exchanged hellos, and I noticed Kat was quieter than she'd been earlier. I shook my head and said, "They're harmless, Kat. Don't be shy."

I led them into the house and found my mom making soup.

"Smells good, Mom," I said surprising her.

"Cassidy!" she shrieked and pulled me into a hug. "I didn't know you were coming over today. It's no problem. I'm making my vegetable beef soup, so you know there will be plenty. Oh, My God! Your dad will be so happy, he's in the garage monkeying with the Christmas lights."

She noticed I brought guests and stopped.

"Who are your friends?"

"Mom, this is Aiden and his sister Kat. Guys, this is my mom, Fairleigh."

They stood there in shock, being in the presence of one of the biggest pop stars in the world, albeit retired.

She and my dad were in love when she won one of those talent shows on television. They broke up and she went on to become one of the biggest stars in the world. Eventually, she got sick of it all and missed my dad. She retired in her prime and they reconnected and got married. She adopted me, my mother having died when I was little, and gave me a couple of meathead brothers along the way.

Mom was used to that reaction and smiled, "It's nice to meet you two. How about a cup of tea or hot chocolate?"

Over the last thirteen years, after she married my father, Fairleigh settled into motherhood and became the epitome of a domestic goddess. Instead of social media posts about her music, tours, and clothes, she posted about what she was baking or cooking. Her followers actually increased, and she had more than she ever did when she was at the height of her fame. She even turned down several offers to do cookbooks and TV shows, and just loved being a stay-at-home mom.

"Hot chocolate would be great, Mom."

Mom and I caught up, as it had been a few days since we talked, and I hadn't been out to the house in a month. Aiden and Kat were still in shock and didn't say anything.

Once we were finished with small talk, I said, "Mom, Aiden and Kat are homeless and need some help. I was hoping you'd let them use the guest house for a while."

"Homeless? Oh, sweetie, of course. I'll do whatever I can."

Mom was a sucker for a hard luck story. She thrived on helping people who were at rock bottom.

"Well, it's complicated," I said. Aiden, why don't you tell her what happened, I'm gonna get my dad."

He snapped out of being in the presence of my pop goddess mother and told their tale.

*****

Later, while my parents talked about what to do about Aiden's legal troubles, I gave them a tour of the house, ending with my mom's trophy room.

It was the only room in the house that had any inkling of her past life. Gold and platinum records lined the walls. Grammy awards, MTV awards, and other awards from all over the world lined shelves. She even had an Oscar for one of her biggest hits which was on a soundtrack to a blockbuster movie. It was all boring to me by then, but the new guests loved that room.

Aiden said, "I can't believe Fairleigh is your mom."

Kat asked, "Does she have a last name?"

I laughed and said, "It's Jackson." When she was famous, she used only her first name like Madonna.

"Wow," she whispered.

"Cassidy," Aiden started, "I don't know what to say. This is all too much."

"Let's just worry about keeping you out of jail and getting your record cleared. The shitstorm hasn't even begun yet, and I'm sure your mom is going to fight to get Kat back home."

"I won't go!" she yelled.

"Whoa!" Dad said walking into the room, with mom at his side. "What's going on."

Kat sat on the couch in a snit, and Aiden shrugged.

Dad said, "We've had a conversation with our lawyer and he's going to check on some things before we make any decisions. We need to know exactly where you kids stand with the law, understand?"

Aiden said, "Yeah, I'm sorry you got involved, but thank you. All I did was ask for a couple of bucks and now I'm standing in a celebrity's awards room."

Dad laughed and said, "Easy, guy. I'm not a celebrity, I just married one."

We all joined him in laughter.

It was cute how my mom and dad always tried to deflect her fame. Mom was in the PTA and Mother's club at my brothers' school for crying out loud.

We baked four dozen brownies for the last bake sale together, and when they weren't selling priced at fifty cents, one of the PTA moms put a sign out that said, "Fairleigh's homemade brownies." After that, the moms were actually fighting to buy them for five bucks each.

Mom said, "Until we get it all figured out, you kids can stay here with us. We have plenty of bedrooms in the house, or if you want privacy, you can use the guest house out back. I'd like you to stay with us though."

Aiden looked at Kat, who shrugged, and said, "Whatever you want, Ma'am. It's your home and we're just glad for your help."

"Thanksgiving is in two days, and you'll be spending it with us," she continued, "and that's enough of the ma'am stuff. My name's Fairleigh. If you keep calling me ma'am, you're gonna make me feel old. You don't want to make me feel old, do you?"

Before he could figure out how to answer her, in her worst Dirty Harry impression, she said, "Well, do ya?"

Dad groaned and Aiden was shocked into silence.

"Jeez, you kids are tough nuts to crack. I'm just messin' with ya."

She smiled her Fairleigh smile and knelt before Kat.

"Honey, you're a minor, and they may take you away from your brother for a little bit. You understand that, right?"

"No!" she shouted.

"Easy, girl. If they do, it will just be temporary, I promise. I'm gonna do whatever it takes to keep you and him together, okay?"

"Why do they have to take me?" she cried.

Dad said, "Because, even though your mom is in a bad place, she has rights. She's got all the leverage as your parent."

Mom added, "I know it doesn't seem fair to you, but we don't have any control over that. I can use my lawyers to force all kinds of investigations, but they don't have the power to just take you away from her and make your brother your guardian without some kind of proof of abuse. I'm sorry."

I asked, "Mom, will you be in any trouble for giving them a place to stay?"

"Let them try to come after me," she said with ferocity.

*****

While the lawyers did what they do, it was decided that they wouldn't do anything official until after the holidays. Mom and Dad felt that if Aiden and Kat were going to be separated, doing it at Christmas would have been the worst thing they could do.

I had spent the last couple of days in my old bedroom, and on Thanksgiving morning, I woke early to help my mom get everything organized.

"Cassidy, that Aiden's quite a cutie, isn't he?"

I rolled my eyes, and lied, "I hadn't noticed."

"Uh, huh," she teased. "You haven't noticed that six-foot, broad shouldered, square jawed hunk of man who looks like he came off the page of an action hero comic book? Heck, I bet before he lost weight, he was built like a brick sh,"

"Okay, that's enough," I interrupted. "I may have noticed his eyes."

I peeked up and smirked, matching hers.

"Mm, hm. Sparkling blue," Fairleigh sighed, making us both laugh.

There was a knock at the back door, and I saw my grandmother, aunt, and cousin.

"Martina!" I cried after flinging the door open.

Martina was Fairleigh's niece and my cousin. I hadn't seen her since she went off to college a couple of years before.

As I hugged Martina, I said, "Hi, Grandma. Hi, Aunt Korrie."

Korrie teased, "I wondered if we'd get noticed."

"Hey, Sis. Hi, Mom," my mom said as she hugged her family. "Martina, you look beautiful."

She did too. Martina followed after my mom more than Aunt Korrie and Korrie was a beautiful woman in her own right. Martina wore a black sweater skirt with white tights, and it fit her like a glove.

I hadn't dressed for the party yet, but I felt like a slob in my leggings and hoodie. I knew I was going to have to step up my game if Martina looked that hot. Then I shook off that thought wondering why I needed to try to out do her. Mom reminded me a moment later.

"We have a couple of extra guests," Mom said as Kat stumbled into the kitchen half asleep. "Everyone, this is Kat. Kat, this is my mom, Avery, my sister Korrie, and my niece, Martina."

"Hi," she said nervously. "Cassidy, could I talk to you for a minute in here?"

She pointed to the living room, and I followed.

"What's up, sweetie?" I asked.

"I don't have anything nice to wear."

She looked like she was going to cry.

I said, "Jeans and a sweatshirt will be fine. We're not formal here."

She started crying and said, "But everyone was dressed so nice. I'm gonna look like a homeless refugee."

She started sobbing and I ushered her up to my bedroom.