Twilight: Parting Clouds

Twilight: Parting Clouds (Chapter 3)

A/n: From this point in the story onwards, ASL will be written in ITALIC CAPITALS with finger-spelling indicated by hyphens, e.g. T-W-I-L-I-G-H-T.

Charlie finally let his clenched hands fall away from his patrol car’s steering wheel as the vehicle rumbled to a halt on the Clearwaters’ gravel driveway. “We’re…” He started to say but quickly halted in embarrassment when he realised that there was no way Cathy could see his lips, he’d avoided either engaging her in further conversation or even looking at her since she’d brought up Renee. Sheepishly he turned in his seat to face her, only to find his passenger sound asleep. He was surprised to feel a small smile forming involuntarily across his lips; she looked so peaceful, wary tension no longer sharpening every expression on her beautiful face. Something about the scene tugged at his numbed heartstrings though, worry. Perhaps it was the way her body had introverted, curled up defensively against the seat, or the taunt nature of her jaw even in sleep… He shook his head to clear it of such unnerving thoughts, even if something had troubled her in the past, she was home now. Reassured, he touched her shoulder gently, waiting until her eyes had blinked open and regained their focus before he spoke, “We’re here.”

Cathy flashed him a bright smile, although Charlie somehow knew there was nervousness behind it, and promptly sat up, hastily pushing her long hair out of her face as she said, “Oh, that’s great Charlie, thanks so…”

Charlie however had noticed something when she revealed her face which made him interrupt her sharply, “What happened?” he asked urgently, pointing to the half healed bruise on her face that signalled a black eye and noting the cut which notched her one of her delicate eyebrows.

Cathy instantly froze, her hand curled around the door hand. “Oh…” She stuttered for a second, her expression blank before it transformed into a weak, distracted smile. “I had a bad fall a little while back, it was…stupid of me really…” She breathed a half-hearted laugh.

Charlie had seen enough in his career however to see straight through that, focusing instead on what his skilled eye now saw, cursing himself for not putting the pieces together earlier. “And that?” he asked quietly, indicating the striation marks which reddened the wrist of her hand which was starting to open the door.

Cathy met his eye briefly before bringing her hand back into her lap, running her finger uneasily over the angry skin as she sighed brokenly, her voice a hoarse whisper, “It’s not what you think…”

Charlie forced himself to take a deep breath, pushing to the back of his mind all the scattered excuses he’d gotten when called out to domestics, “It’s not what you think Officer, I walked into a door…” He suppressed a shudder, for a moment not wanting or able to believe he was hearing these same lines from the mouth of his old friend’s little sister, for lines were what they were and everyone involved, from the cops to the woman’s kids, always knew… He turned until he was facing her as directly as he could in a car and said solemnly, “I’m a police officer Cathy. I know what going on and believe me I know what they can turn into.” He paused, sighing heavily, “But I can also help you, you understand that right?”

“I…I do.” Cathy mumbled, her defences starting to crumble under his gaze. Any sense of awkwardness about him had disappeared, now she had a deeply emphatic, but also deadly serious, man gazing at her pleadingly, honestly asking her to let him help. When was the last time someone had looked at her like that? She glanced out of the window towards the comforting golden light emitted by her family home, and gathered her strength and resolve together once more. “Thank you Charlie.” She murmured, placing what she hoped was a reassuring hand lightly over his, “But I’ve…finally helped myself. It’s over.” She told him thickly, “I’m home now after all.”