Together

We Know

Hey kiddos. I hope you're all having a nice Saturday. This chapter might get me in trouble with some of you all.... please don't be *too* mad at me... it's bittersweet, remember haha. And I stuck a cheeky little Hamilton reference in the title to make everything better. Enjoy/comment/vote!
-ab

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March 18, 2026

Harper

"Kath," I say, sticking my head into my friend's dressing room after our first show of the day, "do you want to go grab food in between shows?"

"Sure," she tells me. "Let me just finish up here. I shouldn't be more than two minutes."

I stand in the door way as she wipes the makeup off of her face and makes sure that her wig is safely on its wig head, then grabs her bag and walks over to me. "Where are we going?"

"Where do we always go?" I laugh.

"Touche," she replies, and we walk out of the theatre. After signing autographs and taking pictures, we find ourselves en route to the nearest Vapiano.

"I love this place," I laugh.

It turns out that everyone knows that, as the hostess seems to recognize me. "Hi Harper."

Katherine punches me playfully. "You've gotta stop coming here so much. She knows your name."

"Maybe she just saw Anastasia." I fire back.

"No, I just see you here all of the time," the hostess informs us. "Usually Wednesdays and Saturdays."

"There it is. Two show days. You have a problem, Harper."

"Okay, stop," I laugh. "Don't attack me, Katherine. It's not like they don't know who you are at that crepe stand in Hampstead that you used to drag me to all of the time."

"Yeah, you've got me on that one," she laughs.

"So, what's the gossip with Nessa?" I ask, once we have ordered our food and sat down at a table by the window.

"The usual... her and Gabe are as loved up as ever."

"I'm glad. She deserves it. She's graduating soon too, right?"

"Yeah, and she's starting her job at Gabe's company right after."

"That'll be good for her... get her out of her shell a bit and such."

"Hopefully," Kath nods. "She deserves a good guy like Gabe, too. He's making a pretty penny off of this magazine, from what I hear."

"Ooo," I joke, "Nessa's marrying rich."

"First of all, they're not engaged. Second of all, don't even try to pretend that you didn't marry into a family that's rather well off. I'm really thinking of Taylor and Joe when I say that."

"Okay, yeah," I giggle. "You're right."

"But really, to answer your original question... Nessa is extremely happy. Happier than I've ever seen her, I think. Especially when Gabe is around. He's the light of her life, and she absolutely deserves somebody as great as he is. I was worried about her for a bit, when she was going through boyfriends pretty quickly. Especially that one night-"

Katherine stops herself short.

"What?" I ask.

"Can we pretend that I didn't say that?"

"Katherine..." I pry.

"Fine," she sighs, "but you can't tell her that I told you this... and don't tell anybody what I'm about to tell you. I'm supposed to be the only one who knows."

"Hey, whoa, if it's that big of a deal, then don't tell-"

"No, it's fine. You can know. It's in the past now, anyway. Just don't go spreading it around. That guy who broke up with her just before Taylor's concert... like, when we were making our costumes... god, I can't even remember his name now..."

"Ew, him," I roll my eyes. "He was a literal creep."

"Yeah, well, a few weeks before they broke up... Nessa had a pregnancy scare. Thank god it was a false alarm. She just... really, she saw her whole future collapsing in front of her, and I guess he hadn't been treating her great for a while, and-"

"Whoa, hold it up," I stop Katherine. "He hadn't been treating her well for a long time?"

"I don't really know what that means, but that's what she told me in a teary mess. She was so scared that she probably doesn't even remember telling me."

"Okay, I'm going to trade you. You told me something I'm not supposed to know, and I'm going to tell you something you're not supposed to know. From there, we are going to piece two and two together."

"Okay...?"

"The day that they broke up, Nessa showed me some bruises that she had... because he had hit her. She swore it was a one time thing."

"She's lying," Katherine blurts, right away. "Oh my god, he was abusing her... all of the time."

I notice Kath's breathing growing heavier.

"Hey, it's alright," I tell Kath. "She's out of it now. It's in the past, and there's nothing that we can do to change the past."

"I just can't believe that she went through that... she put up with it, didn't tell us, and quite frankly, didn't hit him right back."

I try my hardest not to laugh at that last remark. Both of us know that Nessa normally wouldn't be afraid to tackle or punch somebody.

"There must have just been such an imbalance of power..."

"Physically, he was quite a bit bigger than she was, I guess."

"And she was so excited by the idea of dating him that she refused to believe that it was happening," I state.

"I just feel terrible that I didn't pick up on it."

"Hey, it wasn't your fault in any way," I remind her. "Just remember, Nessa can't know that we know. That would get both of us in trouble for sharing secrets."

"Right. Forgetting about it is going to be our best option. God, I wish I hadn't have known in the first place."

"Deep breaths, Kath. She's safe now. She's happy and loved. That's all we could ever ask for."

"You're right," Kath admits. "I'm so glad that she's in that position."

Kath and I change our topic of conversation after that, wanting to discuss something happier, and neither of us bring it up again for the rest of the day. As much as I am tempted to bring it up with Nessa, I can't. It would upset her too much to talk about it, and I know that.

I do promise myself, though, that I'm going to really make sure that Nessa is safe and happy with Gabe. And once I know she is, I really hope he marries her.