Beauty & The Beast (Book 1)

Fall 2003

(A/N: Season 1 Episode 1 -
"Pilot")

It was starting to get colder day by day, with the nights reaching lower than usual temperatures.
The Salty Dawg Saloon sat just on the outskirts of the woods, remote but well known by the locals of Westchester, New York.

Inside, it was near closing time and the only two people still left were the owner and her bartender/waitress. It had been a busy night, and the two women were having a conversation while cashing up.

"Wow, dollar lemon drops and all of Westchester shows up," the young woman with the brown hair, tied up in pigtails says while smiling and placing their earnings in the register after counting tips.

"Yeah, never underestimate the power of cheap booze," her boss says as she sits on one of the barstools. "Hot new Ivy educated bartender," she adds, glancing at her friend.

The girl knowingly looks at her, smiling, "You want me to close for you."

"No."

"Yes," the girl chuckles.

Fiddling with one of the empty glasses, the woman gives in, "Okay, maybe a little bit."

"Go, all I have waiting for me are ElSat practice tests," the girl says sadly.

"You're the best," the woman grins.

"Your fortune darling," the girl says as she hands over the money she'd been seperating up to this point.

"Thank you," her boss says, "now I am totally gonna hire you if I ever get arrested." She is referring of course to the fact that the girl, Catherine, has been studying to become a lawyer, like her father. She places the money in her back pocket, getting up from the barstool, saying, "Or divorced," looking at Catherine and rolling her eyes.

"Hmm," Catherine smiles and nods and then the two say their goodbyes as Catherine watches her boss leave, laughing to herself.

Fifteen minutes later, Catherine exits the bar, taking out the trash, struggling with the two bags, having to open the bin with her shoulder.
She jumps and drops both bags when a raccoon jumps out of the bin, flying past her head, making her leave the bin lid and move away quickly, her heart racing from the fright.

By the time Catherine locks up and reaches her car, a blue Volkswagen new model beetle, she has calmed down from the whole incident, ready to go home. Her car is littered with textbooks, water bottles and as she gets in her car to get away from the cold, her handbag and cell phone.

She goes to start her car, but the ignition only makes a noise then does nothing more. "What now," she huffs, trying again. She tries once more, then sits back in exasperation. Her eyes focus on the vanity mirror above the steering wheel and she sighs. She closes the mirror, knowing that she let her battery run down by forgetting it open when she got out earlier that day. How silly could she be?

She dials her mother's number on her phone, feeling like an idiot while waiting as the dial tone rings in her ear.

"Hello?"

"Hi mom," she says sheepishly, then explains to her mother that she needs a jump.

Her mother arrives thirty minutes later, while Catherine waits in the car and hooks up her battery to that of her daughter, still dressed in her scrubs from getting home from the hospital not too long ago.
"Electrical wear without a wear," Vanessa Chandler looks over her shoulder at Catherine, smiling. "Put that on, it's freezing out here."

"Sorry I dragged you all the way out here," Catherine says while putting on the jacket she had taken out of her car earlier to meet her mother at the front of the car. Vanessa turns to look at her daughter, her arms crossed to fight the cold. "But the good news is I made a lot of tips," Catherine smiles.