Beauty & The Beast (Book 1)

83. Anniversary

(A/N: Season 1 Episode 20 -
"Anniversary")

Cat woke up to the feeling of being watched. She'd felt content, happy. She frowns and opens her eyes, turning to face the window.
Vincent is sitting there, watching her sleep. "Good morning," he says.

"Hey," she smiles, wondering what he was doing there so early in the morning. And also why he was being a creeper. "How long have you been there?"

"Uh," he pushes the curtain out of his way, revealing a styrofoam cup. "A little while," he admits sheepishly, hiding behind the curtain again.

Cat laughs. "Just watching me sleep?"

"Yeah, there's a lot to watch," he pulls his legs inside and stands. "You uh, you did this yawn, and then you did this little cute nose scratch thing," he imitates the action while walking to her bedside table. "And then you did that uh," he puts the cup down, enjoying her growing look of 'Eeuw',
"clucky noise that you make," he laughs, making a clicking sound.

"I do not cluck," she laughs and he jumps onto the bed on top of her.

"Yeah you do - " "No - " He cuts her off with a kiss. He rolls off and puts one arm under her pillow and the other over her stomach.
"I just didn't want you to wake up alone today," he shrugs. "You okay?"

Cat blinks at him. He was so sweet. And thoughtful. It was the day her mother died. And he remembered. He would, he saved Cat, it was the day they first met. Neither could forget it.
"Yeah," she rubs his arm with her fingers. "I mean, my mom has been gone ten years," she laughs lightly.

"Doesn't matter how long it's been, the anniversary's always hard."

"This year feels different," Cat dhakes her head.

"Different good or different bad?" Vincent smiles on the 'good' and pouts on the 'bad'.

She smiles. "Well, you're here so, that's good," she pats his arm and he nods, humming. "And I'm not waking up wracked with guilt."

"It's the first year you know you're not responsible," he reminds her.

"Yeah but I'm not responsible because Muirfield killed her," Cat pushes up out of his arms and sits upright against the headboard, "because she worked with them." Vincent sighs, rolling his eyes back. "The people that ruined your life," Cat continues.

"My life is far from ruined," Vincent interjects, looking at her, his arm snaking up her covered stomach.

"And are hunting you down. She was one of them."

"She was one of the good ones," Vincent closes his eyes when she narrows her eyes just a little. "Okay, so, a little different bad and good, yeah?"

"More bad than good." She realizes she sounds like a narcissistic, 'oh my life sucks so bad' kind person, but who can blame her right now?
"That's why I really don't feel like celebrating her celestial birthday tonight," Cat says dryly.

Vincent's eyes grow wide. "Her what?" he asks in confusion.

"Family tradition." Cat rolls her eyes. "The idea was, when she died, she was born to the stars...So we get together, light candles, listen to her favorite music, eat her favorite food..."

"Aw, sounds nice," Vincent smiles. It does actually sound pretty nice to him. He wished he did that for his brothers.

"Except even though we know she liked 80's power ballads and pineapple on her pizza, we didn't really know her at all," Cat looks at his hand and takes it, "She lied to me," she says sadly, "and I was her person. We were so close." She blinks away the starting tears and widens her eyes, smiling at him. "So! You know what I want to celebrate today?"