Kat Jones' Backstory (The Boys OC)

Chapter 11: Cliffhanger

A/N: sorry this is late! But at least it's here haha

Kat lost her balance and almost fell into Bessie's tank. She wasn't worried about it, Bessie wouldn't try to harm her on purpose, but the thought still terrified her. Luckily, a strong pair of arms grabbed her and pulled her back.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to scare you!" Kevin said, pulling her farther away from the edge of the tank. Kat was too stunned to speak at first, and Kevin didn't know what to say either.

Finally, she broke the silence. "What are you doing out here, we were waiting for the filming crew to come outside?"

Kevin sighed, leaning against the railing near the stairway down to the ground floor of the aquarium. "I used to love doing commercials, but I've realized now that Vought only saw me as their poster boy. I needed a break, so I came up here, and then I saw you."

Kat couldn't begin to imagine what The Deep's life was like, but she could understand his need for a break from all of the commotion. Either way, now would be a great time to ask him the question she had wanted to earlier. "Can you do me a favor?" She said softly.

Kevin looked like the response had caught him off guard, and turned red as a tomato. "I uh... I'm not sure I follow." Kevin backed away slightly. "Look, I don't want to get into any trouble."

What was he implying? She was just trying to ask him a question. "I'm not sure what you thought I meant, but I was wondering if you could talk to Bessie for me." The Deep suddenly flushed somehow redder than before.

"Oh yeah, of course, I'm sorry, I didn't think..." He trailed off. Suddenly Kat realized what he thought she meant. Kat began to blush as well. Had she really come off that way to him?

"Oh my god, I didn't mean things in that way, I'm so sorry." Kat buried her head in her hands. Hindsight is 20/20, but Kat felt like she should've seen it coming. Kevin wasnt sure what to do, so he just tried to console her.

"No, sorry, I shouldn't have said that. With my past, I shouldn't have assumed you'd do something like that." Silence filled the air around them. Kat wasn't even sure what to say, but after a while Kevin coughed and spoke up. "So what did you want me to talk to Bessie about."

Kat was beginning to regret asking him, but she couldn't back out now. "Is she happy here?" Kevin stayed quiet for a few moments, as if he was debating something mentally.

"Some of them are. Some of them aren't. You have to understand that most of them aren't here because they'd die in the wild, they're here for entertainment." He said the last word with hatred in his voice. "But Bessie here, she wouldn't survive on her own. Whether she knows that, I can ask, but I can't guarantee its the answer you want." Kat wasn't sure what to say to that. She hadn't expected The Deep to have this side of him.

"I want to know." Kat said with certainty. "I can't keep taking care of her without her knowing. If she doesn't understand, can you tell her?" She pleaded. Kevin nodded and walked closer to the edge of the tank. Amazingly, Bessie came up to the top of the tank with what seemed like magic.

Kevin was whispering to Bessie, and pausing as if he was listening to her. He reached into the water and rubbed her on the top of her head before turning back to Kat. "She knows. She's not exactly happy about it, but she knows the alternative. You are her favorite by the way."

Kat smiled softly at Bessie, who returned to her favorite spot in the tank again. "I feel honored." She said bashfully. "I feel bad that this is as good as it'll get for her though."

Kevin put his hand on his shoulder. "Hey, it's better than if she was completely healthy and imprisoned here." Kat nodded. "That's why I'm here." He said quietly. Kat looked up at him, and he continued talking. "It's the only place nearby that doesn't keep all of it's animals here for no reason. They're all either rescues that can't be rehabilitated or are injured to badly to be released."

Kat was stunned. He wasn't at all who she thought he was. "You're... you're very noble for that." She said. He looked shocked by the words. Both of them watched each other in silence before Kat's phone began to ring. She saw that it was Layla and picked up.

"Where are you? They lost The Deep, and we need to film the next clips for the commercial." Kevin wiped the dirt off of his suit from kneeling on the ground and left the area without saying another word.

"Sorry, I got distracted. Bessie's food bucket almost fell into her tank, and I was fixing it. I saw The Deep making his way over, I'll be right there." Hopefully it was a good enough lie to sway Layla, and Kat hurried after The Deep. She wanted to say something, but she knew it wasn't the time. And after what he thought she implied, realization struck. Starlight. She was a few words away from becoming the next one.

But he didn't. She reminded herself as she walked back to the front of the building. He thought she wanted to have sex with him and he didn't want to. The whole thing still mystified her, so Kat put it out of her head. She had to get to work, she'd think about what this meant later.

The rest of the day went smoothly, except for Kat completely avoiding The Deep, and he did the same. After work, she visited Dr. Lawson's office to talk about the article. She honestly wasn't sure that it would help the aquarium at all, the article would probably damage it.

"Listen, I'm not sure I can write that article you wanted, doctor. What if it gets us bad publicity?" She was worried about that, for sure, but the real reason was that she was paranoid someone would recognize her writing.

"Kat, don't worry about it. You were a great writer, as far as I remember. If you need help, don't be shy to send it my way!" Dr. Lawson said cheerfully. Distraught, she returned to her car, where Cole was waiting for her. They both knew that The Deep was probably already getting them all the bad publicity anyways once the commercial was aired.

"Get in trouble again?" He said cynically. Kat rolled her eyes. He always saw the negative side of people, no matter the circumstances.

"Relax, I was trying to get out of writing that article. Didn't work, so I'm just going to try and finish it later tonight." Kat said, driving them home. Once they did, she sat down and wrote the rest of the article, despite how odd it felt.

She described how The Deep was able to use his powers for more than simply saving peope, and minimized her involvement in the story. Reluctantly, she sent it over to the doctor without another thought and went to bed.