Subj: Kate Chapter 14
Date: 5/4/00 4:02:59 AM Central Daylight Time
From: Karen
Julia walked up to Kate’s door and rapped on it loudly. Kate’s "Come in" rang
out from behind the door. Julia opened the door and saw Kate at the dresser, fixing
her hair.
Kate turned when she saw Julia and said, "Hi! So what do you think?’ she asked.
Julia’s eyes narrowed. "I don’t think I like it at all!" she said, moving closer
to Kate.
Kate blinked and looked at Julia in surprise. "You don’t like my hair like this?"
she asked disappointedly.
Julia waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. "No, your hair looks fine. I mean
this secret you are keeping from everyone." she said angrily. As she said this,
Julia moved to the armoire and took out the velvet bag.
Kate looked stunned. Julia took the screen out of the bag and said, "What is this?
What are you hiding? Who was the man I saw on the screen?" she demanded.
Kate stood up and took the screen from Julia’s hand. She set it on the dressing
table and pushed a button. The screen came to life. The man that Julia had seen
earlier appeared on the screen.
"Kate, someone turned on the communicator earlier. I didn’t get a good look at
her, but you need to be more careful! This kind of thing could blow your cover."
the man said gravely.
Kate shook her head at him. "It’s too late for that, Stephen." She motioned for
Julia to come closer to the screen. "Dr. Julia Hoffman, meet Dr. Stephen Sullivan.
Stephen, this is Dr. Julia Hoffman, the one I was sent here to meet."
Julia gasped and put her hand to her throat. Sent to meet her? What was going
on here? Who is Stephen Sullivan? How does this ‘communicator’ work? Her mind
was reeling from these new developments.
Stephen bowed his head to Julia. "It is good to be able to put a face to the name,
Dr. Hoffman. We have read about you, but we need more information. That is why
I sent Kate to find you. Kate, will you fill the good doctor in on what we need?"
Stephen asked, looking at Kate.
Kate turned to Julia, who had sat down in a chair, shaking her head. Kate touched
Julia on the shoulder. Julia looked at her as if she had never seen her before.
"Who - who are you?" Julia stammered.
"My name is Kate Collins. I really am related to the Collins family through Joseph
Collins. I really am from Oregon. Everything I told Elizabeth and the rest of
them is true. I just changed some things, like what war my brother died in, so
that it would appear that I am from 1969." Kate took a deep breath. "Julia," she
continued, looking into Julia’s eyes, "I am from the year 2109. The van outside
is the vehicle which brought me here to your time."
Julia sat back in the chair stunned. 2109! Almost 150 years from now! She shook
her head, trying to take it all in, but not succeeding very well. ‘I have traveled
through time,’ she thought, ‘why is this so difficult to believe?’ Aloud she said,
"What do you want with me? What information is Dr. Sullivan talking about?"
Stephen broke in before Kate could say anything. "Dr. Hoffman, a dear friend of
ours was mixed up with some nasty characters for awhile. Kate and I did everything
to get him away from these people, but to no avail. About 3 months ago, he decided
to break away from them. We were so relieved, we didn’t question why." Stephen
voice got very quiet. "What we didn’t know was that Ryan had become the latest
victim in a horrible game." Tears began to well up in Stephen’s eyes. "This man
is not only my friend, he’s my partner. These people," he shuddered, " turned
Ryan into a vampire." Stephen wiped away the tears.
Julia gasped. "A vampire? What did you do?" she asked.
Kate took up the story. "Ryan hates what he is, Julia. He has locked himself up
in a room in their house. Stephen visits him at night, bringing him the blood
he requires to live. Ryan has begged both of us countless times to kill him. We
just can’t. He is our friend and we love him." Kate stopped and looked at Stephen.
Stephen had control of himself now. "Kate and I are business partners. Our company
creates alternate realities for our clients. Kate does all the research and I
build the program to make it happen. We decided we would build an alternate reality
for Ryan. As Kate was researching vampires, she came across an obscure medical
textbook. The textbook related a story about a vampire who had been ‘cured’ by
a Dr. J. Hoffman. The book had been printed in the 1990s. Kate used her expertise
to find you." Stephen stopped and looked at Julia, a question in his eyes.
Julia looked from Stephen to Kate. "What you want from me are the notes I took
when I cured the vampire, is that it?" she queried.
"To put it simply, yes," said Kate. She looked at the older woman. "Please, Julia,
will you help us?"
Julia sat, deep in thought. "How do I know you are telling the truth, Kate? You
have lied to all of us. Especially to Barnabas." Julia looked at Kate, her green
eyes narrowing.
Kate dropped her eyes. ‘Barnabas’, she thought. To Julia, she said, "You don’t
know if I am telling the truth, Julia. You just have to take our word that we
are telling the truth. Have you ever seen a device like this before?", pointing
to the communicator. "Does the place where Stephen is look like any place you
have ever seen before?" she asked.
Julia shook her head. She didn’t want to believe either one of them. But who would
make up such a fantastic story? What did Stephen or Kate have to gain from making
it all up? Julia could not come up with any answers. To gain some time, Julia
said, "I need to think on this for awhile. Will you give me that time?" she asked.
Stephen started to say something, but Kate cut him off. "Yes, we will. I know
what we have told you is fantastic. We understand your hesitation, don’t we, Stephen?"
she said meaningfully to the screen.
Stephen nodded resignedly. "Take as much time as you need, Doctor," he said, ‘
but not too long, okay? I am anxious to help Ryan and we need Kate back here as
soon as possible. She has been gone much too long." he added. The screen went
black.
Kate turned to Julia and said, "Thank you, Julia. You don’t know what this means
to us." Kate held out her hand to Julia.
Julia took it, reluctantly. The two women shook hands, as if sealing a bargain.
Julia turned to leave and then stopped.
"I saw you and Barnabas outside," she said.
Kate blushed. "He is a very passionate man," she replied. "We are going out to
dinner tonight in Bangor. That’s why I did my hair up this way. What do you think?"
Kate turned so Julia could look at her French roll.
Julia said in a tight voice, "As I said to you before, it looks fine." Her voice
sounded a bit quivery on the last word.
Kate looked at Julia as if she were seeing her for the first time. Tears were
just starting to prick Julia’s eyes. Kate was troubled. ‘What is going on?’ she
thought. Suddenly it hit her.
"Oh my god, Julia, you are in love with Barnabas!" Kate stood there, wanting to
reach out to Julia but not knowing if it would be welcome. "Oh, Julia, I am so
sorry! I had no idea. If I had known, I would have . . . "
Julia looked at her. "Would have stopped him from loving you? That would be like
trying to stop a freight train with a stone. Stopped yourself from falling in
love with him? I know from experience, that is an impossible task." Julia sighed.
"Barnabas will never love me. At least with you, he will have a fut . . . " she
stopped suddenly.
"How can Barnabas have a future with you, Kate? You don’t belong here. Your friend
Stephen needs you back in your time." Julia said accusingly.
Kate’s tears ran unchecked down her cheeks. "You are right, Julia, how can Barnabas
have a future with me? He asked me to marry him this afternoon. I told him I would
give him an answer tomorrow." Kate wiped her face with the back of her hand. "My
answer has to be ‘no’, but I don’t know how I can tell him. I love Barnabas more
than life itself. I don’t know how I can bear to part from him." she cried.
Julia walked over to Kate and put her arms around her. Kate clung to Julia like
a lifeline. They sat down on the bed and had a good cry together. To Julia, it
was a relief to finally get it all out. Her feelings for Barnabas had been shoved
in the back of her mind for so long. To be able to bring them to the surface felt
good. To be crying on the shoulder of Barnabas’ latest conquest was a bit strange,
though. Julia started to laugh.
Kate looked at her through her tears. "What are you laughing about?" she asked.
Julia couldn’t stop laughing long enough to tell her. She just pointed to Kate
and herself.
The penny suddenly dropped. Kate began laughing, too. They were laughing so loudly
that Carolyn came in the room. She looked at the two of them rolling on the bed,
holding their sides.
"What is so funny?" Carolyn asked, beginning to laugh, too; the laughter was so
infectious. Kate and Julia laughed even harder. Soon all three of them were rolling
on the bed.
After about 10 minutes, Julia sat up and wiped the tears from her eyes. Kate did
the same.
Carolyn stopped laughing, and wiping her eyes, asked, "Why were we laughing?"
Both Julia and Kate said at the same time, "She’s in love with Barnabas!"
Carolyn looked confused. "What do you mean, ‘She’s in love with Barnabas’" she
asked, looking from one to the other.
Julia said, "Kate and Barnabas are in love with each other."
"And Julia loves Barnabas, too." piped in Kate.
Carolyn stared at the two women as if they were candidates for Wyndcliffe Sanitarium.
"And that is funny? I don’t get it." she said, shaking her head.
Kate and Julia looked at each other, then at Carolyn.
"You are right, Carolyn," said Kate. "It isn’t really funny at all. It just struck
us so at the time."
The clock struck the half-hour. Kate looked at the clock and jumped off the bed.
"Oh my god, it’s 4:30. I have to get ready!" She ran to the armoire and threw
open the doors. "What am I going to wear?" she cried.
Julia walked to the door and said, "Well, I will leave you to it, Kate."
Kate turned and ran to the door. "Thank you, Julia. I am sorry if I hurt you in
anyway. I didn’t mean for this to happen. You know that, don’t you?" She gave
Julia a hug.
Julia nodded her head. "Yes, I know. I will give you my answer tomorrow about
the other matter we discussed." she added.
Kate nodded her head. "Thank you," she whispered softly.
Julia turned and left the room. She walked to her door and opened it. As she stood
in the doorway, Julia wondered if she would be able to bear seeing Barnabas with
Kate. She knew that Kate could not stay much longer here in 1969. Thinking about
how hurt Barnabas would be when Kate left made Julia feel sad. She knew that Kate
didn’t plan to fall in love with Barnabas or for him to fall in love with her.
It just didn’t make the situation any easier. Julia realized she couldn't do anything
about it right now. What she could do is find her journal that held the formula
she used to help Barnabas. She walked into her room and began the search.
Message
Boards