Chapter 557: Settling into things

We now return to Kat's perspective

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Kat hugged Lily close to her. At some point they'd shifted so that Lily was practically laying on Kat with her wings around them both and tail wrapped around Lily's waist. Her left arm partially pinned but hugging Lily the best it could, while her right casually stroked Lily's side. The pair were happily dozing, not slipping into sleep, just letting the moment wash over them in full.

Kat was surprised by the warmth. She'd felt happy spending with Lily before… but it was lacking such an intense feeling of contentment that she wasn't sure could be matched. Lily was warm somehow. The temperature of the human body shouldn't be enough for Kat to notice, but she did. Perhaps it was part of the weird fire that had covered them, perhaps not, but it was warm and ever so comfortable. She had no desire to move.

Lily seemed to have similar ideas, curled up and resting her head in the crook of Kat's neck. Lily's soft breath blew a few of Kat's hairs around. To a normal person it might have been arousing, for Kat it was just soothing to hear and feel Lily breathing. To know she was there. Lily on the other hand was taking full advantage of it. Letting Kat's scent fill her lungs and desperately tried to keep her mouth closed lest she start cackling from sheer joy. Never really believing this day would come.

At some point Vivian poked her head in with the camera. Kat heard the door and cracked an eye open just for a second on instinct but saw it was Vivian and her brain immediately classed that as 'safe and less important then Lily' and shut back down promptly… something Kat would later be embarrassed about but Vivian would forever find exceptionally adorable. Eventually, Kat would start to think on things somewhat. Her thoughts never strayed far from Lily though.

*Why didn't I do this before? I mean how did I not see it? What could things have been like if we'd got together earlier?* A traitorous part of her mind whispered that without the proof from her demonic instincts that this could work she'd probably have tried to set Lily up with someone else, but Kat was willing to ignore that for now and fantasize. The thing was though… not much would have changed.

Kat realised that any time she didn't spend helping out at the orphanage was time she spent either sleeping, eating, or spending with Lily. They did all their work together, their had spent practically all their free time together, and even if they couldn't always get together on the weekends, they managed it pretty frequently. They'd probably have spent even more time if Lily's parents were happier to see Kat.

*Wait a second.* As that final thought ran through Kat's head it felt like a record scratch had sounded off. *Is that the reason they didn't like me? They thought Lily was latching on to the first attractive redhead in the area and assumed I was going to destroy her the way Stella did? Oh… oh dear. I… hmmm… I wonder how angry I can be at them knowing they really did have her best interests at heart and aren't just rude. Still they didn't even try to know me! Then again I guess they'd known Stella for a decade and that still ended horribly. Maybe I should ask Lily?*

"Hey Lily?" whispered Kat not sure not quite sure she wanted to disturb her friend? No… girlfriend? Neither felt quite right but that was something to deal with later.

Lily, while very comfortable, would never miss the chance to respond to Kat's voice did so, "Yes?"

"I was just thinking…" started Kat

"Oh no" whispered Lily with a giggle, still riding the emotional high of the moment and willing to be sillier then normal

Kat rolled her eyes and continued "Right, so I was indeed thinking, about if I should be annoyed with your parents now. Before they were just assholes at worst, and quite rude at best… but if they just didn't want to see a… is it ok to say it? A repeat out you know what?"

Lily twisted herself slightly so that she could sort of see Kat's eyes. She wasn't willing to leave her very comfortable spot for something as seemingly meaningless at that moment, as eye contact before saying, "Yes it's fine to say it. I… I might react a bit badly in the future if you bring it up but it's something I've mostly dealt with and I won't hold it against you mentioning it. I'm sure this" Lily dragged her hand all the way up Kat's side, who was surprised to find herself gain some goosebumps from the gesture, "has helped me immensely. It already makes me feel silly that I thought you were going to stop being friends with me, or even start bullying me if you knew. Oh sure past me still would never believe we'd end up together, but she should have at least realised you were good enough to understand.

"As to my parents…" Lily let out a long sigh, "I'm honestly not sure who I'm more annoyed at. They both knew. I had that conversation with them multiple times. I told them you were nothing like Stella, that it was different, that you'd befriended me first and it surely wasn't just to torture me later… but they didn't want to listen. They just saw the big scary redhead… with legs for days and such wonderful eyes… and I shouldn't be saying that about a fr-" Lily stopped and her eyes went wide. "I can say it!"

"Yes, yes I can" Lily let out a few giggles as she wiggled in place as if it would get her closer to Kat then she was. Unlikely considering she was basically plastered to Kat's side, but the attempt was made, "I can actually talk about how attractive I find you. God I didn't know I had a fetish for thighs before I got a crush on you and now I wonder how I missed it. Anyway, sorry I'm getting distracted. Even if I'm allowed to now I shouldn't blow off your original question." Despite Lily's worries though, Kat smiled. The compliments did surprisingly little for her, but it was the JOY in Lily's voice and the passion she spoke with that warmed Kat. "So. Parents.

"I don't really care if you stay annoyed at them. I told them. I told them multiple times. Mum refused to move on really. She was scared that I was just one or two comments away from turning into a crying mess again. Sure I had nightmares occasionally which I bet didn't help, but they certainly weren't about you." Lily paused to say the next part under her breath "No, it was other dreams you featured prominently in," so of course Kat heard it perfectly well. "But she was ruled by her fear. So very scared that history was going to repeat itself…

"But here's the thing. She didn't even really DO anything you know? Sure she was a little rude to you, and prevented us meeting up a few times but she didn't even have the decency to really put her neck on the line for me and tell you off. I think on some level she knew you were a good person, and I'm certain she knew you were my only friend… so she didn't simply chase you off. No instead she was just bitter about the whole thing and I think that might be worse then just doubling down and being truly horrible for what she thought was a good reason, or just swallowing her pride and being nice.

"Dad on the other hand. Just did nothing. He'd go along with Mum when she was around and more or less ignore you when you weren't… but I could tell he didn't believe for a second you were a second Stella. He just went along with it because it was easy. Because it was what Mum was doing. And yeah now that I'm saying that, I really do feel more annoyed about him. Even though he's gotten a little better recently.

"Because at least Mum, in her twisted way, was doing what she thought was best for me. She did it out of love. She was wrong, but at least she cared. Dad… he just followed Mum along. And maybe you could argue that he did it because he loves her but… I imagine he did it because it was easier. He didn't really want to take a stand and knew I'd probably forgive him for it. So he listened to Mum because she might not have if they really got fighting, or that's what he'd say. I don't believe they'd  really get so far into the argument that it'd cause real problems for their marriage but I'm pretty sure that's what Dad would say if pressed.

"So… no, I think we can still be annoyed at them. And ooh boy are they going to be pissed when I turn into a cat. I can't really find it in my to form any remorse for that though. I want it more than anything and this can be my bit of petty revenge"