Found Her

Catherine

I want to cuddle the little girl. She is coloring with Mike. I am slightly annoyed though because she is still dirty in an oversized tee and definitely those cuts need to be treated. I hope they are not infected.

"Baby? What are you drawing?" Mike asks her.

"My teddy bear. His name is Coco."

I hate that bear too. I don't think she will let me replace it with a new one.

"And who is that little girl?" He asks. She smiles shyly.

"That's me, daddy! That's Cathy. Cathy and coco!" She grins.

We book freeze. Did she call him daddy? We are looking at each other in a slight shock.

"Baby, do you have a daddy?"

She nods.

"Do you know his name?"

She nods. Concentrating on her drawing.

"What's his name baby girl?"

"His name is Daddy." She says all serious. I roll my eyes. Really? But we can't help but smile.

"He bad. He hit me. So I run away." She adds as an afterthought.

How can f**k can you hurt a little thing? Who is this bastard?

"That is why you came here? To hide?" I ask.

She nods. "He was following me. I scared. I broke the window. Sowie."

"Why Was he hitting you sweet thing?"

"cos I watched the cartoon on Friday. I only to watch TV on Sunday. No other day. But daddy not at home. I alone and bored...." She realized suddenly that she has been talking once she completed her picture and then she clammed up again.

"You have been here since Friday?!"

She blanches and jumps into Mike's arms.

"What did you do?" I can't fathom her being here for so long. It's Sunday today. She has been here for over 24 hours all alone?

"That is why she was so hungry and scared!"

"Hey stop Carl, you are scaring her."

"But why didn't she eat anything? She could have slept in the room! She.. Didn't even... What the hell?!" I cannot wrap my head around the idea of a little girl being tormented this way.

"cos not mine.. " she whispers.

"Go give her a bath and then we will fix her up," I tell Mike. I am seething.

"Chill babe. Don't lose it, okay?"

Fuck him. f**k the bastard.

"No bath daddy" She looks at Mike adorably and whines.

"Cathy, you have to take a bath. You need to be clean, alright? Leave that stuffie here. He needs cleaning too."

She looks at me wide-eyed. "Yes, sir."

Okay. He is a daddy and I am Sir. Wow. Really. I don't even know...

"It's okay, baby girl. We will get squeaky clean real quick, come on."

He carries her upstairs to that room. I call Fred to let him know about the girl and to see if he can find something about her douche bag daddy. Fred and I were in school together. He is a cop now. Comes in handy often.

Then I wash her teddy. It's not as dirty anymore but I would still prefer to give her a new one.

I go upstairs to see her wrapped in a towel but not looking too happy.

"We will need to fix those cuts. I think we should take her to the doctor." I tell Mike. Her cuts are bad.

"No! No! No! Let me go!" She starts struggling in his arms.

"That was smooth." He looks at me annoyed. What? What did I do now?

"Hey, hush. We are not going anywhere, okay? You don't even have clothes!? See? We can't take you anywhere like this, right?" He reasons with the little girl and she calms down.

Oh, shoot. Right.

"But we need to fix those cuts," I say and get the first aid box from the cabinet in the bathroom. Needless to say, Catherine isn't too happy with the idea. Well, there is nothing to be done about it.

"Hush... It's okay. We'll just put in some medicine and then bandaids and stuff, okay? Do you want the princess ones? Or minion?" He tells her while she looks annoyed trying to get off his laps.

Fifteen minutes and a lot of tears later she is done. I did my best and Mike says that she'll be fine now but I would still feel better if she is checked by a doctor. She'll need a shot or two if she cut herself with the glass on the window but I let it be for now.

She is crying so much and probably hates me all the more now. I make her a bottle and give it to Mike. Cathy takes it instantly. I cover her with a blanket while she is in his arms and before we know it, the exhausted baby is asleep.