New Room... Familiar Face

Jane awoke with a start, head pounding.

"H-hello?" She called out shakily. She wondered how long she had been out and wondered what had happened in the basement. Was Lilo dead? Dimitri? Odette?

She looked around the room and caught sight of the long blonde locks. Nope.

"You okay?" Jane called quietly. She had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach, in the basement the lives of Lilo and Dimitri had counted on the two women being civil, but here Odette could kill her and nothing would matter.

Although she remained still and her eyes were closed, Odette had been awake for a while. She was thinking back to everything she'd done and seen in the basement, she didn't want to remember but being stuck in this room, there wasn't a lot else for her to do.

When she heard Jane's voice she opened her eyes, ignoring her question she simply stared at her. Despite the apologies and kind words she'd exchanged with her in the basement, she was still angry with her. Although she hadn't seen their kiss in the basement, she'd imagined it hundreds of times, which only fuelled her anger and the more she looked at Jane, the angrier she became.

Not wanting to do something she might later regret, Odette stood up and tore off the bandage Jane had placed over her wounds and threw it on the floor. She walked over to the bathroom, locking the door behind her.

Wanting to cleanse herself of everything that had happened in the basement, she undressed and stepped into the shower, letting the water run as she began to rinse the blood from her arm.

Jane shrugged. Silence was better.

She heard the blonde stepping into the shower. Why was Odette angry? To be reminded of Cale? Jane seethed thinking about him, she couldn't blame Odette for his cheating... Obviously it was her own fault, Jane couldn't measure up to the blonde haired beauty. Her curves, the seductive twinkle in her eye. Jane knew that Odette was a thousand times more gorgeous than she was. It made her feel incredibly insecure. She drew her knees up to her chest.

Cale cheated because she was ugly... was that it ?

Jane thought then to Dimitri, was Odette angered by the kiss? From what Jane could tell the two had never had a loving relationship, just friends who both secretly liked the other. If Odette was angry about the kiss, that was hypocritical Jane nodded. Odette expected Jane not to be angry about Cale, her husband, but got angry at the slightest kiss in the basement... which Odette's life had been on the line for.

It hadn't even been the best kiss either, mostly since Odette had been there, it had been so awkward and melancholy that Jane had cried.

Dimitri would probably choose Odette for all of the same reason's Cale did. After all, wasn't there a saying that men preferred blondes? Jane shivered she was going to accept the inevitable, she sniffed a few times and wiped a few stray tears. Never had she felt so insecure and depressed in her life and the thoughts just continued to abuse her. Her love for Dimitri would go on unrequited, how could she compare to Odette's beauty?

But maybe.... maybe he did love her.... Just for Jane. The thought comforted her and she instead tried to focus on her son. He was still alive, that was all that mattered.

[ OOC: Aww poor Jane If Odette wasn't being .. well Odette I'd make her hug Jane, though I doubt that would make her feel any better xD ]

As Odette stood in the shower, letting the water run down her back, a wave of clarity hit her.

'Why am I so mad at Jane?' she whispered to herself, 'it's not her fault ..'

'But she stole Dimitri away from you, didn't she?'

She sighed as the little voice in the back of her mind started talking to her again.

'She didn't steal anything, he was never mine to begin with ..' Odette couldn't help but tear up at the thought.

'He made you plenty of promises though ..'

'What good are broken promises when I ..'

'And he said he loved you, remember that? Remember the way you felt when he said those three little words to you, the words you've heard from so many men over the years but this time ..'

'.. this time was different,' she smiled at the memory but soon shook her head, 'no, he said it himself, he's found someone else ..'

'If only you told him how you felt when he gave you that locket, you could have saved yourself a lot of trouble ..'

'Shut up ..' she whispered bitterly as she turned off the water and stepped out of the shower.

She washed her clothes in the sink, trying to distract herself and shut out the voice in her head. When she was finished she placed her clothes on the edge of the bath so they could dry, ripping a section of her dress to bandage her wound again. She wrapped a towel around herself before walking towards the door. She knew if she walked out like this that Jane would be able to see the multitude of scars which covered her body, but she was past caring.

She opened the door and saw Jane sitting on the floor.

'Is she .. upset?' she thought, furrowing her eyebrows as she walked over and sat down next to her.

She sighed and leant back onto her hands, staring at the ceiling as she thought of something to say to the brunette beside her.

[[ooc I want to huggle Odette! Gah they're both being so sad and emotional.... so Dimitri! I feel bad for Odette. =( ]]


Oh God she's coming this way.... Pull yourself together.

Jane was suddenly aware of Odette's presence. Sitting next to her, Jane sniffed a few times and quickly wiped a few tears away.

What was she supposed to say? What did Odette want?

Jane sniffed a few more times and decided then not to tell her to leave.

"Have a nice shower?" She choked, quietly.

Stupid.... Stop crying. She chided herself, she didn't want anyone especially not Odette to see her like this.

[ OOC: Maybe they can talk out their problems and then have a girly hug afterwards If I were them I'd just blame Dimitri and Cale for all their problems x3 'cause we all know that they would probably be good friends if it weren't for them going for the same guys :'D ]

'I did .. had to wash this thing after all,' she said, smiling weakly as she indicated her bandaged arm, she lowered her voice so Jane could barely hear her, 'plus it helped me think over a few things ..'

Odette turned her head towards Jane, a look of genuine concern on her face, 'are you ok?'

[[ooc Agreed! xDD It's especially Cale's fault imho but Dimitri definitely has a hand in it. I don't want them to hate each other. D= ]]

Okay!?? Does it look like I'm okay??

Jane took a deep breath. Odette was asking her if she was okay, not hitting her, yelling at her or otherwise. This was good.

Jane cautiously opened her mouth.

"Sorry about that.... the arm... you know."

She didn't make eye contact. She felt intimidated by Odette. Not because of personality, but because of beauty. Jane had always been fairly insecure, but it didn't usually manifest itself unless she was faced like this. She remembered one time back in her junior year of high school a similar feeling. Test scores had placed her with a highly intelligent girl as a lab partner in biology.... the girl also happened to be drop dead gorgeous. It had been the first time in Jane's life that she had been afraid to speak because the red head's presence had made her feel ugly.

It was stupid yes but....

Jane shook her head.

"I'm fine..." Then she began to speak more, mumbling, quietly, but clear enough for Odette to hear.

"I should be happy... We're all alive... I just saw my son alive on the monitor... I mean.... for here, I'm pretty well-off... relatively speaking..." She trailed off, unsure of what to say next.

[ OOC: Let's just put most of the blame on the guy who isn't even in the rp yet Even though it's partly Dimitri's fault, we just can't stay mad at him forever xD ]

Odette smiled when Jane started talking, after everything that had been said between them in the basement she wouldn't have blamed her if she ignored her completely.

'Don't worry about it, I've had worse,' she said quietly as she looked down and flexed the fingers of her wounded arm, glancing past to the scars that covered the majority of her body. She sighed and turned back to Jane and smiled softly, 'anyway, I understand. You had to do it to keep Lilo safe, just like I had to put my life on the line to keep Dim .. to stop anyone else from getting hurt.' She remembered how scared she felt when she drank the 'poisoned' water and the goodbye speech she made just before she put the glass to her lips. She laughed lightly, it all seemed so silly now.

When Jane said that she was fine, Odette frowned, she didn't believe that for a second and was about to say so when Jane mentioned her son.

'Your son?' she said slowly, then lowered her voice to a whisper but knew Jane could still hear her, 'Cale's son ..?'

She quickly placed her hand on Janes' and looked into her eyes so she knew she was being serious when she said, 'I never knew my mother and my father .. well let's just say that no one messed with the Joseph Korso .. and I'm not a mother, so I can't even begin to understand how worried you must be for him, but ..' she smiled, 'I'm glad he's safe.'

Jane nodded weakly.

"Cale's son."

It felt strange saying that. Cale's son. Cale was certainly his biological father but as far as Jane was concerned Cody's father were the trees and open air.

Jane listened as Odette spoke. She truly meant what she said and Jane squeezed the blonde's hand.

"Thank you." She whispered, it felt nice.... were they bonding?

"I'm really worried about Cody... That's his name." Jane laughed quietly.

"You wouldn't ever think that you could live so much for another person until you hold that baby in your arms." Jane sighed wistfully.

"I miss him sometimes... Cale. Cody... Cody looks more and more like him every day. He has his father's smile... I don't know how, Cody never met him..." Jane's voice sounded sad, bittersweet, then she trailed off. Something else Odette had said suddenly clicked.

Joseph Korso? Where had she heard that name before? Jane remembered. He'd taken her out a few times, Jane had tried to make Cale jealous... She wanted to laugh out loud. What were the odds of Odette and Jane being connected through another person?

"Korso.... was your father?" Jane asked quietly. She didn't want to ruin the moment by bringing up another past connection. There was no telling how Odette would react to that slice of news, even though nothing had ever happened between her and Korso.

Jane couldn't help but notice some of Odette's scars. She wasn't sure what to say.

"Did he do that?" She asked quietly.

'Cody ..' Odette repeated and smiled, 'it's a great name .. he must be an amazing kid, having a mother like you.'

Odette paused, 'I wonder if my mother felt the same way about me ..' she mused, she was only a small child when her mother died and over the years her face had become more and more of a blur to her .. but there was one thing she would always remember about her and that was her voice, the same voice which she had inherited and with which she repeated the lullabies her mother would sing to her as a child, over and over until they seemed as natural as breathing.

Odette nodded, she understood her pain. She missed Cale too, but she didn't think it would be wise to say so.
She laughed lightly, 'your son must be very handsome then,' she paused, wondering if she should voice her curiosity about why Cale was absent in his son's life, but knowing how and with who he liked to spend his time she guessed what he was doing instead of raising his son.

'You knew him?' she asked, noticing a hint of recognition in Jane's voice when she mentioned her father. She wasn't sure how she would feel if they had, though she wasn't surprised that he was into younger women, he was into worse things, most of which he did to her.

'Most of them .. but some I did myself, as an outlet for what he did to me,' she confessed and stared at the wall opposite her, 'though I didn't do it as often after I met Dimitri,' she smiled at the memories, then sighed, 'but once my father found out about him, his beatings got worse .. I guess he didn't like the fact that I was happy.'

"Yeah." Jane said quietly.

"I knew him."

It was so bizzarre.

"What are the odds of this? Villian... he knows things." Jane shook her head.

"How else would you and I be so connected?" Jane squeezed her eyes shut.

Jane touched Odette's hand.

She wasn't sure what to say about the abuse, Korso had seemed like a gentlemen on the few times they had been together, but the scars covering Odette's body didn't lie.

"I'm sorry." Jane apologized for everything even if it wasn't her fault, she didn't know what else to say, so she leaned over and wrapped her arm around Odette's shoulders and hugged her, Jane felt another few tears falling from her eyes, but for what? This time she wasn't quite sure.

[ OOC: Yaay they hugged :'D <33 ]

'Maybe it's fate ..' Odette mused, thinking aloud as she stared up at the ceiling.

She wasn't as surprised as she thought she'd be when Jane said she knew her father, in fact she didn't really feel anything about it except curiosity, how did they meet? What did they do together? What did they talk about? What was he like with her? All of these questions ran through her head but she didn't know what to ask first.

Odette was brought out of her thoughts when Jane touched her hand and .. apologised?

'You don't have to ..' she paused, eyes widening in surprise when Jane hugged her. After a few moments her face softened and she smiled as she finished her sentence, '.. it's not your fault.'

Odette didn't know why, but as they sat there she felt any hatred and anger she had left for Jane just disappear. She started to wonder how she could have gotten so mad at such a kind person.

Resting her head on Jane's shoulder, her curiosity got the better of her and she just had to ask, 'my father .. what was he like when he was with you? .. how did you two meet?'

Jane was silent for a few moments.

"A gentleman." She replied after much thought.

"Everything Cale wasn't at that point."

She paused again, "We met at a bar. I never went to bars, but one night...." She paused and smiled,

"This story is kind of dumb don't laugh at me."

"Cale had bought me this hideous, short and low cut red dress. I never wore it because it just wasn't me, but that night when he left I put it on... I followed him out of the house to a bar downtown. I had spitefully applied heavy makeup and had shoved my feet into these black stilletos that I had bought as a joke once." She shrugged.

"I guess by the world's standards I was pretty that night, but inside I was screaming. I saw Cale, he was in the corner with a dark haired woman at a private table. I didn't know what to do so I sat down at the bar and ordered a club soda, because Lord knows when I drink..." She made a face and continued.

"I was so angry, and jealous that Cale hadn't even noticed me... my own husband. That's when the bar tender placed a drink in front of me and I looked down the bar and saw him. Korso. I gave a small wave and after I took a few sips he sauntered over and sat next to me. We talked, he didn't seem interested in simply "taking me home" you know? Cale still hadn't seen me so I excused myself walked past his table to the bathroom and then walked by again. Cale noticed me finally and this time he got up and said my name. But I wanted him to see what it felt like to be ignored by the person you loved so I sat back down next to Korso leaned over and kissed him."

Jane shivered.

"I still regret doing that. Kissing him. It was out of spite, jealousy... All of the things that I try not to live in my life... Especially now, with Cody." She trailed off.

"Korso then asked me to leave with him, Cale came up punched him, but Korso decked him. Cale was on the ground. I screamed at Cale. Why was he allowed to cheat every night and then it was an issue when I kissed someone else? I was so angry. Cale got up shoved me, I punched him in the nose.... Then we both stopped looked at each other and broke down. He apologised again and again and I fell into his arms. It felt right, like finally he's back. We left the bar, and he promised to never cheat again. Three nights later..." Jane shrugged,

"He was at it again."

"Korso found me somehow... He took me out a few times, nothing ever happened between us. I think he felt bad for me. I liked being with him, the few times we went out... It reminded me of how Cale and I used to be."

She didn't know what to say anymore.

"I regret it." She whispered.

"Cale cheated... But that was no reason for me to throw virtue to the wind." She choked.

"Is that why I'm here? To atone for my lack of judgement?" She sobbed.

Odette couldn't help but laugh bitterly when Jane called him a gentleman, 'well, I guess there's a first time for everything ..'

'I promise, not another giggle shall pass these lips,' she said and smiled as she sat back, ready to listen to Jane's story.

'A dark haired woman? It couldn't be her, could it?' Odette thought out loud before turning to Jane and asking, 'the woman he was with, she wasn't by any chance a brunette, curvy figure, pretty violet eyes?'

'You kissed him?' she feigned disgust and sighed, thinking back to all those nights as a child when she was in bed, too scared to move .. to even breathe when she heard his footsteps on the stairs and the creaking of her door as he opened it, hoping .. praying that he would be finished quickly this time, 'at least you had a choice to kiss him or not ..'

'I can't say Cale didn't deserve what he got that night,' she said and lowered her voice so Jane couldn't hear, 'though it is a nice thought that he got a punch in before he went down.' Odette always wondered how Cale could have been so understanding about her father, now that she knew they'd met and for a moment he had felt her pain, it seemed a little clearer to her.

The moment Jane finished her story, she felt so guilty, 'I'm so sorry ..' Odette put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and looked at Jane, '.. for everything .. if I knew that he was married I ..' she stopped and looked at the floor, would knowing that Cale was married really have made any difference to her? She didn't know Jane back then and he was a paying customer, she needed the money.

When Jane started crying Odette quickly turned back to her and hugged her tight, 'it's going to be ok,' she whispered soothingly, 'everyone does things that they regret .. I know I have .. but that's certainly no reason to be put through this torture,' she looked up at the camera as she said it, wondering if the villain was watching them or playing another one of his sick games instead.

Jane rested her head against Odette's shoulder.

This felt... nice. It was nice to have someone to cry with... A friend? Was Odette her friend?

"I never knew that about him you know..." Jane whispered.

"If I had I would have tried to help you."

'That's ok, I could take what he did to me .. plus I had Dimitri taking care of me,' she laughed softly, 'and you know what he's like when someone's in trouble.'

'Thank you though, it really means a lot to me,' she whispered, feeling herself starting to tear up at Jane's words, 'I always thought it would be nice to have an older sister, someone to look out for me and for me to look up to ..' Odette stopped when her tears started to fall, thinking about what could have been was too much for her right now and she just stayed silent, resting her head on Jane's shoulder for comfort.

"I sure do..." Jane replied wistfully. She missed Dimitri.

Older sister? Jane grinned at the notion, though there wasn't that huge of an age difference between the women, Jane had been an only child and had always wondered what it would be like to have siblings.

"I'll take care of you now." Jane held the back of Odette's head.

"There, there. I've got you. Everything will be alright" She murmured, she tried to say something calming, she didn't want to see Odette cry.

(OOC: Hey! ^-^ I saw we can speak TTW if you like!)

ooc: *tears up* you two are so dang adorable!!! Even with what happened between you two you are both so caring towards each other its beautiful :-)

'Thank you, Jane,' Odette whispered and gave her one final squeeze before pulling away.

She started laughing before wiping away her tears, 'and here I was thinking I'd left all my emotions behind when I ran away from home ..' sighing, Odette looked to the floor.

Ever since she arrived in this place, the walls she had placed around her heart when she was younger had started to crack and crumble. As a child she never had much contact with anyone her own age and she knew that and the abuse she had received as a child had messed her up and caused her to put on a brave and happy face for the world at all times. Sure, she'd had people in her life that had taught her and accepted her for who she was, but she knew that she could still let her emotions control her so that she ended up saying or doing something that she would later regret. She started to wonder if there was any point in keeping up the lies and how many more people would see her in such a vulnerable state.

'I guess this place is messing with me more than I'd like to admit ..'

[ OOC: @Wendy: They are aren't they :'D <33 I wonder how long that will last xD ]