Two of a kind...... A Billy Hargrove story

Chapter 21: Promise

Kali could feel her eyes getting heavy, she tried to stay awake but after the day she'd had, she was exhausted. Her grip on the bat loosened as she drifted off to sleep. She felt frozen in place as she watched Billy beat Steve, his face slowly morphing into her fathers, she tried to scream but nothing came out, she watched as her love beat her best friend to within an inch of his life. There was nothing she could do, she couldn't speak, she couldn't move. With one final punch Steve was dead. Finally her ear shattering scream could be heard as tears fell from her eyes, Billy still had her fathers face as he turned to her "oh Juliet, look what you caused by running away" Kali shook her head at his words "I am not your Juliet, you piece of shit!" She could finally move, she stood to her feet and managed to stop the fist that was heading towards her face, a smile let out on her face as she watched her fathers evil grin falter, "fuck you asshole" she whispered as she pulled her arm back. THWACK. Kali closed her eyes as she pummelled her fathers body into the ground, straddling him as she landed punch after punch. When she opened her eyes again she looked down to find Billy unconscious beneath her. She stopped and climbed off of him, holding his head in her arms as tears streamed down her face "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry my love" she whimpered as she held Billy's limp body against hers.

"Kali! Kali wake up!" Her eyes shot open, she looked around to find herself still at the Byers house. She slowly sat up, rubbing the tears away from her eyes as she looked at the boy across from her, his usually bright blue eyes were now dull and filled with worry. Without thinking Kali swung her arms around his neck "I'm sorry Billy, I'm so fucking sorry" she sobbed into his shoulder, Billy pulled her onto his lap as he soothed her "it's okay princess, it was just a bad dream, you're okay" he stroked her hair and rocked her slowly in his arms. They stayed like that for a while before Kali pulled back from him, she suddenly remembered what he had done as she pulled her arm back, hitting him hard in the chest, knocking the wind out of him. He raised a hand to his chest as he looked at her angered face "that's for Steve" she punched him again, this time in the arm "that's for Max" and one last punch on his thigh "and that's for me" she began sobbing again as the final punch landed, she knew he was in pain but he didn't stop her and he didn't get angry. He grabbed her hand and kissed her knuckles lightly "I deserved that" he said softly, she pulled her hand away from him and stood up, crossing her arms over her chest as she walked towards the window "why did you do it Billy?" He could hear the sadness in her voice, he moved his gaze to the floor "I don't know" he mumbled "you don't fucking know why you beat the shit out of my best friend?!" Shit, she was angry, he couldn't even look at her face, he just slumped down onto his knees as he made his way over to her "I'm sorry Kali"

"Oh now you're fucking sorry!" She turned to face him, shaking her head when she saw him down on his knees in front of her "you fucking hurt me Billy" she shoved her bruised wrist into his face "I never thought you'd hurt me" Billy placed light kisses on her wrist but she pulled it away and slapped him round the face "don't you fucking dare" he looked at her, tears filled his eyes as he saw the pain and sadness in hers "you don't get to hurt me and then act like nothing has changed between us"

"It hasn't Kali, I still love you"

"Yeah and I still fucking love you even after what you did!" She screamed at him "those three words don't mean shit now Billy" his gaze once again fell to the floor "if you really loved me then you'd fucking show it and this" she pointed at her wrist but he kept his gaze on the floor "look at my wrist Billy! I said look at my fucking wrist!" He quickly looked up at her wrist before turning his head away in disgust "this isn't showing me that you love me" she may have been screaming at him but the tears didn't stop. He had hurt her deeper then he would ever know, even though he'd beat the living shit out of Steve, the fact that he had even laid a hand on Kali hurt her even more, especially since he knew what her father was like. He knew the pain of being abused by a parent and yet he had still hurt her. He had promised to protect her with his life.

Kali began pacing, running her fingers through her hair and pulling it slightly out of frustration. She had never been this angry before, she screamed and punched the wall causing Billy to look over in her direction. She carried on screaming as she fell to the floor, holding her knees to her chest as she sobbed. Billy sat and stared at her for a while before slowly making his way over, wrapping his arms around her knees and back as he held her "Kali... I..." Kali looked at him through her tear stained lashes, there was nothing he could say that could fix this and yet she still wanted him to try. She didn't want to loose him, she couldn't loose him. He shook his head and wiped her tears away, she flinched at his touch and he pulled his hand away from her "Kali, I promise I'll never lay a hand on you or your friends again just please" he held her gaze "please forgive me, I... I love you Kali and I need you in my life" Kali wanted so badly to forgive him but it was going to take a lot more then words for that to happen, she remembered the words her grandfather once spoke to her, actions speak louder then words, she wiped her eyes and turned towards him, crossing her legs as he did the same. She took his hand in hers before lifting a hand up to his face, resting it on his cheek "I want to forgive you but.." she saw the tears in his eyes "but you need to prove to me that you won't hurt us anymore" she sighed as she stood up and turned away from him again "when my mother used to run away from my father, he always used to promise that he'd never hurt her again but as soon as they were back home and behind closed doors, he would beat her" she turned back to face Billy, who was listening to her every word "I can't believe in empty promises just like she used to" Billy stood up and made his way over to her, wrapping his arms around her waist as he placed her head against his chest, she relaxed into him and wrapped her arms around his waist as she let out a sigh "my father used to make the same promise to my mother, but one day she stopped believing and left for good" he started "I was heartbroken when she left and I couldn't understand why she had left me with such a monster" Kali looked up at Billy to see tears streaming down his face, he looked down at her and gave her a weak smile, he kissed her lips lightly before resting his forehead against hers "I promise I will never hurt you again, I can't loose you Kali, you're it for me, I will never love anyone or anything as much as I love you"

"Not even your car" Kali laughed lightly, Billy laughed along with her "nope, not even my car" he looked back into her eyes "you, Kali O'Donnell are the love of my life and one day I'm going to marry you" Kali couldn't hide the smile that appeared on her face, she'd never thought about her future before but since meeting Billy she knew that she wanted him in her life forever and now she knew that he felt the same. She pulled him in for a kiss, his grip around her waist tightening as he pulled her closer "let's just hope my friends forgive you too, gonna need them by my side at our wedding" Billy picked her up and spun her around, causing her to laugh, he would go through hell and back for the girl stood in front of him. He placed her back on the floor and pulled away from the hug as he searched through his pockets "um, Max kinda took your car" Kali said as she rubbed the back of her neck. Billy let out a loud sigh trying to contain his anger before he found what he was looking for "I was actually looking for this" Kali's eyes widened as she stared at the small silver ring with a little blue jewel in the middle "it's not much, I mean I won it at the arcade but um" he cleared his throat as he held Kali's hand "Kali, one day I will get you a proper ring, one that you deserve but this is a promise" he placed the ring gently over her left ring finger "I promise to never hurt you again, I promise to love you for all eternity and I promise that one day I will ask you to marry me, so will you accept this ring?" Kali smiled at the ring and then looked back at Billy. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed his lips, she knew that he was serious while also finding it crazy that Billy Hargrove had just given her a promise ring. She looked back at the ring and then back at Billy who was anxiously awaiting her answer "yes".