Timeless

Chapter 43

A/N: This chapter is considerably heavier than the other ones....sorry not sorry. Also....let me know what you want to see with pregnancy/baby Cleven! Thank you!

February 1946

Today was Tuesday February 11—and Kathryn had been busy all week preparing her kindergarten class to have their Valentine's Day Party. She had been to the store and gotten all the paper that she needed to cut out hearts and hang them around her classroom. She had taken the time to make her own Valentines for every single child in her class (there were 23 of them). And the week was shaping up to be a good week.

She was a bit late getting home. Kathryn had stopped by an older teacher in the neighborhood's house. When old Mrs. Thwaites found out that Kathryn was teaching kindergarten, she offered up her decorations from the years prior, seeing as how she had just barely retired this past year.

So when Kathryn got home for the day, bags of decorations in hand, she was more than ready to get to work on the last of her progress for room decorations. The smell of pasta wafted from the kitchen and a grin spread across Kathryn's face.

Slipping off her shoes—they had been digging into the backs of her heels all day—Kathryn made her way into the kitchen and found Gale fending off Meatball from attempting to sneak a piece of food off the ground, phone in hand, and doing his best.

Immediately, she ushered Meatball out of the kitchen, freeing up Gale's attention span ever so slightly. "Who's on the phone?" Kathryn asked in a soft tone.

Gale mouthed Rosie and Kathryn's expression shifted ever so slightly. It wasn't that she wasn't glad to hear from Rosie. It's just that he didn't call all that much. Laura, on the other hand, called Kathryn at least once a week to chat and share all of her latest updates. For the past few months, they'd been in Europe and dealing with the Nuremberg Trials that were currently taking place.

She couldn't help that a brim of curiosity spread through her. Still, Kathryn turned the stove off after making sure that the pasta was done and then turned to face her husband. "What's he have to say?"

"Actually, he wants to talk to you," Gale said, turning to check on the pasta-sauce. "Do you want me to stay on the line?"

"Don't worry about it. You're busy," Kathryn reassured him. "I'll take the call upstairs—I've got to get these decorations upstairs anyway. I'll be down in a few."

"Sounds good."

And then Kathryn was taking the bags of decorations upstairs and depositing them in her closet and finding her way to the phone in the hallway. After a moment, the call connected her to Rosie. "Kath here!" Kathryn said into the phone.

"Hey Kathryn," Rosie greeted on the other end.

"I gotta say, I'm a little surprised to hear from you. Is everything okay with Laura? Oh God, is the baby—"

"No, no—they're fine!" Rosie exclaimed in a hurry. "Both are fine."

Kathryn let out a breath of relief. "Good, that's good."

"I'm calling because..." Rosie's voice trailed off for a second, hesitance dripping through the line. "Because of the trial."

Kathryn's grip on the phone tightened and her gaze narrowed. Her jaw clenched together and Kathryn's other hand balled into a fist, nails digging into the palm of her hand. "What about it, Rosie?" Her voice nearly trembled as she spoke out the words.

"Kath," Rosie's voice just sounded incredibly sympathetic and she felt like she wanted to throw up then and there. "Hausmann had his trial and he committed suicide this morning—"