The Untold Story

3. Who loved a Beast

This chapter is dedicated to meeramiller007 for the absolutely amazing covers she made for TUS. Thank you! I love them! Check out her amazing book "His Undesirable Wife."  Trust me, you won't regret it.

Natasha had finally fallen asleep at some point in the early hours  of the morning and only woke when her mother walked into her room.

"Breakfast in bed for my princess!" Lily sang cheerily, carrying in a tray loaded with food. Upon hearing her voice, Natasha was immediately hit with the memory of the snippet of conversation she had overheard last night. She shot up and jumped out of bed, ignoring the angry pounding of her head.

"Whoa, where's the fire?" Lily asked, surprised at Natasha's sudden movement. Natasha just stood there looking like a deer caught in the headlights, heart racing. Her mother looked at her worriedly.

"Are you okay, honey?" she asked,  setting the tray down on Natasha's dressing table and moving towards her. Natasha backed away from her, making Lily stop short when she saw this.

"Natasha?" she asked confused.

"I'm fine," Natasha said curtly.

"You don't look fine. Did you have a nightmare?" 

'I was living one' she thought to herself, but to her mother she said, "Something like that."

Lily finally closed the distance between them and held her daughter in a tight embrace.

"Why don't you take a shower and eat your breakfast, then we'll go out and do something fun," Lily suggested.

"I don't really feel up to it, Mum. I just want to get some more sleep. But you can go to church without me," Natasha said. "I know you don't like to miss Sunday mass."

"I can't leave you alone like this," Lily argued.

"I'll call Kelsey to come over and babysit me," Natasha insisted.

"Are you sure?" 

"Yes! Now get going before you're late."

"Okay then, but call me if you need me," Lily said, tucking her into bed again. She kissed Natasha's forehead then went to get ready to go out. In a few minutes, she was gone.

Natasha texted 'Code red' to her best friend, Kelsey Harris, their signature calling card for emergencies. Kelsey called her almost immediately after she had sent the text. She didn't wait for Natasha to say hello before she started talking. Not that she ever did anyway.

"What's the 411 on the 8am 911?" Kelsey asked.

"Get over here now," Natasha said. Kelsey must have heard the urgency in Natasha's voice because she didn't barrage her with a million and one questions as she normally would have.

"Be right there," she said and hung up. Ten minutes later, Kelsey was knocking at their front door.

"What's up?" she asked when Natasha let her into the house.

"So, yesterday when I got back from the station after they'd arrested me, wrongfully by the way, I--" Natasha began when Kelsey interrupted.

"Arrested!" she exclaimed, her big brown eyes wide as saucers, "What on earth for?"

"Murder," Natasha replied leading the way up to her room.

"Who'd you kill?" Kelsey asked, then paused on the stairs, "Oh my gosh, was it Max?"

"You did get the part where I said wrongfully arrested, right?" Natasha said coyly.

"Yeah, yeah, but who did they think you murdered? His dad?"