Packing

Chase stared at her stuff, all over the couch. Mira had given her a LOT to think about now.. and now that they understood each other's emotions a bit better... Chase still had a lot of packing to do. She had to get this house cleaned out, so she could resell it.. and move back in with Calvin, she had been stupid to move out in the first place.. but now.. she understood herself a bit better, and knew that the only way she was happy, was when she was in that crazy little household. Chase smiled and shook her head, moving to the couch, where a bunch of clothes still sat on it, and slowly started to fold them again, putting them into the box she had opened up, and being careful to fold them neatly so that she could fit more in.

Humming softly as she worked, she quickly got all of her clothes packed up, and went into the kitchen, getting the dishes and the pots and pans from the cupboard, and put them in boxes as well, carefully wrapping the dishes. When she picked up the crock pot, Chase felt herself start to shake. That was where she had hid Katie when he had come, he had held Katie.. picked her up, and held her... watched as she made her own house look like there had been a struggle. Chase felt tears fill her eyes, and she slid down the cupboard, holding onto the crock pot, staring at the house that was filled with boxes and things left out to be packed later. Why did he have to choose her? What had she done to deserve that?! Chase ran her hand through her short hair, and pulled out a cigarette, lighting it carefully with her wand, she sat on the floor, puffing on the cigarette, her eyes red and puffy from crying, and her hair choppy and short, held back by a single band that went over her head to hold back the strands that were still pretty long.

If it wasn’t for the fact that James was his cousin then Gavrilo would have strangled him and his brother years ago. But here they were again, like the Three Musketeers, trudging through the forest in search of the same redhead they’d been looking for not two months ago. Still, it was déjà vu all over again and Gavrilo didn’t seem to mind. He loved spending time in the forest and he had a feeling that amongst nature was where Chase would be happy – even if there was an added risk of Werewolf attacks. That was something they’d been prepared for when they’d spent those weeks camped out. They’d only come across a couple of werewolves but they’d seemed pretty in charge of themselves. Chase was a young woman though. More importantly she was a young woman with a child. Gavrilo didn’t like the idea of her having to fight werewolves off while worrying about a child; it unsettled him to no end.

Thankfully it didn’t take long to happen upon the little wood-house that Gavrilo assumed was Chase’s. He jumped up the steps and rapped on door before turning and using various hand gestures to his cousins that roughly translated to ‘go forth and multiply’. Gavrilo smirked and turned back to the door. He knocked again before putting his hand to the door handle and twisting it. Much to his joy, the door came away easily and he poked his head around the door curiously. He called out the redhead’s name and stepped inside the house. Gavrilo closed the door behind him and slipped off his shoes, unsure of the protocol inside. He then shrugged off his jacket and dropped that to the floor, not really caring where that ended up.

“Chase?”

Gavrilo entered the kitchen area and found the redhead on the floor...smoking. Gavrilo sank to his knees and slid across the softwood so he was knelt in front of Chase. He put his hands on her shoulders and looked at her imploringly.

“Are you alright?”

Chase heard the door open, and she stiffened, staring at the door uneasily. He was back! He was back to get her! Chase heard footsteps, and she squeezed her eyes shut, shaking, her cigarette nearly getting squished in her iron grip on it. Suddenly she felt someone kneeling in front of her, and she eyes opened slightly. At the same time, her entire body relaxed, and she leaned her head back. "You scared the shit out of me Gavrilo.." She said softly, shaking her head and taking another drag from her cigarette, staring at the boy in front of her. "What are you doing here? I'm not used to getting a ton of visits from your family... and I'm just leaving.. I have a lot of packing to do!" She said, but didn't move from her spot on the floor, a small tear still clung to her eyelashes. "A lot of packing.." She said shaking her head.

"Did you know.. that if your involved with the Krum family.. you get hurt.. and not just emotionally like I was.. oh no...you get kidnapped.. and forced to lay on a cold operating table for weeks... at least it felt like weeks.. and you get stabbed.. and tortured and starved... and drops of water fall on your head.. and he laughs... laughs so much... covered in YOUR blood... as his nasty dog sits there and pants.. sometimes the dog would come over, and lick the wound. It would get all infected.. and then he just.. threw me out into the streets.. I didn't know where I was... and who helped? NO ONE! No one even looked for me! No one helped me! He touched my baby! He took me... he just.. came in.. and no one helped me! Jack Dyllans found me... and had she not, I would have died! It was no thanks to your family!" She said and shoved him away, dropping her cigarette on the ground and struggling to her feet, nearly falling over in dizziness.

It was fantastic how somehow; everything that ever went wrong with the redhead had to be a fault of the Krum family. Gavrilo bit his tongue and stopped himself from pointing out that a great proportion of the family didn’t even know who she was, let alone know her well enough to care about what happened to her. Gavrilo knew that somehow she was his responsibility, just like he was hers. Her hatred for their family was poisoning her. If she didn’t weigh her words and her thoughts carefully then it would poison her daughter too. Gavrilo didn’t want to see Elijah’s face when all he got from his daughter was a biting remark or a long-suffering sigh. Gavrilo could remember the way his little brother had tried to impress one of the inner-circle family members and all they did was raise an eyebrow at him. It was indifference, something that all of them inherently despised yet was so good at projecting. Gavrilo didn’t know what he was supposed to tell Chase. The self-pity had to end though.

“Chase...you don’t honestly believe that the Krums would have anything to do with Barker? Chase, he works for Grindlewald. They saw it in Azkaban. He sprung him, Chase. Grindlewald. I walked past his sign for seven years, as did my father, as did most of my other family members. Elijah did for about four years. Gellart Grindlewald is this family’s enemy. He killed Viktor Krum the second and that left his two-year-old son head of the family. That bastard tore this family apart. If any of us came within spitting distance of him them we’d fire ‘Avada Kedavra’, Chase. Grindlewald is Barker’s boss of sorts from what we understand. If we can get hold of Barker – even better. Don’t you dare suggest for a minute that we would allow something like this to happen – that we would let that bastard near you or any of us if we knew! We didn’t hear about your kidnap until it was too late. We would have prevented it Chase! I looked for you! We all looked for you! Elijah spent hours out there – we all did! Just stop and think for a second! Stop acting this way! We looked, alright!? Don’t blame my family for something we had no hand in, that we could do little about. Just...just don’t.”

Chase stared at Gavrilo angrily. Anger.. it was something she normally didn't show, normally it was sadness, or just being upset.. no.. not this raw, red anger. She literally saw red for the first time in her life, and she stared at Gavrilo, simply stared, her mouth slightly parted, the cigarette she had dropped, burned out, and she stood there, by the cabinet, just.. staring. "Gavrilo.. you honestly believe that I care for a second how much you hate Grindelwald... okay.. he's back.. woo.." Chase said, throwing her hands in the air. "Felix didn't kidnap me because of Grindelwald Gavrilo! He kidnapped me.. because of my connection to Elijah Krum.. he kidnapped me because of my connection to Khaat Lupin.. do you know how many times I had to hear him say. 'You can thank you friend Kitty Khaat for this...' or 'Hello dear Fen, how are you doing today? I saw Elijah looking for you today, he just walked right past... muttering something about your little baby girl.' Chase had her fists clenched beside her, glaring at Gavrilo.

"He didn't take me because of Grindelwald Gav.. he took me.. because he hates your family just about as much as I do right now... When he realized that you weren't doing anything more then just... looking around London, as though I had run away? He let me go! He let me go into the middle of London... with a cloak, and nothing else.. my hair chopped off, looking like blood running down my face... blood coated me.." Chase had to catch herself on the cupboard or she would have fallen over. "People looked at me and whispered 'ghost' and talked about the ghost on the street in the bars.. and no one came... I sat in an alley, for two days... until Jack found me.. Jack found me and took me to Calvin! And I got my baby back... and I didn't see anyone from your family, until they came here to YELL at me! Came here to ask me why I was seducing their Husband-to-be! Then you come in here... saying stuff like 'don't.. just don't.' saying you looked for me.. sure... and when did you give up? Before or After you found out I was still alive? Before or After Katie was found? Because honestly, that's all I feel Elijah cares about... he wants his daughter, and he won't have her." She said and backed away from Gavrilo.

She held up her hands in front of her protectively, staring at Gavrilo with a look of anger, and hatred written on her face. "I found this.." She said, and pulled out a roll of parchment. "As I was packing up.. found it in a trunk in my room.. forgot I had it.." She said softly, staring at the parchment. She unrolled it, and lay it open on the counter, and then swiftly and quickly, wrote her name on a line on the parchment, before she thrust it into his hands. "Take your freedom Gavrilo... do something nice with it.. but unless you have something better to do then come in here and tell me that I'm wrong... that I should stop blaming your family for the shit that has happened in my life... don't come near me again.." She said and spun around, walking into the living room and staring out the window, her arms folded across her chest.