PennyBassett Fanfiction

[PennyBassett]

Oh goodie! I've been wondering how it's been going! I can't wait to read it!

[Jo March]

YIKESSSSSS!!!!!! OH QUICK I NEED THE NEXT ONE!!!!!!!

[PennyBassett]

Chapter 18!
Let me know what you think of this one. I'm a little hesitant about its quality.

The next morning, we woke up early and after calling Connie, went to pick up Eliza. The overall mood was dreary. Even the heat-wave induced rain mourned with us. It was so dumb. The whole thing was dumb. A week ago, I hadn’t even known we were taking in another child. In the past five days that precious girl had learned to trust me perhaps more than she’d trusted anyone before. And she trusted me more than anyone had before. She had brought me joy, and a refreshing sense of hope. We had become dependent on each other despite our differences. We understood each other in a deep way. And now that was being snatched away from us. Katrina never really knew how close we had become. Though, with all she was going through, it probably wasn’t a priority to ask.
“We should call Eugene,” I said, as Katrina turned her blinker on to round the next corner.
She stayed silent. I had brought up Eugene at least four times since the last night, and each mention of his name was either ignored or avoided by the receiver of my words. It was getting old. I finally snapped,
“Look, I get you’re angry at him! I am too! Believe me, I am. But you can’t pretend he doesn’t exist. I think-”
“Fine! Then call him! I can’t stop you.”
I hated seeing Katrina so broken. She was a mess and I knew it. It was so wrong. She was supposed to be the strong one, and she seemed so quick to give up. Where was the stubbornness that drove her to where she was in the first place? I began questioning whether she even wanted to fix she and Eugene’s relationship.
I pulled out my phone and called Eugene. He answered immediately.
“Hello, Buck.”
“Hey. Listen, could you come to the house later this morning?”
“Hm? Why?”
“Um. Eliza’s being- removed.”
“What?!”
“Just- meet us there at like ten.”
“Very well.”
There was silence for a while. I could sense a desire for reconciliation. But neither one of us would try and repair. Perhaps we couldn’t. After a few seconds,
“I’ll see you there.”
“Yeah. Bye.”

As we pulled up to Connie’s house my stomach did a flip. Whether it was from excitement to see my sister again or fear of losing her I didn’t have time to find out.
Katrina rang the doorbell and Jules welcomed us in.
“Hey… she’s upstairs. I think she’s upset… Connie’s trying to calm her down.”
“That’s not going to work.”
“Why not?”
“She had an abusive mother, she’ll probably be afraid of Connie more than trust her. I’ll try talking to her.”
“Okay.”
“Buck,” Katrina put her hand on my shoulder, “She has to come with us. Don’t lie to her.”
My heart was caught in my throat for a moment. She still didn’t trust me. I wanted to argue. Tell her I was capable of not conning someone at every chance there was. Biting my tongue, I walked upstairs without saying anything.
Connie and Eliza were in Jules’ room. One terrible sign. As much as I hated to admit it, I’d probably be a little panicked if even Eugene and I were in the same room with the door shut. I could hear Eliza crying. Connie’s voice was soft, but I doubted that would matter. I opened the door, and Eliza looked up. Then she ran to me. I picked her up and just let her cry into my shoulder.
“Connie, could you get her stuff?”
She nodded, moved by Eliza’s trust in me. I carried her downstairs, and out the door without looking at Katrina. I had to harden myself. Just get her in the car and back to the house. When Katrina got in the front seat she calmed down a little, maybe out of habit. No one can yell at her to be quiet if she already was.
We got home.
Eugene’s car was in the driveway. We came in through the garage, and found him-
“Eugene? What’re you doing?” Katrina asked, annoyed by his presence.
“Oh. Um. Fixing the oven.”
“The oven’s not broken.”
“Ah. Yes. Then, I’m upgrading the oven.”
She laughed a little, almost sounding like herself for a moment,
“The last time you ‘upgraded’ our oven, it-”
Eugene smiled a little. Self-hatred still seething underneath his blue eyes.
“Don’t worry. No voice chip this time.”
“Jack will be here in half an hour,” She said bluntly, realizing they’d had a bit of pleasant conversation, and retreated to her room. I could’ve sworn I heard that door lock. I went back out to the car, seeing suddenly that Eliza wasn’t with us. She was still sitting there. Unbuckled, but not moving. I came over and leaned against the door frame.
“Hey. Eugene’s inside. I think he’d like to see you.”
She sniffed, struggling to regain her composure.
“Will he read me the piggy book?”

[Jo March]

No don't worry about the quality!!!! It is REALLLLLY GOOD!!!! You did such a good job

[Kungfunaomi]

OK for real. Whatever you did different, it's WORKING. I think because you paid more attention to breaking up that dialogue.

[Jo March]

@Kungfunaomi: Ditto.

[PennyBassett]

Okay, this chapter's really short, but I thought I'd post it anyway. I'm still kind of trying to decide where to take things next, so sorry if it takes me a little while to post the one after this.

Chapter 19

“Daddy?”
My heart lurched forward, tears coming to my eyes. Five days. It had taken five days for me to become Daddy. I looked away from my work and down at Eliza, whose cheeks were stained with tears. Through a weak-from-sobbing voice, she said quietly,
“You’re sending me away.”
I got on her level, nodding.
“Why?”
“We don’t have a choice.” I sighed, forcing sobs under my neck. ‘This beautiful child.’ Why did I love her so much? She barely knew me, yet she trusted me as a father. And I barely knew her, yet there was an unavoidable instinct burning inside me to protect her. Sending her away from my protection meant she could be hurt again. My role as a father was supposed to be to keep my children safe, and I could no longer guarantee that for one of them.
I let him do it. I let Jack take her away. I told myself I was being selfish. I was angry. At me. At Katrina. This was her fault! If she was willing to fix our marriage this wouldn’t have happened!... Of course, if I hadn’t... What was the point?
“Eugene?” Buck sat down next to me on the couch.
“What?”
“I’m sorry.”
I turned to him, slightly shocked and confused.
“I yelled at you. It was disrespectful and immature of me. I’m still mad at you. But even though I can’t now, I’ll try to forgive you. I should’ve known my place and respected your authority. I won’t ask for your forgiveness since I honestly don’t know how to forgive you, but I wanted to apologize anyway.”
“Thank you, Buck.” I knew I should have said more. I didn’t.

[Jo March]

AAAHHHHHH This is so good!!!! You are doing a really great job of continuing the story.

[PennyBassett]

Alright, this one's narrated by Buck. There are two more like it, narrated by Eugene and Katrina, but I thought I'd post them separately.
Pff. This is a lil depressing.

Chapter 20? (dang)

What were the next three months like? Fragile. Everyone’s nerves were constantly on edge. Eugene and Katrina were quicker to snap at me and each other. Mostly at each other. I started snapping at them too. And others. Some of my teachers pointed out a difference in my mood. I brushed off their concerns with “I’m just tired”s. I didn’t need or want people to be more worried about me. Most teachers already knew about my past, or at least knew I was a foster kid and were always meeting our accidental eye contact with a smile. But a smile couldn’t fix it. Eugene and Katrina wouldn’t fix it. So that left me with God.
Jules and I kept doing our Bible study, usually after school on Tuesdays. We also began to play worship music together. We quickly realised how much we connected with Jesus through music and made a goal to play songs often. We both sang and I played the guitar. We sounded good together, and it was an escape. I found drowning out my fear with praise was a great remedy to worry. Speaking of worry, Katrina was a wreck. She was alone at home most of the time, and that worried me. She stopped teaching for the semester, wanting to spend time with Elizabeth. Of course, that was pointless now. Half of me wanted her to keep teaching so she wasn’t by herself, and half of me knew she’d be just as depressed with the responsibility.
“Miss Katrina?” I put my backpack on the stairs and walked over to the couch.
“Hm?” She didn’t look at me. I moved to the spot she was staring.
“Have you been here all day?”
“….I- I don’t know,” Her dazed look fell to the floor, knowing she’d disappointed me. “Yes. At home.”
“Did you do anything?”
“I… went to the bathroom.”
“Good. Doesn’t count. What else did you do?”
“…I don’t know.”
“Have you eaten?”
“No.”
“Then you need food. Go get dressed, I think we have a can of soup in the pantry, I’ll warm it up.”
She looked around, more alert.
“What time is it?”
“Five thirty.”
“Then there’s no point in getting dressed. I’ll go to bed soon anyway.”
“Maybe! But you’ll feel better if you get dressed first!” I said, searching the cabinet for our dinner.
She nodded, “Yeah. You’re right.” Then dragged herself back to her bedroom for proper clothing.
Half an hour later we sat in the dining room, eating chicken and rice soup.
“It’s not as good as mine,” She muttered, putting down her spoon, and glancing at me, with a joking smile on her face.
I laughed a little.
“How’s um- counseling going?” I asked, feeling strange asking something she usually asked me.
She sighed.
“I don’t know. It’s- fine. Honestly, we’re not making much progress.”
My heart fell. I wanted things back to normal. I hated the fact that every time that my parents talked they were so blunt and cold. Why couldn’t they just fix things? Eugene and I did. Kinda. After I apologized, our relationship wasn’t as difficult. We usually did something on the weekends together. He was functioning a little better than Katrina. But honestly, I still couldn’t forgive him. Every time I looked at Katrina, I was reminded how much he had hurt her. After a few weeks of this messed up pattern of living, I realised I had more or less taken Eugene’s job. I was having to care for and look out for Katrina when that was supposed to be what Eugene did. But he wasn’t. He was on the other side of town, leaving us to figure things out in the house he’d worked for. Hm. Of course, given where we are now, that state of being actually looks pretty great.

[Kungfunaomi]

Wow I missed Chapter 19! We need some progress now! Even though Buck has made a big step in the right direction!

[Jo March]

YIKES!!!! THIS IS SO GOOD!!!!

[PennyBassett]

Okay! Next couple chapters! Eugene and Katrina's narrations are much shorter, so I'm publishing them together. Sorry if these chapters feel a little bumpy. I have a plan! Don't worry! I just have to get to the point where things can get exciting again. This will pick up speed!


Chapter 21 (Katrina's POV)

What were the next three months like? I don’t remember much of them. I know I wasn’t teaching anymore. Buck was home sometimes. Eugene and I went to counselling. It didn’t really work. Confronting our problems seemed to make them bigger. Maybe we weren’t trying hard enough. Maybe we didn’t want to fix things. Maybe we couldn’t. I was still angry. Probably bitter. And at the same time, I missed him. I missed our old selves I guess. We did the “young couple” thing really well for years. Maybe it was Buck. Maybe we felt older when we had a kid. What happened? It felt so wrong. We were married. And overnight we stopped acting like it. Some days I wanted to get back together so badly. Other days I didn’t want to think about anything. I hated admitting it, but I knew the problem. I hadn’t forgiven him. And I thought that was a dark time. It seems almost bright compared to now. Yes, my husband and I were a mess, but at least I knew where he was. I knew he was alive.

Chapter 22 (Eugene's POV)

The next three months? Maddening. I wanted to fix our difficulties. I did. The anger that led to our separation was fleeting. I wasn’t angry at her anymore. I was telling the truth when I said I still loved her. I wanted more than anything for us to be together again. However, I didn’t deserve to be with her. I wasn’t usually angry at her. Most of the time I was angry at myself. Most days I hated myself. That self-hatred was overpowering. And I felt I deserved every self-inflicted insult. Perhaps I did. It’s hard to tell now. I just know I had referred to it as torturous. I was wrong. But how could I have known? I didn’t know what torture really was until now.

[Jo March]

WOW. This is really good. I CANNOT wait to see where this goes!

[PennyBassett]

Wow. It's been a couple weeks! Here's the next chapter!
Chapter 23

(Buck’s POV)
I walked into the living room, having just returned from the store. It was a Saturday, and there wasn’t much to do. It was early April, and Katrina’s flowers outside had begun to bloom. I knew they’d quickly die if they weren’t cared for soon. She sat in on the couch reading. She wasn’t as distant as she was sometimes. Not that day. I walked to the kitchen to fill a cup with water.
“I’m gonna water the flowers, Miss Katrina.”
“Hm? Oh okay.”
“Unless you want to.”
“No. I don’t think so. Not today.”
“Why? What’s today?”
“Nothing. I just- don’t feel like it.”
“…okay.”
I walked outside. A soft spring wind grazed my face, as I breathed in the clean air. I knelt by the flowerbeds, and noticing the high number of weeds, I began to pull out some with my bare hands. Most were easy to get out, and I needed a distraction. It had been three months and a week since Eugene and Katrina had separated. It hadn’t gotten much easier. The house didn’t feel quite as quiet, but the presence of two empty rooms, seemed to scream at me every time I walked up the stairs. I started going to Whit’s End and talking to Eugene again, but the nagging feeling of his betrayal was still there. He’d give me looks. They were confusing. Sometimes those stupid periwinkle eyes which looked uncannily like mine, would seem to say, “I’m so sorry,” while other times they pled, “Feel sorry for me.” I didn’t feel sorry for Eugene. He had done wrong, and deserved Katrina’s rejection. But at the same time…
The startling sound of my phone ringing interrupted my train of thought.
I pulled it out and glanced at the name: Eugene. Great. Just the person I wanted to talk to. I twitched in the direction of my pocket, then thought twice. I needed to answer this call.
I slowly tapped the green ‘answer’ circle.
“Hello,” I said dryly.
“H-Hello? Is this Buck?” Not Eugene.
“Yes…” My eyebrows lowered. Did someone have Eugene’s phone? Wait, but they were trying to call me.
“Oh. I-I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” this strange elderly-sounding woman’s voice shook ominously.
“Sorry? Sorry about what?”
“Y-your father.”
“My-” I felt my face grow pale. My stomach suddenly felt hard to keep below my neck. “What happened?”
“He was walking- I saw him walk- a-across the street. He was hit by a car. It didn’t see him- I suppose… maybe he was distracted?”
“Where is he? Is he alright?!”
“I don’t know. He wasn’t moving when they put him in the ambulance.”
“O-okay. Where are they taking him?” I asked, rushing back through the door and grabbing my keys off the kitchen counter.
“Odyssey General Hospital.”
“Okay. Thank you- what’s your name?”
“Agnes. Agnes Riley.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Riley,” I quickly hung up to find Katrina standing wide-eyed in the living room.
“What’s going on?”
“Eugene’s at the hospital.”
“What?!”





(Katrina’s POV)
He lay there motionless. Two broken ribs. A broken leg. Probably a concussion. Dr. Graham gently put her hand on my shoulder.
“I’m very sorry about this.”
“Will he wake up soon?”
“He’s supposed to.”
“And he’s going to be okay?”
“Yes. He his leg is bad. It’ll take a while to heal, hopefully with no permanent effects. I’ve seen much worse when it comes to his ribs. They are broken, but they too should heal normally… oh,” She stared at the clipboard in her hand.
“What is it?”
“He’s had a concussion before?”
“Yeah. He had temporary memory loss because of it.”
“So, it was bad.”
“Yes.”
“Hm. That’s… a problem.” I couldn’t speak a moment. What was there to say?
“Um. Wh- what kind of problem?”
“With concussions. The more a person experiences, the more dangerous they become.”
“So? So, what does that mean for him? Will he lose his memory again or…?”
“Memory loss, blindness, he could be paralyzed for all I know.”
I nodded. She hesitated a moment, then smiled sympathetically and left the room. Buck sat in a chair across the room, having been carefully reading our conversation with his eyes.
“Would you um- I left the car-” I stammered.
“Su-re,” he nodded, as I handed my keys to him. I watched as he walked to the door, shutting it behind him. The sound the door made felt as loud as my heartbeat. I slowly sat down in the chair next to Eugene’s bed, shakily laid my hand upon his, and cried.

[Kungfunaomi]

Daaaaaaang now it picked up!

[Jo March]

Ditto what Naomi said

[PennyBassett]

Okay... so this chapter's not great. Bear with me here, I promise it'll get better. But this chapter is pretty informational.

(Katrina’s POV)
Eugene remained unconscious for two days. Forty-Eight hours. Hm. God knew what he was doing. I was in the hospital basically the whole time, and what else was there to do but pray?

(Buck’s POV)
Those two days. I can’t ever remember feeling that specific craving for restoration. They were aggravating, sure, but so healing. It felt like God was guilt tripping us at first… It worked. Heh. We both realised why we were resistant to letting Eugene back in. He hadn’t been punished enough, according to our standards. We couldn’t forgive him because he hadn’t received a consequence. And if we were to just forgive him like nothing happened, how would he know not to do something like this again? We were of course at fault. We’d forgotten. We were both going to Jesus for comfort while trying to bring justice ourselves. So, we got on our knees.
It was hard. Just because you have the will to forgive, doesn’t mean it comes right away. We had to let go of our anger. Give it to God.
“Buck, I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“Not doing what was best for you. You deserve to live with parents who can take care of you. I should have sent you to another foster home.”
“No. No, I didn’t want that- I still don’t-”
“But I only kept you around because I didn’t want to lose you too.”
“I know. And leaving wouldn’t have made your loss any better.”
“Maybe not.”

(Katrina’s POV)
Eugene stirred, causing my heartbeat to accelerate. His eyes slowly opened. They met mine. I didn’t need confirmation. He remembered everything.
“I’m in a hospital.”
I laughed, “Yes. Buck, go get Doctor Graham.”
He got up and left us alone.
“How are you feeling?”
He blinked a few times, disoriented.
“Hm. Thirsty.”
“Okay. Um, you broke a few ribs… you can’t feel it can you?”
“I can. It just doesn’t hurt as much as…”
My heart lurched forward; a tear fell down my cheek.
“Eugene. I’m so sorry.”
He reached for my hand, and they slipped together. A sob came to my throat.
“I want to fix things.”
He nodded, clearly relieved.
“So, to start things off, I forgive you,” the words felt dry on my tongue, “You’ve apologized. And I realized I was being just as cruel to you as I felt you had been to me.”
“You needed time.”
“To pout, yes.”
He chuckled, “So we’re going to try this again?”
“I think so. Do you want to move back in?”
“More than anything.”
I laughed a little, then briefly choked on air, “Eliza! Eugene, she can come back!”
“Slow down.”
“But she has to come back!”
“I agree. In a month.”
I sighed, nodding.
“That’ll give us time. I want to make sure our home is safe.”
“Yes.”
Eugene came back. We were a mess. Though he had no permanent injuries, he was in bed most of the time. It was hard getting back to normal. We were living together again. Sometimes it felt like he’d always been there. Most of the time it felt like he just came back. We still argued quite a bit really. But we loved each other. We started making progress with our counselor. Buck was happy. That may have been the most fulfilling part. Buck was so happy. That month was good for us. We made sure our family was strong before bringing someone else in. By the end of the month, Eugene was out of bed and on crutches. His concussion hadn’t caused any lasting effects, thank God. I still didn’t have work. It was good. I could focus on healing. Restoring my heart. We were scheduled to bring Eliza back on March 28th.

[Kungfunaomi]

I forgot to reply. Still reading!
Has there ever been a story where you just totally scrapped it because it wasn't good enough? I'm seriously considering doing that with mine because it's just not readable enough of a plot. Novacom just is that way in general and I'm tired of crazy stories. I'd rather stick to one shots like the one I did of Jimmy and Donna. But idk what's your opinion?

[PennyBassett]

Well, Idk, that kinda happened with my Buck and Jules storyline. It became boring to write and I hadn't outlined well. I completely relate to the love for one-shots. There's a lot less pressure with those. And yeah, Novacom is just kind of a mess as a story. I don't think those writers had outlined very well either... haha. Always outline on big sagas! I'd say fanfiction is really more about the author than the readers. I write fanfics cause it's fun, and then people read them, but I'd still write fanfiction if no one read it. So, do whatever you like doing best. The other thing with fanfiction is that it doesn't matter what kind you write because it's not a big deal. It's not a career choice, and perfection isn't necessary.

[Jo March]

This new one is soooo good!!!!! Can't wait for the next chapter!!!