Kate
Incoming Call
718-546-7420
New York, New York
Kate bit her lip, debating for a second before accepting the call.
“Hello?”
“Hello. This is a pre-paid debit call from Eleanor Bishop-'' Kate nearly dropped the phone when her mom’s voice cut into the computerized message “-an incarcerated individual at the Rose M. Singer Center. To accept this call, press 1, to reject this call-”
Kate fumbled with the phone, trying to pull up the number pad and hit the correct number. Her hands were shaking so badly she almost missed.
“-this call may be monitored and recorded. Thank you for using Securus. You may start the conversation now.”
Her heart caught in her throat. “Hello?” said her mom. Her mom. The phone was static-filled and echoed slightly, but there was no doubt it was Eleanor.
“Mom?”
“Hey sweetie. I miss you.” A thousand things raced through Kate’s mind. Why was she calling? She’d be ignoring Kate’s communications for months. Did she want something? Was she in trouble? Was she calling to yell at Kate? Was- “I was calling to let you know they’ve set a court date.” Oh.
“Oh? Was there, uh, anything else?”
“No. I just wanted to talk to you. Why don’t you tell me about yourself?”
“What do you want to know?”
“What grad school did you decide on?”
It was almost like the past year had been wiped from Eleanor’s memory. Kate wasn’t even sure what to say. She hadn’t gone to grad school because she couldn’t afford it. Because her mom was in jail for murdering someone and all of her assets had been seized. “Uh… I ended up not going. Maybe later.” There, that was democratic enough, right?
Eleanor sighed. “Kate…”
The front door slammed. “Kate!” Yelena’s voice was filled with glee, but as soon as she got a good look at Kate’s expression, her face fell. Kate waved halfheartedly in her direction.
“Who’s that, Kate?”
“My, uh… my girlfriend.”
Eleanor had never really been bothered by Kate’s sexuality, focusing much more on the appearance of not only her partners, but how Kate’s appearance was perceived around them. She was always trying to frame Kate as not too queer, not too masculine, not too meek, not too strong, not too tall, not too anything. “Girlfriend, huh? Tell me about her. What’s her name?”
“Yelena,” said Kate. Yelena stopped in front of her and raised an eyebrow. Normally she could read Kate well and she seemed like she was torn between amusement and concern. It made Kate wonder what expression she was making.
“I’ve never heard you this quiet before. Tell me more about her!”
“I mean… she’s beautiful. Her nose scrunches up when she laughs at me. She’s smart and funny.” In front of Kate, Yelena blushed slightly. Kate ran a finger across her cheeks, wondering at the marvel of Yelena Belova. “She, uh, she drives me crazy and knows what I’m thinking before I do.” Kate took a deep breath.
“Wow, sounds like quite the catch. What does she do?”
Kate was distracted by Yelena’s eyes, but not so distracted that she’d slip and tell all of Yelena’s secrets. “She’s in security. We actually met at one of your parties.”
“Oh, really? Do I know her family?”
Trying not to laugh, picturing what her mother would say if she knew who Yelena’s family really was, Kate said, “No, she’s from Russia. She came with one of the Ronsons that night.”
She knew that would be enough to throw Eleanor, and sure enough, her mom made a noise of disgust. “Oh, well, I’m glad you rescued her from them. How old is she? Is she ready to settle down? Because-”
“You have one minute remaining,” interrupted the monotonous voice of the phone system.
At least Kate was able to dodge the question of Yelena’s age, but she wasn’t ready to let her mom go. “I guess- I mean, thanks for calling, Mom.”
“I’ll call you soon. I love you Kate!”
“I love you Mom.”
The line cut off with another computerized message, “Thank you for using Securus. Goodbye.”
Kate disconnected the call and set the phone down, unsure what to do with herself. Yelena’s hands cupped her cheeks and pulled her gaze upwards until she was looking into Yelena’s eyes again. The small bit of control she’d had on her emotions shattered and she crumpled, her eyes filling with tears. Yelena brushed them away before pulling Kate into a hug. “I have you, Kate. It is okay, милая.” She shifted and Kate scrambled to grab ahold of her shirt. “I will not let go. I have you.”
----
Eleanor did actually call back, but the next time it was less convenient. Kate was sparring with Yelena when her phone rang. Hoping for a call from Eleanor, Kate had tucked her phone in her bra, the only place she could think of. Pulling it out, she wiped the sweat off and tried to ignore Yelena’s look of disgust. Yelena threw a halfhearted punch and Kate bent backwards as she answered the phone to the same monotonous computerized voice as before. As soon as the menu gave her the option, she accepted the call.
“Kate Bishop, this is not a game.”
“Fine,” snapped Kate. “Come at me.” She ducked as the call connected. “Hi, Mom.”
Yelena’s knee came at her face. “Hi sweetheart. How are you?”
The knee connected and Kate tried not to gasp at the pain. “Fine Mom.” She tucked the phone between her ear and shoulder as she came upright and tried to punch Yelena, but she had already moved away before Kate was even standing. “How are you?” She winced. Who asked someone in prison how they were?
“Fine,” said Eleanor lightly, smoothing over Kate’s faux pas the same way she always did. Yelena twisted around, kicking. “Are you busy? You sound…” Kate let out a gasp as a kick connected. She’d tried to step backwards but Yelena had anticipated her, grabbing Kate's arm and pulling her back into the attack. “Winded.”
Trying to sound anything but, Kate said, “No, nope, I’m good. What’s up?” The next time Yelena moved in, Kate let it happen. Just before Yelena pulled her into a headlock she rescued the phone and held it to her ear while Yelena choked her.
“I just wanted to hear your voice. You’re not busy are you?”
When Yelena realized she wasn’t going to get anything from Kate she made another noise of disgust and released Kate. “Nope, just working.”
“Oh, really? Where are you working?”
Kate’s brain scrambled for anything she could safely say to her mother. “Oh, did I say working? Sorry, I meant working out. That must be why I sound so out of breath.”
Even though Yelena, Natasha, and Maria had been trying to train Kate on how to lie, it clearly hadn’t worked at all. But Eleanor had the social graces to let it go. They chatted for a few minutes more about nothing. Kate still wasn’t sure where they stood, so she bit her tongue on all the questions she really wanted to ask her mother. Finally the automated message came on warning them they had one minute, and they said their hasty goodbyes.
“What was that?” asked Yelena as soon as Kate had hung up.
“I just hoped she’d call back-”
“You cannot answer calls in the middle of a mission-”
“You think I don’t know that?”
“Maybe this is why you keep breaking phones-”
“I’m not a child, Yelena, and they are my phones to break.”
“Yes, but you do not have money to break them. How many times do I-”
“You don’t have to do anything. Keep your money to yourself. I am not your responsibility and I can handle-” Yelena’s smirk made Kate cut herself off. She couldn’t tell what her girlfriend was thinking, but she resented the implication that she couldn’t take care of herself. Stomping forward, she tossed the phone onto the bag behind Yelena and threw a punch.
But Yelena was gone, probably anticipating Kate’s every move since before she’d gotten off the phone. Kate spun around. “You were the one who told me to talk to my mom,” she said, moving towards Yelena.
“Yes, but not at the expense of your job. What if we had been stopping a mugging? Or freeing a widow?” Yelena kicked Kate back.
“But we weren’t,” said Kate. She rolled towards Yelena and struck out to sweep her off her feet. Yelena jumped over her leg and brought her elbow down into Kate’s shoulder. Kate grabbed Yelena’s arm and flipped her. Yelena landed on her back and Kate dove to pin her down. Yelena rolled away, kicking Kate back.
“We are training for the job, no?” They grappled and Kate took another blow to the face before getting a glancing hit on Yelena. “Then treat it all like the job.”
“Fuck you, Yelena.” Kate lost control and flew at Yelena. She didn’t know why she ever held back before - it didn’t matter when she was sparring with Yelena. If Yelena wanted to win, she would. And, apparently, she did.
By the time Natasha pried them apart Kate was barely standing. “What the hell is going on here?”
“Nothing,” said Kate sullenly, looking at the floor. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Yelena shake her head at her sister.
When they left it was in silence. The train out to Brooklyn was still packed with commuters so Kate let her mind wander as she studied the crowd, pretending the noise on the train was what kept them silent. At the apartment Yelena pulled out ingredients to start cooking a big dinner before they went out again to work in the city.
“Are you going to ignore me all night?” asked Kate, the silence finally getting to her.
“I am not ignoring you,” said Yelena gruffly.
“Really? Because that’s what it feels like.”
The sound of Yelena pulling a knife from the block made Kate jump. “Kate?” Yelena put the knife down, wiped her hands, and turned to face Kate. “I will not hurt you.” She reached for Kate’s chin, the smell of garlic filling Kate’s nose, pulling up until their eyes met. “You know I will never hurt you, no?”
“No. I mean yes. I mean-” Kate tried not to let herself snowball like she’d been practicing in therapy, but it was just too much. The conversation with her mom, the fight with Yelena. Much to her embarrassment she started to cry. Yelena already thought she was a child and here she was, acting like one. “I’m gonna-” Kate gestured towards the living room. Yelena looked stunned, but Kate turned and walked away. She just needed to get a hold of herself, prove to Yelena that she could handle things. That had been one of Yelena’s biggest complaints before they’d started dating - that Kate was irresponsible, reckless, naive - and while she knew Yelena wanted to be with her, she didn’t want Yelena to be disappointed. She couldn’t bear the thought that Yelena might leave.
By the time she’d gathered herself and returned to the kitchen their dinner was almost ready. Yelena’s face was blank, but she thanked Kate quietly as she helped finish up. Once they were seated Kate tentatively started chatting, hoping to keep the silence from stretching out. Yelena smiled softly at her and joined in. They didn’t talk about work or Eleanor or their fight - if they could even call it that - but it was nice to just talk of inconsequential things.
----
“Hello?”
“Hey sweetie.”
“Hey Mom.”
“I’m sorry.”
Of all the things Kate expected to hear from her mother, an apology was not one of them. “What?”
“I just… your dad died and we were in trouble and Mr. Fisk came looking for money that your dad owed him. I didn’t have any other choice, it seemed. He needed the money and I didn’t have any. I was only supposed to work for him until I’d paid off your dad’s debt. I probably should have just sold off the penthouse and paid him with that. But I didn’t want to disturb your life, and your dad had fought so hard to keep the penthouse in the family.”
“It’s okay Mom-”
“Look Kate,” Eleanor sighed, the sound echoing. “It’s not okay. I just wish… I just wish you hadn’t called the cops on me.”
That was what Kate had been waiting for. It felt like a physical blow, her chest tightening, making it hard to breathe. “Mom, I had to-”
"Look, once the trial is over we'll just move past this. Go back to the way things were."
The way things were? "I don't know, Mom…"
"It's okay, Kate. Everything will be okay. I think I've got some things figured out- anyway, you never finished telling me about your new job.”
“Wait, Mom-” What things figured out?
“You have one minute remaining.” Even though they’d had a few conversations, Kate still hadn’t figured out how to manage their conversations so as to not waste a moment. The awkward pauses seem to eat up all their time.
“Look, Kate, I love you. You know that, right? I just wanted to protect you.”
“I know. I love you, too, Mom. I just-”
“Thank you for using Securus. Goodbye.”
----
Incoming Call
718-546-7420
New York, New York
By now Kate knew what to expect. She accepted the call and waited for the automatic message to begin.
“Hello?” said the voice of a real human.
She almost dropped the phone in surprise. “Uh, hi.”
“Yes, I’m looking for Katherine Bishop.”
“This is she.”
“Hello, Ms. Bishop. This is Father Michael, I’m the chaplain at the Rose M. Singer Center. It is with great sadness that I’m calling to inform you that your mother has died-”
“What? No, no- that’s not possible- I just talked to her-” The world tilted.
“I’m so sorry, Ms. Bishop.” Her knees hit the floor. “If there’s anything I can do…”
Kate pulled on the neckline of her shirt, trying to keep it from choking her, but the choking feeling remained. “What- what happened?”
“Ms. Bishop, I think it’s best-”
The room felt like it was crumbling the same way it did the day her dad died. “Tell me!”
“She was found hanging in her cell. It’s not uncommon for inmates to commit-” A buzzing filled Kate’s ears.
“-have the funeral home contact the jail. If you need anything else, please contact me at-” Kate found herself mindlessly humming in agreement.
Finally the chaplain hung up. The phone slipped from Kate’s fingers and clattered on the floor. She winced, hoping it wasn’t broken; she didn’t think she could stand Yelena harassing her about her cracked screen ever again. Falling forwards, she placed her head on the cool marble of the foyer. Letting herself just rest - promising herself it would just be a minute - she tried to remember the way it felt to hug her mom, the way her mom smelled. The way she would smile at Kate.
“You’re the only thing that matters to me…”
“Everything will be okay…”
“You’re amazing…”
“I’m sorry...”
“I know exactly who you are. And I have a pretty good picture of who you’re becoming…”
“I think I've got some things figured out…”
“I just wanted to protect you…”
“Is this what superheroes do? Have their mothers arrested on Christmas?”
The choking sensation returned and Kate flipped over to yank at her shirt again. Through the skylight the sky was a pale blue. It reminded Kate of her mom’s eyes and she wondered if there would ever be a day for the rest of her life that she didn’t look for her mom - for both of her parents, really - because she knew how the memories would fade the same way the memories of her dad had. The tears overflowed and ran down to drip onto the floor. Was it possible to fill a room with tears like in Alice in Wonderland? Could Kate do that all by herself? Would she drown or would she float?
“Kate. Kate!” She hadn’t drowned. But maybe she had floated away. “Kate!” Yelena’s face filled her vision, blocking out the darkening sky. Her hands were running across Kate’s body, checking for injuries.
“Yelena, she’s gone. My mom’s gone.”