You Should Have Told Me

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Scene Title	You Should Have Told Me
Synopsis	Keeping secrets has repercussions.
Date	October 21, 2008

Dorchester Towers: Cat and Dani's Apartment

Not long after the incident at Greenwich Village, fully aware she may have killed someone, Cat makes it to the Surly Wench and plays her gig. The memory of that whole situation is with her and has an impact on her music; she's angsty and a bit on edge. Pints of stout are had between sets, breaks spent trying not to replay the whole thing in her mind over and over again.

Hours later, when she's done and at the apartment, the recollection returns. It's followed through to its conclusion, and her mind segues into replaying another situation tied to someone with radioactive power.

Cat finds herself trawling Perfect Memory Lane, starting from the point when she got home after Dani had pulled away from her touch in Rock's apartment and was given time to get in ahead of her.

Dani stalks inside, before turning to face Cat. "All this time. All this time and you didn't tell me. And worse, you fucking asked me to promise not to say anything! And you KNEW!"

"I did," she replies, closing the door behind her. Once it's secured Cat faces Dani. Her speaking voice is quiet, subdued. "I told you things about him were his story to tell. In the same way things about you are your story to tell. I haven't told anyone you started working at Linderman Group, and when you shared that, I didn't say anything about how it all came to be. Nothing about how you were hurt, and the choice you had to make about continuing on with the case." She pauses, drawing in a slow breath while hair is cleared from her face before stating "When you decided to approach Mr. Linderman and agreed to work with him, you didn't tell me beforehand what you had in mind."

The reporter…or ex-reporter…is a contrast. FURIOUS. "He killed thousands of people, Cat. TENS of thousands. There should be a bullet in his goddamn brainpan. Some things you DON'T KEEP SECRET. Some things people have a fucking right to know."

"It was two days before you arrived in New York, Dani," Cat answers in that same subdued voice. "We'd not begun our new relationship. If we had, I'd not have given him my word to keep silent. I'd have insisted you also be told, and told you myself. But I did give my word. And I told him flatly if I saw him losing it, I'd shoot him myself."

She slides down against the wall, to sit on the floor. "You weren't there to see the look on his face, the burden he carries, will always carry. I won't expect you to understand or agree with the decision. I can only hope you'll respect me keeping my word, the same as I do when I give my word to you. Can only hope you'll respect my judgment like I respect yours."

She shakes her head. "How can you defend him? THOUSANDS. DEAD. And he walks around free. And what, because he feels bad about it, that somehow makes it okay?! He should be locked up in the deepest hole we can find."

"I'm not defending him, or saying what happened is okay, not in the least. All I'm saying is keeping him in a hole or a cage accomplishes nothing. He can't accomplish any penance, make any amends, in a hole. I'm confident he won't lose it again. He's gotten control."

"He may have saved my life, Dani. The same night you were hurt and we took you to the hospital."

Danielle puts her hands on her hips. "It accomplishes nothing? It removes the risk of him blowing up tens of thousands of people again, Cat. And while I'm glad he's out good-samaritaning, that doesn't make up for it! And it's also completely irrelevant to you NOT TELLING ME."

"There's no risk of him nuking a city again, Dani." Cat closes her eyes, going quiet for a moment. When they reopen, there's hurt in them mixing with weariness. "I'm not asking you to believe in him. You won't. I'm just asking you to believe in me. Do you think, if I thought there was a risk like that, you'd have ever met him? That I'd not shoot him myself?"

She starts to pull herself up off the floor. "I am who I am. I gave him my word I wouldn't tell before you came to New York, and I've kept it. Same as I would and will when I give you my word. It was his story to tell, just as any confidence you share with me is yours, a thing I won't violate. Please, accept that and respect me for it."

Now she's starting to move toward the main room. "When Helena got accused of being Sylar and everything turned bad in the lobby, we had to move, my first thought was to warn you, let you know to get out in case people came looking and you'd not know where I was. I will never abandon you, Dani. I love you."

Danielle scowls. "You should never have asked me to make that promise. People who love each other don't keep secrets from each other, Cat. Especially not about something this big. My whole damn career was about bringing out the things that people deserved to know. And now you've hit me with the biggest one EVER. And believing you isn't the issue. YOU aren't the one that's gonna blow up!"

She stops in her tracks, turning around slowly to face Dani. Cat's expression is shifting from weariness and hurt to anger. Her voice becomes louder. "I didn't hit you with the secret. He did. He told you the story, Dani. You don't give me any credit for thinking along that path, of leading him to eventually confess and tell it all to you. You don't consider me thinking ahead of finding the right moment to have that story break, in such a way as it doesn't get anyone who knew locked away in a deep dark hole right along with him. Don't you realize what was happening last night? People were going to try locking Helena and I away simply because we knew the truth, that Senator Petrelli lied about everything! I've never lost sight of what this is really all about: reigning in people with power and making them be accountable to the public. It takes proof and patience to pull off. Asking you for that promise, this is what I'm asking you to understand."

Her head shakes a few times, and her voice returns to that subdued tone. "I'd never ask you to reveal sources for anything you looked into. I wouldn't fault you for anything you didn't tell me. And I'm not standing in your way, I'm not going to try keeping you from going out to tell the world everything right now. Did you miss it, when I said Helena would have to get through me if she wanted to try anything?"

The shorter woman is angry already. And bitter. "Oh, yes. God forbid that I haven't thought out every possible contingency to an outcome. You know, it's really easy to make claims like that when there's no way to disprove them. And no, I didn't miss it. You're just relying on my own ethics to not do it. So instead you make me be the one who has to choose between keeping her word or doing the right thing." With that said, she turns and starts to storm off to the other bedroom.

"It isn't a choice," Cat replies in that same subdued voice, "of keeping word versus doing the right thing. It's a choice of when and how to do the right thing. Of gaining trust, and leading others to doing the right thing. From the beginning, when you arrived in New York, I've been bringing you in. I could've put you in a hotel instead of bringing you here and letting you see what he etched in our main room. I'd never do that to you, whether you hate me or not. After Helena and I left this building with Peter, I could have left you here not knowing what was going on, to worry, but I didn't. I wouldn't. And I brought you with me when we set out to break his amnesia, not knowing what he might reveal. It was always my intention to see you learn it all. To get you in position to be the one carrying the story when it does become public. And I've been telling people about our relationship, because you wanted it to not be secret."

She takes a few steps down the hall, watching Dani's path, before stating "You're not a guest here. Never a guest. I'll use the guest room."

Dani shakes her head. "No. I will. While I try to figure out what I'm going to do." She continues on her path, before entering the guest room and shutting the door behind her.

She doesn't sleep in the bedroom. Cat brings out a sheet and a blanket and camps out on the sofa. Sleep is attempted, even though it's mid-afternoon after a night she found exhausting. A few hours later, at least by her intention, there will be an elaborate meal resting on the table for Dani to eat with a single red rose before her seat. Cat, by her plan, remains in the main room staring out the window. She won't speak, the choice of whether or not to have conversation is left with the offended companion.

Dani does rest…and brood. The scent of food finally makes her curious, and she steps out, looking at the meal, and then to Cat. She sighs. "Come eat." She finally says, her voice quiet.

She does, turning away from the window and entering the kitchen. "Thank you," Cat replies quietly. There's only one place set at the table, all the food on it is for Dani alone, just enough for her normal appetite. Tucked away in the refrigerator for herself to eat is something palatable, but far less splendorous. It's a bowl of spaghetti saved from the night before, which she places in the microwave to reheat.

Danielle sighs. Her anger has pretty much spent itself, and she moves to sit. "You should have told me." It's one last statement. That part, she isn't going to relinquish.

"I'm just happy you'll let me sit and eat with you, Dani," Cat replies. She takes out a bottle of cola from the refrigerator and fills a glass, replacing the bottle just in time for the microwave to beep. A fork is grabbed, she extracts her food, and sits at the table.

Danielle looks back at Cat, and sighs. "It's your place, Cat. I don't really have any say in the matter. You should have made enough for yourself too."

"It's our place," Cat answers. "Has been since you came to New York. And the dinner was for you, only for you, to eat without having to see me if you chose." Her fork enters the spaghetti and exits with a few strands curled around it, which are soon in her mouth.

Danielle smiles a little at that. "No. I'm angry, yes. But that doesn't mean that I don't want you around." She says. "We could always take this food and that food and split it."

"Yes," Cat agrees, moving to combine food as was suggested.

Danielle is quiet then. She eats, she thinks, and goes no further than that. Right now that's enough.

Her trip through remembrance of that night ends there, with the two of them eating. Cat, returning to the here and now, counts herself fortunate not to be alone and plans to share the story of what happened at Greenwich Village with Dani, as she had the tale of Cameron being found. But she'll do it later, given that Dani's asleep at that dark o'clock time of morning when she gets home.