A Return of the Gift

[Catherine Novella]

With the manila envelope in hand Cat was fairly mad. She didn't take handouts. She knew who had done this and she wasn't happy. In fact she was mad. She had told him because she thought she could trust him. The librarian didn't get to spend money on her. It just wasn't right.

Frowning as she walked Cat went into the library trying to cool her anger. Who was he to give her a plane ticket? Cat wasn't happy with her employer in the least. Oh no, she was going to return it. As she walked through the shelves to get to his office she knew he would be in. he was always in on this day, always in at this time. She knew where to find him.

At first she was surprised when the envelope had showed up, and was extremely suspicious. Then her power kicked in. It was just an annoyance now. Upon her learning that it was Mr. Morrison that had bought the tickets, well she wasn't happy. Storming into the office Cat threw the manila folder down on the desk, right where he could see it.

" I don't need handouts."

[Eli Morrison]

Of course it had been Eli who had given Cat the tickets. A few weeks earlier, when they'd talked while eating dinner together--they were both taking extra hours now that the end of the school year was approaching and more students were staying later in the library--she'd confessed that she wasn't going to be able to spend as much time with her grandmother as she wished over the break, because they couldn't afford it.

It only seemed logical to Eli that he could help her there, and that the value of seeing her grandmother for longer was greater than the value of pride of not taking handouts. For the smartest man in the world, he got two things very wrong. The first was miscalculating the value of pride to those who have it, and the second was not taking Catherine's power into account when writing the envelope by hand.

Things like this were reasons why Mii called him an idiot sometimes.

When the irate intern stormed in, Eli stopped leaning back in his chair and took his feet off the desk. He even closed his book without looking at the page number first. As soon as he saw the envelope, he realized the latter of his mistakes. He couldn't just deny his involvement now.

"You said you wanted to see your Grandmother for longer. If she doesn't have to pay airfare, you can do that. What's wrong with that, Cat?" No, Eli just didn't get it.

[Catherine Novella]

What was wrong with it? WHAT WAS WRONG WITH IT? Cat couldn't believe what she was hearing. Really, the smartest man on earth most likely would be an idiot. Of course he would. Shaking her head and biting her lip to keep from saying something she crossed her arms and glared at him.

Because glaring made everything better. Cat didn't know what to say to him. She didn't take handouts and she didn't want his pity. She could handle her own battles. Hell she knew she was poor, but she always found a way to make it work. It was her problem. Not his!

Here she thought she could trust him. What a mistake.

One would think that he would know better. After basically two years working with her Eli should know her better by now. It was expected he might have done something in the past such as this, but now? Really he should know better. Cat didn't accept help. She hated pity.

" What is wrong with that Eli? What is wrong with that? Oh nothing except for the fact that I don't need pity!" Cat scoffed and tried to keep her voice down, they were in the library after all. "I told you that not because I wanted pity, but because I thought I was telling a friend!" Looking down Cat shook her head angrily. "That is what hurts the most. I thought I could trust you. " Cat gave a small laugh before looking at him with cold eyes. "Turns out I was wrong."

[Eli Morrison]

It really wasn't often that Eli Morrison looked confused. He hadn't believed Mii when she'd told him that his idea of a gift for Cat was a really bad idea. The librarian looked up at the intern and stood. He didn't respond right away, and went to the door and closed it. Even if she was trying to be quiet, he was going to keep this private. "What are you talking about, Cat? It wasn't pity."

He went back to his desk and sat down on the edge of it, though he was still towering over the girl. "It's not pity or anything like that. I just thought you should get to see your grandmother as much as you wanted. It's not fair that Hammel keeps that from you."

[Catherine Novella]

He didn't even know! Cat looked away trying to keep her temper. It was odd for the librarian to look this confused. He seemed to not know. This was bull. Complete bull. She didn't need any handouts and she didn't need any pity. Why couldn't he understand it? "Oh, so you just gave me the ticket because you knew I couldn't pay it? " Cat gave a little snort. " Eli that is called pity!" Shaking her head she looked away from him madder then ever. The stupid man didn't even understand.

She hated his height. She really really did. It wasn't fair he always got to reach the top shelf with no help. She always had to have a step, and a ladder, and even then she was still short. It wasn't right. Especially not now that he was using his height against her.

Cat glared up at her employer, as he mocked her with his height. " of course it isn't fair!"This whole thing wasn't fair. "Being a meta isn't fair! Being here isn't fair! Being the nerd isn't fair! But you know what? There isn't anything I can do about it. I deal with it. I ignore it. I don't let it get to me. I survive!" By now Cat was yelling at him. "I would have dealt with it! You didn't need to intervene." The tiny girl was red, from anger, her glasses low on her nose.

"Why in the world did you think you should intervene?"

[Eli Morrison]

"It wasn't pity, Catherine." Eli usually at least attempted to not sound condescending to the intern. He really did respect the work she did--all the parts of the librarian job that he didn't enjoy doing himself, particularly shelving the returned books--and he respected her. He liked her, and that's why he'd gone out of his way to do something kind.

Her rant didn't make sense though, and Eli couldn't manage to keep his opinion out of his voice. "I did it because I wanted to do something nice for you. You are a good worker and you deserve to get to see your grandmother. It's not intervening. It's just..." The librarian hadn't planned out what he would say in this situation because he genuinely hadn't believed Mii when she said it might happen.

"I 'intervened' because you wanted to see her. You don't owe me anything." That was the only possible issue he could see with it, but it was a gift, and he was pretty sure she knew that.

It was a gift, and people give gifts to people they like. He wasn't completely socially inept, even if he preferred not being around other people. He knew protocol for giving gifts, and this was completely reasonable.

[Catherine Novella]

Cat scoffed at his attitude. Why was he always so emotionless? He dared to say it wasn't pity. Obviously he was demented. She did her best, loved her work here in the library. What had she done to deserve such...pity?"Believe it or not it was pity. It came across as Pity." Even if he didn't mean it too it did.

Why in the world did he have to say that. "Jus what Mr. Morrison!?" Just what? she didn't deserve anything, nothing. Not fro him. He wasn't supposed to do such things. It was wrong and she and he knew it. That was why he couldn't come up with a Just. "It was intervening. I told you because I trusted you enough to tell you, the fact that you a)went behind my back and b) thought I would really appreciate this, well it makes me wonder why I ever trusted you in the first place."

"People don't just do things out of the goodness of their hearts." They both knew that to be true. She was a realist. "Of course something is owed." There was no such thing as good in people. It was non existent.

Such things weren't normal, would never be normal. Why did she have to trust someone? why? It wasn't right. The one time she opened up to someone, let them in her walls something like this happened. He was just making fun of her. He had always been making fun of her. Cat was in such a mood that tears came to her eyes. "Why would you intentionally make fun of me Mr. Morrison?" The words were said just barely above a whisper, as her voice failed her.Her tears were slowing streaming down her face now as she looked up at him before hiding in her hands. "I don't understand."