Chapter Text
Kat knew there was nothing wrong with her.
Her grandmother liked to call her a late bloomer, but she was who she was.
She had come to terms with the fact that no matter what she did, she was never going to be the shining star in the family.
Her grandparents, Diedre and Freddie, had met when they were 17 years old and they fell in love. Four months after meeting, they were married in the Catholic Church and then a year later welcomed Kat’s mom, Fiona.
Now, 55 years later they were still madly in love.
Growing up Kat had wanted that, to find someone she could live with and love for the rest of her life.
Her own parents, Fiona and James, had met at college, married 6 months later and then had her older brother Freddie Jr.
A few years later they had Kat, named after her great grandmother.
Fiona and James thought the surprise of their lifetime was getting pregnant again when Kat was only 6 weeks old and 9 months later welcoming her Irish twin, Elijah James.
EJ hated that Kat was technically older even though they were basically raised like they were actually twins. However, for their parents, EJ was not the surprise of their life.
When Kat was 10, her youngest brother Jamie was born.
It seemed like her parents were on their way to living the same fairytale as her grandparents, until abruptly they weren’t.
When her parents divorced, it was anything but easy.
Her parents did their best, but more often than not Kat’s grandparents took the siblings for weekends and most of the summers.
Her Grams and Grandpa took all of them to Church every Sunday, taught them all how to play rugby, and treated them all the same.
Kat never realized she was any different from her brothers until they started growing up and branching out.
Growing up Catholic was fine, she still remembers the sacraments her and her brothers had to take throughout their childhood.
Her oldest brother Freddie had participated in both hers and EJ’s baptism and communion.
Then when she and EJ were 12 they got to participate in little Jamie’s. As much as she loves that kid, mostly what she remembers from that day was being jealous that her brothers got to wear suits and she had to wear a frilly dress.
That simply wasn’t her.
Once she realized she was Lesbian and that she didn’t have to follow exactly what the church said she felt more settled in her skin.
Unfortunately, the older she got, the more she realized how different she was from the rest of her family.
Freddie Jr. had gone to college and met the love of his life and gotten married.
Elijah James had met his current long term girlfriend in high school and if Kat had to guess, they were headed for an engagement sometime soon.
Kat had met a few girls in college, but none that piqued her interest.
Then she had met Fran and she felt like this was what she had been looking for.
Fran was perfect and had her whole life planned out.
Kat and Fran graduated and moved to the city into an apartment together. Kat thought she could finally breathe. She was the main character in this love story and it felt good.
Unfortunately, after 6 months of living together Fran decided that her plans no longer included Kat.
The issue with Fran was that she was so logical. Logically, because Fran had a steady job and made more money, she should be the one to stay in the apartment.
Logic could kiss Kat’s ass, but she really didn’t have another option.
So while Fran was at work one day, Kat packed her stuff up, loaded it in her jeep and went back to her hometown.
Moving back in with either of her parents wasn’t an option, so she moved back into her childhood bedroom at her grandparent’s house.
She felt like a failure and welcomed the farm chores that took her mind off the way her life wasn’t working out.
Everyone around her was moving on, and she was still here.