> Julia reached over and gently turned her face back to her, meeting Kat's
> gaze "Do you know how much you've come to mean to me, Kat? If anything
> ever happened to you....."
>
> She couldn't finish the sentence and blinked to keep the tears at bay.
She
> had seen the flash of doubt in Kat's eyes and focused on that, voice low,
> holding the necklace between them in her palm "This doesn't melt stars
Kat.
> And you can trust me on that considering where I've been. And you may not
> want to believe it about Miranda either but it happened. We... we almost
> lost Derek there, Kat. Everything I told you is the truth and you know I
> don't lie."
>
> She didn't want to say the word 'died'. Not ever when talking about Derek
> and that was as close as she could come to saying it.
>
> "And no matter what," she promised quietly "I will never get angry at you
if
> you just stay honest with me. I'm not angry now and I wasn't angry then.
> Disappointed and hurt, yes. But not angry."
>
> "And that's something we're going to have to work at....... if you want.
I
> want to trust you like I did Kat, without question and knowing you'll do
it
> because you said you would. But I'm not going to force you to do it."
>
> She reached out and placed the necklace in her smaller palm and closed her
> hand over Kat's before looking into her eyes "You hold on to that and
think
> about it. I'll still love you, Kat and I'll do whatever it takes to keep
> you safe, but it'll be up to you to decide what kind of friendship we
have."
>
Kat;
"Oh, I know that, they weren't real stars they were.....special ones and
they sort of melted and fell down.....I know you don't tell lies," she
added. "I believe you about Derek and everything, honest." She just
didn't, no couldnt' believe it was Miranda's fault. Kat looked down at the
chain as it hung over her hand. "Are you sure I can still keep it?" She
loved the necklace and didn't want to lose it. "I love you too," she added
softly, "I want you to trust me. I'll be good, you'll see."
