Disclaimer: I do not own Nightmare on Elm Street or any of the characters involved…

Title: Mother

Rating: T

Genre: Family, Hurt/Comfort.

Pairings: Loretta and Katherine (their relationship as mother and daughter!)

Author's Note: I have noticed that there is hardly any stories focused on Katherine and her relationship with her mother Loretta. So, I came up with this little one shot!

Summary: Loretta's time spent with her daughter wasn't as often as she wished.. But whenever she did, she felt nothing but pride to have her as her daughter. It gave her great pleasure to be Katherine's mother.

Mother

Loretta looked down at her little five year old daughter Katherine as she gently took the end of the bed sheets in her hands. It was their usual Saturday afternoon routine of doing the laundry. Much like most of her household chores, Katherine would offer her assistance. But some tasks were a little too strenuous for her. But still she did like to try her best to help. Yet again her husband Fred was out, going to do some errands as he so bluntly put it. So, it was just them two in the house as they stood in the basement.

Katherine stood in front of the stairs as she held the two corners of the bed sheets that stretched out across to her mother who grasped the other two ends. She beckoned her forward and slowly Katherine walked forward until both the ends of the bed covers were joined together. Loretta smiled and took the sheet off of her and folded it neatly in two and placed it in the laundry basket at her feet. Bending down she lifted a few of Katherine's vest tops and handed them to her, "Go and put them in your room. I'll be up in a few minutes"

Katherine grinned and held her clothes close to her chest, spinning away towards the steps and was soon out of sight. Loretta gripped the laundry basket and exhaustedly waked towards the staircase, her gaze set upon the door to Fred's secret room. Musingly she grabbed the silver lock and tugged it once. It was locked as usual. There had to be a way of finding out what was inside that damn room.

What was inside that was so bad that he didn't want her to see? They were husband and wife, they weren't meant to have secrets from each other. Their marriage was meant to built on trust. It was coming up to nearly seven years since they were married and she had never kept a secret from him. He knew everything about her, all her faults and flaws. Why was he being so cagey? It wasn't fair on her, did he not trust her?

She recalled a few months ago that when she was down here doing the laundry that she had noticed the door to the room was slightly ajar and when she was about to open the door, he had came down from the kitchen and well he wasn't one bit happy with her. His right hand had made a pretty nasty bruise on her cheek. She honestly thought he was going rip her shoulders out of her sockets he was gripping her that hard as he screamed at her. She had pleaded for his forgiveness and for the next few days he barely paid any attention to her, ignoring her. It was five days later that he finally came around to talking to her.

The next day after their little argument Katherine had given her mother a curious look and asked how she got the small bruise on her lip. What could she say? That her father had given her it because she nearly went into his room? All Loretta did say was that she accidentally fell down the stairs the night before when Katheirne was sleeping. That it was a stupid little accident. Loretta knew she was always too inquisitive, too prying and that it was her own fault for trying to snoop in his room. It was her questioning nature that she got from her own mother and she knew Katherine had the same traits as her. Being too curious for her own good.

Sighing in frustration Loretta steadily made her way up the steps and entered the kitchen where she saw the Springwood Gazette on the table. She leaned forward over the paper and read the headline.

SPRINGWOOD SLAHSER STRIKES AGAIN!

A shiver shot up her spine as she read the first few sentences. Another child was missing, a girl who was only six years old. Her name was Holly Garland. It had all the hallmarks of that monster who had been terrorising the town over the last four years. God knew how many innocent children that bastard had murdered by now. The police efforts in finding him were fruitless to say the least. How hard was it to find one man in this small town?

Her thoughts soon went towards Katherine. It would destroy her if that bastard got her. She was the most precious thing in her life. Of course she loved Fred, but her daughter was her whole world. Lifting her head she swiftly left the kitchen and climbed up the staircase to the landing, wondering what was keeping Katherine so long? What was she up to? There was always a little mischievous and playful side to her, something that she probably got off her father. As she approached her bedroom she could faintly heard her daughter's soft giggles from behind the door.

Standing at the door way Loretta peered inside the room and broke out into a bright smile at the scene before her. Katherine stood in the middle of the room staring at herself in the long five foot mirror, with her mother's black fur coat draped on her little frame covering her white frilly dress. It was way too big for her and engulfed her small body. On her feet were her mother's black high-heeled shoes and grasped in her right hand was her mother curved black handbag that swung back and forth. Loretta chuckled lightly as yet again Katherine was wearing her pearl necklace. It appeared she was it was her favourite piece of jewellery to wear of hers. From the looks of it, she was all ready to go out to a party!

Loretta quickly stepped into the room and sat down the laundry basket to her left and cleared her throat softly, "What are you doing young madam?"

Katherine spun around to face her mother, nearly tippling over on her mother's shoes. She blushed and gave an apologetic smile, "Hi, mommy! Um, I was getting ready!"

"Getting ready?" Loretta asked, intrigued, "Where are you going?"

Katherine hobbled closer to her mother as she sat at her dresser and gently placed her hands on her lap, she smiled warmly at her daughter.

"I'm going to the Ritz!" Katherine grinned, "All the rich and famous people go there!"

Her mother giggled and straightened out the creases in her long knee length skirt and beckoned her daughter closer to her, "Oh, do they? Are you going by yourself?"

She shook her head and proudly replied, "I've got a date!"

Loretta gasped in mock surprise as she played along with her daughter, "Really? Well, you have to ask your daddy if you can go on a date! You are a little young!"

Katherine frowned in dismay, then an idea crossed her mind. "What if I bring my date here first? Then daddy can meet him before I go out on my date. He'll see that my date is nice and friendly!"

"That would be a good idea!" Loretta laughed at her idea, she seemed to have an answer for everything. "What do you call him?"

"He's Prince Charming!" Katherine beamed.

"Oh, he's a prince? He sounds wonderful!"

"He is and he lives in a big castle! He has these lovely white horses and a big golden throne!" Katherine replied, "I'm his princess. See like daddy calls me a princess all the time!"

"Well" Loretta smirked merrily, "Your daddy is right. You are a little princess!" she then turned towards her makeup bag and unzipped it, "Does the princess want some nice lipstick on? Maybe if she wants to give prince charming a kiss?"

Her face quickly contorted into a look of utter repulsion, "Eww, I have to kiss him? That's yucky!"

A vigorous laugh came from her mother and she shook her head, "Okay, you don't have to kiss him. But you do want to look pretty for him, don't you?"

"Yeah!" she nodded deftly and then hobbled closer to her mother as he picked out two small black lipsticks from her makeup bag. She twisted them both, showing the colours to Katherine. "What colour? A nice ruby red or pink?"

Katherine pointed at the red one, "That one please!"

Loretta nodded and gently cupped her daughter's chin with her left hand, holding her at piece and then murmured, "Now, part your lips a little"

Katherine grew still and held her breath as her mother gently applied the red lipstick to her lips, making her lips a little fuller and stand out more. Loretta smiled and then suggested, "Now, smack your lips together lightly"

Katherine complied and then gave a big cheesy grin, making Loretta chortle at her. "Now, we have to give you some blusher for your cheeks. Make them nice and rosy!"

The young child watched as her mother lifted out a small blusher palette and popped it open, then rubbed a small blusher brush against the pink powder and then turned back to her. She then began applying the powder to her cheeks lightly with a few brushes of the brush. Soon she had a nice rosy glow to her cheeks and Loretta smiled lovingly at her as she twisted around to the mirror. A big grin grew across her face and she then eyed up her mother's jewellery box. "Can I get my ears pierced one day? I want to wear nice ear-rings like you do!"

"Well, I have a pair of pearl ear-rings that you can clasp onto your ear. They'll match your necklace and I also have nice pearl bracelet too!"

"Really?" Katherine squeaked in surprise, "Oh, can you put my hair in a nice bun? I have to get my hair done for the dinner party too!"

"It seems as though you are wanting to impress Prince Charming!" Loretta teased.

Katherine's cheeks went an even darker shade of red as she blushed, "Yeah, he's really handsome!"

"Oh, it seems my little girl has a crush!" Loretta chirped and then gently turned her around to untie her two pigtails. Both her hands gathered her dark blond hair and pulled it backwards, wrapping it into a tight bun and then grabbed a black hair band and tied the hair tightly. She then took the two red ribbons and wrapped them around the bun, tying it firmly into two bows. Katherine then spun back to her and kept at peace as her mother pulled down a strand of hair at each side of her face and curled it in her fingers, then untangled it. Making both strands into loose curls that hung at the side of her face.

Loretta studied her daughter slowly, her heart bursting with pride at how adorable she looked. There was no doubt about it, when she grew up she was going to be exquisite! Gently she leaned forward and kissed her firmly on the forehead, "You are beautiful Katherine. All the boys will be chasing after you when you grow up. You'll be spoilt for choice!"

Katherine grinned in delight and then timidly clasped her hands together and noticed that her nails were too plain! "Do you any nail polish? Would you pain my nails?"

Loretta nodded and lifted up a small pink nail varnish, "You really are putting in a big effort aren't you?"

"Yeah mommy! You did say I have to look pretty!" Katherine rebuked joyously

She nodded quickly and applied the pink varnish to Katherine's nails and gently blew onto the nails, helping the varnish dry a little faster. After a few minutes Katherine slowly stretched her hands out in front of her, marvelling at her baby pink nails. Her mother then tenderly clasped the two pearl ear-rings to her earlobes and then pulled on the small matching pearl bracelet onto her right wrist.

"Is that me all done, mommy?"

"No" Loretta grabbed a small oval shaped bottle of perfume, "You have to smell nice too, don't you?"

Katherine nodded and held out her wrists for her mother to spray the prefume on. But her mother shook her head, "I'm going to show you how to put the perfume on you. There's a special way that can make the perfume last longer. Just watch what I do, okay?"

Katherine watched with great intrigue as her mother squirted the perfume against her left wrist and then firmly rubbed it against her right wrist. Then she squirted some more perfume on her right wrist and then gently massaged the wrist against the side of her neck. She smiled at her daughter and handed the flowered scented perfume over to her, "Go on sweetie. Do what I showed you there. It's really easy"

Katherine grabbed the perfume in her right and slowly copied what her mother did, all the while being watched intently by Loretta. She broke out into a satisfied smile at her doing it correctly, just like she showed her. She had to admit Katherine did look rather elegant, like a movie star.

Hopefully Fred wouldn't be too angry that she had put some makeup on Katherine. It seemed he was always a little fussy when it came to Katherine. In regards to what she did, what clothes she wore. How her hair was styled, it seemed in a way he was rather controlling over her appearance.

But this was only a little bit of girly fun, some mother and daughter time. This was something that Loretta hardly had any time to do with her. She was always too busy with the housework, making sure that everything was nice and tidy for their family. The time she spent with Katherine was very seldom to her dismay and it was something that she wanted to rectify. Over the last year or two she had noticed that Katherine was becoming a 'daddy's girl', spending most of her time in the garden playing with Fred whenever he had time off work.

One thing was for sure, she was going to have to make more of an effort of spending time with Katherine. She was growing up too fast and she didn't want to miss the fun times she could have with her. Just like this very moment. It was quite gratifying getting her all dolled up for her 'dinner date'.

Her attention was caught as she saw a figure standing in the doorway to the room and she lifted her gaze as Fred came into the room. He stared down in awe at his daughter dressed up in mother's coat, shoes and jewellery. A small chuckle came from him as he asked, "So, what have you two ladies been up to?"

Katherine squealed in delight at the sound of her father's voice and spun around to him, nearly tumbling to the floor in her heels. Steadying herself she grinned up at him, "Hi daddy! Mommy was getting me ready for my date!"

Fred rose an eyebrow in bemusement and looked over to his wife who smirked and then looked down at her cream skirt, hoping that he wasn't going to get angry. He then averted his gaze towards his daughter and questioned, "A date?"

"Yeah!" Katherine cheeped, "I'm going to a dinner date with Prince Charming! Mommy did my make up and I'm taking a lend of her pearls! Do I look nice daddy?"

Both her parents smiled brightly as she slowly twirled around, showing off her outfit and her glamorous makeup. Freddy chuckled gleefully and took a few steps towards her, "You look gorgeous! But remember you be back before mid-night or daddy might have to have words with that Prince Charming!"

Katherine nodded, "Don't worry daddy, I'll be back in bed before then!"

He smirked and kissed her on the forehead, before venturing over to his bed. Loretta gestured her daughter closer to her and handed over her red lipstick, "Now, you can take my lipstick and put itin your bag okay?"

"Thanks!" Katherine grinned, "Can I go now? I don't want to be late!"

"Okay, have fun" Loretta smiled joyfully and watched as she slowly left the room.

At this very moment she never felt so proud and happy to be her mother. It was the greatest feeling in the world.