Drink The Water
By Cheshyreand Missy

Part One
By Missy

SERIES: Drink The Water
AUTHORS: Missy (This part), Cheshyre (Last Part)
EMAIL: lasfic@yahoo.com, Cheshyre_Chick@yahoo.com
PARTS Total: Two
THIS PART: One
RATING: PG
PAIRING(s): L/L (Possibly)
DISTRIBUTION: To the LASFic Archives and possibly Kai so far, upon Chesh's approval; any other archives are welcome to ask, but disclaimers must be included, my email left intact. send a URL, and provide full disclaimers as well as credit me fully. Please inform me if you are going to submit my work to any sort of search engine. Please do not submit my work to a search engine that picks out random sets of words and uses them as key words, such as "Google"

Please contact me in order for this story to be placed on an archive, or if you want know of a friend who would enjoy my works, please email me their address and I will mail them the stories, expressly for the purpose of link trading. MiSTiers are welcomed! Please do inform me that you'd like to do the MiSTing, however, and send me a copy of the finished product. I'd also love to archive any MiSTings that are made of my work!

CATEGORY: L/L(?), Sequel
FEEDBACK: PLEASE?!
SETTING IN TIMELINE: Milwaukee
SPOILLER/SUMMARY: Laverne's haunted by her bad dream.

NOTES: You will need to read Chesh's "Milk N Pepsi" before you read this, as it's a sequel to that piece.

****

"Laverne! You're capping your thumb!"

She winced, realizing that she had been constricting her thumb with the top of the cap. Gingerly, she unscrewed it and went back to work.

"Honestly, Laverne, where has your mind gone? You've been out of your head ever since this morning..."

"Yeah, I'm sorry, Shirl." She yelled, over the clank of machinery, "I..." She wanted to tell her best friend all about the horrible nightmare she had experienced the night before, but that would've been silly.

"You'd better gets your wits about you; they're dedicating the new skywalk over the vats today. There should be some nice, single executives looking for you..."

Laverne smiled, "Yeah..." Her mind was on anything but the vats.

Finally, a whistle blew, ending their shift.

***

Shirley tugged at the sleeves of her bright white dress. Laverne stared blankly at it, as she switched into an orange sundress. It looked just like the one she had been wearing in Laverne's nightmare.

"What?" Shirley asked peevishly.

"Nothing." She slammed the door to her locker, placing her camera around her neck.

"Laverne, something's bothering you. Just tell me what it is."

"It's nothing. Shirl. There ain't anything here that bothers me."

"Hello!" The break room door slammed open, and Squiggy swaggered into the room, Lenny behind him.

Shirley sighed, slamming the door to her locked closed. "What do you want, boys?"

"They're havin' the unveiling in a minute. Come on, you're makin' us late!"

"Why did you wait for us?" Shirley frowned. Squiggy grabbed her by the wrist, dragging her out the door. "Laverne! Help me!" She squealed, as Squiggy dragged her down the hallway.

Laverne helped by rolling her eyes, smiling at Lenny. "Those two're never gonna get along."

"Yeah." He smiled at her. As far as he was concerned, the room was empty. He reached out to take her hand. "Come on, I don't wanna miss the-"

But she had dodged his touch, running away at an unbelievable pace.

***

"...And it's with great pride that we dedicate the Alma Shotz Memorial Observatory. May the tourist dollars brought in by its presence bring many happy returns for our employees!"

With that, Mister Shotz cut the ribbon curtaining off the walkway, and his employees followed him across its elongated path.

"Well, isn't this classy?" Shirley asked, appraising the walkway. Squiggy shrugged, staring out one of the many observation windows.

"It's justa bunch of windows. Willya look at that? The walls are all dirty already!"

"It's a working factory, Squiggy! You can't expect anything to stay clean for long...you should know that." Shirley said, disgust in her voice.

"That's enough, woman!"

Lenny stared down at the vat and, with nothing else to say, stated, "Wow, wouldya look at alla those hops Laverne? Laverne?"

But she stared in mute horror at the scene below her. Replace that vat with a bed, and it looked just like her nightmare vision of the hospital.

"Vernie, what's..."

"Don't touch me!" She yelled, and everyone, even Shirley and Squiggy, turned to see what she had been screaming about. She faked a cough, and pushed away Lenny's hand.

"What's wrong with you?" She wouldn't answer. "Oh, you're too good ta see me, now that you're datin' Kevin in yeast?" No answer. "I ain't gonna talk to you no more!"

And to her relief, he left her alone.

***

"Laverne, stop lying around like a slug-abed!"

Laverne grunted a noncommittal response. She hadn't moved since they had returned from the unveiling at Shotz, and Shirley needed the extra help.

"If I don't get dinner started now, we'll never be ready for our date tonight!"

"Date?" Laverne's eyes widened.

"Yes, date. We're going out with Chad and Kevin from yeast, remember?"

Cold sweat beaded up upon Laverne's arm. "I can't go!"

"Whattya mean you can't go?"

"Tell 'em I'm sick!"

"Laverne, are you feeling okay?"

"No, like I said; I'm getting a cold..." She coughed, "See? I'm coughing..."

"I don't believe you, let me feel your fore-" Laverne sat up and began, deliberately, to cough in Shirley's direction. Wanting to stay well for her date, Shirley shrank backward. "I'm sure you're really sick. It's a real shame, Laverne..." She crossed the room and pulled off the top of a flat box. "Because I got this on sale for you to wear tonight."

Laverne scrambled backward against the couch, suppressing a scream at the sight of the dress. Bright green, tied at the throat, it so strongly resembled her dream maternity gown that she shivered.

"It's a fine new Paris original...which I got at a huge discount because of irregular seamwork. See?" Laverne nodded her head mutely.

"You've got a sore throat, too?"

She still had the weawithal to nod her head.

"Poor girl. I'll just have to ask Terri Buttafuco if she wants to take Chad..."

Shirley strolled off to make a call, leaving Laverne to stare at the gown in silence.

***

"You're being stupid." She said out loud to herself. She swallowed the rest of the chicken soup Shirley had made for her. "It sure ain't botherin' your appetite now!"

She washed the dishes, then settled down on the sofa. "A little Sea Hunt'll make everything better..." Laverne reached over to turn the television on, but couldn't find the rabit ears.

"Where did Shirl put 'em?" She muttered, searching over the counters and, in desperation, underneath the coffee table. She found them, sticking out of a box marked "Laverne's things."

Laverne didn't remember storing any of her possessions underneath the table, and, driven by her own curiosity, she pulled open the cardboard flaps and pushed back the soft material quilting the objects within.

When she pulled one out into the light she screamed; screamed and ran into the bedroom.

On the table lay a baby's rattle, cosseted and coddled in the lap of a blue teddy bear.

Someone knocked at the door, but she did not answer it. "Laverne?" Mrs. Babbish called. "Shirley? They must be on a date." She strolled over to the table. "Looks like curiosity killed the cat." She chuckled, wrapping the rattle back up in the baby quilt. "Frank said Laverne wouldn't mind me giving these things to the mission. I'm sure he talked to her about it...."

**

"Laverne!! Let me into the bedroom!"

Laverne lay on her bed, curled up. "No! Go away!"

"You're acting like a child, even for a sick person!"

"Wanna know the truth? I ain't sick, Shirl!"

"Then why are you..."

"I can't say!"

"Laverne, I've slept on the couch all weekend! It's Sunday night and I want to rest in my own bed!"

"Lemme alone!"

Shirley suddenly stopped shouting. She heard Shirley's voice, restrained and quiet, and little snippets of the conversation. "Two days...won't tell me what's wrong...her father's in New York...yelled at Carmine..."

Another set of footsteps, marching in her direction, and a knock.

"I ain't opening the door, Shirl!"

"It ain't Shirley!"

She sat up for the first time in two days. "Lenny?"



On To Chapter 2











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