Twilight Interlude
By Shotzette

Twilight Interlude

By Shotzette
Rated R


This is a work of fanfiction only! No dollars were made, no trees were sacrificed, and no intellectual property or copyrights were pilfered. This was just written for the amusement of myself and other fans.


This story was inspired by (but not the way she intended) a challenge by Missy and a line from OTF's last series, "The Chosen". Bless their little hearts.




Lenny Kosnowski sighed as he put a little more muscle towards budging his stuck apartment door. Stupid door. Stupid, rotten, crappy day to boot; which was topped off by the worst traffic jam ever. Between the motionless cars and the seemingly endless detours, it had taken him nearly an hour to get back home to Knapp Street. Not that he was coming home to anything better, since Squiggy working overtime to pay off the loan for his mail order detective kit. All tonight could offer him was frozen tater tots, Perry Mason, and re-reading last month's Black Scorpion comic. Yippee.

Lenny smirked. If he'd thought all of this out beforehand, he could have made plans, done something fun. Maybe with Laverne? He pushed that thought aside the second it materialized. Laverne didn't want him, that was for sure. He'd overheard her at work earlier talking to Shirley about the movie Norman was taking her to tonight.

The image of the two of them together was all the motivation Lenny needed as he slammed his shoulder into the door only to feel it suddenly fly open as usual. He stepped into the apartment he shared with Squiggy and blinked in confusion. Even though it was still daylight, the shades were drawn, shrouding the studio apartment in darkness, save for the light of one candle burning on his kitchen table. Lenny stepped towards the candle, noting that it put out a considerable amount of light for only one flame. The candle's scent was vaguely familiar, but he just couldn't place it. He would have wracked his brain all night trying to figure out where he knew the scent from, if he hadn't been distracted by a faint cough coming from the end of the room. Lenny looked towards the bunk beds he shared with Squiggy, and his jaw nearly hit the floor.

Laverne DeFazio sat on the lower bunk, wearing only his good shirt and a warm smile. "Hi," she said.

Lenny's mouth opened and closed several times, and he ridiculously reminded himself of the trout he caught in Lake Michigan the previous summer. "Laverne?" He squeaked, not believing his eyes, or his luck.

"Surprise," she said, as she stood up and glided over to him.

He said nothing, but merely stared at her bare legs. Laverne stopped less than an inch in front of him. She said nothing, but merely stared up at him appraisingly.

Anger welled inside of him. If she thought she could just dangle herself in front of him like a carrot in front of a donkey, she had another thing coming. "What do you need, Laverne? Help moving a heavy piece of furniture? Me driving you someplace? Some big dummy who will risk his neck for one of your's and Shirley's schemes? I hate to be the one to tell you, but that guy ain't here for you no more. If you want something like that, you go ask you're boyfriend."

"I ain't got a boyfriend."

"Well Norman's been doing a pretty good impression of one lately. Let me guess, whatever you need, Norman turned you down, and you've come to old, reliable Lenny. Again."

"I went out with Norman tonight to tell him we were through."

"Yeah, right! Like you'd ever ditch a guy with a good job who was serious about you. Don't make me laugh!" Lenny muttered derisively, although his attempt at a laugh came out sounding more like some sort of animal in pain.

"It's the truth, Len. Norman's a really great guy, but he's not the right guy for me. I told him that tonight. I hope he'll be okay," she mumbled, as her green eyes looked away from him briefly. "You're right. Norman was getting serious, a lot more than I was. I couldn't string him along."

"Since when?" The word's were out of Lenny's mouth before he could stop them. Although his cheeks reddened with shame, he returned her stare defiantly.

"Do you remember when we all went to La Fondue a few months ago?"

He blinked in surprise at her sudden change of topic before replying, "Yeah. The pity date that me and Squig paid fifty bucks for."

Laverne cocked her head to one side and looked at him, her brow furrowing. "Is that what you think that night was?"

"Yeah. Me and Squig got stood up, and we conned you and Shirl into going out with us."

"That was a wild night," Laverne said, as she smiled at him, "I had a terrific time."

"I thought you did," he answered, smiling despite himself. "But then, when me and Squig asked you out again, you turned us down cold."

"Yeah, I did. But that kind of hit me pretty fast. And," she said, as she moved closer towards him, "just because I had fun, it didn't mean that I wanted to go out on another double date."

"Damn it!" Lenny's shout rang through the tiny studio apartment. "I'm tired of you playing with me, Vernie! One second you want to go out on a date with me, the next you don't!

"Shhh..." Laverne gently placed her index finger against his lips. "You're missing the point, Len."

"Yeah, cause I'm so stupid, right?" he asked bitterly, as he wished with ever fiber of his being that he was back in the middle of that awful traffic jam.

Laverne ignored his histrionics. "The key word was *double-date*. If you had just asked me out, y'know, just the two of us, I would have said yes."

Lenny looked at her, a thousand questions forming in his mind. He croaked out the simplest one. "Why?"

"Do you remember when I kissed you that night?"

Lenny's face twisted into it's familiar painful smirk, a motion he had perfected after a lifetime of shrugging off disapointment and pain. "Yeah, the pity kiss that ended the pity date."

"I won't lie to you Len, that's all it was in the beginning." Laverne looked into his eyes with an earnest expression that he had never seen on her before. "I didn't expect to like that kiss. Heck, I didn't expect to make it through that kiss. But, I've been thinking about that kiss non-stop for the last two months."

He watched her, stunned as Laverne continued to explain.

"I didn't want to feel what I felt--still feel, so I started going out a lot more. I mean, there are so many things about you that drive me crazy, I couldn't even sit down and make out a list. But, no matter how many guys I went out with, I couldn't stop thinking about you."

"You sure gave it one helluva try, though," was his cold reply.

She ignored his remark and continued, "You're a weird guy, Len. There's no two ways about that. But, you are also the sweetest, most caring man I know. You're my best guy friend, you know that, don't you?"

Lenny turned away from her. "All that means is I'm your fall back guy. I'm the guy you run to when Mr. Right don't work out. I'm the poor slob who picks up your pieces until the next Mr. Right comes along, ain't I?" He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder, before feeling her press her full length against him.

"I"m sorry you see it that way," she murmured into his ear, as he vainly tried to suppress the shivers that her nearness caused. "I just didn't understand until now that my best guy friend could be my Mr. Right. I didn't know that what I've been hunting for all this time has been right under my nose."

Lenny turned around swiftly, half expecting her to spring back. Her nearness should have encouraged him, but he was too used to have the rug pulled out from under him at the last minute. "Is that it? You finally realize I'm not scum and I'm supposed to jump for joy? It ain't going to happen. You know how I know that? When all is said and done, I'm still Lenny and your still Laverne. I'm the guy who can't do nothing right, and you're the girl who's always looking for the next guy," he said harshly.

Laverne sighed. "You ain't perfect, Lenny. I get that. I ain't perfect, either. We've both been around the block enough times to know that there ain't no guarantees in this life. All I'm saying is," she asked as she moved closer to him, so close he could imagine the sensation of her nipples burning through his tee shirt, "can we try to love each other? Please?" Her last word was breathed against his lip, inaudible, but unmistakable."

Lenny allowed himself to enjoy the warm silk of her lips against his own, while he braced himself for her rejection or worse, laughter. Instead, he felt Laverne's arms encircle his neck as she pulled herself closer. "Please," she repeated, before her tongue began to lightly flick against his lips.

Lenny's hands gripped her upper arms briefly as the last of his control was shattered. He forced himself to shove his reservations aside while he clutched her against him. His tongue warred with hers as he heard Laverne sigh as if in relief. His hands started to roam across her back aggressivley, the lack of a bra strap nearly pushing himself to his limit.

Laverne broke the kiss. As she stood there, gasping for air, the unadulterated passion in her eyes the most beautiful sight he had ever seen. Her green eyes never left his as her fingers flew to the buttons of the wrinkled and over sized shirt she wore.

Lenny clasped her hands in his own, and surprised himself by saying, "Wait, Vernie. You don't got to prove nothing tonight."

She shook her head and favored him with a smile that all but brought him to his knees. "I know that, Lenny. I just don't want for us to waste any more time than we already have." She lay her cool fingers against his flushed cheek. "I don't want us to hold anything back from each other, okay?"

Dumbly he nodded, all the while praying he wouldn't awaken from his marvelous dream anytime soon.

Laverne's fingers returned to the buttons on his good shirt, the sincerity in her eyes preventing the moment from being anything like the tawdry moments he had experienced with strippers when he'd had the cash. As the discarded shirt hit the floor, Lenny swayed dizzily, overwhelmed by the reality in front of him. Smiling, Laverne stepped back into his arms, as she eased the Lone Wolf jacket off of his shoulders.

Lenny's hands roamed her body again, and he delighted in feeling her chilled flesh warm beneath his fingers. Pulling away from her, Lenny gently pressed Laverne down onto the lower bunk He smiled as she shimmied under his warm blanket, and used the time to quickly disrobe. He eagerly slid under the blanket next to her, pressing against her urgently.

Their limbs entertwined in the confinement of the single bed, the forced intimacy limiting him to gently cover her face with kisses. Lenny moaned as Laverne's hands caressed him, her combination of passion and experience nearly pushing him to the brink. He forced himself to slow down, to pull away from the lips he had dreamed of kissing since junior high. "Are you sure?" he rasped, gesturing towards her mid section, "It's okay?" A tiny, selfish part of him hoped it wasn't, a baby--Hell, even triplets, to come along and bind her to him forever. Her hungry kiss was all the answer he needed.

Laverne moaned as he entered her, and she began to writhe against him. He felt a surprise jolt of relief that he wasn't her first--he couldn't hurt her, he couldn't ruin the one moment she had dreamed about since puberty-- they could just relax and love each other. His apartment became silent except for their gasps, moans, and the squeaking of the dilapidated bed frame. Just when he thought he couldn't hold out a moment longer, Laverne clutched him to her as her legs tightened around him. Her eyes flew open and fixed on his as he felt his own control leave him. Staring at each other, they rode their passion to the breaking point.

Afterwards, he rolled onto his side, clutching her against him, still imbedded in her warmth. Words were now unnecessary, their communication was only their soothing caresses and gentle kisses. Laverne looked at him with an expression of utter contentment as he kissed her fingertips one by one, and lay her head against his chest. Lenny's eyelids began to droop as the sound of her rhythmic breathing lulled him into sleep.


*****

The maniacal pounding on his door awoke Lenny with a start. He looked around his apartment blearily, as he tried to regain his bearings. Last night, Laverne... Her scent still clung to his sheets, and he forced himself to relax. It hadn't been a dream. She came to him last night and they... Any further reverie was cut off by Squiggy's angry shout.

"Goddamnit, Lenny! Let me in!" The racket outside his door rose to a din that no one could ignore.

Lenny glanced at the closed bathroom door and was relieved to see light radiating between the bottom of the door and his floor. He smiled. Laverne must have heard Squig and hightailed it out of his bed before his sleepy behind had even woken up. Grinning, Lenny wrapped the now loose sheet around his midsection and made his way to the front door. "Pipe down, Squiggy. Do you want to wake up the whole neighborhood?" He'd barely turned the door knob when his roommate burst into the apartment, bristling with indignation.

"Where the hell were you last night?"

Lenny took in Squiggy's more disheveled than usual appearance and the wild look in his eye before answering slowly. "I was here. I live here, remember?"

Squiggy looked past him and his dark eyes lit upon the kitchen table. "No wonder I couldn't get ahold of you last night," he groused, pushing past Lenny to replace the telephone receiver in it's cradle.

"I just didn't want to be disturbed last night," Lenny mumbled, unable to meet his best friend's eye. Laverne must have taken it off the hook last night, to insure their privacy. Come to think of it, he didn't remember locking the door after he and Laverne...

Lenny coughed nervously and positioned himself between his roommate and the bathroom door. He wasn't going to let Squiggy's big yap jinx the wonderful night he'd just spent with Laverne. Just because they'd spent the night together, even he wasn't dense enough to assume she'd want everyone to know they were dating. And he knew she especially wouldn't want anyone to know what went on last night.

"I was trying to call you all night!"

"Why? Hey," he said, smirking as realization dawned, "you didn't come home last night. Way to go!"

"I spent the night with Shirley," Squiggy announced flatly, as is face looked anything but joyous.

"You sly devil, you!" Lenny leered, then became serious. "You might want to be careful, Squig. I think she and Carmine are in one of their on-again moments. He'd pound you into pulp if he found out you and his Angelface..."

"Carmine was there."

"Ewww! Squig, that ain't right..."

"Shut up!" The smaller man stared at him with a disconcerting intensity in his eyes. Abruptly, Sqiggy's face softened. "You big dummy, you don't know, do you?" he asked in a much more quiet tone of voice.

A chill gripped Lenny, as he looked nervously at the bathroom door.

"We was at the hospital all night," Squiggy continued, "You must have heard about the accident last night, Lenny. All the cops and the detours?"

Lenny shook his head, and glanced nervously back and forth from the bathroom door to Squiggy's face, as he tried not to hear his friend's words.

"Laverne and Norman was in a accident last night. A couple of goddamn kids were joyriding, they T-boned Norman's squad car in the intersection of Washington and Gruber. Norman's in a coma, and Laverne--" Squiggy's voice cracked, and he took a deep, shuddering breath before continuing...

Lenny threw chivalry aside as he whirled around and threw open the bathroom door. The empty room confirmed his worse fear. As his legs buckled under him, he sank to the floor, as Squiggy's next words reverberated through his soul.

"Laverne was killed instantly," Squiggy finished, as he too collapsed to the filthy apartment floor, and was overtaken by sobs.

It was at that moment Lenny knew why the candle, now burned down to the stub on his table, smelled familiar. It smelled of incense from a funeral mass.

FIN












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