Hand In Hand
By Shotzette, Old Time Fan and Missy

Episode Nine
By Missy

Thank You To Chesh For Tireless Hours of Betaing!

Laverne stared out the window of Cedars Sinai hospital, dulled by endless parade of drama in her life. Lenny had returned with the coffee hours ago, only to discover an empty chair next to Laverne.

"What happened to Shirl?" He had asked.

"My fault," She admitted softly, "We fought."

"You're good at that," Lenny teased her, and she frowned at him. He kissed her forehead and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "Has the doctor said anything?"

Laverne shook her head, "Nothing." Her eyes fell on Rhonda, who had cried herself to sleep in the chair. Dark tracks of mascara had poured down her cheeks. "Poor Rhonda."

"Woah; times have changed, ain't they. Poor Rhonda?"

Laverne nodded, "She showed me all of these scripts that agents have been sending her. She swears that it's Squiggy, getting that all for her."

Lenny nodded, "When he can move, he's always on the phone for her." He sighed, "Where did Carmine go?"

"To see Shirley."

Lenny stiffened, "Oh. No."

"Oh yeah."

He tried to stand, but she held him back, "What?! I gotta go after him; he's gonna say something stupid!"

"It can't be more stupid than running off to New York to starve to death, so that someone'll notice you."

Lenny blushed, and she gave him a cuddle, "I oughta tell your pop that we're gonna get married tomorrow."

Laverne recognized his words as a joke, but gave him a sour look, "Yeah; I can wear that dress he showed me last week, the one with the big skirt!"

He pulled out his posh British accent, "Charming, Gov'ner. And should I wear tails?"

She grinned at him, "You do that real good."

"Thanks." He sighed, "Waddya wanna do, Vernie?"

She smiled, "Curl up in bed with you?"

He smiled, "No matter where we are, Vernie, I got the arms." He wrapped them around her, and she rested her head on his shoulder. This would do very well for now.

***

"So!" Walter Meeney cheerfully said, "You're Carmine Ragusa."

Carmine's eyes traced the backward and forward motion of Walter Meeney's pace. Shirley, in a little flowered housedress, pressed a cup of coffee into his hand.

"Yep." Carmine said awkwardly. His eyes danced over the parlor of Shirley and Walter's house, blinking at the brightly-flowered interior of the house.

"So, you're Shirley's last boyfriend." The doctor said blankly. Walter's wit was failing him, and he could feel sweat pouring down the back of his neck.

"Yeah...I was kinda hoping to talk to Shirley alone."

"Oh...well, some of the guys at the base were just headed to the golf course for a few rounds." He smiled, ignorant of Shirley's panicked look, "Now, Shirley's all mine, bub, so don't think of doing anything rash with her!"

Carmine laughed hollowly as Walter kissed Shirley's cheek. He waited until the sound of Walter's engine became tinny and distant before speaking to her.

Shirley cut off the speech he had carefully prepared with a few curt words, "Save it, Carmine."

He smiled weakly, "Nice, Shirl."

"Nice? Nice of you to pop my cherry and then walk out on me." Carmine's jaw dropped open at Shirley's blunt words, "Hang around with soldiers for awhile and you pick up the language. Forgive me."

"What have you done to yourself, Shirley?" He asked, lamentation in his words.

"What did you do to me is more like it!" She snapped, tears she had vowed to keep secreted within gushing out, "I gave you everything I had! And you left me with nothing!" He reached out to comfort her, and she shoved away his hands, "Don't you dare touch me! You haven't earned the right to lay your hands on me!"

"I did it for you, Shirl!" He was shouting, "I was going nowhere; I had nothing to give you! I knew you would want to marry me after we made love.."

"You fucked me." She said, flatly, "You fucked me. It was very nice, I should thank you for that." She said, her eyes turning wicked, "Do you want to know how many there were after you, Carmine? There was someone the next night! And they were all wonderful!" She was screaming now, clutching her stomach as pain laced through her, "WONDERFUL!" She bellowed, throwing herself onto a couch.

"Jesus Christ.." He muttered beneath his breath, staring at her, "I thought it would be better without me. That I'd come back and be a Broadway star, and you would be proud of me."

"Oh yes." She laughed, "I'm so proud of you. So proud of you for breaking down my defenses! I'm so proud of myself, for trusting every single man I've ever met. And every one of them spat in my face!" She lay a hand on her rounded stomach, "My father...my brother...even Lenny and Squiggy, at some level. And YOU! ESPECIALLY YOU!" He stood, ashamed, accepting her verbal beating. "God," She groaned, "I wish I were still a virgin. It was so much EASIER back then!"

This sparked some life in him; it insulted his manhood. Now he was angry, "Is that what you want, Shirley?! You sure didn't show it."

"Oh, I'm so sorry I didn't wait around for the man who took my virginity and then didn't even have the decency to leave me a note!" She glared at him as he backed toward the door, opening it, "Get off your cross, for pity's sake, Carmine! We could all use the wood!"

"I'm gonna come back when you calm down..."

"No! You're never going to come back! You're going to leave me alone with my husband and MY baby!" She sneered at him, "Mine. Not yours, not some other man's. MINE!"

He did the only thing he could do at that point. Kiss her. He nearly gagged at the taste of peppermint candy left in her mouth, and she almost vomited at the touch of his tongue to her own.

He dropped her against the door, a panting, heaving animal, "Goodbye, Shirl." He said flatly.

"Goodbye, Mr. Ragusa." She said flatly. She watched as he drove away, a good four seconds before she ran upstairs, to her room.

To the bottle of scotch that Walter thought was locked away in a trunk...

**

Carmine's eyes glowed with unshed tears as he sped to the train station. He had given up everything he had in New York; promise, hope, a second chance, for what?! To be called a jerk, but a woman who was obviously carrying his baby.

But...maybe it wasn't so obvious...

He parked his car by the side of the road and lay his head against the rest, unsure of what to do, or go. His eyes bugged out as a gentle hand laid itself on his shoulder.

"You look sad." A soft voice said.

In absolute disbelief, he asked, "Amy?!"

***

"I ain't got nothin' to say to you." Frank DeFazio told his estranged wife.

"That's too bad, because I'm headed to the trailer in five minutes."

"What?! You ain't got no rights to this place!"

"I have a right to what I left behind..." She sighed, "That isn't the truth. Frank, I want to talk to you."

"You did plenty of talkin' in your note." He snapped.

"That was a mistake. I just needed some time. I'm ready to talk about things like a mature adult now."

"And who's to say that I'm gonna let you in?"

"Frank," She groaned, "I've got Amy with me. We've got nowhere else to go."

Frank's voice softened at the thought of Amy, "OK. I'll do it for the kid."

"Thank you. I'll be there in a moment." Edna Babbish hung the public phone up, wiping away a stray tear. God, she had cried so often since leaving Frank, but she had shed more tears when she was his wife.

Her eyes fell on Amy, who had climbed into the passenger side seat and was stroking the arm of someone who had pulled off the road. Alarmed, she rushed from the booth, "Amy, I told you not to..." She blinked, "Carmine?"

He smiled wanly, "Hey, Mrs. Babbish."

"Hey yourself," She said lamely, climbing into the passenger's side seat, "Are you headed by Frank's trailer?"

"I wasn't planning to."

"Could you do an old broad a favor and take her there?"

Carmine smiled, "I ain't got anything better to do with my time." He started the car.

***

Shirley sobbed, as she poured herself a glass of scotch. What difference did it make now? She had drunk her way through the first few weeks of her pregnancy. The damage to the young life inside of her was irreparably done.

She swallowed a full glass without stopping, recalling her words to Carmine, knowing that every single one of them was nothing but pure truth.

Delusion spun through her head; she imagined giving birth to twins; one who looked like Carmine, another with a blurred face; the face of the men she had lain with and could not recall. More men to love, only to be left behind.

The icy cold curtain of reality crashed down on her. The idea of having Carmine's child from their first, love-filled encounter felt remote. There had been too many men, one after the other, so close together. One right after Carmine in a desperate attempt to erase the pain.

She wasn't any better than the dirty women she had mocked as a girl.

Lost in her pain, the scotch slipped easily down her throat. The entire bottle was empty by the time she staggered to bed.

The last few twitches passed through her as though they were nothing more than nerve jumps. It was all erased in the blissful blankness of unconsciousness a moment later.

Walter found her, face down, on the bed an hour later.

Lying in a small puddle of blood.

***

Rhonda Lee awoke abruptly in the waiting room of Ceaders Sinai. In a small panic, she groped for her purse, and the scripts she had brought with her; they were as they had been left.

She relaxed against the wall, disturbed by the temporary silence. How long had they been there? A clock on the wall said four-thirty; that could be AM or PM. Laverne and Lenny slept soundly, wrapped in Lenny's Lone Wolf jacket. She guessed AM.

A young intern rushed down the hallway, his eyes fixed upon her. She stood and rushed to greet him, meeting him halfway.

"Miss Lee? I'm Doctor Taylor, Mr. Squiggman's attending."

She shook his hand, "I am."

"I understand you're serving as his next-of-kin."

Fear seized her. "Is something wrong?"

He shook his head, "No, I'm only allowed to discuss his condition with relatives." He lead her to a seat.

"What's going on with him."

He took a deep breath and said, in a comforting voice. "There have been a few...changes..."

FIN






To Chapter 8

On To Chapter 10











(Close This Window To Return To LAS Fic)