Canon: One year post-series.
Rating:
Genre: Drama/Angst with a side of comedy
Summary: Laverne deals with the inevitable...

    Laverne entered the apartment, but turned back to yell out the door. "Squig, I don't care what your new 'job opportunity' is. I don't want nothin' ta do with it!" She slammed the door.

Faintly, Squiggy is heard, "Awe, c'mon, Laverne!"

Laverne ignored him and turned her attention to her mail, which she frowned at. "Will ya look at this? Postmarked three weeks ago. And this..." She stared at the envelope, not getting past the name on the return address: Shirley Feeney. "Shirl?" Laverne tore into the envelope and pulled out the sheet of notebook paper. "'Laverne, I hope I won't be intruding, but Walter and I... well, I'll explain later. Anyway, I hope you don't mind me staying with you for a little while. I'll be there sometime on the 26th of this month...'" She trailed off as her head shot up. "Today's the 26th." Laverne dropped the letter and jumped up, pausing in front of the balcony doors, which still had the curtains drawn. She grabbed one, yanked it away, and looked out, finding Shirley sprawled asleep on the beach chair. She whipped the door open and shook Shirley. "Shirl!"

Shirley woke with a start, but still kept a protective hold on the little girl she'd revealed after rolling over. "Laverne, don't do that!" She smiled at her friend.

Laverne didn't see the smile as she was staring at the sleeping little girl with dark hair. All she could manage was to point.

Shirley almost chuckled. "Yes, Vernie, this is my daughter. Well, Walter's and my daughter, Marie. She's one." Her last two words came out mumbled.

"Awwwe..." Laverne dropped onto the end of the chair. She admired the little girl, then the look on her face froze, and she turned her gaze to her friend. "Shirl, if she's already one, then you an' Walter..."

"Don't say it, please," Shirley responded. She paused. "And why are you so surprised to see me? I sent you a letter three weeks ago."

"An' I didn't get it till today," Laverne answered. "So, not that I ain't happy yer here, but why're ya here?"

Shirley sighed. "It's kind of a long story..."

"Try me."

"Okay, but it's starts before I left with Walter." She paused to watch the look on Laverne's face, but continued anyway. "When I met Walter, he was everything and more than I had always dreamed my husband would be. First and foremost was that he was a doctor."

"Was?"

"Don't interrupt. When we got married and he was all bandaged up, he'd had a terrible reaction to poison ivy. A patient had come in with an infection and Walter didn't know he was allergic. He broke out terribly. It was so bad he thought he might die, and we'd been talking about marriage before that and, well, we both decided, you know, just in case he didn't make it. Anyway, he went into the clinic after we had left and had stayed for quite sometime. With the infection, his license to practice was revoked. He couldn't get it back without spending another four years at med. school."

"Shirl, how far along were you when you two got hitched?" Laverne asked, suddenly.

She sighed again. "Five months." She watched Laverne's jaw drop. "I know, not very 'Shirley-like.' Anyway, after some time, he got better, but he had to keep going back to the clinic as he wasn't fully recuperating. He missed Marie's birth. He apologized like crazy and I forgave him. But he continued going back even after I thought he had fully healed. I followed him one day and caught him making out with a nurse."

Laverne's jaw dropped again. "So what'd you do?"

"I screamed and said I wanted a divorce. He tried to talk his way out of it. It didn't work. So, the divorce is final and I have full custody of Marie."

"Wow, Shirl..."

"One more thing. I have to ask you something."

"Anything, Shirl. Name it."

"Can we move in?"

    New York City at one in the morning is often not a pretty sight. There is, however, someone who enjoys watching the 'city that never sleeps.'

Lenny sat on the fire escape, looking out as far across the city as he could, past the towering buildings and over the still bustling traffic. He glared down at the notebook perched on his lap, glowering at it like it might snap at him. He frowned and picked up the open book that sat next to him. He flipped through several pages then stopped, running his finger along the text. He grinned as his finger stopped, then jotted something down in the notebook.

A light came on and shown through the window Lenny sat in front of. With it came a groggy voice. "Len, what're ya doin' out there?"

"Doin' my homework. I wanna prove to them at the college that I can do this stuff."

A moment passed before Carmine appeared in the window. He leaned forward on the windowsill. "At one in the morning?" he questioned.

"There's nothin' to distract me." He paused. "Besides, I wanna get this done before we go out to California."

Carmine shook his head. "I still can't believe you got me a part in a production that's opening in LA. And all because you can play the guitar. Still amazes me." He paused. "Are you looking forward to goin' back to LA?"

Lenny didn't answer right away. "Yeah. Yeah, why not?"

"Well, let's see, there's a damn good chance we'll run into Laverne."

Lenny turned a glare at him, but quickly looked away. "So what if we do?"

"Len, I know you still got feelings for her. I've seen some of your notebooks--"

"What're ya doin' lookin' at my notebooks?"

Carmine rolled his eyes. "You miss her. I think that's why you tried so hard to get into that production... and to get me into it, so you won't have to face her alone."

"Well, I coulda just found Squig--"

"We've had to share this apartment for nearly a year. I'm the one you confided in when you first got here."

"Alright, I did. I coulda atleast sent her a letter. I just disappeared and I don't have any idea of how she reacted or if she even did."

"Lenny, you've got nothin' to worry about. I'm sure she'll be happy to see you and she'll ask you all about what you've been up to. Atleast you'll have a girl who cares about what you've been doin'."

    The next day...

"So, how have things been going here?" Shirley asked, settling down on the couch.

Laverne shrugged. "Pop's had all sorts of dealings in City Hall. I don't see him much. Squiggy's still trying to find women to 'manage.' Lenny kinda... kinda disappeared." She purposely stopped there.

"And..." Shirley tried, "Carmine?"

"He's in New York City. Last time I heard he was, anyway."

"Oh." She paused. "Lenny disappeared?"

"Up an' vanished. Even Squig don't know where he went."

The phone began to ring.

Laverne continued as she got up to answer it, "Atleast Carmine sent a letter a month ago." She picked up the receiver. "Hello? This is Laverne DeFazio." She paused, then yelled, "What?! It can't be him, I just saw him yesterday-- But-- No, I don't need someone to come get me. I already got someone." With that, she slammed down the receiver. She didn't turn back to face Shirley, though.

"Laverne? Laverne, what's wrong?" Shirley stood and went to Laverne's side.

Mechanically, she responded, "Pop's been taken to the hospital." She looked Shirley in the eyes, tears forming in her own. "They said he had a heart attack."