SERIES: Lying In Bed
PART: 2 of 5
RATING: PG-13 (Adult thematic material, language, angst)
PAIRING(s): L/L; SF/RC
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CATEGORY: Drama
FEEDBACK: PLEASE?!
SETTING IN TIMELINE: Alternate Canon - Sequel to "I
Never Promised You a Pepsi Tree" and "Sins of the Father" (By Shotzette).
SPOILLER/SUMMARY: The Cunningham clan stays with the Kosnowskis while Shirley Cunningham undergoes psychiatric
evaluation.
NOTES: Follows "I Never Promised You a Pepsi
Tree"; "Sins of The Father".
***
Davey Cunningham didn’t like what
he saw.
The pretty, ice-coated house belonging to his Aunt Laverne
and Uncle Lenny seemed a little too perfect, like a fairytale dream from his
storybooks. Like his house in
The one that was corrupted with arguments
and anger.
He felt a sudden elbow against his side. "Move over, Dummy!" That was Susan,
his little sister.
He glowered at her.
"I don't gotta do nothing!"
She rolled her eyes.
"You're such a baby."
Beth, the real family baby, gave her sister a baleful
look. "Stop bein'
mean to Davey!"
"I'm not bein' mean! He's hogging all the room!"
Jimmy rolled his eyes - he was ready to intervene and assert
himself as being oh-so-much-more mature than his brother. Ricky, used to all of them
and forever pressed in the background by their antics, quieted himself.
"Children! Please!"
Grandmother Cunningham's voice made all of the
children sit up straighter and pay better attention. "No more fighting! I want you to be good for your Aunt Laverne
and Uncle Lenny."
"Yes, Grandma," they chorused, though Susan
couldn't stop herself from elbowing her brother one more time.
"Now," she said, turning around in her seat as she
unbuckled it, "you have to promise me that you'll keep going to school,
and you'll get good grades. That you
won't ask for anything you can't get yourself, and that you'll mind your
elders."
"Yes Granma."
"And you'll come to Grandma's for Milk and Cookies
whenever you want them," she sniffled.
"Goodness, you've all gotten so big! Davey's ten now!"
"I'll be ten in a week, Grandma," pain shattered
through the little boy's heart again. He
would, from the way his mother had made it sound, be spending it alone. He and his mom had been getting along great
for the past two weeks - she had dealt out punishments fairly and and even hugged and kissed him every afternoon when he came
home from school. He had been delighted
by all of this, but when she sat him down and told him she was going to be going
away, the sad confusion had consumed him again.
Grandma Cunningham pinched his smooth cheek, and then gave
him a long hug before embracing Jimmy, Beth, Susan and Ricky in turn. Then she opened the car door and helped the Cunninghams file out onto the recently de-iced pavement.
They fell into the same natural file they walked when out
with their parents, a line, from oldest to youngest, that Laverne encountered
when she opened the door.
Aunt Laverne was incredibly cheerful when she greeted them,
giving out hugs and asking Grandma Cunningham about her feet. Then Uncle Lenny came out from the cold and
it was a sudden party.
"It's nice to have some boys around the house," he
spoke at last, with Ricky and Jimmy in a double-headlock.
"Yeah, they're a little less breakable. That don't mean you should pull on their
heads like that, Len!" Aunt Laverne reprimanded, but she was visibly
delighted by the noisy, large Cunningham brood.
"Why don't you teach them to play old maid?
Uncle Lenny did just that, organizing the family in a circle
and dealing out some well-loved playing cards.
Grandma Cunningham sniffled.
"I remember when Joanie was this
small...Oh dear, Joanie! I'd forgotten all about her. Chachi will be gone
until Wednesday with his band, you know.
They're opening for Grand Funk Railroad..."
Aunt Laverne seemed fairly impressed by that. "You tell Joanie
that we miss her. Her doctors are
looking in on her?"
"Howard and I make sure she never misses an appointment."
"That's the way to stay healthy. Give her my number!"
"I'll do that!
Be good, children!"
"We will, Grandma!" Came a chorus of
preoccupied voices.
"I'll walk you out,
They played together merrily on for an hour before the front
door opened.
"Mamma! Mamma!" A flood of little gingery blonde girls came pounding through the door. Aunt Laverne rose to greet her daughters,
help them out of their coats and give them hugs. Uncle Lenny nearly fell over himself to
welcome his daughters. Davey felt envious - the girls were lovely and well-loved,
with blue or green eyes, tall for their age and slightly gawky. The oldest, Tatiana, had freckles sprinkled
across the bridge of her nose, and looked a lot like her mom. Anastasia and Natashya,
at seven and six,
needed to be helped out of their complicated snow suits upstairs,
but nine-year-old Tatiana could to take off her own winter gear.
"Is Mariska up from her nap
yet?" Tatiana said - her voice, to Davey, was
musical.
"Not yet. I put
her down before we started playing cards," a cry from upstairs belied
Laverne. "Speaking of..." She headed upstairs with the younger ones.
"Hi Davey!"Tatiana ran to him, mindless of her snow boots, and gave
him a huge hug. Davey
felt his ears turning red as Jimmy stuck his tongue out at him - he knew that Davey had developed a crush on Tatiana since Aunt Laverne
had sent her school portrait to his mother. Davey knew liking a
girl might be really bad for him, but Tatiana Kosnowski was enchanting.
"Hi Tatiana," said Susan snottily. "Boy, your hair's even redder than it
was in the picture!"
It was true that Tatiana's hair was redder than her sister's
- another thing that made her resemble her mother closely. She glowered at Susan. "I like my hair!"
"Red hair is yucky - that's what Grandma Feeney
says."
Lenny interrupted her with an angry glance. "Grandma Feeney likes to say things that
she doesn't mean. I like red hair."
His eyes brightened. "Your dad has
red hair!"
That quieted Susan right up.
"Can Tatiana play, Uncle Lenny? Please?"
Lenny was visibly relieved that Davey
seemed to be vocal about something.
"Okay - but then she's gotta help me
color in all of those circles she brought home!"
"Aww!" said Tatiana, but
she sat down right next to Davey. Lenny noticed the
delighted sheen in the boy's eyes. That Davey seemed to be attached to someone, anyone at all,
relieved Lenny. It would make his job a
whole lot easier...