TSERIES: Lying In Bed
PART: 3 of 5
RATING: PG-13 (Adult thematic material, language, angst)
PAIRING(s): L/L; SF/RC
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CATEGORY: Drama
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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".
***
he card game passed by
joyfully. Davey
won hand after hand, encouraged on by his Uncle Lenny. The Cunningham siblings took these losses
with characteristic emotion - Beth joyfully began another hand - Susan
glowered, frustrated that her sense of superiority was momentarily unwarranted
- Ricky seemed inert and emotionless - and Jimmy's jealousy remained
apparent. Lenny's own girls, used to
being among their competitive siblings, enjoyed playing against a family with a
different skill set.
"You're real good, Davey,"
said Tatiana shyly. A little smile
appeared on Lenny's lips - her daughter was clearly enamored of the Cunningham
boy.
"Thanks," his jug ears turned beet red.
"THANNKS," mimed Jimmy, in a squeak that resembled
Davy's.
"That's not nice," Lenny said, his tone firm. Uncle Lenny got mad so rarely that each of
the Cunningham children sat a little bit straighter.
Laverne reentered the room, leading little Anastasia and Natashya to a place on the floor. "Deal us in for the next hand,"
Laverne requested as she laid Mariska upon her baby
blanket on the couch.
"Mommy," whined Natashya,
who was competitive with the close-in-age Anastasia, "I want a Choco Puff."
Lenny gave his wife a pleading look, but Laverne shook her
head. "Grandpa Frank's bringing
over lasagna."
"Eew! He didn't put mushrooms in it, did he?"
Lenny whined.
"No, Len - we all remember how well that went,"
she retorted.
"Got any twos?" Lenny asked the group.
"Go fish!" said Davey
proudly.
"Aww! I almost had a full house!" Lenny
whined.
"Honey, please play nice with the Cunningham
kids."
Lenny laughed.
"You're turning into our third grade teacher, Laverne."
"I am not - she was an old maid, and I'm definitely not
that," she reached around to tickle Mariska's
belly, and the infant giggled.
"No, you sure aren't," he put down his hand. "Hey, Davy, you beat me AGAIN!"
"Really?" The boys eyes were wide with discovery.
"That's right!
Good job!"
He glowed with obvious pride. The other Cunningham children began to pout,
so Lenny tried to let them each win a hand - but Davey
was simply excessively good at cards.
He won an eighth hand - even the added presence of Laverne, Natashya and Anastasia in the game didn't deter his winning
streak. This proved to be far too much
for Jimmy to handle. The six-year-old
threw down his cards, white face pink with rage. "Why do you have to be so good at
stuff?" he shouted.
"I'm sure you're good at other things, Ricky,"
Laverne said calmly.
"It's not fair!" he ranted. "Everyone always treats you extra nice
all the time! Everyone knows it's cause you're
weird!"
"RICKY!" Lenny's voice was sharp as a tack.
"I am not!" Davy said, tears dripping down his
cheeks.
"He is weird!" jeered Susan. "He doesn't look like any of us! Maybe he came from outer-space."
Tatiana promptly uncorked a punch to Susan's upper lip that
made her mother proud and ashamed all at once.
"Don't you say those things about Davey,
you meany!"
Laverne threw herself into the infant tussle like a referee
on uppers. "All
right! That's enough! Tatiana, go to your room!" She grabbed
Ricky and Susan by their collars and hauled them to their feet. "And the two of you are going to bed
without supper!"
"You can't make me!
You're not my mom!" screamed Ricky.
In a classic example of Murphy's law, a knock sounded at the front door. Laverne and Lenny traded a wordless look of
alarm. "Take them up," she
whispered to Lenny. Then she rushed to
the door.
Standing there was a most welcome face. She threw her arms around Frank DeFazio's
bulbous middle, squeezing him with everything she had. "Careful, Muffin! Geez, I just saw
you at church." He took a look into
the house. "Where's
Cupcake?" He meant Tatiana. Before he could get an answer, Natashya and Anastasia had wrapped themselves around his
legs, piping 'Grandpa!' over and over again.
She took the paper bag from him. "Please tell me you brought some
wine."
"Havin' a
bad day?"
"Having a bad week." She turned to the apprehensive Cunningham
children and smiled welcoming.
"Kids, this is Frank. He's
my dad."
"You can call me Grandpa Frank," he said casually,
going to the sofa and picking up Mariska. "This one's got a big head - just like
her father."
"I resemble that remark," Lenny muttered as he
came down the stairs. Laverne kissed
him.
"How did it go?"
"Susan hits like a girl," Lenny smirked, but added
seriously at Laverne's stricken look.
"They'll be okay." He
turned to the amassed children.
"Who wants to eat?"
***
Laverne rinsed her teeth for the fifth time that night -
uselessly, as the garlic still lingered in her mouth. Her Pop's lasagna had been worth it, she
decided while rinsing the sink. The food
had been excellent.
If the children had been the same, she would not have what
felt like a fist caught in her esophagus.
Davey had become withdrawn and sullen again,
still nursing his wounded pride. He
pushed his food around on the plate without eating anything, then
excused himself to bed. Laverne had
shown him to the spare room, where Susan and Jimmy lay curled up on cots, fast
asleep with their tear-stained faces.
She could not manage the rest of her food as she remembered his sad
little face.
Post-dinner entertainment involved pudding, stories from the
Old Country and Ed Sullivan. Frank had
left at seven-thirty, instructing her to call if anything bad happened. Now it was nine, and Lenny was conducting his
usual pre-bedtime ritual with the girls.
Laverne peeped into the master bedroom, underlit
with its soft red lights. Lenny sat at
the edge of the bed, running a comb gently through Natashya's
hair as the girl chattered amiable about her day at kindergarten. The girls proffered having Lenny brush their
hair - he was patient and gentle with it, while Laverne tended to yank too hard
at knots. She remembered grimly that
Tatiana at five had refused to wash her hair for a whole six months because of
her mother's rough touch - that was how she and Lenny had discovered their own
solution.
Lenny kissed their second-youngest on her cheek. "Time for bed,
baby."
"No! I want more
brushing!"
"Aww, tomorrow's a school day."
The young girl whined, but Laverne scooped her up. "I'll go tuck her in." It took her ten minutes, compared to the
usual five, to get the overexcited Natashya to
sleep. Exhausted, her mother trundled down the hallway to her master suite - where she found Lenny
brushing Tatiana's hair as the girl ate a plateful of lasagna.
Laverne barely suppressed a smile at the scene - Tatiana was
her father's favorite, though he never really betrayed that in the way he
treated the other girls. She had been
named after his mother, and, like Anastasia, after the tragic Russian Tsarinas
his mother had worshipped.
"...I know you like Davey,
but it's not nice to hit people," said Lenny.
"I know daddy.
But Susan's so big and mean."
"Yeah, she's a regular tanker truck." The girl giggled. "Don't tell her I said that! You have to be really good around the
Cunningham kids - I want you to show them what Kosnowskis
are made of, and how good me and your Mom raised
you."
"Okay," she yawned. Laverne took this cue to open the door.
"I think someone's late for bed."
Lenny grinned sheepishly.
"She was hungry."
"I'll deal with you later," she grinned. "Okay, princess -
bedtime!"
Tatiana whined, but she took her empty plate and scrambled
out from between Lenny's legs. She
reached around and planted a kiss on his cheek.
"Night, Daddy."
"Night, Cupcake.
I love ya."
Laverne escorted her daughter to bed, wondering if Lenny's
words were sufficient enough to keep her from pounding the tar out of Susan
when next they met. She had no time to
scold - Tatiana was out like a light.
With the house at rest, Laverne began making plans as to how she would
'deal' with Lenny. Did he have any rubbers left? She
thought she saw some in the top drawer earlier.
Not that she didn't love her four - she and Lenny had so many children
and were considering more because they could afford to do so on his dispatcher's
salary - but she wanted to wait awhile before even considering a fifth. She remembered when Shirley considered the
idea of having more than two children 'barbaric'. How times had changed....
That ain't fair, she
scolded herself. She knew what Shirley
had gone through. She understood that
the children were a way of burying what had happened in the past. But, Laverne reasoned, that didn't make it
fair for the kids involved.
"Aunt Laverne!" Beth's piercing cry disrupted
Laverne's musings. She pivoted on her
heel and ran to the guest bedroom.
Beth's alarmed cries did not abate, even as Laverne dropped down beside
her.
"Did you have a nightmare, honey?"
She shook her head wildly.
"Davey went away!" she burst into
tears.
Laverne scanned the girl's face. "It's just a nightmare, Bethy. See,
he's..." Laverne's eyes widened with dismay. Davey's bed was
empty- his little unpacked suitcase sitting closed on the bed.
The little girl imagined nothing. Her brother was gone.