SERIES: The Rainbows of Her Reason
PART: 5 of 5
RATING: R (Adult thematic material, adult content)
PAIRING(s): L/L; S/C; S/R; F/E; S/W
DISTRIBUTION: To LW, Kai, Myself and FG so far; any other
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CATEGORY: Romance/AU/Sci-Fi
FEEDBACK: PLEASE?!
SETTING IN TIMELINE: Post-Show, but Dark and AU.
SPOILLER/SUMMARY: Laverne is given a rare opportunity - to
go back and re-imagine her life. Is this
new chance a blessing or a curse?
NOTES: This is occasionally wildly AU and may be dark at
times. I have, however, tried to keep
everyone IC. You have been warned!
And remember: Laverne's thoughts are in italics.
***
Laverne clung to the edge of the doorframe, watching the
world scream around her as Lenny drove pell-mell toward the hospital. She desperately tried to catch her already thready breath as he yanked the door open and held her up,
shouting the whole while for a doctor.
In a second, she was on her back and being hurtled down a
hallway, green-masked doctors over her head.
Something sharp jabbed her in a private place - she winced and moaned at
the invasiveness of it - someone told her she was effaced...
The pain was a blinding sensation, making her curse and cry
out like one possessed.
"Mom!"
She opened her eyes, meeting the teary face of Mary.
"Mom, I'm so sorry I was mean to you today - please,
please..."
"Pressure's dropping!" a voice cried.
She heard Lenny's voice somewhere near her, calling her name
as she sank beneath the waves of grey and white consuming her wholly...
***
She screamed herself awake in the darkness of her apartment.
Her...apartment? Sitting up, pushing away the cobwebs of sleep
and the foggy alcoholic haze, Laverne found herself sitting in her bed - in a
pile of vomit - surrounded by empties.
No longer pregnant. No longer in the world of
her fantasies.
She pushed away the sadness that thought brought on. She had been confronted with her worst fear -
of death - and survived. She felt like a
lioness uncaged.
"No more," she said to herself, getting off the
bed, stripping away the grotty sheets and empty
bottles. She had a life to live -
someone to find...
If only he had waited for you.
***
The two-story house was unremarkable, white, and in a bad
neighborhood. She knocked briskly,
huddling down in her plaid shirt, hoping that she had successfully washed away
the scent of vomit from her body.
The door opened quickly, and she nearly cried at the sight
of him - wearing a santa hat, pink and healthy, Lenny
looked so untouched by the drama they had been through.
"Laverne," he whispered, stricken by the sight of
her.
She smiled awkwardly.
"Can I come in?"
He parted way for her.
"Squig's out," he said,
smiling. "He said someone was lookin' to buy our script, and you know how he's the brains
behind STAB and all, so I sent him out and he..."
She pressed her finger to his lips, stopping his discourse.
"I've missed you."
He grinned. "You
did?" It faded. "Since when?"
"Since I realized I don't got
many friends left," she admitted.
"Oh..." he jammed his hands into his pockets and
headed into the spare living area. It
was bigger than the place they had in Laurel Vista, but the walls were pock
mocked with what Laverne hoped weren't bullet holes. "So I'm your last resort. Again."
"No," Laverne said, breaching the distance between
them. "You never were."
"Don't do this to me," he moaned.
"I'm sorry I pushed you and Squig
away. When I lost Shirl,
I just wanted to be alone. I didn't want
no friends -
well, I did have one. His name was Jim
Bean." He didn't smile at her joke.
"I can't get my life together without you there."
Lenny swallowed hard.
"Please don't leave me again."
"I won't."
He smiled. "Hey,
I told Squig that when he gets back we're going to
the movies."
"The movies? On Christmas Eve?" For Laverne realized it was indeed Christmas
Eve today.
"Well, we didn't have nowhere
else to go - Mary and my Dad are stuck in
"Mary," she whispered.
Lenny didn't notice Laverne's numb expression, concluding,
"so we were gonna go out and see something. You wanna come?"
"Len! It's Christmas Eve!" She led him over to the sofa. "You don't go out for a movie on
Christmas Eve. You watch 'It's a
Wonderful Life' and eat sugar cookies."
She reached over and turned on the tiny black and white set - which was,
miraculously, playing the movie.
Lenny grinned.
"You're a great friend, Laverne."
An old glimmer of hope shone in her eyes. She could get clean and sober - she could
prepare for Walter's visit with her best friend's children. She could even face a world where that best friend
was no longer anything but a memory - because she still had friends who could
be just as wonderful to her. And she
knew that somehow, somewhere, they were all happy as she.
"So are you, Len," she smiled. And as Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed filled up
the screen, she heard a bell ringing, fast and bright in the early evening.