Lauren's Season Nine Continued!
Sixty-Seond Man
By Missy

SERIES: Lauren's Season Nine, Continued!
CHAPTER TITLE: Sixty-Second Man
PART: 9 of 14, Episode 9, Pt.1 of 1 (Arc Continued in Episode 9)
RATING: PG(Adult thematic material)
PAIRING(s): L/L; S/C; S/R (Possible)
DISTRIBUTION: To LW, Kai, Myself and FG so far; any other archives are welcome to ask, but disclaimers must be included, my email left intact. send a URL, and provide full disclaimers as well as credit me fully. Please inform me if you are going to submit my work to any sort of search engine. Please do not submit my work to a search engine that picks out random sets of words and uses them as key words, such as "Google"

Please contact me in order for this story to be placed on an archive, or if you want know of a friend who would enjoy my works, please email me their address and I will mail them the stories, expressly for the purpose of link trading. MiSTiers are welcomed! Please do inform me that you'd like to do the MiSTing, however, and send me a copy of the finished product. I'd also love to archive any MiSTings that are made of my work!
CATEGORY: Drama
FEEDBACK: PLEASE?!
SETTING IN TIMELINE: Post-Cali
CONTINUATION: Of Lauren's Season Nine
SPOILLER/SUMMARY: Laverne and Squiggy use the Pizza Bowl to raise money for a children's charity; Lenny spends an entire night up fixing Jake (of the Purple Fiends') car.
NOTES: Thank you to Lauren for letting me continue her established continuity.

****

For every two balloons Laverne blew up, she knew Squiggy popped at least one in childish delight. She didn't mind; the balloons weren't important.

With weary relief, she looked at what they had accomplished since locking up at ten; balloons had been taped up around the doorway and around the booths; streamers had been twisted in bunches, making a rope and draped across the ceiling. Paper cut-outs of ghosts and pumpkins decorated the counter, and the jack-o-lanterns Carmine had carved glowed on each table.

"The alley's all decorated, the keys to the kitchen're here," Squiggy slapped them onto the counter. "Have a nice time, Laverne."

"Waitaminute; have a nice time?"

"I got a date!"

"A date?!"

"There an echo in here? Yes, Lavene, friend of my friend, I, Andrew Squiggman, have a date with Miss Francine..."

"The same Francine who kicked you out of your own place?"

"Yup."

"Squiggy!"

"Ow! Stop yellin' in my good ear!"

Laverne sighed. "You're goin' out with a girl who's holding your apartment hostage, Squig. That's a bad thing."

"It just so happens that I'm tryin' to get her to give me my keys back."

"Do you really think she'll do it?"

"Well, why not? She's got my clarinet. Sepperatin' a man from his instrument ain't natural, Laverne...why're you laughin'?"

"Nothing!" Laverne choked back. "I'll call Shirley. She and Carmine might wanna help..."

"I left ya a little something," Squiggy said, before strutting out of the restraint.

Laverne opened the register draw, letting out a muffled groan when the object reflected in the morning light.

She wasn't sure how a shirt button would help all of those little leukemia patients.

***

Lenny was in no position to be confident of anything. That said, he was pretty confident that he'd make it through his first day as a co-owner of Bronko's garage without any major disasters befalling him. In fact, he had been getting ready to lock up and walk to Edna's to retrieve Tommy when the beeping of a horn stopped him.

He found himself pushing a car into his garage. It wasn't too bad of a wreck; the fender was dented out. The car itself was in such good shape that Lenny marvelled at it.

"Hey. Where's Fonzarelli?"

The voice made Lenny's blood chill. "California," he squeaked out.

"Great. You taking care of Charlene?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Well, you better take good care of her..." His teeth glittered, sharp and dangerous, as he clenched a cigarette between them. "I do things to people who don't treat Charlene right. Things that ain't nice. You get my drift, or do I gotta spell it out for you?"

"No!" Lenny squealed.

"Good. I need her by tonight."

The keys jingled to the floor, like glass shattering and falling across a pavement.

***

"DON'T DANCE IN THE ALLEY!"

Laverne nearly dropped a pitcher of soda as her friend's high-pitched scream caused her eardrums to vibrate.

Shirley stalked into the room, ignoring Laverne and pushing toward the kitchen. With a brava Laverne had never seen from her friend, Shirley shoved her way through the throngs of teenager dancing and eating at the front of the restaurant and began yelling at the kitchen staff for a pizza order she had put in twenty minutes ago. Laverne wasn't pleased with her friend's attitude, but it was the best way to keep things moving.

The jar at the front of the restaurant was overflowing with donations.

***

Lenny felt sweat trickling down his spine as he welded the bumper back into place. He didn't do anything greater than breathe in and out until it was secure.

When it stood, shiny and fresh, a surge of pride unlike anything he had ever known overcame him. Knowing he had done well was a new feeling.

And with pride, he gave Jake his car back.

It wasn't until the long walk home that he realized that Jake had a good car, a better car than Lenny himself had ever owned. Some jerk who had treated Laverne badly was doing worse than he was.

And so Lenny made a vow to himself that he would never allow Laverne to suffer in poverty.

No matter the cost.

***

Squiggy returned to the Pizza Bowl past midnight with a goofy grin upon his face. Laverne didn't need to see the lipstick plastered onto his collar to know what a good time he'd had.

"Woah, easy there; Hilde, we need beer at table twelve, soda at table six..."

Laverne couldn't believe the effectiveness person that wore Squiggy's form. In seconds, he had taken over her position, and was doing it as well as she could have.

Shirley wiped her sweaty hands against an apron, then fluffed her hair. "That can't be Andrew Squiggman," she said warily.

"It is."

Shirley couldn't seem to believe it as she took her jacket and walked toward the door. "That was one of the most exhausting nights of my life! I don't know how you do it, now that the Pizza Bowl has developed such a following."

"Eh, this was special. It's worth it, though; the hospital'll love the extra dough!"

"All of it's going to the children's charity ward?"

"Yep...Hey fellas!"

Lenny bounced Tommy in his arms as he closed the distance between himself and his wife and friend. "I just got him to sleep," Lenny whispered.

Laverne gingerly took her toddler. "I'll see you at lunch, Shirl. Wait, don't you got Carmine to walk you home?"

Shirley hesitated, then continued brightly, "he's at the studio with Davy. One of us had to stay with him, you know."

"No problem. Night, Shirl."

"Night, Laverne." The brunette hesitated for a moment in the street lights before walking in the opposite direction toward Marjorie Ward's.




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