Severed Time
Part 1
By Missy

SERIES: Severed Time
PART: 1 of ??
RATING: PG-13 (More Later)
PAIRING(s): Lenny/Laverne, Carmine/Shirley
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-Hair Today...
SPOILLER/SUMMARY: Lenny and Laverne's sense of peace is shattered...
NOTES: Some L/L drama.

****

Laverne stared blankly at the caskets in front of her. A layer of invulnerability had slammed down around her, protecting her soul and mind from the truth. They couldn't possibly put Daisy in there because she was in Detroit, and, having been marked as permanently safe to the north after her troublesome youth, was certainly alive.

But Laverne knew. Knew that her baby would have to be in one of these caskets. She choked out another sob at the very sight.

Lenny cupped his wife's shoulder. "Come on, Vernie. We gotta pick one."

Her expression turned sour. "Yeah. I gotta figure out which casket's the prettiest, right?"

His embrace strengthened. "Don't."

She took in his appearance quietly. Lenny's oversized tie and suit jacket combined in effect to make him look like a little boy. A helpless, lonely little boy.

Laverne closed her eyes and pointed blindly. "That one."

Lenny sighed. "Vernie, that's an urn."

Her green eyes were clouded with tears. "Daisy liked being outside."

He sighed. "I know."

They ended up purchasing a beautiful urn carved out of ivory. Cremation would be cheaper, not that that was any consolation to either of them.

In a daze, they made their way back to Boo Boo Kitchen, where a teary-eyed Shirley awaited them with mugs of coffee. The brunette's embrace felt too firm and her sadness overly sincere. Laverne felt extremely uncomfortable, resultantly.

"When is she supposed to get here?" Shirley asked Laverne, but it was Lenny that answered.

"Tomorrow. They said something about toxi-ickigy?"

"Toxicology." Carmine inserted from across the room. He had done some TV medical shows, therefore knowing the lingo.

"That means drugs." Shirley said softly. Laverne winced beneath the impact of her best friend's words.

"Daisy kicked the habit." Laverne pointed out.

"Yeah, but there's always relapses." Lenny pointed out.

She turned on him. "You know how hard she worked to stay clean! How can ya say that?!"

"Vernie..."

"She wouldn't've! She had Natashya to think of..." She sucked in her breath. "Oh, Jesus. Who has her?"

Lenny thought for a moment. "I dunno..." Horror dawned upon his features.

Laverne winced; Natashya had always been a primary worry for Laverne. The child was the result of an affair between Daisy and a small-time meth dealer she had dated for a brief time. The dealer was now in jail on weapons charges. Natashya, at three, was basically an orphan.

Laverne dove for the phone, placing a frantic call to Child Services. The phone system was labyrinthine; Shirley placed dinner before her, but she did not eat it. When Laverne finally reached someone in authority, she was informed that Natashya would be arriving in California with a representative of the DSS in an hour.

Laverne steeled herself to face Lenny after hanging up. His expectant face said it all.

"We gotta get to the airport." She said. Their ability to communicate the unspoken stayed strong.

They were out the door without another word.


TBC

To Prolouge

To Part Two