Telling Stories: Dreams And Visions
By Missy SERIES: Telling Stories:
Title of fic: Dreams And Visions
RATING: PG-13ish (For discussion of mature themes; language)
PAIRING: None to speak of
DISTRIBUTION: To Squeaky, LW, Kai 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: Songfic series
FEEDBACK: PLEASE?!
SONG USED: "Wedding Song" By Tracy Chapman
SPOILLER/SUMMARY: The "Telling Stories" Universe concludes with some reflections by its players.
NOTES: Yes, this is a songfic; and, bear with me, it's also a songfic series, featuring songs that aren't of the era the show is set into -___-. Bear with me, though; I do believe that the song fits very nicely into the setting of this particular series. The previous titles in the series are "Speak The Word" (Lenny/Laverne), "Keep The Walls From Falling Down" (Squiggy/Rhonda), "Fiction In The Space Between" (Carmine), and "Less Than Strangers" (Shirley)

All lyrics from this series W/By Tracy Chapman; lyrics culled from: http://rzsunhome.rrze.uni-erlangen.de:81/~sichglei/tracy/songs/ltellsto.html#top

Thanks to Allie, Paris and FG for Beta

***
I've been having dreams and visions
In them you are always standing
Right beside me

It was the third glass Laverne had broken in a week's time, but she didn't care. Mopping it up, her pop cursed the haze she had been immersed. But he knew she was happy, would stay happy. As long as she was with Lenny.

Her finger slipped around the rim of her milk glass coyly. Fully aware that her dinner companion was lost in thoughts similar to her own.

I reach out for your hand
To see your arms extending
outstretched towards me

Twirling her fork delicately through the assembly of lettuce leaves that Mr. DeFazio had arranged especially for her ("Cowboy Bills don't serve salad no more!"), Rhonda Lee smiled dreamily into space.

Squiggy. Of all people, it was Squiggy she was waiting for.

Most of her shallow life had been dedicated to the maintenance and care of the mask she'd always cultivated. But an empty life as the wife of some vapid Hollywood stud was not in her future.

She felt ridiculously giddy about this.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Rhonda looked up on a hum, meeting Laverne's amused face, "All of Rhonda's thoughts at the moment are Squiggy-related. And they're explicit."

Laverne almost choked on her milk, "Sorry I asked!"

"Oh, get off it Laverne; I know you were thinking things about Lenny just now that were about as dirty."

Laverne laughed, a certain twinkle in her eyes betraying everything Rhonda had guessed. The women lapsed into a supportive but companionable silence.

"Rhonda," Laverne announced, "We're real lucky. Let's try not to forget it."

"I don't think Squiggy'll let me forget that." She chuckled in return.

***

By your light
Others pale by comparison
I place my faith in love
My fate in this communication

"Well, we did it, Len," Squiggy noted out loud. They strolled down Rodeo Drive together, looking completely conspicuous. Lenny remained aware of that fact, but Squiggy, lost permanently in his own world, didn't care.

"Yep," Lenny agreed, flipping open a tiny velvet case with the tip of his thumb, "Two years salary never looked so shiny."

"Yeah, but these ain't just any broads," Squiggy pointed out, as they ducked into the double-parked ice-cream truck, "These are the future Mrs....uh..Squignoski!"

"It's sorta a package deal, ain't it?" Lenny felt amusement at that thought.

"Yeah, like the bargain yer gettin'; A Laverne and a Shirley, for the price of justa Laverne."

Lenny's smile faded, "That ain't true no more, Squig."

Squiggy's own smile faded, "No one's heard from Shirl lately? I mean, 'sides that stuff in th' paper."

"No one."

They went unusually quiet, both as concerned as they could be for the tiny brunette they'd known for over sixteen years. But Lenny would be damned before the day was ruined, even by the most worrisome of thoughts.

"Len?"

"Yeah, Squig?"

"We're real lucky."

"Oh yeah."

***

To you I give my pledge
I honor all that's good
In this life we're living
To think not only of myself
But of the greater union

Across the ocean, in a dingy, Germanic café, Shirley Feeney-Meeney sat across a table from Richie Cunningham, spilling out every last detail of the sad story her life had become.

"...And Walter left. So now I'm stuck here, and we don't have any money."

Richie patted her hands, "That's horrible, Shirley...Don't you guys have any passports?"

She shook her head, "Walter took them when he left. God knows what he did with them.."

"I...I shouldn't say this real loud...but I can probably replace your passports, Shirl. Yours and the kids."

Her eyes went wide, covering her mouth to keep from squealing out loud, Shirley whispered, "Ohh...that's so generous of you!"

"Anything for a friend," Richie patted her hand again, "Besides, when Laurie Beth ran off with another guy, she did the same thing."

Shirley's mouth made a red "O" of sympathy, "That's disgusting! You poor guy. If you want to talk about it..." He began to spill out his own story and Shirley listened, becoming genuinely involved with Richie's life.

"..You know, we should have never left Milwaukee. Sure, I had no choice, but I guess California hasn't been much better to you than Army life has to me."

"Well, I have a feeling that things are going to be better from now on." Said Shirley, softly.

"Things," Agreed Richie, "Will be just fine."

****


Can I get a witness
There is salvation and rapture for the lonely
Can I get a witness
Bless this day sacred and holy

Frank DeFazio shook his head in disgust as he scanned the entertainment section of the day's paper. Carmine Ragusa's ugly response to Shirley's quasi-innocent tabloid confessions was splashed across it.

Frank crumpled the paper up and dumped it into a trashcan, muttering 'Bastard' under his breath before dunking his hands into the flour pile. Over his shoulder, action could be seen in the restaurant; his daughter draped in the arms of Lenny. Frank had made peace with his daughter's love; if he hurt her, he'd break the lanky blond's neck. It was that easily settled. What Rhonda Lee saw in Andrew Squiggman; Frank couldn't figure out.

They were all his kids. An emotional truth that Frank couldn't deny. He would learn to roll with whatever punches fate gave him...

"POP! Lenny and I're gettin' married!"

...Even if he had to buy up stock with the Milk of Magnesia Company to do it.

The End!