Okay, this is my first completed 10k fanfic. It doesn't have Wolf in it that much, because I found it nearly impossible to find his voice, his character, it's so hard to pin down. (Wolf is hard to pin down.. hmm, *bad gutter mind thoughts* heehee) Now, I need comments, good or bad, on this story, what you think of it, the characterization of it, if it moves to fast... ect.. please! It will really help me write better next time (and I have a pretty long fanfic idea waiting for me)
So without further ado... Wishing on a Dream A 10th Kingdom Fanfic By Janet Jongebloed Virginia's eyes fluttered open and she felt pain coarse through her body. Everything ached, her head especially. "Virginia!" She heard her father call out, "Thank God!" The room had stopped spinning long enough for her to take a look at her surroundings. The walls were painted light beige, which matched the curtains that hung around the bed she was laying in. Overhead, a machine beeped continuously. It looked like she was in a hospital, but the last thing she could remember was walking in Central Park with Wolf. With a hoarse voice she asked, "Dad… what happened?" "You flipped your bike on your way to work," Tony explained to her. "You've been unconscious for forty-six hours now. I was getting worried." Virginia glanced at her hand, it was missing the singing engagement ring Wolf had given her, "Wolf?" Her father looked puzzled, "Huh?" "Where's Wolf?" "Who?" Virginia said nothing, she too confused, and tired to try to explain anything. Her hand felt the bandage on her head, and pulled back to feel the long hair she thought she had lost to her new hairstyle. It couldn't have grown back that fast. Suddenly, Tony remembered something, "Oh! Your mother is in the waiting room, I should go get her… and find a doctor." "Mom?" Could it be that her mother was still alive? It was a dream that burned in Virginia's heart. "Yeah, she flew in from Miami last night when she heard what had happened to you." He walked towards the door, but turned back for a second. "I'll be right back, don't go anywhere." Like she could. Virginia closed her eyes, what was going on? Butterflies flew around her stomach, as she became more and more perplexed with her new reality. She put a hand on her stomach, trying to ease the uneasiness, and also wondering if she still carried Wolf's child. Had it all really happened, or was it all one big hallucination brought on by her unconscious state. It was pretty strange to admit that there were actual trolls, and talking dogs, and magic mirrors. But, it had to have been real; it had certainly felt that way. Her thoughts were interrupted by a vision she thought she would never see again. Her mother, Christine, was alive. "Mom!" Virginia's voice went sour again. "Shh!" The gentle older woman said, placing a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "Don't talk, you should be resting." Virginia sat up in bed and hugged her mother tightly. It felt so good, just knowing that her mother was alive and still cared for her. Quiet sobs escaped Virginia. "It's alright, I'm here." Christine hated herself at the moment. After walking out on the family twenty years ago and just coming back now, after Virginia almost died. It wasn't right, but it was more commendable than what Christine had been doing for the past two decades, hiding. She wasn't going to hide from her daughter anymore, and she wasn't going to abandon her either. An acquaintance of Christine's who still lived in New York City had heard what had happened to Virginia. When word got back to Christine, she felt her maternal instincts suddenly kick in and knew she had to swallow her pride and return, "I'm so sorry, Virginia, but I'm here now." Maybe it would be better this way, it was everything Virginia wanted her life to be before going to the nine kingdoms. But, on the other hand, now that she knew better, now that she had fallen in love maybe waking up her dream, her hallucination would be worse. They continued talking for a few minutes. The quiet relaxing atmosphere was so strange to Virginia after the adventure she had just live. Soon though, there was a voice on the loudspeaker of the hospital, "Visiting hours are now over. All guests must now leave." Christine smiled at Virginia, as she grabbed her coat from the chair, "I'll be back tomorrow." "Ok," Virginia nodded. "Get some rest," Her father told her before leaving. "Bye." Virginia called after them. After her parents left she lay on the bed for a few minutes before turning on the television. With the remote she flicked through the channels but nothing was on. Finally she turned it off, wanting to think about a few things. Running a hand through her shoulder length hair, she lay and began counting the dots on the ceiling. Nothing made sense anymore; it made even less sense then the weird things she had encountered in the nine kingdoms. Her heart refused to accept that it had all been the result of a dream. She had fallen in love, she had been pregnant, and she had been engaged and she wanted to keep it that way, but that seemed impossible now. "Virginia Lewis, ah, finally awake I see. Hello, I'm Dr. Lupine." A knock on the door woke Virginia from her reverie. Her heart knew that voice; it was Wolf. Her head turned towards the door so fast it hurt, standing in front of her was the same man who she had fallen in love with, his face was the same one she had memorized in her soul, down to the stubble on his chin. Apparently, he didn't know that though. "How are you feeling?" The Doctor asked. "Like I was hit by a train," Virginia answered, not knowing if the feeling was physical or emotional. He crossed the room, to stand by her bed, coming to check on the bandage on her head. His touch felt a bit painful on her bruised head, but at the same time it felt so good to be touched again by the man she loved. "You survived pretty well. Slight concussion, tiny skull fracture, we'll have you up and out of here in a day or two." He paused, "But had you been wearing a helmet you wouldn't be here at all." Virginia smiled, no matter who he was; he was always trying to protect her. Like the time with the invisible troll shoes, or the Huntsman. It gave new meaning to when he told her that if he ever let her fall, he would sit by her bed and nurse her back to health. "Well, you look like you're all set," He told her, "If you need anything just ring a nurse. And don't get out of bed, you're still healing." "Right," Virginia said absentmindedly. She nodded. Virginia was still staring at him as he left the room. She frowned slightly; he had no tail in this guise. Well, none that she could see. She was starting to miss that tail. And those little wolf growling snores he made in his sleep. True being a wolf was slightly odd, okay more than slightly, but as strange as it was it was still part of what made Wolf so lovable. She sat there on the bed like the doctor had told her to for a few minutes, but curiosity got the best of her. She wanted to follow the man who looked like Wolf, no matter what, call it an obsession, call it love, it had gotten the best of her. Slowly she rose to her feet, dizziness swarmed in her head and made her feel warm and clumsy. Pushing it aside, she wrapped the hospital gown tighter around her waist, and found a pair of slippers next to the bed. After slipping into them, she started out of the hospital room. The building was relatively quite, the clock above the nurses' desk said it was nine o'clock. Most of the patients were in their rooms, either watching television or already sleeping, and with no visitors at this hour, the only people walking around were nurses or doctors. But none of them was the doctor she was searching for. "Um, hi. I'm looking for Dr. Lupine, can you tell me where he is?" Virginia asked politely, as she approached the nurses' desk. She had a feeling they wouldn't tell her. "Floor number ten, pediatrics." The nurse told her. "Well," Virginia thought to herself, "That was certainly easy enough." She decided she liked this hospital. Maybe she would come back to have her baby here, she thought too fast, not delayed enough to realize she probably wasn't pregnant anymore. "Thank you." She told the nurse and left. Along the way down the elevator to floor 10 Virginia kept repeating the doctor's name to herself, it meant something but she wasn't sure what. Then she remembered, high school, in her foreign language Latin class, Lupine... short for Lupinus which meant wolf in Latin. Well, she smiled, that was certainly redundant. She giggled; Dr. Wolf just sounded too funny. Or maybe the giggling was a result of her concussion; she had heard somewhere that it was one of the symptoms. The elevator stopped and Virginia got off. Then she spent a half- hour searching the floor for the doctor, feeling like a peeping tom the whole time, thankfully most of the children seemed to be sleeping. Finally, she heard his voice in the next room. She peered her head into the room. One little girl was lying on the bed, with Wolf, er, Dr. Lupine telling her a bedtime story. He had his back to the door so he didn't see Virginia. "So, the Wolf said, `I'll huff, and I'll puff and I'll blow your house in.'" He was really getting into the story. It was so ironic Virginia wanted to laugh again. But she managed to stay quiet until she heard the end of the story. Dr. Lupine kissed the little girl good night and turned around, suddenly aware of Virginia. She blushed and was afraid he was going to yell at her, "Sorry, I…" She said meekly, grimacing. Nodding towards the little girl he said softly, "Shh, she needs her rest." He brought Virginia outside, into the hallway. Once they were outside Virginia asked, "Who is that little girl?" "My daughter," Dr. Lupine told her. Virginia tried to hide her shock, "Daughter?" "She has cancer," He explained, "But, I'm very hopefully that she'll make it." But his green eyes were lacking optimism. Virginia frowned, feeling such a surge of emotions come over her. The doctor shook his head, confused, "Why am I telling you this?" "Maybe because you know me better than you think," Virginia said to herself, and then felt her knees give way under her. The faintness she had been trying to hold off had finally taking its toll. She collapsed into Dr. Lupine' arms and said, "I guess this is why you told me not to walk around." And then blackness took the place of consciousness. "Virginia, oh wake up my creamy love," Her black out was fading, and so was what she thought was a dream. A really strange dream, "You were having a nightmare, Virginia." "Wolf?" She was happy to be back in his arms, in her own bed. Her love had returned, or she had, or she had never left. This was getting confusing, so best she forget about it. "Oh, Wolf!" Virginia pulled him close to her, caressing his strong back. Those lips, oh to feel those lips again! It was heaven, or was it. Her mother had come back from the dead before, the mother she had yearned for, and was gone just as quickly. Wolf broke from the kisses after a few blissful moments, "Now my delicious love…" He kissed her again, "Rest your eyes," One more kiss, "Get some sleep," They shared just one more kiss, "Tomorrow we have to see the wedding caterers about the wedding cake… and the seven course meal.." His eyes grew wide at the thought of all those tasty edibles. "Seven course?" She smirked at him and laughed. Someday Wolf would have to get a job, or else he would eat them out of house and home. "Seven Scrumptious Courses!" Wolf couldn't wait till the wedding day, and not only for the food, Virginia would say those magic word and be his forever. At one point in life he thought he would be one of the ones who died of a horrible curse. But then Virginia had come into his world, and he had won her over. He was going to live happily ever after with his lovely Virginia. Virginia yawned, it was still only three in the morning, "I think I should get some rest." She looked down at her stomach, "If not for me, then for the baby." "Yes, the baby." Wolf grinned with excitement. "8 more months…" Virginia rubbed her womb warmly. Absentmindedly she added, "We're going to have to think of a name for our child." Wolf growled playfully, "We're going to be such a wonderful family. Just the three of us." "Don't forget about me, in our family four will be." Sang the engagement ring. Virginia grinned, "Nope, can't forget about you." She put her head on her satin pillow and closed her eyes, "Good night, Wolf." "Good night my love." He looked at her as she fell into slumber, she was so sweet, so innocent. He loved watching her sleep. Blackness enveloped Virginia; this was the third time disoriented in the past few hours. A figure appeared on the horizon; it was walking towards her. It came closer, and the features on its face became clearer, and the braided silver hair became visible and the slinky elegant dress became apparent. The figure raised her head ever so slightly, hands at her sides, "I am Caressa, Goddess of Reality." Virginia gasped, seeing weird people was getting regular in her life, but it was still startling. Caressa put a hand on her hip and suddenly cocked an attitude, "Nice title, huh?" Virginia just stared, gaping mouth wide. "Well, well, well, Virginia.. you have really screwed with reality." "Pardon me, but lately reality has been screwing with me." Virginia seemed to be getting an attitude herself. Ignoring her, Caressa continued, "You were never supposed to go through those magick mirrors.. in fact the mirrors were never supposed to be in existence in the first place." Virginia was trying to make sense of this, of the past few hours, but it was a puzzle with missing pieces, or even no pieces. "But now, since you have to be an eccentric and visit the alternate reality, there's now two lives for you. The old school, regular one, the `normal' one if you will: you're mother is alive, you flipped your bike - -" "Wolf is a doctor." Virginia nodded. "Yeah, I remember." "My, my, don't you know everything," Caressa started to walk away, annoyed. Virginia watched her go. Hurrying in that direction she called, "Wait! Aren't you going to explain this to me!" Caressa turned on her heals, "Oh, and here I thought you knew everything." She pulled her silvery lips into a smile. "I don't have a clue as to what all this means. I'm lost in this—this blackness," She waved her arms in the air, "You're the only one who can tell me what the hell is happening, and you are going to tell me." Her father was right, she had become more obstinate since she had met Wolf. Caressa sighed, balling her hands into fists and then releasing them, transforming into a calmer being. "Let's sum up: Two worlds, normal and alternate, you traveled to alternate, bad move on your part—" Virginia cut her off, "I didn't have much choice in that." "Must you interrupt?" Caressa glared at her, "So anyway, you have to choose, the life with your Mother, she's alive, happy, and quite sane. Or the one with love of you life," She said with no enthusiasm, "Wolf." Virginia didn't want to make that choice. Which one did she really want to go back to? It was too hard to choose one over the other, family or love. No human could live without each, no matter how hard they tried. Family supports you, picks you up when you fall down, and love makes you want to live, makes every part of the body and soul hum with joy. Caressa impatiently tapped her feet, "Will you choose already? Family or love? Hmm… I remember another girl who had a problem choosing, Juliet Caputlet, she's dead now, but then she was in a slightly different position," The Goddess stopped herself. "You see what you're indecision has done, its got me babbling." Caressa was obliviously not interested in this little meeting. "I choose Wolf. I choose Wolf!" Virginia suddenly realized how much in love she was. Happily ever after took precedence over a `normal' life. "Good, finally," The Goddess smiled, happy for once, "I'll beam you back there now." Caressa started to gather her powers to perform the task of shipping Virginia off to the alternate reality. "Wait!" Virginia frantically waved her arms, trying to get Caressa's attention before it was too late. "What?" "Can I just say Goodbye to my mother first… please?" Just one last goodbye before, before she could never speak to her again. Caressa rolled her eyes, "You just want everything, don't you?" She sighed, "Fine, one hour, that's all, no more, say you're good-byes and then go back to Wolf." "Thank you," Virginia let fall one single teardrop. If she could have chosen both she would have, but life was not like that. "Thank you," She whispered again. Virginia awoke once more in the hospital room, Dr. Lupin was checking her eyes trying to find out what state of unconsciousness she was in. "Ahh!" "Oh, sorry," He chuckled as he put the pen-flashlight back in his pocket. She smiled. Writing down a few comments on the stack of papers that was attached to the clipboard, he noted, "I thought you were going to stay in bed." What was she going to say, oh you looked like a half-wolf in an alternate universe so I decided to follow you, no the more simple answer was, "I'm sorry." He nodded, "But in future reference, it wasn't such a bright idea." "Right." Virginia knew she was wasting time, she needed to see her mother, since she was only given one hour to say goodbye. She needed to say things she never had a chance to. "Where are my parents?" "Visiting hours are over." He replied, not looking up from Virginia's files. "Damn it," She said out loud, "Look, I really need to speak to my mother right now." "Can't it wait till tomorrow?" The doctor asked. Tomorrow would be too late, tomorrow she wouldn't be here. She shook her head, "No, it can't wait." She tried to rise from the bed, but dizziness set in again. Looking at the young woman struggle, the doctor sighed, "I could call them, I have the phone number here on your file... as long as you lay back down." Putting a hand to her throbbing head, she agreed. Dr. Lupine dialed the number on the phone keypad and handed the phone to Virginia who was lying in bed. "Hi, mom." "What is it? Are you okay? Is there something wrong?" Her mother started spouting questions, afraid for her daughter's health and life, and then in a resolved voice said, "I'll be there in fifteen minutes." And hung up the phone. "No, mom, I'm okay." Virginia tried to say before the phone was disconnected, but it was too late. Well, at least her mother cared and would be with her soon. "She worries too much." "Parents are like that when their children are in the hospital," He spoke from experience. Dr. Lupine hung up the phone and turned to leave the room. "I believe you were about to tell me about you daughter right before I accidentally passed out," Virginia lied. She wanted to know more, but didn't know how to get this stranger, who was less than a stranger, talking. "I don't believe I was about to tell you anything." He sounded protective for some reason. Virginia frowned, he looked so much like Wolf, but wasn't. "What's her name?" She pried. What the hell, she would be gone in an hour, and it was very interesting even if he was in share-mood. He sat down in a chair opposite Virginia's bed. "You really want to know?" "Yes." "Tala." "Tala?" "It means `stalking wolf' in Native American, my wife studies American cultures for a living." Did he just say wife? Virginia's ears pricked up at the mention of his wife. "She's very involved with her work, plus she has this thing about wolves for some reason." He took out his wallet and found a picture. "Here she is." Virginia took the photograph from him, and had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. A few years older, but still there was no doubt. It was the shepherdess from the Peep village, "She's very pretty." She handed the picture back. "That's my Sally." Even the same name, this alternate universe was fascinating. A second later, Christine Lewis came barging in the door, "The nerve of this hospital, they wouldn't let me in, I said it was an emergency but –" She noticed the doctor was here, and closed her mouth. "What's wrong, Virginia? Why did you call me?" She looked genuinely worried, very worried. "It's nothing, well..." It was something, but how to begin… "Virginia!" Her father came almost running into the room, Christine had called him before rushing to the hospital herself. "Dad," She was trying to think of what to say, something that would make sense. And then in a rush it came to her, "Dad, if you meet a half-wolf, don't take his magic bean. Mom, don't run away and turn into an evil Queen, and please don't turn princes into dogs and vice versa, it isn't very good. Dad, be careful with mirrors so we have a way to get home, and don't talk to dwarfs, or trolls... or psychopathic huntsmen. And swamp water is bad for you." "Virginia," Her mother said, "You're concussion must be worse than we thought, you're not making any sense. With feelings that he shouldn't be able to feel, and a sense of understanding something deep that he didn't fully know, and couldn't put his finger on, Dr. Lupine simply said, "No, I think she's making perfect sense." "I love you mom." The smell of bacon set her nose twitching as the sunlight crept across the bed shared with Wolf. The spot next to her was empty. Throwing on a silk robe, Virginia walked into the small kitchen of the apartment. Wolf was cooking breakfast. "Wolf noticed his fiancée. "Bacon for breakfast." Virginia grinned, there was an excessive amount for only two people. "It was going to be breakfast in bed, but huff-puff, you woke up." Virginia walked over to her favorite chef and put her arms around his waist, leaning her head against his back. She was glad to be back home, close to Wolf, the real Wolf. "I thought of a name for the baby." "What do you think we should name our little wolf cub?" He turned to face the women he loved. "Tala… it means `stalking wolf'." "Tala? I like it." Virginia kissed him sweetly, he would never know what she gave up to be with him, but she wouldn't tell him. What was important was that she knew. She had gone through the looking-glass and come back, seen both universes, she still missed her mother but her heart knew the right choice had been made. They would live Happy Ever After together forever. The End
