Disclaimer: Have never written one of these so if it's wrong someone
pleeze tell me. Ok I don't own any of these characters so don't sue. Oh
except for Sean - I do believe I made him up tho : ) I dunno who owns them
but I reckon that since the show was axed then technically no-one owns them
anymore but hey - I still don't own them.
Dedication: I dedicate this to my inspirer Forever Fairy. Thanx so much for encouraging me to write one of these lil fics and I'm forever in your dept. Thanx heaps. Now on with the story
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It was early one day in winter, and that means that it was as cold as ever and Declan was extremely cold on this particular day as he walked through the grounds at the NOU. In a typical Declan fashion, he was not watching where he was going and ran smack bang into a tree. Mind you this tree had been there for, well, lets just say that it was there way before Declan had started teaching at the University.
"Stupid, God-damned tree," he muttered to himself. "Why on earth would anyone plant a tree that size there?"
Unbeknownst to him, Declan's friend, or colleague, or assistant (you pick) Miranda had witnessed the whole event and casually sidled up to him.
"Plant what where," she smirked. Of course she already knew the answer but hey, she liked to tease and Declan was just so fun to tease. Plus he didn't know she'd seen him hit the tree.
"Oh hey Miranda," Declan replied after recovering from the shock she gave him by sneaking up upon him. "Nothing. Just some stupid run in with nature that's all. Nothing of real importance."
Miranda couldn't help herself so she laughed. Not to hurt his feelings but just to let him know or perhaps realise that he was still as clumsy as ever. Declan just glared at her, but deep inside he knew she was kidding. They continued their walk towards the buildings and once they arrived, Miranda said goodbye then headed towards the science labs while Declan went to his office in the anthropology department.
For Declan, the day passed so slowly it wasn't funny. Lets just say, have you ever tried to race snails? Well to Declan that seemed as though it would finish a lot sooner than his day. His first class, to him anyway, felt like it lasted for five hours instead of one and he was just so, well I don't know, antsy? Anyway, by the time the last class was half way through he decided he couldn't take it anymore so he dismissed the class early. Before they all left though Declan had one last thing to say to them all. (Hey don't all teachers who let you out early have an ulterior motive?)
"Ok peoples listen up," he started before the entire room emptied. "At the beginning of the next class I want everyone to hand in printed out copies of their notes from today's lecture, and yes Sean that means and includes you. Am I understood?" The response he got was a barely audible groan from the students and some even looked worried as it was obvious to Declan that they hadn't taken notes or even bothered to pay attention.
'Well that's their tough luck,' he thought as he started to gather up his stuff. 'They should have been paying attention.' As he finished collecting his books and stuff, he started to speak out loud.
"I know I should go and see Miranda. She might be finished for the day." By this stage he was just about to walk down the corridor when he stopped at the door and turned around. "What d'ya reckon Moley?"
The mutt barked in return and Declan just laughed. After all, he did think that it was less crazy talking to a dog than talking to one's self.
Quickly Declan made his way to the science labs but not before grabbing a bite to eat. He was always hungry and hey, seriously he didn't care. As he arrived at the lab door, he stopped to chuck his rubbish in the bin when an article from the paper, which was lying open on the pile of rubbish, caught his attention. He grabbed it and started to read.
"In an unusual event in Australia, strange noises have been heard as well as the disappearance of items from the Daintree National Rainforest. Park rangers have no idea how to explain this although they did mention that weird footprints have been seen by the creek that runs through the rainforest."
The article continues but Declan has read all he needs to know. He chucks his rubbish in the bin and barges into the lab frightening the b'Jesus out of Miranda in the process.
"Declan, what the hell," Miranda shrieks in fright. "Don't go doing that how many times do I have to tell you that?"
Declan puts on his best goofy grin and apologises, "yeh sorry Miranda it's just that I found this article that I'm interested in and I was wondering if you'd like to take a trip with me to Australia?"
Miranda turns around and studies Declan's face to see if he's serious or not. With him it's usually hard to tell. However even Miranda this time has to admit that he does look awfully serious. "Ok Declan, what's the catch," she studiously comments.
"What!! There's not catch," he defends. "I found this case for us to work on and is it my fault that it happens to be in Australia?" With that last statement he does his cute lil puppy dog eyes and hopes that Miranda will agree and lets face it folks, who can say no to him. Not me that's for sure.
"Well," Miranda starts still not sure. "Ok but I'm only going coz it's summer over there now and it'll get me outta this cold weather we have. Plus there're supposed to be good beaches over there." She smiles at the thought of seeing Declan at a beach. Knowing her luck, he'll end up nearly drowning in the waves or something.
"Great we leave in first thing tomorrow morning," Declan says enthusiastically. "Crap, I'd better get home to go pack then. It takes me longer to pack than you."
Miranda just smiles at this comment as she knows that Declan is one of those people who'd pack the kitchen sink if he could. "What about Peggy is she gunna come too?" She asks hoping that the answer is not affirmative.
Declan thinks about this for a minute. "No she's not coming. She said she's too busy," he lied. (After all, you and I both know he did no such thing coz he found the article conveniently placed in a bin outside the lab Miranda was in. Wow wasn't that well thought out.)
"Ok," Miranda replied and started packing up her equipment. "I'll see you tomorrow at what time?"
'Hell,' Declan thought. 'How am I supposed to know I haven't even booked the flight yet!' "Umm, I'll call you later with the details ok?"
Miranda just grinned, she did after all know that Declan hadn't planned this but she decided to play along. "Ok I'll talk to you later tonight then."
"Righteo then I'll catch you later," Declan said. "See you round." With that Declan has left the building. (I couldn't help myself lol)
Later that night, at about 11:30pm, Miranda's phone began to ring. 'Now I wonder who that could be?' she sarcastically thought to herself.
"Hello Declan," she said when she picked up the phone.
"Whoa man," came the reply from the other end. "Miranda are you sure you're not psychic?"
Miranda just sighed. "Yes Declan I know for a fact I'm not psychic now what did you want?"
"I'll pick you up at 5:15am and our flight leaves at 6:30am ok?"
"Ok Declan I'll see you then and make sure you set your alarm this time."
"Will do M'ran. Catch you then night."
"Night Declan." And with that she hung up the phone and went to bed.
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The next morning, Declan dragged his carcass out of his nice comfy bed. "Man it is so wrong to be getting up before the birds." He looked at the clock and it said 4:15am, which gave him a total of 30 mins to get ready coz it takes him 15 mins to get to Miranda's house. So he jumped into the shower and was out in less than 2 mins (and lets face it girls, none of us really know how to do that). He pulled on clothes that didn't match, hey cut him so slack coz he'd packed everything else, and went to get some brekkie. He raided his cupboards and pantry and surprise, surprise they were bare, so he grabbed his stuff, and Mole and jumped in the car and headed to the nearest 7/11 store coz lets face it kids, what diner is open before 5 in the morning!!
Anywayze, so he's got his brekkie, and is feeding half of it to Mole, as he speeds towards Miranda's. As he arrives he sees her locking her front door. He smiles at this. 'Miranda's always on time even when I'm late.' He thinks. As she heads towards his banged up truck (if you can call it that), he gets his first real look at her. 'Damn,' he thinks. 'How can she look so good this early in the morning?' He looks at his own reflection in the rear-view mirror and sees a stubbly chin and unkempt hair. He sighs, 'she'll never fall for someone like me.'
Just then there's a tap at the window and he looks up to see Miranda peering in. She opens the door, loads her stuff on the back and climbs in. Declan kangaroos off (pardon the expression) before she even has the chance to shut her door. She finally gets it shut after a huge struggle, and after nearly falling out twice, and puts her seatbelt on, which is a necessity when travelling in Declan's truck. (I'm gunna call it a truck ok)
Eventually they pull up at the airport and Declan parks. They climb out and grab their gear. Declan of course has thousands of bags whilst Miranda only has one relatively small one. Mole, who is in a doggy carry cage (or whatever they're called) barks and Declan picks him up and takes him too.
We'll skip some here, as it's just a mad dash to the gate, and as usual D. trips over and makes them even later and we'll pick them up as they're seated in their economy seats about to take off.
So our two intrepid explorers are seated side by side in economy class (it's better coz that means that if the plane crashes after being in a nose dive, the pilots and 1st class passengers die first coz they're in the front of the plane hee hee). So they both have their belts on and the plane heads down the runway. Once they're in the air, Declan removes his belt and turns to Miranda who is asleep beside him. He sorta half remembers her once telling him that she was a nervous flyer so if it was true, she'd probably taken Valium or something to knock her out.
A couple of hours later the plane is over the Pacific Ocean, and what a marvellous thing it is too. Miranda stirs in her seat and Declan says, "hey sleepy, welcome back to the land of the living."
Miranda just groans. "Are we there yet?" she queries even though she knows the answer.
Declan, who can't help himself replies to her obvious rhetoric. "No we've still got another hour or so to go."
Not being able to help herself, she rolls her eyes and closes them once again before quickly opening them as the plane shakes and shudders.
Wide-awake now Miranda nervously asks Declan "What's going on? What's wrong with the plane?"
"I don't know I'm goi." was all Declan could manage to say before the lights in the plane went out and it started plummeting towards the deep waters below. Screams could be heard from the other passengers but for some strange reason Miranda seemed oddly calm.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ A/N Is it because she's responsible for the crash or is the reason more simple - stay tuned to find out more.
Dedication: I dedicate this to my inspirer Forever Fairy. Thanx so much for encouraging me to write one of these lil fics and I'm forever in your dept. Thanx heaps. Now on with the story
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It was early one day in winter, and that means that it was as cold as ever and Declan was extremely cold on this particular day as he walked through the grounds at the NOU. In a typical Declan fashion, he was not watching where he was going and ran smack bang into a tree. Mind you this tree had been there for, well, lets just say that it was there way before Declan had started teaching at the University.
"Stupid, God-damned tree," he muttered to himself. "Why on earth would anyone plant a tree that size there?"
Unbeknownst to him, Declan's friend, or colleague, or assistant (you pick) Miranda had witnessed the whole event and casually sidled up to him.
"Plant what where," she smirked. Of course she already knew the answer but hey, she liked to tease and Declan was just so fun to tease. Plus he didn't know she'd seen him hit the tree.
"Oh hey Miranda," Declan replied after recovering from the shock she gave him by sneaking up upon him. "Nothing. Just some stupid run in with nature that's all. Nothing of real importance."
Miranda couldn't help herself so she laughed. Not to hurt his feelings but just to let him know or perhaps realise that he was still as clumsy as ever. Declan just glared at her, but deep inside he knew she was kidding. They continued their walk towards the buildings and once they arrived, Miranda said goodbye then headed towards the science labs while Declan went to his office in the anthropology department.
For Declan, the day passed so slowly it wasn't funny. Lets just say, have you ever tried to race snails? Well to Declan that seemed as though it would finish a lot sooner than his day. His first class, to him anyway, felt like it lasted for five hours instead of one and he was just so, well I don't know, antsy? Anyway, by the time the last class was half way through he decided he couldn't take it anymore so he dismissed the class early. Before they all left though Declan had one last thing to say to them all. (Hey don't all teachers who let you out early have an ulterior motive?)
"Ok peoples listen up," he started before the entire room emptied. "At the beginning of the next class I want everyone to hand in printed out copies of their notes from today's lecture, and yes Sean that means and includes you. Am I understood?" The response he got was a barely audible groan from the students and some even looked worried as it was obvious to Declan that they hadn't taken notes or even bothered to pay attention.
'Well that's their tough luck,' he thought as he started to gather up his stuff. 'They should have been paying attention.' As he finished collecting his books and stuff, he started to speak out loud.
"I know I should go and see Miranda. She might be finished for the day." By this stage he was just about to walk down the corridor when he stopped at the door and turned around. "What d'ya reckon Moley?"
The mutt barked in return and Declan just laughed. After all, he did think that it was less crazy talking to a dog than talking to one's self.
Quickly Declan made his way to the science labs but not before grabbing a bite to eat. He was always hungry and hey, seriously he didn't care. As he arrived at the lab door, he stopped to chuck his rubbish in the bin when an article from the paper, which was lying open on the pile of rubbish, caught his attention. He grabbed it and started to read.
"In an unusual event in Australia, strange noises have been heard as well as the disappearance of items from the Daintree National Rainforest. Park rangers have no idea how to explain this although they did mention that weird footprints have been seen by the creek that runs through the rainforest."
The article continues but Declan has read all he needs to know. He chucks his rubbish in the bin and barges into the lab frightening the b'Jesus out of Miranda in the process.
"Declan, what the hell," Miranda shrieks in fright. "Don't go doing that how many times do I have to tell you that?"
Declan puts on his best goofy grin and apologises, "yeh sorry Miranda it's just that I found this article that I'm interested in and I was wondering if you'd like to take a trip with me to Australia?"
Miranda turns around and studies Declan's face to see if he's serious or not. With him it's usually hard to tell. However even Miranda this time has to admit that he does look awfully serious. "Ok Declan, what's the catch," she studiously comments.
"What!! There's not catch," he defends. "I found this case for us to work on and is it my fault that it happens to be in Australia?" With that last statement he does his cute lil puppy dog eyes and hopes that Miranda will agree and lets face it folks, who can say no to him. Not me that's for sure.
"Well," Miranda starts still not sure. "Ok but I'm only going coz it's summer over there now and it'll get me outta this cold weather we have. Plus there're supposed to be good beaches over there." She smiles at the thought of seeing Declan at a beach. Knowing her luck, he'll end up nearly drowning in the waves or something.
"Great we leave in first thing tomorrow morning," Declan says enthusiastically. "Crap, I'd better get home to go pack then. It takes me longer to pack than you."
Miranda just smiles at this comment as she knows that Declan is one of those people who'd pack the kitchen sink if he could. "What about Peggy is she gunna come too?" She asks hoping that the answer is not affirmative.
Declan thinks about this for a minute. "No she's not coming. She said she's too busy," he lied. (After all, you and I both know he did no such thing coz he found the article conveniently placed in a bin outside the lab Miranda was in. Wow wasn't that well thought out.)
"Ok," Miranda replied and started packing up her equipment. "I'll see you tomorrow at what time?"
'Hell,' Declan thought. 'How am I supposed to know I haven't even booked the flight yet!' "Umm, I'll call you later with the details ok?"
Miranda just grinned, she did after all know that Declan hadn't planned this but she decided to play along. "Ok I'll talk to you later tonight then."
"Righteo then I'll catch you later," Declan said. "See you round." With that Declan has left the building. (I couldn't help myself lol)
Later that night, at about 11:30pm, Miranda's phone began to ring. 'Now I wonder who that could be?' she sarcastically thought to herself.
"Hello Declan," she said when she picked up the phone.
"Whoa man," came the reply from the other end. "Miranda are you sure you're not psychic?"
Miranda just sighed. "Yes Declan I know for a fact I'm not psychic now what did you want?"
"I'll pick you up at 5:15am and our flight leaves at 6:30am ok?"
"Ok Declan I'll see you then and make sure you set your alarm this time."
"Will do M'ran. Catch you then night."
"Night Declan." And with that she hung up the phone and went to bed.
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The next morning, Declan dragged his carcass out of his nice comfy bed. "Man it is so wrong to be getting up before the birds." He looked at the clock and it said 4:15am, which gave him a total of 30 mins to get ready coz it takes him 15 mins to get to Miranda's house. So he jumped into the shower and was out in less than 2 mins (and lets face it girls, none of us really know how to do that). He pulled on clothes that didn't match, hey cut him so slack coz he'd packed everything else, and went to get some brekkie. He raided his cupboards and pantry and surprise, surprise they were bare, so he grabbed his stuff, and Mole and jumped in the car and headed to the nearest 7/11 store coz lets face it kids, what diner is open before 5 in the morning!!
Anywayze, so he's got his brekkie, and is feeding half of it to Mole, as he speeds towards Miranda's. As he arrives he sees her locking her front door. He smiles at this. 'Miranda's always on time even when I'm late.' He thinks. As she heads towards his banged up truck (if you can call it that), he gets his first real look at her. 'Damn,' he thinks. 'How can she look so good this early in the morning?' He looks at his own reflection in the rear-view mirror and sees a stubbly chin and unkempt hair. He sighs, 'she'll never fall for someone like me.'
Just then there's a tap at the window and he looks up to see Miranda peering in. She opens the door, loads her stuff on the back and climbs in. Declan kangaroos off (pardon the expression) before she even has the chance to shut her door. She finally gets it shut after a huge struggle, and after nearly falling out twice, and puts her seatbelt on, which is a necessity when travelling in Declan's truck. (I'm gunna call it a truck ok)
Eventually they pull up at the airport and Declan parks. They climb out and grab their gear. Declan of course has thousands of bags whilst Miranda only has one relatively small one. Mole, who is in a doggy carry cage (or whatever they're called) barks and Declan picks him up and takes him too.
We'll skip some here, as it's just a mad dash to the gate, and as usual D. trips over and makes them even later and we'll pick them up as they're seated in their economy seats about to take off.
So our two intrepid explorers are seated side by side in economy class (it's better coz that means that if the plane crashes after being in a nose dive, the pilots and 1st class passengers die first coz they're in the front of the plane hee hee). So they both have their belts on and the plane heads down the runway. Once they're in the air, Declan removes his belt and turns to Miranda who is asleep beside him. He sorta half remembers her once telling him that she was a nervous flyer so if it was true, she'd probably taken Valium or something to knock her out.
A couple of hours later the plane is over the Pacific Ocean, and what a marvellous thing it is too. Miranda stirs in her seat and Declan says, "hey sleepy, welcome back to the land of the living."
Miranda just groans. "Are we there yet?" she queries even though she knows the answer.
Declan, who can't help himself replies to her obvious rhetoric. "No we've still got another hour or so to go."
Not being able to help herself, she rolls her eyes and closes them once again before quickly opening them as the plane shakes and shudders.
Wide-awake now Miranda nervously asks Declan "What's going on? What's wrong with the plane?"
"I don't know I'm goi." was all Declan could manage to say before the lights in the plane went out and it started plummeting towards the deep waters below. Screams could be heard from the other passengers but for some strange reason Miranda seemed oddly calm.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ A/N Is it because she's responsible for the crash or is the reason more simple - stay tuned to find out more.