Disclaimer: I don't own Watchmen
"Just arrived today," her mother said excitedly, "Custom-ordered from this great little French boutique on the Upper East Side. " She shoved the box into Laurie's hands. "Open it!"
"What is it?" the girl asked, as she stared suspiciously at the box. Her mother had a flair for being overly dramatic, as though she were constantly in an audition for a soap opera role.
"It's for tonight, of course! Want to look your best for the first meeting of the Crimebusters, don't you?" Sally Jupiter batted her eyelashes in a gesture of mock innocence.
The sixteen-year old girl began, "Mother, what did you…" but soon broke off her line of questioning. It was pointless to argue. She sighed, then dropped to her knees to tear apart the cardboard lids. As she pushed apart the layers of tissue paper, she glimpsed black and yellow fabric of some sort. She'd seen these colors together before, in her mother's costume she so proudly displayed on the wall in the living room. God, so tacky, she remembered thinking when Sally had placed it there.
Laurie lifted what was now apparently a garment out of the box and held it at arm's length. She furrowed her brow. Before her dangled a flimsy yellow silk mini dress with a black halter top overlay. A dark leotard panty peeked out from under the chiffon-like ruffles of the attached skirt. "Oh, what the …" the girl mumbled.
A loud voice overshadowed her thoughts. "It's even lovelier than I imagined!" Sally exclaimed with delight. "Reminds me of my own old get-up. Ah, those were the days. Well, go and try it on!"
Laurie's puzzled expression quickly changed to one of irritation. "Are you kidding me? I'm supposed to bust hookers, not look like one! I mean, really! Who's gonna take me seriously in this thing?"
Suddenly jolted from her nostalgia, Sally firmly placed her hands on her hips. "It's a costume! What do you think I wore during my crimefighting days? You know, it's not an easy gig being a girl in the hero business. Gotta have some charm to balance all that fight in you—the papers don't care about ordinary—you think I would have gotten where I am by wearing blue jeans?"
What, a washed-up has-been? The girl wanted to ask. Instead, she quarreled back. "C'mon mom! For God's sake, it's 1966, not 19..forty…whatever. Girls don't wear this kind of stuff now! You never let me be how I want!"
"Laurel Jane, I paid a hell of a lot of money for this, and you will go upstairs right now and try it on. If not, you can forget about that summer horse camp we talked about!"
Laurie huffed and rolled her eyes. "Fine." She stuffed the dress in one hand and sulked as she headed up the steps to her room. Ultimately, her mother always won. She'd been the one pushing Laurie all these years, molding her in her own image, living her superhero aspirations through her daughter.
She couldn't wait to get out of there, to finally be out on her own. Laurie resented her mother forcing her fantasies on her, but she didn't really know what she'd be doing if her mother hadn't taught her everything she knew about crimefighting. As a child, she'd had some vague dreams about working with animals, but in time they had been extinguished by her mother's insistence that she was destined "for greater things". Maybe her mother was right. Was it really all that bad? Wasn't she smart and strong and capable of taking care of herself? How many sixteen-year-old girls could say the same thing? Wasn't this who she was?
As she zipped up the back of the costume, she avoided looking in mirror, afraid of feeling like a fool. She sat on the edge of her bed for several minutes, mustering up the courage to take a look. When she finally did, she was surprised at how relieved she felt. Damn, I look pretty good formed in her mind. The yellow silk draped beautifully on her body, accentuating her bust as well as her toned musculature elsewhere. Though the black halter in the front was slit practically down to her navel, the silk top underneath covered her upper half completely as not to appear vulgar.
Much as she hated to admit it to herself, she liked how sexy the silk layers made her feel. Besides, they adequately showed off that which she had always thought to be her best asset—her long, lean legs. Maybe the "charm" factor her mother spoke of wasn't so bad after all.
She walked down the stairs and was met with her mother gazing at her approvingly. "My little girl," she said as tears formed in her eyes "all grown up. You're going to be a hit tonight!"
Embarrassed, Laurie tried to squelch the smile forming on her lips. She recovered with, "Just don't go thinking I'm going to wear those awful fishnets with this."
"No, actually I had something else in mind." She produced a small jewelry box in her hand. "Here, try these."
Laurie flicked open the lid. Inside were her mother's "S" shaped earrings she'd worn so many years ago when she was the one known as Silk Spectre. "You know, I've been waiting a long time for the right moment to give these to you," Sally said. Laurie put them in her ears. "There." her mother began again, still smiling. "Perfect."
"Not quite, hold on." Laurie ran upstairs, went to her room, then swiftly came back down. "I'm adding something of my own. I got this a while ago from an antique shop, but never knew what to wear it with." Around her neck, she fastened a black velvet choker with a skull-like face attached to it.
"There, a little "spectre" to go with all this silk!" she said triumphantly.
"What's an outfit without the right accessories, huh? Must've learned that from me, too!" Sally beamed. "What's that saying," she continued, "'Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue?' Oh, wait, that's for when a gal gets married."
"Don't think I'm there yet, mom." Laurie half-frowned.
Sally touched her chin. "Yeah, well, I know that. Plus, you don't seem to have anything blue, huh? Probably'd clash with the outfit anyway."
"I guess."
The meeting that evening didn't go as smoothly as she'd expected, but it didn't matter much to Laurie. From the moment she laid eyes on the mysterious Dr. Manhattan, she knew she had to talk to him. Slipping away from the crowd of vigilantes and the doc's girlfriend at the first opportunity they got, Laurie and Jon made their way onto the roof of the building. She reveled in every one of his electrifying kisses and wished the night would never end.
The ride home with her mother had not started off so well. Angry at having found her daughter conversing with Eddie Blake, Sally finally broke down in the car and spilled out her emotions concerning him. Laurie had never had such strong opposing feelings in her gut before. After an evening of tenderness with Jon, her mother's revelations were all the more galling.
At some point during the trip, Sally decided she didn't want to discuss Eddie anymore. She felt slightly guilty for bringing everything up especially when it was supposed to be Laurie's night. Taking in a deep breath, Sally checked her appearance in the mirror attached to the seat in the back of the limo. "Well, enough about me," she said, as she applied the makeup she'd cried off, "Tell me about how it went."
Laurie's cheeks flushed as she smiled. "Mom, you know that bride's saying you were talking about earlier? 'Something old, something…'"
"Yeah?"
Again, the girl grinned widely. She thought of Jon's cerulean lips pressed against hers. "Well, let's just say tonight I think found the "something blue" we were looking for."