"Debra's Rapist Gets the Ax"
It's thirty years in the past, back in 1982. Dexter and Debra are twelve and nine years old. This weekend is Debra's ninth birthday. Dexter and Harry for years have gone on hunting trips, where Dexter takes out his killing impulses out on animals they hunt together. More than anything Debra wishes she could go with them on one of these trips. She always feels so left out and like her father and brother are so buddy-buddy.
Dexter and Harry discuss Debra tagging along on this trip they're taking this weekend.
Dexter pleads to Harry, "Can Debra tag along on the hunting trip just this once? It's her birthday and it's all she wants. I promise to behave myself and we could all just have one 'normal' hunting trip together."
Harry concedes, "Okay, just this once. But I mean it Dexter, you have got to control yourself. We can never let anyone see what you're really like."
Dexter replies, "Oh I'll control myself. I promise."
The night before the camping trip Dexter and Harry pack the camper. Dexter wants to make the most out of this one time trip for Debra. So he insists they cram a great assortment of camping and hunting gear into the camper. The three of them leave before dawn to maximize the number of hours they can spend at the camp grounds. In the car Debra is so excited she's practically jumping out of her seat.
Debra squeals, "Are we there yet?!"
Harry smiles and replies, "We're almost there honey. But the car is low on gas. I'll have to stop and get some gas before we reach the cabin."
Debra grumbles, "Ohhh..."
Harry sighs and adds, "It'll only take a second. There's a gas station within walking distance of the cabin."
"Hey Dad!" Debra says, "Last night you got that big new ax at the hardware store. Can I try and chop down a tree with it? I wanna get the whole outdoorsy experience." She puts her fists up and twists around in her seat. She explains, "You know, since I'm finally going to the cabin with you and Dexter." She happily accompanied them last night to the hardware store before they packed the camper for the trip.
"Sorry honey." Harry insists, "The ax is just too dangerous for you to use. I only got it for myself to use to cut up some kindling."
Dexter interjects, "But Dad I help you cut down trees for firewood all the time."
Harry gives Dexter a reproachful look for revealing that information to Debra. Harry says to Debra, "I'm sorry honey, it's too dangerous. You're not touching the ax."
Debra pouts, "Awe... "
Harry turns his attention back towards the road. Behind Harry's back, Dexter gives Debra a wink. This signifies that he'll try and get Debra a chance with the ax when Dad isn't looking.
Harry pulls into the gas station. The gas station has a good size convenience store inside it. But it's still a pretty run down place. It's not made any prettier now being bathed in the orange light of dawn. The whole area is tumbleweed quiet, save for the muffled sounds of a TV, inside the convenience store. The only souls to be found are a lone smoker out front and a clerk inside the convenience store, behind the counter.
As Harry parks the car, he drives over a cord that's on the ground. This alerts the clerk, inside the store, that customers have arrived. Harry gets out of the car.
The clerk, behind the counter, begrudgingly gets up from his seat.
The storefront has all glass walls. Through the glass, Harry greets the clerk with a wave. He calls out, "Hi Gus!" Then Harry motions for Gus to sit back down. Harry yells to the man, "That's okay! I can get the gas myself! Enjoy the game!" Harry panna mines, all of this, to Gus through the glass.
Gus is an older, heavier man. He nods at Harry and gratefully returns to his place behind the counter. He has a portable TV back there. He goes back to staring, mesmerized, at a sports game on it.
Harry fills the sedan with regular. Debra jumps out of the car. She calls out, "I gotta go to the the bathroom!" She sprints inside the store to get the ladies room key from Gus. As the exuberant girl enters the store, the smoker out front flicks an ash off his cigarette. The ash goes arching into the air, trailing after the girl.
Inside the store Debra greets the clerk. "Hi! Gus is it? Can I borrow the key to the ladies room? I have to go to the bathroom." Debra asks.
Gus looks up from his football game and temporarily turns the sound down. He returns her greetings, "Oh hi! Yah I'm Gus. So you're Harry's daughter... Debra right?" Gus asks.
"Yah that's right." Debra happily replies. "I'm joining my father and brother on one of their hunting trips."
Gus shoots back, "Oh Yah, Harry and Dexter are here all the time. They've been coming here for years. But I've never seen you with them before."
Debra drones, "Yah I know." She rolls her eyes.
Women and girls were indeed a rare sight around these campgrounds. Harry chose this particular location, for Dexter's training, because it was remote and unpopulated.
Outside Harry has finished pumping the gas. He then frisks his own pockets. "Darn it," he grumbles, "I left my wallet at home. I pack every camping equipment known to man but I leave my wallet on the nightstand. I got some cash back at the cabin. I gotta go up there to get it. Dexter, can you stay here with Debra while I run and get the money?" Harry asks.
Dexter assures Harry, "Sure Dad, I'll keep an eye on Deb while you're gone. Take your time."
Harry replies, "I'll be back as soon as I can." He starts walking, briskly, towards the cabin.
As soon as Harry is a fair distance away, Dexter uses this opportunity to quickly get the ax for Debra. Dexter sees some logs of wood piled up on the left side of the building. He figures he can borrow a log from the pile and at least show Deb how to splinter a log for kindling. If not have her chop down a tree liked she wanted. Dexter rubbishes through the camper to dig out the ax. It's buried in the back. It takes him a few minutes to dig it out. While Dexter's half buried in the camper, Debra comes bouncing out of the store. She heads around to the right side of the building, where the ladies room is. The smoker's still puffing away out front. As Debra passes the smoker, he stomps out his cigarette with his boot. As soon as the Debra turns the corner, the smoker follows her into the bathroom. He does this even though the men's room is on the other side of the building.
Nine-year-old Debra happily skips into the ladies room. She does this while hummimg the theme song from "Inspector Gadget." Her favorite cartoon. The pedophile/smoker follows the girl right into the bathroom. The second they're both inside the room he grabs her by the throat. He chokes off her airway with both hands so she can't scream. He quietly pushes the door shut, behind them, with the bottom of his boot.
He angrily whispers into her ear, "If you scream I'll snap your neck. Nod if you understand."
Crying and whimpering, Debra nods.
The pedophile releases her narrow, and now bruised, throat. He locks the ladies room door then strips her clothes off. Inside the there's only one bathroom stall in the middle of the room. There's a small plastic stepping stool under the sink. The pedophile grabs the stool. He puts it near the stall.
He angrily whispers to Debra, "Stand on the stool."
Shaking with fear Debra does as she's told.
He angrily whispers, "Grab the wall of the stall.
With shaking hands she grabs the stall.
Pedophile takes vaseline to-go packets out of his pocket. He always keeps these packets on him for just such occasions.
Outside of the bathroom, by the car, Dexter gets the ax out of the camper. He starts walking over to the left side of the building. As he passes the storefront, he looks in on Gus. The clerk hasn't moved an inch since he sat back down in front of the TV. Dexter walks over to where the log piles are. They're piled up high on the left side of the building. They're wrapped in plastic. Dexter puts down the ax and takes out his pocketknife. He cuts an opening in the plastic and jimmies a log outta there. He figures Gus won't notice one little log gone. Dexter decides to walk around the back side of the building while carrying the ax and the log. This way he'll be sure his thievery will go unseen by Gus. Gus seems quite distracted. But Dexter decides to air on the side of caution.
Dexter approaches the outside the ladies room. He has the ax in his right hand and the log under his left arm. From outside the bathroom, Dexter hears the faint sounds of a girl crying and the grunting sounds of a man.
Worried Dexter quietly says, "Deb?"
Dexter puts down the log, leaving only the ax in his hands. He presses his ear to the ladies room door.
He hears Debra continue to cry and a man grunt, "You sure are a sweet little CU word."
He also hears Debra whimper, "Daddy, help me."
Dexter tries to turn the doorknob but it's locked.
Inside the ladies room the pedophile hears the wobbling sound of the door knob being wrenched around. Fearing getting caught, he whips his head towards the door. Out of reflex he grabs Debra and throws her off the stool, onto the floor. Debra's shoulder catches on the edge of the stall as he does this. She lets out a small cry of pain as this happens. Ridiculously she spins as she falls through the air. She hits the linoleum on all fours. In desperation she quickly crawls away. When she reaches the wall she seizes up into a ball. She buries her head in her hands.
Dexter breaks down the door. It gives way after he gives it just one hard kick. The door and lock are old and falling apart like the rest of the building. As the door gives in part of the paneling is torn off and goes teetering to the floor. He bursts in on the scene.
The pedophile's standing there holding his hands up. His pants are down and he has blood at the bottom of his shirt. Debra naked and quivering in the fetal position in the corner of the room. There's a small trail of blood drops between the pedophile and Debra.
The pedophile sees twelve year old Dexter standing there bug eyed, holding an ax.
Ridiculously, feigning innocence, the pedophile blurts out, "I wasn't doing anything."
Dexter's mouth gapes open in disbelief at the statement. Astonished, the boy blurts out,"What?"
Dexter takes a swing, with the ax, at the pedophile. The pedophile braces for the attack. He holds his arms over his face in a defensive posture. The ax catches the pedophile in the foreman, cutting him deeply. The ax wedges itself into the flesh of the arm. As Dexter pulls back the ax, blood gushes out from cut.
The pedophile holds his profusely bleeding arm and yells, "Ahhhh!"
Inside the convenience store Gus is also yelling. He's yelling, "Yes! Alright! Yahhh!" He got himself up off his desk chair that's behind the counter. He's standing there pumping his arms up and down in the "Y" formation, signifying for a field goal. His team just won the game. The sound of the crowd roars from the portable TV. The sound dial is turned to max.
Back in the ladies room. Debra flinches at the pedophile's screaming. She raises her head a little and peeks her eyes out from between spread fingers. She witnesses Dexter take his second swing with the ax. The next swing hits the pedophile's collar bone, where his neck meets his body. Blood spurts out into the air from the fleshly severed jugular. The pedophile falls to his knees. After that gruesome display Debra puts her head back in her hands.
From there Dexter can far more easily hack away as he pleases. The pedophile's body lies limp on the floor. But Dexter continues hacking away. He keeps doing so for a fair amount of time. The body is now long since dead.
Several minutes go by. The body on the ground is now quite the mess. The flesh on it is chopped up into pieces. Debra hears Dexter's heavy breathing and the repetitive "whack" sounds of the ax. With each swing of the ax Debra also hears a squishing sound. This happens each time the ax meets the flesh.
She lifts her up head and calls out, "Dexter."
But Dexter doesn't respond, not noticing her. He's exhausted by now but is still focused on his work. By now he's on all fours. He keeps swinging away at the bloody body parts on the floor. "Whack. Whack."
Debra stands up and walks over to him. Now two feet from him. She calls out even louder, "Dexter!"
Dexter now notices Debra. The second time she calls his name he freezes the swing of the ax midair. In shock, he slowly turns his head towards Debra. She's standing there naked, looking at him with concerned. Dexter stands up. He keeps the ax in his hand. He takes off his jacket and puts it on Debra. He switches the ax from one hand to another while performing this task. Dexter still fears he might need the ax somehow. He puts his left arm around Debra to comfort her but leaves the ax in his right hand. They both look down at the body on the ground dumbfounded.
Several more minutes pass by. Then Harry returns to the gas station. He has the cash, for the gas, in hand. While still a fair distance from the gas station, Harry notices something's wrong. Some of the wood on the ladies room's door frame has been ripped off. The door to the room hangs open, leading in. At spotting this Harry starts to run. He reaches the doorway. He then stops cold at what he sees in there. A man's bloody body lays chopped on the floor. A bloody ax is in Dexter's hand. Debra's naked with only Dexter's jacket covering her. Harry knows exactly what transpired in his absence. After the initial shock he calls out to the kids.
From the doorway Harry calls, "Kids!"
Debra looks up to see Harry and calls back to him, "Dad."
Dexter doesn't seem to notice Harry. He's still looking down at the body.
Debra pats Dexter's shoulder and pulls away from him. She says, "Dexter, Dad's here."
Dexter seems dazed. He looks up at Debra and then to Harry. He then says, "Dad?"
Harry tells the kids, "Wait here, I'll be right back."
Harry goes to the car to get the supplies he'll need. While going to the car, Harry looks inside the convenience store at Gus. Gus is still mesmerized by what he's watching on TV. He's now well absorbed into the post game.
Harry goes to the car and gets changes of clothes for both kids. As well as bags and cleaning supplies. With all the camping and hunting gear, Harry's well equipped to clean up the mess.
Harry gets back to the bathroom. Both kids are waiting there as per instructed. The kids are now facing the door, waiting for their father. Dexter's still holding the ax in his right hand.
Harry puts down the supplies near the door. He walks over to Dexter.
Harry says, "Dexter, let go of that." Harry tries to grab the ax out of Dexter's hand.
Dexter looks at Harry suspiciously. He clenches the ax tightly and holds it close to his body in a guarded fashion.
Harry says, "Dexter, it's over. You can let go of it now."
Dexter shakes his head. He says, "It isn't over. It'll never be over."
Harry looks at Dexter with confusion. He asks him, "What do you mean by that?"
Debra says to Dexter, "What are doing? Dad said to let go of it." She points her hand towards the ax.
Dexter looks at Debra then at Harry. He loosens his grip on the ax and slowly hands it over to Harry.
As Dexter does this, Harry lets out a shaky sigh. He puts the ax down on the far side of the room.
As soon as the ax leaves his hand, Dexter seems to wake up out of his daze.
Harry cleans up both kids as best he can.
Harry tells Dexter, "I need you to bring Debra up to the cabin and watch over her there. I need the both of you to stay there until I get back. I going to be gone for a few hours."
Both kids nod. Dexter says, "Yes Dad."
The kids leave the bathroom and Harry gets to work taking care of the body.
Dexter walks Debra up to cabin as per Harry's instructions. Dexter now feels at ease looking at more familiar territory. Debra on the other hand blindly hangs onto her brother's arm. She does this with her left arm. Her right shoulder is still sore from being whacked on the bathroom stall. She shrugs her right shoulder and winces.
Once they're some distance from the bathroom, Debra yammers with delirium, "Yah, okay. What the free-gan hell. God my shoulder hurts." She talks on like this to no one in particular. She looks blindly around at their surroundings. She doesn't notice or care where they're going. Debra's always been less stoic than Dexter but at this point she's far more dazed and disoriented than he is. Dexter feels less of a need for adult supervision than Debra does. Dexter's focused on where they are going. He knows the cabin and campgrounds well. This place had always been his home away from home. In a lot ways Dexter always felt more himself here than anywhere else. He had so looked forward to showing Debra the more traditional side of hunting and camping. This was a trip he had so pushed Harry for. Now it had just blown up in his face.
They both arrive at the cabin. Debra goes to the bathroom to take a bath. She finds some old "Bubble-Me-Elmo" that was left under the sink. She takes a long soak in the tub. Dexter, meanwhile, looks in the kitchen area to see what there is for them to eat. Harry always left canned goods in the cupboards. Dexter goes over their editable options. He also goes to find something to entertain Debra and himself with. In one of the closets he finds several old board games. They're collecting dust high up on the shelf. Once upon a time the cabin had been used for something else other than Dexter's need to kill. Dexter sets up one of the games and makes them something to eat. Meanwhile Debra finishes taking her bath. She finds a first aid kit in the bathroom. She tapes herself up with some pads and gauze. She comes out of the bathroom in an over sized bathrobe and her hair twisted up in a decorative bath towel.
Both kids then sit at the two-seater dining area that's in between the couch and the kitchen. They play the board game "Life" while eating clam chowder. Dexter uses most of the table to stretch the board game out on. Their bowls of chowder sit on either end of the table. Dexter multitasks easily with eating while playing the game. Debra, on the other hand, alternates between activities. She favors her left arm to both move the plastic car forward and to sip her soup. Once in a while she tries use her right arm but then winces in discomfort. Dexter had used the microwave to heat up the chowder. He had stirred together the nuked hot spots, and cold spots, of the soup. The blended temperature of the mixture came out lukewarm. He served it as such. After the game "Life" they move onto "Battleship." The two of them blow through the rest of the board games. They then moved onto cartoons.
They are both on the couch now. Dexter mutes it for the commercial. Hoping to salvage some of the day, Dexter makes a suggestion, "We could go for a walk if you want. There's some trails around the lake and a lot of flowers near the old bridge. We could go pick some of the daisies there."
"Nahh." Debra winces and says, "I don't I feel up to it." Debra did enjoy flower picking but she still felt sore and comfortable. She didn't want to go for a long walk feeling this way.
She has herself propped up on the couch with some throw pillows, putting her at an angle. She then readjusts the pillows so that she now tilted the other way.
Dexter went back to thinking about what happened in the gas station bathroom. He asks, "Deb, are you upset about what you saw me do to that guy in that bathroom?"
Debra looks at the floor and says, "No."
Dexter asks, "How do you feel about what I did?"
Debra looks at the silent cartoons and says, "Glad."
It's evening by the time Harry gets back to the kids. It had been the crack of dawn when all three of them had arrived at the camp grounds. But it's dusk by the time Harry pulls into the driveway in front of the cabin. From the car Harry can see the strobe-like glow of the TV being on in the cabin's living room. Outside the cabin, in the dark, the crickets whistle in unison.
Inside the cabin Dexter and Debra sit on the couch watching, "Inspector Gadget." They sip spaghettios from ceramic mugs that say, "World's Best Dad," and World's Best Mom," on them. Dexter had used the microwave to heat up the spaghettios just like he did with the clam chowder earlier. Now the new soup concoction was too hot. As oppose to the clam chowder that was too cold. The front door screeches open. This startles Dexter and sends him leaping to his feet. He jumps off the sofa with the ceramic "World's Best Dad" mug still in his hand. This causes Dexter to splash hot red sauce on his own arm. "Aaaah! Dam it!" Dexter yells out and grimaces in pain.
Debra flinches too at the door screeching open, and grimaces too at Dexter's painful yelling. But she nevertheless remains curled up on the couch. She's still bundle up in a robe and towels. She's long since dry from the bath she had taken earlier that day. But she still hadn't changed into her clothes.
Harry walks across the living room and turns off "Inspector Gadget." He stands in front of the TV. "We have to talk about what happened today." Harry begins. Dexter and Debra glance at each with consternation. Harry continues, "In short, nothing happened today. That's what happened. We came here. We went fishing. Debra didn't feel well. So we left early. That's what we'll tell your mother. If either of you ever speak of what happened in that bathroom, Dexter will be sent to a mental institution and we'll never see him again."
Debra bites the nails on one of her hands. Dexter stares blankly at a fixture on the wall. "Tell me you understand." Harry insists. Both kids nod their heads in silence. Harry firmly reiterates, "We went fishing. Debra got sick. So we left early." Harry instructs them both to repeat this out loud, then again, and again to confirm this in their minds.
Harry drives everyone home soon afterwards. Unlike the exuberant car ride up there, there's hardly a word spoken on the ride home. The fun camping trip Dexter had pushed for and Debra had longed for, hadn't worked out as planned.
Everyone arrives home. Doris greets them, "Oh! You're home early. Is anything wrong?" Doris notices the kids look far less happy then when they were busting to get out the house, before dawn, this morning.
Harry tells Doris, "We decided to cut the trip short because Debra wasn't feeling well."
Debra peers up and, solemnly, nods at her mother to confirm that, indeed, she wasn't feeling well.
Doris puts her arm around Debra and says, "Oh I'm sorry you don't feel well honey."
Debra shrugs.
Doris says, "I know how that is. You know I haven't felt well lately myself." She says this referring to her cancer treatments. Her digestive system and hairline are seeing the gravest of effects from this. With a hair piece, blush and breath mints, Doris tries to hide the worst of the effects from the kids.
Harry suggests, "It's late we better just all go to bed."
Doris agrees, "Oh, that's right. You've all had such a long day. We'll straighten everything out tomorrow."
The whole family does as Harry suggests and goes to bed without much of another word said.
The next morning Debra knocks on Dexter's bedroom door. "Dexter are you up yet?" Debra asks through the door. No answer.
Debra knocks again. No answer.
She then turns the knob and opens the door. It gives way with an awful screech. The room's empty. Dexter's nowhere to be found.
Doris is up in arms about Dexter's disappearance. Debra's very distraught.
Harry tries to calm them, "Don't worry about Dexter. He's probably just off blowing off some steam." Harry assures his wife.
"'Blowing off steam?'" Doris quotes. "About what?" she asks, shaking her head.
Harry half lies, "He's just disappointed about the camping trip not working out of Debra."
They both look down at Debra, who's now biting the nails on both of her hands.
Doris inquires, "Shouldn't we file a missing person's report down at the station?"
Harry pats down the air in front of his wife, trying to quell the panic rising up from her. Harry councils, "Any minute now Dexter will just turn around and come straight back home. You wait and see."
Doris thinks about this and then sighs. She says, "Of course, I'm sure he'll be back soon. I mean kids Dexter's age tend to run away from home sometimes. Right?"
"That's right honey." Harry reassures his wife. "It's very common."
Debra, wide-eyed in disbelief, shakes her head and walks away from both of her parents.
Later that day Doris leaves for a medical appointment, leaving Debra with Harry. In the house, after Doris leaves, Harry hears the bathroom door rivet against the wall. Debra just threw the door wide open. He sees his daughter march into the bathroom in a zombie like state. Harry looks after her with worry. After a moment Harry peeks in on her to make sure she's okay. He gives the door a mini knock then cracks it open.
He asks, "Honey, are you o... "
He sees Debra holding an open bottle of her mother's chemo pills. Debra's cramming a hand full of pills in her mouth. Harry makes her throw them up.
He asks, "Why are you doing this?"
Crying Debra tells him, "I can't live like this! What if another bad man comes after me and Dexter isn't there?! What am I suppose to do?!"
Harry comforts his daughter. He tells her, "Honey. I'm an adult. I'm a cop. I can protect you."
Debra cries, "I expected you to rescue me from that bad man and you weren't there."
Harry says, "Don't worry honey. I'll get Dexter to come back home and everything will go back to normal. You'll see." Harry reassures his daughter.
When Doris gets back, Harry sets out to find Dexter. It's a short search when Harry finds Dexter at the cabin. They both know of a bus line that would take Dexter most of the way there. Harry walks in the cabin to find Dexter packing.
"Dexter! Wait!" Harry pleads, "Please stop packing. Your mother and sister desperately want you to come back home."
Dexter shakes his head. "Dad forget it. I'm leaving. I honestly thought I could control my impulses this weekend, in front of Debra, but I couldn't. One second I was kicking down that bathroom door and the next second I was chopping up a body that was long since dead. I CANNOT control my impulses. The family is better off without me." Dexter firmly states, then continues packing.
Harry mulls over what his son has told him. After a minute Harry tells Dexter. "You obviously just weren't prepared for that situation. Who wouldn't want to kill that guy in the heat of the moment. You just did it because you care about Debra. You just have to learn to control yourself."
Dexter replies, "In that bathroom if felt like this 'Dark Passenger' took possession of me. And I just disappeared out of the room."
Harry's confused and worried about Dexter's talk of a "Dark Passenger." But Harry decides to play along with it for fear that Dexter will not otherwise come home with him. Harry tells Dexter, "Well see, you didn't kill that man that hurt Debra. The 'Dark Passenger' did. We'll just condition you to funnel your dark urges into this 'Dark Passenger' and only let him come out and play with those that truely deserve it.
Dexter's desperate to except an answer that takes responsibility off himself. He excepts what his father is telling him, and willingly goes back home with him.
Harry and Dexter arrive home. Doris is first at the door. "Oh thank god." Doris breathes out, putting her hand on her heart. She turns and calls out over her shoulder, "Debra, Dexter's here!"
Debra runs to the front door, nearly knocking her brother down. She desperately wraps her arms around him. She exclaims, "Thank the god-dam baby jesus you're back! Don't ever disappear like that again!"
Dexter pats her back. "Don't worry. I won't leave." Dexter assures her.
If you enjoyed the story I'd love to hear a review from you. Of course it's always great to hear back from readers. But also I found that getting feed back can be helpful in both in terms of how I write, and how I present, my stories.
I got into fan fiction just so I could write this story. While watching the TV show Dexter I came to believe that there was a hidden-back story in the show. And that this story was going to be revealed late into the last season. I visioned that this story might go something like this: As kids Dexter kills Debra's rapist with an ax. And somehow one or both kids are made to forget this event.
After writing this story I expanded on it and wrote, "The Morgan Family Cabin." This is a much longer story at about 75,000 words long. The rest of the story takes place in the modern day with Dexter and Debra as adults. I made this story, "Debra's Rapist Gets the Ax" the second chapter of the longer story. (It has fifteen chapters.) I also pulled five other excerpts from the long story and titled them as shorter stories. Their titles are: "Dexter Moiser meets Debra Morgan"(1k+), "Dexter Moiser Vs. Debra Morgan"(2k+), "Debra's Dream"(2k+), "Don't Jump the Fence"(1/2k), and "Quality Family Time"(4k+). I figured a lot of excerpts worked well as stand alone stories. Also while I breezing through other authors's fan fiction, I found smaller snippets of stories give you a better idea if you'd enjoy a larger story along the same lines.