Can't Stop What's Coming – A shuffle ficmix

Can't Stop What's Coming – A shuffle ficmix

This challenge is making the rounds. I was first challenged on LJ by one person and then here on by carterfinly. So, I might be cheating, but I'm using the same set of results for both. They follow below.

A few things to note. First, about four of these mini-stories are not in the LWD fandom. Hopefully, if nothing else, they might expose people to new fandoms. Or you can just skip them. At least five of these are LWD, so that's why I posted it in the LWD section. Second, song lyrics do pop up in these pieces, often as pieces of conversations. I didn't write or perform these songs. Song and artist (and fandom) are listed before each piece.

Happy reading.

Song 1 – All That She Wants by Ace of Base (LWD – Derek, Casey)

She had warned him. She had warned him. Marina wasn't like the other girls he'd dated. She had an agenda.

She wanted a baby.

It was an odd thing to want at twenty. And she didn't seem to want it for the obvious reasons of trapping a guy. Casey had seen something was different about Marina's agenda the moment she met her at the sorority party in college – three seconds before she met Derek. When she had told Derek to be careful, he had said she was jealous.

Now, however, as she looked across at her shell-shocked stepbrother as he slowly hung up the phone, Casey's warning probably didn't seem as odd.

Marina was pregnant. Two minutes into the conversation, she'd also dumped Derek and told him he would never see the child.

What in the hell did they do now?

Song 2 - The Crying Rain by Emm Gryner (LWD, Lizzie)

It was strange. Ten years ago, she wouldn't have seen herself where she was.

Somehow, she'd become famous for nothing…and then ended up being a lead singer in a band. She had a fast, gas guzzling car. She was followed by the paparazzi. She was thin, girly, and some kind of poster child for life in the fast lane.

She wasn't happy. All of the causes, all of the people, that meant something from her she'd left in London. With all the time she spent in San Francisco made London seem so far away.

And he, for all of his smarts, had the audacity to ask her in their last phone conversation, what her "pain" was. He caused her hurt, her destruction.

"Stupid, clueless Edwin," pop sensation L muttered into her third beer.

Song 3 – The Wind and The Rain by Cicero vs Emm Gryner (LWD – Dasey)

Their fights as a married couple weren't that different from their fights as teenagers, when he thought about. He still had no idea what she was thinking.

"I don't know what to say when I talk to you," she shouted.

"Why do you have to analyze everything," he shouted back.

"I don't know what to do when you get like this," she responded, clearly upset.

Those were the low points. But there were high points. Some nights, they'd dance around their living room. He'd never admit to this if asked, and he made Casey not tell a soul, but those circuits around the living room in a waltz made his weeks.

Song 4 – Blue Skies by Regan – (LWD, Nora)

Soccer Mom. She guessed she was one, in the literal sense. She used to laugh at that title when she first married, she didn't realize how much work it was.

What errands did she need to do today? Oh, right. Return the videos. Pick up the laundry. Take Lizzie to soccer, Edwin to bowling, Marti to ballet. Buy groceries. Stop by the post office.

It was at the last stop that she saw the guy she almost married before Dennis? Why was he in London? He was famous. And he walked right by her on the way to his sports car.

What would life be like if she'd gone that route? No kids. No errands. Blue skies. Open roads. Vacations and pedicures and the high-powered vice presidency in the company where she worked –

But as her cell phone rang and she saw the caller was her eldest, Casey, Nora knew that, deep down, she'd made the best decision all of those years ago.

Song 5 – The Lost Children by Michael Jackson – (Batman Beyond, Bruce)

Gotham was a dark place. It wasn't like Metropolis or ever New York. Light didn't seem to be a part of Gotham life. Yet, children were born in Gotham, lived in Gotham, grew up in Gotham.

He grew up in Gotham. He lost his parents in Gotham. His wards did some of their growing up in Gotham. His successor grew up in Gotham, did Juvie in Gotham, lost a father in Gotham.

In a sense, part of the legacy, the Bat legacy was to protect those of Gotham, especially for the children of Gotham. A ray of hope to give them a life with light, parents and hope.

How successful were they in doing that? It depended on the day.

Song 6 – Your Sort of Human Being by Emm Gryner (LWD, Casey)

After she told Max she needed some space, she hadn't really thought what the next day of school would be like. She didn't expect to be Max's friend. They hadn't ended the way she and Sam had, after all. It was a lot more…raw than that.

She didn't expect the cold shoulder. At least, not to the extent she received it. Max didn't talk to her – that was a given. But no one on the football team acknowledged her existence. And half the cheerleading squad refused to even say hi to her.

To a whole group of people in the high school world, she had stopped being real – being human. Was she only worthy when she was half of Max? Part of Masey? "Tell me how unworthy I seemed when you got thinking about it," she muttered as she walked out of the building that Monday afternoon.

Song 7 – Hold On by MaryMary (Joan of Arcadia – Joan)

She was one girl against impossible odds. Ryan had even told her that. He had the school board. He had the police department. He had the town, the money. Adam sung his praises. Her father respected him. The papers said wonderful things in editorials.

And she was a sixteen year old who God talked to. Where did that leave her? Even when she asked for an army, God pointed toward her friends. Her brainy brother, Luke. Her anti-establishment friend Grace. Her artistic ex-boyfriend, Adam. Friedman…she had no idea what he was. And Glynis.

A year ago, she would just assume she was screwed. But in all of these odd things God had put her through, the things he called training…He wouldn't do it for her to lose. She knew that. She believed that.

She hoped.

Song 8 – Waiting for You by Seal (xxxHolic)

How much did that one wish cost, anyway?

He didn't think about it much anymore, honestly. In an odd way, for as much as Yuko made him crazy, he was glad he met her. Sure, he had been exposed to more "weird" that he'd ever wanted…but like before Yuko seemed bland.

It was almost worth dealing with Domeki all the time. Almost.

But more than that, he was begin to believe Yuko's whole thing about fate. It was if part of him was waiting for him to stumble on Yuko's shop. He saw it, felt it more and more.

"You can't go back to a time when you didn't notice," he repeated. In some ways this seems like a great cost, but also a great gift.

Song 9 – I'm No Angel by Dido (Batman Beyond, Melanie)

If you'd asked her, Melanie wouldn't consider herself a bad girl.

Sure, she was a part of the Royal Flush gang for a chunk of her life. She stole. She fought. She tried to help take out Batman when he got in the way. She left him to the Jokers to get that ransom for her father – at least what she thought was ransom. But that didn't make her bad, not in her eyes.

But it obviously made her bad in Terry's eyes. He turned away when he saw her loaded into the police van the first time. He didn't want to help her when she called on him the second time. And after that, after getting her note, he never tried to contact her again.

She'd seen his girl from a distance a few days ago. She seemed to float on the air, like an angel. Melanie bet she never stole or left Batman to fend for himself.

Sure, she wasn't an angel, but she hurt as well. Angels shouldn't be the only ones allowed boys like Terry.

Song 10 – Girls Are Murder by Emm Gryner (pick your own fandom)

"This won't last," he had warned her. She had ignored him. She was bound and determined to make it last. They fit. They had finally come together.

But he was right. They didn't last. But it still hurt like hell. Even now, decades later. It colored every relationship she had afterwards. Every guy was compared to him, both the good and the bad.

And she thought it was just as bad for him. Supposedly, someone had overheard him saying something like "girls were hell" or "girls are murder". And then insisting that it applied to all females. It had ended up in print and caused havoc for the PR arm of the label.

"This won't last," he had said. She just wished that he'd meant the heartache and not the relationship.