The Nine Year Wait

4/11/2007

By Trynia Merin

Disclaimer: Lazytown belongs to Lazytown Inc and was created by Magnus Scheving. I'm writing this for entertainment only. I'm only borrowing his characters for a while and this means no harm! Captain Nimrod and Gretchen belong to me! This happens NINE YEARS after Behind the Crystal, and Behind the Crystal Part 2 by Dreamweaver1985. It's Sporta/Steph.


All those summers she had come, and the few times she had stayed after her father had passed away were times where she most needed him and they'd been there. However, when she had turned 14 everything had changed. Her mother remarried, and her stepfather had moved to Philadelphia. Stephanie found it harder to make it out to see Lazytown during the summers. The last time she had come for the summer was when she was 16.

Sportacus and the others had not seen her for two whole years. Now she was looking at colleges and had been admitted to Intellectual City's four-year college on a field hockey scholarship. Nevertheless she intended to study voice and dance. Her voice and dancing had earned her places on stage in New York and other productions. The latest had been a traveling production of Les Miserables where she substituted for Eponine. Her friends called her the pink songbird, and she had let her hair grown long and lustrous. What little makeup she had on today was just enough to enhance the curve of her face.

A new generation of children needed to be kept from trouble. At least five or six. Trixie and Stingy were going steady, and Ziggy was still discovering the world of dating himself. Pixel had a girl that he was interested in the next town, Whisper Ville named Priscilla or Cilla for short who liked computers as much as he did. Everyone seemed to be getting together except her.

Now as she was getting ready to move into her uncle's home for college she had run into her friends who had brought all sorts of congratulations gifts? They had then gone onto their usual business before the small celebration that Miss Busybody was holding for Stephanie. A longtime friend of hers, Gretchen Lidenbrock sat with Stephanie around the kitchen table. Both of them leafed through photos from Stephanie's album. For at least three years, Stephanie had come to live full-time in Lazytown when her parents had gone missing. However, it turned out her mother was alive although her father had not survived the plane crash. At the age of 14 Stephanie left Lazytown to live with her mother and new stepfather, leaving her friends behind.

Sportacus and Gretchen had dated for a few years, but the gold ring on Miss Lidenbrock's finger said things had changed. A letter that had been folded and crinkled told the story and Stephanie laughed as she looked through more of the pictures.

"You look so good in that dress," Gretchen smiled.

"I remember your wedding dress," said Stephanie with a smile. She gently nudged Gretchen's hand and the two of them giggled.

"My husband was so nervous when he stood at the altar that Sportacus was sure that he would drop the ring," said Gretchen.

"I can't believe you've been married for three years already," said Stephanie with a grin. "But I thought you were going back to Germany."

"My liebling passed on his position to my brother, and we moved back here. He takes care of Whisper Ville and Eaglecrest town, remember?" Gretchen reminded her.

"Any kids?"

"As a matter of fact," Gretchen said with a slight smile.

"That's just the thing, you and Sportacus I thought you would get together. I always wondered what changed your mind…"

"Sportacus was someone I grew to love. But in opening myself up to him I realized there was another that I had loved just as much for so many years. But because I was too young I was afraid to let him now my feelings. He and I were only ten years apart in age but it might as well have been centuries," she chuckled.

"And now you're Mrs. Lidenbrock-Nimrod?" she asked. "That's a mouthful."

"He had seen the woman I had grown into, and loved me. All the years when I was teaching and at school, he wished he could look past the little girl in the durndel. Then when he and Sportacus worked together on that one disaster that happened in Reykjavik, several heroes were trying to save Sportacus village from a lava flood. Captain Nimrod and my brother worked together with Sportacus 10…"

"When I thought that both of them were gone, I wasn't sure what to think. I had gone after them knowing when the eruption would happen. However, the course was diverted and I just had to get there to tell them. Fortunately, I was saved before the lava reached me. But when I saw the look on his face when he held me in his arms… I realized he had loved me all along. And I never gave him a chance because I figured he'd always see me as a child," Gretchen murmured.

A knock sounded at the door, and she stood up. Stephanie moved over to answer it and saw two figures standing behind it. Tall and thin, the angular figure wearing a broad brimmed hat with a feather tucked into it dropped a bow. His sharp nose and hazel eyes gave him the appearance of a hawk, his graying curly hair pulled into a ponytail at the nape of his neck. Strung over his back were both a compound bow unstrung and a crossbow with a quiver. The tails of his anachronistic coat came to his knees, his red vest sewed with rose buttons and floral trim to the pockets. Black pants were tucked into the tops of knee length boots, giving him the appearance of a pirate with a modern flair. That graceful beard under the slicked moustache added dignity. The buckle of his bandoleer strap was rectangular and glittered with a Roman numeral VIII across it.

"A bouquet of flowers for the young woman who's graduated!" Captain Nimrod himself said, dropping a bow and grabbing Stephanie's hand to kiss it. He doffed his hat and Stephanie opened the door.

"Thank you," Stephanie giggled. "They're very pretty!"

"Liebling what are you doing HERE? I thought you'd meet me at the get together later!" Gretchen gasped as she rose from her chair and stood by a rather amused Stephanie.

"I happened to be visiting someone ELSE who gave me a ride here. Someone ELSE who knows that this lovely lady is home for the summer," Captain Nimrod said in a crisp German accent.

Stepping aside the German hero revealed someone else. Behind him stood a slightly shorter figure in snug blue and white striped sports gear. The vest with the number 10 emblazoned on the back was hooked together with a badge holding a crystal and a number 10. The second cast a pair of crystalline blue eyes and smiled under his moustache. He carried a basket of sports candy.

"Stephanie!" Sportacus laughed, a smile splitting his face. Rushing through the door he swept her up and swung her around.

"Sportacus! Where were you HIDING! I was wondering if you'd left!" Stephanie laughed, hugging him tightly around the neck. Like a banner her pink hair swept out in a half arc as they hugged. Captain Nimrod strode over and slid his arm around his wife's waist, watching the two of them reuniting.

"You really didn't have to chase me," Gretchen blushed.

"I enjoy the hunt, liebchen. You know that."

"So it was YOU who kept Sportacus busy till Stephanie unpacked! And she thought he was away on a mission elsewhere!" she slapped his velvet sleeve.

"Mmm, she's very surprised," he whispered.

Sportacus held onto Stephanie with one arm around her waist, and with his other hand clutched the basket wrapped in silver and blue cellophane. Stephanie still clung to the bouquet of white roses that the Captain had given her as she felt herself crushed to Sportacus chest.

"You tricked me!" she pouted as Sportacus set her down. "Uncle said you flew your airship on a mission with the Captain and…"

"I couldn't resist the look on your face Stephanie," Sportacus blinked. "Happy Graduation."

"Thank you," she said taking the basket of fruit. Setting it down on the table, she carried the flowers in. "I need to put these in water…."

"Allow me," Gretchen said, taking the bouquet as the Captain took the fruit and placed it near the other gifts left there.

"It was his idea," the Captain said smoothly, setting his hat under his arm and inclining his head to Sportacus.

"But you were the one who kept an eye on things for the RIGHT moment," said Sportacus back to his former teacher.

"You have lots to catch up on. We'll see you later at the graduation party," Gretchen said as she hugged Stephanie.

"But you two can stay…" Stephanie protested.