This is meant be able to fit in the same universe as my fic "Tomorrow". You'll see. I don't own Little Shop or Pushing Daisies.
At this very moment the time had been 13 days 1 hour 42 minutes and 12 seconds since the pie maker and the not so dead girl had embarked on the florist and invited their new friends to their own shop. It was a lovely spring day when the couple decided to take this adventure. Having known nothing but the damp streets of Skid Row and the glum shops it had to offer for so long, the couple were pleasantly pleased at how quaint this little pie shop seemed. Between it's stucco pie crust roof that looked as if you could just eat it, and a shop full of patrons smiling, they knew they would enjoy themselves. Walking up to the counter they noticed their friend, the pie maker. He remembered his new friends, the young botanist and his blonde love.
"Seymour. Audrey. Hi." He smiled at the pair.
"Hello Ned. Where's Kitty?" Audrey inquired.
"Kitty?" His confusion quickly melted away and he began speaking very fast as he was known to do at times he was especially nervous. "She's out. Sick. Out sick. Stomach bug. Too much pie. Not this pie though! This pie doesn't make people sick. Some other pie."
Audrey found his rambling charming, as it reminded her of the person she loved most in the world.
The pie maker scratched the back of his neck. "What would you like? It's on the house."
"Oh Ned, you don't have to do that."
"I insist."
Audrey slid herself on top of a stool, and Seymour sat beside her. She couldn't quite decide. All the pies on display looked delicious.
"What do you recommend?"
The pie maker wasn't able to answer. A small, mouselike voice sitting just down the counter did for him.
"The pear and gruyere is just to die for."
Audrey turned and noticed a pair of what she assumed to be sisters, enjoying a slice of pie and a cup of coffee.
"That's what we get."
Audrey turned to Ned with a smile. Ned nodded.
"Sure. It's just in the oven now. Another minute."
Audrey nodded in approval and Ned returned to his work of pie making.
Audrey and Seymour turned back to their new acquaintances down the counter. It was then a connection was made. The smile on the darker haired sister reminded Audrey much of her own. Seymour noticed as well and was stunned by the resemblance. Besides a few changes here and there the two were identical. Both women looked at each other and felt as if they were looking in a mirror that had traveled through time.
The blonde removed herself from her stool and moved closer to her doppleganger.
"I'm Audrey Krelborn," she introduced. "This is my husband, Seymour."
"Seymour! Audrey! What wonderful names," the dark haired woman chirped. "I'm Vivian and this is my sister Lily."
Lily did not seem as friendly as her sister and continued to enjoy her cup of coffee. Seymour too was taken over by shyness and spoke very little.
"Oh I do hope you like the pie," Vivian proclaimed. "I have had many here and I have yet to find one I don't like."
Audrey smiled. "We love pie."
"I had a foreboding," Vivian continued. "I woke up this morning and just knew there was something special about today. And here I get to meet the two of you."
Audrey and Seymour exchanged sheepish smiles.
Vivian's eyes fell on the abdomen of the blonde. "Congratulations!"
Audrey was stunned by this and placed her hand on her very faint bump. "Am I showing already?"
"Not really. I just have an eye for this sort of thing."
Her sister, Lily, took a long sip of her coffee.
"Are you excited?"
Audrey smiled. "Very excited."
"Boy or girl?"
This threw off the blonde, as there was no way to possibly know until the time of birth. "We don't know yet."
"Oh well we must test this."
Vivian waved her hand toward a short blonde waitress who happened to be passing by. "Olive, when Ned brings out the pear pie, have him also bring out a slice of chocolate french silk. You can add it to our bill."
The waitress called Olive declared, "sure thing."
"Is the pie going to tell me?" Audrey asked in confusion.
"Oh no. The pie doesn't talk. Just wait and see." She turned to the waitress called Olive. "Olive, these are our new friends, Audrey and Seymour. They are from… I'm sorry I forgot to ask."
Audrey waved this off. "We are from the city."
Vivian sighed dreamily. "Oh the city. So many lights. So many streets."
"And still no places to park," Lily grumbled.
Olive Snook turned to her new friends. "I'm Olive. I'm from around here."
Between the two, Olive noticed Seymour's shyness has caused him to close up like a clam. She took a moment to shine a smile toward him. This kind recognition made him decide that maybe Olive Snook wasn't such a bad person after all. There was one thing in particular that he liked about her. Being the height he was, it was rare to find anyone he didn't have to look up to while speaking. Olive was even shorter than him.
"Olive is a dear friend of ours," Vivian explained. "She was the one who first led us to The Pie Hole."
Olive smiled just before another customer waved her away from the group.
"Poor Olive is in love with Ned," Vivian spoke in a low voice, leaning in. "But the poor thing can't be with him."
"Ya know, Vivian," her sister spoke in irritation and exhaled in disgruntlement, "not everyone's business is yours to share."
"I'm sorry. But it just seems particularly horrid. Can you imagine being in love with someone you work with? Having to see them every day, knowing you can't be with them?"
The young botanist and his blonde love shared a smile. Having shared in her struggle in the past, the pair decided that they liked Olive Snook even more.
"May I see your hand?" Vivian asked Audrey.
"My hand?"
"I'd really like to read your palm if I may."
The blonde, normally so hesitant about trusting people, and her new friend, normally panicked at the thought of being touched, had forgotten their weariness for this moment.
Audrey held out her hand palm up and Vivian traced the lines with her heavily polished nails.
"Do you see anything?"
Vivian pursed her lips. "Not much. Though this line here," she trailed her nail along a groove, "means a true love."
Beside her, a smile grew on Seymour's face and he felt his heart beat. Audrey glanced over at him with a similar and knowing expression.
"It does say you will be a mother," she continued, "but it doesn't say which kind, boy or girl."
She released her hand and glanced over at her sister. "Oh Lily, do Seymour now!"
The woman with the eyepatch would have grumbled but decided to hide her annoyance just this once for the sake of her sister's excitement and out of character behavior. She moved closer to the young botanist and squinted her eye.
"You're a plant guy," she stated with certainty.
Seymour was stunned. "How did you know?"
"I can see it in your eyes!" Lily stated dramatically before adding with sarcasm, "Or there is dirt on your khakis."
Seymour looked down at his feet and noticed she was right. "Oh."
Lily grabbed his hand off the counter and stared at his palm. "True love on this one too. Poor sucker." She focused her one eye on the hand of the botanist and made a connection through his palm. "Guilt. You've done or will do something that will make you feel extremely guilty."
Seymour pulled his hand away.
"What is it?" Lily inquired.
Seymour turned his eyes down and squeezed his palm closed. "It's in the past."
Audrey reached out and rubbed her hand across her husband's back.
Lily was suspicious. "Does it have something to do with the city? Is it why you left it? Or was it maybe one of your plants?"
Seymour was growing flustered and turned away.
"Oh come now Lily, leave the poor boy alone. Who among us can say they haven't done something they feel guilty about?"
Lily took her coffee cup in her hand, took a long swig, and dropped the subject.
It was at this moment that Ned returned with an armful of plates with pie slices. He placed several on the counter. Vivian nabbed a slice of the pear gruyere and of the chocolate french silk, sliding them directly in front of Audrey.
"What am I supposed to do?" she asked.
"Which one looks more tempting?"
Audrey looked between the slices. Out of curiosity, Ned had stayed to listen to this conversation and leaned forward on his elbows. What Audrey said was honesty and not just being polite to her friend.
"They both look tempting."
Vivian persisted. "But which one would you like to eat more?"
Audrey looked back at the plates. "I don't know. I can't decide."
Vivian frowned. "Hmm this should be easier. Maybe try taking a bite."
Ned handed Audrey a fork. She took a bite of the pear gruyere pie first, still steaming from the oven.
"Ned it's wonda'ful!"
The piemaker smiled.
Audrey sliced a bit of the piece of chocolate french silk with her fork and ate that as well. She thought for a moment and shook her head. "They are both amazing."
Vivian sighed in frustration. "Well I guess we wont know then. If you are having a girl you'd want the chocolate. And if you were having a boy you'd want something more savory. It usually works."
Audrey felt bad for letting down her new friend. "I'm sorry."
Lily made a joke. "Maybe she'll have both."
Vivian's face lit with excitement. "Oh how exciting! Eat both then! Just in case you are eating for three."
Audrey turned to her husband, expecting a flustered, alarmed, or confused expression on his face. But instead he was smiling. Audrey suppressed a giggle and smiled back.
"I'll take them to go."
Ned disappeared in the back for a moment and then reappeared with an empty pie box.
"We need to get back to our shop," Audrey explained to her new friends.
"Oh, what do you sell?" Vivian was intrigued.
"It's a flowa' shop."
Vivian glanced back at her sister who was trying to stifle a smile. The two loved flowers.
"You're welcome to come see us."
Seymour took the box from Ned and took Audrey's hand, leading her down from the stool.
"We will. Promise."
Audrey smiled at the two. Though they had only met a short while ago they felt a strong bond as if there was something connecting them.
"Thank you for everything." She nodded to the piemaker as well. "And thank you Ned for the pie."
He smiled at her. Usually shy and awkward himself, he felt comfortable around these two.
Placing his hand on the small of his wife's back, Seymour led her out the door. Before closing it fully he glanced back one more time at this woman. The likeness to Audrey was uncanny. Audrey followed his gaze and smiled.
"Isn't that just… bizarre?"
"At least."
