Disclaimer: The characters from 'The Ghost and Mrs. Muir' belong to 20th Century Fox and David Gerber productions. No infringement is intended, no profit is made, and the characters will be returned unharmed from whence they came. This story is for enjoyment only. All other characters, plots, story lines and development of GAMM characters belong to the authors, Mary and Amanda, and may not be used or changed without express written permission.

Special thanks to Kathy for updates on a couple of characters we didn't know and/or forgot about!

A From This Day On Universe story.

Carolyn tells her family about her latest nutty dream that explores what might have been for some past acquaintances and visitors to Gull Cottage.

Only In Dreams

Mary and Amanda

March 27, 1983

It was Carolyn and Daniel's turn to host the after church family brunch. Of course, Carolyn had not done the cooking, but Gull Cottage was one of the family's homes large enough to hold their continually expanding crew. Everyone had their plate and had found a spot in which to light, when Blackie noticed Carolyn trying to suppress a yawn. He had observed this during the service as well, since she and Daniel were always in one of the first rows of pews. Finally, looking at her straight in the eye, he asked, "Hey, Carolyn, was I off my game this morning?"

"What?" she answered, even her voice sounding fuzzy.

"You look tired," Blackie began. "Now either something is bugging you, a story or article — whatever someone is haunting you in a bad way, and I don't see how that is possible you aren't feeling well or my sermon was incredibly boring, and your mind was petrified. I'd just as soon it not be that final one." He winked on the last note.

"Your sermon was NOT boring, Blackie," Bree interjected. "I've always rather appreciated ANY preacher who could expound on the parable of the Prodigal Son without getting mushy in favor of the younger brat, and show some empathy for the older one that did his part, maybe sometimes when he didn't want to either, helped his father, and was totally confused by everything that happened when the younger one came home."

"Thanks, oh, loyal fan," Blackie grinned. "Remind me to keep you on as a consultant and reviewer. Your check will arrive in the mail. But take a look at Carolyn. Her face is one big puzzle."

Daniel gave his ear a tug and frowned. "I did notice you were distracted this morning, my dear. However, since you overslept a bit, we did not have time for me to question you on the matter before we left for services."

"You have ghost-dar, not people-dar, Blackie," Carolyn wrinkled her nose. "Really, it's nothing."

"It is," Molly said, after swallowing the bite of food in her mouth. "You forget — as ghosts, we see beyond the norm — now you aren't lavender-blue — but since Blackie mentions it, you are definitely off. Not a lot, just a little."

"I hate that song," Tris muttered. "What's the matter, Mrs. Captain? Trouble with a story? Need some advice?"

Knitting his brows, his brother, Siegfried, reached over and cuffed Tris on the ear lightly. "Don't be ridiculous. You are not a writer."

"Hey!" Tris yelped. "You don't need to know how to write, to help a author. Can't hurt though, I admit. But if you have lived, or existed, for as long as we have, it is entirely possible that we might have a different perspective on something that could help in a writing situation. You forget, my dear brother, I have been a ghost a bit longer than you, and..."

"How do you know Carrie is writing about a ghost?" Sean interjected mildly.

"For that matter, how do you know she needs help with writing at all?" Bron asked, laying a hand on Sig's arm. "Maybe you are just jumping to conclusions..."

"...Again," Candy chuckled.

"I am never going to live down challenging Devon Miles to a duel, am I?" Sig sighed and bit into a piece of toast laden with Martha's homemade blackberry jam.

"No, but it is fast becoming one of my favorite stories, if it is any comfort," Bron said, patting his arm again.

Barnaby cleared his throat, "Perhaps, Carolyn, it would be easier if you simply told us what is wrong?"

Carolyn rolled her eyes.

"I should have known I could never keep a secret from any of you," she sighed. "Nothing is wrong, really! I just had a very strange dream last night, and..."

"Oh, ho!" Blackie exclaimed. "I heard all about the last dream you had! An alternate beginning to your arrival in Schooner Bay! Adam gave me the whole story, after you mentioned part of it to me. So, tell me — did you pick up on that dream? You know, like the next chapter with other variations in your real history?"

Jenny grinned, "Did you get me to arrive?"

"That would have been a good dream!" Carolyn's answer was immediate. "But, no. It wasn't a bad dream, just nutty. I think I would have gotten more rest being awake. It made perfect sense at the time, but now, it's not very cohesive." She shook her head, her brow wrinkling at the memory.

"I had a dream like that once," Claymore volunteered. "There was an exploding pumpkin pie and a lightening storm — "

"Claymore, be silent," Daniel admonished.

"You're asking a lot," Blackie grinned. "Actually I suppose we should be flattered. Old Clay feels comfortable enough with us to tell his dream, and it does sound fascinating, especially the pumpkin pie part, but Carolyn is first."

"Right," Lynne agreed. "I love listening to other people's dreams — maybe because I so seldom dream myself — unless I relive a bad day at work in my sleep. It's almost never creative, darn it. I'd try writing it down, if it was. One of you writer types might be able to do something with it. So, what did you dream about, Carolyn?" she coaxed.

"It started out, kind of weird," Carolyn answered. "All sorts of people I had met, or this family had met, during the first two years we lived here, came back to visit us, and Gull Cottage, and tell us what they have been doing for the last thirteen years or so. It was bizarre, really. They all seemed to know everyone here, or had at least heard of them, and they knew about Daniel and me, too — even that he was a spirit — but it didn't seem to bother them in the least."

Daniel raised an eyebrow. "I can think of any number of visitors we have had that I would NEVER want to see return here, and HAVE, unfortunately! Blair Thompson, for one. Tell me, did he show up again? Perhaps with some other reason than to propose to you?"

"I think he'd have been more interested in Jess or Lynne, in my dream," Carolyn grinned.

"Here, now," Dash scowled.

"I'll sue him into oblivion if he tries," Adam promised, then added, "Why would he be, besides their charms?"

"He was a doctor and a teacher. Still had that black car, but it talked with his voice, now."

"That sounds like KITT," Tris grinned. "Man, I still think that would be a great car to have for my own! With or without the talking part, but if it did talk, I would order a female voice, I think. Devon would go for that, maybe, I mean if I could pay for it, which I can't, anyway."

"Yeah, female, like the computers on Star Trek," Jenny interjected. "But Blair didn't propose, Cousin Mom?"

Carolyn shook her head.

"No, as a matter of fact, he said he was engaged to a lovely woman named Abigail, thanked me at least a dozen times for saying 'no' to his offers of marriage over the years, and then apologized to Daniel for ever calling him an 'old duffer.' Then he shook hands with everyone and left, singing "Forward, Ho!" as he did, and, I think, the car was playing a patriotic fife and drum duet on the radio."

"He's still obnoxious and disliked," Daniel huffed.

"Aye, sir," Tristan grinned. "We know that! Who else was there?"

Carolyn frowned. "The whole thing is already getting hazy..."

Daniel gave her a look.

"My dear woman, you are fudging. I can tell."

"Who? Me?"

"Yes. It's written all over your face."

"Oh... well..." she shrugged. "Vanessa showed up."

This immediately got three ghosts' attention.

"WHICH Vanessa?" Daniel asked, looking slightly tense, to Carolyn's eyes, at least.

"I was wonderin' that, too," Sean said, and Dash nodded immediately.

"Oh, the Vanessa I met," Carolyn said. "The however-many greats from the original."

"And I take it Callahan the Fourth was with her?" Daniel prodded, "Along with their children?"

"Oh, no... she didn't marry Sean..."

"...Callahan, that is!" Sean O'Casey added, squeezing his wife's hand. "What did she want?"

"Her hair was blonde and she had gone into advertising. She was dating a coach of some kind. Oh — and she had recorded a song — Something about an angel. She told me about it, and seemed very excited. I had never heard of it. Anyway, she had given up researching her grandmother and/or writing a book. She seemed happy enough."

"Probably better off with a — what does the younger generation call them? A jock? than Callahan," Daniel mused. "That bounder didn't show up in your dream, did he?" he asked, hoping his wife's answer would be negative.

"No..." Carolyn shook her head. "I think even my subconscious brain — or whatever controls what happens in dreams knew that after our little adventure with Devon Miles, KITT, and Michael, I didn't need a third even sort-of look alike running around. Paul Wilkie arrived, though."

"Don't suppose I got to sock him?" Dave asked, hopefully.

"No, you did not," Carolyn laughed. "And, he did not arrive with Vanessa, before you ask, Tris. They had never met — in Ireland, or anywhere else. He had given up ghost hunting — completely, but he had gotten rather good at magic tricks of his own, and had become an anchorman in Boston. He was a widower, and his son, Eddie, was with him. Cute little boy."

"Hard to believe that rascal could sire anything appealing," Daniel growled.

"Agreed," Jenny nodded. "Now, he was one guy I was delighted to see leave Schooner Bay."

"Well, he was," Carolyn grinned. "Eddie kept asking me if I knew anyone that could marry his dad so he could have a new mom. I wasn't able to help him though. You either, Daniel."

"I can't think of any woman, past or present that I would foist him off on," The seaman smiled. "Not even your cousin Harriet."

"Oh! That reminds me — she showed up," his wife grinned. "Now SHE was odd."

"Cousin Harriet WAS odd," Candy retorted. "And nosy. What did she want?"

"I'll second that question," Thom said, helping himself to more eggs. "Candy said that she was a real troublemaker a dozen or so years ago — Her AND her sister, Hazel. What was she after?"

"She didn't want anything, really," Carolyn answered. "She said she flew in from Atlanta just to see me, but couldn't stay long — that she just wanted to say "hello," and that she had to get back and help her adopted nieces run their interior decorating studio. And that if I ever wanted to redo the inside of Gull Cottage, she and her 'girls' could give me a good deal."

Thunder rumbled. "I am quite happy with the decor in our home," Daniel rumbled. "The nerve of that woman! Still! I suppose she still considers you Saint Joan, reincarnated?" He shook his head. "Her idea of interior decorating probably would make Aunt Batty's look sane."

Carolyn smiled. "No... actually she brought pictures. Her 'nieces' did beautiful work, but all wrong for Gull Cottage. The designs were more... southern/modern, I guess you could say. Actually, you and I both told her "no," in a nice way — that we were happy with things as they were. She nodded, okay, said "toodles," and left — practically running into Gladys and Harvey Dillman on her way out the door."

"Your cousin never struck me as the kind of woman to say 'toodles'," Martha drawled.

"Well, she was in my dream," Carolyn insisted. "Actually, she was kinda zany, not nosy... just a little non sequitur half the time."

"What did the Dillmans want?" Claymore asked. "Did they stay together? I mean, I feel sorta responsible for those two, since I married them, you know."

"I assume so, since they arrived at the same time," Carolyn reassured him. "Gladys had become a librarian in Gotham City. She said she rode to work every day on her motorcycle."

"Gladys really didn't seem like a motorcycle girl, to me, but then, I didn't really get to know her very well," Candy mused. "You know, what with them showing up here after Jon and I had gone to bed that night, and everything, but I did think the wedding ceremony Claymore did was romantic! Still would have been more fun if I knew it was the Captain playing the piano, though I doubt I could have kept a straight face when he hit that clunker..."

The Captain's eyebrows lifted. "That wasn't a clunker... exactly."

"Was, too!"

The spirit of Gull Cottage rolled his eyes, and elected to change the subject. "Believe me, Candy, if I had known you'd have taken to a spirit living in the house as well is you did, I would have told you sooner!"

"I know," Candy grinned. "I just like to razz you about it once in a while, Dad. Actually, I love the way we finally met, and I wouldn't trade that moment for anything." She gave her adopted father a loving look, than turned back to her mother. "If Harvey and Gladys lived in Gotham, what was Harvey up to?"

"He never said, now that you mention it," Carolyn shrugged. "Actually he just started telling me how much he wanted to give up big city life, find a little community to settle down in, and said something about wanting to be a small town sheriff, or ranger, somewhere. Gladys wasn't too pleased when he mentioned it."

Daniel nodded. "I always did think she would end up wearing the trousers in that family."

"So, who else showed up?" Jess asked.

"Well, Elvira Grover's visit was very strange, even compared to the others. She and Aggie arrived at the same time, and..." It was clear that Carolyn was having to choke back a laugh. "...Elvira was ranting about how odd her daughter-in-law was — a real witch, which is weird, because the Elvira we know never married, but anyway, she got a sick headache and had to go lie down. Aggie took me aside then and told me she worked for the daughter-in-law, as her maid, and the woman was very lovely and understanding. She didn't mind how many things Aggie messed up. Apparently, she was a worse maid than Elroy was a ghost."

"That would have to be totally incompetent," Daniel said. "Imagine! Visits from both Aggie and Cousin Harriet, who look enough alike to be twins anyway — Was Aggie's employer with her?"

Carolyn shook her head. "No, but Aggie said not to worry about her and that she was doing fine... even if she and Stewart never did end up getting married."

"She should have married ME," Claymore grumbled. "We could have a little Claymore junior by now, and..."

"I don't think so," Carolyn giggled. "I should have mentioned you before..."

"I was in your dream?" their former landlord asked, astonished. "What did I do?"

"You sold Gull Cottage to me back in 1970," Carolyn said, not quite believing what she herself was saying. "Then you went to L.A. and got a job as a panelist on a game show. I can't remember which one... you said something about appearing in a few movies, then went back to your first love... directing."

There was a strange noise that caused everyone to look over at Tristan. The ghost's head was in his hands as he was bent over, his shoulders shaking. "Are you okay?" Lynne asked in alarm.

He looked up, wiping tears from his eyes. "Sorry..." he sounded strangled. "...I couldn't hold in the laughter one second longer." Fighting to control himself, he gasped, "Who else?"

"My mother showed up," Carolyn said. "Er — she was telling me all about her son in the space program."

"I did not know you had a brother, Carrie," Sean blinked. "Why didn't he come to yer weddin'?"

"Because he doesn't exist. I have no brother."

"That's a very good reason," Dash nodded. "I daresay I would not hold anyone's absence against them if they did not exist."

"He sounded like a fascinating person," Carolyn shrugged. "Oh, and she also said my father's job as an ambassador was going well."

"I thought your father was retired?" Molly interjected, puzzled.

"He is and besides, he ran his own consulting business," said Carolyn, "But I guess since everyone was someone else, my parents would be different, too."

"Too different, if you ask me," Martha grinned. "Were Ed and I in your dream?"

"No — for which I am deeply grateful," Carolyn smiled. "I don't think I could take the idea of you being anyone but who you are, pretty much."

"I'm fond of things that way," Martha grinned back at her.

"Oh — but speaking of that, Norrie Coolidge dropped by," Carolyn said suddenly.

"He wasn't running his restaurant?" Lynne said, astonished. "I can't imagine Schooner Bay without Norrie's."

Carolyn gave Blackie a look that was a hybrid of apology and amusement. "Don't take this wrong, Blackie, but Norrie was a minister."

Blackwood O' Ryan opened his mouth, nothing coming out for a moment, then, he promptly dropped his fork on the floor.

"WHAT?"

Smiling, Bree handed him another one, then turned to Carolyn. "I take it that is not a likely scenario under normal circumstances?"

"Not very," Daniel shook his head. "You met him, Bree. Norrie is a nice enough man, and I haven't had any problems with him since he played Carolyn's love interest in Claymore's play, once upon a time, but..." The seaman looked at his wife. "A minister, darling?"

Carolyn nodded. "Protestant, to be exact! He mentioned selling the restaurant to Ed and Martha, and, going back to seminary school, then that he had settled down in Rome, Wisconsin, and was quite happy there, and that his two best friends were a judge and a Jewish Rabbi."

Claymore sighed. "I can't imagine Norrie giving us his restaurant — though Ed and Martha would do a bang-up job..."

"I'm retired," Ed pointed out.

"Semi-retired," Martha corrected him. "I couldn't take you, totally retired."

Ed rolled his eyes.

"Well, no sooner had he left," Carolyn went on, "than that man who wanted to buy Daniel's James Gatley barometer came in. He was now the police chief in the same town that Gladys worked in. He didn't stay long though, and didn't want the barometer, either. He left, then Danny Shoemaker arrived after that to say that he was a drummer in a rock band — he used to play bass guitar and switched — and wanted to know if we'd like to book him anywhere, because he was better than Tim Seagirt, any day, even if Tim did have twenty gold records under his belt. He also had a few get-rich-quick schemes he wanted to run past me."

"See, Blackie, you aren't the only one made obsolete by her dream. I just lost my drumming gig," Adam quipped.

"Good! I'm a little tired of you using your future child's resting place as a drumming surface," Jess hrumphed. "Bad enough getting it from inside."

"Just my way of talking to him or her," Adam defended himself. "They will remember it, I promise you. I've been reading up on babies in the womb."

"I'll remember this when he or she is crying at two in the morning," Jess smiled back. "You can just drum them back to sleep."

"Gladly, if you will keep me company." Adam looked at his wife fondly. "I could never manage without you..."

"Snow job," Jenny snorted. "I love Amberly, but don't get me started on that one. Is that it, Carolyn? Did anyone else show up?"

"More than I remembered, at first," Carolyn nodded. "Mark Helmore dropped by."

"Mark is in England," Candy pointed out. "With Suzy. Still setting up housekeeping, I imagine"

"He was in my dream, too," Carolyn said. "But he wasn't with her — he said he was in Maine for an osteopathologist's conference, but was due back in England soon so he could help his wife, who was also a doctor, work at a foundling home for a day... oh, and they had a son named Oliver."

"Suzy won't like that," Bron chuckled.

"No, indeed, and right after he said his good-byes, Cleveland Hampton landed."

Candy giggled. "Hope he didn't become a dentist, the way he handed out sweets."

"No, nothing even close to that," Carolyn said, observing her husband, who couldn't help but be curious about any former admirer of his wife's, regardless of the circumstances. "He was with his… get this… wife!"

This time it was Daniel who let go of the coffee cup he had been holding, but Sean caught it, and levitated it back to the table before it hit the floor.

"Wife?" the spirit asked. "Thank you, Sean."

"Uh huh," she nodded again. "He introduced us — her name was Jean, I think. It would seem he did retire, got bored having nothing to do, then moved to California where he met her, and she was a television screenwriter."

"I find that difficult to believe, even for a dream," Daniel snorted. "Who'd want to marry that pill-popper?"

"She did, obviously." Carolyn grinned. "Speaking of romance, my friend Paula arrived next. She had joined the military."

"Be a good place for her to meet men," Claymore grumbled. "She never followed up with me either — and I thought we got along splendidly..."

"Claymore, I..." Daniel started, but Carolyn gave him a 'don't you dare' look.

"Then right after that," she went on, "Joshua Albertson and Ellsworth Gordon from Feminine View arrived together and told me they were twins, separated at birth and had found each other again. Then, Madame Tibaldi dropped in, saying she was still a medium, but Elroy was haunting her now and they were both involved with a restaurant that Elroy was running in LA. Elroy had a beard, his best friends were a police chief named Amos Burke, and his son, Peter, and he was doing just fine, and Olivia Tibaldi was happy because she had finally contacted a flesh and blood spirit, so to speak. She met him after she had given up being a medium, for a short time, to become a maid. Meeting him revived her faith in herself."

"Elroy WOULD be good at running a restaurant," Molly smiled. "But, a beard? Hard to imagine."

"It wasn't bad, really," said Carolyn. "Nothing like Daniel's or Dash's, naturally, but it did give his face a kind of character. Don't tell HIM I said that, please. It would hurt Elroy's feelings if I said I didn't like his face just the way it was. Of course, I am rather partial to beards, in general," she added, looking at the spirit seated beside her. "Maybe I should talk to him about growing... uh, wearing one?"

"Teaching him to manifest one should be interesting," Tristan noted dryly. "Think I'd look good in one, maybe?"

"No," Candy and Jenny chorused. "You look fine. Stop fishing."

"You never know until you try," Carolyn smiled again and gazed at Daniel for a moment. "Inspiration can accomplish wonderful things."

"Aye, my love," Daniel whispered softly.

"So that's it?" Barnaby asked, "No more alternate lives? Darn."

"A couple more," Carolyn said. "One of the best, now that I think of it."

"Yeah?" Candy asked. "I'm trying to think who you missed of our visitors those first two years. Algae the seal?"

"No. He's still with his family, as far as I know."

"Hey..." Candy snapped her fingers. "The power lines guy — the one Captain Dad wanted to scuttle..."

"I wanted to, too," Claymore protested. "Frank Donaldson. That was his name... man, it was awful getting into a conversation with him..."

"I remember, Martha nodded. She turned to Carolyn. "You're only renting this place, aren't you?"

"Yes," said Carolyn, automatically.

"Hmm?"

"Yes."

"Hmm?"

"Yes!"

"Hmm?"

"Yes... RENTING!" Carolyn laughed. "You remember him pretty well after all these years, Martha! Yes, he was there, and Commissioner Lilly, too."

"Don't mention him," Claymore moaned. "He cost the town a bundle... him and that new fire engine..." Daniel thundered. "Never mind... uh, what was he doing? I mean, what were those two doing?"

"A comedy act, actually," Carolyn said. "Mister Donaldson told me they met at some kind of state thing, and got to talking, then their respective bosses nominated them to do some sort of act for a charitable thing the state was putting on. It went over so well, they both quit their jobs, which they didn't like anyway, worked up a whole routine, went to Vegas and were a hit, appeared on the Ed Sullivan show, and were very happy, not working for the state any more." She paused and took a swallow of coffee. "I think that's about it, dream-wise."

"Aww, heck. I know it was tiring," Jess said, "but it sounds like a FUN dream."

"Yeah, but I bet Ed wakes me up at three a.m., snickering about it in his sleep," Martha groused good-naturedly.

"And I think I need a nap to recover from a weird night's sleep, but..." Carolyn yawned, then apologized. "Sorry... but I can't right away. I have that town council article to finish for the Beacon. We put the paper to bed the day after tomorrow."

"I could finish the article for you, Cousin Mom," Jenny offered.

"Or I," Sean and Daniel said together.

"Putting YOU to bed when you need sleep takes priority. Hang the paper," Daniel blustered, then all the more long-term residents of Schooner Bay looked at each other.

"Hey, Carrie..." Sean O'Casey started. "What about...?"

"Mark Finley," Barnaby and Molly said together.

"Right," Dash nodded. "You haven't mentioned him! He wasn't in your dream?"

"Shouldn't be," Lynne cut in. "Idiot. Women can't swing a fireplace poker? I'd like to have shown him a few things about fireplace pokers! He..."

"How many times have I told you NOT to say things like that in front of me?" Adam demanded. "I'm a good lawyer..."

"GREAT," Jess cut in. "Great lawyer."

"But not Perry Mason, who can prove all of his clients innocent of murder. Stop it, you guys. Thanks, sweetheart."

"Sow how about it, darling?" Daniel asked, taking his wife's hand. "Where did Mark fit in your dream? Did he not play a part?"

Carolyn hesitated, then said slowly, "THAT part almost made me think you had given me the dream, my love. Oh, I know you didn't. Your dreams are refreshing, not tiring. Mark didn't make an appearance. He could not, you see. We got a letter saying that while on vacation in Martha's Vineyard, he — ah — "

"Yes?" Siegfried prompted.

" — Got eaten by a shark," Carolyn concluded.

"So, now we'll have to send Jim Wight to Martha's Vineyard to cure a case of shark indigestion," Daniel laughed, loud and long.

It took a moment for the patriarch of Gull Cottage's words to register, but when they did, the rest of the people present, ghost and human alike, joined him.

END

Authors' endnote

Carolyn's dream let her peek into other fictional worlds of GAMM guest stars. Can you guess what GAMM characters/guest stars visited or lived in what other worlds?