Orphans Beloved… "Picnic…"
Summary: Like my Immortal Beloved bits in my Buffyverse stories, these are fragments and short bits, some longer…Just to fiddle with ideas, possibly forming longer tales later.
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Disclaimer: No copywrite infringement intended.
"On a picnic morning…
Without a warning…
I looked at you…
And somehow …I knew."
Large banner… "Scarborough Labour Day Picnic…" swaying across the open field running to the lakeside beach…
"Ally…" Donnie Hendrix eyeing his rather brittle wife, fully occupied in setting out the traditional implements for their traditional Scarborough Canadian Labour Day picnic…
Allison studiously avoiding the occasional snapping glares of their passing neighbors...
Though returning one's lengthy, icy stare…Yes? Banged my neighbor and "best friend's" husband, yes I did. And that ain't the half of it, sister…
"Yes? Donnie?" grim reply, avoiding a direct look.
Sigh… "Ok, what I have done wrong now? Ally, I'm sorry about Dr. Leekie."
Yeah? You want something, neighbor? He gave a hard look to a passing woman who'd glared at Ally and resumed…Allison repressing beam…
"I told you your mother gave me his info, said he was your therapist back when you were a kid…And that he told me…"
"And you never thought it was important enough to mention to me…That my 'old child therapist' was still taking an interest in me? Or that he'd admitted/claimed to you and Mother he was the donor of the sperm used to fertilize my egg?" grim direct look. "You've been reporting to him for years."
"He wanted to help…Ally, he felt he had a father's role here, in a way…Or said he did…"
"And like some larger real-life version of 'Donald Draper' with his wife's psychiatrist, you decided silly Ally didn't need to know about all this…"
"I didn't want to upset you…Ally…He was concerned you might…"
"Even after I asked you to tell me the truth…" furious glance…
"You tied me up and burned me with glue! I thought you'd gone as insane as Leekie seemed to think you might…"
"You let a stranger decide what and what not to tell me?! There's no truth in you, Donnie Hendrix…" she glared. Trembling… "My whole heart, I gave you…I thought you'd…Always…You swore, Donnie…You swore…"
"Ally…Your own mother…I thought I was doing the right thing…"
"My mother…It's only the fact that my mother lied to me as well that I didn't take the kids and walk immediately!" Tense clench of hands. "Everyone has lied to me, kept all this from me! Like I'm not even a real woman!…I mean an adult woman."
Phone buzz…
"Excuse me…" she pulled phone… "Yes?"
Narrow look at Donnie sitting on blanket…
"Really? Is she…?"
Glare Donnieward…
But tear running from one eye…As he sighed, looking for the kids currently playing on the beach…
"Yes. I think I can…Be right there." She folded up the phone.
"I have to go see…Sallie…She needs some help."
"Sallie? I thought she hated you since…"
Hard glare…
"Yeah…?"
"Nothing…I said nothing…"
"Please, at least be honest…"
He gave return glare… "Ok, sure…Since you slept with another man just to hurt me for God knows what reason and to hurt poor Anysley. And for someone who keeps talkin' about betrayal…"
"If you want a divorce…" stiffly.
"Ally…Ally, I love you. I thought I was protecting you…For God's sake, if I didn't adore you, would I put up with this insanity for a minute? Ally, my Ally Mc Beal?" he tried, pleading look… "Ally, please? Tell what to do? I'll do anything…"
She gulped but tensed…Rising…
"Right. Excuse me. I'll be back…Keep an eye on the kids, please."
Sooner than you can imagine…
She eyed the picnic basket on blanket…Spy cam carefully clipped in place…
Now we'll see…Assume Paul's been honest with us. As he sighed, turning back to look at the beach…
"On a day for singing…
My heart went winging…
A picnic grove…
Was our…Rendezvous…"
A somewhat uncertain look…Somehow, in an odd way, more tense than before despite a pasted smile.
"Donnie?"
He blinked…
"Ally? You just left?"
"I just had to be a moment…"
"Sallie ok?"
"Sallie? Oh…Fine…"
He shook his head… "I still can't believe she called you for help…After the way she treated you in the supermarket last Friday."
"People are like that, Donald…Donnie…Demanding, expecting something for nothing…Letting their petty concerns outweigh the greater good."
"Right…" he sighed…
She sat…A bit tense and prim.
"Sorry if I've been unfair…I'm naturally upset about the Leekie thing." She noted, casual eyeing…
"No…Really?" mild sarcasm.
"So…Why don't we air this out? Just what did you report to him about me?"
"Ally…I've tole you and I've tole you, ever since you came in that night screaming at me. All I did was answer his questions and ask him for advice when we had trouble…He was actually a big help, in a way. He guided me through some rough moments. Plus I was worried when he warned me you might be at risk for some medical problems he had that he thought he might have passed on to you."
"And since I told you…" pause…Careful stare…
"Told me what?" he eyed her…
"Uh…About…My…Feelings…About…All this…" she replied, cautiously. Damn it, Aldous…You might have given me a better script…Rachel thought. I'm flyin' blind here. Who knows what the paranoid freak told him about us?
"Hmmphf…" Allison, watching via binoculars from a small clump of bushes behind which she and Sarah waited. "She's doing me all wrong…What a stiff performance…You did better. What's she saying?"
"Nothing incriminating so far, kiddo…" Sarah noted, listening on earphones.
"Leekie took the risk of sending her in as me for a reason…" Allison frowned. "He must want to check in, get a report."
"He really seems to think she's you…" Sarah shrugged.
"What? How could he think she's me? She's doing me terribly…I should go back and kick her icy little…"
"Ally…" Sarah sighed. "We agreed there'd be no butt-kickin'…We need to find out what she and Leekie are up to now. " Frown… "And if anyone should get first crack at kicking the icy butt of that Dyad Ice Queen, its yours truly."
"Fine…" return to binoculars… "Is she admitting anything? What's he telling her about me?"
"Allison…" Donnie put up his hands to the disguised Rachel… "I've told you everything I know about this guy. I'm not keepin' anything back."
"Still nothing…" Sarah noted.
"Let me listen…" Allison insisted to Sarah, reaching for earphones which Sarah surrendered.
"There must be more, Donald…Donnie…" Rachel insisted. "Surely you have some idea about what he wanted from us?"
"I thought he wanted what he and your mom said…To see that you were ok, happy…And to help us out if he could…Emotionally, couplewise, health problems wise."
"You can't really have been that naïve…?" Rachel frowned. "Are you that big an idiot?"
Allison glaring…
Why that…!
"I thought he was your father…More or less…And your therapist, which I admit was a little…Allison, I've only wanted to see you as happy as possible…And safe."
"Indeed…" Rachel, coolly…
Wow…She eyed him.
All these years of putting up with that freak and he still…? Well, of course where would a fellow like this find a girl like us…Her?
Still…It has been interesting watching them, seeing the reports…Aldous always said he was the perfect match…For her, of course.
"Please Ally…If there's anything I can do to make it up to you…I'll gladly help you go after this guy if he's a fraud…Ally?...I will do anything to put this right. You know I'd do anything for you."
Oh…Rachel…Inwardly, blinking…Allison, audibly…Sarah frowning as she eyed Ally…
"Can't we go for a walk or something?" he urged. "I'll ask the Michelsons to watch the kids…They don't know…About things… Can't we, Ally? Please?"
Uh…Rachel blinked at his pleading face…
"It's Labour Day, Ally…You remember that Labour Day…The picnic…" wan smile…Turning a moment as she stared…
"I even have the recording…" he grinned…Offering a CD player pulled from the picnic basket…
"You remember, Ally? 'Picnic', the song from the movie?"
"Yeah, sure…" she nodded…
Allison watching via binoculars, listening…Fists clenching…
"'Picnic'?...He's playin' 'Picnic'? For her?"
"Ally?..." Sarah stared… "What's…?"
"Won't you come, Ally?" he offered his hand… "Please, sweetheart?"
"Yeah, sure…" Rachel blinked, taking hand and letting him pull her up.
Oh…He's doing it just the way I always…
Uh…Wait…Ummn…
Supposed to be waiting for Aldous' call to pull me out…She thought.
Duncan, what the hell's the matter with you?
"What?! What the hell is he doing?!" Allison pulled off the earphones…Furiously staring with the binoculars…
Ally?...Sarah stared…
"You and I In the sunshine…
We strolled the fields and farms
At the last light of evening
I held you in my arms…"
"Uh…Just a mo…" Rachel, apologetically as her cell buzzed…Pulling it out.
Hmmn? Donnie eyed the phone.
That looks different, somehow…
"Yes…? Oh, ok…Yes…Be right there…" she closed phone.
"Ally? Not again?"
"Some minor housewives' emergency…" she shrugged. "I'll be back shortly…"
"Ok…But…"
"Shhh…" she put a finger to his lips…
"What the frack?!" Allison pulled the binoculars down. "What the hell is that bitch proclone doing with my husband?!"
"I'll be back…Soon…" Rachel eyed him.
Just have to take care of someone…Something…
Oh, now…Lets not lose our heads…At least not till Allison is compelled to lose hers.
Though…If it were necessary to take this up as a more permanent gig…
I mean if the little sisters actually do manage to become a true threat and Rachel Duncan must disappear to avoid prosecution.
I could manage…Somehow, I guess. She eyed Donnie.
"Ally?! Come back! They'll see you!" Sarah tried…As Allison strode off in fury…
However, to Sarah's relief, retaining enough of the practical to pull back behind a tree as Rachel rushed off and turned behind the park's visitor center building…
"Donnie?!" he turned to see her closing…Furious look…
"Allison?"
"Now when days grow stormy
And lonely for me
I just recall
Picnic time with you…"
"What were you doing?!" she raged…
He eyed her…
"It's me." Curt tone… "Well?!"
"Just what you two told me to do, playing along with…What's her name again?"
"Rachel…And you sure seemed to think she was me. You did, didn't you?"
"Ally…"
"Can't tell us apart…One's as good as the other, right? Well, lucky you and she…I…"
She eyed the phone in his hand…Quizzical stare…
"I palmed it when she seemed a little flustered." He handed it over…
Mock solemn stare…"What, you think I don't know my own mildly paranoid wife from her clones? Heck, she didn't even nervously peck me on the cheek and touch my arm when she came over…And you'd do that if you were about to have me killed. Come on, lets see where Dr. Leekie curls up during the day when the sun's out." Grin.
Slow return grin…
"Now when days grow stormy
And lonely for me
I just recall
Picnic time with you."