A/N: Okay I know this is in the CWACOM category… But listen me out: I did say I'll be posting my next CWACOM story on September 18th, but here is just a PREVIEW (and the 1st chapter) of what to sorta expect... I plan to continue it in September. Yes grab a gun and shoot me for saying no more CWACOM. I hate that I said I was writing my last CWACOM fanfic and suddenly BAM! I go ahead and break my promise. The reason is that I just can't take it anymore! I love writing for this category! So I want to make this a trequel that comes after "All is not forgotten". I want you to tell me if I should continue this in September… or now.
The hallway was light up brightly. The floor, walls and ceiling were all painted dark blue. Taking deep breaths, Angelica walked down the hall and looked around nervously. She didn't know where she was or where she was even going. The hallway seemed to go on forever. Suddenly she heard footsteps coming down the hallway. Gasping, she looked around frantically and then snatched her dagger out of her belt and threw it upward at the lights.
There was a shatter and the light went out. She must have hit some cord, because soon all the lights down the whole hall went out. Trembling with fright, she crouched down to the floor and heard her dagger fall to the floor beside her. Quickly, she snatched it up and gripped it up in her hand tightly.
"WHO GOES THERE?" came a loud male voice. But Angelica kept quiet. She gripped her dagger even tighter, in case she had to attack.
"I know you're there, missy. Ye can't hide forever." Came another voice and Angelica took another deep breath.
She heard the footsteps coming closer and closer. Suddenly she felt a foot nudge her. She yelped and then struck her dagger into the foot. Blood oozed onto her hand and she screamed. The person whose foot she stabbed screamed too. She tried to get up, but the moment she did, a hand grabbed her throat.
"Hello, missy." Came a snarling voice.
"Let me go!" Angelica shrieked and tried to kick the man, but he raised her off the floor by the neck and she tried to desperately push his hand away.
"I will if you tell me something. Did YOU kill Code 1?" the man growled in her face.
The moment she gasped, the man let go of her and she dropped to the floor coughing. Then she looked up at the man. But it was too dark to see any of his face. Code 1? Huh? I don't get it? The League? I'm confused. Albert? She thought and her eyes widened. But the man just laughed.
"I can read your mind, Code 4. Get up!" the man then snapped and Angelica scrambled to her feet hurriedly.
"I did kill him." She replied in a quivering voice and her face went pale.
The man laughed and she heard more laughter behind the man.
"Missy? Do you really think he is dead?" The man snapped his fingers and out of nowhere the lights came on. Even if the lights were broken, they somehow came on.
Once they came on, Angelica looked around. There was a group of people standing there. All were grinning evilly at Angelica. She gulped and then looked up at the man who choked her and just stared.
Then she let out a scream louder than she ever screamed.
At the same time, she woke up in bed, still screaming. Her face was covered in cold sweat and she was shaking so hard, that she could barely sit up.
"Angelica! What's wrong?" Denis kicked the door open to her bedroom and ran in.
"B-bad d-dream." She trembled. He came and sat down beside her. Denis put a comforting arm around her and she leaned her head on his shoulder still shaking.
A shadow appeared in the doorway and Esto wheeled himself into the room in his wheelchair. When he saw Angelica shaking in Denis's arms, he wheeled himself over to her side and took her trembling hand.
"Its okay, Ang." He whispered and squeezed her hand. She smiled at him and Denis rubbed her shoulders.
"I'll leave you two alone, now." Esto smiled and wheeled himself out of the room.
Once he left, Denis sighed and got up. Angelica watched him slowly. He went into her bathroom and came back with a glass of water. Quietly, he came up to her and handed her the glass. Shaking, she took it and gripped it tightly.
"In the morning we'll talk to Flint and Sam. Right now you should get some sleep." Denis glanced at her. Their eyes met and she looked down.
"Okay." She nodded and watched Denis get off the bed and leave the room.
xxx
The morning came soon and Flint woke up, when a pillow hit him in the face. Groaning, he opened his eyes and moved the pillow away. Sam stood over him, with her hands planted on her hips, but a playful smile on her face.
"Get up, Flint! Fran is crying." Sam smiled at him. He nodded and swung himself over the bedside and stood up. As he passed Sam, he kissed her as a way of saying 'good morning' and both of them walked out of the room.
Fran was crying loudly, but when her parents entered the room she stopped. Instead she smiled and watched her mother pick her out of her bed and her father kiss her on the nose. Fran Camille Lockwood had her mother's wide green eyes and her father's messy brown hair. She was now a year old and was just learning to smile. So she tried to smile at Flint.
When Fran couldn't smile, she clapped her hands once and gurgled out a string of baby talk. Flint laughed and Sam told him to go downstairs and make her some tea and him coffee, while she fed Fran.
"Sure thing." He then kissed Sam on top of her head and went downstairs.
Their house wasn't big, but it wasn't small either. It was almost the same size as the one Flint used to live in with his dad. But this one was slightly smaller.
At least he lived on the same street as Tim. Then he could go visit his lab whenever he wanted. And Steve of course. Steve lived in Flint's lab, and Flint had to go there every day to feed him. But soon Steve would move into their house. Sometimes he'd bring Steve into his house, so he could get to know Fran. She was scared of him the first few times, but Flint thought that soon she'd get used to him.
The moment Flint entered the kitchen, the doorbell rang.
"Flint! Can you get that?" Sam called from upstairs.
Nodding to himself, Flint approached the front door and peeked in through the peep hole. There stood Angelica and Denis.
He opened the door and both of them came in.
"Good morning!" Denis replied cheerfully.
"Good morning!" Angelica smiled, "Nice outfit, Flint." She added and surveyed Flint from head to toe.
Turning red, Flint looked down at his white shirt and red with white polka dots boxers. Angelica and Denis just chuckled and then Denis shut the door before the neighbors saw.
Denis wore his usual. His navy blue jeans, with were fading at the knees and his red coach jersey with a big white '5' on the front and the words 'Coach Loquesto' on the back. Plus his white and black Nike high-top platform sneakers. His brownish-blondish hair was gelled upward and his green eyes glinted mischievously.
Angelica had on her 'non-work clothes' (she hated her work clothes which were a dark blue suit jacket and a dark blue suit skirt with matching dark blue high heels). Today she had on her dark jeans, a tight black T-shirt that read 'Don't question me.' and her black high heel boots. She wore a beige trench coat and a beige trench hat. But she called it 'just a coat'. If you told her it was a trench coat, she'd slap you in the face. She took off her sunglasses and slipped them into her trench coat pocket.
"So! Denis and I have decided that you and Sam need to go out for the day! You guys haven't gone out alone for a LONG time. We could babysit Fran for you." Angelica smiled and hung her coat and hat.
"I don't know guys… Let's see what Sam says." Flint scratched the back of his head and as if on the cue, Sam came downstairs with Fran in her arms.
"Oh! Hey guys! Where are Reg, Jag and Esto?" Sam grinned when she saw Denis and Angelica.
"Esto took up painting, so he's doing that. Jag went out to play football with Brent and Reg is doing some paperwork for me in the office." Angelica sighed.
Sam smiled and ushered everyone into the kitchen. Flint ran upstairs to change, when he saw that Sam managed to change. Angelica flopped into a chair and Denis sat down beside her. Sam put Fran into her high chair and went to make breakfast. While she brewed the coffee, Angelica glanced over at Fran.
Blinking, Fran looked back at her and clapped her hands happily. Angelica smiled. She wished Marie was still alive today. Sighing she closed her eyes and thought back to a similar day like today, long ago…
The day was perfect. A blue sky, warm, breezy air and the sun wasn't too strong. Angelica was carrying one year old Marie downstairs into the kitchen. The kitchen in the house was large and had double doors in the back, which led right into the backyard. Smiling to herself, Angelica swung open the double doors and a warm breeze fluttered into the room.
"It's beautiful, isn't it Marie." Angelica sighed happily.
"Pock!" Marie cried out. This was how she said "Yes!" Laughing, Angelica kissed Marie on the top of her head and went to seat her in her high chair.
Stretching, Angelica went to brew some tea and get Marie's baby food from the cupboards. She was getting more and more used to being a mother. But she was only 21 for goodness sake! All her other friends were still in universities or finished early and were having fun. None of them had children. This was why she had to get all straight "A's", then the school let her skip 10th and 11th grade, because she was so smart that she had done all the courses in summer school. This also meant she graduated from the University of Swallow Falls early.
She also wasn't the only one who had skipped 10th and 11th grade. Albert Shelbourne decided to go on with her. She sighed and then narrowed her eyes.
"And where the hell is he?" she tightened her grip on her mug full of boiling tea. Quickly she glanced at Marie, before she stepped out into the hall and stood at the foot of the stairs, tapping her foot impatiently.
"ALBERT SHELBOURNE! IF YOU DON'T GET DOWN HERE, I'LL COME UP THERE AND POUR THIS WHOLE CUP OF TEA ON YOU!" she shouted.
She waited five, ten minutes. He didn't come down. So she stomped back into the kitchen and glanced at Marie. Marie watched her mother with wide eyes. Calming down, Angelica poured some dry cereal into a bowl and placed it in front of Marie to chew on for now.
"Eat, Marie. I'll go see what your father is up too." Angelica smiled at Marie and Marie mumbled something in baby talk, before Angelica ran upstairs.
The upstairs hallway was long and a bit creepy. The whole house was. Angelica's favorite room was the kitchen, since it was the cheeriest and the sunniest. The rest of the house was like a shadow. Their bedroom was the last room down the hall. Not bothering to be quiet, Angelica kicked the door open and stepped inside.
Then she saw him. Running around the room like a tornado.
"My tie! Where the—" he was crying out and he raced into the closet and then made it out of there even quicker.
"Why do you need your tie?" she demanded and crossed her arms over her chest.
"It's today! The day they interview me! Next week is the election for the Mayor of Swallow Falls!" he stopped running and glanced at his wife.
"Right. They'll choose you anyway. Your father was the Mayor. And then his father and his father. And your ties in the laundry basket. I still didn't wash it." Angelica grinned and watched him stop in his tracks.
She then walked out of the room, but he placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Is there another tie I could wear?" he asked and his eyes went wide when she turned to face him.
"In the closet. The left side, 2nd shelf to the right, top drawer. The red one." She smiled and watched him race into the closet.
"Thank you, love!" he cried out.
But she was already heading downstairs with a smirk on her face…
"Angelica! Hello? I already called your name like five times!" Denis waved his hand
in front of Angelica's face.
Blinking, Angelica snapped out of her flashback and saw Denis sat there in front of her. Sam was now sitting at the table with a cup of tea and Fran was doodling crazily on a piece of paper with a green crayon. Both were staring at Angelica. Turning red, Angelica looked at the cup of coffee in front of her and then took a piece of toast from the middle of the table and began to spread jam all over it.
"Angelica, I told Sam what we told Flint and she agreed to go out with Flint for the day and that we could babysit Fran." Denis explained.
"Oh! That's great!" Angelica smiled weakly and took a quick sip of her coffee.
There was an awkward silence at the table, until Flint came trampling down the stairs and entered the kitchen. He wore his usual. Black pants, orange t-shirt and his legendary lab coat. His hair as usual was not tamed, but all crazy. That's the way everyone like it. And of course his spray-on shoes glittered under the sunlight that poured into the room.
"Well! So what did Sam say?" he glanced at Denis and Angelica.
"You know I'm right here." Sam replied and Flint came over and sat down beside her.
"I knew that!" he smiled and kissed her quickly on the lips, before he turned to see what Fran was drawing.
Fran was just drawing a bunch of squiggles, but her forehead was scrunched up in concentration, so to her it wasn't a bunch of squiggles. When she grabbed the brown crayon and drew some more, she grabbed the red crayon at the same time and drew with both. All the adults at the table watched her.
"Da!" she cried out and held up her picture.
"I think that's her way of saying 'done!'" Flint smiled at his daughter; who fluttered her picture in the air.
Fran then handed the picture to Flint and tried to smile. She was still working on her smiling. Gently, Flint took it and inspected it.
"What is it a drawing of, Franny?" Flint asked sweetly.
Everyone watched her. Fran looked at everyone and scrunched up her eyebrows. She was thinking hard about something. Then she squeezed her eyes shut and opened them a few seconds later.
"Daddy!" she shrieked out happily.
No one said anything. They were all too amazed. Fran Camille Lockwood had said her first word. Gasping, Flint looked at the picture Fran drew of him and smiling softly, looked at Fran. She clapped her hands shrieked out happily.
"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" she repeated over and over. She seemed happy herself, that she had said her first word.
"I thought it'd be 'Mommy'. 'Daddy' seems harder to say. But I think she'll grow up to be like you." Sam leaned her head on his shoulder.
Angelica smiled to herself as she bit her toast. Today was going to be good day for everyone. Flint and Sam would go on a date, which they hadn't gone on for a long time. She and Denis will spend time with Fran.
"Hey, Denis!" she then remembered something and whispered to him.
"What?" he hissed and looked at her with his green eyes.
"What about my nightmare problem? You said we'd talk to Flint and Sam!" she whispered back.
"Later. Right now, let them stay worry free." Denis smiled and both of them glanced at Flint and Sam. Sam was now holding a giggling Fran in her arms and Flint watched happily.
This was peace. This was what Angelica wanted for a long time. She hoped it lasted that way.
But she what she didn't know, or anyone at the table, was that two pairs of eyes were watching them from the bushes outside. The bush was right under the kitchen window that was right next to the table.
"The missy thinks all is at peace." A gruff voice grinned.
"How do you know?" the other voice snapped. It was a rather familiar voice.
"I can read minds, dummy." The gruff voice snarled.
"Ah. Of course. I knew that." The familiar voice cackled.
"No you didn't, idiot! I'm reading your mind right now, Al!" the voice snapped.
"Listen, stop it, will you? My body is covered in steel casts and I have tubes running into my heart and brain. I'm already tortured enough!" the familiar man snapped.
"The doctors said the tubes will come out next week and the casts too." The gruff voice snapped back.
"Can we go now? This bush is uncomfortable to sit in." the familiar voice changed the subject.
"Fine. And we are never coming back here. Ever!" the gruff voice sighed and crawled out of the bush with the familiar man following.