True Love Conquers All
by Snapegirlkmf and CJ Moliere
1
~ The Cricket and the Lady and the Dancer and the Doctor ~
Authors Notes: We decided to write this story to thank all of our readers and reviewers of Unexpected Surprise and This Doesn't Have To Be Love whose positive responses to Archie and Marie as a couple have been wonderful! Marie and Archie's first meeting pre-curse occurs in chapter 10 of This Doesn't Have To Love. This story picks up during the curse.
They couldn't have been any more different….he was a human who chose to be turned into a cricket and she was the illegitimate half-sister to the betrothed of the Dark One who served as her lady-in-waiting while she still lived in Avonlea but from the moment Jiminy Cricket and Marie Bordreaux met in the Dark Castle, Rumple and Belle knew another couple with true love when they saw it. The trouble was, like every other true love couple in the realm, they too would become victims of the Curse of the Broken Hearted, separated with no memory of having ever met until Snow White and Prince Charming's daughter could break all the curses. Sometimes however, what is meant to be happens without any outside interference.
When he awoke on the first day of the curse, Jiminy Cricket knew nothing else except that his name was Archibald Hopper and he was a psychologist in the small town of Storybrooke. He lived in an apartment he rented from Robert Gold with his dog Pongo, was unmarried and had no children. He hardly had time to date, much less father a child since his appointment book was always filled. He sometimes wondered if all towns had as many people with problems in it as Storybrooke but when a patient needed him, he was there…day or night. Sometimes he did find himself thinking about settling down and having children but most of the women in town were his patients and not interested in him in that way. The only time he went out was to have dinner at Granny's alone. It was a comfortable yet lonely existence.
A few people talked to him outside of wanting medical advice and they were all people who used to speak to him back in the Enchanted Forest though he wasn't aware of it. Interacting with them made some days seem less ordinary, less lonely. Still when he listened to other people talk about their lives and how much happier they would be if they overcame their emotional burdens, he envied them. They had what he wanted and couldn't seem to find….a family. Even Mr. Gold, his aloof landlord, was willing to take a chance at having a family of his own. The therapist was surprised one day when he stopped by, not to collect the rent but to talk. He had a son, he said, and the boy was back in his life but he wasn't the same boy his father remembered. Archie gave him what advice he could on how to approach the boy and they seemed to be working things out. He was always pleased that he could help others. One afternoon while he was eating lunch in the diner he was approached by the miners. They always struck up conversations with him during his lunch but what they suggested that day shocked him.
"You need to get out more, Doc," Leroy suggested. "What're you doing tonight?"
"I was ahh….going to watch a John Wayne marathon on TMC," he admitted. John Wayne and Errol Flynn were his favorite actors and he sometimes wished he were more like the characters they portrayed: no matter what fate threw at them, they always got what they wanted, even a family. His favorite movie was McClintock and wanted to meet a feisty woman like Maureen McCormack's character and maybe she would like him as he was and not want him to change too much. The few women he'd dated wanted that.
"Not tonight you're not. Going out with us. You gotta learn to do more guy things. Sitting around watching old movies is good but not all the time."
He wanted to refuse but he also didn't want to be rude either. He reluctantly agreed to go out with them, assuming they would take him to the Rabbit Hole for a drink but when they pulled into the parking lot of Foxtrot, Storybrooke's strip club he wished he'd just said no. This was the last place he wanted to be seen in and everyone in town knew the girls who worked there did more than just dance for money.
"Well Doctor Hopper! Fancy seeing you here!" Sly Fox, the club's owner greeted him. He groaned and wanted to make a mad dash for the nearest exit but he wasn't driving and it was too long of a walk back to his apartment.
"Well I ummm…"
"He needs to get out more so we brought him here for a good time."
Even having a drink down at the Rabbit Hole would be better than this…no…bite your tongue Archie…
"Ohhh I'd be happy to help with that," a red haired woman in an emerald green thong and sequined bikini top cooed as she sauntered up to them. "My name's Zelena, baby. What's your name?"
"Uhhh…Archie Hopper," the therapist said nervously, trying not to look at so much flesh on display but it was impossible not to when she ground herself against him and thrust her cleavage into his face. The miners were whistling behind him and he scowled. How could they condone such immoral behavior?
"Hey Greenie, Spencer's waiting for you in the private room!" he heard another woman say from behind him and turned around to face…a goddess….well a woman that was dressed like one anyway. She wore a sheer white peplos with a garland of flowers in her long brown locks.
"Better get going, Zelena," advised Sly. "He's one of our highest paying customers."
She glared at the Greek costumed beauty and stormed off.
Dancing on mens' laps and a stage in a skimpy Greek goddess costume was not how Marie Bordreaux wanted to spend the rest of her life but finding a different job to support herself and her five year old daughter was difficult because everyone knew where she worked and they all believed she did more for the customers than dance just like Zelena and Ashley Boyd. She believed Merriweather Blue did as well though somehow she managed to hide the fact that she was moonlighting at a strip club and teaching at Storybrooke Prep during the day. Marie's stage name at the club was Electra after the daughter of King Agamemnon and Queen Clytemnestra from Greek mythology though she preferred to dress like the goddess of love herself, Aphrodite.
"I haven't seen you here before Doctor Hopper," she said softy. She'd seen him around town and Gisella said that when she went to the park with Julie, the girl Marie paid to watch her while she worked, Doctor Hopper would let her play with his dog, Pongo.
"Ummm…no…the guys wanted me to get out…and…"
She frowned. What were they thinking? The man was obviously uncomfortable but they didn't seem to care and had she not stepped in, Zelena would have taken him to the private room and been all over him, making him even more uncomfortable and maybe even call the police charging her with rape.
"Sly, I'll take him to the other private room if you don't mind," she said to her boss. He smirked.
"Be my guest."
"Have fun Doc!" the miners hooted. Archie blushed, his face almost as red as his hair. Good God, why hadn't he just said no? His palms were sweating when the goddess took his hand in hers and led him down the hall to a room with a red velvet loveseat in it and a coffee table, nothing else.
"So this is…uhhh…the private room?" he asked her as they sat down.
She nodded and dimmed the lights. "We use this room if a customer wants a private dance…well I use it for that…and just to talk if that's what they want to. Some of them actually do want to just talk."
"I…don't really want you to dance," he confessed. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to offend you…it's just that…"
"It's all right. I've been wanting to talk to you anyway. To thank you."
He was stunned. "T…Thank me? For what? We've never met."
She smiled. "No, but you've met my daughter. She plays with Pongo in the park. Her name is Gisella Bordreau and my name is Marie though I go by Electra here."
Aphrodite would suit her better, he thought.
"Oh! Gisella! Of course. She's a sweet little girl."
"I've tried to keep what I do here from her….not always easy."
He nodded. It wasn't…not with the way tongues wagged in this town and he respected her for doing her best to shield her daughter from the negative influences such a place would have on her young mind.
"And….her father?"
Marie snorted. "Wants nothing to do with her…or me." she lied. The truth was Gaston only wanted one thing out of her and she wasn't going to let him have it…not again.
"What about child support? He is her father and he at least owes you that."
"I've been trying to save up the money to hire Mr. Gold to represent me with that."
"Well…he may a bit….aloof but he does get results."
"Even for someone like me, given my reputation?"
"Marie, you don't mind if I call you that, do you? Mr. Gold can make you look like a saint compared to your daughter's father if he puts his mind to it. I've gotten to know him pretty well and….family is important to him."
"Gaston has a very good attorney which is why I need Mr. Gold. He hasn't lost a case yet."
"Gaston Devereaux is Gisella's father?" he asked worriedly. He knew the man by reputation and he was more concerned than ever. There were rumors he was abusive to his girlfriends and his late wife as well and now his son was showing signs that he would carry on his father's bad habits.
"Yes."
There were always three sides to a story: his, hers and the truth but Marie's side was the truth. Gaston liked to claim that Marie flirted with HIM and lied about Gisella being his child because he rejected her when it could've been any man. Marie had never been with a man that way before and what should have been a wonderful experience for her turned out to be a nightmare. She'd never liked Gaston, thought he was too full of himself and refused his advances. And one night she was out at the stables alone he took his revenge on her for her refusals then threatened to kill her if she told anyone what happened. Now he was setting his perverted sights on her best friend, Storybrooke Prep reading teacher Belle French. Belle didn't want him either but he never stopped trying.
And she knew Gaston would kill any man who took an interest in her, no matter if it was platonic or not. He'd done before.
Jonas Harris was one of the Foxtrot's wealthiest patrons, a lonely man who only came to the club to talk. To Marie he was like a second father and a grandfather to Gisella. His own children were only waiting for him to die so that they could get their greedy hands on his money. They were in for quite a shock as was Marie when she discovered he left his apartment to her, fifty thousand dollars to Gisella when she turned twenty-one and the rest of his fortune to breast cancer research. His death from a fall down a flight of stairs was ruled an accident but weeks later Gaston admitted to her during one of his rages that he'd killed Jonas. Now she tried to keep men at a distance, not wanting to risk them being the targets of his insanity.
"He hasn't been…threatening you, has he?"
"No…of course not," Marie said quickly.
A strange noise came from the other side of the wall followed by a series of thumps.
"That…sounds like a goat." Archie mumbled. Marie rolled her eyes and shook her head knowing exactly what it was. She pounded the wall.
"Zelena! Keep it down I can't hear myself think!" she yelled. Now they could both hear a man moaning and both he and Zelena were shouting some of the foulest words in the English language.
"Oh God….are they…?" Archie's face was beet red.
"Yes," Marie groaned. "I'm sorry, Doctor. I don't do that….just dance and talk but some of them…like Miss Goat over there…think the private room is their bedroom." She pounded the wall again. "GODDAMMIT TAKE IT UPSTAIRS!"
The noises grew louder.
"Come on…we'll go someplace else." Marie suggested.
He wasn't going to argue with that. He was embarrassed enough by what he'd heard. Making matters worse the miners were waiting for them when they came out of the private room, all of them grinning like Cheshire cats.
"If you'll all excuse us…" Marie said coolly. The club had a closed in patio that was rarely used except for when she went out there to have some time alone. She motioned for him to sit down at one of the tables while she fixed them some tea in the kitchen. "When do you think they'll let you off the chain?" she called out.
"I don't know….soon I hope…I'm sorry…I didn't mean it like that…" he stammered.
You seem to be putting your foot in your mouth quite a bit tonight, Hopper. Might want to think a few more seconds before you speak or she'll dump that tea she's making right in your lap.
"It's all right," she said softly, handing him a cup. "You're too good for a place like this."
So are you…
"Well, ummm….it hasn't been that bad," he admitted. "I really don't get out much because of what I do…and I just never gave it a thought." He laughed. "I was planning on spending the evening at home watching a marathon on TV."
"Nothing wrong with that. I do that sometimes either alone or with Sella."
If anyone would have told him one day he would be sitting on a patio at a strip club having a decent conversation with a gorgeous exotic dancer he would have asked them what drugs they were on because he never would have been caught dead in such a place and with those kind of people but Marie was different. She made the best of a difficult situation for him.
"Electra! You done in there yet! We got a show to put on!" demanded Merriweather Blue from the doorway. At the club her name was Aqua Mystique. When the schoolteacher saw Marie's companion she screeched and dashed back into the main room of the club. Archie was so shocked to see her that he nearly dropped his cup.
"M…Miss Blue?!" he gasped. "But…but she's a teacher!"
"Doing a little moonlighting," Marie explained.
Now he'd seen it all. Miss Blue taught sex education at the school and now that he knew WHERE she'd gotten her training, he felt ill.
"I'm not proud of what I do Doctor but I don't lie about it either," Marie said defensively.
Everyone assumed he didn't know what went on in their town but for the most part, he did and one thing he learned right away was that some of the so called social elites were the biggest hypocrites and now it seemed that Miss Blue fit well into that category.
"Marie, I didn't mean to upset you….I seem to be putting my foot in my mouth a lot tonight."
"It's all right."
"ELECTRA!" yelled Sly.
Marie sighed. "I'd better get going before he sends a posse for me and hopefully yours will take you home." She stood up.
"I may not have wanted to be here…but I did enjoy talking to you."
"Same here."
They stared at each other for several minutes. Finally Marie looked away. "Maybe we'll see each other in the park sometime," she blurted out before she thought about it.
He smiled. "You might. I'm there every day."
Marie! You idiot….you know what will happen if…
We can just be friends!
Even that is dangerous. Remember Jonas! He'll kill Doctor Hopper if he thinks you're getting too close so you'd better quit before you start!
"Well, ummm…goodbye Doctor Hopper," she said and hurried into the main room before Sly came after her. He despised lateness to the shows.
Archie was smiling when he rejoined the miners.
"Soooo….how did it go, Doc?" Leroy questioned, winking.
"Better than I expected," he said softly. "Much better than I expected."
"Well…?"
"Let's just leave it at that," he insisted.
He was still smiling when they dropped him off at his apartment. Pogo jumped off the sofa and ran over to him, licking his hand while he petted him.
"Well Pongo, my night out wasn't so bad after all," he said to the Dalmatian.
The dog looked at him questioningly.
"I met the most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my life...and she's Gisella's mother!"
Pongo grinned happily, his tail wagging at the mention of Gisella.
"You like playing with Gisella, don't you boy? Well, she'll be in the park tomorrow and maybe...maybe Marie will be with her."
Pongo whined eagerly at the mention of two of his favroite words in the same sentence-"park" and "Gisella".
"We can't go now...it's past her bedtime..."
The dog looked unhappy, his ears drooping.
"Now don't be like that...we can see her in the morning and if he mother is with her...Pongo...she's a dancer who calls herself Electra but that's the wrong name for her...it should be Aphrodite..."
He sat down on the sofa and patted the empty space beside him.
The Dalmatian barked softly, as if he understood what his master said, then jumped up beside him and put his head in Archie's lap.
"It's crazy...and I'm probably going to need my own therapist but I do want to get to know Marie better...outside that club."
The dog nuzzled his hand . . .as if saying go for it. His tail thumped the cushions.
"You think I'm not crazy? Everyone else will."
Pongo shook his head and panted.
He sighed. "I'll give it a try Pongo but I think she's had a hard time and doesn't trust men completely."
Pongo whined and put a paw over his face.
"What? Do you think I'm making a mistake?"
The dog put his head out and licked his hand.
Most people would find it odd that he carried on conversations with his dog but he always felt like his faithful companion understood him better than anyone else did.
"I just...have this feeling that if I don't...I'll regret it the rest of my life."
Pongo whuffed softly, as if agreeing with him.
He yawned. "We'd better get to sleep or we'll be too late to see Gisella in the park tomorrow and you know she gets angry if we do."
Pongo jumped off the sofa and wagged his tail, making an odd crooning noise in his throat. Archie called it his "Talking" voice.
"Yes, you remember the last time we got yelled at. Don't want that to happen again!"
He went into his bedroom, changed into his pajamas and crawled into bed, falling asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow.
The Dalmatian whined and shook his head, his dark ears flopping.
Pongo jumped onto the bed and draped himself over his human's feet, asleep as well moments later.