This is a response to Magicks sillyfic challenge, which was posted on 8-8-
02 as an addition to her story "Lost Love (Come What May)" -----------------
Standard disclaimers apply. Witchblade characters, song titles, Disney,
etc. are not mine and so on and so forth. You all know the drill. Special
thanks to Janie AKA Dream, for helping me and reading this over when I was
finished.
What May Come
By Kameka
Sara groaned as the sunlight hit her closed eyelids and the brightness pulled her from the pleasant grayness of sleep. She groped for her clock before the shrill alarm could ring and make her head feel any worse. If that were possible. It felt like a herd of elephant' tap dancing and playing with sledgehammers as it was.
Loath to wake up any more than necessary, she cuddled further into the bed and pulled the sheet over her head to block out just a little of the light. Startled at the extra warmth that she unconsciously knew shouldn't be there; she looked over to one side to see Gabriel lying on his back with arms flung out at his sides. His body was covered by most of the sheet, a fact that explained why she was feeling a bit chilly that morning.
Easing her way out of the bed, she made sure not to make a sound. Not when the pounding in her head increased tenfold, not when she became aware of the fur coat currently residing on her tongue, not when she felt nauseous enough to make a dash for the bathroom. Assuming the dash didn't kill her in the first place. The way she was feeling, it probably would.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she was away from the relative comfort of the mattress and standing on two rather shaky legs. Her bedmate turned to where she had lain, unashamedly burrowing into the mattress and pillow to get the body heat they retained. She absently thought about finding another cover to put over him until her stomach rolled threateningly and she looked around for the bathroom.
Her detective skills blunted by the after-effects of the alcohol she had consumed, it took Sara a few moments to realize that the familiar surroundings weren't her apartment. So where was she? Danny's guestroom, she managed to identify. Which meant that there should be a bathroom right across the hall. Just a few steps, she told herself.
Finally she reached it and knelt on the cool tile floor to pay homage to the porcelain gods. Standing, she opened the cabinet beneath the sink and pulled out one of those little paper cups that were in a plastic holder before rummaging on the counter, and then through the medicine cabinet, for aspirin.
Praise Gods, she found it, and quickly filled the cup with water and downed three of the magic white pills. What did she need next? Coffee, that's it. But first. She detoured back into the guestroom and opened the closet, vaguely remembering that Lee used it to store blankets. Striking gold, she grabbed one and shook it out before tossing it over the prone figure on the bed.
Now, where would that coffee be? The kitchen. Which meant she had to go downstairs. Shutting the door behind her, she made her way down the hallway and took her time on the stairs, being careful to use the railing and the wall for support. Already, the scent of coffee was making her nostrils quiver and she followed it blindly, muttering a soft curse as she stubbed a toe on an unseen obstacle.
Opening her eyes wider, she glared down at the floor only to blink as the brightly colored object un-blurred and began to make sense to her. Or at least became identifiable. It was one of those flamingo lawn ornaments that were so popular in southern states and trailer parks, the plastic almost a hot pink that was sure to help identify any house. Why would Danny have one at all let alone have it inside?
Sidestepping the plastic bird, she made her way into the kitchen where she sat down immediately at the table while gratefully sipping from the mug that Danny had handed her. "Thanks," she murmured before continuing on her quest to drain the cup.
"No problem, Sara." Danny turned back to the stove as his daughter Jenny came running into the kitchen clad only in a pair of Disney's Princesses underwear.
"Sara! Sara!" Jenny flung herself towards the woman at the table with all the glee of a five year old getting an unexpected present.
"Oomph!" Sara exclaimed as she quickly put her coffee cup down, leant down and picked the girl up. Taking a good look at the girl as she held onto Jenny's hands so the girl could stand balancing in her lap, Sara grinned. "Well, well, well. You're turning into a stripper, aren't you, my girl?"
Jenny grinned and nodded.
Danny shook his head as he transferred some food from the frying pan to the waiting plates. "Just what my daughter needs. Encouragement to become a nudist."
"What's a new-dust, Aunt Sara? Is that like fairy dust?"
Sara grinned and shook her head when Danny grimaced. "Not quite, Jenny. A nudist is someone who doesn't wear their clothes all the time."
Jenny jumped from Sara's lap with Sara's hands at her waist. "Wanna hear my new song? I'm gonna teach it to my little brother."
"Sure, Jenny," Sara nodded her agreement as she gratefully retook possession of her coffee cup.
Jenny scrunched up her nose and held up three of her fingers. "Three blind mice, three blind mice." She paused and scrunched up her nose while she thought. "Daddy, how can blind mice find each other and run around?"
"I don't know, love. We'll look it up on the next library trip, ok?"
"Kay!" Jenny held up her fingers again. "Three blind mice, three blind mice.See how they run, see how they run. They all ran after the farmer's wife," she ran in a quick circle around the table, "who cut off their tails with a carving knife! Have you ever seen such a sorry sight as three blind mice? Three blind mice."
Sara laughed and clapped as enthusiastically as her still-fragile head would allow.
Danny took pity on his partner and nodded towards the door. "If you don't get going, Mommy's gonna come looking for you."
After receiving another hug from Sara Jenny took the hint. Both occupants of the kitchen could hear her loudly saying "Mommy, Mommy, I'm a new-dust! Daddy said so!" as she ran up the stairs to where her mother was waiting.
In the next few moments, Gabriel entered the kitchen, having followed the smell of food and coffee. His hair was even more mussed than usual, his eyes mere slits as he negotiated his way, and he was absently shaking his head slightly. "What's with the pint-size 'new-dust?'" he asked, deliberately giving the word Jenny's inflection.
"Nudist, actually. It's Sara's influence, I tell you," Danny proclaimed as he handed a cup of coffee to the boxer-clad young man.
"Oh, no, you can not pin that one on me!"
Danny laughed and handed a cup of coffee to Gabe as he refilled Sara's. "Who is it who Mija's decided is so great and is going for 'nocturnal bad boys' just like her mentor?"
"And who's been trying to get his niece to like disco instead of the music today?"
"That would be my brother," he defended himself. Sara raised a brow at him as she sipped her second cup of coffee until he folded. "Oh, all right. That's me. But there's nothing wrong with disco. It's better than the stuff she's been listening to! Besides, the disco was his idea."
As if on cue one of the Backstreet Boys CDs started playing upstairs, causing all three adults to grimace.
"Man, I can understand why you think she needs some decent music if that's the stuff she listens to! Why disco?"
Danny frowned at Gabriel from his place at the stove. The image was comical rather than intimidating due to the feminine flowered apron he wore to protect his clothes.
"Hey, nothing wrong with disco! There's just some better stuff out there that won't get people ridiculed. The Who, Queen. Bohemian Rhapsody is a classic. And no one could guess how many people know 'We Will Rock You' and 'We are the Champions.'"
Danny shook his head and turned back to the counter. "Like you're one to talk about music tastes," he responded, in a teasing way more than anything.
Now it was Gabe's turn to frown at the Asian.
"Umm, hate to break this up before it gets into a really heated debate, but. What are we doing here?" Sara broke in, casting a questioning but unsuspicious look at Danny's back.
"I have a better one," Gabe interrupted. "Where is here?"
"Danny's house," Sara explained, having realized that Gabe had only met her partner once in passing.
"Okay. So, why are we here?"
"You guys got a little drunk last night at the Blue Diamond," Danny told them, naming one of the bars that spanned the line between low-to-mid middle class patrons.
Sara considered that and nodded. The Witchblade, unbeknownst to the two men, had given her a hazy memory of a room painted dark blue with pale blue harlequin diamonds painted on the walls. Or maybe it had been produced by her own mind? "I remember. Didn't your buddy bet me to a drinking game?"
Gabriel considered it and blinked. "Sounds like something Sly would do. You drink like a fish, you know."
"Hey! You kept up with me just fine!"
"I hate to interrupt, but why were you drinking with Gabe and his friend in the first place?"
Sara shrugged. "I was sharing a beer with Gabe at the Blue Diamond because it's fairly close to his apartment. Sly came in and joined us."
"What was the bet?" Danny asked out of curiosity.
"If she lost we had to go to one of the close karaoke bars and sing up on stage."
Sara nodded and continued. "And Sly was going to borrow one of your cameras to tape us doing it, wasn't he?"
Gabe shrugged. "Sounds like Sly. Blackmail material and all that."
Danny laughed and sat down. "I wonder if you guys ever made it there."
Sara sat up straighter and her green eyes flashed a warning. "You are not going to get a copy, Daniel Woo."
"Okay, I won't," Danny placated. A bit too agreeable about losing out on the opportunity.
"Hey, Danny? Why'd you put us both in the guest room?"
"Come on, Sara. You know that I'm not a prude. Neither is Lee."
"A prude?"
"Yeah, if you want to sleep with your lover under my roof, you can. I'm not gonna raise a fuss or anything; you're an adult." Danny turned slightly wounded eyes on her. "You could have told me about him before, though."
Sara and Gabe looked over at each other before Sara responded. "Uh, Danny? We don't."
Danny snorted as he looked at both of them. "You've got the 'couple vibe,' as Lee puts it, going on."
"Danny, we don't," Gabe repeated, his skin flushing under the scrutiny he could see and feel in dark eyes.
Before Danny could again scoff at the couple sitting before him, his niece Mija burst into the kitchen.
"Morning, Uncle Danny, Sara." She grabbed a glass from a cabinet and went over to the fridge to pour herself a glass of orange juice. "Just toast is fine, Uncle Danny," she reminded him as she sat down at the table.
"Mija, you need to eat a full balanced meal."
"Uncle Danny, I'll be fine. Just toast, okay?"
Danny shook his head and put the bread in the black toaster oven for her.
"So," Mija regarded the stranger at the table with interest, "what's your name?"
Sara sighed and introduced them. "Mija, Gabriel Bowman. Gabriel, Mija Woo. She's Danny's niece."
Gabriel laughed and held out a hand. "I thought the age difference between you and he was a bit too small."
Mija nodded as she shook the proffered hand. "Sorry about the 'Larger than Life' earlier," she apologized, naming the Backstreet Boys song that had been playing. "I need to listen to it at least twice a day to get the beat right. That doesn't even count rehearsals."
"Rehearsals?"
"Yeah," she nodded and accepted the toast Danny offered. "I'm an aspiring dancer."
"You must be pretty good."
"Thanks," she blushed at the compliment.
Jenny returned then, fully dressed this time, with her mother in tow. "I told ya!" she said accusingly to her mother as she pointed at Gabriel. "He's a new-dust too!"
Lee shook her head and laughed helplessly as Gabe's earlier flush heightened and spread across his face and chest.
"Maybe I better go find my clothes," he said by way of excusing himself.
"Don't forget to find your other sock," Sara chided him.
He looked down at his feet. The right was covered in half of his favorite pair of argyle socks. The left was bare.
"Maybe you should look in the dryer. That's where Mommy always loses hers," Jenny told him helpfully.
"I'll be sure to check the dryer before I leave," he assured her gravely.
"Good." She considered his feet gravely before holding out a pink sock clad foot of her own. "I don't think you'd fit in mine."
"You're right. Besides, you look much prettier in pink than I would."
Jenny grinned and made a shooing motion. "Go, go. If you hurry you can get back for some of Daddy's pancakes."
"Make sure you're decent," Sara chuckled as she drained the last of the coffee for Danny to give her a refill.
"Oh, like you're one to talk," he derided, motioning to the oversize T- shirt she was wearing in lieu of a nightgown.
Sara looked down at the pink and blue fabric, her eyes taking in the white kitten snuggling with a light brown teddy bear on a curved moon. "I'll change after you," she quickly.
He nodded and turned to leave, coffee cup still in hand.
"Hey, Gabriel? What's the name of your friend who borrowed your camera?"
"Sylvester Marcus," he tossed over his shoulder as he skirted the pink flamingo.
A mug hit the table with a thud. "No. Danny, do you hear me? N. O. NO!"
The End
(Okay, so some parts are only implied, and the sleeping together isn't necessarily the night before. do they still meet the requirement? Besides, I gave everyone something extra: Sara in a teddy bear and kitty cat nightgown LOL)
Required Elements:
1. Sara, Gabe, and a prodigious amount of alcohol 2. a pink flamingo lawn ornament 3. karaoke caught on tape 4. the song "Three Blind Mice" 5. a Backstreet Boys or a Dead Puppies CD 6. The Who 7. disco 8. a bet 9. someone assuming Sara and Gabe slept together (when they didn't) 10. a missing left sock
What May Come
By Kameka
Sara groaned as the sunlight hit her closed eyelids and the brightness pulled her from the pleasant grayness of sleep. She groped for her clock before the shrill alarm could ring and make her head feel any worse. If that were possible. It felt like a herd of elephant' tap dancing and playing with sledgehammers as it was.
Loath to wake up any more than necessary, she cuddled further into the bed and pulled the sheet over her head to block out just a little of the light. Startled at the extra warmth that she unconsciously knew shouldn't be there; she looked over to one side to see Gabriel lying on his back with arms flung out at his sides. His body was covered by most of the sheet, a fact that explained why she was feeling a bit chilly that morning.
Easing her way out of the bed, she made sure not to make a sound. Not when the pounding in her head increased tenfold, not when she became aware of the fur coat currently residing on her tongue, not when she felt nauseous enough to make a dash for the bathroom. Assuming the dash didn't kill her in the first place. The way she was feeling, it probably would.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she was away from the relative comfort of the mattress and standing on two rather shaky legs. Her bedmate turned to where she had lain, unashamedly burrowing into the mattress and pillow to get the body heat they retained. She absently thought about finding another cover to put over him until her stomach rolled threateningly and she looked around for the bathroom.
Her detective skills blunted by the after-effects of the alcohol she had consumed, it took Sara a few moments to realize that the familiar surroundings weren't her apartment. So where was she? Danny's guestroom, she managed to identify. Which meant that there should be a bathroom right across the hall. Just a few steps, she told herself.
Finally she reached it and knelt on the cool tile floor to pay homage to the porcelain gods. Standing, she opened the cabinet beneath the sink and pulled out one of those little paper cups that were in a plastic holder before rummaging on the counter, and then through the medicine cabinet, for aspirin.
Praise Gods, she found it, and quickly filled the cup with water and downed three of the magic white pills. What did she need next? Coffee, that's it. But first. She detoured back into the guestroom and opened the closet, vaguely remembering that Lee used it to store blankets. Striking gold, she grabbed one and shook it out before tossing it over the prone figure on the bed.
Now, where would that coffee be? The kitchen. Which meant she had to go downstairs. Shutting the door behind her, she made her way down the hallway and took her time on the stairs, being careful to use the railing and the wall for support. Already, the scent of coffee was making her nostrils quiver and she followed it blindly, muttering a soft curse as she stubbed a toe on an unseen obstacle.
Opening her eyes wider, she glared down at the floor only to blink as the brightly colored object un-blurred and began to make sense to her. Or at least became identifiable. It was one of those flamingo lawn ornaments that were so popular in southern states and trailer parks, the plastic almost a hot pink that was sure to help identify any house. Why would Danny have one at all let alone have it inside?
Sidestepping the plastic bird, she made her way into the kitchen where she sat down immediately at the table while gratefully sipping from the mug that Danny had handed her. "Thanks," she murmured before continuing on her quest to drain the cup.
"No problem, Sara." Danny turned back to the stove as his daughter Jenny came running into the kitchen clad only in a pair of Disney's Princesses underwear.
"Sara! Sara!" Jenny flung herself towards the woman at the table with all the glee of a five year old getting an unexpected present.
"Oomph!" Sara exclaimed as she quickly put her coffee cup down, leant down and picked the girl up. Taking a good look at the girl as she held onto Jenny's hands so the girl could stand balancing in her lap, Sara grinned. "Well, well, well. You're turning into a stripper, aren't you, my girl?"
Jenny grinned and nodded.
Danny shook his head as he transferred some food from the frying pan to the waiting plates. "Just what my daughter needs. Encouragement to become a nudist."
"What's a new-dust, Aunt Sara? Is that like fairy dust?"
Sara grinned and shook her head when Danny grimaced. "Not quite, Jenny. A nudist is someone who doesn't wear their clothes all the time."
Jenny jumped from Sara's lap with Sara's hands at her waist. "Wanna hear my new song? I'm gonna teach it to my little brother."
"Sure, Jenny," Sara nodded her agreement as she gratefully retook possession of her coffee cup.
Jenny scrunched up her nose and held up three of her fingers. "Three blind mice, three blind mice." She paused and scrunched up her nose while she thought. "Daddy, how can blind mice find each other and run around?"
"I don't know, love. We'll look it up on the next library trip, ok?"
"Kay!" Jenny held up her fingers again. "Three blind mice, three blind mice.See how they run, see how they run. They all ran after the farmer's wife," she ran in a quick circle around the table, "who cut off their tails with a carving knife! Have you ever seen such a sorry sight as three blind mice? Three blind mice."
Sara laughed and clapped as enthusiastically as her still-fragile head would allow.
Danny took pity on his partner and nodded towards the door. "If you don't get going, Mommy's gonna come looking for you."
After receiving another hug from Sara Jenny took the hint. Both occupants of the kitchen could hear her loudly saying "Mommy, Mommy, I'm a new-dust! Daddy said so!" as she ran up the stairs to where her mother was waiting.
In the next few moments, Gabriel entered the kitchen, having followed the smell of food and coffee. His hair was even more mussed than usual, his eyes mere slits as he negotiated his way, and he was absently shaking his head slightly. "What's with the pint-size 'new-dust?'" he asked, deliberately giving the word Jenny's inflection.
"Nudist, actually. It's Sara's influence, I tell you," Danny proclaimed as he handed a cup of coffee to the boxer-clad young man.
"Oh, no, you can not pin that one on me!"
Danny laughed and handed a cup of coffee to Gabe as he refilled Sara's. "Who is it who Mija's decided is so great and is going for 'nocturnal bad boys' just like her mentor?"
"And who's been trying to get his niece to like disco instead of the music today?"
"That would be my brother," he defended himself. Sara raised a brow at him as she sipped her second cup of coffee until he folded. "Oh, all right. That's me. But there's nothing wrong with disco. It's better than the stuff she's been listening to! Besides, the disco was his idea."
As if on cue one of the Backstreet Boys CDs started playing upstairs, causing all three adults to grimace.
"Man, I can understand why you think she needs some decent music if that's the stuff she listens to! Why disco?"
Danny frowned at Gabriel from his place at the stove. The image was comical rather than intimidating due to the feminine flowered apron he wore to protect his clothes.
"Hey, nothing wrong with disco! There's just some better stuff out there that won't get people ridiculed. The Who, Queen. Bohemian Rhapsody is a classic. And no one could guess how many people know 'We Will Rock You' and 'We are the Champions.'"
Danny shook his head and turned back to the counter. "Like you're one to talk about music tastes," he responded, in a teasing way more than anything.
Now it was Gabe's turn to frown at the Asian.
"Umm, hate to break this up before it gets into a really heated debate, but. What are we doing here?" Sara broke in, casting a questioning but unsuspicious look at Danny's back.
"I have a better one," Gabe interrupted. "Where is here?"
"Danny's house," Sara explained, having realized that Gabe had only met her partner once in passing.
"Okay. So, why are we here?"
"You guys got a little drunk last night at the Blue Diamond," Danny told them, naming one of the bars that spanned the line between low-to-mid middle class patrons.
Sara considered that and nodded. The Witchblade, unbeknownst to the two men, had given her a hazy memory of a room painted dark blue with pale blue harlequin diamonds painted on the walls. Or maybe it had been produced by her own mind? "I remember. Didn't your buddy bet me to a drinking game?"
Gabriel considered it and blinked. "Sounds like something Sly would do. You drink like a fish, you know."
"Hey! You kept up with me just fine!"
"I hate to interrupt, but why were you drinking with Gabe and his friend in the first place?"
Sara shrugged. "I was sharing a beer with Gabe at the Blue Diamond because it's fairly close to his apartment. Sly came in and joined us."
"What was the bet?" Danny asked out of curiosity.
"If she lost we had to go to one of the close karaoke bars and sing up on stage."
Sara nodded and continued. "And Sly was going to borrow one of your cameras to tape us doing it, wasn't he?"
Gabe shrugged. "Sounds like Sly. Blackmail material and all that."
Danny laughed and sat down. "I wonder if you guys ever made it there."
Sara sat up straighter and her green eyes flashed a warning. "You are not going to get a copy, Daniel Woo."
"Okay, I won't," Danny placated. A bit too agreeable about losing out on the opportunity.
"Hey, Danny? Why'd you put us both in the guest room?"
"Come on, Sara. You know that I'm not a prude. Neither is Lee."
"A prude?"
"Yeah, if you want to sleep with your lover under my roof, you can. I'm not gonna raise a fuss or anything; you're an adult." Danny turned slightly wounded eyes on her. "You could have told me about him before, though."
Sara and Gabe looked over at each other before Sara responded. "Uh, Danny? We don't."
Danny snorted as he looked at both of them. "You've got the 'couple vibe,' as Lee puts it, going on."
"Danny, we don't," Gabe repeated, his skin flushing under the scrutiny he could see and feel in dark eyes.
Before Danny could again scoff at the couple sitting before him, his niece Mija burst into the kitchen.
"Morning, Uncle Danny, Sara." She grabbed a glass from a cabinet and went over to the fridge to pour herself a glass of orange juice. "Just toast is fine, Uncle Danny," she reminded him as she sat down at the table.
"Mija, you need to eat a full balanced meal."
"Uncle Danny, I'll be fine. Just toast, okay?"
Danny shook his head and put the bread in the black toaster oven for her.
"So," Mija regarded the stranger at the table with interest, "what's your name?"
Sara sighed and introduced them. "Mija, Gabriel Bowman. Gabriel, Mija Woo. She's Danny's niece."
Gabriel laughed and held out a hand. "I thought the age difference between you and he was a bit too small."
Mija nodded as she shook the proffered hand. "Sorry about the 'Larger than Life' earlier," she apologized, naming the Backstreet Boys song that had been playing. "I need to listen to it at least twice a day to get the beat right. That doesn't even count rehearsals."
"Rehearsals?"
"Yeah," she nodded and accepted the toast Danny offered. "I'm an aspiring dancer."
"You must be pretty good."
"Thanks," she blushed at the compliment.
Jenny returned then, fully dressed this time, with her mother in tow. "I told ya!" she said accusingly to her mother as she pointed at Gabriel. "He's a new-dust too!"
Lee shook her head and laughed helplessly as Gabe's earlier flush heightened and spread across his face and chest.
"Maybe I better go find my clothes," he said by way of excusing himself.
"Don't forget to find your other sock," Sara chided him.
He looked down at his feet. The right was covered in half of his favorite pair of argyle socks. The left was bare.
"Maybe you should look in the dryer. That's where Mommy always loses hers," Jenny told him helpfully.
"I'll be sure to check the dryer before I leave," he assured her gravely.
"Good." She considered his feet gravely before holding out a pink sock clad foot of her own. "I don't think you'd fit in mine."
"You're right. Besides, you look much prettier in pink than I would."
Jenny grinned and made a shooing motion. "Go, go. If you hurry you can get back for some of Daddy's pancakes."
"Make sure you're decent," Sara chuckled as she drained the last of the coffee for Danny to give her a refill.
"Oh, like you're one to talk," he derided, motioning to the oversize T- shirt she was wearing in lieu of a nightgown.
Sara looked down at the pink and blue fabric, her eyes taking in the white kitten snuggling with a light brown teddy bear on a curved moon. "I'll change after you," she quickly.
He nodded and turned to leave, coffee cup still in hand.
"Hey, Gabriel? What's the name of your friend who borrowed your camera?"
"Sylvester Marcus," he tossed over his shoulder as he skirted the pink flamingo.
A mug hit the table with a thud. "No. Danny, do you hear me? N. O. NO!"
The End
(Okay, so some parts are only implied, and the sleeping together isn't necessarily the night before. do they still meet the requirement? Besides, I gave everyone something extra: Sara in a teddy bear and kitty cat nightgown LOL)
Required Elements:
1. Sara, Gabe, and a prodigious amount of alcohol 2. a pink flamingo lawn ornament 3. karaoke caught on tape 4. the song "Three Blind Mice" 5. a Backstreet Boys or a Dead Puppies CD 6. The Who 7. disco 8. a bet 9. someone assuming Sara and Gabe slept together (when they didn't) 10. a missing left sock