Disclaimer: Daria and all associated characters owned by MTV. This story is for entertainment purposes only and no money or any other goods have been exchanged.

The characters Ashley Winters and Cassidy Hemming were created by Ognawk.

THE GREAT AND THE GOOD
By Ognawk

Part 11 - Memory Error

It was the following morning, and Ashley was sat at the table in his cabin at Ashfield, a glass of water on the table. He was just sat there, stroking the rim of the glass and staring off into the distance, seemingly in a daydream. He was brought back to reality by the sound of one of his housemates, Guy.

"Wow, you came in after I went to bed and you're up before me," Guy said, "You mustn't have slept for long."

"I didn't sleep at all," Ashley replied. The thoughts of what happened with Jane the evening before had kept him up all night, and he was now recovering from being awake while sobering up.

"What did you do last night?"

"Eh, hung out with Jane and Allison, had a bit too much to drink and ended up having to practically carry Jane back," Ashley replied, being careful what he said.

"Allison, huh?" Guy said, "You know, you might want to be a bit careful around her, she likes to have 'fun', if you know what I mean."

"Yeah, thanks for that," Ashley said, blinking as he finished off his water, "Listen, I'm heading out for breakfast. I'll see you later."

"Sure. Later," Guy said as he watched Ashley leave the cabin. Seems like something bad happened last night, Guy thought to himself as he shrugged and went to make some coffee.

Jane was sat alone at a table in the Ashfield cafeteria. She had dark glasses on and was resting her head against her hand, mechanically spooning cereal into her mouth with her other hand as she was suffering from a raging hangover. Ashley picked up some bacon, hash browns and eggs and spotted Jane before tentatively walking over and sitting down next to her.

"Hey."

"Hey," Jane said as she looked at him and half smiled.

Tread carefully, she might not remember anything, Ashley thought to himself.

"You were really putting that wine away last night," he said, smiling slightly.

Jane groaned. "Remind me never to do that again. I feel like someone's constantly hitting me over the head with a hammer."

"I had a few myself," Ashley said with a chuckle, "I'm not exactly at full strength either."

"I remember drinking a lot of wine," Jane said, "That's about all I do remember from last night."

"Well, you were giggling a lot and making weird jokes, "Ashley said, "I had to help you get back to your cabin in one piece."

"Thanks, I owe you one," Jane said, smiling, "I'd give you a thank you kiss but, y'know."

A sudden feeling of terror hit Ashley at hearing Jane's words. She doesn't remember, she was just joking. No-one needs to know what really happened, he thought.

"Just saying thanks will be enough," Ashley said, smiling nervously and hoping he didn't give anything away.

There was some silence for a moment as they went back to eating. Jane then spoke up.

"You know, I've been too harsh on Daria and Tom," she said with a hint of guilt, "I should talk to them soon."

"Well, Daria's supposed to be coming up here for a visit at the weekend, you can see her in person," Ashley said.

Jane finished her cereal and grabbed her bowl. "I'll call Tom in a couple of days and talk to him. But I think I'll take the day off and go back to bed."

"Yeah, I didn't sleep a wink last night. I think I'll do the same," Ashley said as he cut into his bacon.

"See you tomorrow, Ashley," Jane said with a smile as she left.

The following afternoon, Cassidy arrived home after a day spent shopping with her aunt. She opened the door and went inside with her bags.

"Mom! I'm home!" she shouted as she entered.

"Did you have a nice time?" her mother replied from the kitchen.

"Yeah, got some new outfits. Got something for the ball next week as well."

"Excellent, honey. Oh by the way, some mail came for you. It's on your desk."

Cassidy smiled. "Thanks Mom."

She went upstairs and into her bedroom, carefully laying her bags on the bed. Walking over to the desk, she sat down and picked up the small package sat on there. Turning it over to read the return address, she smiled and carefully opened it. Looking inside and rummaging around, something in the package caught her eye and caused a wide, wicked smirk to appear on her face.

"That was too easy."

A couple of days later, Tom was parking his Pinto in the garage when his cell phone started to ring. He turned the engine off and answered it.

"Hello, this is Tom."

"Oh, hi Tom, it's me," Jane said on the other end.

"Hi, Jane. Nice to hear from you," Tom said with a smile, "How's the colony going?"

"Well, it's not bad once you get used to the posers and self congratulatory crap," Jane replied.

"We wouldn't want you having too much fun now, would we?"

"Yeah," Jane said with a light chuckle, "Listen, I called because I want to apologize."

"Oh?" Tom said, as he picked up an envelope addressed to him from the kitchen table.

"I've been acting all paranoid and treating you and Daria like crap," Jane explained, "I know you two wouldn't do anything to hurt me."

"That's OK," Tom said as he headed upstairs, "I suppose I can understand why me spending time talking to Daria might have led to you feeling a little bit jealous. I should have thought about you a bit more."

"Hey, speaking of Daria, she's coming up for a visit this weekend," Jane said, "Any chance you could come too? I've really missed you."

"I've missed you too," Tom said as he went into his bedroom, "But I can't come down this weekend. It's our annual visit to The Cove."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," Jane said, sadly, "Maybe next weekend?"

"Oh, absolutely. I'd like that."

"Well, I'd better go. Have fun at the Cove, Tom."

"I'll try, but no promises," Tom said with a smirk.

Jane laughed. "OK, speak to you soon."

"Yeah, later Jane," Tom said as he hung up the phone.

He sighed with contentment and put his phone on his desk and sat down on the bed, looking at the letter he'd received. Funny, I wasn't expecting any mail, he thought to himself.

Opening the envelope, he pulled out a white card with letters written on it in black marker.

"The truth shall set you free," he said, reading the card out loud with a frown. He noticed a paper clip attached to the top with something on the back of the card. Turning it over, he discovered it was what looked like the back of a Polaroid picture.

Pulling the picture free, he turned it around and looked at it. Nothing could have prepared him for what he saw. Staring at the photo, it felt like a thousand needles had stabbed through him all at once. He tried to comprehend what he was seeing, questions running through his mind as so many emotions crashed together inside him as he sat there, transfixed on the image before him.

"How... why..?"