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 12 - Secrets And Lies

It was a bright Saturday morning, and Ashley was alone in his cabin at Ashfield. He was sat at the table, drawing away in his sketch pad. Finishing up the sketch he was working on, he heard a rumbling in his stomach followed by a knock on the door. He put the sketch pad down and opened the door to find Jane stood outside.

"Yo, Ashley," Jane said, "What's up?"

"Oh, not much, just hanging around, doing some sketching."

"Cool. Listen, do you want to go grab some lunch?"

"Lunch?" Ashley looked up at the clock in the cabin and noticed it was past 1pm, "Wow, I didn't realise it was that late already. I haven't even had breakfast yet."

Jane smiled. "The muse can be a twisted cruller sometimes, can't it?"

"Yeah," Ashley replied, "Come on in, I just need to go to the bathroom and get my stuff."

"Sure," Jane said as she stepped into the cabin and Ashley jogged upstairs.

Walking over to the table, Jane had a peek at Ashley's open sketch pad. The image on top was a pencil sketch of two identical looking, yet distorted, male figures. They were stood on a hill, and one figure had his hands cupped to his mouth, looking like he was shouting. The other was covering his mouth with his hands.

Interesting, Jane thought, raising an eyebrow as she looked at it. She put the sketch pad down when she heard Ashley coming back downstairs.

"Curious little sketch you're working on there," Jane said as she saw him, "Is there a story behind it?"

"Not really, it's just some weird inspiration that came to me," Ashley replied, "I think it might make an interesting sculpture subject."

"Cool. You ready to eat?"

"You even have to ask?" Ashley said, raising an eyebrow as they made their way out of the cabin.


Tom was laid in his bed, staring at the ceiling. The thoughts of the photograph he'd received were weighing on his mind, as all sorts of feelings and questions came over him. He went from angry, to disappointed, to confused and all points in between.

She gave me so much crap over Daria and Cassidy and she goes and does this, he thought, but why?

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door, which made him roll over and sit down on the edge of the bed.

"Come in," He said, as his sister Elsie came in.

"Are you alright, Tom? You've been very quiet lately," she asked.

"Just had some things on my mind," Tom said.

Elsie looked over to the desk and noticed the photo on it, walking over to get a closer look. She gasped when she saw what it was.

"Oh my, where did that come from?" she asked.

"I don't know," Tom replied, "I don't recognize the handwriting on the envelope and there's no return address."

"Any idea what you're going to do about it?"

"I'll have to deal with it when we get back from The Cove," Tom said, "But I think there's someone I should talk to first."

"I see," Elsie replied, "I just came to check on you, anyway. And I'm sorry."

"Thanks," Tom said as Elsie left the room. He picked up his cell phone and rolled it around in his hand for a moment before opening it and dialling a number.

"Hello?"

"Hi, it's me, Tom," Tom said.

"Oh hi, Tom. Do you need something?"

"Actually, I need to talk to someone right now. Are you busy?" he asked

"Not right now. You want to come over?"

"Sure, I'll be right there."


Allison was sat in her cabin, just finishing her sandwich when she heard a knock at the door.

"Coming," she said as she finished the last bite and went to open the door to find Cassidy Hemming stood outside.

"Good afternoon, Miss Bradfield," Cassidy said with a smirk, "I hope you're well."

"Erm, yes, I'm fine," Allison replied, "Come on in."

Cassidy stepped inside and sat down at the table in the main room. She looked around approvingly at her surroundings.

"I do like the charm of this place, kind of makes me wish I was an artist myself," she said as Allison sat at the table opposite her.

"It's a nice place to be," Allison replied, "So what brings you here? Did you get the package?"

"Oh yes," Cassidy said with a smirk, "I'm impressed you were able to get what I needed so quickly."

"Never underestimate what can happen when sadness and accessible alcohol come together," Allison said, sipping on some coffee, gazing out of the window.

"You know, the way you dress, nobody would ever think you were related to some of the Lawndale elite," Cassidy said, reaching into the bag she'd brought with her.

"Only because of my stepdad," Allison stated, "I was never one for the upper crust. That's why I moved to college rather than staying home."

Cassidy pulled a small, paper folder out of her bag and placed it on the table.

"Well, I came here to take care of some business," she said, smiling at Allison.

Allison eyed the folder with curiosity. "Is that what I think it is?"

"As promised, the photographic evidence of that little 'incident' from that party last year," Cassidy explained, "The negatives are in there as well."

"Thanks. I really appreciate this," Allison said, as Cassidy passed the folder over to her.

"Well, one good turn deserves another. Oh, and I'll make sure my Mother puts in a good word for you with the board of the Lawndale Arts Museum."

"Good, I could use a hand getting my art noticed," Allison replied, "Those two were really impressed with my work, you know."

"They have good taste," Cassidy said, as she started to get up from the table, "Speaking of which, I need to get going. Can't let them know I'm here."

"Sure. Well thanks again," Allison said.

"No problem. Consider us even."

Allison sat and watched Cassidy leave. The things I do to get the galleries to pick me up, she thought with a sigh as she finished off her coffee.


After lunch with Jane, Ashley had decided to go for a run. Usually, he went with Jane, but he decided he wanted to run alone today, mainly to work out some frustration and give himself some time to think.

What the hell am I supposed to do? Daria's coming to visit tomorrow. I should tell her what happened, be honest about it. But Jane doesn't remember it. Maybe I should tell her I kissed somebody but not say it was Jane. Or maybe I should keep it quiet, put it down to a one off mistake and just make sure it doesn't happen again. She's admitted she has trouble trusting people. If I tell her, it will probably be over between us.

Ashley suddenly felt winded and realised he'd been running too hard while thinking. He slowed down and then stopped, sitting on the grass to regain his breath. He looked down the road into the distance and recognized Allison's cabin. He noticed the door open and a petite, red headed girl walked out. He froze when he thought he recognized the girl.

Hang on, he thought, is that Cassidy?

He very carefully snatched another glance. As the girl quickly looked around, the glasses and bob hairstyle were unmistakeable.

Crap, that IS Cassidy, he thought in a slight panic, what is she doing here, and why is she visiting Allison?

He sat there as he watched Cassidy drive off. A few moments later, Allison walked out of the cabin and looked around. She walked over to a metal barrel a short distance in front of the door and threw something inside, although Ashley couldn't quite make it out from that far away. He then noticed her pour some clear looking liquid into the barrel from a bottle. She looked around again quickly before lighting a match and throwing it in before quickly backing off. The insides of the barrel went up in flames as Allison watched for a few minutes. One the fire went out, she peeked in the barrel and then walked back into the cabin.

Ashley got up and started jogging away. I don't know what that was, but it didn't look good.


Tom pulled up outside the Morgendorffers home. He had the card and photo in his pocket and checked they were there before he walked up to the door and knocked. A man who he guessed must be Daria's Father opened the door and suddenly turned to the stairs.

"Quiii-iiin, your date is here!" he shouted up the stairs.

A female voice came from inside the house. "Jake, she left on her date an hour ago. I hope she hasn't double booked again."

"Er hi, Mr Morgendorffer, actually I'm here to see Daria," Tom explained.

"Daria?" Jake said, eyeing Tom with suspicion, "Sorry son, but she already has a boyfriend."

"Oh I know, I'm Tom, Jane's boyfriend?"

"Oh, of course," Jake said with a look of relief, turning to the stairs again, "Daaa..."

He stopped, noticing that Daria had come down the stairs and was stood a couple of feet in front of him.

"Oh hey, kiddo. There's a guy called Tom here to see you."

"Thanks Dad," Daria said, walking past Jake to get out of the house, "I'm heading out for a bit. Later."

Jake closed the door behind her as she smiled at Tom.

"Hi Tom," she said, "Sorry about my Dad, he's a little excitable."

"I kind of noticed," Tom said, "Want to go for a walk? I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Sure, I guess," Daria replied as they walked down the road.

Tom was silent for a moment, trying to gather his thoughts. Daria looked at him, trying to figure him out. Finally she decided to speak.

"I thought you wanted to talk about something," she said.

"Yeah, I do. This isn't easy, and I'm not sure you'll believe me, but..."

He paused, for some reason unable to say what he wanted to.

"But what?" Daria asked.

"Well, I found out Jane's cheated on me at the colony."

Daria was stunned by this information, and he was partly right, she was struggling to believe it.

"But how can you be so sure?" she asked.

"I got sent some mail from somewhere that had a photo of her kissing some guy," Tom explained, "I've looked it over, but there's no mistake, she's definitely kissing him."

Daria was curious. "Do you have the photo on you now?"

"No, I got here and realised I left it at home," Tom said, lying through his teeth. He'd considered showing her the photo, but decided he didn't want her to see it right now.

Daria searched for the right thing to say. Despite their earlier problems, she considered Tom a good friend, but Jane was also her best friend, and this led to a conflict in her mind.

"Well, I'm going to Ashfield tomorrow to see Ashley and Jane. Do you want to come with me?"

"I can't, I leave for the Cove for a week with my family tomorrow."

"Well, do you want me to talk to Jane about it? Maybe there's some sort of explanation for her doing that."

Tom looked off to the side. I hope so, I really hope so, he thought to himself.

"No. No, you just concentrate on catching up with Jane and Ashley. I'll talk to her when I get back."

"If that's what you want," Daria said, a look of concern on her face.

A few minutes later, after some more general chit chat, they arrived back at the Morgendorffer house.

"Thanks Daria, I really needed that," Tom said, a weak smile on his face.

"No problem, I needed the fresh air," she replied with a small smile of her own, "But try not to worry about Jane too much and enjoy the vacation."

At that moment, a young kid came charging down the sidewalk on his bicycle extremely quickly. He was coming in Tom's direction and he tried to get out the way, and stumbled and fell on his backside in the process as the kid rode away.

"Damn, are you alright?" Daria asked as she helped Tom up to his feet.

"Yeah, thanks. Stupid kids," he said.

"You'd better go before someone does some real damage to you," Daria said with a slight smirk.

"Yeah, I'd better. Catch you later, Daria!" he said, as he got into his car.

"Later," Daria replied as he drove away.

Looking towards the floor, she noticed a white envelope on the ground with Tom's name and address on it.

Must've fallen out of his pocket when he fell over, she thought to herself as she picked it up. She went back into the house, announced her return to her parents and walked up to her bedroom, envelope in hand. Sitting on the bed, she looked at the back of the open envelope, noticing a piece of card stuck out of it slightly.

No, I shouldn't, it's Toms, she thought to herself. She stared at the envelope for a couple of minutes before curiosity got the better of her and she pulled it out. She read the large, black letters of the card out loud.

"The Truth Shall Set You Free?" she said, noticing a paperclip at the top. On the back was the back of a Polaroid photo. She realised it might be the photo Tom was talking about. But why would he tell me he left it at home when he didn't, she wondered.

Wanting to see the evidence for herself, she turned the photo over and was surprised to see that it was a photo of Jane. She was definitely kissing someone, and she was shocked to discover that the person she was kissing was her own boyfriend, Ashley. She stared at the photo for a while, biting her lip and putting her hand to her face as her heart sank.

"No..." she said, her voice cracking, "It can't be."


Thanks to mommakaz for the idea for the Cassidy/Allison scene.