TITLE: Should've Been Easier By Three

AUTHOR: Faith Alana Alastair

DISCLAIMER: : I'm not Mike Judge, who had the original idea, or Glenn Eichler, or Susie Lewis Lynn either. I don't own any of these characters, (except Scott, Natasha, Caine, Jason, Dayton and Maggie.)

FANDOM: Daria

PAIRING: Daria/Jane, Daria/Lindy, Jane/Lindy, Daria/Jane/Lindy. Also Natasha/Jason(oc's) and Andrea/Scott

RATING: NC-17/M/FRAO

SUMMARY/PROMPT: It's College, Now. Daria decides it's time to live a little, now that she's in college.

SPOILERS: Everything through "Is It College, Yet?"

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I'm not sure where this came from, but after a Daria marathon, I decided to challenge myself a la NaNoWriMo, and managed it. I actually wrote the 50k+ words in this in 12 days.

FEEDBACK: God, please. I love this fic so much, tell me what you think.

DISTRIBUTION: Want...Ask...Have

WORD COUNT: 51,158

Daria walked out of the shop, lifting her shirt. "It still itches."

Lindy smiled, dropping to one knee and leaned close, kissing it gently. "Better?"

Daria blushed, and mumbled something.

Trent laughed, and patted her shoulder. "It looks cool, Daria. Just like I told you last time."

"This is beginning to be some kind of tradition," she agreed, smiling.

"Next time I'll get my other nipple pierced, and you can get your…"

"Look, the instrument shop. Didn't you need strings?" Daria interrupted, cheeks coloring.

"Oh yeah, right. I'll be right back." Trent ambled across the street and Daria exhaled.

Lindy smirked wryly at her. "You okay?"

Daria nodded. "There's no telling what body part he may have mentioned and I'm not really up to making promises about holes anywhere right now. This one is enough for the moment."

Lindy smiled. "Well, I like it. I think it suits you."

"Oh? How's that?"

"Well, it's shiny and a bit alternative, but it's easily tucked away from people who wouldn't understand." She smiled and leaned down, kissing her cheek.

"Damn." Daria smiled and turned her head, catching her lips.

"What?"

"You really do get me."

Trent came back, carrying a small bag. "I couldn't remember which one I broke, so I got one of each. At least it'll come in handy if I break another one."

Daria nodded. "That's actually good thinking."

Lindy looked down at her phone. "We should probably get back, the game starts in half an hour."

Trent followed them back to the car. "Game?"

"Lindy promised my dad we'd watch a football game with him on TV. I agreed."

"Bonding with your girlfriend's dad, huh? Good call." Trent slid into the back seat of Daria's SUV.

Lindy beamed. "I thought so. Besides, Daria told Quinn she could borrow the SUV to take her friends to the movies."

Trent nodded. "She's a pretty good driver. She saved Daria's butt once so Daria could save ours."

Daria nodded. "Mystic Spiral ended up in jail a couple of towns over once, and Jane was with them. I was the only one who could come bail them out, but I'd only just gotten my license. I'd had it for like, three days. Quinn sort of decided she was coming with me, and it's a good thing she did, because the first eighteen-wheeler to pass us, I panicked and pulled over onto the shoulder. Quinn took over at that point."

Lindy smiled. "I knew she had it in her."

"Then halfway through she demanded we pick up this hitchhiking cowboy and sat in the back with him…and gave him the money I was going to bail out the band with."

Lindy sighed. "Or not."

Daria smiled, continuing. "When I got through to her about why that was a bad idea, she drove us back to the bar we left him at and managed to convince an entire saloon's redneck patronage to donate money to a worthy cause."

Lindy grinned. "Go Quinn!"

Daria took her hand, squeezing it. "She can be annoying and thoughtless, but she's my sister and I only have one."

Trent grinned as she turned into his driveway. "She'll be cool in a couple of years, when she gets over herself. Thanks for hanging out. Later."

Lindy shrugged as Daria pulled out of the driveway again. "I think she's getting there."

Daria stopped a block from her house and turned to Lindy. "I'm going to say something to you, and I want you to know I don't expect anything in return. I've always felt that words should be said when they're felt and not before."

Lindy nodded, chewing her lip. "Okay."

"Cellar Door."

Lindy looked up sharply, confused. "What?"

Daria shrugged. "Some famous writer, no one's certain who, said that the compound noun 'Cellar Door' was the most beautiful combination of words in the English language. It's said that Poe had his raven quote 'Nevermore' because it was the closest thing he could think of that sounded similar. And an article in an early edition of Harper's Bazaar mentioned an Italian woman who didn't speak a word of English. She heard the phrase and remarked that English must be a most musical language."

Lindy smiled and nodded. "I get it. You really are sweet." She leaned in, kissing her gently.

Daria smiled into the kiss and sighed happily. Pulling back, she met Lindy's eyes and whispered, almost inaudibly, "I love you."

Lindy's stomach flipped and she reached for Daria, kissing her deeply and holding her close. Daria pulled back after a moment and smiled, reaching up to brush a tear away from her girlfriend's cheek. Lindy chewed her lip, a sad smile between her teeth and Daria shook her head smiling. "I told you. I don't expect anything."

Lindy smiled, and whispered, "Cellar door" as she kissed Daria again.