In spite of the still falling temperature and snow, Daria sat outside on the up stair's balcony. Annie came out and handed her a cup of coffee.
"Thanks,"Daria said, "Where's Fi?"
"Drying her hair," Annie said and snuggled in with Daria under the blanket she had.
"Oh,"Daria said, "You doing okay?"
Annie nodded and they sipped their coffee simultaneously. Annie laid her head on Daria's shoulder. Daria kissed her on the top of the head.
"Hey, baby,"Daria said, "I'm here for you if you need me. Always. By the way, is there Kailua in this?"
"Yep. And I know. I'm just going to say, I'm super surprised a plan we had that was half ass and thrown together at the last minute worked."
The door opened. Fi peeked her head out. She was wearing an old pair of flannel pajamas she'd dug out of her old bed room closet.
"What are you two doing out here? Its freezing," she said.
"Its nice after this freakin' heat wave," Annie said.
They ended up crawled into bed in Annie's room. They stayed pretty quiet for a while. There was a lot to be said, but they didn't even know where to start. Fi finally broke the silence.
"Well, its been a hell of a couple of days, huh?"
The other two girls laughed.
"Did you mean that pun?" Annie asked, "And yes, it has. I'm done with musicians, that's for sure."
"Yeah, photographers look better on you any ways, "Daria said.
Annie gently kicked her under the sheets. She was smiling though. It all kind of hit them at once.
"Its over, huh?" Fi said, "This thing that has consumed my life for nearly a decade is done. We can have normal lives."
"I very much doubt that,"Daria said as she pulled something out of her cigarette pack, "We aren't quote unquote normal. We'll never be that way. I for one don't want normal. Mind if I spark this?"
She didn't wait for an answer. She took a long, thoughtful hit and passed it to Annie.
"I had sex with Clu twice today. People say that's normal. That its right. I don't want that. I'm using the sex to keep from normal. If I make him into an object instead of a person, I'll be okay. I won't feel."
"You do a lot of things to do that,"Fi said, "I think you need help."
"Yeah,"Daria sighed, "But, I don't want it. That's not a demon I'm ready to face."
Through not common place for Fi and Annie, the smoke provided a nice, calming effect. Daria's words hung heavy in the air. They all had their ways of coping, some more destructive then others.
But, with this task done, they had to learn to move on. They had face the dark thing that plagued them and had won the battle. Was there a war? They couldn't know or let it own their lives for one more day.
"I think I want Carey to move in with us,"Fi said, "If you don't care, that is."
"He's my best friend, Fi," Daria said, "I think you should marry him. But what do I know?"
"That was part of the bribe, you know,"Fi said, "My dad never died, I was married to Carey, you both had you families."
"I think we all got the same thing, differnt setting," Annie said.
"yeah," Daria said, "Beautiful colonial, garden, giant rock engagement ring. The kid, dogs, cat, koi pond."
She cut herself off. She was done with dwelling on the pain. She took another drag off the joint. She clicked on the the tv and snuggled down.
"Its over," she said, "Its done. Tomorrow's a new day, my lovelies."
The three of them wrapped up in one another. It wasn't long before sleep took hold of them all. But in this sleep, there was no nightmares.
Molly got home at three a.m. The gig was over around midnight, but she wasn't ready to go home. She wasn't processing everything very well.
Most of the family had gone to their respectable hotel rooms. John and Rachel came home with Molly. She put on a pot of coffee. She knew they had a lof of talking to do.
"Where did you go earlier, Molly?"Rachel asked.
"No where special," she replied, "I had to sort something out with the girls. This whole thing has stirred a lot of stuff up."
They sat down at the bar in the kitchen. John took hold of Molly's hand. She smiled and sighed.
"Its a lot to process," he said, "You've always had a busy life. Hard to keep up with sometimes."
Molly took another deep breath and tried to cut back the tears. She couldn't. She covered her face and bowed her head.
"Oh, baby, " Rachel said, "What happened?"
"I don't even know. Its so much. I don't know if I can handle all of it. After Rick died, I was numb. Well, true the alcohol helped with that. But even when I got sober, I could ignore it.
"I was safe and hidden in this house. Then, ten years later, I go back on the road and its thrown in my face again. I pushed so hard, I pushed Fi away for nearly two years. It still didn't help.
"It only made her more isolated. She used to tell me everything. Now, there's all these secrets and fake smiles because she cant' stand the ridicule and the doubt. She nearly died three years ago.
"They all had cameras shoved in their faces with reporters trying to get a story. Or the dectectives and the criminalists trying to break a case that would make their careers. None of them learned anything. In the mean time, my family is torn apart."
"No, its not, Molly love," John said, "If it where, these people wouldn't be here. Now you take what you're feeling, and you use it tomorrow."