A Caroline in the City/Northern Exposure Crossover
by Ann Fox and Sarah Stella
1998
Winner of 1998 CitC fanfic mailing list contest: "Best Crossover fanfic"
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Part Two
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"...So they're staying with me for a few weeks until they start college. They're both really, really smart," said Annie, as she described her cousins to Caroline. "I don't know where they get it from either. Our family isn't known for its intelligence."
Caroline clucked her tongue. "Oh, come on. You people are plenty smart."
Annie smiled. "Caroline, you are too kind. If you really think that, then these chicks are going to blow you away." She leaned in closer to Caroline as if she were about to reveal something that was for her ears only. "They have this weird sort of....connection. Like twins, almost. That's about the only way I can think of to describe it. I mean, Alex grew up just outside of Vancouver--she's a Canadian if you can believe that! And Gwen grew up in Seattle, so they really weren't that far apart when you think about it--just a matter of a few hundred miles.
"When we were younger, we used to all get together every summer by Gwen's house in Washington and those two would spend all of their time together. They were, like, inseparable, you know, like best friends. But it was more than that--it was almost like they were soulmates. They always seemed to know what the other was thinking and feeling, even when they weren't together."
"Wow," mused an intrigued Caroline.
"Just hold on. You haven't even heard the weird part yet," explained Annie. She sat back on the couch and smiled even wider. "I just can't believe they are part of my family when I think about this." With a quiet snort, she began her tale.
"There was this one time in about...oh, I'd say, about 19....1988....yeah, I think that's it. It was in September. I was about 17 or 18 at the time, so they must have been about 7 or 8. Anyway, Aunt Karen and Uncle Jimmy were grilling out one night and they had a bunch of neighbors over and everything--sort of like a block party, only with them, it was almost like a family get-together because they're the friendly type of people.
"Uncle Jimmy took the top thingie off the grill to see how the coals were coming along and somehow he got distracted or something and he left it off. Gwen was chasing around Horseradish, the dog--don't ask, we have a way with names in our family-- and somehow he got in her way and she tripped over his body and fell into the grill. One of her arms, the left one, I think, landed right on that part with the bars, you know, where you cook the meat?"
Caroline nodded, enthralled, her eyes wide and bright with interest.
"She got burned pretty bad. They got her to the emergency room right away so she was okay. But ever since then, she's been deathly afraid of heat, especially fire."
"That's terrible," sighed Caroline. "I used to be afraid of fire for the longest time too." They both sat in silence for a few moments, considering what Annie had just said. Then Caroline realized that she'd missed something. "Hey, what does that have to do with your other cousin?"
"Alex? Oh, well, here's where it gets interesting. This is probably going to freak you out, but I swear it's true. Well, that same night, Alex was in her room by herself, playing Barbies or something. She does that a lot--going off on her own, you know, so that wasn't the weird part. But all of a sudden she started screaming and she came running downstairs into the kitchen where Uncle Mark and Aunt Marie were playing cards. She was yelling something about her arm being burned. Marie ran over to her and looked at her arm, and sure enough, there were scorch lines on it, like you see on grilled steak! Alex was screaming and crying and Marie started to panic because she couldn't figure out how it could have happened. She kept asking Alex how she got burned and she had no idea!
"They put ice on it and took her to the emergency room, and once they had it under control everyone kept asking Alex what happened, but she still couldn't tell them. They thought she might be in shock or something, but even after the burn started to heal, she still had no idea."
Annie looked over at Caroline, who was watching her with an uncertain gaze.
"See? I told you this was weird. Anyway, a few days after it happened, Aunt Karen called Aunt Marie and when she started telling her about what happened to Gwen, Marie fainted on the spot. It was just too much for her to believe. It took us all a long time to believe it. But a couple weeks later they got the girls together and they both had identical burn marks on the same arm! Isn't that, like, the freakiest thing you ever heard?"
Caroline's mouth was partway open, a look of amazement painted across her face. "That is freaky." At that point, she had pretty much forgotten the events prior to Annie's arrival in her apartment.
"Anyway, things like that have been going on between them pretty much ever since. Maybe not as weird as that story, but little things. It's even gotten stronger since they've gotten older. In a way, they sort of scare me, but they both have this magnetism about them. You can't help but love 'em to death," laughed Annie.
"Well, I can't wait to meet them," Caroline proclaimed. "When are they coming?"
"Uh, they're supposed to be here sometime tomorrow. They're supposed to be coming into the city on a train. I have to go meet them around noon-ish. Boy, with Ma and the girls all camping out in my apartment, I'm just never going to have a moment of privacy. And you know how I like my privacy."
"Ah, yes, your privacy," agreed Caroline, knowing full well the meaning behind those words. "Well, I'm sure you'll work it out. They sound like they'd be open to just about anything."
"You're telling me," muttered Annie.
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"Actually, this is the first time I'm going to meet Caroline and Richard," said Alex, watching the trees whip past the window of the train. "Annie tells us that they both have a thing for each other, but he's married and she's too nice to try and break them up. It sounded really complicated to me."
Ed nodded enthusiastically, his blue eyes shining. "It is really complicated. More complicated than either of them can imagine. Dr. Fleischman always told me how complicated life was in New York."
"Who's Dr. Fleischman?" asked Gwen, warming up to the conversation.
Ed smiled. "Oh, he's the doctor that Maurice brought from New York. In Cicely, the town is so small that we didn't even have a doctor. He's whiny and annoying a lot of the time, but I like him. He really wants to go back to New York. He's always complaining about that," said Ed. "And I know you're wondering who Maurice is. Well, I'll tell you. He's this really rich guy who pretty much owns most of Cicely. He used to be an astronaut, and sometimes he can be pretty self-absorbed, but he was the one who made Cicely a town. Before he came out there, it was just wilderness, but now we have a bar, a general store, a radio station, a few offices, and a whole bunch of houses. It's not much, but it's enough for us."
Gwen's expression was obviously pained. "I can't imagine living somewhere that didn't have an Old Navy or a Starbucks nearby."
"Oh, we have all that, but they're in Anchorage. It's a little out of the way, but most of us go up there from time to time," defended Ed.
"She's from Seattle," explained Alex with a grin. "She doesn't know what 'roughing it' means."
Gwen wrinkled up her nose at Alex. Before she could slingshot a comeback, Ed broke in. "Have either of you ever been to New York before?"
"Once. We took a tour of the campus at NYU with our parents, but it was a short trip so we really didn't get to see much," said Alex.
"So you two are going to college?" said Ed with a grin. Alex and Gwen nodded in sync. "Wow. I never went to college. We have a school, but it's just for grade school and high school. There aren't enough kids to have separate schools, so everyone goes together."
"That sounds....rustic," said Gwen.
"Yep," agreed Ed. "But that's life in Cicely. You don't live there unless you want to."
"Yeah, I suppose you're right," nodded Gwen.
The three of them were silent for several moments, Alex and Ed staring out the window at the landscape and Gwen looking down at her hands. The clattering of the train on the tracks was somewhat hypnotic, the ca-chunking rhythm and the swaying of the car just enough to lull a person to sleep. Gwen slipped her eyes shut for a moment but jerked them open again when she heard a cry issue from Alex's mouth.
"Look! It's an eagle!" cried Alex as she pointed out the window. Gwen and Ed followed the path of Alex's finger with their eyes and watched the magnificent bird swoop through the sky. Alex expected Ed to be less than impressed with her discovery, since he most likely saw different types of wildlife on a daily basis, but he watched the eagle with obvious interest. "Dr. Fleischman's mother had the spirit of the eagle," commented Ed somewhat evocatively.
He had the attention of both girls now. "How do you know?" asked Alex.
Ed shrugged. "Some things a person just knows, you know?"
"Do you know what spirits we have?" inquired Gwen somewhat clumsily.
"I can't tell you that. It's inside you, and you must discover it yourself."
"Wow," Alex mused reflectively.
"How did you learn this stuff?" Gwen asked Ed.
"A lot of it is intuitive, but much of it came from the wilderness herself. My shaman guide taught me how to communicate with nature. I still have a lot to learn, and this trip is very important to my development."
"You know, Ed, I don't know much about shamans, but you seem really young to be one," observed Gwen.
Ed nodded in agreement. "That's what I thought at first too. I was only twenty-two when I got my Call. Nature is very mysterious. Age doesn't seem to make much of a difference to her, as long as one is wise."
The girls responded with twin smiles.
"Caroline and Richard called you?" asked Alex, recalling what Ed had said earlier.
"Yes, but not in the way you're thinking. They didn't call on the phone."
Both girls wore looks of intrigue on their faces, but Alex looked absolutely mystified. She peered at Ed with nearly dilated pupils. "You mean they Called you?"
Ed nodded enthusiastically, as he had earlier when Alex had been right about the situation he was heading into. "Yep," he replied simply.
"This is going to be a great trip," decided Alex.
"Definitely," agreed Gwen.
Ed merely nodded in satisfaction.
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Continued in Part Three
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Please visit my Caroline in the City webpage: Sincere Amore