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 Four
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Caroline bid goodbye to Richard and closed her door on his back. Today had been a tolerable day; she'd managed to quell that ripped sensation that came from the general vicinity of her heart whenever she looked at him for long enough to get some serious work done. She suspected that this was partially because Richard had been so quiet all day. Usually he groused a mile a minute in that lovable way that'd endeared him to her over time, but not today.
Making her leisurely way over to the partners desk, she saw that he'd forgotten his portfolio. It had fallen to the floor in a dark grey lump and Salty was busy chewing and batting at the handles by turns. Caroline rescued the unfortunate piece of leather and she was startled but not surprised when, a few minutes later, there was a repeated pounding on her front door.
She swung it open, expecting to see Richard's much-loved face. She had so been anticipating what she'd find when she opened the door that she actually backed up a step when the person knocking on her door turned out to be three persons: two cheerful, bright-eyed teenage girls and an attractive man who was probably a few years older.
For an instant, Caroline could see the lead girl contemplating whether or not to call her ma'am or not.
"You must be Caroline," the girl said. Apparently she'd decided against ma'am. "Can we come in?"
Then, without waiting for an answer, the entire group flounced into Caroline's apartment--or rather, flounced as best they could, dragging several large suitcases and a couple medium-sized trunks behind them.
The behavior was readily recognizable. My God, Caroline thought, a smile twisting on her lips, they do it on both coasts. Aloud she said, "You must be Spadaros."
"Guilty as charged," the girls chorused. Then they looked at each other and burst into laughter. They each seated themselves on a trunk and settled in before continuing.
"Sorry," one girl apologized, "we usually don't act this ditzy."
"But we just had the most amazing subway ride," the other one added, seamlessly taking up the story.
"We," she indicated the threesome, "found out we're all big movie buffs. We've also got a sort-of mutual acquaintance."
"Y'see, our uncle Paul Cazzoni was in jail in West Virginia..."
"Don't ask." Two sets of eyes rolled in perfect sync.
"With a really good friend of Ed's, Chris Stevens."
"We talked all the way from Penn Station."
"Annie said you were coming in tomorrow. Did you take an earlier train?"
Again the girls looked at each other and something almost-tangible passed between them.
"Another Spadaro family fault you might like to know about," said the reddish-haired girl, "we're notoriously bad with dates and times. We told her we were coming in today I guess she got it mixed with something else." She shrugged. "By the way, I'm Gwen."
"Yeah," her longhaired companion seconded. "I'm Alex."
"Caroline Duffy." She shook both their hands.
"We know all about you, Caroline," Alex said knowingly. The girls exchanged another Look and Caroline felt a silly urge to tell them to stop talking about her behind--in front of, whatever--her back. Annie had been right, it was freaky, but fascinating at the same time.
"And who's this?" Caroline asked, nodding in Ed's direction.
"This is Ed Chigliak. He's here to see you and Richard," Alex explained.
"Pleased to meet you, ma'am."
Caroline eyed him warily. "I don't know you. How do you know me?"
"Well, you see, I'm a shaman--shaman-in-training actually." Ed nodded his head and pressed his lips together as if that explained everything.
Which explains precisely nothing, Caroline grumbled in a way she never would have dared express aloud.
"I'm not sure where Annie is. She hasn't been home all day, but you're more than welcome to crash here for a while."
"Thanks; that's decent of you," Alex said, "especially considering..." She indicated the baggage that surrounded them. "Yeah, sorry about that. We're going to college, that's all."
Caroline nodded. "Perfectly understandable. I remember when I..."
She was interrupted by the opening of her front door; Richard stomped into the apartment, growling violently under his breath. "Caroline, I..." he stopped short when he raised his eyes and glimpsed Alex, Gwen and Ed, moving around them carefully he continued slowly, "left...my...portfolio. Say, what's with the Mouseketeers?"
Gwen and Alex wrinkled their noses up at him in identical expressions of defiance. Ed seemed unfazed.
Caroline sighed. "These are Annie's cousins and their...friend, I guess, Ed."
A look of unspeakable horror crossed Richard's face. "More Spadaros?"
Ed, meanwhile, had been watching Caroline and Richard closely.
"Self-doubt," he said cryptically, nodding his head in Richard's direction. "Meekness," he told Caroline. The two artists looked at him, expressions of deep confusion clouding their faces. "Your demons hate each other and they don't like you two much either. That's the reason you can't seem to get together." He nodded again as he had before. "I can help you."
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Annie stepped into the elevator of her building and was immediately hit by a blast of foul-smelling air. "Uhhhhhh, what is that?" she groaned, holding her hand, which was clutching a plastic shopping bag, to her nose. She gave the elevator car a once-over and her eyes settled on a damp spot on the carpeting in the opposite corner, where someone had done a sloppy cleanup job. "Great. Someone just had to ride the elevator when they were wasted," she grumbled irritably. She punched the button for the second floor with her empty hand and the doors slid shut.
Thoughts of her own hypocrisy floated through her mind--how many times had she ridden the elevator when she was drunk? As quickly as they had come, the thoughts disappeared. At least she had enough control not to puke her guts out in the elevator; she could hold it until she got in her apartment, for God's sake!
As soon as the door began to open, Annie fought to get into the hallway as quickly as she could. When the door shut again, she sensed an intangible change in the air, and it wasn't just because she had escaped the smell of the vomit; there was a definite difference to the air's composition. She jammed her key in the lock of her apartment door, shoved her way inside, tossed the bag on her couch. After throwing the keys on her counter, she breezed out the door, headed for Caroline's.
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"I don't know what you're talking about," claimed Richard, eyeing Ed suspiciously. "Who are you again?"
"Ed Chigliak," he said, simply, extending his hand.
"I got that much before," Richard replied somewhat "snappishly". "I mean, what are you doing here?"
Ed slowly lowered his hand.
"Richard," scolded Caroline. "Ed," she said gently, "we are a little curious."
"I told you," he said. "I'm here to help you face your demons."
As Richard was about to protest Ed's presence again, Caroline's door burst open and in spilled Annie. A split second later an identical screech resonated from both sides of the room at once as the three cousins spotted each other. Richard flinched in surprise. The younger Spadaros jumped from the couch and met Annie at the door with arms spread wide and a chorus of laughter.
"Omigod!" cried Annie. "I thought you guys weren't coming till tomorrow!"
"Gee, thanks for paying attention," laughed Gwen.
"Sorry," Annie said. "You know how I am. Sometimes I can't even remember my own name!"
"Usually after you get hammered and bring your date home, whose name you usually don't even know in the first place," remarked Richard sourly.
"Ignore him," Annie told her cousins, following her own advice and keeping her back to him. "Dr. Kevorkian over there--it's his mission to make your life a living hell. If you don't take him too seriously, you'll be fine." She missed the scowl that crossed Richard's face. "So how are ya doin'? I haven't seen you in forever! Like, 5 years, at least!"
"We're great," offered Alex with a grin. "We had a great trip. We met Ed on the train," she said, indicating the tall man who stood patiently with his hands in his pockets.
"Reeeeeeallllllllly?" purred Annie, sliding out from behind her cousins and approaching Ed with a smile. "Hi! I'm Annie," she said, offering her hand.
"Nice to meet you," he replied, taking her hand. "Ed Chigliak."
"Chigliak? That's an interesting name."
Ed shrugged. "I'm a Native Alaskan. Well, half-Native, anyway."
"Alaska? Wow. It must get pretty cold there, huh?"
Gwen and Alex looked at each other and sighed. Annie was up to it again.
"Yep," said Ed.
"Are there, like, lots of Eskimos--"
"Annie," cut in Caroline, "Ed was just explaining something to us when you came in and we're a little anxious to hear more about it, so if you don't mind..."
"Oh, okay. Well, it was nice meeting you Ed," said Annie as she turned back to her cousins. "Well, you guys wanna hang at my place? There's not much room, but I still have that old record player, so we can listen to 'Saturday Night Fever' and eat Ring Dings like old times. Whaddya say?"
"All right," said Alex and Gwen in unison as they gathered up their suitcases.
"Ed, make sure to stop by before you leave so we can say goodbye," said Annie, giving him a wink and a smile.
"Will do," he agreed.
"See you later Caroline...and Richard," said Alex, saluting them. Nervously, Caroline returned the salute. "Come over any time." Richard only raised the corners of his mouth in a humorless, halfhearted attempt at a smile. Annie ushered her cousins into the hall then into her apartment. The door swung shut with a chorus of uproarious Spadaro laughter and the awkward silence hung above the three occupants of Caroline's apartment like a blanket.
Both Caroline and Richard cast suspicious glances towards Ed, but he didn't seem to be bothered in the least. He'd apparently prepared himself for such reactions. He only smiled at them innocently.
"So," said Caroline, breaking the silence, "why are you here? I mean why us? We don't even know you. Why did you come all the way from Alaska to help someone you never met?"
"I know it's a little puzzling to you," agreed Ed. "I didn't expect you to just jump on the idea. But the truth is, you Called me."
"I didn't call you," said Caroline. "At least I don't think so," she added more uncertainly, remembering the small woman she'd seen in the bathroom.
"Neither did I," said Richard, with an equal amount of uncertainty.
"But you did," disagreed Ed. "I was sitting on a rock next to the river one day, just listening to Nature, and...I got your message."
"I'm not buying it," said Richard.
"Self-doubt is strong," warned Ed. "I dealt with him myself. He's persistent."
Richard shook his head.
"He's annoying, he's whiny, and he's really hard to get rid of," continued Ed. "He's the Green Man."
Richard's jaw dropped marginally and his eyebrows shot up. "What did you say?"
"The Green Man," repeated Ed. "He goes by many names, but that's how I know him. Once he shows up, he never wants to leave. I have dealt with him before, so it shouldn't be as hard as last time."
Richard looked positively ill. All of the color had drained from his face and he stared at Ed, motionless. "So it wasn't a dream?"
"Do you mean that Peter Pan midget guy he saw was real?" questioned Caroline, enthralled.
"Yep," replied Ed. Turning towards her, he said, "Meekness isn't as irritating as Self-doubt, but she hangs around just as much as he does. She is tiny and quick, and she keeps her distance. She's incredibly elusive and hard to catch."
"The woman in the bathroom?" whispered Caroline.
"She's good at hiding. She does all she can to avoid facing any type of demanding situation."
Caroline sunk into the couch next to Richard, both of them appearing completely nauseated. Ed remained standing and watched the artists come to grips with the situation. They seemed to be taking it quite well; even better than he'd hoped. Even if they didn't completely believe him, at least he had their attention now.
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Continued in Part Five
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Please visit my Caroline in the City webpage: Sincere Amore