I just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone for their reviews! I took a big chance with this and twisted the basic concept of the character we all know and love.
BIG shout out to Shelley for giving me the encouragement to write the potential sequel to this. I'm not sure when it'll happen, but Leigh is far from finished in the world of FICs!!
Another shout out to Karen (KWeb) who beta'd this for me and threw in some suggestions as well.
Yet one more to Deana for plotline suggestions. Without her, I wouldn't have found the icon at all.
Last shout out goes to a dear friend of mine, My Heart Sib. She gave me some helpful hints and was the final proof reader of this. Love and Hugs Sibbie.
And now, on with the conclusion... sort of...
--
December 17, 2000 - Seven Months Later
Leigh Crawford's eyes stared out of the window of the luxury jetliner as it waited for departure. The passengers filing past her into coach class drifted into the background of her thoughts. She was daydreaming again. It was becoming easier and easier to think of Ardeth Bay, the lover she probably never truly had. It was all a dream, wasn't it? If so, how did she come by the scar on her upper left arm and the scar along her hairline where she dreamed she had hit her head on the stone archway in the temple ruins? Things that happen in dreams don't transfer, do they? She chuckled to herself as she ordered a glass of wine from the flight attendant. They would be departing soon enough to Portland. Life was going to be different up in Salem, WA. The weather alone was a big change...
As she sipped at the Merlot, she thought back to when she woke up from the coma. Her co-workers were overjoyed to hear that she was alright. The little old lady across the street from her came by to check on her quite a few times after she had come home from the hospital. Most puzzling was the lack of an appearance by the man who supposedly found her and brought her into the emergency room the night she'd been hit by lightening. The nurse, Birdie, had told her that he was a tall good-looking man. He told the ER Chief Attending that he'd been trying to get back to his hotel and took a wrong turn off of the highway. He was driving down the street when he saw the lightening strike the house. The man apparently was concerned about whoever lived there and stopped to check. He told the doctors that the screaming of a cat inside the house and lack of response to his knocking prompted him to kick in the door. Upon which he found a limp and seemingly lifeless Leigh Crawford laying under the desk with her hand wrapped around the electrical plug of a now smoking computer.
Leigh looked down at her right hand. To the doctor's amazement, there were never any signs of burns or electrocution on her. It was as if nothing like that had really happened to her. What puzzled them even further was the sudden appearance of the two scars where she had none when she was brought into the ER. Again she chuckled and took a sip of her wine. Birdie had taken a liking to Leigh as she quickly made progress. Birdie told Leigh that even though she called the number that had been given to the ER doctors, that the number was to the hotel he'd been staying in at the time and he had since returned home.
Vaguely she was aware of someone sitting down in the seat next to her. It was a full flight after all. She couldn't see her fellow passenger's image in the glass, but she could see her own. The silver nose ring was still there, but her face seemed a bit older and more mature than she had before. Her eyes alone told of the haunted sadness that Leigh felt most of the time.
"Miss..." the flight attendant smiled at the handsome man sitting next to the woman. "Miss...?"
"Hmm? Aiwa, what is it?" Leigh blinked and turned to look at the flight attendant.
The young woman blinked a moment in confusion. "We'll be departing in a moment or two. I need to collect your glass."
"Yes, of course. Shukran." Leigh's use of Arabic since she'd woken up had disturbed a lot of her friends and co-workers. Most of the time she shrugged it off and told them that she had been taking lessons in Arabic online for months before her jolt of juice. As she handed her glass to the attendant, she turned to look back out of the window.
"You speak Egyptian?" The voice held mild surprise, probably a little bit of concern as well. It'd only been a few months since she had woken up, but in that time she had begun speaking Arabic almost as fluently as those born to the language. What irked her was the looks she got out of everyone else... like she was the fucking plague...
"Aiwa, I do. You have a problem with that?" she asked sharply as the plane jerked back. Leigh looked back from the window, fully prepared to tell the jerkwad off... and found herself staring into a pair of eyes she hadn't seen in 6 months.
"MuHibb..." she whispered as her vision clouded.
--
Aiwa = Yes
Shukran = Thank You
MuHibb = Lover
****
To Be Continued in the UC: Undercover FIC "Written in the Sand" whenever I can get to it. STAY TUNED!!
BIG shout out to Shelley for giving me the encouragement to write the potential sequel to this. I'm not sure when it'll happen, but Leigh is far from finished in the world of FICs!!
Another shout out to Karen (KWeb) who beta'd this for me and threw in some suggestions as well.
Yet one more to Deana for plotline suggestions. Without her, I wouldn't have found the icon at all.
Last shout out goes to a dear friend of mine, My Heart Sib. She gave me some helpful hints and was the final proof reader of this. Love and Hugs Sibbie.
And now, on with the conclusion... sort of...
--
December 17, 2000 - Seven Months Later
Leigh Crawford's eyes stared out of the window of the luxury jetliner as it waited for departure. The passengers filing past her into coach class drifted into the background of her thoughts. She was daydreaming again. It was becoming easier and easier to think of Ardeth Bay, the lover she probably never truly had. It was all a dream, wasn't it? If so, how did she come by the scar on her upper left arm and the scar along her hairline where she dreamed she had hit her head on the stone archway in the temple ruins? Things that happen in dreams don't transfer, do they? She chuckled to herself as she ordered a glass of wine from the flight attendant. They would be departing soon enough to Portland. Life was going to be different up in Salem, WA. The weather alone was a big change...
As she sipped at the Merlot, she thought back to when she woke up from the coma. Her co-workers were overjoyed to hear that she was alright. The little old lady across the street from her came by to check on her quite a few times after she had come home from the hospital. Most puzzling was the lack of an appearance by the man who supposedly found her and brought her into the emergency room the night she'd been hit by lightening. The nurse, Birdie, had told her that he was a tall good-looking man. He told the ER Chief Attending that he'd been trying to get back to his hotel and took a wrong turn off of the highway. He was driving down the street when he saw the lightening strike the house. The man apparently was concerned about whoever lived there and stopped to check. He told the doctors that the screaming of a cat inside the house and lack of response to his knocking prompted him to kick in the door. Upon which he found a limp and seemingly lifeless Leigh Crawford laying under the desk with her hand wrapped around the electrical plug of a now smoking computer.
Leigh looked down at her right hand. To the doctor's amazement, there were never any signs of burns or electrocution on her. It was as if nothing like that had really happened to her. What puzzled them even further was the sudden appearance of the two scars where she had none when she was brought into the ER. Again she chuckled and took a sip of her wine. Birdie had taken a liking to Leigh as she quickly made progress. Birdie told Leigh that even though she called the number that had been given to the ER doctors, that the number was to the hotel he'd been staying in at the time and he had since returned home.
Vaguely she was aware of someone sitting down in the seat next to her. It was a full flight after all. She couldn't see her fellow passenger's image in the glass, but she could see her own. The silver nose ring was still there, but her face seemed a bit older and more mature than she had before. Her eyes alone told of the haunted sadness that Leigh felt most of the time.
"Miss..." the flight attendant smiled at the handsome man sitting next to the woman. "Miss...?"
"Hmm? Aiwa, what is it?" Leigh blinked and turned to look at the flight attendant.
The young woman blinked a moment in confusion. "We'll be departing in a moment or two. I need to collect your glass."
"Yes, of course. Shukran." Leigh's use of Arabic since she'd woken up had disturbed a lot of her friends and co-workers. Most of the time she shrugged it off and told them that she had been taking lessons in Arabic online for months before her jolt of juice. As she handed her glass to the attendant, she turned to look back out of the window.
"You speak Egyptian?" The voice held mild surprise, probably a little bit of concern as well. It'd only been a few months since she had woken up, but in that time she had begun speaking Arabic almost as fluently as those born to the language. What irked her was the looks she got out of everyone else... like she was the fucking plague...
"Aiwa, I do. You have a problem with that?" she asked sharply as the plane jerked back. Leigh looked back from the window, fully prepared to tell the jerkwad off... and found herself staring into a pair of eyes she hadn't seen in 6 months.
"MuHibb..." she whispered as her vision clouded.
--
Aiwa = Yes
Shukran = Thank You
MuHibb = Lover
****
To Be Continued in the UC: Undercover FIC "Written in the Sand" whenever I can get to it. STAY TUNED!!