Disclaimer: These characters belong to James (Help The Boat Is Sinking) Cameron. Never mind, that's Dark Angel. STUPID, STUPID HILARY. You are no longer allowed to help me write Disclaimers and Author's Notes. Do you honestly think I own the characters you recognize? If you do then call men in white jackets to take you away. Never mind call Dr. Cale. (Even though he's not gonna be much help to anyone in medical peril) I'm really not making any money off this story, just chocolate. You can sue me for this if you want, you just won't get anything.
Author's Note: In reference to Dark Angel, please, please, please read Sexy Sketchy and Sexy Sketchy Part II. It was co-written by about six freaks on caffeine at 2:00 in the morning. It's under the Pen Name of Michelle Drake. You don't really have to know Dark Angel to get this story. You don't really have to know much of anything to get that story. Also read Secrets by me. Summary of Secrets: Everyone has secrets, and Tyler is no exception. I'm trying to work on a sequel to this one. I'm pretty sure it almost done ::Looks around, can't find it.:: Oh well I'll write another one. These AN's are usually entertaining. Well it's not really late at night so that explains so much.
Chapter Four
"Lindsey's mom, Andie, was my best friend in my freshman year of college, she was a sophomore raising Lindsey and still trying to go to school. She was doing a hell of a good job. At first we just kept bumping into each other on campus but then we started to become really good friends and she confided in me about Lindsey. And Kyle, Lindsey's dad."
"What happened?" Asked Val.
"Lindsey's dad was a real jerk, he didn't want to be a father at all. The only reason he stuck around was because with Andie he had a place to live. Eventually she kicked him out. Lindsey was only about ten months old when he left. I don't think she remembers him much. That's a good thing, he was an asshole. He didn't care about Lindsey at all and he hit Andie."
Val gasped.
"Andie had him arrested once, but he got out on parole, Andie was having a few problems and she let him back into her life. He claimed that he changed, but that was a lie, sure he was fine for a few weeks, but he slipped back into hitting her. He came home drunk one night and he scared Andie really bad, so she called me and asked me to come and take Lindsey so she'd be safe. And I'd started to think of Lindsey as not really my daughter, but I did love her, it's impossible not to. Anyway, when I got to her house Kyle was gone and Andie was beat up pretty bad. I called an ambulance and they took her to the hospital. I know she got hit over the head at least twice and thrown down the stairs that night. She didn't make it through the night. She died."
Val didn't know what to say so she just gave him a hug. "Oh my God." She whispered.
"I promised Andie that I'd take care of Lindsey, I took Kyle to court to get custody of Lindsey and I was right about Kyle not caring about Lindsey, he never even bothered to show up and fight for his daughter."
"Oh my God." Val whispered again. "It must have been awful." Val slowly pulled away and started at Tyler.
"You know what it's like to lose someone." This time it was Tyler's turn to hug Val.
"Did you love Andie?" Asked Val almost afraid to hear his answer.
"Yes." Replied Tyler after thinking his answer over. "I loved her like a sister, and nothing more."
"I don't know what I'd do if I lost Brooke" Admitted Val. She didn't want to even consider the possibility of losing Brooke. Tyler didn't know what to say, so he didn't say anything. Finally Val broke the silence. "Are you gonna tell Jamie and Caitie about Lindsey?" She just said the first thing that popped into her head.
"Eventually. You wanna go and get some ice cream?"
"Sure, chocolate sounds good right now." Val and Tyler walked the few blocks to the tiny ice cream shop on the corner by the video store.
"What do you want?" Asked the guy behind the counter.
"A chocolate waffle cone." Said Val.
"I'll have a rocky road waffle cone." Said Tyler.
"Are these orders separate or together?" He asked in a monotonous voice.
"Separate." Said Val.
"Together." Replied Tyler at the same time. "I'll pay." Insisted Tyler, turning to Val. Val tried to protest but the guy had already rang up the order and Tyler had already paid for their cones. Val and Tyler grabbed their ice cream and left the shop, eating slowly.
"Why don't we stop at the video store and get a movie and me, you, Jamie, Caitie, Hank and Brooke can all make popcorn."
"Sure." Agreed Tyler. "Which movie should we get?"
"I haven't thought this plan through all the way. I just thought of it three seconds ago."
"In other words you have no idea what movie you want to see so you're just going to go and browse through the shelves until you find Breakfast at Tiffanies right?"
"Yep." Said Val, picking up the movie and going to pay for it. Val and Tyler slowly made their way back to the station.
"You're back." Said Brooke. "Lindsey's been on a sugar high since you left." While Val and Tyler were gone Jessica, David, and Devin had come back from the call.
"Don't worry, she'll crash in about ten minutes." Joked Tyler. "But it is time for me to get her home. She's gotta be in bed in-" Tyler looked at his watch "-Hour and a half." He was surprised to see that it was already seven o-clock.
"Hey, Tyler and I rented Breakfast at Tiffanies and planned to watch it tonight and we thought we'd ask if you guys wanted to join us." Suggested Val.
"Sure, why not." Said Hank and Brooke.
"Are we doing anything tonight?" Asked Caitie.
"I don't think so."
"Count us in." Said Caitie.
"I'm gonna take Lindsey home and then I'll be over around eight thirty." Said Tyler.
"See you then." Said Val just as Brooke's cell phone rang.
"Sure. . . Yeah. . .I can be there. . .Right now? Okay, bye."
"Who was that?" Asked Val.
"Lillie Caldwell, she said that my dress was done being altered."
"She's cutting it a little close, you're getting married the day after tomorrow." Said Caitie.
"Well, it would have been done earlier but I had the sleeves altered so they're off the shoulder." Brooke held up her cast so they could see why. Would you two mind coming with me to pick it up?"
"No, we don't mind." Said Val speaking for both her and Caitie.
"Well what am I supposed to between now and eight thirty?" Asked Hank.
"We'll leave that up to you." Said Caitie.
* * *
"I'm Brooke Lanier, here to see Lillie Caldwell." Said Brooke when they got to the shop.
"Do you have an appointment?" Droned the woman behind the desk.
"Not exactly, but-" Brooke started to say.
"No one sees Miss Caldwell without an appointment." Droned the secretary as she picked up a nail file and started to fix a finger nail. She had a bored look on her face.
"Lillie Caldwell called me twenty minutes ago and informed me that my dress was finished being altered and that I could pick it up now." Said Brooke who was starting to lose her temper.
"Look, you don't look older than a junior in high school and I really don't have time to deal with high school pranks. If you don't leave I'll be forced to call security. I'm sure you're a nice kid and all but you're starting to bug me." She spat out the word 'kid' and was now digging through her purse for something.
"You look here." Said Caitie leaning forward. "If you don't believe us why don't you just page Miss Caldwell and have her tell you how wrong you are." Caitie smiled. The woman pulled a piece of bubble gum out of her purse finally and folded it into her mouth.
"Why would I want to do that?" She blew a bubble in Caitie's face and Caitie popped it.
"It's not that hard to page Miss Caldwell. You just pick up that little device sitting on your desk and dial a few numbers." Replied Caitie sweetly. "You know, the things printed on the buttons that you press."
"I'm calling security." She picked up the phone and dialed the numbers.
"See, not that hard." Said Caitie.
"What's the problem?" Asked a uniformed police officer.
"These three refused to leave when I asked them to."
"All I said was that Lillie Caldwell was expecting me to be here-" Brooke checked her watch "-ten minutes ago."
"She doesn't have an appointment."
"I don't need one. Miss Caldwell called me a half an hour ago and asked me to come and pick up my dress. Would you like me to prove it." Brooke took out her cell phone and pushed the button that showed all past calls made or received. "See, Kingsport Formal. At seven thirteen, August third." Brooke held out the phone for the guard's inspection.
"Stacy-" Brooke assumed she was the secretary "-Page Miss Caldwell." Stacy slowly punched the numbers into the phone and asked Miss Caldwell to come down.
"Brooke. You're here. What took you so long? I called you over a half hour ago."
"I'm so sorry Miss Caldwell. We were held up. I'd like to apologize for being late." Replied Brooke.
"Think nothing of it, it wasn't your fault if you were held up. After all you're the bride and you can do whatever you want. And it's my job to help you get what you want. I was sorry to hear about the accident, I hope both you and Mr. Beecham are both okay."
"Yes, we both are fine, if it was any other way I wouldn't be here right now picking up my dress. The most serious injury either of us got was a broken arm. Is my dress ready?"
"Yes, it's ready. I'd like if you could stay maybe twenty minutes and make sure it fits right and you're still happy with it."
"Sure, it won't be a problem." Brooke quickly tried on her dress and pronounced it perfect. Lillie Caldwell took the dress and wrapped it in a garment bag and rang it up.
"That will be two hundred dollars even." Brooke took out her checkbook and filled in the amount and handed the check over and then she, Val, and Caitie left and headed home.
* * *
"Okay, do you want your Winnie the Pooh or The Little Mermaid pajamas?" Asked Tyler when he and Lindsey got home. She quietly took her Little Mermaid top and Winnie the Pooh bottoms and Tyler helped her into them. Tyler tucked her in and then sat down next to her and took her favorite book off the nightstand and started to read to her. She was asleep before he was halfway through the book. He quietly got up and put the book back and kissed her on the forehead and whispered "I love you." And flipped off the light and left her room leaving the door open.
"Tyler, where are you going?" Asked his mom as he was just about to open the door and leave.
"I'm going to the Lanier's for a movie." Replied Tyler checking his watch. "I was supposed to be there ten minutes ago."
"What about Lindsey?"
"She's upstairs asleep."
"Tyler, as much as we love her you can't keep leaving her with us so you can have a life."
"Mom, William already said he would watch her. I've gone out about three time this week and most of the time Lindsey was with me."
"Tyler, it's been more than that. Right now I don't think you're being the best father you can be."
"You've never thought the my adopting Lindsey was a good idea."
"What was I supposed to think?" She asked. "You suddenly spring on us that you're gonna adopt Lindsey. She's three, you're twenty two. Have you ever thought about what it looks like to people who don't know the story?"
"I don't care what people think. And I didn't think you cared either."
"I don't. And it wasn't fair for me to say that. I'm sorry."
"So am I. And right now Lindsey's the best thing in my life and I love her."
"I know you do and I never should have said anything about it."
"Really, it's okay. I know I'm young and I don't care. I'm late, I said I'd be there fifteen minutes ago." Tyler left the house and was at Brooke's in five minutes.
"Sorry I'm late. Lindsey took longer to fall asleep that I thought." He apologized when he walked in.
"That's okay. Perfect timing actually. Popcorn's done." Jamie was sitting in a reclining chair and Caitie was sitting on top of him and Brooke and Hank were sitting on the floor, leaning on the couch. Val was on one end of the couch so Tyler chose to sit next to her. Brooke handed the popcorn to Caitie and hit play on the VCR.
About halfway through the movie Caitie and Jamie fell asleep resting their heads on each other's shoulders. Brooke and Hank weren't far behind them, Brooke was resting her head on Hank's lap.
"You want some more popcorn?" Asked Tyler in a whisper so not to wake the others.
"What?" Replied Val.
"You want some more popcorn?" He asked again.
"Sure, okay." Said Val as Tyler got up and went to the kitchen. He was back five minutes later with the bag of popcorn. He sat down next to her again, this time Val couldn't help but notice how little space there was between them now.
After the movie was over V al rewound the tape and set it on the table. "Should we wake them up?" She asked grinning evilly.
"Yep." Replied Tyler matching Val's grin. "But only to make sure they don't sleep funny and get stiff necks. It wouldn't be fun to not be able to move your neck on the day before your wedding." Said Tyler mocking seriousness.
"Of course not." She replied. Val knelt down next to Brooke and started to shake her shoulder. "Brooke, wake up." Brooke jumped and the effect of Brooke moving woke up Hank.
"Huh." She murmured.
"What's going on?" Asked Hank at the same time.
"You both fell asleep and we figured you didn't want to sleep on the floor." Explained Tyler.
"Yeah right." Grumbled Brooke. "Come on Hank, lets go upstairs."
"No you don't." Said Val stopping them.
"Why not?" Demanded Brooke.
"A, I don't feel like being in the same room as you two. B, Mom and Dad would have a heart attack. C, you're not married yet. And D, well there is no D but Hank's not sleeping in our room, if he's staying he gets the couch." Said Val counting off the points on her fingers. The couch was fine with Hank because he was already asleep there. Brooke went up stairs and started to get ready for bed. Tyler was trying to wake up Jamie and Caitie. After five minutes he gave up and just let them stay in the chair.
"They're hopeless. I'd better get going."
"Maybe, I'll walk you out." Replied Val rubbing her eye, which was watering a little.
"Is there something wrong with your eye? You keep rubbing it." He asked when they reached the door.
"I've probably got an eyelash in it or something. It's just bothering me." She said rubbing her eye again.
"Here, let me take a look at it." Offered Tyler. She let him. "It must have come out because there's nothing in your eye now." Tyler was still looking into her eyes. He had forgotten just how blue her eyes really were.
"I guess it did come out." She replied rubbing her eye to dry the tears. She made no move to break his gaze, just like he made no move to break hers.
"Yeah. Here it is." He said brushing his index finger across her cheek. Apparently all her rubbing had gotten the eyelash out. "Make a wish."
"What?"
"Old wives tale. You make a wish on an eyelash the you blow it off the person's finger. If it blows away then your wish will come true, if it stays put then it was never meant to happen."
Val thought over her wish and silently made it. Then she blew the eyelash off his finger. It floated to the ground and both would have seen it if they hadn't been too busy staring into each other's eyes. Neither Val nor Tyler was sure who moved first. All they knew was that they were kissing each other. Val was the first to break off the kiss.
"Val, I'm sorry. I never should have done that."
Val didn't say anything. She was afraid the if she did try to speak she would cry. She knew crying was inevitable, but she didn't want to in front of Tyler. She quickly ran upstairs to her room and when she touched her cheek again she found that it was wet, and this time it wasn't because of an eyelash.
I Will not post chapter five until I get 66 reviews on this story or until a Week from Monday, whichever comes last. Get it, got it, good. Please review, that's the plan.
Contest: Whoever guesses Brooke and Hank's wedding song gets Chapter Five early.
Poll: For "Revealed" what should I do after I post the revised copy?
A: Post the first copy.
B: Trash the first copy.