"The Calm Before. .. "(Chapter Five)
by Ennon
Disclaimer- 'Degrassi:The Next Generation' and its characters still not owned by me and I'm making no cash whatsoever from this fanfic.
The Dot Grill, Summer, 2014-
"Dr. Nash, what are you doing here with Ashley?" asked Angela Jeremiah about noontime the next day as she set down two menus before the two alternative rocker-clad women in their 20s.
"Call it making a house call! I've cancelled my Degrassi summer session appointments until your break's over because I think it would help all of us to talk about what happened yesterday," Ellie explained.
" My next break's in a half hour, we can talk then!" Angie explained.
"Unbelievably perky, that girl!" Ashley chuckled to Ellie quietly.
"A mask," Ellie shrugged.
"Ellie why is ever since you got those degrees. .. .?" Ashley asked.
"I could tell folks wore masks even before I got to be . ..respectable!" Ellie said with a laugh at the end.
" You think finding Manny's charm bracelet will bring us closer to answers?" Angie asked as she sat down and had some lemonade at their booth across from the others while the Ashley and Ellie were eating spinach salads.
"What do you think you'll solve in finding answers?" Ellie asked.
"I. .haven't really thought of that," Angie sighed.
"Ellie, can't you leave your diploma back at the office?" Ashley groaned.
"No, it's okay, Ashley! Dr. Nash has helped me through a lot- all us kids. ..I guess if I can solve this mystery everything else will fall into place. God, I can't believe how stupid that sounds," Angela sighed.
"It's honest- not stupid! Believe me it doesn't seem that long ago I thought I was dumb. I sure didn't know how to pick guys back in the day," Ellie laughed.
"Come on, El," Ashley shrugged.
"It's true! The first one was good as gold but he couldn't love me more than as a friend. It took some time and a lot of pain and tears to let him be who he was but now I've got two brothers I wouldn't trade for anything," Ellie beamed.
"They've helped us a lot over the years," Ashley nodded.
"Yep! Like in helping me deal with the fallout of the bad boy I went with afterwards," Ellie sighed.
"You went with a hood, a thug? You're always telling us to be careful!" Angie insisted.
"Yeah, I thought we 'got' each other- and I thought I could save him from himself but after the second arrest, I said ciao forever! I didn't need Sean to drag me down any faster than Mom was trying to,"Ellie groaned.
"Wait! You went out with Mr. Cameron?"Angie gasped and nearly choked on her lemonade as she spat it out.
Ashley and Ellie both reached over and banged her back.
"Yep! I wasn't always married to my career- and he proved to be a good inspiration for my doctorate!" Ellie laughed.
"Was he a monster back then?" Angie asked.
"His horns were already starting to show- even through the doo rag but I believed there was good in him- and focussing on him kept my scar collection from growing," Ellie grumbled as she felt her left arm through her sleeve.
" I never understood, Ellie! Why did you do that?"Ashley asked.
"Since all this happened before I was Dr. Eleanor Nash, PhD - Shrink to Degrassi, I guess I can share this with you and the kid here," Ellie laughed as she pulled up her sleeve to reveal a trail of white marks where she had cut herself a decade earlier.
"Ooh!You did that, Dr. Nash? Why?" Angela asked in horror.
"My dad Colonel Elliot Nash was the finest person I've ever met. Yep, a military man who believed it was his duty to take care of everyone he loved- Mom, me and his soldiers. I wanted to be just like him. My alternative clothing was my personal form of uniform. Dad understood and fully supported it. After quite a bit of anguish and reflection, I think because I saw him never lose control or get upset with Mom's tantrums or alcoholism, I became stoic on the outside,too. .. but with him being gone to Kabul in such a dangerous and uncertain operation and Mom spiralling out of control despite all my pleas and efforts, I needed a way to release my anguish- and the cutting did that," Ellie explained.
"How's Mrs. Nash doing these days?" Ashley asked.
"Oh, I've got her into a group home these past three years with professional collegues I know I can trust taking care of her and I call her once a month to make sure she's okay but she's the same as she ever was. I've had to learn to accept that she's never loved anyone- especially herself and there's no use pinning my hopes on us becoming friends, "Ellie sighed.
"I'm sorry, Dr. Nash," Angela replied.
"Since you saw me do a bit of a quiet primal scream and we're not at Degrassi, you can call me Ellie!" Ellie laughed.
"OK, Ellie," Angela shyly laughed.
"Don't sweat it! Just goes to show how sometimes obsessing on the past can keep us from enjoying the present,"Ellie insisted.
"But I'd like to know what happened- just like I'm sure you'd like to have known how your father could have chosen someone like your mother," Angie shrugged.
"Good call, kid! What do you wanna know?" Ellie asked.
"Do you or Ashley know why Craig and Sean Cameron fell out over the last summer before Craig's disappearance? Daddy just says that Sean proved he was no friend," Angela pondered.
"Craig told me that a month after Dr. Manning's fatal accident, he got notice of a trust fund. .." Ashley started to explain.
"So Sean stole from that and. .. ."Angela jumped in.
"Not just yet! What Craig told me was that Dr. Manning put in $1million Canadian in a trust for Craig's education but he could receive installments before his 18th birthday for charitable purposes- providing that he share none of it with you or Joey," Ashley sighed.
"What an ass. . inine man to dump on a child who never did anything to him and never even met!" Ellie boiled.
"I know but I'd like to know what it has to do with Craig and Sean's fallout," Angela sighed.
"We each got told a side of the story and have since compared notes so here's about what happened," Ellie insisted.
Degrassi Alley- outside The Dot Grill, Summer, 2003
"I can use up to $50,000 now for charitable purposes- and I think I'll use it to establish a 'Dr. Albert Manning Science Tutorial Fund'. .to hire science tutors so other kids needing a boost can catch a break!" 15-year-old Craig Manning pondered while walking with Sean.
" That sounds like a great fund, Man, but. ..why do you have to tack that abuser's name to it?" Sean scoffed.
"I want to show the world that Dad did do some good in his life for me!" Craig insisted.
"I'm sorry he's dead and all but that doesn't change that he was an abuser- and I think it would be better the world would know that!" Sean snarled.
"Oh, you mean like you tell everyone you see about your parents being alcoholic welfare cases in Wassauga Beach?" Craig sneered.
"I don't tell everyone.. ." Sean boiled.
"You might as well carry a laser sign," Craig scoffed.
"What are you saying?" Sean seethed.
" At least you've still got parents but you're throwing them away! I'm an orphan at fifteen and will be the rest of my life!" Craig boiled- as he shoved Sean towards the wall.
"You think you can take me on, punk? Hunh?! " Sean boiled as he shoved Craig back against the opposite wall.
"Yeah!" Craig seethed as he shoved Sean again.
Sean punched Craig in the jaw knocking him on the ground.
"Man, I'm sorry.. ..It'll. .. ."Sean gulped- as Craig quickly got up from the ground and got in Sean's face.
"Never happen again?! We're through, man!" Craig boiled with his right cheek bloody and torn.
"Craig. .." Sean gulped.
"Dad always said that but at least he could fix people!" Craig seethed- as he started walking away.
"Man, I hated the creep but I came to his funeral for you! You can't just throw away our . .." Sean pleaded.
" Just stay away from me, Joey and Angela from now on!" Craig snarled as he picked up a large board and swung it in Sean's direction.
The Dot Grill, Summer, 2014-
"Craig came home with a torn cheek and Daddy asked him what happened. .. then sent me to my room to, as usual, protect me from life before I heard the explanation. All I knew was from that point on, Sean no longer came to the house and wasn't our friend," Angela recalled as she finished her lemonade.
"So why is he being considered a 'person of interest' in Craig's disappearance all these years later?"Ellie asked.
"I heard Daddy and Mama get upset when they were notified that Sean tried to use Craig's PIN number from Dr. Manning's Trust Fund to embezzle $25,000- via a library computer in the Maximum Security Prison. I guess since the number hadn't been used since Craig disappeared, they thought Sean must have somehow saved it all this time," Angela explained.
"Considering how many times he couldn't get himself out on bail, it's odd that he'd wait ten years to use it," Ashley pondered.
"Yeah, but odder things have happened in these parts," Ellie wryly observed as she licked her salad dressing off the corner of her mouth.
"Hey Guys! Want to join us a few minutes?" Ashley asked as Dylan and Marco entered the café.
" We talked to the police again after Marco remembered something else about what he heard on the cellphone when Jimmy was. . .shot!"Dylan groaned.
"After everyone's testimony about his character, they still think he was a meth dealer and a suicide?"Ashley boiled.
"Yes, I knew they may not believe us but I had to add that to the record for Jimmy's sake. .and Manny's!" Marco insisted as he and Dylan sat down.
"Manny Santos's?"Angela asked.
"I'm all ears!" Ellie insisted.
"That night of the phone call, what I thought sounded like a chain falling in the background was Manny's charm bracelet! " Marco insisted.
"Are you sure?" Ashley gulped.
"I'd swear it on my life!" Marco insisted as he looked into her eyes.
" I believe you!" Ashley nodded.
"Well, if that's true than that means Manny was . .alive. .three weeks after she and Craig disappeared! I remember sneaking downstairs and reading the gory account of Jimmy Brooks's death scene but what could Manny have been doing in the background- especially in her condition?"Angela asked.
"Has anyone tried to get in touch with the Santos Family about all this?" Ellie asked.
"They shut themselves off after her disappearance and it wasn't a year afterwards they all returned to Manila! Daddy and Mama were the ones who did all they could to find Craig and Manny not them!"Angela recalled.
"I wonder why they weren't more helpful?" Dylan asked.
"I think they had something to hide!" Ellie insisted.
At Spike's Hair Haven
"Mom, I hope they can find out what happened to Craig now that they found Manny's charm bracelet," Emma insisted.
"And what about Manny?" Spike asked as she took some rollers out of the sterilizer.
"Of course her,too,"Emma sighed.
"She was your best friend from the time you were toddlers,"Spike snapped.
"Well, things happened and we grew apart. It's life," Emma groaned.
"Emma, I know you were upset about her being with Craig and. .."Spike started to say.
"I came home and they were making out on my bed!" Emma boiled.
"What?!" Spike asked.
"The night of the rave I snuck out of the house to meet Chris at," Emma fumed.
"You never told me you snuck out of the house to go to a rave!" Spike boiled.
"Statute of limitations, Mom," Emma groaned.
"Oh, no, Emma! Your best friend vanished off the face of the Earth ten years past and you're still upset over her using your bed to make out so you deserve to have the same scrutiny about your past indiscretions!" Spike boiled.
"Mom, I'm not proud of what I did while you were taking care of Jack and the ailing Snake but how would you have liked it had you come downstairs and seen her and Craig making out? You'd have never believed that I hadn't known or approved of it prior!" Emma boiled.
"Emma, you were too judgmental of her when she needed you the most!" Spike fumed.
" I wanted her to be strong! I wanted her to be independent but she went too far!. Why did you side with her and not with me? At least I waited until I was married before I made you a grandmother!" Emma boiled.
"Oh, now it all comes out! It's not that you had some high inner code. It's that you wanted to show Manny and me up by doing what neither of us did. You're as bad as Mr. and Mrs. Santos was to her!" Spike seethed as she waved a hairbrush in her right hand.
" I didn't threaten to send her to a convent in the Phillipines to force her to give up her child for adoption and. .. Oh why couldn't Craig have chosen me at the dance and why could I have been the one he was making out with on my bed?" Emma sobbed.
"Emma, aren't you and Travis happy?" Spike asked.
"Of course we are and Rupert's a wonderful baby! I know perfectly well it wouldn't have worked out with Craig and me anymore than it did with Sean or Chris. Yet, I have to confess that it wasn't pity for Ashley that angered me about them sneaking around, it was pity for me!" Emma sobbed as Spike hugged her before the two straightened up upon hearing the salon front door opening.
"Ah, Spike. .and Emma! I hope I haven't come at a bad time, Hun!" Paige chirped as she breezily entered the salon.
"No, but your appointment isn't for another hour," Spike told her.
"Well can you move it up a bit? Haze and I are going to be interviewed by Caitlin's station for reaction to Dylan's unbelievable find yesterday!" Paige beamed.
"It was scooped by a rival station so why is Caitlin's station. .?" Spike asked.
"Human interest- and I hope that bracelet can lead us to Manny and Craig! Oh, I remember that one and gave Spinner the silent treatment for a week when I found out he knew about it and Craig's two-timing but didn't tell me!" Paige laughed.
"How is Spinner doing ?"Emma asked.
"He retired from the wrestling ring for paternity leave but now that our twins (Ben and J-Lo) are in kindergarten, he's making his comeback tonight and fighting the Masked Malamut! I'll leave you ten free tickets!" Paige beamed.
"Performance wrestling's not my thing, Paige," Emma gulped.
"I know but think of the human interest angle of it. Think of the ratings a segment about the Power Couple of Mason and Michelchuk would make- undefeated star wrestler and his lovely wife the co-founder of Amber and Myrrh Boutiques located in Toronto, London, Paris, Milan, Cairo and Singapore! Haze and I are doing the Intermission show telecast nationwide and featuring our prize model- Thérèse MacGregor! Au revoir, ladies!" Paige beamed as she exited.
"Paige! Your appointment!" Spike pleaded.
"She's something else," Emma laughed.
" She really hasn't changed that much," Spike laughed as she clasped Emma's hand.
"Never mind, Mom! I needed that break from all the angst!"Emma shrugged- as she answered her cell phone.
"You and Travis bringing Rupert over tonight?" Spike asked.
"We wouldn't miss it!" Emma insisted as they hugged and Emma was about to leave.
"What's that?" Spike asked.
"My pager and message center! The network has assigned me to cover Spinner Mason's Comeback Wrestling Match along with Paige's Intermission Fashion show! AUUGH! Why me, Mom?" Emma asked.
"Because they know you can do it. This will give your Eco-Worrier Segment some publicity," Spike insisted as she handed Emma the tickets and growled on her way out the door.
Sometime later in Judge Liberty Van Zandt's Chambers.
"The Province hasn't yet formally charged Mr. Cameron with the Abduction and Murders of Craig Manning and Manuela Santos but this newly found bracelet could be key in. .. " Liberty was saying to Toby, Kendra and prosecution counsel.
"Your Honour, I just saw this over the 'Net" insisted Liberty's receptionist- 24-year-old Nadia Yassir as she anxiously wheeled herself in her motorized wheelchair into the chamber.
"Ms. Yassir, we're rather busy at this time," Liberty insisted.
"But, Judge Van Zandt, there's a riot at the Ontario Maximum Security Prison and reports of a breakout!" Nadia pleaded.
"Sean Cameron," Kendra Mason gulped.
"We'll reschedule this session for another time. Mr. Isaacs and Ms. Mason will be needing to make contact with their client," Liberty insisted.
"Thanks, Your Honour!" Toby sighed in relief as the prosecutor left Liberty's chamber.
" Toby, Kendra. Please tell your client to be careful. We don't want to lose anyone else," Liberty insisted in a more sympathetic tone than usual.
To Be. .You Know. ..