No Time to Waste
by TheRealXenocide
`
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, settings, or anything else you recognize from the show Lizzie McGuire. The plot, at it's base, has been around since Homer, and this variant since Henry Ford. However, this is the first I've seen it applied to Lizzie.
`
Chapter 39
Letter of Marque
`
As Matt rode with his mom to the Sanchez home, he felt like a cloud of doom was hanging over him. Even he noticed how he had become more willing to dare to kiss and hold Miranda, at times he should know better, since Sunday. Miranda was right to turn him down in the living room, and he knew it. He hoped he could restrain himself while he was in her house.
His worry only deepened when he got to the door, and her father answered. "Hello, Matt, Mrs. McGuire. Can you join us in the living room?" He sounded odd to Matt.
When they entered the room, Matt's body tensed. Miranda's mom was there, looking worried. Miranda, however, was not. Seeing his reaction, Mrs. Sanchez motioned for the two McGuire's to sit down. Jo did, but Matt stayed still. "She's on the phone, Matt."
"We were a little surprised, considering who it is." Mr. Sanchez said as he walked in. Without directly addressing Matt's refusal to sit, he walked past the young man and joined his wife on the couch. Jo had taken a chair, which left the other chair and the love seat unused.
"Who is it?" Matt asked cautiously.
"The girl that struck her last week."
The surprise on Matt's face could have been seen on satellite surveillance. "MELINA?!? But . . . the last time I spoke to her, she said she'd been grounded for the rest of the summer. No phone, or anything else." He had moved to the love seat as he spoke, and sat down as he finished.
This was news to the parents. "All summer for one punch?" Mr. Sanchez asked. "And I though I was hard on Miranda at times."
Now Matt's surprise was joined by discomfort. "Well, it's more than that. I can't go into detail, but she's had an . . . eventful week. That punishment is nothing compared to what could happen."
Something was tugging at the back of Jo's mind, but she decided to wait until later to figure it out. "When did she call?"
"About a half hour ago." Mrs. Sanchez replied. "Her mother made the call, and told me the girl wanted to apologize to Miranda."
Matt just shook his head. "A couple of weeks ago, I wouldn't have thought it possible. Even though I suggested a letter of apology, I worried she wouldn't go through with it." His eyes sharpened, as if something just occurred to him. "But why would it take a half hour to apologize?"
Before anyone could answer him, somebody else entered the room. Already in her PJs, and carrying a stuffed white tiger almost as big as she was, Lily wandered into the room. She was obviously still sleepy, yawning and rubbing her eyes with her unoccupied hand. "Mommy," she said sleepily, "I can't sleep. Would you . . ." She interrupted herself when she finally noticed they had company. When her eyes settled on Matt, she seemed to perk up slightly. "Oh, hi Matt. Why you here?"
He smiled at the girl. "Remember when Miranda and I told you that we'd be sleeping here soon?" She nodded. "That starts tonight."
"Really?" She seemed pleased by this, but then looked puzzled. "But were you sleep?"
It wasn't until she said that that he realized he didn't know. "Your parents haven't told me yet." He turned to her father. "Where will Miranda and I be sleeping?"
"We have a finished game room in the basement we thought would work" her mother answered.
Lily looked confused. "But when Lizzie sleeps over, she stays in Randa's room. Why not you?"
Remembering the last time she asked something like that, Matt held his tongue. Her mother answered her. "I'll explain it while I get you back to sleep, young lady."
The energy she had been expending drained from her upon hearing the word sleep. "Oh, okay. Night Matt."
"Goodnight, Lily."
~~
Not long after Lily and her mother left the room, Miranda came in. "Did they tell you about the call?" she asked Matt as she walked over to him.
"Yeah." He answered as she sat next to him. "I thought she wasn't allowed to use the phone?"
A slight smile crept onto her face. "She said her mother gave in after the hundredth failed letter."
"THAT makes sense. What did she say that took a half hour?"
"She apologized, and I forgave her. But it was more than that." She got very serious. "She scared, Matt. No matter how many times I reminded her that it was unlikely because they used something, she terrified that she might be . . ." She stopped herself short, remembering the adults in the room.
However, the thing that had been tugging at Jo's mind all night finally clicked. "Pregnant?" She asked in that tone mothers get that let's everyone in the room know she was sure she was right.
"Please understand, mom. I can't say if your right, because if you are, it's not my place to be the one to tell you."
"I understand, Matt. But it does put a lot of different little things together."
"Wait a minute." Mr. Sanchez interrupted. "Matt, please understand, but I have to ask."
The question was predictable. "No, sir. If she is, it can't be mine. We never did more than kiss, and that ended a year ago."
"If your relationship ended a year ago, why did she strike Miranda?"
Miranda took this one. "She told me she hoped that, if she played along with him on the break up, he'd come back to her on his own. So when he stayed as her friend, she assumed her plan worked." She saw on their faces that she didn't need to finish.
"You're kidding!" Matt couldn't believe that. "She's the one that always ridicules girls who act like that." What he didn't say was the number of times he and Lanny talked her out of playing some very mean pranks on those girls.
"Trust me, Matt. You're always the last one to realize how you're acting."
"I guess you're right. But you said you forgave her?"
"Yes. I guess I couldn't stay mad at her. What she needs are people to help her. You should write to her."
"WE should. She's my friend, but she may need another girl to ask things she doesn't want to ask her mom."
She smiled a mischievous smile. "I already offered to let her write to me."
~~~~~~~~
After Jo left and Lily was sleeping, Miranda's parents led them to the basement.
The game room used about half the basement, with the other half holding the heater, boiler, and the rest of the utilities. The room was carpeted, but the carpet was so tightly woven, you could sometimes use a mop on it. There were two sleeping bags on the floor. The table games were a group of four removable tops that fit onto a single base. The base itself was collapsible. All five parts fit into a closet that had been built for them. This closet was in the wall that separated the two parts of the basement, which was to the left of the staircase. A second door on this wall gave access to the utilities, and revealed the soundproofing that kept the game room undisturbed by the sounds they made. The only thing along this wall in the game room, other than the two doors, was an old, but long, couch. The wall farthest from the stairs included two dartboards, one standard and one electronic, and a chalkboard for scoring. The last wall had an audio center. Designed to take up as little of the floor space as possible, it stood 4 feet high, covered most of the wall's length, but came out less than six inches from the wall. The cabinet it rested on was bolted to the floor and wall. "Wow" was all Matt could say when he saw it.
"It took me five years to get everything I wanted, in the right size." Mr. Sanchez said, pleased with Matt's reaction.
The ladies just shook their heads in exasperation. "Boys with toys." They said in unison. "When you're done showing off, Edward, you might want to explain the arrangements to him." His wife sounded impatient.
"Ah, yes, of course." Unless Matt was mistaken, the man sound like HE did when his mother corrected him. "The two sleeping bags are for you two kids. The couch is where Daniella will sleep."
"The couch?" Matt asked, remembering his neck from the last couch he slept on.
"It's old, but it's also large enough, and comfortable." The woman replied. "I'll be here each night this week because of Edward's early hours."
"I see." Matt was trying very hard to hide his joy at that news.
"Don't get any ideas, young man." Her father said. "Daniella's tougher to get things past than I am, and I'll be checking in on you when I wake AND before I leave."
As Matt paled, Miranda had to fight the urge to throttle her father.
~~~~~~~~
When they settled down for the night, Matt and Miranda had wanted to start out holding hands, but Daniella ruled against it. "I understand, but remember what the goal is here. You two need to be able to sleep normally, and the only way to know when that happens is for you to try to sleep without contact." She knew the challenge in Matt's eyes. "I don't like knowing she'll be having nightmares, but if either of you are going to get better, you have to try. I think you already know this, Matt."
"Yes," he admitted, "but that doesn't make it any easier."
"I know."
~~~~~~~~
'Oh God no!' Tears were streaming down Miranda's face as she came up from her third try at breaking Matt out of his nightmare with a kiss. It was having no effect at all.
"That's three, Miranda, should I call the doctor?"
I took a moment for Miranda to answer her mother. "Yes. I can't wake him." She could barely speak.
Neither woman had noticed Edward had come downstairs. The soundproofing was only on the dividing wall, and Miranda's screams woke him. But before Daniella could move to the stairs, he was with them. "I'll carry him upstairs." He moved to get hold of the boy as he said that.
Miranda was in such a state of mind, she didn't realize the possible problem with this until it happened. The next thing anyone knew, Edward was flat on his back, with a wild-eyed Matt pinning him down, choking him. Miranda realized what was happening just in time to stop her mother. "NO, MOM! IT'S HIS NIGHTMARE!" Her mother paused just long enough for Miranda to get between her and the men. "It has to be me." As she got in position, she wasn't sure if this would work, but she knew that she was the only one that wasn't an enemy in his nightmare, so she had to be the one to try something. He never saw her there until she did the only thing she could think of. She kissed more forcefully than she ever had before, throwing her whole body weight in the connection. His surprised negated the strength of his rage, and he was forced backward. This freed his hands from her father's neck. After a minute of worthless struggle by him, she knew he was back when he began to kiss back. She didn't resist him his eager hands, not caring of their audience, only for him. When he finally broke the kiss, she saw the panic in them. "Are you okay?"
"What . . . what have I done?"
"Everyone's alright."
"What in the HELL was that about?!?" Edward finally managed, slowly coming to his feet. As so many of us do, he bent his head down as he did this. So he didn't see his daughter's approach until he looked up.
`
SMACK!
`
When he slowly turned back to face the daughter who had just struck him for the first time since she was three, the look she was giving him could have chilled the sun. "You want to know what that was about? I'll tell you." If anyone had thoughts of stopping her, hearing her voice kept them from daring to try. "In his nightmare, we get chased, all day and night, by a mob of our friends and family. Finally, we get cornered, and he has to fight them. TO THE DEATH." Her father flinched on those three words, and she leaned even closer to him. "Would you care to guess who the leader of the pack is?" It took him less than a second to figure it out, and it showed on his face. Seeing this, she stepped back. A little. "That's right. You. Mr. 'Daddy has to protect his little girl' macho BULLSHIT!" She couldn't see the shock on both her mother's and Matt faces when she said that. "I thought we had this all settled when we had that talk yesterday, but NOOooo, you had to do that 'I'll be checking in on you' speech! And gee, he has his first serious nightmare in a week the same night." The connection was lost on no one. "Remember how I told you he reacted when his father tried to wake us the morning after his last one?"
"Yes." His cheek was a deep red from her hand, but her words hurt him more than her hand, the scale of his folly coming clear. "I shouldn't have said that. But I wish you had explained all this before now."
"That's my fault." Matt said, finally collecting his wits after the spectacle he'd just witnessed. "We share our nightmares with each other, and the doctor. But we didn't want to worry any of you." He had slowly approached Miranda, and now gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's over, Miranda."
"As long as he has a problem with you, this isn't over." Her eyes never left her father.
"I think, after we all get a good night's sleep, we all need to have a talk. No subject off limits." Her mother replied, grasping for a lifeline. Her family was at a crossroads, and she refused to lose her daughter because of a lack of communication. "We should do this with clear heads. I'm sure Edward can miss a day for this." She turned to her husband. "Can't you."
He didn't dare challenge her. He saw the risk as well as she did. Besides, it was true. His boss had lost a child himself, so was being very helpful. "Yes, I can."
"Then let's all get some sleep." Daniella managed to say that with a mother's authority, and they complied.
Her husband went up the stairs, not daring to look back. While part of him still wanted to chew out Miranda for striking him, he quickly dismissed that idea. She had never done anything close to this before, and he realized that she wouldn't have if he had handled this better. He decided on that walk to put family ahead of pride. That was the only way, he thought, not to lose his daughter.
As she settled back on the couch, Daniella didn't object as Matt and Miranda settled down together. She didn't like Miranda choice for sleeping positions, but right now, she wasn't up to challenging her. The confrontation had drained her emotionally, and she quickly fell to sleep.
Miranda wouldn't let Matt be in control of how they slept tonight. She arranged them so they lay on their sides, spoons fashion, his back to her front. Their backs were to her mother. Once settled, she flopped the open flap of the sleeping bag on them, but didn't try to zip it. "Comfortable?"
"Yes. But won't we get a little too warm with the flap on us?" She answered him by running her hand up his leg. He quit asking questions.
~~~~~~~~
Once everyone was awake, they called around until they got Jo to agree to watch Lily. Once she was gone at 8:00 a.m., the four gathered in the living room. For the next FOUR HOURS, they talked. Sometimes heated, sometimes tearful, but with the women in firm control, they still managed to lay out everything that had been building over the past couple of weeks. No posturing, no threats, just the real heart of the issues. It would prove a milestone for relations between the two couples, and would be the foundation for thing to happen for years to come.
Both couples gave up something, but kept what was most important to them.
~~~~~~~~
After the tension of the night and morning, Matt and Miranda were glad to get out of the house. They got permission to pick up Lily and take her to the park, where Matt hoped to get in on the football game Reggie told him about the day before. He wasn't very good, but he always enjoyed the roughhousing and comradery. When they got there, they realized that Matt hadn't been the only one to bring an audience. At least five girls there were dressed in clothes that suggested they were not going to be playing. Reggie saw them as they approached, and after a couple of words with the other boys, went to meet them. "I was wondering if you'd make it."
"So was I. How many are here?"
Reggie let the cryptic remark go. "With you and me, sixteen. Even sides."
"Great. Where can Miranda and Lily sit?"
"With Angela." He pointed to where his new girlfriend was sitting. "By the way, do you know why Melina and Lanny are grounded? I tried to get them in on this, but their moms both said they couldn't. Wouldn't even let me talk to them."
"Yes, we know. And no, we can't tell you."
"That bad?"
"Yeah."
"Hi, I'm Lily." She had gotten tired of waiting for the old people to stop talking.
Reggie bent down to her. "I'm Reggie, Matt's friend. Are you here to watch Matt play with us?"
"Yep."
"Good." He turned and pointed. "Do you see the girl in the blue shirt on the red blanket?"
"Yeah."
"Her name's Angela, and she's with me. Why don't you and Miranda go sit with her?"
"Okay. Come on, Randa."
"Have fun." Miranda said as she held Lily in place for a moment.
"I will."
As the girls went to meet Angela, the boys headed toward the rest of the group. "So, how long have you and Angela been together?"
"About a week."
"Getting close to a record for you."
"Very funny."
"Are you serious?"
"I haven't decided."
Matt just rolled his eyes.
~~
When the girls reached the blanket, Miranda addressed the younger girl sitting there. "Excuse me, are you Angela?"
"Yes." The girl was caucasian, with brown eyes and hair a shade of brown that hinted at red. She was wearing a powder blue pull over top with jeans that were definitely for looks more than for work or play.
"I'm Miranda. This is my sister, Lily."
"You came here with Matt?"
"Yes. Reggie suggested we could join you. Is that alright?"
"Sure, I could use the company." She sounded genuine. When Miranda and Lily were seated, she asked the obvious question. "Please don't take this wrong, but, aren't you a little old for Matt?"
"Hey! Matt's old too!" Lily exclaimed.
Miranda tried not to laugh at her sister. "Lily! Don't yell at people. I understand what she means." Miranda's mirth was clear enough to Lily to keep the girl from a tantrum. Instead, she just turned her back to the new girl and focused on Matt and the other boys.
"Sorry about her."
"That's okay."
"To answer your question, Matt is my best friend's little brother. She and I were in a crash a couple of weeks ago, with two others."
"Oh, wow, is everyone okay?"
"Yes, though it was close."
"Is that why you're here with him?"
"Sort of. It's a long story."
"I expect those boys will be busy for a while."
~~
The field was marked by small orange cones one of the boys had brought. The game was as rough and tumble and chaotic as you might expect a pick-up tackle football game would be. Try though he might, Matt was clearly not one of the good players out there. But he didn't care, he was having a blast. Besides, no matter how badly he missed a play, nothing compared to the comedy of kickoffs. By agreement, the kicking was done whoever scored the last touchdown, and nobody had managed not to do absolutely terrible. Matt, not having scored in he couldn't remember how long, found that part of it very funny. The girls watching found it funny, unless the kick came at them.
Then it happened.
His team was on defense, with the other team backed up close to what, for the offense, was the wrong end zone. Then a fumble in the backfield, chaos, and a pileup in that end zone. When the bodies came of, they were surprised at who had the ball.
Matt. Touchdown defense.
Most of the boys cheered for him, as they did whenever one of the less skilled players scored. Not only because they were happy to see a friend succeed, but because that meant somebody new had to try a kickoff. Which, of course, gives them something new to laugh at.
So it was with much unease that Matt teed up the ball. Not only did he know that nobody else here was any good at this, but he remembered his troubles at making contact with a soccer ball. Reggie also knew his soccer woes, and was looking forward to this. Determined to make a good show of it, he ran up to the ball, put everything he had into the kick, and hoped he managed some kind of contact.
The ball went sailing over the other team and through the back of the other end zone. While Lily cheered wildly, the players were amazed. The oldest player, the older brother of one of the other players, was a freshman last year, and was (barely) on the JV team. But all the other boys cared about was that he was on the team. He asked for the ball, and approached Matt. "That was some kick, kid."
"Lucky kick. I could barely touch a soccer ball when I tried to play a couple of years ago, and there's no reason this should be any different."
"Maybe. Do you know how a punter kicks?"
"Sure."
He flipped the ball to Matt. "Show me."
Matt almost dropped the ball, but hung on. "This should be good for a laugh." He proceeded to try a punt, fully expecting to miss entirely. The ball took a high, arcing flight, landing in the middle of the field some 30 yards away. The silence was broken by the youngest voice there.
"Was that any good?" Lily asked.
"For an untrained Junior High kid, that's very good." The JV player replied.
~~~~~~~~
A/N: And things get even stranger. What will be the repercussions of last night, and this morning? Are today's kicks fluke, or real talent? Those, and SO much more, still to come.
by TheRealXenocide
`
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, settings, or anything else you recognize from the show Lizzie McGuire. The plot, at it's base, has been around since Homer, and this variant since Henry Ford. However, this is the first I've seen it applied to Lizzie.
`
Chapter 39
Letter of Marque
`
As Matt rode with his mom to the Sanchez home, he felt like a cloud of doom was hanging over him. Even he noticed how he had become more willing to dare to kiss and hold Miranda, at times he should know better, since Sunday. Miranda was right to turn him down in the living room, and he knew it. He hoped he could restrain himself while he was in her house.
His worry only deepened when he got to the door, and her father answered. "Hello, Matt, Mrs. McGuire. Can you join us in the living room?" He sounded odd to Matt.
When they entered the room, Matt's body tensed. Miranda's mom was there, looking worried. Miranda, however, was not. Seeing his reaction, Mrs. Sanchez motioned for the two McGuire's to sit down. Jo did, but Matt stayed still. "She's on the phone, Matt."
"We were a little surprised, considering who it is." Mr. Sanchez said as he walked in. Without directly addressing Matt's refusal to sit, he walked past the young man and joined his wife on the couch. Jo had taken a chair, which left the other chair and the love seat unused.
"Who is it?" Matt asked cautiously.
"The girl that struck her last week."
The surprise on Matt's face could have been seen on satellite surveillance. "MELINA?!? But . . . the last time I spoke to her, she said she'd been grounded for the rest of the summer. No phone, or anything else." He had moved to the love seat as he spoke, and sat down as he finished.
This was news to the parents. "All summer for one punch?" Mr. Sanchez asked. "And I though I was hard on Miranda at times."
Now Matt's surprise was joined by discomfort. "Well, it's more than that. I can't go into detail, but she's had an . . . eventful week. That punishment is nothing compared to what could happen."
Something was tugging at the back of Jo's mind, but she decided to wait until later to figure it out. "When did she call?"
"About a half hour ago." Mrs. Sanchez replied. "Her mother made the call, and told me the girl wanted to apologize to Miranda."
Matt just shook his head. "A couple of weeks ago, I wouldn't have thought it possible. Even though I suggested a letter of apology, I worried she wouldn't go through with it." His eyes sharpened, as if something just occurred to him. "But why would it take a half hour to apologize?"
Before anyone could answer him, somebody else entered the room. Already in her PJs, and carrying a stuffed white tiger almost as big as she was, Lily wandered into the room. She was obviously still sleepy, yawning and rubbing her eyes with her unoccupied hand. "Mommy," she said sleepily, "I can't sleep. Would you . . ." She interrupted herself when she finally noticed they had company. When her eyes settled on Matt, she seemed to perk up slightly. "Oh, hi Matt. Why you here?"
He smiled at the girl. "Remember when Miranda and I told you that we'd be sleeping here soon?" She nodded. "That starts tonight."
"Really?" She seemed pleased by this, but then looked puzzled. "But were you sleep?"
It wasn't until she said that that he realized he didn't know. "Your parents haven't told me yet." He turned to her father. "Where will Miranda and I be sleeping?"
"We have a finished game room in the basement we thought would work" her mother answered.
Lily looked confused. "But when Lizzie sleeps over, she stays in Randa's room. Why not you?"
Remembering the last time she asked something like that, Matt held his tongue. Her mother answered her. "I'll explain it while I get you back to sleep, young lady."
The energy she had been expending drained from her upon hearing the word sleep. "Oh, okay. Night Matt."
"Goodnight, Lily."
~~
Not long after Lily and her mother left the room, Miranda came in. "Did they tell you about the call?" she asked Matt as she walked over to him.
"Yeah." He answered as she sat next to him. "I thought she wasn't allowed to use the phone?"
A slight smile crept onto her face. "She said her mother gave in after the hundredth failed letter."
"THAT makes sense. What did she say that took a half hour?"
"She apologized, and I forgave her. But it was more than that." She got very serious. "She scared, Matt. No matter how many times I reminded her that it was unlikely because they used something, she terrified that she might be . . ." She stopped herself short, remembering the adults in the room.
However, the thing that had been tugging at Jo's mind all night finally clicked. "Pregnant?" She asked in that tone mothers get that let's everyone in the room know she was sure she was right.
"Please understand, mom. I can't say if your right, because if you are, it's not my place to be the one to tell you."
"I understand, Matt. But it does put a lot of different little things together."
"Wait a minute." Mr. Sanchez interrupted. "Matt, please understand, but I have to ask."
The question was predictable. "No, sir. If she is, it can't be mine. We never did more than kiss, and that ended a year ago."
"If your relationship ended a year ago, why did she strike Miranda?"
Miranda took this one. "She told me she hoped that, if she played along with him on the break up, he'd come back to her on his own. So when he stayed as her friend, she assumed her plan worked." She saw on their faces that she didn't need to finish.
"You're kidding!" Matt couldn't believe that. "She's the one that always ridicules girls who act like that." What he didn't say was the number of times he and Lanny talked her out of playing some very mean pranks on those girls.
"Trust me, Matt. You're always the last one to realize how you're acting."
"I guess you're right. But you said you forgave her?"
"Yes. I guess I couldn't stay mad at her. What she needs are people to help her. You should write to her."
"WE should. She's my friend, but she may need another girl to ask things she doesn't want to ask her mom."
She smiled a mischievous smile. "I already offered to let her write to me."
~~~~~~~~
After Jo left and Lily was sleeping, Miranda's parents led them to the basement.
The game room used about half the basement, with the other half holding the heater, boiler, and the rest of the utilities. The room was carpeted, but the carpet was so tightly woven, you could sometimes use a mop on it. There were two sleeping bags on the floor. The table games were a group of four removable tops that fit onto a single base. The base itself was collapsible. All five parts fit into a closet that had been built for them. This closet was in the wall that separated the two parts of the basement, which was to the left of the staircase. A second door on this wall gave access to the utilities, and revealed the soundproofing that kept the game room undisturbed by the sounds they made. The only thing along this wall in the game room, other than the two doors, was an old, but long, couch. The wall farthest from the stairs included two dartboards, one standard and one electronic, and a chalkboard for scoring. The last wall had an audio center. Designed to take up as little of the floor space as possible, it stood 4 feet high, covered most of the wall's length, but came out less than six inches from the wall. The cabinet it rested on was bolted to the floor and wall. "Wow" was all Matt could say when he saw it.
"It took me five years to get everything I wanted, in the right size." Mr. Sanchez said, pleased with Matt's reaction.
The ladies just shook their heads in exasperation. "Boys with toys." They said in unison. "When you're done showing off, Edward, you might want to explain the arrangements to him." His wife sounded impatient.
"Ah, yes, of course." Unless Matt was mistaken, the man sound like HE did when his mother corrected him. "The two sleeping bags are for you two kids. The couch is where Daniella will sleep."
"The couch?" Matt asked, remembering his neck from the last couch he slept on.
"It's old, but it's also large enough, and comfortable." The woman replied. "I'll be here each night this week because of Edward's early hours."
"I see." Matt was trying very hard to hide his joy at that news.
"Don't get any ideas, young man." Her father said. "Daniella's tougher to get things past than I am, and I'll be checking in on you when I wake AND before I leave."
As Matt paled, Miranda had to fight the urge to throttle her father.
~~~~~~~~
When they settled down for the night, Matt and Miranda had wanted to start out holding hands, but Daniella ruled against it. "I understand, but remember what the goal is here. You two need to be able to sleep normally, and the only way to know when that happens is for you to try to sleep without contact." She knew the challenge in Matt's eyes. "I don't like knowing she'll be having nightmares, but if either of you are going to get better, you have to try. I think you already know this, Matt."
"Yes," he admitted, "but that doesn't make it any easier."
"I know."
~~~~~~~~
'Oh God no!' Tears were streaming down Miranda's face as she came up from her third try at breaking Matt out of his nightmare with a kiss. It was having no effect at all.
"That's three, Miranda, should I call the doctor?"
I took a moment for Miranda to answer her mother. "Yes. I can't wake him." She could barely speak.
Neither woman had noticed Edward had come downstairs. The soundproofing was only on the dividing wall, and Miranda's screams woke him. But before Daniella could move to the stairs, he was with them. "I'll carry him upstairs." He moved to get hold of the boy as he said that.
Miranda was in such a state of mind, she didn't realize the possible problem with this until it happened. The next thing anyone knew, Edward was flat on his back, with a wild-eyed Matt pinning him down, choking him. Miranda realized what was happening just in time to stop her mother. "NO, MOM! IT'S HIS NIGHTMARE!" Her mother paused just long enough for Miranda to get between her and the men. "It has to be me." As she got in position, she wasn't sure if this would work, but she knew that she was the only one that wasn't an enemy in his nightmare, so she had to be the one to try something. He never saw her there until she did the only thing she could think of. She kissed more forcefully than she ever had before, throwing her whole body weight in the connection. His surprised negated the strength of his rage, and he was forced backward. This freed his hands from her father's neck. After a minute of worthless struggle by him, she knew he was back when he began to kiss back. She didn't resist him his eager hands, not caring of their audience, only for him. When he finally broke the kiss, she saw the panic in them. "Are you okay?"
"What . . . what have I done?"
"Everyone's alright."
"What in the HELL was that about?!?" Edward finally managed, slowly coming to his feet. As so many of us do, he bent his head down as he did this. So he didn't see his daughter's approach until he looked up.
`
SMACK!
`
When he slowly turned back to face the daughter who had just struck him for the first time since she was three, the look she was giving him could have chilled the sun. "You want to know what that was about? I'll tell you." If anyone had thoughts of stopping her, hearing her voice kept them from daring to try. "In his nightmare, we get chased, all day and night, by a mob of our friends and family. Finally, we get cornered, and he has to fight them. TO THE DEATH." Her father flinched on those three words, and she leaned even closer to him. "Would you care to guess who the leader of the pack is?" It took him less than a second to figure it out, and it showed on his face. Seeing this, she stepped back. A little. "That's right. You. Mr. 'Daddy has to protect his little girl' macho BULLSHIT!" She couldn't see the shock on both her mother's and Matt faces when she said that. "I thought we had this all settled when we had that talk yesterday, but NOOooo, you had to do that 'I'll be checking in on you' speech! And gee, he has his first serious nightmare in a week the same night." The connection was lost on no one. "Remember how I told you he reacted when his father tried to wake us the morning after his last one?"
"Yes." His cheek was a deep red from her hand, but her words hurt him more than her hand, the scale of his folly coming clear. "I shouldn't have said that. But I wish you had explained all this before now."
"That's my fault." Matt said, finally collecting his wits after the spectacle he'd just witnessed. "We share our nightmares with each other, and the doctor. But we didn't want to worry any of you." He had slowly approached Miranda, and now gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's over, Miranda."
"As long as he has a problem with you, this isn't over." Her eyes never left her father.
"I think, after we all get a good night's sleep, we all need to have a talk. No subject off limits." Her mother replied, grasping for a lifeline. Her family was at a crossroads, and she refused to lose her daughter because of a lack of communication. "We should do this with clear heads. I'm sure Edward can miss a day for this." She turned to her husband. "Can't you."
He didn't dare challenge her. He saw the risk as well as she did. Besides, it was true. His boss had lost a child himself, so was being very helpful. "Yes, I can."
"Then let's all get some sleep." Daniella managed to say that with a mother's authority, and they complied.
Her husband went up the stairs, not daring to look back. While part of him still wanted to chew out Miranda for striking him, he quickly dismissed that idea. She had never done anything close to this before, and he realized that she wouldn't have if he had handled this better. He decided on that walk to put family ahead of pride. That was the only way, he thought, not to lose his daughter.
As she settled back on the couch, Daniella didn't object as Matt and Miranda settled down together. She didn't like Miranda choice for sleeping positions, but right now, she wasn't up to challenging her. The confrontation had drained her emotionally, and she quickly fell to sleep.
Miranda wouldn't let Matt be in control of how they slept tonight. She arranged them so they lay on their sides, spoons fashion, his back to her front. Their backs were to her mother. Once settled, she flopped the open flap of the sleeping bag on them, but didn't try to zip it. "Comfortable?"
"Yes. But won't we get a little too warm with the flap on us?" She answered him by running her hand up his leg. He quit asking questions.
~~~~~~~~
Once everyone was awake, they called around until they got Jo to agree to watch Lily. Once she was gone at 8:00 a.m., the four gathered in the living room. For the next FOUR HOURS, they talked. Sometimes heated, sometimes tearful, but with the women in firm control, they still managed to lay out everything that had been building over the past couple of weeks. No posturing, no threats, just the real heart of the issues. It would prove a milestone for relations between the two couples, and would be the foundation for thing to happen for years to come.
Both couples gave up something, but kept what was most important to them.
~~~~~~~~
After the tension of the night and morning, Matt and Miranda were glad to get out of the house. They got permission to pick up Lily and take her to the park, where Matt hoped to get in on the football game Reggie told him about the day before. He wasn't very good, but he always enjoyed the roughhousing and comradery. When they got there, they realized that Matt hadn't been the only one to bring an audience. At least five girls there were dressed in clothes that suggested they were not going to be playing. Reggie saw them as they approached, and after a couple of words with the other boys, went to meet them. "I was wondering if you'd make it."
"So was I. How many are here?"
Reggie let the cryptic remark go. "With you and me, sixteen. Even sides."
"Great. Where can Miranda and Lily sit?"
"With Angela." He pointed to where his new girlfriend was sitting. "By the way, do you know why Melina and Lanny are grounded? I tried to get them in on this, but their moms both said they couldn't. Wouldn't even let me talk to them."
"Yes, we know. And no, we can't tell you."
"That bad?"
"Yeah."
"Hi, I'm Lily." She had gotten tired of waiting for the old people to stop talking.
Reggie bent down to her. "I'm Reggie, Matt's friend. Are you here to watch Matt play with us?"
"Yep."
"Good." He turned and pointed. "Do you see the girl in the blue shirt on the red blanket?"
"Yeah."
"Her name's Angela, and she's with me. Why don't you and Miranda go sit with her?"
"Okay. Come on, Randa."
"Have fun." Miranda said as she held Lily in place for a moment.
"I will."
As the girls went to meet Angela, the boys headed toward the rest of the group. "So, how long have you and Angela been together?"
"About a week."
"Getting close to a record for you."
"Very funny."
"Are you serious?"
"I haven't decided."
Matt just rolled his eyes.
~~
When the girls reached the blanket, Miranda addressed the younger girl sitting there. "Excuse me, are you Angela?"
"Yes." The girl was caucasian, with brown eyes and hair a shade of brown that hinted at red. She was wearing a powder blue pull over top with jeans that were definitely for looks more than for work or play.
"I'm Miranda. This is my sister, Lily."
"You came here with Matt?"
"Yes. Reggie suggested we could join you. Is that alright?"
"Sure, I could use the company." She sounded genuine. When Miranda and Lily were seated, she asked the obvious question. "Please don't take this wrong, but, aren't you a little old for Matt?"
"Hey! Matt's old too!" Lily exclaimed.
Miranda tried not to laugh at her sister. "Lily! Don't yell at people. I understand what she means." Miranda's mirth was clear enough to Lily to keep the girl from a tantrum. Instead, she just turned her back to the new girl and focused on Matt and the other boys.
"Sorry about her."
"That's okay."
"To answer your question, Matt is my best friend's little brother. She and I were in a crash a couple of weeks ago, with two others."
"Oh, wow, is everyone okay?"
"Yes, though it was close."
"Is that why you're here with him?"
"Sort of. It's a long story."
"I expect those boys will be busy for a while."
~~
The field was marked by small orange cones one of the boys had brought. The game was as rough and tumble and chaotic as you might expect a pick-up tackle football game would be. Try though he might, Matt was clearly not one of the good players out there. But he didn't care, he was having a blast. Besides, no matter how badly he missed a play, nothing compared to the comedy of kickoffs. By agreement, the kicking was done whoever scored the last touchdown, and nobody had managed not to do absolutely terrible. Matt, not having scored in he couldn't remember how long, found that part of it very funny. The girls watching found it funny, unless the kick came at them.
Then it happened.
His team was on defense, with the other team backed up close to what, for the offense, was the wrong end zone. Then a fumble in the backfield, chaos, and a pileup in that end zone. When the bodies came of, they were surprised at who had the ball.
Matt. Touchdown defense.
Most of the boys cheered for him, as they did whenever one of the less skilled players scored. Not only because they were happy to see a friend succeed, but because that meant somebody new had to try a kickoff. Which, of course, gives them something new to laugh at.
So it was with much unease that Matt teed up the ball. Not only did he know that nobody else here was any good at this, but he remembered his troubles at making contact with a soccer ball. Reggie also knew his soccer woes, and was looking forward to this. Determined to make a good show of it, he ran up to the ball, put everything he had into the kick, and hoped he managed some kind of contact.
The ball went sailing over the other team and through the back of the other end zone. While Lily cheered wildly, the players were amazed. The oldest player, the older brother of one of the other players, was a freshman last year, and was (barely) on the JV team. But all the other boys cared about was that he was on the team. He asked for the ball, and approached Matt. "That was some kick, kid."
"Lucky kick. I could barely touch a soccer ball when I tried to play a couple of years ago, and there's no reason this should be any different."
"Maybe. Do you know how a punter kicks?"
"Sure."
He flipped the ball to Matt. "Show me."
Matt almost dropped the ball, but hung on. "This should be good for a laugh." He proceeded to try a punt, fully expecting to miss entirely. The ball took a high, arcing flight, landing in the middle of the field some 30 yards away. The silence was broken by the youngest voice there.
"Was that any good?" Lily asked.
"For an untrained Junior High kid, that's very good." The JV player replied.
~~~~~~~~
A/N: And things get even stranger. What will be the repercussions of last night, and this morning? Are today's kicks fluke, or real talent? Those, and SO much more, still to come.