A/N: Sweet, yes Velma is usually older and by far more dominant, and that's what I love about her! But in this case, the key to making her a passable and at least somewhat likable human being, is to make at least one other person, and of course one of her own blood, her "older" sister, more vile and therefor a person that dominates over her.

Confusing, I know, it's a stupid concept, but the story's ok so far, right? Aight, here we go...

CAUTION: This chapter may depress you, and come to think of it there's a lot of sadness in the following chapters, but I can promise you it will not end in tears. So keep reading!

Oh yes, I haven't lost my taste for reviews yet! REVIEW!

XOXO -Vikki Kelly- XOXO

"But seriously, it wasn't that bad." Velma continued. "From the time we were young, both my sister and I had become fascinated with singing and dancing, and all the stories we'd hear our father tell us of the beautiful Vaudeville shows and dancers he'd seen. It was so whimsical to me back then. When I was about 6 and my sister was 8, the two of us would go out back and turn on our father's Victrola and dance for all the neighbors. God, it was such a thrill for me!" she said, closing her eyes in the delectable recollection.

"And they loved us! We were so good! It was the one common interest Veronica and I shared, and the one time we could do something together when she wouldn't be focused on torturing the living daylights out of me. Besides, she knew I made her look better than she really was." Velma added with a wink.

"But it was at 17, for me, that it had become a need. This brings me back to the whole situation with Charlie." "Oh yeah," said Roxie. "I was wonderin' about that."

"Ya see, it all started with me and him one day when my sister was stayin' home sick from school. I was walking on Columbus Drive on the way to Laudsdale High when all of a sudden I heard him call me from behind. 'Hey Kelly girl!' I heard him say. He had heard some one mention a Mr. Kelly and his two daughters to his father when they had first moved in, but he didn't know our first names.

'Wachya want?' I yelled back to him. He told me he wanted to look good to his new friends by walking with a pretty girl like me. Boy did he know how to put it on, even at 15. From that moment on he followed me everywhere I went, and I let him. We talked about everything, school, our hobbies, kissing, and even by asking on his part, my sister. He had asked me a lot of different questions about Veronica. I should have gotten wind of his intentions back then. But I guess I really liked him, and I was blind to it."

Roxie couldn't take her eyes off of Velma. She was so wrapped up in this ravishing woman's enigmatic yesteryears. 'Boy her past is as much a mystery as she is.' Thought Roxie.

"We did everything together, Rox. He started to come home with us every day after school. We'd do homework, play games, talk, and most of the time he would even referee fights between my sister and I when my father was off at work. I have to say for a short-lived time it was like the three of us had a bond, and I would actually look forward to coming home from school and hanging around with Charlie and Veronica, if you can believe it.

The best part was that Charlie was the one thing that I could call mine, that Veronica didn't seem to want. She'd be nice to him, sure. But when I told her I started to like him, she'd say 'He's such a goofy kid. Yeah Vel, he's perfect for you.'

I didn't care about what she thought of him, because it was like he was my boyfriend, MINE, and for the first time she respected my boundaries."

Roxie yawned. "You fallin' asleep on me, eh?" Velma said with a grin. "No I--" "Just shut up and listen to me, kid. It gets better." Said Velma.

"It was the fall of 1920, when I turned 16, that officially all hell broke loose. My dad had just thrown me a birthday party. A few of my friends from school were there, Veronica, and of course Charlie. We had all had a few drinks, despite the new goddamn ban, and we were all feeling a bit, I guess you could say frisky."

Both Roxie and Velma began to giggle. Velma squeezed her pillow to her chest and continued.

"After everybody had gone home, and my father and sister had gone to bed, I went outside to exercise my newly given right as a smoker. It was September and the weather was still fairly warm, but I swear, that night felt like Death Valley at high noon in the middle of July. As I walked along the sidewalk in front of my house, I remember the cool crisp wind caressing my skin and almost lifting me into the air. It felt so good next to the stifling heat that had me sweating down to my underwear.

I remember thinking to myself how much I didn't want to be alone right then. I wanted to see some one, some one that I could trust. But when I thought about it, I didn't know too many people back then that I could trust. I felt so detached from everything and everyone.

I turned the corner and as I began to walk past the Texaco station, I heard it... 'Hey, Kelly girl!' I turned around and there he was, my Charlie. At the time I remember thinking it had to have been a dream!

'Hey Kelly girl, come here!' He yelled. I don't know what was wrong with me. I ran to him like a hound dog runnin' to his master with his tail between his legs. I jumped into his arms and he kissed me. Not our first kiss, but that night it had taken on a different meaning. As he held me up in the air, he looked me in the eyes and dropped the bomb."

By now Roxie was hanging on Velma's every word. "Come on, Velma, what did he say?" she asked.

"He told me he loved me, Roxie. And I fell hook, line, and sinker. I would have given anything to hear those words from him, and in fact I did.

We ran all the way back to my house, and I gave myself to him that night in the back of my father's ford." Velma's expression turned dark.

"It's ok Velma, I don't think any less of you." Said Roxie putting a hand on her shoulder. Velma pulled back furiously and spun around on the bed to face Roxie. "Neither do I!" She snapped. "I'm not ashamed of myself. And you're the one to talk, Miss Good time that's been had by all!"

Roxie both startled and furious at the same time, crossed her arms in a huff and turned away from Velma to face the wall. "Who..needs...YOU?!" she roared awkwardly, head now buried in her pillow to keep Velma from seeing her apparent distress.

Velma sighed. "I'm sorry. You see, I told ya I was a complete shit. Come here hon." She lifted the delicate little blonde into her arms. Roxie refused to look at her. "I'm sorry, really Roxie. I didn't mean that. It's just that wasn't the part of the story that had made me upset. I-I lost my temper."

"Well you better find it and hold on to it for next time, is all!" said Roxie still denying to meet her glance. Velma laughed. With her index finger she directed Roxie's face to her own. "You still love me." She asserted in a puppy dog whimper as she placed a kiss on her nose.

Roxie had given in. Her insides had melted, but she remained outwardly cool. "Go on with your damn story." She said gruffly as she fell back down on her pillow.

Velma lay herself stomach down on the mattress and wrapped an arm around the slender figure of her beloved.

"Well, that night I got pregnant...For real." She said apathetically into the pillow. Roxie whipped around to face Velma on the bed. "Velma!" she bawled.

"Just listen, ok?" said Velma. Roxie remained quiet, but even by way of the dark the broadened whites of her eyes were visible through her shock.

"I didn't have any clue for about a month until, well, 'it' never came. I was so scared, I didn't know what to do. I didn't have anybody I could confide in to take me to the doctor's, and there was no way I could tell Veronica, so I went by myself.

You can imagine how hard it was for an unmarried 16 year-old girl to hear those fateful words from the doctor alone. I managed not to cry, which by now I've mastered, and made my home. I felt dirty. I couldn't think of anything else but what my father would say. I didn't want him to hate me. He was the only person besides Charlie who had ever treated me half-decent in my life.

When I got home, I decided to bite the bullet. It had to be said one way or another. When I told my father.." Velma's voice started to crack. "I can still remember the tears falling from his eyes like raindrops. I broke his heart, Rox."

Roxie took Velma's hand in hers. "And I can still see my sister standing behind him in the kitchen smirking at me, like Lucifer himself. People think I'm such a bitch. Try living with the devil for 25 years!" Velma cried out.

"Anyway, when my father had finally composed himself, he TOLD me I was getting married. I couldn't say that I really minded, it was what was to be expected, my father being a strict Irish-Catholic. Of course more than anything I hated to see him so disappointed in me, but then I was also afraid to tell Charlie.

On the day I told him, I hadn't seen him in almost a month anyway. He had been sick with the measles and his mother had forbidden him from leavin' the house. When I did tell him, let me tell ya I was in for quite a surprise, and not a good one.

The first thing he asked me was if it was his. Could you believe that? From that moment on, everything about his personality changed. He acted as though he didn't want to be around me anymore. Things would never get better between us from this point.

But my father saw everything through. He would die before I not marry that little grifter.

"And you married him, Vel?" asked Roxie. "You bet your golden garters." Velma's voice began to quiver again. "And two and a half months into my pregnancy, I lost the baby. The only thing Charlie said to me when I told him was 'That's too bad.'" Velma looked as though she was going to collapse.

"Velma!" Cried Roxie as she pulled her into an embrace. "I'm OK now, Roxie." Velma laughed weakly. "Anyway it was what happened not so long after, that I still have trouble thinking about.

When I was 17, still married of course, my father suffered a heart attack which killed him. The doctor told us that his death had most likely been brought on by severe stress or mental strain. When he died, any innocence or compassion that I had left inside me, died with him.

It was my fault, Rox. I killed my father. What I did ended his life. And now," She threw her hands in the air. "Looking back, it wasn't even worth it."

"It wasn't your fault, honey. Those things just happen. You loved your father, he knew that. Wherever he is, he knows it wasn't your fault." Said Roxie through tears to Velma whose face was barren of any sentiment.

She took Roxie's hand. "I had to get through it all somehow. You can imagine I wasn't the only one who blamed myself for my dad's death. Veronica didn't help my conscience one bit, though she seemed to care very little about Dad. It seemed to me like she was just getting a kick out of making me feel worse. I don't even remember her crying one tear for our father.

Anyway that was when the three of us made a decision to go into show business. Veronica and me would have our own act, and Charlie would be our manager. Manager, ha!" Velma cried. "He did nothing but sit back and live off our earnings. Once we auditioned, and people found out we were a class-A act, all he had to do was pick up a phone and schedule a performance. But he was such a dope he couldn't do nothing else." She sniggered.

But I admit it, Rox. I wanted fame. I was greedy for it at that point. I needed something to take my mind off of my father and my lost child, and I immediately knew what it was.

...jazz!

More than anything I loved to entertain. It was my passion! When I was on stage performing under the spotlights in front off all those people, doing the one thing that I knew I was better than everybody else at...Damn it took me higher than any peak Charlie could ever bring me too!" Velma bellowed.

Both Roxie and Velma broke into some much-needed laughter. "I know what you mean." Giggled Roxie. "Oh I bet you do!" Velma went on. "For you it was like Amos was fixin' a carburetor, for me it was like Charlie removing the tailpipe!" She joked.

"But then it happened...The event that would change my life forever. I bet you know what I'm gettin' at now, don't ya Rox?" Roxie nodded.

"Ya know I always had a feeling. A little presence in the back of my mind that told me something wasn't right.

I remember Veronica lying her fat ass on the sofa, drink in one hand, cigarette in the other. Charlie had just come out of the shower, with a towel wrapped around him. He went over to pour himself another drink and ever so keenly noticed we were out of ice.

I can't say that I was too suspicious that day, because when he said 'Hey baby how's about you go get us some more ice, so we can booze a little more before the show?' I was all for it.

Out I went, practically skipping along in high spirits like the little Pollyanna I was at the time, to the corner drug to pick up a bag of ice. My whole little excursion couldn't have taken any longer than seven minutes. Hmph." Velma chuckled. "I see why they thought they were gonna get away with it. Charlie doesn't take much more than a few minutes from start to finish."

By now, Roxie was in stitches. "But evidently Charlie was having a good day, well at least for a little while. Because when I got back and opened the door there they were, now that I think of it, doing number 18, the SCREWDRIVER."

Just then Roxie rolled off the bed. "Well if that ain't a site for sore eyes." Teased Velma as she looked down on the floor. "You almost made me have an accident, Vel!" Exclaimed Roxie as she climbed back into bed. "I think you just did in a sense." Velma giggled. "Ha-Ha." Replied Roxie.

"Back to the terrible twosome." Said Velma. "When I opened the door, almost 10 years of pent up rage took its toll on me. The gun Charlie always carried around for his "personal protection" was lying on the table...And...that's all I remember. I'm not gonna kid ya, Rox. We both know damn well that I killed them. But it's funny, 'cos I really can't remember doing it. That phrase "crime of passion" isn't really such a big load of hoo-hah after all."

Velma once again looked up at the ceiling. "I know that it was wrong to kill them. But the whole fact of the matter is that I don't miss them, and I'm not sorry." She looked over at Roxie who was admiringly looking over her lover and silently thinking how lucky she was to have the heart of some one so beautiful outside and clearly now, inside.

"Do you think I'm evil for that?" Asked Velma. "No Velma," Replied Roxie. "I think you're human."

Like a fish needs water, or fire needs oxygen, Velma needed her Roxie. She leaned over and felt her warm flesh, running her hands from her stomach over her breasts and up to Roxie's soft pale cheeks. "I don't want to ever let you out of my sight." She whispered to her. "That's good. I feel the same way. I was planning on sendin' away to Mama for some handcuffs myself." Kidded Roxie as she ever so lightly kissed Velma's lips.

"You're something else, kid. But whatever you are, I couldn't live without ya." Said Velma.

Just then she noticed Roxie's evening gown hanging over the dresser mirror. "Oh my God not something else in pink? What is with you and this infernal color?" She laughed. "Well I like it, do you have a problem with that?" inquired Roxie. "No I just don't understand it. I don't wear anything in pink, I'm more of a mysterious red and black girl, myself."

"Well that's fine because you look silly in pink anyway." Stated Roxie. "Oh thanks!" Velma giggled. "I thought you said I looked beautiful before in that frilly pink nightie of yours?" "Well Velma, you're always beautiful, no matter what you have...or don't have on." Said Roxie seductively.

Velma grimaced playfully. She threw the covers over them once again, and without a word, thanked her friend for the compliment the only way she felt fit.

Long chapter I know... I can't promise there won't be anymore of those, though I think the next one will be pretty short. Oh and "hint hint" things will be getting exciting pretty soon!