Thanx so much for all your reviews, especially since the whole re-
submission of this fic. It's been really hard for me to come to grips with
the fact that I am never going to get all my wonderful old reviews back.
Please make it easier for me and keep reviewing! You guys are the only
thing that keeps me going when my brain's out of creative juice. :D Triple
C we rule the Chicago school...fa sure mamis!
Velma sat staring up at the ceiling with scornful solidarity. It had been two or three hours since the first shards of light had cajoled their way around the austere gray woolen curtains of her cell room window.
Physically she was indeed sitting there on the crass long sprung- out mattress of the prison bed, but mentally Velma was somewhere far away.
So desperately she struggled to keep the dam that was holding back her flood of tears from bursting, but by now it had suffered just about one too many chinks. Finally the only option that remained to her apart from the fabrication of a massive deluge of tears was total denial of her surroundings...something that Velma had mastered long ago.
So she lay there, heavy-eyed and weary, imagining herself to be nothing more than a beautiful princess locked up in a tower by a wicked queen, waiting for her savior to come rescue her. Now with that clear of conscience, her mind was able to reassure her eyes that it was alright to close...and for the first time in twenty-four hours Velma's stomach temporarily disentangled itself from the constant pangs of worry, and she rested peacefully. It was then and only then, at that last moment before she drifted off to sleep, that she was aware of how Roxie had gotten through such a miserable twenty-five years of existence.
Not even two hours later Velma was awoken by a sudden tap at the bars of her cell door. "Rise and shine cupcake!" Mama chirped melodiously. "You've got another visitor." Mama and Velma glanced down the hallway in the direction of the acrimonious shrieks originating from the lobby.
From clear down the hall past the entrance doors into the foyer both Mama and Velma could hear Roxie's ranting and raving at officer after officer, guard after guard as she shoved and stormed her way towards Velma's cell.
"But by the looks of how things are going now, she may be stickin' around a trifle longer than a visit." Said Mama cringing as Roxie angrily pushed her way past the last prison guard unwittingly knocking him from his post backwards down the stairs.
"Goddamn, loggerheaded, half-witted, dumbshit reporters! Can't even get outta my own mother-lovin' house..." bellowed the little blonde furiously. Roxie's face now assumed a deep tropical burn. Neither Mama nor Velma had ever seen her like this before, and actually feared that she might explode right there before them.
But as soon as Roxie turned around to see Velma hanging at the prison wall bars eyeing her longingly, she could feel her heart jump up into her throat, and not a thought other than Velma stood out in her mind.
Roxie carefully scrutinized the surrounding territory. A token of forgotten violence, the familiarity of the situation was uncanny to her. Looking at Velma behind bars, and knowing that there was a very lavish possibility that she may never view her love any other way again, or God forbid even worse, was all at once too much for her. 'This is my fault.' She thought. Masking emotions never being a forte of Roxie's as it was Velma's, the young showgirl burst into tears.
Velma, as often as the wind changes directions, held back her own tears and reached to Roxie through the cold steel bars. "It's OK Roxie, come here." She pulled her friend as close to her as she could and hugged her through the iron shafts.
As Roxie cried in Velma's arms, Velma gazed hollow-eyed over to Mama, swiftly nodding just once, confirming the unimaginable truth. Mama was taken aback like she had never been in her life, but the more she let it all marinate within her mindsworth, the more it made sense. 'Roxie and Velma as different as day and night yet go together like the sea and its tide.' She thought.
"I'll leave the two of you alone for a while." Said Mama somberly. As she started down the hallway, she stopped and put her arm around Roxie. "Hang in there Hart. I know it's hard 'cos I can see it all actually means something to you guys this time around, but you've got strong blood. Don't ever let them see you hurtin'. And like I told little Vellie over here, you know if there's anything I can ever do for either of you, don't hesitate to come see Mama."
Though she could not compel the words to depart from her lips, Roxie squeezed Mama's hand in a tacit gesture of genuine thanks. As Mama continued down the corridor, she turned to Velma.
"Oh God Velma, I'm so sorry. I would have come here last night, but those relentless reporters... Those bastards just don't give up. Half of 'em didn't leave at all last night! They even started to throw rocks at the window to get me to come over there so they could take my picture." Cried Roxie hysterically.
"Aww, they always used to do stuff like that, Rox. We used to have fun with that. Remember last week, what you gave that other guy a 'flash' of?" Teased Velma with a fictitious grin in an attempt to lighten the mood.
Roxie was not amused. "Velma, this is serious! I don't know what to tell them. What if I say too much? Half the time when they get a hold of me my mind's not even with them...It's with you. I'm so worried about you."
"Me too baby, me too." Said Velma stroking Roxie's flustered pink cheek. "But it's all gonna work out, you'll see. When those reporters come up to you again, just tell 'em the truth...well most of it. Tell 'em that your boyfriend Tony was attacking you and I came by for a visit and I saved ya. They won't know their ass from their elbow about anything concerning us."
"That doesn't matter right now, Velma. What matters is if they'll believe our story. Of all the people in the world think about how that sounds comin' from us two." They paused in the sickeningly accurate deadlock of thought, each trying to hide their own fear from the other.
"So did you talk to Billy?" asked Roxie eagerly a moment later. "Yeah I did, Rox." Replied Velma almost completely nonchalant.
"Well...WHAT DID HE SAY?! He didn't say much to me last night. Is he gonna help us?" Roxie inquired her voice brimming with a scathing enthusiasm.
"Actually he said that he thinks we have a pretty good chance with him on the home team, seeing as we have your bruises as evidence...But he also said he thinks Harrison's up to something."
"Up to something? What the hell could he be up to?! ...Well it doesn't matter now that you have Billy as your lawyer. He'll get us out of this." Said Roxie reassuringly as she gently ran her hand through Velma's hair.
Velma felt her stomach begin to knot again. She glared tragically at the little starlet. "He doesn't know we can't pay him this time, Roxie."
Roxie looked at Velma stunned. "Goddamn it, he got $10,000 between the two of us not even a year ago! You don't think he would--" Velma began to nod gravely before Roxie could finish her sentence.
"You know how he is, Rox. He's not the worst guy in the world, but money rules him." Velma looked down at the floor and then raising her head she stared out beyond the prison bars, but all the while refusing to meet Roxie's glance. "Luckily I know something he may want more than money." She said impassively.
"You don't mean--" "Yeah, Roxie...me."
Velma looked down at Roxie now, and could see that once again she was on the verge of tears. "You know I don't love anyone but you." Stated Velma in a husky, rhythmic whisper.
"I know, Vel. It's just I rather give you up and never see you again, as long as I knew you were alright." Velma immediately eyed her outlandishly. Roxie shocked even herself with her profession. Never before had she cared enough about somebody else to put their well being before her own. Never before was she willing to give up her own happiness for someone else's.
Velma squeezed the prison bars to keep from crying. If Velma's touch was as hot as the love that burned in her heart for Roxie, she could have melted the bars that which separated her from her beloved, without flinching an eye right there on the spot.
"It's not gonna be like that, Rox. No one's giving up anyone. I'll do what I gotta do to get outta here and that's it. BAM! We're back to life!" Roxie wasn't hearing any of it. "Just don't think of me when the two of you are together." Said Roxie sullenly.
"Honey, the fires of hell couldn't burn your image out of my mind for a second." Velma gushed wildly, now overwhelmed with passion as she pulled Roxie even closer to her through the bars. But before the two could lean in to share one final kiss they were interrupted by the sound of footsteps and the appearance of a feudal silhouette leisurely making its way towards them from down the hall.
Casually pulling off his scarf and trench coat Billy stepped out of the shadows. He minded them affectionately. "Two beautiful ladies for the price of one...That's always a good thing."
About 2 chapters left...Almost done. But my mind is giving me an attitude. It doesn't wanna be creative anymore...So if the rest of this story sucks, my apologies really. :(
Velma sat staring up at the ceiling with scornful solidarity. It had been two or three hours since the first shards of light had cajoled their way around the austere gray woolen curtains of her cell room window.
Physically she was indeed sitting there on the crass long sprung- out mattress of the prison bed, but mentally Velma was somewhere far away.
So desperately she struggled to keep the dam that was holding back her flood of tears from bursting, but by now it had suffered just about one too many chinks. Finally the only option that remained to her apart from the fabrication of a massive deluge of tears was total denial of her surroundings...something that Velma had mastered long ago.
So she lay there, heavy-eyed and weary, imagining herself to be nothing more than a beautiful princess locked up in a tower by a wicked queen, waiting for her savior to come rescue her. Now with that clear of conscience, her mind was able to reassure her eyes that it was alright to close...and for the first time in twenty-four hours Velma's stomach temporarily disentangled itself from the constant pangs of worry, and she rested peacefully. It was then and only then, at that last moment before she drifted off to sleep, that she was aware of how Roxie had gotten through such a miserable twenty-five years of existence.
Not even two hours later Velma was awoken by a sudden tap at the bars of her cell door. "Rise and shine cupcake!" Mama chirped melodiously. "You've got another visitor." Mama and Velma glanced down the hallway in the direction of the acrimonious shrieks originating from the lobby.
From clear down the hall past the entrance doors into the foyer both Mama and Velma could hear Roxie's ranting and raving at officer after officer, guard after guard as she shoved and stormed her way towards Velma's cell.
"But by the looks of how things are going now, she may be stickin' around a trifle longer than a visit." Said Mama cringing as Roxie angrily pushed her way past the last prison guard unwittingly knocking him from his post backwards down the stairs.
"Goddamn, loggerheaded, half-witted, dumbshit reporters! Can't even get outta my own mother-lovin' house..." bellowed the little blonde furiously. Roxie's face now assumed a deep tropical burn. Neither Mama nor Velma had ever seen her like this before, and actually feared that she might explode right there before them.
But as soon as Roxie turned around to see Velma hanging at the prison wall bars eyeing her longingly, she could feel her heart jump up into her throat, and not a thought other than Velma stood out in her mind.
Roxie carefully scrutinized the surrounding territory. A token of forgotten violence, the familiarity of the situation was uncanny to her. Looking at Velma behind bars, and knowing that there was a very lavish possibility that she may never view her love any other way again, or God forbid even worse, was all at once too much for her. 'This is my fault.' She thought. Masking emotions never being a forte of Roxie's as it was Velma's, the young showgirl burst into tears.
Velma, as often as the wind changes directions, held back her own tears and reached to Roxie through the cold steel bars. "It's OK Roxie, come here." She pulled her friend as close to her as she could and hugged her through the iron shafts.
As Roxie cried in Velma's arms, Velma gazed hollow-eyed over to Mama, swiftly nodding just once, confirming the unimaginable truth. Mama was taken aback like she had never been in her life, but the more she let it all marinate within her mindsworth, the more it made sense. 'Roxie and Velma as different as day and night yet go together like the sea and its tide.' She thought.
"I'll leave the two of you alone for a while." Said Mama somberly. As she started down the hallway, she stopped and put her arm around Roxie. "Hang in there Hart. I know it's hard 'cos I can see it all actually means something to you guys this time around, but you've got strong blood. Don't ever let them see you hurtin'. And like I told little Vellie over here, you know if there's anything I can ever do for either of you, don't hesitate to come see Mama."
Though she could not compel the words to depart from her lips, Roxie squeezed Mama's hand in a tacit gesture of genuine thanks. As Mama continued down the corridor, she turned to Velma.
"Oh God Velma, I'm so sorry. I would have come here last night, but those relentless reporters... Those bastards just don't give up. Half of 'em didn't leave at all last night! They even started to throw rocks at the window to get me to come over there so they could take my picture." Cried Roxie hysterically.
"Aww, they always used to do stuff like that, Rox. We used to have fun with that. Remember last week, what you gave that other guy a 'flash' of?" Teased Velma with a fictitious grin in an attempt to lighten the mood.
Roxie was not amused. "Velma, this is serious! I don't know what to tell them. What if I say too much? Half the time when they get a hold of me my mind's not even with them...It's with you. I'm so worried about you."
"Me too baby, me too." Said Velma stroking Roxie's flustered pink cheek. "But it's all gonna work out, you'll see. When those reporters come up to you again, just tell 'em the truth...well most of it. Tell 'em that your boyfriend Tony was attacking you and I came by for a visit and I saved ya. They won't know their ass from their elbow about anything concerning us."
"That doesn't matter right now, Velma. What matters is if they'll believe our story. Of all the people in the world think about how that sounds comin' from us two." They paused in the sickeningly accurate deadlock of thought, each trying to hide their own fear from the other.
"So did you talk to Billy?" asked Roxie eagerly a moment later. "Yeah I did, Rox." Replied Velma almost completely nonchalant.
"Well...WHAT DID HE SAY?! He didn't say much to me last night. Is he gonna help us?" Roxie inquired her voice brimming with a scathing enthusiasm.
"Actually he said that he thinks we have a pretty good chance with him on the home team, seeing as we have your bruises as evidence...But he also said he thinks Harrison's up to something."
"Up to something? What the hell could he be up to?! ...Well it doesn't matter now that you have Billy as your lawyer. He'll get us out of this." Said Roxie reassuringly as she gently ran her hand through Velma's hair.
Velma felt her stomach begin to knot again. She glared tragically at the little starlet. "He doesn't know we can't pay him this time, Roxie."
Roxie looked at Velma stunned. "Goddamn it, he got $10,000 between the two of us not even a year ago! You don't think he would--" Velma began to nod gravely before Roxie could finish her sentence.
"You know how he is, Rox. He's not the worst guy in the world, but money rules him." Velma looked down at the floor and then raising her head she stared out beyond the prison bars, but all the while refusing to meet Roxie's glance. "Luckily I know something he may want more than money." She said impassively.
"You don't mean--" "Yeah, Roxie...me."
Velma looked down at Roxie now, and could see that once again she was on the verge of tears. "You know I don't love anyone but you." Stated Velma in a husky, rhythmic whisper.
"I know, Vel. It's just I rather give you up and never see you again, as long as I knew you were alright." Velma immediately eyed her outlandishly. Roxie shocked even herself with her profession. Never before had she cared enough about somebody else to put their well being before her own. Never before was she willing to give up her own happiness for someone else's.
Velma squeezed the prison bars to keep from crying. If Velma's touch was as hot as the love that burned in her heart for Roxie, she could have melted the bars that which separated her from her beloved, without flinching an eye right there on the spot.
"It's not gonna be like that, Rox. No one's giving up anyone. I'll do what I gotta do to get outta here and that's it. BAM! We're back to life!" Roxie wasn't hearing any of it. "Just don't think of me when the two of you are together." Said Roxie sullenly.
"Honey, the fires of hell couldn't burn your image out of my mind for a second." Velma gushed wildly, now overwhelmed with passion as she pulled Roxie even closer to her through the bars. But before the two could lean in to share one final kiss they were interrupted by the sound of footsteps and the appearance of a feudal silhouette leisurely making its way towards them from down the hall.
Casually pulling off his scarf and trench coat Billy stepped out of the shadows. He minded them affectionately. "Two beautiful ladies for the price of one...That's always a good thing."
About 2 chapters left...Almost done. But my mind is giving me an attitude. It doesn't wanna be creative anymore...So if the rest of this story sucks, my apologies really. :(