SUMMARY: The gang go to California to help Sam...but it get's away from them.
SPOILERS: Up to and including California 47th. And sort of Commencement. In a way.
CHARACTERS: CJ and Andi. And Toby on a phone.
DISCLAIMER: If you recognise these…..I'm getting better. Oh, no, sorry, then they obviously belong to a greater pen than mine. I'm talking about you, Aaron.
NOTES: With apologies to Mervyn Peake on two counts. You can see the two wonderful poems used here at his homepage in the poems; nonsense section, just do a google!
More apologies to those waiting on new instalments of Come Home. What can I say? This got in the way and there's only so much a girl can do. K, as ever you keep me going.
THE TROUBLE WITH GERANIUMS
"Don't come here, turn around, go to the event. We're fine, CJ, we're fine. And tell Andi not to come here. We'll meet her there as soon as we're done"
"Toby...He's not even listening to me now, I can hear Charlie...Toby...TOBY!"
"Tell him he's got to hit hard on quality – health care quality – and in his acknowledgements he's got to..."
"What? Toby!"
"In his acknowledgements, he's got to mention the AFL folk. The President's working the…The President's working the rope line for fifteen...No. Charlie says no on the rope line…"
"So help me Toby-"
"And if you can call the NEC and get a one-pager on trucking faxed to me in my cell I'd really...OK, I got to go. I'm under arrest."
CJ turns to Andi "Apparently he'll meet us there when he's done."
"And when is that likely to be?"
"Probably not before the twins get here."
"Great."
"No, Josh is sorting it so..." They look at one another for a split second "Yeah, Ok...maybe I should call Leo."
Andi groans, drops her head back on the car seat.
"You OK?"
"Actually, I feel a bit sick. My children appear to be objecting to the adrenalin I'm feeding them. Though, given my job and who their father is they really should be used to it 32 weeks on."
CJ grabs Andi's bag, fishes out a cracker and hands it to her and lifts her feet onto the seat opposite.
"I hear he had a nutty when he found out you were on the plane?" she smiles.
Andi swallows the mouthful of cracker. "He's lucky I didn't take a swing at him, calling me a minivan. You should have seen the look on Donna's face thought; it was worth it for that!"
"Was it that look she usually reserves for Josh's really big screw-ups?"
"That's the one! Is this going to be a thing?"
"I don't think so. The timing's not great, but…"
"I'm sorry. I just –"
"No, I don't mean…the guy was out of line. And drunk."
They sit in silent reflection for a moment, as the car speeds towards the rally.
"He does love you, you know"
"Yes. I do know."
"But?"
"But nothing."
"Do you love him?"
"Yes. You know I do. I always have."
"How many times has he asked you to marry him?"
"Altogether, or just this time around?"
"Andi…"
"I've said No each time, CJ, I'm not leading him on, but I'm not going to marry him again, not just for convenience sake."
"But does he really know that?"
Andi sighed. "I think he thinks I'm just being cute. That I want to be chased. I'm not, and I don't."
"Why won't you marry him?"
"I've had the unique experience of having done it once before."
"Andi…"
"CJ you know why. For exactly the same reasons as why I left him the first time. You do remember that day?"
"Yeah. I remember."
"Well?"
"You turned up on my doorstep at 2am. I thought there had been an accident – you were so white. And shaking. And you didn't stop crying for hours. I couldn't make sense of anything you were saying."
"Until you went to get me a glass of scotch."
"Yeah. I didn't think you could cry any harder – until you did."
"I still can't drink it."
"It's his drink. It's him."
"Yes. And then I told you that I'd left him. For the final time."
"You did. And I knew that this time, you meant it. You said…" She stops. Swallows. Takes a breath.
"You said he was sad. That he was angry, and not warm. That he took forever to trust someone. That he was just too sad."
"I did. He was. He is"
"He's changed, Andi. He's trying to, anyway. I think he's moving out of the apartment, he's eating salads. And at the last poker night, he had a lollipop, not a cigar."
"Oh CJ, I didn't care about all that. Well, not that much anyway. That's not what's important."
"Well what is?"
"I want the twins to know that the world is for them."
"And you think Toby doesn't want that too?"
"No. Yes; I mean, in his head he does, but he's going to be telling them that they have to work hard in school so they can bone up for a life of hopelessness and despair."
"He'll love them Andi. You know he will. And as long as they know that, everything else is just crap."
"How will they know CJ? Because they'll eventually learn what his signs mean? They'll learn that if his eyes crinkle when he smiles then he's really happy? That sometimes he's light of heart enough that he can chuckle? They'll learn that even if he's yelling or rubbing his head in frustration at them that it doesn't mean he doesn't love them? They'll know because he'll do that 'hands on his heart' thing? How old will they be before they can interpret all that? Too old, CJ, that's how old they'll be."
"Andi…"
"You know it's true CJ. We both do, because you know him as well as I do. You know the real reason why the twins won't know he loves them. Because he'll tell them by his actions, but he'll never say the words."
They sit in silence for a while.
"He does love you, you know"
"Yes. I do know."
"But?"
"But nothing."
"Do you love him?"
"Yes. You know I do. I always have."
"How many times has he asked you to marry him?"
"Altogether, or just this time around?"
"CJ…"
"Of pygmies, palms and pirates. Except it was 18 years, not last year. And I said No and he never asked again. I wasn't offered a second chance"
"Would you have changed your mind?"
CJ shrugs. "Probably not."
"Why?"
The car pulls up on the crowd-lined street.
"Because the trouble with geraniums"
"Yeah. I know. The thing that makes them them is too much. The thing that makes him him is too much. Peake has a lot to answer for. We're here."
"Andi…don't kiss Sam again; we've got enough PR problems."