I do not own Power Rangers: Jungle Fury
Dom and Fran are adorbs.
Places in Books
Much Ado About Pizza (Or Something)
And now it is finally time . . .
"Whaddya say, Fran?"
. . . in the lovely seaside village where it all began.
"You up for it?'
Further down the western coast from Rome.
Are you kidding?!
To partake in that most sauciest of delicacies.
Of course I'm up for it!
The crustiest of crusts.
I'm always up for that!
The toppingest of t-
Well, you know.
"Yes!"
For it is officially time to choose . . .
"Alright, let's go!"
. . . a pie.
"Oh my gosh!"
A whole pie.
A whole delicious, delectable, delightful . . .
"Seriously?"
. . . pizza pie.
That's the way they're cooked, that's the way they're served.
That's the way . . .
"I'll never be able to eat all that!"
"That's okay. We can just share."
. . . it is.
And so they do.
They order a pizza pie to share.
"Una margarita per favore."
A classic pie.
"Si, signore."
A delicious pie.
"Le vostre torte saranno pronte presto."
A classically delicious pie.
"Grazie."
"Benvenuto, signore."
And after not too long a time, . . .
Maybe I could eat a whole pizza by myself.
. . . they receive their order and take their seats.
"Oh my gosh!"
The crust is thin and fluffy.
Center covered in perfectly spiced sauce, vine ripened red tomatoes, hand-pressed white mozzarella, and freshly picked basil leaves.
All fired in a woodfired oven
Just as it has been done for centuries.
And Frances Faye Fugleman . . .
"Oh my gosh, Dom!"
. . . is in seventh pizza heaven.
All tucked away in a tiny little pizzeria out by the ocean.
In Naples, Italy.
The birthplace . . .
"I cannot be we're actually doing this!"
. . . of pizza.
And they get a table, a white clothed table that's small, just enough for the two of them (and their pizza) and they sit in heavy wooden chairs and they're outside in Naples, Italy and there's pizza and . . .
"Mmm, what do you think, Fran?"
"Mphfwkwilb . . ."
. . . it's all so amazing.
Marinara Bless Queen Margherita of Savoy, wife of King Umberto I.
And they eat real Italian pizza in silence for a few minutes in the Italian sunshine outside an Italian pizzeria smelling the Italian ocean air-
Actually I think it's some sea or other-
. . . and suddenly . . .
I miss the guys.
. . . Fran's feeling a bit homesick and nostalgic.
"You know, I was just thinking of JKP," Dom murmurs, wiping sauce from his lips.
And Fran brightens.
"You too?"
Dom nods.
"Yeah."
He huffs lightly, ducks his head.
"I was, uh, just sitting here eating this pizza thinking about the first time I ever walked in there and met you guys."
Ah, yes. The Fateful First Day of The Dom.
She had been desperately mixing, stirring, she can't even remember what now in a big stainless steel bowl when . . .
". . . Fuller from the health department . . ."
. . . Lily had burst into the kitchen all aflutter.
". . . get ugly . . ."
Followed by a plaid-shirted, buttoned-up-to-the-neck, hair-flattened-down, stern-faced Dom.
". . . filthy . . ."
Sending them all scampering around the cluttered prep table.
Fran with her bowl, Theo with his yellow gloves, Casey with his orange apron and instantly irritated attitude.
". . . cleaned, pronto . . ."
Lily racing up the stairs for RJ, who was probably kicked back in his green recliner with a bowl of pretzels, if Fran knew him at all.
". . . fresh . . ."
And Dom, unpredictable Dom, picking up a pizza board and smashing a fresh tomato into globulous chunks and . . .
Ewww, what-
. . . slurping up tomato mash from the board itself . . .
"You are right."
. . . whilst Fran had shrieked, diving for cover behind the unfortunately covered Casey . . .
". . . here . . ."
. . . as Dom had stalked to the glassed cold storage and Frannie had skirted out of his way in confusion . . .
". . . cheese smells . . ."
. . . as he had begun pulling milk and cheese out of the fridge . . .
". . . on here . . ."
. . . just as RJ had come running down the stairs . . .
". . . inspection just last week . . ."
. . . a big smile breaking over his wolfish face as Dom had turned . . .
". . . should have known . . ."
. . . and joyfully embraced the man as the rest of the crew . . .
". . . Pai Zhua together . . ."
. . . had tried to figure out what in the holy marinara had been going on . . .
So he's not going to shut us down?
. . . with RJ introducing all the upset crew around . . .
Hey, he's kind of cute-
. . . and so the infatuation had begun.
At least on Fran's side.
". . . they were ever going to warm up to me," she comes back to Dom casually saying.
And she munches down on another slice of authentic Italian pizza . . .
"Yeah, well, you did kind of freak them out."
. . . pie.
"They just didn't know you very well yet."
Dom nods.
"Yeah, well, neither did you."
She grins winningly, as much as her pizza-ed mouth will allow.
"Well, yeah, I just had a feeling about you, Dominic Hargan."
I've had lots of feelings about you, Dominic Hargan.
I still do.
He grins and she thinks he looks quite pleased.
"Yeah, well, I'm just glad they finally did decide to give me a chance."
And she's feeling a little saucy, . . .
Mmm, saucy-
. . . saucy enough to make her confession.
"Well, I might have had a little something to do with that."
And Dominic lowers his own much diminished pizza slice.
"What do you mean?"
And fixes that piercing blue gaze onto hers.
"Well, I, . . ."
And Fran manages to remember . . .
"I sort of . . ."
. . . she's not always as mousy and shy and timid . . .
". . . um, chewed them out on your behalf."
. . . as she leads herself to believe.
"You did?"
And at least not entirely.
"Yeah."
And she's got his full attention now and she's stubbornly refusing to admit how much she is still uncomfortable with it.
". . . really try? He jokes around; I kind of liked it. Did any of you give him a chance to show you what he was really made of? Even once?"
"Wow. Thank you, Fran."
And his smile is soft and her face is on blushing fire-
"You know, Fran, . . ."
And now it's him that's speaking so quietly the ambient chatter of Naples, Italy nearly drowns out his words.
". . . it meant a lot to me for you to come talk to me at the docks. I was, uh, leaving, feeling pretty low and frustrated, wondering if I'd ever fulfill my destiny, find my purpose."
He pauses, smiles.
"You were really sweet and encouraging. Even when I'm sure I'd been more than a little frustrating to you too."
And Fran huffs.
"Frustrating? Are you serious? You're the only one of any of them I can talk with about books, you taught me Mozzarella . . ."
"Batter up!"
". . . Ball!"
She smiles at the memory of the two of them in the kitchen.
"Hey, Fran, you ever play baseball?"
Her with the pizza board.
"No. I'm not very athletic."
Dom with the mozzarella balls.
"Oh, I don't know, maybe you just never used that right bat."
And the two of them . . .
"Batter up!"
. . . making a huge . . .
"Oh my gosh!"
. . . mess.
At least . . .
"Whoa!"
. . . until they had been caught.
She fiddles with the table cloth, words seeming to come out of her mouth almost against her will.
"They're great, they're my friends, I love them."
And trying desperately not to blush herself to death.
"But you've . . . always seemed to . . . see me differently than they have."
And explain.
"To them I'm Fran. And that's great, that's wonderful. But to you, I'm Fran."
And now her insecurity comes crashing back and she's stammering again-
"I mean, I know that doesn't make any sense, 'I'm Fran'-"
- and his hand is on hers . . .
"No, Fran, you make sense just fine."
. . . his voice is soothing and warm.
"I do see you differently than they do, I think."
And she's calming down.
"And there's nothing wrong with them or you or me."
A little.
"It just is."
And she's gazing into his eyes and he's gazing right back.
"You know, ahem, I was a little jealous of Casey."
And she just can't quite quell her all of her quivering anxiety.
"Casey?"
So she tries to divert it into humor.
"Yeah, when you gave him that white box with the red ribbon."
Ooh, lucky, Dom Gifts-
Grinning slyly as she does so.
"Until I saw . . ."
Is that . . . is that all the gum from the undersides of the tables Casey had him clean?
I hope he washed his hands.
". . . what was inside, that is."
"The gum?! Ah, Dom!"
And Dom grins and she grins and then whatever moment they might or might not have been having between them is over.
"Yeah, that was a good one."
And now they're back . . .
"Alright, ready to climb Mt. Vesuvius?"
"What?"
. . . to the way they always are.
"They say the volcano most likely won't explode while we're on it."
"Most likely?"
See, Fran and Dom are adorbs.
Thanks for reading and thanks to DinahRay for so kindly reviewing!
More Italy to come!
