Alternations
The Devouring
"Doctor Spartan. Rick." Fred said, as he approached the adventurer, "Call Marion. Call your wife and tell her how much you love her. And if she feels the same way, do everything you gotta do to keep her." Fred gave Doctor his cell phone which he took eagerly and dialled a number.
"Fred Jones. Are you feeling ok?" Daphne asked, surprised that those words had just come out of Fred's mouth.
"Not yet." He said, Daphne raised an eyebrow. Fred smiled and then he took her hand in his, "There, that's better."
After dropping the rest of the gang at their homes, Fred and Daphne returned to Blake Manor, where Fred was currently sleeping in one of the many spare bedrooms.
The Mystery Machine was parked in its usual space; in the bushes behind the manor, camouflaged by the leaves. Fred entered the manor through the back door and up the spiral staircase, whilst Daphne entered through the front door.
She walked through the house and found Mr and Mrs Blake sitting in their parlour. The big double doors were open, allowing the warm breeze to sweep into the house. Mrs Blake held a warm cup of tea in her hand whilst Mr Blake was going through some papers.
"Hi Mom, hi Dad." Daphne smiled as she greeted them. "Hello dear." Mrs Blake smiled. "Hello." Mr Blake replied. "Did you have a good day dear?" Mrs Blake asked, Daphne nodded, she sat on the empty seat next to her mother, who brushed a hand over her cheek. "You look flushed." Mrs Blake commented, Mr Blake looked up from his papers.
"It's warm outside." Daphne replied and her father returned his attention to whatever he was reading.
"What's that?" Daphne asked. "Huh?" Mr Blake asked, "Oh this? Your mother and I are looking at properties abroad." He said, Daphne felt her heart sink, "Abroad?" She asked.
"Oh, don't worry dear, we're not moving!" Mrs Blake chucked. "Of course not." Mr Blake commented, "We've come up with a business plan." He smiled proudly. "Indeed, we have!" Mrs Blake said, almost squealing.
"What is it?" Daphne asked, eager to know what her parents had planned.
"Well," Mrs Blake gripped her daughter's hand tightly, "You know how much your father and I love foreign countries, but we do so much love this house." She said, Daphne nodded. "Well, we thought, what if we bought a house abroad and rented it as a holiday home!" Mrs Blake explained with delight.
"That's a good idea." Daphne commented. "It is." Mr Blake agreed, he finally put the papers down and took off his glasses and smiled. "In fact, we have decided that we have enough money to build at least 3 houses." He said.
"3 of them?" Daphne asked. "Where?"
"Well." Mrs Blake began, "Your sisters are coming over, we need your opinion. They'll be staying the night."
"All of them?" Daphne asked, Mrs Blake nodded. "Where will they stay?" Daphne asked, remembering that Delilah, Dawn, Daisy and Dorothy cleared out all their stuff when they moved out.
Mrs Blake had turned Dorothy and Delilah's large bedroom into a library shortly after she joined Crystal Cove's book club. As for the other rooms, the Blake's began using them for storage purposes.
"In the spare rooms, where else would they stay?" Mrs Blake asked. "I was just curious." Daphne said, "I'm gonna take a shower before they get here."
"Ok dear." Mrs Blake said.
Daphne calmly left the parlour and hurried up the stairs and along the corridor to the spare bedroom she had put Fred in.
She gently knocked on the door, but there was no response. She knocked again, "Freddie, it's me." She whispered, she heard movement inside the room and the door slowly opened. "Is everything ok, Daph?" Fred asked. He had changed out of his white shirt, ascot and blue jeans, into his blue and white pyjamas. Daphne liked how his pyjama top showed off his biceps and abs.
"I need to move you." Daphne said, Fred raised an eyebrow, Daphne read the confusion on his face. She stepped into his room.
"My sisters are coming over; they're staying the night and might be sleeping in one of these spare rooms. I need to put you somewhere else." Daphne said, Fred gabbed his clothes which were folded up on the armchair and picked up his shoes.
Daphne turned the light off and Fred followed her along the corridor. "Where are we going?" He asked.
"There is only one room." Daphne said, "My bedroom."
"Daphne, I'll sleep in the Mystery Machine." Fred said. "No." Daphne said, "You can't keep sleeping in the van. It's safer and more comfortable in a bed."
Daphne pushed open her bedroom door and snuck Fred in, "It's only for tonight, nobody will see you in here." She said, "I'll leave you to get some sleep."
Just as she turned to leave, Fred grabbed her hand, she looked up at him. "What is it?" She asked, suddenly startled by a look in his eyes. "What?" She asked.
"Thanks for looking after me, Daph." Fred said, Daphne blushed as he gently tucked her hair behind her ear. "Anytime Freddie." She smiled, hurrying out of the bedroom.
Daphne's sisters arrived shortly after she'd showered. As Daphne expected, her sisters were excited to learn that the Blakes were building several houses outside America. They video called Darcey, Daphne's oldest sister, who was working in Texas.
Finally, it was decided that the Blake's would build houses in England, Switzerland and the French Rivera.
Daphne was relieved when Mrs Blake decided to go to bed early and they'd start their plans in the morning. Mr Blake followed Mrs Blake up to bed.
Daphne and her sisters decided to stay up later. When they all lived together, Daphne and her sisters would sneak into one of the bedrooms and talk for hours. Tonight, they sat together on the living room floor.
"So, what have you been doing, baby sis?" Delilah asked. "Not much." Daphne said.
"Are you still seeing Baylor?" Dorothy asked dreamily. Daphne felt her stomach drop; she hadn't thought about Baylor in months. What was there to think about? He was in prison and it wasn't like she enjoyed the time she spent with him. For a celebrity, he was quite dull.
"No." Daphne said, Dorothy sighed, "I was hoping to meet him." She said. "Huh, well the only people who'll be seeing him are the inmates and prison guards." Daphne muttered, she looked up at saw all her sisters staring at her. "What happened?" Delilah asked, clenching her fist.
"He was arrested for destroying some buildings in Crystal Cove and kidnapping me and a few other people." Daphne said.
"Just another day then." Dawn said. "Did he hurt you?" Daisy asked. "No." Daphne replied.
"What happened to that Fred guy you were seeing before?" Dorothy asked. "Mom said you and he were engaged?" Dawn asked. "Yeah, she was pretty mad about that." Delilah said.
"Yeah. We were engaged." Daphne said, "But some stuff happened, and he left town and we broke up."
Daisy wrapped her arms around her younger sister, "It'll be ok." She said. "We're fine." Daphne said, "We're still friends."
"Do you still love him?" Daisy asked, Daphne didn't respond. When Fred broke off their engagement and left her, she lost the love she had for him and she didn't think she'd get it back.
Since Fred had been back in Crystal Cove, Daphne noticed that he had been trying to win her back. He paired off with her on mysteries, which wasn't unusual, but he had been very sweet, and he had asked on a few dates, which she had to decline. Was she ready to get back with Fred? What if he left again?
"I don't know." She said. Her sisters exchanged looks. "It sounds like you do." Delilah said.
"She's right." Dawn said. "You should talk to him."
"I just…I don't want to get hurt again." Daphne said. "That's why you need to talk." Daisy said, "You won't know until you talk."
"Ok, 'Doctor Daisy', I'm going to bed." Delilah said, "I am exhausted, do you know how many cadets I shouted at today? 11." Delilah stood up and she saluted her sisters, "Good night ladies."
"Yeah, I'm gonna head to bed too." Dawn said, "I need my beauty sleep."
"Most definitely." Dorothy muttered, she stood up and went to get a class of milk before heading upstairs, leaving Daphne, Daisy and Dawn.
"If I were you, I would talk to him." Dawn said, "Can I tell you something?" She asked, Daisy rolled her eyes, "This should be good."
"It will be." Dawn said. "Remember when I split up with Tyler? And we split up because we didn't talk when there was a problem. When I got with Simon, I found that he wanted to talk about everything. At first, I thought it would be uncomfortable, but I actually enjoy talking to him."
"You need to talk to him." Daisy said, "Good night my loves." She yawned and headed up to bed.
Dawn groaned, "Remember when we were kids and she used to call us that?" Daphne chuckled, "It wasn't so bad when we were kids."
"No, it wasn't." Dawn said in agreement.
After a few minutes of chatting, Daphne and Dawn headed up to bed. Unfortunately, Dawn walked Daphne to her bedroom, so she couldn't go to a spare room, she quietly stepped into her bedroom and decided to wait a few minutes until she could sneak off to a spare bedroom.
"Daph?" A groggy voice asked, Daphne looked behind her and saw Fred sitting up in her bed. "Sorry did I wake you up?"
"No, I was waiting for you." Fred said. "Why?" Daphne asked. "Where else are you going to sleep?" Fred asked.
"One of the other bedrooms." Daphne said, but Fred shook his head. "You stay here." He climbed out of the bed. "You have your bed; I'll find one of the spare rooms." He said.
"No, Freddie you might walk into one of my sister's rooms." Daphne said, "We'll both sleep here tonight."
"Pass me a blanket, I'll sleep on the floor." Fred said. "No, it's a big bed, we can both sleep in it." Daphne replied as she stepped towards the bed. She looked at Fred, he didn't say anything, but he just stared at Daphne with a familiar look of uncertainty.
"Freddie, we're friends and it's just one night." Daphne said, she climbed into the bed and Fred climbed back in.
"So, uh…that was quiet the mystery today huh?" He asked awkwardly. "What you said to Doctor Spartan was nice." Daphne said, she rolled her side, so she could see him better in the dark.
"I just said what anyone would say." Fred replied.
They were silent, Daphne laid on her back and they both stared up at the ceiling. She wanted to say something, but she didn't know what she should say.
"Good night, Daph." Fred said, and he rolled over, turning his back to Daphne.
"Good night Freddie." She replied, turning away from him.
Being the youngest of 6 daughters, Daphne left her parents and her sisters to sleep in and she'd sneak downstairs early in the morning to watch Tom and Jerry before the others woke up and fought over the TV remote.
It was a habit that she had gotten herself into.
It was 6:30AM when Daphne woke up, Fred was still sleeping next to her. She wondered whether she should wake him up or to let him sleep a bit longer, but that would risk her parents and her sisters seeing him.
She decided to wake him, she shook him gently and he groaned.
"Freddie, wake up." She whispered and Fred's eyes rolled open. "What is it?" He asked. "We should probably get up and dressed." She said.
"What time is it?" Fred asked groggily. "It's six-thirty." Daphne said. "In the morning?" Fred asked, Daphne nodded.
"Why are you up so early?" Fred asked. "Because my parents and my sisters are sleeping in the next rooms and you need to get out of my bed before they see you." Daphne said.
"Alright." Fred said, climbing out of bed.
He went off into the bathroom to get dressed, leaving Daphne to get dressed in her bedroom.
It was too early to meet the rest of the gang, so Daphne and Fred decided to go for coffee at Bennie's Breakfast Bar.
The journey from Blake Manor to Bennie's was just as tense as last night and it seemed that Fred wasn't in a rush to get anywhere.
"Why are you driving so slowly?" Daphne asked, noticing his hands tighten on the steering wheel.
"I've been thinking." He said, "We need to talk."
"Talk?" She asked. "Daphne you always want to talk." Fred said, sounding almost frustrated, then he sighed, "Sorry."
"What do you want to talk about?" She asked.
"I want to talk about you and me." He said, Daphne looked at him. She studied his face and she noticed his eyes glance in her direction before he looked back at the road.
"Are you going to say anything?" Daphne asked, Fred kept his eyes focussed on the road and they began to approach Bennie's.
"Let's talk over coffee." Fred said, he parked the Mystery Machine in the almost empty parking lot, and they entered the diner.
After ordering coffee's; they sat at a table, which had four chairs so the rest of the gang could join them, they sat opposite each other.
There were 3 other people in the diner; two men wearing suits, Daphne thought they must be going on a business trip. They sat with large mugs of coffee, one was scrolling through his phone and the other was reading paperwork. The third person was a woman, who Daphne recognised was a nurse from Crystal Cove General Hospital, she must be on her way to work.
"Last night gave me time to think." Fred said. "Everything that happened between you and me, is my fault."
"Freddie-"
"Daphne, let's be honest." Fred said, cutting her off, "I was never attentive or romantic enough. If I hadn't had left, we wouldn't be here, talking about this." Daphne studied his eyes and watched as his jaw clenched.
She knew he had a hard time admitting he was wrong; he was Fred Jones, he aimed for perfection and hated to fail. But Daphne knew, it was even harder for him to admit his feelings, he hated talking about his emotions.
She decided not to say anything, and to let him say what he wanted to say.
"When I came back to town and I saw you with Baylor, I knew my chances of winning you back were slim. But now he's out of the picture, and I've got a chance to get you back." He said.
"I've noticed you've been trying." She said with a gentle smile.
"Daphne. Can we go back to the way things used to be?" Fred asked. Daphne sighed, "Freddie, we can't go back to how we used to be." She said.
"I know we can't." He replied, the sadness was thick in his voice.
Daphne reached across the table and gently placed her hand on top of Fred's. "That doesn't mean that I don't want to start again." She said with a gentle smile.
Fred's eyes lit up, "Do you want to go on a date tonight?" He asked quickly. Daphne noticed his cheeks turning a light shade of pink. "I would love that." She smiled.
Fred lifted her hand up to her lips and tenderly kissed her knuckles, causing Daphne to chuckle.
"Wanna get some breakfast?" He asked, Daphne stood up from her seat and sat next to Fred, he wrapped his arm around her shoulder.
"Not yet, let's wait for the others." She said, happily.