Episode 15: Return to Normal

CHAPTER 1: AFTER THE FALL

Things in Sparkyville were finally quieting down. Violet was locked away in prison serving her sentence. In fact, when it was time for the military court martial to begin for her charges against Charlie being a staff sergeant in the Marines, she fired her counsel and pled guilty in exchange for a lighter sentence in that case. She ended up receiving an extra ten years on top of her ten to twenty she was already serving. Though she would be eligible for parole after serving at least five years of her time. With Violet locked away never to be seen again for years, the town and her former friends were getting back to normal.

Charlie had returned to the recruitment center and resumed work. Pat and Mary were working at Ray's Diner, as usual. Lucy was looking for work after being paroled herself. Linus was working at the library. Schroeder and Franklin were doing their jobs at the high school. And Sally had come back to Gray Industries with open arms, resuming her internship. And Grant Gray had introduced her to the new COO, Mason Wallace. Sally and Mason had hit it off immediately.

"So Sally," Mason began, "I heard my predecessor was a bit of a handful to say the least."

"She was, Mr. Wallace," said Sally. "I just want to forget about her."

"I understand," said Mason. "You can call me 'Mason', by the way. I can assure you and the other interns that I won't have you doing my errands that don't pertain to the business. And I don't hold petty grudges, either."

"That's good to hear." At that moment, Grant walked up to the two.

"How is everything, you two?" he asked.

"Great, Mr. Gray," said Sally. "I like your new COO here."

"I assured Sally that she would have no further troubles here, sir," added Mason.

"Very good," said Grant with a smile. "Keep up the good work, Mason. And I'm glad you're back, Sally."

"Thank you, sir," said Sally. And Grant continued to his office. Once he was in there, he sat down at his desk. He looked at a photo of Violet from when she was a kid. She was smiling, but behind that smile hid a dark personality that she for a time successfully hid from him. Even though he disowned her, he still felt a lot of guilt over how she turned out. How she used to gloat about him hiding the fact that things were far from perfect in her world. Had he'd seen the signs early on, maybe he could've saved her from what she would become. Maybe not. But one thing for certain was that he knew he should have been there more for her. As he thought about it, tears formed in his eyes. He crumpled to his desk and sobbed softly.

"Where did I go wrong?"

"Where did I go wrong?" That was what Frieda was asking herself as she walked up to Pig Pen's door at his pad. She was ready for him to shut the door on her or tell her to 'get lost', but she was determined to see if their relationship could be saved. She took a deep breath, and knocked on the door. No answer at first. She knocked again.

"Hold on, I'm coming!" He was home, at least. She held her breath that he wouldn't shut her out. When he opened the door, she wasn't greeted by any kind of hostility or anger. Instead he stood silent.

"Matt," she began, "before you close the door on me, at least hear me out. I am so sorry for what I did that night at the Beagle. I even told that guy that I was dating someone and that I couldn't have his number. I now know I shouldn't had led that guy on and disrespected you in that fashion."

"No, you shouldn't have," agreed Pig Pen.

"But I don't want to give up on us, Matt," Frieda pleaded. "I know I messed up and you have every right to be mad at me! I just want to try to work things out with you, please! Forgive me, baby!" By this time, Frieda was bawling at his door. Pig Pen sighed.

"Come in, Frieda," he said, dryly. "We do need to sort this out." And he took Frieda's hand and escorted her inside his place so they could talk and figure out where they would go from there.

NEXT CHAPTER: THE SARGE IS BACK!