A/N: If you're seeing this before chapter 1, the Tanners became a comic strip in "See You in the Funny Pages," as could have happened OTL (our timeline) given the number of running gags and catch phrases. That first fic showed a sixth season premiere had they introduced a "Full House" comic strip, but bits were changed to reflect the "1983 USA plopped onto 1783 land" universe (called 1983 USA ISOT to 1783, in the Alien Space Bats section visible only to members of alternatehistory dot com.)
That universe is back by request. Melina(Greek Week) is said to be there in Seasons 7-9 in the role play so they can split the Olsens & logically Jesse would care for her after a while. This part stands alone but for convenience sake is here, since it'll continue the Stephanie-Rusty bit.
Finally, Canada doesn't come back to 1783 in the role play. This means Lynn Johnston doesn't continue "For Better Or For Worse" in the role play, yet there was one Very Special Sequence I thought should still be done, hence "Full House does it in the role play. I won't spoil it for you – it was written in 1995 - I'll just say it was in the funnies in the role play, but is part of a movie here.
Chapter Two
Stephanie Tanner looked approvingly at the script in her hands, yet with a tear in her eye.
"Comet was more than a great dog," D.J. said. He was an old friend.
"Yeah, but this..." Jesse struggled to find words. "Maybe it's cause I still miss him - he just died a couple months ago."
"Or maybe because he was born in your bed," Joey teased.
Jesse couldn't help but chuckle a bit. He hadn't liked having a dog around any more than Danny at first, but he'd grown to love Comet so much. "Yeah, I don't know. It's a great script, though."
Becky placed an arm around him. "It's very touching, that's for sure. A lot better than justgetting up from sleeping, darting after a squirrel, and having a massive heart attack like he did."
Michelle agreed. She looked at Jesse and said, "I'd be ready if you would."
Melina like it but was concerned about one thing. "Do you think it'd scare Tatiana a bit?" she asked of their adopted four-year-old girl
"No, they can record her voice separately there,' Becky promised. "So, we can just explain what happens so she'll know what to do."
Jesse added, "I'm not too concerned anyway, I mean kids pretend all the time, I don't think she'd get too much in character or anything. But, yeah, that's the benefit of just bein' voice actors."
"I wanted to make sure everyone was on board with this," Danny said. "Till they start casting the other voice actors and taping it'll be a few more months anyway."
"It's a good way to handle Comet's death - but how do you run it in the funnies without spoiling the movie?" D.J. wanted to know.
Ted elaborated. "I said the movie would likely run a few months. We'd time the sequence with the end of the film's first run; once you buy a DVD you usually know the end anyway, and here, like with a book that's still read after the movie comes out, you have the advantage of being to very different media."
"So, even if people haven't seen the movie they'll still enjoy seeing it after the funnies," Becky said, "just to see stuff acted out. Or, at least the voices with the images on screen."
"This is great," Stephanie finally said. She inhaled deeply. She wasn't even thinking of how, a dozen years after their first movie, Rusty would still be her boyfriend on screen in this third film.
Rusty wasn't as much, either. With both in their twenties now, he was patient and willing to let things take their course.
Besides, as he and Stephane discussed later that week, they seemed to have a great relationship on screen, at least.
"It's been fun," Stephanie agreed as they shared a pizza at the mall while discussing the project. "We've come up with some creative ideas. I still remember the first time you came up with something I wasn't sure what to expect."
Rusty confessed that he hadn't been totally sure of his idea, either. "I knew who could make it work, though," he said with deep fondness in his voice as they looked back on it.
"Hey, Steph," Rusty said happily as he entered the Tanner home in the summer of 1995.
"Hey, what's up?"
"Well, you know how Michelle and Melina think the way boys and girls get at our age is pretty crazy?"
"Yeah, really. Good thing there's embarrassing pictures," she quipped. She was glad she hadn't gotten any madder, after a fall from her horse had landed Michelle in the hospital overnight for a small concussion - thankfully it had just been a precaution and there were no other problems.
That had been a few months ago by this time, and Rusty and Stephane were good friends who helped each other through things like that well.
"Anyway, you know Weird Al's song Six Words Long, right?"
"This is a bizarre juxtaposition," Stephanie said, using big words she'd just learned for fun like some Middle Schoolers like to do. Rusty didn't play pranks on the family anymore, but she knew he had strange ideas sometimes.
"Okay," he continued, not ignoring her so much as just accepting that he had odd ideas at times. "So, let's say a teen has a band. And, he's stuck on what to write. So, his kid brother keeps teasing about his relationship with his girlfriend, which would be you."
"Why do I have a feeling that boy is you?" She was grateful that he didn't pull pranks anymore, but now that he'd matured and felt comfortable again years after his parents had divorced, he was using a love for himor to create very odd things.
Rusty shrugged. "I don't know, probably because it is. Anyway, he records the six words his kid brother keeps saying out of desperation, and it becomes a hit."
Stephanie nodded skeptically. "A six word song."
"Sure - it's comedy, after all. Can't you just see the kid saying, 'I love you, you're so sweet' in this comical sing-song voice to mock his teen brother and his girlfriend?"
"Oh, that I can see," she replied confidently, "I just don't know how it becomes a hit."
"That's why I need your help. If we work together on this we can pitch the idea to Ted," he said excitedly as he leaned forward.
Stephanie paused to think. "Well, we've got a few weeks of summer left. And, it would be nice to create something like that our family can enjoy. Oh, I love doing stuff on my own, don't get me wrong, but I enjoy that family atmosphere, too." She found her mind whirling with creative thoughts very quickly.
FHFHFHFHFHFHFH
"That sure was fun," Stephanie said back in the present. "It may not have been the best movie, but it was very entertaining and overall I liked doing it."
"It's been more fun creating things with you Steph," Rusty said. He had a big smile on his face as he considered how their relationship had grown.
Stephanie, too, was satisfied. "I think Joey's idea really helped to sell it, when the boy had a bunch of different lines: 'I love you, you're so kind,' then it was loving then it was forgiving, and then others."
"Yeah," Rusty said, "then our characters got all crazy trying to figure out the syllables for a two or three syllable one. Which Kimmy, well, didn't help."
"Well, I'm the one who tried to put 'understanding' in there," Stephanie said.
"That's true," Rusty said. "Kimmy is the one who came in and started to say words that weren't even adjectives like antidisestablishmentarianism."
"Which was way more than the syllables we could use, too. Although the freaky thing is, take off the '-ism' and it would have been an adjective," Stephanie said as she finished her pizza. She wiped her hands as she added, "We were able to talk about what was important in the movie, too, then, which made a good teachable moment like they wanted."
"Sure. This seems like a great family movi idea. I'm glad, too." E looked down for a second and breathed deeply.
"Is your dad causing problems again?"
Rusty nodded. "I like how you say that – not wanting much to do with the family unless it's about any money I've earned is causing problems, all right. Sometiems I worry I'll never know how to be a good dad."
"I worried that way for a time about being a good mom, too," Stephanie noted.
"Yeah, but you've had D.J. your whole life, and Becky almost all of it."
Stephanie conceded the point. She hadn't been nearly as worried as Rusty, because at least her mom hadn't planned to die. It was easy to imagine there was still a part of her there with Stephanie and the others. Rusty's had just left.
But, she reminded him, he'd had good role models, too. "Joey has been a great mdoel for comedy, right? And your coaches and stuff when you played baseball, they've helped. And, our youth group, too – you've had good role models."
"Yeah, I guess. It'll really help if I have someone like you, though, as a mom when I have kids," he admitted.
Stephanie was no longer worried about him trying to to be her boyfriend, which was helping things move naturally. She smiled, greatly appreciative of the compliment. "Thanks. And, I know you'll do a good job."
"Yeah, maybe you're right."
"I guess maybe I have a bit more faith; having that personal relationship with God helps a lot. I've always known Mom didn't want to die," she reiterated, "we just don't all have the same long number of years we'd like. Some mom's don't make it home from shopping or whatever else, because while this world was made without any death or pain in it, sin ws brought into the world and death by sin. We need the Lord just to help us get by sometimes."
"that makes sense. I'm glad you shared with me about how to have that personal relationship with him. Just that single, sincere prayer of repentance to Jesus Christ, asking Him to forgive and safve me – he's filled a lot of empty places in my heart since I called on Him," Rusty confessed.
Stephanie put a hand on his. "You know Rusty, this is when I really appreciate you. When you're not trying to be like our Uncle Jesse was, real tough like nothing bothered him, or real crazy like all those pranks when we first met."
"Thanks. It's taken a while."
"With my mom death is just something natural. But when a divorce happens, sometimes it's hard to trust again, huh?" Stephanie asked, trying to draw it out.
"Yeah, once I came to grips with what I was feel; I had to give a lot of stuff to the Lord over and over at tiemsing. Our comic strip just paints me as a big jokester, it focuses on my comedy, and that's kind of how I like it. No more big practical jokes but just all the silly stuff like Joey Just like your Uncle Jesse liked to be a big macho guy before he moved in, huh?" Rusty inquired.
"Yeah. Uncle Jesse and Joey have always been great, but they are because they're open and share that caring side, too. Even Dad with his proteictiveness – I'm the same way, too, in way, but I don't go overboard. What I'm really looking for is a guy who is really multifaceted,' Stephanie revealed. "Just like you've started to be."
"Thanks,' Rusty said. "I'm glad I've been able to turn that silliness into things that can really entertain others."
"Me, too," Stephanie told him.
Several months later, Stephanie and Rusty were looking at the animation. "Look. Can you believe when my dad can growing up, he says some animation was dubbed poorly enough the mouths weren't in sync with the words."
"It sure has improved. The way they do faces has, too – like in the Toy Story movies. It's still a little less than perfect, but it sure beats what animation could produce." He got to a picture of a Golden Retriever. "Looks just like Comet, don't you think?"
"Pretty much." She gazed lovingly at him. "You're a lot better looking than the animated version," she kidded him. "But, that's only the outside. What's inside is what matters."
"Yeah, I know. The animated version of me is more one-dimensional," he teased back.
"I think that's two-dimensional," she said with a goofy grin.
Rusty chuckled. "I'd say our chracters did a pretty good job of this. I ready up on some true stories of animal heroics beforehand, to sort of get myself in the mood."
"Me, too. I'm kind of glad our characters leave to go get Nicky and Alex somewhere else before Uncle Jesse learns she went down by the river and had a toy boat with her."
"Yeah. Care to step in and listen to the others do their lines?"
"We may as well. Although, our kiss was pretty good. We even did it in real life,' Stephanie hastened to add. "And, it was really nice."
"Thanks; I mean… well, what do you say to that, anyway?" Rusty quipped.
Stephanie hummed. "That's a good question.' They walked into the studio very quietly since the red light was on.
They had missed the sight of Comet jumping in to rescue the girl as she fell into the river just before she went down for a second time. On the screen, they saw another dog, a younger Golden Retriever which in the comic strip world had been a product of Comet and another dog. The barking of this dog sounded very realistic; Jesse told him to come in, but the dog just kept standing there barking.
"Something must be wrong," Becky spoke into the mike. For her and Jesse, given their careers in the media, this was second nature. Stephanie had done a fair amount of it otherwise, and now Rusty had, too, but Rusty, at least, still didn't always feel quite comfortable trying to do serious roles like this.
Becky tried hard to show lots of anxiety in her voice as she mentioned the open gate. Still, as a journalist used to keeping a straight face, there was part of her that was very glad to have a computer generated facial expressions and otherwise.
"What's wrong?" Michelle asked as her character walked up to see Jesse and Becky.
"You wouldn't know where Tatiana is, would you?"
Their characters not privy to the information about the river ne4ar their vacation home being flooded, Melina simply said, "I saw her in the yard a while ago. She had a toy boat with her and she was playing in the puddles," she said as she saw the characters of Jesse and Becky race faster toward the river. The girls followed on screen.
"Cut, okay, we'll have another picture of Comet swimming and keeping her afloat here," the director said.
"Did that sound good for me to sort of speed my words up a little bit?" Melina, now eighteen like Michelle, inquired.
"Yeah, that seemed very appropriate," he replied.
Stephanie couldn't help but gasp, even thought she knew what was coming. She'd always been very excitable.
"You know, this is the kind of thing they could never do with real people," rusty said.
The director said, "Possibly if one had a blank screen and placed the picture on it, but it would be very hard to do that with all that moving water. It's one thing to have an actor in a still frame on another with a chroma key."
"Yeah," Kimmy said, "I know what that is; it's one of those striped screens."
D.J. looked askance at her. "Kimmy… why would it be striped?"
"Simple; it's blue and green. I figured they just used stripes.' Seeing the director's blank look, she asked, "Is it polka dots?"
"Actually, it's called blue or green because that background contracts well with any shade of human skin tone; but they could never use both together," the director explained. "Shall we continue?" He wasn't sure what else to say after that.
With the image of Comet swimming against the current as hard as he could while holding the girl up, they watched as Jesse and Becky said a few short lines and Jesse's character, holding onto Becky's, who stayed on the solid ground, reached in and grabbed the four-year-old Tatiana. To avoid scaring her too much, they'd had her voice some coughs, gasps, and cries of "Mommy" separately. Joey was entertaining her now, since he didn't have any lines to do at that moment.
"I've got her," Jesse said. Michelle and Melina grabbed Comet by the collar on screen once the girl was on shore and Danny had come up to them. He gave them his jacket to put around Tatiana and called Stephanie and Rusty to get to the rented cottage right away with Jesse and Becky's other kids. Melina and Michelle also helped to bundle her up.
Once Danny and Becky wrapped the girl up on screen while Jesse raved about what a good dog Comet was – and Melina commented about how worn out he looked - Michelle began to tear up. She'd known this part was going to be hard, but in a way, she was still a bit less emotional than Stephanie would have been, it seemed.
Still, it wasn't quite time. They inserted Tatiana's lines saying she was sorry and how she'd wanted to play while the adults were busy, and she'd fallen in. Once Danny, Becky, and Melina left with Tatiana, who was bundled up, Jesse knelt down to look at Comet.
"Uncle Jesse…" Michelle muttered, her face beginning to scrunch up like a little girl's.
As the image of Jesse knelt down to try to arouse Comet, Jesse spoke into the mike. "Hey, comet, what's wrong? Comet, say something."
"Uncle Jesse… Comet's stopped breathing."
"What?" Jesse found himself sniffling, too, as the character tried to revive the dog. "I… I can't believe it." Michelle began weeping on screen as well, and they hugged for a moment before the next scene.
"Wow," D.J. muttered.
"Seems like you should have more air time in this part than just having one of us call and say, 'Comet's dead, but he died a hero,'" Stephanie told D.J..
D.J. understood. As she wiped a tear, she said, "Well, the audience probably will figure I'll be with Kimmy and we'd talk about it."
"It really wouldn't be the time for one of my dumb comments, anyway," Kimmy said. "It was hard enough for D.J. when Comet died for real. Now, it's almost like you lost him again, huh, Deej?" she asked tenderly. D.J. agreed.
A solemn moment was spent observing the scene of Jesse and Danny wrapping Comet in a blanket and taking him to the vet. Becky was holding Tatiana in the next scene as Danny reported how the vet said that the cold and stress had been too much for the dog's heart.
Stephahie sighed before uttering his lines. "I always knew Comet was special. But, I never realized what a hero he could be."
"Same here," Rusty responded sadly.
There were more lines after this, but the movie was mostly done being voiced – filmed wasn't exactly the right word for it. Although, Stephanie considered that with modern technology, it might not even be the right word even if it had been live action.
"I really like what you said," Stephanie told Rusty as they ate later that evening. "In every one of us, I guess there is sort of a seed of greatness. Maybe not heroics like Comet in that movie – although I like to think we do encourage everyone to see that potential in themselves to care about others and to sacrifice for others."
"Thanks. I know it doesn't necessarily sound like me – at least the me of years ago – but I've found that putting others first really does help me forget about my own problems. It's really seeing that other people matter," Rusty said.
Stephanie concurred. "That's really what kept Dad going right after Mom died, knowing he had us to take care of; and, Uncle Jesse and Joey really used that, too."
Rusty knew that had to have been hard. "I don't know why, but I just feel… I love you, Stephanie," he blurted.
"Thanks. I love you, too." She was stunned at how easily that had slipped out.
"You do? Wow!" Rusty was a little shocked himself, now that he thought about it. "he'd had other relationships, but never anything this certain. He'd never felt as close to anyone as he did to Stephanie. He was glad he hadn't pushed too hard before, so he could enjoy this now.
"Yeah. It seems a little odd to me,' Stephanie confessed. "But, we've had the chance to grow in a relationship before we really thought about the love aspect. Maybe, with our backgrounds, that's best for both of us." She really meant for him, since rusty had been pretty immature for a while, even though he was two years older than her. However, now, in their 20s, that age difference wasn't quite as bad. And, she could stand to accept it might be true of her a little bit, anyway, simply because of how she often had to be certain about this.
"What now?" Rusty asked. He really wasn't sure what the next step was supposed to be after having admitted that and had it be more than just a crush.
"Well, I think we just take it nice and slow like D.J. and Steve. And, just keep doing stuff together." She admitted one her concerns was, "I hear a lot of these Hollywood romances end badly, but ours doesn't have to. We just won't get into the real Hollywood thing.' She chuckled. "With the movies we create, they're so family friendly the worst parts wouldn't want them, anyway."
Rusty agreed mournfully, stating, "It sure has changed since George Burns and Gracie Allen."
"Well, I will never be as dumb a character as she portrayed,' Stephanie asserted.
Rusty comprehended. "Don't worry, you won't have to. And, if I ever make you feel that way, you tell me how old I sounded referring to Burns and Allen." She said she'd be sure to do that. "There are modern couples who stay together, but they do seem so few and far between."
"Of course, you only ever hear about the divorces. Plus, Elizabeth Taylor and a few others crive down the average number of years spent together,' Stephanie quipped.
"True. Well, we'll just take this thing nice and slow, and let the Lord lead."
A few years later, Stephanie could hardly believe it. She was getting married only a year or so before Michelle did – she knew she had to once Michelle got serious with Jeff Farrington.
She told to her maids of honor, D.J. and Michelle. "It's hard to imagine, huh?"
"When Rusty first came, the notion of you two marrying…" D.J. wasn't sure how to describe it.
"He hadn't meant for me to be a victim of his pranks. So, he had a heart," Michelle pointed out. "But, he really needed lots of help."
Stephanie agreed. "he really has matured, though. He uses his comedic forces for good, not for evil," she quipped.
"He is a sweet guy now. Maybe a bit insecure, but Dad kind of was, too, after Mom died," D.J. indicated.
"You're right, Deej. We'll be able to get through it together. Maybe our writing careers with books will end up better than our moviemaking ideas anyway. Although that movie 'Six Words Long' wasn't too bad; of course, Joey nd the others contributed a lot,' Stephanie added.
"Well, whatever you end up doing," D.J. replied as the music began to play, "I know you'll do a great job."
"Thanks, Deej,' Stephanie said as they hugged.
"Yeah; maybe a bit more Joey than Dad or Uncle Jesse, but he's still great," Michelle analyzed. "You'll be awesome together."
Stephanie agreed. As they hugged, she decided that was probably the best way to put it.
The ceremony flew by. As she and Rusty kissed, she was thrilled that a wonderful new chapter in her life had begun, one which would see her climb to new heights of fame with lots of great family memories.
A/N: That was a bit rushed, I really didn't know where else to gow tih it and things got pretty busy, so I did that much to close off the Stephanie-Rusty story arc, as someone had requested, and they can certainly imagine some things around that. Or even write in that universe; after all, theoretically it could have been that way in OTL's TVU.
If you want to see how it was done in the funnies, just Google "For Better or For Worse" and Farley or "Farley's death," you'll see the sequence listed. I hope I did it half as well as Lynn Johnston's masterful work in the funnies. Actually, this is not my first attempt to pay homage to it – see "Old Soldiers Never Die" for how Snoopy told it – as only he could.
This is TVU, of course, and I've realized it fits in kind of nicely with the new Netflix series. Stephanie is supposedly a bon vivant in it, having travelled the world living a life of luxury. Well, what better way in the role play universe than to be married like this – perhaps in TTL Rusty is also a character in the new series. Or, maybe Stephanie would also have been a widow.
I'm not retiring yet, but again I don't plan to do much else, and don't plan to take requests, though a "Fuller House" one or two are possible, but might be smatterigns after the series sort of like "Going Out On Top" was when I did that.
The only one I know for sure I have may be a combination with the "Peanuts" characters, too, like my other "Imaginary Friends" stories. It's going to take care of a few plot bunnies. But, it'll at least start here, even if it ends up in crossovers eventually.
Thanks to all for reading, and I hope you all enjoy the books in my profile, too, and God bless.
