Hi everybody:
Stating the obvious, I am new to the board here and hope you won't mind my posting the results of a little project I've embarked upon. I've been away from the Bay City for a great many years and never imagined I would ever attempt to create a fanfic. My memories of the show faded with time. It was the generosity and hard work of our co-hort Amy through her weekly contributions of YouTube video clips that has inspired, and in a very real way, assisted in the authoring of this bit of amateurish literature.
A bit of prologue is necessary, as I have attempted to bring the story into "real time" so to speak. You see, it has for some time been my hope that the wonder that was Another World might be brought back to our daytime screens. That hope "springs eternal". And so I considered "how might this actually be done?". My solution, though you may find it unacceptable, is to reintroduce a few of our favorite characters, add a few new ones and give them a chance to take root in a new setting.
I am not attempting to recreate Another World - again any such attempt on my part would fail abysmally, but I will be drawing in (particularly in the early stages) as much history as is needed. I sincerely hope you will let me know of any errors or omissions as being true to that history is most important to this project. And of course your critiques, comments, suggestions and any such feedback is greatly appreciated. Don't hold back. If you think this has potential OR if you think it a crushing bore...I really would like to know.
Now, as I have prattle on for far too long I shall now shut the h...e...double hockey sticks up and let you judge for yourself.
Chapter 1
She found him sitting quietly on the sofa before the softly crackling fire, leaning back into the cushions, the fingers of his right hand twined around the handle of the now-forgotten coffee mug that rested on his knee. From where she stood just inside the entry, she could see him looking beyond the flames off into some lonely, far away place – a place where he had begun to retreat with increasing regularity.
Taking a deep, silent breath, she moved to stand behind him, leaning down to wrap her arms around his shoulders.
“What’s wrong, Daddy?” she queried him softly.
Cass was momentarily startled, pulled back into the here and now by his daughter’s gentle voice. He turned his head and saw the concern in her eyes. “Charlie,” he said sternly with a slight frown that couldn’t dispel the warmth in his eyes. “What are you doing up?”
Charlie moved around the sofa to sit next to him as Cass took a sip of tea from the mug. As she settled in at his side, Cass draped his arm around her shoulders.
“I don’t know. Couldn’t sleep.” She noted the mug. “Whatcha drinkin’?”
Cass smiled and held the mug aloft, “Chamomile,” he said, then lowered his voice to a conspiratorial growl, “Care for a belt?”
Charlie grinned and took the mug from his hand, sipping the brew thoughtfully before looking into the mug. “Chamomile,” she whispered, “Mom’s cure for everything.” She turned to hand him the mug and Cass felt the tightening in his chest as he retrieved it from her grasp, looking into her face.
Illuminated in the firelight, he could see sadness in those eyes that looked so very much like her mother’s and his heart ached for her loss – and for his own. He offered a weary smile and pulling her closer, ran a hand down over her auburn hair.
“Yeah,” he said quietly, gruffly, “Good for what ails you.”
For a moment, father and daughter were silent, looking into the fire before them, each gathering strength in the presence of the other. Finally Cass spoke.
“So what is it that is ailing you tonight Sweetheart?”
Her gaze still upon the embers, Charlie searched for the words to explain. In spite of all she had been through in her 14 years, Charlie still found it difficult to talk about such things with her father, fearful that in revealing her own hurt, she would be opening up the deep wounds she knew he too carried inside.
Taking a shuttering breath, unable to meet his questioning gaze, Charlie said shortly, “I’m sorry Daddy.”
Cass frowned, confused. “Sorry? What do you mean, honey? What could you possibly have to be sorry for?”
Charlie lowered her head. “For making Lila leave.”
Immediately Cass straightened, turning to face her. “What?” he said in a stunned voice. “Charlie, that just isn’t true. Lila did not leave because of …”
“No Daddy,” Charlie cut him off, her words coming quickly, urgently. “It is true. I didn’t mean to. I love Lila. I really do. You were so sad for such a long time and she made you happy again. And she was so good to me. I wouldn’t want to do anything to hurt Lila, Daddy. Honest. But…but…” Her words trailed away, as if she had suddenly lost her courage to speak them.
For all her efforts over the past year to be strong and ‘grown up’ for her father’s sake, Cass could see now his little girl and the pain on her face and in her voice. He wanted to say those things that would convince her that his divorce from Lila Roberts Winthrop was his doing alone. But it had taken everything his daughter had to bring her turmoil to the surface and Cass decided in that moment that she had to rid herself of that guilt right now.
“But what, honey?” he asked gently coaxing.
“Something happened,” came the quaking reply.
He waited, but she said nothing. “What do you mean? What happened?”
Again, she bowed her head and there was a desperate confusion in her voice, “I don’t know, Daddy. I don’t know. Everything was okay and then everything was just…” She looked at him imploringly as if hoping he could give her an answer. When none came, she whispered, “Just different.”
Cass gathered Charlie into his arms once more, sensing her confusion and hesitance. “It’s alright honey. It’s okay.”
Reassured by her father’s warmth, Charlie continued. “Do you remember that day…the day I got sick at school?”
Cass’ hold tightened around her perceptibly. He did indeed remember. The phone call at the office a year before telling him that Charlie had collapsed in gym class. The cardiologist had assured him that she would make a full recovery, but the reappearance of the child’s congenital heart defect had shaken Cass so profoundly, he felt the fear still.
Charlie felt his hand gently stroking her head as he spoke, “I remember, honey.”
“I was at the hospital,” she said. “The nurse said that you were on the way and that you would be there real soon, but I was…I was so scared. I thought,” she paused as her lower lip began to tremble, “I thought I might die.”
Cass felt her words like a blow to his chest, “Oh Baby…”
Charlie continued quickly as the words now flowed from deep inside; all that she had carried within for the past many months. “I thought I might die and I thought maybe I wouldn’t get to see you and say goodbye and how awful it was that we didn’t get to say goodbye to…to Momma.”
Cass held her shaking form, a part of himself wanting to halt her words but knowing that it was so important that she finally release that we she had carried alone for too long.
“I wanted so much for Momma to be there,” she choked, “I just wanted her to be there so much in case I…I…I just wanted her to be there so you would be okay.”
“Oh Charlie,” Cass said, unable to remain silent any longer.
“I didn’t think about Lila…I couldn’t think about anything but Mom…I wanted Mom so bad it hurt.” Charlie paused to take a breath. “Daddy?”
“Yes, Honey?” Cass replied softly.
“Do you remember after Momma…after Momma went away…do you remember how you told me that I could always talk to her and no matter what, she would always hear me? That I could tell her anything and she would hear me and it would make me feel better?”
“I remember Honey.”
“That day at the hospital, I asked her to come back. Oh Daddy, I prayed so hard for her to just come back and make everything okay for you and for me just like she always could…that if she did, everything would be alright and...” Charlie pulled free from her father’s embrace. “Daddy,” she said assuredly, “Momma heard me.”
Cass rested his own hand upon hers and smiled tenderly, “I know she did Honey,”
“No Daddy,” she said, “you don’t understand. It wasn’t like when I was little and I talked to her. It wasn’t just that I felt better…I know she really heard me. I could feel it. I mean I could really feel it. Just like she was holding onto me. She was holding onto me so tight that I…” She looked at him beseechingly. “Do you understand?”
Cass studied her face carefully, her words hitting him deeply. Yes, he understood. And it frightened him. He replied in the only way he knew how.
“Go on, Honey.”
Charlie now searched his face. Somehow the simplicity of his reply gave her confidence and the she spoke now without fear…without tears.
“It didn’t go away, Daddy,” she said, looking directly into his eyes. “That feeling that Momma was right there with me…it didn’t go away. Even after you got to the hospital. Even after I knew that I was going to be okay, that feeling didn’t go away. I didn’t even have to think about it…you know? Even when I was talking to you and when I was talking to Lila, it was there.” She thought for a moment, trying to add greater meaning to her words. “Sort of like, Mom’s hand was on my shoulder, but, you know, on the inside. You…you know what I mean?”
“I think so,” he said slowly, “Go on.”
“Well, it…it just kept getting stronger and stronger. Even when I came home from the hospital. Even then. I knew I was okay. I wasn’t scared at all. But then, it was like, I don’t know…” She paused and looked down, suddenly unsure. “It changed.”
“Changed?” Cass prompted, “How Honey? How did it change?”
“I don’t know,” she said, head still bowed slowly shaking her head. “It was, like, now I was okay but now…” she looked up at him imploring him to understand. “Now it was like Mom needed me. And I…I didn’t know what to do.”
Cass felt his heart quicken and he swallowed hard. “Charlie, why didn’t you tell me about this? Why didn’t you come to me and tell me what you were feeling?”
“You got really busy and were at the office all the time and when you were at home, you looked so tired.” For a moment, she considered her next words. “And then you and Lila started having troubles and I knew why.”
“What do you mean Charlie?”
“Lila knew something was bothering me and she wanted to help.” Charlie looked at Cass quickly, “Dad, Lila always helped when I wanted her too. She was a really good friend. But I couldn’t let her help me.”
“Charlie, Lila loves you, you know that. If you were upset, you could have…”
“No.” Charlie said firmly, “No I couldn’t.” She moved away from him slightly to sit facing him directly, her voice becoming more urgent; more insistent. “I couldn’t. She kept asking me what was wrong, but I just couldn’t tell her and she would get upset. Lila wanted to make what I was feeling go away. But I don’t want it to go away. As long as she talks to me, I still have a chance and I can find her. I just know it. I can…” She stopped suddenly. She had revealed too much.
His rapidly beating heart was now in his throat and Cass struggled to get the words through. “Who, Charlie? Who can you find?”
Charlie now trembled before him, tears beginning to flow as she shook her head, “I’m…I’m sorry Daddy. I’m so sorry.”
Cass leaned forward taking her face gently between his hands, “Baby, please. Please tell me. Who? Who is it you need to find?”
Still Charlie shook her head, “I’m so sorry Daddy. I…She needs me. I know she needs me and I…I can find her.”
“Who, Charlie?” Cass pressed, suppressing the urgency with a whispered tone. “Tell me.”
A long moment passed as Charlie looked into his eyes. He never wavered, hoping desperately that she would see how much he loved her and how much he needed her to trust in that love.
“Tell me,” he whispered again.
Charlie collapsed in his arms, “I want her to come home,” she sobbed into his chest. “Oh Daddy, I’m so sorry. I just want Mom to come home.”
Cass held her slight form tightly, attempting to absorb her pain and make it part of his own.
***
She awoke with a start; gasping as she bolted upright from the pillow, the sound of a child’s cry, though now fading, echoing still from some dark recess of her unconsciousness. Raising a hand to push the red locks from her forehead, she tried to calm her rapid breathing and the turmoil deep inside.
“I’m okay,” she whispered into the darkness of early morning. “I’m okay. Everything…everything is fine.”
She closed her eyes as if attempting to see inside herself; as if ensuring that she was indeed okay. She took a deep breath.
“It was a dream,” she whispered. “Just another dream.”
She sighed as she lowered her hand and turned to check the clock on the bedside table. It read 5:30 a.m. Still another hour and a half before she needed to be awake and a wave of exhaustion swept over her. Resting back upon the pillow, she rolled to her side and closed her eyes.
“I’m okay,” she murmured tiredly.
As peace returned a final thought ushered her into sleep.
“She’s okay.”
***
From across the room, Cass looked to where Charlie lay sleeping quietly on the sofa. She had cried herself into at first a fitful slumber, but Cass’ soft, soothing reassurances had finally lulled her into peaceful rest. Now, an hour later, he rested his arm on the mantle as he guarded over her dreams.
Charlie was the most precious gift that Frankie had ever given him. She was the dream they had shared, the promise that had so cruelly been broken. Charlie was every memory that Cass had of the only woman he knew now he had ever truly loved and was every hope they had shared.
He remembered vividly Charlie’s return from the hospital. How for a week after her homecoming, he had spent each night at her bedside, watching her sleep, leaping forward at the slightest hitch in her breathing. He remembered how hard it was to leave her when the court calendar demanded it and how he had raced to the phone at every break in the proceedings demanding from Lila a full and detailed report.
And he remembered that day in his office, when exhaustion finally overwhelmed him and he had relented, resting fitfully on the office couch. He had awoken with a start, snapping to alertness. Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong. He had raced to the phone. Lila assured him that everything was fine; that Charlie was napping. He’d hung up the phone, but inside was an uneasiness he could neither explain nor dispel.
The snap of the spruce log in the fireplace brought him out of his reverie and his hand, seemingly of its own volition moved to rest upon his chest. It was there. That same emptiness so palpable it was a physical ache. He looked down and saw the tremble in his hand before closing the fingers into a tight fist and abruptly standing.
Anger born of frustration rose up inside him as he turned to stare down into the fire.
“What is it?” he implored, looking down into the dancing flames. “What?”
But there were no answers among the ashes and he sighed deeply. As he slowly lifted his head, his gaze fell upon the photograph adorning the hearth and he found himself staring into the eyes of Mary Frances. The smile, which transformed her face from mere beauty to breath-taking brilliance, was still so powerful that it coaxed from Cass a smile of reply.
“I don’t understand this Frankie,” he whispered. “I don’t know what it means.” his words faded as he took the photograph into his hands. “This can’t be happening, can it? Not now.” With still-trembling fingertips, Cass gently traced the line of Frankie’s framed features, a sigh coming from the very depth of his trouble soul.
“Oh, Babe,” he whispered, “I love you so much.”
Carefully, he placed the photo back onto the mantle and moved quietly to where Charlie lay. Lifting her carefully into the cradle of his arms, he carried her up the stairs to her room. He would sit by her side until morning.
The tiny chimes of the old clock that stood beside Frankie’s photo rang two bells.
***
In the silence of a London flat, a smile softened the features of the sleeping woman as she murmured gently,
“I love you too.” |
