Re: Say the Words - ch.42 -- The Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman Fan Exchange

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Date Posted: 08:04:48 03/26/03 Wed
Author: dqfan
Subject: Re: Say the Words - ch.42
In reply to: dqfan 's message, "Say the Words - ch.41" on 08:01:38 03/26/03 Wed

CHAPTER FORTY TWO

The awful ruckus woke Charity with a start. Through sleep-filled eyes, she fumbled for her clock, swearing under her breath.

"Two o'clock in the morning?" she groaned, as the incessant pounding began to seep its way inside her head.

Hopelessly, she lay back for a moment, willing the noise to stop, but it only seemed to grow louder. Obviously, whoever was out there, they had no idea how dangerous it was to wake a sleeping Lawson.

"Oh! Where is it coming from?" Charity huffed, throwing back the covers. As she reached for her bathrobe, Charity pulled open the curtains for a better view of the front lawn.

Even without her glasses, the light in the garage was clearly visible and the banging emanating from there seemed determined to wake the dead.

Attempting to control her temper, Charity grabbed a coat for over her robe and stormed outside.

With the garage door partly open, Charity had no trouble seeing within. Peter's workbench was covered with lumber and rope. There was also a saw, a few metal fasteners, a carving knife, and a small sketch she couldn't begin to make out. What Charity could see though�quite plainly�was Peter. Dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, he was furiously taking hammer to wood - over and over again.

"Peter! Have you completely lost your mind? It's two o'clock in the morning!" Charity fumed, covering her ears. "Stop that racket, now!"

Peter held up his hammer in mid-air and turned to Charity with fire in his eyes.

"Can't a man create in peace?" he snapped at her, determined to finish the project he'd begun.

"Peace? You call this peace?" Charity exclaimed, looking about at the chaos that was the garage.

"What on earth are you doing?" she asked, stunned. Then, sounding ridiculously like a mother, she continued, "Don't you have school tomorrow?"

"I'm not tired, Mom," he quipped sarcastically, reducing the force of his hammering slightly as he reached for another nail.

"Still, you should be in bed�" Charity remarked quite innocently. But, at the word "bed," Peter flinched, his disappointment over Sophie's extraordinary resolve written all over his face.

"Oh�" Charity smiled, knowingly.

"Oh�?" Peter repeated, daring his aunt to continue her suicidal line of questioning.

"Nothing�nothing at all�" Charity chuckled, her sense of pity cloaked deep within her amusement over Peter's bout of sexual frustration.

Cautiously, Charity walked over to her nephew and placed an outwardly sympathetic hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry your evening didn't go as you'd hoped, Dear�"

But, Charity being Charity, she was unable to leave it at that. Perhaps it was her wicked sense of humor�but then again�Peter did wake her, after all�

So, with a mischievous smirk, she comforted breezily, "But do try and remember, the wedding's 'only' five weeks away�"

"That's supposed to help?" Peter snarled churlishly.

"No, I suppose not�" Charity admitted with mock-seriousness.

Then, pausing to consider a few options, Charity offered her next suggestion with infuriating delight, "I could always make you some warm milk�"

"Out!" Peter shouted, pointing the hammer menacingly in her direction.

Good-naturedly, Charity bid Peter a speedy farewell. "You just go on with your 'creating' - whatever it is�I'm sure I must have some earplugs somewhere�"

Peter raised his eyes toward heaven and wondered in exasperation if his mother knew how maddeningly Charity managed to infiltrate his life. Yet, she'd patiently instilled in him the one belief that Rachel cherished most - the importance of family and friends, above all else. Charity had been his constant beacon of light and love, one he often took for granted, and her precious gift of laughter filled his soul.

Peter could only shake his head at the comical vision of Charity, in bathrobe and coat, blithely rummaging through her belongings for earplugs at 2am! Her pure, unending, sheer joy of living was truly a marvel.

"Aunt C.," he called to her, his sobering conversation with Sophie still fresh in his mind.

"Yes, my Dear?" she stopped, halfway out the door.

"Thanks for never growing old�" Peter shrugged gratefully, tilting his head in apology for his behavior.

"Lawsons never do�" she reminded him haughtily, with a wink that said, 'I love you, too.'

With that, Charity walked toward the house, a satisfied smile on her face as she heard the atrocious banging continue anew.

Perhaps the earplugs were in the kitchen�.

^^^^^^^^^^^^

Daisy lay awake in her bed, mulling over Ezra's ghost theory, when, suddenly, she could have sworn she heard his voice whisper her name. "Psst�Daise�"

For a moment she seriously considered the possibility that she might be going mad. She was spending far too much time talking to Ezra�thinking of Ezra. Now, she was hearing Ezra?

"Psst�Daise�" the haunting continued, even as Daisy slammed a pillow over her head to stop it.

"Daise�I need to talk to you�." The voice was coming, not from inside Daisy's head, but from outside her dormitory window.

Daisy lifted the pillow long enough to peer into the night. There, standing at her window, illuminated by the few emergency floodlights that circled the campus, was the one, the only, Ezra Friedkin.

"This isn't happening�" she muttered, as she snatched her slippers and bathrobe and made her way to the door, past a sleeping Shelby and Juliette.

"It's two o'clock in the morning!" Daisy reprimanded Ezra in a hushed voice. "Are you nuts!"

"Possibly�" Ezra sighed, pacing back and forth across the grass in his pajamas.

"Come here," Daisy ordered, grabbing him by the elbow to sit beside her on the steps of the dorm. "Sit down�Tell me what's wrong�"

Ezra looked deeply into Daisy eyes and told her what was bothering him. "It's too quiet�"

Daisy took a moment to thoughtfully mull Ezra's problem�

"It's two o'clock in the morning! It's supposed to be quiet!" she shot back at him in a very loud whisper.

"Not that quiet�" he explained nervously. "Not peaceful, tranquil quiet."

"Daise, I'm talking calm before the storm quiet�" Ezra predicted direly.

"Do you really think you should be using nautical analogies?" Daisy deadpanned. "You know you get seasick in the bathtub�"

Unphased by Daisy's barbs, Ezra pressed on with his lament. "Don't you feel it, Daise? That 'something's about to happen' feeling that sends shivers down your spine and makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up straight?" he asked ominously.

Daisy summoned all her senses and closed her eyes, waiting for the hair on the back of her neck to stand up straight�

"Nope�nothing�" she shrugged with a frown. "Sorry�"

"Well, I feel it�I just know it, Daise�What should we do," Ezra begged advice from the only paranormal expert he knew.

Daisy sighed heavily. Psychic intuition was not for amateurs. Ezra's premonitions were undoubtedly nothing; but, to be on the safe side, she'd consult her tarot cards in the morning.

"Why don't you go back to bed�get some rest�allow the cosmic vibrations to permeate your subconscious�" Gently, Daisy nudged Ezra in the direction of his dorm as he reluctantly took her suggestions.

When she was certain he was safely inside, Daisy stood and brushed the dirt from her pajamas - her work for the evening done. With her hand on the doorknob, Daisy took a moment to admire the full moon on the horizon.

Just then, the low, mournful, howl of a wolf echoed in the distance. Uselessly, she tried to shake herself from the spell it wove, but it was too late.

Without warning, a cool breeze brushed against her skin and sent a chill down Daisy's spine. Involuntarily, she raised her hand to her neck, feeling the prickle of her hairs as they stood completely on end. There was no longer any doubt.

Ezra was right�

^^^^^^^^^^^^

At two o'clock in the morning, Sophie was pacing the floor; at three, she was paying bills; at four o'clock, she was cleaning her closet, and at five, she decided to fix herself breakfast.

Now, in the early morning dawn of 6am, she found herself walking alone, across the dewy grass of Morgan's Field.

The stacks of morning papers were piled high against the sidewalk, waiting for the paperboys to begin their routes before school. Several of the benches were occupied by drifters and a milktruck was parked outside Rusty's, waiting for Annie to open. The sleepy town of Agnes was just waking up, while Sophie continued to struggle with the decision she'd been agonizing over all night.

Her plan was simple. Well, except for the part where she'd risk her health and lie to Peter� That part wasn't so simple.

Not that she'd really be lying exactly. It would be more like neglecting to tell him something�

Sophie gulped and tried to swallow her guilt. Isn't that exactly what Peter had done when he found out about Alexander's arrival? Just neglected to tell her for a while?

Sophie turned the bend in the field and headed left, towards the grandstands.

Her ankle felt good. Better than it had in weeks. Sophie put her full weight on it as she strode and felt nothing - not even a twinge. This would be so easy - she could do it in her sleep. So uncomplicated�if it weren't for the fact that Sophie knew - without a doubt - that Peter would positively hit the roof if he ever found out.

Oh, why, did everything have to happen at once? At any other time in her life, Sophie wouldn't have thought twice about this. But, she was getting married in five weeks�

Sophie felt the soft, muddy ground beneath her feet. The spring rains had thoughtfully provided the perfect cushion of support, not to mention the forgiving gravel pit that would be added atop it to form the D.Z�the area where Sophie stood now�the drop zone. The surrounding woods were dense but Morgan's Field itself was a vast patch of open space that spanned the size of at least three football fields. It was Josiah Morgan's gift to the town that had been his family's home for over 150 years.

In just five days, the field would be swarming with crowds, the media, the entire town of Agnes, and most of the population between there and Vancouver - all to see Alexander Becker's final jump. But, without the fanfare of the Snowbirds' fleet of planes, and without Lieutenant Purcell's participation in the death-defying double jump, could Alexander, alone, electrify the crowd?

Sophie had weighed the risks over and over again in her head. Now, she weighed the benefits�the look of surprise on her father's face�the joy she'd feel knowing she had given him such a special gift. At this stage in their lives, after all they had been through, that opportunity seemed truly priceless to Sophie.

"Peter will understand," she nodded to herself, with a shaky confidence. He'd be annoyed that she didn't tell him, of course; but, once it was over, he'd be filled with such overwhelming relief, and, hopefully, pride, that he'd eagerly forgive her. She hoped�

All her life, Sophie had seized the day�the opportunity�the moment that might never come again. Well, this was one of those moments. With the morning sunlight on her face, Sophie took a deep, fulfilling, breath. She had made her decision.

Peter would understand�

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Replies:

Re: Say the Words - ch.43 -- dqfan, 08:08:40 03/26/03 Wed
- Re: Say the Words - ch.44 -- dqfan, 08:16:17 03/26/03 Wed
  - Re: Say the Words - ch.45 & 46 -- dqfan, 08:24:48 03/26/03 Wed
    - Re: Say the Words - ch.47 -- dqfan, 08:33:07 03/26/03 Wed
      - Re: Say the Words - ch.48 -- dqfan, 08:35:35 03/26/03 Wed
        Re: Say the Words - ch.49 -- dqfan, 08:38:46 03/26/03 Wed
        Re: Say the Words - ch.50 -- dqfan, 08:42:32 03/26/03 Wed
        Re: Say the Words - ch.51 -- dqfan, 08:51:20 03/26/03 Wed
        Re: Say the Words - ch.52 -- dqfan, 08:55:14 03/26/03 Wed
        Re: Say the Words - ch.53 -- dqfan, 09:00:07 03/26/03 Wed
        Re: Say the Words - ch.54 -- dqfan, 09:04:41 03/26/03 Wed
        Re: Say the Words - ch.55 -- dqfan, 09:07:41 03/26/03 Wed