Twister City: 1x04 - "Two Little Princesses" (1/3)
I know I said I'd never ever do another full episode again but...
Title: Twister City, 1x04 Two Little Princesses (1/?)
Author: kseda
Rating: PG
Characters: EVERYONE EVER (for a complete list see here - recently updated!)
Summary: The life and times of the Gailman sisters. ~Hooray flashback episode!~
Disclaimer: Tin Man is not mine. Contrary to popular belief Topeka isn't either.
episode title card: Two Little Princesses
VOICEOVER (child Dorothy): Tell me a story.
fade in
VOICEOVER (child Katy): Once upon a time there was a beautiful young princess.
Azkadellia Gailman, age five, was indeed a princess part of the time. She had a beautiful green dress with sequins and puffy sleeves (plus a juice stain down the front) and a (slightly bent) magic wand made of plastic with sparkly green and silver streamers (frayed and mangled) on the tip. Her crown was plastic silver with a pink plastic jewel set in the middle, and she ruled the kingdom of her backyard with grace.
Everything was perfect, until her baby sister was born.
Hey!
William held Azkadellia propped on his hip while Lavender dressed Dorothy in her own little princess gown of red. Az sulked, but still her father brought her closer.
The infant Dorothy looked up with wide blue eyes, then smiled and reached up with tiny hands toward the wand's streamers. For a moment Az hesitated, then waved the wand a bit, which made Dorothy giggle.
Az smiled too, and decided that maybe having a little sister wouldn't be too bad.
From then on, the two little princesses were inseparable. They even made friends with a little wizard.
Two years passed and Katy, no longer dressed as a princess, was teaching Dorothy the alphabet.
"Ant!"
"Good, and what else?"
"Ummm..."
"Come on, Dotty, what else starts with A?"
Dorothy looked around the playroom, and then her eyes lit up and she pointed over her sister's shoulder. "Am'rose!"
Katy turned to look and grinned. Ambrose stood in the doorway with a shy smile and pushed his hair out of his eyes. "Hi Dot," he said with a small wave. "Hi Katy."
And together they had amazing adventures.
It was dark and two sets of feet were pounding through the grass. Katy and Ambrose, both about ten now, were gasping as they ran, their flashlights occasionally catching gravestones.
Eventually Katy stumbled to a stop, Ambrose a step behind her. Both looked around frantically and Katy called out for her sister.
"DOTTY!"
VOICEOVER (teenager Katy): The princesses kept getting older, and sometimes they weren't always friends.
Katy wore a beautiful green prom dress, and her hair was done in elaborate style with a small braid running down the center. However tears were threatening her makeup as she dashed around her room.
"You must have misplaced it," her mother told her, a hint of disappointment in her voice. "Have you tried-"
"I've looked everywhere!" Katy wailed. "And I know I put it right back in the box, I know I did!"
In her room across the hall, Dorothy slipped a necklace with an emerald pendant into her jacket pocket and hung it in the closet.
Then the older princess was put under a wicked spell.
Katy pulled a pipe from between her lips and smiled in euphoria.
Not even the wizard could help her.
The door to the secondary bio-chem lab had a window, and every now and then a shadow would flit past. Voices could be heard, one male, one female, one desperate, one childish, both pleading.
"Please."
"No."
"But you have to!"
"I don't know!"
"You do, you know everything!"
"No, please, I don't- Katy-"
VOICEOVER (adult Katy): The only one able to break the spell was her little sister, and the princesses became closer than ever.
Dorothy and Katy sat on the edge of a dorm room bed, Dorothy brushing out her sister's hair and humming a lullaby. She began singing softly.
"Spinning fast and freely on their little toes-"
With a sigh Katy got to her feet and paced, her black graduation gown swirling about her.
"It's just you?" she asked her sister.
Dorothy smiled and nodded. "And I'm not going anywhere."
Katy smiled, a hint of her old self shining through.
blackout
VOICEOVER (child Dorothy): And did they live happily ever after?
VOICEOVER(adult Katy): ...well-
opening credits
Act One
It was a bright and frosty dawn as Katy Gailmam walked from her car to the station's back entrance. She paused and looked up, purse held in one hand as she studied the clouds.
"Stratus," she said and pointed to a layer of flat, scaly-looking clouds, then to a lower set of puffy ones. "Cumulus." She turned and nodded to the dark blue western sky. "Cirrus," she added, and her breath made its own brief wisp of condensation.
She straightened and swiped her access card in the detector, which released the magnetic lock and allowed her inside.
*
Ariana greeted her with a hug, a friendly one, and if anyone saw her turn her face into the soft blond hair, or noticed Airiana's hands shifting against her back, then it went without remark.
*
"Temperatures should rebound to the upper fifties by late afternoon with cloud cover increasing into the evening. That'll insulate us a bit, so not as cold tomorrow morning, but those clouds are bringing rain so keep your umbrellas handy."
*
"We should get dinner," Ariana said. She was looking over Katy's shoulder at the laptop displaying the latest National Weather Service advisories. "Or I could make you dinner,." Her hand rested casually on Katy's arm, warm and steady.
Katy shook her head. "I can't tonight, I'm meeting my sister," she murmured.
"If she ditches you for that man of hers again, you call me," Ariana said with a sigh and stepped back. "I wish you'd tell me who he was, this man whom she finds so much more worthwhile that you."
"Sibling confidentiality, Ana" Katy replied and glanced up at her with a smile. "I am not at liberty to say."
Ariana laughed. "So long as you are still smiling, I will manage." She turned and left the small office, and Katy's smile vanished.
*
Her iPod was playing the audiobook version of Breaking Dawn as she pounded out miles on the treadmill. Nothing in the world would make her confess as much, though, neither temptation nor torture-
The smell of gas, the flash of blue flame at the burner's tip, "How about a little fire, Ambrose?"
Katy blinked, shook her head, and picked up the pace with fresh determination.
*
LeFevre dropped his report on Rawlins' desk and stepped back, left thumb absently rubbing the scar on his right palm.
"Results say our suspect was indeed on meth," he said with a nod. "So tack on a DUI to whatever else you've got him for. Oh, and the fibers from the initial scene match the stuffing from the 'love bandit' bear at his girlfriend's place."
Rawlins raised his eyebrows expectantly.
LeFevre shrugged. "Didn't think of anything funny to say about that."
"Slipping," Rawlins remarked.
There was a knock at the door, which then opened to admit Dorothy Gailman. "Oh," she began. "Sorry, I can come back."
"No," Rawlins said, stood up from his desk, and nodded to LeFevre. "Sorry, official business."
"And this isn't? Glad I know where I rank." He offered Gailman a faint smile as he turned to leave. "Counsel."
"Doctor," she replied softly. The door closed behind him and she shook her head. "Really, this can wait, I know you guys have your hands full right now-"
"It's fine," Rawlins told her and shrugged his jacket on. "Need a break. We all do."
Gailman smiled and stepped closer to him, reaching up to touch his cheek. The door flew open again and she instantly dropped her hand.
LeFevre pointed at Rawlins, grinning. "Aha!" he crowed. Gailman's eyes went wide in shock but the CSI ignored her. "We should book the bear as an accomplice!"
"What-" Gailman began, then Rawlins started laughing.
"Very good," he said, then waved LeFevre away. He gave Gailman a wink before leaving again.
Dorothy whistled low and tucked her hair behind her ear. "And you're sure he doesn't know."
"Denial," Lionel replied. "Thinks we're smarter than this."
"I almost hate to disappoint him," she sighed, then reached up to stroke his beard softly. "Almost."
Lionel hummed and leaned into the touch briefly, then ducked away and gestured to the door. Dorothy beamed and lead the way out of the office.
*
Some time later they stole a few moments in a stairwell, her arms around him under his suit jacket while he tenderly threaded his fingers in her hair.
They were unlikely, and knew it. He'd come to this city because he was done with being adrift at sea and had found an anchor in her. She'd discovered a hero in him, and the bravery to see this all the way through.
"Would it be weird if I said I loved you?"
"No."
"All right. I do, you know. Just... one thing?"
"Yes?"
"Could you lose the beard? I bet it'd make you look younger."
He was quieter than usual for a moment. "I need to look younger?"
"No, no, I don't mean that," Dorothy said and shook her head. "I just want to see what you'd look like without it."
After a moment, Lionel nodded. "Okay. Love you too."
She smiled and leaned in for another kiss. "This'll do for now. I'm going out with Katy tonight."
"Good," he murmured as she eased away from him. "It's good to stay close with family."
Her smile was crooked and her hand stayed clasped with his as she took two more steps back on the landing. "I'll meet yours eventually, right?"
His nod was vague and she finally let go to take the steps down.
*
Katy and Dorothy were seated at a table for two in a discrete corner at a chain Italian restaurant. They ordered a zinfandel and a shiraz respectively before they went back to looking over the menu.
"You sure it's all right being seen with me?" Katy murmured.
"Please," Dorothy scoffed. "They're probably wondering who I am, out with the weather girl."
Katy raised her eyebrows. "Weather girl? I thought we were more progressive than that."
"Sorry," Dorothy drawled and sipped her wine. "How about televised meteorological specialist?" Katy smirked and trailed her finger along the listing of chicken items, so Dorothy pressed on. "Actually I'm amazed you decided to come out with me."
"What?" Katy asked, and grinned impishly. "Just because I say your adventures have a way of getting me into trouble-"
"Oh please," Dorothy said and waved a bread stick at her threateningly. "Like I've never heard that one before."
*
October 1986
Their grandmother's funeral had been a massive event, the likes of which was rarely seen in Topeka. Although Representative Gailman had been retired for three years her battle with breast cancer had inspired the nation, and she was mourned from coast to coast.
Dorothy had taken the death exceptionally hard. She had been named for her Nana and loved her dearly, and now could not understand why she was gone.
Which was why, when Dorothy vanished from the Gailman home two weeks after the funeral, Katy knew just where to go. She made a phone call, then set off into the night towards the cemetery three blocks away. She just hoped her parents wouldn't notice her missing wile they were busy with the police.
Katy climbed the gate, knowing her sister had been able to squeeze between the bars, and paced the path for a few anxious minutes before she heard an approaching bicycle. The bike skidded to a stop and she aimed her flashlight at the pale face of Ambrose LeFevre.
"Ow!" he said with a wince and dropped his bike.
"Sorry," Katy said and stepped back as he clambered over the gate. "Do you have one?"
He nodded and switched on his flashlight. "Why didn't you just tell your parents?"
"She'd just hide from them," Katy replied and started up the path. "If we're here she'll just think it's an adventure."
Ambrose frowned as he trudged beside her. "How long's she been gone?"
"An hour."
"You think she went to-"
"Nan's grave, definitely."
They continued on through rows of flat gravemarkers and, with only the slightest glance, past the side path that would have lead to where Ambrose's parents were buried. Not a word was spoken, for thought they'd gone to the cemetery at night a dozen times in the three years they'd known each other this was some how different.
After a short walk they came to the final resting place of Congresswoman Dorothy Geraldine Gailman. Fresh flowers had been laid out and the grass beside the grave was still trampled by the passage of many feet. A quick search proved that the congresswoman's youngest descendant was not there.
"I thought for sure..." Katy trailed off as her fingers caressed the face of a sunflower.
"Maybe she got lost," Ambrose suggested and tugged his corduroy jacket tighter about himself. "We know the way but she's little, maybe she didn't remember."
Katy stood up with a gasp and spun in place, her flashlight beam suddenly inadequate as she called for her sister.
"Dotty!
tbc
Title: Twister City, 1x04 Two Little Princesses (1/?)
Author: kseda
Rating: PG
Characters: EVERYONE EVER (for a complete list see here - recently updated!)
Summary: The life and times of the Gailman sisters. ~Hooray flashback episode!~
Disclaimer: Tin Man is not mine. Contrary to popular belief Topeka isn't either.
episode title card: Two Little Princesses
VOICEOVER (child Dorothy): Tell me a story.
fade in
VOICEOVER (child Katy): Once upon a time there was a beautiful young princess.
Azkadellia Gailman, age five, was indeed a princess part of the time. She had a beautiful green dress with sequins and puffy sleeves (plus a juice stain down the front) and a (slightly bent) magic wand made of plastic with sparkly green and silver streamers (frayed and mangled) on the tip. Her crown was plastic silver with a pink plastic jewel set in the middle, and she ruled the kingdom of her backyard with grace.
Everything was perfect, until her baby sister was born.
Hey!
William held Azkadellia propped on his hip while Lavender dressed Dorothy in her own little princess gown of red. Az sulked, but still her father brought her closer.
The infant Dorothy looked up with wide blue eyes, then smiled and reached up with tiny hands toward the wand's streamers. For a moment Az hesitated, then waved the wand a bit, which made Dorothy giggle.
Az smiled too, and decided that maybe having a little sister wouldn't be too bad.
From then on, the two little princesses were inseparable. They even made friends with a little wizard.
Two years passed and Katy, no longer dressed as a princess, was teaching Dorothy the alphabet.
"Ant!"
"Good, and what else?"
"Ummm..."
"Come on, Dotty, what else starts with A?"
Dorothy looked around the playroom, and then her eyes lit up and she pointed over her sister's shoulder. "Am'rose!"
Katy turned to look and grinned. Ambrose stood in the doorway with a shy smile and pushed his hair out of his eyes. "Hi Dot," he said with a small wave. "Hi Katy."
And together they had amazing adventures.
It was dark and two sets of feet were pounding through the grass. Katy and Ambrose, both about ten now, were gasping as they ran, their flashlights occasionally catching gravestones.
Eventually Katy stumbled to a stop, Ambrose a step behind her. Both looked around frantically and Katy called out for her sister.
"DOTTY!"
VOICEOVER (teenager Katy): The princesses kept getting older, and sometimes they weren't always friends.
Katy wore a beautiful green prom dress, and her hair was done in elaborate style with a small braid running down the center. However tears were threatening her makeup as she dashed around her room.
"You must have misplaced it," her mother told her, a hint of disappointment in her voice. "Have you tried-"
"I've looked everywhere!" Katy wailed. "And I know I put it right back in the box, I know I did!"
In her room across the hall, Dorothy slipped a necklace with an emerald pendant into her jacket pocket and hung it in the closet.
Then the older princess was put under a wicked spell.
Katy pulled a pipe from between her lips and smiled in euphoria.
Not even the wizard could help her.
The door to the secondary bio-chem lab had a window, and every now and then a shadow would flit past. Voices could be heard, one male, one female, one desperate, one childish, both pleading.
"Please."
"No."
"But you have to!"
"I don't know!"
"You do, you know everything!"
"No, please, I don't- Katy-"
VOICEOVER (adult Katy): The only one able to break the spell was her little sister, and the princesses became closer than ever.
Dorothy and Katy sat on the edge of a dorm room bed, Dorothy brushing out her sister's hair and humming a lullaby. She began singing softly.
"Spinning fast and freely on their little toes-"
With a sigh Katy got to her feet and paced, her black graduation gown swirling about her.
"It's just you?" she asked her sister.
Dorothy smiled and nodded. "And I'm not going anywhere."
Katy smiled, a hint of her old self shining through.
blackout
VOICEOVER (child Dorothy): And did they live happily ever after?
VOICEOVER(adult Katy): ...well-
opening credits
Act One
It was a bright and frosty dawn as Katy Gailmam walked from her car to the station's back entrance. She paused and looked up, purse held in one hand as she studied the clouds.
"Stratus," she said and pointed to a layer of flat, scaly-looking clouds, then to a lower set of puffy ones. "Cumulus." She turned and nodded to the dark blue western sky. "Cirrus," she added, and her breath made its own brief wisp of condensation.
She straightened and swiped her access card in the detector, which released the magnetic lock and allowed her inside.
*
Ariana greeted her with a hug, a friendly one, and if anyone saw her turn her face into the soft blond hair, or noticed Airiana's hands shifting against her back, then it went without remark.
*
"Temperatures should rebound to the upper fifties by late afternoon with cloud cover increasing into the evening. That'll insulate us a bit, so not as cold tomorrow morning, but those clouds are bringing rain so keep your umbrellas handy."
*
"We should get dinner," Ariana said. She was looking over Katy's shoulder at the laptop displaying the latest National Weather Service advisories. "Or I could make you dinner,." Her hand rested casually on Katy's arm, warm and steady.
Katy shook her head. "I can't tonight, I'm meeting my sister," she murmured.
"If she ditches you for that man of hers again, you call me," Ariana said with a sigh and stepped back. "I wish you'd tell me who he was, this man whom she finds so much more worthwhile that you."
"Sibling confidentiality, Ana" Katy replied and glanced up at her with a smile. "I am not at liberty to say."
Ariana laughed. "So long as you are still smiling, I will manage." She turned and left the small office, and Katy's smile vanished.
*
Her iPod was playing the audiobook version of Breaking Dawn as she pounded out miles on the treadmill. Nothing in the world would make her confess as much, though, neither temptation nor torture-
The smell of gas, the flash of blue flame at the burner's tip, "How about a little fire, Ambrose?"
Katy blinked, shook her head, and picked up the pace with fresh determination.
*
LeFevre dropped his report on Rawlins' desk and stepped back, left thumb absently rubbing the scar on his right palm.
"Results say our suspect was indeed on meth," he said with a nod. "So tack on a DUI to whatever else you've got him for. Oh, and the fibers from the initial scene match the stuffing from the 'love bandit' bear at his girlfriend's place."
Rawlins raised his eyebrows expectantly.
LeFevre shrugged. "Didn't think of anything funny to say about that."
"Slipping," Rawlins remarked.
There was a knock at the door, which then opened to admit Dorothy Gailman. "Oh," she began. "Sorry, I can come back."
"No," Rawlins said, stood up from his desk, and nodded to LeFevre. "Sorry, official business."
"And this isn't? Glad I know where I rank." He offered Gailman a faint smile as he turned to leave. "Counsel."
"Doctor," she replied softly. The door closed behind him and she shook her head. "Really, this can wait, I know you guys have your hands full right now-"
"It's fine," Rawlins told her and shrugged his jacket on. "Need a break. We all do."
Gailman smiled and stepped closer to him, reaching up to touch his cheek. The door flew open again and she instantly dropped her hand.
LeFevre pointed at Rawlins, grinning. "Aha!" he crowed. Gailman's eyes went wide in shock but the CSI ignored her. "We should book the bear as an accomplice!"
"What-" Gailman began, then Rawlins started laughing.
"Very good," he said, then waved LeFevre away. He gave Gailman a wink before leaving again.
Dorothy whistled low and tucked her hair behind her ear. "And you're sure he doesn't know."
"Denial," Lionel replied. "Thinks we're smarter than this."
"I almost hate to disappoint him," she sighed, then reached up to stroke his beard softly. "Almost."
Lionel hummed and leaned into the touch briefly, then ducked away and gestured to the door. Dorothy beamed and lead the way out of the office.
*
Some time later they stole a few moments in a stairwell, her arms around him under his suit jacket while he tenderly threaded his fingers in her hair.
They were unlikely, and knew it. He'd come to this city because he was done with being adrift at sea and had found an anchor in her. She'd discovered a hero in him, and the bravery to see this all the way through.
"Would it be weird if I said I loved you?"
"No."
"All right. I do, you know. Just... one thing?"
"Yes?"
"Could you lose the beard? I bet it'd make you look younger."
He was quieter than usual for a moment. "I need to look younger?"
"No, no, I don't mean that," Dorothy said and shook her head. "I just want to see what you'd look like without it."
After a moment, Lionel nodded. "Okay. Love you too."
She smiled and leaned in for another kiss. "This'll do for now. I'm going out with Katy tonight."
"Good," he murmured as she eased away from him. "It's good to stay close with family."
Her smile was crooked and her hand stayed clasped with his as she took two more steps back on the landing. "I'll meet yours eventually, right?"
His nod was vague and she finally let go to take the steps down.
*
Katy and Dorothy were seated at a table for two in a discrete corner at a chain Italian restaurant. They ordered a zinfandel and a shiraz respectively before they went back to looking over the menu.
"You sure it's all right being seen with me?" Katy murmured.
"Please," Dorothy scoffed. "They're probably wondering who I am, out with the weather girl."
Katy raised her eyebrows. "Weather girl? I thought we were more progressive than that."
"Sorry," Dorothy drawled and sipped her wine. "How about televised meteorological specialist?" Katy smirked and trailed her finger along the listing of chicken items, so Dorothy pressed on. "Actually I'm amazed you decided to come out with me."
"What?" Katy asked, and grinned impishly. "Just because I say your adventures have a way of getting me into trouble-"
"Oh please," Dorothy said and waved a bread stick at her threateningly. "Like I've never heard that one before."
*
October 1986
Their grandmother's funeral had been a massive event, the likes of which was rarely seen in Topeka. Although Representative Gailman had been retired for three years her battle with breast cancer had inspired the nation, and she was mourned from coast to coast.
Dorothy had taken the death exceptionally hard. She had been named for her Nana and loved her dearly, and now could not understand why she was gone.
Which was why, when Dorothy vanished from the Gailman home two weeks after the funeral, Katy knew just where to go. She made a phone call, then set off into the night towards the cemetery three blocks away. She just hoped her parents wouldn't notice her missing wile they were busy with the police.
Katy climbed the gate, knowing her sister had been able to squeeze between the bars, and paced the path for a few anxious minutes before she heard an approaching bicycle. The bike skidded to a stop and she aimed her flashlight at the pale face of Ambrose LeFevre.
"Ow!" he said with a wince and dropped his bike.
"Sorry," Katy said and stepped back as he clambered over the gate. "Do you have one?"
He nodded and switched on his flashlight. "Why didn't you just tell your parents?"
"She'd just hide from them," Katy replied and started up the path. "If we're here she'll just think it's an adventure."
Ambrose frowned as he trudged beside her. "How long's she been gone?"
"An hour."
"You think she went to-"
"Nan's grave, definitely."
They continued on through rows of flat gravemarkers and, with only the slightest glance, past the side path that would have lead to where Ambrose's parents were buried. Not a word was spoken, for thought they'd gone to the cemetery at night a dozen times in the three years they'd known each other this was some how different.
After a short walk they came to the final resting place of Congresswoman Dorothy Geraldine Gailman. Fresh flowers had been laid out and the grass beside the grave was still trampled by the passage of many feet. A quick search proved that the congresswoman's youngest descendant was not there.
"I thought for sure..." Katy trailed off as her fingers caressed the face of a sunflower.
"Maybe she got lost," Ambrose suggested and tugged his corduroy jacket tighter about himself. "We know the way but she's little, maybe she didn't remember."
Katy stood up with a gasp and spun in place, her flashlight beam suddenly inadequate as she called for her sister.
"Dotty!
tbc