meme: 10 songs - each get a ficlet (Firefly, Burn Notice, Primeval)
gakked from Awanderingbard:
10 Songs Meme
The Meme:
1. Pick a character, pairing, or fandom you like.
2. Turn on your music player and put it on random/shuffle.
3. Write a drabble related to each song that plays. You only have the time frame of the song to finish the drabble; you start when the song starts, and stop when it’s over. No lingering afterwards!
4. Do ten of these, then post them.
I added something you don't have to do if you don't want to: if your player repeats the same song, or the same band twice in the same 10, skip the second one.
here:
* Burn Notice
* Firefly
* Primeval
Title: assembled
author: Keenir
summary: none.
Burn Notice, Firefly, and Primeval
Burn Notice
"You're not alone" by Amy Grant -
He wouldn't have done this on the railing outside his place - too likely to be seen...didn't matter by whom. This was inside, in his place, at the spot that none of the windows looked in on.
"I can't give up, Fi," shaking his head. Anyone else, by this point, after all the shit he'd gone through, would've sobbed the fact. Not Michael, though.
She'd only heard him cry once. The once. And that'd been hell. Placing one hand on his shoulder - keeping the hand in his field of vision the entire motion - Fiona told him "We won't."
==
"Tell it to my heart" by composer Ernie Gold -
It was one of her greater treasures. The snowglobes were markers, monuments to where she had been - bookmarks. But Fiona Glenanne's treasures couldn't be stolen from her...only made false by revelation.
And Michael didn't take a bat to her greatest treasure. No, he had confirmed it, made it all the more golden.
Nobody else had worked for Michael's heart - she and her alone had been the only one Michael had ever loved at all.
==
"Its all coming back to me now" by Celine Dion -
First step, open the eyes.
One of the first things you learn is to not show how surprised you are to see somebody - even if you didn't exactly part in the best of circumstances. Or shortly after a clinch.
ie, Fiona. Who's sitting right next to me, leaning over so her face is near mine.
Where are we? How did you get here?
The first question first. "Where am I?" Hopefully you're not here because I'm your latest job.
"Miami," Fi said.
==
"Thursday" by Jim Croce -
Fiona left the kitchen, draft beer in one hand, fully intent on nursing the thing for a week at least, and went back to bed. Leaned against the frame, looking down on the impression left by Michael's body.
Michael's absent body.
He was gone. Spirited himself away.
Fi made a face, then steeled herself. "There was that chance," she told herself.
==
"Perfect Lover" by Kansas -
"Perfect," Sam said.
With a shrug, "It was the once," Fiona told him, lying beside him, glistening with sweat.
"No argument here. I mean, don't get me wrong, you were great, but I don't think Michael needs to know about this."
Nodding, "Absolutely. Or that girlfriend of yours."
Sam groaned.
"What?"
"I forgot our date."
It was too hard to resist cracking a small chuckle. "Aw, poor Sam."
"Got any suggestions?"
"I don't advise the truth."
"Amen," Sam said. Last time he'd told the truth, it'd gotten him kicked out of the house, the love of his life telling him she never wanted to see him again. "Perfect."
==
"Galaxy Song" by Monty Python -
Fiona hated planetariums for a very good reason. Just one reason, you see, but it was a good reason.
"The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see, are moving at a million miles a day
"Stop singing," Fi growled. Not even Michael could make the song good.
"Cover," Michael said under his breath, and Fi made a note to demand that, in the future, he vet all the songs his covers would sing with her. "We go round every two hundred million years..."
"Oh for the Spanish Inquisition."
==
"Everybody wants to rule the world" by Tears for Fears -
"You miss it," Carla said.
You know me too well. "Nothing ever lasts forever," Michael said. "But what about you? What's in this for you?"
"Why Michael, whatever do you mean?"
"I mean, why burn me? Why make me jump through all these hoops?"
"Don't worry," Carla said - cooed? - "I have no intention of ruling the world."
Small comfort.
==
"Who'll stop the rain?" by Creedence Clearwater Revival -
"You protect people, Michael," his mother said. "It's that simple."
He nearly objected, contradicted her - the habit was that ingrained. But he knew she was right.
"It's what I do," he agreed. "Now and before."
==
"Look Away" by Chicago -
Fi's jaw dropped when Sam said he'd been kicked out. And while her face conveyed apology and shock, she was trying to figure out why her stomach was doing the things it was doing.
Wait a... Sam?
And - If Sam fixes things with her, Fi knew, I'll never get a chance with him...and realized that she wanted that opportunity.
==
"Every little kiss" by Sara Evans -
Fiona Glenanne always carried a phone with her. This wasn't a disposable one, and for a fine reason: between each mission, Carla allotted Michael a perfectly secure phone call.
And she treasured them.
Fi still looked forwards to his rare visits, to the trysts they conducted...but in the meanwhiles and betweentimes, by Christ's Nails, the phone was vital.
=================
.Firefly
"Sanima Inanma" by composer Sezen Aksu -
In the engine room of Serenity, Kaylee danced with it - nothing wrong with dancing with an immobile object, not where she was from. Hands slowly rotating as her arms cut slow arcs through the air, Kaylee raised her chin, flashing her throat at her dancing partner as the music sang of things in another language.
"Whatcha doing?" Mal asked, behind her, in the doorway.
Dropping her chin swiftly, Kaylee turned to face him, slowing but not stopping her hands, arms by her side. "Dancing."
"I see that, Kaylee. But where'd you get the music?"
"Jayne loaned it."
"Jayne?"
"Yup." It was some song from the world Jayne was from.
"You do know what this song's about, do you?"
"Course I do," Kaylee said, pleased at his concern. "Love."
"Just checking." Mal walked away, shaking his head with amusement.
==
"Cloud Nine" by The Temptations -
"Great," Simon said, "just great."
"This ain't bad by half."
Simon looked over at the neighboring cell. "You're kidding, right?" he asked Jayne.
"Been a lot of worse jails than this."
"I'd rather not hear this."
"Why for? Every place that's got a way in, has to -"
"Have a way out."
"Kaylee's right, you do have half a brain."
"We need to get River." River'd been taken away; seems that this place segregated the men and women prisoners.
Jayne chuckled.
"What?"
"First thing, doc, is we need to get out."
==
"Night and Day" by Frank Sinatra -
And the chin, the cute chin a straight line down from Kaylee's sexy nose. And those cheeks...
Mal shook himself back to full awakeness, hoping that Wash would hurry back to take over piloting - there was utterly nothing happening up here, and Mal's mind was wont to go traipsing off on flights of fancy.
Most of which, involved the hot little mechanic.
But he couldn't very well go down and plant a kiss or some sweaty words on her ear: you never frak the person keeping you alive. For all that he was willing to break Alliance laws to feed his crew, there were some proprieties and customs he wasn't about to contravene not for anything.
Cultural baggage, Inara called it; the things that we pick up in the society we grow up in, and we bring with us to our interactions with people who don't share that baggage.
And that was why he pestered Inara: it was part of his baggage, more for keeping someone at arms length.
==
"Your wildest dreams" by the Moody Blues -
On her knees, Zoe lit the candles and prayer sticks surrounding herself, letting the burning incense and wax scents wash over her. Wash's favorite smells, their favorite smells... memories rippled through her thoughts. Zoe let herself float in the recollections, drift in the currents of fondness.
"I've never forgotten," Zoe said.
==
"Hats" by Amy Grant -
"You're many," River said between sips.
Kaylee's brow did something that didn't mean anything to Inara, and just drank her tea.
But Inara nodded. "You're right," she said to River. "I'm whatever the situation calls for." Sometimes I need to help push a person into personal maturity; other times, I'm hired as a chess player or a book-reader, to provide intellectual stimulations; and sometimes...
"Not professionally," River said, and giggled.
Inara frowned.
==
"Frail" by Jars of Clay -
They say she's telepathic and River doesn't bother correcting them. Everyone wears their history on their skin, right to be seen. She just happens to be cracked enough to read it. Her mind was split open, and Simon couldn't fix it - wouldn't let them fix it.
Broken. Weak. Vulnerable.
To River, everything is glass and shale, popping bubbles and smoke. Nothing is invisible or unnoticable to her. But neither can she ignore or pretend something. Everything is right in front of her, laid out before senses that were broadened, expanded to make her one more in the Hands Of Blue.
If she doesn't run and scream, its only because she doesn't see the scariness in it. When she screams, when she runs, she holds nothing back.
Broken, she is, and knows it.
==
"First steps in a strange land" by Lee Johnson -
Kaylee sat alone,
, having turned away everyone, even Book's platitudes, even Simon's words, even Mal's silence.
She sat alone. Remembered.
Remembered the long march she'd been forced to take with family, with clan, with tribe. Across the continental city, through the marshes and across to The Open, a veldt so bare nobody'd bothered with it. Til then, til them.
It had taken months, but Kaylee had broken away, secreting herself in the shadows; months to get to a spaceport.
She got out. She'd gotten out, lasted, survived.
Out of how many?
==
"Looking out my back door" by Clearance Clearwater Revival -
He liked watching them. Just stand on the stairs or along a door, and watch them all interact. Playing around, flirting with one another, reprimanding and being reprimanded; double meanings and triple entredes, snubs buried in flowery language and backhanded compliments.
It reminded Book of a life he'd had once.
==
"Love me tomorrow" by Chicago -
"I slipped," Kaylee confessed. "I was with -"
He put one hand on her chin, thumb on her lower lip, silencing her. He looked in her eyes, saw the honesty and sorrow in them.
He kissed her between her eyes. Not on her forehead or nose, but on the bridge proper: absolved.
"Tomorrow?" he and she said at the same time, and they smiled.
==
"Change the world" by Eric Clapton -
"Jayne Cobb," Inara said, astonished. "What brought this on?" looking at the dinner Jayne's followers had set up for them.
"I kinda mentioned it," Jayne said. "Aw c'mon, Inara, it ain't like I'm askin you for some -"
"I think I'd be less surprised if you did," she said frankly. "Why exactly did you want to have dinner with me? Why not with Kaylee or one of your worshippers?"
"Cause I like you."
"This is a first."
"Nope. For a while now."
"And why didn't you say anything before?"
"I didn't have nothin to offer you."
"Offer me?" Inara repeated. "I swear, there are days I think you and Mal are from the same planet. You don't buy me."
"Wasn't thinkin of it. Was just going to set you up nice and proper - couldn't do less."
Inara slowly became aware that her jaw was hanging: Jayne had just proposed to her.
============
.
=================
"English Sunset" by The Moody Blues -
Every lie has to have an element of truth, Nick Cutter knew - Helen knew it too, and that'd been how she'd hooked Stephen into distrusting Lester. Nick's own lie had been about the deep connection between him and her.
Even from here, inside the relative safety of the ARC, Nick could feel how wild the ride was. How much more, how thrilling and stimulating, was it where Helen stood?
The biggest thing, to him, was that he had a duty, an obligation to help people here, to keep as many people safe as possible.
"Keep safe, Helen," he mouthed out of sight of the cameras.
==
"Ball of confusion [that's what the world is today]" by The Temptations -
The tranquilizer must've been fuzzing things; that was the only way Nick could explain seeing a dead man stepping out of the shadows after firing the tranq dart at Nick - in punishment, Helen had slapped him into a wall while Nick ran for it.
Impossible, impossible! That man was dead - he'd seen it happen. Back in the Silurian, matteroffact.
Nick tripped, and tumbled down the grassy slope.
Helen joined him, and spoke to him. Talked.
And her argument made sense. More than that, it was swaying him.
"I'll join you," Nick said, "Helen."
==
"Blue Skies" by Frank Sinatra -
"This is nice," Connor said.
"Yeah," Abby said.
"Very nice," Caroline agreed.
Rex was back at the flat. The three of them were out watching the annual migration.
Clear air. And not a cloud in the sky.
Or any birds.
Still, it was peaceful.
==
"Have you ever seen the rain?" by Credence Clearwater Revival -
"Well," Nick said, "at least we've started rebuilding," even after the losses we've suffered.
"There's just one thing," Jenny said.
"Just one?" Lester asked.
"All of this...was that the storm, or the calm before it?"
==
"Forever Man" by Eric Clapton:
Connor wondered if, assuming he ever could say he loved her, it would change things.
==
"Hey Tomorrow" by Jim Croce -
Nick wasn't sure he could trust Helen's statement that she'd changed, that she'd put those old ways behind her. Nick knew Helen had a tendancy of sliding back into the ruts of how she'd been.
He also knew he had the same trait.
==
"Soldier to the Queen" by the British Military Band -
"We don't all have theme music, Lester."
"Speak for yourself, Cutter. Every morning, I wrap myself in the flag."
"There's an image I could've done without."
==
"Flamboyant" by Pet Shop Boys -
As they got to a safe distance from the Warehouse, "So that was your wife," Jenny said.
Nick didn't bother to correct her. Everybody called Helen that.
"I did get one impression off her," Jenny said.
"Oh?" Nick asked. "And what was that?"
Thinking of the cleavage, posture, and attitude, "Show-off."
==
"I give in" by Sara Evans -
Connor and Nick were standing in the control room, looking through the one-way glass at Helen in the interview cell.
"If you're still upset about what I said earlier, Nick," Helen said, "bear in mind I'm starting to see probable outcomes, avenues of evolutionary possibility."
Unable to resist saying it, "I didn't know you married a Time Lord," Connor said.
"Well," Nick said, "she *does* have the tendancy of leaving and returning our nexus of time and space." Toggling the intercom to the holding cell, "Okay, Helen, let's do this."
Helen smiled brightly.
"Just this once."
"You say that now."
==
"Come back to Sorrento" by Mario Lanza -
Caroline and Connor were out on the dance floor (as were several other people) moving to the beat in the singer's voice on stage, while Abby waited patiently at the table.
Abby could still recall the deal herself and Caroline had come to - 'There's no point in us fighting until Connor figures out which of us he loves - it could be months,' which neither of them could dispute. So the agreement had been to always go places, all three of them; taking turns each choosing a destination.
Abby sipped at her goblet, not in a mood to get irked at how fancy even the water glasses here were, and waved over the waiter when she was starting to run low on water in said glass.
"Have to admit," Abby said to herself, "Connor cuts a good figure when he's dancing."
==
"In your room" by (?) and composer Hoffs -
As the predators gathered around him, Stephen felt the floor vanish beneath him.
The Anomaly had opened under him.
And under the Creatures that Leek had gathered together.
And he landed on a flat rock floor.
All around him, the Creatures also landed - impaled on rocky outcroppings and spears whose hafts were embedded in pits in the rock. Someone lived here. Etchings and blood-paintings on the walls, that clinched it.
He, Stephen Hart, had landed in the clear center of it all.
And he watched as the Anomaly overhead swiped shut.
==
10 Songs Meme
The Meme:
1. Pick a character, pairing, or fandom you like.
2. Turn on your music player and put it on random/shuffle.
3. Write a drabble related to each song that plays. You only have the time frame of the song to finish the drabble; you start when the song starts, and stop when it’s over. No lingering afterwards!
4. Do ten of these, then post them.
I added something you don't have to do if you don't want to: if your player repeats the same song, or the same band twice in the same 10, skip the second one.
here:
* Burn Notice
* Firefly
* Primeval
Title: assembled
author: Keenir
summary: none.
Burn Notice, Firefly, and Primeval
Burn Notice
"You're not alone" by Amy Grant -
He wouldn't have done this on the railing outside his place - too likely to be seen...didn't matter by whom. This was inside, in his place, at the spot that none of the windows looked in on.
"I can't give up, Fi," shaking his head. Anyone else, by this point, after all the shit he'd gone through, would've sobbed the fact. Not Michael, though.
She'd only heard him cry once. The once. And that'd been hell. Placing one hand on his shoulder - keeping the hand in his field of vision the entire motion - Fiona told him "We won't."
==
"Tell it to my heart" by composer Ernie Gold -
It was one of her greater treasures. The snowglobes were markers, monuments to where she had been - bookmarks. But Fiona Glenanne's treasures couldn't be stolen from her...only made false by revelation.
And Michael didn't take a bat to her greatest treasure. No, he had confirmed it, made it all the more golden.
Nobody else had worked for Michael's heart - she and her alone had been the only one Michael had ever loved at all.
==
"Its all coming back to me now" by Celine Dion -
First step, open the eyes.
One of the first things you learn is to not show how surprised you are to see somebody - even if you didn't exactly part in the best of circumstances. Or shortly after a clinch.
ie, Fiona. Who's sitting right next to me, leaning over so her face is near mine.
Where are we? How did you get here?
The first question first. "Where am I?" Hopefully you're not here because I'm your latest job.
"Miami," Fi said.
==
"Thursday" by Jim Croce -
Fiona left the kitchen, draft beer in one hand, fully intent on nursing the thing for a week at least, and went back to bed. Leaned against the frame, looking down on the impression left by Michael's body.
Michael's absent body.
He was gone. Spirited himself away.
Fi made a face, then steeled herself. "There was that chance," she told herself.
==
"Perfect Lover" by Kansas -
"Perfect," Sam said.
With a shrug, "It was the once," Fiona told him, lying beside him, glistening with sweat.
"No argument here. I mean, don't get me wrong, you were great, but I don't think Michael needs to know about this."
Nodding, "Absolutely. Or that girlfriend of yours."
Sam groaned.
"What?"
"I forgot our date."
It was too hard to resist cracking a small chuckle. "Aw, poor Sam."
"Got any suggestions?"
"I don't advise the truth."
"Amen," Sam said. Last time he'd told the truth, it'd gotten him kicked out of the house, the love of his life telling him she never wanted to see him again. "Perfect."
==
"Galaxy Song" by Monty Python -
Fiona hated planetariums for a very good reason. Just one reason, you see, but it was a good reason.
"The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see, are moving at a million miles a day
"Stop singing," Fi growled. Not even Michael could make the song good.
"Cover," Michael said under his breath, and Fi made a note to demand that, in the future, he vet all the songs his covers would sing with her. "We go round every two hundred million years..."
"Oh for the Spanish Inquisition."
==
"Everybody wants to rule the world" by Tears for Fears -
"You miss it," Carla said.
You know me too well. "Nothing ever lasts forever," Michael said. "But what about you? What's in this for you?"
"Why Michael, whatever do you mean?"
"I mean, why burn me? Why make me jump through all these hoops?"
"Don't worry," Carla said - cooed? - "I have no intention of ruling the world."
Small comfort.
==
"Who'll stop the rain?" by Creedence Clearwater Revival -
"You protect people, Michael," his mother said. "It's that simple."
He nearly objected, contradicted her - the habit was that ingrained. But he knew she was right.
"It's what I do," he agreed. "Now and before."
==
"Look Away" by Chicago -
Fi's jaw dropped when Sam said he'd been kicked out. And while her face conveyed apology and shock, she was trying to figure out why her stomach was doing the things it was doing.
Wait a... Sam?
And - If Sam fixes things with her, Fi knew, I'll never get a chance with him...and realized that she wanted that opportunity.
==
"Every little kiss" by Sara Evans -
Fiona Glenanne always carried a phone with her. This wasn't a disposable one, and for a fine reason: between each mission, Carla allotted Michael a perfectly secure phone call.
And she treasured them.
Fi still looked forwards to his rare visits, to the trysts they conducted...but in the meanwhiles and betweentimes, by Christ's Nails, the phone was vital.
=================
.Firefly
"Sanima Inanma" by composer Sezen Aksu -
In the engine room of Serenity, Kaylee danced with it - nothing wrong with dancing with an immobile object, not where she was from. Hands slowly rotating as her arms cut slow arcs through the air, Kaylee raised her chin, flashing her throat at her dancing partner as the music sang of things in another language.
"Whatcha doing?" Mal asked, behind her, in the doorway.
Dropping her chin swiftly, Kaylee turned to face him, slowing but not stopping her hands, arms by her side. "Dancing."
"I see that, Kaylee. But where'd you get the music?"
"Jayne loaned it."
"Jayne?"
"Yup." It was some song from the world Jayne was from.
"You do know what this song's about, do you?"
"Course I do," Kaylee said, pleased at his concern. "Love."
"Just checking." Mal walked away, shaking his head with amusement.
==
"Cloud Nine" by The Temptations -
"Great," Simon said, "just great."
"This ain't bad by half."
Simon looked over at the neighboring cell. "You're kidding, right?" he asked Jayne.
"Been a lot of worse jails than this."
"I'd rather not hear this."
"Why for? Every place that's got a way in, has to -"
"Have a way out."
"Kaylee's right, you do have half a brain."
"We need to get River." River'd been taken away; seems that this place segregated the men and women prisoners.
Jayne chuckled.
"What?"
"First thing, doc, is we need to get out."
==
"Night and Day" by Frank Sinatra -
And the chin, the cute chin a straight line down from Kaylee's sexy nose. And those cheeks...
Mal shook himself back to full awakeness, hoping that Wash would hurry back to take over piloting - there was utterly nothing happening up here, and Mal's mind was wont to go traipsing off on flights of fancy.
Most of which, involved the hot little mechanic.
But he couldn't very well go down and plant a kiss or some sweaty words on her ear: you never frak the person keeping you alive. For all that he was willing to break Alliance laws to feed his crew, there were some proprieties and customs he wasn't about to contravene not for anything.
Cultural baggage, Inara called it; the things that we pick up in the society we grow up in, and we bring with us to our interactions with people who don't share that baggage.
And that was why he pestered Inara: it was part of his baggage, more for keeping someone at arms length.
==
"Your wildest dreams" by the Moody Blues -
On her knees, Zoe lit the candles and prayer sticks surrounding herself, letting the burning incense and wax scents wash over her. Wash's favorite smells, their favorite smells... memories rippled through her thoughts. Zoe let herself float in the recollections, drift in the currents of fondness.
"I've never forgotten," Zoe said.
==
"Hats" by Amy Grant -
"You're many," River said between sips.
Kaylee's brow did something that didn't mean anything to Inara, and just drank her tea.
But Inara nodded. "You're right," she said to River. "I'm whatever the situation calls for." Sometimes I need to help push a person into personal maturity; other times, I'm hired as a chess player or a book-reader, to provide intellectual stimulations; and sometimes...
"Not professionally," River said, and giggled.
Inara frowned.
==
"Frail" by Jars of Clay -
They say she's telepathic and River doesn't bother correcting them. Everyone wears their history on their skin, right to be seen. She just happens to be cracked enough to read it. Her mind was split open, and Simon couldn't fix it - wouldn't let them fix it.
Broken. Weak. Vulnerable.
To River, everything is glass and shale, popping bubbles and smoke. Nothing is invisible or unnoticable to her. But neither can she ignore or pretend something. Everything is right in front of her, laid out before senses that were broadened, expanded to make her one more in the Hands Of Blue.
If she doesn't run and scream, its only because she doesn't see the scariness in it. When she screams, when she runs, she holds nothing back.
Broken, she is, and knows it.
==
"First steps in a strange land" by Lee Johnson -
Kaylee sat alone,
, having turned away everyone, even Book's platitudes, even Simon's words, even Mal's silence.
She sat alone. Remembered.
Remembered the long march she'd been forced to take with family, with clan, with tribe. Across the continental city, through the marshes and across to The Open, a veldt so bare nobody'd bothered with it. Til then, til them.
It had taken months, but Kaylee had broken away, secreting herself in the shadows; months to get to a spaceport.
She got out. She'd gotten out, lasted, survived.
Out of how many?
==
"Looking out my back door" by Clearance Clearwater Revival -
He liked watching them. Just stand on the stairs or along a door, and watch them all interact. Playing around, flirting with one another, reprimanding and being reprimanded; double meanings and triple entredes, snubs buried in flowery language and backhanded compliments.
It reminded Book of a life he'd had once.
==
"Love me tomorrow" by Chicago -
"I slipped," Kaylee confessed. "I was with -"
He put one hand on her chin, thumb on her lower lip, silencing her. He looked in her eyes, saw the honesty and sorrow in them.
He kissed her between her eyes. Not on her forehead or nose, but on the bridge proper: absolved.
"Tomorrow?" he and she said at the same time, and they smiled.
==
"Change the world" by Eric Clapton -
"Jayne Cobb," Inara said, astonished. "What brought this on?" looking at the dinner Jayne's followers had set up for them.
"I kinda mentioned it," Jayne said. "Aw c'mon, Inara, it ain't like I'm askin you for some -"
"I think I'd be less surprised if you did," she said frankly. "Why exactly did you want to have dinner with me? Why not with Kaylee or one of your worshippers?"
"Cause I like you."
"This is a first."
"Nope. For a while now."
"And why didn't you say anything before?"
"I didn't have nothin to offer you."
"Offer me?" Inara repeated. "I swear, there are days I think you and Mal are from the same planet. You don't buy me."
"Wasn't thinkin of it. Was just going to set you up nice and proper - couldn't do less."
Inara slowly became aware that her jaw was hanging: Jayne had just proposed to her.
============
.
=================
"English Sunset" by The Moody Blues -
Every lie has to have an element of truth, Nick Cutter knew - Helen knew it too, and that'd been how she'd hooked Stephen into distrusting Lester. Nick's own lie had been about the deep connection between him and her.
Even from here, inside the relative safety of the ARC, Nick could feel how wild the ride was. How much more, how thrilling and stimulating, was it where Helen stood?
The biggest thing, to him, was that he had a duty, an obligation to help people here, to keep as many people safe as possible.
"Keep safe, Helen," he mouthed out of sight of the cameras.
==
"Ball of confusion [that's what the world is today]" by The Temptations -
The tranquilizer must've been fuzzing things; that was the only way Nick could explain seeing a dead man stepping out of the shadows after firing the tranq dart at Nick - in punishment, Helen had slapped him into a wall while Nick ran for it.
Impossible, impossible! That man was dead - he'd seen it happen. Back in the Silurian, matteroffact.
Nick tripped, and tumbled down the grassy slope.
Helen joined him, and spoke to him. Talked.
And her argument made sense. More than that, it was swaying him.
"I'll join you," Nick said, "Helen."
==
"Blue Skies" by Frank Sinatra -
"This is nice," Connor said.
"Yeah," Abby said.
"Very nice," Caroline agreed.
Rex was back at the flat. The three of them were out watching the annual migration.
Clear air. And not a cloud in the sky.
Or any birds.
Still, it was peaceful.
==
"Have you ever seen the rain?" by Credence Clearwater Revival -
"Well," Nick said, "at least we've started rebuilding," even after the losses we've suffered.
"There's just one thing," Jenny said.
"Just one?" Lester asked.
"All of this...was that the storm, or the calm before it?"
==
"Forever Man" by Eric Clapton:
Connor wondered if, assuming he ever could say he loved her, it would change things.
==
"Hey Tomorrow" by Jim Croce -
Nick wasn't sure he could trust Helen's statement that she'd changed, that she'd put those old ways behind her. Nick knew Helen had a tendancy of sliding back into the ruts of how she'd been.
He also knew he had the same trait.
==
"Soldier to the Queen" by the British Military Band -
"We don't all have theme music, Lester."
"Speak for yourself, Cutter. Every morning, I wrap myself in the flag."
"There's an image I could've done without."
==
"Flamboyant" by Pet Shop Boys -
As they got to a safe distance from the Warehouse, "So that was your wife," Jenny said.
Nick didn't bother to correct her. Everybody called Helen that.
"I did get one impression off her," Jenny said.
"Oh?" Nick asked. "And what was that?"
Thinking of the cleavage, posture, and attitude, "Show-off."
==
"I give in" by Sara Evans -
Connor and Nick were standing in the control room, looking through the one-way glass at Helen in the interview cell.
"If you're still upset about what I said earlier, Nick," Helen said, "bear in mind I'm starting to see probable outcomes, avenues of evolutionary possibility."
Unable to resist saying it, "I didn't know you married a Time Lord," Connor said.
"Well," Nick said, "she *does* have the tendancy of leaving and returning our nexus of time and space." Toggling the intercom to the holding cell, "Okay, Helen, let's do this."
Helen smiled brightly.
"Just this once."
"You say that now."
==
"Come back to Sorrento" by Mario Lanza -
Caroline and Connor were out on the dance floor (as were several other people) moving to the beat in the singer's voice on stage, while Abby waited patiently at the table.
Abby could still recall the deal herself and Caroline had come to - 'There's no point in us fighting until Connor figures out which of us he loves - it could be months,' which neither of them could dispute. So the agreement had been to always go places, all three of them; taking turns each choosing a destination.
Abby sipped at her goblet, not in a mood to get irked at how fancy even the water glasses here were, and waved over the waiter when she was starting to run low on water in said glass.
"Have to admit," Abby said to herself, "Connor cuts a good figure when he's dancing."
==
"In your room" by (?) and composer Hoffs -
As the predators gathered around him, Stephen felt the floor vanish beneath him.
The Anomaly had opened under him.
And under the Creatures that Leek had gathered together.
And he landed on a flat rock floor.
All around him, the Creatures also landed - impaled on rocky outcroppings and spears whose hafts were embedded in pits in the rock. Someone lived here. Etchings and blood-paintings on the walls, that clinched it.
He, Stephen Hart, had landed in the clear center of it all.
And he watched as the Anomaly overhead swiped shut.
==