Medium - Beyond appearances (1/?)
Title: Beyond Appearances - Chapter 1
Author: semisweetsoul
Fandom: Medium
Characters: Allison/Joe, Ariel, Bridgette and Marie, Scanlon & Devalos.
Rating: PG - 13
Prompt: lip sync @ tamingthemuse
Summary: It's a question of instincts, maternal instinct, woman instinct, and medium instinct.
Word Count: 915
Disclaimer: I don’t own the show I’m just writing about it. This is a story based upon the fictional Dubois family.
A/N: Edited July 31st, 2009. This will probably be 3 or 4 chapters long.
Beyond Appearances
Chapter 1
It started with a dream. What a surprise!
A woman sat on a chair behind a table, in a dark room, what Allison believed to be an interrogation room in a police station. She bore no emotions and spoke in a monotonous, high-pitched voice, which didn’t correspond to what anyone would expect her to sound like. Her corpulence and appearance - dark skin, equally dark hair falling in her back and brown eyes heavily made up - suggested self-assurance. Her voice carried an accent, definitely Spanish intonations, but not from Mexico - living so close to the country, most people could recognize a Mexican accent, if anything, her boss himself had such origins. A man, probably a detective asked the woman questions. Routine check. Nothing indicated she was in custody for any crime. Most likely, she was the victim.
Three nights in a row that Allison dreamt that dream, without results, not the least bit of valuable information to move the case forward since Wednesday afternoon when a husband had reported his wife missing.
Why would a woman - mother to an infant baby boy - suddenly disappear? Devalos and Scanlon believed in the husband’s guilt. Allison did not. In fact, the opposite. When she had shaken Mister Lowell’s hand, she had seen him cry, had sensed his fear and worry. There was no way he was involved. It was up to her to prove it. He had told her how much they wanted a child, and how desperate his wife was to conceive, and after a few years trying, finally they had been rewarded with a healthy baby boy. Allison had no reason to doubt him.
The first dream had happened the night before the woman’s disappearance. Allison had arrived early to ask Devalos if the person she had seen matched the description of someone, a witness, or victim on one of the cases he was currently working on. Since it did not ring any bell, she tried Scanlon. It felt like telling a friend the story of a movie he hadn’t seen, and for good reason! What might seem important to her did not to Scanlon and vice versa.
Therefore, when she dreamt again the next night, she followed the age-old advice and jotted down all she had memorized. Scanlon checked all the info she had gathered, but it came to a dead end. Mrs. Lowell had literally disappeared into thin air.
After a good half an hour at trying to make sense of the reasons she was seeing something useless, Allison gave up and finally left the bed to join the living room and the laughing children that had woken her. Thirty three past ten on a Sunday morning, Joe had let her get some salutary sleep, and she felt rejuvenated and ready to penetrate the mystery of Mrs. Lowell’s disappearance. She would apply a new technique, one that had proved successful in the past, start from scratch, re-examine all evidence, and try to find the missing link.
In the meantime, her curiosity piqued, she walked towards the bursts of laughter and smiled at the sight of Joe playing with Marie. Joe moved his daughter’s arms around as one would do with a puppet and improvised a song the little girl mimicked singing. Ariel and Bridgette cheered as Marie tried to keep up. This perfect number ended with Joe tickling Marie who giggled and attempted to tickle back and then, to put their sister out of her misery, Ariel and Bridgette jumped on their father who fell down and begged for mercy under six hands - thirty fingers - tickling him.
Allison laughed at the scene, and greeted her family with a loud and cheerful ‘Good morning everyone’. Upon seeing his wife, Joe implored Allison’s help, and she did help, giving the girls time to retreat to their respective bedrooms. Allison offered a hand to her smiling and content husband who, instead of using it as a support to get up, tricked her, and pulled her in his arms.
“Good morning, Mrs Dubois. How was the night?” Joe said shifting his position on the couch so Allison could settle more comfortably.
“Fine. Thank you for those few hours of extra-sleep, Mr. Dubois.”
“Oh, I aim to please.”
“Dreamwise, I got reruns, though,” she said in a small voice, reality getting the upper hand for a second, despite herself, before she focused back on her mommy duties. “So what have you and the girls been up to?”
“Nothing much, really. We watched TV. I know much more about the art of making animated characters speak than I did just about an hour ago. However, I don’t master the art of lip-syncing just yet. Maybe with a little practice….”
“Oh my God! What did you just say?” She sprang up, grabbed the phone, and ran to the bathroom to get dressed before Joe had time to form an answer.
He didn’t dare ask what was going on, but when she rushed into the living room five minutes later, looking for her car keys, he knew what the answer might be. “Let me guess. You called the other two men in your life, and have an urgent meeting to solve your urgent case?”
She sent him a lovely smile. “Who’s the psychic now?” she said, and before she left, she kissed him deeply. “Your skills outshine mine. I’m impressed. You gave me the answer I’ve been seeking for the last three days. Thank you.” And with those last words, she was gone.
To Be Continued
Author: semisweetsoul
Fandom: Medium
Characters: Allison/Joe, Ariel, Bridgette and Marie, Scanlon & Devalos.
Rating: PG - 13
Prompt: lip sync @ tamingthemuse
Summary: It's a question of instincts, maternal instinct, woman instinct, and medium instinct.
Word Count: 915
Disclaimer: I don’t own the show I’m just writing about it. This is a story based upon the fictional Dubois family.
A/N: Edited July 31st, 2009. This will probably be 3 or 4 chapters long.
Beyond Appearances
Chapter 1
It started with a dream. What a surprise!
A woman sat on a chair behind a table, in a dark room, what Allison believed to be an interrogation room in a police station. She bore no emotions and spoke in a monotonous, high-pitched voice, which didn’t correspond to what anyone would expect her to sound like. Her corpulence and appearance - dark skin, equally dark hair falling in her back and brown eyes heavily made up - suggested self-assurance. Her voice carried an accent, definitely Spanish intonations, but not from Mexico - living so close to the country, most people could recognize a Mexican accent, if anything, her boss himself had such origins. A man, probably a detective asked the woman questions. Routine check. Nothing indicated she was in custody for any crime. Most likely, she was the victim.
Three nights in a row that Allison dreamt that dream, without results, not the least bit of valuable information to move the case forward since Wednesday afternoon when a husband had reported his wife missing.
Why would a woman - mother to an infant baby boy - suddenly disappear? Devalos and Scanlon believed in the husband’s guilt. Allison did not. In fact, the opposite. When she had shaken Mister Lowell’s hand, she had seen him cry, had sensed his fear and worry. There was no way he was involved. It was up to her to prove it. He had told her how much they wanted a child, and how desperate his wife was to conceive, and after a few years trying, finally they had been rewarded with a healthy baby boy. Allison had no reason to doubt him.
The first dream had happened the night before the woman’s disappearance. Allison had arrived early to ask Devalos if the person she had seen matched the description of someone, a witness, or victim on one of the cases he was currently working on. Since it did not ring any bell, she tried Scanlon. It felt like telling a friend the story of a movie he hadn’t seen, and for good reason! What might seem important to her did not to Scanlon and vice versa.
Therefore, when she dreamt again the next night, she followed the age-old advice and jotted down all she had memorized. Scanlon checked all the info she had gathered, but it came to a dead end. Mrs. Lowell had literally disappeared into thin air.
After a good half an hour at trying to make sense of the reasons she was seeing something useless, Allison gave up and finally left the bed to join the living room and the laughing children that had woken her. Thirty three past ten on a Sunday morning, Joe had let her get some salutary sleep, and she felt rejuvenated and ready to penetrate the mystery of Mrs. Lowell’s disappearance. She would apply a new technique, one that had proved successful in the past, start from scratch, re-examine all evidence, and try to find the missing link.
In the meantime, her curiosity piqued, she walked towards the bursts of laughter and smiled at the sight of Joe playing with Marie. Joe moved his daughter’s arms around as one would do with a puppet and improvised a song the little girl mimicked singing. Ariel and Bridgette cheered as Marie tried to keep up. This perfect number ended with Joe tickling Marie who giggled and attempted to tickle back and then, to put their sister out of her misery, Ariel and Bridgette jumped on their father who fell down and begged for mercy under six hands - thirty fingers - tickling him.
Allison laughed at the scene, and greeted her family with a loud and cheerful ‘Good morning everyone’. Upon seeing his wife, Joe implored Allison’s help, and she did help, giving the girls time to retreat to their respective bedrooms. Allison offered a hand to her smiling and content husband who, instead of using it as a support to get up, tricked her, and pulled her in his arms.
“Good morning, Mrs Dubois. How was the night?” Joe said shifting his position on the couch so Allison could settle more comfortably.
“Fine. Thank you for those few hours of extra-sleep, Mr. Dubois.”
“Oh, I aim to please.”
“Dreamwise, I got reruns, though,” she said in a small voice, reality getting the upper hand for a second, despite herself, before she focused back on her mommy duties. “So what have you and the girls been up to?”
“Nothing much, really. We watched TV. I know much more about the art of making animated characters speak than I did just about an hour ago. However, I don’t master the art of lip-syncing just yet. Maybe with a little practice….”
“Oh my God! What did you just say?” She sprang up, grabbed the phone, and ran to the bathroom to get dressed before Joe had time to form an answer.
He didn’t dare ask what was going on, but when she rushed into the living room five minutes later, looking for her car keys, he knew what the answer might be. “Let me guess. You called the other two men in your life, and have an urgent meeting to solve your urgent case?”
She sent him a lovely smile. “Who’s the psychic now?” she said, and before she left, she kissed him deeply. “Your skills outshine mine. I’m impressed. You gave me the answer I’ve been seeking for the last three days. Thank you.” And with those last words, she was gone.
To Be Continued