TR 16
Authors: Marina and Casey
Story: Taking Root
Challenge: Coconut 9 (just play along), Milk Chocolate 10 (contrition) [Marina]; Blueberry Yogurt 27 (a misunderstanding) [Casey]
Toppings/Extras: Caramel, Chopped Nuts, Smoothie
Word Count: 1,525
Rating: PG
Summary: Carrie and Dean do a little explaining.
Notes: Someday I may write the Carrie/Chase conversation that comes before this, but today is not that day.
It was two hours before Carrie made it home.
Over dinner, she told her mother everything. "I had a feeling this would happen eventually," Eva said, her face showing nothing but sympathy. "I love Chase very much, but he has some issues he needs to work out, and it's not very fair of him to expect you to deal with them."
"You knew about that?" Carrie asked in surprise.
"It's hard not to. I don't know the specifics, obviously, but anyone just observing him can tell something's off. I think he may need therapy."
Carrie nodded slowly; she was beginning to reach that conclusion, too. "His parents do, too," she said, pushing her mashed potatoes around her plate aimlessly. "They've been asking him to go for years but he's afraid to."
"I understand that," said Eva. "Maybe you could talk to him about it. He might take it better from you."
"After today? I couldn't. That's like saying 'why don't you just go to a shrink and let me date Dean in peace, you psycho?' Total slap in the face."
"True. I don't know, dear. I just think you ought to be able to go out with other boys and not have to worry about how Chase will react."
Carrie agreed, but silently. She deftly changed the subject and after a few more bites of food, excused herself and went to her room. She had a phone call to make. Now how the hell do I explain any of this without betraying my best friend even further? she wondered, as she dialed Dean’s number.
Dean's dad picked up the phone after a couple of rings. "Hello?"
Carrie jumped. "Uh, hi Mr. D. Is Dean there?"
"Hi, Carrie. Yes, he is. Hold on a second."
A moment later, Dean came on the line, tone a little hard to decipher over the phone line. "Hi, Carrie."
"I am so sorry, Dean," she said, feeling close to tears.
There was an uncertain pause on the phone. "Um, this might be my ignorance speaking, but why in the world are you apologizing?"
"For today. I forgot that we had plans to hang out and I told Kenz I'd play games with them this afternoon and then didn't tell her I'd double-booked myself so she mentioned it to Chase and the whole thing spiraled out of control from there. I really didn't want you to have to deal with this."
"Carrie, please breathe," Dean said with just a touch of amusement. "Look, I might be new at high school, but, nothing personal or anything because I like him, but it's pretty obvious that Chase is different and that things are gonna go through his brain in not the same ways as lot of the rest of the world. I just, is he okay?"
Carrie's eyebrows knit together as she formulated her reply. "I don't know. Is it that easy to tell?"
"Um. I don't know," he said. "I...have a lot of experience with people who...for...various reasons react to the world differently." There was something unusually reserved in his words, even for Dean.
She filed the comment away under "things to ask about later" and moved on. "Okay. Uh, yeah, I really don't know. He's upset that he didn't find out from me, I know that much."
"I can't really say I blame him for that," Dean said. "Is this going to, um, scar him against, you know, us forever?"
"I don't know." She was very afraid that it might, but she didn't want to tell Dean that. Trying to sniff as quietly as possible in order to hide the fact that the tears were coming fast, she went on in the least distraught tone she could manage. "I hope not. I know he likes you and considers you his friend and all, so that'll probably make a difference in the long run."
"I hope so. Care, are you okay?"
It was the first time he had used the nickname, and it caught her off guard a little. She definitely liked it, and it almost made her smile, but her guilt stopped her. "No," she said, after a long pause. "No, I'm not. I'm pissed as hell at Resh and Chase probably hates me now and this is all just so stupid-"
"I'm sure Chase doesn't hate you," Dean said firmly. "Is there anything I can do?"
She laughed thinly. "I don't think you can do anything more than what you're doing right now. How are you so understanding about all this?"
"I...it just...on a real magnitude scale, this is so incredibly fixable," he barreled on a bit awkwardly, "and anyway, you and Chase have been friends for a lot longer than I've been around."
"Yeah, but...just because he has issues doesn't mean I should always have to drop everything and run to calm him down when this happens." A split second later, she realized how irritable her tone had become and clapped a hand to her scalp, immediately remorseful. "Oh, hell, it's not his fault. I shouldn't have said that."
"I won't repeat it," Dean promised, and then hesitated again. "It's nice that you do, though. I mean, that he has a friend like you. It really didn't bother me."
"You're sweet, Dean." It made her want to tell him everything, but she had no right to. They had all agreed not to say a word about their time in the dragon world to anyone, partially because they had no idea how to explain it, but Carrie knew that they would have at least tried if not for Chase. Kevin had said more than once that his life might have been easier if he could just tell his sisters what had happened.
She could almost hear him blush over the phone. "I don't know about that, but I get it."
"Well, I'm glad. It makes things a little easier."
"That's what I'm here for," he said lightly, "try and make things easier."
"Thanks." She still wasn’t entirely sure she wasn’t imagining his end of the conversation, but she appreciated it all the same.
"Does that mean you'll stop crying?" he asked, a bit plaintively.
"I'm not," she protested, quickly wiping her eyes even though he couldn’t see her.
"I'm calling bullshit."
Carrie chuckled then, only a little, but feeling more real humor this time. "Dean, that may be the foulest thing I've ever heard out of your mouth. Resh and Nic must be rubbing off on you."
"Must be," he said cheerfully, "but it doesn't change the facts."
"Well, it's not...really that simple. I mean, I appreciate it but this thing with Chase is still not fixed. And I'm going to feel terrible about it until it is."
"Yeah, I don't blame you. It's hard to operate sometimes when things aren't right."
"Exactly." She frowned a little. Why does he sound like he knows that better than I do...wait. "Speaking of things not being right, Resh and Chase said you mentioned some guy named Edward the other day when they found you. What was that about? If you don't mind me asking."
Dean went silent for so long that Carrie thought maybe they'd been disconnected. "It...it's complicated," he finally said, barely audible, "I guess, but Edward's...he's my grandfather."
"Your grandfather?" she repeated, flabbergasted.
His voice became even fainter, as if he had moved his mouth away from the receiver. "Yeah. My mom's side."
"You told me your grandparents were dead."
"Wishful thinking, I 'pose. Safer," he added, almost as though he wasn't sure of the words as they came out of his mouth.
"Why?" she asked quietly.
Again, he went silent. "Because," Dean finally said.
Carrie decided that for the moment it was probably best to back off the subject. "Okay. You do know that whatever he did to you isn't so bad that Karl's asshattery is ever okay, right? Cause it's not."
"I know," he said, although his sincerity was questionable even if he sounded a bit more normal. "Figured it was just something I could deal with...without Dad knowing."
"I definitely get that," she said. "I don't tell my mom everything. And I'm not gonna tattle on you to your dad."
"Thanks. Dad would just flip for no reason. I'd rather he..." he trailed off.
"He what?"
"He focus on his job," Dean said firmly, voice finally coming back to an even keel.
"Gotcha."
He laughed weakly. "At least I'm fairly certain I got you to stop crying."
"Don't you remind me," she warned him, "I'll probably just start all over again."
"Yes, ma'am!"
She smiled, but it faded as she glanced around the room. "I guess I need to do homework now. Hell if I want to, but Baker isn't going to take emotional trauma as an excuse if I show up without my Stats homework tomorrow."
"Yeah, I should too. It'll work out somehow, Care, I'm sure."
"I really hope so." She sighed. At the very least, Dean’s lack of knowledge on Chase’s issues wasn’t going to complicate things. It wasn’t much, but she tried to be grateful for it. "Thanks, Dean. I’ll see you tomorrow."
Story: Taking Root
Challenge: Coconut 9 (just play along), Milk Chocolate 10 (contrition) [Marina]; Blueberry Yogurt 27 (a misunderstanding) [Casey]
Toppings/Extras: Caramel, Chopped Nuts, Smoothie
Word Count: 1,525
Rating: PG
Summary: Carrie and Dean do a little explaining.
Notes: Someday I may write the Carrie/Chase conversation that comes before this, but today is not that day.
It was two hours before Carrie made it home.
Over dinner, she told her mother everything. "I had a feeling this would happen eventually," Eva said, her face showing nothing but sympathy. "I love Chase very much, but he has some issues he needs to work out, and it's not very fair of him to expect you to deal with them."
"You knew about that?" Carrie asked in surprise.
"It's hard not to. I don't know the specifics, obviously, but anyone just observing him can tell something's off. I think he may need therapy."
Carrie nodded slowly; she was beginning to reach that conclusion, too. "His parents do, too," she said, pushing her mashed potatoes around her plate aimlessly. "They've been asking him to go for years but he's afraid to."
"I understand that," said Eva. "Maybe you could talk to him about it. He might take it better from you."
"After today? I couldn't. That's like saying 'why don't you just go to a shrink and let me date Dean in peace, you psycho?' Total slap in the face."
"True. I don't know, dear. I just think you ought to be able to go out with other boys and not have to worry about how Chase will react."
Carrie agreed, but silently. She deftly changed the subject and after a few more bites of food, excused herself and went to her room. She had a phone call to make. Now how the hell do I explain any of this without betraying my best friend even further? she wondered, as she dialed Dean’s number.
Dean's dad picked up the phone after a couple of rings. "Hello?"
Carrie jumped. "Uh, hi Mr. D. Is Dean there?"
"Hi, Carrie. Yes, he is. Hold on a second."
A moment later, Dean came on the line, tone a little hard to decipher over the phone line. "Hi, Carrie."
"I am so sorry, Dean," she said, feeling close to tears.
There was an uncertain pause on the phone. "Um, this might be my ignorance speaking, but why in the world are you apologizing?"
"For today. I forgot that we had plans to hang out and I told Kenz I'd play games with them this afternoon and then didn't tell her I'd double-booked myself so she mentioned it to Chase and the whole thing spiraled out of control from there. I really didn't want you to have to deal with this."
"Carrie, please breathe," Dean said with just a touch of amusement. "Look, I might be new at high school, but, nothing personal or anything because I like him, but it's pretty obvious that Chase is different and that things are gonna go through his brain in not the same ways as lot of the rest of the world. I just, is he okay?"
Carrie's eyebrows knit together as she formulated her reply. "I don't know. Is it that easy to tell?"
"Um. I don't know," he said. "I...have a lot of experience with people who...for...various reasons react to the world differently." There was something unusually reserved in his words, even for Dean.
She filed the comment away under "things to ask about later" and moved on. "Okay. Uh, yeah, I really don't know. He's upset that he didn't find out from me, I know that much."
"I can't really say I blame him for that," Dean said. "Is this going to, um, scar him against, you know, us forever?"
"I don't know." She was very afraid that it might, but she didn't want to tell Dean that. Trying to sniff as quietly as possible in order to hide the fact that the tears were coming fast, she went on in the least distraught tone she could manage. "I hope not. I know he likes you and considers you his friend and all, so that'll probably make a difference in the long run."
"I hope so. Care, are you okay?"
It was the first time he had used the nickname, and it caught her off guard a little. She definitely liked it, and it almost made her smile, but her guilt stopped her. "No," she said, after a long pause. "No, I'm not. I'm pissed as hell at Resh and Chase probably hates me now and this is all just so stupid-"
"I'm sure Chase doesn't hate you," Dean said firmly. "Is there anything I can do?"
She laughed thinly. "I don't think you can do anything more than what you're doing right now. How are you so understanding about all this?"
"I...it just...on a real magnitude scale, this is so incredibly fixable," he barreled on a bit awkwardly, "and anyway, you and Chase have been friends for a lot longer than I've been around."
"Yeah, but...just because he has issues doesn't mean I should always have to drop everything and run to calm him down when this happens." A split second later, she realized how irritable her tone had become and clapped a hand to her scalp, immediately remorseful. "Oh, hell, it's not his fault. I shouldn't have said that."
"I won't repeat it," Dean promised, and then hesitated again. "It's nice that you do, though. I mean, that he has a friend like you. It really didn't bother me."
"You're sweet, Dean." It made her want to tell him everything, but she had no right to. They had all agreed not to say a word about their time in the dragon world to anyone, partially because they had no idea how to explain it, but Carrie knew that they would have at least tried if not for Chase. Kevin had said more than once that his life might have been easier if he could just tell his sisters what had happened.
She could almost hear him blush over the phone. "I don't know about that, but I get it."
"Well, I'm glad. It makes things a little easier."
"That's what I'm here for," he said lightly, "try and make things easier."
"Thanks." She still wasn’t entirely sure she wasn’t imagining his end of the conversation, but she appreciated it all the same.
"Does that mean you'll stop crying?" he asked, a bit plaintively.
"I'm not," she protested, quickly wiping her eyes even though he couldn’t see her.
"I'm calling bullshit."
Carrie chuckled then, only a little, but feeling more real humor this time. "Dean, that may be the foulest thing I've ever heard out of your mouth. Resh and Nic must be rubbing off on you."
"Must be," he said cheerfully, "but it doesn't change the facts."
"Well, it's not...really that simple. I mean, I appreciate it but this thing with Chase is still not fixed. And I'm going to feel terrible about it until it is."
"Yeah, I don't blame you. It's hard to operate sometimes when things aren't right."
"Exactly." She frowned a little. Why does he sound like he knows that better than I do...wait. "Speaking of things not being right, Resh and Chase said you mentioned some guy named Edward the other day when they found you. What was that about? If you don't mind me asking."
Dean went silent for so long that Carrie thought maybe they'd been disconnected. "It...it's complicated," he finally said, barely audible, "I guess, but Edward's...he's my grandfather."
"Your grandfather?" she repeated, flabbergasted.
His voice became even fainter, as if he had moved his mouth away from the receiver. "Yeah. My mom's side."
"You told me your grandparents were dead."
"Wishful thinking, I 'pose. Safer," he added, almost as though he wasn't sure of the words as they came out of his mouth.
"Why?" she asked quietly.
Again, he went silent. "Because," Dean finally said.
Carrie decided that for the moment it was probably best to back off the subject. "Okay. You do know that whatever he did to you isn't so bad that Karl's asshattery is ever okay, right? Cause it's not."
"I know," he said, although his sincerity was questionable even if he sounded a bit more normal. "Figured it was just something I could deal with...without Dad knowing."
"I definitely get that," she said. "I don't tell my mom everything. And I'm not gonna tattle on you to your dad."
"Thanks. Dad would just flip for no reason. I'd rather he..." he trailed off.
"He what?"
"He focus on his job," Dean said firmly, voice finally coming back to an even keel.
"Gotcha."
He laughed weakly. "At least I'm fairly certain I got you to stop crying."
"Don't you remind me," she warned him, "I'll probably just start all over again."
"Yes, ma'am!"
She smiled, but it faded as she glanced around the room. "I guess I need to do homework now. Hell if I want to, but Baker isn't going to take emotional trauma as an excuse if I show up without my Stats homework tomorrow."
"Yeah, I should too. It'll work out somehow, Care, I'm sure."
"I really hope so." She sighed. At the very least, Dean’s lack of knowledge on Chase’s issues wasn’t going to complicate things. It wasn’t much, but she tried to be grateful for it. "Thanks, Dean. I’ll see you tomorrow."