CNC 22, Prune 11
Authors: Marina and Casey
Story: The Dragon World
Challenge: Cookies n’ Cream 22 (lean), Prune 11 (go with the flow) [Marina]; Green Tea 12 (winter), Watermelon 24 (any questions?) [Casey]
Toppings/Extras: Caramel, Smoothie
Word Count: 2,532
Rating: PG
Summary: Five years after their ordeal in the dragon world, three of the kids come clean about what happened (Part 2 of 3)
Notes: Thanks to Casey for helping me write Carrie’s section-I honestly had no idea how Dean was going to react! This takes place not more than a day or two after Kevin's section.
Carrie sat on the bench outside the men's room and tried to gather her nerves. She looked over her shoulder at the door, half-wishing Dean would just stay inside so she wouldn't have to have this conversation with him. I'm crazy to even be considering it, she thought, biting her lip. I should probably just forget about it. He'd never believe me.
They had gone to the Rainforest Café for a rare dinner out. Carrie had made it clear, early in their relationship, that she did not expect Dean to actually spend money on her very often and that quality time was much more important to her, so he hardly ever proposed this kind of date. Because of that, she wished she had been able to really enjoy it, but Chase had called her earlier in the day, and she couldn’t get her mind off the conversation.
“You can talk about it now, if you want,” he had said. “Not to just anyone, but…I feel bad that you all had to lie because of me and I know it’s probably too late but I thought it’d be selfish of me to make you keep lying if you didn’t want to. And I’m sorry it took me this long.”
Carrie had never blamed Chase for being afraid to tell people about what had happened to them, and even after getting permission, she couldn’t imagine trying to tell Eva. There had been one moment, about six months after the trip to the dragon world, where she had almost caved and told her mother everything, but Eva’s answer to the leading question she ventured had quickly nipped that urge in the bud. “Parallel realities can’t exist,” she had said. “It’s a nice idea for science fiction, but there’s a lot of evidence that says it shouldn’t be possible, and I’m not sure it’s Biblical, on top of that. Why do you ask?”
So Eva was out. It wouldn’t make a difference now, anyway. Dean was a different story, though. They’d been dating for a year, and Carrie loved him so much it hurt, sometimes. She felt reasonably certain that they’d get married someday. She certainly couldn’t see herself breaking up with him at any point in the foreseeable future, unless…well, unless he was the type of person who would call her crazy for claiming something even remotely otherworldly had happened to her, once upon a time. She wanted him to know it and she wanted him to believe her. She thought there might be a chance that he would. But if he wouldn’t even be willing to try, wasn’t it better for her to know now rather than to find out after they’d taken steps in their relationship that they would never be able to take back?
She dropped her head into her hands and tried to calm her nerves.
Dean stepped out of the bathroom a moment later, wiping his hands dry on his pants. He favored her with a crooked smile. "The hand driers never seem to work right," he said, and then his smile faded. "Okay, Care, what's up? You've been distracted all evening. Something's bothering you, so spill."
She took a breath and tried to relax her expression, but she still felt tense. "I, um..." A wave of panic overwhelmed her and she looked at her lap.
Dean's hand appeared in her view and gently covered hers. "Look, if it's none of my business, you can tell me that. And, well, if it is, maybe we could talk about it somewhere less public? If that would make you feel better." There was a cautious note to his voice and Carrie knew she had him nervous. It hadn't taken her long to figure out that Dean was very sensitive to other people and picked up on their moods quite quickly. He had probably seen her troubled mood as soon as he’d picked her up for dinner.
She supposed it was only fair. After all, she had always called him out on his bad days. "Yeah, okay, somewhere else sounds good," she said, curling her hand around his.
He stood and pulled her up. "Your pick." He fished his keys out of his pocket and jangled them. "I'll drive," he said with an attempt at lightness.
Carrie smiled genuinely at that, though not as widely as usual. "I hope so," she returned, "since it's your car and I can't and everything." She quickly ran through the possible places they could talk. Both homes were out, since she had no plans to tell her mother at any point and wanted Sorin to know about it even less than that. "What about Washington Park? There won't be any kids there this time of night."
"I agree. Washington Park it is!" He led the way to the parking lot, still holding her hand, but loosely enough she could pull away without making it awkward if she wanted. He did that a lot when things began to get serious, and Carrie usually hung on to his hand regardless, but this time, she let hers drop away after a few seconds and stuffed them into her pockets instead.
The drive to the park was a relatively silent one. She still had no idea how to introduce the subject without his thinking she and Chase were crazy. Logic told her Dean probably wouldn't have quite that strong a reaction, but logic quickly lost to paranoia. She sat in the passenger seat, twisting the hem of her jacket nervously, until they pulled up across the street from the park and got out of the car. Washington Park was one of her favorite places to be, but in winter at night, the scene felt completely different to her. Fog had begun to settle in, and the glow of the street lamps that colored it made her feel as though someone she could not see was watching.
"I need to tell you something," she said, once they had found a picnic table to sit at. She shifted so that she straddled the concrete bench and had to look Dean in the eye while she talked. "It's not bad, and it doesn't even have anything to do with us except that I want you to know it, and that I want you to hear it from me."
Dean watched her, confusion and nerves vying for dominance on his face. Despite that, though, he held her gaze steadily. "Okay," he said slowly. "What is it?"
She shut her eyes. Please don't think I'm nuts, she pleaded silently, then opened them again. "I don't think you know this, but five years ago last summer, I went missing for eleven days." She paused, then added, "And so did Chase, his sister Laura, their cousin Aaron, whom you haven't met, our friend Kevin. That's how I first met them all. We all got taken to the same place."
"I've heard snatches at school to that effect," Dean said, and then hesitated, as if he wasn’t certain what to ask, or perhaps how to ask it. "Where were you taken?" he came out with, at length.
"To an alternate dimension," she said quietly, inwardly cringing as the words left her. "That's what it was as far as we can tell, anyway."
To Dean's credit, he didn't laugh or do anything more than look a bit more confused. "An...alternate dimension?" he repeated, drawing the words out. "Okay, I think I need a little bit more than that..."
Carrie bit her lip. "It's a long story," she said, "but...basically, the theory is that there are a bunch of alternate worlds, and that there are little holes between them that you can find and go through, and someone from there found a hole that led to our world, and he used magic to grab the five of us and yank us through." She did her best to explain the dispute between Geran and Reuben, the way the Southern shield worked, and the role of the creatures, monitoring Dean's face carefully as she talked. He listened closely without interrupting, eyes never leaving hers. His expression was a little hard to read, though. To her hesitant relief, it didn’t seem shocked or suspicious-just surprised, perhaps.
"So," she finished, "that's why Chase is so screwed up and why we all act funny about some things. Chase didn't want to tell anyone what happened so we didn't try, until now, but he's feeling better lately and said we could. So, I didn't feel right not telling you about it." She shrugged, unable to think of a better way to end the information dump.
Dean nodded slowly. "I'm not going to say it doesn't sound a little crazy, but, really, it explains too much for me not to believe you're somehow telling me the truth." He sat back without breaking eye contact. "Damn, Carrie. It's a little hard to get my head around."
"I don't know if I'd believe me, if I was you right now," she admitted, finally lowering her eyes.
Dean's hand appeared a moment later to tilt her chin back up. "That's the thing, I'm pretty sure I believe you, because of how much it does explain about you and Chase, and it's way, way too involved for you to have made up. Maybe I could have seen Chase coming up with something like this, but not you and certainly not Laura or Kevin from what I know of them. That being said, doesn't make it any easier to...comprehend, if that makes sense. I mean, magic and alternate worlds and fantastical creatures..." He rubbed his forehead, like the idea was giving him a headache.
Carrie let out a short laugh. "Yeah, I don't blame you for that at all," she said. Slowly, she started to relax. He believed her. He didn't quite understand it all, but at least he believed her. She hadn't dared to hope even for that much, at least not this quickly. "I just...it's over, but it's still a major reason why I'm the way I am now, and you're so important to me..." She shrugged. "I don't want to have to keep dodging it for...however long. You deserve to know."
He nodded. "I...thanks, I guess," he said, with his typical crooked smile. "I would...I would think that any situation involving kidnapping, even a more, um, traditional kind, would pretty much help define you for life. Damn." As he spoke, he started to look a little shellshocked, as if what she had said was beginning to seep in. He ran a hand through his hair, gaze breaking from hers for the first time to stare out at the foggy park.
Carrie bit her lip and waited, not sure what else she could say. A fresh pang of uneasiness hit her as she wondered, again, if telling him had really been a good idea.
After what felt like forever, Dean looked at her again. "What in the world does Chase tell the therapist?" he asked, sounding a bit bewildered.
At that, an inane giggle bubbled out of her before she could try to suppress it. She had often wondered the same thing herself-her friend had never been terribly forthcoming about what went on in his therapy sessions, probably because a lot of it had to do with her. "That is a good question," she said to Dean. "Chase's therapist is a really old family friend of theirs and a nice guy, but I don't know if Chase told him anything. Or what Dave said that made him relax enough on this for us to tell anyone, really."
Her giggle startled an almost sheepish smile out of Dean. "I guess that was kind of a strange question, all things considered. I'm...I'm glad he has, though," he said, "even if I'm at a bit of a loss for words."
"So it's good?" she asked. "That I told you, and all?"
"It's wild," he said, "but yes, it's good. It...makes a lot of things make sense." He held out his hand. "We’re good too," he added firmly, and then, more plaintively, "I don't suppose I can hope this means Chase will stop making faces or glaring at me every time I so much as look at you, can I?"
Carrie grinned widely and took his hand, feeling fully relaxed now. They really were good, if he was talking about Chase that way. "Aww, he doesn't do that so much anymore."
"Maybe not when you're watching," he said wryly. His eyes were still a bit too wide, but he seemed to be accepting it well enough. She just hoped he didn't completely freak out later once it had completely set in, not that she truly thought it would. Dean was generally very even keeled, even when faced with a shock.
"I'll make it up to you someday," she said lightly. Then she thought about what she had said and sobered a little bit. "You know, Dean...between Chase, and my mother, and now this...you have to put up with a lot, being with me. I've never thought that much about it before because that's just my life, but it's true, and I appreciate it, I really do." She squeezed his hand a bit, to emphasize her point. "I am so happy I have you in my life. I can't even express how much."
He smiled, face reddening a bit. "I can see where the 'difficult' one could have just as easily been me, given my history. If Dad had made only one or two different decisions, it would have been a whole different ball game. And anyway, I like Chase and Eva, and I like to think I can maybe understand Chase a little bit better now." He leaned forward, obviously aiming to give her a quick kiss on the cheek.
Carrie instinctively straightened and scooted closer, tilting her head enough that he got her lips instead. Before he could react, she let go of his hand and reached up to cup his face with both of hers. Dean didn't protest any of it, making a satisfied noise in his throat instead and slipping one hand around the back of her neck. Through the contact, she could feel some of the tension bleed out of him.
The last bits of doubt left her at that. After a moment, she gently broke the kiss, but didn't move away. "I love you," she murmured.
"I love you too, even if you're difficult," he said, teasing.
Carrie grinned, but quickly squashed it, aiming for a pouty look instead. "You know, I was thinking about kissing you again," she said, "but I don't know if I will now."
An unhesitant grin blossomed on Dean’s face as he tickled her in the side with his free hand. "Pouting doesn't suit you," he said, and then kissed her before she could fully recover.
Carrie was more than happy to just kiss him back. They were okay. That was more than she had expected, going into the conversation, and she felt perfectly content not questioning it.
She could not resist swatting him on the arm in retaliation for the tickle, however.
Story: The Dragon World
Challenge: Cookies n’ Cream 22 (lean), Prune 11 (go with the flow) [Marina]; Green Tea 12 (winter), Watermelon 24 (any questions?) [Casey]
Toppings/Extras: Caramel, Smoothie
Word Count: 2,532
Rating: PG
Summary: Five years after their ordeal in the dragon world, three of the kids come clean about what happened (Part 2 of 3)
Notes: Thanks to Casey for helping me write Carrie’s section-I honestly had no idea how Dean was going to react! This takes place not more than a day or two after Kevin's section.
Carrie sat on the bench outside the men's room and tried to gather her nerves. She looked over her shoulder at the door, half-wishing Dean would just stay inside so she wouldn't have to have this conversation with him. I'm crazy to even be considering it, she thought, biting her lip. I should probably just forget about it. He'd never believe me.
They had gone to the Rainforest Café for a rare dinner out. Carrie had made it clear, early in their relationship, that she did not expect Dean to actually spend money on her very often and that quality time was much more important to her, so he hardly ever proposed this kind of date. Because of that, she wished she had been able to really enjoy it, but Chase had called her earlier in the day, and she couldn’t get her mind off the conversation.
“You can talk about it now, if you want,” he had said. “Not to just anyone, but…I feel bad that you all had to lie because of me and I know it’s probably too late but I thought it’d be selfish of me to make you keep lying if you didn’t want to. And I’m sorry it took me this long.”
Carrie had never blamed Chase for being afraid to tell people about what had happened to them, and even after getting permission, she couldn’t imagine trying to tell Eva. There had been one moment, about six months after the trip to the dragon world, where she had almost caved and told her mother everything, but Eva’s answer to the leading question she ventured had quickly nipped that urge in the bud. “Parallel realities can’t exist,” she had said. “It’s a nice idea for science fiction, but there’s a lot of evidence that says it shouldn’t be possible, and I’m not sure it’s Biblical, on top of that. Why do you ask?”
So Eva was out. It wouldn’t make a difference now, anyway. Dean was a different story, though. They’d been dating for a year, and Carrie loved him so much it hurt, sometimes. She felt reasonably certain that they’d get married someday. She certainly couldn’t see herself breaking up with him at any point in the foreseeable future, unless…well, unless he was the type of person who would call her crazy for claiming something even remotely otherworldly had happened to her, once upon a time. She wanted him to know it and she wanted him to believe her. She thought there might be a chance that he would. But if he wouldn’t even be willing to try, wasn’t it better for her to know now rather than to find out after they’d taken steps in their relationship that they would never be able to take back?
She dropped her head into her hands and tried to calm her nerves.
Dean stepped out of the bathroom a moment later, wiping his hands dry on his pants. He favored her with a crooked smile. "The hand driers never seem to work right," he said, and then his smile faded. "Okay, Care, what's up? You've been distracted all evening. Something's bothering you, so spill."
She took a breath and tried to relax her expression, but she still felt tense. "I, um..." A wave of panic overwhelmed her and she looked at her lap.
Dean's hand appeared in her view and gently covered hers. "Look, if it's none of my business, you can tell me that. And, well, if it is, maybe we could talk about it somewhere less public? If that would make you feel better." There was a cautious note to his voice and Carrie knew she had him nervous. It hadn't taken her long to figure out that Dean was very sensitive to other people and picked up on their moods quite quickly. He had probably seen her troubled mood as soon as he’d picked her up for dinner.
She supposed it was only fair. After all, she had always called him out on his bad days. "Yeah, okay, somewhere else sounds good," she said, curling her hand around his.
He stood and pulled her up. "Your pick." He fished his keys out of his pocket and jangled them. "I'll drive," he said with an attempt at lightness.
Carrie smiled genuinely at that, though not as widely as usual. "I hope so," she returned, "since it's your car and I can't and everything." She quickly ran through the possible places they could talk. Both homes were out, since she had no plans to tell her mother at any point and wanted Sorin to know about it even less than that. "What about Washington Park? There won't be any kids there this time of night."
"I agree. Washington Park it is!" He led the way to the parking lot, still holding her hand, but loosely enough she could pull away without making it awkward if she wanted. He did that a lot when things began to get serious, and Carrie usually hung on to his hand regardless, but this time, she let hers drop away after a few seconds and stuffed them into her pockets instead.
The drive to the park was a relatively silent one. She still had no idea how to introduce the subject without his thinking she and Chase were crazy. Logic told her Dean probably wouldn't have quite that strong a reaction, but logic quickly lost to paranoia. She sat in the passenger seat, twisting the hem of her jacket nervously, until they pulled up across the street from the park and got out of the car. Washington Park was one of her favorite places to be, but in winter at night, the scene felt completely different to her. Fog had begun to settle in, and the glow of the street lamps that colored it made her feel as though someone she could not see was watching.
"I need to tell you something," she said, once they had found a picnic table to sit at. She shifted so that she straddled the concrete bench and had to look Dean in the eye while she talked. "It's not bad, and it doesn't even have anything to do with us except that I want you to know it, and that I want you to hear it from me."
Dean watched her, confusion and nerves vying for dominance on his face. Despite that, though, he held her gaze steadily. "Okay," he said slowly. "What is it?"
She shut her eyes. Please don't think I'm nuts, she pleaded silently, then opened them again. "I don't think you know this, but five years ago last summer, I went missing for eleven days." She paused, then added, "And so did Chase, his sister Laura, their cousin Aaron, whom you haven't met, our friend Kevin. That's how I first met them all. We all got taken to the same place."
"I've heard snatches at school to that effect," Dean said, and then hesitated, as if he wasn’t certain what to ask, or perhaps how to ask it. "Where were you taken?" he came out with, at length.
"To an alternate dimension," she said quietly, inwardly cringing as the words left her. "That's what it was as far as we can tell, anyway."
To Dean's credit, he didn't laugh or do anything more than look a bit more confused. "An...alternate dimension?" he repeated, drawing the words out. "Okay, I think I need a little bit more than that..."
Carrie bit her lip. "It's a long story," she said, "but...basically, the theory is that there are a bunch of alternate worlds, and that there are little holes between them that you can find and go through, and someone from there found a hole that led to our world, and he used magic to grab the five of us and yank us through." She did her best to explain the dispute between Geran and Reuben, the way the Southern shield worked, and the role of the creatures, monitoring Dean's face carefully as she talked. He listened closely without interrupting, eyes never leaving hers. His expression was a little hard to read, though. To her hesitant relief, it didn’t seem shocked or suspicious-just surprised, perhaps.
"So," she finished, "that's why Chase is so screwed up and why we all act funny about some things. Chase didn't want to tell anyone what happened so we didn't try, until now, but he's feeling better lately and said we could. So, I didn't feel right not telling you about it." She shrugged, unable to think of a better way to end the information dump.
Dean nodded slowly. "I'm not going to say it doesn't sound a little crazy, but, really, it explains too much for me not to believe you're somehow telling me the truth." He sat back without breaking eye contact. "Damn, Carrie. It's a little hard to get my head around."
"I don't know if I'd believe me, if I was you right now," she admitted, finally lowering her eyes.
Dean's hand appeared a moment later to tilt her chin back up. "That's the thing, I'm pretty sure I believe you, because of how much it does explain about you and Chase, and it's way, way too involved for you to have made up. Maybe I could have seen Chase coming up with something like this, but not you and certainly not Laura or Kevin from what I know of them. That being said, doesn't make it any easier to...comprehend, if that makes sense. I mean, magic and alternate worlds and fantastical creatures..." He rubbed his forehead, like the idea was giving him a headache.
Carrie let out a short laugh. "Yeah, I don't blame you for that at all," she said. Slowly, she started to relax. He believed her. He didn't quite understand it all, but at least he believed her. She hadn't dared to hope even for that much, at least not this quickly. "I just...it's over, but it's still a major reason why I'm the way I am now, and you're so important to me..." She shrugged. "I don't want to have to keep dodging it for...however long. You deserve to know."
He nodded. "I...thanks, I guess," he said, with his typical crooked smile. "I would...I would think that any situation involving kidnapping, even a more, um, traditional kind, would pretty much help define you for life. Damn." As he spoke, he started to look a little shellshocked, as if what she had said was beginning to seep in. He ran a hand through his hair, gaze breaking from hers for the first time to stare out at the foggy park.
Carrie bit her lip and waited, not sure what else she could say. A fresh pang of uneasiness hit her as she wondered, again, if telling him had really been a good idea.
After what felt like forever, Dean looked at her again. "What in the world does Chase tell the therapist?" he asked, sounding a bit bewildered.
At that, an inane giggle bubbled out of her before she could try to suppress it. She had often wondered the same thing herself-her friend had never been terribly forthcoming about what went on in his therapy sessions, probably because a lot of it had to do with her. "That is a good question," she said to Dean. "Chase's therapist is a really old family friend of theirs and a nice guy, but I don't know if Chase told him anything. Or what Dave said that made him relax enough on this for us to tell anyone, really."
Her giggle startled an almost sheepish smile out of Dean. "I guess that was kind of a strange question, all things considered. I'm...I'm glad he has, though," he said, "even if I'm at a bit of a loss for words."
"So it's good?" she asked. "That I told you, and all?"
"It's wild," he said, "but yes, it's good. It...makes a lot of things make sense." He held out his hand. "We’re good too," he added firmly, and then, more plaintively, "I don't suppose I can hope this means Chase will stop making faces or glaring at me every time I so much as look at you, can I?"
Carrie grinned widely and took his hand, feeling fully relaxed now. They really were good, if he was talking about Chase that way. "Aww, he doesn't do that so much anymore."
"Maybe not when you're watching," he said wryly. His eyes were still a bit too wide, but he seemed to be accepting it well enough. She just hoped he didn't completely freak out later once it had completely set in, not that she truly thought it would. Dean was generally very even keeled, even when faced with a shock.
"I'll make it up to you someday," she said lightly. Then she thought about what she had said and sobered a little bit. "You know, Dean...between Chase, and my mother, and now this...you have to put up with a lot, being with me. I've never thought that much about it before because that's just my life, but it's true, and I appreciate it, I really do." She squeezed his hand a bit, to emphasize her point. "I am so happy I have you in my life. I can't even express how much."
He smiled, face reddening a bit. "I can see where the 'difficult' one could have just as easily been me, given my history. If Dad had made only one or two different decisions, it would have been a whole different ball game. And anyway, I like Chase and Eva, and I like to think I can maybe understand Chase a little bit better now." He leaned forward, obviously aiming to give her a quick kiss on the cheek.
Carrie instinctively straightened and scooted closer, tilting her head enough that he got her lips instead. Before he could react, she let go of his hand and reached up to cup his face with both of hers. Dean didn't protest any of it, making a satisfied noise in his throat instead and slipping one hand around the back of her neck. Through the contact, she could feel some of the tension bleed out of him.
The last bits of doubt left her at that. After a moment, she gently broke the kiss, but didn't move away. "I love you," she murmured.
"I love you too, even if you're difficult," he said, teasing.
Carrie grinned, but quickly squashed it, aiming for a pouty look instead. "You know, I was thinking about kissing you again," she said, "but I don't know if I will now."
An unhesitant grin blossomed on Dean’s face as he tickled her in the side with his free hand. "Pouting doesn't suit you," he said, and then kissed her before she could fully recover.
Carrie was more than happy to just kiss him back. They were okay. That was more than she had expected, going into the conversation, and she felt perfectly content not questioning it.
She could not resist swatting him on the arm in retaliation for the tickle, however.