Section 4: Carmen
|~ Well, That Was Unexpected ~|~ It Was A Dream And You Were There ~|~ Oops You Did It Again ~|

Author's: Notes: OK, we've told Mom, Lily and Josh, Harrison, who do we tell next? How about sweet, calm old Carmen? She'll take it well right?

Section 4 Carmen

WELL, THAT WAS UNEXPECTED

"Well, that was unexpected."

"Yeah, I didn't see that one coming. You think she's OK?" Sam shrugged.

"I dunno, maybe we should check," Brooke bent over the prone form of Carmen Ferrera and felt for a pulse. She looked back up at her girlfriend and nodded.

"Yup, still got a pulse. It's going like a freight train, but it's beating," she said as she stood back up. They were in the Novac after school had ended and had run into Carmen. Figuring it was now or never, they had sprung the news of their relationship on the girl who was wondering about Harrison's strange behavior lately. Of course, neither girl had expected it to result in Carmen ending up flat on her back, unconscious on the floor of the Novac. Well, life was full of funny little surprises.

>>>>>> oh...a flashback

"Either of you know why Harrison would rather sit with April Tuna and Freddy Gong than the rest of us? I mean, I know our social skills may be somewhat lacking, except maybe for you Brooke, but really, I mean, April Tuna?" Carmen asked. Brooke looked at Sam in the mirror as she fixed her eyeliner. Sam looked around the Novak and saw that it was just the three of them and nodded.

"We might, Carmen. Have you heard anything strange lately? About us, I mean?" Sam asked nonchalantly. (Well, she hoped she sounded that way at least) Carmen thought a minute and shook her head.

"Not really. Just that you two are close. Although Emory was saying in Bio class yesterday that you were a little more than close lately but Lily smacked him with a petrie dish and he shut up real quick, why?" Brooke winced. She knew that she and Sam were getting a little noticable with their `friendly' touchy-feely lately and someone was bound to notice. (But Emory Dick? ARGH)

"Well, we've been meaning to talk to you about that," Brooke started as she watched Sam pick at her nails and blow a bubble with her gum. (Oh, gee thanks, Sam) she thought sarcastically, shooting Sam a glare in the mirror. Sam caught it and immediately joined the conversation.

"Uh, yeah, we uhm, we had Harrison over for dinner the other night while you were away and told him something that upset him. I mean, MAJORLY upset him. We thought he was going to have a stroke right there in the kitchen," Sam offered as an explaination. Carmen smiled at her friends.

"Gee, Sam, did you cook?" Carmen teased.

"No, Brooke did. I like Harrison and would not inflict my cooking on him. But that's not why he freaked. I'm telling you, Carm, this was bad. Worse than I've seen before."

"Come on, it can't be that bad. I'm sure whatever it was, he'll get over it. He always does. He's Harrison. It's not like you told him you two were gay and seeing each other," Carmen laughed. Brooke snapped the eyeliner in her hand in two by accident and Sam choked on her gum. Brooke walked over and pounded on her back. Sam wondered if one of these days she was going to choke to death when someone sprung that on her while she was eating.

(First Mom, now Carmen. Between them and Nicole using me for roadkill, I'd be down to like six lives if I were a cat) the morbid part of her counted down.

"You OK, Sam?" Carmen asked alarmed. Sam nodded.

"Fine," she said although her voice was nothing more than a froggy rasp. (Good thing I don't take choir) Brooke tossed the offending piece of gum in the trash.

"Wow, Sam, talk about a violent reaction. I thought you and Brooke were getting along now," Carmen continued. Sam looked at Brooke, her eyes desperately begging her to handle this one. (I told Harrison, it's your turn) Brooke sighed.

"We are getting along, Carmen. That's just it. We told Harrison exactly what you just said." Carmen tilted her head to the side as she tried to follow the conversation.

"Sam's allergic to Double Bubble?" Sam rammed her head into the wall several times.

"I really wish you wouldn't resort to banging your head into solid objects like that, Sam. I spent way too long begging you to wake up from your coma to watch you put yourself into a new one," Brooke sighed at her girlfriend who gave her a sheepish smile. She pointed to Carmen with an exasperated look on her face.

"Can you blame me?" Brooke shook her head.

"Not really," she turned back to Carmen. "No, Carm, the other part. About Sam and I being gay and seeing each other. Only we aren't just seeing each other, we are deeply in love with each other. Do you follow?"

Carmen never actually heard the entire question that Brooke had asked her, she was all ready passed out on the plush carpeting.

Which ends our little flashback>>>>>>

"Do you think we should get someone?" Brooke asked nervously as she watched Carmen twitch slightly on the floor. Sam looked down from where she calmly sat on the couch and shook her head.

"Nah, she'll come around in a few minutes. It's kinda funny though," she laughed. Brooke shot her a dirty look.

"It is not, Sam. She could have hurt herself," Brooke admonished. Sam looked away, giving the impression she was ashamed, which she really wasn't.

"Sorry, I just didn't expect her to faint dead away like that. I mean, come on, Brooke. She was out before she hit the ground. Her eyes rolled up in her head, down she went and BOOM, right onto the floor. Last time I saw someone turn that green was when we delivered Mac and I thought you were going to pass out on me." Brooke stuck out her tongue but could help joining Sam for the laugh.

"If I recall correctly, you were a little freaked yourself, Sammy," another thought occurred to her. "If this is any indication, Carm's not going to take this well," she said sadly. Sam sat up a little further on the couch and shook her head.

"Apparently not. But look at it this way, at least Harrison won't have to sit all alone. Or with April Tuna and Freddy Gong. Which is worse do you suppose? Solitary or eating with those two? If you can eat, that is," she asked. Brooke gave her another dirty look.

"We're tearing everything, everyone apart," Brooke complained. Sam got up off the couch and gave Brooke a fierce hug.

"Would you have rather stayed quiet? Or better yet, never started this relationship at all?" Sam asked in all seriousness. (Please don't answer that the wrong way. Please don't think we're a mistake!) Sam begged quietly. Brooke turned around in Sam's arms so that they were nose to nose. She frowned as she stared into Sam's rich brown eyes, which were clouded with worry and fear.

"Neither. You?" She watched the worry and fear leave Sam's eyes to be replaced with joy and relief. Sam shook her head.

"Me either. I finally feel complete when you're in my arms, Brooke. I wouldn't trade that for anything. And if my friends, our friends can't accept that or us, then they weren't very good friends to begin with, were they?" Sam asked as she nuzzled Brooke's cheek. Brooke let out a happy and contented sigh just as a groan of regaining consciousness came from Carmen.

"Another country heard from," Sam added wryly as Brooke disconnected from her arms and bent down to the reawakening girl. Carmen opened her eyes and looked up into Brooke's concerned hazel ones.

"Feeling better, Carm?" Brooke asked gently. Looking from Brooke to Sam standing a few feet behind her, Carmen promptly fainted again.

IT WAS A DREAM AND YOU WERE THERE, AND YOU WERE AND

"I'm just saying, it was getting redundant, Carm. Three times was more than enough. Try and stay conscious long enough to have the conversation, please," Sam said annoyed. Brooke swatted her on the shoulder as she handed a cup of water to Carmen who was seated on the couch. She kept looking from Brooke to Sam and back like they were little grey space aliens come to take her away for experimentation and it was beginning to bug the Hell out of Sam.

"S...sorry," Carmen stuttered, still in a state of shock. She sipped at the water and continued to stare at Sam and Brooke who were leaned up against the sink. Sam rolled her eyes.

"Oh, for Christ's sake, Carm! Hello, still Sam McPherson and Brooke McQueen over here! Same two people you've known your entire life. That hasn't changed. Nothing actually has. We just faced the fact that our sexual preference is for women and oh, gee, look, each other. How convienent for us, living in the same house and all," Sam huffed.

"Knock it off, Sam," Brooke snapped, fed up with Sam's temper. Sam glared at her.

"Well, she can at least say SOMETHING," Sam shot back. "At least Harrison ranted and raved like the little homophobe he is. Lily and Josh let us know how they felt but she's sitting there like she's afraid she's on the menu or something." Sam turned her gaze to Carmen. "If you HAVE been talking to Harrison, the little prick, there's nothing in the drinking water and we're not going to convert you." She pushed away from the sink and paced around the Novac like a caged animal while Brooke just rubbed her eyes and sighed.

"I'm sorry," Carmen spoke up suddenly, making both Sam and Brooke jump. "You shocked me is all. What do you want me to say, huh? How would you like it if I dropped a bomb like that on you? You would be at a loss for words too, you know," she snapped, her voice taking on the same angry tone Sam's had.

"You know what I'd say? I'd say `are you happy?' Cuz that's all that matters in the long run," Sam answered curtly. Carmen stood up.

"That's not all that matters. You're only thinking about yourselves. Do you even know what you're doing? Do you have any idea what this is going to do to everybody else?"

"'Everybody else'? What the Hell does it matter what it does to everybody else? Sam and I are the only ones it should matter to," Brooke spoke up, surprising Carmen and Sam with the contempt in her voice.

"I am so sick and tired of living with what everyone else thinks of me and having it hanging over my head, Carmen. Fitting the mold to make someone else happy. Sam makes me happy. For the first time in my life I found something that makes me absolutely happy that I don't have to kill myself or change myself for. She loves me for me and I don't give a flying good God Damn what that does to everyone else. You got that?" Brooke advanced on Carmen with a dangerous glint in her eyes making Carmen back away. Sam watched the show wishing for a bag of popcorn. Or a camcorder.

"If you're going to pull a `Harrison', go right ahead. We went through that once, it sucked but we can go through it again. I always liked you, Carmen, you wanna know why? It's because you never judged people. You never cared what anyone looked like or what they acted like. You like people because of who they are inside and the Hell with everything else. Well, guess what? I'm gay! Sam's gay! And we're gay together! And if you can't accept that, well, there's the door, don't let it hit you in the ass on the way out!"

Carmen stared back at her for a few minutes in stunned silence at the tirade from the normally serene and sociable cheerleader and then looked over at Sam, her former best friend, who shrugged back at her.

"But.but it's wrong," Carmen whispered. Sam sighed in defeat.

"You didn't say that when it was Harrison's mom," she said patiently as she walked over to Brooke and rubbed the still upset girl's back soothingly. "And I've got to wonder, how can any love like this be wrong? You don't know how we feel about each other, Carm, you couldn't possibly understand. My Mom has given us her blessing and for now, that's enough. Lily and Josh are OK with us and showed us what true friends really are. Can you say the same?" Carmen shook her head.

"I don't.I don't know," she said softly. And she really didn't. This was a lot to take in all at once. (These two used to hate each other and now they love each other?) She was baffled. (The sky is still blue right? What goes up must come down and Sam and Brooke love each other.one of these things doesn't go with the natural order of the universe)

"Honesty is a good place to start," Brooke said having regained control of her normal voice. "Take the time you need Carmen, we want you as a friend but if that isn't possible, we understand. But please, keep this between us, OK? Until we tell everyone ourselves?" Carmen nodded.

"I can give you that much," Carmen admitted. "I have to go," she said as she left the Novac. Brooke sighed.

"I'm really starting to dread these little heart to hearts with our friends," she complained. Sam kissed her and held her close.

"Just think, we have Nicole and Mary Cherry, Sugar and then, and we saved the best for last, Mike left."

"That's not helpful," Brooke warned.

"I know. I'm not sure I'm built for all this emotional trauma. On the bright side, at least when we tell Nicole, she can't try to run us over again," Sam chirped. Brooke groaned.

"Do me a favor, Sam? When you become a writer, don't go into comedy."

OOPS YOU DID IT AGAIN

"Josh, man, can I talk to you?" Sugar Daddy asked Josh as he passed him in the hall. Josh looked at his friend who was an alarming shade of pale.

"Sure, man, what's up?" Sugar looked up and down the hall and once he was sure they were alone, leaned in closer to Josh.

"I was walking down the hall and I passed the girls bathroom, yo, and I heard some yelling. It sounded like Sam and Brooke so I stopped to listen, just ta make sure they weren't killing each other, you know?" Sugar went on.

(Uh-oh) Josh moaned to himself. He didn't like where this was going.

"Anyway," Sugar continued, getting a little more agitated. "Then I heard Carmen's voice and yo, they were really all going at it and I heard some stuff that can't possibly be true." Josh rolled his eyes.

(Why me?)

"What did you hear, Shug?" Josh asked patiently.

"Yo, I don't know how you're going to take this seeing as how Brooke's you're ex and all but Brooke and Sam are like illicit lovers, yo. As in secret paramours." Josh sighed.

"I thought we agreed that you'd stop reading those romance novels, Shug," Sugar blushed.

"I only read them for the pick up lines, man. You're missing the point here, Josh. Brooke and Sam are together! As in to-get-her." Josh sighed again.

"Are they still in the Novac?" Sugar shrugged.

"Sam and Brooke are, I think. Carmen just left. Why?"

"Wait here," Josh went to the Novac, knocked and went in. He emerged a few minutes later with Sam and Brooke. Sugar's male teenage mind noted how their hair was mussed and they didn't seem at all happy to see him.

"Sam, Brooke, do you have something to tell Sugar?" Both girls rolled their eyes and sighed.

"We're involved with each other," they said in unison. They watched as Sugar's eyes got impossibly wide.

"It's true, yo?" They nodded. "And you knew, Josh?"

"They told Lily and me a few nights ago," Josh explained.

"And you're OK with that?" Sugar asked, still looking at the two girls in wonder. Josh nodded.

"As long as they're happy, what business is it of mine?" Sugar considered this seriously.

"Are you two happy?" Both girls smiled widely.

"Very," Sam answered as she put her arm around Brooke.

"Absolutely," Brooke responded, wrapping her arm around Sam. Sugar smiled at them.

"Cool with me then. Who wants to go get a pizza?"

::::come on, it's Sugar, he 'dated' Mary Cherry. After that, what the heck would bother him?:::::Aeryn:::::