EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND
180 Degree Change
A work of fan-fiction by:
Lauren (Laur70)
Synopsis: After seeing a happy Robert and Amy, Ray and Debra decide to change how they act towards one another.
Opening Vignette:
"And here's the lasagna. Just the way you like it Robbie," Said Amy. She gave Robert a wink.
Robert quickly stood up quickly and pushed out a chair for Amy, replying, "Oh Amy, you're so sweet. Come, sit down and enjoy this wonderful dinner you have prepared for us."
Ray glanced at Debra, she seemed to be unaware of the sincere niceness that Robert and Amy were showing each other this whole evening, as she ate the meal.
"This lasagna really is good, I have to hand it to you Amy, I didn't think you could cook this well. I thought good cooks stopped with Ma's generation" Ray said with a smirk. Debra now gave him a stern look.
"Nah, that's not true, Amy's a great cook" said Robert.
"Don't you like my braciole and baby peas Robert?" replied Debra.
"Yeah, of course I do Deb, but... I don't know.. It's just that since me and Amy have been together for quite some time now.. And I guess I've just become used to her cooking style and have come to like it a lot."
Ray started to laugh, "Goes to show you that sometimes 14 years doesn't make a difference."
{Chocolate Sauce? }
The four were now done with dinner. Amy stood up to clean off the table. "Let me help you with that, dear," said Robert as he stood up.
"Thanks Hon, I couldn't ask for someone sweeter" Amy replied as she rubbed Robert's arm with her free hand.
As the two of them walked into the kitchen giggling and touching one another, Ray, now alone with Debra at the table, had to say something. It was just bothering him way too much as to why his brother was being so nice to Amy. "Deb look at the two of them, what's going on? Robert's acting like he just met a cover model on the sports illustrated swim suit edition."
"Ray - did you ever think that maybe the two of them are happy together, happy to be with one another, even if its just having dinner."
Ray started cracking up. "Wait till they get married. If they think it gets better after marriage, boy, do they have something coming."
Debra, now annoyed, said "You know, I don't know why I bother talking to you."
Robert now came back in with chocolate sauce on his cheek, "What's going on in here, why all the yelling?"
"Maybe we were getting scared of the giant with a chocolate face" said Ray, "did Nestor have an accident on you this time?" Debra kicked Ray under the table. "Yaaaaooh...that hurt Debra... What did you do that for?!?!"
"You know, its getting kind of late, Ray and I should get going now, but thanks for a great dinner tonight" said Debra, thankful to stammer something out before her husband embarrassed her anymore.
"Ugh..okay..you sure you don't want to stay for dessert?"
"No, thanks anyway" Debra said as she yanked Ray out of the chair to leave.
"Don't forget to wipe that off your face, I don't think Amy will find it very attractive" Ray said referring to the chocolate on Robert's face.
"Actually Raymond, Amy and myself have found food to be a quite interesting way to make......."
"Stop right there, I've heard enough. You make me sick! Go have your little fun Robert, good night," Ray said as he shut the door.
{A 180 Degree Change}
Now in bed, Debra looked up from her book when Ray walked into the room. "Hey my book beauty you wanna make ooh la la," Ray said has he waltzed around moving his hips.
"Make love? Please Ray, after you utterly embarrassed me tonight? Just tell me something, do you hate our marriage? Because all you do is constantly tell people how worse their life will get after marriage. Have I ruined these last 14 years of your life?"
Not expecting Debra to make such a comment, Ray, now startled, climbed into bed thinking of how to quickly respond. "Deb, come on, I was just making a few jokes. You know that I always kid around with Robert, especially about his love life. It's just that tonight..well..umm..he sort of seemed really happy."
"And you were trying to...."
"I just didn't.. Well, I just never have seen him treat a girl like that - especially in front of other people. It's like all of a sudden he's in love." As he said "in love," Ray opened his eyes and motioned his fingers all around.
"Aren't you happy for Robert? I mean look at him - he's been so depressed and he's finally happy now."
"Yeah..but.." - Ray stammered. He didn't know how to say what he wanted to. As he looked off into the distance thinking of how to explain so Debra would understand, he was interrupted by her.
"Tonight I was so thrilled that Amy and Robert finally connected, but..heh..it's weird, I actually felt a little jealous of them, Ray. I'm sorry, I feel weird bringing this up, but tonight they seemed a lot happier together than we did."
At this point, Debra was a little scared of what Ray would say, but he looked at her saying, "I know, I was feeling jealous too. Honey what I really wanted to say was smile! You two are the married couple and we are the screaming and fighting teenagers on the back of the high school bus."
Debra smiled at Ray. "Yeah, that's us for sure. Hey you know what, why don't we do a complete 180 and change how we act toward one another."
"Oooh I love you Deb, you make everything right" Ray said as he reached in to give her a hug.
"You know what, tomorrow at the brunch before the Super Bowl will be the perfect time. Your parents will be there, and so will Robert and Amy. Wait till they see the new us."
{A Party for 4 }
Debra stood at the kitchen counter slicing veggies. Marie walked in. "Hi dear, I brought a few things to liven up the party today" Marie said as she laid down a basket full of food on the table.
"Hi Marie, sure, just as long as you didn't bring over some lemon chicken. You know that's Ray's favorite dish of mine, and I made it special for him today."
Marie gave Debra a puzzled look, and responded "Okay" and opened up the fridge to get out the some of the food dishes.
Frank walked in, running straight for the chips & dip that was laying on the table. "Frank, you just don't come in here like an animal. A normal person waits for the actual brunch to begin."
"Say what you want Marie, regardless of whether I eat now or later, this is man's dream. The Super Bowl, chips and beer, and the wife is out of the house. I couldn't ask for anything better." Frank was referring to the fact that the three women, Marie, Debra, and Amy were planning on going over Marie's that night to have a cooking lesson while the men watched the Super Bowl at Ray's.
Debra looked up, "Oh..ugh..actually, speaking of tonight, I'm gonna stay here with the guys Marie."
Marie stared at Debra, who was still confused from the lemon chicken before. "Debra honey listen to me, for once, in a sense, I agree with Frank, the Super Bowl is very important for Ray to watch. He has to pay attention to it for his column. And besides, it's just not your thing."
"Not my thing? Marie, what do you think, I am going to annoy the three musketeers by staying here. Believe me, I won't disturb Ray's concentration on the game."
Ray walked into the kitchen, "Boy, dad's already set for the game, and he just started eating" Ray said as he glanced a look toward Frank, who had already "unbuckled". He walked over to Debra and gave her a kiss on the cheek, "Hi honey, you need some help?"
"Hi Ray, sure, would you mind getting the big bowl out of the cabinet?"
"Not at all, my love."
"Excuse me," Marie interrupted, "are you two okay? You seem like your awfully friendly today."
"Yeah ma, we're fine, just fine" Ray said as he poked Debra in the butt.
"Raymond, I wanted to ask you, wouldn't you like to watch the Super Bowl today undisturbed."
"What do you mean?" Ray said as he laid the bowl down on the counter.
"Well, Debra was saying that she wanted to skip cooking with me and Amy." Marie now looked down and toward Ray, and whispered loud enough for Debra to hear, "God knows she needs the cooking lesson."
"No, actually I want Deb here with me tonight. I would enjoy to have her watch the game with me."
"Really?!"
Frank walked back into the kitchen. "What's all the talk for, come on Ray, they have a super early pre-game show on now, lets get watching it."
"Frank I don't know if there still is a Super Bowl party here tonight, it seems like Raymond and Debra want to be alone." Debra glanced at Ray and smiled. It was as if they were happy that Marie recognized there love for one another.
"What are you talking about? Tonight is a man's night."
"Yeah, I know dad, but tonight I was thinking that Debra could be a part of it."
"It doesn't matter to me, as long as there is no Marie here, all are welcome."
Marie replied in a crabby tone, "Fine Debra, miss out on a cooking lesson. You know it was for you we decided it would be cooking. Otherwise, I would have chosen ironing, which Amy desperately needs help in."
{Every Man's Dream }
Ray, Debra and Frank now sat in the living room watching the TV. Robert walked in. "Hey guys..ugh I mean guys and Debra. Sorry, I should have remembered, I just came from dropping Amy off at ma's and she gave us both a lesson on how if Amy didn't stay with her tonight she was gonna flip. What brings you here anyway, Deb?"
"Actually me and Ray wanted to watch the game together. I know it's something he likes and I wanted to share it with him."
Robert looked at the two of them, who were sitting with their arms around one another on the couch. He made a disgusted face, the one he had always made when Raymond got something he wanted. "It's all about you Raymond. Did you ever think of going with your wife to a book discussion? No actually you already did that and fell asleep." He stressed the fell asleep part of the sentence.
"You know Robert if you are just gonna be an instigator tonight I'll just ask you to leave. And yes, I am planning on going to another book discussion with Debra. Tomorrow night to be exact."
Debra glanced at Ray. This wasn't in their agenda for being nice to one another. Ray had come up with this one on his own. "Ray, that's so sweet of you. We are so perfect together, we can actually enjoy each other's activities with one another." Debra reached over and gave Ray a long, tight hug.
Robert, getting a sick look onto his face, walked over and sat down on the couch. Frank looked over at Robert and said, "If this becomes a make out room, don't you dare think of coming close to me". Robert just shook his head in disgust at Frank.
"Boy, you two are awfully happy tonight. What'd you guys have, a Pre- Super Bowl party with wine?" said Robert.
"No, Robert, we're just spending some quality time together. We're always like this."
"Okay, so you two did have a Pre-Super Bowl party. Anyway, anyone wanna have a bet as to who is gonna win the game?"
"I'll make a bet, that if you two don't shut-up I'm going back across the street. And I'll be sending Marie here. And I know that you wouldn't want that" Frank said, annoyed that there was such a distraction during the man's dream.
{Closing Vignette }
It was now night. Ray and Debra lay in bed with the lights out and the moon glaring on the couple. "Wow, you know Ray, I can't believe how well that went today. From now on, we should start doing this niceness thing more often."
"Yeah we should. But can I ask you something?"
"Yeah, go ahead."
"Well, this niceness thing can start right now, but do I have to go to the book discussion?"
"Ray..."
"Deb..ugh.. I mean sweetie.."
"Ray we just started being nice to one another, don't tell me you wanna go back to being the jealous high school kids looking at Robert for ideas on how to be a wonderful couple."
"Ugh.. to think we thought that Robert and Amy were happier than us.."
"Yeah..so now you'll have to go to the book discussion with me. You wouldn't want Robert and Amy to move one step further than us."
"Ughh..Debra wins again.." Ray said as he turned over, pulling the covers over himself.