The Softball Game
By Twig
~*PART 2*~
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters on the show "Passions".
They
belong to NBC and James E. Reilly. If I owned any of these people,
trust me,
Luis and Sheridan would have been married off a LOOOOONG time ago.
Since this
story is solely for amusement, and I have no ulterior motives (well,
not too
many) please, don't sue me.
<<<~~~>>>
Crane Mansion
Ivy stood in front of the mirror, holding up a pair of designer
sports
pants and an expensive, silk-screened T-shirt. She tilted her head to
one
side, surveying her appearance.
"Ivy?" Julian stood in the doorway, "What on earth are you doing?"
Ivy jumped slightly, but made no effort to hide her latest
acquisitions,
"I'm uh preparing."
"Preparing?" Julian took a swig of amber liquid out of a glass,
"Preparing
for what?"
Ivy did her best to look disdainful, "The charity softball game to keep
the
Russells in town. The Cranes have been invited to participate, so I
figured I
would. I suppose it's too much to hope that you'll put in an
appearance?"
"They want me to play baseball?" Julian sounded positively horrified.
"It's *softball*," Ivy corrected him with a scowl, "And at least I'll
be free
of *you* while I'm at the field."
Julian weighed his options, "Did you say that this was to keep the
Russells
in town?"
"Yes, it was Grace Bennett's idea," Ivy sighed.
Julian shuddered at the mention of Grace's name, "Ah, well, I suppose I
should go and support the local townsfolk."
He gave Ivy a playful tap on the shoulder, which she chillingly
ignored.
"Knock it off Julian."
Julian pouted, "I'm merely fulfilling my husbandly duties."
"Save the act for someone who actually gives a damn."
"Fine," Julian grumbled, taking another sip of his drink, "Sorry to
have
bothered you DARLING. You can go back to planning your whatever it is
that
you're scheming about now."
"I do not *scheme*," Ivy retorted, indignant.
Julian ignored her as he stumbled back down the long hallway.
"Well Sam," Ivy said to the mirror, as she fitted an expensive, custom
made
baseball cap over her dyed blond hair, "Time to prove what a wonderful
person
I can be."
Before she could do any more to plan the perfect softball outfit to
capture
Sam's heart, her cell phone rang, effectively shattering her daydream.
"Hello?" she snapped, annoyed, "Oh! Millicent! Hello!"
Her face brightened at hearing the sound of her dear friend's voice.
"Oh yes well
about that shopping trip tomorrow, Millicent, I don't think I'll be
able to
make it after all no, there's no problem, its just that I'm
participating in
a charity softball game, and what? Yes, you did hear me right. I
said a
charity softball game no I'm not crazy Millicent, I don't know what
would
give you that idea well, we could always use some extra moral support
down at
the fields yes I mean you! oh come on, it will be, uh, fun I'm
not taking
any medication Millicent!. THAT'S A HORRIBLE THING TO SAY TO YOUR
FRIEND! I
see down at the fields tomorrow starts at eight am yes GREAT!
Well then, I
guess I'll see you there bye Millicent."
<<<~~~>>>
Russell House
TC stood, arms crossed, staring his wife down and waiting for an
explanation.
"Eve, what is all this crazy talk about money? We aren't in any
financial
difficulty! And why is Grace Bennett organizing a charity softball game
to
keep us in town?"
Eve could tell that he was fighting very hard to keep his infamous
temper in
check. "TC, I can't tell you why we're moving I just told Grace that
because
I thought it would be easier for her to accept."
"Easier to accept than what? We aren't going anywhere until you can
explain
to me what just happened."
Eve sighed, "TC, this is impossible for me to explain to you. Please
just
trust me. We're doing the right thing by moving."
"We aren't going anywhere if the Bennetts have anything to say about
it!" TC
limped over to the refrigerator and removed a soda, which he drank in a
large
gulp.
"I know," Eve said softly, "Oh Grace why did I lie to you?"
TC, as was always the case with the residents of Harmony, did not seem
to her
monologue.
"This is awful," Eve whimpered, "I can't believe this is happening.
What am I
going to do?"
<<<~~~>>>
Harmony Softball Field
Illuminated solely by moonlight, two figures crept from the
shadows and
onto the freshly mown grass and soft dirt of the softball field.
"Oh Timmy," the first figure said, clapping her hands together, strings
of
gaudy bracelets clacking together with a tremendous noise, "This is
perfect!"
Timmy, the living doll, looked at the old woman and sighed, "Timmy
thinks
this is a bad idea."
"If I went along with you whenever you thought something was a bad
idea,
Dollface, then I'd never get anything done!" Tabitha scolded lightly,
sprinkling some blue powder into the dirt along the base path.
"What is Princess doing now?" Timmy inquired of her, sniffing at the
blue
dust and then sneezing explosively.
"You silly bag of stuffing!" Tabitha whacked him lightly on the back,
"I'm
spreading evil! When the good folk of Harmony take the field tomorrow,
they'll find themselves plagued by a string of bad luck. It will be the
perfect diversion to lure Charity over to the dark side!"
"Timmy doesn't want Charity to go over to the dark side!"
Tabitha ignored him, "This is perfect!" she cackled, "perfect, perfect,
perfect! They won't know what hit them!"
Her maniacal laughter echoed on through the still night, occasionally
joined
by the worried exclamations of a living doll.
<<<~~~>>>
Harmony Softball Field
The next day
Morning dawned bright and clear over the town of Harmony, and as
eight
o'clock drew closer, the citizens were drawn to the softball field like
moths
to a flame. Young and old alike made their way down the street, attired
in
all sorts of varied sports apparel.
"Look Simone!" Kay exclaimed, gesturing to her softball uniform that
proclaimed HARMONY in bright letters across the front, "Miguel and I
are
wearing the same uniform!"
Simone looked from her friend to the object of her affections,
"Kay you two
are on the same softball team. Of COURSE you're wearing the same
uniform."
"Don't try and distract me Simone, this is my big chance."
Simone merely rolled her eyes as they headed over to Grace, who was
standing
amidst the chaos with two large clipboards and a megaphone.
Sheridan tugged awkwardly at her blouse and jeans, realizing that
she'd
dressed inappropriately for the affair.
"Oh great," she muttered, "Now Luis will never let me hear the end of
it."
She momentarily wished that she had never answered Hank's phone call,
but
then she saw Luis emerge from a dugout wearing his sport pants and a
tight
white muscle tee, and she forgot all about her troubles.
Unfortunately, Luis did not. "Well well well, what have we here," he
smirked
at her outfit, "Preparing for a rough day at the fields, huh?"
"For your information *officer* I can play just fine in these clothes."
"I guess we'll see about that, won't we?" he sounded entirely too smug,
and
she was overcome with the urge to knock him flat on his back.
"I guess we will," she shot back, turning to walk away.
"Hey," he said softly, "Wait a second."
She turned around, "Now what?"
He reached out and placed a baseball cap on her head, "That's better."
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me, thank the fat sweaty guy over there who volunteered
his hat
up for you."
Sheridan's horrified look caused Luis to dissolve into laughter,
immediately
alerting her to the fact that he was only joking.
"You shouldn't joke about something like that Luis, you never know how
one
might choose to get you back."
"Is that a threat?"
"You bet your ass it is," Sheridan responded with a smirk.
Before Luis could make a sufficiently witty comeback, they were
interrupted by the arrival of Hank, who hurried up, wearing a bright
purple
shirt that proclaimed in white letters: BENNETT.
"Hi Sheridan!" he said eagerly, tossing a casual greeting to Luis as
well.
"Hello Hank," Sheridan said warmly, glancing at his outfit, "Um where
did you
get that shirt?"
"Grace made them up for everyone in the family except Kay of course.
She's on
the softball team."
"That was nice of her."
"She's really into this whole thing," Hank said easily, "She loves
community
bonding."
Luis looked decidedly uncomfortable, "I think I'm gonna go find
Sam see if he
knows what team everyone is on."
He loped off into the crowds, and Sheridan couldn't help but admire his
form,
as well as thank the heavens that he had the foresight to wear a
baseball cap
over his butchered hair. She reminded herself once again never, ever,
to let
Theresa near her hair.
"Well," Hank was grinning at her, "You and Luis don't seem to be
getting
along any better. Back to arguing as usual, huh?"
"Yeah," she said distractedly.
"Guess you're glad I'm here then," Hank slung his arm around her
shoulder.
"I'm thrilled Hank."
He did not notice the sarcasm in her voice.
Theresa and Whitney stood by the dugout, softball gloves in hand,
watching as Ethan approached.
"Oh Whit," Theresa said excitedly, "he came! It's fate!"
"Oh my god," Whitney said glumly, "Theresa, if you say 'fate' one more
time I
think I'm going to scream. I mean it."
"But it's fate!"
Whitney opened her mouth to scream, but suddenly
"Whitney! Theresa!" Chad was walking over from the other direction.
"Hi Chad," Whitney said softly, gazing into his eyes.
Theresa grinned from ear to ear as Ethan walked over. "Hello Theresa,"
he
said with a smile, "Hi Whitney, hey Chad."
Everyone exchanged greetings.
"So," Ethan said with a grin, "Gwen decided to stay home. She's not
much into
sports."
Theresa beamed.
Tabitha, wearing a shirt that proudly proclaimed her as UMPIRE,
stood
behind the plate, holding Timmy, who was dressed in a baseball uniform
and
even sported a tiny mitt.
"Awww," Charity said, walking over, "Your doll looks so cute Tabitha!
Where
do you find all those outfits for him?"
Unseen over Tabitha's shoulder, Timmy grinned from ear to ear.
"Oh, well," Tabitha absently played with the fringe on Timmy's shirt,
"Hobby
shops mostly."
"Awww," Charity said again, in a syrupy sweet voice.
Miguel strolled over behind his girlfriend, "Come on Charity, we're
about to
start the game."
"Okay," Charity said to him with a smile, "Bye Tabitha."
She and Miguel headed over to where Grace was waiting.
"Okay," Grace shouted into the megaphone, "With help from my
daughter,
Kay, I have divided all of you into two teams. The first team, the
Harmony
Eves, are Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald, Hank Bennett, Sheridan Crane, Reese
Durkee,
Jessica Bennett, Charity Standish, Simone Russell, TC Russell, and
um" her
eyebrows raised up almost off of her head, "Julian Crane."
"What?!" Eve exclaimed, horrified, watching as Julian ambled over to
where
the rest of them stood. He was wearing a pair of loose jeans and a
baseball
jersey with the number 33 and CRANE written on the back.
"Team two, the Harmony TC's, consists of Kay Bennett, Miguel
Lopez-Fitzgerald, Sam Bennett, Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald, Whitney
Russell,
Ethan Crane, Chad Harris, and" for the second time her eyebrows
popped up,
"Ivy Crane and uh her guest."
"This is Millicent," Ivy introduced, pointing to her rather unhappy
friend.
Then the two of them walked unhurriedly towards their team.
"I can't believe Julian's here!" Sheridan hissed to Luis, who
looked
suddenly nervous.
"Just pretend you hate me," Luis whispered back.
"Shouldn't be too hard."
"I can't believe I'm stuck on this team with YOU," Luis said loudly,
shooting
a withering glare in Sheridan's direction.
"And I can't believe that you don't have anything better to do than
stand
around here playing softball. Shouldn't you be arresting somebody?"
"I could always toss you back in jail."
Sheridan crossed her arms, "For what this time? Insulting a police
officer in
a public place?"
"You know, I'm amazed that you're even here. You're not world renowned
for
your athletic ability."
"You think that just because I'm a Crane that I can't play softball?"
"Is that the most farfetched assumption in the world?"
Sheridan glared at him, "For your information, my whole family is
here."
"That's just too bad."
"Wait just one minute-"
Just as expected, Hank stepped between them, holding up his hands,
"Hey!
Enough! This is supposed to be fun."
"How can it be fun with *him* here?" Sheridan narrowed her eyes at
Luis.
"Just ignore him, okay?" Hank was doing his best to be charming, "Just
focus
all of your attention on me."
Luis rolled his eyes.
"Now," Grace was still babbling on, "Eve and I will be the
official
scorekeepers. Is everyone ready to play some softball?"
"Yeah!" the two teams shouted enthusiastically. Eve gave a
long-suffering
sigh and headed over to her place by the dugout. Julian stepped up to
stand
next to her.
"Hello Eve," he said with a smirk, gulping something out of a flask.
He was interrupted by the arrival of Grace, who meandered over to stand
next
to Eve, "Oh, Julian!" she exclaimed in surprise, "where did you get
that
jersey?"
Julian tilted his head to one side, "Oh, I used to play a little
baseball in
my day. I always made it home, if you know what I mean," he leered at
Eve,
who made a disgusted noise. Grace, ever naïve, simply smiled at both
of them.
"HEY!" TC snapped, hurrying over, "you stay away from my wife, Crane!"
"Oh don't get all bothered," Julian grumbled, "I was just being
friendly." He
stumbled back down into the dugout and sat rather gloomily on the
bench.
In the other dugout, Sam was watching everyone else with an
unhappy
expression. Ivy pranced over and sat down on the bench next to him.
"Hello Sam," she said with a grin.
Sam ignored her.
"Sam," Ivy tried again, "I wanted to introduce you to my friend
Millicent.
Millicent, this is Sam Bennett, Chief of Police."
"How do you do?" Millicent said politely, brushing some dirt off of her
sleeve.
"Nice to meet you," Sam responded, keeping his voice neutral.
Ethan strolled over, "Mother! I didn't know that you were going to be
playing
on this team."
Ivy jumped straight up in the air, "Ethan! Um, why yes, I am. I brought
Millicent with me. You remember Chief Bennett, don't you?"
Ethan looked at her oddly, "Mother, I know who he is."
"You do?" Ivy was nervous, "How could you possibly know?"
Ethan eyed her suspiciously, "Mother, I've met Chief Bennett many times
before. You were there."
"Oh! Of course you've met him. I didn't realize that's what you meant."
"What did you think I meant, Mother?"
"It's not important, my darling son. I think Theresa over there is
trying to
get your attention."
She pointed to Theresa, who was waving frantically.
"Oh, yes, I think she is. I'll go talk to her."
Ethan walked off at an unhurried pace.
"Well, Sam-" Ivy began, turning back to face him, only to discover that
Sam
had disappeared.
"LET'S PLAY BALL!" Tabitha crowed from her place behind the plate.
"The Harmony Eves are up first!" Grace announced from her spot by third
base.
Eve shot her a pained look from where she stood behind first.
As the members of the Harmony TC's headed out to the field, they began
to
quibble amongst themselves about who got what position.
"I call second base!" Kay snapped, "Miguel gets shortstop. That's where
we
always play."
Miguel grinned, "That's right Kay."
Chad shrugged, "I guess I'll play catcher."
"I'll pitch," Ethan offered.
"Come on Theresa," Whitney said, "We'll take the outfield."
Theresa and Whitney took their places in left and center field.
"I'm at third," Sam said with a smile.
Millicent, not intending to be stuck anywhere in the infield, made her
way
out into the outfield, attempting not to get her expensive new sneakers
dirty.
"I don't know how to play first base," Ivy said worriedly, standing
directly
on top of the base.
"You don't stand on the base," Sam said impatiently, and she moved
over.
"I hate you for this," Millicent snapped to Ivy from right field.
Continue to Part 3
Story Wrote by TWIG Thanks so much for sharing your story with us.
You can write TWIG at [email protected]
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