A Dark and Stormy Night (repost)
Chapter Four - Trying Something New
~*~*~ LEMON WARNING!!~*~*~
When Billy ambled up the drive at the O’Riordan house, Caitlin had been sitting in the window seat, waiting and worrying for him. Although she knew that his job as an investigative reporter put him into some very dangerous situations, and was “in the know” about Billy and Captain Marvel being one and the same, she felt rather like a cop’s wife, always wondering if he was all right.
For Caitlin O’Riordan to describe herself as beautiful would have been something of an overstatement. In her mind, she was pretty enough, but no raving beauty like Billy’s twin sister Mary or Cissie Sommerly. Her long, dark red hair was an unruly puzzle of loose curls. Without eyeliner, her expressive, leaf-green eyes seemed almost too large for her narrow, ovoid face, whose chin came to a delicately sharp point. Her nose was straight and a little on the long side (to her, anyway) and the only person she’d ever met who actually had less “meat” on her bones than she did was Sivana’s youngest daughter, Georgia.
Cait watched the man she loved from the front bay window as he strolled up the white gravel path, twining a lock of her hair around her elegant fingers. It was a nervous habit she had, and she wished to the gods that she didn’t, because it was annoying. She wore her nice forest green velvet pants and a long-sleeved, stretch velour leotard of the same hue, which made the color of her green eyes a little richer and the color of her soft, layered hair a bit deeper. She loved the young reporter with all of her heart and anxiously awaited his arrival.
They would have the whole house to themselves tonight, since her parents were visiting her cousin Robyn in Boston until Sunday night. That meant Cait was housesitting. Billy could actually sleep with her in her bed, although sleeping was not exactly what Cait had in mind. With her own 18th birthday coming in a week, she was going to have all of the “quality family time” she could handle, so being alone with Billy for one night was going to be an incredible balm for her soul.
As he slogged up to the door, she could see that Billy was fairly banged up and completely covered in grime. She flung the door open and exclaimed, “Liam, what happened to you?!? You’re filthy!”
“Oh, this?” he replied smiling, not missing the worried look on her pretty face. “Remember Brixton, that guy who’s been sending those thugs to Batson Hall and harassing the kids there? I got ’im, honey, nailed him to the wall. I was so right about him, Cait. He’s nothing more than a lousy pimp and I got him!”
“Which doesn’t explain the bruises, the muck or the smell!” she waved her hands up and down at him. She forgot how excited he got when he chased a hot story. “Pray tell, what went on after you “got him”?”
“He had some of his goons try to scare me off. You know me, fat chance of that, so they beat me up a little and tossed me into the nearest landfill. I pretended to be unconscious ’til they left, then I hiked my tail over here.”
“D’you think they followed you here?” Cait’s voice was steady, not betraying any fear she might have felt. She’d always been a brave girl, even when faced with someone as powerful as Billy’s alter ego. Of course, when she said a certain word, she was as powerful as Captain Marvel, but she didn’t tap into that power much any more.
“Truthfully, honey?” Billy replied, looking her in her soft green eyes. “No. They were long gone by the time I climbed over the last pile of garbage. I hoped the rain would’ve washed some of the stench away, but no such luck,” he finished with a heavy sigh.
“Well, nobody’s here, so …”
“Since when are we “nobody,” wench?”
“I meant nobody but us, silly,” she said with a sweet smile, “so why don’t you go into my water closet and take a shower. I’ll be up in a few.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he replied with a mischievous grin.
“And for pity’s sake, put those filthy things where I can find them! They need to be laundered!”
“Yes, ma’am, right away, ma’am!” He ran up the stairs before she could give chase, laughing at the comical face she made at him.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Blanket disclaimers for this fanfic (partly borrowed from Sueric): this story is a parody within a parody based on a series of Earth-S fics I wrote. It is neither steeped in nor is it connected with the current continuity of DC Comics. DC’s current continuity lacks imagination. And guts.
I do not claim any rights to the Marvel Family or the characters associated with them. Those rights belong to DC Comics (damn it all). The only character I own in this work of fiction is Caitlin O’Riordan (© Cynthia Finnegan, 2005). I offer my thanks to C.C. Beck, Bill Parker, Otto Binder, Mac Raboy and Marc Swayze for creating such “marvelous” characters for me to terrorize.