Thwarted Dreams -- Chapter 1

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Colonel Lydecker, etc.), and everything else that appeared on the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Caroline, etc.).

“Mom, I’m home,” Caroline yelled as she got in the door of her house.

“I’m in the kitchen and you don’t need to yell so loudly,” Mrs. Robinson reminded her. She turned around when she heard Caroline walk into the kitchen and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Hello, sweetheart. How was school today?”

“It was great,” Caroline said. “Did the mail come yet?”

“No, it didn’t,” Mrs. Robinson said. “I swear, sometimes I wish you didn’t idolize your brothers so much. West Point, Caroline, really.”

“Hey, Danny’s in the Navy. He went to the Naval Academy in Annapolis. Only Chris and Pete went to West Point,” Caroline teased.

“Did I hear my name being mentioned?” a male voice asked.

“Chris!” Caroline squealed. She turned around and ran to her oldest brother. “What are you doing here? I thought they’d never let you see the light of day.”

“Hey, as long as I am based in the same state, I’ll show up once in awhile,” Chris said. He grinned and stuck out his tongue at his only sister. “Maybe not so often since my baby sister is such a brat, but…”

“Be nice,” Mrs. Robinson warned. She smiled and walked over to Chris and hugged him. “It’s so good to see you, Christopher. Are you staying for dinner and where’s your laundry?”

“Mom, I’m twenty-four,” Chris said. “I’m capable of doing my own laundry.”

“I know that you are capable of doing your own laundry, but capable of doing your own laundry and actually doing your own laundry when you’re visiting your family are two different things,” Mrs. Robinson said. She laughed and reached up and ruffled Chris’ blond hair.

“In my car. I’ll bring it in after dinner.” Chris smoothed his hair back into place. “I’ll probably stay the night too. I’ve got a weekend pass from hell.”

“You are going to stay the entire weekend here, Mister,” Mrs. Robinson informed him. “Did you invite any of your friends over for dinner or is it just going to be myself, your father, your sister, and yourself?”

“Yeah, I’ve invited company for dinner,” Chris said.

Caroline groaned. “Great, which member or members of the asshole crowd are going to be over tonight?” As much as she adored her oldest brother, she’d never liked most of his friends.

“Caroline, how many times have I told you to behave yourself and not to talk about Chris’ friends that way?” Mrs. Robinson said.

“I’m sorry, Mom, but—“

“No buts, Caroline. If you were really sorry, there wouldn’t have been a but.”

Chris grinned wickedly. “Don’t worry, Caroline, I’ve only invited Donny.”

“You asshole,” Caroline said, dismayed. “Why did you have to invite Don the Di—“

“Caroline, if you use the word that I’m guessing that you were going to use, you’re going to find yourself grounded for the next two weeks,” Mrs. Robinson warned.

“Sorry,” Caroline apologized.

“Don’t worry,” Chris said. He smiled genuinely. “Lisa’s with him. She’s also coming over for dinner.”

“Awesome,” Caroline said. “I haven’t seen Lisa since the last time that she and her loser husband were in town.”

“Hey, that loser husband of hers is already a Captain and is this close from making Major,” Chris pointed out. “Not bad for somebody that went straight into the army from high school and didn’t go to West Point, wouldn’t you say?”

“Okay, so Don’s good at what he does,” Caroline conceded. “I never said he wasn’t.”

“Oh, that reminds me,” Chris said. “While we’re on the subject of the army and West Point…” He held out a fat envelope that he’d hidden before and waved it in front of Caroline. “I happened to bring in the mail and look what happened to be in it. A nice, fat envelope addressed to a Ms. Caroline Ashley Robinson. Did applying early decision pay off for you? Let’s find out…”

“Give me the envelope,” Caroline insisted. She reached for it, but Chris held it up just out of her reach. “Chris, come on and give me the envelope.”

“If you say so,” Chris said. He pretended to be reluctant and handed Caroline the envelope.

Caroline snatched it from her brother’s hand and tore into it and read the letter that was on top and squealed. “I did it! I got into West Point! I got into West Point!”

“Way to go!” Chris cheered. He gave Caroline a hug. “I knew that you could do it.”

“But those recommendations from you and Dad didn’t hurt, huh?” she teased.

“Sweetheart, I am so proud of you,” Mrs. Robinson said. She also gave Caroline a hug. “I know I’ve been less than thrilled with your choice of college and career, but I know how hard it is to get into West Point and I am extremely proud of you that you made it in. Your father is going to be proud of you too when he gets home. He should be back in plenty of time for dinner. We have something to celebrate tonight, don’t we?”

“We sure do,” Caroline agreed.

“Your father is out of reach right now, but why don’t you try calling Danny and Pete and telling them the good news?” Mrs. Robinson suggested.

“I will,” Caroline said.

“Yeah, and don’t forget to rub it in Pete’s face how much quicker it took for them to send you your acceptance letter than it took for them to send him his acceptance letter,” Chris said wickedly.

“Christopher,” Mrs. Robinson warned.

“Sorry, Mom,” Chris said. Caroline just laughed and reached for the phone.

TBC