Thwarted Dreams -- Chapter 8

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Colonel Lydecker, etc.), and everything else that has to do with 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.).

Sixteen months later...

I hate Mondays, Caroline thought to herself, furious as she stomped into her dorm room. She flopped down on her bed with an exasperated sigh.

“Tough day?” Stephanie guessed. “Didn’t you just have physical training?”

“Yeah, and Michael Davidson is a dead man,” Caroline said. “The fucking bastard got pissed off that I beat his time on the obstacle course, so he tried to get me in trouble by yelling in front of everybody that the reason my time was that fast was because I had cheated. Of course, the instructors heard him and demanded if I had been cheating which of course I hadn’t. Fortunately for me, there were instructors posted at various parts of the course so they just radioed to them to ask me if I had been cheating and all of them said that I hadn’t so in the end Michael looked like a complete fucking idiot and ended up being the one in trouble, so it worked out but I still wanted to kill him. Why he picked on me, I don’t know. There were at least four other people that were faster on the course than I was.”

“Were all four of them guys?” Stephanie asked. “That was probably it. Michael’s in a few of my classes and that guy is the biggest chauvinist that I’ve ever seen. He can’t stand it if a girl does better at something than he did. I have to constantly restrain myself from smacking him.”

“You and me and every other female student here,” Caroline agreed. The phone rang and she answered it. “Hello, this is Caroline speaking.”

“Hey there, Caroline,” Lisa said cheerfully.

Caroline perked up. “Hey, Lisa. I haven’t heard from you in awhile. How are things in cold-ass Wyoming?”

“Exactly as you described,” Lisa said. “Cold as hell, plus we had our first snowfall of the year two days ago. It wasn’t much, but it means the big stuff is coming soon. How have you been?”

“I’m going to the library,” Stephanie interrupted.

Caroline put her free hand over the receiver. “Okay, I’ll see you later.” She took her hand off of the receiver and went back to her conversation with Lisa. “Sorry about that. My roommate was letting me know that she was going out. I’m doing pretty well overall. My classes are going great and everything. At this particular moment, I’m annoyed because of this guy who was with me and my physical training class. He tried to get me in trouble after I beat his time on the obstacle course.”

“There are guys like that everywhere,” Lisa remarked.

“You’re married to one,” Caroline said.

“Don is not that bad,” Lisa pointed out. “He’s competitive as hell, but he is not chauvinistic.”

“True,” Caroline admitted. “Sorry. Speaking of him, how is he doing?”

“I just heard from him about thirty minutes ago,” Lisa said. “He’s stuck at work, but he sounded absolutely elated. He wouldn’t tell me why he sounded so happy, but as long as he’s in a good mood then I’m in a good mood.”

“That’s good,” Caroline said. “Speaking of which, how are you doing about convincing Don about adopting? You guys have been married for more than nine years now. I can’t believe that you don’t have any kids yet.”

“Oh God, you’re sounding like my mother,” Lisa complained. Both she and Caroline laughed. “I think I might be weakening Don’s stance that he isn’t ready. You can damn well bet that I’m going to take advantage of Don’s good mood when he gets home tonight. I don’t care if he comes home late again, I will stay up and we will be talking about it.”

“You are one stubborn woman, Lisa Martinez,” Caroline said.

“That’s Lisa Martinez-Lydecker,” Lisa teased. “Sometimes I think that’s why Don and I got married. He finally met somebody that was at least as stubborn as him. If you can’t beat them, marry them.”

“I don’t know if I’ll ever get married,” Caroline said.

“You’re only twenty. Give yourself time,” Lisa said.

“Said the person who raced to the altar with Don practically the second she graduated high school and turned eighteen,” Caroline retorted. She laughed. “Seriously, I know I’m still young. I’m not giving up hope, not by a long shot.”

“Good,” Lisa said. “Are you dating anybody right now?”

“No, not right now,” Caroline told her. “I broke up with my last boyfriend about a week-and-a-half right now and I don’t feel like jumping into another relationship immediately. Rebound relationships tend to suck beyond comprehension. That’s been my experience. What about for you?”

“I’ve had one or two rebound relationships before Don,” Lisa confessed. “I think my experiences with them are similar to the ones that you had. They were both awful and I was glad when they were over.”

“I am so glad that I have an hour to myself before my next class,” Caroline said. “I’m just going to relax and do absolutely nothing and let my body and my brain relax.”

“It makes me glad that I only went to Ohio State and not to West Point,” Lisa commented. “I don’t know how you do it or how Chris and Pete did it, or even how Danny got through his years in Annapolis. You guys are just weird.”

“And proud of it,” Caroline said proudly. “I’m glad to be me.”

“I know,” Lisa said. “I should get going now. Don said that he would try to get home by six tonight and I need to get going to the supermarket to get stuff for dinner. Take it easy, okay?”

“I will,” Caroline promised. “Good luck tonight.”

“Thanks,” Lisa said. “I know that I’ll convince Don tonight. I’ll be marking this date down on my calendar for sure.”

“Yep, so will I,” Caroline agreed, laughing. “September 25th, 1995.”

TBC