|
Title: Anabelle 1992 Summary: A baseball game and a fist fight. Yeah, I have writer's block again. So here's another years piece, mindless dribble and noromo safe. And please forgive me ahead of time, it's another baseball story. ;-) Archive: anywhere and everywhere, Gossamer, Spookys, and Xemplary especially. Feedback: Please! Make up for the lack of feedback that's been gracing my mailbox lately. (Note: that part was written before my rant to the MSRFicSupportGroup, sorry guys) RhiaRamsay@aol.com Also visit my website http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Meteor/7124/index.html Disclaimer: Mulder isn't mine. Anabelle Morgan is. Saturday, June 30, 1992 Anabelle Morgan prowled restlessly around the front hallway of the brownstone house. She was eager and raring to go, all she had to do was wait for her cousin to get there. After all, he had the license, she was only ten. "Will you calm down?" her mother, Katelyn Morgan said as she passed by her on her way to the basement kitchen. "He was supposed to be here five minutes ago!" Anabelle called after her, leaning over the banister. She huffed and walked back to the door when Kate didn't bother to answer. She didn't have to worry anymore though, because at that moment the doorbell rang and she dashed over to it. Anabelle dragged a stool over to the door, being young and short she couldn't reach it and Kate always taught her to check it before she answered the door. Luckily it was who she expected to see so she kicked the stool out of the way, unbolted the door, and pulled it open. "You're late," Anabelle said as she pulled the door open. Fox Mulder stared down at his cousin. "There's traffic, you should know that." "I know, but you're still late." she walked back over to the stairwell and leaned over it. "Ma, Mulder's here, we're going to go now!" Kate came back upstairs. "Fox, get her out of here before she drives me crazy. Only three more weeks til summer camp," she muttered as she disappeared back downstairs. Anabelle stuck her tongue out at her retreating back. "You ready to go?" Mulder asked her. "Yep," Anabelle said, grabbing a bag with some necessary supplies (for her at least) in it. "You got money?" she shot back. Mulder shot her a look, and Anabelle smirked. "Let's get going," he said, and they walked out to where his car was parked by the curb. Once they had started on their way Anabelle asked, "Who's playing today?" "Yankees versus Angels," Mulder said, unable to make his car go any faster because of the constant stream of traffic in New York City. "Cool," Anabelle sighed. She leaned back in the passanger seat and propped her jellie-clad feet up on the dashboard, preparing for the long ride she knew it would be. There was always traffic on game days. Finally they walked through the gates to Yankee Stadium, handing in their tickets. "Can we get some snacks?" Anabelle asked as they passed by a concession stand. "Sure," Mulder shrugged, and they got on another long line. Eventually they ended up with four soft pretzels, the good ones that were always hot and covered with salt, and two Cokes. After that they walked into the stadium itself, and Anabelle grinned as she took in the sight of the place. She always loved coming to baseball games. The atmosphere was always tinged with excitement, the fans cheering for their team to win, the sounds of bat meeting ball, and the loudspeakers blaring with the announcers' voices were the typical sound of the day. The smells were a mixture of both foul and fair, city smog mixed in with popcorn and pretzels. And visually, it was a feast for her eyes, green grass and white lines, the golden sand of the footpaths making w ay into rows of thousands of seats. She loved all of it. "Where are the seats?" Anabelle asked, grabbing onto his arm as he looked at the tickets. "That way," Mulder motioned with his head, "along the first base line." They wormed their way through the bustling crowd, getting to their seats just as the players were being introduced. With that they sat down to enjoy the game. By the time the sixth inning rolled around both Anabelle and Mulder's voices were hoarse from cheering. The Yankees were obviously winning. She reached for her Coke to soothe her throat, but when she went to take a drink all she got was half melted ice, no more soda. "Great," she muttered. Come to think of it now she had to go to the bathroom too. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom and get some more soda," she said. "You know where it is?" Mulder asked, keeping his eyes focused on the game. Anabelle rolled her eyes at her overparanoid cousin. "Yes, it's not like I haven't been here before." She pushed herself out of her seat and struggled to the end of the row, hoping she didn't step on as many feet as she thought she did. When she finished up in the ladies room she wandered around the inside of the stadium, searching for a place where she could buy another drink. That plan was aborted though when she spotted the last people on earth she wanted to see. "Oh, crud," she muttered, looking for a place to hide before they spotted her. But it was too late, the three goons had spotted her and were heading her way. "Well look who's here," Andy Carpenter said as Anabelle crossed her arms over her chest. "If it isn't Larry, Moe, and Curly," she sneered, curling her lip back. "Why do you hate me so much?" Andy asked, the evil smirk on his face saying he knew exactly why. Anabelle rolled her eyes yet again. This thing had been going on since the beginning of third grade. To put it simply the whole thing had started when he locked her in the teacher's closet one day after school, flooded the girl's bathroom, and blamed it on her. No one believed him though, especially when they found Anabelle asleep on the floor of the closet. She felt it necessary to get him back though, so when he found a load of peanut butter in his desk the next day the teacher just assumed it was from an old sandwich he left in there. And it kept going on and on. "You are such a moron," she sighed. Andy traded looks with his two friends, and Anabelle bit her lip. They had to be planning something, she just knew. When they started walking towards her she pretty much panicked and turned tail and ran in the other direction. Hearing the rapid footsteps behind her she knew they were chasing after her. She ran full tilt down the corridor, dodging in and out between people. There were a few stares, but no one really took much notice, not even the security guards she occasionally passed. Anabelle paused behind a garbage pail to see if they were still following and unfortunately they were. Spotting a ramp to the second tier of stands, she ran up it, her feet skidding with the incline. It wasn't that effective though, when she looked back Andy and Co. were still there. There had to be a way 'shake a tail' as Mulder would say, she thought. The stitch building quickly in her side though was going to slow her down. Anabelle saw a way to buy some time. She saw a large concrete pillar designed to hold up the place and large enough for her to hide behind. They'd have to pass by it, and maybe she could distract them a little. Right before Andy ran by she stuck her foot out, not far enough to be noticeable, but enough to trip him and send him sprawling. The two goons whipped around to see Anabelle grinning evilly at them. Andy pushed himself to his feet and dusted his palms off. The incredibly pissed off look on his face told Anabelle that she was really in for it now. She wasn't really scared though, they'd gotten into fist fights before and she could fight back with the best of them. He walked over to her and shoved her back against the wall. The not quite one-year-old scars on her back stung with the impact, even through the fabric of her tank-top. Next, he punched her in the face and she winced, but made sure she didn't scream. That's when she struck back. She jerked her knee up, catching him right in the groin. For all the times they fought he never remembered that she always used that move. Then, when he was doubled over in pain she scraped her nails down his face. The two goons stood back, they never got involved in these types of fights. Andy grabbed onto her wrists, trying to pull Anabelle's hands away from his face. He ended up using her arms to push her into the floor. Anabelle felt her hands make impact first and then her face. Anabelle moved her hand rub her sore nose, and when she pulled it back it was bloody. She flipped herself over just in time for andy to straddle her chest and punch her again. This time she grabbed onto his wrists to keep his hands away. She wasn't sure how much longer she could hold out, when a loud and very angry voice intruded on the scene. "Andrew Carpenter!" Andy was distracted by that and Anabelle took her chance to shove him off of her. He didn't do anything more, because his father was coming up on the scene. He glared at the both of them, recognizing Anabelle from the many parent-student-teacher conferences on the subject. The father grabbed Andy's arm and hauled him up. "Let's get moving," he said, and they all left. Anabelle sighed with relief and slouched back against the floor. She really didn't need that today. She winced, feeling the skin around her eye pull tight and she knew she had a pretty bad black eye. She heard another set of footsteps and looked up when they stopped right by her. 'Great,' she thought. "Are you all right?" the security guard asked her. 'Now he shows up,' she thought grimly. "I'm fine," she said, pushing herself to her feet and running off. Come to think of it she really didn't feel like that soda now. Mulder dragged his eyes from the game when Anabelle flopped down in the seat. He was startled at the sight of her bruised amd bloody face. "What happened?" he asked. Anabelle crossed her arms over her chest and practically growled. "That idiot Andy Carpenter. Of course he has to be at the same game as I am. And of course, he has to find me." Mulder sighed and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He'd heard about the ongoing fight between the two of them, mainly from Kate worrying that it was an after effect of her father's death. His thought was that it was just one of those kids that pushed her buttons and knew how to do it well. "You want to go down to the first aid station and have them take a look at you?" he asked. "Nah," Anabelle said. "It's just a scrape and a black eye, I'll be okay. I want to enjoy the rest of the game, not spend it in the nurse's office." Mulder nodded doubtfully, knowing that she would regret her statement later on when the pain kicked in. "Ooooh, look at that," she gasped, and Mulder turned his head to see a ball heading for the right field wall with no sign of stopping. There wouldn't be anyway to drag her away from the game now, so he resigned himself to watching the rest of the game and hearing her whine about the pain later. On the ride home from the game Anabelle began to mutter about the pain in her face, as Mulder'd predicted. As soon as they were home Mulder practically pushed her down to the basement kitchen and rummaged through the freezer for an ice pack. Anabelle plopped down at the kitchen table and pressed the ice pack to her swelling eye. "I so hope I won't see that jerk again over the summer," she muttered. "I told you you should have gotten that checked out there," Mulder said, pulling out the chair next to her and sitting down on it. "But I wanted to see the game," Anabelle pouted. "And besides, the Yankees won, so it's worth it." "And when your eye's black tomorrow is it still worth it?" Mulder asked, trying not to laugh. "Yup," she smirked. Mulder shook his head with disbelief, not hiding the grin this time. She was truly a character. The trilling of his cellphone got his attention and he pulled it out. Anabelle watched with interest at the brief conversation. It sounded like his work to her, and she thought that knowing someone who worked for the FBI was really cool. It always managed to impress and scare off some of the kids in school who tried to bully her. "Who was that?" she asked as soon as he hung up the phone. "My partner," Mulder said, putting the phone away. "We've got a new case." Anabelle arched an eyebrow. "You? A partner? I thought you were swearing off of them," she said. "I didn't exactly choose to have a partner," Mulder said. "She was assigned to work with me. She's not as bad as I thought she would be though." "That's good," Anabelle said. "Who knows, maybe she'll be there a while," she grinned. "I give it a year, tops," Mulder smirked, getting out of his seat. He leaned over to kiss her on the cheek. "I'll see you soon, I've got to get back to D.C. Say goodbye to your mom for me, okay?" "Okay," Anabelle said. "Just call when you get there, or Mom's gonna get all nervous," she told him. "You got it," Mulder smiled, and with that he walked upstairs and left. Anabelle tossed the ice pack on the table and leaned back in her chair. It was a good day, she thought. Hopefully the summer would be even better. That's all folks! Hopefully there'll be a return to the more regular Anabelle stories soon.
|