Apocalypse Avenue: Thursday Afternoon

[pieandcoffee.livejournal.com]

Anyone walking down Apocalypse avenue might catch sight of Dale Cooper riding along in a rickshaw cab. And anyone who was listening closely may hear him babbling away at his voice recorder...

"Diane, it is approximately 2:30 pm on Thursday, March 27th. I have just donated blood at the Red Cross in Alexandria and while I felt fine when I left for the island, crossing over the causeway I felt just a tad lightheaded. Deciding to play it safe I decided to test out the local rickshaw cab company in order to take me back to the Police station. I must say Diane that while I did have the chance to experience this type of ride while traveling the world in my youth, I have never experienced a ride that is at once both so fast and also quite bumpy"

	Just stepping out of 4 Apocalypse Avenue, Charlotte's attention was a flurry of all the things that had been done and the things that still needed to be done, the latter of which was significantly longer than the former, and it had her slightly distressed and feeling rather harried. Her mind was a scattered mess. One part on the design for the exterior of the gallery, one part on booking the first exhibit. One part on hiring in some employees, one part on getting a call to the girls back in New York. One part on a double tall skinny sugar-free vanilla no-foam latte, the other part on maybe a nice vodka martini instead. Either way, she wasn't paying much attention when she stepped out to cross a street on her way back to the hotel. The heel of her two inch black strappy Manolo Blahnik went straight into a crack in the cobblestones, catching, and sending Charlotte stumbling forward, tumbling downward, right into the street with a little shout of surprise. Right into the path of a quickly approaching rickshaw cab.
	The rickshaw driver seemed to be in the zone as he rode faster and faster towards the young woman. Looking up Dale saw would could be impending disaster. "Stop! You'll hit her!" he called out. The driver skidded to a halt inches in front of the woman in question. Dale hopped out of the cab shooting a questioning glance at the rickshaw driver before leaning over to offer the woman a hand up. "Miss? Are you all right?"
	"Oh..." Feeling a little dazed, Charlotte blinked a bit, brushing dirt off her hand futilely. "Um, I'm fine; yeah, I think--" It was automatic, mostly have she went to reach for the offered hand, but then, a second later, when she had it and looked up. Well, it was a good thing that Charlotte was already sitting down. Her eyes widened, and she stared. "Trey? Wh-what...?" That was it. This place was officially getting to her. She was having some sort crazy, stress-related dream, where this place was oozing into her consciousness, and altering all her memories. That had to be it.
	Dale was looking at the woman carefully making sure that she hadn't been hit in any way. "Are you sure you're okay, miss? I apologize for what happened and I'll make sure to report this incident to the Rickshaw Cab Authority," he said trying to help Charlotte to her feet.
	Charlotte allowed herself to be assisted up, mostly because she was still too befuddled to refuse, but, on the way back to her feet, the confusion was being replaced by another, very different reaction. As soon as she was standing, she jerked her hand away. "What in the- What the he-- What are you doing here?" she hissed angrily, forehead furrowing contemptuously. Oh, of all the nerve! Of all the audacity! Of all the... ...fact that he'd come back! She had to admit, amidst all that anger, there was an odd little jump in her chest, too.
	Dale was now raising an eyebrow in concern at Charlotte. "Well I was just coming back from the city where I was donating some blood and decided to take a cab back to work when it unfortunately almost run into you," he said looking very concerned. "Are you sure you weren't hurt?" It could explain why the woman was hissing at him.
	What the hell kind of question was that? "Of course I'm hurt!" Charlotte nearly shrieked and, out of pure frustration, almost...almost swung her purse at him. The nerve! Have a hand in a fallen marriage that practically drove her out of the city, and then just show up, all lah-de-dah after she'd even had a really nice date with a guy with a chin, and practically run her over with a rickshaw ca-- Charlotte's angry face shifted slightly. Oh my God. This was even how they met the first time. What did this mean? It had to mean something, right?
	Dale of course was taking a little step back. "Again, I'm extremely sorry for what happened," he replied. "Would you like me to take you to the clinic to have them check you out?"
	Oh, well, the slight step away from the anger was nice while it lasted. "Oh, that's a typical response, isn't it?" Charlotte huffed. "We both know how well that's worked in the past!"
	"I beg your pardon?" Dale said looking confused. "I only want to make sure that you're not in any pain."
	Charlotte stamped a foot, fists balled up angrily to do all she could from really creating a scene. More than she already was as she shrieked at him, desperately, "Well, you should have thought about that before we got divorced!" Although, really, it was a lot more complicated than that. It probably would have been more appropriate to say before we started dating, or before you agreed to marry me, or before she found out he was impotent, or before they found out that her body attacked his sperm, or before he bought that damn cardboard baby that she was still really sore about, or before she kind of cheated on him with his family's gardener, but the divorce. Now, it was the divorce, really, that was the kicker.
	Dale's eyes widened as he looked at Charlotte in even more confusion. "Our divorce? What are you talking about?" Dale was now looking for signs of any visible bruises on Charlotte's head.
	Charlotte's eyes widened, too, but it was shock instead of confusion. "Oh, well, that's just great, Trey, really. Just pretend like nothing ever happened!" She threw her arms up in frustration and started to back away, with a dramatic sweep of her arm toward the rickshaw. "Well, you just get right back into your...thing, there, and ride off. I'm not dealing with this right now! I can't deal with this right now!"
	Dale nodded slowly and began to back away. "If you insist," he said calmly and patiently as if trying to calm a crazy person. "Once again I apologize for the incident. If you wish to make a complaint regarding the driver I'll be happy to meet you at the police station in order to make that happen."
	"As if we didn't have enough legal problems already!" This was bad; this was really, really bad, and Charlotte, feeling like she'd backed away enough, finally resolved to just get away from him, put some distance between herself and him, like she had intended to in the first place. She hurried away as quickly as her little heels that had started this whole mess could carry her, wringing her hands in front of her the moment she turned the corner and knew she was out of sight.
	Dale frowned again as he pulled himself back into the rickshaw cab and asked the driver to carefully take him back to the police station as he pulled out his voice recorder. "Diane? Please remind me to check the background of the local blood bank in Alexandria. I'm beginning to wonder if they took more than legally required."

[Preplayed with the marvelous perfectmissyork. Yay Doppelganger Fun! NFI and OOC comments are always cherished and rewarded with pie.]

Comments

[willbedone.livejournal.com]

[*loves on you both* *thinks Dale should make up for it by wearing a kilt* *nodnod*]

[pieandcoffee.livejournal.com]

[What about a compromise and we have Dale wear this (http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/3222629.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF193B3EA2C03450C9486FCF26CF175554CFB5A5397277B4DC33E)?]

[willbedone.livejournal.com]

[*sees no picture* *sads*]

[pieandcoffee.livejournal.com]

*sends it to you via e-mail*

[needsaparrot]

[Eeeheehee.]

[montecito-east.livejournal.com]

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

[*giggling madly and finding this hilarious*]