Old, Unhappy, Far-Off Things

"…that abyss from whence no traveler is permitted to return."
-George Washington to Marquis de Lafeyette
April 5, 1783

The sun was beginning to rise over the town as Trixie walked down the street towards the school between her two new…acquaintances: Timmy Turner, who was walking on her left, and Molly Potter, who was walking by her right. She was still amazed at what they did, and likely she wouldn't believe if she didn't see the proof still hanging in wisps of multicolored cloud still hanging in the air over Seventh Street after an hour. And the fact that Veronica and her gang hadn't come swarming out of the trees.

"Thank you," Trixie said, finally finding the wherewithal to actually string together complete sentences. She'd been too numb with surprise, both at Timmy leading her to the safety of his clubhouse, and the huge plume of smoke that her real personality told her may well have spelled the end of Veronica's gang as a coherent force. Emphasis on 'may', she thought to herself

Timmy turned, a smile lighting up his face, making her uncomfortably aware of just how handsome his youthful features were. "You're welcome," he said, still staring at her. "Any time," he said a moment later, slightly faster. After another second he shook his head and turned back around, very pointedly did not look in her direction.

She smiled at his backside before she shook the fog from her brain and clapped a hand on Molly's shoulder. "Can walk on ahead a bit more?" She asked quickly, slipping back into the ditzy airhead she'd been pretending to be since she was nine. "I want to give Molly here some makeup tips."

She felt Molly's shoulder stiffen under her hand before she turned to look at her askance right when Timmy said, "Of course," he said quickly, moving quickly ahead. Molly turned back to face her, an annoyed look on her face. She opened her mouth to say something.

"That was a brilliant move you played today, Molly," Trixie said softly, letting her real personality come forward. "But you must know it's only going to work once."

Molly's eyes widened with surprise, her mouth hanging open for a seemingly long moment. After a moment, comprehension dawned in her eyes and she closed her mouth, nodding. "Of course, but I don't think we'll need another brilliant maneuver like that anytime soon."

"Are you sure?" Trixie snapped suddenly, surprised by the harshness, and the fear, in her voice. She sighed, getting the fear and annoyance that writhed in her chest even now back under control. "Sorry. It's just that I know Veronica. She's always been obsessed with me, and I think we're both closeted nerds enough to realize that once obsession turns violent, it's not going to go away so easily. Hell, I shouldn't have let someone like her near me to begin with."

"It doesn't," Molly said softly. "But her gang is not. Hell, they were just looking for a convenient target. That target isn't so convenient anymore, after this morning. It's going to take a lot more than the unstable obsession of one girl to compel them to stay in the field against you. Especially because Veronica's now lead them into a debacle, demoralizing them further. Finally, I've scared the hell out of them."

"And an army that is scared, demoralized and has lost the will to fight isn't an army anymore, and the war is basically over," Trixie said, following Molly's line of reasoning. "Her 'army,' so to speak, maybe gone, but Veronica's still out there."

"I know," Molly said softly, concern in her eyes. "That was the one part of that plan that concerned me. I could strip her gang from her, but at the risk of pushing her over the edge. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, though."

Trixie nodded, then the full impact of what she said hit her. "Wait, 'we?'"

Molly looked at her as though she'd just asked if the sky were blue. "Of course, 'we.' Timmy and I have been friends for a long time, and in all that time, I have never known him to do anything truly important by half measures. He has his faults, but flip-flopping when the chips are down is not one of them."

Trixie smiled nervously. She had a feeling that was the way things would be. However, she'd been burned enough times by people taking advantage of her that part of her couldn't entirely believe it.

Molly smiled at her, and in a genuinely cheerful tone, said, "Besides, it's always nice to find a fellow nerd."

Trixie smiled wider then, "That I wouldn't mind."

After that, the conversation between the two girls turned to lighter topics. When they were climbing the hill that overlooked Dimmsdale Junior High, they were hip deep analyzing one of the great mysteries of English literature.

"Why didn't they just ride those eagles directly to Mount Doom in The Lord of the Rings," Trixie pointed out. "Instead of spending three books walking there?"

"The publishers of The Hobbit wanted a sequel," Molly said, "and taking the easy way there doesn't make for good fiction. Not that we can complain about the results, of course, it is one of the great works in English literature. Plus the Eagles were meant to be an allegory of the United States and we had a tendency to show up late for every war. So let's just say the Eagles didn't want to get involved until the Black Gate."

"I…can't argue with any of that," Trixie said, after a moment. "Still though, it does kind of get on my nerves, now that I'm not seven-years-old and being read The Hobbit as a bedtime story."

"Guys," Timmy said suddenly as they crested the hill. She looked down and sighed, a sudden disappointment flooding her. Sitting at the bottom of the hill was the large squat brown-brick building of Dimmsdale Junior High, and its assorted, more modern, outbuildings. She looked at the two of them, sadness at the thought of leaving genuine friends.

Timmy sighed. "Meet up with us during lunch, and after school." Timmy said, with a sudden air of confidence, and more importantly, authority, that she'd never seen on someone their age. "We'll walk you home."

Trixie smiled, unexpectedly buoyed by Timmy's self-confidence, and intrigued, smiled at him. She began to walk away, when the thought occurred to her. She looked back at him. He is quite handsome, she thought to himself. Why didn't I notice that before? She walked back over slowly, as his eyes widened, and she grabbed his shoulder before pressing her mouth to his cheek.

After a second, she'd pulled back. Timmy had a stunned look on his face, and what looked to be the beginnings of a goofy smile on his face.

She stood there for a moment, her mind seeming to draw a blank . After a moment, she realized she was mirroring the look in Timmy's face then shook herself. "I'll see you later then," and she hurried off down the hill.

-----

Timmy watched as Trixie walked down the hill, still wearing a goofy smile on his face as he watched her walk away. He was struck from his love-stupor by a hand suddenly touching his shoulder. She turned to see Molly, giving him a knowing smirk.

"What?" Timmy asked in that instinctive tone people of all ages when they sensed someone was onto something that embarrassed them.

Molly's smirk only widened. "I think she likes you."

Timmy, with proof of that still lingering on his cheek only smiled in a slightly goofy manner for a moment before shaking himself again.

"Right, yeah," Timmy said, perhaps more quickly than he had intended. "Let's get going."

As they walked down the hill, Timmy turned to look at the unquestionably attractive girl walking with him, sudden concern getting to him. Literally from the time they were eleven to now, Molly had been his best friend, his only friend. They had saved the world together, helped take care of each other when they'd been sick or scared. The question was, was there something more to Molly's feelings.

He sighed, as he thought back to what had happened to her three months ago. The high school quarterback and his friend had dragged Molly into an alley to shake her down for her money, unaware of the fact of Molly's self-defense training since she was ten. It hadn't ended well for them. She'd damn near killed the one guy…

"Molly!" Timmy shouted as he ran down the alleyway. He'd been walking to meet up with her for lunch when he'd seen the two hulking guys close in on her, rushing her so they backed her into the alleyway. He'd rushed after them of course, silently cursing the fact that the street was crowded, and that Cosmo and Wanda could neither teleport her out of there or him directly into the fray. When he'd finally got through the crowd, he'd been just in time to witness a dazed Molly (after a lucky punch) dragged further into the alleyway and out of sight of the street. Timmy sick-scared, and not knowing just what they intended to do to her, took off into the alleyway after them.

He managed to round the corner to see one of them pin Molly up against the wall even as the other slammed his fist into her gut. Timmy, knowing that he was almost certainly forfeiting his life, and more importantly not caring, charged.

His defiant shout got their attention and the two of them moved off Molly, dropping her to the ground. It was the opening she had needed. Molly's legs scissored out and pulled the one who punched her in the stomach down. In an instant she was on her feet again, as her blonde, fair-skinned would-be mugger struggled to bring himself back to his feet. Her foot shot out and took him between his legs, sending him crashing back down to the sidewalk with a pained grunt. Timmy dodged a punch from his own assailant, only for Molly to grab onto his thighs tight under his butt before leaning back with all her adrenaline-enhanced strength. He watched as physics caused his higher center of mass and his own body weight to flip up and smash him headfirst into the pavement. He moaned feebly from his position on the ground as Molly picked herself off the ground. She turned to look at their other assailant, who'd stood there watching, eyes widened as Molly took down someone twice her mass in under thirty seconds.

The two belligerents stared at each other. The other guy glared at them both, mingled defiance and fear in his eyes. Finally after a long moment, something shifted, some change in posture, and he moved to the side, sliding across the wall. Recognizing what he was doing, Timmy shifted out of the way, to allow him a clear path. He helped the other thug off the ground, still moaning in pain as they walked slowly out of the alleyway.

"You okay, Molly?" He said, grabbing her face to look at the shiner surrounding her right eye.

"I'm fine, Timmy," she said, a curious tone on her voice. "I'm just feeling a bit…," she shook her head abruptly. "Whoa, I don't normally feel like this when I'm not…"

"Not what?" Timmy said, concerned. "Molly are you-,"

Timmy was abruptly stopped and his mind drew a blank when Molly abruptly lunged forward and pressed her lips to him. He stood there a moment, all thought driven from his mind by the unexpected kiss. There was a surprising minty taste on her lips, and he found himself leaning into it before Molly just as abruptly broke the kiss.

He stood there, stock-stunned by Molly's actions. Regardless of the fact that he liked looking at her (he was still a boy at the end of the day, after all), he simply couldn't see himself as anything other than her friend.

Now though, those same feelings, that same genuine lack of any romantic desire beyond appreciating her looks warred with the fact that he had enjoyed that kiss. As well as a mote of anger over the fact that she had essentially forced a kiss he hadn't wanted on him.

Molly was staring at her, many of those same feelings reflected on her face. Then she shook herself violently. "Come on, Timmy," she said. "Let's get out of here."

By the end of the day, the subsiding of the hormones associated with aggression that had spiked during the fight (and Wanda's advice), had made what had happened quite clear. A heightened libido was a common side effect of any life-or-death situation, including combat, and Molly's sudden and out-of-character kiss, and the fact that he'd responded the way he had, were the result, and not the result of any latent romantic feelings on either of their parts. They hadn't brought it up at all since then, and under any other circumstances he would have kept it that way, as a silly mistake made under the influence of flight-or-fight hormones that both could control from then on, and had. She hadn't pressed any sudden kisses to his lips today certainly. Hell he hadn't even thought of it until the moment Trixie had pressed her own lips to his cheek. Still though, his own very real sense of honor demanded that he ask Molly about it, if only to ascertain if she truly was okay with it.

"Molly," he said, coming back to the present. "Can I ask you something?"

Molly turned and looked at him, a look of curiosity on her face. "Anything, you know that."

"About that kiss you gave me three months ago?" Timmy asked, and Molly froze like a deer caught in oncoming headlights. "Was there anything more to it? I mean, I'm fairly sure it was your libido spiking after a fight, but still."

Molly sighed. "I was wondering when you'd bring that up."

"You didn't bring it up yourself, and I thought it was best to let bygones be bygones," Timmy said. "Besides, it didn't change things between us in the slightest."

"And you want to be absolutely sure that if you two get together, I'm not going to challenge Trixie to a fight because I'm jealous of her," Molly said, very definite edge of annoyance on her voice. Molly turned to stare at him in that moment, and the look on her face was one of annoyance that matched the tone in her voice, albeit with a very definite understanding of why he was asking mixed in there. "For the record, yes, Swizzle told me the same thing Wanda probably told you, and they're both right. It really was just a stupid slip-up." She sighed, and her face turned sad. "To be honest, I'm sorry I forced a kiss on you like that, I shouldn't have done that. Hell, I half expected you to end our friendship over it."

Timmy walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder. "Why? Over what we both know was a stupid slip-up? You know me better than that. Granted, I may have done something stupid like that when I was ten, but we've known each other too long now for that, and I'm not going to sacrifice the closest friend I've ever had over that."

Molly put her hand on his shoulder as well. "I know," she said with a smile. "And thanks."

They'd gotten to the school when he saw two police cruisers pull up to the curb in front of the school. One bore the green markings of the Imperial County Sherrif's Office, the other bore the markings of the California Highway Patrol.

"Highway Patrol," Timmy said mockingly. "That's a new record for you, Molly."

"Oh, shut up," Molly snapped back playfully. "If they were really here for me, there'd be half a dozen ICSO and CHP cruisers each all screaming in at once with sirens blaring."

"Ah," Timmy said. Then the realization hit him. "If they're not here for you. Then that means, they're here to inform someone that-,"

He was interrupted by the loudspeaker, the morning announcer's stentorian voice booming out. "Beatrix Tang please report to the Principal's office immediately."

"We have to go to her," Timmy said immediately, fear blossoming in his chest.

"How?" Swizzle said suddenly, from her normally silent cover as a purple pen in Molly's pocket. "The two of you have to be in class in ten minutes."

"Yeah, but you don't," Molly said, suddenly, a devious smile on her face. "Swizzle, I wish you would go to Trixie and stay with her. When you get to her office, pipe everything you hear to the bud communicators in our ears."

"Right." The pen disappeared abruptly from her pocket.

---------

Beatrix Tang Minghui sighed as she walked down the corridor towards the principal's office, weaving through the students moving towards their classes as she walked through the corridor. I really hope this has nothing to do with Timmy and Molly's intervention on my behalf earlier today, she thought to herself. She rounded the corner and saw the office of Principal James Oversteegen at the end. She sighed, wondering if there was any way she could spin this so that they wouldn't crucify Molly. No option presented itself.

She opened the door to find herself face to face with two officers, one in the uniform of an Imperial County sheriff's deputy and one in the duty uniform of the California Highway Patrol.

And her mother. The five foot five Jeanette Tang Xue was still in her dark gray business suit, indicating that she had come straight from work. Her heart sank like a stone when she realized that her mother was paler than she'd ever seen her in her life.

"Mingmei," she said, addressing her by her Chinese given name, her accent noticeable despite having left Taipei for Hawaii then California nearly forty years ago. "I don't know how to explain this but your father." She swallowed visibly and sighed. "Your father is dead."

Her mind was numb as she followed her mother down the hall. The other students lined the hall, just watching as they go. Why they were there hadn't been announced over the intercom of course, but the rumors were already spreading. Most of the snatches she heard suggested nonsensical rumors that seemed to mutate every ninety seconds like bacteria, but still.

"I hear she's pregnant," one girl said. "By a college student."

"Yeah," the boy she was with said. "I here he was like thirty."

"You're both wrong," another boy said. "She shanked some guy right in the kidneys."

I'll shank you in the kidneys, she thought to herself as she walked by as her anger flared, before being subsumed by the overwhelming sense of sadness that threatened to drown every other emotion out.

They rounded another corner, only to find Timmy and Molly walking up to her, a concerned look on her face. "Mom, hang on," she found herself saying, though her words were devoid of emotion even as she walked over to them. She walked over to the two of them.

"What's going on?" Timmy asked, concern on his voice.

Still amazed that he seemed to genuinely care about her, despite all she'd done to slight him over the years. "It's my dad," she began and…

"Oh, Trixie," he said, and she could hear the genuine sadness on her voice, a she wrapped her arms around her. "I'm so sorry." Trixie felt the sadness, and the urge to cry into someone, anyone's shoulder begin to win out. Timmy turned his face towards her, and she thought, and a small part of her was happy, that he was going to kiss her.

Instead, she heard him whisper. "Ask your mom if Molly wants you to sleep over. You still need someone there if Veronica makes her move tonight."

She looked at him quizzically. "Just Molly?"

Timmy gave her a look like she'd suddenly grew a second head that sprouted random operettas. "Yes, of course just her, do you think your mother's going to let some strange boy spend the night in her thirteen-year-old daughter's room?"

"Oh," she said softly. "Right."

Disengaging from Timmy's arms, she nodded to Molly and motioned her to follow.

"Mom," she began, trying very hard to keep the apprehension out of her voice. "This is Molly…"

She introduced her and after a few moments, asked her if she could stay the night, as she didn't feel like being alone in her room tonight after what had happened earlier.

That part at least is true, she thought to himself. I wouldn't want to be alone tonight even if I wasn't sure Veronica wasn't going to sneak in. And even then I'd probably ask Molly if she could sleepover tonight as it's been too long since I've met a girl I can be myself around.

She stared expectantly up at her mother, who finally gave her one of her rare smiles. "Of course," she said. Turning to Molly she asked, "When can I expect you Miss Potter?"

"I'll be over at around five, Misses Tang," she said respectfully. "And don't worry, in light of what happened, there's not going to be any rowdiness coming from the room tonight, I promise."

Her mother stared at her, surprised by what she said, and perhaps her vocabulary. "I shall hold you to it, Misses Potter. Come on, Beatrix."

She nodded, and walked on. As the two of them walked off, she looked back behind her and winked at her friend.

Veronica, she thought to herself, for she knew Veronica, knew that no matter what she was doing, she liked to finish things decisively, and as quickly as possible. Is in for a nasty shock tonight.