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schizoauthoressTitle: Futures Trading
Author: D.L.SchizoAuthoress
Rating: PG
Spoilers: none, post series (though I vaguely allude to "Jake of Hearts")
Prompt: askbox prompt from Renaroo "Daria and Jane, a problem that pizza CAN'T solve"
Warnings: parental illness
Word Count: 656
Summary: A turn for the worse makes Daria reconsider her path in life.
Note: I didn't mean for it to be quite so serious, but the idea grabbed onto my head.
Word of the Day: nubilous, adjective:
1. Cloudy or foggy.
2. Obscure or vague; indefinite
Futures Trading
"I can't believe it," Daria murmured numbly. She looked up at Quinn, who stared back looking just as shell-shocked as Daria felt. "I was sure that if we lost a parent before you got out of high school, it would be Dad."
Jane, seated beside Daria, gave a little snort. She patted Daria's hand supportively.
"Daria," Quinn said with exasperation (not holding the second syllable of Daria's name for nearly as long as she used to), "Mom's not dead."
'Yet' formed on Daria's tongue, but she swallowed it down. For once, she swallowed it down and only shook her head. "Lung cancer..." she whispered.
Quinn sighed. "I didn't even know mom smoked."
"Maybe she didn't," Jane offered up. "There's other things that could cause it. And anyway, they caught it pretty quickly, right?"
"That's true," Quinn conceded in a quiet voice. "But, I don't know. This all seems pretty serious..."
Daria stared at the door of their mother's hospital room. Jake had closed the door when the doctor arrived, and the girls could just barely hear the rise and fall of their voices as they discussed something behind it. Things about mom's care, treatment options, prognosis... Daria was surprised that Jake hadn't started yelling and carrying on about how he couldn't possibly handle things. Her dad was... sensitive (if Daria was inclined to describe him charitably).
'Pretty serious' was a mild descriptor for whatever about her cancer that had Helen Morgendorffer admitted to the hospital a few days before Thanksgiving break, for this thing that loomed over them...
"I suppose," Daria said, "I'll have to move back to Lawndale. I think Jane said the paper was hiring..."
"Huh?" Jane looked confused. "You, move back to Lawndale? You hate it here!"
"I do," Daria admitted, "But I love Mom and Dad a lot more than I hate living here. Dad can't handle all this on his own, and the last thing we need is him stressing himself out into another heart attack, right? I can write about high school sports and the problem of raccoons nesting in the giant strawberry and still work on my book. I don't need to live in New York for that."
"Mom will flip if you quit college," Quinn pointed out.
"I'll only take a couple semesters off," Daria replied, feeling weirdly like she was haggling. 'I'll only delay my future by this much. Please don't let me lose my mom.' Jane moved her hand to Daria's shoulder, but Daria shrugged it off. She addressed Jane directly, "I know we had all those plans, but this is... this is my mom."
"I get it, Daria. Not... completely, of course," Jane hastened to add, worried she would anger or offend. "It's just... this is tough. It kinda jumped out at all of us. You probably don't want to make decisions on your future based on emotional reactions!"
"Yeah, Daria," Quinn said. Her voice shook a little as she said, "I can take care of them," and Daria knew her mind was made up. She wasn't going to put that kind of burden on Quinn. As much as they'd clashed and outright fought over the years, Daria would be damned if she'd let them re-enact 'the Battling Barksdale Sisters' problems because she flitted off like Aunt Rita and left Quinn holding the bag like Mom had always felt.
"Look, I know it's probably going to be shitty, but maybe we could see if the hospital has some pizza." Jane suggested. "You know, like old times... eat and talk it all out. You haven't eaten since we got off the plane this morning."
"I'll tell Dad we're grabbing something to eat," Quinn bounced to her feet and headed for the door before Daria could stop her.
Daria sighed again. She already knew this was a problem that pizza couldn't fix. But... she reached out and held onto Jane's hand. Maybe talking could.
Author: D.L.SchizoAuthoress
Rating: PG
Spoilers: none, post series (though I vaguely allude to "Jake of Hearts")
Prompt: askbox prompt from Renaroo "Daria and Jane, a problem that pizza CAN'T solve"
Warnings: parental illness
Word Count: 656
Summary: A turn for the worse makes Daria reconsider her path in life.
Note: I didn't mean for it to be quite so serious, but the idea grabbed onto my head.
Word of the Day: nubilous, adjective:
1. Cloudy or foggy.
2. Obscure or vague; indefinite
Futures Trading
"I can't believe it," Daria murmured numbly. She looked up at Quinn, who stared back looking just as shell-shocked as Daria felt. "I was sure that if we lost a parent before you got out of high school, it would be Dad."
Jane, seated beside Daria, gave a little snort. She patted Daria's hand supportively.
"Daria," Quinn said with exasperation (not holding the second syllable of Daria's name for nearly as long as she used to), "Mom's not dead."
'Yet' formed on Daria's tongue, but she swallowed it down. For once, she swallowed it down and only shook her head. "Lung cancer..." she whispered.
Quinn sighed. "I didn't even know mom smoked."
"Maybe she didn't," Jane offered up. "There's other things that could cause it. And anyway, they caught it pretty quickly, right?"
"That's true," Quinn conceded in a quiet voice. "But, I don't know. This all seems pretty serious..."
Daria stared at the door of their mother's hospital room. Jake had closed the door when the doctor arrived, and the girls could just barely hear the rise and fall of their voices as they discussed something behind it. Things about mom's care, treatment options, prognosis... Daria was surprised that Jake hadn't started yelling and carrying on about how he couldn't possibly handle things. Her dad was... sensitive (if Daria was inclined to describe him charitably).
'Pretty serious' was a mild descriptor for whatever about her cancer that had Helen Morgendorffer admitted to the hospital a few days before Thanksgiving break, for this thing that loomed over them...
"I suppose," Daria said, "I'll have to move back to Lawndale. I think Jane said the paper was hiring..."
"Huh?" Jane looked confused. "You, move back to Lawndale? You hate it here!"
"I do," Daria admitted, "But I love Mom and Dad a lot more than I hate living here. Dad can't handle all this on his own, and the last thing we need is him stressing himself out into another heart attack, right? I can write about high school sports and the problem of raccoons nesting in the giant strawberry and still work on my book. I don't need to live in New York for that."
"Mom will flip if you quit college," Quinn pointed out.
"I'll only take a couple semesters off," Daria replied, feeling weirdly like she was haggling. 'I'll only delay my future by this much. Please don't let me lose my mom.' Jane moved her hand to Daria's shoulder, but Daria shrugged it off. She addressed Jane directly, "I know we had all those plans, but this is... this is my mom."
"I get it, Daria. Not... completely, of course," Jane hastened to add, worried she would anger or offend. "It's just... this is tough. It kinda jumped out at all of us. You probably don't want to make decisions on your future based on emotional reactions!"
"Yeah, Daria," Quinn said. Her voice shook a little as she said, "I can take care of them," and Daria knew her mind was made up. She wasn't going to put that kind of burden on Quinn. As much as they'd clashed and outright fought over the years, Daria would be damned if she'd let them re-enact 'the Battling Barksdale Sisters' problems because she flitted off like Aunt Rita and left Quinn holding the bag like Mom had always felt.
"Look, I know it's probably going to be shitty, but maybe we could see if the hospital has some pizza." Jane suggested. "You know, like old times... eat and talk it all out. You haven't eaten since we got off the plane this morning."
"I'll tell Dad we're grabbing something to eat," Quinn bounced to her feet and headed for the door before Daria could stop her.
Daria sighed again. She already knew this was a problem that pizza couldn't fix. But... she reached out and held onto Jane's hand. Maybe talking could.