The Way We Were Meant To Be, part one
By Hikhali

All Daria characters are not mine. I'm borrowing them. They will be returned.
*Ducks, as blue health 'maters are flung at her. One hits her in the head, and
she's down, with Tonsilitis. AGAIN. It helps her creativity, and she comes out
with this, her best story to date. Please, sir, can I have some more?*


Part one, chapter one: Psychic?


Daria sat in her padded cell, munching on tea and crackers, and thinking. A
rustling, and a knock at the door stir her up and over. She opens her cell up,
only to view the source of her thoughts, one Trent Lane. She gasped, and then
struggled to regain her stoic face. Inwardly, she groaned. Inwardly, Trent
smiled, recognising her discomfort.

Trent: Can I come in?

Daria: Uh, sure.

Ever since that little peck he had given her in the pizza parlor, the love she
felt grew stronger. Jane and Tom hadn't realized it. The kiss had given her
enough strength to hide it, so they thought the supposed crush was over. Boy,
were they wrong.

Trent: This room is too damn cool, Daria. When did you get it padded?

Daria: It came that way. The last owner kept his crazy aunt in here.

Trent: Cool. It fits you. Not that you're... crazy or anything... are you?

Daria had to stop herself from laughing aloud. She expected the question, but
didn't know how to answer it. Laughing deffinetly wouldn't help matters. She
smiled.

Daria: That depends on your point of view, Trent. My sister Quinn is positive
that I am, and Jane thinks so, too, but Mom thinks I'm just... different.
That's all. I agree with my mom.

Trent: Yeah. Different. That's what I like about you, Daria. You're not like
any other girl I've met. You're different.

Daria blushed profusely at this. Trent smiled.

Trent: You're adorable when you blush. So humble. So pretty.

Daria: Aw, Trent! You don't mean that. I'm plain.

Trent: What makes you think that?

Daria: That's the look I set out for myself. Different. Plain. I wear this
gumby-flack jacket, combat boots, and orange tee shirt so people don't
complement me. I'm different that way, too.

Trent: Daria, you're beautiful. You just block thoughts that you think are
shallow from your mind, so you can concentrate on more "important" things.

Daria looked away uncomfortably and shrugged. She didn't like it when people
were that accurate about her life and the way her mind worked. She again
blushed and looked back.

Trent: I know that you're uncomfortable with me being able to see into like
that. I'm not as oblivious as you think. I watch. I listen. I learn.

Daria gained a new rush of courage at this. She thought for a second.

Daria: Trent, that was very profound. How do you do it? No, nevermind that.
Rhetorical question.

Trent: Why?

Daria: Sometimes knowledge is scary. Too much knowledge. I know that from
experience. Please don't question it. It will scar you for life.

Daria was dead serious. Trent could see it by the red fire in those stoic
green eyes. He probed no further. Instead, he made a proposal, his original
intent.

Trent: Daria, will you come with me? I have a surprise for you.

Daria: Um, okay. What the hell. I have nothing to lose.

Trent: Daria, never say that again! You have plenty you could lose. You could
lose Jane, you could lose your site, or your hearing, or your arm, and not to
put me on a pedestal, you could lose me, too.

Daria: That would be to big a loss. You're the only person older than me who
is willing to talk to me. Plus if I lost you, how would I get into pubs and
clubs and bars after dark? Or ever?

Trent laughed, took her hand, and led a blushing Daria out of her house and
into his craptacular blue plymouth from hell, as he called the, ahem,
"vehicle" in front of them. They got in. Daria found herself shocked beyond
speech when he blindfolded her, and placed a kiss on her cheeck. She found
herself melting into the seat. The car started, and off they went.


Part one, chapter two: He'd hit on a pickup truck, Trent


The ride took about three minutes. When they got there, Trent led the
blindfolded Daria to a clearing, where a private picnic for two was set up.
She smiled, and sat down. Trent opened the basket to reveal a smorgasboard of
deli-foods. Daria picked up a hogie, and the two munched away. Pretty soon, a
familiar face walked into the clearing, lecherous grin in place. What he
didn't see was the now angry Trent behind him.

Upchuck: Daria, my sweet, a picnic for us?

He sat down VERY close to Daria, and reached for the baby food (I think you
get my meaning). Trent was about to growl and grab him, when Daria gave him a
well-placed combat boot to his chin. He backed away, but came back full-force.

Upchuck: Why, Daria, if you wanted my hand in the place I just saw, why didn't
you leave your leg up longer?

Daria was flabbergasted. Out of school, Upchuck was a walking nightmare.
Upchuck wouldn't get time to move, though, as Trent punched him and dragged
him away. He came back a short while later.

Trent: Who was that?

Daria: Upchuck.

Trent: What a creep.

Daria: He'd hit on a pickup truck, Trent.

Trent did his laugh-cough thing, mainly because before Daria, he rarely
laughed at anything. He just wasn't used to it. The picnic continued.


Part one, chapter three: Goodnight kiss


After the picnic, they hit the amusement park, and then took a walk. It was
dinner time before he got her back. At the door, he suddenly bacame shy.

Trent: Uh, well, uh, um...

Daria: I, uh, I guess this is, uh, g'night...

Trent: Aw, hell.

He grabbed her and kissed her full on the lips. She didn't date much, but
Daria knew to close her eyes. Quinn peaked out the window and supressed an
excited squeal. Daria in love?!

Quinn: Maybe she IS normal, after all.

Helen came up behind her.

Helen: What?

Quinn: Shoosh, look! Isn't it sweet?

Helen: Aw...

the two started to get worried when the kiss lasted for two and a half
minutes, without a break. Daria poped up first.

Daria: Oxygen!

The humor got to Trent, and he laughed.

Trent: G'night Daria. (Then, quietly) I love you, Queen.

Daria: I love you, English river and religious gathering.

Trent laughed again. Daria waved as he drove out of site. When he was gone,
she sat down with a thunk on the doorstep and breathed a sigh of relief.
Finally, all of that was off her chest, and she didn't even have to embarass
herself. Quinn and Helen opened the door, came out, hugged her, and squealed.

Quinn: Come on in, Daria! We can get you a new wardrobe and have fun trying on
clothes and painting our nails, and it'll be like we really ARE sisters, cuz
we'll be alike, and...

Daria: Quinn, what makes you think I'd change my wardrobe?

Quinn: But Daria! You two were frenching!

Daria: And YOU two were spying! Urgh! Trent likes me the way I am. If he
wanted me to change, then he really wouldn't like me, now would he? Give up
your shallow facade for one minute to wake up and see the fireflies! There is
nothing to change! I already AM your sister and your daughter, and I shouldn't
have to change to be accepted. Urgh!

She marched upstairs to her room.


Part one, chapter four: The light of revelation


Quinn: We did bad, didn't we?

She said this as if she and Helen were children. They didn't know that Jake
had seen this, and the usually oblivious man was gonna offer some keen
insight... to his oldest daughter. He went upstairs and knocked on her door.

Daria: Go to hell.

Jake: You would say that's where we already are.

Daria chuckled and opened the door. She had tears streaming down her face.

Daria: Sorry, dad. Come on in.

Jake entered, and sat at the foot of Daria's bed, motioning her to sit by him.
She sat.

Jake: I know Helen and Quinn get to you sometimes, sweety, but that's the way
they are. They're stereotypical Women, and you're not. You're an independant
thinker, and I like that. But they want you to be like them. You can't do
that. You're too smart for that. You look at the world and see what it was,
is, and always will be. They look and see themselves, and only themselves,
now. You also see how you can shange the world, and wake it up to the truth.
Quinn and Helen can't see past their own noses, so the world looks perfect.
Just try and be patient, and never give up those morals of yours. You'll see.
The world will one day listen.

Daria, who was not in a fighting mood, simply nodded.

Daria: Thanks, dad.

He kissed her forehead and left. Daria changed, lay down, and fell into a
fitfull sleep. Her dream involved Trent NOT accepting her, and wanting her to
change. This nightmare, although not scary in itself, was the scariest dream
she had had in awhile. Trent and Jane where everything to her. Sure, she loved
her family, but that's who they were. Family, born and bred. Trent and Jane
were something new. Perfect strangers, and ones she now knew she couldn't live
or love without. They gave her some sort of strength. The strength of love.
Unconditional love. She got up and looked at her clock. School was out, and at
four am, she wasn't in the mood to be up, but she knew after that freakish
dream, she couldn't get back to sleep. She put on a bathrobe and went
downstairs.


Part one, chapter five: Morning's first light


Daria sat at the kitchen table with a cup of herbal tea. Looking over the past
-what was it? 2, no-not quite 2 years, she felt a sense of comfort and warmth
grow blanket her. Not even in the Texas heat had she felt this warm. It was a
comfort warmth, the kind of thing she would learn would come with time spent
in a real home, the place you are meant to be. As the sun cast it's
almost-summer light over Lawndale, she stood apriciating what this town she
mistook for hell had to offer. It offered comfort. It offered security. It
offered the Lane family, her real friends.

She walked upstairs to her room and turned on her computer, accesing her
elecronic journal. She typed up the morning's feelings, as well as her date
with Trent, and her run-in with her family, and ended it with a smile. This
journal was full, and another one was about to begin.

The end of part one

Go to Part Two