FicWad

Daria's Party Addition – 12 – Taking the Leap, and Opportunities

By Dr T

(Author's note: I am making some significant changes to Jane's timeline starting later in this chapter, so that the Tom story-line mostly takes place in the fall of Jane and Daria's Junior year, rather than in the spring.) Reminder, I'm not interested in illustrations, etc., so any offers will be ignored.

Saturday, July 4

The three couples met at the office of the man acting as their officiant at 11:00 the morning July 4th. He was an elderly man; a very traditional Mormon who had been doing civil ceremonies for many decades, and who, since none of the six was Mormon, really didn't care about the personal details of any of them. He was mostly retired, and enjoyed joining any couple together in matrimony even on a holiday, no matter who the couples were, even though none of the three couples were even bothering with a minimal ceremony. True, all that was legally required were the right signatures and his mailing the licenses off, but he did think an exchange of vows was nice. One couple wasn't even giving the new bride a ring! At least the other two couples exchanged rings. Only one groom had bothered getting his bride flowers, and none of the three brides were taking their husbands' names – modern outsider youngsters! Still, he was happy to marry them off.

Granted, three of the people looked a bit young (one groom and two of the brides – the bride with reddish hair was the one given flowers), but he was a very old-fashioned Mormon – he had been married as soon as he had returned from his missionary year, and his wife had been a few weeks past her 14th birthday. He resented the fact that the state legislature had tried to make it difficult for those under 18 to marry, and disliked the compromise being discussed (banning marriage for those under 13, 'special circumstances' required for 14-15 year olds, and parental permission for 16-17 year olds).* As far as he was concerned, they were all old enough.

(*This bill would be passed the next year. It was unclear from the articles I read about it if prior to that new bill 16-17 year olds needed parental consent, so I am leaving it ambiguous if Daria had to use the fake driver's license or not. In either case, if the marriage remains unchallenged by the time she turns 18, it's legal, at least in this Daria-verse.)

One of the grooms had a camera, and at least all three couples made sure some photos were taken. They thanked the elderly man politely enough, although it was the quietest young bride who had initiated it. Somehow, he thought, even though she had the smallest smile of the six, she was the happiest.

Daria was indeed happy, as well as somewhat emotionally overwhelmed. As the six left the building, the three brides had their photo taken together. One was in a dark blue power suit and heels (no ring), the other in a long red dress with white highlights. Daria, in the center and both the shortest and youngest, was in a cream blouse, navy skirt, and her black flats, and held a small bunch of roses.

"You know," one of the brides told Daria, "as crazy as Doug and I are…."

"I know," Daria confessed, "we are insane." She didn't care; a year before, she believed she was likely headed for a celibate life, living alone, friendless unless she had a cat, which likely would also ignore her unless hungry. Instead, she was anything but celibate, and was now actually married. In addition, she also had a great best friend as well as her friend/lover/husband, and even several casual friends who were at least as close as her middle school ones had been.

"What will your parents say?" the other bride asked.

"Beats me; we'll try and duck the issue until I'm at least eighteen," Daria admitted. Jack said nothing, he just kept smiling widely.

"That's probably a good idea." The other four didn't realize that Daria was almost sixteen months shy of that birthday.

The six ate lunch at a local diner, and then went to get supplies for the holiday party from the one store still open – the excuse they had used to get away from the campground for the morning. On the way back to the trailer, Daria kept looking at her left hand. Since arriving at the campground, she had only worn the engagement ring in the evenings after showering, and she would likely do the same with her wedding ring. For now, however, Daria could only stare at her small (now tanned and calloused) hand, with the two pretty matching rings on her slim finger.

The pair enjoyed the party that evening, but left early. That night, for the first time, they made love without Jack wearing a condom, and for just the second time, they stayed snuggled together in the lower bunk.

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The various supervisors saw themselves as just that, not in any way as chaperones. Provided the diggers did their work well and were (relatively) well-behaved, they stayed out of anything going on after-hours. However, even they had quickly learned the night before that three couples had gotten married that morning, and that one was Jack and Daria. They then learned that the two had been bunking together since the beginning of the dig.

At this point, it was of course impossible to do much about the situation, but Jack's and Daria's groups' supervisors met late the next morning to discuss the situation, and in one sense decided to say and do nothing – the pair was legally married (in Utah, at least for the moment) after all. However, the two Raft professors really liked what they had seen from Daria so far, and really wanted her in one of their programs. The two women decided to put their heads together and see what they could come up with to deal with the situation to their (and Daria's) satisfaction.

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The next Saturday evening, the two Raft professors asked Daria to meet with them the next day after lunch. A little nervously, Daria did so, meeting the pair in one of their cabins. "Ms Morgendorffer," the one who was one of Daria's supervisors opened with, "or should we say 'Missus Frasier'?"

In retrospect, Daria should have realized that the supervisors would catch on to the marriage – they had hardly been discreet the evening of the 4th. In the moment, however, she visibly paled under her tan and took several seconds to regroup before responding, "Morgendorffer is still correct." She knew that if she had any chance to win these two over in any aspect, she had to be honest.

"Ms Morgendorffer, we have some ideas to help you, which will depend on you, your desires, your willingness to work hard, your knowledge, and your ability to pull it all off," she stated simply.

"Are you ready for a very tough three hours or so?" the other woman asked, not unkindly.

Daria managed a weak smile, but simply said, "Sure."

While not close to three hours, the session went well over two. It was a mentally tired, still somewhat shaken Daria who nearly staggered into the trailer right before dinner. Jack immediately hugged her, and was startled by how tightly Daria hugged him back. "What happened?"

"Oh, Jack…so much." When she looked up, Jack was surprised to see Daria's eyes were watering, although she was not crying.

"Are you okay?" He frowned. "Did they upset you?"

Daria shook her head. "No. Startled me, yes." She pressed the side of her face to his chest. "They outlined some options, and when I agreed, they grilled the hell out of me, but decided to help us." She smiled up at her new husband. "Us!" She was thrilled to be able to think of herself as part of an official 'us.' "The first real test is next weekend." She then went on to explain what had happened. Jack was impressed at how favorably the two professors looked upon his bride, and how much work she was willing to do, not just for herself, but for them.

The next Sunday after lunch, Daria went to a worktable in her supervisor's cabin. There was a pair of rocks, three types of magnifying glasses, a pair of safety goggles that would fit over Daria's glasses, and some tools.

"Okay," one of the other supervisors told her while the two Raft professors looked on, "this is to show you how we free part of a small fossil jaw from a matrix. I'll show you how to start on this one, then we'll see what you can do with the other. That one is of a common type, and it's been CAT-scanned, so you can't destroy the information if you somehow ruin the fossil itself. Ready?"

Daria nodded, "Let's get started."

Just over three hours later, Daria was still not finished – she would, however, completely finish the next weekend. She had made more progress than any of the three observers had thought likely, had not made any mistakes, and, to their slight surprise, had already accurately told them the general type of animal this had been, although not down to species level.

She had passed the first test.

Week five and six passed without anything out of the ordinary happening as far as Daria and Jack were concerned, and each knew they were doing well, personally and professionally. The sun beat down, the teams worked hard, and minor discoveries were made. Daria and Jack made love every night and twice on Sunday despite the extra work Daria was doing with the professors, enjoying all their time together and trying to build memories to sustain them until they could spend some real time together over the Christmas break – assuming Helen didn't find out about their marriage and figure out a way to interfere.

Jack also spent a bit of time just after dinner weeknights coaching Daria, and even a few of the other diggers who knew about her goals got involved by directing conversations when they sat out in the early evenings, watching the night sky. Daria spent two hours every Sunday afternoon, being both coached and quizzed by the Raft professors.

Daria knew that she could procrastinate as well as anyone when she felt like it. However, now she had a clear set of academic goals, a clear path to those goals, and the personal goal of being with Jack. She had coasted academically since preschool, never once having been really challenged in that area. Now, she was being intellectually stimulated and challenged in ways that she had always hoped to be, and she not only thrived on both, but also by the feedback she was receiving from the professors, the occasional additional supervisor who might be roped in, some of the other diggers – and of course Jack, who also provided non-verbal rewards as well, which Daria especially enjoyed. Every congratulatory cuddle and kiss eroded the effects of years of her feelings and wants being ignored by her mother, putdowns from Quinn and so many others, and so on.

By the end of the sixth week, the archeological dig was completed – they had hoped that there would be previously stampeded animals under than small herd of horses, but apparently this site was a one-off event. The diggers were given the choices of leaving early, loading up the finds and working with the finds from the other digs, or joining one of the other digs.

Daria asked her likely mentors which she should do for the last two weeks. She therefore spent week seven back with the Cretaceous dig. The final week, most of the teams were working to help pack off all the finds, and Daria also helped with the cataloging. As the time to leave approached, Daria looked back with real satisfaction. Even leaving aside her relationship with Jack (very positive) and the hard physical labor, the hot weather, and lack of any amenities in the field (minuses, although none were as bad as she had anticipated), she had been surprised at exactly how intellectually exciting the summer had been. She and Jack were gambling on a future together, but unexpectedly, she had a path forward.

She was going to grab that future with both hands.

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Friday/Saturday/Sunday, August 14-15-16

The last samples and specimens were sent off on Friday afternoon, and the party started shortly afterwards. All three digs had been fairly successful. Daria's had recovered multiple horse skeletons, most with some sort of butchery marks. Several broken Clovis points and tools had been recovered, and best of all, the remains of a cooking fire with some burnt bones had been found. The carbon-dating of the ashes would confirm the early date just within the usual earliest dating for Clovis sites.

Jack's dig had recovered one nearly-complete nearly-adult hadrosaurid skeleton and partial skeletons of between 40-70% of five more of various ages (it had turned out that the site was about nine million years younger than they had thought). While it would turn out to be a known early species, the site added to the knowledge of the dinosaur's growth stages. A few bits of reptiles and other animals had also been found. The third dig, even younger, had similar results, with a 65% complete triceratops rather than hadrosaurids being their prize find.

Saturday morning, like the other workers, Daria and Jack packed up their trunks and tool kits to be sent back to Lawndale. Those who were not leaving that morning or afternoon, like Daria and Jack, got together for a pair of cookouts that lasted from 12:30 until well after 10:00. Daria and Jack, despite having made love right after breakfast, still managed to fit in two more sessions, one mid-afternoon despite the heat and once after retiring early for the night just after 9:00.

The next morning, Daria regretfully removed her wedding and engagement rings, replacing them with Jack's class ring. Jack also removed his. Before leaving Lawndale, he had rented both a post office box and a safety deposit box. Their marriage license would be sent to their post office box, and he would store it and their rings in the safety deposit box. (Daria also had access to both boxes.) The pair had already cleaned up the trailer as best they could – Jack would get most of his cleaning deposit back, unlike many others.

A few minutes before 9:00 am, the pair left the campground for the last time that summer. From the time they signed the truck into the rental agency until Helen again met them (this time at the baggage claim), Daria and Jack held hands continuously except when necessary. Both knew why – neither wanted to let the other go. They both knew the odds of their having a long-term successful marriage were not good, even if both were determined to somehow make it work.

They also knew they would see fairly little of each other over the next week, especially compared to what they had had that summer. Jack would be leaving for orientation and then registration in Boston the next Saturday. Unless he came back for a weekend (unlikely, considering the minimum six-hour plus drive each way, really closer to nine hours when traffic, rest stops, etc. were figured in), it would be a long haul until Thanksgiving and then the longer holiday vacation.

Helen could get very little out of either Jack or her elder daughter on the way back to Lawndale. She could see the two had become closer over the summer, even though she still presumed they had mostly just seen each other over the weekends. Daria had sent six letters home, and they had been filled with details about the digs, some of the diggers and supervisors, the weather, and so forth, but only hints about Jack.

As she had been since the previous November, Helen was simultaneously thrilled and worried about Daria's relationship with Jack. Helen knew Jack was reliable, stable, personable, and smart. She also knew that while few would consider him in any way handsome, he was good looking with a body most of those interested in males would drool over. He was also 17 months older than Daria – granted, girls mature a bit faster than boys, while Daria had been in most ways intellectually an adult for years, but this was her first emotional attachment. To Helen's mind, Daria seemed to waver between having a crush, having a typical teen love affair, and being truly in love, and Helen worried for her daughter.

Despite her concerns, as Helen watched Daria over the next few weeks after Jack left for Boston slowly partially rebuild emotional shells she had mostly abandoned the previous months, she found herself hoping that Daria and Jack could beat the odds.

Jane had welcomed back Daria with open arms late the next morning, having missed her greatly despite having had a great time with her summer classes (literally, as she had given Daria a warm welcoming hug). Unlike the Morgendorffers and Frasiers, Jane knew Daria and Jack were going to be at the same campground that summer. She only now found out that the two had been living together. (Daria did not tell Jane about the marriage, however.) She therefore decided to do something nice for them – she made certain that Trent was out of the house that Friday evening early, and Jane took herself to Cluster Burger for dinner and then went to the Zon for the evening.

This ended up accomplishing two things – it gave Daria and Jack an entire evening of passion and cuddling in Penny's room. Daria had also arranged to stay at Jane's overnight. Therefore, while Jack left a little after 10:30, Jane did not get home until just before 11:00. She found Daria downstairs on the sofa, wearing her night clothes, still sobbing. She gathered her friend into a hug, and let her cry herself out – which did not take long, considering how long Daria had already been at it. Jane helped Daria clean herself up a bit, and decided to tuck Daria into her own bed, rather than have her sleep in Penny's room (which might have too many memories to make sleep comfortable) or sleep on her floor in the sleeping bag, as she sometimes did. That really was never comfortable. Daria obviously needed comforting, if not necessarily comfort.

Jane spooned Daria, and the exhausted teen quickly dropped into a deep sleep. As she started to drift off herself, Jane reminded herself to tell Daria about the guy she had met that evening.

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Daria and Jane had a long talk the next morning. Jane was shocked by Daria's plans – to say they would be life-changing if Daria pulled them off were a bit of an understatement, even without Jane's knowing about the marriage. Still, Jane understood her friend well – Daria often had had competing impulses, alternating between being intellectually (and sometimes creatively) driven and bouts of compulsive idleness. At the moment, Daria's intellectual drive was more than fully engaged. Daria had the capacity, although rarely observed the previous year, of the sort of ambitious, ruthless determination that her mother had. She had goals, and Jane would pity those who stood in Daria's way without excellent reasons.

Jane therefore assured Daria of her support.

In turn, Daria congratulated Jane on her potential new male find. Despite the somewhat contradictory facts that this Tom drove a Pinto and was attending the very elite and snobbish Fielding Academy, Daria did not discourage her friend, but she did warn Jane of one thing. Like Daria and Jack, Jane and Fred had been (very) sexually active. Daria reminded Jane not to go too far too fast; to get to know this Tom at least as well as she had known Fred before starting any sort of physical relationship beyond light necking.

Jane had to admit that this was a reasonable concern; no matter how cute she thought Tom was, she really didn't know him at all. Even though she had been an enthusiastic lover with Fred for many months and had learned that she enjoyed the physical activities of her previous relationship even more than the emotional ones, she really had to be careful, lest her desires overwhelm her common sense.

Helen tried to keep an eye on Daria the week after Jack left, which was also the week school started in Lawndale. In this, she was, as usual, unsuccessful as she left the house every morning well before 8:00, and usually much closer to 7:00, getting home a little after 6:00 at the earliest – one day she was not home until nearly 8:00. Daria merely informed her mother that she was spending the mornings at Lawndale State, working on future plans for college that Monday through Wednesday, which Daria deftly managed to avoid detailing. Her afternoons were spent with Jane, and two evenings Jane was at the Morgendorffers, spending time with Daria. Jane spent the other evenings with her new boyfriend, and Daria had spent Wednesday evening with them at the Pizza Prince and that Friday afternoon with the couple as well.

While Daria was reticent about her morning activities, she was more than willing to share her opinions about Jane's new boyfriend. Daria thought he was intelligent and moderately good looking, if a bit snooty and that was before she learned he was a 'Sloane' – certainly the most wealthy and one of the two most socially prestigious (along with the Frasiers) families in Lawndale. (Daria had not recognized him from the Cotillion the previous spring, and it had taken her a few days to make the connection.) Daria could see why each of the two found the other attractive, but she did wonder if they were compatible enough to form a long-term couple.
Daria didn't mention that last concern to Jane, of course, but she did to her mother. Daria wanted to make certain she was a good friend to Jane, despite some (strong) temptations to use Jane to fill in the void left by Jack. Helen had to admit Daria's planned solution – to give Jane a few weeks for the relationship to either settle into a pattern or to end – before seeing if she would try to get Jane to make any adjustments was likely a sound one.

While Daria was obviously missing Jack, Helen was relieved that there was no teen angst displayed, nor was Daria leaving depressing or violent poems or short stories lying about as she had the previous summer, mostly in protest at how much Helen was over-relying on Daria during the move while Quinn had hindered far more than she helped. Daria, Helen realized, as much as she was surprised and didn't want to fully acknowledge it, had really matured greatly. Of course, while Helen was monitoring the exchanges Daria was having with Jack via Daria's AOL account, she did not know about the private email account Daria had, let alone the daily email exchange made there.

Quinn, on the other hand, seemly had not matured much. The multiple groundings, restrictions, and other punishments Quinn had earned the previous year had seemingly taught her little. She had taken the opportunity when the Yeagers had visited in late July to use the distraction to go on several dates with boys when she was supposed to be entertaining Ethan – granted Ethan was entertained by the girls Quinn had paired him with, but that was not what she was supposed to do. Twice during the summer, Quinn had wheedled money out of both parents for the same reasons, and spent the second amount on yet more clothes.

The groundings the previous spring, which were in part supposed to give Quinn the opportunities to get her schoolwork done, had also been ineffective as well. Quinn had managed not to earn any D's, never mind failing any courses. Still, she had ended her first year at Lawndale High with a GPA of 2.25 – other than a B in gym and the same in Geometry, all her academic classes were either a C or a C+, mostly Cs. In middle school, Quinn had at least managed a B- average (if rounded up a bit in 8th grade). Daria, who other than a grade of a A- in gym had scored all A's that year, made Quinn's grades look even worse.

Helen and Jake had many discussions that August about both of their daughters. Neither parent could figure out how to encourage better behavior in Quinn without there either being non-productive punishments or too much leniency. On the other hand, Daria was obviously on a self-directed mission, and as curious as each was, they knew they would have to wait and discover where she was heading. Jake was much more positive about his elder daughter's trajectory, even if he was unsure where she was heading.

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That Thursday, besides being the first day of school. extra drama was injected into the Morgendorffer household. Daria was coming in for dinner, somewhat surprised to everyone home before her, especially her mother, since it was just after 6:00. What was not unexpected was that her mother was on the phone.

"It's Aunt Rita," Quinn said softly out of the side of her mouth. "I don't know what's happening, but it sounds worse than usual." The sisters rarely agreed on anything, but avoiding getting involved their mother's fights with her older sister or her mother was one of those things.

Jake lowered the newspaper he was pretending to reread, and whispered, "Your cousin Erin is getting married early next month." He shuddered slightly. "There's going to be hell to pay." He raised the paper while Daria and Quinn exchanged a look.

At that moment, Helen hung up. "As you probably heard, little Erin is getting married next month," she told them in the airy voice she used when she was trying to pretend something didn't bother her. Then her voice went low and angry. "She's getting married at the Windsor Hills Country Club."

"Wow, that will cost Rita a mint…wait…." Jake started before realizing there was no way Rita could afford that.

"Mother is paying for everything! Never mind that she has two other granddaughters she pays little attention to!"

"Can I get a new outfit for the wedding!" Quinn interjected.

"I made certain you're both bridesmaids," Helen almost snarled. She looked at Daria. "There are three shops near here that can do the gowns. One is the one you went to for that Easter Cotillion outfit. Quinn, another is that one you used last year for the spring dances. There's a third one downtown, if you want someplace more convenient."

"I'll stick with the one I know, I guess," Daria said.

"I will as well," Quinn added. "That place downtown has a reputation for being a bit hit and miss, depending on who you work with."

Meanwhile, Jake had a rather dreamy look on his face. "Windsor Hills, that famous…."

"Jake! You won't have time for golf!"