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100fandomhell2022-06-28 12:38 pm
apachefirecat) wrote in 100fandomhell2022-06-28 12:38 pm
Entry tags:
Fandom #3: The Cleveland Show, "Come Back"
Title: Come Back
Author: Apache Firecat
Rating: PG/K+
Fandom: The Cleveland Show
Wordcount: 2144
She'd been such an idiot when she was younger, Donna thinks as she watches the new man in her life from underneath her large, black eyelashes. He isn't really new; he's her oldest and best friend come back, the man she should have chosen. Cleveland had always been there for her. When Robert had not been, when Robert had been but had only wanted her for sex or to show off to his friends, Cleveland had always been there. He had genuinely cared for her not just for her body but for her mind and about her joy. He had made her laugh when no one else could have, when no one else had even tried to. He had made her happy, and if she had ever once pulled away from Robert and offered him a date or a kiss, he would have gone not just to her but for her in an instant.
She'd been a fool to spend so many years wasting away on Robert. She had forgotten how to laugh until Cleveland had walked back into her life. The smiles he's been giving her since that very afternoon seem almost out of character to her these days. He's making her feel a wide array of feelings that she'd thought she'd never feel again. Most of all, he's making her feel wanted again, wanted for herself, cared for for herself, needed not because he needs a woman to take care of him but because he needs her.
Why hadn't she seen this all before? she wonders not for the first time while watching him tussle with the boys. It had started with just a friendly romp between him and Cleveland Junior -- his son really does look so much like him --, but they've actually managed to pull her baby, Rallo, into their play. He's cussing and dropping f-bombs left and right, but she hasn't seen his dark eyes shine with such light in... well, she realized, pulling herself up to a short and sudden stop, ever. She blinks rapidly at that realization, her eyes suddenly becoming tinged with moisture.
Robert wasn't just bad for her, she has to accept. He was also bad for her children, and in the short time Cleveland has been back in her life, he's made Roberta come home on time and is actually getting Rallo to play. She's also noticed that he's fantastic with his own son, Cleveland Junior. He never calls Cleveland Junior on his weight, and he's been there for the boy throughout everything they've gone through because of his own ex. What kind of woman, Donna wonders, not only throws a good man away, but her own son too? She'd like to have a few words, and many slaps, with that Loretta woman!
But if Loretta had not thrown Cleveland away, he would not be here for her now. He would not have brought such happiness back into her life. He's going to leave, she knows, and she hates the idea of it. They came close to kissing the other night, stopping just short of it when her miscreant daughter had actually come home, shockingly, on time and not pregnant. She hasn't laughed that much in one night since... well, since Cleveland had been in her life before when they'd both been teenagers. She hasn't been that happy, and hasn't felt so much hope, since all those years ago, and her children have never felt such emotions, she realizes now, watching the three guys before her, each of whom is precious to her in his own right. No wonder she's been having such a terrible time trying to get them to do right -- Cleveland is a wonderful father, and a wonderful man, and Robert is, well...
He's horrible, she knows, but when Cleveland, who is the true winner and a definite keeper (if only she had known that before!) leaves her, she's not going to have much choice in letting him come back into her home, her family, and her heart. She felt so lonely after Cleveland left her the last time. (She recalls even feeling a bit broken hearted and full of dread on the very day of her wedding to Robert, now that she's finally being honest with herself!) How is she ever going to recover this time? She'd only thought she'd loved Robert before. She had convinced herself of the fact, because he had seemed the only man willing to wed her and give her an actual life.
But what kind of life had she had with him? She vividly recalls being afraid of him at times when he'd drank too much. He had hit Rallo once even, so it's no wonder her baby feels like he has to be such a hard, crass man even though he's still in diapers. What had he done to Roberta? Fear grips her heart at that sudden, unexpected though. She needs to have a talk with her daughter, but Roberta doesn't talk to her. Both of her children have shut her away.
Yet... What is she supposed to do when Cleveland inevitably leaves? Robert is their father after all, and they clearly need a dad. Maybe the fact that she actually did finally leave him will make him shape up and be the husband she's always wanted him to be and the father their children have always deserved. Maybe he'll finally be there for them all. Maybe he will actually evoke the feelings in her that her best friend growing up did then and has been doing again since he first showed up back in her life. Donna gasps with pain as she remembers the swell of hope and excitement she'd felt that day he'd stuck his head into the principal's office. She had been desperate to keep him from walking back out of her life; her head hanging, her gasp having gone unheard because of the boys' riotous shouts, Donna admits to herself that she is still just as desperate.
She doesn't want him to leave, but she can't keep him. He's spoken of his dream for so many years, not just this time but before too. A good friend does not stand in the way of a friend achieving their dream. She can't keep him here. It wouldn't be fair to him, wouldn't be fair to pin him down with kids that aren't his or to expect him to fix her life that she has allowed another man to screw up beyond repair.
Only... it isn't without repair. He's proven that to her in the short time he's been here. He's proven that he can still make her laugh and that he can make her feel hope, joy, and desirable again. He's already turned her life around, but the day he leaves, it's going to all come crashing back down again. Robert's going to come back. She chose him then, like the fool she'd been, and she's going to have to choose him again. She's seen Cleveland work miracles with their children in a short time; maybe, she can find a way to work a miracle with their father again. She owes it to the kids.
Tears are brimming in her eyes, almost flooding down her cheeks. Donna sniffles and looks quickly around when the door opens. No one's seen her tears. She can still escape. She can still pretend like everything is fine and that her world isn't threatening to be ripped out from under her again, just like it had whenever she'd allow herself to consider Cleveland as a possible suitor all those years ago only to hear him talking about his desire to leave her hometown, to chase the same dream he'd been chasing the day he showed back up in her life. It's not fair to him to keep him from that dream.
But it isn't fair to her to lose him again. She sniffles as Roberta walks into the room, but no one's looking at her. Roberta does seem to glance her way, but if she sees her mother's tears, she clearly doesn't care as she looks away and sneers at the boys playing on the floor. "You're a grown man," she accuses Cleveland.
He's a grown and wonderful man, Donna thinks. She was an idiot. Loretta's an idiot. The man she chose over him, the man she'd known would stay in this town where her family's always been, and the man Loretta left her husband for are also idiots. They're losers. They're never going to deserve a good woman as much as Cleveland does. Loretta wasn't good enough for him. Donna knows she, too, isn't good enough. No woman she knows deserves a man as kind-hearted as Cleveland Brown.
"You're never too old to have fun! Are you, Cleveland Junior?" Cleveland asks his child, tickling his big, round belly. Rallo again attempts to make a breakout of their tussle, but Cleveland's quick, dark fingers tickle him all over. Her baby caves to actual, genuine, ecstatic, and joyful laughter even as Donna wonders again how on Earth Loretta had just thrown her husband and son away. That woman didn't deserve to breathe!
"Hey! Don't look at me!" Rallo protests, his high-pitched words punctuated by fits of giggles. "If I'm stuck in this mess, woman, so are too!"
Roberta squeaks as her little brother grabs her ankle and causes her to fall on top of Cleveland and the boys. They could be such a wonderful family, Donna thinks sorrowfully. If only Cleveland could stay, or they could go with him. But that wouldn't be fair to him or her children. His dream is across the nation -- it might as well be another whole world --, and her children's lives, her life, such as it is, is here.
Roberta's seething with protests. Her children are starting to argue vehemently again. But Donna doesn't hear them. She suddenly can't hear anything. But then she notices, through the tears filling her big, dark eyes, that Cleveland is gazing up at her. His mustache is twitching with his emotions. She knows in an instant that he doesn't understand why she's crying and that he is the only one in the room who sees her tears. She wipes them quickly away. He looks at her questioningly, tilting his handsome head to the side as the kids continue to argue. She shakes her head. He isn't the reason for her tears. Her own foolishness and bad choices are. He is instead the only reason why she's felt any happiness for so very long now.
Cleveland tugs on his own mustache. He wiggles half of it at her, the other half staying still, in a trick she's never seen another man do, a trick she hasn't seen him do since they were kids. She sniffs, and a quick bark of laughter escapes her now hoarse throat. All three looks up at her, but Donna shakes her head at them. "Stop fighting!"
"He tripped me!" Roberta protests.
"Because he wanted you in on the fun, Roberta. You're children! You're supposed to have fun!" And she, and they, are supposed to be feel happiness, joy, and love. Her eyes return to Cleveland's as Rallo dares to tickle his sister's ribs. She caves at that unexpected touch and her mother's sharp words, and actually laughs. He tickles her more, and she giggles more, until both the boys are tickling her.
All the while, Donna's still gazing into Cleveland's deep, brown, and beautiful eyes, and everything in her is aching for her to actually voice, Please stay with me. Please stay.
A big, banging knock comes on her door, shattering the moment. Donna doesn't want to move. She knows who's on the other side. She doesn't want to open that door. She doesn't want to let him back into her life, into her heart. She desperately wants Cleveland to stay in both places; she wants this moment and visit to never, ever end. But he's already getting up and moving toward the door. Donna lets him, stepping to the side, her head hanging with sorrow he doesn't see or, at least, doesn't understand, sorrow, however, that he himself feels the moment he opens the door of the woman of his dreams and finds her ex standing there.
He glowers at him but moves aside for the other man to come in to where he belongs. After all, she has always been his woman. She has always chosen him over Cleveland, who only has silly jokes to offer her, no money. She always will -- their past has taught him that --, no matter how much this alcoholic, bullying punk doesn't deserve her and never will. But she's made her choice, and besides, her children are his, not Cleveland's. Cleveland hangs his head and lets the other man in.
The End
Author: Apache Firecat
Rating: PG/K+
Fandom: The Cleveland Show
Wordcount: 2144
She'd been such an idiot when she was younger, Donna thinks as she watches the new man in her life from underneath her large, black eyelashes. He isn't really new; he's her oldest and best friend come back, the man she should have chosen. Cleveland had always been there for her. When Robert had not been, when Robert had been but had only wanted her for sex or to show off to his friends, Cleveland had always been there. He had genuinely cared for her not just for her body but for her mind and about her joy. He had made her laugh when no one else could have, when no one else had even tried to. He had made her happy, and if she had ever once pulled away from Robert and offered him a date or a kiss, he would have gone not just to her but for her in an instant.
She'd been a fool to spend so many years wasting away on Robert. She had forgotten how to laugh until Cleveland had walked back into her life. The smiles he's been giving her since that very afternoon seem almost out of character to her these days. He's making her feel a wide array of feelings that she'd thought she'd never feel again. Most of all, he's making her feel wanted again, wanted for herself, cared for for herself, needed not because he needs a woman to take care of him but because he needs her.
Why hadn't she seen this all before? she wonders not for the first time while watching him tussle with the boys. It had started with just a friendly romp between him and Cleveland Junior -- his son really does look so much like him --, but they've actually managed to pull her baby, Rallo, into their play. He's cussing and dropping f-bombs left and right, but she hasn't seen his dark eyes shine with such light in... well, she realized, pulling herself up to a short and sudden stop, ever. She blinks rapidly at that realization, her eyes suddenly becoming tinged with moisture.
Robert wasn't just bad for her, she has to accept. He was also bad for her children, and in the short time Cleveland has been back in her life, he's made Roberta come home on time and is actually getting Rallo to play. She's also noticed that he's fantastic with his own son, Cleveland Junior. He never calls Cleveland Junior on his weight, and he's been there for the boy throughout everything they've gone through because of his own ex. What kind of woman, Donna wonders, not only throws a good man away, but her own son too? She'd like to have a few words, and many slaps, with that Loretta woman!
But if Loretta had not thrown Cleveland away, he would not be here for her now. He would not have brought such happiness back into her life. He's going to leave, she knows, and she hates the idea of it. They came close to kissing the other night, stopping just short of it when her miscreant daughter had actually come home, shockingly, on time and not pregnant. She hasn't laughed that much in one night since... well, since Cleveland had been in her life before when they'd both been teenagers. She hasn't been that happy, and hasn't felt so much hope, since all those years ago, and her children have never felt such emotions, she realizes now, watching the three guys before her, each of whom is precious to her in his own right. No wonder she's been having such a terrible time trying to get them to do right -- Cleveland is a wonderful father, and a wonderful man, and Robert is, well...
He's horrible, she knows, but when Cleveland, who is the true winner and a definite keeper (if only she had known that before!) leaves her, she's not going to have much choice in letting him come back into her home, her family, and her heart. She felt so lonely after Cleveland left her the last time. (She recalls even feeling a bit broken hearted and full of dread on the very day of her wedding to Robert, now that she's finally being honest with herself!) How is she ever going to recover this time? She'd only thought she'd loved Robert before. She had convinced herself of the fact, because he had seemed the only man willing to wed her and give her an actual life.
But what kind of life had she had with him? She vividly recalls being afraid of him at times when he'd drank too much. He had hit Rallo once even, so it's no wonder her baby feels like he has to be such a hard, crass man even though he's still in diapers. What had he done to Roberta? Fear grips her heart at that sudden, unexpected though. She needs to have a talk with her daughter, but Roberta doesn't talk to her. Both of her children have shut her away.
Yet... What is she supposed to do when Cleveland inevitably leaves? Robert is their father after all, and they clearly need a dad. Maybe the fact that she actually did finally leave him will make him shape up and be the husband she's always wanted him to be and the father their children have always deserved. Maybe he'll finally be there for them all. Maybe he will actually evoke the feelings in her that her best friend growing up did then and has been doing again since he first showed up back in her life. Donna gasps with pain as she remembers the swell of hope and excitement she'd felt that day he'd stuck his head into the principal's office. She had been desperate to keep him from walking back out of her life; her head hanging, her gasp having gone unheard because of the boys' riotous shouts, Donna admits to herself that she is still just as desperate.
She doesn't want him to leave, but she can't keep him. He's spoken of his dream for so many years, not just this time but before too. A good friend does not stand in the way of a friend achieving their dream. She can't keep him here. It wouldn't be fair to him, wouldn't be fair to pin him down with kids that aren't his or to expect him to fix her life that she has allowed another man to screw up beyond repair.
Only... it isn't without repair. He's proven that to her in the short time he's been here. He's proven that he can still make her laugh and that he can make her feel hope, joy, and desirable again. He's already turned her life around, but the day he leaves, it's going to all come crashing back down again. Robert's going to come back. She chose him then, like the fool she'd been, and she's going to have to choose him again. She's seen Cleveland work miracles with their children in a short time; maybe, she can find a way to work a miracle with their father again. She owes it to the kids.
Tears are brimming in her eyes, almost flooding down her cheeks. Donna sniffles and looks quickly around when the door opens. No one's seen her tears. She can still escape. She can still pretend like everything is fine and that her world isn't threatening to be ripped out from under her again, just like it had whenever she'd allow herself to consider Cleveland as a possible suitor all those years ago only to hear him talking about his desire to leave her hometown, to chase the same dream he'd been chasing the day he showed back up in her life. It's not fair to him to keep him from that dream.
But it isn't fair to her to lose him again. She sniffles as Roberta walks into the room, but no one's looking at her. Roberta does seem to glance her way, but if she sees her mother's tears, she clearly doesn't care as she looks away and sneers at the boys playing on the floor. "You're a grown man," she accuses Cleveland.
He's a grown and wonderful man, Donna thinks. She was an idiot. Loretta's an idiot. The man she chose over him, the man she'd known would stay in this town where her family's always been, and the man Loretta left her husband for are also idiots. They're losers. They're never going to deserve a good woman as much as Cleveland does. Loretta wasn't good enough for him. Donna knows she, too, isn't good enough. No woman she knows deserves a man as kind-hearted as Cleveland Brown.
"You're never too old to have fun! Are you, Cleveland Junior?" Cleveland asks his child, tickling his big, round belly. Rallo again attempts to make a breakout of their tussle, but Cleveland's quick, dark fingers tickle him all over. Her baby caves to actual, genuine, ecstatic, and joyful laughter even as Donna wonders again how on Earth Loretta had just thrown her husband and son away. That woman didn't deserve to breathe!
"Hey! Don't look at me!" Rallo protests, his high-pitched words punctuated by fits of giggles. "If I'm stuck in this mess, woman, so are too!"
Roberta squeaks as her little brother grabs her ankle and causes her to fall on top of Cleveland and the boys. They could be such a wonderful family, Donna thinks sorrowfully. If only Cleveland could stay, or they could go with him. But that wouldn't be fair to him or her children. His dream is across the nation -- it might as well be another whole world --, and her children's lives, her life, such as it is, is here.
Roberta's seething with protests. Her children are starting to argue vehemently again. But Donna doesn't hear them. She suddenly can't hear anything. But then she notices, through the tears filling her big, dark eyes, that Cleveland is gazing up at her. His mustache is twitching with his emotions. She knows in an instant that he doesn't understand why she's crying and that he is the only one in the room who sees her tears. She wipes them quickly away. He looks at her questioningly, tilting his handsome head to the side as the kids continue to argue. She shakes her head. He isn't the reason for her tears. Her own foolishness and bad choices are. He is instead the only reason why she's felt any happiness for so very long now.
Cleveland tugs on his own mustache. He wiggles half of it at her, the other half staying still, in a trick she's never seen another man do, a trick she hasn't seen him do since they were kids. She sniffs, and a quick bark of laughter escapes her now hoarse throat. All three looks up at her, but Donna shakes her head at them. "Stop fighting!"
"He tripped me!" Roberta protests.
"Because he wanted you in on the fun, Roberta. You're children! You're supposed to have fun!" And she, and they, are supposed to be feel happiness, joy, and love. Her eyes return to Cleveland's as Rallo dares to tickle his sister's ribs. She caves at that unexpected touch and her mother's sharp words, and actually laughs. He tickles her more, and she giggles more, until both the boys are tickling her.
All the while, Donna's still gazing into Cleveland's deep, brown, and beautiful eyes, and everything in her is aching for her to actually voice, Please stay with me. Please stay.
A big, banging knock comes on her door, shattering the moment. Donna doesn't want to move. She knows who's on the other side. She doesn't want to open that door. She doesn't want to let him back into her life, into her heart. She desperately wants Cleveland to stay in both places; she wants this moment and visit to never, ever end. But he's already getting up and moving toward the door. Donna lets him, stepping to the side, her head hanging with sorrow he doesn't see or, at least, doesn't understand, sorrow, however, that he himself feels the moment he opens the door of the woman of his dreams and finds her ex standing there.
He glowers at him but moves aside for the other man to come in to where he belongs. After all, she has always been his woman. She has always chosen him over Cleveland, who only has silly jokes to offer her, no money. She always will -- their past has taught him that --, no matter how much this alcoholic, bullying punk doesn't deserve her and never will. But she's made her choice, and besides, her children are his, not Cleveland's. Cleveland hangs his head and lets the other man in.
The End