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Sam and Friends Book
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Cheeky Frog
- Thread starter Ruahnna
- Start date
Ruahnna
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Full Circle
Kermit rang the doorbell and fought the urge to flee. Please answer the door, he thought. Please don’t be in the tub or on the phone or— The door jerked open, and Piggy’s shocked face told him she had expected someone—anything—else. She was dressed in a purple and black hound’s-tooth suit and her hair was pulled up in a sassy little swirl just behind her ears. The color drained from her face and she started to shut the door.
“Piggy, wait--!”
Kermit inserted himself in the small space between Piggy and the heavy wooden door. Flustered, she back up and Kermit eased into the lobby by flattening himself against the wall. He knew he was risky life and limb, but he—he had to try.
“Leave at once!” Piggy insisted, arms crossed angrily across her chest. Her body language said she was furious, but Kermit saw the slight tremble in her lips, noticed with elation the way she would not quite look at him, even though they were mere inches apart.
“No,” he said softly, and was surprised at how firm his voice sounded. “I need—I want to talk to you.”
“Still talking about your own needs,” Piggy muttered, then turned on heel and walked away from him. Kermit scrambled after her.
“That’s not what I meant!” he protested.
Abruptly, Piggy spun to face him, her face flushed with fury.
“Oh, well then allow me to put my entire life on hold while you figure out what it is you did mean!” She waved sarcastically toward the small sitting room. “Have a seat, make yourself at home!”
Kermit had that same horrible feeling he had had two months ago in her office, wondering if she had pressed some hidden button, calling out a highly-trained security squad who would drag him, protesting, from her abode. The picture, though absurd, made Kermit oddly resolute. They would have to drag him out kicking and yelling to make him leave before he’d accomplished what he came here to do.
“Piggy, please,” he said quietly. There was a gentleness and a quiet dignity in the request that Piggy had not heard from anyone in quite some time. She looked less mutinous, more uncertain. Kermit reached out gently to take her elbow but she flinched away from him and backed up into a mirror in the lobby. Kermit stopped advancing lest she break something, but he gestured courteously toward the little settee in Piggy’s parlor. “Please just—just sit down.”
As had happened so very often in the past, Piggy looked at him for a long moment and then did what he asked her to do. She slipped past him and sat on the far edge of the small settee. To her obvious distress, Kermit sat precisely in the middle of the sofa, which left very little space between them. She pressed back into the corner of the plush seat and looked at him without expression.
For a long moment, Kermit just looked at her, noting the new leanness in her face, the faint dark circles under her eyes. She’s not happy, he thought, and the thought filled him with compassion and hope at the same time. Maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t too late.
Kermit had prepared something to say. Spontaneity was not his strong suit, and he had had a long four weeks to think about what he might say that would move her, make her reconsider. He couldn’t remember any of it, couldn’t think of anything astute or clever to say. Nevertheless, he was here, so….
“I’ve missed you, Piggy,” Kermit began. Piggy looked away, not wanting to acknowledge his searching gaze. “I can’t tell you how many times I wished I’d…handled things differently.”
“I’m not a ‘thing’ to be ‘handled’!” Piggy burst out, then turned scarlet as the second possible interpretation of her words made itself felt.
“No,” Kermit agreed quickly. “That’s not what I—“ This was going terribly. He shouldn’t have come, intruding on her happiness like this. Still, his mind prompted, she didn’t look all that happy. The thought that she was unhappy made him miserable even while it afforded him some measure of optimism. He plunged forward determinedly, the words coming out without editing. “Oh, Piggy, I wish I’d told all those snarky writers to stuff their relationship jokes. I wish I hadn’t waited until it was too late, until you’d found someone else before I wised up and realized that you were…you were the best thing that ever happened to me. I wish I’d told you how I really feel back when it would have counted for something.”
He leaned toward her and Piggy shot to her feet.
“I think you should go now,” she said, but she sounded far from certain. “I don’t—you shouldn’t even be here!”
“I had to come,” Kermit said simply. “I couldn’t just…When I heard you were back in town I just had to come and see you.”
“Well, you’ve seen me. Now you can go.” She gestured toward the door.
“Piggy, that’s not what I meant. I--”
“I don’t care what you meant!” Piggy said, suddenly bursting into tears. “I’m tired of trying to decide what you mean and what you don’t mean and….” She put her hands over her face and her shoulders began to shake.
Kermit was aghast. Piggy was crying, and it was his fault.
“Piggy, please, I’m sorry if—“
“Go!” she pleaded. “Please…just go and let me be alone.”
Shakily, Kermit got to his feet. He took one step toward the door, but it was impossible to leave her like this, impossible not to go and take her in his arms and pull her head down onto his chest. He did just that, and to his surprise and gratification, Piggy just let him. The floodgate of tears had opened now and she was unable to stem them. She cried into Kermit’s shirtfront while he said anything that he could think of that might make things somehow okay.
Even while he held her, even while she clung to him, Kermit knew with incalculable sadness that he was here as an interloper, that he had no right to be here holding her like this and wishing against all circumstances that he hadn’t been such a fool. What was the matter with him? What was he doing here? What right did he have to interfere with the life that Piggy had chosen—a life without him? He felt the sting of tears in his own eyes, and knew they were much too little and much too late.
Kermit stood there with his arms around Piggy and held her for a long time. Each time she stilled, each time she sniffled and stirred in his arms, his heart skipped a beat because he knew that when this storm of tears had passed, he would be alone again. But at least he would be alone knowing he had said what he needed to say. That made Kermit feel slightly better, but not much. Piggy had stopped shaking, had grown quiet in his embrace, and Kermit knew that any second now, she would compose herself and pull away. He steeled his resolve and promised himself that he would make it easy for her, give her this one last gift of—
“Kermie?” She was looking up a him, her eyes huge and wet. Kermit felt his heart cracking open, cursed himself for six kinds of a fool.
“Yes, Sweetheart?” he murmured, unaware of the endearment until it slipped from his lips.
Piggy just stared at him, drowning there in his arms. Her lips were slightly parted, her hands tangled in his shirtfront and she was looking at him with absolute trust.
Kermit tried. He tried with everything he was to be worthy of the trust in those eyes, but in the end he could not do it. He bent and kissed her with all the tenderness that he had never given reign to before. Piggy made a soft cry that might have been protest, might have been assent, then her lips—miraculously--began to answer his and her arms twined around his neck.
Even in his deluded state, Kermit felt hope surge to life. He was not in this alone! Piggy wanted him, too, wanted his kisses and his arms tight around her! He ended the kiss gently and pulled back enough to look at her, smiling in contentment.
Maybe it was the smile, but something caused Piggy to pull back. Her arms, which had been tight around him, withdrew hastily and she tried to step back, putting distance between them. Self-consciously, she touched her hair, her lips, not daring to look him full in the face.
“Piggy, Honey,” Kermit began, but Piggy cut him off.
“You shouldn’t have come here,” she insisted, clearly flustered. “I don’t think it’s appropriate for you to be here. You—you should go.”
Kermit looked at her for a long moment, then reached out and snagged her arm, pulling her back into his embrace and holding her fast against him.
“I don’t want to go,” Kermit said. “And I don’t think you want me to go.”
Piggy huffed and puffed, but Kermit’s hold was surprisingly strong.
“Yeah, well nobody asked for your opinion,” Piggy muttered.
Kermit made her look at him, and his expression was solemn.
“If you tell me to go again, I promise I will. I will go and never bother you again.”
Piggy took a deep breath, and her expression became pouty. “Fine. I want you to—“
Kermit surged forward, kissing her to cut off whatever she had been about to say. Startled, Piggy stared at him in surprise. Kermit’s eyes were wide as well, and they looked at each other for several seconds with their lips pressed together in a pretty fair imitation of a passionate kiss. Piggy began to giggle, destroying the illusion and effectively ending the kiss. Kermit looked at her uncertainly, not sure how to interpret her humor. To his great relief, she reached out gently and touched his face.
“Stay,” she said softly. “I was going to say I want you to stay.”
Kermit tried to be nonchalant, but tension leaked out of him like air out of a balloon.
“I, um, I knew that,” he said quickly, but Piggy began to giggle again, and it was easier then, to join her, than it was to protest any longer. He smiled at her, then reached around and slipped his phone from its carrying case. He handed it to her. Piggy looked at it in confusion.
“What am I--?”
“Call your Australian boyfriend and tell him to take a hike,” Kermit said, and if he had not been so deadly earnest Piggy might have laughed at the fierce expression on his face.
“But Kermit—“
“Don’t ‘But Kermit’ me,” Kermit demanded. “Just do it.”
There was a long pause, and Piggy just looked at him. For one terrible moment, Kermit’s confidence waned. What would he do if she didn’t? What would he do if she refused? As if sensing his distress, Piggy put a soothing hand on his chest.
“You don’t know?” she asked softly.
Kermit covered her hand with his own and shook his head. “No. Tell me.”
“I, uh, we broke up.” Her cheeks flamed, but she continued to look at him steadily. “Actually, he broke up with me. Fidelity was not exactly his strong suit.”
Kermit couldn’t help it. He began to smile. Suddenly, the soft melting pig in his arms turned into a spitting cat. She tore free of his grasp.
“Don’t you dare laugh at me!” she cried. “And don’t act like you didn’t know! That’s probably why you’re here—to catch me when I’m down and lonely and—“
“Beautiful,” Kermit said softly.
“Don’t give me—what?” Piggy said, confused.
Once again, Kermit closed the distance between them.
“Beautiful,” he repeated. “Wonderful. Marvelous.” He took her in his arms again. “Talented. Gorgeous.”
“Oh Kermie…” Piggy said, her eyes filling with tears. One slipped down her cheek and Kermit leaned forward and brushed it away with gentle fingers.
“I’m not smiling because he hurt you. I’m smiling because he’s gone.”
Piggy looked distressed again. “And now you’ll go, too,” she whispered. “Just like always.” She wished she could have pulled away from him, but couldn’t seem to make herself.
“No, Piggy,” said Kermit. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Yeah, yeah,” muttered Piggy, and Kermit laughed out loud.
“I’m not,” he insisted. “I don’t want to.”
Piggy looked at him for a long moment. Her blue eyes searched his face. With something akin to awe, she realized that she believed him. Piggy turned her face into his chest and leaned against him. It was good to finally be home.
Kermit rang the doorbell and fought the urge to flee. Please answer the door, he thought. Please don’t be in the tub or on the phone or— The door jerked open, and Piggy’s shocked face told him she had expected someone—anything—else. She was dressed in a purple and black hound’s-tooth suit and her hair was pulled up in a sassy little swirl just behind her ears. The color drained from her face and she started to shut the door.
“Piggy, wait--!”
Kermit inserted himself in the small space between Piggy and the heavy wooden door. Flustered, she back up and Kermit eased into the lobby by flattening himself against the wall. He knew he was risky life and limb, but he—he had to try.
“Leave at once!” Piggy insisted, arms crossed angrily across her chest. Her body language said she was furious, but Kermit saw the slight tremble in her lips, noticed with elation the way she would not quite look at him, even though they were mere inches apart.
“No,” he said softly, and was surprised at how firm his voice sounded. “I need—I want to talk to you.”
“Still talking about your own needs,” Piggy muttered, then turned on heel and walked away from him. Kermit scrambled after her.
“That’s not what I meant!” he protested.
Abruptly, Piggy spun to face him, her face flushed with fury.
“Oh, well then allow me to put my entire life on hold while you figure out what it is you did mean!” She waved sarcastically toward the small sitting room. “Have a seat, make yourself at home!”
Kermit had that same horrible feeling he had had two months ago in her office, wondering if she had pressed some hidden button, calling out a highly-trained security squad who would drag him, protesting, from her abode. The picture, though absurd, made Kermit oddly resolute. They would have to drag him out kicking and yelling to make him leave before he’d accomplished what he came here to do.
“Piggy, please,” he said quietly. There was a gentleness and a quiet dignity in the request that Piggy had not heard from anyone in quite some time. She looked less mutinous, more uncertain. Kermit reached out gently to take her elbow but she flinched away from him and backed up into a mirror in the lobby. Kermit stopped advancing lest she break something, but he gestured courteously toward the little settee in Piggy’s parlor. “Please just—just sit down.”
As had happened so very often in the past, Piggy looked at him for a long moment and then did what he asked her to do. She slipped past him and sat on the far edge of the small settee. To her obvious distress, Kermit sat precisely in the middle of the sofa, which left very little space between them. She pressed back into the corner of the plush seat and looked at him without expression.
For a long moment, Kermit just looked at her, noting the new leanness in her face, the faint dark circles under her eyes. She’s not happy, he thought, and the thought filled him with compassion and hope at the same time. Maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t too late.
Kermit had prepared something to say. Spontaneity was not his strong suit, and he had had a long four weeks to think about what he might say that would move her, make her reconsider. He couldn’t remember any of it, couldn’t think of anything astute or clever to say. Nevertheless, he was here, so….
“I’ve missed you, Piggy,” Kermit began. Piggy looked away, not wanting to acknowledge his searching gaze. “I can’t tell you how many times I wished I’d…handled things differently.”
“I’m not a ‘thing’ to be ‘handled’!” Piggy burst out, then turned scarlet as the second possible interpretation of her words made itself felt.
“No,” Kermit agreed quickly. “That’s not what I—“ This was going terribly. He shouldn’t have come, intruding on her happiness like this. Still, his mind prompted, she didn’t look all that happy. The thought that she was unhappy made him miserable even while it afforded him some measure of optimism. He plunged forward determinedly, the words coming out without editing. “Oh, Piggy, I wish I’d told all those snarky writers to stuff their relationship jokes. I wish I hadn’t waited until it was too late, until you’d found someone else before I wised up and realized that you were…you were the best thing that ever happened to me. I wish I’d told you how I really feel back when it would have counted for something.”
He leaned toward her and Piggy shot to her feet.
“I think you should go now,” she said, but she sounded far from certain. “I don’t—you shouldn’t even be here!”
“I had to come,” Kermit said simply. “I couldn’t just…When I heard you were back in town I just had to come and see you.”
“Well, you’ve seen me. Now you can go.” She gestured toward the door.
“Piggy, that’s not what I meant. I--”
“I don’t care what you meant!” Piggy said, suddenly bursting into tears. “I’m tired of trying to decide what you mean and what you don’t mean and….” She put her hands over her face and her shoulders began to shake.
Kermit was aghast. Piggy was crying, and it was his fault.
“Piggy, please, I’m sorry if—“
“Go!” she pleaded. “Please…just go and let me be alone.”
Shakily, Kermit got to his feet. He took one step toward the door, but it was impossible to leave her like this, impossible not to go and take her in his arms and pull her head down onto his chest. He did just that, and to his surprise and gratification, Piggy just let him. The floodgate of tears had opened now and she was unable to stem them. She cried into Kermit’s shirtfront while he said anything that he could think of that might make things somehow okay.
Even while he held her, even while she clung to him, Kermit knew with incalculable sadness that he was here as an interloper, that he had no right to be here holding her like this and wishing against all circumstances that he hadn’t been such a fool. What was the matter with him? What was he doing here? What right did he have to interfere with the life that Piggy had chosen—a life without him? He felt the sting of tears in his own eyes, and knew they were much too little and much too late.
Kermit stood there with his arms around Piggy and held her for a long time. Each time she stilled, each time she sniffled and stirred in his arms, his heart skipped a beat because he knew that when this storm of tears had passed, he would be alone again. But at least he would be alone knowing he had said what he needed to say. That made Kermit feel slightly better, but not much. Piggy had stopped shaking, had grown quiet in his embrace, and Kermit knew that any second now, she would compose herself and pull away. He steeled his resolve and promised himself that he would make it easy for her, give her this one last gift of—
“Kermie?” She was looking up a him, her eyes huge and wet. Kermit felt his heart cracking open, cursed himself for six kinds of a fool.
“Yes, Sweetheart?” he murmured, unaware of the endearment until it slipped from his lips.
Piggy just stared at him, drowning there in his arms. Her lips were slightly parted, her hands tangled in his shirtfront and she was looking at him with absolute trust.
Kermit tried. He tried with everything he was to be worthy of the trust in those eyes, but in the end he could not do it. He bent and kissed her with all the tenderness that he had never given reign to before. Piggy made a soft cry that might have been protest, might have been assent, then her lips—miraculously--began to answer his and her arms twined around his neck.
Even in his deluded state, Kermit felt hope surge to life. He was not in this alone! Piggy wanted him, too, wanted his kisses and his arms tight around her! He ended the kiss gently and pulled back enough to look at her, smiling in contentment.
Maybe it was the smile, but something caused Piggy to pull back. Her arms, which had been tight around him, withdrew hastily and she tried to step back, putting distance between them. Self-consciously, she touched her hair, her lips, not daring to look him full in the face.
“Piggy, Honey,” Kermit began, but Piggy cut him off.
“You shouldn’t have come here,” she insisted, clearly flustered. “I don’t think it’s appropriate for you to be here. You—you should go.”
Kermit looked at her for a long moment, then reached out and snagged her arm, pulling her back into his embrace and holding her fast against him.
“I don’t want to go,” Kermit said. “And I don’t think you want me to go.”
Piggy huffed and puffed, but Kermit’s hold was surprisingly strong.
“Yeah, well nobody asked for your opinion,” Piggy muttered.
Kermit made her look at him, and his expression was solemn.
“If you tell me to go again, I promise I will. I will go and never bother you again.”
Piggy took a deep breath, and her expression became pouty. “Fine. I want you to—“
Kermit surged forward, kissing her to cut off whatever she had been about to say. Startled, Piggy stared at him in surprise. Kermit’s eyes were wide as well, and they looked at each other for several seconds with their lips pressed together in a pretty fair imitation of a passionate kiss. Piggy began to giggle, destroying the illusion and effectively ending the kiss. Kermit looked at her uncertainly, not sure how to interpret her humor. To his great relief, she reached out gently and touched his face.
“Stay,” she said softly. “I was going to say I want you to stay.”
Kermit tried to be nonchalant, but tension leaked out of him like air out of a balloon.
“I, um, I knew that,” he said quickly, but Piggy began to giggle again, and it was easier then, to join her, than it was to protest any longer. He smiled at her, then reached around and slipped his phone from its carrying case. He handed it to her. Piggy looked at it in confusion.
“What am I--?”
“Call your Australian boyfriend and tell him to take a hike,” Kermit said, and if he had not been so deadly earnest Piggy might have laughed at the fierce expression on his face.
“But Kermit—“
“Don’t ‘But Kermit’ me,” Kermit demanded. “Just do it.”
There was a long pause, and Piggy just looked at him. For one terrible moment, Kermit’s confidence waned. What would he do if she didn’t? What would he do if she refused? As if sensing his distress, Piggy put a soothing hand on his chest.
“You don’t know?” she asked softly.
Kermit covered her hand with his own and shook his head. “No. Tell me.”
“I, uh, we broke up.” Her cheeks flamed, but she continued to look at him steadily. “Actually, he broke up with me. Fidelity was not exactly his strong suit.”
Kermit couldn’t help it. He began to smile. Suddenly, the soft melting pig in his arms turned into a spitting cat. She tore free of his grasp.
“Don’t you dare laugh at me!” she cried. “And don’t act like you didn’t know! That’s probably why you’re here—to catch me when I’m down and lonely and—“
“Beautiful,” Kermit said softly.
“Don’t give me—what?” Piggy said, confused.
Once again, Kermit closed the distance between them.
“Beautiful,” he repeated. “Wonderful. Marvelous.” He took her in his arms again. “Talented. Gorgeous.”
“Oh Kermie…” Piggy said, her eyes filling with tears. One slipped down her cheek and Kermit leaned forward and brushed it away with gentle fingers.
“I’m not smiling because he hurt you. I’m smiling because he’s gone.”
Piggy looked distressed again. “And now you’ll go, too,” she whispered. “Just like always.” She wished she could have pulled away from him, but couldn’t seem to make herself.
“No, Piggy,” said Kermit. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Yeah, yeah,” muttered Piggy, and Kermit laughed out loud.
“I’m not,” he insisted. “I don’t want to.”
Piggy looked at him for a long moment. Her blue eyes searched his face. With something akin to awe, she realized that she believed him. Piggy turned her face into his chest and leaned against him. It was good to finally be home.
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2002
- Messages
- 31,288
- Reaction score
- 2,940
Awwww.... That was great Ru... It ran the gammet and surpassed the distanced gap between the frog and pig.
So great, we all thank you for this little tableau. Just hope the other three stories get updated... Soonish.
Have a great day, talk to you soon.
So great, we all thank you for this little tableau. Just hope the other three stories get updated... Soonish.
Have a great day, talk to you soon.
newsmanfan
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 5, 2011
- Messages
- 2,886
- Reaction score
- 1,661
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I'm trying to work my way through the whole library...it's taking a while....
I really enjoyed seeing you play in this darker universe, and am at this point smugly reminded of Piggy's reaction to Kermit's habitual reluctance to really open up to her which caused their breakup in the new film...Piggy will do all the work, hm frog? Jou gotta lots to learn about the womens, hokay! This is well done and realistic, given the parameters you set out to work within.
I loved Fozzie being relieved he wasn't the clueless one the joke was on this time! And all the...attention...Kermit was abruptly receiving was hilarious, as was Piggy's comment about the true-to-life-portrait of Kermit as an, er, um...hinder. Love how you segued smoothly from comedy to drama with that. Russell Crowe and Piggy? oh HECK no! I can just picture him trying to throw a phone at THAT lady...nopenopenopenope. Uh-uh.
A fun read!
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I'm trying to work my way through the whole library...it's taking a while....
I really enjoyed seeing you play in this darker universe, and am at this point smugly reminded of Piggy's reaction to Kermit's habitual reluctance to really open up to her which caused their breakup in the new film...Piggy will do all the work, hm frog? Jou gotta lots to learn about the womens, hokay! This is well done and realistic, given the parameters you set out to work within.
I loved Fozzie being relieved he wasn't the clueless one the joke was on this time! And all the...attention...Kermit was abruptly receiving was hilarious, as was Piggy's comment about the true-to-life-portrait of Kermit as an, er, um...hinder. Love how you segued smoothly from comedy to drama with that. Russell Crowe and Piggy? oh HECK no! I can just picture him trying to throw a phone at THAT lady...nopenopenopenope. Uh-uh.
A fun read!
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