Face to Face
Kermit watched the hand carefully.
If I time this just right...
Galt's hand came swooping down at him. Just before it hit, he ducked his head down. Galt hit nothing but air, and the sheer force in his arm swung him around, throwing off his balance and landing him face down on the floor. He climbed to his feet, glaring furiously at Kermit.
"That was close," the frog said.
Galt raised his hand once more. He swung his fist, Kermit ducked, and Galt almost fell again.
"Felt a breeze from that one."
Galt raised his fist and went to punch Kermit right in the face. Kermit ducked and leaned back as far into the chair as he could. Galt's fist stopped less than an inch from his head. Galt stepped forward, set himself to strike. He went into an upper-cut as Kermit hopped the whole chair a couple of inches to the left. It was just enough for Galt to miss. He tried three more times to hit Kermit. Each time, Kermit hopped his chair away. Fed up, Galt grabbed an arm of the chair, holding it in place. He lifted his hand to strike. Kermit looked away.
He heard a sharp slap, but there was no pain. He felt the ropes tying him to the chair being cut. He looked.
Gonzo dropped the pocket knife, smiled, grabbed Kermit's hand and pulled him out of the chair.
Then Kermit saw the double doors, wide open. Robin was hopping in, with Camilla close behind, followed by Dr. Teeth, Floyd, Janice, Zoot, and Animal. Finally, there was Miss Piggy, looking much better, leaning on Rowlf and Fozzie for support.
Kermit grabbed his nephew and, holding him very close in his arms, turned back to face Galt.
No one noticed as Gina stepped in the doorway, taking a good hard look at Galt. She covered her mouth with one hand, leaned on the doorpost with the other.
Brian was holding Galt's wrist where he had caught it in mid-air, glaring fiercely into the man's eyes. John had taken the chair vacated by Kermit and positioned it behind Galt.
"In the five years that I've worked for you," Brian said through clenched teeth, "you have said, time and time again, that if you had a conflict with some one, you would work it out peacefully." Brian released the man's wrist, and lightly pushed him on the chest into the chair. "It's time to walk the walk, Lloyd."
Gina quietly slipped outside as Brian and John stepped away from Lloyd to let Kermit talk.
Kermit swallowed. It was time. "Lloyd..."
"Kermit," Lloyd said quietly.
Kermit swallowed again. "Lloyd, we told you that we didn't want to do the movie. We never told you why."
Lloyd stared at Kermit.
"Um, what I mean is... You never asked us why. You just started chasing us. And harassing us. And Lloyd, we don't want to do this any more. We just want to put it all behind us. And go on with living our lives, and... and following our dreams."
Lloyd cleared his throat. "Dreams mean a lot to you, don't they, Frog."
Kermit nodded. "That's right."
Lloyd stood up, walked around behind the chair, leaned on the table. "Well, did it occur to you that I have a dream, too?" He looked at the script on the table, picked it up. "My dream was that someday I'd have the muppets do a movie that I wrote." He looked at Kermit.
"Well... you haven't been treating that like a dream," Kermit said. "Dreams are things that you share with people. You were afraid to share your script with us."
Lloyd sat back down in the chair as Kermit continued.
"And if it was your dream for us to do a movie you wrote, well then, why didn't you keep trying? Why didn't you write more movies, and ask us about those? Or ask us why we didn't want to do the movie so you could improve on it? That's what you do with a dream, Lloyd. You keep trying. You don't just start hurting people who seem to be stopping you." He looked around at his friends before going on. "You perservere. You keep going until you get it. And you do it... you do it... without hurting the people that you need."
Kermit was begining to falter. He felt a tiny squeeze on his wrist, and looked down to see Robin smiling up at him, encouraging him. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see that Miss Piggy had hobbled over to him, trying to give him strength that she needed for herself. He saw Fozzie and Rowlf to his left, Gonzo to his right, and all of the Electric Mayhem behind him. Watching him, supporting him, telling him without speaking that they were with him. That they were in this together.
Feeling stronger, he went on. "Dreams make people happy, Lloyd. Just having a dream makes a person happy. And trying to follow that dream makes them even happier." He took a breath. "But you don't look happy to me, Lloyd. You look like you're being tortured on the inside. And that's because you're not using your dream. You're killing your dream. Because... because dreams don't hurt people, Lloyd."
He looked around at his friends once more. "And you've hurt us, Lloyd. You've hurt all of us." He gave Robin a little squeeze. "Lloyd, this is my nephew. He's not a tadpole anymore, but he's still young. And you- with your men, and your phone calls- you've put him through more than... than any frog, of any age, should have to go through. And he doesn't deserve that, Lloyd. He deserves to be at home, laughing with his friends, and learning in school, and earning merit badges in the Frog Scouts. We all deserve to be at home, Lloyd. Where we belong. Following our dreams."
"See, Lloyd," he went on, "you've hurt each and every one of us. And that's not how you follow a dream. You follow a dream by sharing it, and making friends, and those friends become your family." He squeezed Robin a little, and looked around at his friends. "These are my friends, Lloyd. They're my family. And all I'm going to ask of you, is that you let us go. That you stop following us, and hurting us, and just let us continue with our lives. Let us follow our dreams."
Lloyd leaned back in his chair and sighed. All eyes were on him now. Brian, John, Kermit, everyone was looking at him. He shifted in his chair so that he faced the table, put his elbows on the table, rested his head in his hands. He didn't look up.
"Go."
The muppets let out a cheer and a sigh of relief. They turned and walked out the door, leaving Lloyd Galt alone with his thoughts.
As soon as they were outside, Kermit gave every single one of his friends a hug. "Where have you guys been?"
"We were locked up in those cells," Dr. Teeth said.
"How did you get out?" Kermit asked.
"Gina came and helped," Fozzie said.
"Yeah, and those grey guys, too." Floyd said.
"Gina?" Kermit looked around, confused. "Well, where is she now?"
Eric happened to walk by at that moment. "The girl?" he said. "She went that way." He pointed down the dirt road they had just come up a few hours before.
The muppets hurried out to the main road.
Gina was bent over, both hands on the hood of her car, looking down, more solemn than they had ever known her to be. In the past week, she had somehow become something of a mother to all of them, and it concerned them to see her like this. Kermit approached her cautiously. It was the first time he was seeing her in her wedding dress.
"Gina?" he said.
She looked up and smiled a little bit. "Hey, Kermit."
He sat on the hood of the car. "Gina, why did you leave your own wedding?"
She sighed. "You needed help, Kermit. And the ceremony was over, and the reception still hasn't started..." She nodded a little. "I'm glad I came."
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah. I'm fine."
"You sure?"
"Yeah. Hey, um..." She stood up, with her smile starting to return. "Now that you guys are done all... saving the world and whatever, why don't you come to the wedding?" she said. "I would love to have you there."
Kermit was surprised. "Well Gina, haven't we been enough trouble for you?"
"No, of course not. No trouble at all. Please say you'll come?"
Kermit couldn't help but smile. She was so eager, so suddenly happy again. This was the Gina he had come to know. "Well, how could we say no to that?"
"Great!" she said. "Here, you guys get in the bus, and I'll lead the way."
"Okay," Kermit said, walking back to everyone else to tell them what was going on.
They were on the bus, ready to go, when Gina came and tapped on the door. Dr. Teeth opened it, and she got on, looking a bit embarassed.
"My car won't start," she said. "I'm going to go call a tow truck, and a taxi... I left my phone at the wedding by mistake, so I'll be right back." She started to get off.
"Wait a second," Rowlf stopped her. "What phone are you going to use?"
"Lloyd's," she said, and she got off the bus and headed for the house.
The muppets looked at each other. No way were they going to let her go back in there by herself.
Gina entered the room where Lloyd was still sitting. She walked up to the table.
"You don't mind if I use this, do you?" she said as she picked up the phone and began to dial. Lloyd didn't move, didn't even look up.
"Hi, it's Gina. My car broke down... Yes, I have a wedding to get to... oh, stop teasing. Would you just come and pick me up?" She gave the other person Lloyd's address. "Right, I'll see you soon. Thanks!"
She hung up the phone and looked at the sitting man. A war raged within her between her sympathetic nature and an old fury. Her lip was quivering a little, and her hands were shaking. Lloyd sat there, silent, feeling her eyes upon him. Her words came out a bit harsher than she had meant them to.
"You disappeared for ten years. You changed your name, your appearance, and everything about you that you could."
She paused, and then spoke a bit softer.
"But the blood still says that you are my brother."
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