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Peja's Wonderful World of Makebelieve Import
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Published:
2020-11-04
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4,359
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1/1
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8
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1,846

Composure Theory

Summary:

"Sleep at my place tonight?" Alan asked him "Let's see how the evening goes" Denny replied. My version of a missing scene from GONE.

Work Text:

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Composure Theory

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The fog was rolling in off The Sound giving a kind of mysterious quality to the Boston night that always put one in the mind of the namesake old Georgian-era English town that it was built to resemble. The moist mist surrounded the towncar they were riding in on all sides, but not dangerously so as to obscure the drivers view of the road.
"That was a truly wonderful dinner, Denny"
"I am glad that you enjoyed it, Alan. Henri does cook a filet mignon to a fair thee well, doesn't he?"
"Indeed. Tender enough you could cut it with your fingers if you had to."
"And did you like the creme brulee? Personally, I dont think I have ever had any better."
"Nor I. I liked the orange zest they used in it. I also think I detected just the barest hint of
Grand Marnier.
"You know you just might be right. I was wondering myself just what it was."
"Denny, my French is not as good as yours so what particular brand of wine was that you ordered?"
"Louis Latour Chateau Corton Grancey L'an mil neuf cens nonante neuf" (*1)
"It was altogether just too excellent. As well it should be at almost $100.00 a bottle"
"I couldn't agree more."
"Denny?"
"Yes,Alan?
"Pigalle's?"
"Pigalle's."
"Pigalle's,Denny?"
"Pigalle's,Alan. (**2)
"It's one of the top 10 best French restaurants in Boston."
"I would not surprised if it isn't one of the top 5."
"And you took me there."
"You didn't really like it, did you?"
"Oh Denny sure I did. I really loved it"
Just to let him know he was serious, Alan took Denny's hand and squeezed it briefly before letting it go.
"But...."
"But Denny, all you said was 'Do you have a problem with French restaurants?' You never said anything about Pigalle's.
"So isn't Pigalles a French restaurant?"
"Have you ever been to Pigalle's before?"
"No, can't say that I have."
"Did you know that Pigalle's has the reputation of being one of the most romantic resturants in town?"
"You don't say so?
"Yes, I do. It's the kind of place I might have taken Tara to had she been here and I had wanted to propose....or if I had wanted to apologize."
Just then the driver hit a bump in the street which kind of tossed them both ever so slightly. It was only then that Alan realized that they had been traveling an extraordinarily long time to get to his midtown hotel and, more than that, they were travelling in the wrong direction altogether.
"Denny, are you sure your driver knows where he is going?"
"Of course he does, Alan."
"Well, this is not the way back to my hotel."
"He knows that, Alan"
"Oh. So I take it he is supposed to be going whereever it is he is going?"
"Yes."
"And that is not supposed to be my hotel?"
"No, we're going somewhere else."
"Denny, what is this about?"
"Alan, just sit back and enjoy the ride. We're almost there. I want to show you something."
In a few minutes more, the town car pulled off the road and onto a long slowly upcurving driveway in front of a large floodlit but simply designed house. The car made a stop parallel to the front door. The driver got out and stepped briskly around the car to open the door for Denny and Alan.
"Well, we're here" Denny said cheerily"
"Where's here?" Alan inquired warily.
"Haven't you guessed yet? My place!"

Denny said this over his shoulder as he walked up the medium flight of stairs. After Alan got out, the driver closed the car door behind him and drove it around back to what was likely the garage. Alan was left with no choice but to follow Denny up the stairs and into the house. At the front door his top coat, like Denny's was taken by an evidently well trained English butler who wished him a "Verrah good evening, Suhr" Alan's jaw dropped slightly as he stepped into the foyer and noticed the very beautiful and no doubt very expensive crystal chandelier suspended from its domed ceiling. This lit the room sufficiently to allow let one easily view the pictures adorning the walls that were obviously the Crane ancestors.

"Wow, Denny I had no idea that you lived in a house like this"
"Well I don't stay here all the time. Maybe about 10 days a month. I'm too busy in town and it's too far for an everyday commute. But this house has been in my family for generations, so it's not like I had much choice about it."
"I suppose that does make a certain kind of sense. But what did you want to show me?"
"Come on, this way. Up the stairs"
Alan followed Denny up the left hand side of wooden double stair case and down a short hallway while Denny pointed out his private study and library on the right hand side and his old bedroom as a child on the left.
They ended up at a door at the very center of the end of the hallway.
"Well here we are"
"That's the second time you've said that, Denny. Where are we this time?"
"Go on in and find out"
Alan looked at Denny with the slightest bit of trepidation on his face that he hoped Denny would not notice. He grasped the handle, turned it and pushed the door open. What he saw when he looked in he could hardly believe.

The furnishings, the layout, the carpeting and even the color of the paint on the walls were exactly the same as his hotel room back in town. When he moved further into the room, he observed to his complete astonishment that not only did furniture look the same, it WAS the same. As he stood marvelling his eye travelled to the closet and then he saw his own clothes were hung in the closet on the right side of the room. And just to complete the picture, his socks, underwear and other accoutrements were in and on the highboy dresser and his own suit cases were under the bed. Alan did not know whether to laugh or cry. So he simply sat..or rather collapsed... on the bed.

"Surprised, Alan?"
"Denny, to say that I am surprised would do a disservice to the recipient of any surprise party that would ever be held after this. Denny, I am totally and Republicanly shocked and awed."
"I can't tell. Does that mean you like it?"
"It means I don't know what to even think. Denny, we left my room about at 8:15 this morning. When did you decide all this?"
"About 1:20 this afternoon."
"Why Denny?"
"Well it occurs to me Alan that part of your sleeping problem involves composure."
"Composure?"
"Yes, composure. Your inability to sleep is partly due to the fact of your not being able to fully relax. I have often found that the Boston countryside is an excellent place to relax."
"Okay I get that. But why did you buy all of my bedroom furniture...I am assuming you did buy it all?
Denny smiled and nodded
"And bring it all out here?"
"For familiarity's sake. You have been sleeping in that bed for how long? 7 months or more? That would be quite a shock to your system if you suddenly found yourself not sleeping in it."
"Denny, I am too stunned. You will please forgive the implication behind this question I'm sure but I need to ask you: did you think of this all of this yourself?"
"Yes I did. With a little clarification from Jonathan"
"Jonathan?"
"The butler. He studied as a clinical psychologist before he started his career as a butler"
"Why did he not continue?
"Don't ask. Believe me, you don't want to know."

Alan, though still quite surprised, found himself relaxed enough to want to change clothes, and had already started by removing his tie, shoes, belt, cuff links and was looking through the highboy for a clean tee shirt and boxers. Denny came up behind him, gently pulled him back by his shoulder and slowly shut the drawer. He said
"Jonathan has already laid out your night things and drawn you a bath in the room over there. Take your time."
"When did he do this?"
"Right about the time we hit that bump in the road. I'll see you when you're done."

Alan walked the few steps over to where Denny had pointed and found himself entering a rather spacious old fashioned bathing room. Just inside the door, Alan had deposited his suit, shirt and undergarments on the wooden garment caddy and put on the thick fluffy embroidered red terry cloth robe and matching slippers. Next to these things he found a finely striped soft grey pima cotton nightshirt. He took this and his shaving kit and made his way to the other side of the room.

The bath that he found waiting for him as a feast for the senses. The tub itself was an old fashioned 4 clawfooted enameled masterpiece that had to be at least 6 feet long so he could stretch his legs out with no compromise. It was painted baby blue and it stood away from any walls in the room and was therefore filled from taps that lowered from a rather decorative series of painted pipes suspended from the ceiling. So, one could walk 360 degrees around the tub with no hinderances. The tiled floor seemed be of a vaguely Scottish floral pattern that went wall to wall in the cured wood panelled room.

The tubwater was bubbly and still extra warm the way Alan loved and had the aroma of something vaguely woodsy and yet not. Alan promised himself he would ask Denny later what the scent was made from after his bath. That was his last thought before he was gently awakened about 20 minutes later by a light nudge to his shoulder. He found himself staring up and yawning slightly at a shirt sleeved Jonathan the Butler. He was sitting on a little stool next to his tub, with towels, talcum and scrub brush at the ready.

"Will you have your back scrubbed, Suhr?"
"Are you sure Denny, won't mind?"
"Mr. Crane sent me in here specifically to attend to you, Suhr."
"Oh well, in that case, Please have at it."
Alan found Jonathan's handling of him to be quite thorough but surprisingly gentle. His first impression of Jonathan, a blondish, hearty but fit man in his early to middle fifties, standing there in his rolled shirt sleeves, bracers and rubber shoes was that he was there to give him some sort of disciplinary spanking. While that thought had only mildly turned him on, he soon began to feel quite boneless and almost floaty when the scrub brush on his body and Jonathan's strong fingers massaging his neck, shoulders, feet and calves began to work their magic on his nerves.
"Jonathan?"
"Yes, Suhr?"
"What is that interesting aroma that is in my bath water?"
"That would be juniper, lavendar and just the barest touch of night blooming jasmine, Suhr.
"Is it supposed to make me feel so relaxed?"
"It is a formula that has been part of the Crane bath ritual, boy and man, for generations, Suhr."
"Really? I had no idea"
"Yes,suhr. After a stressful day, it is good to have some safe outlet for which the inevitable residual aftereffects may be dealt with."
" 'Inevitable residual aftereffects'? Why whatever do you mean Jonathan?"
"Bad dreams,Suhr. The Terrors, if you will. Mr Crane says you are plagued,Suhr."
"That is quite true, Jonathan"
"Well, nothing like a potion brewed by the night fairy to chase the troubles away. At least that is what me Mum called the concoction that is in your bath."
"Ah. Well I do find it quite soothing."
"Thank you Suhr. Will we dry now?"

When Alan emerged from the bathing area, he felt like a new man albeit a rather sleepy one. He felt kind of funny at first slipping on a night shirt instead of his usual tee shirt and boxers, but Jonathan explained 'the softness of the sheets are all the more appreciated with the less encumberances to receive them'. Alan made his way back to the bedroom and, while he found the bed turned down and his book and reading glasses on the side table, he felt something was missing.

He went out of room and down the hall to Denny's study. He found Denny there already dressed in his pajamas and robe, sitting in one of two leather chairs in front of the small fireplace.

"Aah Alan, I see you are through with your bath. How did you enjoy it?"
"Denny, I can say without a doubt that I have never had an experience quite like it before."
"Real boar's hair bristles on the scrub brush too. You'd expect them to be sharper but they're not for some reason."
"Do you get that treatment from Jonathan all the time?"
"Oh no. Only every once in a while when I really, really need it. But as you always tell me, I sleep like a log."
"Yes you do Denny."
"Well I just wanted to you to experience first hand one of Jonathan's many gifts. I thought it might help with your composure."
"Ah yes my composure."
Just then Jonathan appeared at the door bearing a tray with a silver service upon it
"Where will you have it, Cap'n?"
"Oh right here. Thank you Jonathan"
"Will you have any further requirement of my services tonight Cap'n?"
"No No I think we'll be alright. Goodnight Jonathan."
"Aye Aye Goodnight Cap'n. and Goodnight to you too Suhr" Jonathan said to Alan on his way out the door.

Denny poured two cups of perhaps the finest sipping chocolate that it had ever been Alan's pleasure to taste.

"No Brandy I see."
"Oh no out here we don't need it. Not when you can have chocalate like this. It's almost a narcotic all by itself."
"That it is, Denny. Okay. So, are you going to tell me what that was all about?"
"What *what* was all about?"
"'Captain'?"
"Oh that." Denny said with an semi-embarrassed laugh. "It's sort of a game me and Jonathan play. You saw the pictures when you came in the front door right?"
"Yes I did. I am assuming they are all relatives of yours?"
"And you would be correct. Almost all the Crane men for generations back were military sea men. Almost all of them attained the rank of Captain, too"
"Really Denny? I had no idea."
"Well almost all of them except my father and me. By the time we came along, Cranes didn't just run ships. My father and his brothers owned a fleet of ships, freighters mostly and a few tugboats. In Canada, yet"
"You're Canadian Denny?"
"A Quebecquois from Montreal. But only on my father's side. My mother was a Boston blueblood and never let anyone forget it. Especially me."
"Wow. And just when you think you know a guy."
"I should probably say at this point that Jonathan's father worked for my Grandfather and Father. Old Jonathan we called him and it had been his custom to address all the Cranes as either 'Capn George, Capn Jack or Capn James' just to keep them all straight. By my father's time, Old Jonathan had got the habit and did not know how to stop. Well, soon my father comes of age, marries my mother and then I came along. So my father, without benefit of true rank, was always addressed as Capn Crane. and I was "Young Cap'n"
"Uh huh. Go on"
"So on the occasion of my 39th birthday, according to the terms of my fathers will, I came into possession of the house and grounds, along with any servants who were still with us at the time. And that's how Young Jonathan came to be with us and since he had been taught to call a Crane only one thing since birth, it is also how it is he still calls me 'Cap'n'"."
"Now that is quite a story. So Jonathan calls you Captain out of tradition."
"Well, yes. And the fact that I am the Captain of Record of a freighter still owned by the Crane Family that's part of fleet of ships commissioned by the Port of Boston."
"Well of course, then, that's all the more appropriate, isn't it?" Alan said with a bemused smile.
"Damn right. I like to get my titles honestly"
"Denny, can I ask you something?"
"Certainly Alan. Anything at all."
"Why did you take me to Pigalle's?"
Denny got up out his chair and walked over to poke the fire in the pit. He remained there while he answered Alan's question
"I thought we already covered this. To eat dinner?"
"Denny, there is a very fine French restaurant about 4 blocks from the office."
"There is, isn't there?"
"And as a Boston native, I am pretty sure you are quite familiar with Pigalle's romantic reputation."
"So, who listens to gossip?"
"You do, constantly."
"Best way in the world to find out what's going on."
"You're evading the question Denny."
"I know. Okay here goes, You remember what you said about Pigalle's earlier? That it was the kind of place you would have taken Tara to?
"Yes, to either propose or apologize."
"Well I wanted to do a little of both."
Alan stopped in mid sip of his hot chocolate and stared at Denny for 5 seconds.
"What?" Alan said in a voice barely above a whisper.
"I wanted to apologize to you and make you a proposal."
Alan put down his saucer and cup on the small service table between their chairs and went over to where Denny was standing by the fireplace. He clasped both their hands together.
"Denny,you don't have anything to apologize to me about. You.."
"Alan, yes I do. You said earlier that I behaved like an ass in regard to poor Mr. Kirk's situation. And you were right as usual Alan. I behaved abominably to you and everyone else. And then, as if you weren't already being stretched thin enough, you took it upon yourself to spend $75,000 out of your own pocket to just make me look good and save my miserable face..."
Alan tightened his grip on Denny's hands and said
"Denny, don't. It was not my intention to embarrass you into making restitution. It wasn..."
"No No No Alan. That's not what I am getting at. I mean it was the fact that you were willing to risk your own reputation just to protect me. You said that you made "our" case go away. You made it so plain to everyone that you cared more about me than you did for the money, the company or even Mr. Kirk's lawsuit."
"Denny I value your friendship highly. I told Mr Kirk that. It means more to me than I can ever express or say."
"Well it's about time I said something. I know how I feel inside but I need to say this, Alan, to your face. I am proud to have you in my life Alan Shore and I hope you will allow me to stay a part of yours for as long we both shall live."
"I guess that was the proposal part. Oh Denny of course I will. You know I will." Alan stepped into circle of Denny's arms and gave him a very warm embrace.
"Denny, I am so overwhelmed I may cry."
"Alan, I love you madly but don't get mushy on me."
"I promise I'll try not to, Denny."
"Let's just sit down, huh?"
They walked back and retook their seats once again and simply sat staring at each other for a few seconds each unwilling to give up holding a hand when Denny broke the silence.
"Oh I almost forgot. I am supposed to give you something to formalize this bond."
"Denny you have done so much already. You don't have t..."
"Now now Alan. This is a serious thing I am doing here. It isn't often that Denny Crane does Serious and means it."
Alan smiled an inwardly amused smile in that he had lost a personal bet with himself that Denny could make it all the way through one evening and not say 'Denny Crane'. So he wasn't paying full attention when Denny first rose from his chair and came around behind him. It wasn't until he felt the cold metal around his neck and saw the glint of gold before he was aware of what Denny was doing.
"Denny, what is this?"
"This, my dear Alan, is the Crane family seal.' Denny said as he locked the clasp.
Alan found that Denny has placed a somewhat weighty amulet around his neck, solid gold of construction and it was shaped in the form of a shield and crown depicting a lion in battle surrounded by 3 ruby hearts.(***3)
"Denny please tell me you're joking?"
"Alan, I do not joke about the Crane family seal. That is as sacred to us as the Bible."
"I don't understand what this means, Denny."
"Let me clarify it for you. Every head of a Crane household is given or has made the Crane Family seal and he gives it to his one true love on their wedding day. On the occassion of the wedding of his firstborn son, it is then passed on by the mother to give to his one true love and their firstborn son and so on. This tile was the one given to me by my mother on my 21st birthday,about a week before my first wedding."
"Denny, then I don't understand how you even have it to give it to me. You have been married 5 times. Surely your first wife should have the ....."
"Alan, you weren't listening. I said the seal is given to his *one true love* on their wedding day. My first marriage was pretty much an arranged thing, mainly for business purposes. In truth, I thought long and hard about giving it to her. But it didn't feel right. My mother told me that the reason that there are 3 hearts on the Crane seal was as a reminder that we owed our loyalty to God, to Our Country and our Good Conscience. 'Be true to your heart, son' she said. 'You will know who to give it to when the time comes' "
"Oh Denny" Alan said rather breathlessly. "I don't know what to say."
"Alan, I have lived a long time and have met a great many people. In all of that time, I have never met anyone that makes me feel the way you do. You've proven yourself to be someone who loves me unconditionally and not for my money, my connections or for anything they could gain from it. Alan, you have given me the strength to face my advancing years knowing that there is someone who will care for me when the time comes. It has been 50 years since my first wedding and much to my surprise and everlasting delight I find that I am just now meeting the only person that I would ever call 'my one true love.'
Denny lifted a hand to stroke Alan's face and wipe away a small tear that had escaped from his eye. Alan turned his head a little to kiss Denny's palm.
"Denny, you're not worried that your name may be stricken from the Boston blueblood registry for your not-so-traditional choice of spouse?"
"Alan, who's great, great grandmother do you think started the Society registry?"
"Denny Crane's?"
Denny smiled mischeivously and pulled Alan a little closer to gently bang their foreheads and rub noses.
"Say that name with pride, My Love. You own it now." Denny whispered conspiratorially.
"Denny Crane!" Alan whispered back giving Denny a small kiss in the process.
"Hmmm say that again"
"Denny Crane!" Alan murmured again giving him another longer kiss.
Several more kisses were exchanged, each a little more passionate than the last.
In between kisses...
"Denny,dear?"
"Mmmmm I like the way you say that"
"Thank you. You know that room down the hall?"
"You mean the one with all of your clothes, shoes and underwear in it?"
"Mmmm"
"And that king-sized 4-poster with the scented flannel sheets?"
"Yes that's the one."
"What about it?"
"How about you take me in there and let's put your "composure theory" to the test."
"My composure theory?"
"Yes. Let's see what makes me more relaxed--hot chamomile tea, a pima cotton nightshirt and scented flannel sheets or long slow, wet kisses; caresses all over my naked body, and an all-night cradling from a horny sea captain."
"Hmmm. It could take quite a bit of time to fully test this theory."
"How long do you think?"
"Oh 10 years at least. Maybe longer."
"Mmmmm. That's okay. I've got all the time you need."

 

The end
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1. http://www.louislatour.com/pages/index.php?id_page=41&id_vin=51&millesime=1999

2. http://www.10best.com/Boston/Restaurants/French/?businessID=59306

3. http://www.coats-of-arms.com/crane%20irish.jpg