When Will Time Flow Away Part One

When Will Time Flow Away - Part One

Winter had long since taken its hold over New York City. In the midst of the snow-covered scene Manhattan Island still buzzed with life as snowflakes drizzled down, laden with dirt and soot from the city as they gathered upon rooftops and awnings, piled into the wet streets only to be salted away or flung aside by cars into piles of slush. All over the city buildings were strewn with the colorful lights of the holiday season. Christmas music poured out from the speakers lining the outside of the enormous department stores and buildings, which in the spirit of the season their business and profits skyrocketed. In light of the holidays the theatres lining Broadway were alone in their routine business, carrying on their eight performances a week with only time off for the performers to give special holiday concerts or to be with their families. But for the time being, weeks before December 25th, the routine carried on, the current generation of Broadway performers dancing and singing their hearts out in show or rehearsal...

...which in one CATS performer's case was all that was keeping her warm. Fairlith Harvey knew the rehearsal rooms for the Winter Garden Theatre were unheated, but this being her first winter in the Broadway cast of CATS--not even three weeks into her job--she had yet to learn just how cold the slick padded floors and wide white walls could get.

"This is ridiculous!" she moaned, rubbing her arms which went entirely unprotected in her usual dance outfit of a leotard and tights. Even after dancing the Jellicle Ball twice through, the room around her and the dozen or so other dancers remained cold as an icebox. Taking advantage of the break in which the dance captain instructed the Mistoffelees and Tumblebrutus dancers in their ballet duet, Fairlith leaned against the wall, clenching her jaw together in hopes to hide her shivering. Beside her a taller sandy-haired man leaned in a similar position, his arms crossed over his chest.

"I told you, Fairlith," Hunter Furlong shrugged lightly. "Bring a sweater."

Fairlith only rolled her eyes in playful irritation at the current Winter Garden Munkustrap, reaching across to slap his arm and the thick woolly sweater covering it.

"Then how could Bombalurina show off her figure with those thick clothes on?" she teased. "Worry about yourself."

"Keep it down over there!" the dance captain's sharp voice cut the chilly air. Immediately the two performers fell to a respectful quiet, watching as Morgan Gaillard showed the young dancers the routine he knew by heart. Almost sixty years old, Morgan Gaillard was truly a wonder of Broadway. Having been working at the Winter Garden Theatre for nearly the past thirty years, his time spent with the CATS show was met only by the show's current director, and they both shared a passion for this one production that could never be matched. But Morgan himself was thin and wiry, in his age having lost the gleam and luster of the young dancer he used to be. Still containing the flexibility of one half his age, all he lacked was the energy, but his talent and knowledge were what kept him in the position of dance captain for all these years. Fairlith could remember the time when she was much younger and had visited the theatre as a fan of CATS, and Morgan had been there--a much younger version--but after seeing him then and now she could conclude one thing without argument: Morgan Gaillard hadn't changed a bit.

"One, two, three! One, two, three!" He counted rhythmically as the two dancers leaped and spun across the blue-padded floor, the music in their heads all that was needed to pull off the routine to Morgan's satisfaction, which meant absolutely perfect. "Alright guys, good work. Take five."

The dancers slumped away, grateful for the chance to rest. Sipping her bottle of water, Fairlith kept her eyes on Morgan as he stalked away to the other side of the room, mumbling in his usual manner as he picked up a clipboard to sift through its papers. She turned in response to someone slipping a warm jacket over her shoulder.

"Here," smiled Lauren Patton, Fairlith's counterpart as Demeter. "I brought a spare."

"Thanks," Fairlith smiled, slipping the warm red material over her shoulders and neck. If she was going to dance as Bombalurina, better she be less sleek than a popsickle. She tossed her mane of blonde hair back towards the dance captain. "What d'you think's his problem this time?"

Lauren, much shorter and stouter than Fairlith, her short brown hair held back in a ponytail, frowned slightly up at the taller woman. "You mean you didn't hear the news?"

A moment of pause, during which Fairlith tapped her fingers against her water bottle and glanced sideways at Hunter, but he was occupied. "No...what news?"

"Kelsey Byas," the Demeter player said gravely. "You know: the director Morgan used to work with?"

Fairlith nodded.

"He just passed yesterday."

Fairlith felt her expression falter, her normally bright, cheery features and alluring brown eyes shamed by that sorrow. She hadn't the chance to meet Kelsey in person that much when he still worked at the Winter Garden, but after all that the esteemed performer Justin Fisher had told her, he was quite a guy. Setting her bottle down, the tall, figured woman patted Lauren's shoulder and decisively made her way across to Morgan. If nothing else, she could at least offer her condolences.

Fairlith Harvey was the ideal kind of person one would expect to see fill out a Bombalurina role. Statuesque in her hour-glass figure, when she'd first arrived in the CATS cast Hunter had taken up to playfully calling her Julie Newmar, as he said she reminded him so much of the original Catwoman. A full, thick mane of light brown hair reached her shoulder blades, held back by a purple headband that framed her angelic features as flawless as a Renaissance painting. Her brown eyes shaped like almonds were the color of chestnut, sparkling in their friendliness and energy. Her slim, delicate figure was purely feminine that suited her Bombalurina role, kept trim by a steady life of dancing and performing. She was the envy of the entire female half of the cast, her singing voice as gorgeous as the rest of her, and even as she walked toward Morgan in this moment of sympathy her proud, sensual pace couldn't help but draw attention.

"Morgan?" she said softly, crossing her arms as he turned his dull, unemotional gaze up at her. Experience had taught Fairlith that Morgan wasn't the best of conversationalists, so it was up to her to bring up the dreaded topic. Now she just wished she was better at it. "Look, I just heard about Kelsey. I...uh...I'm really sorry."

Morgan turned his eyes down almost immediately, drawn back up into his clipboard. "You and half the theatre," he mumbled, pushing back the thin, stringy strands of near-white hair that had once been brown from his face. "Late, late, late..." he sighed. It was plain to see Morgan didn't want to talk about it, and the woman's attention was drawn anyway by something else. On the stack of papers attached to the clipboard she saw the flash of a name go by as Morgan flipped through them. Something distantly familiar...

"What's that?" she asked, pulling off her headband. Morgan let the papers fall back to the front page with a sigh, shaking his head.

"Had to get a new understudy in since Jonathan left," he exasperated. "He's really over-qualified, though. Should be a regular...but," the dance captain shrugged, handing the clipboard to her, "instead he's understudying eight different roles."

"Wow," Fairlith whistled as she glanced over the resume, both at the list of experience that filled the blank spaces and at the news. "You'll have a lot to teach him."

"Yeah...for both our sakes I hope he's a fast learner. Ever heard of him? Michael Herndon?"

Fairlith paused, holding the resume up with two fingers to glance at the photograph beneath. She didn't seem to hear Morgan. Instead she stared hard at the photo, furrowing her brow as though she could bore through the picture displayed. It was of a young man, looking about her age if not older which would place him at about twenty-two. His hair was a dark brown, medium-length and swept back behind his ears. His eyes from what she could see were a dark blue, matching the color of the sky behind him. The photo itself showed the said performer in a full body shot, leaning with a dancer's poise beside a tree in what--judging by the background--looked like Central Park. Morgan saw something pass over Fairlith's face in that moment, something between a knowing smirk and a gasp of wonder, but her face was kept turned away as she quietly handed the clipboard back. "Yeah, actually...I think I have."

"Good," Morgan sniffed. "Then if he gets here tell him to come up to the office. I'll be up there." And gathering up his clipboard and notes on the choreography, Morgan Gaillard made back for the narrow doorway and slipped outside to the rest of the theatre. Fairlith remained standing where she was, leaning her weight on one hip, her arms crossed, the cold forgotten as she stared at herself in the mirrors lining the wall, though her mind seemed elsewhere. Her foot and fingers tapped together lightly in the abstract tune of The Jellicle Ball, and Fairlith tried to tell herself that it couldn't be. There was no way...even if it was true, what were the odds? Nah, it couldn't be...

"You alright?" Hunter's sturdy voice called her back to her senses. Having not noticed him approach behind her--which was strange, now that she thought about it...she'd been looking in a mirror, hadn't she?--she whirled in a flurry of blonde hair to glance up at him. "You look like you just saw a ghost."

"No," she laughed after catching herself, wringing her purple headband. "No, not a ghost. I thought it was at first but it was just you in the mirror." Giggling girlishly, she hadn't but begun to sidle back to her dance bag to gather her things to leave when Hunter's sturdy arms grabbed Fairlith around her waist, lifting her over her head with a mock-feline snarl. Squealing, Fairlith kicked her supple legs, viewing the room upside-down as she thrashed half-heartedly against his hold. "You put me down!"

A mutual laughter rose up at their antics as Hunter set her down, and Fairlith gently shoved him away before prancing on back to her duffle bag to regather her things. A quick sprint home through the icy cold weather and she would be back at her apartment, where a nice hot shower and meal would be waiting for her. Hurried on by the very thought of stretching out in the warmth of her small place, watching the snow fall outside her apartment window, Fairlith didn't even bother to change. Throwing on a pair of thick sweatpants along with Lauren's sweater, she turned to the smaller woman hastily. "Mind if I wear this home? Bring it back tomorrow, I promise!"

"Sure, Bal," she laughed. "Anytime." It was common knowledge among the cast the name Fairlith Harvey preferred to go by, a shortened form of Bombalurina that she'd often used in her childhood. And with a personality as lovable as Fairlith's character, no one seemed to have any objections to the nick name. In fact, it seemed it was catching...

"Thanks," Fairlith smiled, and bent to retrieve her bag. Water bottle, headband, spare change of tights, her purse, a bottle of painkillers (just in case), and the overall collection of crumbs and stains from the numerous lunches and breakfast foods she'd stashed away in the bag one time or another accounted for, and Fairlith knew she had everything. Now for that shower and meal...

"Oh my..."

Fairlith paused when she heard the gasp from Lauren. Looking up first to the Demeter player, who she saw was looking off towards the doorway, Fairlith remained in her crouch and twisted her back until she could look the same direction without actually turning. There she saw, standing out plainly in his dark clothes fit for the season against a white wall, that same understudy Morgan had been complaining about. Not bothering to hide her astonishment, Fairlith slowly rose back to her feet, keeping her eyes locked on what seemed to be a very nervous and shifty performer. Adorned entirely in dark shades, he wore a black and gray suede jacket and through its open flaps could be seen traces of a definite CATS t-shirt. With black sweatpants to contrast his already light complexion, even from this distance Fairlith could see he wasn't overly short or tall. About medium.

"Who's that?" Lauren whispered, noting the slight degree of drop in the room's idle chatter from the CATS cast members. Fairlith never took her eyes away.

"I think that's the new understudy Morgan was talking about," she said distractedly, softly. "Michael...Herndon..." Her expression faltered, replaced by a doubt that only she knew. It was still hard to believe...

"He's cute," Lauren giggled, nudging Fairlith at her shoulder. "Go talk to him."

Fairlith reeled, sputtering, and tried to hide the lovely shade of red that flushed her cheeks. "I...I can't! You don't understand...!"

"C'mon," Lauren urged again, this time using both hands to push the taller woman forward. "Tell him he needs to go see Morgan!"

Having already stumbled forward a few steps and obviously becoming the object of attention, Fairlith saw little point in resisting further. Slowly, she straightened, tossing back her hair, and drawing a breath to calm her steadily-growing-excited nerves she approached the newbie. She was so curious...it couldn't be! But as she stepped closer to him across the vast padded space, she couldn't help but wonder... It sure looked like him...and how many could there be with that exact name? Having already dropped his bag to the floor and searching through it, it looked as though he didn't see her until her jazz-shoed feet appeared in his line of vision.

Hardly knowing what to say, all that Fairlith managed was a strangled, overly-cheery, "Hi!"

Jerking his gaze up in an equal mix of astonishment and nervousness, all that he replied was a choky: "Hey..."

Fairlith glanced back over her shoulder, biting her lip. Lauren and Hunter, among others, were watching in interest, eager to see the exchange. As was a nervous habit, Fairlith took a lock of hair and twirled it between her fingers as she turned back, mind working overtime to find a way to bring up the wondering question that so plagued her.

"So...uh...you new?" she managed.

"Seems like it," he replied, abandoning his search to stand full-height. Long and lean in the limbs, he still was just barely meeting Fairlith's height. In a blind action that was more trained etiquette than intelligent thought, Fairlith extended her hand, smiling gently.

"I'm Fairlith," she said, her voice rising an octave in slight hope. "I play Bombalurina. You wouldn't happen to...?" She let her voice stop there. No, this was insane. It couldn't be him! And how could she stand here like an idiot and ask this perfect stranger if he'd been her best friend since before they were teenagers? That they met almost every evening over the Internet to chat and play their on-line games? That they exchanged stories that were far too fantastic to ever be true? That they both shared dreams of being on-stage one day? Well, she'd made it for sure, but...no, this couldn't be Velvedere. Feeling her shoulders drop, she suddenly felt a wave of humiliation sweep over her. How could she be so stupid? Of course it wasn't him...

But she was wrong.

The moment she'd said her name and extended her hand, there was a change in the new arrival's expression. Lightening considerably from the previous dark, nervous demeanor that had been showing, a visible connection clicked somewhere in his mind, and even as Fairlith's face fell in shame he grabbed her hand, bringing her back up with a small cry of surprise.

"Fairlith Harvey?" he asked, squeezing, his eyes wide in disbelief. "Bal?"

Fairlith couldn't stop the smile of delight that rose, in automatic reaction she squeezed back, both forgetting themselves. "Velvedere?"

Like two long lost siblings Fairlith Harvey and Michael Herndon grabbed each other in a tight hug, laughing delightedly and stumbling back as though overwhelmed. They didn't notice the strange looks they received from the other CATS performers or the sudden quiet that fell over the room with their expressive and excited shouts.

"My God," Fairlith elated, "I can't believe it! This is so weird!"

"I can't believe it's you!" Michael crowed at the same time so that their words were a jumble that made no sense...not that either cared much. "After all this time!"

A few minutes of mindless chatter driven by sheer excitement at finally meeting face-to-face ensued before both performers eventually realized the gawking around them. Smiles fading, if only slightly, their voices fell quiet as they turned back to stare in slight embarrassment at the other performers.

"Oh," Fairlith mumbled, realizing what she must have looked like. "I...uh..."

"Jeez, Fairlith," Hunter grinned. "I knew you were a flirt, but nobody falls for anyone that fast!"

"Hunter," she scolded playfully, pushing back her hair as she glanced back in embarrassment at Michael. "Now be polite! C'mon, Velv..." Giggling excitedly, she grabbed Michael's hand and pulled him forward, no regard given to his obvious uneasiness. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet Michael Herndon."

Leave it to Hunter to break the ice. Stepping forward, he glanced down at the slightly shorter performer, seeing nothing really as to indicate what Fairlith was so excited over. "Hunter Furlong," he introduced himself. "Munkustrap. So..." He offered his hand for a shake, which was taken hesitantly. "You're our new understudy?"

"Yeah," Michael sputtered, brushing a hand back through his hair. Not knowing what else to say, he let his eyes gaze over the twenty-some other performers gathered in the room, most of them giving their attention to the new arrival but hiding the fact they were staring. He couldn't help but stare back in awe. This being his first time on Broadway, in a show he'd loved since he was eight, Michael was reduced from his usual cocky self to a mere child: quiet, comforming, and curious. But he wouldn't be for long...

"You remember Velvedere?" Fairlith grinned madly at Hunter. The Munkustrap player's brows lifted in surprise, nodding immensely at the connection.

"Oh, so you're Velvedere." A chuckle, and he lightly punched Michael's shoulder. "Heard a lot about you."

"All good, I hope?"

"How could it not be?" Fairlith laughed, throwing another comradely hug around his shoulders. "You were only one of my best friends!" She paused suddenly, brown eyes going wide, and drew back to stare into Michael's face. "You haven't quit writing, have you?"

Michael laughed, shaking his head. "Are you kidding?" Seeing that she wasn't, his grin faded, replaced by a light shrug. "No, not at all. I don't exactly write about just CATS anymore, but, you know... Had to close the website."

"Aw, man..."

"Couldn't find the time. What with college and everything..."

Another pause in which Fairlith was taken aback by memories, of their conversations as kids, their speculations, plans, and dreams, and stumbling across a particular detail she reached out and gently swatted his face. "You milksop! You never made it to Julliard!"

Rubbing his cheek, for a moment Michael stared at her questioningly, then tossed his arms in a shrug. "Things didn't work out quite the way I planned, Bal--"

"Fairlith," she laughed. "We're not kids on the Net anymore, you can say my name." For a moment their eyes met and the two long lost friends just grinned at each other, secretive, knowing, remembering those times before they grew up. The time they'd been wishing they could be in CATS, the show they shared a mutual love--sometimes obsession--with, someday. Now here they were... Unable to express her delight otherwise, Fairlith threw her arms around him yet again for another tight squeeze. "Heaviside, it's so good to see you!"

Michael laughed, patting her blonde mane as he nervously caught Hunter's wink over her shoulder. "You're gonna hate me for this, but...ditto!"

"Oh, you!" She shoved him lightly, her smile so wide and full it was beginning to hurt, and as she went to retrieve his light dance bag Hunter took up the baton, standing forward as the other performers one by one went back to their own business.

"So, Mike," he began, not quite sure what to make of the shorter performer before him. "What's your specialty? Dance or sing?"

"Both, actually," Michael replied after a moment, rocking back on his heels. "I...uh...I've been studying both for a long time."

Hunter didn't bother to hide his surprise. "Oh really? What kind, exactly?"

Michael shrugged, trying to duck his head in modesty. "Well, for dance, mostly modern and ballet and a little tap. Vocals, just, well...a little bit of everything."

Hunter wasn't impressed. If this character was at all as good as the rest of them, he would be a full cast member and not some understudy. "Well," he decided to be polite, "you'll have to show us sometime."

"Hope so. I'd like to stand-in for at least someone while I'm here."

"Yeah...according to Fairlith you two had a thing for this show that goes way back, eh?"

"Ever since I can remember," Michael laughed, somehow managing to throw off most of his nervousness.

"So who do you understudy?"

"Oh, Velv!" Fairlith called as she bounded back, handing him his bag before he had the chance to answer. "You remember Morgan Gaillard? The dance captain who was here before?"

"Yeah. How could I forget Old HorseFace?"

"You'll never guess it, but he's still here!"

Michael didn't bother to hide his surprise. Hunter forgotten as he turned his attention back to Fairlith, the new arrival's laugh was of genuine disbelief. "No way! He's got to be ancient!"

The woman lightly nudged his shoulder, nodding her golden mane. "Don't let him hear you say that." Another mischievous giggle. "And you will not believe who the director is now..." Deciding it was better left a surprise, she tossed a strand of hair from her face. "That reminds me: Morgan wants you to check in with him. He's probably up in the office, so maybe we can see the director there. Afterwards," there was no hesitance, despite how awkward she may have felt. "Do you think we could go for lunch? I wanna know everything that happened to get you here!"

"Yeah, sure."

That said, Fairlith and Michael hefted their dance bags and bounded out, already beginning their long catch-up on everything that had happened to them since their last IM conversation.

"Catch you later, cats!" Fairlith piped.