Reunion (The Monkees Family Vol. 3)

Chapter 19

It was Gabby and Micky's last night together in London. They had made love and kissed goodnight and now Gabby was lying next to Micky, listening to his softly whiffling snore she found so endearing. She remembered back to the first time she had heard him snore, the day he and she had planned to go to a science fiction movie together in the evening – their first official date – and she was stuck finishing up her shift at the bookstore. Micky had had some time to kill, so she gave him the keys to her apartment and encouraged him to make himself at home and take a nap if he wanted to. When she got home, she had found him in her bed, curled up like a small boy, poofing out his lips with every exhale of breath, and she had found herself unable to resist running her hands through his curls for the first time. The memory gave her a warm tingly feeling that almost stirred her libido enough to wake Micky up again for another round of farewell sex, but she decided to let him sleep. His rehearsal schedule was rigorous and he'd been expending extra energy to take sightseeing trips with her while she'd been there, as well as making it to as many AA meetings as possible, often with her in tow.

They had done lots of bibliophile activities, such as searching out 221B Baker Street, the home of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, which didn't actually exist, but there was a pub nearby dedicated to the duo and which contained a facsimile of their flat. They also combed through the massive bookstore Foyle's, which had a quirky filing system based on publisher rather than topic. This proved to be bewildering and whimsical and led them both to discover interesting books they might not have otherwise. They went to see a play that Gabby had been dying to see, The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie, her favorite author. The longest continuously running play in history, since 1952, it managed somehow to depict a murder on stage without giving the solution away to the audience and was extremely creepy and suspenseful. And they had spent a whole day poking around the British Museum, looking at not only books, but science and nature type stuff, which scratched the itch of another of Micky's passions.

On the one occasion when Micky got two simultaneous days off, they hired a car and made for the Lake District, the home of children's book author, illustrator and farmer Beatrix Potter of The Tale of Peter Rabbit fame. They enjoyed the scenery, much of which she was responsible for preserving as she had bought up numerous local farms with the profits from her books, then donated them to the National Trust upon her death so that the land would stay unspoiled and available to all to enjoy. Micky and Gabby hiked in the hills and pulled up at a pub for a pint of ale for her and a non-alcoholic cider for him, and warmed their feet by the fire. There was a resident dog who lived in the pub, and soon Gabby had sunk to the floor to sit and play with it as Micky smiled and looked on, reminiscing about their first trip they took together to Carmel when they had met a man on the street walking his two pugs. That had been the genesis of their decision to become doggie parents together.

Speaking of dogs, Dawn was very grateful that she was off the hook from having to take care of the Levitt-Dolenz menagerie since Jan was still living in their house. Jan had decided to wait and see how things went with her new job as Wendy's assistant before she moved into a new place, the better to make a quick getaway and quit her new job with no reservations, rather than committing to a lease or an apartment she couldn't otherwise afford. Micky and Gabby were on board with that plan, knowing that the new Wendy as old Wendy could very well revert back to the old Wendy who was really the new Wendy who had forgotten who she really used to be and where she came from.

It was decided, however, amongst the three of them, that Davy should be alerted as to Jan's whereabouts prior to the commencement of Micky having to work with Davy. He didn't want any nasty surprises cropping up and upsetting the apple cart. He figured it was better that he walk into the London situation with Davy having a full set of facts, not only about where Jan was living, but with her request for an annulment. So Jan served Davy with papers a few days before he left for England. What followed had been a predictable explosion and an uninvited guest upon their doorstep.