#[ me explaining the symptoms to hannah ]

[spiderwarden]

Minthara going quiet for a long moment as she stares off with a thousand yard stare because she can't grasp her surroundings or make left or right of her own mind or the memories she's trying to nail down that she knows is there. She pretends it's not a thing, but that's what happens when you leave the Moonrise Towers with unaddressed damage after you were almost made into a thrall and had your brain blasted by a force a hundred times your size and your own tadpole chomping into your skull for any sort of relief.

[erika111111]

What mental illness does Josh really have?

On my first several play-throughs/watch-throughs, I thought that he was schizophrenic. But eventually I found the psychiatric report during Sam's section and it gives some interesting information.

So Josh is given antidepressants (Phenelzine during his treatment with Dr. Hill). Antidepressants can actually be used for schizophrenia in some cases, but what's interesting is the withdrawal side effects. Chris states "he's definitely off his meds" and "he's sick." So it's pretty obvious he hasn't been taking his medication lately. So let's take a look at some of the withdrawal side effects.

Hallucinations - I think this is the most prominent one, and also a strong indicator for him being schizophrenic. But the withdrawal side effects from his antidepressants also give him hallucinations as well. I don't think I really need to explain this one much, the entire sequence where he sees Hannah and Beth and also the Dr. Hill sequences are obviously hallucinations.

Paranoia - This is pretty similar to the above and I think they both go hand in hand.

Aggressiveness - I think the best example of this would be when he punches Ashley, as they make a specific point out of it. "You punched Ashley, you piece of shit!" "I got... so mad!" It was literally like Josh couldn't control himself.

Slurred speech - A lot of people point out that Josh talks very slowly and slurred sometimes. Now, we never see what he sounds/talks like before he's off his meds, so it potentially could have been the same, but I think it's worth pointing out regardless.

Ataxia - A common symptom of ataxia is a lack of coordination and unbalanced movement. Josh walks with a limp; a lot of people notice this during the Psycho/Sam chase scene.

So this is all very interesting and something to take into consideration. The fanbase seems to accept Josh being schizophrenic as a fact, including me for a while, but this could prove otherwise. Of course, there's no definitive proof either way. He could be schizophrenic given the wrong medication. He could be depressed and suffering from horrible withdrawals. It's never stated specifically, but again, I think it's worth pointing out that a lot of the withdrawal symptoms are what Josh is going through in the game.

Honestly, I think both schizophrenia and medication withdrawals are important to portray in media, so I'm happy either way. I have several family members with schizophrenia and was even the caretaker for one of them at one point. It disgusts me that there's such a stigma around schizophrenia and people view anyone with this condition as a monster. So I like that, if Josh is schizophrenic, he can be portrayed in a sympathetic light. On the other hand, I've personally dealt with antidepressant withdrawals. Despite being on meds that were supposed to help my depression, I was still so insanely depressed and I just stopped taking them because I felt like they weren't helping me enough anyway. I don't think these feelings and actions are portrayed enough in media at all, so I'd like some representation of that as well.

I feel like I'll get some negative pushback for this post, but in no way is this supposed to be negative. It's literally just supposed to be informative and also, for me, it's a win-win because I have a personal connection to both options. And I'm sick and tired of ableism and it's nice to see some good representation either way.

[creaturefeaster]

Does anyone know that Vilmr/Zack/Fernando are werecats?

Well, I can answer this very simply and to the point, or I can back up a little and elaborate much much further to explain werecat-ism and what it means for people to know if one is indeed a werecat.

.......And if you know me well enough, I'm gonna go with the latter.

So werecats are considered a pretty big issue on the continent the story takes place in. It is considered equivalent to an incurable plague to those who are turned, and those who are born into it are usually feared, shunned, and banished. Or worse. Nobody who isn't already a werecat wants to be one, they are scared of it and many think it's a taint on the body & soul.

The continent before The Fault was going two different ways to fix the growing issue of werecats: Hunting them, or trying to fix them through medicine & magic. So of course you can either hide your wild side out of fear of being killed, or reveal it in hopes of getting "fixed."

There are some communities and people who believe it not to be a plague, a curse, whatever you want to call it, but instead something that needs to be accommodated.

Vilmr, who was turned and not born into it, was very fortunate to have an understanding guardian. Maja did all that she could to help him keep his growing symptoms under control, and was prepared to use magic to help further hide his wild side. Not because she wanted him to be fixed (though Vilmr certainly wished to be), but because she just wanted to keep him safe.

Nobody but Maja knew he was afflicted. He hadn't even turned fully yet by the start of their story-- it comes with age & puberty if you are afflicted young enough. A couple of people who knew werecats in their life could guess what was up with Vilmr (Hannah, Taylor, Zack himself), but nobody else knew for sure.

It isn't until Vilmr cannot hide it any further and turns for the first time, that it is revealed with certainty.

Zack is a totally different case. He was born into it, has always been proud of it, and doesn't try hard to hide it. He knew when it was smart to hide it and how to keep it separate from his otherwise human identity, but his friends knew. His community knew that a werecat was in the area, but he was smart enough to not be tracked by those who cared.

Some of his friends would help monthly with securing him somewhere safe & fortified so that on the nights he would be doomed to turn & run rabid, he would not expose himself.

Taylor knew of his cat side, didn't necessarily "approve"/was generally unnerved by it, but he never snitched or anything. And now of course he owes a lot of his life to the fact that Zack has been there to save his skin.

After The Fault, Zack does not hide it at all. There is no law around anymore to punish him, so he shifts as he pleases and doesn't take shit from people who think it wrong to do so. Everyone knows he's a werecat.

Fernando was similarly born into it. His father (Hannah's father) loved a woman who was afflicted and never judged her for it, and their son would be born a werecat from his mother's side. His birth mother wouldn't be in their life for long, because she would be found and unfortunately "dealt with."

His dad would later have a newborn daughter with someone else. Fernando's father, step mother, and step sister Hannah would know he is a werecat. He would work hard to keep it secret from others, though, and nobody else but extremely close friends would know.

Most of the main cast do not know Hannah's step brother is a werecat, largely because she didn't think it was necessary or relevant to share that information about someone who wasn't even around. Eventually though, a few people find out when he shows up, mostly because he A) uses his wild side to help, and B) wants to help Vilmr who struggles to keep that side of himself under control.

A lot of the main cast (of the living, the mimes are a different discussion) are understanding of Vilmr. A lot do not trust Zack, not because of his wild side, but that part certainly doesn't help their prejudices. Fernando, none of them know him all that well enough to feel safe, especially after their issues with Zack... but, they eventually come around to him.

A majority of people in the world do not trust werecats, and people like Vilmr are very lucky to have friends who do not judge him for it. Some still do, but there isn't much they can do about it now that society has crumbled.

TL;DR, Nobody knows about Vilmr at first until he can no longer hide it. Everyone knows about Zack because he doesn't bother to hide it. People find out pretty quickly about Fernando when he feels like he needs to reveal it.

miaou!

[ru5t]

knowing your partner can potentially make writing together a lot easier !

– BASICS.

♡ NAME: Hannah

♡ PRONOUNS: she/her

♡  AGE: 25+

♡  TIME ZONE: CST (GMT -5)

–THREE FACTS.

♡ I moderate a(n overw.atch) twitch channel/community! It's good fun and very dear to me but also sooooo so frustrating, sometimes.

♡ When I was little I was convinced I was going to grow up to become a veterinarian. I do not think the level of schooling or the uhhhhh amount of strong stomach it takes is actually for me.

♡ I strongly suspect I have an anxiety disorder and ADHD(? or a similar symptom set) but have no official diagnoses. At any rate, executive dysfunction you bitch.

–EXPERIENCE.

♡   HOW LONG (MONTHS / YEARS?): I have been on tumblr since 2011 but I've been storytelling/rping basically since like. ... You know how most kids act out their imaginative play? I did a looooooooottttt of "explaining" (/narrating, whatever you want to call it) and very little physical playing-things-out. Yes, I know what that is a common early indicator of. I'm unpacking that one shhhhh.

♡   PLATFORMS YOU’VE USED: uhhhh paper (as in i'd pass a notebook back and forth with school friends), IMVU, dA, various dms, twitter, forums, tumblr, a chatroom i forgot the name of we'd use for tumblr 'events', discord, wire

♡   BEST EXPERIENCE: Actually just the experience of rp in general. I have learned a lot through writing and the people who gave me grace in the process of it.

–MUSE PREFERENCES.

♡   MASCULINE OR FEMININE: I don't think I have a preference, per se? But I do seem to gravitate toward guy canons, whereas my OC roster tends to be waaaay more fluid and diverse, but I don't think there's any particular reason for this? Just the pattern of characters who appeal to me tend to be dudes in popular media, I guess? I did almost write Liz from Hellb.oy and Nomi from Sens.e8, in addition to the other canon ladies I have on the multi+Kiri's blog.

♡  FLUFF, ANGST OR SMUT: I actually kind of like. what I will call exploring? You put two characters in a box. Sometimes you shake it, or put a blanket in there, but mostly you just.... see what happens. Also tho I'm the fluff queen ♥ Good angst/whump has to come from somewhere and go somewhere else, I don't like to force it or just throw it around without reason or consequence, if that makes sense? And I like smut in theory but I don't have a lot of practice and my comfort level is a verrry narrow ledge I'm working on building up better, because genuinely it seems fun and interesting.

♡   PLOTS OR MEMES: I enjoy a little bit of bg plotting but also sometimes just really want to completely wing it and feel out the chemistry before committing to anything. Once we have a ground floor I like to build (and spiral)!!! I struggle with doing a bunch of memes when there's no floor to stand on, it starts to get really challenging in an un-fun way, and I feel like it's repetitive and uninteresting to write and to read. If a dynamic never has footing it can never evolve, y'know? Gotta give me something, something has to stick at some point.

♡   LONG OR SHORT REPLIES: No preference! Even when I start out 'short' I find I often end up unspooling into longer stuff but it doesn't have to I'm just wordy. I don't care if I consistently get shorter stuff back, as long as it suits the like. Yes, and. of it all. As long as there's something to work forward from I'm chillin!

♡   BEST TIME TO WRITE: I don't have a conscious preference but I do seem to have more success in early morning hours. No idea what that's about.

♡ ARE YOU LIKE YOUR MUSE(S): Sometimes. A lot of them get teeny tiny bits and pieces of my views or opinions. I have never felt more Seen by a show than when Luke Pat.terson ghost-apparitioned into my life, even if his One Thing is not my One Thing, but we don't have to unpack that. Me 'n Henry have some childhood traumas in common (except he lives in a fairytale where he gets a thing I don't get) but I don't know that he's particularly like me. Maddy did super duper on a technicality start out as a form of self insert, but it's complicated because also super duper on a technicality so did her mom (who actually existed first! which is rare. Normally I build center-out but this time it was a generation back and Tech just sort of happened, which was crazy and fun), and they both really migrated away from that sooo quickly that it's weird to me to think that was ever even technically true. In the long run Maddy got more of 'me' than Mayhem ever did but it has always been in a hyperbolic and/or metaphorical way. She's definitely grown with me, which has been an Experience and a half. All of them, by virtue of being written by me, are subject to my sense of humor in the narrative parts of the writing, whether they would think it's funny or not.

[passivepensive]

for a second i remembered how it felt to love my

father

as soon as i had palmed it, just as quickly it had

faltered

standing in a thrift store, browsing movies, films, and

frames

funny that a picture frame would make me feel that

way

too much to process all at once, placed back upon the

shelf

run away from streams and fish, my fear is of

myself

hunting gear and pépère near, a smile on his

face

i haven’t seen it for some time, i fear it’s lost its

place

pluto transits, things will change, in this world

there’s no ordain

the many lives that he has lived, i am born from

all the pain

now maybe, maybe that explains

why i exist in writhing aches

and patience never knew my name

my destiny is far from fame

make no mistake, “make no mistake”

perfection is the king of shame

symptoms he’s passed down to me

i exist in tragedy

and calluses are on my feet

my destiny will not defeat

it’s part of him, he’s part of me

more than i’d like him to be

in my brain, it’s living well

his home is hell

the walls could tell

no little bear

no dinner bells

no ireland

no wishing wells

odd, peculiar

mirror realm

my childhood

but just a shell

tarnishings

on silver helms

gunnery sargent

kill spree spell

i’d rather be away, and well

i’d rather be with hannah and henry

they’d still be here, if he wasn’t so heavy

if smoke from his lungs could turn into candy

the babies could have it, and finally be happy

have something in life to remind them of daddy

other than glass rose, black licorice taffy

women too young and emotions too sappy

living too rugged, high desert white trashy

jeep patriot, curtains hung in the backseat

lays classic chips and pistachio ice cream

5 dollar charge in the kitchen for whining

L E D bulbs to save money on lighting

i can’t do my homework with mom and dad

fighting

not swimming through life, everyday always

trying

and one day, i know, that your light will be

dying

and maybe that scares me, but mostly i’m

lying

to myself, to my sister, to brian, too

frightening

to face all the ways he’s made me through

mining

digging out coal from his mind, scorching,

piping

so the frame stays at goodwill, and i stay a

shaving

a piece, just a fragment, of his wills and

sayings

i’d rather be half, than a whole whose all

knowing

[ask-crimson-weaver]

Yes? Several varieties, if that off-handed comment from Strange that one time holds any weight. And, I mean, if it was one of the magical varieties, it could explain that ‘itchy feeling’ I kept getting while near Hannah? Could have been me picking up on it, but just not being able to pinpoint it.

But I don’t just want to jump to an assumption. Let me… let’s look at the bigger picture of all the symptoms (including a few more she’s just mentioned):

-fangs

-light sensitivity (to the point of avoiding daylight)

-extreme hunger (but hasn’t craved blood yet… I think?)

-stronger sense of smell (she’s having a worse time about the hand cream smell than I am)

-can apparently hear our heartbeats????

…oh my gosh you might be right.

So… good-ish news! Hannah says she’s feeling relatively better compared to how she’s been for the past bit. Still a bit tired, but her ache-y ness is gone.

As for why it’s gone… uh, probably dipping into the bad news to answer that. Because I’m pretty sure my girlfriend didn’t have fangs last time I checked.

[foxy-eva]

Harbinger of Hope

Summary: When a strange girl appears in Spencer’s life and claims to be his half-sister, he is confronted with the demons of his past and turns to his wife for comfort

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader

Category: Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a hopeful ending

Please read the CW, this story contains potentially triggering topics! 

Content Warnings: (16+ for heavy themes) mentions of William Reid, implied csa/child abuse, Spencer shows PTSD symptoms (nightmares, flashbacks), crying, mentions of therapy

Word count: 4.9k

Masterlist

Despite all the uncertainties I had to face in my life, the past three years had taught me that I could always be sure of one thing: no matter what happened, my wife would be waiting for me at home with open arms. When I saw her warm eyes and the curve of her lips once I stepped through our front door, I knew that things would be okay. 

When I came home from work that day, I immediately sensed that something was different. My wife stepped around the corner to greet me but instead of the warmth she usually radiated, the only thing I could read from her expression was concern. 

“What’s wrong?” 

Before she answered me, her eyes fell to the floor. I followed her sight, noticing a pair of small red converse shoes that definitely didn’t belong to any of us sitting right before me. 

“Spencer, there is someone here who would like to talk to you,” she said, the tone in her voice impossible for me to interpret. 

I raised my eyebrows at her, confused as to why she was being so secretive and careful with the words she chose. Before I could ask her who it was, she motioned for me to come to the living room with her. 

A young woman was sitting on the couch, fidgeting nervously with the seam of her shirt. She got up when she saw me entering the room, lifting one hand to awkwardly wave at me. I was sure that I had never seen her before. 

“Hi…Spencer,” she muttered. 

In an instant, the alarms in my body went off. Considering the field of work I was in, my wife should have been smarter than to let a complete stranger into our house. 

With more harshness than intended I snarled, “Who are you? What do you want?”

The girl seemed shocked at the tone in my voice, staring at me with widened eyes and parted lips, hesitant to say anything. 

I felt my wife’s hand making contact with my arm, gently squeezing it until I looked at her. 

“She’s your sister.”

Nothing about what I heard made any sense to me and I huffed in response, “I don’t have a sister.” 

The young woman seemed to have found her voice again and explained, “You do. Well, half-sister actually. William Reid is my father… our father.”

I was skeptical. She seemed to notice that, turning to her purse to pull out a small folder. Stepping closer, she handed it over to me. I hesitated to take it, so my wife reached for it instead. She opened it and took out a document, handing it to me. It was a birth certificate. 

“I assumed you would want to have proof that I really am who I claim to be,” the girl stated. 

She was right to assume that. I looked over the document several times in an attempt to wrap my head around the information I gathered with the paper in my hands. Her name was Hannah Reid, she had turned eighteen a few weeks ago, making her almost half my age. She was born in Las Vegas, her mother was Samantha Reid and William Reid was her father. Our father. 

A part of me had always wondered if he had started another family after leaving my mom and me. 

My wife took the document from my hands, suggesting, “Why don’t we all sit down.” 

I complied, moving with her until we were seated on the couch. She handed me the folder to look at the rest of what was in there. There were photographs showing the girl sitting in front of me at different ages together with my father and a woman I assumed to be her mother. 

Placing the folder on the coffee table, I looked at the young woman once more. Her hair was darker than mine and fell over her shoulders in loose curls. The golden sprinkles in her eyes were similar to the ones I found when I looked into the mirror. 

Despite my memory of him being slightly blurred, I could still see the resemblance of my father in her facial features. This girl - Hannah - was telling the truth. She was my half-sister. 

“I still don’t understand why you’re here,” I mumbled. 

Instead of answering me, she said, “He talks about you. A lot. I think he is very proud of you.”

“I don’t give a fuck what he thinks about me!”

Hearing her words made something inside of me snap, having me jump up from my place on the couch. Hannah stared up at me in shock, clearly overwhelmed with my reaction. My wife grabbed my wrist to pull me back down into a seating position, wrapping her hand around mine when I found my place beside her once more. 

When my eyes found Hannah’s again, her shocked expression had morphed into something different. Her features had softened, as if she had seen something familiar in my reaction. I felt my insides twisting at the thought that we might have more in common than just shared DNA. 

“I couldn’t stay there anymore, so I dropped out of highschool and left. You’re my only family, Spencer. I didn’t know where else to go,” she told me with a slight shaking in her voice, implicitly confirming my previous thought. 

She ran away from home in hopes to find the family our father couldn’t be for her with me instead. I took a deep breath, attempting to contain the chaos breaking out inside me.

“What about your mother?” I heard my wife’s voice. 

“I told her that I couldn’t stay under the same roof with him. She said that if that’s the case, my father is not the one who has to move out,” Hannah’s voice broke at the last word as her lip started trembling. She bit down on it before she completely lost her composure. I wished I was able to do the same, but I felt any rational thought quickly being drowned by my inner turmoil. 

She moved a little closer, looking directly at me as she whispered, “Our father… he is not a good man.”

“You think I don’t know that?!” 

This time my wife couldn’t hinder me from getting up and walking away. I shut the bedroom door behind me, ignoring her calls for me to come back. I reached the bed right when the dizziness overcame me, the softness of the mattress cushioning the heavy fall of my body. 

The metallic taste in my mouth right then was the same I tasted as a little boy at night, biting the insides of my cheeks too hard to distract me from the man who wasn’t supposed to hurt me. The thought that history had repeated itself when my sister was born was too much for me to handle.

Old habits die hard. Innocent souls die easily. 

Deep down I knew that she deserved a different reaction from me. She was looking for someone to comfort her, only to find a man who was even more broken than she was. 

My wife sounded further away than she actually was when I heard her calling out my name. It was only a matter of time for her to come after me, I knew that. But in that moment, I didn’t want anyone to see me like this. 

“Leave me alone,” I breathed. “Please.” 

She should have been smarter than to touch me then. When her palm made contact with my arm, my whole body flinched, having her retract right away. 

With my face still buried in the pillow, I begged her, “Please, I need some space.” 

“Okay,” she whispered, “but I will be back in a bit.” 

There was no way for me to tell how much time had passed when I finally felt like the chaos inside me had simmered down a bit and the memories I still wished to be repressed were safely locked in the back of my mind for now. 

My hands ran through what I assumed to be an already disheveled mess of hair as I sat up at the edge of the bed. I took a couple of deep breaths in an attempt to ground myself when I heard footsteps coming closer. Looking up, I found my wife smiling softly at me. 

“Hey,” she breathed as she sat down beside me. “Is it okay if I touch you now?” 

I nodded, already yearning for her comforting touch. Her palm glided over my back and I leaned closer until my head rested on her shoulder.  

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

“It’s okay, Spencer. We both knew that setbacks were inevitable when you started working on this with a therapist.” 

She was right, we had talked about it a while ago. I just hadn’t expected it to hit me so hard after feeling fine for months. 

“Yeah I just didn’t think one of those setbacks would come in the form of my… my sister.” 

It was the first time that I actually said that out loud. My sister. Hannah was my sister, a family member I didn’t know I had. I wondered if I could have prevented her from harm had I known about her existence earlier. That was when I realized something. 

“She was looking for protection from her mother, the woman who was supposed to love her the most, only to be rejected by her. And now I’m doing the same.” 

“You don’t have to. You have a choice,” my wife reminded me.  

I sat back up straight to look at her. She was still smiling at me, patiently waiting for me to man-up enough to make the right decision. I just wasn’t sure that I could. 

“I don’t think I can help her…,” I confessed. 

Her fingertips met my cheeks, wiping away already dried tears. I leaned into her touch, listening to her when she said, “I hope you know that I will support you no matter how you decide to handle this. I just need you to keep in mind that however you react to her will have a huge impact on her life. I don’t want you to regret this later on.”

I got up from the bed, my wife moving with me, looking at me wide-eyed when I finally decided, “I need to talk to her.” 

“She left thirty minutes ago. She told me she was staying at a motel and left the information on the kitchen counter. I think she was hoping you’d come find her. Do you want me to come with you?”

“Thank you, but I think I need to do this alone.”

My wife pulled me into a tight hug before her lips captured mine in a chaste kiss and reminded me, “I’m only a phone call away.”

The drive to Hannah’s motel wasn’t long enough to sort through all of my thoughts. I stood in front of her motel room door for minutes, contemplating whether I actually wanted to do this. I felt nervous about how she would react to me and maybe even more than that, I was uncertain how I would react to her. 

Her presence was a reminder of the pain I once felt but that wasn’t her fault. She was the wrong person to blame. 

Three firm knocks against the wooden door announced my visit. She swung the door open a moment later, staring at me like a deer caught in headlights. 

Just like she did earlier, I lifted my hand to motion an odd wave, accompanied by a timid, “Hi.”

“Hi Spencer. Come in,” she said as she stepped aside to let me enter the room. 

The place looked a little chaotic with clothes and cosmetics randomly placed on basically every surface. My eyes fell to the book on her nightstand. 

“What are you reading?” I wanted to know. 

“It’s just a collection of sappy love poems of writers long gone.”

Her statement made me smile. “You like reading poetry?” 

“Yeah, I do. It reminds me that there is more to life than what I have seen. More for me to explore, something different for me to feel,” she explained while her eyes dropped to the floor. 

“I know exactly what you mean. And you’re right, there always is more for us to explore.” I paused as I tried to find the right words to continue. 

She found the words before I could, snickering, “You mean like, how to be a brother?”

I joined her in her laughter, “Yeah you must know I’m really new to this brother-thing, but I am willing to learn.”

“That’s okay. I haven’t been anyone’s sister before either.” 

Her reaction sparked a warmth in my chest, a feeling I could only describe as hope spreading within me. 

“Hannah, I need you to know, my reaction earlier… was not about you-” 

“It was about him. I figured, ”she interrupted me before I had to say anything neither of us wanted to hear. 

There was no need for us to speak the words to tell each other our stories. It was a silent understanding I hadn’t experienced with anyone before. Not even with Morgan. 

I decided to address the inevitable, “So, what was your plan when you came here?”

“I don’t really know. I hoped that you could help me get on my feet.”

I wanted to make sure that I got what she was saying. “So, it’s money you need?”

She looked offended when she heard my words. “What? No! That’s not what I meant. It’s not a lot but I have a bit saved up and I’m planning on getting a job as soon as possible. It’s just really hard being all by myself. I don’t think I can do this alone.”

I stepped a little closer to her, just close enough so I could see those eyes that resembled mine almost perfectly. “It’s a good thing that you’re not alone anymore.”

“Yeah?” She giggled, “You think you could get me a job at the FBI then?” 

“You would have to finish school first.” 

She nodded and smiled as she said, “It’s on my bucket list. Right next to getting to know my big bro.”

Her choice of words made me laugh, having her chime in with me instantly. 

After a few moments I offered, “You know, we have a guest bedroom that’s actually much nicer than this room. You could stay there for a little while until we have figured this out.” 

“I would really like that. Thank you.” 

There was a comfortable silence between the two of us on the car ride to my house. It was odd to me how someone I had just met suddenly felt so familiar to me. 

When we got back my wife had already prepared the guest bedroom to welcome Hannah into our house – and into our lives. 

I was sure I would be able to find rest inside my wife’s embrace that night. She held me tight against her chest and the sound of her heartbeat became a pacemaker for my own, finally slowing down at last. But just when I drifted off to sleep, I was reminded that those brief moments of relief never lasted long enough for me. 

Demons were most powerful at night after all. Carefully they put leeches on my chest to suck my corrupted soul right out of me. 

It’s just a dream. It’s just a dream. 

My own voice echoed inside my head until it morphed into the sound of my father’s whispers. 

It’s just a dream. Go back to sleep, Spencer. 

“It’s just a dream. Wake up, Spencer,” I cooed when I noticed my husband’s sleeping body starting to shake.

My fingertips met his cheeks, wiping away saline droplets falling from closed lashes. 

“It’s me. I’m here.”

His eyes shot open and before I could react to his panicked state, he pushed me away and jumped up from bed, running to the bathroom and shutting the door. I was right behind him, my hand meeting the wood right when I heard him lock it from the other side. 

“Please, don’t shut me out,” I mumbled against the door. 

I pressed the side of my face against the wood, hoping I could somehow share my warmth with him through the barrier. The dulled sounds of broken sobs went directly into my body, letting me flinch, feeling as if his pain would somehow etch into my bones. My heart shattered at the thought of him sitting alone on the cold tiles. 

Rattling on the doorknob, I pleaded, “Spencer, please…”

To my surprise, he opened the door. Despite his height he seemed so small with his shoulders hanging low and his whole body shaking.

“Make it stop,” he whimpered and my heart broke some more. 

Tears were streaming down his face and my hands instinctively reached for his cheeks to catch them. Before I made contact, I hesitated. 

“Is it okay to touch you?” 

He nodded, letting my palms rub over his face until I was only spreading the wetness instead of getting rid of it. I wrapped my arms around his neck instead, feeling him leaning his weight against me. His body felt heavy against my own but I knew it was nothing compared to the crushing weight he felt on his shoulders that moment. 

Burying his face into the crook of my neck, his sobs became erratic and uncontrolled and his hands gripped the fabric of my shirt in an attempt to find support. It wasn’t enough, though, no matter how much I wanted to, I couldn’t keep him upright. 

I gently guided him to the floor instead.  

With my arms wrapped securely around his body, he leaned against me as we sat on the ground together. Without a second thought I started to softly cradle him, swaying from side to side ever so slightly. His fingers were still gripping my shirt hard while my fingertips gently danced over his back. He was used to the harshness of life but I was here to show him something else. 

Spencer deserved softness. 

“I’m here, I got you,” I whispered as I placed a kiss into his unruly curls. 

He cowered inside my embrace, his long arms and legs bent and folded to the point where it was impossible to recognize the grown man he was. Right then I wasn’t comforting my husband, no. I was holding the scared little boy he once was in my arms, longing for someone to protect him from the chaos of the world. 

“You’re safe with me. It’s okay.” 

Like a mantra I kept repeating it, hoping that it somehow would imprint into his mind to form a new truth. It was understandable that he was skeptical, scared of getting hurt again. But I wouldn’t let that happen. No matter how long it would take, I would sit with him like this until my love would finally spill over into his heart to heal his wounds. 

The trembling of his body got worse, his chest was heaving as he was struggling to get enough oxygen into his lungs. When I wanted to lean back slightly to let him get more air, he held onto me, making it impossible for me to move away. 

“Don’t leave me,” he breathed. 

“I won’t, I promise. I’m here.”

Slowly but surely my husband’s breathing slowed down and there were only a few broken sobs left to wreck through his body. He was still pressed against my chest and I didn’t dare to loosen my arms wrapped around him. I wanted to keep him in place, close to my heart where nothing could harm him. 

“My love,” I purred, “I hope you know if I could take your pain away, I would.” 

A quiet hum was all the response I got but it was enough. He heard what I was saying and maybe he would even believe it someday. As he started to stir inside my embrace, I noticed how he let go of the fabric of my shirt, wiping over his eyes instead. He sat up and leaned against the wall behind us, not yet daring to look at me. 

With a raspy and trembling voice he sounded a lot like what I imagined him as a little boy when he asked, “Do you still love me?” 

Shifting my position, I turned to face him, my palm meeting his cheeks to encourage him to look at me. Even with the dim lighting of the lamp on my nightstand I could clearly make out the dark circles under his eyes and the red rims where his tears had spilled over his lashes. 

“Yes of course,” I cooed, “I love you more than anything.”

His sight fell from mine once more as he removed my hand from his face with his own. He let my fingertips linger in his palm, though, allowing me to stay physically connected with him anyway. 

“Even though you didn’t know how broken I was when we got together?” 

What I would have given in that moment to be able to show him what I saw in him. I took both of his hands in mine, giving them a gentle squeeze as I told him, “You are so much more than what happened to you. This doesn’t define you. Spencer, you are not damaged goods.”

“I don’t deserve you.”

It was not the first time he said something like that but that didn’t change the fact that it still stung every time I heard those words. 

“Yes, you do. What you don’t deserve are all the atrocities you had to endure.” 

His eyes found mine again and I couldn’t hold back the gasp as I saw a dark glimmer in them. It wasn’t my intention but my words had caused his pain to shift into something else. He got up from the place on the floor in one swift motion, starting to walk up and down our bedroom. That was when I saw it. 

Anger. 

He ran his hands through his hair, pacing up and down, clearly unable to control his emotions. I got up from the floor, watching his every move. 

Without looking at me, he starting yelling, “I just don’t understand why I can’t pull myself together and just fucking get over it!” 

Rage.

“Healing isn’t linear, Spencer.”

Before I could grasp what was happening, Spencer groaned, took the three books from his nightstand and threw them across the room until they smashed into the wall opposite from where I stood and tumbled to the floor. 

Fury. 

I slowly walked over to him, reaching out my hand in an attempt to make contact. When he realized what I was doing, he flinched away from me, hissing, “Don’t!” 

The tone in his voice made me wince and I took one step back to give him more space. With parted lips and a heaving chest he tried to get back his composure. When he sat down on the edge of the bed, I stepped closer once more.  

With his face buried into his hands, I heard him muttering, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Shame.

Crouching down before him, I reached out my fingers. He welcomed my touch this time. I found his hands and pulled them from his face until he would look at me, unable to conceal the guilt visible in his expression. 

“I’m not scared of you because I know you would never hurt me. I would be angry too if all of this had happened to me. It’s okay to feel this way.”

“I just want it to stop hurting so much,” He whimpered as saline droplets started to stream down his face again.

Without letting go of his hands, I sat on the bed beside him, promising, “And I will be by your side, no matter how long it will take for you to get there.”

For the first time in what felt forever, a timid smile appeared on Spencer’s face. He brought my hands to his lips, leaving feather-light kisses on each of my fingertips, only to be interrupted by a quiet knock against our bedroom door. 

It seemed like only then he remembered that we had a guest sleeping in the room just a few feet away from ours. I got up to open the door, finding Hannah staring at me with concern clearly visible in her expression. 

“Is everything okay? I heard yelling and-,” her eyes fell to the scattered books on the floor just mere inches away from my feet, “-well, that apparently.” 

“We’re fine. Go back to sleep, Hannah,” I told her. 

She didn’t buy it, instead tilting her head until she could spot her brother sitting on the bed. 

“Spencer…,” she whispered, having him look up at her. 

There was no way I could have stopped her from entering the bedroom to walk over to him. Spencer didn’t seem to mind. She stopped in her tracks when he got up from the bed, faking his best smile to try not to upset her. 

She saw right through him. 

“I don’t want to be the reason you feel this way,” she mumbled.

Spencer’s smile dropped and I stepped closer to the both of them. 

“You’re not the reason-”

“-but I’m the reminder,” she interrupted her brother. When he didn’t find the right words to respond to that, she added, “I think I should go back to the motel.”

“Don’t leave,” Spencer breathed, “please.” 

Hannah couldn’t conceal the trembling in her voice when she asked, “Why not? I have brought you nothing but pain.” 

“That’s not true,” he countered. “When I came to see you in your motel room, I realized something. Yes, you’re a reminder of a time I would rather forget. But much more than that, you remind me of something else.” 

He paused, looked out of the window and I followed his sight, finding the darkness of the night slowly vanishing as dawn crept closer. 

“Hope.”

He turned his head and looked at her once more, explaining, “You didn’t bring me pain, Hannah. No, this pain was already here. You brought me hope. Hope that there is more for me to explore, to feel.”

The girl was clearly overwhelmed with the situation, unable to find a response to what my husband just told her. I knew her expression very well, having seen it in Spencer countless times before. 

“Would you like a hug, Hannah?” I offered. 

She nodded and I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her closer to provide a little bit of the comfort she so clearly yearned for but Spencer couldn’t fully give her. Yet.  

When she was ready to let go of me I suggested, “Why don’t we all go back to bed and try to get some more sleep?” 

“Okay,” she mumbled as she left our bedroom, “Good night.”

Spencer followed my advice as well, crawling into our bed and pulling the comforter over his body. I joined him just seconds later, pressing my chest into his back and placing a soft kiss right below his ear. He turned around to face me, wrapping me into his arms, pulling me closer until I nestled my face into the crook of his neck. 

His lips met the top of my head while he let his fingertips dance over my back. One of my hands slipped under the hem of his shirt to make contact with his skin, my palm gliding over his back without a barrier until I slowly started drifting off to sleep. 

“You are amazing and I love you,” Spencer whispered but I was already too far gone to answer him. 

The morning sun woke me before my alarm could and I stretched my arms out, searching for the warmth of my husband. His side of the bed was empty. My eyes shot open, remembering last night’s events. I got up from bed and called out his name, realizing he wasn’t in the bathroom either. 

Barefoot and only in my pajamas, I stormed out of the bedroom until I heard his familiar voice from the kitchen. When I walked in I found him preparing coffee and Hannah leaning against the counter with an empty mug in her hand. 

My husband turned to me, seemingly unfazed from last night’s events. Not only that, he looked happy. He walked over to me to place a soft kiss on my lips, whispering against them, “Good morning, my love.”

“Ew, get a room!” Hannah giggled. 

Spencer glanced at her with a raised eyebrow and she added, “Just kidding. You guys are cute.” 

She poured herself some coffee and added even more sugar than Spencer usually did. 

“Aren’t you a little young to be drinking coffee?” I snickered. 

“Hey! I’m eighteen, I’m a grown-up,” she countered. 

“Actually, the brain isn’t fully developed until age 25,” Spencer said matter-of-factly but added in a much sweeter tone, “so it would be totally okay if you didn’t feel like being an adult all the time.”

“That does sound nice, actually. I’m still gonna drink this coffee, though.” 

When Spencer started rambling about the developmental stages of the brain, I went back to the bedroom to get dressed for the day. Once I came back to the kitchen, their conversation had shifted. 

I heard Hannah hinting at something they must have talked about when Spencer came to her motel room. 

“Remember when you said that you were willing to learn how to be a big brother?”

Spencer nodded, “Of course.” 

She turned and pointed at the chessboard we had left on the dining table after our last game. “How about you start by teaching me that?”

“Chess? Yeah, I would really like that.”

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[blueteller]

I was reading through your posts earlier and saw the one about LSH CJS & KRS' abilities, and it made me want to share my personal headcanon for another Ability of KRS. As a disclaimer, I think this is very unlikely to be canon, but I found it such an interesting idea that I have pretty much integrated it into my headcanons and just wanted to share since you were also guessing about potential other abilities for him. Basically, I think an interesting third ability for KRS would be: being in the right place at the right time. I know it sounds pretty lackluster, but hear me out. Over the course of canon, there have been a LOT of lucky coincidences for Cale. He is constantly stumbling into people who desperately need his help at exactly the right moment to provide it (and earn their undying loyalty.) Hannah and Jack are just one of many examples of this. It's like his random encounter chance is at 100% at all times. Now, I do understand this is run of the mill for fiction, and in order to have a good and interesting story you need to maintain a certain suspension of disbelief for the lucky/unlucky coincidences the protagonist runs into, and I have no issues with that, which is why I say I doubt this is a canon ability. BUT, I do think it would be both interesting and reasonable within the setting for KRS to have that sort of ability. To explain my imagined details, it is basically an intuition of "if you go to this place at this time, then something you want/need to do will be there". No hints or anything about what will happen, just "go here and figure the rest out on your own." For the guy who can never leave anyone to suffer, even as he insists he wants to be a slacker, I think it would be something he couldn't ignore. Basically, it is a useless and even confusing ability for anyone but Cale, who has maxed out observation and strategy skills allowing him to notice the Random Encounters in his vicinity. It would also explain all the times he just so happens to run into exactly the person he needs to solve either a current or future problem. Honestly, what inspired me to think about this was the idea that a lot of Cale's dear friends and family members would straight up be dead if he hadn't coincidentally been there to give them the opportunity to save themselves, and it made me really sad so I came up with an Ability to fix it. I basically overthought things so much the power of Cale's protagonist halo leading him to story-relevant events was unable to soothe me, lol.

That's truly, really interesting! I don't think you overthought this at all – because it matches quite well with a certain theory of mine! …Well, not 100%, but hear me out.

Personally, I don't believe that Cale has a "luck" ability.

It's still a solid theory, of course – because if he had such an ability, there's a high possibility that he wouldn't realize it (having lived an extremely difficult life, on the top of being emotionally dense). In his previous life as Kim Rok Soo, he was under the Curse of the God of Death, which caused him constant misfortune and suffering. However, a "luck" ability would alleviate the symptoms a bit. Meaning: despite the odds, KRS still survived. He still made friends. He still experienced joy. Perhaps it was just because the Curse was weakened for KRS in comparison to the White Star, but perhaps he also had a natural affinity for good fortune, which helped him out.

I don't believe that's the case, though. Because you forget another important factor in TCF which hadn't been explained in detail yet: and that is Karma.

Now, according too google, Karma (in Hinduism and Buddhism) is "the sum of a person's actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in future existences." In TCF, it seems Karma is some form of energy, which can be obtained in three ways:

being naturally born with it

saving a lot of people by sacrificing yourself

stealing from other people by killing them

While we know that Karma can be used for transportation between universes ("I dedicate my Karma", a method used by the Hunters), and also having a lot of it means ascention into a divine being like a God or a Wanderer… I believe that Karma is also tied to fate, in a way. Good fate, to be specific.

Someone like KRS, who bore the Curse by no fault of his own, his Karma would remain unaffected. He would have earned a lot of it by saving people through-out his life and sacrificing himself constantly. Remember the incident where Choi Jung Soo and Lee Soo Hyuk died? KRS decided to stay and sacrifice himself, too. Just because he didn't die doesn't mean his sacrifice didn't count.

My point is: I think KRS got a lot of Karma. Which means there was a lot of good fortune in store for him. However, due to the Curse blocking all of it (or most of it, who knows), it was bottled up and unavailable… until the moment he transmigrated as Cale.

As Cale, he suddenly had a huge untapped reserves of good fortune on his side. And I think that was the reason why he was so lucky. He was guided to all the allies he would need by this force of Karma, which is directly tied to Fate. He was even able to alter the fate of the Black Dragon's – Raon's – death. The narrative stated that it was such an important event, that even Nature took notice of it and had to "accept" Raon as living in the world. Cale's earned Karma was so powerful he was able to implement such a huge change.

To sum it up, I don't think Cale is lucky because he's a protagonist written that way, or because it's an ability of his. I really think it's because of Karma, and that we will find out more about it in the future.

Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts with me! I hope my reply did not disappoint 😊

[lene-loki]

The Calm After The Storm Part 7

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

Summary: On the advice of Doctor Lee, (Y/N) tries to get sexual again.

Pairing: Loki x Female!Reader

Warnings: Huge Trigger Warning, mentions of rape, mentions of sexual abuse, A LOT of Angst, suicidal thoughts, mentions of self-harm, Spoiler for The Avengers and Thor: Ragnarok, some fluffy Loki, swearing, SLIGHT SMUT WARNING, masturbation

Word Count: 829

A/N: Hello guys! I hope you enjoy today's chapter. And I just want to thank all of you again for all the positive feedback on this story. That really makes me so so so happy ❤ With Love, Léne xx

Taglist: @lilien-xoxo spacedaddydinn emmojoy dryyoursaltyoceantears hannah-24081

Y/N = Your Name

Blushing cheeks, a constant smile and that never ending tickling in your belly. You are in love and you're having all the symptoms. But lately when Loki touches you even the slightest bit, the tingling wanders from your stomach a tad lower. In your nether regions to be exact. Some nights you get so aroused just thinking about him that you are almost considering to touch yourself.

You've been feeling sexually frustrated the entire morning but you're too insecure to try. What if you can't feel pleasure anymore? What if even your own touch lets hidden memories reappear? You're too scared that it'll hurt you emotionally and physically if you'd touch yourself down there. But still you're feeling excited. So you made an appointement with your therapist after breakfast and now are sitting in her office, explaining her ashamed about your desires. "Have you masturbated since the incident?" Doctor Lee asks, making you even more uncomfortable. You shake your head embarassed. "No I..." You clear your throat. "I didn't have... sexual feelings after the.. incident at all. And I never thought that I would some day have them again." She nods understandingly. "I think you should try." Doctor Lee says assuringly. "Just get comfortable, dim the lights a bit and listen to soothing music. It's really important for you to get into sex again. Otherwise you could be scared of intimate contact for the rest of your life." You know that she's right. And you don't want to be scared of sex for the rest of your life. You want to be able to feel and enjoy this kind of pleasure again.

Like your Doctor recommended, you turn all the lights off inside of your bedroom. You get under the covers and slowly breathe out, tryinf to get comfortable. Soft music is playing in the background and you reach to your bedside table to turn on the little lamp. You focus onto the shadows on the ceiling while you get undressed, savoring every feeling. Goosebumps start to rise on your arms as you get rid of your pullover. When you are fully naked you take a moment to relax. You let your hand slide over your skin. Taking extra time when you reach your breasts. You try to concentrate on the delicate pull between your legs. Eyes closed you're massaging your boobs before you let your hand wander down to your abdomen. You try to let yourself get carried away in the feeling, setting your mind on Loki. You let your teeth sink into your bottom lip while burying your hand between your tender legs. Your fingertips are caressing your center but come to a halt as you reach your folds. It feels weird to touch yourself down there. Not like it used to. And with that the arousal disappeard completely. It hurts you emotionally too much. You can't enjoy it but on the other side you should get through with it otherwise you'll probably never be able to pleasure yourself ever again.

You gave up eventually, feeling like a loser. You changed into your pyjamas and went frustrated to sleep. Now it's ten am and even though you have to be in the construction firm in half an hour you can't seem to get out of your bed. You decide without further ado to call in sick. Reluctantly you get up to grab your phone and dial the company's number. Sighing you get back into your bed again after you reported yourself ill only to have your phone buzzing a minute later. You reach out to it and find a message from Loki. Since the asgardian god's came to earth, Tony equipped them with mobile phones and trained them how to use them in case of an emergency. And of course Loki used it to be in contact with you.

Good morning, my dear. I hope you've been sleeping well this past night. When you are free from work, would you give me a call?

Loki

You have to smile at the way he articulates. Really longing for Loki in more than just emotionally way's, you immediately call him. "Good morning." You can formally hear him smile. "Good morning." You can't help but to smile too. "Aren't you at work?" He wonders. "No. I called in sick." "Oh, are you feeling alright, my dear?" Loki asks in concern, making you snicker. "Yes, I am. I'm not really sick, Loki." "Oh. Then why did you call in sick?" He is sincerely worried and you think that it is extremely cute. "Do you" Your heart starts to pick up a pace. "Do you want to come over?" You are chewing on your bottom lip while waiting for his response. "Yes, I can do that. See you soon, my love." Loki says softly before hanging up. Smiling and already blushing hard you are pressing your phone on top of your chest, waiting for Loki to arrive.

[theonetheycallhannah]

The Treatment of Captain Syverson-Chapter 22: Cognitive Therapy

Characters: Captain Logan “Sy” Syverson, Shane Benton (OFC) Various minor characters, new and established.

Summary: Shane has a successful counseling session, but soon finds herself in a predicament at the library.

Romance and Smut Abound HERE!

Word Count: 3.2k

Warnings: Regular mentions of what happened to Shane throughout. A knife is held to a character’s throat and there are other graphic descriptions to go along with that. 

Author’s Note:  Guys, we are in the home stretch. I know it’s been utter ages since I’ve posted a new chapter to this story, but I think I’ve only got about two more to write before it’s done. Please know that when I’m not writing, I’m thinking about writing. This story and your love for it haunts me daily, in the best of ways. I see new readers liking and sharing past chapters and I can’t tell you how encouraging that is. I would finish it no matter what, but the fact that you guys want it is a driving force behind the urgency I feel.

I want to talk a little bit about cognitive behavioral therapy, which I discuss briefly and in very little detail in the first part of this chapter, especially. For those of you who don’t know, CBT and EMDR therapy are both proven to be highly effective in the treatment of PTSD and other mental illnesses. If you are trying to process and heal from a past trauma, I urge you to seek out a counsellor or therapist who stays up to date on break through, bleeding edge treatment options. Our brains are so powerful, and more complex than any of our other muscles, but we let their health fall by the wayside so often. Which can, and often does lead to physical symptoms such as chronic fatigue, migraines, chronic pain, and many more health issues. There’s a really good video on the MedCircle YT Channel about the physical signs of past trauma that talks about the five most common signs and symptoms. Dr. Judy Ho explains it in broad strokes really clearly. I’m going to try to link the video here so you can check it out. MedCircle does a lot of great videos for free, but is also a paid service for more in depth access to the information. I don’t have a subscription, I just came across them when I was researching PTSD treatment for Shane and found the topics really interesting. My utilization of the treatments and terms in this chapter is very general and I’ve probably made a mess of it, but this is my first draft. I’ll let you all know when I get a publishing deal! ;)

Again, please take care of yourselves. Look for help, have someone help you find help, help yourself, anything, in any way you can. You’re worth the effort and you deserve to be happy and healthy.

I sincerely hope that you all enjoy this chapter of The Treatment of Captain Syverson.

Disclaimer: Unfortunately for me, Henry is not mine, le sigh, and all mention of him, his characters, any characters from his films, or his precious doggy, Kal, are strictly for transformative and recreational use. I neither ask for, nor accept payment for the work I post on Tumblr or AO3. Unbeta’d because this is for fun and escapism. This is an original work by me, Hannah. Please reblog if you wish to share. Please do not repost either in whole or part, as the work of anyone but myself. Thanks so much for reading!

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X@X@X@X@X@X@X@X@X@X@X@

Shane was seated across from her therapist in her cozy, bright office. It used to be a sort of back porch, or sun room. You could tell by the concrete, solid beneath the carpet, and the tall, almost floor-to-ceiling windows covered by stiff linen accordion shades. The walls that weren't essentially full windows were lined with shelves. There were many books, but there were also items that Shane knew would be practical in this trade. There were jars of marbles, of stones, sand, and small toys. There were bins of crayons and stacks of coloring books, and reams of blank paper. There was a clear tub very high with dolls and an assortment of clothes. A variety of stone sculptures and orbs, geodes, small, smooth crystals, and stuffed animals of all sorts. In one corner, there was a desk with a very comfortable looking task chair. It was obscured in part by a pair of matching, light brown sofas, one longer than the other, and opposite the smaller couch was an overstuffed armchair to complement the sofas.

It was all very cozy, Shane thought. This room and most of the items that occupied it fit very well into her aesthetic. Even so, she was far from comfortable. But then, that was the idea.

Although she was surrounded by safety, her eyes were closed, trying to recall a scene from the traumatic events in the basement. Dr. Mikkelson, or as she preferred to be called, Diana, had asked her to call up the experience like a film, and sort of pause it when she got to a certain point. The worst point. It was daunting, and it gave her a cramp in her stomach that was severe enough to have her wanting to reach for her Midol.

"Okay, Shane, I want you to pull that up in your memory, and hold it there for me. How is your body responding to that?"

Shane gulped hard, her body reacting to the nausea with that telltale hypersalivating.

"Honestly trying not to lose my breakfast. Was that the purpose of this exercise?" She asked, her eyes flying open in spite of herself.

Shane felt as though she MUST be visibly turning green. She was scanning the room for a trashcan, or receptacle of any kind. She was sure she'd need it in no time.

"We are going to try some EMDR therapy today. Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. It's designed to sort of, pull your focus from the pain of the memory, anesthetize your mind, if you will. So that you can process the traumatic event more fully than you did at the time."

Shane looked at the woman with a mild scowl, skeptical, but open to trying.

Diana held up her hand, index finger extended, and asked Shane to follow her movement back and forth as she thought. Reliving her abduction, assault, and violation in a flash montage. It hurt, still, but she thought a bit less than it had the few times she'd had to discuss it. The few that still felt like too many. It helped to be somewhat distracted by the movement. She had felt worthless after the incident. Like this awful event had tainted her and made her unfit to be with anyone. To even exist. But she thought, during this exercise, it wasn't quite as bad. More tolerable. Less upsetting. She was surprised at this. At the fact that she wasn't overwhelmed with self loathing. She was able to glimpse that former self-worth.

It was uncomfortable now, to think of how she used to feel. It was like driving past the high school she had attended, or the mini-mall that used to house the coffee shop she'd visit after or between classes when she was in college. It was ghostly without the attachment, the memories now all that remained of her connection to the spaces. The faces within now completely unfamiliar. Her face, itself, with a serene confidence in her skill, her looks, and her overall worth. It seemed almost haughty. As if she had been a puffed up shadow of the skittish and listless thing she now seemed to be. But maybe she could be that self-esteemed boss babe again…

Diana raised her brows expectantly, and asked "What spoke to you?"

"I went to the basement, of course. But it was…easier. Not much, but a little."

"That's really good. Anything else?"

"I sort of…saw myself in a new light? I guess you could say that. It was like I…almost like someone was playing me in a film, and really overplayed the confidence I used to have. I didn't recognize her, even though she was just me, at my best."

"And what do you think about that?"

"I think…I think it's going to be really hard to be that person again. If it's even possible. I don't know." She looked toward the covered windows, not because there was anything to see, but because she could not look at Diana right now. She'd gotten emotional, and just wasn't in the mood for it. She averted her gaze toward the window, despite the fact that its opaque shades were down. The soft glow of the evening sun provided some comfort to her irritated and damaged nerves.

"I think we're just going to keep working at it. You'll get close. I'm sure you will."

She huffed, accepting, rather than agreeing with her therapist's opinion of her potential for recovery. She encouraged her own patients in a similar fashion, especially when they were really frustrated. And it wasn't as though she thought Diana was being less than genuine, but…she was definitely finding out how much harder it was to take encouragement than it was to give it.

She left through the glass-paned door at the end of the room. It was nice to be able to leave and not talk to anyone. See anyone she might know, waiting to go into the space she'd just left. It was more information than she wanted out there to just anyone. Not that she was embarrassed, but she often left sessions in a state of emotional upheaval, and was not eager to display her tears to people who might lack the couth to let her ruminate without asking her questions.

She sat in her car a few minutes to process the exercises Diana had given her and to look for some of the books she recommended on the library website. She pre-checked one and reserved the others for when they came back.

She called Sy on the way to the library. He liked getting report from her about how her sessions went.

"Hey sunshine, how ya doin'?" his warm tone was so comforting and full of love.

"Hi bear. I'm leaving the therapists office right now. We tried something new today, and I think it helped a bit."

"That's great, babe!"

"Yeah, she gave me some homework and recommended some books. I'm on my way to the library to pick one of them up now. Do you wanna get dinner somewhere after?"

"Yeah, may be a bit though. I'm helping Matt drop off a car in Rolla, and we're just about there. I'll be at least a half an hour. But I'll meet you wherever!"

"Okay, ummm, Ruby Tuesday?"

"Love it. Meet you there in about 45 minutes?"

"Great! Love YOU!"

"Love you more, bug." he said deep and low. Sincere.

"Not possible. Bye."

"Bye."

As Shane made her way to the library, she thought about what her therapist had told her today. After all Shane had been through, she still had the capacity to heal. To grow. That was evident to her by the way she felt about Sy, and the emotional wounds beginning to knit themselves closed. They were still very much present. Very tender. And very tenuous. Especially given the fact that Elliott was still at large. Not a sign, a whisper, a hint of him anywhere on the wind, but he was in it. She couldn't help but dread rounding a blind corner or opening a door. Not if she was alone. Not without Sy.

Her coworkers had noticed. She'd only just gone back to work two weeks ago, and it still didn't seem like enough time. She'd requested the secretaries avoid putting male patients on her schedule unless they were kids or elderly. She knew none of her patients would attack her, but new patients…what if…she shook the terrifying thoughts from her head. It didn't merit considering such horrific and wildly unlikely scenarios. It just served to cause her more stress.

She found herself parked at the library, no recollection of the drive there…thankful that she was in one piece, but also hopeful that she hadn't mown down an entire Girl Scout troop on the way…that was always a scary thing.

The scent of used books, dust, and coffee filled her nose as she walked in to the hallowed hall of enlightenment. It wasn't the library of the old world, with stone columns, walnut shelves, and oak desks with those green and gold lamps you so often saw. No, this was a library for the modern world. A fancy coffee bar near the entrance with free and cash drinks, free fruit and cheap baked goods and sandwiches. There was a line of computers near the checkout desk, large cubicles with comfy chairs, power outlets and USB ports for those all day study sessions. Three of the building's four sides were made up of floor to ceiling windows to maximize natural light. There were partially enclosed booths for study groups, cozy chairs in the designated "quiet space," and free Wi-Fi so fast you could almost feel the thrum of information being dispersed and exchanged on the airwaves. She loved it here. It felt safe. Cozy. Inviting.

She walked up to the friendly librarian, a short, bubbly brunette in a lightly distressed "McGonagal-Sprout 2016" election tee, dark skinny jeans, weathered red Converse, and a navy cardigan. Shane smiled at the subtle Harry Potter refence on her shirt and started a conversation with the girl about how different the world would be today if the pairing on her shirt would have been elected that fateful year.

"So, I reserved a book online. Do you have it pulled for me?"

"Yeah, I think! Shane, right?"

Shane nodded and the librarian strode over to a stand of cubbies. She pulled out a large manilla parcel, placed it on the desk and started doing mysterious library computer things.

"Okay, so with this book, it's reminding me to read you a disclosure. 'This title is listed as a workbook, containing various pages that a single reader might fill out if it were their own property. Please do not write in, highlight, dog-ear, or otherwise mark up or alter this title. Doing so could result in significant cash fines to replace the title, and the permanent termination of your Scenic Regional Library membership at this and all other branches of the SRL.'"

Wow, they meant business.

"Truthfully Shane, as long as you fess up if anything happens to the book, we can usually let you slide by just paying the replacement fee, which is based on the book's current market price point. And I can also make you copies of any pages you want to work on."

"Wow, thanks! And did you say when the other's would be in?"

"Hmm, one is about a week past it's due date, but the other is expected back tomorrow. We'll send you a text, email, or call you when either come in. Whichever you prefer."

"Oh, text would be perfect. Thanks."

"Sure! Anything else for you today?"

"Mmm, don't think so!" she noticed some bookmarks in a small display. Various character silhouette's and clever sayings about reading.

Reading will send you to Wonderland.

To Read, or Not to Read…no question!

Girls who read always find their Mr. Darcy

It's Elementary! Reading solves all cases of boredom.

And so forth…

"Are these…free?" Shane asked.

"Sure! Take a few! We've got tons. They're like our business cards. Hand them out if you like!"

Shane thanked the librarian, who she finally noticed was wearing a nametag identifying her as Liz, and started to her car.

She was really looking forward to diving in to some of the exercises Dr. Mikkelson was talking about. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy was fascinating from what she'd learned so far. She immediately started skimming pages and landing on section titles she found intriguing as soon as she got to her car.

Her first mistake was staying there. Instead of going directly to meet Sy. But she told herself she had loads of time.

She was wrong.

Her second mistake was not locking her door immediately after closing it. A habit she had formed while attending college in the city. A habit lost to the years of small town life. Of safety. Of a simpler time. An era never more bygone than at this very second.

This second, her front passenger door flew open, slammed closed, and now, locked. All by hands not her own. She felt cold steel at her throat, turning the shriek of horror she had been summoning into nothing more than a whimper of fear and defeat. She was afraid to make a move to turn her neck and look at the assailant next to her. She lifted her hands, dropping the book and her phone onto the floorboard at her feet. Fuck, she thought.

"My purse is in the back seat, I don't have a lot of money, but I have some credit cards. Take my wallet, just please leave me alone!" Shane squinted, trying not to cry. To relive that horrible day so many weeks ago that felt like yesterday. "I won't even be able to tell the police what you look like because I've never seen your face!" she pointed to her closed eyes.

"Oh, yes, you have, sweetheart." A familiar voice breathed the words into Shane's ear like a poison. She felt the knife's edge twist and skid slightly, breaking the skin and coaxing a few tiny droplets of blood to it's surface. Her stomach churned and her head swam, dizzy under the weight of her current reality. She should have known. She should have been prepared. But it was all too late now.

"Elliott." She spat, trying to maintain what little strength she could find within after the last time they'd seen each other. She remembered her mindfulness training, by some miracle. Observed this moment for what it was and let her emotions live their purpose and pass. She knew every second they were together would beg new instances. Constant application of this tool as her emotions flowed and then ebbed again.

"The one and only. Here in the flesh." she could almost feel the lecherous slime drip from his mouth onto her shoulder, its undetectable vapor clouding her head with pure rage. This feeling was harder to let go of because his mere presence created a constant storm inside her. A storm that she was now certain would mean her end.

But she wouldn't go without a fight.

"Haven't you caused me enough pain? What else could you possibly take from me?"

"Oh, please. You're still employed, with a roof and a car, you still have that meat head lumberjack warming your bed. Or has he decided to cut you loose after your time with my friends? I still owe him for what he and all his little soldier boys did to them. And unlike my friends, YOU still have your LIFE!"

"You really expect me to feel any remorse over that bunch of rapists, especially after the HELL they put me through, personally? Keep dreaming. Sy and his boys did the world a favor when they took them out." She could have scoffed at his inventory of her life. She was unable to enjoy any of the things he mentioned, especially Sy, to their fullest since he'd had her abducted, imprisoned, and defiled. Even if she was working on healing, the wounds were still painful, deep, and slow to even scar, much less disappear entirely. She doubted that would happen. But she wouldn't be giving him anymore satisfaction. He wouldn't learn that he'd ruined her life, even if he hadn't taken it. Yet.

"Shut up and start the car."

"Why should I?"

"Because you don't want me to kill you in a library parking lot. Where any innocent schoolgirl might happen across your corpse, blood flowing from your neck, and all color and life gone from your cold flesh. It would scar her for life. You're too good a person for that."

The compliment was hollow. Meaningless coming from such a monster. But he wasn't wrong. Plus, any extra time she could give herself could mean time to come up with an escape plan. She did as she was told and left the parking lot, following Elliott's instructions to the letter.

She tried to tune out his droning about what he was going to do to her. There was no point listening. She'd honestly rather not see it coming.

But then, there was a glimmer of hope. Sitting across the intersection from her, waiting for a green light, as she was, was a big blue F150. Sy. He was looking down at his phone. Dammit. She had only seconds to signal him. Her mind raced. Suddenly she got herself into a coughing fit and asked Elliott to reach into her back seat to grab her water bottle. He was reluctant, but as her coughing continued and worsened, he switched his knife to the other hand, resting it at her shoulder and started rummaging in the back seat. She began flashing her lights rapidly. After a few rounds he looked up and waved at her. She shook her head at him, grim faced. She could see his confusion turn to horror as he took in what was happening and noticed her passenger sitting back in the seat, fruitless in his search for her water.

"There's nothing back there." Which she knew.

"Hmm, I could have sworn I'd put one in that back cup holder as a spare." she sputtered, ending the fake coughing fit.

She tried to drive slowly so Sy had a better chance of keeping up with them.

"The speed limit's 45 through here." he chided. She covered with a sigh.

"This feels familiar. Can you not get off my back about the driving? Are you permanently mounted there to criticize my every decision? Even now that we're not together?" He'd always been like that. She couldn't do anything right. Even driving. "I was trying to drive under the radar. You don't want to get pulled over, do you? Because I could drive with reckless abandon hoping to be noticed by someone in a squad car. Say the word!"

"Just get us there sometime before midnight, okay?"

"Might be easier if I knew where 'there' was…"

"Don't worry about it. You'll find out soon enough."

Shane's blood ran cold at the implication of doom in Elliott's tone. As if the Grim Reaper himself had uttered the words. She prayed as she never had before. If Sy didn't catch up with them, she'd need a miracle to get through this alive.

Up Next: Chapter 23-Tactical Defense 

[ggukkiedae]

❝𝕒𝕓𝕤𝕠𝕝𝕦𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟❞

𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚜:

⇢ hannah and donghyuck talk things out

⇢ set in 2017 (after the katalk incident) (part 2 to forsaken words)

𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜:

⇢ mentions of trauma, symptoms of anxiety, and very very subtle mention of domestic abuse

𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜:

⇢ requests and feedback are highly appreciated!

Johnny didn’t like getting angry.

It’s not like he wasn’t a normal person who would express their anger. He just liked keeping the image of the chill and approachable hyung. That’s why he usually left the scolding for Taeyong or Doyoung to do. This was a little different, though.

He took Hannah under his wing the moment he saw the little girl walk into SM Entertainment with her wide eyes and nervous air. He knew what she experienced in her childhood. He even unofficially took the role of a fatherly figure in her life. Also, neither Taeyong nor Doyoung knew how much this affected Hannah. She hadn’t told them about it. This is why he took this situation upon himself.

“Donghyuck-ah,” the name felt foreign on his tongue. He was already so used to calling the younger by the stage name he loved so much. “would you care to explain to me why I have a crying Hannah in my room right now?”

“I didn’t mean it,” Haechan was looking down at his hands on his lap. His voice was barely decipherable. “I was worried, so I just said what I was thinking.”

Johnny crossed his arms, “What even made you guys fight like this? Out of everyone, I thought you and Hannah would never get into something this big.”

“I got mad over her exchanging numbers with another idol.” The more Haechan processed the phrase, the more ridiculous he sounded to himself. He couldn’t believe he did that. It was so petty, yet he went overboard. He should have taken the cue from Jaemin when even his overprotective self stopped grilling. He sighed. He even made Jaemin’s visit stressful.

“You know,” Doyoung began, “I get it. You don’t want her to date yet, but getting mad at her like this is too much.”

“It’s not that I don’t want her to date,” he reasoned. “I’m just scared!”

“You can’t be scared that you’re gonna lose her,” Johnny told him. “It’s not like we’re gonna be the only guys in her life.”

“I know that! I just got mad that it was someone she only met once, okay?”

“So hitting her is justifiable?” Doyoung glared at the younger.

“That’s stupid,” Haechan scowled. “If you think I’d react in any way that would remind her of her dad, then you’re crazy. I did not try to hit her, and I will never try to hit her.”

Johnny narrowed his eyes, “Donghyuck.”

“How could you even think that I’d hurt her?”

“Donghyuck-ah.”

“She’s my twin flame, and I literally love her with my soul!”

“Lee Donghyuck, would you get a fucking grip and listen to me,” Johnny practically growled. “Doyoung doesn’t know.”

“Hyung, literally everyone knows how close Haeeun and I are.”

There was a sinking feeling in Haechan’s chest when he realized what Johnny really meant. His eyes widened, and he turned towards Doyoung in slight fear of what he did. He could see the gears turning in Doyoungs head and hoped the older wouldn’t figure it out. Of course, the world decided to be even more cruel to Haechan.

“Hannah’s dad hit her,” Doyoung let out in realization. “He was abusive… That’s why she— That explains so much!”

“Hyung, please keep it a secret,” Haechan practically begged. He got up and knelt in front of Doyoung while bowing his head. “She doesn’t want people to know. I shouldn’t even have let it slip! I just got frustrated and did—“

“Something you didn’t mean to,” Johnny cut off Haechan’s statement. “Just like you did with Hannah.”

“Answer me this,” Doyoung, “Did you hit her? Did you try to hit her?”

“I didn’t,” Haechan cried out. He stood up and defended himself. “I never wanted to hit her! I was just pointing my hand to myself, but I was shouting, and I know it looked bad and reminded her of her past, but—“

He stopped ranting and took a deep breath. Johnny looked at the younger and saw how sorry he was. The light in his eyes was gone, and there was no trace of the bright and energetic Haechan that he knew.

“I was scared, okay?” Haechan practically whispered while running a hand down his face. “We don’t know the guy. What if he’s like her dad? What if he puts her through that again?”

“She’s a smart girl,” Doyoung reasoned.

“I know she’s smart!” the younger nearly yelled in exasperation. “She’s smart and strong, but she’s traumatized! I don’t want her to go through that again. You didn’t see her that day the dance instructor yelled at her and told her she was unworthy. I ran after her, and she told me to stay away. She thought I was her dad. Hyungs, she looked terrified, and I never in my life saw anyone look that scared and broken at the same time. So I’m sorry for what I did, but I was trying to keep my literal other half from living through that again.”

Haechan ended his spiel with tears forming. He angrily turned away from the two boys with him before rubbing at his eyes.

“I tried to keep her from going through it again,” he mumbled, falling to his knees once again, “but I was the one who reminded her of him.”

Johnny and Doyoung exchanged looks. They could tell how torn Haechan was over all this, but his temper was still unstable. It’s not like they weren’t aware of the tension that was going on between Mark and Haechan as well beforehand.

“Stay away from her for a week,” Johnny told him. “Don’t talk to her until you can control your emotions. I know Hannah, and she’ll be hurt. But she’ll want to talk about it because it’s you. Don’t approach her too soon. And, if I hear you triggered something with her again, I won’t be as lenient.”

Johnny and Doyoung left after that, but Haechan didn’t move. He was still on the ground thinking about the whole situation. He fucked up real bad, and he didn’t know what to do.

2 weeks.

Haechan didn’t talk to Hannah for two weeks after that. Yes, he knew that he should talk to her about it at some point, but he couldn’t find the right time. It was like every time he tried, someone else was there. He knew they were all deliberately doing that just to keep Hannah from panicking. No one but Renjun, Jeno, Jaemin Johnny, Doyoung, and Taeyong knew what went down. Among them, only Johnny and now Doyoung know why it affected her so much. That alone was another thing he felt like he did that went with betraying her. He knew she didn’t want more people to know, but he ended up telling Doyoung,

He physically hit himself in the head when he remembered what happened. He not only scared her but also broke a promise he made (to himself because Hannah didn’t like promises).

“Donghyuck, you have to make this right somehow,” he muttered to himself.

With a shake of his head, Haechan pulled his hoodie on and headed for the company. It was a rare free day amidst promotions, so he wanted to get in some time to himself with a piano to put his thoughts straight. He opened the door to the music room and placed his bag on the hook beside the door. A familiar backpack was already slung there, and Haechan’s breath hitched in his throat.

He quickly looked around the room and found Hannah standing off to the side and staring back at him. There was the slightest hint of fear in her stance, almost like she was about to run away, but it still cut through him like a blunt knife to the heart.

Well, he thought, it’s now or never, I guess.

“Haeeun-ah,” he began, swallowing the lump in his throat. “Can we talk? Please?”

She only nodded at him. Haechan sat on the floor next to the piano, making it clear that he’ll let her approach him instead of the other way around. She sat a few feet away from him. Haechan took a deep breath, getting ready to apologize.

“I’m sorry,” he blurted out. “I freaked out because I didn’t know much about him. I didn’t know if he’d treat you well or hurt you. I just wanted to keep you from getting hurt. But I scared you instead and brought back things you probably didn’t want to remember. I’m so sorry, Haeeun-ah.”

He looked over to her for a quick second and saw the way her fists were clenching. He immediately felt guilty and brought his gaze to his crossed legs.

“Look, I know I don’t deserve to be forgiven that easily. It was petty, and I was just taking out my frustrations on you. You deserve to be treated so much better, but I did you wrong. I just want you to know that I’m sorry, and I completely understand if you don’t forgive me.”

The silence was deafening. He shut his eyes, nervousness making him the slightest bit lightheaded. And then he heard her voice.

“I missed you.”

Haechan opened his eyes and stared at her in shock. He didn’t think she did. He watched while she gingerly approached him and placed a hand on top of his. She squeezed his hand, and he felt like he was ready to cry right then and there.

“I don’t fully forgive you yet,” she admitted while squeezing his hand a little tighter, “I hope you know that I’m stronger now, and I can handle myself well. If I do decide to date someone who’s even remotely similar to my father, you know I’d end things or tell Youngho oppa. I still don’t like how overbearing you got, but you’re my twin flame. I know you meant well.”

“I’ll cool it down,” he told her immediately. “I mean, give me a while, and I’ll be less overbearing.”

“I’m hoping you stick to that,” she mumbled while lightly playing with his hand.

“I will.”

From the other side of the door, Renjun kept his hands on Jeno and Mark to keep them from bursting in. They had seen Haechan close the door and realized a minute later that Hannah was in there as well. Though they heard nothing, they saw the interaction that the two had.

“Leave them be,” Renjun told the two boys. “It’s been two weeks. They need this closure. Better they do it now rather than still not talking on Hannah’s birthday.”

“I don’t know, Renjun,” Jeno began. “She’s digging her nails into her palms again.”

“She’ll be fine. She’s wanted to speak to him for a few days now.”

“He can’t just apologize like that then have things be okay,” Mark narrowed his eyes at the two through the glass door.

“It’ll be a while before she’s as comfortable as she was,” Renjun noted. “See? If this were a normal argument, she would have hugged him. She held his hand instead. And trust me when I tell you Haechan’s gonna be excessively nice to her for the next week or until her birthday at least.”

Mark raised his eyebrow at Renjun. “You can read her well for someone who only started getting along with her this year.”

“I’m observant.”

True to Renjun’s prediction, an apple tart bouquet was waiting for Hannah at the breakfast table the next day, the card having nothing but a sun and a baby duck on it.

[ase-trollplays]

-- authorialSummit [AS] began trolling phantomWhaleshark [PW] --

-- authorialSummit [AS] began trolling phantomWhaleshark [PW] --

AS: (((Ruvlin, I have something incredibly urgent to tell you. Please answer as soon as possible!)))

PW: \\Oh Shit, What’s Wrong? Do You Need Help?//

AS: (((Have you already submitted your pails to the mother grub?)))

PW: \\Yeah, When I Was Ten. Didn’t You?//

PW: \\Hannah?//

PW: \\Hannah, Are You Still There? What’s Wrong?//

AS: (((You shouldn’t have done that! Now our bloodline will continue!)))

PW: \\I Didn’t Exactly Have A Choice. It Was Either Have Sex Or Die, Just Like Everyone Else Who Comes Of Age.//

PW: \\Didn’t You Submit Your Pails?//

AS: (((No, I didn’t. The settlement I lived near isn’t on the empire’s radar. Almost no one knows it even exists. Drones never came.)))

AS: (((Even if they had, I would rather be killed than continue our lineage.)))

PW: \\That’s Pretty Extreme, Don’t You Think? What’s So Bad About Our Bloodline That You’d Rather Die Than Contribute?//

AS: (((Our bloodline is cursed. Descur trolls are destined to transform into mindless, feral monsters.)))

PW: \\...//

PW: \\You Can’t Be Serious.//

AS: (((I am extremely serious. Why do you think we have so many mutations? It’s to mark us as eldritch touched.)))

PW: \\Mutations Happen All the Time. They’re Not Proof Of Anything Sinister Any More Than Every Other Mutation. Do You Think Nebale’s Cursed Because Of His Mutations?//

AS: (((Of course not, but *we are.*)))

PW: \\No Offense, But It Sounds Like You Have A Lot Of Internalized Baggage About Being A Mutant. It’s Nothing To Be Self-Loathing About Even Though The Empire Says It Is. We’re Not Cursed. We’re Just Different, And That’s Fine.//

AS: (((You’re not listening to me! The mutations aren’t a cause of the curse; they’re a symptom! We’re going to become monsters eventually! Our bloodline shouldn’t exist!)))

PW: \\Do You Have Any Kind Of Solid Evidence I Can Look At To Back You Up? Like, Empire Files On Our Bloodline Or Something?//

PW: \\Because If You’re Right About Us Being Cursed, There’s No Way The Empire Doesn’t Have A Record Of It Somewhere.//

PW: \\Not To Mention We Would Have Been Culled On Sight If We’re That Dangerous.//

PW: \\Hannah?//

AS: \\I don’t have the documents anymore. It was too dangerous to keep them for any extended period of time should the empire realize they were copied. I deleted them shortly after I read them.//

PW: \\Well, Do You Have Any Way To Get Them Again? You Managed To Do It Once, Right?//

AS: (((I paid a troll to look into our ancestor, and he found and sent me the documents. I don’t know how he did it.)))

PW: \\Any Chance You Can Hire Him Again? Or Did He Get Discovered And Culled?//

AS: (((I don’t know what happened to him. I haven’t been able to contact him again since then.)))

PW: \\Then I Hate To Say It, But I’m Not Convinced. How Do You Know He Didn’t Just Make Everything Up?//

AS: (((Because our ancestor found and raised me.)))

PW: \\That’s Literally Impossible. I’ve Read Up On Her, Too. Gamora Crashed On Alternia, And After A Sweeps-Long Planet Wide Search, She Was Never Found And Presumed Dead. Or Are You Saying She Deserted And Changed Her Whole Identity Or Something?//

AS: (((They never found her because by the time they came to look for her, she had already transformed! They probably saw her and didn’t recognize her because she wasn’t a true troll anymore!)))

PW: \\Then Why Did She Raise You? You Said We’ll Turn Into “Mindless, Feral Monsters.” If That’s The Case, Why Didn’t She Just Kill you?//

AS: (((I think she recognized me as her descendant. She hated other trolls, but never once harmed me.)))

PW: \\How Did She Recognize You As A Descur?//

AS: (((The Same Way You Did At The Bookstore.)))

PW: \\That’s Completely Different Than A Wild Animal Recognizing A Troll. Or, Wild Monster, I Guess.//

AS: (((I can’t explain how she recognized me, but I know that was her. She still had a slight resemblance to her old self, and she recognized those similarities in me.)))

PW: \\If That’s What You Want To Think, Then Fine. I Won’t Think Any less Of You. I Just Find It Extremely Hard To Believe.//

AS: (((I’m not lying or delusional!! It’s the truth!!))

PW: \\I Didn’t Say You Are. I’m Just Saying That Until You Can Show Me Some Objective Proof, I Have A Hard Time Buying Into Any Of This.//

AS: (((I’m not a liar.)))

-- authorialSummit [AS] gave up trolling phantomWhaleshark [PW] --

[wiypt-writes]

Leave No One Behind

Ch 9-Doctors Orders Part 1 Co written with @icanfeelastormbrewing​

Episode Summary: Hannah has a cold and of course Ari takes it upon himself to look after her. Once that little obstacle is out of the way trouble finds them once again on the morning of her birthday…and hell breaks loose at the Red Sea Diving Resort.

Episode Warnings: Bad Language words. Smut (NSFW no under18s)

Episode Pairings:  Ari Levinson x OFC Hannah Horowitz

A/N: This chapter is going to be split into a number of parts, posting over the next few days. A lot happening here. It ran away with us a little bit! Hope you enjoy, we’re proud of this one!!!

Leave No One Behind Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Chapter 8

“Hey you with the pretty face, welcome to the human race. A celebration, Mr. Blue Sky's up there waitin', and today is the day we've waited for.”  Mr Blue Sky by ELO

 Ari woke early the next morning and he immediately could sense something wasn't right. For starters Simon wasn't curled on his head, not that he was complaining but it felt quite strange to feel him at the end of the bed and not all over the pillow. Speaking of the pillow, he noticed Hannah's head wasn't on it, right next to his, even before he opened his eyes. Why couldn't he hear her breathing? And what was that other noise? Just with that thought he bolted his eyes open only to find Hannah sat up in bed, coughing.

Shit.

His eyes quickly roamed the dark room, it was still dark outside, but he could just make out her bare back as she was sat up, her knees bent to her chest as she tried to stifle the coughs in the palm of her right hand.

"Hey, you ok?" Ari asked with his sleepy voice before clearing his throat.

Hannah nodded in response but continued to cough as she did so.

Ari shifted on the bed and sat up, gently moving so he could see her, ignoring Simon's grumble as he was jolted from his position by his feet from where he was watching Hannah, again. Ari glared at him. He and that dog were going to need to set some ground rules. Well basically just one; no grumbling at him while on his fucking bed. 

He heard Hannah chuckle softly at Simon's reaction and he reached out to rub her back. Damnit, she was warm to the touch, so he moved again to lay the back of his hand against her cheek.

"You’re hot, Firefly."

"There’s a joke in there somewhere, Lobo." she mumbled before breaking into a hacking coughing fit again. "Fuck, I feel like shit Ari."

She definitely sounded like shit too.

"Let me get you some water." Ari offered before hopping out of bed. He found his shorts and threw them on and then he headed over to the small dresser where there were a couple of bottles. He grabbed one with a swift movement and brought it back to her, twisting off the cap. Hannah took a drink under Ari's watchful eye, spluttering a little as she coughed again but she managed to drink half of it before she handed it back. "You must have gotten a cold." He smiled sympathetically at her. "Or some random tropical disease." she coughed again, just before sneezing.

"Nope. You got soaked in the rain yesterday, Firefly." he stated, a little smug at the memory of her wet clothes sticking to her body.

"I’m the doctor not you." she managed to state between coughs and then looked at him. "Besides, you don’t get colds from getting wet Ari, it’s a virus."

Ari chuckles while rubbing her back softly. "Alright, is there anything I can do to make you feel better?" "Drugs, Ari. I need some paracetamol and whatever else we have in the kit." Ari saw her scrunch her nose and she groaned. "Fuck."

"What?"

"The medical kit is in the office." "I’ll go fetch it sweetheart. You stay here." Ari offered, happy to be of use and take the reins. "I can’t Ari, I need to get back to my hut before anyone sees me…" and with that she set into another load of coughing and sneezing "...or hears me for that matter."

Ari pondered for a few seconds, noticing she was right as the first rays of sun were beginning to sweep through the window. "Then I’ll take you to your room and then I’ll go get the stuff."

She nodded "Can you pass me my dress?"

Ari picked it up from the back of the chair but turned to look at her "Han, it’s still damp." She groaned.

"Hang on…" he said before Hannah watched him disappear in the bathroom only to emerge from it a few seconds later with a towel in his hands "Wrap yourself in that for the time being."

"Yeah, cos that’s not gonna look suspicious."

"This whole thing is gonna look suspicious, Han. Stop being a pain in the ass and do as you're told." the natural leader in him commanded.

Grumbling, she took the towel, stood up and wrapped it around her before taking a shaky step. "Jesus."

"You ok?" Ari asked as he threw his shirt on.

"Just dizzy." Hannah replied as she stood put and rubbed her temples.

Ari rounded the bed concerned and in a quick movement hooked one arm under her legs, the other round her back beneath her shoulders. He was sure she was going to protest at the sudden movement and change of position but she gave a little sigh instead and relaxed into his arms, tucking her head into the crook of his shoulder and Ari thought that was clearly testament to how ill she was. 

He made his way to the door with Hannah in his arms and clicked his fingers at Simon who followed him.  He opened the door with one hand, peeking out and once he had checked the coast was clear he quickly and quietly made his way to her hut. Praying to God and all the saints he didn't run into someone coz, honestly, he had no fucking idea how he was gonna be able to explain him carrying a semi-naked woman bridal style from his hut to hers.

 Once he had reached Hannah's hut he stepped inside and closed the door behind him, taking a deep breath and letting relief wash over him before he set her gently on the bed. 

"That's it, sweetheart. Want me to tuck you in?"

Hannah shook his head while adjusting to the new position "Just pass me a cami and a pair of sleep shorts from the drawer."

He headed over and did as he was told, gently dropping her clothes onto the bed next to her.

"Can you manage or…" he asked, hands on his hips and nodding to the items of clothing.

Hannah smiled at his concerned face "You’re the expert at getting me undressed Ari, I’ll manage the other way round just fine."

He chuckled "Ok, I’ll be back in a moment."

Ari left her to it and headed to the main area. Once there he tried not to warn anyone of his presence by bumping into furniture as it was still fairly dark in that part of the resort. He carefully went into the office and turned on the light, locating the medical bag immediately and searched for the meds Hannah had asked for. Just a few seconds later he jumped out of his skin when he heard Max's voice.

"What are you doing?"

"Jesus, Max. You scared the shit out of me." he hissed, trying to buy some time to come up with a feasible excuse.

Max chuckled and then nodded to the box of pills. "You ok?"

"Just a headache. Needed some paracetamol." he said casually, avoiding visual contact with Max and looking at the pills in his hands instead.

Next thing he knew Max was handing him the water bottle in his hand. "Here I’ll get another."

And of course then he had to be watching him so Ari had to take 2 of the damned tablets himself before he managed to fob Max off, grabbing another 2 and heading back to Hannah’s hut once Max curiosity had been duly satisfied and he had watched him turn around and leave.

"What took you so long? Couldn't you find the bag?" Hannah blurted out when he saw him coming into her hut.

"I found something more than the bag. Don't ask." he said as he sat on the edge of the bed and handed the pills. "Here."

She frowned and sat up straight and reached for the water while he explained about his encounter with Max making Hannah chuckle and shake her head before breaking into another coughing fit.

"Are there any side effects to taking painkillers without being in pain?"

"Yeah, Lobo. Hair loss." Hannah deadpanned.

 "No need for sarcasm." he narrowed his eyes at her.

"Well, stop asking stupid questions." she quipped before taking the pills with a mouthful of water, wincing. “My throat feels like I’ve been swallowing glass." "Want me to arrange for you to stay in bed all day?" Ari asked, his hand falling to her knee.

"I’ll be fine in an hour or so, besides if I stay here all day I’ll be bored and there’s stuff to do and ..." she whined.

Ari scoffed and cut her off.  "Ok let me rephrase that, I’m gonna arrange for you to stay in bed all day."

"No, Ari, like I said, it’s boring." she insisted.

"I’ll come keep you company as much as I can." he tried to bargain, knowing full well she wasn't one for following orders she deemed stupid.

"Oh yeah? And what you gonna tell the others as to why you keep sneaking in here to see me?"

"That I’m coming to check up on my teammate." he rolled his eyes. "Yeah, like you did with my aerobics classes…when Rachel noticed and asked why you never checked on hers?" she asked, a wicked smile on her face.

"No, that’s….I didn’t…" he sighed. "Well, can you blame me?" he asked with a whiney voice.  Hannah laughed and he smiled "You weren’t exactly being discreet, Levinson"

"Ok, look, forget about that now. I’ll figure something out." he said as he leaned over to kiss her frowning when she pulled back.

"Yeah I wouldn’t do that if I were you."

"Yeah, good point. Although isn’t a cold contagious days before symptoms?" he cockily asked.

"Hark on you Dr Levinson."

"You know, Guy Thomas is technically a doctor, I mean he has a PHD so…" 

She laughed loudly which made her cough. "In fucking Anthropology!"

"Details…" he smiled broadly.

Hannah snorted and locked her eyes on his "You’re right though. Chances are you already got it." Ari chuckled. "Ok, I’m gonna go for my run before everyone gets up. You gonna be ok?" "Sure I’ll manage. I’ve lived alone for the last 4 years Ari, had plenty of colds…" Ari grimaced, he didn’t like to think about that. For some reason it made him a little upset though he knew it was illogical as she was a grown woman and a doctor nonetheless. "Just try and get some sleep. When they start asking where you are at breakfast I’ll use it as an excuse to come see you, tell them I’ll come find out."

"Make sure it’s you who comes, please." she pleaded as she got under the sheets and rested her head on the pillow.

"Of course it will be. I’m the boss, can do what I want."

She sat up again and gazed at him. 

"Don’t let Sammy come or I’m never leaving this hut again."

"Dramatic much?" he tried to joke. "I know him, he won’t let me out of bed for days." she said and Ari could read the concern in his eyes.

 "Neither would I given the chance, albeit for a much different reason." he quipped cheekily, trying to brush her concern away.

His eyes sparkled with satisfaction as he saw Hannah's jaw drop. She slapped his arm and broke into a coughing fit. "You’re an asshole Ari. You can’t say that when I can’t kiss you properly."

"Then I’ll say it again when you can." he said, rubbing her thighs over the covers

"Promise?"

"Damned straight it is."

Hannah grinned before leaning back on her pillow again "Go, before I climb you like a tree and infect you with my virus."

"Now that's an image I intend to dwell in all through the day, Miss." he said before kissing her head and getting up and walking to the door. "Thing is firefly…" and he turned to look at her, one hand on the door handle. “…you infected me 9 years ago."

"That is so lame!" she said as she threw a pillow at him "Go. Now."

He chuckled and stepped outside closing the door behind him.  Hannah then looked at the pillow and groaned. "Now I gotta pick that up."

As if on cue Simon trotted towards the pillow and flopped down on it, looking up at her.

"Ok, guess I don’t…" she shrugged

**** Ari was hoping his run would keep his mind occupied and help quiet the noise in his brain. He was worried about Hannah and though he was well aware it was probably only a cold and, yes, she was a fully trained doctor who knew exactly what she was doing, he still couldn't help but think about how poorly she had looked and sounded. 

Fuck it.

With a sigh he turned his Walkman off when he was still a mile or so away from the resort. He couldn't concentrate on what he was listening to and the headphones were constantly falling from his head due to his furious strides. He wasn't in the mood and every little thing in the universe was apparently conspiring to bug him. 

Damn, Ari. Are you listening to yourself? 

His inner voice slapping him on the back of his head was the final straw. He groaned and quickened his pace, longing for the moment the cold water in the shower would ease the stiffness he was feeling in his muscles and mind. 

"I thought you were ill." Max greeted him when he emerged in the main area after making it home and showering.

"I had a headache. Hence the painkillers. And guess what, they killed my pain. So here I am." he explained, a bit too harsh.

"Woah chill man." Max frowned as he raised both his palms as a peace gesture.

"I’m perfectly chilled." Ari huffed as he sat down on a chair.

The truth is she wasn't chilled, not even remotely. He knew there was nothing he could do and Hannah would be probably asleep once the effects of the pills had kicked in, but he was twitchy as fuck to go check on her. "You look worried Ari." Rachel stated. More as a warning of his conspicuous behaviour than as a real concern.

"Do I? Well I’m not. What’s for breakfast?" Ari asked, trying to put on a genuine smile on his face but failing considerably.

"Whatever you want. The guests don’t arrive until 11 so it's up to you what you want. There’s plenty of bread for toast and pastries in the pantry." Rachel replied, squinting her eyes at him.

"Ok, I’m gonna grab some coffee." he said as he got up, praying someone asked about Hannah soon coz he was now seriously worried. 

He was not only worried about her but also about acting cool when they would eventually ask. He wanted it over and done with as soon as possible coz he didn't know how much time he was going to refrain himself from snapping at someone or something. He grabbed his coffee and then an idea came to him. He poked his head back into the main room and asked if he should throw a few rounds of toast in for everyone, knowing if he made enough there’d be some left over and they would be bound to notice one of them was missing.

An instant later Rachel came in to help. They made the first batch in silence, his mind still racing, and as the second batch was in she turned to him. 

"So, come on, don’t bullshit me Ari. What’s going on?"

"What do you mean what’s going on?" he asked back while cursing at a piece of toast who was still too hot for him to grab.

"You’re twitchy. You and Hannah had an argument already?"

"What? No…what makes you think that?" 

Rachel looked at him with that seemingly expressionless look that was yelling cut the crap and Ari sighed. It was Rachel after all, he could trust her and it would do him good to blow off some steam with someone.

"She’s ill."

Rachel frowned before asking "What do you mean? Like bad ill?"

"No, it’s a cold but she’s feeling pretty rough." he explained as he grabbed the bread from the toaster and dropped it onto the plate. He felt relief as he uttered those words, explaining what was going on to another person had really helped him realise he really shouldn’t be making a big deal out of it.

"Ah. Ok. Want me to go check on her?"

"No, I told her I would when you all realised she hadn’t shown for breakfast…" he paused and then bit his lip "Look, can…can you just maybe ask about her out there? My nerves are on edge."

Rachel smiled "Sure, good look convincing Sammy to stay away."

"Actually, I was hoping you could help me with that." he asked somewhat shyly.

"How?"

"You’ll figure something out."  His shy request had morphed now into a wicked smile making Rachel roll her eyes at him.

"You owe me Levinson. I don’t like lying to him, it’s not fair." she conceded but waved her index finger at him.

"You don’t have to lie to him…just don’t tell him the truth."

"Where I come from that��s called lying, Ari."

"You know what I mean, Rach." he remarked as he flashed his signature cheeky smirk at her.

"Come on man, I’m hungry." Max's voice suddenly startled them both.

Ari seized the opportunity and gave her one last pleading look at Rachel and she groaned before pointing at him again.

"Fine, let's get this over with but I mean it. You owe me, big time."

"I know, and if it's any consolation I don’t like all the sneaking around either but until Han is ready to tell Sammy there’s not much I can do." he shrugged.

"Whatever." she said, grabbing one big plate and handing it to Ari "Take the toast out there, Romeo."

They headed back out of the kitchen, carrying the communal breakfast and Ari sat back down, a bit more collected this time.

"About time, what were you doing? Baking the damned bread?" Max whined, raiding the toast plate.

"You wanna eat that toast or wear it?" Hannah cut his protests.

"Woah, easy Rachel…what’s happened this morning, why is everyone so tetchy?"

Ari looked at Rachel and she understood. The sooner they get this over with the better but just as she opened her mouth to speak, Sammy cut her off.

"Where’s Hannah?"

Everyone looked at one another for a few seconds. The only thing that could be heard being Max munching his toast. Ari tried to hold back the relief sigh he was dying to exhale. Rachel wasn’t needed after all, he had to thank Sammy for that.

"I ain't seen her." Jake, who had been getting the matches for his tan ready, shrugged. "Or Simon actually, he’s normally here before she is…"

 "I’ll go see if everything’s ok with her." Ari offered, standing up.

 "I can go." Sammy frowned.

No. No. No. Ari froze and panicked for a few seconds and gave Rachel a meaningful look.

"Let Ari.” Rachel l blurted out before pausing. "Because of Simon…you know the dog doesn’t like you, and it will only put you in a bad mood if he starts growling and you’ll end up arguing with Hannah.”

Well, that had been bold but it seemed to have worked as next thing he knew Ari heard Sammy grumbling. "stupid little gargoyle."

"And that’s why he hates you. You insult him, you hurt his feelings." he told Sammy, trying not to seem too eager to fuck the hell out of the room.

They were all too focused on their own act to notice Max who was simply looking at them, munching his toast. He clearly wasn’t buying any of the shit Rachel was saying.  Whereas Jake was too engrossed in cutting the matches he had previously taken from the matchbox with a knife, his coffee long forgotten.

"It’s a dog Ari, he doesn’t know what I’m saying." Sammy continued grumbling.

"Well he clearly reads your body language then."

"Yeah…that’s true. He copies body language too." Max deadpanned, sitting back on his chair.

Ari did his best to keep a straight face, ignoring him but clearly hearing his sniggers. Rachel was the one to glare at him and he shrugged as he resumed eating his food.

Thankfully, Rachel then took charge of the situation and started explaining the schedule for the new guests that would be arriving a few hours later, Ari took the opportunity and stood up, heading out  for Hannah’s hut. Gently opening the door he saw Simon was snuggled around her head and she was dozing. He approached and sat on the edge of her bed and watched her for a few seconds before feeling her forehead. She was still warm and he sighed.

Simon moved his head and licked the back of Ari’s knuckles when he recognized him.

 "You looking after her pal?" he cooed at the dog and moved his hand to scratch under the dog's chin, "Good boy."

Simon wagged his tail and rolled over demanding more belly scratches from the hairy human that seemed to be sharing his mom's bed. Ari chuckled as he obliged, rubbing his pink and black spotty belly.

"Demanding little bastard." he softly whispered so as not to disturb Hannah's sleep. But it was too late. With a little sigh she stirred at the movement, blinking.

"Hey, how you feeling firefly?"

"Still crappy." her voice came out hoarse. 

"Yeah, you’re still warm. You should rest in bed till you’re feeling better." he ordered softly.

"Yes Dr Levinson… or Dr Thomas, whatever." she said before yawning and Ari chucked. "How was it out there?"

"Not bad. I asked Rachel for help but it wasn’t needed, Sammy asked before she could."

Hannah nodded and shuffled down a little in the bed, coughing again. Ari waited until she was done and he then leaned down over her, one hand either side of her shoulders as she was led on her side. 

"Ok sweetheart. I’m gonna go back out now but once they know I’ll sneak to see you whenever I can." 

 "I’m just gonna sleep Ari, I don’t need babysitting." she grumbled.

Ari raised an eyebrow playfully. "Ok, so you don’t want me to take care of you or keep you company? That’s fine, I get it…" he mocked a complaint, a soft smile on his face.

"Shut up." Hannah groaned.

"And now you don’t want to hear me either." he chuckled and kissed her forehead. "Get some rest and shout if you need anything." and he pondered for a moment before speaking. "On second thoughts, just don't shout. Your voice is terrible today..." and he stopped when he saw her mouth drop open "You know what I mean, Firefly."

"Ari?" Hannah asked as he made to stand up. "Yeah?" "I could use some orange juice." she beamed at him before sneezing for the umpteenth time.

"Ok, I’ll bring some for you." Ari wandered back to the main area, all the way thinking how he was going to pull his next stunt. Just act natural, Levinson. You got this, he thought as he entered the main area, his hands falling to his hips as he walked in.

"Where is she?" Sam asked once he spotted Ari was back.

"She’s sick Sammy." and he held his hand up to stop Sammy’s impending babble. "It’s just a cold."

Sammy frowned. "A cold?"

"That’s what she said." He shrugged and turned to walk to the kitchen. "She asked for some paracetamol and orange juice." he said, ignoring the fact Max was narrowing his eyes suspiciously after he caught Ari with the pills before. He opened the fridge, considering if it would be good for her to drink cold liquids, and poured a glass of orange and went back into the main dining area just as Sammy walked in from the office with the box of pills and gestured to the orange juice.

"Want me to take it? I can examine her."

"She’s a doctor too, Sammy." Jake snorted.

Ari was getting more flustered by the minute. He just wanted to get rid of Sammy and get back and check on her again. Damned it. He knew he was being ridiculous but she really didn’t look well at all and if he had his way he’d be curled up besides her all day. He would trade posts with Simon on the spot. He looked at Rachel as a last resource, silently asking her to take the reins. 

Rachel took a deep breath and turned to Sam. "Sammy, she won’t want her brother fussing." She then turned to Ari. "Take her some toast too in case she feels like eating something." she said while putting a few slices from the large plate on the table onto a smaller one. "Tell her I’ll check up on her later and grab her laundry."

Thank you Rachel.

"I bet Simon is eating that toast." Max quipped.

Jake chuckled. "That’s a point, should we take care of him today?"

Ari shook his head. "He was curled up on the bed with her, looked pretty comfy. I’ll take him for a walk if he wants to go but to be honest I don’t think he’ll leave her."

“Unless it’s you.” Max quipped.

“What do you mean? Ari asked.

“Simon is conveniently deaf unless you or Cracker are talking to him.” Max grinned “You’re like his parents, it’s cute.”

Ari rolled his eyes and with that he headed back out, down to her hut. God, he was sweating already and he had showered less than an hour before. Simon looked up when Ari got in the hut. Hannah was asleep so he placed the orange juice, toast and pills on her bedside table before leaning to kiss her head.

"Sleep tight, my Firefly." he whispered as he straightened up and looked at Simon. "You coming buddy? Let’s get you some food and go for a walk, huh?"

Ari watched the dog look at Hannah, then him and then back to Hannah again, hesitating. Sammy could say whatever he wanted, but that dog did understand what they said to him. No one was gonna convince him otherwise.

"She’ll be ok pal." Ari rolled his own eyes at himself when he realised he was explaining to the fucking dog. But Simon was proving his point as he stood up and walked down the bed, jumping off the side. Ari saw him stretch and wag his tail as he headed out, Simon at his heels. 

*****

A few hours later Rachel went to Hannah’s hut and knocked on the door, walking in after Hannah told her to do so. Rachel found her sat up in bed and thought Ari, though being a painful drama queen, was right. She looked awful. Her nose was red, her eyes looked tired but at least she was reading.

"How are you feeling?"

"A little better, thanks. I had a good sleep and the meds seem to have worked their way into my system." she explained and then she paused. "What time is it by the way? I can’t find my watch." she asked Rachel as she scanned her bedside table and drawers again.

 "Maybe you left it in Ari’s hut…I mean if you slept there last night…" Rachel offered, cocking an eyebrow.

Hannah looked at her and sighed, rolling her eyes.  There was no point in even denying it and she wasn't feeling strong enough to either. "How much do you know?" "Well from what the pair of you have told me and the fact his tee was mixed in with your laundry, I’d hazard a guess at all of it." "Ari’s shirt was..? Shit!" Hannah groaned.

"Yup, shit indeed. You’re lucky I spotted it before your brother did. Thankfully it was next to a pile of your panties and he wasn’t looking." Rachel chuckled at Hannah's mortified expression before continuing. "Then there’s also the fact that the dress you were wearing yesterday was on the chair in his hut. I washed that too, you can thank me later, or we can talk about how his bathroom was missing a towel and curiously enough there’s one that seems to have appeared on the floor by your bed. Your pick."

Hannah groaned again and rubbed her face down her hand.

"By the way it was the shirt he was wearing for dinner the night he came home." Rachel winked at her.

"Yeah I know…he left it here and I forgot I threw it in with my stuff." "You two had yourselves a welcome home party, huh?" Hannah laughed at Rachel's wriggling eyebrows and coughed a little. "Don’t be so nosey."

"Look, I’m happy for you two, I really am. And I love to see you happy, you deserve it but…well, Max suspects something and it’s only a matter of time before Sammy and Jake figure it. Especially if Ari is as shit at keeping a cover as he seems to be. He was a wreck this morning."

"A wreck?" Hannah asked, surprised. "I’ve got a damned cold, what’s he so fretted about?" "Well according to him you looked really bad and were burning up, moments from death…you know that type of thing. I had to smack some sense into him in the kitchen before he blew it with the rest." 

Hannah rolled her eyes. "He’s such a drama queen."

"When it comes to you he is. You should have seen him. Shittiest Mossad agent ever." Rachel mocked him.

Hannah laughed again and, as usual that morning, her laugh was punctuated by coughs.

"Luckily Jake is too focussed on his tan to notice and Sammy…well Sammy is oblivious and to be fair probably doesn’t even want to even consider anything like that so…"

Hannah pondered what she had said for a minute and looked at her. "You think we should come clean? I mean Ari said he would happily tell everyone but I’m not sure if I can handle Sammy already."

"That’s up to you. But the longer you leave it, then surely the harder it's gonna be?" Rachel smiled at her, sympathetically.

Hannah rubbed her eyes. "I don’t think I can do this until I feel better, and then it’s my birthday next week and don’t want anything to spoil it."

"I can’t answer Hannah, I can’t tell you what to do." Rachel patted her leg.

"I’ll speak to Ari about it." she mused and Rachel laughed.

"What’s so funny?" "That man will do whatever you tell him to do. I know that, you should know it by now." Hannah shook her head, though Rachel may be right that was not what she needed at that moment.  "I don’t want him to just do what I say, just want him to help me make a decision." She looked at Rachel and then grinned "I see you did a pretty good job covering the marks on your neck, unlike yesterday."

Rachel blushed. "You saw them?"

"Yes." And the grin on Hannah’s face turned into a grimace.  "And I don’t want to think about it. He’s my brother."

"Ari told you?"

Hanna nodded.

"Bastard."

"I’d already figured it out. I told them ages ago the pair of you were…you know, or at least there was something going on. He was like a bear with a sore head when you were on leave." Hannah explained

Rachel squinted her eyes at her. "Like you were when Ari was gone?"

Hannah shrugged, to be fair Rachel was right, the Navons were pretty shitty at concealing their feelings. And speaking of concealing?  "FYI that concealer on my desk is pretty good if you need to borrow it."

Rachel stared at her blankly and Hannah swept her hair to the side to show her the now fading bruises Ari had given her the other evening and Rachel snorted. 

" Wild Ari, huh?"

"You got no idea." Hannah smirked mischievously.

"Pity Sam is your brother. We could have traded stories." Rachel shrugged amused.

"Don’t get me wrong Rach, I’m happy you’re with him. He needs someone in his life that’s for sure but…yeah, no. I’d rather not listen to them…but if you need to talk hey, I can pretend you’re talking about Chef Aziz…"

At that the pair of them burst out laughing and Hannah had another coughing fit just as Sammy walked into the hut.

"What are you two laughing at?" he asked as he glanced at Hannah. "You feeling better, Han?" "Loads. Rachel is great company." she said, raising her eyebrows at Sammy who went immediately red and cleared his throat. "Need some water Sammy?" Rachel who was sitting on the edge of the bed slapped Hannah’s leg through the covers and mouthed to her Don’t be mean.

Hannah shook her head and looked around, allowing her brother to collect himself. "Hey, where’s Simon by the way? He bailed on me…"

"He was with Ari. They went for a walk then down to the diving hut and then Ari was going out with Jake to prep the tour route for tomorrow." Sammy explained.

 "Has Simon gone on the boat with them?" Hannah frowned.

 "Yeah, why?"

 "I thought he only went diving because he wanted to be with me." she pouted. "He’s been stuck to Ari like glue all day." Rachel confirmed.

 "He even ignored the new group of tourists." Sammy scoffed.

"Judas." Hannah grumbled, folding her arms.

****

3 days Hannah was in bed laid up, and Ari hated it. He’d popped in as much as he could, stealing half an hour or so here and there to lay with her, until Sammy pulled him up at one point over lunch on the second day.

I’m the doctor, she’s a doctor…I don’t see why you have to be checking up on her all fucking day.” Sammy pouted.

“Because you’re busy with the guests.” Ari reasoned “I’m the manager so I can just float about. Besides, it hasn’t been all fucking day, I’ve been to check on her like 3 times to take her some water and something to eat, that’s it.”

Nevertheless, he backed off after that. On the 4th day Hannah eased back into light duties so Ari managed to spend some time with her during the day as but he continued to sleep in his own hut to allow her to sleep properly to fully recover and also to avoid further suspicion as he had also developed a little sniffle himself and was running out of excuses to the rest of the team as to what it was.

But all this meant it was nearly a week since they’d last managed a night together, and it had left him a total needy bastard.

One morning he arrived at the main area of the resort after he’d been talking to a few guests who had asked him for ideas of what to do in Port Sudan. He headed into the main rooms, looking for Hannah, mentally ticking off where she could be. She wasn’t with Jake and Sammy as they were out diving, she wasn’t with Rachel and Aziz helping set up for lunch and Max…well he had no idea where Max was at all. He stood pondering for a moment when he spotted Simon trotting out of the office and he gave a grin.

Bingo.

Hannah was looking through the filing cabinet in front of him as he stepped into the room, silently. He took a moment to appreciate her, taking in her long legs right from her bare feet up to the hem of her pale, strapless blue sundress which hung mid-thigh. It curved neatly over her ass and hips trailing the curve of her waist up to her shoulders which were bare, hair pulled into a messy pony tail, halter neck of her bikini tied at the nape of her neck.

Fuck this, it had been far too long. And he was horny as hell. The damned world could wait.

He shut the door with his foot and she jumped slightly, turning to face him but before she could register what was happening his lips were on hers, the kiss demanding as his hands held her cheeks, tongue finding its way between those soft pillows, sliding forcefully against the roof of her mouth. She let out a soft moan and her hands moved directly to the ties on his swim shorts. His lips curved into a smirk at her demanding nature, the fact she wanted him just as much was getting him even more worked up, and she pulled back to look at him a little, her fingers undoing the string easily as his hands slid to her waist, yanking her even closer so their pelvises were flush and she could feel his arousal pressing into her stomach.

“Stop smirking.” She mumbled, and he chuckled a little, his nose brushing hers “Cocky bastard.”

“You want cocky?” he muttered, his lips brushing hers, the feather-light touch sent a shiver down her spine as his mouth slid to her jawline and that spot on her neck just behind her ear. “I’ll show you cocky Firefly.”

His lips crashed to hers again as he pivoted them away from the cabinets and towards the desk at the side of the room, his movements effortless as she gave into his directions completely. Submission had never been her strong point, but when it came to Ari she was weak and now was no exception. She was weak to his touch, his mouth, his every damned action as she allowed him to man handle her, his hands gliding up her back to her neck, fingers of one grasping at the nape as he held her face to his, his mouth dominating hers.

In a quick, almost forceful movement he spun her round, his mouth trailing open mouthed kisses down her neck to her shoulder, moving to the other side to repeat the action and she let out a low keen of delight.

“Shh.” He stopped, what he was doing and Hannah stilled, her breathing deep. Once she’d obeyed he picked up where he had left off, his hand sliding up over her covered breasts, palming them in his large hands, letting out a gently sigh of his own as he felt her nipples peak through the material.

“Ari…we can’t…” She mumbled, suddenly coming to her senses as she heard voices pass by the reception desk “There’s people outside…”

“I don’t care.” He whispered into her hear, his right hand gently sliding back7 up her neck, fingers flexing over her smooth, delicate throat “You can be quiet, right?”

“I…” he cut her off as he tilted her face to his, swallowing her protests with another filthy kiss, his other hand moving down, rucking her dress up, the pads of his calloused fingers tracing a slow path up her inner thigh. He gently brushed over the spot between her legs and a soft growl rolled in the back of this throat as he could feel her arousal through her bikini bottoms. He released her mouth, his lips staying millimetres away from hers “You’re fucking soaked baby girl”

Hannah couldn’t find the words to reply. She was putty in his hands, and happy to let him take control. All truth be told she was aching for him too, and although this hadn’t been going on long in the grand scheme of things, the way he did make love to or fuck her had her craving for his touch whenever she could get it. She let out a gasp as his fingers brushed her bottoms to one side, skating her slit as he found her nub and began to coax at her expertly. She bit her lip, hard, the taste of copper flooding her mouth as she found herself desperately trying to control her noise.

Releasing her throat, Ari’s other hand gently pressed at the base of her spine, bending her forward a little over the desk and her hands splayed flat against the wooden surface sending a few papers floating to the floor, her check pressed to the cheap oak. Ari moved her bikini to the side, and with one hand still on her back he used the other and gave himself a few strokes, before he lined himself up and sank into her.

“Fuck…” She hissed between gritted teeth as he pulled back, sinking straight back in again, his eyes focussed on the spot they were joined, watching himself move in and out. His thrusts were slow, deliberate at first, and his eyes flicked to Hannah’s face as her head raised from the desk, tilting back slightly. He saw her jaw slacken and in a flash his hand reached out, palm clamping over her mouth.

“Gotta be quiet sweetheart…” he grunted out, his other hand gripping her shoulder so he could pull her back onto him and he picked up the pace, fucking her with desperation, like a man starved.

The sound of skin slapping skin, her muffled moans and his own low hisses filled the room as he continued his assault on her spot, his cock dragging against her walls again and again. It was quick and dirty, and before long Hannah could feel herself unravelling. Ari felt her too, the tell-tale fluttering of her clamping down on him signalling she was close.

“Nearly there baby?” he asked, even though he knew the answer and she gave a quick nod, his fingers flexing over her mouth. Releasing the grip on her shoulder he reached around, found her clit and she felt the teasing of his thumb and forefinger as he rolled it between them, his chest pressing to her back, mouth nipping at her ear. With a shudder, the world faded to nothing but a bright, white light and she came, her groan stifled by his hand as she bucked back, eyes fluttering shut, knees trembling as she went limp over the desk. Releasing his hold on her mouth he grabbed her hips, his own snapping back and forth with enough force to jolt the desk slightly, causing it to scrape over the floor as he felt his balls contract and he came inside her, hard, and it was all he could do to keep himself from yelling out.

“Fuck…” he mumbled, his hips slowing to a stop as his head fell forward a little, his breathing deep, T-shirt sticking to him as sweat coated his entire body. He took a moment before he stepped back and looked down as Hannah pushed herself up, his hands gently pulling her up by her hips helping her to stand.

“Cocky enough?” he quipped as he straightened his pants whilst she turned to face him, her cheeks flushed. She reached up and pulled her pony tail free, shaking her hair out whilst she shook her head, grinning at him.

“One word for it.” She arched an eyebrow as she re-tied her hair and squirmed a little, feeling his release dribbling down her inside leg “And now I need to go change.”

“I thought bikini bottoms were supposed to be waterproof.” He chuckled, pulling her in for a quick kiss.

“You’re an ass hole.” She mumbled, before she pulled away, patted his chest and opened the door. The sound of the guests outside grew louder as the flow of fresh air filled the room, well, fresher seeing as it was fucking hot out there too, and with a last glance over her shoulder she smirked and left.

Part 2

[what-is-your-plan-today]

Leave No One Behind Ch9: Doctor’s Orders Part 1

Co written with @icanfeelastormbrewing​

Episode Summary: Hannah has a cold and of course Ari takes it upon himself to look after her. Once that little obstacle is out of the way trouble finds them once again on the morning of her birthday…and hell breaks loose at the Red Sea Diving Resort.

Episode Warnings: Bad Language words. Smut (NSFW no under18s)

Episode Pairings:  Ari Levinson x OFC Hannah Horowitz

Song for Episode:  Mr Blue Sky by ELO 

A/N: This chapter is going to be split into a number of parts, posting over the next few days. A lot happening here. It ran away with us a little bit! Hope you enjoy, we’re proud of this one!!!

Series Master List //  Main Masterlist 

Hey you with the pretty face, welcome to the human race. A celebration, Mr. Blue Sky's up there waitin', and today is the day we've waited for.

Ari woke early the next morning and he immediately could sense something wasn't right. For starters Simon wasn't curled on his head, not that he was complaining but it felt quite strange to feel him at the end of the bed and not all over the pillow. Speaking of the pillow, he noticed Hannah's head wasn't on it, right next to his, even before he opened his eyes. Why couldn't he hear her breathing? And what was that other noise? Just with that thought he bolted his eyes open only to find Hannah sat up in bed, coughing.

Shit.

His eyes quickly roamed the room. It was still dark outside but he could just make out her bare back as she was sat up, her knees bent to her chest as she tried to stifle the coughs in the palm of her right hand.

"Hey, you ok?" Ari asked with his sleepy voice before clearing his throat.

 Hannah nodded in response but continued to cough as she did so.

Ari shifted on the bed and sat up, gently moving so he could see her, ignoring Simon's grumble as he was jolted from his position by his feet from where he was watching Hannah, again. Ari glared at him. He and that dog were going to need to set some ground rules. Well basically just one; no grumbling at him while on his fucking bed. 

He heard Hannah chuckle softly at Simon's reaction and he reached out to rub her back. Damnit, she was warm to the touch, so he moved again to lay the back of his hand against her cheek.

"You’re hot, Firefly."

"There’s a joke in there somewhere, Lobo." she mumbled before breaking into a hacking coughing fit again. "Fuck, I feel like shit Ari."

 She definitely sounded like shit too.

"Let me get you some water." Ari offered before hopping out of bed. He found his shorts and threw them on and then he headed over to the small dresser where there were a couple of bottles. He grabbed one with a swift movement and brought it back to her, twisting off the cap. Hannah took a drink under Ari's watchful eye, spluttering a little as she coughed again but she managed to drink half of it before she handed it back. "You must have gotten a cold." He smiled sympathetically at her.

"Or some random tropical disease." she coughed again, just before sneezing.

"Nope. You got soaked in the rain yesterday." he stated, a little smug at the memory of her wet clothes sticking to her body.

"I’m the doctor not you." she managed to state between coughs and then looked at him. "Besides, you don’t get colds from getting wet Ari, it’s a virus."

Ari chuckled while rubbing her back softly. "Alright, is there anything I can do to make you feel better?"

"Drugs, Ari. I need some paracetamol and whatever else we have in the kit." Ari saw her scrunch her nose and she groaned. "Fuck."

"What?"

"The medical kit is in the office." she rasped. "I’ll go fetch it sweetheart. You stay here." Ari offered, happy to be of use and take the reins. "I can’t Ari, I need to get back to my hut before anyone sees me…" and with that she set into another load of coughing and sneezing "...or hears me for that matter."

Ari pondered for a few seconds, noticing she was right as the first rays of sun were beginning to sweep through the window. "Then I’ll take you to your room and then I’ll go get the stuff."

 She nodded "Can you pass me my dress?"

Ari picked it up from the back of the chair but turned to look at her "Babe, it’s still damp." and she groaned.

"Hang on…" he said before Hannah watched him disappear in the bathroom only to emerge from it a few seconds later with a towel in his hands "Wrap yourself in that for the time being."

"Yeah, cos that’s not gonna look suspicious."

"This whole thing is gonna look suspicious, Han. Stop being a pain in the ass and do as you're told." the natural leader in him commanded.

Grumbling, she took the towel, stood up and wrapped it around her before taking a shaky step. "Jesus."

"You ok?" Ari asked as he threw his shirt on.

 "Just dizzy." Hannah replied as she stood put and rubbed her temples.

Ari rounded the bed concerned and in a quick movement hooked one arm under her legs, the other round her back beneath her shoulders. He was sure she was going to protest at the sudden movement and change of position but she gave a little sigh instead and relaxed into his arms, tucking her head into the crook of his shoulder and Ari thought that was clearly testament to how ill she was. 

He made his way to the door with Hannah in his arms and clicked his fingers at Simon who followed him.  He opened the door with one hand, peeking out and once he had checked the coast was clear he quickly and quietly made his way to her hut. He was praying to God and all the saints he didn't run into someone because, honestly, he had no fucking idea how he was gonna be able to explain him carrying a semi-naked Hannah bridal style from his hut to hers.

Once he had reached Hannah's hut he stepped inside and closed the door behind him, taking a deep breath and letting relief wash over him before he set her gently on the bed. 

"That's it, sweetheart. Want me to tuck you in?"

Hannah glared at him and he smiled innocently whilst she rolled her eyes "Just pass me a cami and a pair of sleep shorts from the drawer."

He headed over and did as he was told, gently dropping her clothes onto the bed next to her.

"Can you manage or…" he asked, hands on his hips and nodding to the items of clothing.

This time Hannah smiled at his concerned face "You’re the expert at getting me undressed Ari, I’ll manage the other way round just fine."

He chuckled "Ok, I’ll be back in a moment."

Ari left her to it and headed to the main area. Once there he tried not to warn anyone of his presence by bumping into furniture as it was still fairly dark in that part of the resort. He carefully went into the office and turned on the light, locating the medical bag immediately and searched for the meds Hannah had asked for. Just a few seconds later he jumped out of his skin when he heard Max's voice.

"What are you doing?"

"Jesus, Max. You scared the shit out of me?" he hissed, trying to buy some time to come up with a feasible excuse.

Max chuckled and then nodded to the box of pills. "You ok?"

"Just a headache. Needed some paracetamol." he said casually, avoiding visual contact with Max and looking at the pills in his hands instead.

Next thing he knew Max was handing him the water bottle in his hand. "Here I’ll get another."

And of course then he had to be watching him so Ari had to take 2 of the damned tablets himself before he managed to fob Max off, grabbing another 2 and heading back to Hannah’s hut once Max’s curiosity had been duly satisfied and he had watched him turn around and leave.

"What took you so long? Couldn't you find the bag?" Hannah blurted out when he saw him coming into her hut.

"I found something more than the bag. Don't ask." he said as he sat on the edge of the bed and handed the pills. "Here."

She frowned and sat up straight and reached for the water while he explained about his encounter with Max making Hannah chuckle and shake her head before breaking into another coughing fit.

"Are there any side effects to taking painkillers without being in pain?"

"Yeah, Lobo. Hair loss." Hannah deadpanned.

"No need for sarcasm." he narrowed his eyes at her.

"Well, stop asking stupid questions." she quipped before taking the pills with a mouthful of water, wincing. “My throat feels like I’ve been swallowing glass."

"Want me to arrange for you to stay in bed all day?" Ari asked, his hand falling to her knee.

"I’ll be fine in an hour or so, besides if I stay here all day I’ll be bored and there’s stuff to do and ..." she whined.

Ari scoffed and cut her off.  "Ok let me rephrase that, I’m gonna arrange for you to stay in bed all day."

"No, Ari, like I said, it’s boring." she insisted.

"I’ll come keep you company as much as I can." he tried to bargain, knowing full well she wasn't one for following orders she deemed stupid.

"Oh yeah? And what you gonna tell the others as to why you keep sneaking in here to see me?"

"That I’m coming to check up on my teammate." he rolled his eyes. "Yeah, like you did with my aerobics classes…when Rachel noticed and asked why you never checked on hers?" she asked, a wicked smile on her face.

"No, that’s….I didn’t…" he sighed. "Well, can you blame me?" he asked with a whiney voice.  Hannah laughed and he smiled "You weren’t exactly being discreet, Levinson"

"Ok, look, forget about that now. I’ll figure something out." he said as he leaned over to kiss her, frowning when she pulled back.

"Yeah I wouldn’t do that if I were you."

"Yeah, good point. Although isn’t a cold contagious days before symptoms?" he cockily asked.

"Hark on you Dr Levinson."

"You know, Guy Thomas is technically a doctor, I mean he has a PHD so…" 

She laughed loudly which made her cough. "In fucking Anthropology!"

"Details…" he smiled broadly.

Hannah snorted and locked her eyes on his "You’re right though. Chances are you already got it."

Ari chuckled. "Ok, I’m gonna go for my run before everyone gets up. You gonna be ok?"

"Sure I’ll manage. I’ve lived alone for the last 4 years Ari, had plenty of colds…" Ari grimaced, he didn’t like to think about that. For some reason it made him a little upset though he knew it was illogical as she was a grown woman and a doctor nonetheless. "Just try and get some sleep. When they start asking where you are at breakfast I’ll use it as an excuse to come see you, tell them I’ll come find out."

"Make sure it’s you who comes, please." she pleaded as she got under the sheets and rested her head on the pillow.

"Of course it will be. I’m the boss, can do what I want."

She sat up again and gazed at him. 

"Don’t let Sammy come or I’m never leaving this hut again."

"Dramatic much?" he tried to joke. "I know him, he won’t let me out of bed for days." she said and Ari could read the concern in his eyes.

"Neither would I given the chance, albeit for a much different reason." he quipped cheekily, trying to brush her concern away.

His eyes sparkled with satisfaction as he saw Hannah's jaw drop. She slapped his arm and broke into a coughing fit. "You’re an asshole Ari. You can’t say that when I can’t kiss you properly."

"Then I’ll say it again when you can." he said, rubbing her thighs over the covers

"Promise?"

"Damned straight it is."

Hannah grinned before leaning back on her pillow again "Go, before I climb you like a tree and infect you with my virus."

"Now that's an image I intend to dwell in all through the day, Miss." he said before kissing her head and getting up and walking to the door. "Thing is Firefly…" and he turned to look at her, one hand on the door handle. “…you infected me 9 years ago."

"That is so lame!" she said as she threw a pillow at him "Go. Now."

He chuckled and stepped outside closing the door behind him.  Hannah then looked at the pillow and groaned. "Now I gotta pick that up."

As if on cue Simon trotted towards the pillow and flopped down on it, looking up at her.

"Ok, guess I don’t…" she shrugged

**** Ari was hoping his run would keep his mind occupied and help quiet the noise in his brain. He was worried about Hannah and though he was well aware it was probably only a cold and, yes, she was a fully trained doctor who knew exactly what she was doing, he still couldn't help but think about how poorly she had looked and sounded. 

Fuck it.

With a sigh he turned his Walkman off when he was still a mile or so away from the resort. He couldn't concentrate on what he was listening to and the headphones were constantly falling from his head due to his furious strides. He wasn't in the mood and every little thing in the universe was apparently conspiring to bug him. 

Damn, Ari. Are you listening to yourself? 

His inner voice slapping him on the back of his head was the final straw. He groaned and quickened his pace, longing for the moment the cold water in the shower would ease the stiffness he was feeling in his muscles and mind. 

"I thought you were ill." Max greeted him when he emerged in the main area after making it home and showering.

"I had a headache. Hence the painkillers. And guess what, they killed my pain. So here I am." he explained, a bit too harsh.

"Woah chill man." Max frowned as he raised both his palms as a peace gesture.

"I’m perfectly chilled." Ari huffed as he sat down on a chair.

The truth is he wasn't chilled, not even remotely. He knew there was nothing he could do and Hannah would be probably asleep once the effects of the pills had kicked in, but he was twitchy as fuck to go check on her. "You look worried Ari." Rachel stated. More as a warning of his conspicuous behaviour than as a real concern.

"Do I? Well I’m not. What’s for breakfast?" Ari asked, trying to put on a genuine smile on his face but failing considerably.

"Whatever you want. The guests don’t arrive until 11 so it's up to you what you want. There’s plenty of bread for toast and pastries in the pantry." Rachel replied, squinting her eyes at him.

"Ok, I’m gonna grab some coffee." he said as he got up, praying someone asked about Hannah soon because not only was he worried about her but also about acting cool when they would eventually ask. He wanted it over and done with as soon as possible because he didn't know how long he was going to be able to refrain from snapping at someone or something. He grabbed his coffee and then an idea came to him. He poked his head back into the main room and asked if he should throw a few rounds of toast in for everyone, knowing if he made enough there’d be some left over and they would be bound to notice one of them was missing.

An instant later Rachel came in to help. They made the first batch in silence, his mind still racing, and as the second batch was in she turned to him. 

"So, come on, don’t bullshit me Ari. What’s going on?"

"What do you mean what’s going on?" he asked back while cursing at a piece of toast that was still too hot for him to grab.

"You’re twitchy. You and Hannah had an argument already?"

"What? No…what makes you think that?" 

Rachel looked at him with that seemingly expressionless look that was yelling cut the crap and Ari sighed. It was Rachel after all, he could trust her and it would do him good to blow off some steam with someone.

"Ok, she’s ill."

Rachel frowned before asking "What do you mean? Like bad ill?"

"No, it’s a cold but she’s feeling pretty rough." he explained as he grabbed the bread from the toaster and dropped it onto the plate. He felt relief as he uttered those words, explaining what was going on to another person had really helped him realise he really shouldn’t be making a big deal out of it.

"Ah. Ok. Want me to go check on her?"

"No, I told her I would when you all realised she hadn’t shown for breakfast…" he paused and then bit his lip "Look, can…can you just maybe ask about her out there? My nerves are on edge."

Rachel smiled "Sure, good look convincing Sammy to stay away."

"Actually, I was hoping you could help me with that." he asked somewhat shyly.

"How?"

"You’ll figure something out."  His shy request had morphed now into a wicked smile making Rachel roll her eyes at him.

"You owe me Levinson. I don’t like lying to him, it’s not fair." she conceded but waved her index finger at him.

"You don’t have to lie to him…just don’t tell him the truth."

"Where I come from that’s called lying, Ari."

"You know what I mean, Rach." he remarked as he flashed his signature cheeky smirk at her.

"Come on man, I’m hungry." Max's voice suddenly startled them both.

Ari seized the opportunity and gave her one last pleading look at Rachel and she groaned before pointing at him again.

"Fine, let's get this over with but I mean it. You owe me, big time."

"I know, and if it's any consolation I don’t like all the sneaking around either but until Han is ready to tell Sammy there’s not much I can do." he shrugged.

"Whatever." she said, grabbing one big plate and handing it to Ari "Take the toast out there, Romeo."

They headed back out of the kitchen, carrying the communal breakfast and Ari sat back down, a bit more collected this time.

"About time, what were you doing? Baking the damned bread?" Max whined, raiding the toast plate.

"You wanna eat that toast or wear it?" Hannah cut his protests.

"Woah, easy Rachel…what’s happened this morning, why is everyone so tetchy?"

Ari looked at Rachel and she understood. The sooner they get this over with the better but just as she opened her mouth to speak, Sammy cut her off.

"Where’s Hannah?"

Everyone looked at one another for a few seconds. The only thing that could be heard being Max munching his toast. Ari tried to hold back the relieved sigh he was dying to exhale. Rachel wasn’t needed after all, he had to thank Sammy for that.

"I ain't seen her." Jake, who had been getting the matches for his tan ready, shrugged. "Or Simon actually, he’s normally here before she is…"

 "I’ll go see if everything’s ok with her." Ari offered, standing up.

 "I can go." Sammy frowned.

No. No. No. Ari froze and panicked for a few seconds and gave Rachel a meaningful look.

"Let Ari.” Rachel blurted out before pausing. "Because of Simon…you know the dog doesn’t like you, and it will only put you in a bad mood if he starts growling and you’ll end up arguing with Hannah…”

Well, that had been bold but it seemed to have worked as next thing he knew Ari heard Sammy grumbling. "stupid little gargoyle."

"And that’s why he hates you. You insult him, you hurt his feelings." Ari told Sammy, trying not to seem too eager to fuck the hell out of the room.

They were all too focused on their own act to notice Max who was simply looking at them, munching his toast. He clearly wasn’t buying any of the shit Rachel was saying.  Whereas Jake was too engrossed in cutting the matches he had previously taken from the matchbox with a knife, his coffee long forgotten.

"It’s a dog Ari, he doesn’t know what I’m saying." Sammy continued grumbling.

"Well he clearly reads your body language then."

"Yeah…that’s true. He copies body language too." Max deadpanned, sitting back on his chair.

Ari did his best to keep a straight face, ignoring him but clearly hearing his sniggers. Rachel was the one to glare at Max and he shrugged as he resumed eating his food.

Thankfully, Rachel then took charge of the situation and started explaining the schedule for the new guests that would be arriving a few hours later, Ari took the opportunity and stood up, heading out  for Hannah’s hut. Gently opening the door he saw Simon was snuggled around her head and she was dozing. He approached and sat on the edge of her bed and watched her for a few seconds before feeling her forehead. She was still warm and he sighed.

Simon moved his head and licked the back of Ari’s knuckles when he recognized him.

"You looking after her pal?" he cooed at the dog and moved his hand to scratch under the dog's chin, "Good boy."

Simon wagged his tail and rolled over demanding belly scratches from the hairy human that seemed to be sharing his mom's bed. Ari chuckled as he obliged, rubbing his pink and black spotty belly.

"Demanding little bastard." he softly whispered so as not to disturb Hannah's sleep. But it was too late. With a little sigh she stirred at the movement, blinking.

"Hey, how you feeling firefly?"

"Still crappy." her voice came out hoarse. 

"Yeah, you’re still warm. You should rest in bed till you’re feeling better." he ordered softly.

"Yes Dr Levinson… or Dr Thomas, whatever." she said before yawning and Ari chucked. "How was it out there?"

"Not bad. I asked Rachel for help but it wasn’t needed, Sammy asked before she could."

Hannah nodded and shuffled down a little in the bed, coughing again. Ari waited until she was done and he then leaned down over her, one hand either side of her shoulders as she was led on her side. 

"Ok sweetheart. I’m gonna go back out now but once they know I’ll sneak to see you whenever I can." 

"I’m just gonna sleep Ari, I don’t need babysitting." she grumbled.

Ari raised an eyebrow playfully. "Ok, so you don’t want me to take care of you or keep you company? That’s fine, I get it…" he mocked a complaint, a soft smile on his face.

"Shut up." Hannah groaned.

"And now you don’t want to hear me either." he chuckled and kissed her forehead. "Get some rest and shout if you need anything." and he pondered for a moment before speaking. "On second thoughts, just don't shout. Your voice is terrible today..." and he stopped when he saw her mouth drop open "You know what I mean, Firefly."

"Ari?" Hannah asked as he made to stand up. "Yeah?" "I could use some orange juice." she beamed at him before sneezing for the umpteenth time.

"Ok, I’ll bring some for you." Ari wandered back to the main area, all the way thinking how he was going to pull his next stunt. Just act natural, Levinson. You got this, he thought as he entered the main area, his hands falling to his hips as he walked in.

"Where is she?" Sam asked once he spotted Ari was back.

"She’s sick Sammy." and he held his hand up to stop Sammy’s impending babble. "It’s just a cold."

Sammy frowned. "A cold?"

"That’s what she said." He shrugged and turned to walk to the kitchen. "She asked for some paracetamol and orange juice." he said, ignoring the fact Max was narrowing his eyes suspiciously after he caught Ari with the pills before. He opened the fridge, considering if it would be good for her to drink cold liquids, and poured a glass of orange and went back into the main dining area just as Sammy walked in from the office with the box of pills and gestured to the orange juice.

"Want me to take it? I can examine her."

"She’s a doctor too, Sammy." Jake snorted.

Ari was getting more flustered by the minute. He just wanted to get rid of Sammy and get back and check on her again. Damned it. He knew he was being ridiculous but she really didn’t look well at all and if he had his way he’d be curled up besides her all day. He would trade posts with Simon on the spot. He looked at Rachel as a last resource, silently asking her to take the reins. 

Rachel took a deep breath and turned to Sam. "Sammy, she won’t want her brother fussing." She then turned to Ari. "Take her some toast too in case she feels like eating something." she said while putting a few slices from the large plate on the table onto a smaller one. "Tell her I’ll check up on her later and grab her laundry."

Thank you Rachel.

"I bet Simon is eating that toast." Max quipped.

Jake chuckled. "That’s a point, should we take care of him today?"

Ari shook his head. "He was curled up on the bed with her, looked pretty comfy. I’ll take him for a walk if he wants to go but to be honest I don’t think he’ll leave her."

“Unless it’s you.” Max quipped.

“What do you mean? Ari asked.

“Simon is conveniently deaf unless you or Cracker are talking to him.” Max grinned “You’re like his parents, it’s cute.”

Ari rolled his eyes and with that he headed back out, down to her hut. God, he was sweating already and he had showered less than an hour before. Simon looked up when Ari got in the hut. Hannah was asleep so he placed the orange juice, toast and pills on her bedside table before leaning to kiss her head.

"Sleep tight, my Firefly." he whispered as he straightened up and looked at Simon. "You coming buddy? Let’s get you some food and go for a walk, huh?"

Ari watched the dog look at Hannah, then him and then back to Hannah again, hesitating. Sammy could say whatever he wanted, but that dog did understand what they said to him. No one was gonna convince Ari otherwise.

"She’ll be ok pal." Ari rolled his own eyes at himself when he realised he was explaining to the fucking dog. But Simon was proving his point as he stood up and walked down the bed, jumping off the side. Ari saw him stretch and wag his tail as he headed out, Simon at his heels. 

*****

A few hours later Rachel went to Hannah’s hut and knocked on the door, walking in after Hannah told her to do so. Rachel found her sat up in bed and thought Ari, though being a painful drama queen, was right. She looked awful. Her nose was red, her eyes looked tired but at least she was reading.

"How are you feeling?"

"A little better, thanks. I had a good sleep and the meds seem to have worked their way into my system." she explained and then she paused. "What time is it by the way? I can’t find my watch." she asked Rachel as she scanned her bedside table and drawers again.

 "Maybe you left it in Ari’s hut…I mean if you slept there last night…" Rachel offered, cocking an eyebrow.

Hannah looked at her and sighed, rolling her eyes.  There was no point in even denying it and she wasn't feeling strong enough to either. "How much do you know?" "Well from what the pair of you have told me and the fact his tee was mixed in with your laundry, I’d hazard a guess at all of it." "Ari’s shirt was..? Shit!" Hannah groaned.

"Yup, shit indeed. You’re lucky I spotted it before your brother did. Thankfully it was next to a pile of your panties and he wasn’t looking." Rachel chuckled at Hannah's mortified expression before continuing. "Then there’s also the fact that the dress you were wearing yesterday was on the chair in his hut. I washed that too, you can thank me later, or we can talk about how his bathroom was missing a towel and curiously enough there’s one that seems to have appeared on the floor by your bed. Your pick."

Hannah groaned again and rubbed her face down her hand.

"By the way it was the shirt he was wearing for dinner the night he came home." Rachel winked at her.

"Yeah I know…he left it here and I forgot I threw it in with my stuff." "You two had yourselves a welcome home party, huh?" Hannah laughed at Rachel's wriggling eyebrows and coughed a little. "Don’t be so nosey."

"Look, I’m happy for you two, I really am. And I love to see you happy, you deserve it but…well, Max suspects something and it’s only a matter of time before Sammy and Jake figure it. Especially if Ari is as shit at keeping a cover as he seems to be. He was a wreck this morning."

"A wreck?" Hannah asked, surprised. "I’ve got a damned cold, what’s he so fretted about?" "Well according to him you looked really bad and were burning up, moments from death…you know that type of thing. I had to smack some sense into him in the kitchen before he blew it with the rest." 

Hannah rolled her eyes. "He’s such a drama queen."

"When it comes to you he is. You should have seen him. Shittiest Mossad agent ever." Rachel mocked him.

Hannah laughed again and, as usual that morning, her laugh was punctuated by coughs.

"Luckily Jake is too focussed on his tan to notice and Sammy…well Sammy is oblivious and to be fair probably doesn’t even want to even consider anything like that so…"

Hannah pondered what she had said for a minute and looked at her. "You think we should come clean? I mean Ari said he would happily tell everyone but I’m not sure if I can handle Sammy already."

"That’s up to you. But the longer you leave it, then surely the harder it's gonna be?" Rachel smiled at her, sympathetically.

Hannah rubbed her eyes. "I don’t think I can do this until I feel better, and then it’s my birthday next week and don’t want anything to spoil it."

"I can’t answer Hannah, I can’t tell you what to do." Rachel patted her leg.

"I’ll speak to Ari about it." she mused and Rachel laughed.

"What’s so funny?" "That man will do whatever you tell him to do. I know that, you should know it by now." Hannah shook her head, though Rachel may be right that was not what she needed at that moment.  "I don’t want him to just do what I say, just want him to help me make a decision." She looked at Rachel and then grinned "I see you did a pretty good job covering the marks on your neck, unlike yesterday."

Rachel blushed. "You saw them?"

"Yes." And the grin on Hannah’s face turned into a grimace.  "And I don’t want to think about it. He’s my brother."

"Ari told you?"

Hanna nodded.

"Bastard."

"I’d already figured it out. I told them ages ago the pair of you were…you know, or at least there was something going on. He was like a bear with a sore head when you were on leave." Hannah explained

Rachel squinted her eyes at her. "Like you were when Ari was gone?"

Hannah shrugged, to be fair Rachel was right, the Navons were pretty shitty at concealing their feelings. And speaking of concealing?  "FYI that concealer on my desk is pretty good if you need to borrow it."

Rachel stared at her blankly and Hannah swept her hair to the side to show her the now fading bruises Ari had given her the other evening and Rachel snorted. 

" Wild Ari, huh?"

"You got no idea." Hannah smirked mischievously.

"Pity Sam is your brother. We could have traded stories." Rachel shrugged amused.

"Don’t get me wrong Rach, I’m happy you’re with him. He needs someone in his life that’s for sure but…yeah, no. I’d rather not listen to them…but if you need to talk hey, I can pretend you’re talking about Chef Aziz…"

At that the pair of them burst out laughing and Hannah had another coughing fit just as Sammy walked into the hut.

"What are you two laughing at?" he asked as he glanced at Hannah. "You feeling better, Han?" "Loads. Rachel is great company." she said, raising her eyebrows at Sammy who went immediately red and cleared his throat. "Need some water Sammy?" Rachel who was sitting on the edge of the bed slapped Hannah’s leg through the covers and mouthed to her Don’t be mean.

Hannah shook her head and looked around, allowing her brother to collect himself. "Hey, where’s Simon by the way? He bailed on me…"

"He was with Ari. They went for a walk then down to the diving hut and then Ari was going out with Jake to prep the tour route for tomorrow." Sammy explained.

 "Has Simon gone on the boat with them?" Hannah frowned.

 "Yeah, why?"

 "I thought he only went diving because he wanted to be with me." she pouted. "He’s been stuck to Ari like glue all day." Rachel confirmed.

 "He even ignored the new group of tourists." Sammy scoffed.

"Judas." Hannah grumbled, folding her arms.

****

3 days Hannah was in bed laid up, and Ari hated it. He’d popped in as much as he could, stealing half an hour or so here and there to lay with her, until Sammy pulled him up at one point over lunch on the second day.

I’m the doctor, she’s a doctor…I don’t see why you have to be checking up on her all fucking day.” Sammy pouted.

“Because you’re busy with the guests.” Ari reasoned “I’m the manager so I can just float about. Besides, it hasn’t been all fucking day, I’ve been to check on her like 3 times to take her some water and something to eat, that’s it.”

Nevertheless, he backed off after that. On the 4th day Hannah eased back into light duties so Ari managed to spend some time with her during the day as but he continued to sleep in his own hut to allow her to sleep properly to fully recover and also to avoid further suspicion as he had also developed a little sniffle himself and was running out of excuses to the rest of the team as to what it was.

But all this meant it was nearly a week since they’d last managed a night together, and it had left him a total needy bastard.

One morning he arrived at the main area of the resort after he’d been talking to a few guests who had asked him for ideas of what to do in Port Sudan. He headed into the main rooms, looking for Hannah, mentally ticking off where she could be. She wasn’t with Jake and Sammy as they were out diving, she wasn’t with Rachel and Aziz helping set up for lunch and Max…well he had no idea where Max was at all. He stood pondering for a moment when he spotted Simon trotting out of the office and he gave a grin.

Bingo.

Hannah was looking through the filing cabinet in front of him as he stepped into the room, silently. He took a moment to appreciate her, taking in her long legs right from her bare feet up to the hem of her pale, strapless blue sundress which hung mid-thigh. It curved neatly over her ass and hips trailing the curve of her waist up to her shoulders which were bare, hair pulled into a messy pony tail, halter neck of her bikini tied at the nape of her neck.

Fuck this, it had been far too long. And he was horny as hell. The damned world could wait.

He shut the door with his foot and she jumped slightly, turning to face him but before she could register what was happening his lips were on hers, the kiss demanding as his hands held her cheeks, tongue finding its way between those soft pillows, sliding forcefully against the roof of her mouth. She let out a soft moan and her hands moved directly to the ties on his swim shorts. His lips curved into a smirk at her demanding nature, the fact she wanted him just as much was getting him even more worked up, and she pulled back to look at him a little, her fingers undoing the string easily as his hands slid to her waist, yanking her even closer so their pelvises were flush and she could feel his arousal pressing into her stomach.

“Stop smirking.” She mumbled, and he chuckled a little, his nose brushing hers “Cocky bastard.”

“You want cocky?” he muttered, his lips brushing hers, the feather-light touch sent a shiver down her spine as his mouth slid to her jawline and that spot on her neck just behind her ear. “I’ll show you cocky Firefly.”

His lips crashed to hers again as he pivoted them away from the cabinets and towards the desk at the side of the room, his movements effortless as she gave into his directions completely. Submission had never been her strong point, but when it came to Ari she was weak and now was no exception. She was weak to his touch, his mouth, his every damned action as she allowed him to man handle her, his hands gliding up her back to her neck, fingers of one grasping at the nape as he held her face to his, his mouth dominating hers.

In a quick, almost forceful movement he spun her round, his mouth trailing open mouthed kisses down her neck to her shoulder, moving to the other side to repeat the action and she let out a low keen of delight.

“Shh.” He stopped, what he was doing and Hannah stilled, her breathing deep. Once she’d obeyed he picked up where he had left off, his hand sliding up over her covered breasts, palming them in his large hands, letting out a gently sigh of his own as he felt her nipples peak through the material.

“Ari…we can’t…” She mumbled, suddenly coming to her senses as she heard voices pass by the reception desk “There’s people outside…”

“I don’t care.” He whispered into her hear, his right hand gently sliding back7 up her neck, fingers flexing over her smooth, delicate throat “You can be quiet, right?”

“I…” he cut her off as he tilted her face to his, swallowing her protests with another filthy kiss, his other hand moving down, rucking her dress up, the pads of his calloused fingers tracing a slow path up her inner thigh. He gently brushed over the spot between her legs and a soft growl rolled in the back of this throat as he could feel her arousal through her bikini bottoms. He released her mouth, his lips staying millimetres away from hers “You’re fucking soaked baby girl”

Hannah couldn’t find the words to reply. She was putty in his hands, and happy to let him take control. All truth be told she was aching for him too, and although this hadn’t been going on long in the grand scheme of things, the way he did make love to or fuck her had her craving for his touch whenever she could get it. She let out a gasp as his fingers brushed her bottoms to one side, skating her slit as he found her nub and began to coax at her expertly. She bit her lip, hard, the taste of copper flooding her mouth as she found herself desperately trying to control her noise.

Releasing her throat, Ari’s other hand gently pressed at the base of her spine, bending her forward a little over the desk and her hands splayed flat against the wooden surface sending a few papers floating to the floor, her check pressed to the cheap oak. Ari moved her bikini to the side, and with one hand still on her back he used the other and gave himself a few strokes, before he lined himself up and sank into her.

“Fuck…” She hissed between gritted teeth as he pulled back, sinking straight back in again, his eyes focussed on the spot they were joined, watching himself move in and out. His thrusts were slow, deliberate at first, and his eyes flicked to Hannah’s face as her head raised from the desk, tilting back slightly. He saw her jaw slacken and in a flash his hand reached out, palm clamping over her mouth.

“Gotta be quiet sweetheart…” he grunted out, his other hand gripping her shoulder so he could pull her back onto him and he picked up the pace, fucking her with desperation, like a man starved.

The sound of skin slapping skin, her muffled moans and his own low hisses filled the room as he continued his assault on her spot, his cock dragging against her walls again and again. It was quick and dirty, and before long Hannah could feel herself unravelling. Ari felt her too, the tell-tale fluttering of her clamping down on him signalling she was close.

“Nearly there baby?” he asked, even though he knew the answer and she gave a quick nod, his fingers flexing over her mouth. Releasing the grip on her shoulder he reached around, found her clit and she felt the teasing of his thumb and forefinger as he rolled it between them, his chest pressing to her back, mouth nipping at her ear. With a shudder, the world faded to nothing but a bright, white light and she came, her groan stifled by his hand as she bucked back, eyes fluttering shut, knees trembling as she went limp over the desk. Releasing his hold on her mouth he grabbed her hips, his own snapping back and forth with enough force to jolt the desk slightly, causing it to scrape over the floor as he felt his balls contract and he came inside her, hard, and it was all he could do to keep himself from yelling out.

“Fuck…” he mumbled, his hips slowing to a stop as his head fell forward a little, his breathing deep, T-shirt sticking to him as sweat coated his entire body. He took a moment before he stepped back and looked down as Hannah pushed herself up, his hands gently pulling her up by her hips helping her to stand.

“Cocky enough?” he quipped as he straightened his pants whilst she turned to face him, her cheeks flushed. She reached up and pulled her pony tail free, shaking her hair out whilst she shook her head, grinning at him.

“One word for it.” She arched an eyebrow as she re-tied her hair and squirmed a little, feeling his release dribbling down her inside leg “And now I need to go change.”

“I thought bikini bottoms were supposed to be waterproof.” He chuckled, pulling her in for a quick kiss.

“You’re an ass hole.” She mumbled, before she pulled away, patted his chest and opened the door. The sound of the guests outside grew louder as the flow of fresh air filled the room, well, fresher seeing as it was fucking hot out there too, and with a last glance over her shoulder she smirked and left.

Part 2

[bolontiku]

One Word Prompt

“Grace”

Character: Jefferson

Word: Allergic

Word Count: 756

******

"Hey… hey, oh! There ya go!"

You kept your eyes screwed shut. 

"You're breathing," that voice was smooth, low, worried. "You had us scared."

Scared? Scared… you'd been scared. You had panicked. You couldn't remember exactly why. You took in a breath. 

God that felt so good. 

Why did it feel that good?

"Good thing you had this shot."

Shot? Oh.

**

It came all at once. 

The food festival. 

Your friends.

The cute guy sitting next to you with his daughter… Grace. 

Grace, what a pretty name. 

The food festival. You'd come with your friends of course. It had been fun, people everywhere. Food everywhere. You'd been careful, allergic to shellfish you'd steered clear when your friends told you they were headed that way. You were glad you had packed your epipen just in case.

You'd seen the man first of course, how could you not? The man was tall, lean and hot as fuck. That soft look on his face had done you in, when you realized he was looking at a kid who was dangling from his hand it made your heart melt like butter. She was half his height and wrapped around his forearm, but you could tell she had him wrapped around her pinky. She was his whole world.

You knew that feeling. Your dad being the hero of your world, you were close to your own dad. Even now as an old man you were convinced he could and would take the whole world on. 

So, when the little girl had smiled up at him you knew the look. 

Hero worship.

Sitting at the nearest table you'd been excited to try the food out, you weren't sure what the foods were but made sure to keep your purse close, no harm in being too careful. 

Someone sat next to you and looking over you were graced with the sweetest smile and bright blue eyes. 

Eyes like the ocean.

His name was Jefferson. Grace, his daughter had convinced him they needed a day out and it had been quite a day. His laugh stuck as Grace reached over dumping food into his plate, chattering away. You'd gotten wrapped up in conversation with the two, paying no mind to the food.

Until you felt a tickle.

You cleared your throat as you answered a few questions. 

"You okay?" He'd asked with worry in his eyes as you reached for your purse, breathing had become harder. You recognized the symptoms. 

"My epipen…"

"Oh! I know what that is!" Grace had piped up excitedly, watching you dig around your purse. "Dad…" she sounded worried as your hands shook.

You tried not to panic, but when you couldn't breathe panic is exactly what you did.

** 

Strong hands helped you sit up, "thank you."

"Maybe don't speak?" He said motioning to your throat, "they said help was on the way," he looked around and you felt embarrassed as you realized people were surrounding you. "Plus, I didn't do anything," he scrunched his face at you, "that was all my Grace."

You looked over at the little girl that sat opposite her father on your left. She smiled, "my friend Hannah explained to me how this works, she can't have peanut stuff, which is kinda sad cause peanut butter is the best!!"

You stared at her, your epipen in her hand, “th-thank you.”

Grace giggled, young face scrunching up, as Jefferson stood waving down the help. “We’re gonna go with you to the hospital.”

You shook your head, “it’s okay.”

Grace grabbed your hand in hers, “my dad really likes you, he doesn’t talk to women so I know he likes you.” You felt your face heat, “you like my dad right? It’s okay you seem nice.”

“Grace..”

“Dad, we should go with her to the hospital!! We don’t even know her name and this is serious!!”

Jefferson stared at her for a moment before nodding, “you’re right.” He knelt down placing a hand on your shoulder, “seems like you're stuck with us, what’s your name?”

“Y/F/N/ Y/L/N.”

Jefferson smiled softly, “well, it’s nice to meet you. Pretty sure I talked your ear off earlier and told you all about us and I didn’t even bother learning your name, which is very pretty.. What I mean is, no, no it is very pretty.” He blushed as you shook your head waving a heavy hand.

Grace turned back to you shooting a wink, a smile slipped into place. Yeah, you liked the little girl alright.

*****

A/N: @learisa I am so sorry this took forever!! It came out kinda cutesy i hope ya like it!!

[reds-self-ships]

🔎 The Adventure of the Detection Club

Chapter 6: By The Book

Table of Contents & Trigger Warnings

Redford opened the rather well-worn looking ledger. “This is our current list of members, as up-to-date as yesterday morning, when I updated it ahead of Dexter being officially sworn in as a member. The check means that they’ve paid their dues for the month—which Harris Thomas unfortunately didn’t for several months in a row, as such he was expelled, and Dexter Collins was due to serve as his replacement.”

“I see,” said Ryunosuke. “So why did Dexter Collins get offered membership after Harris Thomas was expelled?”

“It’s a particular rule of our organisation; fully-paid membership is capped at seven members, per club constitution. Of course, we have honorary members, but they bear the name alone. Bit like an honorary degree. Just because you’re considered an honorary doctor doesn’t necessarily mean you can walk into a hospital grab a scalpel and set to work, you know?”

Redford quickly jotted down a list of the organisation’s members, and handed it over to Ryunosuke.

“Oh thank you. Let’s see here…”

Redford Ninate – President of the Detection Club

Christina Agatha – Vice President of the Detection Club

Arthur Conan Doyle

Dexter Collins – Most recent admission

Alan Edgar Doe

Raymond Chalmers

Hannah Sophia

Harris Thomas – Expelled, but now deceased.

“‘Arthur Conan Doyle’? Why does that name sound so familiar to me…” said Susato. “Wait a minute, isn’t that Iris’s agent?”

“Oh yes, I believe he may well be. Doyle represents quite a few authors nowadays, given that he’s now officially wound up his medical practice. Bit of an odd fellow at times though, but his medical knowledge is second-to-none.

“Christina’s a pharmacology student in the university, specialising in poisons. She’s rather well-known for her work. After a nursing student read one of her novels, she was able to accurately recognise the symptoms of cyanide poisoning in a toddler, so she was considered prime candidate for the vice presidency.

“Raymond Chalmers is…well…a bit of an odd fish if you catch my meaning.”

“Odd how?”

“Well his style of writing is a little…how could I put it…grittier than most. He’s an American exchange student, as is Doe. But Doe’s work is more psychological than Chalmers’s work.”

“And what about Hannah Sophia or Dexter Collins?”

“Hannah Sophia’s written plenty of psychological thrillers herself, but she’s getting more into the old-school kind of stuff nowadays. As for Dexter, his work’s impressive, if a little droll at times for my tastes. But, he met the requirements for admission so we quite literally couldn’t say ‘No thanks’ to him.”

“I see. All good to know. Did they all get along well with Harris?”

“To my knowledge, yes. But as I mentioned earlier, we crime fiction writers always value our secrets, so they could’ve been in a darn fight club or something with the man and I could’ve never been any the wiser. It might be an idea to investigate every lead possible before you end up ruling anybody out.”

“I’ll bear that in mind,” said Ryunosuke, making a mental note. “But what, exactly, did you mean about the admission requirements?”

“You mean to become a member?”

“Er, yes please.”

“It’s a rather simple process, actually. First of all, there must be a vacancy. And a vacancy is either through a member being expelled for contravening the organisation’s constitution or bringing it into disrepute, being jailed for more than a month, failing to pay dues, or, naturally, if the member were to die.

“Second of all, you must be nominated by an already-existing Detection Club member, and submit a completed work of crime fiction to be brought forward for consideration by all other members of the club.

“Thirdly, the club members must vote for who, exactly, to admit. However, we rarely use this particular clause. All but the president of the club vote. That way we can ensure there’s always an odd number, preventing the need for any run-offs or tie-breakers.”

“I see. I should make a n—”

Redford handed a note over to the lawyer. “I’ve already made a note of that for you.”

“Er, thank you,” said Ryunosuke, putting the note into his pocket. By the time this particular investigation was finished, it was looking more and more likely than not that the court record was going to be about as thick as a crime novel itself.

“I’ve got all the contact details of club members located within this folder, and you can consider this my official permission to use all of the contact details within—as well as any resource of the Detection Club where necessary—for official use during the course of this investigation. Thankfully, club rules allow for that too.”

“These club rules all sound to be incredibly specific, Red,” said Ryunosuke.

“You wouldn’t believe how specific they are. I’m allowed to do that under Rule 1345, Section A1, Subsection B64, Paragraph 223.”

“H-How many?!”

“Rule 1345, Section A1, Subsection B64, Paragraph 223. It makes more sense than Rule 8262, Section Z26, Subsection G223/X, Paragraph 2: ‘The club’s hot cocoa supplies may only be obtained from Bradley Cocoa Inc.’—I’m more of a Neville Cocoa Co. fan myself. If you want to, some other day when I’m not under investigation for murder, I could bring you for some cocoa. My treat, of course.”

Ryunosuke’s cheeks seemed to be going redder and redder than his client’s namesake. “I—I’d like that a lot, th-thank you…” he stuttered out, before there came the noise of a typewriter clattering to the ground outside.

“G-Get off o’ me ya great bawbag!” cried a voice. “You there, Sholmes! What the hell d’ye thing ye’re doing?! Tell ‘em to lemme go!”

Ryunosuke exclaimed: “What—?!”

Redford exclaimed: “—the hell—?!”

Susato exclaimed: “—is this—?!”

They quickly stepped out from the office to find Mr. Sholmes, Athelney Jones, and several police constables wrestling a man to the ground, with Sholmes desperately trying his best to try and fit a pair of handcuffs onto him in order to try and keep him restrained.

“Get…offa…me!” cried the man, standing up like a giant that had been rudely awakened from his slumber.

The man was tall and well-built, sporting well-combed fair-brown coloured hair and a rather well-kept handlebar moustache. Compared to Redford or even to Mr. Sholmes, he looked to be a giant amongst everyone that was stood in the room that day.

But what really drew the gathered crowd’s attention was the fact that he seemed to be wearing an outfit that was much too small for him; an outfit in the form of a small silver tiara, a green sleeveless top, a pink tutu and ballet slippers, with what looked to be a pair of wings cut out from cardboard strapped to his back and a long wooden stick with a star attached to the end of it.

“Sholmes! What the hell d’ya think yer playin’ at?”

“Arthur?!” exclaimed Redford. “You know you can’t come in here right now, not whilst the police are still investigating!”

“Sorry…Did you just say Arthur?” asked Susato.

“Yes, this is Arthur Conan Doyle.”

“One of your lot then, eh?” asked Jones, folding his arms with a sneer on his face.

“Not only that, Detective Jones. But this man…” Sholmes spun into the centre of the room and pointed at Conan Doyle with a flick of his fringe. “…is the true criminal that you’ve been searching for all along!”

“It was Arthur All Along? Come off it.”

“If anything, he should be prosecuted for crimes against my eyesight,” said Ryunosuke out loud, not quite sure where to look, given that the outfit that the man was wearing was far too small for him and far too revealing for everybody else.

“I’m quite sure of it. After all, I have perfectly intact logic and reasoning that can explain all.”

“Such as?”

“Well then I’ll show you then. It’s officially time for…Herlock Sholmes’s Dance of Deduction!”

“Oh this’ll be something to look forward to!” cried Redford excitedly, taking out his notebook and already beginning to rapidly scribble notes.

“Trust me when I say it isn’t…” said Ryunosuke, slumping over and fixing the defence attorney band that had slipped slightly down his arm.