#(she’s the one who tells bail to agree to the marriage)

[rooksunday]

something something bail is senator in a bloodless coup very early on in the war and the barely-introduced so-called GAR are declared as an enemy force and they have to scramble to the negotiating table on behalf of themselves and the tubies, jedi still tied to the senate and strangers to the clones, and in an effort to tie all hands away from blasters a number of alliances are proposed, and cody does his best but he’s not slept for three days and his basic didn’t old with the legalese modules and anyway that’s how fox ends up offered in marriage to the kriffin’ chancellor of the republic

[swxrxgini]

Childhood friends to lovers troupe with Aditya is living in my head rent free, perhaps, you could offer some hcs for it please 🥹

Brain empty, only Aditya

| : Aamras and friends

Receiver.... Author's note: "Dear, Thank you so much for requesting this!! I loved it so much and it's honestly so damn cute!!"

Receiver.... Synopsis: "Aditya and you, friends since young, fall in love. HCs about being childhood friends and falling in love with Aditya Kashyap!!"

Receiver.... Warnings: "nothing really? Fluff, childhood shenanigans? Might not be correct to the movie cause I watched it very long ago, forgive my mistakes!! Geet and Aditya are only friends here! Mentions of Maths. Mentions of suicide, Geet gets with your brother (i made him up)"

◊ Oh my god!! Imagine you and Aditya as friends and sitting in the sun eating raw mangoes?? So cute! You both probably met due to your parents being friends or you both were close in school and you got your parents to be friends as well! Or maybe you were neighbors who went to same school?

◊ You and him grew up so close, slacking off in computer lab as you both watched stupid shit, passing notes in class, trying to help each other memorize the multiplication table up until 30, then memorize square and square roots until 30 and cube and the cube roots until 25. You both got close thanks to torturing Maths.

◊ But that was until the marriage affair of his parents, where he took the deal a bit too hard to his heart. And then his father's death happened after you both grew up, his business going in the dumps.

◊ After the years, he slowly started to become more and more reclusive and depressed, contemplating. One day while after a meeting, you both meet up, but he seemed out of it and you both climbed a train despite the reluctance, meeting a very bubbly girl, Geet Dhillon. You three talked a bit, and you and Geet managed to shake him out of his suicidal thoughts.

◊ In the middle of the night, Aditya gets off, ans you follow him, since you felt weird leaving the boy alone, Geet followed you both asking you both to get on the train, but she herself missed the train...She gets Aditya and you to drive her to the next station, but ends up missing it again...

◊ Geet then demanded to have you both take her home and you both agreed. You grinned as you and her quickly bonded, but Aditya took a bit of time, but it was fine since they became friends. two girlies with a boy tired of the girlies's bullshit. :)

◊ She opened up to you both about her boyfriend whom she wanted to marry, but couldn't because of her parents and the religious differences. While Aditya spoke of how his then girlfriend (whom you were a bit suspicious of) left him to marry someone else, and you hummed nodding how you broke up with your toxic ex boyfriend who was mentally ruining you.

◊ You and Geet were basically besties at that point, with Aditya being both of your guardians probably. You and her tried your best to bring Aditya back to his old fun self, with the power of self-love, friendship and what not.

◊ You, Geet and Aditya became a trio for a while, doing stupid shit together while Aditya simply tried to stop you both from getting in trouble, you three got close. Geet but noticed the chemistry between you two, the longing stare of yours towards him and him staring at you as if you were diamond and gold.

◊ She actually helped Aditya ask you out, asking you if you wanted to go to a restaurant, bu bailed last minute, not only that it's her Aditya goes to for dating advice. You three were closest and it became the friendship of "third wheeling friend becomes baby of the couple in the group", so there's that.

◊ She even tells you both about her plans to run away to be with Anshuman, because she was upset she wasn't gonna be able to marry him.

◊ Her relatives were very happy, you brought her back and had you both stay. And then while they were planning her marriage date, she came to you both, telling you both that she was eloping and was bidding farewell to you two, you both argued with her for a while, before you three were caught mid act by her sister and had to eventually run away..

◊ As she convinced you both to run away with her leaving her family, leaving her family with the idea of Geet being attracted to both boys and girls which was slightly embarrassing for both of you. You both and her had to eventually part ways since she wanted to leave to her boyfriend in Manali, Himachal Pradesh..

◊ You and him let her go her way to her so called boyfriend while you both also became slightly distanced, but stayed close nonetheless. You helped him take breaks, though rarely, you both spent time out in restaurants, mostly spending time at street food vendours or chowpatis.

◊ He started to be less depressed and more the same Aditya you knew before as a child, all the more while you both fell in love, you both missed Geet but didn't get into any type of contact with her afterwards.

◊ He would happily take you shopping whenever you want, whenever you wanted, he was always happy to spoil with his business growing good. He definitely took some lessons from you and Geet aabout sunshine and bright outlook on life which helped him a bit.

◊ Thought a bit reluctant, as you encouraged him, he also bonded with his mother who eloped with another man in the affair or something. It was awkward, but fine, whatever Aditya wanted, you were fine with it.

◊ You and him would often go to shops to drink aamras, mango joosh. Because it's a delicacy and why not? And also childhood snacks, it's so great!!

◊ Around nine months later, Geet's family saw an ad on Adtiya's business launch event and they confronted you both in his office while you were there, demanding you both bring Geet back because she never came home and gave you both two days..

◊ You and Aditya eventually went back to Manali to learn that Geet did come there to meet her boyfriend, but Anshuman rejected her because he didn't want to marry her, you had to be held back a bit before you punched the dude..

◊ You and Aditya trace her back to Shimla and go there to look for Geet, finding her live a reclusive life, working as a teacher in her old school, you were a bit disappointed, but you and Aditya tried to help her receive the sunshine outlook on life yet again.

◊ But Anshuman wanted to start a new, while uncertain of him, you four head back to Bathinda back. Her family was still under the impression she eloped with you and Aditya and it was very weird and awkward for a bit, while Geet tried to explain her side, but was unable to do so. You felt bad and tried to get her to talk to Anshuman tomorrow morning, while Aditya and you laid in bed together, explaining how you both were leaving the next day as you nodded.

◊ As you and Aditya were leaving tomorrow while Geet talked, she didn't want to be with Anshuman longer and ran and followed you both, cause she seemed happier with you two beside her as friends, leaving Anshuman behind heartbroken while Aditya tried to stop you shove a middle finger up his face and kick or punch him for hurting such a sweet girl as Geet.

◊ Overall, very cute relationship but you share your life experiences with Geet as well as she teases you both, visiting with her husband and your brother to your two daughters, telling them about experiences, all while you and Aditya tried not to cringe out of embarrassment at the embarrassing things she told your girls.. <333

© This writing work belongs to me, swxrxgini, Aurelia, Rosilabeth, Cerine, kiara. Reblogging is appreciated, but plagiarizing or copying my works is forbidden, thank you for reading this and if you like this check out my blog!

[grapenehifics]

I have the house to myself this weekend which means I get to have musicals on in the background (I am the only one in my family who appreciates this art form) and this morning I've had The Sound of Music running and...I'm having thoughts. Fascism thoughts.

Anakin is nearing the age (early 20s) when he should be taking the Trials and he *says* he's sure he wants to continue on the Jedi path (his mom sure always really wanted him to! He doesn't want to disappoint his Master!) but he's always been a little unorthodox, a little different, and Yoda and Mace and the Council and even Qui-Gon try to (gently) tell him that it's okay if he wants to or needs to take a different path and this life isn't for everyone and there's no shame in it; there's lots of ways to serve the light.

Obi-Wan meanwhile (Force sensitive but his parents said no thank you when the Order came calling when he was a kid?) is fairly recently widowed with seven (or maybe not seven, but some number of) children who he doesn't see all that much because he's...not *the* leader of Stewjon but definitely a higher-up in their government (maybe like a House of Lords/ruling council sort of situation?). And he - like the Republic - sees the writing on the wall about the encroaching threat of the Empire and the members of the Republic who are against this idea (Padmé, Bail, etc) are very interested in keeping Obi-Wan on their side - he's maybe trying to convince the rest of his government to join the Republic? and if they do have to go to war Obi-Wan is one of the few with actual military experience (I'm picturing some sort of Admiral Yularen/Republic Navy-ish) - so when Obi-Wan asks the Order to send a Jedi as a governess for his kids (some - or all? - of them are Force sensitive too, but Obi-Wan and his wife kept them home as kids rather than sending them to Coruscant), even though the answer would *usually* be no (you can't have it both ways Obi-Wan; there are no part-time Jedi) the Republic basically begs the Jedi Council to say yes.

They (reluctantly) agree that sending Anakin to Stewjon might be okay - they wouldn't send anyone else but he's on the fence anyway and this might give him some time to decide if he really wants to be a Jedi or if a home and a family might suit him better. Anakin has to be talked into it - "you're kicking me out??" "NO, Padawan Skywalker..." - but he goes. Of course he actually bonds really well with all the kids (I love Anakin with kids!) and his new boss is surprisingly hot, especially in his Stewjoni military uniform.

Obi-Wan got (quite quickly, after his wife died) engaged to the Duchess Satine of Mandalore, which both parties (and everyone in their respective governments) know is a political marriage but they do also genuinely like and respect each other, and enjoy debating politics with each other - if war breaks out, Satine is determined Mandalore will remain neutral, and Obi-Wan argues against, and that it's their moral obligation to fight - but whatever happens, Mandalore wants Stewjon on their side and vice versa. She's busy running her own system but comes for a visit, and meets Anakin, and picks up right away on the rampant UST between Obi-Wan and his new nanny. (She finds this hilarious.)

Obi-Wan throws a Mandalore/Stewjon unification-type ball at his house (mansion, palace, w/e) and Anakin has the kids show off the more impressive of the Force "tricks" he's taught them (floating rocks, etc). The kids tell Anakin that their dad can move things with the Force, too, and he used to all the time, but doesn't anymore. Anakin is intrigued by this new knowledge.

They get word from Coruscant that Palpatine did as threatened and has staged a coup (?? haven't really worked out the finer details yet) and despite Obi-Wan's best efforts Stewjon as a collective whole looks like it's going to fall on the side of the Empire. He's not the only one determined to fight but he's definitely the most vocal/highest-ranking of the dissenters and Satine warns him that he at least needs to get his family out of harm's way, and if he can get them to Mandalore she can protect them and they can join the Rebellion from there. (Form the Rebellion? This part is still a little muddy).

(Obi-Wan checks that this offer still stands even though he's breaking up with her. She's like a) I called that and b) "oh my god Obi-Wan I'm a pacifist not a monster. I'm not going to let your family *die* just because you're marrying Anakin instead of me, what do you take me for?")

Their escape plan - like in the movie - is to perform in some sort of National Stewjon Talent Show, except swap the Force for a cappella singing. The Jedi - let's say Palpatine hasn't gotten around to Order 66 in this AU - attend this Talent Show, and *obviously* it's a cover for getting Anakin and the Kenobis out (they have to have the same conversation - "you mean you'll still help me even if I'm getting married instead of becoming a Jedi Knight?" "yeah, we're not dicks, it's the right thing to do") but no one can actually call the Jedi out on it even though while they're blinking their eyes all innocently they totally have bolt cutters and stun guns hidden under their robes.

Also there's a subplot where Obi-Wan's oldest breaks up with her boyfriend because "I DON'T DATE STORMTROOPERS."

(Someday I will be able to watch a movie without having Obikin thoughts about it. But it is not this day!)

[funemployed-fangirl]

Modern Bridgerton AU

Eloise & Phillip

Eloise has absolutely no interest in being part of society, and aims to make her mother’s friends as disapproving as possible. She goes to a small liberal arts school (probably Vassar) and gets a degree in an unemployable subject (probably Gender Studies).  After graduating, she comes back to New York, but finds herself aimless. Her mother doesn’t know what to do with her (since helping fundraisers and such holds no interest for Eloise), so Kate offers to have her come work at the law firm. Working as a paralegal (or receptionist or something) helps, but Eloise is still feeling lost.

At some point, Eloise meets Phillip on a dating app. She’s not really looking for a relationship, but she is looking for someone to talk to that isn’t the vapid idiots (her words) she’s been around her entire life. Philip has lived in the Vermont/New Hampshire area his entire life, and currently lives on the family farm outside of Burlington, VT.  

They text back-and-forth (maybe even have a few video chats) for over a year. Out of nowhere, her twin sister (Francesca) marries a guy she met at Julliard and her brother marries her best friend (Penelope), and Eloise decides she’s had enough. She packs a bag, hops a train, and goes to Vermont. No, she does not tell anyone in her family where she’s going. No, she does not alert Philip that she's on her way.

Her mother panics upon discovering that Eloise has disappeared and calls Anthony, who calls Benedict, who calls Daphne, who calls…you get the idea. Eventually the information makes its way to Gregory and Hyacinth. While the rest of the family is panicking, Hyacinth finds Eloise in about 2 minutes through her excellent (read: terrifying) internet stalking skills. The information makes its way back to Anthony, who announces he’s going to go to Vermont and get her. Benedict tells him not to go alone because “yes, Anthony, someone should go talk some sense into her, but if you go alone you might kill someone, and it’s unlikely your wife will come bail you out of jail.” 

They get to Vermont to discover the following:

Phillip is about 13 years older than Eloise (and is in fact a few years older than Anthony). 

Phillip was previously married, and has been divorced for about 6 years. 

Phillip has full custody of his twins from his previous marriage (they’re about 9 years old at this point). 

No one is happy. But Eloise is not about to let her brothers drag her back to New York (did they learn NOTHING from the tennis match for Daphne’s honor?). Besides, Eloise is finally getting the twins to like her. And Phillip might at this point be more afraid of her than her brothers (he’s also might be a little in love at this point). So it’s agreed that she’ll stay in Vermont for a couple weeks.

She never leaves. She ends up working for a non-profit that runs a local food-coop and community garden. She and Phillip send the kids to a local Montessori school where everyone calls the teachers by their first names. The nieces and nephews like going to visit Aunt Eloise at the farm, but definitely think their cousins are a little strange.

more (x)

[skelavender]

mulder and scully’s wedding rings and scully in her wedding dress to celebrate their super platonic, just bros wedding in kind of perfect! read chapter 3 here, or below the cut!

Mulder is more excited then he’s let himself be since Scully proposed. He’s buzzing out of his skin, and hoping that it doesn’t show. He doesn’t want Scully to think he’s nervous.

“Are you nervous?” she asks from her seat in their office. They’re both still in their suits, acting as if it’s a normal workday, and not the fifth Wednesday since they got engaged. As if it’s not their wedding day. 

“Hmm?”

“Are you nervous?” She repeats, “You’re all jittery. It’s not too late to call it off if you don't want to do it.”

“I do,” he says quickly, “I’m just finding it hard to focus. I mean, we’re getting married in less than an hour, Scully, don’t tell me your attention is entirely on that autopsy report.”

She smiles, “It’s not.” She closes the folder and puts it to the side. “Do you want to get going early?”

He rises, “Absolutely.” At the door, he offers her his elbow and she places her hand in the bend, familiar. “You ready for this, Mrs. Spooky?”

She gives a full laugh, “Yes, I am.”

They both grab garment bags from their cars and walk the three blocks to the courthouse. Mulder hadn’t mentioned anything about the tux, but Scully isn’t entirely surprised. He’s treated this with the same weight she is. It’s no small thing. 

They change quickly in the public restrooms and meet back in the lobby. When they tell the clerk they are there for their civil ceremony appointment, she asked about their witness.

“Do we… need one?”

“I mean, technically someone here could do it? But people tend to prefer a friend or family member to sign their marriage licenses.”

Mulder and Scully share a look. 

“Should we…” She starts.

“Probably.”

“I mean, he’s the only other one who is supposed to know.”

“I’ll call him.” He nods.

“It’s really no trouble for someone here–” the girl says, but Mulder cuts her off.

“It’s fine, as long as it’s okay for us to wait ten minutes?”

“Of course.” She says. 

He and Scully step outside as he dials Skinner’s office.

“Skinner,” the man says when Mulder goes through.

“Sir, I need you to meet me and Agent Scully at the courthouse and to not ask questions.”

“Agent Mulder, I can not bail you out of jail.” Skinner replies immediately.

“Is that really your first thought?”

“With you? Yes.”

“Well neither off us have been arrested, we just… need a favor. It’ll only take half an hour.”

“And what’s the nature of this favor?”

“It’s… personal. Just a signature. Nothing big.”

Against his better judgment, Skinner agrees. 

***

Walter Skinner is not an idiot. He knows they're in love. He also knows that both of them are too damn stupid and too damn professional to do anything about it. He hears the whispers, knows that everyone else in violent crimes is so sure that they spend their days in the basement office in a haze of sex. But Skinner knows better. He sees the hesitance in Mulder's touches, as if he's afraid that the contact could be rejected at any moment. He sees how Scully soaks his touch in like she doesn’t know if or when she’ll get the next drop. He sees how they gaze at each other when the other is looking away. Or, sometimes, when they’re looking directly at them. 

So, when he arrives at the courthouse to see Scully in a white dress and Mulder in a tux, he shouldn’t be surprised. 

“What is this, Agents?” He asks, despite knowing exactly what it is.

“We’re getting married.” Scully says, “As a contingency. We need a witness, if you would be willing, sir.”

“A contingency? For what? Is there a threat you haven’t told me about?”

“A lot of things,” Scully says, “It started because of hospital visitations, medical decisions. The more we thought about it, the more sense it made.”

“You realize that if you’re in a relationship, you can’t be partners anymore?”

“We aren’t in a relationship, sir,” Mulder interjects, “It’s just paperwork. Less than changing wills, and next of kin, and power of attorney, and everything else.”

The look on Skinner’s face can only be described as long-suffering resignation. “You know what, sure.”

Scully looks mildly surprised and looks up at Mulder, “I thought that would take more convincing.”

“I don’t have the time or energy to ask all the questions I have, Agent Scully.”

***

Bartlett, as an officiant at the Moultrie Courthouse, has overseen many marriages. He loves his job. He loves seeing the looks people share when they bind themselves to their love. Loves seeing the happiness spread across their faces. 

This couple is no different. 

They walk in side by side, not touching, with their witness following close behind. Bartlett introduces himself by first name, and begins the ceremony when they confirm that they are ready. He says the same words he always does. They forego vows, saying that it would take too long.

He believes them. He’s seen couples take upwards of half an hour each. He saw them a couple months later for a divorce. Long vows do not a happy relationship make. 

But these two aren’t like that. They’re the type he would imagine said everything they needed to in private, not wanting to spend anyone else’s time on it, or to let them see that intimacy. Where they hold hands, the woman’s pointer finger reaches out to play with the hair tie on the man’s wrist. 

By the time they get to the important part, they haven't broken eye contact once. 

Bartlett focuses on the woman, “Do you, Dana Scully, take Fox Mulder to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?”

“I do.” She says, with a peaceful smile. She slips the ring onto Fox’s finger. 

Bartlett turns to the man, “And do you, Fox Mulder, take Dana Scully to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?”

“I do.” He replies, "All that and more." His voice is rough with withheld emotion. He places the ring on her finger in turn.

Bartlett smiles, and says his favorite line. “By the power vested in me by the city of DC, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

The man takes his now-wife in his arms and lays a kiss on her forehead. In comparison to other ceremonies Bartlett has performed, this is odd, but when he sees the smile on her face and the tears brimming her eyes when she looks up at him and kisses his cheek, any spot of concern is wiped from his mind.

These two really, really love each other. 

***

After signing the final paperwork, the trio heads back to the Hoover building. Mulder and Scully have changed back into their work clothes, the sound of their half enthusiastic, half exasperated back-and-forth just as it usually is. Mulder’s looking into some possible sex demon in Nevada. Scully emphasizes that it’s in Vegas.

Skinner wouldn’t be able to tell it had ever happened, if it weren’t for the glow. 

As they part ways in the lobby, Skinner turns to them. “Have a good day, Agents. And a word of advice? If you don’t want anyone to know, perhaps take the rings off in the building?”

As the elevator closes, the last thing Skinner sees of them is mutual surprise, and Scully quickly working the ring off her finger and opening her jacket to place it in the inside pocket, a spot he’s seen her pat absently the past couple months. He huffs a laugh once the doors close. 

Mulder, slightly delayed, only starts to remove his ring when Skinner leaves his sights. Scully’s hand on his stops him just after it passes his first knuckle. 

“If just one of us wears it for now, it’ll probably be safe. We could stagger it, no one will notice. If… you want to.”

Mulder meets her eyes. She just looks… vulnerable. As if giving him permission to publicly wear his promise to her would be a favor to her, and not one of his deepest desires.

He slips the ring back onto his finger. “I do.”

She smirks, “I’m getting the strangest sense of deja vu. Have you said that to me recently, Mulder?”

“You know, I think I might have.”

With poorly restrained smiles, they make their way back down to the basement. 

***

A week passes, and every day Scully shows up to work with the ring burning a hole in her pocket. Mulder wears his proudly. When it catches the light, she looks at it with jealousy. 

She’s terrified of it. Not being married to Mulder, there’s no part of her that could ever regret or fear that, but of being found out. Wearing rings is an unnecessary risk, one that could lead to an end of their formal partnership, but it’s one that would feel disingenuous not to take. She wants to wear his ring. She just wants to remain partners with him more. 

Her fear comes true about a week into their marriage. She’s in the bathroom when Agent Driscoll approaches her as she’s washing her hands. 

“So Agent Scully,” She says, “Your partner has been the talk of the office recently. He has a wedding ring now.”

Scully’s heart skips a beat. She schools her expression the same way she does when talking to a particularly skeevy suspect. Nothing can bother her. 

“Yes he does, Agent Driscoll.”

“No one in the office seems to know anything. None of us were at the wedding. No one even knew he was seeing somebody.”

“Are you close enough to Agent Mulder to expect to be invited to his wedding?”

“Well, no.” She admits, “But you are. Were you there?”

Inside, Scully is screaming. Outside, she is fixing the swoop of her hair with a damp finger. She decides to tell the vaguest possible truth, “I was.”

“Well?”

She looks at Driscoll now, “Well what?”

“Who did he marry? Do you know her?”

“Yes, quite well.” Scully says. Better than anyone, as a matter of fact.

“Oh, come on, Scully. Spill. Everyone’s wondering.”

“My partner’s private life isn’t mine to discuss.” Scully clears a final nonexistent smudge of makeup from under eye. She sweeps out of the bathroom, managing to avoid any more of Agent Driscoll’s questions, and does her best not to sprint back to the basement office. 

When she makes it back, she leans against the closed door and tilts her head to the ceiling, eyes closed, waiting for her heart to stop thumping in her ears. 

“Scully, you alright?”

She opens her eyes and stares at the dimpled drop ceiling. “I just got cornered by Agent Driscoll in the bathroom.”

“About what?”

“You.” 

His eyebrows shoot up, “Me?”

Scully pushes off the door and moves to lean against the edge of Mulder’s desk. “You and your wife. People have noticed your ring.”

“My… oh. Shit.”

“Mhmm.” Scully agrees.

“Do you think I should stop wearing it?” His voice is small, soft.

“No. It’d be more suspicious to stop wearing it now. I’m just not sure when it’ll be safe for me to start wearing mine.”

“Oh.”

“I’m sorry.” She grabs his hand, runs her thumb along it. “I would if I could. It feels… unbalanced this way.”

“It’s alright, Scully.”

She disagrees.

***

When Mulder gets home that evening, he finds a large envelope with “Do Not Bend” crammed into his mailbox. In his apartment, he inspects the contents, and immediately calls Scully. 

“Hello?” 

“Scully, I need you to get over here.”

“What’s wrong?” 

“I need you to make sure I’m not hallucinating.”

“I’m on my way.” The call clicks to a close. 

She opens his door without knocking a mere 15 minutes later. When she steps in, she does so like she’s approaching a wild animal. 

“Mulder?”

“Scully look at this,” he says from his spot at the table, “tell me this doesn’t say what I think it does.” He holds the paper out to her. 

“Our marriage certificate? Mulder, we planned this in advance, you can’t act as if we did it while drunk in Vegas.”

“No, here.” He points to the line with the officiant’s signature. “Scully, tell me we weren’t married by a man named Bartlett Tiddlywinks.”

“Oh, my god.”

“Yeah.”

Their eyes meet, and they simultaneously burst into uncontrollable laughter. 

***

The following Monday, Mulder jumps up from his desk as soon as Scully opens the door. “I have something for you.” He trips in his haste to round the desk and approach her.

“Good morning to you too, Mulder. I had a wonderful weekend, thank you for asking, quite relaxing.” She stops her ribbing when she sees his closed fist, fingers down, held out  to drop something into her own hand. She places an open palm beneath his, and he drops a gold chain into it. When she picks it up, it’s long. Much longer than her usual necklace, or any others she owns. 

“It’s for your ring.”

Scully’s eyes snap to Mulder’s. Her mouth forms a surprised O.

“I was thinking about it over the weekend, and it makes sense, doesn’t it? You can still wear it, but this way you don’t have to worry about taking it off for autopsies. It’s long enough that it’ll lay under your shirt, no one will notice.”

“Thank you, Mulder.” She says absently. He’s right, it does make absolute sense. She doesn’t know why she didn’t think of it earlier. “That’s… very thoughtful. Thank you.”

“Of course, Scully.” He rests his hand on her arm, and she places her own on top. She reaches into the inside pocket of her jacket and withdraws the ring from its usual home to place it on the chain.

It’s Mulder’s turn to be surprised, “I didn’t realize you had been carrying it around.”

“I kept the old one in me too, in case I… needed to use it. Unexpectedly.” She slips the ring into its new home and holds it out to him. “Help me put it on?” She requests, even though the chain is long enough for her to clasp before slipping it over her head. She wants him to place the ring where it’s going to stay, so sue her. 

He takes the necklace and she turns around. He brushes her hair off her neck uselessly, and Scully does her best not to shiver at his light touch. He lifts the chain around her head and clasps it. When it’s on, the length of the chain places her wedding ring squarely between her breasts, in the perfect spot to hide from prying eyes. She turns back around to look up to Mulder, and leans into him for an embrace. He holds her tight, and presses a kiss into the top of her head. 

The stress and fear of potentially being separated melts away from her in his arms. It’s her favorite form of peace. 

<- previous chapter next chapter ->

[nashiriel]

You know, on the subject of Consanguinity…Luke being so blithely confident that Jace or Joffrey would marry him if Addam said no is actually really hilarious. Not least because they might have some awkward explaining to do if the baby pops out with white hair…

Argh, so sorry this sat in my asks for so long!

If Luke produced a Valyrian-looking kid with his brothers, Rhaenyra would simply be flicking those gaslights on and off again. How wonderful that her sons produced a baby that’s obviously the spitting image of Laenor! She always knew their father’s blood would prevail over their Baratheon heritage eventually; just FYI, this is clearly a sign from the gods that all that bastard talk was vile, vile slander-

(in all fairness, Luke and one of his brothers very well could produce a silver-haired baby through the power of recessive genes, not that Rhaenyra’s aware of that, so not technically a lie…)

But Luke is right to be confident that his family would bail him out no matter what, because all of the following plans in their crackish glory would have been tried before the Blacks ever conceded Luke being ruined:

Luke marrying Jace and being immediately heralded as Aemma’s natural heir as queen (Viserys enthusiastically agrees in front of an open court, which then gets used as major PR ammo when war breaks out)

Luke marrying Joffrey, who will with all a medieval preteen’s knowledge of sex education, blithely insist that he consummated with Luke complete with graphic and physically implausible descriptions of the act itself if any of the Greens hate themselves enough to ask

Luke marrying Rhaena and immediately going on a nine-month honeymoon tour of the Free Cities, during which Rhaena fakes a pregnancy and Luke conceals it. Awkwardly, Rhaena actually does fall pregnant before the first baby arrives, though she rather enjoys telling Aemond without batting an eyelid that the incredibly close gap between births is obviously down to Luke’s virility and insatiable passion for her

Corlys commissioning about 50 fetching portraits of Luke which he shops around to practically every eligible bachelor in Westeros (finally Dalton Greyjoy’s time to shine!), with an offer of doubled dowry if they marry ASAP. They’re a little surprised however to receive an enthusiastic reply from Daeron Targaryen…

Corlys taking Luke on a voyage to Lys in which Luke enjoys a whirlwind courtship and marriage to an incredibly handsome and 100% real nobleman, scout’s honour. Alas, his husband sadly perishes on the journey back to meet Luke’s family, but luckily the devastated (and now attractively widowed) Luke has a child to remember him by before he hits the dating scene again.

Sadly, Addam’s enthusiastic agreement negated any need for such scheming - but have no doubt the Blacks would have been entirely ready and willing to step up for Luke if required.

Which it very well soon will be-

[forestcat000]

Shameless US season 3 episode 11

I've decided that I'm going to be just writing down my thoughts whenever I watch shameless.

Also if anyone knows how to give a post a 'readmore' thing please tell me. I googled it, I'm on my tablet typing this. The way Google said to do it isn't working

Immediate vibe I got from Jimmy's reaction to Fiona agreeing to move so he can go to medical school was 'oh shit, for real?'

So it's been at least a few days since the last episode since they mentioned that Ian's been refusing to leave bed for a while (poor Ian) and Mickeys wedding is happening in a few days

If I was Lip I'm not sure what I'd do. Do you calk the cops on Mandy? Just break up with her? Pretend everything's normal?

I'm glad Fiona has a job she seems to like though I doubt it'll last long. Her manager(?) Seems to be flirting with her so that probably won't end well. Also, yay camping. The Gallagher kids need a break.

Love Lip going to Kev for advice. Though I love Mandy, their relationship needs to end, like now. On top of the fact she tried to kill Karen their relationship just isn't healthy. Lip doesn't seem super into her and doesn't appreciate her. They both could probably use a break from dating.

Damn Franks childhood was....it was something.

Ian only leaving his bed so he can find out more about Mickeys wedding is just sad. Also how old is Mickey? Ian's sixteen, I doubt Mickey is that much older than him. Is Mickey seventeen, eighteen?

Mandy is complaining about her relationship loudly, Ian is 'discreetly' worrying about Svetlana. I will never stop being bewildered by the fact Mandy hasn't realized what's going on between Ian and Mickey. I would think she'd at least think that Ian has a one-sided crush on Mickey.

Mandy saying it's kinda sweet that's Terry's so excited is just...ugh, girl if you knew! Poor Mickey. I hope he gets out of this marriage somehow.

Jimmy you idiot! If you wanna keep up a lie don't leave your phone unattended.

JODY GET AWAY FROM THE TEENAGE GIRL

Oh poor Karen, she doesn't deserve this. Oh dear, please don't let Jody take her away from home.

Oh bullshit Jimmy Steve! 'How is this any different from when you decided to become legal guardian of those kids' their her little siblings who were taken by cps, she wanted to make sure they'd be safe, to minimize anything that could happen to them. All the Gallagher kids have been in and out of the system since they were born, and you're surprised she didn't ask for permission?!

Frank, be grateful any of your kids even showed sympathy and tried to help you.

Yikes number 2 on Franks childhood.

Yay, camping!

Poor Karen. JODY LEAVE!

Damn, Ian is in rough shape.

Oh Mandy, no, no! Mandy no! No means no! These two desperately need to part ways!

Mickey rocks a tux, he looks absolutely lovely.

I feel so bad for both Mickey and Ian. Ian desperately wants to be with Mickey and is begging Mickey to choose him but Mickey doesn't have a choice, if he bails on the wedding Terry might kill him. Both of them deserve safety and love.

Oh is Jimmy-Steve about to be wacked?

Yay Debbie's having fun!

Yup, workplace affair.

I know I keep saying it but poor Mickey, I hate Terry Milkovich, I agree with Ian, he is a 'psychotic prick'

The heist stuff with Frank and Carl is fun tho.

I kinda like the dude from Fionas work, he's fun.

Snickerdoodle cupcakes soun KARENS LEAVING WITH JODY?! NO NO NONONO! SHEILA NO, DONT LET HIM TAKE HER!

Poor Karen, Jesus, she doesn't deserve this, no one does.

Oh damn, Ian's drunk and blurting shit out. Good Lip, get ian and yourself out of there.

Is it bad I hope Jimmy-Steve is getting wacked? Just for funsies.

Shit, Carl's getting arrested at eleven. I love how defensive Lip is with his younger siblings.

Frank yes! Protect Carl!

Oh Fiona....

[simslegacy5083]

NSB (Straud Legacy) Gen 9 Ep 62: Let's Make A Deal

After his weird and wonderful date with Amaya, Luigi was in a great mood, but not so great that he wanted to talk with troublesome Jade.

He did take her call, just in case it was team related. He should have known better. She wanted to see him “about their relationship”. He knew he should just hang up, but some unseen force compelled him to accept her invitation to a venue near her home.

Maybe in person he could convince her to give up on having another affair with him, without damaging their working relationship as teammates.

---------------------------------------------

Jade’s rendezvous was a party room he’d visited a couple times with his dads when he was small. Hoping to set a classy tone for the conversation, Luigi stepped behind the bar and prepared them a couple old fashioned “cherry cordial” cocktails.

He served her with a smile and sat down, starting with: “Look, you’re a friend, and you know I’ve got your back, but I’m just not comfortable sneaking around like this.” Her drink sat untouched as she poured out a torrent of justifications in response.

“PSHH, what Brice doesn’t know can’t hurt him. I’m the one suffering because he’s clueless in and out of the bedroom. It’s not like he owns me, so I don’t see why I can’t arrange for a little something special on the side. And you are y’know, that night with you was sooo special! I can see why that gearhead Noemi keeps you on the hook. That’s all I’m asking for, the same quiet deal she’s got, my needs filled up without my marriage broken up.”

---------------------------------------------

Luigi held up his hands then, telling her “what I have with the WIDOW Noemi is was nothing like what you’re proposing”.

He agreed that night with her had been amazing, and he’d thought the world of her, but that was before he'd known about her relationship with Brice.

He wasn’t going to get involved with a sim who was married to someone else unless all parties were onboard. He had principles and he wouldn’t compromise them for her or anyone. He hoped she could understand.

---------------------------------------------

“Oh, I understand all right!” A furious Jade jumped to her feet. “You’ve clearly chosen your dumb robotics cow.”

She stomped away, whirling around to throw one last barb before she slammed the door: “You picked the wrong gal, just like you always pick the wrong scuffle lane, and I’m through bailing you out when you do. Good luck going pro without me to carry you!”

As soon as he heard the door close Luigi let loose, releasing his frustration in a string of forbidden words. This was EXACTLY the outcome he’d been hoping to avoid! If he could turn back time, he would never have gotten involved with a teammate, but now he’d just have to deal with the consequences of his actions and never make the same mistake again.

---------------------------------------------

View The Full Story of My Not So Berry Challenge Here

[mermaidsirennikita]

Any modern Marriage of Convenience stories?

Ooh, this is difficult to get right, but when it's good it's good.

Possession by A. Anders--one of my favorite reads this year. An erotic celebrity romance. The hero is an A-list actor who entered into a PR marriage of convenience with the heroine, who's an up and coming America's sweetheart type. She's also Latina and plus size, as a side note. They don't have sex at all, and don't plan to. Then he gets caught on camera having very kinky sex with a woman who looks a LOT like the heroine; and it's obviously this huge scandal. He basically runs away to this camp his friend owns where people can basically play with pretty immersive, hardcore kink. And though he tells her not to... she follows him. It's VERY sexy, it's very emotional, it's quite creative in terms of kink and sex. Highly recommend.

The Fiancee Farce by Alexandria Bellefleur--F/f romcom, one heroine is a works at a bookstore and basically in a stressful situation claims this romance novel cover model is her heroine. Turns out that model knows friends of friends of theirs, and she needs to get married to inherit her family's publishing empire. Sooooo a marriage of convenience it is!

Lush Money by Angelina M. Lopez--another favorite of the year! Mexican self-made lady billionaire offers to bail a small nation out financially... As long as the nation's prince, who's super hot and also incredibly smart, agrees to marry her long enough to get her pregnant. Because she likes the idea of her kid being royalty and having a genius level IQ, lol. If you like the idea of breeding at all... This book is very "put a baby in me", and it's super hot, and it kicks off immediately. Like, these two are fuckin' within the first couple chapters. And they HATE each other.

Marriage for One by Ella Maise--it's been a good while since I read this, but I remember liking it. The heroine is another one where she needs to marry in order to secure an inheritance, and for SOME REASON, this grumpy rich guy offers to do it

The Bride Test by Helen Hoang--hero is on a virgin on the autism spectrum, and is super uncomfortable around people and comes off as very brusque and cold; his family is from Vietnam, and his mother travels home and convinces a struggling single mom to marry him... and brings her over without his consent. Love how sex in this book is explored.

If you're open to fantasy that is partially set in our modern world, with a modern heroine, Wed to the Wild God by Ruby Dixon is, well, quite wild. The heroine is a contemporary girl, but she basically ends up bonded to a god from a parallel fantasy realm. He's a literal wild god who's incredibly hedonistic, literally inspires lust in people--he and the heroine fuck like, immediately after meeting lol. But then, in order to seal a deal, they end up in a marriage of convenience. She's very "I SWEAR I WON'T FALL IN LOVE" about it. Also: has pegging!

[roseunspindle]

In which Anakin may be secretly married to a significant portion of the Galaxy

Basically, Padme realizes that diplomacy pretty much straight up can’t work in the current political climate. 

She hates to do it, but she has to talk to Anakin about Palpatine’s manipulations, however instead of fully denying it. Anakin listens. He admits he wants to deny it, but he’s grown suspicious more and more as many things (with as many kriffing emergency powers as the man has) that Palpatine “can’t do or control” and it simply doesn’t add up. He also says she’d never bring it up to him, without firm conviction. Padme feels happy in the trust her husband has for her, even though saddened by the reason it’s needed. 

They talk long into the night, and Padme thinks she’s stumbled on the answer thanks to Anakin. 

They both like to tease about their “antiquated ways” her Nubian flower language and clothing clothing/make-up language, his “everything is a secret in the quarter traditions, and water is sacred” but they both agree weddings are for bonding. 

On Naboo weddings are always large affairs, for the families to mingle and bonds to for between more than just the main participants. In the slave quarter weddings were a bond that could last far beyond the life of either party and often past the time either person could see the other, should one be sold away.

It sticks in her mind. Weddings and bonding, marriage...then it hits her. Marriage would be a good way to start strengthening bonds across the galaxy. Anakin nods along and Padme starts thinking about how to link people...

Riyo Chuchi and Bail Organa are the first people she approaches... it goes a bit sideways, to be honest as both seem to think she’s planning to marry them (and through Bail, Breha) she stumbles and somehow blurts out “I’m already married!” (Bail does point out later that he also is already married) Bail just laughs at her and Riyo takes five seconds to blurt out “Knight Skywalker!” 

Somehow negotiations are still weird and when she comes out, she and Anakin have a date to meet up with Riyo one evening and Bail and Breha via holo another to “further discuss matters”

Anakin makes a weird face when she tells him, but seems to understand a multi-partner marriage had not been her intended plan and seems to join Bail in thinking it’s funny. 

“We should ask the Clones.” he says later, (after Padme has at the very least betrothed them to a good portion of the (sane/decent) part of the senate “ask them to pick a couple brothers to marry us.” 

Padme lights up, it’s perfect, if they can marry, they have rights, and there is no rule stating the clones can’t marry... she begins grinning wider and wider ‘til Anakin starts laughing at her and she pounces on him in revenge. 

(Rex full on volunteers, apparently Anakin already drives him insane so he might as well marry the man.)

Anakin also makes contact with the underground on Tatooine, if they want to unite the galaxy, he wants all the galaxy... 

Beru Whitesun soon to be Lars happily puts him in contact with someone Anakin thought he’d never see again. Kitster... who is apparently willing to marry him and well, Anakin feels a knot that had never gone unknit slightly... he had forgotten his home, returned to pain for himself and the most awful act of his life...

Satine Kryze is open to the idea when Padme broaches the subject...

When the story finally breaks nearly two years later, Anakin is annoyed to find that most people assume it’s his “harem”. Obi-wan can’t believe Anakin was secretly married to more than one senator...

Anakin, with the war ended and the need for Jedi gone, feels free to turn over his lightsaber, (he’ll make a new one, later, one that is true to who he is) but it feels wrong to keep this one. It is a jedi tool, and Anakin understand more now (Breha especially makes a good therapist) that he is not a Jedi. He is a force user, but he can never truly be a Jedi. He leaves with a bow and heads to the hanger.

Time to go free Tatooine and other slave worlds, he has spouses there after all. 

[chloeworships]

This was the girl God was referring to in my dream with Rachel and Tiny’s daughter. May she rest in peace. How sad 😔💔

I am always shocked at what is revealed to me by God. Seriously 😳 …

Recall the initials J.E., the glasses frame and the HAIRSTYLE 💇🏾‍♀️

Also let us talk about men and abortion since this sick individual obviously panicked when this young girl told him she was pregnant. He definitely didn’t want her to keep the child because it would expose his nastiness and double life. So when you vote this November remember there are MORE men than women who do not want the financial, economical or emotional burden of becoming fathers even MORE than some women (guess who pays child support??? 💰). When you vote this November remember young girls like Na’Ziyah who were groomed and used by men for SEX and then when the reality of having a child actually hits them, you’re a slut, a h*e, a gold digging b***** and he proceeds to dispose of you (and his baby) when you tell him you missed your period.

How many of us have accidentally (or irresponsibly) gotten pregnant only to have a man berate and verbally abuse us, having an adult tantrum over not wanting to keep a child he helped to father. Remember TRUMP took this fundamental right away not just from women but from men too. The same man that is ok with grabbing an unsuspecting women’s “p*ssy” without consent, the same man CONVICTED of sexual assault, and then some ppl call themselves Christians knowing this about that man. It’s shameful. But no one wants to have that conversation and wants to, instead blame women. This doesn’t negate the fact we should be celibate, I’m stating UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTHS whether you agree or not with abortion… this is the REALITY so many women AND men face in PRIVATE.

God told me the topic of abortion should be left up to each individual (female and male bc it takes two right?) and a doctor as each persons needs and health issues are different than the next. Would he prefer we have our children after marriage? Absolutely 👍🏾 Would he prefer we abstain? For sure…but even while married a woman may not be able to carry a child to full term and that choice should have nothing to do with the government intervening in that deeply personal and heartbreaking decision 💔 I heard something about Down syndrome. Let’s not forget sickle cell anemia.

People want to talk about “freedom of speech and the freedom to carry a loaded gun” but a woman cannot have freedom over her own VAGINA and UTERUS??? Please make it make sense.

No government has any right to tell a woman when she can and cannot have a child and you don’t have to be religious to support a woman’s right to choose what’s best for her and her family.

Children are beautiful and life is a gift but it is not always that simple for some people. It is not that black and white for women and men alike, and God knows this. I am not making an excuse for SIN because sometimes it’s not even about that, it’s about HEALTH. Pregnancy has always been a life or death experience for women since the days of Adam and Eve’s curse.

[readingforsanity]

The Perfect Marriage | Jeneva Rose | Published 2020 | *SPOILERS*

Sarah Morgan is a successful and powerful defense attorney in Washington, D.C. At 33 years old, she is a named partner at her firm and life is going exactly how she planned. 

The same cannot be said for her husband, Adam. He is a struggling writer who has had little success in his career. He begins to tire of his and Sarah’s relationship as she is constantly working. 

Out in the secluded woods, at Adam and Sarah’s second home, Adam engages in a passionate affair with Kelly Summers. 

Then, one morning everything changes. Adam is arrested for Kelly’s murder. She had been found stabbed to death in Adam and Sarah’s second home. 

Sarah soon finds herself playing the defender for her own husband, a man accused of murdering his mistress. 

We are introduced to our main characters, Sarah and Adam Morgan. On the outside, they appear to be a power couple, but what we don’t see is that they’re strugging. Sarah is a powerful defense attorney in the D.C. area; at just 33 years old, she has quickly moved up the corporate ladder and made partner at her law firm, Williamson & Morgan. She works hard to prove herself to those who have doubted her. Adam, on the otherhand, is a struggling writer. After one successful novel, and a few bad follow-up’s, he’s trying everything he can to get back to that success. As a man, he feels that he should be the main breadwinner, and since Sarah is that source of income for them at the time, it proves hard on his ego. 

Over a year ago, Sarah and Adam purchased a lake house about an hour away from their home in Virginia. Adam spends a lot of time there writing, and hoping that Sarah will join him for a long weekend away from their busy lives. However, Sarah’s job keeps her from leaving often, and Adam spends much of his time alone at the lake house, or at least this is what he wants the readers to believe. We quickly realize that he has a mistress, a young woman named Kelly. Whenever Adam is at the lake house, Kelly is likely there as well. 

After a failed attempt to get Sarah to join him for a weekend away, Adam heads off to the lake house, and Kelly meets him there. Though he has been having transgressions outside of his marriage, Adam claims to love Sarah. After a night out on the town with her friend and assistant, Sarah returns home and in the wee hours, Adam returns home as promised. He leaves Kelly in the lake house, writing her a note stating that it was always going to be her, with every intention of leaving Sarah for her. Only a few short hours later, Adam’s life comes to a complete halt. 

Two uniformed sheriff’s deputies arrive on the doorstep of his DC home, accusing him of murdering Kelly. Adam is terribly frightened and unsure of what is happening, but the truth remains the same: Kelly was murdered and found in the lake house that he shared with his wife. He is whisked back to Virginia to the police station. Calls to Sarah go unaswered as she had been in court, but quickly she is told to hurry to Prince William County to deal with the issues. 

There, Sarah meets Sheriff Stevens, Deputy Marcus Hudson and Scott Summers, the victims husband. It is also here that Sarah learns the truth about what her husband has been doing for the last 16 months. Despite this, she agrees to counsel him through his upcoming trial. He is bailed out, and put on house arrest, and the trial is set for two weeks later. Confined to the lake house, wearing an ankle monitor, Adam begins his new life, while Sarah goes back and forth trying to exonerate her husband from the murder accusations. 

Lies and deception are quickly found out. During a tour of the crime scene, Sarah finds a photo of Adam and Kelly, with a note written on the back that looks very much like a threat. Having completely forgotten about it, Adam does not tell her about it until she brings it up during a discussion. Adam quickly begins losing his patience and mind, and with the help of a reporter he meets, begins his own investigating. 

We come to find out that the picture was taken by Anne, Sarah’s friend and assistant, and Sarah feels extra betrayed. On top of this, Bob Miller, another lawyer in her firm, has a strange connection to Kelly: she is the brother of Kelly’s deceased husband, the very one Kelly had been accused of murdering. Kelly had confessed to Adam that her real name is Jenny Way, and years before, she was accused of mrudering her first husband, Greg. After some evidence went missing during the trial, Kelly was acquitted of all charges, and fled Wisconsin for Virginia. Even more harrowing is that she then married Scott, who was involved in the murder case as a police officer in Wisconsin. Kelly had been playing that Scott was abusive, and holding that evidence over her head, essentially holding her captive. But after the DNA testing resulted in a third person being involved with Kelly, Sarah needed to go to new heights. 

Adam escapes twice from custody: once after Rebecca, the reporter, returns. He leaves the lake house in her car, and ends up showing up at Sarah’s office accusing Anne of murdering Kelly, and then Bob is assaulted by Scott. And then again after the door to his interrogation room is left unopened and unguarded. He returns to Rebecca’s house, and she calls the police because she had been followed. But we come to learn that Rebecca isn’t a reporter, but a private investigator hired by Scott. 

The trial begins, and eventually, the verdict is returned as guilty for which Adam receives the death penalty. The end of the story picks up 11 years later, the date of Adam’s execution. Sarah goes to the prison to visit him, and ultimately confesses the following: she and Bob planned to kill her together: Bob for what she had done to his brother, and Sarah because she had known about his infidelity before he even confessed it as Bob had provided her with evidence as such. Bob, due to his connection to her, was in Wisconsin when the murder happened, but after going out with Anne for drinks the night of her murder, Sarah snuck off to the lake house and had killed her and framed Adam for it. Adam realizes what had happened only seconds before the injection actually becomes lethal. 

Sarah returns to her car after witnessing his death, only to be involved in a sexual relationship with Bob, and having an 8 year old daughter with him named Summer. 

Discussion Questions 

1. Sarah and Adam both had secrets they kept from each other. Is this unusual in a marriage? Is it ever okay to keep secrets and lie when in a relationship? In general, what do you think motivates people to lie? Do you think the characters were lying to themselves? Let’s see: Sarah’s secret is that she murdered Adam’s mistress because he had cheated, and Adam had cheated because Sarah wasn’t attentive to him and his needs. Is this normal or okay? Aboslutely not. Both of them end up being psychotic in different ways. Adam needs constant attention from a female presence: this is apparent by how Sarah quickly slept with him after meeting, and the same with Kelly, each only hours after meeting one another. However, Sarah was more involved in her job than she was her marriage, but she had reasons for that, which I do agree with: she didn’t want to end up like her mother after her father had passed away, or like Adam who essentially could not be alone. 

2. Sarah and Adam both enjoyed their work, but Sarah’s job was more demanding, and her financial contribution was more significant. Do you think most marriages are out of balance? Do you believe this imbalance was the reason Adam was having an affair? I think a lot of marriages are like this, including my own. I stay at home to care for two kids despite being educated and able and willing to work. However, it makes more sense because my children are young for my focus to be on them. My husband is the main source of income, but he has several sources. If that wasn’t the case, we’d be struggling much more than we are now. And I don’t think it is the entire reason for Adam’s cheating, but it did play a huge part in it. 

3. How does Sarah and Adam’s relationship change over time? We think that Sarah wants to be on Adam’s side, but we come to find out that she was playing against him the entire time. Adam wanted to try to work things out with his wife, but he was psychotic as I mentioned before. The second that Sarah decided she wanted to have a child, he suddenly was all about her again. He easily could have left her for Kelly, and he should have, as they seemed more in tune with each other than Sarah and Adam. 

4. Do you think Sarah’s actions are justified? Murdering someone because their spouse cheated? Absolutely not. I can understand the heartbreak and betrayal of learning that a person you loved and trusted could do something so shitty. But to go as far as to murder the mistress and frame the cheater is actually insane. 

5. What surprised you most in the novel? Were there any plot twists that stumped you? I thought for sure that the third set of DNA found in Kelly was going to be her husband’s partner, but come to find out, the reason behind why Sheriff Stevens was so friendly and trying to get the case closed so quickly was because HE was the third set of DNA found in Kelly. But, nothing outright stumped me. 

6. Were you more sympathetic towards Sarah or Adam? Why? I’m sympathetic toward neither of them. Both of them needed endless amounts of therapy. 

7. What did you like most about the book? Least? Were there moments that you just couldn’t stop thinking about? I enjoyed the premise of the book: for once a female character that was strong and put her work above everything and anything else. But, other than that, the book was pretty predictable. 

8. Is there anything you could change about the story if you could? No, I don’t think so, but then again, I’m not a writer. 

4/5 stars of GoodReads. 

[merrysithmas]

What would you say are some of Padmé’s flaws as a person and politician? A lot of what I see of her paints her a being rather “perfect” which isn’t very interesting to me personally.

ahhh, I just typed a huge answer to this and then my phone shut off. UGH. I will try to recall some of it.

Basically, I love Padme as a character because, among other qualities, she is incredibly naive and gullible. Palpatine manipulates her into power as a Senator because he picks her out as he sees her as particularly weak and impressionable.

Padme is riddled with guilt. She has a dual-life where she is an agent of government holding back a horrendous tide of tyranny. But also, she is a lonely woman who grows up from being an exploited child queen. She never once knew peace and lost her girlhood. She desires, deeply, to have a white knight figure "save" her from having so much responsibility and no one to turn to. A part of her doesn't want to have to protect anyone anymore. This is one of the reasons she wants the fighting to end so bad. Because she is so tired.

She wants to run away to the Lakes of Naboo where she sunbathed as a child and never turn back. And she, as we know, unfortunately mistakes this white knight for Anakin. Anakin, the hero who can end the War.

Padme's guilt also comes from the psychological clemency she grants Anakin when he kills the Tuskens. She not only "ignores" this incident in order to keep her Romance Fantasy alive, but shockingly to her, I think she somewhat agrees with his actions. She is surprised to see she understands the emotional motivations behind the eye-for-an-eye justice Anakin enacts when he slaughters the Tusken village. Even if the action is wrong, she gets why it happened. This shakes her worldview. Shows the horrors as more than legislation on a Senate floor. A life she has barely any perspective besides.

Padme is not allowed to enact those kinds of feelings or thoughts on the pulpit where she preaches peace and Galactic harmony. To see Anakin take action, as he said he would during their picnic in AotC, is enlightening to her. Despite the actions being condemnable by the Republic and law she has sworn to uphold and protect, she had learned something. She feels guilt for this too, she feels torn. She turns her back on some of her beliefs - and believes she is compromising herself. But by doing this, she allows Anakin the mental stability to go on to become the hero of the Clone Wars.

She also, of course, ignores Anakin's grappling projecting grief for Shmi so she can marry him. She ignores his deep psychological divide where he wants to so ardently remain a Jedi. She ignores her duties to the Senate and her professional responsibilities and impartiality. She is selfish. Neither Anakin nor Padme think of anything but themselves in their relationship - not each other, not really, but themselves, in this romance-during-a-war fantasy when they hardly ever see one another. They are trying to mentally survive. (Compare this to Satine and Obi-wan, who thought only of their oaths as they walked away from one another).

My favorite Padme scenes were the ones where she acted as the Queen in TPM and also the great scene in RotS where she confronts Anakin, asking him if he ever believes they are fighting for the wrong side. Padme is constantly second-guessing herself and her allegiances, she is desperate to make the right decision. Anakin accuses her of being a separatist. (We, the audience, know that Padme is conspiring with Bail and Mon to form the nascent Rebel Alliance to break off from the burgeoning Empire, with the Separatists at their doorstep).

Another one of my fav Padme scenes is her agency in TCW after Anakin breaks into her apartment and beats her (romantic interest) friend the separatist Clovis. In horror, she tells Anakin that she has often considered their marriage to be a sham, that it doesn't make her happy, and that she doesn't feel safe with him. That she doesn't want to see him anymore.

That, coupled with the knowledge of the OG storyboards (which had concept art and costumes!) where she refuses to let Obi-wan know Anakin's location (Mustafar) because she does not want someone else to kill her children's father... yet she goes there herself with the intent to slit Anakin's throat!!

This tells me she 100% did not intend to stay married to Anakin. She was stuck in a horrible situation because she was pregnant, which is relatable to a lot of people out there. She still believed there was good in Anakin, she did not want him to die (in the OG story she couldn't slit his throat because she loved him too much), but she couldn't save him, SHE DIDN'T WANT TO (finally choosing not to be a Savior), and wanted to leave him. He could save himself or someone else could try. Padme had other things to do.

And she was just starting to really get a hold on who she was.

All of this says to me that if we were lucky enough to get more Padme post RotS (RIP) she would've been an amazing boots-on-the-ground rebel. She was a great negotiator in person (don't know why they call Obi that...). For example, her actions with the Gungans in TPM, when she knelt to them. She was an emotionally effecting and genuine person. But her kindness is balanced by her high naivety and gullibleness. Her guilt and integrity would've made her like a fish in a barrel in the Imperial Senate of Andor. No way Padme could've survived in that government in her role. NO. WAY.

However, she would've been the inspiring and caring figure they were missing on the ground, someone with compassion and experience, to contrast those like monomaniacal Saw and the ruthless Luthen in the field.

Padme was also kind, brave, and clever. But many people are. I find her "bad" qualities, and how they effect her Light Side, much more interesting. I also love how much of her there is in Luke and Leia. Luke and Leia are effective leaders because of the mixture of Padme's genuine compassion with Anakin's relentlessness. Padme wasn't as effective as they are ... because she was missing what attracted her to Anakin in the first place. Luke and Leia are the balanced versions of Padme and Anakin's faults.

I contend Anakin is the least interesting thing about Padme & her legacy, and have always wanted them to make a young Queen Amidala and her handmaiden's show, with the handmaidens being an elite squad of body guards.

Also, I have to say, out of every character in SW (the Jedi being so hellbent on the doctrine of compassion, yet falling short of it frequently) I truly think through her actions in TPM and TCW and RotS Padme proved herself to be the most compassionate SW character of all.

[mypoisonedvine]

claimed || alpha!Andy Barber x reader

summary: an interrogation with an alpha is no place to have an unexpected heat.

word count: 2.7k

warnings: smut (dub con; the reader goes into heat and can’t think clearly enough to say no), a/b/o dynamics, loss of virginity, mentions of misogyny/discrimination against omegas, vague noncon and violence references, kinda housewife kink, possessiveness, breeding kink, praise, overstimulation, knotting, slight bondage (reader is handcuffed), slight pain kink, implied/subtle age gap, pregnancy mention at the end, kinda soft!dark andy but he's really not that dark

"This would be a lot easier for both of us if you started telling the truth."

You chewed your lip, looking away from the man across from you; it was impossible to keep eye contact when his gaze bore into you like that, when he gave you that stern, dominating look.

Andy Barber was so obviously an alpha, he was one of those types that just reeked of it. Figuratively— with the way he towered over you, his masculine body and strong features— but also literally considering his scent was filling the room now: pine, cinnamon, sage, and something a little bit sweet that made your mouth water.

It made sense for an alpha like him to have a high-powered, high-pressure career like this; he probably got a real kick out of squeezing information out of scared betas who couldn’t stand up to him.

And that was the role you were going to play now, because he was wrong: it would not be easier if you told the truth. If he knew what you really were, you’d be doomed.

You’d been hiding successfully as a beta for a long time by now, and you weren’t about to give it up now, even if it would likely have the charges against you dismissed. Omegas lived sheltered, oppressed lives; sought constantly by alphas, they had their pick of the finest since omegas were so rare, but until mated they were extremely vulnerable— and afterwards they were usually made to be subservient housewives, constantly bearing children as a consequence of their extreme fertility.

Maybe some omegas were okay with that, plenty probably loved that lifestyle since it was sort of the instinctual habit of an omega by nature, but not you. Never you. You wanted a life, a real life, your own life as more than an alpha’s mate. Thankfully you’d found the right mix of suppressants and perfumes to hide your scent, the right work schedule so you could always be home for your rare heats, and voila: to the rest of the world, you were a beta.

Being a beta meant being unnoticed, unacknowledged, never pursued and never courted. And that was exactly how you wanted it.

If Andy Barber knew that the man you’d stabbed was an alpha trying to force himself on you, there was a chance he would understand that it was self-defense and let you go. Then again, a lot of alphas seemed to think that being forced to mate was just par for the course for an omega; surely Andy wouldn’t be one of those types, as a man of the law, right?

“I can’t,” you finally answered.

“Whatever it is, you can tell me,” he assured, some of his anger shifting to a soothing tone. It really did calm you down; he must have been using his ‘alpha voice’ on you, and the fact that it worked should’ve been a red flag but you didn’t notice. “Let’s start from the beginning. You said you were at home but no one has confirmed your alibi. You said you didn’t know the victim but you obviously reacted when I showed you his picture. And, you said you weren’t there at the time of the murder but we found your DNA on the body.”

A little smile pulled at the corner of your lips, exactly not the reaction Andy had been expecting. “You’re lying,” you whispered.

He tensed up as you called his bluff. The DNA found at the scene was in the process of being analysed, sure, but it would be weeks until the results came back. “How can you be so sure?” he pressed.

“Because I.  Wasn’t. There,” you hissed, glaring back at him; he shook his head solemnly..

“No, that’s not it. I can tell when you’re lying, too, you know,” he warned.  “Tell me how you know I don’t have your DNA at the scene?”

“Because… because…” you breathed, blinking a few times as the room started to get warmer. Your head was spinning, your thighs clenched together— and when Andy reached out to rest his hand on yours and ask if you were alright, his touch sent it all into overdrive.

No, no, it wasn't your time yet. It shouldn't have come for a few more days, and you’d arranged to be bailed out tomorrow so you’d go into your cycle safely at home and not in jail. But now it was beginning and you had no way to stop it. Had the smell of an alpha really been enough to start your heat early?

Andy watched you start to pant and sweat with a furrowed brow, unsure what he was witnessing because he’d never had the opportunity to see it before. His ex-wife had been a beta, he'd never even met an omega before— they were quite rare after all.

But what he lacked in experience, he made up for in instinct; his body told him everything he needed to know about what he was seeing. “Omega,” he growled lowly, watching your whole body erupt into shivers at the timbre of his voice.

As far as alphas go, Andy was relatively level-headed, not as preoccupied with instinctual desires to dominate, to claim, to impregnate. A lot of alphas viewed mating with a beta as settling, although it was the much more likely outcome, statistically speaking. Andy, though, never really saw it that way, even knowing how much harder it would be to have a child with a beta. Their fertility was significantly weaker, both the males and the females, and Jacob was the product of years of trying; in all their marriage him and Laurie had never used any contraceptives and she only got pregnant the once.

But an omega? Especially a young one like you? He could knock you up right now, if he wanted. That power was intoxicating. It was exactly what he never knew he needed so badly.

“I don’t need the results of your DNA to know what you are,” he explained firmly. “I can’t believe I didn’t know before— you must have tried really hard to keep it a secret, little one. You must be so afraid of who you are… and who I am, for that matter.  It must scare you to imagine what I could do to you.”

You whimpered, the noise tugging his heart in conflicting directions; to comfort you, or to make you do it again.

“I’m not going to hurt you, if that’s what you think,” he assured. “Not if I can help it…”

Honestly, he wasn’t so sure he would be able to help it; he felt his own sanity slipping as he watched you writhe and cry, instinct overtaking logic in the both of you.

"Alpha, please," you shuddered, the title making his cock harden instantly, uncomfortably filling the trousers of his suit.

"You smell so good," he purred, taking his jacket off as he stood up to cool off a bit. "I can smell your heat, Omega. I bet everyone in the building can—” he glanced to the locked door— “but I'm the only one here."

"Need you," you whined, tugging on the handcuffs that kept you bound to the table.

"Stand up, bend over," he commanded, and he'd barely finished speaking when you'd already done it, bent at the hips with your forearms resting on the table as you waited for him. "Good girl."

He rolled up his sleeves and took his place behind you, caging his body in with yours, nuzzling into your neck to get a deep breath of your scent.

"Fuck, so sweet," he groaned. "Waited so long for this. To feel an Omega on my cock. Never thought it would really happen. Has an Alpha ever taken you before?"

"No, I never… no."

"Not just unclaimed but a virgin. Christ, am I dreaming?"

But he was too far gone to take any more time to appreciate his luck— he needed you now, and he was taking you all for himself.

If he wasn't so overcome with need he wouldn't have thought to tear your clothes off, but now he didn't even think to question the idea, shedding you of your clothes like they were made of paper until you were completely exposed to him, your wet core vulnerable while another wave of your sweet scent filled the room.

"Look at all this," he grinned, kneeling down to lap at your folds and taste your slick. Your eyes rolled back in your head, your channel craving to be filled. "All for me, Omega?"

"Yours, it's all yours…"

"Doesn't it feel good to be claimed, little one? To be owned?"

"S-so good," you agreed. "Want your knot, Alpha. Want your mark."

A growl echoed in his chest when you said that, and he craved nothing more than to bite your neck and bond you to him for life.

But, it would be better if he saved that for a little later.

He stood up again and gave your ass a quick slap— nothing too rough, just enough to make you yelp all cute and whiny— before grabbing your hips to pull them back into his. You gasped and pushed back onto him, shamelessly rubbing yourself against the thick outline of his cock.

"Gonna make a mess on me with all that slick, Omega," he growled, but it was by no means discouragement.

"Want it in me, please," you sobbed. Unable to resist your begging anymore, he hastily opened his belt and fly, sighing with relief when he wrapped his hand around his cock and pulled it out. Your whole body visibly quaked when he swiped the swollen head through your folds, coating himself in your plentiful arousal.

Without any further warning, he pushed his cock in with a loud moan, a cry tearing from your throat as he tore into your body. "Shh," he soothed as his fingers rubbed your spine, "that's my girl, that's my pretty Omega."

But pain wasn't really your issue; it hurt, yes, but what made you cry was that you were already on the edge, about to come from hardly anything. When he thrusted once, you lost it and your legs quivered as a new wave of slick started to dribble down them.

"Are you coming?" he asked darkly.

You could only nod, biting your lip to try to keep from moaning too loudly.

"Oh my god…" he groaned, amazed at how sensitive you were. Clearly he wasn't the only one realizing how powerful and incredible it could be when an alpha and omega mated.

He started to really pound into you then, each brutal thrust knocking you forward.

"Feels good when you come for me, Omega. Do it again."

You couldn't help yourself; his voice had complete control over your body, his words a command you were helpless to resist. With a broken whimper you came again, walls squeezing his cock in a weak and stuttered rhythm.

"It's better than they say it is. Even better than I imagined. So fucking good," he sighed. It felt so right, that was the thing. It felt like your body was made to be claimed and owned by him.

"Want your knot," you whined, "please, Alpha—"

"If I give you my knot, you're mine. My Omega. You will never allow another Alpha to touch you. You will not speak to another Alpha, look at another Alpha, even Betas are off-limits. When I bite you, you'll be bonded to me and become my wife, you'll never disobey me or leave me. When I knot you, you'll give me a child. Is all of that perfectly clear?"

It was everything you'd wanted to avoid just an hour ago. Now it was your greatest dream come true. "Yes, Alpha. Yours, Alpha."

"Want to be bred, Omega? Bred by your Alpha?"

"Please!" you sobbed.

"Then keep coming and I'll let you have it soon," he promised. "I'll give you all my come like you need so badly."

You whimpered as your walls seemed to try to suck him in deeper, gripping him so tight that it made his head spin. Orgasm after orgasm washed over you, too many and too numb to count, each part of you slowly stripped away and replaced with pure, all-consuming pleasure.

The base of his cock began to swell and you mewled proudly— that is, until, it just kept growing and you couldn't imagine taking anymore.

"P-pull it out," you begged instead.

"I told you that you would take my knot, was I not clear?"

But you hadn't realized how big it would get, how far it would stretch you— and it was still going. "It hurts, Alpha, please!"

"You'll get used to it, gonna keep it in you all night and give it to you every day so you'll have plenty of practice. Take my fucking knot while I come inside you and breed your cunt."

When his knot finally grew to its full potential, streams of hot come began to fill you, deeper than you had ever imagined possible. It was overwhelming, apparently unending, and one final orgasm rocked your body as you milked his cock for all it was worth.

He wrapped his arms around your body, holding you close and soothing you as you shivered and cried, his kisses trailing up your shoulder to your neck where, finally, he sunk his teeth into your skin and left his mark on you.

Your walls quivered around him at the feeling of being claimed, mated for life. In that moment you didn't notice or care that it was to a man you barely knew; he was your Alpha now, that was all that mattered.

He kissed and licked over the sensitive bitemark, whispering praises your ringing ears couldn't quite process yet.

At least you were getting bailed out a day early.

//

Andy kept his promise about exactly how owned you would be. For the first few months you didn't even leave the house, he was too busy filling you with his cock every day. Although he was happy to claim you anywhere he happened to find you— the shower where he hopped in randomly, the kitchen where he bent you over the counter, the living room where he pinned you onto the couch— his favorite place was the bed. It was rougher and more animalistic in the other places, but in bed he was possessive in an entirely different way.

"My wife, my sweet little wife," he whispered in your ear as he slowly thrust all the way into you, making your back arch until your chest pushed against his. "My Omega. All mine."

"Yours," you agreed.

The protectiveness increased tenfold when your scent changed during pregnancy, even more when you started showing; he was obsessed with the way you looked full of his baby.

As for you, omega life was better than you'd expected. At times you felt smothered by him, but simultaneously you felt worshipped and loved like you never thought you could deserve. He certainly spoiled you, though he expected your unwavering loyalty in return.

That part was easy, though. Love, not fear, kept you in check when other alphas had a wandering eye. They knew you were mated, the bitemark scar (which Andy never, ever let you cover) and ring (which Andy never, ever let you take off) were sign enough along with the change in your scent to them. Occasionally one would shoot his shot and get unilaterally rejected by you before getting his ass kicked by your husband. If only they knew what you'd done to the last alpha that tried to creep on you; how you met Andy in the first place.

In the end, maybe it wasn't so bad to fall into your instincts, your natural role in society. Andy sure made it pretty enjoyable with the way he brought you to the height of pleasure over and over every night. "Mine," he promised you in deep whispers, "from the moment I saw you."

[blogevaawrites]

Keeping to the schedule

Pairing: Chris Evans x Reader

Warnings: angst, sad, marriage, divorce, smut

Summary: After seven years of being married, two daughters and a difficult divorce, they try to understand what went wrong and why they let that happen.

Part I   Part II

I tried to process the whole information he was sharing and for the first time I believed I made a mistake. I saw it then, why he has been incredibly mad at me.

Sure, at first our separation was hard, but now he was looking happy, at least that’s what he shows me. I also was well, I still loved him but deep in my heart I thought it was the best for both of us. Now everything seems so wrong.

“There was another way. You could have told me everything, we could have dealt with all of that. You let this happen to us.” I said, full of resentment. His face was different then, he came here full of concern and then all what I was seeing was frustration.  

“What are you talking about? You filed for divorce. You decided unilaterally when we were done. You ran away from our marriage at first obstacle. This is not my fucking blame.” His words were like a knife in my skin. I never took it like that. All what I could see was his unhappiness and coldness, in my heart I was doing the right thing.

Tears fell down through my cheeks uncontrollably, our seven years together seemed thrown away. I could feel him moving around the room, he was trying to calm down himself.

“I thought you were being distant because you blamed me for the infection, and then when anything seemed to change, I thought you weren’t happy and that you didn’t know how to leave me.” I said after I got my shit together. I saw him shaking his head, I wasn't sure if he wasn’t satisfied with my words or if he was answering the accusation.

He didn’t response right away, he took a few minutes to breathe loudly.

“I felt ashamed of being the one who needed help after what you went through.” He said without looking at me, he was staring the wall behind me. “I could have never ever blamed you for something like that.” He finished. His hand went to caress my face before pulling me to his embrace.

“I’m sorry” I babbled between tears.

I let myself cry my eyes out in his arms. I felt like I threw out our life because I couldn’t put aside my anger to talk our problems out , like I put my daughters through all of that because I got mad at my husband. I knew he wasn't innocent at all but guiltiness took over my whole body and couldn’t shake it off.

His hands ran all over my back and the back of my neck; the feeling of security invaded my body and the need of get out of my own thoughts grew.

He was so close to me that I couldn’t help kissing him.

His hands didn’t take long before holding my face closer to him, in the perfect position to let our tongues connect with each other.

Needing for air we broke the kiss but not for long, he kissed me again letting his hand go to hold me up from my butt. I just could follow his actions; I didn’t want to do anything else. He took me to our bedroom quickly, he sat at the edge of the bed making me straddle him.

Without leaving my mouth, he moved the strips of my shirt away from my shoulders, leaving my breast on full display for him. His hands played with my nipples before taking them in his mouth. I just could moan, moving my hips to find some friction against his bulge. He showed me his excitement pushing my hips even closer to him.

“I love you so much” he mumbled against my collarbone. His words made my noxious thoughts hunt my mind, I knew he loves me, I loved him too; it wasn’t the first time he said it after our divorce, but it was wrong now. I stood up quickly, he looked at me confused while I tried to put my shirt on again.

“What’s wrong?” he asked extending his arm to reach me.

“Who am I now? Your sidechick. Isn’t works in the other way? From a sidechick to a wife?” I said with a sardonic laugh, rubbing my eyes, trying to concentrate again.

He laughed, laying down on the bed. I looked at him completely horrified by his reaction. He took his phone from his jeans and scrolled around it for a few seconds before handing it to me.

It was a kind of a contract, an agreement to release seven pictures along with a misleading and suggestive headline.

“Meghan asked me because her team want her to be related to a certain kind of people.” He explained, I knew that this is part of his job, and he was used to it before we got together.

“It’s a pap walk.” I said understanding what he meant, I wasn’t familiar to it because he hadn’t done one since we met.

“Yeah, I’m sorry. That’s what I wanted to tell you when I came the last time.” He took my hand to bring me closer to him while he continued explaining “I shouldn’t have agreed to it, but I realized of it too late and I wanted to talk to you before the pictures got release. I didn’t want you to feel disappointed or mad and don’t worry! I already asked her and Meghan to shut down any rumor.” He guided my legs to straddle him again. “I tried to bail out of it after what happened between us, but I just couldn’t.”

“Okay.” I felt relieved. I wasn’t ready to see him with someone else, and thank God, he said he wasn’t ready to date again.

“Let’s just put you to sleep, okay?” He said caressing my head and taking my hair away from my face. He saw my face and quickly he explained to me his change of mind.

“The girls are with Scott, but he has a flight to catch in a couple hours. I need to pick them up. Okay?” he said forcing me to look at him. “Hey! Listen to me I will call you as soon as they fall sleep, will that be okay?” he asked again.  

I nodded, getting up. I thought he was going to leave right away but he did not. He uncovered the bed for me to get in and laid next to me for a few minutes.

“You will always be the one. I promise.” He slurred against my temple, after kissing it.

He left the room without waiting for an answer, he must have thought I was sleeping because he tried not to make many noises.

After a few hours, my phone rang, and I didn’t wait a second to respond.

“I wasn’t sure if you were going to be up.” he said. I could hear him closing a door. I haven’t been in his new house, but I know his style very well, enough at least, to imagine it.

“I’m a light sleeper.”

“I know.” He let go a sad laugh. “I wanted to call you early, but Anna was interrogating my ass about my quick trip of tonight.” he said cooling off the environment.  

“Oh! Yeah! She can be very tough, it’s probably a phase.” I said with a smile, remembering the last time I had a quick conversation with our neighbor, and she thought I was dating him.

“Yeah! I guess, but I think we should check on her, maybe she’s experiencing anxiety because of the changes or something like that. I’ve been reading about kids with divorced parents can suffers these kinds of things.” I knew he was just worried about them; I was too, but right then I felt guilty, I felt like I did this to them.

“Okay” I murmured.

I was excited about his call, I wanted to figure it out what we could do to save this, but maybe it was too late. We held on everything for so long, and now it’s probably just too late.

“What do you want to do?” he asked calmly, completely away from my thoughts.

“I don’t know.”

“Tomorrow my sister is going to the lake house. She wanted me to take the girls, but I could let them go with her and we could hang out. I don’t know, we could have a kind of a date and talk, we could try to sort this out.”  

“Okay.”

“Is everything alright?” I knew he was asking because of my monosyllabic answers.

“Yes, I’m just kind of sleepy.” I didn’t want to talk anymore.

“Okay.” his voice sounded disappointed now. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Fine.”

“I love you” he said after a few seconds quiet.

I didn’t know what I was supposed to say, I loved him, but it felt like I was accepting everything, it felt like I was saying “yes, I broke us, our family”.

“Me too”  

I couldn’t say much else. I said bye and hung up.

He picked me up at 7:00 p.m, he told he wanted to spend the day with the girls because they wanted to spend the night over there with their cousins. We decided to just have a dinner at his house in order to have more privacy and also, we could be in a kind of neutral environment since he doesn’t feel it like home, and I don’t even know the house.

“You want a tour?” he asked as soon as we got in the house. I nodded and followed him through the house. I wasn’t wrong about this style, the house it was almost a copy of ours, and it felt weird.

“It’s very similar to ours, isn’t?” I said softly, I wasn’t sure how he was going to take it.

“Yeah, I know, Scott said the same thing, but I don’t know, I’m living here, and this has to be home now.” He said and all at once I felt the guiltiness coming back to my body, it was like I kicked him out of his home.

“We have your favorite for dinner” he said completely unaware of my harmful thoughts.

“Great.” I didn’t want to spoil any possible progress.

He took my hand guiding me to the dinning room. We had a nice dinner, just talking about our past, when we met, when I got pregnant with Anna, when we took her to Disney for the first time… we had a happy life.

We talked about everything, but we didn’t talk about why we let this happened to us. It was like we weren’t seeing the big fat elephant in the room. After the dinner he took me outside to have the dessert in front the fireplace.

“Are you okay?” he asked worried, I wasn’t being very talkative, and he knows me well enough to let it pass.

“Yes.” I said taking a spoon of mousse.

He took my dessert from my hands.

“You sure?” he asked, forcing me to look at him by my chin. I just could nod; I didn’t know what else to do.

He took my chin to his head, kissing me deeply. He got his body closer to mine and his hand went to hip and the other one didn’t leave the back of my neck. I kept to his leading until I felt his hand get under my dress, touching my naked thigh. I pushed him away from me softly. I stood up and rubbed my face trying to find the right words.

“This is not my fault.” I dopped. He smiled in confusion.

“Well, I guess it’s not, I started to kiss you, but…” he started to say.

“I didn’t break us. I may have been the one who made it official, but you decided not to tell me what was going on.” As I said that his eyes went dark. I knew he was ready to fight back, I have seen those eyes too many times.

“It wasn’t exactly an easy journey, I couldn’t…” he was accepting that he blamed me. His voice also changed; it wasn’t the same voice he used to used when we were married. This one was ironic, rough, and mean, the one he use since we were divorced.

“Mine wasn’t easy either! It wasn’t just a rough patch for me, Chris. I felt you were abandoning me, and you knew what I was feeling.”  My eyes were getting wet, and I tried to do everything not to cry.

“How I could have known that?” he sounded irritated, not just because he was talking louder but he also because his head was resting in his hands.

“Because I told you, Chris! I asked you to come back home million of times, and you rather take our daughters to the other side of the world than come back home with your wife.” I said, recalling the last time I asked him when he was going to be back. He didn’t answer, instead of that he set a whole plan. He made Scott flight to Boston to pick up the girls and then take them to Japan where he was filming his fifth film of the year.  

“I was working…” He said with a different voice.

“That’s bullshit and you know it.” The air got cooler; we weren’t yelling anymore. He wasn’t looking at me when I started to walk out.

“I don’t think we can do this.” I said, ready to leave.

“We have to try it.” He caught my attention.

“Emma and Anna will be alright; they are fine now.” I’ve always thought that keeping kids in a unhappy marriage it’s way more dangerous that have a civilized divorce. I knew he was worried about them, but it wasn’t right.  

“Not because of them, because I love you and I know you love me too.” He was right.

“Maybe it’s not enough anymore.”

“Yes, it is! It has to be! I don’t want to be alone the rest of my life and if it’s not with you I will be, don’t you see it? It’s been almost a year and I still thinking of you as my wife.” He stood up to get closer to me.

It broke my heart that he was right. I can’t imagine myself with another man, and it could be just a matter of time, but I honestly didn’t think so.

“How could this work? We’re going to end hating each other.” I said verbalizing one of my biggest fears.

“We won’t. I promise.” He said pulling my body to his arms.

 @moonlacebeam @denisemarieangelina @lovebittenbyevans @popteest @aubageddon91 @hey-diddly-ho-neighborino @impala1967666 @firoozehmoon

[georgianadarcies]

Not that I want to say that Jess did nothing wrong with not taking Rory to prom but I feel like the key difference between him not taking her to prom and Logan proposing and then dumping her is that Jess TRIED to take her to prom and genuinely wanted to make her happy in doing so. He didn't intentionally sabotage her wish of wanting to go to the prom with Lane, he actually wanted to get tickets and get the tuxedo and limo and do it the way Rory wanted to, but he couldn't because of his own mistake and most importantly, Rory was never made to think that Jess not taking her to prom was her own fault. Even if Jess doesn't directly say "it's my fault", he makes it obvious that he can't take her because of what HE did, and even apologizes for it.

Whereas Logan not only proposes to Rory at her graduation party and makes it an unannounced and completely abrupt public proposal, he intentionally makes everything about Rory's graduation to be about them, and specifically about HIM and wanting to marry her and then move together for HIS job. Nothing about Rory's own wishes, nothing about her preferred location for living after college, not even the benefit of knowing that he seriously considered marriage as the only possible step for them after this?? And breaking up with her fully takes the cake for it because again, even when Jess calls her before or during her graduation, he obviously wants to talk to her or at least tell her something after he bailed, and Rory knows it's his fault and says it as such. Whereas with Logan, he pretty much puts all of the weight of their relationship on RORY, and her not wanting to immediately get married despite them not even talking about it properly? It's the most unnecessary dick move I've seen, completely inconsiderate and awful but most of all disrespectful to the fact that she stood by his side for over 2 years??? nursed him back to health, emotionally supported him throughout all his bs with his father, even put up with him cheating on her, only for him to further be like "if you don't do this for me and continue to do so for the rest of our lives probably, we're over".

no I totally agree!! I’ve always said that the breakup with jess is the one breakup of rory’s that she explicitly did not blame on herself. they both had a part to play, but I mean that she didn’t think oh, he left because of me. he left because I wasn’t good enough or because he hated me. she knew that it was because of his own shit, which didn’t make it hurt less, but it didn’t lower her self worth like other break ups did.

jess TRIED to take her to prom and it hurts so much that like. even though he didn’t really want to go he was such a good sport and insisted on paying and was enthusiastic about the tux and didn’t complain. and he begged the principal to let him go – not even to let him graduate, just to let him take his girlfriend to the prom. rory knew (I don’t know HOW she found out about his dad and flunking out because who would have told her? in the pilot for the failed spinoff, supposedly he wrote her a letter, but who knows what’s canon here since that didn’t go anywhere and she says he didn’t say a word before leaving) that he had messed up and that’s why he couldn’t take her. it still hurt, she was still upset, but jess never made her feel like the downfall of their relationship was because of her and who she is.

logan, on the other hand…. boy. what an ass. I don’t know if I can say it better than you did, because you got it spot on. rory’s relationship with logan is constantly making her question her self worth, albeit in a different way than with dean. they date casually and he ghosts her, and she’s convinced that she did something to make him not like her. he cheats, and she feels like she doesn’t mean anything to him, saying verbatim “you had plenty of backup, what did you need me for?” every time they fight, she takes full responsibility and he lets her. when he breaks up with her because she doesn’t want to get married, he literally says “what’s the point?” in reference to dating long distance. logan’s inability to take responsibility for his actions means that rory takes double the responsibility. and I LOVE the way you put the end of your ask, that break up really was so disrespectful. rory gave him so much for two fucking years, sacrificed for him, supported him even when he didn’t deserve it, defended him, cared for him, did so much and gave so much and he just disregarded it because a twenty-two year old fresh out of college didn’t want to get married, settle down, and move across the country from everyone she loved. he takes her for granted, taking and taking from her and not giving enough back, but just enough to keep her around. and then he just… ends it, like she’s nothing. like she isn’t worth it. and that is just awful and honestly despicable and I don’t understand how people find it romantic and preach about how champagne problems is their song!1!