#Chen oneshot

[beneathashadytree]

LOVE AND DEEPSPACE (恋与深空) MASTERLISTS

Xavier Shen/Shen Xinghui

Zayne Li/Li Shen

Rafayel Qi/Qi Yu

Sylus Qin/Qin Che

Greyson

I post my SMAUs on Twitter as @mayasmaus btw!! Also, I’m part of the @oracleofstars network, so be sure to check out everyone’s lovely works🫶🏽🫶🏽

[afictionaladventure16]

Hiii!! i love all your writings and saw that you wanted an idea for tim bradford angst.

if possible, can you do tim bradford x teen!daughter where she gets held hostage or in trouble and he become really overprotective and worried for her?

thanks so much!! 🩷🩷

Safe & Sound (Tim Bradford x Adopted!Daughter)

Pt. 2

The Rookie Masterlist

Warnings: Mentions of kidnapping, stabbing, mentions of self-harm, beating, and potential death.

Word Count: 11,027

A/N: Alright, this is the fic that I wrote because of the poll and this request. I hope you guys enjoy it! High key, proud of this one since it is the longest fic I have written! Tim Bradford requests are open! Also, if there are mistakes... um... no, there isn't... ignore it... lol and I know there wasn't much Lucy in this one, I realize that after I wrote everything... I promise to write more Lucy in the next ones.

Side note: Diego Luna is Diego Garcia

Gael Garcia Bernal is Gael Garcia...

Y/N's eyes darted between Angela and Y/N's dad for the past ten minutes as they argued over where the centerpieces should go and for some reason, Y/N felt like this was something she’d flipped about. Yet, here they were flipping out about the position of the centerpiece. 

“What do you think?” Angela finally asked y/n, her hands on her hips and a stern look on her face.

“Does it matter?” She asked. 

Y/N could see the switch flip in Angela’s eyes, Tim couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle before placing a soft hand on Angela’s shoulder, “Just put them how you want, Angela, we have more important things to worry about,” he had waved the white flag. 

Angela nodded, “you’re right,” she began, her eyes landing on y/n, “We still need you to shower, get dressed, and do your hair and makeup. All in under,” she looked at her watch, eyes widened as she realized the time. “Two hours!” She exclaimed. 

Y/N let out a sigh, “Alright, let’s go.” She followed Angela out of the banquet hall.

Suppose y/n had asked her ten-year-old, scared self that in a few years, she’d be surrounded by people who loved her like they shared the same blood, with no conditions attached. That she’d be getting ready for her quince and that she was happy. Her younger self would have called her crazy, mostly because, at the time, she didn’t see any hope. Yet, here she was, looking at herself in the mirror as she wore her quince dress, hair styled in a half-up and half-down with curls, and the makeup wasn’t over the top but complimented her face.

“What do you think?” Angela asked, grinning from ear to ear as she looked at her in the mirror. 

“I love it,” y/n smiled, tears beginning to form in her eyes. 

“Oh no,” Angela quickly grabbed a tissue and helped y/n wipe away the tears before it ruined her makeup, “What’s wrong? Is there something you don’t like?” 

y/n couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle, “No, it’s not that,” she glanced back at herself in the mirror. “I just never thought I’d be this lucky.” 

Angela smiled, she opened her mouth to say something but quickly turned at the sound of a knock at the door. “Can I come in?” Tim asked from the other side of the door. 

Angela rolled her eyes, “Come in.” Tim entered the room, “you’re supposed to be keeping an eye on everything,” Angela scowled. 

Tim held his hands up, “In my defense, Lucy said she had it handled and rushed me to come get dressed.”

Angela sighed, “Alright, well I guess I should get ready, you don’t mind if I use the bathroom to change?” 

Tim shook his head, “by all means, go ahead.” Angela walked out of the room. Y/n couldn’t help but continue to stare at herself in the mirror, “You look beautiful, sweetie.” 

“You think so?” 

Tim nods, “And I’m not just saying that because I’m your dad and I have to.” He walked over and planted a kiss on top of her head, “Our ride will be here an hour, so why don’t you help Angela get ready.” 

“On it,” y/n smiled and walked out of the room. 

Within the hour, everyone had gotten ready and it was time to head back to the banquet hall. It wasn’t long until y/n was back at the banquet hall, making an entrance to her guests clapping. It all felt surreal and she didn’t want it to end. 

She danced with her friends as planned, and then surprised her guests with a surprise dance. By the time it was all over, she was exhausted, but when she heard the music slowly die down she was quick to catch on to what was going on. 

“If I could have everyone’s attention,” Tim began, as he waited a few seconds for everyone to quiet down. “I would just like to thank you all for coming out tonight, it means a lot to us. I also have a small speech prepared, I’m not accustomed to how quince’s go, but I’ve been told that I need to make a speech.” Tim scanned the crowd, his eyes landing on y/n, he smiled, “As many as you know, Y/N is adopted, but that doesn’t mean I love her any less, if anything it means I love her more. I think I knew from the day I met her, that there was something special in her and that I wasn’t just supposed to save her that day…” Tim could recall that moment when he knew that somehow you were destined to be a part of his life and somehow you were brought into his life to save him from his pain. 

~~ Then ~~ 

Tim cursed under his breath when he told himself it was a quiet shift because only a second later he got a call about a possible double homicide with a little girl who had called 9-1-1. He knew that whatever this little girl saw, it would stay with her the rest of her life and this wasn’t the first time he had answered calls like these. Yet, something about this one felt different. 

He was the first one on the scene when he arrived at the house, he took out his gun and slowly approached the house, the front door was already open. Slowly, Tim made his way through the house, checking every room as he walked through. He stopped when he walked into the master bedroom, seeing the bodies of a woman and a man on the floor. He walked over and checked for a pulse. 

“Dispatch, this is Officer Bradford, we got two DBs on the scene,” Tim said into his walkie. Tim could hear the distant sounds of sirens approaching, backup had arrived. 

A sound of ruffling came from behind him, he quickly turned around to face a closet door. Tim raised his gun as he slowly approached the door, “this is LAPD, come out of the closet,” Tim stated, and he was met with silence. He opened the door slowly, his eyes widened when his eyes landed on a little girl. He lowered his gun and bent down, “Hey, it’s okay.” He tried his best to sound as soft as possible, but she inched backward until she hit the wall. He noticed her eyes darted behind him, his heart raced as he turned around but no one was there. His eyes landed back down at the bodies on the floor. He blocked her view with his body. 

“Do you want to play a game?” Tim asked, y/n looked up at him and gave him a small nod. 

“Alright, the rules are you have to close your eyes okay? Can you do that for me?” Tim asked. Y/n gave him a nod and closed her eyes. Tim got up, picking you up in the process. He was surprised at how light she was, given her age. He took her outside where other officers and paramedics began to arrive, one of the paramedics walked over to the two of them. 

“She doesn’t seem to be injured but I would like to get her checked out, just in case,” Tim began. 

The paramedic nodded as he reached out for her, but she quickly sunk more into Tim’s arms. The paramedic glanced at Tim, “looks like you got a puppy,” he commented, “mind carrying her to the rig?” 

Tim let out a small sigh before following the paramedic to the rig, he held her in his arms as he sat in the back of the rig while the paramedic did his thing. She clung to his side the whole time, and for some reason, Tim was okay with it. Yes, it happened from time to time and sometimes Tim wished he was never put in that situation but this time, he felt this was where he was needed. 

~~ NOW~~ 

“Little did I know that I was to gain a daughter that day and I am proud of the young lady she is becoming,” Tim glanced over to where y/n was, a prideful smile on his face, “Happy birthday, sweetie.”  There was more that Tim wanted to say, stuff that made him feel uncomfortable in front of a room full of friends and family. He wasn’t uncomfortable because he didn’t want to say it, it was more because he never showed that side of him to those who barely knew him. 

What he wanted to say would have to wait. 

The party quickly resumed with everyone back on the dance floor and having the time of their lives. It wasn’t long before the night slowly began to die down, people began to go home and soon enough it was only a few people left. Y/N could feel the drowsiness hitting her eyes as she sat at one of the tables, she was thankful that she chose to get a second dress for the end of the night. Y/N was done with your quince dress an hour after she put it on and somehow Angela knew y/n would need a second dress. 

“Tired?” Tim asked as he sat down on the chair next to y/n. She slowly nodded, laying her head on the table. 

“Why don’t the two of you go home, I have people coming by in the morning to clean up,” Angela commented as she walked over to the table. 

Tim nodded, gesturing for y/n to get up, “Thank you, again, Angela.” 

“Hey, you helped me plan my wedding, the least I can do is help you plan your daughter’s quince, especially since you have no experience in this criteria.” 

“Well, I appreciate it,” Tim hugged Angela, letting go to grab some of y/n’s things.  

Y/N got up from the table and hugged Angela, “Thank you, Angela. You made my quince the highlight of the school year.” Angela smiled and placed a small kiss on Y/n’s forehead.

“Make sure to mention me in your popularity speech,” she winks.  

“You’ll be the first one I thank,” y/n joked. She followed Tim out of the banquet hall. 

“How are you feeling?” Tim asked as the both of them got in the truck. 

“Sleep deprived.” 

Tim grunted, “What?” 

“Well, we have a birthday tradition we haven’t done this year.” She gave him a confused look, “Our hot chocolate at midnight,” he said in a surprised tone. 

She let out a small chuckle, it was a tradition she had unknowingly started on her first birthday with her dad, “I completely forgot about that.” 

“How could you forget? It’s a sacred tradition and we are about an hour late.”  

She playfully rolled her eyes, “It slipped my mind with all the quince craziness.” 

“You’re forgiven,” he smiled, starting the truck to head home. It wasn’t long before she was asleep, being tired and going on a car drive was not a good combo for her. It felt like seconds after she had closed her eyes, she was being woken up, only to realize that she had been asleep for twenty minutes. 

“Come on, let’s get you to bed,” Tim suggested as he grabbed some of her things from the back seat. 

She followed him inside the house, “I’m still down for that hot chocolate,” she commented. 

“You sure?” 

“It’s a tradition,” she smiled, “I’m just gonna take off all this makeup, give me five minutes.” 

Your dad watched as you walked into your room, you were too stubborn for your own good and somehow he felt like he was to blame for that. 

 Tim went into the kitchen to make the two of you hot chocolate, he was adding marshmallows when everything went dark. “Crap,” he muttered to himself. “Damn outages,” he jumped into action, rushing over to the drawer where he kept his emergency kit, including his flashlight. 

“Y/N, I’ll bring over some candles!” He yelled out. He waited for your response but he did not receive any, he was trying not to panic, maybe you were so busy taking off your makeup still that you didn’t get the chance to respond. But given the last time the power had gone off, he was expecting a response. Yes, it was the summer and there had been outages but it had mostly happened during the day. 

Kojo began to whine and ran over to your door, beginning to scratch at the door. Something was wrong, Tim didn’t hesitate to run over to your door, “Y/N?” He called out. He waited another few seconds for you to respond. When you didn’t it was like all the alarms inside Tim’s head went off, “Y/N?!” He yelled. Again, no response. 

He couldn’t wait any longer, he opened the door to find an empty dark room, he ran over to your bathroom and it was empty. He felt his heart drop, and he ran out into the hallway, “Y/N!?” he screamed. He went to every single room in the house, any place he thought you would hide, but why would you hide? To play a game of hide and seek? He didn’t know, he wished that was what was happening, He hoped. He stood in the middle of the living room, his breathing was erratic as he realized that you were gone. You were gone and it was while he was home, where he could protect you. Regardless of what happened, Tim felt responsible for everything. 

His hands shook as he dialed 9-1-1, when he heard the voice on the other line, he couldn’t say the words. Maybe because saying it would mean it was reality, it wasn’t some nightmare he could just wake up from. 

“Hello? 9-1-1, what’s your emergency?” The lady asked again. 

Tim felt tears forming in his eyes, “My-my daughter is missing,” he choked out a sob before giving the dispatch his address. 

“Sir, I need you to remain calm, can you tell me your daughter’s name and age?” 

He let out a shaky breath, “Y/N,” he felt another sob making its way up his throat, part of him wanted to throw up. He didn’t know why he felt like throwing up, but the feeling was making its way up. “She just turned fifteen,” He managed to say. 

“Do you know where she was taken from?” 

Yes, he did. She was taken while I was present, he thought. “Our home,” He held back his sob. 

“Can you describe what happened? What was she wearing?” 

He needed Lucy. He needed someone to take over for him, he couldn’t do this. All he wanted to do was to run out into the streets and find her himself, but he knew he wouldn’t hold back if he did. He would tear whoever took her limb by limb, he wouldn’t show any mercy. 

“Sir? Are there any open windows in her bedroom?” 

It was like everything he learned in the academy, everything he had done on the job flew out the window the second he realized she wasn’t in her room. 

He walked into the bedroom once more, “There is,” he said as he stared at the open window, “she doesn’t open her window, her screen ripped a while back.” 

“Can you describe what happened before you realized she was missing?” 

“I-I was making us hot chocolate and then the power went out.” 

The dispatcher kept Tim on the phone until officers arrived, it didn’t take long for word to get to Sergeant Grey and somehow he arrived seconds after the first officer. 

Sergeant Grey took matters into his own hands, calling up Angela and Lucy to the scene, one because Grey knew he needed the best detective on this case and the second because Tim needed the support right now. 

“I need you to walk me through this Tim,” Angela said softly as she sat beside Tim on the couch. 

He clasped his hands together, hoping it would stop the shaking, he was shaking so much. No matter what he tried it just wouldn’t stop. “I went into the kitchen to make us some hot chocolate and the power went out. I called out for Y/N and got no response, I gave it a second because I know sometimes it’s hard for her to respond when she’s taking off her makeup.” 

Angela couldn’t help but smile at how much Tim had become a girl-dad within the past few years. He knew everything about his daughter and the habits she had. If she were on her time of the month, he was quick to get her the things she needed without being a guy about it. There were even times when Y/N’s period got so bad, that he allowed her to stay home from school. In Angela’s eyes, he was the ultimate girl-dad and she knew how lucky Y/N was to have him as one. 

“I then walked over to her bedroom and called for her again and when she didn’t respond a second time I knew something was wrong. The third time I called out for her, I didn’t wait to go in the bedroom, that’s when I realized she-She was missing,” he choked out the last part, Lucy rubbed small circles on his back. She was trying her best to be his support system in his time of need. 

Angela remembered noticing most of the neighborhood was out of power when she drove up, it could have been a planned thing or just a coincidence, “didn’t you just upgrade your alarm system? Especially the cameras?” 

Tim instantly knew what Angela was trying to bring up, he quickly brought out his phone and pulled up the app. “Usually after an outage, the cameras remain on for ten minutes,” he commented, rewinding the footage to when they had arrived from the quince. 

“There!” Angela pointed out, “That car pulls up a few houses down the same time you guys pull in.” They kept their eyes on the car as they watched the footage. They saw as the power went out and they saw the bushes on the side of the houses moving and then the car driving off in a hurry. 

“It’s too dark to see anything,” Tim felt defeated. At this point, he knew that he wasn’t getting y/n back tonight, she wasn’t safe. 

“Send me that footage, I’ll have my guys work on it. We’re not stopping until she’s home and she’s safe. For now, you should stay at Lucy’s,” Angela stated. 

He shook his head, “We need to get out there, I need to be doing something to find her. Let me help.” 

Angela shook her head, getting up from the couch, “Trust me on this, Tim. I know you want to be there, you want to go out and find her but you can’t. You need to trust me, I will find y/n and when I do, I’ll hold those who took her accountable.” 

Tim opened his mouth to protest, “She’s right, Tim,” Lucy added. “The best we can do is be on the sidelines.” 

Tim felt angry at them for, in football terms, benching him, when he felt like he should be out there with Angela trying to find his daughter. “When you were taken, we all looked for you, including Wesley. So don’t bench me. Don’t tell me to just stay home and not do anything, not after she has been kidnapped right under my fucking nose.” 

Angela looked over at Lucy with a knowing look, “All alright, but you’ll be taking orders from me, what I say goes. I can’t afford to lose any of you if anything goes sideways.” 

“Okay,” Tim said. 

“I need you to promise me that when I tell you something you will listen,” Angela stated. Tim hesitated, he wanted to promise her, but also, he felt like there could be many situations where defying her orders could save you. But he needed to trust Angela. “Promise me, Bradford!” 

“I promise.” 

She let out a deep sigh, “Alright, let’s get to the station, we have a lot of work to do and my guys need to do a sweep of the house to see if they can find anything.” 

The team spent the rest of the night at the station, they were trying to make a connection to the previous break-in, hoping that they could find something that could trace them back to y/n’s whereabouts. But with everything that they searched through, they had no luck. 

Tim and Lucy sat in the conference room where they had a board up with potential suspects on the kidnapping, people who lived nearby and were on the offenders list. It was all dead ends. Angela had left to retrieve documents on Y/N’s adoption, mostly about who her biological parents were.

“Fuck!” Tim yelled as he threw papers across the conference room. 

Lucy looked at him with concern on her face, “Tim, we’ll-” 

“Don’t,” he snapped, “this is all my fault.” Tears formed in his eyes as he sat down on one of the chairs. A shaky sob escaped his lips, “I can’t lose her, Lucy. I can’t. I don’t know how to live in a world where she isn’t my daughter. I know we joke about having kids, but I only have one of her. Nothing will replace her and I never want to replace her.” 

Lucy sat beside him, “I know,” she softly said. 

“I can’t lose her. I don’t think I would be able to handle it.” 

This was a side of Tim that Lucy was beginning to see more and more now that they were in a relationship. It was a side of Tim that she wished more people knew about, but she understood why they didn’t. Yes, he had this mentality that if he showed this side of himself to just anyone then there would be no room for people to take him seriously. 

But here he was, showing this side of himself in the middle of the conference room, where the walls were made of glass, making them the attractions in a zoo. Anyone could see, but they were in their little bubble for the moment. What happened beyond those glass walls didn’t matter, who saw them, didn’t matter. What mattered was that she was there for him in his need. 

“You know when I first met you, I never would have imagined you had a kid, let alone had adopted her. But then I saw her and the way you were with her and I could just tell, she was your kid. If you hadn’t told me that you had adopted her, I would have never guessed it.” Lucy’s fingers brushed his chin, pulling his face to look at her, “I know you will search every inch of this city to find her, but remember that you have a team behind you that is searching with you. We will find her, Tim.” 

Tim felt tears falling from his eyes, “it’s all my fault, Lucy. I was supposed to keep her safe.”

She shook her head, “It’s not your fault, Tim. You did everything right you kept her as safe as you could.” 

Angela walked into the conference room with a beaming smile, “I found something.” 

Tim quickly got up from his seat, “what?” 

“I had to do some bribing, but I got y/n’s adoption records uncovered and her biological parents aren’t who they said they were.” 

“What?” Tim asked in disbelief. 

“Her father was one of the sons of one of the biggest drug lords in Mexico, apparently he came to the U.S. to start a fresh new life with his wife and newborn daughter,” Angela hands Tim a photo of y/n’s biological parents when she was just a newborn. For some reason, Tim felt speechless as he looked at the photo in front of him. He wondered what his daughter was like at that age, the thought of it, made his heart ache. He hated that he missed out on so much, it was something that given their situation was bound to happen, but he felt grateful that he was given the chance to be her father now. 

“She was a cute baby,” Angela commented as she watched how Tim was so focused on the photo in front of him, he probably didn’t even hear a word she had said a second ago. 

“She was,” Tim smiled before putting his focus back on Angela, “you were saying?” 

She couldn’t help but let out a dry chuckle, “As I was saying before you got into a trance, it looks like Gael and Luna, Y/n’s biological parents were killed by one of another drug lord's men. Hearing this news caused his father to have a heart attack and he almost literally died from a broken heart causing the younger brother of Gael, Deigo, to take over daddy's company.” 

“You didn’t know any of this?” Lucy asked. 

Tim shook his head, “All I was told was that it was a robbery gone wrong, obviously someone wanted to cover this up.” 

“And I have a lucky guess on who that was,” Angela said as she put up a picture of a man who looked similar to Diego, standing next to another man. “The man on the right is Diego Garcia, Gael’s brother and now rightful leader of one of Mexico’s biggest mafia, and the other guy Jesse Ortega, A.K.A. El Patron, One of Mexico’s biggest drug cartels.” 

“So, what are we thinking? That Jesse has y/n?” 

Angela shook her head, “I have more, the way y/n’s biological parents were murdered is similar to how y/n was almost kidnapped and then kidnapped. They also caused a power outage before entering the home, now the question is-”

“Why in the hell would they want y/n?” Tim interrupted. 

Angela shrugged, “leverage? All I know is that we need to find someone who has a connection with Diego and we need to find it fast. We know what these people are capable of.” She looked down, regretting her words as soon as she had said them, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.” 

“No, we have to face the reality,” Tim uttered, “there is a chance…” he stopped, he couldn’t believe that he was going even to say it, “a chance that she may come back.” 

“We’re not going to let that happen,” Lucy said. 

Tim gave Lucy a hopeful smile, she was optimistic even when those surrounding her weren’t. She was optimistic in an annoying way that if she had ever stopped, he would miss it. 

~~ 

It had been what felt like a week since y/n had seen the sun since she remembered what it felt like to feel the comfort of her bed. She had been tied up on a chair since she’d been kidnapped, only allowed to get up to go to the bathroom or to stretch for ten minutes. Her captors were human enough to allow her just that. The only way she knows what time it is is by the sound of birds chirping outside, she knows it is morning by the sound of the mourning dove and when it is night by the sound of the crickets and frogs. 

She knows she has to be near water because of the frogs and because of how some of the men complained about the mosquitos. This is how she spent her time, studying. 

She has studied her captor's moves and the daily routines they did to make the time go by. She’d be lying to herself if she said she wasn’t at all scared because every minute that passed by her fear worsened. One thing in particular was that they hadn’t given her much attention. They gave her a small bottle of water that she was supposed to make last for the day, and a small meal a day which always looked like leftovers of the meal they chose not to eat. 

Y/N jumped in her chair to the sound of a door slamming, she could hear footsteps escalating towards her, and her eyes widened as the door to the room she was in swung open. One of the guards that sat in the room was quick to react letting out a relieved sigh when he realized who it was. 

“Dude, why do you have to come in like that? You almost gave me a heart attack,” The guard commented as he took a seat once again. 

“We have to get out of here,” the guy that entered the room says. 

“What?” 

“Our location could be blown, it’s been a week since we’ve heard the word,” the guy makes his way towards y/n, tugging at her arm, a gesture for her to get up. 

Y/n groans in pain, her legs sore from being in a position for so long, “What about-” 

“He’ll know where to find us, plus, at this point, I feel like he’s just taking his sweet ass time to come and get his prize.” The man led her out of the room. 

“Wait!” The guard said as he reached for the blindfold in his back pocket, tying the piece of fabric around her eyes. “Alright, now let’s go.” 

Y/n felt herself being led down a dirt path, and then being pushed into the trunk of a car. Then it was silent for a moment before she heard the roar of the engine and they were moving. This was her moment, she slowly began to loosen the rope tied around her wrists, she had been slowly working on it when her captors weren’t in the room. She had almost had it this morning before she was interrupted. The relief came instantly, as she brought her arms in front of her to bring down the blindfold. To her surprise, the trunk felt like being in an abyss, she was surrounded by darkness. Her hands searched above her, she knew there had to be a latch of some sort to open this trunk. Unless her captors were smart enough to remove it. 

She was beginning to give up, feeling tears beginning to form in her eyes. “Please,” she begged to any god that existed and was listening. All she wanted to do was go home, she wanted to feel safe in her dad's arms; Wondering why he hadn’t found her yet, but she knew that he would. Any moment he will be here to rescue her. 

Maybe that’s why they had to move locations. 

Her hands continued to trace the fabric above her, she let out a small gasp as her fingers touched something that wasn’t fabric. She took in a deep breath and pulled on the piece of plastic and in an instant the trunk opened. Y/n jumped out of the trunk with no hesitation, she yelped as she hit the ground and rolled on the pavement. 

Y/N let out a pain-stricken yell as she slowly got up to her feet, she heard tires screeching to a halt. 

“Fuck,” she said, turning around to see the car she had just jumped out of coming to a complete stop. Y/n only had a few seconds to take in her surroundings, it was dark and there was nothing but trees from what her eyes could see. 

She heard the engine beginning to come closer, it was now or never, she ran towards the trees. The sound of a car door closing caused her to use all her energy to run faster, but she could feel it quickly draining. Maybe this is why they fed her so little, to keep her from having the energy to run. 

The lack of food and water was getting to her, but she knew she couldn’t give up, she needed to find safety. 

The crash came quickly, one minute she was alert and running and the next she was on the ground. She was quick to come to, she let out a sob as she attempted to get back up. 

“Not so fast,” One of the men says as he grabs her arm, “Nice try.” He picks her up from the ground, holding a tight grip on her arm. “I got her!” he yells out. 

Footsteps could be heard coming closer to where they were, “Fucking bitch,” the other guy, who happens to be the guard, says. He swings his arm back, his fist meeting Y/n’s mouth causing her to lose her balance. She lets out a small sob, “Let’s get back to the car, Hugo.” 

Finally, a name. Hugo helped y/n back to her feet, “You know he’s not gonna like that you did that,” he commented. “You know how he is about his things.” 

The guard shrugged, “it’ll just be a slap on the wrist.” 

~~ 

Time was slipping by like a thin thread that was hard to see and hard to get a hold of. Tim felt like he was frozen, watching as his friends and family came by the house day by day to check up on him. Lucy came every day to walk Kojo because if she didn’t know any better, she would have sworn he never left his spot on the couch. It had been weeks since their last breakthrough, the day after Y/N was kidnapped, and since then every lead they have had led them to a dead end. At some point, Tim was beginning to lose it, he felt anger residing within him. 

Anger towards himself and to y/n’s captors. He had anger. After all, he was confused and angry because he couldn’t crack the case. He felt like he should be able to find her within a second, but when he was left with nothing but crumbs that once served as hope, he slowly fell into his pit of despair. 

Angela didn’t give up, she knew there was something within the lines that she must have overlooked. She wasn’t going to let the guilt win her, not when it had won over Tim. She knew there had to be one still searching through the crumbs that were left of this disaster. 

“We���re going to find her, Tim,” Angela said, walking around the coffee table to come face-to-face with her best friend. “Do you hear me?” 

Tim continued to stare into the blank space that was the TV. his eyes never leaving his reflection. 

“Tim, you can’t give up. You need to be strong for y/n because when we find her she’s going to need you more than ever,” Angela began to say. “She’s going to need her dad to bring her back to life, we have no idea what kind of hell she is going through righ-” 

“How do we even know she’s still alive?” Tim finally spoke up, breaking his eye contact with his reflection to look at Angela. 

Angela could see the fear in his eyes, the hope and desperation that still lay within them but was withering out, “How could you think that?” 

Tim turned away, blinking his tears away, “You and I both know the chances of survival of someone being kidnapped, especially those who are gone for weeks.” 

“You can’t think that way, you need to think like a cop-” 

“I’m thinking like a father, Angela!” Tim yelled. “My daughter could probably be dead in some ditch and I have to prepare myself for that possibility. I have to prepare myself for the possibility that she-” Tim let out a cry, “she might not come home,” he sobbed. 

“And I don’t know how to live with it. I don’t want to live in a world where she isn’t in it,” Tim cried. “She brought me so much happiness when I couldn’t find any and now she’s gone and I couldn’t stop it,” Tim looked at Angela with glass eyes, “I was supposed to protect her, so what kind of father does that make me?” 

Angela pulled Tim in for a hug, “you can’t always protect them, Tim. We all know that you can’t blame yourself for something that was out of your control.” Angela released the hug, holding Tim’s head in her hands, “I need you to pull yourself together, not for me or Lucy, but for Y/N. She needs you.” 

Tim knew Angela was right, he had to pull himself together. He gave her a small nod, as he got up from his spot on the couch and walked to the hallway, “Where are you going?” 

“To shower, I doubt you want me finding my daughter when I stink like dirty laundry,” he shouted out. 

Angela rolled her eyes, grabbing her phone from her pocket. 

I somehow got him to shower

She had sent a text to Lucy, who decided to stay back at the station to give the paperwork a second look. Lucy had felt like all her attempts on trying to get Tim off the couch had failed, all she had received from him were grunts or blank stares. She never took it personally, but knowing it didn’t take Angela long, made her heartache. 

They’ve been best friends for a while, she thought to herself. She shook her mind off of it before looking back at the paperwork. 

Before she could continue what she was reading, she was interrupted by a knock at the door. She turned to see an unfamiliar face smiling back at her, “Hi, I’m looking for a Tim Bradford.” 

Lucy found it strange to see civilians inside the station at such a late hour, but maybe he wasn’t a civilian. “Um, h-he’s not here at the moment, but can I help you?” Something about this man looked familiar to her, she just couldn’t figure it out.

“I must speak to Mr. Bradford,” the man said as he glanced outside the door. Lucy quickly caught on to the men guarding the door. She glanced back down at the photos in front of her before turning back to look at the man at the door. 

“D-Diego,” Lucy mumbled as she got up from her seat. 

The man sighed, “I’m not here to hurt you, I’m here to help,” he held up his hands. “You can search me and my men, you might find a gun on them, but they know not to do anything stupid, especially inside a police station.” 

“How did you get in here?” 

“It’s fairly easy when you spend your whole life doing these kinds of things,” he smiles before pointing to a chair near Lucy. “May I sit?” 

Lucy nods, “Why are you here?” 

“Like I said I want to help, now how long before Mr. Bradford gets here?” Diego looks at his watch before glancing at Lucy. 

~~ 

“Lucy?” Tim yelled out as he walked into their apartment, he was worried sick after she stopped answering his calls when she had texted Angela to meet at her apartment. 

“Why the hell would she want us to meet here?” Angela asked as she closed the door behind them. 

“Oh good,” Lucy said as she came out from her bedroom, “I know you guys have a lot of quest-” 

“Why did you stop answering my calls?” Tim asked as he pulled Lucy in for a hug. 

“I’m sorry, I just got caught up on-” Lucy realizes mid-sentence that Tim has a tighter grip on her, “I-I’m sorry, Tim.” For a moment, she let it slip that maybe not answering her phone caused panic to surge through Tim’s body. She could only imagine what he could have been thinking on the drive over, the worry he must have felt. 

“ ‘s alright,” Tim says as he lets go of the embrace. 

“Now can I have an explanation as to why all of our documents are in your apartment and not at the station, and how the hell did you get this big ass board here in thirty minutes?” Angela asks. 

“I had some help,” Lucy began to say. 

“Lucy, I can not thank you enough fo-” Diego stops mid-sentence, a smile forming on his face, “Mr. Bradford, it is so nice to finally meet you.” 

“Diego Garcia,” Angela quickly drew out her gun. 

Diego held his hands up, “I come in peace and empty-handed, Detective Lopez.” Angela gave a knowing glance towards Tim, “Yes, you can even search me, even though Lucy here already has.” 

“Twice,” Lucy added. 

“But if it makes you feel better, I’ll allow a third pat down,” Diego smiles. 

Angela holsters her gun, “I’ll trust Lucy’s word,” she says, “now explain.” 

“Well, after you left, Diego showed up and at first he would not tell me anything unless Tim was there, but I managed to get him to tell me some of what he had to say and given the situation, I felt it would be better if we met here. Away from the station, so we could all talk privately,” Lucy explained, she waited for a few seconds for someone to say something. Angela stood there, staring at Lucy like she was trying to make sense of it all. “Well?” 

“I’m still trying to figure out if what you did was stupid or smart,” Angela then looks over at Diego, “and you’re awfully brave for coming into a station considering who you are.” 

Diego smirks, “I am a wise man and as a wise man I know that you only have information on what others have said about me. But I am willing to risk it all if it means that my y/n is safe.” 

Angela turned her head slightly at what Diego had just said, “Surprised you even care when you didn’t even take her in after her parents were brutally murdered.” 

Diego took a deep breath, “I thought it would be for the best that she stayed away from this lifestyle, it’s what my brother would have wanted.” Diego noticed the photos that fell out of one of the folders, he couldn’t help himself as he began to look at them. 

“Then explain why Jesse Ortega has my daughter,” Tim said, “Because for the last few weeks, nothing has been making sense to me.” 

Angela saw the way he looked at those photos like they were his prized possessions, it was then that realization hit her. Nothing was making sense because it wasn’t true. “He doesn’t have to,” Angela said, suddenly understanding. 

Diego looked at her, it was the look in Angela’s eyes that made it clear to him, that she knew the truth. Everything he had heard about how great of a detective Angela was, was finally coming to light. He gave her a nod to continue. 

“I so happened to stumble upon a photo the press took of you and a woman,” Angela took out her phone, sliding through some photos before she landed on the one she needed. She held up the phone, “A woman who looks similar to Y/N, if I didn’t know any better, I would have thought this was her mother, but from records, it shows that Isabella, Gael’s wife, is y/n’s mother. Not Camilla, your wife who so happened to pass away around the same time y/n was born.” She received a confused expression from Tim, “You see, The only reason why Jesse would want anything to do with y/n is because she isn’t Gael’s daughter but Diegos,” Angela explained. “But it doesn’t explain why Gael took her here to America to start a new life.” 

Diego sighed, “My wife, may God rest her soul, she passed when y/n was born and I already was worried about raising a child in such a lifestyle, but leaving was harder than it looked. My brother and his wife had wanted to leave for a while, so, I told them to take y/n and leave for the States. My father got word of this and told him he’d give him his blessing if he killed Jesse’s father,” Diego paused, recalling the day it happened like it was just yesterday. “The only person other than my father and brother who knew of y/n’s existence was my best friend, Jesse.” 

“Some best friend you were,” Angela commented, “Why kill his father?” 

“For the same reason, every other narco kills another. Territory. My father, although I loved him, he was greedy. He let the money get to his head and he wanted more. With territory came power, he wanted us to show him how we loved him. In a fucked up way, he only asked of this to have someone else do his dirty work for him,” Diego explained. “My brother was to kill Jesse’s father in exchange for ‘Freedom’ but look where that got him.” 

“Still doesn’t explain why Jesse wants revenge from you if Gael was the one that killed his father,” Lucy commented. 

“Because when it came down to it, my brother couldn’t kill him and I didn’t allow him to. We told my father what he wanted to hear and that’s that.” 

“You killed Jesse’s father,” Tim understood. “That’s why he came after y/n, to hurt you in the same way you hurt him.” 

Diego nodded, “I loved my daughter and I wanted a better life for her. You gave her that,” He said looking at Tim. “Which is why I am here to help you guys find her, what you do with me after that doesn’t matter. All I want is for her to be safe.” 

Tim understood what he meant, the feeling of just wanting his daughter to be safe regardless of what could happen to him. He would do the same in a heartbeat if it meant he could have y/n here safe and sound. 

“How can we trust you?” Angela asked. 

“You can’t, but then what other option do you guys have?” Diego asked. 

Tim sighed, “Do you have any leads on where they might be keeping her?” He ignored the looks he got from Angela and followed Diego over to the board that had all of their leads. 

“Do you trust him?” Angela asked Lucy, they both watched Diego and Tim talk off to the side. 

“If it means getting back y/n, then I do,” Lucy said. 

~~

It’s been over a month. Over a month and y/n had been starved, deprived of water and sleep. She felt like she was going insane as she was held up in a small room with only a mattress on the floor.  For over the past hour, she had listened to the muffled voices outside the door, every moment that passed she had hoped to hear some sort of salvation in this pit of hell. 

The door opened and the man, whom she knew by the name of Hugo, came in and hastily picked y/n up from her position on the mattress. Her heart quickened as she was led into the main room, which to her looked like an old office. 

Before she could muster up the strength to say anything, she heard a voice call out from the end of the room, “She’s the spitting image of her mother,” a man scoffed as he appeared from the shadows. 

Hugo places y/n on a chair, before tying her hands behind her, “W-what’s going on?” 

The man who had just spoken, grabbed y/n by the chin, inspecting the bruise on her eye, “Who did this?” 

“S-Sergio,” Hugo stuttered. “Ya sabes como se enoja,” (you know how he gets angry. 

The man took in a deep breath, “I’ll deal with him later.” his attention focused back on y/n, “I always knew you would grow up to look just like Camilla.” 

“Who’s Camilla?” Y/n asked. 

“Why you’re mother of-” The man smirks, “Of course,” he said in realization, “you still think Isabella and Gael are your actual parents. We have a lot to uncover then.” 

Y/n looked at him with a confused expression, was Gael and Isabella, not her parents? They had raised her, she remembered seeing photos of them with her as a baby, even as a newborn. It didn’t make any sense to her. 

“You must be wondering, ‘Jesse, what do you mean?’ well, let me explain it to you,” Jesse, the man from the shadows, began to explain, “Your real father is Diego, Gael’s brother, your mother died while giving birth to you and so your father, Diego sent you with his brother to the states. Before he did that, the cowards killed my father. I took revenge when I killed Gael, but upon coming up to recent news, I found out that it wasn’t Gael who killed my father, but Diego. So, here I am out seeking revenge for my father’s death again.” 

This all felt too much to unfold, the man who y/n mourned, the one she thought was her father was just her uncle. It didn’t make her feel any less of him, but it made everything… different. 

“What are you going to do with me?” y/n asked. 

“Have you ever been to a rage room y/n? I hear they’re pretty popular in Los Angeles?” Jesse asked as he walked over to a table that was off to the side, on the table y/n could see tools that ranged from hammers to even a drill. 

her eyes widened as the fear crept up within her when she saw Jesse grabbing the hammer. “I’ve always wanted to go to one, let out all the anger I felt since my father’s death. I have let that anger live within me for far too long and I think it’s time to let it out, don’t you think?” Jesse smirked as he glanced over at y/n. 

~~

 Over the past week, Diego, Tim, Lucy, and Angela had spent most of their time in Lucy’s apartment. Diego calls people one after the other trying to figure out where Jesse could be holding y/n. He felt it was somewhere in Mexico, given that Jesse rarely came to the States unless something went wrong with his shipment. For the most part, it was Diego’s men who searched every lead they had in Mexico, it wasn’t until today that they finally had a breakthrough. 

Diego came rushing into the apartment, “I got something!” he yelled, phone in his hand as he rushed over to Tim. Diego hesitated, “I-I don’t know if you should look, it was even hard for me to see this photo.” 

Tim prepared himself for what he would see, “Show me.” 

“Tim,” Angela warned with concern in her voice. 

He shook his head, “No, Angela, I need to see her.” 

Diego showed them the photo of y/n. In the photo, she was tied to a chair, she was bruised from head to toe, with blood covering most of her body. Tim held back a sob as he read the sign that was hung around her neck. 

‘Esto es para mi papa,’ it read. (This is for my father)

“The window in the back shows the ocean. I know that view from anywhere. It’s where me and Jesse met for the first time, where our friendship began and ended,” Diego explained. “I can get you on a plane there tonight.” 

“No, if this is where she is at, we have to do this the right way,” Angela began. “The LAPD-” 

“The LAPD doesn’t have jurisdiction in Mexico, if anything you would have to call the feds and you know the feds wouldn’t care about a little girl that is kidnapped unless there is a big bust for them.” 

Tim sighed, “he’s right.” 

“So we just join him to Mexico?” Angela asks. 

“We take matters into our own hands like we did to save you.” 

Angela thought about it for a moment, she knew what they were doing was risky, but it was a risk Tim was willing to take to get his daughter back. A risk they made to get Angela back when she was kidnapped not too long ago too. 

“Alright,” Angela said. 

It wasn’t long until they were on the plane to Mexico City where Diego said the old office was. Tim and Angela mentally prepared themselves for what was about to happen, one they didn’t know if they could trust the people they were with, and second, they didn’t know what kind of condition y/n would be in. 

Lucy wanted to join them but decided to stay back just in case. She was in constant communication with Tim just in case something were to happen. 

“We’re almost there,” Diego announces as he comes back from the cockpit area and takes a seat on one of the chairs. “My men are ready to meet us at the landing zone, we will head straight to the building when we land,” he began to explain. “I’ll have a paramedic waiting nearby to take care of any injuries on y/n.” 

“You can pull those kind of strings?” Tim asked. 

“With the right kind of money, yes,” Diego smirked. 

Angela scoffed, “I have a question for you,” Diego nodded for her to continue, “Why let Gael take y/n? Why not live a life outside of this business with your daughter?” 

Diego sighed, placing the glass of alcohol back down on the small table in front of him, “Because my brother and his wife could give her something I never could have.” 

“What’s that?” Tim asked. 

“Family.” 

“I disagree, I think you don’t need a mom and a dad to be a family. It’s ideal, but look at where she’s at now, no offense, Tim,” Angela said. 

Diego nodded in agreement, “Alright, you caught me.” He took a swig of his drink before placing the now-empty glass back down, “The first week was the hardest,” Diego admitted. “Then as she began to grow, I just couldn’t do it. She reminded me so much of Camilla�� It hurt to even look at her. Gael and Isabella couldn’t have kids and the way they always loved her as her own, I just felt like they would have given her the love I couldn’t give her.” 

Tears began to form in his eyes, “and I was right. I was told Gael and Isabella died trying to protect y/n. They made sure she was hidden so she wouldn’t be” Diego choked on his words, “I don’t regret the decision I made, I just regret that I couldn’t save them.” 

“Patron, Hemos aterrizado, ” (Boss, we’ve landed) One of the flight attendants said to Diego, quickly walking back over to the flight attendant station in the front of the plane. 

“That’s our ten-minute mark,” Angela commented. 

Tim felt his heartbeat quicken, anxious to get out of this plane and find y/n. He felt every minute that went by was a minute too long, a minute too late. 

~~ 

Y/n cried out in pain as Jesse backed away, he shook his hand, wincing in pain. 

“Ah, don’t worry, little y/n. Soon enough you won’t be feeling any more pain,” Jesse winked as he walked back over to the table. For the past week since Jesse had made an appearance, it had been constant torture for y/n. The only break she had was when Jesse left to go eat or sleep, otherwise he found entertainment in torturing her with different techniques. 

“P-Please,” y/n begged. 

He jammed a knife into the table, he let out an annoyed groan before grabbing a piece of cloth that was nearby. Walking over to y/n, Jesse jammed the cloth into her mouth and then tied it on the back of her head. 

“That’s better,” he smiled, walking back over to the table. He grabs the knife again and walks over to y/n, “Cuando yo estaba mas joven,” Jesse began to say, “when I was about your age actually, the girls used to grab a knife and make these marks on their skin,” he traced the knife along Y/n’s wrists, “Ahh, just like these,” he says as he traces the white lines that were scattered along y/n’s wrists. Scars that told of a past of darkness that she once battled. 

“Let’s have some fun,” he winked, letting the knife sink into y/n’s skin along her abdomen, she screamed into the piece of cloth that was in her mouth. Jesse let go of the knife, leaving it in her abdomen, walking back over to the table, and grabbing a large bowl of water.

Jesse walked back over to Y/n, she frantically shook her head, knowing exactly what he was thinking. He smirks as he dunks her head in the bowl, leaving it there for a minute before letting her back up for air. 

Y/n tried her best to hold her breath, but with her mouth being gagged she found it more difficult than the last time. She hoped he was done for the night, that any moment he would walk out of that room. 

“Can’t forget about this,” Jesse comments as he takes the knife out of y/n’s abdomen causing a rush of blood to ooze out. 

The door abruptly opens, “We’ve got a problem,” Hugo says with urgency. 

“Can’t you handle it?” Jesse says through gritted teeth. 

Hugo shakes his head, “It’s Diego, he’s here and he has company.” 

Jesse groans in frustration, walking over to the table to drop off the bowl and knife. He sees a piece of rope, it is now or never, and he grabs it. 

~~ 

Tim followed one of Diego’s men through the building, searching room by room for y/n. He was surprised by the small amount of guards that were within the building so far, it could only mean that the main floor would have more. 

Jose, the man who was taking the lead, led them to the final and top floor. Tim could hear a couple of shots before he heard people grunting, “She’s in here!” Jose yells out. Tim looked back at Angela who nodded for him to go as she walked over to one of Diego’s men who had one of Jesse’s men on the ground. 

Tim quickly rushed into the room Jose had called out from, he scanned the room, seeing Jose with Jesse on the ground. Then his eyes darted to the small figure on the chair, “Y/N!” He calls out as he runs over to her, quickly untying her hands. Y/n slumps over in her seat, Tim is quick to lean her body against him, helping her onto the floor. 

“Hon, it’s me,” he says, not getting a response from y/n. “Come on, baby girl, you gotta wake up for me,” the tears began to form in his eyes, he felt for a pulse, it was weak but it was there. He looks over at Jesse, “What did you do?!” 

Jesse smirks, his eyes darting over to the door. Tim looks behind him to see Diego at the door, “Ojo por ojo.” (an eye for an eye) 

Diego felt the anger rise within him, he felt like he was on autopilot as he pulled the gun out from his back holster, pointing it at Jesse without hesitation, he pulled the trigger. 

“Now we’re even,” Diego mutters. He pulls his attention back over to Y/n and Tim, quickly noticing the pull of blood forming before them, “she’s bleeding,” he quickly takes off his coat, handing it to Tim. 

Tim presses the coat on the stab wound, “we need to get her to the paramedic,” Diego says. Tim picks Y/n up, following Diego down the flight of stairs and outside to the paramedics. Tim got into the ambulance with Y/n, he held her hand throughout the whole ride. 

He couldn’t help but notice the condition her body was in, the scars on her body, the bruises, and the mark that was red around her neck. If they had been a second late, she probably would’ve been gone. No, Tim couldn’t think that way. She’s safe now, she’s alive and she’s with him. 

~~ 

Tim stayed by y/n’s side every single day at the hospital. It had been a couple of days and she had yet to wake up, the doctors said it was due to her injuries, but Tim was worried it could be something worse. Eventually, they were given the okay to transfer back to the States. 

To Tim’s surprise, Diego never made an appearance at the hospital in Mexico City. He kept his promise, he helped them find y/n, and to Tim, that was all that mattered. 

Once they were back in the States, Tim couldn’t find the courage to leave y/ns bedside still. He continued to wait for her to wake up, the doctors told him to give her body time to recover but just wanted to hear her voice. He wanted her to know that he was sorry. 

“Wake up,” Tim whispered as he gently placed his hand on the side of y/n’s face, “You need to wake up, hon.” 

Tim felt his eyes getting the best of him, he let out a deep sigh as he laid back in his chair. Lettin sleep overcome him. 

It was only an hour after Tim had fallen asleep that y/n began to wake up, the lights from the room blinded her as she opened her eyes, an instant headache. y/n groaned, wincing from the brightness, “Dad?” she called out. 

Tim thought it was odd that the elephant in his dream was calling him dad, slowly he was driven out of his dreams and jumped up. He frantically looked around, “Dad?” he heard y/n say. 

“Oh my god, you’re awake!” Tim announced, getting up from his seat and running out to the hall, “she’s awake!” he announced to one of the nurses, and they both rushed back into the room together. 

The nurse quickly checked y/n’s vitals and her stitches, “We’ll have to do some more testing, but from what I can tell, you’ll be making a full recovery,” she announced with a smile. “I’ll be back to check on you in an hour, let me know if you need anything,” she smiles as she walks out of the room. 

Tim pulls you in for a hug, careful not to hurt her further, “you’re awake,” he breathed out. 

y/n let out a relieved breath, holding onto Tim as tight as she could. y/n felt tears brimming her eyes as a sob escaped her lips. Tim rubbed small circles on her back, “I-I thought I was never gonna see you again,” she sobs. 

Tim places a small kiss on the top of her forehead, “You’re safe now,” he says as he lies on the bed with y/n, never letting go of her hug. “That’s all that matters to me right now.” 

“How did you find me?” 

“We had some help,” Tim explains. 

“Was it from Diego?” Tim looked at her with a surprised expression, “Jesse told me everything, he knew Diego was on his trail.” 

“Diego mentioned that,” Tim sighed, “How do you feel?” 

“Like I’m probably gonna need therapy for the rest of my life,” she comments, letting out a small chuckle. 

Tim couldn’t help but chuckle, “I’ll get you the best therapist there is, I’ll even get you a thousand stuffed animals if that makes you feel better for a thousand minutes. Hell, I’ll even get you another dog, I don’t care, just as I know you are home and you are safe and sound.” 

Y/n couldn’t help but smile, but it soon falters, “Do we have to talk about what happened?” she asks. 

“Not if you don’t want to, I’ll understand if you want to talk to a therapist instead. What you went through was heavy and…. I’ll understand.” 

She nods, Tim watches as her mind wanders off, “I thought I was gonna die,” she begins to say, “and for a moment all I could think about was missing you. Missing our Sunday brunches with Kojo and even missing our softball practices.” She looks at Tim with tears in her eyes, “I was so scared.” 

“I should’ve been able to protect you,” Tim whispers. “I’m so sorry, y/n.” 

“It’s not your fault,” Y/n says, “I don’t blame you at all for any of it, you’ve always been there. You’ve protected me from the first moment I met you and you have never stopped.” 

Tim felt a surge of love and pride within him, he had helped raise a brave young woman whom he was proud to call his daughter. 

“I love you,” he says, pressing a gentle kiss on y/n’s forehead, his voice choking with emotion. “You are indeed the strongest person I know and I will always be here for you, no matter what.” 

Y/n leaned against his shoulder, and the two of them lay there in silence for a moment before turning the T.V. on. He knew that he was going to need to help her through the tough times ahead, juggling a normal life with school and friends while also dealing with this trauma. Tim knew the next few months were not going to be easy, but he was more than willing to be the rock y/n needed to get through this. It all seemed fine now, but he knew the emotional toll a traumatic event like this could be on a grown adult, but imagine a teenager. 

It was a lot to take in and it was going to be a lot of therapy. 

For now, all that mattered to Tim was that Y/N was found and she was now safe and sound. 

[ruewrote]

𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡.

↪︎ chloe price

↪︎ warren graham

↪︎ steph gingrich

↪︎ ryan lucan

↪︎ alex chen

↪︎ rachel amber

[americaswritings]

Tim's eyes caught hers and for a moment she felt breathless under the weight of his steel blue eyes. "Boyfriend?" "I said partner", she clarified, knowing fully well what it would sound like to everyone else other than cops. "If I recall correctly, I'm your superior", Tim pointed out. "No sign of amnesia then."

Prompts: "You told me to move on" & Tim asks Lucy to lay with him in the hospital bed and she says no because she doesn't want to hurt him. Tim says "you could never hurt me" and "please, I need you"

[imaginidol]

POV: The intimate moments of you and Baekhyun’s secret relationship

The sight of your boyfriend jogging towards you under the otherwise dimly-lit street was enough to make your heart skip a beat. Again, you think, I get to finally see you again!

His panting gets heavier as he approaches closer, until you both finally embrace each other in a warm hug. His heavy black jacket is covered in his cologne and scent, one that you find so attractive and safe every single time.

“Baby,” he melts into you in delight. “I missed you.”

You smile warmly into him, whispering “I missed you, too!”

It wasn’t too many times during the week you got to see Baekhyun; the last time you saw him was probably close to three or four nights ago. Nowadays, it seemed as though the amount of Dispatch paparazzi and sasaengs flooded the privacy of artists as big as Baekhyun, following Chen’s announcement of having started a private family a few years back. Baekhyun’s name had only popped up once or twice for a dating scandal speculation in the last month or so, but he played it off very well, and with the help of an official statement from the company, he managed to keep his secret about you very private and exclusive only to himself.

“I brought you something,” he pulls away from you to reveal a small paper bowl with a plastic cover, filled to the brim with ice cream – a treat he knew you loved dearly.

“Baekhyun!” you smiled, your hands growing cooler at the touch of the cup.

“Shhh,” Baekhyun stops you with a sudden passionate kiss, numbly nibbling at your bottom lip as he feels your smile spread over your face. “If you say my name too loud, people might hear. We’re still close to SME.”

“Right, sorry,” you whisper in between kisses. You could tell he missed you from the way his kisses grew firmer against your lips, his weight almost completely leaning against your body. You’re the first to pull away, causing him to whimper softly in confusion. “For someone who doesn’t wanna get caught, you don’t hesitate to make out in front of SME,” you tease.

“Where are you parked?” His eyes travel quickly between your lips and your eyes, a sense of slight desperation overcoming him for wanting you in that moment.

“Farther down the street, behind that one corner store with the milkshakes,” you smile.

“What?” His expression quickly grows to deep concern. “Hell no, you can’t be parking back there anymore. It’s too sketchy for you to be around at this time of the night. Just start parking behind the SM building, the parking lot in the back. I’ll get you a pass tomorrow.”

“But Baek, the whole reason we agreed we wouldn’t be parking there in the first place was because we could get caught seeing each other or something,” your eyes threaten to fill with tears at the thought of Baekhyun’s name being once again stained at the stake of another dating scandal, especially now that it’s been years since the last real scandal finally died down.

“I change my mind; I’d rather you be safe and closer to me than out here. Sorry, I didn’t think about the alternatives much,” he heaves, taking you by the arm. “Let’s go to your car, I’ll drive us over.”

He takes his neck scarf and ties it over your face, then proceeds to pull a beanie from his jacket and tug it over himself. You both make way to your car, following carefully but briskly behind his every step.

Once you’re in the car, you turn to him, offering him some of your new ice cream.

“Only a little bit, love, since we’re performing tomorrow,” he agrees.

You take a spoonful of the cold treat and gently place it between his lips, a smile forming on his face at the sight of your own excitement. You take a spoonful of the dessert next, spilling a drop over your bottom lip.

He takes his thumb and slides it over your bottom lip, cleaning it over and proceeding to lick it off himself. The car groans to life, and soon you’re both driving carefully through a longer route until you reach the SME building.

He scans his ID through the back gates, allowing your car to enter into the private lot and hiding among the vehicles of other staff. He turns the car off, and then proceeds to turn his attention to you.

“Baek,” you start. “How much time do you have before you go in again?”

Baekhyun sighs back against his seat, pulling out his phone to check the time again. “Maybe fifteen, fourteen minutes?”

You both sit quietly for a moment in the silence of your reality: attempting to work out a secret relationship with a highly rated singer. It wasn’t the fairest game you thought you could handle.

There was just no privacy anymore.

In fact, it seemed as if Baekhyun’s stalker and sasaeng problem had only worstened over the course of the last few years.

“I’m trying to figure something out for us,” Baekhyun interrupts the silence. “I want you, but being with me is a toll too harsh for you to risk. I don’t want to… lose you.”

His voice cracks at the last syllable, while your tears spilled under your lids that you tried so hard to hold back.

“Are you sure you wanna keep doing this, Baek?” Your voice comes out a mere whisper, and he turns over in shock to see you had actually started crying.

“What? Of course I do. It’s… risky. But I knew what I signed up for when I knew I wanted you. Come here,” he pulls you in his arms, taking your ice cream and placing it on the dashboard. “A risk I’m willing to take, though I’m hoping for the better outcome.”

“Okay,” you heaved, “because I’ve already fallen for you pretty badly. I think I’m so down bad for you now, so it better work out for the best.”

“Shhh,” Baekhyun once again interrupts your doubts with a soft, tender kiss. “I’ll make sure it does,” he breathes through you, “I can’t lose whoever I choose to love over some stupid scandal. It’s never my fault when I fall in love. And I love you right now. Only you. I don’t want to lose you to a scandal like that, I don’t wanna go through any potential career deaths over my love life again.”

“I’m sorry, Baek,” you look up at him, feeling his cold fingers wipe away the warm tears welling from your eyes. His index and thumb lift your chin, forcing you to watch him closely.

“I’ll make sure you don’t fall harshly if we ever do get caught,” he promises with a smile.

Being the non-celebrity that you were, he knew how much your quiet, comfortable life meant to you. It meant a lot to him too, knowing that it was also a small escape from his lifestyle as well. One where he didn’t have to worry about his image or about having eyes on him at all times. You were also his comfort, and he couldn’t bear to lose that.

“I’ll work extra hard for you, too,” you finally smile up at him.

“Awe, look at you, pretty,” he whispers to you, pupils dilating at the sight of your beauty. To him, you were the greatest thing he could look forward to nowadays. What could possibly be better than this?

Suddenly, Baekhyun’s phone starts buzzing. He looks down to see it’s one of the members, and picks up.

“Yeah, I’m on break. Okay, I’ll be in soon, just give me a few more minutes,” he says, his eyebrows furrowing lightly. “See you inside in a bit. Bye.”

“Who was that, Baek?”

“Chan,” he mutters. “They want me to re-record a few new adlibs they just added to our current project.”

“Oh,” you look down in defeat, “okay.”

“I’m sorry, love,” he turns to you, knowing that cutting his time meant cutting time away from you.

This hurt you just as much as it hurt him. How many times a week could he really actually see you? In between his busy schedules and sudden occurrences (like Chanyeol’s call just now), there wasn’t always much time left even for a secret relationship.

“That’s okay,” you look at him, a devious grin slowly spreading across your face. “Pick a number between one and ten,” you say slyly.

“What? Oh, um, two,” he looks up, an expression of confusion overtaking his face. “Why?”

You start giggling for a moment, before whispering quietly into his ear, “You have two minutes to make out with me, in any way that you want.”

A panicked expression pains his face, a soft whimper escaping his lips. “No, no, no, no, no, that’s not fair, that’s not fair, ask me again,” he starts pressing his palm against the curve of your neck, his eyes growing hooded.

“You’re ten seconds in,” you whisper, sending him into a frenzy.

He doesn’t take another moment of hesitation before he pushes his lips against yours.

He’s completely melted into your love. He presses against you, leaving small pecks and long kisses all over your mouth. His hands pull your legs in closer, then proceeding to slowly follow the curve of your waist until he reaches the brim of your collarbone. His soft lips demand yours to part, his teeth slowly making their way to your bottom lip. He’s biting and sucking on you, soft groans escaping his parted mouth and bringing music to your ears. He invites his tongue into your mouth, a sloppy mess forcing a quiet moan to escape you. His fingers make their way around your neck and up to your jaw, his grip firmly bringing you closer to him as if there wasn’t anymore space left between you both already.

“I love you, I love you so much,” he mumbled between kisses, though half of these words were more of a slurred, distracted speech.

His intensifying breathing pattern grows heavy and uneven, the only thought going through his mind being fuck, I’ve missed you so fucking much. You don’t know just how long he’d waited for this, but damn, it felt good.

“Time’s up!” you pull back giggling, watching his darkened eyes make a fuss out of your movements.

“Two minutes is not enough, let me pick another number,” he whines, making you laugh lightly in amusement.

“Baek, you really should go inside before Chan comes out looking for you,” you smirk.

“Ten minutes, I want ten minutes,” he pleads once more, but the slyness on your face tells him he’d have no chance. “I don’t get to see you often already as it is!”

You place your hand lightly on his cheek, your thumb sliding over his cheekbone. He lifts his hand and places it over yours, and you can see the desperation growing stronger in his expression.

But Baekhyun wouldn’t dare do anything to you without your permission.

“Give me your phone,” you say quietly.

“Why?”

“Give it, unlocked.”

He hands over the phone, anxiously waiting for you to give him another green light.

“Hmm,” you think, your thumbs searching through his messages, finally reaching Chanyeol’s number.

“Pick a number between ten and twenty,” you smile.

“A hundred!”

You break out in a laugh, and type something down into his phone, then returning it to him shortly after.

“What did you do?” He asks, studying the words on his screen.

“I just bought us a bit more time, and said you’re stuck in traffic.”

His eyes gleamed in absolute delight, a wide smile growing across his face.

Fuck, he was so beautiful.

“Now what?” He looks at you with eager eyes.

“Given I probably won’t see you for a couple days again, kiss me and don't stop. Oh, and by the way,” you subtly motion your head towards your backseat, “I made sure to tint my windows and clean the back seats for… you.”

He doesn’t hesitate to pull you into him, your giggles fading out into one of the most passionate love sessions you’ve ever experienced in your life.

On the dashboard, the ice cream slowly melts its way down to a mere puddle of tasty delight.

[bennydwight]

A dialogue snippet that turned into this:

Standoff (TGAMM Oneshot: Spoilers for season 2)

Summary: Half-feral, trapped in a snare barely big enough for his fluctuating form and Oliver Chen's gun trained directly at his head, Scratch is out of options.

So why isn't Ollie taking the shot?

Intrinsically, Scratch was a pretty simple, lazy guy. He liked an easy routine, a familiar path. The hardest work he did most days was figuring out how to avoid hard work. He didn’t have the patience for strategy (why, when cheating was faster and easier?) and trying to think in multiple directions at once just sapped his strength and made his head hurt. All that variety, all that junk humans did to ‘better their mind’ was just so hard.

Astonishingly, it was made ten times harder when he was near bursting out of a containment unit, a wide barreled gun trained directly between his eyes.

He couldn’t even pinpoint where everything had gone wrong, too much focus funneled into clamping down on a base instinct: trapped in a snare barely large enough for his normal size and his afterlife on the line, Scratch’s scare form had started to take over.

He strained against the effort of keeping his ectoplasm intact, phantom breaths coming in rapid huffs even as his teeth lengthened, spines burst from his arms, his shape swelled and pressed dangerously against unyielding steel and electrons. Somewhere, quietly in the back of his mind and underneath the screaming need to SCARE SCARE SCARE SCARE, he realized dimly that he’d never been afraid of being crushed until now, after he’d gained the ability to phase through objects at will. Well, most objects. Go figure.

So it was here, desperately trying to reign in his higher processes, that through an animalistic red haze Scratch glowered into the eyes of his captor. Ollie stood mere feet away, that biohazard-yellow gun a shield between him and his helpless prey, and Scratch acknowledged a terrible gleam of satisfaction as even now the weapon trembled in the boy’s hands.

Across the other side of the warehouse, behind the orangey shimmer of the Chens’s forcefield, Molly lay prone, the tiny movement of her breaths the only reason any of the Ghost Chasers were still alive. Esther knelt next to her, first-aid kit in hand, expression one of barely-contained terror. Not his doing, but he’d take credit. Maybe next time she’d learn not to chuck a knockout bomb at a child. Well, at him. Molly had taken the metaphorical bullet (not a pretty mental image, given the circumstances), and if anything happened to her then Scratch was going to make all their lives a living hell.

Provided he got out unscathed. Somewhere, out of the thick of battle, Andrea fought to take the snare’s electronics offline, and no doubt June was blocking every attack with equal fervor. And even with legs as long as Libby’s, it would take too much time for her to reach the McGee’s house and bring back Pete and Sharon. Time Scratch didn’t have.

Imprisoned, half feral with the urge to survive, and one finger twitch away from total erasure, Scratch was out of options. Just him and Ollie, and the trap and the gun.

And the father.

Ruben stood, face and hands pressed against the forcefield, vibrating with adrenaline. His attention laser focused to his son, caught on the opposite side with the enemy (that was Scratch, he had enemies now), the shouts of excitement and encouragement died at Ollie’s hesitation and veered distinctly into confusion and urgency.

“Finish it, Ollie, it’s trying to take attack form! End it before it escapes!”

Ollie’s only acknowledgement was the hitch of his shoulders, eyes locked with Scratch in a way that felt like he was missing context. Scratch had seen this boy’s hatred firsthand, he put things on the internet that should not be there, so what stopped him now?

A memory flashed to mind: Molly throwing herself in front of the knockout bomb, and someone shouting ‘NO’ nearby, and Scratch swelled painfully against the snare as a fresh wave of rage tore through his ectoplasm like the hiss from behind his fangs.

Ah. So now he knew.

“We’re so close, Ollie,” Ruben continued to not shut up, voice like fingernails down Scratch’s strained self-control. “Our family’s whole legacy has led up to this! You can give us everything we’ve ever dreamed, just pull the trigger!”

The monster was caged, and still fear shone like a beacon behind Ollie’s eyes. Everything they’d worked for at his feet and he still didn’t move. Didn’t look away.

Scratch was not a smart man on the best of days and now, claws scoring uneven grooves in the ground as their length oscillated with his concentration, he was grossly, hilariously far from his best. “Do it kid,” Scratch snarled, sucking harsh breaths from between gritted teeth. “You know what it’ll cost ya.”

“Do it, Ollie! This is our only chance!”

A long beat passed.

Ollie’s hands shook, but his trigger finger didn’t waver.

From outside, a roar, and then a scream. Good old Geoff. The Chens’s heads whipped towards the door, and their combined fear-smell nearly whited out Scratch’s mind for good.

“Go help June!” Ollie’s voice pitched high with terror, and something else that tugged Scratch’s mind back to clarity. Surprise registered through the darkness clouding his mind as his parents obeyed, gathering a limp Molly into their arms, and a strange quiet settled over the warehouse.

And then, there were two.

Most of the threat and the fear-smell were gone, but Ollie still had a gun to his head and Scratch was still angry. His hue shifted, deepening to a sickly green, mouth stretching wide in a grotesque grin. “So what’ll it be, Ollie? Gonna finish me yourself? Or gonna make your daddy do it for you?” The snare creaked ominously as his growth strained the limits. The ropes of plasma burned fierce red lines through the green, but he barely registered the pain. “Either way, she’ll never talk to you again. Won’t even look at you. She thought better of you, y’know. Tried her darnedest to change your mind. You want her to wake up and find out she failed?”

Ollie’s eyes hardened, and Scratch’s temperature dropped several degrees. He really should’ve known better by now than to make calculated risks, this one might’ve just cost him his life.

Ollie’s hand moved, and Scratch bit back a flinch before watching it dip into a pocket and emerge with a square device. As he pressed the giant, terrifying button right in the middle, Scratch braced for pain.

Instead, the pressure around him retreated, and Scratch floated up into the air. Free.

Free, and alone with the Ghost Chaser, who kept the gun trained on his head even as scared tears pooled at the corners of his eyes.

They stared at each other in a stalemate, Ollie unwilling to put down his weapon and Scratch wobbling between forms as he considered whether to put his uncomfortably pent-up scare energy to good use. Or at least entertaining use.

“Run,” Ollie whispered, and Scratch couldn’t tell if it was a threat or a plea.

The instinct-induced haze lessened. If Ollie took the shot, he’d be disappointing Molly. (Who was he kidding, life without Scratch? He’d be devastating Molly!) But if Scratch proved the Chens thoughts on ghosts right, he’d be doing the same thing.

Ollie hefted the gun higher, looking no keener to use it. “Run,” he repeated.

The easy way out. No lie, Scratch had considered it immediately. Molly was safe enough with the Chens, and all he wanted was to disappear into a dark corner and forget this whole nightmare ever happened. He could run, and they’d be more careful, and this whole debacle meant Molly would stop hanging out with Ollie, and Scratch’s life could go back to normal. Save being on the run. Forever.

(Or until the Chens died out, and with Scratch’s luck this would absolutely turn into a multigenerational blood feud.)

Facts were: he was outed, and so was Molly’s connection to him. They’d never be safe, not while the Chens were determined to cleanse the world of ghostkind.

Scratch took a deep breath and thought of his family, and the last of his spines smoothed and his colour returned to its natural blue and his shape stabilized. It might’ve been easier to go underground, but even these past few months of avoiding their (many, many) ghost traps had triggered an exhaustion that would’ve been called bone-deep if he’d had bones. He didn’t want to put his family through that, and frankly, Scratch was just damn tired. All he wanted was to sleep for a century.

He'd finish this first.

“Look, Ollie,” he started, relieved to find the bass in his voice had returned to normal. “As far as ghosts go, I’m a pretty lazy guy. Rather take a nap, y’know? All that exercise ain’t good for you.”

Ollie’s eyes darted to the side, face screwing up in that ‘um actually’ wince that Molly liked to adopt whenever she annoyed him enough to bring up the flat-earth theory. The first flicker of character he’d shown since this whole standoff started. “Not how that works, but what do you mean?”

Scratch smiled at his mortal enemy, and somehow it felt natural. “Means I’m tired of running, kid.”

 END

[baileys-3]

New One Shot - "Waxed Floor"

In any case, there were a few moments in his life where he imagined where, when, and how he might run into his ex-girlfriend and how he would react. But of course, the final scenario had to top everything. And of course, he could never have imagined this encounter - or should he call it a collision - in his entire life. Because who would ever envision something like THAT? OR Tim runs into his ex Ashley McGrady - in the truest sense of this words and chaos encounters.

[ao3sostarry]

Trick-or-treat

[sylvies-chen]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Rookie (TV 2018) Rating: Not Rated Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Tim Bradford/Lucy Chen Characters: Tim Bradford, Lucy Chen (The Rookie) Additional Tags: Oneshot, Emotional Intimacy, Post-reunification, no beta we die like jackson, a world where the breakup bs is done and a thing of the past, literally inspo was looking at an intimacy deck online and thinking how squeamish tim would get Summary:

Tim finds a couples intimacy exercise hidden in Lucy’s drawer on their day off.

[solo-ojo-jojo]

Chenford Fanfic: About Last Night

The Rookie Fanfiction | Chenford | One shot | 5K | Rated T | 5x01 Alternate Take | Sharing a Bed | Repressed feelings | Chenford Week '23

Story summary: Chenford, Vegas, and the one bed trope

In a world where their undercover op isn't interrupted, Lucy and Tim must find a way to share a bed one night in Las Vegas.

One day last November, my friend @heatherelf77 shared the following tweet, and it got my brain a'thinkin'.

My first thought was of a scene from the 1934 film It Happened One Night, when Clark Gable creates a room divider out of a blanket between his and Claudette Colbert's beds. I imagined Tim doing his own version of that for sharing a bed with Lucy, and it went from there.

Read an excerpt below, or jump on over to AO3 to read it now!

Lucy opened the bathroom door to find Tim arranging pillows on the bed.

“What are you doing?” she asked, amusement plain on her face and barely able to contain her laughter.

Tim paused and looked up at her. Why did he feel like she caught him doing something he shouldn’t?

“I’m creating a, uh–,” he gestured with his arm, moving it horizontally over the bed from head to toe and back again.

“A pillow wall?” she asked.

Tim looked sheepish under her gaze and shrugged one shoulder.

“Tim…” Lucy swallowed a grin, trying to maintain her professionalism “… do you really think that’s necessary?”

His cheeks flushed with embarrassment over the thought of admitting out loud that he was worried about being able to resist his attraction to her—especially when she had already made it clear that she didn’t feel the same way.

“I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable. I know that this wasn’t part of the plan.”

“It wasn’t. But I can keep my hands to myself if you can.”

Tim held his tongue. That was certainly a loaded subject, and one he had already given far too much thought to in the past 24 hours. He knew he didn’t trust himself to answer. Avoiding the topic, he rolled his eyes and chucked a pillow in her direction.

“Fine,” he relented, and started to place the pillows back at the head of the bed. “Which side of the bed do you sleep on?”

“You choose,” she offered, before tossing the pillow back to him. “It really doesn’t matter to me.”

A knock and a voice diverted their attention to the door.

“Room service.”

Lucy was already making her way to the door when Tim stopped her. 

“Wait,” he said in a firm, but quiet voice, causing Lucy to turn to look at him. She noticed his hand hovering behind the firearm tucked away at the small of his back.

“I’ve got it,” she reassured him. “It’s okay.”

“I know you do,” he returned, stepping in close and lowering his voice. “I just don’t like this. Any of this. I keep feeling like something is going to go wrong or our cover’s going to be blown.” He peered through the peephole to find a waiter with a room service cart on the other side. Keeping his hand behind his back, Tim opened the door, then poked his head out to look up and down the hallway.

The coast was clear.

“Baby,” Lucy cooed, walking toward Tim, “you got us room service?” Her fingers curled around his biceps and the tips of her press-on nails sent a shiver through his body.

He turned his head to look at her, and dammit, the way she looked up at him with adoration written so plainly across her face reminded him she could turn her undercover persona on and off so easily. If he didn’t know any better, he’d believe she was actually into him. And it was his job to play along.

Read on AO3

[gentil-minou]

a hop, skip, and a jump to you

Something about Wei Ying feeling safe in a place Lan Zhan regards as his own makes him flush, and his bunny ears turn pink again. But strangely, when Wei Ying gasps at the sight and reaches one of his hands over to run a gentle finger across the edge of one, Lan Zhan doesn’t feel embarrassed or ashamed by his ears at all. He feels something else entirely, something he doesn’t know what to call. Something equal parts terrifying as it is extraordinary, like the warmth from his mama’s hugs or praise from his brother. But more, somehow, and all thanks to Wei Ying. Just two soft magical bunny boys being soft together

Tags:

Alternate Universe - Magic

Witches

Shapeshifting

Rabbit Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī

Rabbit Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn

Fluff

Childhood Friends

Tooth-Rotting Fluff

Wangxian | Oneshot | 6K | Rated G

Based on this official merch art!

Preview under the cut

The back hills behind Cloud Recesses are a place for tranquility and rest. When cool mountain air kisses the soft blades of bright green grass and the sound of leaves rustling like wind chimes, one can feel at total and absolute peace. With only woodland animals for company, friendly white rabbits hopping around and squirrels darting from one tree to the next with their hauls, it’s Lan Zhan’s favorite place in the world and his most prized secret. A space away from the pressures of being a Gusu Lan heir. Away from all the near-constant staring and placing of expectations on his still small shoulders.

It’s a place for Lan Zhan to let himself rest and think, to be free to fail in the one thing he shouldn’t be failing in. But at least, here, no one will judge him for those failures.

All witches are born with a hybrid form that they must learn to control by age ten. At that time, they’re given their formal witch's name and may join the coven officially as a fully-fledged witch. It’s the goal of every young witch and the Gusu Lan pride themselves in teaching exemplary witches year after year.

But this year, Lan Zhan is afraid he will become the black spot on the otherwise perfectly pristine record.

Because Lan Zhan is nine and a half, his naming ceremony is only a few short months away, and he still can't control his large white bunny ears in his hybrid form. The rest of his bunny traits had been easy to control. He’d learned to suppress his hopping instincts and figured out how to tuck his fluffy cottontail away on the first try. Even his stubborn whiskers had receded after a few hours of diligent practice.

But for some reason, Lan Zhan hasn’t been able to manage his ears, and they continue to torment him with their perpetual floppy nature.

And if he can’t control his ears, then he will disappoint his family and his entire clan. He’ll never be the witch he’s spent his entire life working towards.

Today, his usually outgoing and curious critter friends give him a wide berth, as if they know Lan Zhan is not in the mood for pets and cuddles. Instead, he kneels in the soft grass with only the gentle wind for company, along with his unkind thoughts and his vexing bunny ears that are the root of all this mess.

They're big and unseeming, and Lan Zhan has always been embarrassed by the way his ears give away his feelings no matter how hard he works to keep his emotions regulated and controlled. It doesn’t help that as the only rabbit hybrid in all of Cloud Recesses, he is constantly the victim of teasing by the elders and older witches. Even Ge enjoys tugging on his ears, cooing at how “fluffy and adorable” they are, and taking obvious delight when their tips turn red.  

It makes Lan Zhan puff up with anger and pout. He’s almost ten years old! He’s not a little baby bunny anymore, why won’t the others see that?

He knows it’s in part because of the rarity of his species. Rabbits aren't common hybrids, and he's the only one in the family since his mother passed away. It also means that he has to learn the complexities of shapeshifting and form control on his own, spending hours studying ancient text after ancient text in the library while his peers attend more practical classes.

Even his brother, an elegant snow-white crane, learned how to control his form at only seven years old! The elders were sure that with Lan Zhan’s talent in all other magicks, he would follow in his older brother’s footsteps as a child prodigy worthy of the title of Second Jade of Lan.

Except, clearly their hopes were misplaced, and Lan Zhan is going to be the first Lan heir in over a century to never learn how to control his hybrid form.

But he cannot let himself fail, so every day after his midday meal, he heads to the back hills to practice in quiet seclusion. He goes through a series of meditations designed to allow one to focus on their internal structures and self-regulation. He follows every step perfectly, exactly as the manual states, including envisioning his long fluffy white ears changing form into something more human-like.

He casts the spell, following the instructions he’s gathered exactly and precisely...but for the fifth time that day, nothing happens. He lifts his head and sees his bunny ears flopping mercilessly in his periphery, the same as they ever were and seem to always be.

Water wells up in his eyes and it takes every ounce of self-control he has left to hold them back from falling. Tears not filled with sadness but with immense frustration and anger towards himself. Lan Zhan is at the top of everything! The best in his class, an accomplished musician, and a talented student. He can perform spells older students still struggle with. He’s even been scouted to teach the younger fledgling students once he becomes a proper witch.

But, how can he, when this one spell keeps holding him back? Why is this one spell so impossible for him?

His ears droop down and Lan Zhan uses them along with the curtain of his long hair to block out the rest of the world, focusing on the ground he's sitting on. He wishes desperately that he wasn’t so alone, that he had anyone else to talk to. He takes his emotions out on the grass, heedless of the Gusu Lan precepts to Be kind to all that is living, and starts ripping up the grass in front of him. He’ll punish himself later, but for now, this is all he can do to keep from letting his tears fall.

But then, another child’s voice calls, "Hey! Don't do that, you're hurting it!"

Read more on Ao3

[theladyfirelord]

Can do request for Alice and Bree

Those are my girls!! I hope you enjoy this! Thanks for requesting!

Scenario: Love is a beautiful thing. You can love many things and different people in your life. But, on the contrary, it can be the scariest cross to bear. In this case, Alice learns that she can't always save Bree, a person she holds dear to her heart, from pain and realizes that’s what hurts the most.

The Consequences of Love- Alice and Bree

It’s always tough to witness someone you love in pain, whether it be physical or emotional. Especially when you can’t do anything to take their agony away.

Alice Chen understands this personally because of her best friend, Bree.

She remembers watching Briana breakdown at her mother's funeral and only being able to wrap her arms around her and tell her that she was there for her, forever and always.

Alice couldn't save Bree from the pain, but at least her presence helped lessen it to some magnitude.

.....but her presence wasn't always enough. Even though she desperately wanted it to be, which leads us to now.

~~~

Currently, Alice sits next to an unconscious Bree that is recovering from...to put it plainly, being clawed open by a heinous uchel.

Alice could recall how Bree looked when she first arrived at the house they resided in.

She could only imagine Briana's appearance upon arrival at the scene.

She could recall watching as William continuously checked on Bree, making sure that she was in stable condition.

She could recall spending day after day, night after night, staring at the rise and fall of Bree's chest, just to ensure that she was breathing.

Alice wished that she couldn't recall any of the events because they never happened.

But, alas, wishes do not always come true. Those events that she prayed were just a collection of nightmares did, in fact, occur.

Alice often contemplates what would've happened had she been there and always ends up coming to the same conclusion.

The conclusion that she loves to deny but hates to accept.

There was absolutely nothing that she could've done to save Bree from the pain that she was in now. And that's what killed her inside.

"I'm sorry, Matty. I'm so sorry..." Alice sobs, holding on tight to her beloved friend's hand.

~~~

[afictionaladventure16]

Hey! I love your Tim Bradford x teen! Reader fics! Was wondering could you do another one? Reader reconnects with someone they met through the system who's had a rough go. Maybe they were in the same house for a while and relied on each other a lot in that house to keep each other safe. But as they reconnect reader doesn't realise how toxic the relationship is. Tamara knows the dodgy stuff that the kid gets up to from her time in the system and warns Lucy and Tim because she doesn't want reader to fall back into bad habits with them. Maybe reader gets in trouble and calls Tamara to save them?

Reconnections and Regrets (Tim Bradford x Teen!Foster!Reader)

The Rookie Masterlist

Warnings: Mentions of guns and drugs

Summary: After trying to reconnect with people in the past, y/n realizes quickly why the past should stay in the past.

Author's note: I feel like this one wasn't the best fic I've done so far. I really liked this idea for the fic, though! I hope you enjoy it! Send in some more Tim Bradford x Teen!reader angsty fics!

You had promised yourself that you wouldn’t get back into your old habits. 

That you would forget your past and move forward, just like Tamara had done, and just as every other kid within the system wishes they could do. To have the ability to find someone to take you under their wing and help you forget your past. An opportunity to start over. 

But here you were, texting an old friend with plans to catch up later that afternoon. You couldn’t help but smile at the messages, you were excited to catch up with old friends. But most of all, you were excited to catch up with a special someone that you hadn’t seen since Tim took you in. 

The special someone was a boy named Jacob, the two of you had been in a foster home together when you were younger and he protected you from your foster father and well, you tried to do the same. You couldn’t help but develop feelings for him over the years. 

The last you heard about him was that he was living with his cousin, from what you knew, this cousin was bad news and you could not help but worry about Jacob living there. Especially since he stopped responding to your messages when he moved in with his cousin. It felt like he had just pushed you away. 

“What are you smiling about?” Tamara asked as she sat on the couch beside you. You had come over since Tim wasn’t home yet, and well, since Lucy and Tim were dating it now felt like you had two homes instead of one. 

“Nothing,” you responded. 

You could feel Tamara peeking over your shoulder to look at your phone, you quickly locked it and put it on your lap. 

“Please don’t tell me you’re talking to Jessica,” she pleaded. 

“Alright, I won’t.” 

She rolled her eyes, “Y/N, you know how I feel about her.” 

“Look, I’m just trying to reconnect, what harm-” 

“You know what can happen. You gotten out of that life and now you’re trying to go back? You get Starbucks on the daily, you’re in the cheer team and you go to a self-defense class for crying out loud. You’re not the same girl you used to be, so don’t think they’ll be coming at you with open arms.” 

You gave her a small glare, “Stop acting like you don’t think about going back to see your old friends from time to time.” You got up from the couch, “Maybe instead of focusing so much on my life, you should take a look at yours first.” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Tamara asked as she followed you as you walked towards the door, “Where are you going?” 

“Out,” you stated as you walked out of the apartment. 

“Fuck,” Tamara exclaimed. Maybe she should’ve kept her mouth shut, but she felt she had to say something, otherwise, you would end up hurt. But now she felt like she had made things worse. 

On the other hand, you were annoyed by how she was right and maybe you got angry with her out of fear. Fear that maybe your friends, like Tamara had said, wouldn’t be as inviting as you think they would be. You hadn’t just changed through your personality but through your appearance too. You now had someone who would take you shopping for clothes you always wanted to wear, but never did out of fear of them getting stolen or taken from you. 

You acted like a completely different person now. A person who learned to trust a little more easily and you now weren’t afraid to just be yourself. 

On my way over, you sent it to Jessica. 

It wouldn’t take long for you to get back to the old neighborhood, it was a twenty-minute bus ride away. Or thirty minutes walking, but with the Los Angeles heat, you’d take your chances with the bus. 

~~ 

A couple of hours passed, and Tamara had not received anything from you. Beginning to worry had already surpassed, she was the definition of completely terrified of what could go wrong. She should’ve texted Tim or Lucy the second you left, but she wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt, but not the guilt was eating away at her. She let out a frustrated groan and called Lucy. 

Lucy picked up after a few rings, “What’s up?” 

“Look before you start yelling, I was trying to warn her okay?” 

Lucy furrowed her eyebrows, “What happened?” 

“Please don’t be mad, but Y/N was here and I saw her messaging one of her old friends and we got into an argument about it and now she’s not responding and I’m scared she’s gonna fall back into some bad habits, especially because this girl is known for doing certain things.” 

“How long ago did she leave?” Lucy asked. 

“Like two hours ago,” Tamara confessed. 

“And you’re barely calling me?” Lucy raised her voice, but quickly let out a sigh, “Do you think she went to see this friend?” 

“I know she did,” Tamamra hesitantly said. 

“Alright, for now, we’ll just see things out. We can’t just go there all guns blazing when there is no trouble,” Lucy stated. Although, she wanted to go all guns blazing because she was worried for Y/N’s safety. 

“Are we going to tell Tim?” 

“Tim already knows,” Tim announced. Tamara could hear the anger in his voice, and the fact that he never said anything until now, meant that he was indeed angry. 

“Look, just keep us updated, let us know if you hear anything from her, alright?” Lucy said. 

“Alright,” Tamara hung up the phone. 

Lucy didn’t say anything to Tim, she waited until he did, but he remained silent. 

Lucy let out a deep breath, “do you want to talk about it?” 

“Talk about what?” Tim asked. 

Lucy rolled her eyes, “About Y/N sneaking off to see her old friends? I mean, it’s obvious that you’re angry.” 

“I’m not angry.” 

“You’re not?” She asked in almost disbelief. 

“I’m disappointed. I thought she trusted me enough to tell me things, well, I thought we had gotten to that point. Now I feel like we hadn’t made any progress at all.” 

“You know that’s not true,” Lucy began to say. 

“Is it?” Tim cut her off, “because from my perspective, it doesn’t look good. I love this kid and I want to be more than just another foster home for her, but almost every time we get close to making a breakthrough she pushes me away.” 

Lucy sighed, she felt that maybe with her experience with Tamara, she would know what to say, but somehow this was different. “Just give her some time,” Lucy suggested. 

Tim wanted to say that he had given her all the time in the world, but that made it sound like he was giving up, and he didn’t want to give up. He just wished he knew what to do. 

~~ 

You had been with Jessica walking around your old neighborhood for the past two hours, hoping to run into Jacob and it didn’t take you too long. 

From a distance, you can see Jacob at the park talking to some guys that looked to be older. 

Jessica smirked as she watched you stare at Jacob from a distance, “you know he still asks about you.” 

You scoffed, “really?” she gave you a nod, “yet he won’t return a text.” 

“He thinks he’s too tough for all that shit now, he even dropped out of school,” Jessica commented. She walked in front of you, “We should go over there,” she suggested. 

Now that you were here, you had a sort of fear lingering in the back of your head. You knew the chances of hanging out with Jacob meant that you could get into trouble, but that voice inside of your head just wanted to talk to him once more. 

You shrugged, “I don’t know.” 

“Oh come on, Y/N. Don’t act like your main purpose for hitting me up was so you could see him again,” Jessica grabbed your hand and began leading you to the park. That fear within the back of your head was beginning to get louder the closer you got to Jacob. 

“Maybe I should go home,” you began to say. Jacob was only steps away and at the sound of your voice he quickly turned around. 

“No way,” he said with a smile on his face. “Ain’t no way she came back to see us,” he exclaimed as you sighed and walked up to him. “For a second I was beginning to think you were too good for us.” 

You rolled your eyes at his comment, “How you’ve been?” you asked. 

He glanced over at his friends then diverted his eyes back at you, “I’ve been decent.” Jessica walked over to his friends, of course she would know who they were. She was quick to strike up a conversation with them. Jacob took a couple of steps away from the group, gesturing for you to get closer. 

“I heard you’re staying with your cousin,” you began. 

“You shouldn’t have come back, Y/N,” Jacob warned. “You got out and I’m proud that you did.” 

“It’s not too late for you to do the same,” you commented. 

He shook his head, “I’m too deep in this shit.” You knew what that meant. You knew that his chances of getting out of this life were gone. “You really shouldn’t have come back, people know you’re staying with a cop. My cousin knows,” he began. 

Your heart began to race, “Why did you stop texting me back?” You asked. You had to ask before you left, you knew his cousin had beef with cops and anyone associated with them. 

“You left and well, I had to go with my cousin and that meant-” 

“I know,” you interrupted, not wanting to hear him say it. To hear him say that he stopped talking to you not just for your own good, but his as well. 

“You really should go,” he began to say. From the distance you could hear the roar of an engine, it caught Jacob’s attention. “Fuck,” he whispered. 

“Sounds like your cousin is back,” One of the other guys began to say. 

You looked over at Jessica, “we should go,” you said. 

Jessica opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by the roar of the engine, a second later a car came into view and parked in the parking lot of the park. 

A guy came out of the car and began making his way over to the group, “So the rumors are true,” he began to say. “Jacob’s little girlfriend is back,” He smirked. 

“Hey, Frankie,” you said. 

“Is that all I get? Hey Frankie?” He scoffed before looking over at Jacob, “I need you to come with me,” he began as he glanced over at you, “and bring your little girlfriend.” 

“No, Frankie. You already know she liv-” 

“Did you just tell me no?” Frankie interrupted Jacob. “Do you not remember the last time I had to put you in your place?” Jacob clenched his fists, “or do you need a refresher?” 

“Fine,” Jacob grabbed a hold of your hand, “let’s go.” 

“Wait, what? I-I need to go home,” you pleaded. 

“No, no,” Frankie began, “you’re coming with us now.” 

You felt your anxiety rise within you, this is what Tamara had warned her about. This is what she was afraid of and now it was too late. 

“Jacob,” you whispered to him as soon as you stepped away from Frankie, “Where are we going?” 

“I don’t know,” he whispered. “I told you, you shouldn’t have come back.” 

You remained silent, the best thing you could do right now was to stay calm. 

Frankie drove the two of you two a house down the street, he led the two of you inside, “Dude, what the fuck, why did you bring us here?” 

“I told you I wanted to show the business,” Frankie said. 

“And you thought it was wise to bring her here?” Jacob commented. You looked around to see equipment you couldn’t recognize and powder inside blenders. You knew what was happening here wasn’t good at all, it was a lab of some sorts. A shitty one at that. 

“I want her to see what we’re doing, if she says anything then I know who ratted us out,” Frankie stated. 

Jacob shook his head, “that is the stupidest thing you have ever said. I swear you’ve lost it since you started using.” 

“What the fuck did you just say to me?” 

“Did you not hear yourself? You want her to purposely rat us out, for what? For us to lose everything?” 

Frankie pulled out a gun and aimed it at you, “So then should I just shoot her?” 

Your eyes widen, “What the fuck, Frankie!” Jacob exclaimed as he stood in front of you. You clung to Jacob’s arm, you could feel tears beginning to well up in your eyes. 

One of the guys from earlier came running in, “We got a problem.” 

Frankie sighed and put his gun back in his belt, “what?” 

“Enrique is here and I don’t think he wants to talk anymore.” 

Frankie looked at the man with anger in his eyes, “Stay here,” he told Jacob before walking out front. You pulled out your phone as soon as Frankie left. 

“What are you doing?” Jacob asked. 

“I-I was in over my head coming here,” You began as you looked for Tamara’s contact. 

Jacob rolled his eyes, “Calling your cop dad is just going to get me locked up,” He commented. 

“You wanted me to go, so now I’m calling my friend to get me the fuck out of here,” you stated. You heard a gunshot coming from outside, before you could even ask Jacob anything, he ran outside. You called Tamara, hoping she would pick up fast and that she wouldn’t say a word about this to Tim. 

“Y/N!” Tamara exclaimed. 

“Tamara,” you choked out, “I-I need your help.” 

Tamara face fell, “Where are you?” 

“I don’t know, we were at the old neighborhood and Frankie showed up and he-he’s on something and it looked like he wanted to show Jacob a-” Another gunshot rang outside, you jumped to the sound. You ran from your spot in the living room, you found a bathroom in the hallway. 

“What was that?” Tamara asked. 

You closed the door behind you, locking it before jumping inside the tub. “Please, help me.” 

“Okay, okay, stay on the phone. I’m gonna connect Lucy okay?” Tamara quickly added Lucy to the call. “Please pick up,” Tamara said to herself. 

“Tamara,” Lucy began, “you hear anything from Y/N?” 

“Lucy,” you said. 

“Y/N?” 

“Lucy, I added you to the call,” Tamara explained. 

Lucy quickly put the phone on speaker, Tim was quick to understand what was going on. 

“Y/N, Hon are you okay?” Tim asked. 

Just hearing his voice made you feel even more guilty, you felt the tears fall down your cheeks, “I’m sorry,” you choked out. 

“Y/N, honey, it’s okay, right now I need you to tell me if you’re okay, are you hurt in any way” Tim reassured. 

“N-No,” you stated. 

“Good, where are you?” 

“I-I don’t know. Some house in the old neighborhood.” 

“Y/N, do you think you can share your location with me?” Lucy suggested. 

You placed the phone on speaker as you went on your phone to share your location, “There,” you stated. 

“There it is,” Lucy said. 

“Let’s go,” Tim said as he placed the shop in drive. 

Another gunshot ranged through the air, “What was that?” Tamara asked. 

“That sounded like a gun,” Tim stated as he drove. 

You stayed on the phone with them until they had gotten there. You had hung up the phone once they arrived, You could hear the gunshots coming from outside, meaning that Lucy and Tim’s presence wasn’t welcomed. Sirens were coming from the distance, you felt a little at ease knowing that backup was coming. 

Still, you remained in the bathroom until it was safe. The shots subsided and you heard footsteps within the house. A few seconds later someone knocked on the door, “Y/N?” Tim called out. 

You quickly got up from your position in the bathtub and opened the door. Before Tim could even react, you had your arms wrapped around his torso, he let out a relieved sigh as he hugged you back. 

“I’m sorry,” you cried out. 

“It’s okay,” He said as he gently rubbed your back. “It’s alright, let’s just go home.” 

You agreed, following him outside. You looked around for Jacob, making eye contact with him as he sat inside one of the shops. Tim had noticed, he knew that you needed this closure with your past, “hey, roll down the window,” he told the officer who sat inside the shop. He did as he was told. 

Jacob stayed silent, “I guess this is goodbye,” you began to say. 

“Next time, stay out of this neighborhood,” he warned. You gave him a nod, “And if there is a next time, I probably won’t be as inviting.” 

Tim gestured for the cop to roll up the window, he knew you didn’t need to hear more. “There won’t be a next time,” you whispered as you walked away from the shop. 

“Y/n!” you heard Tamara call out. 

“Tamara!” You ran up to her, she engulfed you in a hug. “I’m sorry for everything I said.” 

“It’s the past now,” she said. “Let’s just forget about it,” she said as she let go of the hug. 

“Tamara is gonna take you home until my end of shit,” Tim stated. “We’ll talk then, alright?” 

You gave him a nod, following Tamara to her car. 

“If there is anything I learned today, it’s that the past is the past,” you said once you got in the car. “And you’re right, I’m not the same girl I was a year ago.” 

“We’re lucky,” Tamara began, “Not a lot of us get this opportunity in life and when we do, we do everything we can to not go back.” Tamara started the car. You knew that you wouldn’t come back to this life, but something within you was going to miss it. Miss the little moments of happiness that made you feel like you had a home, but now you had an actual home. It wasn’t the ideal home, but it was a home and you had someone who gave you a sense of family even if it wasn’t picture-perfect. 

[ruewrote]

𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑠.

PAIRING: alex chen x fem!reader WARNINGS: none GENRE: angst and then fluff, fluff and then more fluff SONG INSPIRATION: wherever i go by onerepublic WORD COUNT: 500

navigation | ask | life is strange masterlist

you saw as alex went from person to person asking questions about mac or her comforting others.

it angered you, not because she was being nice no.

because it was her brother that had passed, everyone else you included knew gabe, but nothing compares to being blood.

you had not seen one person check up on her, hearing i’m sorry for your losses and he was great person all things true, but not one thing asking how she was or how she felt.

you saw the tight-lipped smiles she’d give everyone trying to be strong, but for how long?

how long could she keep putting this façade on for?

she was hurting. she had only just gotten him back and lost him as quickly as she found him.

you couldn’t imagine how she was feeling.

this was so unimaginably unfair on her.

you decided you were going to do something to make up for other people’s behaviours.

you found her walking away from the new haven bridge alone. caught her just in time.

“hi alex! can i quickly show you something?” as she nodded you grasped her hand in yours and strung her along to the secret location.

you knew you’d made the right decision about bringing her here, alex’s face lighting up at the array of beautifully coloured flowers before her. a whole field of them just sitting there swaying in the breeze.

“what is all this for?” she asked walking closing smelling a light pink tulip.

“a distraction.” looking over confused, you just shrugged before sitting on the pastel blanket you had laid out previously.

“you deserve the best. as soon as you got here something bad happened, first, was mac barging in on you fighting gabe, then having to rescue ethan. most horrible of all you lost gabe the same day you got here.” her eyes just wandered over the field not letting her emotions get the best of her.

“you don’t deserve anything but the best so i thought you deserve a break for a bit and since this is normally where i go when im overwhelmed i thought this might also help you too?” 

you could tell she was appreciative for what you had done even without saying anything. this led to the both of you getting away from reality for a couple of hours talking about everything and nothing. making flower crowns from already broken flowers, laughing your asses off trying to guess what shape the fluffy clouds were forming into.

time was getting on and it started getting dark so you two walked back to the black tavern, stopping in front of the building, her turning to you smiling shyly.

“thank you. i really needed this. it felt nice not to be so in my head for at least a little while.” alex wrapped you up in her arms, melting into hers. the hug lasting a little too long, but you certainly weren’t complaining.

not when it comes to alex chen.

© ruewrote.

[americaswritings]

Chenford + why did the proposal bother you

Posted here!

This took me like a million years sorry, but better late than never I guess :)

[imaginidol]

Sehun: Wait For Me!

"You're gonna wait for me?" Sehun gently placed a kiss on your head as you scooted closer to his body. You were both cuddling against the couch and watching a movie together, one of the many intimate and loving moments you wanted to share before he'd be dispatched to the military soon.

"I'll wait for you," you grin, looking up at him. "You'll still talk to me when you're big and buff, right? I bet you're gonna have everyone's attention by then," you tease.

"Shhh," he giggles, wrapping his arms around you and burying his face into your neck. "I'll come back and I'm still gonna be yours."

He lifts his face and starts leaving soft kisses on your jaw, trailing them all the way to your mouth. You smile into his lips, caressing his face as you immerse yourself into the intimate moment.

You were going to miss this boy. You were going to miss his scent, the feel of his kisses all over your body, the way he hugged you and dipped his head into your neck, all of it.

Two days. Two days and you'll be off.

Of course, you'd be able to see him again once he settled to a decent military service schedule, but it was his absence for the incoming bootcamp period (and throughout the longer span of the next two years) that you weren't ready for.

"Sehun," you whisper, pulling back from him, "do you really think we'll be together after two years?"

"Yes," he smiles, "I'm sure of it. Wait for me, I'll wait for you."

Suddenly, a devious thought crosses your mind.

"When you come back," you say, "you're gonna be real hot. Like, more than you already are."

He scoffs.

"What if I couldn't hold back and made you a dad when you got back?"

"What?" Sehun's eyes widen at the sudden request, and he straightens himself up in front of you. "Did you just say--"

You giggle and shove your head under the blanket, nudging yourself into his chest as he desperately tried to bring you out.

"No, wait, ask me again, I didn't get that," he says, and you finally pop back out from under the blanket.

"What did I say?" you tease.

"You're gonna make me a dad when I get back!?"

"I said that?"

"C'mon, don't play with me," he giggled as a smile beamed across his face.

"When you come back," you whisper, "I'll find a way to surprise you."

"I have to wait until I get back?" he groaned, pinching your cheek.

"Hmm," you think, "I could maybe promise you one more thing."

"And what's that?"

"A going-away surprise, something for you to remember me by."

Sehun starts laughing, hugging you tighter.

"Yeah? When am I gonna get that? I leave in like, almost two days!"

"Hmm," you ponder, planting a kiss against his cheek, "I'll let you make that call."

"Say less," he says, throwing himself over you and carrying you bridal-style back to your bedroom as the sounds your laughs echo throughout the living. You both leave to your surprise-filled intimacy, not bothering to find the remote and turn the television off.