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footygirl114 · 1 year ago

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Enfermera (Leah Williamson X Reader)

Soooooo here's the long awaited Leah World Cup fic! I hope it was worth the wait, and please let me know what we think :)

Being a nurse was something you had dreamed of doing since you were a child, you never once wavered and worked your butt off to get where you are now. Almost 6 months ago you finally hit your goal of becoming the nurse in charge of the ER. It didn’t come without its consequences, when your girlfriend of 4 years was leading her team in a World cup and you couldn’t follow her across the world, that was the worst one.

You had met Leah when she had brought in one of her teammates to your ER needing stitches after a team bonding session. You had spent the 20 minutes you were stitching up Beth’s forearm listening to the antics of the team, and also trying to subtly pick up on any signals that Leah was taken.

Apparently you weren’t subtle, when they started to leave Beth held back and wrote Leah’s number on the chart with a wink confirming she was single. It took you less than 24 hours before you texted her asking her out and the rest was history.

Your relationship took work, you both were fiercely independent and had goals of your own, but you loved her with every fibre of your being. She was the same which meant you both took the extra efforts to make it work. When you got to watch her lift the euro trophy your heart swelled with so much pride, and when she celebrated your promotion months later it felt like life couldn’t get any better.

When she was once again named captain to lead her team at the world cup you were overwhelmed with pride and confidence in your love. The downside is that you knew that with your promotion and job there was no way you could be there by her side.

Which lead you to this moment, you were lying on your bed exhausted after a 12 hour shift still in your blue scrubs, eyes watching Leah put the final things into her suitcase before she would leave you for at least 6 weeks.

“You going to sleep in your scrubs tonight?” She asks you with a smile looking up from her bag to meet your eyes.

You shrug and respond “Maybe.”

She chuckles at you and zips up her suitcase, moving it to lean against the bed. She smirks and moves toward you asking “will you miss me?”

You shrug holding in a smile and respond “maybe.”

Your eyes stay on hers as she moves to place one knee on the bed beside you asking “Maybe huh?”

You bite your lip to hold your smile as you nod answering with another “maybe.”

She smirks and before you have a chance to do anything she’s straddling your lap on the bed, her hand moving to grab yours and putting them above your head holding them down. She moves her other hand to your side lightly placing it on your side when she asks “One more time babe, are you going to miss me?”

Biting your lip harder you shrug and say “maybe” again.

Before you can react she’s tickling your side and you cant help but let out a loud laugh, trying to squirm away from her tickling fingers. She’s smiling at you and pauses asking again “Babe will you miss me?”

You smile up at her, trying to catch your breathe from the laughing, and you look at her with a smirk and say “maybe not now.”

She lets out a snort of laughter and resumes her assault on your stomach tickling you until you start laughing too. “I am going to ask you one more time babe” she starts moving to lean back a bit, letting your hands go she places both on your sides and says “will you miss me?”

You bite your lip and move your hands to grab hers, puling her forward you whisper out “I already miss you” before you connect your lips with hers. She smiles into the kiss and presses her body weight down on you, you take the opportunity to wrap your arms around her neck, and you deepen the kiss.

It’s barley started when you hear Leah’s phone ringing on the dresser. She pulls back and you let out a groan as she rolls off you and hops up to answer the phone. “Hi, yes I will be down in 5 minutes. Thank you” you listen to her conversation and watch her turn to her backpack making sure its all packed.

She hangs up and turns back to you with a small smile and says “Sorry babe, My ride will be here shortly.”

You smile at her and move to sit up on the side of the bed as you ask “do you have everything?”

“I do, I double checked the list you made me.” she smiles and leaves the room moving both her bags and backpack to the front door.

Getting up you follow her out of the room to the door where she’s putting on her shoes. You move closer to her waiting for her to finish and once she does you step right up to her and wrap your arms around her. She wraps you right up and you tuck your face into her neck.

“Im gonna miss you so much” you whisper into her neck pressing a kiss there when you finish.

She presses a kiss to your head as she says “I’m going to miss you babe, but I am so proud of you.”

You feel the tears start to gather in your eyes and you say “I cant wait till I get to kiss my world cup champion.”

She lets out a small laughs and pulls back from you, her hands go to your cheeks where she uses her thumbs to wipe your tears and she says “I love you so much Y/N”

“I love you too Leah” you respond and close the distance pressing your lips to hers one last time before she leaves. You take an extra moment in the kiss and you commit the feel and taste of your love to memory knowing deep down it will be 2 months before you see her. You believe in her and her team to win this thing.

The first two weeks she’s gone are not too bad, Leah was still in the same time zone so you were able to talk quite often on the phone. You were busy at the hospital but knowing that you got to speak to her every night was worth it. Once the team went down under to get set up at their base camp it got harder to talk to her with the time change.

You spoke as much as you could, but it was never enough. It took you less than a day to realise that the time change sucked, the 9 hour different made it hard to find time to talk. This was the only time you ever liked working the night shift. Being awake when she was awake made it better, but the downside was you were generally in charge of the floor which meant you were busier keeping an eye on multiple patients.

Tonight, it had been a busy start to the shift but it was quieting down and when you realised it was lunch time in Australia you took the chance and asked her if she had a minute and when she answered quickly that she would be free in 5 minutes you took the chance.

Quickly rounding on your patients, most were asleep and stable, and you saw a couple of the staff sitting around the nurses station you knew they’d have their eyes on them.

Sneaking down the hallway to the medicine cupboard you looked both ways and then slowly opened the door enough for you to squeeze through and then you snuck through closing the door immediately. Not bothering with the lights as there was enough light streaming through the blinds to see you sunk down to the floor and pulled your knees up to your chest to lean on them.

Leaning your head back against the wall you closed your eyes and tried to picture your bathtub at home leaning back against Leah after your shift. The vibrating of your phone shook you out of your daydream and you saw her face and immediately answered and you could feel the stress leaving your shoulders the moment you met her eyes.

“Hi babe” she said with a smile “why are you in the dark?”

You smile at her and answer with a soft “night shift and I am hiding out love.”

she chuckles and turns her camera to show a closet as she says “who knew I would end up back in the closet.”

You burst out laughing at her and when you settle you say “I love you”

“I love you too, and I am missing you so much babe” she says with a small smile.

“Our bed is so cold without you love” you tell her softly “but I am so freaking proud of you.”

She smirks and says “I had a dream about you last night babe”

You smirk back at her and say “Oh you did love? What were we doing?”

“You were leaning back against me in the bath tub, sitting between my legs, I was pressing kisses up your neck, my heads rubbing your stomach” she smirks staring right at you.

You smile and with a laugh say “I was just picturing the same thing love.”

“yeah?”

“Yes love, although mine was much more PG” you tell her with a chuckle.

She bursts out laughing and when you see her face fall you know what’s coming “Kiera just texted me, I have to go babe.”

You pout at her and then you hear yelling out in the hallway for a code and you shake out of it standing up “me too, I love you and I miss you so much.”

You are already walking down the hall gearing up for the code and you look one more time at the phone to see her blowing you a kiss and you can hear “I love you too babe, go kick ass.”

Once the tournament started you were so happy your hospital was a modernised one, which meant you had multiple tvs on the floor and in the waiting room. No one batted an eye when the women games were constantly playing. You tried your hardest to schedule your shifts so you could be at home watching but nursing shortages meant you only saw one live during the round robin. You did fall asleep to the replays of the game but it wasn’t the same.

The constant texting with Leah kept you calm, but time changes, shift hours and training meant it often felt like you were ships passing in the night having distance conversations hours apart. As much as it sucked, you wouldn’t change it for the world. You were the proudest girlfriend getting to watch her achieve her dreams, even from a far you were so proud of her.

during one of your days off you were out running errands and you looked up in the city and saw a billboard of Leah’s face staring back at you. Standing below it, looking up at a massive picture of your love made you even more proud knowing she would be inspiring many little girls.

As you were standing there you watched as two little girls ran up both in England kits both looking up at your girl in awe.

“Thats Leah, she’s the captain and my favourite.” the one said to the other.

You stood back and listened with a smile as the other girl said “I want to be just like her when I grow up.”

You smiled and grabbed your phone taking a picture from behind them of their backs under her picture. You send it directly to your girl with a message saying “I love you and I am so proud of you baby.”

It was later that night when you were sitting in bed doing some research with her last game playing lowly on the tv. You had a shift in the morning but enjoyed a low key evening, and you were sat in your pjs, hair wet, with a glass of wine on the bedside table.

When your phone vibrated with an incoming call from your love you smiled and answered with a “Good morning love”

“Hi baby, every morning is a good morning when I hear your voice.” she says.

You chuckle and feel the blush on your cheeks as you say “You charmer, I miss you.”

“I miss you too baby, I snuck out and am sitting in the lobby talking to you before I have to get ready.” she tells you through the phone.

“You’re cute love, im sitting in bed in my pjs with a glass of wine” you tell her with a smile.

She lets out a groan and says “you tease thats not fair.”

“Sorry love” you chuckle.

“Laptop open doing work and something on the tv?” she asks knowingly.

With a chuckle you respond “you know it love, did you get my pictures today?”

“those girls were very cute, and that mural makes my butt look big.” she says with a small chuckle.

“I am so proud of you, they looked at you like you hung the moon babe.” you tell her.

You can hear her moving around knowing she’s a bit embarrassed she says “I only care that you think I can do that baby.”

With a snort you answer her “You already have me love, you don't need to keep charming me”

“I am offended, I am always going to charm you baby.” she says with a chuckle. “I have to go love.”

“I should sleep, I have a shift in the morning.” you tell her back.

You can hear the phone move as if she’s walking as she says “I love you so much baby.”

“I love you too, and I am so proud of you.” you tell her.

“Sleep well baby, I wish I was in bed with you.” she tells you.

“me too love me too, talk soon babe” you tell her and you both hang up. You decide to take her advice and shut everything down. climbing into bed you grab her pillow and pull it close with the feint smell of her in your head you sleep right through the night.

You made sure you were home for the semi final game, and you were so glad you got to see that one live. You didnt have to go into the following morning so you made sure to congratulate your love over face time. At the start of your shift the following morning you received a text from Beth telling you to get the final off cause she was making you come to the watch party at Wembley. You chuckled and made sure you had the day off, and let her know you would be there.

Before you could text Leah to let her know about the watch party, your phones battery light came on and you groaned knowing you forgot to plug it in after the long face-time before you went to bed the night before. You moved towards the front nurses station where it was a controlled chaos, you weren’t too overrun yet but you had a feeling it was going to get busy.

You walked up to one of the empty computers and grabbed an iPhone cord from the drawer where you plugged your phone into the usb on the computer.

“Incoming trauma! 2 minutes out.” you hear yelled out and turn to your admin staff at the desk saying “This ones my phone, keep an eye on it.” as you run out to the ambulance bay and deal with the incoming trauma in front of you.

Its about 45 minutes later when the patient was stable and you were able to move back toward the nursing station, jotting down the details from the trauma as you went. You leant abasing the nurses station completing the paperwork, when you noticed it seemed to already be getting busier. When you grabbed your phone it wouldn’t turn on, you were confused. When you clicked the computer and it also didn’t turn on you were even more confused.

“What’s going on?” you ask one of your nursing staff beside you.

“not sure, all the technology has gone down.” she responds.

You take a slow look around and realise none of the computers beside the patients beds were on, and it immediately clicked for you. No machines meant no vitals, no monitoring and no airways. Immediately you turn and take control.

“everyone, we need to get on this now. Manual checks on every single patients vitals, breathing, and meds need to be checked manually for a baseline then we need continuous checks on every patient until we can get the computers back on. Divide and conquer, students take the vitals and nurses get on the med checks now.” You instruct out to your staff who all follow.

You next turn to your dispatcher and triage nurses and tell them “shut down to all incoming traumas, and anyone who does not have an immediate need for help, send them to the clinic down the street. This could last awhile but we need to make sure we can help who we can.”

Its less than 20 minutes later and the ER has turned into an organised chaos, with no technology still on. Your phone was fried since it was connected to the system, but you had no time to check it as the main phone line rings and being the only one behind the nurses station you grab it.

“London city ER” you say into the receiver.

A scrambled voice responds “by now you realise that you have no technology. We have taken control and will not release control back until our demands are met.”

“What? Who is this?” you ask.

“100 million dollars into our offshore account that will be flashing on the screen in front of you now. Have it paid and we give you control back.” the voice then hangs up the phone.

You could feel the colour drain from your face as you stand there with the receiver in your hand. It isn’t until you hear your name being called do you turn and see the ER director there looking at you.

“we’ve been hijacked, they just said they want 100 million dollars to this account and we can have our technology back” you tell him.

“Damn it, we need to control this. Is everything under control down here?” he asks.

“yes sir, we have manual vitals being taken and we closed to trauma. We will clear the floor as quick as we can but till take time.” you tell him.

“do it, keep me updated.” he says back and turns and starts talking on the phone.

For the next 48 hours, the ER was in chaos and you did not leave, you barley had time to sleep, let alone worry about getting a new phone. Which meant that while you were elbow deep dealing with the situation at home, Leah was out of her mind with worry down under.

She knew you were busy but she knew you could normally at least get 30 seconds to send her a text message, and when 48 hours went by and it was the morning of the final she knew something was wrong.

“What if something bad happened?” Leah says to Georgia as they sit having breakfast together.

Georgia who wasn’t worried at all chuckles and says “calm down dude she’s fine.”

Before Leah could even respond she felt Kiera sitting down beside her saying “did you see the news Leah?”

“no”

“Look isn’t this Y/N’s hospital?” Kiera turns her phone towards Leah. Immediately Leah looks at the phone and grabs it from her hand and reads the article.

“Cyber terrorism? isn’t that really bad?” Leah says after finishing reading.

They both shake their head having read the article and Kiera says “No the article says it took some time but everyone is safe and no lives were lost, and the ER is back open for regular patients and trauma.”

Leah smiles and the relief is evident on her face as she says “Oh thank god, I am sure she was just busy saving lives then.”

“yes you dork, now focus on today and let’s win this thing.” Georgia chimes in.

You were getting out of the cab at Wembley just in the nick of time, you had about 90 minutes before kick off and you wanted to make sure that you were able to find Beth. It was packed, you were glad you had an extra England kit in your locker at work, but unfortunately it wouldn’t be easy to find Beth in a crowd of this size.

Figuring she’d be near the front you pushed your way through and you got lucky and spotted her in front of a camera with a microphone. You smiled and made your way closer to her waiting for her to be off camera.

“Y/N!” you heard from behind you and you turned and saw Viv standing there with a smile.

You chuckle out a “Hi Viv” and lean in to give her a hug.

You both pull back and she asks “I heard what happened, that must have been crazy!”

Nodding at her you add in “It was, this is the first time I have left in 48 hours.”

“Y/N!” you hear yelled from behind you, and when you turn Beth is running over towards you with her phone out in front of her. She wraps an arm over your shoulders and turns her phone toward you so you can see the screen as she says “look who showed up!”

When you look at the screen you see Leah, smiling back at you, standing on the field in Australia doing the pregame field check. You can feel the smile grow on your face as you say “Hi love”

“Hi baby, I am so glad to see your face.” she says with a smile.

You chuckle as Beth presses a loud kiss to your cheek and says “I will give you two a moment” and takes off.

“Are you okay babe?” you hear asked from the phone and you pull it closer to you.

“I am now love, and I am ready to watch you kick ass and win this thing.” you tell her with a smile.

“I love you” she says and you can see the smile on her face grow as she says “and I am so proud of you, and what I know you did to make sure all your patients were taken care of.”

You can feel the blush on your cheeks moving the phone slightly as you say “thank you. Now can you focus and go out and become more world champion?”

“Are you wearing my jersey babe?” she asks with a smirk.

You nod and show her the back of it with her name on display adding “you bet I am.”

“Let’s make a deal babe.” she says.

Pulling the screen back in you tell her “let’s hear it.”

“I am going to go win this thing, then I am going to make that name yours too.” she says with a smirk.

“deal baby, but I expect a proper proposal” you smirk back at her.

She blows you a kiss through the screen and chimes in “deal, but I gotta go do my thing, but I will be seeing you and kissing you very soon baby.”

“i love you, now go kick ass and then get that cute butt home to me love.” you smile and blow her a kiss back.

She presses a kiss to the camera screen and then the screen goes dark, you stand there smiling to yourself knowing that she was the one for you, and you cant wait till you can kiss her again.

#woso imagines #woso x reader #woso imagine #leah williamson x reader #leah williamson imagine #leah williamson #engwnt x reader #engwnt imagines

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whotfislai · 4 months ago

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Focus on you | seventeen, chan!

pairing lee chan & fem reader. (he says girl once)

genre fluff type shi

doei speaks! i love lee chan and you should too😤 ++ dividers came from h-aewo <3

it was one of those nights again. you were cuddled up under your silky sheets, missing your boyfriend.

dating an idol wasn't easy but the two of you made it work. being in LOVE with channie just felt good.

and he felt the same way about being in love with you.

you were the one thing that was constantly on his mind. from when he woke up, to during practice, and deep into the late hours of the night.

and you knew this because when you least expected it....

my channie♡ [12:50]: BABYYY I MISS U SO MUCH!! i need u right now😭

(yn) [12:51]: AWWW i miss u so much more <33

(yn) [12:51]: but its okay, you have an off-day in a couple of weeks from now or something, right?

my channie♡ [12:52]: i think so? but fuck. that's not soon enough.

(yn) [12:53]: i agree w that😔 BUT we'll spend time together soon, we both just have to be patient yk🥰

you weren't sure exactly how soon that would be, but for him, you'd wait and see. (THAT RHYMED AHAHAHAHSHS)

although, you wouldn't have to wait much longer.

around twenty-ish minutes of your conversation, you'd fallen asleep. but only ten minutes later, two notifications from your boyfriend woke you up.

my channie♡ [1:23]: babe, i know you're probably sleeping but i couldn't take it anymore

my channie♡ [1:23]: i need u SO BAD. i forgot my key pls open the door or imma have to break in

and almost immediately after reading his texts, you heard faint knocking at the front door.

"oh...no way..." you whispered to yourself as you tiredly got up, and made your way to the front door.

when you opened it, you were instantly engulfed in the tightest hug. he quite literally swept you off your feet.

but it was sweet, the way he held you so tight, almost cutting off your airflow. and even when he set you down so he could step inside the house, it was only momentarily.

"(yn), baby, i missed you so, so much." he whispered in your ear, pulling you into another breathtaking hug.

you returned the intensity of his hug as best as you could, plastering sweet kisses all over his face in the process.

and oh my god, chan loved every second of it.

"not being able to have you for that long would have KILLED ME, i swear. i just need you for tonight..." he mumbled, giving you a tiny kiss in the crook of your neck.

and then another one, and another one, and....

"lee chan!! you JUST got home, at least cuddle with me first!! gosh, you're so needy for me." you said, half-jokingly.

he laughed, releasing you from his death grip. "so what if i am? you're everything to me (yn). i need you to live y'know, i could DIE."

most people would assume he was joking but to be honest, you weren't too sure he was joking about that.

i mean, he did just sneak out of his dorm at one in the morning to be with you sooooo 🤭!

the two of you headed back into your shared bedroom, and began cuddling one another in bed, when you paused.

"are you sure this is okay?" you whispered, avoiding to look him straight in the eye. "i love that you're here, but what if you get in trouble for leaving? channie please, if you need to go back that's okay, i understand."

chan tilted his head a bit, narrowing his eyes. as much as he disliked worrying you, knowing you cared about the consequences he may face made his heart explode.

he gently pressed his hand to your chin, causing you to look upwards at him.

"(yn)...my sweet, beautiful girl. i couldn't give a shit about any consequence i might face. being with you is worth it all," he cupped your cheek, "and if you thought this was bad, you'll hate the things i plan on doing for you in the future."

before you could ask what the hell he meant by that, he leaned in and gave you a tender kiss on the lips.

so naturally, you brushed it off and decided tonight you'd focus on him.

just as he had been doing to you.

End!ㅤ

thanks for reading! i js love dino SO MUCH & i wanted to write a cute fic for him.

reblog / like it if you enjoyed <3

#〹⠀lai originals #svt #seventeen #svt dino #lee chan #seventeen fic #dino seventeen #svt x reader #svt x you #svt x y/n #lee chan x reader #lee chan x you #svt dino x reader #seventeen fluff #svt fluff #lee chan imagines #svt dino imagines #seventeen imagines #svt drabbles

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lillaydee · 11 days ago

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A New Life

Jackson! Joel Miller / OFC

Starting a new life with each other in Jackson seemed to be going well, until it didn't.

Word Count: 15,272

Just one more story that I am uploading for practice purposes - I have many, many completed stories to upload, but am not that used to Tumblr yet, so it will take time to upload all of them - I'm not sure I will actually upload all of them, even. Right now, I'm just uploading the shorter ones for practice - just until I get used to the site. I will continue uploading the two series I have started uploading every other day - using those to practice scheduling stuff on Tumblr.

This fic also contains the very first smut I've ever written. I'm notoriously bad at it - I blush when I type smut out, so I apologize in advance if the smut is not smutting.

Thank you for those who have chosen to read my little mind worms. I appreciate you so much - there are no words.

WARNINGS: Mentions of Sexual Assault, Joel is Bad at Feelings (The Last of Us), Mutual Pining, Idiots in Love, Jealousy, Communication Failure, Joel Needs a Hug (The Last of Us), Angst, Fluff, Non-Smutting Smut, Happy Ending.

They decided to tell Ellie the truth. To say she was infuriated was an understatement, remaining silent throughout the journey back to Jackson. When they walked into the now familiar house. Ellie ran straight upstairs, the aggressive slamming of the door rattling the house, maybe for real, or maybe Joel and Madeleine were too in their heads when it came to the teenager’s wrath at them. Maybe they even deserved it. The two looked at each other, resigned to the teenager’s inevitable mood for the foreseeable future.

“You want to take the master?” Joel asked.

“No, I’ll take the room down here”, Maddie replied.

With that, Joel and Maddie went their separate ways to their respective rooms, closing the doors behind them.

Maddie was bone tired. Funny how the fatigue just set in when your body realized you had finally arrived, safe and sound. She didn’t even bother showering before throwing herself onto the dusty bed. Fuck it, she thought. She slept in the dirt for months. A night or two on a dusty bed wouldn’t hurt her. It seemed Joel and Ellie had the same idea, no sounds of plumbing or running water to be heard. It was sundown, but they could all use the rest. Who cared if they slept for 12 hours? After what they had just been through, they deserved it.

But try as she might, Maddie couldn’t sleep. The room felt suffocating. After almost a year of sleeping out in the open, this felt claustrophobic. Like she was sleeping in a room-sized coffin, but a coffin, nonetheless. She also had gotten used to having Joel and Ellie next to her when sleeping. Now that she was alone, it just felt unsafe, despite the obvious opposite. She tossed and turned, trying to calm her mind enough for sleep to take hold, but her mind kept replaying what happened over the last few days.

How the whole thing didn’t make sense to her, even on the surface. The dilapidated hospital, the lack of staff and resources, the ambitious nature of it all despite the lack of proper procedure and expertise. How could one doctor and two nurses create a cure in these conditions? So, when the doctor confirmed her biggest fear, she reacted. And it seemed Joel found out too, considering he mowed through the entire hospital to get to them. By the time they got out of there, the only people left alive were the three medical professionals, locked in the threadbare operating theatre.

But Ellie couldn’t see it from their point of view, going on and on about how her life was now without purpose, how she could’ve died for something meaningful, how they took that choice away from her. Maddie and Joel kept quiet. They let her say her peace and hoped that one day she would understand how important she had become to them both.

A glance at the clock showed it was nearing midnight. This was getting ridiculous now. Her body was protesting its own indecisiveness. So tired, but too restless and her head too full to sleep. Deciding that rest was vital before she lost her mind, she picked up her pillow and blanket, and went into the living room. Maybe a bigger space will help her breathe easier, and hopefully sleep would claim her. Laying the blanket on the floor, she laid down, looking around the room in the dark. This would be home from now on. She just needed a few days to get used to it, she was sure of it.

Not that time ever made her feel like any place was home anyway. She had spent close to 15 years at the QZ working as a nurse at the FEDRA hospital. But she had never felt at home there, and the fact that she had never agreed with their policies didn’t help. She helped Tess and Joel whenever she could, getting them what they needed from the hospital, helping them make connections so that they could get out when they needed to, keeping a lookout for them, and in return, they helped protect her. But when she was found out, the officer wanted a bribe. Instead of turning her in, maybe he could turn a blind eye, if she would open her legs for him whenever he wanted. When she resisted, he assaulted her, the physical assaults leaving her face black and blue and bloody, eyes so swollen she couldn’t open them properly, the sexual assaults leaving her bleeding, unable to walk for days. She couldn’t leave her apartment for a whole week, and when Tess and Joel found her, they smuggled her out to live with Bill and Frank. For five years, she helped nurse Frank, before finding them in each other’s arms, a goodbye note and a set of instructions on the dining table.

When Joel and Ellie arrived, she decided to go with them, and the rest was history.

A small thud from a pillow thrown next to her own jolted her from her thoughts, Joel standing over her. It seemed he couldn’t sleep either. He laid down next to her, threw his blanket over them both, and now there were two of them unable to sleep instead of one. Their bodies so weary they couldn’t even find the energy to talk, but the unease in their hearts wouldn’t allow them to sleep. After about an hour of them just lying there staring at the ceiling, the stairs creaked. Ellie joined them, lying on Maddie’s other side. Maddie pulled her closer, and covered her with the blanket too, Joel shuffling closer to her on her right.

Within minutes, all three of them were sound asleep.

***

Madeleine spent the next week scrubbing the house top to bottom, Joel fixing whatever needed fixing. Ellie still hadn’t spoken to either of them, spending her time in the backyard cleaning it up. Maria had come by, setting the three of them up with basic needs to start their new life, and jobs for them to contribute. Maddie, obviously, would be helping Dr Marcus Adams at the big house in the center of town used as the clinic. Joel was set up with some constructing duties, as well as patrol, and Ellie was asked to help at the stable after school.

A couple weeks in, the three of them had somewhat settled into a routine. Although Ellie was still obviously extremely angry with the both of them, she stayed close, not knowing anyone in town apart from them. A month in, she had started to make friends, and her silence was replaced by some mumblings letting Joel or Maddie know where she was headed to before storming off, followed by the obligatory slamming of the door. At this point Joel or Maddie had gotten used to her tantrums, both silently agreeing that this was better than her lying dead on that operating table. Joel even made a joke that he should scavenge for new doors just in case she managed to shatter one with all the slamming.

And then there’s the two of them. Their day-to-day life, preparing meals together, doing household chores, dealing with Ellie’s tantrums, felt so right, so normal, that it wasn’t hard to convince herself the three of them were a family. They had breakfast together every day, Ellie storming off as soon as she finished. Joel and Maddie would then follow suit, walking a distance behind her, making sure she arrived at the school safely. Joel would then walk her to the clinic and go to work. After lunch at the mess hall, Maddie would watch from afar to make sure Ellie got to the stable alright, not wanting to suffocate the angry teenager. Joel would then pick her up from work in the evenings, and both of them would wait for Ellie to finish at the stable a distance away before following her home, again, from a distance.

As unconventional as their days as a family were, this was their new normal. They liked it, even Ellie, not that she would ever admit that. It was as if they were her parents. To Maddie, this new routine was as domestic as she had ever felt, and before she knew it, she was seeing Joel in a different light, wondering what it would be like if they were a couple, and if he felt the same for her. But Joel had never shown her any interest beyond the normal protective man that they knew him to be.

Just as he had given a sense of safety and familiarity to Maddie and Ellie, they were also those things to him. And he would be lying if he were to say that Maddie was just someone he had travelled with. But she was a victim of sexual assault, and he wasn’t willing to scare her off by telling her how he felt. So, he took what he could get, and lived his life with her, hoping that she felt the same way, and that they would be together one day. He was comfortable with her, she was familiar, he felt like he could be himself with her.

Things went this way for a while. Over time, Ellie’s anger seemed to dissipate slightly, and she was beginning to talk to Maddie and Joel when the need arose. But being a teenager, she began spending more time with her friends, and wanted her own space. Eventually, she stopped sleeping downstairs, leaving Joel and Maddie alone, both of them still needing the familiarity of each other’s company to rest.

About three months in, Maddie woke up to Joel spooning her, his arms wrapped around her. She sighed contentedly, feeling happier and more rested than she had ever felt. When Joel awoke, he seemed flustered, mumbling his apologies, covering his crotch with the blankets before going upstairs to get ready for the day. For the rest of that week, Joel and Maddie woke up in each other’s arms, but never took it further. Both of them were convinced that the cuddling was accidental, just an unconscious move one of them made in the night. But the domesticity between them increased, standing nearer to each other, letting their shoulders touch when cooking or walking next to each other, fingers brushing against one another, shy smiles exchanged all the time. Ellie noticed, her eyes rolling, but she smirked softly with approval every time the two made eye contact before looking away pink-cheeked and embarrassed.

That day, after dropping Ellie off, Joel asked Maddie if she would go to the Tipsy Bison for a drink with him that night, just the two of them. Joel’s smile was so wide his eyes disappeared, his hand rubbing the back of his neck, his heart close to bursting when she shyly said yes. They continued walking slowly towards the clinic, hands brushing against each other in the process. Joel was having a discussion with himself in his head on whether or not to kiss her on the cheek upon dropping her off at the clinic, when a group of men went running past them towards the clinic, carrying a very bloody man. Maddie looked at Joel, who nodded. She said a quick goodbye before running to the clinic to help.

The rest of that day went by with a blur. The patient had tried to fix his malfunctioning fridge when it shocked him, and his violently seizing body caused it to topple over and crush him. His injuries were severe, and Maddie and Marcus never left his side, staying at the clinic for the next three nights before he stabilized, taking turns sleeping for an hour each at the studio apartment above the clinic.

When Maddie went home days later, Joel was not in the living room sleeping. He had gone upstairs to his own room. Maddie slept in her own room for the first time that night, exhaustion taking her to dreamland within minutes. When she woke up the next day, having slept in later than she normally would, Joel had gone on patrol.

Dinner that night was quieter than usual, Joel exhausted from his long day, Maddie too. Ellie was just rushing through dinner to go to movie night. After they cleaned up, Joel put his jacket on and told Maddie he was going out for a drink before closing the door behind him. Maddie was dumbfounded. What happened to going to the Tipsy Bison together? Did he want her to go with him? Did he ask her, but she didn’t hear? She decided she was going anyway. It was weird to go this long without him.

When she got to the Bison, she searched the room for him or Tommy. She found him almost immediately, sitting at the bar, a drink in his hand, chatting with someone she couldn’t see, his back to her. She walked over, eager to join him, when the crowd parted. He was sitting next to a beautiful redhead, who was animatedly telling him a story. She looked young, probably in her mid-twenties. She was textbook beautiful, with her perfect face and her perfect body in a beautiful wrap dress. Maddie looked at her own reflection in the mirror behind the bar, feeling like she looked at least fifty, and not the mid-forties that she really was, her clothes plain and baggy, hiding her less than perfect body, full of scars from their long journey together. He laughed at her jokes, looking like he’s having a hell of a time. Maddie shook the shock away, walking forward again, when the redhead wrapped her arm around his free hand, and placed her head on his shoulder. Maddie got closer and called his name.

Joel and the redhead turned, Joel quickly pulling his hand away from her hold. The redhead looked her up and down and smiled.

“You must be Madeleine, you’re Joel’s roommate, right?” she asked, her charming smile making Maddie feel like a frumpy old lady.

Joel cleared his throat. “Maddie, this is Vanessa, my patrol partner.”

***

Maddie forced a smile on her face and said hi to Vanessa. Joel pulled the chair on his other side and asked her to join them. But Maddie felt like she was interrupting. She now felt sure that he did not in fact ask her to join him before he left the house. He wanted to be alone with her. And now he was inviting her to join them because he felt bad, or felt he had to. Maddie felt hot all of a sudden, her face flushed with embarrassment. She mumbled some incoherent half-assed excuse about needing to get up early and turned to go home. She heard Joel call after her, but she was too mortified with the realization that she had made up his affection for her in her head that she just bolted. She ran face first into Tommy who asked her to slow down, but she didn’t. She needed to get out of there as soon as she could.

Fuck. What was she thinking? Why the hell would he want to be with some middle-aged old maid such as herself when he could get a Vanessa? Young, beautiful, sexy, sex-on-a-leg Vanessa? Those perky boobs of hers that were close to spilling out of her dress probably didn’t even need bras. Maddie couldn’t get her own boobs to look that perky with the best push up available. He may be in his fifties, but Joel was a good-looking guy, and Maddie had not missed the way the ladies in Jackson giving him fuck-me eyes on the daily. He had always been oblivious to this phenomenon, and Maddie stupidly thought it was because he only cared for her attention, but clearly, she was wrong. Shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIT! How was she supposed to look him in the eyes again?

When she got home, she went straight to her room, not bothering to turn the lights on. Sleep evaded her, her heart hammering away, but the embarrassment she felt earlier was now replaced with something she could not identify. She had never felt like this before. Her heart felt… heavy. The weight of it pressing down on her as she laid on her bed. She turned sideways to ease it, it worked for a while, but returned a few minutes later. After what felt like hours, she heard the front door open, and Joel’s familiar heavy footsteps walked in, the sounds coming closer and closer before stopping at her door. She saw the shadows of his feet in the sliver of light under the door from her dark room. She could hear his hand touching the door handle, but after what felt like hours, she heard him huff a long breath before retreating and going up to his own room. Maddie let go of the breath she didn’t realize she was holding. She turned one final time, letting the heaviness play with her mind until sleep took her.

The next morning, Maddie practically shoved food down Ellie’s throat in order to whisk her away to school as soon as possible, terrified of running into Joel. Ellie pushed her hand away, grumbling what her problem was. As they were leaving, she heard Joel’s door open. Maddie grabbed Ellie by the collar and pulled her out the door, literally jogging away from the door. She heard the door open, and Joel’s voice call for them, Ellie stopping to wait for Joel, but Maddie kept pulling.

“What is going on with you? Why are we running from Joel?” she asked.

Before Maddie could answer, Vanessa appeared out of nowhere, colliding with her, the force of it pushing both of them on the ground, Maddie literally eating dirt. Joel ran up, helping Vanessa up, checking she was alright before turning to Maddie, whose lips were now bleeding from her face plant. Joel looked concerned, hand coming up to her face, but before he could do anything, Vanessa piped up,

“I was just on my way to get you. We need to leave now. The patrol from last night didn’t return. I was going to go get Tommy next,” she said, her voice urgent.

Maddie wiped the blood on her lips while Ellie helped her up. Joel looked at her, her lips sans blood now. Maddie said something about being late for work and turned around, pulling Ellie with her. Ellie kept quiet after that, somehow reading that any comments on what just happened wouldn’t be welcomed, especially the fact that Joel helped Vanessa up before her. Maddie felt childish, as if she was reading too much into this. He had reached Vanessa first, so it made sense that he helped her first, right? Of course he would’ve helped her too. Of course he would’ve. He would’ve. He definitely would’ve.

When she got to the clinic, Marcus, who was fast becoming her best friend from all the time they spent alone at the clinic, was already there. He turned to greet her, only for his face to morph into concern at her swollen lips, now bleeding again. He forced her to take a seat, despite her protests, fussing with swabs and ointments to make sure she didn’t need stitches. He gently pried her lips open, looking at them with a small torch, dabbing lightly to see if the bleeding could stop on its own, his left hand holding her cheek.

Someone cleared their throat. The two looked up to see Joel standing in the doorway, his face like thunder. He said something about not knowing what time he would be home that day, and to make sure Ellie got home on time, before abruptly turning around and leaving, the door slammed harder than it should behind him. Marcus looked bewildered for a second, before declaring she didn’t need stitches, but dabbing some ointment on her lips anyway, just to be safe.

When both batches of patrol came back that evening, Maddie was relieved to see Joel unscathed, just tired looking, Vanessa riding next to him, looking like some badass chick coming home from a victorious battle, her red hair looking perfect as ever, an easy smile on her face, which was gazing adoringly at Joel. A few riders from last night’s patrol were injured, so Marcus called Maddie to give him a hand. She felt Joel’s eyes on her but did not dare look. She focused on cleaning the injuries and then preparing the trays and equipment to stitch up the wounds, her and Marcus working well together, fast and efficient.

After what felt like a thousand hours, Maddie was looking forward to going home, taking a shower, having a quick dinner and just sleeping the rest of the night away. She was walking towards the stables to get Ellie, stomach rumbling, when someone called her name. It was Vanessa, running slightly to catch up with her.

“Hey Maddie? I just wanted to say sorry for running into you like that this morning. I was in a hurry and didn’t see you. Are you alright?”

Maddie nodded, so not in the mood to feel inferior right now, and Vanessa just brought that out of her. Vanessa continued almost immediately after the nod,

“Hey, just wondering. You and Joel, you guys are not together, right? He said you were just roommates?”

Maddie felt like her heart was in her throat. She was convinced that if she opened her mouth to answer her heart would fall out. So instead, she shook her head. After all, that’s what she was. She was the woman living in the same house as he, in different rooms in fact. They were roommates. He was her roommate, one she was heavily crushing on, a one-sided imaginary feel-fest starring only her.

“Oh, good. So, you don’t mind that we’re seeing each other, right? It’s just, we spend so much time together and I think we both feel this connection you know? It was just a matter of time. We work well together. But I just thought I should talk to you about it, you know, woman to woman?” she said, her eyes dreamy.

“Isn’t he too old for you?” Maddie said before she could stop herself. Vanessa just scoffed.

“If that’s what old looks like, I guess I have a thing for older men. Plus, he’s not old where it counts, you know what I mean? That man can make me purr, let me tell you that!” she said, giving a cheeky wink before walking away.

Maddie stopped in front of the stable, her legs heavier than lead, her head full of what just happened. So, Joel had a girlfriend now? She couldn’t comprehend it, just a week ago he was flirting with her and asking her out for drinks, and cuddling with her, and now he had a girlfriend?

Maddie heard her name again, this time in Joel’s low tone. It seemed he had the same idea to walk Ellie home from the stable now that he was home earlier than expected.

“What did Vanessa want?” he asked her, his head low, eyes fixed on his feet.

“Nothing,” Maddie said, a little too quickly. “You can walk Ellie home, right? I think I’m gonna go home first.”

“Wait,” he said, his hand wrapped gently around her clenched hand. “I made dinner. Let’s have dinner together? Like we always did? I have something to talk to you about,” he said, his face hopeful.

Maddie so badly wanted to say yes, she had missed him. Missed having a good meal with him and Ellie. But Vanessa’s words were fresh in her mind, and if he was just going to tell her the same thing, she didn’t want to hear it. She got it. He had a girlfriend. All his affections were in her head.

“Actually Joel, I’m not hungry. I’m really tired. I’ll see you around,” she said instead, walking away, prying her hand from his gentle grasp, dying to get away from him before the grumbling in her tummy got loud enough to betray her.

Maddie went to bed with a piece of bread, lying in bed in the dark, willing herself not to cry. The heaviness in her chest was back. What was going on? What was this feeling? Shit. She just wanted it to go away.

After he and Ellie had dinner, Joel went to Maddie’s door, raising his hand to knock, desperate to talk to her. But he couldn’t pretend he didn’t hear her word choice – that she will see him ‘around’ instead of ‘at home'. Deciding not to bother her, he went upstairs and willed himself to sleep.

The next day, while she was mopping the floors in the clinic, Vanessa showed up. Maddie almost sighed out loud in exasperation. She kept popping up on her, like a Jack-in-a-Box, but a really annoyingly beautiful one. Instead, she composed herself and forced a fake smile on her face. Vanessa came up to her, a cheeky look on her face,

“Hey Maddie… so… Joel and I are going on a date tonight, and… well… I live with five other girls you know, and Ellie will be spending the night at Dina’s. I was wondering if you could do me a solid and make yourself scarce for the evening? So, we can have some alone time? Help a girl out?” she begged, a desperate look on her face.

Maddie just stared for a while. There were so many things she wanted to say, but she didn’t want to seem like a scorned woman, so she just smiled and nodded, before picking up the mop bucket and walking to the back room. She heard Vanessa’s delighted “thank you!” behind her, shut the door to the back room, sat down, and buried her face in her hands, the tears flowing freely.

As she laid in the twin bed in the studio apartment above the clinic that night, she couldn’t get the images of Joel and Vanessa together out of her imagination. She didn’t even go home for a change of clothes, worried that if she ran into him, she would turn to stone. She kept picturing them naked, their bodies entwined, their lips locked, their moans loud and echoey throughout the empty house. She hated the fact that she didn’t tell him how she felt earlier, and now it was too late. She cried herself to sleep that night, fully dressed.

The next morning, she was shaken awake by a worried Marcus, who had noticed that the apartment lights were on and went up there, thinking he forgot to switch them off. He asked her what happened, but she was too ashamed to tell him, choosing instead to tell him she was too tired to walk home. He obviously didn’t believe her but chose not to press further. Instead, he waited for her to wash her face, and asked her to go to the mess hall for some breakfast instead. He needed to open the clinic, but a hungry nurse won’t do him any good, he said, pinching her on the chin, making her laugh.

When they walked down together, Marcus’s comforting hand on her shoulder, they came face to face with Joel, who stopped walking, his face the picture of devastation at the sight he was seeing. Maddie wanted to be offended, clocking what he must have thought of the sight. How dare he, when he was the one going on dates and bringing the perfect specimen of a woman home. She was about to express her annoyance, but a very chirpy Vanessa came running, pulling him away, whispering in his ear, before turning around and smiling cheekily at Maddie, winking conspiratorially at her, giving her a thumbs up, as if doing her the biggest favor. Joel kept looking back at the two of them, his face disbelieving, looking crestfallen. Maddie felt her heart clench. She realized that instead of anger, his face just looked so sad. She wanted to go after him and ask him what was wrong, but a flustered looking mother came running to the clinic, her child in her arms who was obviously having difficulty breathing.

So, Maddie put her nurse game face on, and took the child from his mother, and brought him inside for treatment.

***

Joel didn’t sleep at home for almost a week after that day. He would walk Ellie home from the stable in the evenings, made sure she had dinner, and left as soon as Maddie got home. He got home before dawn broke, got ready for his day, and let Maddie handle Ellie in the mornings, preferring to leave for the stables without having to bump into her. Maddie made sure Ellie was never alone at night but chose to sleep at the apartment if Joel was home for the night, deciding that she would rather sew her own ears shut than hear Joel and Vanessa going at it, making sure she was out of the house before she came for the night. She got home a little earlier than expected one day and could hear his moans and groans upstairs and ran out of the house like her life depended on it before she could hear her too. Never again, she thought. Her heart couldn’t take it. Ellie was spending more and more weekends sleeping over at her friends’ places, so Maddie was the only obstacle for the happy couple’s privacy. Maddie did wonder where the two spent their nights when they were not at this house. Vanessa made it clear she had roommates, so they must have found some sort of a sex port somewhere.

Maria came to talk to her one day, asking her if she and Joel were having problems, considering they had not been seen together for a couple of weeks. They were virtually inseparable during the first three months in Jackson, and suddenly it was as if they were strangers. Maria told her she was shocked to hear that Joel was with Vanessa – she had always thought that he and Maddie would end up together. Even Tommy was shocked, but of course, no one dared say anything to the grumpy man, for he was even more stubborn than he was grumpy.

As much as Maddie wanted to own up to her feelings and frustrations, she didn’t want Maria and Tommy blabbing to Joel. If he was happy with Vanessa, then she would like to be happy for him, as much as it was killing her inside. So, Maddie tried to keep the peace. She and Joel simply coexisted, avoiding each other like a dance, while making sure Ellie was taken care of.

But Ellie, oh Ellie. That girl had completely become a typical teenager, always angry, always moody, not that she wasn’t already. Despite letting Joel and Maddie walk her to school and back home daily, she made it quite clear that she was still angry at them for what happened at the hospital, using that as an excuse as to why they didn’t have the right to tell her what she could and couldn’t do, since they had taken her choice away from her. She could sense the unease between the two parental figures, and she was acting out. Maddie caught her smoking once, and when she tried to tell her it was not good for her, she stomped off, yelling that she was not her mother so please fuck off! Joel wasn’t faring any better with her either. He caught her sneaking out late one night, and when confronted, she screamed that he was not her father, and it was not like he was such a good role model, he couldn’t even keep his family together.

So, Maddie and Joel had a sit down, and decided they needed to get their shit together, and work together for Ellie’s sake. They came to an agreement that they needed to stay together, just until Ellie fully settled, so that she didn’t feel alone or left out. Family meals were no longer negotiable, even if no one was talking. Also, no one would be having sleepovers, at home or otherwise for a while, just to get their bearings back. Ellie needed stability, and having every other parental figure out of the house every other night was not helping, neither was her sleeping in different places every weekend. And for Joel and Maddie – whatever they had going on outside of the three of them, stayed out of the house. So, Maddie made it a point to never mention Vanessa to him, and he did the same. They were civil to one another, keeping up appearances for her sake, but when Ellie went to bed, both of them quietly retreated to their own rooms, neither talking to each other, each missing longing looks they each gave the other.

Slowly but surely, their efforts started showing results. Ellie started calming down, making the effort to spend more time with Joel and Maddie, going to movie nights with them, even helping them prepare meals and tending the garden in the backyard, doing her chores, and although she still had her temper tantrums every now and again, she was generally more relaxed, and a lot more cooperative. Everything seemed to be going well. The three of them getting along, their school and work life going great.

Every time Maddie saw Vanessa around town, she was always surrounded by ladies her age – her roommates, Maddie assumed. Vanessa always gave her a sad smile, and her friends would stare at her, annoyance and disgust clear on their faces, before rubbing their hands on Vanessa’s back and walking away as a group. Joel had taken to glaring at Marcus whenever the doc was around, although for the life of her Maddie couldn’t figure out why. But they had agreed not to talk about anything non-related to the three of them, so she kept quiet.

About two months after the new arrangement began, Maddie was taking inventory at the clinic when Vanessa walked in, arms full of medical supplies they had found from that day’s scavenging trip. Maddie thanked her, and immediately began checking the items for leaks and expiry dates.

“So, how’s Ellie doing these days?” Vanessa asked.

“Joel didn’t tell you? She’s doing much better. It’s sweet of you to ask.”

“That’s so great! I am so happy for you guys,” she said. “So, now that Ellie’s doing much better, are you looking for other places to live?”

“Why would I be doing that?” Maddie asked back, genuinely confused at the question.

“Well, now that Ellie’s doing better, do you need to still be living with Joel? I mean, you guys are not together, and he’s with me, so why are you still living with him?” Vanessa questioned; a sweet smile still plastered on her gorgeous, perfect face.

Maddie was taken aback. She had been living there since they moved to Jackson. The three of them came in together, where else would she be living? Unless…

“Did Joel say something?”

“Oh, it’s not my place to say…”

“Vanessa,” Maddie’s voice was stern, looking at Vanessa with a serious face.

Vanessa gave an uncomfortable smile. “It’s just that Joel and I were planning to take our relationship to the next level you know? We completely understood the need for the two of us to slow down when Ellie was acting up, but now that she’s doing better, he mentioned that maybe it would be better if you found a place for yourself so that I can move in with him, maybe start a family of our own,” she said, her hands twisting together, head down, trying to avoid Maddie’s disbelieving eyes.

“I mean, technically I could just move in with you still living there, but we are very loud, and I think he just didn’t want to make you uncomfortable you know? Even when we haven’t been spending nights together, he found ways for us to have alone time - the man is insatiable - so imagine what it would be like if we were to actually live together…” she continued, a sly smile on her face.

“Plus, I think you living there would make him uncomfortable too. He wouldn’t even show me affection in public out of respect for you. People know the three of you came in together, and lots of people believe you guys are together, so he didn’t want to make you feel left out or anything, you know? So, it would be better for all of us if you have your own place.”

Marcus walked in at that moment, having heard what was said, a stern look on his face, and Vanessa excused herself, before turning around and begging Maddie not to say anything to Joel, for he had made her promise not to say anything. As soon as she was gone, Maddie told Marcus she would be right back, and ran home. She had to talk to Joel. Was this what he really wanted? She needed to hear him say it to believe it. When she got home, the door was open, and she can hear Tommy, Maria and Ellie’s voices clearly, along with Joel’s low one.

“Are you sure about this brother?” Tommy asked.

“Isn’t it too soon?” Maria added, “It’s only been a few months…”

“It’s not too soon,” Ellie’s voice interrupted.

Joel’s voice was clear now.

“We have to move on, things cannot stay like this forever. We will talk to Maddie, make her understand. This is good for her. To be independent. We will help her with anything she needs, of course, but she cannot depend on us forever, so, it would be better if she lives on her own. It’s not like she’ll be far, we’re right here,” he said, his voice steady.

There was a long silence.

“Alright, if you think that’s best,” Maria said.

Maddie had heard everything she needed to hear. She turned around and walked back to the clinic. She couldn’t believe what she had just heard. Sure, he had found someone, but it had only been a couple of months, ten weeks at the most. And just like that she was no longer needed? After everything?

When she got back to the clinic, she broke down. She told Marcus everything. She felt like he was the only person she could talk to about this, everyone else in her life seemed to be conspiring to rid Joel of her, and he seemed more than eager to make that happen too. Marcus held her tight, keeping silent and just being there for her. He offered his spare room, but Marcus didn’t live alone, and Maddie didn’t want to intrude. He then suggested she move into the apartment above the clinic – the apartment was part of the clinic, and staff were allowed to use it at the doctor’s discretion, especially when severely injured patients required 24/7 care, and he wanted her to have it. Plus, he said, it would be better for the town to have the nurse living directly above the clinic, especially for emergency cases at night.

Maddie promised to think about it, but when she got home that evening, she found that she couldn’t even look at Joel in the eyes anymore, knowing he didn’t want her there. She could feel his eyes on her at all times, and she kept bracing herself for him to tell her what she already knew – that he needed her to move out so he can live his happily ever after with Vanessa, Ellie, and however many devastatingly gorgeous children those two annoyingly good-looking people would inevitably have from their super active sex life. So, the next day while the house was empty, with Marcus’s help, she packed what little belonging she had, and moved out.

But she still had Ellie to think about. Ellie still needed stability. And as hurt as she was, she didn’t want to put her own needs before Ellie’s, but at the same time didn’t want Joel to have the satisfaction of knowing that she gave in to their demands – even if he hadn’t had the balls to talk to her about him wanting to move Vanessa in. So, she decided that while Ellie was still adjusting, she would sneak back home early in the mornings to make breakfast and have their morning routine together, go back there as usual for dinner, and sneak back out once Joel had gone up to bed. Anything for Ellie. All Maddie wanted was for the little girl to have as normal a life as she and Joel could give her.

More time passed. Vanessa had asked her again if she had found an alternate living arrangement, confirming to her that Joel had no clue she had moved out. She was a bit hurt by that. Really? He didn’t even notice she didn’t live here anymore? To be fair, she had been keeping up the façade of being there as if nothing had changed shockingly well, and Joel was much too gentlemanly to barge into her now very empty room without permission to discover her little act. But still, Maddie found herself to be annoyed most days now. Even after a whole month since she overheard that conversation, Joel still hadn’t confronted her with it. Still hadn’t told her he would prefer for her to move out. Ugh. Just man up and do it already!

Joel, on the other hand, was still walking around as the resident town grump, even all these months later. He went about his day as if someone was always hiding in the bushes about to attack him, shoulders stiff, a permanent scowl on his face. The only times he seemed a bit relaxed was when talking to Ellie, Maddie or Maria, even Tommy when the younger man wasn’t looking to annoy him. Nothing weird there, though. That’s how he had always been, and it took Maddie and Ellie nursing him back to health, their hands never leaving his during his recovery from that incident in Salt Lake City for him to soften for the two of them.

He walked into the clinic one Saturday, holding his left arm, the sleeve of his flannel soaked in blood. Maddie felt her head freeze at the sight, running to him and pulling him into the treatment room to take a closer look. He let her pull him with her, his face soft and at ease seeing her worried one.

“What the hell happened?” Maddie asked, carefully folding the sleeves up to take a closer look at his arm, internally chastising herself at how desperately worried she sounded. She hated how much she still cared and worried for him, but she couldn’t help herself.

There was a long, deep, jagged gash along his forearm, about four inches in length, and it was bleeding profusely.

“Caught it on some sharp zinc in the garage while clearing it today,” he explained, wincing slightly when Maddie applied saline solution to clean the wound.

“The hell were you doing clearing the garage?” she asked. “You need to learn to rest, old man, you work too much,” she said.

Joel chuckled, a smile on his face, despite the pain that he was in. Maddie continued cleaning the gash thoroughly, being careful not to hurt him too much. Her eyes slightly wet at the thought of him being hurt. Those couple of weeks in Salt Lake City were among the worst days of her life, she and Ellie so worried that he wouldn’t make it. Even if she was a nurse, it wasn’t like they had the supplies to treat him properly. She was glad they were in Jackson now, and she could help tend to his wound as needed.

Joel couldn’t help but stare at her as she worked, stitching his wound up, her face slightly scrunched up in concentration. His heart softened every time he looked at her. She was so close to him right now; he could smell her shampoo. He longed to bury his face in her hair, in her neck, so he could drown in her smell. It took everything in him not to, he shouldn’t. He didn’t have the right to do that. But he missed her smell, the way her body melted into his when they used to sleep in the living room, the way their bodies just magnetize towards each other no matter how they tried not to do that. He missed the talks they would have before they both fall asleep, and most of all, he missed waking up with his face buried in her hair, the back of her neck, or her face in the crook of his, her arm around his waist, and his around her body. But he couldn’t have that now, not anymore. So, he settled for just looking at her, taking in as much of her beautiful face as he could, hoping to God that was enough to help him sleep that night.

When Maddie looked up at him, she found him looking at her, his face so soft, his puppy dog eyes full of yearning. Their faces were so close together, she could see the flecks of amber in his beautiful brown eyes.

“Maddie,” he began, his voice so soft, so careful, his uninjured hand finding her arm, softly stroking it up and down. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you…”

Her heart stopped. This was it. He was going to tell her he wanted her to move out.

“Joel!!! What happened???” Vanessa’s shrill voice piped in dramatically, her face full of concern.

Maddie wanted to roll her eyes. Where the heck had she come from? Honestly. They spend five days a week on patrol together, she couldn’t let her be alone with Joel for a few minutes? Sheesh. Instead, Maddie rubbed some antibacterial salve on the stitched wound, and began bandaging it, Vanessa fussing over him as if he was a child. Joel just looked a bit flustered, uncomfortable, even. The grump was back. Gone was the soft Joel. He kept saying he was alright, just a cut, nothing to worry about. He was about to ask Vanessa to give the two of them some privacy, when Marcus came in, wondering what the shrill ruckus was all about.

Joel’s face snapped shut even harder. So did Marcus’s when he saw Joel and Vanessa there. As soon as Maddie stood up, he wrapped his hand around Maddie’s shoulder protectively, concerned at what Maddie must be feeling with those two being there together in her presence. He had spent so much time listening to Maddie pour her heart out regarding those two, and he wasn’t about to allow them to hurt her in his presence.

Vanessa wrapped her arms around Joel’s uninjured arm to leave. Joel’s body resisting, but eventually gave in. But before they could leave, Vanessa turned.

“Are you two going to the Bison tonight? Some of the men are doing a live performance. It should be fun! Will we see the two of you there?” she asked, her arms still wrapped around Joel’s, whose face was unreadable, apart from the murdering of a doctor he was probably plotting in his head.

Maddie couldn’t speak, the lump in her throat getting bigger by the second.

“We’ll be there, wouldn’t miss it,” Marcus said, his arm tightening around Maddie’s shoulder. He didn’t miss the way Joel’s eyes flickered to his arm.

“Great! See you there!” Vanessa chirped, before pulling a reluctant Joel with her.

Maddie let out a shaky breath. Marcus let go of her shoulder, but took her face in his hands, checking to see if she was alright.

“Why did you say we would go tonight? I really don’t feel like going. The last thing I need was to see the two of them slow dancing,” she said with a slight tremble of her lips, her tears threatening to slip out.

“Nope. You are going little nurse lady. You are gonna get all dressed up, you are gonna have a few drinks, loosen up and have fun. I’m gonna make sure you leave the Bison smiling tonight if it’s the last thing I do. Fuck ‘em. We are going to have fun. Full stop. Understood?” he said, his face full of care and determination.

Maddie thought about it for a bit and nodded.

He was right. Fuck the two of them. She was going to have fun tonight.

***

Scissors. Where the fuck were the scissors? Ellie was running around the house, looking in every drawer in the common areas looking for scissors. The ‘new’ shirt she had put on for the live performance at the Bison tonight had an annoyingly long lose thread from the wash, and it was a twenty-year-old shirt to begin with despite it being new to her, so she didn’t want to risk pulling it in case it made the situation worse. Joel had left early, needing to help set up the Bison after promising profusely to be careful with his injured arm. Maddie said she would be going from the clinic. So, the mission to find the scissors was a solo one. She went into Joel’s room, hastily looking around for one, but couldn’t find any. Surely, they must have some scissors somewhere in the house, right? Maddie might have them. She ran downstairs, checking in the drawers in the living room and kitchen once more for good measure, before going into Maddie’s room, completely oblivious to what she was about to be greeted with.

***

Maddie spent the evening at Maria’s, looking for a dress to borrow for the night. She forced herself to only speak of everyday matters, and not about Joel or the fact that she was heartbroken that she was about to see Joel and Vanessa together in a public setting. Maria insisted that she put some make up on her, after all, as a beautiful single woman, she might meet someone at the concert, winking at her with a teasing smile.

“Oh, come on Maria. Who would want an old lady such as myself?” Maddie asked.

“Hey, we are about the same age, and 46 is NOT OLD!” Maria said defensively.

“Maybe it wasn’t old in the before, but nowadays? Fuck that is old,” Maddie’s hands covered her face at the thought.

“Hey, Joel is older, and he found someone. You will too,” Maria said.

“Yeah, a 25-year-old. Guys want younger models. They want a Vanessa. They don’t want a Maddie. I mean, Joel went for someone young enough to be his daughter, and he gets called a stud. If I go for someone young enough to be my son? Imagine the backlash!”

Maria sighed. She could not understand why Joel would go for Vanessa. She and Tommy were shocked when they found out. Tommy spent the rest of that day going on and on about how out of character that was for Joel, to go for someone he hardly knew. Joel was a man of routine, of familiarity. And even though Joel had assured him that he and Maddie were just roommates, Tommy didn’t miss the way his brother looked at Maddie. Even Maria noticed, despite not knowing either of them before their second arrival to Jackson. The husband and wife were sure that Joel would finally step up and ask Maddie out. But when Vanessa told her she and Joel were together, Maria decided against talking to Joel about it, and made Tommy promise to do the same, citing it was none of their business. It wasn’t that hard to believe anyway. They spent all day on patrol together, and Vanessa was a beautiful young woman. Joel was just a man, with eyes and needs, so who were they to question it? She could see how Maddie was broken hearted by this revelation, though. But what could she do? The heart will always want what it wants.

They got ready together, Maddie finally relented to wearing a black and white body fitting Lycra dress that flared into a knee-length flowy skirt below the waist, and begrudgingly allowed Maria to lightly put 20-year-old make up on her face, her hair left to fall free around her shoulders. The two walked arm in arm to the Bison together, the town starting to walk over too. The doors to the Bison were left open, the band set up in the square. Maria found Tommy, who gushed at his wife’s beauty, before giving Maddie a low whistle and a once over. She never got all dressed up, and although feeling uncomfortable with all the attention, she enjoyed feeling like maybe, just MAYBE, she was a little bit beautiful tonight, even if only to herself.

When Joel saw Maddie for the first time that evening, he just about had a heart attack. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. He had always thought she was beautiful, even in her simplicity and no muss no fuss attitude. He had always preferred natural beauty on his ladies, and Maddie just looked stunning tonight.

Joel wasn’t looking too bad himself, despite the wrapped forearm. Maddie’s heart literally skipped a beat when she saw him. Dark jeans, a dark green dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to just below his elbows, the top few buttons undone. Even his usually mussed curls were tamed tonight, he had styled it a little bit. Damn he looked good enough to eat.

Their eyes met across the room. They both smiled, hoping to convey what they were feeling to each other in those smiles. Someone tapped her on her shoulder. Maddie turned around, and came face to face with a stunning looking, perfectly styled Vanessa, her perfect body wrapped in a skintight red dress, her ample cleavage threatening to jump out and eat Maddie alive.

“Oh my God Maddie you came!!!” she said, giving her an exaggerated air kiss on each cheek. “You look beautiful!!” she exclaimed, giving Maddie a once over.

“Thanks Vanessa. You look good too,” Maddie said, slightly crestfallen. Even on her best dressed day, Vanessa managed to make her feel like an underdressed clown.

Joel came over, two drinks in his hands. He extended one of the drinks towards them, his eyes fixed on hers, but before Maddie could even think of taking the drink, it had disappeared from his hand.

“Why thank you handsome,” Vanessa cooed, the drink now in her hand, her free arm linking itself to Joel’s (was that a bit of annoyance on his face?). “You look good tonight,” she added, her easy smile turned very flirty. “Doesn’t Maddie look good too? You should dress up more often you know, you look really nice tonight,” she added, giving her another once over.

“Yeah, she looks beautiful,” Joel said, his eyes still on Maddie, who felt her face go red. “You really do look stunning tonight,” he said to her directly, his eyes soft and dark at the same time. “Would you…”

“There you are Marcus! Will you look at how beautiful Maddie looks tonight?” Vanessa interrupted, arms tightening around Joel’s bicep.

Maddie turned around to see Marcus looking her up and down, his mouth wide open in a big grinny disbelief, his hands wide open at the sight of her.

“Oh my God, you look amazing!” he said, his arms dropped, taking her hands in his. He twirled her around and bent a little to give her a lingering kiss on the cheek.

“Oh, stop it,” Maddie said, faking a shy smile, smacking him on his chest, but kissed him back. “Look at you! You clean up well Dr Adams!” she continued, fake batting her eyelashes at him.

The two laughed cheekily at each other. When they turned around, Maddie was met with Vanessa’s face grinning at the sight in front of her, while Joel… Joel looked like he was about to kill Marcus, the hand around his drink looking suspiciously white from his grip. Marcus ignored Joel’s murderous eyes and pulled Maddie’s hand into his.

“Come on little nurse lady, let’s get you a drink. And then, we are going to dance the night away,” he remarked.

“Bye you two!!!” Vanessa chirped happily, her arm still wrapped around Joel’s, before he pulled it away.

Maddie let herself be pulled away. She was going to have fun tonight, she thought. Nothing will ruin tonight for her, she had been through a hell of a year, a hell of twenty years, in fact, and she deserved to let loose and have fun. So, she had a few drinks, and danced with Marcus. Every now and again, she saw Joel standing somewhere in the room, leaning against a pole or a wall, his eyes always fixed on her, Vanessa right next to him, chatting merrily at whoever was closest to them. She and Maria changed partners for a song or two, Tommy being the goofy dance partner Maddie always thought he would be. But despite having so much fun, she couldn’t help but wonder what it would feel like to dance in Joel’s arms, him holding her close again, her face in the crook of his neck, surrounded by his heat and that very Joel smell that she missed so much.

She couldn’t get him alone though, Vanessa always beside him, even though she didn’t see them dance at all. Plus, what were the etiquettes here? Should she ask him to dance? Or wait for him to ask her? Was that an okay thing to do? To dance with the man she was desperately in love with when he had his stunning girlfriend clinging to him like a leech? Sheesh Vanessa, honestly. Was she capable of leaving his side for a second? We all got it, Vanessa, message received loud and clear. You were with Joel. No need to stay clamped to him like that all night. She resigned herself to the fact that she would not be dancing with him and pulled Maria to the bar for more drinks.

Joel couldn’t take his eyes off Maddie even for a second. His heart filled with longing to go over and ask Maddie for a dance, but she was always with Marcus, and even Tommy took a turn or two dancing with her (damn him, damn them both!). And Vanessa wouldn’t leave his side even for a second, and no matter how much she batted her eyelashes at him and begged him for a dance, he just didn’t feel like it. The woman he wanted to dance with was dancing with the annoyingly good-looking and charming town doctor, not him, the resident town grump. The annoyingly good-looking and charming town doctor whom she spent all her working days with. The annoyingly good-looking, charming town doctor whose hands saved lives, unlike his. The annoyingly good-looking and charming town doctor who spent the evening expertly and effortlessly twirling her around the dance floor like he was some ballroom dancing expert, while Joel couldn’t even convince himself that he would be able to dance with her without looking at or stepping on his own feet, let alone hers.

When Vanessa finally left his side to go to the bathroom, Joel decided he needed to act and ask Maddie for a dance. But he would be a gentleman about it and ask Marcus for permission first. After all, Maddie was his friend first. They came to town together. They had been living together since they arrived here. They had all this history together. It shouldn’t be weird if they danced together, right? So, Joel made his way towards Marcus, determined to be polite and ask the annoyingly good-looking and charming town doctor if he would mind letting him, the resident town grump Joel Miller, to ask his lady for a dance. He got to Marcus, who was chatting with Tommy, drink in hand, and gathered up the courage to ask him the dreaded question. But Marcus’s attention was suddenly distracted by a man who had just entered the pub, looking exhausted, obviously just in from patrol.

“Hey, you made it,” Marcus said, smiling happily before greeting the man with a hug and a sweet peck on the lips. “I don’t know if you two had met. Francis, this is Joel. Joel, this is my husband Francis,” he said.

Joel had seen Francis around before. He was the leader of one of the patrol teams, but since Joel led another team, they had never worked together. He took Francis’s outstretched hand and shook it, commenting that he had seen him around town…

…wait… HUSBAND?

“You’re gay?” Joel couldn’t stop himself from asking incredulously, while Tommy choked on his drink.

“Er… yeah… is that a problem?” Marcus hesitantly asked back.

Tommy and Francis stood there looking at the confused resident town grump and the perplexed, annoyingly good-looking and charming town doctor.

“No, of course not, I just didn’t know. Wait… does Maddie know you’re gay?” Joel asked again, unable to hide the confusion on his face.

“Of course she does. She’s my best friend, I tell her everything,” Marcus said, almost laughingly.

“But I thought…” and Joel’s thoughts remained a mystery when a teenager’s carefully aimed shoe made contact with his head, jolting all four grown men out of the discussion that was not meant to be had at that exact time.

All four men spun around to look at the source of the well-aimed shoe, Joel rubbing his head, only to be met by an extremely angry and hostile looking Ellie.

“What the fuck did you do old man? What did you fucking say to her?” she screamed, launching herself at him, smacking him everywhere she could reach.

Despite the merry music playing, the bar went quiet, everyone staring at the newly unfolding drama.

“What are you talking about? What did I do? What did I say to whom?” Joel asked, fending off her smacks, before bending down to pick up her weapon of choice.

“Maddie! She’s moved out! Her room’s all empty! What did you say to her? Did you chase her out? How could you do that?” she raised her arm to smack him again, but Joel held her hand to stop her.

“Maddie moved out? When?” he asked. He turned around, saw Maddie and Maria, back from the bar with drinks in their hands.

“You moved out?” he asked her, his face disbelieving, hurt, betrayed.

“Okay let’s all calm down and take this outside, shall we?” Maria said calmly, her town mayor persona taking over, taking Maddie’s drink from her hand, passing both their glasses to someone before ushering a stunned Joel and a stone-faced Maddie outside. Tommy took Ellie by the shoulder, doing the same, and Marcus and Francis followed.

Once they were further away from the music, they all stood around awkwardly, before Joel piped up again.

“You moved out?” he asked Maddie again, genuinely unable to believe what he had just heard.

Maddie kept looking at the ground, unable to look him in the eyes. Marcus went to her side, holding her close to him. She nodded slowly, eyes still on the ground.

“Why?”

Maddie finally looked up, annoyed that he had the gall to ask that question.

“Isn’t that what you wanted? I overheard you, Joel. And Vanessa told me. I know all of it Joel. Just because you didn’t have the balls to tell me doesn’t mean I don’t know what is going on,” she said, her voice shaking slightly with anger.

“What are you talking about? What did you overhear? What did Vanessa tell you?”

Maddie scoffed. Unbelievable.

“I know you wanted me out of the house, Joel. I heard you two talking with Tommy and Maria,” she said, looking at Joel and Ellie, her face now contorted, tears threatening to spill out.

“Wait, what?” Maria spoke up. “He never told us he wanted you out,” she continued. Tommy, confusion on his face, also shook his head no. Even Ellie looked confused.

“I heard you guys. You wanted me out. It was good for me. I shouldn’t depend on you forever. I should be independent,” her tears falling now.

A flash of understanding came across the four faces in front of her.

“That was about me,” Ellie said. “I asked Joel if he and Tommy could fix the garage up for me, so I can live there by myself, have a space of my own. That way I don’t have to depend on you two forever,” she explained.

“I was clearing it out today, finally have some time to get started,” Joel added, showing her his bandaged arm, “I was gonna talk to you about it when we had some time alone.”

“Wait a minute,” Marcus interjected. “I was there. I heard Vanessa said you wanted Maddie to move out so that she can move in with you.”

“Why the fuck would I want my patrol partner to move in with me?” Joel looked at Marcus like he was speaking in some foreign language.

Now everyone in that group just looked extremely confused, looking at Joel like he had three heads. Why would Joel call his girlfriend his patrol partner? Sure, that’s who she was too, but that’s just weird. Joel now felt like he was the new kid in school, on his first day, where everyone knew something that he didn’t. Someone said Joel’s name amidst the confusing, uncomfortable silence. The group turned around, Vanessa approaching, a nervous smile on her face.

“What’s going on here? Are we moving the party to the back alley now?” she asked, her face filled with uncertainty, but still smiling, her arm snaking around Joel’s.

Joel snatched his arm away. He turned to face her fully, his face serious, her smile faltering.

“Vanessa, what the fuck have you been telling everyone?”

***

“What do you mean, Joel?” Vanessa asked sweetly, her face looking like she would rather be anywhere else but there at the moment, “I didn’t say anything to anyone…”

“Is anyone going to tell me what is going on? Why would I ask her to move in with me?” Joel turned around, asking the silent people around him instead.

Vanessa’s face turned chalk white. Shit, cat’s out of the bag. She couldn’t believe these people went behind her back. She kept telling them not to tell Joel. Sheesh. How hard was it to follow a simple request?

“Well, I don’t know what she told others, but she told me…” Ellie began.

“Ellie…” Vanessa interrupted, panic beginning to invade her voice.

“Shut up Vanessa,” Joel snapped. “Ellie?”

“She told me you and her are dating,” Ellie finished.

The rest of the group murmured a silent ‘yep’. Everyone apart from Maddie, who stayed quiet, eyes glued to her feet.

“You told them what?” Joel’s face was red now, his eyes snapping to Vanessa.

“No Joel, they must have misunderstood…” she began, but Maria cut her off.

“No Vanessa. You told me you and Joel were dating, exclusively.”

“No, I didn’t,” Vanessa starting to sound like a denial puppet now.

Maddie was still silent. Marcus couldn’t stay silent anymore, his memory of all the tears Maddie had shed resulting from this redhead’s poison just pushed the words out,

“I heard you told Maddie Joel wanted her out of the house so that you can move in with him, Vanessa. That you guys have a lot of very loud sex. In fact, I heard you said that you two were going ‘to start a family of your own’,” he added, complete with air quotes.

Joel’s eyes were shooting daggers at Vanessa now. His body so stiff the vein on his neck were practically popping open.

“Vanessa, why would you say that?” he asked, his voice strained from controlled anger.

Vanessa looked at everyone desperately, silently begging for someone to step up to her defense. No one did, in fact she was met with stone-faced people, all staring at her, waiting for her explanation, except for Maddie, who was still looking at her feet.

“Because I am in love with you, Joel! But all you could think about was her! I just thought, if I could just get her to pull away from you, or make you believe she wasn’t interested…”

“So, you told her we were together? That I wanted her to move out? That I wanted to start a family with you? To scare her away from me? That’s why you kept pushing the idea of her and Marcus at me? You wanted me to think she wasn’t interested in me?” her delusions were so vapid and over the top he couldn’t believe she thought she was going to get away with it all.

“Oh, come on Joel. Look at them. He can barely keep his hands off her. They spend all day together, how sure are you they are not just fucking their brains out when they’re alone at the clinic?” Vanessa spat out, pointing at the way Marcus had Maddie close in his arms.

“Erm… He’s been married to me for 8 years,” Francis piped up.

Vanessa spluttered. In all her scheming, she never thought Marcus might be gay, too self-important and vain to learn more about the people around her unless she was interested in them. She could not see a way out. All her carefully laid plan just burst out into the open. The romantic images of her and Joel riding off into the sunset together now a darkened fantasy.

“I just don’t see why we can’t be together Joel!” she pleaded, “We are perfect together. We work well together. We look good together! Why would you want some dried-up old maid when you can have me, Joel?” her face now wet with self-pitying tears, her hands reaching out to take his face in her hands. He slapped them away.

“Vanessa,” he said, his voice shaky and dangerously low. “I told you, many times, that I am not interested in you like that. We are patrol partners, in fact, after tonight, I wouldn’t even call us that, much less friends,” he continued, taking careful, deep breaths.

“Joel! Please Joel, give us a chance. I am so much better for you than she ever will be Joel, we could be so happy,” she pleaded, trying to take his hands. He took a step back, choosing his words carefully, fists clenched by his sides, trembling slightly.

“You will never speak to me again, you understand? Stay away from my family. You are going to tell everyone what you have done. If anyone still believed us to be couple by Monday, or if I hear you say anything bad about Maddie, or see you so much as look her way, so help me God, I will feed you to the clickers myself. Leave now Vanessa, before I forget myself and hurt you.”

Vanessa stood there like a stump. Her usually beautiful face looked exceptionally ugly under the dim lights behind the Tipsy Bison, tears streaking down her face. Unable to defend herself any longer, she turned and walked away defeatedly, her shoulders slumped.

Another uncomfortable silence surrounded the group.

“Does anyone feel stupid that we didn’t see this coming? I mean, if we had just asked Joel in the first place…” Tommy said, glaring at Maria, who was now regretting not doing just that.

A slew of uncomfortable looks and silent, awkward nods followed.

More silence.

“Well,” Francis said with a deep breath, “This was fun, but I would like to go back to the party and drink my achy bones away, perhaps have a dance or two with my husband,” he said.

Marcus looked at Maddie, a small smile on his face. He kissed her on the temple before letting her go, patting Joel on the shoulder, and walking hand in hand with Francis back to the party. Tommy cleared his throat.

“Yeah, well, I think I might join them. Baby?” he looked at Maria, holding his hand out for hers.

Maria reached out and gave Maddie a quick hug, before taking her husband’s hand and walking away with him. Ellie gave an exasperated sigh at her parental figures.

“Seriously people. You call yourselves my parents? Even I know to communicate, even if it’s just slamming doors. Sheesh,” she said, before starting to walk away. She stopped dead in her tracks, turned to the two of them and said, “By the way, I will be spending tonight at Dina’s. You two should be alone, and… erm… ‘talk’,” she said cheekily, before running off.

Alone at last, Joel and Maddie stayed silent for a while, both awkwardly shuffling their feet while looking at anything their eyes would land on but each other. Joel finally broke the tension, taking her hand, leading her to a bench in front of the clinic. Ellie was right, it’s time they finally talked. Sitting side by side, they shared what Vanessa had been doing as far as they knew.

***

Vanessa’s poison ran deep. She had always been friendly with everyone on the patrol team but set her eyes on Joel from the moment he arrived. She saw how closed up and private he was, so she spent the first couple of months being friendly to him, just a partner, patrolling together, idle chit chats while on duty. Eventually, she managed to get him to talk about Maddie and Ellie, and she saw how Maddie was her main competitor for his affection.

She got him to trust her, be his confidant, as much of a confidant as one can be for the very private Joel Miller. Encouraged him to tell Maddie about his feelings. She listened to him and acted all excited when he told her she had agreed to go out for drinks with him.

She took advantage of Maddie’s absence during her care for Mr. Crushed-by-his-Fridge. Be all buddy-buddy with him, all dressed up, while subtly becoming more and more physical with him. A touch here, a hug there, a head on the shoulder here, an arm around his there… friendly, but friendlier than usual.

She planted the idea of Maddie and Marcus in his head. Joel didn’t bite, so she changed tactics.

She planted the idea of her and Joel in Maddie’s head. She asked her to “do a girl a solid” and let the two of them have some “alone time”. She knew clinic staff stayed at the apartment above the clinic sometimes.

Vanessa ‘accidentally’ ran into him early in the morning the next day, Joel out of his mind with worry because he had just realized that Maddie did not come home that night. She told him she saw her going up to the apartment. She hit the jackpot when Marcus was there too. Now Joel was devastated, heartbroken that Maddie had found someone else.

Vanessa offered her couch, or even her bed for him to stay at, so Maddie and Marcus can have some alone time, they were a new couple after all. He was broken-hearted but decided to stay out of the house for a bit, but not at Vanessa’s. He chose the keeper’s room at the stable instead, sleeping there for almost a week, worried that he might react badly if Marcus came to the house.

Joel still refused her advances on him, insisting that they are only patrol partners. So, she upped her game plan. She subtly pushed the idea of her and Joel being together to Maria and Ellie. Maybe they will start saying her name more to him, be supportive of the idea, this would somehow push Joel into entertaining the idea of them being together.

The plan backfired. Instead of pushing Joel towards Vanessa, Ellie acted out, unhappy that her ‘parents’ were avoiding each other. Joel and Maddie stayed together for Ellie’s sake, rather than separating.

As a last-ditch effort, Vanessa concocted the delusional plan that she and Joel were planning to move in together, effectively planting the idea that Joel wanted her in, and Maddie out. The Ellie and the garage conversation was just an unplanned bonus, but the plan worked. Maddie was hurt enough to distance herself further from Joel, making him feel defeated. To Vanessa’s detriment, Joel still wouldn’t see her as more than a friend.

So, when she saw him injured at the clinic, she took the opportunity to give Joel some PDA to push in Maddie’s face, and Marcus coming in to protect Maddie helped convince Joel further that they really were together. But instead of being sad and finally giving in to Vanessa's advances, Joel chose to just be 'happy' for Maddie, just the way Maddie was for him. Even after all that, Joel stood firm - he was not interested in Vanessa like that. She had asked him to go to the Bison as her date, but he refused. She was determined to stick to Joel that night, never letting him go out of her sight, knowing he was too much of a gentleman to push her away in public. He had refused to dance with her at all, his eyes fixed on Maddie, who spent the entire night dancing merrily in Marcus’s arms. Vanessa kept mentioning what a lovely couple they were, Joel now obviously believing that Maddie and Marcus were indeed a couple. She was convinced that he will give in - just a little more time. All seemed to be going her way.

That was, until Francis walked in.

***

The two took deep breaths together, angry at themselves for letting themselves be fooled by this poisonous woman.

“We need to communicate better,” Joel said, shaking his head in disbelief, chuckling a little at the stupidity of it all.

Maddie could only nod in agreement, feeling drained and stupid for letting these lies cloud her judgments. But… something was missing. She looked at him questioningly,

“Wait, so if you were never with Vanessa, who were you with? I heard you having sex, Joel. I ran out so fast my feet almost caught fire.”

Joel frowned, searching his mind, trying to figure out what she was talking about. He hadn’t had se… oh no… God no… his face turned red at the realisation of what she heard. Words formed in his mind, trying to explain the situation she was referring to, one where he thought he was alone in the house for, but broken, disconnected words were all he managed to get out,

“Erm… sex? I haven’t had… not since… erm… I was not having sex… I was… erm… well… wait, you didn’t happen to hear your name too, did you?” his ears were now so red she could see the colour change even in the dim lighting of the sidewalk.

Realisation dawned on Maddie’s face, turning red on its own accord. Both of their faces now red hot from embarrassment, laughing softly. They continued sitting there, shoulders almost touching, their bodies swaying together to the faraway music from the square.

“So… you are not with Marcus?” Joel finally asked, a small smile on his blushing face.

Maddie smiled shyly, shaking her head slightly. “And you, you are not with Vanessa?” she asked him back.

“Never,” he said, shuffling closer to her. “I actually have a huge crush on my roommate,” he said, turning his body towards her, offering her his hands, “In fact, I am certain that I am in love with her.”

Maddie took his hands in hers, tears falling down on her cheeks. Joel kissed them away silently, putting his forehead on hers, whispering her name.

“Don’t cry, baby. Please don’t cry,” he said quietly, before taking her face in his hands, bringing her lips to his own, kissing her for the first time.

He held her tight, arms surrounding her, never wanting to let go. She wrapped her arms around his neck, fingers caressing his curls, sighing contentedly into the kiss. He deepened the kiss, swallowing her moans as she melted into his body. He stopped himself before the kiss turned desperate, very much aware they were on a sidewalk in front of the clinic, in perfect view of the townsfolk who were still going to the Bison. He took her by the hand, interlacing his fingers with hers, and asked her if he could take her home.

“My apartment is just through that door,” she whispered in his ears, pointing to the door behind him.

Joel’s body tensed. Without saying another word, he lifted her up bridal style, earning a shriek from her, and carried her up the stairs to the small apartment. He kicked the door closed before placing her gently on the twin bed in the middle of the room. He joined her on the bed, hovering over her, not caring that the bed was far too small for the both of them.

“Joel, your arm, we shouldn’t,” Maddie began, but he silenced her with a long, deep kiss.

“So, I hear you are in love with your roommate,” Maddie said. Joel chuckled shyly, his nose rubbing against hers. “Well guess what?” she asked, as he raised an eyebrow at her. “I’m in love with my roommate too,” she told him. His face lit up, and he claimed her lips again.

Joel didn’t want to leave any room for Maddie to doubt his desire for her that night. He took her slowly, thoroughly, his lips and tongue covering every bit of skin he unraveled when undressing her, leaving her moaning, squirming and breathless before she was even naked. When he finally took her soaked underwear off, the growl he let out had her wondering if he was secretly some sort of an animal, and boy oh boy was he one. He devoured her like he was some famished man who had spent his days peeking longingly into the window of a high-class restaurant he couldn’t possibly afford, ravenous from the deprivation of the ultimate feast that seemed unreachable for him until that very moment - her. Joel’s name became a prayer, ranging from desperate whiny whispers all the way to full blown screams that became hoarser and hoarser as the night went on. Maddie swore she saw God at least three times before his shirt was even off, shocked that he still had a full head of those beautiful curls from how hard she was pulling at them, legs shaking, chest heaving, her entire body flushed from the pleasure he had given her.

When she had calmed down, she climbed atop him, slowly torturing him with soft kisses, kitten licks and caresses, taking her time exploring his body, beginning from his eyebrows, going further and further down until he was so hard his entire body was shaking uncontrollably, his brain deprived from all the blood it needed, his words slurred and mumbled. She was amazed by the power she had over him at that moment – Joel Miller, the resident town grump, the man who ran amok through an entire hospital to save his daughter, the heroic alpha who could slash his way through bands of clickers and raiders alike – reduced to babbling nonsensical mumbo jumbo that almost had her giggling from satisfaction. When she slowly lowered his boxers, she blew softly on his unraveled manhood, leaving him gasping for air, his trembling body suddenly stock still from the pleasure a simple puff of air provided. She wet her lips, her mouth watering at the sight, and lowered her head to finally, finally taste him. But before she could even touch him, his hands stopped her, his body flipping her onto her back. He placed his head on her chest, telling her in a strained voice with much certainty that if she were to touch him at that moment, he would spontaneously combust.

Slowly, with their lips locked together in a passionate kiss, he entered her, inch by impressive inch, pulling back slightly, going deeper with each tortuously slow thrust, until he stilled, whispering to her between kisses that he needed a moment, fully encased in her warmth, his thick tip nudging at a spot Maddie never knew existed until now. She forgot how to breathe, her entire body responding to this much welcomed and long overdue union, the coil in her belly bubbling hot just from this one initial nudge, her insides involuntarily clenching to find release. He almost screamed, before composing himself, taking deep breaths, shutting his eyes from her reaction. He begged her, pleaded with her not to move, not to clench, his entire body straining from trying not to burst, his arms holding her tight, his face, neck and chest red from the effort, his teeth gritted, his eyes shut tight, beads of sweat glistening all over his beautiful face. She in turn was begging him over and over to forgive her, her body wasn’t listening to his pleas. She’s sorry, she’s sorry, she’s so very sorry, she couldn’t help it. Despite him not moving at all, she was too close, too hungry, too desperate for release, her core continuously squeezing him so tightly, milking him for all he had to give her, pulsating around him again and again until her entire body shook with unmitigated pleasure, stars bursting behind her eyes, sending her to heaven and back, a silent scream releasing from her open mouth, her hands clutching at his back, her vision whitened, her ears ringing, taking him with her to nirvana.

When she could finally breathe again, the room was quiet, save for their quivering breaths. His body was slumped over hers, his head in the crook of her neck. She held him tight, her fingers absentmindedly drawing circles on his back, a satisfied smile on her face. The silence was finally broken by his muffled voice, mumbled into her neck, before he managed to muster the energy to lift his head, his face red from embarrassment, having finished so early, inciting giggles from her. He buried his face in her neck again, mortified by his body’s betrayal, while she kept assuring him between sweet kisses that he had nothing to be embarrassed about. After all, she said, there’s always the next time. Wiggling his eyebrows, he kissed her with a smile, and promised vehemently that he would make up for it.

And after a short rest, he did make up for it, again and again that night. He made up for it again on Sunday morning despite complaining that the small bed had fucked his back, again after breakfast, while packing, showering, once more before leaving that evening, and one more time for good measure when he finally took her home, to their now shared bedroom.

***

The very tired but glowing couple walked to the clinic Monday morning, fingers entwined with one another’s. Maddie was due to start her shift, and Joel’s back and arm needed looking at, his back extremely sore and some of his stitches ripped from… unplanned strenuous activities. They were greeted by a very annoyed looking Marcus, a bucket of cleaning supplies at his feet. He complained that the apartment smelt like sex, unable to hide the smile behind his faux annoyance. So, Maddie’s sole duty for the day was to sanitize that apartment top to bottom, so that Marcus could actually get his rest there when needed without having to worry about… contamination.

As delusional as Vanessa had been in her concoction of her torrid sexcapades with Joel, she was right about one thing. The man may be middle aged, but he was young where it counted. The man was insatiable. Ever since that Saturday night, he couldn’t leave Maddie alone, hands constantly on her. Whenever they were in the same room, a part of him must be touching her at all times. A hand on her thigh, his little finger hooked on hers, his chest on her back, his arm around her shoulder, his fingers interlaced with hers, his chin on her shoulder, his arms around her waist, and those were when there were others around. When alone, those ‘innocent’ (his words, not hers) touches were always accompanied by his lips on her person, his talented tongue joining in on the action not long after. And well, the rest… followed.

Ellie made sure to knock as loudly as she could before going into any room in the house now, even open areas like the corridor, the living room or the kitchen, using anything she could use to make as much noise as she could, eyes closed tight until Joel or Maddie responded, her mind still haunted by what she saw when she walked in on her parents going at it like rabbits on the couch, which she steadfastly refused to sit on now, even after they made a show of thoroughly cleaning it in front of her.

“It’s the mental image of it, guys, you’re gonna have to scrub my actual brain to get rid of that,” she exclaimed, “Can’t believe you mowed down an entire hospital to save me, and then let me go through THAT…” she mumbled under her breath, shaking her head. “Let’s erm… get the ‘me moving into the garage bit’ going yeah? So, I don’t fear for my mental health much longer?” The girl had been through literal and figurative hell and back, and walking in on her parents having sex was still the worst thing she had ever seen.

Their life and routines together flourished. As far as Jackson were concerned, they were a family. Sure, the ladies still ogled Joel like he was a popsicle on a hot day, but Maddie now knew for sure that he only had eyes for her.

Vanessa had been taken out of Joel’s patrol team and placed on wall duty, partnered with only women, most of whom acted like she wasn’t there unless needed. Life hadn’t been easy for her since that night. Word of her scheming had spread like wildfire, and the ladies of Jackson, even the single ones, avoided her like the plague, worried she would go after their men. Even the men avoided her - save for some shameless lecherous ones who only wanted one thing from her – worried that they would be trapped by her. Safe to say that any hopes for her to settle down and have a family was long gone.

She in turn, avoided the Millers as much as she could, turning around and going another direction whenever she saw them. She couldn’t avoid going to the clinic when she needed treatment, but she had no choice. Thankfully, Maddie and Marcus were much too classy to treat her like a leper, her shame was enough of a punishment without them having to add to it.

***

A year later, Ellie ran into the house in such a rush she didn’t have time to knock, running upstairs, barging into her parents’ room with her eyes closed tight, a hectic scrambling on the bed letting her know she had been right to do so.

“Guys, Tommy sent me, Maria’s in labour!” she yelled.

Maddie and Joel dressed quickly, Maddie telling Ellie to go get Marcus.

“Tommy already went to get him. And eww Maddie, wash your hands! God knows what part of Joel you just touched,” she squirmed, eyes still closed shut. She turned around to leave, muttering under her breath, “With all your canoodling I am shocked Maria’s having a baby and not you…”

Joel and Maddie looked at each other, a knowing smile on their faces.

#joel miller #the last of us fanfiction #tlou fanfiction #joel miller x reader #joel miller fanfiction

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wroteclassicaly · 10 months ago

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A/N: Work week blues. Should be sleeping, but my brain gave me the inspiration for this instead. 18+

“Honey…” He tries again, his fingers finding purchase scratching through your scalp.

You’re flipping around all over the bed, sheets becoming tangled around limbs, body in some eagered frenzy. He nearly whines with you, bushy brows pinched together as you lower yourself further down the mattress, manicured nails playing with the curls of thick leg hair that dust his inner thigh, his boxers having ridden up. He already looked at his watch to see it was almost 12:30 am, and while he doesn’t have a shift at the store in the morning — you do have work in just a few hours.

“Baby, we should be asleep. You know your schedule on Mondays.”

You raise a brow, before pushing one thigh apart from the other, anchoring yourself in between. You’re playfully amused, but your pupils have blown wide, your sclera wet with tears, gaze glazed over. It’s your tell-tale sign of being gone. You let your tongue slide out over your lips, then your teeth, humming as if you’re thinking something over. And then you say it… “I’d rather be sucking you off instead.”

He should be prepared for this, you’re such an insatiable minx. However, there’s also an undeniable desperation in your body language, pitching itself within your tone. You need him. He can feel his own vision beginning to swim with shapes, his feet planted firmly to help his thighs stay up and spread apart so that you can work.

“What do you want me to do, honey? What can I do to make this better for you?”

“Take it out.” You don’t miss a beat, raising onto your haunches to rid yourself of your sleep shirt, immediately beginning to play with your own nipples.

Steve begins to flush, body latching onto its own personal heatwave. He does as directed, his cock embarrassingly rock hard already, and difficult to peel off the fabric of his tight briefs. He’s sticky with his own pre-cum, an appreciative whimpering noise you make, letting him know you see that he’s gotten himself too wet taking off his underwear, that it’s slicked all through the bush at his base.

“Fuck, give it to me. I want it now.” You’re ever-so the lady, waiting on permission, saliva causing your mouth to water with an overflowing.

Steve’s voice has given way to something lower, deeper, and bitten with a honey hot claim. Folding one freckle and mole spattered arm behind his head, showing off his biceps, he’s nearly hoarse when he consents. “Go on, honey, take it. It’s yours.”

His cock jumps and slaps back against his stomach from the first hot breath that you give. Your smaller palm sliding into your panties and beginning a sopping wet rhythm as you nose down his warm, velvet shaft, all the way to that cream covered thatch of curls. You’re watching him the same way that he watches you from a similar position, and then you’re like a wild woman — inhaling. Steve tries to catch himself, but it’s too late. The action has him throbbing once more, his girth slapping against your cheek and jaw.

“Always smell so fucking good, Stevie. I could stay down here all week, get fired, and be happy if I could do this full time.”

“W-whatever you want, baby. I’ll do it for you.”

You leave kisses along his shaft now, still touching yourself, something that does not go unnoticed by Steve. It should be humiliating how close he is, just by this, but he doesn’t feel any of that with you. Only safety and love. He tries to convey that within the next few moments, and you pick it up automatically, sharing a soft smile. One that fades into that cheeky little grin he’s grown so fond of, even before your relationship began.

“You wanna do somethin’ else to me, don’t you, honey?”

You appear shy for a fraction of a second, but you hold up your finger to trace that defining vein along his cock, similar to the one that runs along his forearm, your fingertip circling the head, before you enclose your fist. Steve’s breathing accelerates and he groans from within his diaphragm.

“Yeah? You gonna find my spot again until I soak my own chest? Fill up your mouth, maybe?”

“Stevie…” You’re completely fucked out, running on adrenaline, schedule be damned.

“That’s it, isn’t it? You wanna play with my ass, huh?”

And you both know that your non verbal communication is enough of an answer. As for you? You definitely fall asleep at work the next day.

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hannahbisssssss · 15 days ago

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Dinner and Diatribes (Nandor the Relentless x fem!Reader)

Author's Note: When asked to write this piece, I wanted to make it special for those waiting so long for its arrival. This will be split into two parts. I currently have part one (the majority of the work) done. However, chapter two is strictly NSFW and I'm separating both parts in case that doesn't interest you. I should be done with part two by tonight, so keep an eye out for it.

Warnings: Overprotective brother Guillermo, horny Nandor (duh), and an innocent reader. Take that as you will. Blood and violence (also duh)

Word count: 11,000+

Requested by @binks1004

This will also be posted on AO3 by tonight!

I sigh softly as I finish putting the last touches on my homework. Another assignment done. I look at the clock that resides next to my desk. 12:30 in the morning: shit… I should have been out of the dorms ages ago. I promised Guillermo that I would go to sleep earlier tonight because I wanted to make my way over to his house in the morning. Well, it’s not like I haven’t gotten less sleep before and still survived.

Suddenly, my phone rings, and I jump in surprise. I check the caller ID… Guillermo. Shit. I hesitantly pick up the phone after letting it ring a couple times.

“Hello?” My tentative voice rings out.

“You should be asleep.” Guillermo’s voice sounds disappointed but not surprised. I almost hear the eye roll in his voice.

“Why would you call me if you didn’t know I was asleep or not? Who knows, maybe you just woke me up.” There’s a hint of snarkiness in my voice. As Guillermo’s younger sister, I felt occasionally obligated to annoy him.

“You were last active on Instagram 15 minutes ago.” Guillermo’s ‘I gotcha’ voice is laid on thick.

“…Whoops?” He laughs on the other line.

“Whoops is right. You need to go to bed, Y/N.” I feel the exasperation start to rise within me.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. I had homework to get done before winter break. Is that so wrong of me to want to spend my full time and attention with you when I’m there at your house?” I decide to guilt trip him. I hear Guillermo sigh before I hear heavy footsteps on the line.

“Guillermo? Who are you speaking to?” The voice is distant, but I can swear I hear the essence of a Middle Eastern accent. The phone is clearly covered by one of Guillermo’s sweaters, as I can’t hear much of the conversation after that. I think I pick up the words ‘master,’ ‘sister,’ and ‘visiting.’ By the time Guillermo uncovers the phone, he responds almost sheepishly.

“Sorry. My roommate.” I am hit with the remembrance that Guillermo has four other housemates that he lives with.

“Oh, right… who was that?” My curiosity is piqued now.

“Nandor.” Guillermo says curtly.

“Nandor.” I repeat, testing the name on my tongue. “Is he nice?” Guillermo sighs.

“Sometimes.” I laugh.

“I’m sure we’ll get along just fine, then.” I try to assure him.

“Sure. Y/N, please go to sleep before you end up driving over here like an exhausted zombie.”

“Alright, alright. I’ll go to sleep, but don’t be shocked when you see I’m active on Instagram for the next 15 minutes: I have a routine, you know?” I hear Guillermo stifle a chuckle.

“Yeah, okay.”

“You know you love me.” I tease.

“Of course I do. That doesn’t mean you can’t be insufferable.” He teases back.

“That’s the fun of having a sibling, I think.” Guillermo doesn’t hide his laughter this time.

“Goodnight, Y/N.” I can hear the chiding in his voice.

“Goodnight, Guillermo.” I hang up the phone and make my way over to my bed. I’m a lot more tired than I previously thought, as I plug in my phone within five minutes of my nightly doom scroll routine.

The drive over to Guillermo’s house is nothing special. It’s cold, with some snow falling, but nothing I can’t handle. As I made my way over the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, I feel myself getting a little nervous. What if Guillermo’s roommates don’t like me? What if I end up biting off more than I can chew with this trip? I mean, I’m staying for an entire month. Certainly his roommates would get annoyed with me after staying with them for so long.

Before I can panic myself any longer, I realize that I’m already at his doorstep. I raise my hand to knock on the door, but Guillermo is already there.

“Y/N.” He says fondly. I smile and let my hand drop.

“Hi, Guillermo.” We smile and hug and get all the niceties out of the way.

“Did you end up sleeping well?”

“After scrolling on Instagram for approximately five minutes, yeah.”

“I noticed you weren’t active super long. I was hoping that meant you were asleep and not on that one website I don’t know about.”

“Character.AI?” I say with a laugh. He laughs too.

“Yeah, that one. Who’s your current fictional character of choice?”

“I’m embarrassed to say…” I fidget with my hands for a moment.

“Now you have to tell me.”

“I most certainly do not.”

As I walk in the house, I am met with an ornately-decorated foyer. The chandelier hanging from the ceiling looks quite beautiful, and I can’t help but stare in awe.

“Like it?” Guillermo looks at me taking in the scenery.

“Holy crap, you must spend a fortune living here.” He laughs at this response.

“If only you knew…” I give him an odd look but decide to drop it.

“Well, it’s 9:30 in the morning… What would you like to do?” I ask him with a pleasant smile.

“Did you eat breakfast?” I shake my head.

“Let’s do that first, that way you’ll be prepared for any activities I have set up for you today.” Guillermo says with a smile.

“Ooh, what kind of activities are we talking?”

“I’ll show you around Staten Island, and that’ll give me time to debrief you on each of my roommates.”

“Yeah, where are they? You’d think they’d be up by now.” Guillermo suddenly starts to fidget with his hands.

“They’re kind of nocturnal.” I look bewildered at this statement. “They work at the railroad, so they have weird hours.”

“But I thought… I thought you also worked at the railroad.” Guillermo looks stunned and a little frightened by my statement. “I-I do…” Guillermo looks down at his hands.

“Guillermo. I’ve known you long enough to know when you’re telling a lie. Did you get fired or something?” He perks up at my statement.

“Fired, yup! I’m just trying to look for new work, so I’ve been keeping busy with the upkeep of this house. Please, don’t tell mom.” I nod in solidarity.

“Of course I won’t. Your secret’s safe with me.” Guillermo smiles and visibly relaxes. Suddenly, another figure walks in the room. He’s bald, wearing a vest, and carrying a cup of coffee in his hand.

“Who’s this?” I perk up as he makes his way out of the kitchen. Guillermo shoots him a warning look. For what reason, I can’t be too sure.

“That’s Colin Robinson.” Colin raises his cup as a friendly gesture.

“Hello… You must be Y/N. Guillermo told us you were coming. You’re in for a lot of fun.” I smile at Colin, as he seems friendly enough.

“Yes! I’m Y/N, nice to meet you. I sure hope I don’t become a nuisance too quickly.” He smirks at my statement.

“Oh, I don’t think that will be a problem.” Guillermo shoots Colin another warning glare and for a moment, I could swear that Colin’s eyes brightened. Guillermo quickly takes my hand and leads me out of the house.

“We’ll be back later, Colin.” I look at Guillermo, confused.

“What about breakfast?” He tugs at my arm again.

“I’ll buy you breakfast, okay?” Guillermo closes and locks the door behind him, rolling his eyes at the thought of Colin.

“He seemed nice.” I try to give him a reassuring smile.

“Yeah, well ‘seeming’ isn’t everything. Colin Robinson is one of the most annoying creatures on this planet.” I laugh a little at this statement.

“Alright, I’ll keep that in mind. Breakfast?” Guillermo smiles back at me.

“Breakfast.”

The two of us take Guillermo’s car throughout Staten Island. A diner, a mall, a work building, everything that sees me throughout the day sees a smile on my face. The minutes turned to hours and I suddenly feel the sisterly urge to connect with Guillermo.

“I’ve missed seeing you.” I break the silence with my voice, knowing the words would ring true. Guillermo nearly trips in the shoe store we’re currently walking through.

“I’ve missed you, too.” Is his simple reply.

“I just don’t think you’d be able to understand the depth of my statement. I really fucked things up.” Guillermo stops this time, looking at me as I speak, as if seeing me for the first time in his life.

I don’t come from a functional family. I grew up Catholic, fatherless, and forced to grow up fast. The weight I bear is not something easily shaken. My mother loved me dearly, but was always worried about Guillermo. He was 7 years older than me. He didn’t have many friends growing up on account of his rather odd hobbies. By association, when I finally reached the age he was when he first started getting bullied, I was left friendless and alone.

Life as an emotionally-mature person in an emotionally-immature body often led to grief beyond the imaginable. I knew as I grew up that there were things I would never experience. Teenage romance, of course, was the least-established of my facilities. The days boys would hit on me were over… Nobody wanted to be friends with the girl whose brother believed in vampires. What if it runs in the family?

“I really messed up. I should have been reaching out more. College fucked me up and I think I was still holding a–” The words spill forth before I can even think. I only recently got in touch with Guillermo a few months back.

“You were never supposed to be taking care of me. I was supposed to be doing that for you. I should have listened to your feelings; spoken about your hurt.” Guillermo’s words nearly tear at my heart. There are moments like these with one’s family members that help one realize just how connected blood really makes us. Seconds turn to minutes turn to us sitting on the floor and crying together while a Shoe Carnival employee checks in on us.

The day passes a lot more calmly than earlier. I’m not sure exactly how many times I am warned about each of his roommates.

“It really sounds like you don’t enjoy living with them.” Guillermo grimaces at my words as if struck.

“I do enjoy living with them, but they are a particular bunch. I know you can be, too. I just don’t want anyone butting heads with you; they’d do that even if I were to specifically ask.” My face softens at my brother’s words.

“It’s only one month. It’ll be alright.”

When we make our way back to Guillermo’s house, the lights are on and I can see shadow figures moving around inside, albeit with some paper in the way.

“Guillermo?” I ask quietly.

“Yes?” He follows my gaze before going silent.

“What’s the paper for?”

“They’re very private people. Who would I be to judge?” Guillermo nearly chokes on his answer.

“Do you think it was a good idea to invite me to spend my winter break with you?” I feel Guillermo’s warm hands clasp around my freezing left one.

“I would do anything to ensure your comfortability here. They’ll behave, I promise.” He shuts the car off and makes his way out of the vehicle, motioning for me to do the same. We make our way to the porch and Guillermo takes the jingling keys out of his pocket. As he opens the door, I peek into the foyer. Nothing. Nobody.

“Where did they go?” My voice asks softly. Guillermo gives me a smile that could be perceived as tentative.

“Probably the fancy room. The curtain is shut.” I immediately shrink into myself at his words.

“They know I’m here. I should leave–” I begin frantically.

“No, Y/N, please stay. We can go and introduce you.”

“Memo, please. I know you’ve lived with them longer than since we lost contact with one another. I don’t want them to think to ask you why we stopped speaking.” There’s a rustling heard behind the curtain as it’s pulled aside. Standing on the other side of the curtain is a black-haired woman with green highlights. She is dressed in Victorian garb and looks superb.

“I take it you are Y/N.” She says in her Greecian lilt. I give her a bright smile; years of acting makes switching from emotions a thing to do with ease.

“Yes, I am. Hi! Are you Nadja?” She smiles at me and I immediately take notice of her sharp canine teeth. Odd.

“The one and only. Come, come, you must meet the others since Gizmo won’t be introducing you himself.” Guillermo rolls his eyes and makes his way to the fancy room with a huff. Inside the room are two men. One sits on the couch with a pipe in his mouth, occasionally blowing out puffs of smoke. He shoots me a suave smile and I recognize his sharpened canines as well. I mentally take note of that as I look at him.

“My darling, who did you bring for us to meet?” His voice is strained and clearly fake. He knows exactly who I am. “This is Y/N, Gizmo’s beautiful sister who he never speaks of.” My face flushes a deep red and I feel Guillermo preen behind me. There is a throat clearing heard from the corner of the room. Out steps a figure that dwarfs the others. He is tall and imposing and every bit of the name I know him to have: Nandor.

“Be nice to Guillermo, Nadja. You do not want to scare off his sister.” He steps closer and I feel his steps, both graceful and lumbering, get closer and closer. He is wearing a furred cape with some other cultural garb that does not seem from the United States in the slightest. He makes his way over to me with his broad chest leading the rest of his body. I almost pass out as I look up at him, feeling the air in my throat constrict.

“Nandor.” He says in his baritone, holding a hand out for me. “Nandor the Relentless.” My mouth opens and closes like a fish before I spit out my own name.

“Relentless? Why’s that.” He doesn’t need to answer, as I’m sure I’d believe any answer he gives me.

“Y/N. You have a very lovely name, as well as a lovely curiosity about you.” He replies.

“Thank you, that’s quite kind of you.” I recognize now that I still haven’t taken his hand and I do, trying to shake it frantically before realizing how immovable he is. His steady hand lifts my hand to his lips as he keeps eye-contact with me. Normally, I’d explode from the attention, but I immediately clock his fangs.

“Is something wrong?” Guillermo’s voice chimes in and I realize I must have been staring. I blink a couple of times and come back to reality, noticing Nandor’s lips are still on my hand. Guillermo takes notice as well and swats at my arm. I pull it back in surprise and Nandor’s deep voice chuckles behind me.

“Careful with this one. She’s fragile.” Nandor’s voice is both teasing and deadly serious, as if sending a warning to his roommates. Guillermo tugs my arm and leads me out of the room. I wave at Nandor and he gives me a smirk I can only describe as fond yet… hungry. After Guillermo drags me out of the room, I immediately round on him.

“You live with a bunch of cosplayers?” Guillermo shrinks from my anger.

“They’re quite eccentric people when they’re not working at the railroad.”

“Speaking of, why the fuck are they here playing dress-up when they should be at work?”

“It’s a Saturday evening.” I deflate with Guillermo’s response. He’s right, of course.

“Okay. I’m off to bed.” Guillermo gives me an apologetic smile and as I turn away, I realize I have absolutely no idea where I’m going.

“Upstairs to the right.”

“Thank you.” I respond curtly before making my way up the stairs. When I make it to the top of the stairs and take the first right, I close the door behind me and take a deep breath. After my brain runs silent for a few moments, I decide to use the bathroom and brush my teeth. Of course, that meant exiting my bedroom, and I did not want to do that just yet. I wanted to take everything in. I look at my bed frame, an ornate metal one with a stained glass lamp on the nightstand next to it. Jesus, they took this whole cosplaying thing very seriously.

Guillermo’s POV

“Are you fucking kidding me? I asked you guys to do one thing: act normal! How hard is that? You were humans once, too!” Guillermo’s whisper shouting is quieted by Nandor, who places his hand on Guillermo’s shoulder.

“Laszlo, Nadja, leave us.” Nandor waves a dismissive hand at them.

“Fuck off.” Nadja’s voice is the first to pipe in. Laszlo is quick to recover as he stands and grabs his wife’s shoulders.

“Nadja, how about you and I go to our room and… discuss this new development in the house.” Both Guillermo and Nandor bristle at his statement for the very same reason. Laszlo drags Nadja out of the room before either of them could chide the married couple. When they finally leave, Nandor looks down at Guillermo.

“I would like to court her.” He says blatantly. Guillermo feels as if he had just been electrocuted.

“Fuck no.” Guillermo is quick to recover from his immediate shock.

“Guillermo, she is a beautiful, unwed woman of childbearing age. Would you enjoy watching your sister turn into a spinster?”

“Not any more than I’d enjoy watching her turn into your concubine.” Nandor looks as if he could snap his bodyguard’s neck. “You will not be courting my sister, and I’m so fucking serious. She’s a Van Helsing as well – she could kill you without a second thought.” Nandor perks up at this statement.

“I do enjoy a challenge.” Nandor’s voice is smug and steady. Guillermo storms out of the room, making his way to his room under the stairs.

Y/N's POV

The house is cold and quiet. The fire in the living room does not create enough heat to reach where I am. Guillermo set up the room nicely, with a few extra blankets that will not go unused. I smile to myself as I make my way out of the room to head to the bathroom. Unfortunately, I smack into the chest of the person waiting outside my door. Nandor. He gives me a smirk, one of the fangs popping out of his lip.

“Hello, little Y/N.” I nearly shiver at his voice, but maintain my composure.

“Hi Nandor. Sorry, I should have been paying more attention.” He gives me a friendly smile.

“You are quite alright. Do not feel bad. I was standing right outside your door, so I should be the one apologizing.” Nandor’s hands are clasped behind his back, making him look quite serious and almost otherworldly.

“Yes. What were you doing outside my door anyway?” I look skeptical of him.

“I wanted to apologize for causing any strife between your brother and you.” Now that was an answer I was not expecting. I swallow and try my best to not look phased.

“I don’t know what you mean.” Nandor chuckles at my words, a deep and smooth sound.

“Guillermo clearly cares deeply for you. I wouldn’t want to make a bad first impression.” Nandor’s voice is genuine, without a hint of any of the confident bravado he carried earlier.

“I know he cares for me. Sorry, I’m incredibly tired and have to get ready for bed.” I gently scoot him out of the way and make it to the bathroom without looking back. I lock the door behind me, standing before the mirror in front of me. It is a humbling sight: I look as though the exhaustion I’ve felt since I was 12 was surfacing all at once. Realizing my face was getting red with that discovery, I covered my face to cry.

What I could not see beyond the door was a stunned Nandor, able to hear my soft cries. He did nothing, and yet here I am, angrier than ever. I stayed in the bathroom for a long while, knowing I could not go out and face him again.

Nandor’s POV

As he stares at the bathroom door, all he can feel is completely helpless about the situation. Had he said something wrong? What did he do? All he said was that your brother cared about you. Was that so wrong? Nandor awkwardly shuffles to his bedroom, closing the door to drown out your cries. He could hear them slow and eventually stop, listening to your feet shuffle back to the room across his. He wants to try again, to reach out and tap your door; to ask you what’s wrong. He doesn’t. Of course he doesn’t. He tries to ignore the feelings your emotions stirred within him as he listens to your breathing even out as you fall asleep.

Next Morning - Y/N’s POV

I wake up the next morning feeling completely out of it. As I opened my eyes, I felt all the emotions slam into me as they did last night. Fuck. Had I really gotten that emotional around Nandor? I knew that my emotions had gotten the better of me, and I wanted to apologize to him. He couldn’t have known that my and Guillermo’s relationship was a sore spot. Of course he wouldn’t have known that: Guillermo has always liked to keep his shame hidden. I sit up in my bed and groan, trying to catch my bearings. His door is right across from mine… Maybe I could sneak over and speak with him.

Why I felt so drawn to Nandor, I couldn’t explain. Maybe it’s because he’s incredibly handsome, or maybe it’s due to the fact that he has no clue about me. A clean slate. That’s certainly what I felt I deserved at this moment.

I stand and make my way over to my door, opening it and running into someone for the second time in under 12 hours. I’m surprised to see that it’s Guillermo.

“I’m so sorry,” are the first words that leave his mouth. I look at him skeptically. “Nandor told me you were upset last night. I should have known.” My face heats up in embarrassment.

“It’s no big deal, really. I was just upset–”

“Stop. Please stop lying on my behalf. I’m your older brother, and I fucked up. I haven’t told you the whole truth.” That stops me dead in my tracks.

“What are you talking about?” Guillermo takes my hand and looks at me with an emotion on his face I can’t quite read.

“I know I’ve been obsessed with vampires since I was a kid, and I hoped above hope that they were real. So real that I went looking to find them. I found a job application when I was 19 that seemed suspicious enough, so I showed up here: to this house,” I shake my head in confusion as Guillermo continues. “I was met by Nandor at the front door, who took me in for an interview. The job detailed the upkeep of the house and what being a servant–a familiar would be like.”

“A familiar? What the hell are you talking about?” Guillermo takes my hand and continues.

“I haven’t been working at the railroad for all of these years… I’ve been working for Nandor, Nadja, Laszlo, and Colin Robinson. I’m a familiar. They’re vampires.” My face turns blank for the first few seconds after he said the words I desperately did not want to hear.

“Are you serious?” I can see Guillermo’s face fall. “After all these years, you still don’t care about how your actions affect other people. Do you know what it was like? Taking care of mom when all she wanted to do was see her son. Getting bullied at school for being your sister?” I wrench my hand from Guillermo’s grasp. “I get that us getting back on speaking terms is new and exciting because I’ve missed you, but don’t fuck with me about this,” Guillermo quickly grabs my hand again and drags me to Nandor’s room.

“I can prove it. Look,” Guillermo opens the door to Nandor’s room and there, laying in the middle of the room, is a large coffin made from some of the finest wood I’d ever seen.

“What the actual hell,” my voice is quiet but certainly not calm. “What is this?”

“This is where Nandor sleeps. He sleeps during the day because he’s a vampire, not because he works night shifts. If he touches the sunlight, it hurts him. And if he steps fully into the sun, it will kill him. That’s why the windows are boarded up; that’s why this house looks so haunted: because it is. It’s haunted by the vampires who have lived in it for over 100 years,” I cover my face again and pull my hand from Guillermo’s grasp.

“You’ve actually been galavanting around with vampires for over a decade?” I am dangerously calm.

“I don’t know if ‘galavanting’ is the right word, but–”

“Well, what would you call it? Leaving your family behind to live with vampires. Some fantastical fucking dream you got to have,” I turn away from Nandor’s coffin, feeling scorned.

“Y/N, I’m so sorry. I can’t take back those years that I left you and mamá, but I want to make up for it.”

“You left us! For years, you left us! And what am I supposed to do? Be fine that you were gone for so long, only to be living your dream,” I sit against the wall, sliding to the floor. “While I was stuck taking care of mamá, who wanted nothing more than to have her son back. Do you know what that’s like?” Guillermo takes a step closer to me, slowly sitting next to me.

“No. I don’t. But I want to. It’s not fair that I was gone, but I want to have you back in my life–”

“Did you tell mamá?” Guillermo looks ashamed and it’s all the answer I need. “Why would you ever trust me with this secret?”

“Because I can’t try to satisfy you with lies. I’ve done that for long enough,” Guillermo looks at me with such sincerity it almost hurts. I sigh, feeling a headache coming on.

“Is there anything else I should know?” I look at him from between my fingers.

“...We are descendants of the Van Helsing family,” I immediately groan and put my head back in my hands.

“What does that entail?” Guillermo takes a breath as he prepares to explain.

“It means that you’re probably unnaturally good at spotting vampires. I noticed you noticing their teeth last night,” I look up at Guillermo again.

“You did?” Guillermo laughs at my question.

“Maybe it’s why I was so good and seeking vampires out in the first place,” a small smile appears on my face at his statement.

“Guillermo De La Cruz: always alone, traversing between two worlds,” I give him a smile as I take my hands off my face.

“Not alone anymore,” he replies with an openness I had not yet seen from him.

“Not anymore, no,” Guillermo wraps an arm around my shoulders, pulling me close to him.

“Yes, yes, that’s nice. Now Guillermo, please flee from my room with your sister so I may slumber,” comes a voice from the coffin. I almost forgot we were in Nandor’s room. I laugh at his words.

“Shit, sorry Nandor,” Guillermo says as he stands, pulling me to my feet.

“Yeah, we’ll go,” I say as I start to leave the room. Guillermo closes the door behind him and looks at me a moment before we both start laughing.

“Whoops,” Guillermo says first.

“I guess I didn’t think vampires could be light sleepers,” I reply.

“They most certainly can. Breakfast?” Guillermo asks.

“Yeah, just give me a few minutes to do my morning routine. I need to brush the heart-to-heart out of my teeth,” Guillermo laughs and makes his way down the stairs.

“See you in a few!”

After taking the time to do my morning routine, I make my way down the staircase to the kitchen. Before I can get there, I’m intercepted by Colin Robinson, who is, once again, holding a cup of coffee and wearing another vest. I shuffle nervously on my feet, now come to the realization that I am surrounded by vampires.

“What makes you so different?” I blurt before I can stop myself. Colin looks bewildered. “Good morning to you, too,” he mutters.

“I’m sorry. Good morning. What I meant was, if you’re a vampire like everyone else, why can you be awake in the daytime?” Colin takes a sip of his coffee.

“Your first assumption was incorrect: I am not like everyone else. I’m an energy vampire: a daywalker,” I nod at his explanation, though I’m still confused. “I feed off of people’s negative energy. Energy vampires are the most common of vampires, and I’m sure you’ve met some before meeting me.”

“Are you draining me right now?” I ask cautiously. Colin seems to find this amusing.

“No, no. I do it when you least expect it.” His words hang in the air for a moment before Guillermo peaks out of the kitchen.

“Leave her alone, Colin,” Colin’s eyes glow blue at Guillermo’s words. So his eyes were glowing yesterday.

“Go and enjoy breakfast. I sure have enjoyed mine,” Colin smirks before walking away. I make my way to the kitchen and prepare for the rest of the day.

The rest of the day is rather mundane. Guillermo told me I should start getting used to taking naps in the daytime if I wanted to spend time with the vampires. When asking him if he was going to take a nap, he merely laughed.

“The job of a vampire’s bodyguard is never-ending,” he responded.

“I thought you were a familiar,” I eye him.

“I was, until the vampires got attacked by other vampires,” Guillermo responds as if it’s the most normal thing in the world. I guess, for him, it has been his normal.

“Should I be worried?”

“Not with that Van Helsing blood in you,” Guillermo nudged me. “Now get some rest.” So I did. The day was spent in a mostly-dreamless slumber as I tried to preserve my energy for the nighttime. Being a college student, changing my sleep schedule was certainly not hard. I woke up to my alarm and checked the time, seven o’clock. I rub my eyes and sit up, seeing the sun had already set below the sky. Being wintertime, it gets dark a lot earlier than I’d like. Maybe vampires enjoyed the winter more for that same reason.

While pondering existential questions about vampirism, I peek out my door to make sure I won’t run into anyone else. As I look across the hallway, I see Nandor’s door is already open. I make my way over to his room, trying to be as quiet as possible, as if sneaking into somewhere I shouldn’t be.

I look inside his door and see his coffin opened. As I survey the rest of the room, I do not find him anywhere.

“It is rude to try and sneak up on a vampire such as myself,” I jump in surprise and turn around. Nandor stares at me, a smirk playing at his lips.

“I wasn’t–I didn’t–” He chuckles in that same deep baritone.

“You’re not too sneaky for a Van Helsing,” I stand a little taller and cross my arms.

“Van Helsing or not, I’m still a De La Cruz,” Nandor raises an eyebrow at me.

“I can see the resemblance between your brother and you. Come, would you like to sit?” Nandor gestures to a couple of chairs in his room. “The others are probably out hunting for the night,” I feel my blood go cold at his words. Nandor chuckles again before speaking, “Don’t worry – I ate yesterday in preparation for your arrival,” I feel his eyes on me as I sit in the chair. He moves to sit next to me.

“Do you… kill people?”

��Yes,” his response is quick and almost cold.

“Do you enjoy it?” Nandor sighs.

“Only sometimes. Those are boring questions. I hear them too often. Let’s talk about something more interesting,” Nandor feigns a yawn which elicits a smile from me.

“How old are you?” Nandor peers down at me from the corner of his eye, smiling.

“I am over seven hundred years old. How old are you?” I suddenly feel much more shy and self-conscious. “Oh, come now, don’t tell me you don’t want to answer any of my questions.”

“I’m 23,” I respond quickly, as if challenging his words.

“But a sprout amongst the trees,” Nandor’s words flow from him. “Y/N, I like your name.”

“Thank you… It’s a family name. Where does ‘Nandor’ originate?” Nandor smiles proudly.

“From Hungary. It’s a version of ‘Ferdinand,’” Nandor says the name with a hint of distaste.

“You’re Hungarian?” Nandor immediately shakes his head.

“No. I’m from Al Quolnidar. It used to be part of the Ottoman Empire, but now would be southern Iran.”

“I feel like I’m getting a history lesson,” I say with a laugh.

“Do you enjoy learning?” Nandor asks, blinking slowly at me. I pause for a moment, wondering how to respond.

“Yes, I think I do,” Nandor’s chest seems to puff up proudly, like a bird showing off his feathers.

“Then I shall give you history lessons whenever you please.”

And he does. Days pass in the house and I always await Nandor’s rising in the night. I spend some of my time getting to know everyone in the house, but Nandor, of course, steals my attention most of the time. We spend long evenings and nights getting to know one another. Yet, it feels as though my life is not as exciting as his. No matter how many times I state this fear, Nandor is quick to respond.

“Just because I’m ancient doesn’t mean I’m more interesting.” We agree to disagree on this front. During the nights we are not speaking to one another, Guillermo catches us stealing glances at one another in the kitchen or the library. He, of course, knows we both have feelings for one another, but tries to inform me of how stupid and dangerous that is. I hush him up every time, telling him to let me have my fun, as there’s no possible way Nandor feels the same way about me. Guillermo shuts up every time, going back to whatever he’s doing. During one of our nightly talks, Nandor begins to open up a bit more about his love life.

“I had 37 husbands and wives,” I nearly spit out my drink at the number.

“Shit, I realize this is probably insensitive, but how did you keep up with all of them?” Nandor laughs and waves off my question.

“I loved 35 of them, so it was relatively easy. The other two were political marriages: women meant to bear my children to carry on my name,” I try not to blush at the thought.

“That must have been nice–having so many partners to spend time with,” I try to spin the situation.

“Oh no, I spent most of my time with my concubines when I was on the battlefield,” I, once again, try not to choke on my drink.

“Did you ever think it was enough?” The words fall from my lips before I can reign them in. Nandor looks at me, surprised by my question.

“No… I suppose I didn’t,” I frown at his response.

“Do you ever think about settling down?” The dam has opened.

“I’m a vampire. All I ever think about is settling down for eternity. I lived enough lives by being a conqueror as a human,” Nandor looks at his glass, half-empty with AB+ blood.

“Seven hundred years is a long time to be alive. I feel like I’ve lived through enough as a 23-year-old,” Nandor gives me a look.

“You’re still young,” he says as a matter-of-fact statement. “Let the world open up to you.”

“I think I have had enough of the world opening up to me,” I begin to swirl the wine in my glass.

“What do you mean?” Nandor’s curiosity is piqued.

“Helping out a single mom since you were 12 is not exactly a job for sheltered individuals,” I say with a sigh. “My mom needed someone to help out around the house after Guillermo left. I was that someone. It wasn’t all that bad, but it was hard.”

Nandor is suddenly hit with the crushing realization that he inadvertently did this to you. He took away Guillermo, he made it nearly impossible for Guillermo to reach out and speak to his family. Nandor takes a sip from his glass. If his face could blush, it would certainly be burning from his shame right now.

“I’m sorry,” is his only reply. I give him a smile, one that he recognizes as a friendly but tired look.

“Don’t be. It shaped me into who I am. I like me,” I say simply.

“I hope you don’t mind if I were to ask you about your father?” Nandor immediately wishes he could take back his words once he watches my face fall.

“I don’t remember much. He was a piece of crap who bullied our mother for a living. When he finally decided to get lost, I couldn’t help but feel abandoned. My mom loved me as best as she could, but that doesn’t mean it was what I needed,” I say before taking another sip of my wine. “Blood is thick, though. I am forever appreciative that I got this opportunity to reunite with Guillermo, even if that means having my worldview shattered,” I say with a laugh.

“How do you do it?” Nandor asks as he studies my face.

“How do I do what?”

“How do you speak about such things with a smile on your face? You should be crying.”

“I weep when I’m alone,” I tell him as I look into my glass again. “It’s not very becoming of me to cry in front of people I don’t know that well, now is it?” Nandor also looks into his glass before looking back up at me.

“I would like to know you,” Nandor says those words simply, as if it wasn’t a declaration.

“I don’t think you would. I’m broken–” I start.

“I don’t know why you’ve convinced yourself you’re not worth knowing. You’re allowed to be angry with me, you know? I took your brother away for years, causing you to have to raise yourself. I would understand completely if you chose to hate me,” Nandor’s words spill forth like a waterfall.

“I don’t hate you,” my face is burning.

“Why?” Nandor’s question is exasperated.

“I’m not sure, but I don’t. You’ve given me every chance in the world to speak freely, but I don’t feel like hating you. It does not change the past, nor does it heal the future. I think just being in your presence now is a comfort. One I should not take for granted,” Nandor is stunned into silence.

“Can I kiss you?” I am stunned by this question. I stand abruptly before getting ready to leave.

“I should get going,” I close the door before he has the chance to respond.

Nandor’s POV

By the end of the night, Nandor’s room looks as if a tornado blew through it. Once he heard you leave the house, he began to destroy everything within it. He threw his glass of blood at the wall, watching it shatter with a cruel satisfaction. Of course you would not reciprocate. You’re too full of life, too wonderful, too good for him. Nandor roars in anger at each of these thoughts, destroying some of the furniture in his room. All that remains untouched are his coffin and the paintings of himself on the wall: all a cruel reminder of the warlord he was. The violent, cruel, evil dictator who took lives without care. Of course you felt the need to run away for the night. He made you uncomfortable, and he couldn’t blame you for feeling that way.

At some point in the night, there is a knock at his door. Nandor rounds on Guillermo, hissing as he stares at his bodyguard.

“Leave me,” Nandor’s words are cold and angry. But Guillermo does not leave.

“What happened?” His question brings forth a thousand more thoughts in Nandor’s head, who clutches it as if it is going to explode.

“She left. I scared her away,” Nandor’s voice cracks from emotion, and he curses himself for it, finding a book on his nightstand and ripping it apart.

“What? How?” Nandor storms over to Guillermo, towering above him intimidatingly.

“Leave. Me.”

“This is my sister we’re talking about. My sister, who is alone in the streets of Staten Island because of you. Now, tell me what happened,” Guillermo’s temper almost matches Nandor’s. Nandor lets out a frustrated huff before explaining what happened.

“She was never angry with me. Never angry at me, the monster who kept her brother away from her for 14 years. She held no bitterness towards me about it,” Nandor turns around to hide his shame. “None, until of course, when I ruined it by asking to kiss her,” Guillermo falls silent with these words.

“We have to go find her. She couldn’t have gotten far–” Guillermo begins, trying to ignore the feelings stirring within him.

“We don’t have to do anything. You will go and find her. I have done enough for tonight,” Nandor hisses, throwing a glare at Guillermo over his shoulder. There’s a pause between them before Guillermo glares back at Nandor.

“Fine. Next time, stay away from my sister,” the door slams behind him and Nandor jumps, quickly returning to destroying his room.

Guillermo’s POV

She couldn’t have gotten far. That’s the only thing he can think as he goes out to look for you. You couldn’t have gone too far. Guillermo, met with constant lefts and rights, decides to follow a path he had taken you on during one of your many daily adventures through Staten Island. Left, left, right, straight for a few miles… You couldn’t have gone far. He tries to think of all the possible places you could have gone.

You took your car, of course. You left in your car to do whatever you wanted, and he had no chance to stop it. Suddenly, he remembers the pang of disappointment he felt in his stomach when you said you enjoyed going to bars. He took you to a bar a couple days ago. It had food, greasy food, but it also had drinks. That’s probably where you went. He tries to stuff down the thought of you drunk driving. You wouldn’t.

Guillermo feels an immense sense of relief when he sees your car outside the bar. He opens the doors, a sense of peace washing over him. That is, until he realizes you aren’t there. Guillermo’s panic rises within him again as he looks around. He asks the bartender if he saw you – he hadn’t. You were sending him on a wild goose chase. Guillermo clutches his head in frustration, trying to think of where else you could be. That is, of course, until he hears you scream.

Y/N’s POV

I wanted to go to the bar for the shitty food. I knew it would make me feel much better after running away from Nandor. I had been mentally kicking myself the entire night over Nandor’s question. Why did I leave? I cover my face as I sit at the front sidewalk of the bar.

Commitment issues. It was always commitment issues. I felt so embarrassed for leaving Nandor hanging, but I was terrified when he asked to kiss me. I wanted to, of course, but I had never… I mean, what would come next? Marriage? Sex? The last thought sends a shiver through me. He’s a vampire. I’m just a blip in his long existence: an impermanent thing. I cover my face and groan to get myself free of those thoughts. Standing up to go into the bar, I reach the front door before I feel my arm grabbed by some stranger, dragging me away with a hand over my mouth.

I’m dragged into an alley, a knife pressed against my back. Yeah, this would happen to me.

“Don’t scream,” the voice is scarily calm. “I’m just robbing you. This will go as easily as you want it to,” he speaks the words as if they’re molasses stuck in his teeth. As he removes his hand from my mouth, I take a deep breath.

“I don’t have a lot of money on me,” I responded brokenly.

“Well, it seems we have a problem, don’t we?”

“Please. Let me go. I’ll give you the keys to my car,” I am pleading now.

“You think I want some busted car from a college student?” The knife begins to dig into my skin. I gasp and the man shushes me before whispering in my ear.

“I told you this would go as easily as you wanted it to. It seems you don’t care too much,” I shake my head and try to reason with him.

“Please, I won’t tell anyone about this. I’ll go quietly. I’ll give you everything I have, it’s just not much,” the man removes the knife from my back and brings it to my cheek. He slowly drags it down the side of my face, certainly drawing blood. I cry out, beginning to scream for help. After a brief moment, I feel the weight lifted from behind me as the man is dragged off of me.

“Don’t touch her,” I hear a familiar voice hiss behind me. I scoot away from Nandor and the man he is now holding off the ground. His eyes are a deep red; red as blood. With that thought, I raise a hand to my cheek, feeling the warm liquid running down my face. I catch Nandor watching me touch the blood on my cheek. He hisses at the man, and it’s a deep and menacing sound. “Look away,” his voice is deep and commanding.

I tuck my head and cover my face. The moment I do, I hear a disgusting squelching sound, followed by a gasp from the man. I’m sure he would have screamed if he could, but I would guess Nandor went for the throat.

“Y/N, we have to go,” I uncover my face to find Guillermo staring at me, frantically trying to pull me to my feet. In a split-second decision, I turn to look at Nandor, who is crouched on the ground like a predator, face deep into the man’s skin. His eyes are on mine the moment I look upon him, and I can feel his relief as he looks at me. Guillermo drags me out of the alley, holding my hand the entire way.

“Stop looking!” Guillermo commands as he pulls me out of Nandor’s view.

“He’s not going to hurt me–”

“You’re bleeding,” Guillermo interrupts me. “I don’t want to tempt an apex predator, thank you very much.” He opens the passenger door and helps me sit down before going to the driver’s side. Guillermo speeds off in his car, headed back in the direction of the house. When I looked behind the car, all I could see was Nandor standing in the middle of the road, blood covering his face.

We got back home after driving for a few minutes in silence. When Guillermo parks the car, he looks over at me.

“Are you okay?” I cover my face and look away.

“Yes,” I responded curtly.

“No you’re not,” Guillermo puts a hand on my shoulder to comfort me, rubbing it softly. “It’s okay to not feel okay after something like that. I remember the first time I saw a human die at the hands of vampires. It’s scary. You shouldn’t have had to see that,” he speaks so gently.

“I’m okay, really. I mean, yes it was scary… I guess I’m just glad Nandor got there in time.” Guillermo nods.

“Me too. You can thank him when he’s not all bloodlusted,” Guillermo almost reads my mind.

“I’ll just clean up and it’ll be alright–” I begin.

“No. He’s already got the scent of your blood. He’s going to be touchy for the rest of the night. We need to get you patched up and to bed,” Guillermo cuts me off. “That is a talk that can happen another day.” I finally relent, nodding in agreement.

“Okay… Can I go get cleaned up now?” Guillermo turns the car off and walks beside me the entire way, keeping an eye out for Nandor. “I’ll be fine, you know?” He scoffs at my words.

“You’re as stubborn as him – I’ll give you that,” he mutters under his breath. When we make it in the house, Guillermo helps clean me up. Luckily, the other vampires were nowhere to be seen, though Guillermo was sure they could smell my blood. “I’m going to put a cross on your door tonight. Give you a couple stakes…”

“Would that really be necessary?” Guillermo shoots me a look.

“I’m not taking any risks. He’s dangerous and I will not have my sister getting bitten by a vampire,” he continued to dab a washcloth on the wound on my cheek.

“It’s going to be a huge, ugly scar, isn’t it?” There’s a hint of despair in my voice. Guillermo sighs.

“I don’t know… Probably… But not ugly! Let’s… not worry about that right now,” he tries to filter his words, but it’s really no use. He begins to use alcohol prep pads on my skin, causing me to hiss through my teeth.

“Ow, that really hurts,” Guillermo’s face turns sympathetic.

“You’re very strong. I don’t think it needs stitches: it wasn’t that deep. Can I put gauze on your cheek?” I nod.

“Here we go. It’ll be okay. You will be staying in your room tonight,” Guillermo’s words leave no room for argument. I groan at him, rolling my eyes.

“Fine,” Guillermo nods as he finishes disinfecting my face and putting gauze over it.

“You’ll bounce back quickly. Something tells me you always do,” he gives me a wink and helps me stand before pushing me into my room. Guillermo places a stake on my bedside table, then goes to hang a cross on the front of the door.

“Is all of this really necessary?” My question is exasperated. Guillermo shoots me a glare.

“Is keeping you safe from a deadly vampire necessary? Oh geez, let’s think about that,” I roll my eyes again at his words.

“Okay, thank you. Good night, Guillermo,” I sigh and place the hand over my gauze. Guillermo’s eyes soften and he makes his way to sit on my bed next to me.

“You’ll be okay, I promise. I just want to be careful, you know?” I nod along to Guillermo’s words.

“Thanks. I know you’re just looking out for me. I appreciate it,” I say to him sincerely.

“Just rest. The morning will be here before you know it,” he leans over and gives me a tight hug. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Me too… Good night,” I say to him. Guillermo smiles and makes his way to my door, closing it behind him.

I wish I could say that I tried falling asleep, but I did not. I stayed awake for what felt like hours, tossing and turning in my bed. All I could think about was Nandor standing in the middle of the road, watching me drive away with Guillermo. There’s a level of guilt that falls on my shoulders as I think about that look he gave me. I hold my cheek, beginning to cry softly at the thought of my face being marred for the rest of my life.

After crying for a long enough time to feel dehydrated afterwards, I hear the loud flapping of wings and a squeak outside my door. There’s a poof sound, followed shortly by a hissing as Nandor approaches my door.

“Fucking guy,” Nandor hissed at the cross on my door. I stand, tiptoeing over to the door before cracking it open. Before me was Nandor, cleaned up and in the same outfit I saw him in earlier. His face immediately softened once he saw me. “Y/N… Are you okay?” He reaches a hand out and I flinch, a little afraid from what I saw earlier.

“I’m alright, I promise. You… shouldn’t be here,” Nandor scoffs at my words.

“What did your brother tell you?” He spits the words.

“He said you would be… touchy. I don’t want to irritate you,” I whisper, trying to make sure Guillermo wouldn’t hear us. Nandor’s face widens into a smirk.

“Oh no, my dear, wrong touchy,” I blush in surprise and he takes this as an opportunity to push past me, closing the door swiftly behind him as he carries me towards my bed.

“Nandor! Please,” I protest as he lays me down on my bed, quickly following to curl up behind me.

“Please what, darling? Use your words,” he nuzzles against my face, nose rubbing against the gauze on my cheek.

“I don’t– I can’t…” The words are lost on my lips and Nandor shushes me.

“I know, darling. I can smell it on you,” he nuzzles against my cheek again, pressing a kiss to the gauze on my face. “A virgin, are we? I smelled it in your blood,” Nandor whispers as he puts an arm around me. I blush deeply in surprise that he was able to guess so easily.

“I grew up very Catholic,” are the only words that leave my mouth. Nandor chuckles darkly.

“I don’t care. It doesn’t matter why, it matters that you are,” he kisses my cheek again. I shake my head again, trying in futility to deny.

“I ran away after you asked to kiss me,” Nandor stops suddenly, his grip loosening.

“I will leave you if you wish it,” he continues to pull away.

“No! I mean… you don’t have to,” I try to cover the desperation in my voice. Nandor chuckles again and leans in against me.

“You smell amazing,” Nandor continues to nuzzle against my cheek.

“I shouldn’t have run away. I’m sorry,” I feel the remorse surge within me.

“Don’t be. I got a free meal of it,” he teases gently before nosing against the pulse point on my neck.

“But I am sorry. I shouldn’t have left you. I should have told you that I’m afraid to get close to people, that it was never your fault–” Nandor nips my neck gently, causing the words to die in my throat.

“Hush, Y/N. Stop apologizing. I don’t want you wasting your breath on something I already understand,” he leans down and kisses my head. I flip to my other side, facing Nandor and getting a good look at him for the first time since the attack. His eyes are still a faint red, pupils blown wide with some primal feeling deep within him. I reach a hand up and push a strand of his hair behind his ear. I hear a low groan rise from his throat.

“What does it feel like?” I ask suddenly. Nandor pulls away to look at me.

“What does what feel like?”

“Drinking blood. Is it… I don’t know… enjoyable?” Nandor smirks as he looks at me.

“I wouldn’t be able to explain it. Drinking blood is like nothing I ever did when I was a human. It feels so powerful, like something out of a movie,” Nandor gets lost in thought, staring out of the paper-covered window.

“What does it feel like for a human?” Nandor looks at me a moment, before answering.

“When I was turned, it was not a pleasant experience. I’m assuming that was due to the violence of the one turning me, but I’ve heard some humans find it to be a pleasant experience. Why?” Nandor asks the question he already knows the answer to.

“I… would you drink from me?” I look up at him shyly. Nandor’s breath hitches as he looks at me.

“You would want that?” I nod, the words dying in my chest.

“Would you remember me?” Nandor looks perplexed by the question.

“I would know you through the rain and the snow, through every storm that appears in the night. Just because your blood calls to me doesn’t mean I will answer in violence,” Nandor leans down and presses a kiss to my undamaged cheek.

“You make it sound so easy,” I whisper to him.

“For some, it really is.”

“Is it for you?” Nandor hesitates.

“No, but I will not forget you,” I lean forward and hug Nandor against me.

“You saved my life once. I owe you, at the very least,” Nandor leans forward and captures my lips in a kiss. It is a deep and passionate kiss that conveys the days of yearning between us. I could imagine myself getting lost in that kind of yearning forever. The kind of yearning that leaves one seeking answers from the beginning of the first interaction.

Nandor’s tongue presses against my lips, licking off any balm I put on there a few hours before. I open my mouth to him, breath getting stolen as he takes a greedy gulp of my air.

“The second you view this as a transactionary agreement,” he starts as he pulls away from my lips, “you’ll forget how much I want to get to know you. I don’t want you to forget that,” he says as he presses a kiss to my nose. He pushes my head to the side gently, sniffing my pulse point and taking a moment to just sit there.

“You’re so sweet,” I whisper to him.

“Sweet. That’s not a word that’s been used to address me before,” He laughs and presses a kiss to my neck. I giggle softly as he continues to press kisses to my neck. “I like those noises. You sound happy. I only want to hear you happy,” Nandor mutters against my neck.

“I hope that not always being happy is not a let-down,” Nandor chuckles again, nipping my neck softly.

“Don’t speak as if you’re some consolation prize. I don’t care. I like you,” he mumbles against my skin.

“Are you going to bite me now?” I ask, trying to deflect some of the attention he was putting towards me. Nandor nuzzles against my neck again, dragging his teeth along my neck.

“The second you say it back, I will. I like you,” Nandor says, pulling away to look me in my eyes. I blush deeply, trying to maintain eye-contact with him.

“I like you, too,” I say as Nandor leans down and captures my lips in another kiss.

“That’s more like it,” he says, bending down and pressing a kiss to my jaw. He leans down and kisses against my neck, growling against my skin. “So warm, so soft, so sweet,” he sinks his fangs into my skin. It feels like a short needle prick and I jump a little in surprise. As I jump, Nandor’s hold on me tightens to keep me in place. I whimper a little as I feel him begin to take pulls of my blood.

“That… feels really nice,” I mutter to myself, feeling as if I had entered a trance. Nandor groans as he continues to drink deeply from my neck. The sounds are lewd and wanton as my body curls into him. It feels as though a thousand hands are holding me against him, making me feel safe and protected in his arms.

He takes a couple more pulls of my blood before pulling away, licking the puncture wounds on my neck. He kisses the marks gently, groaning from deep in the back of his throat.

“You taste divine,” he breathes the words as if they are keeping him alive.

“That felt really nice,” I mutter, still in a daze. Nandor chuckles and holds my face in his hand.

“I’m sure it did. I made sure to be gentle with you,” he says as he kisses the spot where he bit again. There are moments like these that help one realize just how connected blood really makes us. It feels as if we are bonded in some way, and I can tell Nandor is feeling it, too. “I’m sure you can feel how intense things are right now. Just take a deep breath, okay?” He holds eye-contact with me and takes a deep breath, trying to get me to follow suit. When I do, he smiles and kisses my cheek. “Good girl,” he whispers. My eyebrows knit together with his nickname.

“Oh, you liked that, did you, darling?” He kisses my lips quickly before saying, “my good girl,” once again.

4am - Nandor’s POV

Nandor woke up with you in his arms, feeling the weight and security you offered him. However, after a moment of peace, he feels something pressed against his back.

“Get up,” Guillermo’s voice is a deep warning.

“Guillermo–” Nandor tries to speak.

“Get up. I will not ask again,” he hisses again, holding the stake against Nandor’s back. Nandor looks over as you begin to stir.

“You wouldn’t want to wake her up, would you?” Nandor’s voice is a deep purr.

“Did you bite her?” Guillermo already knows the answer.

“Only because she asked,” Nandor nearly taunts Guillermo, who grabs Nandor and pulls him out of the bed.

“I told you to leave my sister alone,” Guillermo growls at Nandor, who holds his hands up in defense.

“She invited me in,” Guillermo frowns at Nandor’s words. When you stir, they both look over in surprise.

“Did anyone think about asking me what I wanted?” You stare at the two of them, glaring at Guillermo. “Yes, I invited him in. Yes, I realize that may sound dumb to you. No, I do not regret it,” Guillermo bristles at your words.

“I’m just making sure you’re safe,” his voice is a strangled mix of frustrated and calm.

“Unhand Nandor, dude,” you say to your brother, who begrudgingly lets him go. Guillermo storms out of the room, causing you to want to go after him.

“Don’t. He needs a minute alone,” Nandor starts.

“You don’t know what he needs. I need to apologize to him.” You get up and make your way out of the room, heading down the stairs to find Guillermo fuming in the kitchen.

Guillermo’s POV

“I’m sorry,” are all the words you can muster. He hears you from behind him and he turns around, glaring.

“I told you to leave it alone for the night, and what did you do? Not that. Certainly not what your brother asks you to do,” you frown.

“It’s fine, he was fine! Nothing happened,” at your words, Guillermo’s eyes flicker to the puncture wounds on your neck. She flushes in embarrassment and quickly covers up the marks. “Nothing beyond that.”

“I don’t care what happened between the two of you, I want Nandor to be good to my sister. I don’t want him to lose interest the second you lose your novelty to him.”

“I don’t think I’m some novelty to him. I think he likes me–” Guillermo holds a hand up to quiet his sister.

“I need to speak with Nandor,” he says with a biting edge to his tone.

“Not with that stake, you don’t,” Y/N says with a glare thrown his way. Guillermo huffs, standing up from the table and walking out of the kitchen without his stake. As he stomps his way up the stairs, he sees Nandor peer from out of his room.

“You, me, talk. Now,” Nandor opens the door for him, allowing him entry.

“Guillermo!” Nandor says with a friendly lilt in his voice, trying to appeal to Guillermo’s normally good-natured attitude. “What is cracking, friend? How has your day been going?” Guillermo looks at Nandor’s room, still in complete disarray from the night before. He turns at Nandor and looks up at him.

“When you said you wanted to court my sister, I could have killed you. When I saw you holding my sister this morning, I almost killed you,” Nandor shrinks from Guillermo’s words. But, he sighs. “Be good to her. That’s not a lot to ask for, is it?” Nandor immediately shakes his head.

“I will be the best to her. Only the best she deserves,” Guillermo nods, thinking over Nandor’s words. He huffs and pinches the bridge of his nose.

“If you so much as break her heart, I’ll put a stake through yours,” Guillermo threatens. Nandor crosses his fingers over his heart.

“Scout’s honor,” he bares his teeth in a little smile at his bodyguard. Nandor nearly jumps for joy as he makes his way out of the room to find you. When he sees you at the bottom of the stairs, Nandor grabs you around your waist and spins you around, kissing your bandaged cheek again.

Y/N's POV

“Well, that went well…” I say with a laugh as Nandor brings me closer to kiss my cheek.

“It did. Better than I could have ever imagined, my morning star,” I blush at his nickname, which elicits a satisfied noise from Nandor. “You like my little nicknames?” Nandor leans in and kisses my lips once again with a surprising amount of gentle energy. He dips me once my feet touch the floor, breaking apart only to look at me with the same reverence as yesterday.

“Yes, I could get used to the nicknames,” Nandor smiles brightly, his fangs bared.

“Anything for you, little one,” he whispers, leaning down to kiss me again.

#what we do in the shadows #wwdits #nandor the relentless #nandor #nandor x reader #nandor the relentless x reader #guillermo de la cruz #y/n #x reader #wwdits x reader #what we do in the shadows x reader #hurt/comfort

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ecstasyhighway · 1 month ago

Text

Where home is | gabriel reyes

husband!gabriel ‘reaper’ reyes x wife!reader

cw: some spanish! angst? fluff? idk , p in v , smut!! , military/blackwatch au? , breeding kink (?) i think thats it?? lmk if i missed anything

an: naw i dont speak spanish i used a translatior so i apologize for any mistakes, and irdc if he doesn’t speak it either its a headcannon guys leave me alonee. uhhh anyways i need him

wc: 2k ish

not proofread

It has been 12 months and 3 days since Gabriel left for a Blackwatch mission, no calls, no texts, nothing. Although you know he's busy and can't talk, you still miss him.

The house feels empty, even with your 2-year-old daughter Eliana running around it still feels empty. There have been endless nights of crying and on those nights you send Eliana to your mother's house. You miss him, you really do.

On Monday morning a package arrived addressed to you, from an unknown sender. You slowly open the box and see a cute plush bear holding a heart with the words I love you, you smile and tears swell in your eyes. You reach deeper into the box and feel an envelope. Inside the envelope was a letter from your husband, Gabriel.

"Mi reina, I miss you with all my heart. There is not a day that I do not think of you and Eliana. I am sorry that I am not able to contact you, this is a complicated mission but we are almost done. I will be home soon, wait for me - Gabe"

Those last words bring immense joy to your heart, your husband will be home soon! You will finally be able to hug your man, kiss him, hold him, and cry to him. You can finally relax knowing he is alive and home with you and your daughter.

It has been 2 months since you received the news from your husband, every day felt like a stab in the chest. You were beginning to lose hope, you weren't sure if he was coming home. The thought of him never coming home was enough to send you into a depression, but you refused. You knew he would come home, he has to.

It was 1 am on a Friday, you were asleep in your bed when the door unlocked and opened. Your husband made his way to your shared room and sighed happily. He walked to your sleeping body and carefully shook you awake. Your eyes opened slowly trying to focus on the blob before you. Immediately your senses were filled with the smell of Gabriel's cologne, you shot up and threw your arms around the man, sobbing as he held you close.

"I'm home mi amor," he said softly as a tear fell from his eye. You grabbed him pulling him onto the bed, peppering his face in kisses, you looked into his eyes and smiled feeling his weight on your body, your legs wrapped around his torso as you kissed him passionately, savoring the moment, afraid it would vanish into nothing if you didn't.

"I missed you so much Gabe" you sighed softly against his lips. His calloused hands grab you softly as he rolls onto his back making you straddle him. The kiss deepened as your tongues danced around each other, his hands resting on your ass kneading into the soft flesh. He breaks the kiss to suck at your neck, searching for that spot that makes you whimper. Your body involuntarily grinds on him as you enjoy the feeling of his lips on your body. "I missed you, and this body…fuck, forgot how sexy my wife was" he murmured against your skin, hands roaming over your body pulling you impossibly closer.

You pull away and look into his eyes "I was so scared… I was so worried you wouldn't come home…" you admit to him as tears fall down your cheek. He wipes the tears from your face and stares at you lovingly "I know, but m' here now, and I won't be leaving for a while." with a newfound urgency he captures your mouth in his, you could feel the passion and hunger in his kiss. A fire ignited in your body and he grabbed your thighs to encourage you to continue grinding, you felt him harden beneath you and you gasped "Missed you s'much… I need you s'bad…please" a smirk forms on his lips hearing those words.

He grabs at your shirt, almost tearing it off. Gabriel trails kisses down your body, starting at your neck and working his way lower. He peppers soft, open-mouthed kisses across your collarbone, down between your breasts, and over your stomach. Each kiss sends little shivers of pleasure through your body, making you squirm with impatience.

Finally, he reaches your core. He spreads your thighs wider and settles between them, looking up at you with dark, hungry eyes.

"So beautiful," he murmurs, before leaning in to inhale deeply at your entrance. The warm puff of air against your sensitive flesh makes you gasp.

"Gabe, please..." you whimper, desperate for him to taste you.

He smirks at your plea, then dips his head lower. His tongue flicks out, running from the bottom of your slit up to your clit in one long, slow lick. The flat of his tongue presses against your most sensitive bundle of nerves, sending sparks of pleasure through your body.

"Mmm," he hums against you, the vibration adding to the sensory overload. He begins to lap at you in earnest, his tongue circling your clit before dipping lower to spear inside you. He alternates between these two motions, occasionally sucking gently on your clit.

Your hips buck involuntarily, seeking more friction. Gabriel reaches up to grip your thighs, holding you still so he can set his own pace. "quit moving, lemme take my time… missed this pussy- missed your taste" The wet sounds of his tongue lapping at your juices fill the room, mingling with your soft moans and gasps. He inserts a finger into your hole finding that spongy spot on the inside of your walls, a cry leaves your throat at the stimulation. He continues licking your puffy clit and pumping his fingers as you leak down his chin. You feel that familiar knot tie in your core "Please- fuck m'so close Gabe please" he pushes your legs back opening you further, he speeds up his movements feeling you clench around his fingers, he groans into your pussy sending vibrations up your spine sending you over the edge. Your legs shake as you cum on his face with a cry "That's it, atta girl" he coaxes you through your orgasm, still pumping his fingers to help you through it. Once your breathing steadies he kisses you once again, letting you taste yourself.

"You taste so sweet, I could eat you all day" he chuckles softly as he rubs soft circles on your swollen clit, overstimulating you. "I..mmf- know but that can wait, i need you in me right n..now" you whine over choked moans. He smiles as he swiftly undresses, revealing his strong body. You bite your lip in anticipation and a whine escapes you. He lets his cock free and it slaps against his abdomen, he gives it a few strokes before putting it against your slit. He uses your cum and slick as a lube, rubbing the tip against your clit causing you to shake "Stop teasin' Gabe-" he slips his hard cock into your slippery hole making you cut yourself off with a moan.

The stretch is so delicious, you could cum again. His pace is slow as he takes in the warmth of your cunt "fóllame princesa, me perdí este coño" he curses under his breath as he pushes himself deeper. your nails scratch at his back as he thrusts into you, his head falls into the crook of your neck to suck on it leaving dark hickeys claiming you as his. his pace fastens as he thrusts into you, the lewd sounds of skin slapping fills the room. your eyes roll to the back of your head as you dig your nails deeper into his skin, wrapping your legs around his waist pushing him impossibly deeper. your orgasm approaches quickly and your cunt squeezes around his cock as he slams into you. the bed creaking with each harsh thrust.

"shit, you're so tight," he groans, his hips snapping forward with each thrust. "I'm not gonna last much longer." The thought of him cumming inside you pushes you closer to the edge. you reach down to rub your clit, desperate for release. The added stimulation combined with his relentless pace sends you careening over the edge once again. "oh fuck, Gabe, i'm cumming!" you cry out, your cunt clenching around him like a vice. The feeling of your walls pulsing and fluttering around his cock is too much for him to bear.

With a final, powerful thrust, Gabriel buries himself deep inside you as he finds his own release. You can feel his hot seed flooding your core, triggering another wave of pleasure that crashes over you. He collapses on top of you, both of you panting heavily as you come down from your highs.

He pulls out and gives your pussy a smack causing you to yelp. gabriel watches as his cum seeps out of your cunt, growing hard at the sight, "fuck…look at that… she so messy hmm? my wife and her pussy are so gorgeous" you blush at his words as arousal builds in your core once again. "mmm aún no he terminado, m'gonna get you pregnant again"

with that he throws your legs over his shoulders, putting you in a mean mating press, allowing him to sink deep into your heat. the warmth of his body weighing on yours excites you, bringing you comfort and peace knowing your husband is finally home.

his tip brushes against your cervix with each thrust, the feeling being both uncomfortable and pleasant "look at me mi amor, look at me while i make love to you" you meet his gaze, eyes filled with hunger and lust for you, he kisses you passionately as he continues fucking you like he hates you. "gabe.. youre so deep fuck" he groans in response The mating press allows you to feel every inch of his thick, hard length as he slides in and out of your dripping wet pussy. Your bodies are pressed so close together that you can feel the heat of his skin, the pounding of his heart, and the raggedness of his breaths.

tears begin to fall down your cheeks as you feel your orgasm build in your body, the intense pleasure and overstimulation adding to it. "gabe-fuck im gonna cum again..ngh" you gasp and squeeze around his length as your legs tremble. his pace doesn't falter as he continues thrusting, bringing you closer to the edge. your orgasm crashes into you like a tidal wave making your back arch slightly. a powerful wave of liquid escapes you as your eyes roll to the back of your skull, fat tears running down your cheeks from the pleasure. He groans deeply and continues his movement, hips stuttering as he cums deep inside you, not moving for a second leaving both of you breathing heavily.

he pulls out and softly removes your legs from his shoulders, massaging them as he looks at you with nothing but love and affection. He kisses your lips once more before getting up and grabbing a towel to clean you both up. by the time he's back with a warm wet towel you had fallen asleep. He wipes your cum filled cunt softly as he listens to your breathing and smiles. He gets into bed with you, bringing you closer to him and hugging you tightly as he whispers "I love you" before he joins you in slumber. naked bodies tangled together, warmth surrounding each other, nothing but comfort and peace fills the air.

you wake up to a heavy arm around your waist. you turn around to see your beautiful husband snoring obnoxiously loud, you giggle softly as you admire him, recalling the events from last night. you grab your phone and tell your mother to bring eliana home.

30 minutes later your daughter is home, filled with joy and laughter knowing her dad is home. you're making pancakes, bacon and eggs when you hear eliana squeal with excitement before running up to gabriel "DADDY!!! YOURE HOME" she jumps into his arms kissing him on the cheek "hi cariño i missed you" he says gruffly peppering her little face in kisses causing her to giggle. you smile watching everything unfold in front of you, happy that your husband is home, making your family complete once again.

translations: mi reina - my queen, mi amor - my love, fóllame princesa, me perdí este coño - fuck me princess, I missed this pussy, mmm aún no he terminado - mmm im not done yet, cariño - dear/sweetheart.

#—ecstasyhighway #reaper overwatch #overwatch fanfiction #overwatch fluff #overwatch #overwatch smut #reaper ow #gabriel reyes #reaper x reader #gabriel reaper reyes #gabriel reyes smut #reaper ow smut #reaper smut #writers on tumblr

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zahri-melitor · 3 months ago

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Okay because I am setting my expectations as low as possible in the hopes I get to be pleasantly surprised, here is the history of Black Canary as a solo title at DC:

Black Canary 1991: 4 issue miniseries. Probably best described as 'mediocre'. Dinah discovers Ollie's being an unemployed dropkick who has been stealing/borrowing money from the Sherwood Florist till and not accounting for it; out of her frustration at him she goes and beats up a drug cartel and white supremacists with the help of her new friend Gan Ngyuen, who would be a better boyfriend to Dinah than Ollie is being right now. In conversation with her Grell appearances, but seriously underestimates Dinah's actual skillset.

Black Canary 1993: 12 issue ongoing. Dinah's basically broken up with Ollie for the whole of this, which is completely fine by me, as Ollie uses some of his appearances in this book to accuse Dinah of sleeping with Ray Terrill. Who is 18 and was trying to look after the injured superhero who turned up on his doorstep. Time to go die in a firey helicopter crash, Ollie, you are terrible in the early 90s. Anyway, this is an incredibly uneven run that covers topics like Dinah's backstory, why Ray Terrill develops the biggest puppy crush on Dinah, and also the very first Nightwing-Oracle-Huntress-Black Canary team up. Tragically despite the compelling characterisation going on in this title between the four of them, the story they are in is a white slavery plot, rendering it almost impossible to recommend to people who aren't the sort to read every single appearance of a character.

Black Canary 2007: 4 issue miniseries. This would actually have been a compelling story apart from its intent and outcome. Dinah and Ollie, in the lead up to their wedding, grapple with combining their families and Dinah works with integrating Sin into the US educational system. Unfortunately, Sin is abducted and then Ollie fakes her death and doesn't tell Dinah what he's done, as he makes Connor take her off to one of the Himalayan monasteries various Arrows and companions have spent time at. Sin does not get to attend their wedding, and for some reason Dinah does not tell Ollie it's off even though he just faked Sin's death and lied to her about it.

Black Canary and Zatanna: Bloodspell 2014: Graphic novel. Paul Dini's pet project that he spent the best part of a decade trying to get DC to publish. The only decent Dinah solo on this list, it's not actually a Dinah solo because it's co-starring Zee. Dinah and Zatanna met each other as teens trying to live up to the expectations of their families, then reunite in Vegas after some of Dinah's friends tell her that someone's made them swear a magic oath to take part in a heist, and it's killing them. Hijinks ensue! This is the only title of any of them on this list that's actually full of joy. Please read it.

Black Canary 2015: 12 issue ongoing. 'What if Dinah decided to make Black Canary be the stage name of a musician in a band rather than a superhero?' Does this have any connections to previous Dinah characterisation? Not really, no. Does it sound like the premise of an Elseworlds rather than main continuity, even for n52? Yes. Dinah decides being a superhero is just too much work, so she'll be in a band instead, aside from all those times she needs to stop singing to fight crime in the audience. Contains a time travel plot involving Kurt Lance, aka the worst decision DC has ever made in regards to Dinah's love life, and I'm including Ra's al Ghul and marrying Ollie on that list. I think they made Kurt Lance save the universe but I admit I was hatereading at that point. The final issue has Dinah have her life flash before her eyes while retconning out most of the n52 changes to her characterisation and also suggesting she got pregnant with Ollie's baby at age 53 before dying of a mystery disease at age 69.

EDIT: Reminded of the Teen Book

Black Canary: Ignite 2019: DC teen graphic novel. Written by Meg Cabot, this is one of their teen alternate continuity rewrites set around the awkward period when Dinah was a teen and wanting to be a superhero like her mother, but Dinah Drake was firmly refusing to train her. Contains Larry Lance and is actually set in Gotham! (this is a good thing) On the other hand, maintains the 'was in a band' concept from Black Canary 2015, which personally I would rather stuff into a black hole never to be seen again, but angry teens singing in bands is a genre conceit for a reason. It's cute.

So really. Why would I let myself get my hopes up over Black Canary Volume 5?

#dinah lance #you have no idea how even the premise of this Tom King run has put it ahead of 2015 to start with #and even mildly competent execution will get it past 1991 and 2007 #my expectations are so so low #you may also have noticed that Ollie is eternally terrible in Black Canary solos #I tend to think of it as vengeance for how many times Dinah's autonomy and perspective as a character is ignored in Green Arrow #black canary #comic reading guides

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dawnoftime22 · 4 months ago

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hi! How do you feel about writing a fic where Taylor and fem!r get married? (Both in white wedding dresses btw)

I love your fics btw :)

wedding day.

| T.S

Warnings: lots and lots of kisses, a single sentence of 'I don't deserve you' quickly avoided with Taylor's reassurance, and thats it

Summary: Finally, after years of your shared honest love and months of planning, you and Taylor decide to get married, and it was your special day to wear your beautiful wedding dresses and walk down the carpet.

Word Count: 4.5k

Category: FLUFF!

A/N: hehe I really loved writing this request, and kind of got carried away...although I usually write for gn!reader, I still adored this, especially because I got to write this at work<3 (I work at a wedding venue btw! so its very perfect) thank you for requesting this lovely story! I hope you enjoy :] reeally sorry if its too long

pls don't judge, I have no idea how to write vows

| Started on 13/07/2024, 11:34 AM | the 13th :o

| Finished on 15/07/2024, 4:12 PM |

Main Masterlist | T.S Masterlist

“No more keeping score now, I just keep you warm.”

|——————————— ⸆⸉ ———————————|

In the morning...

Sunshine filtered in through the window curtains, peeking in as daylight slowly arose, a gentle sight to lay your eyes upon in the morning.

You slowly stir from your sleep, feeling the brightness even behind your eyelids, at least until you opened them, needing to blink away the darkness that you once saw.

A yawn elicits from your lips, and you bring your hand up to cover it, stretching too, as you were at it. Once done, you take in your surroundings, registering that it was now morning.

Beside you, there she was. The love of your life, sleeping peacefully like an angel in bed. Her blonde hair almost seemingly glowed from the sunlight, radiant and nothing short of what you loved seeing.

You let out a gentle breath and reached up your hand, lightly tracing her cheek with the side of your index finger.

She was something precious, something you'd put in a treasure chest, or to keep in your pocket at all times to bring with you.

Her breaths were soft, so peaceful and deep in sleep that you if you weren't so close to her and inspecting her face, you would've thought she was gone from this world already.

You smile softly, admiring how her eyelashes went down, and her beautiful face structure. Simply everything. It felt unbelievable.

Today was the day. The day you'll officially put a ring on each other's fingers. Officially with a promise, a vow. You remembered how everything else before went, exactly how you had your small box ready, back at the restaurant balcony, with a stunning view.

But when you had brought out the ring and revealed it to Taylor, but in mere seconds of surprise, it doubled when she had one too, prepared to bring out still in her pocket until she showed it to you.

A small chuckle escapes your mouth at the memory, and you fade back into reality, focusing back on Taylor's curves and edges, and she was still asleep as you gazed at her.

Your eyes trailed over to the clock on the nightstand at the side of the bed. It showed 7:45 am. You still had some time, but you feared of the time needed to arrive at the wedding venue.

You lean down, giving her a soft kiss on her forehead. Then, pulling back only to go put another on her cheek.

A cheeky smile raised upon your face as you had an idea of waking her up, and you leave a kiss on the tip of her nose, then anywhere else you can on her face, peppering it all over her skin and trailing her jaw.

Slowly, Taylor was waking up by the tingling feeling of your kisses, feeling your soft lips lingering. She blinks away her sleep, letting out a small adorable and confused hum.

When her eyes find yours, a smile raises up on her lips, before she lets out a small giggle, now knowing the source of the tickles. She was still feeling your kisses, and it was the gentlest way she's ever woken up by.

"Good morning, baby..." she whispers groggily, her voice husky and quiet as her arms reach out to wrap around you, pulling you closer like a simple teddy bear.

"A very good morning," you reply back happily, and her heart jumps in joy at your voice, a chuckle leaving her lips as she knows exactly why you were so happy.

"Do you remember what today is?" you ask her excitedly, all while she was nuzzling into your neck, still kind of waking up. You on the other hand, had all the energy in the world.

She pulls back from the crook of your neck, looking at you with raised eyebrows. "Of course I do, silly..." she whispers, leaning in to kiss your lips and then brush her nose against yours.

You were all out filled with love as you gazed into her eyes, your smiles reflecting each other's without a doubt.

When you rested your head on her chest, her arms that were wrapped around you squeezes you lightly, feeling her very own excitement for today. "How did you sleep, baby?" You question softly, tilting your head to look up at her.

She gazes down at you tenderly before letting out a content sigh. "Amazingly...you?" she questions you back, wanting to make sure you had just the same comfort levels as she did.

You nuzzle into her face, making her scrunch her nose up. "Always, with you," your voice whispered. Taylor giggles, then buries her face into your neck again, feeling the blush coming onto her cheeks easily.

"You sweet talker...but I love you." She turns her head laying a kiss on your jaw, just between your neck, a warm, loving gesture.

Blood rushed to your very own cheeks, just about to feel dizzy by her love. "I love you, too..." you whisper back, closing your eyes for just a moment.

But upon remembering the important day, you open your eyes again, taking in a breath and pulling back to look into her blue eyes.

"Lets get ready to go, baby," you say, about to get out of bed, but Taylor's arms around you had tightened, pulling you right back into her embrace.

"Mm...just a few more minutes." She pouts, her eyes closed as she refused to get out of bed. At least, for now. She had just woken up, and wanted your time of snuggling.

"Mm, mm, we're gonna be late." You shook your head, murmuring to her as you tried getting out of her embrace, but very much failed, so you went up to boop her nose, which made her open her eyes and raise her eyebrows.

"Mhm, we won't be." she fought back, standing her ground in wanting to stay in bed, and you sighed softly, although the corners of your lips were raised up.

"The 'few minutes' can turn into an hour or more, sweetheart..." you reason with her, reminding with a hint that you still had your important wedding together.

She tried giving you a deeper pout and slight puppy eyes that had your heart clenching as you tried to hold on, but ti wasn't long until you hear a small sigh and a breath of, "Fine."

Your own lips turned down at her obvious expression of her slight frustration, and you lean forward to kiss away her pout, giggling softly.

"I'll make it up to you," you say, rubbing her shoulder before pulling her up with you to get out of bed again, to your success, but she was sagging against you.

"Not to say that I'm literally going to be your official wife today..." you lead on with a small melodical tune, going to the closet.

"Baby," she whines, and you chuckle, relenting as you knew she was a little disappointed in not getting some more time in bed.

You turn around to look at her. "Tonight, cuddles and kisses." your words held genuine as you hand her the clothes to wear on your way to the wedding venue.

She stares into your eyes, searching, then slowly taking the clothes. "...And more?" she asked quietly, going to place the folded shirts on the bed.

"And more." you lay one last loving kiss directly on her lips when she spun back around, surprising her, but she melted into it.

Once you part, you bring her to the shower with you, hand intertwined ever so gently for the warm water to rain down on your bodies.

|——————————— ⸆⸉ ———————————|

At the wedding venue...

When you arrive at the wedding venue, you get out of the car to round to Taylor's side and open her door, to which she gave you a loving smile as she stepped out.

After you both step foot on the venue, you were invited to do an outdoor photoshoot first, and Taylor had agreed to do it with you, the event planner leading the both of you.

You had to change into a different outfit, one of your choosing for the pre photoshoot. Once done, you both walked to where the photos would be taken, and the sight had your eyes shining with adoration.

It was an entire scenery that might have been stolen from your dreams. There was a cobblestone path that trailed down to a big garden of scenery. A swing was hanging off the branch of a tree, and a lake stood proudly behind it.

You were honestly sure that you would spend a picnic with Taylor here someday if you were able to. Even she was taken away by every little detail thats been placed here.

"Tay, look!" You say, pointing to the lake. Taylor turns her head, at first, her expression natural and only curious of your excitement, but her face lights up when she sees the different colored feathers of the animals sitting on the water.

"Oh, my god, ducks!" she said, pure happiness filling her as she squealed, a big smile on her face at the surprise. You giggled at her shock, watching the look on her face

"There's even swans!" the blonde pointed out, gesturing towards them with open hands, having not expected there to be animals in such an area.

You raised your eyebrows but then shook your head with a smile, turning back to face the photographer. "Can we take a picture with them?" You ask, hoping for the best.

The photographer chuckles softly, and nods. "Yes, you can," they answer, probably used to the question, but they hold their camera firmly before helping you both to get in a good position and pose.

You and Taylor also got a heart-hand picture together as a bonus, behind the two of you, two swans swimming, angled at the right timing and making their own little heart shape with their necks.

The hired photographer gives you a thumbs up, and shows you the pictures to make sure you were satisfied. They were friendly, always being gentle and giving positive affirmations, but helping to make the photos look perfect.

Everything was private. Even the pictures taken are only going to be for you and Taylor. Maybe some for the outside world, or just your friends and family, but not all of them. You stayed until you finished the photoshoot, laughs and smiles shared with the two of you.

Once done, you both walk into the building for your wedding, having visited before, but seeing it again made your eyes wide with mesmerization.

The venue was beautiful and huge. The side walls were glass, and the outside held scenery of the pretty outdoor gardens, flowers and trees; the place where you had just been standing in earlier.

Along the walls, extending up to the roof, there were vines decorated in a detailed path, curving and hanging off corners.

Inside, you were walking on concrete flooring, not green grass. Still, it was breathtaking. It seemed almost like a greenhouse, but it wasn't extremely extravagant. Just...perfect.

Yet, the stage. The stage was the main attraction. No, this time, not a stage for Taylor's concerts. Although, it would be great for an acoustic show, you can see the look in her gaze off to it. She was already imagining how your wedding was going to be like.

Upon the stage large white archways stood tall. Flowers were down below and in the middle of the archways, mixed in with the smallest little lanterns. It all had a glowing backlight too, adding onto everything to make it complete.

You and Taylor went to the dressing room to get ready, the time starting to tick down to where the guests was on their way. The room was cozy and dim, enveloping the both of you like a warm embrace.

On the side, there was a rack of your two white wedding dresses. They were beautiful. Chosen and decided by the both of you with the utmost care and sincerity from your hearts. The lace was soft, and parts were flowy enough to make a satisfying movement.

Of course, you needed to get your makeup on first. As much as you were eager to wear the pretty dress, it was best not to get any makeup accidentally on it.

The stylist greets both of you when she enters, giving a kind expression. She could see almost instantly how great of a pair you make, and it lightened her heart tremendously.

You moved to sit on the couch, sitting patiently and waiting for Taylor to finish her makeup first, the light surrounding the mirror helping in making her face glow.

To think that she was sitting here, in front of you, not getting ready for a show, but for a wedding. Your wedding. Together. Well, maybe, a show for you...but this...she was making an eternal promise of her love and for yours.

You were double checking the notes of when you walk down the walkway with the event planner, but you couldn't focus. You look to see Taylor in her makeup chair, absolutely gorgeous looking. She was your distraction, and you didn't mind it at all.

The event planner notices, and they couldn't help but smile. Yet, they took your attention once more just in case. Of course, you go over the planning again, remembering everything without a hitch.

Soon, the both of you finish your makeup. It was a light makeup that show parts of your natural faces while still making it glow.

You get into your dress, Taylor following along behind you and being careful on her touch upon the dress. You adjust everything and look over your own, the all white outfit serving as its one true color, and not off to creme or anything at all.

Just as you were about to take a step forward to ask Taylor to help with your zipper, you see her standing in front of the vertical mirror, her teeth sunk into her lip as she stared and looked at herself.

On the other hand, your heart absolutely jumped, seeing her in the beautiful gown. She didn't have her zipper up either, her hand holding the dress together and trying to reach for it.

You slowly walk towards her, your hand reaching out to gently pull her zipper up before putting your hands on her waist, making eye contact with her in the mirror.

"You look perfect," you whispered under your breath, nearly not even sounding out in a volume. But Taylor heard it, her eyes lighting up as she turns around to gaze at you, her cheeks rising with a blush.

"Really?" she breathed out, sparks flying in her heart. You nodded, smiling brightly at her as you took a step closer. Your hands slide up, gently grasping her arms.

"I almost don't deserve you..." you whispered, barely even above a breath as your eyes looked at every part of her appearance, shaking your head lightly.

"Don't think less of yourself now..." she says, her eyes soft when she brought her hand up to cup your cheek, her thumb brushing against your skin.

You lean into it, holding the moment of vulnerability with her. "I chose you. I love you just as much as you love me, and maybe more," she whispers through the space between you.

"Mm. That can be argued," you murmur, mindlessly letting your mind take control of your mouth without meaning to. But she smiles at the comment.

"Shh..." she puts a single finger on your lips, shushing you softly with a gentle shake of her head. "Just take it, sweetheart," she whispers, which did indeed make you back down.

You let out a giggle though, absolutely surprised at how she took control of the situation. Now, Taylor gazed at you, full of awe. You smile softly and turn around, showing her the zipper you needed help with, and she gladly and gently pulled it up.

Afterwards, your hair was still to the side to have ensured it was not getting caught on the zipper, but she leans in closer, seeing the opportunity to lay a soft kiss on your visible neck.

To your surprise, you tilt your head slightly to look at her, eyebrows raised and a grin on your face. "You, look like an angel, sweetheart," she compliments you charmingly from your shoulder, having you blush for the 100th time today.

"Thank you..." you whisper out, looking down in shyness as she steps in front of you, her hands on your shoulders. She chuckles softly, seeing your blush.

"I love you," she whispers, kissing the top of your head as she pulls you closer. You lean into her, wrapping your own arms around her and feeling the fabric of her dress.

"I love you, too." you reply, closing your eyes with a soft sigh. The two of you needed this moment, how real it was, and how it wasn't a dream.

Outside, the room, the small amount of invited guests had already arrived. If the music and the wedding planner coming in through the room wasn't obvious enough, you can hear the mixed conversations outside, just barely leaking through the walls.

They were playing Taylor's songs specifically made for you on the speakers, mixed in with your favorite songs together, melodies that echo through the hall.

You turn to look at her, and she gives you a reassuring smile before the wedding planner goes to take you both outside, at the entrance of the venue so you could await for your walk together and prepare.

You take a deep breath in, seeing the long pathway, empty only for the two of you. Your heart pounded in your chest, and Taylor can see your nerves setting off.

"Are you ready?" She asks you softly, standing beside you with all the comfort her presence holds. You look to her, taking another breath in.

"I'm, um, nervous...but...yes," you whispered, your voice shaking as your hands trembled. Taylor smiles gently, her eyes softening as she gives you a reassuring kiss on the cheek, her wondrous lipstick not even smudging or lingering on your skin, but her lips ghosting your cheek.

"I'd walk down it anytime you want, as long as its with you, darling." she assures you, leaning in to lightly brush your shoulders in a loving touch.

"You're so sweet..." you whisper, your lips raising up in a soft smile, and it was exactly what she aimed for, her heart swelling.

"Take my hand, baby," she says quietly, holding her hand out to you, and you slip your fingers in between hers, intertwining without a doubt, but she can feel the tremble in your joints.

"We're gonna do this together...okay?" the blonde captures your eyes, squeezing your hand gently. Being assured by her blue set of eyes that only held love and care for you, you nod.

"I'm ready," you breathed out, seeing the wedding planner walk up to the both of you, making sure you were both calm and ready, and that your dress was spread out perfectly.

It was time. This was it.

The glass windows on the side of the walls started to be closed by large metal doors, closing out the outside light, only for the orange chandelier and lights evenly places across the venue to take its place. It was dark, but the walkway had candles alit on its sides, accompanying the red carpet. It was all just to prepare for the two of you to enter.

The guests waited, some holding their breaths, some already even getting teary-eyed at the mere thought that this was where you were both being locked in, officially an intertwined couple.

Taylor's mom, Andrea, especially. She held tissues ready in her hand, some already used. Scott was sitting beside her, getting emotional too with Austin.

When you walk out together, everyone watching gasps, their breaths taken away by the beauty of your dresses and how you two fit together like puzzle pieces in the right place.

Everyone except her parents was requested to have their phones off, and they all obliged, the camera person in front as the main view, but it wasn't the whole world watching.

Both of your dresses flowed and drifted across the carpet, Taylor's white dress having the look and idea of flowers, trailing their pathes.

Your appearances were alit by the many glowing candles and bit of spotlight upon you, up until you both reach the altar where the marriage officiant stands.

When you reach the stage, you turn to face Taylor, still holding hands. The marriage officiant starts her words, the waiting making your heart grow even faster in anticipation, and you tried to make sure everything in your head was correct.

Taylor's eyes were on yours, never leaving. In this moment, it felt like it was only the two of you. The whole world faded in just a gaze.

"Do you, Taylor Alison Swift, take Y/N Y/L/N as your wife?" The officiant finally says, her eyes going up to travel between the two of you.

"I do," Taylor says, her smile growing wider as she looks into your eyes and squeezed your hand, ever excited to hear every word in this special day.

The officiant turns to face you, her lips raised up. "And do you, Y/N Y/L/N, take Taylor Alison Swift as your wife?" she asks.

You nod, "Yes. I do," you say, your genuine happiness evident and overlaying your voice. Taylor's heart just about felt like it was about to explode.

"Now, since you have chosen to say your vows, you may hold each other's hands and speak in truth," the officiant says, lowering her book she was holding.

You take a deep breath, looking to the officiant before catching Taylor's eyes again, seeing her own hesitancy and nervousness in speaking her vows. You smile, and decide to go first.

"Taylor...I will love you, for all my life, and with my entire soul. You were there for me in my worst times, when I needed someone when no one else came to my aid. I don't know what I would do without you, but I know right now, I would do anything for you, and as long as I'm with you, I know I'm living happily. I wish to give you everything you've ever needed, all without resentment. All the kisses, all our shared days, we'll share with laughs and honesty. I hope we spend each second cherishing it all, because I will. With every chance I get. Because you, Taylor, are the love of my life, and I wish to give you this ring so we can have this sweet love forever."

You finished off your vow, some parts being shaky, and some parts holding the most absolute brightest smiles as you felt a swell building in your throat. Taylor already got teary eyed, a soft sniffle sounding out from her before she prepares and remembers her own vows.

"Y/N Y/L/N...With every guitar string scar on my hand, I take you to be my lover...After years and millions of tears, finally, with you, I'll spend all my time with until the end. You're the whole world to me. I promise that all my stares and gazing upon you, will always be filled with love, and my words whispered to you whenever you feel down, will always have care and sweetness. I vow that we'll always be together, in the times of need...and if there are, the times of the worst. The times that are the best, and anything in between. Take my ring, and I'll take yours, our soul to be intertwined, forever and evermore."

You tried blinking away the tears, but they had already fallen at her beautifully thoughtful words. She lets out a small laugh tearfully as she saw you already crying, even though she was, too.

The officiant had put down her book, and held out the board for the rings, and you both took one, slipping it on each other's finger with gentleness.

Once done, the officiant leaned back, and nods. "...I now pronounce you equally wed." she announces. Over in the front row, Taylor's mom was tearing up, looking up at the both of you proudly.

You gaze at each other, eyes holding your own reflections and emotions, and smiles wider than they've ever been. "I love you," you whisper, squeezing Taylor's hand.

"I love you, too," she says back, leaning in to kiss you, and you meet her halfway, your lips brushing before fully touching in a whisper of promise.

"We're gonna be together forever." You murmur against her lips, crying softly and needing to pull back slightly to gather yourself up, but forehead resting against her.

"Yes, sweetheart..." she whispered, smiling softly as she gently nuzzles her nose against you, the gesture making you pull her into an embrace.

Now it was forever, something you'll keep to for your whole life. Thank god for Taylor's indestructable makeup. All her tears had nothing against it, and especially not with her love for you.

The rest of the wedding went by amazingly well, with congratulations from many people, smiles, laughter, and loving stares. There was a polaroid moment, with you and Taylor and her friends only using polaroids to take photos. You danced together, and then cut the cake with Taylor too, both of you having brought the cut piece on the spoon up to each other's lips in a sweet gesture.

|——————————— ⸆⸉ ———————————|

In the car...

The two of you had now changed into different outfits, sitting in more comfortable clothing. Taylor was driving, carefully keeping eye on the roads.

You breathe in the air, then let it out slowly, the seatbelt keeping you grounded as you sunk into your seat exhaustingly, but completely and utterly satisfied with how everything turned out.

The sunset traced your faces, and when you turn your head, it seemed to have made Taylor ever so graceful looking. You might have somehow fallen in love with her even more; if that was even possible.

You smile softly, unbelievably happy as you went to reach your hand over the centre console, resting it on her thigh as she drove.

"I can't believe we happened..." you whisper softly, your thumb soothingly moving. Her eyes flicker down to your hand, her heart swelling.

"But we did," she whispers, glancing to you. When she had the chance, she takes off one hand from the steering wheel, reaching down to hold your hand.

"And I love it," you said quietly. There was almost no more words to describe how you felt. It was all...overflowing your heart at this point.

She smiles softly, bringing your hand up to her lips to kiss it softly. "You're so precious to me..." she says, looking to see your ring she got for you on your finger. Her own hand held the same, but the one you got for her.

She kisses that part of you softly, too, making sure her love is known and marked upon it, and your face held a deep flush before you gently pull her hand to do the same.

The windows held the blurring scenery of a day, the sunset being the framing background picture of your love together, driving back home.

She was all you needed.

And you were all she needed.

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

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