#The End!

[witherby]

hey 😏

just wondering if you have anymore mer reader in the works 😏

also! i hope that your doing well!!

and can i be 🌕 anon? :)

You can absolutely be 🌕 anon! And, I do! Here's the final installment of:

Human!Damian x Mer!Reader

Part 9

Masterlist is Here!

"I'll need everyone's attention before we continue into the next exhibit, please."

Damian's voice is clear but firm, no room for argument in his tone, and his tour group all quickly quiet down to watch him. He rewards them with his well-practiced Customer Service Smile, nodding once.

"Thank you," he says. "This final exhibit is the pride and joy of Gotham Aquarium: the Mer tank. I can already see hands raised, and I'll open the floor up to questions in a minute. We're going to cover the rules first."

He holds up one hand, raising a finger as he goes.

"Rule number one: absolutely no flash photography. Take as many pictures and videos you want, but you have to leave the flash off. Our mer's eyes are sensitive to highly-focused levels of light, and you could temporarily blind them. Rule number two: do not knock or beat on the glass. It is several inches thick and reinforced, but you can still startle and disturb the mer. Rule number three: please...please stop flipping off our mer. They've learned to mimic their handlers and some of the guests, and it took weeks to make them quit it. If I see a bird, notice a flash, or catch you banging on the glass, everyone will be asked to leave."

He drops his hand, looking at every guest expectantly.

"Got it? Everyone say yes, Damian."

"Yes, Damian," the crowd echoes back, a mixture of amusement from the adults and excitement from the children reaching his ears. He gives them another practiced smile and reaches for the door.

"Great. Then step right in. Fan out and look around as much as you want. You can ask any questions now."

"How long has Gotham Aquarium had the mer?" One adult immediately asks, examining the seaweed on the bottom of your tank.

"Almost two years," Damian replies. "The anniversary of their arrival is in a month. We've got a small party planned to celebrate."

"What's the mer's favorite color?" A child asks him, gently tugging on Damian's pant leg to get his attention. His smile becomes more genuine.

"Green," he replies. "They love green things. I see your hair clip is green. They'll probably stare at you when they come out."

The little girl gasps, eyes wide. "Really!?" She turns and runs to her dad. "Hey daddy! The mer likes green, and my hair clip is green! The mer will like me!"

More questions come that Damian answers with ease. He paces along the floor and casts his gaze upward, examining all the little ways your tank has been changing overtime.

Your rock collection has grown substantially since Damian started painting more for you. He gives you a new one every day, and you have them proudly scattered all along the floor to decorate your enclosure. You've also taken to moving your seaweed around; instead of one, big stretch of it to hide and sleep in, you've uprooted it and made it into a series of little hiding places. He can also see some weighted toys lying around that one visitor asks about, happy to explain how you use them for enrichment.

"When's the mer come out?" Another one asks, leaning against the glass. His eyes are practically glazed over from disinterest. "Is it sleeping or something? These tickets were like forty bucks and I'm just staring at rocks and water."

There's a loud thud against the glass behind him. The man yelps and whips around to find you with your hands pressed against the wall, eyes wide and teeth bared as you stare right at him.

"Oh, shit!"

Damian sighs, but he's smirking. You love startling unsuspecting guests; it's your second favorite activity. He watches the others flock to you once they realize what happened, and you perk up and examine them all with a much more pleasant smile.

"Daddy, I can't see," the girl from before complains. Her father gently hoists her up onto his shoulders, and you immediately take notice.

You push off from the glass and swim around the edge of the tunnel to examine her as closely as possible. You tap one claw on the glass, then gesture to your head, and the little girl gasps and beams.

"They see it!!! They see my hair clip daddy!!" She chirps. She tugs it off of her head and holds it up for you to see better. Your pupils widen and your tail swishes gently back and forth, deeply intrigued.

"Obviously, this is our mer," Damian speaks up, and he tells them your name. "Their breed is found in shallow, fresh water. They thrive in warmer temperatures, and they're very rarely alone. You can typically expect them to travel in pods of at least three, though more commonly up to six or seven."

"But Gotham Aquarium only has one mer?" A guest asks, while you make playful grabs for the clip to no avail. "Aren't they lonely, then?"

"There was a big adjustment period for them when we first acquired our mer," Damian nods, "but they have a dedicated team of caregivers that ensure they aren't lonely or bored. They've bonded with several of us very well. Even though they recognize that we don't live underwater, they still see us as pod-mates."

"How long did it take to bond with them?"

"Great question," Damian says. He watches you give up on snatching the clip and start swimming around the tunnel to examine the other visitors. "It took them about ten months after arriving to learn to trust me. We started off slow: I would use a remote-controlled robot to deliver their buckets of food and then dump it into the water. Then I would enter the room where the top of the tank is, and hand it to them with a long pole. Then I got rid of the pole and set the bucket on the lip of the tank, and stood back while they retrieved it. When they got used to me being around, we started working on small tricks."

Damian lifts his hands, wiggling his fingers to catch your attention. You lock eyes with him and give a knowing nod, swimming up until you're positioned directly above him. He waves his left hand clockwise, and you swim in slow, clockwise circles. He waves his right arm next, and you switch and start spinning counter-clockwise.

"This is all done humanely and voluntarily, of course," Damian explains while the guests watch on with rapt attention. "If there's a trick they don't want to perform, they simply won't do it. We don't force them into doing anything, including coming out during tours if that's not what they want. Some days they just aren't up to saying hello, and that's fine."

He drops one arm and uses the other to make a broad waving motion. You mimic the action. He points at one of your toys, gesturing for you to grab it and bring it over. You glance at the one he wants, then ignore him and decide to go back over to the little girl and admire her hair clip some more.

"As you can see, they like shiny objects, especially if they're green. They've got a small collection of aquatic-safe objects in their hideaway. All breeds of mer tend to have hoarding tendencies, and ours is no different."

Damian gives the group a few more facts about you and your general behaviors, answers some more questions, and then inevitably has to call it when the same guy complaining about ticket prices decides to photograph you with the flash on. You flinch and rub your eyes, then dart away out of sight.

"All right, everyone, please come this way," he calls, in that cordial but no-nonsense tone again, and holds open the door. "This concludes your tour of Gotham Aquarium. Please exit this way in an orderly fashion."

"Aww.."

"Nice job, jackass. We were supposed to be in here for at least twenty more minutes."

"I didn't think he was serious! I forgot to turn the flash off, so what!"

"That was kinda cool. Sucks we couldn't stay, though."

There's a tug on his pants again. Damian looks down at the little girl, who fidgets nervously.

"Um...is the mer gonna be okay? Are their eyes hurting a lot?" She asks. Damian knees down to her height and offers her another smile.

"They'll be fine," he promises. "I personally check on them every day. What's your name? I'll tell them you said hi."

"Um!" The girl blushes, eyes wide. "It's Rosie! Thank you mister!"

"You're welcome, Rosie. I hope you had fun today."

"So much fun!" She agrees, then turns to her dad and reaches up to take his hand, walking out of the tunnel. "Daddy, daddy! When I grow up I wanna take care of mers, too!"

"Okay, honey," her dad chuckles, "but you're gonna have to do your homework if that dream is gonna come true."

"Aw, man!....okay. I'll do my math sheets for the mers..."

Once the room is cleared, Damian closes and locks the doors. He hangs around just long enough to ensure no stragglers try to swing back around, then drops the Polite Tour Guide persona and heads for the staff elevators with a scowl. It's a matter of minutes before he's in the locker room, swapping out the Aquarium polo and khakis for his wetsuit and then trudging into your tank entrance.

"Rule one!" He complains to Jon, who is already sitting on the lip of the tank and filling a puzzle cube with treats for you. "No flash! It's the first rule, and someone breaks it almost every single day we're open! One day I'm going to hit my limit for these witless miscreants and start punching people."

"So, tours didn't go super well I take it," Jon says, not even sparing him a glance. He's heard different versions of this rant at least five times and doesn't react to it anymore, having quickly come to understand that Damian is just Like That. "You gonna go do the eye exam already or should I call my dad? Y'know, the actual vet?"

"He's never as thorough as I prefer. You know that. Also: shut up, who asked you?"

"You're a joy and a delight to work with, Wayne."

Damian ignores him and grabs a rebreather and situates it over his mouth, ties the bag of eye equipment around his waist, steps up onto the edge of the tank, then dives. The water swirls around him, an all-encompassing and welcoming pressure. He starts pedaling his arms and legs, headed for the direction you sped off at the end of the tour.

He finds you in the middle level of your tank, about a floor down, curled around an underwater tree limb and rubbing your eyes. You squint at him when you notice his presence and trill, the water vibrating slightly around you.

Damian quickly goes to work, pulling out one tool at a time to check on your eyes and how well you can see. You're perfectly fine, just annoyed, but he considers having his father enact a total ban on any cameras in the tunnel when tours come by. Just because you're fine now doesn't mean it'll stay that way every time.

He points upwards, to the surface, and you nod. You take his hand and pull him along, your powerful tail carrying him faster than he ever could on his own, and soon you're both above the water and treading it calmly.

"Welcome back!" Jon grins, waving your puzzle toy at you. "Refilled this for ya. Your record for getting all the treats out is six minutes. Think you can break that today?"

Your eyes narrow and you reach for it eagerly. You can smell the squid and shrimp tucked into each compartment, which are your favorites; absolutely you will be getting those out in six minutes or less.

Damian pulls himself up to the lip of the tank and both boys watch you poke, pull, and prod at the components of the puzzle box. It's not long before you're collecting your spoils and eating them triumphantly. Jon checks his timer and notes that you beat your previous record by over a minute and a half.

"Are you surprised?" Damian huffs. "They're brilliant. They could learn to do just about anything with enough time and practice."

You preen, chittering your agreement. That's why Damian is your favorite caretaker; he's never doubted you since getting to know you, not ever.

He did forget something, though. You toss the puzzle box back at Jon and make grabby hands, face expectant.

Damian immediately clears his throat and looks at Jon, cheeks turning the barest shade of pink. "I need you to go and fetch the shears. The vine growth on the middle level of the tank is beginning to obscure vision and easy travel."

"You didn't bring them with you?" Jon frowns. "Dude. They're all the way on the bottom floor in the maintenance closet. It's gonna take me like twenty minutes to get back here."

"Then you'd better make haste."

"Why can't you do it?"

Damian scowls at him. Jon throws his hands up and climbs to his feet.

"Fine! Haven't gotten my ten thousand steps yet anyway," he grumbles, heading for the door. "Don't play hide and seek without me! I've just gotten good at finding spots I can fit in!"

You chitter and chirp, amused, then focus on Damian again once the doors go your enclosure snap shut.

Damian faces you, the pink in his cheeks worsening. He fiddles with the bag tied to his waist and avoids your gaze.

"I, ah..." He starts, working his jaw in thought. "The girl whose clip you liked. She says hello. Her name is Rosie."

You blink, waiting patiently for him to get to the point.

"I was asked about how you've adjusted to life here without pod-mates. I told them you have a pod in us. That you're not alone here despite being the only one of your kind in Gotham Aquarium." Damian swishes his feet slowly in the water, following the same rhythm as your tail. You drift a little closer.

"And you've adjusted very well, Princess," he continues, voice turning soft. "I can't thank you enough for giving me a second chance to care for you. I want you to know that it means everything to me."

Damian meets your gaze again, and there it is. There's that pair of gorgeous, emerald eyes you adore. You drift even closer, resting your palms on the backs of his calves, and smile up at him. He smiles right back.

"You noticed I don't have another rock for you," he says. You nod. "It's because I didn't bring you a rock this time."

You frown, huffing. Damian chuckles.

"You know I kept the scales you gave me," he admits, recapturing your attention. Your eyes widen, heart starting to pound in your chest. Was he about to give them back? You didn't want them back. "They're beautiful, Princess. I keep them in a jar in my bedroom, and I look at them all the time. They make me happy every time I see them. I wanted to give you something like that in return."

Your heart pounds faster. It sounds like he's about to do what you've wanted from him for what feels like forever. Your grip on his calves tightens, wide eyes searching his own.

"I don't ever want you to doubt how much I care about you again," Damian says, pulling your gift out of the pouch on his waist.

It's a beautiful, emerald pendant on a gold chain, the jewel the same shade as his eyes. You're immediately captivated, reaching up with a trembling hand to cradle the necklace to your chest and admire it more closely. The gentle, rippling water of your tank reflects against the surface and makes the shine of it seem to undulate all around you. It's the most wonderful gift you've ever gotten.

"I hope... I hope that you'll accept this token of courtship," Damian finishes quietly.

You look up at him with tears in your eyes and trill loudly enough to make his ears ring. You tug frantically at his legs and he obediently slips back into the water, letting you wrap your arms around him and squeeze tight, tight, tight. He squeezes you right back, resting his chin on top of your head.

"I love you," he mumbles into your hair. You warble it back as best as you can, nuzzling into him, then lean up and gently press your lips against his. He presses right back, shivering but not from the chill of the water.

Jon finds the two of you like that when he returns with the shears twenty minutes later. He just sighs and rolls his eyes.

"First of all, finally. The will-they-won't-they drama was killing me. Second of all, you could have just said you wanted a moment alone, dude. It took me forever to find these! Do the vines even need trimmed down?"

Damian just smiles and hides his face in your shoulder. They don't.

[dronebiscuitbat]

Oil is Thicker Then Blood (Part 114)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/57014356/chapters/164008846

N took a deep breath as he passed the molten planetary body, tail around the thruster control and slowly easing off the power, gently preparing the ship for entry into Titanium-28's green-tinted atmosphere

His girlfriend, his partner, his mate. Was standing beside him with a hand on his shoulder, controlling her breathing as the ship began to rumble, beginning to get pulled into the planets gravity.

“Let's hope the heat shielding holds up…” She gulped, tension barely hidden under the surface.

“If it doesn't… uh what happens?” N asked, sweat on the inside of his visor as the ship groaned as gravity pulled it down faster..

“We cook alive as the ship burns up in the atmosphere.” Uzi replied, squeezing his shoulder a little harder.

“Oh…” He gulped, turning his full attention back to the navigation.

“Dont think about it. I designed it… it'll hold.”

He nodded, forcing down the feeling of dread building up in his core.

…

Tera and Bishop were being watched by Delilah and Jason, her husband, being one of the only people Uzi trusted to watch her without fear of her little one being judged. Plus, she got to socialize.

Bishop cooed up at Delilah, who was in awe of his little tail, five extra eyes, and tiny teeth.

“Oooh, aren't you the cutest little thing. You look just like your dad, yes you do!” She booped his nose, and his visor flickered as he giggled.

Zoey played with her small freind group to the side. Two more young girls, pretending to be moms, or, for one, pretending to be the cool aunt because “babies are weird.”

Tera was not playing with dolls.

No. She was sitting perfectly still while Kiara prodded the fangs in her mouth with her fingers, curious on her differences but not afraid.

“Point-ie” She said softly, poking the sharp tooth and cocking her head. Tera vibrated, trying to wag a tail she didn't have.

“Uh-huh!” She replied, though muffled through the finger in her mouth, it isn't until Kiara pulling her hand away that she's able to speak. “Bitey.”

Kiara opened her own mouth to reveal her flat teeth.

“No Bitey.” Tera observed, poking Kiara's teeth now, making her giggle and kick her feet.

Tera smiled, her fangs on full, shameless display. She poked her again, this time on the cheek.

More giggles.

Poke.

A squeal of laughter

Tera was rearing up to poke her again when another young child tackled her from the side, making her squeak in surprise and alarm. Delilah immediately looked up from Bishop, handing him off to Jason before rushing over and assessing the situation.

A young boy with red eyelights and indigo colored hair was stand triumphantly where Tera was a moment ago, chest puffed out, the easy way he hot around implied he was at least two.

He smiled wide. “I saved you!” He declared, looking down at Kiara, who… looked way more concerned about her freind being shoved away and ignored him entirely.

“Ter! Ter!” She squeaked as she came over to her.

Tera shook her head as her vison flickered yellow, becoming fuzzy and confusing, she felt warmness fill her core, quickly getting hotter and hotter-

“Now, now kiddo, you can't just shove other people like that.” Delilah scolded. “Where on earth are your parents…?”

“Teeth!” He pointed out like it was a good point.

“We all have teeth buddy.” Delilah replied.

Tera growled, feeling static fill her head and body begin to feel slightly floaty, what was happening…?

In the next moment, her body moved without her input, pouncing on the boy with a feral sounding growl and claws poking out of her fingertips. He yelped as she landed on top of him, visor a yellow “X”

Her mouth was turned upward in a too-wide cheshire grin, drool dripped on the little boys visor, she pinned him, cocking her head unnaturally.

Delilah’s eyelights went hollow, thinking quickly, she grabbed the young solver kit by the back of her shirt like Uzi often did, and she fell limp like a kitten, visor flickering offline for a moment before purple reappeared.

The boy got up and immediately ran to a younger man, who was on his phone and paid him no mind, even after he yelled “Yellow Eyes!” multiple times.

Tera blinked, slightly confused on why she couldn't remember the last couple minutes or why she was being held in the air.

She looked at Delilah and cocked her head, before giggling, smiling at her innocently.

She looked back at Jason. And then at Kiara, who was already reaching up towards her best freind and Tera reaching down.

…Jason hadn't noticed, he was chatting to another man while holding Bishop.

Delilah looked back at Tera, who was looking at her expectantly, there was nothing threatening about her now. Her claws sheathed and her fangs back to looking cute.

“Lila…?” She asked, wriggling slightly in her grasp. “Trouble…?” Her head slumped down and her shoulders fell, asking if he was in trouble even if she didn't quite remember what happened.

Delilah gently put the solver kit back down, Tera shaking like a damp puppy before resuming play…

Even though Tera was already slightly larger then her own daughter, she played gently, there was no sign of the aggression she'd just displayed…

The ship lurched suddenly, throwing anyone standing off balance and anyone sitting out of their seat.

N's voice echoed over the speakers. His voice slightly shaky. “We are decending onto Titanium-28, please find something to hold onto.”

“A-also our back landing gear is not deploying…it's gonna be a rough landing… watch for loose items and brace yourselves"

The speaker clicks to signify the message is over.

Everyone looms at each other before quickly gathering their things and heading to the sleeping pods to prepare for landing.

…

Fire caused by friction plumed under the ship, N reversing the thrusters and pulling up hard so the wings would catch without burning, he bit his lip, concentration on every feature. Uzi was in the co-pilot seat, watching the integrity of the hull like a hawk.

“Coming in a little hot…” She warned. “Just breathe and relax, you got this.” She assured. “We're slowing down.”

He nodded, focusing on slowing them down before they hit terminal velocity. He forced himself into calming breaths even as his core pounded.

Several heat shielding panels caught the wind and blew off, the ship groaned and rattled as it heaved, everyone inside held on to the inside of thier pods for dear life.

“Easy. You got it.” Uzi said again, hitting some buttons on the console. N felt the thrusters stall for a moment.

“Uzi.”

“It's fine, I'm giving you a little more power, this is a little heavier then a pod…” She explained, he felt the ship lurch again as he began to slow down faster.

Just in time to see a dark green colored canopy that seemed to cover the entire planet. Shielding the ground from the sun, but unfortunately making landing far more difficult.

“Just go slow, we're a big metal missle we can break some trees if we have to.” Uzi smiled, and down came the ship through the thick canopy…

The ship scraped loudly against thick branches and dense leaves, rumbling in protest as it carved a hole for itself, the drones inside the flying sardine can, became more and more worried.

…

Until it all all stopped with a loud bang, the ships having to grind across the ground to stop without the back landing gear… and it was over.

After a moment of silence, N's voice echoed over the speaker.

“Touchdown.”

And the screams that followed were joyous and wonderful…

…

The airlock opened with a hiss onto the Doorman family, Tera riding on her father's head while Bishop was held in his mother's arms. Warm, humid air brushed across thier silicone like a gentle greeting.

The canopy of the hundred foot tall trees was so thick, barely any sunlight made it to the the forest floor, which meant… even though it was during the day… The Doorman family was able to climb out of the ship and onto the ground.

The lack of sunlight was made up by the underbrush being bioluminesant, the ferns, bushes and flowers glowing in hues of blue, green and red, when Uzi brushed a plant with her hand, the red leaf burst with orange light before settling again.

Birds called from the canopy, thier beautiful melody echoed through the mighty trees, flashes of colorful wings and glowing yellow eyes peered down at them.

N jumped as something squeaked at him for nearly stepping on it. A slightly furry, yet amphibious looking creature with two tails and giant ears, and four brown beady eyes.

“Oh! H-hey buddy.” He greeted dumbly, having not seen an animal since he was a worker.

It squeaked at him again, having rows of sharp little needle teeth, before it scampered off on six legs.

Uzi chuckled. “Space Rat.”

N's eyes lit up. “Sprat!”

The rest of the worker drones slowly clambered out of the ships airlock in awe, enraptured by this strange and wonderful world…

V flew up and out of the ship immediately, scanning the landing site with each and every one of her eyes before she stood on top of the partly-crash-landed ship. Breathing in the thick jungle air.

“So… what now?” N asked his partner, being on the ground… in a new world, safe at last.

“We… find a place to rebuild.” Uzi smiled, looking relieved for the first time in… a long time. “We made it.”

N laughed, voice warbly like he was about to cry. “Yeah…”

Tera's entire body stiffed from atop N's head when she caught a glimpse of something tiny, fast, and shiny scurrying across the alien ground.

With a flicker if a purple “X" on her visor, she lept off N's head and chased after it on all fours, making both her parents yelp and call out after her.

Her tongue was hanging out the side of her head while she chased the shiny tiny thing, the wind whistling around her, claws digging into the dirt and flinging dried leaves up behind her in a trail. She didn't even notice her parents panicked yelling as she sprinted deeper into the jungle.

She passed odd creatures. A heard of deer- no, sheep? Both, the antlers and size of a deer but the build and woolen coat of a sheep. Yet she kept going.

She bounded through a stream teeming with small, colorful fish.

And beamed directly into a spider-web, which, as spiderwebs do. Got sucked right into her tiny mouth.

She skid to a stop, coughing and sputtering and rubbing her face to get off the unwanted substance.

“Bleh! Pleh! Mleh!” She spat, which was just enough time for Uzi, flying as fast as she could, to catch up with her.

“Tera! Don't run off that fast! We don't know what's here!” She scolded as she picked her up, helping her wipe the world's finest thread off her face. “There.”

Uzi looked around, before stopping to stare at something peculiar…

A shine of metal underneath an overgrowth of vines. She cocked her head and raised her hand to use the solver to remove the vines.

As the vines came away, a smile came onto her face.

It was an old pumpjack.

“Yeah… that'll work.”

…

The End.

[madokaholic]

PMMM - The Illustrated Book (43 - 48)

[musical-chan]

Father of Time Chapter 100: The Boy and the Deity

Guys and gals and non-binary pals, instead of my usual snippet of the fic, I'm just going to say it's been a real joy to work on this for the last year and a half. I'm not done, by any stretch of the imagination, and I have many more words to write in this AU. But this is the end of Father of Time (part 1!) and in a month, I'll be starting up Father of Time part 2.

To everyone who trawls the Fierce Deity tag here on Tumblr and sees MANY posts like this, I'm sorry, but also not. To anyone who watches the Fierce Dadity tag, same thing. But I love you. Please help us fill the tag with awesome things. <3

Please head over to AO3, have a read, leave a comment, say hello! And for all of you that read along, I hope to see you in a month for Father of Time part 2, the journey continues. SIKE! It's The Ganondorf War.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/51754873/chapters/165454213

[maustown]

[rakiah]

Queentober - Day 31: Wedding

[blushweddinggowns]

But then she woke up the next day and nothing was better. She had slept till noon and by the time she came downstairs her mom let her know that she had two messages from Steve already. 

Those were definitely getting ignored. At least for today. 

She didn’t even know what to say to him. If her feelings for him weren't obvious to him before then they probably were now. Or he thought that she was a total homophobe which made her want to cry for a whole new reason. 

You’re the first person I’ve ever actually told this too, because it just feels like I can trust you. 

Nancy groaned at the memory. God, she had blocked that part out. He probably thought she hated him by now, but she didn’t. She couldn’t even be mad at him, not really.  He didn’t do anything wrong. She was the one who didn’t want to see what was right in front of her. She didn’t know what to do. And when she didn’t know what to do she called Barb, but that wasn’t an option for this.

…was it?

No. It wasn’t. She shouldn’t tell her. She wouldn’t tell her. But then again…if she guessed on her own what had happened that didn’t really count right? And if there was anyone Nancy could trust it was her. She’d never say anything. She just wasn’t the type of person who would endanger someone’s life for petty gossip.

Plus Nancy needed to apologize anyway and it was time she took the verbal tongue whipping that she deserved for leaving her there last night. She called her, sighing when it went to voicemail. She knew she was awake by now and she was definitely home. God, she was even more pissed at her then she thought. 

She spent the weekend sulking, while successfully avoiding Steve and leaving multiple I’m Sorry messages on Barb’s machine. But she wouldn’t be able to avoid her on Monday, she’d find her then.

But then her mom called her, crying. Barb had been missing since Friday. Which didn’t make any sense. Nancy was at their door within the hour, but they had nothing to tell her except that her car was gone and the police had been called. She even went back to Steve’s to look for her, her intense embarrassment suddenly felt like nothing in comparison to not knowing where he best fucking friend was. 

But lucky enough for her he wasn’t there. And Barb’s car wasn’t there either. And Nancy could have sworn it had been when she started walking home. Hadn’t it? What had happened to her after she left? 

Nancy was aware that breaking into Steve’s house to investigate was probably a bad idea. But it was his own fault for showing her where the hide-a-key was. It’s not that she thought that Eddie or Steve would do anything to Barb, but if she was crashing at his house she needed to know about it. But she didn’t find anything. She checked every room, she checked out back, but nothing. There weren’t even signs of a struggle. No blood, nothing that could indicate anything happened here.

But still…if Steve and Eddie were the last people to see her, she couldn’t just pretend that it didn’t matter. Against her better judgment she kept digging around, looking for anything that could help her figure out where she was. She was a little frazzled to say the least. Her best friend was missing and she was trespassing in her ex-crush’s house looking for. 

She was lucky she even heard the front door open while she was rifling through Steve’s desk, immediately followed by his and Eddie’s voices. 

Shit, shit, shit. 

She could hear them coming up the stairs. Of course they were coming up the stairs, his room was upstairs and Nancy….really didn’t want to get caught doing whatever the fuck this was. Could she be blamed for hiding in the closet? God, what kind of hellish weekend was this?

Nancy held her breath as the two of them walked in. She couldn’t see much through the slants in the closet, but she could hear everything. 

“Are you sure you left it here?” Eddie asked, “It might just still be at school.”

“I’m sure,” Steve answered while he shuffled around the room, “I had just finished it and put it back in the book before you came. Give me five minutes and I’ll find it. Just need to retrace my steps. Okay, Friday, I was studying before they came over. And then you happened and…”

She could hear him shuffle around the room before exclaiming, “Ha! Told you it was in here!”

“Why is it under the bed?”

Steve snorted, “Babe, ask yourself that question.”

“Okay whatever. You got me there. Nancy would be proud to know you were this dedicated to turning in homework.”

Steve sighed, “Please don’t say her name right now. I’m sad enough as it is. God, what if she already told Barb and they both hate us? I didn’t even get to say goodbye before they both left.”

“Oh Stevie…” Nancy could hear Eddie move to him, and then an unmistakable, wet kissing sound before he said, “I know this sucks, but it will be okay. You said it yourself right? Nancy’s not that kind of person to hate you over this. And if she is then we do what we always do, lie and move on.”

Steve sighed, “You make it sound so easy.”

“Because it is that easy. Besides, you still got me don’t you?”

Another wet sound before Steve giggled, “Yeah. I do. Now let’s go home, this room is making me depressed.”

Nancy could almost cry from how relieved she was when she heard the door close, even if all of that was hard to hear. Though having to hear them kiss wasn’t exactly pleasant. And she…she didn’t want Steve to think she hated him. But she also couldn’t focus on that for right now. Because now she had proof that whatever happened to Barb had nothing to do with Steve and Eddie, thank god. She would still have to ask them about her, get all her bases covered, but she felt pretty damn confident that they had nothing to do with her going missing. Which meant if she told anyone about this stupid party the cops would waste all of their time questioning them while Barb was still gone. Hawkins police had been functionally useless for finding Will Beyers, what were they going to do with Barb? Less than nothing?

Well Nancy wasn’t going to let that stand. She was going to find her herself. 

She just didn’t think she’d end up doing it with Johnathan Beyers of all people. Or that monsters turned out to be fucking real. Or that her little brother was involved. Or any of the insane shit that happened to her in the span of one week. 

Honestly, in comparison to all of that Steve coming out to her really wasn’t that big a deal. 

But him and Eddie showing up to the Beyer’s place to deliver condolence cookies sure fucking was. Though she had to admit, watching Eddie stab the monster in the back with the knife he kept in his shoe kinda made her more understanding on why Steve was so into him. 

She hadn’t even thanked him, either of them for their help. She was too busy rushing to the hospital with Johnathan. Because if they found Will, then that meant that they found Barb, right?

And they had. Just not all of her. Joyce was the one who ended up telling her. And the one who held her while she sobbed. 

Suffice to say, it was a pretty bad fucking week. It had been a few days since then and Nancy had spent most of it crying about Barb. She couldn’t even tell her parents because of the stupid NDA. Mike and Johnathan were too busy celebrating the fact that Will was alive to deal with her.  She had never felt more alone in her life. She couldn’t tell anyone. She couldn’t talk to anyone- 

Well…actually…she couldn’t talk to anyone who hadn’t been there. And even though they didn’t really know what was going on, Eddie and Steve had been there. If they haven't been forced to sign a shady NDA yet then they would be, and it had said nothing about discussing it with the people who already knew. 

But Jesus, now she had to think about Steve. Steve, who didn’t care that she had been ignoring him. Steve and Eddie who still jumped into help save their asses, despite being completely in the dark. How was she even going to face them? 

After everything that had happened, the whole gay thing felt so small. She could get over it, couldn’t she? And maybe her feelings for Steve hadn’t died completely yet, but they would if she tried right? Plus…as sad as it was, Steve was probably the closest living person to her at this point, even if they had only started getting close the past few months. She…missed him. Hell, she even missed Eddie.  

She hadn’t talked to either of them since that day. But she wanted to. She just wasn’t sure if they would want to talk to her. It’s not like she had anything to give them to make up for getting them almost killed. Or for running away. And she did want to make it up to them. She just didn’t know how. 

Unless…maybe there was something she could do after all. 

I’m not some kind of casanova. I haven’t even had sex with a girl before. All of those dates never got past first, if that. But we needed a way to not be obvious so that’s how that happened.

Steve’s words rang in her head. Maybe it wasn’t a good call to offer up being a fake girlfriend to the guy she still technically liked, but it was something. And it would benefit Eddie too. Plus, she could probably save a few girls from some heartbreak while she was at it. 

Okay, that was something. A plan was forming and plans always helped Nancy to feel like she was back in control. Now she just needed to go over there and apologize, explain everything that happened without crying, and offer up being a fake girlfriend as penance. That wasn’t so hard right? Plus it had the added benefit of getting her to move for the first time in two days. 

She rode her bike over to the Harrington’s place, completely unsurprised when there were no cars. Steve had said it himself, this wasn’t where home was. Luckily she knew where the trailer park was. She didn’t know which one was Eddie’s but she did recognize Steve’s car parked out in front of it. 

It took more than a few knocks for someone to answer the door, but she didn’t bike all around town for nothing. Though…it became pretty obvious pretty quickly that she had um, interrupted something when she came over. If the insane amount of hickies on both of their necks was anything to go by. But the conversation went well enough, of course it did. Both of them were understanding, maybe even understanding to a fault. And they had managed to make her laugh for the first time since she’d known Barb was missing. And both of them jumped right onto the fake dating idea. Eddie seemed especially relieved, he even promised to make her muffins for every other fake date they went on.

And just like that she had them back in her life. Thank fucking god. Nancy wasn’t the type of person who always needed to be surrounded by others to be okay. She liked being alone, honestly preferred it more than half the time, but she couldn't get through all of the shit they’d been through alone. She just couldn’t. And she didn’t have to, because Eddie and Steve were there for her every step of the way. Especially Steve. 

It’s not that he took Barb’s place, no one could. But he quickly became the person she’d go to for…well. Everything. Talking about Barb, on the days she could without crying about it, complaining about her Dad and brother, or even dumb things like who she went to first when she heard a song she really liked. She didn’t think that everything would feel so easy with him after what had happened. But it did.

And while she was a lot closer to Steve, having Eddie around wasn’t too bad of a feeling either. He had a gift for lighting up any room he was in. Steve and Nancy actually shared a lot of the same interests and didn’t have many differing opinions, which just made it so much more fun when Eddie went against almost everything they said. He always kept things interesting, that was for sure. 

But Steve just…understood her in a different way. A way that she needed. And if she could just forget about the whole My best friend fucking died for no reason thing for a second then she’d be doing pretty good right now. And also the small issue of I might still be in love with Steve thing.

That one was harder to ignore when she saw him nearly every day. And it made her feel sick. She didn’t want to feel like this. She didn’t want her heart to speed up every time he hugged her. She didn’t want to imagine a world where him holding her hand actually meant something. She didn’t want any of it, and she didn’t know what to do about it. There was nothing she could do. It was a lose-lose scenario. 

For one thing, it was never going to happen. That became painfully clear after Eddie and Steve got the go-ahead that she was a safe person to be themselves around. They were…ugh. Disgustingly in love. And the more she learned about the truth in their relationship the more nails  were hammered into the closed door of Steve and Nancy ever being together. Plus, she didn’t even want to be with him. Even if Steve magically fell in love with her tomorrow it would ruin Eddie. She couldn’t even fantasize about it because it just made her too damn sad. She wasn’t even sure Steve could be Steve without Eddie at his side. 

Besides, if anything she likes seeing them in love, as weird as that was. But the two of them beat her parents out of the park as an example for what love could be. And she wanted that with someone who wanted her. And Steve was never going to be that person. So why hadn’t the feelings gone away?

They were worse when she was having a bad day. And today was an especially bad day. It had been a few months since Barb died.  It was a Friday night and Nancy’s parents were gone for the weekend, Mike was at Will’s, and Steve and Eddie always did their own thing on Fridays. 

No one had remembered what day it was. Or if they did, they didn’t care. March 26th. Barb’s birthday. Nancy didn’t tell anyone and she didn’t do anything besides sending flowers to her parents..  No one else in school knew. She didn’t even go, she allowed herself the small liencay of skipping, even if she was regretting it now. 

Because she had had a strategy for dealing with Barb being gone. And that was keeping herself busy to the maximum extent possible. If she wasn’t studying her ass off she was doing an extracurricular, and if she wasn’t doing that then she was hanging out with Steve. And if she wasn’t doing that then she was busy trying to read everything Tolstov ever wrote. The busier she was, the less time she had to think. And the less time she had to think meant that her mind wouldn’t wonder to Barb, or how she died, or how alone she probably felt or how scared-

And her strategy was not working. At least not for today. Now she was back to where she was last year, crying alone in her room. Steve had called after school to check up on her and he seemed to believe the lie she put out about her period being particularly bad. It was good for no follow up questions at least. She would have the next 60 or so hours to be alone and miserable.

So why was there someone pounding on her door? Nancy groaned as she forced herself out of bed, yelling down the stairs, “Jesus, I’m coming!”

It had to be Dustin looking for Mike. It’s not like anyone wanted to see her. She didn’t even bother opening the door, she just yelled through it, “Mike is at Will’s house!”

Steve laughed nervously on the other side, “Well that’s good, because I’m pretty sure that kid hates my guts.” 

Nancy’s eyes widened at the sound of his voice. She opened the door and there he was, sheepishly waving at her on her front stoop, "Hi? Can I um, come in?"

Nancy stepped aside to let him, quickly wiping at her face to hide any stray tears. She was pretty sure she looked like shit, but too little too late for that one. 

She shut the door and turned to face him, suddenly feeling very awkward, “I thought tonight was date night?”

Steve shrugged, “Every night is date night if you try hard enough. Do you want to sit down or…?”

Nancy shook her head. What she wanted to do was get back to sulking, but she needed to figure out why he was even here before she could do that, “Steve, what are you doing here?”

Steve fidgeted in place and Nancy hated how adorable she thought it was, “Well you sounded weird over the phone and I was just worried I guess. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Or at least she would be fine after she was left alone to rot, like she deserved, “You don’t need to worry about me.”

Steve ran a hand through his hair, “Nancy look, I know you can take care of yourself. But I just thought since it’s…well y’know.”

How would he…he couldn’t know. Could he? Nancy narrowed her eyes at him, “What are you talking about?”

Steve frowned, suddenly looking a bit more unsure of  himself, “It’s Barb’s Birthday today right?”

Nancy stared at him, eyes wide, “H-How do you know that?”

Steve shrugged, “We um, talked about it once.”

“And you remembered?”

Steve cocked his head at her, “Of course I remember. We were having this whole debate about cars and then I asked what she’d want when she turned sixteen and she mention- Nancy? Are you okay?”

Nancy was not okay. She could feel the tears already welling up in her eyes. She thought…she didn’t think anyone remembered. Or cared but…Steve did. He hadn’t even known her that well. Which was fucking horrible because Barb would have loved him. She did love him, begrudgingly back when they barely knew each other. And Steve would have loved her. Because Barb was smart and funny and sweet like Steve and…and Nancy was crying. Like crying, crying. She was sobbing so hard it felt like an out of body experience. 

She could feel herself sinking to the floor, hands covering her face as she wept. She hated crying in front of other people. She hated looking so weak and pathetic. She hated feeling like this. She was supposed to be better than this. Why did she even have to cry about? She wasn’t the one who was dead. 

God, was this what a mental breakdown felt like?

She could barely hear the sound of Steve kneeling next to her over her own sobs, but she did feel it when he wrapped his arms around her, “Hey, hey, you’re okay. Everything’s gonna be okay. You’re not alone.”

That just made her cry harder. Because she should have been alone. She deserved to be alone. 

“No, you don’t Nancy. Don’t say shit like that.”

She hadn’t even realized she’d been talking out loud. Yep, this was definitely what a mental breakdown felt like. But Steve holding her was helping. He was even rocking her a little, murmuring reassurances in her ear the whole time. 

It took awhile for her to calm down. She couldn’t even tell you how long it had been. But somehow Steve had gotten them off the floor and to the couch, an arm still around her shoulders as she sniffled.

She wiped at her face, a sea of emotions flowing through her. Grief, shame, longing, and all of it was fucking awful. 

She couldn’t even look at Steve, “I’m sorry. I…I don’t know what came over me.”

“Nance, don’t apologize. You think I’ve never had a good cry session on the floor before? It’s normal.”

But it wasn’t normal for her, “You shouldn’t have to see me like this.”

“Why not? Nancy, your best friend died. What else are you going to cry over if not this?”

Even months later, hearing someone else say she died felt like a knife to her heart. Her eyes were already welling up again. Fuck it, she had already embarrassed herself to hell and back in front of him, why not a little more?

“I miss her. So much. Every day. And I can’t stop thinking, why her? What did she ever do to deserve this? And I can’t stop thinking if I hadn’t taken her to your house that night, would she still be alive? Is it my fault she’s dead? O-or am I just making her dying about me? And it makes me feel like I’m going crazy,”  She was babbling, and she’d be shocked if Steve could even understand half of what she was saying through her shaking voice. 

But Steve was listening to every word, patiently waiting as she got everything out before speaking, “Nancy, it’s not your fault she’s gone. And you’re not bad for thinking about what happened. I…I know there’s nothing I can say to fix this. But you're not a bad person because of what happened to her. And there was no reason. It was just fucked up and wrong and no one’s fault but the people in that lab.”

Nancy knew that he was right, even if it didn’t feel right. It still felt like her fault. And even if it wasn’t it didn’t take away the fact that she was gone. But…at least she wasn’t alone. She hadn’t even told him to come, but here he was anyway, all because he remembered her best friend’s birthday.

Because that was the kind of person Steve was. And she loved him for it. And he was handsome and kind and Nancy’s sense of self-preservation was at an all time low. 

The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them, “I think I’m in love with you.”

She regretted saying it the second it was out there. She could feel Steve freeze up next to her. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.

Why had she said that? This. This right here was why she didn’t do vulnerable, because you say the dumbest shit imaginable. Shit that ruined friendships. What was Eddie going to think of her when he found out? He’d probably never talk to her again and now she put Steve in this horrible position and…God, why did she suck so much?

She looked up at him, near cringing at the shocked expression on his face, “Im so sorry Steve, that’s a terrible thing to say. Please don’t tell Eddie. I don't even know where that came from-”

Steve shook his head, shaking himself out of his surprised stupor. He smiled at her, aiming to comfort, “Hey, hey calm down, I’m not mad.”

But he should have been. Or at least Nancy thought he should, “Steve, I would never try to get in between you guys. You know that right? I’m just all fucked up and-”

“Stop apologizing. It’s okay. I get it Nancy. I do. But uh, I’m not sure you do.”

Nancy stopped, her third apology dying on the tip of her tongue, “What?” 

Steve sighed, “Nance, I love you but I think you’re looking at me through some rose-colored glasses here, alright? We work because you have the friend version of me. I think a week with romantic Steve would have you running up a wall.”

That’s what he was focusing on?

“Huh?”

Steve bit his lip, struggling for the words before saying, “It’s just-and stop me if I’m totally wrong here, but I think that it’s not everyday a boy and a girl get as close as we did without the romance part. So it’s easy to get confused. I know you love me. But…I don’t think you’re in love with me. I think you think it would be easier if you were, but Nancy, I swear to you it wouldn’t be.”

This conversation had taken a weird turn. And it didn’t make any sense to her, “What are you talking about? Anyone would be happy to be with you Steve. Look at you!”

“Exactly!” Steve groaned, circling a hand around his face, “Look at me! Do you know the shit I put Eddie through on a daily basis?”

“What do you mean?” Nancy asked.

“I mean I’m a nightmare! First of all, he’s not even allowed to sleep at night without me. And I’ll like, koala cling to him. All night long. And it doesn’t stop in bed. If we’re alone, his lap is my home away from home.”

Nancy stared at him, gnawing on her lower lip as he talked, "You're exaggerating."

Steve shrugged, "You're right. Half the time he’s on mine. But it gets worse. Do you remember when I was gone for that tournament a few weeks back? It was maybe two days?”

She nodded.

“I called him eight times. And he picked up every single one of them. Because if he hadn’t, I would have obsessively called him until he had.”

Jesus Christ, that could not be healthy, “Are…are you serious?”

Steve ran a hand through his hair, equal parts embarrassed and determined, “Dead. And that’s not even top five in the clingy shit I do. Did you know there was a weekend I literally didn’t let him out of bed for like twelve hours? Or the fact that I’m responsible for like every class we’ve ever skipped because I drag him into some dark room to makeout?”

Steve may have been right about the rose-colored glasses. If he ever tried any of that with her she’d strangle him, “You guys do that?”

“We do worse. But I’m not trying to add to your trauma here. But think about it. You’re…you. You’re independent, you love having alone time, you like the quiet, you want people to ask before they hug you. And I love all of that, I do! I love that you’re so straight-foward. I love that you're all no nonsense, but…well…I’m all nonsense. God I don’t know what other way to say this but I’m a brat and believe me, you’d dump me in a few months, a year tops.”

She hated how true that was. But Steve was right, she knew he was right. She would never be able to handle someone being that clingy. She stopped sleeping with her stuffed animals when she was ten because they made her too hot, but a whole person, attached to her side every night and day? She’d die. And maybe…maybe that explanation cleared up all the confusion. Because she still didn’t actually want him before she knew all of that, out of guilt. But now…it was a little more than just that. 

“But…” Steve trailed off for a second, before giving Nancy’s hand a light squeeze, “If I was straight, I’d love nothing more than to get my heart broken by you.”

Now Nancy was tearing up for a whole other reason. Maybe in love had been the wrong phrasing, but she really did love this guy. This strange, sweet, freak of a man. 

She squeezed his hand back, “Promise me this won’t change anything?”

Steve shrugged, “I can’t promise that. I think it will change things, but for the better alright? No more secrets between us, yeah?”

Nancy nodded, with one small caveat, “But you still won’t tell Eddie right?”

Steve grinned before pulling her into another hug, “That you thought you were in love with me for five seconds? Never.”

Nancy pulled away first, wiping at her eyes again. They were actually sore from all the crying she’d done in the last couple of hours, “I feel like I should send him flowers for dealing with you now or something.”

“Well…if you wanted you could tell him that yourself. How about you come back to the trailer with me? You can be alone with us.”

Nancy laughed at that, “That doesn’t make any sense.”

"It kind of does though."

It really didn’t but Nancy didn’t care. She smiled at him, relaxed in a way she hadn’t felt in months,“Yeah, that sounds good.”

While she was happy she’d get to spend more time with Steve, she was more than a little nervous to see Eddie, especially since she was interrupting their night. Even though Steve insisted over and over again that it was more than fine. Best case he’d be begrudgingly accepting, and worst he’d be obviously annoyed. Nancy wasn’t sure which she preferred. 

What she hadn’t expected was for Eddie to hug her right after she got in the door. Or better yet, ask before he did it. 

“You get full movie picking privileges,” he announced right after. He looked her up and down, frowning to himself a little, “"Have you had dinner yet?"

"Um no but I’m okay-"

“But nothing. I could throw you like a football. You’re eating something.”

Steve snorted behind her, “Did you just get possessed by an Italian grandmother? He makes spaghetti one time-”

“And you loved it!”

Nancy smiled to herself as she watched them bicker. But there was no longing to go with it this time, she just felt…happy to be around them. And she did eat, just to shut Eddie up, the nag. 

But she got him back. She was never going to let him live down the fact that he cried during Harold and Maude. She had them sit through all of her favorite movies, and by the third act of Valley Girl, they were both fast asleep. 

Steve was leaning against her shoulder while Eddie was half draped over the armrest, snoring in what looked like one of the most uncomfortable positions possible. She leaned back into the couch with a sigh as the movie played, her eyes slipping closed on their own. And for the first time in a long time, Nancy knew that she was going to be okay. 

~

Part 1 Part 1.5 Part 2

The end! At least for the Nancy POV. Everything from this little series was from this fic, and I might post more snippets if it can be relatively short for tumblr styling. This honestly isn't that short but I didn't want to split it in two so here we are!

@northa @dustcommander @attic-cat-blog @dinosareawesome2137 @obsessivlyme @fuckign-uh-hi

@a-little-unsteddie @ghost--enthusiast @jestyzesty @missarte-beltane

[dionysiaproductions]

Third Daughter Gothic, Jane-uary Day 31--Manners:

Mary came down in the morning to find the breakfast table in a celebratory mood. The Ramsburys had decided to accept Susan’s lover. Kitty was joyful for her new friend’s happiness. The Darcy seemed to generally be embracing the concept of marriages based in love. Mary’s parents were caught in one of the perpetual disagreements of sentiment that so often characterized their relationship.

Mary herself had entirely moved passed Susan Ramsbury and her naval officer turned future husband. The question was now of Mary’s own life.

When she had first heard of Susan’s ill-advised lover and Kitty’s support there of, Mary had thought only of propriety. She wondered what the neighborhood would think. She wondered what the church would proclaim moral.

Never had Mary consider that love need not bend to manners. Watching a well brought up young woman throw all caution out the window and choose romance had made Mary wonder if she was missing out on something important.

Such thoughts had plagued her all throughout the night, waking her early in the morning.

When Kitty asked what The Darcys thought of sponsoring her during a London season, Mary spoke almost without thinking. “I should like to go as well,” Mary said. “I should like to see what the wider world might offer.”

All the eyes gathered at the table turned to her in shock. While Mary was always the first to exhibit her talents, she was never one to be open to new people nor new adventures.

Lizzy raised a concerned eyebrow, “Do you believe Kitty would fall to trouble without a sister to watch her back?”

“No,” Mary declared, vowing that she should become a participant in human nature rather than a student of it. “Perhaps a little trouble would do us both good.” Then she quickly added, “Within reason.” Mary was, after all, still a virtuous and sensible woman.

This series is part of @janeuary-month's Jane Austen inspired fan work month

Previous episodes here

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s5 episode 12 "bad blood" thoughts

oh man. i think i’ve heard that this episode is a favorite among the fans. i also think that scully hooks up with a vampire in this one? because that got brought up in that one post i made about 3 a while back. curious to see if i misinterpreted that comment or if this is actually going to happen.

well! no time like now to find out!

the description mentions recounting their version of events… i LOVED that part of jose chung, so i really cannot wait to see what happens here :D

post episode note: not sure if there has ever been a lower words to "LMAOOO" ratio in my note taking history, so i will do my best to make this comprehensible, but i had so much fun watching this :D

man, i'll need to remake my top episodes list at some point... but it might stretch into top 20 or 25!!!

ohh, i wonder what the top 20 most beloved episodes by the whole fandom are...?

we begin with some very dramatic spooky music as this kid runs around in texas, calling for help, followed by someone who is very very fast!!! this guy is going to kill this poor kid!!!! why is he running into the woods??? not a great place to go when you need to escape someone!!!

bigger guy is on top of the little one and OH!! he shoves a stake through his heart!!

IT’S MULDER DOING THE STAKING??

scully finds him over the body of the dead kid… and the kid has fangs!!!! BUT THEY’RE FAKE!!!

DID MULDER JUST KILL THIS KID????????

WHAT THE FUUUCK?!?! WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE 

my face at this exact moment:😳😳😳

the intro was shortened... I ALWAYS NOTICE

okay, so now mulder is at his desk. scully walks in looking very very very tense. as if he just killed a child, perhaps. she carefully sits down. 

“mulder…” “don’t. don’t even start with me” LMAO WHAT??? she is gagged and also making the same face as me 😳😳

(i couldn't tell what the tone of this episode was at the time, but now that i think about "don't. don't even start with me" i am CACKLING)

he throws a paper into his garbage can, which is surrounded by other thrown papers, and then starts KICKING IT??? she’s watching with a very “wtf” expression going on 

IT’S TOO EARLY FOR ME TO FIGURE OUT THE TONE HERE, WTF 

he is defeating the evil of that trash can, though.

ohhh no, skinner wants their report in ONE HOUR!!! scully is trying to be very pragmatic here.

they both clarify that they are going to say exactly what they saw, but he says “i got to know if you’re going to back me up or what” because he’s the one that might be going to prison!!! no pressure. 

she adjusts her sitting position angrily: “first of all, if the family of ronnie strickland does indeed decide to sue the FBI for, i think the figure is $446 million, then you and i will most certainly be codefendants. and second of all… i don’t even HAVE a second of all, mulder” <- LMAOOO i’m HOWLING! SHE’S AT A LOSS FOR WORDS. JUST FILLED WITH FURY

“i’m in this as deep as you are, and i’m not even the one that overreacted!! i didn’t do the… with the thing!!” <- SHE CANNOT EVEN SAY IT, SHE CAN ONLY MAKE VAGUE GESTURES BAHAHAAA

he says that she needs to tell her story the way she saw it… and she replies that she doesn’t feel comfortable with that (queen of expressing boundaries!)

however, mulder counters that they’re facing the threat of prison, and that scully's cellmate will be named "large marge" and read lots of gertrude stein (oh god. that’s out of pocket, mulder!)

((this man makes far too many prison assault remarks. i understand that he is in a stressful situation. but still!))

he begins recording her version of the story…

“yesterday morning, when i arrived at work, you were… uh… characteristically exuberant” <- i’m crying, that is SUCH a perfect description of him. i have half a mind to change my url to that. but surely it has already been taken.

"HOPE YOU BROUGHT YOUR COWBOY BOOTS! YEEHAW", he says, slamming down plane tickets to texas on the desk <- LMAOOOOO she remembers him as a nonstop yapper, which is mostly accurate 

(absolutely crying at the yeehaw in retrospect)

he won’t shut up or let her talk, he's too locked into these images of dead cows LMAOO “is there any sign of-" “two small puncture wounds in the neck?” “that’s not what i was going to ask” “too bad, we’ve got ‘em” <- i am actually giggling at this. she sees him as constantly over-caffeinated, and i love that

NOT THE CHUPACABRA SLANDER LMAOO “no, they got four fangs, not two, and they suck goats, hence the name” <- YOU TELL HER MULDER ‼️

(that episode is one of the worst, so i think the combination of light acknowledgement of that fact and allowing mulder to flex his encyclopedic memory of cryptids with the manner of a child who got into way too much sugar is frankly iconic)

and he casually adds there is one dead human, prompting her outraged “well why the hell didn’t you tell me that from the beginning?” but he’s already out the door LMAOOO

okay, i cannot stop laughing even though this episode may be about mulder murdering a child. such is the nature of this TV program.

they’re going to investigate the body deep in the heart of texas… and is that romantic music playing when this sheriff hartwell enters??? and she remembers mulder SNAPPING at her while he introduces them as if he cannot remember her name!!

(as if mulder could forget her name... scully i'm calling your bias out there)

mulder tells her to "MOVE YOUR LITTLE LEGS" LMAOOO???

now the sheriff and her are very close as he eagerly agrees to all of her ideas (that the killer was not a real vampire, but someone so obsessed with vampire movies that he wished to emulate them) and mulder watches, suspiciously

LMAOOOO MULDER CALLS HER STORY OUT BACK IN THE PRESENT WHEN SHE SAYS THE SHERIFF USED HER NAME “dana?!?! he never even knew your first name!” (angry scully look) “you going to interrupt me, or what?” “no, go ahead… dana” 

(saw a post the other day that was like "they get to call each other dana or fox once each calendar year" and it's so true because it sounds so wrong when he says it in this context)

this point is where mulder makes his discovery: the dead man’s SHOES are UNTIED!

yeah, idk what that means either.

SHE KEEPS SMILING AT THIS SHERIFF HARTWELL LMAO. DOWN BAAAD.

mulder is pondering… “sheriff, do you have an old cemetery in town, off the beaten path, the creepier the better?”

it is so funny to think that all of these events are through the lens of scully's mind because she sees him as so fucking weird and spooky. both of which are true.

LMAOOO mulder says she must do a full autopsy! “what am i even looking for?” (he grabs her shoulders and leans in) “i don’t know”

LMAOOOO okay, so back before i even thought about watching this show, i saw that gifset on my main and i reblogged it with the caption “man. i’m going to have to watch this show, aren’t i?”, and here we are. so this feels very full circle to have finally seen it

poor scully has had an autopsy thrust upon her :(

scully is totally smitten with this guy though, oh my god…..

(i truly cannot figure out her type. mulder, jerse, esther, and this guy? what is the common ground?! between mulder and esther there was the whole "incredibly intelligent" thing, but the other two?? just like?? dark hair?? idk!)

autopsy time… she's talking into her little voice recorder about the dead man “who is arguably having a worse time in texas than i am. although not by much” LMAOOO

(i wonder if she really did get that candid in her recording, or if she is just being dramatic in her retelling of the tale. i assume she only records herself for the sake of writing the reports, so maybe she is free to say whatever it is that crosses her mind, in which case i would like to listen in)

NOOO, her blade falls out before she can begin and she sadly yeehaws 

(god. a sad scully yeehaw. i used to pray for days like these)

time to weight all the organs. UGH the intestines are all slippery!!!

he had pizza in his stomach. LMAO THE MUSHROOMS SOUND GOOD TO HER BAHAHA SHE IS SO STRANGE

back to the present moment- our agents can’t agree on the name of the motel they stayed in, which is not promising for the rest of their stories aligning 

you can put two quarters in the bed and make it jiggle? this is news to me! and this is just what scully does!

an angry and dirty mulder appears just as she begins this process!

ohhh, the dead guy had lots of sleeping drugs in his system… and her voice is all funny because she is jiggling while she says this… she thinks the “vampire” gave the guy the drugs. meanwhile, mulder is not elaborating on his very dirty appearance!

NOOOO there’s another dead tourist and she has to do another autopsy!!! “i just put money in the magic fingers :(“ AWWW POOR SCULLY 

(why couldn't that wait until tomorrow!?!!)

he says he won’t let it go to waste and IS HE GOING TO CLIMB IN ALL DIRTY??? LMAOO NOOOO

the subtitles point out that he is “laughing mischievously” which escalated to “cackling”… what is this man planning!!! he takes pleasure in dirtying her jiggling bed!!

(regardless of the accuracy of if it really happened in such a manner, it’s sad to see how taken advantage of scully feels by him 🙁)

she sadly leaves after telling him not to get mud everywhere 

NOOOO the pizza guy just got there :( BAHAHA she wanted pizza after autopsying that guy… well she is going to make “the guy in there” pay for it. serves him right!!!

OH! the pizza guy is the vampire kid!!!!!!!

she’s soooo sleepy as she does the second autopsy…. ANOTHER NASTY SLIPPERY LARGE INTESTINE

she is going to fall asleep like this!!!!!!

then she gets a phone call that is just heavy breathing. so she hangs tf up!!! 

this dead guy has pizza in him too!!!! OH.... she realizes the chloral hydrate must be in the pizza!! and it must be the pizza guy who is the killer!! and oh no, mulder!!!

scully bangs down the door to her motel room and mulder isn’t visible….  just the creepy pizza kid!!!! she fires a bunch of shots at him, but he runs away!!

so mulder was drugged… and he says some very weird stuff about "shaft" that i don’t wish to unpack. hearing of this makes present mulder gasp and exclaim “i did not!” and yeah, i don’t even want to know <3

(a lot of times i google stuff i don’t understand due to not being alive in the 90’s. this one? i shall not google it. i am not a fool. i recoginzed Enough of those words to know i don't need to know)

she missed the pizza kid with her first four shots which is rare for her, ran after him, leaving poor drugged mulder behind, but somehow, mulder caught the kid before she did, where he... “overreacted”

damn. he's a track star even when drugged.

she argues that they can tell skinner they caught a killer, and that mulder's zeal was due to the drugging, which i think is a fine story.

but mulder is pissed! “you are afraid to tell the truth. that’s not the way it happened at all!” OHHH, I CANNOT WAIT TO GET HIS VIEW

“yesterday morning began like any other morning; you arrived at the office, characteristically less than exuberant” LMAOOOOOO BE NICE TO HER!!!

he remembers his explanations being very slow and gentle and her reactions being very sassy AND I’M LAUGHING AT HER “AND?” LMAOOOOO

she’s just LOOKING AT HIM and he doesn’t know wtf to do BAHAHA AND HE IS SOOO CAREFUL TO USE “APPARENTLY” and “VAMPIRE-LIKE” IN HIS DESCRIPTIONS OF THE ATTACKS LMAOOOO

he ends his very cautious assessment that this attack was "vampire-like" in nature by telling her “but as always, i’m very eager to hear your opinion” <- THAT DID NOT HAPPEN YOU LYING BASTARD!! YOU HAVE NEVER SAID THAT ONCE LMAOOOO

“well it’s obviously not a vampire” “well, why not?” “because they don’t exist?” <- BAHAHA that is ANOTHER GIFSET I SAW BEFORE I DECIDED TO WATCH THIS SHOW!! oh man, so this one really must be a fan favorite if i saw two scenes from it before i even started watching 

“well… that’s one opinion, and i respect that” <- BAHAHAHAAAA YOU LIAR!!!

so they go down to the funeral home where he points out the plentiful caskets- unusual for such a small town. scully had tuned out at this point. and you know what? can you blame her?

HE REMEMBERS THE SHERIFF AS HAVING HUGE BUCK TEETH THAT MAKES HIM HARD TO UNDERSTAND which present scully DENIES bahaha ohhh he’s jealous and she is gaaazing at sheriff hartwell and smiling and oh my god, mulder is so jealous 

he’s monologing on the nature of vampires but scully shoots this down

“there are as many kinds of vampires as there are cultures that fear them” <- ohhh nerd. NERD!!! nerdy thing to say.

she’s yawning as he talks about red hair being an indication of vampirism, gesturing to her, which happened in an AU fic i actually did briefly read once and would like to see explored in greater detail. i'm a sucker for fic or art with the "skeptic is actually a monster" trope

he is now at the cemetery with the sheriff, whose country accent has increased greatly between the agent's perspectives

cemeteries are a haven for vampires, “as are castles, catacombs, and swamps”, mulder points out, and i'm writing that down ✍️ 

he remembers this sheriff as being incredibly stupid. ohhh, the pizza guy pulls up at the cemetery!!! he waves hello and then drives off.

so they staked out the cemetery. fun times.

she wants to know why he cared so much about the corpse’s shoelaces, but he just looks at his OWN shoes lmaooo and says he’s getting to it 

he was leaving sunflower seeds for the vampires at the cemetery, because all vampires are obsessive compulsive. they must untie knots and count seeds. which is why he thinks the shoelaces were untied. fascinating bit of vampire lore.

but they must go to the RV camp, where there is a situation. ronnie the pizza guy is here!! there’s an RV that’s spinning around. 

mulder doesn’t want to talk about shooting out the tires... what is this man HIDING!! 

well, it turns out it is very hard to shoot the tires of a moving RV... so HE GRABBED ON THE BACK AND WAS SPUN AROUND IN CIRCLES BAHAHA WHYYYYY WAS THAT HIS NEXT COURSE OF ACTION?!?!?

finally, they manage to stop the damn thing. and inside the RV was a dead guy!!!! with puncture marks on his neck and untied shoes!!! gasp!!

when he returns back to the motel, he remembers scully yelling at him because she has to do another autopsy, saying “i do it all for you, mulder!” (which is CRAZY!) and that she hasn’t eaten since 6 that morning, and she only had a bagel, and it wasn’t even REAL CREAM CHEESE!!!

listen!! can you blame her for being furious?? she just paid for the magic fingers!!!

he remembers her leaving as being a great relief, and her SLAMMING THE DOOR SO HARD THE PAINTING SHOOK ON THE WALL BAHAHAHA

aww, he sees himself as the poor little victim…. bro. you MAY have had it rough with getting dragged around by an RV, but in her defense 1. that was your faulty idea and 2. it probably was still not as bad as having to do 2 autopsies on an empty stomach

he goes to get in the shower. ohhh hello. that is a man who is emerging scantily clad.

now ronnie the pizza guy is here, and mulder is saying that he will pay for the tasty food. not knowing it contains the sleepy stuff!

he opens up the pizza and sighs with relief: “ah, scully” <- oh, so you think she has good taste in pizza toppings? that’s hilarious 

“so, i ate your dinner” <- okay, well at least he’s honest about that!! a grown man on the vibrating bed, noticing his shoes were untied…. and the drugging is taking place!! this is instant karma for such a pizza thief!!

he tries to call scully, but only groans into the phone…. then ronnie returns

BAHAHA he recalls scully calling the voice on the phone a creep <- well, you can’t really blame her!!!!!! 

ronnie is here, and his eyes glow and he has fangs… but the inebriated mulder manages to toss his sunflower seeds on the ground, thwarting ronnie the vampire slash pizza guy's plan!! which prompts him to say “aw man!” (LMAOOOOO) and then mulder's back out in sleepy land… 

when he comes to, scully is bursting in the door, and she shot ronnie TWO TIMES IN THE CHEST!!! to no effect!!!

scully is shocked at this recollection: “and then he sort of flew at me like a flying squirrel?” BAHAHA

so, she runs after ronnie into the woods, while mulder breaks a chair leg to make a stake… and bam. the "overreaction".

scully points out that no one will believe that story, but he says they will have to when they examine ronnie’s body

(i think it's very funny/sweet that scully does not remember being able to shoot ronnie, but mulder remembers her aim being perfect and that it was simply ineffective because you cannot kill vampires with bullets. not sure whose perspective is the objective truth, but it's adorable he remembers her being a great aim)

someone else is examining ronnie now. what shall he find??? bleh, he takes the stake out! nasty nasty!!! what if ronnie gets up and runs away??

OH RONNIE *IS* GETTING UP!!!! and his eyes are set on this coroner!!!! he attacks!!!

poor scully and mulder are waiting for skinner… she tries for fix his tie, but he shoos her away!!! so rude!!! there is no gesture more loving than the adjustment of a necktie!!

she asks him to keep reminding skinner that he was drugged, which ALSO pisses mulder off. BUT IS SHE WRONG??? IT WILL GO A LONG WAY!!

THEN WHEN SKINNER COMES IN HE STANDS STRAIGHT UP AND ANNOUNCES “I WAS DRUGGED” <- LMAOOOOOO

(i laughed so hard at this that i accidentally hit the pause button, and i’m looking at mulder's expression and scully watching him, and there are TEARS in my eyes)

skinner sighs deeply…. and says they have to go back to texas!! ronnie’s body is gone, and the coroner was attacked!! his throat was “sort of… gnawed on” LMAO?????

“but… he was dead” “i noticed that” (mulder is doing his slutty hands on hips while thinking pose)

so they’re back out to the yeehaw cemetery. why would a real vampire need fake fangs? well, mulder answers, the fangs of vampires are rarely mentioned in folklore!

“i think maybe you were right before when you said that this is just a guy who’s watched too many dracula movies. he just happens to be a real vampire” <- BAHAHAAAA I SMACKED MY CHEST I LAUGHED SO HARD AT THIS

scully sighs deeply. average scully reaction.

the sheriff pulls up!!! she turns to him and points at her teeth, indicating that to mulder that his teeth are NORMAL LMAO 

GASP... HE LEAVES AND SAYS THE SHERIFF SHOULD STAY WITH HER… THEN HE PUTS HIS HAND ON HER SHOULDER AND SAYS “don’t say i never did anything for you” OH MY GOD?

mulder was so jealous before and now he is leaving her with this man... what does this say about him!!!

he’s off to the RV park, and scully is here to share some coffee with this sheriff. 

woah, he asks her about vampires….. and she says they’re supposed to be charming and seductive, but who is to say if that is the case? after all, there are many kinds of vampires. wait. why did he say “yup, sure are” I DON’T LIKE THAT!!

HE APOLOGIZES FOR RONNIE AND SAYS HE MAKES US ALL LOOK BAD? “i mean, we pay taxes, we’re good neighbors” OMG LOOK AT HER FACE WHEN SHE REALIZES WHAT HE MEANS!?!

NOOO, SHE DRANK THE COFFEE HE GAVE HER, AND NOW SHE’S PASSING OUT!!! DON’T TOUCH HER, CREEPY SHERIFF MAN WITH NOW-GLOWING EYES!!!!!

mulder is at this RV park far away!!! run, run back to her!!!! she is going to be out of blood by the time you return!!!

he goes into the RV from earlier and finds more pizza… and a casket!!! with ronnie inside!!! listening to a walkman!!

he sits on his coffin as he reads ronnie his miranda rights…. but the whole RV park is full of vampires and they are coming to get him!!!

so he handcuffs the coffin shut, grabs some breadsticks, makes a crucifix, trying to repel them…. which is objectively hilarious... but they take him????? TO DO WHAT???

and he’s found the next morning with his feet out the window of a car. AND WHY IS SHE IN THE SHERIFF’S JACKET?? 

he checks her neck and his own for fang marks, but they don’t seem to have any. they just have no memories at all from the evening before!!! and every single RV is gone!!! and mulder's shoes are untied!!!

skinner is being told that the vampires simply disappeared

“and that’s exactly the way it happened, start to finish?”

(silence) “well, i can neither confirm nor deny agent mulder’s version of events, which occurred outside my presence” “and i can neither confirm nor deny agent scully’s version of events, but, um…” “anyway, i was drugged” (LMAO SCULLLLYY) “that is…. essentially, exactly the way it happened” “essentially”

we fade to black with this. (“except for the part about the buck teeth”, adds mulder)

LMAOOOO??? that was it??? 

no answer. no convictions. the vampires all just left. 

someone else recently pointed out that despite them never figuring out wtf happened on these cases, they somehow have the highest success rate at the FBI, and that is so funny because. by jove. the other FBI members must be terrible at their jobs.

okay, so i could not stop laughing during this episode, and the sheriff plot twist really surprised me. so she never actually *slept* with the vampire, she just had a little crush on him!!! therefore, i must have misinterpreted that comment someone made on my post waaayyy back in s2.

but he *did* drug her, and she woke up in his jacket, which has… implications, especially when we earlier opened with a prison assault joke. 

but. okay. maybe i’m just hyper-sensitive to these things and it didn’t intend to be interpreted that way. plus, mulder was drugged too, and also woke up with no memory of what went down. at least there's gender equality in that regard.

ohhh, mulder was jealous!!! they both think of the other as too harsh!!! it’s fascinating to see how they see each other!!! he thinks he’s this suave encyclopedia of vampire knowledge, and she thinks he’s the type of guy that slaps down plane tickets on the desk and says yeehaw!

she thinks she’s overworked and taken advantage of, and he thinks she’s overly negative and hates all of his theories and ideas!!!

oh, the joys and sorrows of being with someone 24/7. and yet. the absolute MINUTE she leaves for vacation. he’s blowing up her phone. bahahahaaaa. couple’s therapy now. 

i remember someone pointed out in 3x13 that it was almost like the writers were trying to prove why they would never make a good couple in the way they got along horrifically when mercury was in retrograde or whatnot. i feel like maybe the writers intended for that to happen again this episode, like they were pointing at them and saying "SEE? this is why they can't kiss! they get on each other's nerves!"

joke's on you, i love couples that annoy each other. so jot that down.

oh, it was a good episode. a nice little silly one. which we all deserved after last season, and frankly even after earlier in this season as well.

mulder: let her fix your tie >:(

[randomquadballpun]

DAY 61 (attempt no 10) - fin

On Saturday, John woke to an empty bed and a silent flat. Well, nothing new there. He kept still for a couple of moments, listening in on the flat around him. But there was no cursing, no plastic plates being flung into the waste bin aggressively, no slammed doors or unhappy showering sounds. Just silence.

He swung out of bed, tiptoed to the door, and into the corridor beyond. Here, he could hear the faintest sound of voices from the living room. Walking a little bit further he could see that someone had drawn all the curtains shut and the whole room was filled with blue light.

Curious.

He inched over until he could actually look into the room, where he found Sherlock and Rosie side by side. Rosie was sitting on the armrest of the couch, holding one of the agar plates up into the air and shining at it with a small blue light, while Sherlock sat hunched over next to her, fingers carding restlessly through unkempt curls.

"Everything alright?", he asked carefully, causing both of his mad scientist to look up at him.

"It worked, they are glowing green! You have to see this, Dad!" Rosie gestured excitedly with the plate until he had taken a seat next to her.

And yep, there certainly were a bunch of small dots all over the surface of the growth medium and when illuminated with the strange lamp they definitely glowed bright green. It was quite impressive to see really, especially knowing how much effort had gone into this moment.

"Sherlock said that we can go to Barts and try to look at some green bacteria with one of the really good microscopes there!" Rosie - bouncing up and down like a caffeinated rubber ball - pressed both lamp and plate into Johns hands, before springing to her feet and making for the stairs. "I have to show Mrs Hudson as well!" And off she went.

"So ... it worked?", John asked the crouching figure next to him.

"Obviously."

"So what was the key? What did you change this time around?"

Sherlock unfurled, his fingers releasing his dishevelled curls and staring at John with a sour expression. If looks could kill, John would be deceased right now ... as would the innocent green E.coli that Sherlock had put so much work into growing - which would be quite ironic, all things considered.

"Nothing, I did everything the same. I performed this experiment with these exact parameters at least 5 times before without any success."

"Well, something must have changed, right? Maybe The new holes in the wall did something after all?" It was a weak joke to begin with, but confronted with Sherlocks most deadpan expression it fizzled out even more spectacularly.

"All the good bacteria grow into little dots because they grow so fast. They are green when you just look at them without the light. But with the lamp, they really glow!"

Rosie was back, Mrs Hudson in tow. She ran over, took the plate and lamp out of Johns unresisting hand and demonstrated the glowing dots once again, to suitable 'oooooing' and 'awwwing' from their landlady. "I have to take pictures so that I can show them to Molly and Rebecca and Uncle Greg and Uncle Mycroft", she continued, breathlessly. "They are so cool, I knew Papa could do it! And I need to show Mrs Bromley for science class, she did not believe me when I told her about our experiment. And ..."

John tuned out the continued narration, turning to Sherlock just in time to catch the moment when the words sunk in ... It had been such an off-hand remark, but of course, Sherlock Holmes would not miss it. As far as John knew, this was the first time that she had ever called him that. And Io and behold, Sherlock could do the wobbly look with his eyebrows as well. Must run in the family then.

John allowed himself a fond little grin, pulling one arm around his lanky git and squeezing gently. A warm feeling filled his chest and the animated chatter of Rosie and Mrs Hudson filled the air.

It all came together quite harmoniously after all. That was: harmonious measured by the Watson-Holmes household standards. And John would not have it any other way.

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

Troubleshooting, part 29/?

-> That's it! (I could have gone on for much longer, but I think this is a good place to stop). Pure fluff because we can never have enough of that and the characters deserve it! I will need to think of a new short-form writing project now, because I really enjoyed having something that could be written in an hour or two.

-> You can read this entire series starting from DAY 0 on Tumblr or Ao3 or read the previous snippet here.

-> Thanks for coming along!

[jerzwriter]

Mostly Pleasant Surprises 4 / 4 And that's what happened...

This is the final installment of "how they finally got together." 😊 🎊🎈🍾🎊🎈🥳🥳🍾🎊🎈🍾🎊 You have no idea how happy I am that this is finally on 'paper'!

Book: Open Heart (Book 2 Timeline) Pairing: Tobias Carrick & Casey MacTavish (F!MC) Rating: Teen Words: 5,000

Series Summary: It's been months since the chemical attack, and "kind of" exes-turned-friends Tobias & Casey have been stubbornly denying their growing feelings for each other. But when a series of events threatens to come between them, will they find their way back together?

Part 4 Summary: Their friends have given up. Misunderstandings, misassumptions, and good old-fashioned fear lead to turbulence and turmoil for Tobias and Casey, but after a week of no contact, only one of them seems to be hurting, at least on the surface. Tobias is determined to move on, but will his haste put a nail in their coffin or help bring them back together?

A/N: It's finally done!!!!! Did I mention how excited I am? 🥳🥳🥳 I don't care if no one else cares, I CARE, and it's done! My babies deserve this! :) Participating in @choicesmaychallenge24 We've got wine, passion and "Good night, my love."

Series Masterlist || Tobias x Casey Masterlist Full Masterlist

Showing up early to work wasn’t out of character for Dr. Carrick, but showing up at 7:00 AM when his shift began at noon could only mean one thing...  he couldn’t sleep. When his good friend, Sasha, realized he was already there at this early hour, she headed to Caffe Bene and purchased two cups of matcha latte. It was her hope that frothy green beverages would be part of a celebration and not something to lift his spirits, but to play it safe, she added his favorite honey bread to her order, just in case comfort food was required. She smiled when she stepped into his office, assuming her worry was for naught when she found him in such good spirits.

“Hey,” she smiled. “I got our favorite!”

“Awesome!” Tobias grinned. “That’s a big improvement over the Lipton tea bag I was about to brew.”

“You’re in a good mood so early in the day,” Sasha noted. “Is there a reason?”

“Sure is! I’ve got a big date on Saturday.”

“Really!” She squealed. “YES! You and Casey finally got your shit together! Now, give me the details! Where are you taking her? It better be someplace nice!”

Tobias took a long sip of his tea and slouched back in his Italian leather chair.

“Who said anything about Casey?”

“You said date... so I assumed... if not Casey... who?”  

“Sophia,” he smiled to his friend’s consternation.

“Sophia? Who the fuck is Sophia?”

“I guess I hadn’t mentioned her. I treated her sister in the ER a couple months back...remember the gymnast from BU?”

“I don’t recall.”

“Her sister broke her leg during practice, and Sophia made it abundantly clear that she wanted to show her appreciation. I never called her because... well... I just didn’t. But last night, I figured, what the hell. Now... Saturday night, it is.”

“Jesus,” Sasha groaned, grabbing a slice of honey bread for herself. “You’ve spent the past eight months talking my ear off about Casey. Why the change up?”

“Because eight months is a long time, and Casey’s made it clear that she doesn’t want me that way. So, I’m done acting like some pathetic, lovesick schoolgirl. I don’t know what came over me to begin with.”

“Oh, that’s easy,” Sasha insisted. “Love, you idiot. Love came over you.”  

“Exactly!” He snapped his fingers. “Something I’ve always done my best to avoid, and it’s time I get back to that.”  

“Tobias...” Sasha groaned.

“Tobias, nothing. This isn’t fun, Sash. All this time hoping for something that will never be, just to get my heart ripped out? Nuh-uh. I want to have fun again, and Sophia... she’s a sight to see. She’s up for partner at WilmerHale, and she’s sexy as hell. Old Tobias would have jumped on that months ago, and new Tobias is lucky dragging his ass didn’t ruin his chances.”

“So you’d rather be with Sophia than Casey?”

“Look... I don’t love Sophia, and I don’t want to. I want to kick back and have fun. Eight months pining over Casey – longest goddamn dry spell of my adult life – nope. I’m done.”

“T,”  Sasha cringed. “I don’t need to know every detail of your life.”

“Trust me, I wish I didn’t know that little stat either! It’s time to get back in the game.”

“Did you even give Casey a chance to explain what you saw?”

“I know what I saw.”

“But it doesn’t sound like Casey at all. And... even if she was on a date... you two weren’t a couple. Tell her how you feel, and I guarantee she’ll forget about this other dude in a nanosecond.”  

He pushed back from his desk, the bravado he was trying so hard to portray beginning to crack.

“Sorry, but after all the time we spent together, all the kisses and her ‘I’m just not ready yet’ professions....”

“Wait! The what?”

“Irrelevant!” He snapped. “If she’d rather be with some mid-white-bread radiologist from Edenbrook, she can have him.”

“Tobias, would you listen to yourself!”

A knock on the door distracted them, and Aurora entered the room, to Sasha’s delight. Feeling the tension, Aurora looked nervously between the two friends and colleagues.

“What’s going on here?”

“Nothing work-related,” Tobias grumbled. “Sasha was just leaving.”

“Tobias, you’re such an idiot!” Sasha turned to Aurora. “Perhaps you can reinforce that after I leave?”

“Uh...he is my boss.”

“And I’m in hospital administration. I can have you transferred to another attending tomorrow.”  

“Really?” Aurora grinned. “We may have to talk.”

“Hey!” Tobias yelled. “She’s my best resident! Emery, sit down! You’re not going anywhere. Goodbye, Sasha.”

After reviewing their morning cases, Aurora silently looked over her notes as Tobias grew increasingly restless. He tapped his pen against his desk incessantly before blurting, “What?”

Aurora looked around in confusion. “What, what?”

“Why don’t you just say what you’re thinking and get it over with.”

“Because I have nothing to say. But if you plan on asking me about Casey, don’t. I’m jumping off the Tobias & Casey train.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means I’m not discussing her with you, nor talking about you with her. You two could drive the sanest person crazy, and I’m done.”

“Fine!”

“Fine.”

But Tobias was anything but fine. No matter how hard he tried to focus he turned to Aurora again after a few minutes of typing jibberish.

“Was Casey all right last night?” he asked out of nowhere. Aurora didn’t even look up from her laptop.

“If you’re so curious, I suggest you call her and ask.”

“I don’t want to talk to her. I just want to know if she’s OK.”

“Then it seems you have a problem. Because, as I said, I got off that train. Especially since you’ve got a date with someone else this Saturday.”

Tobias looked up, stunned. “How... how did you know....”

“Your voice carries Dr. Carrick,” Aurora said, shutting her laptop with a thud. “I could hear you and Sasha talking halfway down the hall.”

“All right, so I have a date. I’m single; what’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing,” Aurora agreed.

“Then, why the attitude?”  

“Because I don’t get you. You’re one of the most intelligent people I know, a brilliant doctor, but when it comes to Casey, you act like a twelve-year-old. I understand this is probably predicated on fear and past issues, but if you don’t talk soon, you’ll both live to regret it.”

“There’s nothing to say; we’re just friends.”

“Fine,” Aurora rose to her feet. “Then don’t ask me about her. I like and respect you, Tobias, but mention Casey again and I’ll be talking to Sasha about that transfer.”

“You wouldn’t,” he challenged as Aurora reached the door.

“Oh no? Try me!”

~~~~~

Saturday night at eight o’clock, Casey was home from work and was eager for her own big plans: sweatpants, the couch, a pint of Haagen Dazs ice cream, and a spoon. Her friends would be there, too, she reminded herself, so it wasn’t that pathetic.

How the past week had dragged at a snail's pace yet also went by in a flash remained a mystery to her. But not communicating with Tobias since Sunday likely inspired the former. This was the longest they had gone without contact since the attack, and while she put on a brave face, it was eating her alive. Seeing his jovial posts on Instagram didn’t help. She took them as reinforcement of what she believed to be true. He didn’t want her. At least not the way she wanted him, and he probably never did. If heartbreak wasn't enough to cope with, feeling like a fool just added insult to injury.

“I really think he’s merely protecting himself,” Sienna stated as the friends tried to agree on a movie. “He’s probably as scared as you are. We all know he cared about you.”

“Cared,” Casey repeated, bringing another spoon of ice cream to her mouth. “Past tense.”

“But that’s not true,” Bryce jumped in. “I ran into him just before he went to Donahue’s. He was heading there to tell you how he felt. I didn’t say anything sooner because you were so upset, but you should know.”

“Really? Then why the 180? He wanted to tell me how much he cared but saw me sitting across the table from Jake and did an about-face? Then he didn’t care as much as he believed.”

“In fairness, you were holding the guy’s hand,” Sienna noted.

“Barely!” Casey snapped. “Besides! He should have known better.”

“Oh, for fucks sake!” Aurora groaned as all turned her way. “Casey, stop it. I swore I wouldn’t reenter the Tobias/Casey drama, but I can’t take this anymore. You’re not exactly innocent either.”

“Excuse me?”

“Maybe Tobias jumped to conclusions because you had been giving him the cold shoulder for a week before he saw you with Jake. He probably surmised that was the reason why!”

“But she only did that because of Audrey’s post,” Sienna defended.

“Yes!” Aurora acknowledged. “Because Casey thought he was on a date with Audrey, but guess what? He wasn’t. But you were quick to believe the worst and wouldn’t give him a chance to explain. Does that sound familiar?”

“I was going to ask him about Audrey's post when we had lunch the next day... but he canceled.”

“You were going to ask him a week later? Casey, I know you’re both scared, but you’re so afraid of getting hurt that you are hurt when you don’t have to be!”

“But he didn’t even let me finish a sentence. Every time I tried to explain, he shut me down!”

“And how many of his texts did you ignore after Audrey’s post?” Bryce asked. “You need to talk to him, Case, before you guys blow this for good.”

“Exactly!” Aurora agreed. “All these games, and now he’s on a real date, and who knows...” she froze mid-sentence, her eyes wide when she realized what she just said.

“A what?” Casey stammered. “A real date? With... with who?”

“OK,” Aurora lamented, rubbing her temples. “I don’t know with whom, but if you refuse to talk to him, you have no reason to be upset if he moves on. If you don’t want him to... talk to him!”  

The pain in Casey’s eyes was visible as she jumped from the couch and retreated to her room... insisting no one follow her. She wasn’t sure why she ran there, though collapsing into bed for a good cry sounded appropriate. She got into position to do just that, but the tears never came. Her emotions were a roller coaster ride she hadn’t been prepared to take. Regret, sadness, anger, and despair shifted inside her by the second, leaving her lost and out of control. The only certainty was another sleepless night ahead, and she couldn’t afford that. Reaching for a Tylenol PM on her nightstand, anger took control once again. She looked at the clock, 11:00. It was early enough. She jumped out of bed and threw on the first clothes she could find, rushing out the door to stealthily evade her friends. Tobias Carrick might be on a date, but when he came home? He was going to have to answer to her.

~~~~~

Tobias looked himself over in his bedroom mirror before heading out for the night. He had to admit... in his black silk long-sleeved Brunello Cucinelli t-shirt and matching chalk stripe trousers, he looked damn good. He slipped on his Burberry overcoat and sprayed one more pump of Oud Wood cologne for good measure, a grin spreading across his face. He still had it, and as he headed out the door for his first date in longer than he cared to admit, that old Carrick confidence was falling into place again.

Sophia insisted on meeting him at Contessa, strongly suggesting that their separate arrivals didn’t dictate how they’d depart if dinner went well. When she arrived, Tobias was already seated at their table, and he had to give her credit; the woman knew how to make an entrance. Her smile lit up the room as she sauntered his way in a spaghetti-strapped burgundy cowl-necked dress that hugged every curve and directed the eye to her most impressive assets. Her dark brown curls framed her face and spilled down over her bare shoulders, and as she got closer, Tobias felt his apprehensions melting away. Perhaps this night wouldn't be so hard after all.

“Tobias,” Sophia smiled as he rose to greet her. Taking his hands in hers, she leaned over and placed a kiss on his cheek. “You look wonderful tonight.”

“Me,” he simpered. “I lost any chance of being the hottest person in this room the second you walked in.”

“That’s OK. I’m fine being on a date with a man who comes in a very close second in that category,” she winked. “Can you handle that, Dr. Carrick?”

“Oh,” he grinned, motioning for the waiter to begin pouring the Volpaia Chianti Classico. “I can handle that and a lot more.”

“Good,” she smirked. “Then let the evening commence.”

Sophia was beautiful and captivating in every way. Her enthusiasm when discussing her quest to make partner at her firm or her little sister’s gymnastic career was endearing. And when Tobias spoke, she listened so intently he felt like the only person in the world. Things were going great... so why couldn’t he shake the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach? At any other time, he would have thought this date was off to a perfect start, but there was one big difference between this date and all the others in his storied career: this one took place after he had met Casey MacTavish.

Sophia looked over her shoulder when Tobias’s eyes lit up, and he waved at someone seated at the bar.

“I’m so sorry,” he apologized. “That’s a board member from Kenmore. He and I have been playing phone tag for over a week, and I need to touch base with him regarding a grant we’ve been working on. Would you mind if I stepped over to speak with him? I promise I won’t be more than a couple of minutes.”

“Of course not!” Sophia replied. “Trust me, if I see one of the partners that will decide if I’m joining their ranks soon, I’ll ask you to return the favor.”

“Thank you,” he smiled. “I’ll be right back.”

Sophia took a sip of wine and decided to check emails on her phone while she waited. When she reached for her phone, a text came in on Tobias’s, which he left face up on the table. While she wasn’t proud, Sophia did manage to sneak a peek. A local politician’s robotext asking for campaign donations. Benign enough! But her thoughts on the date took a turn when something else she saw piqued her interest.

Tobias returned quickly as promised, apologizing profusely for the interruption. But, ever the attorney, Sophia wasn’t wasting time getting to the point.

“Tobias, I have to ask... are you married?”

“What?” He choked, placing his wine glass back on the table with a shudder. “God, no!”

“Then do you have a girlfriend? Because if you do, I don’t play those games.”

“Sophia, I’m single as can be...trust me. Where is this coming from?”

Knowing honesty was her only option, she tapped a well-manicured nail on his phone.

“A text came in when you were gone, and I saw the beautiful blonde on your screensaver. Who is she? And please, don’t tell me she’s your sister. I won’t believe you, and that would be creepy as hell.”

A line appeared between his brows as he clicked on his phone, and there it was.  

It had been his screensaver for some time, and he never thought to change it. But staring at it now, he was transported to another time as he recalled that day.

It wasn’t long after the chemical attack, and Casey had been having an especially tough day. Even a ride with a promise of ice cream from Honeycomb Creamery in Cambridge couldn't pull her from the darkness she found herself buried in. As they sat in his front seat licking their cones, he told her she could select his new screensaver. Her face lit up in an instant as she grabbed the phone from his hands, playfully sticking her tongue out as she posed. She was delighted with the blurry, off-centered, silly-faced photo and immediately set it as his screensaver.

Tobias loved that picture. Not only did he think she was stunning, but she was happy. For a moment in time, when gloom surrounded her, she found a moment of joy. She was happy... and that’s all he ever wanted for her. In the months that followed, Casey often told him he could change the screensaver, but he had no intention of doing so. Unbeknownst to her, he had made himself a promise. That screensaver would stay in place until it could be replaced by a picture of the two of them... once she was finally his. He didn’t care if it took a year or a decade; he would see it through.

“I guess I should have changed this,” he muttered. “I’m really sorry... I honestly forgot it was still there.”

But it was Sophia’s job to pay attention, and there was no way she could misinterpret his reaction.

“Is she your girlfriend? Or... an ex?”  

“No,” he said sadly. “But I wanted her to be with all my heart.”

He looked up at Sophia, sincerity in his eyes. “We were just friends, close friends... I guess I always hoped we’d become more, but it wasn’t to be.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Even so... I just realized I'm not even close to being over her. I’m really sorry I dragged you into this, but... I need to get over Casey before I can move on with anyone else. I hope you’ll forgive me.”

“At least you’re honest,” Sophia shrugged. “It’s not like you screwed me and ghosted me when regret set in the next morning. So, I have to give you some credit.”  

“I’d never do that,” he said emphatically. But Sophia responded with a smirk.

“Seriously?”

“All right, I would never have wanted to do that,” he grinned. “Well, now that I’ve ruined our date, do you want to call it a night? I wouldn’t blame you if you did.”

“Oh, hell no! You’re still treating me to dinner, Carrick! That’s the very least you can do!”

Tobias handed her a menu with a smile. “That’s more than fair, and please, feel free to order the most expensive items on the menu.”

“I assumed that was a given!” she smiled, reaching over the table to take his hand. “Why don’t we go the friend's route, Tobias. But... if time goes on, and this woman is too foolish to come to her senses and seal the deal with you, let me know when you’re ready. If I’m still on the market, I may give you a second chance.”

“Being friends sounds good,” he replied. “Though you’re quite a catch, I’m sure someone will snap you up before I come around.”

“Well, it will still be nice to have another friend,” she said with a squeeze of his hand.

Tobias looked at their entwined fingers just as they parted. The vision of Casey holding Jake’s hand popped into his mind... and he realized he had been a total fool.

~~~~~

Tobias had walked Sophia home hours before, but the thought of returning to his empty townhome wasn’t remotely appealing. He decided a long walk was in order; it might help with all the thinking he had to do. His mind was in a fog as he meandered down Boston’s gaslit streets, too overwhelmed to notice the dropping temperatures.

Every so often, something pulled him out of his fugue: a honking horn, music from a passing car, or a police siren whooshing by. Those he could handle, but it was the laughter of a couple passing by that sent him reeling. Their arms were wrapped around each other as they whispered sweet nothings into each other’s ears, leaving Tobias frozen in place.

How did things go so wrong? The past few months with Casey had him believing he had grown up, but when it came to matters of the heart, he still had plenty to learn. He didn’t know what the future held for him and Casey, but he knew the time of hiding had come to end. He needed to talk to her, to tell her the truth. No more treading water... it was time to move on, one way or another. He took his phone out of his pocket; it was already 11:30. Too late to start that conversation tonight, but he vowed to call her as soon as he woke up tomorrow. It was time.

He pulled his coat closer as he turned onto his street, his clarity of thought finally making him aware of the cold; he was grateful he only had a half block to go. But as he neared his home, he squinted, trying to make out the blurry figure on his steps. His heart skipped a beat when she came into focus... wearing no more than a sweater and a pair of tights, Casey sat shivering on his front steps. Head buried in her hands, she didn’t see him approach, and she was startled at his words.

“Casey?” He blurted. “What are you doing here?”

“What am I doing here?” she said, jumping to her feet in a visibly emotional state. “I was about to ask you the same thing!”

“Uh... I live here,” he said with confusion.

“I know that!” she snapped. “But you’re not supposed to be here! Or at least, you’re not supposed to be here alone!”

“Casey,” he huffed. “What are you talking about?”

She marched up to him, pounding her hand against his chest. “You had a date!” she fumed. “A freaking date!” Tears welled in her eyes as she continued. “How the hell could you have been on a real date tonight?”

“How did you even know... Aurora...” he grumbled.

“How I know is unimportant! What’s important is that you were on a date!” She struggled to hold back a sob as she continued. “So, how was it? I’m your good friend Casey, right? So you can tell me! Was it fun? Where’d you go? Did you take her anyplace we’ve ever gone together?”

“Casey, stop!” he exclaimed, reaching for her arm. But Casey jolted away as if his touch would sear her.

“No!” She hollered. “Answer me! Who was she? Is she pretty? Did you sleep with her?” She turned on her heel and began to pace, her hands flailing about. “Well, that’s a stupid question!” She spat. “Of course you slept with her! You’re Tobias Carrick!”

“What? What the hell is that supposed to mean?” he chided, with a flash of anger in his eyes.

“You have a reputation, T! Everyone knows you’ve banged anyone you’ve ever dated – and god knows how many you didn’t even bother to date! Oh, everyone except for me, that is! I guess that makes me special, huh? You hear that, Boston?” She declared. “It’s me! I’m the one person Tobias Carrick dated and didn’t fuck! I’m more rare than a goddamn unicorn!”

“Casey, stop it!” He exclaimed. “Yes, I had a date tonight. But it ended before it began and, no... I didn’t sleep with her!”

“You... you didn’t,” she whimpered.

“No! I didn’t!” He said, frustration mounting. But frustration or not, all he wanted to do was scoop Casey up in his arms and never let her go, and it took everything in him not to see that through. He may have been able to ignore his desires, but he couldn’t ignore how her body trembled in the cold. He began to remove his coat, “Casey, you’re shivering; please take....”

“I don’t want your coat!”  

“Then... then come inside and warm up a bit. It’s freezing out here.”

“No! I don’t want to!”

Exasperated, he threw his head back with a groan. “Then what do you want? Why did you come here? To scream at me? Insult me? Because if that’s all you want, I’ll call an Uber to get you home."

“I came here tonight because you were on a date!” She cried. “I was sure you’d bring her home, and I needed to see it with my own eyes.”

“What? Why? Why would you want to do that?”

“Because I love you!” She yelled, the shocked look on her face making it clear she was as surprised by her words as he was.

“You... you... what?”

She wanted to run, but there was no place to go now that the cat was out of the bag. She wiped her nose with her sleeve and summoned the courage to continue.

“I love you, Tobias. I love you.” She said through tears. “And if you don’t love me, then I need to know so I can move on. Because... I love you. I’m sorry I told you like this,” she rambled. “I never wanted to tell you like this, and maybe I shouldn’t have told you at all, but it’s too late now. I... I love you. I’ve loved you for....”

Maybe it was the shock, or perhaps because he moved with the speed of a gazelle, but Casey never saw him coming. Before she knew it, his arms encircled her, their lips came crashing together, and they gave in to the burning passion that had been ignited in them for so long. Neither wanted to let. Letting go might prove that this was just another dream. But this time, the bright smiles on their faces confirmed... they were very much awake. Tobias let out a grunt as their lips came together again, lifting Casey off her feet, she giggled t as he spun her around, placing her back down again against his gate.

“You... you love me?” he gushed, joy radiating from his face.

“I do!” Casey beamed. “I love you so very much.”

“Thank God,” he gasped, pressing his forehead against hers. “Because I love you Casey... I love you so much I swear, it hurts!”

She reached up and caressed his cheek, then his jawbone, gazing into his crystal blue eyes as if she were seeing them for the very first time.

“Love’s not supposed to hurt,” she smiled.

“Then let’s make a deal, from this moment on, you and me... we’re all about love without the hurt. Can we do that?”

“I’m in... I’m in if you are,” she grinned.

“I am SO in! Casey, my date earlier today ended practically before it began because the truth is, I want you and only you.  Today, tomorrow, for the rest of my days.  I want you, Casey Mactavish. I love you... and you have no idea how great it feels to finally say those words out loud.”

“I love you, too,” she cried, pulling him into a fiery kiss that melted the winter’s cold.

Tobias began to chuckle as his hands dropped to Casey's waist. Mid-kiss, Casey pulled back with a smirk.

“Why are you laughing about?”

“If I tell you... you have to promise to not get mad.”

Casey raised a brow and gave him a teasing look. “Oh, you’ve got my attention... you have to tell me now.”

“Having you in my arms... it feels like a dream... but....”

“But?”

“Can I grab your ass, Casey? Because God knows, I’ve been dying to grab your ass. I’ve dreamt about it, and if you’re OK with it....”

“Fine! Fine, fine, fine,” she laughed. “You can grab my ass, Tobias!.”

Without hesitation, he lowered a hand to her left butt cheek and gave a generous squeeze. Casey couldn't help but giggle as a grin spread across his face.

“There! Was that everything you imagined it would be?"

“Everything and more,” he growled.

“So,” she said, after another kiss. “Is that all you/ve been imagining doing with me... or is there more?”

“Oh, hell no,” he laughed. “I have a very active imagination, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.”

“Well, then,” she cooed, running her fingers down his lapel. “If the offer still stands... can we go inside? Maybe you could show me some of those... other things?”

Casey was right earlier that night—sleep was not to be had—but this time, neither she nor Tobias minded one bit.

Just before the crack of dawn, they lay together in his bed, Casey blissfully sleeping under his protective arm. Careful not to disturb her, Tobias reached for his phone to check the time, and there it was staring back at him... Casey’s goofy screensaver.

He held his sleeping girlfriend closer. No, they hadn’t had that conversation yet, but it was the first thing he planned to do when they woke. But he was confident—Casey was his girlfriend. He pulled her closer and snapped a quick selfie of them, immediately making it his new screensaver—a promise had been kept.

Placing the phone at his side, he rolled over and spooned behind his love, kissing the top of her head, he whispered.

“Good night, my love."

His love. At long last, Casey was his. He was hers. And he fell asleep soundly at her side, knowing that their new life had just begun.

@choicesficwriterscreations @openheartfanfics

Tagging others separately.

[euphreana]

The Shape of Truth - Chapter 10: Fog

Masterpost

-

Ambrosius couldn’t move. He wanted to rub the itch in his eye, but something was holding him still. He cracked his eyes open slowly. An unfamiliar ceiling greeted him, followed by unfamiliar walls, and when he looked around, an unfamiliar bedroom - like his dorm, but devoid of personal belongings and even smaller.

He tried to move again, but in vain. The bed he was laying on had him strapped down.

“What… why…” he mumbled. His thoughts were slow and sluggish. He couldn’t remember why he was here.

Just then, the bedroom door opened and a man wearing scrubs stepped inside. He gave a friendly smile.

“Oh good, you’re awake. How are you feeling?”

Ambrosius heard himself mumble something about being unable to move.

“Let’s fix that.” The man walked over and started undoing the restraints holding him in place.

“Why… was I…”

“Just a precaution.” The man said, then helped him sit up.

Ambrosius finally got to rub the itch from his eye. It was then he noticed he was wearing a loose gray shirt and pants. That was odd - he didn't remember owning anything grey.

“What happened?” Ambrosius asked groggily.

“You don’t remember?”

“No…”

“Well it should come back to you once you get moving. Come on.”

The man walked Ambrosius out of the room and into a hallway, then down several other halls to what seemed to be an office. There was a friendly-looking woman behind the desk who offered him a comfortable chair across from her.

“What is this?” Ambrosius asked as he sat down. The man in scrubs remained standing behind him.

The woman smiled.

“You’re in the psychiatric ward. Just until we can be sure you aren’t a danger to yourself or others.”

Ambrosius blinked. His thoughts took a moment to register.

“But… I’m not crazy.”

“No Ambrosius, you’re not. But you’ve had a psychotic episode and we need to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”

Ambrosius stared in confusion. The woman moved a holographic screen into her field of view.

“It says here that you tried to attack The Director, then continued to fight despite orders to stand down. Do you remember that?”

Ambrosius’s memory returned slowly, like a train crashing in slow motion.

“… The Director killed the queen.” He mumbled. “I was going to arrest her.” He felt like that should be a big deal, but at the moment he felt nothing.

The woman behind the desk typed something on a screen off to the side.

“What made you think The Director killed the queen?”

“She had Bal’s sword in her office. And a paper with the email on it.”

“Email?”

“The email she used to order the blaster sword. It was all there in the cabinet.” Cabinet? Or drawer? Why couldn’t he think clearly?

“It says here that you brought the sword with you into the office.”

“No… it was there the whole time. In a drawer. There was a secret button.”

The woman said nothing in reply. She just kept typing.

“I have other evidence she did it. Right…” He reached for his pocket, where the invoice would have been, only to remember he no longer had his clothes from before. The invoice was gone. His phone was gone. The packet of Bal’s ashes was gone. Ambrosius felt a burst of anxiety at the realization.

The woman spoke.

“You’ll get your things back when you leave.”

“But… that was my evidence.”

“What evidence?”

Ambrosius found himself reciting his day to the woman behind the desk. He told her about Meredith. He told her about Nimona. He told her about how he’d tried to save Ballister’s life the day before and failed. It all just tumbled out of him.

“I was so close to saving him…” Ambrosius mumbled, “But I wasn’t fast enough. And now he’s dead. And it’s all my fault.”

The woman stopped typing for the first time since he’d started talking.

“His death wasn’t your fault, Ambrosius. Ballister alone was responsible for his actions. The consequences were simply carried out.”

“… But he was innocent. I could have saved him.”

“He confessed to the murder himself.”

“That wasn’t him!” Ambrosius blurted out, lurching forward in frustration. He heard the man in scrubs shift his feet, as if ready to pounce.

The woman sighed.

“I know you want to believe he was innocent. I do too. But everyone saw him shoot the queen, and the confession was vetted. He was mentally ill. If we’d only caught it before all this happened, things would have been different.”

Ambrosius leaned back in his chair, jaw clenched, willing the tears in his eyes to go away. That couldn’t be right… Ballister had seemed fine before… hadn't he?

The woman continued.

“As for your pink friend - is she in the room with us now?”

Ambrosius blinked.

“No… she isn’t made-up. She was real. Someone else saw her too - a guy from the archives.” he held a hand up. “He was real too, I swear!”

The woman went back to typing. Ambrosius leaned forward desperately.

“Find Meredith Blitzmeyer - she saw Nimona!”

“This Meredith Blitzmeyer?” The woman pushed a screen between them with a scan of a document on it. It was a death certificate. With Meredith’s name. Cause of death: fire.

Ambrosius stared at the screen.

“That isn’t right… I saw her earlier today.”

“Ambrosius, she died the day before the knighting. You probably saw her name listed on the news.”

Ambrosius shook his head. “No… they got the wrong person. They had to have.”

There was a long silence while the woman continued to type at her computer. Finally, she sat back and looked at him.

“Hallucinated events aren’t an unheard-of occurrence. You’ve been under a lot of stress lately, and Ballister’s treason and execution were no doubt traumatic experiences for you. Sometimes when the mind can’t cope with its load, it creates its own reality. Nimona and Blitzmeyer were just that - a mentally easier explanation for why things went the way they did.”

Ambrosius wanted to protest that Nimona and Blitzmeyer hadn’t made things any easier, but the woman continued.

“I’m prescribing an antipsychotic and scheduling some talk therapy sessions. Let someone know if you see Nimona or Blitzmeyer again. Hopefully with time, you’ll be fit enough to return to duty.” When Ambrosius didn’t respond, she added, “We want to help you, Ambrosius.”

Ambrosius only stared at her in shocked silence. This couldn’t be happening. He couldn’t have imagined the entire day’s events. He wasn’t crazy… he wasn’t…

The man in scrubs placed a gentle yet firm hand on Ambrosius’s shoulder.

“Come on. I’ll show you back to your room.”

~ ~ ~

That evening passed in a blur. Ambrosius didn’t know what to think, once his head cleared and he could think. Nimona had to have been real - he’d reached out and touched her multiple times. And Meredith had jolted him with her electrified umbrella… unless he really was sick in the head like everyone was saying.

Dinner came, and along with it, the medication the woman behind the desk had ordered. Ambrosius didn’t want the pills, but the staff told him to take them if he wanted to be given any food. Reluctantly, he took them.

Everything seemed to slow down. His thoughts slowed again, along with his control of his hands and feet. Walking was slow. Eating was slow. Everything about him was slow, worse than how he’d felt when he’d woken up here. It seemed to have worn off when he woke up the next morning, but with breakfast came a new round of medication and the slowness that followed it.

Ambrosius asked for the invoice that he’d had in his pocket when he’d arrived. That would prove he hadn’t imagined the day with Nimona. The therapist he’d seen the day before told him there hadn’t been an invoice with him, just his phone and the ash packet. He could have them both back when he left, if he behaved. Ambrosius didn’t want to behave. He wanted to find proof that he was right.

He asked for someone to check the secret drawer in The Director’s office. He was sure it would be empty by now, but the fact that it existed would show he was onto something. The therapist didn’t humor him. She only wanted to talk about what subconscious triggers might have made him come up with the previous day’s events. Ambrosius didn’t want to talk about that, but after several sessions, her logic began to make sense. He shouldn’t have been allowed to go through the Arms & Hammer office without a warrant. He could have seen some other person try to bribe the Knightly Storage worker. The Director killing the queen was absurd. And a pink shape-shifter that had never been heard of before? None of it made sense.

Ambrosius didn’t want to believe he’d imagined his day with Nimona. He wanted her to be real. He wanted Ballister to be innocent. Scratch that - he wanted Ballister to be alive. Just wanting it wasn’t making it real though - at least, not in a way that the ward staff would acknowledge.

With nothing else he could do, Ambrosius buried himself in some old novels he found in the communal activity room. He didn’t have the mental energy to do anything else. The other psych ward residents got the cue that he wanted to be left alone, and so they did exactly that.

Ambrosius wished he had the packet of Bal’s ashes with him. That alone would have been some source of comfort amid all that turmoil he felt. Right now it was probably stashed in a plastic box somewhere, alone. Like he was.

The medication continued to be awful. Ambrosius tried skipping meals so he wouldn't have to face the orderly who handed out the pills, but she always caught up with him sooner or later, accompanied by a worker who looked like a bouncer.

Nimona didn’t appear again. The therapist said that was a good thing - it meant he was getting better. Ambrosius said it was because he'd been abandoned - it wasn't like she'd be coming to visit him, if she even knew where he was.

He did get a visitor though; Captain Ironwill, the superior officer who’d told him to take the day off after Bal had died. He was in uniform, but without armor. Somehow that put Ambrosius more at ease. They sat in the activity room, their meeting fully visible to the ward staff.

“How long are they going to keep me here?” Ambrosius asked, not caring who heard him.

“I don’t know.” Ironwill answered, “It depends on how well you’re recovering.”

“I feel fine.” Ambrosius lied.

“I hear you've been trying to get out of taking the medication.”

“Maybe I want to start seeing things again.” He said without thinking.

Ironwill didn’t laugh.

“Ambrosius, more than just your job is on the line. If we can’t prove you were mentally unstable when you attacked The Director, you could be imprisoned.”

Ambrosius stared. The news was like a bucket of ice water in his face. Imprisonment? Him? But… even if he got out, that would disqualify him from knighthood for his entire life! Being a knight was his lifelong goal - before he was born, he’d been destined to be a knight. Everyone in his family line had been. He didn’t know anything else he was good for.

Ambrosius looked down.

“What do you need me to do?”

“Cooperate with the staff. Take the medication. Get grief counseling so you don’t snap again.”

Ambrosius nodded slowly. Ironwill stood up to leave.

“I’ll tell them you’re working toward recovery. You do your part, and maybe they won’t decide you’re permanently unfit for duty. You’re important to the Kingdom, Ambrosius.”

“Captain?”

Ironwill glanced back at him. Ambrosius took a deep breath, working up the courage to ask the question that had been nagging at him.

“The day of the execution… when you told me to take the next day off… did you see a pink cat in my room?”

Ironwill paused.

“There was a cat, but it wasn’t pink.”

Ambrosius grew quiet. Ironwill continued.

“Did you leave it locked in your room?”

“I don’t know.”

“I’ll have someone check. Anything else?”

Ambrosius shook his head.

Ironwill turned to go.

“May Gloreth make your recovery swift.”

A few seconds later, he was gone. Ambrosius sat at the table, lost in thought.

The cat wasn’t pink, he thought.

Nimona hadn’t been real.

Next chapter

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sunset orange 🌆 sage

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Beach Babes 2023 by @samssims

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See you, space cowboy.

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AN: this is the last post ya’ll 😭