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auspicioustidings · 3 months ago

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Kinktober Day 1

Moniker: Soap Risk Level: Low. Soap is a part-time resident who is detained as needed. He is currently not detained and is visiting freely. Brief: Oral sex, “69”ing. Note Soap has biologically female genitalia with an enlarged clitoris or “t-cock”. He accepts feminine and masculine terms for this. Safeword: The word RED is to be used by any party if at any point the session must stop. If any party is unable to vocalise they are to signal physically by touching their thumb to each of their fingers in sequence to signify RED. At no point should any party be both unable to vocalise and unable to signal physically. In the event that this happens, RED will be considered in action and the session will be stopped.

Thought losing your virginity on the first day might scare you off so I’ve shuffled the plan around. You’ve spoken with Soap before, helped him diffuse a bomb on the Medusa mission. He’s insistent you got along so hope having him first helps settle your nerves. I’m on cameras for this one, so I’ve got your back - Price

Well fuck you sideways, your first sexual experience with another person and Captain John Price was going to be watching. You don’t know how he thought that was supposed to settle your nerves. The poor paper that briefing was on had been twisted to pieces in your nervous hands as you made your way to the room. This was where you’d go everytime, this was where you worked. You’d seen it once and Kate had stressed that it would be thoroughly sanitized and reset after each use to fit whatever purpose it needed to. She further stressed that anybody who entered this room had been tested for any transmittable diseases, sexual, blood borne or otherwise, and would only be permitted entry if they came back clean. That wasn’t terrifying at all.

Did you knock? That would be the polite thing to do. Well the correct thing to do at least, Soap was a Sergeant and while the ranks were different in your service your equivalent would be somewhere around Corporal, a rank beneath him. Did he remember you or did Price just know as his Captain that you had spoken before?

The door opened and you about had a heart attack as Soap stood grinning before grabbing your wrist and yanking you through. You had sort of pictured him as handsome because he had a nice voice, but you hadn’t expected him to be so damn broad. Bomb specialists tended to be a little more wirey in your experience.

“Price said ye were out there having a moment, but I’ve only got the day with ye so cannae be wasting time.”

The room did not look as it had when you had visited it. It was warmer now, more welcoming. The raised platform in the middle had a big bed on it with a soft looking duvet. You couldn’t help but smile seeing all the bedclothes were tartan. So the soldier of the day had some say then.

“Right, first off cannae believe I get ye first. I bitched Price’s ear off but didnae think I had a chance. Very, very grateful tae my bonnie Captain for naw ignoring me though” he said, loudly announcing his thanks and sending a grin to the camera in the corner. “I ken ye probably have a bundle of nerves rioting in that pretty stomach, but ye need tae get over them and get over them fast because I need tae winch your cunt.”

You started choking as a gasp caused saliva to go down the wrong pipe. He laughed and patted your back, or at least he started on your back but his hand very much wandered to your ass and squeezed, hard.

It was a knee jerk reaction. You didn’t fully catch up to what your body had even done until you saw the blood streaming from his nose. Shit. You thought for sure Price was about to march in here and give you a dressing down for punching his solider in the face on your first day as a glorified sex toy.

“S-sorry! I wasn’t expecting you to… I mean I know that’s why I’m here, it was instinct” you blurted, getting increasingly panicked at the feral glint in his eye as he rubbed a hand across his nose which only served to smear the blood everywhere.

“Look at the camera for me hen, aye that’s it. Now tell Price that nice wee safeword so he kens ye remember it. The non-verbal version too.”

You shakily followed his instruction, freaked out at how calm and warm his voice was when his eyes were still manic.

“That should dae it, aye Captain? All mine until ye safeword out now hen.”

He attacked you, no other way to describe it with how fast and violent he was in grabbing your face and shoving his tongue into your mouth. He was still bleeding and you could taste it, could feel it stick to your skin. It’s not like you had never kissed someone before, but you never realised just how another tongue could bully yours, writhing against it and pushing it around at it’s pleasure. Oh fuck, if that’s what it was doing in your mouth… an almost painful jolt shot to your clit and you jumped at the shock.

He led you backwards until you hit the bed and then his hands were gripping the back of your thighs so he could use a combination of strength and momentum to lift you a little and toss you back onto the bed. You stared at him as his mouth broke of from yours with the movement. His face was a mess, blood and saliva coating his lips and chin even as the fresh blood had started to slow from his nose.

“Fucking need this hen” he said, almost a keening whine, as he shoved your legs apart and buried his face between them. “Been dying of thirst, ye need tae drown me.”

It was overwhelming just how desperate he seemed and you were shocked and embarrassed at the whimper that spilled from you when he started to lick and chew on the seam of your jeans. The scrape of teeth through the thick fabric had you feeling your heartbeat throb through your clit and your legs were trying to close, you weren’t sure if it was to escape the sensation or chase it with friction, but he muscled his shoulders between them and gripped hard around your thighs so they were locked open.

“Think ye can soak through them? I can make ye soak through them, fuck” he groaned, kissing and tonguing your jeans like he had your mouth.

It was so erotic and so wrong, he was leaving them marked with blood and spit and you felt powerless to do anything about it. You didn’t know if you were getting wet over it and you fisted the duvet below, the urge to run your fingers under your jeans and panties and check flooding through you. It was as if he knew because the next moment he was pressing the pads of two fingers hard against your opening over the jeans, but it was enough. Your panties grabbed onto the slick that had pooled around your hole and it was like a dam breaking, suddenly you could feel it everywhere.

“I-I-” you started, not actually sure what you needed but needing something.

“Nae patience eh?” he said, lifting his head to peer up at you, the picture of some decadent predator feasting on his prey. “Say please.”

“Please?”

“Say please Johnny, get me naked and eat my cunt.”

You felt like your cheeks had just become about equal to the surface of the sun in terms of heat. You had listened to fucking torture sessions to gather intel but dirty talk from this bloodied creature was the thing that tied your tongue up? There was almost an anger at yourself over it. No wonder you were a fucking virgin if you couldn’t even handle this, they should have chosen one of the confident candidates who would already have made demands of him.

“Naw, stop thinking hen. Please Johnny, get me naked and eat my cunt” he repeated expectantly, keeping his eyes on you even as his head turned and he nipped his teeth into the meat of your thigh.

“…please Johnny, get me naked and eat my cunt.”

He was about ready to cum from hearing you say that particular nickname so sweetly.

“Good lass” he said, planting a kiss where he had just sunk his teeth and wasting no time undoing the button on your jeans and peeling them down your legs, his eyes taking in everything underneath them on the way. “That all for me?”

You had forgotten the prep you had done over the last week. Hairless, smooth, soft. It hadn’t been a plan so much as a mad evening of bathing, shaving and nearly drowning yourself in scented oils and lotions in some sort of panic. Lingerie that you had nearly bailed on because it was so delicate and lacy and see through that it felt a level of sensual you weren’t confident in pulling off was now on full display for him and the fabric was so thin that your arousal was making it cling lewdly.

“Aye, think that’s all for me” he grinned as your jeans hit the floor with a thunk.

Fuck he was a sight. He looked like he had just been tearing into a carcass. You had around 5 seconds to take a breath and try prepare before his head was back between your legs. You didn’t realise how much the jeans had muted the sensations, but now with barely a scrap of thin fabric between your pussy and his mouth you saw stars. There was a scream that you vaguely realised was coming from you. His hair was so soft in your fingers, you felt delirious almost as you mumbled out a question about what conditioner he used and then about died when he chuckled right against your clit before he pulled back and ever so slowly pulled your panties off.

“Fuck that’s pretty” he commented before bringing your panties to his nose and rubbing them against his nostrils.

It broke some of the congealing blood, caused a little trickle to start up again. He didn’t seem to care and after another huff neatly, reverently folded your panties and placed them on a little table at the side. Your shirt he was quick with and showed less care, it going flying to rest on the floor a few inches from your jeans.

“These are pretty too hen, if Price wouldnae gie me a spanking for going off brief I’d fuck them” he said as he squeezed your tits together. “Just a wee taste.”

A wee taste here meant him crushing your tits together so he could suck both nipples into his mouth with such force you bowed off of the bed and felt like the wind had been knocked right out of you. Your bra was taken off and folded with the same reverence your panties had been, placed on the table with pink marks on the cups from that little trickle of blood. Most of the blood around his mouth was gone now, only a pink tinge left among all the spit and arousal.

“Ye ever cum for anyone else before?”

“I… no. I mean I’ve done it myself. Or with stuff to help.”

“Price remind me tae blow you later!”

With that he latched on your swollen clit. At first he suckled, humming as he did which drove you fucking mad. Then he pulled off with a slurp, gathered more wetness from your hole on his tongue and drooled it back on your clit. The tip of his tongue flicked at it rapidly, ramping up in speed as your body coiled tighter and tighter.

The noises were erotically disgusting, wet. You tried to tug his hair to get him to let up because you were going to explode, his writhing tongue was about to send you right over the edge.

“S-stop, gonna cum” you panted, trying to hold on.

“That’s the idea hen.”

“The brief said you wanted to… do other things?”

“Aye?”

He had stopped at least and your body was slowly stepping back from the cliff which felt awful. But the brief said he wanted to “69” so you couldn’t cum this early. You just looked down at him debauched between your legs, waiting for him to move on to the next part.

“When ye play with this fat pussy, dae ye stop at one?”

You felt a little panicked at his question. Theoretically, you knew people with your anatomy could have multiple orgasms. In practice you usually just got off and left it at that. It didn’t feel good to keep touching when you were so sensitive after cumming anyway. You sort of shrugged in response.

“Oh hen, you’re going tae gie me 2 like this, 2 when I eat ye from the back and then we can move on so you can have a taste of me. Thinking at least 3 while your lips are wrapped around my cock.”

“I- what? I don’t think I can have that many.”

“Thought I told ye tae stop thinking?” he said with a wink before he dove back in.

If you thought he was giving you his best before, you were quickly disabused of that notion. It took him around 5 seconds. His mouth latched onto you and his tongue eagerly abused your clit without any respite. You rocketed right back to that edge and went tumbling off, thrashing on the bed while he just pinned your hips down and kept going. Your pussy clenched in waves that seemed to never fucking stop.

It was uncomfortable when the orgasm was done but you were still being stimulated and you tried again to shove him away, but fuck he was strong. He refused to be moved, lapping messily at you with a desperation that gave you goosebumps.

“Stop, I can’t!”

“Ye fucking can” he barked back, teeth scraping on your now very oversensitive clit in warning. “Now get your legs up.”

He shoved upwards with his shoulders while his hands forced your legs back, bending you in half. Your hips were tilted now, both of your holes so fully on display for him that it made some undignified sound of humiliation come from you.

He feasted. No part of you escaped him - he licked the seams where your legs met your torso, he sucked on your lips and you wondered if they would bruise with lovebites, he lapped at your rim and had you screeching when he bullied his tongue in, only stopping when a beep sounded in the room.

“Aww fuck off Captain, her arse is fair game for oral!”

Another beep.

“Killjoy. Sorry hen, nae rest for your delicious wee cunt.”

You knew the tongue was a dexterous muscle, but fuck it was insane how he managed to get so much of it inside your pussy. He massaged your walls, flattened and curled the appendage and then flicked it fast. The barest brush of his pinky on your clit was enough to set you off again. You were sure you were nearly pulling his hair out when you came and he drank it up like wine. Decadently, savouring.

His face was a wreck, strings of spit and cum connecting him to you and then snapping and dripping off when he moved his head further away. There was a little blood around his nose, the rest long gone from all the fluids helping to dilute it. You licked your lips only to taste iron. That was right, he may have gotten wet enough to soak it off, but his blood was still all over you.

Fuck he looked drunk. His eyes were unfocused and dreamy, a dopey smile on his face as he went to his knees and looked down at you splayed underneath him. There was a wet spot, a large one, on the duvet. You felt boneless, like you had run a marathon. You weren’t sure you could move. But despite that you couldn’t help but drag your eyes across his still clothed body.

The brief had said he had biologically female genitals, but that his clit was enlarged. You’d never heard of the term t-dick but now it was all you could think about. You wanted to make him feel the way you did, boneless and ready to sleep for two days straight.

“Ask me.”

“What?”

“Can see ye thinking away hen, ask me what it is you’re wanting tae.”

“Oh…” you said, trying to bring your fuzzy brain back online and be brave. “I want to see you. And uh… you know.”

He stripped his t-shirt off with one arm and it was like a damn porno as he tossed it on the floor.

“Cannae say I do hen, ye need tae tell me.”

You sighed in frustration and squeezed your eyes shut.

“Taste you. I want to taste you the way you tasted me.”

“Aye ye do. Still owe me 2 before that though.”

You shot up. He could not be serious. You were already about dead. He could not actually expect you to cum two more times before you even got to the next part of the briefing. You’d fucking die, you were sure of it. You snarled at him when he went to grab you and it was an actual fight.

Your wrestled with him, feeling the burn of something like humiliation whenever your pussy rubbed up somewhere on his body. At one point you tried to lock your legs around his torso, feeling like fireworks went off when you rubbed against the hair running down past the hem of his sweatpants. You squealed in alarm when he wrestled you off and it left a shining wet streak across his skin. You fought hard but you had no chance against him as he roughly got you over onto your knees and shoved hard between your shoulder blades to pin you to the bed.

Your hips wanted to follow, to collapse down, but he didn’t let them. He bullied his knees between yours to spread them and gripped hard onto your hips to give him control over exactly where your hot, wet cunt was. Perfect position for him to dig in.

Another beep.

He grabbed you by the back of the neck and you whimpered when he wrenched your head up and turned it to the camera.

“Tell him ye still ken the safeword” he growled.

“I still know the safeword.”

His other hand cupped your slippery and unbearably tender cunt and gave a warning squeeze.

“You’ll remember yer manners soldier.”

“I still know the safeword, sir.”

Satisfied he pinned your head back to the mattress, returned his hand to your hip and maneuvered you so your hole was at just the right height for him.

He dug in.

Oh God, oh God from this angle anytime his mouth was at your clit the rest of his face was getting soaked by your gushing hole. He seemed so much closer now, like he was somehow inside you. His beard felt like it was ripping your lips apart and the prickly pins of pain were so sharp against the all consuming pleasure.

He was suctioned to you, only ever pulling of for a second to take a deep, gulping breath. There was a reluctance to breathe, to ever do anything but drink you down even if it meant he was half suffocating himself.

You tried to have any coherent thoughts about this. It was insane. You had signed up to help him get this out of his system but so far you were pretty sure you should be hiring him and not the other way around. You never knew this could be so all consuming, that your whole body would be so easily played by someone. You were at his mercy, every thump of your heart sending blood wherever the hell he decided it needed to go.

The next orgasm was powerful. It sent your body wild, your legs violently shaking and a choking scream fighting past your lips. You fucking hated him in that moment. He was so eagerly eating at your cunt, taking so much pleasure from it. It made you want it. You wanted to eat him out. You wanted to feel what he was feeling. But he wanted another orgasm from you first so he wasn’t stopping even with you screaming at him.

“Fuck you! I can’t go again, I can’t! Let me see you, let me taste you Johnny! It’s not fair!”

You’d lost any sense of shame. You think you might have lost any sense at all when you screamed your throat raw as your body fought the stimulation, tried and failed to get away so then just accepted it.

Cumming this time felt different. It was almost sore to have your muscles contract again, so exhausting you wanted to cry and beg to just sleep.

He slowed down, was gentle in cleaning you up with his tongue. When his grip on your hips loosened you collapsed to the bed, panting.

You could hear him taking his sweats off and it was the only thing to will you to turn yourself over onto your back. You needed to see him. You fucking needed it more than you needed anything as inconsequential as rest.

At first you felt like your brain was shorting out. He was standing at the end of the bed, now totally naked. His body was gorgeous, rugged. Your mouth watered as your eyes trailed down, following the path of hair to his pussy. He certainly hadn’t shaved in a panic like you had, the hair was just as thick between his legs as it was everywhere else. His fingers were lazily playing with his clit and you swore it was a cock.

It stood proudly through the thatch of dark hair, was dripping like you imagined a cock would. But that’s what it was. You understood now why the brief had called it a t-cock. Oh God you wanted to kiss, lick, suck - devour him the way he had you.

“Go on then hen, get that wet wee mouth on my cock” he said, his tone that of a man indulging the whims of some silly creature whose desperation he found cute.

You swallowed thickly, your body slow in moving through the exhaustion as you got to your knees and crawled across the bed to him. At first it was just a kitten lick, a little taste. Sweat, salt and something tangy and sweet. He was so slippery beneath your tongue and it was instinct to lap up the liquid, to keep chasing the strange taste.

“That’s it, good lass. There you go” he said, barely above a whisper as if coaxing some scared prey animal.

You shifted to get a more solid position, knees splaying wide to get you the right height and hands gripping his thick thighs. You needed to taste more, feel more. You fucking needed your mouth on him like you needed oxygen. You needed to drink down his arousal, the proof of what his body thought of yours.

He smiled down at you in tentative delight. You were so gone for this, all that trepidation vanished as you savoured the first tasting of him. No longer the shy thing that he had dragged into the room, now an animal understanding that the feast came before all. He knew the place you had went to couldn’t be permanent but while you were there he intended to enjoy it.

There was no skill in what you were doing, just a clumsy and selfish exploration. Your concept of time floated away as you treated his cunt and cock like the mouth of a stranger in the drunken haze of a club, wet, sloppy kisses against the heat of him.

He was dripping down your chin, the red around your mouth tinging pink and eventually being drowned entirely. His hands were massaging softly on your scalp, your shoulders. You wanted to stay here forever. He could not think of a compelling reason why not.

“Fuck, need tae get your taste back on my tongue” he groaned.

You barely registered your body being moved, only focused on keeping that connection to him. You wanted to crawl inside him, live there. Your nails dug into the meat of his thighs when you muscled your tongue inside his hole and felt the walls of him eagerly try to coax you deeper.

He maneuvered his body over yours and somewhere in the recesses of your brain you knew you should find this dangerous. He was big over you, could choose to drop his weight and smother you. Instead you found it comforting, like a warm nest for him to keep you safe and fed in.

“You’re so fucking pretty hen. Want tae keep you all tae myself.”

“You taste so good” you said, words muffled from the now insistent press of his wet cock on your face.

Everything was so wet, so hot. Touch yes, but scent and sound were both soaking, dripping, gushing. The first time he came you thanked him and begged him for more, more, more as your hips writhed up against his mouth.

You were sobbing when you came back online. You had been for a while from how tight your chest felt and the way your eyes stung with dryness. You were crying out broken words, begging him, saying you couldn’t.

“Ye can, one more. Just one more.”

Fuck, everything was tender and sore. No wonder you were such a wreck, your body was too wrung of pleasure that it could only give you pain now. He was relentless at your pussy and when you came this time it fucking hurt. Every muscle was cramping horribly.

“No more Johnny” you whined even as he ground his cock clumsily against your face and moaned through his own pained orgasm.

“Aye, one more. Need it hen, fuck. Could die in this pussy.”

You didn’t know how his tongue kept going, yours was useless now. You could only hold it out for him to rut against. You only knew he came again from how he howled. Your face was so covered in him that another flood barely registered. You really couldn’t anymore. You felt like you were about to die.

“Red.”

You mumbled it so softly and deliriously that you weren’t expecting anything to come of it, but he patted your flank and rolled off of you to lay on his back and pant.

“Jesus Christ hen, where the fuck did Price find you?” he said, voice hoarse and rough.

You couldn’t move. He didn’t seem mad at all that you had safe worded out at least. No, instead he pulled himself up with a long groan to flop down beside you.

“Gie me 20 minutes for a cuddle and a nap then I’ll get ye all cleaned up aye? I’ll let ye use my conditioner.”

And then he was snoring in your ear, his sweaty body wrapped around yours as you drifted off to unconsciousness.

—

Price was exhausted. He hadn’t intended to wank to you, but you had put those big, wet eyes on the camera and called him sir and then all bets were off. Christ alive the two of you had went for hours, writhing like animals on that bed.

He though after he had cum it would relief the pressure, but then you had so sweetly crawled over to lap at his boy’s cunt and he got hard all over again.

Soap certainly did owe him a blow job. You had been perfect for him, let him push his pleasure too far like he loved. And now there you both were boneless and passed out in puddles of arousal. He groaned imagining how the room must smell.

But he wasn’t needed. Soap was exhausted himself yes, but he enjoyed looking after a lover after such an intense experience and Price would not deprive him of that.

Part of him was tempted to change the plan, get you to one of the residents earlier, one of the ones who would ruin you so badly that you would need Price afterwards.

Thankfully, he was just about a good man when he dismissed the thought.

#mhairiwrites #mhairi'skinktober #going to ignore my own posting schedule since I already fucked it up and posted then deleted this at the wrong time anyway

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offpagewebmaster · 1 month ago

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georgebanton · 6 months ago

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megalony · 10 months ago

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One In A Million

This is an Evan Buckley imagine that I had an idea for, I hope you all like it. Any feedback would be lovely. I am trying to work my way through requests and trying to branch out into writing for Bobby too.

Taglist: @lunaticspoem@sj-thefanthefan@hellsdragon@im-an-adult-ish@crazylittlethingg@allauraleigh@onceuponadetectivedemigod@ceres27@avyannadawn@sleepylunarwolf@coverupps@justagirlthatlovedtoread @musicistheway @avada-kedavra-bitch-187 @luula @missdreamofendless @bradleybeachbabe @woderfulkawaii @amberpanda99 @daggersquadphantom @marvel-and-chicago-fan @angryknightstatesmantrash @minjix @lyjen @kmc1989 @itsmytimetoodream @noonenuts @hiireadstuff @ashie-babie @classyunknownlover @jayyeahthatsme @sp1ritssz @dumb-fawkin-bitch @oliverstarksbae @gimatida @heart-35 @supernaturalstilinski @stefansalvatoresgf @kyky9103 @wutheringhearts2275 @gay4hotmilfs @itshamleth @gillybear17 @chaoticnosleepinfluencer @gs29

Evan Buckley Masterlist

Summary: While out on a call, Evan manages the unthinkable to save a girl. And afterwards, he can't seem to get her out his head.

Enjoy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"LAFD, ma'am we're coming in."

The team followed after Bobby into the apartment, letting their captain lead the way through the living room and ahead towards the balcony on the far side of the room.

They had been apprehensive when this call came through the radio. A young woman was hanging onto a sign on the side of an apartment building. She had fallen off the balcony. They all knew this was going to be a tricky one to get the woman back to safety.

"Chim, set up the winch, Eddie get a harness on. That balcony isn't safe we're not taking any chances." Bobby shook his head to himself when he stepped cautiously out onto the balcony.

Dispatch told them a woman had fallen off her balcony, not that she had fallen through it. The rail had broken. She must have been leaning on the rail when it gave way and she had fallen down. It was lucky that she had managed to fall onto an advertising sign, but it wasn't ideal. They didn't know how sturdy the sign was or if it would be able to hold her for long.

Bobby walked over to the right side of the balcony and leaned over the side without touching the rail, just to be safe. "Ma'am, LAFD here. We're going to get you off there, how are you doing down there?"

"H-help!" (Y/n) tried to tilt her head back but looking up made her feel dizzy and sent her head spinning.

Her arms were trembling from how tense they were. She had landed with a thud on the metal beam supporting the advertising board. It had been a stroke of luck that when she fell, she managed to curl her arms around the beam before she slid off.

She had her legs dangling down in the air, weighing her down as gravity had a tight hold over her lower waist. Her fingers were starting to cut into the metal and her arms felt like they were being shredded to pieces. But she had no choice. If she loosened her arms or let go for a second, she would fall. If she fell, that would be it. Nothing was going to save (Y/n) from that long drop down to the harsh pavement below.

How had this even happened? How was her balcony rail so fragile and unsafe that leaning her hips onto it to water the hanging baskets had broken it? One moment she was trying to water the plants, then she was suddenly falling face-first down towards the sign.

(Y/n) wasn't sure who called the emergency services but she owed them a debt for calling and getting the fire department down here so fast.

"We're going to get you, don't worry just try and stay calm while we get someone down to you."

"I-it's moving," Tears continued to stream down (Y/n)'s face and she pressed her chin into her arm rather than risk trying to look up above her again.

When Bobby realised what she was referring to, he bit his lip and turned to face the team. Chimney was still setting up the winch to get Eddie hooked up who was putting on his hard-hat and trying to shimmy into a harness as as fast as he could.

"Alright, Buck, Hen I want you to go down a few levels, get into any apartment you can and look at that advertising sign and let us know if it's going to hold out or not."

"Copy."

Evan nodded and followed after Hen, bustling out the apartment and back down the stairwell they had just run up with all their equipment. They didn't like the look of this. They had no time to try and get an airbag set up on the ground and with how high up they were, it wouldn't be safe to set it up either. But if that poor girl fell, she wouldn't survive the crash landing.

They went down five floors and found an apartment directly beneath the one they had just been in. They had to stay on the East side of the building so they could see the woman and the sign she had fallen onto.

"Good morning, we're LAFD. Can we go take a look out your window please?" Evan put the brightest smile on his face that he could muster and stood tall when the elderly woman opened the door. The surprise and panic was evident in her eyes. She hadn't called the fire department. She didn't need any emergency assistance.

But the moment she nodded, Evan rushed past her and made a beeline for her window while Hen told her what was going on.

"Eddie's getting hooked up to climb over, are you two downstairs?"

"We're five floors down… that sign doesn't look good Cap, I don't know how long it will hold out."

Evan opened the window and peered out but his upper lip curled in distaste when he looked up. The sign wasn't supposed to hold any weight. It was bolted onto the side of the building, but it was lightweight metal beams and a thin metal frame. It wasn't there to hold up someone's weight and when the woman was dangling in mid-air like that, she was weighing down even more on the frame.

Reaching his hand up, Evan nudged his hard-hat further back on his head so he could keep looking up. His lower abdomen and hips pressed bruisingly into the window frame and his hands gripped the open edge of the window to steady himself. Evan wouldn't want to join the woman and hang out the window or fall down.

He could see Eddie leaning over the edge of the balcony as he tried to hurry and get rigged up to the harness and winch. The plan was to lower Eddie down, let him get a harness around the woman and winch them both back up to her balcony. At least if they got the harness or some rope around her she would have a safety net of some kind.

"We gotta do something… it's gonna break." Evan peered back inside to look over at Hen but he could see the anguish in her eyes.

What could they do? What did Evan expect them to be able to do for her from down here?

"Get me over now!" Eddie waved his hand at Chimney as he climbed up over the rail and tried to edge over the side. He had to get down. He could see the beam was starting to break, she was going to fall. "(Y/n) I'm coming down now. Go, go- fuck!" He jumped over the side but he wasn't quick enough. She had fallen.

A horrible, gut-wrenching scream left (Y/n)'s lips when the beam snapped. There was nothing else for her to hold onto and nothing below her that could catch her fall and hold her up. She was going to fall all the way down to the pavement. She would splatter across the floor like an awful work of art. They would have to peel her off the pavement.

She didn't want to die like this.

"No!"

Panic boiled up in Evan's chest like a wildfire and spread throughout his body. His arms started to shake and his fingertips went numb with anxiety and it took all his effort to keep his eyes open.

He moved before he could think better of it and stretched his arms out in front of him like he was reaching out for the sun itself. Evan felt the girl slide through his arms and she fell a lot faster than he was expecting, as if gravity had been put on triple speed. But when she went through his arms, he pulled and clenched them as tightly as he could. His fingertips scrunched into any part of her body that he could, digging through her shirt and into her chest so much he almost broke through her skin.

Evan's knees bashed into the wall beneath the window and his hips and groin slammed into the window frame causing him to groan. A broken sound left his lips as his jaw clenched and his eyes snapped shut from the pressure that was now weighing on his whole body and pulling him down.

"I- I've got you! Hold on!"

When he felt the woman's hands grasping at his biceps and digging into his shoulders, Evan tried to lean back but he felt like he was about to fall out the window along with her.

"Help!" He screamed, gasping and clawing for breath when the woman started to slide through his arms. He pinned his elbows into her sides and pulled until her chest was meshed into his and her stomach was bashed into the wall.

Someone had caught her.

(Y/n) thought all the firemen had been up in her apartment, she had heard voices up there.

Her mind had been working in overdrive, ready to commit to the thought that this was her last few moments on Earth. This was it. She was going to see everything flash before her eyes seconds before she hit the ground. But a pair of strong arms bolted around her waist a mere two seconds after she started to fall.

Her knees bashed horribly into the wall and her head slammed into the man's shoulder but she tried to move quickly. (Y/n) tried to dig her nails into his shoulders to secure herself against him, unsure how he was even managing to hold her up right now. She wasn't a child or as light as a feather and she had been falling, that would make her weigh more and make it ten times harder to catch her and keep hold of her.

(Y/n) swung her aching legs around and pressed her heels into the wall to try and stabilise herself and support some of her weight because she could tell the man holding her was starting to slide out the window.

A desperate cry left (Y/n)'s lips when she felt the man start to fall down with her. If she didn't let go, was she going to drag someone else to their death?

"Oh God." Evan choked as he buried his face in the crook of the woman's neck and shoulder. He could feel his feet leaving the floor as his body tipped forward.

(Y/n) wasn't sure whether she voiced her thoughts or if this man just happened to know what she was thinking. Because he growled "I'm not letting go." Into her neck with such certainty that (Y/n) was determined he had read her mind. But she would rather him let go and say that he tried to save her than kill himself trying.

"I got you Buck." As fast as she could, Hen bolted over to Evan and wrapped her arms around his lower chest.

She dug her nails into his button up shirt and heaved as she pulled him backwards. Hen lifted one leg up and braced her foot on the wall for added momentum to push herself back and she pulled Evan into her chest as he finally started to straighten up and pull the woman with him.

Another scream left Evan's lips, mingling in with (Y/n)'s horrified yelps and bumbling pleas. Finally, with one last heave, Evan suddenly propelled backwards and barged into Hen before he toppled to the floor on his back. He gasped and groaned as he pulled the girl with him and she seemed to fly through the window before she landed on top of him with a thud.

He'd done it. He saved her. He actually saved a woman falling through the air. He caught her.

He caught her!

"Cap, he- fucking Hell, Buck caught her! We've got her in through the window, you'd better come down." Hen gripped her radio as she pushed up onto her knees and clapped her hand on Evan's shoulder.

How on Earth had he managed to do that? The odds were one thousand to one that he could actually catch her and not let her slide through his hands or fall with her. He had a split second to hold onto her before she disappeared and he'd managed to do it. Hen hoped someone had been recording this.

Evan opened his eyes and tried to catch his breath back as he looked down at the woman laid on top of him. She had moved her arms to bind them around his chest. Her head was tucked up into his neck and she was breathing very shallow and fast like she couldn't take in a proper breath.

He looped his right arm around her waist and pressed his left hand against his temple as he tried to gasp for air.

He found his hand going up and down her back as they both heaved and grumbled, trying to understand what had just happened and what they had managed to do. No one was going to believe this. No one would believe what Evan had done here today.

After a few seconds, Evan felt his breaths starting to slow down so he pressed his palm to the floor to try and sit them both up. His eyes rolled and he went dizzy for a few seconds while Hen rubbed his back and told him to breathe deeply.

"Are… are you okay?" He croaked hoarsely as he began to glide his hand up and down her back again.

"You… how did you… thanks." Words spluttered past (Y/n)'s lips and when she looked up at him, she could barely get her eyes to focus on him. Tears distorted her vision but she could scarcely make out a tender smile that made her stomach turn to mush.

She had no idea how he managed to do that, but she was going to be forever in debt to him.

Evan wasn't sure how he had done that either, but he couldn't stop a beaming smile from lighting up his face. He felt the girl shaking all over and it was causing him to shudder back and forth against her. He began to worry that she was about to pass out from how little air she was breathing in. All she seemed to be doing was panting and wheezing.

When Hen leaned over, about to try and ease the girl from his arms, Evan shook his head. She was frightened- no, she was traumatised. If she wanted to cling to him and reassure herself that she was alive and safe, Evan didn't have a problem with that.

"You're okay, I've got you." He began rubbing his hand up and down her back while he closed his eyes and concentrated on counting each breath he took.

He was sure he heard the elderly woman whisper 'Bless you' when she patted his shoulder and it made him grin. Evan had had a lot of scrapes and brushes with death. But if this miracle didn't secure his place in Heaven, he didn't know what would.

"Let's get you both up and checked over."

Hen held her hands out towards the girl tucked up in Evan's chest and hovered behind her when Evan tried to help her up. He held her hips and shuffled up to his feet, pulling her along with him just as the rest of the team filtered into the apartment.

As soon as she was on her feet, (Y/n) felt all the blood drain down from her head to her toes.

Her hands fumbled to try and hold the man's shoulders but she couldn't get a good grip anymore, everything was turning to jelly. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and her knees caved in, unable to hold her up. She didn't have the right balance back with gravity yet.

"Wow- okay, okay I've got you." Evan wasn't sure how he managed to hold her up when he felt like he wanted to do the same thing. But he bound his arms tight around her waist and stretched his arm along her spine so his hand could cup the back of her neck and hold her head up. He didn't want her getting a neck injury or hurting herself even more than she already had.

He slowly went back down to the floor, kneeling on the carpet with the girl slumped on his chest and her face smushed into his shoulder.

He was grateful when Hen reached out and helped to turn her around and carefully stretch her legs out. They propped her back up against Evan's chest and he let her head loll against his neck as he weaved his arms beneath hers.

One hand curled into a fist and Evan started to rub his fist up and down her sternum to try and bring her back round while Hen waved the team over as they barged inside.

When Chimney dropped a medic bag beside her, Hen looked around and found a blood pressure cuff and slipped it up (Y/n)'s arm. She watched Eddie slump down into the chair at the table behind Evan and Bobby knelt down beside Evan with a hand on his shoulder and a broad smile. What Evan had just done was reckless, but it had also been brave and he pulled it off.

Bobby dreaded to think how Evan would have been if he risked that again and didn't manage to catch her. If this situation turned out the way they all thought it would, Evan would have been inconsolable if he didn't manage to save the girl and let her slip through his arms.

"W-what's her name?" Evan looked between the team with wide eyes. He had saved this girl, he had caught her mid-air and pulled her through a window and he didn't even know her name.

"(Y/n)."

"(Y/n), are you back with us honey?" Hen gave her hand a light squeeze while Evan carefully cupped her chin and tilted her head out from his neck so he could look down at her.

A quiet murmur left (Y/n)'s lips and when she tried to open her eyes, they danced around the room, unable to focus on anything in particular.

"BP is through the roof, administering blood thinners just to be safe." Hen found some blood thinners in her bag and injected them into (Y/n)'s elbow before she could sense the pain or realise what was going on. The last thing they needed was (Y/n) having a blood clot or risking a stroke.

Bobby waved at Chimney and asked him to go fetch the stretcher before he moved to talk to the apartment owner. He was going to have to do a report about this and talk to the building manager. If that balcony was unsafe, there could be numerous other people in danger of a fall just like (Y/n).

"Okay, honey I'm just gonna take a look at you."

(Y/n) tried to nod but she couldn't manage it. All she managed to do was flop her hand around until she found the man's wrist. She gripped him almost as tightly as he had held her through the window and a smile fluttered across her lips when he patted her hip.

He wasn't quite sure where to put his hands on her in case he hurt her or was inappropriate, but she seemed perfectly fine with his hand on her hip and his other hand near her thigh as she gripped his wrist tightly.

Reaching out, Hen gently lifted (Y/n)'s top up and began examining her chest but when she winced, Evan guessed it wasn't good. "You've broken a few ribs, you'll need an X-ray."

Her harsh landing on the metal beams had definitely broken a few ribs on her left side and maybe some on the right. But she was lucky not to have done any further extensive damage or puncture a lung on impact.

Evan's nose crinkled when he leaned his chin over (Y/n)'s shoulder and looked down at her arms which hen started to examine. She had quite a few deep scratches along her forearms and down near her wrists too. Clearly clinging to that beam had done as much harm as it had done good. She would be littered with bruises in a few days and she would need to be careful that she didn't get those cuts infected.

"No other broken bones. Let's get you on a drip, then we can head down to the hospital."

"H-have I thanked you yet?" (Y/n) flopped her head to the side so she could look up at her knight in shining armour. She smiled up at him and blinked a few times to clear her fuzzy vision and try to get a better look at him.

"You're welcome." He whispered with a sheepish smile pulling at his lips.

He looked up to the left when he felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder and he looked up to see Eddie staring down at him with raised brows. "You, are one lucky bastard."

***

When a wisp of familiar hair caught his eye, Evan turned to the left instead of the right. His lips quirked and his right hand continued to glide up and down his left arm that continued to ache and throb beneath the bandage. Suddenly Evan didn't care about heading back to the emergency room and being signed off by the doctor.

He turned left, ignoring the signs pointing straight ahead to get back to the emergency room he had been sat in an hour ago. And he made his way down towards the X-ray unit after the girl that had caught his attention.

"(Y/n)?"

A shiver bolted down (Y/n)'s spine and she paused in the corridor and spun on her heels so fast her shoes squeaked against the polished floor.

"Oh!" Her lips curved up into a bright smile and something flashed in her eyes and made Evan's stomach jump with adrenaline.

He thought it was her. He thought it was the girl who hadn't been able to leave his mind for the last two weeks. The last time Evan saw her, they had brought her down to the X-ray unit after her fall, but that was where the team had to leave her. They couldn't stay with her; more specifically, Evan couldn't stay with her.

He had to get examined himself and then finish the last five hours of his shift running on an adrenaline high that lasted well into the night. Evan didn't get to see her again after leaving her at the hospital and part of him felt bad.

The other part of him felt cheated. Evan felt cheated that he had managed to save this girl and he didn't get to talk to her or know anything about her. All he knew was that she got to live another day.

"It's you! Are you okay?" (Y/n) felt the sudden urge to reach out and wrap her arms around him, but she held back when she realised his left arm was bandaged up.

He was here. Her saviour, her knight in shining armour was here in the hospital. (Y/n) had such a dreaded feeling that she was never going to see him again after the fire department dropped her off here. She thought that was it, she might catch a glimpse of him on tv, but not in person.

"Yeah, yeah, just a minor burn. How are you… I've been wondering about you." Evan lowered his arm down to his side and moved to lean his shoulders back against the wall so they weren't blocking the corridor.

He smiled brighter when (Y/n) moved to stand in front of him. She was so close that he could almost feel each breath she took and the way she smiled up at him made his knees go weak.

"Honestly, I'm not sure how I am. Did… did you know someone recorded you catching me? The odds of being able to do that are like, one in a million. I cheated death because of you."

Tears trickled down (Y/n)'s face and her lips parted in shock when Evan reached out and brushed them away before he could stop himself.

All she could think about was how he had managed to save her. If that had been anyone else trying to catch her or anyone else falling, it wouldn't have worked. She didn't know how he managed to do that. Watching the video back was even worse because it looked fake, it looked too good to be true.

A camera crew and about four different people on the ground below had recorded it and each version was the same, proving it was true but it still didn't feel real to (Y/n). She almost died. Fate had intervened at just the right time and decided she deserved another chance, and she didn't know why.

"I almost dropped you." Evan murmured quietly while his eyes trained on his feet. He could still feel her slipping through his arms. He could feel gravity clawing at her and trying to drag her away from him.

"I'm so grateful you didn't."

Evan's eyes darted up from his feet to look at her when he felt her hand reach up and cup the side of his face. Her touch made his heart have palpitations and his stomach fluttered with adrenaline that made him go lightheaded.

"Do I get to know your name? Or do I have to start calling you my hero?" She felt him lean into her touch which made her arm tremble but when he smiled at her like that, (Y/n) just wanted to faint.

She didn't even know his name. She didn't know anything about her very own personal saviour. Her firefighter. The man she had to keep calling her hero because she didn't know his name. Despite all the videos up online and the one that the media kept replaying, they didn't name him. They just said one of LA's finest firemen from the 118 station.

And (Y/n) didn't have the nerve to go down to the station to thank him. She didn't know if he would of appreciated it or if she would of been an inconvenience, getting in the way when he was trying to work.

Fate seemed to be on their side, bringing them together again today.

"Everyone calls me Buck, but you can call me Evan."

"Well Evan, thank you, truly. I owe you a debt I don't think I could ever repay." (Y/n) owed him her life, there was nothing she could do that would repay her debt to him or thank him enough for what he had done for her. Even if it had been chance or fate that allowed him to save her, he still tried. At that exact moment, at just the right time, he managed to save her.

She went to drop her hand but stopped when Evan reached out to cup her wrist before she could pull away. He leaned further into her touch and smiled as his thumb stroked across the back of her hand.

"I think you could repay me by going out on a date with me. Fate let me save you for a reason, didn't it?"

A shiver rolled down (Y/n)'s spine and made her knees quake but she was unable to bite back her smile that spread across her lips. Fate had brought them together in a strange, unfamiliar way, and what better way to test out why fate had done that than to go out together.

(Y/n) knew she wanted to get to know the man that saved her, whether that was by going out on a date or just trying to be friends. But a date with someone so kind, modest and sincere felt like the best thing in the world and it was the perfect way to repay him for catching her.

"I suppose I could take my hero out on a date."

#evan buckley #evan buckley x reader #911 imagine #imagine #evan buckley imagine #buck x reader #buck imagine #bobby nash

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bookshelf-in-progress · 7 months ago

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For Love of the Princess: A Sleeping Beauty Retelling

The court was leaving. A colorful parade of nobles in richly-embroidered robes, with bright banners flying, were abandoning the palace with the king and queen.

And leaving Princess Aurora behind.

"We've no choice, dear," the queen had told her daughter in tears the evening before. "The whole palace will sleep when the curse falls. We've a duty to our people. We can't abandon the kingdom for a hundred years."

Princess Aurora, who'd been fairy-gifted with grace and compassion, had sweetly said she understood.

Margaret, who had no such gifts, thought the queen deserved to have her eyes pecked out by birds.

All of Aurora's ladies-in-waiting had talked late into the night--had been working over the problem for weeks as Aurora's sixteenth birthday drew ever closer with no chance of averting the curse. They had planned and theorized, but all decided at last that there was only one thing to do. They were, to a woman, going to stay with the princess. A hundred years would pass while they slept. They would wake to a strange world where everyone they knew was dead and gone. But not for all the gold in the kingdom would they abandon Aurora to face such a world alone.

Now they stood together at the palace gate. Anne, the eldest of them, with strands of gray in her hair, who had been lady to the queen before coming to serve the princess. Lydia, younger even than Aurora, fair and tall and full of energy. Celia, little, sweet and copper-haired, only a year older than Aurora. Margaret herself--tallest and most practical, with wisps of golden-brown curls fluttering in the wind. And exactly in the center, Princess Aurora, with her fairy-gifted beauty that outshone the sun itself. Margaret had come to view these girls as sisters, but as they watched the courtiers leave, she suddenly realized they were all the family she was going to have--that any of them were going to have--for the rest of her life.

When the last face, the last horse, the last banner, disappeared over the horizon, all five of the women stepped back inside the palace walls.

And were immediately faced with a problem.

"Which one of us is going to close the gate?" Celia asked, gazing up at the wicked-looking portcullis. None of them had ever touched the winch-and-chain that moved it. Who knew if they'd even have the strength to? Five women staying alone in a castle for a hundred years could not leave the palace gate open for any passing brigand to come through.

With a groan and a rattle, the chain moved, the portcullis lowered, and the metal bars fell to the ground with a bone-rattling thump.

All of the women screamed.

Had the curse come upon them already? Were they to be trapped here for a hundred years, never to escape? Margaret's heart raced--she hadn't realized how suffocating the palace would seem.

A man stepped out of the guardhouse. He wore the livery of the palace guard and had the first whispers of a mustache on his upper lip. He bowed to the princess and her ladies.

"My apologies, ladies," he said, in a baritone that sounded surprisingly deep for one who appeared barely old enough for that facial hair. "I did not intend to startle you."

He looked young and strong of limb. He carried himself with the dignity and grace of a much older man--had something in the eyes that made him seem wiser than his years.

Aurora gave a deep royal nod. "We thank you for your service. If we could know the name of our servant?"

He bowed crisply. "William of Avenroth, your highness."

Aurora gave her sweetest smile. "We are pleased to know you, and we beg your forgiveness for our outburst. We had thought ourselves alone in the palace."

"You are alone, your highness," William said. "Everyone left, save for me."

"You did not wish to escape the curse?"

William bowed again. "I have a duty, your highness, to protect the princess. All other considerations fade before that calling."

"Some would say such devotion goes far beyond duty," the princess said.

Serenely, he said, "Perhaps it does, your highness."

Aurora opened her mouth, then closed it. She bowed her head. "I am grateful for your loyalty, William."

She turned back toward the palace, and her beautiful face was pensive.

As Margaret and the other ladies followed Aurora back toward the palace, Aurora asked, "Ought I to send him away?"

"Send him away?" Anne yelped. "Why?"

Aurora hushed her, looking back over her shoulder. "I can not ask him to risk the curse for my sake."

"You haven't sent any of us away," Lydia pointed out.

"You all know me well," Aurora said. "He barely knows me."

How little Aurora understood her power. She was princess of the realm, fairy gifted, bright and shining. No person who saw her ever forgot her.

"He has served you from his boyhood, highness," Margaret said. "Though you do not know him, he is quite familiar with you."

Anne said, "He chose to stay, just as we did."

"It is not fair," Aurora said, "for all of you to give up your lives because of my curse."

Margaret said, "It's not fair that you were cursed. You did not choose it--but we can choose to love you. Let him make that same choice."

Aurora stopped, tears in her eyes. "Never has a princess had such true friends. I am afraid I can never be grateful enough."

She embraced each of them in turn, all of them caught between laughter and tears. Then she turned back toward the guard and invited him inside for supper.

In the Great Hall--now echoing and cavernous in its emptiness--they made a merry birthday supper, rejoicing over the coming of the princess' sixteenth year, and not letting themselves think about the doom that came with it. The king and queen, though not staying to celebrate the day, had left a celebratory meal behind them--roasts and fruit and cakes and punch.

Margaret had been afraid that the guard William would be out of place among them, but he blended in with ease. He was quiet, respectful, courteous, seeming to enjoy being in their presence, not minding being on the outside of their shared jokes. He helped to serve the meal, even brought some of Aurora's favorite treats from the palace stores, pointing out that they would not last the hundred years. Aurora was gracious, and, as the night went on, genuinely warm. She smiled at William with the smile she reserved for her friends, even drew him into private conversation once or twice.

Despite her assurances to Aurora, Margaret couldn't figure out why William stayed. Margaret had noticed him at the palace, had seen him serving with distinction. He was loyal, dutiful, diligent--but a man didn't become the only guard in the entire palace to risk a hundred-year curse out of duty.

It puzzled her, but she had to admit that she was glad for his presence. Having another person there made the world seem not so small.

The next day was a tense one. No spindles had been seen in the palace since the day the princess had been cursed, but curses had a way of making themselves come true. Margaret and all of Aurora's ladies stayed with her, trying to keep up her spirits and keep watch for any stray spinning wheels. William kept watch at the gates, hoping that he could fend off any evil that might try to approach from outside.

The sun was nearly below the horizon when Margaret and the other ladies followed Aurora into her room in the castle's highest tower. They all sat beside the window, watching the sinking sun, waiting for the moment when the day would end and the danger--so long feared--might pass by forever.

The last sliver of sun sank below the horizon, and all the ladies gave a sigh of relief.

"Could it be over?" Celia asked, with suppressed joy.

"Perhaps the king's plans worked," said Lydia.

Margaret could not shake a sense of foreboding. "The sun is gone, but there's still light in the sky."

Anne rose angrily. The shawl she'd been desperately knitting all day fell to the floor. "We've only a few minutes! What more could happen?"

The ladies began to quarrel--everyone's nerves were tight after the tension of the day.

Aurora rose--quietly, gracefully, but her movements attracted every eye. "Girls, let's not quarrel."

She reached beneath her bed to pick up the ball of yarn that had rolled away from Anne's knitting. "Oh!" she said in surprise, drawing her hand back. "I think I found your knitting needle, Anne."

She drew back the ruffle at the base of the bed. Beneath, they saw, not a knitting needle, but the shining, wicked point of a drop spindle.

Aurora fell onto the bed--lost in a deep sleep.

There were tears, gasps, shrieks--but they fell to work. Margaret could already feel sleep pressing down upon her, but she urged the girls to move quickly. They lifted Aurora fully onto the bed, arranged her limbs to lie flat, put pillows under her head, and covered her with blankets. If their beloved princess was to sleep for a hundred years, they could make sure she was comfortable while she did it.

Celia was the first to drop, falling to the floor in a deep swoon. Margaret placed a pillow beneath her head, and then did the same for Anne when she fell asleep at the foot of Aurora's bed. Lydia fell almost on top of Aurora, and Margaret moved her so she was stretched across blankets on the floor.

All this time, Margaret's eyelids drooped, her limbs became heavy, and her head split with yawns. She fought the curse as long as she could, trying to arrange a hundred years' worth of comforts in a few moments. But at last, even her will could not overcome the magic. Her legs gave out, and she crumpled to the floor, with half her body draped across the foot of Aurora's bed.

Her last thought as she fell into a hundred years of sleep was that she'd have such a backache when she woke.

Margaret woke to a world covered in dust. She scraped it off her face, shook it off her hands, brushed it from her dress and hair. Around her, the other ladies were waking with similar ablutions.

Aurora's chairs, wardrobe, dressing table, even Anne's abandoned half-finished shawl, were all covered in dust. The windows were covered with rose bushes, so Margaret couldn't see what a century had wrought upon the world outside. On the bed, the other girls were clearing the dust off of Aurora--but Aurora remained fast asleep.

"I don't understand," Celia said, as the hours dragged by with no sign of Aurora's waking. "We're all awake."

"The hundred years has passed," Margaret said. "But the princess has to be woken by a kiss of true love."

"Where's that supposed to come from?" Anne asked. "Any suitors the princess had will be dead and gone by now."

"Maybe one came from this century," Lydia suggested. "It's possible some brave prince grew up with the stories and came to save the sleeping princess."

That seemed as good a theory as any, so after they'd tended to their ragged old dresses as best they could, Celia sat at Aurora's bedside, and Margaret went into the halls with Anne and Lydia, in the hope they could point some wandering prince in the right direction.

The rest of the palace was as dusty and decayed as Aurora's room. Tapestries were moth-eaten. A kitchen's worth of food had decayed to nothing. Suits of armor were covered in rust.

When they found no princes inside, they decided to head outdoors. With all three of them pulling together, the kitchen door came open with a shriek of rusty hinges.

The doorway was completely blocked by a wall of roses and thorns.

Margaret's throat tightened. They had nothing to break through those branches. They were alone in a palace with no food. If Aurora didn't wake soon, they'd all starve.

Looking at their stricken faces, Margaret could see the other girls were coming to the same conclusion.

Then they heard rustling in the branches. The thick wall showed gaps of sunshine. There were flashes of silver, the sound of a man's groans. At last, the branches parted before a blade, and William burst into the kitchen.

His mustache had darkened a bit over the decades, but he still looked as young and dignified as ever. Though his face and hands were bleeding with a thousand scratches, he bowed with his usual courtesy and a hint of a smile. "Good morning, ladies. I trust you slept as well as I did?"

"What's it like out there?" Margaret asked.

"Overgrown," William replied. "The entire palace is covered in roses--a precaution of the fairies, though I'm not certain whether it came from the good or the bad ones."

William cast his gaze across the room, and suddenly became solemn. "Where is the princess?"

"Still asleep," Lydia said, near tears. "It's awful! There's no one to wake her!"

The look of selfless devastation on William's face made everything clear.

"William," Margaret said. "You love the princess."

This unflappable young man blushed and looked at the ground. "It is not my place--"

"You stayed a hundred years for her! Of course you love her!"

"I could never be her true love. I am only a guard--"

"It's been a hundred years! Some other king rules the kingdom. There's no one alive who'd object. You have to kiss her awake!"

William turned white and his jaw fell. "I could never take such liberties!"

Margaret put her hands on her hips. "Look, if Aurora was drowning, you'd jump in to save her, right? Even if it meant touching her without asking permission."

"Naturally."

"This is no different. If you don't try, Aurora will die."

William thought, then bowed. "I will do what I must to serve the princess."

Margaret seized William's hand and led him toward Aurora's tower.

Celia jumped to her feet as they entered the room. Her eyes brightened as she saw the guard.

"William! Have you found the prince?"

Margaret and Lydia pushed William toward the bed. "He's right here," Margaret said.

William stood beside Aurora, looking down into her serene, flawless face. "What if she doesn't welcome such an advance?" he whispered. "How could she care for a man she barely knows?"

Anne said, "Why don't you ask her when she wakes up?"

William bent over Aurora--then stood up. "This might not work."

At once, all four of Aurora's ladies said, "Kiss her!"

Ever so gently, with impossible tenderness, William brushed his lips over Aurora's.

Aurora's eyes opened. "William?" she breathed.

William bowed his head. "Forgive me for taking such liberties, your highness--"

Aurora threw her arms around his neck. "I'm so glad it's you."

Caught in her embrace, William stood flabbergasted.

"Your highness," he said. "Under the circumstances, I do not expect you to return my affection--"

Aurora pushed him away and looked in his face. "How could I not? You stayed true to me when every other man in the world abandoned me."

"You do not know me."

"I know that you stayed. I have a whole new century to get to know everything else." Aurora sat up on the edge of the bed. "If we decide that marriage suits us, I have plenty of bridesmaids."

With laughter, all of Aurora's ladies embraced her in turn, sharing stories about their hundred years of sleep.

Margaret went last, holding Aurora tight.

Aurora said, "I can't thank you enough. All of you, so true. You gave up a whole world for me."

As Margaret looked around the room at Anne laughing over her ruined century-old knitting, at Lydia and Celia teasing William--the women she loved like sisters and a brand-new brother--Margaret felt justified in saying, "If I lost a world, I got a better one in return."

#the bookshelf progresses #fairy tale retellings #sleeping beauty #i came up with this one on a whim #it developed beyond what i intended and probably still isn't developed enough #the ending kind of fizzled out but i hope it's not too embarrassing

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