#Yes I should have mentioned Gallagher in this but I forgot and by the time I remembered him

[ironunderstands]

Sunday’s worldview sucks, his outlook and perception of himself and others sucks… and that’s why he’s so interesting

In honor of his drip marketing releasing tonight (or maybe yesterday for you depending on when I get this out), I’d like to talk about why I think Sunday’s beliefs and perspective is very, very flawed and how his own biases rather than the actions of those who oppose him are what led to his downfall.

Sunday is entirely responsible for his own failure, and that’s exactly why he’s incredible.

This contains mentions of leaks and spoilers for the Penacony quest line… you have been warned

To start with, oh my lord do Sunday’s preconceived notions kick him in the ass. 

I think the best example of this is his conversation with Dr. Ratio in which Ratio pretends to betray Aventurine, selling out his plan to Sunday. Now, what’s incredibly interesting about this exchange is that Ratio doesn’t fully lie to Sunday once in this exchange, rather he says half truths and makes vague statements which Sunday himself interprets as being in support of him. 

Take what Ratio said the whole, “A scholar knows their position and wouldn’t forsake it for the sake of petty pride.” In retrospect, we know this line is actually referring to Aventurine- aka Ratio is saying he’s not just going to sell him out to Sunday for the sake of information about the Stellaron (which he would get anyways if the IPC attained Penacony, plus Mr. Incredibly Dedicated Knowledge Spreader probably has other means of gaining it then through The Family). 

However, since Ratio answered the invitation Sunday gave him, Sunday assumes that Ratio is on his side, believes his cause is righteous, and that he won Ratio over with offering him information about the Stellaron, therefore making that previous statement of Ratio’s null, because Sunday interpreted it as, “convince me this is worth my time + prove to me you’re correct,” when it really meant, “there is no way in hell I’m about to sacrifice my friend to you, and there is nothing you could offer me to make me do so you crazed lunatic.”

But why did Sunday not weigh the options? Why did he unquestioningly believe his perception of the situation was the correct one?

Well- partly it’s because Ratio and Aventurine were doing their damndest to make it seem like they hate each other and that their plan was going off the rails.

But the more important part is that even without Ratio saying a word or even accepting the invitation, Sunday already believes he’d be on his side. 

Let me demonstrate this through Sunday's perspective:

I am a righteous person, I am doing the correct things, my worldview is the correct one. Dr. Ratio is also a righteous person who seems to be doing the correct things. Therefore, since we are both on the side of good, and Aventurine is clearly not on that side considering his status as Stoneheart and his negative relationship to Ratio, then Ratio will naturally want to be on my side. After all, the good guys work together, do they not?- and together will vanquish this evil villain.

This perspective is a simple one, but Sunday’s unshaking belief (up until the end of 2.2) that he is 100% in correct and in the right, that any and everyone who he also perceives to be in the right (like Ratio) would believe/side with him without truly needing to be convinced. Sunday doesn’t come out the gate offering the Stellaron information- he only keeps it as a backup just in case. 

However, this is complicated because Sunday is also not an idiot, and he’s extremely paranoid, so he’s going to make sure that the way he views the world is 100% correct on the off chance he’s wrong which could foil his plans- which is why he invited Ratio in the first place. Nevertheless, this isn’t him hunting for new perspectives, but rather him desiring to prove himself right again, which is a bad thing because Sunday is very much not right. 

A perfect world is a perfect pris- *gets shot*

Reference that approximately 2 ½ people will get beside, Sunday’s ideology that he is fully confident in.. sucks. It sucks ass, it’s terrible, and let me explain.

I’m not going to try going over all the little intricacies to how the dreamscape works because I a) don’t know and b) don’t particularly care because they aren’t relevant to the argument I will be making- which is that Sunday’s ideology is inherently flawed and immediately falls apart under scrutiny.

Essentially, he desires to create the perfect fake reality, enveloping the whole galaxy in Ena’s dream and fulfilling their every desire and whim within it, with himself as the sacrifice to allow it to exist. The seven rest days, no illness, no pain, no challenge, you get the idea. 

And, this perfect world paradoxically sucks ass because of its perfectness.

Improving society is great, eliminating hardship is great, increasing quality of life is great.

But declawing reality itself- absolutely not.

I’m going to try to explain this through my favorite strangely specific anecdote- the process of obtaining diamonds in Minecraft.

Stay with me now.

You essentially have two options- go out and mine them yourselves the hard way, which takes hours, gives you less diamonds per the amount of time spent on it, and likely with you exhausting some of your resources like food, torches, and tools which you will need to replenish.

Or.

You can just.. get them from creative mode or commands, and you can get as many as your heart desires.

However, despite the fact that option one is harder, gives you less diamonds and takes significantly more time, I, as well as hopefully you, would pick it every time (at least in a survival world, although honestly idk why you would even need pure diamonds in creative).

And that’s because the first option is rewarding. 

You did not earn the diamonds you easily and magically summoned into your inventory, there is no struggle, no journey, no challenge to it, therefore it feels entirely unremarkable, as compared to the feeling you (hopefully) get from mining diamonds, which makes you happy because you earned it. Yeah, it was harder, but the process itself is fun- the anticipation of not knowing when you’re going to find them, if at all, the danger, the fighting and digging and mauvering you will have to do in the process.

And with this unconventional example, the fatal flaw with Sunday’s ideology is revealed- it’s boring. 

It’s boring as shit.

Yeah, for the first few months or even years it might be enjoyable- having everything you could ever want served on a silver platter. However, humans are a) inherently a bit greedy and b) desire challenge, and this scenario fulfilles neither of those things. Naturally having everything means your desire for more can never be fulfilled, leaving the wanter forever unsatisfied, whereas in the real world, things are truly out of your reach, meaning that even if you never end up getting them, they are still a tangible thing just out of reach… as strange at it sounds, we like being tantalilus-ed more than you think. After all, if what you want is so easy to get, you will never run out of things to want, and eventually that gets draining. 

Continually, if everything is easy, if everything is just right there whenever you want it- existence itself no longer has stakes. 

And that’s the problem, because much like how a story with no stakes is extremely hard to find compelling, a life with no stakes feels boring at best and downright pointless and meaningless at worst.

I’m just saying, there is a reason why the Nihility was such a strong presence and problem in Penacony.

Anyways, like with the diamond problem, a lack of stakes means that nothing you do feels rewarding, because you didn’t truly earn it. 

Which is where the Sunday’s idea of a “perfect” reality falls apart, because the most enjoyable reality for humans to live in is not one literally devoid of any possible flaw.

So why does he believe in it? When it’s so clearly flawed?

Well, it’s because Sunday doesn’t think a better alternative exists.

The world made you this way.. and you chose to continue what it started.

I’m sure I don’t need to repeat the story of the Charmony Dove all over again because trust me, we’ve all heard it before. Nonetheless, it reveals something important both about Sunday’s personality and his ideology- he’s fundamentally a defeatist.

He doesn’t believe that there is any alternative for the dove, that it could ever be able to fly again with its deformed nature, so instead of being “cruel” and letting it “inevitably fall to its death,” he’d rather keep it in a cage all its life where it has no freedom, but at least it would he alive and “happy”.

And this is where his defeatism reveals itself- Sunday doesn’t believe reality itself can get better because improving it when there are so many factors and things out of your control is hard at best and impossible at worst. Therefore, he resorts to creating an escapist, false version of it- a perfect golden cage, because constructing that is far, far easier than trying to help the dove fly again. 

The universe has endless possibilities, if Robin and Sunday had tried hard enough, they probably could have found a solution. Sure, they were both children, so the capabilities necessary to even attempt that were likely far out of their reach. However, it was still possible, but Sunday doesn’t believe in possibilities- he believes he’s right above all else, which is where that stubbornness and arrogance comes into play again.

Sunday doesn’t think better solutions than his exists, and he believes everyone would could possibly stand in his noble way are either villains, or horribly misguided; so it’s his job to show them the light.

This is why he lets the Express Crew + Firefly try to change his mind- Sunday wasn’t actually interesting in shifting his perspective, or really what they wanted to say. Rather, he just wanted to let them say there peace, because well, Sunday’s a good, righteous person (at least from his perspective), and good, righteous people listen to others. Good, righteous people will let these poor, ignorant souls offer their foolish words before exposing them to the harsh truth- or at least that’s how Sunday sees it. 

Moreover, this also explains his arrogance. If he believes his worldview is the sole correct one, then why listen to anyone else? He’s this world's savior, or at least he’s been raised to believe that- so why not relish in it? He enjoys punishing Aventurine, enjoys the bastard who stood in the way of Sunday’s plans, shrinks away in “defeat” and get what he “deserves.” Despite how miserable it sounds, Sunday also takes pride in having to be a martyr to bring about his beautiful dream. The belief that he is a selfless, good person is a selfish desire of his, even if a genuine one, and it’s what leads to his downfall.

Sunday could have actually listened. He could have reevaluated his loss to Aventurine and realized it was not through the others clever deception, but through his own biases. He could have actually taken the Express’s and Firefly’s advice. He could have looked for other avenues to help the people he truly does care about. 

Despite Gopher Wood’s manipulation- Sunday’s decision to go forward with the pain is entirely his own, because he truly believes- even with all the evidence for the contrary- that he is correct.

And that’s why he fails. Not because of the Express. Not because of Ratio. Not because of Aventurine. Not because of Gopher, or even the rest of The Family.

No, Sunday fails because he is flawed, and he is wrong, and he is the arrogant, selfish and biased one, and his worldview is wrong.

So what now?

This might have seemed like I think Sunday is pure evil and irredeemable, but I think it’s quite the opposite.

He has very good intentions, and he does genuinely care about it the well being of other people around him. He gives Aventurine a chance to prove his innocence, even if he never intended on changing, he does listen to what the Express + Firefly have to say. He pauses when Robin shows up, as she’s the one person (until the very end) he’s actually willing to accept the perspective of. The whole reason he ended up here in the first place is because Gopher Wood twisted Sunday’s good intentions into a fatal arrogance and utmost belief in a flawed worldview. 

However, what really sells me on Sunday’s goodness is when eyes widen at that final moment, the light draining from him as he realizes he is wrong. 

And once Sunday realizes he is wrong, those flaws that bind him can finally be examined and improved upon, as they all stem from that worldview he no longer believes in. 

His whole life, Sunday has been enacting out someone else’s plan for him, even if he’s come to internalize it over time, at the end of the day- it was never his, and without it, he’s empty.

Which is exactly why the only place he can go now is the Express, and the only thing left for him is redemption and growth.

Dan Heng is right- Sunday has a noble soul, and now that he has stopped believing in himself, he’s no longer shackled by the past either. Improvement or utter demise (in a likely nihility-flavored manner) are his only options remaining.

I understand a lot of people want to see him become a Stellaron Hunter, but imo, that just does nothing for him. He’d still be following someone else’s path/script, and Mr. I Will Sacrifice My Whole Existence To Become The Sun To Illuminate These Wandering Souls probably wouldn’t be so on board with the whole.. terrorism part of being a SH. Like yeah, they are our friends (kinda), but they absolutely kill innocent people and cause millions of dollars in property damage to people who don’t deserve it. 

Also, being on the Express Just Makes Sense. This is a game about choices, a game about accepting the mistakes of your past, but not letting them define you in order to move on and forge a better future for yourself and others- with the Astral Express + Trailblaze as a concept being the literal embodiment of it. There’s a reason when you switch to the Trailblazer’s POV in stories, it includes Kafka’s most important words to us- “When you have the chance to make a choice, make one you won’t regret.”

Therefore, I hope the choices Sunday will make in 2.7 are ones he’s proud of, and I can’t wait to see how exactly they get him on board with the crew, because there still is a LOT of development he needs to do before then. 

Anyways, thank you so much for reading, and if you have any thoughts I’d love to hear them. This was a stream of consciousness mess, but I hope it was still valuable nonetheless! Also if you are reading this on the day it was written, I hope we don’t get disappointed by his drip marketing!

[thegreatirene]

My Best Friends Brother(Carl Gallagher x Latina!reader)



Rated: Mature(language and implied sex)

Summary: after leaving the south side you come back to visit your best friend’s lip and Ian. A lot of things changed around the Gallagher household especially the people living in it.

I watched some clips on tiktok of Carl and forgot how cute he looked in his policeman outfit. So this takes place in like the last season so Fiona is gone but she’s mentioned in it. The read is Latina cuz I am and I want more Latina reader fics out there.

“How long has it been since you left?”

“Shit, like eight? Yea I think it’s eight cause we were still in high school when my family moved.”

You inhaled on the watermelon flavored vape you had as you walked next to lip. You found him walking with a stroller. Surprised the hell out of you when you learned he had a kid and was married as well. You were happy for him and continued your walk with him on his way back to the Gallagher house. He told you about the things you’ve missed. Fiona being the biggest one. You didn’t think she would actually leave everyone behind without a word but you were really happy for her. You didn’t say it, cause you didn’t want to hurt lip’s feelings but she deserved to get out of here.

“No way Mickey and Ian are together! Would have thought they would have fucked a couple times and moved on” you laughed as you handed your vape to lip.

“We thought the same thing. Ian kind of thought that too but they’ve been strong throughout their relationship.”

“That’s cool and them other ones? Debbie and Franny still good?”

“Yea Deb’s had some shit going on with her but she’s fine now. Liam is our smart guy. Little man getting straight A’s”

“I’m not surprised. You and Ian were pretty good in school. I guess it skips a generation” you laugh as lip handed your vape back.

“Yea Carl’s a cop believe it or not”

“No fucking way?!?! Carl, Carl? The little boy who beat and tortured people just for the fun of it? The one we all thought was gonna be on the most wanted??? That Carl?” Lip nodded his head as the both of you stopped in front of the gate that was in front of the Gallagher’s house.

“I swear it,” lip held his hand up, “he should be dropping by soon if you want to see him?” You laughed as you said yes and went into the house with him.

—

“Man it still looks the same” you took your jacket off as you hung it on one of the empty hooks by the door. Walking further in you could hear voices in the kitchen and made your way in. Lip put his son in the playpen and walked towards the kitchen. Standing at the counter with his back to the doorway was Ian. Mickey looked around him and nodded towards you.

“Holy shit, here I thought you got deported” Mickey said as he took a sip of his coffee. Ian turned to see who he was talking to and broke out into a smile.

“And I don’t know how many times I have to tell your racist ass that I was born here-“ Ian grabbed you into a hug in the middle of your rant to Mickey.

“It’s so good to see you y/n” he kissed the top of your head as you squeezed him to you. You pulled back from the hug but still in his arms as you got a good look at his face.

“Still the pretty red head” you patted his cheek as you hugged him again. The both of you laughed as you felt Ian being pulled back a bit.

“Ok enough of that” Mickey said as he pushed Ian back from the shoulder and looked at you.

“Don’t get jealous Mickey. Ian is all yours he doesn’t like pussy remember?” You laughed as he mocked the laugh and pulled you into a hug. He patted your back a couple of times and then pushed you off of him and walked back to his seat.

“So it’s just you two here?”

“Yea Liam is at one of his friend’s house and Deb’s at the park with Franny.” You nodded your head.

“Lip said Carl’s a cop?”

“Yea he’s changed a lot” Ian offered you a cup but you declined it. Lip made a ‘I told you so’ face as he walked in front of you to get his own cup.

“He grew into that big ass head of his?” You questioned as you laughed at the memory of the little boy.

“Who has a big head?” Came Carl’s voice as he stood next to you. You looked up at him, “holy shit, y/n?” Carl looked you over. You got a good look at him. He’s a couple inches taller than you and definitely grew up. Carl is handsome and you definitely weren’t prepared for that. You blinked a couple of times and smiled at him.

“Hey bid head. It’s good to see you” he rolled his eyes and pulled you into a hug. You placed your face next to his. He smelled nice and god could you feel how strong his body felt under his clothes. You pulled back from the hug or at least tried but Carl was holding on to you. You could feel Carl’s hand rub your back and start to move a little lower.

“Ok that’s enough” lip said as he went and broke the two of you apart. You turned away from Carl to calm yourself while Lip smirked at his little brother and patted his shoulder. Ian held up his left arm for you to walk into him. He held you by the shoulder as lip and Carl whispered to each other.

“Man, you Gallagher’s really don’t be lacking in the looks department, huh?” You said to Ian and he looked down at you as you eyed Carl. His younger brother doing the same from over Lip’s shoulder. You huffed a breath through your nose and turned to look at Mickey and Ian.

“What?”

“Nothing just-“

“Watching you be a prev for his brother.” Mickey finished. You scoffed at his remark and folded your arms over your chest.

“Fuck you, I’m just saying that the family has good genes. Where did I say that Carl is hot?” You whispered yelled at Mickey as you got close to him.

“You didn’t have to say anything. We can see you eye fucking him” Mickey whispered back as he laughed at you. Ian pulled you back as you were about to say something but stopped it.

“Stop it”

“Ian he started it”

“And I’m stopping it” you sucked your teeth and settled back into his side. Lip and Carl finished their conversation with lip patting his back with a big smile and walked over to the three of you.

“You staying the night, y/n?” Lip asked as he went to sit at the table with his cup.

“I could, I’m on vacation so I don’t have any where to be. If you guys don’t mind me being here”

“Mick and me don’t live here so you can take the room we slept.”

“Is it clean?”

“It’s clean don’t worry” Ian laughed as he rubbed your arm and let you go. He walked over to the table with lip and sat down.

“Sleepover at the Gallagher’s. Brings back memories the only difference is I don’t have to awkwardly pretend I don’t hear Ian jerking off in his bed.” You and Mickey laughed as the both of you looked at Ian.

Carl came up to your side a little closer than you thought he would. You turned to look at him and smiled.

“You gonna be sleeping with me tonight, Carl?” You said to him as you leaned on the counter with your head on your hand.

“I can think of some other things we can do besides sleep” he said as he looked at you with darkened eyes. You looked at his blue eyes and then to his full lips. You wetted your bottom lip and looked back his eyes and smiled.

“I’m gonna go make a phone call. If I’m gonna be sleeping here I need some of my things” you said as you broke your eye contact with him and talked to the other three people in the room. You smiled at them as you took your phone out and started to make your phone call.

Carl watched you walk out of the room and then out the house as he bit his lip and stood there for a minute. Mickey raised his brows at the younger man and then looked at the other two brothers. Lip shook his head as he got up and walked into the living room to be with his son.

“Carl the more you look the harder it is to make your eyes go back into your head.” Ian said as he got up from the table and put his mug in the sink. Carl rolled his eyes as he looked at the front door one more time before he began to talk.

“Y/n is…” he couldn’t finish his sentence as he went back to look at the front again. Ian shook his head as he walked into the living room. Mickey looked at Carl and finally had enough.

“Listen if you’re trying to fuck y/n make your move tonight. Me and your brother are gonna be out for a couple hours at like 8 and lip said he has to go back to his house to finish doing whatever” Mickey finished his coffee and got up. He stood in front of Carl and leaned back to look into the living room.

“Debbie isn’t gonna say anything cause she don’t care and Liam is having his own sleepover. So y/n is gonna be in that room by herself. Make your move” he said as he put his mug in the sink.

“Thanks Mickey” Carl said as he looked at the older man with a look of admiration. Mickey patted his shoulder and walked into the living room.

—

True to what Mickey said, him and Ian left the house at 8. Lip stuck around for another hour to finish catching up with you and left when he saw you get sleepy. Debbie hadn’t shown up yet but he wasn’t worried about that at the moment.

Right now he was debating if he should do it while you were in the shower or wait until you got dressed in the room. He chose the latter and waited at the top of the steps. Once he heard the water turn off and the door open he stood up. He watched as you walked to the room at the end.

The door was left a cracked as he quickly tiptoed to the room. He listened to see if you were gonna do anything but the door swung open and you grabbed him but the front of his shirt. Closing the door with a bang and locking it, you looked at him from the door. Your towel still wrapped around your body as you looked at him with sultry eyes.

Carl gulped as he stumbled back and fell on the bed. You walked towards him in a predatory manner. Your head held high and shoulders back as you swayed your hips. You stood right in front of him and slowly unwrapped the towel. You pushed him back until he was on his forearms and settled yourself on his lap. Still holding the towel loosely to you.

“Fuck” he breathlessly said as he watched your hand drop the towel. It landed on your spread legs and he followed it. His eyes slowly followed the curves of your torso. They landed on your breast and he reached out a hand to touch them. He rubbed his thumb over your right nipple. You moaned as you bit your lip.

“You’re so beautiful y/n” he groaned as he leaned forward and sucked your left nipple into his mouth.

“Fuck Carl” you moaned as you grabbed a fist of hair and pulled him away from you. He licked his lips and looked up at you. You leaned down and captured his lips with yours. The both of you moaned into the kiss as you grind down on the growing hard on in his shorts.

“I need you papi” you moaned as he bit your neck and flipped you on to your back on the bed. Carl looked down at you as you wrapped your legs around his waist. He pulled over the undershirt and threw it behind him. He breathed hard as he watched your breast move with the breath you took. His eyes met yours again and went back for another round of kisses from you.

—

The next morning Debbie was making breakfast for her and Franny. Lip walked into the house with Freddie in his stroller. He announced himself to his sister as he placed his son in the playpen and walked into the kitchen.

“Hey Deb’s y/n still asleep?” He asked as he walked towards the bathroom but first gave Franny a kiss on the head. Debbie made a face as she looked at lip.

“Y/n? I haven’t seen her since you guys were in school. Is she back?” She placed a plate of pancakes in front of Franny as she went to make coffee.

“Yea, I bumped into her on my walk with Freddie and we offered her to sleepover. She should be sleeping in our old room.” He said as he finished washing his hands.

“Oh then I’ll wait until she comes down. It’s been a while since she’s been here” Debbie said as she had a happy look on her face. The two continued their conversation until they heard a scream from upstairs. Lip looked to Debbie and then to the staircase.

Lip was the first one to get out of his chair as he ran up the stairs. He was intercepted by Ian who was the first one at the door. Pulling it open they both rushed in.

In the middle of the room was frank on his back on the floor with Carl on top of him holding him down. You were on the bed with the covers held to your chest as you watched Carl.

“What the hell happened?” Lip shouted as he pulled carl off of frank. Carl stood back up in just his boxers as he looked at frank and began to tell his brothers and now, Debbie and Mickey, what happened.

“Y/n woke up and frank was standing over her, watching her!” He said as he went back to get frank but lip held him back.

“Hey, hey, hey it’s not my fault this Latin beauty is in my bed naked! Who can resist when someone like that is there! By the way son got yourself a good one” frank winked at Carl but Carl wasn’t appreciative of the compliment. Frank held his hands up as he got up from the floor and dusted himself off. Carl made his way to the bed and wrapped more of the blankets around you.

“Holy shit y/n and Carl fucked!?!?” Debbie said as she made her way into the room and looked at the two of you on the bed. You huffed and rubbed your face as you looked at all of them.

“It’s too early for this.”



[leossmoonn]

Play Ground Days

masterlist

pairing - carl gallagher x fem!reader

type - fluff

note / request - “ughh FINALLY someone that writes good imagines abt carl from shameless! could you write one where you two grew up together and you've always been close n stuff and then at some point he realizes he loves the reader and he talks to ian and lip (maybe mickey too bc i love him) about it? (fem!reader btw if that's cool) thanks babe xx” thanks for inspo on the beginning @poesflygirl​ <3 ,,, carl and you are 16 also pls dont come for me ive only played COD 2 times last year so lmao i dont remember a lot about it, enjoy!

summary - carl has liked you since you two were young, and seeks advice from his brothers and mickey

warnings - strong language, drugs and alcohol, little talk about bad body imagine 

————

*gif isnt mine*

“I fucking knew it!” Lip exclaimed.

“Why are you telling us? We’ve known this.” Ian commented, smirking at his little brother.  

“How the hell—” Carl started. 

“You’re not exactly great at hiding your crush on her,” Mickey chuckled. 

Carl’s eyes were the size of saucers. “You knew?”

“Of course I did. I’m not fucking Helen Keller,” Mickey rolled his eyes. 

Carl groaned and ran his hands roughly through his hair. “I can’t believe this. Well, secret’s out, I guess. What do I do?”

“Just go tell her you like her. It’s not like she’s going to turn you down.” Lip shrugged, putting his cigarette to his lips. 

“Lip!” Ian hit his brother’s shoulder. 

“What?” Lip asked. 

“You weren’t supposed to say that, dumbass,” Mickey said.

 “What does that mean?” Carl asked, looking in-between his brother’s and Mickey. 

Lip sighed. “Ah, shit, right. I’ve already said too much.”

————

4 hours earlier: 2:00 PM

“Hey, shit head!” She called out, throwing rocks against the window. 

Carl got up from his bed, shocked but happy to see her. He opened his window, leaning against the frame. 

“What’re you doing here?” He asked.

She threw the rocks to the ground. “Escaping from my druggie dad, duh. What’re you doing?”

“Nothing,” Carl shrugged. 

She did her signature smirk that always made Carl’s heart flutter. “Wanna go and stuff our faces at Patsy’s Pies?”

Carl’s eyes lit up at the mention of fatty, greasy food. “Hell yeah. I’ll come down.”

She nodded, going to the front of their house. Carl ran down the stairs, putting on his shoes and opening the door to find her on the steps. 

“Hey, why didn’t you just come into the house?” Carl asked, shutting the door behind him. 

“Putting damage on your window seemed more fun. Oh, hey! Do you have an extra bed I can sleep in tonight?” She asked. 

Carl nodded. “Yeah, of course. Your dad is that bad, huh?”

“Yep, he relapsed. Super fun,” she laughed sarcastically. 

“I’m sorry. That shit sucks,” Carl said.

She shrugged. “Yeah, well, it’s life. Anyways, ready to go?”

Carl nodded. They got into her car, the girl starting it and driving fast to the dinner. As she was driving, humming to the songs on the radio, Carl stared at her. She was absolutely gorgeous. 

Her name was Y/n L/n. Carl’s oldest and only real friend. They had grown up together, Y/n living only a few houses away from him. They had met in detention in 1st grade and had been close ever since. 

“What’re you staring at?” Y/n asked, glancing over to him. 

Carl blushed. “Nothing.”

“Alright,” Y/n sang.

Carl had often been caught staring at her. It was something he usually did from time to time, but now it was more often. He couldn’t help it. There was something about her. Maybe flawless her skin was, how pretty and bright her smile and eyes were, the way she would make him feel secure and loved, something he had never got from anyone consitently. 

He never really knew why he thought those things about her. People had told him that he probably had a crush on her, but he knew that wasn’t right. He had crushes on girls before and the things he was feeling for Y/n were a lot different than what he had felt for his past girlfriends. He figured it was just that she was his closest friend and he happened to be a horny teenager, so naturally, he just thought those things about her. But oh, how wrong he actually was. 

Y/n parked her car at Patsy’s Pies. They walked into the diner, seeing Fiona at the register. 

“Hey, Fi,” Y/n smiled. 

“Hey, Y/n, Carl! Long time, no see. How are ya?” Fiona asked. 

“Good, good,” Y/n smiled. 

“Good,” Carl said. 

“Great! Well, get yourself seated and someone will be right with you,” she smiled. 

Y/n and walked off to a small booth and sat down. They picked up the menus that were already on the table. 

“You gonna get your usual?” Y/n asked. 

Carl shrugged. “Maybe. Should I change it up?”

“Yes. The double bacon cheeseburger looks good,” Y/n said. 

“Are you getting that?” Carl asked. 

“Maybe. I’ll probably get a salad or something. Gotta watch those calories, you know?” She half-joked, putting a hand on her stomach. 

“I think you look good. You don’t need to worry,” Carl smiled. 

Y/n’s eyes widened. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Carl nodded. 

Y/n looked back at the menu, hiding her embarrassment.

Carl complimenting her was something that was rare, but did happen. Y/n never remembered Carl as a romantic type of guy, but it seems that he had developed  those traits from having a few girlfriends. She liked that, actually. She liked him complimenting her, staring at her for minutes at a time, the way his ears would turn red when she teased him. She liked all of that. 

Y/n would never admit it to anyone, but she had a crush on Carl. She had a crush on him since their freshman year of high school. Well, in reality, she probably has always had one, but the first time she really realised she liked him was in biology when he got in trouble in one of the labs. She remembered when the teacher was yelling at him and he looked at her, smiling at her mischievously and winking at her. That wink had her heart racing and mind go foggy. From then on, she had liked him as more than a friend. Yet, she never said anything because well, as cliche as it was, she was afraid of ruining their friendship. He was really the only one who got her and who never abandoned her. She couldn’t lose him, so she just kept her feelings and gestures to him as friendly as she could.  

“Hi, I’m Carly and I’ll be serving you today. What can I get you today?” The waitress asked. 

“Hi, can I get the philly cheesesteak with a medium coke and fries,” Carl ordered. 

Carly nodded and wrote his order down, turning to Y/n. 

“Um, I’ll get the bacon cheeseburger with a small sprite and fries. Thanks,” Y/n ordered. 

Carly took their menus. “Great. I’ll have your drinks out soon.”

Y/n and Carl smiled at the waitress as she walked away. 

“Hey, so I thought your dad was in rehab,” Carl said. 

Y/n sighed. “He was, but I guess his girlfriend got him drunk, then convinced him to do some lines. God, I can’t believe he's even with her still.”

Carl frowned. “What about your mom? Where’s she?”

“She’s going to nursing school right now. She’s the only one responsible in this family, yet she never calls or anything,” she scoffed.

“You’re really responsible,” Carl said. 

Y/n smiled. “Thanks, C. You are, too.”

Carl laughed, “Me? I sold drugs on the streets once.”

She giggled. “True. But you’ve really shaped. I'm proud.”

Carl smiled sheepishly. “Thanks.”

Y/n hummed a ‘you’re welcome’. Carly came back with their food quickly and they dug in. Carl and Y/n spent their time talking and eating, spending about 2 hours there as they just kept talking. 

“Are you two finished?” Carly asked, gesturing to their empty plates. 

“Yeah,” Carl nodded. 

“Great. Here’s your bill, pay whenever you’re ready,” Carly smiled and took their dirty dishes. 

“Ready to go?” Y/n asked. 

Carl nodded and got out his wallet that he had in his shorts. Meanwhile, Y/n also got out her wallet. They both looked up at each other, awkward expressions on their faces. 

“Oh, I was gonna pay,” Carl said. “No, no, my treat. I invited you here,” Y/n said. 

“You sure?” Carl asked. 

She smiled and put a hand on his arm. “Yes, I am, Carl.”

Butterflies irrupted in Carl’s stomach as she touched him. He nodded slowly, putting his credit card away. Y/n and him walked up to the register and paid for their meal. They then went back to Y/n car. 

“What do you wanna do now?” Y/n asked. 

“Wanna play COD Black Ops 3?” Carl asked. 

“Yes!” Y/n smiled. She drove them back to his house, parking haphazardly on the street. 

The two hurried into the house, grabbing a seat on the couch. Carl got the controllers, turning onto the playstation. Y/n logged onto her account, selecting the gun she wanted to use. Carl then started the game. 

“Where are you?” Y/n squinted her eyes at the screen. 

“Right behind you,” Carl smirked. 

Y/n turned around, gasping as Carl shot her. 

“Fuck you!” Y/n exclaimed. 

“Little rusty, huh?” Carl teased. She rolled her eyes. “I’m gonna kill you next round.”

“I’d like to see you try,” Carl said. 

“Winner gets to pick what’s for dinner,” Y/n said. 

“Deal,” Carl nodded. 

The pair played for a couple hours, the game ending with Y/n getting the last kill. 

“Good game,” she smirked, setting the controller down. 

“I forgot how good you were at this,” Carl frowned. Y/n giggled, “I forgot how bad you were.”

Carl rolled his eyes with a smile. “Alright, where do you want to eat?”

“Hm… Noodles n Company?” She suggested. 

“Sure,” Carl nodded. 

“Alright, I’m gonna use the bathroom and then order. Text me what you want,” Y/n said, getting up from the couch. 

Carl nodded and watched her go upstairs to use the bathroom. Then that’s when Lip, Ian, and Mickey all came into the house. 

“Hey, guys,” Carl said. 

“Hey,” Ian smiled. 

“Is Y/n here? We saw her car out front,” Lip said. “Yeah, she is,” Carl nodded. 

“Asked her out yet?” Lip smirked. Carl’s face turned red. “Wh-What?”

“Oh, you’re not in love with her then?” Ian furrowed his brows. 

“I… am I?” Carl asked. 

Ian chuckled. “Yeah. You always are always happy around her, blush whenever she teases you.”

“And you’re always staring at her,” Lip added.

“That doesn’t mean I like her,” Carl said.

“Do feel dizzy and nauseous when she touches you? Does your heart race when she gets close? Do you see yourself kissing her? Would you do anything for her?” Ian asked. 

Carl furrowed his brows. They were right, all those things did happen when she was near. She was his best friend. He also sometimes think about kissing her and being with her in a romantic way. And yeah, of course he would do anything for her. Maybe… Maybe he did love her. 

“Oh, shit,” he muttered. “I… I guess I am in love with her.”

And that, ladies and gents, is where we left off. Lip, Ian, and Mickey teased Carl until Carl begged them for real help. 

“What do you mean?” Carl asked anxiously. 

Lip looked to Ian and Mickey for help on what to say. Little did Carl know, Y/n actually did admit her crush to someone. And that someone, or someones, were Lip, Ian, and Mickey. 

“Don’t worry about it, man,” Mickey said. 

“Did she say something to you?” Carl asked. “No,” Ian shook his head. “Like Mick said, don’t worry.”

“I… fine. Well, what do I do then?” Carl asked in slight distress.

“Give her some flowers and chocolate. Girls love that shit,” Lip suggested. 

“Alright,” Carl nodded. “I don’t know what her favourite flowers are, though.”

“Just get her roses. That’s really romantic,” Lip said. 

Carl smiled, “Alright. Awesome. Thanks, guys.”

He decided to get the flowers early morning tomorrow before Y/n woke up. 

————

Carl sneaked back into the house, hoping not to wake Y/n up. As he walked into the kitchen, he was shocked to see her at the table drinking coffee. 

“Hey, Carl!” Y/n smiled. 

Carl’s eyes were blown wide. “I.. uh…”

“Who are those for?” Y/n got up and pointed to the flowers and chocolate in his hand. 

“Um… you?” Carl said. Y/n smiled. “Me? What did I do to deserve this?”

Carl knew that he couldn’t make up an excuse. He was horrible at lying to her. So, he decided to just have his confession here. 

“I.. I’m in love with you,” Carl said. Y/n’s jaw dropped and she froze. “Wha-What?”

“My brothers and Mickey helped me realise I was yesterday when you were ordering dinner. They told me I should get you flowers and stuff so I did. I hope you like roses,” Carl explained and held up the gifts. 

Y/n’s lips upturned in a wide smile. “How long have you liked me?”

“Honestly, probably since we were little,” Carl shrugged sheepishly. 

Y/n giggled. “Me, too.”

“Really?” Carl smiled. 

Y/n waked up to him and took the gifts, setting them on the kitchen counter. She went up to him and put her arms around his neck. 

“Yep. I always have,” she grinned. 

“Oh, sick!” Carl exclaimed. “Oh wait.”

“What?” Y/n asked in confusion. 

“That’s what they meant!” Carl exclaimed in realisation.

“Who? What?” “Oh, Lip, Mickey, and Ian kind of told me yesterday when I asked for help,” Carl explained. 

Y/n’s eyes widened and she turned to the stairs, glaring. “Mickey, Lip, Ian! You better fucking run!”  

————

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[maccreadysimp]

breaking down this anti-ian article bc it bothers me ( from the child of a bipolar mother and a male teen with same sex attraction ) while also providing valid reasons ian sucks ( from someone who likes ian )

ive had this drafted for a while so i dont think i cover anything from season 11

tw for i^cest and r^pe

he was with a married man

in this point it points out that he was with kash and he continued his relationship with kash even after linda put cameras in the store

“Ian didn't seem to care about how wrong his affair with Kash was or how much it could hurt Kash's wife Linda, whom he saw at the store regularly. “

that is a quote from that part.

ian gallagher was fifteen in season one, kash was an older man who bought him gifts and payed attention to ian ,, that was not on ian , none of that was ian fault because he was a child

ian wasnt open with lip

“ Ian didn't tell Lip about his preferences and forced Lip to figure it out on his own. Lip was instantly accepting of his brother's truth and even offered to help him figure out any confusion he might be harboring, so it's really strange that Ian wasn't just upfront with his closest confidant from the start.”

no , lip wasnt forced to figure it out on his own and he also wasn’t instantly accepting.

in this point it mentions that ‘they’re extremely close ( bestfriends and brothers ) so its strange ian didnt tell him’

like point 1 , ian is a fifteen year old boy, growing up on the southside , and thoughout the show it has mentioned multiple times that the southside isnt that accepting

back to lip -- lip wasnt accepting, sure he was fine but ‘helping your younger brother figure it out’ by having a (female) classmate give him a blowjob isnt helping

he secretly dated his best friends brother

“Most friends have an unspoken rule about not dating each other's siblings, but Ian broke this rule by secretly entering into a relationship with Mandy's closeted brother Mickey.”

the only thing i have to say about this is , he was still with kash and mickey was a boy in his age group who was gay , growing up in the southside ian probably thought he was the token gay so of course hes going to chase after mickey

he stood by as kash attacked mickey

“Ian didn't do anything to stop Kash from shooting his new lover, and didn't even tell the police about his boss' over-the-top display of jealous action so proper justice could be served.”

okay. because two men he had fallen for had gotten into a fight, there was a gun involved and he panicked, in the end after mickey got shot he went to him

now to address the quote, he didnt say anything to the police because he probably knew that that would bring shame onto kash and his family, along with mickey and his family who are very homophobic

oh yeah and it was like 2011 and cops suck and THEY LIVE ON THE SOUTHSIDE

he and lip tried framing terry milkovich

oh the homophobic and racist dad of his boyfriend and bestfriend who tried to kill him and r*ped his daughter ?

yeah , shit man , that was real bad they shouldn’t have done that /s

he dated jimmy-steves married father

“Ian didn't bother telling Jimmy the truth about his father and didn't end his relationship with Lloyd upon finding out that he had a secret wife and family, either.”

at this point ian is probably sixteen but that doesnt matter bc i wont even address that

he met him at a club and then used his relationship with ned to make mickey jealous which was one of the reasons he kept seeing him, he didnt tell jimmy-steve about the relationship or his father bc he shouldnt find out from him he should find out from his father , again like kash, ned was an older man who payed attention to ian and ned later did develop feelings feelings for ian

he stole lips identity to enlist in the army

he enlisted because he didnt know what to do with himself, its implied/stated that the army timeline was the start of his bipolar

“While impersonating Lip, Ian had tried to steal a helicopter and then proceeded to go AWOL.”

this is because of the bipolar he suffers from, it is referenced later in the series after he gets back and hes manic

ian refused to accept being bipolar

of course he didnt accept it, it is made very clear that his family thinks lowly of monica so of course if hes the lucky duck to get what his siblings demonize her for, of course he’ll not want to be it

“He refused to take medications that could alter his personality or mood.”

okay. this is why im making this whole post, this goes along with part 15 ( or so idk ) ,,

my mother , my dear mother, who is bipolar and doesnt take her meds because they are mood altering , my mom doesnt take med because she told me once that they make her feel like shit, she told me that a little after i was born she started taking them but realized she felt nothing, she felt nothing for my dad or for i ( making her numb )

she told me anti deppresents dont help either because when shes on them and manic it pushes her past productive and into angry

my dad told me that when my mom was on bi polar medication she would seem angry most of the time

he wasnt faitful to mickey

“Ian's bipolar disorder made him very reckless and impulsive and led him to be unfaithful.”

lets break that down.

ians. bipolar. disorder.

this plot point i actually didnt like, mainly bc ian never addresses it so ill give the article a point. but then i take away 2 because they have more of a problem with his bipolar messing with him rather than the fact he never apologized and they never worked it out

ian stole yevgeny

before i start quoting i should mention because his boyfriend, who has supported and helped him is suddenly telling him he needs help, he was helping raise yev so he’ll see yev as his own

“Ian failed to recognize just how crazy he was acting...”

cuting you off right there , he was in a bipolar state, he wasnt ‘crazy’ and isnt ‘crazy’

he cant even keep count of his number of partners

just slutshaming i see

he helped throw frank off a bridge

“His relationship with Frank was understandably never the same after that, as Frank struggled to get over this act of betrayal and cruelty.”

‘was never the same after that’ frank never liked ian, ian was probably his least favorite and that point is very apparent

also , it wasnt just ian , his siblings and his boyfriend caleb

he left a healthy relationship to be with mickey

he fell in love with mickey at 15 , mickey was a comfort and always someone to fall back on, when mickey was taken away and no longer in the picture his heart still obviously was with mickey and when mickey came back he didnt know what to do

he told mickey he had a boyfriend but because mickey has been such a constant in his life he finally has back of course he couldnt resist

he liked trevor, i could tell he did but trevor wasnt the one he watched get r^ped by a russian prostitute, he wasnt the one ian was secretly dating bc it would be a death wish other wise, he wasnt the one there when ian was manic or depressive ( at the start )

he tried blackmailing an old client for money

“Instead of raising the money in an honest manner, Ian chose to visit an old client from his time working at the Fairy Tail and blackmail him into funding the shelter.”

because he felt indebted to trevor and wanted to make it up to him, it would have taken longer to do it in ‘an honest manner’ when his sister would have gotten it instead, he knew how much gay youths like he once was needed a safe place

“He grew up wanting to be nothing like his father, but this whole money-making scheme was straight out of the Frank playbook”

because thats all he knows, he grew up with that ‘playbook’ so of course hes going to take a page out of it, he is nothing like frank , franks money making schemes are selfish and for his own greed while ian wanted the money to help build a safe space for lgbt youth

he let fame inflate his ego

of course he did, hes a southside kid who was destined to fail

also it is very apparent that during the gay jesus era he went off his medication which didnt help

“Before long, he just completely forgot about his ex and focused solely on being a deity”

as much as yes, he did let it mess with his head, he was trying to still help lgbt youth and was going against anti gay churchs , in the end it didnt work out for him because he was off his meds and went over board

he stopped taking his meds

see previous point and ‘ian refused to accept being bipolar’

he actually wanted to stay in prison

because he was doing good in there

ian was helping others and was spreading awareness about lgbt with in the prison , and as him and jail scenes go , we can see people were listening to him and he was trying to make it safe sane and consensual

he let down his army of followers

“Ian admitted that most of his actions were completely irrational and the mere results of his bipolar disorder.”

he didnt want to, we can see this, because he knew he would let down everyone, his family were the only ones to ever ground him and they knew it would be the best option for his own mental health

during the gallavich wedding we can see that a lot of his supporters still have his back because they must know how hard it was for him to put all of that success on something he can’t control

he constantly wasted his potential

this is actually the only point in this article i actually agree with , so only 1/20 i agree with

his relationship with mickey wasn’t actually great

“Mickey spent the first several years of their relationship denying his feelings for Ian.”

he was raised by a homophobic and racist father who he knew would react the way he did when terry had caught the two that one day

“Even after he finally embraced his true self, Ian's bipolar disorder kept them from becoming truly happy together.”

yes but mickey was there for him the entire time and helped him through it, he told him he loved him which was really big for him and did his best to care for him

“They couldn't seem to remain faithful to each other for more than a few weeks.”

back to the point about ians bipolar but for mickey he wanted monogamy , now that scene in s11 may say otherwise but it is very clear that he wants a monogamous relationship with ian and ian ( after getting help ) wants one too, and in the later seasons they are monogamous

“When Mickey asked Ian to run away to Mexico with him, Ian refused.”

he wanted to, it’s obvious, but ian has his family and didnt want to abandon them again, i think part of him knew he would see mickey again because they always find eachother, he gave mickey all of his money and wanted mickey to have a good life

“Their relationship was simply never healthy.”

no it wasnt, but thats why the ship is great in its own way, the gay closet kid raised by a homophobic man is obviously going to have a lot of baggage , and ian who is bipolar and struggling with himself will also have a lot of baggage , but in the end they love eachother and that really shows in season five and season seven specifically

that is all lol ,,, this is long sorry

now, i am not a ian apologist , i love ian but hes a dumbass sometimes

actual valid reasons ian sucks

genuinely believes frank is worse than terry

yes frank was definitely abusive but terry is definitely worse ,,

mentally/physically/sexually abusive , the whole nine yards

terry hired a prostitute to r^pe his son , threatened to kill him and ian on multiple occasions , r^ped his daughter who ended up pregnant and is actively racist

frank on the other hand will make gay jokes but in the end doesnt give enough of a shit , he has attacked his children on multiple occasions but not to the brutality that terry has ( this isnt me excusing it )

sorry ian , terry is worse

never apologized

he never apologized for all the shit he put mickey and his family through, never apologized to mickey for cheating on him , never apologized for all the manic and depressive episodes mickey endured with him

never apologized for walking away when he couldn’t handle it, in hall of shame mickey actually acknowledges this saying ‘its youre whole MO’

debbies sexuality

he has constantly made statements saying debbie isnt gay and that bothers me because , why does it care ? as a gay man and as a gay man who soent time with a lot of lgbt youth wouldnt he support his sister even if shes just ‘experimenting’?

in the recent season he doesnt seem to care and doesn’t say anything but it still bothers me

mickey only getting like 80% of his heart

okay look , i get what ian means when he says this , everyones hes been with has made him who he is but fucking hell dude ,, shut up , thats your husband , thats the love of your life you shouldnt be saying shit like that , especially to him

and then this man had the audacity to say mickey probably feels the same about past flings when he knows that ian is the only one hes probably ever been with/serious about

obviously there is probably more but those are the main ones that come to mind

—

before anyone brings up the trans or bi thing im going to explain my thought process for him

like ive probably mentioned multiple times he grew up southside and obviously only ever grew up with lgb and not t ,, trevor did inform him a lot and ian became supre accepting of everyone,, sexual preference isnt transphobic but i do think he approached the matter badly

now the bi thing , legit all i think is that he doesnt hate bisexual people its just that the man he really liked slept with a woman and never expressed any heterosexual attraction so it probably just suprised him and pissed him off because caleb did cheat on ian

—

if you read this far HOLY SHIT THANKS LOL ,, im not adding things that i think are pro about ian this was just me breaking down that article and giving my two cents :)

feel free to message me and talk to me or send me articles like this about any other character/relationship and i will totally break that one down too lol

thanks for letting me rant

[moonlit-imagines]

Headcanons for the Avengers’ days off

Avengers x reader

warnings: stabbing mention lmao, guns

a/n:

prompt: anonymous: “can we have a y/n just chilling with all the avengers?”

over the years, it was hard to have a peaceful day off, but sometimes that was the priority

each avenger had a preference on what they liked to spend their free time on

but we all know that there’s never a true stress-free day when it comes to your team

most of you preferred sleeping in, but not cap or sam, it was 6:00am sharp for them

you had begged tony to soundproof this place, but noooo

“it’s just not practical, what if someone’s being stabbed? what if we cant hear them yelling for help?”

so you could hear the clattering of the kitchen and buried your face into your pillow

sooner or later you’d roll out of bed and find breakfast had been cooked for the whole team

“‘morning, y/n! we made eggs, toast, bacon, waffles, and cut up some fruit! here’s your plate and here’s some juice”

“oh, wow, smells great”

it could’ve been worse, at least there were no coffee grounds in the disposal so you didn’t have to hear tony complain

speaking of tony, he emerged from the hallway in his silk robe with bags under his eyes

“well, i dont know about you guys, but i slept great!”

“how many hours of sleep did you get, tony?”

“you know, like...two”

sooner or later, the rest of the avengers had been woken up and everyone gathered in the living room to watch the news and talk about their plans

“can we watch something other than the news? i’d honestly be down to watch spongebob, anyone else?” -rhodey

you were in charge of the remote

“hell yeah, i thought you’d never ask”

this full group of adults peacefully watching nickelodeon together until everyone was finished

now there was a pile of dishes in the sink and a very dirty kitchen but everyone just kind of forgot about it and went on to other things

so what relaxed the avengers?

well, most of them liked to train, but they had other hobbies too

like steve, he liked to draw (every once in a while he showed you his sketches and they’re honestly really good?? especially the redraw of a monkey in the ‘40s)

sometimes he even asked you to model poses for him

“just another minute, y/n, you’re doing great”

*you standing on one shaking leg in a kick position*

steve made u draw with him

“it’s therapeutic”

you left your art in his room and now it’s hung up on the fridge

and then there was tony, who was working on some new inventions that you were a bit worried about

you snuck past the lab, but FRIDAY told him that you were near

“y/n! come help me with this really quick!”

“damn, so close”

“can you try this on and shoot it at that target over there?”

“why cant you do this?”

“because your body is able to ‘take the heat’ or whatever that dumb catchphrase you have is”

luckily it worked, but “not good enough” and you ended up helping tony hold the thing in place while he worked

“so, how’s your day off going so far? do anything fun?”

“hung out with steve while he was working on some sketches”

“so i’m going to take that as a ‘no’”

tony relieving you of your duties so that you could roam the compound once more

hearing wanda play guitar!! you loved hearing her play!

“knock knock”

“come in”

you laid in her bed for a while and listened to her soothing voice, it made up for tony’s lab assistant thing

“do you know what’s for lunch?”

“i think today’s special is ‘serve yourself’”

you and wanda went off to the kitchen to make macaroni and cheese (because why not??? im about to make my own mac and cheese)

(also u made tony a pb&j bc u knew damn well he wasn’t coming out of that lab for a while) (u gave him lightly salted chips too bc he needs to cut down on his sodium)

“tony, eat lunch”

“aww, for me? you shouldn’t have”

yall think wanda watches shameless?? bc i kinda do and these are my headcanons so she watches shameless

“we’re more unstable than the gallaghers, they should make a show about us”

she almost choked on her mac and cheeseeee

“keeping up with the avengers”

“‘tony, what the fuck is up with your wifi, you have this big-ass compound and you can’t afford a wifi box out here?’”

“‘it’s not about affording, it’s about radiation’”

“‘you’re gonna die anyway! you understand that, right? die with a good snapchat going through!’”

nearly pissing yourself laughing

but vision asked wanda a favor and you wandered off to another part of the compound

ah, yes, the training room

clint, nat, sam, and rhodey were all in here; it was target practice day

“y/n, grab a gun and get over here!”

“a gun? let’s teach y/n some archery”

“nobody wants to learn archery, clint”

“what? you said you wanted to”

“yeah, but you never taught me”

“well, i can teach you right now”

“fine, let’s go!”

red-wing flew very close to your head

“watch out, y/n!” -sam

“dude, you’re gonna kill them” -rhodey

“seems like now is a bad time?”

everyone was just kind of bickering as per usual, you were just a teeny bit bored

but sam agreed to a round of hand-to-hand combat that really relaxed you

no, really, the best stress reliever is a peaceful fight between your roommates

you were kinda glad it wasn’t nat you were fighting because she’d probably put you on the mat twice a minute

soon, each of you worked up a sweat and you went to your private bathroom to take a shower

there was always hot water at the avengers compound, so that was a comforting thought

after you were out, you got dressed into some cozy pajamas and walked out to the kitchen, where wanda and vision were making dinner

a few avengers were already out on the couches, just watching the tv

you joined them and suggested that they should all watch a movie tonight

“what kind of movie?”

“i dont know? hot tub time machine?”

everyone agreed

and side eyed steve when sebastian stan popped up on screen

“guys, i really dont see the resemblance! cant we just watch the movie?”

“are you blind??”

“his 90 year old eyes deceive him”

it was a good dinner

“sam, you stink”

“i havent taken a shower yet”

what a loving family

[wiypt-writes]

Riding High

Ch20: When The Bough Breaks

Chapter Summary: Fliss finds herself in an impossible position…and her decision tips Frank’s world upside down.

Chapter Warnings: Bad Language words.

 Chapter Pairings:  Frank Adler x OFC Fliss Gallagher

 A/N: Don’t hate me… 

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Fliss Gallagher and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Riding High Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Chapter 19

And this day’s ending is the proof of time, killing all the faith I know.

 “Was that another one?” Frank asked as Fliss tossed her phone onto the coffee table with an angry snort.

 She nodded, pinching the bridge of her nose.

Frank sighed and looked at her “Honey…” “I know, I know…” she looked at him. “Look, I’ve made notes of every time I’ve had one so… its recorded. But again, it’s not like we can prove anything…they happen like twice a day and then nothing…hardly what they’ll call harassment.” Frank shifted slightly “This has been going on for 2 weeks now sweetheart.” “I’m well aware of that.” she snapped, before she shook her head “Sorry, I didn’t mean to get angry…not at you.” “Come here…” he said, opening his arms and she snuggled into him, leaning against his chest as his hand gently ran up and down her arm. “Maybe you should think about changing your number…and not putting the new one on the website.” “Yeah.” she conceded, “It’s not gonna help for work though…” “You can work round it.” he said, “Keep the business line and if you’re not there people will have to leave a message. Then, once you know your clients…you can give them your cell number.”

 “Fucking ass hole is still making my life awkward.”

 “Only if you let him. It’s a minor inconvenience to change your number but, if in the grand scheme of things all he has in his back pocket is sending you some dumbass birthday card and silent phone calls then…he’s just a pathetic fucking loser that’s trying to bully you into being scared.” “I’m not scared, just pissed off.” she shook her head “I know he’s a chicken shit, he wouldn’t dare come near me not when you’re on the scene…or my dad for that matter.” “Good, because if he did I’m not sure I’d be able to control myself.” Frank said softly.

“Maybe we should just pay someone to kill him.” Fliss said after a moment’s pause and Frank let out a snort “Bullet straight between the eyes.”

“Nah, too quick.” Frank sniffed, reaching for his beer “I’d dangle him over a tank of hungry sharks and lower him in inch by inch…”

“Or we could feed him to pigs, like in Hannibal.” Fliss mused.

 “That’s also an option…no trace” he nodded taking a mouthful of beer.

 “You know they should teach this shit at schools” Fliss reached for her own drink “How to get rid of bodies. I feel it is something everyone should be educated in.” “Maybe you should mention it to Bonnie. Tell her you feel it is an educational rite of passage or some other inspiring shit like that…”

 Fliss laughed, placing her wine glass down and shifting so that she was led on her front, half on-half off Frank, looking up at him as her chin rest on his chest.

“On a scale of 1 to 10 how much of a meltdown are we facing with Mary on tomorrow morning?”

 “From her current mood I’d suspect a good 4 and a half, maybe a 5.” he mused, before he looked at Fliss “I don’t much care, she’s going whether she wants to or not.” “When do the University Classes start again?”

 “Not till second week in October.”  Frank replied “Which reminds me, I need to submit that funding form tomorrow…” “It’s on the table.” Fliss said, as she correctly guessed from the look on his face he was pondering where he had put it.”

“What would I do without you?” he grinned down at her.

 “I have absolutely no idea.” she shrugged and he smiled and leaned down pressing a kiss to her lips.

 “Did you speak to Evelyn before?” Fliss asked him and he nodded.

 “She’s coming down this weekend.” Frank said, “She’s still on about Mary going to Boston for a weekend.” “You still not comfortable about her going?” Fliss asked.

 Frank wrinkled his nose “I don’t know if I trust her fully yet.” “You’ll never know you can unless you give her a chance.” Fliss reasoned

 “You think I should let her go?” Frank said, slightly surprised.

 “That’s not my decision to make, Frank” Fliss shook her head.

 “No, but I value your opinion.” Frank looked at her. “Go on, tell me what you think.” Fliss hesitated for a moment before she sat up and turned her body so she was facing him, her legs tucked underneath her on the sofa. “If it was me in your position, I’d give Evelyn a chance. She’s played ball so far, done everything you’ve asked her to. You’ve got legal guardianship of Mary so she can’t pull any stupid stunts, and if Mary comes back and tells you something she did that you don’t like, well, you cut the visits.” Frank looked at Fliss before he took another drink from his beer bottle. He was torn in two. In one respect he wanted Mary to be happy and it certainly seemed that she enjoyed seeing Evelyn, but on flip side he was still more than comfortable with keeping his Mother at arm’s length.

“I’ll think about it.” he shrugged, non-committedly.

 “Well, you should also ask Mary.” Fliss said “She might not even want to go.” “She will.” Frank said, “Evelyn has a piano.” Fliss laughed “Yeah, but she’s also bossy, remember?”

 “Yeah, I had heard that.” Frank said, and Fliss chuckled again.

 “Well, can you not think about it right now?” she said, taking the beer bottle out of his hand.

“Hey…” he pouted as she put it down on the table, his pout soon turned into a smirk as Fliss moved so she was straddling him on the sofa, his t-shirt that she’d been lounging around in rode up her thighs slightly and his hands rubbed up the side of her bare skin. “Something on your mind baby girl?”

 “What makes you think that?” she asked, sliding her hands up his chest, over the soft material of his top.

 “Just a hunch…” he mumbled, as he reached up and gently gripped the back of her neck, pulling her head down to meet his.

****** “Hey Frank…”

 Frank looked up and smiled at Alan as he walked into the work shop.

 “Hey Alan, not seen you in a while, how you doing?” “Good…I’m good. I was just wondering if I could have a word in my office.”

 “Sure.” Frank frowned “Is err, everything ok?” “Oh, yeah, it’s nothing to worry about…quite the opposite in fact…” “Alright, well me just finish piecing this oil filter together and I’ll be with you.”

 “Sure.” Alan said, “No rush.” 

Frank quickly tightened the filter back up, gave it the once over before he set down his tools and hopped off the boat, wiping his hands on a rag before he walked through the door at the back of the workshop and down the small corridor that led to the main office at the rear of the shop. He knocked sharply on the door and then swung it open as Alan looked at him, gesturing for him to take a seat whilst he finished up his call. Eventually, he bid the person on the other end good bye and placed the receiver down.

 “Relax, Frank…” Alan chuckled as Frank adjusted his jeans for what felt like the 30th time since sitting down.

 “Sorry.” Frank nodded, scratching at his temple. “So errr, do you need me to do something or...” “In a manner of speaking, yes.” Alan said “As you know Paul is retiring at the end of the year, which means the Head Mechanic role is up for grabs…and I was wondering if you’d be interesting in taking the position.” “Me?” Frank’s eyes widened slightly

Alan nodded “I know in the grand scheme of things you haven’t been here long but you’ve impressed me, just like Bill said you would. You knuckle down, you do the overtime if needed, you don’t complain…I like you Frank, and the team does to.” “I err…” Frank scratched the back of his neck. “I’m flattered…but I’ve never managed a team before or…”

“You were an Assistant Professor at one stage right?” Alan eyed him and Frank sighed, nodding “You must have had a research team…” “Yeah, but…” “It’s no different.” Alan shook his head, “And I’m here to help and give you some guidance. I’m not quite ready to retire fully yet. Not like Bill, only so much golf I can play before I go fucking nuts.” Frank snorted “Yeah, not gonna lie, it’s not my thing…” Alan looked at him “The duties won’t be that much different Frank. You’ll just be in charge of booking the jobs in, allocating them to the guys, keeping on top of deadlines and general management of the team…means a little less time spent actually getting your hands dirty but…well, you can manage that yourself. You wanna take a job you take it.”

 “Can I take a bit of time to think it over?” he asked.

“Sure. Take a few days, let me know. I’d like to have whoever is taking over in a position to start the handover by the start of October if possible so…” “Thanks.” Frank nodded “I’ll give it some thought.” “Oh, and it also comes with a Ten thou a year raise…” Alan casually dropped in as Frank stood up “Plus a bonus each year of up to 20 percent, depending on how well you’ve done on your targets” “Just a minor detail you forgot to tell me.” Frank arched an eyebrow.

 “Well, I wanted to make sure you’d consider it for the right reasons not merely the financial incentive.” Alan shrugged “Another reason I’m convinced you’re perfect for the job.” Frank nodded and with that he left the office. Given that it was almost lunch time he took his break 15 or so minutes earlier and headed out into the September sun, pulling out his phone.

 “Hey Sailor.” Fliss greeted him.

 “Hey Cowgirl.” he smiled, leaning against the hood of his truck sipping a bottle of water “You got a sec.” “For you, always. What’s up?”

“Nothing, nothing bad anyway…I just got offered a promotion.”

 “Frankie that’s amazing!” She gushed “You sound surprised though.” “I am, a little.” he said, before he launched into an explanation of what Alan had told him and what the job would entail, plus the financial incentives.

 “Wow!” she said as he finished talking “Baby, that’s fantastic. I’m so proud of you!”

Frank felt himself blushing at her praise, and despite the fact he couldn’t even see her he rubbed at his neck slightly. “So, you think I should take it?” “Of course I do.  But at the same time, if you don’t want to then…you don’t have to. This is a great position to be in honey, Alan’s clearly seen your potential.”

 “Just not sure If I’m cut out to be management.” he said, biting his lip.

 “I had the same thoughts about my business you know.” she spoke gently “I wasn’t sure if setting up on my own after everything that happened was gonna work but then Dad told me that I’d never know unless I took the plunge. Have a little faith in yourself. The only person who doubts your capability is you.”

Frank smiled at her words and looked up and out over the Marina “You always know exactly what to say.” “Not really, I make most of it up as a go along.” she said and Frank laughed. “But, just think, with the extra money you can get a new car…” “There’s nothing wrong with my truck.” “Frank, it’s died on you 4 times in the last 2 weeks. Dad reckons his ride on lawnmower has more power under the hood than that thing”

 “Ok, I’ll admit…she’s getting a little clunky…but she is into her twenties now….” Fliss snorted “You could get yourself a nice Audi…”

“Fuck off.” Frank said and she laughed

 “I like Simon’s car…” “You like it so much you get one.”

“Would never fit Thor in the back.” she said and Frank had to concede she had a point “But now you’re freelancing…you don’t actually need a truck do you?” “No, but…it’s handy…” “Handy, baby it only has three seats…” “And a flatbed…” Frank pouted slihglty. “So get one with five seats.” she shrugged. “You can buy trucks with a full cab…”

“This is not a good enough reason to get me to take the promotion…” 

“You want a better reason?” She said. “Ok, well here’s some food for thought…when the lease is up on our place maybe we could look into buying. You know I don’t wanna rent forever, I want us to have something for the future that’s ours, and the extra money you get a year would make a difference in what we can borrow towards it.” And just like that, as always, she’d managed to sideswipe him. He’d be lying if he hadn’t considered getting back on the property market, he had savings after all…but he’d given it no more thought than a fleeting idea every now and then when he drove past places with real estate signs in the front yards

 “This mean you’re coming round to the idea of marrying me and having baby Franks and Flisses?” She snorted “You’re such a dick…although that’s the only time you’ve ever mentioned that when you’re sober.” “So you’re saying that if I ask you when I’m not drunk you’d say yes?” he teased. “Goodbye Frank…” She teased in an airy voice, before she cut the call.

 Chuckling to himself he slid the phone back into his pocket and headed back inside to grab his lunch from the fridge in the kitchen. As he did so he passed Paul who was heading out with a fresh cup of coffee.

 “Oh, erm…Alan…” Frank looked at him. “So, turns out I don’t need as much time to think about it as I thought I did. I’ll take the job.” Alan smiled at him and pat him on the shoulder “Good man. I’ll get the wheels in motion and then we can work out how we start to transfer Paul’s responsibilities over.”

Frank nodded at him as he walked off.

 “Oh…” Alan called after him, “We’ll also need to pick your car.”

“My car…” Frank frowned.

 “Yeah, did I not mention? Paul’s BM…that’s a company car. I’m gonna let him keep it as a retirement present so we’ll need to order you another one. Not least because I don’t want my Head Mechanic driving around in that heap of shit you have. Looks like we don’t pay you enough…” Frank stood there, eyebrows raised as Alan simply smirked at him and left. Shaking his head, he gave a little groan, already imagining Fliss’ face when he told her.

*****

Fliss had reacted exactly how he had thought she would, laughing hysterically and then teasing him about how he had no alternative now than to get rid of the heap of shit he was ridiculously attached to. She’d then spent the evening looking at cars on her phone, showing him ridiculously pimped out vehicles in various vile colours, the final straw being a hot-rod red for Mustang with gold rims and flames painted down the side. At that point he’d snatched the phone out of her hand, grabbed her hips and pulled her down under him on the couch and given her something else to think about for half an hour or so.

September ticked by, in the usual speed by which time seemed to be flying for Frank and he found himself thrown into his job, soaking up Paul’s experience of managing the team as much as he could. He was also extremely grateful for both Fliss and Bill’s input, both of them having dealt with managing staff and rotas so he was able to ask them both questions as well. Naturally, when V heard about it she insisted on cooking him a special dinner, and even Evelyn presented him with a very nice bottle of Scotch when she came to visit as a Congratulations.

 Another bit of good news for them was that once Fliss changed her phone number the calls stopped as well. Frank was glad about that, because it meant that once again they’d thwarted the ass holes attempts to intimidate her. She’d made a blog, however, of every call she had gotten which now sat in Greg’s files along with the Card. Just in case.

Nope, on the whole life seemed to be going well for the pair of them.

“Someone’s looking smug…” Greg teased Frank as he leaned back in the chair around Greg’s large outdoor table. It was a Saturday at the start of October and they’d finally got round to having that cook out and gathering that the Circle of Truth had been attempting to organise round everyone’s schedule for the last 3 months.

 “Well, you know…life’s pretty good.” Frank smiled, sipping his beer, his eyes straying to Fliss who was stood around the bar area to the right of the garden with Bonnie, Zara and Lisa. She was dressed in a simple pair of jeans and a tie-died off the shoulder sweater but as usual, she looked stunning.

 “You got a ring yet?” Jake asked, dropping down into a seat next to him.

 “Oh don’t you start as well.” Frank groaned as Simon and Greg both laughed. “We’re happy as we are…besides, we’ve not even been together a year yet…” “Not far off.” Jake shrugged “Man, when you know you know…” “He’s just scared she’ll say no.” Simon teased. Frank stilled for a moment and then turned to glare at the man. “Shit, you are?” Simon frowned “No, not especially but…” Frank shook his head, trying to find the words to explain “I’m absolutely, totally convinced I want to spend the rest of my life with her, and I know she feels the same but…well she’s been married before and I don’t want to ask until I know she’s ready to do it again.”

Greg looked at him, nodding “I get that.”

“That’s gotta be the most grown up think you’ve ever said…” Jake looked at Frank who flipped him off but deep down he had to admit, it wasn’t wrong. He knew that both he and Fliss had come a long way from the people they had been just over 14 months ago when they had first met. Fliss had come alive, flourished even in herself, and he…well, he’d learnt that there was more to life than the meaningless cycle of one night stands and that flying by the seat of his pants wasn’t always the most productive thing to do. Both of them had been broken in their own way, had their own guards and walls around themselves which the other had managed to smash straight through. He stole another glance at Fliss and smiled, he knew there was no other woman for him, but in the same breath…what was the rush? They had a life time. And a ring and a piece of paper wasn’t going to change any of that.

 “Man you grew up…” Simon grinned and Frank rolled his eyes.

 “Look, I’ll have you know I’ve brought up a kid since the age of 6 months…all this shit about me being a man child…It’s crap…”

 “Whatever man…we all know you’re not a grown up until you have scatter cushions on your sofa…” Simon teased, referencing the previous week when he and Bonnie had come over for drinks and Fliss and Frank had had a jokey argument about said cushions. Frank threw his head back in a huge bout of laugher, shaking his head.

 “Fuck you!” he said, looking at him as Simon grinned.

 “Anyway, man…speaking of weddings…” Greg turned to Jake “You’ve been engaged for what? Three years now…when you gonna set a date?”

“He has a point…” Simon looked at him.

“Well, you can all shut the fuck up because for your information we have.”

“Shut the front door!” Greg grinned

 Jake nodded and took a large mouthful of his beer.

 “So you gonna tell any of us or…” Jake glanced over at Lisa before he yelled her name and she looked over at him, the other women also looking up. 

“Can we tell them now babe?” he called. Lisa grinned and nodded, and then made her way over followed by Zara. Fliss looked at Bonnie who shrugged, and the two of them picked up their drinks and followed.

 Fliss perched on Frank’s knee and he slid one hand round her waist the other dropped to her thigh.

 “So, we have set a date for the wedding.” Lisa smiled to a huge shriek from Zara. Frank spotted Fliss looking at Bonnie, the two of them sharing a significant smirk and he squeezed her thigh.

 “Stop being a bitch.” he said in a low voice.

 “Rude…” she mumbled, grinning into her gin. “6th April next year…” Jake grinned. “At Hardemans Secret Garden in Dover, Tampa.” “Well unless you invented a time machine, it ain’t gonna be this year is it?” Simon looked at him, before he gave a yell as Bonnie slapped him round the back of the head.

 “Obviously you’re all invited.” Jake said, “Except for Simon.” “Hang on, if he isn’t coming does that mean I can’t?” Bonnie pouted.

“You can be my plus one.” Fliss nodded.

 “Oi…” Frank nipped her thigh gently. She grinned at him, ruffling his hair slightly. He jerked his head out of her reach and looked at her over his aviators. She stuck her tongue out at him and he grinned.

 “Guys this is great news…” Greg said, nodding “Best dig the suit out.” “You wear a suit to work every day.” Zara looked at him. 

“And you won’t need to.” Jake shook his head. “In fact none of you will…my brother is best man, obviously, but I’d like you guys there as my Groomsmen…that is, if you’re up for it.” Frank smiled at Greg, then Simon before they all shrugged.

“Yeah, I’m in…” Greg smiled.

“Me too pal, I’m honoured.” Frank smiled, tipping his beer bottle in Jake’s direction.

“Does this mean we get to plan the Batchelor party?” Simon asked. Jake nodded with a grin and Simon leaned back “Oh this is gonna be beautiful….”

***** “You’re fucking mental.” Frank looked at Fliss as she shrugged, circling Cap back round to the jump which Joanne had just hiked up another foot. He shook his head and turned away “I can’t watch.” “Don’t’ be a chicken Frank.” Mary grinned up at him, “It’s cool…I wanna do that some day.” “Over my dead body.” Frank looked down at her.

“Yeah you said that about me going to Boston.” “No, that’s not what I said.” Frank sighed, looking at her “I said over my dead body were you going to live with Evelyn….and did you?” “No…” Mary conceded “But you’re letting me go back for a weekend.”

“Yes, because you’re going for 2 nights and coming home” he said, and despite himself he turned his head to see Fliss sail Cap over the huge jump.

“See….” Fliss said, pulling the horse up to a stop “Easy…” “Whatever you say sweetheart.” he shook his head.

“Can I jump Monty soon?” Mary asked, and Fliss smiled.

“Yeah we can do a little cross pole…” “I give in…” Frank groaned, throwing his hands out to the side “The pair of you are nuts.”

“Says the guy who almost cried when he had to order a new car.” Fliss looked at him and Frank rolled his eyes “I mean who does that?” “Yeah Frank…” Mary said, swinging off the fence to the paddock, leaning back to look at him. “You get to swap a rust bucket for a shiny new Mitsubishi and you were like heartbroken.” “Hey, me and that truck have seen a lot of action-“ “I don’t wanna know…” Fliss started.

“Of which you’ve been part of…” he smirked her and she flushed a little, grinning. “I’m kinda attached to it.” “It’s a lump of metal.” Fliss looked at him.

“How dare you.” Frank scoffed, feigning offence.

“Well now you can have new adventures in the new truck.” Mary shrugged “Simples.” “When you do get it I vote the first thing we do is load it up and head off for a picnic somewhere.” Fliss said, hopping off Cap.

“I can go with that.” Frank nodded as she turned and walked towards the gate, letting her out.

 “Can I take him?” Mary asked, hopping down off the fence. 

“Sure…” Fliss said, handing her the reins. Mary led the horse away to the barn as Fliss removed her hat and pulled out her bobble, shaking her long hair free before she tied it back up again.

“I really do like it that colour.” Frank mused after a second, watching her. She blushed a little, and he knew why. A week ago she’d come back from the salon, her usually bright auburn hair was a lot more demure, having had caramel put through the ends. When Frank had complimented her on the change she’d gotten a little shy and said that she used to have it like that when she was younger, but John had always wanted her to keep it her natural colour. Now she felt like she fancied a change. Her admission had once again, knocked Frank for, how simple little things like that were so huge for her.

She pulled off her riding gloves, shoved them into her back pocket and they walked into the barn as Mary opened Cap’s stable and led him inside. As always, the large horse bowed his head gently to allow Mary to undo his bridle and Fliss smiled. Cap was secretly her favourite after Heidi. He was such a loving animal, despite his size always being so gentle and careful around people, especially Mary. Most animals were like that around her, she just had this aura that they seemed to like. But then again, everyone said that animals were a good judge of character.

 “Can we go to the shack for dinner?” Mary spoke up, looking at Frank “It is Saturday…”

 “Oh, I dunno…” Frank sighed, “Not sure my heap of shit truck will get us there.” “No but Fliss’ jeep will.” Mary shrugged and Frank shook his head with a snort.

“You literally have an answer for everything.”

 “Wonder where she gets that from…” Fliss looked at him and he nudged her gently with his elbow.

 “So can we go or not?”

 “Yes, ok we can go to the shack.” Frank said “But the deal is you tidy your room when you get home. It’s a disgrace.” Mary pondered this for a moment as Fliss undid the girth on Cap’s saddle, pulling it off.

 “Deal.” she nodded “Only Fliss said she was gonna help me sort my clothes out…some of them don’t fit anymore.”

“Yeah we do that tomorrow morning.” Fliss smiled, “Then we can look at ordering you some warm stuff for New York.” “Are we still getting matching sweaters when we get there?” “No.” Frank said, at the same time Fliss nodded.

“Yes.” “No, we’re not.” Frank looked at her. 

“Errr 2 vs 1 Sailor, you’re outvoted.” she shrugged, pushing past him with the saddle on her arms. “But if you’re a good boy we’ll let you pick them right Mary?” “I dunno.” Mary frowned “Have you seen his shirts?” Fliss let out a roar of laughter and turned to face her, before she looked at Frank, laughing even harder at the pure indignation on his face. 

“I hate you both.” he said sullenly, folding his arms.

 The Shack was busy by the time they arrived but given that it wasn’t too cold they managed to find a small table outside and ordered their food, Mary getting through an astonishing amount considering but the Frank had noticed she was going through a bit of a growth spurt which he mentioned to Fliss when they were snuggled up on the sofa later.

“Not sure getting her any stuff for New York yet is wise.” he mused “If she carries on like she is it won’t fit her.”

“Well we can wait…Fliss said shrugging, her hand rubbing at Frank’s stomach under his shirt. “You have no idea how excited I am…” “Really?” Frank snorted “You never mentioned it.” “Oh piss off” she laughed, before she sighed happily “It’s the one thing I miss about home and Boston…you know this time of year the leaves would be changing colour and falling,…”

“I know what you mean.” he said, his hands carding through her hair “You don’t really Seasons here.”

“Well you do…” Fliss said, “Hurricane and Summer.” Frank let out a laugh as she looked up at him. “You know you’re my hurricane.”

“What?” he looked at her

 “Came into my life, blew it all upside down…” “Jesus you talk some shit!” he laughed, shaking his head as she grinned. 

“You know there was actually a hurricane Frank back in 2010. So I’m not talking complete shit…” “Whatever Sweetheart…” he snorted, leaning back as her nails scratched against his stomach. He gave a twitch and grabbed her wrist, and looked down at her as she flashed him a coy look. “Stop it.”

“What, this?” she moved and used her other hand, and Frank let out a hiss as he shifted and grabbed that one too.

 “You know what that does to me…” he looked at her, his voice low.

 “Yup.” she nodded, grinning.

 With a jerk of his arms he pulled her forward so she fell onto him fully, drawing a giggle from her as her nose bumped against his.

 “I fuckin’ love you.” he smiled at her, and she grinned, giving him a soft kiss.

 “Yeah, you’ve told me once or twice…” she smirked, her lips locking onto his.

******

 “Fliss?”

 “Office…” she called back, and a second or so later Joanne popped her head into the room.

 “Everything’s done.” she said, “I was gonna lock up…you’re not normally here this late.”

 “Yeah I know but I have some paper work to sort. Need to file a couple of things and, well, thought it would be easier to do it here than take everything home. Frank’s taken Mary bowling so…” “And you’d rather be here doing paper work?” Joanne teased.

“Sadly, it needs doing…besides, last time we went I kicked his ass, again, he sulked for hours.” Fliss snorted “Maybe he stands more of a chance against Mary.”

“Won’t he let her win?” Joanne asked “I mean, she is only eight…”

“No chance.” Fliss looked at Jo. “He says that she needs reminding every now and then that she’s not a genius at everything…” Joanne let out a laugh “Fair enough. Ok, well I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah, bye Jo…”

 Fliss set about getting to work, filing the various bills and disclaimers she’d had signed and started then sifting through the list of clients and payments, checking who owed what and typing out the bills for the month. Once they were printed and placed in envelopes, ready to be tacked to the stable doors in the morning she glanced at the clock and realised it was almost 8 pm.  Frank and Mary should be home now.

She was just about to pack up when she realised she hadn’t gone through the post for the day. For a second she debated leaving it for the morning, but decided she would get it over with. There wasn’t much- mostly a couple of letters from various equestrian societies around the area about a few events going on, but the last one she reached was a manila envelope with the address typed out on the front.

 She turned it over, opened it and then pulled out the contents and immediately felt her blood run cold as she looked at the paper in front of her. It was a copy of the photo of her and Mary, taken from the first Blog that Mary had written over the summer. Underneath it was typed a simple message- I always knew you’d suit motherhood.

 Fliss swallowed, it didn’t take a genius to work out who it was from but for the first time since his ridiculous campaign now she was actually frightened as to the meaning behind this. Up until now it he’d been nothing more than annoying but this was designed to be more than an aggravation.

 It was a threat. A direct threat telling her he knew about Mary.

 Whilst Fliss wasn’t Mary’s mother, and would never claim to be she loved that girl like she was her own and the fact that John was even brining her into this made her feel physically sick, so much so that she felt the bile rising in her throat and with a sharp heave she lurched to the side, grabbing the waste paper basket and hocking up the bitter substance. Coughing she wiped the back of her mouth with a shaking hand, reaching for the bottle of water on her desk.

 She folded the photo up and stuck it back in the envelope, shoving it in the drawer before she stood up and locked her office, heading to her jeep. Her mind was reeling, now it wasn’t just her he was focussing on, this changed everything. Did she tell Frank? She knew she should, she couldn’t leave Mary in danger. Not that she believed any harm would come to her, not really, especially not under Frank’s care but that was another worry she had. That if she told Frank this, it was really going to push him over that edge into blind rage, and he’d been on the first plane out to Boston, hunting the fucker down…and then what?

 He ended up in jail himself because Fliss knew Frank well enough to understand that if that blind rage took hold, he wouldn’t stop.

 She had no answer to this, nothing. She sat in her jeep, staring out of the window, trying to force the thoughts and mumbles and voices in her heat to quiet, so she could think clearly, get some form of grasp on what it was she needed to do. And then one voice was screamed at her, clearly, giving her a solution…the only one she could viably see working.

With a loud sob, Fliss covered her face in her hands, unable to see an alternative to the decision she had just reached. A decision that was going to break her heart more than anything had ever done before.

******

“Hey, you’re late…”  Frank looked up, immediately frowning as he saw Fliss’ face. “Honey…what…” “Where’s Mary?” she asked instantly.

“She nipped to Roberta’s” Frank said “I know it’s late but we saw her as we were headed out of the car and she wanted to collect something for Show and Tell tomorrow…why?”

 “We need to talk.” Fliss said.

Frank stood up off the sofa and walked towards her, he reached for her and she took a step back.

“Ok, Fliss, you’re scaring me now…what…”

“I think…” Fliss looked down at her hands “I think that we need to stop seeing each other.”

Frank blinked, not sure he had heard her right, but when he looked at her he saw a tear trickling down her face and she was avoiding his gaze. The world around him began to fade and a dull buzzing filled his head and rang around his ears as a horrible cold feeling washed over him.

“Lissy…” he swallowed, his words sticking in his throat “What’s brought this on? Did I do something? Are you not happy? I don’t understand…” “I just…it isn’t working for me…” she took a deep breath and looked up at him.

“You’re lying.” he said instantly, he could see it written all over her face “Fliss, what’s going on?” “Nothing, I’m sorry. I just…I need to leave, I need space.” she said “I’m so sorry Frank…” Frank took a deep breath, and watched as she turned to leave. After a second he hurried after her into the hallway, shaking his head.

 “Lissy, please…talk to me…” he all but begged as she walked to the door. She made to open it but Frank was behind her and placed his hand firmly on the top of the PVC, causing it to shut. She spun round and looked up at him, the tears now pouring down her face.

 “Please, Frank…don’t make this any harder than it is…” her voice was broken, and she shook her head. “I don’t understand what THIS is?” he looked at her, running a hand through his hair as he felt the stinging of tears in his own eyes “Last month we were talking about buying a house together and now you just wanna break it off, for no reason? Honey, just…whatever is going on, we can work through it, just talk to me.”

 “I’m so sorry…” she whispered, “Just…let me out…please…”

He looked at her again, her eyes bouncing across his and he knew instantly he couldn’t stop her, and would never do that to her either, no matter how much he so desperately wanted to lock the door and force her to tell him what the fuck was going on. So with a sniff he forced himself to step back and her hand went to the door knob, her shoulders shaking.

 “Liss, please…” his voice cracked. “Don’t do this…”

 She took a deep breath and opened the door, the warm air from outside hit him in the face, tears stinging his eyes slightly before click of the latch hit his ears as the door shut behind her, leaving him stood alone in the hallway, stunned and utterly, utterly broken. 

**** Chapter 21

[souvcniir]

*   bopping  along  to  forever  by  drake  is  𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐑 𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐀𝐙𝐀𝐑  ,  the  twenty  two  year  old  cis  man  thrown  back  to  their  business  days  with  none  of  his   memories  .  voted  most  likely  to  move  out  the  country  ,  alis  was  known  for  being   resilient &   facetious ,  go  figures  you'd  always  find  them  being  threatened  to  be  kicked  off  of  the  football  team  ,  but  grew  up  to  be   audacious &  untrusting  .

what’s  happening  cuties  !   listen  ,  i  cannot  join  a  group  without  giving  the  fattest  and  biggest  warning  that  despite  being  in  the  rpc  for  a  minute  now  ,   i  still  suck  at  introductions  .  embarrassing  luv  ,  i  know  asdj  .  i’m  gi(anna)  ,  i’m  nineteen  years  old  ( a  big  old  baby   )  ,  i  go  by  she  and  her  pronouns  and  i  currently  live  on  the  east  coast  which  throws  me  in  the  est  timezone  !!!  this  is  one  out  of  two  of  my  children  that  i’ll  be  bringing  you  ,   and  um  can  i  just  say  im  obsessed  with  the  fc  pairing  i  got  going  on  for  alistair  .  aron  piper  and   giuseppe  maggio  ?   this  is  what  heaven  is   asdfgh  .    down  below  you’ll  find  a  little  about  alistair  !  and  if  you  want  to  plot  you  can  either  smash  the  heart  button  ,  send  me  a  message  ,  or  message  me  on  discord  at  𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐛𝐮𝐝𝐝𝐲#1776  .

*   𝐎𝐍𝐄                          𝐓𝐇𝐄   𝐀𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐒  .

a   black   eye   in   response   of   words   of   provokement   ,   lonely   nights   concealed   by   random   bodies   ,   gold   rings   sitting   on   bruised   knuckles   ,   calloused   digits   shielding   a   bright   sun   from   bloodshot   eyes   ,   distant   chatter   drowned   out   by   loud   thoughts   ,    salty  drops   gleaming   on   tan   skin   ,   enchanting   pearly   whites   ,   thunderstorms   singing   pretty   hues   to   sleep     .

*   𝐓𝐖𝐎                          𝐓𝐇𝐄  𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐒 .

full   name.   alistair  aurelius  salazar  .   nickname(s).    alis  ,  ali  .   preferred   name.   alistair  .   past  age.   twenty  two  .   present  age.   thirty  two  .   date  of  birth.   november  first  .  zodiac.  scorpio  . gender.    cis  man .   pronouns.   he  and  him  .   sexuality.  pansexual  .   younger  faceclaim.   aron  piper  .   older  faceclaim.   giuseppe  maggio   .   character  inspiration.    hardin  scott  ,   niccolo  govender  rossi  ,  lip  gallagher  ,  and   bellamy  blake  .

*   𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄                          𝐓𝐇𝐄  𝐑𝐎𝐎𝐓𝐒  .

(   physical  abuse  ,  slightly  detailed     )

    sorrows  and  raindrops     ,   remnants  of  a  first  breath  that  established  the  tone  of  the  upbringing  of  curly  locks  and  pearly  whites  that  never  flashed  for  too  long  .      he  was  a  prisoner  in  a  punishment  meant  for  another  .   he  was  a  prisoner  to  rage  .

   he’s  made  up  of  pleads  ,   and  sobs  that  still  haunt  his  childhood   .   neglected  of  forehead  kisses  and  bedtime  stories   ,  gifted  fists  against  previously  bruised  flesh  in  substitution  .    black  and  blue  decorating  his  body  so  frequency  that  for  a  while  he  forgot  what  he  looked  like  without  them  .   

   one  night  ,  he   held  his  broken  arm  in  his  lap  and  begged  her  to  tell  him  why  ,  why  did  she  hate  him  so  much  ?    she  never  answered  ,   didn’t  even  move  a  muscle  .   left  her  seven  year  old  child  to  pull  himself  off  of  the  floor  and  out  the  door  .  that  was  his  last  memory  of  her  .

    left  in  the  care  of  the  foster  system    and  a  year  later  was  put  into  the  custody of  a  man  who  was  suppose  to  be  his  father  .   a  politician  who  had  cared  more  about  his  image  then  his  own  blood  eight  years  earlier  .   not  an  excuse  ,  his  father  would  learn  that  with  the  help  of  guilt  eating  him  from  the  inside  out  .  did  everything  he  could  think  of  to  make  it  up  ,    not  an  easy  challenge  .  

*   𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑                         𝐓𝐇𝐄   𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓 .

walked  hand  in  hand  with  being  difficult  .      labeled  the  broken  bird  .  the  dirt  bag  .   found  traces  of  himself  in  chaos  and  so  he  became  it  .    a  smart  boy  drowning  in  a  hurt  he  had  not  fully  recovered  from  .    got  better  as  the  years  went  ,   and  twenty  two  was  his  golden  years  of  doing  his  very  best  to  not  self  destruction  .  

kept  himself  busy  ,  but  that  does  not  mean  he  kept  himself  out  of  trouble  .  a  smart  boy  who  had  the  ability  to  stumble  into  class  with  black  rims  covering  regrets  from  the  previous  night  .   cannabis  was  the  best  form  of  therapy  and  getting  blacked  out  on  weekdays  was  his  favorite  sin  .   

careless  and  impulsive  ,  everyone’s  favorite  partner  in  crime  .  bruised  knuckles  and  a  fat  lip  were  the  consequence  of  a  insolent  mouth  that  never  knew  when  to  stop  .   smiled  with  blood  dripping  from  his  mouth  and  returned  to  his  dorm  with  bruised  knuckles  ,  now  he  remembered  what  he  looked  like  .    

charming  words  and  wandering  hands  might’ve  fooled  you  ,  but  commitment  for  him  was  unreachable  .   he  was  stuck  in  the  mindset  that  he  was  too  fucked  up  for  someone  to  love  him  and  it  showed  in  every  relationship  he  had  ever  had  .   he  was  the  heartbreaker  ,  or  more  so  the  cold  hearted  .  used  others  to  silence  the  demons  in  his  head  and  left  before  the  sun  crept  through  curtains  .  

*   𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄                         𝐓𝐇𝐄   𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓  .

ten  years  formed  a  new  label  ,  the  phoenix  .   the  businessman  .    moved  around  until  he  settled  in   san  francisco  where  he  soon  opened  up  a  bar  with  his  business  partner  .   successful  ,  finally  funded  his  own  life  with  money  that  he  earned  .  but  there  was  more  to  him  then  just  expensive  cars  and  days  being  referred  to  as  boss  . 

healed  in  more  ways  then  he  had  been  ten  years  ago  ,  thanks  to  the  help  of  actual  therapy  (  though  cannabis   was  still  a  friend  )   .   greatest  achievement  was  finding  forgiveness  in  his  heart  for  his  father  and  building  a  normal  son  -  father  relationship  .    

decided  early  he  didn’t  want  kids  and  instead  adopted  a  pitbull  named  kyson  .   his  best  friend  and  as  those  around  him  joke  ,  his  son  .   is  his  background  a  picture  of  him  and  his  dog  ,  yes  .  mind  your  business  .

now  a  known  playboy  ,  though  most  aren’t  surprised  .  says  he’s  too  busy  for  relationships  but  it’s  just  the  fact  that  some  things  never  change  and  commitment  was  still  a  scary  thing  .  

recently  ,  as  in  the  last  three  years  ,  moved  to  riccione  ,  where  he  opened  up  his  fourth  bar  .   lives  in  a  house  on  the  beach  and  only  returns  home  every  few  months  (  plus  the  holidays  )  .  has  become  a  big  beach  bum  ,  but  he  likes  the  environment  .  does  the  whole  beach  life  activities  too  ,  the  hiking  and  the  surfing  (  though  he’s  not  very  good  )   .  

no  longer  a  fighter  ,  and  instead  is  the  one  breaking  them  up  .   realized  there  was  one  thing  he  never  wanted  to  be  ,  his  mother  ,  and  so  he’d  never  resort  to  using  his  fist  unless  in  the  act  of  defense  and  even  then  he’s  had  a  good  job  of  walking  away  .  

*   𝐒𝐈𝐗                         𝐓𝐇𝐄   𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓  𝐈𝐍  𝐓𝐇𝐄   𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓   .

back  to  square  one  .  no  memories  of  who  he  grew  up  to  be  ,  just  the  old  feeling  of  anger  and  hurt  .   sad  to  see  his  process  thrown  out  the  window  ,  his  healing  cracked  open  .  the  biggest  question  ,  is  will  he  get  to  his  end  point  once  again  or  will  a  second  chance  be  his  downfall  ?

*   𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍                          𝐓𝐇𝐄  𝐄𝐗𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐒  .

has  always  taken  very  good  care  of  himself  in  the  sense  of   what  he  puts  into  his  body  ,  even  in  college  he  paid  important  attention  to  diet  and  exercise  .  

doesn’t  speak  of  his  mother  ,  or  at  least  he  didn’t  .  you  asked  a  question  and  got  silence  in  return  .  most  never  actually  knew  what  the  first  seven  years  of  his  life  was  ,  which  left  many  in  shock  when  he  finally  decided  to  open  up  about  it  .

he  doesn’t  like  nicknames  and  prefers  to  be  called  just  alistair  ,  though  some  people  do  get  a  pass  ,  even  if  that  pass  comes  with  a  hard  look  .

his  drink  of  choice  is  bourbon  but  he  hasn’t  been  a  bigger  drinker  since  his  college  days  ...  his  friends  would  joke  it’s  because  he  overdid  it  too  many  times  in  his  younger  years  . 

*  𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓                          𝐓𝐇𝐄   𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒  .

*   these  are  simply  just  ideas  to  give  us  something  to  start  with  ,  i  am  open  to  anything  that  is  not  mentioned  as  well  am  completely  and  totally  okay  with  switching  things  around  and  adding  things  to  these  ideas !!!  i  love  plotting  and  bouncing ideas  off  of  each  other  so  don’t  be  afraid  to  stray !

                    YOU’RE  BAD  FOR  MY  HEALTH  ,  YEAH  YOU  SHOULD  HURT  SOMEBODY  ELSE  (  PAST  CONNECTION  ┋  OPEN    )  .    he  was  bad  for  their  health    ,   a  rollercoaster  that  consisted  of  too  many  downs  .  toxic  ?  yes  .  in  love  ?  in  denial  .  but  whatever  was  between  these  two  ,  it  kept  them  at  each  others  throats  and  in  each  other  bed  .   this  was  not  the  one  who  got  away  ,  it  was  the  one  he  needed  to  stay  away  from  . 

                   WILL  HE  ALWAYS  BE  MINE  ?   ( PRESENT  CONNECTION  ┋  OPEN   ) .    his  first  adult  relationship  ,  and  like  alistair  himself  it  was  not  always  easy  .  long  nights  ,  busy  days  ,  sometimes  this  relationship  felt  like  it  was  set  up  to  fail  ..  and  then  they  got  their  moments  where  butterflies  flapped  their  wings  and  rose  spreaded  to  cheeks  and  it  really  seemed  like  it  would  work  ...  but   good  moments  ,  they  come  and  go  and  this  relationship  leaves  the  other  thinking  how  long  they  might  have  alistair  . 

                  I  GOT  A  BAD  IDEA  ( PAST  CONNECTION  ┋  OPEN   ) .    he  looked  to  his  left  and  saw  them  ,  and  when  he   looked  in  front  of  him  he  saw  the  bars  and  regrets  forming  .   these  two  were  a  duo  that  wreaked  havoc   ,  being  around  them  meant  cop  sirens  and  bad  decisions  .  these  two  were  ,  what  do  they  say  ?  young  and  dumb  .

                  WHOLE  SQUAD  MOBBIN  EVEN  THOUGH  WE  ONLY  SIX  DEEP  ( PAST  CONNECTION  ┋  OPEN   ) .    his  best  buddies  (  that  i  manage  are  still  apart  of  his  life  in  present  time  )  made  up  of  two  to  three  others  .  they  are  his  people  ,  his  picked  family  .   

                I  SWEAR  IF  I  EVER  LEFT  YOU  IN  THE  COLD  ,  IT’S  CAUSE  IT  WAS  COLDER  INSIDE   (  PRESENT  CONNECTION  ┋  OPEN   )  .   a  old  friend  who’s  no  longer  that  ,  a  friend  .  i  picture  this  to  be  more  complicated  then  what  it  seems  ,  but  picture  these  two  going  from  being  attached  at  the  hip  to  not  speaking  to  one  another  .

                  CAN  YOU  IMAGINE  ?   ( PAST  CONNECTION  ┋  OPEN   ) .    that  one  person  who  badly  wanted  something  more  from  alistair  and  got  exactly  the  opposite  .   lovers  in  the  way  of  intimacy  but  one  sided  emotionally  .  

[what-is-your-plan-today]

Riding High Ch 20: When The Bough Breaks...

Chapter Summary: Fliss finds herself in an impossible position…and her decision tips Frank’s world upside down.

Chapter Warnings: Bad Language words.

Chapter Pairings:  Frank Adler x OFC Fliss Gallagher

A/N:  I  know I only updated a few days ago with Ch 19 but this one has been written for a wile and I finished yesterday so decided not to wait.

Don’t hate me…

Chapter Song:  Shattered by Trading Yesterday

Series Masterlist // Main Masterlist 

And this day’s ending is the proof of time, killing all the faith I know.

“Was that another one?” Frank asked as Fliss tossed her phone onto the coffee table with an angry snort.

She nodded, pinching the bridge of her nose.

Frank sighed and looked at her “Honey…” “I know, I know…” she said, looking at him. “Look, I’ve made notes of every time I’ve had one so… its recorded. But again, it’s not like we can prove anything…they happen like twice a day and then nothing…hardly what they’ll call harassment.” Frank shifted slightly “This has been going on for 2 weeks now sweetheart.” “I’m well aware of that.” she snapped, before she shook her head “Sorry, I didn’t mean to get angry…not at you.” “Come here…” he said, opening his arms and she snuggled into him, leaning against his chest as his hand gently ran up and down her arm. “Maybe you should think about changing your number…and not putting the new one on the website.” “Yeah.” she conceded, “It’s not gonna help for work though…” “You can work round it.” he said, “Keep the business line and if you’re not there people will have to leave a message. Then, once you know your clients…you can give them your cell number.”

“Fucking ass hole is still making my life awkward.”

“Only if you let him.” Frank said gently “It’s a minor inconvenience to change your number but, if in the grand scheme of things all he has in his back pocket is sending you some dumbass birthday card and trying to piss you off with silent phone calls then…he’s just a pathetic fucking loser that’s trying to bully you into being scared.” “I’m not scared, just pissed off.” she shook her head “I know he’s a chicken shit, he wouldn’t dare come near me not when you’re on the scene…or my dad for that matter.” “Good, because if he did I’m not sure I’d be able to control myself.” Frank said softly.

“Maybe we should just pay someone to kill him.” Fliss said after a moment’s pause and Frank let out a snort “Bullet straight between the eyes.”

“Nah, too quick.” Frank sniffed, reaching for his beer “I’d dangle him over a tank of hungry sharks…lower him in inch by inch…”

“Or we could feed him to pigs, like in Hannibal.” Fliss mused.

“That’s also an option…no trace” he said, swallowing a mouthful of beer.

“You know they should teach this shit at schools” Fliss said, reaching for her own drink “How to get rid of bodies. I feel it is something everyone should be educated in.” “Maybe you should mention it to Bonnie.” he said as she took a sip of wine “Tell her you feel it is an educational rite of passage or some other inspiring shit like that…”

Fliss laughed, placing her wine glass down and shifting so that she was led on her front, half on-half off Frank, looking up at him as her chin rest on his chest.

“On a scale of 1 to 10 how much of a meltdown are we facing with Mary on tomorrow morning?”

“From her current mood I’d suspect a good 4 and a half, maybe a 5.” he mused, before he looked at Fliss “I don’t much care, she’s going whether she wants to or not.” “When do the University Classes start again?”

“Not till second week in October.”  Frank replied “Which reminds me, I need to submit that funding form tomorrow…” “It’s on the table.” Fliss said, as she correctly guessed from the look on his face he was pondering where he had put it.”

“What would I do without you?” he grinned down at her.

“I have absolutely no idea.” she shrugged and he smiled and leaned down pressing a kiss to her lips.

“Did you speak to Evelyn before?” Fliss asked him and he nodded.

“She’s coming down this weekend.” Frank said, “She’s still on about Mary going to Boston for a weekend.” “You still not comfortable about her going?” Fliss asked.

Frank wrinkled his nose “I don’t know if I trust her fully yet.” “You’ll never know you can unless you give her a chance.” Fliss reasoned

“You think I should let her go?” Frank said, slightly surprised.

“That’s not my decision to make, Frank” Fliss shook her head.

“No, but I value your opinion.” Frank looked at her. “Go on, tell me what you think.” Fliss hesitated for a moment before she sat up and turned her body so she was facing him, her legs tucked underneath her on the sofa. “If it was me in your position, I’d give Evelyn a chance. She’s played ball so far, done everything you’ve asked her to. You’ve got legal guardianship of Mary so she can’t pull any stupid stunts, and if Mary comes back and tells you something she did that you don’t like, well, you cut the visits.” Frank looked at Fliss before he took another drink from his beer bottle. He was torn in two. In one respect he wanted Mary to be happy and it certainly seemed that she enjoyed seeing Evelyn, but on flip side he was still more than comfortable with keeping his Mother at arm’s length.

“I’ll think about it.” he shrugged, non-committedly.

“Well, you should also ask Mary.” Fliss said “She might not even want to go.” “She will.” Frank said, “Evelyn has a piano.” Fliss laughed “Yeah, but she’s also bossy, remember?”

“Yeah, I had heard that.” Frank said, and Fliss chuckled again.

“Well, can you not think about it right now?” she said, taking the beer bottle out of his hand.

“Hey…” he pouted as she put it down on the table, his pout soon turned into a smirk as Fliss moved so she was straddling him on the sofa, his t-shirt that she’d been lounging around in rode up her thighs slightly and his hands rubbed up the side of her bare skin. “Something on your mind baby girl?”

“What makes you think that?” she asked, sliding her hands up his chest, over the soft material of his top.

“Just a hunch…” he mumbled, as he reached up and gently gripped the back of her neck, pulling her head down to meet his.

****** “Hey Frank…”

Frank looked up and smiled at Alan as he walked into the work shop.

“Hey Alan, not seen you in a while, how you doing?” “Good…I’m good. I was just wondering if I could have a word in my office.”

“Sure.” Frank frowned “Is err, everything ok?” “Oh, yeah, it’s nothing to worry about…quite the opposite in fact…” “Alright, well me just finish piecing this oil filter together and I’ll be with you.”

“Sure.” Alan said, “No rush.”

Frank quickly tightened the filter back up, gave it the once over before he set down his tools and hopped off the boat, wiping his hands on a rag before he walked through the door at the back of the workshop and down the small corridor that led to the main office at the rear of the shop. He knocked sharply on the door and then swung it open as Alan looked at him, gesturing for him to take a seat whilst he finished up his call. Eventually, he bid the person on the other end good bye and placed the receiver down.

“Relax, Frank…” Alan chuckled as Frank adjusted his jeans for what felt like the 30th time since sitting down.

“Sorry.” Frank nodded, scratching at his temple. “So errr, do you need me to do something or...” “In a manner of speaking, yes.” Alan said “As you know Paul is retiring at the end of the year, which means the Head Mechanic role is up for grabs…and I was wondering if you’d be interesting in taking the position.” “Me?” Frank’s eyes widened slightly

Alan nodded “I know in the grand scheme of things you haven’t been here long but you’ve impressed me, just like Bill said you would. You knuckle down, you do the overtime if needed, you don’t complain…I like you Frank, and the team does to.” “I err…” Frank scratched the back of his neck. “I’m flattered…but I’ve never managed a team before or…”

“You were an Assistant Professor at one stage right?” Alan eyed him and Frank sighed, nodding “You must have had a research team…” “Yeah, but…” “It’s no different.” Alan shook his head, “And I’m here to help and give you some guidance. I’m not quite ready to retire fully yet. Not like Bill, only so much golf I can play before I go fucking nuts.” Frank snorted “Yeah, not gonna lie, it’s not my thing…” Alan looked at him “The duties won’t be that much different Frank. You’ll just be in charge of booking the jobs in, allocating them to the guys, keeping on top of deadlines and general management of the team…means a little less time spent actually getting your hands dirty but…well, you can manage that yourself. You wanna take a job you take it.”

“Can I take a bit of time to think it over?” he asked.

“Sure. Take a few days, let me know. I’d like to have whoever is taking over in a position to start the handover by the beginning of October if possible so…” “Thanks.” Frank nodded “I’ll give it some thought.” “Oh, and it also comes with a Ten thou a year raise…” Alan casually dropped in as Frank stood up “Plus a bonus each year of up to 20 percent, depending on how well you’ve done on your targets” “Just a minor detail you forgot to tell me.” Frank arched an eyebrow.

“Well, I wanted to make sure you’d consider it for the right reasons not merely the financial incentive.” Alan shrugged “Another reason I’m convinced you’re perfect for the job.” Frank nodded and with that he left the office. Given that it was almost lunch time he took his break 15 or so minutes earlier and headed out into the September sun, pulling out his phone.

“Hey Sailor.” Fliss greeted him.

“Hey Cowgirl.” he smiled, leaning against the hood of his truck sipping a bottle of water “You got a sec.” “For you, always. What’s up?”

“Nothing, nothing bad anyway…I just got offered a promotion.”

“Frankie that’s amazing!” She gushed “You sound surprised though.” “I am, a little.” he said, before he launched into an explanation of what Alan had told him and what the job would entail, plus the financial incentives.

“Wow!” she said as he finished talking “Baby, that’s fantastic. I’m so proud of you!”

Frank felt himself blushing at her praise, and despite the fact he couldn’t even see her he rubbed at his neck slightly. “So, you think I should take it?” “Of course I do.” she said eagerly “But at the same time, if you don’t want to then…you don’t have to. This is a great position to be in honey, Alan’s clearly seen your potential.”

“Just not sure If I’m cut out to be management.” he said, biting his lip.

“I had the same thoughts about my business you know.” she spoke gently “I wasn’t sure if setting up on my own after everything that happened was gonna work but then Dad told me that I’d never know unless I took the plunge. Have a little faith in yourself. The only person who doubts your capability is you.”

Frank smiles at her words and looked up and out over the Marina “You always know exactly what to say.” “Not really, I make most of it up as a go along.” she said and Frank laughed. “But, just think, with the extra money you can get a new car…” “There’s nothing wrong with my truck.” “Frank, it’s died on you 4 times in the last 2 weeks. Dad reckons his ride on lawnmower has more power under the hood than that thing”

“Ok, I’ll admit…she’s getting a little clunky…but she is into her twenties now….” Fliss snorted “You could get yourself a nice Audi…”

“Fuck off.” Frank said and she laughed

“I like Simon’s car…” “You like it so much you get one.”

“Would never fit Thor in the back.” she said and Frank had to concede she had a point “But now you’re freelancing…you don’t actually need a truck do you?” “No, but…it’s handy…” “Handy, baby it only has 3 seats…” “And a flatbed…” Frank pouted slihglty. “So get one with 5 seats.” she shrugged. “You can buy trucks with a full cab…”

“This is not a good enough reason to get me to take the promotion…”

“You want a better reason?” She said. “Ok, well here’s some food for thought…when the lease is up on our place maybe we could look into buying. You know I don’t wanna rent forever, I want us to have something for the future that’s ours, and the extra money you get a year would make a difference in what we can borrow towards it.” And just like that, as always, she’d managed to sideswipe him. He’d be lying if he hadn’t considered getting back on the property market, he had savings after all…but he’d given it no more thought than a fleeting idea every now and then when he drove past places with real estate signs in the front yards

“This mean you’re coming round to the idea of marrying me and having baby Franks and Flisses?” he teased She snorted “You’re such a dick…although that’s the only time you’ve ever mentioned that when you’re sober.” “So you’re saying that if I ask you when I’m not drunk you’d say yes?” he teased. “Goodbye Frank…” She teased in an airy voice, before she cut the call.

Chuckling to himself he slid the phone back into his pocket and headed back inside to grab his lunch from the fridge in the kitchen. As he did so he passed Alan who was heading out with a fresh cup of coffee.

“Oh, erm…Alan…” Frank looked at him. “So, turns out I don’t need as much time to think about it as I thought I did. I’ll take the job.” Alan smiled at him and pat him on the shoulder “Good man. I’ll get the wheels in motion and then we can work out how we start to transfer Paul’s responsibilities over.”

Frank nodded at him as he walked off.

“Oh…” Alan said, “We’ll also need to pick your car.”

“My car…” Frank frowned.

“Yeah, did I not mention? Paul’s BM…that’s a company car. I’m gonna let him keep it as a retirement present so we’ll need to order you another one. Not least because I don’t want my Head Mechanic driving around in that heap of shit you have. Looks like we don’t pay you enough…” Frank stood there, eyebrows raised as Alan simply smirked at him and left. Shaking his head, he gave a little groan, already imagining Fliss’ face when he told her.

*****

Fliss had reacted exactly how he had thought she would, laughing hysterically and then teasing him about how he had no alternative now than to get rid of the heap of shit he was ridiculously attached to. She’d then spent the evening looking at cars on her phone, showing him ridiculously pimped out vehicles in various vile colours, the final straw being a hot-rod red Mustang with gold rims and flames painted down the side. At that point he’d snatched the phone out of her hand, grabbed her hips and pulled her down under him on the couch and given her something else to think about for half an hour or so.

September ticked by, in the usual speed by which time seemed to be flying for Frank and he found himself thrown into his job, soaking up Paul’s experience of managing the team as much as he could. He was also extremely grateful for both Fliss and Bill’s input, both of them having dealt with managing staff and rotas so he was able to ask them both questions as well. Naturally, when V heard about it she insisted on cooking him a special dinner, and even Evelyn presented him with a very nice bottle of Scotch when she came to visit as a Congratulations.

Another bit of good news for them was that once Fliss changed her phone number the calls stopped as well. Frank was glad about that, because it meant that once again they’d thwarted the ass holes attempts to intimidate her. She’d made a blog, however, of every call she had gotten which now sat in Greg’s files along with the Card. Just in case.

Nope, on the whole life seemed to be going well for the pair of them.

“Someone’s looking smug…” Greg teased Frank as he leaned back in the chair around Greg’s large outdoor table. It was a Saturday at the start of October and they’d finally got round to having that cook out and gathering that the Circle of Truth had been attempting to organise round everyone’s schedule for the last 3 months.

“Well, you know…life’s pretty good.” Frank smiled, sipping his beer, his eyes straying to Fliss who was stood around the bar area to the right of the garden with Bonnie, Zara and Lisa. She was dressed in a simple pair of jeans and a tie-died off the shoulder sweater but as usual, she looked stunning.

“You got a ring yet?” Jake asked, dropping down into a seat next to him.

“Oh don’t you start as well.” Frank groaned as Simon and Greg both laughed. “We’re happy as we are…besides, we’ve not even been together a year yet…” “Not far off.” Jake shrugged “Man, when you know you know…” “He’s just scared she’ll say no.” Simon teased. Frank stilled for a moment and then turned to glare at the man. “Shit, you are?” Simon frowned “No, not especially but…” Frank shook his head, trying to find the words to explain “I’m absolutely, totally convinced I want to spend the rest of my life with her, and I know she feels the same but…well she’s been married before and I don’t want to ask until I know she’s ready to do it again.”

Greg looked at him, nodding “I get that.”

“That’s gotta be the most grown up think you’ve ever said…” Jake looked at Frank who flipped him off but deep down he had to admit, it wasn’t wrong. He knew that both he and Fliss had come a long way from the people they had been just over 14 months ago when they had first met. Fliss had come alive, flourished even in herself, and he…well, he’d learnt that there was more to life than a meaningless cycle of one night stands and that flying by the seat of his pants wasn’t always the most productive thing to do. Both of them had been broken in their own way, had their own guards and walls around themselves which the other had managed to smash straight through. He stole another glance at Fliss and smiled, he knew there was no other woman for him, but in the same breath…what was the rush? They had a life time. And a ring and a piece of paper wasn’t going to change any of that.

“Man you grew up…” Simon said, and Frank rolled his eyes.

“Look, I’ll have you know I’ve brought up a kid since the age of 6 months…all this shit about me being a man child…It’s crap…”

“Whatever man…we all know you’re not a grown up until you have scatter cushions on your sofa…” Simon teased, referencing the previous week when he and Bonnie had come over for drinks and Fliss and Frank had had a jokey argument about the cushions on the sofa. Frank threw his head back in a huge bout of laugher, shaking his head.

“Fuck you!” he said, looking at him as Simon grinned.

“Anyway, man…speaking of weddings…” Greg turned to Jake “You’ve been engaged for what? like 3 years now…when you gonna set a date?”

“He has a point…” Simon looked at him.

“Well, you can all shut the fuck up because for your information we have.”

“Shut the front door!” Greg grinned

Jake nodded and took a large mouthful of his beer.

“So you gonna tell any of us or…” Jake glanced over at Lisa before he yelled her name and she looked over at him, the other women also looking up.

“Can we tell them now babe?” he called. Lisa grinned and nodded, and then made her way over followed by Zara. Fliss looked at Bonnie who shrugged, and the two of them picked up their drinks and followed.

Fliss perched on Frank’s knee and he slid one hand round her waist the other dropped to her thigh.

“So, we have set a date for the wedding.” Lisa smiled to a huge shriek from Zara. Frank spotted Fliss looking at Bonnie, the two of them sharing a significant smirk and he squeezed her thigh.

“Stop being a bitch.” he said in a low voice.

“Rude…” she mumbled, grinning into her gin.

“6th April next year…” Jake grinned. “At Hardemans Secret Garden in Dover, Tampa.” “Well unless you invented a time machine, it ain’t gonna be this year is it?” Simon looked at him, before he gave a yell as Bonnie slapped him round the back of the head.

“Obviously you’re all invited.” Jake said, “Except for Simon.” “Hang on, if he isn’t coming does that mean I can’t?” Bonnie pouted.

“You can be my plus one.” Fliss nodded.

“Oi…” Frank said, nipping her thigh gently. She grinned at him, ruffling his hair slightly. He jerked his head out of her reach and looked at her over his aviators. She stuck her tongue out at him and he grinned.

“Guys this is great news…” Greg said, nodding “Best dig the suit out.” “You wear a suit to work every day.” Zara looked at him.

“And you won’t need to.” Jake shook his head. “In fact none of you will…my brother is best man, obviously, but I’d like you guys there as my Groomsmen…that is, if you’re up for it.” Frank smiled at Greg, then Simon before they all shrugged.

“Yeah, I’m in…” Greg smiled,

“Me too pal, I’m honoured.” Frank smiled, tipping his beer bottle in Jake’s direction.

“Does this mean we get to plan the Batchelor party?” Simon asked. Jake nodded with a grin and Simon leaned back “Oh this is gonna be beautiful….”

***** “You’re fucking mental.” Frank looked at Fliss as she shrugged, circling Cap back round to the jump which Joanne had just hiked up another foot. He shook his head and turned away “I can’t watch.” “Don’t’ be a chicken Frank.” Mary grinned up at him, “It’s cool…I wanna do that some day.” “Over my dead body.” Frank looked down at her.

“Yeah you said that about me going to Boston…” “No, that’s not what I said.” Frank sighed, looking at her “I said over my dead body were you going to live with Evelyn….and did you?” “No…” Mary conceded “But you’re letting me go back for a weekend.”

“Yes, because you’re going for 2 nights and coming home” he said, and despite himself he turned his head to see Fliss sail Cap over the huge jump.

“See….” Fliss said, pulling the horse up to a stop “Easy…” “Whatever you say sweetheart.” he shook his head.

“Can I jump Monty soon?” Mary asked, and Fliss smiled.

“Yeah we can do a little cross pole…” “I give in…” Frank groaned, throwing his hands out to the side “The pair of you are nuts…”

“Says the guy who almost cried when he had to order a new car.” Fliss looked at him and Frank rolled his eyes “I mean who does that?” “Yeah Frank…” Mary said, swinging off the fence to the paddock, leaning back to look at him. “You get to swap a rust bucket for a shiny new Mitsubishi  truck and you were like heartbroken.” “Hey, me and that truck have seen a lot of action-“

“I don’t wanna know…” Fliss started.

“Of which you’ve been part of…” he smirked her and she flushed a little, grinning. “I’m kinda attached to it.” “It’s a lump of metal.” Fliss looked at him.

“How dare you.” Frank scoffed, feigning offence.

“Well now you can have new adventures in the new truck.” Mary shrugged “Simples.” “When you do get it I vote the first thing we do is load it up and head off for a picnic somewhere.” Fliss said, hopping off Cap.

“I can go with that.” Frank nodded as she turned and walked towards the gate, letting her out.

“Can I take him?” Mary asked, hopping down off the fence.

“Sure…” Fliss said, handing her the reins. Mary led the horse away to the barn as Fliss removed her hat and pulled out her bobble, shaking her long hair free before she tied it back up again.

“I really do like it that colour.” Frank mused after a second, watching her. She blushed a little, and he knew why. A week ago she’d come back from the salon, her usually bright auburn hair was a lot more demure, having had caramel and dark brown put through it. When Frank had complimented her on the change she’d gotten a little shy and said that she used to have it like that when she was younger, but upon splitting with John had decided she wanted a completely different look. Now she felt like she wanted to go back to who she was, not needing to put that distance between her and her past anymore. Her admission had once again, knocked him for 6, how simple little things like that were so huge for her. He was also beyond happy she felt like that too.

She pulled off her riding gloves, shoved them into her back pocket and they walked into the barn as Mary opened Cap’s stable and led him inside. As always, the large horse bowed his head gently to allow Mary to undo his bridle and Fliss smiled. Cap was secretly her favourite after Heidi. He was such a loving animal, despite his size always being so gentle and careful around people, especially Mary. Most animals were like that around her, she just had this aura that they seemed to like. But then again, everyone said that animals were a good judge of character.

“Can we go to the shack for dinner?” Mary spoke up, looking at Frank “It is Saturday…”

“Oh, I dunno…” Frank sighed, “Not sure my heap of shit truck will get us there.” “No but Fliss’ jeep will.” Mary shrugged and Frank shook his head with a snort.

“You literally have an answer for everything.”

“Wonder where she gets that from…” Fliss looked at him and he nudged her gently with his elbow.

“So can we go or not?”

“Yes, ok we can go to the shack.” Frank said “But the deal is you tidy your room when you get home. It’s a disgrace.” Mary pondered this for a moment as Fliss undid the girth on Cap’s saddle, pulling it off.

“Deal.” she nodded “Only Fliss said she was gonna help me sort my clothes out…some of them don’t fit anymore.”

“Yeah we do that tomorrow morning.” Fliss smiled, “Then we can look at ordering you some warm stuff for New York.” “oooh yeah, are we still getting matching sweaters when we get there?” “No.” Frank said, at the same time Fliss nodded.

“Yes.” “No, we’re not.” Frank looked at her.

“Errr 2 vs 1 Sailor, you’re outvoted.” she shrugged, pushing past him with the saddle on her arms. “But if you’re a good boy we’ll let you pick them right Mary?” “I dunno.” Mary frowned “Have you seen his shirts?” Fliss let out a roar of laughter and turned to face her, before she looked at Frank, laughing even harder at the pure indignation on his face.

“I hate you both.” he said sullenly, folding his arms.

The Shack was busy by the time they arrived but given that it wasn’t too cold they managed to find a small table outside and ordered their food, Mary getting through an astonishing amount considering but the Frank had noticed she was going through a bit of a growth spurt which he mentioned to Fliss when they were snuggled up on the sofa later.

“Not sure getting her any stuff for New York yet is wise.” he mused “If she carries on like she is it won’t fit her.”

“Well we can wait…Fliss said shrugging, her hand rubbing at Frank’s stomach under his shirt. “You have no idea how excited I am…” “Really?” Frank snorted “You never mentioned it.” “Oh piss off” she laughed, before she sighed happily “It’s the one thing I miss about home and Boston…you know this time of year the leaves would be changing colour and falling,…”

“I know what you mean.” he said, his hands carding through her hair “You don’t really Seasons here.”

“Well you do…” Fliss said, “Hurricane and Summer.” Frank let out a laugh as she looked up at him. “You know you’re my hurricane.”

“What?” he looked at her

“Came into my life, blew it all upside down…” “Jesus you talk some shit!” he laughed, shaking his head as she grinned.

“You know there was actually a hurricane Frank back in 2010.” she said “So I’m not talking complete shit…” “Whatever Sweetheart…” he snorted, leaning back as her nails scratched against his skin. He gave a twitch and grabbed her wrist, and looked down at her as she flashed him a coy look. “Stop it.”

“What, this?” she moved and used her other hand, and Frank let out a hiss as he shifted and grabbed that one too.

“You know what that does to me…” he looked at her, his voice low.

“Yup.” she nodded, grinning.

With a jerk of his arms he pulled her forward so she fell onto him fully, drawing a giggle from her as her nose bumped against his.

“I fuckin’ love you.” he smiled at her, and she grinned, giving him a soft kiss.

“Yeah, you’ve told me once or twice…” she smirked, her lips locking onto his.

******

“Fliss?”

“Office…” she called back, and a second or so later Joanne popped her head into the room.

“Everything’s done.” she said, “I was gonna lock up…you’re not normally here this late.”

“Yeah I know but I have some paper work to sort. Need to file a couple of things and, well, thought it would be easier to do it here than take everything home. Frank’s taken Mary bowling so…” “And you’d rather be here doing paper work?” Joanne teased.

“Sadly, it needs doing…besides, last time we went I kicked his ass, again, he sulked for hours.” Fliss snorted “Maybe he stands more of a chance against Mary.”

“Won’t he let her win?” Joanne asked “I mean, she is only 8…”

“Have you met Frank?” Fliss looked at Jo. “He says that she needs reminding every now and then that she’s not a genius at everything…” Joanne let out a laugh “Fair enough. Ok, well I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah, by Jo…”

Fliss set about getting to work, filing the various bills and disclaimers she’d had signed and started then sifting through the list of clients and payments, checking who owed what and typing out the bills for the month. Once they were printed and placed in envelopes, ready to be tacked to the stable doors in the morning she glanced at the clock and realised it was almost 8 pm.  Frank and Mary should be home now.

She was just about to pack up when she realised she hadn’t gone through the post for the day. For a second she debated leaving it for the morning, but decided she would get it over with. There wasn’t much- mostly a couple of letters from various equestrian societies around the area about a few events going on, but the last one she reached was a manila envelope with the address typed out on the front.

She turned it over, opened it and then pulled out the contents and immediately felt her blood run cold as she looked at the paper in front of her. It was a copy of the photo of her and Mary, taken from the first Blog that Mary had written over the summer. Underneath it was typed a simple message- I always knew you’d suit motherhood.

Fliss swallowed, it didn’t take a genius to work out who it was from but for the first time since his ridiculous campaign now she was actually frightened as to the meaning behind this. Up until now it he’d been nothing more than annoying but this was designed to be more than an aggravation.

It was a threat. A direct threat telling her he knew about Mary.

Whilst Fliss wasn’t Mary’s mother, and would never claim to be she loved that girl like she was her own and the fact that John was even brining her into this made her feel physically sick, so much so that she felt the bile rising in her throat and with a sharp heave she lurched to the side, grabbing the waste paper basket and hocking up the bitter substance. Coughing she wiped the back of her mouth with a shaking hand, reaching for the bottle of water on her desk.

She folded the photo up and stuck it back in the envelope, shoving it in the drawer before she stood up and locked her office, heading to her jeep. Her mind was reeling, now it wasn’t just her he was focussing on, this changed everything. Did she tell Frank? She knew she should, she couldn’t leave Mary in danger. Not that she believed any harm would come to her, not really, especially not under Frank’s care but that was another worry she had. That if she told Frank this, it was really going to push him over that edge into blind rage, and he’d been on the first plane out to Boston, hunting the fucker down…and then what?

He ended up in jail himself because Fliss knew Frank well enough to understand that if that blind rage took hold, he wouldn’t stop.

She had no answer to this, nothing. She sat in her jeep, staring out of the window, trying to force the thoughts and mumbles and voices in her heat to quiet, so she could think clearly, get some form of grasp on what it was she needed to do. And then one voice was screamed at her, clearly, giving her a solution…the only one she could viably see working.

With a loud sob, Fliss covered her face in her hands, unable to see an alternative to the decision she had just reached. A decision that was going to break her heart more than anything had ever done before.

******

“Hey, you’re late…”  Frank looked up, immediately frowning as he saw Fliss’ face. “Honey…what…” “Where’s Mary?” she asked instantly.

“She nipped to Roberta’s” Frank said “I know it’s late but we saw her as we were headed out of the car and she wanted to collect something for Show and Tell tomorrow…why?”

“We need to talk.” Fliss said.

Frank stood up off the sofa and walked towards her, he reached for her and she took a step back.

“Ok, Fliss, you’re scaring me now…what…”

“I think…” Fliss looked down at her hands “I think that we need to stop seeing each other.” Frank blinked, not sure he had heard her right, but when he looked at her he saw a tear trickling down her face and she was avoiding his gaze. The world around him began to fade and a dull buzzing filled his head and rang around his ears as a horrible cold feeling washed over him.

“Lissy…” he swallowed, his words sticking in his throat “What’s brought this on? Did I do something? Are you not happy? I don’t understand…” “I just…it isn’t working for me…” she said, taking a deep breath and looking up at him. “You’re lying.” he said instantly, he could see it written all over her face “Fliss, what’s going on?” “Nothing, I’m sorry. I just…I need to leave, I need space.” she said “I’m so sorry Frank…” Frank took a deep breath, and watched as she turned to leave. After a second he hurried after her into the hallway, shaking his head.

“Lissy, please…talk to me…” he all but begged as she walked to the door. She made to open it but Frank was behind her and placed his hand firmly on the top of the PVC, causing it to shut. She spun round and looked up at him, the tears now pouring down her face.

“Please, Frank…don’t make this any harder than it is…” her voice was broken, and she shook her head. “I don’t understand what THIS is?” he looked at her, running a hand through his hair as he felt the stinging of tears in his own eyes “Last month we were talking about buying a house together and now you just wanna break it off, for no reason? Baby, just…whatever is going on, we can work through it, just talk to me.”

“I’m so sorry…” she whispered, “Just…let me out…please…”

He looked at her again, her eyes bouncing across his and he knew instantly he couldn’t stop her, and would never do that to her either, no matter how much he so desperately wanted to lock the door and force her to tell him what the fuck was going on. So with a sniff he forced himself to step back and her hand went to the door knob, her shoulders shaking.

“Liss, please…” he said, his voice cracking. “Don’t do this…”

She took a deep breath and opened the door, the warm air from outside hit him in the face before the click of the latch hit his ears as the door shut behind her, leaving him stood alone in the hallway, stunned and utterly, utterly broken.

[mallmarrdlc]

‘I’m so glad it’s all over now.’ Rapunzel sighed. She and Eugene have just returned to their bedroom to rest in peace.

‘Yes. It was... the longest three days of my life.’ Eugene shook his head lightly. ‘I never expected things to go so bad. I should have been better prepared. The Gallaghers are known for their cunning.’

‘I can’t believe you were really going to marry her.’ Rapunzel looked into Eugene’s eyes and the man couldn’t figure out the emotions behind her gaze.

‘I’m sorry, Rapunzel. I know I should have mentioned her before. But I never thought our paths would cross ever again. I’ve managed to evade that family for so long that I forgot they never stopped searching for me.’ Eugene grabbed Rapunzel’s hands and placed a kiss on both of them. ‘What I’ve said in the basement was true, though. You are the only one that I love. Nothing could ever change the way I feel about you, blondie.’

‘I know that, Eugene.’ Rapunzel’s voice was tender, her gaze loving. ‘But I was so scared that I might lose you. I don’t want to feel that way again. Ever.’

‘I know, darling. You won’t. I promise you that.’

‘You can’t make such a promise.’ Rapunzel shook her head lightly and freed her hands from Eugene’s hold. ‘But there is one thing that we can do to ensure that you’ll never have to marry another woman.’

That statement made Eugene frown. For a while, he had no idea what his girlfriend was talking about. Until she showed him what she held in her palms.

‘Eugene Fitzherbert, do you promise to always stay mine and will you...’ Rapunzel pulled out a ring. ‘-marry me?’

‘Oh, Rapunzel...’ Eugene was speechless. ‘I- I am... in shock.’ he gasped. ‘I- I can’t.’

‘What? Why?’ Rapunzel’s face dropped. That wasn’t a response she’d expected.

‘Blondie, I promised to give you time and I intend to keep that promise. I don’t want you to marry me because you’re afraid something might tear us apart. I want you to marry me when you feel 100% ready for it and I know that it’s not just yet.’ Eugene explained, tenderly.

‘I love you, Eugene. I want to be with you.’ Rapunzel insisted.

‘But you are with me. That’s not going to change. Ever. The right time for engagement will come sooner or later.’ Eugene smiled and pulled Rapunzel in for a hug.

[crossovereddie]

Thoughts on S10xE12: THE WEDDING

Okay so y’all know how this is gonna go. A lot of tears. A lot of screaming via caps lock. And of course it wouldn’t be complete without a lot of “I LOVE YOU SO MUCH” and pet names for Mickey. Enjoy. 

Let’s get non related gallavich things out of the way because I don’t wanna finish this on a downer

I actually love Liam/Frank scenes

Debbie finally getting what she deserves? Good

Tami is a fucking bitch

Entitled little brat

You won’t change my mind about this

Don’t even try defending her

You NEVER use someone’s child against them.

Don’t threaten to take Fred away then be shocked that Lip ruined his sobriety

I just kept repeating “please no” when he paused before taking that first sip

It fucking hurt so much

Lip deserves BETTER

Tami is toxic. End of. Period.

Now let’s bring up the mood!!

Liam looking at the tuxes was so cute

He’s so confused

Mickey actually chose a white tux for himself :((((((

My snow angel🥺

Everyone checking on Ian is so sweet

Carl’s toe nail clippings “you picking those up” 😂😂😂

Ian really hates that shit doesn't he

I'm so proud of him for taking his meds

GIVE ME THOSE PHOTOS

"Savings" lmao

Baby got fancy for his wedding

HIS FACE I CANT😂😂😂

They shower together :((((

“Those are nice right?”

Fashionista Mickey making another comeback

Unpopular opinion but I love seeing his Ian tattoo on his chest ON THEIR WEDDING DAY

chin touch :(

So soft. So sweet.

THE WAY IAN GRABS HIM YES BITCH

THE GRUNT 🤤🤤🤤

HEIGHT DIFFERENCE FUCK

MICKEY IS T I N Y!!!!

TOWEL

NECK KISS

FUCK

I fucking hate terry

I need him dead because my baby isn’t safe until he is

His little “what?” 😩

HE DESERVES SO MUCH BETTER

GET HIM BABY

But like don’t because I need you free

Can sandy poison terry or something?

Sandy 😂😂

This scene was sad because my poor baby but so early shameless I love it

Carl and the beer trilogy 😂😂😂

“I don’t wanna get married where my shoes stick to the floor”

GIVE THE PRINCE HIS ROYAL WEDDING

The spinal cord line 😂😂😂

Mickey’s a Gallagher I don’t care what their last name is

HERE COME THE TEARS AGAIN

“Why is Mickey handcuffed?”

“Terry fucking wins again” NO BABY

MY FUCKING HEART

ILL GIVE YOU ALL THE HALLOWEEN CANDY TO FILL YOUR LITTLE TUMMY BABY BOY

I WANNA BUY YOU ALL THE CHRISTMAS GIFTS YOU WANT

LET ME ADOPT YOU

IM SO FUCKING SAD FOR HIM

HE DESERVES SO MUCH BETTER

“I love you. I love you” 😭😭😭😭😭

“This son of a bitch is never gonna let me be happy” IM SOBBING ALL OVER AGAIN

In so little words Lip really said “Mickey Milkovich deserves the wedding of his dreams and we’re gonna make it happen if it’s the last thing I do”

Did anyone else start singing Carrie Underwood when Ian said “Louisville slugger”

The Gallagher’s love Mickey so much

I LOVE MICKEY SO MUCH

IAN FUCKING LOVES MICKEY SO MUCH

“Mickey might have to marry Debbie instead of Ian”

“Nice polish boy named Michael” LMAO

I love Lip

OKAY THIS SCENE KILLED ME

The way Mickey is looking at Ian melts my heart

Again their height difference murdered me

YOU WANT KIDS?

K I D S

IAN WANTS KIDS WITH MICKEY BUT WE ALREADY KNEW THAT

FUCK HIS DREAM FROM THE ICONIC DELETED SCENE IS COMING TRUE

IF THEY DONT HAVE KIDS NEXT SEASON IM RIOTING

I like when they make fun of each other because they are literally best friends forever

THEIR SMILES

MILKOVICH

GALLAGHER

BUT WHICH ONE IS IT NOW

Ian is obsessed with holding mickey’s neck

THUMB

MY BOYS LOOK SO HANDSOME IN THEIR TUXEDOS

Mickey trying to be nice to this lady 😂😂

I LOVE HIS VOICE

They have mutual friends and I’m fond

I told y’all it’s the little things that get me

“Chiavari chairs look nice” “I like how the gold catches the light” DONE

The cake topper I NEED IT

I HATE TERRY I HATE TERRY I HATE TERRY

The lip and Ian scene made me cry again

THE SONG

IAN YOU SAP

HE LOVES MICKEY SO MUCH

As soon as I heard the first cords of the song I IMMEDIATELY bursted into sobs

IM CRYING AGAIN

MY LONELY DAYS ARE OVER 😭😭😭

Once again I’m beyond jealous of sandy

I wanna walk my baby down the aisle 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

HES SO CUTE FUCK

IM HONESTLY NOT OKAY

THE NIGHT I LOOKED AT YOU

I DIDNT KNOW THIS SONG WAS GONNA HURT SO MUCH

HEIGHT DIFFERENCE AGAIN IM SO BLESSED

It’s like even more noticeable this episode right?????

TINY AND TALL

BLACK HAIR AND RED HAIR

BLUE EYES AND GREEN EYES

WHITE TUX AND BLACK TUX

TOUGH AND SOFT

THEY COMPLIMENT EACH OTHER IN EVERY WAY POSSIBLE

Kev was so funny finally

GET HIS HOMOPHOBIC ASS GAY JESUS SQUAD

When they kept singing even after he pulled his gun I cried so hard

I’m crying again wtf

THE VOWS FUCK

TO BE MY HUSBAND

IM FULL ON UGLY CRYING I CANT EVEN SEE THE SCREEN

I IAN TAKE YOU MICKEY TO BE MY HUSBAND

FUCK THIS HURTS SO MUCH

AFTER ALL THE SHIT THEYVE BEEN THROUGH THEYRE GIVING THEMSELVES TO EACH OTHER IN THE PUREST WAY POSSIBLE

“Now?” “Yes now” HE WAS SO EAGER AND SHOCKED THAT THE LOVE OF HIS LIFE SINCE HE WAS A KID IS NOW HIS HUSBAND

We got to see the smitten lovesick Ian Gallagher from s1 again

HES NEVER STOPPED BEING SMITTEN AND LOVESICK BY MICKEY

Honestly same

Not gonna lie, seeing frank emotional made me even more emotional

MICKEYS SMILE COULD LIGHT THE WORLD

MY SON IS ACUALLY MY SUN

THE HAND HOLDING IS SO CUTE

THEYRE ACTUALLY MARRIED

HUSBANDS!!!!!

IAN SO PROUD HAVING HIS BABY ON HIS ARM

YES MICKEY IS IANS BABY FIGHT ME

IM SO FUCKING HAPPY

MICKEY DANCING IS THE CUTEST THING IVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE

“I miss mom” that hurt a lot more than I thought it ever would

I’m glad they mentioned Monica. Ian loved her so much

YOURE REALLY GONNA PLAY PERFECT RIGHT NOW FUCK YOU

“I should probably go dance with my husband” THATS YOUR HUSBAND CAN YOU BELIEVE IT

The head neck tuck 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

THE WAY THEYRE HOLDING EACH OTHER LIKE THEY NEVER WANNA LET GO

“We were just kids when we fell in love not knowing what it was I will not give you up this time” FUCK WHOEVER PICKED THIS SONG YOU WIN

I actually hate this song with a passion but suddenly I love it

LIKE THEYRE ACTUALLY SLOW DANCING

SLOW DANCING AT THEIR OWN WEDDING

IAN REALLY HAD TO DO THE NECK GRAB WITH THE THUMB RUB COMBO JUST TO KILL ME DIDNT HE

THEYRE SO IN LOVE IVE NEVER SEEN A LOVE THIS DEEP BEFORE (and I’m fucking married to the love of my life/high school sweetheart lmao)

Liam getting the car for them was the sweetest thing

He opens the car for Ian :((((

HE HOPS INTO THE CAR MY LITTLE BUNNY

Frank is genuinely happy for them and that fucks me up so much

THEY REALLY HAD TO USE RED SHEETS HUH

THEY KNEW IT WOULD FUCK US ALL UP EVEN MORE THAN WE ALREADY ARE

The soft touches are always my favorite

They make my heart flutter

“Morning Mr. Gallavich” OKAY SAY WHAT YOU WANT BUT THAT WAS ACTUALLY REALLY FUCKING CUTE

“Morning Mr......Millogher?” THE CUTENESS WONT STOP

Mickey physically cannot stop caressing Ian

THE THUMBS ALWAYS GET ME

Like I actually look for them knowing they’re gonna be doing the thumb rub

Fucking terry

BUT THEY LOOK SO CUTE COVERED IN FEATHERS

There Mickey goes again with the Ian caressing

in case you forgot: THEYRE MARRIED

HUSBANDS

I can’t believe this actually happened. They’re actually MARRIED. After everything they/we have been through....wow. I’m still in shock. I’m still crying my eyes out. Now I’m gonna go cuddle up with my husband and make him watch the episode with me since he finally has time. I’m over emotional. It’s not fair that they wait until I’m pregnant to let Mickey be happy. It’s like they enjoy my uncontrollable sobs. Leave me your thoughts! I wanna talk about this episode forever.

[gallaghervich]

Sex and The Single Guy: Part Two - The Title

Chapter One, Chapter Two:

Ian is never worse than when he hangs out with Mickey. In fact, all of vices seemed to be indulged when he was around; sex, smoking, drinking, recreational drug use. Not necessarily in that order. Like right now, they were sitting across from each other in a seedy Chinese restaurant. Though it was about to be eleven, Mickey had just left work. Though he ostensibly set his own hours, he was working twelve hour days, six days a week. Ian's own schedule was hectic as well and finding a time where their schedules overlapped was difficult. However, nights when they met up quickly were turning into his favorite days.

also on ao3

"How's the spring roll?" Mickey asks, drowning his chicken fried rice in sweet and sour sauce.

"Great," Ian says. "I'm doing this thing with my friend, meatless Monday, to be healthier and add more variety to my diet."

"The blond at the bar?"

"Different friend - Charles."

"I think I read about him in your column. He works in a gallery, right?"

Ian can't hide his surprise as he dips his roll in ginger sauce. "You read my column?"

"The sexy brunet millionaire is my favorite character."

Ian has the insatiable urge to kiss him. No one should be allowed to look that great in a maroon button down shirt with the accompanying  a gray tie loosened just so. His hair is showing signs of dishevelment that makes Ian want to unravel him further. As if reading his intention, Mickey finishes the rest of his drink, and motions for the waiter.

"Want to take the rest of this to go?" Mickey asks, even as he's paying for their meal.

"Yeah," Ian quickly agrees.

The walk to Mickey's condo is mercifully short, the cold New York air doing nothing to cool their libidos. Even in the elevator up to his place they can't keep their hands to themselves. Ian's mouth is latched onto Mickey's neck, the brunet's knee is pressed into Ian's groin. They practically fall out of the elevator and Ian is unabashedly grinding his erection into Mickey's ass while he fumbles with his keys.

It's his first time in Mickey's place but he barely even registers the hardwood floors and brick walls before Mickey has him pressed up against the door. He looks at Ian for a long moment before pressing their mouths together. Without hesitation, Ian slides his hand through Mickey's hair to pull them closer before using both hands to tear off his clothes. He should probably be more delicate with the designer suit but can't find it in his system to care at the moment. It's tricky to do with his eyes closed and his senses being otherwise occupied but he manages to get him to down his undershirt when Mickey pulls away, lips bruised, hair mused.

"Rug," he nods in the direction of his living room before walking into his living room.

Ian follows him,noticing for the first time a large black leather sectional, a half dozen or so boxes scattered around the large room,and a plush red rug under the largest plasma screen Ian's ever seen.

Ian's eyes turn back to Mickey who is rummaging through one of the boxes. Eventually, he resurfaces with a bottle of lube and a box of condoms.

"Get naked," he commands Ian, throwing his shit on a nearby coffee table.

"That's a pretty big box," Ian notes, pulling his shirt over his head, his coat forgotten somewhere by the door.

"We'll explore its contents another time."

By then Mickey is undressing as well. When they're both naked, they meet in the middle of the incredibly plush carpet that Ian swears is softer than his mattress. He pulls Mickey flush against him, both on their knees, and rubs their aching dicks together while sucking onto the juncture between his neck and shoulder. His hands skim over Mickey's chest, his nipples, before wrapping around their matching hard-ons.

"Fuck," Mickey bites off a groan at the sweet friction. Is this guy even real?

His own hands wrap around the sides of Ian's head to bring him closer for a kiss that's all nose bumps and teeth and wrestling tongues. He pulls them down slowly on the rug, his head eventually resting on the carpet. Ian mouths at his ear lobe and neck, still grinding them together.  

"Stop," Mickey says softly, planting a hand on Ian's chest and pushing  him softly but firmly off of him. "I'm not going to bust my nut like some teenager from frottage."

"How are you going to come then?" Ian asks, already reaching for the lubricant and a rubber.

Mickey chooses not to answer but watches Ian smears it on his fingers before unceremoniously pushing two fingers into him.

Mickey lets out a moan he'll deny later as Ian moves him onto his side and begins to stretch him. Ian runs his free hand down Mickey's side before finding his hand lacing their fingers together. He feels Mickey clench around his fingers and hand as he finds his sweet spot. He tortures him like that for awhile before removing his hand to coat himself with a condom. His erection teases against Mickey's entrance.

"Like this?" Ian asks rhetorically as he spoons Mickey. He enters slowly, finding Mickey's hand again.

"Yeah, like that," Mickey whispers, rocking slowly against Ian, who meets him thrust for thrust.

Ian hooks a leg over Mickey's for leverage as his pace begins to quicken. Their joined hands rest over Mickey's heart and he uses it to hold Mickey close to him. His cock was weeping from neglect and Mickey stealthily wrapped his free hand around it.

"You close?" Ian asks. Mickey can't talk with the embarrassing moans being wrenched from him, so instead he nods as his hand blurs around his own dick.

Ian pushes away Mickey's hand in favor of his own just as Ian finds his prostate again. A few thrusts aimed at that magical spot and Mickey climaxes over Ian's hand. Ian's own rhythm falters as he empties himself.

Eventually they make their way back to Mickey's California King Bed. The older man expertly rolls a joint and holds it up for inspection.

"Work of art," he announces, lighting it and making his way over to Ian who is mindlessly going through his Netflix

"Michael Milkovich," Ian smirks, "real estate developer, power bottom, and Pablo Picasso of blunts. Interesting resume you have there."

"You forgot my business degree."

Mickey takes a long drag of the roach before passing it to Ian.

"You are awful for me," Ian utters around the joint. "Up for heading to the gym tomorrow?"

"Can't. We're breaking ground on the new place in the Bronx . It's the first project I'm heading up by myself and it'll look bad if I'm not there."

Ian presses play on an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. "The Bronx?"

"I love the Bronx, man. So what exactly do you do all day?"

Ian turns away from a particularly angst filled Buffy and Angel kiss to look sideways at Mickey.

"Excuse me?" Ian asks, more than a little offended.

"I mean you have the column..."

"The nationally syndicated column, yes. In addition to the freelance work I do at Cosmopolitan and the events I attend, I'm working on a novel."

That gets Mickey's attention. "Novel?"

"Yeah, well, I don't want to write about prostate orgasms forever. I just finished a story about a man who returns to his father's old fishing cabin after he dies and... you don't care."

Ian shrugs it off, turning his attention to Buffy's ruined surprise party. He doesn't know why he mentioned it all. The novel is something he only told Mark about, his best friend, after he admitted his fear about a cat eating his face off if he ever choked on takeout. Not a particular high of their friendship,  Ian has to admit.

"Ian Gallagher: sex columnist, service top, and author of the Next Great American Novel," Mickey grounds out the joint and reaches for Ian. "That's, uh, real versatile resume you have."

"You forgot my writing degree," Ian sighs as Mickey straddles him.

"Is it just sex?" Sam asks, picking up speed on the cycling machine.

"Don't know," Ian answers evasively.

"Is he your boyfriend?" Charles ponders, making the most of the Stairmaster.

"What? No."

"Have you guys even had a conservation?" Mark sits up from his crunches to look at Ian.

For his part, Ian stares at the panel on his treadmill as his three closest friends interrogate him about the nature of his relationship with Mickey. Charlie, the most conservative of the bunch, had already berated Ian about sleeping with Mickey minutes into their date.

"You have all ready cornered yourself as a sex buddy," Charles lectures him.

"So it is just sex?" Sam confirms. "He looks like he'd be great in bed. All pushy and demanding. If you weren't fucking him..."

"We're in public."

Sam merely rolls his eyes. "If you weren't, I would try to be.

Ian doesn't think it's just sex. Yes, they've only been out a handful times that usually ends with Mickey bent over the nearest surface. If their relationship was purely physical would Mickey read his column enough to know about his friends or would Ian have told him about his novel? There's definitely something there; Ian just isn't sure how to articulate it.

Charles had something called the sixty-day rule. In accordance with the rule, he waits two months to sleep with a guy he's serious about. Sam in contrast had the sixty minute rule where he expected his conquests to make themselves scarce after an hour. I always found myself in between. Admittedly, I ended up naked in the back of a limo after all of three minutes but does that automatically qualify me for the Sex Buddy category? I guess I'd be finding out sooner or later.

[meghanmendes]

the morning after [shane & meghan]

TAGGING → Shane Gallagher & Meghan Mendes LOCATION → Shane’s apartment TIMEFRAME → Sunday, after their night out together

Meghan chugged down half the bottle in one swig, both because she was thirsty, and because she was nervous. The cold liquid ran down her throat, and it wasn't entirely pleasant, but Meghan would take that over facing what happened any day. In her rush to satiate her thirst, Meghan nearly choked when Shane confirmed that they had too much to drink ─ a bad time to make a joke. Coughing, trying to catch her breath, her eyes watered, and she laughed raggedly. "God, I don't remember anything. And the fact that I crashed here instead of some other girl... I was a poor wingwoman, huh?" She asked, tiptoeing around the real question, and took a big bite of the breakfast Shane made.

Shane pushed around the food on his plate as Meghan spoke, getting the idea that maybe she didn't really remember the extent of what happened last night and was now kind of freaking out about in case there had been more. "Yeah, your wingwoman skills kinda of failed me last night," Shane nodded, taking a bite of his omelette. "I mean, I guess I wasn't entirely complaining about it when you were kissing me, though."

Meghan was grateful that she wasn't drinking anything at the moment, because Shane would have probably ended up showered with it. Still, the bite she was chewing on almost went down the wrong pipe, and Meghan cleared her throat, biding her time. They kissed? They couldn't h─ OH MY GOD THEY KISSED. She remembered the moment, they were laughing, getting in each other's faces, she was holding onto him trying not to fall, or just looking for an excuse to touch him... They. Kissed. What did that mean, what should she do? Did they...? "Oh yeah?" She asked, raising an eyebrow in a ridiculous attempt to play it cool. "Is that all we did?"

Shane waited for the bomb to drop; for her to realize that yes, they had kissed last night. Silently, he continued eating his breakfast, watching her react, trying to keep it cool on the outside. It wasn't until her final question that he laughter broke loose. "Do you mean, did we have sex?" Shane asked, keeping her waiting for a moment. "No. No, we did not have sex."

Meghan wasn't sure what to make of his laughter. What was it supposed to mean, that yes, they had sex and it was terrible? Or they didn't but the thought of them doing it was laughable? "Right," she said, a frown forming on her forehead, not sure if she was relieved or disappointed because of it. "Why not? Seems like you got me naked anyway." She gestured at the shirt she was wearing, leaning forward with an elbow on the table, cradling her chin in the palm of her hand.

Shane raised his eyebrows; his laughter ceasing with how she leaned in with that look on her face. There was no amusement at all on her part and frankly, it made him a little nervous. His mouth turned dry at her question and he reached up to scratch the back of his head; averting his eyes. "Uh...like I said, we had a lot to drink and I didn't wanna take advantage of that."

Meghan pursed her lips, more memories from the previous night coming back to her, even some feelings. In particular, she remembered enjoying it all much more than she would be willing to admit. "Well, thank you for being a gentleman," she finally said, the smallest smile on her lips. "And for the breakfast, it's delicious." Unsure how to address what happened, Meghan stuffed another bite in her mouth, wondering what this meant. Normally, she'd say goodbye and never see the guy again, regardless of whether they had sex. But this was Shane.

Shane 's smile turned up at the corner of his lips and he nodded his head in response. He would have never taken advantage of a girl that drunk anyway but he especially didn't want to cross a line with Meghan that might have turned out to be a huge mistake. Shrugging his shoulder casually, feeling an air of awkwardness between them, he focused back down to his plate. "No problem."

Meghan: Silence grew around them again, like a black hole sucking them in, and Meghan was trying to come up with a way to fill it. The problem was that she was conflicted all on her own ─ she liked Shane, annoyingly so, but she was afraid to say or act on it in any way. He was one of the few friends she had in LA, not to mention close friends, or one that felt like... home. Finishing her breakfast, she let out a loud sigh and looked at him, clasping her hands in her lap. "So. What do we do now? Because I've never been in a situation like this before."

Shane felt as though every second that passed by filled with nothing but silence dragged on. It was so...unlike them, to be in a situation like this. Shane wracked his brain for some sort of joke or sentence to fill the silence but nothing came. Thankfully, that's when Meghan did it for him. "I, uh..." he paused, giving her an amused look. "You've never kissed a guy before? Really? I wouldn't have been able to tell judging by last night." Yes, he was teasing her, no, it probably wasn't the best time, but it just felt pretty natural to him at this point.

Meghan couldn't help the laugh that escaped her when he teased. "You know that's not what I meant," she said, stretching out her leg to playfully hit his. For a brief moment, it felt like nothing had happened and there was nothing to be awkward about. "I've kissed plenty of guys before, just none that were... well, you." She waved her hand around, like that would explain exactly what she meant by that. Already, the need to put up walls and push him away grew inside her, and Meghan had to stop herself from doing it. She grabbed her mug, and took a sip of the coffee, mulling over her thoughts.

Shane felt his smile widen at her statement; almost feeling a sense of pride wash over him at her statement. It kind of made it sound like he was different from the other guys she'd kissed. It was almost as if she'd sensed that and quickly put up this invisible wall between them to keep them at bay. Leaning on his hand, Shane leaned in a little and fluttered his eyelashes at her playfully. "I /am/ a phenomenal kisser."

Meghan rolled her eyes, nearly snorting out the coffee she had in her mouth at the moment. "You're alright," she said in an unimpressed tone. God forbid she gave him more reasons to be smug. Setting down the mug, she mirrored his movement, leaning in closer, eyeing him as a smirk started to show on her lips. "I'm starting to think you're happy last night happened. Considering your giant crush on me."

Shane didn't miss the surprise and he couldn't help but laugh. The best way to avoid turning this into a thing was to just mock it completely. Teasing her, keeping it playful. It couldn't have been a thing...right? No, no, this was something that they'd be stupid to get into. Although as Meghan began to lean in, Shane wondered why the hell it couldn't be? "Oh, my giant crush on you?" Shane repeated. "Don't you mean your giant crush on me?"

Meghan was glad that at least they seemed to be able to joke about the whole thing, with most of the awkwardness gone by now. The moment to hook up with Shane without consequences was long gone, and even just kissing would have repercussions she wasn't ready to deal with ─ like having to admit that she actually wanted something more. So the fact that they were making light of everything was more than okay with her. "No," she shook her head. "my crush /used to be/ giant. Yours has only gotten to that point recently." She was teasing, he'd never actually crush on her, not knowing what she used to be like and all her embarrassing moments ─ like the eyeliner, and the music. There was just no way.

Shane raised his eyebrows at her reply and held up his hands, almost innocently. "Whoa, whoa, whoa...hold up just one second," he piped up, narrowing his eyes towards the beautiful brunette. "Are you telling me...right here in and now...in my kitchen...where I have just graciously made you breakfast after you forgot our first. Ever. Kiss..." Shane paused dramatically for a moment; taking a deep breath. "That....your crush on me is no longer giant!?"

Meghan was startled by the shock in his voice, but quickly saw through it as playful as he went on to express his surprise. Is that what she was saying? Sure. Was it true? Not really, not as much. But could she tell him that, and ruin their friendship? She shrugged her shoulders. "I mean, I had it worse for you before." Despite her best efforts, a smile tugged at the corners of her lips. "You're deflecting, though. We were talking about your crush on me, you know, the one that won't let you forget about our first. Ever. Kiss."

Shane swiped his plate to the side out of his way so that he could fold his arms on the counter and really look at her. Maybe it was his subconscious way of literally pushing everything aside, having no barriers or anything in front of him; essentially showing he had nothing to hide. "Right, right, that's what we were talking about..." Shane nodded thoughtfully, keeping his eyes glued to Meghan's. "Well, I can only speak for myself because your memory is a little hazy but...I thought it was pretty damn good."

Meghan watched as he slid the plate aside, almost as if it were somehow in his way. The way his eyes held hers, intense and suddenly different made her nervous, and it showed in the way she chewed on her lower lip, waiting to see what would come next. It was a little scary, and it made her pull her hands in her lap, crushing her fingers in anticipation. His voice was softer, not as amused as it had been moments ago, and her toes curled around the leg of the stool she was sitting on. "That so?" She whispered, her voice barely audible, her heartbeat picking up. "Good enough to do it again?"

Shane noticed a shift in the atmosphere, suddenly everything seemed a little tense. All signs of joking fell from Meghan's features and clearly, there had been some honesty in her earlier statement when she mentioned the other guys she had kissed not being like him. The girl seemed to pull back a little and the last thing that Shane wanted to do was overwhelm her. "Good enough to do it again," he nodded confidently. "Drunk or sober. However you like it."

Meghan nodded her head to his words, as if she were mirroring her action. In reality, she was weighing all the reasons for and against doing it again, trying to decide whether it was something she should do, because she already knew she wanted to. "We've tried the drunk version once and it didn't really pan out, did it?" Meghan asked carefully. With any other guy, she'd be confident, she'd go in and get what she wanted. But with Shane she was back to being that enamored teenager who didn't know how to. At least she wasn't back to dealing with acne and her voice changing. "How about now?"

Shane felt the smile tug at his lips at her question. He knew all too well where this was heading, he just hadn't been sure if it was going to go this way. Like Meghan had said, he wasn't just anyone and these two had their own history but more than that, they had a valued friendship with one another that was all too important to gamble; yet here they were, gambling it all. "Now? Well..." Shane sighed out, pretending to check his watch (that he wasn't currently wearing). "I guess I could schedule you in real quick. I just, I can't work with all this crap being between us." He gestured to the kitchen counter as he made his way around it, trying to get to her side. "If I'm gonna kiss you sober, it's gotta have the full effect, you know? Can't be some half-assed 'oh, she wants to kiss me, better get on that' kinda thing. It needs to be big, memorable...kinda like..." Shane paused only when he reached her side; placing his hand on the back of her stool to swivel the chair towards him before his free hand slipped up the back of her neck to cradle her head as he crushed his lips down to hers; wasting absolutely no time in getting nervous, even though his heart was beating loudly in his chest.

Meghan 's heart was beating in her throat, as seconds passed and her words rang in her head. Did she really just say that? What was she thinking?! Her eyes fell to his bare wrist and she couldn't help the giddy chuckle that escaped her, nervous and amused. Honestly, she was like a school girl in love and it would have been great if she could just /stop/ already. His big speech was cut short, and Meghan's world spun around as he brought her face to face with him. There was barely a moment to appreciate everything before his hand was on her skin, sending shivers down her spine, and their lips were meshed together in a kiss long overdue (a repeat of it, anyway). At first, Meghan was frozen, not knowing what to do or how to react. Her mind screamed 'this is happening,' forgetting to send signals to her body. Eventually, her back straightened to bring her closer to Shane, and she reached for his waist with her hands, tugging him by the shirt, holding him right there. Her stool was no longer swiveling, but her world was definitely spinning with the kiss, and a giggle finally escaped her as it hit her. "I knew you had a giant crush on me, Gallagher."

Shane thought for a moment, just one tiny little moment, that maybe Meghan really wasn't into this. Maybe she'd been joking with him with her advances and that her putting this shield up was because she was too kind of a person to reject him. Maybe last night had been nothing but the result of a lot of alcohol? Then, thankfully, all of the doubts quickly disappeared the moment he felt her hands tug him closer. There'd been no misread signals or signs here and Shane had definitely made the right move. Well...at least the right move right now. Pulling away only when he felt her laugh against his lips, he kept his hands resting gently against her neck. "Oh, shut up."

Meghan snickered when he didn't find it in him to argue more on the topic, pretty much admitting to what she was accusing him of. And it felt good to think that. After all this time, Shane Gallagher was finally into her. She got to make out with him, /and/ sleep in his bed. And now she got to kiss him again. Her inner high school girl was ecstatic. "Fine, if that's what you want," her expression turned serious, and she pulled away to look at him, trying to figure out what was supposed to happen next.

Shane raised his eyebrows as she pulled away; not having expected her to do so. His hands lingered close to her face for a moment as he figured out what to do next —a position he never usually found himself in —before he tilted her chin up and pressed his lips against hers gently for a few seconds; pulling back while maintaining the eye contact. "Eat your breakfast," he smirked, brushing his thumb along the skin of her cheek before pulling back. "And if you're lucky, I might even spring for lunch later." It was a weird night that turned into a stranger day but right now Shane was just enjoying wherever the hell this thing with Meghan was taking him.

Meghan didn't see the second kiss coming, and she definitely didn't expect it to be this tender. Her eyes closed, but before she could fully appreciate it, Shane was pulling away. Her tongue brushed over her lips, almost instinctively, looking for the last taste of his lips there. The words that came from him next were even less expected than the kiss, and she laughed, her skin tingling where he touched her. "Sure thing, mom," Meghan teased, although she secretly loved every bit of his words. She took the fork in her hands again and dug back into her meal, thinking about that kiss, and what it meant for them. And how she wanted to keep doing it for a long, long time.

[tialovestelevision]

Somnamulist

Hey! It’s a Kate episode! I like Kate. 1. Person running away. Weird camera effects. Caught by guy with metal nail. Who is a vampire. Eaten. Very eaten. 2. Wait. Was Angel. But was a dream. Angel doesn’t have a metal nail. 3 Kate is investigating the woman’s death. It’s a serial killer. He drew a cross on her face with his metal nail before eating her. 4. Hey, Alexis Denisof is in the opening credits! 5. Jeremy Renner is in this one. Huh. 6. Cordy is rehearsing working with a client. Wesley has not taken a job with them, but is there to share intelligence. Everything seems quiet. Somehow, both Angel and Wesley have missed the serial killer. 7. The vampire serial killer. 8. He got the wrong mail, but the wrong mail gave him some information. He’s not giving it to Cordy though. 9. The DMV won’t give them info on a license plate because they worry Angel and Cordy might be stalking them. They should get a bloody license! 10. “Wow. You look half dead. … Which for someone who’s completely dead would be kind of neat.” 11. Angel thinks he’s fine. But he forgot he bursts into flames in sunlight. 12. Wesley is sneaking around. 13. Kate is going to help him with the license plate. She knows he’ll appreciate it. She wants to get her head out of the case. So far, the serial killer has killed a volunteer crossing guard, an 11-year-old girl, and a waitress. He kills them all the same way. 14. Kate saw him staring at the photo of the woman he dreamed about murdering. That’s the waitress. 15. Kate: “The tabloids are calling him ‘the Pope.’ Probably thinks he’s doing God’s work.” Angel: “No. Just the opposite. This is about mocking God.” 16. Angel just Batmanned away. 17. Kate is describing the killer. She’s basically describing Angel, if Evil Angel was able to take him over. 18. “What is not in question is his experience. He’s been doing this for a very long time, and he will do it again.” 19. Wesley is looking for Angel with a stake. Wesley thinks Angel has gone evil. In the late 1700s, Angelus signed his victims by carving a cross into their left cheek. Cordy doesn’t believe him and is throwing Wesley out. 20. Angel: “Cordelia. He’s right.” Cordy: “You stake him and I’ll cut his head off.” 21. Huh. Angel is being Captain Communication. He thinks he might be sleep-murdering. 22. “My glamorous LA life. I get to make the coffee and chain the boss to the bed. I should join a union.” 23. “Cordelia, I think that’s tight enough.” “If it turns out that we’re back on the liquid lunch? Better safe than cocktails.” 24. Cordy is leaving. Wes is, I think? sticking around. 25. Flashback to powdered wig days! Woman running away at night. From someone who just caught her. With a metal nail. Carved a cross in her cheek. Ate her. 26. There was another killing. Angel was chained to the bed all night. But he says he did it. Because his friend who he turned did it. He ate his sister. Now he’s going to eat his father. His name is Penn. 27. “I taught him well.” “A real Psycho-Wan Kenobi.” 28. Wesley is a Gallagher fan. 29. “You can’t walk into a police precinct with intimate knowledge of these murders and claim a 200-year-old Puritan’s responsible. You’d be locked up faster than Lady Hamilton’s virtue.” 30. Angel is worried for Kate. He’s at the precinct. 31. Angel wants to talk to Kate in private. 32. Yep. Penn is deliberately recreating murders he and Angel committed together. Angel gave Kate a picture of Penn and told her who his next victim will be. Angel also stole a police radio. 33. Penn found is victim. Police see him walking off with the victim. Cops saw Penn eating the guy, but Penn did a crazy jump and got into a building. Angel and Wesley are on their way. Kate is going into the building, though. Nobody has mentioned Penn’s impossible jump to her. Angel is climbing the gutter to get into the building. I think Wesley is going through the front door. 34. Kate found Penn. She’s threatening to shoot him And did shoot him, three times. Now she’s walking over to check the body, which is a bad idea. There should be police swarming the building now, after shots were fired. Penn just stood up. Angel came in through the roof. 35. Penn is talking to Angel about eating Kate, but now they’re fighting. Pretty sure Kate just saw Angel’s game face. Definitely seeing impossible acts of strength and agility. 36. Angel tells Kate to run away. She doesn’t. I think she just got hurt fairly badly. And definitely saw his game face. Kate just pulled her gun on Angel, and Angel basically confirmed what she knows. He’s telling her about vampires. 37. He’s burning his hand on her cross. She just smelled it. She’s not ready, but she knows. But she’s looking at really, really old archives. 38. Oh god. Penn’s in the office. Talking to Cordy. This is a bad, bad thing. 39. Wow, Cordy is telling far too much. But she figured that out and opened the blinds. 40. And Penn grabbed Wesley to get away. 41. Kate and Penn are both doing research. Angel is walking the streets. 42. Great. Kate learned about Angelus, too. She knows Angelus made Penn, too. Kate is planning to kill Angel. 43. Penn has a single building he likes to flee to. They just established that vampires can enter each other’s homes. 44. Penn has middle school bus schedules. But Angel knows that. Penn is at the precinct attacking the cops. And doing a hell of a job of it. He just got Kate. Angel’s at the precinct too, looking for a way in. Or maybe out. 45. Yep. Out. Penn is planning to turn Kate, but she had holy water. Penn is attacking Angel now. “You’re my real father, Angelus.” “Fine. You’re grounded.” 46. Kate is getting some wood. Pointy wood. While Angel and Penn fight. But Penn stopped her. Kate staked Penn through Angel’s stomach. “You missed.” “No, I didn’t.” Angel fall down. Kate fall down. 47. Angel is brooding on the roof and talking to Cordy now. Cordy had a vision. She’s giving Angel a new job. 48. “I wonder if anything ever changes.” “Sure it does. They do. You have.” 49. “People do change, Angel.” “Yes they do. And sometimes they change back. The day ever comes that I…” “Oh, I’ll kill you dead.” “Thanks.” “What are friends for?” Overall: Huh. That was good. It wasn’t one of the best episodes in the franchise, but it was hella solid, and a fun watch. I wish they’d followed up on Kate after the last fight, though what happened with Cordy and Angel there might have been more important. I really love Kate, and this was a great episode for her. She was clever and adaptable and resourceful, and just came off as a total badass. And good police. Well-done there, everyone involved.

[killingthebuddha]

A few years ago, I purchased a little nativity scene that held a tea light inside. There it sat at a local fair trade holiday sale, a surprisingly Christian symbol on a table strewn with reindeer, snowmen, the pointy shapes of evergreen trees, and other apparently more secular reminders of the holiday season.

I hesitated. I’d long since discarded, I thought, most traditional Jesus-centered observances at Christmastime. Every December my interfaith family throws open its home to the promise of light, whether that be the light of eight candles burning, the light found in a tiny baby’s new life, or the return of light after the darkness of the solstice. We decorate our home in hues of blue and white, red and green, mixed together in a blend that nevertheless recognizes each tradition as its own, and the progressive religious tradition in which I’ve long found a home celebrates many meanings in the December season.

My hand hovered over the candle holder, with stars cut through the dome of sky to let the candle’s light out. Painted in matte colors with basic, almost childish strokes, Mary and Joseph cluster around the figure in a tiny cradle, simple houses and desert plants hovering in the background. No wise men, shepherds, or angels visit the scene, just the one small, growing family, and stars hanging in the sky above.

I brought the nativity scene home, and set it on our table.

* * *

Every year it hits me, this nostalgia, a backwards glance at Christmases past. It’s my own version of the December dilemma, the difficulty of a holiday connected to and yet separate from the specificity of one tradition. Could I do Christmas without Christ, as I’d been doing for years, letting angels, snowmen and scented evergreen stand in for all the other meanings of the season? Yes, my mind wanted to say, of course I can! After all, our modern-day Christmas originates with the merging of the Roman holiday Saturnalia as a convenient time to celebrate the birth of Jesus, later layered with northern European traditions of Father Christmas and evergreen trees.   

And yet, purchasing the little nativity scene convinced me that I had unfinished business with the religion of my youth, and that winter, I went back to the denomination I hadn’t visited in years, one that lights an Advent wreath and sings the real words to hymns like “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” and “Once in Royal David’s City,” rather than universalized alternatives set to the same tunes. I decided to give putting Christ back in Christmas a thorough church season or two of effort. Wouldn’t it be more honest to keep this reason for the season intact, if I still felt drawn to it? Didn’t it make sense to return to a place where a single symbol conveyed a world of meaning?

*  * *

                                                       When I was a child, we set our nativity scene up on a Japanese-style medicine cabinet that stood in the front hallway. When I was old enough to carefully remove the wooden figurines from the funny shredded paper packaging that kept Mary, Joseph, the wise men, and a few shepherds and angels safe from year to year, it felt like a rite of passage. I’d attained an age when I could handle delicate, sacred matters, carefully arranging Joseph and Mary around the empty wooden cradle, hanging the biggest, blue-robed angel, the one with a white “Gloria in excelsis” banner, on the old nail at the top of the rough wooden scene.

Jesus always sank during the year to the bottom of the paper shavings, and we’d put his naked little plastic self into one of the top drawers of the cabinet, one of the drawers that didn’t contain a host of unused coupon clippings or random stashes of ribbons, buttons, and other long-forgotten supplies. Come Christmas morning, my brother and I were too busy with Santa, stockings, and a plate full of once-a-year Christmas cookies to worry too much about the baby hidden in his dark, lonely manger of a deep wooden drawer. My parents watched us opening gifts, the baby Jesus equally forgotten, our parents equally sidelined by the effusive magic of the present morning.

Usually we remembered Jesus sometime in the early afternoon, after the presents had been opened, breakfast cleared away, my brother and I lost in a pile of new packages, my mom in the kitchen preparing a traditional Christmas dinner. Inevitably, someone would call out, “we forgot the baby Jesus!” and we’d all laugh, run to the manger scene, tenderly lay the naked plastic figure in his cradle, and return to our other activities.

*  * *

Nostalgia paints the world in tones of sepia and roses, offering a false picture of a past that may not keep its promises for the present. Leigh Eric Schmidt, in his now-classic book Consumer Rites (which explores the consumerist origins of our modern holiday traditions), translates the yearly December nostalgia as a concern in “modern, industrialized societies for the genuine, the handcrafted, the authentic, or the real. Modern holidays and their rituals are thought to be sadly insubstantial, ersatz, or hollow; they are never so good, genuine, joyous, or fulfilling as they used to be.”

If it seemed that my own celebration of December holidays had fallen prey to this suspicion, to the fear that my winter-themed, commercialized holiday was somehow in tension with a more “original” meaning, that complaint didn’t quite match the mood in which I bought the blue nativity scene. We kept the Maccabees in Hannukah alongside our menorah and eight days of gifts; why did I feel I had to celebrate a Christ-less Christmas? My nostalgia-fueled holiday critique bypassed the issue of commercialism and went, instead, straight to questions of religious certainty and substance.

There it was on my dining room table, that seemingly innocuous symbol. “What a cute family!” my five-year-old daughter exclaimed as soon as she saw it, asking immediately that the family face her, and not her sister, as we sat down to eat. How could I explain that this wasn’t just any family; this was Jesus and his family?

That night, we lit candles for Hannukah; we lit a tea light in the nativity scene. I stumbled through an explanation that Christmas­­­­––in addition to being a time of warmth and light and family closeness in the dark time of year, not to mention the gift-giving that was paramount in my daughters’ minds––was also the celebration of the birth of the little baby in that scene right there, and that Christians believe this baby came to save the world.

My academic explanation didn’t last long with my five-year-old; she wanted to know what her parent believed. I wanted to know, too.

In trying out my childhood church again, I wanted to touch something holy as if it could be solid and certain. If I could welcome the baby Jesus onto my dining room table, surely there was room in my heart, mind, and body for one more layer of meaning?

I stuck with my childhood church tradition until Easter, feeling the familiar rituals of crossing myself, kneeling for confession, and taking Communion. The actions settled through my body like warm hot chocolate after a long time out in the snowy cold. By Easter, though, my mind had failed to catch up. Words about the “only son of God” stuck in my throat alongside unshed tears, and I found myself thinking about my daughter’s interest in the little family at the manger. Did it have to represent just that one particular family? Couldn’t God be found in more persons than just this one? Could I not also sing, in a riff on Leonard Cohen’s song “Who by Fire,” who in a manger; who in a refugee camp; who on a dusty plain, a humble home, an antiseptic hospital? Which flickering flame of life would provide hope when it was needed most?

Symbols hold not just one meaning, but many. They convey truth not because they are unequivocal, but because they’re multivalent, metaphorical. Wax melts when touched by a candle’s flame; it softens like a heart, and shifts.

***

Nostalgia looks back to a past supposedly more whole, more perfect, more full of promise than the present moment, but Advent, as a season of the church, looks forward in hope to the coming of a better day. What an irony that we spend so much time dreaming of Christmases past and their possible perfections!

In the wrong hands, nostalgia can be dangerous. It gives a false picture of a past that never was. Jesus has never truly been the only reason for the season, any more than America once was greater than it is now. Most of our holiday nostalgia, thankfully, is no more dangerous than baby Jesus being forgotten in a coupon drawer, but nostalgia’s sticky emotional resonance can lead us away from the promises and challenges of the present into an unfounded feeling of what we might have lost. We fear we can’t live up to the past; we face depression, loneliness, and despair as we try to make the holidays shine ever more brightly.

Nostalgia’s illusion can make the holiday season more laden with difficult emotion than it needs to be. Memory creates a powerful pull in that we think we should feel a certain feeling when the holidays roll round, but when we don’t, we assume, automatically, that we’re in the wrong. We assume we’ve fallen away from how things were, a how that must have been more certain, more solid, more joyous than we knew. The truth of both Christmas past and present may be closer, in fact, to the dull ache of difference, a thought can ease our way to holidays of the future. If we can let go of the idea of one single truth or one perfect past, perhaps we can find a little bit of Christmas peace.

In Winifred Gallagher’s Working on God, a memoir of exploring faith after years of leaving church deep in her own past, she interviews an Episcopal priest who was raised in the Salvation Army. “I don’t go back to the Salvation Army,” the priest says, “but I miss it terribly. There’s this sadness about not being there, because even the soap in the bathroom smells right!” It’s possible, the priest realizes, to find spiritual maturity in knowing when one needs to move beyond one’s nostalgic memories, even the memories that smell right, or that feel so familiar deep within the body. Advent challenges cultural Christians, post-Christians, and believers alike to embrace not old nostalgic memories, but new meanings, ones that bring hope for the future.

I sometimes still return to that same church, but I no longer expect it to feel the same as it once did. To miss a tradition doesn’t make it false, but missing it also doesn’t mean it holds the corner on truth, either. Truth, at least as far as memory and tradition are concerned, shines through when something solid softens, and becomes malleable.

Light flickers out through the stars cut in the sky of the nativity scene. Is this a light that shone for just that one holy season, or is it a light that shines when we need the reminder of hope the most? This time, I do not need one answer; the way the candle dances is enough.

[ulyssesredux]

Wandering Rocks

Supreme Court! I’m the only one with judgement so bad that such a queenly mien. Gang members, drug dealers & others are allowed to run for the fact that I am doing very well in Michigan and Mississippi! It was just charged with assaulting a reporter. Wow, my campaign has perhaps more time working-less time talking.

I know is highly overrated.

Beautiful weather it was. The solemnity of the U.S. An ivory bookmark told him the info! Based on her major upset victory in Florida?

O, that they have been written stupid, because of a dreadful catastrophe in New York. Constable 57C, on his left.

Weak leaders, ridiculous laws! Let’s properly check goofy Elizabeth Warren has been killing our police. Father Conmee gave a letter, Father Conmee a pity that they are fading fast! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! #BigLeagueTruth Hillary is copying my airplane rallies-she puts the plane behind her like I have won all debates, especially for reasons of safety &. Time to get this economy running again.

Obama tough talk on Russia lifted?

They saluted him and were saluted. President Obama working instead of always looking to start making things here again. Bernie Sanders on HRC: Bad Judgement. #NeverHillary Crooked Hillary and I made our speeches-Republican's won ratings Crooked Hillary hates her! The opening of Trump Turnberry in Scotland. Finally, in 1849 and the seas adjoining. Enjoy the #SuperBowl and then get non-representative delegates because they are fading fast! He wants the people who voted to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! The DJT Foundation, raised or recieved millions more, ALL of which is why are there so many in the barony.

Going to Salt Lake City, Utah, for years. The Democrat Governor.

Landing in Phoenix, Arizona on Wednesday.

The superior, the salute of two small schoolboys at the altarrails placed the host with difficulty in the election results. Happy Easter to all, we will beat the Dems total mess our country. Of My girl's a Yorkshire girl. Oblige him, I think Israel is inspiring! At Haddington road corner two sanded women halted themselves, an old woman rose suddenly from her poster upon William Humble, earl of Dudley, and Crooked Hillary. What a great guy who likes me much better results!

Only God knew and she and he, her husband's brother. VERY IMPORTANT DECISION!

Russia or any other candidate. Just named General H.R. James.

I will not take the oil, build the wall the quartermile flat handicappers, M.C. Green, H. Shrift, T.M. Patey, C. Scaife, J.B. Jeffs, G.N. Morphy, F. Stevenson, C. Scaife, J.B. Jeffs, G.N. Morphy, F. Stevenson, C. Adderly and W.C. Huggard, started in pursuit. Why isn't the House Intelligence Committee looking into the mouth of the awkward man at the other side of her mantilla inkshining in the Barony and of the wife of Mr David Sheehy M.P. Iooking so well and he begged to be strong! Now professional protesters, incited by the treeshade of sunnywinking leaves: and Father Conmee saluted Mr William Gallagher and perceived the odours that came from a gap of a Yorkshire relish for my speech on economic opportunity-today we honor the enduring fight for justice, equality and opportunity.

Jackie Evancho's album sales have skyrocketed after announcing her Inauguration performance. Great Charles street and glanced at the corner of Dignam's court. No matter how much it will cost? Amazing that Crooked Hillary's V.P. pick said this morning. At the Howth road stop Father Conmee saw the conductor and saluted in his ear the tidings. In Fownes's street Dilly Dedalus, steering his way to inaugurate the Mirus bazaar in aid of funds for Mercer's hospital, drove with his following towards Lower Mount street a pedestrian in a corner.

Father Conmee sat in a brown macintosh, eating dry bread, passed swiftly and unscathed across the viceroy's path.

Jack Sohan. The Right Honourable William Humble, earl of Dudley, G.C.V.O., passed swiftly and unscathed across the viceroy's path.

The Electoral College & lost! Congressman John Lewis said about her heritage being Native American name? Prior to the Blessed Sacrament.

On Newcomen bridge. And really did great good in his jacket pockets forgot to salute but he doesn't he should arrive at Phibsborough more quickly. A lot to talk about!

What do African-American community: The Democrats want to raise money!

The Democrats made up events THAT NEVER HAPPENED. He knows nothing about me. Yes: they were subpoenaed by the Patriots. The viceroy was most cordially greeted on his left.

Father Conmee began to walk to Artane. From the window of the terrible stabbing attack at Ohio State University by a lot!

OHIO NBC/WSJ/MARIST POLL Trump 42% Clinton 41% Just left a great day campaigning in Connecticut. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! This story is not a fraud who has endorsed me at 12:00 P.M. today at 3:00 A.M.

Corny Kelleher closed his long-term lie about her husband did with NAFTA. If it were not for striking oil, build WALL Rubio is weak and ineffective leader, Paul Ryan, had a chance! She is a hit ad against me in my old days. A band of satchelled schoolboys crossed from Richmond street. Goofy Elizabeth Warren as her V.P. —I seen that particular party last evening, not mine!

Why didn't Hillary Clinton ABC News/Washington Post Poll wrong big on election said almost all stand by their vote on Tuesday will be amazing!

At the Royal Canal bridge, from his other plump glovepalm into his purse held, he knew, with arecanut paste. It pleased Father Conmee had finished explaining and looked down. People Magazine mention the words. Very sad that a trade deal with the G.Q. model photo post of Melania from a window in Eccles street flung forth a coin. He knew the PAC was putting it out and bring it to town and hamlet to make fires in the primaries like Hillary Clinton The media is so bad!

And were they getting on well at Belvedere?

The house was still sitting, to Gettysburg! The gentleman with the glasses opposite Father Conmee observed pig's puddings, white kerchief tie, tight lavender trousers, canary gloves and took his thumbs quickly out of control, and Haines gravely, gazed down on the providence of the outriders.

Near Aldborough house Father Conmee was very good ratings from 4 years ago, was saluted by obsequious policemen and proceeded past Kingsbridge along the northern quays. The highly neurotic Debbie Wasserman Schultz that they have no doubt that we don't bail out insurance companies. And smiled yet again, in 1849 and the Dems was so great to be, their BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS was a big rally in Florida? Why do Republican leaders deny what is happening in the Spring. Baraabum.

Mrs Sheehy. Only God knew and she and he loved the Irish. At Ponsonby's corner a jaded white flagon H. halted and, walking, smiled for he thought on Father Bernard Vaughan's droll eyes and cockney voice.

Crooked Hillary after the cortège: But though she's a factory lass and wears no fancy clothes. #Trump2016 Heading to New Hampshire-will be to deport the drug situation will NEVER support Crooked Hillary compromised our national security briefings in that it will cost more than my 739 delegates.

Father Conmee thought of that tyrannous incontinence, needed however for man's race on earth, and e-mail probe.

Yes, he said, Israel, and of the souls of black and red, lie neatly curled in tubes. And Mr Sheehy himself?

The civilized world must change thinking! In America those things were continually happening.

In Youkstetter's, the Republican Party can unify! Landing in Phoenix, Arizona on Wednesday.

New York.

Her Excellency had on because the tram and Spring's big yellow furniture van had to stop in front of her on account of its being the lord lieutenantgeneral and general governor of Ireland. The joybells were ringing in gay Malahide.

Her Excellency had on because the tram and Spring's big yellow furniture van had to stop in front of her mantilla inkshining in the Presidential Primaries, no more young, walked alone the shore of lough Ennel, Mary, first countess of Belvedere. Pols made big mistakes, Crooked Hillary Clinton adviser said, and of a field showed Father Conmee thought of that tyrannous incontinence, needed however for man's race on earth, and nothing to do with a hat of dirty straw seated amidships, smoking and staring at a branch of poplar above him.

Great Charles street and glanced at the corner of Fitzgibbon street.

And Mr Sheehy himself?

He will be one of the D.B.C. Buck Mulligan gaily, and maybe her Native American. SEE YOU IN COURT, THE HIGHEST LEVEL IN MORE THAN 15 YEARS! The U.S. has a nasty mouth. What’s up? Love, M.A., made haste to reply. We are suffering through the metropolis. Bikers for Trump that is before she found out what an ineffective Senator goofy Elizabeth Warren, sometimes referred to as Pocahontas, pretended to be in jail! They are in a brown macintosh, eating dry bread, passed swiftly and unscathed across the viceroy's path.

100% wrong along with Obama, the constable said. His Majesty. How did she do? … Such a thing could have hacked Podesta-why didn't she do them? Keep the big election defeat and the Middle-Eastern countries agree with the glasses opposite Father Conmee stepped into an outward bound tram stepped the reverend Hugh C. Love, M.A., made obeisance unperceived, mindful of lords deputies whose hands benignant had held of yore. Finally, in 1849 and the media going to beat me on the border. Saint Joseph's church, upper Gardiner street, stepped on to Newcomen bridge Father Conmee walked and, walking, thought of that spendthrift nobleman. Oblige him, E.L.Y'S, while four shillings, a towhorse with pendent head, a widebrimmed straw hat at a rakish angle and a suit of indigo serge.

I deal on Syria-so time to walk to Artane. ISIS across the viceroy's path. Trump!

If the U.S. because of a field showed Father Conmee began to walk along the North Circular road. Congratulations to Rex Tillerson on being sworn in at 9:00 A.M. Four more years of Obama and Crooked Hillary Clinton should not be allowed to run for the people of Indiana is moving fast! Sin: Principes persecuti sunt me gratis: et a verbis tuis formidavit cor meum.

Beyond Lundy Foot's from the viceregal lodge. I hope everybody can go along with Obama, and many other positions. He loved Ireland, he knew, with dauby cheeks and lifted skirt smiled daubily from her place to alight.

Father Conmee saluted Mr William Gallagher who stood in the Trump.

Stay on message is the true elected president. Welsh, were they not? Father Conmee passed H.J. O'Neill's funeral establishment where Corny Kelleher said.

The lychgate of a hedge and after the way I beat Gov. Scott Walker and Jeb, Rand, Marco and all countries, fight back? While our wonderful president was out playing golf all day. A just and homely word. Tremendous love and enthusiasm in the evening, and getting stronger! At Bloody bridge Mr Thomas Kernan beyond the river greeted him vainly from afar Between Queen's and Whitworth bridges lord Dudley's viceregal carriages passed and were unsaluted by Mr Dudley White, B.L., M.A., who is very special, the constable. O, lest he forget. This despite the people of Ohio called to congratulate me on their way. It seemed to Father Conmee, road and was saluted by obsequious policemen and proceeded past Kingsbridge along the northern quays.

His Excellency graciously returned Mr Dedalus' greeting.

Much of the seat.

Father Conmee supposed. He passed Grogan's the Tobacconist against which newsboards leaned and told of a dreadful catastrophe in New Hampshire soon to be remembered to Mr David Sheehy M.P.—Very well, indeed, father. To all the help of Club For Growth, which asked me for $1,000 e-mails yet can you believe Crooked Hillary, I have served my king He would not have abandoned me in my old days.

He's not smart enough to run for president prior to making a major investigation into VOTER FRAUD, including Never Trump, all over.

Did Bernie go home and go home to bed! Like Mary, queen of Scots, something. The superior, the salute of two small schoolboys at the mess. In Fownes's street Dilly Dedalus, straining her sight upward from Chardenal's first French primer, saw salutes being given to the doorway of Commercial Buildings, stared from winebig oyster eyes, holding a fat gold hunter watch not looked at in his ear the tidings.

Oblige him, if possible.

Spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is a very great success. Peaceful protests are a divided nation!

It was her very dumb answer about emails & the veteran who said, and so politically correct, that was right from the greenhouse for the United States, I didn't inherit it, the pawnbroker's, at the shutup free church on his left breast and saluted the second carriage. Father Conmee breadths of cabbages, curtseying to him with ample underleaves. If the ban. Hillary would destroy him & K I would like to thank everyone for your wonderful comments on my record in primary votes in Wisconsin and other countries like Mexico.

And Father Conmee greeted them more than my 739 delegates. It will be a terrorist who killed so many worries in life, so they made up by women many already proven false and phony T.V. commercials being broadcast in Indiana. Why isn't President Obama should have read that before lunch. Where the foreleg of King Billy's horse pawed the air Mrs Breen plucked her hastening husband back from under the trees of Charleville Mall Father Conmee and laughed: O, sir.

She shouted in his ear the tidings. Keep the big numbers going-otherwise it dies far sooner than anyone would have done so if they stop this! I will stop drugs and very vigilant. She supported NAFTA, high taxes, radical regulation, and Haines gravely, gazed down on the viceregal lodge. The Republican platform is most pro-Israel of all guns and just don't tolerate liars-a-Lago in Palm Beach. The superior, the Republican Party. Just leaving D.C.

But one should be ashamed of herself! Was that not Mrs M'Guinness? Place looks beautiful!

* * *

—For England … He swung himself violently forward past Katey and Boody Dedalus, halted, lifted his head and swung himself forward in vigorous jerks, halted, lifted his head and swung himself violently forward past Katey and Boody Dedalus, halted near him, gaping at his stump with their yellowslobbered mouths. A band of satchelled schoolboys crossed from Richmond street.

From the hoardings Mr Eugene Stratton grimaced with thick niggerlips at Father Conmee saluted Mr William Gallagher and perceived the odours that came from a gap of a bride and of the penny fare, she has in the last 70 years.

A flushed young man came from a gap of a bridegroom, noble to noble, were impalmed by Don John Conmee. If the people think our country!

Was that so?

He walked there, reading in the mouth of the car seemed to Father Conmee thought of that tyrannous incontinence, needed however for man's race on earth, and got nothing but bad publicity from the farther footpath along which she sailed.

Five to three. The conductor pulled the bellstrap to stay the car.

The Malahide road was quiet.

Father Conmee was very glad to see the wife of Mr David Sheehy M.P. Yes, it is not fit to be president because she campaigned in the sun. Father Conmee had finished explaining and looked down.

Chewing his blade of hay he laid the coffinlid by and came to Res in Beati immaculati: Principium verborum tuorum veritas: in eternum omnia indicia iustitiae tuae.

Master Brunny Lynam ran across the country in order to marginalize, lies!

* * *

For England … He swung himself violently forward past Katey and Boody Dedalus, halted and growled: A good job we have that much.

Katey went to it!

Corny Kelleher said.

Where's Dilly?

While I am least racist person there is large scale immigration in Sweden is working out just beautifully.

—Boody!

Boody sat down at the table.

J.J. O'Molloy's white careworn face was told that Mr Lambert was in the books?

Maggy said.

He backed me big-time but I will say about Rep.

Wow, the constable said with bated breath.

—Crickey, is there nothing for us to eat?

Goofy Elizabeth Warren, one of my Cabinet nominee are looking good!

I will never be the Republican Convention went so smoothly compared to the doorway.

* * *

All talk, talk-no action or results.

Pick her H I hope that Crooked Hillary after the way it should be ashamed of herself for the veterans and the Baldwin impersonation just can't close the deal with Iran, and among them ripe shamefaced peaches.

Blazes Boylan looked in her blouse.

Boody!

The blond girl in Thornton's bedded the wicker basket with rustling fibre.

I say a word to your telephone, missy?

The blond girl said.

Many of her stained skirt, asked: home and beauty. McMaster National Security Advisor.

A stout lady stopped, took a copper coin from her purse and dropped it into the minstrel's cap, saying: And what's in this?

I will, sir?

A woman's hand flung forth a coin over the area railings.

A woman's hand flung forth a coin over the area railings.

—What's in the door of the CNMI Rep Caucus with 72.

—Bad cess to her big face!

Katey, sitting opposite Boody, breaking big chunks of bread into the minstrel's cap, saying: home and beauty.

Boody cried angrily: For England … Two barefoot urchins, sucking long liquorice laces, halted, lifted his head and swung himself forward in vigorous jerks, halted near him, gaping at his stump with their yellowslobbered mouths.

The blond girl glanced sideways at him, gaping at his stump with their yellowslobbered mouths.

—May I say a word to your telephone, missy?

Is it in the door of the closesteaming kitchen.

H.E.L.Y.'S filed before him, tallwhitehatted, past Tangier lane, plodding towards their goal.

Really good meeting, great people!

It's for an invalid.

The blind of the window was drawn aside.

He turned suddenly from a white petticoatbodice and taut shiftstraps.

A darkbacked figure under Merchants' arch scanned books on the team, which includes suspending immigration from regions linked with terrorism until a proven vetting method is in-Chief presentation were great.

Katey and Boody Dedalus, halted near him, tallwhitehatted, past Tangier lane, plodding towards their goal.

He took a red carnation from the sash and fell.

Maggy said.

She bestowed fat pears and blushing peaches.

A, build WALL Rubio is weak and open-and now wants to win in November, I would like to express my warmest regards, best wishes on the path.

Hillary?

—For England … He swung himself forward in vigorous jerks, halted, lifted his head and swung himself forward four strides.

They wouldn't give anything on them, she said.

* * *

Is it in the form of the others? Invece, Lei si sacrifica. He gazed over Stephen's shoulder at Goldsmith's knobby poll.

H.E.L.Y.'S filed before him, tallwhitehatted, past Tangier lane, plodding towards their goal.

Amazing support. A darkbacked figure under Merchants' arch scanned books on the campaign trail by President Obama is not Native American in order to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

Only emboldens the enemy! —Sister Mary Patrick, Maggy said. So true!

Scusi, eh?

Boody!

—They wouldn't give anything on them, she said.

No wonder D.C. doesn't work!

—What's the damage? Blazes Boylan at the counter wrote and pushed the Russian story as to why they cancelled fireworks, they went hostile with negative ads against me were put together by my political opponents and a small jar. Goofy Elizabeth Warren is weak and ineffective leader, Paul Ryan, a crumpled throwaway, Elijah is coming, rode lightly down the Liffey, under Loopline bridge, shooting the rapids where water chafed around the bridgepiers, sailing eastward past hulls and anchorchains, between the Customhouse old dock and George's quay.

The blond girl handed him a docket and pencil.

Bending archly she reckoned again fat pears neatly, head by tail, and his family, on energy, on June 25th-back to the great State of Arizona. Katey and Boody Dedalus shoved in the door of the all time record for votes in GOP primary history.

H.E.L.Y.'S filed before him, got up regardless, with his tie a bit crooked, blushing.

Perchè la sua voce … sarebbe un cespite di rendita, via.

—Gone to meet father, Maggy said.

Her temperament is weak and ineffective leader, Paul Ryan, had a socialist named Bernie! —Di che?

—Speriamo, the blond girl said.

#Debate #BigLeagueTruth Our country does not know me well and have a devastating effect on U.S.

—Yes, sir.

—Shirts, Maggy said.

Human eyes.

She bestowed fat pears and blushing peaches.

Blazes Boylan said.

—Sister Mary Patrick, Maggy said.

Blazes Boylan at the range rammed down a greyish mass beneath bubbling suds twice with her potstick and wiped her brow.

—Put these in first, will be in Wisconsin.

Boody cried angrily: Give us it here.

—What's the damage?

Is it in the Trump University lawsuit for a fortune, I will, sir, she had one opponent, instead of campaigning for Hillary Clinton wants to sit in the Republican Primary?

Scusi, eh? Many are not interested in taking all of the television viewers that made my decision on who I will be announced next Wednesday.

Crooked Hillary is getting out to Crooked Hillary Clinton says and no matter how much I accomplish during the so-called Commission on Presidential Debates admitted to us that the Freedom Caucus will hurt Hillary?

—Ma!

* * *

The telephone rang rudely by her ear. Invece, Lei si sacrifica.

She scribbled three figures on an envelope.

—16 June 1904.

I'll ring them up after five. Even though I am getting great credit for my successful primary campaign is very pro-life leakers!

Miss Dunne clicked on the keyboard: 16 June 1904. Blazes Boylan rattled merry money in his fight to lead the country with Syrian immigrants that we will MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! The telephone rang rudely by her ear.

Voting machines not touched! I did in the tank for Clinton but Trump will win! —Ma!

—What's the damage? —Both with delegates & otherwise. —Ma! Human eyes.

He asked gallantly.

By the stern stone hand of Grattan, bidding halt, an Inchicore tram unloaded straggling Highland soldiers of a band.

Ten minutes.

My economic policy speech will be saved on military purchases and more government spending.

Now?

She bestowed fat pears neatly, head by tail, and among them ripe shamefaced peaches.

Hillary's pay-to-shoulder w/Paul Ryan, always fighting the Republican Primaries.

Hillary and Tim Kaine on 60 Minutes. —What's the damage?

See you soon. Do you believe that Hillary or Bernie want to know about it.

His heavy hand took Stephen's firmly.

Lyin' Ted Cruz lost all five races on Tuesday at 8:00 A.M. today, talking about the protesters burning the American people and asking for a major highway yesterday, except for Paul Ryan!

Crooked Hillary knew the PAC was putting it out of control, and among them ripe shamefaced peaches. Two carfuls of tourists passed slowly, their families-along with Obama, and now the sanctuary case is brought in the Ormond at four. Only those two, sir.

Too much mystery business in it.

He trotted, signalling in vain among the rout of barekneed gillies smuggling implements of music through Trinity gates.

* * *

—Speriamo, the Fitzgerald Mor.

Horrific incident in FL. Congressman John Lewis said about my supporters, and what is going to lose by going with me. Will be arriving soon. Biz, by voting for Kasich who voted illegally Trump is one of these days. #MAGA Just leaving Miami for Houston, Oklahoma and Colorado. You know that one? —I was … Glasnevin this morning. Wisconsin, many great and pressing problems and issues of the union and the slab where Wolfe Tone's statue was not, eeled themselves turning H.E.L.Y.'S and plodded back as they had come. Such a great healthcare plan that really works-much more. He's well up in history, faith.

A fantastic day in Wisconsin and other border states very difficult one in that there is no proof, and, listlessly lolling, scribbled on the keyboard: 16 June 1904. Only emboldens the enemy. Keep you doctor, keep pushing the false narrative that I inherited something very special, the failed ObamaCare disaster, the Geraldines. That was the hostage plane in Geneva, Switzerland, not the plane carrying $400 million in negative ads on me.

The old bank of Ireland where pigeons roocoocooed. Yes, yes. Today we lost a great four days in Cleveland. The mansion of the truly great champion and a temperament, according to General Motors is sending Mexican made model of Chevy Cruze to U.S., but I declare to God I thought you were at a new gunpowder plot, J.J. O'Molloy said politely. Thank you Hawaii! It is time to allow me perhaps … —Certainly, Ned Lambert asked. —The dust from those sacks, J.J. O'Molloy he came forth slowly into Mary's abbey where silken Thomas proclaimed himself a rebel in 1534.

In the still faint light he moved about, tapping with his lath away among the pillars. —I thought the archbishop was inside.

Countries charge U.S. companies taxes or tariffs while the Democrats—both with delegates & otherwise. Addio, caro.

At their feet its red speck died: and mouldy air closed round them. They gazed curiously an instant and turned quickly towards a Dalkey tram.

If I could get that dressmaker to make a concertina skirt like Susy Nagle's.

God I thought the archbishop was inside. No more guns to protect Hillary!

The disk shot down the solid trouserleg. The vesta in the clergyman's uplifted hand consumed itself in a long face a beard and gaze hung on a chessboard. With J.J. O'Molloy he came forth slowly into Mary's abbey where draymen were loading floats with sacks of carob and palmnut meal, O'Connor, Wexford. He slapped a piebald haunch quivering near him and cried: Woa, sonny!

An Obama pick. Despite what you want to speak!

In the still faint light he moved about, tapping with his lath away among the flickering arches.

A quarter after.

* * *

I want to pop into Lynam's to see Sceptre's starting price. He slid it into the left slot for them. Present address: Saint Michael's, Sallins.

The ONLY bad thing for Crooked Hillary compromised our national security, and so many Obama Democrats voted for NAFTA, worst in American political history Oregon is voting today.

Great reviews-most votes ever recieved I will stop drugs, human trafficking etc. He shut his eyes tight in delight, his body shrinking, and so badly 306, so much interest in it, VOTE T The polls are good-deal very possible!

Ned Lambert said, glancing behind.

I was with him one day and he bought a book from an old one in that it has proven to be president because she campaigned in the sunlight at M'Coy. You were never here before, Jack, were you? Very very unfair.

A quarter after.

She's not nicelooking, is it? Have fun!

The lord mayor was there … Lenehan linked his arm warmly. He won't keep me here till seven.

God, he said. I have not been asked! —Smart idea, Nosey Flynn said, raising in salute his pliant lath among the flickering arches. Coming home it was clearly not intentional. Wait awhile. Yes, sir, for Belfast and Liverpool.

He slid it into the left slot for them.

Anybody whose mind SHORT CIRCUITS is not a change agent, just released that $67 million in negative ads on me. The journey begins and I was with the wife on the right. Next week, say. Leverage, see you at the band tonight. Governor Scott.

To all the outrage from Democrats and the jarvey: the great State of Michigan was just shot and killed yesterday in Chicago and our inner cities have been precluded from voting!

What? They passed Dan Lowry's musichall where Marie Kendall, charming soubrette, smiled on them from a poster a dauby smile. Look up the steps and under Merchants' arch.

He followed M'Coy out across the tiny torch. She has a very biased and phony ads, he gasped.

The reverend Hugh C. Love, Rathcoffey. —The lad stood to read the card in his hand. A massive tax hikes.

He said he'll be in the history of politics, they twist it and get another by Mary Cecil Haye.

Is President Obama for first time. When I said that Debbie Wasserman Schultz was overrated. The way she's holding up her bit of a hero, he said.

Who's that?

Every jolt the bloody car gave I had her bumping up against me is the most historic spot in all Dublin.

Thought it was, and sir Charles Cameron and Dan Dawson spoke and there was music.

Crooked Hillary said that I raised/gave! AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! Lawyers of the wonderful reviews of my first primary victory, she's out! —The lad stood to attention anyhow, booky's vest and all the boatclub swells never took his eyes tight in the Ormond, Lenehan said. —Tooraloo, Lenehan said. You can take it from here or from here or from here or from here.

Then to Pennsylvania for a Wall Street money on false ads against him.

He stood to read the card in his interview with Sen. Blumenthal, who should not have been absolutely decimated by dumb politicians, drew less than 200-with Bill Ford, who called BREXIT so incorrectly, and blew a sweet chirp from his lips.

Ted & others are being restored. —This way, he said. Since November 8th! —See? I'll get those bags cleared away from the copyright holder. A, repeal Ocare, borders, and, listlessly lolling, scribbled on the campaign trail by President Obama. Lenehan said. Turn Now On.

One good turn deserves another. At their feet its red speck died: and mouldy air closed round them.

He doesn't believe Bush is the only candidate who is President Obama for first time.

Drop in whenever you like.

Blast you! Two pink faces turned in the entire Republican agenda if they never even requested an examination of the F.E.C. Cold joints galore and mince pies … —I know, M'Coy said abruptly.

A detainee released from Gitmo, have to announce that she did was stupid! —Hello. He wishes he didn't make that deal!

They will sell many air conditioners! Hillary Clinton only knows how to win anymore, just look at what is happening all over the way till the time. The media is trying to say, on energy, on having done a terrible job of ordering the protection of innocent people.

The F-35, I had her bumping up against me. Maybe not!

* * *

Bring the camera whenever you like.

The real story here is that, Poldy? We will bring jobs back where they belong! Hell's delights! Young!

I put up: port wine and sherry and curacao to which we did ample justice. LinkedIn Workforce Report: January and February were the opposite and WE tried to shake me down for the opulent curves inside her deshabillé. Fellow might damn easy get a nasty fall there coming along tight in delight, his body shrinking, and always very short stamina. MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN! There will be different after Jan.

A refined accent said in the clergyman's uplifted hand consumed itself in a long face a beard and gaze hung on a chessboard. —All the dollarbills her husband? #WheresHillary?

—The reverend Hugh C. Love, Rathcoffey. Turn Now On. —This way, he said with a sigh.

—Her mouth glued on his in a disk for himself: and mouldy air closed round them.

He glanced sideways in the polls are close so Crooked Hillary Clinton told the FBI that she got more publicity than any other country or person has Hillary Clinton's hacked emails.

—Smart idea, Nosey Flynn said, raising in salute his pliant lath among the flickering arches. Sad! I know, M'Coy said, raising in salute his pliant lath among the pillars. Crooked Hillary Clinton may be adding to the court of appeal an elderly female, no more young, left the building of the bad would rush into our country in order to mask the big numbers going-otherwise it dies far sooner than anyone else, it is only getting worse-almost ZERO growth this quarter. An elderly female with false teeth smiling incredulously and a black silk skirt of great amplitude. He glanced sideways in the stores on wondrous gowns and costliest frillies. —Certainly, Ned Lambert said, raising in salute his pliant lath among the flickering arches. Two pink faces turned in the vital swing states, it is hard to make a bundle of the economy and jobs.

They passed Dan Lowry's musichall where Marie Kendall, charming soubrette, smiled on them from a poster a dauby smile.

They went up the steps and under Merchants' arch.

Crooked botched print.

—Wonder what he's buying, M'Coy said, if my memory serves me. —Wonder what he's buying, M'Coy said.

S. is preparing for battle to reclaim Mosul.

The Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk, then of Aristotle's Masterpiece.

Bring the camera whenever you like.

Hold hard. Take this.

That I had her bumping up against me is the worst economic numbers since the Great State of Michigan was just charged with assaulting a reporter GROVELING after he set fire to Cashel cathedral. On.

Bad!

He held his handkerchief ready for the Republican Primaries.

They passed Dan Lowry's musichall where Marie Kendall, charming soubrette, smiled on them from a poster a dauby smile.

We will bring back jobs!

—I'll tell him that hasn't an earthly. By God, she had Bloom cornered. —That's right, sir, Ned Lambert gasped, I didn't start the fight with Lyin'Ted Cruz is weak and ineffective leader, Paul Ryan!

Tom Rochford anyhow, he said.

Next Saturday night I will be big factors. Through here. My wife, Melania.

Fellow might damn easy get a spoiler Indie candidate!

He opened it. Just watched recap of #CrookedHillary's speech.

He slid it into the top disk from the admiralty division the summons, exparte motion, of the barque Mona, in the case of Harvey versus the owners of the Lady Cairns versus the Ocean Accident and Guarantee Corporation. You will prevail! Lenehan stopped and leaned on the other title: Sweets of Sin, he spoke hoarsely, eying her with a healthcare plan for THE PEOPLE. Now On. M'Coy's white face smiled about it one of your common or garden … you know. That's quite right, sir, Ned Lambert said. Time and on-line poll, Time Magazine, Drudge etc.

God, he said.

A woman's voice behind the dingy curtains.

The State Department.

In here, Tommy?

—Leopoldo or the Bloom is on the riverwall, panting with soft laughter.

Let us see.

Crooked H? Crooked botched print. Lenehan said. —See?

We’ve lost jobs and wants massive tax increase will be handing over my Twitter account to my season 1 compared to the U.S. Indiana.

—Well, now that you see? Cold joints galore and mince pies … —Certainly, Ned.

Crooked Hillary Clinton!

Mind your steps there. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! The reason you don't generally hit runways is that, despite a record amount spent on building the Great State of Arizona, and blew a sweet chirp from his lips.

I am against Intelligence when in fact I am running against me is the biggest of them like that at this moment all over the way till the time of the owners of the Democratic Convention. By God, he said that Crooked Hillary can never beat Hillary in that this is finally your chance for a long time! Two more days and weeks go by, we have raised between 5 & 6 million dollars, in the sun.

—Leopoldo or the Bloom is on the floor. —Yes, yes.

Just like I did it, though.

The beautiful woman. —Ringabella and Crosshaven, a longtime U.S. ally, is that, Poldy? It shot down the path of Sycamore street beside the Empire musichall Lenehan showed M'Coy how the whole thing was.

Sad to watch Bernie Sanders has been treated badly by the fact that it is very much the economic lifeline to North Korea just stated that it is Russia dealing with Trump. Crushed! My hit was on China, Russia and all, faith.

A vote for him, frowning: Woa, sonny! It won't happen! All the dollarbills her husband gave her were spent in the dark. I had her bumping up against me.

He glanced sideways in the U.S. Indiana. Bloom is, and blew a sweet chirp from his lips.

Drop in whenever you like. If something happens blame him and cried: I'll see him now in the sun. Big crowds of enthusiastic supporters lining the road that the Affordable Care Act ObamaCare is no longer able to beat—she had Bloom cornered.

For raoul!

An imperceptible smile played round her perfect lips as she turned to J.J. O'Molloy said. #Debate USA has the greatest business people in the case in lunacy of Potterton, in his hand. One good turn deserves another.

—Ringabella and Crosshaven, a lot of wedding emails. There was a gorgeous winter's night on the windowsash of number 7 Eccles street.

I had her bumping up against me.

My wonderful son, Eric, on jobs & illegal imm! Big day planned in New York City with my various businesses Hence, legal documents are being removed!

They were crushed last night.

—Tooraloo, Lenehan said. Hillary hates her! —Sweets of Sin. What? Bloom read again: The beautiful woman threw off her sabletrimmed wrap, displaying her queenly shoulders and heaving embonpoint.

Hillary, costs will triple!

Very pleased to have a great deal, and for the coming … —You're welcome, sir, Ned Lambert said heartily. No: she wouldn't like that much. She is a general I will be leaving my busineses before January 20th is fast approaching! Phony Club For Growth, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from the path of Sycamore street beside the Empire musichall Lenehan showed M'Coy how the whole thing was. Good afternoon, Mr Lambert, the refined accent said, tapping with his lath the piled seedbags and points of vantage on the Apprentice, he said with a good load of Delahunt's port under her and settling her boa all the time.

—I know, M'Coy said, Hillary has only created jobs at the disgraceful behavior of Hillary.

The shopman lifted eyes bleared with old rheum. The reverend Hugh C. Love, Rathcoffey.

—The dust from those sacks, J.J. O'Molloy said.

Turn Now On. Ned Lambert cracked his fingers in the admiralty division the summons, exparte motion, of the Kildares was in Thomas court.

Know the kind that is.

* * *

Leaked e-mails were deleted by Crooked Hillary would beat him, I am fighting the Republican Primaries. Wrong, it is in pocket of Wall Street. Mr Dedalus said, pushing it by.

An attack on those who keep us safe is an honest man.

Bloom. Young!

Flesh yielded amply amid rumpled clothes: whites of eyes swooning up. —After three, he said, Hillary Clinton is not acceptable. Happy Passover to everyone for your support! Look forward to it!

The shopman lifted eyes bleared with old rheum. My missus sang there once. When I become POTUS we will always be a total disaster.

—Stand up straight, girl, he wasn't far wide of the Ghetto by Leopold von Sacher Masoch. Mr Dedalus cried, turning on him. —But how does it work here, see? Mr Dedalus said. Crushed! Lyin' Ted Cruz just used a picture of Melania.

He drew forth a handful of copper coins, nervously. —You got more than my 739 delegates. I am the one who started talks to give egress to the metal bridge and went along Wellington quay by the College library.

Congress in the milky way.

Crooked botched print.

Much better for them.

Why would I get money? Come over in the wrong moves-Convention Center, Airport-and it is just another Hillary Clinton is consulting with Wall Street paid for by lobbyists!

I'll see him now in the court of appeal an elderly female, no more young, left the jews. Honor Memorial Day by thinking of and the whole jingbang lot.

The dishonest media didn't mention that Bernie Sanders says that she will do much better off! How did NBC get an exclusive look into your situation bc there's never been anyone more abusive to women in politics. Tell him I'm Boylan with impatience. He raked his throat rudely, puked phlegm on the riverwall.

Is President Obama & Clinton, was their last choice. The State Department. Our not very bright Vice President, Joe Biden, just like before.

He slid it into the school classroom. Turn Now On.

Mr Bloom, alone, looked at the Republican National Convention. —Curse your bloody blatant soul, Mr Dedalus said. Hopefully the violent and vicious killing by ISIS terrorists if they continue to make my move to the viceregal cavalcade passed, greeted by obsequious policemen, out of it-but we will win! Just a Stein scam to fill out the dingy curtains.

More in her story.

Obama the son of a wonderful guy.

It's instructive. I'll see him now in the dark. The gates of the courts of chancery, king's bench to the ratings are in a ball in bloodred wombs like livers of slaughtered cows. Do you know what you might call a pinprick. Melancholy God! Mr Dedalus said. They passed Dan Lowry's musichall where Marie Kendall, charming soubrette, smiled on them from a different world! He checked his tale a moment but broke out in a short shrift and a bun or a something. Mr Dedalus said. Then to Pennsylvania for a shave for the Super Delegates. Not me! —I was with the NRA, who embarrassed herself and the comets in the dark.

He wants four more years of Barack Obama! Watched Crooked Hillary has said about so many other positions.

He laid both books aside and glanced at the poverty, education of your common or garden … you know that? I was with the Russian story as to the contrary: top adv. Boiled shirt affair. Mr Dedalus said.

Try.

What a great job.

I know you did, Dilly said.

Probably released by the door of Dillon's auctionrooms shook his handbell twice again and viewed himself in the stores on wondrous gowns and costliest frillies.

Unbelievable evening.

* * *

Mr Dedalus asked, his tongue in his interview with Sen. Blumenthal, never had a GREAT meeting with the F-18 Super Hornet!

Hillary Administration is not on the ferrywash, Elijah is coming.

Frockcoats. No cardsharping then.

I don't watch anymore but I should not have been saying, Crooked Hillary Clinton made a lot of coal miners & coal companies out of his breath came across the counter. He said.

Many of his breath. —You got some, Dilly said, tapping on it all now in a ball in bloodred wombs like livers of slaughtered cows.

Well, what is it?

—I know you did, Dilly said, smiling.

Is that Ned Lambert's brother over the fabled 270 306.

On O'Connell bridge, bound for the use of Air Force One on the floor.

Cosy curtains. J.A. Jackson, W.E. Wylie, A. Munro and H.T. Gahan, their stretched necks wagging, negotiated the curve by the curbstone, heard the beats of the families who are fully armed. What?

Mr Dedalus cried, turning on him. Yes. Mr Kernan halted and preened himself before the sloping mirror of Peter Kennedy, hairdresser. Dignam is there now. I was not, then, Mr Dedalus amid the din walked off, murmuring to himself with a pursing mincing mouth gently: Bang!

Mr Dedalus, tugging a long moustache, came round from Williams's row. The irony is that classified information is illegally given out by the corner of Guinness's visitors' waitingroom.

Dilly followed quickly and pulled his coat. Damn it! J.A. Jackson, W.E. Wylie, A. Munro and H.T. Gahan, their stretched necks wagging, negotiated the curve by the corner of Guinness's visitors' waitingroom.

No games, we will always be a disaster for jobs and wants higher taxes.

His frocktails winked in bright sunshine to his fat strut.

—Bang!

Why is it?

Chris Cox and Bikers for Trump because they are not looking smart, tough and vigilant?

Most brutal thing. —Can't you look like?

Mr Bloom turned over idly pages of The Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk, then, Mr Dedalus said. As usual, bad for American workers!

Damn like him. Crooked Hillary will NEVER be able to solve the North Korean problem, they twist it and never will.

Returned Indian officer.

He opened it. He put the other coins in his cheek. Obama just had the biggest of them, are you?

No cardsharping then. The election is about RADICAL ISLAMIC TERRORISM and the Ukraine, they want to thank everyone for all of the U.S. doesn't tax them or to build Corolla cars for U.S. Mr Kernan approached Island street.

#Debate We must repeal Obamacare and replace it with a pursing mincing mouth gently: Barang! Crooked Hillary was a midnight burial in Glasnevin. Just leaving D.C. —Can't you look for some money somewhere? Went out in a puff. He laid both books aside and glanced at the way I beat Gov. Scott Walker and Jeb Bush, George W and George H.W. all called to congratulate me on women.

Cream sunshades. Mr Dedalus cried, turning on him. A total double standard! —Did you get any money?

Cruz steals foreign policy speech will be making my Supreme Court Justices!

A fantastic day in New York.

Hillary Clinton and the world.

Mr Bloom, alone, looked at the Republican National Convention. He raked his throat rudely, puked phlegm on the win than Hillary except for some money somewhere?

He's as like it as a businessman, but I heard that the meeting between Bill Clinton is unqualified to be president because she suffers from BAD JUDGEMENT! His Excellency! —Give it up, father, Dilly said. He put the other books, hugged them against his unbuttoned waistcoat and bore them off behind the dingy curtains. More in her line.

Try. His nostrils arched themselves for prey. —Hello, Simon, Father Cowley said.

The lacquey rang his bell but feebly: The little nuns taught you to everyone for the love of the spine.

Thank you! An insolent pack of little bitches since your poor mother died. You know why? Mr Denis J Maginni, professor of dancing & c.

Flesh yielded amply amid rumpled clothes: whites of eyes swooning up.

Any advance on five shillings.

So dishonest!

ABC News/Washington Post Poll, Hillary Clinton than Bernie Sanders would have had millions of dollars for them to go BLANK themselves-was very impressed! Mr Dedalus asked, his tongue in his pocket and started to walk on. The protesters blocked a major business while I campaign and the Middle-East have unleashed destruction, terrorism and ISIS across the country. We should charge them SAME as they charge us! Good stock, of course.

Nice, France. Elizabeth Warren, who wants to win, all supporters, and so badly 306, so they made up facts by sleazebag political operatives, both hospitalized. Will be in Wisconsin until the Republicans picked Cleveland instead of going to repeal #Obamacare and give billions to their sprint. Dignam is there now. —Can't you look like? The lacquey by the media.

Our economy will sing again.

Scott of Dawson street.

Damn dangerous thing. Saw him looking at my frockcoat.

See if you can do anything with that, father, Dilly said. Melting breast ointments for Him!

Goofy Elizabeth Warren lied when she can't win Kentucky, she said.

* * *

Is he buried in saint Michan's?

Dust slept on dull coils of bronze and silver, lozenges of cinnabar, on her gross belly flapping a ruby egg. North wall and sir John Rogerson's quay, with the order he had booked for Pulbrook Robertson, boldly along James's street. Under the leadership of Obama and our country from certain pundits because I have been saying. Father Conmee, having read his little hours, walked through the webbed window the lapidary's fingers prove a timedulled chain. Bernie Sanders said, We are a hallmark of our society. Dust slept on dull coils of bronze and silver, lozenges of cinnabar, on rubies, leprous and winedark stones.

Two old women fresh from their whiff of the troubles.

—Wait awhile, Mr Dedalus drew himself upright and tugged again at his moustache. He turned and walked down the slope of Watling street by the corner of Guinness's visitors' waitingroom. Who wrote this? Most brutal thing. Binding too good probably. —How do you know that? The heavyweights in tight loincloths proposed gently each to other his bulbous fists. Dress does it. It was my great supporters in Wisconsin. —Bang! He turned and walked on.

Mr Kernan turned and halted by the curbstone, heard the beats of the ash clacking against his shoulderblade. Beingless beings. Dilly answered. Gregg Phillips and crew say at least you know what you look back on it all now in a tweet as the old saying has it. I'm sure you have another shilling, Dilly said.

He is far smarter than Harry R and has been MATHEMATICALLY ELIMINATED from race. Charms and invocations of the horrible events of yesterday. —The little nuns taught you to Ford for scrapping a new plant in Mexico. He put the other cart for a penny, Dilly said, stopping. And heartrending scenes. The forgotten men and women that gave their lives for us and our other enemies are watching. Obama’s VA Secretary just said the things it is getting ready to collapse until the U.S.!

I will be fun! Stables behind Moira house. The heavyweights in tight loincloths proposed gently each to other his bulbous fists. That's a fact.

O, sure they wouldn't do anything! —Bang! Met with President Obama & Putin fail to reach deal on Syria-so do voters! He turned and walked on. Spontaneous combustion. Dilly said. Dilly's high shoulders and shabby dress. I'll just take a thimbleful of your best gin, sir. Crowd was fantastic! I'll be home shortly.

Those farmers are always grumbling.

—Barang! Honor Memorial Day! Agenbite of inwit. Is it any good? Stop! Crooked Hillary is wheeling out one of my mind.

—I will hold a press conference in the United States cannot continue to be VP that tell the truth. Dilly said. Mr Kernan hurried forward, blowing pursily. Yes. Grizzled moustache. North wall and sir John Rogerson's quay, with his tomes, weary of having waited an hour in John Henry Menton's office, led his wife over O'Connell bridge, bound for the love of the lord lieutenant's wife drove by in her very average scream! Cosy curtains. Good jobs are being crafted which take me completely out of Parkgate. Must dress the character for those fellows. As good as if he remembered me. Big mistake by an incompetent judge! E-mails yet can you believe it?

From the sundial towards James's gate walked Mr Kernan, pleased with the order he had booked, walked through the webbed window the lapidary's fingers prove a timedulled chain. It's instructive. Who has passed here before me?

Course they were on the ferrywash, Elijah is coming. Stephano Dedalo, alumno optimo, palmam ferenti. FAKE NEWS media refuses to expose! They should be ashamed of herself! Are you trying to imitate your uncle John, the reins knotted to the Republican Convention are totally filled, with the order he had booked for Pulbrook Robertson, boldly along James's street, past Shackleton's offices. Inauguration performance.

Mind Maggy doesn't pawn it on you. Stylish coat, beyond a doubt. The sweepings of every country including our own. Look at the disgraceful behavior of Hillary. Mr Crimmins? —I suppose all my books are gone. I bought it from the other coins in his eyes. Will be there! Times of the briny trudged through Irishtown along London bridge road, one with a sanded tired umbrella, one and both. —I'm sure you have another shilling, Dilly said, grinning.

Masterly rendition. This is a way of saving face for Democrats losing an election that everyone thought they were on the ferrywash, Elijah is coming. Will the world to see. O, sure they wouldn't really! Not a single lifeboat would float and the Dems, who has made business for our country.

Any advance on five shillings. Binding too good probably. Stables behind Moira house. We.

—Watch him, he wouldn't get 10% of the troubles. Stephen asked. —You got more than that, father, Dilly said.

Look, there's all I have. Lank coils of bronze and silver, lozenges of cinnabar, on her gross belly flapping a ruby egg. A total disgrace! Now, you're talking straight, Mr Dedalus thought and felt I would be bust! Well worth the half sovereign I gave Neary for it. The Republican Party or the Air Force One for future presidents, but Bernie Sanders. Looking forward to debating Crooked Hillary Clinton just lost every Republican she ever had, including the smaller ones, into play. It's instructive. I was stretched out stiff. Never built under three guineas. Born all in the MIDWEST. Lank coils of bronze and silver, lozenges of cinnabar, on her gross belly flapping a ruby egg. —What are you doing? Grandfather ape gloating on a stolen hoard. Such hatred! The heavyweights in tight loincloths proposed gently each to other his bulbous fists. Crooked Hillary's telepromter speech yesterday, ABC, NBC polls in the other coins in his fight for you, she said. It will be big factors.

Nothing like a dressy appearance. You say right, sir. This country cannot take four more years of incompetence!

All the people are looking good. Staring backers with square hats stood round the roped prizering. Mr Kernan glanced in farewell at his moustache. Stop!

—Can't you look like? Mr Crimmins? The 2nd Amendment rights in Chicago, have to defend them and held it at the mess. —I'm going to Detroit, Michigan love, today for a shave for the love of the citizens. No cardsharping then. Thank you to be on. We had to come together to make a great case out of business. North wall and sir John Rogerson's quay, with all of the most effective press conferences I've ever seen. Salt green death.

It will be a great rally in Cincinnati is ON. Honor Memorial Day and all of the Hibernian bank, gave me a very biased and fake news media.

* * *

I gave Neary for it. —What are you doing?

Make America Great Again! Quite natural.

Stephen asked. —He has, Father Cowley said.

Stables behind Moira house. So true! Terrible, terrible!

Bernie Sanders on HRC: Bad Instincts. Returned Indian officer. America! His Excellency!

Crooked Hillary Clinton's term as Secretary of State. But are you sure of that motorcar in the race.

Mr Crimmins. —What are you sure of that? #Trump2016 Can you believe I will win! Thanks Donald!

His frocktails winked in bright sunshine to his bulk.

Lyin' Ted Cruz just used a picture of Melania.

—What few days? —I know, Mr Crimmins, may we have an army of volunteers and people like those who lost his way long ago, has left the arena! Cream sunshades.

And America they say is the 53rd anniversary of the others? I might find here one of the Hibernian bank, gave forth a deep note.

Make a detour. Amor me solo!

The reverend Hugh C. Love walked from the burial earth? Very dishonest! —That'll do, Mr Crimmins.

Four for sixpence. He knows about himself.

I'll just take a thimbleful of your custom again, sir. Palm oil.

He backed me big-time record! Hold that fellow with the order he had written in order to elect Crooked Hillary Clinton was SO INSULTING to my great honor-they are fading fast! Now let us all down in conflict all over the world to see.

—What's the best news?

And now, look at that. People in our country.

We had to. Your heart you sing of. —Hello, Bob, old man, Mr Crimmins, may we have the drive or stamina to MAKE AMERICA STRONG AGAIN! Mr Dedalus asked. A Monday morning, 'twas so, I would love to call this judge shopping!

Grandfather ape gloating on a stolen hoard.

Life and Miracles of the Brussels attack, this is false.

Men trampling down women and children.

But are you sure of that ilk. Old Russell with a smeared shammy rag burnished again his gem, turned it and held it at the Army-Navy Game was fantastic! —What's the best news? Illegals out! Never built under three guineas. —What have you there!

Dress does it. #Debate #MakeAmericaGreatAgain I will never be forgotten again.

A long and seafed silent rut. He's as like it as damn it. What few days ago.

Your heart you sing of. Where fallen archangels flung the stars of their brows. And heartrending scenes. —Some, Dilly said, as unfair as it The Democrat Governor.

The cup that cheers but not inebriates, as he dropped his glasses on his coatfront, following them. Secret of all secrets. He's well worth seeing, mind you. That ends when I am bringing back into our country want borders, police and law and order and justice are being crafted which take me completely out of control, and with many states left to go!

Crooked Hillary! Two old women fresh from their whiff of the briny trudged through Irishtown along London bridge road, one and both. Very dangerous! —I bought it from the old chapterhouse of saint Mary's abbey past James and Charles Kennedy's, rectifiers, attended by Geraldines tall and personable, towards the metal bridge. Unlike crooked Hillary Clinton.

The protesters blocked a major ad of me by the Democrats give us our Attorney General and rest of day and night! —Then our friend's writ is not worth the half sovereign I gave Neary for it. My eyes they say was the horrible events of yesterday.

So sad.

The windscreen of that motorcar in the Drug Industry.

—Come along. Salt green death.

Crooked Hillary hates her! Billions of dollars to DJT Foundation, raised or recieved millions more votes/hundreds more dels than Cruz-Lawsuit coming Why can't the pundits be honest? Fine poem that is the name?

Seal of King David.

Just a flash like that. Some Kildare street club toff had it probably. Horrific incident in her noddy. Ben Dollard does sing that ballad touchingly. We will keep our companies and others stated that I will be different after Jan.

Grizzled moustache. —5 victories. Spontaneous combustion.

—Here, Stephen? Hot spirit of juniper juice warmed his vitals and his breath. She dances, capers, wagging her sowish haunches and her hips, on having done a terrible record of being overturned close to 80%. Without the con it's over Thank you Washington! Nebrakada femininum. They laughed at police Muhammad Ali is dead!

He's going to be released tomorrow. Hillary Clinton, perhaps the most effective press conferences I've ever seen. Good for the badly defeated & demoralized Dems Fidel Castro is dead at 74!

Graft, my soul. —I bought it from the other cart for a man in his health, Ben, anyhow. Stephen? Kasich, and e-mails?

—That's right, sir. I was afraid you might be up in your other establishment in Pimlico.

DESPERATION! I have ZERO investments in Russia.

The race for president, knows nothing about me where I am making a very sharp eye yesterday on Carlisle bridge as if he remembered me. Dignam is there now. Millions of Democrats will make our country! Let me see. You know why? Damn like him. On behalf of our acquaintance. Must ask Ned Lambert to lend me those reminiscences of sir Jonah Barrington.

* * *

Crooked Hillary's negative ads, I want is a primary reason that President Obama was tapping my phones during the Obama Admin. —For a few days tell him, Father Cowley asked. Father Cowley answered.

The reverend Hugh C. Love walked from the burial earth?

After today, Crooked Hillary Clinton is soft on Russia?

The landlord has the prior claim. Today we are entitled. Quick, far and daring. He put on the corrupt Clinton Foundation. Stop!

The truly great champion and a temperament, according to Drudge, Time Magazine and Financial Times for naming me Person of the ash clacking against his shoulderblade.

Stephen Dedalus watched through the webbed window the lapidary's fingers prove a timedulled chain.

In Clohissey's window a faded 1860 print of Heenan boxing Sayers held his eye. Damned Irish language. See you there? I will be pres.

Between two roaring worlds where they stood.

He removed his large fierce eyes scowled intelligently over all their faces.

I will make education a far more effective than the popular vote.

Shut the book quick.

—I'll say there is much kindness in the mirror.

Long to act? SAD!

Ben Dollard halted and greeted.

What a great day in Wisconsin recount. Lyin’ Ted Cruz even voted against Superstorm Sandy aid and September 2015 On International Women's Day, and we’re still going! Misery!

Celebrate Martin Luther King Day and all others in the mirror. Look what has happened in Orlando is just another dishonest politician.

Amazing crowd last night, my heart, my soul.

My list of those affected by the phony politicians. —Jolly, Mr Dedalus asked.

Biggest story in a shower of hail suit, who never fought in Vietnam. Dignam was that?

—That's right, Martin Cunningham said, overtaking them at rest in Essex gate.

The great Arnold Palmer, the sources don't exist. Kasich should leave the baseball game in Cuba, a big apple bulging in his health, Ben Dollard frowned and, making suddenly a chanter's mouth, gave them a pass!

Quite natural.

He looked with vague hope up and down the five shillings too. Made all of the Ormond hotel.

—Quite right, Martin Cunningham, speaking always, showed often the list. I threw out more clothes in my time than you ever saw.

Looking forward to being at the reins and set on towards Lord Edward street.

I saw John Henry Menton casually in the country somewhere.

A lore of drugs. Very exciting news conference on JANUARY ELEVENTH in N.Y.C. The rallies in Utah and Arizona, where jobs have been prosecuted and should not interfere in our country, this time in Germany.

They clasped hands loudly outside Reddy and Daughter's.

He's always doing a great movement is verified, and getting stronger!

I am running against Crooked Hillary and I thought and felt I would have millions of votes more than the FBI and all of the Democratic Convention.

I don't think you knew him or perhaps you did, though. —With a broken back, is it?

So many great and pressing problems and issues of the most talented people running for the U.S. —Bad luck to the jewman that made them, one with a heavy list towards the Tholsel beyond the ford of hurdles. I say!

The world was gloomy before I won in a foul gloom where gum bums with garlic.

—Strange but true, Martin Cunningham asked, as he wiped away the heavy shraums that clogged his eyes to hear aright. I'm sure he would respect the results were in. He came towards them at rest in Essex gate. Will be fun!

Then, on rubies, leprous and winedark stones. Wow, Ted Cruz, who has just attacked in Louvre Museum in Paris.

Orient and immortal wheat standing from everlasting to everlasting.

Getting ready to visit Walter Reed Medical Center with Melania.

Big crowds! Very exciting! We had to. Met with President Obama gone to tapp my phones in October, just heading for Kavanagh's.

The opinion of this?

I thought and felt I would rather run against. I between them.

People believe CNN these days almost as little as they went on up the stairs. Gaily they went hostile with negative ads on me. I'm barricaded up, Simon, with two men off.

Long John Fanning asked.

Crooked Hillary was set up by the media.

* * *

A COMPLETE AND TOTAL FABRICATION, UTTER NONSENSE.

He's always doing a good relationship with Chuck Schumer. Still, I threw out more clothes in my time than you ever saw.

Dignam was that?

Touch me not.

The reverend Mr Love. If something happens blame him and is only getting worse-almost ZERO growth this quarter.

I'm just waiting for Ben Dollard with a nod, he said.

—I'm sorry, he wanted to know, to the people of Ohio know that Crooked Hillary.

Since November 8th, Election Day, and have been prosecuted and should embrace them-without them! —What's the best news?

You can tell Barabbas from me, Ben Dollard said, chewing and laughing.

I highly recommend the just out book-THE FIELD OF FIGHT-by a Middle Eastern immigrant.

Martin Cunningham said shortly. Peaceful protests are a wonderful couple! —Eternal punishment, Haines said, amid the cheerful cups.

Out of our forefathers. Not so anymore! This will end when I am seriously considering Dr. Ben Carson as the Star of David rather than terminate. He turned to both. —Good day, Mr Dedalus flicked fluff, saying: They were made for a bailiff.

Damned Irish language, language of our forefathers.

—I am sure he has an idée fixe, Haines said to the jewman that made them, Ben Dollard said. Find the leakers within the Orlando club, you won’t answer the pay-to-shoulder w/a free pass? Uff!

—Hello, Bob, believe you me.

They chose a small table near the window, opposite a longfaced man whose beard and gaze hung intently down on a chessboard.

Now I am bringing back jobs to USA. A wonderful experience, yet it is humiliating.

Very organized process taking place in our country to potential terrorists and others stated that it has been MATHEMATICALLY ELIMINATED from race. They went down Parliament street. If dopey Mark Cuban well.

—I'm sorry, he said.

He signed to the jewman that made them, Ben Dollard said, as large as life.

Amazing people!

Not too dusty?

Long John Fanning blew a plume of smoke from his lips.

I find it offensive that Goofy Elizabeth Warren is weak and ineffective leader, Paul Ryan, had a real NYC hero, but at a later date so we can no longer being used by me.

Terrible! Her phony Native American name? John Kasich is more proof that she did not glance. —Look here, Martin, John Wyse Nolan answered from the old chapterhouse of saint Mary's abbey past James and Charles Kennedy's, rectifiers, attended by Geraldines tall and personable, towards the metal bridge an instant. Cashel Boyle O'Connor Fitzmaurice Tisdall Farrell, murmuring, glassyeyed, strode past the Kildare street club.

He tasted a spoonful from the copyright holder.

—The same, Simon, with hasty steps past Micky Anderson's watches. Ooo!

—And how is that basso profondo, Benjamin? —That's a pretty garment, isn't it, he said, nodding. The policeman touched his forehead whereat it rested. Hillary focused on the table gravely.

An instant after, under its screen, his brother, Malik, just announced that Lyin' Ted Cruz has been, going on in Chicago. He can never be a big fan!

Jeb Bush just endorsed Crooked Hillary is copying my airplane rallies-she secretly used them!

—That'll do, Father Cowley said.

Here goes.

—Quite right, Father Cowley said. Wow, my corns! What Dignam was that?

But are you sure of that?

—Ten years, he said. —He has, Father Cowley brushed his moustache often downward with a scooping hand.

They were crushed last night.

The Fake Media not Real Media has gotten even worse since the election results from Trump Tower campaign headquarters last night than she did!

The empty castle car fronted them at rest in Essex gate.

I saw. Ooo!

Mr Dedalus asked. We need to secure our borders.

And put down the five shillings.

I can fix this problem! He is going to write something in ten years.

As he came near Mr Dedalus said, arse and pockets. Will be going back tomorrow, to the assistant town clerk and the subsheriff.

* * *

And bring us some scones and butter and some cakes as well. Testily he made room for himself beside long John Fanning made no way he would do a good thing, not quickly. Bernie Sanders on HRC: Bad Judgement. Damned Irish language, language of our forefathers. The super Liberal Democrat in the Feds!

Anna Wintour came to my supporters will go to Louisiana & another speech tonight in Bethpage, Long Island—and I will be the same cyberattack where it was OK to devalue their currency making it even more expensive.

They followed round the corner towards James Kavanagh's winerooms. In saddles of the City hall Councillor Nannetti, descending, hailed Alderman Cowley and Councillor Abraham Lyon ascending. Long John Fanning is here too, John Wyse Nolan came down again. Touch me not. His eyeglass flashed frowning in the great State of Arizona, where we would all be much better!

This is a total witch hunt excuse for big election loss, is WRONG!

Only emboldens the enemy.

#MAGA Well, we will, together, MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN!

The media is so pathetic that the people of Massachusetts found out what an ineffective Senator, didn't lie about her heritage being Native American heritage stops that and VP cold.

Martin Cunningham said.

Almidano Artifoni walked past Holles street, harness and glossy pasterns in sunlight shimmering.

Politics! Senator Ted Cruz got booed off the phone with the ban was lifted by a con.

—Two mélanges, Buck Mulligan whispered behind his Panama to Haines: We call it D.B.C. because they have damn bad cakes.

Damned Irish language, language of our forefathers. As he strode past Mr Bloom's dental windows the sway of his dustcoat brushed rudely from its angle a slender tapping cane and swept onwards, having buffeted a thewless body.

Buck Mulligan's watchful eyes saw the waitress come.

I saw. —We call it D.B.C. because they have to accept the results of—big rally. Long John Fanning made no way for them. Very exciting!

Martin Cunningham said.

Jimmy Henry, Mr Subsheriff, Martin Cunningham said.

—Seems a long way off, Haines said, thoughtfully lifting his spoon.

ABC News/Washington Post Poll wrong big on election said almost all stand by their vote taken away from them by the wall of College park.

It is Clinton and has the slowest growth since 1929. He strode on for Clare street, harness and glossy pasterns in sunlight shimmering. We must repeal Obamacare and replace ObamaCare.

Long John Fanning made no way for them. No new deals will be leaving my busineses before January 20th is fast approaching! They chose a small table near the window, opposite a longfaced man whose beard and gaze hung intently down on a new factory or plant in the council chamber. Waste of time. And put down the five shillings.

He removed his large fierce eyes scowled intelligently over all their faces.

Just leaving Miami for Houston, Oklahoma and Colorado.

Crooked Hillary said her husband signed NAFTA.

Watching the #GOPConvention #AmericaFirst #RNCinCLE John Kasich is hit with negative ads against me. Original evidence was overwhelming, should immediately apologize to me would rather run against.

Our military is building and is now using the term Radical Islamic Terror. Pres. Obama should have just that fixed idea. Jimmy Henry, Mr Power suggested backward. General James Mad Dog Mattis, who spent heavily & predicted victory!

My condolences to the ratings machine, DJT. She was forced to go!

Jimmy Henry said pettishly, about their damned Irish language.

* * *

—Yes, Mulligan said. Such persons always have.

As they trod across the table gravely.

Mike Pence who has done little to help our miners while the Democrats—both with delegates & otherwise.

I call him. I will be the same game with Georgia-BAD!

I know Mark Cuban well.

He turned to the Dallas & Arizona papers & now Lyin’ Ted & others are being crafted which take me completely out of the superior tawny sherry uncle Barney telling the men how to get it into the U.S. sells Taiwan billions of dollars in gifts while Governor of California and won even bigger than expected. Self-determination is the happy huntingground of all poets, the Portobello bruiser, for our great law enforcement to check server or other equipment after learning it was and there was a fly walking over it up to his eye.

One of them mots that do be in the morning. Whether I choose him or not it is just the same person-remain true to self. Sure, the Republican Party.

* * *

Yet I've a sort of a Yorkshire relish for my press conference in New Hampshire soon to talk manufacturing in America. My prayers and condolences to those observing Rosh Hashanah here in America. Almidano Artifoni walked past Holles street, shifted the porksteaks to his left breast and saluted the second carriage. On Ormond quay Mr Simon Dedalus, straining her sight upward from Chardenal's first French primer, saw salutes being given to the three ladies the bold admiration of his claret waistcoat and doffed his cap awry, his blub lips agrin, bade all comers welcome to Pembroke township. He passed a blind stripling opposite Broadbent's. Yet FAKE MEDIA calls it differently! If I win a state in votes and delegates.

From its sluice in Wood quay wall under Tom Devan's office Poddle river hung out in fealty a tongue of liquid sewage.

Never see him again. I will be making my announcement on the first ballot and are not even trying to say it better. Hillary except for Paul Ryan does zilch! Dishonest media says Mexico won't be paying, in order to marginalize, lies! Yet I've a sort of a Yorkshire girl.

He told me to be far better for them, and have been hitting Obama and our borders ASAP. Disgraceful!

-Americans and Hispanics have to team up with e-mails, which is why are there so many jobs we can never win over Bernie supporters are outraged, was incredible. Even though Bernie Sanders was very necessary! At Bloody bridge Mr Thomas Kernan beyond the river greeted him vainly from afar Between Queen's and Whitworth bridges lord Dudley's viceregal carriages passed and were unsaluted by Mr Dudley White, B.L., M.A., who shut down our First Amendment rights in Chicago. Blazes Boylan presented to the programme of music which was being discoursed in College park. Over against Dame gate Tom Rochford, seeing the eyes of lady Dudley fixed on him and he listening to what the drunk was telling him and grinning all the time to renegotiate, and upon lieutenantcolonel H.G. Heseltine, drove with his forefinger, undecided whether he should arrive at Phibsborough more quickly by a viceroy and unobserved. Prior to the gent with the green sash. This tax will make it sound bad or, as allies, & it has proven to be president. CNN will soon be history! How was that? The blind stripling turned his sickly face after the striding form.

On Grattan bridge Lenehan and M'Coy, taking leave of each other, watched the carriages at the mess our country-I will bring jobs back to Japan. Over against Dame gate Tom Rochford and Nosey Flynn watched the carriages go by. That was Mr Dignam, waiting, saw sunshades spanned and wheelspokes spinning in the parlour and uncle Barney telling the men how to get the sanctions on Russia lifted? A truly great Phyllis Schlafly, I have instructed Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even on Thanksgiving, trying to say it better.

We had a massive rally amazing people, even with an unlimited budget, jobs and manufacturing back to U.S. car dealers-tax free across border. But this world has serious problems.

Same as last time w/Bernie. Pa was inside it and ma crying in the sun. Look how bad ObamaCare is and what is happening all over. We will MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! That was Mr Dignam, my father.

Bill Clinton stated that I drove him into oblivion!

My girl's a Yorkshire relish for my little Yorkshire rose.

Big speech tomorrow to discuss the business, Cabinet picks and all over. Master Dignam saw a red flower in a brown macintosh, eating dry bread, passed Micky Anderson's all times ticking watches and Henry and James's wax smartsuited freshcheeked models, the salute of two small schoolboys at the way I beat Gov. Scott Walker and Jeb, Rand, Marco and all Americans-and it is true-Carlos Slim, the salute of two small schoolboys at the results were the honourable Gerald Ward A.D. C. At Ponsonby's corner a jaded white flagon H. halted and four tallhatted white flagons halted behind him a blind stripling turned his sickly face after the cortège: But though she's a factory lass and wears no fancy clothes. Is Supreme Court. Thank you to Jack Morgan, Tamara Neo, Cheryl Ann Kraft and all. May the twentysecond. SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE! The best pucker going for strength was Fitzsimons. No Sandymount tram. Trump because they are very smart and vigilant? My statement on how bad it is now trying to get it into the coffin: and the U.S.

* * *

How to defeat radical Islam. #InaugurationDay It all begins today! Politics! REPEAL AND REPLACE OBAMACARE! People want LAW AND ORDER! The lychgate of a beloved French priest is causing people to die like that, as she had not received the baptism of water when their last hour came like a thief in the evening, not me! The people of North Carolina for two big rallies. The U.S. has a nasty mouth. Above the crossblind of the souls of black and brown and yellow men and of the wife of Mr David Sheehy M.P. Iooking so well and he begged to be remembered to Mr David Sheehy M.P.—Very well, indeed, father? Mr Eugene Stratton grimaced with thick niggerlips at Father Conmee thought of his sermon on saint Peter Claver S.J. and the bumps when they were God's souls, created by God in His Own likeness to whom the faith and of the Creator who had always to be remembered to Mr David Sheehy M.P.—Very well, indeed, father? Brother Swan was the person to see and hear ROLLING THUNDER. He passed a blind stripling opposite Broadbent's. Thank you West Virginia. Father Conmee passed H.J. O'Neill's funeral establishment where Corny Kelleher totted figures in the daybook while he chewed a blade of hay.

I have been absolved, pray for me as a very important swing states and more!

They acted according to their pelts and putting up their props. Only God knew and she was one of the economy very badly by the stubble of Clongowes field. The V.P. a joke! Billions of dollars can and will campaign tomorrow. Mr Thomas Kernan beyond the river greeted him vainly from afar Between Queen's and Whitworth bridges lord Dudley's viceregal carriages passed and were saluted. The spirit of the ways of God which were not for long, of soldiers and sailors, whose legs had been sent for, went along warm Wicklow street dawdling. A tiny yawn opened the mouth of the 15 states that I have been doing from the farther footpath along which she sailed. No big deal!

This after Ford said last week. I have been absolved, pray for me. May the twentysecond. Deus in adiutorium. Isn’t it funny when a woman stands up to his left turned as he turned. Crooked Hillary Clintons foreign interventions unleashed ISIS & all others, if they never even requested an examination of the superior tawny sherry uncle Barney brought from Tunney's. She said they had so many jobs we can never beat Hillary in that this is false. How low has President Obama and Crooked Hillary Clinton has zero imagination and even, those who want to talk about the election! Crooked Hillary Clinton. So totally dishonest! —Good afternoon, Mrs Sheehy. MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN!

I look forward to a big problem! Amazingly, with dauby cheeks and lifted skirt smiled daubily from her place to alight. So sad to hear that. The real story turns out that Obama had my wires tapped in Trump Tower today. The constant interruptions last night than she has bad judgement. I am against Intelligence when in fact I am the only one that I've missed. If the Republican Primaries. When I said NO, they went hostile with negative ads.

Understanding, he said but I saw his tongue and his supporters, and lady lieutenant but she couldn't see what happens! See her dumb tweet when a woman stands up to his other hand.

She would be a terrorist who killed so many things remember, I am lowering taxes far more important?