#a little bit of Jay and Nat because I actually love them | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

iamwhoami · 3 years

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You Found Me (Chicago PD)

Chicago PD

Hailey Upton knows that her job is dangerous but never did she think that it could become dangerous for her girlfriend Y/N. Or at least she never hoped it would.

Warnings: Blood...kidnapping, all that jazz

Requested = Yes

The request asked for this to be long but I'm not exactly sure what constitutes as long so I'm just going to drag this on until I can't.

Obviously, you knew what Hailey's job was. You knew it was dangerous but the risk of Hailey's wellbeing and constantly having to worry about her when she went to work was easily outweighed by the pros of dating her.

It was Hailey Upton after all.

"Be safe okay," You whispered before pecking Hailey on her cheek on her way out.

"You too," Hailey replied and you chuckled.

"Please, I'm a doctor, what's the worst that could happen," You smiled.

Hailey raised an eyebrow, "Don't jinx yourself."

You only shook your head in response, giving Hailey another kiss on the lips on her way out the door.

"I love you," You called and grinned as you leaned your head against the frame of the door, watching Hailey walk down the hall.

~~~

"Y/N, there's a patient in four waiting," Maggie told you the moment you walked into the ED.

"I'll be there in a moment," You replied as you fumbled through your bag, "I think I left my hospital ID in my car."

Maggie only shot you a look, "Be quick about it."

You had all intentions of being quick. It was a trip to the car, a grab from the glove department, a trip back to the ED.

That was it.

Or at least, that was all that it was supposed to be.

You felt something was wrong the moment you stepped foot out of the ED but you told yourself that you were just being paranoid. Hailey tried to keep her work as separate as possible from you but that didn't mean that you were completely oblivious to some of her cases.

You told yourself that the gruesome details of Hailey's cases were just playing with your mind and kept walking.

You should have trusted your instincts though. You should have listened to the tiny voice in your head (the one that sounded a lot like Hailey) and just turned around and head back to the

But you didn't, and you were going to regret it.

The last thing you remembered was reaching in through the passenger door to open the glove box when you felt a heavy blow to the back of your head.

Then nothing.

~~~

Maggie furrowed her eyebrows when the patient that you were supposed to be seeing complained about how long she had been waiting for a doctor.

"Hey...Nat," Maggie handed the tablet over, "Y/N was supposed to cover this one once she got her ID but the patient's still waiting. You haven't seen her have you?"

Natalie shook her head, "No, I haven't. Sorry..."

Maggie only nodded while Dr. Manning went into the room. Something wasn't right. You weren't one to just completely forget about a patient. If anything, you were the opposite.

Slightly worried, Maggie decided to check where you usually parked the car. Leaving Doris in charge of the ED for the few minutes that she would be gone, Maggie hurried out to the parking lot.

She was confused when she saw that your parking space was empty. You always parked there. Everyone at the hospital knew that it was your spot.

Completely bewildered, Maggie walked closer to the parking spot, her eyes going wide when she saw something on the pavement.

Blood.

~~~

You groaned as you slowly came back to consciousness. Your head hurt like hell but when you tried to reach up to touch it, you realized that your wrists were actually bound together.

As your vision cleared, you noticed just how dark your surroundings were and immediately jumped to the conclusion that you were in a warehouse.

Sure, you totally could have been somewhere else but it seemed like all of the victims who were held captive in Hailey's cases were kept in a warehouse sort of building.

You took a deep breath, trying to remain calm despite the dire circumstances. Someone would have noticed that you didn't return to the hospital and the police would find you soon.

And if it was Hailey and Intelligence looking for you, then you would be back in Hailey's arms in no time.

That's what you kept telling yourself.

As your eyes adjusted to the darkness, you could begin to make out details of your captivity.

Your hands were bound behind your back but your ankles weren't tied whatsoever. You knew better than to struggle against your restraints but you couldn't help but try anyways, sighing when you only ended up tightening them.

Surprisingly, you were alone and so you took the chance to stumble onto your feet as best as you could without the use of your arms and scout out the area.

Maybe your kidnappers were stupid enough to leave you an exit.

Your heart racing, you let out a shaky breath, reminding yourself that panic wasn't going to help and began walking around the perimeter of the space.

~~~

"Don't even think about taking me off the case," Hailey deadpanned the moment the door to Voight's office closed.

"You really think it's a good idea for you to be working right now?" Voight raised an eyebrow, "Y/N is your girlfriend!"

Hailey pursed her lips, "I'm aware of that."

"Hailey..." Voight's voice was strangely gentle.

"No," Hailey shook her head stubbornly, "I'm not going to just sit around and wait for someone to bring Y/N back to me and every moment you waste trying to talk me out of this is time wasted on Y/N."

Voight and Hailey both knew that if Voight did bench her, she was still going to search for you, even if it meant going against her sergeant's orders.

"Fine," Voight gruffly agreed, "Go help Halstead go through your past cases. Anyone who might use Y/N as revenge on you."

Hailey gave a short nod and without another word, left the office.

Truthfully, she hadn't processed anything whatsoever, but you were out there somewhere, definitely hurt and that's all that she needed to know.

Of course, she was worried. Worried was an understatement, and once in a while, she'd catch herself thinking about the worst outcomes but stop before it got too far.

She had to stay focused on the task at hand which was to bring you home to her.

This was not the moment to break down.

~~~

You walked loop after loop around the space until your head couldn't take it anymore and you crumbled to the ground.

While walking, you had noticed a steel door but there was no way you were getting through it. Especially not with your hands tied.

Lying on the cold concrete floor, you couldn't help but start to think of worst-case scenarios. What if they never found you? What if you died before they got here? What if you never saw Hailey again?

Your thoughts were interrupted though by the sound of footsteps echoing towards the door.

You felt your heart drop and your entire body tense. Was this your kidnapper?

The door suddenly swung open and revealed two men, one significantly taller than the other.

"Well...looks like our doctor here has a little boo-boo," The shorter one snickered at your limp body sprawled on the ground.

You bit your lip to stop yourself from saying something you would regret later.

"I can see why the detective fell in love with her," The taller one joined in, a smirk on his face, "She's quite the catch."

The two men had both crouched down in front of you now and you couldn't help but spit out a remark.

"Fuck off."

"Oh, would you look at that," The tall man smiled sickly, "She's feisty too...just like our detective friend..."

A sudden rush of panic flowed through you as you came up with the theory that they had Hailey too.

"Oh don't worry about her," The shorter man caressed your cheek, making you flinch slightly, "It's much more fun watching her spiral from afar...speaking of fun...I think it's about time we made a call."

Before you could say anything else, the two men got up and left the room and you let out a breath. Besides your head wound, you were uninjured so far and if they were calling Hailey, then it would just give them more clues to who the men were and where you were.

Despite the fear coursing through your veins, you still tried to stay positive and so you just kept telling yourself that you would be out of here in no time.

~~~

Hailey's heart nearly leaped out of her chest when she answered her phone.

"Hello detective," A cold voice reached her ear.

Immediately, Hailey flagged the attention of the rest of Intelligence and put the call on speaker.

"You might have already found out that your girlfriend is gone..." The voice droned, "Such a shame, hopefully, she didn't leave you for another woman..."

"You better not hurt her," Hailey clenched her jaw, her stomach churning as she listened to the man's voice come through the phone.

The man laughed, "Who said I took her?"

"We're going to find her," Hailey said, "And we're going to find you."

"Don't be so confident about that," The man was clearly enjoying playing Hailey like this, "Let me loop you in detective, it isn't so fun to have someone take your loved one away from you is it?"

Hailey opened her mouth to respond but the call had already disconnected.

"I think I got something," Jay called out and held up a case folder, "We put a Jameson Greene away a few weeks ago. He's doing hard time and he has two brothers who he lived with...that could be what the caller was referring to when he talked about losing someone you love."

"Hey, look at this," Kim pointed to her screen, "I pulled up street cams and managed to catch Y/N's car...we lose it after a few streets but it is going into the area that Greene lived in with his brothers. Plus, there's plenty of old warehouses around that place."

Everyone turned to look at Voight who gave a nod.

"Suit up," He said and turned around, "I want Patrol on this as well. I want everyone looking for Y/N."

~~~

"Your detective sounded pretty sure that she was going to find you," The man stroked your hair and you wanted to puke with each touch.

"That's because she will," You managed to croak out. While you only had a head injury, it was still a head injury that also hadn't stopped bleeding and on top of that, you desperately needed water.

You needed Hailey.

"You sure about that sweetheart?" The sarcasm dripped in his voice and you fought the urge to spit in his face.

"Well, I know she isn't going to stop until she does so yes," You said through gritted teeth, "She will find me."

A smirk formed on the man's face, "We'll just have to wait and see won't we, princess?"

~~~

Everyone on the team could see that Hailey was beginning to spiral. After countless door-to-door and dead-end leads, they still hadn't found you and that was taking a toll on Hailey.

"Hey," Jay stopped her before they hit the next house, "You okay?"

"I'll feel better once we find Y/N," Hailey said through gritted teeth and pushed past Jay, continuing to walk.

Jay stepped in front of Hailey, "Look, maybe you should go home...take a breather."

"Absolutely not!" Hailey narrowed her eyes, "I'm not going home until I can bring her home with me."

Jay opened his mouth to press back but was interrupted by Atwater's voice calling out.

"We got something!"

~~~

It was beginning to become harder and harder to keep your eyes open and while you were a doctor, it didn't take a doctor to understand that this wasn't a good sign.

"If your detective girlfriend doesn't come soon I'm going to have to call her again," The man snickered, "Maybe I'll have to be more specific...I'll tell her to bring wine too."

You didn't have enough strength to find a comeback as you laid on the ground, your wrists still bound together.

"Princess..." The man's voice broke through your pain, "You better keep your eyes open princess."

"Don't call me that," You breathed out, wincing at how your head throbbed with each word.

The man hummed, "What should I call you then? Would you prefer darling?"

"Chicago PD!"

In an instant, the door flung open and you were suddenly yanked up onto your feet. Despite your semi-conscious state and fuzzy vision, you could still make out the members of Intelligence rushing towards you.

It all happened so fast. One moment you were struggling to say upright long enough for someone to get you away from your captor and the next you could see the wall speeding towards you.

You felt the side of your head smash into a hard surface but before you could register any pain, everything fell black.

~~~

When you opened your eyes again, the first thing that you felt was the pounding coming from your head. As your vision cleared though, you realized that you were in a hospital room.

You had been in hospital rooms plenty of times but it didn't take very long for you to notice that you were in this room as a doctor.

"Hey...you're awake."

You didn't need to see who the voice came from to know that it was Hailey. Slowly, you turned your head and were immediately met with those blue eyes.

"You look like hell," You hoarsely croaked out.

"Right back at you," Hailey tried to keep her tone teasing but you could tell that she was holding back a lot.

You spread your arms, "Come here."

Hailey took your offer immediately, melting into your embrace.

"I'm okay," You whispered, "See, I'm okay."

"I know..." Hailey mumbled into your neck, "I know you are. I know the doctors said you were going to be fine I just-"

A sob interrupted Hailey and she buried her face deeper into your neck while you rubbed her back soothingly.

"I told those men that you would find me," You smiled, "See...I'm right as always."

Hailey let out a watery laugh and sat back up so that she could see your face.

"I'm okay Hailey," You lowered your voice, "You found me...everything is going to be okay."

"You were the one kidnapped," Hailey shook her head, "I should be comforting you."

You reached out to take Hailey's hand, "Well, there's plenty time for that too..."

"I was so worried," Hailey rubbed her eyes, "I couldn't help but wonder what would happen if we didn't find you."

"Hey...hey, look at me," You squeezed Hailey's hand, "That didn't happen. You did find me and I'm okay and we're going to be okay. It's going to be okay."

Hailey nodded, "I know...it's just..."

"It's just what?" You asked softly.

"I...I couldn't remember if I had told you that I loved you back this morning when I left," Hailey bit her lip, "What if we didn't find you? What was the last thing I told you?"

You breathed out, "Hailey...you don't have to worry about that. You found me. I know you love me. We're okay..."

"I-"

"Hailey," You cupped your hands on either side of her face, "Everything's okay."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

#chicago pd #chicago pd x reader #chicago pd imagine #chicago pd imagines #hailey upton #hailey upton x female reader #hailey upton imagines #hailey upton x reader #hailey upton imagine

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thebookreader12345 · 4 years

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Friendly Parenting

Pairing: Natalie Manning x Best Friend! reader

Summary: Y/n moves in with Nat to help her through her pregnancy and promises to be by her side through everything life throws at them

Requested: Yes, by anonymous

Warnings: light swearing and mentions of pregnancy/birth

Word Count: 1,232 Words

Pt. 2 Pt. 3

“And this is the last one,” I state and bring in a suitcase from my car.

“Thanks again for doing this, Y/n,” Natalie told me.

“Nat, I’m your best friend. I will do anything you ask. Besides, I don’t think anyone is more excited than me for you to have this baby. Except for Helen,” I point out.

Natalie laughed. “Okay, so, what do you want for dinner?”

“Whatever the baby wants is fine with me,” I answer and drag my suitcases farther into the house.

“Pizza it is. I’ll be up to help you unpack as soon as I call the food in,” Natalie spoke.

“Gotcha,” I respond and bring my bags up the stairs and into the guest room Natalie had set up for me. I set my bags on my bed and opened them before starting to put my clothes in the dresser. It was weird seeing all of my clothes laid out in front of me because I wore scrubs on most days. I loved my job as a doctor in the ED, and don’t get me wrong, it did take up a lot of time, but it was worth it. Getting to help people was something I had always wanted to do, and being able to actually do it was a dream come true. Natalie joined me a few minutes later, and together we unpacked the rest of my clothes. Clothes were pretty much the only thing I needed to bring. My parents had put the rest of my things in storage so that when it was okay for Natalie to be alone, all my stuff would be waiting for me to move back into an apartment. “And of course, the room would not be complete without this,” I say and place a picture frame on the nightstand. The picture was of Nat, Will and I standing in front of the new ED after it had to be rebuilt. Will was another close friend of mine, and he had the hugest crush on Natalie, which everyone knew about except her. Once we were done unpacking and the pizza had arrived, we sat in the living room and ate.

“Y/N, that patient you had last week was totally into you. You should text him.” Natalie told me.

I shook my head. “No. No way. That’d be so weird. What would I even say? ‘Hey. This is Dr. L/N. I was just wondering if you wanted to go on a date with me.’”

“That’s exactly what you should say,” Natalie said.

“Your hormones are making you crazy. I’m not doing that. Besides, I’m perfectly happy being single,” I state.

“And I know that, but I think there’s a guy out there who could make you very happy. Oh! What about Connor?” Natalie asked. I almost spit out my water, and ended up choking on some of it as it slid down my throat.

“Connor?” I cough out.

“Come on. I see the way you guys look at each other. There’s something there,” Natalie accused.

“Nat, Connor just started at the hospital. I barely know him,” I point out.

“Liar! You probably know everything about him,” Natalie spoke.

I waved her thought aside. “Enough of this. You should not be worrying about these stupid things. It’s not good for the baby.”

“He’s been kicking like crazy today,” Nat admitted and rubbed a hand over her swollen stomach.

“Maybe it’s because he’s excited that I’m here,” I suggest jokingly and take another bite of pizza.

“I actually think you might be right. He seems to like the sound of your voice,” Natalie confessed.

“Because I’m going to be the one to spoil him when he gets older,” I respond. “Now, lets see whatever stupid cheesy romance movie is on TV.”

1 Month Later...

“Look at that. My two favorite women,” Maggie said as Natalie and I walked into the ED together.

“Hey Mags. Hey Will,” I greet my two colleagues. “Any incoming traumas?”

“You missed one. A big trauma came in earlier,” Will informed me.

“Damn. Nat, if you make us late one more time,” I joke.

“Hey. It’s not my fault that this baby slows me down,” Nat retorted.

“Mmhmm. I will talk to you guys later. Right now, I’ve got to help Nat get to the lounge,” I tell Maggie and Will.

“Have fun,” Maggie called out as we walked away. A few hours later, while I was doing some charting, I was informed that Natalie’s water had broke, and she was in a room upstairs. So, when I went up there, I made her walk a little bit around the floor.

“How much longer do we have to do this?” Natalie asked me.

“Ten more laps,” I reply.

“You know, I am seriously regretting this whole thing,” Natalie exclaimed and gestured between us.

“Good. I guess that means I’m doing my job correctly,” I state as we continued walking. At that moment, we passed Natalie’s room, and standing by the doorway was Will. “Hey, Will.”

“Hey. Sorry I took so long to come up. I had to bribe Fromson to cover my shift. What do you need me to do?” Will questioned.

"I need you to walk with her for now, and I will be back as soon as I can,” I answer.

“Wait, you're leaving?” Natalie asked me.

“I’ve got a few cases to close up. You’ll be in good hands with Will. I promise,” I assure her. After leaving Will and Natalie, I headed back down to the ED to finish up discharging my patients. As I was finishing my last chart, Maggie called out for me.

“Y/N! Incoming!” Maggie shouted.

“Mags, I’ve got to get back to Nat,” I tell her.

“You’re the only doc in here right now. I need you,” Maggie spoke.

I sighed and set down my tablet. “Fine. But this better be quick.” It was anything other than quick. By the time I had finished with that patient, hours had gone by. As soon as I finished the paperwork, I rushed up to Nat’s room. When I entered, I found Natalie holding a baby. Her baby. “Natalie, I’m so sorry. I wanted to come right back, but I got stuck with a case and-”

Natalie cut me off. “It’s okay. Maggie told me everything, and she was here for me. Now, would you like to hold Owen?”

“Wait, Owen? You took my suggestion?” I ask.

Natalie nodded. “Yeah. Here,” she said and passed me the baby. I smiled down at the baby in my arms and took a seat in the chair next to Natalie’s bed. Owen cooed at me as I held his tiny hand with my fingers. He was amazing.

“He’s beautiful, Nat,” I announce to my best friend. “I’m so proud of you.”

“Thank you for being with me through everything, Y/N. I really appreciate it,” Natalie declared.

“You’re going to appreciate me even more when I help you take care of this little rascal. If you thought being pregnant was rough, wait until we have to sleep in a house with Owen waking up every hour of the night,” I explain.

Natalie laughed. “Well, I’m glad I’ll be doing it with my best friend.”

“I’m glad I’m doing this with you. Now, enough of all this talking. I just want to squeeze Owen’s chubby cheeks,” I exclaim.

___________________

Tag List:

@prettypyschoinpink @securityfriendly-jay @scarletsoldierrr @lorenakaspersen @virtualreader @carnationworld @caitsymichelle13 @king-crockett

#one chicago #chicago med #chicago med x reader #chicago med imagine #chicago med imagines #natalie manning #best friends #baby #pregnancy

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phantasticworks · 3 years

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If You Don't Love Me, Pretend - Epilogue

Well. So here we are. it's been a long time (about three years actually) since I started writing this fic and it's grown significantly out of my control since then :') if you've been along since the start, or if you've just found this fic today, thank you for coming along this journey with me. It's been incredible and I'm forever grateful for all the support this fic has gotten <3 thank you so much for reading. keep your eyes peeled for bonus content!

read on ao3

Words: 3.9k

Summary: Three years later

Warnings for this chapter: none

It’s nearly six in the evening and there’s a chiming noise coming from the laptop in the lounge. Dan curses under his breath as he makes his way from the kitchen, hoping and praying the volume isn’t loud enough to wake a certain someone.

He gets there just as the Skype call is about to end, and is quick to press the “accept” button as he scoops the laptop up, retreating back to the kitchen with it. “Hi,” he whispers.

“Hey,” Phil says from the screen, a little smile on his face. “I thought you forgot about me.”

Dan rolls his eyes, setting the laptop on the island countertop and settling on a barstool. “Right. God forbid I’m two seconds late to our Skype call.”

Phil does an adorable pout. “I’ve been gone a week, I miss your face. Is that a crime?”

Dan smirks. “Yep. I’m gonna call the police, have them arrest you on the spot.”

“Hm.” Phil considers it for a moment. “I don’t think I like handcuffs enough for that.” He’s got this smug little look on his face, like he knows a secret.

Annoyingly, Dan blushes at that. “Shut up. You don’t get to flirt when you’re, like, on the other side of the freaking planet.”

Phil gives him an apologetic smile. “Sorry, hon. I’ll be back home in a couple days, though.”

Dan nods, propping an elbow up and resting his chin in his hand. “I know. I just miss you.”

“I miss you too,” Phil replies easily. Dan loves that even now, after all this time, they’re still this disgustingly obsessed with each other.

“How’s work been?” Dan asks, changing the subject before he gets sad. He hates it when he gets sad during their Skype calls, especially when he starts crying.

Phil sighs, shrugging. “It’s been alright. I’m exhausted, though. You’d think I’d stop offering to go to these sorts of things for the BBC, but apparently I can’t help myself.”

Dan smiles at him. “You’re a dedicated worker. It’s a good thing.”

“Not when it takes me away from you guys for weeks at a time,” Phil mumbles petulantly. Dan has to agree there. “Speaking of, where are our kids?”

Nearly three years since the adoption was finalized and Dan still adores the sound of that. “The twins are upstairs, I think doing homework. I was starting dinner when you called.”

“Oh, sorry,” Phil says, smiling sheepishly.

Dan waves him off. “It’s fine. I’m doing stir-fry tonight, it won’t take long anyway.”

Phil nods at this, then asks, “Levi out with Charlotte?”

Dan smiles and nods. “Yeah. They went to see a movie, I think.”

“Did you make sure he had enough money?” Phil asks. He’s always got this perpetual fear that their son will be stranded somewhere with no money and no way home, so Dan’s gotten good at reassuring him.

“Yes,” he says patiently. “I let him borrow the car, and I told him that there’s some in the console if they need it.”

Phil nods, but his face is stricken with another worried look. Dan knows what’s coming before he says it. “Did they wear seatbelts? Are you sure he’s ready to drive on his own? I mean-“

“Babe,” Dan interrupts. “He’s nearly eighteen. He’s passed all his tests, gotten his license, and he’s practiced a lot. He’s earned a little bit of trust, yeah?”

He can tell Phil is still a little nervous and weary, but he nods in agreement. “Okay,” he says with a breath. “I just worry about him.”

Dan looks down, hiding his smile. His husband could be such an anxious mess when his kids were involved. “I know. But he’s fine. They’re fine. Charlotte’s aunt said she could stay the night, so they’ll be back soon, I’m sure.”

“Oh, make sure you make her a separate serving of the stir-fry. She’s still doing the vegetarian thing, and I don’t want her to go hungry,” Phil says.

Dan’s heart clenches. He’s so full of love and that ooey-gooey affection that hasn’t dulled at all over the years.

“Sure,” he agrees with a smile.

“How’s-“ Phil begins to speak, but before he can, a piercing cry comes from the lounge. Dan jumps, and Phil laughs. “Speak of the devil,” he grins.

Dan makes a protesting noise. “Don’t you dare call our daughter a devil,” he chastises playfully.

Phil rolls his eyes. “Go get her, I’ll wait.”

Dan nods and quickly makes his way to the lounge, straight over to where the crying noise is coming from the bassinet in the corner. “Oh, dear,” Dan tuts in a high-pitch voice. Phil makes fun of him when he does that, calling him Winnie the Pooh every time. Dan leans down, smiling at the little bundle resting there, the crying softening to a sniffle when Dan scoops the baby up.

“Shh,” he whispers. “There we go. Daddy’s here, love.” He strokes her little fingers, grinning wetly when she clutches onto his pinky. “Aww, what a sweet thing. Do you wanna see your other Dad? Yes! Let’s go see Dada.”

He’s careful as he makes his way back to the kitchen, and he glances up at the laptop, smiling when he sees the way Phil is beaming at him through the screen. “Hello there,” he coos softly. “Oh, sweet angel. How’s she been today?” His tone shifts when he speaks to Dan, and Dan glances up at him again, having gotten lost in staring at her cute little face.

“She’s been a lot better today. I think Kath was right about the colic,” Dan says, absently stroking her little hand as he rocks her gently.

Phil nods. “So it was probably just gas?” He asks.

“I think so. I gave her a warm bath and did the bicycle thing with her legs earlier and she seems to be loads better now,” Dan replies.

“Good,” Phil says with a smile. “I read somewhere that if they’re still having trouble you can have them lay on their tummies and that might help.”

Dan nods. “I’ll try that if she gets fussy again. But the crying finally stopped, thank god.” He’s not religious but he’s not kidding in his thanks. The crying was literally about to drive him insane.

“I know, babe. I’m sorry I haven’t been there this week,” Phil says, his eyes dropping with something like shame.

Dan wishes he could kiss him right now. “It’s fine, Phil. We’ve been fine.”

“Still...” Phil shrugs. “I wish I would’ve been there.”

Dan smiles. “I know. But next time you will be, yeah? At least the BBC isn’t sending you out all the time these days.”

Phil nods. “Thank god. And thank god that Bryony lets you work from home.”

“I know, right?” Dan grins. He’s still a little over the moon about his career shift, even though he does find himself struggling to do both jobs part-time. But that’s something he won’t let himself worry about now.

The baby gurgles in his arms, and Dan coos at her. “What? Is our baby girl hungry? Hm? Time for din-din?”

“I guess I should probably let you go,” Phil says, sounding sad.

Dan glances up at him, frowning at the thought. He really does miss him a lot. “You don’t have to. Do you want to talk to the kids before you go?”

Phil smiles and nods. “Yeah, I’d love that.”

“Let me go grab them. Hang on,” Dan gently bounces the baby as he goes to the end of the stairs, covering her little ears gently before calling out, “Mia! Jai! Come here for a second!”

There’s some shouts of agreement and then Dan listens to the stampede of little feet as they race down the stairs. Thank god they’d finally moved into a house that they actually own, with neighbors far enough away that they can’t complain about the sounds that fill a house full of children.

Still, old habits die hard, and Dan gives them a look when they reach the bottom. “What did we say about running?” He asks.

The nine-year-olds at least have the decency to look ashamed. “Sorry,” Jaiden says, stepping closer and stroking his baby sister’s cheek with a gentle finger. “Hi, Nat-Nat,” he coos.

Dan smiles at that. “Dad’s on Skype, he wants to talk to you guys,” Dan says, and the words are barely out of his mouth when the twins are barreling off towards the kitchen. He rolls his eyes as he follows after them, mumbling to the baby all the while. “Sure, Daddy’s been feeding them and keeping them alive this week, but as soon as Dada is mentioned, it’s like I’m chopped liver,” he complains with the same baby-voice he always uses when talking to her.

She gurgles and Dan sighs. “You’re right. Dada is the best.”

When he reaches the kitchen again, both kids are hovered by the laptop, rambling about their day. They’re interrupting each other more often than not, but Phil seems to be getting the gist of everything regardless. Dan busies himself with preparing a bottle for Natalie, humming to her as he heats up the water. He smiles and makes faces at her to keep her occupied, and his heart leaps when her lip curls just a little.

“Aren’t you Daddy’s little angel? Hm? Our precious girl?” He says in a sweet voice, smiling when she smacks her lips. “Oh, someone is hungry, huh?”

Apparently Amelia is listening to him, because she pipes up from across the room. “I’m hungry,” she says loudly.

“I know, love, I’m going to start dinner as soon as I feed Nat and put her down for another nap,” Dan replies.

Amelia huffs. She mutters something, and Dan tenses. Things had been a little tense since they brought Natalie home over a month ago, and Amelia was not shy about telling them how much she didn’t want a little sister for the months leading up to Natalie’s birth. Dan hates to think that this is their reality for the rest of forever, Amelia disliking her little sister to the point of contempt, but at this point, he wasn’t sure.

“Amelia,” Dan hears Phil say over the Skype call. He’s using his fatherly warning tone, and Dan is partially relieved. This week has been hell trying to balance four kids and a job (thank god it’s summer and his school counselor tasks were more sparse this time of year) as well as the weird energy Amelia has towards the baby, so it’s a relief for Phil to finally step in.

“I know,” Amelia says with an irritated sigh, rolling her eyes. Dan gives her a look, and she looks down.

“Honey, I know you don’t like this change in our family, but that’s just the way things are now, okay? Natalie is here to stay, and sooner or later you need to figure out how to live with that,” Phil tells her firmly.

Dan’s careful not to say anything. There’s been many times, over the years, where he’s been inclined to argue with Phil over their parenting methods, and there’s been times when those arguments have become proper fights. But they’re working on communication, both with each other and their kids, so this time, he keeps his mouth shut. Honestly, there’s not anything Phil said that he doesn’t agree with, so it’s not a hardship to let him take the lead on this one.

Amelia rubs at her eyes. “Fine,” she says tersely.

Dan’s heart clenches. He hates to see any of his children in pain, and he knows that Amelia isn’t wrong to be upset. A new sibling is an upending of her life, and especially since she’s gone from being the only daughter to just the oldest. He thinks about how he felt, at seven years old, when Adrian was born. He gets it.

“Mia, do you want to help me cook dinner tonight?” Dan asks.

Amelia brightens a little at that. “Can I chop peppers?”

Dan smiles. “You sure can. I need my favorite sous chef if I’m going to feed the masses in an orderly time,” he says with a wink.

She giggles, and he relaxes. Amelia starts to tell Phil about something that had happened earlier that day when Dan took them to the park, and Dan hurries about finishing Natalie’s bottle so he can feed her. She’s starting to get fussy, and he’s bouncing her carefully as he readies the bottle, checking the temperature on his wrist.

“Here we go,” he says softly, tucking the bottle nipple in her mouth. “Good stuff, huh?” He smiles down at her, stroking her soft little cheek. Her eyes drift shut and he allows himself to relax, wandering back over to the laptop and standing behind the kids so he can see Phil again.

“And Daddy said that tomorrow we’re gonna go to the zoo,” Amelia announces proudly.

“Might,” Dan says, emphasizing the word strongly. “I said we might go to the zoo.” He rolls his eyes at Phil, shaking his head in exasperation.

“But Daddy-“ Amelia whines.

Dan’s already shaking his head at her. “Nope, don’t start. I said we might go. Honestly, I don’t know if I can handle toting all three of you around by myself.”

“Toting all three of them around where?” A voice says, interrupting Amelia’s next complaint.

Dan turns around where Levi and Charlotte are walking into the kitchen and smiles at them. “The zoo. Possibly. Hi, Lottie. How was the movie?”

Charlotte shrugs, going to settle on the barstool closest to Amelia, accepting the hug Amelia gives her with a smile. “It was alright. The special effects were horrible. You’re going to hate the ending.”

“No spoilers!” He protests, shaking his head adamantly since he doesn’t have an empty hand to gesture with.

She grins and pretends to zip her lips before turning to the laptop, the Skype call still open. Phil is smiling at them, that goofy kind that Dan knows well. It usually means Phil is thinking about how lucky they are to have this life. Dan understands the feeling.

“Hi, Phil,” Charlotte greets with a little wave.

“Hi,” he waves back with a smile. “Did you guys wear your seatbelts?”

Charlotte nods, but Dan notices her give Levi a pointed look and Levi sighs, pulling out his wallet. Dan watches in amusement as he takes out a couple pounds, handing them to her with a roll of his eyes. When she notices Dan looking at her, Charlotte shrugs, looking only a little bit sheepish. “We had a bet on whether or not one of you would ask us about that,” she explains.

Dan snorts. He turns to Levi, giving him a fake disappointed look. “Probably should’ve seen that one coming, Levi.”

Levi sighs. “I knew that you probably wouldn’t, and I wasn’t counting on Dad being here when we got home.”

“Sorry,” Phil says with a grin.

“Are we ever gonna have dinner?” Amelia wails, interrupting whatever it was Phil was going to say next.

“I’m starving,” Jaiden agrees from beside her. He turns to look at Dan, pouting. “Wouldn’t it be easier to just order pizza?”

Dan looks straight at Phil, giving him a very pointed look. “That one is all yours,” he says, nodding to Jaiden.

Phil at least has the decency to look almost embarrassed. “I mean... he’s got a fair point, babe,” Phil says with a little grin.

Dan sighs. Natalie’s bottle makes a snapping noise and Dan looks down to find she’s only got a couple swallows left in the nipple. He’s careful to watch and pull it out of her mouth before she can start swallowing any air, placing it on the counter to be washed later as he grins at her. “Well done Nat-Nat! You finished all your din-din.”

The baby gurgles at him and Dan smiles as he takes her up to his shoulder, burping her gently. The kids are still talking amongst themselves, but Dan catches Phil watching him through the screen. He smiles helplessly, shrugging at his husband, and Phil grins back.

“I guess I should let you go so you can put her down and start dinner,” Phil says, a resigned sigh in his voice.

Dan hates it, but he’s right. Dan could sit here talking to Phil all evening instead of ever bothering to cook dinner, and with a houseful of hungry children, that’s hardly an option. “Yeah, I guess so,” Dan agrees. “Everyone, say goodnight to Dad, he’s gotta go eat some dinner and get to bed, and so do we.”

The kids all make their noises of complaint but he watches, rocking the baby with a smile, as each of the kids tell Phil goodnight. Dan shoos them all out of the kitchen with Levi’s help, and then it’s just Phil and Dan and the baby.

“I miss you,” Dan says.

Phil smiles. “I miss you more.”

Dan shakes his head, resting his cheek gently against Natalie’s little head. “I seriously doubt that,” he says softly.

“It’s true,” Phil replies, dropping his chin to rest in his hand. “But I’ll be home soon, okay?”

Dan nods. “Right,” he agrees. “I love you.”

Phil blows him a kiss, their usual parting on these calls. “I love you too, bub. I’ll text you later, yeah?”

“Okay. Goodnight. Love you.”

Phil grins when Dan repeats himself. “Goodnight, Dan. I love you. Tell the kids I’ll be home soon.”

“Of course. Bye,” he says, waving for a second before the screen goes black. He sighs, looking down at Natalie’s sweet, sleepy little face. “I can’t wait for your other Dad to come home, munchkin. This one needs a break and a good snuggle.”

She smacks her lips and closes her eyes and Dan smiles, rolling his eyes. “I know, your life is so hard, being a baby. Let’s get you down for another nap, love.”

~~~

The next night, Dan wakes up from a deep sleep to warm breath on his neck. At first he’s confused, grunting as he tries to roll over, but a heavy weight around his waist stops him. “What the...”

“Shh,” a deep and unmistakable voice murmurs in his ear. “‘M tryin’ sleep.”

Suddenly, Dan is wide awake, rolling over quickly despite the protests from his husband. “Phil,” he breathes, warm and happy.

Phil blinks at him, a goofy, exhausted smile on his face. “Hi,” he says sheepishly.

Dan wraps himself around Phil immediately, peppering kisses to everywhere he can reach. “I missed you,” he kisses across Phil’s brow bone, feeling Phil’s breath on his collarbones. “So much.”

“I missed you too,” Phil replies with a little laugh, kissing at Dan’s throat.

Something occurs to Dan then and he pulls away, staring at Phil with a furrowed brow. “I thought you weren’t coming home until tomorrow.” He doesn’t mean to, but he can’t help but be a little accusatory. He wanted to make sure the house was clean, maybe do some laundry. Just the sort of husband things one did when they were in the best relationship of their life.

Phil gives him a sheepish smile. “I changed my flight so I could come home early and surprise you.”

Dan feels so much all at once, it reminds him of how it was in the early days, before the kids, before the fostering, before they even knew that they had feelings for each other. It’s overwhelming for a moment, and then Phil is tilting his chin, guiding their mouths together in a perfect kiss.

“Mm,” Dan hums against his lips. “I love you.”

Phil laughs. “Love you more.” His hand slips down Dan’s waist, his fingertips dipping just under the hand of Dan’s pants. Dan is hit with a wave of arousal so strong, and it’s not lost on him that it’s been more than a month since they had proper sex. He loved Natalie more than life itself, but raising a baby on top of the three children they already had was proving to be much more difficult than they’d anticipated. But after all they’d been through, the strain of no sex was nothing they couldn’t handle. After all, they’d gone ten years without it before.

Still, he’s only human, and when his husband is petting the soft skin at his hip, he can only react like any mortal man would. “Baby,” he sighs.

“Hm?”

It hits Dan what he’d just said, and he quickly remembers the other inhabitant of this room. “Phil. Phil, the baby,” he mumbles, tapping Phil’s arm.

“Already took care of her,” Phil replies back, kissing at Dan’s jaw.

“What? When?” Dan asks, pushing him back a bit.

Phil smiles. “When I got home. You were already asleep so I checked on the kids and then took Nat downstairs for a bottle and some cuddles.”

“Oh.” The image of that, of Phil coming in late and taking their baby down for her midnight bottle, is nearly enough to make Dan cry and definitely enough to turn him off. “Well, thank you for that, but I don’t think I feel like fooling around tonight, if that’s okay.”

Phil pecks him on the cheek with a little giggle. “Of course that’s okay, you idiot. I didn’t just come home early for that, you know. I mostly missed having my little space heater,” he says with a grin.

Dan rolls his eyes, but can’t help the way he smiles and leans in for another kiss. “Sometimes I think you only married me for my good looks and my stupidly hot body temperature.”

Phil kisses him back, but he’s smiling so hard that it’s sloppy. “Oh for sure. Those were my top two requirements for a husband. Is hot, runs hot.”

Dan snorts. “Right. So, father of your children was somewhere further down that list, I’m assuming?”

“Something like that,” Phil teases.

“You’re such an idiot,” Dan smiles, kissing Phil’s cheek before snuggling in for the night.

“But I’m your idiot,” Phil says in a stupid, sleepy voice.

Dan smiles, pressing one last kiss to Phil’s chest. “Always.”

#phan #phanfiction #parent!au #foster parent au #parent!phan #foster parent #bbc producer!phil #school counselor!dan #fake relationship #friends to lovers #best friends #if you don't love me pretend #iydlmp epilogue #epilogue #my fic

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wiypt-writes · 4 years

Text

Stark Spangled Forever

I Don’t Like Bullies

Intro: Emmy encounters someone from her past, and is left shaken after they threaten her. Steve and Bucky decided to pay them a little visit…

Warnings: Some violence, a slightly dark Steve and Bucky…some bad language. SMUT (NSFW, No UNDER 18s!!!)

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

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 Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Stark Spangled Forever Masterlist // Main Masterlist

** If you haven’t read SSB in it’s entirety, this contains MAJOR spoilers**

August 2024

“Again!” Jamie giggled, splashing his way over to Steve who laughed and waited for Jamie to reach him.

“Ok ,one…two…three…” hooking his hands under Jamie’s armpits he gently launched him into the air and the 4 year old laughed hysterically before he hit the water with a splash in the deeper end of the pool before emerging, from the surface.

“You’re gonna give me a heart attack…” Katie sighed from where she was sat on the steps to the pool, submerged to her shoulders. Rori was suspended in the little inflatable baby support, her legs kicking out behind her as Katie gently pushed her away then pulled her back, the baby smiling and thrashing with her arms.

“He’s fine ain’t you son?” Steve asked as Jamie doggie paddled over to him, grinning.

“It’s like flying Momma!”

“Hmmm.” she said, as Jamie jumped on his dad’s back and he pulled at Steve’s neck. Steve, playing along threw himself backwards taking them both under the surface before he stood up, shaking his head like a dog as Jamie’s laugh hit his ears.

“You’re getting strong pal.” he said, turning his head over his shoulder so he could look at Jamie. Jamie grinned.

“How’s my little water baby doing?” Steve asked as he carried Jamie on his back to where his wife and daughter were, Jamie scrabbling out of the pool and heading to the lounger for a drink.

“She’s fine.” Katie smiled, as Steve turned his attention to Aurora, a huge grin on his face as she looked at him and beamed, waving her legs and arms as fast as she could.

“Look at you princess!” he said as Katie pulled her back towards them. He dropped down so his shoulders were under the water and Rori was at eye level. “Think she’s enjoying it.”

Katie smiled as the two of them watched the baby for a moment before Katie looked up at Jamie who was sat now with Lucky between his legs, gently talking to the dog. “Do you know what time it is?”

Steve glanced at his watch “Almost 4.”

“I should really think about starting dinner.”

“Leave it….” he said, turning to her, pressing his lips to hers. “Come on, when was the last time we got an afternoon like this?”

She smiled, “Feels like a while that’s for sure…”

“So…we can chuck a frozen pizza in for Jamie and we can get a take-out…” he said, moving so he was behind her, his arms curling around her waist, pulling her back so she was perched on his bent legs, his chin resting on her shoulder “Eat by the pool…” he placed a kiss to the crook of her neck, “And then later when he’s in bed and she’s settled we can hit the hot-tub…” another kiss “maybe a bottle of wine…”

“You feeling amorous Soldier?” Katie grinned, tipping her head round to face him.

“Always when you’re concerned…” he winked, his lips again meeting hers, only this time the kiss slightly deeper until they broke apart after a loud splash, followed by a smaller splash drew their attention.

Jamie had launched himself back into the pool, followed by Lucky who had clearly decided he too needed to get in the action.

They stayed in the water for another 15 minutes or so until Rori started to get a bit grouchy, and Katie took her out, wrapping them both in a towel and sitting in the quiet for a while to feed her. Steve and Jamie followed her out a little while later, both drying themselves off before Steve took Jamie inside to get him a juice box and throw his pizza in the oven. Jamie then insisted he wouldn’t make it until his pizza was done as he as starving, so Steve got him quick snack of breadsticks and hummus and sent him back out onto the garden where he made his way over to the side of the pool, flopping down on the lounger next to his Momma.

Deciding that a snack was actually a pretty good idea really, Steve grabbed a few things from the fridge, namely olives, more breadsticks, dips, cheeses and was about to carry it down to the pool area when the security system sounded to tell him that Emmy had come home.

“It’s ok…you’re ok…” his ears picked up Brooke’s voice from the hall and instantly he frowned as he heard Emmy’s deep breathing too. He strode into the hallway just in time to see Emmy slide down to the floor, her back pressed to the door as she tugged her knees to her chest.

“Emmy?” Steve asked, quickly dropping down in front of her. “Hey…look at me…”

She looked up and he gently reached out, his hand smoothing back her hair “Use your numbers ok, like we used too, remember?”

She gripped his hand tight and her eyes screwed shut as she desperately tried to regulate her breathing and Steve, not once taking his eyes off his daughter issued Brooke with an instruction to go and get Katie. Less than 2 minutes later she was also on her knees next to Emmy having left Brooke to watch the younger two and it was a minute or so later before the 16 year old began to breathe normally, her eyes slowly blinking as they returned to their usual size instead of being blown wide open.

“You ok?” Katie asked gently, looking at Emmy. She nodded.

“Sorry…”

“Don’t…” Steve looked at her as she fell into his arms, pressing her face against his bare chest as he wrapped his arms around her, kissing her head “Don’t every apologise for that, we told you.” The amount of panic attacks their daughter had had when she first came to live with them meant they’d been fairly used to them, but she hadn’t had one in a VERY long time, not since the events of the Final battle with Thanos had hit her and she’d broken down about losing her Uncle Tony, Auntie Nat and then how close she had to losing her parents. Emmy was a strong, independent teenager who for the most part simply got on with things, letting a lot of stuff that would bother other people wash right over her head. But clearly something had triggered her today.

“You need a drink sweetheart?” Katie asked and Emmy nodded.

“Ok. Think you can stand?” Steve asked.

“You’re not carrying me.” Emmy looked at Steve and he raised an eyebrow.

“You used to love me doing that.” Steve quipped and she rolled her eyes.

“Yeah at the Parties at the Kids home.” she grumbled “I’m not 7 anymore.”

“Never too old for your Pa to carry you.” Steve teased, standing up and offering him her hand. She took it and he pulled her to her feet, and despite her protestations at her age she kept her fingers tightly wound around his as they headed to the kitchen.

“Emmy!” Jamie shot off his seat and threw himself at his older sister. She smiled and bent to give him a hug.

“Hey Jay…” she smiled, “You been swimming?”

“Daddy was throwing me.” he grinned. “I bet he could do it for you too.”

“Sure he could” Emmy smiled as she shakily took a seat, glancing at Rori who was in Brooke’s arms, her little hands tangling in the girl’s long, red hair.

“Jamie, why don’t you go in the den for a moment, watch some TV.” Katie looked at him, adjusting the crochet slip she had thrown on over her bathing suit “Momma and Daddy need to talk to Emmy for a second.”

“But I don’t wanna.” he frowned.

“Hey, why don’t you show me your legos?” Brooke said quickly. Steve could see the cogs in his son’s head whirring as he considered this for a second before he nodded.

“Ok.”

“Thanks Brooke.” Katie said to her as she handed Rori back over.

“No problem Mrs R.” she said, allowing Jamie to tug her by the hand out of the room.

Once they were gone Katie adjusted Rori in her arms so that her head was tucked against her shoulder, mouth resting on her collar bone and Steve took a seat next to Emmy after pouring her a glass of water.

“Wanna tell us what happened Em?” he asked gently.

“We’d just been in The Hub.” she said, “You know the Computer shop because Brooke needed a new charger for her tablet.” Emmy swallowed and took a sip of her drink “We were walking down towards the bus stop so we could head home and we’d just passed that bar on the corner, you know the Irish Pub place?”

“Mc Mahons, yeah we know it…” Steve nodded

“And then he came out.”

“Who?” Katie asked, her eyes not leaving her daughter.

“Him…my old foster father. The one that used to hit me.”

Steve took a deep breath and breathed out through his nose “Did he hurt you?”

“No, not really…he erm, he didn’t recognise me at first and I kept walking but Brook had stopped and when she shouted my name he realised it was me and he grabbed my arm and…”

“Ok…ok…” Katie said gently, as Steve gently laid a hand on their daughter’s shoulder.

“Did he do anything else?” he asked. Emmy shook her head.

“He just started shouting stuff, saying he knew that I’d landed on my feet and that I was nothing but a worthless brat and that he would come and pay you a visit one day, tell you all about what I used to do and how bad I was and then you’d throw me out and…”

“Em, he’s an ass hole.” Katie said gently “You were never a bad kid. You’d been treated appallingly, what that man did do you…” she shook her head “It was cruel and abusive and…”

Steve’s hand fell to Katie’s knee under the table as she looked away, blinking back the tears.

“Emmy, me and your mom love you.” Steve looked at her, “We love all you kids more than anything, and nothing this dick says or does will change the way we feel. You know that right?” “I know, I just didn’t like seeing him that’s all.” she said gently “I just had all these flashbacks to the basement he locked me in and the belt…”

She swallowed and looked down. Steve looked at Katie, the jaw in his nerve twitching with anger as he took a deep breath and ran his hand up Emmy’s back.

“Well I hope he makes good on his promise and does pay us a visit.” he said his eyes flashing “I’d be very happy to exchange a few words with him, maybe a few fists too.”

Emmy smiled softly as Katie shook her head.

“Pretty sure your Uncle Buck would have a something to say too. And between you and me, his Murder Strut is frightening.” “Murder Strut?” Emmy looked up, the corners of her mouth twitching. Katie nodded.

“Trust me, I saw it a few times. Scared the shit out of me.”

“Woah, you saying I’m not scary?” Steve scoffed, folding his arms.

“Bucky’s a Rottweiler, you’re more of an angry retriever.” Katie shrugged and at that point Emmy laughed, which was exactly what her parents had been hoping to achieve. Steve flashed a wink at his wife before he turned back to Emmy.

“You know he won’t ever hurt you again, not now you’re with us.”

“I know. I love you guys.” she smiled and Steve dropped a kiss to her cheek. She looked up, wiped her eyes and then glanced at her mom. “Can Brooke stay tonight?”

“Course she can, I’ll call Jen”

“It’s ok she can message…”

“I’ll call her.” Katie said firmly, “Brooke was there today so Jen has a right to know what happened. Don’t worry, she won’t be mad at you.” “Kay…” Emmy nodded “What’s for dinner?”

“Your dad threw a pizza in for Jamie, we’re gonna get take out and hang by the pool.” Katie said.

“Anything you fancy?” Steve asked.

“Can we try the Greek place?”

“Sure.” Steve nodded “Hey, do they do Shwarma?”

“Gyros.” Katie said, “Same thing almost.”

“I’m in.” Steve said.

“I’m gonna go watch TV for a bit, that ok?”

“Course.” Katie smiled.

Emmy stood up and moved behind her dad, hugging him from behind, her arms round his shoulders. He tilted his head so she could kiss his cheek before she moved to do the same to her mom, giving Rori a peck.

“Love you both.” she smiled at them, before she left the room.

As soon as she was gone Steve stood up, his calm demeanour ebbing away as Katie looked up at him, shaking her head.

“I wanna kill him Steve.”

“You and me both doll.” he paced.

“Think we should call the police?” Katie asked, gently rocking Rori to and fro as she had started to grumble.

Steve contemplated what she had said before he paused, folded his arms and looked at the door, then back to Katie “I got a better idea.”

“What?”

“Do you trust me?” he asked.

“You know I do”

“Then leave it with me.” he said simply

“Steve…” she stated, instantly understanding what he was implying “You can’t.” “Why not?”

“Well, for starters we have no idea where he lives.”

Steve snorted “Sweetheart, you’re forgetting who we know.”

“Oh, no…you can’t drag Sam into this.” Katie shook her head “Ross is being an asshole with him as it is without you giving him ammo by getting Sammy into trouble.”

“I’m not” Steve smiled, raising his eyebrow “I’m gonna drag Bucky into it instead.“

****** Bucky sat at the bar, baseball cap tugged down over his eyes. He’d been reliably informed his target drank in this run-down back dive every Wednesday and Thursday evening. He liked the happy hour, apparently.

Aint gonna be happy for much longer, buddy.

Despite the fact that he was trying to live a normal life now (ok, maybe helping Sam out every now and then) when Steve had asked him to help him with this particular mission he’d immediately said yes. Not simply because Steve was his best friend, but because it involved Emmy. As far as Buck was concerned, the Rogers kids might as well be his own in that respect because he’d give his life to protect any of them.

And then there was Brooke. Bucky had been dating Brooke’s mom, Jennifer now for a few weeks after they’d hit it off at Steve’s birthday party. It was great, slow moving but that’s what he wanted, and when he’d heard that her daughter had been caught up in all this business as well, it was another reason for him to slip back into his old assassin mode.

Only this time his instructions were clear. Apprehend alive.

At first when Steve had told him this he had been about to tease him, wind him up, surely after all these years the Captain had finally found that trigger to flip him over to the dark side, but then he had seen something stir in his best pal’s eyes. He’d told him then about an incident in a HYDRA base, where he had killed on of Katie’s captors and Bucky knew, it was there alright, and he had a feeling he was going to see it whenever they caught this punk.

He ordered another drink, his eyes re-reading the paper he’d brought with him for the 15th time. To most people stake-out work like this would get them bored, antsy, but not Bucky. He’d waited much longer before and he knew that if you got like that you lost concentration which made things 100 times harder in the long run. His eyes scanned back to the entrance to the bar, flicking back round the pub, and he observed the people to make sure he hadn’t missed the man sneaking in, even though he knew that was basically impossible. Satisfied he hadn’t, he took the drink off the bar tender, paid him (another rule of spy work- never set up tabs, you run without paying and your face is recognised all over the damned scene). He took a sip of his beer before he heard the door open and he looked round, fighting the smirk on his face as finally his target walked in and straight to the bar to Bucky’s right.

The man ordered his drink, a straight black label whiskey and when it was served he paid with a bunch of crumpled ones and picked the glass up, heading to a table.

Bucky had to hand it to the guy, in the half an hour he spent in the bar he knocked back a good 5 helpings of scotch before he stood up, and rather unsteadily made his way to the door. Giving him enough time to get out of the door, Bucky then rose and followed him. He tailed him into another bar, then another, before after the 3rd the man headed home.

Bucky watched him unlock the door to the rundown apartment block, before he staggered inside. Quick as a flash Bucky shot over the road, sticking his foot in the door to stop it from shutting. Slipping inside he pressed himself up against the dark wall, just to the side of the post boxes, as the man turned around. After a second or so Bucky heard him heading up the stairs. He walked to the bottom of the steps, and keeping his footsteps light he headed after him and emerged onto the second landing, peering round the wall to watch as the man stopped outside a door, pulling out his keys.

Bucky waited until the door was closed before he headed back down to the ground floor, pulling out his phone.

“I got him.”

***** Steve climbed out of his car, looking up at the ramshackle building before he crossed the road. Bucky was waiting for him and opened the door to the apartment block from the inside.

“What you come dressed as?” Bucky arched an eyebrow, scanning Steve up and down. He was dressed in a pair of black jeans, a dark navy t-shirt and black boots, with a cap pulled down over his face.

“You.” Steve said simply, and Bucky snorted.

“He’s on the Second floor.” he said simply “Number 202. Still think you should just let me shoot him.”

“No.” Steve said “We’re not killing him…”

Bucky rolled his eyes “Why?”

“Because I want him as scared as he made Emmy.” Steve said simply. “He can spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder.”

Bucky shrugged, “Your call…”

Steve headed to the stairs and started to climb them, stopping as he heard his foot crunch on something.

“Nice place…” he mumbled as he looked down to see he had stood on a cockroach.

“Don’t be a snob Stevie…” Bucky looked at him, and Steve rolled his eyes.

“Even my place in the 40s wasn’t this grim.” he turned to look at his friend before he continued up the flight of steps.

“It wasn’t the ritz either.” Bucky shrugged as they emerged onto the landing. They stopped outside the door and Steve took a breath before he looked at Bucky.

“Looks like we need a key….” he quipped. Bucky gave a smirk, before he drew his left hand back and punched straight through the door, grabbing the handle and turning it to undo the lock from the inside. He threw it open and strode inside, Steve casting a look around before he followed and pulled the door shut behind them. Hearing the noise the man flew out of the kitchen, a knife in his hand, stopping dead when he saw Bucky.

“Who the fuck are you?” he demanded.

Bucky simply raised his eyebrows.

“Look, if Mario sent you…I told him, he’ll get his money…”

“I don’t know any Mario…” Bucky shook his head, “Well, not unless you count the one that rides on the karts in that game my nephew enjoys kicking my ass at. Now put the knife down Jack before someone gets hurt.”

“How do you know my name?” Jack asked, his eyes not once leaving Bucky, missing the Captain who was stood in the darkness of the room behind him. “What the fuck do you want?”

“I don’t want anything…” Bucky said, shrugging, “But he does…”

At that point Steve stepped forwards, drawing up besides his friend, getting a good look at the man in front of him. He was quite tall, but lanky, with a pointed noise and sharp features, reminding Steve of an overgrown rat. Which fitted him perfectly, out and out vermin. Jack frowned and squinted slightly as he looked straight at Steve, suddenly paling even further. Whilst Steve looked a lot different from the once blue-eyed All American hero the world recognised him to be, there was no mistaking who he was, especially to the man in question. Steve stood stock still, his hands falling to the buckle which was round the waist of his black jeans, his chest flexing under his navy t-shirt as he glared at the man.

“Woah…look…I don’t want any trouble…” Jack began to press.

“You should have thought about that before you touched and threatened my daughter.” Steve’s voice was icy.

Jack’s hand clenched around the knife and Bucky rolled his eyes, before he whipped off the glove on his left hand, holding it up, the metal glinting in the dim light of the lamp that stood in the corner of the grubby apartment.

“This can do far more damage than that blade can.” he said simply, looking at his hand before he turned to Jack “Go ahead, I’ll even give you one free swing. But it better be fast.”

Steve expected the man to drop the knife, but instead he lunged forwards. Bucky sighed, and almost lazily dodged to the right before he knocked the knife out of the man’s hand with a single swipe and gripped him around the neck with his hand, slamming him hard into the wall.

“That was really fucking stupid.” he said, tightening his fingers around the man’s windpipe, lifting him off the floor. The man grabbed at Bucky’s arm, desperately trying to prise his fingers from around his neck.

“Buck…” Steve said, and Bucky let go, Jack slumping to the floor. Steve reached down, grabbed his shirt and hauled him to his feet slamming him against the wall.

“Now…” Steve said, his hands tightening. “I don’t like bullies. And that’s what you are. I know exactly what you did to Emmy, all the times you beat her, hurt her, whipped her with a belt until her back split and bled. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t rip you in half right now.”

“Captain America…nah…you wouldn’t…” Jack stuttered, shaking his head “You’re a good guy…”

“Well, here’s the thing.” Bucky said, picking up the knife that Jack had dropped, leaning on the wall, lazily twirling the blade in his hand. “He’s not Captain America anymore. Just some guy whose daughter you threatened.”

“Which makes me a hundred times more dangerous…” Steve said.

“And I, well, I just don’t give a shit.” Bucky shrugged “Killed a lot of people one way or another…what’s one more piece of shit like you gonna mean?”

Jack looked at Steve, shaking his head “No, you wouldn’t…”

“I snapped the neck of the man who raped my wife.” Steve said, his gaze not once leaving the man’s in front of him “Trust me, you have no idea what I would do to keep my family safe.”

He paused for a second, letting it sink in as Jack swallowed.

“But I’m a fair man.” Steve said, letting go of Jack who dropped a few inches before he pulled himself back up full height. Steve smoothed down the man’s dirty t-shirt before he smiled at him. “So I’m gonna give you a chance to play ball. You got 48 hours to leave New York.” “By that we mean the state.” Bucky clarified.

“And if I ever get a sniff that you’re back in town…” Steve continued.

“And trust us, we’ll know…” Bucky mused, still looking at the knife before he grinned at Jack “We got friends in high places, eyes and ears everywhere…” “….then you’ll lose more than your teeth.” Steve concluded, matter of factly.

“My teeth? What do-“

CRACK.

Steve cut him off with a sharp jab straight into his mouth and Jack dropped to the floor howling in pain as the blood poured from between his fingers which clamped over the lower part of his face.

“Got the message?” Steve asked, standing over him as Jack rolled around, screaming. He mumbled something, his head nodding furiously.

“Can I shoot him now?” Bucky asked.

“No.” Steve shook his head.

“Just once in the knee?”

“No.” Steve snorted “Come on…let’s get out of here, the amount of noise he’s making someone’s bound to hear. He turned to go, and then heard another loud scream. Spinning around he saw that Jack’s hand was now pinned to the floor by the knife Bucky had been holding.

“What?” Bucky asked, shrugging as Steve shot him a look “You said I couldn’t shoot him, didn’t say anything about stabbing him.”

***** The two friends sat at a bar, not far from Steve’s house, each with a beer in hand.

“So, run that by me again…” Bucky said.

“I told Katie I was meeting you for a drink.” Steve shrugged, nodding at the bottle “Technically now I’m not lying.”

“You’re a punk.” Bucky snorted.

“She’ll know full well where I’ve been.” Steve shrugged “She ain’t stupid…”

“Good luck to you pal.” Bucky said, taking a drink “She’s scary when she’s angry.”

Steve snorted “Nah, she won’t be mad…she knew full well I was planning on giving him a warning so…”

“Then why not just tell her?” “Because she’d worry.” Steve said simply.

“Think he’ll heed it?” Bucky asked after a little pause and Steve pondered the question for a moment before he nodded.

“Like I said he’s a bully.” he took a swig of his beer before he looked at Bucky “You know as well as I do that the minute someone bigger stands up to them they back off.”

“Gotta hand it to you pal…” Bucky said, sitting back “You come a long way since you were defending yourself with a trash can lid behind the movie theatre down town…”

“So everyone says.” Steve shrugged “Still don’t feel any different.”

“Remember when Howard’s flying car was the strangest thing we had ever seen?” Bucky sighed “I almost miss those days.” “Would you go back?” Steve asked, “Given the chance?”

Bucky took a deep breath and wrinkled his nose “Nah, I’m too different…too much has happened you know. I don’t think I’d settle. Plus this would probably attract a little more attention than it does now.” he said, flexing his left hand.

Steve smiled “I know what you mean. If you’d asked me when I first came round…I’d have jumped at the chance but after Katie…” he took another drink before he let out a soft huff. “I crossed oceans of time to find her.”

Bucky raised an eyebrow. “Dracula…romantic.” he said and Steve let out a laugh.

“Speaking of romantic…” Steve looked at his friend “How’s it going with Jen?”

“Ok.”

“Just ok?”

“I’m taking it slow.” Bucky shrugged “We’ve been on a few dates and…yeah I like her Steve and she likes me so…”

“Well if you ever want any advice on modern day dating…”

“The day I ask you for dating advice is the day I quit.” Bucky snorted

“I did ok.” Steve grinned “Well, more than ok actually. I lucked out.”

“No, you got what you deserved.” Bucky shook his head “A woman that loves you for who you are, not what you are.” Steve felt his cheeks flush a little as he shrugged “Not quite sure what I did to deserve her but…”

“You’re a good man.” Bucky said “You always were and always have been. A pain in my ass like, but…” he drained his beer and shook his head “Anyway, enough sentimental crap. You want another?”

Steve contemplated that before he shrugged “Sure, why not?”

One more turned into 5 more, and it was a good 2 hours later and approaching midnight when the men left. It wasn’t the first time they’d been out for drinks since being re-united, but to Steve it was the first time that it felt like the old days. They’d talked about so many memories, he’d laughed until he had cried as they both recalled some of their antics, and he felt completely at peace when he walked into the hallway of his house.

Removing his cap he ran a hand through his hair before he hung it on the coat rack on the wall. Then he dropped his keys into that infernal golden pineapple bowl that Katie had bought him all those years ago and headed into the lounge where Katie was sat in her pyjamas, Rori clutched to her breast as she fed.

“Hey…” he smiled, crossing the floor and dropping a kiss to her lips before he turned his attention to his daughter, his finger gently running along her hardworking cheek.

“You have a good time?” she asked, giving a little yawn.

“Yeah.” Steve nodded. “It was nice. When did she wake up?”

“About half an hour ago.” Katie shrugged “With a bit of luck she’ll go down again soon and sleep for a couple of hours.”

“I’ll do the next feed.” Steve said “You can get some rest.”

“Ok.” Katie agreed, yawning again and as she did so Rori mimicked her, her eyes which were now carrying a slight greenish hue fluttering. Steve gestured for Katie to hand her over, and she did so as Steve held her up over her shoulder, hands that had hours ago been so violent were now ever so gentle, rubbing his daughter’s back to wind her as Katie adjusted her top. They sat there in silence for a little while before Katie finally spoke.

“So how badly did you hurt him?”

“What?”

“Jack?” She turned her head to Steve who looked at her “I know full well what you were up to.”

“I knew you would.” Steve huffed a laugh “And not too badly. Knocked a few of his teeth out…oh, and Bucky nailed his hand to the floor with a knife. He won’t be bothering Emmy again, or any of us for that matter.”

Katie looked at him for a moment before Rori gave a light burp and Steve gently turned his face, pressing his lips to the baby’s head.

“Here…” Katie said, and Steve handed her over “I’ll go put her down.”

She gathered the baby in her arms before she dropped a kiss to Steve’s mouth “Don’t be too long…”

He arched an eyebrow. “Yeah?”

“Well, you know what you getting all dark and protective does to me…” she grinned, looking down at Rori “That’s what made her in the first place.”

Steve’s eyes darkened at the memory of that particular day in the HYDRA base which he was recalling for the second time in the space of a few hours, albeit for very different reasons. “How could I forget?”

Standing up she walked to the door, Steve watching her go, before she shot him a coy look over her shoulder his pants became a lot tighter than they should have been. He gave a soft groan, before his head fell back against the cushion of the sofa. After a moment or two he stood up and turned off the lights, before heading up the stairs after his wife.

He stood in the doorway, watching as she placed Rori in the crib at the end of the bed before he strode over to her, his hands falling to her waist as he spun her round, his lips crashing to hers. She took the kiss eagerly, her tongue sliding against his as he backed her towards the bed, her hands fumbling with his belt as they went. Neither were wasting any time, and after a quick wrestle with their clothing they both collapsed onto the bed, Steve caging his wife underneath him with his arms and legs.

Their eyes locked for a second before he pressed his lips to hers and kissed her again, slow and hard, both his hands cupping her face, thumbs gently skating her cheeks as she let out a soft groan and he felt his cock twitch. His lips not once leaving hers his right hand gently slid down to her thigh, and his fingers gently gave her hip a squeeze causing her to sigh into his mouth again. Using his hand he hooked her leg round his waist, and ground his erection against her spot causing her to moan as she pulled away from the kiss, her head laying further back against the pillow, her eyes fluttering shut as his mouth dropped, swirling softly around her pebbled nipples, carefully lavishing affection on them in turn, and in moments she was quivering to his touch, her breathing ragged.

“Look at me…” he said, voice low, almost a growl and her eyes sprang open obediently, those sparkling emeralds glinting in the dim light as he held her gaze as he pushed into her, her breath catching in her throat. He stilled for a moment, enjoying her warmth as it gripped him before he moved his hips back, thrusting into her again. His pace was hard, deep and he continually dragged in and out of her, dropping his head to kiss and lick and suck all along her collar bone, knowing full well he would leave marks there for the morning but neither of them cared as their moans grew louder as his thrusts grew more desperate.

"Fuck.” he groaned, both hands now on her hips as he continued his movements and Katie’s hands moved to brace herself against the headboard, her body moving with every slam he made into her. One hand moved to the back of her head and he used it to make her look up, her eyes locking onto his as he felt her body start to quiver.

“I love you…” he said, his pace not slowing in the slightest.

“Love you too Soldier…” her words stuttered as he thrust up hard, stilling slightly, grinding up against her, as she writhed underneath him, a desperate, filthy noise escaping her mouth as her back arched and her hands flew to his back, nails scratching at his skin. God he loved the feel of her doing that, the stinging pain mixed with the pleasure was a heady mix and he took in a sharp breath, dropping his mouth to capture hers as she moaned again, this moan broken as she bucked upwards and clutched at him desperately.

“Stevie…” she moaned and her walls tightened on him as she came, her entire body trembling underneath him and he pulled back so he could watch her, lips swollen from his desperate kisses, cheeks flushed, eyelids fluttering against her cheeks. He continued his pace, her eyes opening moments late to lock onto his as the spring that had been coiled so tightly suddenly released and he spilled himself insider her with a low, rough grunt of her name and he tipped forwards, his hips slowing to a stop as he buried his face in her neck.

The pair of them lay still, the only sounds in the bedroom now were the deep, ragged drawings of breath. Katie gently ran her hands through his hair, as she always did, Steve’s body on top of hers rising and falling through the movements of her deep breathing. Eventually he raised his head gently and pressed their foreheads together, his nose sliding up and down hers. She smiled at him, and pressed her lips to his in a soft kiss before he rolled over onto his back, and she snuggled into him, her head on his chest. He reached for her left hand which was laying flat against his abs and raised it to his mouth, pressing a kiss to her knuckles, just underneath where her wedding band sat.

“I love you, I love you all so much.” he said gently. She raised her head to look at him, smiling as she kissed him softly.

“I know, I love you. We all do.”

She was asleep before him, Steve lay awake for a little while longer contemplating everything that had gone down that evening. He’d crossed that line again, the darkness that had awoken all those years ago had bubbled inside of him and he wasn’t going to lie, it had been satisfying, and despite what he had said to Bucky, he would have happily killed the snivelling bastard with his bare hands and not even blinked twice about doing so. But something had stopped him short this time, and he knew now what it was.

His kids.

Back then they hadn’t been in the picture, and he wanted to be able to look them in the eye and tell them right from wrong without feeling like a hypocrite. Steve Rogers was a good man, a loyal husband, doting father, and he wanted to be worthy of the love that surrounded him on a daily basis.

He looked down at his sleeping wife before he shifted slightly, dropping a kiss to her head before he closed his eyes and fell into a trouble free sleep.

#stark spangled forever #steve rogers #Katie Stark #steve rogers x ofc #steve rogers x original female character #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers fic #chris evans #chris evans characters

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futurebicon · 4 years

Text

Family Skate Through The Years

2021

“Heads” Sirius called like always. Dumo called tails.

“Heads” Finn announced as he turned over the coin in his hand. “Siri-”

“Remus” Sirius chose before Finn could finish talking.

“No!” Dumo shouted.

“Sorry Pascal, but he’s my boyfriend” Sirius smirked, kissing Remus when he skated over.

“Kasey” Dumo chose.

“Good, Loops can beat him again”

“I’m not letting him score this year” Kasey demanded.

“James” Sirius picked.

Remus got 2 goals. Each time pissing Kasey off more and more. He was skating down the ice beside Sirius, waiting for a pass.

Sirius passed it to him, letting him score with ease for the third time. Sirius skated over and pulled their helmets off, kissing him hard as Kasey continued to yell that it wasn’t fair.

2022

“Heads”

“Tails”

“No” Sirius stomped his skate against the ice.

“Sorry Cap. I’m stealing your fiancé” Dumo patted him on the shoulder.

“Se dévisser“ Sirius shrugged him off.

“Sorry baby” Remus kissed the pout off his face before going over to Dumos side.

Dumos team won. Sirius had chosen Kasey, Dumo had let him. His anger had become a new tradition.

“Good job baby” Remus kissed him.

“You too, l’amour”

“You got the venue yet?” Lily asked them as they ate.

“No” They both answered.

“Why not” she whined.

“Because it’s stupid.” Sirius said as he shoved cake into his mouth. Remus nodded in agreement.

“What’s stupid?” James asked as the rest of the team came over.

“These two think it’s stupid to pick a place to get married at”

“What?” Everyone let out sounds of confusion.

“We didn’t say that” Remus rolled his eyes. “We just think it’s stupid to make a big deal out of it.”

“Lily, you and I are taking over wedding planning. Nat and Dumo you’re helping too” Celeste announced. Those named nodded in agreement.

“But it’s where you’ll get married. That’s a big deal” Finn pointed his fork at them.

“Fine, we’ll pick a place.” Sirius said. “Kasey pick a place.”

“The Zoo”

“Perfect, our weddings at the zoo. See, settled.” Remus nodded.

“No” Dumo told them.

“Olli pick a place” Remus called down the table.

“Here”

“Great idea” Sirius clapped his hands together.

“That’s actually a pretty good idea. You’ve already picked your best mans. And your ring bearer and flower girls.” Nat nodded.

“See, done” Remus took a bite of cake.

“Oh my god” Dumo put his head in his hands and shook his head.

“Wait so it’s not at the zoo?” Kasey asked.

“No babe”

“Aww man”

2023

“Heads” Dumo called out before Sirius could call it.

“No” Sirius scowled.

“Tails” Finn told them.

“Haha, thank you Dumo” Sirius smirked. “Re”

Remus skated over and kissed his husband before standing behind him and wrapping an arm around his shoulder. Picking all of the newly engaged Cubs.

Remus got 4 goals under Kasey this year.

“C'est quoi ce bordel“ He shouted after the fourth one went in the net. “No, no, no” He groaned.

“4 goals? Damn” Sirius smiled.

“Think it’s newly weds luck?” Remus smirked.

“Hmm, probably” Sirius kissed him.

The wedding had been 2 weeks ago, they wanted to get married quickly and would go on their honeymoon in the offseason.

2024

“Fizzy” Sirius called over to the bench. “Heads or tails?” He asked his 2 year old daughter, Felicity.

“Tails” she shouted with a giggle.

“Tails” Finn turned over the quarter.

“Thank you Fizzy” Sirius smiled at her. “Re”

“You’ve gotten him for 2 years in a row.” Dumo whined. “Let me have him”

“He’s my husband, Dumo. Too bad”

Dumo rolled his eyes.

Remus got 2 goals in. Dumos team got 1.

“Good job, baby” Remus kissed him with a smile, keeping up with tradition.”

“Good job Daddy ‘n Papa” Felicity clapped as she skated a little wobbly over to them. Even though they had only adopted her at the beginning of the year she fell in love with skating and made Sher parents teach her every night for months.

“Thank you Fizzy” Remus scooped her up. Kissing her cheek as he tickled her stomach, causing her to shriek with laughter.

Sirius smiled at his little family and pecked Remus’s lips.

“Fizzy, no.” Sirius pulled her hand away as she tried to reach for her cake. “I know it’s good but you have to eat your lunch first.”

She whined but ate the bite of ham Sirius held in front of her as she sat in his lap.

“You guys any closer to have one of these soon?” Remus asked the newly wedded Cubs as he ruffled his daughters brown hair.

“Trying too. But, you know it’s pretty hard when you’re gay and being poly doesn’t help at all. Plus with our schedule with games and practices...” Logan trailed off sadly.

Leo kissed his temple as Finn squeezed his hand. Logan loves kids and the team knew how much he wanted a few of his own.

The team hated that they had told them they actually started the adoption process while they were engaged so that they could adopt a kid very soon after they got married but haven’t gotten anywhere with it.

“If any agency’s reject you they’ll be attacked by the best team in the NHL and their fans” Sirius told them. It had happened when they were going through the adoption process and were rejected for ‘being sinners’ as the rejection paper told them.

“You’ll have a kid of your own soon enough” Remus promised.

“New friend?” Fizzy gasped with a wide smile as she picked on bits and peices of the conversation.

“Yeah, Fiz. You’ll have a new friend soon” Finn told her. All of them smiling at her innocence as she cheered and took a final bite of mac-and-cheese.

“Cake now?” She asked Sirius with puppy eyes.

“Yes you can have cake now” Sirius smiled as he kissed her cheek.

2025

“Heads” Sirius called out.

“Tails” Finn smirked.

“Haha, Remus” Dumo chose.

Remus kissed him. “Should of stuck with Fizzy’s answer” he smirked, earning an eye roll from his husband.

“Kasey” Sirius picked.

“I’m not letting him score this year.”

“You’ve been saying that for the last 5 years babe” Nat kissed his cheek.

“Well I mean it this year.”

He didn’t mean it, Remus got 2 goals in.

“Yay” Fizzy cheered as her and her basically cousins skated out onto the ice to congratulate or comfort their parents.

4 year old Harry was scooped up by Lily and laughed at James who was pouting at his lose.

Jay, the Cubs 2 year old son was scooped up by Logan and kissed on the cheek by Finn and Leo. Jay clapped at their win.

“It’s so sad” Dumo sighed at lunch.

“What is?” Remus asked as he took a bite of salad.

“Sirius was that closed off stern faced 18 year old skating God that feels like my son. You were that PT that came out of nowhere that we really didn’t know much about but then the team all just kind of accepted as one of our own. Logan was a loud, obnoxious rookie that we all still loved, living in my basement and who is also like a son to me. Finn was the red haired semi nerdy boy who screamed and punched the air when Logan was drafted to the Lions. Leo was the tallest rookie I’d ever seen, a little shy but still fun to be a round. And James was- still is the loud, insane, mind of a 5 year old player.” He said.

“And now I look around and all of you have kids and are married to the loves of your lives” Everyone was crying at the words.

“And it just makes me feel really fucking old” he sighed.

“Oh my god Dumo.” Logan laughed as he wiped his tears away.

“You give this tear jerking long speech about us just to end it by saying it only makes you sad because it makes you feel old? Wow glad to see you have your priorities straight, Pascal” Sirius shook his head.

“I does” he laughed.

“It is crazy though” Finn sighed.

“Did you two think 8 years ago that this would be your life?” Lily asked Sirius and Remus. “Best player in the NHL with a team that’s your family. First openly gay couple in the NHL. Married to the teams PT and teams Captain. And have an adorable daughter?”

“God no, never in a million years.” Sirius’s smiled at his husband and daughter. Kissing Remus and then their daughters head.

“And you three” She looked at the Cubs. “Ever think that you’d be playing for one of the best teams in the NHL. “Married to 2 people. One of them the man that you loved for 8 years but never said anything. And have an adorable son.”

“Never” Finn smiled kissing both his husbands and son like Sirius had done.

“Okay. Enough of the sappy stuff.” Celeste said a few seconds later, wiping the tears from her eyes. “Who wants cake?”

This is longer then I planned but I like how it turned out.

@lumosinlove

#lumosinlove #sweater weather #oknutzy #coops #sweater weather lumosinlove #wolfstar #fluff

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halsteadshailey · 4 years

Text

A little too much fun

——

Upstead, Mancel and Stellaride at Molly’s oneshot

——

Set sometime after last week’s eps (all of them are pre-established)

——

*slight language*

——

can also be read on ao3 and wattpad

——

“Are you coming?” Hailey called up the stairs to Jay who was taking an abnormally long time to grab his shoes.

The couple had moved in together just over a month into dating, anyone on the outside may think that they were moving too fast, but to them, they’d waited long enough. So over the past few weeks Jay had slowly been moving his things into Hailey’s apartment and now that they had finally sold his place, it was official.

“Yeah I’m ready, sorry” Jay replied as he came down the stairs.

“What took you so long?” his partner questioned.

“I couldn’t find my shoes” he said honestly “I guess I’m still getting used to living here”

“We’ll get used to it, I don’t plan on letting you leave anytime soon” Hailey responded with a light chuckle and placed a soft kiss on Jay’s lips.

“Oh, don’t worry, wouldn’t have it any other way” Jay said as he reached for Hailey’s hips to pull her closer and kissed her again.

After a moment they broke apart and Hailey checked her phone for the time.

“Come on, we gotta go, the others are probably already there” she stated as she laced her fingers between Jay’s and pulled them both through the door, locking it behind her.

—

Stella was just waking up from a nap when she got a message from Hailey.

‘Sorry we might be a little late, but we’re on our way, see you in a bit’

“Shit” the firefighter whispered under her breath as she nudged her sleeping boyfriend awake. “Kelly, we gotta get up, we said we’d meet Hailey and the others at Molly’s”

The pair had been on shift the previous day and got home from one of the longest nights of their life that morning. Call after call they couldn’t seem to catch a break so, naturally, when they got home they slept.

Luckily they had both already showered so all they needed to do was get changed and go, they also happened to live a lot closer to the bar than Jay and Hailey did so time was on their side.

Once they were both changed and Stella had put a little bit of make up on they were out the door and on their way, due to the location of their apartment, they would actually be on time.

—

Natalie and Crockett made it to Molly’s first out of the three couples but they weren’t there long before Stella and Kelly showed up, closely followed by Hailey and Jay.

Nat had told Crockett about Hailey’s invitation to meet her and the other first responders at Molly’s last week and at first he was hesitant, simply because he still felt like the new guy but he quickly accepted when Nat talked some sense into him saying something along the lines of ‘Well the best way to change that is to get out and spend time with your friends, otherwise everyone will see you as the new guy forever’. He knows that he’s not technically new anymore anyway, but because of the pandemic it had been hard to be social. This meant he had made few friends outside of the hospital and despite being there a whole year before the pandemic hit, back then he was actually the new guy meaning he was just trying to get settled and wasn’t too focussed on making friends.

The group of six however had grown fairly close after spending a few long nights at Molly’s together. Stella and Hailey had become friends very quickly after Hailey helped the firefighter out when she got a bad feeling on a call and together they found the abducted kids.

This naturally lead Kelly and Jay to spend some time with each other once the detectives’ relationship was out in the open. Natalie and Crockett seemed to fit perfectly into the group, Nat being good friends with the girls already and as for Crockett, he fell into conversation easily with Jay and Kelly, all three guys having a similar sense of humour and a shared love of sports.

This was the first night that they had actually planned that all six of them would spend together and it was an idea that Hailey and Nat had when the police officer brought a victim into Med.

“Hey guys, sorry we’re late” Hailey said as her and Jay made their way to the table where their friends were sitting.

“It’s all good, nice to see you guys” Crockett replied.

Jay smiled and offered to buy the first round.

The six of them sat together at the table for the better part of an hour, sharing stories, laughing, talking about anything but work. It was like a breath of fresh air that none of them knew they needed.

Eventually the guys split off from their partners as the game started and made their way to the bar to watch it on the TV.

The girls remained at the table, looking over at their boyfriends occasionally and not being able to help but smile.

“So how are you and Jay doing?” Stella asked Hailey “ya know, with living together and being out in the open and all”.

Jay and Hailey has revealed their relationship to their colleagues just a few weeks before they started to move Jay’s stuff in. They figured it was time to tell everyone (if they didn’t already know) and they knew there was no way they’d be able to hide it once they lived together anyway.

They went to Voight first, he told them he’d known for a while but as long as it wasn’t affecting how they worked, which it wasn’t, he didn’t plan on saying anything until they did. They signed all the HR forms that they needed to and Voight told them he was glad to see them both happy and that they deserved it after everything. The partners were very relieved and grateful towards their boss and how he reacted to this new level of their relationship.

Like Voight, the rest of the unit were very congratulatory towards the partners when they were told the news, and they all payed up when Kevin reminded them that he had guessed the closest therefore won the bet. The team had had a bet on when the detectives would get together since Jay got kidnapped and shot trying to help Angela, they knew it was only a matter of time until the detectives admitted their feelings that everyone else could see were there but seemingly they had no idea about.

“It’s going great” Hailey responded “living together has been really fun and our relationship has never been a problem at work” she finished with a smile and a quick glance at her boyfriend who was now on the edge of his seat which she assumed had everything to do with the game they were watching.

“How about you? How are you guys doing?” Hailey added referring to the slight mishap that Stella and Kelly had made it through.

“Yeah is that all over now?” the doctor at the table questioned.

“Yeah yeah, we’re doing fine. You know, Kelly’s Kelly and I wouldn’t change him for anyone, but sometimes he can be a real piece of work” Stella said.

“I hear that” Natalie responded receiving a laugh from her friends.

“And what about you Nat? How’s your hot surgeon boyfriend?” Stella asked in a teasing tone with a chuckle.

“Ahh he’s good” she replied with a smile “funniest guy i know” she added receiving an ‘aww’ from both Hailey and Stella.

The three girls carried on chatting, often gazing over at their boyfriends when they celebrated something in the game or when one of them said something causing the other two to laugh loud. All three were beyond happy right where they were in that moment.

About half an hour later the game was over and the guys made their way back over to the table.

“Hey guys, how was the game?” Nat asked no one in particular as her boyfriend took a seat next to her and she leant against his side.

“Great! We won” Kelly said as he placed his hand on Stella’s neck and sat down beside her.

“We could tell” she replied, referring to the loud cheers that came from the bar when the game finished.

Jay took a seat next to Hailey and put his arm over her shoulders with his hand hanging down by her side, the perfect place for her to play with his fingers. This was something she did very often when they were eating or drinking together, whether it was across the table or leant against his side it still sent a spark through his arm to his heart.

As it got later and later the bar started to empty and eventually the group decided to call it a night. They all grabbed their jackets off the back of their chairs and made their way outside once they’d thanked Herrman who had been serving them all night.

Once they were outside they all parted ways. Kelly had his arm around Stella as she was attempting to keep him steady since he’d maybe had one too many to drink. Seeing as she still felt pretty beat from their last shift she, on the other hand, hadn’t had much to drink so was still able to drive.

Differently, neither Natalie or Crockett had held back on the drinking since they were both coming off a week being on call and not being able to drink at all so after Nat and Hailey hugged goodbye, Crockett grabbed his girlfriend’s hand and helped her into the cab he’d called.

Hailey and Jay were also probably ok to drive but decided against it based on the fact that they didn’t actually live that far away and it would definitely be safer to walk.

It was a cold evening so Hailey was hugged closely into Jay’s side as they started walking, one of her hands in her pocket and one around his back, his in a similar way but due to their height difference his non-pocketed hand was over her shoulders not around her back.

—

‘Tonight was really fun, thanks for inviting us all Hailey’ Nat sent to the group chat with Hailey and Stella that they had made one evening for a reason they can’t remember as her and Crockett made it back into her apartment.

“Hey, thanks for making me go tonight, I really do love spending time with the guys” Crockett expressed to his girlfriend as he took his shoes off and hung up their jackets.

“Is it only the guys you wanted to spend time with?” Nat responded in a flirty tone.

Crockett smiled and decided to play along “Yeah, well, there is this one girl that I wanted to see”

“Oh yeah, who would that be?” Nat said as she looped her arms around his shoulders.

“She’s a doctor at Med actually” he continued the joke “brunette, really pretty, funny too” the surgeon continued as he placed his hands on Natalie’s hips.

“Hmm, she sounds great”

“Oh, she is”

And with that, the couple connected lips and he lifted her up as she wrapped her legs around his waist. Their kiss deepening as they made their way into the bedroom.

—

Stella and Kelly’s arrival to their apartment was a different story. Stella parked her truck outside and they steadily made it up the stairs to their door. Keeping Kelly close to her side, she unlocked it and made her way straight towards their bedroom where she lay her already half-asleep boyfriend down.

She attempted to keep him awake long enough to get him changed but she very quickly gave in to just removing his shoes and his jacket then laying down next to him after getting herself changed and falling asleep too.

—

“Hails?” Jay called from their bed as he heard the shower turn off.

“What’s up?” his girlfriend responded as she walked out of the bathroom towel drying her hair.

“Your phone’s been going off, Nat and Stella saying thanks” he explained, handing her her phone.

“You reading my messages huh?” Hailey prodded playfully as she folded the towel up and put it down, climbing in to bed next to Jay and taking her phone from him.

He couldn’t think of anything witty to say in response so instead he gave her a quick kiss on the lips and pulled her close to him.

On their walk home they had both admitted that they weirdly weren’t that tired so Jay decided to find something for them to watch on TV while she checked her phone as they lay side by side, his arm behind her head and their legs tangled together under the bed sheets.

Hailey let out a quiet laugh as she opened the group chat and saw a picture of Kelly passed out in bed that Stella had sent followed by a message saying, ‘some of us maybe had too much fun’.

Her laugh caused Jay to turn to look at her phone too, the picture making him chuckle. “I’m honestly not sure how Kelly had so much more to drink than me or Crockett” he said, causing Hailey to laugh.

She put down her phone and hugged closer into Jay’s side, placing her head on his chest. He placed a kiss in her hair and they both turned their attention to the TV and fell asleep pretty quickly, clearly a little more tired than they had originally thought.

#one chicago #upstead #stellaride #mancel #chicago pd #chicago fire #chicago med

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earthstellar · 3 years

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TFP Megatronus x Orion Pax Experimental Concept Playlist: The Timescale of Cybertronian Lives + Music from 1890 - 2021

I know there are tons of playlists for these characters out there, but I’m trying to do something a little less conventional with this one; Please hear me out!

Two Playlists in One: Love Throughout The Ages

The first half of this playlist is almost all new music mixed in with some hits from the 60s, 70s, 80s, etc. to give variety, plus tracks from different genres so that hopefully everyone has a song they can enjoy in there somewhere.

For the second half of the playlist, I wanted to emphasise the idea of how long the war on Cybertron has been going on for, and just how old this conflict and the people involved actually are.

Cybertronian Timescale: Long Lives and The Perception of Time

We think of the Orion Pax / Megatronus stage of their relationship as being relatively brief, which it was in comparison to how long the war has been going on for as of TFP, but these are people who live for centuries. The scope of that is staggering.

Optimus Prime and Megatron have known each other personally (either positively or negatively) for longer than modern human civilisation has existed.

So to me, the best way to touch on that idea of time, musically, is to have the first half of the playlist be modern music, remixes, etc. and then the second half is well known and lesser known hits throughout early radio/TV (with many tracks on this playlist pre-dating those forms of media as well).

What’s on the Playlist, Then?

My grandmother was born in 1914, and her music collection spans nearly 100 years. It’s all good stuff.

I have included some of her favourites, which she always called her “sweetheart jingles”, on this soundtrack. I think many of them work surprisingly well for the Megatronus/Orion Pax relationship.

Many of these songs will probably be unknown by the vast majority of people who might want to listen to this playlist, which is also appealing to me. (I hope if this is your first time hearing some of these, that you enjoy a few of them!)

My parents were born in 1944, and I remember all of the classics they would play; Some of those tracks will be more recognisable as this was the era when radio and TV became far more common and accessible, but I picked the tracks that I think best apply to the pairing and the relationship between the two characters at that point in their lives.

The link to the playlist is below after some notes on Cybertronian language evolution!

Quick Thought: Cybertronian Language Over Time and Era Specific Speech Patterns

While thinking about my grandmother’s music collection as I assembled this playlist, I thought about some of the words and phrases she used commonly that are now totally non-existent in modern conversational English.

She had what would probably sound to most people like “1930s radio voice” or a more Trans-Atlantic Accent way of speaking; She grew up in the Northeast USA and so she had a very distinctive way of stressing the vowels in words. It’s not just the words themselves, or how they were pronounced, but the tone and pace of speech was also very different.

This got me thinking about Cybertronians, age, and speech:

Bots as old as Ratchet may have grown up with a totally different spoken language version of Cybertronian, and we already know that there are regional dialects, multiple written forms (glyphs), and era-specific types of Cybertronian language.

But the way they speak, as I mentioned above with the stressing of vowels and the tone and pace of speech, might still be different due to the different eras, even after language packs/programs are downloaded and updated periodically as needed. We already know Cybertronians have regional accents, so it stands that generational accents would also possibly exist as well.

Such a difference in speech patterns could possibly be used as a primary indicator of relative age on Cybertron, as physically they don’t age in the sense human beings do.

Back to the Playlist: Link + Track List + Notes on Audio Prior to 1930

The playlist is here on YouTube.

Scroll down to get to the second half (oldies section) if that’s what you’re here for!

Please note that the songs are not arranged in any particular order aside from the first half being newer music and the second half being far older music.

Also note, where original recordings are available on YouTube for some of the older songs, I have used those original recording versions.

However, keep in mind that there may be a couple seconds of “fuzz” at the top (start) of those older tracks, because they have been recorded from records or wax cylinders, which are formats of music that typically had a “pause” on the track to allow for needle and speed calibration when playing them manually. Modern records don’t do this in quite the same way and nobody uses wax cylinders anymore, but older records typically did. If this bothers you, skip ahead about two seconds or so, and it will resolve.

Tempo may seem slightly “fast” on two of the tracks due to difficulties with the medium and modern recording tech/methods, and one track has some persistent “fuzz” throughout due to the original recording being rare and therefore it is a “best copy available” type archival recording, but otherwise I’ve managed to find the clearest audio possible for the vast majority of the older songs!

(Fun music note, the “click track” in modern digital music was partially inspired by the clicking of the needle hitting the “countdown grooves” on old cylinders and records, which creates an audible mild clicking sound as the needle finds the groove and provides time for usually a half rotation or full rotation of the record before the track actually begins to allow for adjustment before the music starts! If the clicking is too fast, dial down the rotation speed, for example.

This itself was inspired by classical metronomes as well as the actual physical method of playing the music in this way, but it’s cool to see how this persists throughout musical history even now when we don’t need the click for digital production for quite the same reasons/applications. It’s all about timing, no matter the medium or era!)

Due to the method of how some player piano rolls were credited, often by roll company and not by individuals, the actual artist name is often not available for those tracks. Where possible and where known, I have included credits to the artists/musicians. I have done my best to research and find the artists in these recordings.

I have also included orchestrions and other “automated” music in addition to a player piano track as I think it’s interesting; These are often very old compositions being played on these machines, and as such are designed to reflect the earliest days of their relationship.

Songs range from the years 1890 to 2021, and I will add more as I manage to find YouTube videos with some of the older songs I’m still looking for.

By the way, if you need a love song for like an actual partner or crush that you have, I’m just going to say it now and point out that a lot of these classics are great to use in real life for cute purposes. My partner of ten years agrees, and my grandparents were married for over 60 years and sang many of these daily, so obviously something here works well. You’re welcome. ;)

Below the cut is a track list of the second half of the playlist, as it’s 7 AM and I’d like to emphasise the “classics” section here as it’s the central theme of the concept.

I will add to this list as more tracks are added:

You’re the Top - Cole Porter

What is this Thing Called Love - Leslie Hutchinson

I Get a Kick Outta You - Cole Porter

Puttin on the Ritz - Phil Spitalny Orchestra

What a Day - Carl Fenton

Come Fly With Me - Frank Sinatra

Earth Angel - The Penguins

Ring a Ding Ding - Frank Sinatra

In my Merry Oldsmobile - Billy Murray

Singin in the Rain - Gene Kelly

Dream a Little Dream of Me - Doris Day

Unforgettable - Nat King Cole

Can’t Help Falling in Love - Elvis Presley

Good Golly Miss Molly - Little Richard

Bei Mir Bist du Schoen - The Andews Sisters

Shine on Harvest Moon - Ruth Etting

1920s Dance Sequence from Don’t Knock the Rock

In the Mood -Glen Miller Orchestra

Dream Lover - Bobby Darin

When the Ragtime Army Goes Away to War (Artist Unknown)

After You’ve Gone - J. Lawrence Cook

My Sin (Artist Unknown)

Flick Flack by Albert Vossen (Unsure; Song + Artist Unknown; Orchestrion)

Lotosblumen Walzer by E. Ohlsen (Hupfeld Violina)

Waltz no.2 - Dmitri Shostakovich

Jupiter - Gustav Holst

Love Potion no. 9 - The Clovers (Please note, this song mentions the word “g*psy” once in the beginning of the track. Skip this song if you would prefer not to hear it; I have done my best to only include songs that are friendly to the modern listener, but where needed I will make annotations such as this one to ensure nobody has to hear anything potentially offensive, as is unfortunately often the case with older music/lyrics.)

Come a Little Bit Closer - Jay and the Americans

Sh-Boom - The Crew Cuts

Oh Boy - Buddy Holly

#long post #playlist #megop #megops #cybertronian culture #transformers #transformers prime #tfp #maccadam #maccadams #megatron #optimus prime #orion pax #music #concept playlist #megatronus

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swifteforeverandalways · 3 years

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Notes: so @lilmissriottbliss and I have both been watching a lot of Chicago Med and decided that the Chicago shows now officially take place in Emoverse! This is just a lil’ one shot of Kate being injured, Rhea and Toni taking her to Chicago Med, and everyone finding out Ethan was once SHIELD. If anyone has questions, toss them in my inbox!

“Hold on, just hold on,” Rhea Ripley muttered, half under her breath, as she ran down the street. Kate Kane was laying, half limp, in Rhea’s arms. It was supposed to be a normal trip, a vacation almost, to Chicago before WWE started touring again but it ended in disaster. Even on vacation, Kate brought her Batwoman suit and it ended with her stabbed.

“M fine,” Kate murmured weakly, even as blood steadily bled out of the wound.

“You aren’t fine, you got stabbed!” Toni snapped, her tone shaky. Kate tried to roll her eyes but winced instead as they burst into the Emergency Department at Gaffney Chicago Medical Center.

“Help! We need some help over here!” Rhea shouted. A nurse rushed up to them.

“What’s your name?” She asked.

“I’m Rhea, that’s Toni, and this is Kate. Please. You need to help her!” Rhea pleaded.

“Dr. Halstead, over here!” The nurse yelled. A tall, well built man with red hair rushed up.

“What happened?” He demanded.

“We Uh….we um….” Toni stumbled over the question so Rhea quickly butt in.

“We were at the park and Kate was climbing in a tree and fell,” Rhea quickly lied. Dr. Halstead looked unconvinced but still helped Kate onto a gurney. “Someone page Dr. Choi!” “Already on it!” A nurse yelled.

“You look really familiar,” Another nurse commented. “Kate!” Toni cried

“Listen, will you help my girlfriend or not!” Rhea snapped. A Korean man ran up and checked on Kate, making orders quickly.

“Get me a CBC, CMP, tox screen, and type and screen. STAT,” he commanded.

“Make sure the tubes are green and lavender,” Dr. Halstead said before adding a, “Or Raya will have my ass” under his breath. One of the nurses snorted.

“Looks like whatever stabbed her missed her lung by about a centimeter” Dr. Choi said.

“What the hell stabbed her?” Dr. Halstead asked. Toni paled. “She fell off a tree, I didn’t even look when we picked her up” Dr. Choi looked at the two women, frowning. Kate’s heartbeat went slow. “She’s stable” A nurse said, another snapping her finger. “I know you two! You’re wrestlers!”

“Bloody hell, can’t we go anywhere and not be recognized,” Toni grumbled.

“April, leave them alone,” Dr. Choi said with a smile.

“I’ll take the tubes down to the lab,” a new doctor said, walking up.

“Thanks Nat!”

The doctor walked off with the tubes in hand.

“Where can we wait?” Toni asked

“I’ll show you….I actually have a few questions for you two,” Dr. Choi said. Rhea nodded. Dr. Choi led them to a small room and shut the door behind them, crossing his arms and looking at the two. Rhea did the same, Toni sitting down.

“I’ve been a doctor for a very long time, and I know what kinds of injuries are caused by what. And I know that she didn’t fall out of a tree. So what happened?” Dr. Choi said. Rhea looked him in the eye. “I can’t tell you that”

“Why not? Was this a domestic dispute? Those injuries are more from a knife than falling from a tree”

"It wasn't a fight with us, and that's all I can say"

“Kate helps SHIELD,” Toni added.

“The agency that works with the Avengers?”

“Yes, her father runs Crows Security in Gotham,” Rhea said.

“That explains where I’ve seen her. Used to do medical for Shield”

“So trust us when we say, this wasn’t a dispute with us.”

He sighed. “Fine. But don’t be surprised if Chicago P.D gets involved” Toni nodded

“And we’ll let SHIELD know….why did you leave them?” Rhea asked. Dr. Choi’s jaw tightened. “That’s none of your business”

“Fine,” Rhea snapped, “But some agents will be coming here.”

“Then you can ask them” he left. “What a dick”

“We should call Bobbi and let her know.”

Rhea nodded. Toni pulled out her phone, dialing up the number.

“Hello?”

“Hi Bobbi, do you know a Dr. Choi?”

“Yeah, he used to work for SHIELD. Why?”

“Because Kate had a incident with a knife and I’m pretty sure him and Rhea are gonna hurt each other”

“I’ll be there ASAP”

“Thank you”

About fifteen minutes later, Bobbi Morse strode into the room with Jade on her heels.

“Ethan!” She greeted the doctor

“Bobbi. Jade,” Ethan nodded. Bobbi pulled him into a hug, Ethan awkwardly returning it.

“How have you been? It's been ages.”

“Good”

“Have you been going to therapy or are you still overworking yourself?”

“The second one” Will interrupted.

“Damn, he looks like he could be Romanroger’s kid,” Jade joked. Bobbi snorted, turning to Ethan. “I thought when you retired you said you’d take care of yourself.”

Ethan shrugged, looking away awkwardly. Bobbi sighed, noticing Rhea glaring.

“So why did he leave?” Toni asked Bobbi and Jade. Ethan glared.

“What, you said to ask them,” Toni said.

“Ethan used to be a field agent” Bobbi said

“Ooh,” Rhea and Toni nodded in understanding.

“Went down to medical after a mission, been a doctor ever since” Ethan added

“So what happened to Kate? Is she okay?” Jade asked.

“She was stabbed”

“We’re just waiting on the blood test results,” Will added before his phone buzzed with a text.

“Why is Saraya texting you in all caps?”

“Something about Nat saying we were being rude”

Ethan laughed. Will smacked him. “She might be tiny but she’s gonna kick my ass!”

Ethan laughed again. Will stared at Ethan. “Stop laughing!”

“To be fair, tiny people can be scary. One of our wrestlers…..” Toni shuddered, “Took out a guy.”

“With a broken nose”

There was a knock at the door. Will made a noise.

“Come in,” Ethan said. A small woman holding lab papers walked in, glaring at Will. “Hey Raya” She marched up to him and began poking him in the chest. “You. Do. Not. Get. To. Be. Rude. To. Wrestlers!”

“I apologized!”

“Still rude to be rude to them!”

Ethan silently walked out. “Actually it makes sense he's former SHIELD” Rhea noted.

“He never did say where he was before coming here,” Will mused.

“Was he in the Budapest mission?” Jade asked Bobbi, who nodded.

“Thought I recognized him. What happened?”

Bobbi let out a long breath.

“He got shot in the knee, guy came close to killing him, retired from field work not long after”

“Damn,” Jade shook her head.

“He was a good agent”

Bobbi nodded. “He was”

“A bit. Not much, Jemma did a lot more as did Lincoln”

“Lincoln was smart enough to work in med shit?”

“Had a medical degree and everything”

“We sure he didn’t cheat?” “Jade!”

“What?” Jade grinned cheekily. Bobbi shook her head. “I was on Budapest, hell of a two day mission”

Will frowned as there was another knock on the door. A man who looked similar too but a little bit older than Will, and with darker hair, walked in with Natalie behind him.

“This is Detective Halstead”

“Jay Halstead,” Jay extended his hand, “I understand this involved SHIELD?”

“Yes, we can’t exactly say that out loud” Jay nodded

“What happened to the perp?”

“I might have punched him out and left for CPD to deal with” Rhea flexed. “These aren’t just for TV”

Toni laughed slightly, nuzzling her face against Rhea’s shoulder.

“Wow” Jay said

“So will Kate make it?” Toni asked.

“Well she’s in surgery right but we have the best surgeons in the state”

“Not to mention her blood type is O pos, which we have a good amount of, and the rest of her results look normal,” Saraya added. Rhea breathed out a sigh of relief.

“Anyway, I need to get back to the lab,” Saraya said, handing the lab papers to Will.

“Love you” She mock glared. Natalie laughed, pulling her into a hug.

“Where’s Ethan at?”

“He walked out.”

Saraya sighed. Natalie bumped her shoulder gently. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing much, just thinking about my application to join Shield”

“You applied for SHIELD?”

“Yup. Didn’t get in because of an underlying heart condition”

“Underlying heart condition?” Will frowned.

“Arrhythmia” Saraya said. Will let out a breath.

“Now that I think about it, it was a blessing in disguise. I was able to finish my MLS program”

Will wrapped her into a hard hug. Saraya hugged him back, laughing. “April’s missing too so I assume I know where Ethan is”

“God I was such a bitch to him” Rhea whined.

“Eh, you were worried about Kate. If it had been me injured, Jade would’ve killed him,” Bobbi shrugged. Jade stuck her tongue out.

“Jade’s a bit overprotective,” Bobbi explained, noticing the confused looks on Will, Natalie, and Saraya’s faces. Toni coughed. “Bit?”

“Not my fault I don’t want my wife killed,” Jade shrugged.

“Ethan’s having a panic attack!” April ran down the hall.

“I’ll page Dr. Charles,” Will said but Bobbi grabbed his arm.

“Let me go” She ran after April. In the break room, Ethan was sitting with his arms wrapped around his knees.

“Ethan” Bobbi knelt down and grabbed his hands.

“Leave me alone,” Ethan muttered.

“Not happening” Bobbi sat in front of Ethan, “I know you’re scared, but do you remember what you told me? Back when I was having these?”

Ethan looked up

“That you were safe at SHIELD,” he said.

“Exactly. So you’re safe here”

“How do you know?” Ethan whispered.

“Because you have friends here. You’re alive”

Ethan licked his lips. April leaned down and hugged his head to her chest.

“I’m here for you,” she whispered. Ethan held onto her and took deep breaths. “I’m such a idiot for talking about Budapest”

“Sometimes it feels good to talk about traumas, sometimes I feel better when I talk about….you-know-who,” Bobbi said. Ethan nodded, April kissing his head. “I’m guessing you’re his girlfriend”

April held out her hand. “Fiancée, actually.”

“Nice job Ethan”

Ethan chuckled slightly.

“Alright let’s get up” April eased him off the ground. Ethan smiled at her, hugging her tightly.

“Thank you Bobbi”

“Anytime,” Bobbi smiled.

#Chicago med #rhea ripley #bobbi morse #jade okaia #Kate Kane #Toni storm #Ethan Choi #mockingprincess #BatNightStorm #my writing

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365days365movies · 4 years

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February 3, 2021: Sleepless in Seattle (1993)

The year: 1986. A small new fictionation is founded as part of a disparate group of similar territories. Near to another civilization founded by Woody Allen (we’ll get to him later this month, whoof), a new settlement was founded by one Nora Ephron. It began with Heartburn, a rom-com starring Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson. While it was somewhat successful, it wasn’t exactly a dynamo by any means. And that is when Nora met the future Empress of her fictonation.

Her name was Meg Ryan, and the film...was When Harry Met Sally.

Ephron only wrote this film, rather than direct it. But it didn’t matter, as this film was CRAZY successful (and I’ll be watching it later this month). Some years past, and both Ryan and Ephron rose in power. Ephron became a director, Ryan became a movie star, and the two pillars would reunite for greater things. And THAT is when the future Empress met her Emperor.

Enter Joe vs. the Volcano, where Meg Ryan...met Tom Hanks.

Now, was this movie amazing? No, not from what I’ve heard. But the two new co-stars apparently made an impression on Hollywood at this point, as their respective stars would only grow brighter. And so, when 1993 came along, the three pillars finally met, and ascended to their true roles as the rulers of a now united Holy Romance Empire. And that film...was Sleepless in Seattle.

Time to witness a nation RISE. SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap

We start where all romantic comedies should start: at a Chicago graveyard!

Architect Sam Baldwin’s (Tom Hanks) wife, Maggie, has sadly passed away, leaving Sam and their son, Jonah (Ross Malinger). Sam’s clearly broken, understandably, and he decides to move from Chicago in order to leave behind the bittersweet memories of his wife. And where he’s headed? You know where.

Jimmy Durante’s rendition of “As Time Goes By”

Jimmy Durante sings us in (I love this song, for the record), and we head not to Seattle, but to Baltimore, 18 months afterwards. There, reporter Annie Reed (Meg Ryan) is going to a Christmas party with her new fiancée, Walter Jackson (Bill Pullman), which is announced to great aplomb at the party. Her brother Dennis is played by Niles from Frasier (David Hyde Pierce), and I nearly spit out my sandwich.

That night, Annie’s mother gives her her old wedding dress, and have a VERY frank conversation about their sexual relationships. It is...awkward. Anyway, the dress tears, which Annie sees as a sign. In any case, she still seems happy...I think. On the way to Walter’s parents’ place, she tunes into a radio talk show, where a child is making a Christmas wish to the station.

This child is, of course, Jonah, calling on behalf of his father from Seattle. He tells the host, Dr. Marcia Fieldstone (Caroline Aaron), that his father is lonely after his wife’s death, and that he wishes he had a new wife. She convinces Jonah to put him on the phone, and while he’s reluctant to do so (understandably), he accepts. All the while, Annie’s listening, and seems to sympathize deeply with him and his sarcastic responses.

However, Sam begins to open up, and Dr. Fieldstone christens him “Sleepless in Seattle,” after the fact that he doesn’t sleep much at all these days. His story resonates with a number of people, Annie included. A few people call in to respond to him, and at the end of the call, he describes how much and why he misses his wife. And I gotta be honest, I’m with Annie here. It is...very moving.

Damn you, Tom Hanks, it’s only 20 minutes in, why are you already making me FEEEEEEL?

The next day, it’s a splash, and over 2,000 women call in in response to this. This is discounted by her co-worker and friend, Becky (Rosie O’Donnell). At the New Year’s party soon after, she and Walter make a date to meet in New York City, and register for their eventual wedding. Meanwhile, Sam tucks Jonah in to sleep, as Nat King Cole serenades us (I ALSO love Nat King Cole, real talk) and Sam stares at the fireworks off of his houseboat.

And, mentally haunted by the ghost of his wife, he’s seemingly literally haunted by the ghost of his wife, Maggie (Carey Lowell). The next morning, he goes to help a client, Barbara (Dana Ivey), and his co-worker Jay Matthews (Rob Reiner) with a house, and finds out that everybody knows who he is at this point. Additionally, Jonah also give the radio station their address, and MANY women are now soliciting Sam, including...his third-grade teacher. Ew. EW.

Sam and Jonah next have a talk about whether or not a prospective new wife would have sex with Sam, and I wonder if sexual conversations with your parents are supposed to be this common, or if I’m just crazy. Because me and my Dad? Nuh-uh. And no worries if your relationship with your folks is like this, but mine DEFINITELY IS NOT, lemme tell you.

Annie and Walter prepare for bed, and Ray Charles sings them to sleep, followed by Carly Simon talking about the wee small hours of the morning. During those hours, Annie gets up, also unable to sleep, and turns on the Dr. Marcia Fieldstone show. During the highlight reel for the show, Disappointed in Denver notes that:

Everytime I come close to orgasm, he goes and makes himself a sandwich.

...Wow. Um. Asshole? And then Marcia tells her to make a sandwich for him beforehand, WHICH IS NOT SOLVING THE PROBLEM. Anyway, Sam is also featured in that highlight reel, and Annie cries again as he talks about his wife, and it’s a disproportionately long excerpt compared to the others, what the hell? Marooned in Miami is DISAPPOINTED now.

Annie goes to meet her brother Niles (he’s basically Niles from Frasier, seriously) the next day, and explains that she’s fantasizing about Sam, a man she’s never even MET. She’s also feeling doubt about her upcoming marriage, which is...interesting. I’ll get to that later. In Seattle, meanwhile, Sam asks Jay what it’s like as a single man in Seattle, and they have a conversation about how cute Sam’s butt is. Nice.

Upon the realization that his 9-year old son is hanging out with more girls than he is (yeah, there’s a kid named Jessica hanging out with him when Sam gets home, it’s awkward), Sam’s back in the saddle again (as the song indicates; that said, goddamn is the music choice on the nose sometimes, seriously). He calls a woman named Victoria (Barbara Garrick), and asks her out on a date.

Annie’s watching the movie An Affair to Remember (lateeeeeer) at Becky’s, as she’s lamenting her fixation on Sam, while also struggling to fully understand how she feels about Walter. Becky RIGHTFULLY accuses her of believing in Hollywood, movie love, which is demonstrated by Annie’s meaningless platitudes about her supposed love for Walter. This is while she’s writing a letter to Sam, then aborts it when she realizes what she’s doing. She sits on the couch with Becky, they mouth the words together in the movie, and they cry while I laugh, because that was funny.

Things aren’t as jovial for Sam and Jonah, as Jonah’s had a nightmare, and the two reminisce over missing their mother. Sam notes that Maggie could peel an apple in one long...curly...strip. You mean...like Annie was doing earlier? I see what you did there, movie. I see what you did there. As if to compound their invisible connection, both of them sit on a dock, staring into two separate oceans at night.

Sam proceeds to write a story for the paper on “Sleepless in Seattle,” and through some...mildly creepy personal invasion, she finds his address in Seattle, and a hell of a lot more personal information. Like I said, it’s a little creepy. Sam, meanwhile, is going on a date with Victoria, when Jonah opens a letter...from Annie.

Annie. What’re you doin’?

Jonah appears to IMMEDIATELY ship the two, but Sam quotes the coast-to-coast distance as being a bit too much, and goes on the date with Victoria. While on the date, Jonah tries to hook Sam up with Annie by getting him to agree to take them to New York City on Valentine’s Day. Damn, Jonah, you lookin’ to escape a whale, because you are BUILDING A GODDAMN SHIP

Victoria, a woman with an amazingly obnoxious laugh, does not rub off well on Jonah, or me, or my girlfriend. I’m really hoping that somehow, in SOME WAY, Victoria and Walter get together. He’s boring, she’s obnoxious, who knows? They might like each other. My ship...is being built.

Jonah, meanwhile, is TAKING THE FUCKING WHEEL of this ship. He calls the radio station once again, and Annie is alerted to this by Becky. She wakes up, punching Walter in the process (dude gets HURT), and goes downstairs to listen. Jonah’s telling the station that Victoria SUUUUUCKS, and straight up calls her “a ho.” He hangs up abruptly, and screams to stop his father from kissing Victoria. Annie, meanwhile, listens to this in the closet for some reason.

The next day, Jonah’s friend, Jessica, tells Jonah to send a letter to Annie on his father’s behalf. Meanwhile, Annie flies to Seattle in the guise of doing a story, when she’s actually going to try and meet Sam. Victoria, meanwhile, is leaving from the airport, where Sam and Jonah are seeing her off. Victoria basically implies that she’d like to ditch the kid and go fuck someplace sometime, which might FINALLY rub Sam the wrong way.

Sam talks to Jonah about the fact that he’s dating Victoria, not marrying her, and that she might not be the one for him. He also says that there’s no such thing as soul-

-mates.

Yeah, they actually did just do that. Sam loses Annie at the airport, after immediately chasing after her. They’re perfect for each other, as Annie goes RIGHT to Sam’s houseboat address. She hangs around the neighborhood, and sees them having fun on the beach together as Harry Connick Jr. plays in the background. That night, she confides in Becky about her guilt in lying to Walter.

And if I can just say this...yeah, THAT isn’t great. I get that there’s some cinematic paegentry to the whole thing, but, like...tell your FIANCEE about your FEELINGS. It’s hard, yeah, duh, but YOU GOTTA DO IT. You most certainly owe it to Walter. At least she appears to know it, though.

Annie at the hotel

The next day, Annie goes once again to weirdly spy on Jonah, and sees him hug a woman very happily, and of course believes that that’s Victoria. However, this is his friend, Suzy (Rita Wilson), who’s visiting with her husband, Greg (Victor Garber). In any case, this leads to Sam and Annie seeing each other for the first time. He says hello. She says hello. Then she almost gets hit by a taxi, and she IMMEDIATELY flies back home WHAT THE FUUUUUUUUUUH

We find this out later, but the taxi and the fact that all she could say was “Hello” is actually all a reference to the film seen earlier, An Affair to Remember (again, later this month). This is also part of the repeating motif that this film has: signs. Y’know, the kind of “IT’S A SIGN” thing. However, the real twist here is that the signs are the ones that they can’t see. Like the apple and the hello thing. Not yet, anyway.

Also, dear lord, An Affair to Remember is just making EVERY woman in the film cry, even when they’re TALKING about it. And every time, the men just look at each other like “WOMEN, with their EMOTIONS and their VAGOOOOOOS.” Jesus, ‘90s movies. Even JESSICA (Gaby Hoffman), Jonah’s friend, the LITTLE GIRL, is crying at this movie. JESUS, I’m really interested in seeing this movie now.

Jessica and Jonah start conspiring on how to get to New York to meet Annie, and do so by FAKING AIRLINE TICKETS OK THEN. Meanwhile, Annie’s given up on the whole “Sleepless in Seattle” thing, and goes to meet Walter for their Valentine’s date in NYC. Walter rightfully comments that Annie’s seemed distant, and here’s the thing: Walter deserves better than this. Yeah, he’s BORING AS SHIT, but the dude’s committed to her, and she’s amazingly flaky in comparison. I dunno, maybe it’s because it’s Bill Pullman, but I feel bad for him.

Anyway, in New York, the two begin to rekindle their relationship, and Walter gets a ring for her at FUCKING TIFFANY’S HOLY SHIT. Meanwhile, Sam’s THIRSTY AS FUUUUUUUCK, and is leaving to spend the weekend with Victoria, which Jonah is NOT a fan of. This ship is gonna SAIL if JONAH HAS TO FLY TO NEW YORK CITY HIMSELF

So, Jonah flies to New York City himself, in order to...meet his new mother. This movie has some VERY interesting issues, Jesus. Jonah does, indeed go to the top of the Empire State Building to look for Annie, and he asks all the girls on the Observation Deck if they’re Annie. Which, of course, none of them are. Why?

Annie’s at dinner, that’s why, and at the FUCKING RAINBOW ROOM DEAR LORD HOW MUCH MONEY DOES WALTER MAKE? Sam also makes his way to New York, probably to DESTROY HIS CHILD

And at dinner, Annie actually redeems herself by telling Walter the ENTIRE TRUTH about her feelings, and about “Sleepless in Seattle.” And Walter is a CLASSY-ASS GUY ABOUT THE ENTIRE THING, and the two break off their engagement amicably. Annie says that she doesn’t deserve Walter, and BY GOD SHE’S RIGHT. Walter’s a sweet dude. And as soon as they break up...a sign.

Sam finds Jonah on the Observation Deck, and the two tearfully reunite. And as they two unite, and everybody else leaves the Observation Deck as it closes for the night, Annie rushes on her way there. An Affair to Remember is invoked one last time, as Annie convinces the guard to let her up there. But, OF GODDAMN COURSE...she goes up in one elevator, and Sam and Jonah head down in another.

But wait. Isn’t that Jonah’s backpack on the ground of the Observation Deck?

youtube

Yup. THERE’S the happy ending we’re lookin’ for. They finally formally introduce each other, and Sam says that they’d better leave...ALL of them, together. Love at first sight. PLAY US OUT JIMMY DURANTE!!!! And yeah, I know that Celine Dion sings the end credits song, but NOPE! TAKE ME AWAY, JIMMY! MAKE ME HAPPY!

And that was Sleepless in Seattle! And again, I liked it! I’ll get more into it during the Review!

#sleepless in seattle #nora ephron #tom hanks #meg ryan #rosie o'donnell #bill pullman #ross malinger #romance february #romance movie #365 movie challenge #365 movies 365 days #365 Days 365 Movies #365 movies a year #user365

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what-is-your-plan-today · 4 years

Text

Stark Spangled Forever: I Don’t Like Bullies

Intro: Emmy encounters someone from her past, and is left shaken after they threaten her. Steve and Bucky decided to pay them a little visit…

Warnings: Some violence, a slightly dark Steve and Bucky…some bad language. SMUT (NSFW, No UNDER 18s!!!)

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

A/N: Had this one in my head for a while, finally got round to penning it down. Hope you enjoy.

SSF Masterlist // WIYPT Masterlist

August 2024

“Again!” Jamie giggled, splashing his way over to Steve who laughed and waited for Jamie to reach him.

“He’s fine ain’t you son?” Steve asked as Jamie doggie paddled over to him, grinning.

“It’s like flying Momma!”

“You’re getting strong pal.” he said, turning his head over his shoulder so he could look at Jamie. Jamie grinned.

“How’s my little water baby doing?” Steve asked as he carried Jamie on his back to where his wife and daughter were, Jamie scrabbling out of the pool and heading to the lounger for a drink.

“She’s fine.” Katie smiled, as Steve turned his attention to Aurora, a huge grin on his face as she looked at him and beamed, waving her legs and arms as fast as she could.

“Look at you princess!” he said as Katie pulled her back towards them. He dropped down so his shoulders were under the water and Rori was at eye level. “Think she’s enjoying it.”

Steve glanced at his watch “Almost 4.”

“I should really think about starting dinner.”

“Leave it….” he said, turning to her, pressing his lips to hers. “Come on, when was the last time we got an afternoon like this?”

She smiled, “Feels like a while that’s for sure…”

“You feeling amorous Soldier?” Katie grinned, tipping her head round to face him.

Jamie had launched himself back into the pool, followed by Lucky who had clearly decided he too needed to get in the action.

“Emmy?” Steve asked, quickly dropping down in front of her. “Hey…look at me…”

She looked up and he gently reached out, his hand smoothing back her hair “Use your numbers ok, like we used too, remember?”

“You ok?” Katie asked gently, looking at Emmy. She nodded.

“Sorry…”

“You need a drink sweetheart?” Katie asked and Emmy nodded.

“Ok. Think you can stand?” Steve asked.

“You’re not carrying me.” Emmy looked at Steve and he raised an eyebrow.

“You used to love me doing that.” Steve quipped and she rolled her eyes.

“Yeah at the Parties at the Kids home.” she grumbled “I’m not 7 anymore.”

“Emmy!” Jamie shot off his seat and threw himself at his older sister. She smiled and bent to give him a hug.

“Hey Jay…” she smiled, “You been swimming?”

“Daddy was throwing me.” he grinned. “I bet he could do it for you too.”

“Sure he could” Emmy smiled as she shakily took a seat, glancing at Rori who was in Brooke’s arms, her little hands tangling in the girl’s long, red hair.

“But I don’t wanna.” he frowned.

“Hey, why don’t you show me your legos?” Brooke said quickly. Steve could see the cogs in his son’s head whirring as he considered this for a second before he nodded.

“Ok.”

“Thanks Brooke.” Katie said to her as she handed Rori back over.

“No problem Mrs R.” she said, allowing Jamie to tug her by the hand out of the room.

“Wanna tell us what happened Em?” he asked gently.

“Mc Mahons, yeah we know it…” Steve nodded

“And then he came out.”

“Who?” Katie asked, her eyes not leaving her daughter.

“Him…my old foster father. The one that used to hit me.”

Steve took a deep breath and breathed out through his nose “Did he hurt you?”

“No, not really…he erm, he didn’t recognise me at first and I kept walking but Brook had stopped and when she shouted my name he realised it was me and he grabbed my arm and…”

“Ok…ok…” Katie said gently, as Steve gently laid a hand on their daughter’s shoulder.

“Did he do anything else?” he asked. Emmy shook her head.

“Em, he’s an ass hole.” Katie said gently “You were never a bad kid. You’d been treated appallingly, what that man did do you…” she shook her head “It was cruel and abusive and…”

Steve’s hand fell to Katie’s knee under the table as she looked away, blinking back the tears.

She swallowed and looked down. Steve looked at Katie, the jaw in his nerve twitching with anger as he took a deep breath and ran his hand up Emmy’s back.

“Well I hope he makes good on his promise and does pay us a visit.” he said his eyes flashing “I’d be very happy to exchange a few words with him, maybe a few fists too.”

Emmy smiled softly as Katie shook her head.

“Trust me, I saw it a few times. Scared the shit out of me.”

“Woah, you saying I’m not scary?” Steve scoffed, folding his arms.

“You know he won’t ever hurt you again, not now you’re with us.”

“I know. I love you guys.” she smiled and Steve dropped a kiss to her cheek. She looked up, wiped her eyes and then glanced at her mom. “Can Brooke stay tonight?”

“Course she can, I'll call Jen”

“It's ok she can message…”

“I'll call her.” Katie said firmly, “Brooke was there today so Jen has a right to know what happened. Don’t worry, she won’t be mad at you.” “Kay…” Emmy nodded “What's for dinner?”

“Your dad threw a pizza in for Jamie, we're gonna get take out and hang by the pool.” Katie said.

“Anything you fancy?” Steve asked.

“Can we try the Greek place?”

“Sure.” Steve nodded “Hey, do they do Shwarma?”

“Gyros.” Katie said, “Same thing almost.”

“I’m in.” Steve said.

“I'm gonna go watch TV for a bit, that ok?”

“Course.” Katie smiled.

“Love you both.” she smiled at them, before she left the room.

As soon as she was gone Steve stood up, his calm demeanour ebbing away as Katie looked up at him, shaking her head.

“I wanna kill him Steve.”

“You and me both doll.” he paced.

“Think we should call the police?” Katie asked, gently rocking Rori to and fro as she had started to grumble.

Steve contemplated what she had said before he paused, folded his arms and looked at the door, then back to Katie “I got a better idea.”

“What?”

“Do you trust me?” he asked.

“You know I do”

“Then leave it with me.” he said simply

“Steve...” she stated, instantly understanding what he was implying “You can’t.” “Why not?”

“Well, for starters we have no idea where he lives.”

Steve snorted "Sweetheart, you're forgetting who we know."

"Oh, no...you can't drag Sam into this." Katie shook her head "Ross is being an asshole with him as it is without you giving him ammo by getting Sammy into trouble."

"I'm not" Steve smiled, raising his eyebrow “I'm gonna drag Bucky into it instead."

Aint gonna be happy for much longer, buddy.

Only this time his instructions were clear. Apprehend alive.

The man ordered his drink, a straight black label whiskey and when it was served he paid with a bunch of crumpled ones and picked the glass up, heading to a table.

Bucky waited until the door was closed before he headed back down to the ground floor, pulling out his phone.

“I got him.”

***** Steve climbed out of his car, looking up at the ramshackle building before he crossed the road. Bucky was waiting for him and opened the door to the apartment block from the inside.

“You.” Steve said simply, and Bucky snorted.

“He’s on the Second floor.” he said simply “Number 202. Still think you should just let me shoot him.”

“No.” Steve said “We’re not killing him…”

Bucky rolled his eyes “Why?”

“Because I want him as scared as he made Emmy.” Steve said simply. “He can spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder.”

Bucky shrugged, “Your call…”

Steve headed to the stairs and started to climb them, stopping as he heard his foot crunch on something.

“Nice place…” he mumbled as he looked down to see he had stood on a cockroach.

“Don’t be a snob Stevie…” Bucky looked at him, and Steve rolled his eyes.

“Even my place in the 40s wasn’t this grim.” he turned to look at his friend before he continued up the flight of steps.

“It wasn’t the ritz either.” Bucky shrugged as they emerged onto the landing. They stopped outside the door and Steve took a breath before he looked at Bucky.

“Who the fuck are you?” he demanded.

Bucky simply raised his eyebrows.

“Look, if Mario sent you…I told him, he’ll get his money…”

“How do you know my name?” Jack asked, his eyes not once leaving Bucky, missing the Captain who was stood in the darkness of the room behind him. “What the fuck do you want?”

“I don’t want anything…” Bucky said, shrugging, “But he does…”

“Woah…look…I don’t want any trouble…” Jack began to press.

“You should have thought about that before you touched and threatened my daughter.” Steve’s voice was icy.

“This can do far more damage than that blade can.” he said simply, looking at his hand before he turned to Jack “Go ahead, I’ll even give you one free swing. But it better be fast.”

“Buck…” Steve said, and Bucky let go, Jack slumping to the floor. Steve reached down, grabbed his shirt and hauled him to his feet slamming him against the wall.

“Captain America…nah…you wouldn’t…” Jack stuttered, shaking his head “You’re a good guy…”

“Which makes me a hundred times more dangerous…” Steve said.

“And I, well, I just don’t give a shit.” Bucky shrugged “Killed a lot of people one way or another…what’s one more piece of shit like you gonna mean?”

Jack looked at Steve, shaking his head “No, you wouldn’t…”

“I snapped the neck of the man who raped my wife.” Steve said, his gaze not once leaving the man’s in front of him “Trust me, you have no idea what I would do to keep my family safe.”

He paused for a second, letting it sink in as Jack swallowed.

“And if I ever get a sniff that you’re back in town…” Steve continued.

“My teeth? What do-“

CRACK.

Steve cut him off with a sharp jab straight into his mouth and Jack dropped to the floor howling in pain as the blood poured from between his fingers which clamped over the lower part of his face.

“Got the message?” Steve asked, standing over him as Jack rolled around, screaming. He mumbled something, his head nodding furiously.

“Can I shoot him now?” Bucky asked.

“No.” Steve shook his head.

“Just once in the knee?”

“What?” Bucky asked, shrugging as Steve shot him a look “You said I couldn’t shoot him, didn’t say anything about stabbing him.”

***** The two friends sat at a bar, not far from Steve’s house, each with a beer in hand.

“So, run that by me again…” Bucky said.

“I told Katie I was meeting you for a drink.” Steve shrugged, nodding at the bottle “Technically now I’m not lying.”

“You’re a punk.” Bucky snorted.

“She’ll know full well where I’ve been.” Steve shrugged “She ain’t stupid…”

“Good luck to you pal.” Bucky said, taking a drink “She’s scary when she’s angry.”

Steve snorted “Nah, she won’t be mad...she knew full well I was planning on giving him a warning so…”