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depressedacadamia · 4 years ago

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The Anatomy of the Sun

Chapter II: One more Hour

A/N: Here’s chapter 2! I think I will be updating this around every 1-2 weeks because the chapters are really long. Anyway, here it the second chap, I hope you like it and please comment!

Word count: 17K

Warnings: Kissing (more like making out), a tad of angst, r!pe mention (the patient is a victm), some mental illness references if you squint.

Chapter I

Tagging: @showtunesandsolangelo

It’s all about lines.

Jason was feeling good, he could feel it- today was going to be great. He finally managed to correct the cute barista who kept on calling him Jack and he had found the perfect parking space. He was excited- maybe he’d even get into an OR today and take back his 007 status. That was until he was almost hit by a motorcycle. He watched as the rider swerved from side to side until finally, they pulled up, leaning their motorcycle to the side as they pulled off their helmet. He watched as Hazel shook her head back and forth, letting her dark curls bounce about as she stretched her neck. She ran past him, shooting him a respectful nod as she entered the hospital with her motorcycle helmet in her gloved hands.

The finish line at the end of residency.

Roommates. Nico was officially putting up a poster for roommates. He didn’t know why he didn’t just ask Hazel but at the same time, he did. Asking Hazel was a portal into too much family drama than he could handle. Having to attend family dinners with his family was bad enough, he didn’t want to start arguing with Hazel. Besides, he just wanted 2 complete strangers that he didn't have to interact with. He pressed his thumb into the pin, securing the poster.

Waiting in line for a chance at the operating table.

And then, there’s the most important line. The line separating you from the people you work with.

Juniper was waiting to get the lift, her bag swinging in her hands. She had made a bad impression on everyone so far- maybe it was because she was a model. She couldn’t lie, people had lacked respect when talking to her in particular and she had a feeling that it had something to do with her ex- career. Finally, the lift pinged and its doors opened, only for it to be full of people. She could tell they were all staring at her, not because she looked spectacularly bad that day (she had not slept properly in a month) but because they clearly all knew of her previous occupation. Juniper mumbled something about taking the stairs and decided to keep her head up high.

At least she wasn't under tons of crushing debt.

Hour 1

Nico slipped off his boots, trading them for some worn out trainers that were much more safe. The boots were old but he hadn’t worn them often due to their uncomfortable nature but for once, he had decided to wear them. Did he know why he chose them? No, he had just decided to slip them on.

“I would ask how last night went, but I think I know and I really don’t want to hear details,” Hazel said as she walked past Nico to gain access to her locker, referring to the bruise at the base of his collarbone.

“You’re just jealous that you haven’t scored an attending yet. I’ll bet you I’m in trauma today,” Nico bragged as he pushed his boots into the already overcrowded locker. Hazel rolled her eyes at her brother's typical behaviour.

“You know that he might think you guys are dating?” Hazel added, slipping on her white coat. Nico snorted as he pulled on his scrub shirt over his long sleeved t-shirt.

“I’ve made it very clear to him that we are not dating,” Nico scoffed, “ Now all I have to do is wait for the chase.”

“The chase?”

“The chase, you know? The whole trying to pursue this person you like. It gets to a point where I will have all the power and he will do anything I want,” Nico explained. Hazel raised an eyebrow at his boastful tactics but decided to make no further comment. She did however want to make a comment about the roommates poster he had put up.

“What's up with the roommates poster by the way? Since when did you want people living with you?” Hazel asked, slamming her locker shut, just as Nico closed his. Her hair was frantic, similar to her brothers who's olive skin was particularly glowly today- she did not want to know what from.

“The place seems empty and I need other people paying rent to afford it,” Nico complained. Now it was Hazel’s turn to snort. It wasn’t quite as big a knowledge that the Di Angelo’s were also extremely wealthy than it was knowledge to know of their surgical legacy- Well Bianca’s surgical legacy. Hazel, who was not in the mood to have a confrontation with her brother, simply nodded and left.

“Please! I’d be the perfect candidate! I’m super quiet and I won’t make a mess!” The intern opposite Nico begged as she told him all the things which supposedly made her a good roommate. Nico disagreed. There many reasons that he did not want her living with him but it came down to one which was she was much too young.

“No,” he concluded unsympathetically. He was about to get up and leave when he heard another plead from the intern.

“But why?”

“Where were you when the challenger exploded?” He turned around, slightly annoyed but nonetheless, still intimidating as usual.

“What?”

“The space shuttle, Challenger- where were you when it exploded?” he challenged.

“Uh, I think I was in kindergarten,” she looked up, trying to remember.

Nico huffed out, “Exactly.”

“Percy! We’re going to be late! We aren't going to be late, we’re already late!” Annabeth shouted as she stood by the door in her scrubs, her bag in hand. Percy, with his bed hair, rushed out of the kitchen in his scrubs, grabbing his jacket from the sofa before heading towards Annabeth and placing a soft kiss on her cheek in hopes of lightening up her mood.

“Come on Wise girl, we gotta go,” he grinned cheekily as he grabbed her by the hand opening the door of their house. Annabeth, unable to stay mad for so long, sighed before giving in and heading to the car.

“We are never having morning sex again if it means we’re going to be late,” Annabeth warned. Percy, feigning mock offence, held a hand to his heart and gasped.

“Your words wound me!”

Annabeth slapped his shoulder as she started the car towards the hospital. Percy stopped mucking about and placed another chaste kiss on her cheek to make sure all was well.

Juniper and Jason were both complaining. Nico didn’t think he could handle one of them complaining, let alone trying to deal with both of them- that was a challenge. They were all leaning by the stairs right next to the nurses station which were next to the elevators.

“But Nicoo, why would you put up a poster for roommates if you don’t want roommates? I swear, I’m a great chef and I clean obsessively!” Juniper argued, slumping her arm slightly on Jason.

“I do want roommates but we’re working together 100 hours a week, you want to live together too?” he shot back. He held 4 mocha latte’s in one of those 4 cup holders you get at a coffee shop. Without asking, Juniper snatched two, shocking Nico.

“That’s for not letting us be your roommates,” Juniper pouted as she handed one to Jason who nervously accepted. Jason leaned forward, trying to convince Nico,

“Please, I have to live with my sister and she blasts her music so much. I’m pretty sure my eardrums have popped,”Jason begged. Hazel, in this exact moment, joined them, giving Jason a sympathetic look before noticing the coffee in Nico’s hand. She casually took one from Nico, not caring about his reaction- she had taken his food before on several occasions (although the Happy meal incident did not go over well).

“Why aren’t you taking one?” Hazel nodded her head towards the last coffee in his grasp as she sipped hers- she frowned. Nico never ordered mocha latte. She had expected to be tasting coffee with way too much creamer or a hot chocolate but instead it was the distinctly strong taste of coffee.

“It’s not mine,” Nico hummed as his eyes searched towards the elevator, waiting for it to open. Hazel knew that Dr Solace was already here so what was Nico so invested for? It can’t have been Percy but perhaps the resident who would come with him

“Oh, you’re bringing bribes now?” Hazel pointed towards the coffee, thinking of Dr Chase.

“It’s not a bribe,” Nico defended, looking away sharply as he listened to Jason and Juniper continue to slander his name due to his lack of compassion with them living with him.

“Look, I just want to live with two total strangers that I won’t have to talk to or be nice to!” he confessed, throwing his free hand about in exaggeration. Unexpectedly, Dr Chase made her way down the main stairs (which surprised everyone as they expected her to be downstairs not upstairs). She quickly assigned them all tasks.

“Jason, you’re running the code team* today. Nico, take the trauma pager. Hazel, deliver the weekend labs to the patients and Juni- you’re on sutures,” She announced before heading back up the stairs, only to be stopped by Nico.

“Dr Chase, I was hoping I would be able to assist in the OR today, maybe even perform a minor procedure. I think I’m ready.” He thrusted the mocha latte into her direction, “ Mocha Latte?”

Dr Chase accepted the drink slowly before taking a small sip. It slightly burnt the tip of her tongue but she appreciated the gesture- however, unfortunately for Di Angelo, this did not mean that Dr Chase had accepted his request for surgery.

“Wait, if he gets to cut, then I wanna cut too!” Hazel insisted.

“So do I!” Juniper squished in between the interns. Jason, off to the side mumbled something about how it would be nice to get a second shot. However, this simply irked Dr Chase even more. She held her hand up signalling silence- at least the interns got this sign right.

“Stop talking,” she started, “Every intern wants to perform their first surgery. That’s not your job. Do you know what your job is? To make your resident happy. Do I look happy? No. Why? Because my interns are whiny. You know what will make me look happy? Having the code team staffed, Having the trauma pages answered, having the weekend labs delivered and having someone down in the Pit doing sutures. No one holds a scalpel until I’m so happy, I’m Mary freakin Poppins!”

The interns, as clueless as ever, all stood staring at her with hopeful eyes as if they were baby birds expecting Annabeth to just feed them. She climbed a few steps before turning around and calling out,

“Why are y'all standing there, move!”

Quickly, all the interns scattered to their assigned jobs.

Hour 2

Will was waiting for an elevator as he noticed a short mop of black messy hair pick up a few files off the floor and clumsily place them on top of the overwhelming pile they already had in their small arms. Nico going to an elevator. Trying to not turn around and offer his help, Will kept to himself, smiling slightly at the small grunts the doctor beside him made. Nico finally managed to take a few more steps into Dr Solace’s eyeline, so he was standing next to him instead of behind. He tapped his foot as he decided to further his plan along.

“New york has ferry boats. There are also ferry boats where I come from. I didn’t know there were ferry boats here,” Nico mused. Will, slightly amused by Nico’s lack of geographical knowledge, retorted.

“New York is surrounded by water.”

“Hence the Ferry boats,” Nico concluded before admitting, “Now I have to like it here ya know. I wasn’t planning on liking it. I’m from Italy- genetically engineered to dislike everywhere- except Paris.”

“I have a thing for Ferry Boats,” Will decided to add, smirking slightly as they entered the empty elevator. Nico being the stubborn person he was, attempted to press one of the buttons with his elbow and Will had to practically force the floor level out of Nico. It involved a lot of bickering back and forth until they finally agreed and the elevator doors closed.

Out of nowhere, Nico quickly said, “I’m not going out with you.”

Will, already wounded that his attemp- could he even say attempts? Nico had cut him off before he had even gotten a chance to say anything but he was determined to get to Nico.

“Did I ask you to go out with me?” He turned around, smiling slightly so he only showed some of his sparkling teeth, “Will you go out with me?”

“I ain’t dating you and we aren’t sleeping together again. You’re my boss,” Nico decided to cut to the chase.

“I’m your boss's boss.”

“You're my teacher, and my teacher’s teacher,” Nico pretended to resist only resulting in Will mocking him.

“I’m your sister, I'm your daughter.”

“You’re sexually harassing me.”

“I'm riding an elevator,” Will protested. Nico glanced at the back of Will’s head and thought

His hair looked particularly neat today- it would be such a shame if it got messed up.

“I’m drawing a line. The line is drawn. There’s a big line. Don’t cross the line,” Nico breathed heavily, as if he was holding his breath. Will, still hellbent on teasing the cute intern, turned around, with his arms crossed and his hair as perfect as ever.

“So this line, is it imaginary or do I have to get you a marker?” he smirked, his voice low and teasing- Nico could tell. His crystal blue eyes were going all hazy and his baby pink lips were slightly tilted to the side as if they were just mocking Nicp by being there. They looked soft, no they were soft- Nico knew that from experience. He could see a small mole on the side of his neck as well as a purplish bruise that he may or may have not left there.

Overcome by his lack of impulse control, Nico flung himself onto Will, dropping all the files in his arms and mashed his lips on his- a gesture that was returned just as harshly by Will. The files flew across the elevator floor as Nico’s hands came up to desperately weave themselves into Will’s hair. They fought for dominance in the kiss slamming each other into the elevator- it was hot, needy and totally inappropriate. But it seemed that neither of them cared. Their lips just couldn’t get enough of each other. It was like a fire was getting ignited, a fire that couldn’t be put out. It was in both of them, absolutely raging, uncontrollable. Will was tempted to tell Nico, mind the hair but just then Nico slightly bit at Will's bottom lip, pulling it backwards gently and sucked ever so slightly, before returning to the kiss that had Will plastered against the elevator wall.

So you want to play dirty Di Angelo?

Nico was not going to give Will the chance though. Absolutely consumed by the kiss, he slightly pulled at Will’s hair evicting a small, but low, growl out of Will’s throat. Nico wasn’t sure if he heard that correctly but just as he was about to test it again, he heard the ping of the elevator. The fire within was smaller but it hadn’t died. Nico quickly pulled away and started scrambling towards the floor, trying to grab at the files as the elevator door slowly pulled itself open. Will, still a tad shocked, also helped, trying to organise the files into the right cases before handing them over to Nico. They stepped out of the elevator in sync, just like their pagers. Since Nico was also in trauma, he figured that whatever Dr Solace was getting paged for, he was also meant to be helping.

“I’ll join after I finish with these files,” Nico called out, as Dr Solace nodded and hurried off. Nico smiled to himself as he noticed that Dr Solace’s hair was sticking up in several different directions.

As Nico made his way into the Pit, he noticed a large crowd of doctors all looking slightly concerned- he hoped it was not for his patient- the more gruesome the injury, the more surgery required. However, the second he was told that it was a rape victim, he understood the facial expresions- they were disgusted at the crime, not the injuries attained.

“Dr Solace has gone to prep for surgery along with Dr Jackson,” a nurse informed him as he entered the room.

“Okay, we’ve got a 25 year old female, found down at the park, status post- trauma. She came in with a GCS* of 6. BP* is 80 over 60. Exam is significant for blunt head trauma, as well as unequal breath sounds, her right pupil is dilated and she’s ready for X-ray,” the nurse recited as Nico entered the room. He scanned his eyes across the room before his eyes landed on something familiar.

Were those his boots?

No, they were obviously not Nico’s boots, but they were the same boots. He wanted to shudder, knowing a potential rape victim was wearing the same shoes as him the day she got attacked. It was weird right? It felt weird, it was like there was some weird unknown connection and that in a way, these 2 people were very much connected- as if they were the same people who were living parallel versions of each other's lives. During Nico’s quick zone- out session, a nurse continued to try to call his attention- something he only noticed when they snapped Dr Di Angelo!

He quickly nodded as he grabbed his flashlight from his pocket and pulled her eyelids open, looking for a reaction from her pupils.

“Call ahead to clear a CT, let them know I’m coming,” Nico commanded, “Load up the portable monitor and call respiratory for a ventilator*. I will get X-rays while I’m down there.”

As he helped wheel the patient out of the trauma room, he glanced back at the boots identical to his. There was a blood splatter at the front of it, the laces where messily undone and the heel was the same height. He wasn't acting paranoid right? He couldn’t help but think that this was a weird coincidence.

Nico was slightly surprised to see Dr Zhang scrubbed in on the surgery with them rather than Dr Mclean- after all he was the head of Cardio and she was the head of General surgery- but even then, why any other attendings other than Percy and Dr Solace were required, Nico truly did not know.

“What is she? 5’2, 180 pounds? And she took a beating like this,” Will mumbled.

“They should castrate the guy,” Percy announced from the other side of the table, trying to stop the swelling of her brain

“Look how shredded her hands are, she tried to fight back,” Will pointed out.

“Tried to? The rape test came back negative, she kicked his ass!” Percy told them. Nico was invested to see how Dr Solace was repairing her hands while the 2 attendings talked about the bravery of the patient.

“So we have a warrior among us, huh?” Dr Zhang joined in. Nico couldn’t help but feel a tinge of annoyance. She had a name. She was a person. He didn’t know why he felt so strongly about a patient all of a sudden but he had a faint feeling that it had something to do with those boots.

“Allison… that's her name…. Allison,” Nico cut in the conversation. All the attendings stopped to look at him. Percy, being as supportive as ever, smiled and nodded before returning to fixing her skull. Will looked at Nico, his eyes calm, like the ocean at rest. To an extent, it reminded Nico of Percy’s eyes- something that could always calm Nico down. He watched as Will’s lips slowly parted as he murmured Allison's name under his breath. Dr Zhang took a pair of clamps from the nurse before slowly pulling his arm back.

“I think I’ve found the cause of our rupture….more suction.” As he drew his arm back, the surgical interns and residents crowded by his arm to have a look at the cause of the rupture. However, once the foreign object was removed, the surgeons became more and more confused- what exactly was this, a tumor? A mass?

“What is this?” Dr Zhang turned towards the doctors. They all scooted closer to get a closer look. Nico took a glance for a couple of seconds before opening his eyes wide in horror as he realised what exactly he was looking at. He was in a state of horror and curiosity.

“Oh my god… she bit it off,” Nico started hesitantly. Dr Zhang, Dr Solace and Dr Jackson all looked to him, stopping their individual procedures, waiting for Nico to continue speaking.

“Well, come on- spit it out!” Percy told Nico. Utterly conflicted, Nico decided to just spit it out- just as Percy had told him to.

“That's a..that's a…. um that’s a penis.”

Almost on instinct, Dr Zhang called for a kidney bowl and practically flung the castrated appendage away from himself. Will couldn’t tell if he should laugh or be alarmed at how Nico was the only person able to identify the penis.

Hour 5

The water ran over the surgeons hands as they scrubbed between all the crevices in their hands with soap. In between fingers, around thumbs and nail brushes scrubbed at fingertips. Dr Zhang and Dr Solace both stood side by side as they washed their hands practically in sync- just like their miraculous surgical skills.

“I can’t believe she made it through that surgery,” Will began as he switched off the tap by nudging it slightly with his elbow.

“She has a long road to recovery. Fighting off infection, physiotherapy and not to mention therapy itself,” Frank, in his honest nature, responded. He copied Will, turning off the running water with his elbow as he reached for some paper towels to dry off his hands.

“And she needs to wake up in the next 72 hours if she wants a chance at fighting. She’s a fighter, I believe she can make it.”

“Speaking of making it to places, we should get a drink later and you can tell me the long story of what makes a hot shot doctor leave a big apple for New York,” Frank offered as he threw his paper towel into the bin.

Will shrugged slightly, “It’s a short story really- your Chief of surgery made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”

“Chiron asked you to come?” Frank asked, genuinely shocked.

“Yeah, why?” Will turned around looking at Dr Zhang. He watched as Frank’s expressions twisted before he shook his head, gave a small smile and mumbled never mind.

“Do you know what the Code Team does? They save lives- yeah, I know. I shock a heart and another patient gets to live to see another day, pretty cool huh?” Jason slightly bragged, trying to make conversation with Hazel - who he knew was overly competitive. He was leaning over the shoulder of Hazel who leaned over the desk at the nurses station, organizing the patient files and lab results.

“Bambi, don’t say another word until after the hunter shoots your mother,” Hazel’s voice drawled with boredom. Jason practically speechless only managed out a meek,

“I don’t like you.”

Hazel sharply turned around, “You know, I have a BA* from Smith, a PHD* from Berkeley and an MD* from Stanford and I'm delivering lab results. It's gonna take me ages to get through these-”

“-Well then you better get a move on with it,” Dr Chase walked past, surprising the doctor. Hazel slightly intimidated, tried to protest that she wasn’t complaining but it seemed that Dr Chase didn’t really care. A doctor behind her with thick curly hair and a smug expression stood, trying to keep his expression neutral.

“This is Dr Underwood. Lucky Valdez got to get rid of him so now he’s got Mccaffrey and I’ve got Underwood on my service. Levesque, have him shadow you and show him how we run things on my service,” Dr chase commanded before walking off, slightly sashaying.

“Hey, I’m Grover Underwood, nice to meet you.” He held his hand out to Hazel who looked at it and recoiled slightly before looking at it in disgust. Jason was still trying to figure out if he liked this guy, he seemed quite polite so far but he truly wondered what Underwood did to get kicked off Valdez’s service- he had heard that Valdez was a pretty chill resident, getting kicked off his service would seem pretty hard.

“You’re the pig who called Nico a nurse.. Yeah, I hate you on principal,” Hazel admitted looking him up and down.

He did what? Jason thought as he eavesdropped on the conversation beside him.

“And you’re the pushy, overbearing kiss ass… I hate you too,” Grover grunted.

Okay, I defo don’t like this guy, Jason decided.

“Should be fun then,” Hazel sarcastically smiled as they both set off just as Jason's pager beeped signalling another Code Blue.

Jason ran around the corner, nurses following him as he found the patient's room. Immediately, he introduced himself. He had become more and more familiar with this procedure and while it had taught him that Hades was enjoying his job a bit too much, he was also hopeful for the patient in every room he had to run to.

“I’m Dr Grace and I’ll be running this code. What do we have?”

“57 year old male with an asystole pulse*,” A nurse from beside the bed answered. Jason ordered the defibrillators to be used as he had another person put on compressions, another on the ambu bag and someone administering drugs.

“Charging to 200, clear!”

The Pit was quite full as Dr June walked in, searching for her next patient. She picked up a chart from the nurses station that was positioned next to the emergency entrance and flipped the page to see the name. Mrs Lu, Bed 3

“Hi Mrs Lu, I'm Doctor June. I'm gonna sew up your wound, you’re going to need around 6 stitches.” Juniper turned around to start setting up the equipment from the tray only to hear a frantic cry of words coming from behind her. She only recognised the chinese word for hurt but even then, she could not decipher what Mrs Lu was saying. She sighed, wondering how long it would be until she could get a hold of a translator. She was tempted to ask Dr Zhang but she knew it was selfish and plain old rude of her to assume that Dr Zhang would be able to help her. She decided to wait for a translator.

Nico and the penis in a box. Yes, you read that correctly. Nico was holding the penis in a box or how he would like to put it, the forgein object in a cooler. They were making their way towards the office of the Chief Of Surgery. He slightly remembered the walk up to the room, the carpet and walls seeming familiar, like a second home. As he walked into the office, he was surprised to find Secretary Hedge there instead of Chief Chiron. He rapped his knuckles on the door gently, grasping the attention of the man sitting in the chair.

“Hey, I was told to leave this with the Chief.” He raised his arm with the cooler in his hand.

“Is that it?” A seriously over eager Secretary Hedge asked. Nico slowly nodded, trying to not fuel the secretaires curiosity. In a complete turn of events, Hedge asked,

“Can I see it?” Hedge watched as Nico struggled to keep his facial muscles under control- laugh or cringe, Nico did not know. Just as Hedge muttered a small, forget I asked, Chiron walked in with his white jacket and a large smile on recognising Nico.

“Nico! It’s good to see you!”

At this, Nico smiled. He had known Chiron for very long but the mass majority of the time that he had seen him, the attention was entirely focused on the potential for his sister- not much for him. He felt a bit guilty that he was enjoying the shine of her mentor while she was struggling but he finally felt noticed.

“How’s Bianca? I heard she was leaving the Mayo Clinic. Is she going back to the UN?” Chrion asked almost immediately. Nico could feel all the happiness and life in him slowly drain.So nothing had actually changed. He was still in his sister's shadow despite the fact that she wasn’t even here. Gods, she wasn’t even in this time period! Bianca was in a nursing home thinking she was reliving her surgery days and here was Nico somehow still under her shadow. If Bianca’s mentor wasn’t willing to see Nico’s potential as a surgeon- how many other Doctors thought that he was only here due to his Di Angelo status? Percy? Dr Chase? Did Doctor Solace think that?

Why does it concern me the most if Dr Solace doesn’t see past my status?

Nico decided that it must be because Dr solace was the head of his favourite department- Trauma.

“Uh, no. She’s taking time off-”

“-To write another book I suppose?” Chiron cut in, smiling as he picked up some papers off his desk and moved them underneath a folder. Nico simply attempted a smile in return, a gesture that did not alarm Chiron- he had known Nico Pre-Bianca and her alzehmiers. That Nico had been a very smiley person. Nico, who could have sworn his facial muscles were deteriorating as he smiled, decided to move the conversation to the matter at hand- the penis in a bo-

- The foreign object in a cooler .

“Well, I’ve got it,” Nico said half heartedly, lifting the cooler in his hand up slightly. Chiron turned to his secretary, conversing a few words with him, as if Nico had never entered the room.

“Uh, Hedge, how long did the cops say they’d be?”

“You know how slow they always are so he better take it with him-”

“-Take it with me? You want me to take a penis around the hospital with me?” Nico cut off Hedge, with growing anxiety- he did not want to have to babysit a penis. Gosh, being on Solace’s service was meant to result in fun, not this!

“It's the chain of custody rules. All medical matter in a rape must stay with the person who collected it until its placed into police custody,” Chiron ,who was secretlty relived to not have to keep the penis, recited.

“So I have custody over a penis,” Nico deadpanned. Sheepishly, the secretary nodded trying to not laugh at the poor kids' situation.

“Until the cops come from it, of course,” Chiron reminded Nico, as if knowing that the police would take their sweet time was any more re- assuring.

“And what am I meant to do with a penis?” Nico frantically asked, his cool persona falling and being slowly replaced by one of panic and desperation. Chiron and Hedge simply gave obscure looks at Nico’s question before looking back down at the papers in their hands.

Hour 10

Hazel sighed. She had been sighing all day. Every patient either had a benign tumour* or a condition of no interest to her. When was someone going to be seriously ill? They were surgeons for god's sake, not lab running rats! Both Hazel and Grover made their way to the next patients room, seriously disappointed. On entering the room, they both saw the family crowded round the patients bed, holding their hands together like there was a prayer commencing.

“You have a disorder called multinucleate cell angiohistiocytoma. It's not a cancer or a sarcoma, it's very rare but minor. You will be discharged today,” Hazel, slightly bored, attempted a smile. The family, still taking in the good news, were catatonic for around 5 seconds before all hell broke loose. There was crying, cheering, claps and laughs. Grover and Hazel both looked at each other with the same expression- Get me out of here .

“Wait wait, does this mean I don’t need surgery?” The patient ,still propped up by his elbows in his bed, inquired. Hazel simply nodded before getting pulled into a bear hug, against her will may I add, and practically almost suffocated to death. Her eyes widened as she stared into Grovers soul trying to get him to help her. Unfortunately for Hazel, Underwood was much more invested in watching her uncomfortable encounters.

Jason was sitting in a chair, letting it spin it around and round. The nurses station was quite empty with only the occasional nurse in and out. He stopped his spinning to bury his head in a very interesting chart that consisted of a case to do with a-

- Clink!

Nico set down the cooler on the desk with a loud sound that jolted Jasons’s head out of his head before letting his eyes land on the cooler. Jason, curious and wanting to engage in conversation with Nico began questioning the contents of the cooler. Nico who really did not want to tell Jason attempted to warn him

“Ooh, what’s in the cooler?”

“Trust me, you don’t want to know.”

“No.” Jason got up from his seat and came to stand next to Nico, “ No, I do wanna know.”

Nico, who really wasn’t about to greatly resist, decided to tell Jason. Afterall, if it ruined Jason’s day as well, it would mean he wouldn't be the only miserable person moping about in the hospital.

“It’s a severed penis.” Nico shrugged quite nonchalantly as he gained amusement from the horrified expression slowly growing on Jason’s face. He watched as Jason's expressions contorted between fascination and disgust, trying to figure out which emotion to settle on. He wanted to prove Nico wrong but at the same time didn’t want Nico to not like him.

“I don’t think I wanted to know that.” Jason looked back down at his book, with a meek expression and his head slightly bowed as if he was praying. As Jason entered a world of truly unnecessary overthinking, Grover and Hazel came in arguing, what about, Jason did not know and in all honesty, after what Nico had told him- he did not want to know. Deciding he wanted to shift his discomfort to someone else, he looked to Hazel.

“Do you know Di Angelo is babysitting a penis in a jar?” he pointed towards the cooler sitting on the table top. Hazel, with piqued curiosity, quickly made her way over towards the cooler and opened the lid, taking a quick peek at the bitten off contents before shutting it.

“It’s a cooler, not a jar,” Nico whined slightly, not really directing his comment towards anyone.

“Talk about taking a bite out of crime,” Hazel commented as she picked something out of Nico’s hair. Nico didn’t really know whether to thank her or to resist the gesture. It felt weird- right? It was weird that Hazel was filling Bianca’s void. It was weird that Nico first thought about Hazel when people talked about his sister. It was weird that Nico was completely okay with this. He felt it was simply not right but at the same time, he didn’t want it to stop. Was he being unfaithful to Bianca? Was he betraying her? Or would she want him to move on from her, grow closer with his family who were actually lucid.

Jason watched Nico’s facial expressions with intensity- such intensity that had Nico not been stuck in a hole of problems, he a hundred percent would have noticed and even been creeped out by Jason’s intense stare. Despite only knowing Nico for around a month, he cared deeply about him. He wanted to know what was so concerning to him so much that he froze up and his eyes went all glazed like he was on autopilot. Nico was a closed off person who wore all black and covered up his secrets with wicked smiles and sarcastic quips but Jason could see the vulnerable child within Nico. He felt responsible for him and everything that happened to him.

“Hey, are you okay?” Jason asked tenderly, making Nico lift his head- effectively stopping him from daydreaming. For a second, when Nico lifted his head, Jason saw a glitter in Nico’s eyes that reminded him of innocence. Youth, life and calamity- instead of the empty, cold and lifeless onyx eyes that could give even Lucifer nightmares.

“The rape victim I had today, Allison, she had the same shoes as me. And ever since… It just doesn’t sit well with me, ya know? I never wear those boots normally because they’re so uncomfortable And it’s… stupid and I’m tired so nevermind, just leave it.” Nico batted his hand, dismissing the subject. Jason raised his eyebrows at the abrash statement and gesture before attempting Nico’s wicked smile.

“Do you know what you need?” Jason wiggled his eyebrows, letting the secret into the open like a breath of air. Immediately, Nico caught onto what Jason was talking about. He was offended and shocked that Jason had been doing it without him- This was their thing and Jason was doing it behind his back without him? The betrayal was heartbreaking. What next? Solace sleeping with someone else?

“No! It’s sick and twisted and we said last time was the last time,” Nico firmly said. He watched as Jason’s face contorted between guilt and excitement.

“You’ve been doing it without me?” Nico released. Jason shuffled his feet together nefor mumbling a ‘maybe’.

“Do you know what would happen if anyone knew?” Nico huffed out but Jason had made up his mind.

“I’m doing it- you can come with me or you can sit here and be miserable,” Jason confirmed as he dragged Nico by the white collar, which was considerably easy when you realised that Nico was an entire head shorter that Jason- and some would argue even more.

Nico and Jason had their faces pressed up onto the glass staring at the cute babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit or as the doctors would simply call it- the NICU. Nico couldn't help the overwhelming smile that made his way onto his face as he stared at the cute babies as they attempted to talk, throwing their limbs about cluelessly. He listened to Jason who urged them with non-existent words and funky sounds that was considered the universal baby language. Nico looked at Jason- his platinum blonde hair and faintly light blue eyes reminded him to an extent of Will but at the same time- there was a clear difference. Will had faint freckles that decorated his face like a cake being decorated by icing sugar- whereas Jason had a pale complexion. Will’s hair was more of a golden blond and reminded of Nico of sunrise on a summer morning- hot, warm and some may even say beautiful and then there was his eyes-

- Why was he reciting this like he memorised it in the shower for fun?

Nico decided to put Wil- no, Solace out of his mind. He listened to the absolutely adorable sounds that Jason was making- he reminded him of Bianca when she used to babysit Estelle- Percy’s younger sister. Estelle was absolutely adorable and Nico considered her to be his younger sister as well, considering the amount of time she spent with the Di Angelo’s- especially during Percy’s med school and residency years when he was meant to be babysitting Estelle and had instead handed her to Nico and Bianca.

“You are such a softie,” Nico said, giggling slightly at Jason who was still cooing at the babies. For a couple of moments afterwards, Jason froze. Was Nico complimenting him? Or was it an insult? What on earth did the word ‘softie’ mean here? Did Nico like sofites? Or was ‘Softie’ Nico’s equivalent of ‘ absolute loser’? However, before Jason was able to come to any sort of conclusion, his pager beeped, signalling another Code Blue that he had to respond to.

“Ah shit, I’ve got a code to run, I’ll catch you later.” Jason waved before breaking into a jog and leaving. After Nico said his goodbyes to Jason he continued watching the babies for some more time. He was fascinated- how did humanity get from there to here. The babies were pure and new and hadn’t been exposed to the harsh realities of the world- how will they turn to what Nico has become? How did they get from Point A to point B? As Nico pondered over these philosophical thoughts, he carried watching the babies but something caught his eye. He could have sworn that baby he just saw went blue momentarily. It was crying and thrashing about but maybe Nico was only seeing things. He was tired, sleep deprived and if he had to be honest- this wouldn't have been the first time Nico saw things that weren’t actually there.

He watched it again, more intensely. With an analytical fine tooth comb. There- the baby turned blue again! So he wasn’t hallucinating! He rushed into the room, quickly taking out the chart of the baby and scanning his eyes over the info. He was aware that if he was caught, the consequences would not be great. That was probably the understatement of the year. After finishing with the chart, he set it down and took his stethoscope and started listening to the heart of the baby- something there wasn’t right, Nico could feel it. Nico did not often have such strong feelings but he had learnt that when they occurred, they were never wrong.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing here?” a doctor with pink scrubs walked in.

“There were no tests ordered and the baby has a heart murmur-” Nico began, taking the stethoscope out of his ears.

“-I know and you’re surgery, you are not authorised to be here. Do you know what could happen if you were caught?” The intern pressed on but Nico refused to step down here.

“Are you going to do any tests to confirm?” Nico asked, his tone clearly one of concern.

“It’s a benign systolic ejection murmur*. It will go away with age.”

“So you aren’t doing any tests.” Nico realised that he couldn’t win this in any way- well for now. He started to make his way towards the door before the intern decided to slam another attempt at a guilt tripping insult at him but in reality just made Nico doubt their abilities. He seriously felt bad for the Valdez resident if these were the meatheads he had to teach.

Hour 15

Frank felt betrayed. He had to say, he was never truly familiar with such a feeling. He had experienced the odd chance of it but in reality Frank was used to succeeding- in fact he had dedicated all his life to it. Many people saw him as soft, simple and easy to beat opponent but in reality that was one of his greatest strengths- people underestimated him until they met him. To an extent this had made Frank slightly arrogant- but he wouldn’t say it wasn’t necessary. The truth is, every surgeon has to be arrogant to believe that they can cut open another human and somehow fix them as if they were a god like deity but right now, Frank wasn’t thinking that he was arrogant, no. He was thinking that Chiron was being arrogant- believing that he was all so big and mighty and could just throw Frank about with his lies and schemes.

“Oh Chiron! So you asked Solace to come here?” Frank confronted, his hands resting on his hips.

“Yeah, Solace was an old student of mine...” Chiron trailed off, unaware of the purpose of the conversation.

“Oh so he left a private practise in Austin, Texas just because you asked?”

“Yes.”

“No other reason? Just a favour for an old professor,” Frank said with a hint of sarcasm lingering behind the words.

“It will be years before I retire,” Chiron began to reassure, understanding the nature of the conversation of the root of Frank's passive aggressive attitude.

“ Chief of surgery is mine, you told me so,” Frank reminded him.

“It was yours, now I'm not so sure.”

“I am the best surgeon here! I have the lowest mortality rate, you can’t just bring someone-”

“-Ask me why. Ask me why I'm not so sure of you," Chiron repeated, trying to get Frank to understand his motives. Chiron liked Frank, they had done a lot for each other. In fact, it had been Chrion who had helped Frank get over his low self- esteem, something that had bothered Frank for almost his entire life.

Frank, feeling defeated, almost stormed off. He knew he shouldn’t feel guilty but he couldn’t help letting a bit of it creep in as he remembered how somehow, he led Chiron, his mentor, to believe that his low self-esteem no longer existed. Maybe it was Chiron’s great desire to no longer see Frank suffer that made him see past it but Frank knew better. He wasn’t mad because the job may not be his, no- he had only wanted the job due to the benefits that came with it. Frank was mad because Chirom bringing in another ex-mentee of his simply brought his low self-esteem back all over again.

It was like med- school except this time, there were actual lives at stake. Did Chiron truly feel that he wasn’t good enough- that Solace would be a better Chief of Surgery better than Frank? He didn’t want to admit it, but Frank knew that he had become somewhat arrogant in an attempt to lie to himself and hide the lack of self esteem. The arrogance had only started when he was in residency but over the years, as he saved more lives, it accumulated. Yet, somehow, Frank still did not think it was good enough. Clearly Solace was. Why else would Chiron bring another threat to Frank’s anxiety if Chiron didn’t believe Frank's anxiety had gone? Surely Chiron wouldn’t do this knowing how badly it would hurt Frank.

Would he?

Hazel was bored. She knew it, Grover knew it and so did every nurse in a 1 metre radius of the stretcher that she sat in with the charts of her patients in a stack in front of her. This was New York Presbytarian! They were meant to have the best surgical residency in the country and here she was delivering lab results to over joyous patients- none of which had any sort of interesting condition. You’d think that someone in a hospital would be close to dying but no, it seemed that all of her patients were in ‘tip top’ condition.

“People need to get sick because I refuse to spend my residency doing this,” Hazel complained as she flipped the pages of the chart.

“Exactly. How can we be in the OR if people are just gonna live?” Grover agreed. They continued complaining, depressed about their current state. Hazel wanted to get this done and over with. The quicker she finished the job, the quicker she could get into a surgery. She took the 20 case files and separated them into 2 piles, each with 10 files.

“Here.” She handed one pile to Grover as she got up, “ You take 10, I take 10. We go in, we go out- no hugging, no laughing, no crying. Don’t be slow,” she instructed.

“Slow? If anything you’re the slow one,” Grover retorted as they made their way to the hallway.

“You wanna bet?” Hazel challenged, stopping a second to look at Grover. He mumbled a ‘You’re on’ before they both ran off, trying to finish first.

“You literally aren't letting anyone live with you!” The psychology resident complained. Nico turned on them.

“Favorite 80’s band?”

“That has nothing to do with this!”

“I’m still waiting.” he tapped his foot impatiently.

“I don’t know, the Bangles?” They shrugged cluelessly while Nico scoffed.

“Yeah, absolutely not.” Nico began walking away- he had to babysit a penis after all.

“Is there even a right answer?”

“AC/DC, The rolling stones, Guns N’ Roses,” Nico called out, not looking back, as he walked away.

“You will be free to leav- OOF!” Grover was cut off by an enormous bear hug from almost the entire family. He wanted to push them all away from him- after all, 3 families had hugged him so far and he had only visited 4 of the 10 patients he had. If he continued at this rate, Hazel was for sure to win.

“You have a cyst on your lymph node- but tests have confirmed that it was not cancerous which means you probably have some sort of infection- we will put you on broad range antibiotics before discharge tomorrow,” Hazel recited as she dodged a hug aiming for her resulting in 2 family members in an embrace. She quickly slipped out of the room without notice and smiling to herself- 5 down, 5 to go.

“Clear!” Jason called again, it had been 26 minutes into a code without any reaction to CPR, drugs or shocking. Jason knew what was coming next. He could feel it, like it was hanging over his shoulder waiting for his patients to walk into their arms. Death hung at the shoulder of every doctor as their guardian angel- something he remembered Nico saying. When he had said it, he didn't remember. He put his arm out, signalling the nurse to stop CPR. He took a shaky breath.

“Time of death, 15:45.”

Hour 20

Nico watched as the heart monitor stayed stable, reaching the apex before dropping and repeating. Allison. Attempted rape. Boots. Those were the words just floating around his head. Here she was on a vent, alone, like a vegetable and only hours ago she had been alive- smiling, talking, fighting.

“I've called every hospital in the country. Sooner or later the guy who did this is gonna seek medical attention and when he does, that penis you’re carrying around is gonna nail him,” a voice coming from behind Nico said. He turned his head slightly to see the golden curls that he had messed up this morning. Nico’s eyes were cast back onto the lonely woman. How could anyone so vulnerable be so alone?

“Where's her family?” The words slipped out of Nico’s mouth before he could stop them. Will shook his head slightly, his hair bouncing slightly from the impact.

“Doesn't have one.”

“No siblings?” Nico asked, thinking of Hazel and Bianca.

“Nope, both parents are dead. She moved to New York 3 weeks ago. Welcome to the city,” Will took a bite out of an apple miserably. Nico too was miserable- they both had good reason to do so. What kind of world did they live in where the system was so disadvantaged to anyone who wasn’t white, male, heterosexual and neurotypical? What kind of system forced minorities to work in society's most unwanted but vital jobs? What kind of system forced women to be terrified of walking home alone- day or night?

“Nico? Are you okay?” Will’s soft and concerned voice broke into Nicos thoughts. The question left him speechless- was he okay? The cynical, sarcastic and natural answer was No- obviously no. But for some reason, Nico did not want to say no, but rather leave his own pain to himself- not burden anyone else with it.

“Yeah.. I just gotta do something.” With that, Nico ran off looking for Dr Zhang.

Nico found Dr Zhang climbing the stairs. The hospital had a comfortable endless buzz, something that all the staff were used to- Frank was hoping to get a calm and perhaps even silent moment to himself. Instead, he got an intern.

“Dr Zhang, there’s this patient. It’s a baby in peds and they had a tetralogy spell with a heart murmur,” Nico started, his legs struggling to keep up.

“Did Ped’s ask for a consult?”

Nico stayed silent, partially because he didn’t want to feel guilty for lying and partially because he did not have a lie on him- not one that he could pull off at least.

“Di Angelo, you’re a bright kid but we can’t just walk in there without a Peds consult. It’s not like I’m the Chief of Surgery,” Frank said sympathetically as he walked off.

“Hehehee, you’reee hott,” the drunk slurred as they leaned slightly forward in a terrible attempt to flirt with Juniper. Juniper still stood in the Pit, it’s fluorescent lights giving her a headache- along with the noise levels and annoying patients. Slightly disgusted by the stench of alcohol on their breath, she pushed them back gently, making sure they didn’t flop onto the stretcher.

“You’re drunk,” she deadpanned as she prepared the sutures, “And you also need to hold still.”

Juniper was sick of the Pit, she was sick of the flourecsant lights that made her skin look like puke and most of all, she was sick of her patients; drunk and disorderly were the mass majority and since the morning, not one major casualty had come through those doors other than the rape case Nico had been assinged to.

“I know you! You’re that lady from the magazine with the red bikini..” they trailed off, their voice in a musing and questioning tone. Juniper had to physically stop herself from scoffing- It was a pink bikini. She didn’t hate her fans but sometimes people made it weird, especially drunk ones who enjoyed invading her personal space a tad too much.

“It was a pink bikini.”

The seats by the hospital doors were the perfect place (other than the vending machines) to hide from your residents- so naturally, Nico and Hazel were there, camping away during lunch. The penis in a box sat in the chair next to him as he nibbled at the rainbow sour gummy strips.

“Watcha doing?” Hazel asked as she made her way towards him.

“I’m sitting with my penis.”

“Which one?”

In response to this, Nico scrunched up his face in a sarcastic, sardonic smile that read No <3.

“I kissed McDreamy...in an elevator. I was having a bad day,” Nico started with his voice relatively quiet.

“So what do you do on your bad days, make out with McDreamy?”

“Yeah that and carrying around a severed penis just makes everything so shiny and happy,” He retorted in response to his sister.

“Jason said Allison was wearing your boots.”

“…. It's weird right? “

“It’s weird that you care so much. They’re boots and popular ones too- anyone could have them,” Hazel argued. Nico opened his mouth to respond but in that moment a bunch of frantic shouting cut them off. Behind them, right outside the hospital a man had pulled up. His skin was sickly pale, there was blood all over his legs and groin and he was struggling to move.

Nico looked at his facial features and did not expect for the man to look… well normal. For some reason, he had envisioned the man to look evil- to resemble hate itself but he just looked normal. That's when it hit Nico- rapists don’t look like rapists. They look like average people because that's what their best advantage is- the trusting nature of humanity. They don’t look evil because they need to fit in, to gain the trust of others and protect their reputation. They look normal because anybody could be a rapist- they don’t wear posters pointing it out and it’s not written on their foreheads. That's what they do best- hide.

Nico and the transport staff rushed the man in the gurney towards the operating room, their legs moving as fast as possible. The police were going to arrive soon but for now, he would have to be handcuffed to his bed. The rapist was found, Allison was alive, now what? There was no way they’d be able to re attach the penis and honestly, Nico did not want to- in his eyes, the rapist got exactly what he deserved

“Call reception and tell them we need security up here ASAP,” Nico ordered, finally taking charge. As the gurney was charged into the surgical department, Dr Chase caught on.

“What dya have Di Angelo?”

“Take a look for yourself.” He nodded towards the middle of the man's body, more specifically his groin. Annabeth quickly lifted up the drapes before letting them drop- here eyes widened and she looked at Nico with disbelief painted across her face.

“Page the Chief and Solace and tell them we’ve got the rapist,” she commanded as she took Nico’s position on the gurney and continued wheeling him to an OR.

The heart monitor was beeping steadily. The heart was moving- beating. Nico and Hazel, stood side by side watching Dr Chase performing surgery- unfortunately, they weren't assisting however they were still getting tested on their medical knowledge. The OR had it’s regular flicker of lights, the smell of antiseptics and the hues of blue across the room.

“I saw Allison, you can't believe the beating that she took and then you see this!” Nico whisper-shouted towards Hazel.

“It's like that old saying- you should see the other guy.” Hazel nodded.

“Why aren't we attempting to re-attach the severed penis?” Annabeth's stern but questioning voice cut through their conversation.

“Teeth tear not slice- you can only reattach when there's a clean cut. If she had sliced it off with a knife, perhaps then we could re-attach,” Hazel quickly recited.

“And the digestive juices didn't leave a lot of the flesh to work with,” Nico added on.

“So what are we doing?” Dr Chase asked, a hint of boredom lingering in her voice.

“Sewing him up minus a large part of the family jewels,” Nico snorted slightly.

“What will his outlook be?” Dr Chase asked while holding her hand out for the nurse to take the instrument out of her hand.

“He will be urinating out of a bag for a very very very long time,” Hazel said, slightly pleased.

“Not to mention he will never be able to have sex again,” Nico said, not in least bit sympathetic.

“Oh too bad, what a shame,” Hazel drawled.

“Let's all take a moment to grieve,” Annabeth said sarcastically before immediately asking for a clamp.

Hour 25

“Chief!” Frank jogged, trying to catch up with Chiron while waving frantically. He had taken time off and realised if he wanted this, he had to think about everyone- not just himself. He needed to learn his faults and how to get over them.

“Frank.” Chiron nodded, “Do you need something?”

“Why can’t I be chief? You helped me before, you believed in me, what changed?”

“You really want to know?” Chiron sighed looking at Frank who nodded. “You’re too comfortable in your job. You never go the extra step. Your arrogance isn’t impressive- if you want to be chief Frank, you have to earn it.”

The words knocked Frank back- My arrogance isn’t impressive? If I recall correctly, you told me to be more arrogant and now it’s a problem? You tell someone to do something and then you tell them to do the exact opposite. What in the name of Pluto is his problem?

The interns were all pretty different but they could agree that they hated their job. They were sitting on the stretchers by the vending machine (which at this point had become their hangout away from the attendings) and were complaining- which apparently makes up 80% of all human conversations.

“My head hurtss,” Grover groaned, throwing backwards against the wall.

“Maybe you have a brain tumor,” Hazel said after sipping some coffee.

“No, you want me to have a tumor.”

“I'd personally rip your face off if it meant I got to scrub in,” Hazel confessed, not feeling guilty in the slightest. Juniper made her way from the vending machine, holding a snickers bar like her life depended on it.

“I've been suturing all day, my hands are numb and I'm regretting not taking foregin languages in high school,” she sighed as she plopped her bottom onto the stretcher, leaving space for Nico and Jason.

“At least you’re helping people,” Jason called as he put his hand up the vending machine in an attempt to retrieve his chips which had decided to not obey the laws of physics and get stuck. Nico who stood behind him shuffled Jason out the way, gave the vending machine a violent kick before the packet of chips fell out, directly into Jason's hands- that was until Nico literally stole them from him.

“At least you get to practise freakin medicine!” Grover called out, sick of delivering lab results to patients.

“Mrs Lu, the chinese lady, I had to send her away. I mean I stiched her up but she stayed camping in the Pit- she left in the end though,” Juni said in a defeated tone.

“The police can't send some crime person down so I have to spend the night with a penis,” Nico complained before looking over to Grover, “ Grover don’t make the joke.”

Grover tutted, “It was too easy anyway.”

Finally, Jason cut in the conversation. They were all sick of being used and not actually learning. Gosh, did the hospital not realise that they were also doctors- not useless med students who couldn’t find their heads from their ass!

“Who here has no idea what they’re doing?” Jason cried. Everyone, except Grover, shot their hands up. Nico was not ashamed to admit he did not know what he was meant to be doing- saving lives or babysitting penises?

“Are we meant to be learning something? Because I don’t think I'm learning anything!” Jason added as he slumped further in the stretcher that they were all sharing.

“Except how not to sleep,” Juniper retorted.

“It's like there’s this wall and the attendings and the residents are over there being surgeons and were over here being-” Hazel started passionately but was cut off by her brother.

“- Suturing, code running, lab delivering penis minders,” Nico finished.

“I hate being an intern,” Grover concluded. Nico seated beside him grunted in agreement. The interns continued their mindless complaints until Dr Chase walked in, her expression stern and her arms resting on her hips in a manner that screamed And what exactly do you think you’re doing? All it took was a raised eyebrow from Dr Chase and the interns were scrambling off the stretcher and rushing off back to their jobs. She snatched the unopened pack of chips that Nico had left on the stretcher and helped herself.

Nico often made very bad decisions. It was something the people around simply expected of him at this point- if it wasn’t Bianca then it was Hazel or Percy (but normally Percy would also join in on the bad decisions). Despite being warned not to, Nico found himself staring at the baby from the NICU earlier. As Nico looked up slightly, he saw 2 people cooing towards a baby and Nico could only assume that they were the parents. He could feel the dumb and stupid thoughts brewing and bubblinmg in his mind. He tried to stop them, he tried to tell himself to not move towards them but he couldn’t help himself- he never could in all honesty. While Nico was a very patient person sometimes, some impulses just couldn’t be left on stand-by.

As Nico finished explaining to the parents what he believed to be wrong with the child, the intern in pink scrubs from earlier who had specifically told Nico to leave walked into the communal area. Nico was absolutely busted- car lights on, bambi style busted.

“I warned you to not come back here,” They snarled before beheading into another room and practically grabbing Leo Valdez by the arm. Leo slowly retracted his arm out of their grasp before dusting it lightly.

“Hi, can I help you?” Leo started, his lips parted in a gorgeous and genuine grin- something that even Nico had to admit was cute.

“If our baby is sick, we want him treated,” The parents started, their voices thick with worry and concern. Nico could practically hear the tremble in it.

“Of course, which child is yours?” Leo asked with his professionalist front- he’d have to deal with the interns later.

Frank hated the interns. He hated Chiron and he hated his life. Not necessarily in that order. He was used to the incompetence of the interns. He was used to them making mistakes or hesitating but the one thing he wasn’t used to was pure disobedience. He had directly told Di Angelo to not approach peds or any of their cases. So what exactly Di Angelo was doing with Valdez and his intern talking to a pair of seemingly very concerned parents, Frank honestly did not know and would have liked to have kept it that way.

“Dr Valdez, can we speak for a second?” Frank asked. He and Leo were good friends, he knew that Leo wouldn’t get offended or turn it into a scandal.

“Sure, I’d like to know what on earth is going on though. No offence, but your intern shouldn’t be here,” Leo started, his hand brushing his curls out of his face.

“I told you earlier to not come back and look who’s here!” The intern snarked in Nico’s face.

“The baby had a tetralogy spell* earlier and a heart murmur- they aren't consistent with a benign systolic ejection murmur!” Nico argued. Frank turned to the intern, he could already see them faltering. He wouldn’t call himself scary- it was mainly just him being tall and built like a marine, not that he really cared.

“How sure are you? How sure are you that it is a benign systolic ejection murmur? 100 percent sure?” Frank turned to the intern. He watched as their face twisted, like they had just realised that they had been a fly trapped in a spider's web.

“Are you 100 percent sure about the diagnosis?” Leo turned towards his resident, a look of hesitation and slight horror creeping up onto his face. His previous interns from the past 2 years were so much easier than this. Everyone listened to him, barely anyone died and there weren’t sneaky, semi- famous italian legacies sneaking into his department. Not that he blamed Nico, in fact he had to admit that he was secretly impressed with the doctors observation skills- especially considering he was an intern. But after all, he was a Di Angelo.

“I dunno...like 75 percent..” They mumbled towards the floor. Gods, if his intern was wrong, it would be on his ass! How on earth was he about to mess up so badly? This was his 3rd year in residency- he couldn’t afford to screw up.

“Can I see the patient's chart?” Dr Zhang held his hand out towards the intern who hastily handed it over- as if it was a ticking time bomb. Dr Zhang flipped through a few pages, pretending to read them. In reality, he had already made up his mind and was just humming the tune to Stayin alive .

“Valdez, the patient's on my service now. That chill with you?” Frank concluded. Leo gave a thumbs up, slightly relieved to have some sort of work off his back but also slightly saddened that an interesting case was snatched out of his hands by his ignorant intern.

“I want an EKG*, chest X- ray and an Echo*, let's make it quick, we don't have all day,” Frank told Nico, who nodded before quickly running off.

“He can do that?” They whispered into Leo’s ear with an astonished tone.

“Yeah, he's attending.”

“So is your girlfriend.”

“She is not my girlfriend!” Leo protested as the intern raised an eyebrow. Leo did not have a strong case here, considering Calypso was always seen with him or vice Versa. In fact, they often arrived and left the hospital together, worked on similar cases and they knew each other's coffee orders like the back of their hand. It wasn’t like anything could happen between them. In reality, they arrived and left together due to their apartments being in a close proximity, they had similar cases co-incidentally due to their specialties and well, the coffee orders… Well that was hard to explain- how would Leo say Oh yeah, I just watch her everytime she orders her coffee because her lips look very very nice and soft and when she takes a sip, her eyes flutter a bit and it makes her eyes look magical and then there’s when she’s getting mad at me because I’m taking ages to leave my apartment and she just looks like she’s about to implode but in a very sexy, cute and beautiful way.

Yeah, no way was he saying any of that.

Hour 30

Was there anything left to do? Juni had been here for so long she could practically feel the fluorescent lights in her head. The Pit was empty, the blue stretchers all cleaned up with no patients walking in. There was officially nothing to do- empty emergency and waiting room. For the sake of checking, Juni walked into the waiting room one more time, looking around for any injured souls- alas, there were none.

Except Mrs Lu, who stood in the middle of the hallway, waving her hand towards Juni as if she was gesturing for her to follow her. Juni looked around- it wasn't as if there were any patients here, what could go wrong? She tiptoed outside into the brutal thundering of the rain, which plastered her hair to her face and her white coat to her scrubs. The wind was chilly and strong- whispering to her temptations and desires. The wind was always so ethereal- it could destroy but it could also be beautiful.

“Mrs Lu? Where are you taking me?” Juniper called out as she jogged blind in the dark while the wind whipped around her face. She found herself crouching behind the large industrial hospital bins. A young girl, barely into her early 20s sat there with a large bloody wound across her forehead. On viewing it, Juniper immediately hissed. The gash looked deep and Juni could already see the edges of it forming a scab. There was blood stuck to her face, some infiltrating the tip of her eyelids and the girl herself was trying to not screw her eyes in pain.

“Oh my gods…What.. What happened?” Juni was speechless.

“A big machine in the factory.. it .. it fall on us,” the girl explained. Juniper was relieved- she knew a bit of english, enough for Juniper to understand.

“It’s going to be okay now, you can come inside an-”

“-No! No, no inside. Here!” The girl protested frantically, shaking her head back and forth which made Juniper think Ouch .

“But, I need to stitch you up and she went inside.” Juniper pointed to Mrs Lu.

“She allowed, me not allowed! I will go jail!”

Juniper realised what she was trying to tell her. Mrs Lu was a legal immigrant but the girl was an illegal one. An overwhelming amount of sympathy and admiration surged inside of Juniper. The amount of bravery this poor girl must have and all the stuff she must have gone through. Juniper knew that if she helped the girl and was caught- everything would be over. A small voice in her head was telling her to help- she was doctor after all, she took the hippocratic oath which stated I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures which are required

“The injury is deep but I think I can fix it. I need to go and get some stuff first so you have to stay here okay. Stay here.”

The girl nodded, the corner of her lips turning into a grateful smile, “Thank you.”

As Juniper was about to jog back to the hospital, she remembered she did not have one piece of information that she got from every patient- illegal or not.

“One question, what’s your name? I’m Juni,” She asked.

“Nuwa. Nuwa Lu,” the girl responded with comfort settling onto her face.

Nico didn’t like that he was short. He constantly had to push to the front of crowds, people were often belittling and it also meant he had to walk twice as fast to catch up with people who were like 6’4- Like Dr Zhang. He was not afraid to admit that he was short- he simply didn’t like that for some reason it was a bad thing; if anything, it meant he was an eco-friendly version of a human.

“Dr Zhang,” Nico sounded slightly out of breath, “ What’s the diagnosis?”

“It was the tetralogy of fallot with pulmonary atresia*. I’m booking an OR,” he confirmed.

Nico stopped walking as Frank stood by the elevator. Normally, Nico preffered to simply nod at people when they expected a thank you. It was just 2 words that he would never expect to come blurting his mouth and honestly he did not expect the words Thank you to come out when he spoke to Dr Zhang so of course, he did not say thank you. Yes, he was grateful but Thank you? To Nico, that was almost as close to I love you on the list of forbidden words.

“I appreciate you backing me up here-”

“-Nuh uh. Listen kid, you were right one time but what you did, going behind another doctor's back and speaking to the parents, trying to steal a patient from another service. Don’t ever pull that again, you got it?” Dr Zhang reprimanded him. He knew that Di Angelo had a lot of potential but if he was gonna think with his head in his ass all the time, there were going to be problems

Nico knew this was Dr Zhang's version of- you did good but also you did bad. In all honesty, Nico couldn’t care less. In fact, he was so smugly obsessed that he was right that he was very much beyond okay with being told off if it meant he was right, it was worth it. Especially since that smug little intern thought that they were so right in their gloriously pathetic little mind.

Will did not like feeling like this. He had been lucky to avoid it all his life but for some god forsaken reason, depression had started to chase him. So he took a job where he would have no time for depression- if you’re working 24/7 you don't really ever get the chance to listen to your thoughts. But as he sat down at the desk by Allison trying to focus on his charting, he could feel himself slowly losing all motivation. The beeping on the heart monitor, which normally drew a large smile across Will’s face, wasn’t helpful- it was depressing. The entire room felt bland, empty and he could feel his mind and thoughts going numb. He was trying to hold his head up, trying to be strong for his patient, trying to finish the day without having a slump. His eyes flickered back up towards Allison, whose eyes had remained closed- as if she was vegetable.

“Okay, you’re all sewn up!” Juni finished up the last touches of the stitches of Nuwa’s forehead before rolling back the squeaky old chair that she was sitting on.

“Nuwa, you might have a scar and you have to come back in 5 days okay? I need to take out the stitches and clean the wound to make sure it doesn’t get infected. So you need to come back. We will meet here, same place at 7pm. 5 days okay?” Juniper informed, trying to not rush her words all out in a panic. She watched as Nuwa gave a small nod with a shy smile indicating she understood. As Juniper packed up, she realised she had to remind Nuwa of something else.

“Oh but you can’t tell anybody that I helped you outside the hospital. I might lose my medical license and my job. Do you understand?”

“Come back in 5 days and dont tell.” Nuwa nodded eagerly towards Juni who gave her a brief hug.

“Dr Chase, do you think I’m too confident?” Dr Zhang anxiously asked. He didn’t think he’d ever have to ask such a question. To him, it seemed obvious- no. Frank recalled all his life, simply never having the confidence to do things and sure, he had boosted it up a slight notch by becoming a surgeon- a world renowned one none the less- but he wouldn’t call himself overconfident.

“No,” Annabeth answered bluntly but Zhang knew her better than she thought he did.

“Don’t lie,” Frank mumbled slightly.

“You are my boss,” Annabeth retorted. Anyone who had been nearby would have immediately snorted at such a comment- When did Annabeth Chase actually care about her bosses opinions?

“Fine, in the next 30 seconds anything you say, I will not take to heart, starting now.” Frank raised his watch before diverting his eyes to his resident who immediately started talking.

A bit eager, Chase?

“I think you’re cocky, arrogant, bossy and pushy. You also have a god complex,” Annabeth started which caused Frank to frown. God Complex? Since when?

“You never think about anybody but your damn self- “

“- Hey wait a-”

“-I have another 22 seconds and I am not done.”

Frank scratched his head while rethinking his life decisions. The most prominent thought at hand was-

Oh shit maybe this wasn't a great idea

The interns were serving their last hour on call and it had gotten to the point where they were all desperate for their lives at work to come to an end. Jason, Juniper and Hazel were all in the locker room, freshening up and looking forward to leaving the hospital.

“I need a drink, a man or a massage or a drunken massage by a man,” Hazel mused. A short ‘ew’ came from Juniper as she brushed through her knotty hair. Jason on the other hand, did not respond and instead was violently harassing his teeth with his toothbrush. Hazel took one short glance at Jason before an alarmed look creeped onto her face.

“What's wrong with you?” She asked, slipping on a new scrub shirt.

“I lost 5 patients today and I feel like the angel of death,” he spat his toothpaste out, as if he had a deep vendetta against it.

“Hey at least you're not the actual angel of death. I’m pretty sure there’s a serial killer with that alias,” Hazel responded thinking about her conversation with Nico. For some reason The angel of death reminded her of some conversation they’d had.

“Charles Cullen- convicted of 40 murders, suspected of more- currently in prison on life sentence and is 60 years old,” Nico recited as he walked into the locker room. Juniper and Jason both stopped dead in their tracks, slightly alarmed at the information that was spilling out of Nico’s mouth like he memorized it for fun.

The best part was he actually did memorise it for fun.

Casting her eyes away from her brother, who in no way surprised her with that information, Hazel sighed, “Jason, 95% of code patients can't be revived. Most are already dead by the time you get there.”

“What! Why didn't you tell me that when I was going on and on about how great it was gonna be!” Jason cried, embarrassed about his bragging. Hazel took a deep breath as she made her way to exit the room.

“Because, you’re Jason and I’m Hazel.”

Hour 40

Nico was getting really sick about the penis in a box. It literally had to follow him everywhere and worst of all, people asked him what was inside it. What kind of conversation starter was ‘oh, just a bitten off penis’? So when Nico saw Dr Solace still in the room of Allison he felt slightly relieved- at least Dr Solace wouldn’t ask him what was in the box; mainly because Dr Solace was in the surgery where the penis was retrieved.

As Nico approached Dr Solace, he noticed that he wasn't really there. His eyes seemed less alive, less sparkly and more like the dull blue hues of the hospital. It was just something about the way his hand had propped up his face as if he had no further energy to continue anything that made Nico slightly alarmed for him.

Alarmed? You’re just worried that he may pass out because then it would mean no more surgeries.

At least, that's what Nico told himself. Besides, he had other things to worry about- like how he was going to lead Solace on. Afterall, there was a reason he was putting up with him.

“Hey, how’s Allison?” Nico asked, standing directly behind Will. Will, depressed as ever responded in a small tone.

“So far, nothing’s changed.”

“Have you been here all night?” Nico asked in slight astonishment and borderline concern.

“Yep. I have 3 brothers and a sister. They’re all doctors as well. If I was in a coma, they’d all be here- I’d want them here because having nobody… I can’t imagine that.”

“I can.”

Nico hadn’t meant for the small comment to slip out of his mouth. Wills face scrunched up immediately as he turned his head to look at the intern.

“What are you on about? What about your sister?”

For a fraction of a second, Nico was horrified at the thought that somehow Will had figured out that Hazel and Nico were siblings. But then Nico remembered that Hazel levesque was not an infamous name within the world of doctors and Bianca Di Angelo was.The first person to come to mind was Hazel, not Bianca. The guilt was overwhelming- did this mean Nico was forgetting his sister? He couldn’t do that, not when she needed him! Hazel was just a girl who happened to make sarcastic quips like him, who just happened to stand up for him, who happened to be slightly related to him. So what? Did it make them family? No! In Nico’s eyes, they weren’t even siblings. Just 2 people who had to get on with each other for the sake of others around them, Bianca was his real sister.

“That’s true, I do have my sister,” Nico said but even as the words left his lips, he knew he wasn’t talking about Bianca.

“She’d be ordering surgeons around and flying cowboys* from Prague to do amazing medical procedures,” Will continued as he got up to throw a wrapper in the bin. When he returned, he leaned against the door frame slightly, as if he was a bad boy in one of those high school cliche films.

“So we’re kissing but we’re not dating, huh?” One of his eyebrows raised slightly resulting in a ridiculous face that Nico believed to be hilarious- not that he’d ever let Solace know that he thought that. Nico fell back into scheming mode- if the conversation was heading where he thought it was, he needed to have his manipulative little plan out and ready.

“I’m all for the kissing. In fact, there should be more kissing,” Will hummed.

“I don’t know how or why it happened,” Nico admitted.

“Is it gonna happen again?” Will asked before lowering his voice, “ I need to bring some breath mints. Put some condoms in my wallet.” Will winked and Nico could physically feel the blood rushing to his cheeks. He had never blushed this badly in his entire life- not even when Percy winked at him.

Abort! Abort! This was not part of the plan. Why are you blushing you incompetent good for nothing nincompoop!

“There’s this baby upstairs in peds. It’s new and not neglected. It hasn’t been disappointed by anyone or rejected. How do we get from there to here? Alisson is wearing my boots and someone has beaten the crap out of her and here she is with nobody.” Nico was practically counting down the minutes left before he could leave at this point. However, before Will could respond, a rapid beeping came from one of the machines hooked up to Allison. Will scurried forward in a panic.

“Her ICP* has doubled. Page Jackson and get an OR ready- tell them to prep for a craniotomy*. Hang a mannitol and take a blood gas*!” Will shouted over the frantic beeping of the machine.

Nico was pacing back and forth. He felt like he was Allison’s mother. There she was in surgery all by herself and he- someone who had never met her- was pacing back and forth like they had known each other their entire lives. His head practically shot up as he saw Will and Percy come through the doors he had been waiting in front of. Solace shot him a sympathetic smile as he walked past- Percy on the other hand had stayed in front of Nico and his expressions looked grave.

How was Percy meant to say this? This was his childhood best friend of his entire life and he was somehow meant to tell him that his patient was most likely now a vegetable. He didn’t know why it was going to be so hard- Nico was someone who knew how to take news. Sure, Nico never took it well and would often just isolate himself until someone forcefully dragged his butt out but he would never break down. Well, Percy had never thought he had.

“I had to leave a flap of her skull open until the pressure and swelling in her brain goes down,” Percy confessed nervously, ruffling his messy hair that had been matted down under his scrub cap.

In a pained voice, Nico whispered, “She isn’t gonna make it.”

Percy hadn’t heard Nico use such a voice since his mother had passed away. Nico had been a bit different after that- as one would expect- but the tone that he had adapted when the tragedy occurred was a tone that truly inspired fear in Percy. It was the voice of calamity combined with pain. It was like destruction without the anger, it was like love without the trust, it was like a human with no soul. It was heart wrenching.

“She’ll be fine,” Percy insisted as he pulled Nico into a hug, letting the shorter boy rest his head on his shoulder. Nico wondered if Percy was right. He liked the possibility, the chance that it was true.

But Nico realised that she’d only be alright if she ever woke up.

Nico and never been happier to sign off the custody of something away from himself. Finally, the penis he had been carrying around owud no longer be his possession- he already had a dick, thank you very much. Just ask Solace.

Will and Percy did not really interact with each other much. It wasn't anything personal but they just both run such busy departments that hanging out was something much easier said rather than done. Despite this, they were together as they stormed into the room of 312. Percy and Will were not violent people- they were surgeons, doctors, sworn under the hippocratic oath to do no harm. But it would be an understatement of the year if one were to say that they did not look like terrifying bloodthirsty hungry beasts as they slammed the light on and snarled as they walked into the room of the rapist.

Will slammed his hand onto the side of the stretcher. Once, twice and a third time. It startled the man in bed to jump awake. Threateningly, Will slammed his hand above the man in the stretcher so he was practically leaning over him while Percy stood on the other side with both hands resting on the other handle of the bed.

“We have good and bad news. The good news is that my unbiased girlfriend who is also an exceptional surgeon managed to stop you from bleeding to death,” Percy snarled.

“The bad news is we’ve given your penis to the cops. Have a nice life,” Will growled as both men left the room with Will slamming the door so hard, the hinges rattled.

Nico enjoyed watching the babies. He however, did not enjoy watching the babies with Jason, Juniper and Hazel. Watching a cooing to babies was a very private matter- if word ever got out to his attendings that this happened… well Dr Zhang had already warned him. As he watched them, he realised they get the chance to start afresh. They may have no knowledge but they give people the chance to start afresh, to be something else and change opinions.

“All right, you guys can move in,”Nico groaned, giving up. Jason and Juniper squealed, jumping up and down celebrating.

“I can't believe I caved,” Nico admitted.

Hazel snorted, “I blame the babies.”

Hour 48

The world felt groggy as her eyelids fluttered. This wasn't her cheap New York hotel room, the lights wouldn't be on. She wanted to breathe but she couldn't do it alone-she could feel something obstructing her throat. It felt like something had been forced down there and immediately memories had come flooding back. The rapist, how she had been forced to her knees, the beating. She realised this must be the hospital and if she could think and her eyes were open, then she must be alive. She watched as a doctor with curly blond hair looked at her with astonishment before grabbing the arm of another doctor- with sea green eyes and a mop of balck hair on his head.

The elevator always took ages to arrive and always took even longer to get you to the floor you wanted. Will did not mind this. Nico on the other hand, definitely minded this. He had beds to sleep in and mythomagic cards to nerd out with.

“It's intense, this thing I have for ferry boats again,” Wills voice cut straight through Nico’s thoughts. Nico turned his head to look at the source of the voice.

Of course it's you

Nico knew what would happen if they climbed the empty elevator and he was tired. Part of his plan was revived around Will Solace pinning after him and this was the perfect chance to start it.

“I’m soo taking the stairs this time,” Nico decided.

“You have no self control!” Will called out knowing Nico’s reason for not boarding the elevator, “ It’s sad really!”

Hour 49

“Hey Reyna, pass the coat next to you,” Percy asked as he grabbed his bag off the floor and kissed Annabeth on her head. Reyna tossed the coat towards Percy before grabbing her backpack and zipping up her jacket. The attendings and residents filtered out slowly, one by one leaving Leo in there by himself. Leo didn’t mind being alone. In fact, he enjoyed it. There was something about being able to hum songs while you worked with no distractions that simply appealed to him. He was currently humming a song his Tia Callida had taught him when he was little.

“Are you humming?” A voice came from behind him. Normally, Leo would have ignored the voice or made a snarky remark but he recognised this voice.

“What! Uh, no?” He shrugged sheepishly as he turned around to look at Calypso who had her eyes half closed as if she was enjoying the tune.

“Oh don’t try lying to me Leonidas . I liked it anyway,” she admitted as she leaned forward to access the coffee machine. Calypso was the only person who knew Leo’s full name and the only person he’d ever let get away with calling him that. Leo could feel a rush of butterflies from Calypso's compliment. While it seemed minor, Leo rarely got compliments- so he appreciated them but he also did not know how to properly take one without blubbering.

“What are you still doing here?” Leo asked.

“Hoping to get rid of me I see?”

“No! No, it’s just we came in at the same time and your shift is over so you’re probably tired so you should probably go home and relax,” Leo rambled.

“You also came in at the same time you know. You shouldn't be here as well.”

That shut Leo up. He sat himself on the sofa, not wanting to move. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t tired and sleep sounded so nice right now but he did not want to go home. Every time he went back to his apartment, the nightmares would come rushing back and he would wake up covered in sweat. It was like he was cursed.

“Are you okay?” Calypso’s voice sounded concerned.

“I should be asking you that mi amor.” Leo winked before mentally slapping himself. Why on earth did he call her that? Everyone knows that mi amor means my love- it's practically common knowledge!

“You aren’t going to sweet talk your way out of my question Leonidas.” Calypso’s eyes narrowed slightly as she sat on the sofa next to Leo. He sat with one leg slightly bent on the sofa and the other dangling off it whereas Calypso had both her legs crossed as if she was back in nursery.

“I’m tired Callie. Aren’t you?”

“We’re surgeons. It’s what we signed up for. And I’ve seen you tired before Valdez, you aren’t like this.”

“Like this?”

“So… distant. You’ve barely gone on any rants or tangents since forever. You only order black coffee or an almost suicidal amount of espresso now. Everytime you smile, you only do it because someone just approaches you, otherwise your face is unreadable or miserable!” Calypso cried, throwing one of her arms up.

“Just because I’m less talkative Callie doesn’t mean there’s something wrong. I need to coffee to stay awake,” Leo defended himself calmly, holding both of Calypso’s hands to help keep her from exploding.

“What is keeping you up that you need so much caffeine? Is it work, family… a partner?” Calypso’ face physically scrunched up at the idea of Leo losing sleep over doing the deed with another person.

“I...I’m just not getting as much sleep as I should be getting. You know how tough work can be on residents especially because I’m looking for a peds fellowship,” Leo lied through his teeth. He could feel the empty pit of anxiety inside of him calm slightly as he saw the stressed out facial features of Calypso relax. While he felt guilty for lying, he felt better that it wasn’t stressing her out so much. It was only then that he noticed how close their bodies were. They weren’t extremely close but they weren't exactly far away either.

“I've got to tell you about this couple I had today. So the mother is all excited because she wants a boy and the dad is really really excited because he wanted a girl and they’re both arguing back and forth about which one the baby will be. So I do the ultrasound and guess what!”

“What?” Leo asked, practically smitten with her features. The way her eyes widened with glee as she talked about her patients, or how her smile was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. Her cheeks had these dimples that would appear every time she spoke but when she smiled, the ones under her eyes would show up and it was always endgame for him then. Her eyes were like pools of honey- sweet, delicate and magical. There was just something about the way her curly hair would always be in a tropical hairstyle as if she was on a beach that made him want to kiss her.

“They had twins! Yeah, so it was a case of twin to twin transfusion syndrome* and one was a boy and the other a girl. So in the end they both got what they wanted and I got myself a very very interesting case!”

Leo chuckled as he watched her rant. As they fell into conversation about their patients, they got closer and closer until they both had their arms leaning on the sofa and were gazing at each other's faces. Calypso’s eyes drifted downwards towards Leo’s rolled up sleeves- as they always did. As her eyes traveled upwards, she spotted something by Leo’s collarbone- like a flick of ink. She didn’t know if she read it right but it looked like it said Bad Boy Supreme with a small fire around it.

“Is that.. Is that a tattoo?” Calypso asked, her hand reaching forward to pull at his shirt slightly to gain a better view. Caught slightly off guard, Leo froze before remembering that he did in fact have a tattoo. He unbuttoned the first 3 buttons to give her a better view.

“Leonidas… did you actually… oh my gods.” Her hand had accidentally pressed on Leo’s chest which was surprisingly muscle. Leo looked scrawny, wasn’t the tallest (still taller than Nico) and didn’t hang out with any other people beside his colleagues so Calypso was not expecting a firm plate of muscle to be directly underneath her palm.

“Yep. You said I should get Bad Boy Supreme tattooed, so I did,” he said rather shakily. Could you blame him though? You try talking normally while the girl you’re in love with touches your chest and has her face up so close against it you could feel her breath.

“I did not think you had it in you,” she confessed, her face still close to his chest with her finger now tracing the art.

“ Mamacita , I’m offended,” he huffed jokingly. She raised her head slightly to raise an eyebrow only to be slightly alarmed at how close they were. If she moved one millimeter upwards, their lips would touch. Her hand was warm on his chest and she could feel his heart beating slightly faster as she traced the words of his tattoo. Her other hand was in his hair- the luxurious chocolate curls which obstructed his face bothered her- she wanted to see his eyes. She pushed them back ever so slightly. She was so close to his face, she could see the different shades of brown that pooled in his eyes- in a sort of chaotic manner that made his eyes look majestic. She couldn't help but stare into them and draw herself close to him- his eyes were honey and she was a bee. She dared to move her head slightly higher so that their eyes locked. They knew what each other were thinking. They could feel each other's thoughts.

Leo kept his gaze on Calypso’s eyes which had darted down to his lips. She watched as he swallowed and his lips parted softly. She raised her head and moved slightly forward and they could each other breath dancing on their lips. Their lips brushed, like a painter's first stroke on a canvas. They were slow, not desperate- it was like they had all the time in the world. Their lips were barely touching like butterfly wings. Leo could feel her warmth and inhale the coffee on her breath. Just as they were about to truly kiss, Leo’s pager started beeping making them both scramble backwards away from each other.

Without another word, Leo got up and left the room.

All the things that have a little * by it will have definitions down here! Code team: The team on call who are required to respond to a code blue which is when someone's heart has stopped GCS: Stands for the Glasgow Coma Scale. It measures a person's level of consciousness after a brain injury- it measures the function of the eyes, body and speech. BP: Is an abbreviation for the 'blood pressure'. Ventilator: Is a machine that essentially provides air for your body when you cannot do it yourself- often patients who suffer extreme injuries will be put on a ventilator. BA: Stands for bachelor of Arts which is an undergraduate degree- please keep in mind that it's not a literal degree in art, it's just called that. PHD: Stands for Doctor of Philosophy. Once again, this isn't a literal doctorate degree in Philosophy. MD: Stands for Doctor of Medicine- now this is a degree that is literally in medicine. Asystole Pulse: In the most basic way I could put it, flatlining. That means that the heart has completely stopped. Benign tumour: If a tumour is benign, it is harmless or not posing any threat to the body. Benign systolic ejection murmurs: Is normally a harmless condition where the heart makes a murmur because something is obstructing the valves in the heart. Tetralogy spell: When there is a quick drop in oxygen in the body and it makes the skin appear blue. EKG: Stands for electrocardiogram which is when those wires are stuck to your chest so that they can measure your heart's electrical signals. An EKG can also be called an ECG. Echo: An 'echo' is an abbreviation of echocardiogram- not to be confused with electrocardiogram. An echocardiogram is basically an ultrasound of the heart. Fallot of tetralogy with pulmonary atresia: This is a very complicated condition but essentially, it's the result of the 5 defects that this condition causes in the heart. Cowboy doctor: Is a doctor who is so definite in their diagnosis, they refuse to consider any other options. ICP: Stands for intracranial pressure which is just the pressure in your brain. Craniotomy: Not to get confused with a craniectomy, a craniotomy is when a piece of skull is removed temporarily to expose the brain. Mannitol: Mannitol is a sugar alcohol that can be used to decrease the intracranial pressure. TTS: Also known as Twin to Twin transfusion syndrome is a rare condition where twins in the womb share the same placenta- the result of this is one child getting more oxygen and nutrients than the other.

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hinac0lada · 5 years ago

Text

somber

CHARACTER PAIRING: sugawara koushi/reader NOTE: i tried to do something new!! // listen to this song too, it’s where i got inspo for the title hehe my love for koushi reignited, so pls take this fic as a very self-indulgent piece ;3 [ banner made by me! ] anyways! i wanna thank everyone in cheese cult - y’all so nice ily all sm<33 WC: like, , 2.2k words pls give love</3 WARNING/S: contains fluff, angst, suggestive themes CHEESE CULT TAGLIST: @cupofkenma @bubbleteaa @milkandc00kiez @writingsbycrackhead @fern-writes-ig @pineapplekween @kxgeyamasmilk GEN TAGLIST: @fitriiaw @idiot-juice-enthusiast

there was a side to you that sugawara koushi couldn't quite place his hands-on. it irked him in a way that he can't exactly explain. to put it thoroughly, it's like comparing misleading signs - signs he couldn't read. there was a partial thought in the depths of sugawara's mind, will i be in too deep?

he certainly hopes not. it will be a struggle for sure, begetting to deal with taking risks and caching his feelings in check.

though, in parallel to both his heart and mind, he doesn't mind taking flight in either.

coming over your place was like a natural thing sugawara affixed to his routine after school hours, something nearly akin to second nature. he needn't have to ring the doorbell or knock at the door to have you alerted of his presence. you gave him a spare key after all. he enters your modest residence as if it was his place that he just resided in. he tries to be patient and earnest about it, but fatigue trailing after him like an endless marathon socked him in the face before he could utter words.

the silver-haired setter plants face-first on the soft material of your cushion couch, breathing in the fragrance of the freshly cleaned cute throw pillows you had on for display. he faintly recalls your lavender-like scent, mixed with a tinge bit of vanilla and mocha - a smell so distinct that it essentially revulsed him at how quick he was to recognize the fading scent.

it was perplexingly heartening in his weird ways. (why wouldn't it be, it's your stuff after all)

the sound of the door clicking minutes after his arrival didn't go unnoticed. "ah, sugawara, i didn't expect you to be here so soon," your voice sounded muffled in his ears at how he's buried two pillows against the sides of his face. he'd assumed you to be late (like you always were), so it wasn't a big deal that he constantly manages to somehow get to your home first before you do.

"i thought you had practice today?"

"we do. just need to charge up for now.. not much to make do since finals are coming up and all," was his muffled reply. that was just a simple white lie. he did have practice today - it's just that he was trying to come up with numerous justifications of why he's late. (that or he just wanted to spend a couple of hours lounging about in your home)

you huff at his slothful disposition. you sometimes think sugawara is a little too comfortable with you letting him barge in your house like he even pays for rent. sure, the company he gives you is lively, but you considered having him pay for using you as a live source for shelter and food.

even with that kind of reasoning, you don't exactly mind nor were you gonna lament.

"humph!" sugawara makes a surprised noise as you jumped on top of him, your weight burying him further on the plushness of the couch. his muffled protests that reached your ears sent you into a fit of small giggles, a free hand coming down to ruffle his blanche, soft and unruly hair.

"(n-name)--! mhmmp!"

"what was that? sorry, i can't hear you over the sound of your anguish," you snorted, adding a small bounce from your position to add on the burden he feels with you on top of him.

by now, sugawara was wearied enough just let you do this. it's fine, just harmless fun. but when suffocating between the couch and a long-time crush and having to choose between air and you - you ought to have another thing coming. within minutes of you cackling like mad, he's pulled off the pillows beside him, successfully managing to hit you with one square on the face before he tackled you on the opposite side of the couch.

your chortles were rashly cut short by a surprised yelp and a force that pushed you off on your back. sugawara towered over your figure, triumph evident on his features. you stared right back with slight annoyance and a small blush coating your cheeks. this was new.

"i thought i told you to not suffocate me between your couch anymore, (name)," he sticks his bottom lip out in a small pout. his little complaint only had you rolling your eyes, a chuckle slipping past your lips as you slapped a hand underneath his jawline, moving his face up and away from yours.

"when have i ever, suga? i don't think i can recall," you subtlely tease him. it was just too fun to poke fun at sugawara - especially acknowledging the fact that he might've purposely came over first instead of going to practice.

he whines, attempting to slap away your hand. instead, he promptly leans his entire weight on you, head finding solace within the soft material of your clothing. it occurred to him that you still haven't changed from your uniform, but he didn't bother commenting on it either.

the two of you laid in comfortable silence for a while. that was until you broke it.

"do you wanna kill some time watching a movie?"

"what kind?"

"anything you want. i'm fine with whatever."

"how about someone great? i haven't watched that yet," sugawara smiles, lifting his head as stares down at your face. you smile back, closing your eyes as a soft chuckle emits from your throat.

"i don't mind."

you two somehow ended up cuddling in the middle of the movie. sugawara questions his morals. it's purely platonic, right? they're best friends, there's nothing else to it. sugawara mostly says this to himself in his head to convince himself that cuddling can be platonic.

he just wished he could stop thinking of it as something more.

minutes in the movie, he finds himself relating to jenny. it's ironic. maybe he only feels that way because the story is told in her perspective. nothing that derives from his feelings.

however, something about this moment seemed peculiar to the silverette. he didn't know if it was just him or how your features seemed to be enhanced upon closer inspection.

you were always beautiful in his eyes. he found himself drowning in the warm, earthy tones of your delicate skin. with your hair sprawled out on the surface of the sofa, contrasted by the sheen ruffles of your clothes.

you just looked so innocent, so serene. sugawara knows he shouldn't have. he should've had more self-control.

but he loses it when he's around you.

he quickly leans down with a puff of excitement growing inside him while tilting his head to the right. his wet lips capture yours, gliding over smooth contrasting with chapped lips. sugawara pulls and bites on your bottom lip, eliciting a pleased sigh from you. his hands squeeze your hips, tongue tracing over your lips for sweet entrance.

surprised, you grant access, letting him invade your mouth with a versatile tongue, his mouth sucking on your tongue felt like heavenly feathers. your lips smacked against his, pulling apart warm and wet tongues before darting back in with even more vigor. the intensity develops - heartbeats clamoring with painful bliss against your ribcages. you didn't pay attention to the movie anymore, too engrossed in each other's euphoria to divert consideration elsewhere.

this was wrong. sugawara knew that. but he couldn't pull himself away - not yet. the feeling of your body so close to his felt so right. you pull away first, lungs hopelessly and greedily sucking in the air but this was short-lived as his hand only pushed your head back, with noses bumping as he further divulged into the frenzy hot, steamy kiss with a groan.

he couldn't get enough.

it was sort of surprising as to how he was the first to pull away. a dense tint of red adorned his cheeks, breath heavy, and pupils blown wide wistfully as he sought to steer his gaze away from your plump and oh-so red lips. the sight burned itself into his mind. underneath him with half-lidded eyes, you took in gasps of air, chest rising up and down from how wild and the present fierceness behind it just blew you away.

sugawara shifts away from you, his body heat leaving yours had you feeling cold. "i-i.." he stammers, words clogged up as his mind was still fogged up with the steamy makeout that just happened. he couldn't get it off his mind. (what was he thinking?)

your gaze was fixated on nothing, still too lost from the hysteria and the feeling of his mouth on yours just a moment ago. it didn't submerge in till he stood up with haste from the sofa, bowing his head while he repeatedly apologized for his brash actions all the while with a flustered and guilty expression.

"i'm so sorry, i'm so sorry! i don't know what came over me--! i'm sorry if i made you feel so uncomfortable!" with hasty movements, he gets up and picks up his things. a part of him is dying with embarrassment and screaming that he needs to leave, while the other wants to stay and discuss what the hell just happened.

you, on the other hand, were silent as a rock. you held up a hand to your lips, tracing over remnants of his margin on yours - the boundary between you two felt suffocating.

when you still didn't reply, he ends up leaving anyway, with a false promise of seeing you another day along with another wave of apologies. you still stayed starstruck on the sofa, hand hovering over your mouth.

your lips tingled and the memory of the kiss had the apples of your cheeks blossom with a cherry red tint.

sugawara had been avoiding you for nearly a week since the happy accident that happened at your house. you asked (keyword; tried) daichi and asahi on why the third year acted this way. they both shared the same answer.

there was too much at stake.

you racked your brain to understand their vague answers, but none of which you thought could help you with your dilemma. this was stupid. it was just a kiss (tl; a heavy makeout session). why did he spare the need to talk about it? you decided enough was enough. you had - no, need to confront him now.

you pleaded daichi to have sugawara excused for a while just so you could talk. the former seems to have no qualms in letting the aforementioned male. daichi mentions sugawara himself has been feeling quite down in the dumps. he profusely requested that you make amends with the setter. it was disheartening to see the usually jovial and tranquil male all grim.

"sugawara, please," you stop the male as soon as he exited the main building. he tried desperately to avoid you all week. this is, yet again, the same mistake he's done before. running away when confronting your souls.

"we should talk about it."

"talk about what? there's nothing up for discussion." stop avoiding the topic.

"no, as a matter of fact, there is. what's with you? why have you been avoiding me all week-" you place a hand on his shoulder, but he flinched at the touch. you took a step back with eyes filled with a weary, hurt, and guilty conscience.

sugawara thinks point on black and white. he couldn't begin to explain why he did that nor does he want to. things won't be the same anymore.

you sigh heavily, head tilting down to glare harshly on the ground near the soles of your feet. "what are we, koushi?"

i had hoped something more, "we're just friends," he swallowed down the spite in his throat.

"what kind of friends do that kind of thing?" the chuckle that left your mouth had no humor to it. dusky irises trailed over your plethoric lips once more, recollecting the kiss yet again. sugawara mentally scorns himself.

"it's not worth the fight, koushi." you try and meet his eyes in which he reciprocates with a gaze filled with anxiety and guilt. you take a hold of his hands, rubbing circles on his knuckles - something you usually did to calm his nerves. his lips quivered as he forced himself to let go. to let you go.

unspoken words met with an umbra of fleeting eyes. there's no turning back. sugawara didn't want to risk losing something great. someone like you, at the very least.

"i'm sorry," he lowly mutters, letting go of your hand as he slowly turns towards the other direction, already yearning for your touch on his arm. it had to be this way, right? there wasn't a time where sugawara neglected to count all of his mistakes.

mistakes of one in a million.

you felt small as sugawara slowly but surely slipped away from your grasps. with a weak voice, you called out to him, in hopes that he'd answer your calling and return once more to your arms. although his retreating figure showed no assurance of such, you wished you could've thought of ways to seek closure.

just one more kiss. one more cuddle. one more possibility to make amends that you hoped to be endless. but those possibilities only made chances for you and him - not you together.

#sugawara kōshi #haikyuu!!#haikyuu x reader #haikyuu #hq x reader #hq x you #hq sugawara #haikyuu sugawara #sugawara #sugawara fluff #sugawara imagine #sugawara fic #sugawara angst #haikyuuwritersnet

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connorspiracy · 4 years ago

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Two Exorcists Walk Into A Bar || Connor & Jasmine

TIMING: Current LOCATION: The Artisan PARTIES: @connorspiracy & @halequeenjas SUMMARY: Connor and Jasmine meet to discuss their respective ghost problems. CONTENT: N/A

While his YouTube channel indicated he knew what he was doing, Jasmine was still hesitant about involving someone so young in her ghost problems. This was something she should have been able to take care of herself. Larry Bob had been a sniveling crybaby in life and in death and she was Jasmine freakin’ Hale. She’d exorcised poltergeists much more intimidating than him and yet none of her efforts seemed to stick. So here she was, schmoozing a young man and hoping he’d agree to help her for not too steep of a price. She’d worn one of pant suits today, opting for a nice navy blue that she knew went well with her favorite shade of red lipstick. In a way, this was business and she wanted to make a good impression in hopes that Connor would help. She stood outside the restaurant, early as always, and waved when she saw Connor approaching. “Hey, Connor, right,” she greeted and looked him over, “Okay, okay. You weren’t lying about the posh roots. You’ll fit right in, baby face and all.” She said the last part with a bit of a laugh and gestured toward the door so they could grab their table.

Connor wasn’t sure why they couldn’t just meet at Al’s and have a nice burger, but he supposed she wasn’t that kind of woman. He’d been raised among money. Not immense wealth or anything, but comfortable enough to live in a nice house in South West London with a big garden and three cars. Enough to not have to worry about what he was going to do for cash while he waited for his channel to grow. He’d had plenty of dinners at places like this before. It just wasn’t really his style any more. Nevertheless, he dressed for the occasion, wearing a pair of subtle plaid patterned slacks, brown leather shoes and a dark blue dress shirt. “Pleasure to meet you darling,” he said, his south London accent coming through. “Jasmine, yeah?”

He couldn’t help but give a little laugh, almost embarrassed at her mention of his posh roots. “Yeah, but I try not to be a dick about it.” Connor wasn’t sure what to make of this reading, and he still couldn’t believe he was forcing himself to act normal while Nadia was stuck outside her body, but maybe if he helped Jasmine, she’d help him too. He followed her inside and was sure to tip the front of house staff member who led them to their table. Before long they were seated and being offered drinks. He went with a diet coke, not wanting to get pissed at a potential business meeting. “I get the impression you’ve been here a few times before?”

Already, he was off to a good start impression wise as he tipped the host that led him to the table though Jasmine admittedly had her reservations about this whole thing at first. Those concerns had little to do with Connor himself and much more with what she could potentially be implicating himself in, but like her, he was an exorcist and the more he encountered with a little bit of back up the stronger he’d be when bigger trouble came rolling in. So really, she was being an A+ mentor or something. “That’s me,” she said with a bright smile as they made their way into the restaurant. As always, Evelyn didn’t disappoint when it came to setting her up with a more private table. “Not being a dick about things is always preferred. I definitely know some rich older men who could take a lesson or two from you on that one,” she said with a laugh as she asked the waiter for a bottle of whatever red Evelyn recommended. “Diet coke, okay. Well, bottle is required for the table, so feel free to help me, if not I can always bring it home. And, yes I have. I’m friends with the owner actually. She’s also from the UK.” Once their drinks were delivered and a nice cheese board was on the way, she looked to Connor, “So, how long have you been doing exorcisms?”

Just because Connor would rather go somewhere he could wear jeans and sneakers, didn’t mean he didn’t know what he was doing. He could tell Jasmine was relieved he wasn’t going to embarrass her. “Well, I try to avoid most rich older men, unless I’m ghost hunting on their ancestral property,” Connor teased. He raised an impressed eyebrow as they brought over an expensive wine. “Maybe I’ll have a glass or two.” Admittedly, he wasn’t too much of a wine drinker, but it seemed rude not to have any. He allowed the waiter to fill his glass (which always struck him as a little bizarre, like he couldn’t fill his own glass) and took a sip. Once they were alone, Jasmine got right to the meat of the matter. “Oh, not that long. I was a medium for, well, all my life, really. But I first realised what it meant sort of five, six years ago? The exorcisms, only a few months.” Yeah, which was probably why he’d messed up with Nadia… He couldn’t let that affect him right now though. He had to be calm and confident. Connor nibbled on one of the complimentary snacks. “You?”

Jasmine laughed along easily with his comment about rich, older men. Unless they were buying a house from her, she had little interest in them though part of her business did rely on maintaining connections. “I wish I could, but hey, they buy expensive houses which puts money in my bank account,” she shrugged. There was a smile on her face as he agreed to share some of the wine with her. While there was a chance Evelyn would let her get away with not ordering a bottle, she didn’t feel it was necessary. She could always re-cork and take it home for later. “It’s really good, but don’t feel like you have to,” she said before she took a sip of hers.

While how long he’d actually been doing exorcisms was worrying, she could work with that. She knew what she was doing, she just needed the extra energy to help get rid of Larry Bob since he’d gone full on poltergeist. Not even her focal point seemed to do the trick, but she was sure having another exorcist to help power the incantations would help make him gone for good. “Okay, makes sense, I didn’t learn about exorcisms until I was an adult. I was able to see ghosts when I was younger, too, but thought it was more of a weird White Crest thing than a me thing. My mom acknowledged the ghost thing, but honestly, she preferred the socialite life. My aunt taught me how to do exorcisms when I was 19, so I’ve been at it a while.” She took another sip of wine before grabbing some of the cheese. It was best to let him know what he was getting into if he was still new to this. “Normally, I can get by without help, but Larry Bob is a poltergeist who has a personal grudge for me. Executions are typically something that shouldn’t be done alone, which is why I’ve probably had trouble even with my focal point. Have you performed an execution before?”

Connor tried not to be too judgemental about how much she sounded like his dad and his business associates when she talked about money in the bank account. He couldn’t be too funny about it since it was what enabled him to rent a nice little house out here, have a fancy SUV and not have to worry about whether he made any money from YouTube or not. “Oy, I know that face. I can’t help that I’m a newbie,” he teased as he drank his wine. Jasmine had said it was good, but he really had no idea what good wine was supposed to taste like, so he’d just have to trust her judgement.

“Yeah,” he said, almost solemnly, in answer to her question. “It was my first exorcism. My Uncle. Went all polter and tried to kill my dad.” He chewed the inside of his lip. Maybe if he changed the subject quickly enough, she wouldn’t ask too many questions about his family drama. “Look, I’m happy, more than happy to help.” He couldn’t help but be nervous. What if she said no? “But I need some help from you too, okay? I don’t care about the money, but… see, I tried to do an exorcism recently, and something went really wrong.” He tried not to ramble, to be deliberate about his words, not act like a scared little kid. She needed to know he was capable and could hold his own, Nadia’s case not included. “The possessor and the possessee, they were sort of all tangled up, and when I did it… I took the spirit out of the body, but it was the wrong spirit. It was the original person… the one who’s supposed to be in the body. Do you see what I mean?” Okay, now he was rambling.

As he described his first exorcism, Jasmine felt her features soften. Having to perform an exorcism on a family member had to be incredibly difficult and he was still so young. She guessed the world wasn’t necessarily kind to mediums, but still. “I’m sorry,” she said softly as she set her wine glass back down on the table, “I’m sure that had to be rough, but it sounds like you persevered despite that, so clearly you’re pretty tough.” She added, “I’m not worried about you being a newbie-- I mean, I am, but more in the sense of I don’t want something bad to happen to you because of my problem. I was young and caught on quick, too, once upon a time.”

There was a certain tension now and she waited somewhat patiently for what he had to say, only her nails lightly tapping on the table indicating she was eager to hear what he had to say. She frowned as he spoke and went through what could have gone wrong in her head. None of it made sense unless perhaps the host didn’t have a strong enough grip on her own body, but still, the exorcism was meant to banish the ghost doing the possessing. “Wow,” she said looking at him with wide eyes, “I’ve literally never heard of anything like that happening, but anything you need from me, I’ll do what I can to help. I’ll have to pull out some of my aunt’s old books and see if perhaps my more research inclined friends have anything useful.” As far as she knew, he could have either really butchered the incantation or there was something deeper going on with this host and the ghost possessing her. Neither were super promising, but hell, she’d help them the best she could. “Are you okay,” she asked, mostly because she knew just how hard exorcisms could be to perform, especially when they didn’t go as planned.

Connor nodded stiffly, his jaw tight, not because of anything Jasmine had gone, but because remembering his Uncle was kind of hard. He'd taught Connor almost everything Connor knew about ghosts and the supernatural. Connor still had a great deal to learn, so many languages and so many rituals, but Uncle Joe had started it all. Before he'd gone so horribly wrong. "Thanks."

He was afraid Jasmine wouldn't be quite so gentle about the rest of it. In fact, he was pretty sure he'd just made himself sound like a huge idiot, the kind who didn't know his focal point from his arsehole. "I don't know if I did something wrong or if it was... something else, you know? But I feel awful. Like I messed up that poor girl's life and let down my friends..." Great. Now he was turning this into a bloody counselling session. "Sorry. You don't need to know about my drama. I'm... well, not exactly 'fine', but I'm not hurt or anything. It's just the guilt, man. I'll be fine when I can fix it. When Nadia isn't floating around all disembodied and when some poltergeist isn't taking her skin for a possibly murderous joyride."

The more he told her about the situation, the more dire it turned out to be. Jasmine was definitely not here for some polter-bitch taking an innocent person’s body on a murderous joyride. Even if there wasn’t murder involved, it was still wrong to hijack someone’s body. Still, it was a mystery to her how the exorcism had gone so terribly wrong. Either way, she knew she’d feel pretty awful if it was her and it was clear Connor did. She frowned and swirled the wine around in her glass. “There was likely something deeper going on there, but I guess a slight fudge in the incantations could throw things off, too. I’ve never heard of anything like that happening before though… not that I’m like the most well read person on the planet, but I’ve done my fair share of exorcisms.” She knew the weight that came with skill and it wasn’t always easy having the fate of others so heavily in your hands. On the other hand, it provided a purpose that not even money or acclaim could quite match.

“Try not to be too hard on yourself. There’s an answer out there. Probably in like a centuries old book, but still out there.” That still left a murderous ghost with a real body to use for said murder. She really didn’t like this. “May need to find a way to keep murder bitch and the body contained for the timebeing though.” Finally, she took another sip on her wine. This conversation had gotten heavier than planned, but she felt some sort of pull toward looking out for him. She was supposed to be seeking his help and now she was worried about him. Sometimes she really missed high school. “Either way, I do trust you to help me. These things are always easier when you have two exorcists.”

She wasn’t that much older than him. A few years, six, seven? But the level of experience and knowledge Jasmine had over Connor was something he couldn’t help but admire. He didn’t want to get his hopes up, but Jasmine felt like something he’d been missing. Someone to do this with. His dad had no interest in the supernatural and only begrudgingly put up with Connor’s interest in their family history. His mum was just now adjusting to the fact it was actually real. Any old family friends they’d had were reluctant to help the child of someone who’d ran away from their family and duty. But now, there was Jasmine. “Thank you,” he said, giving her a small smile. “I’ll help you too.” He picked up the menu. “So, what’s good here?”

#wickedswriting #paras #with: jasmine

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psycheswritings · 5 years ago

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Nothing’s Fair in Love and War - Eleven

Title: Nothing’s Fair in Love and War

Fandom: Peaky Blinders

Pairing: Thomas Shelby x Daphne Scott (OFC)

Warnings: Swearing, angst and mentions of death and war.

Word Count: 6018 (I know and I am sorry)

Author’s Note: Here we go again with another update. Hope you are all well and safe with this whole pandemic thing. Take care of yourselves and the people around you.

Not much to say about this chapter, so I am just going to show my gratitude towards @internalmess3 for being so kind and sweet and supporting me through the process of writing this chapter - you're incredible and I am so grateful to you! Thanks for everyone, EVERY SINGLE SOUL, who has been reading this fic and commenting/leaving likes. Seriously, that's what makes me keep writing and I LOVE to read your thougths about the plot and the characthers. Don't feel shy in coming talk to me.

You know the drill, if you find any mistakes feel free to report it back to me. Tags are at the end of the post and if you want to be added, let me know. Your feedback is highly appreciated. Happy reading.

WARNING: this fic (as most part of my works) is also been posted on FF and AO3.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this story. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No copyright infringement is intended.

Masterlist

Chapter Summary: Tommy meets Campbell to talk about the plans to kill the Field Marshall while Daphne is trying to adpat herself to living alone. She and William take a walk down memory lane, rememoring how they met and Tommy pays her a visit. The Brummie gangster negotiates with Alfie and they both end up discussing their feelings for Daphne.

Eleven

Tommy had told Lizzie to let Campbell into his office at the pretense that he was parking his car. It was the first time they would meet after his plan to make the Field Marshall leave his house got into work and he wanted to take the Irishman out of guard - and so he did.

“I keep everything locked up, Mr. Campbell. Everything of value.” Campbell looked up at him as he closed the door, a little more forcibly than necessary, on purpose. The man was rummaging through his desk and by the look on his face he certainly wasn’t expecting being caught. Tommy hang his coat, clearing his throat before walking towards the desk. “Take a seat.”

“How is your company treasurer, Polly?” The Irishman asked as he bypasses the desk to stand in the opposite side from Tommy.

“Why do you ask?”

“Oh. Just give her my regards.” Tommy finds the questioning odd but decides to brush it off as he searches for his cigar case, taking one and lightening it. “Ah! You like to play with fire, don't you, Mr. Shelby? Yesterday, in Belgravia, Field Marshall Russell's house was burnt out. An incendiary device was put through his letter box. Which means that he will have to find somewhere else to live for at least the next three months.”

“Which also means that your plan for me to break in and shoot him in his bed is no longer an operational possibility.” Tommy states what they both already know, calmly, a hint of a smirk on his face.

“Indeed, but if you think a wee burn frees you from your obligations, think again…”

“I will keep my side of the bargain.”

“Oh, by God, you will.”

“I will shoot your Field Marshal. But I will do it in a way that serves my purpose.” Campbell is still standing in front of him, both hands holding the cane, clearly riled up by the change of plans.

“The only purpose is my purpose.”

“I will carry out the assassination at a place of my choosing.” The Irishman takes a step towards the desk as he speaks.

“Listen to me. All operational detail must be mutually agreed…”

“I am a soldier of experience and I will determine where and when…”

“Now, that man has twenty-four-hour armed police protection…”

“Your plan was full of holes, Mr. Campbell.”

“My plan was mutually agreed!”

“And now your plan is up in smoke! And I have formulated the only viable alternative.”

“For God's sake. What do you mean? How would you get to him?” Tommy takes a drag from his cigarette, taking his time to answer.

“I won't. He'll come to me.”

“Now listen to me, Mr. Shelby. When this meeting is concluded I must report directly to Mr. Winston Churchill.”

“Your relationship with Mr. Churchill is not my concern.” The Brummie answers nonchalantly.

“And Mr. Winston Churchill will need to hear details.”

“Well, you tell him he'll have to trust me.” They glare at each other for a second, then Tommy speaks again. “Look, Mr. Campbell, I will carry out my mission.”

“Good.”

“Good. But I will do it in a place where it will be impossible for you or your men to have me shot afterwards.” Campbell shifts in his place. “Because that was your plan, eh? Coopers front and back. No way out. Me shot dead, dumped in the Thames. I will do the killing, but in a place where that will not be an option.”

“Where and when?”

“Epsom. Derby day.”

#* #* #* #* #* #* #* #* #* #* #* #* #* #* #* #* #* #* #* #* #* #* #* #* #* #* #* #* #

After one week of living in the hotel Daphne decides to rent a flat. It’s the logical thing to do, she thinks to herself, so she can have more privacy and start doing things her way. Her relationship with Alfie was still strained and they were sticking to talk just about business because every time the topic changed they ended up fighting and it seemed that the both of them were tired of it. William and Harriet helped her accommodate in the new place.

She had been avoiding to talk about certain topics with Harriet because she knew how the woman was caught in the crossfire and a part of her, the one who still cared for Alfie, wanted him to have some sort of support system because if she knew him well enough, he was most certainly trying to pretend that everything was fine. Ada was out of town - they have talked over the phone and the Shelby sister assured Daphne that everything was alright between them - so she was relaying on the last person she had left - William.

Since their conversation at the hotel, their first one after she had left Alfie’s house, Daphne had been thinking about the things he said to her. She had been able to avoid the specific topic of her relationship with Tommy on the occasion but she was sure that it was just a matter of time until it come up again. Truth be told, she wasn’t even sure if they had a relationship of any sort because they never really talked about it. Actually, the last time they had seen each other the last thing they did was talk about anything.

“How’s Jane?” She was facing away from him, making tea for the both of them as he adjusted himself on the spare armchair by the fireplace. The flat was not big, everything was in the same room basically - her bed near the window, a little bedside table, a modest wardrobe and a dresser near the fireplace, two armchairs and a center table. There was a nice bathroom and a small kitchen just beside.

“Fine. They are getting used to things there but are happy together. She send you lots of love.” Daphne gave him the teacup and goes back to take her own before getting comfortable on her own armchair.

“Send my love to her when you write to her again.” They fell into a comfortable silence until he asked her.

“Have you talked to Thomas?” She averted his gaze, sinking into the chair.

“Will…”

“You've been avoiding the topic since the night we talked in the hotel.” Daphne was really hoping that her acting had been on point for him not to notice, but she was just so tired that it wasn’t all that surprising that she slipped onto her act. “He likes you.” Her hazel eyes searched for his blue ones and he laughed at her expression. “What? Did you really think I wouldn't notice?”

“I really hoped I wouldn’t have to talk to you about it.” She exhaled loudly, taking a sip of her tea and William takes a moment to observe her: she is looking to the fire, he knows it is because she doesn't want to look at him, her cheeks are still rosy from the cold, her fingers playing mindlessly with the hem of her dress, her legs tucked under her. It was easy to fall in love with her, he knew that more than anyone.

“Well, unfortunately for you, I am your better option right now.” Daphne looks at him again, sees his playful smile and sighs.

“We could always not talk about it.” William raises an eyebrow at her.

“Not an option.” He waits, patiently, as he always does, for her to get comfortable enough to talk. Sometimes, William wonders why she always seemed more willing to share things with him than with Harriet, for example, or even with his sister. Most women didn’t like to confide in a man like that. He should know better though, because Daphne was nothing but unusual in a lot of things.

“Do you remember the first time we met?”

“You're redirecting.” He scolded her and she laughed, sitting up straighter to face him better.

“I am not, I promise.” Daphne had already accepted her defeat because she knew he wasn’t going to give up, but she wanted to make him understand somethings that had been on her mind lately. Somethings that were very important for their relationship. William drank the rest of his tea, putting the teacup into the table and getting comfortable on his chair as he took a deep breath.

“I remember that you gave me quite a scold.” He smiled looking at her to see that she was doing the same. “We fought over what was the best way to treat a patient and you were so damn stubborn, standing there, hands on your hips, holding your ground and defending your opinion so fiercely.”

“I was right.” There was a smug look on her face and he just shook his head in annoyance.

“You were and even so Dr. Lewis choose to believe in me.” Daphne rolled her eyes and William smiled. He knew that she never really liked the old doctor.

“Of course he did. The man worshiped the ground you walked on just because you are a man.” She rolled her eyes before continuing. “And you were a prick just alright.”

“I was. Smug little thing, fresh out of college, I thought I knew better about everything and I certainly wasn’t looking for being proven wrong by a young nurse on my first day.” She remembered that, he was the talk of the hospital that morning and for the following days - the young hot doctor who had just arrived to help Dr. Lewis. Daphne had been there for almost a month, things had been going as smoothly as they could be but her mood was sour due to being away from her brother for so long.

At first, she had been excited about the new addition to the personnel, after all, all help was welcome - that is until she actually met William. She was treating a soldier with a severe injury and Dr. Lewis brought him to give his opinion on it. The first thing she noticed was how handsome he was and how young he looked but the niceties stopped there, because next thing they were arguing about the right treatment to apply and things just went down after that.

“You actually searched for me to try and convince me that your plan was better than mine.”

“And you snapped at me right away. I don’t think I had ever fought with a nurse before but you were having none of my shit.”

“You were used to just bat those eyelashes at them and have your way out of the discussion, weren’t you?” She smirked at him and William put his hand in front of his face, sighing. “Oh, sweetheart, you don’t have to tell me that. I am pretty sure that all the nurses thought I was crazy for fighting you that day. I certainly received lots of death glares on the corridors for weeks.”

“Matron certainly didn’t agreed with that because she gave me a hard time until we made amends.” William still remembers how much the older woman made his life difficult on the weeks right after his arrival.

“Harriet wouldn’t shut up about you and how I should give you a chance because you were ‘oh, so nice and gentle’.” She feigned an affected voice, then paused for a second looking directly at him. “And how I was going to fall for you if I did open up. I think I did, for a while.”

“Daph…”

“No, I have to say it for both our sakes.” They looked at each other for a long moment before she continued. “We never really talked about why I couldn’t stay with you and sometimes I feel selfish for keeping you around.”

“Then we both are being selfish because I didn’t wanted to lose you either.” She takes a deep breath, gets up from her seat collecting the teacups and walks to the kitchen, gets the bottle of whiskey from the counter along with two glasses and goes back to where he is, pouring them both a dose, offering one of the glasses to him and then getting comfortable on the armchair again. Daphne took a sip of the amber liquid, relishing on the way it burned her throat as she observed the fire crackling.

“I really fell for you at the time, you know.” Her voice was firm, as if she was trying to reassure herself and him at the same time.

“I know. You are good at pretending but not that much.” They smiled at each other and stayed in silence for a moment.

“And I really wish that things could have been different, that we could have gotten a better chance but you were right when you said that I didn’t wanted to live after Benjamin died. I just never let myself acknowledge that.”

“Nobody can blame you for that. I don’t blame you for that. After we came back, every time I saw Jane I thanked God for her being safe and remembered how you must feel everyday because of him.”

“I’m sorry for shutting you out and not giving us a chance. Most part of the time I am sorry for not letting you go.”

“It wasn’t your choice. Not entirely at least. I stayed because I love you and between being in your life as a friend or nothing at all I would always choose to stay. We already talked about that.” They did, in fact, when Daphne told him they couldn’t be together anymore, not as a couple, he had asked her if she wanted him to leave her life completely even if it would’ve been impossible at the time because they were serving at the same place. But she haven’t wanted him gone back then and she still didn’t want him gone now.

“I just don’t understand how I couldn’t love you the way you loved me back then but I can fall in love with another person now. It just doesn’t make sense and…”

“Hey, hey, hey. Stop that!” He kneeled in front of her, taking the glass of whiskey half drank from her hands and resting it on the table, holding both her hands in his, forcing her to look at him. “Love is not rational, Daph. I know we try to find some explanation, a reason for it but it doesn’t exist. We don’t choose who we love or in what moment we love them.”

“We could have been good together.”

“We are good together.” He smiled at her and squeezed her hand. “Just because we are not together as a couple it doesn't mean we don’t have a good relationship. We’ve been supporting each other all these years, you can’t say to me that this is not a good thing.”

“It is. You’re one of my best friends, always will be.” She smiled at him, remembering all the times he had been there for her. There was no denying how important he was in her life. William would always be a huge part of her history.

“Then talk to me. Don’t push me out because you think you’ll hurt me. I will say to you if something is too much but let me help you.”

“I don’t know what to say. Really.” Daphne sighed as she sank into the chair and William adjusted himself on the ground right in front of her. “The way I feel about Tommy is… different. He makes me feel things that I had never felt before. Things I didn’t wanted to know about.”

“Well, you’ve been avoiding it for years now, I really wouldn’t expect nothing less.”

“He’s everything I didn’t wanted for my life.” Problem, that’s what he was. A big, huge problem. William laughed and Daphne gave him a not so playful slap on the arm.

“Maybe he is exactly what you need him to be even if you haven’t realized it yet.” She looked at him, half closed eyes, a smirk on her lips.

“When did you got this wise?”

“You’ve been rubbing off on me.” William smiled at her and Daphne felt the urge to hug him, so she did, sliping from the armchair to sit on the ground with him.

“Why couldn’t I have stayed in love with you? Life would be a lot simpler.”

“That’s the thing, life is never simple.” The moment is interrupted by a knock on the door, so Daphne gets up to answer it and she has a hard time coming into terms with the person standing in front of her.

“Thomas?” William looks at the door after hearing the name, his eyes meting Tommy’s for a moment before he got up from the ground.

“Hope I am not interrupting anything.” His voice was devoid of emotion but Daphne notices the hint of displeasure on his face. William was faster than her to answer.

“No. I was heading out, already.” He was putting his coat on and heading to the door. “Mr. Shelby.” They shook hands briefly and the doctor turned to face her. “You’ll gonna be alright?”

“Yeah.” She nodded and he got closer, giving her a kiss on the check before heading out.

“See you tomorrow then.” Tommy takes a step to the side, giving space for him to get out of the flat. “Mr. Shelby.” The two men nod at each other and the gangster observes as William walks down the stairs before looking up at Daphne, who was observing him. After a moment of silence he asked.

“May I come in?” She stepped out of his way, opening the door more for him to enter. Tommy looked around, analysing the small space, noticing how it looked cozy, much like her. Daphne closed the door and walked towards the little table near the fireplace, taking both glasses laying there and walking to the small kitchen.

“Do you want tea? Or whiskey?” She turned to look at him and he just shook his head, denying her offer, stuffing his cap on one of his pockets.

“No, I am fine.” Neither of them said nothing for a long while. “Did you knew?” They both knew the answer to that and Tommy didn’t fail to notice the offended look on her face.

“Of course not.”

“Then that night, at Charles’s wedding, it wasn't just a way to distract me.” The look she gave him hit him harder than any slap he ever received and, for a moment, he almost regrets asking it, but after Grace he just had to be sure that what he was feeling for her wasn’t just one more thing that Solomons’s could use against him and his family.

“If you thought even for a moment that I would sell myself for something as simple as a decoy you’re clearly underestimating me.” Tommy isn’t accustomed to being held accountable by the things he says and when he does, he usually doesn’t care about what people feel about it. So it actually gets him by surprise how he always seems to find enticing the way Daphne always gets back at him for the things he says.

“You can’t really blame me, can you?” He walks to her, slow and deliberate, leaving her time to back off, which she doesn’t. When they are a breath apart, his cold fingers trace the skin below her neck and then lower, getting hold of the ever present pendant hanging on her neck. He pulls the locket out of the chancel of her dress, feeling the metal against his fingers and this time, different from the night of her birthday, he opens it. As he expected, there are two photographs there - a girl and a boy. “You’ve been hiding a lot of secrets, Senior Sister Scott.”

“Am not the only one, Sergeant Major Shelby.” All he wants to do is to close the distance between them and kiss her, like he had done at the library of the Weston’s house. Give in to desire and press her against the wall, have her right there, but there is something that holds him back. “My past is none of your concern.”

“Your past, your present, your future… I want them all to be of my concern.” The way she looks at him with half closed eyelids should be illegal and Tommy has to take a moment to put his thoughts on check again. “He is the reason why you said I couldn’t make you want things you can’t have?”

“Thomas…” Daphne closes her eyes, feeling trapped in his presence, she doesn’t think that she can talk about Benjamim with him, not yet.

“Because you don’t want to live without him.”

“Tom…”

“You think you don’t deserve to have a life without your twin.” Her hazel eyes focus on his blue ones, hands searching for support on his chest as Tommy holds her to him with his free hand.

“You know nothing about that.”

“I know enough.” She tries to walk away from him, but he is faster than her, releasing the open locket and holding her by the arms, keeping her close, forcing her to face him. “‘Can’t imagine the pain you feel.” Daphne’s resolution falters for a moment, her breath coming fast as if she had runned a mile, she feels her chest tightens as she tries to remembers the last time that she had let herself really feel the grieve.

“He was more than my brother, he was everything.” Her eyes close for a moment and the memories cloud her mind and she relieves all the times they skipped the music classes so they could run through the gardens, searching for a good spot to hide between the trees. How they always sneaked into each others rooms at night so they didn’t had to sleep alone. The way he always seemed to know what she was thinking before herself. Daphne searches for the locket, closing it and holding it between her fingers as she rests her forehead into Tommy’s shoulder, his hands travelling to her waist as they sway from side to side for a long moment.

“Why did you stayed with Alfie?” Daphne thinks for a moment but she already knows the answer, she has knew it for a long time.

“Because it was comfortable.”

“And I am not, so that’s why you’re fighting this.” She doesn’t answer, it’s not needed, they both know it’s the truth. The woman raises her head, looking at him again.

“Why are you fighting this?” There is a long pause where the only thing they hear is the crackling of the fire and the noises of the city outside.

“Because you deserve better than me.” Daphne sees nothing but truth in his ice cold blues.

“I think that is for me to decide.” And decide she does, standing on her tiptoes and closing the gap between them in a gentle kiss. As their lips move together all that Tommy can think about is how much he doesn’t deserve the woman in his arms. In that moment he too makes a decision, a decision that could change everything.

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“Did you one anyway, you ignorant git.” He doesn’t notice that Ada had entered the room until she places the cup of tea almost in front of him, turning to leave. That is the moment that Tommy raises his eyes from the paper in front of him.

“Ada, sit down here for a minute.” She does as he asks while he folds the letter and puts it on the envelope, linking it to seal. “Ada, if anything happens to me today, I need you to post this letter. The stamps already on. Don't ask any questions. It's…�� He pauses for a moment as he takes the cigarette from the ashtray. “...to do with insurance.” Ada looks at him, a little disturbed by the information, picking the envelope from the table.

“Look, Tommy? Whatever it is you're involved in, just tell us. God, you never let anybody in. We love you, Tom.” His eyes search for hers in the moment and Ada seems to be in an internal battle to choose her next words so he picks the other envelope and holds it between them.

“This one you can hand over yourself.” Tommy sees the curiosity in her eyes turn into worry when she sees the name outside the envelope.

“What are you going to do, Tommy?” James enters the room and Tommy gets up, walking to the couch to pick his coat. “What are you doing up at six o'clock in the morning?”

“Ready?” He asks the young writer that nods at him.

“What the bloody hell's going on?” Ada asks, voice an octave higher.

“Little errand.” James answers her.

“What errand?”

“He just has to stand there, Ada.” Tommy adds as he picks his things..

“Stand where?”

“Let's go. Come on.” The older Shelby calls and James follows him out of the room, Ada a little behind them, talking exasperatedly.

“James, what's going on? Don't listen to him, James, he'll get you killed! What errand?”

“For the cause, Ada. The good old cause.” The young writer tells her as he and Tommy walk out the door. The two men walk the streets towards Camden Town and when they are approaching Alfie’s bakery Tommy says.

“For the next ten minutes, you don't do or say anything I haven't told you. All right?” Met with silence he asks again. “All right?” James confirms it just before they reach the doors.

“Hello, Ollie.” Tommy greets the young man as he heads to the door.

“Hang on. Just you, yeah? He stays out here.” Ollie admonishes and Tommy turns to James, pointing at him with his index finger and then at the ground, throwing his cigarette away as he does.

“You stay here.” The young writer stands there, looking around a little apprehensive, as Tommy follows Ollie inside. He stops, pretending to tie his shoe much to the annoyance of the young man, before they continue to Alfie’s office. The Jew barely acknowledges him as they enter the room - feet propped up on the desk, leaning back on his chair reading the paper - and Tommy takes a seat in front of him. He just talks when the phone starts ringing.

“That'll probably be for you, won't it?” Tommy gets up to answer the call.

“Hello? Arthur. You're out?” When the call is finished and Tommy sits back on the chair, Alfie straightens himself to look at the Brummie.

“Right, so that'll be your side of the street swept up, won't it? Where's mine? What you got for me?” Tommy takes the license from his suitcase and hands

“Signed by the Minister of the Empire himself.”

“Yeah?”

“Which means that you can put your rum in our shipments and no-one at Poplar Docks will lift a canvas.”

“You know what? I'm not even going to have my lawyer look at that.”

“No, no, it is all legal.”

“You know what, mate? I trust you. That is that. Done.” He straightens his hat and then turns to pick a bottle of whiskey. “So, whisky. There is one thing, though, however, that we do need to discuss.”

“What would that be?” Tommy asks, taking a drag of his cigarette as Alfie places the bottle on the desk, holding his glasses to his eyes and analysing the contract.

“It says here twenty percent paid to me of your export business.”

“As we agreed on the telephone.”

“No, no, no, no. See, I had my lawyer draw this up for us, just in case.” He places the new contract, that he just got from the drawer, right in front of Tommy, leaning on the desk to show it to the other man. “It says that here, that a hundred percent of your business goes to me.”

“I see.”

“Just there Don't worry about it, right. Cos it is totally legal, binding. All you have to do is sign the document and transfer the whole lot over to me.” Alfie reclines himself back on his chair, waiting for Tommy to sign the contract.

“Sign just here, is it?” The Brummie asks, calmly.

“Yeah.”

“I see. That's funny, that is.” Tommy says, taking a drag from his cigarette and pointing at the paper in front of him.

“What?” The Jew asks, confused.

“No, that's funny. I'll give you a hundred percent of my business?”

“Yeah!”

“Why?” Ollie, who had been standing there, fidgeting more than usual, points a gun towards Tommy, who looks at him unamused.

“Ollie, no. No. No. Ollie, no. Put that down.” Alfie takes the gun from Ollie’s hands and places it on the desk, as the younger man retreats to the background. “He understands. He understands. He's a big boy, he knows the road. Now, look, it's just non-fucking-negotiable. That is all you need to know, so all you have to do is sign the fucking contract. Right there.” The Jewish gangster taps with his finger where Tommy is supposed to sign.

“Just sign here.” Tommy says, before stubbing the cigarette on the ashtray.

“With your pen.”

“I understand.”

“Good. Get on with it.” Alfie encourages when the other gangster does nothing.

“I have an associate waiting for me at the door. I know, he looks like a choirboy but he is actually an anarchist from Kentish Town.”

“Tommy, I am going to fucking shoot you.”

“Right? Now, when I came in here, Mr. Solomons, I stopped to tie my shoelace Isn't that a fact, Ollie?” He looks at the younger man and then at Alfie again. “I stopped to tie my shoelace. And while I was doing it, I laid a hand grenade under one of your barrels. A mark fifteen with wire trip. My friend upstairs is like one of those anarchists that blew up Wall Street, you know? He's a professional. And he's in charge of the wire. If I don't walk out of that door by the stroke of seven, he's going to trigger the grenade and your very combustible rum will blow us all to hell. And I don't care ‘cos I am already dead.” Alfie scratches his beard, holding his glasses and analysing Tommy for a moment.

“He tied his lace, Alfie. And there is a kid at the door.” Ollie confirms.

“From a good family, too. Ollie, it is shocking what they become.” The Brummie remarks.

“What were you doing when this happened?” Alfie turns to face Ollie.

“He tied his lace. Nothing else.”

“Yeah. But what were you doing?”

“Marking the runners in the paper.” The young man seems embarrassed. There is a little noise of metal and Alfie turns to see Tommy with his pocket watch in hand.

“What are you doing?”

“Just checking the time. Carry on.” The Brummie show a hint of a smirk on his face. The Jew gangster takes the gun from the desk and hands it to his associate.

“Ollie, I want you to go outside and shoot that boy in the face from the good family.”

“Anyone walks through that door except me, he blows the grenade.” Tommy explains.

“He tied his fucking lace, Alfie.” Ollie becomes nervous by the second.

“I did tie my lace.”

“I bet hundred to one that you're fucking lying, mate. That's my money.” Alfie plays with the gun that he took away from Ollie’s hand.

“Well, you see, you have failed to consider the form. I did blow up my own pub for the insurance.”

“OK, right, well, considering the form, I would say, sixty five to one. Very good odds. And I would be more than happy and agree for you to sign over sixty five percent of your business to me. Thank you.”

“Sixty five? No deal.” Tommy looks at the younger man. “Ollie, what do you say?”

“Jesus Christ, Alfie. He tied his fucking lace. I saw him. Look, he planted a grenade. I know he did. Alfie, it is Tommy fucking Shelby.” Alfie gets up and hits Ollie in the face, holding him by the collar of his shirt.

“You are behaving like a fucking child. This is a man's world. Now, get that apron off and sit in the corner like a little boy. Fuck off. Now!” As Ollie does what he is told, Alfie checks his pocket watch and sits again.

“Four minutes.” Tommy says

“Right, four minutes. Talk to me about hand grenades.”

“The chalk mark on the barrel at knee height said, "Hamilton Christmas". I took out the pin and put it on the wire.” Tommy spins the pin between his fingers before putting it on the empty glass sitting on the desk. Alfie takes it to inspect.

“Based on this…” The Jew shows the pin to Tommy. “...forty five percent.”

“Thirty.”

“Aw, fuck off, Tommy. That's far too little.” He throws the pin at Tommy, who picks it up and starts to play with it.

“In France, Mr Solomons, when I was a tunneller. A clay kicker. A 1-7-9. I blew up Schwaben Hohe. Same kit I'm using today.”

“Funny that. I do know the 1-7-9 and I heard they all got buried.”

“Three of us dug ourselves out.”

“Like you're digging yourself out now.”

“Like I'm digging now.”

“Fuck me!” Alfie whispers, leaning into his chair. “Listen, I'll give you thirty five. That's your lot.” Tommy thinks for a moment.

“Thirty five.” Alfie spits on his hand, gettin up and offering it to Tommy, who does the same.

“Now you go out there, send the good boy from the good family home, and come back here, because we have other business to discuss.” Tommy nods, goes outside and sends James back home, when he comes back Alfie is alone in the office. He closes the door behind him, sitting down on the same chair he was some minutes ago. The both men contemplate the silence for a few minutes, the Jew is looking out to the window. “You probably already know about Benjamin, don’t you? ‘Know you’ve been doing your research on us for a while.”

“I do.”

“Do you know what he meant to her?” Alfie turns to face Tommy, elbows resting on the desk as he intertwined his fingers in front of him.

“I know he was her twin, yes.”

“He was more than that. They were everything for each other. I knew him. The boy served under my command til the day he died. Wouldn’t fucking shut up about her any chance he got. When I finally met Daphne it was as if I already knew her.” He remembers, clear as day, her hazel eyes looking back at him, fighting to hold back the tears, blood all over her nurse uniform. “I fucking promised him I would protect her. Now, we both know that neither of us are men of keeping their promises but this one, this one I intend to keep, because everytime I look into her eyes I believe, even for just a moment, that there is something good in this world. She suffered enough, deserves some happiness and I am not letting you ruin her chances at it. I am not letting you ruin her, Thomas.”

“I don’t plan on it.” Alfie scoffs at him.

“As you didn’t planned to fuck the beautiful blonde who came all the way from New York with her posh husband.” Tommy doesn’t show any signs of emotion but the Jew knows better. “Yeah, I know about her. The woman who betrayed you and then fucked off to America. Beautiful thing she is.”

“She is in the past.”

“Is she? Really?” Alfie restes his arms on the desk, leaning closer to the other man. “Because you’re sitting there telling me that you don’t plan on ruining Daphne but you are lying to her, ‘cause you were with the posh blonde some weeks ago.”

“It’s done. What I had with her is done now.” He pauses for a moment and Alfie just observes him without saying anything. “I know how much you care about Daphne and you have my word that I don’t intend to hurt her.”

“That’s the thing, mate, sometimes the things we don’t intend to find a way of happening.”

Tags: @stressedandbandobessed7771

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fireofmyloins19 · 7 years ago

Text

Him - Chapter Two

Oh how unfortunate it should be to love an older man. Unless, he was to love you back.

Prologue / Chapter One

“Why can’t you just use a typewriter to write all that down?” Michael questioned as he placed the nimble cup on the table beside Rose, steaming with freshly brewed tea. She lifted her eyes from her journal momentarily with a glare before continuing to write, Michael lifting his hands up to her defensively without another word.

“Well I’m obviously not very good at using one am I Michael? Or else I would have passed my exam.” Michael spluttered back his tea in between laughter while Rose stared at him in disbelief, stifling a sarcastic laugh herself, not finding her failure at all amusing. “Besides, I prefer to write in pen, it's more personal. The words come to me and I can put them straight onto the paper.”

“As you can with a typewriter.” Michael stared hard at his tea with wide eyes, a smirk fighting its way from his lips as he avoided looking towards her, the ever growing anger seething from her eyes. Rather than retaliate she decided to ignore him, knowing her defensiveness would only encourage him to irritate her. She pulled her legs further to her body, crossing them together where she sat on top of the chest by her window, her preferred spot to write as the view of the street below and the people on it fuelled her ideas. Rose placed the journal in her lap carefully, popping the pen between the crease of the pages and reaching for her tea, slurping it carefully once it met her lips, welcoming the warmth. “So, still not got round to decorating?” Michael’s eyes studied the decaying room, its cracked walls and dim interior a sorry sight.

“Obviously not” Rose huffed, “I will soon.”

“You’ve been saying that for a year.” Michael gave her a quick grin to show he was joking before pulled himself from the bed and walked towards one of the worser areas of wall, his finger gliding steadily over the cracking brick. “You know, Mum has said plenty of times you can live at our place, why are you still paying rent to stay in this squalor?”

“Christ Michael” Rose finally snapped, no longer capable of holding back the rising anger, “you make it sound like I’m living in a slum!” She crawled off the chest and threw her journal to the side, realising with Michael present and in such a playful mood, her writing wasn’t going to be very productive. “Is your mum also still saying she hopes for us to be together some day?”

Her bare feet padded along the cold wooden floor towards Michael, her eyebrows raised to him dramatically and her head tilted to the side as though waiting for a reply but she already knew the answer, having to hear the comments from his family day in, day out about when the two of them would finally tie the knot. “I'm sure moving in would really shake off those hopes Michael, your whole family would have a bloody field day. Wouldn't hear the last of it from John, making little remarks every time I entered the offices, not that he doesn’t already. And God, Polly would be buying a hat for the wedding the second my foot stepped over the threshold.” Rose threw her free arm above her head in despair at his suggestion, finding it ridiculous. She shuffled back across the room, stepping over the organised mess that was strewn along the floorboards towards the little table where she returned her now empty tea cup.

”God you're so against marrying me aren't you.” Michael took the last swig of his with a shake of his head, a wide cheesy grin plastered on his face when Rose turned to him with a playful look of disgust.

“Too right I am” she giggled, swinging open the doors of her wardrobe and digging inside for the dress she had earlier decided on wearing. “Right sling your hook whilst I get ready, we don’t want to leave your family waiting!”

Michael frowned at her from where he had just got comfy on the bed but reluctantly dragged himself up and made his way for the door. “I’ll wait downstairs but don’t be taking your time.”

“Out!” Rose called as she began unbuttoning her dress causing Michael to hurry from the room.

Rose’s heels clipped along the street as she caught up to Michael’s strides, grabbing onto his arm. “Right remember what we said?” she pulled him away from the Garrison’s door before they entered, “Don’t ment-”

“Don’t mention that you failed your exam.” Michael interrupted whilst rolling his eyes, laughing at Rose’s pleased smile when she was satisfied he remembered. She nodded her head as though to signal that he could now enter the pub which he did, resulting in a cheer from the Shelby’s who hovered by the bar in a rowdy cluster.

“Here they are!” Arthur cheered, raising his glass to the air causing some of its contents to splash over the edge which Rose swiftly dodged when she reached them. “Come on get yourselves a drink.”

Michael stepped forward and lent on the bar as he took up Arthur’s offer, waiting patiently whilst watching him slosh an excessive amount of Whisky into a glass. Rose simply ignored the offer as her way of politely declining, the taste of Whisky, or any alcohol for that matter, being one thing she was thankful to have not gained a liking for since moving to Small Heath. She weaved her way through the men steadily with her eyes fixated on the floor, making her way towards Polly. The fear of her exam being mentioned dissipating as a new fear arose; being in the presence of Tommy. But before making it to Polly’s warm embrace, as though he had read her mind and taken it upon himself to send her fragile body into a frenzy, she heard Tommy say her name softly, the sound of it rolling off his tongue in his thick Brummie tone caused her feet to freeze on the spot, incapable of moving any further.

“Let me get you a drink.”

“Oh no honestly Tommy it’s fine” she insisted once she’d spun around in his direction, fighting for her eyes to look anywhere but at him, the mere thought of his structured face and tantalising eyes sending her into a fluster. “I’m not really into drinking….still.”

“That was when you were in the country love, you’re not gonna be able to keep that up here for much longer!” Arthur’s voice bellowed over the bar sending a ripple of laughter through the family, Rose breaking into a smile and somewhat agreeing with his words. She turned back to Tommy instinctively with the smile still spread across her lips and instantly cursed herself when she met his eyes, making the exact mistake she had hoped to avoid. The smile stayed yet seemed out of place as her eyes widened slightly, ducking her head and pushing the few stray hairs from her face as she succumbed to the nerves. Her eyes settled on his broad chest, counting the buttons on his shirt as a way of distracting herself before letting her eyes flicker back towards his face. She parted her lips to speak, not the slightest clue what she was about to say but before she had chance John’s voice called out, saving her.

“Oi Rose.” she lifted her head quickly, desperate to find his voice to remove her from the embarrassing situation with Tommy. Michael gulped back his Whisky behind her, peering over her shoulder with strained eyes as he tried to gain John’s attention, realising what he may be about to say and shaking his head violently to warn him. “How’d your exam go?”

Michael let out a sigh and buried his head in his hands, wincing at the inevitability of Rose yelling at him later. She huffed and squeezed her eyes closed, pulling herself together before facing even more embarrassment.

“I failed” she rushed, her eyes still scrunched together before turning to Tommy and opening them quickly without worrying about meeting his for the first time, “I think I’ll have that drink.”

“It’s fucking lively down there, in London.” Arthur swayed his glass side to side, slumped back in the booth with John by his side, explaining to the half whom payed attention about his trip, “God those women, there’s just…...something about them.”

“Do they just have that ‘je ne sais quoi’?” Rose teased him leaning across the table a little too far, having to concentrate exceedingly hard on not slurring her words. She giggled whilst taking a sip of another Whisky, adding to an amount she had now lost count of. Expecting a laugh and nod of agreement from the family she pouted in an exaggerated manner when nothing came, frowning at them.

“What the fuck did you just say?” Arthur’s face contorted with confusion, him and John sharing a puzzled glance between one another as John attempted to repeat the phrase and ending up nowhere near.

“Je ne sais quoi?” Rose questioned as though the phrase should have been easily understood, not welcoming the bemused faces looking back at her and becoming slightly defensive when she heard Tommy chuckle lightly beside her, a small smile playing on her lips in a more flirtatious presence than she had of wished for, but the Whisky was in control of her actions now, no longer her rational mind. Tommy smiled back, finding her smile and inviting eyes to be more sweet than alluring, the glaze cast over her eyes confirming she was drunk.

“How the fuck do you know what that means, but you can’t pass a typewriter exam?” Arthur gave her a toothy smile while cracking into a hoarse laughter. Rose turned to him with a dramatic gasp, glaring at him before raising a finger across the table to his face.

“It is a correspondence course Arthur and how do you know the name and mechanics of every gun, yet can’t do simple adding up?” She snarled at him before raising an eyebrow and smirking playfully, waiting for him to respond until the whole family gave a chorus of jeers, confirming Rose had successfully put Arthur in his place. Arthur continued to smile, raising his glass again as though to cheers to Rose’s efforts.

“Cause I fought in the bloody war love” his voice echoed through the pub grabbing a few of the punters attention as he rose from his seat with a struggle, stumbling to the bar while John followed him to collect another bottle. Rose smiled to herself while watching them walk away, her vision seemingly jumping in and out of focus while she concentrated. She felt the touch on her lower back, turning slower than she had intended to see Tommy sat with a cigarette between two fingers, held towards her. She took it off him with great care, fiddling with it between her fingers before it made its way to her lips.

“Never going to stop smoking at this rate if you keep handing them out” Rose joked whilst taking another long drag, the smoke burning at her throat and leaving her mouth haphazardly as she struggled. Tommy’s turned up smile blessed his lips again, something Rose was thoroughly enjoying the sight of on that rare occasion.

“Oh you’d still be smoking Rose, trust me” he glanced around at the people of the Garrison as though he was suggesting that Small Heath as a place could turn even the most innocent people toxic, soon enough.

“Do you dance?” Rose spluttered excitedly all of a sudden, balancing the cigarette between her peach stained lips and already beginning to rise from her seat before he had answered. Tommy watched her carefully, holding an arm up only to steady her and being shocked, yet pleased when she grabbed onto it attempting to pull him from his seat.

“On occasion” he spoke truthfully, those occasions being incredibly infrequent. He rose from his seat with one hand still in hers, his other held tightly onto his cigarette as he took a final drag before stubbing it out into the glass tray on the table. Rose slipped her way out from the table and began to twirl around under his arm, swaying side to side clumsily before they made it anywhere near the crowd of people. Tommy watched, only realising now how drunk she actually was once she was on her feet, knowing if he let go of her hand she would more than likely be on the floor.

“Rose” he began, the concern evident in his voice though she wasn’t capable of noticing it. She didn’t respond, not having heard him over the boom of the jazz music being played into the pub, continuing to twirl about giggling. “Rose I think we best get you home ey?”

“No” Rose whined, dragging out the word with a pout, continuing to giggle seconds later as though forgetting Tommy’s words. He reached forward to take her other hand, hoping to guide her towards the door but she went stumbling into a man at the bar before he had the chance.

A small yelp left her mouth when she met his body, his hands having automatically reached out to grab her, her arms now dangling out to the side over his where he pulled her to a standing position.

“Are you okay?” he beamed at her, finding her drunken antics quite amusing and also finding the pretty face he was greeted with once she looked up to be quite the sight. “You’ve been enjoying yourself tonight haven’t you.” Rose simply let a girlish giggle slip her lips, no awareness of what she was doing in that moment as she attempted to steady herself, the man’s grip around her tightening when he felt her beginning to fall again. Rose half managed a nod in agreement which caused him to laugh, his tongue rolling steadily across his lip. “Well, how about we get you another drink then, you can have one with me this time.”

“Rose, were leaving” Tommy placed his hand on the small of her back, giving the man a polite nod as though to warn him against doing anything he may regret but also seemingly to suggest he had no problem with the exchange, which pained him. The man gave Rose one more look up and down and a smirk formed on his lips, Tommy grimacing at the hunger in the man’s eyes before he handed Rose over to him.

“Jesus christ she’s going to be bad in the morning!” John laughed as he approached Rose, the rest of the family following to get a better look, Michael the only one with worry tainting his face.

“I’ll take her home.” Michael insisted, reaching an arm out to steady her while Tommy reluctantly let him scoop her limp body into his arms.

“Take her back to our house Michael” Polly said, giving Rose a sorry expression as she watched her head lolling about, “let her stay in your bed for tonight.” Tommy blinked harshly, his head turning to Polly with sharp eyes as her words sent a rage racing through him before she continued, “You can manage on the sofa for a night.”

Michael said his goodbyes as he pulled Rose closer to him to get a better grip, John and Arthur holding open the Garrison’s door for him to get her out safely. Polly cooed with sympathy once Rose had left, feeling guilty for the having let the men get her in such a state. She looked to Tommy and shook her head with disappointment, receiving only an eye roll in return before he turned back to the bar and dug into his pocket for a cigarette, waiting a few moments until he was sure his family had dispersed throughout the pub once again. Harry dropped a Whisky onto the bar in front of him without Tommy having to say a word, he nodded in thanks, lighting the cigarette swiftly and turning to the man who had caught Rose. He coughed lowly, gaining the man’s attention and receiving a puzzled look when he didn’t speak but continued to smoke his cigarette slowly.

“Yeah?”

“You saw the girl, who fell into you here.” Tommy began, taking another drag on his cigarette.”

“Yeah.” the man smiled widely as he remembered.

“Well,” Tommy took a final drag, leaving the man waiting in anticipation as he stubbed it out on the bar and turned to him with his fingers folded between one another, leaning them on his chest. “You’re not to go near her again, do you hear me?”

Tommy waved his hand nonchalantly, as though having an ordinary conversation with a regular punter, his blank expression never wavering for a second whilst he had he man’s now panicked eyes caught in his stare. The man began to deny any wrongdoing, repeating the word no profusely as Tommy straightened up. He lifted his hands defensively, shaking his head and cowering at the fear of Tommy harming him yet he couldn’t, not wanting to draw the attention of his family as he wasn’t able to explain why he was giving the man this warning.

“No never Mr. Shelby, it won’t happen again I swear.” the man whimpered.

Tommy dragged his glass along the bar and downed the contents in one, allowing the Whisky to burn his throat and trickle its warmth into his chest, as though the pain was replacing his anger.

“Good, or I’ll fucking cut you and feed you the blade.”

#tommy shelby imagine #peaky blinders imagine #tommy shelby fic #peaky blinders fic #thomas shelby imagine #michael shelby imagine #thomas shelby fic #michael shelby fic #peaky blinder imagine

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kateemmerson · 4 years ago

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Musings of a Café Writer living #LocationFree

Living #LocationFree for the past 5 years is often met with wide eyes, scrunched up noses, and some weird questions. I know it might sound like nothing more than terrifyingly homeless mixed with exhilaratingly glamour-filled champagne parties on yachts, Instagram style.

It honestly falls somewhere smack between these two extremes.

While it may be very real that digital nomads (aka global nomads, remote workers, location free, etc.) might not have one permanent base to call “home,” we are certainly not “homeless.” We have a gazillion ways we each live into this lifestyle, and we can pretty much make it up as we go along – if we don’t like somewhere, we can move on to more suitable spaces, cities, countries (Covid and visa/passport reliant of course). Plus, folk living this lifestyle are not doing so because they have zero responsibilities, no partners, kids, animals, etc. – we are all working and contributing to society in some format. We have just figured out the best way to earn the required dollars en route – whether working remotely for a company, working in the digital online space, working in the country they are in, running global companies, have property investments, Bitcoin, or business investors – any type of work is possible, to be honest! The worklist is as varied as your creative brain allows … with the added benefit of freedom from a location. Of course, we sleep in beds too! Whether in fancy hotels, rented homes, snazzy apartments, Airbnb options, co-living, house-sitting, or any combo of the above. What binds us together as a tribe is that we are not bound to one location for work or life. There is a sense of freedom, mobility, choice, and possibility!

Possibility of options, countries, cultures, environments, lifestyle, etc

Right now, I’m chilling in a quaint café on the prom of Portobello (see pic taken at Miros <<<) with the quieter than usual buzz and banter as “we-are-in-weird-lockdown-life-but-still-allowed-out” vibe. I’ll soon be self-isolating again before I make my way to my mum in the UK for Christmas, so I am making the most of a little thrill of being outdoors at Edinburgh’s Seaside. There is a delicious light shimmering off the sea and bouncing off the clouds, reflecting the changes in the sun as we edge towards winter solstice. After 7 years of spending most of my time in summer or what travel agents refer to as shoulder seasons, I am fondly referring to my current city of choice as Edinburrrrrrr.

Remember my cold water swimming escapades on Iona that I shared earlier this year? I will manage one more cold dip this month, which means I will have been cold water immersing for 6 whole months! I didn’t even know that I wanted to try it before starting my significant retreat and detox process on Iona. I’m still in a bikini with no warm booties, gloves, or wetsuits like many swimmers – just keeping it real and semi mad. Even if my swims are super short -they still count as a cold water blitz of energy and immune-boosting habit!

This week, I launched my fifth book, and I feel like a kid in a Christmas Santa store, to be honest. It’s some insights, sharing, and tips from living the last 5 years #LocationFree. I also interviewed 16 other souls (between 40 and 60 years of age) living in similar ways to me. It’s a super exciting collection of tips snd stories for anyone who is intrigued about the possibility of downsizing, packing up, and living and working globally.

One of my all-time favourite things to do when I travel is sitting in a café or restaurant on a beach somewhere – from Malaga to San Fran, Cape Town to Skala Eressos. I simply need my laptop and a strong coffee or a fab glass of vino, depending on the time of day. And always water – and usually a kitty somewhere close by. I seem to attract them and consider myself a bit of a cat-whisperer. Did you spot the content kitty on my book cover?

There is an element of pure delight that is elicited when I can look up from my computer and see water – waves, sand, pebbles, sheep munching seaweed (yes 100% on Iona!), people laughing, kids playing, folk squealing in the waves and that heady aroma of sun, sand, sea, and sun-lotion. Or the smell of rain mixed into it more often than not, here in Edinburrrrr.

I find myself in this glorious city for most of winter 2020, exploring somewhere North. I am still officially #LocationFree and will be for the foreseeable future. I was only planning to be location free for one year, to figure out what country I wanted to live in, but it turns out it’s been too much fun, and here I am five years later.

Ooooh, the cafes you will find when not in your hometown. From dingy and downright skanky, to glamorous, elegant, and exotic; to simple family-run salt of the earth to trendy hipster vibes with a gazillion delicious choices; or the simple paired back local café that only serves one type of coffee and eggs – just the way you like them: the smells, the chalkboards, the conversations, and the locals. The cakes and the decadent treats made with love – from the latest LA trend to grandma’s secret pistachio and rose water recipe. A café is always filled with possibility – and is still the first place I seek out to feel like a “local” in a new spot. It’s one of my “settling-in” hacks I share in my book “10 Lessons for Living #locationFree

So I find myself with a big grin on my chops as I own the fact that I am a café writer. It can be a table on a busy cobbled street, a hotel lobby with glorious views of the pool, a tiny spot perched precariously on a hill, or my all-time favourite, seaside café!. Anywhere in the world, this will put always put a smile on my face.

If there is some Latin Salsa or Bachata music drifting out of the speakers even better, offering the quiet promise of a party as day turns to night….that will always make me type faster and get through my workload ready to pop on my salsa shoes and have a whirl on the floor.

I don’t even need earphones, really –in fact, my ears always get sore trying to wear earphones, no matter the brand or style! I usually welcome the buzz around me and find ways to switch off when I need to focus.

I have amassed a few “offices’ around the world that I have stamped my name on. To this day, there is one table at Gialos on Skala Eressos where we run writing retreats, which is known as Kate’s office. Although I didn’t get to work there in 2020, I know it is waiting patiently for me 2021. I am usually sitting at my “desk” by 6 am before the rest of the sleeping Greek village stirs. While the restaurant is still being cleaned and set up for the day – George will even stop his daily prep to bring me a double greek Coffee. Or as we order there – ena diplo hellenico para kalor!

PIC: This one below taken at my “office” Gialos in Skala Eressos when the world cup was on (and my Argentinean partner at the time was in Russia supporting his team)

It’s always about the views, to be honest. I find vistas open up my creativity and thinking. Sea trumps everything for me – being able to sit outside and feel the sunshine and breeze is high on my list of needs. When not working, I also love to be a fly on the wall, simply watching people. I can make up stories in my head ad Infinitum. Travelling a lot on my own, I also love to smile and then connect, laugh, and chat with total strangers. It’s bizarrely natural for me to make random comments and speak to people I walk past or sit next to. I will always talk to cats and dogs and stop owners for a cuddle of their four-paws if allowed. I guess that’s why I have found it relatively easy to be location free. What’s the point in staying separate and cut off from others– even when communicating from behind a mask nowadays, we can still connect energetically and with a twinkle in our eyes.

PIC – The awesome Malaga crew where I pulled together a writing group and started my book 10 Lessons for Living #locationFree exactly one year ago!! Note the lovely views right on the sea!

Wi-Fi is surprisingly not always high on my agenda, as I prefer working offline with fewer distractions when in writing/blogging mode. In fact, I will often choose cafes that do NOT have Wi-Fi – especially if I am running a writing group – as that just distracts everyone.

My challenge to you today is to visit a local café and watch the world unfold around you! Make it an adventure if you haven’t done it for a while. Take your laptop, a great book, or your journal to pen some thoughts. Let me know what you find on your café outing – I’d love to hear what great conversations you engage in or inspired ideas you come up with when sitting with a different view.

A dear friend just sent me this on Whatsapp this morning – so I will do my level best to simply keep on writing from my heart wherever I am. I just have to. What about you?

“Advice? I don’t have advice. Stop aspiring and start writing. If you’re writing, you’re a writer. Write like you’re a goddamn death row inmate, and the governor is out of the country, and there’s no chance for a pardon. Write like you’re clinging to the edge of a cliff, white knuckles, on your last breath, and you’ve got just one last thing to say, like you’re a bird flying over us and you can see everything, and please, for God’s sake, tell us something that will save us from ourselves. Take a deep breath and tell us your deepest, darkest secret, so we can wipe our brow and know that we’re not alone. Write like you have a message from the king. Or don’t. Who knows, maybe you’re one of the lucky ones who doesn’t have to.” Alan W Watts

WANT SOME INSPIRATION ABOUT POSSIBILITY? GRAB MY BRAND NEW BOOK 10 Lessons for Living #LocationFree

Do you wish you had the courage to follow your dream, to quench your wanderlust? To downsize, pack light and explore the world while still working? Do you honestly think others are able do it because they’re younger, richer, are single and have fewer responsibilities, with no kids to tag along?

Wrong. That’s simply not true. This book will show you that it’s possible no matter what your age! Do you really want to play it safe just because you’re no longer in your twenties, waiting on tables as you backpack around the world?

Musings of a Café Writer living #LocationFree was originally published on Kate Emmerson - The Quick Shift Deva

#author #blogger #caref writer #location free writer #travel writing #travelling light #writers holiday

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hellyeahrpmemes · 7 years ago

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※ JENNA MARBLES SENTENCE STARTERS, PT. IV ※

here’s sentences from 10 more of jenna’s videos! feel free to change names/pronouns/zodiac signs/etc.! PART 1 • PART 2 • PART 3

WE GOT A HAMSTER

“I want a hamster.”

“This is like the fourth thing you’ve said to me all day.”

“No, we’re not doing that.”

“Okay, whatever you say, Papi.”

“I’m a walking ad.”

“Are you excited to be a daddy?”

“We have great music we can listen to in the car.”

“I think he’s had it with me.”

“Get you a boyfriend who’s great with animals.”

“I like you an awful lot.”

“This is my dream. I’m living my dream life.”

“This is all very complicated.”

“We’re doing the best we can, given the current circumstances.”

MY BOYFRIEND BUYS MY MAKEUP

“At this point, fuck it.”

“This shit is so fucking expensive, it’s not even funny.”

“It was a lot more frustrating than I thought it was gonna be.”

“This is already bad.”

“I feel like you’re trying to sabotage me.”

“It’s as magical as I’d hoped.”

“Did you just get it to eat it?”

“Can you please get that out of your mouth?”

“Are you happy with your purchases?”

“Why would you conceal something when you can draw attention to it?”

“Honestly, this isn’t that bad.”

“This is actually pretty.”

“I’m good at this.”

“You bought it ‘cause it was called ‘hysterical’.”

“Sometimes you need it for moral support.”

“That peace of mind is what life is all about to me.”

“Is that what you wanted?”

“This is very subtle.”

“Why are you so close to me?”

“I mean, it’s a look.”

“Are you pleased with that?”

“I think you look great, fuck.”

“I feel like it could be worse.”

“Don’t you like unbearable pain?”

“Um, so, can I leave now?”

MAKING A TINY LIVING ROOM FOR MY DOGS

“I’m really tired of explaining myself, so, you know what? I’m just gonna cut to the chase.”

“I want one of those…!”

“This isn’t my house, we rent this.”

“I can fuck it up a little.”

“Because I’m an adult…!”

“Fuck it, we’re just gonna try and see what happens.”

“Oh, this is gonna suck.”

“Pray for me 2k17.”

“It got in my eyes, it’s not funny.”

“That’s better than nothing, right?”

“I’m no longer scared to be in here.”

“It doesn’t fit exactly, but, ya know… give me a break…!”

“Perfect. Nailed it.”

“Did it come with any nails? Of course it didn’t.”

“She straight up stole a liquor bottle and left.”

“It’s nicer in there than it is in our house.”

“You have a French Bulldog lamp, which I’m honestly jealous of, and I might take.”

“I have an under the stairs Harry Potter cabinet wonderland.”

BRAIDING THINGS INTO MY HAIR

“I know what you’re thinking: this hair is very dirty. You are correct.”

“I’m being incredibly selfish lately and I’m doing whatever I want to, and I’m having a great time.”

“Maybe this isn’t the best method.”

“This is amazing and you know it!”

“See, this is what happens when you just think a little.”

“I’m having a great time, and everything is great.”

“I’m on a roll, and this is amazing.”

“Why is there a fork in your hair?”

“You’ll be jealous later.”

“This is gonna help you, this is gonna change your life.”

“Not only is this incredibly functional, but look at how beautiful. Stunning.”

“It’s starting to feel a little heavy, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.”

“It looks great, it feels great, it is great.”

“I’m not trying to toot my own horn or anything, but this might be the best idea I’ve ever had, in my whole life.”

“We’ve had the secret the whole time, we just didn’t think of it…! I mean, maybe ‘cause it’s stupid, but it doesn’t matter, the option is there…!”

“We still wanna get a little turnt, but just a little.”

“That’s so fucking dark, wow, I hate myself.”

“I’m literally the smartest person I’ve ever met in my whole life.”

“I’m a human Christmas tree.”

“I mean, is it stupid? Yeah.”

“I have everything in here that I could possibly need for today.”

“This is incredibly functional.”

“10/10 experiment.”

A FULL FACE OF RHINESTONES

“I’ve used spirit gum, and that shit doesn’t come off.”

“No turning back now.”

“Everyone has different dreams, okay, and this one’s mine.”

“I can see my own disappointment in the reflection of the rhinestones.”

“I didn’t come here to fuck around.”

“Is this bad for you?”

“Nah, it’s probably fine.”

“Is this beautiful or what?”

“Don’t let people on the Internet fool you, this shit’s fucking easy.”

“Ooh, it feels so good, ooh.”

“It’s okay? This is great…!”

“I look like crystal Santa.”

“This is gonna be a nightmare to get off.”

“That’s fucking dope.”

“Are you jealous?”

“Do you want me to do yours?”

“Can you think of anything better to do than this?”

“Julien, has anyone ever told you that you’re a kind and patient boyfriend?”

“Julien, relationships mean compromising.”

“If you don’t stop talking shit to me…”

“We have to break up now, I’m sorry.”

“Are you ashamed of me?”

“Oh my god, this is fucked up, dude.”

“I can’t see…! I can’t fucking see…!”

“What is so funny…!?”

“I feel like a lizard person.”

“Don’t do drugs, not even once.”

“I don’t know how to help me.”

“Where’s Jenna? Who are you, what have you done?”

“Ow, be gentle…!”

“I relate to none of what you just said.”

“I don’t regret it, I think this was worth it overall.”

“I hope right now that your face is doing better than mine.”

“I’m gonna go to the hospital now.”

“Alright, your turn.”

READING MEAN COMMENTS ABOUT MY DOGS

“Who goes on the Internet to just shit on dogs? Satan.”

“Is he okay?”

“Does that sound like Hell to you?”

“Why does everyone think you’re dead?”

“I love you so much, but there’s nothing in your head.”

“Can you be on the verge of tears if you’re already crying?”

“That’s the most accurate comment.”

“It’s like he wants to die.”

“Get fucked.”

“Marbles is alive…!”

DOING MY OWN ACRYLIC TOENAILS

“Why am I like this?”

“I’m still not done with my acrylic adventure.”

“Are they functional? No. Do they look good? No. Does anyone want them the way I’m gonna do them? No.”

“I think I’ve made a terrible mistake already.”

“Off to a rough start, I’d say.”

“What have I signed myself up for?”

“Vote now if you think this is a terrible idea.”

“Oh my god, what have I done?”

“This is my own fault. This is my fault.”

“I don’t know why I thought this was gonna be fun and good.”

“If we’re doing it, we’re doing it all the way.”

“Fuck with me…!”

“Oh, that is everything I wanted.”

“I’m so pleased already.”

“Oh, god, it’s a bloodbath…!”

“Pray for my toes.”

“Oh, no, this is getting bad.”

“Oh, it doesn’t feel good.”

“It still doesn’t feel great.”

“My vision is coming to life.”

“I really hope this doesn’t end in me going to the ER.”

“This is the most attractive I’ve ever felt.”

“Take that, motherfucker.”

“This is a mistake.”

“That is fucking disgusting, that’s next level nasty.”

“I fucking did this. I did this…!”

“This feels terrible.”

“This is a fuckshow.”

“That’s fucked up. That’s fucked up.”

“Ow, oh my god, be gentle…!”

“Don’t do that, don’t do that, don’t do that don’t do that.”

“They came out really elegant.”

“What I lack in a license, I make up for in zest.”

“Is that gross? I think that’s pretty gross.”

MY BOYFRIEND TEACHES ME JIU JITSU 2

“That is gonna be a big problem.”

“Alright, I’m ready.”

“I’m not Sensei, I’m Julien.”

“I’m not Papa…!”

“What do you call your jiu jitsu teacher? Papa? Father? Do you call him Master? You call him Nunchuck Daddy.”

“I wanna show you something I think you’ll like.”

“Why are you wearing shoes?”

“Were you hiding these from me?”

“I should’ve eaten before we did this.”

“I’m hungry. And tired.”

“You can’t be a rag doll.”

“Ow, what the fuck, Julien!?”

“You don’t push my arm into another dimension…!”

“This feels like an unfair weight advantage.”

“Your elbows are exceptionally sharp.”

“Do not lick my fingers.”

“Sensei, forgive me, nunchuck master daddy, forgive me.”

“No no no no no, I was asking a question, please don’t make me pay for my mistakes…!”

“You did not nail it.”

“I nailed it.”

“This isn’t fun anymore.”

“How dare you call me a non athlete!”

“Boy, I can bowl you under the table.”

“Don’t touch my feet.”

“I’m gonna grab that.”

“And I’m gonna caress your face.”

“Please be gentle and don’t kill me by accident.”

“Oh, wait, we’re going somewhere? Oh my god, I would’ve packed a bag if I knew we were going somewhere.”

“What is wrong with you, I thought you loved me!?”

“I have whiplash, I need to go to the doctor.”

“Shit, my plan has been foiled.”

“I’ve been to the afterlife, I know what it looks like.”

“Yes, Daddy, I’m ready.”

“Fifty Shades Darker, tie me up.”

“Do you care about my neck at all?”

“Why do you move like a sloth?”

“How are you supposed to do anything with this many clothes on?”

“Stop saying Fifty Shades Darker.”

“I don’t know what you’re doing, this is too advanced for me.”

“I’ve unlocked a jiu jitsu hack!”

“Don’t fall asleep!”

“That is karate and you know it.”

DOING MY OWN ACRYLIC NAILS

“I’ve fallen down another beauty hole.”

“I know what you do is incredibly artistic and complicated and a skill.”

“Right about now I’m gonna show you how to be extra 2008 hot.”

“Girl, I’m sorry, but I’m going over to the dark side.”

“I’m really gonna try. I’m gonna go for it.”

“Okay, wow, I’m having a hard time already, and I’m just fitting the sticker.”

“I guess we’re just gonna make a pointy witch nail.”

“I’m kinda stalling because I’m legit fucking terrified.”

“We gotta work faster, I guess.”

“Susie, girl, you are a liar, this is impossible…!”

“The beauty, the grace, the craftsmanship.”

“I think the fuck not.”

“That is so ugly.”

“God, that is a mess.”

“Oh my god, it feels awful, I hate it.”

“This was the worst idea.”

“I’m not gonna lie, though, this it probably the most fun I’ve had doing my nails in a long time.”

“This is really fun, it just feels terrible.

“10/10 would never recommend doing this at home. Ever.”

“Do you hear that sound? It’s like my fucking soul dying.”

“It looks wrong, it feels wrong, it is wrong.”

“I’m actually really proud.”

“I think it looks elegant.”

“Why is this so hard? I feel like this should be the easiest part.”

“I don’t give a fuck!”

“I should’ve given a fuck!”

“I have done the things.”

“It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever done.”

“None of them look the same.”

“I’ve done it, y’all. I’ve drawn blood.”

“This is one of the worst decisions I’ve ever made.”

“I have to get this off and I don’t know how.”

“I think I’ve reached the moment of madness.”

“I don’t know what the fuck I was thinking.”

“I’m so mad at myself for doing this.”

“It’s not even worth it. Look at that, it’s mediocre at best.”

REACTING TO PEOPLE WHO HAVE SMASH OR PASSED ME

“I see everything.”

“They seem harmless.”

“Is it cause I don’t like the Suite Life of Zack and Cody?”

“Is it cause I don’t get your Drake and Josh jokes?”

“I don’t know what I did to deserve that other than being an adult.”

“What’s a girl gotta do to get spit on by a stranger on the Internet?”

“Aw, that was nice.”

“Yay for me.”

“None of this offends me.”

“I don’t think I have a winning record right now.”

“Take me on a trip on your dick ship.”

“She called me 2008 hot.”

“What do I gotta do to get to at least 2010 hot?”

“I wish I was 1776 freedom hot.”

#rp sentence starters #rp memes #rp sentence meme #roleplay meme #roleplay sentence starters #mine

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d-s-winchester · 7 years ago

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Salem

(gif credit to the creators)

Part Three

Master List

Pairing: Misha x OFC Word Count: 2,594 Warnings: None? Language probably A/N: Part three is here ladies and gents! Thank you all so much for your support on this! A HUGE thank you to Nicole (aka @iwantthedean) for betaing this for me, without her this story would never see the light of day. Anyway, feedback for this is awesome! :)

By the time Misha returned to the bed and breakfast, his mind was racing with ideas for the next part of his novel. Meeting Ophelia was a sort of inspiration he had yet to find; seeing the woman whose face matched the woman haunting his dreams somehow made the storyline that much more clear.

Olivia thought for a moment, considering all of the possible outcomes of a deal with this strange woman, before making her decision.

“What do I have to do?”

The witch grinned and floated over the ground as she approached Olivia, reaching the younger woman in a matter of seconds.

“All you have to do is sign, my dear,” the witch replied.She stretched both arms to either side of her crooked, frail body. With a poof of magic, a long scroll appeared in one hand, and a quill pen in the other.

The witch extended the quill to Olivia, who hesitated for a short second before taking the pen. The possible outcomes she had considered just a minute or two before escaped her mind; getting Jason back was worth whatever risk she was taking in agreeing to a deal with this witch. Pressing the ink dipped tip of the quill to the parchment, Olivia signed her name. The black ink burned red, illuminating Olivia’s signature before both the scroll and the quill pen disappeared as though they had never appeared in the first place.

“I’ll be seeing you soon,.” the witch cackled, before she too was gone from Olivia’s presence.

Thunder rumbled overhead as lightning cracked across the sky. The ground rumbled beneath her feet, causing Olivia to stumble away from the grave. Olivia watched in horror as the fresh dirt over Jason’s grave shifted, and a hand broke through the mound of dirt covering the grave.

Misha looked over at the clock set next to him on the desk. He’d only managed to refine a few more paragraphs, but the red letters were yelling out a late hour. He had no energy left to continue on the novel that night, and he wanted to be up early, before the rush at The Hexbag, so he could steal a little of Ophelia’s time before the register did.

***

Ophelia shot up in her bed, drenched in sweat and unable to catch her breath. The vague dreams she had been having were becoming vivid nightmares. After seeing the time on the clock on her nightstand, Ophelia saw she had only been asleep for a couple of hours. Images of Christopher climbing out of his grave, she knew, were going to keep her up for some time. No use in trying to get back to sleep for now.

With a tired sigh, she climbed out of bed, tossed her sweat soaked sheets into the wash, and started the shower. After washing the sweat from her skin, Ophelia dried off, put on a fresh pair of pajamas, and put clean sheets on the bed. She grabbed her favorite black knit cardigan from where it was hanging on the back of her desk chair and made her way out to her front porch.

She didn’t bother turning the porch light on before sitting down on the porch swing. She pulled the half-full pack of cigarettes from her cardigan pocket before grabbing one, putting it between her lips, and lighting it. She knew that smoking was a habit she needed to kick; she had over a year before, after all. Losing Chris had made the habit too easy to pick back up.

As she smoked her cigarette, Ophelia let her mind wander through all the possibilities of the meaning of her recent dreams. The handsome, blue-eyed man who had walked into her shop that day occasionally broke into her wandering mind, often enough that Ophelia wondered if her dreams didn’t somehow have something to do with the writer.

Ophelia grabbed the dream interpretation book she’d brought outside from the cushion next to her and opened it. She still left the porch light off, relying only on the moonlight and the bit of light coming through the window from inside. She scanned the table of contents hoping to find a topic even remotely related to her recent dreams. She scanned through the book for hours, ultimately coming up with no more answers than she’d had before she opened the book. Both tired and frustrated, she closed the book and made her way back inside, finally ready to get back to bed.

***

Jason stumbled toward Olivia, trying to get his bearings. She took in his appearance as he lumbered clumsily in her direction. Save for eyes that were sunken in and sallow cheeks, this man looked like her Jason. He’d been dead for so long, Olivia was surprised he looked as good as he did. The closer he got, the more Olivia realized how his skin had grayed and his hair had dulled from its living luster. She had once loved to run her fingers through Jason’s hair, to feel him contentedly lean his head against her shoulder while she did so. Olivia had a feeling that wasn’t a gesture she would be indulging in anytime soon.

“Jason?”

Jason looked in the direction of the sound; Olivia gasped as she took in the eyes she was now close enough to fully examine. They were completely cataract, the irises blood red -- not even close to the eyes she so longed to have staring back into hers once more.

He grunted in response and straightened to his full height when he reached her.

“It’s me,” she said tentatively, “Olivia.”

She reached out cautiously to touch him, letting out a yelp when Jason’s cold, clammy fingers wrapped around her arm before she could make contact with him. As his grip tightened, Olivia could only imagine how the vessels underneath her skin were bursting, leaving behind blue and purple marks.

The instant that Jason’s undead muscles stretched his mouth into a toothy, menacing grin, Olivia knew that she had made a mistake in bringing him back from the grave.

Misha leaned back in his chair and stretched. Thanks to the dreams he’d had the night before, he was able to spend most of the day writing. When he finally looked at the clock, he was chastising himself for spending the day holed up in his rented room in front of the laptop, and not keeping his promise to himself and Olivia to go to The Hexbag and do his research. Hoping the shop was still open, he saved his work and grabbed his notebook and room key before hurrying over to the little shop.

***

Ophelia had just finished doing the daily inventory and was just about to close out the register when the bell on the door jingled. She let out a sigh at the signal of someone else’s presence and turned toward the door, prepared to tell whoever it was that the shop was closed, when she saw Misha pulling the door shut behind him. She smiled, despite herself, as he walked toward the counter.

“Hey there, stranger,” she grinned. “Thought you forgot about me.”

“Sorry,” he smiled sheepishly, “I got so caught up in writing that I lost track of time. I’m hoping your offer still stands, even though it’s not lunch time.”

Ophelia chuckled at the way the man didn’t even bother to hide how hopeful he was that she allow him to stay. She fought off the light feeling she had at seeing him in her shop again, forcing herself to answer without similar hope in her voice and expression.

“Actually, I was just closing up,” she said. When Misha’s face fell, Ophelia quickly added, “But I was about to go home and make some dinner, if you’d like to join me.”

What the fuck was that, Lia? she thought to herself. The comment had come without thought, but it was too late to rescind the invitation now. Anyway, she didn't really mind cooking for two. He only looked slightly taken aback before he smiled.

“Uh, yeah,” he said clearing his throat, “that would be great.”

“Perfect,” she grinned. “You can just hang out while I close out the register, then we can get going. I have copies of the books you need at my house, so you can always do some research while I’m making dinner.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Ophelia gave him another smile. Misha wandered around the store while she finished closing out the register, then stood by patiently while she locked the shop door. Just as they were about to start walking toward Ophelia’s house, Christine approached them on the sidewalk.

“So glad I caught you,” Christine smiled at Ophelia. “I’ve got that lipstick you wanted to borrow.”

She handed the tube to Ophelia, who put it in her purse, and then Christine turned to Misha.

“Oh, hey Misha,” she smiled, speaking as though she hadn’t noticed him when she first approached. “I was hoping to run into you. Are you free tonight? I could treat you to the best dinner Salem has to offer.”

“Actually, I’m going to Ophelia’s for dinner,” he replied, “sorry. Maybe another time.”

Christine was coming on strong, and Ophelia could tell by the tone in his voice that Misha was only being polite about suggesting another time for dinner.

“Oh,” Christine said, seemingly caught off guard by the rejection. “Yeah, another time would be fine.”

Ophelia thanked Christine for the lipstick, and the group said their goodbyes. Neither Misha nor Ophelia noticed the angry way in which Christine’s fists clenched as she watched the two of them walk away.

The walk to Ophelia’s house was a short one, filled with effortless conversation. When they arrived, Ophelia opened the gate to the white picket fence surrounding her property, and Misha followed her up the stone walkway to the modest-sized Cape Cod.

“Sorry about the mess,” she said gesturing to the vibrant colored leaves littering her lawn, “I like to keep my lawn clean, but I haven’t had any time to rake. The shop has been so busy lately.”

“It’s fine,” he assured her. What he didn’t say out loud was that he thought the autumn leaves on the ground just added to the New England charm of the picturesque home.

“Make yourself at home,” she smiled when they walked inside. “I’m just going to go change really quick and grab those books for you before I start on dinner.”

Misha nodded and watched her disappear up the stairs. Once in her room, Ophelia changed out of her clothes and discarded them in the hamper before pulling on a pair of black leggings and an oversized, maroon, knit sweater. When she came back down the stairs carrying the books he needed, she saw that Misha was sitting on her couch flipping through a small notebook.

“Come on in the kitchen,” Ophelia smiled, garnering his attention. “You can check out the books while I cook -- that way if you have any questions I’m right here to answer.”

He showed his gratitude with a smile and followed her into the small kitchen. He sat down on a barstool at the island where Ophelia had left the books before going to start her cooking.

“Hope you like chicken parm,” she said, pulling some pans from a cabinet. “I was planning on making it anyway since I’ve had a weird craving for it lately, but I know it takes a little longer.Do you mind?”

“Are you kidding me?” he laughed, his face lit with excitement. “Chicken parm is my absolute favorite. I’ll gladly wait for it.”

She grinned at him and set to work making dinner. While she cooked, the books were forgotten as the pair talked about anything and everything. By the time they were finished eating, they’d even learned about each other’s childhoods and favorite things.

As the night wore on, they made their way out to the porch swing, each with a glass of wine in hand. Ophelia pulled a cigarette from the pack waiting beside her on the swing and lit it without thinking.

“Sorry if this bothers you,” she said, blowing a stream of smoke above her head. “An old habit I recently picked up again.”

“You’re fine,” Misha assured. He laughed, “I’ve smoked a few cigarettes in my life, so it doesn’t bother me.”

They sat in comfortable silence for a while, just enjoying being in the presence of the other. Although enjoying the peaceful moments with her, Misha let curiosity get the best of him after a few minutes, and broke the silence.

“So, how’d you come to own The Hexbag?”

“I used to go in there all the time when I was younger,” she began. “I’ve always been fascinated by witchcraft. I’m actually descended from one of the women hung during the witch trials, so it started out with me simply wanting to learn about my ancestry, and the fascination grew from there. Then, a few years ago, the previous owner was ready to retire and since I had been working there for several years at that point, George figured there was no one better to sell the shop to than me.”

“Do you practice witchcraft?” he asked without really thinking. Ophelia’s eyes were wide and her brow raised when she turned quickly to meet his eyes. Misha cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you. I asked that question without much thought, I suppose.”

She laughed loudly and leaned her forehead on his shoulder. The move surprised both of them, though neither showed it. Misha recovered quickly, chuckling along with her.

“Still so gullible,” she said when her laughter calmed. “I don’t. I’ve never wanted to, especially after learning about my lineage. Doesn’t mean if you asked me for a certain spell I couldn’t tell you exactly what ingredients you’d need and exactly how to execute it.”

“That’s actually really interesting.”

She nodded. “So, how’d you get into writing?”

“I did a lot of reading when I was a kid,” he shrugged, “and it got to a point where I felt like I could write better stories than what I was reading. I started writing and I haven’t stopped since.”

Ophelia cocked an eyebrow at him. “Did you achieve your goal?”

“Definitely,” he grinned.

She laughed again, putting her cigarette out in the ashtray on the arm of the porch swing. Misha laughed too; that sound and the pretty blue of the eyes she was once again looking into sparked a familiar feeling of attraction. Immediately on the defensive, Ophelia’s laughter faded away and she let out a sigh.

“It’s getting late,” she said, standing from the swing and crossing her arms over her chest. “I should be getting to bed. Gotta deal with another rush tomorrow -- a few of them, probably. ‘Tis the season.”

“You’re right,” he said, standing as well. He walked with her toward front steps and when he reached the bottom he turned around to face her.

“Thanks for dinner, Ophelia,” he said with a more-than-friendly smirk.

Misha then turned back toward the stone walkway, not giving her an opportunity to answer. Between the restless sleep of nights filled with dreams she didn’t understand, a sudden and strong attraction to a man she hardly knew, and that smirk she knew would be on her mind for at least a few days, Ophelia was exhausted. Once Misha was back through the gate of the picket fence, she went inside, eager to get some rest.

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celebritylive · 5 years ago

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Celebs are feeling the holiday spirit.

Taking a break from fulfilling their own families’ Christmas wish lists, these stars set aside time and resources to make sure complete strangers have just as wonderful holiday seasons. Whether they were making sure no one went hungry in their communities or setting up magical experiences for those most in need, the 10 do-gooders below have left us with leaky eyes this month.

Cardi B The rapper was spotted at a local Miami Target on Dec. 20, where TMZ reports she stocked up on thousands of dollars in gifts for children — everything from dollhouses to sports sets and more. The holiday haul — reportedly valued at $5,000 — was then loaded into a rented moving truck before heading off to be delivered to lucky recipients.

A rep for Cardi B didn’t immediately return PEOPLE’s request for comment, but the “Press” singer’s past generosity is well-documented. Last year, the rapper visited the Gravesend neighborhood in Brooklyn to donate free winter coats to families in need. Although she was raised in the Bronx, Brooklyn has special meaning for Cardi — it’s where she shot her videos for “Red Barz” and “Pull Up on Me.”

Kylie Jenner

The beauty mogul billionaire was joined by mom Kris Jenner on a trip to the San Fernando Valley Rescue Mission, where they passed out food and toys from the Kylie truck and posed for photos. “I had so much fun. I had such a great time meeting all those people and just seeing everybody so happy as we left made the rest of my year,” Jenner said in the vlog documenting their trip.

Michael B. Jordan and Ellen DeGeneres

In a preview of DeGeneres‘ holiday special Ellen’s Greatest Night of Giveaways on The Ellen Degeneres Show, the Just Mercy star made a surprise visit to the Educational Gilmore Community Learning Center, a New Jersey organization that aids at-risk youth. Founder Frank Gilmore was left in happy tears when the actor announced DeGeneres would be covering his rent for two years, giving him $50,000 cash toward improving the program and gifting it a Mercedes van.

“This is a huge burden lifted off my shoulders,” Gilmore said. “I was just so emotional. That was my first time crying in front of any one of my mentees. I couldn’t believe that this was happening to me.”

Gary Sinise

The Forrest Gump actor’s nonprofit, the Gary Sinise Foundation, and American Airlines treated about 1,000 children of fallen military members to an all-expenses-paid trip to Disney World earlier this month. “I’ve gotten to know a lot of these families,” Sinise told WKMG about the event. “I love them and I want to just do something to help them through.”

“The important ingredient is that these kids meet each other and they know they’re not alone. They make friendships that last a lifetime,” he added.

Steph and Ayesha Curry

Dressed as The Grinch and Cindy Lou Who from How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the Currys revealed their identities to 2,000 Oakland families in attendance at Eat. Learn. Play’s Winter Wonderland event in late December. In partnership with the City of Oakland’s Parks, Recreation and Youth Development, Eat. Learn. Play. hosted kids and parents from across Oakland for an afternoon of holiday activities, including ornament making, family portraits, cookie decorating and a visit with Santa Claus! Families also went home with gifts including complete meal kits (with a turkey and all the fixings), toys, books and games.

LeBron James

The NBA star has a tradition of treating students at his I Promise School to a magical trip on the Polar Express.

Mr. LeBron sent his 3rd graders on the Polar Express for a magical journey to the North Pole!

#WeAreFamily pic.twitter.com/Bg2qPq1iMx

— I PROMISE School (@IPROMISESchool) December 11, 2019

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Last year, James opened the I Promise School through his Lebron James Family Foundation as an addition to the Akron Public Schools in his hometown of Akron, Ohio. The institution serves at-risk children and their parents, and provides free meals and bikes to students.

Kevin Hart and Kelly Clarkson

On The Kelly Clarkson Show, a single mother named Andrea told her story of sharing a house with 10 other people while raising her two sons and pursuing a nursing degree. The celebs surprised the mom with a scholarship to cover her tuition, presents for her boys, and a fully furnished apartment for her to move into courtesy of Xfinity.

Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos

View this post on Instagram #Ad I had a blast showing Mark where groceries are born and #DeliveringSmiles with @Amazon to our friends at @winnyc_org – the city’s largest provider of family shelter and supportive housing! Learn more about how you can give back this holiday season on Amazon.

A post shared by Kelly Ripa (@kellyripa) on Dec 16, 2019 at 6:42am PST

//www.instagram.com/embed.js

The husband and wife duo joined Amazon in hosting a holiday party for New York City-based charity Win NYC, which provides shelter and housing for homeless families, in delivering items from the organization’s AmazonSmile Charity List.

“We’ve really been very fortunate in our lives, our kids are healthy and our parents are relatively healthy and, so we’ve been blessed beyond, beyond. So to be able to be involved with an organization like this and give a little something back means everything to us because we’ve already been blessed beyond our wildest dreams,” Ripa told PEOPLE about their involvement.

Nick Cannon

Cannon dressed up as Santa Claus at the second annual L.A. Give Back presented by the Zen, Power 106, Nick Cannon Mornings & Variety BGC in Los Angeles on Dec. 21.

DJ Khaled and Meek Mill

The hip hop stars hosted a shopping spree with support from REFORM Alliance for children at the NBA Store in N.Y.C. in late December, helping kids buy sports apparel. Later, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft arranged to fly the families to Gillette Stadium on the Patriots’ charter plane to watch the team take on the Buffalo Bills.

Jesse McCartney

The singer visited Minneapolis’s Masonic Children’s Hospital to perform for patients and give them Love Your Melon beanies. There, he gave a special serenade to a patient who had just undergone heart surgery. “This is Julia. We met in the elevator at The Masonic Children’s Hospital just two days after her open-heart surgery,” McCartney wrote on Instagram. “These are my favorite venues. The ones that make a difference. Mom’s reaction makes it all worth it!”

Ally Brooke, Emma Roberts and David Arquette

The trio joined forces in L.A. two weeks before Christmas, teaming with Feeding America and Para Los Niños to host the annual Felices Fiestas in Los Angeles to celebrate the holidays and raise awareness around the issue of hunger. They helped provide lunch and fresh produce to more than 700 children and families, distributing fresh fruit and veggies farmers’ market-style to the more than 2,000 attendees.

from PEOPLE.com https://ift.tt/2S8yEdX

#Celebrity

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tiffanyunscripted · 5 years ago

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5 Billion Rentals: 8 German Films You Should Rent from DVD Netflix

I have a love for cinema around the globe. My column, "Around the World in Cinema" highlights some films that you should rent from DVD Netflix. I challenge you to broaden your mind and discover films by filmmakers from other countries. Add them to your queue today.

Here are my picks from German filmmakers that I believe will make a wonderful movie night. Let me know what you think in the comments.

Labyrinth of Lies (2015)

prosecutor Johann Radmann investigates a reporter's tip on crime and corruption. What he uncovers is a trail of evidence that leads to several public-sector employees, linking them to atrocities committed at the Auschwitz concentration camp during Germany's Nazi regime.

Hannah Arendt (2012)

a Jewish-German philosopher flees Nazi Germany. She accepts an assignment from the New Yorker to cover the trial of an infamous war criminal. Her article ignites a firestorm of controversy around the globe.

Colonia (2016)

Lufthansa flight attendant Lena meets up with her German boyfriend in Santiago, Chile for a romantic tryst. Their romantic rendezvous is cut short when he's taken by the military police. Lena is desperate to save him. She sets off on a dangerous mission that could be life-changing.

The People vs. Fritz Bauer (2015)

Fritz Bauer is serving as a state attorney general in postwar Germany when he receives word that fugitive Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann is residing in Argentina. Bauer is intent on bringing him to justice by any means necessary. he enlists the aid from the Israeli Mossad to capture him.

Morris from America (2016)

An African-American teen, Morris Gentry, moves to the provincial city of Heidelberg, Germany. Feeling out-of-place and uncomfortable, Morris takes refuge in hip-hop music and soon meets the beautiful Katrin. His life may never be the same.

Schultze Gets the Blues (2003)

Schultze is settling into retirement in Teutschenthal, Germany. He enjoys visiting pubs, fishing, and playing traditional polka music on his accordion. His life is turned upside down when he visits Louisiana.

Hot Summer (1968)

The German musical comedy can be compared to Grease. It follows a group of teenage girls heading to the Baltic coast together for their summer vacation. They wind up meeting and engaging with a group of rambunctious teenage guys that often quarrel and have flirtatious competitions that are played out in lively song-and-dance numbers.

Vincent Wants to Sea (2010)

A father refuses to deal with his son's, Vincent, Tourette syndrome. He places him in an institution. Vincent and two fellow patients break out and steal a doctor's car in order to fulfill his mother's wish to have her ashes scattered at sea.

You can watch these films over a huge bowl of popcorn. Rent them from DVD Netflix via dvd.netflix.com. Add them to your queue today. If you don’t have an account, you can sign-up for a free month. If you decide to keep the membership, pay as little as $7.99 per month to enjoy DVD Netflix’s massive database of blockbusters, documentaries, independent films, and more.

Disclaimer: As a DVD Nation Director, for introducing the DVD Netflix service to you, as well as writing about some awesome movies to rent that can be challenging to find anywhere else, I’m rewarded and always happy to share awesome movies with you. #dvd20 #dvdnation #ad

#dvdnation ad dvdnetflix

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lynestvstoriesblr · 8 years ago

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THE SAGA OF ELIJAH AND GERTRUD: PARALLEL LIVES CHAPTER 4B-2:APART AND TOGETHER I DID IT! I REALLY DID IT!! CH.4 IS COMPLETE! AS ALWAYS, COMMENT AND ENJOY!!!!!!

“Here we are, kids” The landlord let them in to their new apartment. Elijah was glad the guy was in front of him, for the newspaper ad for this place stretched the truth way too much and Elijah’s smile faded way too fast. The whole apartment was basically one room and not too overly big a room in the first place. The ad had implied that this place came fully finished, but aside from the supplies for the tiny kitchen, the only furniture that Elijah saw, was a single lamp, a lounge chair, a small black & white TV set that was perched rather unsafely on top a step stool. A pair of mismatched lawn chairs and one of those big wooden spools they used to store industry cables turned up served as a makeshift dining set. That was it. In fact, Elijah didn’t even see a major piece of furniture.

“Uh, where’s the bed?” He asked the landlord.

“Right behind the curtain. It’s a Murphy bed. When you want to sleep, just move the chair out of the way and bring it down. In the morning, it goes right back up again.”

Elijah silently nodded. He was wondering what double curtains would be doing in the middle of a wall. He supposed it was some of the storage space the ad boasted about but no. So far, the only closet Elijah had found was the small closet opposite the door.

“Well, I’ve got to go.” The landlord announced, “Your extra keys are on the counter in the kitchen. Goodnight.”

Elijah waited until the door closed before he exploded. “Goodnight! As if he doesn’t know that he’s royally ripping us off! Gertrud, I don’t mean to be a snob, darling, but I think we should go right back downstairs and demand our money back. We can’t live here! You have to make sure the front door is shut just to find the bathroom! In fact, name me 1 good thing about this place.”

Gertrud who had been arranging their bags in the corner, straightened. “I can name 2, Liebchen. The landlord didn’t ask to see a marriage license and this apartment was available sight unseen.”

“Of course it was available sight unseen! For what idiot would come see this place and knowingly return to buy it?” Elijah raged, “This is way too small. We could never keep a baby in here.”

“Then I guess it’s a good thing he or she is not showing up tonight.” Gertrud said sensibly before she walked over to Elijah and took his hands in hers. “All that really matters right now is that we’re together, right? It’s been an extraordinary long and stressful day, darling, and all I want to is sleep. Could you please move that chair so we can pull down the bed?”

Elijah had always been a sucker for Gertrud’s prefect blue eyes. He honestly thought that Gertrud could talk him into starting World War 3 if she really wanted to. So, he moved the lounge chair and pushed it up against the wall, next to the lamp. Then he and Gertrud bought down the Murphy bed together or at least, they tried to. It seemed that t he bed was simply too long for the room. The end of it seemed to be struck in the wall between the living room and the kitchen. Elijah went to the edge and tried to push it down by hand. It wouldn’t budge. Elijah got down on his hand and knees to have a closer look. It was shocking to him that the bed was a good 4 or 5 inches off the ground.

“This is just too much! As if the small place wasn’t enough, now they expect us to sleep in an uneven bed? I think we should leave. What do you think, Gertrud? Gertrud? Gertrud!”

Worried when his love didn’t answer, Elijah got up. What he saw drained all his anger and left his heart overflowing with love. For there, on her side of the bed and still fully dressed, Gertrud laid, already fast asleep. It was little wonder, considering the very long and busy day Gertrud had just finished telling him about. They had both been rudely awaken at 6 AM when a nurse came into his room and kicked Gertrud out. Gertrud then walked all the way across town, to the apartment building where he and Gertrud lived with different roommates under the ruse that they were cousins. When she got there, Gertrud couldn’t say she was altogether surprised to discover that her roommate, Erica, had thrown all of her and Elijah’s things into the gutter. Sitting on the curb, Gertrud patiently sorted out all of their things. Folding the clothes and placing them and other belongings in their proper suitcases while putting all her jewelry and other finery in her purse. Gertrud went to the Gotham train station to rent a locker where she put the bags for the day with only enough time for her to rush off to start her 9:00 AM shift at Queenie’s hair salon on time. Armed with a phonebook, Gertrud used her lunch and other breaks to call the many; many pawn shops in the huge city, trying to figure out which one would give her the most bang for her buck. She went to the one that sounded the most promising right after getting off work at 3. She augured with the owner a bit. In the end, Gertrud left with less money than she had hoped for but still a fair amount to get the young couple started. With zero time to spare, Gertrud hopped a bus to get to her second job at a bar and grill. Again, all her free time was spent on the phone. This time, Gertrud was house hunting. Searching for apartment with low rent, would allow she and Elijah could live together in the same unit and was move in ready. A tall order, she knew, but at the last possible second, she has found one that sounded perfect. At 8, Gertrud returned to hospital to get Elijah. It happened to be hospital policy that heart patients only be released into the custody of family members so Elijah had to wait all day for his ‘cousin’ Gertrud to show up. When Elijah heard of this policy, he was shocked but very soon, his shock turned to fury. First, a completely unneeded overnight stay and now, this! In Elijah’s opinion, he had wasted an entire day! He was forced to cancel a double shift he was due to work today and leave the entire running around to Gertrud. By 8:30, he was a free man and he and Gertrud went to the train station to collect their bags. It was dark before they found their new building and stepped into the landlord’s office. Add all that on top of her 24/7 job of growing their baby inside of her and it was no wonder why the woman was already asleep!

“Maybe living here won’t be so bad.” Elijah said to himself as he turned on the lamp. Besides, Gertrud was right. All that mattered right now was that they were together. Since there was no other way around the bed, Elijah walked passed the dinning area and through the kitchen, coming out the other side. There, he searched through the bags until he found his nightclothes and one of Gertrud’s nightgowns. He threw the PJs on the bed. Then, because it was easiest, Elijah took off Gertrud’s shoes and stockings first then gently turned her onto her back. Taking her nightgown, Elijah knelt down and he rolled up the nightgown by the neck hole and laid it in his lap. Next, he unfastened the buttons on the front of her dress. Gertrud gave a small moan of protest when Elijah took hold of her forearms and gently raised her up into a sitting position.

“Elijah?” she questioned, without opening her eyes. “What are you doing?”

I’m practicing, darling. Dressing and undressing for when the baby comes.” Elijah smiled at his own answer.

“Oh…okay.” Amazingly, while she still sitting up, Gertrud’s head dipped slightly to the side and she was asleep once more.

It took a bit of tricky moving on his part, but somehow Elijah managed to get Gertrud’s arms out of her dress, got the nightgown over her head and her arms into the correct sleeves. As he did so, Elijah wondered why was it that sometimes it’s more intimate to dress a woman for bed then to undress her. Gertrud was still in his arms when Elijah un-tucked the bed and pulled the blanket back as far as he could before he gently laid her down and rested her head upon the pillow. He then lifted up her rear to slip the dress off of her legs and pulled down the rest of the gown and pulled the blankets back further before he put down her legs and covered her with the blankets. After getting up, Elijah quickly got into his own nightclothes, folded his own day clothes along with Gertrud’s dress and left it on the baggage.

“Goodnight, my love.” Elijah whispered and kissed her cheek as he switched off the main light and journeyed back to his side of the bed. After spending all day doing nothing but waiting in or around a hospital bed, Elijah wasn’t exactly tired at the moment. So, he turned on the black and white TV set as he passed that way, turning off the lamp and relaxed in bed. He watched it on mute, of course, as so not to disturb Gertrud. An hour later, Gertrud rolled over in her sleep and snuggled close to Elijah’s side while he placed an arm around her and rubbed her back. After 2 hours, Elijah’s eyes began to droop and he cursed the fates that his new TV didn’t come with a remote control. After many attempts, Elijah finally got up and turned the television off. Returning to bed, Elijah realized he hadn’t cuddled up to Gertrud like this in ages. Elijah smiled; maybe this rat hole had really good hidden benefits after all.

It was only 3 nights later, when Elijah came home from working a triple shift. From the moment he opened the front door, he knew something was off. There were certainly signs of life in the apartment. All the lights were on as was the TV. Her history books were also all open and on the table, complete with a pad filled with notes and a pen that lay nearby. There was only one problem however; there was no sign of Gertrud.

So, Elijah called out to her. “Gertrud?”

“In here, Lib” the last word was lost to sounds of vomiting and chocking.

Worried now, Elijah quickly pocketed his keys, shut the front door and turned to look in the bathroom. There he saw Gertrud kneeing before the toilet, holding her hair off to one side. Elijah wetted a facecloth and knelt by Gertrud, giving her the cloth and rubbing her back.

“Morning sickness again? Poor Gertrud, I though you outgrew this when you finished your first trimester.”

“Oh, I know.” Gertrud agreed. “But just made a very sudden and a very unwelcome return.”

Gertrud waited a few minutes to make sure she was truly finished then she wiped her mouth again just she sat back and laid her head on Elijah’s shoulder. “Do you think this could be related to the cramps?”

She of course, was referring to the fierce cramps she had the night before. At the time, Gertrud had panicked badly, fearing that she was in the middle of a miscarriage. It was Elijah who calmed her down when he showed her a passage in the pregnancy book that stated that cramps were normal in a pregnancy. Gertrud still wanted to call 911, but Elijah convinced her to wait a bit. Sure enough, the cramps were gone within an hour.

“My poor Gertrud.” Elijah repeated. “This pregnancy been tough on you.”

“It’s alright.” She smiled. “It all fades into nothing when I think of how much I want this baby, our baby.”

Elijah grinned. “Me too.”

They cuddled a bit in silence. Meanwhile, the TV continued to play on in the next room.

“Breaking news this hour, as an apartment fire explodes in downtown Gotham tonight. Police do not suspect foul play. The building located on 58th street and 6 ave.- “ Elijah tensed as Gertrud gasped loudly.

Elijah was the first to recover his voice. “58&6th? That’s”

“The Martin’s building.” Gertrud finished for him.

Quickly, they both got off the bathroom floor and dashed into the other room. They were shell-shocked to see an apartment building engulfed in flames on the screen. A building they lived in only 5 days before.

The reporter went on. “The fire seemed to have started on the 9th floor.”

Elijah’s heart leapt into his throat. “Oh, Gertrud!”

“It’s even worst than seems, dearest. I fear the fire didn’t only start on my floor, but in my apartment, if not even in my room.”

Elijah was beside himself. “What?! How can you tell?”

Gertrud went closer and pointed her finger to the screen. “Look, notice how the window that’s busted up the most was the 5th one on the left? Well, the 5th window on the 9th floor was my bedroom window.”

Elijah listened to the rest of the report before taking Gertrud into his arms. “Well, at least no one was hurt.”

“Yeah,” She agreed with him but Elijah could still feel her shaking.

There were only 3 windows in the whole apartment and in a desperate attempt to find some cool, fresh air; Elijah had already tried 2 of them. He opened the third and was disappointed to find the same stale, hot air that came out of the other two. How was he supposed to know that such a rainy spring would turn into one of the hottest summers on record? Giving up on air, Elijah returned to the table, took a long swing of his lemonade and went back to work on the dress. Despite all the odds and doubts, he and Gertrud had lived in the tiny apartment for the last 2 months. It about a week after the fire, in the middle of the night that Gertrud sat straight up in bed. It was her sharp gasp that awoke Elijah. When he asked what was wrong and she answered that it was the baby, Elijah leapt out of bed, threw on some clothes and was halfway out the door to use the payphone in the lobby, to call 911, when Gertrud called him back to bed. She then took his hand and placed it on her exposed belly so Elijah could feel what she was feeling; their baby was moving for the first time. Elijah laughed in wonder. Soon, he and Gertrud’s excited glances turned romantic and he kissed her. As Gertrud tried to lay back and bring him with her, Elijah heard a cracking sound that he didn’t trust. Still, his passion for Gertrud was stronger than any rotting bed. So, Elijah made a little area on the floor, complete with blankets and pillows, before gently bringing Gertrud down to him and made love to her there. In the afterglow they lay side by side as Elijah absent-mindedly stroked Gertrud’s stomach and expressed a desire to see her with a big belly. It was like his wish came true right on cue. For mere days later, Gertrud’s pregnancy curves blossomed and grew a little more pronounced everyday. Gertrud had a slight worry that her new shape would not be to Elijah’s liking but Elijah found himself more attracted to Gertrud then ever before. He couldn’t keep his hands off of her and made love to her every chance he got. Yet it was more than just sexual. Gertrud had accused him of being addicted to her bump. She was joking, of course, but Elijah wasn’t quite sure there wasn’t a ring of truth to it. No matter what they were doing, talking, reading, watching TV or lounging in bed, Elijah’s hand always seemed super glued to Gertrud’s mid-section. Elijah’s new favorite thing to do was to wait until the baby was active and kicking, then poke with a finger where the tiny foot had just been and wait for a reaction, which he almost always got. Elijah had stroked, rubbed, kissed, poked, sung, read talked and once tried to look into Gertrud’s stomach by her belly button, much to the soon-to-be mother’s laughter and delighted. Elijah had even developed the habit of falling asleep with his arms around Gertrud’s waist and his hands on her tummy. No matter how busy life got, Elijah and Gertrud always made it to their monthly appointments at the free clinic and both were always thrilled to hear that the baby had a clean bill of health. Recently, someone had asked if the couple wanted to know their baby’s gender. It was Elijah who had flatly refused. Later on, Elijah explained that demanding a son would be what a rich man would do, what his father would do. He was already completely in love with this baby, and as long as it was healthy, Elijah couldn’t care less whether it was a boy or a girl. Extremely touched by his explanation, Gertrud agreed to wait until the birth to discover the sex. Things were great between them but as in every life, a little rain must fall. The bleak point came about a month ago, when Elijah lost his job. It came as a shock, to say the least. Except for the stupid stay in the hospital, Elijah had not even miss one single day of work, never refused any overtime or did anything wrong. Elijah had been furious to discover the real reason for his termination. The manager’s newly married nephew needed a job and thus, Elijah was let go. It just wasn’t fair, as Elijah himself was about to be married and had a baby on the way. He must have told Gertrud all this with an attitude because she snapped back that she had been supporting herself since she was 15. This sparked the first real fight between them. Elijah called himself a loser and accused her of being with him only for the baby sake while Gertrud yelled back that she had no insurance that he wouldn’t soon tire of the ‘poor life’ and return to his parents. When Elijah did finally realized that they were having an argument, he burst out loud laughing while Gertrud gave him a look of bewilderment. Elijah then told her, he was glad they had a fight, it made them more of a couple, somehow, not 2 kids playing house. Elijah then took Gertrud in his arms and kissed any left over anger right out of her. After some lovemaking, they had a calm discussion. Due to their very similar mindsets, Elijah and Gerturd didn’t fight very often but common sense told them they were bound to disagree from time to time. They soon resolved to become one of those couple that never went to bed angry. As they kissed on it, the bed broke off its hitches; they had forgotten to make love on the floor! In the upcoming days, Elijah tried hard to find a new job, but like everything else in Gotham City, the job market was harsh and unforgiving. The newspaper office said he was too old to be a delivery boy, the temp agency only felt comfortable hiring women, and so on and so on. Elijah finally got a job running a newsstand. However, he worked only on Sundays and the hours were crazy. It was not at all usual for Elijah to leave for work before Gertrud even awoke and return after she was in bed. Elijah tried hard to convince his boss to let him work more than once a week but because the owner of the stand was an immigrant who needed the income just as much and didn’t work Sunday because he promised his wife, it was in vain. Still, Elijah knew that working 1 day a week wouldn’t cut it. Their pawnshop money hadn’t lasted long and soon they were back living from paycheck to paycheck. Therefore, it wasn’t a surprise when Gertrud announced that she had changed her hours at the restaurant from part-time, 4 to 8 pm to full-time 4 pm to 12 am. Although, he expected it, Elijah didn’t like it. As her pregnancy advanced, Elijah felt Gertrud should be slowing down not taking even more onto her plate. But, money was stretched so thin; he knew he couldn’t say anything. She wanted to hide it from him, but Elijah knew that after working 2 full-time jobs all day, everyday, Gertrud often came home tired as a dog yet she never, ever complained. How could he not love her all the more for it? As Gertrud worked outside the home, Elijah figured the least he could do was work inside the home. In additional to taking Gertrud’s suggestion of taking in sewing from people in the building for extra money, he also made sure the apartment was kept clean, did the laundry, the food shopping and whatever else needed to be done. Although he was no cook, he always made sure Gertrud had something to eat by the time she came home. One day, as Elijah was dragging the now worthless Murphy mattress to the dumpster behind the building, he bumped into a neighbor. They got to chatting, and Elijah soon discovered that the man had a second, almost like new second mattress to spare and he was willing to part with it, for say, a TV set? Elijah readily agreed to this deal. He barley used the television and he knew Gertrud had no time to bother with it. Besides, they needed a place to sleep far more than they needed a TV. It was while he was in the other apartment, helping to move the mattress, that Elijah spotted them, a balloon curtain made out of white silk. Elijah knew instantly that it the perfect material to make Gertrud’s wedding dress! He paid the man 10 dollars cash for it. Recreating the material into a dress without the aid of a sewing machine seemingly took forever. Elijah still wanted to keep the wedding dress a semi-secret so he only worked on it when he was home alone which unfortunately was a lot lately. With one final cut, Elijah realized he was finally finished. Elijah made a face; it was a fine dress he supposed but it was just so plain looking. How Elijah wished he could pretty it up with pearls, some lace or something, but he and Gertrud had made a pact that unless it was for food or bills, they would save every penny they earned for a new place to live or their fore coming baby. Besides, Elijah felt bad enough not telling Gertrud about the 10 bucks he spent. The opening and closing of the front door shook Elijah out of his thoughts and he glanced up at the clock.

“20 after 12, right on time as usual darling.” Elijah expected a witty comeback or at least, a greeting. When nothing but silence followed, he started second-guessing. Maybe Gertrud wasn’t home yet; maybe that noise he heard wasn’t his door but something out in the hallway. Elijah looked up and there, by the door, indeed was Gertrud. She seemed out of it and because the main light was on, Elijah saw that her eyes were red and puffy, as if she had recently been crying.

“My love? Is something wrong?”

It was as if his voice jolted her out of her daze. For she ran to him and knelt before his chair. “Marry me, Elijah. Please marry me!”

Elijah blinked. “Of course my love.”

“Really?” Her smile was one of disbelief. “You will.”

“Of course.” Elijah repeated. “We’ll marry as soon as my name change comes into effect.”

That is when Gertrud’s smile faded. It was clear that she and Elijah weren’t on the same page. “That name change could still take weeks, if not months to go through. It won’t do. Marry me now, Elijah, tonight!”

Elijah was stunned. “Tonight? Darling, you know as much as I do than I cannot marry anyone yet. Not with my father’s ban still in effect.”

Gertrud shook her head as she rose to her feet. “Surely, your father can’t know everyone on earth. I mean, his ban can’t be in place all over the planet. We could move, Elijah, go to Europe, maybe even go back to Germany.”

“Sweetheart, we’ve discussed this,” Elijah said gently. “We don’t have the money to make such a major move. Besides, why would you want to? You’ll going to take citizenship test in 3 days and you’ve worked so hard for it already.”

“I don’t care!” Gertrud shrieked. “I don’t care about name changes or citizenship tests. All that matters to me is you and our baby. I can’t lose this child, Elijah. I just can’t!”

“Why would you? Every doctor we’ve seen says you’re completely healthy.”

“Oh, Elijah, you just don’t understand.” Then Gertrud burst into tears.

Elijah got up and took his sobbing beloved into his arms. “You’re right, I don’t understand,” he admitted gently. “But I want to. I can’t hear you if you cry so. Go into the bathroom and try to calm down. Slash some water on your face or better yet, go take a nice, cold shower to wash some of the summer stickiness off of you.”

Gertrud said nothing but turned and headed for the bathroom. As soon as she was out of view, there was a knock at the door. Elijah answered it and it turned out to be a woman he had never seen before.

“Excuse me,” said the woman. “I thought I saw Gertrud Kapelput come in here. Does she live here? I really need to talk to her.”

“Yes, she lives here.” Elijah nodded. “She’s taking a shower right now but she’s be out in a minute. Would you like to come in?”

“Thanks.” The stranger sailed past Elijah into the apartment. ”This place is a complete dump!” The stranger mumbled this but it was still louder enough that Elijah could hear her. “She doesn’t even a bed, just a mattress on the floor. Gertrud is insane if she thinks she can raise a baby here.”

Before Elijah could ask her who she was, she beat him to it.

“And who are you? The boyfriend?”

“No. I’m Gertrud’s fiancée.” How Elijah hated referring to himself like that! He knew that in every way that mattered, he already was Gertrud’s husband.

Before another word could be spoken, footsteps were heard in the hall.

“Well, Elijah, when you’re right, you’re right. That shower did me a world of good.” Gertrud was toweling off her wet hair but as soon as she saw the stranger, her eyes grew dark, her smile turned into a deep frown and she froze on the spot.

“You!” Gertrud hissed. “What the hell are you doing here? You followed me home? Are you stalking me now? Are you some kind of psycho?”

Elijah had never seen Gertrud explode like that. Still, he knew his beloved wouldn’t go off without good reason, making him wonder even more whom he let into the house.

“It’s your lucky day, Gertrud. I talked the Keans into giving you another chance.” Said the woman.

“But I don’t want another chance!” Gertrud objected. “My answer for them and for you is the same one I told you then, NO!!!!”

“Oh come on, I know you need the money, especially after seeing this place.”

“That’s none of your concern!” Gertrud snapped.

“What money?” Elijah heard himself ask in a gentle voice.

The stranger’s eyes widened. “You didn’t tell him? What’s the matter? Are you afraid your boyfriend will be more sensible and take the deal?”

That did it. “Elijah,” Gertud said through clenched teeth. “This is Carrie Stone. She’s a co-worker and she spent most of tonight’s shift trying to convince me to sell our child.”

“What?” At first, Elijah was sure he misheard but once he thought back to Gertrud’s earlier behavior, then the true horror dawned on him.

“How dare you!” Elijah took a step forward and wrapped a protective arm around Gertrud’s waist. “How dare you come in to our home and threaten to take our baby.”

“Hold on,” Carrie insisted. “I didn’t even tell you how much the Keans are willing to pay.”

“Was it a penny?” Elijah asked angrily. “For if it was, it was a penny too much! Now, get out of here, before I call the police.”

“The police?”

“Yes! For the last time I checked, selling babies were illegal!”

To the surprise of both Gertrud and Elijah, Carrie laughed at them. “What are you two, children? The police won’t care about this. The GCPD is so messed up they spend more of their time covering their own asses. In fact, this whole damn city is corrupt!”

“That doesn’t mean we have to go down with it!” Elijabh mumbled as he let go of Gertrud and moved to open the door. “Now get out!”

“If you accept the offer, you could see how the other half lives.” Carrie tried again.

“I’ve seen how the other half lives,” Elijah countered. “It’s not so great!”

“Fine!” Carrie exploded and headed for the exit. “Enjoy spending the rest of your life as a bartender!”

Elijah slammed the door behind her, locked it and looked back at Gertrud. “Darling, I’m sorry.”

“What on earth for?”

“When she said she need to talk to you, I assumed it was for a shift change or something innocent like that.” Elijah picked up the skirt from the table and helped Gertrud step into it.

With a gentle smile upon her face, Gertrud shook her head. “There is no way you could have possibly known what she truly wanted. Believe me, Liebchen, there is nothing to be sorry for.” Gertrud had played model for Elijah so many times that she didn’t even question it anymore. She just tried to stand still as he made his alterations.

“That’s why you can home pleading about getting married tonight.” Elijah guessed correctly.

“Yes” she admitted softly. “Forgive me for saying this but it’s easier to take a baby away from a single mother than a married couple.”

“Oh, I know” he agreed. “That’s why first thing tomorrow, I’m going down to city hall and see what I can do to speed up this name change. However, I don’t want you to panic if we don’t see results right away. No one will ever take our baby away from you. They’ll have to kill me first!” Finished with the skirt, Elijah put the top on her.

“Please don’t say that!” Gertrud pleaded. “I can’t lose this baby but I can’t lose you either.”

After a soft chuckle, Elijah gave her a peck on the cheek. “It’s only an expression.” He whispered. “I’m not going anywhere. You’re never going to lose me. I hate to admit this but Carrie was right about one thing. This is no place for a child. Maybe if I had a 2nd job”

“Don’t!” Gertrud ordered firmly. “I will not allow that woman to waltz in here and let you second guess yourself. You’re doing the best you can. We both are!”

“Is this the part of the conversation where you say you have all the faith in the world in me?”

Elijah was joking but Gertrud was deadly serious.

“Completely! And I have faith in us, as a couple, as a team even more!”

“There’s just one thing I don’t understand. She wished me well bartending. I’m not a bartender.”

“That’s another reason why I dislike Carrie” Gertrud grumbled. “She has a big mouth.”

“Meaning?” Elijah prompted.

“Oh, all right!” she sighed. “Remember I told you about a cook at work, Sam, and how his catering business has a gig this Saturday? A gig I said I would serve at.”

Elijah nodded. How could he forget? They had argued about it. Gertrud wanted to work a side job on her first night off in weeks. It was Elijah’s opinion that for a woman in her 7th month of pregnancy, Gertrud didn’t rest enough.

“One of the bartender came down with the flu at the last minute.” Gertrud continued. “They wanted me to ask you to fill in but I wasn’t going to.”

“Why not?” he wondered.

“Elijah, this is a black tie event at the Gotham Museum of Art. We’ll be serving the rich. Your crowd and you’re bound to run into someone you know.

Elijah laughed. “Darling, I don’t have a crowd. I’ll be happy to take a paying job even if it’s just one night. A paycheck is a paycheck. As for running into someone I know, I don’t care. All I care about you, our baby and how wonderful you look in this dress.” Finally finished, he spun her around so she could see herself in the floor length mirror that hung in the kitchen, 10 feet away.

“What am I looking at?”

“Your wedding dress, madam.” Elijah said with pride.

“My wedding dress? But you changed the design. Wasn’t it a one piece?”

“It was,” he confirmed. “Then I started thinking. We don’t know when we’ll get married, but when the big day finally comes, it will be easier just to let out the skirt.”

“Elijah, you’re a genius!” Gertrud declared before kissing him with glee.

As a blue blood, Elijah had attended many of these social functions over the years and they never failed to bore him to death. Now, Elijah was learning that he could be just as bored working at one of these events. As he was tending bar, Elijah didn’t bump into as many people he knew as he thought he would and the people at the party that he did know seemed very surprise, shocked even to realized that he not only serving but was in Gotham City at all. Apparently, his father had spun a tall tale of him being abroad in Europe for several months, studying foreign fashion or some such nonsense. Those who stuck around to learn the truth from Elijah walked away looking more confused than ever. It was just well, Elijah had nothing to hide or be ashamed of. of, so why not tell the truth? If his father got caught up in his own lies, that was his problem. Elijah tried not to be bitter but he had been in a foul mood almost all week. Ever since the people at city hall had told him that his name change would not be valid for at least another month. The only good news to come in that week had belonged to Gertrud. She had finally got the chance to take her citizenship test and she was feeling pretty good about the fore coming results. Anyway, it was the middle of the party and Elijah was behind the bar, working, with his back to the people, when he heard an all too familiar, all too annoying voice.

“Well, well, well. How the mighty have fallen.”

Elijah rolled his eyes. Great, this was the 2nd most dreaded voice Elijah didn’t want to hear tonight. The first would be his father, who along with his mother was thankfully absent.

Turning around, Elijah put a fake smile on his face. “Hello, Constance.”

“Your poor parents have been worried sick for 5 months and here I find you, slumming with the help.”

It didn’t take long for Elijah’s smile to fade. “I’m not slumming with anyone, Constance. I am the help. Now, do you have a drink order?”

She studied him for a moment before replying. “White wine.”

While he went to get the bottle, Constance continued speaking. “So, are you and that maid girl still together?”

Elijah tightened his grip on the bottle, wishing it were Constance’s neck. “If you are referring to Gertrud, who was a cook, then, yes, we are still together and doing quite well.” He gave her glass, hoping she would go away, no such luck.

Constance raised her eyebrow. “No ring, I see. It’s been months. If you truly serious a bout this woman, you would have married her by now.”

Elijah sighed as he put the wine bottle away; he turned to look Constance straight in the eye. “Why do I get the feeling that you know why I’m not married at very moment?”

Constance only smiled.

“It doesn’t matter,” Elijah continued. “I’ve found a way around my father’s ban.”

“Really? Like what?”

“As if I would tell you!” Elijah sneered. “You’re probably anxious to report every word of this conversation to my parents!”

“Well I think we know how the maid feels about you. She’s perfectly happy to let you work yourself in a early grave while she’s at home eating bonbons.”

The idea was so absurd, Elijah laughed. “You couldn’t be more wrong. Gertrud works harder than I do. She’s a server here tonight. In fact, she’s right behind you.” ”Really?” Constance couldn’t turn fast enough, but frowned when she saw 3 female servers in the nearby crowd. “Which one?”

“My Gertrud is the drop dead gorgeous blonde whose face and body would make any Greek goddess seethed with jealousy. She also had a kindness, humor and character that no amount of money could buy.”

“The blonde?” Constance repeated, “but she pregnant!”

“Nothing gets past you.” Elijah mocked before sidestepping to aid another customer. It was after that customer left that Elijah realized, almost gratefully, that he was out gin. Elijah was desperate to end this pointless conversation and since Constance wasn’t moving, the idea of carrying a box of empty bottles to the kitchen and returning with a fresh supply seemed like the perfect excuse. As Elijah prepared the box, Constance uttered her most shocking line yet.

“Are you really going to throw your life away for someone who cheated on you?”

Elijah blinked. “Whoever said Gertrud cheated on me?”

Constance gave him a look of pity. “Oh come now Elijah, look at her or better yet, look at the size of her! And we all know you couldn’t have fathered that child.”

“How do we all know that?” Elijah demanded, wishing she would get to the damn point already.

“The fact that you’re sterile.”

Elijah’s jaw dropped. “How the hell did you know that?”

“Your parents told me.” Constance shrugged. “They figured I had a right to know, seeing how we were about to be married.’

“We were never about to be married, Constance! Our parents made up a romance for us and then forgot to tell me about it.” Elijah picked up the box and made his out of the bar.

“Don’t be mad at me, I’m just stating the facts.”

Elijah spun around on his heel. “I’ll give the facts. There is not a doubt in my mind that’s my baby. Why? Time. As in every time my parents wondered why their dinner is late, Gertrud was in my arms. Every time my father wondered why I wasn’t in the sewing room, I was with her. Every night, when she wasn’t in my bed, making mad, passionate love to me, I was in her bed, making mad, passionate love to her!”

This last statement seemed to shocked Constance into silence so Elijah turned, smiled and continued to the kitchen.

Elijah had to go all the way down into the kitchen basement to collect a new case of gin. By the time he made it back upstairs, two women burst in

“Oh, look at it!” The first one said, referring to her shinning green dress. “It’s ruined! What is it with men? Are their feet so heavy they have to stomp on everything?”

“Don’t worry, we’ll fix it. somehow.” The second one spoke.

He didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but Elijah was struck in the corner so he saw everything. He saw the tall brunette who fussed over her dress, which had a tare so large it exposed almost her entire backside. He also saw that friend, while trying to be comforting, had no idea how to fix it but maybe, Elijah could.

Not exactly sure how to make his presence known to the 2 ladies, Elijah cleared his throat. “Excuse me, I don’t mean to interrupt-“

“Yes, excuse you!” snapped the friend.

“Jane! Don’t be rude!” The woman in the torn dress scolded.

“Kate, I’ve seen this guy out there. He’s only a bartender.”

“I may be only a bartender tonight” Elijah said, losing control. “But I was raised to be a tailor and what I was going to say is I can help you.”

“Can you please fix my dress, sir?” Kate asked kindly.

Elijah nodded. “I believe so. You see, I believe that your train is just long enough that if cut it at the right angle, no one will miss it and I could use the material to fashion a bow large enough to cover the…exposed area. I can’t promise you that you’ll be walking any Paris runaways but it should get you home. That is, if you want my help.”

“Oh yes, please!” was Kate’s plea.

Elijah tried to move, but Jane watched him. “Watch yourself buddy! She’s dating the mayor’s son.”

“Well, I’m engaged to the woman of my dreams, so maybe you should ask your friend to watch it.”

Kate chuckled as Jane frowned. “Jane, why don’t you go back to the party and I’ll come find you when we’re finished?” Kate suggested.

Jane took one final dirty look at before heading to the door. As Elijah moved closer, he reached into his jacket pocket and took out a mini sewing kit.

Seeing this, Kate smiled. “You really are a tailor, aren’t you?”

Elijah returned her smile and nodded. “Just stay still a moment. Cutting the train should just take a moment, miss-“

“Oh, do call me Kate.” She insisted. “And I do feel like I must apologize for my friend’s bad behavior. Jane’s from old family money. She’s been to a million of these things, I afraid they just make her bored and cranky.”

“And you’re not? From family money, I mean.”

Kate bit her lip and shook her head. “Afraid not. Daddy just got elected to the bench and Mom just joined the DA’s office. This is my first black tie event ever which is why I nearly had a heart attack when I heard my dress rip. Thank goodness you were around to help, Mr. Um”

“My name’s Elijah” he said getting up. A scrap of cloth that had been her train in his hand. “Look, I’m done with the cutting and I don’t have to stand up to make this into a bow so why don’t we sit down?”

It may have appeared to be a mere suggestion but Kate saw it for what it truly was. As the dress was now, her whole butt was on display for the whole world to see. By offering her a chair to sit on, it was meant to lessen her embarrassment and Elijah had asked in such a gentlemanly way that Kate couldn’t help but be charmed. Kate nodded and they both sat at the pushed off to side table. At this moment, the kitchen was oddly quiet and deserted. They sat in silence for a few moments until Kate found something to break the ice.

“So, do all the bartenders in this city wait around kitchens hoping to rescue damsels in distress?”

Elijah laughed at that. “I don’t know about that, seeing how tonight is my first and possibly last night as a bartender. I have no idea what I doing.”

“Then why are you here?”

Elijah shrugged. “I go where the pay is. Aside from the hot, little newsstand I spend all day Sunday in, this is my first night of employment in more than 5 weeks. The job market is pretty rough right now. It’s a bad time to be unemployed.”

“I see. And this poor job market, does it affect your fiancée?” Kate had no idea what she was doing; what Jane had said before was true, she did have a boyfriend but she suddenly found herself wishing that Elijah had fibbed about his engagement for Jane’s sake.

Elijah on the other hand, genuinely had no idea that his new acquaintance had any romantic interest in him. “Gertrud?” he answered. “Heavens no! She works all the time. I swear that woman is a force of nature! She works all day, every day at 2 different jobs and I’ve never, ever heard one word of complaint. Tonight was supposed to be her night off but instead of taking a well-deserved break, she signs up to help a friend because she knew we needed the money. Add to that Gerturd is dealing with some nasty side effects due to her advanced pregnancy. I don’t know how Gertrud does it all. Of course, there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t thank my lucky stars that such a warm, beautiful, intelligent, wonderful woman chose me.”

Kate could not believe it. Not the fact that he was unavailable, she could get past that. No, it was the fact that Elijah gushed when he spoke about Gertrud, actually gushed! As far as Kate knew, no lover of hers, past or present, had ever gushed over her. It was still worrisome to see that Elijah was unemployed, especially after learning there was a baby on the way. Kate wished there was something she could do. Then she saw something that gave her a great idea.

“Could you please pass me the phone book? It’s on your side of the table.

“Sure.” Elijah looked up from his work and slid the book over to her.

“Thanks.” It took Kate no time at all to look up what she was searching. After reaching for a nearby napkin, she took out a pen from her evening bag and wrote down the information. 20 minutes later, using the fridge’s steel door as mirror, Kate stood, admiring Elijah’s handiwork.

“Like it?” He asked.

“Like it? I love it! It’s like a whole new dress!” And it was, unless they had been staring at her since she arrived at the museum, no one would ever guess that this wasn’t the dress’s original design. She turned to him. “You really do have a talent for this.”

Before Elijah could reply, the kitchen door swung open and one of the night’s employers, whose name Elijah could not remember at the moment, came closer. He did not look happy.

“Elijah? What happened to you? You said you were on a gin run and be right back. That was a half hour ago.”

“Excuse me sir, but I’m afraid this is all my fault.” Kate instantly jumped in. “You see, Elijah was on his way out when I came in. I had a dress mishap and Elijah was kind enough to help. I just need another moment to thank him properly.”

The employer studied Kate before showing Elijah his palm. “5 minutes.” He said and left.

Then Kate dug in her bag and put three bills into Elijah’s hand. “Here, 30 dollars for 30 minutes of your time. It’s only fair.”

“Oh no, I can’t take this.” Elijah protested. “I was only too happy to help.”

“Yes, you can.” Kate said firmly. “Payment for a job very well done. And I also want you to have this” she passed him the napkin she wrote upon. “Ask for Joe Lawson, he’s a old friend of the family. He was telling my parents the other day how he was getting on in years and he needed a right hand. I think you two will be a great team. Thanks again.”

Once Kate left, Elijah unfolded the napkin. There it was, in bright blue ink, a telephone number and right above the number, a name. Not a name of a person but of a business; JOE’S SEW SHOP.

When he told her about it on the walk home, Gertrud was thrilled to hear about Elijah’s new job prospect. Not only was this a chance at long term employment but it was a tailor’s job! Making clothes was Elijah’s true passion and although he would never admit it, Gertrud knew he would never truly be happy at any other trade. Elijah cautioned her not to get her hopes up. Just because she had gotten her job at Queenie’s in a similar fashion, didn’t make him a shoe-in. Gertrud grew quiet but wore a all knowing smile, for she knew no self-respecting tailor, would dare turn Elijah away, he was just too talented. The couple got home a little past 1 AM. As both were dead tired, they went straight to bed. Elijah dragged himself out of bed at 5:30 to ready himself for the shift at the newsstand that started in an hour. He kissed a still sleeping Gertrud and was off. By midnight, he somehow dragged himself home and plopped into bed. The next thing Elijah was aware of, he smelled coffee. He opened his eyes to see that it was morning and a smiling Gertrud was holding the mug under his nose.

“I’m off to work,” Gertrud announced. “I thought you might want this.”

He sat up and took the cup. “Thank you, Gertrud.”

“You’ve been working on very little sleep for the past 2 days, Liebchen. Promise me you’ll take it easy today.”

He promised and kissed her goodbye. When Gertrud had gone, Elijah slumped down and causally sipped his coffee. When he had drained the mug, he placed on the floor and went back to sleep. It wasn’t until later, on that Monday afternoon, after Elijah had showered and dressed, that he did indeed call the number he had been given. Joe Lawson himself answered after the 2nd ring. They chatted for a short while and after Elijah got the address, the two men set up a meeting. The next afternoon, Elijah was delighted to learn that Joe’s Sew Shop was only a block away from Queenie’s salon. Right before opening the door, Elijah noticed that there was an apartment for rent sign in the window. Hm, he would have to look into that. When Elijah entered, he found himself in a short, narrow hallway. Before him, he saw 2 staircases, one leading downstairs and the other upstairs. Off to the right side was a glass door. Painted on it, in big white letters, was Joe’s Sew Shop. Elijah went in. The first thing he saw was 2 men.

“Oh I don’t know,” the 1st man, who was obviously a customer, moaned. “I just can’t decide between the navy blue and the black,” he said, switching blazers. “And there’s both too big.”

“As I’ll told you before sir, I would be happy to cuff either one for you.” It was clear that the vendor was getting weary.

“I just don’t know” the customer moaned again. “If only I had a 2nd opinion.”

Well, here was a golden opportunity! Elijah cleared his throat. “Excuse me, gentlemen, I don’t mean to pry, but I couldn’t help overhearing and if I were you, I would go with the black.”

The customer’s eyebrow arched. “Really?”

“Oh, yes” Elijah continued and came closer to adjust the jacket personally. “While it is true that the sleeves on both jackets are a little long for you, I’ve noticed that the navy hugs you in some unflattering areas while the black drapes off you beautifully.”

“But isn’t blue more in fashion this year?”

“Maybe so, but a black dinner jacket is a classic and a classic never goes out of style.”

They talked a little more but ultimately, the man brought the black jacket. Elijah waited patiently waited for the vendor to ring him up. Then the vendor rejoined him. ”That was quite impressible, young man. I have been trying to make him choose for an hour. Have we met before? You look familiar.”

Elijah shook his head. “I don’t think so. Anyway, can you tell me where I can find Joe Lawson? I have an appointment.”

The other man smiled. “You’re looking at him.” Joe Lawson was a kind, grandfatherly type. Kind of like Santa, except without the beard or weight problem. Instead of red velvet, Joe wore a business suit, minus the jacket and with rolled up sleeves. A thin pair of glasses and a measuring tape draped around his neck completed the look.

Elijah shot out his hand for a shake. “My name is Elijah Cobblepot. We spoke yesterday, on the phone.” ”Oh, yes.” Joe said and took his hand. “Come round back with me, to my office. I can hear the bell from there if anyone comes in.”

Elijah nodded and moments later, slid into a chair before Joe’s desk.

“My first question is a simple one.” Suddenly, Joe’s voice was cold and hard, quite the transformation from the warm and friendly tone he had used just moments earlier. “Why would a Van Dahl want to work for me?”

Shocked, Elijah’s eyes widened. “You know who I am?”

“Remember how I said you looked familiar? Well, I just placed you, from the society pages. Not to mention that your father has tried to buy every private and me tailor in Gotham out at least a dozen times. So, if he thinks he can outsmart me by sending his son undercover with a fake name, you can tell him to forget it!”

Hearing about Frederick’s behavior didn’t shock him at all. Elijah looked the other man straight in the eye and told the truth. “I understand you being suspicious sir and if I were in shoes, I would be too. But I swear, I hadn’t seen or spoken to my father in over 5 months and quite frankly, I don’t care if I ever see him again. As for Cobblepot, that is my real name or at least, it will be in a few weeks time.”

That was the entire introduction Elijah needed to tell Joe everything; how he fallen in love with Gertrud, the heartbreaking betrayal he felt when his parents forced him to choose. How he had gone after Gertrud after she had been fired, the cruel marriage ban, the name change, the couple’s rough first months in the city and how Elijah was desperate to find a good, steady job to help ease the strain off of his pregnant beloved.

“All I ask, Mr. Lawson” Elijah concluded at the end of his story, “is that you give me a chance to prove myself as me, not judge me for being Frederick Van Dahl’s son.”

At first, Joe did nothing but sit back in his chair. Something dark and angry twinkled in his eyes but it was gone so quickly, Elijah barely noticed it was there.

“That’s quite a story.” Joe said at last. “And I feel the need to apologize to you for basically accusing you of being a spy.”

Elijah shook his head. “Not at all. Like I said before, I understand completely.”

“Yes,” Joe said slowly. “I don’t know why, maybe it’s your sincere tone, but I feel like I already can trust you.”

“Sounds like a promising start.”

“Indeed.” Joe gave a small smile and then was all business. “Mr. Van-Cobblepot, I afraid any job I could give you wouldn’t be exciting for a young man like yourself. Buying walk-in customers are few and far between. Most of my business comes from repairs and special orders.”

“That’s fine.” Elijah assured him. “You said you were impressed by how I handled that customer, well, if I may say so, I’m a much better tailor than a salesman.”

They chatted a little more before Joe said he would think it over and call in a few days. Elijah was about to exit the office when he turned back, suddenly remembering.

“I noticed a for rent sign in your window as I came in. Can you tell me where is this apartment and could I possibly take a look?”

Joe nodded. “Sure. It’s right upstairs and I don’t see why not.”

“Oh, thank you, Mr. Lawson.”

“Do me a favor?” Joe asked as he got up and headed to the key holder behind his desk. “Enough of this Mr. Lawson staff. I’m not a very formal guy. Call me Joe, everyone does.”

“Only if you call me Elijah.”

“Deal.” Joe led the way out of the office.

They left the store and Joe flipped the sign to close for good measure. “The apartment is right up here.” Joe pointed to the staircase that was going up.

“I noticed the staircases when I first came in.” Elijah mentioned casually. “Do you mind if I ask what’s downstairs? Storage?”

Joe shook his head. “Nah, I keep all my storage in the back room of the shop. Down there is another apartment, mine to be exact.”

“So,” Elijah said slowly, thoughtfully. He wanted to be clear without assuming anything. “If I get this job, there’s a chance we could be neighbors as well as co-workers?”

Joe wore a teasing smile. “Maybe. Anything’s possible.” Joe opened the door to the upper apartment and both men went inside. “Here we are. I know it’s small-“

“Small? This place is a palace compared to the shoebox I currently live in!” Elijah was going overboard but it was a nice place. The first thing Elijah noticed was how much natural light flooded the place due to the 2 big windows on the fore wall. Joe explained that he kept some of his old furniture up here that he and Gertrud could keep or change whatever they wanted. That explained why there was already a couch on the

floating wooden floors. There was also a chest of drawer safely under a TV. Elijah looked around to see that the dinning set included a real table and 4 (4!) proper chairs. The kitchen was done in blue and white tile. It also had an island and lots of counter and cabinet space. On the other side was a door and when Elijah opened it, he was delighted to find a bed and a beautiful handcrafted white painted wardrobe. In the corner, was another big but narrow picture window and below that was a built-in bench with a padded top to sit upon. Joe showed Elijah how to lift the top for even more storage. Besides that was the door to the bathroom. It was a full bath complete with a tub, something his current apartment didn’t have. Elijah knew he really liked the place when he found himself mentally arranging baby furniture around the bedroom.

“Elijah?”

That bought him out of his daydreams and Elijah noticed that Joe stood in the doorway.

“What I said before about needing a few days to think about it then I’ll be in touch? Forget it, I don’t need time to think. The job, the apartment, they’re both yours if you want them.”

Elijah was floored, to say the least. “Really?”

“Yes. What do you say?”

“Well, the job of course! I mean, yes, I mean, when do I start? I mean, I accept! As for the apartment, I really like it, but I can’t give you an answer either way until Gertrud sees it.”

Joe smiled. “I see.”

Elijah starting working with Joe the very next day. As it was just a block away from Queenie’s, Gertrud came by on her lunch break to look at the apartment. She and Joe didn’t meet that day because he had run out to go to the bank. Gertrud liked the apartment as must as Elijah did and they immediately put in an offer. The offer seemed to be accepted just as quickly, which surprised Elijah until he learnt that it was Joe who owned the entire building. Luck seemed to be with the young couple, as it was almost a new month and therefore a perfect time to move. All it took was a simple, quick conversation with their current landlord for Gertrud and Elijah to discover that they could move out as fast as they moved in. So, it was on Saturday, one mere week after Elijah first heard about Joe Lawton and his shop that he and Gertrud moved into that upstairs apartment and it was on that moving day that Gertrud and Joe finally met.

“So, you’re Gertrud! Elijah speaks of you so much I feel as if I already know you.”

Joe charmed her by lifting her hand to his mouth and kissing it. “Likewise.” Gertrud smiled.

“Expect Elijah forgot to tell me of your beauty.”

Elijah came in behind Gertrud. “Flatter her all you want, old man, but she’s mine!”

“Elijah!” Gertrud exclaimed, shocked and appalled. How could he speak to his new boss like that? However, when Elijah locked eyes with Joe, both men burst out laughing. The very notion of a jealous riff between them was absurd. It was uncanny how fast a friendship formed between Joe and Elijah. How they were able to tease and joke with one another after a mere 4 days.

“Gertrud,” Joe called, refocusing, “I wonder if you could do me a favor?”

“If I can.”

“As a lifelong bachelor, it’s hard for me to get a home cooked meal” Joe explained. “Elijah tells me you’re an excellent cook so I was wondering if one of these nights I could impose and invite myself to dinner.”

Gertrud smiled. “That very easily can be arranged.

Later on, that night, when they were alone, Gertrud wrapped her arms around Elijah’s neck. “Do you have any idea how proud I am of you?” She asked. “In the span of just 1 week, you managed to get yourself a good job and found us a decent place to live.”

Elijah grinned. “Who knew I was capable of such greatness?”

“I knew,” she whispered, “I’ve always known.” His lips were on hers as Gertrud heard and felt the back of

her dress being zipped down. “Um…what are you doing?”

“Call me paranoid, darling, but I’ll be damned if I’m moving into another place with a bed I can’t make love to you on” Elijah chuckled and gently ushered her into the bedroom. Hours later, around 3 AM, Elijah shut off the bathroom light and strode, naked, to the bed where Gertrud lay, tangled up in the sheet and only half asleep. He soon lay beside her and rubbed her back.

“Happy, my angel?”

Her reply matched perfectly with her smile.” Completely.”

“We gave this bed quite a workout and not a peep. Plus, we have enough room for the baby’s things. Do you know what that means?”

“Yes,” she nodded. “We’re home.”

Over the next few days, Elijah and Gertrud settled into and were quite content in their new home. Joe was quick to cash in on his dinner invite, and between the good food, laughter and sparkling conversation, all had a great time. So much so, that they decided to do it again and again. Joe was fast becoming more than a boss, more than a friend even, he was becoming part of the family and a constant figure at their dinner table. One night, Joe, fearing he had imposed too much, didn’t come up, so Elijah and Gertrud simply picked up their plates, traveled to Joe’s downstairs apartment and had the meal there. It was at one such dinner upstairs, that Joe sat back, slipping his coffee while watching the others work in the kitchen. The young couple was clearly in love, sharing in jokes and glances, stealing kisses. They always seemed happy, even now doing something as simple as the dishes.

Elijah caught Joe staring. “Something the matter, Joe? You look like you want to say something.”

“No.” Joe shook his head. “Not really. Expect Elijah, because of the way you met, do you feel superior to Gertrud?” There, he had finally said it but the moment the question reached his own ears, Joe turned red and wished he could take it back, “I’m sorry, Gertrud, I didn’t mean to offend.”

“Nonsense” Gertrud dismissed as she slowly lowered her pregnant frame in a chair. “It’s a perfectly valid question. One I’m asked myself dozens of times.”

Elijah came up behind Gertrud and kissed her cheek. “Such a valid question deserves a valid answer, which is no, of course not. I’ve never felt superior to Gertrud or to anyone else for that matter. I don’t know who taught me to be humble, it certainly wasn’t my parents, but I do know that I’ve never felt I was better than anyone else just because my parents had money. Besides, I always believed that I was the lucky one when this goddess chose me.” Elijah was seated now so he reached for Gertrud’s hand and squeezed it tight. ”Likewise,” Gertrud agreed. “I’ ve always felt that I had Elijah’s respect, if I didn’t have that I don’t know if I could have fallen as hard as I did for him.”

“The two of you are amazing! I mean” The words died on his tongue and his eyes watered as Joe rose from the table. Gertrud and Elijah had both never seen him so somber.

“Blue blooded and blue collar romances are as old as time itself” Joe tried again. “Yet, for some reason, it never ends the same way twice. You see, I was born a butler’s son. During my whole childhood it was just kind of understood that I would follow Dad into service. Anyway, I was barely 19 when the old man my father worked for died and another family hired him. That’s where I met Miranda, the boss’s daughter and the prettiest creature I’d ever met. It wasn’t long before I was head over heels in love. We were involved for 7 months before fate intervened and we were caught. Then, what Miranda did to me, oh it still makes my blood boil.”

“She chose her parents over you.” Elijah guessed.

“No. It was much, much worse than that.”

“What could be worse?”

“She denied me and our relationship, completely. I couldn’t believe it. I was ready to marry this woman. I would gladly walk though fire for her and she was pretending that she barely knew my name. She made me look like a crazy, obsessed stalker, a madman, in front of her parents.”

“Didn’t you confront her?” Gertrud asked.

Joe nodded. “I found her in her bedroom, burning all the love letters I’d written her. She told me, very bluntly, that I meant nothing to her. That the relationship I so cherished, was only a distraction to her. A fun little fling she had before she got down to serious business of finding a husband of the correct breeding. She was so cold, so cruel.” Joe sighed.

Elijah, meanwhile, had his arms. “She sounds cruel. She sounds like a selfish, spoiled brat who expects to be handed the world on a silver plate. She sounds like a lot of people I know. A great deal too many! What’s the family’s name? Perhaps I know them.”

Joe shook his head and smiled slightly. “Doubtful. You see, all this happened very far away from here. Thankfully, my own parents, such wonderful people, believed me and knew that I couldn’t face Miranda so they gave me over half of their hard-earned savings so that I could move. That’s how I ended up in Gotham. For years, I worked for a dry cleaner and I discovered I had natural gift for sewing. When the dry cleaner retired, he allowed me to buy the building and I turned it into Joe’s Sew Shop.”

“That Miranda woman never deserved you.” Elijah stated.

“You never knew her.”

“No but I know you. You’re beloved in this community. Not one of our customer has a bad word to say about you and I think you mean the most to Gertrud and me.”

“That’s right” Gertrud agreed. “In the 6 months we’ve been in the city, no one has done more for us than you have and perhaps one day, you meet a woman who can see what a great guy you are.”

Joe grinned. “Thanks guys and for what an old man’s opinion is worth, I’m damn proud of both of you. How hard you fight just to be together is a thing of beauty.”

“It’s worth a lot.” Elijah told him.

“A whole lot.” Gertrud added.

Joe left shortly after and Elijah and Gertrud cleaned the coffee cups and other dishes before readying for bed in a comfortable silence. As Elijah exited the bathroom, he saw Gertrud sitting on the side of bed, holding her stomach. “Is the baby active tonight?”

Gertrud smiled at him. “Kicking up a storm.”

Elijah came round to Gertrud knelt and placed a hand on her bump. “Now see here, young man or young lady, it’s considered impolite to kick your mother.”

Gertrud laughed loudly. “Elijah!”

“You’re doing wonderfully, my love” He assured her as he rose. “1 more month, just 1 more. Would you like a backrub?”

“Yes, please.”

Elijah climbed up on the bed and got behind Gertrud who seemed to purr with pleasure as soon as he touched her back. “I really wasn’t expecting what Joe told us tonight.” Elijah said. “It was quite shocking. I don’t know what I would’ve done if you had denied knowing me.”

Gertrud smiled. “I know it’s been 6 months darling, but you must remember that you were the heir, you could of deny me.”

“Never! Besides I was the one who was too much in love.”

“Do you doubt that I love you?!” There was tension and strain in her voice.

“Not at all” Elijah assured her, getting back on his side of the bed. “It’s just a fact that no matter how much you love me, I love you more.”

Gertrud opened her mouth and quickly closed it again. Did she really want to start a fight about who loved whom more? “I don’t know about that.” She said simply and then let the whole thing drop. Gertrud lay down, waited for Elijah to turn off the lamp and gather her in his arms before she spoke again. “Elijah?”

“Hm?”

“Do you think we’ll make a good marriage…when the time comes?”

“No, we’ll make a great marriage…when the time comes. When the damn name change comes in.,” he grumbled.

“Now how did I know you would bring that up?”

Elijah chuckled in the dark. “Hush now.”

The following Thursday was August 16th and it began like any other day. Joe had his breakfast and then when upstairs to unlock the front and store doors. Then he picked up the mail from the mailbox. He shifted through the bills and other things, uninterested until he saw something that stopped him dead in his tracks.

“Elijah!” Joe yelled. “Elijah!” He took off like a shot, climbing the stairs to the upper apartment 2 at a time. He was so excited that he forgot to knock, letting himself in the young couple’s home, something he would never normally do. Inside, Elijah was just finishing off a cup of coffee while Gertrud readied herself to leave for work.

“Elijah, this letter just came for you” Joe explained. “It’s from the city and it looks official! Gertrud, this is yours.” He handed her a second piece of mail.

Suddenly, Elijah’s last interest in the world was coffee. “From the city? Official? It could be my name change.” He ran across the room to rip opened the letter. “It is! I’m now legally Elijah Cobblepot! Gertrud, we can be married, now!” Gertrud, who was been silently staring at her own letter, now turned her eyes to the man she loved. “Well, Elijah, it looks like you’re going to marry a US citizen.”

Elijah swore he could feel his heart stop. “Your citizenship test?”

Gertrud smiled as the tears of joy began. “I passed.”

Overwhelmed by happiness, the couple kissed and hugged. Both wore huge smiles as Joe offered his congratulations. The threesome all talking excitedly as they bounced down the stairs. The last thing Gertrud heard as she left the building that morning was Joe’s delighted answer to be Elijah’s best man. Gertrud got another happy surprise that day as Elijah and Joe showed up at Queenie’s just at the start of her lunch break. They soon convince her to go downtown to get the license and then Joe would treat them to lunch. Once they arrived at city hall, Elijah went stiff beside her and Gertrud knew why. Elijah was afraid of something going wrong, if they were served by the same clerk as before or if someone recognized him, then the name change would be nothing but a big waste of time. But everything went smoothly. They were in and out in 10 minutes. Later, at lunch, Elijah surprised Gertrud by telling her that he had already arranged most of the wedding plans and just needed to finalized a couple of details.

2 days later, in the early evening hours of Saturday, August 18th, Gertrud Kapelput could be seen rushing home after her usual night shift. She opened the main door and then felt though her purse her keys and when she found them, let herself in her apartment. She was about to toss her bag and keys on the small table when she noticed a plastic container with a flower within. Curious, Gertrud lifted the container and opened it. She soon discovered that the flower was a white lily with a lace band on the back making it a wrist corsage. Only then did she noticed the note:

I know, I know, we agreed that we had no money for wedding flowers, (or anything else for that matter) but I figured that 1 couldn’t hurt. Just don’t ask me how much it cost. See you at the altar.

I love you,

Your future legal husband.

Gertrud pressed the note to her heart. She bit down on her smile and released a squeal of glee. It seemed to be her millionth one today. She just could barely believe it, after all this time, all this waiting, she and Elijah would finally, at long last, be married tonight! When Gertrud checked her watch and it read 8:17, she frowned; Elijah had told her that he had booked the minister for a 10:00 o’clock ceremony and to beat city traffic, Joe was picking her up at 9:30, which gave her a little over a hour to get ready. No time for daydreaming. After putting down the flower, Gertrud walked directly into the bedroom. She intended to go straight into the bathroom until she saw a patch of white in the corner of her eye. Gertrud turned her head to see her wedding dress laid out on the bed, waiting for her. She couldn’t help smiling. Elijah had complained that the dress was so plain but Gertrud adored the garment. The mere fact that Elijah had lovingly designed and made this dress just for her to wear on the day she was to wed him meant everything to her and its lack of pearls or lace could not demean its value in her eyes. It was only then that Gertrud realized it; she hadn’t put the dress on the bed before she left for work this morning. Elijah insisted on sticking with tradition of the groom not seeing the bride before the ceremony, so he slept down at Joe’s last night. He must’ve sneaked back up here after she had gone to deliver the lily and lay out the dress. Grunting, she shook her head. Okay, no more distractions! Gertrud marched straight into the bathroom and turned on the tap to begin filling the tub. She knew she had no time for a bath even a quick one but she had to. Despite it being her wedding day, Gertrud had still worked both jobs today. Plus, the city’s ongoing record breaking heat wave showed no signs of stopping, making her feel all sticky. Gertrud supposed she could just take a shower but being almost 9 months pregnant and being on her feet all day, Gertrud feared her back might snap in half if she didn’t get off them for a brief time. The lukewarm soak felt amazing but Gertrud allowed herself only 10 minutes then she toweled off, carefully put on her dress, placed 2 peal studs in her ears, combed her hair and set it in a bun. She then reached under the sink and pulled out a bag. Gertrud had brought a dozen or so white paper roses cheap from a craft woman at a flea market about 2 weeks ago. Now she set about decorating her hair with them. Gertrud was only half done when she heard a knock at the front door. She looked up to a small clock. 9:30, Joe was right on time.

“Come in!” she called as she raced to meet him in the hallway, stopping briefly to collect her shoes. Gertrud saw Joe just as he was closing the door. Under his arm, he had a long blue box.

Gertrud greeted him with a kiss on the check. “Hello, Joe. I just need a minute to finish my hair.”

“Actually, I was wishing you weren’t ready yet. Here.” He held out the box to her. He helped her opened it and Gertrud grasp as she beheld yards of tulle. With an approving nod from Joe, Gertrud took out and unfolded it. It was a wedding veil and what a veil! It was fragile, pure white and letters and flowers were hand-stitched all over it. It may have been too long for St. Alan’s small hall but Gertrud didn’t care. It was too beautiful not to be worn.

“Joe, it’s simply breathtaking! Thank you. Where did you find it?”

“Well, the tulle was imported from Japan and I made the rest.”

“Made it? How? Hand stitching takes hours and hours and there’s so much of it. How could you possibly do all this in the 3 weeks we known each other?”

“Well, I must confess, I had a head start. On that day that I first met Elijah, I felt so touched by his story that I started work on the veil that very day, you and I haven’t even met yet, and I just finished my last stitch about 10 minutes ago.”

Extremely touched, Gertrud came forward and gave Joe a big hug. “Thank you so much. It really is perfect. I know that Elijah sees you as the father he wishes he had and that’s why he picked you for his best man and I was wondering if you would pull double duty and do me the honor of walking me down the aisle?”

Now it was Joe’s turn to be touched. “The honor would be all mine, Gertrud. Elijah told me how you lost both your parents when you were young.”

Gertrud nodded, and then something caught her eye. “What’s that?” She pulled the veil closer to study it and found a tiny sapphire on top a rose. There were no other jewels in sight.

“It’s your something blue. Elijah said how your dress was new and your earrings old but you couldn’t find something blue so I just added it on.” Joe explained.

“I still have nothing borrowed.”

Joe shook his head. “Not so, Elijah borrowed my old tux.”

Gertrud smiled. “You two have thought of everything.”

“Enough chit chat. We have a wedding to get you ready for.”

Together, they went back into the bathroom. When Gertrud finished putting the roses in her hair, Joe helped her put the veil in place. They were practically out the door when Gertrud suddenly remembered her lily corsage. As she slipped it on, she couldn’t but notice the time.

“Oh no, we’re going to be late!”

“Don’t worry,” Joe assured her, “it’s not like Elijah can get married without you.”

In spite of herself, Gertrud laughed. “You mean, you don’t think he’ll marry the 10:15?”

Joe laughed back. “No, but he’s been so hyper today that we might find him running laps around the church.”

The next surprise came in the cab.

“Downtown please.” Joe told the driver.

Gertrud looked up sharply. “Downtown? But St. Alan’s hall is in the market district.”

Joe shrugged. “These are the directions Elijah gave me. You’ll have to take it up with him.”

Gertrud said nothing, just sat back wondering what surprise Elijah had for her this time. Finally, the taxi stopped and Joe helped her out. Gertrud’s eyes widened as she beheld the massive structure.

“Elijah and I are to be married here?” She breathed in wonder. “It’s a palace!”

“No, it’s not a palace.” Joe corrected her. “It’s a cathedral, Gotham cathedral to be exact. The head minister is a old friend of mine.”

Smiling, Gertrud cocked her head. “It seems that everyone in this city is a old friend of yours.”

“So it may seem” Joe chuckled good-naturedly. “Are you ready to go in?”

“I’m standing here in the most beautiful wedding gown and veil, both were made with so much love it makes me want to cry just thinking about it. I’m about to be married to the man I love more than anything in the most glorious building I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Somehow, ‘ready’ just doesn’t cut it.”

Joe chuckled again as he took Gertrud’s elbow and led her inside.

Gertrud waited in the small front hall with Joe went inside to tell everyone of his or her arrival. He was back within seconds.

“They’re ready when we are.” Organ music of Here Comes the Bride began to play just as Joe adjusted the front of Gertrud’s veil that fell just above her swollen belly. Joe offered her his arm and she took it. The doors opened and they began their walk up the aisle. Gertrud was so excited that she’d never know how she retained the self-control not to run up the aisle. As they neared the front, Gertrud was surprised yet delighted to see Ben Jackson and Alan Reed were seated in the front row. Both were employee of the Van Dahls as well as 2 of Elijah’s oldest and most loyal friends. Gertrud turned her head and saw Elijah. He looked so handsome in Joe’s old tux it took Gertrud’s breath away. Just as Elijah sprang to life the moment he saw his bride. Elija

h and Gertrud were facing each other when Joe withdrew his arm, kissed her check, shook his hand and went to sit down. For a moment, all the couple could do was stare at one another until the golden silence was broken.

“Good evening.” Greeted the minister.

“Good evening.” Echoed the small company.

“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here in the sight of God and this company to unite this man, Elijah James Cobblepot, and this woman, Gertrud Angelina Kapelput, in holy wedlock. Should anyone know of just cause why these two should not be wed, speak now or forever hold your peace.”

For one insane, crazy, second, Elijah was afraid that his father would storm in and demanded this wedding come to a stop. Of course, he was just being paranoid. The minister waited his standard 10 seconds, and when nothing happened, he went on.

“The bride and groom have chosen to express their love in their own words. Elijah?”

“Funny, we had all this time to get everything nice and perfect, but now the moment’s finally here and I can barely remember what I was going to say. I will say this; the other day I had a rather disturbing thought, what if you’re not real? I first saw you, after all, when I was on my sick bed, nursing a very high fever. I couldn’t dream up a better soul mate for myself if I tried. Beautiful, smart, funny and loves me not my parent’s millions. Well, if I am dreaming, I hope I never, ever wake up. Both directly and indirectly, you have made me a stronger man, a better man just by supporting me, believing in me. Marriage is sacred because love is sacred and how I love you Gertrud! I love you in every way it’s possible for one person to love another. Our first few months in the city were less than ideal, but I believe it has made us stronger as a couple and for that, I say, God bless it. As for the future, who knows what will happen? But, as long as I with you, my beloved, I can’t wait.”

“Gertrud, your vows.”

“Elijah, I must say that was simply beautiful. It’s funny that you should mention dreams. To me, you are not a dream but a dream maker. I suppose it is the wish of every orphan to desire a new family. A mother and father, who would love, support and are there for me, no matter what. I wanted it so much that night after night I would really fall asleep and dream of it. By age 16, those dreams shifted slightly. Instead of dreaming of my 2 adoring parents, I assumed the role of wife and mother. It used to driving me insane, for as hard as I tried to remember, my husband remained faceless and unknown. But now, there’s a person on earth that can convince me that I wasn’t dreaming of you all these years. Tonight, you make me a wife and within a month because of you, I will be a mother. You’ve fulfilled my dreams without even trying and for that alone I will love you forever. Elijah, you are a fine, gentle man with a huge heart. The money is actually the least interesting thing about you. Only a complete fool would love you for your family’s fortunate.”

“Will you please join hands?” The minister asked and the couple obeyed.

Do you, Elijah, take this woman, Gertrud, as your lawful wedded wife? Do you promise to love, honor and cherish her? For better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health and keep thee only onto her until death do you part?”

Elijah smiled at his bride. “I do.”

“Do you, Gertrud, take this man, Elijah, as your lawful wedded husband? Do you promise to love, honor and cherish him? For better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health and keep thee only onto him until death do you part?”

Gertrud nodded excitedly. “I do.”

“May I have the rings please?”

Gertrud looked down, as Elijah turned red in the face. “We have no rings,” he explained, embarrassed. “We have no way of paying for them.”

The minister, however, kept his cool. “It’s a mere formality.” He dismissed. “Not important. What is important is by exchanging vows and by the power invested in me, I now declared you husband and wife. What God has joined together, let no man put asunder. Elijah, you may kiss the bride.”

With great care, Elijah lifted the veil up and away from Gertrud’s face. As if to steady himself, he put each hand on Gertrud’s shoulders, leaned in at long last, and kissed her. The sounds of clapping seemed very far away as the couple clung to each other during the kiss and when it over, they hugged.

“We’re married! Legal and everything!” Elijah whispered in her ear during the hug. “We did it!”

“We sure did!” Gertrud whispered back.

They went back in 2 cabs. Elijah and Gertrud in one and Joe, Jackson and Alan took the other. They arrived to discover that Joe had set up a little wedding reception in the back of the shop. The reception, much like the wedding itself, cost little but meant so much. They drank cheap wine from plastic cups and feasted on a $20 cake from a nearby bakery. Sounds of Only You and Le Vie En Rose and other love songs filled the air due to the tape deck. For over 2 hours, they ate, drank and danced. Both Elijah and Gertrud were shocked yet completely delighted and grateful to learn that it was Joe who contracted Jackson and Alan to let them know about the wedding. During the toasts, Alan joked that there were easier way to avoid dating him than marrying Elijah. Everyone laughed at that. A good time was had by all. Ever the good host, Elijah walked Jackson and Alan to the corner and waited with them until they caught a cab. When Elijah went up to the apartment, he found Gertrud in the kitchen, decked out in a short summer nightgown, smearing peanut butter on a piece of bread.

She looked up, caught, embarrassed. “It’s shameful, I know. Considering we just had cake but I just can’t kill these cravings.”

Elijah smiled, shook his head and came forward. “There’s no shame at all in eating for two. Why don’t you go to bed? I’ll finish up here and bring the bread in to you.”

“Are you sure you don’t mind? I’m almost done here anyway.”

“My sweet darling, since you got up this morning, you have endured a day shift and a night shift at 2 different jobs, a wedding and a reception, all on your feet, I have little doubt. Now, if you don’t want to rest for yourself, do it for our child.”

“All right.” Gertrud chuckled and then kissed him on the cheek. “Don’t be long. You’ve a big day too.” Then she left. Elijah was putting away the bread when he got a wonderful idea.

A minute later, Elijah entered their bedroom and handed the plate to Gertrud, who was sitting up in bed. “Here you are.” As his wife ate, Elijah watched her, lying across the bed, prompted up by his arm.

“Hit the spot?” He asked Gertrud when she was done and took back the plate.

“Yes” she admitted, rather sheepishly. “Yes, it did.”

Elijah placed the empty plate on the floor and turned back to his beloved. “I have something for you.”

“Oh, Elijah, no!” Gertrud protested. “The lily was a nice gesture, it really was, but we already agreed. No buying gifts for each other!”

“Oh, I can assure you I spent no money on this. Do you remember when someone said you can’t have a wedding without a ring?” They both knew that Elijah was quoting himself from their 1st wedding under the oak tree nearly 3 years before.

“I seem to remember a little birdie told me that once.” Replied Gertrud.

“Well, tada!” Elijah pulled out from the twist tie from the bag of bread, knotted it and put it on Gertrud’s bare finger.

Before the happy tears flowed, his wife shook her head. “It’s not fair. I have 2 wedding rings before you’ll

have your first.”

“I’ve thought of that!” Elijah announced proudly as he produced a second twist tie.

Gertrud got on her knees, took the little yellow strip from Elijah, knotted it and slid it on to his finger. “I love you, Mr. Cobblepot.” She whispered.

“And I love you, Mrs. Cobblepot” he whispered before he took her in his arms and kissed her deeply.

The next day was Sunday, or as Elijah and Gertrud termed ‘their one-day honeymoon’. Both their employers had given them the same thing. It was something Elijah hadn’t had in weeks, Gertrud in months; an entire day off. It didn’t take the couple long to agree on spending the day in bed. They woke up slowly, lazily and spent their first morning as husband and wife making love. After a light lunch, they went right back to it. In the mid-afternoon, Elijah came out of the bathroom to discover that Gertrud had fallen asleep. The pair was just about to have sex again but Elijah was glad his wife was taking a nap. Tomorrow would make it an exact month to her due date and Gertrud still worked too hard, in Elijah’s opinion. He bought the light blanket up over her bare shoulders and bent to kiss her brow, before he continued to the kitchen to see what he could make for dinner. Some time later, Gertrud awoke and after they ate and cleaned up the dishes, the newlyweds had settled on the couch in the living room to take up their endless debate about baby names. By 7, the debate had been put off again as they resumed their lovemaking. At 11, Gertrud let out a yawn as Elijah set the clock’s alarm. Today’s day off had been badly needed but tomorrow, it was back to work and back to the real world.

The rest of August gave way to September just as Gotham’s record-breaking summer heat wave drew to a close. As the nights grew cooler, the residents of Joe’s Sew Shop were struck with baby fever. With no name changes, citizenship tests or when they would get married left to worry about, Elijah and Gertrud could at last, focus on their upcoming bundle of joy. As they began shopping for baby things, they found that their months of hard earned savings really came in handy. They could afford all the basics. Including the big items, like a crib, a changing table and a stroller. Also the little things like diapers, bottles and other supplies. Even Joe got into the action, he gave the Cobblepots an old rocking chair of his after he had repaired and repainted the chair white. Gertrud could not help but smile in approval as she watched her husband put her old teddy bear, Oscar into the new crib. On September 18, Gertrud and Elijah celebrated their first month of marriage. September 19 was Gertrud’s last day of work before the baby came. On September 20th, Gertrud’s due date came…and went. If Gertrud was anxious about her baby being late, Elijah was beside himself. He watched Gertrud like a hawk. One night as Gertrud got out of bed, Elijah leapt to his feet. Gertrud calmed him with a kiss and explained she needed to use the bathroom and would be right back. On another day, the had just finished lunch and Elijah was clearing the dishes. As he stood over the sink, he heard a yelp that made him lose control over the dishes.

“Ow!”

Gertrud got up and ran to him. “Darling, are you alright? You’re hurt!” She studied the scar on his palm.

“It’s nothing.” He dismissed. “Gertrud, why did you yell? Are you in labor?”

She nodded nervously. “I-I think so.”

#gotham #gotham fanfiction #gertrud kapelput #elijah van dahl #chapter 4 part B

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