#alden cole

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

Bruno & Louise Huber - Man and his World - Samuel Weiser - 1978 (cover art by Alden Cole)

[bullet-prooflove]

Guilt: Alden Parker x Reader

Tagging: @mandy426 @caffeinatedwoman @elefrog25-blog @kmc1989 @toheavenwmydrms

Companion piece to:

Pillow Talk - Alden realises he's a shitty husband.

Two Points For Honesty - Alden makes a confession about his time on the run with Viv.

Wild Flowers - You confront Viv about what happened with Alden.

The Duck Pond - You try to tell Alden how you're feeling.

Wishful Thinking - You realise Alden's not coming home.

It’s after ten pm when Alden gets out of the interrogation room, his eyes are gritty, his back’s sore and there’s a headache brewing right behind his eyes from prolonged exposure to the fluorescents. He’s been locked in that room for four hours trying to illicit a confession from their suspect and so far no dice, something he’s not looking forward to telling Vance when he raps his knuckles on the door.

“Aren’t you supposed to be Gloucester right about now?” Vance asks him as he steps into the room and Alden shakes his head before he takes up residence in the chair across from his director.

“No.” Alden sighs, his palm rubbing over the nape of his neck. “That’s next week.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s not.” Vance says as he uses the mouse to navigate his computer, bringing up the vacation calendar. “It’s your wedding anniversary tomorrow right, the 26th?”

It can’t be but Vance is turning the screen around so he can see it and yea, he should be in Virgina right now partaking in a twilight wine and charcuterie event with his wife.

He takes his phone out of his pocket, dread building in his stomach as he studies the screen intently.

Three missed calls, two voicemails and a text.

I’m heading out, it reads. I’ll be turning my phone off for the rest of the night.

No kiss, no smiley face, nada.

You’re done with him, he can tell and Alden, he doesn’t blame you. He’s done some shitty things over the past six months but this tonight, it’s by far the worst.

“I can’t believe I did that.” Alden says as he stares at the screen. He can feel your despondency over through the words as he studies them intently,  his eyes stinging. “I can’t believe I forgot…”

You… He forgot you.

Vance purses his lips together, his fingertips rapping on the surface of the desk before  before he reaches into the bottom drawer and removes a bottle of bourbon and two crystal tumblers.

“You have been under a lot of pressure recently.” He remarks as he begins to decant the amber liquid into the tumblers. “The Raven, this case, working with your ex. I can’t imagine it’s been easy for you or for Lisa.”

“No it hasn’t.” Alden says picking up the glass and staring into its depths. “Lisa’s trying but Viv’s been yanking her chain… The two of us we’ve not really been connecting recently.”

“How long has that been going on?” Vance asks him as he leans back in his chair, his eyes on his friend and Alden swallows hard against the emotion that swells in his chest whenever he thinks about the turning point of your relationship.

“Since The Raven.” Alden says quietly as he sips from his whiskey. “I think it’s more of a me problem then an us problem. I’m… struggling, I guess, to come to terms with the shit that happened, with what almost happened.”

That's the thing that's tearing him apart inside, the other thing he hasn't told you.

“Lisa…” Vance begins, searching for the words. “She’s not like other people, her emotional intelligence is off the charts that’s why she excels in what she does. She knows there's something you're not telling her and a secret like that, it eats at a marriage.”

"You're saying I should just come right out and tell her?" Alden questions, even though it's the last thing in the world he wants to do.

 "I'm saying there are two kinds of guilt.” Vance tells Alden. “The kind that's a burden and the kind that gives you purpose. I think you’ve been letting this weigh you down for too long, you need to utilise it, let it be the fuel that fixes your marriage, let it remind you of the husband you want to be.”

“That is quite a speech.” Alden says finally, setting his glass down on the desk before he raises to feet.

“I take it I won’t be seeing you for the rest of the weekend?” Vance says as he watches Alden head towards the door.

“No.” Alden responds, his hand coming to rest on the handle, his head tilting towards Vance. “It's time to come clean to my wife.”

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Like My Work? - Why Not Buy Me A Coffee

[speedygal]

probie to acting director my beloved 🥹

Season 2, episode 1. Sub Rosa.

Season 21, episode 7. A thousand yards.

[djkerr]

NCIS Season 22 behind the scenes

📷 @cbstv via IG

[n-evermores]

flabbergasted

[theoceanandthestars]

Stand By Your Man

A/N Inspired by the song ‘Stand By Your Man’ and a vanilla custard filled choux bun I had recently that I can’t stop thinking about. Apologies for any mistakes :)

Summary: After Parker, who your beginning to develop a crush on, discovers your hidden talent, you go undercover at a country bar to find a suspect.

Word Count: 2391

____________________________________________

You’d regretted revealing your hidden talent to Alden Parker the minute it had slipped from your lips. It was a moment of weakness on your part. You had initially rejected the agent as Gibbs’ replacement, you told yourself it was because he was too cheery and not as professional as Gibbs, but you knew that your resentment for Parker was, in reality, the manifestation of your sadness at Gibbs leaving and Parker taking his place meant that he really was gone. However, after a particularly hard case which ended with Parker offering you a vanilla custard filled choux bun from a bakery he had found on the drive back to the NCIS building. Your resentment had completely crumbled and amongst the praises for the pastry, in what you believe was a sugar induced moment of insanity, you had confessed your talent for singing to the older agent as a type of olive branch, who had been trying to encourage you to divulge a secret talent to him for the entirety of the case. The grin on his face was what immediately triggered a sense of regret within you, wishing that the pastries’ ability to loosen your lips hadn’t worked and it was that same grin that reignited that flame of regret within you 4 weeks later, when Parker told you that you would all be going undercover at a Country Bar. It was that grin that told you everything you needed to know in a matter of microseconds.

It was that grin that you could still see now as you were standing, dressed in a pair of jeans, a white flowy bell sleeved top and cowboy boots, being handed a microphone to go and sing on the stage of your suspect’s favourite hangout.

Parker had argued that it was imperative that the team could see every face within the bar in order to find the suspect and that the only way to truly do that was to have someone on stage and the rest of the team sat around the bar. You, on the other hand, had not felt the same and had rolled your eyes while Torres sniggered at your annoyance, promising to film the whole thing so he could torture you with it, following Parker’s divulgence of your talent to the rest of the team as well as his plan to catch the suspect. You had silently thanked McGee for not mentioning that he had in fact already heard you sing, (after an evening out drinking with him, DiNozzo and Bishop had led you all to a karaoke bar, which in turn had led to some very questionable renditions of many, many songs), not wanting to have to explain your karaoke too.

But as hard as you tried you couldn’t really be mad at Parker and truthfully you did think that Parker’s plan made sense, it was subtle, you could find the suspect without him realising you were looking for him and keep his attention away from whoever ended up grabbing him in the crowded bar.  Over the past four weeks you had softened to Parker, accepting that while he was replacing Gibbs in terms of his job, he was so different from him that he could never take his place. You liked to think of it as a different place, just as good as Gibbs but in different ways. Unfortunately for you during the past four weeks as well as coming to terms with Gibbs’ absence and Parker’s arrival, you had started to develop a crush on your boss. A crush you were almost certain he didn’t reciprocate.

You took a breath and shook your hair slightly before returning your mind back to your current situation, thanking the man who had handed you the microphone before the band began to play the song you had chosen to sing. As the music started to flow to your ears you calmed, the familiarity of the feeling settling in. It’s not that you hate singing in front of people, it’s more that you would rather just gouge your eyes out than have to sing in-front of your co-workers and boss/crush.

‘Sometimes its hard to be a woman’, the words flowed out your mouth effortlessly. As you continued, you shifted your focus from the words you were singing to the faces in the bar, scanning each one for the face of your suspect. However, after a few lines, you realised that there was no way you could get a clear read on half the faces in the bar without getting closer.

So, despite the resistance of every fibre of your being, you stepped of the stage and started to walk around the bar as you continued to sing. At first it was just a brush of your hand to someone’s shoulder so they would lift their gaze and you could see their face, but after a minute of singing you began to get bolder. As you continued to move around the room you found yourself sliding on the edge of the booth McGee was sat at, who like you had been searching for your suspect, and found yourself wrapping your arm over his right shoulder, directing the words of the song at him, and leaning your head on his other shoulder. This elicited a chuckle as he laughed softly at you. If you were being forced to do this, you were at least going to have some fun.

After moving away from McGee, you continued to make your way through the packed bar, the eyes of all the patrons now focused entirely on you, the words of the song falling effortlessly from your lips, and unbeknownst to you wowing the entire bar full of people, including your team. Unlike Jess, who had never doubted your ability to sing, Torres was in utter disbelief, still holding his phone recording you like he had promised, but now with the knowledge that there was very little to tease you with. McGee, on the other hand, was not surprised by your beautiful singing at all, after all, he had heard you sing drunk all those years go with him, Tony and Ellie and he knew if you sounded that good while that drunk, and you had all been very drunk, that sober your voice must be angelic.

Meanwhile, Parker’s gaze had stopped moving around the bar and instead fixed itself on you. When you had admitted to him that you could sing he had thought you would instantly take it back, and from the look on your face at the time he could tell you regretted it. He knew that you, like Torres, were having trouble adjusting to him taking over from Gibbs, but over the past few weeks both of you had been getting on very well. So well in fact, that he had developed somewhat of a crush on you, however, he also convinced himself that being your boss, as well as much older than you, made this crush entirely irresponsible and wrong, besides he was almost certain that you didn’t reciprocate it. In this moment though, he couldn’t take his eyes off you. He had been stunned into silence when he had first seen your outfit as you ran into the elevator which he had just gotten into, as you were about to go to the bar. The words he wanted to say, that you looked beautiful, had sat at the back of his throat and instead he opted for a smirkish smile as he told you he liked the outfit, to which you had rolled your eyes gently while chuckling softly, trying to hide the flush of your cheeks at the fact he had even commented on the outfit.  Now Parker was watching as you continued to move around the bar in his direction, admiring your voice and attempting to ignore the way his heart beat faster when you walked over to him as you sang, wrapping an arm over his shoulders as you placed yourself on his lap.

After singing a few lines of the song sitting on Parker’s lap, which was something you knew you would regret instantly the moment you did it, you forced yourself to get up and continue to search the bar as you sang. You were surprised for several reasons when you had sat on Parker’s lap. Firstly, you surprised yourself that you would do something that bold, but more importantly to you, you were surprised by Parker’s reaction, he had smiled at you, laughed softly and placed his arm around your waist, holding you close to him. An action you were sure had caused your heart to stop beating momentarily.

As you continued to sing you tried to shake the thoughts of Parker out of your mind, convincing yourself that he, like you, was undercover, he was just playing the role. Suddenly though you were snapped out of your spiralling as you caught sight of the man you had been searching for, who was staring at you. The suspect was sitting with another man, also looking directly at you. You moved over to them trying not to rush and maintain your cover.

As you reached them, you placed your hand on the man’s shoulder, turning to make eye contact with Nick, McGee, Jess and Parker, as you empathised the words of the song, ‘stand by your man’. You had chosen the song for this specific reason, that when you found the suspect, it would be easy to tell the team where he was. That and the fact that it was a short song and you didn’t want to have to sing longer than necessary.

After receiving nods from all the team, you removed your hand from his shoulder and walked back to the stage, with only a few lines left to sing. As you finished singing and the room burst into applause, the team quickly moved towards the man, their actions hidden from him by the applause, before grabbing and arresting him. The rest of the bar remained mostly oblivious thanks to the noise that was no being created.

You received a small rush from both the applause you received, and the relief that the suspect was now in custody. But as quickly as you had been handed the mic, you handed it back to the same man who had previously given it to you and rushed to the entrance of the bar to catch up with your team. As you left the bar and got outside the first thing you saw was Tim and Jess, who were putting the suspect into one of the cars, but you couldn’t see Parker or Torres. That was until you felt an arm wrap around your shoulders as Nick began to tell you how he was never actually going to tease you, which he definitely was going to do, and sang your praises. Eventually after he came down from the apparent high he was on after you singing, he jogged over to McGee, still giggling slightly, while you just shook your head and smiled.

Not a second later did Parker join you, after having disappeared somewhere, retuning with a box under his arm as he clapped softly, causing you to laugh and blush rather furiously.

‘When you told me you could sing, I assumed you could carry a tune, I didn’t expect you to have the voice of an angel.’

‘Thank you’ you blushed even more at his compliment, avoiding meeting his eyes, ‘just don’t think this will be a regular occurrence, I don’t think I could handle that’ you added pointedly.

He chuckled, ‘I don’t think it’ll be that easy, now they’ve heard you sing’, he gestured to the team, who were still chatting amongst themselves, occasionally glancing over at you and Parker, ‘they are going to try and get you to every chance they get’. This caused you both to chuckle.

‘Oh god’ you groaned, ‘I hadn’t thought of that’, eliciting yet another laugh from Parker, before he moved the box he had perched under his arm and held it in front of you.

‘But since you’ll probably never be given a break from this now, I got you this’ he stated opening the lid of the box to reveal one of the same vanilla custard filled choux buns he had given you all those weeks ago when you first confessed to him your talent.

Your eyes widened in excitement upon seeing the choux bun, taking it out the box and moaning as you took a bite of it. ‘This makes it all worth it’ you smiled, content with the pastry in your hand and completely touched by the gesture.

Meanwhile, by the van the other three agents continued to watch you and Parker after giving up on just sneaking glances at the pair of you.

‘Aww’ Jess cooed as they watched Parker give you the pastry he had bought especially for you, ‘Do you think they realise how much they like each other? Or just how obvious it is?’ she then asked the two men next to her.

‘Oh they have no clue’, answered Nick immediately, smirking as he watched you both.

‘Yeah they’re oblivious. I’m pretty sure they both think the other one doesn’t fell the same’ added Tim, returning his gaze to the two agents in front of him.

‘They’re the only ones who don’t see how much they like each other; I mean it’s pretty obvious to literally anybody else’ added Nick.

‘What’s obvious?’, you asked as you and Parker had made your way over to the three agents standing in a huddle as you continued to eat the choux bun in your hand. Jess and Tim looked like deer caught in headlights, but Nick began to smirk.

‘We were just saying how oblivious people can be sometimes’, looking directly at you and Parker who were both proving his point and being entirely oblivious, adorning expressions of confusion as he then added, ‘you know like the suspect, just sitting their not realising he was about to be arrested by the five agents in the bar.’

‘Oh right’

‘Yeah, that makes sense’.

Both yours and Parker’s answers were met with small giggles and nudges as you all began to move into the cars, which once again the pair of you where oblivious to.

Part 2?

[writeandsurvive]

Guest star Shelby Flannery sharing some BTS pics of the 1,000th ep! So happy to see Joe Spano, can't wait to have Fornell back 😍

Also, Gary Cole. Like, just-- GARY COLE. 🔥

[rookheeya]

NCIS S22 promo shot

[shinsfangirling]

some black bathrobe fluffy Parker

[bertruce]

"the Bermuda Triangle" | fanfic

NCIS. Hollis Mann and Alden Parker.

Note: English isn't my native language.

gif - @mcrsdin

*** Director Leon Vance met her on the second floor of NCIS headquarters, right at the top of the stairs. It felt just like the day they first met all those years ago.

The difference was that now DiNozzo wasn't boring into her back with a surprised look, and McGee wasn't jumping up the stairs two at a time to warn Jethro of her arrival.

Today there was no one to warn.

Hollis closed her eyes for a moment, allowing herself a brief moment of weakness, took a deep breath, and finally smiled at Vance after saying hello.

He was as friendly as ever, looking at her attentively and inquisitively, waiting for something.

"I'm here at your request, Leon," Hollis reminded him when the director still didn't respond with anything but the same inquisitive, studying looks.

"You know, in case... you haven't noticed the change..." Vance began, raising his eyebrows expressively and gesturing slightly toward the common room downstairs.

"Jethro's in Alaska. I know,” Hollis replied evenly, almost casually, though the corner of her lips twitched treacherously.

Vance seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, grinned at some unspoken thoughts, and gestured broadly toward his office. However, the curiosity in his dark eyes was so intense that she felt she didn’t need it, and Hollis almost regretted responding to the director's request and agreeing to help.

She wasn't ready to talk about Jethro—or, for that matter, about how four lonely years in Hawaii had turned out to be much happier for her than the last two weeks in Alaska. And yet again she was only trying to help - to someone who didn't even know how to ask for help.

Unlike Jethro, Vance was at least the very picture of kindness. He filled her in on the details of the stalled investigation at length, making no secret of his team's failures or attempting to downplay them, saying only:

" We did well enough without Gibbs, Hollis, but we did stumble somewhere along the line."

She nodded silently, reserving the right to ignore any mention of Jethro in the future. Just as Jethro had ignored her for nearly three weeks while she tried to save his ass.

But what else could you expect from a man who first calls to warn her that she might be the target of a psychopath hunting him, only to ignore her calls when that psychopath actually shows up on her doorstep?

Save yourself, Hollis. Not for nothing does your resume include twenty years of military service, a stint in the Defense Department, and deployments to "hot spots". You'll figure it out... somehow.

The wound under her shoulder blade, which had healed but still ached, responded unpleasantly. She had to close her eyes again, take a slow, deep breath, and exhale raggedly and longingly.

"Are you okay?" Vance asked, and his quiet voice sounded genuinely concerned.

"Rough flight," Hollis answered shortly, sipping her cold coffee and looking down at the papers on the table again. Well, there wasn’t much required of her today: to act as a liaison between NCIS and the DoD, provide access to classified files, and ensure there were no leaks. Even though McGee was now the only one left from the old field team, Hollis had no qualms about NCIS.

Moreover, the DoD was full of moles—and downright idiots—as Vance had learned from his experience. Deep down, Hollis was glad that, of all the DoD investigators he knew, Vance trusted her.

She took another long look at the investigation summary, finished her coffee in one gulp, and, feeling the familiar excitement rising in her soul, she summed it up:

“I’m in.”

“Of course. But...” Vance made a sly, fox-like face. “No calls to the Secretary of Defense or... who else is on speed dial?”

Hollis couldn't help but smile, even though she knew exactly what scene Vance was remembering: her first conversation with Jethro in six years. Here, in this office.

She had actually had to call the Secretary of Defense to end the jurisdictional dispute.

And honestly, Hollis still didn't understand why Jethro had let his personal side get the better of his work side that day, especially in front of witnesses. And while they had managed to talk and seemingly settle things, he had looked at her like a wild wolf again during the next mission and was unhappy with her interference, which didn't stop him from trusting her with his back when it came to a shootout.

Yes, she had always had his back, and he had left her alone with a mad killer.

Hollis shook off the sad thoughts, allowed the smile she had intended for Vance to warm a little, and then slammed the file closed as she got up from her desk.

"I'd be happy to call the Secretary if I had to. But I don't see anyone brave enough to fight me for jurisdiction."

The door swung open just as Hollis finished speaking, and a loud, righteously angry male voice filled the room.

"What the hell, Leon?! We agreed! If my team made a mistake, we'll fix it. Not some office rat from the DoD!"

Hollis frowned, showing what she thought of this type of work communication, but ultimately decided that her calm, impassive expression would be much better - she was not about to get involved in another pointless argument and fighting for the right to lead the investigation. For once, she was quite content to be an invited guest.

Besides, Hollis understood that the unknown special agent's anger was not directed at her personally, but primarily at his own impotence. The team failed, the investigation was stuck, like a cart bogged down in mud, and new body was added to the morgue this morning...

The new team leader, a burly, gray-haired man, continued to talk to Vance, but Hollis remained silent. She only noted that the special agent who had replaced Jethro seemed no different from him in his usual behavior and also had no regard for work ethic. Well, she had been there, she knew.

"Alden Parker," Vance finally said in a businesslike tone, taking advantage of the pause to turn his entire body away from his irate subordinate and toward Hollis.

Parker turned after him, slower and slower with each passing second, as if he had just noticed the presence of a third party. Hmm, not very attentive for a special agent.

And then, without waiting for Vance to introduce her, he blurted out, "Hollis Mann."

"You two know each other??" Vance was surprised.

"No, we don't" Hollis replied confidently. Of course, she knew in absentia who exactly had taken Jethro's place, but Alden Parker was not Leroy Jethro Gibbs, and that was enough.

"I saw your picture in the file McGee sent," Parker's tone was no longer angry. Already calm, if slightly surprised Parker explained and with a sweeping gesture pushed his thick blond hair off his forehead.

"In the Gibbs Bermuda Triangle?" Vance clarified, and his eyes sparkled with amused curiosity again.

Hollis snorted softly and rolled her eyes - she had nothing to lose. She knew all too well about the "ex-love" file, and the talk that was going around NCIS about her and Jethro - she had witnessed it herself more than once. "The fourth ex-wife", "Gibbs' whisperer" and other, sometimes pleasant, sometimes not so, epithets.

"The Bermuda Triangle"? - Parker asked, puzzled, and switched to a businesslike tone. - Nope. The files on Sharif and Pars.

"Why do you need the files on Sharif and Pars?" - Vance was surprised. "They're old cases. They're both dead.

"Not exactly," Parker winced and leaned his hand wearily on the edge of the table.

"Do you think they might have followers?" Hollis asked cautiously, stepping towards him.

— Maybe... After the bio-attack in Alexandria, the explosion near the Admiralty and yesterday's attempt on McGee's life, we decided to reopen old cases related to terrorism. It seems that we need to look for someone who would want to harm Gibbs or his entourage.

Hollis raised her eyebrows in surprise, looked at Vance, and asked again, raising her voice expressively:

— Yesterday's attempt on McGee? You were going to tell me about that?

— Tim is fine, — Vance waved his hand, and his tone made her hope that McGee really was fine. Which could not be said about the victims in Alexandria.

But Hollis clung much more to the word "yesterday" — the man who had stalked her and Jethro had been lying in the Anchorage morgue for three days and, of course, could not have attempted to kill McGee.

"What makes you think it's about Gibbs?" Hollis asked, turning to Parker and gesturing for him and Vance to sit down; the conversation was going to be long.

"After McGee went to the hospital, we needed more staff, and we accepted Fornell's help." Parker paused, looking at Hollis, silently asking if she knew who he was talking about, and when he received a curt nod, he finally continued, "Fornell's noticed a pattern in the attacks that have happened in Washington over the past month: each one is a copy of one or another of Gibbs's old cases. Ari, Sharif, Dearing, Parsa..."

"Mishnev," Hollis finished, and grabbed the back of her chair, standing there, staring out the window that was behind Vance.

Sergei Mishnev killed Diane (Fornell's wife and one of Jethro's ex-wives). In the end, the bastard got what he deserved, but as strange as it may sound, it was Mishneve who caused Hollis’s seemingly happy marriage to falter and crumble.

She shouldn’t have stayed in Jethro’s basement that night, shouldn’t have drunk the stale, flavorless bourbon from dusty cans, and shouldn’t have gone up to the kitchen for another bottle. And even though nothing had happened between her and Jethro for which she could ask her husband’s forgiveness — just a midnight conversation that was more silent than spoken — she knew when she left Jethro’s house that morning that if she had to choose a man to put herself in the line of fire for him, her first choice would have been Jethro, not the man who had put a ring on her finger and shared his life with her for three years. And so she was right to get a divorce.

Then Mishnev, despite Jethro’s alarm, didn't make no attempt to target her or anyone else but Diane. But years have passed, and Jethro again has another enemy: not a second, not a third, not even a tenth.

“I’d like to believe it’s one terrorist,” Parker continued. “But it’s possible that a cell or network was activated.”

“Gibbs crossed paths with many terrorists,” Vance agreed, turning to Hollis and asking, “Has anything suspicious come through the DoD channel?”

“Give me one minute. I got back from leave a day ago,” Hollis replied, pulling her tablet out of her bag to check the reports.

She knew she had to tell Vance about her trip to Alaska, about her encounter with Jethro and the body in the Anchorage morgue, and how even if the world went to hell, Jethro wasn’t going back to Washington to stop the apocalypse someone wanted for his soul.

Because he was “tired,” because he had “put the past behind him,” because “you’ll figure it out on your own.” He hadn’t even come to Ducky’s funeral. What the hell else was there to talk about?

“Okay,” Hollis gave herself a few more seconds to collect her thoughts, cleared her throat quietly, and pulled up the Anchorage photos on her tablet. “Whoever’s behind this, let’s get these bastards.”

Vance chuckled approvingly, settling back into his director’s chair. Parker stood up from the table and reached for the half-empty coffee pot.

“How about something to eat first? How about Hawaiian manapua with sweet potato? I have a whole box downstairs.” He added, slightly sheepishly, but with a bright smile, “It don’t seem to be very popular with the team. They like desserts more.”

“Hollis had lived in Hawaii” Vance said.

“And there, manapua with sweet potatoes is not popular with anyone. Except perhaps with tourists.”

“You just haven’t had the real thing. I know a restaurant in Alexandria. We’ll close the case, and then we can have dinner there.”

“I’m all for it,” Vance interjected, laying out the paperwork he and Hollis had recently been reviewing on the table.

“Don’t be cheeky, Leon. I didn’t ask you out,” Parker chuckled.

“A date?” Vance played along.

"Shut up, Leon," Hollis said back. Suddenly, she felt a smile forming at the corners of her lips."

gif - @weatherlysexual

[goldenhourchapman]

Alden Parker in 19x05 (Face the Strange)

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

William G. Gray - Magical Ritual Methods - Samuel Weiser - 1980 (cover by Alden Cole)

[bullet-prooflove]

Wishful Thinking: Alden Parker x Reader

Tagging: @kmc1989 @mandy426 @caffeinatedwoman @elefrog25-blog @toheavenwmydrms

Companion piece to:

Pillow Talk - Alden realises he's a shitty husband.

Two Points For Honesty - Alden makes a confession about his time on the run with Viv.

Wild Flowers - You confront Viv about what happened with Alden.

The Duck Pond - You try to tell Alden how you're feeling.

The Westminster Orchid is dying, you watch as the white petals crinkle under Alden’s inattention, the stems starting to shrivel. You’ve tried watering the thing, giving it specialist food but day by day it seems to wither.

Your marriage is in a similar state, it’s been over a week since you’ve spent more than five minutes with Alden and you feel the chasm in between you grow exponentially.

You sigh as you check your watch, quarter past eight.

He was supposed to be home three hours ago so you could make the drive down to the Inn at Warner Part for a weekend getaway. The plan was to take some time off, reconnect, that’s what he had promised you that morning after the duck pond. It didn’t matter that you weren’t eating together or barely sleeping in the same bed because you’d have this time to reconcile, to take a breath.

You can’t believe what an idiot you’ve been, splashing out an extravagant amount of money for something in the depths of your heart you knew wasn’t going to happen.

Wishful thinking at it’s best, you realise.

You’ve called him a few times and left a couple of messages but there’s been no response. He must be still caught up in that case, the one with Viv. That hurt you’ve been feeling, it rises up in your chest once more, constricting it.

This is what Kris used to do to you, leave you waiting hours for something that would never happen. It feels like it’s ingrained into your psyche to fall into this trap, to be perpetually caught in the middle unable to move or make a decision.

If you leave you’re contributing to the problem, widening that distance. If you stay you’re going to be miserable and you don’t want to be that person again, the one that’s on standby waiting for the moment her husband decides he needs her.

Fuck it, you think as you raise to your feet, there’s no point in letting the weekend stay going to waste. You’ll cancel the couples events and go wine tasting by yourself.

When you climb into the car you send a final text before you turn your phone off, tucking it into the glove compartment of the vehicle. You’re done with trying to talk, you don’t want to hear the excuses or even worse the silence. You just want to sit in a jacuzzi bubble bath with a glass of wine, watching the shittiest reality TV you can find because right now watching other people’s train wreck of a life feels far better than the one you’re currently living.

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[thegrandrealmofgifs]

Gary Cole as Alden Parker

[djkerr]

Somebody better be dead or dying.

NCIS 22x04 Sticks & Stones

[n-evermores]

ALDEN PARKER ━ 20.1: A Family Matter