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mayquita · 6 years ago

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Pictures of Reality (10/16)

Hi everyone! Here we go again. I’d like to express my gratitude to all those who have given this story a chance, thanks for your likes, comments, kudos and reblogs. It means the world to me.

Summary: Emma Swan returns to her birthplace, Storybrooke, in search of a fresh start after a life marked by abandonment and betrayal. After a year there, she finds the stability she needed and also the possibility of learning about one of her passions, photography. Killian Jones, a former British war reporter with a tragic past, establishes himself in the same town as an instructor of photography, following in the footsteps of his best friends, the Nolans. What will happen when their paths cross? Will their common passion for photography help them heal old wounds?

Rating: M (Language, mature themes, implied sex)

Warnings: Alcohol abuse, mentions of the loss of a limb in an armed conflict.

Other ships / Characters: Although, obviously, this is a cs fic, Snowing plays a major role here, mainly David. In fact, the story contains three different points of view, those of Emma, Killian and David. Also, Henry appears in the story as Regina’s adopted son but he is not Emma’s biological son.

Beta: I’d like to express my gratitude, as always, to my beta @jarienn972 I’m aware that you have had to deal with a monster of more than 100k words and English is not my mother tongue, so I value your effort even more.

Artist / art: Go visit @imagnifika’s blog and enjoy her amazing art. There is no specific art for this chapter but the photo from Emma’s Instagram account will be part of the fan art that Kate has created for an upcoming chapter.

Art for the prologue/ Art for chapter 1 / Art for chapter 2 and banner / Art for chapter 3/ Art for chapters 4-5 / Art for chapters 6-7/ Art for chapter 8

Special mention to @saraswans , thank you so much for your perpetual support, for believing in me when I doubted myself and for offering ideas to make this story grow.

Don’t forget to go read and enjoy the rest of the amazing csbb stories and art.

Word count: ~ 5300 (116k total in 16 chapters)

Also on (From the beginning): Ao3 / Ffnet (Current Chapter) Ao3 / Ffnet

Tumblr: Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11

What to expect from this chapter? Things get a bit complicated… Emma talks to Mary Margaret, Mary Margaret talks to David, David talks to Killian… And the Nolans make a decision but, before carrying it out, they have to celebrate Killian’s birthday.

CHAPTER 9

My dearest Emma,

It's happening! We got the news a few days ago, but I still have to pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming. No, this time it's real. You, my dear daughter, found us, or rather you found your way back home.

I still can not believe that I'll have the possibility of delivering these letters to you in person in a few months. I would have taken the first flight back home, but there are some things that we need to take care of first. We must convince Killian that he should travel with us. We can not leave him here alone, buried under layers of misery, so we will do our best to continue helping him move forward, and if he has to cross the ocean in search of a new beginning, so be it.

You can not imagine the joy we felt when we saw you for the first time in photos, when we were able to finally put a face on our beautiful daughter. You got your chin and eyes from your mother, but the blond in your hair comes from me. You are the perfect mix, the product of our deep love.

I'm aware that the road will not be easy from now on, that there is a possibility that you don't want to know anything about us. And we will understand and accept it, but now that you are so close, or at least you will be when we arrive at Storybrooke, I will settle for knowing that at least you are happy, even without us.

I want to know everything about you. What experiences you have lived, what cities you have visited, your hobbies, your aspirations, your fears, your desires. Will you let us, Emma, be part of your life?

Just a few more months and we can reunite as a family forever. Until then, be happy, Emma on this new journey you have undertaken,

Your father who loves you and never forgets you,

David.

Emma Swan. Storybrooke - February 21, 2018

Emma arrived at her apartment that afternoon with a strange sensation in her gut, as if a bad omen had begun to haunt her. She dropped down on the couch, letting her thoughts run free instead of bottling them inside. Maybe it was not the most appropriate way of acting, but she felt that if she kept blocking everything that disturbed her, sooner or later, everything would end up exploding.

It was the first time in a long time that she felt that recurring uneasiness tightening her stomach into knots and what hurt her most was that everything had happened just when she had finally got enough courage to bare her soul and reveal to Killian her ghosts of the past.

There was something that confused her. Everything had gone well. He had offered her security and confidence, although perhaps his choice of words hadn't been the most reassuring — she didn't miss the deliberate use of the verb try — but the softness of his lips, the tenderness of his kisses and caresses and his proximity had acted as a balm.

Everything had gone to hell suddenly, when he had pulled away from her abruptly, muttering an excuse that hadn't been convincing at all. Until then, she had blamed those sudden changes of attitude to his own demons that kept harassing him. But that had never happened when they were in the middle of an intimate moment.

Maybe she had read it all wrong. Maybe Killian's feelings towards her were not as deep as she thought or maybe he was having second thoughts... Stop! Emma took a deep breath and let it out slowly in an effort to calm down enough to think more clearly. She wasn't going to be carried away by her insecurities now. Instead, she should act and find the answers she needed.

And what better way to get those answers than by asking the people closest to Killian? The Nolans might offer her some light regarding his strange behavior. Emma grabbed her phone with determination and started typing.

Hey! How are you doing? Are you free to see me today? - ES

Hi Emma! Is everything alright? - MM Nolan

Yeah, but I'd like to talk to you about something. - ES

Sure, meet me at Granny's in 20? - MM Nolan

On my way. Thanks :) - ES

Mary Margaret was already waiting for her, sitting in one of the booths when she arrived a little later at Granny's. She waved at her while her lips drew a warm smile to which Emma responded with one on her own.

She liked Killian's friend. She exuded a halo of composure with that always sweet expression and her soft voice. But there was also something intimidating in her attitude, although Emma hadn't yet managed to discern exactly what it was. Maybe it was the fact that she belonged to a different generation, or maybe she was the closest thing to a family Killian had, and that made her always feel somewhat under scrutiny, as if they were assessing whether she was worthy enough.

Emma shook her head in an attempt to make those inopportune thoughts disappear. Instead, she sat in front of Mary Margaret trying to muster enough determination to bring up the issue that worried her.

"Hi, Emma!" The way Mary Margaret addressed her, all joy as if she were really glad to see her, was something she still had to get used to.

"Hi, thanks for coming."

"Of course. Are you sure everything is alright?" Mary Margaret asked gently, although Emma could detect how her cordial expression morphed to one of slight concern at the edges.

"Yeah, I guess."

Before she could offer any explanation, Ruby approached the table, placing a cup of cocoa with whipped cream and cinnamon in front of her. A warm sensation hummed under her skin, spreading to her heart. Emma still found it hard to believe that this was her life now, with friends who remembered her favorite drink or with people she had only known for two months who were willing to meet her no matter the reason. Emma's lips curled upward, sending a grateful smile to her friend.

"You know?" Mary Margaret's chin pointed to her cup, while she held her own in her hands. "This's one of the things that I missed the most in London, the closeness, the small details, like a waitress remembering your favorite order without needing to mention it." Her gaze took on a nostalgic glow, but she recovered quickly, focusing again on Emma. "Anyway, the important thing is that we're back. And now tell me, what can I do for you?"

Emma swallowed as she stirred her cocoa, gathering her thoughts in an attempt to find the best way to expose the subject. "It's about Killian." She finally snapped, maybe a bit sharper than she intended.

Mary Margaret's brows furrowed with concern. "What's wrong? Is he okay?"

"Yeah, he's fine, Well, I hope so." The wrinkles on Mary Margaret's forehead became more pronounced, causing Emma to groan inwardly. She definitely had to improve her social skills. "I mean, there's something that worries me about him." She wasn't sure that would ease the worry, at least that which was indicated in Mary Margaret's expression, seemingly far from relieved.

"Maybe it would be helpful if you were a little more specific, Emma." Mary Margaret suggested tentatively, the corners of her lips rising slightly, drawing a smile of encouragement.

Emma cleared her throat and took a deep breath in an attempt to calm her nerves. She was probably being ridiculous and imagining things, but it was better if she expelled the thoughts that disturbed her. Only then would she be able to loosen the knot in her stomach. "It's just that... Killian sometimes acts in a strange way. Sometimes he seems fine, but suddenly his attitude changes and he goes into a kind of silence, as if he were shutting himself up."

"I see..." Mary Margaret looked thoughtful for a moment, but then continued. "I'm not sure how much Killian has revealed to you from his past, but I guess you already know that he has not exactly had it easy."

"Yes, I know. I've always thought that the reason was precisely that - the struggle he was still carrying out against his own demons, but there's something else." Emma paused for a moment. God! Keeping a conversation about her intimacies was proving to be more difficult than she would have thought. "We were kissing today... you know." Her voice trailed off, as she averted her gaze, feeling her cheeks flush. "And suddenly he pulled away from me, as if I was burning him or something." Emma glanced at Mary Margaret, holding her breath as she waited for her reaction.

"Oh." It was everything she said for a moment, her cheeks tinged with a slight pink hue, probably matching her own.

"There's this other stuff..." Emma exhaled deeply while trusting her voice to sound carefree enough. "We... we haven't slept together, yet."

"Oh." Mary Margaret repeated as her eyes widened slightly, her cheeks now tinged a furious red. Emma realized later that this conversation should be equally mortifying to both of them because it was as if Mary Margaret was hearing about sex —or the absence of it, to be exact— practiced by her little brother or something.

"It's not that I really care about not having... well yes, I mean, I want to, at some point... but..." Emma was aware that she was rambling, but she was unable to stop herself. "What really worries me is what might be the reason for that attitude. Maybe it's because of me? Am I understanding everything in the wrong way? Maybe he doesn't feel the same about me?" As she expressed her concerns aloud her voice became weaker until it sounded only as a soft murmur.

"Oh, Emma." She dared to cast a sidelong glance at Mary Margaret. To her surprise, she found a sad expression while a shadow of what looked like regret crossed her gaze. Mary Margaret reached out and placed her hand on hers, giving her an affectionate squeeze. "Whatever is going through Killian's mind at this moment, it has nothing to do with the depth of his feelings towards you, I can assure you."

"Do you really think so?" Emma hated how vulnerable her voice sounded. That was one of the reasons why she had protected her heart for so long, to prevent these kinds of sensations from taking control over her.

"Believe me, sweetheart, I've never seen Killian as happy or as excited about something as he is with you, not even with photography, which has been his only refuge for a long time." Her emotions were evident both in her voice and in her expression. Emma could not keep her heart from fluttering as she silently thanked the couple for taking care of Killian all these years.

She let out a sigh of relief as she leaned her back on her seat. "I... I just have this need to help him, but I'm not sure how to do it." She recognized, while her lips drew a small smile.

Mary Margaret gave her hand another squeeze. "I'm sure if we all work on it, everything will be solved eventually. Meanwhile, the best thing you can do is support each other. That's what David and I did when we went through our worst moments." The sparkle of nostalgia returned to Mary Margaret's eyes as Emma wondered what painful experiences this couple — the perfect representation of true love— would have experienced.

"Thank you, really. I'll do my best to help him, he... I also care about him a lot." It was there, at that precise moment and in that random place, when her feelings decided to leave their prison inside her heart and come to the surface. She could not deny it any longer. She was falling hopelessly in love with Killian. That certainty hit her hard, causing her to suppress a gasp as she shut her eyes closed for a moment in an attempt to regain her composure. That gripping sensation didn't leave her, though. She felt about to be pushed into the void without the security that there was a net to cushion her fall.

"I know, Emma, I know." There was something in Mary Margaret's intense gaze that made Emma's heart tighten in her chest, as a strange sensation overwhelmed her, as if she could read beyond her facade and reach deep into her very soul.

David Nolan. Storybrooke - February 21, 2018

Don't you think it's about time for Emma to know the truth? - Regina

Honestly, it's none of your business, madam mayor. - David

Well, when it comes to my employee, it is. How do you think she will react when she finds out? - Regina

That's one of the reasons why we are not revealing the truth yet. - David

I see... but that doesn't stop you from involving your friend in this dangerous game, even though he is now your daughter's boyfriend. A very smart movement, David... - Regina

I don't have time for your sarcasm. I have a newspaper to run and you a town to govern. Good evening, Regina. - David

David locked the screen of his phone while taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm the feeling of annoyance that Regina had caused him. The woman had always been characterized by trying to control everything, but this time he wasn't going to allow her to interfere. In an attempt to forget the irritable mayor, he focused on Killian, though he assumed that his friend's unexpected visit was also related to Emma.

He watched as Killian paced up and down his office, stopping now and then to look out the window, or paying attention to any random objects on the shelves. There was something that was worrying him, clearly, and David suspected what it might be, but he waited until his friend was ready to share whatever was troubling him, while pretending to be busy typing on his computer.

After a couple more minutes, Killian seemed to gain enough courage and sat in the chair in front of the desk. Still reluctant, he rubbed his hand over the scruff of his chin until finally, he decided to speak. "So, have you guys already thought about when are you going to tell Emma the truth?"

Never? David pressed his lips together, trying to keep his composure, but the fact that in an interval of just a few minutes two different people had asked him the same question was beginning to take its toll. He had expected Killian’s question, though, at least since they discovered that Killian had feelings for Emma and that they seemed to be reciprocated.

If the circumstances had been different, David would have settled for this connection they had made with Emma. It was not enough, it never would be, but at least it served to keep her close, to know about her life, to support her in bad times. If he could not be a father to her, he would be a friend.

But neither he nor Mary Margaret had expected that there would be other feelings involved. Their somewhat selfish and desperate actions might hurt deeply, and irreparably, the most important people in their lives.

"I... I don't know." He breathed while rubbing his eyes with one hand, racking his brains in an attempt to find a magical solution. There wasn’t any, of course. In fact, they should not have even considered embarking on this path of lies in the first place.

"I'm not sure I can do this much longer, Dave." Killian's desperate tone caused his heart to constrict with regret. David gave him a sidelong glance and what he saw did not help at all to mitigate that gripping sensation. Killian looked devastated, on the edge of the precipice, a crease of concern between his brows, his shoulders tense, a twitching muscle in his jaw betraying his tension.

He took a shuddering breath. "I know, Killian." A wave of guilt curled around his gut when, for the first time, he fully realized the implications of their rash plan. If Killian was already in a precarious position, he had taken advantage in some way of his vulnerability to get his help. He could not forgive himself if Killian ended up even more broken after this.

His friend had not even dared to confess his feelings towards Emma. He could only imagine the storm that Killian was suffering, feeling the pressure on both sides. What kind of person was he, using his dear friend for his own interests?

"She trusts me, Dave, she has opened up to me, confessing her worst experiences of the past." Killian continued, each of his words acting like a dart of guilt piercing his heart. "When she told me about Neal, I just wanted to strangle him with my own hands, well hand…” He raised his prosthesis in a gesture of contempt, ” If I had him in front of me..., or punch the other bloke, Walsh, in the face. She trusted those two assholes and they took advantage of her, lying and betraying her in the most atrocious way. But then, I realized that I was acting the same bloody awful way."

"It's not the same, Killian." David replied weakly, feeling the hole in his stomach deepen when he saw his friend in such a state.

"Are you sure, mate? Because as I see it, I've taken advantage of her with the aim of bringing her closer to you and I've been lying to her all this time."

"You love her, don't you?"

Killian pressed his lips together before answering, while squeezing his eyes shut for a moment. "I do." He confessed through a shaky whisper.

David almost had to repress a gasp at the irony. If they had been in other circumstances, he would have been the happiest person in the world to know that his daughter had found the best possible companion, a devoted, loyal, honorable person. And yet now, due to his own selfishness, two people who were meant to be together might have their future endangered.

"I'm going to talk to Mary Margaret. We'll find a way to fix this, Killian. I promise." He assured, his lips drawing a smile that he hoped would be reassuring enough, though he was actually dying inside, wondering how the hell they were going to get out of this.

Killian had left just ten minutes ago when David received another visitor in his office. Mary Margaret hurried inside, taking the chair Killian had left free. The moment his gaze met his wife's, he noticed her creased forehead, her face pale, her eyes lacking their usual brightness. "What's wrong, darling?"

David held his breath, his stomach tightening into knots. He was not sure he could handle a new addition to his problems. Before answering, Mary Margaret twisted her ring while biting her lower lip. "We have made a terrible mistake, David."

He massaged his temples, letting out a deep exhale. He suspected what Mary Margaret was referring to, but that did not make it any easier, not after his previous conversation with Killian. She must have understood his silence as an invitation to continue, since, without waiting for a reply, she spoke again.

"I met with Emma today. She texted asking me to see her." David's heart skipped a beat. This was the first time that Emma took the initiative to see one of them alone, without Killian being present.

"That's a good thing, isn’t it?" He tentatively suggested, still reluctant to hear that such a meeting might be the cause of the state of uneasiness in his wife.

"Yes, it was good. She trusted me, David." Her voice came with a hint of emotion, while her eyes regained some of that spark of hope so characteristic in her. "I'm so glad that she opened up to us. We got a brilliant daughter, brave, small, caring."

"But..."

"But... she was so worried about Killian's attitude. She thought that his sudden mood swings could be her fault..." Her voice trailed off as she ran her hands down her cheeks. "They are so in love and we're ruining everything, David." Mary Margaret's eyes filled with tears, though she blinked a couple of times, holding them back.

His chest constricted in agony. He couldn't bear to see his wife cry. From that day when he had had to say goodbye to his newborn daughter and then found Mary Margaret crying silently for her lost daughter, lonely, and desperate in a hospital room, he had sworn to himself that he would do everything in his power to ease her sorrows and keep suffering away from her. It was evident that he had done a poor job because the tribulations had not stopped hitting them in one way or another.

He got up and reached for her, kneeling by her side as he held her hands in his. "She told you that? That she was in love with Killian?" He asked in a soft voice, feeling his heart pound against his ribcage.

She shook her head, her lips drawing a tiny smile. "Not with words, but anyone who sees them together can deduce it."

"Killian was here a moment ago, he did recognize that he was in love with Emma. He's about to break up, sweetheart." David confessed, looking for his wife's gaze, in an attempt to find refuge and comfort in the serenity of her eyes. He could only see Emma's eyes reflected in her mother's, causing the tug of guilt to tighten his grip on his stomach.

"We must confess the truth, David." Her tone was urgent, but also determined. "Who knows? Maybe there's a way to expose the reality that doesn't make her run away. We should also try to reduce Killian's participation to the minimum possible."

Although Mary Margaret was right, the possibility that they had already lived through their last moments of happiness with Emma caused a gripping sensation to crawl to his heart, squeezing hard. No, he needed one last chance to treasure a handful more of memories with his daughter. "You're right, we'll do it after Killian's birthday." They were not going to ruin Killian’s day even more. This gave them three more days to figure out how to approach the subject to Emma in the best possible way.

Mary Margaret accepted with a small nod of her head while the corners of his lips raised forming a tiny smile of resignation.

He consoled himself with the idea that they would still have three more calm days before the storm. Because if he was sure of something, it was that there would be a storm the moment in which the truth was revealed, either in the form of a light wind, leaving small damages in its wake, or possibly like a tsunami with the capacity to devastate everything around.

Killian Jones. Storybrooke - February 25, 2018

Killian had not celebrated his birthday for ten years, since that day was a constant reminder that he was able to add one more year to his marker while others, who perhaps deserved it more, hadn't been so lucky.

David and Mary Margaret had accepted it at first, the loss of his brother and their friend still too fresh in everyone's memories, but gradually, they had tried to go back to the old habits of making a special event for each of their birthdays. He had appreciated the gesture, he really had, but his birthday would never be the same without his brother by his side.

During the first twenty-two years of his life, but especially after the death of their mother and the abandonment of their father, Liam had been responsible for making that day something special, a unique event. He just could not bear the thought of never having him next to him on that day, so he had chosen to ignore it, which meant no gifts, no birthday cake and, obviously, no happy birthday song.

Even with Milah, he hadn't recovered enough strength to start celebrating his birthday again. Moreover, when that mortal accident ripped her out of his arms forever, his resentment towards that date only increased.

Still, his friends always managed to be with him on that day, even they had traveled once to Spain where he was covering a news event. " We have never been to Madrid ." It had been their excuse, which he had accepted because, deep down, he had always been grateful for those little gestures of affection that reminded him that he was still important to someone.

Today was different, though. His uneasiness still lingered, accompanied also by the weight of guilt and regret. But that did not prevent him, for the first time, from feeling some eagerness for spending the day with his friends and, of course, with Emma.

He had spent the morning making arrangements to start a new course and he had not even mentioned to Emma that today was his birthday, but he would meet her and the Nolans later, for dinner at Granny's. Those were his thoughts - spending a nice evening surrounded by the people he cared for - while he walked to his apartment to take a quick shower and then meet them. What he saw when he opened the door though, caused his heart to drop into his stomach, any excitement for the celebration suddenly vanished.

The image of a perfect family was in front of him, a happy daughter surrounded by her caring parents while all of them watched a family photo album full of memories, all peppered with loving comments.

The reality was slightly different, though. For Emma and the rest of the world, they were no more than three acquaintances, waiting for him to arrive. And this photo album did not keep shared memories, rather his own memories of the past.

There was another element present in that image that, under other circumstances, would have been idyllic, a secret hovering over them, extending its invisible tentacles with the threat that that scene might never happen.

Killian was not entirely sure why the scene had affected him so much, almost to the point of getting sick. They were there for him after all, to accompany him on his special day. And most importantly, they seemed happy, so engaged in both the photos and the conversation that they did not even realize at first that he had already arrived.

But he couldn't bear the thought of Emma losing her parents when she had just found them — even if she did not know it yet — or they losing their beloved daughter they had always longed for. He felt responsible for maintaining that opportunity they deserved so much.

He was already on edge, unable to control his inner turmoil, experiencing an ongoing roller coaster of emotions that left him exhausted and frustrated, all his energy and strength drained from his body. He was the real threat here. Maybe the best thing for everyone would be for him to disappear for a while...

"Killian! We didn't hear you arrive!" Mary Margaret's excited voice brought him back to reality.

"Hey!" The moment Emma realized his presence, it was as if his entire living room lit up thanks to her bright smile and the flash of her eyes. He just needed a brief glimpse of her emerald gaze so that his heart would calm down, such was the power she had over him.

She got up then, walking towards him, causing his skin to tingle, craving for her touch.

She made him feel alive, making him rediscover feelings that he thought were long buried, challenging him constantly, both with her talent and with the promise of a future - with the possibility that not everything was lost for him. She managed that at least during the instant their eyes met, everything else would no longer matter.

"I hope you don't mind..." She offered him a small tentative smile before continuing. "We thought it was better if we waited for you here, since today... well, you know." She tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. His heart shrank a little as he realized that he was the cause of her nervousness. David and Mary Margaret might have warned her beforehand and she was acting cautiously for him.

He cast a sidelong glance at his friends, who had decided to stay in the background, still sitting on the couch. David shrugged while the corners of Mary Margaret's lips rose slightly in encouragement. "You can say the word, love." He offered her a reassuring smile as he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her toward him, his eyes never leaving hers. She tilted her head and studied him from underneath her lashes. "I just... I didn’t want you to feel uncomfortable."

"With you? Never." He could not resist it anymore, and closed the distance between them, burying his head in the gap between her shoulder and her neck in a hug so tight that he feared he might hurt her. She did not complain though and returned the embrace with the same enthusiasm.

It was at times like this that he would have given everything to keep his left hand, such was his need to feel her on all levels. He sought refuge in her arms, letting her scent intoxicate him, the warmth of her body against his acting as a balm for his poor soul.

"Happy birthday, Killian." She whispered into his ear, her warm breath sending electric shocks up his spine, causing him to tighten the hug even more.

He swallowed the lump growing in his dry throat before muttering in a broken voice, "Thank you, love."

It was like this, in the middle of his living room, with his friends as witnesses while he clung to Emma for dear life, when he realized that he could not continue like this. He could not force his friends to confess. They were the ones who should tell the truth to their daughter when they thought the time had come, not because of fear that he would explode. He was interfering with the whole process, becoming a real threat.

No, he had to make a getaway as soon as possible, take distance and figure out a way to solve all this without the need for too much collateral damage. Maybe it would only take a couple of days, he tried to convince himself, although he was aware that he was not going to find any magic formula. Still, perhaps the distance allowed him to recover enough strength to face everything that was to come.

He’d look for the first flight to London tomorrow, and would only tell his friends about his improvised trip at the last moment, to prevent them from trying to change his mind. Even so, the idea of separating from Emma dug a hole in his heart so deep that he did not know if he would be strong enough to take that flight.

TheLadySwan: There is something exciting when you give away a blank photo album. You are not only delivering a material object, a handful of blank pages bound in leather. You are actually offering a promise in the form of trusting that the person who receives it will be able to live experiences that deserve to be immortalized, filling in this way, those pages of memories that will last forever. There is also something a little more selfish in the act, that is, the hope that your image occupies a place between those pages since that would mean that you too will be part of those memories ... Happy birthday.

I'm sorry... Thanks for reading. Let me know what did you all think :) What to expect from the next chapter? Will Killian be able to go to London to give the Nolans more time? We'll find out next week...

#cs ff #cs au #captain swan #csbb #captain swan ff #mayquita writes #my cs writings #pictures of reality #cs au ff #csbb 2018

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• A man in all the world’s new fashion planted, That hath a mint of phrases in his brain. – William Shakespeare • A man who is furnished with arguments from the mint will convince his antagonist much sooner than one who draws them from reason and philosophy. – Joseph Addison • A man who is furnished with arguments from the mint, will convince his antagonist much sooner than one who draws them from reason and philosophy. – Gold is a wonderful clearer of the understanding; it dissipates every doubt and scruple in an instant; accommodates itself to the meanest capacities; silences the loud and clamorous, and cringes over the most obstinate and inflexible. – Philip of Macedon was a man of most invincible reason this way. He refuted by it all the wisdom of Athens; confounded their statesmen; struck their orators dumb; and at length argued them out of all their liberties. – Joseph Addison • Adversity is the mint in which God stamps upon man his image and superscription. – Henry Ward Beecher • After I got shot, you want to know the very first thing that entered my mind? The U.S. Mint. I am coin in the U.S. Army. Now, I have two small holes in me. I’m no longer perfectly culled. Do you want to know the very last thing that entered my mind, You. – Nicholas Sparks • Ally MacLeod thinks that tactics are a new kind of mint. – Billy Connolly • Always keep mint on your windowsill in August, to ensure that buzzing flies will stay outside, where they belong. Don’t think the summer is over, even when roses droop and turn brown and the stars shift position in the sky. Never presume August is a safe or reliable time of the year. – Alice Hoffman • An emergency stash of Thin Mints. Frickin’ Girl Scouts. Those things were way to addictive. They had to be laced with crack.” Charlie Davidson Fourth Grave Beneath my Feet. – Darynda Jones • And eat lots of mints, it fools the cops. – Greg Proops • And you, my best friend on earth, my soul sister who shares Chunky Monkey scoops and beefcake e-mails at the drop of a hat, the woman who made me wear a frothy, ruffled lime-colored bridesmaid dress that added fifteen pounds to my hips, are going to spill your guts to me, aren’t you? (Sunshine) No fair and the dress wasn’t lime, it was mint. (Selena) It was lime-icky green and I looked like a sick pistachio. (Sunshine) – Sherrilyn Kenyon • Antiques to Die For sets the gold standard for the classic contemporary cozy. Agatha-finalist Jane K. Cleland’s writing is top-notch; her plotting and pace smooth and assured. This antiquing series is in mint condition! – Julia Spencer-Fleming • As for the garden of mint, the very smell of it alone recovers and refreshes our spirits, as the taste stirs up our appetite for meat. – Pliny the Elder

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'Mint', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '68', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_mint').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_mint img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); ); • Basically the sort of guy who looks entirely at home in sockless white loafers and a mint-green knit shirt from Lacoste. – David Foster Wallace • Books were put out, and ‘had a run,’ / Like coinage from the mint; / But which could fill the place of one, / That one they wouldn’t print? – Phoebe Cary • Breath mints and Chapstick are key if you want to have a good kiss. – Brett Davern • Debasement was limited at first to one’s own territory. It was then found that one could do better by taking bad coins across the border of neighboring municipalities and exchanging them for good with ignorant common people, bringing back the good coins and debasing them again. More and more mints were established. Debasement accelerated in hyper-fashion until a halt was called after the subsidiary coins became practically worthless, and children played with them in the street, much as recounted in Leo Tolstoy’s short story, Ivan the Fool. – Charles P. Kindleberger • Do you think Sammy Davis ate Junior Mints? – George Carlin • Economy, the poor man’s mint. – Martin Farquhar Tupper • Even in the stifling bosom of the town, A garden, in which nothing thrives, has charms That soothes the rich possessor; much consol’d, That here and there some sprigs of mournful mint, Or nightshade, or valerian, grace the well He cultivates. – William Cowper • Every cloud has its silver lining but it is sometimes a little difficult to get it to the mint. – Don Marquis • For clothes, I like Dover Street Market and Acne. For vintage, I go to Mint just off Seven Dials. For shoes, it’s Church’s and Russell & Bromley. – Matt Smith • Fresher than a pillow with a mint on it – Drake • God is very precise in this point; he will say to such as invent ways to worship him of their own, coin means to mortify corruption, obtain comfort in their own mint: ‘Who hath required this at your hands?’ This is truly to be ‘righteous over-much,’ as Solomon speaks, when we will pretend to correct God’s law, and add supplements of our own to his rule. – William Gurnall • HAPA was like mint. You could rip it up, and six months later, it was back, healthier than ever. Mint smelled better, though, and you could make juleps out of it. I don’t know what I could make out of HAPA. Compost, maybe. – Kim Harrison • He held the book up to his nose. It smelled like Old Spice talcum powder. Books that smelled that way were usually fun to read. He threw the book onto his bed and went to his suitcase. After rummaging about for awhile, he came up with a long, narrow box of chocolate-covered mints. He loved to eat candy while he read, and lots of his favorite books at home had brown smudges on the corners of the pages. – John Bellairs • He tastes like mint and need, as he overpowers me with his tongue. – Jessica Sorensen • Here’s flowers for you; Hot lavender, mints, savoury, marjoram; The marigold, that goes to bed wi’ the sun And with him rises weeping: these are flowers Of middle summer, and I think they are given To men of middle age. – William Shakespeare • Hot lavender, mints, savory, marjoram; The marigold, that goes to bed wi’ the sun, and with him rise weeping. – William Shakespeare • How awful that the artist has become nothing but the after-dinner mint of society. – Samuel Barber • How shall we account for our pursuits, if they are original? We get the language with which to describe our various lives out of acommon mint. – Henry David Thoreau • I am a collector of many things, but I particularly love the sterling silver mint julep cups, each engraved with the titles of the Broadway shows in which I appeared. – Bryan Batt • I am too rich already, for my eyes Mint gold, while my heart cries. – Mervyn Peake • I come from down south, where vegetation does not know its place. Honeysuckle can work through cracks in your walls and strangle you while you sleep. Kudzu can completely shroud a house and a car parked in the yard in one growing season. Wisteria can lift a building off its foundation, and certain terrifying mints spread so rapidly that just the thought of them on a summer night can make your hair stand on end. – Bailey White • I eat anything, especially sweets. Chocolate, cookies, and I love mint-chip ice cream. – Mary McCormack • I get up at 5.30am, sluice myself and have two Weetabix and some mint tea, before starting to write by 6am. – Andrew Motion • I have a friend who actually told me that she’d rather be dead than be fat. This is a woman who, if I order a sandwich at lunch, she’ll order a salad. If I order a salad, she’ll order half a cantaloupe. If I order half a cantaloupe, she’ll order a cup of coffee. This bizarre contest continues until she’s down to sucking on a mint-flavored toothpick. At this rate, her preference for dying over being fat could be a reality sooner than she thinks. – Joy Behar • I have never been much of a groomer. I take baths a lot, but I don’t wear deodorant. I don’t have to. I have a miraculous body scent. I’ve had women smell me and say that should be bottled. I would advise guys to lay off the Drakkar, because the cavemen weren’t wearing it. They might have been putting mint leaves on their balls, but your scent is grown naturally. I have really good dating advice. – Zach Galifianakis • I loved Morocco. It’s very exotic and different from anywhere I’ve ever been. I had an amazing day there in the high Atlas Mountains near Mount Tamadot, when I rode by donkey into a Berber village and drank some mint tea with a Berber family. It was exceptional. – Isla Fisher • I made a decision to live outside the city in northern California. My agent said to me, ‘Kid, you’re going to make a mint in television movies.’ He positioned me, and we picked really good projects, and I cornered that market. They were 20-day projects. – Mare Winningham • I took a fresh pack of Luckies, a mint called Sen-Sen, my old man’s Trojans. – Billy Joel • I want you to take a sleeve of Thin Mints and line them up on the edge of the kitchen counter and when I’m hungry I can just bend over and sweep a cookie into my mouth like I’m scoring a goal in hockey.- Jack Gantos • I wouldn’t treat a romantic scene any differently than any other scene. I would really say the biggest preparation was chewing gum and breath mints! For a kissing scene, it’s all about the breath mints! – Alice Englert • If God takes away from us the old, wrinkled, beat-up dollar bill we have clutched so desperately, it is only because He wants to exchange it for the whole Federal mint, the entire treasury! He is saying to us, ‘I have in store for you all the resources of heaven. Help yourself.’ – Aiden Wilson Tozer • If someone offers you a breath mint, accept it. – H. Jackson Brown, Jr. • If you’d asked me at 30 where I’d be during the Masters when I was 46, I’d have pictured myself on a boat fishing, smoking a cigar, drinking a mint julep and watching it on television. – Jack Nicklaus • I’m from South Jersey: The idea of eating a roll with olive oil and anchovies or some kind of sardine and drinking mint tea definitely comes from reading Paul Bowles.- Patti Smith • In fact we put so many things in our mouths we constantly have to be reminded what not to eat. Look at that little package of silicon gel that’s inside your sneakers. It says DO NOT EAT for a reason. Somewhere sometime some genius bought a pair of sneakers and said Ooooh look. They give you free mints with the shoes – Morgan Spurlock • In some circles, the Mint 400 is a far, far better thing than the Superbowl, the Kentucky Derby, and the lower Oakland roller derby finals all rolled into one. This race attracts a very special breed. – Hunter S. Thompson • It is the destiny of mint to be crushed. – Waverley Root • It took me a sleeve of Girl Scout Thin Mints and forty minutes to get over that boy. – John Green • It was mint and memories and the past and the future and she felt as if she’d done this before and already she longed to do it again. – Maggie Stiefvater • It’s clear, it’s fresh, like a mint candy. – Margaret Atwood • Ive never drunk coffee. Im convinced it has something to do with why my skin is good. I have either mint, green or black tea. – Saffron Aldridge • Juno MacGuff: You can never have too many of your favorite one calorie breath mints. – Diablo Cody • Lately I’d begun carrying pain amulets in my bag, like some people have breath mints. – Kim Harrison • Life is legal tender, and individual character stamps its value. We are from a thousand mints, and all genuine. Despite our infinitely diverse appraisements, we make change for one another. So many ideals planted are worth the great gold of Socrates; so many impious laws broken are worth John Brown. – Louise Imogen Guiney • Luxury lives in the finer details. It’s a cloth napkin at a dinner table. It’s a mint on your pillow before bed. – Iggy Azalea • Man wants but little here below Nor wants that little long, ‘Tis not with me exactly so; But ’tis so in the song. My wants are many, and, if told, Would muster many a score; And were each wish a mint of gold, I still should long for more. – John Quincy Adams • My fridge is really just vegan: coconut water, Gatorade (my favorite!), cucumbers, mint, kale, vegetables, ginger, and wheat grass. – Serena Williams • My head is pounding. I wish the mints were aspirin. – Holly Black • My intuition told me that it was the grass that was important.Now it glows parrot-green, cool as mint, soft as moss, lying there like a cashmere blanket. – W. P. Kinsella • My wife is one of the best wimin on this Continent, altho’ she isn’t always gentle as a lamb with mint sauce. – Charles Farrar Browne • Nothing except the mint can make money without advertising. – Thomas B. Macaulay • Now if I cry on screen I think it’s mint. Because I think that’s how that person would feel at that time. And if it doesn’t, then it just doesn’t happen. – Michael B. Jordan • Number of empty Ben & Jerry’s containers: 3 – two mint chocolate cookie, one plain vanilla. (Who buys plain vanilla ice cream from Ben & Jerry’s, anyway? Is there a greater waste?) – Ally Carter • Perhaps the most vivid recollection of my youth is that of the local wheelmen, led by my father, stopping at our home to eat pone, sip mint juleps, and flog the field hands. This more than anything cultivated my life-long aversion to bicycles. – Tennessee Williams • Peter curled his hands into fists at his sides. ‘Kiss me,’ he said. She leaned towards him slowly, until her face was too close to be in focus. Her hair fell over Peter’s shoulder like a curtain and her eyes closed. She smelled like autumn-like apple cider and slanting sun and the snap of the coming cold. He felt his heart scrambling, caught inside the confines of his own body. Josie’s lips landed just on the edge of his, almost his cheek and not quite his mouth. ‘I’m glad I wasn’t stuck in here alone,’ she said shyly, and he tasted the words, sweet as mint on her breath. – Jodi Picoult • Rogerson,” I asked him sweetly as we sat watching a video in the pool house, “where would I find the pelagic zone?” “In the open sea,” he said. “Now shut up and eat your Junior Mints. – Sarah Dessen • Sandwich outdoors isn’t a sandwich anymore. Tastes different than indoors, notice? Got more spice. Tastes like mint and pinesap. Does wonders for the appetite. – Ray Bradbury • Scoops of mint ice cream with chips of chocolate cows. – Jim Bishop • She wanted to hold foreign syllables like mints on her tongue until they dissolved into fluency. – Anthony Marra • Take from my palms, to soothe your heart, a little honey, a little sun, in obedience to Persephone’s bees. You can’t untie a boat that was never moored, nor hear a shadow in its furs, nor move through thick life without fear. For us, all that’s left is kisses tattered as the little bees that die when they leave the hive. Deep in the transparent night they’re still humming, at home in the dark wood on the mountain, in the mint and lungwort and the past. But lay to your heart my rough gift, this unlovely dry necklace of dead bees that once made a sun out of honey. – Osip Mandelstam • That the mounds of ices, and the bowls of mint-julep and sherry cobbler they make in these latitudes, are refreshments never to be thought of afterwards, in summer, by those who would preserve contented minds. – Charles Dickens • The coolest gift I’ve ever gotten from a fan was from the Franklin Mint. It was a knife, and it had a picture of General Wade Hampton, who my oldest son is named after. It’s a collector’s item and came with a case and a stand and everything. – Josh Turner • The creativity and pathology of the human mind are, after all, two sides of the same medal coined in the evolutionary mint. The first is responsible for the splendour of our cathedrals, the second for the gargoyles that decorate them to remind us that the world is full of monsters, devils, and succubi. – Arthur Koestler • The greatest possible mint of style is to make the words absolutely disappear into the thought. – Nathaniel Hawthorne • The holy grail is right here in this gem of a book. Tosha Silver’s wisdom goes down as easy as a mint milkshake and leaves you feeling so free you’ll want to do cartwheels on the beach. But don’t be fooled by the simplicity of this message. Look no further for an easeful path to enlightenment infused with rapture and hope, which comes as much needed medicine for the soul. – Lissa Rankin • The irony is that Iraq actually has one of the richest and most sophisticated cuisines in the world. So many classic American or European foods – ceviche, albondigas, even the mint julep – have roots in Iraqi cuisine, which was a crossroads of Persian and Arab and Turkic traditions. The oldest written recipes in the world are from Iraq! – Annia Ciezadlo • The mint makes it first, it is up to you to make it last. – Evan Esar • The music community in Minneapolis is really incestuous so I’ve gotten the chance to work with a gang of people who have worked with Prince, Mint Condition, got to spend some time with Mujah Messiah, Atmosphere, P.O.S., Rhymesayers, a lot of poets around there. – Nikki Jean • The NRA made an ad saying that Obama is elitist because his kids have armed guards. Yeah, that crazy Obama thinking his kids need special protection. I love the NRA accusing anyone of being paranoid. It’s like a septic tank saying, ‘You need a mint.’ – Bill Maher • The only thing better than a superb collection of spinechilling stories, is a superb collection of spinechilling stories accompanied by equally unsettling illustrations, and in that regard, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better example than IN MINT CONDITION: 2013. In reading it, I have discovered writers and artists previously unknown to me who are now very high on my radar, and they should be just as high on yours. – Kealan Patrick Burke • The other big factor in building trust quickly is site design quality. Mint.com has one of the best graphic designers ever (Jason Putorti) – he cares about every pixel, all the fonts, all the transparencies and effects. And that shows instantly. People do make judgments of trust on appearance – in the real world and online. – Aaron Patzer • The past has been a mint Of blood and sorrow. That must not be True of tomorrow. – Langston Hughes • The reason I wanted to become an organ player was because I heard Ray Charles play on Quincy Jones’ arrangement of “One Mint Julep.” I heard that sound, and it just struck me. I thought that’s what I want to do with my life. That’s the sound I want to try to make. – Booker T. Jones • The savor of the water mint rejoiceth the heart of men. – John Gerard • The world is like a little marsh filled with mint and white hawthorn. – Mary MacLane • The world is not so much in need of new thoughts as that when thought grows old and worn with usage it should, like current coin, be called in, and, from the mint of genius, reissued fresh and new. – Alexander Smith • The yard was full of tomato plants about to ripen, and mint, mint, everything smelling of mint, and one fine old tree that I loved to sit under on those cool perfect starry California October nights unmatched anywhere in the world. – Jack Kerouac • Then from the Mint walks forth the man of rhyme, Happy to catch me, just at dinner-time. – Alexander Pope • They say no land remains to be discovered, no continent is left unexplored. But the whole world is out there, waiting, just waiting for me. I want to do things– I want to walk the rain-soaked streets of London, and drink mint tea in Casablanca. I want to wander the wastelands of the Gobi desert and see a yak. I think my life’s ambition is to see a yak. I want to bargain for trinkets in an Arab market in some distant, dusty land. There’s so much. But, most of all, I want to do things that will mean something. – Lisa Ann Sandell • Tic Tacs are the maracas of breath mints. – Demetri Martin • Use Starbucks mints for every occasion—they’re the strongest – Natalie Portman • Use your head, Sep. Loads of wolverines. Hanging around waiting for super. Gtting excited. eating mint blasts. so what do you think they do?’ it must be here. they can’t have eaten that… i dunno, Nik, what do they do?’ POO. – Angie Sage • What did I do? I walked into a drugstore to look for some mints, and then I walked out. What was wrong with that? I didn’t kill Mr. Nesbitt. – Walter Dean Myers • When all is complete deep in the teapot, when tea, mint, and sugar have completely diffused throughout the water, coloring and saturating it…then a glass will be filled and poured back into the mixture, blending it further. The comes waiting. Motionless waiting. Finally, from high up, like some green cataract whose sight and sound mesmerize, the tea will once again cascade into a glass. Now it can be drunk, dreamily, forehead bowed, fingers held wide away from the scalding glass. – Simonne Jacquemard • When Hale’s hand disappeared inside his tuxedo jacket, Macey wasn’t exactly sure what he’d find inside the pocket. It could have been another phone or a breath mint. Really, nothing would have surprised her. Well nothing except… “Is that an earbud?” she whispered. He smiled. “Are you on comms?” “Shhh,” he told her softly. – Ally Carter • Whether the darken’d room to muse invite, Or whiten’d wall provoke the skew’r to write; In durance, exile, Bedlam, or the Mint, Like Lee or Budgel I will rhyme and print. – Alexander Pope • Which meant his only assets were one whiny imprisoned goddess, one sort-of-girlfriend with a dagger, and Leo, who apparently thought he could defeat the armies of darkness with breath mints. – Rick Riordan • Why love the woman who is your wife? Her nose breathes in the air of a world that I know; therefore I love that nose. Her ears hear music I might sing half the night through; therefore I love her ears. Her eyes delight in seasons of the land; and so I love those eyes. Her tongue knows quince, peach, chokeberry, mint and lime; I love to hear it speaking. Because her flesh knows heat, cold, affliction, I know fire, snow, and pain. Shared and once again shared experience. – Ray Bradbury • Yet simple souls, their faith it knows no stint: Things least to be believed are most preferred. All counterfeits, as from truth’s sacred mint, Are readily believed if once put down in print – John Clare • Yinzer: DAMN!! I wish I had your balls! Tucker:”I wish you had a breath mint, but I guess we don’t always get what we wish for. – Tucker Max • Young playmates of the rose and daffodil, Be careful ere ye enter in, to fill Your baskets high With fennel green, and balm, and golden pines Savory latter-mint, and columbines. – John Keats

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equitiesstocks · 5 years ago

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Mint Quotes

Official Website: Mint Quotes

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