#and somehow stumbles into parenthood instead of just being like

[yourbustedkneecaps]

maybe it’s the underlying trauma or whatever but Tony getting just about any kid in his care/general vicinity and interacting with them immediately turns on the parental part of his brain and i think that’s funny as fuck

is he great at it? no. but he had Harley for like, a day, and basically became the Cool Mechanic Uncle-Guy to the kid. Peter? not even a year after so much as meeting the kid and he’s suddenly trying to “break the cycle” or whatever

[soldierswar]

Kobik - Chapter I

Bucky x Reader

(Fluff, Angst)

Plot: You and Bucky's relationship is anything but ordinary. Something that you've been used to since day one. But one day when Bucky brings home an unexpected little guest with superpowers, you reluctantly find yourself thrusted into something close to parenthood much sooner than you had ever expected to be.

Notes: I've been obsessed with Kobik and Bucky's father/daughter relationship with her since I read the Thunderbolts comics. Enjoy protective dad!Bucky.

        *Ring* *Ring* *Ring*

           “I’ve got to change that ring tone,” was your first thought after your atrociously loud phone woke you up in the middle of your mid-day nap. But you always felt the need to keep it off silent when Bucky was away from you for emergency use.

           You groggily propped yourself up and picked up the phone.

           “Everything okay?”

           “Let me guess. You just woke up?”

           There were no signs of real distress in his voice. So why the hell was he calling instead of texting?

           “Mmmmm,” you groaned.

           You being an investigative journalist had just finished working on an important writing piece that took over a month and a half to write. A piece that involved multiple trips across the ocean for in-person research. So you were pretty exhausted nowadays.

           “What’s up?” you asked mid-yawn.

           “Y/N…I need you to meet me somewhere as soon as possible. At…our spot.”

           Now you began to get worried.

You and Bucky had a special secluded spot in a nearby building that had been abandoned halfway through its being built years ago. It was safe to assume that it was just another private abandoned project after the blip that was never followed up on. So you and Bucky deemed it your secret place to go to if you needed to talk about something urgent where nobody could hear or see you.

           “Are you in some kind of trouble? Do we need a lawy—”

           “No, Y/N. It doesn’t have anything to do about me…for the most part.”

           “For the most part?”

           You could suddenly hear Sam’s voice echoing in the background again.

           “How worried do I need to be, Barnes?”  

           He hesitated.

Those pauses always made you incredibly anxious, and he knew that.

           “Are you safe? Are we safe?”  

           Another pause as he swallowed nervously.

           “James?”

           “I wouldn’t have called for you to come if I didn’t think that we’d be safe.”

           You shook your head. And although he couldn’t see it, he knew you enough to know that that was exactly what you were doing.

           “You trust me?”

           “Would I have married you if I didn’t?” you sighed lightheartedly.

           “I can be there in 30, okay?”

           And before you could hang up he said those three words that almost never faltered in making you smile, even in the worst of time.

           “I love you.”

…

           Despite the fact that he said that there was nothing really to be truly worried about, you couldn’t help but feel a pulsing anxiety surge through your body. In the years that you had been together, you never really had to use your spot for any type of unexpected emergency.

           You stumbled your way to the building being careful to not fall over the chunks of broken concrete protruding from the dirt before making your way to the door that was almost completely broken off minus two feet of it from the bottom still hinged to the door frame.

           “Hey,” said a familiar voice.

You turned around to see your husband’s beautiful face. You hadn’t seen Bucky in almost a week, so when he wrapped you in his arms you had no choice but to feel nothing but comfort and warmth. But after a two-second tender moment, you snapped out of it.

           “James,” you said.

“What is this about? Why am I here?”

           Before he could say anything, you could hear  Sam’s voice in another area of the house. It sounded almost as though he were giving orders to someone. Which was then followed by the echoes of a little childlike voice…

           You shook your head and reasoned that you were either hearing things, or things were about to get really weird.

           “Bucky,” you said raising your voice and crossing your arms.

           “How bad can it be?”

           Suddenly the only sound in the house was the sound of little footsteps sprinting towards you followed by Sam’s voice.

           “Kobi—”

           And right before your eyes, there was a little girl. A little girl that couldn’t have been older than 4 or 5 years old. She was incredibly pale and had blonde – No, white hair in two high pigtails. But the strangest thing about her was her inhumanly glowing blue eyes.

           “Everything okay Buckaroo?” she asked seeming concerned about him.

           “Shit,” Sam said under his breath as Bucky gave him a death stare.

           “Kobik,” Bucky scolded lightly, crossing his arms.

           “I told you not to come out until I said –”

           “I know,” she said as her little face and shoulders fell.

           “But someone seemed mad at you. Are you okay?”

           She turned her gaze over to you and gave you a once-over as if she were scanning you to see if you were a stranger and potential threat to your own husband.

           Sam finally joined you guys looking somewhat embarrassed.

           “Sorry, I couldn’t stop her.”  

           Now you were staring at Sam giving him the “What the hell is going on?” look.

           He didn’t seem like he wanted to be the one to answer.

Great, now you had two men who didn’t want to answer any questions about the strangest looking child that you had ever seen.  

           “Kobik,” Bucky said.

           “This is my wife, Y/N.”

           Her intense stare immediately softened, which eventually evolved into a big smile, and waved at you.

           “Hi!”

           You were awestruck, and couldn’t even answer. You just turned your stunned gaze away from her and back on to Bucky.

           “Bucky…” you said under your breath.

“I’m gonna ask you again. Why am I here?”

…

           Bucky took you outside next to a pile of large concrete rocks to sit on which you were grateful for because you were feeling pretty dizzy, and even felt a little sick.

Who was she? Did he have a kid that he decided to never tell you about? Did he feel the need to take her for some reason? Those were all logical thoughts that any rational human could think up for this type of situation. Right? And also, why did the poor thing look like…the way that she did?

           But when you finally did get Bucky to talk, everything came out of his mouth exceeded anything that you could ever imagine. In fact, for a moment of time if felt as though you were watching Bucky say a bunch of nonsensical sentences pre-exploding brain aneurism.

           But the longer he continued to speak, you realized that he was serious. This wasn’t some type of psychiatric meltdown or a sick joke.

           You shook your head as he reached over to put a comforting hand on your upper arm.

           “I know it sounds crazy, Y/N but—”

           “Crazy? No,” you shuddered, pulling away.

           “Crazy would be telling me that, I don’t know, you had some kind of accident child with someone during our marriage and you’re just bringing her over to tell me for the first time.”

           He opened his mouth to say something but you shoved your index finger in his face to continue.

           “Crazy would be telling me that you found a literal child with superpowers and you just decided to take her to see what she’ll do. But you’re meaning to tell me that it’s not even a human?”

           “Y/N—”

“You’re meaning to tell me,” you said pointing to the door.

           “That I’m supposed to believe that some extremely powerful force of ‘cosmic energy’ formed itself into a little girl, and you decided to make the impulsive decision of just taking it with you?”  

           “It’s not like that, Y/N,” he replied.

           “I’ve known about her for a little over a year now.”

           You couldn’t lie, that shocked you a little bit.

           “A year?”

           “Listen,” he said.

           “A year and a half ago were investigating a situation in Norway. One thing led to another and we ended up in an underground science lab with two scientists observing some type of glowing anomaly in the shape of a cube that they were carefully monitoring and studying. Sam and I made it our responsibility to keep this hidden and make sure it stays hidden.”  

           “So what does this have to do with—”

           He stopped you from finishing your sentence.

           “Two months later they call us to fly over and it seems that overnight this glowing anomaly somehow formed itself into this little girl that calls herself Kobik.”

           If you didn’t trust him as much as you did, you would be calling bullshit at this point. You didn’t even know that these kinds of things were humanly possible. Granted, you also didn’t think it humanly possible for a bunch of aliens to pretty much destroy New York, or for another batch of aliens to come down and somehow make half of the earth’s—No, the universe’s population disappear. So you continued to listen.

           “A few days ago we get a notice that the lab’s been breached, and by the time we got there, the two scientists are dead. When we get there to check out the scene we find that the five grown men that broke in were also dead. And a minute later we found Kobik shaking all alone in a corner.”  

           Your heart broke for her for a split second. But then you let his words sink in before realizing...

           “Wait,” you said

           “You said the intruders were dead.”

           He nodded.

           “Who killed…”

           He knew that you knew that answer.

           “She had to defend herself,” he shrugged.

           “And how did she do that, Bucky? She’s tiny.”

           And that’s when you realized that there was even more to the story.

           “Once she took form, they made it their focus to study the extent of her powers along with her behaviors. She talks, plays, and overall acts like a child of the age that she took form in…But in the wrong hands she could be used and abused into being a powerful weapon.”

           “So why did you take it?” You asked.

“It obviously can defend itself.”

           He didn’t seem thrilled about you talking about it like it was an inanimate object.

           “We don’t know if it was a fluke or not. She may not know how to properly defend herself and won’t get so lucky the next time. Next thing you know she could end up in the wrong hands. And she was scared, Y/N. I…We couldn’t just leave her.”

           You stressfully ran your fingers against your scalp through your hair.  

           “So what now?” you asked.

“She’s going to just stay here? In this abandoned half build house?”  

“No.”  

“…So is Sam going to keep her somewhere?”

The longer he stared at you the dizzier you started getting, understanding what he was actually asking.

“Y/N,” he said softly.

“I’m the only one she trusts.”

His last words fell into the background as you suddenly leaned over and threw up the entirety of your lunch…maybe even breakfast.

He held your hair back until you finally stopped.

“Bucky, you’re not saying,” you croaked while wiping your mouth.

“Tell me you’re not saying that you want to take her in.”

“Y/N, she’s scared. And I’m the only one she trusts to be around.”

You shot up and involuntarily started shaking your head.

No. This was not happening. He was not bringing a lethal science experiment into our house.

The world began to spin again as you probably got up too quickly, but you were good at playing it off. Why couldn’t he just be normal and bring an abandoned puppy home or something?

Regardless, there was no way that this could happen. There was no way that you could let this happen. You didn’t know who was going to invade your house to try to come to collect it. Much worse, you didn’t know how dangerous this thing was. What it could do to either of you when you least expected. What if it…she got startled in the middle of the night and activated some type of lasers in her eyes and cut you in half?

So you said what you needed to say.  

“No.”    

“Y/N,” he replied sympathetically.

“I know that this may be a lot so suddenly but—”

“No!” you said again putting your foot down.

“We can’t…Not right now. It’s not a good time”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Damn it.

“This isn’t some abandoned puppy that you found across the road, James! You brought home this radioactive weapon that people, might I add, bad people are looking for. And they’re not even the ones that I’m scared of!”

“You’re not making any sense.”

“After all that just came out of your mouth in the past 15 minutes, you really just had the nerve to tell me that I’m the one that’s not making any sense?” you exclaimed.

“What doesn’t make any sense is that your excuse is that this isn’t the right time. What do you mean by it’s not the right time, Y/N?”

“We…I have a lot of serious shit going on right now, okay?”

“I thought you were taking time off of work,” he pointed out.

“I am, okay? It’s just…”  

You paused, you didn’t know what to say or even how to say it.

“Is there something that I need to know? What does timing have to do with anything?”

“I…well���” you stuttered.

“Spit it out, Y/N.”

You sighed in defeat. You didn’t have a choice now.

“Because damnit, Bucky!” you shouted, startling yourself by how loud you were. But there was no stopping now.

“I’m pregnant.”

[lovehugsandcandy]

One-on-One: Love (N*FW, ColtxMC, ROD)

A/N: This is a birthday gift for the lovely @desiree-pow (HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABE! I hope that this bday is AMAZING - you deserve it!!!). This is also the last (maybe?) one-shot in the Colt!basketball AU that no one asked for. (Series here)

Length: ~1,800 words 

Rating:  N*FW (Swearing and sex)

Summary: That’s one way to improve morale after a loss.

.

Ellie bounced Jaylen on her lap, trying futility to keep him occupied as the final seconds ticked by. The Knicks were down by 11; even with thirty seconds on the clock, this game was over.

“Ugh,” she moaned, standing at the final horn and turning to Brandi, the sole friend she had made amongst the other players’ wives. “This loss means Colt is going to be in a god awful mood tonight.”

“Oh no,” Brandi replied, fixing her with a raised eyebrow. “I don’t mind when they lose. Kevin gets all his anger out in the best way, if you know what I mean.”

Ellie blinked, mind slowly catching up to the implication, as she cradled her son closer. Her thoughts raced before finally settling on awe. It was a fantastic idea; she was amazed she hadn’t thought of it before. 

She knew Colt better than anyone. 

She knew he liked winning.

But she knew he loved her more, desperately, ferociously; she had seen it repeatedly, from callused fingertips tracing ever so gently over goosebumps emerging on her bare skin to his willingness to temper even his worst impulses for her sake. His absolute adoration had quelled many of the ceaseless on-court fistfights, though the smart mouth spitting insults remained. His devotion had convinced him to refuse multiple trade requests for the sake of their family. And it had even reduced the constant bickering targeted at Logan, though nothing would squash every jab.

Together, they had navigated graduations and parenthood, dissertations and Championships.

Of course she could get him over one loss.

It was brilliant.

~~~~~

She heard the front door creak open right as Jaylen drifted off to sleep, easing the nursery door closed as quietly as she could, Brandi’s words still bouncing around her brain, she waited two beats to make sure that he didn’t stir before creeping away.

When she edged downstairs, bare feet slow on the carpet, it was quiet but, if she focused, she could hear quiet clicking, tapping of fingers on a keyboard barely audible from the living room. She peeked in; the laptop screen illuminated Colt’s face, game tape already rolling in front of him.

“Hey, Colt?”

He didn’t respond, eyes glued on the movement in front of him, tight fingers reaching for his cell phone.

“Colt?”

“Hmm? Is the baby asleep?” He didn’t look up, not even when she stalked closer to lean over the couch and drag her palms over his chest, damp hair from the locker room shower tickling her cheek. “That fucking asshole,” he murmured, still transfixed by the screen; she rolled her eyes.

“Colt, come to bed.”

“In a minute, I gotta-“

“Coooolt.” Her teeth grazed his earlobe, and he shuddered, tremble rolling up and down his spine, but still his gaze remained on the screen.

“Baby, I-” His fingers were tense around the phone but his words cut off sharply, inhale whistling harshly through his teeth as her fingertips walked slow, teasing circles underneath his t-shirt, down the taut muscles of his chest.

“The tape will be there tomorrow.”

“But I need to-“ He sucked in a breath, again, as her teeth teased the tendon in his neck, and he grabbed hold of her hair when she paused, gently keeping her pinned in place as she nibbled a possessive mark into his skin. “Baby…”

“Come on.” She stood, edging backwards toward the stairs, and smirked when he turned to face her, leather couch creaking beneath him. His eyes trailed down, flashing greedy and dark, intent on where her fingers fiddled with the bottom hem of the grey sweatshirt.

“Logan’s supposed to call me, we’re gonna go over tape.”

She raised her eyebrows, saying nothing, and pulled her sweatshirt over her head, noting the exact moment when his eyes drifted down to the jersey underneath, Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed.

“We’re supposed to…” He trailed off helplessly as the phone in his hand began blaring, glancing between the lit screen and to where her hands were making their way to the front of her jeans. “Baby, this isn’t fair.”

She bit her lip when she popped the button, taking her time with the zipper, and had just started inching the denim down her thighs when he dropped the phone, still ringing as it bounced to the ground. He leaned forward, eyes intent on the emerging skin, and she grinned in victory, kicking away the fabric when it reached her toes.

She had just put her fingers on the hem of her jersey when he leapt clear over the back of the couch; she giggled as she stumbled backwards, but he was faster, long legs tracking her as if he were streaking towards the net. However, instead of the basketball, she was the prize. 

And Colt always demanded his prize.

“Fuck no.” He pulled her hands away from the Knicks blue, dragging her against his chest. “Leave it on.” 

“You are such a narcissist. You just want me wearing your name.”

“Our name,” he corrected, sliding warm fingertips up her sides to settle underneath her bra. “And it doesn’t matter ‘cuz you know you’re gonna be screaming my name in a minute.”

“You are such a- oh.”

His teeth were against her neck as she sagged against him, back resting against his chest as strong fingers dug insistently on her hipbones, leading her towards the stairs. “That was completely unfair. You cheat worse than the fucking Nets.” Behind them, Colts cell phone was still blaring from somewhere under the couch, but she could only focus on the hushed promises being dropped into her ear. “And, when we get to our bedroom, I’m gonna take you apart just like I did them in the fucking playoffs.”

But they didn’t make it to the bedroom, anyway.

She sassed back, “I think I can play tougher defense than they can.” But it was difficult walking, Colt plastered behind her, chuckling against her neck before his lips moved to the curve of her shoulder, teeth print on her skin marking her as his as much as the six letters on her back. He teased the line of her panties, fingertips dipping incrementally closer as revenge for her sharp tongue; by the time they got to the bottom step, her words were gibberish, unintelligible, and the muscled arms around her waist were the only things keeping her weak knees from giving out.

She made it one step, then two, the line of his chest solid against her back and his cock stiffening against her ass, grinding in an utterly distracting and entirely indecent way, and she couldn’t be blamed for missing the next step, collapsing to her knees on the plush carpet.

“Fuck, Ellie.” He followed her down, pinned to her the entire way, and his hands curved over hers on the step. “Ok?”

“Please,” she whined, the only coherent sound she could make through the fog over taking her body and mind. “Just please.”

“Fuck.” The word landed hot against her neck and he moved, shifting back, and she heard rustling, fabric being pulled away, her underwear tugged down to a rushed tangle at her knees, and then he was lining up behind her. Her forehead dropped to a stair as he slid inside her, her eyes squeezing shut and mouth falling open as the familiar stretch sent lightning up her nerves. “Ellie, God, you feel incredible.”

She inhaled, trying to somehow get oxygen into her heaving lungs; he felt incredible, joined as one and hard inside her, hands warm and solid on her hips, teeth digging designs at the curve of her neck. “Colt, move, just move, please.”

He huffed a laugh against her skin and obliged, slow at first, settling deeper and deeper until he was just right, her thighs clenching as pleasure flickered and flared up her spine, then back down, jolting every nerve ending until she could feel it in her toes.

She moaned, low and lusty and downright filthy, and her nails scratched against the carpet as his hips moved faster; she worried for a moment that she tore a thread from the floor but, with the next thrust, it didn’t even matter because all she could do was moan into the carpet. Her hand flew to her mouth to dampen the keening cry pulled from her lips, but Colt only dragged her hand away, interlocking their fingers as he moved faster, hips pushing her forward and forehead sliding over the rug.

“Fuck, I want to hear you, El.”

“But the baby…”

“Don’t care.”

“But oh God, Colt there, please- I can’t-”

He pivoted his hips just so and the noise that came out of her mouth was unnatural, high and debauched and inhuman. The world shook around her as her vision swam, carpet fading in and out of vision as she tightened her fingers around his, something to cling to as the world fell apart. She barely registered when he shifted, fingertips of his other hand digging into her hip bones to pull her hips flush against his, or his moan, low in her ear; she was still shaking, weakened body sinking lower until she and Colt landed flat on the stairs, a pile of limbs and ragged breath. 

She was a sated, pliant mess when he eased her up off the stairs, guiding her to their bedroom to tug off the jersey, her bra, and his entire tracksuit, now wrinkled and defiled beyond repair. He was just kissing down her ear when she bit her lip and grinned. “Are you feeling better about that loss now?”

“What loss?” he murmured into her skin.

She chuckled, craning her neck back as he reached that sensitive spot at her shoulder and continued down. “The game tonight?” It was getting harder to form words.

“What game tonight?”

She laughed again and had a smart reply at the ready before a tinny cry cut through the air. Colt dropped his forehead against her stomach. “I knew you’d wake the baby.”

“He has the absolute worst timing.”

“Colt?” She ran her fingers through his hair. “Can you…?”

“What? 

“Maybe go see if you can put him back to sleep?”

He looked up, eyes narrowing. “Ellie…”

“Please?” She put on her best pout, curling her fingers over the sensitive spot behind his ears.

“But this was your night.”

She stuck her bottom lip out further, batting her eyelashes.

“Oh, my God! I can’t believe-” Colt groaned, standing up in a huff. “Fine. Fine.” He threw on some boxers, feet stomping heavy as he gave her the evil eye the entire time. “You are so lucky I love you.”

She laughed, listening to his footsteps recede down the hall; gradually, the crying quieted, then ceased, followed by a soothing voice and quiet coos. Twisting the ring around her finger, she smiled and whispered to the universe, “Yeah. I really am.”

.

Tags:

Perma @desiree-pow @leelee10898 @emichelle @client-327 @choicesgremlin @brightpinkpeppercorn @thequeenofcronuts @lilyofchoices @choicesarehard @peaceinmidstofchaos @ritachacha @burnsoslow

ROD @omgjasminesimone @mskaneko @lovemychoices @troublemakerinspace @zaffrenotes @alyssalauren

Colt

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[occult-castiel]

A thread with no end

Cool metal lighter in hand, he finally takes a glance at the reason for all of this. 

It's small, swallowed whole by the thick yellow clothes Sam has it in. It yawns, puppy-like, and fixes his wide eyes on Dean.

Blue. Big and impossibly blue. Its shades too light, closer to ice than ocean, but it pulls something loose in him. It's — it's almost like —

When Jack is born, he doesn't come out fully grown.

[Part One]

[Ao3]

Chapter 2

When the sharp edges of adrenaline settle, the last couple of days are a blur to think about. The absence of it is always its own kind of tired — aches become apparent again. His temples sting. All thoughts are filtered through sludge. His stomach gurgles out loud groans. The reminder is a desperate attempt to make bodily functions matter again, but the desire for food is numb. If anything it makes him sick.

He shakes his head, uses his free hand to blanket his face, pinch the bridge. Trapped under the rough pressure, his tear ducts throb. But it’s all right. It’s fine.

Fucking peachy. 

Sloppy and mechanical, as Dean pulls the two of them off the ground. He doesn't look at the embers. The ash. His joins cry against all movement, each jagged step a chore. What should be solid ground slips loose under his boots. He has to catch himself with each half-stumble towards the house. Little snivels turn to full body whines, and Dean doesn't blame the kid. It can't be fun to get jerked around by some idiot that forgot how to walk right. 

The door juts open with a creak, and whatever course of action he might've tried to take vanishes. 

Unfiltered sunlight glimmers in through the curtainless window. Dust particles dance in yellow above the table where it's — it’s just empty now. His last pitstop. The last place Dean would ever get to look. To touch. Legs on autopilot, he trudges over. 

Light glistens off the table's glossy finish. Glints against the discarded keyring Sam somehow remembered to salvage. Carefully, he skims the tips of his fingers over the cool surface, and dread sits like a rock in his stomach. It was warm, right after. But the air has long since leeched any heat Cas left behind. 

Throat tense, he cups the keyring under his palm. Tightens his fist around it until the metal digs in and his arm trembles. 

It's not fair. None of this is fair. They used to have more allies. Friends. Something they could fall back on after so long of having nothing, but none of it even lasts. Like the universe has decided The Sam and Dean Adventure just ain't multiplayer. 

"Dean?" 

He shoves the keys in his pocket. "Yeah. Down here." 

Sam clunks down the steps and gives Dean a tight smile. Grey bags under his eyes highlight the bloodshot tendrils. His whole body slumped in on itself, the exhaustion of the last however-the-fuck long hitting him like a brick. Maybe he looks that bad too. 

Over one shoulder Sam has the world's largest baby bag — lime green and burgeoning with diapers. The zippers stuck halfway around. It thunks when it hits the floor, and Sam shakes a bottle. "Made some formula. There's an extra in the side pocket." 

"Thanks." Dean takes it. "Gonna have to toss the other one. Stuff can only sit out an hour." 

Sam doesn't say anything to that, just scrapes a chair to the table, plops down, and buries his face in his hands. That's okay. Silence suits Dean just fine. 

He repositions the baby in his arms, cradles the head against his shoulder so he's more upright. The kid latches on to the plastic nipple with ease. 

The last time he fee a baby was a lifetime ago in some stranger’s home, babysitting with an ex-angel post attempted-murder. He and Cas had straightened out his not-dates house, and the baby started fussing. The bottle was already made. He didn’t think about it when he started feeding the kid. When Cas saw him, he gave Dean a pleased smile and said you're good at this. 

It jolted his pulse. Compliments had a way of hitting him funny, but right then? In the low light of a picture-perfect suburban home? Right from the very human Cas who has sex and goes on dates and looks at Dean like he’s worth something? 

Neck warm and mind blank, he offered to help Cas do it right without thinking. 

And it was good, the light touches, soft adjustments that weren't necessary. But Cas never dressed down that much, so it was better than good. Dean spent the whole time thinking about how thin his cotton shirt was. Cas was smaller without the layers, and the warmth of him unfiltered. He tried to peel his hands away, but it was like he couldn't stop. Angel or mud-monkey, Cas felt strong and whole. 

The comfort of the words stuck with him for days. The feel of Cas underneath him never left. 

God, he should be here now. 

The baby’s pudgy face grimaces, and Dean moves the bottle back until it evens out again. 

"We need to figure out what we're doing." Sam's palms muffle his voice. 

"We're going home. Welcome to the joys of parenthood. Here’s to hoping it doesn't kill us during puberty." 

"It has a name." Sam drops his arms to his sides. "Jack. Kelly made videos on her laptop for him." 

Dean rolls his eyes. "Well ain't that just lovely?" 

Sam's jaw drops. "Dean."  

He's two steps away from being the spitting image of some scandalized Victorian chick, and it crawls under Dean's skin. 

"What? Jack here is the son of Satan, Sam. Fucking pardon me for not caring about mommy’s little home videos," Dean says. The baby — Jack, whatever — whimpers. Body tense, Dean slowly slides the bottle from his mouth. 

"He's a baby, not a monster. And I'm just saying we don't have to — to tuck our tails and go home." 

White spit-like liquid dribbles from Jack's mouth. Dean sighs. 

"Fan-freakin'-tastic. I forgot babies did this crap." Dean sighs, storms over to the table, and places the bottle down with a hard clank. "I'm not seeing an array of options here. We can't exactly put a Nephilim up for adoption. Or hire a babysitter." Carefully, he brushes off Jack's mouth with the color of his onesie. It’s probably the cleanest thing they have to do it with.

"There's Mom. If the portal was opened once, there's gotta be a way to do it again. Maybe the Book of the Damned, or the Demon Tablet..." Sam perks up. "We could try and get Donatello to help —” 

"Okay, I'm gonna stop you there." Dean lays Jack flat against his shoulder and pats his back. "First of all, you really want a soulless dude and Lucifer's kid bumping shoulders? Don't think they could be, I dunno, a bad influence on each other?" Jack releases a puff of air and Dean adjusts him back down. He levels a hard stare at Sam. "Second of all: Moms dead. Nothings gonna help that." 

Sam doesn't miss a beat. "You don't know that." 

Buzzing vibrates from Dean's pocket. He yanks it from his pocket for it. "Pretty sure I do. Lucifer ganked her the minute the portal closed." 

"You can't —" 

Unknown. He sends the asshole to voicemail. 

Sam shakes his head. Sighs. "Whatever. Who was that?" 

"Not Donatello." Well, it could've been. But whatever. He grabs the baby bag, then slings the lime green wrecking ball of a bag over his shoulder. "You've got Baby's keys. I'm taking the truck." 

The coach squeaks. Before Dean can make it out the door, Sam grabs the strap. The force yanks him in place. Dean swivels around and glares. Sam drops his hand and gives Dean a weary look. 

"Can we just talk about this?" 

Dean swivels around. "I don't know what you want from me. Crowley's dead. Kelly's dead. Cas is —" Pain pangs his chest, a little twinge that sends pin-pricks through his torso, down his arms. His eyes dart away and land on the table. The discarded, half-finished bottle sits just outside of the sunlight’s path. "Mom’s gone. We even lost Rowena. So I'm gonna take the kid, find a motel the next state over, and put up whatever sigils I can to let the dick brigade know they aren't welcome. Rinse and repeat until we’re back home." 

Sam scoffs, but whatever energy he had left is burned out. "Whatever. We'll talk later." 

"Unlikely." 

By the time Dean walks over to the table and grabs the bottle, Sam's halfway up the stairs. 

Dean pushes past Sam and grabs the bottle. By the time he walks through the door, Sam's halfway up the stairs. 

Ash has blown around the yard, smeared it in grey. Eyes downcast, pointedly away from the remnants, he beeline for the truck. Wind whistles by and smears ash across the lawn. Dean stares at the mustard-colored wet spots on Jack's clothes instead. 

Cars are like a testament to the owner. The truck is immaculate. The burgundy shines — there’s not a spec of dirt marring the strips of pearl-white. 

Dean doesn't bat an eye at the car seat. It’s green. Of course it’s green. His breath doesn't catch at the stupid cartoon bee sticker smiling at him on the car seat’s side.  And he doesn't think about Cas. 

Not him stumbling through a Walmart visit to buy the thing. God, he bets the nerdy little guy compared brands, sifted through online reviews in the middle of the aisle. He doesn’t picture how pleased Cas must've been at finding a pack of sticks, of all things. How the rest of them are most likely sitting in the glovebox. How it was probably the last enjoyable moment he had. Dean doesn't think — he doesn't. Merely shrugs the baby bag off onto the floorboard, buckles Jack in, and clicks the door closed. 

Sweat slick forehead pressed against the doorframe, Dean squeezes his eyes shut. 

The last conversation he had with Cas is a blur. An actual conversation, not stress-filled bickering over the newest pile of shit dumped on their doorstep. 

Dean tries to swallow, but the motion stops halfway through, and there’s nothing there to force down. 

The last movie night he'd managed to drag Cas into was over a month ago. It might’ve been the last time where either of them were reasonably happy. The last time his lips would tilt up in that small way that knots Dean's stomach. It isn’t fair. It's all wrong, and there’s no way to fix it. No magic is strong enough to bring an angel back, The only witch that could’ve tried is dead too. And any power Heaven could spare wouldn’t be used to help him. There’s only one shot to take, and it's the same useless one everyone’s thought of trying at some point. 

Dean grabs the side of the truck bed and turns his head towards the sky. He sighs. Here goes nothing. "Okay, Chuck. Or God, whatever. We need your help. You said — you said the world would be fine with us. It isn't. We've lost everything." 

He takes a deep breath, rocks his head to the ground. "You left. And I've never asked you for anything. Never begged. But now you're gonna bring him back. Cas. Mom. Hell, even Crowley." His hand tightens. "You owe us, you son of a bitch." 

"Please." It's begging. He knows it is and doesn't care. He’d beg for weeks straight if it wasn’t useless. "Please help us." 

A beat passes. Nothing happens. He didn’t expect it to work. God's never really gave a shit before, has he? 

It's fine. All fine. 

Jack cries when Dean slams the door. He strangles the steering wheel between his hands, hands that itch to inflict. Hit. Destroy. Sure as fuck not to nurture, not to quell the newborn screams, because Cas was wrong. Dean isn’t good at this.

A handful of deep breaths later, he leans down and fishes out a pink pacifier from the bag. Jack latches onto it, his pudgy face relaxed. Blue eyes float up to Dean. Innocent, full. It stings, and Dean turns away before his body uses whatever scraps of water it has left to make him cry again. 

When he brings the engine to life, Zeppelin creeps through the speakers, one track after the next in an order he memorized long before Cas got the chance. 

He plays it front to back on repeat until hunger and exhaustion win out, and he finds a motel.

[jflashandclash]

Tales from Mount Othrys

Flynn: Surprised Parenthood III

         “They’re trying to kill the hydra!” Lucille squeaked from the counter. Her voice altered as she commanded, “Don’t panic! Please exit in an orderly fashion. Larger monsters and monsters with better footing, please help smaller monsters and demigods get outside the premise.”

         The charm speak worked instantly. Everyone calmed down, despite the continuously flickering lights. A few other demigods in the room looked confused as larger monsters picked them up and carried them towards the exit. Lucille went to organize the exodus at the front while Vicky directed workers out from behind the counter.

         Axel and Ajax stumbled to their feet. Jack put an arm around either of their shoulders to push them towards the exit. His fingers twitched to tug at his hair. “Lucille! I don’t understand! Why is this happening if they’re attacking the hydra?!”

         Luke broke eye contact with Flynn, grumbling. He grabbed Jack’s shoulder to hurry him and the boys towards the orderly line by the exit. “All shops connected to this one become unstable when the hydra sprouts more heads,” he said.

         Flynn slid the blade back into her hair. She stepped back to the boys.

         They made it to Lucille stood by the doors. She trembled violently. From her reaction, Flynn realized they were actually in danger. This wasn’t some kind of courtesy precaution that Lucille was directing them out. “The hydra can’t concentrate where its power is going,” she confirmed, pushing all the boys through. “Why do you think Flynn and I had to talk to the hydra about this one?! Now, please hurry your exiting—”

         A roar screamed in the distance.

         Through the tree line, closer to the river, fire exploded everywhere. Smoke blasted in all directions. The ground shook.

         The blast was far enough away that there shouldn’t have been any debris or structural damage. So Lucille’s horrified, “GET OUT!” along with the way she tackled Flynn through the door came as a surprise.

         Pain exploded along her back.

         A secondary tremble throttled the sidewalk under them. Flynn tried to shove her little half-sister off. Lucille held strong—

         Like they were beside the other explosion, a wave of heat and force flattened them. Breath evaporated from her lungs. Like she’d doused her face in gasoline all over again, there was no way to inhale and no respite from the heat.

         They must have fired on the donut shop.

         Cool air swept over them as the air vacuumed and tunneled back towards the building. Flynn thought, for a horrifying moment, that the explosion had caused some sort of mythological black hole.

         Instead, when she opened her eyes, she found a sizzling crater where the shop had been.

         Someone’s labored wheezes hissed right into her ear.

         Flynn shoved Lucille off, then froze, looking at her.

         “Jack!” Flynn snapped. “Jack!” Her eyes darted around.

         Jack, Luke, Axel, and Ajax had left the donut shop before them. Could they have been caught up in the blazing inferno?

         In answer to her question and what would have been a prayer if Flynn wasn’t an atheist, Jack appeared at her side.

         His hands hovered over her face, his mouth moving to form words that she couldn’t hear. There was a ringing in her ears. Behind all of it, she swore she could hear the hum of opera music.

         “I’m fine!” she snapped, knowing Jack wouldn’t be able to hear her either and hoping he could read her lips. All of her limbs worked, and she didn’t see more than a few small burn marks. She pointed at the other girl’s collapsed body. “Lucille!”

         Jack pulled Lucille into his lap, stomach down.

         Flynn’s little sister wasn’t moving.

         From what she could see, Lucille’s Monster Donut uniform had melted into the skin on her back. The reek of burnt flesh scorched Flynn’s nostrils. Lucille’s pale flesh was blackened. That smell made Flynn touch her face, remembering how it lingered on her for days.

         Lucille’s hands were trembling: a good sign. She was in shock, but she was alive. For now.

         Sound slowly returned. Monsters, demigods, and nature spirits alike screamed and cried. The ground crackled with embers. A Cyclops touched some ash at the edge of the crater, and Flynn had to wonder if that ash was its vaporized friend.

         Luke shouted orders, trying to organize the survivors. Soldiers carried the injured to Jack.

         Flynn’s mind took a moment to process: one of the Cyclopes must have covered Luke, Jack, Axel, and Ajax. Axel held Ajax as they crouched beside Jack, looking stunned at the carnage. There was no damage to the boys. Cyclopes, after all, were fireproof.    

         Then a wonderful sound soothed Flynn: Jack’s seraphim song.

         Sweat gleamed on Jack’s forehead. Tears dripped down his eyes. He cradled Lucille, eyes glancing up to Flynn.

         It would have been Flynn burned there if Lucille hadn’t shoved her down. Really, Flynn would have probably been vaporized just inside.

         Flynn considered her stomach to be a strong one, but even she felt nausea rock her. Jack peeled off the burned flesh from Lucille’s back, where the skin had cauterized with the fabric.

         As they watched, Lucille’s skin went from blackened, to raw-red. Jack danced his fingers across her torso, where her vital organs were. The skin seemed to react like thread pulled by a needle. It stretched into pinkish netting. Jack reached up to his forearm. As his fingers traced it, thin strips of his own skin peeled away like strands of dough. To her horror, he weaved his own skin into Lucille’s back. While Jack’s lips moved, he trembled. His head began to lull. What color was left in his face drained. His lips turned parched and leathery. The dark circles under his eyes deepened, like his own vitality dripped through his song and skin into Lucille.

         The tinier of their “adopted” sons lost the three donuts he’d just consumed and the rest of his stomach’s contents.

         The older one looked queasy, not caring that his little brother had accidentally splashed his foot with throw up.

         “They—they just—what happened?” Axel asked, dazed.

         Luke appeared at Jack’s shoulder. He touched the younger demigod. As soon as Jack stopped singing, his eyes rolled up in his head. He collapsed backwards and would have clacked his own head into the concrete sidewalk if Axel hadn’t grabbed him with his free arm.

         Luke glowered at Flynn, daring her to say something about how they could have prevented this if they killed Percy. “They killed the hydra. When the hydra dies, its line of power cuts, so all Monster Donut shops face the same vaporization as it.”

         “And everyone inside them,” Flynn muttered, touching her little sister’s exposed backside.

         Lucille’s breath had eased. Her vitals seemed normal. The skin along her slender shoulders, the small of her back, and the curve of her butt was pinkish. Along her legs and arms, there were still some first-degree looking burns, but nothing like the charred flesh before.

         Flynn heard demigods grew more powerful with age. She wondered, if she and Jack survived until they were in their twenties, if Flynn could command full troops with her voice and Jack could resurrect the dead.

         And if Luke would grow more cowardly.

         She wanted to scream at Luke. This is why they needed to kill that uncontrollable “weapon,” before he did more damage.

         Someone shoved a piece of cloth into Flynn’s hands.

         She blinked. Axel had taken off his shirt, handed it to her, and looked away. He covered Ajax’s eyes. “You should put that on Lucille,” he said.

         Flynn trembled with rage. She would deal with Luke later. Gently, she pried Lucille from Jack’s limp fingers. The tattered clothing fell away. Careful to avoid Lucille’s burns as best as Flynn could, she slipped Axel’s shirt over Lucille. From what Flynn knew of her, the younger girl wouldn’t appreciate having scars the way Flynn did.

         Luke cursed, “Vicky got vaporized trying to help the others in the back get out.”

         Struggling to keep her composure, Flynn scowled at Luke. Charm speak enlaced in her words, “When we get back on the ship, you will have Ethel tend to Lucille while she’s recovering.”

         Luke’s face crinkled with concentration. Somehow, he’d learned to resist her charm speak. Likely a product of his mind-meddling with Kronos. “Ethel is pregnant and has to take care of a toddler,” he said.

         “Exactly,” Flynn snapped. “She’s worthless for fighting practice right now.”

         Plus, after what Zeus had done to Ethel a second time, the fifteen-year-old mother couldn’t stand going near any of the male demigods aboard the ship. She’d electrocuted more than one person in a panic, including Luke. When Flynn had scoffed at her, Phil reminded Flynn that different people reacted differently to trauma.

Maybe this could strike two birds down with one stone: Lucille was gentle and mild-mannered. If anyone could pull Ethel from her barbed shell, it was Lucille. And, Ethel was beautiful, else she wouldn’t have attracted the King of the God’s attention twice.

         Flynn knew Lucille’s secret and why Camp Half-Blood’s Aphrodite Cabin had mocked her away for being “different.” It was about time Lucille got to spend time with a nonaggressive, beautiful girl.

         “Prove your worth,” Flynn snapped to Axel and Ajax. Luke could stay to clean up his mess. Meanwhile, Jack couldn’t do anything else for the wounded. At least his singing appeared to have spilled over to heal some of the minor injuries of those around him.

         Axel sat up at attention. Ajax cowered behind his brother.

         “What do you need us to do?” Axel asked.

         “The stronger of the two of you, carry Jack back towards the ship. The weaker get Lucille,” Flynn said. She stumbled to her feet, her head feeling woozy from the sensation of flames so close to her face. “I’ll trade off with you whenever one of you gets tired.”

         She glared at Luke, challenging him to contradict her order.

         Luke’s blue eyes scowled in return.

         As far as Flynn was concerned, this was his fault. If he would get over this weird delusion about Percy Jackson, he would still have these soldiers to his cause. Vicky would still be alive.

         Luke cursed under his breath. He broke eye contact and turned to shout orders to the monsters.

         Axel picked up Jack, slinging him across his shoulders in a fireman’s grip. The lanky, older boy’s limbs spilled limply everywhere like miscolored props. Jack looked even paler against Axel’s tan.

         “Ajax,” Axel said.

         The smaller boy rushed over to Lucille. He lifted the fragile girl, apparently much stronger than he looked. Lucille’s semi-nudity didn’t bother Ajax as much as it did his older brother.

         Flynn lead Axel and Ajax towards the shoreline where she knew a centaur would be waiting to carry them back onto the ship.

         So much for Lucille having her noncombat job. She’d be back in the Assault and Battery unit as soon as she was well enough to fight. Despite the brush with heat and the explosion, relief flushed over Flynn. She wouldn’t need to lead anytime soon.

         “Um… Flynn?” Axel asked.

         She looked down at him. He seemed uncomfortable, like he wasn’t sure what to call her. Both he and his little brother trembled. Their eyes were glazed. The smaller one’s breath panted erratically.

This is when Flynn was probably supposed to comfort them or give them some kind of pep talk. Flynn didn’t believe in those kinds of lies. They’d both seen someone die before: Julian’s fight happened a few hours prior. If they were fighting in Kronos’ army, they would have to get used to violence.

         Instead of asking for comfort, which Flynn would have scoffed at, Axel cleared his throat. “Did those kids know what they did? That killing the hydra would make the donut shop explode—or whatever just happened—and kill everyone inside?”

         Flynn snorted. She doubted it. Demigods on the Olympic side only learned about monsters to kill them more efficiently. “Does it matter?” she asked. “Will that change Vicky’s death?”

         Axel’s gaze narrowed, his eyes coming more into focus. He adjusted Jack, so her boyfriend’s limbs flopped out more. After a moment, he glanced down at Lucille as she breathed shallowly in his little brother’s arms.

         “No,” he said, “No it wouldn’t.”

         They walked in relative silence for awhile. In the background, moans of the injured and dying fuzzed together with the rumble of the tide. The water was coming into view, along with another blast sight.

         Seeing the crater where the hydra must have been bombed, Axel cleared his throat. “I want to make sure this doesn’t happen again. And show them that ignorance doesn’t excuse cruelty.”  

         When Flynn examined him, she could see fury in his expression.

         Flynn snorted again. Maybe she could get behind having two adopted sons after all.

  ***

               Maybe I should have done a Christmas or Hanukkah special to lighten the mood? XD Regardless of a lack of talking reindeer, I hope you enjoyed! Thank you for reading. :D And I hope you guys are having some awesome holidays/holiday breaks!

               Stay tuned next week, when we kick off the new year with Ajax’s Magical Daycare, where you meet some of my favorite characters in TFMO (and some I know one or two of you have been waiting for XD).

[dontshootmespence]

Certainly

A/N: An anon request where Reid gets custody of Henry and Michael, after “something happens to JJ and Will.” Sad was really the only way this request would work. Sorry >.< AU Season 12, no jail arc. @coveofmemories @sexualemobitch @jamiemelyn @unstoppableangel8 @remember-me-forever-silent-angel @lukeassmanalvez @iammostdefinitelyonfire26 

                                                             ----

As Spencer ran into the emergency room, his heart pounded inside his chest. This couldn’t possibly be happening. He was living in a nightmare with no ability to wake up. Emily had called him from the car, tears garbling her speech as she told him that JJ and Will had been in a head-on car collision on the way home from a date. “What?” He screamed, jumping out of bed and pulling on his clothes as he stumbled out of the door, still talking to Emily. “What happened? Are they okay? Emily, are they going to be okay? Please! Tell me they’re going to be okay!”

His voice caught in his throat as he sped toward the hospital, not caring that a cop came up behind him; he ignored him until he got to the hospital and the officer called after him. “Look, arrest me later,” Spencer said as he ran inside. “I can’t be bothered right now.”

Once he found Emily and the rest of the team, he took in their defeated faces and knew - he just knew. “No,” he breathed, his eyes spilling over with tears as he crumpled like a piece of paper onto the floor. “What happened?” How could this be real?

“Drunk driver,” Luke said flatly, not making eye contact with anyone as he stared down the hallway toward the operating room where he’d watched them both flatline. “Hit them head on. They both made it here, but...” Nothing else needed to or could be said. The defeated members of the BAU sat motionless in the middle of the hospital. From the silence, Garcia choked out a sob and fell to Spencer’s side on the floor, and he joined her, his cries echoing throughout the extensive emergency room, which somehow, right now, seemed so small. 

                                                             ----

“Jennifer and Will?” The surgeon asked, calling for loved ones. 

As they looked up, nearly all were overtaken again in a wave of emotions as they took in the sight of him covered in blood, some dried and caked to his scrubs, some new and still dripping downward. Spencer was the first to stand up; he was numb and autopilot was taking over. “Yes?”

“I am truly sorry for your loss,” he said. Surgeons had to lose people on the table all the time, but by the look on his face, the BAU could tell that this hit him differently than any other. “I did all that I could, but there was nothing I could do. The bleeding was too extensive. Again...I’m so sorry.”

Tara punched the seat as she stood up and walked toward the opposite end of the room. Garcia openly sobbed again, after feeling like there were no more tears left. Luke, Rossi and Stephen couldn’t move. And Emily, who had stood for the surgeon, sank back into her seat. Although they all knew, they’d been secretly hoping that this was all a big mistake and that JJ and Will would emerge from somewhere safe, unscathed and smiling. But they were gone. That’s when it hit Spencer. “Oh my god,” he said, his hand coming up to cover his mouth.

“What is it?” Emily asked.

Spencer’s heart dropped. “How are we supposed to tell Henry and Michael? What happens to them?”

                                                             ----

While Emily, Luke, Tara, Rossi and Stephen filled out every piece of paper imaginable for the release of JJ and Will into their custody, Spencer and Garcia took it upon themselves, as Henry and Michael’s godparents, to tell the two young boys what happened.

Before walking up to their apartment, where the nanny was currently with them, Spencer threw up outside. “How are we supposed to do this?” He asked Garcia. “They’re so little.”

Garcia grabbed his hand and they steadied themselves before walking in. The nanny collapsed into tears. The boys were asleep, so Spencer and Garcia had a moment to control themselves before they arrived. “Uncle Spencer? Aunt Penelope?” Henry asked sleepily. “What are you doing here?”

The next few moments went by in a blur. Michael, at barely two, wasn’t old enough to comprehend what either of his godparents were saying, but Henry was a different story. “Was it a case?” He sniffled.

“No,” Spencer replied, hating himself for being the messenger. “It was a drunk driver. He hit your Mommy and Daddy and they were hurt too badly for the doctors to do anything. I’m so sorry, Henry.”

Spencer’s heart ripped open at Henry’s cries. The last time he’d heard him cry was as a toddler when he wanted a toy he couldn’t have. Hearing him cry like this, knowing there was nothing he could do to make it stop, made Spencer freeze in place, his arms grasping ever tighter around his godson’s body. “I’m so, so sorry, Henry.” 

As he picked up Henry, and Garcia held Michael, Spencer stared into nothingness. He knew where he was. He knew what had happened. But truly, nothing felt real.

                                                              ----

In the following days, Henry said nothing to anyone - anyone except Michael. He kept telling him Mommy and Daddy were gone but that he would never be alone because Henry would never leave him. While Emily and Rossi took care of the funeral arrangements, Spencer and Garcia took care of Henry and Michael. 

When the day of the funeral came, Henry never left Spencer’s side and Michael hung onto Garcia as if his life depended on it. The previous days had ripped all tears from their eyes; they were too tired to summon anymore, and instead stared blankly at their caskets as they were lowered into the ground. Henry blew them a kiss and said bye-bye before looking up at his Uncle. “Where do Michael and I go now?” He asked. “All of our grandparents are gone.” Even JJ’s mother had passed recently from a random heart attack. The boys didn’t have any blood relatives left.

“I don’t know,” Spencer said honestly. “But I promise I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you.”

                                                             ----

Despite their young age, JJ and Will’s line of work taught them that nothing was a given, so they’d written out a will and updated it regularly. “The entirety of our estate is to be split equally between our sons, Henry and Michael LaMontagne,” the man read blankly from the paper. Rossi wanted to scream; this man was reading these words as if this wasn’t the most unfair thing in the world. “In the case of either one of our passing, the remaining parent will maintain custody of both of our children. However, in the event that both of us shall die in the same incident, custody of Henry and Michael LaMontagne will be transferred to their godfather, Spencer Walter Reid, effective immediately.”

Spencer’s head snapped up from the floor. After JJ’s mother had died, she asked if he would take care of the boys in the event that anything happened to them, but honestly he’d forgotten until this moment. “Does that mean we go home with you, Uncle Spencer?”

Life was different now. He had different priorities, and he had a lot to think about, but he wouldn’t let JJ down; Henry and Michael would always remember them as long as he was alive. He swallowed hard as he turned to his oldest godson. “Yes, Henry. You and Michael come home with me now.”

Later that night, when the boys were safe and sound in his apartment, he had a sobbing breakdown, tears staining the sheets and sticking to his skin. One of his best friends was gone and he was responsible for his godsons. 

                                                           ----

The next day, he did what he never thought he’d do, but then again, he never imagined a life in which is best friend was gone and he was thrust into immediate parenthood. Emily expected it. 

“I knew that’s what you’d do,” she said, reluctantly accepting his letter of resignation. “All of us are here to help with the boys whenever you need. I hope you know that.”

Spencer’s lip quivered as he realized how much he’d miss being at work every day, but with both parents gone, they needed to have some kind of consistency, and he’d been offered various teaching positions throughout his career, so he took George Washington University up their offer. It would allow him to teach classes in the morning, so that he could be home for the boys after school. “I know. They deserve to have someone home with them. After all this, it doesn’t seem fair for me to leave them with the nanny while I come here. I’m always on call if you need me from home though.”

Emily came out from behind her desk and wrapped her arms around her friend. “I’m sure we’ll be calling you, and I promise, I know that a lot is changing right now, but you will never lose any of us.”

If there was one thing Spencer could be sure of in this moment, it was the love of his team. This wasn’t going to be easy, but they would get through it because of that love.

                                                          ----

Three years later...

“Henry, it’s time to get up!” Spencer screamed from the living room. After gaining official custody of the boys, he bought a small house just a few minutes outside of town, about halfway between the Bureau and the University. As he spun around, hands covered in peanut butter from making lunch for the boys, he smiled softly at the picture of JJ and Will on the mantelpiece. There were pictures all around the house. Michael was already up and eating breakfast, but Henry, approaching his pre-teens at 12 years old, was getting harder to wake up in the mornings. “Henry! You have to go to school!”

Inside, he heard Henry kicking up and down on the bed. “I don’t wanna!”

“Michael, you stay here while I go check on your brother.” The five-year-old kicked happily at the table, eating his cereal without a care in the world. Unlike his brother, he’d been shielded from a lot of what happened with his parents. “Henry, what’s wrong?”

Henry pulled the covers over his head and whined. “I didn’t sleep well. I kept dreaming about Mom and Dad.”

Spencer’s heart dropped. Quickly, he checked through his phone. He could get away with taking the day off, and the boys had had near perfect attendance over the past three years. “How about you, me and your brother take a mental health day and stay home? I’ll let you sleep a little longer, and then we can go to the zoo or something today.”

“Can we get ice cream too?” He asked. He was getting older, but in these moments his voice still sounded so small. 

Spencer huffed. “Of course. What would a day off be without ice cream?” He kissed Henry on the forehead and then left him to sleep a little longer, returning to the kitchen where Michael was finished with his breakfast. “Michael, how would you like to take the day off from school today and go to the zoo with your brother and me?”

“Can we!?” He asked excitedly. 

“Just for today,” Spencer replied.

Michael clapped happily as Spencer called both boys in sick, but then he started to yawn. “Are you getting sleepy?” Spencer asked.

“Yes,” he said. “I thought about Mommy and Daddy last night and then I got sad and I couldn’t get to sleep.”

Picking him up off the floor, he hugged him tight. “How about I tell you a story and then we take a nap for a while before we go to the zoo?”

“Okay,” Michael yawned, leaning into his Uncle’s shoulder as he sat back down on the couch. “Once, there was a lovely and beautiful Queen named Jennifer and an equally brave and righteous King named William. Together, they had two princes named Henry and Michael, and as a family, they ruled the land justly and happily...”

Within minutes, the house was once again asleep under the watchful eyes of JJ and Will - they may have been gone, but they would certainly never be forgotten.

[crepeycrepeyspacewizard]

Kylux 49 & 60?

Sitting in the grass at the company picnic, Pimms in hand, watching Hux teach a bunch of six years the basics of cricket with adorable miniature bats, Kylo felt like his world was spinning out of orbit and coming into focus all at once.

He’d never expected to be here. Not just here at an up market event with executives whose cars were worth more than his first apartment. Not just in England, working the sort of creative job he’d always wanted. But comfortable in his own skin- tattoos and muscles and top surgery and all. Valued for himself.

Hux looked up and smiled at him across the head of a boy concentrating so hard on the ball that his tongue was sticking out.

Loved for himself.

He had more scars than he ever wanted to think about. He’d spent half his childhood in and out of juvey. How many people who knew him then would expect Kylo Ren to be here now? Hell, how many would expect him to be alive?

Somehow life was perfect.

The girl bowling slipped on the wet grass. She fumbled to ball and it bounced, directly towards the little boy’s face.

With lightning fast reflexes Hux snatched it out of the air an inch from disaster.

There was a surprised cheer from the crowd but Hux ignored them. Instead he knelt to comfort the shocked children.

Kylo felt something loosen at the sight. Life was perfect, but maybe there was something else that could make it even more perfect.

He grinned up at Hux when the redhead came striding back to their picnic blanket. It seemed he cricket was suspended whilst the children found solace in cake and Hux found some ice for his bruised hand.

“You’d be a great dad,” Kylo said, offering up another cup of Pimms.

Hux gave one of his tight lipped smiles. “I always imagined I would be one day, but when I transitioned I couldn’t afford the fee to freeze any eggs so…” He shrugged.

“It’s something you want though?” Kylo pressed on, an idea forming hopefully in his mind. “Parenthood?”

There was a long silence as Hux watched the kids playing. It went on so long Kylo almost thought he hadn’t heard him.

“More than anything. But surrogacy is out of reach. Adoption is messy for a single parent, without my gender or sexuality being brought into the mix, let alone my working hours. I learned not to think about it.”

Kylo tried to keep the hurt out of his voice when he repeated, “‘single parent’?” but he failed.

“I didn’t mean…” Hux sounded stricken, “I stopped thinking about it as an option a long time ago Kylo, before we met. Your immigration status probably wouldn’t help the adoption issue. I don’t see how else…”

“You’re fixating on adoption.”

“I have no eggs. I’m sterile. What other option is there?!”

“Bill is your twin, right? Fraternal twin?”

That made Hux stop and sit open mouthed for a moment. “You don’t really think Bill would… donate… do you?!”

“He and Matt offered actually. It freaked me out at the time because, well, no offence Hux, but your brother is a bit odd.” Kylo said without meeting his eye. Bill had been a bit graphic in that strange way of his.

“We’d still need a surrogate,” Hux mused.

“Why?”

“Well, you…” He trailed off with a wave of his hand.

“Non-binary it might be, but everything in this body functions,” Kylo said.

Hux was looking at him strangely now. “Nine months though. You’d get big. You’d have to deal with exams and tests and invasive procedures. I wouldn’t want to put you through that kind of stress.”

“What if I wanted to put me through that kind of stress?” Kylo asked, watching the way Hux’ eyes seemed to light up. “What if I wanted to be a parent with you?”

“We’re not even married.”

Kylo laughed. “If it makes you feel better about getting me pregnant with your brother’s donated sperm I’ll happily accept that terrible proposal.”

“What? Wait, no, that wasn’t what I,” Hux stumbled over his words in his panic. “I mean I do want to marry you I just… oh fuck it. Let’s have a baby. And get married. In that order.”

Nearly 200 Writing Prompts

[three-drink-amy]

First Day Jitters

So I wrote this tiny fic a couple months back about Jake and Amy as single parents. And I couldn’t get it out of my head. So with encouragement from @startofamoment, it became a full fledged fic! 

Just FYI: it’s long...

Jake was fretting over the first day of school. He prided himself on being a good dad. He was a much better dad to John than Jake’s dad was to him. Still though, the panic of the first day of kindergarten was getting to him. John had asked him the night before why he had to go to school. It had taken everything in Jake not to put it off for another year. Instead, he talked up school and how fun it was and how many friends he’d make.

As Jake walked his son into school, he was pretty sure that he was more nervous than the child. He looked for the kindergarten classroom and directed his son there. They were nearing the door when Jake bumped into another parent. A mother taking her son into the same classroom. “Sorry,” he apologized profusely, still holding John’s hand. She waved him off silently. Jake was pretty sure he noted tears in her eyes. He gestured for her and her son to enter the room before him and John. She nodded gratefully.

Jake walked in and squatted down in front of his son. “Okay, John, this is your classroom. You met your teacher, Miss Miller last week. She is really nice. And there are plenty of kids here to be friends with. Just have a good time and try to learn all you can, okay?” John nodded stiffly. He stumbled forward, throwing his arms around Jake’s neck. Jake could feel tears in his eyes. He wrapped his arms tightly around his son. “You’re gonna have so much fun, Bud.”

“I’m gonna miss you today, Daddy,” John said through his sniffles.

Jake squeezed him before ending the hug and looking at his son. “I’ll miss you too. But in just a matter of hours, I’ll pick you up and we can go to the park and you can tell me all about your day. How does that sound?”

“That sounds fun!” John yelled.

“You just have to make it through the day,” Jake explained. Standing up, he motioned his son toward the rest of the kids. “Now go have fun!” John hugged his leg before running toward the other kids. Jake willed the tears in his eyes not to fall.

“I didn’t really think it would be this hard,” Jake heard someone say. He looked over and it was the mom he’d bumped into.

“Yeah,” he agreed. “I’m a single dad. This is hitting me like a truck.”

She chuckled dryly. “I know what you mean. I’m a single mom. I cried all night last night. My eyes would barely open this morning when Sam was jumping on my bed because he was so excited for school.”

“Ahh the single parenthood,” Jake mused. “Glad I’m not alone.”

She smiled at him. “I’m Amy Santiago.”

“Jake Peralta,” he replied.

“I didn’t notice earlier, which one is yours?” she asked.

“Black Nets t-shirt with the Die Hard back pack,” he pointed out. She looked at him skeptically. “It was my back pack as a kid. He hasn’t seen it,” he assured her. “Well, not yet. He’ll see it someday because it’s the best movie ever.” Amy laughed. “Which one is yours?”

Amy pointed to the boy right next to John. “Sam’s the one in the red checked shirt and slacks giving yours a friendship sticker.” Jake looked over at her with an amused expression. “I may have given him some pointers on making friends. It mainly involved stickers.”

The teacher asked the parents to leave so they could start class. Jake bid goodbye to John as Amy did the same with Sam. Jake couldn’t help but smile as he noticed the two boys sitting down next to each other. Jake couldn’t wait to hear all about his son’s day.

As they walked out of the school, Jake dug out his keys, unsure of where he was going to go. “I took today off because I figured I’d be too much of a mess at work. Now I have no clue what I should do. I tend to think the secretary won’t want me hanging out in the office.”

Amy laughed and nodded. “I did the same thing. I took a sick day.”

“Listen, single parent to single parent,” Jake began nervously, “how would you feel about getting coffee and talking about how much we miss our kids?”

Amy smiled brightly. “I think that sounds great. Maybe some Irish coffee?”

“Ooh, I like that idea,” Jake agreed with a grin. “How early do you think bars open?”

“I’m game,” Amy replied with a laugh. “This could be fun.”

Jake nodded excitedly before he gestured toward the parking lot. “After you, m’lady!”

They found themselves at a small coffeehouse not far from the school. As they sat down, Jake realized that it almost had the feeling of a date. He shook his head, ignoring the crazy notion. They both took a sip of their drinks before either of them started talking. “Is it bad that I’m wondering what they’re doing now?” Jake asked. “Am I too obsessed with my kid?”

Amy laughed. “I don’t think that’s a thing. I mean at least between parents. Some of my friends probably think I’m too obsessed with Sam.”

Jake smirked. “Yeah, I remember when John was a baby and I was fawning all over him and my friend Gina made some comment about how he only smiled because he farted. I was horrified and offended.”

“Exactly,” Amy agreed. “I have some friends like that too.” She shook her head with a laugh as she took another drink. “So what do you do for a living?”

“I’m a detective.” Amy’s mouth dropped open. Jake leaned back slightly. “What’s wrong with that?”

Amy shook her head quickly. “Nothing at all. I’m just surprised. I’m also a detective.”

“What? No way! Which precinct?” Jake asked, very intrigued.

“The 99th. You?”

“The 78th.” They both stared at each other for a beat. “How bizarre,” Jake mused with a small shake of his head.

Amy smirked into her coffee mug. “Good to know I’m in good company.”

They chatted for a while about the job. Soon talk turned back to their children. Before they knew it, they’d been there for at least a couple hours, just chatting amiably.

Amy seemed to tense a little as she posed her next question. “Probably not my place to ask, but where’s John’s mom?”

A serious expression replaced the smile that had graced Jake’s face for most of the time they’d been together. “That’s a good question. I think somewhere here in New York. I’m not really sure though.” Amy started to nod. Jake could tell she wasn’t going to ask any more questions, so he volunteered the information. “We were dating, not super seriously, when she got pregnant. She was a defense attorney.” Amy’s mouth opened in horror. “Yeah I know,” Jake said with a laugh. “Big mistake. Anyway, she was more dedicated to her job than literally anything else. I told her that I would be willing to go along with whatever she wanted to do. I mean I was excited at the prospect of having a kid, but she wasn’t really one to try and force your opinion on. So anyway, I think she knew I was excited about it so she decided we’d keep it.”

Jake paused, reliving it all. “I can still remember the day that I thought something was off. She came home from her baby shower with all this amazing stuff. I was so excited about it all. I was looking through everything and freaking out over it like a total nerd. And she sat on the couch staring at it with an almost horrified look on her face. I thought she was just overwhelmed. I mean having a baby is a big deal. But no, she was dreading it. Apparently her lawyer friends had said all these things about how being a mom was going to be her new career. And she’d freaked out because her job was her real baby. Which I knew. And I’d always accepted that I came second to her job. I just didn’t figure she’d have gone through with the pregnancy if she was so scared of it affecting her career.”

“I remember that,” Amy interjected. “People telling me my career ambitions were now over because I was having a baby. It can be scary. But I actually wanted Sam. I’m guessing from your story, that’s not actually the case?”

Jake wrinkled his nose. “Yeah, not exactly. So she never said anything to me about not wanting the baby. I could tell that something was off, but I figured she was tired or overwhelmed being so far into her pregnancy plus work. She was really busy. I tried to be home every night in case she needed me. She never did. Then, ten days before her due date, she was in court and I got a call at work to go to the hospital. I was freaking out. So I drove to the hospital and I walk to find the nurse who called me and she takes me to the window of the nursery and points at a particular baby and tells me that’s my son.”

“Wait,” Amy stopped him, a disgusted look on her face. “You didn’t –”

“Yeah,” Jake confirmed. “I missed the birth of my child because she wouldn’t leave court and gave birth in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.” He nods at the sad look on Amy’s face. “So one of Sophia’s friends finds me in the hospital and tells me the baby’s mine. Sophia doesn’t want to see me or him. Her other friends were already getting her stuff from my apartment and I didn’t need to worry about that. So two days later I took my kid home and they’d done a good job of removing any aspect of Sophia from my home. I mean she didn’t even name him, I did. I haven’t seen her since the night before she gave birth. And John’s never seen his mother.”

“Wow.”

Jake shrugged. “I mean we’ve been okay. My Captain was amazing and gave me paternity leave and I got used to being a single dad. But you know, I can’t imagine my life without John. For all the drama of his arrival and how crazy my life became, I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” Jake concluded with a smile.

Amy matched his smile. “Yeah I definitely get that.”

“So how did you end up a single mom?” He asked.

Amy shook her head and rolled her eyes as she geared up to tell her story. “It had been a month since I’d gotten engaged to my boyfriend of a year when I found out we were going to have a baby. I was really excited. In hindsight, I think he faked his excitement. Anyway, so we pushed back the wedding to focus on the baby and somehow along the way things started to fizzle. Teddy wasn’t as good at feigning his excitement as he thought he was. I, of course, didn’t think the way he was acting was about the baby, I thought it was about me. So I got a lot clingier and that didn’t help matters. We had very similar interests which was what drew us together, but it was then that I realized that at our cores we were very different people.”

“That’s a great time to find that out,” Jake joked.

Amy chuckled. “Yeah. So Sam came and it was about two months later that Teddy couldn’t take it anymore and moved out. I mean I was devastated, but I chose to focus on Sam and on being the best mom I could be. I mean we just fell apart. It certainly doesn’t hold a candle to your story,” Amy said with a laugh.

“I don’t think you’d really want it to,” Jake offered.

Amy shrugged. “That’s fair. But you’ll like this part. Teddy’s mom made him reach out for a custody agreement. She thought he needed to be a part of Sam’s life. I informed her that unless Teddy wanted to be a part of Sam’s life, he didn’t need to be. So Teddy gets Sam for a weekend every two weeks.”

“And you get no help in the meantime?”

“I’ve learned how to get by without it,” Amy said with a shrug. “I have friends who help me when I really need it. What about you?”

“Yeah, I have some good friends who help me out when I can’t get off work. And a really good babysitter,” Jake laughed. “Plus when Sophia left me with a baby to raise all alone, my mom moved into the city. She said it was to be there whenever I needed her, but I think she just wanted to be as close to her only grandson as she could.”

They both laughed before they sat in silence for a moment. “And now they’re in school…” Amy said in a small voice, trailing off.

“I can’t believe it.”

“I mean we got them this far right?” Amy wondered aloud.

Jake chuckled. “So you’re saying the hard part is over?”

Amy snorted. “If only. At least you have a son. I am already dreading having to raise a teenage boy on my own,” Amy joked, covering her face with her hands.

Jake laughed heartily. “I wish I could say it’s not that bad…”

Amy dropped her face from her hands. “Oh I grew up with seven brothers. I know precisely how terrible it is.”

Jake gaped at her. “You have seven brothers?” Amy nodded. “Damn.”

“Yeah, growing up was crazy. But it was helpful to have all that family when Teddy bailed.”

Jake nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah, I bet.”

“I gotta say it’s interesting meeting someone who was basically going through one of the hardest parts of their life at the same time you were going through yours,” Amy mused.

Jake’s eyebrows raised in thought. “Wow that’s a good point. If only there had been a support group five years ago before we got into the swing of things.”

“Nah,” Amy disagreed. “It’s probably better we figured it out on our own.” Jake nodded.

They sat there in a comfortable silence for a beat. They both checked their phones to see if there was anything important they’d missed in the time they’d been chatting.

Amy put her phone down. “You know, I think this is the closest thing to a date that I’ve been on in five years.” Jake nodded. “I mean I don’t have to tell you that dating as a single parent is hard.”

“That’s true,” Jake agreed. He looked at Amy. He’d really enjoyed the time they’d spent together. It was incredible to meet someone in the same position as him. Plus she was a cop too. He decided to risk it. “That being said though, how would you feel about doing this again sometime…?” he asked hesitantly.

Amy looked at him with a questioning expression. Suddenly a smile broke through the façade, her eyes shining. “I’d like that.”

**

Jake was swinging with his son as John told him all about his first day of school. “It was so fun, Daddy!” John cried. “We played outside and we had center time and we got to play with play dough!”

“That does sound like fun!” Jake agreed, smiling from ear to ear at the sight of his child so happy. “So do you like your classmates?”

“Yeah,” John informed him.

“Did you make any friends?”

“Yeah! Aaron was nice. He shared his crayons with me,” John explained.

“That was nice of him.”

“And Max picked me for his team when we played tag.”

“Wait, you’re already doing all that picking teams stuff?” Jake asked, feeling horrified that his young son was already subjected to that.

“And Sam gave me a sticker this morning and asked me to be his friend. So we’re best friends.”

Jake couldn’t help but smirk. Kids were so easy to win over.  “Well I’m glad. I met Sam’s mom today.”

“Is she pretty?” John asked.

Jake looked curiously over at his son on the swing next to him. “Why?” John just shrugged. They kept talking about his day at school, though now Jake wondered what his son could be thinking.

**

Amy was tucking Sam into bed when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She pulled it out quickly to see Jake was calling her. She put her phone back in her pocket, noting that she would call him back.

“Mommy?” Sam asked.

“Yeah, Sweetie?” Amy replied, pushing his hair back from his forehead gently.

“Do I really have to go see him tomorrow?”

Amy sighed. She set aside the book she’d pulled out for them to read and sat down on the edge of the bed. “Sam, you know it’s your weekend with your dad. I’m sure he wants to hear all about how much you love school.”

“No he doesn’t,” Sam insisted. “He doesn’t like me.”

Amy wanted to cry. They’d had this conversation before and each time it still hurt. She didn’t know why Teddy couldn’t fake it more when he spent time with his child. She didn’t know why everything else in Teddy’s life had to come before Sam. “Yes, he does like you. I promise. He just has a different way of showing it.”

“Aaron’s dad coaches his soccer team,” Sam rattled off. “And John’s dad takes him to the park all the time. Why can’t my dad be like that?”

Amy sped past the accidental mention of Jake in order to try and comfort her son. “Sweetie, I know that you would rather spend time with me this weekend, but I’m just going to clean all weekend. Wouldn’t you rather see your dad than have me make you clean?”

“No, I like helping you clean,” Sam insisted. Amy laughed to herself. Of course that had rubbed off on her child.

“Look, how about this,” Amy negotiated, “If you go to your dad’s and you try to have fun with him, and I mean really try, we can go out for ice cream when I pick you up from school on Monday. How does that sound?”

Sam looked like he was thinking it over. “Okay.” He looked down at the book next to Amy’s hand. “Can we still read some?”

Amy smirked, kissing her son on the forehead. “I think we have time for one chapter.” She opened up to where they’d ended the night before and began to read to him. “Malfoy couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw that Harry and Ron were still at Hogwarts the next day, looking tired but perfectly cheerful,” Amy read aloud to her eager son. Amy hadn’t been able to resist passing on her love of Harry Potter to her child. Still, it had been a long week and Sam was asleep before the troll even left the dungeons. She pulled his blankets up tighter around him, kissed him one more time, and turned the lamp off next to his bed.

Amy strolled into her room and threw herself down on her bed. She always felt so guilty sending Sam to Teddy’s. She knew that Teddy only took Sam two weekends a month because he felt obligated. And she knew that Sam was always miserable when he was there. But that was the custody agreement they’d reached and she knew if she tried to change it now that Teddy’s parents would riot.

She was flipped over and laid on her back. That was when she felt her phone in her back pocket. Suddenly she remembered that Jake had called her. Quickly she pulled her phone out to call him back. She caught herself smiling as she tapped his number on the screen. Admittedly, she liked Jake. They hadn’t seen each other since their coffee outing other than picking up the boys at school. They always chatted a little bit until the boys dragged them off, ready to head home. Sometimes, especially recently, they’d text each other back and forth, discussing the life of a single parent/detective. Even just over text messaging, Jake made her laugh. And it had been a long time since a man had consistently made Amy laugh like that.

She fought the smile forming on her face as she heard the ringing on the other end. It rang twice before Jake picked up. “Hey!” He greeted cheerily.

“Hi! Sorry I missed your call earlier. It was bedtime and we were reading Harry Potter,” she explained.

“What?” Jake asked with a laugh. “You’re reading Harry Potter to your five year old?”

Amy felt defensive. “We’re only on the first one. We just read a little bit each night. What’s so bad about that?”

“I don’t know. I guess I would just think it was scary for a five year old,” Jake wondered. “I don’t know though because I’ve never read them.”

“What?” Amy cried. “You should! They’re so good!”

Jake laughed. “All right, I’ll take your word for it.”

“I mean it, you should read them,” Amy insisted. She could hear Jake still laughing on the other end. “Anyway, what’s up?” “Oh right, I called you first,” Jake remembered. “So my mom called me tonight insisting that she wants a weekend with just John. She said I look tired or something. Anyway, so she’s going to have him this weekend which made me wonder if you would want to get dinner or something.”

“Are you asking me out?” Amy joked.

“Yeah, I thought that was pretty obvious,” Jake retorted.

“Fair enough,” Amy chuckled.

“So…”

“Uh, yeah! Your timing is actually pretty good because Sam is spending the weekend with Teddy. So I’m free too,” Amy informed him.

“Wow, that is good timing. Imagine two single parents actually having free time on the same weekend. What are the odds of that?” Jake wondered aloud.

“Must be fate,” Amy mused with a laugh.

“I guess so,” Jake agreed. “So how does Saturday sound?”

“That sounds great!”

“Great!”

Amy expected Jake to hang up but he asked her about work and an hour later they were still talking. Amy couldn’t wipe the smile off her face as they spoke. She couldn’t really remember the last time she’d felt so light just talking to someone. Amy eyed her closet from where she laid on her bed, already trying to decide what she should wear on Saturday.

**

“I’m not saying you should be a crappy dad,” Amy argued, “I’m just saying my kid is jealous of your kid.”

Jake placed his hand over his heart. “I am truly so touched by that.”

Amy glared at him, smacking him on the arm. “Seriously?”

“Okay but think about it from my perspective,” Jake reasoned, “I have gotten ‘Billy has a dad and a mom, why don’t I?’ So hearing that one of my kid’s friends is jealous because I take him to the park after school sometimes makes me feel pretty great. Though I am obviously sorry that Sam feels jealous of John and that Sam has a crappy dad.”

Amy sighed and shook her head. “Okay, I guess I see your point.”

The hostess approached them. “You’re table is right this way.” They followed her, Jake placing his hand on Amy’s back for her to go ahead of him.

“So tell me about Sam,” Jake asked once they were seated and perusing the menus.

“He is five years old,” Amy joked.

Jake rolled his eyes at her. “I obviously knew that. I mean I hear about him from a kid’s perspective. But what’s he like?”

Amy smiled broadly. She was so touched Jake asked. There had been very few people who’d ever asked her about her son in that way. “Uh, he’s great! I mean, I’m pretty biased, but he really is. He likes to play “Kitchen.” I’m hoping that will form into an actual hobby of liking to cook from a young age because I’m a dreadful cook,” she said with a laugh. “But he’s smart. I swear he’s like this close to reading.”

“No!” Jake yelled, maybe a bit too loudly, but it made Amy laugh. “You can’t be that parent. Your kid’s already reading? Come on! Give the rest of us a break!”

Amy laughed heartily. “I can’t help it. I passed my nerdiness on to him. He has liked having me read him books since he was a baby. He used to just lay there and stare up at me as I read him stories. It was awesome.”

Jake smiled brightly. “It sounds awesome. Also, unrelated, but once John gets home from my mom’s tomorrow, I’m starting an intensive reading camp for him every single night. It will end when he can read proficiently.”

“Oh great,” Amy said with a laugh, “You’re doing both of us a favor. You’re gonna get John to read and Sam will stop being jealous of you because all John is going to do is complain about his daddy making him learn to read nonstop.”

Jake lifted his hands up dramatically. “See? I’m benefitting everyone.”

“So what’s John like?”

Jake smiled thoughtfully. “I would also have to say that he’s great. I don’t really know how with just having me, but he is. He’s funny. He constantly makes me laugh. He likes to make up jokes to make me laugh. For a five year old, I’d say he’s pretty witty.” Jake broke off at the sight of Amy staring at him with a smile on her face. “I don’t know, he just loves to have fun.  He loves being outside and running around. And he loves to wear me out. I swear, chasing him around is harder than chasing perps.”

Amy leaned her head back in laughter. “Yes! Why is chasing a five year old more exhausting than being a cop?”

“I don’t know, but it’s so true!”

They both laughed, smiling at each other in the silence that followed. “So why did you become a cop?” Jake asked.

As much as Amy loved talking about her son, she really appreciated Jake asking about her. She liked Jake and she wanted them to get to know each other more than just as the parents of their child’s friend. So Amy talked all about her dad being a cop and his dad being a cop. And Jake talked about watching Die Hard and wanting to become a cop. And before she knew it the conversation steered away from their mutual work as well. They were just talking about their lives and their interests. And Amy couldn’t help it, but she felt smitten.

Since Amy lived a few blocks from the restaurant, Jake volunteered to walk her home. It was a beautiful September evening and it just added to the way Amy was feeling. She doubted herself and wondered if she only liked Jake because he was one of the first people in over five years to show her actual interest. When he genuinely laughed at a joke she made, she couldn’t deny the butterflies in her stomach. When he grabbed her hand to shuffle around some people on the sidewalk, she couldn’t deny the warmth she felt just from holding his hand.

Soon enough, they were at her stoop. She wished the night didn’t have to end, but it was far too soon to invite him up. Given the way she felt around him, she didn’t trust herself. “Thanks for tonight,” she said kindly. “This was really nice.”

Jake smiled brightly. “I agree.”

“Maybe sometime soon we can find the time in our crazy lives to do so again?” Amy ventured.

Jake nodded. “I certainly hope so.” He stepped a bit closer to her. “I had a really good time tonight.”

Amy smiled. “Yeah, I did too.”

Slowly Jake raised his hand, cupping the side of Amy’s face. He only had to lean in part way before Amy met him for the kiss. He kissed her gently, bringing his other hand to her back. She wrapped both arms around him, eagerly returning the kiss. Too soon for her liking, Jake released her with a smile. “Goodnight, Amy.”

She leaned in for another quick kiss. “Goodnight, Jake.”

He stayed there as she walked up to the door of her building. With a wave, she disappeared inside the door. She stood, leaning against the door, a smile plastered across her face. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this intensely happy.

**

As time went on, the nightly calls to each other became more common. Texting each other throughout the day was pretty much a given. And dates somehow became slightly more regular. It was still hard to find a time when both of them didn’t feel like they were abandoning their kids. After a month and a half, they’d been on a handful of dates.

Jake felt like he knew Amy really well though. They may not see each other as much as they’d both like to, but they talked a lot and it helped form the closeness they shared. Jake couldn’t help but marvel at how perfectly it had come together. What were the odds that he’d meet such an amazing woman and she would be the mom of his son’s best friend? He wasn’t a gambler, but he’d bet that those odds were slim. And yet, he was so happy with Amy. She was the only other person he knew who he felt got it.

He was sitting at his desk in the middle of November when his desk phone rang. “Detective Peralta,” he answered.

“Jake! Hey, it’s Amy!”

“Hey!” he greeted. “What’s up? Why are you calling me on my work phone?”

“Because I’m supposed to be working and no one would be suspicious of me calling another precinct.”

Jake chuckled. “Good thinking.”

“Anyway, I have a huge favor to ask of you,” Amy informed him.

“Ask away.”

“Is your babysitter picking up John today?”

“No, I am.”

“Oh,” she said softly.

“Amy, what’s up?” Jake prodded.

Amy sighed over the phone. “I was supposed to pick up Sam today too but now I don’t know if I’ll be able to get away. Would it be way too much of me to ask if you could pick him up?”

“Not at all. Why would that be too much to ask?” Jake asked.

“I don’t know. We haven’t told the boys anything is going on. And it’s not like you’ve spent any time with Sam. I don’t want you to feel like I’m asking this ridiculous thing of you,” Amy rambled.

“Ames,” Jake said in a soothing voice. “For all they’ll think, I’m taking them to have a play date or whatever. They’ll just be excited to spend the afternoon together. It’ll be fine. I can absolutely pick up Sam.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes!” Jake replied confidently. “I mean I’m gonna have to spend time with your son eventually, right?”

Amy chuckled through the phone. “I suppose so. I just imagined I’d be there.”

“Well, sure.”

“Thank you, Jake. I owe you.”

“You don’t owe me anything,” Jake assured her.

“You’re the best,” she replied.

“I know,” Jake said with a laugh. “Now you should get back to work so you aren’t there all night.”

“Good idea. I’ll see you later!”

“I can’t wait!” Jake answered before hanging up the phone.

Charles walked over to Jake’s desk a bit later in the day. “So are you still good for me coming over tonight to consult you on what meal I should cook for Genevieve for the first time?”

Jake looked up at him curiously until he remembered what Charles was talking about. “Oh shoot. That was tonight?” Charles nodded. “I can’t, Buddy, I’m sorry. I promised Amy I’d pick up Sam and bring him home with me to hang out with John tonight.”

“Wait, so you’re spending time alone with Amy’s kid?”

Jake replied hesitantly. “Yes.”

“Oh my God, this is huge!”

Jake groaned. “No it’s not, Charles. Please don’t make this a big deal.”

“But it is!” Jake opened his mouth to negate him, but Charles continued. “Listen, Jake, you like this kid’s mother. A lot. You don’t think it’s a big deal that this kid likes you? You don’t think it’ll help if he goes home talking about how much fun he had with John’s dad? Because this is the last piece of the puzzle. You and Amy like each other. And your kids like each other. But what if Sam doesn’t like you? Or what if John doesn’t like Amy?”

“Please, John will love Amy,” Jake argued, too unsure to argue whether Sam would love him.

“Okay. I’m just saying, don’t play this off as nothing, Jake. You like Amy so you are bound to be nervous about whether her son likes you,” Charles maintained.

“Fine, I might be a little nervous. But I wasn’t nearly as nervous as I am now that you’ve gone on about it for ten minutes,” Jake retorted.

“Don’t worry, what’s not to love about you, Jakey?”

Jake rolled his eyes, trying to get back to his work. Not sensing this, Charles sat down in the chair next to Jake’s desk. “So things are getting pretty serious with Amy, huh?”

Jake looked over at him. “Why do you say that?”

“You’re nervous about meeting her kid. She’s letting you pick up her kid. She wouldn’t do that if things weren’t getting serious between you,” Charles insisted.

“I mean I guess maybe they are. It feels weird saying that though. We’ve only been on like six dates.”

“But don’t you talk like all the time?” Charles interrogated.

Jake nodded, secretly wishing Charles would leave him to evaluate his relationship on his own. “Yeah. We talk almost every night on the phone after the boys are in bed.”

Charles beamed at him. “That’s beautiful.”

Jake rolled his eyes and pointed back to Charles’s desk. “Okay, you can go now.”

“Okay, but I’ll be here if you need advice,” Charles nearly crooned. Jake shook his head and tried to get back to work. He tried not to spend the rest of the day thinking about what he’d do with the boys. Or better yet, the way things were progressing with Amy. He really did have strong feelings for her. And as much as he wanted Charles to be wrong, it did matter how it went with Sam.

**

“Daddy!” John called as he ran across the room to Jake. Jake squatted down and hugged his son.

“How was your day?”

“Good!” John exclaimed.

“How would you feel if your friend Sam got to come home and play with us?” Jake asked, already knowing the answer.

John gasped and Jake smiled. “Can he?” As if he knew they were talking about him, Sam ran over to John and Jake. “Sam, my dad said you can come home and play with me!”

“Really?” Sam asked excitedly. Jake marveled at how excited the boys were.

“Yeah, I talked to your mom earlier. You’re gonna come hang out with us for a while tonight. How does that sound?” Jake asked.

“Good!” Sam yelled. The boys started talking excitedly to each other.

Jake looked over at Miss Miller. “Did Amy call earlier about me taking Sam home?”

“Yep!” she replied, “And they’re free to go!”

“Thanks!” Jake said before turning back to the boys. “You boys ready to go?”

“Yeah!” they both yelled. Jake laughed and grabbed both of their hands, leading them out of the school and to his car.

They’d played at the park for a while, gotten ice cream on the way back to Jake’s apartment, and the boys were happily playing in John’s room as Jake prepared dinner for them. Even though he was down the hall, he could hear them laughing and yelling as they played. He smiled to himself, thinking on how the day actually went pretty well.

Jake set out bowls of his best macaroni and cheese on the table and called the boys down to eat. They thundered down the hall toward the kitchen. Both of them were about to sit down when Sam stopped. “Wait,” he said, holding out his hand to John, “we should wash our hands before we eat.”

Jake choked back a laugh. “Yes, you should,” he agreed. “Good idea, Sam!”

After they’d both washed their hands, and possibly made a huge mess in the bathroom, they came and sat down at the table with Jake. All it took was one bite of the mac and cheese for Sam to compliment Jake. “Wow, Mr. Peralta, this is really good!”

“Thank you, Sam.”

“My mom’s isn’t this good,” Sam said as he shoveled more in his mouth. Jake once again choked back a laugh, while noting that he should definitely rub it in Amy’s face later. He listened as the boys talked about school. Conversations with five year olds weren’t exactly the most scintillating, but Jake was thoroughly enjoying it. A knock at the door signaled Amy’s likely arrival.

“That’s probably your mom, Sam,” Jake informed them. “You two keep eating. I’ll get the door.” Jake walked down to the front door and opened it to see a haggard Amy standing there. “Hey,” he greeted.

“Hi,” she said miserably. “Thank you so much for getting Sam.”

Jake just shrugged and gestured for her to come in. “It was really no problem Amy.”

“Work just got so bungled. I had no way of leaving earlier than I did. I really appreciate it, Jake, whether it was no problem or not,” she said, leaning in and hugging him quickly.

“It was fun. We all had a pretty fun time today. We played at the park, given what you mentioned to me, and we had some ice cream. Don’t give me that look. And then we came back here. They played and now they’re eating. I’d say overall it was a large success,” Jake mused.

Amy shook her head with a grin. “Well I’m glad.”

“Mommy!” Sam yelled. Jake turned around to see him running from the kitchen towards Amy. She leaned down and hugged him tightly. “Mommy, we’re having mac and cheese!”

“You are?”

“Yeah. Mr. Peralta’s mac and cheese is better than yours!” Sam yelled, as he ran back to the kitchen.

Amy gave Jake a questioning glare. “I swear I didn’t put him up to that. He just volunteered that,” Jake promised. Amy shook her head. “Have you eaten? I have plenty.”

“I suppose I can eat some of your betrayal mac and cheese,” Amy sighed, walking toward the kitchen. Jake laughed as he walked behind her. Jake filled a bowl as she sat down in the empty seat next to John. “You must be John. I’ve heard a lot about you from Sam.”

John was experiencing his rare shyness and very quietly replied, “Yeah.” Amy just smiled and patted him on the back as Jake gave her the bowl of food. John’s shyness disappeared quickly. “Are you Sam’s mom?”

“I am,” Amy replied happily.

John looked over at Jake, “Dad, she is pretty.”

Amy burst out laughing and looked over at Jake whose face suddenly felt very warm. He just shook his head at his son amusedly. “I guess child betrayal is just the theme for tonight,” Jake mused.

Amy took a bite of her mac and cheese and groaned slightly. She looked at Jake with an expression of betrayal. “Crap, he’s right. This is better than mine. How terrible is this for me?”

Jake laughed heartily. “I don’t think it’s any worse than any other kind of mac and cheese.”

“Daddy, we’re done,” John informed Jake. “Can we go play?”

Jake looked over at Amy quickly and she shrugged. “Sure!” They both jumped up. “Ah, John, what should you do first?”

John turned back to the table and grabbed his plate, walking it over to the sink. Sam quickly followed his lead. “Thank you for dinner, Mr. Peralta,” Sam said as he walked out of the kitchen past Jake.

Jake looked over at Amy with a dopey grin on his face. “Amy, he is so precious.”

Amy smiled widely. “Thanks. I agree.”

They had cleaned up after dinner, despite Jake insisting Amy didn’t need to help and Amy helping anyway. “I hate to say it, but I’m kinda glad your work went crazy,” Jake said with a shy grin.

“Why’s that?” Amy asked, stepping closer to him.

“Because then I got to see you sooner than I thought I would,” Jake reasoned.

Amy smiled and leaned up to kiss him quickly. “Well I guess I’m glad for that reason too then.” She sighed. “I should probably take Sam home so he can get to bed.”

Jake nodded and they walked down the hall toward John’s room. Amy held out her hand to stop Jake using police signals. Jake almost laughed out loud. But she was trying to listen to something Sam was saying. Jake leaned closer to hear too.

“Do you like your mom?” Sam asked.

“I don’t know my mom,” John replied.  Jake felt his heart sink. He was waiting for the very statement he’d feared of hearing for five years. Amy turned around and looked at Jake sympathetically. “But it’s okay,” John said. “I like my dad. And he says that we’re just enough.” Amy smiled and grabbed Jake’s hand with a squeeze.

“Can I tell you a secret?” Sam asked. Amy looked at Jake with a concerned expression. “I don’t like my dad,” Sam said sadly. Jake squeezed Amy’s hand in his as he saw her face fall. “He doesn’t do anything fun with me like your dad does with you. We never go play at the park.”

“That’s okay,” John answered. “You can play with me and my dad.”

“Okay, I want to,” Sam replied cheerily.

Jake shook his head with a low chuckle. Amy smiled at him. “I guess today went pretty well.”

He shrugged. “I guess so.”

“Maybe sometime soon I can repay the favor and pick up the boys. Get to spend some time with John,” Amy offered.

Jake smiled. “I think he’d like that.”

They shook off the big moment between them and walked into John’s bedroom. “You ready to go, Sam?” Amy asked.

“No! Can’t I just stay?” Sam whined.

“Sorry, Sweetie, but your bed is at home,” Amy reminded him. “Besides, I think we’ve intruded enough for the night. And you’ll see John tomorrow at school.” Begrudgingly, Sam got up and said goodbye to John. John was walking to the front door with him. Jake and Amy were walking toward the door when Amy ducked in the kitchen. Confused, Jake followed her. “Hey, what do you think your chances would be of getting a babysitter this weekend?” Amy asked.

Jake shrugged. “I don’t know. Probably good. What are you thinking?”

“I don’t know, just that I’d like to see you,” Amy replied. “How would Friday work?”

“So soon,” Jake teased. “I think that sounds perfect.”

“Great!” Amy exclaimed. She leaned in, kissing him deeply. Jake wrapped his arms around her tightly, reciprocating the kiss. Amy started to run her fingers through his hair. Jake was getting lost in their kiss. It wasn’t until they heard a loud laugh from the hall that they broke apart, remembering the children waiting for them. They flashed each other guilty looks and walked back to the door.

“Well we had lots of fun today, Sam,” Jake said to the five year old. “You are welcome to come play with John anytime.”

Amy mouthed “thank you” to him as she saw the thrilled look on Sam’s face. “Really?” Sam asked excitedly.

“Of course, Buddy!”

“Thank you, Mr. Peralta!” Sam yelled, running over and giving Jake a hug around the legs. Jake bent down and returned the hug. He didn’t miss the look on Amy’s face as he stood back up. They all bid each other goodbye and after enough time, Amy and Sam left, leaving Jake to feel like the apartment was emptier somehow. He shook his head. It was much too early for thoughts like that.

Jake had tucked John into bed and was laying on his own bed watching some late night show when his phone started buzzing. He laughed when he looked at the screen and saw Amy was calling. “Hello?”

“Today was a mistake,” Amy replied without even saying hello.

Jake’s stomach sank. “Why?”

“Because if I have to hear one more time about how much Sam wants to go play at John’s or go to the park with John and his dad, I’m going to lose it!” She said a bit shrilly.

Jake felt relief as he laid his head back on the pillow, laughing. “Oh thank God. I thought you were gonna say something else.”

“No. He loved you. He had so much fun today,” Amy reassured. “Which I’m glad he did, but at the same time, I’d like to talk about something else.”

Jake was still laughing. “I’m sorry that your kid is so obsessed with me.”

“Mhmm…I’m sure you are.” Jake couldn’t see Amy, but he could picture the face she was making. After a brief pause, Amy said in a small voice, “I’m excited for Friday.”

**

Friday came and Jake had managed to find a babysitter. Charles agreed that he and Genevieve would watch John as “practice.” Jake didn’t care as long as they agreed to watch him. He trusted them with his son, so he felt comfortable leaving for the night.

They met at a bar of Amy’s choosing. They hadn’t been there too long before Amy spotted him. She stood up quickly and stormed over to the bar. She noticed Jake following quickly in her stride.

“Teddy?” She asked as she looked upon the face of her ex-fiancé.

“Amy, what are you doing here?” he asked.

Amy gaped at him. “I should ask you the same thing. Where is our son?”

Teddy shook his head. “Don’t worry, he’s with his babysitter.”

“Excuse me?”

“What? You think I’d just leave him at home alone?” Teddy asked with a scoff.

“My question is more, why are you here when it is your weekend with him?” Amy asked pointedly.

“A buddy was going through something so I said I’d be here. I forgot I was supposed to have the kid but I found a sitter. My old lady neighbor is great with kids.”

Amy was so close to blowing up on him. “You know, this is why he hates coming to stay with you. This is why he begs me to let him stay with me instead. You get two weekends a month with your son. Why don’t you actually spend time with him?”

Teddy glared at her. “Listen, I don’t tell you what to do with your time, hanging all over some guy in a bar like a –” Amy’s glare cut him off. “So don’t feel like you can tell me what to do with my time.”

Amy had a million retorts spinning around in her head. She’d seen this Teddy before though. A pilsner in hand, a glassy look in his eye, a scowl upon his face. This was not a Teddy that you could win against. Everything you did was wrong. And Amy wasn’t having it tonight. She’d been really excited to see Jake and spend time with him. She wasn’t about to let Teddy ruin that. She shook her head and turned around, walking away from Teddy. Jake followed her back to their table.

“What do you want to do?” Jake asked hesitantly. “Do you want to go somewhere else? Do you want to go home? Do you want to beat him up? I’ll help. Do you want to go get Sam?”

Amy looked up at Jake and smiled. He was so understanding. “Do I want to beat him up? Yes, definitely. But we’re both cops so I don’t see that ending well.”

“What about Sam?”

Amy shrugged. “As much as it pisses me off, I have to leave Sam with his babysitter and his crappy dad.”

“Why? I mean why even give him visitation? He clearly doesn’t value it,” Jake asked.

A sad looked crossed Amy’s face. “It’s his parents. They’d fight me if I didn’t give him time with Sam. And they’re the type of people who would get sway and win. And I’d lose my son to someone who doesn’t even want him.”

Jake gaped at her. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “So what do you want to do?”

Amy leaned her head into Jake’s hand. “We could go somewhere else.” Jake nodded and gestured for her to lead the way. Once they were out of the bar, Amy turned to Jake on the sidewalk. “Okay, this may sound super lame. Tell me if it is. But we could always just grab takeout and go back to my place. I have beer.”

Jake smirked. “I think that sounds great. Way better than some noisy bar with annoying people.”

By the time they’d gotten back to Amy’s, they were getting close to being starving. Amy put on a movie as Jake got out takeout boxes and set them across her coffee table. “Wait,” Jake said, pointing at the TV and stopping her in her tracks, “is any of this animated?”

Amy grinned. “No.”

“Is it rated above G?”

Still grinning, Amy said, “Yes.”

Jake fist pumped the air. “Yes! What a change of pace!”

Amy laughed as she sat down next to him, reaching for her food. She cuddled up against him, eating her Chinese out of the container. Every now and then, they’d pick bits from each other’s containers. The movie played on in the background as they talked. It kept playing as Amy kissed Jake’s jaw and as that little kiss turned into them making out heavily on her couch. It played on as Jake worked at the buttons on Amy’s shirt and she undid the button of his jeans. They didn’t take the time to stop the movie as they tripped and stumbled while kissing on their way to Amy’s bedroom, their clothes leaving a trail behind them.

A bit later, Amy laid curled up against Jake’s body, leaving little kisses along his neck. “Holy crap,” she panted.

“Yeah,” Jake agreed breathily.

“I wish you didn’t have to go home,” Amy said regretfully.

Jake looked down at her. “I don’t have to be home for a while,” he reminded her with a sinful look on his face. He leaned back in, kissing her deeply. Amy responded equally, though both were too spent to do much more than kiss.

Eventually though, Jake did have to go home. He kissed her passionately against the door, blocking his exit. Pulling back, he laid his forehead against hers. “I had a really great time tonight.”

Amy smiled broadly. “You and me both.”

“Let’s do this again soon,” Jake said. His eyes went wide. “I mean this like a date, not this like –”

Amy laid her hand on his chest. “I knew what you meant. Although I’d be fine with both,” she added with a suggestive grin.

“Me too,” Jake smirked, leaning in to kiss her again. He broke the kiss quickly. “Okay, now I really have to go.” Amy stepped out of the way of the door. He gave her a sweet kiss on the cheek. “Goodnight, Amy.”

“Goodnight,” she replied with a smile. He couldn’t resist kissing her one more time before he left.

**

It took a while for their next date to line up. Between the holidays approaching, and just the general craziness of work and single parenting, it wasn’t happening as fast as either of them would like. Talking on the phone started happening every night after the boys’ bedtimes. Sometimes it got a bit steamier than usual. Amy still felt as close to Jake as she had before, despite the weeks it had been since they’d spent time alone. They conveniently ran into each other when picking up their sons. They got little times here and there when they actually got to see each other and both of them admitted that they were grateful for it.

So safe to say, by the time the end of December rolled around and they’d actually found the time to schedule a date, Amy was pretty amped up for it. Her parents had blessedly requested all grandchildren stay at their house after Christmas for a few extra days. It was a nice little gift (to them and to her). That meant she could have some time to herself, but also some time with Jake.

The plan was a nice dinner and something else afterward that Jake wouldn’t tell her. She was to the point where she was giddy to be spending time alone with him. Amy was ready to go half an hour before he was set to pick her up. Seven o’clock came and Jake wasn’t there. She figured there could be traffic, so she didn’t freak yet. When seven thirty hit and she didn’t even have a text from him, she started to get skeptical. At eight o’clock, Amy just got mad. She threw her coat back on and stormed out the door. There had to be some reason why Jake just flaked on their date. Maybe he wasn’t as excited for it as she was, but still, she deserved an explanation.

Stomping up to his door, Amy didn’t even consider anything else that could be wrong. If anything was seriously wrong, he’d have let her know. She had no idea what this could be. Amy beat on his door, ready to figure out why he’d stood her up. Jake opened the door looking harried, a sleeping John curled around him like a reversed backpack. She saw his surprised expression fall as he took in her appearance. He held one finger over his lips, to let her know they should be quiet, but he stood back and gestured her to come in.

Amy walked in, seeing things strewn across the apartment. She had no idea what could have happened. She’d been to Jake’s place before, and though he said he could be messy, she’d never seen it like this. Jake was sitting down on the couch, trying not to wake his son. Amy sat down gently next to him.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “I completely forgot. It’s been kind of insane around here today.”

Amy shrugged. For all the anger that had built up in her over the last hour or more, she deflated at the sight of Jake looking like a mess. “What happened?” Amy asked softly.

Jake rubbed his hand up and down John’s back. “Sophia came by today.”

Amy gaped at him. “What?” Had it not been for the sleeping child, she’d have had a much louder reaction.

“Yeah,” Jake confirmed. “She apparently wants some amount of custody now. And John didn’t even know who she was, but he heard some woman saying she was going to take him from me and he broke down. He finally cried himself to sleep on my shoulder about an hour and a half ago.” Amy stared at him in shock. “I’m really sorry. I should have at least texted you.”

Amy shook her head. “Jake, don’t be sorry. That sounds like a disaster. I’m the last thing you should be worrying about.”

Jake smiled at her. “I’m still sorry to have ruined our date. It’s been a month.”

Amy rubbed her hand up and down Jake’s arm. “I think we’ll be okay.” She leaned over and kissed his shoulder. He looked at her with a sad smile. “So what does Sophia want?”

“Custody,” Jake confirmed. “I don’t know how much or what. She just came by and said she’d thought a lot about it and she wanted to be a part of her son’s life and she was willing to fight me in court for custody.”

Amy shook her head. “Jake, I’m so sorry. That’s ridiculous.”

She could see tears building in Jake’s eyes. “I know it is. I’m just…what if she wins? What if she decides she wants full custody of him and she wins? I can’t lose him. He’s my son. I have been there for everything. He’s the most important thing in my life. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost him.” His tears spilled over his cheeks. Amy reached up to wipe them before they fell down onto John.

“Everything you just said is why you aren’t going to lose him, Jake,” Amy reassured. “You’re an amazing dad. Anyone who’s ever seen you with him can attest to that. We’ll get you a great lawyer who can battle anyone Sophia’s gonna hire. And we’ll make damn sure John doesn’t go anywhere.”

“We?” Jake asked hesitantly.

“You’d think I’d ditch you?” Amy asked, a pointed look on her face.

“No,” Jake stated. “But this is big.”

“Yeah, but so is the way I feel about you,” Amy admitted. “And your son.”

Jake’s face broke out in a small smile. “Thank you, Amy.” She reached up and ran her fingers through his hair comfortingly. She saw his eyes flutter a little. “I don’t really even know where to start,” Jake admitted. “I never thought this would happen.”

“Well why would you?” Amy asked. “She left.” Amy pinned Jake with a meaningful look. “We’ll find the best way to beat her, I promise Jake. John isn’t going anywhere.”

Jake looked at Amy with a grateful expression. “Amy, I…” he trailed off, his face contorting. Finally, he smiled at her. “I appreciate you. I don’t know what I’d do without you either.”

Amy smiled, running her fingers back through his hair. “Well you don’t have to worry about that either.”

**

“Oh my God,” Amy muttered a week later. “Jake! Jake, I found it!” Amy yelled across his apartment. She could hear the boys playing obliviously in the other room as Jake ran into the living room.

“What did you find?” Jake panted.

“You said you wanted to know why she suddenly wanted him back,” Amy reminded. “And I just found that reason. She’s running for mayor of New York City. It hasn’t even been announced yet. My guess is she wants all her ducks in a row before she announces and that’s why she wants John.” Jake threw himself down on the couch. “I’m guessing it will lose some people’s votes if it got out that she had a child and abandoned it. So now she’s trying to look like a present mother.”

Jake shook his head with a faraway glare on his face. “I can’t believe her,” he muttered to himself. He looked up at Amy. “We are not voting for her.”

Amy laughed, getting up and sitting next to him on the couch. “At least we have a good idea of why she’d do this.” Amy patted Jake’s leg comfortingly. “I mean, what messed up judge would take a kid from his amazing father and give him to the mother who only wants him so she can win an election. What is she going to do if she wins? Toss him back to you? Give him off to her arm candy husband?”

“Husband?” Jake asked, looking at Amy. She walked over and got her computer, showing the picture of them to Jake. “Oh my God,” Jake gasped. “She married him?”

“Who is it?”

“This slimeball she used to work with,” Jake explained. “We had a number of fights about him. I told her several times that he wanted to sleep with her. She always denied it. Well guess who was right?” Jake shook his head. “No, no way am I letting that dick anywhere near my son.”

“Have you heard back from your lawyer?” Amy asked.

“Yeah, we meet tomorrow afternoon,” Jake replied. “Speaking of which, can yo-”

“Yes, I can get the boys,” Amy assured him with a smile.

Jake let out a sigh. He leaned in and kissed the side of her head. “Thank you, Amy.”

“I’m just picking up my kid and getting one more, it’s not that big a deal,” Amy laughed.

“I didn’t mean just that,” Jake insisted. “I mean for everything. You’ve been my rock for the last week and I…I really don’t know what I’d do without you. You’ve been calming me down right and left. And I mean we aren’t even to court yet.”

Amy put her computer down and grabbed Jake’s hand in both of hers. “I know for a fact that if Teddy made some crazy play for Sam, you would do the exact same thing. You have nothing to thank me for. That little boy deserves to be here in his home. With his dad who he loves. And I can testify to that if need be.”

Jake just smiled and shook his head at her in awe.

**

Amy was making dinner for the boys at her home the next day when John wandered into the kitchen. She was sad that Jake was in the situation he was in, but she was secretly happy to get to spend more time with John. She’d seen the immediate effect Jake had had on Sam. She only hoped she could rub off on John that well.

“Miss Amy?” John asked, calling attention to his arrival in the room.

Amy spun around at her name. She’d told John he could call her that when he was confused that her last name wasn’t Wells like Sam. “Yes, John?” Amy asked, walking over towards him.

“Can I ask you something?”

Amy knelt down in front of him. “Honey, you can ask me anything.”

“Is my dad coming back?”

Amy felt her stomach sink. She reached out and placed her hands on John’s shoulders. “Of course he is, John. He’s just in a meeting. He asked if I could pick you up so you could play with Sam.”

He nodded slightly. “But what about the lady who wants to take me away?”

Amy sat down in one of her kitchen chairs and pulled John onto her lap. “Listen, no one is going to take you away from your dad. He’s fighting really hard to make sure that doesn’t happen, okay? Because your dad, he loves you more than anything. And he isn’t going to let anyone take you away from him.” John sniffled and nodded. “And you know what? Sam and I won’t let anyone take you away either. We love you too.”

John smiled and threw both his arms around Amy in a hug. She felt tears springing in her eyes as she wrapped her arms around John. John ended the hug and looked at Amy. “And you’ll make sure no one takes me away?”

Amy nodded sincerely. “I promise.”

“Thank you, Miss Amy,” he said, climbing down off her lap. Amy nodded at him in reply. He turned to go back to Sam’s room. Suddenly, he turned back. “I like you, Miss Amy.”

Amy smiled widely. “Thank you, John. I like you too.”

John smiled and ran off to play with Sam.

**

For almost two months, Jake and Amy had been doing everything they could to be prepared for a custody hearing. The date was still pending. Jake’s lawyer informed him that sometimes it can take a while to get a court date. So in the meantime, they found anything that would help prove that Sophia shouldn’t get custody and all the good reasons that Jake should keep John. Amy had been coming over to Jake’s apartment with Sam pretty much every day after work or school. The boys seemed content to play together and spend plenty of time hanging out. Jake sometimes couldn’t help but stare at Amy in awe. She’d thrown herself into this mess without a second thought. He’d said it before and he’d meant it; he didn’t know what he’d do without her. He loved her, but he had no idea how to tell her while his life was such a mess.

Amy was out with the boys picking up dinner for them all when Jake got a call from his lawyer. Apparently a court date had been set suddenly. They were meeting in a week. Jake threw his phone on the couch and paced up and down his living room. A knock at the door jolted Jake out of his fury. It couldn’t be Amy. She had a key.

He walked over and opened the door to see Sophia standing there. He glared at her. “Jake, hi,” she said casually. “So we have a court date set for a week from today.”

“Yes, I heard,” Jake replied in a low voice.

“Great,” Sophia responded sweetly, smiling at Jake. “However, you know we could just use a mediator and not have to go to court. I know a good mediator that would be willing to meet with us at our earliest convenience.”

Jake stared at her skeptically. “You really think I’m going to use one of your friends as a mediator? Where’s the objectivity in that?” Sophia rolled her eyes and strolled past Jake into the apartment. “Yeah, sure, come right on in,” he commented sarcastically.

“I don’t know why you won’t work with me?” Sophia yelled.

Jake laughed dryly. “Gee, I don’t know, because you abandoned him five years ago and showed zero remorse until you had a big election coming up that you wanted to look good in.”

Sophia looked shocked. “How do you know about that?”

“I’m a detective. Remember?”

Sophia shook her head. “Jake, I don’t get why you’re acting this way. I’m his mother.”

“Yeah, but it’s not like you’ve been his mother since you gave birth to him,” Jake retorted. Sophia rolled her eyes. “Sophia, you know nothing about him. You didn’t even know his name until you looked me up to find me again. I didn’t judge you for putting your career first. I always expected you to. That was why I was surprised when you wanted to go through with the pregnancy. I never judged you for trying to save your career since I knew how important it was to you. But I did judge you for how you did so. You just left him. And you didn’t even call me to tell me you were in labor. You just ghosted. We had solid plans for how we were going to raise our baby and then you left and I had to figure everything out by myself.”

Sophia’s face was blank. Jake had no indication of how his words were affecting her. “I don’t get why you’re so resistant to me being a part of my son’s life.”

“I’m resistant to you taking him.”

“God, it’s not like I’m kidnapping him, Jake,” Sophia argued. “I’m his mother. It is my right to be a part of his life.”

“It’s not a right. It is a privilege. And one you tossed away with him right after he was born,” Jake defended. “Sophia, you don’t even know him. You want to be a part of his life, start small. Don’t come running in again after five years waving custody papers. You really think he’s going to want to spend half his time with the woman who took him from his dad? Because that’s how he sees it. He doesn’t know who you are. And you’re going about this for you not for him. If you really cared about being his mother, you’d think about what was best for him and his well-being. And having you strut in and demand we all work with you so you can look like a mother and win your damn election is not what is in his best interest.”

Sophia stared at him with a furious look on her face. “I’m his mother,” she repeated.

“Biologically. But there are a lot of people who’ve been a better mother to him in the last five years. The years that he remembers,” Jake argued. “My mom, his teachers, Charles, his babysitters, my girlfriend,” Jake listed. He grimaced slightly. He hadn’t intended to ever mention Amy to Sophia. He knew she’d go after anyone she could.

Sophia’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Well, all I’m saying is you could have done this the easy way.”

Jake shook his head at her. “Said like a true politician. And nothing like a mother.” Jake heard the key in the lock seconds before it opened.

“Hey, we’re home!” Amy called before she spotted Jake in a heated standoff with Sophia. Jake could tell when she processed what was happening. “Boys, go wash your hands. Now.”

The boys ran off to the bathroom chattering about something. Amy sat the food down delicately on the table by the door. She turned to the door before looking back at Jake. “Should I leave the door open? Should I close it…?”

“Oh you can leave it open,” Jake answered. “She’s leaving.”

“No I’m not,” Sophia argued. “My son is here. I’d like to spend some time with him. Isn’t that what you wanted me to do before the hearing?”

“I believe I said instead of a hearing,” Jake reminded her.

“Whatever, I want to see him.”

“Well I hope you’re prepared for head lice then,” Amy interrupted. Jake looked over at her but she was staring at Sophia.  

“Head lice?” Sophia asked, horror dripping from her tone.

“Yep, you get enough kids together and it’ll spread like wildfire. Both boys came home with it today,” Amy informed her.

“Well then I suppose I’ll see him soon enough,” Sophia replied, straightening her blazer. “And I’ll see you in court.”

“Can’t wait,” Jake said sarcastically. He shut the door heavily behind her. Turning to Amy, he looked at her skeptically. “Head lice? I picked up the boys today and Miss Miller didn’t say anything about it.”

Amy grinned deviously. “I know. But I figured with her nice looking suit and her expensive looking blowout, the last thing she’d want is some bugs jumping through her hair. I figured it would be enough to keep her away from John.”

Jake stared at her in awe. He brought her in for a hug. “You’re amazing. Did you know that?”

Amy pulled her head back and looked at him. “I’ve had an inkling.” Jake shook his head with a grin before he leaned in and kissed her quickly.

They were headed to the kitchen with dinner when Jake stopped Amy. “Oh by the way, the hearing is in one week.”

“How is it that fast?”

“I guess she knows people. And wants this to have died down by the time she announces her campaign,” Jake figured. Amy rolled her eyes and wrapped her arm around Jake’s waist, heading for the kitchen.

**

The custody hearing was a draining affair. It wasn’t until Jake and Amy met with Jake’s lawyer that morning that they found out that Sophia had changed her terms to full custody. Jake was near tears in anger. “I guess that’s what she meant by saying I could have done it the easy way.” Jake looked up at Amy and saw that she was seething.

“Jake, this is bullshit. There’s no way they’ll give him to her,” Amy insisted. “I mean yeah she has the mother title, but she gave him up. And you’re an amazing dad.”

Jake nodded solemnly, hoping against hope that Amy was right.

He appreciated all the people that had turned up to testify on Jake’s behalf. Charles gave a tearful testimony about how Jake struggled to adjust to being a single dad and then triumphed and became the best dad there was. Even his captain testified, saying that his upstanding work performance didn’t hold a candle to his parenting abilities. And while Jake was touched by all the other testimonies, Amy’s was the one that really hit him.

Jake’s lawyer started the questioning. “You’re Mr. Peralta’s girlfriend?” Amy nodded. “How long have you known Mr. Peralta?”

“I met Jake the day that our boys started kindergarten.”

“And how would you say that he is as a parent?”

Amy paused and looked at Jake. “I could tell from the moment that I met him that his child was his whole life. And after spending time with them together, it is obvious how easily the role of father fits him. He is patient with him and he does silly things just to make his son happy. He does more than just the feeding and clothing him and keeping a roof over his head that’s required of a parent. But Jake goes beyond that. He loves his son more than anything else. And it’s obvious. He is the only person who knows his son so well. Who knows his little eccentricities, who knows exactly how to hide vegetables in his food so he won’t know they’re there, who knows what’s wrong when he’s crying. You can say that Sophia is John’s mother. But for John’s whole life, Jake has been not only his dad, but also his mom. He’s done everything. And he loves it. He is such a good father to his son that my own son has expressed his jealousy over it. That’s what Jake is like as a parent.”

Jake could feel tears in his eyes as Amy made eye contact with him from the stand. Amy finished her testimony and walked down from the stand to sit back behind Jake. He felt her hand gently squeeze his shoulder. For a moment, he felt better.

And then he had to listen to Sophia’s side talk about how he was preventing her from being a mother and correcting a five year old mistake. He watched as they dragged out every dumb thing he’d ever done and cited it as him being capable of being a bad father. He had to hear them talk about how he told Sophia that she didn’t have to keep it, completely ignoring how he’d told her it was her legal right to choose. But apparently that didn’t matter when he was being smeared in court. As Sophia’s lawyers praised her, Jake became actually concerned that he might lose his child. Turning to his lawyer, he expressed an interest to be put on the stand.

They’d already heard Sophia’s tearful testimony about her mistakes and how she just wanted to be a mom. Jake had initially decided he didn’t want to testify on his own behalf. He was worried that he would get angry and say something he shouldn’t. But he couldn’t let them smear his name without sharing his side. Jake was the final person to testify before a decision would be reached.

“Mr. Peralta, why do you believe that you are the better parent for your son?”

“I’ll keep this short,” Jake began, “I’m the better parent for my son because I’m actually his parent. Parenting is more than DNA. It’s hard. It’s having your kid say that they hate you because you wouldn’t let them have ice cream after dinner. It’s holding them while they cry about something completely insignificant. It’s getting up in the middle of the night after you worked all day because your son had a nightmare and he’s inconsolable. It’s more than biology. I’m the better parent for my son because I want my son. I love my son and the reason that I want to keep custody of him is because I care for him and I have his best interest at heart. I’m not trying to gain custody because I have mayoral ambitions and having a full family will win me voters.”

He could see Sophia’s scandalized face out of the corner of his eye. But he kept going. “I am the only person my son knows as a parent. To take him from me would damage him emotionally. It is not in his best interest to go to his mother. And I certainly hope that’s what the court cares about here. About the child’s best interest.” So maybe he hadn’t kept it short, but based on his lawyer’s reaction to his testimony, Jake seemed to think he’d made a convincing argument.

The judge dismissed the court as a decision was being made. Jake waited on a bench just outside the door with Amy sitting next to him. Charles stood across from them, talking to their captain. Amy gripped Jake’s hand tightly in hers. He squeezed her hand, needing her support more than ever.  

He was all but shaking as they were called back in to the courtroom. He saw Sophia with her husband behind her. She had a confident look on her face. Jake nervously stood for the judge.

“I’ve heard a lot of compelling arguments here today as to why both of you should have custody of your child,” the judge began. “And since the paperwork now reflects full custody, that is what I have to grant. Keeping the child’s best interest in mind, I am granting custody rights to the father, Jacob Peralta.”

Jake felt tears of joy streaming down his face. He closed his eyes and smiled, his knees almost giving out beneath him. Before he opened his eyes, he felt another body slam into his and their arms wrap around him. He wrapped his arms around Amy tightly. She pulled back and looked at him, tears streaming down her face too. “I knew they couldn’t take him from you.” He kissed her quickly before he turned to shake hands with his lawyer.

Jake and Amy picked up the boys from his mom’s house. Amy took Sam outside so Jake could have a moment of privacy with John. He explained to his son that they were going home and that no one was ever going to take him away. John threw his arms around Jake’s neck and hugged him tightly. Jake stood up, clutching his son to him as fresh tears filled his eyes.

They’d spent the day with their kids, letting them play and have dinner at John’s favorite place to eat. Amy kept insisting that she and Sam could go home and let them celebrate just the two of them. Every time, Jake waved her off and told her she was crazy. That they were important too.

Jake and Amy were sitting on his couch later that night, John asleep on him, Sam asleep on Amy. They were still watching the end of Aladdin since they’d put it on for the boys. Jake smiled as John snuggled further into his arms. He’d spent the rest of the day more thankful than ever for his son.

And as he looked over at Amy, he also felt incredibly thankful for her. He figured he’d have been much more of a wreck during the whole process if it hadn’t been for Amy’s support. Finally it seemed like after a couple months, his life was back on track. He reached over and grabbed her hand where it lay on the couch. She looked up and smiled at him. Finally the words that he hadn’t been able to say felt right.

“Amy,” he said softly. She looked over at him. “I love you.”

She smiled broadly, squeezing his hand in hers. “I love you too.”

Jake and Amy both started to lean in a little until the boys started to shift. They laughed quietly and sat back in their original spots, not wanting to wake their sons. Jake raised their joined hands and kissed the back of hers as she giggled.

Looking down at the sleeping boys, Amy wondered aloud, “Do you think maybe it’s time we tell them?”

Jake chuckled at the thought of explaining dating to two five year olds. “Yeah, we probably should.”

**

It was three years since they’d met. It was two years and six months since the custody hearing. It was a year and eight months since Jake had proposed to Amy with John and Sam holding up a sign they’d helped him paint. It was four months since the wedding when John had walked Jake down the aisle and Sam had walked Amy. It was three months since they’d started adoption proceedings for Amy to officially adopt John and Jake to officially adopt Sam (Teddy had apparently signed over his parental rights pretty easily).

Jake was reading something on his phone when Amy walked out of the bathroom. “The nightmares all taken care of?”

Jake smirked, looking up at her as she climbed in bed next to him. “Yes, I got in there and John was already out of bed, telling Sam it was just a bad dream.”

Amy laughed. “See, it’s like I said. This whole brothers thing is going to really cut down on our responsibilities. They’ll just take care of each other.”

Jake laughed with her. “We still have to feed and clothe them. I don’t think they’re to that level yet. Although, Sam was helping John with his math homework tonight. So you may have a point.”

Jake put his phone down on his bedside table and slid further down into the bed. “Hey, I have a question for you,” Amy asked. He looked up at her, nodding for her to continue as his eyes grew heavy. “How do you think the boys would feel about a sibling?”

Jake���s eyes were closed as his head rested on his pillow. “I’m sure they’ll just take it and trash the house with it as usual.” Suddenly his eyes sprang open and he stared at Amy. Her eyes were wide and she was wearing a grin. “Wait, are you saying…?” he trailed off.

Amy nodded excitedly. “I think so. I just took a test and it was positive. I mean it could be false, but…”

Jake shot up, crawling closer to Amy. “We’re having a baby?” Amy nodded. Jake grabbed her and kissed her all over her face before finally kissing her lips. He held his hands on either side of her head, staring into her eyes. “I can’t believe we’re having a baby.”

Amy smiled at Jake, tears in her eyes. He laid his hand on her stomach and she laid a hand over his. “I guess our little family is growing.”

Jake looked back up at Amy, kissing her again. “I think the boys are going to be thrilled.”

Posted on AO3 as well! 

[sophiebot-blog1]

Just a bit of Dad!Tony

Tony Stark never planned on being a father.

In his youth, he worked very hard to avoid parenthood, using condoms obsessively and always disposing of them himself – he really didn’t need a paternity suit on top of his other magazine headlines.

By the time he got old enough to actually consider starting a family, Iron Man had arrived to disrupt everything. After the palladium incident, when his doctor solemnly informed him he was now shooting blanks, Tony dismissed any ideas of children from his mind. He had his bots, he had his friends, he had his JARVIS, and that was all the family he needed.

Then came Riri.

(Keep reading link warning)

Tony was called out to Chicago because he was informed that a super genius had reverse-engineered his tech, and that authorities were concerned for the safety of the public. What he found when he got there was a thirteen-year-old girl who had been stuck in a foster care system that didn’t understand her after she witnessed her mother, step-father, and best friend get gunned down in front of her. If she were anyone else she would’ve been recognized as a grieving child, but instead she was an introverted genius that adults couldn’t relate to, only fear.

The adoption papers were finalized so fast Tony never had a chance to second-guess himself.

Tony floated the idea of opening a Stark Industries headquarters in Chicago, but Riri jumped at the chance to get away from a city with so many bad memories. The pair moved to New York, into the newly constructed Stark Tower.

Riri flourished in New York. She was flying through high school-level coursework and had even begun doing volunteer work to help diversity her college applications. She was looking at MIT along with a few other tech programs, and Tony was trying very hard to make sure he didn’t influence her choice either way (he suspected, however, that Uncle Rhodey was making no such effort).

Then arrived the day Riri came home clearly upset, but completely unwilling to talk about it. Between the stretches of anxious silence and her stubborn insistences that everything was fine, Tony managed to squeeze the situation out of her. It turned out that one of her friends from volunteering at the library had just lost his parents in a car crash, and while his aunt and uncle were watching over him for now they were ultimately not going to be able to keep him. Riri knew intellectually that her experiences in foster care weren’t the norm, but she couldn’t help the fear that enveloped her at the thought of her friend being put in the system.

Peter slid into the family seamlessly, and when he asked if he could have his own workstation in the lab like Riri, Tony was all too happy to agree.

When he was called in to SHIELD with the rest of Fury’s misfits Tony seized the opportunity to load JARVIS onto their network. It helped him prove to Cap that SHIELD wasn’t totally on the up-and-up, sure, but mainly it allowed him to finally scrub his kids’ info out of SHIELD’s records, the one group he hadn’t been able to keep away from his family. Pepper had so far managed to keep them out of the media, and even though the adoption records were technically available to anyone who inquired, no one ever did. Riri and Peter didn’t need the attention that would come from being Tony Stark’s kids, or the danger from being Iron Man’s.

He wished he had somehow gotten them off SHIELD’s radar sooner, but luckily it seemed Barton hadn’t read his file because Loki never found the two scared kids huddled together in the panic room just a few floors beneath his portal machine.

Riri went to MIT on a full scholarship, and Tony absolutely did not cry. Pepper agreed with him as she silently saved the pictures of him and Rhodey weeping in each other’s arms in both the “Riri’s Graduation Slideshow” and “Blackmail” folders. When they got home from moving Riri into her dorm room, Peter approached Tony and cautiously told him that he wanted to go to college eventually, but would it be alright if he did it with the rest of his friends instead of at fifteen like Riri? Tony pulled him into his arms and assured him that he should live life at his own pace, while sending silent prayers to whoever might be listening and thanking them for not making him go through this again anytime soon.

When the Mandarin blew up the house in Malibu all Tony could think was how glad he was he had made this trip alone. Pepper had offered to fly out with him but Tony had said he could handle the business matters if she would stay in New York and watch Peter. He liked to think he wouldn’t have sent out that challenge if she was there to get caught in the crossfire, but he was so upset after Happy got hurt that he really wasn’t thinking straight.

He left Pepper a voicemail and asked her to let Peter and Riri know he was safe, and that he was coming home as soon as he could. When he and Rhodey finally stumbled back into the tower they were met with a gratifying bombardment of teary eyes and group hugs; this was quickly followed by Pepper giving them a thorough dressing down while the two teenagers hung behind her and made all the sad, angry, and disappointed faces as needed.

Tony had made a new friend on his adventure, and when he sent Harley a garage full of gadgets he also included a card with his personal contact information. What followed was an exchange of emails and scattered phone calls that started with questions about homework and got more personal as time went on, which is how Tony pieced together that Harley’s mother had fallen victim to the same drug addictions that plagued so many of the towns in the area, and it was getting worse. A desperate phone call from Harley asking how to stop their social worker from separating him and his sister finally sent Tony flying back to Tennessee as fast as his jet would travel.

Harley and Lisa’s mother was in a bad state, but she had enough lucidity to sign guardianship of her children over to Tony. She also signed a statement attesting that her ex-husband had abandoned his family when he left years ago, in the hopes that if he ever showed up again he wouldn’t make it far on a custody claim. Tony arranged for her to go to the best rehab hospital he could find, and set up an account to pay for anything she would need. When the last of the arrangements were finally completed, Tony took his newest family members and brought them home.

A few months later Tony looked around his living room and felt an overwhelming surge of happiness. Some little kid’s movie was playing on the tv, even though Lisa had fallen asleep in Tony’s lap half an hour ago which meant there was theoretically no one who was interested still watching. Harley and Peter were in the floor assembling a monstrously complicated Lego set, pieces of which Tony was sure he’d step on in the dark later. Riri, home for the weekend, was curled up in an armchair next to him with a textbook open in her lap.

Tony Stark never planned on being a father, but he wouldn’t give it up for the world.

[erraticfairy]

6 Mental & Emotional Flaming Hoops You Jump Through for Your Kids

Few parents, if any, will say that parenting is a walk in the park. The truth is that parenting is real, raw, and involves a great deal of hard work. It’s not all rainbows and butterflies. While the happy moments are certainly there, they tend to get overshadowed by moments of anxiety, frustration, and fatigue.

Our lives change once kids come on the scene and nothing is ever the same again. From dealing with the toddler tantrums to the taxing teen years and their eventual adulthood, nothing about raising kids is easy.

Parenting Expectations Vs. Reality

As parents, we always want the best for our kids. We want them to grow into well-adjusted, independent, responsible and happy adults. We loathe to see our children suffer, and we will go to great lengths to ensure that they’re safe, healthy and on the right track.

To make things even more difficult, today’s world puts a lot of pressure on us. We parents find ourselves ambushed at every turn by messages about bringing up the perfect kids, ensuring they eat all the right foods, getting them into the right schools and performing parenthood to superhuman standards. We are expected to not only raise smart, healthy and happy kids but to also be happy, healthy parents.

Mental and Emotional Hoops We Jump Through for Our Kids

To ensure our kids get the very best we can offer, we keep jumping over what seems to be an endless series of mental and emotional hoops, some of our own creation. We stumble, often trip and sometimes fall, but we always get up and try again until things work out.

1. Straining to achieve a work-life balance. The life of a parent is a full and busy one. This still doesn’t stop us from chasing the ever-elusive work-life balance.

Somewhere along our parenthood journey, we internalize the message that we’re supposed to strike a perfect balance between our work and families. We feel guilty if we spend a little more time at work than at home or if we take some time off work to sort out a family issue. Life would be so much simpler if we just accepted that this is more of a juggling act rather than a balancing one.

2. Befriending constant anxiety.

Once you’re a parent, anxiety becomes your companion. You worry constantly about every aspect of your kids’ lives and the world suddenly seems like a big, scary, and dangerous place. As your kids move to their teen years, your anxiety intensifies. So much can go wrong what with peer pressure, risky behaviors, pressure from social media along with millions of other things.

For parents, anxiety is one of those hoops you never quite manage to jump. You just accept it as part of your life with kids and find ways to minimize your worries.

3. Parental guilt.

Along with anxiety, parental guilt seems to be an intrinsic part of parenting. We spend hours feeling guilty about how we’re raising our kids, torturing ourselves with thoughts of where we would have done better or how we would have improved or at least not sucked as much as we did.

Paradoxically, feeling guilty about your parenting style might indicate you’re a good parent—open to questioning yourself, your decisions, and looking for ways to improve. While parental guilt can motivate us to improve, it can also incapacitate, locking us in a continuous web of regrets and indecision.

4. Sacrificing personal time.

Parents are also familiar with sacrificing their personal time for their kids. We gladly give up time we meant to be spending unwinding or catching up with our own friends for our children. Even after a long day at work, we somehow dredge up the energy to help our kids with homework, prepare dinner, listen to them chatting about their day, and stay involved in our children’s lives, instead of simply collapsing in bed like we so desperately want to.

5. Giving up our expectations.

We parents all harbor certain expectations about our kids. Some expect theirs to excel academically, while others prefer their kids to come first in sports. Unfortunately, our expectations may not be in line with what our kids want for themselves. They have their own ideas about their lives, and this might clash significantly with ours. So, we learn to compromise or give up our expectations, if it means that our children will be happy and fulfilled.

6. Learning and re-learning as our kids grow.

Talk to any parent, and if they’re being honest, they’ll tell you that parenting is a humbling experience. Before having kids, you assume you know a lot, only for them to come along and show you just how wrong you are. When they get to their teens, they might even be more vocal about letting you know you’re wrong.

Swallowing your pride might suck and admitting that you don’t know everything might bruise your ego, but that’s the only way to ensure you remain open to learning and re-learning as you raise your kids.

Jumping through hoops is part of parenting. The trick is knowing which ones improve your life and which ones only waste your time and drain your energy.

References:

Reneau, A. (n.d). Balance Is A Myth — Juggling is Reality. Retrieved from https://www.scarymommy.com/balance-myth-juggling-reality/

At-Risk Behaviors In Troubled Teen Boys. Liahona Treatment Center. Retrieved from https://www.liahonaacademy.com/%E2%80%8Bat-risk-behaviors-in-troubled-teen-boys.html

from World of Psychology https://psychcentral.com/blog/6-mental-emotional-flaming-hoops-you-jump-through-for-your-kids/ via theshiningmind.com

[psychotherapyconsultants]

6 Mental & Emotional Flaming Hoops You Jump Through for Your Kids

Few parents, if any, will say that parenting is a walk in the park. The truth is that parenting is real, raw, and involves a great deal of hard work. It’s not all rainbows and butterflies. While the happy moments are certainly there, they tend to get overshadowed by moments of anxiety, frustration, and fatigue.

Our lives change once kids come on the scene and nothing is ever the same again. From dealing with the toddler tantrums to the taxing teen years and their eventual adulthood, nothing about raising kids is easy.

Parenting Expectations Vs. Reality

As parents, we always want the best for our kids. We want them to grow into well-adjusted, independent, responsible and happy adults. We loathe to see our children suffer, and we will go to great lengths to ensure that they’re safe, healthy and on the right track.

To make things even more difficult, today’s world puts a lot of pressure on us. We parents find ourselves ambushed at every turn by messages about bringing up the perfect kids, ensuring they eat all the right foods, getting them into the right schools and performing parenthood to superhuman standards. We are expected to not only raise smart, healthy and happy kids but to also be happy, healthy parents.

Mental and Emotional Hoops We Jump Through for Our Kids

To ensure our kids get the very best we can offer, we keep jumping over what seems to be an endless series of mental and emotional hoops, some of our own creation. We stumble, often trip and sometimes fall, but we always get up and try again until things work out.

1. Straining to achieve a work-life balance. The life of a parent is a full and busy one. This still doesn’t stop us from chasing the ever-elusive work-life balance.

Somewhere along our parenthood journey, we internalize the message that we’re supposed to strike a perfect balance between our work and families. We feel guilty if we spend a little more time at work than at home or if we take some time off work to sort out a family issue. Life would be so much simpler if we just accepted that this is more of a juggling act rather than a balancing one.

2. Befriending constant anxiety.

Once you’re a parent, anxiety becomes your companion. You worry constantly about every aspect of your kids’ lives and the world suddenly seems like a big, scary, and dangerous place. As your kids move to their teen years, your anxiety intensifies. So much can go wrong what with peer pressure, risky behaviors, pressure from social media along with millions of other things.

For parents, anxiety is one of those hoops you never quite manage to jump. You just accept it as part of your life with kids and find ways to minimize your worries.

3. Parental guilt.

Along with anxiety, parental guilt seems to be an intrinsic part of parenting. We spend hours feeling guilty about how we’re raising our kids, torturing ourselves with thoughts of where we would have done better or how we would have improved or at least not sucked as much as we did.

Paradoxically, feeling guilty about your parenting style might indicate you’re a good parent—open to questioning yourself, your decisions, and looking for ways to improve. While parental guilt can motivate us to improve, it can also incapacitate, locking us in a continuous web of regrets and indecision.

4. Sacrificing personal time.

Parents are also familiar with sacrificing their personal time for their kids. We gladly give up time we meant to be spending unwinding or catching up with our own friends for our children. Even after a long day at work, we somehow dredge up the energy to help our kids with homework, prepare dinner, listen to them chatting about their day, and stay involved in our children’s lives, instead of simply collapsing in bed like we so desperately want to.

5. Giving up our expectations.

We parents all harbor certain expectations about our kids. Some expect theirs to excel academically, while others prefer their kids to come first in sports. Unfortunately, our expectations may not be in line with what our kids want for themselves. They have their own ideas about their lives, and this might clash significantly with ours. So, we learn to compromise or give up our expectations, if it means that our children will be happy and fulfilled.

6. Learning and re-learning as our kids grow.

Talk to any parent, and if they’re being honest, they’ll tell you that parenting is a humbling experience. Before having kids, you assume you know a lot, only for them to come along and show you just how wrong you are. When they get to their teens, they might even be more vocal about letting you know you’re wrong.

Swallowing your pride might suck and admitting that you don’t know everything might bruise your ego, but that’s the only way to ensure you remain open to learning and re-learning as you raise your kids.

Jumping through hoops is part of parenting. The trick is knowing which ones improve your life and which ones only waste your time and drain your energy.

References:

Reneau, A. (n.d). Balance Is A Myth — Juggling is Reality. Retrieved from https://www.scarymommy.com/balance-myth-juggling-reality/

At-Risk Behaviors In Troubled Teen Boys. Liahona Treatment Center. Retrieved from https://www.liahonaacademy.com/%E2%80%8Bat-risk-behaviors-in-troubled-teen-boys.html

from World of Psychology https://psychcentral.com/blog/6-mental-emotional-flaming-hoops-you-jump-through-for-your-kids/

[privilegc-blog]

( » » tasks | 006 ; parenthood. )

b a s i c s   —

Name: Blair Blackwood

Age: 49

Face Claim: Brad Pitt

Name: Daniel Francis Blackwood

Age: 17

Face Claim: Kai Caster

h i s t o r y   —

She was such a pretty young thing when she showed up, shortly after Blair landed in Cheyenne. Faith Collier, a 26 year old speech therapist and aspiring singer from Oakland, California had traveled halfway across the country to stop in Cheyenne as well, drawn by the radio broadcasts. Normal, by all accounts. Someone who ( before the entire world changed ) Blair would have thought boring or annoying. She showed up, and slowly slipped into Blair’s heart — almost by accident.  

Blair hadn’t expected to fall in love with her but her soft smiles in his direction, her unfailing kindness towards him even when he stumbled, her quiet songs sung in the dead of the night endeared her to him. She didn’t seem to mind his past, his missing arm, or the fact he had past struggles with drugs. Blair didn’t mind talking to her, learning about what made her her, or doing things for her even if he didn’t get anything in return. Ivy teased him for falling for Faith but his younger sister was secretly glad her brother had found someone so normal to love.

It was no surprise that they married, Faith already three months pregnant with their child. It had been an accident of sorts, neither of them expected it, just like how Faith had slipped into his heart but Blair was overjoyed. Of course, they were both nervous, childbirth was hard enough before the end of the world, but now it could be deadly if anything went wrong. Luck was on their side however, and Daniel Francis Blackwood was born without much trouble — a healthy baby with no complications. Faith give the boy his first name, after her father, a retired firefighter who died when she was twelve. Blair contributed Daniel’s middle name, in honor of his sister.

They raised Danny, as they liked to call him, to have his father’s wit and sharp mind with his mother’s kindness and goodness. Faith calmed him after nightmares with lullabies sung in her sweet voice, Blair taught him how to read, write, and to understand numbers. Even Ivy taught Danny how to speak French, and their guard, though far older now, taught the young boy how to kill the dead and shoot while Gwen, the nurse who saved Blair all those years ago, taught Daniel how heal. Daniel had a large family, although not all of them were related, and had as close to a normal childhood as his parents could provide.

Blair hadn’t thought about drugs for years, too caught up in pleasing and protecting his wife, who returned his love in kind. They made a happy couple, even with their vastly different histories. They often compared how different their lives had been before but they both concluded that what mattered now was that they made each other better and had made a life together. Blair was content, even with the day to day struggles of living in a world in which the dead walked and tried to kill the living. But all things must come to an end, as many philosophers and authors use to caution, and Blair’s life he carved out for his family did.

Daniel's voice had just began to drop when it happened. They were all out together, looking for supplies in Rock Springs, when they heard screams. They all assumed it would be someone getting attacked by the dead, but when they came upon the scene, it was a small group of travelers being attacked by a four or five raiders. They all sprung to the travelers aid and the resulting fight was fierce. It was fast and brutal and Blair got distracted by telling Danny to run if the fighting got more intense when one of the raiders went for Faith. Faith, Blair’s wife of fifteen years, died instantly, neck snapped by the bludgeoning of a baseball bat.

Blair went after the raider, intending to kill the man by any means, even with his bare hands. One of the other remaining raiders, panicking, pulled a relic that somehow still worked out — a grenade. The explosive device missed but skittered underneath a nearby car and blew up, hurling the wreck four feet to the left away from the fight. The main wreckage missed everyone, but shrapnel scattered into Blair’s face and the concussive blast blew out his left ear drum while knocking him down. 

The raider that killed his wife was not as lucky, and died from shrapnel lodging in his throat. Daniel was knocked off his feet but only suffered a few scrapes, as he was further back and mourning his dead mother. The travelers they saved fled in fear, while the raider that had tossed the grenade disappeared, leaving behind his dead companion. Blair got up, clearly dazed, holding a flap of skin against his cheek that had nearly been sheared off his face. Daniel puked at the sight but quickly recovered, getting his father to sit down and preformed some quick emergency medicine with what little supplies they had been able to find before the fight.

Daniel removed as many pieces of shrapnel as he could find, and cleaned the wounds, giving some hasty stitches to hold together his father’s face before Blair passed out. He woke up that evening to find his son sitting next to the covered body of his wife. Once he felt strong enough to stand up, he fashioned a litter to take the body of Faith back to Cheyenne. Blair carried it himself, ignoring the pain of his face, as he relied on Daniel to clear the way and defend against any undead that might stumble across their path. They made it back, four days later, and buried Faith.

Gwen took a look at Blair’s face, Daniel’s stitches, while crude had done their job well enough. However, there would be unsightly scars left in their place and his left ear had suffered enough damage to render Blair partially deaf in that ear. Daniel had escaped unharmed, but they moth mourned Faith for a week after. Blair was barely pulled out of slipping back into drug abuse ( this time of pain pills ) by his son and his sister. 

Every day, Blair and Daniel visited the grave of Faith for the following month. Daniel suffered nightmares that his mother’s soft songs couldn’t soothe, he had to make do with his father’s quiet voice — he couldn’t speak as fast as he done in the past, his scarring wouldn’t permit it — telling Daniel all the stories of Faith’s life. She had told them to Blair when Daniel had been too young to understand them, but Blair wanted his son to know everything he could about his mother in order to not forget her. The father and son struggled, moving away from the camp they had called home for so long, as the familiar hallways and classrooms brought up too many memories of Faith to bear.

They moved into a small house nearby, and Blair lost himself in working on the house. He found that if he kept his hands busy, it was easier to not think about what he might have done differently to save his wife. Daniel soon joined his father in learning the art of carpentry that Blair was learning from an old man who lived down the road named Jeff Goodwin. Ivy and their guard visited often, along with the other various friends they had made over the years, to check in on the father and son pair ( especially to make sure that Blair hadn’t fallen into his old drug habits ) but they seemed to be doing as well as they could be.

Daniel is following in his father’s footsteps, with the charming good looks tempered by his mother’s sweet features. Blair however, no longer has his previous good looks due to his scarring. Despite that, they have a good life. They repair the slowly crumbling buildings as needed, as they are some of the few carpenters left in Cheyenne, with the death of Jeff shortly before Daniel’s seventeenth birthday. Blair still visits his wife’s grave, Daniel less so, but Daniel’s nightmares have disappeared. Blair still secretly blames himself for Faith’s grave but he’s slowly coming to terms with it and concerns himself with raising Danny instead of concentrating on memories and what if’s.

h e a d c a n o n s   —

Blair no longer speaks as clearly, and he has a rougher voice as his throat was slightly damaged from the heat of the blast.

Blair wears his and his wife’s rings on a chain that he never takes off.

Blair learned how to play the guitar from Faith.

Danny inherited his mother’s singing voice, was taught how to play guitar from his mother, and learned how to play the harmonica from Jeff.

They own two dogs: a Jack Russel Terrier named Blossom they found as a puppy when Danny was twelve and a Pitt Bull/Mastiff mix named Chomper who was Jeff’s dog.

Ivy calls Danny Frankie because of his middle name, and is the only one to call him that.

Blair is teaching himself how to whittle

He is also planning on making a prosthetic for his arm.

Angry with the patch job he preformed on his father, Danny is learning more about medicine as well as helping his dad. 

[wellmeaningshutin]

Short Story #15: Happiness.

Written: 1/7/2017

When Harold was walking home from Planned Parenthood, where his girlfriend broke up with him after the procedure, he found a coupon for a free steak, lying on the ground right by the street, and for the first time in a very long time he had been lucky. He didn’t know if he liked steak or not, he had never tried it since he was raised as a vegetarian, and still was so, but he wasn’t sure if he was happy as one or if it was just something that came naturally to him at this point. Deciding to sit at the curb and stare at the picture of the steak on the coupon, he was wondering if this was a sign that he should finally try meat, but then after enough time went by of him staring, he realized he had never heard of the restaurant before, and a quick search on his phone revealed that it was located in a city on the other side of the country, so he decided to just put the coupon in his wallet as a sort of lucky charm, and resumed his walk home.

At one point he passed by a deli, and then started to walk backwards so he could see inside the window, which was filled with meats and cheeses. The meats looked delicious, even though he had no idea what they tasted like, and he grew tempted to go inside. Maybe the coupon wasn’t a symbol of luck, but instead was that of freedom, and that he should become his own person. After a couple minutes of deliberating he stepped inside, eyes closed, taking in the smells, and when he opened his eyes he realized he walked right into a middle of a robbery that the goods in the window were obstructing. A man in a ski mask turned to him, aggressively gesturing his gun towards Harold’s face and the floor, so Harold complied, got on his knees, and put his hands over his balding head, sure he was going to die. After a bit the man knelt down to get a good look at Harold, who was more than anything trying not to cry, unhappy that in one day he would lose the life of a potential child and that of his own, but was suddenly surprised to find that the man had started laughing and was patting Harold on the back.

The man, smiling, lifted up his mask and said, amused, “Harold? That you?” Harold was shocked to see that it was his old high school friend, Lenny, “Its me, Lenny. Lenny Meyers?”

“Yeah yeah..” Harold tried to stifle his tears, “We were in debate together, you would always make bullshit arguments to..” He stumbled a little on his words. “To get extra points, you were always a wily sonofabitch.” And like the robber, he began to laugh.

“How are you doing man? I haven’t seen you since the reunion. How long has it been, five, ten years?”

“I think five? But didn’t I see you at Martha’s”

“Oh yeah, her kids brisk, how could I forget about that? The rabbi showed up piss ass drunk and-”

“And then he still somehow talked his way into performing the ceremony-”

“Yeah yeah, then he nicked the kids dick and it was a huge mess, screaming all that, but that man was somehow so calm,” they both paused to laugh in memory, “and what was it that that old drunk kept saying when Martha was pummeling him, it was something like-”

Harold, his fear draining away, began to imitate the rabbi’s voice, “It must have been god’s will for him to be a woman” They both laughed again and it felt nice.

“What have you been up to man, what are you doing lately? You still work at the-”

“No, no, I was laid off a year or two ago. I finally had to give in and now I’m taking up the old man’s mechanic business.”

The cashier still had his hands in the air, unsure if he was supposed to wait or what.

“So you’re fixing’ cars now? You were so against that back in the day, its weird to see where you end up.”

“Yeah, yeah, life’s a strange thing. So you’re uh?” Harold vaguely gestured at the gun and the cashier, who was in the process of putting his arms down and quickly raised them back up when attention had been drawn to him.

Lenny looked back at the scared cashier, gave a shrug to Harold, and laughed again. “I actually own a couple chain restaurants right now. Its not really an enjoyable business, but it makes me a lot of money so I guess I can’t complain.”

Harold remembered the coupon and fished it out of his wallet, then displayed it to his friend, “Is it this place?”

Lenny grabbed and inspected the coupon, but then returned it unsatisfied, “Nah, I’ve never heard of that place in my life.”

Harold put the coupon away unsatisfied, not sure what it meant yet. Maybe it was a way for him to run into his old friend, but then suddenly a question cropped up in his mind, “Hey, so if you’re making a ton of cash then why are you…” He gestured once again at the confused cashier.

“Oh, yeah. Well, I don’t know. The restaurant business is great, I guess, and apparently I’m good at it but, just… just sometimes I don’t know. Like, the more I do it I wonder if its really for me, like I’ve just turned into this person that I’ve started to hate and it feels like my life is just moving on a set of tracks and I just can’t get off. Robbing stores gives me a sense of control, you know? Like when I do it, I know its because I’m choosing to, and I enjoy it, you know?” Harold didn’t understand but he nodded his head anyways. “Like, I’m not doing it for money, or power, cause I already have those things, but like I just chose to do it. No reason other than I just fuckin’ wanted to, and I guess it gives me a little bit of self security. Like I know who I am when I do this.”

Harold began to understand what his old friend was getting at, and although he would never steal anything or threaten to shoot people, like a maniac, but he also felt like he had no control over his life. He hated his job, diet, the facts that he was balding and single, and most of all he wasn’t sure why he was doing any of it, it never made him happy, he wasn’t sure who he was anymore. In a way he started to admire his friend. “Huh.” That was the only appropriate reaction he could think of, and the look on Lenny’s face showed it was exactly what the robber wanted to hear.

“Yeah man, the only thing that matters in life is your happiness, and if you don’t got that then well, you’re basically like uh,” he pointed at the cashier, who was struggling to still keep his arms up, “Whats your name?”

“Uh, Bruce.”

“You happy with your job Bruce?”

“Well not at the moment I guess?”

“See? Brucey here is in the same boat, and his life ain't about to get too much better. You shouldn’t end up like him Harold, you gotta be free. How can I help free your spirit, cause you look like the saddest mother fucker I’ve ever seen, and you should see the assholes that come into my restaurants.”

Harold thought about it for a second, looked around, and then realized where he was at. “Well, uh, I actually came in here to try meat for the first time and-”

“First time? Oh yeah, you were always one of those vegetarians, I forgot about that. Why are you quitting?”

“Well I never liked being one in the first place, I was just sort of-”

“Say no more my good friend” Lenny clapped his old and sad friend on the shoulder and then turned to the cashier, “Say, whats your best uh-” he turned back to his old friend “What kind of meat do you want to have for your first time, anything special on your mind?” He twirled his gun in the air, laughing, “Don’t worry about the cost, its on me.”

“Uh, well.” He thought about the steak coupon, and maybe this was what it was for, maybe steak was what he was supposed to try, “Well maybe steak? I have this coupon and-”

“Wait, why are you bringing up that coupon right now-”

Harold started to fish it out of his wallet again, “Well I found it on the street and I thought maybe it was a sign that-”

Lenny slapped it out of his balding friend’s hand with the same look of anger he had when Harold first walked in, “The only thing it was a sign of was that you found it on the god damn street, I don’t think you’re processing this right.” He put the gun back into his friend’s face, “Now what meat do you want? Huh?” Harold didn’t know how to react, which set the gunman off “You better fucking pick something, just grab whatever you want, make your decision.”

Harold looked sheepishly to the cashier and asked, “What would you sugges-” and Lenny smacked him in the face with the gun.

“I SAID WHAT DO YOU WANT YOU PATHETIC BASTARD?” Harold was confused and just sat there with tears in his eyes. “Let me tell you this now, the only mistake you can make right now is to not grab something.” The man was still frightened so Lenny cocked his gun.

The cashier decided to ask, “Wait, that thing never had a round in the chamber?” But Lenny motioned away at him with his hand, obviously busy playing life coach, and the boy decided not to push it any further because the gun was loaded now. He started to wish that he would’ve gotten that internship like he wanted instead of agreeing to work at his old man’s deli.

Harold meekly rose to his feet, looked around, gun pointed at him the whole time, and walked up to the deli counter. He was sweating and shaking, much more than the cashier, and looked at the meats. “Uh, prosciutto looks good I guess.” Bruce quickly grabbed a handful of the meat and gave it to Harold, who looked back to see Lenny still pointing the gun, then motioned with it towards the lump of meat. Harold panicked and bent down a little bit, eating the lump out of the Bruce’s hand, and the cashier turned his head away in disgust. It felt like a dog was eating a treat from his hand.

Lenny walked up to the counter, lowering his weapon, and smiled at his friend who he put his arm around. “So, how was your first taste of freedom?”

“Uh, good I guess? I never tasted anything like it so-”

As Harold talked the business owner no longer focused on his words and stared at the prosciutto on display, starting to get hungry himself. “Hm, would you recommend it? Looks kind of good now that I think about it.”

“Well, I don’t know, I’ve never had meat before so I don’t know how to-”

“What about you kid? This shit any good? Actually-”he began to look over the selection more, “What would you recommend, whats the most high quality shit you got? And don’t try to pull a fast one on me cause-” he winked “-I’m in the business to you know.”

Bruce looked over the selections, and tried to remember the lectures his dad would give them every time they restocked but he couldn’t remember since he never paid attention. At that moment he wished he paid more attention, but he also didn’t wish he worked in the deli anymore so wouldn’t that knowledge have been a waste to him either way? As much as he hated the robber, the speech he gave about deciding for yourself and being your own person really stuck with him, and he thought, screw my old man, he’s asking me so I’ll give him my opinion and that’s the one that counts! He glossed over the display with his eyes and a sausage caught his eye, it was probably the only meat he never got tired of, and he presented it to the gunman. “Here you are Mr. Meyers.” He beamed as he handed it over, hoping the robber would be pleased with his decision. After this was over he was definitely going to quit, and-

“Aw, shit? How’d you know my name?” Lenny then patted his face and realized he still had his mask up, so-without hesitating-he put around in Bruce’s head. The kid’s blood and viscera splattered against the back wall in a red circle that slowly moved down the wall, and the body of the kid himself landed-at first- on top of the counter, but then slid down and plopped onto the ground. “I can’t even eat this raw anyways” He said about the sausage. “Kid just made all the wrong choices.” Harold just stood there, not knowing how to react to the scene, and just watched Lenny go behind the counter and grab a thing of salami-he had no clue what the proper name for it was- and then just bite into the thing. The gunman looked down at the kid’s body and laughed, mouth full of salami, and said “Man, did you see the look on his face when he handed me that crap? He seemed so proud of his decision-” he was laughing so hard that tears started to well up, “but he still got brained anyways!” He paused for a bit to catch his breath, and Harold was still standing there, frozen. “Well anyways we should probably get outta here, somebody probably definitely heard my gun go of so uh,” he put the salami in his pocket and fished out a card of the same one, “Hit me up anytime, it was nice getting in touch.”

Harold took the card and studied it. It was a business card of Lenny’s and displayed the restaurant name: Family Funhouse. It was all done up in circus colors and he just stared at it.

“I don’t know if you’ve ever been there,” Lenny explained as he was quickly cleaning the money out of the ATM and stuffing it into his duffel bag, “but we do like fair food, like deep fried stuff, but we also got normal food and junk, its kind of neat.” He started filling the bag with meats and cheeses. “I don’t know if you have a family or anything but if you do decide to come by just ask for me, I’ll give you a meal on the house.”