#and talked on the phone to my grandma! Very accomplished already | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

procrastination-queenie · 4 years ago

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Baby | JJK

Pairing: husband!au Jeon Jungkook x Wife!au reader.

Warning: c-section surgery, nothing too detailed. Baby fever. Very slight mention of smut. Fluff. The reader is a foreigner. Mentions of cultural differences.

The part written in italics is a flashback

Synopsis: You and Jungkook agreed not to have babies right away after your marriage, yet you find yourself witnessing a cute situation that leaves you thinking otherwise.

A/N: I am begging you guys for the gazillion time to please let me know what you think. Thanks in advance.😊

Word count: 4,178.

This part can be read as a continuation to Marry you.

Babies! Oh God! You cannot express how fed up you were because of that word. After you and Jungkook got married, your family members had nothing to talk about to you except babies. It's like they were pressuring you, well scratch that, they were, but unconsciously though. You couldn't blame them. You grew up in a culture that was not really open to the idea of "we are gonna wait a few years until we feel like we're ready."! Yeah, this ideology does not exist!

"Wait until when? I am not living more than I already am!" Your grandma would say, or "wait for what? Are you still getting to know each other after a five-year relationship?" Your grandpa would scoff, and your favourite one was "Hunny, are you kidding? You'll never be ready! No one is ever really ready! … You think me and my sister had you, kids, because we were ready?" Your auntie would say in disbelief laughing lightly at your logic with said sister, your mum, sitting next to her shaking her head in disappointment with a "can you believe her?" murmured in annoyance.

You didn't have the heart to blame your family that's how they were raised for generations, and for you to try and change their mind-set would be difficult, almost impossible. That is until you and Jungkook refused to talk upon the matter anymore saying that this is your life and you're free to do whatever you both agree on, only then did they stop nagging you; however, you knew they were not happy about it.

Jungkook on the other hand never really minded the idea of babies, in fact, if you told him that you were ready, he would gladly help you right away, if you know what I mean, but knowing your concerns, not only did he comfort you, but also respected that you were not there yet, mentally. You would always tell him "I sometimes think that I am still a baby, myself. How can I have one when I think like that!" He would chuckle, patting your head and cuddling you closely "Baby, it's okay. We don't need to have one right now! Why are you so worried about it?" He asked looking down at you since he was resting his chin on your head. "I mean, aren't you bothered about it? Don't you want to have your own child?" You pouted thinking that maybe you're holding one of Jungkook's wishes back which can make you feel that you're not good enough for him. "Well, baby, of course, I want a child, but I want to have it with you, and if you're not ready that's totally fine! I mean when I think about it, it is a huge deal, you're going to house a human being in your body for 9 long months, and your body would go through drastic changes, plus you'd have to not only take care of yourself but the baby growing inside you, as well!" Jungkook cradled you to his chest moving aside a lock of your hair behind your ear. "It's all amazing, but you're the one who's carrying a baby, I would never pressure you to do that if you're not ready!" He said looking into your eyes sincerely. "Oh, I love you so much!" You said giving him a few repetitive pecks on his lips. "How did I end up with such an amazing man!" Your lips barely meeting his, whispering before you closed the small gap between you, kissing him with all the passion and love you held for this wonderful husband of yours.

That all changed when one day you were at the hairdresser's getting a new hair cut. You were looking through your phone waiting for your turn until you noticed a woman entering the shop. She had this unusual aura to her, like something about her seemed to interest you, she walked around as if she had accomplished something amazing but wouldn't brag about it as if to let her accomplishment speak for itself. You understood why you felt that because minutes later, two identical accomplishments followed her suit. They were two identical boys who were probably 4 or 5 years of age. You were in awe when you saw them following their mummy, like lost puppies. They resembled her greatly, and behaved very well as if their mum promised to buy them Disneyland if they did. They stood next to her looking up at her as if she is their whole world.

For a moment you imagined that with Jungkook, and what would it feel like to have a baby in both of your lives. How would it feel to have a child of your own looking at you the way these boys looked at their mum.

For weeks to follow, you were almost obsessed with the twin boys you saw at the hair salon. How they dressed, how they behaved, how they sat obediently eating their sweets waiting for their mum to finish, how their mother would look at them through the mirror every once in a while to check on them, how they cutely complimented her saying that "mummy is the prettiest girl ever!" With wide eyes looking up in amazement and cute small sticky fingers from the sweets reaching up in the air in excitement. The whole thing kept repeating over and over in your head which led you to look up some photos of babies and reading more about them and what's new in the parenting world that parents try and apply with their kids. You even reached the point where you would stop at the babies section, racking through cute onesies, making Jungkook arch an eyebrow in amazement. "Are you pregnant or something?" He would ask eyeing your belly before looking up at your face trying to see what's going on inside your head. You would shake your head slightly before reluctantly letting go of the tiny baby clothes and taking Jungkook's hand to move to another department of the store.

Jungkook, too, could feel a change in your behaviour, like how you would gaze longingly at kids playing at the park when you had your picnics there, how you would pause to listen to a show that talks about babies and how to care for them, he even caught you reading a book about pregnancy. His heart skipped a beat when you went to visit your brother after his wife delivered a healthy baby girl; you kept holding her the whole time refusing to let anyone hold her unless it was your brother's wife because she needed to feed her. He even took a photo of you, you were looking at your niece so lovingly when you looked up at Jungkook smiling brightly as if she was your own. He put it as a background for his phone.

"Yaaah! If you want a baby that bad make one of your own!" Yoongi yelled playfully at Jungkook who wouldn't stop looking at the photo. "Ay! Don't pressure the kid." Namjoon said looking disappointedly at Yoongi for saying that. "Well, there's no pressure. It's just … I don't know y/n has been acting weird lately!" He took a last look at his phone's background before it displayed his worried features as he closed the screen. "What do you mean weird?" Jimin asked looking at Jungkook quizzically. "I don't know… it's… she'd stare at baby clothes when we go shopping even though there's no one we know who's going to give birth soon. I mean I could have brushed it off thinking that she wants to buy some as a gift or something, but no." Jungkook ruffled his black locks resting his elbows on his knees. "And you know she looks at them as if … as if she's imaging them on a certain baby, not the way she'd look at them as if inspecting the design or something, do you understand what I mean?" He looked up at his hyungs waiting for a confirmation that he's not imagining things. Namjoon nodded "you mean she inspecting the clothes as if she's buying it for her own baby, not just going through them?"

"YES!"Taehyung jumped at Jungkook's sudden outburst. "Sorry Hyung!" Jungkook muttered to Taehyung before focusing on Namjoon again. "Well, it's easy she wants a baby!" Hobi said shrugging and looking at Jungkook as if he's dumb and that this was as obvious as the sun. "No shit Sherlock! I know that. It's just she never said anything about it ." Jungkook was bewildered he didn't understand your sudden change of attitude, and if you had a change of heart about having a baby, then why didn't you tell him? "Just talk to her about it. See if she's ready or not, maybe she is, but something is holding her back, you never know!" Jin said patting Jungkook on the back. "we are definitely having a talk." Jungkook sighed lighting up his phone's screen to look lovingly at your photo holding your niece.

"Baby, you home?" Jungkook looked around the house for you while taking off his shoes and closing the door. "In here!" You answered from your bedroom. You heard his footsteps on the stairs knowing very well from the sound of it that he was skipping some. You rolled your eyes at your husband's child-like behaviour. "BABE!" He suddenly opened the door to your room, a huge smirk on his face as he stepped slowly towards you. "What? What's wrong? Why are you giving me that look?" You looked him up and down as if he's gone mental. Out of nowhere, he pounced on you like a cat making you put your book aside as you squirmed beneath him. "Oh my God, Kook get off. What's wrong with you!" You started laughing because he started leaving small pecks on your neck, and it was ticklish. "Tell me!" He suddenly stopped and looked into your eyes. "Tell you what?" You searched his face thinking that he might be drunk. "Tell me what you're not telling me!" He said, face getting closer to yours as you backed yours from his. "Are you drunk?" You said laughing, again. He was being unusual. "Nah, I am not. I just want to know what's wrong. Lately, you've been acting weird as if you're hiding something." He claimed as he sat beside you, taking you in his arms as your upper half laid on his bent knee; this was your position when you both had deep talks, he'd let you rest your back on his bent knee as he held you closely, usually playing with your hair locks. "You keep on checking baby clothes whenever we go shopping, you're reading a book about pregnancy and parenting, you listen to anything related to babies on the T.V. are you not telling me something?" He asked with concern filling his doe eyes as he caressed your cheek. "I … I've..." You sighed closing your eyes; words were not getting out of your mouth. "What? What is it baby? You can tell me." His thumb brushed your cheek in a soft motion encouraging you to speak up. "I … I want a baby." You said out of nowhere and looked at Jungkook to see his reaction. "Well, baby that's great. You know I don't mind, then what stopped you from telling me?" Jungkook flashed you his bunny smile, happy to know that you're ready to take this step with him. "It... It's just, you know I have been reading about it, pregnancy and stuff." He nodded, a sign for you to go on. "And it's all great and everything, but what if something went wrong?" You looked worriedly into your husband's confused eyes. "Like what if I have a miscarriage? What if something happens to the baby? Like what if …"

"Hold on, hold on … baby why are you trying to predict everything? Why can't you focus on the positive side?" He said trying to calm your raging thoughts. "What if my body is not strong enough to have a baby?"

"Baby,nooo!" Jungkook pulled you closer into his arms. "No, none of this is going to happen, we are going to keep checking up with a doctor, and everything will be fine. I'll always be by your side." He said pulling your head under his chin, then he pulled back to look you in the eyes, "and even if something happens, We will go through it together. I know it will be harder for you, but I swear that there's nothing in this life that could be offered to help you lessen your pain that I won't do it." He whispered sincerely, holding your face between his big warm hands. You hugged him tightly, "I love you so much, I don't even know what I did to deserve you!" You said crying over the fact that a man like Jungkook existed, a man who's willing to do anything for you. "Ah, baby I love you, too so much. I don't want you to doubt us or the future. You know why?" He chuckled feeling you shake your head. "Because the future is never guaranteed, but the only thing that is guaranteed is us, and I know that we're strong enough to face anything life throws at us, together." He said hugging you tighter. "Okay, baby?" He pulled back to look at you. You nodded as he wiped away your tears. "Now, about that baby..." He smirked as you laughed at his goofiness. He always knew how to make you laugh. Always.

Now fast forward a few years, you and Jungkook are parents now. It didn't take that long to get pregnant thanks to Jungkook's stamina. Your pregnancy went on smoothly and nothing bad happened. Just as Jungkook promised, he was always right there for you, for everything; from the moment you both found out, to birth-giving, till now. Speaking of which, the poor thing was so terrified when he knew that your doctor would perform a C-section and that you wouldn't be giving birth naturally.

"Is she supposed to be awake during the surgery?" Jungkook worriedly asked the doctor as he could see that the medication they have given you were not putting you to sleep. "Oh don't worry, Mr Jeon. She won't feel a thing, we drugged the part that we will be working on, and it's normal for her to be awake." Your Doctor smiled kindly at him knowing that this was his first time undergoing something like this. Jungkook was dressed in scrubs holding your hand to keep you from panicking, the doctor also hung up something like a sheet in front of you so you won't see them perform the surgery. "Are you okay?" Jungkook whispered, trying to make small conversation with you as you kept looking at him. You nodded still looking at him as he was getting more anxious by the minute because of your intense staring, "Jungkook why are you panicking, I am the one who's having her stomach open, not you." He laughed squeezing your hand, his nerves easing a bit. "How are you so cool with this?"

"I don't think me panicking right now, would do us any good, you know." Jungkook chuckled then kissed your forehead.

An hour has already passed by when they informed you that you delivered and that the surgery was almost over, they needed to stitch you up. "Jungkook go with the nurse!" You said urgently turning to look at him. "No baby, it's okay, your mum and my mum are waiting outside, I'll wait with you here." He said calming you down, he promised that he won't leave your side until you both get out of the surgery's room together. "But, this means that they'll know!" Jungkook chuckled at your worried expression. "It's okay baby, let them know." He said kissing your forehead. "You did great, and I am so proud of you!" He was tearing up because he could not understand how women could go through all of this, he was truly amazed. "I love you." You said looking into his teary eyes, "I love you, too baby so much!" He pecked your lips before the doctor announced that you were good to go.

It definitely wasn't easy, but with Jungkook there, everything was better.

Right now, you and Jungkook were asleep in each other's arms, appreciating the few hours of silence before everything turns back to its chaotic state in the morning. Since you've given birth, you could swear that you became a light sleeper. Your mum brushed off your marvellous discovery with a laugh claiming that it's normal for most mums to become light sleepers because you're always worried.

Just like now, your ears perked as you felt tiny footsteps softly padding towards your bedroom. And you were right, as you slowly turned in Jungkook's arms, so not to wake him up, you found your 3-year-old, Haneul, standing quietly by the door, sucking on his thumb and trying to search for you in the dark. "Haneul, baby I am here." You whispered and got up to see what's wrong. He padded softly towards you in his Stitch Kigurumi onesies that he insisted you buy from your last trip to Disneyland because that's his favourite character. "Oh baby what's wrong." You picked him up and held him in your arms cradling him as if to protect him from all the world's evil. You already knew what's wrong, he needed to change his diaper. "Come on baby, let's go to your room, daddy's still asleep." You left the room quietly hoping not to wake Jungkook up.

Haneul whimpered lightly in your arms seeing that he was irritated because of his diaper and he was still super sleepy. "Okay baby I'll change it for you, just please be quiet, your brother is still sleeping!" You prayed than Haneul won't throw a fit and wake up his twin, Hyun, from his sleep. It was too early to wake up the whole household right now.

"There, all done!" You whispered enthusiastically as he flashed a bunny-like grin at you just like his father. "Thanks, mummy." He grinned shaking his body cutely from side to side still laying on the changing table. "Anything for you baby!" You dived your head to his stomach attacking him with kisses as he squirmed beneath you. "Come on let's get you back to bed." You said putting him back in his crib and giving him a goodnight kiss. Before you could shut the door to the boys' room, you saw Haneul still standing in his crib giving you puppy eyes as he whimpered. You heart squeezed in your chest at the sight of your baby in discomfort. He wanted to sleep with you and Jungkook, but you can't let them get used to it. "Mummy!" Haneul whimpered reaching his tiny arms out for you. You sighed, your heart was too weak to leave him alone in the dark, you just couldn't do it. His eyes were starting to tear up as you went up to him. "God, you guys are my weakness." You muttered to yourself. As you were about to pick Haneul up, Hyun started to turn in his sleep, slowly waking up. Another pair of doe eyes slowly opened up, fluttering due to the dark smooth locks that were getting in its way. "Mummy!" You sighed great now both of them are awake and they will refuse to go back to sleep in their cribs.

Jungkook woke up to an empty bed, he jolted awake thinking you must be with the kids and that you might need his help, but didn't wake him up. He walked to the kids' bedroom to see you holding Haneul in your arms with him sucking on his thumb, drowsy eyes fighting sleep as you looked at Hyun who was carefully climbing out of his bed. "Careful baby!" You seemed to be fine, but your voice told otherwise, it was laced with worry, fearing that his leg might slip and he would get hurt. Hyun climbed down carefully then went up to you tugging on your nightdress and whimpering grumpily. Jungkook entered the room, "come here, buddy." He said scooping Hyun in his arms. "Baby, you woke up!" You frowned not liking the idea of him getting up so early. Since giving birth to your beautiful baby boys, Jungkook has put you and the boys as his top priority, and he was always there making sure you don't need anything. You didn't want him to wake up so early for once so that he could enjoy his sleep before going to the studio. "I didn't find you in my arms, so I got up to look for you." He said gazing at you lovingly. You kissed him on the cheek, he smiled and told you to go to bed with Haneul "I'll change Hyun's diaper and come right behind you." He said planting a kiss on your forehead. "Okay, baby." You said pulling Haneul closer to your chest.

A few minutes later, Jungkook and Hyun joined you and Haneul in bed. Haneul was fast asleep with his head resting on your chest, and Hyun was still awake looking up at Jungkook. "Come on buddy, go to sleep," Jungkook whispered running his fingers through Hyun's black locks that he inherited from his dad. "Appa!" Jungkook hummed softly in response. "Sing to me." Hyun traced his small fingers over Jungkook's cheek. Jungkook smiled closing his eyes for a few seconds enjoying the feeling as he started singing softly and quietly so that Hyun would go back to sleep.

You smiled, recalling all the things you've been through up until this moment. You remembered how you both were shocked when you found out you were having twins. That day was the best day of your life, you cried in happiness so much that Jungkook thought it was your hormones getting the best of you. "No... I'm just … I'm so happy." You said whipping your tears. That night you sat on the bed with Jungkook holding you in the same position that he would hold you when you're both having a deep conversation. You told him about the twins you saw that day, and how you were so fascinated by them and how they interacted with their mum. Jungkook smiled softly at you as he rubbed your belly. You both decided that you wouldn't tell anyone that you were having twins, and that it would be a surprise to your family and friends. The shock on their faces when they entered the room to congratulate you to find each of you holding a baby was priceless.

"Oh my God, are...are... You gave birth to twins!" Your grandma said in tears astonished by the surprise. "Oh, my dear bless you." She cried as you nodded with a big smile on your face. Your mum and Jungkook's mum were the ones who were in great shock because they were the ones who were waiting in the waiting room to suddenly find two nurses coming out with two babies. "How could you not tell us something like that?" Your mum asked whipping her tears as she looked at Haneul who was sleeping soundly in Jungkook's arms. "We wanted to surprise you." Jungkook replied as your dad smiled with tears in his eyes as he kept looking between you and Jungkook. "Congratulations sweetheart!" He planted a kiss on your forehead, proud of you. "Thanks, dad."

To say that the boys were shocked is an understatement. Poor Hobi kept looking left and right at each baby. "What the … twins?" Jimin burst in excitement as Yoongi grinned down at Haneul and Namjoon patting Jungkook's back smiling at Haneul, too. "They're so cute!" Jimin said excitedly as you handed him Hyun. "Careful, hyung!" Jungkook said worriedly, eyes watching Jimin like a hawk. "Look at our Jungkookie being a protective father," Jin said laughing with Taehyung bursting in laughter.

The boys kept pampering your kids to no end. Jin and Jungkook would even make sure that you and Lilly, Jin's wife, have play dates for the kids, seeing that Jin and Jungkook are the only fathers in the group. Life was treating you good with everyone surrounding you with love and care.

"What are you thinking?" Jungkook whispered. You looked at Hyun to find him fast asleep. "Nothing I was just remembering the day the boys blessed us with their existence." You smiled patting Hyun's back as you lifted the blanket to his shoulder. Jungkook's eyes gleamed at you as he smiled, probably remembering that day, too. Having kids is a huge deal to any couple but with Jungkook being there as he promised, you felt that everything is alright, and you didn't have anything to worry about. You and Jungkook fell into a deep sleep holding each other's hands as both Haneul and Hyun slept soundly between the two of you.

A/N:

Haneul means heavenly 🌌

Hyun means bright or intelligent.🤓

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spine-buster · 4 years ago

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The President Wears Prada (William Nylander) | Epilogue 3: A Love So Tender

A/N: Well, here it is, folks...the last epilogue of The President Wears Prada series. It’s been a blast. Like with Alone, Together and The Storm Before the Calm, we’ve created a little community on this blog, except this time we joined together during quarantine and a global pandemic! I posted the prologue to this April 27th (so right in the thick of it lol) and I’ve been so happy giving you guys something to look forward to every Monday these past eight months! Keep asking your Willberdeen canon questions forever and ever!

Be on the lookout for the post date of my Brock Boeser mini-series “Peaceful Easy Feeling” -- I’ll announce it and put it on my Masterlist. Then, I’ll start my next big series!

As always, happy reading :)

March 2034

“Mooooommmmmyyyyyy! Mommy look!” six-year-old Saoirse Nylander ran through the house to the kitchen where she knew her mom was ready with breakfast. “Look! Daddy let me do my own hair!”

Aberdeen looked down at her daughter to see her blonde hair fixed in to a half ponytail…well, a six-year-old’s version of a half ponytail. Aberdeen smiled down at her daughter. “Looks good!” she smiled. “Can I fix it a little bit before we go to Andy and Maia’s house?”

“Can I eat first?” Saoirse asked as Aberdeen heard more footsteps coming down the stairs.

“Of course! Your oatmeal is right over there,” she nodded her head towards the bowl already set up for her daughter. As Saoirse moved and climbed into the counter stool to eat, Aberdeen looked to her left to see William enter the room, holding their three-year-old son in his arms. “My two Williams,” she smiled.

“Mowning mama,” William Jr. said as Willy placed him down in his own stool, his own bowl of oatmeal also ready to go.

William walked around the island and gave Aberdeen a kiss on the cheek before placing his hand on her stomach tenderly. “Morning, minskatt,” he said before pouring himself some coffee. He looked back at his kids, eating their oatmeal. “Are you excited to see Maia, Saoirse?”

“Mhm,” she smiled. “Can I bring my colouring book so Maia and I can colour?”

“Of course you can!” William smiled. “You know how much Maia loves to colour with you.”

“When you and mommy get home, I’m gonna have a beeeeeeautiful picture,” Saoirse exclaimed before spooning some more oatmeal into her mouth.

Both Aberdeen and William looked at their fridge, adorned with ripped out pages from colouring books that Saoirse and William Jr. did for them. “We can’t wait,” Aberdeen smiled.

***

“Mr. and Mrs. Nylander, I know that we’ve confirmed your pregnancy,” Dr. Collinson spoke to the happy couple.

“We needed the tie-breaker,” William joked.

“Indeed,” he chuckled. “But I must ask you both…have you gone through any fertility treatments that I’m not aware of? IVF, artificial insemination?”

William and Aberdeen looked at each other before looking back at their doctor – the same doctor who had been there and helped birth Saoirse and William Jr. “No…” William shook his head. “We figured we were okay…I mean, with Saoirse’s and William’s pregnancies being pretty easy with no major complications, and the fact that we didn’t have to try for very long before Aberdeen got pregnant…” he trailed off.

Dr. Collinson nodded his head. “That’s good to know. Because I do have some further news for you.”

“What’s that?” Aberdeen asked.

“You’re having twins.”

The words hung in the air for an excruciatingly long period of time. “Excuse me?” Aberdeen asked.

“Twins. You’re having twins, Mrs. Nylander.”

Aberdeen looked over at William. “I’m going to cut your penis off.”

***

“TWINS!!!!!” Bee exclaimed, jumping up and down as she hugged Aberdeen. “Twins, Aberdeen! Oh my goodness!”

“More Nylanders?” Morgan piped in. “Christ almighty.”

***

“TWINS?!” Aleida was shocked when Aberdeen told her the news over the phone. “Twins!”

“Who’s having twins?” Aberdeen could hear Fred’s voice in the background.

“Aberdeen and Will!”

There was a pause. “More Nylanders? Good God.”

***

“Twins, William? You knocked her up with twins?” Jason deadpanned into the phone.

“We’ll have four, just like you,” William said.

“More Nylanders…Jesus Christ.”

***

“Oh! What fantastic news!” Svea beamed over the FaceTime call. Elias was smiling beside her. “You must be so excited, guys.”

“We are. We joked that we were only supposed to have one tie-breaker though,” Aberdeen said, looking at William beside her briefly. “Now we’re getting two.”

“Do you know the sexes?”

“Not yet. In a few weeks they’ll tell us if they’re identical or fraternal, and I think that will be very informational,” William said.

“More Nylanders…” Elias shook his head. “God help us all.”

***

“This is fantastic news, Aberdeen. You’re such a great mom already,” Brendan said from across the table, his smile stretching from ear to ear. “Saoirse and Will Jr – I mean they’re just delights.”

“Thank you, Brendan. There will be two more to add to the MLSE family room during games. Not to mention more Nylanders occupying the city of Toronto.”

“More Nylanders…wow.”

***

September 2034

The Toronto Maple Leafs and the entire MLSE organization would like to extend our heartfelt congratulations to William Nylander and his wife Aberdeen Bloom on the birth of their twins, Jonas Alexander and Astrid Elina. Jonas and Astrid join big siblings Saoirse and William Jr.

***

November 2035

BREAKING: Aberdeen Bloom, the youngest person ever to win the Booker Prize for Fiction, has just won the prize for a second time for her latest novel, A Love So Fond. Bloom becomes the third woman (after Hilary Mantel and Margaret Atwood) to win the Booker Prize twice, but the first woman under forty to accomplish the feat.

***

The First Monday in May, 2036

William looked at Aberdeen lovingly as she touched up her lipstick in the mirror of their hotel room. She was wearing a beautiful dress, styled to perfection. He was wearing a suit, tailored to equal perfection. “You look beautiful, minskatt,” he said, hoping it would calm her down a bit. He knew she was nervous.

She looked over at him as she clicked shut the lipstick tube. “We’re going to the Met Gala, Willy,” she said as if it was the first time he’d heard the news. He’d heard. He’d heard for months now. Anna Wintour invited them to the event. Aberdeen screamed bloody murder when she got the invite. “We’re going to the Met Gala.”

He giggled slightly. “I know. Who would have thought all those years ago two kids who hooked up the night of a graduation would make their way to the Met Gala.”

Aberdeen smiled. “Who would have thought an aspiring writer and a hockey player would accomplish so much that we’d even get invited to the Met Gala.”

“I had nothing to do with this,” William shook his head, smiling. “You did all of this. I’m just in the background, remember?”

Aberdeen couldn’t help but smile. The man in front of her supported her dreams without question. There was nothing she thought of that William didn’t think she’d be able to accomplish. Her two Booker Prizes were evidence of that. Her Governor General’s Awards and Giller Prizes were evidence of that. Her numerous other awards were evidence of that. “You’re not in the background, Willy,” she told him once more. It was something she told him time and time again, even though she knew he was joking. To think he still used a joke he made when she was twenty-two years old…she couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re the reason I’m able to do this.”

Their conversation was cut short by Aberdeen’s phone ringing. When she dug it out of her purse, she saw Orla requesting a FaceTime call. “It’s the kids again,” she said, holding up the phone and turning around so that when she answered it, whoever was calling would see both their parents. When she accepted, she saw Saoirse’s face first. “Hi baby,” Aberdeen cooed. “Did you forget to tell us something?”

“Maia wants to know if she can come over this weekend to play. Is that okay?” she asked.

“Of course,” William answered. “I’ll talk to Uncle Morgan about it when we get home tomorrow night.”

“Let me see!” William Jr.’s voice was heard off camera. Soon, Saoirse had turned the camera around so he could see his parents. “Hi mom and dad.”

“Hi baby,” Aberdeen cooed again. “Do you have a question too?”

“No,” he said. “You look pretty, mama.”

Aberdeen couldn’t help but swoon. “Thank you, baby. Are you having a good time at grandma and grandpa’s house?”

He nodded his head enthusiastically. “Grandma just made popcorn!”

“Wooooo! Movie night!” William exclaimed from behind her. “Be good! Go to bed on time.”

“I will,” William Junior nodded his head. “Bye daddy. Bye minskatt.”

Aberdeen furrowed her brows but couldn’t help but laugh at her son. She could hear William chuckle from behind her too. “William! Why’d you call me that?!”

Williiam Junior didn’t know what the big deal was. He knew he was named after his dad; it was only fitting that he test his limits and call his mom by her first name too. “Daddy’s name is William, and my name is William, and your name is minskatt! Daddy always calls you that! Hi minskatt, bye minskatt, I love you minskatt. Minskatt is your name!” he argued like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

William thought back to so, so many years ago. To Aberdeen asking him why he called her minskatt and him telling her why. A tear escaped his eye and he brought his hand up quickly to cover it. Aberdeen noticed. She looked back at William Jr. “Okay William. We’ll talk more when we get home, okay? You better be good for grandma and grandpa.”

Aberdeen ended the call with a couple of more air kisses. When she was finished, she placed her phone down and saw that William kept wiping his cheeks with his thumb. “Hey…hey come here,” she said gently, walking over to him because she knew he wouldn’t move. “Was it Junior?” she asked.

William nodded his head. “You remember what I told you, like, fifteen years ago? About why I call you minskatt?”

Aberdeen nodded her head automatically. She’d never forgotten. “Of course,” she said softly, bringing her hands up to wipe some of his tears away with her own thumbs. “It was always your dream, wasn’t it?”

William nodded. He leaned down slightly to kiss her, even though he knew he’d get lipstick on him and that Aberdeen would have to reapply it for the fourth time before they even left the hotel. “I know you’ve accomplished so much with your writing and I’ve accomplished so much with hockey but my best accomplishment is you. Us. Our family. The love I have for you.”

Aberdeen nodded her head. She understood. She knew. “Mine too.”

“It’s been fifteen years. Fifteen years and four kids, Aberdeen. And still. Still. I think about you when I’m not even thinking.”

Aberdeen smiled. She kissed him once more. “Jag tänker på dig när jag inte ens tanker.”

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pascalscenarios · 4 years ago

Text

JUST THE WAY YOU ARE (Ricky Hauk x Reader)

Just The Way You Are

Scenarios Series

Ricky Hauk x Reader

Summary: Ricky feels as if he needs to change to keep up with your lavish life

Warning: Mentions of an abusive parent, social classes

Words: 1982

Author Note: Based on a scenario from my twitter. Ricky Hauk is so cute ugh! Enjoy! - K

You first met Ricky when your car broke down on the side of the road. You managed to get to a payphone and look up in the yellow pages to see if you could get a tow truck down to where you were located. The first number you found was for Al’s Service Station.

After calling and waiting for 20 minutes, Ricky had come with a tow truck, wearing a mechanic jumpsuit and a red baseball cap worn backward.

“Hey, I’m Ricky” He greeted you quickly, then went straight to hooking up your car.

You give him a sweet smile introducing yourself.

“Thank you for coming- I don’t know what happened. One minute I was driving, next thing, my started smoking and stopped running”

“Don’t sweat it. I’ll take a look when we get back to the shop”

You thought Ricky was SO cute. He had gorgeous brown eyes that you ever saw.

On the car ride to the shop, you tried your best to make conversation with him. He didn’t say much. He was quiet and reserved. A man of few words.

You and Ricky had different upbringings. You have a perfect life. You came from a wealthy family and live in an affluent part of town. You could have anything you wanted. Ricky on the other hand had an abusive father growing up who is no longer in his life. He and his younger brother Joey were raised by a single mother and they struggled financially. They lived off paycheck to paycheck. Unlike you, Ricky couldn’t have the things he wished or dreamed for.

Ricky was hesitant around you. He knew how rich people were. One wrong move, or if you ended up saying something they found offensive, its cuffs slapped around his wrist.

He was already in a shitty mood and didn’t feel like talking. He got his two-week notice from Al that he was being laid off and his mom was still pretty ticked off at him thinking about the possibility of college, leaving her and his younger brother joey behind to fend for themselves. He didn’t need any more tension in his life.

Getting to the shop, he got to work on figuring out what was wrong with your fancy convertible. He popped open the hood of your car, looking around and fidgeting with different parts.

“Sometimes wrong with the engine. It’s gonna take an hour or two to fix. You might wanna call someone to come pick you up and come back later” he states.

“I’ll just wait, no biggie” you shrug.

He cocked his eyebrow at you. Were you serious? Why would someone like you willingly want to stay in a run-down part of town he thought. “You sure? We got a phone by the register-” he motions towards the desk

“I’m sure. I don’t mind waiting” you smile.

“Alright, suit yourself” turns his back towards you, crunches his face in confusion. He thought you were strange for deliberating staying.

You could have called someone to pick you up, but the truth is, you waited to stay to get to know Ricky and you weren’t in a rush to get home.

...

Ricky started to warm up to you after a while, making conversation with you as he worked on your car. You were sweet and you seemed different from the normal rich people he dealt with and he liked that. You treated him as an equal, not as someone who was below you.

After talking about anything and everything random things, you left him to focus on fixing your car. You probably irritated him. You wandered around the shop, exploring the different parts, tools, and old materials stashed around the garage.

Under a pile of greasy rags, you noticed a black leathered book. You opened it up to find writing inside. They were poems. Beautiful yet heart-wrenching poems. You were amazed by each one as you continued to flip the pages.

“Alright, your cars- hey!” Ricky quickly pulls out the rag from his back pocket, whipping the grease from his hands, and walking towards you.

He takes the books from your hand, closing it shut.

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean- did you write those?”

He signs looking down at the book.

“Yeah… I did”

“They’re amazing! Do you like poetry?”

He nods. “Yeah, I love it.”

“I love writing! I’m majoring in journalism at Redding. My parents don’t see a future in it though. They want me to have a ‘real career’, whatever that means” you roll your eyes.

“Poems and writings are more of a hobby…I was thinking about taking a writing course down at Redding University. I went to go check a class out but I don’t know… thinking about it.”

“If you love and are passionate about writing and poetry, go for it. That’s what my grandma used to say. You’ve got a gift, Ricky.” You smile.

He changes the subject ”Uh your cars done- we should start it up, see if it’s running” he tosses the book on the side on top of an old crate and walks with you over his car.

You slide into your car, putting the key into the ignition, the engine roaring again.

“Ah! Thank you so much!” You get out of the car and hug him tightly. He was taken back by your hug, but he smiled and wrapped his arms around you.

“Here,” You said handing him money.

“Thanks,” he stuffed it in his pocket.

“It was nice meeting you, Ricky” you smile.

“Drive safe, if you have any trouble, just come by” …

“Ricky!” You shout coming back a couple of days later. He was laying on a creeper and rolled himself out from underneath the car he was working on. “Hey!” he sits upright, grabbing a towel from his pocket and wiping his hands. He gets up walking towards you.

“You alright? Your cars not giving you any trouble is it?” He says, continuing to wipe his hands.

“No, I came to see you actually.” You start blushing slightly.

“Me? Can you see me?” he points to himself in disbelief.

“Yeah, I wanted to bring you this” you hand him a book. “As a thank you”

He stuffs the towel back in his pocket, taking the blue canvas-covered book from your hands.

He brings it to flip through the pages, noticing they were filled with poems.

“It’s a book of poems. I’ve had it since I was little, but I wanted you to have it”

“What?- No I can take this-”

“It’s inspired me a lot, maybe it will spark something in you”

“Look this is nice in all, but I-”

“Don’t argue with me and just take the book!” you laughed.

He smiled “Alright, alright…” he chuckled. “Thank you”

“Bye” you waved towards him walking back to your car.

“Wait! Before I go-” he is getting a little shy now. “Do you maybe you want to hang out sometimes? We could go catch a movie or something do else- or if you don’t wanna hang out that's fin-”

“Are you asking me out?” you cocked his eyebrow at him

“Y-yeah…if that's okay”

A giddy smile appeared on your face, you took the pen from the front pocket of this jumpsuit, taking his greasy stained hand, and scribbled your number down.

“You better call me, or I'm just going to have to come back here and find you” you laugh.

And since then, you and Ricky have been inseparable ever since.

…

You and Ricky were friends at first, but eventually the more the two of you started spending time together, you both started falling for each other.

You had brought him home to meet your friends and family. They were disapproving of you dating a guy from the wrong side of the tracks, but you didn't care what they thought about the two of you. Under the tough and hard exterior that protected him from outsiders, he was sweet, loving and protective towards his family, thoughtful, hard-working, and intelligent.

After meeting your friends and family, Ricky realized who he was and where he came from wasn’t going to be good enough for you… or in this case your friends and family. He was so out of his element and stuck out like a sore thumb in your world, and everyone noticed. And it wasn’t just the fact he was underdressed, but the fact they have accomplished so much, and here he was financially unstable, not going to school, and jobless. He needed to change if he wanted to keep up with you and the people in your life.

You didn’t even have to try with his family. Just like Ricky, his mother and brother had to warm up to you first. His mother wasn’t sure of your intentions, but once she saw how you two were together, you gained her trust and she welcomed you with open arms. Joey liked you from the moment you told him that you loved macaroni and cheese.

After Ricky had met your friends and family, you saw a change in him. You had no idea what was going on. He was like a whole different person, acting like the snobby people you grew up with.

You brought him to another family event. He was dressed up fancy, which he looked very handsome but it wasn’t him, that wasn’t your Ricky and introduced himself as Richard?

The whole night you watched him not lie about himself and laugh at jokes you knew he didn’t find funny.

This wasn’t your Ricky.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Yeah sure, excuse us” he smiles at your parents' friends.

You walk outside to the garden and turn to face him.

“What the hell is going on?” you question.

“What do you mean?”

“For the past several weeks, you haven't been acting like yourself. That’s not you in there. I don't know who the hell is standing in front of me, because surely this isn’t my Ricky. Where’s the guy I fell in love with? A mechanic who loves and has a passion for poetry…”

He noticed how upset you were. Tears forming in your eyes. He thought this would make you happy.

He sighs. He couldn’t keep up his charade. “I just..” he pauses. “After meeting your friends and family…I realized I’m not good enough for you. I don’t belong in your world. I’m from the opposite side of town, I’m from a single-parent and low-income household. All these people see right through me...they see me as nothing- I just thought if I changed-“

“Ricky” You cup his face in your hands. Your thumbs stroking his cheeks.

“You don’t ever have to change who you are for me! I see you! I know who you are, I know your heart. I don’t care about your past or where you come from. Who you are as a person means way more to me than your upbringing and how much money you have. I love me just the way you are.”

“You mean that?”

“Of course...With every fiber in me...I love you” You kiss him softly.

You both pull away, your foreheads resting against each other. “Let’s get out of here, please,” he says.

“Where do you wanna go?” you asked.

“God anywhere but here” he laughed. “How about dinner near your place, the one you took me to on our first date,” you asked. “I feel like eating a greasy burger, fries, and a milkshake.”

He laughed, “alright”

“Okay, we better hurry up before my parents try to stop us” you chuckle.

“They’re going to kill me...they don’t like you being out on my side of town so late,” He says, taking your hand as you quickly exit, using the side gate.

“They can get over it and besides I’ll be okay because I'll be with you.”

MT // @wifeofdindjarin @icanbeyourjedi @sara-alonso@greeneyedblondie44 @hb8301 @alberta-sunrise @spacenerdpascal @ryleyrooroo @reader-s-cantina

#touched by an angel #Ricky Hauk x Reader #ricky hauk #Pedro Pascal #Pedro

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katymacsupernatural · 4 years ago

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The Proposal Chapter 8

Jensen Ackles x Reader

Story Summary:

Catch Up Here: Masterpost

After the proposal from Jensen he was pulled into welcoming arms, congratulations floating through the air. You stood there at first, awkwardly watching as he was patted on the back. About ready to turn and get a drink, he surprised you when he reached out, wrapping his arm around your waist and pulling you against him.

“These are for you as well,” he insisted, smiling so deeply down at you that for a moment you could imagine that this was real and you were actually his fiancee, not just a woman paid to pretend.

You stayed snuggled against his side, smiling wide as all the guests came up and offered their well wishes. A glass of wine was given to me, and I sipped at it, watching in awe as Jensen laughed and seemed to turn into a completely different man than I had become accustomed to. It was refreshing to see him away from his acting.

Your phone buzzed in your purse, and you pulled it out to see your brother’s name on the phone. “I need to take this,” you whispered to Jensen and he nodded, releasing his hold on you.

“Hurry back,” he insisted, creating a whole new round of ooh’s and aah’s from the crowd. Wanting to roll your eyes, you made your way through the smiling crowd, stepping out into the muggy Texas air. “Hey buddy, what’s up?” You said as soon as you answered, knowing something had to be up for him to call you this late at night.

There were tears in his voice when he spoke up, his voice barely a whisper. “They’re talking of sending me away,” he whimpered. “They said I’m too much of a headache and they’ve heard of this military boarding school that will whip me into shape. Y/N, I don’t want to go!”

The news broke your heart. You knew that your Aunt and Uncle hadn’t taken in Luke because of the kindness of their heart. They had taken both of you in, quickly going through all of the tidy little nest egg your parents had saved. You had been able to skip out as soon as you turned 18, but Luke was still under their control, and broke your heart. “No, they can’t. They promised,” you exclaimed, a tear slipping down your cheek. “They said they’d keep you with them as long as I needed them too.”

“They’ve changed their mind,” he cried. “I’m not supposed to know, but they were talking about it at dinner tonight.”

“And where were you?”

“In my room,” his voice was tiny. “They said I didn’t do all of my chores, so I went to bed without dinner.”

You wanted nothing more than to head over and pull him away as soon as you could. But there was paperwork, and a court visit. And that all cost money, more than you had saved at the moment. “Luke, promise me you’re doing everything you can to placate them.”

“I am. But Y/N, I don’t want to be here anymore. I want to be with you,” he pleaded, breaking your heart. “When?”

“Soon,” you assured him, hoping it was true.

After hanging up, you leaned back against the wall, taking a deep breath, another tear slipping down your cheek. “Here I thought you would be ecstatic. After all, you were just proposed to. What’s up?” Jensen’s grandma said as she came to stand next to you.

“Just a little overwhelmed with everything,” you spoke carefully, not wanting to give anything away that would ruin this facade with Jensen.

“I can see that,” she handed over a tissue. “After all, you’ve just snagged one of the hottest bachelors in the country. But I think it’s something more than that. Am I right?”

“You’re right,” you admitted. Jensen’s grandma was just so easy to talk to, and you needed that. Even if you didn’t tell her everything. “I just miss my brother.”

“Aww, that’s sweet. I take it he’s younger,” she seemed genuinely curious.

“He’s ten. So sweet, so kind. He’s with my aunt and uncle, but isn’t very happy with it.”

“And your parents?” She asked.

“Gone. Car accident. But I think I need to get back in before I’m missed. Thanks for the shoulder,” you smiled at her before heading inside, hoping that you hadn’t said too much. But it had been so nice to finally talk to someone.

“There you are,” Jensen exclaimed as soon as you stepped back in. One glance at your face and he stopped dead in his tracks. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” you assured him. “Just a little overwhelmed by everything.”

“I’m sorry.” He wrapped his arm around your shoulder, the comforting touch surprising. “Just a little bit longer before we’ll call it a night.”

You walked in with him, immediately offered another glass of wine and you sipped it, already feeling the alcohol mix with your nerves. Much more to drink and you would come to regret it in the morning. Jensen kept you by his side, always making sure you had a fresh drink in your hand, introducing you to so many people you lost track.

Finally, you slipped away, perching at the bar, watching as he did his thing. You could hear a group of girls at the far end of the bar, trying to hush their voice but failing miserably. They were talking about you, how you didn’t seem to be Jensen’s type at all. You had expected the backlash, but it was still hard hearing it.

Jensen came over just as you were getting ready to stand up. “Everything okay?” He asked, and you nodded, trying to keep a smile on your face.”

“Listen, I’ve said our goodbyes. I think it’s time you and I head back to the house I think,” he explained, narrowing his eyes and searching your face, making you realize that maybe you weren’t doing the greatest job hiding your emotions.

“Are you sure?” You felt guilty for pulling him away from his party.

He nodded. “Yeah. I saw friends and family. Introduced you and proposed. I think that’s enough for tonight. Oh and we’re doing breakfast with the family tomorrow before we fly back.”

His hand was low on your back as he guided you through those that remained, smiling and waving before you were outside. It was raining lightly, but you didn’t mind. Jensen opened the door for you, and you slid into the car, leaning your head back against the smooth leather.

“So, what did you think?” He asked once he had the car on the highway.

“Everyone was so nice,” you answered, your eyes still closed. “I loved your grandma. And I think they bought the proposal.”

“You did great,” he assured you. “My Mom loves you. So does my grandma. I think we’ve accomplished everything we needed to this weekend.”

The rest of the ride was quiet, and as soon as he was parked in the garage you were out of the car, your shoes in your hands. “Goodnight,” you said, ready to head up and fall face first into that soft mattress upstairs.

“Wait!” He reached out, grasping your arm and pulling you into his chest. You stared up at him, wondering what he was up to. You didn’t have to wait long before his lips crashed down on yours, his body warm and tight against your own.

Moaning, you let him take control, wondering what brought this on, but not caring. You had wanted to feel his lips against yours again, and it was happening. “I shouldn’t have done that,” he whispered against your skin, stepping back as if you had burned him.

“It’s alright,” your voice was soft, your lips swollen from his overpowering kiss.

He shook his head. “No. This is strictly professional. And we need to leave it as that,” he insisted before leaving you standing there in the garage, your mouth hanging slightly open.

Part 9

Dean/Jensen Tags: @acortez82 @acreativelydifferentlove @adoptdontshoppets @a-girl-who-loves-disney @akshi8278 @bi-danvers0 @cap-just-said-language @colette2537 @deansgirl215 @flamencodiva @hamiltrash1411 @its-not-a-tulpa @jerkbitchidjitassbutt @justanotherwinchester @just-another-winchester @karouwinchester @keikoraventeller @krys198478 @librarygeekery @magssteenkamp @misspygmypie @mlovesstories @mrsambroserollinsacklesmgk @mrspeacem1nusone @nothinbuttrouble2 @ria132love @ruprecht0420 @screechingartisancashbailiff @sortaathief @superseejay721517 @squirrelnotsam @team-free-will-you-idjiot @thing-you-do-with-that-thing @torn-and-frayed @tricksterdean @wonderfulworldofwinchester @woodworthti666 @beabutterfly987

The Proposal Tags: @supraveng @vicmc624 @lottieellz101 @impala-dreamer @maddiepants @emilyshurley @tonystark-makes-me-cry @starryeyeseunbyul @rach-12 @spnfamily-j2 @ima-be-a-mongoose @flamencodiva @compresshischest09 @parinarain @stoneyggirl @tftumblin @massivelycreepypineapple @posiemax @traceyaudette @peacedolantwins2 @eliwinchester99 @deans-baby-momma

Forever Tags: @aditimukul @alexwinchester23 @algud @amanda-teaches @andreaaalove @artisticpoet @atc74 @be-amaziing @camelotandastronauts @caswinchester2000 @cpag7 @chelsea072498 @closetspngirl @deanwanddamons @docharleythegeekqueen @emoryhemsworth @ericaprice2008 @esoltis280 @foxyjwls007 @gh0stgurl @goldenolaf25 @growningupgeek @heartislubbingdubbing @heyitscam99 @hobby27 @horsegirly99 @imsuperawkward @internationalmusicteacher @iwriteaboutdean @jayankles @jensen-gal @justsomedreaming @just-another-busyfangirl @karlee-fay-my-wayward-son @linki-locks11 @littleblue5mcdork @lowlyapprentice @mersuperwholocked-lowlife @mogaruke @monkeymcpoopoo @musiclovinchic93 @nanie5 @percussiongirl2017 @plaid-lover-bay25 @roonyxx @ronja-uebrick @roxyspearing @samanddeanmyheroes @sandlee44 @shamelesslydean @simonsbluee @sillesworldofwriting @sgarrett49 @spnbaby-67 @spn-dean-and-sam-winchester @spnwoman @superbadassnatural @thatcrazybookwormgeek @thewinchesterchronicles @voltage-my2dlove @vvinch3st3r @whimsicalrobots @winchester-writes @zombiewerewolfqueen

#the proposal #jensen ackles x reader #supernatural x reader #supernatural reader insert #supernatural rpf #katy writes #spn fanfic #jensen fanfic #jensen x y/n

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scribble-blog · 5 years ago

Text

Soulmate AU part 3!!

First • Previous • Here • Next

Side note, I’m a grandma in a 22 year old body who doesn’t understand technology. If somebody can teach me how to get readmores to work on tumblr mobile, and possibly how to start linking the posts together, I’d appreciate it!

Also, the taglist is now full! Though if people want, I could try doing a supplemental taglist? Either in a reblogged or in a separate post to notify you? Let me know in the replies!

Damian Wayne, as it turns out, is almost very certainly the son of Bruce Wayne, who sponsored their entire trip to Gotham. There are only two official pictures of him that are clear enough to truly check against, but Marinette sees the eyes and she nods. “That’s him.”

Trixx, Pollen, Kaalki, and Plagg are scattered about the bed, napping and lounging. Adrien also lounges, catlike and crosswise with the bed, entirely over the pillows at their back. Chloé holds the laptop that Marinette is hovering over, even from her seated position with her much smaller stature.

“It would be you,” Chloé snorts. “Oh, let’s just traipse over to America for a quick class visit! Oops, my soulmate is the incredibly handsome son of the incredibly wealthy man who invited us here!”

“Still more believable than you, Miss ‘My soulmate and I have literally been standing two feet from each other for weeks because not only do we have the exact same friends, but we’re part of the same superhero group and never realized until Ladybug allowed us to learn each other’s secret identities.’” Adrien doesn’t move as he calls her out, lazily curled into the warmth of his two friends and the pillows cocooning him.

“I don’t think any of us can speak,” Marinette groans. “I’m living a cheap rom com, Chloé’s got all the plot elements of a high budget Shakespearian drama, and Mr. ‘Didn’t know I wasn’t straight until my soulmate mark was a guys name” is straight out of a b movie comedy.”

“At least I got my act together pretty quickly once it occurred to me that I could like guys too,” Adrien points out. “And now Jon and I talk all the time, and he even comes to Paris sometimes to see me, or we’ll meet up for my occasional business trips in America. Which reminds me,” he pulled out his phone, sending off a quick text, “he wants to come meet you guys. Next week, while we’re all actually on the same continent.”

“Kudos to you for shaking off whatever Gabe tried to stuff your head full of,” Chloé says. “Took me ages to admit that I was gay, and that was even WITH my soulmark and both Marinette and Ladybug constantly in front of me.”

“Feeling pretty objectified,” Marinette protests.

“Oh shut it, I know for a fact that you’ve basically been the gay awakening crush of every not straight girl in our class. And several outside of it. And that’s not even counting all the dudes that fall in love with you.”

“I still object,” Marinette pouts at Chloé.

“Objection overruled.” Adrien sits up. “Marinette. You’re like, the perfect crush. They have a warning about you in the introductory packet for Mme. Bustier’s class.”

“They do not,” Marinette gasps, outraged. “I wrote that packet!”

“And then the class unanimously decided you were too dangerous to be walking around without a warning sign,” Chloé pinched her cheek. “If it makes you feel any better, it’s still in the packet despite Lila’s best efforts to get it thrown out.”

That does make Marinette feel better.

“Damian Wayne resurfaces after year of being believed dead,” Adrien reads from his phone. “Gotham’s Newest Wayne: The True Son! These all read like tabloids but as far as I can tell the Wayne’s don’t tolerate stuff like that. So I guess it’s true?”

“I’m tired of looking him up,” Marinette groans. “Can we just leave it be?”

“Nope,” Chloé pops the P. “Congrats, Dupain-Cheng, this is what friends are for.”

“I wish I could talk to Tikki about it,” Marinette sighs. “Especially because I have literally never heard anyone talk about that- electric feeling when we touched. Is it a Ladybug thing?”

Plagg opens one big green eye. “Cool it, Spots. It’s definitely a Ladybug thing. You’re literally the reason these marks exist.”

Marinette sticks her tongue out at the mini god. “I just miss her.”

“Join the club,” he grumbles, closing his eye and going back to napping.

“Good news,” Chloé says, bringing her attention back to the laptop. “Searching your name very easily leads to you, and our class, and the fact that we won the contest. So, unless he decides he’s not ready to meet you, you’ll have the chance to find him at the gala. Or at Wayne Enterprises. Or at any of the places the Wayne’s own, which is two-thirds of our trip destinations.”

“Oh god,” Marinette says. “What if he didn’t want to find me?”

Adrien, Chloé, and four Kwamis hit her at the same time, shoving her back into the bed.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Mari,” Adrien scolds her from his position atop the newly formed cuddle pile. “I saw his face too. If the boy isn’t already in love with you, he’ll be hunting you down just for the chance to fall.”

Trixx nuzzled into her side. “I may not be Tikki but all of us Kwamis know how incredible you are, Marinette.”

She sighed. “Alright guys, get off.”

———

Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Tim already knew who the girl was, because he’d been curious when his favorite artist had started talking about the source of his newest looks.

But having Damian demand his help in searching for everything he could find on her, and then only asking for the bare minimum of information about her trip itinerary- Tim wasn’t an idiot.

“So. She’s your soulmate.” Tim takes a sip of the coffee he’d been working on, making a face and instantly setting it back down when he realized it had gone cold.

Damian carefully did not change his expression, but it wasn’t fooling anyone. “And so what if she is?”

Tim looked back at the monitor. “So nothing. Congrats, Demon Spawn. I’m happy for you.”

He barely caught the edge of the scowl the younger Wayne tried to hide.

“Hey, no.” Tim spun his chair to face Damian. “Look, we’ve had our differences and disagreements-“

“You had me on the superhero equivalent of a terrorism watch list,” Damian interrupted.

“And you literally tried to kill me within the first day of meeting me.”

“A byproduct of my indoctrination from birth into a murder cult,” His brother kept his face still but the tone was wry.

“You kept trying to kill me.”

“I wasn’t trying to kill you!” Damian finally exclaimed, losing his collected demeanor. “Just-“

“Point being,” Tim stressed, “even if we haven’t always gotten along- haven’t ever, really- I’m still happy for you. Soulmates are a special thing. We all kind of thought you might not have one, with the way you always acted when Dick tried to ask.”

Damian forced down the immediate retort and looked at Tim. “I thought that maybe my dying would have prevented my name from showing up for them. And my teachings-“ he said the word with the inflection that meant he was discussing Assassin Upbringing rather than here- “were as such that most connections, be they familial, friendly, or romantic, were- unnecessary and even dangerous.” It felt tantamount to a betrayal of his younger self to confide anything in Drake like this, but... Damian really was, in many ways, a better and more mature person than the spoiled, aggressive, near sociopathic brat he’d arrived as seven years ago. He still kept the veneer of it up, but he was no longer the boy who needed to fight Drake to prove his worth as Bruce’s son.

Now he just waited for Drake to embarrass himself by passing out after staying up for far too long surviving on caffeine and energy drinks. Much easier.

And Drake didn’t ever seem as eager to blackmail and fight as Damian ever had, so he figured a small amount of vulnerability was a proper thank you for his discretion in finding Marinette.

Tim just took another grimacing sip of the cold coffee. “Man. In that case, even happier for you that you’re shrugging off yet another of the Child Assassin School’s upsetting and frankly terrible rules. Though as for the dying thing, I’m pretty sure it doesn’t matter as long as you don’t actively die now that you have the mark.”

Damian shrugged. “Irrelevant now, as I will not be dying anytime soon, and neither will she. And she clearly knows that we’re soulmates.”

“Still confused about that,” Tim frowned, looking back at him. “You said there was an electric current between you? Or it felt like that?”

Damian couldn’t stop his hand from twitching, the memory of it clear enough to feel. “Yes. I don’t understand it myself either.”

“I’ll search around. See if anything comes up.” Tim handed him a pile of papers. “Here, the info you wanted on her itinerary, plus things I thought would be pertinent without going over whatever line you seem to have drawn.”

Damian took them, and very begrudgingly said, “Thank you,” before ducking out of the room.

He waited until he was back in his own room before flicking through them, finding the trip schedule and the hotel rooms listed, the names of her class and teachers, and finally a list of her accomplishments and a copy of the paper that had won her class the trip, authored by her.

He read through it, noting the names of her classmates and their own community efforts, and the way her own section in the paper was minuscule compared to both each other persons section and the list of accomplishments Drake had drafted.

One classmate had, if no less written than than any other person, a distinctly different tone to what Marinette had written, and most of her community building and service events were merely echoes or assisting what another person had done. Damian shrugged it off, as there were sometimes people who simply tagged along, and never put their own effort out there. Followers, and not leaders.

All in all, he found himself more intrigued than ever about her.

TAGLIST:

@the-fusionist @rebecarojas07 @lowandco @kotaleartzu @resignedcatservant @alenee13 @mystery-5-5 @ladybug-182 @actual-disaster-human @loysydark @rumbelle18 @magic-miraculous @vixen-uchiha @athena452 @mochegato @ash-amg @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @thestressmademedoit @sassakitty @doriebell @jessigurl-design @emotionalsupportginger @kceedraws @kuroko26 @moonystars14 @toodaloo-kangaroo @myazael @theatreandcomicfreak @mer-mel @dahjokester @northernbluetongue @area51qt @renscorpio @redscarlet95 @razzledazzle247 @rosep16 @tired-butterfly @catthhay @shamefullove @imanerddealwith @chaosace @captainmac6 @bigpicklebananatree @abrx2002 @cici-schnee @multplelifes @shreky-boi @purple-people-eaters-productions @crazylittlemunchkin @weird-pale-blonde-person

#maribat #daminette #daminette soulmates #soulmate au #fanfic

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purplesurveys · 3 years ago

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1446

1. Do you enjoy being surrounded by neighbors, or would you be more comfortable someplace secluded? I feel like being somewhere secluded would affect me negatively. I like the vibe where I currently live, where I have neighbors but none of us feel the pressure to talk with one another and keep up ties and such.

2. Is there any sibling rivalry between you and your siblings, if you have any? I don’t think it counts as a ‘rivalry’ as it denotes some sort of active competition, but I’m not on speaking terms with my brother due to something he did a few years back.

3. Do you usually root for the good guys or the bad guys? It depends on the character. I usually do find the bad guys irritating which is a testament to their execution, but sometimes there are just villains who are so good at being bad I can’t help but root for them - like Walter White and Gus Fring from Breaking Bad, and to some extent even The Governor from The Walking Dead.

4. Are you allowed to have pets at your house? Yeah, my parents own the place so we have three dogs.

5. Have you ever lived in a trailer park? No.

6. Is there anyone that you know through the internet that you would feel comfortable meeting in person? My circle of internet friends has drastically shrunk over the years and out of the few ones I remain to have, I’d really only be comfortable meeting Aliyah.

7. Have you ever had a dream involving characters from a game/movie/television show? I rarely remember my dreams but I’m sure that has already occurred before.

8. Do you ever have dreams about people you have never even seen before? Sure. I once had a dream where I had a daughter, even though I’ve never seen whoever that baby girl was before. There was another dream of mine (it was more of a nightmare, though) where I had to witness a loved one getting shot, and I wasn’t familiar with who the perpetrator was.

9. What’s the last thing you wrote down? I had to think of a mock-up for a social media card we were planning to pitch to a client and it was just harder to describe the asset to my associate in words, so I ended up doodling the envisioned material and writing some details on it for her better understanding.

10. Do you remember any phone numbers from years ago that now belong to someone you don’t know? I don’t think so.

11. How often does your household get numbers for the wrong people? Not very often; maybe once every few months. It probably helps that not a lot of people use landline anymore.

12. Have you ever found something strange in your mailbox? We don’t have a mailbox, but generally we’ve never received anything weird.

13. Is there anything specific you need to do within the next week? Just some work-related deadlines I have to accomplish.

14. What was the last movie you got from Netflix [if you use it]? I’m not sure what you mean by ‘got,’ but the last movie I saw was called A Hard Day, but it was the Filipino version coming from the original South Korean film. I watched it with my parents this morning.

15. Are you annoyed by the increase in prices for Netflix? My dad pays the monthly subscription for our family so it doesn’t affect me.

16. Who was the last relative that came to visit you? My grandma and one of my cousins came over for my brother’s birthday.

17. Does your bedding all match? Yep.

18. Are you having company over the weekend? Nopes. I only have friends come over whenever there’s an online concert we wanna watch together, and there’s none of that happening this weekend.

19. Do people come to you a lot with their problems? Not a lot, but my friends will sometimes come to me if they want to rant or need advice on something, yes.

20. Have you/would you ever consider teaching as a career? I don’t think I ever wanted to be a teacher, even as a kid.

21. Are you most comfortable with having short hair or long hair? Ultimately, shorter.

22. Do you usually cut your hair short in the summer? Nah, my schedule when it comes to having my hair trimmed is always random.

23. Are you interested in fantasy movies/shows? No, it’s one of my least favorite genres.

24. Have you ever gone whale-watching? I think we’ve tried it before? but it wasn’t too successful. I was able to see some dolphins, though.

25. What is something that you have a large amount of? K-pop freebies (mostly replicards, stickers, and thank you notes) from all the shops I’ve purchased from over the last few months.

#survey #surveys

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sintreaties · 4 years ago

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The first thing to keep in mind, is that the OC has to be coherent with the story and the setting. You need to slip them in your fic in the same manner you would add a different species of fish in Kirari’s aquariums, that is, seamlessly and without much racket. They have to be weaved in the background and plot without disrupting the setting, but at the same time they can’t just be soul-less puppets, ready to be discarded as soon as you’ve used them for your plot-points.

These are the main pieces of advice I can give:

1) make sure you know who your characters are and why the story needs them

2) use the narrative technique of “show, don’t tell” to make them come alive in your stories

3) refrain from using excessive flashbacks, dialogues and descriptions.

4) practice, practice, practice and have fun

I will now talk about all of this a bit more in depth.

Let’s start with the character itself.

In order to create an OC you have to ask yourself:

1) what is their purpose in terms of plot

2) how do their actions and existence influence the world around them

3) how many times they appear.

In a word, you have to know how relevant they are to your story.

The more relevant they are, the more you should work on their thoughts, speech, actions, backstory and appearance in order to give them the same depth as the canon characters. You should also remember, that technically characters like Grandma Bami aren’t OCs. Their personalities and looks might be original, but for the rest, they already have a place in canon, even if we don’t see much of it, so you have to pay more attention in order to ground them and make them believable.

Keep in mind that your characters are more than a face and a plot-point, that relationships can be paradoxical and varied and that every person has flaws and strengths. Now you should be good to go.

Once you’ve decided on who the OC is and what they do, it’s time to weave those characteristics into the narration. Of course everyone has their own way of narrating their stories and everyone has different reasons to use an OC. Here are some of the examples in my fics.

In Of Thorns and Petals, Sayaka briefly mentions her parents to Kirari. In particular, we know about her mother's job and that she was always quite busy and distant. We learn more about this when Sayaka compares herself to her through a brief recollection: Sayaka remembers her talking on the phone, pressing it between her shoulder and ear while she cooks, like a real woman (meaning a functioning adult). This is meant to show the nuances in Sayaka's relationship with her mother: Sayaka looks up to her as as role model, and at the same feels her distant because she was always too busy to build a proper relationship with her.

Althought we won’t see Sayaka’s parents for God only know how many chapters, it was important to mention them now in order to establish that they exist, so the reader won’t be confused to see them at a second time and they won't feel out of place when Sayaka (and the narration) will require their presence.

Another OC of mine is Naosuke. Naosuke is merely a servant of the clan. In In the Shade of the Orchard we learn about his story, but his main function as narrator was to allow us to learn about Grandma Bami, about her cruelty and at the same time about all the characteristics that made her a woman worthy of admiration. In later works like OTAP he's a connection between past and present, between what the twins used to be when Grandma was around, and what they've become. He offers a contrast too, between the hatred they have for her and the reluctant admiration and devotion he always felt (i.e. Kirari suspects him of bringing her peaches when she goes to visit her Grandmother in Blood's Sickness).

Although Naosuke is now a background character in most of my fics (AUs and not), you don’t need to read In the Shade Of The Orchard to know who he is. We get to know everything we need about him at the right time through the right dialogues, actions and recollections, without disrupting the present narrative.

Naosuke and Sayaka’s parents are both examples of a “show, don’t tell” style of narration. Although it might take some practice, I believe this is the best style when it comes to introducing OCs, as it feels more natural.

See it as a painting and every detail is a brush stroke that will bring the composition together: Kirari recollects that her father often looked tired; and that the same tiredness often turned into something very similar to fear when he came out of Grandma’s office. Today, in the present moment, he doesn’t smile often and he never shows himself proud of her, notwithstanding all of her accomplishments (meaning, he sees too much of Grandma in Kirari and it’s taking its toll on the relationship between them). Here you have the portrayal of a weak, tortured man and his change throughout the years. You only need to give him a fitting appearance, perhaps bright blue eyes that look older than what they are.

Want to introduce an OC that has no real, possible connection to canon? Work in the same manner and make up everything you need.

The man sitting before Sayaka keeps playing with a lighter. He doesn’t look scared or nervous, but he has his own kind of restlessness. His eyes are indifferent and there are deep shadows under them; his hair is clean and cut, just like his nails, but there’s the first hint of a beard under his chin. Sayaka thinks that his suit looks too new, as if the price tag is still behind his neck.

Later on, when Kirari will arrive, she will amiably ask him if his flight went well, and he will tell her that her cousin was very clear in her instructions.

In a few lines we learnt that this man smokes or has a connection with fire, that he looks after himself but that Terano forced him to fly to Hyakkaou in such a hurry that the only way to make himself presentable was to buy brand new clothes, plus that Kirari isn't surprised to see him, so she probably knows him.

Kirari, Sayaka and John Doe himself will tell you this. I, as the narrator, am merely showing you their thoughts, words and appearance.

What you shouldn’t do in order to achieve the same result is use paragraph after paragraph of flashbacks and dialogues. In the first case, you will interrupt the flow of the narration, detaching the reader from the present; in the second one you might lose their interest.

When working on descriptions in general, be sure not to exaggerate. If you sap the subtext, you will only bore the reader (remember all those Jane Austen character descriptions? XVII Century English literature wasn’t that fun because the writers passed too much time telling us about each damn piece of clothing on their characters). Consider that most people don’t even notice each other’s eye color unless there’s something peculiar about it.

Last but not least, the more you get acquainted with your OC the better your narration around them will become, most importantly if you enjoy what you’re doing. There’s an intimacy between me and Naosuke; built on the fact that I and only I know most of his feelings and thoughts, only I know how he could react in a certain situation or not. When I think so much about it, it is extremely satisfying to bring all of that in my stories. Naosuke came to life first because I needed a “walking camera” and second because I was having a lot of fun writing him.

If it’s your first time writing an OC, don’t be afraid to come up with a Mary Sue. Humans are complicated even in fiction and only through practice (and reading) you might learn how to avoid certain mistakes sometimes.

Remember that it’s fanfiction. Be happy first, worry about technique later. Don’t be afraid to write as much as you can about anything you want and don't get discouraged if you can't write like James Joyce right off the bat.

I hope my answer and the examples I provided were useful. If you do end up writing something, please let me know!

#writing #fanfiction #OCs #kakegurui #sintreatiesreplies #anon

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kannra21 · 4 years ago

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If some anime onlys want to spoil the 5th season for themselves then this is your Pandora box, enjoy!

So the last episode of season 4 is manga chapter 190. Endeavor won the fight although he's heavily bleeding so Hawks comes to his aid and teases him for using the same pose as All Might but then, surprise; Dabi is arriving on the scene. The thing is, Dabi sent the nomu to fight Endeavor so that he could finish him off when Endeavor's at his most vulnerable state. Hawks also couldn't fight since Endeavor burned most of his feathers. Miruko comes to the rescue in the last minute and Dabi said "welp fuck that" so he disappeared. Later in the day, Hawks and Dabi meet in the abandoned factory. Hawks is angry bc Dabi acted out of their plan- Dabi was supposed to send the nomu to a different location, not in the middle of the city. He also noted that the nomu was on a completely different level from the ones they've seen so far. Hawks is working for the league and he was supposed to bring some random strong guy to fight the nomu in order to test its abilities, but he chose Endeavor who got damaged pretty badly and is now recovering in the hospital. In reality, Hawks is spying on the league bc the hero commission told him so. Dabi is still suspicious of Hawks, he doesn't trust him but he told him that they'll stay in contact. Later Hawks is arriving to the hospital to check on Endeavor, he's smiling but his eyes are smudged on the corners, meaning that he was crying because he felt guilty for indirectly hurting Endeavor. Later on we find out about Hawks' past. As a little kid he saved some random people from a car crash. From a very young age he was super fast and that's how the hero commission heard of him and wanted to meet him. Hawks' family is very poor and the commission decided to take him under their wing, they also promised to take care of his family. Since then Hawks became a child soldier, he was groomed into becoming a perfect hero. But he feels trapped, like a bird in a cage. He doesn't feel free at all but as long as he can accomplish his dream- to achieve a society where heroes can enjoy their free time, then he'd be happy, even if it meant that he had to dirty his hands in the process.

The next day Endeavor arrives home. Natsuo, Fuyumi and Shouto are having their first family dinner. Endeavor has a permanent scar on his face, the same side Shouto has his burn mark. Shouto is very indifferent towards this and continues slurping his noodles. Natsuo is angry at Endeavor bc he and Shouto finally got to learn more about each other since they couldn't interact much bc Endeavor isolated Shouto from his siblings. He's yelling at him and getting out of the house. Endeavor is taking it all, he knows he deserves it. Fuyumi is sad and wishes for their family to get better. Fuyumi is trying very hard for their family and to remain as optimistic as she possibly can.

Deku's dreaming of ofa users from the end of season 4. We get All Might flashback where Nana's dying and transferring ofa to All Might. Gran Torino is training him afterwards and the two are talking about All Might's lack of experience. All Might goes to America after he graduates. And the flashback ends. Deku talks to All Might about his strange dream of ofa users and All Might is concerned in the beginning but reassures him and tells him that they'll figure it out together. Since Bakugou already knows about ofa Deku and him are training together. Aizawa and Shinsou are coming out of the break room and Aizawa held a meeting at Ground Gamma (training faculty). There're class a and class b at the gathering and they're having joined training in a way that they're being divided into groups. Shinsou is invited bc he's hoping to transfer to the hero course and everyone is surprised. Shinsou declares that he's not wishing to make any friends but you can see Midoriya's determined "I'll befriend you" look. Monoma also wants to befriend Shinsou bc he feels like he can relate to their Quirks both being perceived as villainous. The joint training begins and long story short- Deku gets a new Quirk called Black Whip but he can't control it well so there's chaos on the field but Shinsou and Uraraka manage to save him. Bakugou gets character development bc he saved Jirou from getting attacked by the opponent's team. Afterwards the teachers are evaluating each group's teamwork, class a wins. After that Aizawa tells everyone that Shinsou will definitely transfer to the hero course when they all become 2nd years. It's still unknown if he'll transfer to the class a or b. Aizawa talks to Monoma and asks him if he could pay a visit to Eri tomorrow. Eri meets Monoma for the first time and she's kinda scared but Mirio is joking ab it, calling Monoma "the dark side of ua". Monoma is totally unswept and being fabulous as always. So they enter the house and Aizawa tells him to try to copy Eri's Quirk. A small horn appears on Monoma's head and he's pretty but he says that he can't copy her entire ability since he only copies the bare-bones essence of a Quirk. That's also the reason why he couldn't copy Deku's ofa, only green lightnings that casually appear around his body. Deku is internally glad for Monoma bc he's sure, if Monoma ever managed to copy ofa, that he'd have a bunch of broken bones and we can see Deku sweat-dropping on the thought of it. Aizawa says it's a shame that Monoma couldn't manage to copy her Quirk bc he thought that Monoma could teach her how to use it but since it's not possible they need to find another way. Eri feels like a burden but Deku comforts her and she's smiling again.

It's early December and snow is starting to fall. Class a is excited in the dormitories and Tsuyu is going into hibernation when she feels too cold. We find out that Sero and Todoroki share the same taste in manga. Yes the boys are reading mangas. Bakugou and Todoroki still need to finish their license course so we see the two together with Inasa and Camie again. Gang Orca's having enough of them (he loves them). Class a is commenting on Todoroki and Bakugou while they're away and Kaminari says that getting his license was the only time he ever beat the two at anything. He adds "how sad" and wow such a roast king. Long story short Todoroki and Bakugou accomplished their task- they fought together against some small gang belonging to a criminal organization called meta liberation army and YEA HORIKOSHI IS INTRODUCING US NEW VILLAINS HOORAY. All Might approaches the two after they got their licenses and he's congratulating them by ruffling their heads. Bakugou is disgusted and Todoroki's having a soft smile.

BACK TO THE VILLAINS! The title changes from MY HERO ACADEMIA to MY VILLAIN ACADEMIA, so yea this part is only about the villains. Shigaraki's hair grew longer, he's missing Kurogiri, they're broke bc Giran's away and Dabi's arriving with no newbies since he burns everyone he meets on his way so his search doesn't make that much sense. They need to find the doctor afo often interacted with when all of a sudden, boom, a monstrous-like creature appears out from the ground called Gigantomachia and Shigaraki needs to prove his worth as afo's successor. The league appears in the doctor's underground lab and the doc is supposed to prepare Shigaraki for the future challenges. Shigaraki asks doctor to reproduce his Quirk erasing bullets and the doc asks Shigaraki about his motivations for becoming the world's symbol of destruction. Shigaraki's having flashbacks of his and afo's time together. We get a glimpse of Shigaraki's past and we found out, when his Quirk manifested for the first time, that he accidentally killed his entire family one night and the hands he's having on his body are actually his family's hands. He's living with guilt for the rest of his life. He ended up on the streets and he was asking random civilians for help but everyone ignored him. Afo found him and that's how he ended up becoming the successor of the world's greatest villain. Shigaraki hates afo bc he's an evil prick, but he also hates the entire hero society bc everyone let him down when he needed them the most.

Shigaraki had a good heart as a kid, his own sister compared him to All Might. His grandma is Nana Shimura and he also loved heroes very much. He was basically Deku turned evil. Nonetheless, Shigaraki still has a good heart bc he cares ab his friends. Because of his never-ending hate for the hero society and everything that breathes, he decided to destroy the world and doctor was like "ok u passed the vibe check". The league gets out of the lab and for a month and a half Shigaraki doesn't sleep and fights Gigantomachia. Since Gigantomachia's primary target is his master's successor, the rest of the league is taking shifts and trying to help Shigaraki out. Shigaraki thinks he's close to beating the giant but then Twice's phone rang and it turns the new villain organization kidnapped Giran and held him hostage in their hideout in a mountainous area called Deika City. The league is having enough of their bullshit so they decide to go save their man. Long story short, meta liberation army (mla) is a large, powerful villain organization that follows the philosophy that the free usage of Quirks is a basic human right and emphasizes liberation over regulation. The original meta liberation army was founded and led by the infamous Destro and the current army was founded and led by his son Re-Destro, Rikiya Yotsubashi. Long story short, Toga fights against a pretty lady with a landmine Quirk and she kills the lady, her name was Chitose Kizuki, also known as Curious. Toga's Quirk evolves bc she can now copy Quirks alongside appearances. Dabi is fighting a boy with an ice Quirk, his name is Geten. He has a striking resemblance to Rei Todoroki since he has a shoulder-length white hair and long white lashes. Dabi's fight with Geten was the first time he started using his Quirk more earnestly and the city is basically in ice and fire. Geten has very similar beliefs to Endeavor and thinks that people with strongest Quirks deserve the best things in life and Dabi becomes angry. Tbh this is the first time Dabi drops his mask of boredom and indifference. Shigaraki fights against Re-Destro and his Quirk evolves. Shigaraki basically disintegrated the entire city and lov wins. The newer army later merged with the league to form the paranormal liberation front. It's a big ass criminal organization and Shigaraki's the absolute ruler of it all. Later the lieutenants are divided into squads and Dabi and Geten are put together which is hilarious and iconic. Shigaraki comes later to the doctor’s and is being put into a large lab tube for the next 4 months where he's developing a Quirk- afo. After these 4 months there's going to be a war between heroes and villains.

#boku no hero academia #my hero academia #bnha #mha #spoilers #manga spoilers #season 5 #i'm tired so i'm going to sleep #bye #league of villains #lov

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blackjack-15 · 4 years ago

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Silly Rabbit, Ecological Terrorism is For Kids! — Thoughts on: The White Wolf of Icicle Creek (ICE)

Previous Metas: SCK/SCK2, STFD, MHM, TRT, FIN, SSH, DOG, CAR, DDI, SHA, CUR, CLK, TRN, DAN, CRE

Hello and welcome to a Nancy Drew meta series! 30 metas, 30 Nancy Drew Games that I’m comfortable with doing meta about. Hot takes, cold takes, and just Takes will abound, but one thing’s for sure: they’ll all be longer than I mean them to be.

Each meta will have different distinct sections: an Introduction, an exploration of the Title, an explanation of the Mystery, a run-through of the Suspects. Then, I’ll tackle some of my favorite and least favorite things about the game, and finish it off with ideas on how to improve it. As ICE sends off the Jetsetting Games category and moves into the Odd Games category, there will be a section between The Intro and The Title called The Weird Stuff, where I’ll go into what storyline marks this game a bit Odd in the Nancy Drew series as a whole.

If any game requires an extra section or two, they’ll be listed in the paragraph above, along with links to previous metas.

These metas are not spoiler free, though I’ll list any games/media that they might spoil here: ICE; TRT; mention of FIN; mention of CUR; mention of TRN; mention of SEA.

This meta is under a read more because of its sheer length.

The Intro:

Ughhhhh. UGHHH.

The White Wolf of Icicle Creek has a lot of things that make it distinct in the Nancy Drew video game series — it sports the first new interface since SHA, it has the world’s most boring list of ‘enticing moments’ from the game on the back, its assets look like they were forcefully molded out of gummy bears, it randomly was released on Wii, it’s the best-known game among non-fans thanks to the Game Grumps — but it also stands out because not one of those things make it enjoyable to play or to watch without a heavy amount of MST3K-style commentary.

Also because it features the fandom’s least favorite puzzle of all time…but more on that later.

A point to get out of the way before we get into the game proper is that this game feels a lot like a cheap knock-off of Treasure in a Royal Tower. Like, a lot like a cheap knock-off. One of those animated films called “Bemo’s Lost in the Ocean” or “A Toy Tale” that come out around Disney/Pixar films to try to trick hapless grandmas into buying them.

Just lining it up, we have Nancy stuck in/around a lodge in winter, an edict from the owner of the lodge to figure out what’s up with repeated Incidents and possible sabotage while most guests have left, an academic around Nancy’s age, an Old Coot, an Olympian whose grandparent was important, chores (including food related chores) to do in order to progress in the story, a suspect you can only talk to face-to-face for part of the game…the list honestly goes on in both big and small ways.

While ICE isn’t the only one that tries to do this (since I’m not doing a SEA meta, I won’t get into the fact that SEA literally just remastered DDI’s characters and said ‘good enough’), it does feel particularly egregious because, for all its copying, there’s not enough in the game to distract from it even a bit.

ICE is a game searching for an identity and unable to find one, no matter how many plot points, chores, or games (horrible, unskippable games) they throw at the player. We have full on international espionage and ecological terrorism here (more on that in the next section), and it just…doesn’t matter, at the end of the day. It also takes place in Canada, but your only clue to that is that one of the characters says “eh” a lot, so that’s not great either.

If ICE is a new game to you (it can be a bear to install and even worse to complete, so I’m going to go off the assumption that not everyone will be familiar with it), you’ve probably only heard of the cooking chores, fox and geese, and that this is the game with the Return of Tony Balducci, previously of TRN fame. (Honestly, ICE had a big enough cast without its phone characters, but HER decided to shove three phone characters along with one partial phone character at us anyway.) And, to be honest, that’s pretty much all there is to the game.

Now I know this sounds harsh, but there is a possible explanation to the lack of content in this game. In my previous meta (link at the top of this post) I made a note that CRE’s production in all likelihood suffered because the company was focused on ICE’s new interface. I don’t think it’s a leap at all to say that ICE’s story and characters could also have suffered because of the same thing.

The biggest problem with ICE — besides the weird stuff we’ll get into below — is that it’s a shallow game. None of the characters have any real depth, the plot is a paper-thin copy of TRT, the puzzles are alternatingly impossible and extremely easy, and in an effort to add “depth”, we get…well, we get this next section.

The Weird Stuff:

With each of the Odd Games (ICE through RAN, Heaven help us all), there’s something that makes the game truly…well, odd. Odd for the Nancy Drew series, odd for the age range specified on the front of the box, and odd in general when you look at the rest of the plot.

In this game, it comes in the form of terrorism — or rather, two types of terrorism. Guadalupe is our first (and only, in this series) ecological terrorist, belonging to a fringe group called “Run and Go Free” and being perfectly fine with illegal acts (destruction of the fishing lodge, sabotage of personal property), even telling Nancy that she’s done worse in the name of Run and Go Free.

Nancy Drew Games are no stranger to hippie/naturalist types (see DOG, DDI, CAR, etc.) but Lupe is our first to be legitimately dangerous. Sure, she doesn’t end up being the ultimate Bad Guy, but she is A Bad Guy, and it really does seem very odd to me that after everything Lupe does (and insinuates that she’s done), that she gets away with barely a slap on the wrist in having to leave the lodge.

Lupe in no way fits in with the rest of the plot; there’s nothing to justify her being present in the game, she can appear about halfway through the game and then leaves to become a phone contact soon after, she’s not present enough to be an actual suspect — she has no place in the plot nor the game, and it really does just boggle the mind that a character is in it at all, especially with ICE having a greater than average number of suspects to begin with.

On the other hand, however, we have Yanni, an Eastern European Olympian spy/terrorist, sent by the Fredonian (a commonly used fake country) government to bomb around the lodge to find uranium under the cover of training for the next Olympics.

That is a whole lot of things for one character.

You’d think with the presence of Lupe that Yanni would fit right in, but he doesn’t make her — or himself — any less odd or out of place than he would have been alone. It’s a ‘suspicious Olympian’ character that we already got with Jacques, but he’s a million times worse, setting off friggin bombs to find a metal that his government wants for…well, the normal reason that governments want uranium.

So we can add in “reference to ongoing nuclear warfare” as another thing that makes this game Odd.

Yanni doesn’t fit the game or the plot, which is pretty bad considering he’s responsible for about half the plot in the first place. He also has that weird aside about his grandmother being eaten by wolves, as if HER wants the player to suspect him because of some twisted revenge against wolves plot (which would have been Very Weird) so that they can pull the rug out at the end and be like “see?? He’s a political terrorist looking for uranium for nuclear bombs for his country!!! Gotcha!!”.

Like, it’s not a Gotcha if it’s absolute lunacy. My land.

With that explanation out of the way, let’s get to something a little less Odd.

The Title:

I actually don’t have much to say here. The White Wolf of Icicle Creek is honestly a great name; it tells us the focal point of the game (the wolf), the location, (Icicle Creek), and even pretty much tells you the season that this game is happening in (white, icicle). It accomplishes a lot in a very short amount of words, and pertains accurately to the game we’re dealing with.

We’ll chalk that up in the “Win” category…especially since we’re going straight back into the “Lose” category with the next section.

The Mystery:

The mystery is a mess, full stop. There’s way too much going on for the amount of payoff (i.e. little to none), and the plot, thin at best, completely drops off at the 2/3rds mark when all the player has left to do is wait for random events to occur and keep putting off fox and geese.

Anyway.

We begin with strange, destructive incidents of sabotage happening at a renowned winter resort. Most of the guests have left, and there’s been some damage to parts of the resort. Asked for help by the owner of the resort who’s away on business, Nancy must pick up the slack left by staff who have quit, run food-related errands, and discover who might be behind these attacks before it’s too late.

Oh wait, that’s Treasure in a Royal Tower. Lemme start again.

We begin with strange, destructive incidents of sabotage happening at a renowned winter resort. Most of the guests have left, and there’s been some damage —

You get the picture.

The biggest difference pre-game is that after every incident, a white wolf is spotted, only to disappear before the police get there. People start connecting the wolf to the crimes, and go as far as blaming it for cases of food poisoning and slashed tires, as if the wolf is cooking food and using a knife with its paws.

Just as Nancy’s arriving on scene, the bunkhouse is blown up and she hears the wolf howling — so obviously there must be a connection there, and a wolf definitely isn’t just responding to a loud noise.

This part honestly feels a bit like the beginning of CUR, where the game tries to establish Scary Feelings and Ominous Threats and just comes off ham-fisted.

The back of the box features three ‘exciting’ things that Nancy gets to do in this game, which are as follows: cook lunch and dinner, ride a snowmobile and wear snow shoes, and do snowball fights and ice fishing. While it’s sad that those moderately exciting things are the best that the box can boast, it’s even sadder that they really are the best the game has to offer.

It’s easy to lose thread of the mystery nearly as soon as Nancy gets to the lodge, because she’s immediately bombarded with laundry that has to be done before a certain time, meals that have to be done within a certain hour or two, and a suspect (Lupe) that can just refuse to show up.

Oh, and the return of Tino Balducci.

Returning in a game where he doesn’t fit in and where no one wanted him in the first place, Tino’s there to “help” Nancy solve the mystery by giving her a questionnaire for her suspects to fill out that asks what planet they see themselves as, among other inanities.

Honestly, this whole section could be summed up as “Tino returns, among other inanities”.

Nancy, throughout all of this, somehow has time to do a bit of detective work, interviewing a cast of rather one-note suspects, figuring out that more than one person is responsible for the many accidents. Guadalupe’s sabotage is discovered and she’s sent home, Yanni is increasingly unavailable (which is hugely suspicious), snowball fights are more prevalent than necessary, and finally the villain is exposed, all culminating in a glitchy, nigh-impossible snowmobile chase.

Oh, and there’s a half-tamed wolf storyline that kinda pops up every now and again.

All in all, the mystery is a weak thread throughout the game — which is a problem, because it’s the only thread throughout the game — that’s easily overshadowed by the chores, games, and frankly awful visuals throughout the game.

Now, to those who contribute (in a way) to the non-entity that is ICE’s story:

The Suspects:

Ollie Randall is our resident grumpy caretaker and is Chantal’s right-hand man, along with being on the Avalanche Patrol and a firm believer in the bad luck that wolves bring. His wife can’t handle cold temperatures due to a nerve condition, so he’s also his daughter Freddie’s sole parent during the winter.

As a culprit in the game as it now is, Ollie would have been the only sensical option; fed up with the awful guests that come and cause havoc, he starts causing little easily-solved accidents to spook away the less hardy-type guests, but it keeps spiraling as it doesn’t keep out everyone but people like Bill Kessler. Frustrated by the treatment the lodge gets, he decides that if people don’t treat it nicely, they can’t have it at all…

Unfortunately, Ollie is limited to being Grumpy, and not a lot else.

Freddie Randall is Ollie’s daughter and the self-proclaimed Snow Princess due to her ability to stay out in the cold for hours in her snow fort, and to take repeated snowballs to the face courtesy of a teen detective.

Freddie is…I know I talked about how Yanni and Lupe don’t really fit into the game, but Freddie really doesn’t fit any version of this game. She’s there for a mini game, she doesn’t have a personality, you can’t skip her mini game, she’s voiced by Lani Minella…the list goes on and on. Her shining moment of glory is acting as a red herring by throwing a snowball through Lou’s window.

She’s pointless to talk about as a potential culprit, even though she would have been an interesting “culprit” in a case where all the incidents are actually Freddie accidentally causing trouble, but that probably would have been even less satisfying than how the game actually went, so we’ll just move along here.

Our cross-country skiing Olympian from the fictional Eastern European country of Fredonia, Yanni Volkstaia is both our only suspect wearing a onesie and our only suspect with a family member eaten by wolves.

I know, that’s already a high bar to top. Don’t worry, he’ll fall very, very far below it.

Yanni, as mentioned above, is our odd spy/terrorist villain who is disguising his being there for uranium by saying that it’s his Olympic competitors trying to throw off his training. Why an Olympian is training alone without any coaches or security…well, let’s just say that Yanni didn’t really think his cover story through.

Just because Yanni’s the obvious culprit doesn’t mean he fills the role well; Yanni is obvious, annoying, and his paper-thin cover is just annoying enough to be…well, annoying. He throws out that his grandmother was “killed and devoured” by wolves as if he wants Nancy to believe that that’s the reason he’s targeting the lodge but…it still points directly to him. It’s just not great all the way around.

Joining Yanni in terrorism is Guadalupe Comillo, activist from California and hard-to-find suspect. Lupe can, as mentioned above, literally just not appear for a bit, stalling out the game and making her even more annoying than she already is.

Lupe’s cover is that she’s a bird watcher, but she knows absolutely nothing about birds — like honestly nothing, even though she had time to make her cover story (not unlike Yanni).

She gets sent away by destruction of private property (Ollie’s gun – super dangerous to make a gun misaim out in the wild and she’s lucky he didn’t hit anything problematic [like another person] because of it) and good riddance, but appears as a phone friend to rather pointlessly exonerate herself and do pretty much nothing else but stop the game in its tracks until she lets it proceed.

As a culprit, Lupe would have been the other obvious choice, but she’s just not in the game enough, so she’s easy to ignore. Her cover is thin, but so is her motivation (!!! Save the wolf!!!), so she’s one of the most annoying non-entity suspects in this series.

Our second Californian in the cast is Lou Talbot, who is a college student, master of ‘earthitecture’ (inspired by Poppy Dada) and stealer of dinosaur bones for money. He also plays fox and geese with Bill in his spare time. He does a really good impression of the Guy in my MFA twitter as well, but that’s literally it.

No, really, that’s his entire character. I can’t even posit what he would be like as the culprit because that is LITERALLY all we’re given on him. End of bio. My gosh, what a waste of pixels.

Lou’s partner in fox and geese is Bill Kessler, who loves to fish and whose grandmother used to own the lodge before Chantal. While he feels that his grandmother Tilly was cheated out of the lodge, he has little desire to get it back, and really just wants to hide the fact that he’s been to the lodge before (an odd thing to hide, but whatever makes him feel better.)

Like Lou, apart from that, he really doesn’t have any character. He basically is a mix of TRT’s Jacques in his family connection to the lodge and SHA’s Dave in actual amount of motivation (i.e., 0 motivation) to do anything about it. He is, however, the person who makes Nancy play fox and geese, and for that alone, I hate him.

As a culprit, Bill’s played as a red herring for a solid 5 minutes of gameplay (though not very well — why would an avid fisherman blow up a fishing shack?), and then totally discounted the moment Nancy finds out his backstory. He’s really just there — like most of the cast, worryingly enough — to pad out the number of suspects and to give Nancy a taste of Hell through fox and geese.

The Favorite:

There are a few bright spots in this confused mess of a game, so let’s go through them.

My favorite moment in the game is when Nancy, after Yanni says the horrific line about his grandmother being killed and devoured by wolves, can ask “how”. As if that’s a sentence that needs a ‘how’. It’s a great moment of Nancy being absolutely tone deaf, and I giggle like a madman every time I think about it.

My favorite puzzle in the game is probably the cooking minigame, which I dislike in frequency and time requirement, but do love in actual practice. It’s fun to cook in every Nancy Drew game, and this one is no exception. I just wish it wasn’t regimented so heavily.

I love the atmosphere of the lodge; it’s beautifully animated (in fact one of my favorite locations in the ND games), big without being too big, and is never boring, even by the end of the game. The lodge is largely a character unto itself, and is quite successful as a wonderful location.

The Un-Favorite:

There’s a lot to unpack here, but we’ll keep it short because the fix section of this meta is gonna have me by the throat.

My least favorite moment in the game is the moment Tino comes into the game. As the game now stands, there’s no reason for him to be involved, and short a comment about him by the Hardy Boys, which would at least justify it a little, he’s purposeless. He’s worse than that, actually — he’s there to slow the game down, and that’s a cardinal sin.

My least favorite puzzle in the game is a tie between fox and geese (UGH) and the final snowmobile chase. My problems with fox and geese are obvious — they’re everyone’s problems with fox and geese: it’s a required puzzle, it’s hard to do, there’s no way to cheat through it, and it takes forever.

The final snowmobile chase is somehow even worse. It’s buggy, laggy, has nothing to do with the actual plot, has arbitrary win conditions — it’s the worst (or at least among the worst) that HER has to offer with final puzzles. If everything else about ICE was perfect, engaging, fun, and thought-provoking, this final puzzle would still put me off of playing it. It’s just that bad.

The storyline with Isis and that whole backstory isn’t treated well in game; it’s almost as if they came up with the title and then remembered at the last minute that there’s supposed to be an actual wolf. I would have loved more of a focus on that storyline; as it is, it barely counts as a blip on the game’s radar — which is a shame.

The Fix:

Gosh, how on earth will I fix The White Wolf of Icicle Creek? The answer is that I don’t feel like I can just apply a few quick fixes and be on my way; the only answer I could find is to approach this as if I was at the proposal meeting for this game — how would I outline the barebones scenario?

This section will be long, as I’m going to start just from the skeleton and build things in. What follows is my own imaginings of what my own personal ideas would be to create ICE, rather than to fix it from what the finished product was. As an important note, the side-plot with the wolf, as it was really neglected and bare-bones to begin with in the game, is mostly removed.

The first section I’ll work on is structure. Though it wasn’t done perfectly in FIN, I feel like the pacing of ICE could be vastly improved by putting a clock on the game by assigning designated days and tasks. Three days is still probably a good idea, as it lets us easily break the story into a 3-act structure and delineate certain tasks for certain days without overloading one day in particular. We’ll get more into what should happen in Days 1, 2, and 3 later in a general overview of how the plot would go.

The mechanism used to get Nancy there — Chantal being a friend of Carson’s — isn’t bad, but I’d change it up just slightly. Nancy’s not yet a “professional” detective, but we’re only 2 games from her being hired by a foreign country’s authorities, so she should be making her way up there. It stands to reason that Nancy would attract some attention from the business in CRE since the Hardy Boys would definitely mention Nancy in their de-briefing and Aikens is a big name, so let’s build on that from here. Chantal is still Carson’s friend, and she still wants to get these incidents solved while she’s away from the Lodge for legal matters — someone got injured at the lodge and is now suing.

Carson decides to officially hire Nancy — paperwork, legal documentation, etc. — as a “concerned third party” in Chantal’s problems, telling her that her job is to find out two things: find out what’s causing the incidents of sabotage, and give Carson enough evidence in favor of the lodge’s safety that he can prove reasonable doubt against the people accusing Chantal. Nancy will be there undercover as a family friend of Chantal’s, with only Ollie knowing that she’s there in an official capacity.

ICE has a cast that is both unwieldy and characterless, and I feel like the way to fix that is through combining characters. Starting out we have Ned, Chantal, Tino, the ex-maid, her boyfriend, Ollie, Freddie, Lupe, Yanni, Lou, and Bill — 10 characters that we deal with in the present, plus one other player (in the boyfriend/stalker guy). 11 in total. That is a huge, huge cast that we definitely need to pare down.

The first thing to do is to take out Tino Balducci. He slows down the plot, is completely unnecessary, and isn’t even entertaining. Since there’s no Hardy Boys to play off of him (and I would keep the Hardy Boys out of this game, even with my love for them), Tino needs to go the way of the dodo. And good riddance to him, honestly.

Freddie, an obvious subject to axe, should instead be aged up to around 20 and combined with the maid whose ex-boyfriend’s letter Nancy finds at the beginning of the game. Freddie would handle all the chores the first day except the cooking.

Instead of a nebulous, incident-causing ex-boyfriend, Freddie would have just started a relationship with Lou, keeping our cast tight and visible, rather than one-off characters with nothing else to give to the story.

By now we’re down to Carson, Ned, Chantal, Freddie, Ollie, Lupe, Yanni, Lou, and Bill. I think we can do a little better than that.

The next step I’d take is to remove Yanni entirely. Yes, I know it’s a big change to remove the canonical culprit, but bear with me. With Yanni and Lupe having so many similarities and together being guilty of 99% of the Crimes in this game, I’m pretty comfortable in combining them. I’d also make the minor change of having Lupe be an Indigenous Canadian rather than Hispanic and from California, since our game is set in Canada and there’s absolutely no reason for a large portion of our cast to be American.

With Yanni gone, Lupe (or whatever her new name would be, since the name ‘Lupe’, all nationality changes aside, in a game ostensibly about a wolf makes me want to kill myself) assumes a few of his personality quirks – most importantly, a family member with a past with wolves. It doesn’t really matter if it’s positive or negative, you just want the association there as a herring (red or otherwise).

That puts us down to 5 suspects to talk to and three phone friends for a total of 8 players in the present. Since Chantal is supposed to be busy, I’d remove the ability to talk to her entirely — anything that Chantal could offer can come through Carson as Nancy’s official “employer”, which brings us to a nice 7 players — an entirely manageable number.

So let’s begin.

The beginning of the game with Nancy at her desk always includes a case file, so this time the case file would say that Nancy, at the behest of her ‘client’, Carson Drew, is flying out to Alberta to investigate strange happenings at Chantal Moique’s lodge. Chantal is trying to settle with people who got hurt there and are trying to sue her, and Carson’s helping to advise her. Nancy’s mission is two-fold: figure out what’s causing the incidents at the lodge, and find evidence that Chantal can’t be held liable for the injuries incurred by the guests suing her.

Wolves are commonly seen around the area of the lodge — Northern Alberta has some of the highest population of wolves in North America — and there’s a rumor at the lodge that the spirits of the wolves that are hunted in the area every winter are causing some of the sabotage.

Chantal thinks the rumor is being spread by whoever is doing the actual sabotage to make her guests leave and force her out of business, so Carson tells Nancy to pay attention to the stories about the wolves — and one snow-white wolf in particular, who is often sighted very close to the lodge. Carson suspects that, if it exists, the white wolf is actually a trained dog (a white/white and silver Siberian Husky, for example) being used to whip up panic, but tells Nancy to keep an open mind.

As Nancy’s arriving at the Lodge, an explosion occurs in the distance, causing the rumbling of snow to start. Ollie, who’s picked up Nancy from her plane, says darkly that he’s been waiting for something like this to happen, and that this will probably cause a minor avalanche (his opinion as the head of Avalanche Patrol in the area), making it impossible to leave the lodge for a few days. He tells Nancy to head straight to bed once they get to the lodge, as she’s in for an exhausting time dealing with the “weirdos” still left at the lodge.

Nancy wakes up and Day One begins with Freddie freaking out outside Nancy’s door. After explaining that the regular chef (who was off for the last month visiting family) can’t get back to the lodge until tomorrow and that Freddie’s only manned the kitchen once or twice, Nancy says that she has experience cooking and offers to take the chef’s duties for the day.

Day One has Nancy meet all the suspects – Bill’s playing a game (I don’t care what it is as long as it’s something that involves writing things down) with anyone who passes by and talks about how out of all the lodges in Canada, this one’s his favorite; Lou hangs out near the bones (make him an archeology major or something related to but not exactly paleontology) and Definitely Doesn’t Know the Cute Girl Who Works at the Lodge, How Dare Nancy Assume; Not-Lupe is gone until 4pm when it starts getting dark because she loves spending time in nature, especially with the Super Special Wolf running around the place; and Ollie’s in the workshop fixing the things that have been sabotaged, worries about his daughter being away from her mother and about her ‘cavorting’ with a guest.

Nancy still preps lunch and the day goes on without a hitch other than Lou having an overheard argument with someone at around 6. Nancy cooks dinner, accidentally (due to smudged instructions from Freddie) sprinkling paprika in everyone’s food and setting off an allergic (mild to moderate anaphylaxis, helped by an epi pen) reaction + hives in Freddie, who they fly out via helicopter that night.

Ollie, feeling hostile towards Nancy, takes a look at the instructions/recipe that Nancy worked off of and says to her that the first page is Freddie’s handwriting, but the second page isn’t — someone did this on purpose. Nancy calls Carson, who says that the soonest he can get there is the day after next, and to keep herself safe above everything — he’ll check in with the hospital Freddie’s at since it’s also in Edmonton, where Carson and Chantal are. Carson warns Nancy that the guests were about to settle the lawsuit when the news about the explosion hit the news, and are now more determined than ever to sue for all Chantal’s worth.

Day 2 opens with the cook (who’s unseen and just exists in order to relieve Nancy of kitchen duty) arriving and a phone call from Carson asking for Chantal/Freddie if Nancy can grab the laundry bags from the guests’ rooms and that the spare key is in the register at the front (of course guarded by a puzzle — I’d even accept a mini fox and geese, as one of the big problems with that puzzle in the vanilla game is that it goes on way too long.

While snooping in the desk, Nancy finds evidence that Chantal might have been guilty of criminal neglect — a few things around the lodge are listed as “fixed” and totally safe when really they still need some maintenance — and wonders how she should tell Carson and if she should wait until she has more evidence. Before she goes out for the day, Not-Lupe mentions to Nancy “in confidence” that she overheard Lou fighting with Freddie before dinner, calling it a “lover’s quarrel”.

After lunch and talking with all the suspects again, Nancy goes to grab the laundry with the master key and snoops in everyone’s rooms, finding various clues and suspicious things: Bill’s journal detailing how Chantal is running the place into the ground and needs to be replaced, along with a few lodge magazines; Not-Lupe’s gloves with suspicious specks of things on them (Nancy takes a sample of it in a Kleenex or something); Lou’s heavy suitcase that has a case with imprints of bones in it; Ollie’s has maintenance books that also detail how to take things apart and maintenance notes that say he saw the wolf around but didn’t have his gun; Freddie’s only thing of interest is a little dinosaur pin on her dresser.

Nancy takes the opportunity to snoop in Chantal’s normal room and finds that the things that were listed in the documents in the front desk really were fixed; Ollie reported to Chantal that things that he fixed were un-fixed by the time he went back to them the next day — most of the time suffering damage as well, such as the sauna that injured the guests that are suing Chantal. Nancy calls her father with the news, and Carson says to save those documents so that he can come get them tomorrow, and to see if she can find any clues to who might have done it.

After dinner Nancy talks to Lou, who confesses that he and Freddie started dating a few days ago after meeting online last semester in a dinosaur enthusiast forum — hence his decision to come to the lodge, as Freddie said there were cool bones here. He was originally going to steal a few small ones and thought no one would notice if he replaced them with resin-cast replicas, but Freddie caught him and they had a fight which ended with Lou deciding not to steal, and Freddie saying that she could help him make replicas for him to take home and keep in his house.

Nancy asks why he’s telling her, and Lou says that Ollie seems to get along with Nancy well, and he’d like Nancy to calm Ollie down if Ollie discovers that he’s dating Freddie. Nancy asks Lou about the wolf, and Lou says that some of the stuff could be a wolf — he’s seen one around the lodge once or twice — but he hasn’t really been paying attention to anything except the bones and Freddie (who he’s looking forward to visiting once he can).

When talking with Bill, he offhandedly mentions that he used to be a handyman — the sink in his room started acting up, but he fixed it easily because he thinks that Ollie has enough to do without doing this easy fix. Bill says that this would never have happened when Chantal’s father was running the Lodge and accuses Chantal of preferring to spend long “business trips” in the city to actually paying attention to the Lodge — he says she should just live in the city and hire a manager with experience who actually cares. Nancy asks Bill about the wolf, and he says if anyone could be haunted by wolves, he’d believe it was Chantal.

Nancy, it should be noted, during her explorations around the lodge, sees a few pawprints and some chewed-on debris, but otherwise hasn’t seen the wolf in person. Just traces and tracks.

Not-Lupe and Ollie both dodge Nancy’s questions – Ollie’s busy as everything seems to be breaking at once, and snaps at Nancy that without Chantal around, he’s the only person keeping the lodge afloat, and he’d be better off without the stress of this job. When Nancy asks him about the wolf, Ollie says that the last thing they need is some idiot tourist being attacked by a wolf, and so he refuses to believe that there’s a wolf around the area.

Not-Lupe is at her normal place at the window (though there’s a chair there because no one stands all day), and when Nancy asks about the wolf, says that that’s why she’s there — she heard the rumor about the wolf and wanted to see it, but that her visit’s been very disappointing — just a junky lodge with incompetent staff and no wolves anywhere. Her hobby is visiting winter lodges, and this one just Isn’t up to snuff.

Nancy tries to pry deeper, but Not-Lupe shuts her down and goes to bed; Nancy investigates the living room as everyone leaves for bed and finds crinkled up under the couch a magazine cutout about the Premier Lodge Group, a company that owns winter lodges all over Canada and the United States, and their plans to build a group of lodges in Alberta as soon as a few “minor inconveniences” with location are solved.

The day ends with Carson calling; Nancy tells him about all the suspects (Carson confirms Lou’s story by having talked to Freddie), the magazine, Ollie wanting to quit, etc. Carson promises to do some research on Premier Lodge Group and tells Nancy to send him a picture of the stuff she found on Lupe’s gloves. Nancy does so, and that’s the end of Day 2.

Day 3 opens again with Carson’s phone call, informing Nancy that he’ll be there in the early evening — he’s having a contact of his look at the photo Nancy sent, but he’s pretty sure it won’t be good news.

Premier Lodge Group was investigated a few years ago for sabotage to their competitors but ultimately nothing came out of it, and Carson suspects that people were paid off to keep quiet about it. Carson says that he’s looked into Ollie (since Carson suspected him the most) and apparently Ollie always grouches about quitting when he’s stressed but has been there for 20 years and is as loyal as they come, so Nancy says she’ll focus on Not-Lupe and Bill — the two lodge-hoppers who seem dissatisfied with the lodge.

Both Not-Lupe and Bill are gone when Nancy gets downstairs, and Lou (who’s planning on leaving that night to go to Edmonton) says that they both got a sack lunch from the kitchen and left early in the morning to go explore outside. He tells Nancy she can borrow his snowshoes and says that they both headed out (independently) in the direction of Skookum Ridge.

When Nancy gets up to the Ridge, she spots the “wolf” — really a Siberian Husky, like Carson thought, who seems very well trained. When the dog comes up to Nancy, a gunshot ripples through the air and nearly hits the dog, who would have gone running off had Nancy not grabbed her collar and yelled not to shoot. Nancy sees Bill across the ridge and waves him over, explaining that it’s a dog, not a wolf. The dog (whose name is something way better than Isis — literally anything else would do) is suspicious of Bill at first, which convinces Nancy that it’s not Bill’s — the only suspect left is Not-Lupe.

When she tells Bill what she knows about Not-Lupe, Bill admits to having seen her before at a lodge that went out of business due to mysterious accidents, but thought it was a coincidence before digging deeper in the magazines he brought and finding Not-Lupe in the back of a small photo of Premier Lodge Administrative Staff — he was worried about keeping it safe and knowing that there would be no cleaning staff until at least the next day, crumpled it up and put it under the couch he normally sits by.

A happy, friendly dog in tow, Nancy and Bill head back to the lodge only to find Ollie and Lou standing outside looking worried. They tell Nancy that they both went outside because they heard a loud noise, only to find the door locked behind them — and every other door locked as well. After realizing that Not-Lupe wouldn’t open the doors for them, Ollie went to get an axe for the door, only to have a note appear on the door’s window that if they forced their way in, the whole Lodge would be burned to the ground in an instant.

Carson calls then, saying that he’s a few minutes away, but that his friend got back to him — Not-Lupe’s gloves were covered in residue from explosives. Bill takes Nancy’s phone and begins to fill Carson in on who they think Not-Lupe is working for and who she is. Nancy asks Lou and Ollie to hoist her up to her own window, which she keeps unlocked, and crawls in, creeping downstairs to the main room to try to find how Not-Lupe will burn the lodge and stop her.

Nancy confronts Not-Lupe, who confirms her identity as a saboteur for the Premier Lodge Group, saying that with the bad press around the lodge Chantal would have already had to sell — but she’s going to go one step further and cause an ‘incident’, blowing up the lodge with fuses hidden around its ground floor — Chantal’s father won’t spend the money to rebuild the lodge, and the only proof that is against her is the word of two American kids, an old man, and a lodge-hopper with a very incriminating diary that would be found soon enough. She tells Nancy that she can either try to catch her or try to save the lodge and runs out the back, intent on escaping as she pushes the button to arm the explosives.

Nancy yells out the window for them to catch Not-Lupe, who’s got to be headed out to the main road, tossing the cushion of the seat Lupe usually sat in so that her dog can catch her scent, then has the final timed puzzle be switching off each detonator (which would be in each of the places where the suspects usually were, with the exception of Ollie’s whose is in the front desk).

As soon as Nancy disarms them, Bill calls out to her that Carson just called — Lou and the dog tracked Lupe to the main road, and Bill called Carson to let him know. Carson’s car stops Not-Lupe (Carson brought a policeman on a hunch), and the day is saved. Premier Lodge is snagged in a major lawsuit by Chantal’s father and other lodge owners who have had the same thing happen to them, and Chantal hires Bill as co-manager to ensure there’s always someone there to manage the lodge and for his wealth of knowledge of what makes a good lodge and good experience for guests.

The game ends with Nancy writing her letter to Hannah (so that Hannah doesn’t worry about them), and with her dad’s praise for a job well done.

I realize that this is a monumental fix; it’s a brand-new game made out of the skeleton of the old one. I also realize that there are a million and one ways to re-write this game; this one takes the idea of sabotage, one of the most frequent inciting incidents in the Nancy Drew world, and just makes it a little bigger.

No terrorism required.

#nancy drew #clue crew #nancy drew games #white wolf of icicle creek #ICE #long post #video games #nancy drew meta

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thecandywrites · 4 years ago

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Jewel Of The North Part 2

So in case you missed it Part 1. Again, many thanks to @monstersandmaw for sharing the concept of ice orcs with me and letting me run WILD with it. I’m having so much fun with this.

Ok, so Zara Kingsley, top left, top right- Doug Kizzo and just under him is supposedly “Wolf Eye” which is a brand of whiskey I made up just for this story. Fun fact- there is actually a high end brand of whiskey called “Wolves” and they sell whiskey the way designer limited edition sneaker/tennis shoes are sold ($150 a bottle and you have to “register” to even get on a list before they’ll send you a bottle, *sigh* rich people, but I am not a rich person in real life which would explain why in every fantasy story I write, I can change that about my character) anyway, I didn’t know was even a thing until after I wrote this and as a point of curiosity, I double checked to see if Wolf Eye whiskey was a thing so I didn’t have to worry about copyright (Which is why names are Like That in this story) And that beautiful plate of seafood is what I envisioned a “king’s platter” would look like vs. A fisherman’s stew which is the picture right above the little girl who I’ve chosen to represent Sakura in this story and we have the lovely Taylor in the bottom left.

Now let’s go shall we? Off to the Arctic Tundra!

Jewel of the North

Part 2

You woke up earlier than you thought you would, mostly because you were still in your Great Lakes time zone. So what was 10am to your body, it was 7am there. You crept out of bed and snuck into the bathroom to brush your teeth and your hair and put a bra on under your pajamas and then as quietly as you could, unpacked your gifts for Taylor and her family and arranged everything on the table as you quickly made a pot of coffee and some toast for your pre-breakfast and the smell of coffee was what roused Taylor and Greg at about 8:30.

“Good morning.” You greeted them warmly as they were both still obviously groggy but both happily shuffled over to the coffee pot to drink their coffee.

“What’s all this?” Greg asked as he looked at his table which was almost overflowing.

“Presents, Taylor told me to bring seeds.” You answered.

“Did you...like...clean out a greenhouse?” Greg chuckled as he looked at the sheer amount and variety you brought.

“Mmm...more like 5 but that’s not important besides I got to a lot of them just as they were closing out for the season so I got a bunch of it for mere pennies on the dollar and it was just a matter of being in the right place at the right time with money in your pocket.” You giggled with a dismissive wave of your hand. “I don’t do anything small or by half.” You shrugged before you handed him a wrapped present.

“Oof, that’s heavy.” He realized as he took it from you. “You didn’t have to get me anything...oh my gods, you got me Kraken!” He practically squealed when he opened it and pretended to cry as he hugged the gallon jug.

“My precious.” He impersonated Gollum as he pet it which cracked you and Taylor up before you handed her- her own gift as she gasped and tried not to squeal too loudly as she unwrapped a bottle of raspberry peach Grand Marnier. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She practically bounced in her spot, hugging the jug too before she leaned over and hugged you too.

“Alcohol is so stinking expensive up here it’s ridiculous, thank you so much for bringing this.” Taylor thanked you.

“Yes, it’s very generous of you, thank you.” Greg mirrored.

“You’re welcome.” You beamed.

“You know, we really shouldn’t keep all these seeds for ourselves. We should gift these at the festival. That way all the clans can benefit from this.” Greg realized.

“I was thinking the exact same thing, I told her that last night when she told me about them.” Taylor nodded in agreement.

“You got a box we can put it all in for now?” You asked before Taylor grabbed the biggest box she had and the three of you packed the seeds away before you grabbed your other crate that had all the seasonings in it.

“There’s more?” Greg laughed.

“Well yeah, Taylor said the local grocery stores are pretty limited on spices so I brought enough of everything that it should last you until we see each other again.” You shrugged.

“It’s like you brought a spice store with you.” Taylor swooned as she opened some of them and sniffed them before Greg did the same, both of them grinning at the scents in their noses.

“French toast for breakfast?” You suggested.

“Hell yeah,” Greg immediately agreed before you and Taylor began to make breakfast before the scents of breakfast woke the kids up.

“Good morning guys!” You greeted them cheerfully as they stopped and stared at the stranger in the kitchen.

“This is Zara, she’s a friend of ours so you can call her Auntie Zara and she’s going to be staying with us for about a week.” Taylor introduced you.

“And I’m really grateful you guys opened your home up so I could stay with you, so I brought you guys presents.” You told them which made all of them gasp in excitement.

“So, you must be Katie, the sensible older sister.” You asked as you pulled out the presents that had their names on them.

“Lovely to make your acquaintance Katie,” you greeted her formally as you handed her the wrapped gift. Because tweens always loved it when you treated them like little adults.

“And you must be Matthew.” You deduced as you handed Taylor’s son his gift before you got on your knees so you could be eye to eye with the toddler.

“Is your name Jamie?” You asked as Jamie hid his face behind his mother’s leg as Greg and Taylor laughed at his bashfulness.

“Do you think you could take this gift from me Jamie?” You asked as you held it out to him before he took it and ran away.

“You got me a race car!” Matthew exclaimed and promptly high fived you as Katie’s jaw dropped at her present.

“Your mom said it was ok to give you girl pampering stuff, so there’s a few face masks, some nail polish. Fancy hand lotion, a few bath bombs and stuff.” You explained as you pointed everything out before Katie happily enveloped you in a hug.

“Thank you so much.” Katie thanked you gratefully.

“You’re welcome sweetie.” You grinned just as Jaimie squealed in delight at his new toy and came running in and nearly knocked you over giving you a hug which got you to cackle laughing so you were left to sit on the kitchen floor while Jamie hugged you before he left to go play with his toy as Matt was already racing his car around the house before the family finally got to sit down to breakfast as the kids got to know you better by asking questions about you and your family and where you lived as you showed them pictures of your own kids and how you were a widow now and what you did for living and your horses and pets and things as Jamie happily ate his breakfast from your lap and stared at you adoringly and practically inhaled half your breakfast which you didn’t mind one bit. As long as babies ate well, they should thrive and you remembered how your own son Xander was practically a bottomless pit.

Then the calls started to come in on Greg’s and Taylor’s cell phones, all asking if you were there yet.

“Yup, Noah flew her in yesterday.” You heard them both say as their phones then started to blow up from texts.

“Uh, babe…” Taylor looked at her husband in a meaningful look that bordered on concern because word had spread like wildfire as they showed each other their screens, the same people texting both of them, but mostly Taylor because they were hoping she would give better answers than simple yes or no’s that Greg was giving. Except to his brother Doug, who Greg was giving him just about everything that you were sharing with his kids as Doug was already claiming “dibs” to the others.

“Want to go out to dinner?” Greg offered.

“Sure.” You nodded.

“In town there’s really only a few restaurants, Eska’s which is a mom and pop- grandma’s food in a tavern, the bar- Kesuk’s.” Taylor began to list off.

“Is it the place that has the ‘kitchen sink nachos’?” You asked.

“Yes.” Taylor beamed. “And it’s not a “dive bar” but it is very much the local watering hole. Now there is a “dive bar” and that is Goose’s. I wouldn’t go to the bathroom there but we will get takeout from there because they make the best double cheeseburger while White’s has the best wings.” Taylor explained.

“But Swanson’s has the best steaks, but it’s a bit pricey, it’s right next to Gold Horn’s which is the biggest and nicest fishing and hunting retreat around.” Greg explained.

“And one of the nicest butcher shops because most of the hunters can’t take all that meat home.” Taylor added.

“Anyway, the locals around here will go to Swanson’s for weddings, anniversaries, birthdays and stuff, pretty special occasions.” Greg continued before they continued to list off all the places around to eat before you decided on Eska’s because it sounded like the ‘safest’ option and spent the afternoon getting ready while you happily walk Katie through your ‘routine’ of getting ready as you, with Taylor and Greg’s permission helped her get dressed up too and put some simple makeup on her as her new ‘auntie’ and by dinner your nerves were already a little frayed because Taylor told you that you were meeting ‘the family’ meaning not only hers but Greg’s too and you had picked up on the hint of Greg talking about his brother and his accomplishments and such and you gave Taylor a meaningful look to which she looked back apologetically.

If you were honest, you were used to it. If your friend’s mates had failed trying to flirt with you or whatever, often you were ‘introduced’ to so many brothers, friends and especially brother in laws.

You got to dinner and the ‘family’ was already there, waiting for the table to get ready while ‘Doug’ was running late getting ready and there had to be 20 people there, all of them there to meet which you didn’t mind as you did your best to meet and greet everyone before the table was ready and Taylor had you sit at the end of the table as Greg and Taylor made sure that the seat across from you was Doug’s seat and you asked Katie to sit next to you so you wouldn’t be all alone since there was an empty seat next to Doug’s seat because he liked to “stretch out” as you met Greg’s parents and Taylor’s parents and got got catch up because Glenda, Taylor’s mom had missed your mom and to see pictures of your mom on her horse with your kids made them all happy as they got to know you a little as you kept an eye on the door, waiting for ‘Doug’ before an older woman came in with the cutest little girl you had ever seen in your life then a familiar face came in behind them.

Noah.

You instantly blew out a breath of relief at seeing him before a relieved and happy smile plastered itself on your face and you noticed they were walking by you and Noah seemed to see you shortly after you saw him as he soon mirrored your smile as he seemed equally excited to see you.

“Hey Stranger.” You greeted.

“Hey, fancy meeting you here, this is my daughter Sakura, this is my mom, Summer.” He introduced.

“But you can call me Nana Hun.” She warmly smiled at you as you shook her hand.

“Lovely to meet you Nana, and it’s so lovely to meet you Miss Sakura.” You excitedly greeted them as you crouched down to take a knee so you could be eye level with Sakura, she couldn't be much older than 5 and your heart ached at the thought of her losing her mom so, so young and how hard that must have been for her but you didn't want to bring it up because you didn't want that to be upsetting.

“You should be really proud of your Daddy, he did such a great job flying me here yesterday.” You praised to Sakura.

“He’s the best pilot ever!” She agreed which got you and Summer to laugh as Noah chuckled bashfully at the praise. Goodness was she precious.

“I agree!” You confirmed with a very exaggerated head nod.

“So you’re Paradise?” She asked in awed wonder as she stared at you.

“Uh...oh, are you talking about how I look like a paradise orc?” You asked as you ran your hand over your skin of your exposed arm and she nodded before you nodded in confirmation.

“My Grandma’s tea leaves told her that my daddy would be meeting Paradise yesterday.” She proudly informed you as you could see Noah turn a deep sapphire as his smile turned slightly nervous as he gave his mother the side eye.

“Your Grandma reads tea leaves? Mine does too! Only the way my Grandma does it, I think she reads them wrong because they tell her things like my son was ‘a ball’, which, to be honest when I was pregnant with him, I looked like I swallowed a ball and when he was six months old he was almost as wide as he was tall and very, very round because he was a fantastic eater and he’s still practically a bottomless pit but he’s turned out pretty normal so far, he doesn’t ‘bounce’ too much.” You shrugged with an easy grin which got Sakura to giggle at the joke which got you to laugh as Noah and Summer chuckled too.

“But that was really cool that your Grandma’s tea leaves told her that I was coming,” You nodded solemnly. “Did they tell her anything else?” You whispered as you leaned forward as she smiled and giggled and nodded.

“Can you tell me?” You asked hopefully as she looked up to Nana for permission before Nana nodded her permission as well- completely ignoring Noah who looked particularly terrified at the notion and was shaking his head subtly to his mother and his daughter ‘no’ but it was like they couldn’t see him before she came up and put her hands over your ear.

“They said that you were the best mom ever.” Sakura whispered and your heart melted and you almost wanted to cry.

“Well I try, really hard, every day- to be the best one I can be so that’s true.” You confirmed. “And you know what? I tend to adopt every kid that’s around me, so if you see me and if you need or want anything at all, you just let me know ok? And I’m not offering that just to be nice, I mean it. I don’t offer anything unless I’m prepared to be taken up on it. I’m only here for like a week and a half but while I’m here if I’m needed somewhere to either help your dad on the plane or help watch you, I’ll happily do it ok?” You generously offered because you just instantly adored this child and could tell she was just a sweetheart and you just...loved her. The way your love surged for your children when you got to hold them for the first time, that same love was surging for her. Something about her found every heart string you had and pulled on them and made them into a bow and you would happily wrap yourself around her little delicate fingers as you just stayed there smiling at each other before Doug cleared his throat which made you turn your head away to see Greg next to what you assumed was his brother who was dressed really nicely as they both smiled expectantly at you.

“Hi, be with you in a minute.” You greeted them with a polite smile before you turned back to Sakura.

“Now, you go enjoy your dinner ok Sakura?” You urged her before she launched herself into your arms before you gladly caught her and hugged her, grateful you had taken a knee so you weren’t knocked backwards.

“How did you know I loved hugs?” You cooed as you hugged her tight and rubbed her back and just held her until she let go first because you knew that some kids just needed a good long hug and you didn’t care if you were making Greg and Doug and everyone else wait, all that mattered was Sakura and the poor baby just needed a hug.

When Sakura finally pulled away she was smiling and her eyes were just a little glassy from unshed tears before you reached into your purse and got her a tissue and your business card.

“This is my cell phone number. You call this, and if I’m working when you call, just leave a message and I’ll call you back as fast as I can and if I’m not working when you call, I’ll pick up ok? I’ll always pick up.” You offered and it only felt odd as an afterthought that you just met this child and you were kicked so hard and so high into mom gear that you would already go to the moon and back and bend over backwards for her but it felt like the right thing to do and the best thing you could do for her.

“Thank you.” She thanked you graciously.

“You’re welcome Sweetheart.” You cooed to her as you squeezed her little hands in yours before you reluctantly let them go because Greg cleared his throat again before Noah took the hint and ushered his family to sit in the booth directly behind where you would be sitting. Which was nice that they were so close as you stood to your full height.

“Thank you so much for your patience. I’m Zara Kingsley, the LMT from the Great Lakes.” You introduced yourself to the man who had a familial resemblance to Greg as you politely shook his hand from across the table. He was handsome, that usual olive green skin, gold amber eyes, jet black hair, he was obviously younger by the way he styled his hair and his hipster- black t-shirt, black blazer, skinny jean look and the way he proudly carried himself, his chest puffed out all proud, like a peacock showing off his plumage. You could tell he knew he was one of the most handsome men in the room and his ego was too big for the place. You knew from Greg that he was practically a decade younger than you too. His ex wife had been one of the prettiest women in the Arctic Tundra but they divorced after five years and two kids because they both were having affairs.

“Does every kid treat you like a visiting Disney Princess?” He asked pleasantly which got you to chuckle.

“Yes, very much so, which I don’t mind at all.” You shrugged.

“Well it’s understandable, with a name like Kingsley, it’s kind of a given you should be treated like royalty everywhere you go.” Doug flattered and you heard Noah cough a ‘damn’ behind you like he had just gotten hit in the gut and even you had to admit that was a pretty smooth line. Although it wasn’t the first time you heard that.

“Thanks,” you nodded. Oh gods. This was going to be the longest dinner ever. He was just going to spit game at you all night and you just wanted to turn around and invite yourself to dinner with Sakura and her family as you slipped back into your seat because you were not about wait for Doug here to come around the table to pull out your chair because you were pretty sure he’d try to sneak a peek into your cleavage as he would try to too. The game was on and you were in no mood to be chased by Doug.

Noah though, no he could chase you like the silver fox he was because he was just barely getting a few gray hairs on the sides of his head and it made him all kinds of distinguished and made you all hot and bothered and you could already fantasize his head between your legs, with your thighs resting on his broad shoulders- your powerful thighs clamping around his ears as his tongue…

Oh, that’s right, Doug was talking to you. Damn it.

“I’m sorry what was that?” You asked as you tried hard to refocus on Doug and what he was saying, thankfully the restaurant had gotten louder since Doug sat down directly across from you and started talking and it was kind of hard to hear him anyway.

“I asked how you’re liking the Frozen Tundra.” He repeated.

“Oh it’s wonderful. It’s gorgeous and the people are lovely, very kind and generous and welcoming.” You grinned politely as the waitress came over.

“What can I get you to drink?” She asked you.

“Anything sweet and fruity?” You asked hopefully.

“Lethal too or just light?” She questioned.

“Ooh, lethal.” You couldn’t help but giggle because you would need it to persevere Doug’s advances as Doug started to grin a little wolfishly. Ha! Like he had a chance of scoring with you tonight.

“For sweet and fruity and lethal you have two choices, cloud berry punch or purple peach punch.”

“Purple peach.” You ordered.

“Half or full?” She asked.

“What’s the difference?” You asked curiously.

“A half is served in a tumbler. A full is served in a mason jar and has an order limit of three.” She answered.

“Oh yeah, my kind of drink, a full please and thank you.” You ordered gleefully.

“Do you want your usual Doug?” She asked moving onto him.

“Actually could I get a glass of Wolf Eye?” He asked and you nearly snorted a laugh and covered it up with a cough. May the gods grant you patience to deal with this pretentious asshole. While Wolf Eye was a decent whiskey, it was only popular because celebrities thought it was awesome and the bottle was *couture*. Just like any other designer name brand.

“Do you like whisky?” He asked.

“I do.” You nodded.

“Could I also get her a glass too?” He asked.

“Sure.” She nodded before she got everyone else’s drink order.

“Wolf Eye is one of the better whiskies.” You appraised.

“Have you ever had it before?” He asked.

“Yes I have. My sister Blossom is a whiskey geek/ whiskey snob, my sister Blossom’s husband is a whiskey geek/snob too and my own parents and my brother are all beer snobs while my baby sister Anya is a bartender and she gave me a shot of it once. Usually it’s too rich for my blood to order it though.” You confessed. Even though you had three bottles of it at home from your wealthier clients.

“What about you? Is there any kind of alcohol you’re really into?” He asked.

“It doesn’t really compare to Wolf Eye.” You answered as you realized you probably looked bashful, when really, you were dreading being judged.

Every guy- without fail who got you a glass of Wolf Eye were trying to show you how fancy and couture they were- thinking that because you were jewel orc- you somehow should have very refined, expensive tastes. When in reality, you didn’t. Honestly once those guys heard what you loved- they thought less of you. Or the guys who found out what you liked and weren’t pretentious assholes somehow felt that because you didn’t have “refined” tastes in wine or other booze, that that spilled over into your taste of men which couldn’t be farther from the truth. You were picky as hell when it came to men.

Although if you were honest, you loved your clichés- the bubble gum pop music, sweet fruity wine and cocktails and peppermint mochas and sappy romance novels and romantic comedy movies and you would preferably have all of those at the same time while in the comfort of a bathtub with a bath bomb fizzing away. But that was a world away from this.

“Oh don’t feel bad, you like what you like.” He reassured you but you laughed that laugh that said ‘oh you don’t know what you’re really asking’.

“No I insist, I promise not to judge you based on your answer.” He vowed and you didn’t believe him one bit.

“Ok. So, honestly, in my family- food wise, I’m the queen because I love to cook and I cook really well and my brand of hospitality is you are not allowed to leave my house hungry but drink wise, I’m like the black sheep of the family because I love flavored alcohol, the kind of liquor that’s low on the proof and mostly flavoring, so flavored moonshines and flavored rums and vodkas and especially liqueurs and things like that. The cheap ones that you just pour into some juice and it’s instantly a fruity cocktail. That’s my speed. Sweet and fruity.” You shrugged as the waitress came back and gave you your drinks as you graciously took the glass that had whiskey in it and sniffed it and swished it around the way your sisters always did before you took a tentative sip.

Yup. It was whiskey. Could you tell the difference between a scotch, a whiskey or a bourbon? Nope. Could you tell the difference between a $20 bottle of whiskey or a $70 whiskey, hell to the nope. The only thing you noticed was if it burned or was smooth or not. You knew that all scotches were whiskeys but not all whiskeys were scotches and that was the extent of your knowledge. Honestly if this glass was full of peach whiskey you’d probably like it better. But you knew how to be a gracious recipient of a gift. And you had your manners to keep.

“Very good.” You praised, pretending you knew what the fuck you were drinking as he took a sip and practically moaned and for some reason, that noise coming from him was making you want to gag and one look at Katie who frowned at him was nearly causing you to burst into laughter. Even she could smell his bullshit, which to you was hilarious and part of the reason you wanted her close. Having someone like a niece or a sister or the best ones - a mother or a grandmother, or someone close to whoever you were paired with tended to keep whoever it was- in line- and would keep them from asking inappropriate questions or delving into inappropriate topics of conversation. It was a strategy you learned to employ often in these circumstances.

“So Greg told me that you’re divorced.” You put to him.

“I am divorced and I have two kids, two boys, Doug Jr. who we just call Jr. and Kent, Jr is 5 and Kent is three.” He answered.

“Aw, they must be adorable, where are they?” You asked.

“They’re with their mom tonight.” He answered.

“Oh, well I would have loved to meet them, I love kids, I also have two of my own, Xander and Skylar, but they’re a bit older, Xander is 9 and Skylar is 7.” You answered before you pulled out your phone and showed him as he showed you his kids.

“And Greg said you have joint custody of your boys?” You asked.

“Yup, they get to spend the week with their mom and the weekend with me.” He answered. “And their mother is about to remarry so the bitch won’t bleed me dry with alimony and child support for too much longer now.” He groused and you took a measured deep breath in to keep your face neutral as you heard Summer murmur into her drink. ‘Lucky woman’ and somehow you got the distinct impression that his ex-wife was lucky to have divorced him and to have gotten alimony and child support and just seeing Doug and after knowing him for a whole 2 seconds- you could agree with that sentiment. You could just sense that he was a narcissistic asshole. And your late husband had been one of those and there was no way in hell you were ever doing that again.

“But I understand you don’t have that problem because you’re a widow. Obviously a young one.” He returned as you could tell he was trying to age you.

“Yup, that’s true, my late husband Andrew was in an accident at work about two years ago, but I’m not that young. I’m 35.” You answered and he paused. Greg had told him early thirties, you were mid thirties. You looked great for mid thirties but that was practically middle aged and you only had what- another 5 years of child bearing age left in you? Not that long. But you were supposed to be a rich widow who worked in some kind of spa and had married into a rich family and drop dead gorgeous, he could work with that.

“Wow you really good for your thirties. How long have you been dating since then?” He asked.

“I haven’t really been dating much or for very long, just in the last couple of months actually. I wanted to give myself and the rest of my family time to grieve properly and not rush into anything that not only I wasn’t ready for but that my kids weren’t ready for and it wasn’t until a couple of months ago that they let me know that they were ok with me trying to date again because they are the most important people in my life and I’m really picky about who I let around my kids too. So I can understand why you didn’t want to bring your kids to meet me.” You answered as Greg was kicking himself for not bringing his kids because obviously you connected to kids and if his kids would behave long enough and well enough you could have bonded to his kids and made him a shoe in and this could have been a done deal already.

“So, Greg told me that you work in the fishing industry.” You prompted him.

“I do, I’m a sales executive for First Star, which ships all kinds of seafood all over the world.” He answered proudly. “And the pay is really good and there’s always sales incentives and I get bonuses often.” He grinned smugly as he fingered his heavy gold chain necklace around his neck and he put on way too much cologne. It was almost burning your nose and making your eyes water a little.

“Wow, do you have a business card?” You nodded, pretending to be impressed before he very proudly pulled out his wallet and you could see from his billfold that he must have had at least a thousand dollars on him. He was flexing for your benefit and judging by his gold rings and gold banded tusks and just the general decked out nature of his attire. He was definitely showing off for you as he handed you a brand new business card. It was fancy but...not as fancy or as nice as yours.

“Very nice. Remind me to call you before I leave so I can buy a case or two of crab and ship it home and have my mom put it in my deep freeze freezer.” You urged him.

“Oh, you won’t have to buy them, I’ll happily gift you whatever you want.” He generously offered.

“Aw, that’s very generous of you. Thank you.” You thanked him even though the way he said that you were pretty sure he had another "payment" in mind but this was polite company and Katie was right next to you and you didn't want to expose her to what you assumed was that particular side of her uncle just yet but if he exposed himself that was on him.

“So being a sales rep does your income base itself on how good the fishermen’s catches are or is it pretty stable, like no matter what they catch, you’re bringing home a salary?” You questioned thoughtfully.

“Oh it’s a salaried position and it’s all year long, unlike the fisherman who only run on the boats for a fishing season, like the different kinds of crab have their seasons and the different kinds of seafood all have their own seasons.” He answered. “Or even the pilots who only fly during the spring summer and fall, which is only like a three month window up here and have to live off of that all year long.” He answered as he cast a look past you to see Noah who was pretending to enjoy his own beer instead of eavesdropping.

Oh this son of a bitch had to go for the low blow of putting others down to build himself up. Ok. Honestly you were grateful he was telling on himself like that.

“So are we ready to order?” The waitress asked as she came over, after having gotten Noah’s order already and you were following along with the menu and you already decided that you wanted the same thing because it sounded amazing.

“Yes can I have the King’s platter?” Doug ordered.

“It’s a huge platter, we could share it.” Doug offered to you.

“Oh, no thanks, can I just get the fisherman’s special with the seafood stew?” You requested sweetly.

“Sure thing.” She nodded as she wrote that down and continued to get everyone’s meal.

“So I understand you’re a masseuse?” He asked excitedly once the waitress left.

“No. I’m a licensed massage therapist, LMT for short.” You gently corrected.

“What’s the difference?” He frowned.

“A masseuse uses “massage” as their cover for being a prostitute, which honestly if you’re going to be in the oldest profession, just be honest about it and don’t call it massage. Which, again, if you chose to do that, I don’t judge, I have strippers as clients because they take self care to a whole new level and everything they get from me is a tax write off for them so it’s a win win. However, a licensed massage therapist actually went to massage school and has a license to practice massage just like a doctor has a license to practice medicine and we are held accountable to a board or in my case- to the state medical board just like any other nurse and doctor and an LMT never gives happy endings or has sex with clients in any way shape or form.” You answered with a proud smile.

“Oh,” Doug nodded and even you could see he was trying to hide his disappointment.

“So, are you able to make any kind of real money off of massage or is this just a hobby for you?” He asked and you were ready to dump this overpriced whiskey in his face, but that would be alcohol abuse and an insult to the whiskey itself.

“Well massage has been a passion of mine since I was a kid, so you could call it a hobby that turned into a career. But I’m more interested in what constitutes as “real money” in your opinion.” You posed curiously.

“Anything more than forty or fifty thousand a year.” He patronized.

“I take it you make more than 50 thousand a year then.” You deduced as you overheard Noah whisper to his mother. ‘I barely make ‘real money’ then.’

“Oh I make a few times that. I make about two hundred thousand a year.” He bragged.

“Yeah I can see you’re wearing most of it.” You appraised and Noah snorted his beer and nearly choked on it trying to cover up his laugh because your unimpressed tone was giving him life as you heard a hissed ‘yes’ from Noah.

“You’re one of the lucky ones then. I make about the same. A little over 200 thousand a year actually.” You answered evenly like it was no big deal.

“What? H-how?” Doug frowned in shock.

“Well I have four businesses, all four of them are solely in my name and I own all four outright and none of them have any debt while each of them have their own assets, so my massage business which makes me about a hundred- to a hundred and twenty five thousand dollars a year, my esthetician business which makes me another fifty to sixty thousand dollars a year and then the sales of my massage products, essential oils and esthetician products, skin care line, makeup, all that goods stuff to round it out with another thirty five to fifty thousand dollars a year and the fourth business is the shareholder for all three businesses and I only have to work about thirty to thirty five hours a week in total to do it too and I only work about 9 to 10 months a year.” You beamed proudly as Doug’s eyebrows practically went up into his hairline as you heard Noah murmur a ‘damn’ which you imagined was muffled because he must have said it into his fist behind you.

“W-why?” Doug stuttered as he struggled to wrap his head around all that.

“Well, when my husband was alive, he made about a hundred and twenty five thousand dollars a year and when he died, I turned all four of those businesses which at the time were the side businesses I had to earn my own spending money into my full time career to replace his income when he died because you see I specialize in…” You began as you brought out your business card and listed everything off from the back and added to the additional certifications that weren’t on the card.

“Not bad for a “hobby” huh?” You asked with a smug grin as you heard Noah practically whistle lowly behind you and clap ever so softly and you would have given anything for a mirror to see his face, hoping he was at least impressed.

“Uh, nope, not bad at all.” Doug had to admit.

“So if you got remarried and the man you married could provide you with his income that would either equal or surpass your own would you still continue to work or would you scale back? Retire?” Doug asked thoughtfully.

“It depends.” You answered simply.

“On?” Doug prodded.

“It would depend on the circumstances and the person.” You specified.

“Such as?”

“Well, I’ve been very lucky in that I have the four thriving businesses and because I have a very good and very expansive client base where I live and I fill a niche that very few others can fill in my area and because I live just 20 to 30 minutes outside of few major cities because I’m centrally located in the country in between all of them and I work out of my own private space at my home and the home I work out of is my dream home, it’s a home that my late husband and myself designed together and it’s awesome and the only way I’m moving is if I find a home that’s even better than the one I have and that criteria is pretty extensive plus I’m very well supported and well known and have a reputation that I regularly bank on every year and speaking of support, I have my parents who live right next door and my in-laws live only 15 minutes away and all of them are very involved in my children’s lives. So honestly, I’m not gonna move unless I find circumstances even better than the ones I already have and the person I would be moving for can give me things that I don’t already have which is basically at this point- unconditional love, respect, recognition, dignity, sympathy, empathy, kindness, understanding and freedom to keep my independence that I already have so that if I so choose I could basically start my businesses over again in a new area.” You specified.

“So...what is your criteria for a potential mate?” Doug asked, hoping that you would list off things that he could try to shoot for.

“Well, whoever I choose to marry- he can’t drink to excess, he can’t do drugs, he can’t have a bad temper, he can not yell or scream at me or my children, he can’t be abusive in any way shape or form or I will kick him to the curb faster than lightning strikes but he doesn’t have to make as much as I do or make more than me or whatever. If he had a job that he was passionate about and he loved it as much as breathing which, for me, that’s what my career represents to me, I do what I do because I love it, it’s what I was put on this planet to do and I’m really good at it and to a degree, it’s a skill I can practice anywhere as long as I have a pool of clientele to pull from so there’s some flexibility there.” You mused and you saw Doug nod along with your train of thought so at least it was making sense to him.

“But for me to give it all up for someone and be absolutely dependent on my partner for everything- probably isn’t going to happen because there is inherently a power dynamic that I’ve been on the losing side of in my past marriage. Because my husband had a great job with fantastic health insurance and other benefits and shouldered all the financial responsibility of the family which had its perks because that freed up my time to pursue what I wanted to and he could afford to send me to school to get all these licenses and certifications. But because he made all the money, he felt he had the right to demand whatever he wanted in return and he had a say so on how I spent the money he gave me to care for- as he put it- “his house” and “his vehicles” and such because he’s the one that paid for it all and he was a controlling narcissist. Now, was he all bad? No, he was a fantastic father and he was decent enough as a husband in that he didn’t beat me, didn’t drink to excess, didn’t smoke, didn’t gamble, didn’t do drugs, didn’t cheat on me and didn’t scream at me or cuss me out in front of the kids but I couldn’t get a credit card in my name without him knowing and he tracked me on my phone everywhere I went and if I wanted anything “extra” I had to “earn it”, like a child earns extra screen time for doing their chores kind of thing. It was all about a power dynamic and if I didn’t support him in everything he said, he got after me for not being “a good submissive wife” or “a team player”. And after 13 years of that, I’m done. I’ve had more than enough of that and I will be damned if I ever let that happen to me again. I’m not interested in that dynamic at all. No matter what side of it I find myself on.” You specified as Doug just stared at you, a bit guiltily as he was rather speechless and blushing profusely like you had just pulled his pants down and exposed him and you didn’t feel any guilt for it either and the look on Katie’s face told you that you hit the nail on the head and were preaching truth and her smile of adoration and awe was priceless.

“I have clients that easily double, triple, quadruple even- my own salary because they’re doctors or surgeons or executives or whatever. But they’re the kind of men who feel emasculated when a woman they’re with earns anything because their income is what they base their own masculinity on which is a very dangerous and stupid thing to do in my opinion. And while these men may be really good at earning an income, that’s all they’re good at. Otherwise they’re shitty husbands and fathers. They feel that because they earn so much money that they don’t have to help out at all around their own homes. Heaven forbid they change poopy diapers, do any dishes or laundry or especially scrub a toilet and if they do any of those things, by the gods they will piss and moan and gripe and complain forever and feel “owed” that they did more than their “share”, which is bullshit. They would rather hire someone else to do any or all of that because they feel that’s beneath them as manly, masculine men and feel that a wife’s only job is to stay in their home, raise their kids and clean their house and look flawless while doing so and feel that the only support they need to give her is financial. Which, in my opinion is complete and utter fucking bullshit.” You explained as you watched Doug’s frown get deeper and deeper the more you talked as you heard Noah hum in agreement to that sentiment.

“So... you’re basically just looking for a Mr. Mom?” Doug asked and you could tell by his tone he was offended and incensed just saying those words.

“To a degree, yes. But what I’m really looking for- is a partner who will view and treat me as an equal instead of a lesser or a supporting cast member while they’re the star of the show. Right now I do everything all by myself because I have to and I will continue to do so for as long as I need to because my children need me to be their everything. If I’m going to enter into any kind of romantic relationship, I would look for someone who’s willing to put in work. Someone who will happily and willingly pick up slack and support me as much as I support them. Someone who will work to gain not just my respect and admiration but my children’s respect and admiration as well and it doesn’t matter how much I like or even love a guy, if my kids are uncomfortable around him or just plain don’t like him. I’m not going to force the relationship onto them. Now there have been a couple of guys who my children really clicked with but I didn’t because they were either immature or had other issues and I’m pretty sure the only reason why my kids liked them is because these guys never told them ‘no’ and bought them whatever they asked for which is no way to raise children. There’s ways of telling them no and explaining your reasons why you’re telling them no without belittling them, hurting their feelings, implying they’re stupid or annoying for asking.” You explained as you heard Noah murmur an ‘Amen’ from behind you and instantly you saw all the hope and lust in Doug’s eyes die because he realized that this wasn’t going to work out for him just as dinner came.

Conversation dissolved into idle chit chat while he practically wolfed his food down as quickly as he could and drank his whiskey and excused himself and quickly paid the waitress for his meal and only his meal and begrudgingly- your wolf eye whiskey too, saying he had work to do at home and you were so grateful when he left and so relieved when you peeked over your shoulder to see Noah still there, finishing up his dinner as Katie got up to go to the bathroom, leaving you alone at the end of the table as Sakura and Summer went to the bathroom too.

“Do you like whiskey?” You asked him hopefully as you leaned backward in your chair towards him.

“Yeah,” he confirmed.

“You ok drinking after me?” You put to him.

“Yup.” He nodded before you took your glass of Wolf Eye and put in on his table.

“The whiskey’s good, I just can’t enjoy it knowing a pretentious asshole bought it for me, but I don’t think you’ll have that issue enjoying it yourself. Enjoy.” You beamed at him which got him to laugh.

“Cheers.” He offered before you got your own drink and clinked it with his.

“Cheers.” You mirrored. Even though dinner didn’t go as planned, you got to share a drink with Noah and that was more than you hoped for before Sakura and Summer came back.

“Nana, I forgot my bow.” Sakura realized as she reached up to find that the bow she had been wearing in her hair was gone.

“I can go back to the bathroom and help you look for it.” You happily offered before she took your hand and led you back to the bathroom as you grabbed your purse too.

“Are you going to date Mr. Kizzo?” She asked you as you went into each stall, looking for her bow.

“No, absolutely not, he is not the man for me.” You shook your head adamantly.

“Oh good, his boys are mean.” She pouted.

“Have they been mean to you?” You asked as your protective urges surged again.

“They play really rough and they knocked me down and they didn’t even say sorry!” She complained and you gasped in horror.

“No! How rude! Well if we ever go anywhere together and they’re there, point them out to me and I’ll protect you.” You insisted before you found her bow sitting on top of the toilet paper dispenser in the last stall before you quickly sprayed some sanitizer on it before you had her take a seat in one of the chairs in the bathroom so you could brush her hair and get it looking gorgeous again because you kept a little brush in your purse.

“My Daddy likes you.” She blurted as you brushed her hair out.

“Aw, I like your Daddy too, he’s a really good guy, he’s sweet and caring and protective and I can tell he loves you a lot and he works really hard to take care of you.” You praised as you smiled happily at her in the mirror.

“He cries a lot.” She revealed.

“Well I cry a lot too,” you nodded.

“He cries because he misses my mama,” she added.

“Well, I can understand that because your Daddy and I both lost our marriage mates and we miss them sometimes and the happier we were with them and the more we loved them, the more we miss them and the more it hurts to lose them. Do you cry a lot too because you miss your mama?” You asked gently as she nodded.

“I’m so sorry you lost your mama sweetie, I can’t imagine how much that must hurt.” You sympathized with her before she got out of the chair and reached her arms up before you readily picked her up and held her tight as she started crying before you took the seat in the chair and just held her as she cried on your shoulder and you just held her and rocked her gently and comforted her before Nana came into the bathroom.

“What happened?” Nana asked.

“I was brushing her hair and she told me her daddy cries because he misses her mama and I completely sympathize.” You told her as you did your best to keep your composure but you were failing spectacularly because you were an empath, her pain felt like your own as Summer pulled up another chair from the nursing mother’s area as she shot Noah a quick text just as Taylor came in looking for you and seeing how Sakura was crying in your arms, she instantly knew what was going on.

“Noah and Anarra, or ‘Neena’ as she was better known as- were basically Frozen Tundra’s sweethearts. Neena still is greatly missed, she took care of a lot of the older ones whose kids have moved away or are on the coast making their money on the fishing vessels and when she got sick, everyone rallied around her but...by the time she started showing signs she was sick- it was too late. None of us have been the same since she passed away. Noah puts on a pretty strong face but he’s probably the most fragile.” Nana revealed as you nodded in understanding as Taylor nodded along too.

Taylor had told you about “Neena” because Taylor and Neena were best friends and you didn’t put it together until just now that Anarra and Neena were one and the same which would explain why you and her had gotten so close so quickly because you had bonded over your losses as Sakura’s cries turned into whimpers and sniffles as you just held her and pet her head and her hair and held her and rocked her as she curled up in your lap and happily soaked up all your affections as you kissed the crown of her head affectionately as she clung to you as Nana and Taylor filled you in on the situation.

“Neena had brain cancer. One day she was fine, the next, she had such strange symptoms and doctors around here are rare and expensive and by the time we found it, it was too late, there wasn’t anything we could do. She barely had enough time to make some videos for Sakura. She died holding her.” Taylor said as she nodded towards Sakura in your arms as you wrapped your arms tighter around Sakura as your heart effectively broke in your chest.

“Her last words were how much she loved her and Noah.” Nena added as you passed around your thing of tissues because you were crying your makeup off.

“My husband’s last words to me were a ‘honey do’ list, which was- ‘do the dishes, do the laundry, clean the bathroom and to brush my damn cats’ who he hated and I’m so grateful they outlived him, I know that sounds awful but they love me more than he ever did and he wasn’t dead a week before I went to the local shelter and adopted a dog for each member of my family and another cat so that there’s three cats and three dogs and we were renting from his parents at the time and before it was only because I bore them their only grandchildren that I got the ‘privilege’ of having the two cats before. And they didn’t dare argue with a new angry widow about ‘protection’ dogs for their only grandkids and didn’t want me moving away into a new place just to get them animals while we waited for our house to be built.” You revealed.

“Did he at least have life insurance?” Nana asked which made you nod emphatically.

“Yeah Andy wasn’t an idiot or heartless, he had a life insurance policy through work and a private one as well and because it was an accidental death at work, it paid out even more and his parents had a life insurance policy on him too that they handed over to me because they had the good sense to have life insurance policies on me and him so that if anything ever happened to the both of us, they could raise our kids comfortably and at the time, I was working for another outfit and even I had my own life insurance policy on him so we’re all set, the house is paid off, all debt is paid off, all the vehicles are paid off, I own everything outright. Other than utilities and of course food and insurance, which I can easily take care of myself, we’re ok.” You answered.

“Did Neena have any kind of life insurance?” You asked and Taylor and Nana both shook their heads no.

“No, Noah barely had enough money at the time to cover the funeral. When she died in the fall, at least he didn’t have to work and could stay home with Sakura and he already knew how to take care of himself and her because Neena was always caring for others, which he was very proud of her for doing and he supported that. He was always helping her to help others because so many ice orc men have moved away chasing “better lives” anywhere other than here and ice orc women are left to either do the same or stay behind and have to deal with the others who come up here, either looking for gold or fish or lumber or other resources and it used to be every summer solstice that all the tribes would get together and alliances were maintained and marriages made but all the young people are rejecting those practices because they feel they don’t have a place in the modern world. Our ways are dying, our languages are dying and Neena was one of the few women who embraced the old ways and was teaching all the kids the native languages. And when she died, a lot of the same older ones reached out to Noah and helped him with what they could and unfortunately after Neena died, some of the older ones she took care of followed, but they left Sakura everything because Neena was like a daughter to them and because she took care of them, all they could do is leave her what they could leave behind and when Neena died, that left Sakura as heir in her mother’s place, but she’s a child. She’s had so many men come back to claim what they felt was their birthright, which is mostly land at this point but thankfully the courts upheld Sakura’s rights as heir since their parent’s had the good sense to get it writing with the local lawyer who fights for the clan’s rights.” Nana explained.

“That’s...that’s a coincidence, I know exactly how that feels.” You nodded.

“How?” Nana asked as she tilted her head.

“When Andy died, I was really close to several older clients as well, I got to work on them when they were at retirement age and came into my work and when their health declined, I stayed with them because they were close friends and I wanted their last moments to be in peace and as pain free as possible. They didn’t have any family to take care of them either and I endeared myself to them enough so that when I lost Andy, they all individually entailed everything they had to me too because I was their favorite person and they wanted to make sure I wouldn’t financially suffer because of my husband dying. Within six months of losing Andy, I lost almost all of them within a span of only three months. So the nine months that followed Andy’s death were just...the worst. But then to meet with dozens of lawyers and get check after check, after check, and deeds and titles and property and vehicles, I was so...numb. It didn’t mean anything to me, but man did I sure learn a lot very quickly about how to handle my newfound fortune. But the worst of it was the vultures circling because it felt like the minute I inherited all that money and property myself, suddenly every vulture of a guy somehow found me and circled me like wolves. Cause I was this “hot young desperate lonely widow” who didn’t know how to handle that much fortune and here were all these ‘knights in shining armor’ coming to “help me out” and “be there for me”. It was ridiculous, as if I couldn’t see right through them and what made it even worse was the way Andy died at work, it was a freak accident that killed not just him but five others. So the company he worked for sued the company who built the crystal grower because this was a known and very well documented issue. And the company used my picture because I was ‘the prettiest of the widows’ in the news and in the courts and they won and I got the lion’s share of the settlement because I was the one who was the public face of it and because I was the public face of it, I had organization after organization reach out to me to try to help me out too and by that point I had 5 very good lawyers and a private investigator in my pocket who were more than eager to be at my disposal. So I know exactly what it’s like to be an unwitting heiress. It’s really, really hard, thank the gods my in-laws are so great with money because they’ve been helping me structure it and organize it and keep it all and make it work for me.” You revealed lowly.

“Could you teach Noah and Sakura any of those lessons?” Nana asked hopefully.

“I would be more than happy to, I feel I need to at this point.” You admitted.

“Because no one else around here knows what to do or how to help. Even now Noah’s dad Ukluk works as guide at Gold Horn and pilots his own bush plane for the hunters but it doesn’t pay as well as others, Noah’s brother Nago works for the postal service but he and his family are in June Neau. And now even Neena’s parents are no spring chickens. I know they would really appreciate it if they knew you could protect Sakura and Noah with what you know.” Nana insisted.

“Consider it done,” you agreed.

“So are you ever gonna get married again?” Sakura finally spoke up.

“I would like to.” You answered honestly.

“What are you looking for?” She asked.

“I just want to be with someone who makes me happy and loves me for me and loves my kids as their own too who won’t hurt us but will protect us.” You answered.

“What if they already have kids?” She asked.

“Then I would hope that their kids would like me too, I do love being a mom, it’s the best job on the planet in my opinion and if those kids would let me love them as much as I love my own- even better and if my kids and those kids could get along, oh man, I’d be so so so happy. You see it doesn’t matter he’s rich or poor or whatever, money doesn’t matter to me. Who and what kind of person they are and how they treat others- that’s all that matters to me.”

“And if they happen to be well endowed enough so that when...” Taylor double clicked her teeth. “Happens, you can’t walk straight after...” She hinted which made Nana raspberry her laugh.

“That’s a bonus.” You readily agreed which made you start to laugh through your tears which made them do the same.

“Well Noah’s you know,” Taylor implied as she clicked her teeth and winked which got you and Nana to start busting out laughing.

“He’s what aunt Tay-tay?” Sakura asked as she turned to look at Taylor.

“Handsome, he’s very handsome.” You quickly supplied which earned you a solemn nod and an appreciate grin from Nana.

“Ok, no more tears, let’s get cleaned up.” Nana insisted which prompted you to gently get Sakura off your lap so you could rinse the rest of your makeup off in the sink before all four of you left the bathroom to see Noah looking particularly worried.

“Everything ok Pumpkin?” He asked his daughter.

“Yup, we were telling Paradise about Mama.” Sakura told him. Every trace of sadness now gone as a happy smile plastered itself on her face.

“And she brushed my hair and braided my hair and held me and comforted me and everything, can she come over to our house to watch me?” She asked.

“If she wants to.” Noah answered.

“I would love to, just give me the address, I’ll be there any day you need me there, free of charge.” You immediately offered.

“Work an extra long day tomorrow Daddy, I want to watch my movies with her.” Sakura insisted which got Nana to snicker a laugh.

“Uh,” Noah stuttered.

“I can do tomorrow.” You immediately agreed.

“You could have Taylor and her kids come too, because usually Taylor watches her on Tuesdays.” Nana added.

“We’d love to.” Taylor immediately agreed as well.

“So it’s a date. What time should I be over?”

“He leaves early, like six in the morning.” Nana informed you.

“Won’t be a problem. I’ll be there at like 5:30 then.” You insisted.

“I won’t be there that early, I’m going to sleep in until a decent hour and come by later but we’ll drive by and show you where Noah lives and you could walk there if you wanted to because he’s like a ten minute walk away, five if you run because normally, she spends the night so that I don’t have to get up that early.” Taylor added.

“But my body is still on Great Lakes Time Zone so 5:30 am here is only 8:30 am to me which is a normal time for me to wake up. So it’s not a problem at all.” You reassured Nana and Noah.

“Ok, thank you, very much.” Noah nodded as he avoided Nana’s smug grin that screamed ‘I told you so’.

“Well good night then, sweet dreams guys, I’ll see you in the morning.” You offered as Taylor tugged on your arm as Katie peeked her head back into the restaurant and gestured for you and her mom to hurry up.

“What about my bill?” You asked her.

“He got it.” Taylor answered as he gestured to Noah.

“Aw, thank you for dinner!” You thanked him as she had to take your hand and pull you out of the restaurant.

“I really love Paradise.” Sakura said dreamily as she watched you go.

“Well she is lovely.” Noah admitted as he got his box of leftovers and got out of the booth.

“She likes you back, she told me so.” Sakura informed her Dad as she took his hand in one of hers and continued to hold your business card like a beloved photograph.

“Oh yeah?” Noah returned, pleasantly surprised to hear that.

“And she’s an heiress like me and she promised that she would teach me what she knows about it.” Sakura revealed.

“Really?” Noah turned to look at his mom to either confirm or deny that.

“Oh yeah, she knows how to deal with not just foxes but wolves and vultures too. The gods sent us the perfect person to help. And I have a feeling she won’t leave until everything is well taken care of and we will be hearing from her and seeing her very often from now on.” Nana predicted.

“How?” Noah asked.

“Just wait and see.” Nana simply grinned.

#modern orc love story #modern orc #Jewel of the North #Jewel of the North Part 2 #ice orcs #jewel orcs #orc #orc love story #orc romance #orc reader insert #Female reader #female reader male monster #orc boyfriend #exophilia #exo #monster boyfriend

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gustafsnightangel · 4 years ago

Text

Shattered Lives Ch 30 Pt 3

She got three hours before he had to wake her. He rolled her to the mattress gently and covered her body with his, his body weight soothing her as she woke. Soft kisses pulled her from sleep, warmth, and a familiar scent, Gustaf. She weakly let her hands find him, her body relaxed beyond belief. She cupped his face tenderly and brought him close to kiss him.

“Welcome back.” He smirked.

“I’m so sorry, I just passed out.” He said softly.

“With everything I did to you, that’s what you were supposed to do.” He growled.

“Shit! What’s the time, we need to get the kids.” She said alarmed, her eyes going wide at the realization.

“It’s only five. I’ll go pick them up at six and when we get back we can decorate the tree.” He brushed his fingers through her hair, content just being here with her. “You feeling ok?” He asked. “Sore, stiff, tender?”

“Just really relaxed, like I have no skeleton, relaxed.” She giggled.

“Good.”

“Thank you.” She said, her voice quiet.

“For tying you up and fucking you into oblivion?” He asked, that mischievous sparkle in his eyes.

“Well that, and making my day happy again.” Her kiss was pure love, it flooded into him curling his toes.

“Fuck I love it when you kiss me like that.” He breathed out.

“I know you do. I’d love to stay right here but I need to pee.” She said and tapped his arm to move but he stayed there.

“I love you Sildie.” Those words that were once so difficult for him to say flowed like fine wine when he said them to her.

“I love you too.” Her smile was everything to him as he kissed her tenderly, rolling off so she could get up.

Dressed and somewhat coherent she made her way out of the bathroom, the bed had been made, her sweater on the chair folded and waiting. He took care of her in the sweetest ways.

They made their way next door and with a quick kiss, Gustaf was off to collect the kids. She noticed the boxes of ornaments stacked by the tree, he’d found the time at some point to hunt them out of her storage unit in the garage. No doubt Brendan had helped. She sat at the table and watched the slide show of Quinn and Dana, she was sad but wasn’t overwhelmed with grief.

“Maybe being tied up and having someone fuck my brains out was all I needed.” She scoffed and chuckled, knowing the grief would be back at some point. Five happy faces greeted her when the front door opened, even Lily who was beyond tired came to her with a chirpy mum mum.

“How was your party.” She asked the boys as they started chattering and jumping around all excited that they were decorating the tree tonight.

“It was great.” Brendan said as he opened the first crate of ornaments. “We can start right?” He hesitated before opening another box.

“Of course. Decorate.” She said happily.

That was the smile he was after, happy, carefree, zero stress. If it only lasted for the remainder of today he didn’t care, at least she’d had a better birthday than last year. Gustaf stayed in the background, content to let the five of them heal and grieve, but a tiny hand grabbed his and pulled him into the fray.

“You have to decorate too.” Finn said quietly. Gustaf got down on his level and studied the shy twin.

“And why’s that?” He asked with a smile.

Finn wrapped his arms around his neck tightly and squeezed catching Gustaf slightly off guard. “Because you’re the only dad we have now silly.”

Gustaf’s heart lurched and stuck in his throat. What the fuck did he say to that?

“Just like Ama is the only mum we have now.”

Gustaf held the kid to him, there were no tears, just an acceptance that life was different.

“I love you Finn.” He said quietly.

“Love you too.” The kid grinned. “You need to help, we can’t reach the top.” He giggled.

“I think I can help with that.” He winked at the kid and picked him up. “You tell me where you want them and I’ll get you there ok?” Finn nodded and pointed at the box of bright Christmas red and gold balls. Gustaf resorted to sitting Finn on his shoulders and holding the box, handing the kid one at a time as they decorated the top part of the tree.

Sildie sat back a little, watching Gustaf with Finn and recording some of it. She needed these memories, for the both of them, for the family they were becoming. She helped Lily with some ornaments, the tiny girl mesmerized by the twinkling lights that Gustaf had already strung on the tree and the sparkles from the crystal snowflakes sending rainbows of color everywhere. Gustaf had wanted to get video of Sildie and Lily and looked over to see Brendan had it covered. The kid grinned at him and waved Gustaf’s phone at him once he was done.

“Ama who puts the star on this year?” Liam asked.

“It’s Lily’s turn.” Brendan said quietly. “She was still in hospital last year.”

“I think it’s Lily’s turn too.” She smiled at the teen and felt the tears well in her eyes. “What do you think boys?” She asked the twins drying her eyes quickly.

“Lily’s turn.” They said in unison, without even looking at each other.

Gustaf put Finn down and took Lily from Sildie, he was the only one that was going to be able to reach with her. Sildie opened the old worn box. The hand cut crystal star winked back at her. It had been her great great grand mother’s from Ireland. Quinn and Sildie would take turns every year placing on top of the tree. It would have been Quinn’s turn last year and their unborn child’s this year.

“That, is stunning.” Gustaf said as she handed it to him.

“And old.” Her voice wistful. Six generations, she thought, six generations had touched that star at one point in their life.

He held it out for Lily to touch carefully, talking to her explaining they had to be gentle. The boys stood around Sildie, the twins hugging her at her legs, Brendan around the shoulders. She slipped an arm around them and watched as Gustaf placed the star atop the tree and secured it.

“Piddy.” Lily squealed, Gustaf couldn’t help the chuckle.

“Yes sweet girl, pretty. It’s very pretty.” He kissed her neck and she giggled before wrapping her arms around him for a hug.

“Piddy.” Lily yawned, she was so tired.

“I hate to cut it short boys but it’s late and you have school tomorrow.” Sildie said softly. “Showers and bed, don’t forget to brush your teeth.” She kissed each of them and they went without fuss.

“Lovely lady you’re upset.” He said gently and brushed the tear from her cheek, but she shook her head.

“Not upset, just a little sad.” She shrugged and wiped the rest of the tears away.

“Tea?” He asked.

“Sure, I’ll make tea if you can get Lily down, she’s almost there as it is.” She chuckled at the drowsy girl in his arms.

“I can do that.” He murmured, cupping her at the back of her neck he kissed her, tenderness and love swamping her system. “I would love to hear about that star.” He said gently.

“I’ll tell you over tea.”

Gustaf managed to get Lily down with little fuss, the overtired child already halfway there. With the boys showered and in bed, Sildie said goodnight and made their tea. She smiled as Gustaf walked past the hall door to check on the kids before coming to sit with her.

She told him of the star, about great great grandma Onora who had the star made as a birthday gift for her husband who was born Christmas Day. They decided that the star would be handed down through the eldest male child. It would go to Brendan eventually and the tradition would live on. She told him stories of the few Christmas’s she’d had with her grand parents, her own parents before it became just her and Quinn. He smiled when she yawned.

“You’ve had a pretty monumental birthday my love.” He chuckled.

“It certainly panned out better than expected, especially after the way it started.” She wouldn’t think on the nightmare that had brought on the panic attack, that was behind her now.

“I know it’s early but you need solid sleep.” He said gently, he didn’t want to push.

“I do and I need to be on my game tomorrow, I’m in court.” She finished the last of her tea and went to pack up.

”I’ll get them. Go take a shower and hop into bed, I’ll be there shortly.” He tugged her hand for her to step closer to him. “I’ll come snuggle in a bit.” He kissed her slowly, sweetly.

“Thank you for today, for everything.” She said quietly.

“I love you Sildie, and I’ll move the world for you if I have to.” He kissed her again quickly. “Go on, shower, teeth, and bed.” He gave her ass a gentle swat as she walked away without even thinking.

“Yes daddy.” She murmured seductively and glanced back to see him gaping at her, jaw on the floor. Her chuckle was nothing short of wicked as she sashayed to her room.

He stared at the space she’d just vacated and blinked, not sure if she’d hear her correctly. Did she just call him daddy? His cock was suddenly very hard and very twitchy. He had not expected that from her, at least not yet. “Fuck me.” He growled and continued to sit there until his control had snapped back into place. He couldn’t deny that he wanted to hear her scream that endearment one day as he fucked her, when she came.

She was teasing him and had caught him off guard which in all honesty wasn’t an easy thing to do. It was her own term of endearment, and after today it seemed fitting. She was going to wait, but him bossing her around like a child before bed time and the swat to her ass was an opportunity that wouldn’t present itself again. He took care of her in the most deeply loving way she’d ever experienced.

She showered and felt her energy drain with the full day she’d had, her body aching from exertion. She had planned to tease him a little before bed but crashed out as soon as her head hit the pillow. It had been the best birthday in a long while, given to her by a man that adored her so completely.

He smiled as he shut the bedroom door, his woman sprawled across the bed and out cold. Mission accomplished, he thought, breathing a steady breath out. He’d hoped he’d exhausted her enough that she wouldn’t dream tonight. Her panic attack this morning still haunted him, he knew that feeling of being unable to breathe, the feeling you were having a heart attack. He lay beside her and stroked a hand along her back, she was so asleep she didn’t so much as twitch. Curling into her he passed out quickly.

*****************

@hausofobsession @ill-skillsgard @grandpa-sweaters @authentic90skidd @tuckersgirl @fairlyfallacy @flowers-in-your-hayr @raewritesfiction @stinkerbelle007 @kamie-b @mrsaugustwalker @skrsgardspam @loliwrites @trippedmetaldetector @lihikainanea

#gustaf skarsgard #gustaf skarsgard fanfiction #shattered lives

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saiilorstars · 4 years ago

Text

Star-Crossed

Previous Story || Current Masterlist

Chapter 7: Memory Lane

Pairing: 10th Doctor x OFC

Taglist: @ocfairygodmother @anotherunreadblog @maaaaarveeeeel @stareyedplanet @perfectlystiles [If you’d like to be a part of this OC’s works/edits, let me know!]

Minerva’s face claim: Victoria Camacho // (Kaeya’s face claim: Michelle Trachtenberg)

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Chapter summary: The Doctor finally gets to confess what he's been thinking about in the past few months. Maybe then he'll feel less guilty.

"You know I can't paint, Doctor. Why not give it a rest?" Minerva sighed as she tried placing down her paint brush for what seemed the billionth time. Every time she did so, the Doctor would pick it right back up and place it in her hand. This time wouldn't be different.

The Doctor took her hand and kept the brush in it, "Nonsense, you're doing wonderful!" He gestured to the canvas in front of them.

Minerva was painting, rather badly she believed, the scenery they had in front of them; a Japanese cherry blossom park. It was Sakura, the cherry blossom festival, and the park was more than beautifully decorated with lanterns that would be lit in the night, families in their respective gatherings, market stands of food and trinkets set up around, and the beautiful cherry blossom trees.

The Doctor had surprised Minerva with this trip in the morning, telling her it was just a random surprise. Secretly, he wanted to bring her somewhere entirely peaceful so she could rest from the crystal's effects and also distract herself from her family problems. The Doctor truly hated how badly Minerva was feeling for things that weren't her fault. All that guilt was mixing with Kaeya's crystal's effects and he was afraid it would damage her health to the point of...well...death. He didn't know just how strong that crystal was but he knew it could go up to terrible stakes. After the planet of the Ood, a planet basically of snow, he wanted to bring Minerva somewhere nice and calm where the crystal was less likely to act.

Though the specific location of the cherry blossom festival wasn't that warm as he wanted it to be. Still, it was a decent cold that humans were used to. But it didn't stop him from actively trying to hand over his coat so Minerva could wear it and stay warm. He doubted her kimono could really be that warm.

But oh that kimono...

As peaceful as he wanted it to be, he could not stop himself from actively trying to steal kisses from her. He wanted Minerva's day to be serene and here he was trying to snog her every opportunity he had. Not very calm, was it?

Minerva was styling a traditional Japanese kimono for the event. She, along with Donna, outright refused to attend the festival without the proper attire. So, Minerva came out wearing a blue and pink flowered patterned kimono that wrapped around her body quite beautifully. The sleeves were bell styled, although not too loose, and her v-neck was a bit lower than usual. Minerva's hair was picked up in a braided bun with a few strands of sticking at the sides of her face. The only thing she'd done differently was that instead of wearing the usual traditional geta sandals, she wore blue flats; the necklace the Doctor had given her for her birthday also dropped proudly around her neck.

The Doctor truly felt like he was being tested. How far could he resist his Clever Girl's charms? She was just too beautiful.

...which made it all the much harder to control himself.

"Doctor, can't we do something else?" Minerva turned to him, oblivious to his thoughts, "It's useless, I can't paint."

"What are you talking about? That-" he pointed to the canvas, "-is wonderful progress!'

The pair stood beside a lake, a small bridge to their right that connected them to the other side of the large park. The Doctor had suggested Minerva try and paint the scenery. The lake was quite beautiful, bright blue with fresh cherry blossoms floating downstream and even a couple of fishes swimming by. The trees were letting dozens of loose cherry blossoms down. It was a scene that deserved to be painted, and who else to paint it than the most beautiful woman in the world?

"It's horrible," Minerva pouted. She had attempted to paint the left side of the lake and she thought all the cherry blossoms were too pink and uneven.

"No it's not," the Doctor wound an arm around her waist as he stared at the canvas. He saw the delicate cherry blossoms painted beautifully and realistically. The half side of the lake was painted with the exact brilliant blue it had. He didn't understand why Minerva was so keen on putting down her work. It was she that had wanted to paint back in China, and she did make progress with blue butterflies!

"You're just saying that because you're my boyfriend," she crossed her arms, "But the truth is I stink at it and it's nothing." She shook his arm off her and turned away.

"Hey, where'd that come from?" he reached for her arm and turned her to him, "Putting down your own work like that isn't something you do. What's wrong, Clever Girl?"

"Everything, my family and me...it's all wrong," she looked at the canvas behind them, "I'm nothing," she mumbled sadly.

"Where did that come from?" the Doctor frowned, appalled at such a thought.

"There's something I haven't told you," she fiddled with her fingers.

"Which is?"

She sighed, "Marisol has called a few more times...and I keep answering."

"Why, Minerva?" the Doctor sighed, already seeing where this was headed.

"It's been three days," she looked down, "And I stupidly think each time she's just calling to accept my apologies..."

"Minerva, what on earth could you be apologizing to her for?"

"I don't know!" she started sniffling, "I just wanted to fix something with my family. I thought if I apologized she'd accept it and forgive me for what ever I did...but she hates me, she despises me apparently," she burst into sobs, "She outright despises me and I don't know what I did."

Minerva didn't understand why she garnered so much hatred from her cousin. As a kid, Marisol was always rude to her, making her feel like she was truly nothing. Olivia would try to defend her little sister but she wasn't always there for Minerva, which left it wide open for Marisol to attack. Minerva couldn't remember doing something to provoke Marisol. Marisol just liked making her feel bad for no reason. As children, Marisol would steal Minerva's toys, push her around to the point of actually physically hurting her. And when Minerva would tell her parents, Marisol always convinced them she was innocent and Minerva was lying. And as they grew, things got worse. In middle school, some of Minerva's classes would be in an upper division...into Marisol's classes to her dismay. Marisol would always make jokes to her friends about Minerva, only making Minerva feel worse. Things were now at their worst now that they were both young adults. Over the phone wasn't much of a difference; Marisol would get straight to the point and insult, gloat, and belittle Minerva.

Minerva just didn't understand what she'd done to her cousin.

The Doctor had taken her into a hug with a big sigh, "Minerva, we've talked about this. Stop trying to get forgiveness for something you didn't do. You've done absolutely nothing wrong!"

"No, it seems like I always do everything wrong!"

"No, no you don't. And it honestly surprises me that you would let such an awful woman taint your self esteem like this. You know you're amazing, you know you're clever, skillful, etc., why do you let one of the worst people take that away from you?"

"I...I don't know," she confessed. She honestly didn't. She always had a good image of herself but when it came to her family, it just went down to the sewers. Her family, while running away from them, did mean a lot to her. She didn't care that her parents didn't love them, she did. She loved them and all she wanted was for them to forgive her.

And perhaps that was the problem.

By desperately wanting to be forgiven, she'd accept any insults in hopes that they would see she was truly sorry and forgive her. Since Marisol was closer to her mother nowadays, perhaps the woman could get her mother to forgive Minerva. That's why, when Marisol called those last three days, Minerva did her best to express how sorry she was and how much she accomplished just for her family. But Marisol had other ideas, she kept shooting Minerva down, insulting her in every way possible and gloating just how much she was enjoying the attention Sophia was giving her instead of Minerva. That while Minerva was off doing silly little paintings and traveling, Sophia was giving her love and affection to Marisol instead of her daughter.

And it broke Minerva's heart.

She viewed her painting as something insignificant that could never compare to her mother's love. It was awful, nothing...

"Tell you what, as soon as we get back to the TARDIS, we'll chuck the cellphone into a black hole, yeah?" the Doctor offered, really going to do that despite what her answer was.

"But what will we do when Martha tries to call?" Minerva tried stopping her sobs.

"We'll get a new phone, upgrade it and it'll only have her number."

"And grandma's?"

"Of course," he rubbed her back, relaxing only slightly that she had managed to stop crying.

"And Uncle Aaron's? Astrid's? Jack's?"

" Yes, yes, and...um..."

Minerva giggled at his resistance to add Jack's number. Even though the immortal man had made it perfectly clear he had no interest in Minerva whatsoever, the Doctor was still prone to be jealous. And seeing the kick out of it, Jack would often have some fun.

"Oh I love your giggles," the Doctor sighed, now much better.

"Or...we could just block the number," she offered, "It's a lot easier."

"Blocking it is!" the Doctor nodded as he rubbed her tears off her face, resting his hands over her cheeks afterwards, "Now then, I'd like to see your gorgeous smile."

Involuntarily, Minerva smiled, her face warming up, "So...do you really think my painting is coming out okay?"

"I think it's coming out beautifully. You're making such good progress, really."

"Think I could give Leonardo da Vinci a run for his money?" she glanced at her canvas, perhaps it wasn't that bad...

"Oh definitely, but you'll never compete with him because you're never seeing him again," the Doctor declared.

"Overly jealous, Martian," she informed as she got on her toes.

"Have you seen yourself? I have a right to be jealous," he leaned down to ease her struggle of her toes.

"I'm plain and simple," she declared and kissed him.

That was far from it, the Doctor thought. To him, she was a goddess that seemed to captivate him more with each day.

~ 0 ~

"These are some funny fishes," Minerva remarked, she and Donna knelt down on the edge of the running lake.

"You're telling me, I think that one has only one eye," Donna tried leaning forwards to get a closer look at a fish that had caught her attention.

"What? Where?" Minerva leaned forwards as well, though with her curiosity she nearly slipped into the lake if it hadn't been for Donna yanking her back.

"Minerva they're just fish!" Donna laughed, "You don't need to drown for them!"

"Sorry, sorry," Minerva blushed in embarrassment, pushing strands of her hair behind her ears as she took another look at the lake, "These fish are just marvelous to me," she sighed in content, "Martian, please tell me you didn't see any of that?" she looked behind her to where the Doctor stood. She tilted her head when she noticed he seemed a bit...distant, "Martian?" she called again, her blush slowly fading, "You okay?"

The Doctor blinked, his ears working just fine as he heard her and yet...his mind was somewhere else.

"Where are we going, Kaeya?" the Doctor struggled to walk up the snowy hill. It was a very small hill but with its heavy snow covering every last inch it proved to be quite the challenge for him.

Kaeya simply bit her lip with a knowing smile, "Somewhere. It's really nice and I want to show you."

"Can't you just tell me what it is?"

"Where's the fun in that?" she crossed her arms, "It's a really lovely place, I promise."

"Is there any place on this planet without snow?" he earnestly asked, struggling even more while she stood just a couple feet away in calmness.

"This is the Silver Monsoon, there is no such thing as 'snowless'...except for houses."

"Or castles," he murmured, recalling the size of the castle Kaeya lived in. It was simply beautiful and made of ice.

Kaeya laughed, "C'mon," she gently thrust her hand forwards and blew away a clear path for the Doctor, "Before we get caught," she giggled and reached for his hands, pulling him up to where she was. The Doctor blinked at their proximity, their faces just inches away from each other. Kaeya smiled softly, her hands still in his, "Is something wrong?" she quietly asked.

"N-nope," he shook his head and stepped back, blushing, "So where's that place?"

"C'mon!" she let go of one of his hands and used her other to pull him towards a small lake, one that was not iced as was their usual preferred lake to meet up in.

"Another lake?" the Doctor tried not to sound as disappointed as he really was.

"This one's different," she promised as they reached the edge. She let go of his other hand and knelt down, passing a hand through the lake, "Isn't it beautiful?" she looked at the creatures swimming peacefully in the lake, "When you brought me the book of aquatic life on Earth, I kept thinking of this lake. I think it has the most beautiful aquatic creatures the Monsoon has to offer. They're marvelous," she sighed happily, "Don't you think?" she looked up.

The Doctor nodded, kneeling down beside her and dipping his hand into the lake, "Quite," he looked at the princess with a soft smile, she returning the gesture.

"Oi, spaceman?" Donna called, finally managing to get through the silent man.

"Huh? Yes?" the Doctor blinked rapidly as he looked at the two women.

"Are you okay?" Minerva stood up, dusting herself off as she walked up to him.

"Y-yes," he nodded.

"You seemed kind of lost."

"And more than usual," Donna added from behind.

"Thank you Donna," the Doctor cast a small glare her way before taking Minerva's hands in his. "I was just thinking, nothing important."

"Are you sure?" Minerva raised an eyebrow, "It's been happening a lot lately. Anything on your mind?"

"Just you, dear," he gave her a peck.

Minerva chuckled lightly, "Smooth, Martian."

"Always," he grinned and placed another kiss on her lips.

"Em, so how about before you start snogging we head over for some lunch?" Donna cleared her throat before the pair got lost and forgot she was there.

"Lunch sounds delightful," the Doctor said as he held one of Minerva's hand in his up, "Would you care for some good ole lunch, dear?"

"Is that another date?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Mm, yes, but this one has no adrenaline in it, I'm afraid."

"Well, you'll have to make it up to me somehow," she warned with a smirk.

"Oh don't you worry, I'll definitely find a way," he kissed her hand and led them off.

Donna gave a mock roll of the eyes before following them. Suddenly, she felt like she had seen a faint blue glow behind her. She turned around and scanned the area but saw nothing out of the ordinary. She shook her head and continued walking after the pair, figuring she'd imagined it.

~ 0 ~

"Fish cakes?" Donna Noble asked, watching in disgust as the Doctor picked one up, "As in...fish...cakes?"

"Please don't eat it, Martian," Minerva pleaded, doing her best to keep her self calm. She sat on the man's lap, Donna sat across them on a lunch table, "I won't kiss you anymore if you do."

The Doctor grinned, waving said cake in his hand, "What? This wasn't for me, silly," he tapped her nose.

"Then who-"

The Doctor stuffed her mouth with the fish cake, raising his eyebrows as he awaited for her to chew and swallow it...

...much she liked forced him to drink her coffee and strawberry crepe in 1969.

Minerva made faces as she forced herself to chew, the thing was horrible! Donna was smiling in amusement, knowing it was just the Doctor trying to mess with the Clever Girl and get her to smile. Neither knew it was also for a bit of sweet revenge Minerva owed him.

"So, how was it?" the Doctor asked, smirking, when Minerva had swallowed.

"H-horrible," she shivered and reached for a napkin off the table, "That was horrible! Why'd you do that!?"

"You did that to me in 1969, your birthday!"

"But I made you drink maple syrup coffee! That was sweet, not disgusting! And I gave you strawberry crepes! Those two were delicious and it didn't make your breath smell bad! You smelled like strawberries and I like strawberries," she started pouting, the Doctor internally sighing as he knew she would get him to do anything she wanted when she did that, "I smell like fish and no one likes fish! And now you're not gonna wanna kiss me anymore cos I said if you ate it I wouldn't kiss you anymore and-"

The Doctor had went ahead and kissed her.

Donna rolled her eyes and reached for a strawberry, how Minerva didn't see that coming she did not know.

"Delicious," the Doctor parted, smiling softly at his Clever Girl that still seemed in doubt.

"Really?"

"I could gladly go ahead and prove it again," he shrugged innocently.

"Don't you dare, spaceman," Donna called, not about to see a snog while she ate, "I wanna keep my food in my stomach."

Minerva blushed and reached for a grape, while the Doctor may not be affected by the fish cake she sure was. She picked several up and dropped them into her mouth, "Sorry Donna," she chewed.

"Tell me, how did Martha stand you two?" the ginger joked, shaking her head.

"She left when we got together," the Doctor said absently, stroking Minerva's side of her face. He just loved how smooth and warm her skin was, knowing, and practically beaming, it was red and warm because he was touching her.

"Smart Martha," Donna mumbled.

"We should go visit her soon," Minerva suggested, really excited to introduce her best friend to her ginger sister, "I'm sure you two would get along really well!"

"Anytime you want to go, just say the word," the Doctor said to Minerva. He would secretly want to see their old companion as well, but Minerva's need was much stronger than his. They were best friends and of course phone calls wouldn't be the same. And besides that, Martha was really the last companion they could actually visit. Rose wasn't here anymore, nor Mickey, so those two were out of the question.

"We should," Minerva nodded, "Martha said she was going to be transferred to the states for her UNIT work. Apparently they found an odd case in a hospital or something like that. Dr. Jones, on the case!"

"She's a doctor, now?" the Doctor asked, surprised he had missed that important detail.

"UNIT rushed it for her since she was a bit...experienced," Minerva smirked, "Because you know, who's better at saving the earth from aliens than the woman who saved the planet on her own?"

"Well...I helped too you know," the Doctor mumbled, mock offended.

"I know you did, that's why you got me!" she pointed at herself with a beam and laughed.

"What a reward," he Eskimo kissed her, both chuckling, "I'd stay another year locked up just to get you."

"Really? In all those awful conditions the Master had you in?" Minerva asked and the Doctor simply nodded. Minerva blinked, surprised he'd willingly be in a cage just for her.

But the Doctor was quite sure of himself. All that horrible year the only thing he had to do to pass the time was think...and in thinking, his mind always wandered to the Clever Girl, Minerva. He would think about their time together, ever since Rose's departure, and he cursed himself for wasting so much time. Those times in 1913, as short as it was. were precious to him. As a human, he truly had fallen in love with Minerva. That woman had worked her way into his hearts with such ease and in such a short time it actually shocked him. He especially thought about their kisses, oh their kisses...even as an elderly man his hearts beat at the speed of a teenager when they came into mind. The one that really stuck in his mind was the one in 1969, the "secret" kiss as he thought before. It had been a kiss that he had went for, as wrong as it was to practically steal it from Minerva, but it was the kiss that made him accept his feelings for her and that's why he though about it the most.

So then he cursed himself for wasting all the time before that. Sure, it was about half a year in Earth terms where he started falling for Minerva, but it was precious time for Minerva and her human lifespan. He could've done so much in six months, taken her to the most amazing places he could think of. He could've had her in his arms, comforting her when she needed to be, kissing her when he'd like...he'd wasted all that time and it only made it harder to look at the poor girl being tortured by a man he was responsible for. The Master, the man who killed his past love, had been to the brink of killing Minerva.

He liked to think that the year-that-never-was was more of a punishment for him hurting Minerva. The only thing he loathed was that Minerva had also been punished. And, even after so much of her pain, she still accepted him. In a miracle, he'd finally gotten his Clever Girl.

"I would without a doubt, of course you'd have to be safe and sound and far away from the Master," he tapped Minerva's nose.

She blushed, "You're so sweet.."

"And since silence has fallen..." Donna swayed her head, there was another kiss to be shared.

"Believe me, dear, no one compares to your sweetness," the Doctor looked his Clever Girl over, neither him or her hearing Donna's remark.

He looked at the woman on his lap and simply could not believe he could have gotten her, even more that she actually wanted to be with him. He...was no good man, he knew. Minerva was the complete opposite; despite having a horrible childhood, she was absolutely sweet and kind, a little too much for her own good he often admitted. And having those qualities, he didn't know why she wanted him when she deserved someone much better, a kind, a good man...someone who hadn't killed an entire species. But for her Minerva to openly decide she wanted him, even after knowing what he'd done, a Martian who was a gazillion years older than her, was simply 'wow'. There were no other words that came into mind. It was a miracle.

Minerva blushed deeper as his eyes lingered on her, "Believe me, you're worth all the tortures," she leaned in and the two kissed.

"I really dread to think what you did before I came along," Donna took a sip of her drink as the pair parted.

"We behaved," Minerva replied, looking at the Doctor with a sly smile as she bit her lip, "Just like Martha said to, right Martian?"

"Y-yes," the Doctor cleared his throat.

Donna didn't need to know they snogged almost all the time during their first months of being in a relationship, it wasn't as if they did something they shouldn't have. They simply kissed and spent all their time together, going on dates, giving each other educational lessons like Minerva teaching the Doctor how to use a blender and he teaching her a new language. They only kissed at times...well, whenever they got something right on their lessons...or when they were happy...or sad...or crossed...or...just in the mood.

Donna just smirked, as if they could pull one over her, "Yeah right, let me guess: you snogged in the console room, kitchen, pool, library, Minerva's painting room, and I'm willing to bet every last part of the universe."

"Shut up," was all the pair had to sat on that topic.

"Just know that when I meet Martha I'm telling on you," Donna smirked even wider when the pair blushed deeply, "That's right, you're both in big trouble."

"I'm not afraid of Martha," Minerva shrugged, looking at the Doctor to see he was actually a bit more concern, "Martian?"

"It's a bit easier for you not to be afraid, dear," he leaned to her ear and whispered, "I'm the one that's snogging her best friend."

"Yeah, which I give consent to!"

"Still..." he mumbled and looked away.

"Aww, don't worry, I'll protect you from big bad Martha," she pecked his lips.

"You two are ridiculous," Donna remarked, "You find an excuse to turn everything into a kiss."

"If you want Donna, I can set you up with someone," Minerva offered, "Like I said, there's some planets with some real good looking aliens."

Donna pretended to think about it,"Well...I don't know, I might get stuck with a long streak of nothing like you did," she gestured to the Doctor.

Minerva laughed which then made Donna laugh...all while the Doctor frowned and looked between both women.

"This is my cue to leave," he declared and moved to get up.

"N-no!" Minerva pushed him down. Before she was forced off his lap, "I'm sorry, Martian. You know I don't think that," she rested her head on his shoulder and absently stroked his chest, "You're wonderful."

"Kiss up!" Donna called.

"Shut up, Donna," Minerva lifted her head and kissed the Doctor's cheek, "So, am I forgiven?"

"I can't really say no to that face," the Doctor sighed, "So yes."

Minerva beamed and gave him another kiss, "Yes!"

"Oi, here eat this before you snog," Donna chucked Minerva a grapefruit which she barely caught.

"Hm, I've never had grapefruit," Minerva shrugged before eating a bit...only for her spit it out to the side, "And I never will again!" she pursed her lips together and shivered, "Now that was really awful. It's sour!"

The Doctor blinked at her, finding her adorable and yet in the back of his mind...there was something else that popped up.

"So what exactly is this?" Kaeya blinked as the Doctor placed a brown basket in front of her. Without waiting for an answer, she dropped to her knees and started picking up the various types of food inside.

"It's fruit from Earth," the Doctor replied as he squatted down beside her, "They brought some to Gallifrey just for some tastes and so..."

Kaeya glanced at him with a smirk, "You 'borrowed' them?" she raised an eyebrow.

The Doctor stared at the basket with a small smile, "Perhaps..."

"You realize you can't borrow food, right? I'm sure that's a similarity your planet and mine share."

"They won't miss it," the Doctor waved it off and picked up a fruit, a grapefruit, "Try some."

Kaeya took the fruit and and tore it apart in a wonky half, "Try it with me," she held one half for him. The Doctor took the half and awaited her to prepare, "Ready?" she asked and he nodded, "Bite!"

Both took a bite of their fruit at the same time and garnered different tastes. The Doctor thought of it sweet but Kaeya thought it was plain sour!

The Doctor let out a big laugh when Kaeya started making faces, the princess spitting out what was left in her mouth, "No, no, no, that is VERY bad!" she decreed.

"What? It was good!"

"No, it was bad," she threw her half and then snatched the Doctor's to throw it as well, "Grapefruits are not allowed on the Monsoon. Never, never, never."

The Doctor stared at her for a moment and smiled, "You're adorable."

Kaeya blushed, "You're not so bad yourself," she chuckled and started searching through the basket again.

The Doctor shook his head upon returning back to the present moment, something that didn't go missed by Donna. Minerva was too busy looking for something decent to eat to notice anything.

"Minerva, do you mind?" the Doctor quietly gestured if she would allow him to stand.

She looked at him and nodded, "Sure thing," she stood and was immediately sat down when he had stood, "Is something wrong?" she asked when she noticed how pale he'd gotten so suddenly.

"Yeah," he swallowed, "Just, um, gonna go see about some horses."

"Oh no, no horses please," she pouted, "You know how I feel about them."

"Don't worry," he smiled, "Your Martian will be right there protecting you from the big bad horses," he teased and set a kiss on her lips.

"He better be or I'll kill him," she warned weakly after their kiss.

The Doctor smiled and set another kiss but on her head, "I'll be back," he whispered and walked off.

What was going on with him? Why did his mind choose to play this games with him!? He was happy where he was, he wanted Minerva, he lo...he wanted her and only her. Why must he keep thinking of Kaeya?

"Oi, spaceman!" he heard Donna holler behind. He looked over his shoulder to see the ginger grabbing the side of her kimono in order to catch up to him, "Where do you think you're going?"

"Donna, don't leave Minerva alone," he shook his head.

"Oh, she didn't mind. I told her I was getting changed for that horse thing. Mention horses and she wants nothing to do with it apparently," Donna shrugged, "But in reality I came for you. What's going on?"

"Nothing, why would you think something's going on?"

"I'm no idiot," she whacked his arm, "I've noticed how distant you've grown at times, like you're just not there with us. Now I told you this before, spaceman, I'm here to help both you and Minerva. What's the matter, eh?"

"I don't want to leave Minerva-"

"And yet you don't want to be with her right now and that means something truly bad is going on," Donna crossed her arms, "C'mon, I told you once to tell me the story. I'll listen, promise," she put a hand on his arm.

The Doctor looked past her towards the table where Minerva had been left in and sighed, "Find someone to keep her company, please? It won't be right to leave her."

Donna nodded, "Yeah, I'll get one of the new friends we made."

"Just no men around her age," he warned, "...or any man actually."

Donna laughed, "Yeah, got it," she gave a thumbs-up and hurried to do her task.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor and Donna walked through the small woods that served as a place for the horse riding to take place in, Donna now changed into more comfortable clothes including a a purple jacket with a black blouse, jeans and small black boots. Donna had convinced Minerva to spend some time with one of the families they had met earlier in the day while they were off 'horse riding'. With her terrible fear of horses, Minerva hadn't even questioned it and simply went with the family.

"So, wherever and whenever you want to start," Donna sighed lightly, doing her best to be patient with the Doctor.

He'd been silent (for the first time) for a quite a while now and Donna feared he'd never talk. But the Doctor took a breath and decided to go with the most urgent thing at the moment, "I keep thinking of Kaeya," he declared. He looked down when Donna's eyes widened, feeling ashamed of himself.

"What? What do you mean?" she asked.

"It's been happening lately, and it's bad I know, but...I can't stop it."

"Well, do you have feelings for her?"

"No, no, I just...look, Kaeya was and will always be something truly important in my life. She was my first love, a love that was never lived," the Doctor swallowed, "But I've got Minerva now." Just at the mention of her name he felt himself slowly relax and even smile a little, "She's my everything and I don't want to lose her by telling her about this."

"What do you think of Kaeya right now?" Donna decided to ask, perhaps there was a different reason for seeing the other woman that the Doctor hadn't picked up on.

"It's weird, I..." the Doctor paused to gather coherent words in his mind, "...sometimes, there's these little things that Minerva does or says that...remind me of what Kaeya used to do. I never really noticed how similar they are at times. It's peculiar to me."

"But they're not completely the same are they?"

"No, they're both kind women but there's sharp differences between the two," the Doctor nodded with assurance, "Kaeya never spoke out, she never had the courage to do what she wanted, no matter how much it harmed her. Minerva does, she did. She left her parents and went out to travel because she wanted to. Minerva's bold, she's got attitude, she's got sass, and..." he smiled softly, "...she's one woman you do not mess with."

"Except for when it comes to her family," Donna added with a sigh, making him sigh in agreement.

"That's all their fault, not Minerva's," he said, "She's all those things I just said because it's her personality. Kaeya always dreamed of being like that..." he sighed, "...but it never happened."

"Well listen, it's my understanding that you and that princess shared centuries together so naturally it's going to be popping into your head at times, but I wouldn't worry about it. What I think is going on is that you've never really spoken about her to anyone but Kaeya herself. I think you have all these memories of her that are trying their best not to be forgotten."

"So what do I do about it?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Talk to me about her," Donna nudged him, "C'mon, tell me about this snow princess."

"What do you want to know?" he raised his shoulders awkwardly. He would think a sister, whether by blood or not, would never want to hear about her sister's boyfriend's past love.

"Why didn't you ever take her away from that planet?" Donna began at the very beginning of her curiosity.

"The Moontsays are bound by the cold, they'd need to adapt slowly to warmer climate and Kaeya never had that opportunity. If I were to take her somewhere, she'd die."

"Ouch," Donna made a face, "So that's why you visited her instead?"

The Doctor nodded, stuffing his hands in his pockets, "Yeah. At first, when I had no TARDIS of my own nor a family, I would steal the TARDIS I have now from its place and take it for a joyride to the Monsoon."

"Didn't you get caught?"

"I knew when to take it; I had every visit to the Monsoon perfectly calculated...when to go and when to come back."

"You were on a tight schedule, then? Blimey, what a 'date'," Donna chuckled.

"It had to be that way," the Doctor shrugged, "Kaeya had to sneak away from her home, from her guards, everyone. We'd usually meet on this lovely iced lake."

"And what did you do all that time you were there? I doubt you paraded down her city's streets or anything like that," Donna smirked, "What did you do, spaceman?"

"Donna," the Doctor looked away with a deep blush on his neck that slowly crept onto his face.

"This was before you met Minerva, everyone's got a past, no need to be ashamed," Donna shrugged.

"We didn't do anything bad," the Doctor assured but kept receiving elbows on his side like Minerva would, "Ow! Ow! Ow!"

"Tell me the truth!"

"Ow!"

"Spaceman!"

"Alright fine," the Doctor stepped away from Donna, his hands in front of him to protect himself from the ginger, "So...you have to understand, Donna. I first saw Kaeya as a child, both of us, and I continued to see her each year for a couple minutes before the spaceship I was in would fly away from the Monsoon. One year, as a teen, I tried sneaking out of the ship to see her, and I was caught, so I went a long time before I saw her again."

"Aw, that's sad," Donna made a face.

"It was, that's when I stole a TARDIS for the first time, the TARDIS I would one day really steal and never give back," the Doctor smiled, "But by the time I did that I was over the age, a 'young adult' as Earth terms would proclaim. Kaeya was no longer that child I saw from a ship. She was...a beautiful young woman," he breathed, "She kissed me that first time we met face-to-face."

Donna rolled her eyes, "Is there any woman you haven't snogged?" the Doctor gave her a look up and down to answer her question and so Donna immediately pointed at him, "And it's staying like that," she warned.

"Kaeya and I...we knew nothing could happen, at least for the moment," he continued his story, actually finding it easy to talk to Donna for some reason, "But we still 'courted' as she used to say. We kissed, we had small dates on parts of the Monsoon, but it never went beyond that," he turned serious at the last words, "Never. I had plans for us, I wanted to marry her and take her away and show her the universe...but it never happened," Donna set a hand on his arm for encouragement, "One day my parents decided to arrange a marriage for me, claiming it was for the best. Of course they didn't know I'd been secretly visiting the princess of the planet most Time Lords despised. They'd chosen a woman for me, a 'proper' Time Lady."

"Did you tell them?" Donna asked quietly.

"I didn't have plans to tell my father, he was one to truly advocate against Moontsays. But my mother, she...was neutral. She never said anything kind but never anything bad about Moontsays. I wanted to tell her, but..." the Doctor shrugged and looked down, "...I was a coward. I felt everything was out of my control. There was a bride chosen, my bride apparently, and I was to marry her."

"What did you do, then?"

"I ran straight for Kaeya," he swallowed, "She was waiting for me like always, this big smile on her face as soon as I stepped out...but then she saw me...and she knew something was wrong."

"You told her," Donna gave a small, sad smile, "You did the right thing, you know? Most men would have simply stopped coming altogether, or worse...lie to her about it."

"She was the only one I couldn't lie to. I told her everything, and...you know how I told you she'd let Minerva and I be if we really wished?" he asked and Donna nodded, "I know she would do that because that's exactly what she did the first time. She actually encouraged me to marry another woman," he bitterly laughed, "That was Kaeya, too sweet for her own good."

"Like Minerva," Donna remembered his words from the beginning.

The Doctor nodded, "Kaeya didn't get angry, she didn't yell, she just...told me to go marry."

"Oh, that's...that's awful," Donna couldn't really find any more to say about that. There was nothing to be said. The woman gave up her love without a fight, just like the Doctor assured she would this time around when she'd find Minerva.

"After that, all our courting ended," the Doctor continued, this time uncaring if Donna was listening. He simply wanted to get it off his chest, let the emotions take over once and for all to finally stop thinking of the princess. Donna had been right, he needed to stop bottling it and just let it go.

"Anything that went beyond friendship vanished between us," the Doctor said, "I didn't want to stop seeing her, even if friends was the only thing we would ever be. But before getting married, I met my bride-to-be and I told her everything."

"You did that!?" Donna blinked, "Isn't that a big no-no!?"

"I thought maybe if I told her, she'd break things off and I'd be free again..." the Doctor shook his head, "...but she told me it was fine. She had no intention to break what ever was going on with Kaeya and I. She didn't want to be married, she apparently had had her own love who passed away. She wanted no love from me, she said she was only doing this for her family. But there was never to be any love between us. Actually," he took a breath, "She encouraged me to go see Kaeya whenever I could. She understood perfectly what it was to have a real love."

"That's big of her," Donna remarked.

"She was a good woman, I never had one complaint about her. Admittedly, if I had to have been in an arranged marriage, it would've been with her. She understood what my situation was like, the only difference being her love had died a couple months before her family told her about the arranged marriage. There was only thing she wanted in the world," the Doctor took in a breath, "A child. She wanted a child to dedicate her life to."

"Oh, see she didn't go light on the question," Donna gave a small chuckle.

"As a wife she had a right," the Doctor sighed, "But every time I saw my children, I couldn't help wonder what they would be like if they were..."

"Kaeya's?" Donna raised an eyebrow, smiling when the Doctor nodded, "It was impossible not to think of that."

"Throughout all that time, all those centuries, Kaeya was there for me. She loved seeing the pictures of my children, even grandchildren. She said she loved them because they were mine, and I knew she was telling the truth. She met one of them, you know."

"She did?" Donna blinked, "What happened!?"

"She met my granddaughter, Susan," the Doctor let a small laugh as he remembered at day, "Along with her two teachers, our current companions at the moment. They got along so well it stunned me."

"You expected some cat-fight or something?"

"No, Susan wasn't the violent type, but...this was a woman that was not her grandmother. Obviously, I was a bit afraid of what could happen," the Doctor smiled as he sighed in content, "But Kaeya was so kind, so welcoming. They grew to be very close, Kaeya even admitted once to me that she liked to pretend that Susan was our granddaughter."

"Did she ever...marry herself?" Donna curiously asked, "Have any grandchildren of her own?"

"No," he shook his head, "She remained unwed her entire life. She claimed she didn't want anyone else that wasn't me. I told her, I begged her, to make her own life. I even offered to stop visiting her if that would help her move on..."

"And what she say?" Donna could guess the answer by his shameful face.

"Never," he whispered, "She stayed single and waited for me to visit. After things ended with my marriage, I tried to tell her she needed to make her own life. Heck, I even decided to age just so that she could distance herself from me."

"You 'decided' to age?" Donna raised an eyebrow, "I thought you didn't."

"Well, the first incarnation you can decide whether or not you want to age, of course if you do decide to age ultimately you'll have to regenerate due to old-age."

"And you thought Kaeya would be that shallow she'd stop loving you because of some wrinkles and gray hair," Donna said in amusement.

"I made the mistake," the Doctor nodded, "She never stopped, despite the little phases I went through. Each incarnation she greeted me with open arms and a kiss on the cheek, nothing beyond that though. We kept true to our word, friendship only. She died when I was so far away, at least I thought she did, and I've lived with that guilt for so long now."

"But she's coming back," Donna reminded, "And you think of her because of your guilt. Of course there's going to be similarities between her and Minerva but that doesn't mean anything bad. I bet there's similarities between Minerva and I."

"Oh, there are," he cut her off, "Both bold, sassy-"

"I'd be very careful with your words, spaceman," Donna wagged a finger, "But my point is, let the past go. Kaeya is coming back and eventually she will make her own life. The past is the past, it's okay to spare her a thought now and then," she set a hand on his arm.

"But why now? Why when I'm happy am I thinking of her?" he insisted.

"There's no real answer for that," Donna sighed, "But perhaps it's because, like you said, that love with her was never lived, and now that you've found someone you can have...old memories come back. But don't fret about it."

"Should I tell Minerva of this?" he turned to her, nervously awaiting an answer.

"I think only you can decide that," she pointed, "I won't say anything, I'm gonna say that right now. It's not my story to tell."

"I'm afraid, Donna," he admitted, "I'm afraid of how she'll react to it."

"Just think on what's right for her and you, you'll figure it out," Donna assured and gave him a hug, practically knowing what he was going to do already.

~ 0 ~

Eventually, the Doctor and Donna had found Minerva back at the par. They found she had changed from her kimono, claiming it had gotten cold. She had grabbed a green, loose blouse with a black three-quarter sleeved blazer, and her silver necklace. She wore dark blue jeans and black, knee length boots with a small heel. Her hair remained in its bun although with the rubbing she had just done, it grew messier at the top.

The trio were looking at a nearby pond back in the woods, one that seemed to be full of fishes, even several frogs on their lily pads. Donna was really engulfed in them, hearing the Doctor explain what each fish was and what they did. Minerva was also interested...but she couldn't help feel like something was watching them. Every now and then she would look around in case there actually was someone stalking them. But there was absolutely nothing...and then...

She heard whispers...in her head.

It was like a couple voices were overlapping with each other, all trying to say something but nothing was coherent. She rubbed her temple, happening to look back and see a...a...blue light? Yes, it was a blue light. And it seemed to almost...glow. It was like a blob of blue light just floating in midair. She knew that light, at least she think she did. It was the same one that had appeared in the Valiant, not to mention the one that had teleported her out of the Titanic spaceship. But what was it doing here? And why did she feel like it calling her? Without thinking, she found herself walking away from the Doctor and Donna, the two distracted to notice her leave.

Minerva was determined to see what exactly that light was, why it had chosen to save her. She walked further into the woods, trying to pay attention to the whispers she kept hearing. However, everything was so jumbled up she couldn't make out anything coherent. She came to a stop in a small clearing where the blue light stayed by some trees ahead of her.

"Who are you?" she decided to speak out in a calm way. If she angered what ever it was, she may regret it and that was something she didn't want, "Listen, I guess you're alive, looks like it," she studied the light, "What do you want?"

The blue light glowed at her words, consuming the trees ahead of her. Ice started emerging from the roots, quickly rapping itself around the trunks...branches...leaves...

And then it rushed front the roots to the ground, almost chasing towards Minerva.

Minerva screamed and jumped back, "What are you!?" she cried, feeling her chest tighten for some reason. She felt...cold. She placed her hand over her heart, feeling it compress her chest, making it harder to breath.

"Minerva!?" she could hear the Doctor call, Donna calling after her a second later.

"H-here!" Minerva tried to yell but the air was leaving her body rapidly. She fell to her knees, her hand clutching her chest. The light reached up to her knees, just barely touching her. She screamed again. She could have sworn the ice hissed, like it was also in pain. She stared at the light suddenly rush away from her, almost running away her. She blinked, hugging herself while she shivered, her eyes watching the light seemingly fading...in a near sad manner. With it, the ice started disappearing into nothing.

"There you are!" the Doctor ran out from behind, dropping beside her to check what was wrong. He'd only heard her first scream and immediately realized she wasn't with then anymore, so he bolted to find her.

Minerva trembled as she pointed ahead, the Doctor turning just as Donna arrived to see the last of the ice from the tree's leaves disappearing.

"What the hell is that!?" Donna gaped.

"It was the light, the blue light from the Titanic" Minerva looked at the Doctor, "I think...I think it was hurt. It touched me and it got hurt, just like me. Doctor my chest hurts, a lot," she screwed her eyes shut from the pain, "It's like I can't breath!"

The Doctor knew it was the crystal complicating it for her and quickly took her into his arms. In extreme cases like these he could treat it like asthma and give her an inhaler. But he needed the TARDIS and so he quickly headed to the box, "It's okay, it's okay, shhh," he rubbed her back.

Donna had stayed behind and frowned as she stared ahead, tilting her head in confusion. She looked around and saw a small spot where ice had remained near a trunk of a tree.

"Donna!" he heard the Doctor shout for her.

Donna quickly turned and ran to catch up with the pair, "Is she going to be alright?" she looked at the barely conscious Minerva.

"Yeah, I just have to get her somewhere warm and give her an inhaler," the Doctor replied with haste.

"But I don't want to leave the festival," Minerva complained quietly.

"You're not staying, Clever Girl," he shook his head.

"Please, I want to stay in the festival."

"Minerva, I'm putting you to bed and that's that," the Doctor declared. But with that look she was giving him, a sad hopeful look, with her face stained of tears...he knew it wouldn't be easy to keep his word.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor was reading over Minerva's test results in the TARDIS med-bay, heavily sighing as he reached the end.

"Well?" Donna asked, standing beside him.

She had returned from checking on Minerva in her room, the girl asleep with dozens of blankets around her and on, her room's heater on full blast. To her, it literally felt like the freaking sun, but for Minerva...it seemed just right.

"Same as always, simply the crystal," the Doctor laid down the papers on the table in front of them, "And that I'm useless. Nothing new there!" He crumpled up the papers and threw it to a wall.

Donna laid a hand on his arm, "Hey, it's not your fault. You're doing everything you can."

But the Doctor shook his head, he was utterly frustrated because he couldn't do anything for Minerva. The only thing he can do is bundle her up in blankets and blast a heater, fat lot of good that was! He was useless because the one person he truly lo...cared for, was in danger and he couldn't do a damn thing. He couldn't even figure out what that little blue light was!

"It's alright," Donna cut into his thoughts.

"I should be able to cure her," he muttered, "She shouldn't have to live like this...I..."

"But she's happy, and that's what matters."

"Is she? Is she truly happy, Donna? Because I know anyone who lived like this wouldn't be too happy."

"Minerva is happy. And you wanna know why?"

"Enlighten me."

"Because she's with you," Donna smiled when the man's head snapped to hers, actually looking surprised which only made her laugh, "Doctor, she's told me all about you two and how you ended up together. The girl practically beams when you enter the room. And right now, when she feels 'sick', the only thing she wants to feel better is you. You think you're not doing anything for her but you are, you're really helping her just by being with her. Sooo, with that being said," she moved behind him and started pushing him for the doorway, "Go and see if she's woken up yet and make her feel better."

"Donna Noble you are something," he had to smile at the ginger as he was pushed.

"Yeah, yeah, temporal temp, non-important, blah, blah, now go!" she pushed him out to the hallway.

"Yes, but before," he spun around to face her, plopping a kiss on her forehead, "You are very important and I shall not have you running around my TARDIS without knowing so!"

She smiled softly, touched at his determination, "Thank you, spaceman."

"You're welcome," he nodded and went off to find his Clever Girl.

He went straight to her room, opening it just slightly to poke his head inside...only to see her bed was completely empty.

"Minerva?" he called, now coming inside. He looked around and saw no one so he went for the bathroom door, knocking on it several times, "Minerva? Are you in there?" he knocked again and awaited for an answer that never came. Cautiously, he opened the door just a crack, in case she hadn't heard him, "Minerva?" he poked his head inside, seeing no one around and so coming inside. He walked around, seeing nothing.

Where had that Clever Girl gotten to?

~ 0 ~

Minerva rested her back against a tree, her legs propped up to her chest, and her head tilted up as she stared at the dark sky above. She did her best to ignore her shivers or trembles, even if they were small she did still feel cold. She told the Doctor she didn't want to leave the festival yet, and even as the Martian refused to let her stay...he had kept the TARDIS in the festival where they had originally arrived. So, when she woken up and realized neither him or Donna were around...she made her escape.

But as she kept looking up to the sky, her mind seemed to drift back to the blue light she encountered earlier. That light...it felt...odd. It felt familiar in a way, but then again it had protected her back in the Titanic ship so she figured that was the reason behind it. However, she kept thinking on the noise of pain it had given when it touched her. It sounded like it had been in as much pain as she'd been. But that begged the question of why it had tried to touch her. Had it known that it would hurt both parties? Why had it even tried to touch her in the first place? For what purpose? The light was active, that much she knew, classified as alive who knew...but it had made a conscious move towards her. It even talked. She was sure those whispers she heard in her head were coming from the light, but what did it mean?

"I thought I'd find you here," the Doctor came around the tree, startling her out of her thoughts.

She looked up with an apologetic smile for her escape, "You stayed in the festival..."

"Of course I did, my Clever Girl asked me not to go," he held a red blanket in his arms, "I also assumed you had made your escape so quickly that you didn't bother getting something warm," he knelt down beside her and wrapped the blanket around her shoulders.

"Maybe," she confessed, biting her lip, "Are you mad?"

"No, of course not," he took a seat beside her, "Though I still say you should've stayed in your room where it was warm."

"That's boring," she scowled, "Boo. I wanted to come out and watch the rest of the festival..."

"While you shivered?" he pointed to her trembling body.

"Petty side effect," she waved him off, "Plus, I've got a Martian who always keeps me warm," she smiled slyly.

He caught her smile and shook his head, "You just love testing me, don't you?"

"Because you always fail me when talking about recreational mathematics, yes, I do."

"It's really not that hard, Minerva. I explained to you what the prime numbers was and-"

"La, la, la, la, la," Minerva covered her ears, "La, la, la, no math at a festival, la, la, la-"

The Doctor simply turned her head and kissed her. Minerva laughed against their kiss, she always won that argument. Every time one of the Doctor's lessons were about mathematics, she would push it aside or act so annoying that the man really only had the option of kissing her to make her shut up. Oh well...

"You are sneaky," he rolled on top of her, either legs of his on her sides so he wouldn't hurt her. He didn't weigh too much, at least he liked to think he didn't.

"You're the one that swiftly moved over me," Minerva bit her lip as the Martian neared her lips again.

"Are you still cold?"

She nodded, "My forehead is cold," so the Doctor moved up to kiss her forehead, "And my temples," two kisses were given to her temples, "My cheeks are cold too," she giggled as he kissed her cheeks, "And then these are extremely cold," she tapped her lips.

"You are very demanding aren't you?"

"Mhm."

"Well, what kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn't keep my Clever Girl warm?"

"A very bad one..." Minerva smiled sweetly.

He just laughed and kissed her again. This time, though, he didn't plan on giving her a short little kiss, no...

Minerva's giggle broke through the kiss at the sensation of the Doctor's fingers brushing repeatedly on her sides, "Doctor," she gasped as his fingers moved to her back. Her skin was turning into goosebumps, but the good kind...a good set of chills she never experienced before, chills he provoked with his soft fingers.

Suddenly, though, the Doctor pulled away, feeling guilty about everything he told Donna earlier in the day...something that Minerva had a right to know about as well. He knew what was right. He was already hiding something monumentally big from her, the least he could was tell her of the lesser secret.

"What's going on with you, Martian?" Minerva sighed, her fingers tracing the sides of his face, "You've been acting weird lately, an extra weird for you."

"Minerva, there's something I need to tell you," he moved beside her, wondering if he would be able to hold her hand after he told her about Kaeya.

"What is it?"

"First, I just want you to know that I'm happy with you, okay?" he decided to go for her hand and hold it. At least if she got angry he would have the satisfaction he'd held her hand.

"I'm happy with you too," she smiled and gripped his hand.

"Minerva, I've..." he took a deep breath and let everything go as Donna had said, "...I've been thinking of Kaeya a lot more lately," he shut his eyes and awaited for the worst, even unconsciously gripping her hand in case she wanted to snatch it away from him.

"And?" Minerva blinked.

The Doctor's eyes snapped open and turned completely to face her, "And? What do you mean 'and'?"

"Just what it means," she shrugged.

"Minerva, I just told you I'm thinking about Kaeya, and..."

"You expected me to yell at you or something?" Minerva raised an eyebrow, sighing when the Doctor nodded, "I'll admit, it isn't to my greatest like that you think about her but it's natural. We're searching for her and clearly that's going to bring up some old thoughts about her. But thank you for telling me this," she rested a hand on his cheek, "I feel so special because you were honest with me. Frankly, I'd be a upset if you denied that you've been thinking about her."

"You would be?" he made a face of confusion.

Minerva nodded, "Because then you'd be lying to me," immediately, the Doctor's eyes darted to the side in guilt of his secret. She had no idea of the crystal that laid in her heart and he didn't want to think of what she'd do when she found out, "So it's okay, Martian, I'm not angry," Minerva assured him, "And thank you for taking me into consideration in all this."

"You're not...upset or anything?" he knew a smart person would stop insisting but he needed to make sure she was alright.

"No, truthfully, I've been thinking of her too," she admitted, "There's a lot of things that don't make sense about her encounter with the Master."

"But my thoughts aren't from that moment..." he said shamefully.

"They're from your time together," she finished what he couldn't, "It's okay, Martian. I wouldn't want you to act like nothing happened between you and her. That would be good for no one. I like being realistic, you know that. You think of your ex-girlfriend, to put it in simple terms. Big deal."

The Doctor took her hand off his face and gave it a kiss, "You are absolutely wonderful."

"And you are absolutely brilliant," she countered.

The Doctor leaned forwards and rested his forehead on hers, one of his hands still clutching Minerva's, his other making a trail up and down the side of her face. Her piercing jade-green eyes looked up at him with such softness and kindness in them it made him nearly melt. He felt like he could stay in this spot for an eternity as long as Minerva was right in front of him, the way she was. There were so many feelings rushing through him he didn't know what to say next, or what he could do.

"Minerva, I think I l..."

However, Donna approached the two with a big, red, rectangular gift box in her arms, "Oi!" she hollered, "There you are!"

The Doctor looked back at the ginger and saw the box, his eyes widening when he saw the box, "N-n-n-no! What are you doing with that? That wasn't for tonight!"

"What was?" Minerva asked, looking at him with confusion.

Donna took a seat in front of the two, leaving just enough space between them to place the box in, "Well the TARDIS was humming or whatever it does and then she showed me the gift," Donna explained, "Now what is it?" she leaned forwards with a smile that just screamed curiosity.

"It's not for you," the Doctor snapped then sighed, looking at Minerva, "It was for you."

"Me? But...it's not my birthday, it's not Christmas, no anniversaries or anything..." Minerva blinked, considering any other possible special occasion that could require a present.

The Doctor chuckled as he watched her grow more concerned she'd missed something, "No silly, I just wanted to surprise you. You've been a bit depressed lately so I figured I could help boost your mood up with that," he nodded to the gift.

"In that case, open it!" Donna exclaimed and patted the box.

Minerva sheepishly reached for the present and placed it on her lap, slowly ripping off the wrapping paper from the corners. She could make out a rather large square as she pulled down the paper, but when she opened it...her mouth hung open.

"A new Wahoo," she whispered, passing a hand down the box.

Donna scowled and tilted her head, "What is it?"

"It's um, an old game I used to play with my grandfather when I was a kid. A guy gave me one of these last year for my birthday but...it got left behind in 1969," Minerva looked at the Doctor, smiling softly, "Did you buy me a new one?"

"I figured what could make my Clever Girl happier than her favorite childhood game board?"

She leaned over and gently kissed him, "That could have," she whispered.

"I don't get it," Donna shook her head. How could a silly little game board make everything better? "Minerva, if you already had one why would you want another one?"

"It was left behind in 1969," Minerva reminded, "We were stuck there for a couple of months and a friend I made gave me one of these for my birthday. Though if I do recall..." she looked at the Doctor, "...it had made some one a tad upset..."

"Upset? Why would you be upset?" Donna asked him.

"Because it made her happy and it wasn't me that made her happy," he grumbled.

Just remembering that moment where Minerva had become so excited for the present that Jerome gave her made his blood boil. He wasn't upset she was happy, no. He loved seeing her happy, even back then. But it irritated him knowing that it hadn't been him that made her so excited and happy. It had been another man, another man that clearly had feelings for her and managed to snag a date with her meanwhile himself couldn't even confess his own feelings for her.

He loathed those days in 1969 where Minerva was closer to another man that wasn't him. Only he was allowed to make her smile, comfort, touch her, hug her, only him. And to see Minerva going on a date with Jerome and not him was, was...infuriating. Yes, infuriating because that meant Minerva could've fallen for Jerome and then that would lead to boyfriend and girlfriend and that was something the Doctor wouldn't stand for. That date of hers had been the breaking point of his indecision; the Doctor wanted Minerva to fall for him and only him. He wanted to be the one to ask her on a date, to give her that first-date kiss and hopefully become a boyfriend to her...and not Jerome. He was a helpless jealous idiot, but for Minerva he would be anything.

"Jerome was a nice," Minerva shrugged, biting back her laugh when the Doctor snapped his head to her, already annoyed he was talking about the man, "But I had my feelings somewhere else...on a certain Martian," she looked at him with a sheepish smile, "Now he made me truly happy when he decided to play with me."

"Well, can you teach me how to play?" Donna asked, taking the box from Minerva to look at it, "It looks weird..."

"It's fun, I promise," Minerva assured, gesturing her to start opening it. She then turned to the Doctor, "And you, thank you so much," she lunged on him when she kissed him, successfully pushing him to the ground, "Thank you!" she peppered kissed his entire face.

The Doctor laughed as he reached for her face, stopping her and unfortunately her kisses, "Glad you liked it."

"I promise I won't lose it," she swore before giving him one last deep kiss that left him with a burning desire for more. She sat up and started helping Donna set up the game, "Donna, you're gonna love this!"

The Doctor sat up and reached for the blanket Minerva had dropped behind. He wrapped it around her and scooted closer to her, watching her ecstatically rambling to Donna the instructions for the game. She truly did sound like him when she spoke that fast and excitedly, but she sounded so much better simply because it was her.

#ocappreciation #doctor who #10th doctor #fd: doctor who #dw imagine #dw fics #10th doctor fics #doctor who imagines #doctor who fics #donna noble #oc: Minerva Souza #oc: Kaeya Louvier #fic: star crossed

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szipps · 4 years ago

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Feeling like shit today lul.

I went shopping for clothes but today for the first time I felt extreme anxiety. My parents are, to my knowledge, probably getting a divorce so my mom had my dad buy me clothes for when I go back to school. I don't think I've ever gone shopping alone with my dad so it was awkward. I didn't know where to look for clothes and I didn't have a second opinion like I would if I were with my mom, sisters, or friends. I felt so lost. I'm usually fine in my own skin and how I dress since I know what I want and I'm confortable with it but all the clothes they had just weren't for people like "me". It was all crop tops, flowy dresses, cute thin blouses, etc... The type of clothes you see people on tik tok wearing. Just trendy clothes that in all honesty, just look like a grandmas closet I'm sorry lol.

Anyways, I felt really out of place. None of it looked like something I'd wear and I just felt like a hick wearing my old clothes. My hands were getting so sweaty.

My dad is taller than me too so when we were walking around so I was kind of chasing after him the whole time we were shopping. I honestly hate that he was walking in front of me in the first place. I know he probably didn't think about it and was in a rush because he had some work to do afterwards but it made me feel like a fucking burden and a slug lol.

I felt like shit for being short, not liking any of the clothes, not having any money, and not having anyone to have fun with.

I know what kind of clothes I want to wear of course, I know those clothes aren't what I want to wear at all, I just felt like I wasn't welcome in a way...

Then come the feelings of feeling like I'm unlovable lol.

Of course I know that's not true at all because even the fucking weird kids have dates 💀 but I just feel like I'm so fucking boring and have a shit personality that ill never be able to catch anyone's eye. Also I'm straight and men lowkey terrify me because of crimes against women and just general "boy talk". I hope it easy to figure out what I mean.

I just think that if I was attracted to women I'd have an easier time finding someone to fall in love with, not having to panic because I feel like male culture is completely different than female culture. I don't know if that's true or not but its like were two different species.

My posture is bad, I'm a bit overweight, I don't have good skin, I'm not very friendly, I don't have many interesting hobbies, I'm not really sure what I look like to be honest lol, I'm fucking short, and my "standards" are too high.

I wish I was like my friend. She's really outgoing and has lots of friends. She even asked her boyfriend out first and they've been dating for about 2 or so years now? They're really happy together too.

Now look back to me lol. I freak out whenever I see any attractive boy and act "cool". Cool being uninterested and just acting like normal. Fucking seriously? I just can't imagine anyone legitimately being interested in me because literally no one is. Not even my own fucking friends and family. Feels bad :(

I want to fall in love and date someone cool, funny, and friendly. Hell, he doesn't even have to be even that attractive, I just want to date a good person who I know won't kill or harm me. The bar really is that low, wow.

But at the same time I want to date someone I can be proud off and show off. Fucking embarrassing 🤦 for someone like me to think about.

I really hope I'm completely wrong about the way I see myself but there's something that tells me I'm not. I'm self aware. I know what is proper and what isn't. I'm a damn clown fiesta.

I'm not going to accomplish anything. I won't even get a job and I'm already fucking 17. I don't even have my fucking license. I feel like everyone's leaving me behind. I can't see a future for me and I never have been able to. I don't have any real aspirations and I sure as hell don't want to live in the "real" world. I'm honeslty debating whether I should really kill myself. I'm such a fucking coward lol.

I know this is long already but bear with me lol.

I honestly don't even know if I even want to be friends with my best friend anymore. We've been friends for almost 10 years now and have gone through so much together. Well, I've gone through a lot of what she's gone though. No real pain in my end.

She has a troubled life and I honestly feel really bad once I think about it but most of the time I don't. Shes outgoing, friendly, cool, and basically everything I'm not. I'm not saying I'm jealous of her, I just feel like we're not very connected in most ways. Hell, I'm not really sure why we're friends in the first place. We know eacother really well, yes (thats probably why you're friends, dumbass) but I honestly don't like most of the things she does, which is to say, drugs. Yeah she's a fucking druggie lol. Not really, but she smokes a lot. I wouldn't really mind if she did, but its literally all she does and talks about. I'm not really comfortable nor do I care about drugs.

I hate that she smokes. It fucking stinks and it sticks everywhere. I come home smelling like cigarettes and weed and my mom is very against things like that. I don't think they've smelled it, but it they have, they haven't said anything.

With her smoking comes the realization that she really doesn't give a shit about me. She drags me around to her friends houses so she can get free weed and the like. She drives the car while high, Smokes in the car, all while I'm in the car with her.

Girl, I'm fucking getting second hand smoke over here!!!

Its not like I ever tell her how I feel about it, but its not like I should have to. Normally you don't blow your smoke at people who don't smoke. It's fucking rude.

Honestly, I've been feeling this way for some time, since middle school really.

We just stopped talking and hanging out all through middle school. All our interactions were just sitting together on the bus.

We've been friends since 3rd grade but she always says she didn't have any friends in elementary school. I feel like I wasted my fucking time. I didn't even have many friends but her because the one time I had another close friend, she got really jealous and aggressive towards her. Not that I have any bad feelings towards her then, we were kids, but it just feels like all I did with her then was really nothing at all for her.

I don't ever plan to tell her any bad feelings I feel towards her since I feel like if I did, it be a pretty hurtful think for her. I guess I did it to myself since I never complained and just silent company. I understand shes depressed and is having a really hard time, but it really feels like a waste of time when we hang out since all we do is lay in bed on our phones because she doesn't want to go outside.

I feel like its been long enough now. I've ranted for more than I wanted to lol. My earbuds have run out of battery and I'm in a better mood since I began ranting. My feelings are precious and not something I really want to share, even to the people closest in my life. I know I'm not alone in my feelings since there are way more people in the world than I could ever imagine, and there's bound to be someone who thinks the same way I do. So, I hope whoever reads this gets to be entertained by seeing what goes on in someone else's life or maybe no one will ever read this and I'm just talking to the void, at least ill be getting my feelings straight and sorted somewhere I can look back and laugh.

Goodnight! I hope things get better.

#getting this off my chest #ranting #feelings #feeling like shit #this fucking sucks

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chickensarentcheap · 5 years ago

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Sanctuary - Chapter 5

Warnings: some mother and daughter angst. That’s about it. Small mention of pregnancy loss.

Tagging: @c-a-v-a-l-r-y, @alievans007, @valkyrie-of-the-light

Her folks live in a retirement community just south of Butte; a neighbourhood of red brick bungalow style townhouses with immaculately landscaped front gardens and rear yards the size of postage stamps. A far cry from the place they’d had in the suburbs, with its five bedrooms and inground pool and a kitchen large enough to host all of the family gatherings. But they’d chosen to downsize and spent four months of the year travelling throughout the United States in Canada in their motorhome.

Esme doesn’t visit as often as she probably should. Or at least that’s what her brothers have told her when they get going on their guilt trips. She tried using the excuse that she was just simply too busy: four kids to take care of (sometimes on her own), a husband, a home to look after. The truth of the matter was that just didn’t feel comfortable there; a noticeable chill in the air the moment she would walk through the door, followed by thick nearly unbearable tension for the rest of her visit. Her relationship with her mother had starting souring in her third year of college when she decided that academics was no longer what she wanted to pursue; she needed a change, a challenge, something that would give her a sense of accomplishment and pride. Her decision to join the Corps had ruffled a lot of feathers; two of her brothers had failed boot camp and her passing at left them both embarrassed and livid. Her mother had just been plain disappointed. She’d wanted more for her oldest daughter. Much more. And the idea of her being shipped off overseas to fight wars on foreign soil, putting her live at risk for the lives of others, didn’t sit well with her. This was her child. Still her baby regardless of age, and she felt personally slighted that her daughter would have the gall to be so selfish and not think of others.

Getting married had somewhat repaired things. Everyone had loved Mark; a career Marine from a long list of career Marines, handsome, charming, well spoken. And things had started out great. They’d been amazing, in fact. She’d thought she’d met the love of her life; he treated her well, loved spending time with her family, was looking forward to having kids of his own. He had known how to say all the right things and follow them up with the actions that matched. Fooling everyone when it came to the true person he really was.

Two years in, she had suffered a miscarriage. She’d only been two months along and the doctor had said that it was very common to for first pregnancies to end in unfortunate circumstances. She’d been devastated and had coped with it by throwing herself into the Corps. Mark had been livid; finding every excuse in the book to blame her for what had happened. He’d had it in his head that it was somewhat her fault and there was no convincing him otherwise. That was what set the abuse off; he became controlling, obsessed with her every move, began limiting her interactions with friends and colleagues, even family. He sought solace in the bottle, which in turn brought out violent and abusive tendencies that he’d no doubt been harbouring his entire life.

Ten months.

Ten months she had put up with it. She’d thought she could change him. Save him. And in the end she’d lost everything. Relationships with friends, respect from colleagues, bonds with her own family.

She’d walked away. With nothing but the clothes on her back and a hundred bucks in the bank. She no longer had self respect or confidence. So no longer trusted anyone; especially men. She left the Corps and never looked back. Her mother had been devastated. Not at the sudden change of career, but because Esme apparently had been ungrateful and never could see just how lucky she was. A handsome and charming husband, a nice home, a stable future laid out right in front of her. Esme could never quite wrap her head around her mother’s reasoning. How she could truly believe that anyone of that was true. It had been a show. All of it. Mark had never been any of those things her mom raved about. If he had have been, he wouldn’t have so easily turned into a monster.

And so began their toxic relationship. A far cry from how close they’d been throughout her childhood and most of her teen years. She’d learn down the line that her mother was than likely a narcissist herself and she’d never even realized that.

But she’d promised her older brother she’d at least try. After all, someone had to be the bigger person. And she had four kids that deserved to know their grandparents. She just didn’t want her mother’s issues being deflected upon them; she dreaded the idea of bringing them there and was filled with anxiety at the mere thought of her mother showing up on Christmas or birthdays. Tyler for the most part stayed out of it; he was the strong, silent type that didn’t need words to show you that his whole support and understanding was behind you. But unlike Mark who’d laugh at her mother’s cheap shots –“She’s just joking, Esme,” he’d insist. “Stop being so fragile”-, Tyler wasn’t the type to just sit back and put iup with it. He was protective (to a fault at times) and refused to let anyone talk to his wife…the mother of his children…that way. Which in turn led to an already tense situation being so much worse.

Her mother didn’t like him. She didn’t deny and didn’t attempt to hide it. She blamed him for the disintegration of her relationship with her daughter, despite the fact it had imploded years before he ever came along. She was bitter that her daughter ‘abandoned the family’ and decided to just move half way around the world to be with some stranger she’d met on a business trip. How dare she do something for herself for once? How dare she meet the love of her life; a man that actually worshipped her and respected her and didn’t lay hands on her? How unbelievably selfish of her not to just leave that same man on his death bed to come back to Colorado and kiss her mother’s ass. Did she not think of others when deciding to get married out of the blue and start a family?

It gives her anxiety even now, as she sits in her parents’ driveway, the engine on her SUV idling, the baby babbling and giggling in his car seat in the back. She knew she shouldn’t let things bother her this badly. That she should just take whatever her mother says and does at face value and just put a smile on her face and then leave knowing that it simply didn’t fucking matter what her mother thought about her life or the choices she’d made.

But it is easier said than done.

Her cell vibrates from where it rests in the side pocket of the baby bag on the passenger seat and she checks it before going inside. A text message from Tyler. Reminding her to just breathe and don’t let her mother get to her. That her mother’s shitty behaviour is all on her and has absolutely no bearing on her abilities as a wife and his mother.

Her being a bitch is just that. Her being a bitch. If you have to, tell her to go fuck herself. I’ll see you when you get home. Love you.

She smiles, sends back a simple ‘I love you’ in response and then drops her cell phone back into the diaper bag and kills the ignition.

***

Her mother is waiting in the doorway as she climbs the porch stairs, and she gives her daughter an awkward one armed hug and kiss on the cheek before taking Esme’s face in her hands.

“Look at you…” her eyes are glazed and her face is flushed; a definite aftermath of the Bailey’s she’d put her in four morning coffees. “…you look beautiful. I love your hair. But…” she holds her daughter out at arm’s length and Esme waits for what comes next. Nothing good ever comes after the word ‘but’. “…still haven’t lost all the baby weight. Have you been eating right? Exercising?”

“I don’t know,” she lifts Declan higher onto her hip, chubby hands grabbing at her earrings and her hair. The latter he keeps trying to shove into his mouth. “Does sex count as exercise? I think I heard it’s an excellent form of cardio. Because if it does, I get a lot of exercise.”

Her mother frowns. But instead of a witty or cutting comeback, turns her attention to the baby. She may be a shitty mother, but she excels at being a grandma. Or at least puts on a good show for everyone; wasting no time showing off recent pictures to friends and strangers in the store, spoiling them on Christmas and birthdays, showering them with affection.

“Grandma’s baby boy,” she croons, as she holds out her hands and he willingly reaches for her. “Well there’s one thing that he knows how to do well,” she says to her daughter. “He knows how to help make gorgeous babies.”

He. Just the sound of it makes Esme cringe.

She slips out of her sneakers as she follows her mother into the house, eyeing all the recent additions and transformations. New furniture, a fresh and different colour of paint, new flooring. “You’ve been keeping Sarge busy,” she remarks, as they head into the kitchen.

“Well you know what they say. Idle hands are the devil’s play thing. Sit…sit…I just made a fresh pot of tea and there’s some of my famous shortbread cookies. Unless you’d rather eat healthier. I do have some fresh fruit.”

Out of sheer spite she helps herself to two cookies and bites into both.

Her mother simply stares at her, then offers a long, exasperated sigh and slips into one of the chairs at the kitchen table. “I take it he’s finally home.”

“He is,” Esme takes a seat across from her, tucking the baby bag under the table. “And he has a name, mom. It’s not that hard to remember. Considering one of your grandsons is named after him.”

“How long was he…” she pauses and gives her daughter a phony, sugary sweet smile. “…how long was Tyler gone for?”

“Two weeks. It was only supposed to be four days but…” she shrugs, taking the pot of tea and pouring some of the beverage into two china cups her mom has set out. “…there were issues and he couldn’t get back until two nights ago.”

“Just what kind of issues? One with two legs and breasts and…”

“Oh my God, mom. Really? No. Just because your own husband can’t keep it in his pants during boys week in Las Vegas doesn’t mean all men are like that. Tyler does not cheat. Trust me. I would know. And he doesn’t have any reason to. He is perfectly happy with what he has at home. My husband is satisfied and then some. So can you please not bring that kind of shit up? Jesus.”

“I guess I could give him and you the benefit of the doubt,” she says. “I mean, you obviously know how to keep him happy in the bedroom. You wouldn’t have four kids if you didn’t. Don’t they make birth control in Australia?”

“Jesus…” Esme sighs, and rakes a hand through her hair.

“Oh come on…” her mother laughs and slaps her on the knee. “I’m just joking and you know it. You never have been able to take a joke. Stop being so sensitive.”

“Well maybe stop being such a bitch and I would be,” Esme counters, and her mother just rolls her eyes and mutters something about her having a smart mouth and always being an ‘ungrateful girl’.

“So where was he this time?” her mom asks.

“Mexico first. And then Guatemala.”

“Doing what exactly? Who travels that much for work?”

“A lot of people. And I already told you. He’s a contractor.” It isn’t entirely a lie. “People contact his boss for help solving problems and his boss sends him to where he’s needed.”

“What kind of problems?”

“Mom, we’ve talked about this. He’s in security. Through a private firm. He goes where he’s needed and he helps people with their issues and he comes home. Sometimes things go wrong and he’s there longer than he thought he would be. It happens.”

There’s a frown on her face as she bounces her grandson on her knee. “That’s no way to live. For you or those children. Can’t he find something that keeps him closer to home? What if something happens at the house? To you or one of the kids? What will happen if he’s too far away to get back in a quick fashion? That’s very selfish on his part if you ask me.”

“Well no one asked you, mom. It’s really none of your business. It’s his job and he’s good at it. Damn good. And he’s already said this is his last year at it. So just…” she sighs. “…just try staying out of it, okay? What Tyler and I do is none of your business.”

“It’s my business when my grandchildren are involved. Those aren’t just his children, you know.”

“Yes, I know. I was there when they were conceived, remember? Now can you please just get off his ass? Enough. I know you’re pissed at him because you think he stole me away from you and forced me to stay in Australia and trapped me into having kids and getting married. He’s a good man, mom. And he’s a great husband and an amazing father and if you’d get off his ass once in a while, you might see all that for yourself.”

“I have tried giving him a chance, Esme. You know this. But he isn’t exactly an easy person to get close to and…”

“Don’t turn this around and make him out to be the evil one. He’s been the one trying to give you a chance.”

“So why isn’t he here then? He can’t spend a half an hour visiting his mother in law?”

“He’s spending quality time with the boys and Millie.”

“I really wish you wouldn’t call her that,” her mother huffs. “It sounds so…redneck. Call her by her name. Amelia. It’s beautiful and it’s classic and…”

“She wants to be called Millie. That’s what she’s asked us to call her.”

“She’s five. She isn’t old enough to decide things like this.”

“Mom…” Esme sighs. “…it’s what she wants. She likes it. It sounds cute.”

“Cute? It sounds like she belongs in the outback.”

Esme smirks at that cheap shot. “I don’t know about that. If she belonged in the outback, we would have named her bathroom chicken.”

Her brow furrows. “What?”

“There used to be a chicken that lived in Tyler’s bathroom. It’s a long story. I called it bathroom chicken because the first time I saw it, it was sitting on the ledge of the tub. As far as I know, she’s still alive and kicking and hasn’t been turned into dinner yet.”

Esme makes a mental note to message Koen to see if, in fact, bathroom chicken was still shitting all over the place.

“I still don’t understand how the two of you actually met. It’s been five years and I still don’t know.”

“I told you. I was on a business trip.”

“And you just randomly bumped into him…”

“A colleague introduced us. She’d known him for years and she hooked us up. It’s not that difficult to understand.”

“And you were just so desperate to find someone and feel loved that you just latched right on and never came home again.”

“That’s not…” she takes a deep breath, trying to control her emotions. “…that’s not how it happened. Or why it happened. Can’t you just let this go? Can’t you just put that in the past and concentrate on the right now? Like your beautiful grandson sitting on your lap? Can you stop hating his dad long enough to realize what a gift you have right in front of you?”

That seems to have a struck a chord. And for the first time in as long as she can remember, her mother is rendered speechless.

At least temporarily.

***

“I spoke to Mark yesterday,” her mom announces several minutes later, as she sips from her own mug of tea.

Esme shifts uncomfortable in her chair, adjusts the receiving blanket draped over her shoulder and the baby’s face as he feeds. “And why did you do that?”

“He stopped by. To see how we were. At least someone makes an effort.”

“Well he always did like to put on a good show for everyone. Nice to see some things never change.”

“Can you believe he still hasn’t met someone? That a catch like him still hasn’t remarried?”

Probably because all the women around him these days are much better judges of character than I was, Esme thinks. “Well,” she shrugs. “Not everyone is cut out to be married, I guess. Maybe he finally realizes that. And how does he even know where you live? The last time you saw him, you were still at the old place.”

“Oh we’ve been keeping in touch,” her mother says it so casually, as if it’s totally normal to keep in contact with your daughter’s former abuser. “He checks in on us a lot. Always sends Christmas and birthday cards.”

“Well how very charming and gentlemanly of him,” she can’t stop the snarkiness that drips from her voice and she lifts the baby to her shoulder to burp him.

“He asked about you. He wanted to know how you were doing.”

“I hope you told him to mind her own business and not to ask about me ever again.”

“I told him you were back living in Colorado. That you were still with your husband and had another baby.”

“So he already knew about Tyler and Millie and the twins because…”

“Like I said. We’ve kept in touch. Why wouldn’t I tell him?”

“Oh I don’t know, mom. Maybe because he’s a narcissistic prick with no remorse who refuses to take responsibility for his own bullshit. Or maybe, just maybe, I’d rather him not know anything about me. Or my husband. Or my kids.”

“Well for what it’s worth, he seemed very happy for you. He said he was glad to see you got it together and was giving someone a chance to love you instead of pushing them away.”

“Of course he did,” Esme smirks.

“And he said that the children are beautiful. I said I agreed that they are, but they just look way too much like their father.”

“And that’s a bad thing, because…”

“I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. Because if there’s one thing we can agree on, it’s that your husband definitely is a nice tall cool glass of water. Certainly not hard to look at.”

“No. He most certainly isn’t. He’s even better to look at when he has no clothes on.”

Her mother scowls.

“And how would Mark know what the kids look like unless…” Esme’s eyes narrow. “…please tell me you did not go on my facebook and show him.”

“No! Of course not. I know how you want to keep that family only. I showed him some of the pictures you’ve sent us.”

“Jesus, mom. Why? Why was it so important to show him pictures? It’s none of his business what my kids look like.”

“I don’t understand why you’re so upset. Like I said, they’re beautiful children and…”

“He’s my ex husband for a reason. And one of those reasons is that he’s a total dick bag and I want nothing to do with him. So please stop telling him things and showing him pictures. I’d just rather you not do it, okay? It’s weird.”

“Only because you’re making it weird. Honestly, Esme…” she huffs, and pushes her chair away from the table. “…everything is always so difficult with you. Why is everything such a production with you? It’s why your first marriage didn’t work.”

“Oh believe me, mom, that marriage didn’t work for a lot of reasons. You just won’t accept what really happened. You have your head shoved so far up Mark’s ass….”

“You weren’t one hundred percent innocent, young lady. You had your issues too.”

“I lost a baby and he went off the deep end. I’m so very sorry for having a miscarriage and upsetting his delicate sensibilities.”

“Well as sad as that was, you certainly didn’t let it hold you back. You went on to have another four. He has none.”

“And I’m sure that’s by his own choice. Or maybe women are smarter there days and they see through his shit. I can’t believe we are even talking about this. About him. That’s my past. I’m married. I have a husband. Kids. And none of that has anything to do with him and you shouldn’t be trying to involve him in it.”

“Well let’s just hope you get rid of this animosity before he winds up on your doorstep.”

“Before he….mom…” her eyes narrow. “…what did you do?”

“He said he wanted to reach out to you. To make amends.”

“Mom…”

“I told him it shouldn’t be a problem, so…”

“Mom!” she snaps. “Please tell me you didn’t…”

“I gave him your cell number. And your address.”

“You didn’t,” Esme hisses.

“I did. I thought it would be good for you. To touch base and…”

“Why would you do that? Why would you tell him where I lived? That’s none of his goddamn business. Why…?”

“He just wants to talk to you. Make amends.”

“He can go fuck himself.”

“Esme…language…please…”

“You are just too much!” she uses her foot to pull the baby bag towards her and shoves the receiving blanket into it before standing up. “I come here to visit you...so you can see your grandson…and you have to do this! This stupid bullshit that you pull!”

“I don’t care how grown you are, young lady. Or that you’re a wife and a mother. You don’t speak to me that way!”

“I’ve had enough of this mom! Enough of all your mind games and you crap. I’ve been trying. I’ve been trying so hard since we go back here. We came back here for you. It was Tyler’s idea, you know. Because he thought I needed to be home. Because he thought you deserved to have Millie in your life. Because he felt some sort of misplaced guilt for making me stay in Australia. I didn’t stay there because I had to. Or to spite you. I stayed there because I love him and he needed me. Yet you have the goddamn nerve to shit all over him every chance you get. And you know what really makes you mad? It makes you mad that he doesn’t let you. You’re so pissed that he isn’t afraid to stick up for himself. Or for me.”

“Well if he just minded his own business…”

“I’m his wife. I am his business. He’s the father of your grandchildren. Whether you like it or not. And he’s the love of my life and my best friend and my husband and you’re not going to disrespect him like you do. I’ve had enough. Stop. Just stop.”

She holds her hands up in surrender. “If I’d known how you feel at the very beginning how you feel…”

“I’ve made it abundantly clear that I hate how you talk about him. You don’t know him, mother. You don’t know what he’s like or the things he’s done or the way he’s helped people. The way he keeps helping people. There’s a lot more to him than you think. And if you knew the truth, the whole truth, I think you’d respect him a hell of a lot more. He’s a hundred times the man than Mark ever was. A thousand times.”

“I think you’re giving him a little too much credit.”

“See!” Esme huffs, and slings the bag over her shoulder. “That is exactly what I am talking about. I love you, mom. I do. But I love Tyler more. And I’m sorry if that hurts you to hear that. But he’s the one that’s been there for me. He’s the one that sticks by my side when everything is going to shit. And it was his idea to move back here because he felt you needed me to be here. And that you needed to see the kids. If it wasn’t for Tyler, we wouldn’t even be here. Or would you rather that?”

“Of course not. I’m very grateful for that. To have you in my life. To have my grandchildren.”

“But you just can’t let it go, can you. You’ve got this hate on for him that you just can’t get past. You need to just let it go. For me. For your grandchildren. Because he’s their father and they love him to the moon and back and I won’t let you talk about him like you do in front of them. Can you at least respect them enough to stop?”

She sighs. “I can try. No promises though.”

“I do love you mom,” she presses a kiss to her cheek. “And none of this was ever about spiting you. I’m sorry that you think it was. That you think I stayed there to upset you. But I did what I needed to for him. And for myself. One day I hope you can realize that. I’ve got to go. I told Jennie I’d be there for noon.”

It would be the first time seeing her cousin since G had been killed in Dhaka. Five years of being avoided because the pain and the grief was too great and Jennie couldn’t except that her husband had died yet Tyler had been given a second chance. Why would the man who had so much to live to for have to be the one who died, when the man who didn’t want to live anymore was given the chance to go on?

Her mother walks her all the way to the car, waiting until Esme’s buckled the baby in his car seat before surprising her by wrapping her arms around her. A real hug this time. Warm. Loving. Two things she hasn’t felt from her mother since she joined the Corps and became the family disappointment.

“Drive safe,” her mother says, and kisses her cheek. “Call me when you get home so I know you got there safe. And tell everyone that I say hi. That grandma loves them.”

“I will,” she promises. “I do love you, mom.”

“And I love you. Now go. Before you make me all weepy. You know I hate that kind of thing. I just want you to be happy, Esme. That’s all I want.”

“I know. And I am. Happy. He makes me happy.”

She pats her daughter on the cheek and then backs away, arms crossed over her chest as Esme climbs into the SUV. “See you soon?” there’s a tone of hope in her voice.

Esme smiles. “I hope so.”

#tyler rake #tyler rake fan fiction #tyler rake fan fic #chris hemsworth character #Sanctuary #extraction

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