#and then she got stranded on bad wolf bay and KNEW she could get back. some how some day

[sadcoms]

i adore how protective nine is of rose but i also think what is regarded a lot of the time as ten not caring about or valuing rose in the same way is him having more faith in her. it’s kind of like when people complain about rose not challenging ten the way she did nine when they’re just much more on the same page in s2 because they know each other better, so she doesn’t really need to.

in theory, ten could have yelled at rose in the idiot’s lantern for not waiting for him when she confronted magpie. but he doesn’t, he loses his mind trying to save her (VERY nine) and also acknowledges that her observation was spot on. the whole “domestic approach” line gets attention but i have never really interpreted his intention as being to insult her; in some ways, i feel her reaction is a holdover from nine, who did put down the idea of domesticity (and also actively manipulated her into leaving her mum in world war 3 which never really gets mentioned).

and of course, rise of the cybermen is a parallel to father’s day. the doctor starts out harshly talking to her the way he did when he was nine, forbidding her to see her father, but then he gives in when she just looks at him. which is exactly what he does that in father’s day too of course.

like, why do you think she refuses to be sent away in doomsday, another direct parallel to parting of the ways? she’s saying she’s not a kid anymore, that she already made her way back to him once before. she can’t be protected from the hard choices anymore and she won’t be, because she understands everything that it means to be the doctor’s companion. you never see it on-screen but clearly sometime between tooth & claw and doomsday she asks about what happened before he regenerated; she has to learn that she is the bad wolf, especially when she is to continue her journey of turning into nine in s4 and making hard choices. ten wouldn’t have known that, but it’s a mark of the respect and faith (he believes! in her!) that he stops protecting her from the truth.

[ambertea]

together

(read on AO3)

Day two of the Doctorrose Fic Marathon! Based on the prompt "holding hands".

“I want a job.” He announced one morning. Rose was hovering over a mirror as she lined her eyes with dark pencil. “I was thinking Torchwood.”

She stayed silent, her eyebrows furrowing as she rubbed at the mascara that had fallen under her eyes. His feet lead him to stand behind her, and he watched his nervous face reflected back at him.

“Is that okay?”

She nodded at herself in the mirror and straightened. “Talk to Pete.”

“Well, actually, I was thinking your department sounded more interesting.”

She turned and stared at him flatly.

“Tell me what my department does.”

“Alien…stuff.” He replied, rubbing at the back of his neck.

She brushed past him and his hands snatched at her wrists, quickly dropping them at the look on her face.

“Rose, please.”

Her eyes flicked to the clock behind him. “I’m running late.”

“Tomorrow, then?” He asked eagerly. She nodded.

“Tomorrow, yeah. Sure.”

The door banged behind her, and he collapsed onto the bed and let the silence taunt him once more.

It was nice, being stuck in one place, nice in a way that made his muscles tense and his fingers curl. The next-door neighbours always smiled at him when he put out the bins, and the girl at the coffee shop didn’t even ask for his order anymore, just thrust it at him with her usual dreary rage. The kids on the street all knew his name – well, one of his names – and called out to him to play football with them or help them with their homework.

Rose enjoyed it less. Everywhere she went, whispers followed. People eyed her nervously in the supermarket, would press themselves against the shelves as though she was an elephant thundering past, rather than a small human woman trying to buy milk.

Everyone he asked about it had just shrugged. Rose herself had ignored him entirely, but whether that was due to the question itself or just his presence was unclear.

He had spent three long years away from her, yet he had never missed her quite like this. She slept beside him—apparently, the only proof he had was slightly creased sheets and makeup stains on her pillows—and then would disappear with a cursory “Torchwood” thrown over her shoulder. Her phone, that was literally always in her hand, was apparently incapable of picking up his calls or answering texts, and his own only mocked him with read receipts.

He had thought she would understand this new him. He had changed his entire body before, and it was less than a day after that she had been holding his hand and snuggling into his side. It had been four months now, in this universe, four long and agonising months of sitting indoors and waiting for something to happen. Every time he looked at her, he hoped for some flood of recognition, a moment where she realised he was still him and so they ought to just get on with it.

Every day that passed brought less and less hope that that would ever happen.

“Wake up. Hey, wake up.”

He opened his eyes, blinking against the bleariness of sleep. A fan of blonde hair tickled the sides of his face, and brown eyes watched him blankly.

“Rose?”

“Come on.”

He sat up, stretching out his arms and working the kinks out of his back. The windows were dark, and the traffic outside was only loud, rather than its usual deafening. Rose folded her arms and stared down at him, and he fidgeted slightly under her gaze.

“What’s going on?”

“You wanted Torchwood. It’s time for Torchwood. Put these on,” she ordered, throwing some boots on the floor. “We need to go.”

“Right.” He said, limbs failing in his haste to stand. The room flickered with darkness for a second and he cursed stupid human blood pressure. “Where are we going?”

“Coast.”

“Which coast?” He asked, wrestling the boots onto his bare feet. Rose rolled her eyes and threw a jacket at him.

“The one next to the sea. Now come on, hurry up.”

He thrust his arms into the jacket and hurried after her retreating form. A blast of cold hair hit him like a bucket of cold water, and he wrapped his arms tightly around his sides as he shuffled forwards. Rose’s phone was at her ear, her voice hard as she barked out her instructions.

“Solomon street. Now.”

A green SUV whizzed round the corner, skidding to a stop perfectly in front of them. A young man stepped out, ginger and pale, and immediately saluted.

“Ma’am.”

“Thank you, Stewart. I’ll take it from here.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The boy turned and marched down the street, picking his direction seemingly at random. Rose jumped into the drivers’ side and looked at him impatiently. He gawked at her through the window.

“What’s going on?”

“Later. C’mon.”

Her hands were white around the steering wheel, and he stared at them, feeling dread settle in his gut. The engine started up with a groan and he quickly ran around and jumped into the passenger side.

Before he could even reach for his seatbelt, the car lurched into action, and his head slapped into the headrest.

“Sorry,” Rose mumbled, her eyes not moving from the road as the speed only went up. He nodded frantically, quickly securing himself and then gripping tightly at the edges of the chair.

“Where are we going?” He asked, voice unnaturally high. For a moment, he thought he saw her mouth curve upwards, but within a second it was back to the same flat mask.

“Where do you think?” She scoffed. “Where else? Bad Wolf Bay.”

Their journey to Norway passed in heavy silences that were only occasionally broken by questions that Rose only ignored. He fiddled relentlessly with the cuffs of his shirt and tried to calm his stupid single heart, that pounded and screamed in his ears.

This, more than anything else, was what he hated about this world – he was never in control here, never understood what he should be doing, or what he should say. He never used to care about that stuff before. His life had always been spontaneous, he had prided himself on it in some sick, sad way, but all he could long for now was a sliver of certainty.

Was this how she would finally dump him? On the very beach they were headed towards, she had kissed him, and at the time it had felt like a hello. It seemed now it had been more of a goodbye. He had always known Rose, could always reliably understand what was going through her head at any given point. The woman he had been left with seemed like someone else entirely. A stranger, with the face of the woman he loved the most.

His whole species had died – all his family, all his friends. But this loneliness was far more insidious and hung heavily in the space between his bones.

“We’re here,” Rose said, and he startled. She jumped out of her seat and walked round to his door, flinging it open. He watched her eyes staring carefully at the space between his eyebrows. “Come on.”

“I don’t want to.”

“What, you think I’m going to drown you?”

“Well, I do now.”

She sighed. "I’m not. I promise you’re going to want to see this.”

He gazed at her, trying to understand what was behind the tense line of her mouth and her unwavering stare. Nothing revealed itself.

Unclipping his belt, he got out of the car and slammed the door behind him. Rose reached out, grabbed his hand, and pulled him towards the beach.

It was hushed, only the angry crash of the waves breaking the idyllic landscape. His eyes flickered towards where it happened – where the TARDIS had landed and stranded him in this world of mystifying social cues and angry faces.

Her hand was clasped around his own tightly, as though trying to stop him from running away, but that was the last thing on his mind. It had been so long since he had held her hand. It was as comforting as it was devastating.

“Before the stars started going out,” Rose whispered, her soft voice carrying through the wind. “I was working on a way to get back.”

“The dimension canon.”

“Yeah, but other things too. We dumped them all when the canon started working.”

Her face was sad, wistful even and he squeezed her hand tightly. She startled, looking up at him, and he was alarmed by the wetness of her eyes.

“And?”

“And I’ve been working on one of them. Since…since we came back.”

His heart had literally leapt into the back of his throat. It was the only plausible explanation for the lack of air, for the way his whole body was screaming at him to go, to get out now. He hung his head and kicked at the sand.

“This is where the walls are weakest. We made a sort of, um, portal. You can just step through, see.”

She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. With a tap of a key, a bright swirl opened around them, wind whipping around it angrily. He stepped back and pulled her with him.

“It’s not possible.”

“Same phone you gave me. Energy source from the original universe. Battery never runs out, so—”

“—so it has the power to send you back.” He finished darkly. She shook her head.

“No. Enough power to send you back.”

He thrust away from her hand and stared at her. She had tears running down her cheeks, and her eyes were wide and sad.

“No.”

“You’re not happy here.” She whispered, pulling on her earring.

“Neither are you.”

“No.” She agreed with a half-hearted chuckle.

“Rose,” he said desperately, clutching at her hands again, pressing his body as closely to hers as he could. “Rose, no. Please. I’m still the Doctor. I swear—the exact same man. I want to be here with you.”

Her hand came up and rested lightly on his cheek. He leaned into it, kissing her palm, greedily clutching at this small token of affection.

“I know,” she whispered. “Exact same man.”

“Yes! I’m him; I am exactly him—”

“The same man who left me on this beach.”

The wind from the portal settled. The sea calmed. Silence reigned.

“I stayed with you.”

“But left, as well.”

He was still clutching at her. His hands snaked around the back of her neck, pulling her forehead to his. Rose’s eyes were tightly shut. His were wide and searching.

“I don’t understand,” he whispered to her, and she only squeezed her eyes tighter, mascara leaking from her eyelashes.

“You left me, again. You didn’t even say goodbye. Why do you never say goodbye?”

“Rose—”

“I did everything I could do get back to you. Everything. Terrible things. But—” She opened her eyes and stared at him with open devastation. “You didn’t want me.”

“Of course, I did, I do.” he whispered. She ignored him.

“You just—left you here. To deal with me. To stop me trying to come back again, or whatever.” She cleared her throat and stepped out of his embrace and rubbed angrily at her eyes. “But it’s okay. I’ll stay here. I want you to be happy.”

“Rose, please.” He begged, voice breaking. He tried to grab her hand again, but she was stepping away from his embrace, arms wrapped tightly around herself. “I want to be with you. I told you, didn’t I?”

“You said you could spend your life with me.”

“Yes—yes—please. I want that. I swear I want that. He had to go; you know he had to. But I,” his face broke into a tiny, happy smile. “I got to stay.”

She stepped forwards cautiously, her hands shaking. He stayed as still as he could, resisting the urge to pull her tightly into his arms.

“You were dumped here too. You didn’t get a choice, either.” She whispered. He smiled and gently took her hand.

“I didn’t need a choice. My answer will always be you.”

She flung herself into his arms, and he clung to her desperately, nuzzling his face into her hair. Her hands were everywhere – along his back, down his arms, his neck. They clutched at his jaw and he pulled back, just a little, so he could take her in properly. There was still pain splashed across her face, but a cautious hope lit up her eyes.

“I love you.” He whispered. “Please let me.”

“Okay.” She whispered back.

She untangled herself from his embrace, and pulled out her phone, closing the portal as quickly as she’d opened it.

He offered out his hand, and she took it, a smile playing across her face.

“Together?”

“Together.” She nodded.

He pulled her away from the beach, feeling, for the first time in months, that they might just be okay.

[atlafan]

Take it Slow - Part Twenty-Nine

a/n: okay this is my first shot at a harry:y/n fic, and it will be multiple parts. y/n had a bad experience with an ex over a year ago, and finally accepts her coworker and good friend Niall’s invitation to go on a blind date with his friend Harry.

Warnings: Smut, and a whole mess of fluff.

Masterpost (all previous parts can be found in the masterpost)

“C’mere.” You say to him. You sit up slightly. “I want you to like hover over me while I suck on you.”

“Are you sure you want my balls in your face like that?” He chuckles.

“Won’t bother me.”

Harry comes closer to you, and grips the top of your headboard. You grip him in your hand at first, and then put your mouth right on him. He sucks in a breath when he feels your hot, wet mouth around him. Sometimes you think back to when you were younger. You absolutely hated sucking dick. Some guys just had bad hygiene. But you loved doing it for Harry. He really made you see how hot it was to pleasure someone else orally. He also kept things trim and clean, which you very much appreciated.

He rocks against your face, going deeper down your throat. You groan against him, and he grips your headboard tighter. His eyes are screwed shut, trying to picture his dick inside of you where he really wants it. It’s not that he didn’t love it when you blew him, he just wanted to feel how tight you were.

It doesn’t take him long to come down your throat. You swallow up every bit of it, and he climbs off of you. You get up to rinse your mouth out.

“Holy shit!” You scream, and he rushes into in the bathroom to make sure you’re alright. He finds you inspecting the back of your body in the mirror. Your front wasn’t nearly as fucked up. “Jesus, Harry.” You say rubbing a spot on your shoulder. “I look like a leopard.” You start laughing.

“You said I could…”

“I’m not complaining.” You assure him.

“Looks good on you anyways.” He gives you kiss on the cheek and pats your bum. He leaves you to do your thing in the bathroom.

You wash your face and brush your teeth. When you come out of the bathroom you pick up his t-shirt and throw it on over you. He’s sitting up in bed reading.

“Harry, you look so cute in your glasses, have I ever told you that?” He looks at you and smiles.

“Maybe once or twice.” He teases. He finishes the last page of his book and sighs.

“What?” You ask getting into the bed.

“Nothin’, just sad. This was the last book in this series.”

“Did it have a happy ending?”

“As happy as it could be, yeah. It’s my second time readin’ it, still gets to me.” He takes his glasses of and wipes a tear away.

“I wish I liked reading as much as you do. I much prefer television.”

“I just like getting’ lost in the pages. I mean, I read garbage novels, but they’re just so addicting. Has a television show ever moved you to tears?”

“Oh, tons of times. I think TV has made me cry more than film.”

“Really? What shows have made you cry?” He pulls you into his chest and turns the light off. God, you loved pillow talk before bed.

“Okay, don’t laugh, but when I was in high school, and college too, I was really into Glee.”

“That show about the nerds in the acapella club?”

“Yeah.”

“That show made you cry?”

“I think just about every episode in the third season made me cry, and I sobbed during the season finale. To be fair, I was like sixteen.” You giggle. “There were a couple of scripted series on MTV too that made me super emotional.”

“Like what?”

“There was a show called Awkward that just really fired me up. And there was Teen Wolf.”

“Teen Wolf? Isn’t that a movie with Michael J. Fox?”

“Yeah! But then MTV made a show based off the movie, much darker though. It was really good. Well, it got worse as the seasons went on, but I watched through to the end. Same with Awkward.”

“Do you watch anythin’ now that tugs at your heart strings?”

“Um…I really like that show Roswell: New Mexico. I didn’t think I would like it so much, but it got to me. The first season is on Netflix, maybe we could watch it sometime.”

“Sure, I’d like that.”

“I used to like live blog and write reviews for the shows I’d watch. I still do sometimes.”

“Where do you blog?”

“On Tumblr mostly.”

“That’s cool that you do that.”

“It’s funny because I hate reading reviews of things. I like to try things out for myself. Oh! Do you watch Stranger Things? That’s a good one. Niall and I always binge watch it together when a new season comes out.”

“That’s right!” He starts laughing. “I remember he like blew me off during the day on the 4th this summer to go meet up with you.”

“That was an incredible binge, if I do say so. Speaking of him, he wants to have a movie night Friday so we can all celebrate our good news. I was thinking of having everyone over here. What do you think?”

“Works for me.” He smiles at you.

//

Your period was a killer this week. There were several times during the week you found yourself on the floor in your office. You had run out of your stash of ibuprofen, and hadn’t had time to get more. You were forced to just suffer in silence. The pain would pass eventually, and then you could get on with it.

Harry was good about not getting on your nerves too much. He was slowly learning what you needed while your hormones were at their peak. Every morning you’d examine your body, almost becoming sad at seeing the marks slowly fade away as they healed. You were incredibly horny, but there wasn’t anything you could do. You’d had sex on your period before, but you certainly weren’t going to let him use his fingers or mouth on you right now. You had contemplated maybe in the shower, but you were afraid of residue. You didn’t tell him this, but you got yourself off a couple times in the shower on your own. You had to, the ache between your legs was just too unbearable.

Your body was trying to tell you something for sure, but your mind tried its best to keep you at bay.

//

You were delighted when your period ended Friday morning, but your stomach felt like shit. The first week of a birth control pack was your least favorite thing, even more so than your period. Your dosage wasn’t even that high, but it still would make you feel like you were going to vomit.

“Anythin’ ya need me t’pick up for tonight? I can do a run to the market before ya get home from work.” Harry says to you sitting up in bed, watching you pick your outfit for the day.

“Think I have everything we need. I have chips and dip, we’ll probably order pizza or something.” You decide on a pair of dark jeans and blouse/blazer combination. You throw your hair up in a high pony, and take a few strands out to frame your face.

“Know what we’re watchin’ yet?”

“Nope.”

“Who’s comin?” You sigh and look at him.

“Harry, I love you, but you’ve reached my capacity for questions this morning, okay?” He blinks at you.

“Sorry.”

“It’s not your fault, I just feel gross and I’m hormonal. Not a great excuse.”

“One more question.” You nod. “Is Aunt Flow still in town?”

“No she left early this morning, thank god. This was a rougher month.” You sit on the edge of the bed. He places a hand on your thigh.

“Sometimes I wish I could just take all your aches away.” You smile at him.

“You do, in more ways than you know.” You stand up and give him a light kiss. “See you tonight.”

“Love you.”

“Love you too, babe.”

//

You felt better as the work day went on. You were excited to have a little double date with Niall and Sarah. Harry got out of work around 4PM, so he went straight to your apartment. He knew you’d want to have the place ready to go so you could relax when you got home. He fluffed up the pillows on your couch, and folded up the couple of blankets you kept on the back of it. He made sure all of the beer for him and Niall was in the fridge, and he picked up your favorite wine.

You keyed into your apartment around 5:30, and kicked off your shoes. Your nose was pink from the cold air outside. Harry had his legs slung over one of the large chairs you had near the couch. He had his laptop, and was working away. He looked up at you and gave you a smile.

“Hi, love.” He says.

“Hi honey.” You yawn.

“I tidied a bit for ya.” You kiss the top of his head.

“Thank you. M’just gonna go change quick.”

You change into a pair of leggings and a t-shirt, and come back out to Harry. He puts his laptop on the coffee table, and gestures for you to come sit with him. You sit in his lap, and rest your head on his shoulder. He rocks you back and forth slowly, and you let out a calming sigh.

“How’s my baby girl today, hm?”

“Tired.” He rubs your back. “But I’m happy to have friends over tonight.” You nuzzle into his neck.

“I bought that wine you really like.”

“Mm.” Is all you muster out as you start to doze off in his arms. He chuckles, but lets you drift.

Your eyes snap open when you hear Niall and Sarah walk into your place. You practically jump off of Harry.

“Sorry, did we disturb you two?” Sarah giggles. “We brought a veggie platter.” She hands it to Harry.

“No, I fell asleep. I was exhausted.” You stretch, and hug your friend.

“Alright, what are we watchin? TV, movie?” Niall says.

“Oh! You know what was on the other night that I’d love to watch all the way through?” You say.

“What?”

“The Forty-Year-Old Virgin. I refrained from watching it because it was halfway through. It’s on Netflix, do we feel like a comedy?”

“Works for me.” Niall says.

“I love that movie!” Sarah says.

Harry and Niall grab their beer, and you and Sarah fill your glasses with wine. You and Sarah sit in the middle of the couch, and your boyfriends sit on either side of you. Your apartment was filled with giggles right off the bat.

“God, we love a young Paul Rudd.” Sarah says.

“We love a Paul Rudd at any age.” You clink your glass with hers. Harry pinches your arm, and you giggle. “What?”

“I’m sittin’ right here. You’re attracted to him?”

“You’re not?! He’s beautiful!” You and Sarah start laughing.

“Isn’t he like fifty?” Niall chimes in.

“So?” You and Sarah say at the same time.

“He’s a hall pass for sure.” Sarah says, kissing her boyfriend on the cheek.

“Agreed. What I would give for a night with Paul Rudd.” You look up at Harry and burst out laughing.

“Jesus, mate, here I was thinkin’ she liked the tall, tan guys, but clearly I was wrong.”

“Now you’ve learned your place.” Niall says laughing. You kiss Harry on the cheek.

You and Sarah laugh so hard you both cry when Jonah Hill makes his small cameo. The guys end up laughing pretty hard at several moments too. You get up to grab the veggie platter out of the fridge and set it up on the coffee table for everyone.

“Thanks for bringing this by the way.”

“Oh no problem, figured it would be better than pizza. Are you excited for Hanukkah to start tomorrow?”

“Yes! I look forward to the gift card my uncle gives me every year.” You giggle.

“Is Harry going with you?” Sarah asks.

“Yup.” You two share a look and start laughing.

“Alright, why does this keep happening? Has everyone been to this party but me?”

“Pretty much, lad.”

“What’s the big deal? Is there somethin’ I should know?”

“Y/N’s great uncle is just a really funny guy. I would just watch out when he greets you.”

“Sarah!”

“You’re not even going to warn him?”

“Warn me of what?”

“If she didn’t warn me, she doesn’t get to warn him.” Niall says.

“Harry…just…” Sarah giggles. “He’s just an older Jewish guy with different ways of saying hello. That’s all.”

“What’s he gonna do? Hug me? M’fine with that.”

“Sure, he’s going to hug you.” Sarah shrugs. “It’s a really great way to know you’re part of the family.”

Sarah and Niall leave around 11PM. You and Harry clean up the living room, and head to the bedroom.

“What time should we leave tomorrow?”

“Party starts at six, so we should probably leave here at like quarter of five, might be traffic.”

“Oh great, so we can sleep in a little?”

“Yup.” You kiss him and turn over. He wraps himself around you, being the bigger spoon.

“That was fun tonight.”

“Yeah, I’m glad we were able to do it. Gotta make more time for them.”

“Definitely….so, Paul Rudd could have you huh?” You turn over to face your stupid boyfriend.

“You’re not serious?”

“Nice to know how you really feel.” He fake pouts.

“I’m sure you have your own celebrity crushes.”

“I suppose. None I would leave you for to go fuck though. Wouldn’t be worth it.” You bite your bottom lip to keep from smiling. “You would really ask me for a hall pass for Paul Rudd? Of all people?”

“Hypothetically speaking, if he wasn’t married with kids, I would consider it. More than anything I think I’d like to just have dinner with him, pick his brain.”

“So you want to go out on a date with him?”

“Sure!” You giggle.

“Who else do you swoon over?” He gives you a crooked smile.

“That’s a very personal question.” You tease.

“Why?”

“Because you’re essentially asking me about who I’ve fantasized about.”

“Jesus, if you tell me you’ve touched yourself thinking about Paul R-“

“I haven’t! Not with him.”

“Who then?” Your cheeks flush. “C’mon, I wanna know who my competition is.”

“Harry, it’s embarrassing.” You shove your face into his chest.

“Please, I’m so curious.” He begs.

“You’re going to laugh at me.”

“Promise I won’t.” You lift your head and look at him.

“I would bone Andy Samberg if I had the chance, again, if he wasn’t married with a child. I will not be a homewrecker.”

“What is with you and older Jewish dudes?”

“Don’t know. It’s not because they’re Jewish. I just find him really attractive, plus he’s funny. You’re funny.”

“Right, the key to a girl’s heart is humor.” He rolls his eyes.

“Harry, if you didn’t make me laugh on our first date, I wouldn’t have seen you again, attraction or not.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously. Sense of humor is very important to me. You’re so quick when you joke around, you could be a comedian yourself.” He lifts your chin up to kiss you.

“So, you were pretty hot f’me when we first met, huh?”

“So hot.” You roll your eyes. “I had never seen a man quite so handsome. What about me? What did you think of me when we first met?”

“I wanted to hit Niall for not doing you justice. I mean the lad told me you were beautiful, but shit, when I saw you, I nearly got the wind knocked out of me.”

“Oh stop.” You swat your arm at his chest.

“M’serious. And you were so cute at the end of the night, when you simply kissed me on the cheek. It was so innocent and sweet. Not somethin’ I had really experienced before.”

“How do your first dates typically go?” You giggle. Harry scrunches his face.

“Do ya really wanna know the answer t’that?”

“Are you seriously going to tell me that you usually bone on the first date?”

“That’s usually the only date I want, so yeah.” He says a little too honestly.

“What about the girl you dated for like seven months, or whatever?”

“Uhh, we got frisky…didn’t do it til the second date I think. I don’t know, I was such an asshole, I basically just thought of her as the girl I was consistently hookin’ up with.”

“Were you sleeping with other people?”

“Nah, just her.”

“And she thought you were dating, but you didn’t think you were?”

“I just thought of her as the girl I was seein’.” You often wondered what made you so goddamn special. You and Harry had talked about it before, but it still baffled you. “I know what you’re thinkin’. You know what I really liked about you, like, right off the bat?”

“What?”

“You were just so open and lovely. You were genuinely interested in what I had to say. I thought it was sweet that you complimented m’nails, like not in a judgey way. I couldn’t wait to see you again, honestly. I’d never felt that way before.”

“So you didn’t want to just fuck me then?”

“I wouldn’t have turned the opportunity down. I mean, you looked so fuckin’ sexy in that little black dress you wore.”

“I’ve never seen a man wear a pair of pants the way that you do.”

“What?” He laughs.

“You have a bubble butt babe, and it’s incredible. Love sinking my nails into those cheeks.”

“Are you still drunk?”

“Maybe just a bit buzzed, but I mean what I say.” You prop yourself up to really look at him. “You have a chonk, my dude.” Harry burst out laughing.

“Who talks like that?” He says with a big smile.

“Me and my friends. You’re not the only with a dirty mouth.” You wink. “You know what, I think that’s why I like Paul Rudd and Andy Samberg so much. They both have pretty big butts.”

You both giggle about a bunch of different things until you fall asleep.

//

The next morning you both happily slept in. You got up before Harry. You decided to do a light workout in your living room since you didn’t go to the gym much last week. You put on a pair of spandex shorts and sports bra, and tip toed out. You were just finishing your cool down when Harry walked into the living room, blanket wrapped around him. You guzzled down some water. Your body was drenched in sweat.

“Morning baby. Thought I’d get a quick workout in, we’re going to be eating a lot of food tonight.” He squints at you.

“You…you weren’t in the bed when I woke up.” He rubs his eyes, his voice was still thick with sleep.

“I was just out here, did you think I went somewhere?” You turn the TV off, and walk towards him.

“I don’t know what I thought. I just reached for you and you weren’t there.” He pouts. “I like when we snuggle in the mornin’. You’ve deprived me.” You giggle at him.

“Is baby a little cranky this morning?” You pinch of his cheeks and walk by him.

“Where you goin’ now?” He whines.

“Harry, I’m caked with sweat, I need to shower. You can join me if you want.”

“Not awake enough to shower.”

“That makes no sense. Showers wake people up all the time.”

“Too much work.” He curls up on the couch, and closes his eyes.

You take your shower, alone. You take full advantage of having the privacy to shave every last inch of yourself. You blow dry your hair, and throw your robe on, not really feeling like putting clothes on yet. Harry was still wrapped in your blanket, but he was sitting up and had a mug in his hands. He was watching something mindless on television. You sit down next to him and smile. You throw your legs over his lap.

“Feel how smooth my legs are, I just shaved them.” He gives you a funny look and giggles, rubbing his hand up and down one of your legs.

“Mm, so soft.”

“You’re a sleep boy today.”

“Yeah, I am. Not really sure why, I’ll perk up once the coffee’s in me.”

“Want me make something for breakfast? I have oatmeal and grapes.”

“If you don’t mind, that’d be great.”

You turn on the electric kettle Harry had sneakily bought you. He said it was for him so he could have tea quick, but you know he wanted you to have one of your own. Once the water was boiling, you poured it into the two bowls of quick oats you made up. You but a dash of cinnamon in each, and topped it with some grapes. You come back over and hand him his bowl.

“Thank you baby.”

“My pleasure.”

You both scarf down your breakfast, and sit on the couch a while longer. Harry gets up to clean the bowls, and puts them in the dishwasher. He stretches out, and lets out a moan.

“Alright, guess I’ll shower now.”

You bring the blanket back to the bed and make it up. Harry’s in and out of the shower quick. He has his towel wrapped around his waist. You’re sitting on the edge of your bed, filing your nails, he sits down next you.

“How long we been together now? Little over four months?”

“Yeah, it’ll be five in January.” You smile. “Why?” He twiddles his thumbs.

“Well, it might be too soon to be bringin’ this up, but s’not like that’s ever stopped us before. I’m here a lot, and I love your place. I still like my place, but I love your place because this is where you and all your things are. I didn’t know if maybe when we got back from holiday, maybe we could entertain the idea of finding a place of our own?” He looks up at you. You’re speechless. “I mean, I’d say let’s just live here, but I need a space for my desk and monitor. I think a two bedroom where we could split the other room as a conjoined office or somethin’, would make the most sense.” He chews on his bottom lip. “I’ve totally freaked you out haven’t I?”

“How long have you, um, felt this way? When did you realize you wanted to live with me?”

“Can’t pin point it. Just somethin’ I’ve been thinkin’ about. I know it seems fast, but we’re practically livin’ together as it is. We can talk about it later if you’re not ready now. Just wanted to put the bug in your ear.”

You were amazed. You hadn’t even fully slept with the man yet, and he already wanted to live with you. You put your hands on his shoulders and push him back on the bed. You crawl on top of him, and kiss his face all over.

“Harry, I would love to live with you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah! Maybe like towards the end of January we could start looking for a bigger place. You know, once all of the holidays are over. Can you break your lease at any time?”

“Pretty much, yeah. Why?”

“Well…you could move in here before we find another place. Doesn’t make sense for you to keep paying rent. It could take us months to find a place, I’d rather have you here during the in between. We can rearrange the furniture to fit all of your things. And I have that storage unit, we could keep your bed and bulkier furniture there for a little while.”

“I love you so much.”

“I love you too.” You kiss him. “Um…not that I don’t wanna tell the world, but I’d like to keep this quiet from my family for a bit. I still have to tell my dad about England. I’d rather ease them into something like this.”

“Of course. Better keep it quiet from my mum too. Keep everything nice and light.”

“I’m so excited!”

“Me too!”

Harry always seemed to be able to read your mind. It was a conversation you were hoping to have with him after you got back from England. You just couldn’t believe that he beat you to it. You were practically living together, and it didn’t make sense for you both to be paying rent separately. You’d miss his little place, but you’d eventually find a bigger place you both liked. You still loved the idea of potentially living in Niall’s building. Once you start making more money, you’d be able to afford it no problem.

[what-is-your-plan-today]

CSI: Rogers and Barnes- The Serious Cereal Serial Killer

Ch4: Hit and Run Co written with @icanfeelastormbrewing

Episode Summary: There’s another body, and it’s another familiar face. Some bitching and arguing and an accident. SHOCK!!!

Episode Warnings: Bad Language words. Contains flash back which alludes to a sexual assault. Nothing graphic but avoid if this is a trigger.

Episode Pairings:  Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark (she still hates him…)

Song for Episode:  Demons At The Door by Sleeping Wolf

A/N: This entire series contains dark humour (CSI + Brooklyn 99=CSI Steeb) Avengers and Stark Spangled Banner Easter Eggs and jokes. You don’t need to have read the SSB series to understand or enjoy this, but we’ve used the Universe to spin this off from so somethings might puzzle a few of you if you ain’t, but feel free to ask.

Also, our knowledge of American Policing and Brooklyn is limited, so bear with us if we slip up, but at the end of the day this is a fiction so we’ll claim any mistakes as creative license!!

As always we live for re-blogs and comments  

CSI Rogers and Barnes Master List 

Main Masterlist 

"Of all the places in the world...." Steve groaned as they approached the murder scene.

It was a late July evening and the cool breeze that blew at the Ice Rink at 8 p.m. wasn't a good match for his short sleeved navy blue polo shirt. He didn’t like ice, either. But that was a whole different story. He shrugged on his denim jacket as he walked, giving a slight shiver.

"Hey, it's me who has issues with winter sports, not you. You love ice, Capsicle." Bucky said laughing at his own lame pun.

"Jerk" was the only thing Steve bothered to say to his friend.

They waved at Thor who, as per usual, was directing the police operative. The man was more rushed this time as the new body had appeared in a more popular with tourists spot at a busier time of the evening too.

The area had been secured but people still lingered in the area, trying to get a glimpse of what was happening and, if they were lucky enough, of the bulk under the sheet before they put it in a body bag.

Steve saw a pair of journalists trying to bargain some information out of the police officers who were trying to keep the curious onlookers at bay. He had seen them around other crime scenes and at a few press conferences he had attended over the last couple of years. It was a matter of seconds when another two or three more turned up.

As they approached the scene, they saw that Sam had arrived and was discussing some sort of procedure with Bruce who was crouched down by the body. Katie was busy inspecting the surroundings oblivious to the two men behind her and gave a start when Steve and Bucky greeted her.

"Hey" she said catching her breath and placing a hand on her chest. "You startled me."

"Sorry" Steve smiled. "How are you holding?"

She didn’t return his smile, instead she just gave a shrug.

"Reinforcements are here" Bucky said puffing his chest.

"God bless America" Katie scoffed. "Well, pretty much same crime scene only this one is frostier."

"You can say that again." muttered Bucky. Katie glared at him and ignoring his jab regarding the tension between her and Steve and continued her report on the scene.

"No bullet wound, so no casings. This is a promenade so no vehicle tracks, I was inspecting the area for footprints but there are no wet marks so the attacker wasn't on the ice. We need to see what Sam says about the body, but I presume from the lack of evidence of a vehicle, plus the fact it would be pretty hard to drive here anyway at this time of day without being seen, that the victim was attacked where he's lying, by the bench that faces the ice rink."

"Have you talked to the boys that found it?" Steve asked Katie while looking around searching for the kids who had spotted the body.

“Him.” she replied, not looking up

"It's a male?" Bucky asked Katie.

"Yes, the boys reported the body of a man who seemed to be dead by one of the benches in front of the rink." Katie said. "Well, according to Thor their exact words were “There's a dude here, he got smoked.”  Yeah, quite the literary talent." she added when Bucky chuckled at the boys’ use of slang. "Anyway, a police officer is with them, we’re waiting for their parents to show up and then we can drive them to the station to take their statements."

"Ok. Let's see what Sam and Bruce got." Steve said as he began to walk towards the scene, followed by Bucky and Katie who was now grabbing a mint from the packet that Bucky was holding out for her.

"Do we know anything about the victim?" Steve asked turning her head to Katie and then turned again to greet Sam.

"Nope. Not yet. Sam only told me there was no bullet wound, only what seemed...." Steve frowned and turned to ask Katie why she had stopped talking when he saw she had paused in her tracks and stood there frozen looking down at the body.

"Katie?" Bucky who had also stopped walking asked a worried look on his face.

She didn’t reply, merely stood there her eyes wide, a look of utter shock on her face.

"She's shaken. She's not hearing you." Steve told Bucky as he moved towards Katie, recognising the signs instantly. He’d seen it often enough "Can you please take the reins, while I... umm..?"

"Sure, pal. I've got this." he said before Steve could finish the question and turned to Sam and Bruce whose worried looks were focused now on the three of them rather than on the dead body on the floor.

"Hey. Are you ok? Katie? Look at me." Steve said quietly holding Katie's face between his hands.

She seemingly reacted to the human contact and the soft voice speaking to her. Her eyes fell on the ones before her and Steve saw those green orbs staring at his, struggling to focus, and once she did  she flinched from his touch and composed herself.

Steve swallowed hard and tried to hide his wounded pride as much as possible.

"Come here." he said as he took her arm gently and guided her to the spot where their cars were parked.

"Need anything? Water?" Steve offered patiently giving her time to adjust to reality.

"No, I'm fine thanks." she said and fell silent again looking past him towards the bulk on the ground beside the bench.

"Are you gonna tell me what that was about?" Steve asked tentatively.

Katie stood now leaning back against the left door of her car as Steve waiting patiently for an answer which he honestly wasn't sure he was going to get given how things were between the two of them. His fists clenched inside the pockets of his denim jacket fighting the urge to reach for Katie to comfort her but he knew she wouldn’t appreciate it. Instead, he watched her carefully as she moved her eyes frantically between the crime scene and him, and closing them she whispered "I know him."

"You knew the victim?" he asked frowning.

She nodded and inhaled deeply before opening her eyes again and saying "Sitwell, Jasper Sitwell."

Steve looked at her intently trying to get more information from her, he couldn't recall where had he heard that name but it did sound familiar.

"Sitwell..." he repeated as if uttering that surname again would magically bring a memory back. "Katie, I don't..."

"Steve" she said her eyes on his "remember what happened with Rumlow?"

"Yes." he said the word nearly getting stuck in his throat. Now he was beginning to get worried.

"Sitwell was Rumlow's alibi when Peralta and I were digging into him. We had to drop the case because that bloodsucker stated they were together when it all happened." she rubbed her temples and laced a strand of hair behind her ear before continuing "Never believed him. We were forced to drop it. And then..." she choked on her words.

"Shhhh" Steve said gently reaching for her to calm her with a hug. But she raised her palms stopping him on the spot and he retreated hurt showing in his eyes as it was the second time in less than 5 minutes that she had rejected his touch.

"I'm fine." She said biting her lower lip and looking down to the ground "Or I will be... gotta get out of here Steve" she added before moving around the front part of her car.

"Are you sure you can drive?" Steve asked before she reached the driver's door. "Want me to take you?"

"No." she said too fast and sharp for Steve liking

"Let me call Tony... or Bucky could?" he tried again, worried she would be too upset to focus on the road.

"I'm fine, Steve. Just need a hot bath and to get some sleep." she said taking the car keys out of her jacket right pocket.

"Ok, well… be careful.” She nodded and went to open her door before Steve suddenly remembered something.

“Wait…” he said, and she turned to look at him "I've got something for you.”

He ran towards his car while Katie stood there by the open door of hers waiting for him with a frown.

"Here! My ma gave me this for you." he said handing her the slice of apple pie Mrs Rogers had sent with him.

"Does she know...?" she said taking the foil wrapped pie he was handing her, looking down at it as he handed it over.

"That you're back? Yes, told her earlier." Steve nodded pursing his lips at the memory of her mother's advice.

"Tell her thanks and I'll drop by when I can." she said smiling to him for the first time since she came back from DC.

Steve nodded and smiled back at her as she closed the door and started the car. He leant over the driver's window and said "Drive safe." before she pulled away. He sighed, hands on his hips, his never wavering gaze on the taillights of the blue Honda Civic as it drove away.

"What was that about?" Steve turned around to see a concerned Bucky.

"The victim was.... ummm.... Let's say he was an old acquaintance. Long story. Tell you about it later." Steve said and gestured to the crime scene before asking Bucky.

"Same scene?"

"Yeah, pretty much. This time there's apparently increased violence though. Two blows." Bucky answered.

"Cereal?"

"Yes. I would say it was Jump Start this time. God I hate that shitty generic brand stuff." Bucky scoffed while unlocking his phone.

Steve raised an eyebrow and was about to ask him what was the deal with him and cereals, but honestly he had too many things in his mind at the moment and Bucky's one of many quirks was the last thing in the list right now.

"Ok, get in the car. I sent Katie home, so it's you and me taking the statements of those kids tonight." Steve said walking to the car and opening the driver's door.

"You sent her home and she did as you told without putting up a fight? That's a first." Bucky grinned as he entered the car and sat on the passenger seat.

Steve only groaned and started the car and shook his head at the sight of Bucky devouring his slice of pie.

During the drive back to the station Steve filled Bucky in on everything. And by doing so he found himself catapulted back 5 years previously to one of the NYPD Charity Balls.

Steve could see Katie was excited for this one, it was her first formal event since moving from Uniform into the Detective branch little over 7 months previously after years of hard work on her part to get there. She was determined to make a name for herself, prove to people she wasn’t just Commander Howard Stark’s daughter. Of course Ward had let her down last minute, as per usual, but she wasn’t letting that dampen her spirits. He picked her up, and had to smile as she practically skipped down to his car, her deep red, knee length dress flared slightly out from her hips and she had a soft black shawl draped over her shoulders. She climbed into the passenger seat and gave his cheek a quick peck as he told her she looked stunning, as always. She beamed and then the car filled with her happy chatter, about how she was looking forward to letting her hair down, especially after the case that she had been working for weeks had collapsed.

Steve, as always, kept an eye on her all night, without being overbearing. If she wanted to get drunk to the point of puking then that was her prerogative, he’d simply be there to mop up just like he had done several times before. But then he was caught in a conversation with Thor, Terry Jefferson and Barton about the recent Super Bowl and as such he hadn’t seen her for a lost sight of her for a while. When he looked up to find her, as it was his round, he realised she was nowhere to be seen. After asking Natasha where she was, the red head had frowned saying she hadn’t seen her for a while either, so Steve had headed off to see if he could find out where she was.

And he found her.

“Katie…what the hell?” Steve looked at her as she was stood near the bathroom. She was pressed hard against the wall, almost like she was trying to sink into it. Her breathing was ragged and there were tears streaking her face and he noticed she was shaking from head to toe “Jesus Sweetheart what’s…” “I just...Stevie…I…” She was stumbling over her words as turned to him and practically threw herself into his arms. He frowned and pulled her close, rubbing her back softly as she trembled against him.

“You’re scaring me honey.” he said softly. He’d never seen her like this in the entire 5 years they had been friends. “What…”

“He…er…he was waiting and…”

“Ok, slow down…” he said gently, his hands sliding to her face. “Who?”

“Rumlow…”

Steve took a deep breath through his nose as he felt the nerve in his jaw twitch. “What did he do?”

“He….he was rambling on about the case and….”

“Katie…” he looked at her, his voice calm and commanding “Tell me, what did he do?”

“He said that if I told anyone no one would believe me anyway because of the rape case being dropped and…”

Steve felt cold all over as he looked at her. His thumbs gently skated over her cheek bones as she took a deep breath “Did he touch you? Because if he did I swear to God…”

“He put his hand up my skirt and…” “Mother fucker…” Steve said, one of his hands taking through his hair, the other slamming against the wall causing Katie to flinch “Where did he go?”

“I don’t know….”

With that he wheeled round, ignoring her calls and stormed towards the main door of the bar, yanking it open.

“Hey Rogers…” Peralta looked at him “You seen Katie? The boss is just about to…” “Where’s Rumlow?” Steve demanded, cutting him off.

Peralta’s face darkened “He just left…bastard had a nerve showing up anyway, I can’t believe…”

Steve didn’t wait to hear the rest, the red mist had descended and he had only one thing in mind. That fucking cunt should be banged up in a cell from what he had heard. Apparently he had a cast iron alibi from the rape, but both Katie and Peralta were 100% convinced he had done it. But the case had been dropped as the victim had decided not pursue and as such he was still wandering around the 99 free to do what he wanted.

And he’d just assaulted one of the most important people in Steve’s life.

He ran out of the bar and spotted Rumlow as he headed towards his car. Picking up a sprint, at the sound of his feet pounding on the tarmac, Rumlow turned round and Steve sent a punch straight into the bastards face, sending him sprawling over the bonnet of his car. Steve dragged him up off the bonnet with one hand fisting in the front of his shirt before delivering another punch again, feeling his nose crunch under his fist as the man dropped to the floor. He was just winding up to boot him hard in the ribs when someone grabbed him from behind.

“Cap…” He heard Barton speak, but Steve shrugged him off easily. He went to lead with his foot again, the only thing on his mind was beating the piece of shit until he couldn’t stand up, but when someone else grabbed him, the grip was much stronger, and he was dragged back by both arms.

“Rogers, leave it…come on man…” It was Terry Jefferson.

“Son of a bitch!” Steve yelled, attempting to work his way out of Terry’s grip but to no avail.

“Stevie…” another voice, this one quieter cut through the fog and he took a deep breath as Katie appeared in front of him, both hands on his chest “Stop…”

His chest heaving he took a deep breath and looked down at her as Rumlow gave a groan from the floor behind her. Clint bent down to see to him and Steve held his hands up in surrender. Terry let go and Steve looked at Katie, his hands once more holding her face, the knuckles of his right tender from the punches he had landed.

“You alright?” he asked softly and she nodded. Steve drew himself up and turned to Terry “He assaulted her…”

“What?” Terry frowned, and looked down to Rumlow. Upon hearing Steve’s words, Clint had turned to look up at them and Natasha moved forward, her hand falling to Katie’s shoulder. Katie gave a small nod, and took a deep breath as Natasha looked at her and Steve stepped away slightly, and noticing Katie was still shaking he shrugged off his jacket and dropped it lightly over her shoulders before he heard Terry barking instructions to Peralta to get a unit down to the bar.

Rumlow was now on his feet, and in a second Clint had his arm up his back, and had shoved him down on the bonnet of the car, Rumlow giving a yell.

“Move again and I’ll break it…” he snarled, giving it a harsh jerk.

“He attacked me…”

“Did he?” Peralta asked, his phone clutched to his ear as he looked around, “I didn’t see anything…”

“Me neither…” Terry spoke.

“Yeah, hi, this is Detective Jake Peralta, I need a unit…” Peralta spoke, walking a little way away from the group as Rumlow gave another yell as Clint yanked on his arm again

“Looks like you’re mistaken shit bag.”

“Doll…” Steve turned to Katie again, who was now leaning her head against Natasha’s shoulder clutching his leather jacket around her as the red head’s arm pulled her in. She looked up at him, her green eyes still sporting that petrified look. “You up to giving a statement?”

She glanced at him, then to Rumlow, and then drew herself tall “Yeah, he’s not getting away with it a second time.” “Only he did.” Steve spat out as he swung the car into the station parking lot “The Prosecution advised Katie that it would simply be her word against his. Rumlow was sticking to his story, saying Katie had led him outside on purpose and then got cold feet. And the previous accusation couldn’t be used as the previous victim had dropped all charges…” “What previous accusation?” Bucky asked.

“Rape.” Steve sighed “The victim saw Rumlow at the station and her reaction basically led Katie and Peralta to believe it was him. But before they could go any further, he had a cast iron alibi…and that was Sitwell, the guy we just saw with his head caved in and a mouth full of cereal”

“Fuck…” Bucky mumbled.

“Katie basically went through weeks of hell to in the end drop her case, which killed her. And her fucker of a boyfriend wasn’t much of a support either, simply telling her that she shouldn’t wear such “tight or revealing clothing” for fear of egging men on.” “Are you for real?” Bucky frowned.

“Yup. Trust me, it took everything I had not to kick the crap out of him for that.” Steve sighed, “Still, being Howard’s daughter had some perks. He went in all guns blazing when he learned about what happened and kicked up an absolute storm, threatening to go to the press and everything.  Pierce, in the end, instructed Rumlow to “resign”. Which is another thing that sticks in my throat. He should have been fired.”

“Instead he got to leave with the full benefits of a pension.” Bucky shook his head.

“Yeah, still, it meant he was away from Katie. Which was something she was thankful for.”

Bucky was silent for a moment as Steve cut the engine and ran his hand over his face. “You think his murder could be connected to the dropped rape case?”

Steve shrugged “I dunno. It could just be a coincidence but…” “I don’t believe in coincidences.” Bucky shook his head “Not when it comes to stuff like this.” “Me neither.” Steve said, undoing his belt. “Let’s get these statements taken.” “Aye, aye Captain.” Bucky said, saluting as he followed his friend out of the car.

*****

It was way past eleven the next morning when Bucky entered the kitchen of the station. He and Steve had been working late the previous night, taking statements and going over the case files again and again. The rest of the team had been working on other minor cases or doing paperwork waiting for them to arrive for briefing and were now taking a coffee break.

"Morning, Barnes." greeted Clint who was perched on the kitchen counter. "Fancy some coffee?"

"Yes, please. You really remind me of my ma's parakeet, always perched onto something." he said taking the coffee pot Clint was holding out for him as he opened one of the cupboards to get a mug.

"Tweet, tweet." Clint retorted and Natasha, who was filing her nails, scoffed.

Bucky spotted Katie engrossed on some files that were scattered over the kitchen table while sipping from her coffee mug and moved closer to her and leant over her.

"How you holding?" he whispered placing a kiss on her head.

She looked up at him and smiled softly for an only answer.

"Good." he whispered again and turned to the others to ask "Is there anything worth eating around here?"

"Here, have one." Wanda, who had been watching his interaction with Katie with a broad smile, offered him a box of doughnuts. But she slapped his hand when he was about to take a particular one.

"Not that one. Those are Steve's favourites!" she cried.

"Sorry." he said with a sarcastic tone as he raised an eyebrow at Clint and Natasha who were smiling at him knowingly. "God forgive me if I ate your Captain’s food." he continued while Wanda pulled a face.

It was at that moment that Katie sat up and gathered all her papers to head for her desk but she bumped into Thor at the kitchen's door.

"Greetings, little Stark" Thor said joyfully.

"Morning" she said flatly before heading out. Thor shrugged and moved to one of the cupboards.

"What's wrong with her?" he asked the others while rummaging inside the cupboard "Have we run out of pop tarts?" he groaned turning around.

"Take a doughnut, and watch your hand, picking one is like playing Russian roulette." Clint quipped and Wanda stuck her tongue out at him.

"She's been particularly snarky all morning." Natasha deadpanned looking intently at Bucky who sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

"Bitchy." Wanda added and Bucky shot a glare at her.

He was going to say something, not too compromising but enough to get them to leave her alone, when Steve appeared at the kitchen door and called "Everyone, briefing in five." before leaving again.

"Gotta go" Wanda said and before stepping outside the door she turned and added "Are we meeting for lunch?"

"Yes. Diner on the corner, just after briefing!" Natasha yelled for her to hear.

Steve was already sat in the briefing room checking his phone when Wanda came in and placed a coffee mug and a plate with two doughnuts with red, white and blue sprinkles on the table in front of him.

"Thanks" he said "Where is everyone? I told them five minutes."

"They're coming. Well, everyone bar Katie, I don't know where she is." she shrugged.

Steve raised her head to look at her and asked "What do you mean you don't know where she is?"

"She left the kitchen without bothering to look us in the face. Ask Barnes, they seem very close." and as she leant over his ear she whispered "I think they were having a moment back there."

Steve stiffened on his seat and gave an angry bite to one of the doughnuts avoiding saying something he could regret later on. He hadn't failed to notice how close the pair of detectives had become over the last week and it was something that was starting to piss him off. Would Bucky....? No, he wouldn't... He tried to shake those thoughts from his mind and was snapped back into reality by the voices of his team plus Bruce entering the briefing room.

"All right, let's start." Steve said when everyone had taken their seats, noticing Katie sliding in and taking up a seat further down the table. "Sam called. He's currently doing the second victim's autopsy and Tony is out of town working in another case, so Bruce here will do the honours." he said gesturing to the scientist.

Bruce cleared his throat and in a nervous tick he took off his glasses before speaking, "Well, regarding the first victim, we have concluded that the murder weapon could be a round, blunt hammer…"

"A chasing hammer." Thor nodded and everyone turned to look at him, questioningly. "What? I like hammers." he shrugged. "I was actually the hammer throwing champion in the school athletics team."

There was a pause everyone taking in what Thor had just revealed. Then Katie spoke turning to Bruce "But it wasn't a frenzied attack? A single blow?"

"Yeah, that is unlike the second victim, but we'll come to that later." Bruce confirmed.

Steve saw Katie shiver at the mention of the second victim and before he could even register what he was doing he asked her if she was ok to which she only nodded not taking her eyes from the table. He looked directly at Bruce, gesturing for him to continue, not able to deal with the glances he was sure Clint, Natasha and Wanda were sharing at his question to the sergeant.

"As you know we recovered some hairs from Ross trousers" Bruce resumed his report.

"Oh, well that's something." Bucky nodded. "A potential lead maybe?”

"Yeah, wouldn't bank on it." Bruce said "Initial tests show us it's not human."

"What do you mean it's not human?" Steve frowned.

"What do you mean, what do I mean?" Bruce stuttered looking at Steve "Exactly what I just said. That hair is not from a human being. And it's not from the more common domestic animals either like dogs, cats, rabbits, horses... So Peter's on with it now, as soon as we get something we'll let you know."

"Ok, thanks Bruce." Steve said while everyone was lost on their thoughts trying to decipher what kind of animal Ross had been around.

"As for the second victim, we have confirmed his identity." Bruce said chewing one of the arms of his glasses "His name is Jasper Sitwell."

And at the mention of that name Steve saw Katie close her eyes and couldn't help but ask her again.

"You sure you're ok, sweetheart?" he had blurted the words out before he could stop himself and her head shot up and she gave him a filthy look.

"Stop asking me if I'm ok for fuck sake, Steve!" she raised her voice angrily "And DON’T call me that! I'm not your sweetheart, never have been."

Steve clenched his jaw and for a second closed his eyes. If he could have smacked the back of his own head right there and then, he would have. That was on him. Still, he needed to react, despite the grudge Katie was holding against him, they were in a briefing meeting and he was the Captain, being talked to like that was out of order. He looked at Katie and opened his mouth to tell her off, when Bucky shot a quick glance at him and then turned to Katie grabbing her arm.

"Stark. You're off the line. We're not discussing personal matters here." Bucky told her before leaning and whispering to her "Even if he is an asshole."

Steve watched her soften a bit under Bucky's call and then saw a glimpse of a smile on her face when he had whispered something to her. But that smile had faded when she had spotted Wanda shaking her head gazing at Katie reproachfully. That's when he decided to step up, but was again cut off.

"What's your problem?" Katie glared at Wanda while Bucky sat back in his chair and raised his hands in a sign of surrender.

"Katie...stop it!" Natasha tried to intercede also shooting daggers at her.

"That's enough!" Steve spoke up, his voice loud as he cut across the briefing room. "Sergeant Stark, you have any problems with your superiors just issue a complaint form."

"I'll issue a form, I'll shove it up your fucking ass. Fuck this..." Katie yelled at him before she stood up and stormed out of the briefing room.

Bucky stood up fast as lightning and went for the door hurriedly after saying "I've got her, just continue with the briefing."

Steve stood there frozen deciding whether to call the meeting off or get it over with once and for all, when he heard Clint say to Natasha "You should have gone after her." and she shot him a deathly glare.

"What a ..." Wanda started to say.

"I said enough, Wanda." Steve raised his voice and heard Bruce groan and he couldn't blame him, after all the scientist didn't like people with anger management issues.

"Sorry Banner, you were saying..." he said pinching the bridge of his nose and gesturing for him to continue.

"Ummm yes..." Bruce said scanning his notes " that is, I was saying the victim is Jasper Sitwell. Preliminary visual inspection at the crime scene says it was two blows on the head this time. Cereal in mouth as well. So we'd say same MO but we'll give you more details after Sam has finished with him."

"Thanks Banner" Steve said to Bruce who nodded shyly.

"Barton, Romanoff, I want you to investigate Jasper Sitwell. Use all your spy tricks, the guy must be someone relatively important, Sam said yesterday the tie he was wearing was expensive."

"What a pity" Natasha drawled.

"Well, he was a suit and tie kind of guy. We'll find something Cap." Clint said and Steve rolled his eyes at the detective's use of nickname.

"All right, I'll call Rhodes, same course of action with the press." Steve said now looking at Wanda who nodded.

"Wait, why was Little Stark so pissed?" Thor asked out of the blue and everyone turned to look at him astonished.

"What, were you napping?" Steve said and sighed “OK. You're dismissed, I can feel a headache brewing." and stood up to head for his office, but before that he heard Natasha say not as quietly as she intended "I can feel a storm brewing." and Wanda sniggered.

***** Bucky caught up with Katie as she stormed out of the main office and into the corridor.

“Doll face, just...” She wheeled round at him and he held his hands up “Ok, my bad…”

“Leave me alone…” she said, her voice quieter “I’ve had enough.”

“I can tell.” Bucky said “You made that perfectly clear.”

Katie sighed and folded her arms, her tongue poking into her cheek.

“I’m not defending him but maybe, just maybe, Steve’s a little concerned about you.”

“He’s no right to be.” “Maybe not, but you two were friends for a long time before it went sideways.” “Before he sent it sideways…” “Whatever, the point I’m trying to make is that was a slip of the tongue, that’s all.” “I am sick and tired of this.” She said, looking at him. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed the team being off with me.” “Well, you are kinda scary when you’re angry…and you always seem kinda angry so…” “And why do you think that is?” she asked “I didn’t ask for any of this Bucky… he was the one that pulled me back here I just…” “So, let’s just get the job done and then you can go back.” Bucky soothed. “Look, we’re going for lunch in a moment so this afternoon let’s just get our heads down and get our ideas up on the boards.” She frowned and then there was a look on her face as if she was understanding something. But what it was, he had no idea. Instead she shrugged and headed back into the office, ignoring everyone as she walked, in particular Wanda. Wanda followed her with her eyes, narrowing them slightly until she spotted Bucky watching. He gave her a look of his own and she scurried back to her desk.

“Right, lunch!” Thor clapped his hands. There were murmurs in the office and Bucky nodded, telling them to go ahead and he’d catch them up. He popped his head into Steve’s office.

“Punk, we’re going for lunch.” he said. Steve looked up “you coming?” “No I’m gonna go have half an hour in the gym.” Steve said. Bucky knew that was Steve’s way of working out some of his frustration so he didn’t argue.

“I’m assuming from the lack of a black eye you managed to calm Katie down.” Steve looked at him.

“In a fashion.” Bucky shrugged “I’ll feed her a double cheeseburger like you suggested, she’ll be fine. Just maybe stop with the pet names huh?”

Steve snorted “force of habit.” Bucky gave him a final nod and leaving his friend to it he headed after Natasha and caught the gang up as they walked the block or so down the road. They headed to a table in the corner and Bucky took a seat between Clint and Wanda, picking up the menu and giving it a glance. He looked up momentarily when Natasha spoke to the waitress who took their drinks order, saying she would come back and take the one for their food in a moment. They all began to discuss what they were having, Bucky deciding he would probably go for his usual, the Southern Fried Chicken sandwich. Putting the menu down he looked around the team, Natasha and Wanda leaning together pointing at something on the card before he realised they were one short.

“Hold up…” he frowned “Where’s Stark?”

At that Thor frowned and looked around, as if only just noticing she wasn’t there. Clint gave Natasha a look, one that clearly said ‘I told you so’ whilst Wanda looked down at her nails.

“Have you deliberately not invited her?” Bucky’s frown deepened as he began to realise what it was that Katie had understood before. She’d understood that she hadn’t been invited. 

Fuck.

“We’re just getting a little tired of her attitude.” Natasha sighed. “She was out of line at briefing before.”

“The way she speaks to Steve is disgusting. She’s being such a fucking bitch…” Wanda added. “Ok, that’s enough.” Bucky said sternly. “She’s got a lot going on. And Steve, well frankly, he isn’t innocent in all of this.”

“Oh please!” Wanda snorted “They fucked after a Christmas party and then she made a meal out of it, dramatically running away to DC…”

“That’s not…” Bucky sighed, shaking his head “You know what, it doesn’t matter. I’ll take mine to go. Not having her sitting alone in the office, it’s cruel and frankly I expect more from you.”

Natasha frowned “Do you know something we don’t Serge?” 

“Ask her…or Captain Goldenboy.” he sighed, standing up. He headed over to the counter, ignoring the hushed whispers that had struck up and ordered his own, and then after a pause added a few extra items. He sat by the counter, faffing about on his phone until about 20 minutes later it was ready. Grabbing the bags he headed back, still feeling slightly pissed at the behaviour of the unit.

He headed up the elevator and into the office, crossing towards his desk. Katie was sat at hers, pen between her teeth and he could see she had been crying.

“Hey…”

“Thought you had all gone for lunch…” she said looking up at him and he could tell she was trying to keep her tone casual.

“Decided on take out…” He waved the bag and spotting the logo she smiled, a genuine smile at him and it lit her pretty face up. “Cheeseburger, chilli fries and a vanilla shake?” he asked as he began to unpack the items.

“Thanks Bucky.” she said softly, taking her food from him. He smiled at her again before he took one of the subs he had bought through along with a bag of chips and a soda to Steve’s office, dropping it all on his desk. He was just leaving when Steve walked back into the room, almost bumping into him.

“Thought you were going for lunch?” Steve said, brushing his damp hair back with his right hand.

“I was…” Bucky said, before he gestured to the door. Steve shut it and turned back to his friend “Until I got there and found out they’d deliberately excluded Katie.”

“What?” Steve frowned “Why?” “Sick of her attitude…apparently” Bucky said and Steve sighed.

“So you bailed?” “Yeah, not having her sitting here alone.”

Steve took a deep breath and rubbed at his temple. He looked at Bucky, opened his mouth and then shut it again, shaking his head.

“Spit it out…” Bucky said, looking at him.

“I err, well, there’s nothing going on between you and her is there?” Steve asked, his eyes locking onto Bucky’s.

“What the fuck?” Bucky scowled, an angry flush spreading up his neck to his cheeks “Because I bailed on lunch as she wasn’t there? I did that because it’s fucking cruel…”

“It’s not just the lunch…” Steve cut him off, his eyes still focussed on his “Wanda said she thought you two were having a moment before and I’ve seen the pair of you…” “Man you really are as stupid as you look…” Bucky snorted. “She looked lost this morning, so yeah, I gave her a bit of a hug and a kiss on the head but fuck me Steve…even if I did like her that way do you really think I’d go there knowing your history? You’re by best friend, it’s an unwritten rule…”

There was a silence in the office and Steve sighed, hanging his head.

“Sorry man, I know. I just…”

“Just nothing, get your head out of your ass.” Bucky snorted. “You need to watch Wanda, Steve. She’s got a thing for you and I get the impression she instigated leaving Katie off of the lunch invite. She was being particularly nasty about her this morning too before briefing.”

Steve gave a groan and shook his head “That’s all I need…”

“And as you keep saying, Katie is vicious so you could end up with a full scale bitch fight on your hands.”

“Do you think I should talk to Wanda?”

“To be honest I’m not sure whether that will help.” Bucky shrugged “I’m just telling you to be aware. You say Katie is strong but…well, there’s only so much anyone can take. She’s been crying, I can tell.” He looked at Steve who bit his lip and glanced out through the blinds to where Katie was sat, eating her lunch.

“You brought her lunch back?” Steve looked at him.

“Yeah, is that ok or does it mean we’re fucking?”

“Alright, I said I was sorry…”

“Good, because I got you a Pastrami and rye, extra pickle. And there’s no way I want to be romantically involved with your punk ass so…”

Steve glanced at the bag and when he turned back to look at Bucky, the sergeant was surprised at the look on Steve’s face. Almost like he was about to burst into tears. “Thanks Buck.”

“It’s only a sandwich.”

“No I mean for looking after her.” Steve said, giving him a significant look.

“You’re welcome pal, what can I say? I like your girl.” Steve sighed “She’s not my girl…” “Yeah, yeah…” Bucky said, and with that he turned and left the office.

***** Steve looked up as there was a knock on his open door. Katie stepped in, file in her hand and she strode to his desk, dropping it down.

“Initial profile.” she said, nodding to it “It’s only a basic one at the moment but I’ll keep working on it. I’ve given a copy to Barnes as well and run him through my initial thoughts.”

“You wanna give me the basics?” Steve asked, leaning back in his chair, gesturing for her to take the one on the opposite side of the desk.

“Not really but you’re the boss.” she said, remaining stood up, arms folded “I think we’re looking for a male. The MO doesn’t fit with a female as you know and the victims have all been struck at the back of the head at an angle that would insinuate the height of the attacker in Ross’ case was similar, or in Sitwell’s case taller. Ross is 6ft and the blows took significant strength. Of course it could be a tall, bodybuilding female but I doubt it.”

Steve nodded and waited for her to continue.

“Also the hammer blows…it’s a typical cave man move. A bang on the back of the head, like with a club. Most Male serial killers are known to hunt their victims like that, throw-back to the hunter gatherer days. Women serial killers will normally use poison or suffocation…or if they’re in a frenzy a sharp knife.” He smiled, he had almost forgotten how good she was at this.

“I also believe that the victims were known to our guy, and that they know him too. First off there’s little to no physical resemblance, apart from them being male. Which leads me to believe he is targeting them deliberately. The lack of other marks on the body means they’re not being manhandled out to the place their killed either, so I believe it to be prearranged. Oh, and on that Barnes has had tech start to look at their phone records…see if either of them had calls or messages before hand.” Steve nodded “And the calling card?” “I’m stumped.” Katie said, shrugging. “Literally. I can only, again, go back to what I said in DC. Normally leaving things in mouths is either a sexual thing, which in this case we can rule out as there’s no signs of any sexual activity taking place, or a class statement, you know the whole silver spoon trope. I can only conclude this is his message about how dangerous either an everyday object can be, or how dangerous he can be with an everyday object. It could mean something to the killer, but…”

She paused and then looked at Steve “I want to dig into Sitwell more.” Steve watched her as she continued and bit back the smile at the fact she was telling him what she was going to do rather than asking for permission, like she always had.  “I’m going to call back to the 99, drag the Rumlow case files out…see if there’s anything that can tie Sitwell to Ross or vice versa. I know Rumlow is doing a stretch inside but…” “Sure. I’ll call Holt and let him know.”

With that she gave him a curt nod and went to leave. 

“Katie.” he said gently and she turned to look at him.

“Just be careful”

She didn’t reply, simply gave him a cold look and left. He watched her head to her desk where she said something to Bucky who nodded to her as she picked up her hoody, purse and then the mug in her usual end of day routine- she would NEVER leave an unwashed mug on her desk, no matter what time she was leaving.

A few moments later Bucky popped his head in, telling Steve he was heading off and had a couple of things to do on his way home so he would be later back. By couple of things, Steve assumed he meant a dame so he simply nodded and then once his friend was gone he glanced at the file Katie had left him. Before he started looking at it in detail he needed another coffee. He left his office, heading for the kitchen and as he made his way down the corridor he paused as Natasha’s raised voice hit his ears.

“You know as well as anyone round here, Stark, we’re a family. We look out for one another…and we’re just tired of the way you keep snapping at Steve. It’s not fair…”

“Wait you think... “Katie snorted and let her a bitter laugh "You think that I'm being unreasonable?” "You’re being a bitch!” Nat scoffed

Katie let out another derisive snort “Whatever…” she replied sarcastically and Steve knew from her tone she would be rolling her eyes.

“Look, you slept together. Yeah, we figured as much, and then you ran…” “I ran?” Katie laughed bitterly “Oh, that’s fucking priceless that is! Of course he hasn’t told any of you, wouldn’t want to ruin his God’s Righteous Man reputation would he?” “What are you talking about?” Nat asked.

“I didn’t run anywhere, Nat, he did!” Katie said, her voice loud “After we spent the night together I woke up to find him gone. And then he ghosted me for 3 days.”

"Shit." Nat said gently, "Katie…honestly I had no idea…I knew you'd both...you know but we all just assumed you'd decided it was a mistake and…"

“I wasn’t the one that decided it was a mistake. He did. Nat, I practically begged him to give me a reason to stay but he wouldn't.”

There was a pause and Katie spoke again, and Steve could hear the emotion in her voice. “You know, he told me that he cared, that he’d had feelings for me for years but…then he goes and does this and…”

She trailed off and Steve swallowed, he hated that he had hurt her so much, but more so that he couldn’t do anything to make it right. "I'm so, so sorry." Nat spoke again, her voice soft “I wouldn’t have…well, leaving you off the lunch invite was cruel, I should have said something to Wanda.”

Again nothing. And then Steve heard a sniffle “Shit, Katie come here..." There was the rustling of clothing as he assumed the two women embraced.

“Why didn’t you talk to me?” Nat asked.

“I don’t know I just...I suppose I thought by cutting myself off it would help but it didn’t. I’ve been so lonely…DC is great and the job is amazing but, well all my friends are here and…”

She was crying now and Steve’s heart sank even further. He’d done this to her.

“I’m sorry I ran out on you all like I did…and I should have talked to you I know. I missed you Nat.” “Yeah?” Steve heard the amusement in Nat’s voice.

“Of course I did.” Katie laughed a little “You were my best friend.” “No I wasn’t” Nat said softly.

“Well, my best girlfriend…” Katie replied.

"Have you told any of the 99 you're back in town?" Nat asked after a short pause. "No." "You should call Diaz. Us girls can go out, beers and a catch up."

"I'd like that. That is if Wanda hasn’t poisoned me before hand." Katie snorted. "Yeah well she’s sweet on Cap... you know that. " "She’s welcome to him. Let him give her the best fuck of her life and bail before the toast is ready." "The best fuck of your life?” Nat said, chuckling “That’s some claim.”

Katie gave a bitter laugh. "And don’t I wish it wasn't true."

“Well you know what they say…” Nat replied “The best way to get over a man is get under another one.” Steve didn’t want to hear anymore. He couldn’t. Frankly the thought of her with anyone else was enough to make him ill. He turned and strode back the way he had come and grabbed the files, shoving them into his laptop bag along with his tablet and his trusted leather bound notebook Katie had bought him the previous year. He’d do this at home, he didn’t want to be in the station anymore.

He was in a daze as he drove through the streets off Brooklyn, Katie’s voice ringing in his ears. "She’s welcome to him. Let him give her the best fuck of her life and bail before the toast is ready."  Her tone had been cold, callous, a far cry from the Katie he knew and loved.  A fuck. That’s all she believed she was, but it had never been about that, she meant far more to him. She always had. He couldn’t blame her for thinking that at all, but hearing her speak about him that way was tearing him in two, especially as he knew it was his fault.

Bucky was right, he should have left her well alone, got another profiler on the case. And it was for that reason he made a snap decision. He’d talk to her tomorrow, give her the opportunity to go back to DC.

He was that wrapped up in his thoughts, he didn’t notice the car running the red light, as it hurtled towards him. The last thing he remembered was hearing the screeching of tyres and brakes, the sounding of a horn, and then the squealing and crunching of metal caused by a harsh impact to the driver’s side of his vehicle. He was thrown sideways, his car sent into a spin, his head snapping painfully to the side as it collided with the metal of his door column as it folded inwards.

And everything went black.  

@the-omni-princess  @momobaby227​ @geekofmanythings16 @angelofhell-666 @thewackywriter @marvelfansworld  @cobalt-gear  @asgardlover75 @jennmurawski13  @jtargaryen18 @saiyanprincessswanie​  @navispalace​ @patzammit​  @joannaliceevans-fanficblog​ @djeniiscorner​  @ayamenimthiriel​  @coldmuffinbanditshoe​  @disneylovingal​ @madzmilllz​  @sgtjaamesbaarnes​ @sweater-daddiesdumbdork​ @southerngracela​ @goldenfightergir​ @kellymat​ @official-and-unstable-satan​ @charmed-asylum​ @pagesoflauren​

[snarkwriteswrasslin]

FFT: leave her wild; drew gulak

Notes:

So this is my feral!omega fic universe. And this came to me on the main from @andie01​ and one day, I swear to God.. I’m gonna do something with Drew and Lily and the whole concept of a feral omega. So, until I figure it out, have this instead.

Summary:

The night Drew scented Lily / their first meeting. Intense flirty banter ensues.

Warning:

uhh... not really? just lil hints of dominant!gulak, that’s all.

Pairing:

Drew Gulak x OFC, Lily

Strawberry filled the air and Drew froze in the middle of the hallway and inhaled it in sharply. His entire body went from relaxed to taut as a rope and his eyes darted around. The scent got heavier and heavier, until it almost had his mouth physically watering. He growled to himself quietly, hefting the purple strap of leather from one side of his chest to the other.

It all happened so fast when it did happen that as her scent faded seconds later, Drew was left to stand there, hand in his hair as he puzzled it out.

The blonde tore down the hallway,  with Mustafa’s girlfriend Nima hot on her heels, this mischief filled giggle filling the air and piercing through Drew’s deep thought and intent focus. The scent was almost overpowering as the blonde raced past.

… it’s her, she’s ours…

… god she’s so fucking beautiful…

… go on, go after her… she needs us…

… there isn’t time right now… after the match…

… mate needs us now… not after the match… couldn’t you scent it on her…

… not now. Be patient… i have every intention of making myself known as soon as the match ends…

He was just about to step into the dressing room, but she stopped and turned. Her eyes met his and she gave this devilish little grin as her hand raised, fingers tangling in the ends of long blonde strands. She stared him down, almost as if she were undressing him with her eyes.

But what really got to him the most was when she called out to him.

“Has anyone ever told you, sir.. Staring is rude. Take a picture, maybe it’ll last longer?” - was said with a soft laugh punctuating the end of her words. The wink she gave had Drew Gulak tensing his hands at his sides and her little amused smirking giggle, well… It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that his Omega was… Not your typical one.

Most had the thickest hint of needy in their scent. Not her.

This heavy air of wild and free, that replaced the usual neediness.

… a challenge, hmm?… we’ll just see about that…

… she wants you… needs you… just won’t show it easily… but you’ll win her over… we’ll win her over…

Then, as fast as it all happened, his Omega was gone, disappearing out into the parking lot, leaving just the faintest hint of wild and over ripened strawberries in her wake. Drew inhaled deeply again and then took a long and shaky breath.

Focusing on the task at hand was going to be difficult now. Not so difficult he couldn’t, but just a shade more challenging than he might have previously thought.

X

Out in the parking lot, Lily exhaled sharply. Her breath was shaky and she leaned heavily against the door, staring up at the darkening sky. Just that fire in those eyes.. Her thighs were absolutely coated with slick. It was taking every single ounce of her willpower not to march right back in there and seek him out.

… Alphas are all entitled schmucks though… name one you know who isn’t an asshole when the other side takes over…

…. Go to him…. Ours… Want…. Need… so much… fuck….

…then again Lily thought to herself on the subject of her Alpha apparently being none other than Drew Gulak, he’s too controlled for that and something tells me that while maybe he has his moments… he is far from an asshole type… but there’s no way it would ever work, not without one of one or the other changing massively… is there?

From beside her, Nima spoke up.

“You do realize.. If you try to keep him at arms length, it isn’t going to work. And Drew isn’t.. A bad guy. Not at all. He’s not like the others, he wouldn’t hurt you. That is what you’re afraid of, is it not?”

“It is. But how do I know Drew Gulak isn’t the same as literally every single other Alpha out there? I mean…” Lily dragged her fingers through her hair and grimaced as the teeth she’d had filed into fangs recently poked at her lower lip.

“Still stand by thinking it’d be ‘wicked’ to have fangs?” Nima questioned with a soft laugh as she gazed at her friend. Despite not being the same as Lily was, she knew enough alphas, betas and omegas to know that what was happening to her best friend right now was huge. And Lily, well.. She was probably overthinking it, just like always.

“Hell yes. They suit me. Just.. wish they’d hurry and dull at the tip.”

Nima snickered, she didn’t have to be Lily’s longtime best friend to realize that Lily thought she was in the clear and the subject at hand was going to change. She’d simply let the matter drop for the moment.

She got the distinct feeling that Drew Gulak was going to be relentless in his pursuit and that could be a very good thing for her best friend. Lily needed and most certainly deserved the attention and stability Drew would bring to the table.

And Drew, well.. Lily could teach him how to loosen up a little, hopefully.

Honestly, she couldn’t wait to see how the rest of the night unfolded. She knew how driven Drew could be when he set his mind to something… and if that look in his eyes was anything to go by, well… He’d set his mind to having Lily as his chosen Omega.

X

The match ended just the way he’d pictured it ending and the ref raised his arms in victory. The strap was still clutched tight in his hand and despite himself, his eyes scanned the crowd.

At some point during the match, he’d scented her in the area.. And he felt an intent gaze.

An intent gaze that persisted throughout the entirety of his match to defend the belt. Just knowing she’d seen him… Gave him this sense of pride.

And yes, maybe he was a little smug. Because despite the whole air of distrust / amusement he’d picked up earlier, she was admittedly curious enough about him to watch his title defense.

He made his way up the ramp on autopilot, it barely registered as he stepped through the curtains and into the backstage area. He stopped to lean against a wall, gather himself together a little bit.

Her scent was much heavier now. If he had to guess, she was in the throes of heat fever. Just the thought of that had him a little out of sorts.

And he sensed that she might well be right now too.

And that it also was not going to be easy to get her to see reason. To see that no, he wasn’t at all like the other Alphas they were surrounded by.

But, he thought to himself, he was going to die trying if he had to.

He was just about to step away from the wall, set off to go track her down when Mandy Rose cornered him. He stared down at her, a blank look on his face as she trailed her fingertip over his chest and bit her lip.

“That was a very, very impressive win.”

“And? Your point? I have to go.” Drew shoved past her, leaving her to stand there, staring at him as he walked away. Drew rounded a corner and a wall of wild and over ripened strawberry hit him, encasing him and almost sending him right into a stupor. His body tensed ever so slightly.

The blonde stared up at him in amusement.

“In a hurry, tiger?”

-  fuck, her voice is so soft and low, she’s practically purring, just how the fuck am I supposed to… focus… on anything… ever again… the thought came and he pushed it out quickly, in favor of answering.

“I prefer wolf… And no, not now.” Drew stepped a bit closer. The heaviness of her scent was drawing all sorts of attention from the other Alphas he shared a roster with. He wanted it perfectly clear just whom the blonde in front of him was meant for.

“Oh really?” Lily’s teeth tugged at her lip and she stared up at him, conflicted. There was this air of confidence practically radiating off of him that drew her to him and yet, the fact that he was an Alpha -and apparently, her Alpha, it was keeping her at bay. She’d heard of far too many bad experiences to just.. Give in easily.

Her own mother’s experience with the bond, for starters.

His scent hung heavily in the air, earthy and yet still crisp and clean somehow. She breathed it in deeply, trying to be as covert about it as possible, but when she saw that little amused gleam in his eyes, she knew she’d been caught. He moved closer. Fuck, he’s a giant, she swallowed hard as the thought came bursting to the forefront of her mind. His hand reached out, brushing away the shaggy fringe that hung in her eyes to neatly tuck it away behind her ear. He gave a satisfied smile as he did it, muttered in a smooth and quiet tone, “There now, that’s much better. I can actually see your eyes.”

“Maybe I liked my hair messy, sir.” Lily started to protest, biting her lip, biting just a little too hard and swearing over it when she felt the pointed tip of her filed teeth lightly stab against the soft flesh of her mouth as her lips settled into a pout. She gave him an almost defiant look and Drew chuckled, giving a lazy shrug. “I’ll keep that in mind then.”

“Yeah.. Do that.” Lily swallowed hard again and shuffled her feet, tilting her head slightly to look up at him. “Your match was amazing, by the way.. Not that I was like.. Watching or anything.”

He chuckled and at the sudden filling of the hallway, found himself pressing much closer. His hand lingered at her hip, giving just the slightest hint of a squeeze as he boldly met and held her gaze. She went to look away, he tilted her chin so that she couldn’t, so that she had to see him.

“Now we both know that isn’t true. You were watching. Which is good. It’s okay to admit you’re curious about me.”

“No, I just happen to be passing by.” Lily tried to insist, even as he shook his head and chuckled. She found herself pressing closer, despite everything in her trying it’s best to resist the urge, to fight the pull to him she felt.

It was almost overwhelming. Like being in a strong current that she couldn’t get out of. And the scariest part?

Deep down she didn’t really want to get away. She didn’t want to put up a fight, but it was in her nature to an extent.

The two sides of her were conflicted and battling it out.

“Either way.. I’m glad you stuck around and watched. It kind of gave the match a meaning and a purpose for me.”

“You mean beyond that purple strap you’ve got yourself there?” Lily eyed the belt and he chuckled, raising a hand to rub his chin. When she pouted a little because he’d moved his hand, he was quick to put it back down at her hip where he had it and he gave her an amused look.

The heat in her body was hanging heavily between them and when he saw her sway a little on her feet, he gripped her hips tighter, pulling her in closer and as a result, closing the distance between them. “That is exactly what I mean.”

“Yeah? Tryin to prove something to little old me, big guy?” Lily sucked in a deep and harsh breath just to stop the whine from coming when she actually pressed her body right against his just to keep from falling forward, tired of trying to fight everything like she had been for nearly two days now.

It wasn’t getting any easier at all. The calmest she’d felt was right now, with him standing here, his hands on her hips, his body against her own. She could actually breathe again.

… you know this isn’t gonna go well… you’re two very different people…

… we want him… he’s chosen us… stop fighting it…

Drew felt the slackening of her body and he took a deep breath. “You shouldn’t even be standing here right now.” his hand raised to her forehead, the back of it resting against as he hissed at the spike in her body temperature. The scent of her was almost syrupy sweet now and her mouth opened and closed again, almost as if she fully intended to protest but for whatever reason, she stopped.

“Yes, well.. I have to work.”

“You need to rest.” he bent, picking her up. She squeaked in surprise and eyed him, biting her lip, almost as if she were considering what he was trying to do. “I have feet, you can put me down.”

“I could.” Drew responded in a firm and yet mild tone, shrugging as he continued, “But I’m not going to.”

“Just why the hell not, hmm?” Lily asked the  question, purposely brushing her lips right against the side of his neck. She smirked to herself when she felt his pulse quicken even more. Despite everything in her continuing to insist she protest, she do something to stop the magnet’s pull she was under, she found herself nuzzling against him, resting her head against the space between his shoulder and neck.

“Because, princess.. What kind of Alpha would I be if I did make you walk right now, hmm?” his voice was whisper quiet, almost a low hum and she stared at him intently, taking a few deep breaths. “The kind that I’m used to.” Lily answered truthfully. There was no sense in lying to the man, if he insisted on pursuit.

“Clearly, you’re used to the wrong kind.” Drew scoffed and found himself wondering just where her misconceptions about the bond stemmed from. She wiggled just a little in his grip and he held her tighter, pushing open the door to a quieter and far less crowded room backstage with his foot and stepping inside, sitting her down. Once he had her sitting down, he began to walk back and forth, thinking everything out.

“Possibly. But tell me, sir.. Why should I believe that you’re not just looking for holes to fuck like all the rest?”

Drew stopped and stepped between her legs as he snorted in laughter and his fingertip trailed her jaw, tilting her chin upward so he could stare down at her. “If I were looking for that, I’d go and find someone completely useless and tedious to deal with like Mandy Rose. I didn’t and I don’t intend to. No,” he eyed her and barely restrained a low throaty growl from deep in his chest as his eyes met hers again, finishing, “I’ve made up my mind. And once I make up my mind, princess, you’ll find that I don’t change it often.”

Lily sucked in a breath in an attempt to cover a whine. She failed miserably. Her mouth opened and closed and it did so again and again, still no words coming. The heat was almost searing her skin now. “You’re betting on a losing outcome this time, I hate to tell you.”

“You believe so? Because I don’t, actually. You might say one thing.. But I know the truth.”

Lily swallowed hard, her eyes darting around. Drew cupped her jaw and made her look directly at him again and when she did, she swore under her breath. He could tell she was exhausted. She’d probably been fighting this far longer than he knew. She’d probably started to feel the change days before he ever scented her, before the other side chose her.

It tended to happen that way.

“So what is this truth you know, hmm?” Lily scooted to the very edge of the table, her arms raising and slipping around his neck. If he was going to keep calling her out, damn straight, she thought to herself, she was going to keep pushing. Sooner or later, one or the other would hit a non comfort zone.

Drew picked right up on what she was doing and he chuckled quietly, giving her an amused smirk. “Oh princess. You really think you’ll make me back down first, hmm?”

“I’ll go as far as I need to.” Lily answered, gulping as she did. Her lips carefully brushed right against his and he sucked in a sharp breath, feeling the pierce of sharp fangs prickling at his gums.. The wolf within was… beyond ready to lay claim.

“You will, hmm..” Drew’s eyes darted down, one of his hands left her hip and moved over her thighs almost casually as he looked back up, hint of an /innocent/ smirk on his face when his eyes met hers. She gulped, even more this time. A sharp hiss lingered in the air as Drew’s hand continued to lazily move over her skin, almost intimately. Almost as if he were… learning the way to get a response out of her. After a second or two to collect herself, she gave a nod, but it wasn’t as confident as she’d been up to this point.

Lily was in grave danger of cracking like an egg.

“I.. I will.” her voice wavered just a shade and she mumbled the words softly pressing her lips right against his as her fingertips dug into his shoulders and she went from keeping a healthy distance to pressing completely against him. When her tongue danced over his lips, he growled and dug his fingertips into her hip, backing away. He had to breathe.

It was… Intense.

A thousand times more intense than he’d ever thought it might be.

Her body rubbed against his and he growled quietly, raising a hand, resting it against the back of her neck, pulling her mouth against his roughly, giving a greedy kiss. She started off with her palm down against his chest, as if she intended to pull him away, but before too long, her fingertips were digging into his skin lightly, earning her another deep growl that escaped into the kiss and was quickly swallowed. She repeated it, the rubbing herself against him and he nipped at her lip.

“Don’t fight it. You have no reason to.”

“I have every reason..” Lily managed to take a few deep breaths before pulling his mouth back against her own greedily, “To fight it.”

“Name one.”

The kiss broke  and Drew stared down at her solemnly, waiting.

“I..I… You’ll try to change me.. All of you Alphas say you won’t. You always do. And when you can’t, well.. You’ll be gone too.”

“If I wanted to change you, I’d find someone else.. Someone who fit what you seem to think I want.” Drew answered patiently, leaning back in. Lily tapped a fingertip against his pecs and stared up at him, pondering over what he said.

“Maybe you have me curious.. But I’m gonna… Need time.. Proof you’re not just another over entitled schmuck.”

Drew chuckled and nodded, taking a deep breath to get himself back under control. “I think I can manage that. I’m a patient guy when I really want something and I believe it’s worthwhile to be so. Took a few years, but I now have this.” he nodded ot the belt lying discarded on the tabletop next to her and Lily swallowed hard, leaning against him heavily.

“It’s so fucking hot in here..”

“It’s your fever, princess. Let’s get you out of here, hmm?” Drew cupped her jaw, pulling her mouth back to his as he mumbled the statement quietly.

“Okay, alright.. For the moment, you win. Simply because I am too damn tired to argue.”

[paigenotblank]

The Age of the Wolf (9/9)

Rating: Mature overall, this chapter is teen

Pairing: Eighth Doctor x Rose Tyler; Eleventh x Rose; Ten x Rose

Written for @doctorroseprompts and Eight x Rose August. Prompt: Dimension hopping!Rose meets Eight / What if Rose was with Eight or met Eight during the Time War? 50th Anniversary Re-Write/Fix-It

catch up on Tumblr: Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6 / Chapter 7 / Chapter 8 / Chapter 9

AO3  TSP

The youngest Doctor clutched his head as the screams of the Time Lords tore through his mind. As the agony became too great for his overwhelmed barriers, ripples of pain could be felt by his successors and Rose through their bond. One by one, each Gallifreyan connection ripped off into silence and his mind was left in tatters. The sudden lack of noise in his mind was suffocating in its quiet and did not afford him the relief it should have. His legs wobbled and he fell to the ground. Rose stepped forward, but was stopped by the eldest Doctor.

“You can’t interfere. This forms who I’ll be after the Time War. Who I was when you first met me.”

Rose’s eyes flashed. “Don’t presume to tell me what’s best for my husband.”

“But it’s me! And I don’t want-”

“Do you recall our bonding vows?”

The older Doctor winced and tried to scan through the memories of the Time War to find the right one. “I’m sorry. I haven’t had a chance to go through all the memories that’ve been hidden from me. I only remember our Earth ceremony.”

Rose’s eyes softened and her anger faded a bit. She cupped his cheek. Her eyes glowed gold and the memory the Doctor sought was pulled to the forefront of his mind. He closed his eyes as the precious event replayed behind his eyelids.

Do you vow to tend to the garden of each other’s mindscape as you would your own?

“Oh, Rose.”

“It’s a vow I intend to keep.”

He closed his eyes against her entreaty. “Rose...”

She laid her hand on his arm. “I won’t watch him be driven mad by this. When we met, yes, you were still hurting and, yes, it was awful, but you were still you. You still saw the joy in the small things. That daft, quick grin of yours… That’s the man I fell in love with. I want you safe, my Doctor. And I can’t stand by and do nothing while you’re suffering like this.”

The older Doctor clenched his eyes closed and stepped back.

Rose went to move to her husband’s side. But something was wrong.

The world suddenly had gone unnaturally quiet. Rose looked around at the others in the room, all unmoving, frozen in time. Rose reached back to the Doctor closest to her, the one in the bowtie. She touched his arm and found it as hard as stone. She turned to her second doctor and waved her hand in front of his unseeing eyes.

“Doctor! Doctor!”

Rose spun around looking for the smallest movement from anyone or anything. Even the dust was suspended in the air and felt like pins pricking her when she tried to move her hand through it.

Just as she was approaching all out panic, Rose heard singing. A beautiful song that calmed her racing heart and brought peace to her soul.

The TARDIS that had been her home for the last century began materializing in the barn between her later selves.

Rose, with the golden mantle of time wrapped around her, materialized inside the sister of her heart and other half of her soul.

Together, of one mind, they dematerialized and rematerialized at the site of the collapsing star that was once known as the Eye of Harmony, Gallifrey’s incredible power source and the post by which the fabric of all time was held together. The time bubble that had prevented its demise was irrevocably breaking down and time was fraying at its source.

The Goddess of Time had seen this moment in the dawn of eternity. And so she searched through all of time and space for a daughter - created of herself. A being through whom she could interact with the physical world. Bad Wolf. A hybrid of two unique females, Rose Tyler and the TARDIS, both willing to battle for the universe, for justice, for hope, for love. These two souls, fully merged and floating over the ruins of Gallifrey, knew what needed to be done. Drawing on the power of the newly-formed black hole and her own artron energy, Bad Wolf orchestrated the birth of a star from the gases and dust left in the wake of the destruction of Gallifrey.

With a wave of her hand, the Time Goddess - directed the nebula to gain mass and stability. It formed into an object pulsing with power, burning through its hydrogen atoms, billions of years in the blink of an eye. As the flames of the star burned more luminous than ever, she trapped it in that moment, at its brightest and just on the brink of death, and howled her name across the cosmos.

Rose and the TARDIS worked in tandem to free the knotted strands of time, unraveling it completely. A billion billion people across the multiverse knew unending sadness and their hearts broke with each filament. All of that dissipated as Bad Wolf remade and then re-anchored the Web of Time to its new hitching post.

When they were done, they hid it a moment out of sync from the rest of the universe. When all that was, is, and ever could be was safe from any who may try to harness the power from which all of time flowed, the Goddess smiled and life carried on as if nothing at all had happened.

With the prophecy fulfilled, Bad Wolf released Rose and the TARDIS to return to the moment from which they’d left.

Time sped up around Rose until she was once again in sync with the others in the barn.

The two older Doctors and Clara rushed to Rose’s side when they noticed her frozen in place, her eyes filled with the light of the time vortex. Slowly, her limbs once again began to move and her chest filled with breath, but the glow in her eyes didn’t fade.

Rose collapsed to her knees across from her writhing husband.

“Rose!” Her pinstriped Doctor moved to grab her. “What happened?”

She lifted her hand in warning. “I had a prophecy to fulfill.”

“What are you talking about? What prophecy?”

The oldest Doctor gasped. “Rose!”

Her body took on a golden shimmer just beneath the surface and she crawled to the youngest Doctor’s side. Her voice vibrated with power, “I am Bad Wolf. Your Rose Tyler, created by Time from the dust of the cosmos. I see all that is, was, and ever could be. I see the Last Son of Gallifrey, and set him to be the protector of my domain. I gave him my daughter, as mate, to keep him safe and to run at his side forever. Sleep now, Doctor.”

She kissed his forehead, his eyelids, his nose, and finally his lips. She ran her hands through his hair, over his ears, down his cheeks, and then she brushed his temples.

He whimpered.

Rose’s voice swirled through the cavern of the Doctor’s mind, brushing away the chaos and healing the most badly damaged edges. He still hurt, but the pain was muted. I love you, my Doctor. Come find me. I’ll be waiting.

Bad Wolf then helped Rose hide his memories of their life together, leaving the basics of what had occurred, but creating a false incarnation and blurring her presence into a fairytale.

Panting from the effort of keeping the time bubble securely around them and the Doctor’s regeneration energy at bay, she finally gave in and the barn exploded in white light.

--

Rose slowly came awake on a bench pressed closely into the sides of two Doctors. Her head lolled against a pinstriped shoulder. His chin rested on the top of her head and she could feel it move as he asked his counterpart, “I won’t remember this, will I?”

“The time streams are out of sync. You can’t retain it, no.”

“Why can’t I take her with me?”

“It’s not the right time. I’m sorry.”

She felt his sigh and the catch in his breath while he considered his next question. “How much longer?”

“Until?”

“Don’t be stupid.” The hand around her waist tightened. “Until I get her back.”

Rose could feel the bowtied Doctor shifting and her eyes opened as he stood. He smiled at her. “Knew you’d awoken.”

He his eyes darted back to the broken man he remembered once being. Living without Rose was one of the worst times in his long life and he ached to give some relief to to his former self, but… “Spoilers.”

The defeated look in the other man’s eyes nearly had him blurting out all their secrets.

“Stop it!” Rose jumped from her seat and they both stared at Rose in surprise. She ran her fingers along the Doctor’s sideburns. “I’m coming back to you. Soon. I promise.”

“What?”

“How could you possibly-”

She silenced them both with a glare, before rolling her eyes. She pressed a kiss to the Doctor’s forehead. “Trust me. Certain things need to happen for you, things that have already happened for me, before I can come back. But then you’re stuck with me.”

His wide grin spread across his face. “Stuck with you, that’s not so bad.”

She pulled him to a stand and grinned back. The bowtied Doctor cleared his throat. “Sorry, but we’ve got to get going.” He tilted his head toward the TARDISes, both of which had begun groaning their dismay.

“Right. Anyway, good to know my future is in safe hands.” The Doctor raised Rose’s hands to his lips. With a sigh, he turned to Clara and pointing at Rose and his future self he said, “Keep an eye on those two, Clara.”

She laughed. “On it.”

He winked at her and waved goodbye to the others. He stepped into the TARDIS with one last longing look at Rose before letting the doors fall closed.

Rose threw herself into the older Doctor’s arms. “That was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.”

“Rose, you just ended the Time War.”

She sniffled. “I know.”

He kissed the top of her head. “C’mon. Let’s get you to one of the happiest day of my life.”

Rose raised her teary eyes to his and smiled. “Really?”

“Oh, yes.”

--

The Doctor fiddled with a knob to the monitor and wouldn’t meet Rose’s eyes.

“Doctor?”

He turned to her with a big smile. “Right! End of the line.” His gaze raked over her. She was dressed once again in the outfit she’d been wearing back when she’d been jumping dimensions. “Just outside those doors is a Time L-” He narrowed his eyes at her hands. “Wait! Be right back.” The Doctor ran up the stairs of his console room and disappeared down one of the corridors.

“Doctor!” Rose turned to Clara. “What’s he doing?”

“With him, I never know.” She shrugged and went back to her book.

The Doctor clambered down the steps carrying a giant gun reminiscent of the one Rose had lost ages ago on an almost deserted gunship.

“Where did you find that? I lost it!”

“Oh, erm, well, this isn’t yours exactly.”

“What?”

“It’s Mickey’s or was Mickey’s.”

“Mickey?”

“Don’t worry about how I got it, honestly, little bit of a paradox there, but listen, this...this is very important...”

“Yeah?”

“After you get back to me and you’re safely on the TARDIS, before you do anything else to help me with the...the cause of the stars going out. I need you to take this gun back to storage room G. Tell me that you’ll catch up with me. I’m not gonna want to go without you, but it is essential that this is returned to storage before you step one foot out of the TARDIS doors. Let me and Jack and Donna head out before you. Got it?”

“Uh, yeah, of course. Storage room G.”

The Doctor let out a relieved breath. “Good. That’s everything. Oh, and be careful out there, never know what’s lurking just around the corner.”

“Corners, eh?”

The Doctor put his hands in his pocket and shrugged.

Rose slipped the strap of the gun over her shoulder and looked wistfully at the door. “So, just outside those doors?”

The Doctor wrapped Rose in his arms and kissed her forehead. “Everything you worked so hard for.”

Rose smiled tearily up at the Doctor and cupped his jaw. “Thank you.”

“No, thank you. You never stop saving me.” He pressed a gentle kiss to her lips.

Rose took a deep breath and walked toward the door. She paused before going through it. “I’ll see you later.”

The Doctor winked. “Not if I see you first.”

Rose’s eyes sparkled with mirth. “It was lovely meeting you too, Clara.”

“Bye, Rose. And good luck!”

Rose waved and walked out into the next chapter of her life.

--

Wilf knocked on the glass of the door, still stuck in the booth, to get the Doctor and Rose’s attention. They pulled back from their hug and swung their heads toward him.

“They gone, then? Yeah, good-o. If you could let me out?”

Rose nodded and walked over to the glass enclosure.

Wilf swallowed nervously. “This thing seems to be making a bit of a noise.”

The Doctor gave it a cursory glance. “The Master left the Nuclear Bolt running. It's gone into overload.”

“And that's bad, is it?”

“No.” The Doctor turned to look at his wife. “...because all the excess radiation gets vented inside there. Vinvocci glass contains it. All five hundred thousand rads, about to flood that thing.”

Rose ran her finger along the Doctor’s jaw and raised to her toes to give him a quick kiss. “I’d better let ‘im out then. I’d hate for Donna to come back from her honeymoon and find somethin’ had happened to her gramps.”

The Doctor pulled her back for a more thorough snog before running his fingers through her hair. “You don’t need to do this. I can do it this time.”

“Doctor…”

“It’s going to hurt. A lot. Please, Rose. Let me.”

“I can handle it. Trust me, yeah?” Rose slipped into the other half of the booth and pulled the door closed. She looked over the control panel and found the button she was searching for. She smiled bravely at the Doctor and pressed the button.

Wilf’s side unlocked and the Doctor helped him out and they both stepped back from the glass booth. A red light flooded Rose’s side and she screamed out in pain, knees buckling under her. The Doctor balled his fists and clamped his jaw, unwilling to turn away. Wilf clutched at the Doctor’s shoulder, but couldn’t bring himself to watch Rose writhing on the ground.

After an unbearably long few seconds, the power shut down, and the Doctor raced through the now unlocked door. He fell to his knees and gathered her into his embrace. He rocked back and forth with her in his arms. “Come on, love. Come on. Come back.”

A faint glowing rippled under her skin and her eyes fluttered open.

The Doctor breathed out in relief. “Hello.”

“Hello.” Rose lifted her hands to the Doctor’s face and ran her fingers over the cuts and scrapes on his face. They healed under her touch. She smiled faintly and ruffled his hair. The Doctor stood, Rose held securely in his arms. “Never gets easier.”

She snuggled into his side. “Wha’?”

“Watching you die. Wondering if this is the time you don’t come back.”

“Never gonna happen. Promised you forever, didn’t I?”

The Doctor’s grip on her tightened. “Let’s go home. Get you to bed.”

“Mmmm, Doctor. Reading my mind are you?” She gave him a saucy grin with a hint of tongue peeking out.

“Not like that!”

Her merry peal of laughter did more to lighten the fear that had taken hold when she was rendered unconscious than anything else. He released his own soft chuckle. “Allons-y, Rose Tyler.”

--

“Sorry we didn’t make it to the Moon.” The Doctor fidgeted at the controls.

Clara paused at the door and leaned up against the jamb. “That’s okay. Another time.”

“We could go now?”

Clara shook her head. “We’re already back and I have a date with Danny in 20 minutes. I really need to get ready. Where’s Rose, your Rose, anyway? I meant to ask.”

The Doctor blew out a breath. “Donna went into labor with the twins.”

“Oh! That’s great!”

“I apparently was making her anxious, so they kicked me out. I don’t hover. I’m not a hoverer. Am I?”

Clara laughed.

“Oi! I’m not. I the king of cool. I’m gonna be the cool uncle. Uncle Doctor Cool.”

Clara’s lips twitched. “Whatever you say, Doctor.”

He flung himself onto the jumpseat and leaned his head back. “I hate it when Rose isn’t here.”

“Why don’t you just jump ahead a few hours?”

He let out a deep breath. “Rose always knows when I cheat.”

“But does she mind?”

The Doctor shrugged.

“Well then, I suppose you could wait in the waiting room like a normal person.”

“Now you sound like Sylvia, and believe me that is not a compliment.”

Clara pushed off the door and backed into her flat. She pointed at the Doctor. “Take my advice, go back to the hospital, wait for your wife in the waiting room, and stay out of Donna’s way until after the babies get here. And bring a gift.”

The Doctor rolled his eyes but nodded all the same.

“And next week, Mister, you can take me to visit them.”

“Yes, boss.” The Doctor saluted his friend. “Enjoy your date.”

“Tell Rose, I said, ‘hi.’” Clara waved as she turned and walked into her bedroom.

--

Rose walked into the darkened waiting room fighting to keep her eyes open. She smiled when she noticed the Doctor sprawled across three seats. He had his jacket off, his shirtsleeves rolled up, and his hair looked like he’d done a lot of running his hands through it. He was tossing his sonic and gave every appearance of being completely bored. She honestly was surprised to see that he hadn’t simply skipped ahead. She saw it as a testament to his fondness for Donna, that he would willingly subject himself to keeping himself in one place for a length of time.

The Doctor caught sight of Rose leaning against the wall out of the corner of his eye and jumped up. “Rose! How long have you been standing there?”

“Not long.” She gave him an affectionate smile and pushed off the wall. “Let’s go home. I’m knackered.”

The Doctor tugged his jacket back on, and picked up two big teddy bears and a bouquet of flowers that she hadn’t noticed.

“What’s all this?”

“Clara said I should bring a gift, but then I realized I didn’t know if she meant for the babies or for Donna. So I got all of them something.”

Rose’s heart expanded with her love for the man in front of her. She leaned forward and kissed him softly. “That is very thoughtful and sweet, but they’re all resting right now so you’ll have to give it to them in the morning.”

“Oh.”

She took one of the stuffed animals from him and clasped his hand. He tugged her in the direction of where he’d parked the TARDIS and opened the door for her.

“So, you saw Clara today?”

“Mmhmm.” He dropped the bear and the flowers onto the jumpseat and began digging through his pockets.

“What are you looking for?”

“Hang on. Just put it in here a few hours ago, so it should be near the top. Ah ha!”

The Doctor pulled out a small piece of metal and Rose’s hands flew to her mouth.

“Where...where’d you get that?”

The Doctor walked over to Rose and lifted her hand. “I asked the TARDIS nicely and for once she indulged me.” He slipped Rose’s wedding band, the one he’d given her for their 80th anniversary while still in his eighth body, onto her ring finger.

“How? I didn’t think you...” Her eyes widened. “Oh! You saw Clara today.”

He nodded and she saw a sadness in his eyes that she hadn’t seen in ages. “After I saw you wearing it in that clearing in 1562, I, well, I figured since you don’t wear it or keep it on you some other way, then you had to have it around here somewhere.”

“Oh, Doctor!” Rose pulled him into her embrace and held onto him tightly. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there with you.”

“You were.”

“Not this me.”

He pulled back to press a kiss to her forehead. “You know how you always tell me that I’m the same man and you’ll love all of me?”

“Yeah.”

He took her hands in his. “Well, what makes you think that I can’t or don’t love any and all of you?”

She gave him a bright but tremulous smile.

He dropped his eyes to their entwined fingers. “You know, I wondered at the time why it didn’t bother you more that I completely forgot to get you a ring when we got married. Our second marriage as it turns out.”

“The one in New Las Vegas?”

He nodded and met her eyes.

Rose took a deep breath and sighed. “Honestly, I was a bit relieved that in the whirlwind of eloping, you overlooked it. I already had one, and even if I couldn’t wear it, it was still mine. I’d not even taken it off 24 hours prior and was still processing everything. Plus it was worth it to see the officiant’s face when he asked if we’d be exchanging tokens of our love and your eyes got all wide and you stuck your hands in your pockets frantically searching for something. When you pulled out those pebbles and started babbling about the wedding rituals on Awipop-”

“You laughed!”

“I did. I love my pebble. And I was just so happy to be back and it was so...us. It felt good and I was a little bit relieved that you still wanted me, knowing you didn’t remember any of our life together.”

“What do you mean not want you? How could you even think that? Those years without you were the worst of my life. You saw me, the skinny hedgehog me, back when were were dealing with the Zygons. How much I missed you. How-”

“I know. I do. I guess I just didn’t expect that the first thing you’d do after seeing me again was to drag me to New Las Vegas to get married.”

“Well, it wasn’t the first thing I did with you.” His barely there eyebrows waggled.

Rose blushed at the memory and giggled. “No. We did have all that really great reunion sex first.”

He puffed up his chest. “It was really great, wasn’t it?”

“Shut up.”

He wagged his finger at her. “You know, I was so guilty after we woke up the following morning and we were bonded. I thought I lost control during the night and-”

She stopped him with a hand to his chest. “I’m sorry. I know how freaked out it made you and I felt awful. It was really me who’d lost control and I couldn’t say anything because those memories were all hidden from you.” Her lips twitched. “I was planning on shielding the bond as best I could and hoping you’d ask me to bond with you again. But then-”

“I would have. Just for the record. Could barely think of anything else when you were back in my arms. I felt at peace for the first time in years.”

“I really am sorry.”

“Don’t be. I wouldn’t change one moment of our time together.”

“None of it? Even losing me?”

“Oh Rose, I didn’t enjoy losing you, but if I hadn’t, you wouldn’t have been with me during the Time War, and I...I really think I only survived because you were there with me.”

“Doctor…”

“Rose, I have never been happier in my lives than I am right now, and I wouldn’t change that for anything.”

Rose carded her fingers through his hair and dragged him down for a messy kiss. “I love you.” She pulled back and laced their fingers together. “Let’s go to bed.”

They walked to their bedroom as they would continue on forever - hand in hand.

[me4gumi-moved]

Radiance | Kingdom Hearts

next

[Name] sat on the beach watching the line where heaven touched earth. Her wide eyes witnessed the resounding glowing collision. Sparks lit the sky and blood poured, as the glory of paradise descended further behind the seam of the destiny islands. [Name] felt small as she glanced over her shoulder and saw her shadow slowly shrinking towards her bottom. She looked back to the line, only a few bright streaks remained to signal heaven's passing. The sun had set.

Voices called her name out in the distance.

A boy with bright ocean eyes and spiky brown hair waved at [Name] by the docks, standing next to another boy with silver hair and aquamarine eyes looking at her with his arms crossed. She stood up, dusting sand off of her legs before plodding over to them, not quite ready to turn in for the night. She had promised them, though, that they could head home after watching the sunset from beginning to end.

"Hurry up, [Nickname]. We don't have all night." The silver haired boy urged with fake annoyance.

"Oh, hush, Riku. I'm walking as fast as I can here." She grumbled.

His eyes lingered on her for a moment, "You know, you've been acting real weird lately. What's up with that?"

"Yeah," Sora piped in. "Are you okay?"

She'd been acting weird? [Name] hadn't noticed anything different with her behavior, but Sora and Riku did know her better than she knew herself a majority of the time.

"What do you mean? I thought I wasn't acting any different than I usually do."

The two boys shared eye contact for a second.

"Well," Sora started. "You've been wanting to watch the sunset everyday. Usually you want to hurry up and go to bed the second it starts to go down."

"And you've been walking all over the island back and forth non-stop" Riku added.

I shifted my weight onto my other foot in thought, "I guess I've had a feeling lately. Not necessarily a bad one but it's not exactly a good one either. I dunno. Let's just go home, guys. I'm tired."

~~~

[Name] didn't understand why she couldn't sleep. She'd fluffed her pillow to perfection, the temperature was just right, and even her favorite nightlight was on— though she'd never tell Riku and Sora about that— but no matter how hard she'd tried she couldn't get to sleep. Her eyes were wide open like the entrance to a tunnel just staring at the ceiling. Out of frustration, she flipped her duvet off her body and walked out of her room and out the front door, being careful as to not wake her parents.

She had walked down to the beach in the uncomfortable heat— despite the sun having gone down— that left a sheen of sweat on her body and sat under a grove of palm trees for a few minutes before a feeling of uneasiness crept in. It was oddly silent out. There wasn't a single cricket chirping away or owl going 'Hoo'. Something darkened in the sky and caught the [color] eyed girls attention. She looked upwards and observed the starlit sky losing its light.

What looked like black clouds were swirling in the sky and thunder boomed through the air like the prelude to a great song, impetuous rumbling permeating the air every bit as much as the sudden rain. At first it was a crack, violent to the ears, but after came a rolling sound that dissipated into the surrounding hills. Even under the foliage, rain poured down on the teenager, soaking her to the bone. Raindrops felt like rock shards against her skin, painfully beating into her flesh.

"What the hell is going on?" She muttered.

[Name] pushed herself off of the tree she was sitting against, stumbling over the loose terrain beneath her feet. She tripped over a rock jutting out of the ground and fell onto the wet sand in front of her. The mixture of rain and sweat stuck her hair to her face as she looked up at the sky seeing the ominous black clouds getting bigger and bigger through strands of wet hair. The wind picked up, howling, crying, warning, baying like a wolf into the night. A crack of lightning lit up the sky and within seconds another rolling boom of thunder reverberated overhead.

"[Name]!" A voice called out from behind her.

"Sora?" When she turned around to face the boy, she took a step forward, only to be flung back by an invisible force, darkness completely surrounding her.

The last thing she remembers after that is a warm, bright light enveloping her.

~~~

So much to do... So little time... Don't be afraid...

[Name]'s bright [color] eyes gazed at the sky in wonder. Hues of pink and orange mixed together like an oil painting peeked through dark blue clouds; reflecting onto the water beneath her feet. Choir-like singing filled her ears, a calm settling within her. She felt truly at peace wherever she was. Something in the distance caught her eye, sitting on a white platform hovering 10 feet above the water.

The door is still shut. Now step forward. Can you do it?

Slowly, the young girl walked towards it with uncertainty, her slow footsteps echoing in the watery landscape. A set of white stairs faded into existence when she got closer to the platform. She hesitantly walked up; sitting there was a beautiful blue and gold chest with fuchsia lining it in all its glory and practically begging [Name] to open it. She crouched in front of it and slowly pushed the top up, flinching when it fully opened, a bright light enveloping her vision before quickly dying out.

She opened her eyes and peered into the chest, spotting the most beautiful (although odd) weapon she'd ever seen. She picked it up and it seemed to fit almost perfectly in her hand. Gold vines with roses extended from the grip and curled around the periwinkle guard that faded into lilac as it reached the blue tinted blade.  The weapon had wings at the hilt, spread out as if they were about to take flight and the blade itself seemed to resemble two blades intertwining that fused at the point.

"What kind of weapon is this?" She wondered, standing up from her crouched position. A single word seemed to echo in the air.

Keyblade.

The teenager hummed, "A keyblade? I guess it does look like a key in some weird way."

Are you ready to learn of your true self?

"My true self? Who am I besides who I am now?"

Another bright light followed by a series of feelings and flashes of memories that couldn't possibly be her own.

She felt curiosity, loss, happiness, loneliness, friendship, grief, courage, fear, betrayal, pain, coldness, warmth, familiarity, confusion, and a sadness so strong she couldn't stop the tears streaming from her eyes. She saw darkness, light, animal masks, keyblades, horrifying creatures, anthropomorphic animals, forests, mines, castles, deserts, princesses, princes, fountains, waterways, friendly faces, silver hair and blue eyes, black hair and gold eyes, a battlefield, a heart shaped moon, and one last bright light.

When it was over, [Name] found herself in a grassy meadow dotted by petite dandelions. Their fluffy spheres dispersing themselves in the wind. A purple and cream colored clock tower sat off in the distance, surrounded by houses and buildings with the same color scheme. The sky's a deep blue, fading into a stunning orange and a few stars sat up high in the sky with the occasional purple-pink cloud bouncing across the heavens.

[Name] was wistfully staring at the sky when she heard a voice behind her.

"So, what brings you up here this fine morning, [Name]?"

The girl turned around and grinned, "———-! What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be working with the other —————-?"

"What? Are you not happy to see me? And I thought we were friends." They sat down beside her.

She playfully slapped their shoulder, "Of course we're friends and I'm always excited to see you— even more now that we don't get to see each other as often."

"Relax, I'm kidding. To make up for not being able to hang out as much, I brought some ice cream!" They handed [Name] a sea-salt ice cream.

They munched peacefully on the sweet— yet salty — treats before the [color] haired girl spoke up.

"Do you think we'll always be like this?" They hummed, "Well, I doubt we can be like this forever. But isn't that what growing up is all about? What's important isn't how often we see each other, but how often we think about each other, right?"

"'Guess it's a good thing the first thing I think about when I get out of bed is 'Hm I wonder if ———- is still sleeping like the lazy bum they are or if they even went to sleep to begin with?'" [Name] giggled.

"First thing I think is 'I wonder if that boneheaded little girl is out there slacking off at the beach when she should be working?'" They lightly shoved her shoulder.

They went back into a peaceful silence as they finished off their ice cream.

"Hate to leave now but this 'boneheaded little girl' has work to do." The girl stood up and brushed off any grass on her clothes.

"Yeah, yeah, this 'lazy bum' is getting bored of you anyways." They waved her off with feigned annoyance.

[Name] laughed, "I'll see you later, ———-. If you've got time, how about we meet up at the fountain later?"

"I think I can clear up my schedule just a bit for you... only a bit, though." They grinned.

[Name] gave them one last smile before summoning their keyblade and running off.

We may never meet again, and you may not remember me, but I could never forget you, [Name].

next

[lirlovesfic]

5763

Doctor Who fanfic

Summary: Stuck in a hotel in Bergen on the parallel world, the metacrisis Doctor and Rose Tyler have some things to discuss before they can move forward. Characters: Tentoo, Rose Tyler Genres: Angst, romance Pairings: Tentoo/Rose Tyler Rating: Teen (rating may go up)

Warning: none for this chapter

a/n: Yet another take on the events following BWBII, and inspired by the recent BF audios, a comment by Billie Piper at a convention, and the following prompt: Tentoo x Rose, "Can I touch you?". Assumes an established Ten/Rose relationship. Starts out angsty, but won't stay that way. Please note, this is still a WIP. I'm guessing this will have two or perhaps three chapters, and I haven't yet decided whether this will remain at a T rating or need to have the rating go up.

AO3    TSP    ffnet

Part One

There was a soft brushing sound as the bottom of the heavy hotel door skimmed the top of the carpet, followed by an almost inaudible click as the door's lock engaged.

And then they were alone. For the first time since the whole mess with Davros and the Reality Bomb began.

No, actually for the first time since the Battle of Canary Wharf, where he had lost her. For good, he'd been convinced. Lost to a different universe. Never again to travel with her, never again to have the same ground underneath their feet, never again to stand hand in hand underneath the same skies with the same stars overhead.

Never, he'd believed, to be in the same room again with her, close enough to feel the warmth of her skin, breathe the same air as she, warmed from being within her lungs, within her body only moments earlier…

Thoughts of the warmth of her body, of the last time they had truly been alone flooded his mind, of hot human skin, a burning human mouth, leaving searing kisses trailing down his chest and stomach only to engulf him… Five hundred and twenty-three, and three thousand six hundred and nine to three thousand six hundred and twelve inclusive, he thought absently, as his newly part human body began to react to the memory. No, he told himself firmly. Time and a place. And based on Rose's body language this was clearly neither.

And it hadn't happened with this him anyway. That had been the other him. The other Doctor. Under normal circumstances—and when had anything in his long, long life ever been considered normal, even for Time Lords—a previous regeneration would have been just that. Previous. Past. Gone. Finito. Not out and about walking around playing judge, jury, and matchmaker for his errant twin, his accidentally-created semi-cloned metacrisis self.

If you looked at it that way, from that certain, very specific point of view, this was the first time he'd ever been alone with her. In this universe, that universe, any universe.

No, he wouldn't think that way. He knew who he was.

Now if only he could be sure she did.

A gust of wind, from the storm that had prevented their return by zeppelin to Pete's World's London, rattled the old-fashioned window, cracked open at the top to allow for air circulation despite the storm. A spate of hard rain rat-a-tatted for a moment on the glass before the wind shifted again.

"Atmospheric disturbance, made worse from the dimensional retroclosure," he stated, more to fill the increasingly awkward silence than out of any real need to inform. "We'll get quite a bit of this for a couple of days."

"You said that before," Rose said without turning.

It was the first thing she had said since that horrible (wonderful) scene on the beach. Never normally at a loss for words, she had seemingly been struck dumb by the disappearance of the TARDIS and the belief—clearly written all over her face—that this time she had truly been left behind.

Rejected.

Abandoned.

Oh, Rose, he'd thought at the time, if you only knew…

"Did I?" he asked indifferently.

She didn't answer. The wind howled through the narrow opening between sash and frame, filling the room with a high-pitched whine. She crossed the room to the window and shoved it upward. When it threatened to slide back down, she snapped the lock closed.

"Rose," he began.

"I'm gonna take a shower," she said, interrupting him. She pulled off her leather jacket. As she draped it over a chair, she toed off her shoes. "Can't remember the last time I had one. God, I must absolutely reek."

"Rose," he began again.

She finally looked at him, for the first time since they'd left Bad Wolf Bay. "Not now, yeah? I'm tired, I'm cold, I'm soaking wet, I've got sand in places I didn't even know I had, I haven't eaten in, fuck, I don't even know when. I just… just…" She held up her hands with a stopping motion. "Just give me a mo."

Before he could answer, she slipped into the bathroom. The lock on the door engaged with a loud click.

Locking him out.

Definitely not an auspicious beginning.

The water in the bathroom turned on, the pipes groaning in protest. He shivered. While waiting for transport to Bergen, they'd been caught in a sudden downburst, soaking them to the skin. His own suit, TARDIS created, was only water resistant, not water proof, and he'd managed to get as wet as Rose and Jackie had. In fact, with the leather jacket Rose had been wearing, she'd probably stayed drier than he.

"Not that it was a competition or anything," he said aloud. Although they'd competed on more bizarre things than that. Back in the old days. The wager with Queen Victoria had just been the beginning. There'd been wagers on sledging, on skiing, on games of checkers and billiards, on who could finish their pie the quickest. Stupid things. Pointless things.

The things that had made up a happy life.

He sighed. So long ago. A lifetime ago.

Literally. For him at any rate.

He shivered again, wishing things were different. Time was when he could have joined her in that shower she was having. Clearly not an option now, not when she had so pointedly locked the door.

For the first time, he looked around the room that Jackie had booked them into. It was just a typical hotel room. A bit more upscale than most perhaps, as befitted her current status as wife of a billionaire, but still just a hotel room, similar to rooms in hotels located in every major city on every human-settled planet and asteroid he'd ever visited. A large, flat-screen television hung on one wall, and inoffensive, mass-produced paintings of the city and surrounding countryside hung on the others—serving to remind the weary traveler where he was in case he'd forgotten—along with the obligatory list of dos and don'ts and emergency instructions that were secured to the wall next to the door. Three tan leather arm chairs, one of which currently held Rose's blue leather jacket, flanked a small glass dining table, while a fourth was pushed against a small desk made of a light-colored wood. The same wood had been used for the tiny bedside tables and the gigantic headboard that hung on the wall over the bed.

The huge, and singular, bed.

Still somewhat in shock—from his birth and the emotional crash that inevitably came after post-regeneration mania, from the reduction (and in some cases flat out truncation) of a dozen of his senses due to the metacrisis, from the abandonment in the parallel universe and Rose's slightly schizophrenic reaction to him, and from a dozen other things—when they'd arrived at the hotel, he'd barely paid attention when Jackie had pressed a room key into his hand (only noting, with relief, that he was sharing with Rose and not both she and Jackie).

Disheveled, bedraggled, and dripping wet, as soon as they'd walked into the old-fashioned Grand Hotel in Bergen, they had been informed primly by the tall, thin clerk behind the reservation desk that due to the inclement weather the hotel was full up, and he vaguely recalled having quipped something about there being no room at the inn and mangers, something that had earned him an odd look from the desk clerk and a poke from Jackie, but no response whatsoever from Rose.

But somehow—perhaps it was the Tyler name or the Vitex Corporation or Jackie's casual namedropping of Harriet Jones and the Prime Minister of Norway or maybe simply the jet-black credit card Jackie had pulled out from somewhere—the clerk had managed to find not one, but two large rooms located on the top floor of the hotel.

Well, at least Rose hadn't objected to sharing with him. Perhaps the situation wasn't as bad as it appeared. Certainly it could be worse.

If he had learned anything over the past centuries, things could always be worse.

Shivering, he slipped out of his blue pinstriped jacket and hung it up in the cupboard, leaving the mirrored door open to allow it to dry.

Never before had he been so grateful for Jackie Tyler. He didn't know what he would have done without her, stranded on an alien planet in an alien universe, without resources, without the TARDIS…

A wave of panic began to well up within him. No, he couldn't go there yet. The loss of the TARDIS—his ship, his home, his last connection to his past and his people, and for years his only telepathic link—was too new, too fresh, the lack of a link too raw to be dealt with yet. And the tiny chunk of TARDIS coral, given to him by his other self and buried deep within his pocket, wasn't large enough to form a telepathic bond.

In an attempt to calm himself, he took a deep, cleansing breath, filling his now mostly human lungs with air and holding it for a moment, two, three, four, before slowly blowing it out. For a second as he exhaled, the air in front of him glittered with golden regeneration energy. As he watched it dissipate—that visible reminder of all he'd lost in the metacrisis—the panicky feeling returned, this time threatening to overwhelm him.

This was his last regeneration. This was it. No more lives after this. After possibly half a dozen short decades (assuming he was lucky, and with his track record that wasn't at all likely), it would be all over. No more him.

He exhaled again, and when he again saw a golden glow, he irrationally wanted to suck it back in, trap the excess regeneration energy within himself, storing it for some sort of unnamed future emergency as it were, but that was nonsense. Regeneration energy didn't work that way. It wasn't like nanogenes, to be stored in a jar and let out in times of crisis. Excess regeneration energy had to be released; too much artron energy, the primary ingredient of regeneration energy, was as deadly to Time Lords as a lack of it was. And if it were deadly to Time Lords, what would it do to a frail, Time Lord/human hybrid caused by a metacrisis?

Nothing good, of that much he was certain.

A sudden shooting pain, emanating from somewhere behind his left eye, distracted him from his maudlin thoughts. He winced. Sinking down on the foot of the bed, he rubbed his temple vigorously and closed his eyes. That proved to be a mistake; in his mind's eye, all he could see were Daleks. Daleks everywhere. Daleks threatening, killing everyone he'd ever cared about.

"No," he muttered. He'd killed them, he reminded himself.

Jumping up from the bed, he launched himself at the window, unlocking it and throwing up the sash. He stuck his head out, taking deep gulps of air and willing his newly-singular heart to slow.

He'd killed them.

As the rain stung his face, his voice—but not his voice, not anymore—echoed in his ears.

 He committed genocide. He's too dangerous to be left on his own.

He'd killed them. He'd killed them all.

And what's more, given the same set of circumstances, he'd do it again.

What did that make him? A hero? A savior?

A monster?

He was afraid of the answer.

A voice from the past echoed in his mind. Rose's voice.

 What about you, Doctor? What the hell are you changing into?

What indeed?

[omg-puddingpie]

Fables/TWAU: Grendel

A continuation from my previous post regarding my OC Lyla and a glimpse into her past with Gren and how the couple came to be. A HUGE thank you to @emmypess who seemed to have brought the spark back, regarding the sudden need to write about these lovelies again. :3

1st chapter: http://omg-puddingpie.tumblr.com/post/177812156242/fables-lyla-smith-i-was-inspired-by-emmypess

Gren was known for two things: Being the ravenous monster who tormented the Mead Halls for twelve years but was taken down by Beowulf and had a temper that was quite unpredictable, which caused so many to remain at bay.

No one took into consideration all the things he had accomplished for this pathetic town; he took down individuals who ran devious plans to end humanity and protected the souls who walked this earth, unaware of the trouble brewing in the shadows. His selfless ability to save those he barely knew went unnoticed. All the world seemed to see before their very eyes was a monster, a drunk and a poor excuse for a living being.

Perhaps they were right, thought Gren, as he took another deep gulp of Whiskey. Perhaps all the good he’s ever done in this life was nothing compared to the foundation that created him. All he was-and will forever be-is a monster. That was it.

Resting his head upon the counter, Gren sighs heavily and digs into his pant pocket. He pulls out a picture showcasing a buxom beauty with golden eyes, pale skin and chestnut hair. It rested perfectly along her shoulders, draping ever so slightly towards her breasts and neck. Her smile was radiant, which caused Gren to smile for a brief time. Time had not been too kind to this photo; there was a crease across the middle, several tears in the corner and a dark smudge on the right side, indicating a stain or even a moment’s worth of anger from the flicker of a lit match. But regardless of all the imperfections, the woman in the picture was still glimmering.

Gren once again exhales. Did SHE see him as only a monster? Was this the reason why she refused to love him? The reason why she ran into the arms of another and left Gren behind, still clinging to hope?

He tucks the picture securly into his pant pocket once more and buries his face into the material of jacket. He crosses his arms into a position willing to hold up his head. Gren closes his eyes and could only picture her: Lyla Smith, the only woman who could ever tame the wild fire within Gren and create feelings he thought were never meant for someone as himself. How he loved, respected and adored Lyla, since the moment the pair met. Gren could still see it all in his mind: After escaping the homelands, he found himself alone deep in the forest of what would become Maine. She was practicing her hunting skills with her father; Gren could still recall the lingering aroma in the air that caught his attention and the mixed feelings developing within. Lyla was in her Wolf form at first but quickly changed when Grendel prepared to charge and protect his land.

He did not want to hurt the woman, nor did he want her to ever leave his sight. In Gren’s eyes, she was stunning. How God allowed such a creation to walk among this world, was a mystery to him. But at that moment, he desired to always be around this woman, as did she, for some unseen reason. It was at that moment, his soul became connected with her very own. Since that encounter, the pair became inseparable. Gren was at peace when he was with Lyla.

Yet here he was, in a dark, lonely bar, attempting to drink her memory away. Why did he let all these centuries slip through his fingers, in a matter of minutes? Gren chokes back the mixture of frustration and depression. Now was not the time, he thought.

He felt a sudden grasp-a warm, friendly gesture-upon his shoulder. Gren manages to perk up his head, enough to uncover his eyes and focus on the white haired woman before her. This was his bartender and longtime friend, Holly. She folds her arms, cocks her hips slightly to the left and sighs.

“You going to be like this all day, Gren? Am I going to have to peel your ass off of my bar stool?”

Gren grunts. “Just pour me another, Holly. Today is a fuckin’ bad one.”

“It’s ALWAYS a bad one, Gren….” Holly reaches for the bottle, reaching for Gren’s empty glass. “Lately, it seems like all you do is drink, moan, bitch, piss and finally, drink again. It’s all you’re willing to do. Get up off your ass, take a damn shower and GO find her. How hard can it be to-”

“I’ve TRIED, Holly….” There was a slight growl forming in his response. “....Don’t you fuckers THINK I’ve been doin’ all I fuckin’ can to find her? Ever since they captured the Crooked Man, took down his operation and held those responsible on trial, her trail has gone cold. No one knows where the ever lovin’ fuck, Lyla Jane Smith went! I’ve looked, I’ve asked around, I even went to goddamn Bigby Wolf and Snow fuckin’ White, considering the man KNOWS her fuckin’ dad but they can’t tell me a damn thing! So, yes: to answer your damn question, I HAVE tried and I’m GOING to sit here and drink all this bullshit away!”

Holly places the top back into the bottle, shakes her head in disbelief and continues cleaning the area around Gren. Despite all the attempts, there was only so much she could do. Holly did not understand why Gren clung onto to a fantasy or thought of ever having Lyla as his own. She’s met the woman on several different occasions and each time was the same. Lyla just seemed cold and holding back her ability to truly love Gren. It was apparent she cared for Gren, this much WAS true and she’d do anything for him but love was never one of them and this confused Holly to the very end.

But if he TRULY loved this woman and the rumor WAS true about his soul already bound to Lyla’s, Holly was willing to muster up all she could to support Gren’s decisions. These soul bound connections are quite serious, from what Holly could understand, especially to Wolves and Grendels. Once it was branded into their soulmate, Heaven nor Hell could tear them apart: it was up to BOTH parties to remove this mark, should they choose to do so and even with this procedure, it was challenging and even fatal. With this bit of information, Holly’s views on Lyla did change; had she wanted to remove Gren entirely from her life, she’d venture to find him and do so. She had multiple opportunities in the past prior to this bump in the road and it never occured, so perhaps there was love for Gren implanted in Lyla’s heart.

Holly leans close towards Gren. “Look at me.”

“Fuck you.” Gren mumbles his response. “Just fuckin’ leave me alone and-”

“Get...UP, Gren.” Holy grasps Gren’s face and forces him to look up. “You NEED to go and find her. You can’t keep doing this, Gren. I know there is….some goddamn hope, for this to work out. If she did not give a Rat’s ass about you, don’t you think she’d do something about it? For fuck’s sake, Gren, her mom is a goddamn grand Witch, who has the power to stop TIME itself with a single wiggle of her index finger. You don’t think she has some mumbo jumbo spell to end this all, if Lyla had requested this?”

This caught Gren’s attention. Was Holly right? Did Lyla feel the exact same way as he did for her? “Fuck….” Gren rubs his forehead. “....Mother fuckin’.....Holly-”

“You need to go into that bathroom, wash your face with some cold water and come down from this pity party you got going on.” Holly takes the glass out of Gren’s grasp. “It’s not a good look for you, Grendel….”

Swallowing back his pride, she was right. Gren carefully removes himself from the seat and leans against the bar. Thankfully, it was empty at that time but who else drank at 10:45 in the morning, besides broken people such as himself? At first, it was difficult for Gren to collect himself; the room was a blurry image of lights and colors but once he took the time to find himself, Gren heads to the men’s room and leans against the sink.

“Yell if you need help in there.”

“I got it.” Gren yells back. “I got it.”

He turns the knob to the left and allows the cool water to pour into his cupped palms. Gren gathers enough, throws it into his face and repeats this process five more time. The liquid was refreshing to his skin and allowed his mind to clear. Wiping his face and hands clean, Gren then takes out a back toothed comb and begins the process of slicking back his hair. Once the strands were tucked into place, the final touch: cologne and a dash of mouthwash, just to remove the foul odor of alcohol still dancing along his tongue.

Gren exits the bathroom, leaving Holly with a grin. “You always did clean up good, Grendel. Now, I don’t want to see you back here, unless it’s good news, you fuckin’ hear me?”

Gren nods and with his final strand of confidence, marches out of the bar and into the bustling streets of New York. The glaring sun and constant noise was something Gren never quite got a handle on but he was willing to look past this a tread forward. He had one chance and one only.

Gren had no idea where to begin but this did not stop his mission. There was one person-and only one-who could lead him in Lyla’s direction.

“Why do you need Hans’ address for, Grendel?” Bigby Wolf questions Gren, as he scribbles down the information. “You better not be causing him trouble. He’s paid his dues for his involvement with Georgie and Crooked Man and-”

“I ain’t here for that, Sheriff Wolf.” Gren snatches the paper from Bigby’s hand. “I’m just lookin’ for an old friend.”

“Lyla Smith?” Bigby takes a moment to expel smoke from his mouth. “John was always careful to mask his tracks, so don’t be surprised if you can’t find anything leading up to Lyla.”

“I need to find her, Bigby. I need to get my answer and we’ll go from there but if you don’t fuckin’ mind, I’ll-”

“Did you even look at the paper, Gren?” Bigby beams. “I’m sure you’ll get some sort of use from it.”

“It’s Hans’ address, right?” Gren begins the process of reading the information. “Swear to fuckin’ Christ, Bigby, if this is a sick game and-”

But it wasn’t Hans’ whereabouts but something even better. It was the address of Lyla’s current location. Gren could feel the color of his face peeling away and the rapid pacing of his heart. There was a faint smile developing on his face, which caused Bigby to lean forward on this desk, hands folded and eyes focused on Gren.

“What….how….how did you get-”

“Jonathan came in two days ago and told me if you ever did return to me, regarding his daughter, to give you this information and he’d be waiting for you. Guess the old Wolf knew you’d be back and refuse to give up.”

“Why the fuck do you even give a damn, Sheriff? I’m JUST Grendel-we’re not exactly the best of fuckin’ friends, especially after all that shit that took place during the investigation with the Crooked Man and-”

“Just looking out for the Fables under my watch, Gren-this means you, too.”

Gren said not another word, tucks the paper away and exits the office. He practically ran out of the building and hails a Taxi cab down. He hands the driver the information written on the paper.

“You speak English?”

The man with a thick mustache and glasses eyes Gren. “Enough, yes.”

“Can you read this?”

“Yes.”

“Then take me here. I wanna go here.”

The man nods and continues to eye Gren. “Dis long way from city. Cost money. A lot. Okay or no?”

Gren opens his wallet, removes all the cash he had and places it beside the man. “Here-money. Lots and lots of it. Now, fuckin’ take me to THIS place, okay?”

The man collects the bills and begins in the direction written on the paper. “Okay, we go.”

Gren leans back into the seat and stares out the window. While the Taxi travels along the busy roads, Gren grasps Lyla’s picture. All he could envision, was her.

[anonwriter27]

Chapter 5

“No!” “It’s really not that bad…”

It was Tommen’s first visit to the North and Myrcella hadn’t been entirely honest about her living conditions during their phone calls.

“Dear God no!”

He had walked the perimeter of her apartment and repeatedly said ‘no’ to everything he saw. Myrcella wished she hadn’t invited him to see her place. He was going to head back South with more worries than he arrived with.

“Okay! Well I need to drop some stuff off at work, wanna come?” “Anything to get out of here.” He said and made his way to the front door. “Actually… maybe we should take the fire escape.”

Tommen looked at her pleadingly with his eyes, she simply shot back a look that said ‘please don’t ask.’

They walked to Winterfell Estate, trudging through the snow that went past there ankles. It was a Sunday and she hoped the Starks didn’t mind her dropping off some books for Robb.

As she entered the house Tommen relaxed, “Now I’d be quite happy if you lived here.” He said, and he had a point. Winterfell was beautiful; old oak furniture, bay windows, warmly lit chandeliers, it was the ideal house. Her home in Kings Landing had been updated every summer to keep up with the latest interior design trends; it would probably be unrecognisable to Myrcella now.

She walked across the hall to drop the books off on the side table with a little note saying ‘for Robb.’ As she turned to leave she saw the man himself in the doorway, leaning on his walking stick.

“Myrcella?” “Hi! Sorry! I was just dropping off some more books for you.” “And on your day off, thank you” he smiled at her. “Oh it was no problem.” She said and the two held each others gaze for longer than either of them noticed.

Tommen, however, did notice and cleared his throat in an attempt to break his sister out of whatever trance she had been put under.

“Oh! This is my brother Tommen, Tommen this is Robb my…. Um, well…” “Myrcella helps me out around here.” he said and shook Tommen’s hand. Tommen looked at Myrcella the same way Jon had looked at Robb, both men seemingly aware of something their relatives had yet to figure out.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Myrcella has told me a lot about you.” Tommen pointed out, enjoying his fairly level headed sister squirm and blush.

“Has she really?” Robb asked, intrigue and hope etched on his face. “I haven’t told him ‘a lot’ about you… I mean I see you a lot and you’re a big part of my life… I mean because I see you a lot, so really it would be weird if I didn’t tell my own brother about you right?” She finally finished her rambling.

The two men looked equally confused, however Tommen also looked amused.

“Well we better get going” she’d had enough of Tommen’s mocking. “Well it was nice to meet you Tommen, I’ll see you tomorrow Myrcella.” Robb began to walk into the study leaving the siblings alone. “Yes, tomorrow… I’ll see you…then.”

Tommen looked between Myrcella and the space where Robb use to be. A grin spreading wide across his face.

“Let’s go.” And so the Baratheon siblings left Winterfell, both happy but for different reasons.

Tommen left Monday morning before Myrcella went to work. She loved having her brother here and watching him leave had her brushing away a few stray tears. When she came in to work Robb new instantly something was wrong. Her clothes weren’t melancholy exactly, but they were plain, no animals or peculiar detailing; it was simple, something rarely seen on Myrcella Baratheon.

“Let’s go outside today.” He suggested. “Outside? It’s snowing.” “And?” She thought about it, “okay.”  

They walked a decent way away from the house and the snow was getting heavier the further they went.

“Favourite colour?” “You want me to pick one colour out of the entire spectrum? That’s just cruel.” She answered with a teasing lilt. “Okay, favourite gift?”

Myrcella became all giddy, “When I was little I was obsessed with Harry Potter.” “You don’t say.” He chuckled referring to the movie collection she had insisted they watch.

“You laugh but I was one of the many children waiting by the door for my Hogwarts acceptance letter. Anyway, one day Joffrey was in one of his foul moods and said I belonged in Slytherin. Looking back now it was a ridiculous thing to cry over, but at the time I took it to heart and locked myself in my room for days. One day my uncle Tyrion came to visit, he came in my room, handed me a box and said ‘if I was the sorting hat you’d be a Gryffindor,’ and he left.  Inside the box was a Gryffindor scarf and I felt like the most important little girl in the world.” She smiled blissfully at the memory.

“So what happened to this wonderful scarf?” He asked, curiously getting the better of him. “My mother confiscated it. She said I had to grow up and focus on my studies, not fantasise about being a witch.”

They walked on further in comfortable silence, but Robb noticed the shadow never left Myrcella’s face.

“So I’m guessing Tommen has gone back home?” “Yeah, he left this morning.” She confirmed and buried her face in her scarf to keep him from seeing her sad face. He noticed though.

“Maybe he can come up and visit again soon, me and Jon were saying we should all have a meal together. You know you, me, Jon, Ygritte, Bran, and Tommen if you like?” She smiled that beaming smile at him, the one that made him feel special for causing it. “I would love that! Thank you.”

They decided to head back to the house, the snow was coming down really heavy now and Myrcella was scared for Robb walking in thick snow. Then she realised something, he had walked this entire time without her assistance, just his walking stick.

“Hey!” “What?” “Your walking on your own!” “Well I’m using my stick…” He said, but she could see him smiling. “This is great!” She said and she hugged him.

It was the first time she had ever hugged him, when she realised she jumped back and apologised.

“It’s okay.” Was all he said, he smiled at her and they walked back to the house.

When they got in they were greeted by an open fire and a boiled kettle. Myrcella turned to see snowflakes melting in Robb’s hair.

“I’ll go get a towel.” She said laughing and Robb couldn’t help but join her.

She began to towel dry his hair as gently as she could. His hair was drying even curlier than usual and Myrcella was trying to untangle each strand.

It was then she noticed how close they were; her face inches from his. She couldn’t stop her mind from going into overdrive. Is this okay? Does he mind that I’m here? Should I step back? As she went to put her last thought into action she felt Robb’s hands on her waist. She stopped moving the towel and looked into his eyes. She didn’t know what the look they shared meant, but it was intense and it drew her closer to him.

They were so close now, seconds away from changing what they were into something so much more. However they were interrupted, embarrassingly, by Robb’s mother.

“Ah there you two are! I was beginning to…”

The two broke apart as quick as they could but it wasn’t quick enough to escape Mrs Starks knowing gaze.

“Your both soaking! Myrcella go upstairs, third door on the right, you can borrow some of Arya’s clothes.” She offered kindly.

Myrcella thanked her and quickly went upstairs, leaving Robb with his mother.

“Nothing happened.” “I see.” Was all she said but he could tell she was thinking much more.

“Well I better get back to work. I’ll email you the partnership documents tomorrow, you deserve a night off.” And she left, Robb shook his head at her antics.

When Myrcella came back she was wearing an oversized jumper and leggings, and to Robb she looked adorable.

“I better head back home.” She said, though the snow hadn’t stopped and she was a little nervous about going outside.

“To Wolfs Wood? You’ll freeze, you can stay here tonight.” He offered. “I couldn’t do that, I don’t want to be an inconvenience.” “Well your in my wing of the house, and you do all the cooking  and cleaning, so your not really an  inconvenience to anyone.”

She thought about it for a while, “You’re sure?” “Positive.”

They’d just finished watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban when they decided to switch off the Tv and just talk.

“My mother tells me that my little sister has a crush on Gendry.” “What?” “She’s been visiting the building site where he works more often than usual, they’ve been having lunch together during his break.” “I wonder why he didn’t tell me” she contemplated, it was unlike Gendry to keep secrets. “Probably the same reason Arya didn’t tell us, the merciless teasing.” They laughed together and she knew he had a point.

Myrcella thought back to the day Robb got to know her and realised she had not shown him the same courtesy. Would that be okay though? They’d comes a long way in their relationship and she didn’t want to overstep any boundaries that would cause him to shut her out again.

“So what’s your story?” She asked, once she’d finally plucked up enough courage. “My story is depressing, far less riveting then yours.” “Mine was not riveting. Besides you got to know me, can’t I know you?”

He appraised her, wondering if his story would push her further away.

“ I joined the army when I was twenty two, I was put in the front line against the Walkers. Me, Jon and our friends Sam and Theon all joined together. Heroes of Westeros, that’s what we thought we were; but we weren’t prepared for the Walkers. How do you win a war against people who don’t care whether they live or die, that have no rational train of thought?”

Myrcella was hooked on every word. Uncle Jaime never spoke of the war and she had always wanted to know what happened but never dared to ask.

“Jon and Sam were relocated to The Wall, they were watchers trying to decipher the enemy’s next move. Me and Theon were left on the front line. We saw things you couldn’t imagine, suffered things you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy.” He shook his head, as if trying to shake away the memories of what he’d seen.

“I got hit pretty bad, my right shoulder got the worst of it and I couldn’t breathe. They took me to the wall to recover and I was put on bed rest. The wall was where all our letters were sent to. While I was there I heard that my father had passed. I knew he was ill before I left but I didn’t expect it, I wasn’t prepared. My grief consumed me and I refused to get better. Jon and Sam eventually snapped me out of it but my recovery had been delayed, which is why I’m in the sorry state I’m in now.” He said lightly but Myrcella could see the pain in his eyes and the anger he felt towards himself.

“When the war ended I came home and everyone was the same, and I resented them for it. I wanted to be the same, but I wasn’t, not after what I’d seen. So I pushed them all away and handled the family business on my own. I think Sansa and Rickon are still pretty pissed with me about that, but Jon, Bran and Arya, they wouldn’t stop pushing me. Eventually I caved and let them visit and over time I let Jon help with my recovery.”

Myrcella wanted to assure him that his siblings would understand what he’d been through, but she’d never met Sansa or Rickon, and it wasn’t her place to assume.

“I was getting better, until I heard what had happened to Theon.” “What happened to him?” Myrcella found herself asking. “That’s the thing, I don’t know exactly, he went missing and no one has heard anything since. Perhaps if I’d been there with him…” “You were hurt, your not to blame Robb.” “I’m sorry, I’ve rambled on about the most depressing things.” “Don’t apologise. I’m glad that you shared this with me.”

There was no need to say any more or push for details. Myrcella knew more about the man in front of her, and her admiration for him only grew.

They fell asleep next to each other on the sofa, and it was the best night sleep Robb had had in a long time. Jon and Mrs. Stark found them the next morning, before they quietly left the estate deciding to let the pair sleep in.