#because to me he’s a Virginia boy born and raised

[grem-archive]

Here to spread more Southern Alfred Gospel:

Let him have the genteel Southern accent up until he gets mad, particularly excited, or just any strong emotion. Then it thickens and he’s standing there sounding like the redneck or hillbilly or Backwoods Bobby you think he deserves to be. He could be a fast-talking Southerner, or a slow-talking one (I can see either happening).

Also give him southernisms! Let my boy say y’all and ain’t. Write some triple and even quadruple contractions into his speech such as y’all’d’ve. He’s the kind to be speaking in a lot of similes or metaphors. Is someone being particularly testy? Alfred is going to ask or simply tell them to “Quit bein’ ugly.” Did someone come up with an agreeable idea? He might exclaim a happy “That dog’ll hunt!” (That plan works!). I want him to throw an out-of-left-field curveball at the other Nations by saying shit like “Well butter my backside and call me a biscuit.” If Alfred’s preparing to do something, he’s fixin’ to go do it. Drop his g’s, let him say ‘an’ instead of and. And do NOT tell him anything along the lines of “Bless your heart.” Those are fighting words. You’re going to catch hands.

[hotchfiles]

↪ day one. childhood — #marchhotchness

Childhood. What are some headcanons you have of his childhood, how do you think he was at school, at home, stuff like that, anything you can think about or have thought about.

first of all, all hotch gals and pals should read this masterpiece by @hardlyinteresting. bee captured perfectly everything i've been thinking about his childhood recently and i think she wrote it in the most beautiful way, so that's a must to understand how i think about it.

we don't hear much about his mother throughout the series and for me that speaks volumes because we do hear a good amount about his father. the only thing we know is where she was born and where she went for college. sure, hotch is a private person but for me that means his mother is a sore subject. so why?

we know his father died young, either of a heart failure or lung cancer, and that he was a cheater, a spender, a lawyer. still, even with the grievances against his father, when sean decides not to go to law school, hotch says "you've always wanted to be a lawyer, like me, like dad.", so he still looks up to his father in a way. and then sean responds with "yeah, look what that got him, death by heart failure at 47." which tells me sean blames their dad for dying young, because he left them alone with their mother.

hotch comes from an abusive home, but it wasn't their father, it was their mother. she was bred to be a high achieving socialite, she cared about appearances in the same way the mother of the episode hotch speaks about his mother, he wouldn't bring it up if they weren't similar.

by his knowledge of scripture we know he was raised catholic, probably forced fed the bible by his mother and priests who had no idea what they were actually saying because they cared more about being influential in virginia.

his mother lost control of her life, in her mind, when his father began cheating, i have a feeling he probably gambled, she took her anger out on the boys. that's why hotch tells the unsub it's only natural to grow up in an abusive home and become a killer, but some people grow up to catch them.

now, we also know he was a nerd growing up, and i feel that was his way of having control, and also when his obsessive tendencies began. when you don't have control about what your mother is going to do next, you isolate yourself in puzzles, charades and collections. your mind focuses on something else rather than the yelling of your parents. that's what he did.

he gets rebellious, obviously, as he grew up, he gets mad at his father for being a cheater, for spending their money where he shouldn't, and mad at his mother because she didn't care of him like a mother should, so he acts out and gets sent to boarding school. that's where he cleans up his act.

i believe he was the type to have a few good friends in school, the type who would sometimes get in trouble but not so much because their good grades made up for it. he wasn't shy but he was quiet, he wasn't bad at sports but he wasn't the best, he read a lot, mostly books that weren't being discussed in class and most definitely always the philosophy kid, not the numbers kid.

yes i think a lot about this man don't judge me i love him and he makes me go absolutely insane. that's why i created this event thing after all.

[movedtoeskew]

taking a bit of a break from King (im currently on night shift), read two of the most random novels

the push (ashley audrain): starts out promising, an examination of how people can end up passing down unaddressed trauma to their children, develops into a sort of gone girl for wasp soccer moms but ends with an absolutely, unsalvageably evil and mean conclusion

the narrator/main character comes from a lineage of women who had motherhood basically forced on them and were left to their own devices to tackle the arduous task of raising a child they basically resent for existing, for which they end up basically punishing said child.

the main character's fiance/later husband, while showing some support and understanding, comes from a very different background (an extremely wholesome and functional family), doesn't actually realize how the childhood abuse she suffered continues to affect her (she doesn't want to talk about it and he is content to let the subject lie). he pressures her into having a baby but, although during the pregnancy she kind of psychs herself into being enthusiastic about it, after her daughter is born, it all comes crashing down. she feels like the baby (!) hates her and she resents her husband for fucking off to work and leaving her home alone with her. she thinks the baby is scheming against her and annoying and even hurting her on purpose (it's a baby it can't do that) for which her retaliation ranges from small acts of pettiness to basically leaving her to cry alone for hours while she works on her writing. their animosity only deepens through the years, culminating in her second child (a baby boy whom she adores) dying in a horrific road accident for which she believes her daughter is directly, intentionally, responsible.

this would be all well and good, a psychological horror story with an unreliable narrator, we've seen it, it could have been an interesting albeit not groundbreaking read.

IF the author didn't feel the need to tack on 1. a direct confession from the daughter that she did indeed push her baby brother's stroller into oncoming traffic and 2. a distressed call from her husband's second wife that all but explicitly says that the daughter has killed or at least severely injured her new baby brother. this basically severs the thread of trauma connecting the previous 3 generations (it wasn't the main character who inflicted her own trauma onto her daughter that resulted in her behavioral problems -- she was born evil), absolves the mother of the very real harm she had done (it didn't matter because the daughter was going to be evil anyway), and casts the daughter as a basically inhuman, irrationally evil entity which evokes an extremely unfortunate trope in horror involving children and also calls to mind the way some parents talk about their disabled child, while casting themselves as the biggest victim in the situation.

lexicon (max barry): an action/thriller novel about a secret society of people with an almost supernatural ability of ~persuasion~ which they learn and hone at their own special school and upon graduation they take on the name of a famous poet or writer. it starts in medias res with an action scene where things keep happening but you don't understand why, or who the people they are happening to are, or most importantly, why you should care (as you can tell i don't really care for this device and each time i encounter it, it annoys me a little more).

initially, you think the main character is Emily, the spunky former street performer who had run away from home and was eventually picked up by a talent scout, and who upon graduation was given the name of none other than Virginia Woolf. but no! turns out Emily has been being manipulated the entire time (to the point of becoming first a mass murderer and then a sexy sexy slave) and the actual main character was her only love ever ^^ the stoic no-nonsense gun-toting australian macho who's so stoic that he Never Talks About His Feelings and so no-nonsense that he's basically immune/almost immune to ~persuasion~.

one thing that was sort of funny/creative was that to effectively ~persuade~ people, the secret society has been working on categorizing the entire human population into the 200 (i think) personality types they have identified (basically magic market segmentation) which feels kinda prescient/topical (the book was originally published in 2013). i actually enjoyed the "accompanying texts" -- fake articles, forum discussions, chat conversations -- more than the actual story and wished there was more of that haha

[suck4angststory]

One shot: Bradley 'Rooster' Bradshaw x Fem!Reader

Flight 435

Warning: Just some Fluff with Bradley. English is my second language. Feel free to give me a comment about my writing and grammar mistakes. I saw a TikTok video where the pilot surprised his mom on the aircraft, and that inspire me to make this.

Author Note: If you want to be tagged just let me know in the comment. I can't reply to any of your comments because it's sideblog. But I really thankful for your comments and responds.

****

Summary: Bradley got surprised on his forty years old birthday.

Bradley walked through the hall searching for his seat on this aeroplane. His phone was in his hand with the screen on and a FaceTime on with a little girl wearing a tiara and pink gown displayed on it. He looked at his plane ticket in the other hand and read his seat number. He looked around and spotted his seat, he walked past passengers that putting their bags into the compartments. He muttered sorry every time he accidentally bumped into them.

He let out a sigh when he was finally seated. He raises his phone to his face and smile at his five years old daughter smiling at him with two missing teeth. "daddy's on the plane now, princess"

"Okay daddy, I miss you, and have a safe flight" he yelled and kiss the phone. Bradley smiled and blow her a kiss with his fingers. "I miss you too baby, waited for daddy okay, and be good for your Nana," he said to her. A sixty years old woman appeared behind her, your mother, bend down to level the phone. "Don't worry, hun. She's in a safe place" she smiled and kiss Layla's cheek.

"Take care of your brother too" Bradley pointed to the two years old boy that playing with an F-18 toy behind her.

"Okay daddy" she nodded. Your mother appeared again with a bowl of fruit in her hand. "Have a safe flight, hun" she waved at him

"Thanks, mom" Layla bid goodbye and Bradley ended up the called.

When you two begin dating and told your mom, she insisted Bradley call her mom instead of her real name. She said because Bradley will gonna be her son-in-law and he should get used to calling her mom. At first, you laugh at her and tell her to stop embarrassing herself. But Bradley give your mother a knowing smile and she winked at him, she knows what Bradley planned for you.

He rest his head on the headrest behind him and closed his eyes waiting for the takeoff. He just got back from deployment and he is now on his way to visit his children at your mother's house in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

You and Bradley met twenty years ago through one of your mutual friends, you're two years younger than him. You didn't begin dating after that, it took you two five years to announce you like each other and just five months for Bradley to declare his love for you. A year after that, Bradley proposed to you and you married two months later in a small winter wedding in your mother's backyard.

Now you've been married for twelve years and have been blessed with a daughter and son. While Bradley worked as a Naval Fighter Pilot, you worked as a pilot for commercial aircraft. When you two decide to have a child, your mother is very happy to step up to help you two so you still can do your job and so does Bradley. After Adam, your youngest was born, you decided to step aside for flying the plane, but after just two months at home, your butt is itchy to go back to the pilot seat. Your mother and Bradley support you to go back and she'll be happy to take care of her grandchildren. She's been alone since your father died when you still taking flight school. She never remarried and it was just you two after that. After you married, Bradley took you with him to Virginia to live with him leaving your mother alone in Wisconsin. You suggest her to move in with you but she said she can't leave the house where she and the love of her life build a life and share many memories.

Now, whenever Bradley got Deployment and you have a flight to do, your mother gonna take your children to Wisconsin with her until one of you got back from your job. You like that because it makes your children get to know their grandmother and your mother will get company so she'll not be alone anymore.

***

Now Bradley just got back from deployment, the last time he saw you were three months ago. A month ago you called him and telling him you have a flight to do and your mother take the kids with her.

***

He called you last night and told you he got back and decide to visit the children, he asked you to come with him but you can't because you still have a flight to Berlin before joining him. You booked him a single flight to Wisconsin.

He frowned when you told him you can't join him. He didn't like that, but he understands your job, so he wishes you a good day and a safe flight. But actually, you have something waiting for him on the plane.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain speaking, today I'm gonna be your pilot for Flight 435 from San Diego to Milwaukee. Before we take off, I have some announcements to make." A female voice-filled speaker on this aircraft, Bradley open his eyes and furrowed his eyebrows. The voice sound familiar but he can't place who she was.

"First, we are gonna layover to Denver International Airport before continuing our flight to Milwaukee. Second, please listen to the Cabin Crew for your safety and the behalf of other passengers on this aircraft." The voice continues.

"Lastly, I need you to turn on seat 35C," some of the passengers in the same hall with Bradley begin to turn their heads to him, even the person that sat next to him. Bradley looked at them with wide eyes, confused and wondering.

"a Navy soldier that has been serving this country for fourteen years. He's my husband and he's turning forty today, thank you for your service to this country honey, and thank you for being a loving husband and great father for Adam and Layla. Happy Birthday, " Bradley broke into a smile and covered his face with his hand, flustered and surprised. Passengers begin to clap and cheer for him. Some of them even came to congratulate him and wish him a happy birthday.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, if you may, you can stand on your seat and sing happy birthday with me for him" a happy birthday song begins to play on the speaker and passengers and the cabin crew begin to sing and you came out behind the curtain with a chocolate cake on your hand. On top of the cake, it was candles with the number forty already lit up.

You sing happy birthday while walking to him, your co-pilot, Brandon behind you bringing a bouquet of flowers and a Rooster balloon. He said they'll suit Bradley for the gift. Some of the passengers begin to open their phones to record the moment.

Bradley stand up and placed his hand on his mouth, still shocked and in disbelief. He looked at you with wide eyes, "Happy Birthday, my love. Make a wish first" you said to him. He was still in disbelief and just shook his head. He removed his hand from his mouth and you take the cake closer to his face. He closes his eyes to make a wish and blow out the candle, Brandon then throws the confetti to Bradley. You shoot him looked "you cleaned that up" he gives you a toothy grin and apologized.

You give the cake to the cabin crew and she takes it to the back. "Wow, Thankyou honey, but how? You said you have a flight to Berlin" he asked, his cheeks red from flustered.

You shrug and give him a knowing smile "I'm the one who booked you a ticket remember", Bradley leaned closer and hug you. "Thank you, honey, I love you" you hug him back and he buries his face in your neck.

"Happy Birthday my love. Thank you for being with me until this time" you muttered to his neck, Bradley then pull you away from him and looked at your eyes. "There's nowhere I wanna be beside your side, honey" he leaned down to kiss you and the passengers and cabin crew begin to cheer.

***

When you landed at Milwaukee Airport, Bradley waited for you at the exit door. He is greeted by your cabin crew when they pass by him. He smile politely at them and looked in the exit hall for your feature.

When he spotted you with your cap on, he smile so bright and already fixing his coat. It's almost winter in Wisconsin and he can't wear his signature Hawaiian shirt while in here.

"Hey honey" he greeted you and scoop you in his arms. Your luggage was abandoned on your side when you threw your arms on his neck. He lifts you a few feet from the floor and squeezes your waist.

"I love you so much" he muttered and kiss your neck, you giggle and kiss his neck too "I love you too so much my love". He pulls away from the hug and tucks you closer into his arms, he placed his arm around your shoulder and you place yours on his waist.

"I think your mom already waiting for us," he told you, you nodded to him and give his lips a peck. He takes your luggage and takes them with him. You walked toward the entrance way and spotted your mother and your two children waiting for you two. You have a special gift for Bradley in here.

"Daddy.." Layla spotted Bradley first when you two just step out from the exit door. She run from your mother's side and threw herself at Bradley that already kneeling when he saw her running.

He picks her up to his arms and she buries her face in his neck "Princess, I miss you"

"I miss you too, Daddy" she nuzzles on Bradley's neck.

"So you don't miss mommy?" You fake pouted to her. Layla lift her head from Bradley's neck and looked at you with wide eyes.

"No, I miss mommy too" she then extended her arms for you to pick her up from Bradley. You smile and pick her up from Bradley. She burry her face into your neck and circle her arms around your neck, you kiss her hair and Bradley kisses her temple.

You all continue your walk to your mom that already waiting with Adam in her arms beside her car.

"Hey, buddy" Bradley leave your side and ran to Adam with your luggage in his hand. He stops in front of your mom and takes Adam from her.

"Oh I miss you, buddy" he blew raspberry to his cheek which make him giggle.

You embrace your mom with Layla still in your arms "hey mom" she pats your back "hey darling". She pulls away and places her hands on your biceps, squeezing them "Are you okay?".

"Just a bit tired" you give her a tired smile. "Here, let me take Layla" she try to take Layla but Layla tightened her grip on your neck.

"It's okay, mom, I'm fine." You reassured her.

"WHAT!? NO WAY" you hear Bradley shriek when he read Adam's shirt. He looked shocked and his eyes double size. He looked at you with mouth agape "honey, is-is- is it true?" He stuttered, you turn to him and give him a knowing smile.

"Adam's gonna be a big brother?" He asked still shocked. You nodded.

"Big brother" Adam throws his arms in the air and giggles happily.

He then walked to you and hug you, squeezing Layla between your arms in the process "oh, I'm so happy. This is the best gift ever" he muttered on your hair.

"Daddy, I can't breath" Layla push Bradley's chest away.

"Oh sorry princess," he then steps aside to stand beside you and kiss your temple. "Thank you, honey, for making me a father again" he muttered on your hair. He placed his arm around your shoulder.

"Guys looked at here" your mom pointed the camera at you. You rest your head on Bradley's shoulder, Layla in your arms wearing your pilot hat and giving the camera a toothy smile, while Adam is in Bradley's arms playing with Bradley Henley's shirt button with his shirt written ' Big Brother.'

[babymetaldoll]

"Victory" (Spencer Reid/ Reader)

Requested: Yes

Summary: Spencer's daughter hates her father's girlfriend. But when he is in prison, life pushes them to finally get along.

Warning: Cursing, a little angst, a mean teenager, and fluff.

Word count: 5,4K

A/N: Hello, pretty people! How are you? I've missed you! Life has been a little messy and filled with angst, so writing hasn't come easy in the lastest weeks. Hope you like this story, and I hope I can bring you a new one soon 😉

Masterlist

»»————-　　————-««

Spencer's daughter hated her dad's new girlfriend. And she wasn't subtle about it. She hated that her father was now dating, 'cos she didn't want to share his love. So now she didn't even want to be around him anymore 'cos he was so happy, it was annoying.

It wasn't that she hated her father, 'cos she loved him. But she was never going to face the fact she was jealous. She didn't want to share Spencer with anyone because he was all the family she knew, and they were a team.

Victoria Reid was twelve years old. She had grown up alone with her dad 'cos her mother had ditched the two of them soon after she was born. Spencer had tried to explain to his daughter her mom had left 'cos she wasn't ready to deal with the responsibility of being a mother, which was true. He, on the other hand, was happy to know he was going to be a father, and he repeated over and over again she was the best thing that had ever happened to him.

That was true.

When Spencer and his ex found out they were going to be parents, he was ecstatic. He couldn't wait to hold his baby in his arms and watch them grow. He didn't know his girlfriend had other plans, though, and soon after Victoria was born, she had left the two of them and never looked back.

Spencer wasn't going to lose the chance of being a dad. Even when he knew he was too young, Reid was ready to raise that baby on his own and give her all the love he had.

That's why he and Victoria were so close. Spencer was the only parent she had ever had. He was her world. And though Spencer was only 24 when Tori was born, he had given her his best.

Tori was the BAU's baby girl. Everybody in the team was a part of her life because she had grown up with them. Penelope was her best friend and godmother. Victoria would spend a lot of time with her while her dad was away on a case. Derek was her cool uncle. He helped her train to get into the basketball team and taught her how to dance. JJ was the closest to a mother figure in her life. Tori would spend time with her after school, playing with Henry. Spencer always said JJ was like a sister for him, and that's why they were all like family. Tori actually called Henry and Michel her cousins.

Emily was like her best friend. They could talk about anything, and at least twice a month, they would go out together shopping, just the two of them. Spencer always respected his daughter's relationship with his friend 'cos they were their little extended family. Tori called Rossi "Nono." He had taught her himself, and she loved going to his mansion, 'cos he always had new video games to play with her.

But then came (Y/N). She had joined the team when Victoria was only six years old, and for the first five years, they got along just fine. (Y/N) would come along shopping with her and Emily, sometimes she took Tori out for some pastries, and talked about bands, boys. Victoria loved her.

That until the incident.

She hated (Y/N) after the incident.

Victoria refused to talk to her after THE INCIDENT.

It was a warm spring afternoon, Spencer and (Y/N) had the afternoon off, and they were at his apartment... heavily making out on the couch. That's why they lost track of time.

(Y/N) and Spencer had started dating a few months before. They had been in love with each other for years. Still, neither of them had acted on it until Rossi's birthday party, when they had a little too many drinks and finally confessed their feelings. They wanted to take things slow, but when you make out in front of the whole team, it might be a little harder imagined.

But they had decided to wait for the right time to tell Victoria. But, unfortunately, the right time didn't come soon enough.

- "Dad!! I'm home!!"- Victoria opened the front door and froze in shock at the scene going on in front of her. The twelve-year-old had asked her best friend's mother to drop her home earlier when Penelope told her Spencer had already gone home. In Garcia's defense, she had no idea what was going on in Reid's residence, and if she had known, she would have never let Victoria know her dad was home.

(Y/N) widened her eyes and quickly grabbed a pillow to cover herself. She was shirtless, sitting on Spencer's lap. She still had her bra on (thank god), but anyone could tell that scene was leading to the bedroom in a few seconds.

- "Shit!"- Spencer whispered and closed his eyes as he realized what was going on. (Y/N) held her breath as she stared into the young teen's eyes. Victoria didn't know what to do or what to say, so she simply ran to her room and slammed the door.

- "Ok... so I think Tori knows about us"- (Y/N) tried to ease the mood and smiled at her boyfriend as she put on her shirt. But Spencer sighed and covered his face with both hands- "Oh, come on. It doesn't have to be a bad thing. Let me talk to her."

- "No, (Y/N), let me talk to her first."- Spencer stood up and kissed (Y/N) 's nose- "I know she is mad, and I should be the one dealing with her anger."

Reid knew his daughter well enough to anticipate her behavior. People had often told him he could be a little passive-aggressive when he was upset. And his daughter was just like him.

- "Victoria, open the door!"- he said and waited a few seconds after knocking.

- "Go away!"- the teenager yelled, laying on her bed. She felt betrayed and confused. But most of all, she felt angry that her father had decided to have a girlfriend. He had no right to do such a thing. He had to take care of her and her grandma. No one else.

- "Victoria, we need to talk about this!"

- "You seemed too busy with your girlfriend to talk to me, dad. So go away!"

- "Victoria Marie!"- Spencer knocked on the door but got no answer from his daughter. (Y/N) heard it all from the couch and tried to think of a way to fix things with the young girl.

Sadly, it wasn't going to be easy, and in the months that followed, everything was far from being normal again.

- "I hate her!"- Victoria huffed and left her book aside. Spencer was trying to explain to her why (Y/N) would stay with her and Diana while he took a short work trip for the weekend. But the girl didn't want to hear a word about it.

- "You used to get along with her just fine until we started dating."- Spencer tried to dialogue with his daughter. Still, it was honestly getting harder and harder each time they touched the subject.

- "Used to. You just said it. I have the right to change my mind about people. Why can't I stay with auntie Penelope for the weekend?"

- "Because I want you to make an effort and try to get along with (Y/N) again. Victoria, we've been through this before. I love you, and that's not going to change just because I am dating (Y/N)."

- "This is so unfair! I hate you!!"

Spence tried to stay calm, but after over four-month having the same argument almost every day, he was losing it. Victoria stormed out and slammed her bedroom door behind her back. Maybe it was better not to push it, Spencer thought, defeated, and called Penelope to ask her if his daughter could spend the weekend with her, 'cos he had to travel. Maybe Victoria and (Y/N) weren't going to get along if he forced them to spend time together.

Everyone had already tried to talk to her about what was going on: JJ, Emily, Penelope. But Victoria wasn't ready to give in. She wanted to hate (Y/N), and nothing was going to change that. Or so she thought.

The day Penelope showed up in Victoria's school and announced her something had happened to her dad was engraved in the girl's memory forever as the worst day of her life. Her father had been arrested in Mexico, but Garcia had assured her, the whole team was working to bring him home safe. Meanwhile, she would stay with her in her apartment (she was already there anyway), and Diana would stay home with her nurse.

Victoria's heart was broken. She was basically alone in the whole world. Her father was her anchor. Her protector. Her superhero. Her best friend. And now, all of a sudden, he was gone, and though everybody told her it was going to be ok, she knew it wasn't.

- "Hey,"- (Y/N) walked into Penelope's office and found Victoria doing her homework- "Pen told me you were here, and I thought maybe you'd like one of these."

The young SSA said and handed the girl a box of fresh chocolate frosted with sprinkled donuts and a strawberry milkshake. Her favorites.

But Victoria didn't reply. Instead, she looked at (Y/N) right in the eyes, not moving a muscle, and then returned to her homework.

It had been two weeks since Spencer had been accused of murder, and he had been transferred to Virginia. But the team was far from solving the case.

- "Ok, Tori, please stop this. I know you don't like me dating your dad, but this is not the right time to fight. I know..."- (Y/N) made a short pause and took a deep breath before resuming her idea- "I know how you feel."

- "No. You don't."- Victoria Reid's voice was loud and clear, like thunder, hitting earth with anger. So clear, in fact, (Y/N) widened her eyes when she heard her.

- "You have no idea how I feel. Your dad ain't in jail accused of killing some woman in Mexico. You have no right to tell me that!"

- "My boyfriend and best friend in the whole world is in jail right now, and it doesn't matter if I work myself to death 18 hours every single fucking day; I still can't find the way to help him. I feel lost and alone, and most of all, scared, 'cos I've come to realize I have no idea how to live without him anymore. I'm guessing that's very close to what you feel."

(Y/N) poured her heart with complete honesty to her boyfriend's daughter, fighting the tears back, though you could feel the desperation in her voice. She didn't know if it would be of any use, but she had to take that from her chest. She missed Spencer so much she felt she was going insane. She had no idea what to do.

Victoria stared at her, furrowing her eyes and pouting. She didn't want to cry in front of (Y/N) 'cos she didn't want her trying to console her.

- "Just because you are dating him doesn't mean you have to take care of me. I can take care of myself."- Tori said and looked at the donut. She was hungry, they looked delicious, but the teenager didn't want to accept any gift coming from (Y/N).

- "I am not here because you are my boyfriend's daughter. I thought you were a cool kid way before I fell in love with him."- (Y/N) tried to calm herself down and sat across the table from Victoria- "And I am not trying to steal him from you. I just wanna... make him happy."

- "We were happy,"- the teenager's comeback was like a slap on (Y/N) 's face, but she did her best not to take it personally. She knew it was useless fighting with a teenager.

- "I have a visit scheduled for tomorrow. If you'd like, we could go together."

Tori held her breath. She hadn't seen her father since he left for Mexico. Of course, Victoria wanted to see him and hug him. It was all she wanted in the whole world. But... she didn't want to be friendly with (Y/N).

- "If I go... it doesn't mean I like you."- the young girl whispered.

- "I know"- (Y/N) nodded, feeling already triumphant.

- "And it doesn't mean I'm ok with you dating him."

- "I understand. I just know you miss him, Tori. I really know how you feel, and I'm gonna help you whenever I get a chance."- Victoria didn't answer; she just sighed and grabbed a donut. (Y/N) tried not to smile, feeling she had a small victory.

Spencer couldn't believe it when he saw his little girl waiting for him sitting next to (Y/N) instead of his lawyer in the small grey room. Victoria stood up and ran to him the second the door opened and wrapped her arms around her father as tight as possible.

(Y/N) looked at the guards, thankful neither of them had tried to stop the teenager.

Spencer kissed his daughter's cheek a few times and whispered how sorry he was to put her under those circumstances. He didn't know what to do or what to say. He was speechless. A part of him hated the idea of his daughter visiting him in jail, but he also missed her too much to argue with (Y/N) for bringing her over.

- "I'll go fill a few forms. Be right back"- (Y/N) whispered and saw Spencer's warm smile as he mouthed "Thank you," still hugging his daughter. She whispered, "I love you," and walked outside the room. She knew Victoria would appreciate a few minutes alone with her father, and she didn't want to take that away from them. She really wanted to make Spencer and Tori happy, and spending time together was what they needed.

- "I know this is hard, peanut, but we'll get through it. I'll be out in a few weeks. I promise"- Spencer held his daughter's hands as they sat across the table.

- "I miss you"- her voice was a soft whisper, as she kept trying not to cry anymore. She didn't want to make him feel guilty, sad, or anxious.

- "Me too. How are you? How is living with aunt Penelope going?"

- "Ok... we watch a lot of movies."

- "And school?"- Tori shrugged.

- "Ok, I guess."

- "Victoria..."

- "I got a C on my history paper."

- "Baby..."

- "I know, I know, I should have tried harder, but I really didn't want to do it."

Spencer was torn between lecturing his daughter for getting a bad grade and actually telling her it was ok, 'cos they were going through a rough patch. It was obvious she might get bad grades, all things considered.

- "I'm sorry I wasn't there to help you"- it was all Spencer managed to whisper.

- "Don't say that, dad. I'm sorry I slacked off."

- "You know, you could ask (Y/N) for help,"- Spencer suggested, but Tori just rolled her eyes, annoyed- "She has a master in the subject..."

- "Dad, please don't force me to talk to her."

- "I'm just saying... you don't have to be her best friend, just ask for help when needed, especially when it comes to school. Besides, it's clear she isn't a bad person if she brought you here today."

- "She just wants to win me over."- Tori mumbled and crossed her arms on her chest. But she knew her dad was right in one thing: (Y/N) had done a pretty good thing taking her to see her dad and letting them spend time together on their own.

Victoria thought she was losing her mind after three months had passed and her father was still in jail. It didn't matter that (Y/N) took her every Saturday morning to visit, played her favorite music, and bought her all the pastries she loved. She needed to live with her father again and do all the small things they loved: making breakfast together, playing scrabble, taking long walks in the park, eating ice cream. Tori even missed her father's annoying habits. She missed his rambling and how he always had an answer for everything, even for the things she didn't want to talk about with him.

Spencer was an amazing father, no questions asked, and Victoria Reid knew she couldn't ask for a better dad than him. She just wanted him back.

But things weren't going to improve soon.

When the team found out Diana Reid had been kidnapped, (Y/N) had to take a minute and lock herself in the bathroom to cry her heart out. She felt bad things were never going to cease, and she didn't want to tell Victoria. The girl had already been through so much, adding the abduction of her grandmother wasn't fair. Tori was just twelve. She shouldn't be going through all that.

- "Victoria?"

Prentiss decided she was going to be the one to tell the girl what was going on, and (Y/N) offered herself to look for her. She was in Rossi's office, reading a book curled on his comfy couch. That poor kid almost lived at the BAU by then.

- "My homework is done."- she replied, not taking her eyes from the page she was reading.

- "That's good. And what are you reading?"- Tori sighed and showed her the cover- "Something Wicked this way comes," I love that book"- (Y/N) smiled and took a look around.

- "Figured my father forced you to read it."

- "Actually, I read it when I was ten, and it's one of my favorite books."- (Y/N) looked at Victoria, but the teenager kept pretending to read, ignoring her- "Emily needs to talk to you."

- "And why are you here? Why didn't aunt Emily come? Are you her secretary?"- there was something about Victoria's attitude that reminded (Y/N) of Reid.

- "I wanted to see you, see how you were doing, and take you to the conference room"- Tori sighed and stood up. She hoped Emily had good news about her father, 'cos she was honestly going insane.

But of course, Prentiss didn't have any good news.

- "I'm sorry, Tori, but... you are going to have to stay here tonight"- the girl frowned, confused, and looked at the whole team around her. Everybody looked like they hadn't slept in days. Which, by the way, was very accurate.

- "Why?"

- "'Cos we are going to have to..."- Emily paused and held her breath, staring at her niece's eyes.- "I'm sorry, Tori, but this is the truth: the woman who framed your father has kidnapped Diana, and I'm scared she might try to get you too. So until we catch her, the safest place to be is here, at the BAU. With us."

Tori gasped and covered her mouth with both hands as tears filled her eyes in a second.

- "Nana? Is she ok?"

- "We don't know yet, but we are working to bring her home safe as soon as possible"- JJ caressed Tori's arm and tried to hold her, but she pushed her away mad frowned.

- "You keep saying that, you keep telling me you are working to bring my family home safe, but so far, you haven't done anything!! I am still alone! Dad is in jail, and everybody knows he is innocent! And now nana is gone too!!"

- "Baby, we know it is hard, but..."- Emily wanted to explain to Victoria everything was more complex than they had expected, but the girl covered her ears and shook her head, yelling as she stormed out of the room

- "I don't wanna hear you!! I want my dad!!"

It was painful to hear those things, 'cos the team was doing the best they could for Reid and his family, but they could understand the frustration and, most of all, the fear that little girl felt.

- "I'll talk to her,"- (Y/N) said and turned to Emily- "You guys continue what you were doing. I'll try to calm her down."

- "Are you sure you wanna go?"- Emily asked and cut (Y/N) a short smile.

- "Yeah, for once, she is mad at all of us, not just me."

The young SSA walked to Garcias's office, where Tori was hidden underneath a desk, crying.

- "Hey."

- "Leave me alone."

- "I know I'm the last person you wanna be with right now, and I am sorry I can't do anything to make you feel better. I can only promise you this: we are doing all we can to bring your dad and your grandmother back home safe." - (Y/N) whispered as she walked slowly towards the girl, who sobbed, whipping off the tears from her eyes.

- "Just leave me alone. I want to be alone,"- Tori mumbled and wrapped her arms around herself, sobbing.

- "I'm not gonna leave you alone, Tori. You are not alone here with us."

- "I am alone!! I want my daddy!! I need my daddy!!"- the girl continued crying her eyes out, hidden underneath the desk. (Y/N) kneeled next to her and sat on the floor.

- "Come here"- it was a bold move, 'cos (Y/N) knew the girl was going to reject her, but she didn't care. She couldn't deal with her sadness, and it scared her to think how bad the child was feeling. So, (Y/N) opened her arms and moved the teen closer to her.

Surprisingly, the girl didn't reject her. Instead, she cried against the fabric of (Y/N) 's sweater and sobbed, shaking, as (Y/N) caressed her hair carefully.

- "I swear, we are not gonna rest until he is free and until Diana is home."

- "I want my family back,"- Victoria mumbled and sighed.

- "You'll get it. I swear, I'll do everything I can to bring them back to you."

That was the first time since (Y/N) started dating Spencer that Victoria let her close. In the middle of the mess they were all lost into, it felt like a little break of peace. Another small victory for the young woman.

(Y/N) didn't mind spending the whole night awake going through an endless pile of files if it meant there was a chance to bring Spencer back home. Tori stayed in Rossi's office, where she made something that looked pretty much like a fort on the couch, with blankets and pillows, to hide from the rest of the world.

It was heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time, looking at the girl hidden there, trying to read, trying to draw, trying to do anything to take her mind from reality. Penelope brought her something to eat, but she rejected it, saying she wasn't hungry. Emily and JJ had tried to talk to her, but Tori kindly said she wanted to be alone. Even Morgan had called her and announced to her he was taking a plane from Chicago to help the team looking for Diana.

None of that cheered Victoria up.

- "I bought you this,"

Around ten, (Y/N) opened Rossi's door and walked in, holding a box of frosted chocolate donuts with sprinkles.

- "They always cheer your dad up, so I'm counting they will do the trick with you too"- the young woman tried to joke but found Victoria crying quietly insider her fort.

- "Please, just leave me alone,"- she whispered and hid her face with both her hands. (Y/N) didn't pay attention and sat with her inside the fort.

- "Not a chance."

- "I really don't wanna do this now, just leave me alone,"- the girl sighed, defeated, and continued crying.

- "Come here, I told you, you are not alone."

- "I am alone, (Y/N)! My dad is in jail, my grandma is kidnapped, and my mother left me 'cos she didn't love me!"

- "No, baby, don't say that"- (Y/N) wrapped her arms around Tori and kissed the top of her head.

- "I know my mom didn't want to have me, and maybe she was right... maybe I am cursed, and all this is my fault."

- "Victoria Marie Reid, you are talking senseless" (Y/N) held the girl's shoulder and looked into her eyes.

- "You are an adorable young girl who deserves the best in the world. Why did this happen? I don't know, bad shit happens in life, and we must try to learn something from it. That's it. There's no reason or cause. Shit happens, baby, but we must raise stronger than before. You are an incredible young girl, and I know your dad is proud of you. I am proud of you, 'cos you've been so courageous and brave."

- "You are just saying that 'cos you are with my dad."

- "No. I would say that even if I hated your dad. You know why? 'Cos I am not lying, you are awesome, and I love you, get that into your head. And you are not alone, 'cos I am here, see?"- (Y/N) ran her thumb on Tori's cheek, whipping off a few of her tears- "I'm here even when you don't want me to be, so I don't know if you can tell, but you are doomed, you can't get rid of me now. I'm like a disease, but a good one... I don' know if there's a good disease. I'm sure your dad would have the answer for my random comment right now."

Both Victoria and (Y/N) chuckled at the same time, and the girl nodded.

- "He definitely would..."

- "He would also lecture me why I shouldn't give you sugar after dinner, but he is not here, and I am not telling him, so please don't tell him 'cos he is going to be mad at me... and at you."- (Y/N) handed Tori the box of donuts, and the girl smiled.

- "I won't tell him."

- "Great, we have our own little sugary secret. Eat all the donuts you want; I'm going to be with the team in the conference room. Emily has a meeting early morning with the judge."- (Y/N) kissed the top of Vitoria's head and stood up.

- "If you need anything, I'm across the hall."- the SSA said, and the girl nodded, chewing a donut.

- "Thank you, (Y/N)"

By the next day, the miracle had happened. Victoria couldn't stop crying when (Y/N) announced she was taking Spencer back home. Tori stood in front of his father's girlfriend and felt how the tears filled her eyes in less than a minute. Happy tears, for once.

(Y/N) smiled at her, glad to know the young girl was going to have her life back. It surprised her when Tori hugged her, wrapping her arms around her tight. (Y/N) stayed still for an instant, trying to understand what was happening. She hugged Victoria and kissed the top of her head. The child was crying, and suddenly, so was she. The nightmare was over. At least a part of it. They still needed to find Diana. But the fact they were going to have Reid back was already giving everybody the peace of mind they needed to finish the task.

(Y/N) held Spencer's hand tight all the way from the prison to the BAU. He kept his eyes locked on their hands, fingers tangled together. He couldn't believe it was actually happening. He couldn't believe he was a free man.

- "How's Tori?"- he whispered and turned to his girlfriend. Penelope and Luke were in the car with them, but somehow, Spencer could only register the presence of his girlfriend. Not because he didn't care about his friends, but because he could only take just a small amount of information at the time. It was all too much for him at that moment.

- "Good. She has been incredibly strong."

- "Did you tell her about mom?"- Spencer was afraid to ask but needed to know what was going on with his daughter. (Y/N) nodded and sighed.

- "We decided it was better if she knew what was happening, we had to keep her at the BAU, and she was going to get suspicious she couldn't go to Penelope's... sorry."

- "Don't be. You did what was best for her."- Spencer turned to his girlfriend and smiled at her for a second. It was a short, sweet smile. Almost shy. But it was enough to warm her heart and wake the butterflies in her stomach. She was so in love with Spencer Reid, everything he did fluster her.

Victoria thought her heart was about to burst as he waited for her father to arrive. Spencer looked at (Y/N) one last time, and she squeezed his hand kindly, smiling when the elevator door opened, and all he heard was:

- "Daddy!!"- Tori yelled and ran to hug Spencer as soon as she saw him. He couldn't even step out of the elevator when his daughter nearly tackled him, wrapping her arms around him tight.

- "My baby!"- he whispered and spun her in the air a few times- "Are you ok?"- he held her face with both hands and took a good look at her. She was crying but smiling as she nodded.

- "I'm so happy to see you, dad."

- "I missed you so, so much"- Spencer kissed the top of her head and sighed. (Y/N) smiled, and whipped off the tears from her eyes as she stared at the scene. Garcia and Luke stood next to her, enjoying a brief moment of happiness and peace.

- "Me more,"- Victoria whispered and hugged Spencer again- "I swear I'm never going to fight with you again."

- "I'm taking a mental note of that,"- he answered and felt her body shaking as she giggled. Spencer hadn't heard his daughter laugh, giggle, or even watched her smile in the three months he had spent away from her. And that sound was sweet and warm, like a balm to his soul.

- "I'm sorry, Spencer... but, we have to..."- Emily interrupted the moment and smiled at her friend. They all knew they still had to do one more thing before celebrating. They had to take Diana Reid back home safe and sound. Victoria let her father go and smiled at him.

- "I love you, dad."

- "I love you too, princess."

And as the team walked to the conference room to brief Spencer about the case and update him with the latest information, (Y/N) felt someone hold her hand.

- "Thank you,"- Victoria whispered and cut her a smile that warmed her heart.

- "Come here,"- she answered and turned around to wrap her arms around her for a second. Spencer looked at them, and for once, he didn't know what to say. Victoria and (Y/N) just stood in the middle of the hall, hugged for a few minutes, and Reid couldn't believe it. It was so heartwarming and emotional; he really didn't know how to react.

- "Come on, dad!! You are going to miss the movie!"- Victoria yelled and set the popcorn on the coffee table.

- "You can pause it!"- Spencer yelled from his desk, where he was finishing writing a letter for his mother.

- "Or you can hurry!"- Tori answered and sat on the couch.

- "Here's your tea, your highness"- (Y/N) walked to the girl holding a tray filled with cups and more snacks- "Come on, honey! We are not waiting for you!"

Three months after prison and life had never been so good for Spencer, Victoria, and (Y/N).

- "I had never seen you so eager to watch a Marvel movie, since when are you two fans of Thor?"- Spencer walked to the living room, hearing his girlfriend and daughter laugh.

- "Always, huge fan."- (Y/N) smiled and tapped on the couch. Reid sat between his two women and sighed.

- "I can smell the sarcasm in the air."

- "No, honey. We love Thor, right Tori?"

- "Yes! Big fans, huge, the biggest fans"- Spencer looked at his daughter and raised an eyebrow.

- "Ok, I'll buy it. Let's watch the movie."

(Y/N) and Tori giggled at the very same moments like they were sharing a secret joke Spencer couldn't understand, but he didn't really matter. He was happy, his heart was content, and there was nothing more perfect that minute, 'cos his family was all on the same couch, watching a movie, enjoying an afternoon together. Like he had always dreamt of.

----

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[viking-raider]

Southern Generation - Part IV

Summary: Sy wakes up in Lily’s arms and shows his gratitude for her comforting him. The mysterious caller is revealed, causing Sy to get extremely protective.

Pairing: Captain Syverson/OFC

Word Count: 7,178

Rating: M - Language, Protective!Sy, Domestic Kink, Stalking, Harassment, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Angst, Confession, Smut - Nipple stimulation, intercourse, orgasm, cream pie. 

Inspiration: Always wanted to write a Sy fic and this is a re-work on an old fic I wrote several years ago.

Author’s Note: Thank you for all the love and support, @wondersofdreaming​! Your ideas, suggestions and encouragement mean the world to me, and my stories.

Sy woke the next morning wrapped around a warm body and a steady heart beat in his ear, he tipped his head back and was met with Lily's sleeping face, his head pillowed on her breasts. He smiled, hugging his arms snugger around her waist and sighed, comfortable and peaceful, nuzzling his face into her chest.

Lily moaned softly, making Sy smile against the fabric of the night shirt she was wearing, her hand moved against the broad expanse of his back, fingertips sleepily caressing his spine, unconsciously soothing him, before moving between his shoulder blades, tickling the nape of his neck and rubbing the back of his head with her palm.

He vaguely remembered her calling his name and holding him after his nightmare, whispering into his ear that he was safe and at home, with her. Lily made the choice to bring him to her bed, comforting him even more, until he fell asleep, and for the first time in years, Sy actually dreamt about something other than war and endless spaces of bloody sand.

Reaching up, Sy brushed his fingers through her bangs, smiling. “My Angel.” He whispered, not wanting to wake her.

Carefully unwrapping himself from around her, Sy slipped out of bed and gingerly covered Lily up, before tip toeing downstairs to the kitchen. Scratching the back of his head for a moment, Sy moved about the kitchen, setting up the coffee maker, pulled out the skillet and started making breakfast. He figured she had been making him breakfast every morning for the last several months, it was time for him to return the favor.

So, Sy went all out, once he had everything made, he brought it upstairs to her.

Lily took a deep breath and moaned, stretching and rolling onto her back, but found Sy was no longer in bed with her. She sat up, panicked that something had happened to him, and was about to get out of bed to look for him, when he appeared in the bedroom door, relieved he was all right.

“Morning.” He smiled, finding her sitting up.

“Did you make breakfast?” She frowned as he approached her side of the bed.

“I did.” He nodded, setting her steaming cup of tea on her bedside table. “I thought, since you always make me breakfast, that I'd make you breakfast this go around.” Sy explained, setting the tray of food over her lap.

“What's better than breakfast in bed?”

“Nothing currently comes to mind.” Lily smiled, a soft blush on her cheeks, actually pleasantly surprised at this change of events, touched at Sy’s sweet gesture.

“I didn't think so.” Sy chuckled, pulling up the chair that was at a small desk in her room and sat down, balancing his own plate of food in his lap.

“So, what's on your agenda today, Captain?” She asked, taking a sip of her tea and was surprised to find it was exactly to her liking.

“I think, it's time I started working on the roof.” He replied, bringing his fork to his mouth. “I want to at least give it some temporary patches, before the weather turns.” He told her, after swallowing. “It'll also give me a chance to find out what all the problems with it are, and if I'll need to re-roof it.”

“I hope not.” Lily frowned, washing down some of her food with a gulp of tea.

“Well, from what I've seen on the ground, it looks to be the original roof that was put on when the house was built.” He chuckled at her, setting his empty plate on her nightstand. “That was nearly a century ago.”

“Unless, you know about it being replaced since then?” He asked her, tilting his head.

“The realtor didn't mention it to me.” Lily replied, searching her mind for any scrap of memory of the day she bought the place.

“That's all right.” Sy assured her, gently touching her hand. “I'll get it done, don't you worry.”

Lily smiled at him, turning her hand to thread her fingers with his. “I'm not worried, since you're the one on the case.” She replied, softly.

Sy grinned at her, bringing her hand to his mouth and kissed her fingers, before letting go and collecting their plates. “You know, what would you say, if I managed to install a dishwasher for you?” He asked, pausing in the doorway of her bedroom.

“I have a dishwasher.” Lily giggled, holding up her hands and wiggling her fingers at him.

“You know what I mean, sugar butt.” He laughed, smirking even broader at her.

Lily shrugged, still giggling at him, her cheeks coloring at his nickname. “I don't know, Bear. I've never had one before.”

“Well then, Angel, I'll riddle that one out for you.” He promised in a soft voice.

“I believe you.” She whispered back, giddy, and not for a dishwasher.

“I'm going to check the mail.” Lily said, drying her hands on a dish towel, after washing the dishes from lunch.

“All right.” Sy nodded, still sitting at the table.

Sy had stood to refill his coffee cup, when the phone rang. Biting his lip and glancing out of the kitchen, he saw Lily was too far down the driveway to call her back to answer it, so he picked it up instead; clearing his throat.

“Moore residence.” He spoke into the receiver.

“She's a sweet thing, isn't she?” A sinister voice asked from the other end.

“Excuse you?” Sy barked, a flash of hot anger bursting through his body.

“Oh yes.” The voice chuckled, incredibly delighted. “She is sweet as a Lily, so pure and good.”

“Who is this?” Sy demanded with a deep growl, his teeth gritted and bared as he gripped the handle of the phone even tighter in his hand.

“She's mine, you know.” They growled back at Sy, breathing heavily, their own anger mounting. “She's always been mine and she will always be mine.”

“Not anymore.” Sy hissed back and slammed the phone down in its cradle.

“Sy?” Lily frowned, coming into the kitchen as he hung up the phone. “Who was that?”

“I don't know, you tell me?” He replied, turning towards her, brows drawn together.

“I'm not the one that answered it, Austin.” She countered, shaking her head, confused by his anger.

“It was some guy, said you were his, always had been and would be.” Sy told her, pushing his jaw forward.

Lily's eyes glassed over, letting out a shuddering breath and started trembling. Sy blinked at her, his anger at the caller's words melting away to alarmed concern. He took a step forward, reaching out for her, but Lily stumbled away from him, tears finally spilling free.

“Lily.” He whispered softly, his chest tight. “Easy.” He cooed at her, licking his lips.

“I'm not his, not anymore.” She whimpered, shaking her head. “Why can't he just leave me be.”

Sy blinked at her, frowning harder. “What?”

“Nothing.” Lily mewled, biting her lip.

“No, come on.” He coaxed her, resting his hand on her arm and gently pulled her against him. “Tell me.” He whispered, gently rubbing her back.

“I thought I got away from him.” She sniffled against his shirt. “Thirteen hundred miles away from him. I was so careful—so careful.” She mumbled, hands clinging onto the sides of his shirt. “I don't-I don't know how he found me—unless...”

“Unless?” Sy frowned, still slowly rubbing her back and trying to process what she was telling him. “Sit down.” He said, moving them towards the breakfast table and pulled out a chair for her, before bringing the other one around from the other side to sit beside her.

“Start at the beginning.”

Lily cleared her throat and stared down at her hands, folded in her lap. “I was born and raised in Middleburg, Virginia. You know, that I'm an only child and that my mom died, when I was born. I was raised by my grandparents, because my dad was in and out of my life, before just finally disappearing from it, when I was nineteen.” She explained to him, licking her lips.

“He blamed me for my mom's death.” She added, quietly.

Sy reached out and rested his hand on her thigh, squeezing it gently, and gave her a sweet smile.

“When I was seventeen, I met a boy at church, Jak.” Lily continued to explain to him. “It was the only time I really got to interact with others, my grandparents were strict, homeschooling me and only really letting me out of the house, unless they were with me, which was usually only for church on Sunday.” She fidgeted, shyly. “He was the only boy to show any interest in me, which didn't and did surprise me. The little house on the prairie dresses my grandma made me wear, and the glasses I had back then, you could see the moon through them.” She chuckled, cheeks colored.

Sy smiled back at her, even picturing her as a little girl like that, he still found her beautiful.

“But, Jak didn't care, or at least he didn't say or show he did. I would sneak out at night to meet him in the apple orchard my grandfather grew. It had been in our family since the Revolutionary War, the land was given to my, how many times, great-grandfather as payment for his service in the war.”

“I bet it's beautiful.” Sy commented, warmed at the thought.

“They are, so many of the trees are the original ones that were planted.” She smiled back, picturing the orchard in her mind. “The first one that was ever planted, after he cleared away the land, is still there and yielding, there's a plaque staked by its roots, and people come from all around to see it and the orchard, the Warren Apple.”

Sy rested back in his chair. “Your family owns the Warren Orchard Company? You're one of those Warrens?”

“I am.” She nodded, smiling proudly at that fact, but it vanished.

“Anyway, Jak and I would sneak every moment we could to see each other. He even got a job, during the summer, in the orchard, so we could see each other even more.” She took a deep breath, letting it out softly. “But, a year after we met and started being sweet on each other, my grandparents lodged a missionary for his two year mission in our ward. Jak thought he and I were getting close, that my grandparents had actually brought him to live with us, so he and I could court and marry.”

“He grew jealous and possessive. I was stupid, naive and young, I didn't know what was happening, that he was being abusive, until it was almost far too late.”

“What happened, that caused you to realize it?” Sy asked, tilting his head at her.

“I met Jak in the orchard one night, when I was twenty, the day after the missionary went back home to Michigan, because his two years were up. When I got there, Jak was pacing, already angry. Livid. When he saw me, he started yelling about how he had seen me kissing the missionary, how we practically ate each other's faces on the back porch, while everyone else was in the house, during his farewell party.” She said, glancing out the window behind the breakfast table.

“Of course, I hadn't been. Matt, the Missionary, and I had been on the back porch together, I had gone out there to get away from the press of all the people and he went out there to check on me. We had hugged, only the once, since doing so isn't really acceptable, two not courting, unchaperoned kids. But, we did nothing more, before going back inside. The truth didn't matter to Jak though, he had his version of what he saw and it was unchangeable.” Lily bit her lip and gripped Sy's wrist as his hand still laid on her thigh. “He lost his temper and hit me, but in my love sick stupidity, I didn't break it off there or tell my grandparents about it.”

“Instead, I enrolled in a university for Photography and Web Design, moved out of my grandparents' place and into one with him, like an idiot.”

“You weren't an idiot, Lily.” Sy told her, shaking his head and slipping his hand into hers. “It's more common than you think.”

“I know it is.” She sighed, clinging onto his hand.

“He only got worse and it got harder for me to get my school work done, with him accusing me that I was sleeping with my project partners, even teachers.” She huffed, shaking her head at his allegations, that now sounded so ridiculous. “The straw that broke the camel's back was,” She paused, biting and licking her lips, fighting down a bubble of emotions and memories. “One of my project mates called to ask me about the faux website we were designing for a fake company we had to make up, cause she wanted to know what time was good for us to meet up, and Jak answered the phone, claimed he heard a guy in the background, throwing the phone across the living room and went ballistic, saying I was having her call me to set up a time for me and the guy he heard, to try and fool him.”

“He spent the next hour going to town on me.” She said, glancing up at him, the hint and meaning in her eyes.

“Afterwards, he went to work and I packed a bag. I had some money from the family orchard business, so I took a good portion of it, bought a greyhound bus ticket to a cousin I was close to in New Jersey, Maggie, and stayed with her, knowing he wouldn't find me there, my grandparents wouldn't think I'd go there, and she wouldn't ever rat on me. While I was there, I petitioned for a name change, from Liliana Warren to Lily Ana Moore, and finished my degree, then found this place and moved out here.”

“So, how do you think he found you?” Sy asked, worried about her safety and angry that this asshole had the audacity to hurt her and wanted to try and hurt her again, but he kept a lid on his temper, not wanting to frighten her anymore than she already was.

“I've been keeping tabs on my grandparents, mostly through my cousin.” Lily answered, biting her lip. “She called me a year ago, to tell me that my grandmother had a stroke, a pretty bad stroke at that. She's apparently wheelchair bound now. Maggie went down there to visit them, and my grandfather was talking about how he needed someone to work on the company website, when Maggie let it slip that I have a web design business.”

“Oh.” Sy let out, eyes wide.

“Yeah.” She nodded back. “So, of course, they got upset, understanding that Maggie knew what had happened to me and where I was and all that. She called afterwards, apologizing up and down to me for it. She didn't tell them where I was or anything like that, just that I was safe and fine, and if I wanted to contact them, I would.”

“Did you?”

“I did.” Lily sighed, voice tight. “I figured after four years, I owed them a call.”

“So, do you think they told Jak?”

“I don't know.” She shrugged. “But, a week after I called them, I started getting hang up calls, then calls where no one would say anything for a few minutes, before hanging up. Then, two months ago, I got a call that was different from the others, he said something to me, and a month ago, he said something being soon.”

The wires connected in Sy's brain. “That's what caused you to take all those pills.”

Lily gulped and bit her lip, eyes burning, as she nodded her head. “Ye-ah.” She choked, fear and anxiety starting to mount inside of her again.

“Hey, hey.”

Sy cooed, wrapping his arms around her and pulled her into his lap, hugging her against his chest. “It's all right, Lily. It's going to be all right, I promised to protect you and I will. You are safe with me, you will always be safe with me, whatever the cost.” He whispered in her ear, holding her close and planning ways and means to protect her.

“Sy?” Lily called from the open door of her bedroom, just as Sy stepped out of the hall bathroom, in nothing, but a pair of black boxers.

“Lily?” He replied, rubbing the towel over his head, and looked up at her, lifting a brow, inquisitively.

Lily rested her hand on the handle of her door and stepped sideways, giving a little motion of her head into her room, a soft and offering expression on her face. Sy blinked at her, surprised, then down at Aika, who sat in the doorway of his room, feeling like he was picking what lady to sleep with for the night.

He tilted his head at Aika and gave her a sympathetic expression.

“Sorry, Girl.” He whispered to the Shepherd, turning towards Lily.

Lily chuckled at him, smiling and shaking her head as he passed by her and into her room. “You can come too, Aika.” She called to her, then turned into her room.

“You're cool with this?” Sy asked, eyes motioning to her bed.

“It was my idea, wasn't it?” She smiled at him, then stepped inside her closet for a moment and came back in a t-shirt-like nightie with Mickey Mouse on it, before pulling down the blankets and crawling into bed.

“It was.” He nodded, then laid down with her, covering up.

Lily scooted closer to him and Sy draped his arm over her waist, tucking her against him and she let him lay his head on her chest, stroking his arm. She was comfortable with the warm weight of his body against hers, the clean scent of his skin and hair from his shower. She felt Sy's body slowly melt into hers as he fell asleep, it had been her plan. Lily knew there was a high likelihood of Sy having another episode or nightmare, but figured, if he was there, with her, already safe and comfortable in her arms, he wouldn't have it.

That was her deepest hope, at least.

But, the next thing Lily knew, she was being jerked roughly off the bed and pinned underneath Sy's mountainous weight, his heavy and hot breath puffing against the side of her face as he blanketed her with his body, clearly startled and on high alert. The room lit up with a quick flash of lightning and the furious sound of rain beating on all parts of the house filled the bedroom around them.

“Austin.” She gasped, grasping the back of his arms, nails digging into his sweaty skin, thinking he had been set off by the noise of the sudden storm. “Aust-”

“Ssshhh.” He hushed her, lips brushing her temple, the hairs of his beard tickling her skin. “Stay here.” He whispered into her ear, then moved off of her and out of the room, Aika sitting in the open doorway and growling into the darkness of the hallway after him.

Lily sat up on her elbows, knowing that what was happening couldn't have been from one of Sy's nightmares or the storm, because Aika wouldn't be acting like this, she was angry, like she was daring something Lily couldn't see to try and cross her. But, nothing came, not even Sy, and Lily was starting to get worried. So, getting up, she edged around Aika and tip toed downstairs, jerking at another boom of thunder and crack of lightning, until she found Sy standing in the entryway.

“Austin?” She called out to him, over the sound of the rain, which sounded much louder downstairs.

“I told you to stay upstairs.” He barked, not looking back at her.

“What's wrong?” She asked, knowing there had to be something, by the tone of his voice.

“Nothing, just go back to bed.”

Narrowing her eyes, Lily stepped closer to him and her eyes grew wide, seeing what had caused Sy to wake up and react like he had. The large bay window in the den that faced out onto the porch and the front of the property was smashed, the glitter of the broken glass shined in the lightning strikes and left the outline of the brick amongst them, the cause of the broken window. Lily's eyes snapped out the living room window, expecting to see someone, not just someone, but Jak, to be standing out in the yard, staring back at them. But, there was no one, but her and Sy's cars. Her heart started to race and pound, making her feel dizzy and lightheaded, trembling so hard she almost lost her balance, but caught herself on the back of the couch.

Sy turned and grabbed her, picking her up in his arms and carried her back up to bed. “Stay here.” He ordered her, pointing a stiff finger at her, then went back downstairs.

Going out back, Sy grabbed a large piece of plywood he had bought in preparation for repairing the roof and instead used it to board up the broken window, until the storm passed and morning came, so he could find a piece of glass to replace it, leaving him and the den floor mostly wet. He moped the den floor and laid out nearly every towel Lily had in the house in hopes the old floorboards wouldn't warp under the water damage.

He stepped out onto the porch for a moment, glaring into wet dark. “This is my house now.” He growled, knowing Jak was still out there somewhere nearby. “My girl.” He hissed, before turning back inside, going up to the guest room to change into a dry pair of boxers and joined Lily back in her bed.

“It was him.” She mumbled, hugging her pillow to her chest. “It had to be him.”

Sy sighed softly, locking his arms around her waist and hugged her to his chest, curving his body around hers. He didn't know what to say to her, they both knew it had to be Jak, who else would have thrown a brick through someone's window in the middle of a storm like this one, especially after all the other incidents over the last several months; all the lines drew back to Jak on his unhealthy, possessive rampage to reclaim Lily as his own. Sy was afraid that if he verbalized his agreement with her, it would only inflate her already inflamed fear of the obvious.

So, he just clutched her tighter to him, pressing his lips to her shoulder and squeezing his eyes shut against the bright flashes of lightning.

“Lily, I'm going to go to town, I have something I need to pick up.” He told her, searching the living room for his car keys.

“I thought you already ordered the new windowpane?” Lily called back, appearing out of the kitchen, where she was washing the dishes.

“I did.” He nodded, he had found a shop that he could order a replacement windowpane for the den window that morning, but it wouldn't be ready until the next day. “This is for something else.” He told her, finding his keys under a magazine on the coffee table.

“What are you going for, then, Bear?” She asked, tilting her head at him.

Sy paused and regarded her. “Don't worry about it, Angel. I'll be back in an hour.” He told her, then, went out.

“Okay.” Lily frowned, glancing out the living room window, the thunder and lightning had passed during the early morning, but it was still raining cats and dogs.

Sighing, Lily turned back into the kitchen, taking a bucket and mop out of the utility closet, filled the bucket with warm water and soap, before getting down to mopping the floors, with nothing else to do in the current weather.

Sy rushed out to his truck, but was still almost half soaked by the time he settled himself in the driver's seat. Turning on the car and cranking on the heat, Sy pulled off the property and headed towards Celina. He pulled into the small parking center the small town had, scanning the rain blurred signs, looking for the one he was heading for, before opening the door and rushing towards it, pulling open the door, with an electric ding, announcing his presence.

“How can I help you?” the shop owner asked, coming out of a small room in the back and stopped behind a long glass case.

“Yeah, I'm looking for something specific.” Sy replied, stopping on the other side of the glass case, a look of understanding in both men's eyes.

“What specifics would that be?”

“Taurus, PT111 G2, 9mm.” Sy rattled off with familiar ease.

“Do you have a license and ID?” The store owner asked, eyes scanning the case between them.

“Then, some.” Sy laughed, pulling out his wallet to show the man his qualifications.

“You're a retired Captain.” The man noted, seeing Sy's military ID.

“That I am.” Sy chuckled, grinning with some pride.

The store owner got Sy squared away with the weapon he wanted, a secure case and a couple rounds of ammo, while also chattering about the military, being a retired Staff Sergeant himself. Getting back into his truck, he put the case under the passenger seat, pausing to stare at it for a moment,emotions and thoughts brewing inside of him, then shook them off. Satisfied, Sy went back home to Lily, finding her dusting the living room, when he came in, carrying the case and sat it down on the coffee table.

Lily paused, dust rag poised above the mantelpiece, staring at the case. “Is that what I think it is?” She asked, finally looking up at him.

“If you think it's a gun, then yes.” Sy replied, sitting down on the couch and tugging on the soaked laces of his boots.

“Why,” She gulped, arm dropping to her side. “did you buy a gun and bring it here?”

“Because, I wanted to and as a precaution.” He answered her, yanking his boots off.

“A precaution?”

“There is a fucking asshole out there.” Sy barked, jerking his arm up and finger pointing out the window. “Trying to hurt you.” His finger moved to her, in emphasis. “I am a big man. I'm a strong man. I've killed and subdued more than one man with my bare hands, but a personal cost.” He explained to her, standing and jerking up his shirt, showing her a couple of scars on his sides and chest, some were round and puckered, gunshot wounds, others were stripes, like stab wounds.

“If that prick decides to come into this house, to try and put his hands on you. That,” He pointed down to the gun case. “is going to be the first thing he wants to meet, because if he has to get close enough to me, that I need to put my hands on him, then they will be that last thing he will ever feel.” He told her, chest heaving as he got worked up over the situation.

Lily gulped at him, biting her lip, a flash of fear in her eyes at his passionate words, seeing a vein of rage that Jak had also been capable of.

“I just want to protect you.” He said softly, taking deep breaths, trying to calm himself down; seeing he had scared her.

“I know you do, Austin.” She whimpered back, gulping, eyes shiny. “I know you do.”

Sy moaned, something cold pressing into his neck. “Hm, Lily.” He chuckled, scrunching his head and shoulders together, grinning as the cold and wet touched his bare chest, making him grunt and wiggle away. “Why are you so col-” He started to laugh, opening his eyes, only to meet the soulful and tawny colored eyes of Aika.

“Aika, what are ya doin' here?” He frowned, and sat up, finding it was just him and the German Shepherd in the bed, Lily nowhere in sight. “Lily?” He called out, turning his head towards the master bathroom, but it was empty.

Panic filled Sy as he yanked the blankets back and pounded down the stairs into the living room, then the den. Sy squeezed his eyes shut, taking deep breaths and clenching his hands in and out of fists, trying to keep himself cool and calm, before going into the kitchen, hearing the screen of the back door knocking against the door frame, and found the main back door was ajar.

“What is she doing?” He whispered to himself, biting his lip and looking back, considering the option of going back upstairs and getting the gun, but something in his gut told him he wouldn't need it.

Opening the door, Sy stepped out onto the back porch, a shiver wracking his body as a strong gust of rainy wind rushed by him. He narrowed his eyes, scanning the drenched backyard, the tall, unruly and uncut grass bent from the pelting of the rain and gusts of wind, he caught a quick movement to his left and turned in that direction, stepping off the porch and followed after it, towards the barn, just catching the billowing fabric of Lily's white nightie, vanishing inside.

“Lily, what are you doing in here?” He called out, pushing open the barn door a bit more. “Lily?” He called again, frowning as he crossed the barn and found her huddled in one of the old horse stalls. “What are you doing in here, Angel?” He cooed at her, shaking his head, droplets of rain running down both of their faces, and watched her melt into the corner.

Lily panted, her back pressed against the warped and worn wall behind her, arms pressed to her chest, her nightie so soaked, it was almost see through. Sy bit his lip and gulped, slowly crouching down. He knew what was going on, he had seen and suffered things like this a million times over the last ten plus years. She was having a PTSD episode, running away from the terror that was inside her head, trying to hide and find somewhere safe from it. Everything over the last several months with Jak stalking and harassing her was really starting to affect her, finally breaking her it seemed.

“I'm not going to hurt you, love.” He said softly, keeping his voice soft and low. “Come here.” He gulped, opening his arms to her and biting his lip with apprehension. “It's all right. You know, you can trust me, Sugar.” He whispered, nodding his head as she slowly unfolded herself and crawled over to him.

“Hey, Angel.” Sy cooed, sighing softly, and closed his arms around her, pressing his lips to the top of wet her head. “Ssshh.” He hushed her, rubbing her back and cupping the back of her head, feeling her tears add to the raindrops on his chest.

“I c-can-can't ta-take it an-anymore.” She sobbed, trembling in his arms, overcome with emotions and cold.

“We'll get through this, Angel.” He whispered to her, cupping her chilled cheeks in his hands and tilted her head back to look up at him. “We will get through this. You and I will get through this together. Everything will work out.”

Lily shook her head, her pale lips trembling. “N-no, it wo-won't. He-he always g-gets what h-he wants. All-always.” She mewled, whining. “I don't kn-know why I-I thought I c-could ge-get away.”

Sy's expression was hard for a moment, before he brought their faces together and kissed her, deeply. Lily stiffened against him, taken off guard by his kiss, but she didn't pull away or push him away. Gulping, she shyly returned his kiss, resting her hands on him, feeling the skin of his sides jump and react to her icy touch.

“I've wanted to kiss you.” Sy said, pulling back. “For such a long time.” He admitted, looking into her eyes. “Since that day on the porch, when you woke me up.”

“Since, you gave me your hoodie at the fair.” She whispered back, licking her lips, the warmth of Sy's still lingering on them.

Sy leaned forward, kissing her gently and brushing his fingers through her dripping hair, Lily pushing forward to deepen it for a moment, letting out a breathy whimper. Sy smirked, then looked down at the floor between them, it was still strewn with decades old hay and dirt. He held up a finger and stood, bumping around in the dark barn before a scratching sound sounded among the patter of rain on the metal barn roof. A moment later, a teeny glow filled the space and Sy approached where Lily was still kneeling, holding an old, beat up, oil lantern he knew was in the barn from his many searches of the space, hanging it up on a bent and rusty nail on the stall wall, then disappeared for another moment.

“Stand up.” He said, motioning her out of the stall, holding something in his arms.

Lily frowned at him, but stepping out of the stall and out of his way, catching a glimpse of what it was, it was one of the drop clothes he bought for when he painted the house, keeping the paint off the new porch. Sy unfolded the drop cloth over the dirty hay and stall floor, making sure it was comfortable, then turned back to her.

“How gentlemanly.” Lily complimented him.

“I am a Southern boy.” Sy chuckled, letting his Southern drawl deepen, and wrapping his arm around her waist, pulling her against him. “Who's in love with Southern Lady.”

Lily blushed as Sy kissed her again, hugging her against him and up off her feet, turning around and slowly dropped to his knees, gently laying her back on the situated drop cloth. Lily wrapped her arms around Sy's neck, moaning softly against his lips, feeling the fabric of her nightie rub against her cold hardened nipples as Sy moved to kiss down to her neck, sinking his teeth into her delicate skin and let out a loud moan, pushing up against him.

“Austin!” She cried out, pressing her cheek to his ear as he continued to bite and suck on her neck, his beard tickling and rubbing against the skin underneath her jaw, leaving it red and sensitive.

Sy chuckled, loving the sound of her calling out his name with the metal patter of rain, his hand gliding over the soaked material of her nightie, bunching and hiking it up out of his way, pressing his palm against her side, rubbing his big hands all over her exposed body, grunting and growling into her neck, like a wild grizzly bear, finally getting his claws on his prized catch. His big mitts were on her plump breasts almost instantly, squeezing and kneading them, rubbing the rough pads of his thumbs over the sensitive nubs of her nipples, making her moan and whimper, fidgeting beneath him and rubbing her legs together, adding to the growing slickness between them.

“You sound so sweet.” Sy moaned back, pulling away from her neck, a set of dark teeth marks left behind, dipping his head for a moment to swirl his tongue around one of her nipples.

“Sy.” She whined, gulping down a moan. “Sy, please.”

“Oh.” He smiled, impishly. “You like that?” He asked, flicking her erect nipple with the tip of his tongue and watched her partially melt. “Your sweet, sensitive, little buds.” He cooed, then closed his lips around one of them, suckling gently, rubbing and rolling his tongue against it.

“Ah, shit!” Lily gasped, gripping his shoulders, eyes rolling and fluttering back into her head, heels digging into the fabric of the drop cloth. “God damn it, Austin.” She snapped, pressing her palms to the back of his head, holding his mouth to her breasts, her moans and whimpers filled the barn, pushing against him, egging and begging him to keep going, her breathing growing rugged and labored, moans becoming more urgent and reckless.

“Ah, fuck fuck fuck.” She cried out. “Suck them harder.” She coaxed and demanded. “Oh shit! Please, Austin!!” She gasped suddenly, body going rigid with a soft tremor.

Sy pulled away from her and dripped a hand between her trembling thighs, finding an extremely wet patch there. “So, you come, when you get your pretty breasts sucked.” He grinned, fully turned on and impressed, licking her juices off his fingers and palm.

“I've also never heard you say such naughty words.” He added, teasingly.

Lily chuckled, slowly recovering and smiling shyly up at him.

“Oh, it's too late to get shy now, Angel.” Sy laughed, leaning down and kissed the corner of her mouth. “Your secret is out.” He continued to tease her, playfully bouncing her boobs in his palms.

“And, I'm not letting you off.”

“I'm going to regret this, I can just feel it now.” Lily huffed, shaking her head, but her smile gave away her true feelings.

“Yes, you are.”

Sy chuckled, his hand dipping back between her legs, rubbing her still dripping folds with his calloused fingers, melting her into a puddle of weak and vulnerable whimpers. “You're so sensitive and sound so sweet.” He cooed at her, licking his lips and watching her face. “So, so sweet.” He panted, mouth slightly ajar, slipping his free hand into his damp boxers, curling his fingers around his thick and rock hard shaft, giving it a few shallow strokes.

Lily's eyes drifted down the length of her sweaty body, watching Sy work his cock inside his underwear and felt herself shiver in want and anticipation of it. She licked her lips and looked up at him, their eyes in a silent communication of what they both wanted. Sy shifted, yanking off his boxers to kneel between Lily's legs, wrapping them around his waist, her hips and bottom resting atop his thighs, with the small of her back lifted off the drop cloth beneath her.

“You're sure?” Sy panted, gulping thickly and already breaking out into a sweat, staring at her with wide eyes and blown out pupils.

“Yes.” Lily sighed, nodding her head vigorously at him. “God, yes.” She moaned, squeezing her legs around his waist.

Sy smirked, pressed a hand to her hip, pushing it up her side to palm one of her breasts, squeezing and rubbing it, while taking the base of his cock in his other hand, pumping it a few times, rubbing the fat and cut tip against her still wet pussy, slowly slipping between her folds, brushing her entrance and pushing inside. Lily let out a moaning sigh through her nose, feeling his wide girth stretch her open far more than she had ever been before. Her toes curled and squeezed his hips between her calves and thighs, back arching and hips shifting against the nearly uncomfortable burn of his length being buried ever deeper inside her core. Sy tilted his head at her, bracing a hand on the drop cloth, beside her head, and leaned over her, causing Lily to let out a raspy gasp as his cock changed angles inside of her, and kissed her, slow and passionately, still pushing his hips into her.

“You are so beautiful.” He rasped against her lips, nibbling on her pouty bottom lip.

“Austin.” She whimpered back, breathy, hooking her arms under his arms and pressing her palms flat against tense and sweaty back, nails digging into his cool skin. “Austin.” She chanted, softly, rubbing her nose against his.

“Lily.” Sy moaned back, finally flush inside of her, and rocked into her, taking his time and enjoying her heavenly warmth wrapped around his cock, like a toasty sleeve. “I love you, Lily.” He whispered into her ear, kissing her jaw and cheek.

Lily blushed and let out an airy chuckle, hiding her face in his neck and broad shoulder, hugging her arms and legs tighter around his body, clinging onto him for dear life and squeezed her eyes shut, taking in the sound of Sy's heavy breathing and loud moans and groans, grunting, and sighing out her name, the still steady pitter-patter of the fat raindrops on the old, rusted tin roof and sun-kissed wood walls, all mixed with her own sounds of pleasure.

“Sy?” Lily whispered, after their shared climax, still feeling the euphoric and relaxing pleasure it gave both of them, as she laid on the drop cloth, half tucked underneath Sy's body for warmth in the drafty barn.

“Hm?” He hummed back, nosing her hair and took a deep breath.

Lily smiled, feeling the vibration in his chest, nuzzling back into him. “I love you too, Austin.” She whispered, turned her head to look back at him.

Sy lifted his head and looked down at her, a smile slowly pulling across his lips, an excited and giddy feeling in the pit of his stomach, reaching out to gently brush her hair out of her face, picking out a few bits of straw that happened to get stuck in it from earlier; before oh-so-tenderly kissing her.

“You have no idea how happy that makes me, Angel.” He murmured against her cheek.

“I'm guessing as happy as it makes me, Bear.” She chuckled back, kissing the tip of his nose.

Lily softly stirred just before dawn, cradled in Sy's arms as he carried her out of the barn, the rain finally letting up, and into the house. He carried her upstairs to her room and gently laid her down on her bed, letting him help her out of her still damp nightie and tossed it through the open door of her master bathroom, before crawling into bed with her.

Both of them were out cold before the blankets settled around them, unaware of the audience they had a good deal of the night.

[coochiequeens]

RALEIGH, N.C. — At age 13, Judy Wiegand says community leaders gave her “suggested guidance” to marry the 16-year-old father of her unborn child.

It was the 1970s.

She remembers violence, difficulty raising her child, and her own childhood being taken from her, she testified to a North Carolina House judiciary committee on Tuesday.

Now 57, Wiegand hoped those memories would stay in her past.

“It was done. I dealt with it. I had moved on,” Wiegand said. “I had no intention of dealing with it again until I found out that this was still occurring.”

North Carolina is one of two states that still allow children as young as 14 to marry.

Opponents of North Carolina’s child marriage law say that because of this the state has become a destination spot for child trafficking.

The law is also used as a get-out-of-jail-free card for adults who had sex with children and impregnated them, some lawmakers say.

Wiegand is opposed to North Carolina, or any other state, allowing child marriage.

Now, with no connection to North Carolina, Wiegand traveled from Kentucky to Raleigh to urge the state’s representatives to rethink child marriage.

“If no one is complaining about it then everything just goes along as it is,” Wiegand said.

Wiegand grew up in rural Kentucky.

She keeps many of the details vague about the father of her child, but what she did say in testimony to a House committee Tuesday and in an interview with The News & Observer gives a window into how child marriage affects teens.

Many of the details she leaves out, she said, in an attempt to protect her child from being connected to her story.

She said she and the father met at a place in the community for teenagers. They weren’t in a relationship at the time she became pregnant. She describes him as her crush.

“He was somebody that was a little bit older and was giving me attention,” Wiegand said.

“When you go into a rural community, the population looks for guidance not from the police, not from elected officials,” Wiegand said. “They look for guidance from the local community leaders, and a large majority of the local community leaders are local community church leaders.”

She said the two families sought guidance from those leaders to determine how to handle her pregnancy.

“It’s sort of woven into everyday life in the community that to not be ostracized from the community, you have to follow these sort of unspoken rules of the community,” Wiegand said.

And in her case that meant marriage.

Wiegand said she doesn’t remember how she felt about marrying her crush.

She said on one hand she knew that it was a resolution her community would accept, but on the other hand “a problem born out of poor judgment” was met with a solution also born out of “poor judgment.”

To legally marry, the teens had to cross the border into Virginia.

Prior to 2016, Virginia lawmakers allowed children to get married as young as 12 if they were pregnant and had parental consent. That law changed five years ago banning all child marriages unless someone 16 or older had been emancipated from their parents.

At first the couple lived with the boy’s parents, but as he went through normal teenage rebellion they moved out on their own, she said.

“There were a lot of hardships,” Wiegand said. “I had a baby at 14, and I tried to go back to school after the baby was born.”

Wiegand said she was too young to get a driver’s license and didn’t have transportation to go to school.

She tried to get her GED so she could get a job and support her family, but said that the state wouldn’t allow her to take the test until what would have been her senior year of high school.

Her baby’s father had odd jobs on and off during their marriage but never substantial ones, she said.

She spent her teenage years cleaning houses and made an average $20 a day.

Wiegand said her parents would have supported her but access to them was controlled and they often didn’t know when their daughter ran out of food or money.

Wiegand testified before the House committee that her husband was violent.

She told the committee members that when he turned his violence from her to their child she knew she had to leave.

“I wanted more for my child,” Wiegand told The News & Observer.

Getting a divorce proved more challenging than getting married, she said.

She met with two or three attorneys who told her to wait until she turned 18.

And she didn’t have the money.

Two years later, at 18, she finally made it happen.

Wiegand said she missed many developmental opportunities in her teens.

When she was able to go to college she had to do two years of remedial work before beginning college classes.

Wiegand said she doesn’t want other children to experience what she had.

“It is the job of the government to protect all of the children,” she told lawmakers.

In both North Carolina’s House and Senate, lawmakers filed bills that would prevent anyone under 18 from getting married.

Many North Carolina residents have taken to Twitter asking questions like, “How is this still a thing?” and why lawmakers haven’t moved quicker to outlaw child marriages.

There have been hurdles. So much so that banning all child marriages in North Carolina isn’t even up for discussion anymore.

Sen. Vickie Sawyer, a Mooresville Republican, told her colleagues that after she filed the bill, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle said they couldn’t support the bill because child marriage is woven somewhere into their family story.

She and Sen. Danny Britt, a Lumberton Republican, made a last-ditch effort in May to get the bill to pass through the Senate before it was too late.

They compromised and offered to ban marriage for 14- and 15-year-olds but continue allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to marry as long as the spouse wasn’t more than four years their senior.

“The amendment lines up with what our current statutory rape laws are,” Britt said. “So essentially, what we were allowing as a state was the offense of statutory rape to occur so long as you were married.”

Wiegand said the compromise version of the bill is “a good start” but not enough.

‘There would still need to be some safeguards in place,” Wiegand said. “Eighteen would be preferable because that’s the age when you can enter a contract, get a credit card and join the military. There’s a lot of other opportunities that open up for you at 18.”

Wiegand said to grant someone under 18 permission to marry she would hope there would be a person making sure they have a job and a home and have shown they’ve been able to maintain both.

Senators approved that version of Senate Bill 35. That’s what House members were considering when Wiegand joined them Tuesday afternoon.

Reps. Ashton Clemmons, a Greensboro Democrat, and Kristin Baker, a Concord Republican, introduced the bill to a House judiciary committee.

Clemmons said that studies have shown child marriage increases poverty by at least 30%, and increases mental health and psychological problems and school dropout rates.

Clemmons quoted a study from the International Center for Research on Women that looked at child marriages in North Carolina.

The organization states that between 2000 and 2019 there were 3,949 marriage applications for 4,000 minors and the majority of those applications involved an adult and a minor.

But the proposed bill wouldn’t have stopped most of those marriages. The organization is quick to point out that even if a law had been in place saying that minors couldn’t marry anyone more than four years their senior that 71% of the marriages would have still been approved.

“Delaying marriage is the right thing to do because it only improves the health, safety and welfare of the women and men in the situation,” Baker said. “It does not deny anyone the ultimate right to marry.”

[romantichore-blog]

🖊 🖊 🖊 🖊 fallout ocs?

want me to gush about my ocs?

I have a gigantic list of Fallout OCs. No, really. We're currently at 13 reasonably developed for FO4, then 4 or so more I haven't been investing much time into lately, plus a courier and their kid. And to be quite honest the only reason I'm not obsessed with 76 is that it's laggy as shit because of high ping. Alright let's talk about the fave four:

🖊 my beloved, my idiot, my golden boy, Brandon. 35 year old prime dad material who laughs way too hard at fart jokes and is far, far deadlier than anyone gives him credit for. Bran had a horrible childhood, ran away at 16 to join the army, married young, incurred severe PTSD from fighting at the front lines and later settled into a boring life working for RobCo as an engineer. He finally sees his dreams coming true with Shaun's birth, only for it all to be dismantled when his wife serves him some nice divorce papers and implies that the kid isn't really his to begin with. The bombs fall and they are rushed to the vault approximately half an hour later. A freshly thawed Brandon returns to his soldier roots and cuts a path through the wasteland in search for Shaun, joining the Brotherhood of Steel as a way to point his anger towards something that isn't his wife or himself, very content in being given orders and not having to think about the consequences of his actions. It's Danse's situation that shatters his views on the BoS, and for a while he wanders without purpose, later deciding to accept Preston's offer to lead the Minutemen. He then simultaneously becomes the most adored and feared figure in the Commonwealth, a very 'women want me fish fear me' situation. Only 'fish' in this case is code for anyone who dares hurt the little people.

🖊 then we have Abigail, history professor and cryptid aficionado from West Virginia. She had a worse childhood than Bran, and is the kind of person who grew up too fast because of all the responsibilities on her shoulders. In her early teens she loses both parents, and is left to raise her little brother by herself. Also marries super young, and quickly finds out that her husband is a walking trash bin - but Abby's toxic trait is that she always, always bends over backwards to please the men in her life. She basically carries them both throughout their relationship, dude remains a mediocre fellow leeching off his increasingly successful, increasingly stressed wife. She graduates, she gets her master's, she's working on her doctorate, and she gets the opportunity to teach at college level as well as an invitation to join the war effort as a military history and strategy consultant before she turns 30. Her career is on an insane, meteoric rise, she finds out she's pregnant and for once it feels like her love life is also going to improve; then her husband finds himself a new fling, starts treating her like garbage in hopes she'll leave him so he'll get to drag her name through the mud, and finally hits a very pregnant Abigail, who still cannot find it in herself to kick this man out. He is the one who gives up and leaves shortly after Shaun is born, leaving her in debt, completely alone and heartbroken. Shaun is around six months old when she starts putting the pieces together again, finds herself a best friend in a similar situation who she ends up dating for a while, then the whole nuclear bombing happens and it all goes to shit again. I quite enjoy giving my OCs a slightly different route from canon, and in Abby's case, she leaves the vault a good three years before old man Shaun begins looking for her. During that time she works as a mercenary, builds a reputation for being incredibly ruthless and professional, and really just tries not to think much about anything. But deep down Abby is an optimist and truly believes in humanity - which is why she jumps at the opportunity to be part of the Minutemen.

bonus: in one of my AUs, Bran and Abby are neighbors who did not know each other and thus both survive the blast. Bran takes the position of General with Abby as his strategist and second in command, a partnership that works frighteningly well.

🖊 Bruno, better known as Sal, was born out of my desire to have a character closer to me in culture and roots. In his canon he is a Brazilian, come from very, very humble beginnings, whose luck turns when his mother remarries and the family moves to the US. By then he is already in his late teens, has massive trouble adapting to the culture, and gets more and more rebellious as time goes on. He is pressured into joining the army in order to be taught 'discipline', but ends up joining the navy instead and hating the whole experience with all his might. But it's there that he meets his wife, Debra, a tough as fuck, no nonsense lady with a very militaristic mindset. They quit at the same time, before the bigger conflicts that lead to the bombs happen, and in order to appease his in-laws, Sal leaves behind his rebellious ways and becomes a hard working, proper man. He changes quite a bit, hides his tattoos (two full sleeves, colorful and referencing his homeland), cuts his very long hair short, and for a while everything is good, even though he is miserable. Then Shaun happens, he never wanted kids and was not ready for it at all, him and Debra no longer see eye to eye, and are consciously trying to make their marriage work by the time they enter the vault. Though he feels like a shit for it, Sal is relieved when he wakes up and Shaun is nowhere to be found - with his wife dead, that's the end of that, in his mind. He has no interest in finding his son and takes the mercenary path instead, remaining untethered to any factions and trying to take one day at a time.

🖊 finally, we have Bastian, my latest sole survivor. I had a last name I really wanted to use, then some characteristics that sounded interesting, and I went on collecting details that kind of had little to do with each other to see if I could connect the dots later. The result is Sebastian Aguirre, born in Iceland, built like a stereotypical 'viking' dude, abandoned as a toddler near Barcelona, adopted and named by a young, single and ready to mingle Spanish woman, raised in a small village. Mother later married an Irish man who'd taken a vacation to find himself again after a bad breakup, he becomes Sebastian Crowe Aguirre, the family travels around Europe for a couple of years before deciding to settle down for good in Ireland and expand the family. Soon enough he finds himself the eldest of nine children, all adopted, and takes to the role of big brother incredibly well. When the time comes to get an education and fly solo, he leans into his penchant for finance and administration, and though he is quite unusual for a businessman, being a 6'10ish heavily tattooed dude built like a tank and all, he becomes incredibly successful. When war comes knocking he is drafted and doesn't much mind it - he's not glad for war, of course, but he sees it as an opportunity to protect his people. His connections in the corporate world see to it that he doesn't stay in the army for long, however, and he is discharged and offered a job in Boston. In Bastian's canon, Shaun is his step-son, and though he does see him as his own he also feels like he has failed and there is no point in looking for him when he comes out of the vault. He decides to try and better the Commonwealth in his honor instead, and does it the best way he knows how: even 200 years ago money is what made the world go round, and he'll need plenty of it. He joins the raiders in Nuka-World with the intentions of reopening the parks as a business venture, all while playing along to the whole raiders 4 lyfe thing. Despite his good intentions, Sebastian is 100% a 'the end justifies the means' kind of guy, and feels absolutely no shame for manipulating everyone knowing full well he always had plans to wipe all gangs out.

[merakiaes]

The One For Me - Aaron Hotchner

Pairing: Aaron Hotchner x reader

Requested: By @nuvoleincielo​

Prompts: #16, #30 and #63 from the fluff-list. 

Warnings/notes: This is my first time writing for Hotch and Criminal Minds in general so please be patient while I get used to these new characters, might be slight OOC😭 It’s also the first piece I’ve written in a few months now and I’m a bit rusty, so please let me know what you think. Not proofread so I apologize in advance for any possible mistakes. Send in more requests for Hotch, Reid and Morgan and let me know if you want to be added to the Criminal Minds taglist! I hope you like it💕

Wordcount: 4118

Summary: Hotch has doubts about letting your relationship go further and you reassure him that he’s what you want. 

After being raised in one of New York’s worst, most crime ridden and low poverty neighborhoods by a family who was constantly targeted by the law enforcement, the last thing you’d expect was that you would become an active worker of said law enforcement.

Your mother died ten minutes after giving birth to you and your father had never been a part of the equation, most likely having ran the second he found out your mother had gotten pregnant. With no other immediate family, you ended up in the system, where you were stuck for the first seven years of your life.

You jumped back and forth between families of all kinds but for reasons unknown, no one wanted to keep you. It wasn’t until a couple adopted you two days before your eight birthday that you finally felt like you belonged.

They had many children of their own as well as more foster children, all between the ages of ten and twenty-five at the time of your adoption. On top of that, the children had children of their own and aunts, uncles, cousins and friends stayed with you more often than not as they struggled to hold on to homes of their own.

It wasn’t the most ideal way to live, a dozen people staying under the same roof of a two bedroom house, but you had dinner on the table every evening and the love for family was strong, so despite the conditions you lived in and the struggles you were forced to face on a daily basis, you guessed you couldn’t complain; you’d had it better than most.

The people who lived in those parts were always getting pinned for various kinds of crimes, just so the police could get it out of their hands and go on about their lives.

The male members of your family and the company they kept were some of the biggest targets even though they rarely did anything wrong, but despite the injustices they faced every day, they remained respectful when staring in the face of a cop.

You, on the other hand, despised them. You were an outspoken little girl, too feisty for your own good and on more occasions than one, you’d ended up pissing off some rich kid in school for which your dad and uncles were forced to pay the price.

You’d always hated the injustice the less fortunate suffered every day, but it wasn’t until you witnessed your first murder at fifteen that your interest of making the world a better place really piqued.

The victim had been one of the boys living in your neighborhood. He was two years older than you and he always gave it his all to make something out of himself. He walked with you and your younger brothers and cousins to school every day to make sure you got there safely, studied hard, kept out of trouble and always remained respectful.

The only reason he died was because his skin was the wrong color in the eyes of the law and because he was born into a less fortunate neighborhood, and it was then your eyes truly opened to the police brutality and misuse of power plaguing your country.

You joined the police force when you were nineteen years old and you stayed there, on top of your game and determined to do it better than the bad ones, until you were twenty-one. 

At that point, most of your family had passed away either out of old age, or simply from being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and your determination to help people was stronger than ever.

But even you, the tough little firecracker as your uncles had always called you, could only tolerate so much.

After two years on the force, you got tired of being undermined by your male co-workers and set out to step up your game, taking up studies of criminology and psychology among several other subjects.

You studied your ass off and was just barely able to get by with the money you had saved up over the years, and at twenty-four, you finally had your degrees and clearance to begin working in higher places.

Starting off in New York, you stayed there for six months before you were transferred to Quantico, Virginia, where you were recruited by the one and only Jason Gideon who had heard word of your talent in the field.

You had worked with the team for little over a year now and Jason, who had always acted as a kind of mentor and father figure for you, was gone, having left only a letter for you and Spencer each.

Taking his place was Aaron Hotchner, a fellow agent to which you hadn’t paid much personal attention before the departure of Gideon. But things changed when he left, a lot of things.

Hotch was fresh out of his divorce, moodier than ever and in a really bad mental state. He stayed in his office until the late hours of the night, sometimes even the early hours of the next morning, barely slept and often forgot to eat if he wasn’t reminded by his team members.

Everyone urged him to take some time off, to go home and get some sleep and to take care of himself, and although he always told them that he would, he never followed through.

Up until then, you still hadn’t spoken much with him except for when you were working on a case. You were just an agent and he was just your boss, there was nothing else to it. But you couldn’t just sit by and watch as he neglected himself, so you followed your team-mates’ example and approached him.

He dismissed you at first, like he had done everyone else who had tried to offer him their support. But as time passed by, in some miraculous way, you made him laugh, and as you continued your attempts on offering him your ear to listen, he opened up to you, and you grew to become more than just colleagues.

Your first and only date had been on your initiative. You invited him to dinner at your house during your weekend off, to which he agreed.

You cooked together and although it started off as kind of awkward – more from his side than yours – you ended up kissing later that night after having had a bit too much to drink, and fell asleep together on your couch while you were flicking through your childhood photo albums.

The next morning, he was gone. You had always been an extremely light sleeper so you found it strange that he had managed to slip off without alerting you and also having managed to wrap you up in a blanket before he left.

He didn’t leave without a word though. A note was neatly placed on the coffee table in front of you, on which he explained that he needed to pick up Jack and that he didn’t want to wake you, finishing it off with a thank you for the night before.

That was the first and last time you spent time together, just the two of you, but it wasn’t like it was intentional.

You wanted to do it again, to continue exploring the budding romance between the two of you and to see where you could take it, and although you knew nothing of his feelings, he wanted the same thing.

But work got very stressful; stressful to the point where you could never find a moment to talk to each other if it wasn’t in the presence of the entire team. But the spark between you wasn’t gone.

It was still there in the way he would let his hand hover above the small of your back when you were walking side by side and step in front of you if you were ever in danger, and in the way you would always take a second to ask how he and Jack was doing, if they were eating enough and getting enough sleep, whenever you were heading somewhere; no matter if the team was with you.

It was there in the way he would always encourage you to go on the less dangerous tasks while he took the ones that were more life-threatening and in the way he would always smile, the slightest of smiles, whenever you were exchanging jokes or sarcastic remarks with Morgan, or messing around with poor, clueless Reid.

It was there, but it was unspoken. At least until now.

The case you had been working on for the past two days was that of Gilbert Stratton; a serial killer who had targeted young women, killed them, drained them of their blood, and then proceeded to hang the bodies up by their feet in trees all around the city.

You had caught him just in time to save the last kidnapped girl and you had originally been the one assigned to question him, but Hotch had stepped in last minute after the man had made a crude comment about how ‘girls like you always tasted the best’.

You had attempted to tell him that you could take it, but before you had even been given a chance to state your case, he had shut the door in your face and you had been whisked off by JJ.

You were the one out of the entire team who was the most interested in the psychology of a serial killer so you really wanted to be the one to interview Stratton, but you knew that Hotch had taken over for the sake of your safety and not because he underestimated you, so you couldn’t even bring yourself to be mad.

While he did his job, you settled at your desk with a sigh, getting to work on the heft stack of paperwork that had been building up throughout the week. 

The first ten minutes you kept close track of the clock next to you, wondering why it was taking so long, but the more time that passed, the more focused you became.

Soon enough, you only had a few reports left and you had completely lost track of time, when there was a sudden bang behind you, sounding an awful lot like a door slamming shut.

And your suspicions were proven correct, when you looked up to see Hotch march straight the bullpen.

The corners of your lips tugged up at the sight of him, but the arising smile quickly fell again when he walked right past you, without even an acknowledging glance, heading into his office and shutting himself inside without as much of a word to anyone.

Left behind with dumbstruck looks on their faces were the team, glances of bewilderment being exchanged.

“What happened?” Reid asked the question you were all thinking after a moment of silence, just as Emily walked in from the interrogation room.

Rather than answering Reid’s question, she looked right at you, offering you a small, comforting smile. “I think you better go talk to him.” She said simply, and as confusion and anxiety bubbled up inside of you, you slowly drawled.

“Okaaay…”

They all watched you as you stood up from your seat, brushing down your shirt and turning off the lamp at your desk before heading for the stairs.

You could feel their eyes following your every move and you would be lying if you said you weren’t nervous of what you were about to walk into.

Everyone had gotten negatively affected by a case or unsub at some point during their career, most more than once. They were all very good at getting into your head, no matter how little you wanted to admit it. But you had never seen Hotch react this strongly to anything before. The only time you had really seen him snap was during one single case, right after Haley had filed for a divorce.

Still, you kept walking until you reached his closed office door, stopping only then to peek inside the blinded windows to see him sitting at his desk, hands rubbing over his face.

You knocked on the glass gently and in any other case he would have looked up and meet your gaze, but when his head kept hanging this time, you let yourself in, only when closing the door behind you cutting off the curious eyes of the others.

Once you were inside, you wasted no time in approaching Hotch where he sat by his desk, analyzing his every move which led you to only one question.

What the hell had Stratton said to him to make him this distraught?

He didn’t even look up as you reached him, keeping his eyes closed as you came to a stop beside his desk.

Treading carefully, you reached out and gently put your hand on his shoulder.

“What happened?” You asked softly, the sound of your words instantly bringing a long, heavy sigh out of his nose.

“Why are you doing this?” He wasted no time in replying, causing a crease to form between your eyebrows.

“What?” You asked back, confusion lacing your voice.

Finally, he brought his hands down from his face and slowly spun around in his chair, forcing you to drop your hand from his shoulder and to take a step back.

He stared up at you, face wiped free of emotion as always. But the eyes said it all.

“Why are you so adamant on being with me? Why do you try so hard?” He questioned you, taking you by surprise.

Your eyebrows shot up and your eyes grew slightly wider, and you took a moment to regain your composure after the, to say the least, unexpected question.  

“What kind of question is that?” You asked once you finally regained your senses. “Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do when you want to be with someone? Try?”

One of your eyebrows sank again, leaving only one raised in question.

Hotch’s face softened slightly and for a moment, he averted his eyes, letting out another, smaller sigh from his nose before looking back up to meet your eyes once again.

“What I mean is, why do you want to be with me?” He asked again, clarifying and slightly shaking his head in what seemed to be disbelief. “The second you walked into this office, both Morgan and Reid had their eyes on you, and they still do. They’re closer to your age, they’re energetic, humorous, full of life, while I’m ten years your senior, and can’t offer you what they can. So why do you want to be with me, when you can have them, or anyone you want?”

“What is it that they can give me that you can’t?” You didn’t waste a second in firing back.

You had no idea what had brought this on, but it was clear that it was bothering him and quite frankly, you found it ridiculous even though you didn’t like making it a habit to judge other people for what they were feeling.

“They can make you smile-“ He started explaining, and you instantly cut him off.

“You make me smile, all the time.” You shook your head, but your affirmation only seemed to fuel his frustrations even more as he was up on his feet within the next second.

“But I’m not- I’m not fun.” He stated, staring you down. “My clock is ticking. I’m ill-tempered, irritable, too serious for my own good. I’m barely capable of taking care of myself at this point much less my son. I’m miserable and I’m a bully, who only cares about this job. Why would you want to be with someone like that?”

“Where is this coming from? I thought we had something good going.” Your face fell slightly, and you carefully reached your hands out to grab a hold of the front of his suit, taking a small step closer.

“Is this because of Stratton? Is he the one putting these doubts into your head?” You asked, keeping your eyes on your hands for a short moment before looking up to meet his heavy gaze staring down at you.

And once your eyes met his, he knew there was no point in lying; you were a profiler after all, and a good one at that.

“He did.” He confessed calmly, his lips pursing into a straight line.

“Aaron…” You began, the softness of your voice matching the one in your eyes.

“But everything he said is true.” He quietly interrupted you. “I’m not fun to be around, I push people away. That’s what I do, what I’ve always done.” His eyebrows rose and he stood still.

You knew about the doubts he had about himself. You know he felt inadequate as a friend, as a colleague, as a father, and more than anything as a partner after the way Haley had left him. You were aware of all of it, and yet the sound of those self-doubts being voiced aloud saddened you nonetheless.

Silence fell over the two of you for a moment as you took another step closer, flattening your palms out on his chest and your eyes never leaving his.

“Those people didn’t deserve you in the first place. They knew what they were getting themselves into when they started building a relationship with you, whether it be a romantical or purely platonic one. They knew how passionate you are about your job, how much you value it. Them leaving… That’s on them, not you.” You said softly, shaking your head. “I’m not about to give up on you, on us, just because you happen to be a few years older than me. Derek, he wants to have fun, to be young. He may be attracted to me but he doesn’t want anything serious. Spencer isn’t ready for a relationship either, for obvious reasons, and either way, they’re not the ones I want.”

He watched you intensely as you spoke, lips still tight and strained. “What is it that you want?” He asked you, and you wasted no time in replying.

“Something serious and stable, someone who’s ready to settle down, and for me, the best chance to get that is through you.” You smiled, breaking your eyes away from his to follow your hand as you moved it up to his face. “Regardless of what other people say, you’re an amazing person. You’re passionate, driven, kind, loyal, gentle, and so much more. Despite what you may think, you do have a sense of humor and you’re the only one who can make me smile until my cheeks hurt. If that’s not a good man, a good person, then I don’t know what is. I wouldn’t change a single thing about you.”

By the time you finished, the remaining doubt was wiped free from his face, a small, gentle smile instead having taken its place.

It was a funny thing, Hotch only ever spared the tiniest of smiles, and yet it was them that brought you the biggest and most intense amount of happiness. It was so rare to see his ever-stoic features reflect joy that you couldn’t help but light up like a kid on Christmas every time it occurred.

And true to what you’d always been told growing up, your smile was just so contagious that he couldn’t help but to smile wider at the sight.

“Thank you.” He whispered, and visibly relaxed where he stood.

Your heart swelled in your chest when you took note of the way he was slowly but surely shuffling closer to you, picking up a significant amount of speed when you then felt his hand brush against the side of your hip.

But he didn’t dare touch you, hesitation still lingering in the air. So you did what your heart told you and grabbed a hold of his hand, and pushed it down into the curve of your waist.

From then on, he moved on his own, raising his other hand to mimic the same position at your other side, and you let your hand drop from his, instead raising them to busy with his crimson red tie.

“I know you’re struggling, with yourself, with Jack, and that you’re still processing the divorce. And if it’s time you want, then I’ll wait.” You spoke quietly, feeling your skin flush hot under his touch as his thumbs began to move over the thin fabric of your shirt. “But if you want to keep going and see where this can go, then I’ll be here every step of the way to support and help you in any way I can. You just need to let me in.”

More shyly then before, you dared loo back up at him through your lashes, hands stilling on his chest.

His smile was gone and his eyes creased together in concentration, but his eyes were soft and his head slowly nodded. “You’re right.” He said, and you allowed yourself to smile again.

“Aren’t I always?” You lightheartedly teased, tilting your head to the side.

In return, a smile spread across his face, his head shaking. “Don’t make me take it back.”

“No, no take-backs. What’s said is said.” You kept joking, your smile only widening.

He kept smiling down at you for a few seconds longer, but then his face fell again, just like that, out of nowhere, completely sudden. The gaze he held on your face grew absent as he got lost in his thoughts, and before you could question him about the sudden change of mood, the words spilled from his lips as if there was no tomorrow.

“I think I love you.”

Your mind instantly broke into a flurry of thoughts, countless emotions battling in your body. Nervosity and excitement ended up coming out on top, the mixture of the two creating an uncomfortable, sickly feeling in your stomach.

Your face fell in disbelief and your eyes searched his as he came back to reality.

“You do?”

Your voice came out so quiet and small, you mentally cursed yourself for sounding so pathetic, but luckily, you didn’t get much time to beat yourself up over the anticlimactic reacting as he continued.

“You don’t have to say it back if you don’t feel the same way, but I needed to say it. Every day, this job puts all of our lives in danger. I couldn’t bear it if one of us died before I got the time to let you know how I feel.”

You sucked in a breath, feeling yourself growing weak at the knees as he absentmindedly rubbed your waist with his thumbs.

“Just a minute ago, you were trying to end… whatever this is, and now your proclaiming your love for me?” You asked. 

It was meant to be a joke, an attempt to ease the anxiety you were currently feeling, but you realized quickly that said anxiety made it sound like the exact opposite of a lighthearted, teasing joke.

Luckily, the man standing in front of you was a profiler and knew that you meant no harm, understanding how shock could render your ability to react appropriately.

“I was never trying to end what we have. I just wanted to be sure that you were sure. That I won’t be holding you back.” He explained, and you finally managed to pull yourself out of the state of shock.

“Being with you motivates me. And I love you, too.” You confessed, the smile once again returning to your face as you moved your hands from his chest to wrap around the back of his neck. 

“I’m happy to hear that.” He smiled right back. “Can I kiss you?” He quietly added, and your face instantly lit up in a mischievous expression.

“In the office?” You gasped dramatically, bringing your arms down, taking a step back and lightly slapping his chest. “Aren’t you feeling frisky today?”

A large smile stretched across his lips, his chest shaking as he chuckled. “Come here.” He said simply, and before you got the chance to argue, not that you would’ve if given the opportunity, he sat back down in his chair and pulled you down with him. 

The chair spun in the process, causing you to let out a squeal of surprise. Your arms wrapped around his neck and your small laughs of glee quickly became muted as he placed his lips on yours, replaced by low hums of contentment. 

You clung to him as if your life depended on it, basking in the feeling of his lips moving against yours and his arms tightening around your waist, and as your entire body burned with passion, you realized that he really was the one for you.

Tagged: @must-be-a-weasley-92​ @zizzlekwum​ @cozytruecrimeaddict​ @lovelynervouskingdom​

(If you want to be added or removed from the tag list, send me a message, ask or leave a comment)

[luvspence]

prom night

synopsis: you and spence both never got your own prom, maybe this makes up for it

{a/n: i’m projecting a little bit bc i missed my prom, but i hope this isn’t too cheesy}

——-

the east coast was your home

born and raised in dc, school in new york, work in virginia

you wouldn’t have it any different

except for the fact that you lived less than 20 mins outside your childhood home

you loved being able to be close to your family, but it had its downsides

“y/n can you pick up your brother

y/n can you run to the store for me

y/n can you pick up my dry cleaning”

and it was like you were in high school all over again

on one occasion you were at home with your mom and your baby sister, delaney, she was 17, so not much of a baby anymore

“so what’s the hot gos” you said taking a bite out of your gronola bar and looking your sister down

“ew”

“dont ‘ew’ me”

“well i got asked to the prom yesterday”

your mom nearly dropped her pan

“NO WAY”

“yes way, is it so hard to believe that someone would like me? i’m not y/n for crying out loud”

you gave her a light punch on the arm

“NOT FUNNY”

she wasn’t far from wrong though, you were the classic “nerd”

15 years ago when you were in her place, at the exact same high school, you were never asked to prom, you were too busy in math olympiad or physics club to ever want to attend prom

but that was 15 years ago, now you lost the braces and the acne, got 2 degrees, and had a very lovely boyfriend of your own

“it is though, you’re lucky you found spencer, two dorks made for each other” she said taking a sip of her water

“you’re such a bitch”

15 year age gap aside, you were still very much, sisters

“y/n, do you mind chaperoning? that way we don’t have to pay for a ticket” your mom asked

your sister blurted out “oh my god NO”

you were laughing so hard, usually this is the kind of thing you’d pass on, but it torturing your sister was so so so worth it

“okay i’m game, see you prom night”

——

“spencerrrrrrr” you trailed on as you sat next to spencer on the couch, staring deep into his hazel eyes

“yes my love?”

“do you love meeeeeeee???”

spencer rolled his eyes, he knew this is how you asked him for a favors

“to the moon and back, why??????”

“okay look, my baby sister, delaney, is going to the prom and i’m chaperoning her, and she called me and you dorks so we have to get back at her by embarrassing the hell out of her at her prom”

spencer laughed

“you’re no better than a petty 17 year old”

you rolled your eyes “so can we?”

he looked at you, than his eyes trailed from the calendar to his watch to you again

“of course”

“yes!” you gave him a hug and planted a kiss on his cheek

“i love you so bad spencer reid!” you said as you ran around the apartment

“even more!” he replied

—

“incoming call from spencer reid”

“hey y/n?”

“yes love?”

“what color dress are you wearing tonight?”

“green, why?”

“no reason...”

he said before he hung up

you laughed to yourself “what a dork”

you continued to brush the mascara on your eyes, getting ready for your very first prom night

you came running down the stairs in a dark green ankle length dress, while spencer waited to pick you up

he was wearing a suit with a matching bow tie to your dress

“that’s why you asked the color! you look dashing by the by”

you said as you leaned over and gave him a cheek staining kiss

“and this” he said as he handed you a beautiful green corsage arrangement

“spencer! for me? this is gorgeous”

you said as you slipped it onto your wrist

“yeah, penelope knows a guy”

“of course she does, and thank you! i can’t believe you’d go through all of this for me on fake prom” you said as he started driving toward your parents house

“hey this prom is not fake at all to me, i’ve never been to prom before”

you shrugged “me neither, i always thought it was dumb anyway”

“this is sort of embarrassing” spencer said scratching his head

“come on spencer it’s just me”

“okay, you know i went to highschool very young, i hadn’t even gone through puberty. i was the smallest guy in the class and that wasn’t purely based on my age. i was scrawny. but i had this grand idea of going to prom with the most beautiful girl. and i’d be all tal and handsome at that point, and i’d walk into that dance and stick it to all my bullies”

“that not embarrassing! i wish i wanted to go to prom like that. i guess i was too pretentious to go, i was an all star intellectual, there was no way i’d show my face at an event like prom”

“yeah, so i guess we both get do overs. and i get to live my prom dream. now i’m tall, and i have a beatiful girl by my side” he said as he smiled at you

“have i ever told you i love you?”

“not enough” he smiled as he pulled into your parents drive way

you got out of your car to wait inside with your sister for her date to arrive

eventually a tall girl with a equally as beautiful corsage in her hand ended up nervously swaying on the front door and she rang the door bell

spencer answered

“hi!”

“h-hi, mr. y/l/n” she said in a nevrous tone

spencer laughed out loud and you went to intervene

“oh my yeah he’s just my boyfriend, hi i’m delaney’s older sister y/n. no need to be nervous, there’s no dad around here. just a lot of siblings, my mom and my boyfriend!” you said as you welcomed her into the house

delaney went to take the corsage from her date, melanie

your mom lined you spencer and your sister and melanie up for what felt like 800 pictures before you finally decided to get into spencers car to the dance

in the car you turned around to the girls

“sooooo, how’d y’all meet”

delaney burried her head into her knees in embarrassment while her date explained

“well she was in my physics class, and it all went from there”

“physics!!! i love physics, is mr. scott still there?”

“yup he’s our teacher”

“sick” you said to yourself, reminiscing about your days in high school

eventually you pulled into your highschool parking lot, hooking arms with spencer as you walked toward then gym

“god does this bring me back”

you said to him

your sister whispered to her date “god she’s so old”

“HEY DELANY I HEARD THAT”

she gave you the stink eye and whispered in your ear

“please get as far away from me as possible”

all you did was nod as you watched the two of them skip into their dance

you looked up at spencer

“god you’re so cute, i wish i had you here in high school”

“i’m sure you had your boys”

“from the physics club? right”

you walked into the fully decorated gym, wandering around from the punch bowl to the photo booth, you and spencer watching the floor of kids dance to their hearts content

“i think i know why i skipped this in highschool”

spencer laughed

“ i would have killed to be in this very position when i was in high school”

you wrapped your arms around his neck and looked him in the eyes

“killed to be in prom in the first place or to be here with me?”

“with your of course”

he said as he met your lips for a kiss

obviously bringing spencer was a bad idea for your sabotage delany plan, because you got way too distracted with spencer by your side

you spent the entire night talking to him, dancing with him to the slow songs, taking funny pictures in the photo booth

high school stuff you guess

eventually when all the kids were slow dancing, you looked up at spencer

“wanna make a break for it?”

he didn’t know what that meant, but if it was with you he’d do it, so he just nodded and followed you outside

you buried your head into his shoulder as you walked around the campus you grew up on, pointing to the points of interest

you pointed to a big oak tree with seat like roots under it

“that’s where we used have physics club meetings”

then you pointed to a hidden patch behind all the bushes

“this is where i traded homework for money”

he just nodded as you told the stories of your high school experience

you pointed to some old looking railings with a tree standing view it

“that’s where i had my first kiss”

“HUH! i thought you said you got no boys, physics club and all”

“yeah you’re right” you said as you settled on one of the bleacher, overlooking the field and the night sky, spencer joining you

your fancy dress hitting the dirt of the baseball field, the cold april night making you shiver, and spencer putting his blazer coat over you

“you’re right, i didn’t get any boys in high school” you sighed as you cuddled into his arm

“my first kiss was with dylan watson, he was mr blue eyes blonde hair, baseball and perfect social status. and you know i was, braces glasses and physics”

he laughed as you continued to tell the story

“but yeah one day he slipped me a note, i figured he just wanted homework. but he said to meet him there after school. so i did, and he confessed tht he loved me, and wanted to be my boyfriend. and of course i said yes. and the he kissed me. it was the best moment of my life up until then. but as soon as he pulled away he yelled ‘you got that?’”

“oh no” spencer said, listening intently

“oh yes, his buddies had be filming, then they put me on plays all around the entire school, showing the video to everyone. so yeah, that’s why i never want to the prom. i guess it might have been bc i was a nerd, but also because i never wanted to show my face to those kids anymore” you said as you sighed

“you know, i had a similar experience where a pretty girl told me the same thing, but instead the entire school stripped me to my underwear and tied me to a pole. it was awful”

“oh my goodness that’s terrible” you said

“well i guess high school bullying makes great profilers?” yoy laughed

“maybe. i think it also develops character well i’m general too. and hey! you got your first kiss out of it”

“yeah, but high school was the worst, i wish i could tell my 17 year old self that it would get better”

“me too” he said

he said as he tucked his chin into your head and looked up at the stars, faint music echoing from the gym and the sound of your cold shakey breath

“y/n, i’m just glad we got to spend our prom night together”

[secret-rendezvous1d]

“you did what?”

hello, hi!

surprise, i guess? haha. i’m struggling to sleep so i’m letting my imagination run a little wild on google docs and i gained a little inspiration from an episode i’ve just watched of criminal minds and this came out. a little fluff in the workplace. a huge contrast to the previously posted story, full of smut, which you will find linked here.

like, reblog and send in some feedback, please. it’s greatly appreciated and it helps me work out what you want to see and what you are after. if you want something specific then do let me know! i’d love to try and write something for you.

thank you. enjoy.

-

“you did what?” spencer reid x female reader (reader insert imagine) word count; 1.5k

* if you haven’t watched criminal minds then this does contain some spoilers to the show that you may want to dodge if you are thinking of starting the series up. *

summary; when the bau arrive home from a case, spencer has something exciting to tell yn.

-

As soon as YN had gotten word of the jet touching ground, the time around her seemed to slow down.

All she wanted was to see her boyfriend after a long day of doing nothing around the office. Having been injured in the field during their last case, with a gunshot wound to her right shoulder, YN had been given strict orders to stay away from any activity until her arm had almost completely healed. Hotch made sure she wasn’t placed actively on a case, using the help of Garcia to keep her grounded in Virginia whilst they flew across the borders, making it clear that she would still be on some use when she wasn’t with them in person. Something Spencer could agree one and was adamant that she followed orders because, even though they were vulnerable to any kind of violence and injury when working a case with a dangerous unknown subject and there was always a likelihood of getting seriously injured or caught in a predicament that caused onsight panic, it scared him to see her get hit in a crossfire. If he had it his way, he’d have requested that they both took their holiday leave so he could help her back to health at home - but he knew, deep down, it wasn’t necessary.

The ding of the elevator was enough to calm the butterflies in her belly.

Morgan was the first to leave the confined space and gave YN a side-hug, being careful not to jolt her arm with his sudden movement, before he rushed away and disappeared round the corner. Hotch gave her warming and welcoming smile and a subtle nod, which she returned in his favour, and she watched him walk into the unit whilst undoing the button of his sui jacket and carrying his briefcase in his free hand. Blake had given her uninjured shoulder a squeeze on the way passed with a knowing look in her eye, a twitch in her eyebrow directed behind her and had YN looking at the elevator. JJ and Spencer were the last to leave the elevator, deep in a conversation with Rossi, that YN could only work out was his time in the marines from the way he was talking to passionately.

“Hey, you. You’ll never guess what your boy wonder did today,” JJ grinned, squeezing YN into a gentle hug before releasing her, allowing Rossi to come along and show his appreciation of his welcome by squeezing her elbows. Squeezing one a little softer than the other to not add injury to an existing one, “genius here delivered a baby.”

And with that, the two of them had left Spencer and her alone in the hallway.

“You did what?”

YN stood stunned in her place, barely able to move any part of her body nor close her mouth that had gawped open in surprise, watching and feeling him step closer to her. His tattered trainers squeaking on the tiled floor beneath him with each step he took in her direction, his eyes never leaving the sling that her arm had been tucked into for the last few days, guilt sinking to the bottom of his gut because he probably could have prevented her from being in the pain she was in by simply following her when she disappeared to check a room and spooked the unsub who had been hiding. His body stopped before her, almost awkwardly and like they hadn’t been dating for almost 6 years, almost like they were new to a workplace romance and didn’t want anyone to see them so soft towards each other.

“Yeah, I- uh,” he blushed softly and rubbed the back of his neck nervously, something YN had found out to be one of the tics that showed up when he felt a little under pressure and anxious over a situation, “I delivered a baby.”

“You- you helped a woman give birth? In the field? A baby?”

YN had a million questions running through her mind; how the hell did he end up in a situation where he had to help a victim give birth to a baby? How was it safe enough for a woman to be giving birth if she was surrounded by police cars and police units and weapons all around with a dangerous unsub so close to the scene? Why did he decide he was the best one in the team to become a temporary midwife for the moment? When did he learn so much about labour and delivery?

She wished she had been there to watch as Spencer took control of the situation whilst keeping everyone in and around the scene calm and collected, a slight sense of panic in every word he spoke and every action he played, his mind tunnel-visioned on making sure the baby came out healthy and crying for the touch of its warm and nurturing mother. His calming tone being of good use, letting his hand go through the abuse of a woman taking her pain out on squeezing through her contractions, not letting anything get too out of control so that the baby was born into a room that had only, minutes before, been a scene that no baby should have been brought into.

“Yeah, yeah. I, uh, I helped a woman give birth to a baby out in the field,” he repeated, his arm falling down to his side, the leather strap of his go-bag slipping down to his elbow, something he corrected and hoisting it back up onto his shoulder, slipping it over his neck to keep it in a more secure place around his body, “something my eidetic memory will had trouble forgetting.”

YN snorted and rolled her eyes, stepping forward and wrapping her free arm around his waist, welcoming him home with a warm hug and a little intimacy that had gone missing over the last few days; he’d been on a case and YN had been the one left behind to work alongside Garcia on the computers, for obvious reasons. A time she took advantage of and used to complete files with deadlines she had missed because they piled up on the corner of her desk and almost towered her standing figure, that she couldn’t do as quickly as she could with two working arms.

“I read a lot of books about labour and delivery when JJ was pregnant with Henry. You know, just in case she went into labour somewhere where we couldn’t get her to a hospital in time. We needed someone on the team who knew what they were doing so she was doing it correctly,” he explained, arms tight around her waist and a kiss pressed to her forehead after he had concluded his sentence, inhaling the scent of her hair that hadn’t been used with the shampoo that held her usual scent - it was his shampoo and he’d know that scent anywhere and every now and then, keeping it hidden from Spencer, she liked to used his soap and his shampoo to smell like him because she missed his presence around her. “I’d like to think I’d get a job as a midwife almost instantly now. I have experience.”

“At least we’ll be prepared if we ever had to go through it personally,” she hummed, looking up at him and resting her chin upon his chest, his neck craning back so he could press a kiss to her lips and shake his head with a smile. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion though so she was unsure of how he truly felt on the subject of having children. Her fingers dug underneath the hem of his buttoned shirt, fingertips touching the naked skin of his hip, forefinger drawing circles into the soft flesh beneath, “what? We might have a baby and the story of daddy delivering them would definitely be one to tell at Christmas time when they’re all-.”

“We will,” he interrupted, squeezing her hips before releasing her body from his hold, “we will have a baby. I’m not even going to doubt that.”

Not yet, of course.

They had perfect jobs that they loved to be actively involved in, they had a life they were enjoying as just the two of them, they had an single-bed apartment that didn’t feel like a good fit for raising a baby, and they didn’t feel they had enough life experience to even think about trying for a baby. They may have been dating for six years but, in the last two, they’d only just learnt to live with one another, figuratively and literally.

“A baby?” Garcia gasped loudly from behind the two of them, a shocked yet excited expression written all across her face, coffee dribbling down the side of her coffee mug and droplets landing on the floor beside her feet, dressed in the brightest pair of pink high heels she could find in her wardrobe. “Are you guys-”

“No,” YN blurted out, and turned around at her sudden presence, shaking her head quickly with a giggle, “no, we’re not pregnant. Garcia, we’re not.”

“Damn it,” she frowned, her body sinking closer to the floor in dismay, “I was hoping for a new godchild to spoil.”

“One day,” Spencer smiled, dipping his head down and hiding the smile within the fuzz of YN’s air that had become a little messy over the stress of the day, “one day, Garcia. One day.”

[bonnieblue727]

And since I’m such a sucker for blogging. I may start on this as well. I love doing things like this. Try to do one daily or when I’m able.

1. I will start on my name. My name is Bonnie Blue Springer. If you don’t already know Bonnie is a Scottish word meaning pretty. Blue is a color (like duh). So why was I named Bonnie Blue? My moms favorite movie is Gone with the Wind. I am named after Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara’s daughter whos name is Bonnie Blue because her eyes were as blue as the Bonnie Blue flag. So named after a fictional character. Pretty common for most. Springer is my dads last name. I don’t have much background history on it. And don’t really care to discuss it. That’s it!

2. Birthday. I was born in the peak of summer (the end of July) in 1990 in Fairmont, West Virginia at a hospital that no longer exists. I was actually due on my mother’s birthday. I came a day later.

3. My moms name is Beverly Jane Myles. She is the middle child out of her two sisters. She has no brothers. She likes to go by Janie. Her dad was an alcoholic although he didn’t do any heavy drinking until she was in her teens. She was outshined by her older sister who was extremely popular in High-school and either won Homecoming Queen or Prom Queen. (One of those two). My mom was shy and backwards like me. She played around with the neighborhood kids and was considered a Tom-boy. Her childhood friend was Judy Bright. She was raised in Pleasant Valley, West Virginia. When she was in her early 20’s she worked in the electronics department at a store called I think Murphy’s Mart. She got a lot of attention from men there. She eventually met a guy who she went out with who would make her laugh herself to the point of crying. She said she wasn’t necessarily in love with him, but she was 25 and marriage was the normal thing you did back then so she married him. And their marriage lasted 7 years I think? (Don’t quote me on that). She had her first child a boy in August of 79 with her husband at the time. She loved that child more than anything. Cam (her husband) was only 19 at the time that they were married. He would go out and party a lot. Ya know do things young boys would do. While my mom stayed at home. By the time my older brother was in school my mom had divorced Cam. My mom went to see a house for rent and the land lord was my dad. Who I may add was not the least bit interested in giving her a tour of the rented property because he wanted to go hunting. (I think it was bird hunting or something like that). My dad lived with his wife and their two sons next door in a three bedroom house with a nice deck and a basement. My mom’s rental house was below his house. I guess they got to talking and my dad invited my mom over to his house one night when his wife Debbie was on a business trip. They apparently talked all night and made out. My mom of course fell in love with him and ended up pregnant with my sister. My dad then bought a trailer on a property he owned down the road for my mom to live in with my baby sister and my older brother(who would go visit his own dad on the weekends). My mom had several fights with my dad and his wife at that time. My dad would move in with my mom and then leave her repeatedly to go back to his wife Debbie. My mom had my sister in August of 89. My mom became pregnant with me that fall/winter of 89 and I was born the following year in July. My mom raised me and my sister on her own with the help of my older brother. My dad would stop in from time to time and we would sometimes even go to his house on the weekends. My dad lacked being there sometimes, but not for a time that really sticks out in my mind or anything. Four years later my little brother was born. My dad then bought a double wide trailer and moved us into another spot of land he owned next door to where we were previously living in the little trailer. My mom had odd jobs from welfare and she relied on welfare to feed us. My mom at one point (when we were all older) went back to school to be a surgery tech. I think she finished the schooling but did not get a job. She worked a job as a receptionist of a motel while she was going to school. My mom then ended up working at a hospital in Morgantown, West Virginia as a cardiac monitor tech. She then fell down the stairs at work one night and ended up going on social security and disability. She moved out of my dads double wide trailer he provided for for child support back in 2013 and moved into a low income apartment. After me and my sister moved to Lexington, Kentucky and my sister had my nephew. My mom got another job as a cardiac monitor tech in another hospital to save money so she could move to Lexington and be with us. My mom currently lives in Lexington and is on disability. She participates in clinical trail studies to have enough/ extra money to live on. My mom is 67 years old. She has 4 children and 5 grandchildren. I am literally her only kid who doesn’t have a kid 😆

4. Charles Jarrett Springer born August 2nd 1951. He turned 70 last year 😢. Named after his own dad. My dad’s dad ie. my grandpa died when my dad was only 6 years old. It was an alcohol related death. I thought it was a car wreck, but I’m not sure on that. Either way, my dad was young when he lost his father. His mother, ie. my grandmother was named Ramona. Ramona eventually remarried a guy by the name of Bonnard Corbin. He was really hard on my dad. My dad also had an older sister named Darlene and he had another sister, but she died as a child from cancer. Bonnard and Ramona then had my dads younger brother Mitchell. My dad grew up in Kingmont and went to West Fairmont High-school. Idk much about his younger years except his love for horses and horse racing. Idk how he got with Debbie. (His ex wife) But they had two sons, Clint & Clay. I am not exactly sure when exactly my mom met my dad and started living in his little rental house, but my guess on the year is 1986. My dad liked to bird hunt. Or just hunt in general and fish. My dad has always been an unfaithful man. He even claimed he cheated on Debbie on their wedding night. My dad gets bored with one woman in his life. My dad had one girlfriend after all three of us were born while he was still married to Debbie. Her name was Deanne. She was trash. My dad is white trash through and through. He was racist when I was a child. He’s changed since then, thankfully. My dad smokes. A couple of times when I was a teen, he would try to offer me a fucking cigarette. I always declined. Probably honestly how my little brother started smoking. (Wouldn’t surprise me.) My dad has a learning disability in reading and spelling. He can do both but he isn’t good at it. Anyways back to when I was a kid. He would stop by the trailer we lived in at the time after work and ya know checked in on us. He hung out with us some. On weekends we would go to his house. Mainly played, snooped around, and watched tv. He had a fishing boat we use to play in and a little barn with I think maybe two horses? He would take us to the little store and hang out and talk with friends and buy us candy or hotdogs and we would rent movies to watch for the weekend. My dad loves to talk. He will literally talk to you even when you try to run away from him. When I say he drones on he does! I don’t think he’s as bad as he used to be now that’s he’s old, but my dad has always had tons of friends. My dad owned a lot a land when I was a kid that he eventually sold. He owned a humongous amount of land we would call the field. We lived across the road from this field. My dad would keep some horses on this field. There was several different sections of this field. The downhill part and the best part uphill. I loved that uphill field. I miss it soo much. He sold it. And I can’t trespass. I tried once as a teen, the field was filled with some cows. Dad would take us off roading in his pickup or Bronco. So fun. There was alot more to that place than I can even described. I loved that place. Anyways continuing on, when I was a preteen my dad had finally had divorce proceedings with Debbie. He moved in with us in the double wide after my older brother Cam had moved out. My mom couldn’t stand him. My mom actually had enough of my dad after she had Cody. (My youngest brother) they fought alot. I know one time my mom hit him with a broom on his head. My dad was seeing another woman named Sandy who he ended up marrying. I was extremely upset with this and did not attend the wedding. I hated Sandy. I hated her as a teen. My dad moved down the road with her and they built their own horse barn and even started a business with a tack shop on the side. Sandy prevented me from seeing my dad. I just point blank hated going over there and I did not want to be around her. For some reason as a teen I craved my fathers physical affection up to the point that it would make me emotional. So when I did go over there ya know it was affection overload, plus I guess I missed him. Idk. A weird teenage phase is what I’ve always thought of it.

Continuing the dad thing: To he perfectly honest I was always use to my dad and mom not being together. That was my normal. When they were together I hated it. My dad started going to church and ended up leaving Sandy for Marge whom he is married to now. My dad and Marge both live in our old double wide now and rent out the horse barn and property to the Castillo’s. My dad was a trump supporter. My dad is still dumb in many ways, but he is old now. He has health problems and I’ve always fucking loved him. So that’s how I feel. He’s not the greatest person, but I still love him. My dad is really supportive of me.

5. Let’s talk sibs. I have 4 brothers and one sister. I’ll start with the oldest. My half brother Clint.

This is what Clint does.

Clint is in his 40’s. Lives in Philly. He has fraternal twin sons, his wife, and his daughter Lily. His relationship with my father has not always been good. They have very different point of views and like to voice their political views a lot which have clashed against them and caused a rift. Clint for some reason was also really upset when my dad left Sandy and married Marge, BUT they are on good terms now and Clint sees my dad a lot with the kids now. The twins are in their mid teens. I think Lily is a preteen. I have never really been close to Clint, but he did give me some good advice when I had last seen him in December. I think he is proud of me. Which is good. Clint is all about global warming and studying plants.

[starbuckie]

𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐩

challenge: clair’s 22nd birthday bash by @romantic-barnes​

prompt: soda pop

pairing: 40’s!bucky barnes x reader 

words: 1222 words

warnings: fluff, a lil baby bit of angst, a smooth fucker named james barnes, and language 

summary: getting to work early wasn’t so bad after all.

a/n: happy birthday clair! i hope you like this, cuz i had a lot of fun writing it. this prompt was super fun to play around with, and 40′s bucky is a little sneaky charmer. also, i had to look up forties slang, so i have no clue whether it’s accurate or not. as always, thank you to my sassy but amazing beta @transparentfestivaltiger​. anyways, enjoy, and if you haven’t already, you should join @romantic-barnes​ birthday celebration! thank you so much <3

main masterlist || sebastian stan characters masterlist

The diner was empty when she went in. Sighing, she headed to the back of the dimly lit room and hung up her coat on the hook in the kitchen. The first shift on Wednesday morning truly was the worst.

“Callie, Sue?” Y/N called out, but no answer came back except for the echo of her voice. Today wasn’t her day. Of course, it had been her choice to stay out at the dance hall, but her bastard of a date, Richie, had left her to dance with another girl, and she spent the rest of the night wallowing in the corner and drinking her woes away. The bin of dirty white aprons wasn’t under the sink like usual, so she went up to the front counter and saw that there was already someone waiting outside the glass doors.

This early? She could’ve sworn it was eight-thirty when she entered, so she checked the clock right above the jukebox. Yup, it was only eight forty. Figuring it was another drunk, she unlocked the door and spoke. “Good morning, sir, can I help you?”

The man looked up from the ground and smiled at Y/N. Boy, was he a dreamboat. Nicely pressed uniform, neat chestnut hair, pretty blue eyes, and a charming smile that could knock anyone off their feet. Y/N’s knees nearly buckled on the spot.

“Yes, I was wondering if I could come in and get some soda from a beautiful gal?” She visibly flushed at his words, and he grinned wider when he saw.

“We don’t open for about another fifty minutes, but if you’d like, you can sit until the others start coming in.” 

She opened the door for him, and he stepped in with a quick, “thank you.” He seemed to have never been there before, and he looked around in wonder. “I’ve gotta be honest, this place is a whole lot nicer than some of the diners where I’m from.”

Y/N’s brows furrowed as she walked behind the counter and found the aprons. “Are you not from around here?” 

“Just across the bridge in Brooklyn.”

She smiled. “So you're another one of those Brooklyn boys, aren’t ya?”

“Ah, so you’ve heard of us?” When she just rolled her eyes and walked to the back, he grinned. “What about you, sugar, where are you from?”

“My daddy moved up here from Virginia, but I’m from Manhattan, born and raised.” The workers in the kitchen started entering,  and they both could hear the clanging of metal in the back. “I should probably go and check-in with the guys. Anything you want while I’m back there? Or I can get you a good cup of joe?”

“How about a cola, with two straws, so we can share?” He posed it as a question, a lopsided smirk accompanying it. 

She leaned over the counter, her face inches away from his. “And why should I be sharing a drink with a stranger?”

“The name’s James Barnes, doll, but you can call me Bucky. Close friends only.” 

Y/N scoffed and walked to the back to grab his soda. Truthfully, her heart was racing, because this handsome man was charming her socks off, but she had a history with men like them. They were sweet in the beginning, then they used and cheated her. Maybe she had been corrupted at a young age when Carl had left her for another girl in high school, but her mantra remained the same: love is for fools. Regardless of that loud voice screaming at Y/N to stop interacting with him, she grabbed a cola from the icebox, waved to the boys who had started working, and grabbed two red straws walking back out from the kitchen. 

“So, Mr. Barnes, I see that it’s fair that I tell you my name now that I know yours. I’m Y/N L/N, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Bucky.” He winked at her and took the opened bottle from her. 

“Now, we aren’t strangers,” he smirked, “so how about that soda pop?” Seeing her rolled eyes, he laughed, and Y/N couldn’t help but feel her heart skip a beat to this man.

“Okay, but I start my shift in,” she checked the clock, and saw it was nine at this point, “thirty minutes, so you best be gone by the time other customers start coming in or they’re gonna think I’m sweet on you.”

“Are you not already, sugar?” He mocked an expression of offense, and she laughed. “Well, damn, I was putting on my best show!”

That was what struck a chord in Y/N. A show. It never lasted long, did it? Once they got bored, they stopped the show, the circus, and moved on to their next location. Her sadness must’ve shown up on her face  because Bucky noticed her small frown. “What’s wrong, Y/N? You feelin’ okay?”

“Are you a heartbreaker, James?” Her harsh tone surprised him. “Because I don’t waste my time on a silly boy, who’s gonna take my love and trample over it. Who’s understanding and kind, but then sees another sweet thing and leaves. I don’t want that anymore.”

Her eyes teared up at the confession, but she couldn’t help it. There was no luck for her at this point and the night before had just been proof. Bucky immediately took her hand and placed his lips on it.

“Doll, I swear on my life, I have no intention of breaking your heart, and I’ve gotta say that if anything, you’ll be breaking mine.” With a sigh, he continued. “Maybe another guy showed up, and maybe the fella did you wrong, but that doesn’t mean that that’s all love is. He’s a rotten man if he couldn’t see the gem that was right in front of him. Love, it’s real Y/N, and giving it out is scary, but when you find the right person, it’ll all be worth it. And right now, my heart is in the hands of a pretty beautiful dame who’s standin’ right in front of me.”

Tears silently trickled down her face, smearing her mascara, but he didn’t care. Y/N had held his heart from the moment he saw her through the diner door. “What do you say, doll, you trust me?”

Her face broke into a small smile. Nodding, she grabbed the two straws and dropped them into the opening of the cola bottle. “How about that soda, then we can start talking about when you’ll pick me up for our date?”

He grinned and took a sip of the cold soda. “Tomorrow night, seven o’clock, at the Roseland Ballroom. You’ll wear your nicest dress, and I’ll have my hair all slicked back, and I’ll pick you up from your house. I’ll make some talk with your daddy and mother, and we’ll hold hands as we walk, and eventually spend the whole night dancin’ until our feet fall off. Then, I’ll walk you back home and kiss you sweetly by your front door, and give you my number so I can take you out again. How does that sound?”

Y/N’s lips widened into a full grin, and she managed to nod before taking a sip of their shared soda pop. “That sounds real swell, Bucky.”

[octbrsaturn]

REPENT - ARVIN RUSSELL

note: hi friends ! so this is my first time posting on tumblr (i normally just post on wattpad haha) and also my first time writing for arvin ever, so please be nice !! i changed a few things in this (for example, arvin lives with emma and everyone, but they’re still in the same state, instead of moving states) sorry ! i’ve not seen any black!girl pairings for arvin so i decided i’d start it ;) i hope i did it well. 

anyway, please enjoy !

warnings: contains harsh language against black people (one time), harsh language, blood, violence, (mentions of) death, protective!arvin

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PART ONE

A lot of major things happened in 1945. Truman became president after Roosevelt died. Hiroshima and Nagasaki surrendered to the United States. Hitler died.

And Y/N M/N Lewis was born.

Y/N was born in May of 1945 to William and Marie Lewis, first-time parents. The second she popped out, Y/N was the light of their world. Everything about her was perfect - her gorgeous espresso skin was smooth, with no blemishes or marks. She had curly black hair on top of her head, even right when she was born. Her eyes were a dark, dark brown - almost black. But if you looked close enough, you could see that her eyes were indeed brown.

William and Marie moved to West Virginia in 1948, their now four-year-old daughter in tow. They were originally from a small town in East Tennessee, and they'd moved to West Virginia for work. Despite the move at such a young age, Y/N was still a great little girl. She didn't argue very much, she was always polite to everyone, and she had a constant smile on her face. People tended to comment on her Appalachian accent that she already had despite her young age.

The house that the Lewis family moved into wasn't very big. It was two rooms and two bathrooms, which was perfect for a small family. William always said that they didn't need much - all they needed was to be together, and they would be alright. Y/N always listened to her father's words - she practically hung off of every syllable. The way her father spoke was so eloquent and melodic, Y/N could sit and listen to him talk for hours. So when her father said those words, she agreed wholeheartedly, and never forgot it. She didn't know what she would do if she didn't have her mommy and daddy with her.

A few hours after freshly moving into the house, William decided to pack Marie and Y/N in the car and drive them up the road to the neighbors. Of course, he was wary of the idea. He didn't want to piss off any white folk and put a target on his and his family's back. But he decided to be nice and give a quick hello, tell them that they won't be any bother, and drive back down to their home.

William pulled up into the dirt driveway of the house, seeing a man sitting on a rocking chair on the porch, a beer in his hand. He stood up slowly and put his beer down on the brown, wooden porch before making his way over to the Lewis family, confused as to why they were there.

William stepped out of the car, telling Marie that it would only be a moment. Marie nodded and prayed to God that these people were kind and not ignorant. She'd already been through a lifetime of ignorance and hate. She didn't want it anymore. She watched as William walked around the car, starting to tell the man his name and their reason for being there.

Y/N watched with nervous eyes, cowering in the corner of the back seat as she watched her father talk to this scary looking man. Her parents taught Y/N to be careful when first meeting people.

Willard put a hand out for William to shake. He did so, introducing himself as William Lewis, the new neighbor down the hill.

"Willard Russell," Willard replied, giving the man a nod. "Pleasure to meet ya."

"That there's my wife, Marie," William turned to Marie, who gave a soft wave to Willard. "And in the back is my very own pride and joy, Y/N Lewis."

Willard Russell's eyes traveled to the back of the car and through the window to see a shaking little girl. Willard was confused for a moment, thinking that it wasn't too cold out, not yet. After a moment's thought, he realized that she wasn't cold - the poor girl was scared. Willard took a better look in the car, stepping closer and bending down so he could be seen through the window. He gave a soft smile and stuck his hand in through the window. "Hello, Y/N. Nice to meet ya, baby girl."

Y/N looked between the man's hand and face. Marie turned in her seat. Y/N’s eyes shifted over to her mother, asking if this man could be trusted. Marie nodded with a soft smile. "Go on, baby. Shake the man's hand."

Y/N looked back at the man as he stayed there, waiting for her to take his hand. Willard's hand didn't falter. He needed to show this girl that he could be trusted. "I won't hurt ya."

Y/N slowly put her hand out, grabbing him and shaking it softly. Her hands still shook, but not as much as before. She looked into the man's eyes and realized that he wouldn't hurt her - his hands were gentle, despite the callouses and blisters. Y/N looked back at the man's eyes. He gave her a small wink with a smile. She smiled back softly, a giggle escaping her lips.

The door of the house opened. A woman walks out with a boy on her hip, him playing softly with her short, red hair. She walked over and stopped by her husband. "Willard? What's goin' on, honey?"

"Baby," Willard let go of Y/N’s hand and turned to the woman. "this is William, Marie, and little Y/N. They took over the Roger's old house down the road." Willard explained as the woman put down the little boy. Without a moment's thought, the boy walked over beside his father and leaned on his tip-toes to see inside the car. He had a blue baseball cap sat on his brown hair. Y/N couldn't see his entire face very well - just his cap, a pair of brown eyes, and lightly freckles cheeks. The boy didn't talk. He just looked into the car. And Y/N just looked right back.

"Oh, how nice! It's nice to meet y'all, I'm Charlotte, and right there's our Arvin." Charlotte introduced herself. Arvin was still staring at Y/N. His eyes hadn't moved away from her's once.

It was hard for everyone to understand what Arvin was thinking at that moment. He'd never been the most social kid. He tended not to share his feelings unless he truly needed to. Nobody, not even Charlotte or Willard, could tell you what Arvin had running through his mind.

Arvin couldn't take his eyes away from her. Even at four years old, this boy knew that Y/N was going to be one of the most important people in his life.

"Arvin!" Willard shouted, snapping the boy out of his daze. He looked up at his dad, peeling his eyes away from Y/N. "It's not nice to stare, boy. Be polite."

"Hello," Arvin said, looking back at Y/N, still standing on his toes to see in the car and peering into the window.

"Hi there," Y/N answered back, finally speaking. For some reason, she felt like Arvin was the only person here that she could talk to - even at only four years old. He looked very nice and looked like he was a good person to play with. "I'm Y/N M/N Lewis. I'm four."

"I'm Arvin Eugene Russell," Arvin replied. "I'm four, too! Wanna play with my Lincoln Logs? My daddy just got me some."

Y/N looked over at her mother, who gave her a short nod, telling her that it was fine. Y/N looked back at Arvin and let out a happy, "Yes!"

Arvin opened the car door and stuck out his hand, just like his daddy taught him to. Y/N grabbed it without any hesitation and Arvin helped her climb out. He kept a hold on her hand and dragged her into the house to show her the new toys his dad had gotten for him.

The Russells and the Lewis' watched as the two ran off, all understanding that they those were going to get along just fine.

And they were right.

At age nine, Arvin and Y/N were starting the third grade. Their schools had just integrated, letting colored kids and white kids go to school together. When Arvin had heard the news, he jumped around the entire house with joy, letting out whoops and hollers of happiness. His dog, Jack, ran around with him as well, howling as if he was happy, too.

William was nervous, knowing that Y/N was about to go through one of the hardest things in her life. He knew that the kids at school weren't going to be happy about the integration. He had talked with William about it, asking him to talk to Arvin. He wanted Arvin to keep a lookout for the girl and let William know about anything Arvin saw, so he could talk to Y/N about it. But Willard, as always, took it a step ahead.

Willard had grown to love the girl as if she was his own. He always let her over to their house whenever she wanted (She didn't have to knock before entering anymore), he would teach her little lessons like he did Arvin, he even once took her hunting with them. Hell, he even took her and Arvin out for ice cream when she hit her first buck. Y/N was pretty much a Russell at heart.

So when Willard realized that their schools were integrating, his heart was filled with dread.

Not because he didn't want the schools to integrate - of course not. He fought in the war for people to progress, and realize that skin color doesn't and shouldn't separate anyone. Willard Russell was more scared for Y/N to start school with the other white kids, whose parents were raised on the belief that colored kids were less than them. He knew how awful kids could be - they'd be ruthless towards her.

So Sunday night, the night before Y/N first day, Willard took Arvin by the arm and took him out to the prayer log. Arvin didn't understand why his father was taking him out there, but he didn't dare ask. He just waited until he was on his knees with his hands folded, ready to pray for whatever his father told him to.

"Arvin," Willard said slowly, staring at the log. "Tomorrow is Y/n’s first day of school with you."

"Yes, I know, daddy!" Arvin said happily. He noticed that his father's hands weren't clasped and he didn't look like he was about to start praying. So Arvin turned to his father more, sitting on his bottom with his back against the log. "I can't wait to show her around."

"I can bet," Willard laughed, ruffling his son's hair. "But I need to tell you some things. This may not go as smoothly as you'll hope."

"What do you mean?" Arvin asked. Truth be told, Arvin was incredibly excited for his best friend to start school with him. He couldn't wait until he got to show her around his school, show her to her classes, eat lunch with her, play on the playground with her. But his father looked scared, so now Arvin was feeling a little scared. Come to think about it, whenever Arvin talked to his mother about it, she'd always give a small, close-lipped smile, say "Yeah, baby ..." and nod.

"I ain't never raised you to take this into account," Willard stated, sighing. He moved to sit beside his son, with his back against the prayer log as well. "But you and Y/N technically ... y'all ain't the same."

"I know," Arvin nodded. "She's a girl and I'm a boy. But I don't care, daddy, she's still my best - "

"Not like that," Willard stopped him before he could go into one of his famous 'we're best friends and ain't nothin' gonna change that' tangent that he got into whenever it came to Y/N. "I know y'all are best friends. That's perfectly fine and dandy. But what I'm sayin' is ... is that Y/N ain't look the same as you. Her skin ain't the same."

"Oh ... I noticed that," Arvin shrugged. "I 'on't care, though."

"That's good," Willard nodded, happy that he was getting somewhere. "You shouldn't care. Because you know that her mommy and daddy are amazing people, right? And sunshine is an amazing girl?"

"Only I can call her that," Arvin said to his dad (referring to the nickname he started calling her when they went out in a field once and Y/N’s skin glowed in the sun like he ain’t never seen before) before nodding and agreeing. Willard nodded, knowing his son was a little protective already. "But yes. They're all good people."

"Others ain't gon' always think like that," Willard said quickly. "Others ain't gonna give Y/N a chance like you did. They're gonna see that she don't look the same as them, and they're gonna be mean to her for it."

Arvin could feel his heart drop into his stomach. "Mean to sunny? Why? She's ain't never mean to no one. She's never been mean to me in my whole entire life. She ain't do nothin' wrong, did she, daddy?" Arvin asked, his eyebrows furrowed. It didn't make any sense to him - why would anyone be rude to Y/N Lewis? She was the best person on the planet - even better than Arvin himself. Only people who are mean should be hurt. Not nice people.

"It's like I told you, son, they'll take one good look at the color of her skin and decide that she's not equal. There's a lotta no good sons a bitches out there." Willard said. "But I need you to listen real close-like, okay? She's still your best friend. And I'm gon' need you to protect her with everything you've got, alright? Don't let nobody touch her. Don't let her get hurt. Do you hear me?"

Arvin nodded. He'd do it. He swore it. Not just to his father, but to himself. And to sunny.

The first day of school came quickly. Arvin was up all night, punching the pillow that he had taped to the wall to prepare for the next day. Arvin didn't get picked on at school. Some of the kids knew him as the boy who was friends with the colored girl, but he never really minded it.

So Arvin stayed up all night, planning out his entire day. He would grab Evelyn's hand the second that she was by him. Then, whenever someone looked like they wanted to hurt her, he'd pull her behind him so he could protect her. He practiced everything he'd say to the mean people - 'get away' or 'leave her alone' or something. Arvin fell asleep that night somehow. His mind was too busy racing with the thoughts of tomorrow.

The next day, William walked Y/N up to the Russell's house so Y/N could get on the bus with Arvin. Despite his nerves, Arvin still smiled at the girl. She had her thick hair in twists and in pigtails on both sides of her head. She had on a pretty yellow dress that went down a little past her knees. On her feet were white socks with frills on the ends and nice, black shoes. She had a gray backpack that looked a little worn, but still got the job done. Y/N skipped up to Arvin with a smile, gently nudging him when she reached him.

Arvin immediately held onto the girl's hand and didn't let go, just like he'd planned. Y/N and her father had talked the night before, so Y/N knew that she was going to get picked on for what she looked like, but she knew that if she had Arvin with her, then she'd be fine.

William stood beside Willard as Arvin and Y/N talked to each other, still holding hands. "Do you think they'll be okay?" William asked.

"Your girl will be fine," Willard answered. "She's the strongest outta all of us. And Arvin's got her back. He ain't gon' let nothin' happen to her."

William nodded, watching as the school bus made it's way around the corner and right in front of the Russell's home. They watched as Arvin gently led the girl onto the bus, never once letting go of her hand.

The bus was silent for a moment. Arvin looked around for an empty seat. He eventually found one near the back and walked the girl towards it. Once they made it, he stepped aside and let Y/N sit in the window seat. He knew she'd like it, but he also knew that if she sat on the inside, people couldn't mess with her as easily.

The bus ride was pretty okay. Nobody teased the girl - they just asked her name and how old she was. Arvin could tell that they knew he meant business - he wasn't gonna let nothing slide by him.

The bus pulled into the school and everyone was let off. Arvin grabbed a hold of Y/N’s hand and walked her around the school, showing her things like the cafeteria and the gymnasium. Everything was going great. People just stared at them, not saying rude things. Y/N seemed to be okay, and Arvin was more than happy to show her every nook and corner of the school. Eventually, though, he was stopped by Dean Cooper.

Dean Cooper was known for being the kid that never let anyone breathe. He messed with everyone, despite looking like he couldn't hurt a fly on the outside. He had nice brown hair that was always done well, with stormy blue eyes and tan skin. He had a dimple on his left cheek, Arvin figured it was from all of the evil smirking that he did.

"Little Arvin Russell," Dean said with that exact evil smirk. "How's it going?"

"Leave us alone, Dean," Arvin said lowly, hoping to go through the whole day without getting into another fight. His black eye from earlier was just starting to go away, and he didn't want another one. When Y/N saw his black eye, the poor girl cried her eyes out. Arvin could've sworn that she was hurting more than he was.

Dean's eyes flitted over to Y/N. She took a step closer to Arvin, holding onto his arm, starting to get scared. Arvin kept a hold on her hand and pushed her further behind him, hoping that Dean would focus back on Arvin, rather than Y/N.

"Who do we have here?" Dean asked with a fake grin, one that didn't look like he was truly asking. It looked like he wanted to know just to mess with her.

"Leave us alone," Arvin repeated himself, not backing down from Dean.

"I heard the rumors, Arvin," Dean laughed, stepping around to see Y/N shaking in fear. Arvin could feel her trembling - it broke his heart. He hated to see - or feel - her like this. Gripping his arm with all her might, trying her hardest to be brave. Arvin didn't care how scared the girl was - he'd always be brave for her. He decided that last night. "But I never figured they were true."

"What rumors?" Arvin practically growled.

"That you're a nigger-lover."

That day, Arvin came home with a bruised eye and two bloody knuckles. The truth was, he'd gotten off amazing compared to Dean Cooper, who had a bloody nose and a deep gash on his cheek. Y/N had a bloody elbow from being pushed over by Dean, which sent Arvin into a fit of rage that got Dean his bloody nose.

Arvin felt awful for Y/N - he couldn't believe that she'd gotten knocked over. He was upset that he let it get that far. He should've punched the boy when he first called him that name - when he called her that name. But he was pretty happy with how Dean ended up. His father was also proud, telling him to always protect Y/N because it was what she deserved. Arvin agreed with his dad wholeheartedly.

Years later and this was still the case. It was now the year 1963. Y/N and Arvin are both eighteen years old and seniors in high school. For the most part, people had gotten used to the fact that coloreds were allowed to share rooms with the whites, even though they were still pissed off about it. Y/N was now on the cheer team. She had practice every day (that Arvin would pick her up from). She still wasn't one to fight anybody. She mostly kept to herself when it came to school, never looking for trouble.

Arvin was still her best friend. The two were never apart. He always looked out for her, no matter what classes they had. He always had an eye out for her, making sure that nobody was causing her trouble.

Y/N was more grateful for it than he'd ever know.

The two were something. Sure, best friends, but everyone around them knew that there was something under the surface, something they couldn't see, but knew was there.

What they didn't know, was that Arvin Russell was now absolutely in love with Y/N Lewis. They didn't know that he thought about her every day, that she was the first thing on his mind in the morning and the last thing he thought about before bed. They didn't know that there were times that he couldn't eat because he was too busy thinking about Y/N, hoping that she was okay, especially after everything she'd gone through the last couple of years.

What they didn't know was that Y/N Lewis was also completely infatuated with Arvin Russell.

The final bell rang at three o'clock, as it always did. Arvin and his step-sister Lenora walked out of the school and towards his car, so Arvin could take her to see her mother's grave, just like he always did. It was just a few turns to get there, not a long drive at all.

After Lenora was done with her mother, Arvin dropped her off at their home with their grandma Emma and uncle Earksell.

"Thanks, Arvin," Lenora said to her brother before stepping out. She leaned in through the window, watching as Arvin lit up another cigarette and placed it in his mouth. "You goin' to get Y/N now?"

Arvin nodded. "She had that big math test. I think I'm gon' treat her to a shake, so I'll be home a little later than normal. I'll see you, Lenora."

Lenora waved goodbye and walked inside.

Y/N stood outside of the highschool by herself. Arvin was a little later than usual, but she didn't mind. She was forever grateful for the boy always giving her rides that she couldn't complain whenever he was late - she'd feel too awful.

About thirty minutes after normal, and Arvin pulled up in front of her. He was ready to get out and search for Y/N when he noticed that she was already there, waiting for him. She walked towards the car with a smile on her face. Arvin opened the door from inside and watched as she sat inside. He grabbed a cigarette and quickly lit it, letting out a long breath. The smoke went out of the window.

"What'd I tell you about waitin' outside for me?" Arvin chastised the girl after she shut the car door behind her. His lips held a frown that others would cower at, Y/N only gave the boy a funny look.

She rolled her eyes and looked out her window while Arvin drove off. "It's not a big deal, it was only like ... I dunno, forty-five minutes, maybe?"

"Forty-f - sunshine, you cannot be outside all by your lonesome for that damn long! Do you know what coulda happened to you in all that time?"

"Arvin, you're freaking out over nothing again."

"You know what Dean Cooper would've done if he knew you were out there by yourself? He wouldn't hesitate." Y/N replied, his heart starting to beat faster at the simple thought of Dean Cooper.

The boy was still around, and he was still a problem. Most of the time whenever he saw Y/N, he also saw Arvin, so he'd leave her alone. But that didn't stop from the constant rude words from the back of the class, or the laughing in her face as she walked down the hallways. Sure, Y/N was strong. She'd kept her head up through the integrating of schools across America - but she still had feelings. A lot of the time, the girl would cry in her room by herself. But Arvin didn't need to know that - he had enough on his back, the last thing she wanted to do was burden him with more of her problems.

"Dean Cooper went home early!" Y/N laughed back. "He ain't even here!"

Arvin piped down at this. His mouth snapped shut and he nodded softly at the road. "O-Okay, fine. But still. If I'm late, then you stay inside - "

"Stay inside a bathroom until you come and find me, I know," Y/N grumbled, leaning back into the seat. She didn't like Arvin's rules, but she knew that they were ultimately for the best. She knew that no matter how hard she tried, there were still people who weren't going to like her. That was something that took her a long time to cope with - that there wasn't one thing on Earth that would make some people like her. She'd gotten over it for the most part, but sometimes she still got sad.

"I'm just trying to keep you safe." Arvin glanced at the girl with sorry eyes. She looked back at him with a smile and grateful eyes.

"I know," Y/N answered. "And I love you for it. Thank you." She leaned over and kissed the boy on the cheek. Arvin felt his cheeks heat up, but he ignored it. He gave the girl a smile back after taking another puff of his cigarette.

"You're welcome," Arvin replied. After a moment's silence, he continued. "So, you had that big math test today, right? How'd that go?"

"I passed!" Y/N said happily, digging out the paper from her bag and showing Arvin the big red A+ that was circled on the top of her paper. "I am no longer failing arithmetic!"

"I knew you could do it! See, I told you that Trevor Wilkinson was the best tutor on God's green Earth!" Arvin laughed, taking the girl's hand and giving it a happy squeeze. He brought her hand up to his lips and gave her knuckles a small kiss before letting her hand go. "I'm so happy for you, sunshine."

"Thanks! Maybe you can go out and order some food from a diner and we can see a drive-in movie tonight," Y/N offered with a smile, hoping that she'd get more time with Arvin this weekend. Since he lived a few towns away from her, the two didn't get to see each other as much as they could when they were kids. And since her mother had died, Y/N’s father has been a little off-putting. Y/N didn't have as much fun with him as she used to.

"I'm fine with that," He agreed, slowing down his car and pulling into the diner. "But before that, I've already decided that I'm gonna get you something else, too."

Y/N shrieked happily. "A shake?"

"What flavor you want?" Arvin asked, putting his car in park and turning to look at the girl. He already knew the answer, but he liked to give her the option just to see if she'd choose something else.

"Um ... " Y/N pretended to think. "I think today I'm gonna go with ... Butter pecan. Just to switch it up." She ordered the same flavor that she always did.

Arvin chuckled and shook his head before getting out of the car. "I'll be right back."

"Hurry back!" Y/N said jokingly as Arvin slammed the door shut. She watched as he tipped his blue cap at a few girls that stood outside. They giggled among themselves as he opened the door and walked inside.

Y/N looked at the notebook in hand. She grabbed a pencil and began sketching random things: a tree, a bird, a butterfly, Arvin's dog Jack ...

A body made its way in the window beside the girl, causing a shadow to be cast over her. She looked up with a smile, expecting it to be Arvin, but she could tell immediately that it wasn't. This person was taller, leaner. Y/N’s eyes squinted, trying to see the person's face. It took her a second for her eyes to focus. Once she could tell who it was, her heart felt like it dropped into her stomach.

"Hey there, Y/N,"

Dean Cooper.

[morceid]

Beating the Dead Swan

Chapter 2: lonely angels wrapped in silk

read on ao3

<- chapter one

Summary: Penelope gives the profiles of Camille and other victims like her to the team.

Word Count: 1928

Category: angst

Content Warnings: general criminal minds murder stuff

A/N: noting here that this fic takes place in 2005 when criminal minds starts and spencer is 24

It started out a simple equivocal death investigation. Seven women had been found in their apartments, dead with their wrists slashed. Unfortunately not an unusual occurrence, Detective Conner thought nothing of it. Upon trying to contact the employers of each victim, Conner found they all worked for the same people, and decided to mark them down for further investigation just in case. When the fourth victim was found in her father’s beach house just outside of Virginia, the case became federal and handed to the FBI.

The case, being low priority, was given to Derek Morgan to monitor the progress of. 

“You’re completely sure there’s nothing about the bodies that connect these victims?”

“Agent Morgan, if there was anything I would tell you. I think it’s time you tell Detective Conner to rule these deaths a suicide.”

“Alright, will do.” Derek hung up with the coroner. Just then his mobile phone rang with the number of the detective displayed on the top of the screen. Derek sighed.

“Agent Morgan.” He answered.

“Agent, there’s another victim-”

“Conner, listen, they aren’t connected, there is no signature unless you can consider the suicide, I think you oughtta-”

“She was called in by a friend. Not a family member, not an apartment manager, not a coworker, a real friend. Derek, he’s devolving.”

Derek sighed, “Detective, I’ll let you send her body over to the coroner but I doubt there will be anything remarkable.”

There was some mumbling on the other end of the line before Detective Conner gave a response.

“That’s the thing, Agent Morgan, this victim is remarkable. She had piercing holes in her ears just like the others.”

“And how is that remarkable?”

“Her ears weren’t pierced.”

“And you’re sure about that, Detective?”

“Her best friend swears it. Do you think they could be puncture marks?”

“I’m not sure, let me tell Doctor Phyllis.”

Derek set down his mobile phone and dialed the coroner on his office phone.

“Doctor Phyllis?”

“You back again so soon, Agent?”

“Look, we got a new victim, she's got puncture marks on her ears. Not piercings, puncture marks. Can you check the other victims to make sure they’re not puncture marks?”

“Okay, give me a minute.”

Derek heard the sound of doors opening.

“Well, shit, they are puncture marks. On every single ear.”

“Thanks, Doctor Phyllis.”

Derek hung up on the office phone.

“Do I still have you here, Detective?”

“Yep. Were they piercings?”

“Nope. Bring in the girl’s friend and call in the family members of the other victims. We’re gonna need to talk to them.”

Derek hung up the phone and ran up to Hotch’s office.

“Something up, Morgan?” Hotch asked.

“You know that case Detective Conner asked me to look into?”

“The one with the suicides?”

“Yeah, well they might not be suicides. I’m having Conner bring in some people to ask them some questions. You mind if I ask Rossi and Prentiss to help?”

“Of course not, but if we get another case then leave the questioning for Detective Conner, alright?”

“Gotcha, boss.”

Derek gathered Rossi, Prentiss, and Penelope in the break room to discuss the case.

“Babygirl, you want to read out the profiles of our victims?”

“Reluctantly,” Penelope pulled up each of the files onto her laptop. “Danica Wilson, a 45 year old woman, was found by her landlord. She grew up in Victoria, Canada, but when she was 12, her parents got a divorce. Her mother moved her and her three siblings to North Dakota shortly after. All throughout highschool she seemed immensely interested in biology and chemistry. She was really good at it too, she took AP classes and she was a promising student. Unfortunately, her mom didn’t want her to do anything of the sort, and set her up for ballet classes her junior year. To appease her mom she studied the history of dance during college and ended up climbing up from an intern at a dance company all the way to a choreographer. Her love for science was still there the whole way through though, she’s been taking free college courses online for biology for about a year. She was found with her wrists slashed and spread out in a star shape on the middle of her bed. There were no fingerprints anywhere in her home and the slashes appeared to be self inflicted. Her mom died a week before she was found, all of her siblings live in other states, and she didn't have any close friends. She never dated, even though she had perfect brown eyes and blonde hair. According to her siblings she had all of the boys at her school after her. Despite there being no evidence of depression or other mental illness officers deemed her mothers death as a stressor and marked her death a suicide.”

“Then we have Maya Peto, 22 years old, found by her sister.”

“So there’s no age preference?” Rossi asked.

“Precisely,” Penelope continued, “She grew up in Detroit. Her parents raised her in a Christian household and shes been openly gay since she was 18. Her dad died when she was 14, leaving Maya and one sister to be raised by their mother. She did exceptionally well in math, but seemed to have no interest in pursuing it as a career. Instead, she became captain of her dance team in highschool and went to Wirtson’s Dance Academy for college. Her last year there, she was picked by Next Star Theatre Company, the same one as all of the other victims, to be on their ballet team. She was found just like Danica, and would be just like the rest of the victims. Her now ex-girlfriend and her had a kid, his name is Gene, he’s a year old, and Maya had full custody of him because Khloe, the girlfriend, had begun doing drugs about a week after Gene was born. How could lesbians have a child? Khloe was cheating. Maya gained full custody of Gene after a year long legal battle, and she had left him with her sister for a weekend while she baby proofed her house. Unfortunately, when she went to Maya’s apartment to return Gene, she found her dead. It was the anniversary of her father’s death when she was found, so the ever so ignorant officers deemed it another suicide.

“Then we have Annie Carr, 24. A coworker found her. Born here in Virginia, Annie was raised by her dad after her mom died when she was about one. She seemed to have a pretty awesome life. Her dad worked two jobs and she’s never had all that much money, but she was a happy kid. She went to a community college and ended up taking the same internship that Danica Wilson took, but she has stayed in that internship for years, mooching money off of her dad and siblings. Mabel Golden, the coworker that found her, claims that there’s no way Annie could’ve killed herself. She didn’t show any signs of depression or mental illness, though she could be pessimistic at times. Mabel said their boss was threatening to let her go, seeing as she hasn’t improved her work ethic in the last five years. Deemed another suicide.

“The fourth victim was Valentine Orange, 36, found by her father. She grew up in Maryland, started acting and dancing at six, her family was pretty wealthy, and she got accepted into the same dance academy and theatre company as Maya Peto. She also danced on the same ballet team. She told her team leader she was going away for a week to her father’s beach house, and when her father came to get her on the day she was supposed to leave, he found her in the guest bedroom, just like the other victims. The beach house was located in Maryland, and due to Detective Cooper’s hunch, the case got handed to us for an equivocal death investigation.

“Francis Falstaff, our fifth victim, was found by her adoptive mother. She was 22. Both of her parents died in a car crash a month after she was born, so she grew up in a multitude of foster homes. When she was ten her and her sister were adopted by Baron Falstaff and Maggie Falstaff. They seemed to be good parents. They went to all of their school events and paid for both of the girls’ college tuition. Francis was trying to make it into the same theatre company that employed the rest of the victims, specifically to work as a jazz dancer. She seemed to have killed herself, just like the rest of the victims, but her mom insists that she couldn’t have. She had a very promising life ahead of her. When they dissected her room they found an evidence board in the back of her closet. Her sister, Yvette, was stabbed to death a couple years back on the way to a party, and Francis was obsessed with finding the killer. Which is why she didn’t have many friends. When it was all processed, they found that the evidence led to Yvette’s boyfriend at the time. It was assumed that this weighed heavily enough on Francis that she ended up, well you know, on the same day she found out.

“Jane Sweeney, the second to last victim who worked on the Next Star Theatre Company ballet team, was 29. She’s been with the company since she was 20, and unfortunately her private teacher was the one who found her. Her father left when she was young. She liked expressing all of her success, almost narcissistically so. According to some other people on the dance team she was the best dancer and loved flaunting it. She was a kind of queen bee and seemed to value herself more than others most of the time. It just doesn’t make sense for her to kill herself.

“Lillian Bonner was the next victim. She was 54. She taught modern dance at the company. She lived with and was found by her only son, Tyrell, who she had with her husband Ivan. Though they were still legally married, the two were separated. Tyrell, who’s 16, said she was a fantastic mom. She always made sure he was fed and had someone to talk to. He told her practically everything about his life and he is having a really difficult time without her. He doesn’t believe that she would do that to herself.

“Our last victim was Camille Price. She was 25. Her best friend, Spencer Reid, who was on the same ballet team, found her. She was the only one who really had people around her. She grew up in Virginia with her parents and two brothers, one older, one younger. She visited them whenever she could. Everyone in her apartment building loved her, she even made dinner for one of the elderly occupants every Friday. Spencer doubts there is anything that would want to make her commit suicide, and to put the icing on the cake, there were puncture marks on her ears that police mistook for piercings. ‘What were they?’ you ask? Injection sites. How do we know this? Spencer swore that there was no way they could be piercings because Camille never wore earrings the entire 8 years he knew her because the Next Star Theatre Company does not allow their dancers to wear piercings or jewelry.”

“Alright, let’s go see if these people got any info for us.” Rossi got out of his seat and headed towards the interview rooms.

TAGLIST: @hotchrocket @hotpotatowoman @thisdeathtollbringsnopeace @endingsbeginnings @d3pr3ss3d-w33d-wh0re @nonbinary-spencie @moss0ntherocks @scandinavian-punk @drinkingcroissants @penemily @izzyl13 @leomo0n @tiedyedrose1705 @natclis

[dreamersleeps]

Hey, have been reading your blog and it is the kind of goldmine I’d brave the dangers of the Klondike for. It is SO GOOD. But I’m also curious on your thoughts on Endeavor playing god, but not understanding the science behind his creations? He seems to think Shouto has an Icyhot Quirk when it’s more likely Shouto is a Chimera. He has two phenotypes, thus one side can only use Icy and the other can only use Fire. Shouto like has TWO Quirks instead of a combination of both. And Enji seems to think Touya inherited Rei’s constitution, yet that might not be the case as according to the Singularity Theory, humans’ Quirks are evolving at a faster pace than the body can keep up with. So Touya might not even HAVE his mother’s constitution but Endeavor just THINKS he does. Also, there is his rivalry with All Might that is completely one-sided. Allmight as All For One which is the Quirk of not a single person but more eight Quirks in one. Endeavor thinks he’s going up against a single man when in reality he’s facing eight men in one.

Hello! First of all I’d like to give a huge apology for how late my response is. Due to the start of the spring semester and some other unexpected life events, this took way longer than expected. 

Thank you so much for your kind comments! 😩💕 It really did put a huge smile on my face and it made my day! It makes me feel very giddy~ When I first started posting on Tumblr, I wasn’t expecting people to actually like or even read the stuff I was writing about or send messages to my inbox since most of my posts kind of make me look like the guy in this meme here: 

I very much appreciate all the comments and asks I receive in my inbox, so thank you for sending yours in. 

Anyways, I’d like to address this from the beginning but, unfortunately when it comes to quirks and how they work, I’m not too sure if I will be able to answer your questions properly. For example I am aware of the Quirk Singularity Theory but I don’t know if I have a good enough understanding of it to form a response I am confident in.. That being said, I will try to answer your other questions and comments the best I can. 

Endeavor Playing God

So, what are my thoughts on Endeavor playing god, but not understanding the science behind his creations? Back when we had the Touya reveal and we got more information about the Todoroki household from the perspective of Todoroki Enji, there were a lot of differing thoughts and opinions about the flashbacks that were floating around Tumblr. I think if I were to give a simple answer to your question, I’d say it was Endeavor’s youth and stubbornness. Looking back at Chapter 291, we can see that Endeavor looks quite young in the flashbacks with Touya, but I’m going to attempt to do the math. 

Seeing that we know that Fuyumi is currently 23, and that Dabi is older than her (I suck at guessing ages) and I’m guessing here that he’s going to be four years or older, since quirks normally manifest around four years of age. That being stated the youngest age Dabi may be currently is 27? Maybe 26.

Keep in mind that I may be off with the “math” I’m doing here but let’s guestimate Dabi’s age as being 26 or 27. Endeavor is currently 46 years old so that means he was 19 or 20 years old when he had Touya. For comparison, Natsuo is currently 19 years old as well. 

At that young of an age, he already had his eyes set on wanting to surpass All Might. His hero name, Endeavor, summarizes his career pretty well: an attempt to achieve a goal. 

With the hellflame quirk he has, and the wealth and power that came with his family name, he really was given a position to act as a “god.” For the sake of his ambitions, Touya, Fuyumi, Natsuo and Shouto were born, as his “creations.” 

Touya’s “Weak Constitution” and Shouto’s Quirk 

I’m not going to say that his youth was the main factor for why things happened the way they did because the answer is more complex, but I do think that a combination of his youth and stubbornness fueled Endeavor’s recklessness. He essentially bought his marriage with Rei in order to pass down some sort of combination of the hellflame quirk and Rei’s ice quirk to his children. I think when it comes to the question of whether he understood the science behind what he was doing, I think I can confidently say that he didn’t know in the beginning, or at least it was not something he really looked in to. I think he just saw it as hellflame + ice quirk = child with both quirks as we kind of see in the panel below. 

As you state, Endeavor does see the combination of the two quirks as one. We can see below that he refers to it as, “the ideal quirk.” 

I think that it is also important to point out that Endeavor was, I guess you could say, content when Touya was born even though he only had the hellflame quirk. From the first panel, Endeavor states, “the fire power he possessed was greater  than my own.” 

He continues to say, “He didn’t have a way to overcome the inescapable downside of overheating but... I nevertheless sought to raise the boy to be a hero.” 

That was until it was revealed that Touya’s body could not handle the extreme heat which came with the hellflame quirk. This is when Endeavor began to refer to Touya’s “weakness” as inheriting Rei’s weak constitution. 

Now, the Quirk Singularity Theory and just the genetic science behind quirks has always been kind of difficult for me to wrap my mind around so because of that I do not think that I will be able to give an opinion on it that I would be confident in. However, @/redphlox has a post which has some opinions that I agree with that have to do with Endeavor’s belief that Touya had “a weak constitution and Shouto’s quirk. I will link it here. 

As for Shouto’s quirk, unless the actual meaning and its nuances was lost in translation, his quirk is referred to as “Half-Cold Half Hot” in the English official translation which I think further reinforces the idea that it is not really a singular quirk but a combination of two separate quirks. I agree that Shouto is most likely a Chimera. 

According to Britannica, a chimera is: 

In genetics, an organism or tissue that contains at least two different sets of DNA, most often originating from the fusion of a many different zygotes. 

The term is derived from the chimera of Greek mythology: a fire-breathing monster that was part lion, part goat, and part dragon. 

As seen below we can see the white hair, gray eye and ice quirk on his right side (our left) that he inherited from his mother Rei, and then on his left side (our right), the red hair, teal blue eye and hellflame quirk he inherited from his father Enji. He can only use his ice quirk on his right side and his fire quirk on his right side. 

Shouto’s appearance reminds me of a particular tortoiseshell cat named Venus from a while back. You may have seen her back when photos of her went viral. Tortoiseshell cats are usually chimeras, however Venus was nicknamed the “Chimera Kitten” or “Chimera Cat” even though it is most likely that the chimera mutation isn’t the cause behind her unique (and cute!) appearance. 

Another definition of a chimera is: 

“A chimera... is a composite individual that was made up of cells from at least two different original embryos. If they fuse together early enough, they will become a single organism whose genetic input is from two completely different individuals. In a mosaic, there’s only one individual and it just happens to have different genetic components active in its cells. A chimera would be a much more unusual and unlikely event. - Columbia University Professor of Genetics and Development Virginia Papaioannaou 

The image above depicts Venus the cat however the original source of the photo is unknown. 

Considering that in real life, a chimera is an individual made up of cells from at least two different embryos I think we could kind of apply that sort of argument to Shouto although this is all speculation. To our knowledge, the other Todoroki children were born with only one of their parents’ quirks while Shouto was born with both. 

On Shouto’s fan wiki page, it states: 

If he overuses one element without utilizing the other, then his own body temperature will suffer; the ice half will cause frostbite and the fire half will cause heatstroke, Until his bodily limit is reached however, neither has any visible effect on his body. Shouto can easily negate his weakness by alternating between ice and fire. 

Endeavor had been training Shouto to use his fireside and I think he mostly saw the ice quirk as something that could be used for temperature regulation however, as you suggest Shouto has two separate quirks, both equally strong in their own right. If he used his ice quirk too much, he may have to rely on the hellflame quirk to regulate his body temperature. Both quirks have very high potential on their own and with the aid of the other. 

Anyways going back to the Chimera stuff, I think that although the movie, Heroes Rising isn’t canon, I do think that the inclusion of the villain, Kon Chojuro going by the name of “Chimera” with the quirk of the same name was interesting. He also fits the second definition of the Greek mythological chimera that we had above. 

Even more interesting was that it was with the team of Tenya, Kirishima, Asui and Shouto that took Chimera on, with Shouto making the last blow using his ice quirk. He takes his ice quirk to the extreme and we see his body covered in ice (frostbite?) as a result before he passes out. 

All Might and Endeavor’s One-Sided Rivalry 

Whenever I write about this particular character I feel that I must include a little note like this but everything you see above is not an excuse for what Endeavor has done but a little exploration in to the complexity that is Todoroki Enji. I personally think that he is a very interesting character to look in to.

As you mention, the rivalry between Endeavor and All Might was completely one-sided. I think a large part behind it had to do with their differing ideas of what it means to be a hero. It is from All Might where we tended to see the more ideal-focused concepts of a hero. He was the symbol of peace, the light of hope and an inspiration for children and people all across Japan. In simple terms, a hero is someone who saves, kind of like how we saw Midoriya throughout most of the series. 

As for Endeavor, he fits more in the role of the concept of a hero being an occupation. He had a hard time trying to figure out how to portray himself to the public after All Might retires and even asks him for some advice of what it means to be the number one. Endeavor wanted to be the number one because that meant he is the strongest man/person in Japan. He was constantly training and he was so focused on wanting to achieve his goal that if he was not able to then he wanted to make sure that his own blood would surpass All Might. For him, simple terms a hero meant someone who surpasses and wins. This is kind of like how we saw Bakugo throughout most of the series until recently. 

(I’m not going to go too deep in to this as many other blogs have written amazing analysis and meta posts on Tumblr already but the adults they are often compared to Midoriya and Bakugo’s storylines have been slowly changing to incorporate both saving and winning in to what it means to be a hero.) 

With this one-sided rivalry came Endeavor’s recklessness. I do not think that before and early stages after Touya was born that he really considered the science behind his “creation.” However as soon as it was revealed that Touya could easily get harmed by his quirk, Endeavor definitely should have recognized the consequences of his actions. 

As his hero name suggests, one of his main goals and purposes of being a hero was to accomplish his greatest endeavor, to surpass All Might, which he calls his “eternal goal.” There is an implication here that at the age of 19 Endeavor already believed that there was a good chance that he may not be able to surpass All Might with his own quirk and strength. That is why he sought out a Quirk marriage. 

“Because Toya had more potential than me... I placed my ambitions on his shoulders.” 

Endeavor has a bias towards his own quirk as he wanted an heir with his quirk and blood to become number one. Fuyumi was born and she had inherited Rei’s ice quirk but unless we get some sort of explanation, I think we can assume that Endeavor did not bother trying to training her. I think the same can be said about Natsuo. 

Then Shouto was born and this changed a lot of things. It seems that there was a highly likely chance that Endeavor either greatly diminished his focus on or halted Touya’s training and turned his attention towards Shouto. After all, he was born with what Endeavor believed to be “the ideal quirk.” He probably saw more potential in Shouto carrying his legacy than he did in Touya to become number one. It is likely that it was during this time that Touya “perished” in the fire. 

Now that Endeavor had lost Touya, he was only left with Shouto. Driven by grief and desperation he put everything he had now onto Shouto. Looking back to Chapter 252, Endeavor tells Natsuo:

“Believe it or not... I was never trying to neglect any of you. But... all I could do was blame others and dodge responsibility.” 

His actions and the past state otherwise however if we take his word, then I kind of visualize a man who was aware of the consequences and hurt caused by his actions and cruelty but had refused to actually acknowledge it: whether it was because he was afraid to confront reality, a mix of his stubbornness and desperation, the desire to become number one surpassing every other desire or a combination of all of this.

I always got a feeling from his character that he was someone who chose to believe that “the end would justify the means” as he “lost more” if that makes sense. “Everything that happened could not be all in vain” (although I’d like to point out that acting in this way is very selfish of him) which is why he continued to keep his eyes on the horizon at his goal instead of towards his family. 

As you state, Endeavor was going up against All Might, the carrier of the One for All quirk, and yes, it is interesting that kind of like All for One, it is the carrier of multiple quirks. One of the main differences between how the two quirks function is that one has the ability to pass on quirks and power while the other is the ability to take other quirks and powers. Unfortunately, unless the secret of AFO and OFA come to be known to the public, Endeavor would have never known what he was truly up against and in a nihilistic view, one can say that everything he was and did ended in vain. 

Although I would argue otherwise as this implies the assumption that the birth and existence of the Todoroki children would then had also been “in vain.” This is not true. This would imply that they would only be an extension of his legacy. We see the struggle to separate ones’ identity from their parent and their “destiny” through the contrasting stories of Shouto and Touya. 

In the end, Endeavor did become the number one hero although it was not in the way he envisioned it to be: it was given to him as he was the next in line as the number two hero due to All Might’s retirement. He didn’t win the position by surpassing All Might hence the embarrassment and anger he may have felt when the news was announced. Now that he is (ehhh maybe was? considering where we are in the manga) the number one hero, it seems like that everything he’s been doing and thinking keeps going back to the thought of “because I am the number one hero.” The position he worked hard for, trained hard for and hurt his family for across the decades of his life, forfeited to him by the previous symbol of peace. 

I always return back to the High End vs Endeavor fight whenever I talk about him but that is because there are great symbolic and narrative points that are made during it. Again, it is what establishes him as the number one hero but this is also where he acknowledges the past (however to what extent is debatable). 

I remember when the episode first came out back in 2020, anime watchers were going crazy. It felt like with some viewers, they focused more on the action than the narrative that was taking place. The reason why Endeavor flies so high and captures the hearts and support of the people of Japan in BNHA and a wide majority of us, the watching audience, is so that we can feel the blow later on when he plummets down. Even when I was watching it, I couldn’t help getting goosebumps while listening to the ost and seeing the way the manga panels were interpreted and animated. 

While I had been reading the chapters which I did first, I did not even really care about what was going on. I just kind of brushed Endeavor off to the side at the time. However when I was watching it I even got a little emotional, although I’d like to blame that on the fact that I had just finished a really difficult semester and watching the episodes felt like a cathartic release of stress (hahaha). It was only afterwards I went back to actually re-read and look at what was going on in the manga.  

I hope that I gave the answers, thoughts and opinions that you were looking for. Again, huge apology for answering your questions and comments really late. Thank you @thewilderstorm for sending your thoughts in, I truly appreciate it and loved responding to them!