#but because i just need daniel and daisy to dance to dancing in the dark

[lothloriien]

daniel and daisy dancing to an old record player that coulson gifted daniel for his birthday

[lost-in-sokovia]

Please can you do a short summary of the Dano babies and which character they’re for I’m so invested!

yes i can!! thank you for asking!!😊

august edward nashton - auggie, the most popular dano baby so far, is edward nashton’s son from the batman. he doesn’t need much explanation, he’s all over my blog and easy to find under his tag :)

peony - peony is jay’s daughter from “okja.” she’s soft spoken like her daddy, has long dark locks that look like his, and is his absolute princess. sometimes when jay is on missions she doesn’t get to see him for a few days or even weeks, but jay always makes up for lost time. p likes to play with animals and dance. she’s a little sweetheart, and jay is constantly proud and thinking of her. (peony doesn’t get a full name because jay doesn’t have a last name, so she just gets a first name)

scout marigold dolarhyde - scout is percy dolarhyde’s daughter from “cowboys and aliens.” what more do i have to say about this baby? she’s percy’s pride and joy, he’s in love with his little baby girl. she’s nicer than her daddy, but she’s just as spoiled. everybody in town knows who scout is, considering percy always parades her around and always buys her the most expensive things. she wears her gingery hair in braids and her daddy calls her “goldilocks.” scout likes to draw and ride horses. she’s got her daddy’s wit and she’s a little charmer

thomas david sunday - tommy is eli sunday’s oldest son from “there will be blood.” he’s quiet and polite, very much like his uncle paul. he’s kind, helpful, and is always willing to help his daddy out. tommy looks like eli just alone by genetics, but he likes combing his hair the way eli does too and eli is so proud of his little boy. tommy likes to sing and build things. tommy often follows eli around and is very good at keeping up polite conversation with members of his daddy’s congregation when they shake his hand and ask him how he’s doing.

alexander eli sunday - alex is eli’s youngest son and middle child. he’s two years younger than tommy. he’s a sweet boy but he’s a little more rambunctious than tommy (and slightly insane like eli is but that takes a bit more diving into for a different post😀). alex looks like eli as well, but his hair is less unkept and he’s often covered in dirt of some sort. eli is kind of a mischief maker. daniel plainview likes alex, thinks he’s funny and has got good spirit, and that drives eli crazy. alex isn’t afraid to drive his father wild sometimes. he enjoys spending time with hw and his aunt mary (jesus christ that’s weird to say). alex enjoys mischief making and helping you do things around the house. despite how wild he is, he’s a momma’s boy

daisy elizabeth sunday - daisy is eli sunday’s only daughter and youngest child. she’s fifteen years younger than alex, seventeen years younger than tommy. daisy is a quiet little girl and the gem of the sunday family. the congregation absolutely adores little daisy, and eli capitalizes on that by often involving her during his services (which you hate and get on to eli about often. she’ll clutch onto her daddy’s leg as he goes on and on about being a prophet and you just shake your head. whether or not you believe what eli has to say is a different conversation for a different post as well😀). daisy has the same color hair and eyes as eli, all the sunday babies look like their daddy. she likes putting flowers in her hair when you braid it and put it up all pretty. daisy loves nature, reading, and baking. she’s a mommas girl

yelena peotrovna bezukhova - pierre bezukhov’s firstborn. she’s lively and outgoing, a bit tomboy-ish, and can get herself into trouble among the society quite easily. she’s got pierre’s curls that she likes to keep at shoulder length and refuses to grow out any longer than that. she has your eyes, however. she loves playing the piano and running about. lena finds the high society boring and that amuses pierre. every time she stirs up trouble he simply cannot stay mad at her or even get mad at her at all; he wishes he had her confidence and carelessness. yelena loves to mother her younger siblings, and she can be sort of a brat sometimes.

dimitri peotrovich bezukhov - pierre’s second born and oldest son. dimitri is much like his older sister in personality, for the two are only one year apart. he’s a bit more timid, however, just slightly enough that he questions things a bit more than yelena. he’s very good at riding horses, an area lena is not good in. dimitri is a carbon copy of pierre; eye color and shape, hair color and texture. dimitri is a bit of a klutz like his father, which annoys lena whenever they stir up trouble together. dimitri enjoys hanging about with his older sister.

novel peotrovich bezukhov - pierre’s third born. novel is much more quiet and reserved compared to his older siblings. he’s two years younger than dimitri, three years younger than yelena. he likes curling up with a book in a quiet place. he also enjoys writing poetry and stories, for he has quite an active imagination. he often tells stories to pierre at bedtime rather than pierre read to him, and pierre adores to hear just what his son comes up with. novel looks like his father as well. he’s the most welcomed child by the society, the rest of pierre’s children are a bit more looked down upon for their personalities. novel is naturally a polite and quiet young boy, which makes him favorable. he’s a sweetheart and loves his siblings even though they aren’t quite the same.

evva protrovna bezukhova - evva is pierre’s fourth child. she’s three years younger than novel, five years younger than dimitri, and six years younger than yelena. evva means “life,” and she was named that because there were troubles not only trying to conceive her, but when she was born as well. she looks like a little porcelain doll with her curls, big green eyes, and long eyelashes. she’s quite small having been born a bit earlier and weaker than usual. she is strong, however, and would eventually grow up to be a fine young lady. evva loves animals, always coming home with something new and begging you and pierre to let her keep it. she also enjoys the water, mermaids are her favorite mythical creature. she loves sleeping alongside yelena rather than in her own bed, and yelena loves to take care of her younger sister when she’s not being the rebellious child she is.

tatiyana peotrovna bezukhova - pierre’s fifth and youngest child. she is four years younger than evva, seven years younger than novel, nine years younger than dimitri, and ten years younger than yelena. her name means “fairy princess” and that’s exactly what she is. she’s the smallest bit of a brat, but not much. she enjoys dressing up and being treated like royalty and pierre absolutely indulges her wishes. she always has her chestnut hair done to perfection (she has learned how to do hair quite well) and adores using the title “countess.” she thinks high society balls are exciting and loves to go out and dance by herself or with her father on the floor. she doesn’t care for the interaction with the adults much, but she knows how to be polite like novel. she likes walking arm and arm with pierre which makes you giggle, giving up your husband to your daughter. pierre calls her “princess.” tatiyana also adores singing when her oldest sister plays the piano, and the two put on shows for the family very often.

annie hendrix taylor - joby taylor’s second daughter, only daughter with you. annie has dark hair and serious green eyes like her daddy. she was born four years after joby’s divorce from claire took place (so she’s probably around 9 or 10 years younger than ellen). annie is a bit quiet like joby. she’s very laid back but she’s shy to strangers. she understands his humor and her daddy can easily make her laugh. she’s just as clingy to him as he is to her. joby wants to make sure he’s there for annie and is better dad than he was to ellen, so he spends every minute possible he can with her. he still performs and when he does sometimes he brings her onstage at the end (if she’s not passed out in your arms, headphones over her little ears) and let her sing or just say goodnight to the crowd. joby started annie on guitar when she was little and annie also likes drawing.

ariel ivy klitz - ariel is klitz’s baby from “the girl next door”!! she’s got brown hair like her dad, but she’s got your eyes and most of your facial features. ariel loves watching “the little mermaid” because she knows that princess ariel is her namesake. ariel is more outgoing than her dad, and klitz just thinks she’s the cutest thing alive. ariel loves doing makeup and dressing up. she loves when auntie danielle does her hair and puts on fashion shows with her for uncle matt, uncle eli, and daddy. ariel is spoiled with attention by her family and is the funniest little girl ever.

peter matthew freeman - peter is matt’s son from “too young to be a dad.” essentially @spicedchaiandromeda and i took matt and like, made him older and talked about him in college. peter is genevieve’s little brother, he’s ten years younger than her. peter is very smart, just like his dad. as peter gets older he likes hanging around his sister, even though she’s way older than him. (sometimes, if she lets him, he’ll sleep in her bed because he just loves his older sister.) peter like playing video games and trying to explain them to you and matt. peter also likes making up little stories and telling them to you and matt. he’s such a sweet little boy and your little family loves him.

juni mae hoover - juni is dwayne hoover’s oldest daughter from “little miss sunshine.” you and dwayne had juni right after college. you got pregnant and told him on graduation day that you were pregnant. juni is quiet around people she doesn’t know, but she is so bubbly and smiley always. she’s a little firecracker when she gets to know somebody. she is more outgoing around her family, but she’s so quietly kind to everyone around her. she’s got dark hair like her daddy and green eyes just like his, too. juni likes making crafts. she’s very creative, and your house is filled with art by her. dwayne is a phenomenal father to her and has support from his dysfunctional yet loving family, and juni loves every single one of them.

luna jay hoover - luna is dwayne hoover’s youngest daughter and juni’s younger sister. she’s nine years younger than juni. luna is much quieter than her sister. she’s a dancer, growing up doing dance recitals, and when she’s older she learns french (to later on become a french teacher). juni looks after luna so well and is basically attached to her when she’s born. where juni was a daddy’s girl, luna is yours. she loves to be held by you. luna has the personality of her father, and she’s the sweetest little thing. she has an amazing bond with her older sister, and surrounded by her loving family she’s just sweet as can be.

benjamin thoreau weir-fields - ben is calvin’s first born from “ruby sparks.” ben wants to be exactly like his father… so. he wants to be a writer just like him. he wants to dress like calvin. he wants to look like calvin (even though he already does). he’s a lot more sensitive than calvin, which is saying a lot. he’s got the biggest heart and looks after his little sister with such love. ben likes spending time with calvin, he’ll sit on the floor of his daddy’s office while he writes and just stare at him because he loves the atmosphere. ben is full of love and wants to make everyone he meets happy.

eloise alcott weir-fields - eloise is calvin’s daughter, ben’s little sister. she’s a big ball of energy and constantly keeps calvin on his toes. calvin wants both of his kids to be writers, but el will just smile at her daddy and go “hmm, no! i want to be a singer!” and she will sing all around the house and just act like she’s the main character. el likes to do calvin’s hair when he’s too tired to tell her “no.” it’s very fun for her. she’s got a big heart like her brother and loves playing with him and singing songs for him.

that’s the rundown on all my dano babies!! thank you for asking about them because i really do put time into developing them and i hope to introduce more of them soon!😊💕💘💖👼🏻

[daisybeewrites]

Sorry, I’m Married

word count?: 3.5k

warnings: canon-typical violence, i don’t describe it graphically tho, just a minor skirmish. happy ending :)

requested? no

ship: dousy/daisy johnson x daniel sousa & dad!coulson

hey guys! i wrote this on a whim after hanging out in a dousy group. i was inspired by the chat at the end of the fic. as always, thank you for reading!! and drink some water ;) fic under the cut!

Neon lights reflected off rough concrete walls as Daisy’s combat boots walked down the steps to the underground club. Light up signs glowed and glittery heels flashed as crowds of people surged and stepped on the technicolour dance floor. The sequins of her dress reflected spotlights that roved the entry area. There were booths with cushy red banquettes lining the walls near the bar, giving college girls a place to rest their feet and hotshot businessmen a table to sip beer. Currently, the club was full, young men and women crowding the bar and dance floor. Decades night, Daisy deduced, as most of the inhabitants were wearing flashy dresses or denim bell bottoms. Deke would’ve loved this, she thought. I wonder how Deke is doing…

Daisy’s mind drifted as the light up jukebox in the corner switched songs. She didn’t spot the target anywhere, so she pushed in a quarter, chose her favourite 80s hit, and watched as the jukebox queued her song. The vibrations of the speakers were reverberating through her, pumping her adrenaline up. Good, more energy for a fight if I need it. 

Three leather stools were open at the bar—one by itself, and two side by side. She nodded at the bartender and sat in the single empty seat. Her comms crackled in her right ear, reminding her of why she was here in the first place. 

“Dais, can you hear me?” She located where Coulson was speaking across the room, sitting in a wooden booth near the side exit. He casually leaned back and sipped his drink. 

“Loud and clear,” Daisy mumbled. 

“New intel from HQ just came in. The weapons the target is dealing? Alien tech.”

“Great, she said sarcastically,” said Daisy, clearly annoyed. 

Coulson laughed. “On your 3.” 

Daisy rested her elbow forward on the bartop, scanning the selection of alcohols as a premise to look down the row of people to her right. She noticed two young lads dressed in all black suits, carrying briefcases. There was no way these guys were in charge of the illegal operation. Well, at least they won’t be a problem if it comes down to a fight, she thought.

As Daisy’s eyes roamed the club, she locked eyes with a muscular, bodyguard-type with a small, raised scar over his eye. She smiled then turned around. She recognized the uniform he was wearing as standard bouncer garb, but his side-piece was not. CF380, Princetown standard issue. Daisy signaled his presence to Coulson. 

“These guys? Again?” 

Princetown was a group of rich, privileged sons of international diplomats and of heads of large corporations. They slipped through the FBI’s fingers like sand. Now, they had alien tech. No diplomatic immunity would allow them to get out of an arrest now. 

Coulson nodded behind her. She subtly turned her head and glanced in that direction. Wearing an overly expensive silk suit and holding a glass of champagne, stood Luca Casagrande. Son of the Italian Minister of foreign affairs. Notorious for his parties, wealth, and lack of self-control. He winked at a blonde waitress who slipped him a piece of paper, which was very obviously not a bill. Daisy rolled her eyes. Criminals these days are so stupid, she thought. 

Coulson bit back a laugh at Daisy’s reaction. “Alright, Daisy, you’re up.”

“Remind me again why I was chosen for this part of the mission?” she murmured while sipping her drink to hide her words.

“Because, you’re good at it.” Coulson went quiet for a second then added, “And I'm not Casagrande’s type.”

Daisy flashed her eyes in Coulson’s direction, frustrated. She mentally went over the calming exercises May taught her. Deep breath, exhale. Let’s do this.

Daisy slid off the barstool, and approached Casagrande slowly. He only looked her direction when she sidled up next to him. 

“Hey, sweetheart. What’s a beautiful girl like you doing out here all by yourself?” A smooth, accented voice inquired.

Daisy bottled up a sarcastic remark and stocked it on the shelf for later use. Only Daniel is allowed to call her sweetheart. 

“Well, I was hoping,” she blinked up at him, batting her eyelashes. “to find some product. Heard you had all the good stuff. I'm lucky I even caught you here, considering your reputation.”

“Geez. Laying it on a little thick aren’t we?” Coulson couldn’t help it. The snort Daisy covered up as a cough was too hilarious.

Luca smiled. It was charming, but unsettling. “Oh? And what reputation would that be?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Daisy countered. She looked around before continuing, “Look, I've got pressure on me to deliver. I’d appreciate it if we talked business before pleasure.”

 “Hard to get.” Luca’s eyes sparkled. “Alright. Let’s talk business.”

He leaned over the bar and signaled the bartender to bring him two glasses of whiskey on the rocks. Once a glass was in his hand, he gestured to Daisy’s. “You don’t drink?”

“Not when I'm on the clock. My employers frown upon it.” 

Casagrande nodded. “I see. So, what type of product were you looking for?”

“Anything I can sell. Uncle Sam called and said they need a next gen advantage for soldiers. Weapons, maybe?” She ran a finger down the lapel of his suit. “They pay generously.”

“You work for the US military.”

“We have a... mutual understanding.” Daisy flashed a brilliant smile. It was kind of fun playing an undercover persona. 

Luca studied her face. “I don’t get details?”

Daisy scoffed, “Of course not. Son of a foreign diplomat, it’s a risk the US can’t take. If other countries found out…”

“Yes, I understand," He responded carefully. 

“And I understand that you also do some dirty business with governments.”

A menacing half-smile rose on his face. “Only the beautiful ones.”

Looking up into his eyes, Daisy felt the same disgust that had been worn by everyone at the mission briefing. Au contraire, Luca seemed to find Daisy extremely attractive. 

“Why don’t we—”

“No.” Daisy internally cringed, but on the outside she seemed relaxed and blasé. She risked a glance at Coulson, to see his reaction. His entire body was rigid. She didn’t blame him. Hearing some douchebag proposition your daughter...yulgh. She wished Daniel was here to watch her back, too... this guy was getting under her skin. Everything about Casagrande pushed her buttons. 

“No?”

“No,” Daisy affirmed, tilting her head. “Business first. We can talk about any other deals after.” 

“But there is a possibility?” He cheekily remarked. 

Not a chance in hell, Daisy thought. “Maybe. But for now, I need to move product ASAP.”

Luca mulled thos over and sipped the burning whiskey. “I may have some contacts that could help you. In return, what will you give me?”

Though the question was innocent, his intentions were obvious. That was exactly what she wanted. 

“Depends on how good the product is.” She stepped a little closer “It’s a little crowded in here, don’t ya think?”

He pushed off the bar, inches from her. He smelled like overly expensive cologne, and not the good kind. “I'm meeting some business associates out back in a few minutes. We’ll make a deal after that.”

“Would they happen to have anything I could—”

“Sorry, sweetheart, I do business privately.”

Daisy faked a sweet smile and resisted the urge to punch him. 

Luca took two steps toward the back door, then turned around and strutted back. He tilted his head towards her. “A good luck ki—?”

BRing. BRing. Bzzzzz. 

Best. Timing. Ever. Daisy shot Luca an apologetic look before picking up. 

“Hello? Oh, Dad! One sec.” Daisy took the phone off her ear, and whispered to Luca, “It’s my Dad. He’s in the hospital. Doesn’t know what my real job is.”

She brought the phone back up to her ear as Luca irritatedly glanced around. 

“Dad? Yeah... No, I'm fine, how are you feeling?... That’s great, Dad.” She winked at Luca and held up a finger. Daisy was glad he didn’t notice Coulson over her shoulder, also on the phone. 

“I'm with some friends…” Luca raised his eyebrows. “Luca Casagrande... He does business with my marketing firm.”

Daisy waved Luca away after noticing him checking his Rolex twice in ten seconds. He nodded and headed out back. She made sure he was out of earshot before alerting Coulson.

“Coulson, he’s headed out.”

“Yup, QJ-6 is on the way. I’ll stay to watch his lackeys.”

Daisy gave the bartender a tip and walked towards the back door, grabbing her gauntlets from behind the bar. He dipped his chin and continued wiping down the counter.

As she walked into the chilly night air, Daisy was greeted with silence. Droplets of water dripped onto the leather of her boots from the rooftop. The concrete crunched in the darkness of the alley. Light from the streetlamps was scarce, melding shadowy corners with the dim alleyway.. Daisy could hear faint music through the brick walls of the club. A smirk formed on her face as her pick from the jukebox played. Walking towards the street, she checked behind the moldy trash bins for a sign that Casagrande was hiding. The opening guitar grew louder as the safety of a gun clicked off behind her. 

“So,” Daisy raised her hands up. It was a trap. “what happened to your business associates?”

Luca chuckled behind her. 

“You’re not stupid. You can figure it out.”

Daisy slowly turned around to face him. 

“You bluffed to see if I would follow you.” She wasn’t surprised. She had counted on this. “You’re a decent liar.”

“So are you.” Luca lowered the gun a bit. “Who are you? CIA?”

“That’s classified.” 

Luca laughed, haphazardly slinging the pistol to the side in a grand gesture. “Of course it is.”

“I wasn’t lying when I said that the government and I have a mutual understanding.”

“But that isn’t the whole truth, is it?” 

Daisy smirked. “Of course not.”

Technically, this was true. Her status as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent was protected knowledge, no one but people inside her agency and a handful high-ranking world intelligence officers were aware.

Daisy decided he might as well know who she was. He was going to be locked up in a max-security cell pretty soon, anyway.

He fell against the wall as Daisy hit him with a small quake, just enough to get her point across. His expression was one of pure shock.

“You- Y- You’re…”

“Mar—”

“Daisy, what’s going on?” Coulson must have felt the vibrations. She didn’t think she had hit Luca that hard. Daisy could hear the quinjet approaching, the comforting vibrations of the engine helping to calm her nerves. She stepped toward Luca.

“You have two options: come peacefully with me, or I call the cavalry to take you in by force.”

Luca stayed on the ground, silent. He reminded Daisy of a pouting toddler. 

This toddler had a few tricks up his sleeve. 

Coulson’s voice came through her ear. “Daisy, do you ha—”

Daisy’s blood ran cold as she received static from the other line.

“Coulson? Coulson?!”

Wide brown eyes turned to watch Casagrande’s smirk grow. 

“Problem?" He said smugly. 

Daisy quickly knocked him out with the mini-ICER she kept inside her boot and ran back inside. Opening the solid metal door to the inside of the club, she registered the panicked screams from the main room. As she hurtled through the plain hallway towards the crowds, she wished she had a way to tell the backup team that they were flying into trouble. He must’ve known we’d be here. How did he know we’d be here? 

The walls were a blur as the confusion and fear from the civilians in the club became palpable. The door squeaked on its hinges as Daisy threw it open. She didn’t see Coulson anywhere. Actually, she couldn’t see anything at all. An EMP. Cool. Fun. Alright. That’s fine. 

It’s all fine.

Wandering the crowds, Daisy tried to find a way to contact the team. Surely they had a landline in here? 

The bartender pulled her aside as she passed him. He silently pointed to the jukebox. It was the only thing still on and functioning. Of course, Daisy didn’t know how she hadn’t seen it before! 

She walked to the jukebox and searched the sides for a dial, a button, something... Aha! She unlatched the panel and bent down to dial Piper’s number. She pressed the call button while her vision grew blurry. Her eyelids drooped. A sluggish head turn towards the dance floor gave a view of unconscious bodies asleep next to each other. Daisy tried to stand, to walk to the nearest victim of the sleeping gas. A burning zap that seemed to travel through her veins rendered her unconscious. I have to find Coulson…

Daisy knew she probably shouldn’t have left Casagrande in the alley by himself. She was playing right into his hand.

Coulson was more important.

Coulson. What would he do?

Daisy slowly tried to open her eyes. She felt like she had a hangover. The light was dim, the floor beneath her cold as ice. Her hearing slowly came back as she took in her surroundings. A pair of black dress shoes blurred into her frame of vision. 

“Hey, you’re awake.” Coulson’s voice flooded her with relief.

“What happened? Where…?”

Coulson helped her sit up against a rough stone wall. “I have no clue. Best guess? An Italian castle.”

Daisy was suddenly very awake. “We’re in Italy?”

“Hey, I said best guess.” Coulson pointed his fingers to the ceiling. “I heard footsteps up there earlier.”

Daisy just nodded. Last time she was in Italy, she had a hell of a lot better time. For starters, no one zapped her with— wait, what was she hit with?

“What was that weapon I was hit with? It felt like it was melting my insides.” The thought scared her. The only other time she had felt that type of pain was when... she didn’t like to think about it. 

“You know the alien tech that Casagrande was running?” Daisy nodded. “Yeah, it was that.”

A loud groan solidified Daisy’s frustration. Her eyes closed while she tried to concentrate. She tried to feel any vibrations near her, to soak up anything that could signal where they were. Instead of feeling the vibrations of a mountain or a plane, she felt footsteps. Coming closer, closer... Daisy opened her eyes. 

Luca entered the chilly cell through the thick steel door. She would have quaked him back about a hundred feet if it weren’t for Coulson’s hand on her arm. 

“You two seem comfortable. Can I get you a drink? Water? Coffee?” His smile was smug and irritating.

Coulson replied before Daisy could. “No, we’re good thanks. How about instead, you give us some answers. Starting with: where are we, and who’s your source?” His voice got harder and colder as he went on. Luca acted unfazed. 

“No. You are insurance. You have physical evidence of my illegal trades. I was going to leave you on the curb, but then this guy,” Luca pointed over his shoulder at a soldier then slapped the short lad on the back. Daisy recognized him as one the short lads with briefcases at the bar. “This guy had to go and shoot you with the Widow’s Bite!”

Coulson's eyes grew wide in recognition. Daisy could connect the dots herself.

“You stole Black Widow’s weapons?” They said in unison. Coulson and Daisy looked at each other and fell silent. By Daisy’s profile, if they kept acting surprised and in awe, he would keep giving them answers. 

“Yes, I did. Amazing right?” Luca stared off into the distance. “Last month I hired a thief to get into the Avenger’s Compound. She got a copy of Stark’s old hard drive, picked up some old relics, modified them with alien metal stolen from Hydra. But every time I tried to open it, it would corrupt my servers. I took the damn thing to every hacker I knew, now they all want to kill me because I crashed their servers. Some of them used to be part of the Rising Tide, when they were still young and hotheaded. They told me about a hacker named Skye. She disappeared, never heard from again. She has no information on her. She has no records. Not even in the top intelligence departments of America. She doesn’t exist.

“But Daisy Johnson does. Daisy Johnson, a hacker who rose in Skye’s place. Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.”

“And you need us to get to her,” Coulson finished. “I hate to burst your bubble, but we’re expendable. You’re better off throwing us in the ocean than you are waiting for her to come.”

Luca seemed to be seriously considering this. Then he nodded. You’re right, I need to up the ante. Raise the stakes a little.”

He jerked a thumb over his shoulder as he turned on heel and swaggered down the hallway. “Bring them.”

Two soldiers came in to get Daisy and Coulson. They reached down to grab Daisy, and she swiftly brought her head forward to hit theirs. Stunned, the soldier took a step back, giving Daisy time to stand up before she gave a hard kick to his stomach. The other soldier was similarly impaired, having taken a startlingly strong punch to the jaw from Coulson. The crack! of the bone echoed off the stone walls. Daisy quaked them against the wall for good measure, realizing they hadn’t taken her gauntlets. Coulson was waiting by the door. 

“Let’s go.” 

They ran through the halls, following where they thought Casagrande might have gone, stopping in several rooms on the way to hide from Casagrande’s soldiers. They ran into him at the front of what was, indeed, a stone castle. He stood on the uneven steps gazing out at rolling hills and cottony clouds hung high above a choppy lake. The wind blew hard, just enough to make you wish for a sweater from someone warm and comforting. It was all quite picturesque. 

Except for the criminal standing in front of them. 

“Congrats, you escaped! I’m so glad.” Luca smiled and opened up his arms. 

“Somehow this guy still sounds smug. We just escaped from his prison and this guy still thinks he’s won.” Coulson turned to Daisy. 

Daisy shook her head and shouted, “Hey, Luca! The fight’s not finished yet!”

“Really, sweetheart? Because it looks to m—”

He was interrupted by a violent quake in his direction. She strided over to where he was struggling to get up. 

“It looks like what? I can’t hear you.” Daisy rested her hands on her hips. 

“It looks as if you are lost. Even if you escape, you have no way to get home,” he wheezed. 

Daisy rolled her eyes. Coulson walked up behind her, squatting down beside Luca and using a hand on his shoulder to keep him in place. 

“We’re resourceful. And while we were hiding from guards in some of your fancy tech rooms, we found an old sat phone. They’re easy enough to use, all we had to do was phone a friend and tell them exactly where we are,” Coulson explained. 

“Ah, but you don’t know where we are, sweetheart.” His rebuttal was pointed at Daisy. She decided it was her turn to prove him wrong. 

“See, that’s where you’re wrong. You counted on us not being able to crack your hard drive’s encryption and get past your feeble firewalls. That took less than five minutes. The only remotely hard part about hacking you to find our coordinates was trying to read everything in Italian.” Daisy laughed. 

Luca tried the wiggle away from them. “If you have my hard drive, then you know there isn’t anything of importance on there.”

As she pulled a pair of handcuffs out of her boot, Daisy exchanged a look with Coulson. 

“You’re right, there isn’t anything of value on that hard drive,” she said. “There are about 100 other files I downloaded from your personal computer that do have important intel, though.” 

Coulson pulled a face and sucked in a breath. “Yikes.”

“So, I guess if you’re arresting me, there isn’t any chance we could ever do business, if you know what I mean?”

Daisy mentally pulled that bottle off the shelf and dusted off her sarcastic remark. 

“Sorry, I’m married.”

Daisy locked the cuffs into place and stood Casagrande up. Two quinjets touched down thirty minutes later, one with a team of agents to search the castle, and one to take Daisy and Coulson home. Agent Piper met Daisy on the ramp of QJ-6, something metallic and glittery in her hand. 

“Thanks for holding onto it.” Daisy hugged Piper before taking her ring back. 

“No problem. Wouldn’t want this rock to get lost in the field!” she laughed. 

Daisy slipped the smooth metal on her finger and sagged into the jump seat next to Coulson. She rested her head on his shoulder, softly gazing at her hand. 

“I can’t wait to be home with Daniel.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: heeeey! this fic was inspired by @starkmaiden ‘s post in a dousy group i’m in. thank you!! if you have a request, question for me, or want to be added to my taglist go visit my ask box! i love each and every one of you :)

[millennialfangirl]

Take My Hand (take my whole life too) - a Daisy/Daniel post S7 oneshot

Fandom: Agents of Shield

Pairing: Daisy x Daniel

Rating: G

Word Count: 3033

Author’s Note: Here’s a little post season 7 oneshot. Just some ideas I had for how the series could end for our lovely ship. I’m sure the next episode it will get ‘Jossed’. 

Take my hand (Take my whole life too)

Daisy found herself alone, sipping on the last of her champagne. Sounds of laughter fill the backyard where the small reception is taking place. She’s filled with happiness for May and Coulson, but as she stares across the patio, eyes lingering on Sousa as he plays with little Diana Fitz-Simmons, she can’t help but feel a deep well of sadness. May and Coulson have known each other for two decades, and they’ve just now settled down and committed to a life with one another. It makes her hurt for all the missteps and loneliness that her pseudo-parents took to get here. 

 It makes her hurt for herself, and the man she’s just starting to realize means more to her than she’s comfortable with. 

 The sliding of a chair brings her out of her melancholic reverie, and a warm hand settles on her shoulder. Without thinking, she leans her cheek on it as she continues to stare out across the party.

 “Do you want to talk about it?” Coulson prods. 

 Taking in a deep breath, Daisy exhales her sigh. She doesn’t want to dampen his night, but she knows he won’t settle until she’s given him something. 

 “It took so long for you to get your happy ending.” 

 That’s all she says, and she thinks it’s enough to convey all the things she’s feeling. 

 Coulson follows her gaze, his thumb rubbing soothing circles on her shoulder. He has easily put two and two together over the past few months as he’s watched Daisy stumble and dance herself around Agent Sousa. 

 “You’re wondering if it’s worth it?”

 She nods, a hand reaching up for his to pull it down with hers as she turns her body to face him. He’s so happy right now, which should be answer enough to her concerns. The burdened weight of years of sacrifice have lifted from his face and posture, replaced with soft laugh lines and warm eyes. A mist settles over her eyes when she remembers that she had lost him once upon a time before traveling to the past, and fixing that one wrong that cut deeper than all the others. He was flesh and bone once again, and he was happily married with a gold band on his finger. He’ll be able to grow old with May instead of having to watch her die one day. 

 “Happiness seems tenuous at best. Our life takes it away so often, why risk it after so many years of not getting to this place?”

 “I get it, I do,” he admits. He takes a swig from his bottled beer and sets it back on the table. His fingers fiddle with the bottle wrapper as he gathers his thoughts. 

 “We took a long time, and yeah, sometimes I wished we hadn’t. I wish we’d figured things out sooner, but I have to believe that it gave us the foundation we need to make it last, that otherwise we would have started something we couldn’t finish.”

 “You know more than anyone what I’ve lost. I know what you’ve lost. I don’t know if I can survive losing someone else.”

 The smallest tear squeezes out as she admits her fears. Coulson wipes it away immediately, and then tucks a few stray hairs behind her ear. 

 “You can survive anything. You’ve always been capable of so much more than you know. It’s the very reason you deserve your own happiness. I know you’ll get it one day, because there’s no one that deserves it more than you...except maybe a displaced WWII veteran,” he pauses with a soft chuckle as he glances back at the dark-haired man shuffling a toddler around on his feet.

 Mirth fills his eyes as he returns his gaze to Daisy, her face burning red while she pointedly stares at the ground. 

 “And when you do, you’ll know. The bones will be good, and the time will be right. Every couple is different. Your happy ending might be a lot closer than you think.”

 Daisy scoffs.

 “Nice. Subtle.” 

 Coulson gives her that dad look. 

 “People arrive, so we celebrate, and people leave us, so we grieve. We do what we can with the time in between,” he pauses and gives her a knowing look. “For a sentient chronicom, Enoch understood the crux of humanity. Life can’t be just the things we lose.”

 “I’ll try to keep an open mind,” she begrudgingly acquiesces. 

 He looks mollified as he leans back in his chair, crossing his arms. She’s reminded of how lucky she is to have him back in her life, to have someone who cares enough about her wellbeing to have this conversation. As they sip their drinks under the night sky, she thinks back on their first night of freedom at the rundown motel after Hydra was exposed. Even then, with half of a chocolate bar, he was trying to take care of her. Not for the first time, she wonders what her life would have been like, and what choices she would have made if she had had a father figure like Coulson in her life all along. Would she have chosen people like Myles and Ward?

 She does know that Daniel’s unlike anyone she’s met before, and she doesn’t just think it’s because he’s a man out of time. There’s a goodness and steadfastness that is woven through him like the suits he still insists on wearing. Somewhere in there is a joke about how girls fall in love with men like their fathers. There are a lot of differences between Daniel and Coulson. There are also a few similarities. Apparently Daniel is the original Agent Suit, and apparently he also likes to take care of her. After going through countless time loops that proved over and over the type of man Sousa is, she’s doing her best to accept the help, and maybe let down her defenses a little bit. But accepting help is one thing, and jumping heart first into a relationship is another. They’ve barely been able to catch their breath since defeating the chronicoms, much less have any time to see if their feelings were more than surface level. 

 A small wrapped box is placed in front of her on the table, bringing her out of her conflicting thoughts.

 “I got something for the new Director. Something every Director of a super top-secret spy organization should have,” he finishes with a grin, looking so much like the adorable nerd he is. 

 “Um...this is your wedding day. I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to be the one giving you a gift.” 

 Coulson merely shrugs. Daisy starts pulling the string on the wrapping paper.

 “It’s also the first day of my life as a civilian.”

 She can’t help but laugh as the dark blue paper falls revealing a simple wooden box.

 “I don’t think you’ll ever be just a civilian.”

 Her wide grin drops from her face when she sees the familiar keys nestled in the now opened box. She looks up at Coulson with wide eyes, words of refusal already in her mouth.

 “No, I--” but he doesn’t let her finish. 

 “Yes. It’s time to pass the torch. She deserves to keep going on adventures, not sit in my garage,” he insists, closing his hand over hers, folding the keys into her palm. 

 ****

 She watches as Coulson steps in, lifting Diana into his arms, swinging her around in a half waltz. Daniel laughs with his hands on his hips in mock anger. Daisy looks away before she gets caught staring, and instead looks to her phone for a distraction. She flips through her photo album, gazing at candids from the small ceremony. Eventually she lands on the infamous picture of Daniel in an alley from literal decades ago. 

 “Looks like I could use a new dance partner.”

 In an instant her phone is fumbling out of her hands, falling hard on the patio underfoot. Her face burns red with embarrassment as her brain tries to catch up to what he said. She blindly reaches for the phone while looking up at him.

 “Dance partner?”

 And she wants to slap herself in the face for her lack of finesse.

 Daniel leans down a bit, holding his hand out for her to take.

 “Let me try that again. May I have this dance?”

 And Daisy doesn’t think she’s ever felt a rush of butterflies quite like that before. No one has ever asked her to dance with them. There weren’t many school dances she actually went to, and all the boys she’s been with before...well dancing wasn’t their style, at least not the kind with soft music and romantic lighting. She’d had a lot of experience with thumping bass, dark rooms, and wandering hands. 

 She likes to pride herself on the growth she’s made, the woman she’s become. She wears her independence like a badge of honor, but in that moment staring at Sousa’s hand, she feels young and completely smitten. 

 Unprepared. Unprepared is what she is, but it can’t be that different from sparring, right? She’s nothing if not ready for a challenge.

 Sousa takes the hand she places in his, and a large grin spreads across his face. It takes her breath away. 

 “I don’t exactly know how to do this,” she admits, embarrassed. 

 “Do what? Dance? No way.”

 Daisy nervously places her hand on his shoulder like she’d seen in the movies, while their fingers spread and squeeze into a firm hold with each other. He feels solid under her touch.

 “True story.”

 “Well, we’ll just have to fix that. Just follow my feet. When I step back with one foot, follow it with your opposite. When I step to the side, just go with me. When I step forward, you step back.”

 “So it is like fighting,” she mumbles mostly to herself. 

 “Hmm?”

 “Nothing.”

 And it’s not so bad after the first couple of awkward shuffles. Eventually they find a rhythm, and Daisy’s surprised to find she’s enjoying the moment. She stops staring at their feet long enough to relax and watch the people around them, her people. She’s lost in thought while staring at Mack and Yo-Yo swaying to the music, arms wrapped tightly together.

 Sousa clears his throat. “It was a beautiful wedding.” 

 “Long overdue, and exactly what they deserve.”

 “You really love them.”

 “More than anything. They’re my family.”

 “You’re lucky to have them. And they’re lucky to have you.”

 “I’m so sorry, Sousa. You must feel so alone,” she responds guiltily.

 “I don’t feel so alone. Not right now. It’s hard to feel alone when I’m dancing with a real-life superhero.”

 “If I’m a superhero, it’s only because of people like you.”

 “People like me?”

 “People who save people like me, who follow us into the dark, and pull us back out. People who roll with the punches and have good hearts. Solid people.”

 “If I didn’t know any better Director Johnson, I’d say you were still trying to sweet-talk me into the Co-Director position.” 

 “That works too.”

 Sousa looks at her skeptically before Daisy continues.

 “So, what do you say? Ready to accept the position?” 

 With that, he is distracted. He chews on his lip in thought.

 “You know I want nothing more than to help you, help SHIELD...It’s just hard for me to imagine being that useful in the 21st century. I’m so behind on modern technology and culture. I worry that I’ll be more of a burden.”

 Daisy’s hackles raise at his blatant disregard for his worth. 

 “You think you’d be a burden? You’re a brilliant detective and strategist. You’re the guy that figured out Hydra’s involvement in SHIELD before anyone else, and was willing to give his life to stop them. You’re the guy that saved me from Nathaniel Malick. You’re the guy who took every time loop in stride and helped me break that time loop. You’re the guy that I…”

 Daisy stops herself mid-sentence, almost saying something that she can’t take back. Something she’s too afraid to voice. Sousa looks down at her, hanging on her every word as she pauses. She shakes her head as if to clear it of her runaway thoughts. She decides to go with a much more palatable truth.

 “You’re the guy I trust to have my back,” she finishes with a gulp. 

 For a moment she thinks she’s gone too far. He’s staring at her intently like he’s trying to crack a code or needle an interrogation suspect. After what feels like an eternity, he finally speaks up. 

 “Well, Director Johnson, how can I say no to that vote of confidence.”

 She releases a nervous laugh. “You can’t. That’s the point,” she says with a satisfied smile.  

 “No, I suppose not,” he says with a twinkle in his eye that she has become increasingly fond of. 

 They settle into a comfortable silence as a new song comes on. Neither one of them make to leave the makeshift dance floor, so they drift into the opening tunes of Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling In Love.” 

 It’s soft and whimsical, and Daisy can’t help but let her mind wander to the man in front of her. He makes her feel things she doesn’t remember feeling before, not even with Lincoln. She’s hyper aware of how perfectly their hands fit together, and the gentle touch of his fingers on her waist. She has to physically stop herself from leaning forward and resting her head on his shoulder, to seek out the comfort she remembers from the barn. She wonders if he would follow her lips willingly just like he had in the time loop.

 She thinks he might always look like he stepped out of a classic, black and white, Hollywood film. 

 As if he can read her thoughts, he pulls her a little closer, their arms wrapping around each other a bit more than what’s expected of two colleagues or platonic friends, but not quite as intimate as Mack and Yo-yo. She can’t stop the next words out of her mouth, because they’re simply true and pure. 

 “This is nice.”

 Because it is. It’s so nice, and she’s still struggling to accept that she deserves to feel something this good. 

 With a knowing smile, he hums in agreement before gently turning her out, guiding her into a slow spin. When she steps back into his arms, neither one hesitates in drawing in a bit closer. The world is spinning around them, but he’s her only focal point. His kind eyes with slight crinkles, the touch of gray around his temples, the mole just below his Adam’s apple...the softness of his lips.

 “You look beautiful tonight.” 

 And if that doesn’t take her breath away. When was the last time someone called her beautiful? She’s heard plenty of other adjectives: strong, stubborn, leader...destroyer. She wants to be all those things, and beautiful too. 

 “Thank you,” she responds quietly, not quite capable of meeting his eyes.

 Then he says her name softly, prompting her to look up. The way he says, “Daisy,” instead of Agent Johnson, the way he’s asking for the answer to a question he doesn’t even know...she’s sure she knows the question.

 It probably sounds a lot like, “Why does this feel so right? Why do your arms feel like home? Would it be alright if I kissed you?”

 And her answer would be, “Because your favorite people are people like me. Because you’ve held me close before. Please, kiss me again.”

 She never told him about the time loops. She never wanted to take away his free will. But right now she’s ready to tell him everything. She’s ready for a kiss that can never be erased. 

 An alarm starts blaring from her wristwatch, and the two of them jump apart. She can see several other members of their team all stop what they’re doing and look to their phones and smartwatches. 

 Daisy knows the night is over and duty calls. She’s surprised the whole wedding wasn’t interrupted, but she can’t help but feel angry nonetheless. 

 “Want to catch a ride with me?” she asks the suddenly sullen looking man out of time.

 His face lights up with a smile, and he gestures to her to walk in front of him. 

 “After you, Director.”

 She can feel his eyes on her as they make their way to the tables where she picks up the keys to Lola along with her belongings. It doesn’t feel like he’s leering. It feels protective and comforting, just like someone who’s got her back. 

 Coulson hugs her tightly, and May wishes them luck as they head out to chase down their next mission. It should feel sad, leaving them behind, but it somehow feels right. They’re her family. They’ll always be there for her, but now it’s time for her to lead, and she has one hell of a right hand to help her out.

 As they make their way to the parked car, red and shiny in the moonlight, Sousa can’t help but ask, “What’s an 0-8-4?” 

 He must have taken a moment to read the alert sent to his phone.

 “It’s an object of unknown origin. Probably alien. Think you can handle it?” she asks, and she can’t help but feel a thrill of excitement for the unknown.

 “I’ve traveled 70 years into the future, I don’t think much will surprise me now.”

 At that, she laughs out loud as she slides into the car.

 “You might be right. Alright, last chance. Sure you want in?”

 “Positive. I’m where I need to be.”

 The way he looks into her eyes when he says it lets her know he means so much more than just the next mission. 

 “That’s good to hear. Now buckle up, I just might surprise you now.”

 “I’m counting on it,” he says with an excited grin.

  Daisy can feel his stare, even as they rise above the trees, Lola taking flight. Without looking at him, she takes his hand in her own. 

 If her cheeks turn red and her heart beats harder, well at least Coulson’s not there to notice it.

[pasmonblog]

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all!). see if there are any patterns. choose your favorite opening line. then tag some of your favorite authors.

Tagged by: @darlingshane (thanks for the tag! 💜)

My 20 most recent intros (according to AO3) below the cut,

Wanda was trying really hard not to throw up. (The Sound Of You And Me, Bucky/Wanda)

She hadn’t been there a week, and Bucky Barnes could see it a mile away. (Rooftops, Bucky/Wanda)

Jane Foster was as good as dead to the world. Floating between two machines (hooked up to some old CRTs she managed to fish out of the trash at their last lab gig), there was a cavernous crease between her eyebrows as she tried to get the settings just right. For what? Darcy Lewis wasn’t quite sure.  (My Way Home Is Through You, Bucky/Darcy)

“I think you need to work on your patience.” (A Lesson In Patience, Daisy/Daniel)

Between missions and meetings, there were almost average nights for Wanda and James— sometimes. (What You Want, Bucky/Wanda)

They’d been dancing around each other all night. (As A Treat, Wanda/Bucky/Darcy)

Darcy had been in the Tower all of ten hours. And, in that time, she’d found out that three hours was apparently all it took for Tony Stark to organize a full-blown party. (The Good Fight, Sam/Darcy)

“Are you sure we’re going to be alright?” (On What You’re On, Darcy/Wanda)

Darcy rapped her fingers on the desktop a few times before realizing that might come off as more ‘Karen’ than ‘crapping her pants’ as she waited for the smiling receptionist blonde-haired receptionist, Tandy, as it read on her name-tag, to finish a phone call. (I Know A Place, Darcy/Natasha)

“Why is the wait for the elevator always an eternity?” (Perfect, Darcy/Natasha)

“Lucky, I swear to god you’re worse than your dad. You know which one.” (Her Boys, Darcy/Clint/Bucky)

Claire Temple’s fingers trailed down to the front of his pants, teasingly outlining the bulge straining against the material. (Friction, Claire/Matt)

Today was their last day on Earth. Not in the depressing end-of-life sort of way, but just factually. This was the last day they’d set foot on Earth for the foreseeable future. (Last Night On Earth, Daisy/Daniel)

Today was turning out to be a bit of a struggle. (Glorious You, Darcy/Wanda)

It was hard to hear over the pounding in his skull. Even harder to see in the dark. (Outnumbered, Frank/Karen)

It seemed everyone involved could vividly remember the first day they ever met Darcy Lewis. Although most days it was hard to place— that day when she suddenly was. It was kind of like she floated out of the sky if they thought about it too hard. Like she had drifted in on a breeze and landed right into their laps. (A Spoonful of Sugar, Clint/Darcy)

The power was out again. Only the moonlit the sprawling earth below. The rolling blackouts were almost comforting, watching the city around them reduced to dark in an instant, urging the country to sleep. As if they’d wake in the morning to find this all a bad dream. As if they were that lucky to dream such awful things. (Lost And (Cannot Be) Found, Natasha/Steve)

James Buchanan Barnes was furious. He had perfected that particular brand of silent fury that quickly tipped his teammates off, rushing away from the scene before he needed to say anything. Something about that locked jaw and cold eyes. That ‘standing just outside the door of Steve’s office’ kind of furious. (Long Story Short, I Survived, Wanda/Bucky)

“Mom, I’ll be there in eight hours.” (Because It's You I See, Clint/Darcy)

Did everyone just ignore it, or was Darcy the only one who could actually see what was going on here? (Accidentally On Purpose, Steve/Darcy/Bucky)

Most of these are just immediate cuts to someone doing something, quick takes, often setting up the initial vibe of our narrator or the setting. “Someone was something” is clearly a go-to of mine, and I usually take that first paragraph to unpack at least part of why.

My favorite is probably 17. Lost And (Cannot Be) Found- that was a very different kind of intro for me, and I still really love how that fic turned out.

Tagging @treaddelicately, @grimeysociety, @sarahbeniel, @earnmysong, @simmerandcry, (no pressure) and anyone who would like to give this a go! 💜

[zertzertzhang]

Stand and Deliver: My Life Turned Upside Down CH.3

A/N: This is my first time writing on Tumblr, so please bear with me! I am usually active on FFNet and AO3, but since this fandom is basically nonexistent except for here, I thought maybe I could post my works for this movie here. The story is a fanfic based on the 1988 movie ‘Stand and Deliver’ starring Edward James Olmos, taking a deeper look into the lives of the impoverished students in East LA.

Eventual Angel/OC, and warnings of racial slurs with some physical violence.

:

:

Chapter Three: Living Skills

By the time she rolled into the second week of Garfield High, Vianne was sure she saw the school at its worst. Had she been honest with herself, she would’ve thought she was beginning to get used to the rioting students. It was a surprise that she became somewhat good at blocking the excess noise from them.

Hateful stares and whispered insults about her ethnicity waned as the week dragged on. The initial weariness she felt from the people around her dropped as she kept to herself. Call it paranoia or what, she could sense the heavy atmosphere boring onto her back as she passed the lockers. It was hard imagining a whole year of silence. 

Vianne never saw herself as a quiet wallflower, but the situation at hand forced her mouth shut for far too long. The need to talk to someone had been building up since the day she arrived. If this was going to stretch out any longer, she could see herself  talking to random objects within her peripheral vision. As if the students needed another excuse to deepen the ostracization. In her own way, Vianne was in solitary confinement.

Wait why do I need them?! 

She shook her head, angry at her own slip up. There was no need for her to make any contact with people like that. Loneliness must've been a powerful force for her, for she now wanted communication from the very people set out to destroy her life. And it tore her dignity to shreds.

Biting the fleshy pulp of her lips, Vianne exhaled. There were still two more periods before she could jump into her car and drive home. Living Skills was next on her schedule, so she had to trudge across campus to her destination. The signs pointing to her class became clear as she neared the hallway. 

With five minutes before the second bell, Vianne discovered the almost empty room. It was custom for things like that to happen. Usually, people were either late or scrambling in at the last second. To her, that was a blessing. Any area could be taken for her choosing.

She spotted Ana by the side near the windows. The bespectacled young woman turned her head to look at her when she arrived at the scene. A shy smile crossed Ana’s face, and she waved. Vianne quirked her lips in an awkward attempt to smile back.

Ana was friendly, not just to her. A pang of guilt vibrated along Vianne’s chest. She felt a bit extreme in condemning everyone in the school; at least Ana made an effort to make her feel welcomed. It was because of that Vianne didn’t pull out her hair during Math 1A, so she owed it to her.

“Hey.” A soft greeting slipped from Vianne as she approached the desk. 

Ana shuffled some books to the side, creating space for her. “Hi! How was your lunch?”

Vianne sighed. “I’ve had better. The heat melted my sandwich.” She left out the part where she sat by herself for two whole weeks, not wanting to sound like some loser.

Her metaphor made Ana giggle lightly. It reminded her of the bells twinkling on the front door back in Napa; Vianne thought it to be rather calming. A breath of fresh air away from the screaming students was a surprising luxury around here.

“I know a place where there's an air conditioner,” Ana said. “You can come eat with me if you’d like.” 

The invitation caught Vianne off guard, prompting her to nearly drop her pencil. Ana still held her hopeful smile, like a lost puppy. That and the desperation to find cold air sold the deal.

Vianne grinned. “That'd be great. I’ll catch you after math tomorrow.” A satisfied hum left her as she leaned against the chair. It was nice to have a lunch buddy. 

It didn’t take long for the starting bell to ring. Mrs. Flores entered the class with a large trunk, followed by a hoard of people behind her. Everyone fought for a seat, breaking the calm atmosphere in seconds. Both Vianne and Ana resisted the urge to roll their eyes.

Mrs. Flores was a cheery plump woman in her sixties. Her floral dress was matched with a mint green camisole, making Vianne think of daisies and dandelions in a summer field. A pair of reading glasses perched on the bridge of her nose, giving her a jolly appearance of a librarian. Viane would reckon she’d keep a hidden stash of toffee under a desk somewhere for the children. 

“Settle down, settle down!” The teacher’s chirpy voice broke through the crowd. “I have an announcement to make!”

An exasperated glance was thrown at them as Mrs. Flores shuffled to the front podium. Her arms came up, hands clasping together in enthusiastic excitement. 

“I’m happy to introduce you all to our project of the semester,” she began. “There will be two parts, with each section worth fifty points. This will be a partnered assignment, so I expect you all to be friendly with one another.” 

Mrs. Flores gave them another knowing look, as if to warn them against their funny business. A few students avoided her gaze, fidgeting sheepishly on the chairs. To the side, Vianne looked at Ana, motioning back and forth between them. Ana caught the drift and nodded; it would be best if they could choose who they wanted to work with.

It was still too early into the school year for Vianne to be comfortable with anyone on the premises, but Ana had been the only one to show acceptance. She’d take that over anything.

“Each pair will receive a doll.” 

The next instruction baffled the class. Vianne stared on with wide eyes as Mrs. Flores took out a raggedy dummy from the trunk. It was a dress-up doll, with the color of its skin ashened by years of dust coupled with torn bits of its dress. 

Mrs. Flores sighed with strange contentment as she continued. “This year, the health department wants us to learn how to be responsible adults. As we are nearing senior year, the closer you are all to adulthood. And one of the graduation requirements is to pass Living Skills.”

Vianne didn’t need to hear the rest of it. Playing make-believe house was one of the projects required in Sex Ed class back in Napa, only it was to be taken during senior year. It would appear that it was happening sooner for her. Praying to whatever deity that came to mind, she hoped that she was allowed to choose partners. There was no way she was going to be stuck with a haughty, nose-picking man-child. 

“The fuck ma’am?!” Another shout rang from behind. “Who needs this?!”

A wave of murmurs agreed to his outcry, with some joining in. Mrs. Flores huffed, using her index finger to push up her glasses before glaring at the mass.

“If you want me to teach sex, then the right thing for me to do is to teach you the aftermath of it, too.” A light smile danced around her lips, a brow raised along with it. The boys’ cheeks flushed bright red at the comment, while the girls took a sudden interest in their books. 

Vianne felt the same sentiment, her ears tingling with warm embarrassment. Mrs. Flores was a lot of things, and bluntness was one of them. 

“Can we pick partners?” one of the girls asked. 

Mrs. Flores shook her head. “I’ve already made my decision last night about the pairs.”

Vianne’s stomach twisted at the revelation; she was already having a shitty time adjusting to the new school, and now she had to deal with a hotheaded student who probably hated her guts. Dred pooled down her back, soaking her in fearful anticipation.

Before them, Mrs. Flores took out a sheet of paper. Her mouth moved to speak, but was interrupted when an ear-splitting crash came from the door. It sounded like a dense mass falling onto the lockers. All eyes turned to the source of the sound, Vianne included. Another bang followed the crash, before all was silent. She sucked in a breath.

With a crack, the door flew open, revealing none other than the very boy who made fun of her days before in Math 1A. It would appear that barging into class midway was his style of rolling.His eyes drooped in lazy discontent, and there was dust all over his bomber jacket. Upon closer inspection, Vianne could make out the beginnings of a bruise forming on the corners of his left eye. 

Great. She shared another class with him, too. Oh goodie. Vianne was starting to believe that she was cursed before she stepped foot in LA. Or maybe she fucked up really bad in her past life. Because no one could have this much bad luck in one month. Mrs. Flores, on the other hand, seemed way too surprised at his grandiose entrance.  

“Well, well, Mr. Angel Guzman,” she tutted. “It’s a pleasure to finally see you grace my class with your presence.” Sarcasm dripped from her voice as she stared him down, not bothering with formalities.

Angel rolled his eyes with a click of his tongue. Sauntering to the nearest desk, he slumped into the seat, angling his legs wide open. Without context, one might believe him to be a gangster boss overlooking his new crew. The relaxed stance in his posture gave away nothing about his mood, but the dark look in his eyes spoke for him. 

 If Mrs. Flores was miffed by his disposition, she didn’t show it. “Since you’ve expressed so much excitement for this assignment, I’ll give you the honor of knowing your partner first.” 

Scanning the paper, her eyes landed on the very bottom of the list, and she spoke again. “You’ll be with Miss Yang over here for the project. Now, Adeline, you’re with Thomas. Ana, you’re with Daniel, Clarise-”

Vianne didn’t take in anything else other than the first sentence. Her ears rang, and she could see her soul departing her body for the heavens. This was the final nail on the coffin, pushing her over the edge of sanity. Her worst prediction had come true; she had the most deadbeat partner she could ever find in this school.

Her instincts had her look over in his direction. Angel’s gaze caught hers as she did so, however his face still held their impassive stare. Breaking contact, he moved to pull down his beanie again, shielding his eyes; he was preparing for a nap. Vianne groaned into her hands, earning a pity glance from Ana. It was the I’m-sorry-but-you’re-kinda-screwed look.

Mrs. Flores was still speaking, thus rattling Vianne back to reality. “-come up and grab your supplies! Please make a line and wait your turn.”

Half of the class rose and made a beeline for the trunk. Ana had already gathered hers and was now sitting by Daniel, leaving her alone. Angel was leaning against the chair like he was by the beach with his hands behind his head, and that told her more than she needed to hear. Vianne pursed her lips, hoisting her body from the desk. 

The teacher smiled too brightly when she came up to collect her doll. “Congratulations! It’s a girl for you!”

Handing Vianne a bottle of cleaning solution and a hair brush, Mrs. Flores patted her with a good-natured smile. It made Vianne’s soul twist in its grave. She turned around with robotic stiffness, and headed back to Angel’s seat. The young man took no notice of her arrival, continuing to stew in his state of trance. A toothpick hung out from his mouth, giving more into the lazy fashion.

Shit. I’m going to carry us both. The grim thought crossed her mind, and she winced. 

“Uh, we need to fill out the form.” Vianne pointed to the paper left by the teacher, snapping her fingers to get his attention. It was a fake birth certificate for the doll; Mrs. Flores was going above and beyond for the final project. Had it been under pleasant circumstances, Vianne would’ve given her kudos for her creativity.

Angel canted his view upwards, staring at her with mild curiosity. It was only then she noticed the deep set of eyes, with equally thick brows to match. His hands refused to leave his head, but his lips parted ever so slightly. Nothing came out of them.

Right. The guy never brings pencils. Realization hit her and she slumped onto the chair next to his. This is gonna be so fun.

As she tapped her pencil onto the paper, Vianne ignored the bouncing of his legs to the side. It was taking her attention away from thinking of a name for the doll. After another few minutes of awkward silence passed, she noticed they were the only pair that had almost zero progress on the first section.

Open your mouth and get him to talk, damn it! 

Scowling, Vianne turned to the young delinquent, who was actually on the urge of falling asleep this time. Vexation burned her mind, and she shoved the paper to his side. 

“Come up with a name,” she said. The sudden movement jerked him from his slumber, causing him to blink several times before his eyes settled back to hers with a glare. Vianne was not about to back down from a glance alone, so she crossed her arms, huffing at the dramatic display of resistance.

“I know you understand me.” The memory from last week was still fresh in her brain cache. “So come up with a name.”

At that, Angel smirked. “You’re the smart one. What ya need me for?”

Oh the little shithead.

Vianne returned the remark with a scowl of her own. “Believe me, I’d love to work by myself given the situation. But I’m not gonna carry you across the semester.” If the brat thought he was going to get an easy A because of her, then he had another thing coming. 

Her hissy fit seemed to have gotten to him; his eyes narrowed while he bit down on the toothpick. “Puta, you’re so fucking annoying.”

“What did you just call me?!”

“Figure it out, smart one.” A lopsided grin appeared on his face, though it was miles away from friendly. His eyes flashed, almost like a warning. But like that would deter her.

She was about ready to slap the paper into his face when she remembered the way Escalante would handle him when he got up all over his ass. A slight smirk painted her lips as she thought of an idea; if he was going to be an ass, then she was going to be an ass back.

“Are you simply trying to hide your illiteracy?” Vianne asked, her voice filled with over-saturated innocence.

Angel nearly swallowed his toothpick. “What?” The stare he sent her screamed a thousand red flags, but she held a hand against her legs to keep them from shivering.

“Oh, y’know…” she began. “I thought coming up with names wouldn’t be too difficult. Seems like it is for you, though.”

The muscles of his jaws clenched, darkening his guise. Angel’s nostrils flared as he looked at the piece of paper before him. Vianne could practically see the gears turn in his head. They were in a classroom, so there was nothing extreme he could do even if he was pissed. The thought of trapping him between a rock and a hard place made her feel a little better after the previous taunts.

Just when she moved to retrieve the materials back, his hands slammed on the paper. She flinched at the action, but kept her eyes glued to the desk, not raising to meet his.

“Camilla.” His raspy hum sounded quietly in the background. Had Vianne been further away, she wouldn’t have caught it.

“What?” She peered up at him, opening her mouth to ask more, but he was already looking away.

“The name,” Angel said. “It’s Camilla.” He made it sound like he was talking to a five-year-old.

Vianne breathed a sigh of relief and took the pencil. She began to fill in the required information about their ‘daughter’. He still refused to write out his part, so she relented for now.

“Camilla Guzman it is then,” she spoke to herself.

Now it was Angel’s turn to be perplexed. “Camilla Guzman?” He stopped chewing the wooden stick in his mouth for a moment.

His partner scoffed from her seat. “Well, you’re the dad, Angel. Unless you want me to have full custody.” Vianne rolled her eyes at the thought of having a daughter at her age. Ms. Lin would have a heart attack and be driven to an early grave. 

When she didn’t hear anything else from him, she feared her jokes flew over his head. Vianne raised her head just in time to catch a light smirk tugging at his face. Sensing no real threat, she went back to writing.

A clap from Mrs. Flores turned both their attentions to the front podium. The teacher had gathered everyone’s eyeballs towards herself, and she cleared her throat. 

“Since class is coming to an end, I’d like to make sure everyone understands their part of the assignment.” She paused for a second, before taking out another batch of files. “One ‘parent’ takes care of the doll for a week, alternating with their partners over the course of the semester. By the end of each month, I’d like a report summarizing the difficulties of parenthood. The rubric is simple; if the doll ends up in tatters, or if it becomes lost, then you will be automatically given an ‘F’. Keeping your ‘children’ in pristine condition and well-clothed is the primary goal. That’s all for today. Now figure out who’s taking custody first.”

Vianne looked to Angel, and then back to their ‘daughter’. This was a tough cookie, and she wasn’t sure she trusted him with not losing the doll within the first few days. 

“Rock papers,” Angel offered.

She wanted to guffaw at the suggestion, but logic told her it was a fair method. “Sure. Loser takes the kid.”

It turned out to be a horrible move on her part. No matter what kind of tricks she threw at him during the sparring, he either met her with the same level, or defeated her. If she used rock, he met her with paper. When she went for paper, he countered with scissors. At last, on the third try, she pulled a rock again, only to be faced with another rock from him.

Two loses and a tie; it was a no brainer who the kid went with for the first week. Angel sizzled with smug pride as he counted the points against her, his wicked grin broadening.

“Guess you’re not so smart after all.”

Oh fuck you. Vianne knew nothing good ever came out of that smirk. There was no guarantee he was going to show up after her week was up. For all she knew, Angel could easily ditch her for the rest of the year with the doll on her own. It wasn’t like he cared about his perfect track record. Her heart sank at the thought.

“You are coming back next week, right?” Skepticism laced her words as she eyed him. 

Angel clicked his tongue, raising a brow. “Who knows?” It was the closest to an answer she would get from him. And it was not reassuring at all. 

Vianne glared, hoping that by her looks alone, he would get the message. But her efforts were in vain. Angel soon reverted back to napping for the rest of the class, not wasting a second longer on her.

:

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A/N: As per usual, shoutout to @classic80sand90smovieloves2 for encouraging and helping me get over writers block and whatnot ;) 

And thank you to all my followers who happened upon this piece in the sea of posts here on tumblr :p I love y’all and hope I didn’t disappoint!

[alittlesliceofcucumber]

Agents Of Shield musical episode concept

you asked for this

(these are just silly ideas not to be taken seriously lol)

I see it playing out as everyone getting trapped in a mind prison where they’re forced to sing, but at first everyone just thinks they’re having some weird fever dream like the musical number in Agent Carter. In reality, they’ve all been trapped in their own individual mind prisons (which are all actually linked but we’ll get to that later).

(yes, aos fans, there was a musical section in agent carter which did feature our hero daniel sousa himself. go watch it if you haven’t already.)

It would focus on Daisy first of all, and her ‘mind prison’ would be the Bus from season 1. Ward turns up (boooo) and she’s about to quake the hell out of him but then he starts singing some fake patriotic song about “the SHIELD truth” and she’s just like what??? but then more ex-shield agents turn up (like Trip and Bobbi and Hunter and even Lincoln) and they join in and try and get Daisy to join in so she runs up those steps to Coulson’s office to escape. Mind!Coulson is waiting for her. He sings a dark reprise and she ends up quaking the entire Bus apart to escape.

Mack’s ‘mind prison’ is his own home. He tries to leave but none of the doors or windows open. Walking out of the shadows is the family he could have had. A wife, a daughter, his parents, his brother. They sing to him about the values of family and sing to him a ‘Take A Break’-esque song about staying rather than trying to escape. It takes a lot of willpower, but he has to deny each one of them before the front door finally unlocks.

Elena’s ‘mind prison’ is Kasius’s palace. She sees mind!Mack there as well as the other teammates, and they’ve all been enslaved. They all beg to her to free them (through song-form, of course). Then she sees that future version of herself, and they end up singing an angry duet at each other about whether she should look out for herself or for the entire team. The real Yo Yo wins, and she defeats Kasius and escapes.

FitzSimmons have been wandering through their ‘mind prisons’ for a while (the Framework and that alien planet respectively) and through sheer willpower and love they manage to find each other. They sing your traditional, Disney love song about how they’ll make it out if they stick together. Think: A Thousand And One Nights from Twisted.

Holding hands, since they’ve had experience in mind prisons, they manage to figure out how to travel between different people’s minds. Because of their familial bond, they reach Deke’s ‘mind prison’ first. It’s the Lighthouse. The floors are littered with dead bodies, and Deke is singing some cheesy song about survival to himself. No seriously, he’s not under control or anything, he’s the only character just singing to himself out of his own will. He’s just Like That. The tune is super happy-go-lucky, but the lyrics have a darker undertone. Fitz puts a hand on his shoulder and he jumps out of his skin and is like “oh bobo uhh you heard that owo??”

The trio travel through the different mind prisons, picking up the others, until all they need to find is May and Coulson. May’s ‘mind prison’ is a party. Everyone is smiling and dancing. May is not. She is glaring at them. The music swells, it’s her turn to sing, and she turns to the camera and goes “No.”. Think: how Rumpelstiltskin was in the ouat musical episode. And that’s May’s section done.

All they need to find now is Coulson, but then they realise he was never trapped in the first place. Enoch finds the group and tells them he knows a way out, but they have to fight a bunch of mind!goons to get there. And then there’s a big team number lead by Daisy as they fight their way to the exit (even May joins in for a line or two) and they’re all singing until the very moment they wake up in the real world.

When they wake up, they see Coulson standing over them, grinning. “Hey guys.” he says. “sorry i’m late. i got rid of the people trapping you but i might have accidentally pressed the button that turns the it into a musical. hope that wasn’t a problem.”

May looks like she’s about to strangle him, when he adds “great song by the way. catchy.”

May pounces. End episode. Credits is that first song again.

[ladymelissaduthe]

challenge #5 (part 2)

aka fireworks (aka clownery and delusions luv) 

a/n: i jwu after 3 hours of sleep and edited this. this is a particularly spicy one featuring Felicity and Arin. Full disclosure, I needed a drink to write like half of this RP AHAHHDKJNKD #dumbbitchjuice Thank you @arin-schreave and @/felicity-graham aka Anna for these RPs. I love you ma’m you’re doing amazing. Link is in the aka title as usual for the doc for easier reading. Enjoy the clownery of part 2 of the ball and keep your eyes peeled for part 3 (5845 words)

I give my laptop’s camera another twirl, seeing my Mama and Grammy’s jaws drop as I feel the weight of my gown catch what little air it could.

“Prettier than an orange blossom in your Papaw’s Orchard.” My Grammy’s voice rings from the speaker, her expression looking quite pleased with my dress.

I actually got ready faster than I thought it was gonna take me, my maids having done amazing fast work with my hair and make up. After they finished and fixed what they needed to fix, I had asked my maids for a moment to myself so I can videocall my family for this.

It was the first look anyone’s got of me in my dress, and I can’t help but smile at how beautiful it was.

“Blue really is your color darlin’.”

Blue, almost Lilac.

“You look every bit a princess should look.” My mama says as she seems to be leaning closer to their computer screen, probably to get a closer look.

When my name was announced a couple of months ago, I think the only person more excited than I was about the Selection was my Mama. It made her so proud that I had a chance of being a Princess, she told everyone in her circle of friends 5 minutes after I was called and was running around the house.

It reminded me of the days when I did those little pageants in Orleans. Mama was always so supportive with the dresses she made for me, teaching me how to walk and curtsey. She had dreams for me, that’s a fact I’ve known since I was tiny. Part of those dreams before was to settle down early before. Now I think she just wants me married.

“I was just talking with Betty, ya know your Aunt Betty, right honey? Anywhos, I was just talking with her about you and she was telling me how lovely you looked in your Selected pictures.” I hear Mama talk, going onto sharing how she was sharing with her friends about my experiences in the Selection—how far I’ve made it through. Saying that the prince must have definitely taken a liking to me.

Sometimes I wish I had the heart to tell her the truth.

Sometimes I worried about how she’d react if she found out that I cried after my first date with the prince, or what she’d say that I’ve only gone on one other date besides it.

I smile to her, smoothing down the embroidered blue fabric of my skirt, trying to play it coy.

Maybe it’s too early to tell her all of that.

“Well, Mama, I’m always trying to put my best foot forward.”

Not all hope was lost, things were progressing well with Arin at least. He wasn’t actually half-bad, if not just a little too serious. I was willing to wait and see this through, and I wasn’t going to give up on my chances with Arin or my chances of a fairytale.

“As you should! Oh honey, you’re never giving me all the details I wanna hear!” My Mama says before Grammy seems to push her to the side, which makes me giggle at the sight.

Grammy’s expression is a little funnier to see onscreen. “Oh, hush Caroline! Let the girl have a little privacy. She’s not 14 anymore, and you can’t spy on her from the living room window no more.”

I blink to the screen as I take a seat on my vanity, shaking my head at that memory.

I feel a small lump in my throat at another reminder that memory brings.

A day in the Spring, hot as ever in Orleans. 14 and feeling light as air as Daniel walked me back home from school, him holding a jacket over me to shield me from the sun and the heat— catching my mother’s eyes peaking through the curtains of one of windows.

“I digress, I digress. Can’t blame a mother being just a little curious with what her daughter’s been up to all the way in Angeles.” My mother says in her defense, and I force a smile onto my face again—swallowing that lump and pushing that memory to the back of my mind, putting it back in an imaginary box with Daniel’s name on it.

“A good southern woman doesn’t kiss and tell.” I reply before giving myself one last look into my mirror, smoothing my hair down and applying some perfume to my wrists, the scent of daisies filling the room. I tried to remain conscious of the time and my laptop’s clock was telling me that it time for me to make a move.

“Best think I should be heading down now. Wouldn’t wanna be fashionably late for the dinner.” I say to the camera, my eyes moving from my mirror to my screen to my mother and grandmother’s faces. Gosh, I still wish they were here with me right now.

“Be sure to smile for the cameras! Ah, I can’t wait to see all the pictures!”

“Don’t waltz all those boys into a stuper, Missy dear.” Grammy gives me a wink as she waves to the camera.

The corners of my mouth tilts up at the thought of dancing.

“I’ll call y’all tomorrow about what happens tonight. Give Daddy all my love when he gets home. Good night Mama, Good night Grammy!”  I say as my hand moves along the mouse pad to end the call, and I close my laptop. Turning my head as I hear a knock on my door.

Perfect timing.

My hand reaches to check my dress’ pocket if my emergency kit was inside and I feel the rectangular case in it already. Never gonna know what I’m going to need tonight.

I push my seat away from the desk and stand, walking over to my door opening it to find my escort on the other side of the door.

The walk to the Great Hall was actually quite exciting, my escort was a nice young fella named Phillip. Apparently, all the Selected ladies had a guard as their escort for the night—a welcomed part of the job according to him.

We converse a bit as we walk down and I hold onto his arm like any girl with an escort should. It actually reminded me of all the debuts and cotillions I attended and planned—even my own cotillion when I was 18. Those dances and events needed an escort too, and mine was always… the same person.

A small crowd started to form outside the dining hall, everyone looking finely dressed in their gowns and tuxedos. Some Selected girls, others were probably guests of the Royal Family.

I look around the crowd as my guard guides me close to the entrance, scanning for familiar faces amongst it.

We stop close to the entrance. Phillip says that he’ll be right back for me saying that he’ll just be double checking with another guard about the events of tonight and what time they’d start letting everyone into the hall for dinner. I give him a quick smile, nodding and still scanning the room.

Everyone looked so beautiful tonight. It made me want to sigh—this Ball was grander than anything I’ve ever attended or planned in the past. Oh gosh, I wonder what the Great Hall looked like right now since it was the night time.

As I look around, I realize the closest person to me was familiar.

Felicity Graham.

Her dark hair was up in a gorgeous bun. Her ecrue off-the-shoulder dress looked something straight out of a runway. She looked like she stepped off a runway, what with being so statuesque. She was rocking on her heels, glancing around every few seconds or so.

I debate with myself for half a second if I should talk to her. There really wasn’t any harm in doing so. She couldn’t be as bad as the whispers I’ve heard about her. Plus she was Jackson’s sister. No harm in giving her a complimenting, right?

I smile in her direction and say to her, “You look pretty as a Magnolia in May, Miss Felicity.”

“I’m sorry?” is the first thing she says as she looks to me. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared. I try to maintain my smile as I watch as she relaxes a bit. “Oh, it’s you.”

She gives me a onceover before she meets my eyes again.

I clasp my hands in front of me and her response makes me think that she might not know who I am, which is reasonable. I don’t think I would… research on any girl linked to my ex.

I decide to introduce myself, knowing fully well that we’ve never really spoken to each other in the past.

“I’m Missy, from Orleans.” I say, trying to channel my friendliest smile. “You look great! I love how the fabric of your dress looks like it can catch the wind just right.”

Her dress indeed was a gorgeous one, the kind that moved just right when someone walked.

“I know who you are, Missy.” Felicity replies before glancing down at her dress, then looking back up at the hint of a smile on her lips. “Are you sure you don’t have the wrong Graham?”

The wrong Graham?

I blink at her statement, a tad confused. But I still feel myself smile just a bit, remembering my conversation with Jackson earlier today.

“Is there a right or wrong Graham I should be speaking with?” I ask.

“You’re already speaking to her.” Felicity’s eyes flit away for a moment again, before she asks me “So… How have you and Arin been getting on?” the amusement in her tone was kind of clear.

“Oh,” a small laugh that sounded more awkward than I liked escapes me. I don’t quite know how to answer Felicity correctly. Partly because of Arin, partly because I didn’t want to say anything that could offend her.

I, of all people, should know the right etiquette for treating ex-fiancées. I wanted to say something that wouldn’t let in too much but I also didn’t want to lie about my less than ideal position in the Selection.

I find myself nodding once. “He kind of grows on you, to be honest.” I lift a shoulder up. “Guess I still wanna get to know him better though.”

I wasn’t lying. I was quite interested in getting to know better. Maybe tonight I’d have the chance to. I can only hope my answer satisfies Felicity’s curiosity.

She looks like she’s holding back a smirk.

“Right… Arin. Yes, he does.” Felicity rocks on her heels again, she seems anxious about something. “So, how do you feel about other people you’ve met so far?”

Her question makes me scan the area again, hoping to ground my answer onto someone, maybe even see a particular person’s face but I don’t really catch anyone familiar save for some of the other Selected girls.

“It's been lovely meeting everyone here. The girls are sweetest, it's kind of like having sisters I've never had. Have you gotten to talk to the other girls?”

Felicity looks around, surveying the girls around us and lets out a sigh. I’m not sure if it was a sigh of disappointment or something else.

“I’ve talked to a few of them. None too noteworthy…” she says before her smile returns to her face. “What about Wylan… or say Jackson? I imagine you must have run into him by now.”

“Wylan, I think I've only met him during his birthday party a few days back.” I tilt my head, trying to sum up all the good things about Jackson—especially since I was talking to his sister.

“I've run into Jackson plenty of times actually. It's been nice to talk to him whenever he drops by here.” I feel my smile soften at thought of all the kindness he’s shown to me lately. “He's been such a huge help with the community engagement project I proposed too.”

Felicity nods, “So he’s only helpful?”

“Oh no, not just that!” I shake my head immediately. I didn’t want Felicity to think that I thought her brother was just helpful. No, Jackson was caring and had the biggest heart around here, plus he has a voice I could listen to all day.

The song he sang earlier in my head rings in my head. Maybe the night holds a little hope for us dear.

Um, nope. I didn’t want to say any of that out loud.

When I think I had the right description, I still find myself tripping over my own words.

“He’s been nothing but genuinely sweet and kind to me! I like to think that he’s one of my closest friends here.” I punctuate the end of that with a little laugh, aware that I wasn’t doing a very good job describing him.

She seems to look at the floor, a small smile on her face as she nods before taking a deep breath. “Good.”

Gosh, why was I so bad at this? Still, I can’t help but think again to the soundcheck earlier today.

I think Jackson’s real performance later was something I couldn’t wait to happen.

“Can’t wait to hear him play something later. He already sounded really great a while ago.” I say before I take another glance, wondering where Jackson was before looking back to Felicity. She looked like something was troubling her. I felt compelled to ask her, wondering if my gut feeling was right.

“You okay, Miss Felicity?”

A big smile appears on her face as she answers me.

“Of course I am. It’s just the jitters.” Her smile doesn’t falter.

Something I learned here in the palace was to never pry to deep, so I simply smile back at Felicity—trying my best to give her a reassuring look.

“Now don’t let those jitters scare you too much!” My left hand goes over looking for my Grammy’s ring on my right. Only remembering that I wasn’t wearing it tonight. Maybe for the better. My left hand settles with fiddling with my bracelet on my wrist. “I hope you enjoy yourself tonight, it is Independence Day after all.”

She nods, “Happy Independence Day, Missy. I hope it’s everything you imagined it would be.”

I suddenly hear my name being called, and see my guard coming up to my side telling me that we were starting to head in two minutes. I give him a friendly nod and a thank you before turning back to Felicity.

“You too Miss Ma’m! It was very nice talking to you. Again, I love your dress.” I gesture to her dress again—maybe wanting to ask my maids for a dress similar to it—then my guard clears his throat to remind me that we should get going, which earns him a nod from me.

Phillip starts to lead me away, but I give Felicity one last smile. “Have fun!”

-------

The night moves faster than I realize it does.

The last time I danced this much was back in my 18 Roses on my 18th birthday party, back then dancing with 18 personally picked men who each gave me a rose and a dance each. The first rose back then was obviously my Daddy, and I don’t think I’d ever forget the look on his face when we were dancing to Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You.

Both occasions still left me feeling more than just a little tired.  

Maybe it was all the dancing I’ve done with who knows how many people, maybe it was the waiting at the sides as I occasionally checked the stage and looked around if Jackson was about to start setting up.

I wanted to wait and standby so I could catch his song again, wanting to hear him singing it again.

Maybe the night holds a little hope for us.

The chorus of the song not leaving my head even if I tried to forget it. It wasn’t the only thing I couldn’t get out of my head.

So I waited.

And danced with some more people who asked me to dance when they approached me. I had no complaints about it, I missed dancing actually.

I also did the Toktik Savage dance routine with a younger guest at the party who was just as excited as I was when it started playing on the speakers.

I’m a savage, classy boujee ratchet—the whole routine.

By the end of that, I was in need of a touch up so I decided to leave the Great Hall for five minutes, hoping that I wouldn’t miss Jackson’s ((👀)) performance while I was gone.

I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t actually speed walk to the nearest powder room.

I take a minute to pat my forehead with my emergency kit’s blotting paper and dust myself with a little powder to get the shine off, dab a bit of the rouge from the pan to brighten up my complexion.

Once I’m satisfied, I give myself a final onceover with the powder room’s mirror.

Why was I in such a rush to get back?

I sigh to myself and press the heel of my palm against my forehead.

I must have really just wanted to get back to dancing, that’s it.

I look at the tiny little compact case in my hands and close it, ready to go back.

The music from the Great Hall was playing faintly as I go through the powder room’s door and I breathe a sigh of relief when the song playing doesn’t sound like Jackson’s song.

I probably should get back soon if I didn’t wanna miss it.

I take a few steps down the hallway, Jackson’s song playing over and over in my head as I walk.

I don’t expect to bump into someone else as I make my way back, most especially that someone being Arin Schreave.

“Hi Arin.” I greet him with a smile, knowing fully well we haven’t spoken since our date at the pool where he taught me how to swim. Since then I haven’t had the chance to talk to him.

Maybe this was my chance to… get to know him better. I mean, I was here to do that, right?

He seems distracted as I greet him, only responding half a second late that someone was talking to him. Arin looks up to me.

“Oh, Missy. Hi.”

I take in his appearance, realizing that he looked, for lack of better word, disheveled.

His hair was roughed up and his bow tie looked almost undone. I’m not sure if I should comment on any of that.

Instead, I clasp my hands in front of me and ask, “Having a nice night so far?”

That seemed like a good way to ask him if he was alright.

The hallway wasn’t the best lit place, but I swear I could catch a blush on his face which only confuses me even more.

Arin then swallows.  

“It’s going well enough.”  He glances around the empty hallway. “How’s your night going?”

I maintain my smile. “Nothing but good times rolling for the whole night. Dancing is quite fun, ain’t it?”

Arin’s disheveled appearance still is something I wonder if I should bring up.

I wonder if he knows… if he looks like this right now. I try to test the waters by making a light remark about his undone bow tie.

“Guess you’ve had enough fun to almost undo your bow tie.”

He blinks in surprise, and my hunch appears to be right. He didn’t know. His eyes attempt to glance down.

“Oh… I’m not sure how that happened.” He says before he reaches his hands up to his bow tie.

“If you don’t mind, I think I have a hack or two to make sure your tie doesn’t become undone for the rest of night.” I point to his bow tie, as I offer him my friendliest expression. “Only if you let me, of course.”

I loved helping tie bow ties. It was a fun little thing I did whenever a groomsman struggled with his tie for a ceremony. A wedding proof bow tie knot was something most, if not all, wedding planners should know by heart.

Arin seems to pull his hands back and nods. “Sure…” He takes a deep breath and grimaces. “How bad does my hair look?”

I give him a quick smile at his agreement, stepping up to fully undo his bow tie and start from the beginning, talking as I started adjusting the ends.

“Well, it has seen better days. I can help you with that too in a bit.” I laugh a bit, glancing to his hair. I make sure to put my thumb between the knot and his throat—making sure that it was going to be a comfortable fit.

That earns me a grown from Arin as I watch him reach up and pat down his hair. “Thank you for doing this, Missy.” He glances down to me.

His groan makes me laugh and I tilt my head in amusement.

“It’s the least I could do.” I reply, focusing more on the specific knot I had in mind. I cross and tug the ends making sure things would be properly spaced. “Lots of photographers back in the Great Hall, wouldn't want them getting any bad pictures of you.”

He glances down to his watch. “Thankfully they should be clearing out here pretty soon. Then we can get to the fun dancing.”

“Fun dancing, now I can get behind that very much.” I grin up to him, tugging at the last end I needed to pull at and gesturing to it when I’m satisfied. “One twisted knot with an extra back end to prevent any unwanted loose bows. Adds dimension but the most dance-proof knot. If you wanna take it off later, just pull at the back fold over here.”

I had to hand it to myself, I did a pretty good job with his tie. It’s been a while since I tied one those, but I’m glad that I still remembered how to.

“Oh. Thank you.” He reaches up to touch his bow tie. “I’ll keep that in mind for any more.. dancing I do tonight.”

“Best to keep that in mind indeed.” I nod before I turn my attention to his hair, putting my hand on my chin.

“As for your hair…” I shake my head as I look down the hallway for any mirrors close by so he could see for himself. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be any nearby mirrors—and the powder room wasn’t close by anymore. “Do you know if there are any rooms with mirrors ‘round here?”

“Uh, I think the sitting room has one.” Arin glances down the hallway before looking back at me with a confused expression. “Why?”

I blink, forgetting that idea. Being alone with him in a room didn’t sound quite right.

“Just thought you’d wanna see the finished product with a much much bigger mirror.” I reply before reaching into my dress’ pocket and pull out my emergency kit, a small case that to Arin probably looked like a pocket mirror except when I open it, it has everything you’d ever need for a party or a wedding emergency: powder, blush, blotting paper, a band air, some thread and needles stuck to it, tiny scissors… and lastly a tiny tiny comb.

“It’s a good thing I brought the emergency kit then.” I smile down on it.

Arin lets out what seemingly is a genuine laugh. “Are you always this prepared?”

“You don’t have to get ready if you stay ready.” I laugh before taking the comb out and placing the kit back in my pocket. “I've planned over a hundred events, trust me-- this emergency kit is nothing.  Never know when a dress rips or someone needs a little touch up in between pictures.”

In fact the kit I had was only a scaled down version of my fanny pack of emergency tools for weddings. Oh gosh, weddings were disasters waiting to happen.

Arin chuckles, “Well, I guess if anyone ever actually tries to make it down the aisle with me I know who to call.”

I think this is the first time I’ve ever heard Arin bring up weddings on his own. It was actually quite amusing to me that he said so. Oh gosh, I can’t believe I was actually having a nice conversation with him.

“I'm sure a lucky girl is going to want to make it down the aisle with you.” I giggle as I reach up with the comb and fix a couple of strands of his hair. As I work on his hair, I can’t help but feel like it’s hard for myself to imagine myself in that position—at least not yet, but progress was being made that made me hopeful that I still had a chance with Arin.

“Do I keep the side part dominantly on the left side?”

“Left side.” He answers, smiling at me.

I nod, returning a similar smile. “You got it, Mr. Schreave.” I go back to work, easily able to reach up to his hair with my heels on. I still really wonder how his hair got to this.

“Is it okay to ask why you look like you just walked through a hurricane?”

Arin clears his throat. “I’ve just had a lot of running around… there’s a lot of people I’ve had to see.”

Ooooo, must have been a lot of running and meeting people then.

I hum at that as I smooth his side part down. “Of course. Big party with all these guests and well… us girls. Everyone would wanna get a piece of that action.”

The comb runs through a few more strands of his hair, which admittedly was the first thing I noticed when we first met. He did have nice hair.

I pat his hair lightly when I get his hair to look just right, like the way I’ve noticed he’s worn it before.

“And…” I give his hair a last minute pat, then meet his eyes. “your hair is read for the cameras again.”

Arin groans again. “If I never saw another camera again, I’d be a happy man.”

“Hey,” I laugh, amused as ever with his sentiments against cameras. I put the comb back in my emergency kit and close it with an audible click. “You can be a happy man even with cameras around. On the bright side, there'll be lots of pictures to remember stories from tonight.”

He seems to grimace at that, but he suddenly reaches up and I feel his hand push some strands of my hair behind my ear. I guess I didn’t notice that earlier.

I curl my lips in at that contact, suddenly feeling all the more conscious that we were alone in the hallway together.

Still, I wasn’t going to let this opportunity go. This was still my chance with Arin.

I thought my dream of this Selection being a fairytale with a prince were ruined back during our first date but—maybe I was wrong.

I offer Arin a small smile and a “Thank you.”

He doesn’t pull his hand back from my ear, his eyes looking me over.

I feel more conscious now more than ever with his hand still there.

What was he doing?

No, what was I doing?

Still, it felt nice. It felt familiar.

Like something I haven’t felt ever since Daniel and I were still together, like the weird little feeling in your chest when you’re 14 and unsure of what to do next after an accidental brush of hands.

It’s been so long since then.

And it feels like one of those scenes in the movies, right before the couple did some grand old romantic gesture where the princess’ foot would pop or there’d be butterflies in the main character’s stomach.

Could this be it for me?

It has to be. It just has to be.

I find myself leaning closer to Arin.

“I think I want to kiss you.” He murmurs as I feel his hand go to my cheek.

My eyes widen at him saying it out loud.

I wasn’t used to this with other people, but I was in the Selection for this very reason.

I had to start somewhere.

I wanted to fall in love here.

This was a start.

This could be the start of something I’ve wanted back for so long, at least prove to myself that after all this time I wasn’t broken after what happened with Daniel.

I find myself nodding and leaning closer to Arin, wanting him to close the gap.

“Is that okay?” he breaths out, and his eyes seem to study me. I can’t believe he’s still asking.

My face flushes the longer we stay this close and wait for something to happen—nerves I didn’t know existed making themselves known now.

I remind myself of my Mama’s hopes that I’d end up falling in love with a prince…

I remind myself of why else would I be here in the first place if not to get a fairytale romance with a prince…

…because I don’t think I’ve ever come close to that with Arin until now.

Maybe this will convince me that I actually like Arin this way and erase all my doubts.

A kiss is all it could take to realize the truth. Please work.

So I manage to softly say a “yes”.

It’s the kind of scene in the movies when you should feel fireworks go from your stomach to your heart— bathing you in a warm feeling like how when you see fireworks light up the sky on New Year’s Day.

It should feel like fireworks.

That’s how you know things are going to work.

Daniel felt like fireworks.

When Arin leans in closer, I reach up to hold his face too— then I feel him press his lips to mine.

It should feel like fireworks.

But it doesn’t.

I don’t feel anything.

I try to wait for a beat and see, maybe it just needs some time to kick in?

And I’m not sure if I imagine it, but I think I can hear the music in the Great Hall from a distance.

Maybe the night holds a little hope for us, dear.

Jackson.

That thought is something I push to the back of my mind as I pull away from Arin, reaching up to gently remove his hand from my face.

“I'm... uh— I'm sorry. That—” I cut myself off, trying to process what just happened. It felt like everything was crashing down onto me.

Arin wasn’t the one for me.

“Was that... Did that feel... um..? Weird for you?” I try to manage out a coherent thought, while trying my best to not make Arin angry or upset.

Arin takes a step away from me and clears his throat.

“I— I’m sorry.” He says before chuckling nervously. Well, at least he didn’t seem upset either. “Missy, you’re great. I just.... I don’t think we need to do that again.”

OH THANK GOD.

I blush from the embarrassment of this entire situation but nod my head a couple of times in agreement. It was stupid of me to keep on pushing the idea that Arin and I were going to work out that way.

“No, I don’t think we’d need a repeat of that... for... like, ever.” I blink, hearing myself say that out loud. My voice suddenly goes up an awkward octave trying to damage control that.

“NOT—” I catch my tone as my hands go up, modulating my voice and remain calm in this situation. “Not that I don’t think you’re great. In fact, I really do hope at least one of the girls here makes you very happy! I think I’m just not one of ‘em.”

I could let the ground swallow me whole, and I’d thank it. But Arin was still a friend, and well he seemed like he needed more friends now more than ever.

Arin’s expression seems sympathetic, like he gets the situation.

He holds his hands up. “No- I get it. I really do. You’re wonderful but I’m not sure we would be wonderful together.” He glances towards the doors that lead into the ballroom. “I think we should pretend this didn’t happen…”

Now that’s something I can get behind.

“Agreed. I completely agree.” I make a swiping motion over my forehead, trying to not let the disappointment ruin this moment. I try to smile. “Consider it memory-wiped buddy.”

No matter how uneasy I felt about myself right now—I wasn’t going to ruin it.

“You go back first or me?” I ask.

He lets out a nervous laugh, “I think there’s no harm in us walking back together.”

I snap a finger and finger gun point to him, “Sure, do I still have to hold your arm?”

The joke sounds like a sad attempt of me trying to get my mind off my ruined hopes for this Selection, which honestly it is.

That seems to make Arin frown a little.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“Don’t worry, I want to. It’s the proper Belt Belle thing to do, afterall.” I tilt my head to the door, trying to not be sad and enjoy this new discovery. I wasn’t going to cut ties with Arin just because I know he wasn’t boyfriend material for me. “Shall we?”

He chuckles at that then answers me in possibly the worst attempt of a southern accent I’ve ever heard.

“Yes ma’am.” He says as he holds out his arm for me to take and we walk back to the Great Hall together.

Once we get back, Arin and I part ways with a shared laugh, and it’s a nice consolation to know that at least we could still be friends despite everything that just happened.

I couldn’t stop the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach though. As much as I wanted to stay in the Great Hall and enjoy the party—I couldn’t stop the wave of emotions that I was trying to process right now.

To my right was a glass door opened for everyone to go through if they wanted to go through the gardens—and I needed as much space from people as I could right now.

I didn’t want anyone see me like this right now. I just needed five minutes to myself.

So I manage to go through the door and try my very best to keep it together as I picked up a part of my dress’ skirt off the ground to move faster to the gardens.

There was only one place I know no one would be, close enough for me to sort through this lump of emotions.

The greenhouse.

[avengerscompound]

Home - Chapter 3

Home: A Captain America Fanfic

Masterlist PREVIOUS //

Buy me a ☕ Character Pairing:  Bucky Barnes x Steve Rogers

Word Count:  1706

Warnings:  Angst, parenthood, sexual manipulation, action, injuries, underage drinking and drug-taking.

Synopsis:  16 Years after the death of Daisy, Steve and Bucky have successfully raised two teenage kids with telepathy. Teens are never easy to live with though. Sarah in particular likes to test boundaries. Now on top of all the usual challenges of parenting, they have to deal with troublemaking demigods, a daughter who just wants to be accepted for who she is and running the Avengers. That’s when the children of other super-powered individuals start going missing.

Chapter 3

Sarah spent the rest of the week at school with the mundies. Her dads’ attempt at her having a normal life. It made her feel anything but normal. Being around so many people thinking so many ridiculous thoughts was like being constantly yelled at about algebra and which member of whatever dumb band was the hottest.

She could shut them out but turning off her ability took energy and she had to focus on it. If she was focusing on that then how do you learn? If you’re not learning why be at school?

She also didn’t know for sure if she was learning. Sometimes she knew. She’d get an assignment, take it home and work on it by herself locked in her room. If she could figure it out then yes, she had actually absorbed the necessary information. If not she’d go to Vision and he’d help explain it in a way she understood.

At school though she was just a mess of other people’s thoughts. Taking a test was futile. It meant nothing. When a room full of people are all thinking the same thing it was hard for her to know if she was also thinking it because she knew it, or because their thoughts had overwhelmed her.

She had made some friends though. A small group of kids whose thoughts didn’t anger or disgust her. Who when she spent time relaxing around their silliness was both intoxicating and a relief. Her group of friends consisted of three other people.

Daniel, a small pale blond kid who wore glasses and had severe asthma and mild autism. He was quiet and liked video games and his thoughts were never cruel. In a lot of ways he reminded Sarah of her dad, but in many ways, he was as far from Steve as he could be.

The other two were twins, McKenna and Olive. Identical in most of their physical features. Curvy and beautiful with dark, warm complexions. McKenna wore her hair in long braids and dressed in plaid and denim. Her thoughts were mostly about math. She thought about math way too often to be normal. If she wasn’t thinking about math she was thinking about ways to annoy her sister. Olive wore her hair in short dreadlocks. She tended to wear floral dresses and knee-high socks. Though not all the time.

Olive was the girl who filled Sarah’s thoughts the most. She was glad they were friends. She just wished she wouldn’t keep pretending to like boys when she didn’t. Olive did have very confused thoughts. Sometimes Sarah just wanted to grab her and kiss her. Instead, she just settled for the fact that because Olive was so confused she did that thing where you’re overly affectionate. They hugged and held hands a lot.

The four sat at their usual table in the cafeteria. Sarah was scowling. Lunch hurt the most. There was so much noise. She concentrated hard and switched it off.

“What the hell was that car you drove to school in today?” McKenna asked. She threw a tater tot into the air and caught it in her mouth.

“My uncle gave it to me for my birthday,” Sarah answered. She wasn’t really paying attention. She found it hard to when she had to focus on keeping everyone out.

“What the hell does your uncle do that he can afford to buy his niece a Bugatti? And is he married?” McKenna said.

Sarah rubbed the bridge of her nose. One of the reasons why she liked this particular group of friends is they had no idea who she was in the grander scheme of things. In the past when people had found out who she was, they either rejected her because of what she could do, or they used her as a way to touch fame.

“He’s in IT. And he is. Sorry.” She says.

“Have you all asked anyone to the dance?” Daniel asked. He was fiddling with his fingers and wouldn’t look them in the eye.

“Nah,” McKenna replied. “Do you want to go with me, Dan?”

“Really?” He said.

“Of course. I’d love it.” She said.

Daniel looked really pleased with himself before accepting. “What about you, Sare? Got your eye on any boy to ask?” Olive asked.

Sarah shrugged. “The only guy at this school I like in any way just said yes to McKenna.” She answered. Daniel blushed a little. “I think I need some air.”

She got up and headed outside being closely tailed by Olive. “What’s wrong, Sarah? Do you actually like Daniel? I think McKenna just asked him to be nice. If you said you wanted to she’d back off.”

Sarah shook her head. “No, it’s not that. I was just getting really hot in there. And I wouldn’t doubt what’s going on with Dan and McKenna if I were you.”

“Really? She hasn’t said anything to me.” Olive said.

“And have you said anything about who you like to her?” Sarah asked.

“No, but I don’t really like anyone really.”

Sarah frowned. “Okay. Sure.”

Olive took her hand. “Can you believe we’re going to Artmania tomorrow?”

“Nope. My dads are so overprotective. I am always surprised they let me go anyway. I’m so excited though.” Sarah said, squeezing Olive’s hand.

“You know we wouldn’t have come to see you people if I had any other choice.”

Steve watched the perpetually angry Jessica Jones pace his office as she ranted at him. Her husband Luke sat looking defeated in the chair opposite him.

“Ms. Jones, I’m more than happy to help, but you haven’t actually told us what the problem is,” Steve said.

“It’s our daughter Danielle. She’s been missing for three days.” Luke said.

“Why didn’t you come sooner?” Steve asked.

“I find people. It’s what I do! I should be able to find my own kid.” Jessica snapped.

“So tell me what you have found.”

Jessica and Luke gave Steve the complete rundown. Their twelve-year-old daughter, Danielle had gone to school on the bus as usual but had never come home that night. She had gone to school as normal, caught the bus home as she always did. She’d gone missing somewhere between the bus and home and no one seemed to have seen anything.

“She can fly can’t she?” Steve asked.

“It’s more like controlled falling. And before you ask, she didn’t run away. I’m sure of it. Someone has taken her.” Jessica snapped.

“What other abilities did she inherit?” Steve asked.

“All of them. She has the bulletproof skin, the strength, the flying.” Luke answered.

“So if she was taken, there must have been a struggle,” Steve said.

Jessica picked up a chair and threw it. It shattered against the wall. “I knew these holier-than-thou fucking Avengers wouldn’t help us!” She yelled. “Someone took her! You have children! What if it was one of them missing?”

“Jessica, I’m just thinking out loud. If someone took her, then someone saw it. If someone saw it and they’re not saying; they’re scared.” He looked at his watch and then back to the couple in front of him. “My daughter will be home soon. She’s met Danielle hasn’t she?”

“What does that matter?” Jessica asked.

“You know what she can do right? If she knows what Danielle’s mind feels like she’ll be able to tell us where she is.” Steve answered, trying to remain calm. This was troubling though. He was pretty sure Danielle had probably just run away. He knew first hand what twelve-year-old girls could be like. If she had the powers they said, it was unlikely she could be taken anywhere against her will. If they were right though and she had been taken; he didn’t even want to contemplate what that could mean.

“I think they met. It was a long time ago though. During the attack by the Shi’ar Empire and we left her here with Potts.” Luke said.

“FRIDAY, can you send Sarah in here when she gets home,” Steve said.

The voice of FRIDAY filled the room. “Sarah returned home ten minutes ago, Captain Rogers. Do you want me to send her in?”

“Thank you, Friday.”

Sarah sulked into the room a few minutes later. “Dad, I swear to god, I didn’t cheat and if I did I didn’t mean to. You know how hard …” She cut herself off when she saw the others in the room.  “What’s going on?”

“Sarah you know Ms. Jones and Mr. Cage don’t you?” Steve asked.

Sarah shrugged. “Yeah, sort of.” She said. Then her eyes lit up. “Oh my god! Am I going on a mission? I’ve been training heaps. I can do it!”

“It’s not that, Sarah. Their daughter has gone missing. Do you remember Danielle?” Steve asked.

“Uh, sort of. You want me to find her?” Sarah looked at Jessica.

“No, I want to keep worrying about her until it kills me. Of course, I want you to find her if you can.” Jessica snapped.

“It’s been ages. Can you think of the last conversation you had with her? Like actually picture it.” Sarah said.

Jessica closed her eyes and thought about talking to Danielle over breakfast. How she’d needed three different forms filled out to go on the school camp.

Sarah pulled away and then flopped down on one of the chairs. “This could take a while. Dad, I’ll probably need something to eat when I’m done. This kind of thing always fucks me up.”

“Language, Sarah.” Steve scolded. Sarah could feel how both Jessica and Luke wanted to laugh but they couldn’t quite bring themselves too. Their worry was consuming them.

Sarah closed her eyes and sent her mind out. She scanned the city of New York first, touching on any mind she found even vaguely familiar. When that brought up nothing she spread out. She became a machine touching every mind like they were connected via a living circuit. Checking to see the brain pattern she knew to be Danielle Cage. She touched everyone everywhere and found nothing.

She opened her eyes. Her mouth felt tacky. The sky had gone dark outside. She must have been searching for hours.

“Did you find her?” Luke asked looking at her hopefully.

Sarah looked over at her father not knowing what to do. He handed her a glass of orange juice and nodded to her. “I don’t know how to say this. But if she’s still alive I don’t think she’s on Earth anymore.”

Jessica broke down in tears.

// NEXT

[prettyinlimegreenboots]

Stories of Our Lives - Chapter 10

A/N: I am so sorry it's taken me a little bit longer to post this. I wanted to make sure all was right because this is my favorite chapter just for the suspense. Let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.

December 31, 2018

She should have known today was different when she woke up to an empty bed. Gia couldn't recall the last time she didn't wake up to Louis' snores and quiet hums. A note was placed on his pillow along with a pink Dahlia.

Morning Italia,

I'm sorry I'm not there with you when you wake but I'm planning a surprise for you. You're going on a bit of a scavenger's hunt today. The girls should be there soon and they'll spend the morning with you. They have your first clue.

Have fun and I love you!

Louis

Pulling herself out of bed, Gia wondering what her boyfriend had up his sleeve. Pulling on her dark washed jeans, a white long-sleeved shirt, her teal scarf and a pair of grey boots, she shook her hair trying to figure out what to do with it. Deciding not to mess with it, she pulled it up into a messy bun, heading out of the bedroom. Grinning, she heard the girls' loud voices as she neared the kitchen.

"There she is!" Tricia grinned holding a mug in her hands and a bright smile on her face. "Did you sleep well?"

Gia smirked, making herself a cup of tea. "Yes I did. Lou is very skilled, if you catch my drift."

The girls laughed, shaking their heads at their friend. "So what's the plans for the day?"

"That's for you to find out at a later time." Danielle smiled, her eyes bright with excitement.

Not wanting to push it, Gia nodded turning her attention to the littlest one in the room. "Hi Mollie!!."

"Hi Aunt Gia. Uncle Lewie told us he's got a 'prise for you." Mollie grinned brightly twirling around the room in her dress.

Moving closer to the newly turned five year old, Gia crouched down to Mollie's height. "He did? Can you give me a hint?"

"No silly. It's a 'prise! He promise me 50 pounds if I didn't dell you anything with a trip to de zoo." She giggled loudly. "But he said to give you dis."

It was a small box wrapped in multicolored polka dots paper. There was a thick black ribbon tied around it. Sliding it off, she wrapped it around Mollie's arm, who in returned smiled brightly. Ripping off the paper, Gia opened the box, noticing a gold bracelet and an envelope.

Tearing open the envelope, she grabbed the letter unfolding it.

Hi Damsel,

So this is officially your first clue. You should be able to figure this out pretty quickly. There are some rules though. At each stop, you must take a photo and send it my way. Take as many photos as you want, you're going to want to remember this. Second, ask as many questions as you want or need. The girls will be with you for most of the morning but they will be leaving you in capable hands later on in the day. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I love you and I'll see you later.

Louis

P.S. - Your next clue will be at the place on the bracelet

Looking up from the letter, she smiled at the girls. "What do you have there?"

"My first clue and a letter. Louis is sending me on a scavenger's hunt of sorts. And apparently you girls are along for the ride." Gia smiled taking the bracelet out of the box and looking at it. The gold band was plain with “51° 30' 11.8542" and “-0° 7' 47.8128" inscribed on it. She racked her brain trying to figure out where the coordinates laid.

"He would throw me for a loop." She muttered, pulling out her phone. Plugging in the coordinates into the app, she smiled seeing where they landed. "Let's go girls."

Slipping on coats and gathering their purses, Gia and the girls headed towards the door. "And where are we going exactly?" Tricia asked, holding Mollie's hand as they locked up the flat.

"The park we always ended up after our dates. It's kinda become a tradition for Louis and I." Gia smiled leading the way down the sidewalk.

Despite being New Year's Eve, it was 2°C with no wind. It was actually a pretty pleasant day. She hummed to herself as her and the girls trotted down the way. Mollie was chattering with Scarlett and while Scarlett was giggling with Danielle.

"What are you thinking about?" Tricia creeped up silently to walk beside her friend.

Startled by the intrusion to her thoughts, Gia jumped. "Jeez woman you need a bell. Give a girl some warning next time."

"And you're avoiding my question miss. What are you thinking about?" Tricia smirked.

Seeing the park ahead, Gia looked over at Tricia. "Just how much Louis has planned. I'm anxious to see what he has up his sleeve."

"Oh you will love it. Let's just say Louis has given the boys some big shoes to fill." Tricia gushed.

Entering the park, Gia let her eyes scan the area she had come to love. "Now what?"

"I'm suppose to look for the next clue.  It should be around here somewhere."

Scarlett looked at Gia. The park was a good size and would take a while to search the entire area. "Is there a bench you two always sat on or somewhere here that's special for the two of you?"

There were two places that were special to the couple within the park. Walking towards a bench they often sat on, Gia's shoulders slumped when she realized that was a dead-end. "One more place.

Heading across the park, the girls struggled to keep up with Gia.

Stopping at a large sycamore tree in which Louis had carved their initials into the truck. Tied up in the branch above her was a yellow sunflower and an envelope. Untying the bundle, she quickly opened up the envelope pulling out the letter.

Hello Soldier,

So you're on your second clue! Congrats on figuring out the first one. Hope you liked the bracelet. Wear it and know that's our little secret place if you ever need to get away but always promise you'll come back to me.

Now for the next part: head to your favorite dress shop and pick out a dress to party the night away. Not long now until I see you.

All my love,

Louis

Folding the letter back up, she turned to the girls. "We have our next destination."

Taking a photo with the tree, Gia smiled, sending the photo to Louis before pocketing her phone. "Where to now madam?"

Laughing at Danielle's posh accent, Gia nodded towards the park entrance. "The dress shop we always frequent."

"Why there?" Tricia asked.

Taking Mollie from her arms, Gia danced down the sidewalk causing the little girl and their friends laugh. "Did Louis not tell you anything? According to his letter, I could ask you guys any and all questions I wanted."

"He told us need to know information." Scarlett informed her. "But he didn't give us specific information."

The group continued on their journey. Gia had Mollie in her arms singing an One Direction song softly in her ear.

Stopping in front of Hoopla, Gia threw open the door, stepping inside followed by the girls. A perky saleswoman smiled brightly in her direction.

"Hi can I help you?"

Transferring Mollie back to Tricia, Gia smiled. "I'm looking for a dress. My boyfriend is surprising me with a big night out."

"You wouldn't happen to be Giovanna would you?" The saleswoman asked shuffling through some papers.

Nodding, Gia looked at her friends with wide eyes. "I am."

"Louis spoke very highly of you. He has everything taken care of." Pausing, the woman smiled. "I'm sorry; I'm Mary and I will be assisting you today. If you follow me, we have a dressing room started for you. You have some guests waiting for you as well."

Looking back at the girls, Gia tried to figure out who would be waiting for her. Ava and her mum both had plans so it couldn't be them.

Nevertheless, the group followed Mary to the back. Gia lost in her own thoughts failed to see who her guests were until Tricia bumped her hip with Gia's. "Surprise!"

Looking up, Gia gasped seeing her mum, Ava and her grandma Catalanotte standing there along with Jay, Lottie, Fizzy, Daisy and Phoebe. "What are you all doing here?"

"We are here to help the Princess get ready for the ball or at least that's what Louis told us." Daisy exclaimed causing Phoebe and Mollie to giggle.

Jay smiled at her daughter. "Louis asked us to come down for the weekend. He asked us to help you."

"Thank you for coming. Avie, Mumma, Nonna you three little liars." Gia smirked at her family.

Ava laughed at her sister. "Like I was going to ruin the surprise. I'm not about to cross Louis Tomlinson when he's determined. I value my life too much!"

"All right dramatic one. I completely understand. Louis has always been a sneaky one." Gia smiled at the thought of her boyfriend.

Mary smiled at the sisters. "Shall we get started and let Gia try on some dresses?"

For the next hour and half, Gia tried on several dresses, opting for a plain black dress that she dressed up with a mint green bubble necklace, a green stoned ring and the emerald green earrings Louis had bought her while they were in Spain. Black peep-toed heels would accent her emerald painted toenails.

"I think this has been a very successful shopping trip." Jay grinned at her son's girlfriend.

Gia smiled back, watching Mary wrap up the dress in a plastic bag. "Now I believe this is for you."

Taking the now familiar envelope from her mum along with the Pale Pink Ranunculus, Gia opened the envelope, pulling out the letter.

Turkey,

Hi! You're almost there love. Hopefully the shopping trip was successful. Can't wait to see you all dressed up and ready to party the night away. Now for the next part. You are going to leave the girls behind. There's a car waiting for you outside. The driver will take you to your next destination. Not long now love. See you soon.

Love,

Louis

Gia folded the letter back up, putting it in her purse with the others before looking up at her friends and family.

"I guess this is where I say goodbye and continue on." Gia stated.

A group photo was taken, sent, hugs and well wishes were given before Gia left the shop and headed towards the car. Paul grinned at her opening the door. "Don't you have anything better to be doing than drive me around?"

"You would think so but seeing Louis beg for my help was just too sweet to witness." And with that Paul helped Gia into the car, shutting the door behind her.

He hopped into the car and before long the two of them were on their way to a place where only one of them knew. "Do you know what's happening?"

"Yes and I will not be spilling any secrets miss." Paul teased with a smile.

Gia laughed. "So no hints?"

"Nope but I will say Louis was pretty funny while he was planning this. He had millions of pieces of paper laying around trying to figure out which you'd like best." Paul made a left turn looking in the mirror. "You are going to love what he has planned. We are almost there. Take a few minutes to calm your nerves."

Returning to her thoughts, Gia completely trusting Louis but was nervous about what was in store. Everyone was telling her she would love it and Louis was setting the bar high for the other boys. Never in her wildest dreams did she think she would spend her New Year's Eve running around London. But she was having fun while her boyfriend left her guessing at every turn.

"Gia, hey Gia?"

Shaking from her thoughts, she looked at Paul. "Sorry to interrupt but we're at your next stop."

"Thanks." Gathering her dress, purse and jewelry, she looked out the car window, finding herself at an airfield. "Are you kidding me?"

Paul laughed opening the door for her. "Nope. Your chariot awaits."

Gia followed his finger to the private jet that waited. "Thanks Paul."

She made her way to the jet. Walking up the steps, she placed her bags on a seat, noticing a Purple Peony and an envelope sitting in an adjacent seat. She took a deep breath, grabbing the envelope and opening it.

Love,

Come fly with me! You're on your way to another place you've always wanted to go. It's a short plane ride. Once you land, there will be a limo waiting for you. Almost time to meet up with me. Now, sit back, relax, and you'll see me before you know it.

I love you always.

Louis

Folding up the letter, Gia smiled to herself. She took his advice and relaxed against the seat. Or at least tried to. The nerves bubbled in her tummy as she thought about her remarkable boyfriend.

Her mind traveled back to their first date. He wouldn't put on the big elaborate plan just to propose ... would he?

She closed her eyes willing the plane ride to go quickly anxious to see what her boyfriend was up to.

Hour and half later

She awoke as the plane touched down. Taking a deep breath, she took a moment to coat her lips in lipstick before the plane came to a stop. The stairs were pushed away from the plane allowing Gia to take a moment to gather her belongings. Heading down the steps she smiled at the man awaiting her in front of the limo.  

"Ciao Giovanna. Benvenuti Italia." A man in a suit smiled at her, holding out his hand. "I'm James and I'll be your driver. Welcome to Italy!"

Shaking his hand, Gia's face brightened. "It's very nice to meet you and thank you."

Opening the door, she allowed him to help her into the limo. Shutting the door, she took a couple of deep breaths knowing she would be seeing Louis soon. "Ahh miss?"

"Yes?"

James cleared his throat, passing her something from the front seat. "A Mr Tomlinson left this for you."

Taking the letter and an Orange Lily, she smiled in thanks. Quickly opening the letter, she got comfortable before allowing herself to read the words written.

Gia,

You're in the last leg of your journey. Welcome to Rome, Italy. I wish I could see your face right now. Get ready in your dress and be downstairs by 7:00p.m.  I will meet you and we will party the night away.

See you soon love.

Louis

She shook her head at Louis. Rome of all places. She couldn't believe her life and the amazing man she was dating. She would probably let Louis have it at some point but for now she was just too happy. Before long the limo pulled to a stop in front of a hotel. James came and opened the door for her before handing over a key card. "Room 1427."

"Thank you James."

Walking into the hotel, her boots squeaked against the tile floor. Going to the elevator, she pushed the button to the 14th floor. Her heart beated loudly against her chest as she stepped off the elevator. Following the hallway, she stopped in front of the door, putting the key into the door. Pushing open the door, she stepped into the room. Two duffel bags sat on the bed and Gia quickly recognized them as hers and Louis'.

On the beside table, a letter and a bouquet of flowers laid. The flowers were the exact same ones she found in her room the day Louis asked her to be his girlfriend. Dahlias, Ranunculus, Sunflowers, Peonies, Lilies, Chrysanthemums, Forget Me Nots, Daisies, Carnations and Daffodils. There were new additions, two red roses. Smiling she smelt the flowers before unfolding the letter.

Damsel,

You've got about two hours until you meet me downstairs. Take a shower, calm your heart, and take a few deep breaths. Get ready in your dress and be ready to have the night of your life.

Love you to the moon and back.

Louis

Taking his advice, she hopped into the shower and calmed herself down. Taking her time getting ready, she blow dried her hair, curling it slightly, it laying on her shoulders. She put on her necklace and ring before attaching her earrings to her ear lobes. She spritzed herself with the perfume Louis loved, granting herself one more look in the mirror.

She realized it was 6:30p.m. She wasn't nervous, no it was more anxiety, the unknown of what the night held caused her heart to skyrocket. She knew once she saw Louis, all would be right in her world. A thousand thoughts ran through her head, each crazier than the previous. But the thing was Louis knew her better than she knew herself sometimes.

Her cell phone chimed, alerting her of a text messages. Picking up the phone, a smiled tugged on her lips as she read the message.

You ready?

Yes! Are you?

Come on down then.

She slipped on her black peep-toed heels, grabbed her coat and black clutch before walking out the door, letting it slam behind her. Pausing she took a breath, trying to will the nerves away.

Dear god, what if he was asking her to marry him? Mrs Giovanna Maria Tomlinson ... has a nice ring to it. Of course she'd say yes. Shaking her head, Gia was getting ahead of herself.

Moving quickly down the hallway, her heels clicked against the tiles near the elevator. Pushing the down button, she stepped inside once the doors were opened. The smile couldn't be wiped from her lips as she thought about all the trouble her boyfriend had gone through. Whatever would happen that night, she knew she would have fun all because she was with Louis.

The elevator doors opened revealing the lobby. Stepping out of the elevator, her eyes scanned the space, landing on Louis with his hands in his dark grey dress pant pockets. From what she could see, he was dressed in a suit. He was staring at something out the front doors.

The clicking of her heels drew him out of his daydream causing him to turn around, his eyes landing on her and a bright smile on his face. "Well hello Damsel aren’t you are a sight for sore eyes, darling."

"Well, well look who is sucking up to me big time? So what is so important that you've kept me in suspense all day and fly me out to Rome?"

Louis chuckled, pulling Gia closer to his chest. "All in good time, Italia. All in good time."

"So now what? I mean we are dressed to the nines and I'd hate to see our suit and dress go to waste." Gia leaned up, giving him a kiss.

Louis returned the kiss, tightening his grip on her waist. "Dinner first then from there it's a surprise. You ready?"

Gia nodded, accepting his arm once it was offered. She let him take the lead, letting him guide her towards the door and out of the hotel. He helped her into the limo, getting in behind her.

"So I get no hints about what is going on tonight?" Gia shook her head. "By the way, your mum and sisters say hello."

Louis laughed. "I had tea with them this morning. They were very excited to see you this afternoon. As for a hint, you will be checking something you've wanted to do for a long time off your bucket list."

"I've got 23 things still on my bucket list, twelve of which could be accomplished in this country." Gia exclaimed listening to her boyfriend laugh.

He smiled. "I know you're frustrated with me but all I ask is a little more time. I promise you will know everything by midnight."

"Five hours to go." Gia smiled feeling the limo pull to a stop.

Louis raised his eyes. "Is that a challenge Giovanna?"

"Why not? I challenge you Pooks to make the next five hours the best I've ever had." Gia smirked in his direction.

Louis nodded. "Challenge accepted, Giovanna. But let's make this a little more interesting."

"In what way?"

Opening the limo door, Louis got out offering her his hand, helping her out. "I'm saying if the next five hours aren't the best you've ever had, I will do whatever you want for an entire day but if they are then, you do whatever I want. I'm envisioning footsie games, lots of them."

"Ok hot shot, you're on. But prepare yourself for a spa day, pedicures, and manicures." Gia giggled watching Louis' face turn to disgust.

He opened the door for her, grinning. "Let the fun begin. We have reservations under Buckland." Louis directed the last part to the hostess.

As the hostess led the couple to a table in the back, Gia raised her eyes in her boyfriend's direction. "Buckland?"

"I wanted and needed discretion for tonight." He laughed. "You'll have to thank Niall and Harry for thinking up the name."

She laughed, sitting in the chair as he pushed it in. Louis ordered a really good bottle of wine before the two were left alone. "So how involved were our friends and family in helping you plan tonight?"

"Very involved, even more than I anticipated. But I wouldn't have it any other way." He smirked her way. "They were very helpful. The girls threatened my life more times than I could count; the boys yelled at me for creating such big shoes to fill; and my mum couldn't stop crying, the girls yelling."

Shaking her head at the craziness that made up their extended family. "And my family?"

"Beyond excited. I think your mum is a bit jealous though."

The waitress brought their wine interrupting their conversation. Louis ordered for them both, the waitress leaving them alone. "Why would mum be jealous?"

"You're currently in Rome, Italy on New Year's Eve, sweetheart."

And with that their conversation left friends and family and turned to that of 2019. The boys were planning a late summer tour that had sold completely out. They were excited to get back on the road. They were finishing up a record that would drop in April, their 9th studio album, written entirely by the boys.

Their meals were delivered, tickling their senses with their delicious scents. They dug in, each enjoying stealing bites from each other plates.

Drowning the last of her wine, Gia looked at Louis with curiosity. "Now what?"

"Dessert now or later?"

"Later I'm too full." Gia's hand fell to her belly, too full to eat another bite.

Louis signaled for the check, grinning in Gia's direction. Once everything was settled, Louis stood offered Gia his hand, pulling her from her seat.

"Let's go for a walk."

Leading her from the restaurant, Louis waved off James and the limo, telling him to they'd call when they were ready to be picked up.

Rome was incredibly gorgeous at night when the city was lit up. The streets were eerily quiet for it being New Year's Eve. They stopped and threw change into the foundations they passed, each wishing for different things but at the same time the same things. Louis tugged on her hand leading her towards the bridge to their right.

"Do you know what this is?" Louis asked watching Gia touch all the locks attached to the bridge.

Gia grinned. "It's a love bridge. They say that if you attach a lock to the bridge with a partner then the two will be together forever."

"I was thinking we could attach a lock. But first there's something I want to ask you." Louis said putting a hand in his pocket.

"Fourteen months ago you came into my life and I knew that my life would never be the same. We started dating a little more than a year ago and I knew I wanted you by my side for the rest of my life." Sinking to his knee, he noticed the tears in her eyes, Louis squeezed her hand. "Giovanna Maria, will you make me the happiest man alive and marry me?"

She didn't have to think; quickly nodding, too emotional to physically say the word but Louis understood it all too well. He got to his feet, pulling her closer to him. "Yes, yes, yes a million times yes I will marry you!"

He kissed her on the middle of the bridge, stopping only to pick her up and twirl her around. Once she was steady on her feet, Louis slipped the 2.3 carat channel-round diamond ring on her finger.

Raising her hand to admire the ring, Gia gasped. "Louis William Tomlinson you spent way too much on this ring and trip."

Raising his eyebrows in her direction, he leaned over and kissed her. "I hate to break it to you sweetheart, but I have too much damn money and if I can spend some of it on you, then I'm too happy to do so. Besides, you better get used to it, especially since you will be Mrs. Louis Tomlinson."

"And so it begins." Gia grinned kissing him. "Now I believe you promised me a lock."

Bringing out a lime green lock from his pocket, he placed it in her open palm. The side was engraved with their initials and today's date. Smiling, Gia locked it amongst a cluster of gold locks, theirs sticking out like a sore thumb.

Pulling her phone from her clutch, she quickly took a photo of the lock before turning the phone on the two of them. "Since I'm sure our friends and family are waiting for news, let's tell them."

He took the photo from her, she held up her left hand, both of them smiling for the camera. Snapping the photo, it was quickly sent off to their friends and family. "So has this been the best night of your life?"

Damn Gia was caught. "Yes it was but you're forgetting one thing."

"What's that?" Louis ask enjoying the fact he won their challenge.

Gia smirked. "I love football just like you so it's not going to be a downer day like you planned."

"I know I figured it would be a day where we could just have fun and we both loved football so it's a win for us both." Louis grinned

Shaking her head, Gia smiled. "Damn you're amazing. You won by a landslide."

"I know. I love you Damsel, have I told you that lately?" Louis pulled her closer to him capturing her lips in a kiss.

Shaking her head, she snaked her arms around his neck. "Nope but guess what? I love you too Popstar."

"So now what Damsel?"

Titling her head to the side, Gia looked at him. "Thought you'd have everything planned out. All out of ideas?"

"I got my plans out of the way. Now it's up to you fiancée to figure what we are going to do." Louis grinned in his fiancée's direction. Fiancée was such a foreign word but he loved the way it rolled off his tongue.

Her eyes went wide, a grin stretched wide across her lips. "Ohhhh I love you calling me that."

"Fiancée, fiancée, fiancée .... I will continue to call you that until you get two new name." He brushed his lips across hers.

Pecking his lips with hers, she smirked. "And what will that be?"

"Wife and Mrs. Giovanna Maria Tomlinson."

Her eyes sparkled with the thought a chuckle escaping seeing her so excited. "I love those names!"

"So when do you want to get married?"

Placing a hand on his chest, Gia shook her head. "We've been engaged for 20 minutes and you wanna talk wedding? Who are you and what have you done with my fiancé?"

"I was just asking." Louis defended.

Shaking her head, Gia shrugged. "Haven't given it much thought. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that you asked me to be your wife much less that we have a wedding to plan. But do you know what I really want?"

"What?"

Gia kissed him. "Gelato .... I believe you promised me some earlier. And then I've got the rest of the evening planned."

"What are we doing after gelato?"

She hummed, lacing their fingers together pulling him off the bridge. "You know they say the one you kiss at the strike of midnight is the one you'll be kissing the entire year? Well I'm planning on kissing you for a hell of a lot longer than that."

"Have I told you how much I love your plans?"

Gia thought for a moment before shaking her head. "Nope but remember that when I'm roping you into wedding plans!"

He laughed tugging her closer to him. The kiss the two would share at midnight definitely was the first the two would share for the rest of their lives.

[pcwpolwrestling]

Extreme Election Night 2018 Aftermath/Partial Shutdown Update

PCW NEWSLINE – 12/27/2018

Trump’s Surprise Trip to Iraq

Update on Shutdown (Red Brand and Blue Brand shows)

Extreme Election Night 2018 Results

New Universal PCW Champion

The Establishment, Sports Entertainment Corporation (SEC), and Corporate SportsEntertainment Programming Nation (CSPN) Up in Arms Over Universal Title Match

Progressive Alliance Not Happy Either

==

[A righteously indignant actress Alyssa Milano at a press conference.]

Alyssa Milano: Donald Trump is the first PCW CEO since 2002 not to visit our troops at Christmas-

PCW CEO DONALD TRUMP VISITS TROOPS WITH NEW CHAMPION RAY McAVAY PCW CEO Donald Trump flew to Iraq Christmas night with his wife Melania, new Universal PCW Champion ‘Red Solo Plastic Cup’ Ray McAvay, and McAvay’s valets and West Texas Adult Entertainment Legends Dark (McAvay’s wife) and Stormy.

While in Iraq, Trump and his wife thanked the troops for their service and posed for selfies with the soldiers. Trump also signed autographs and several MAGA hats while he was there.

McAvay also thanked the troops and Dark and Stormy posed for pictures inside a hot tub.

A group of soldiers line up around a portable hot tub with Dark and Stormy inside. The ladies meet and greet the soldiers and pose for pictures. They also give away the official PCW Ray McAvay “Show Up. Clock In. Shut Up. Get to Work” t-shirt.

[Dark, her black hair wet and slicked back, gets ready to take a photo with a young soldier. Both ladies are wearing dark t-shirts and their Daisy Duke cut-off shorts inside the hot tub.]

[Dark puts her arm around the soldier.]

Dark: Say cheese!

[And the photo is taken.]

SHUTDOWN UPDATE No progress reported in ending the ongoing Red Brand/Blue Brand show partial shutdown. PCW CEO Donald Trump shows no sign of standing down anytime soon. Progressive Alliance leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer show no sign of standing down anytime soon.

Both Pelosi and Schumer vow there’s no chance in hell Trump will get the security enhancements he wants at PCW shows. Trump vows no chance in hell he’ll reopen the Red Brand and Blue Brand shows until he gets the security enhancements.

So what happens when the proverbial unstoppable force meets the proverbial immovable object?

Oh right…we’re talking about business as usual in Washington D.C.

The only good news coming out of this is only two shows have been cancelled as a result of the shutdown: the final Blue Brand show of the year this past weekend in Boston, Massachusetts and the final Red Brand show in Charlotte, North Carolina.

‘Sports Entertainment Genius’ Mr. McMann continues to call the shutdown an absolute joke that hurts the people ‘who make money for PCW.’ McMann again decries the amount of income to be lost because of the cancelled shows and again complains about the PCW Heartland Brand being allowed to continue to prepare to tape their new bi-weekly show and then embark on their first round of house shows in over a year.

The owner of PCW Heartland, Dawn McGill, had this to say: “after thirty years of both the high muckity-mucks of the American Patriots and Progressive Alliance ignoring the middle and lower echelon of the pro wrestling world, I find it refreshing that someone in authority actually seems to be looking out for them.”

She also added: “*BLEEP* Mr. McMann and the horse he rode in on.”

FULL EXTREME ELECTION NIGHT 2018 RESULTS OHIO SENATE MEDALLION MATCH: Sherrod Brown (Progressive Alliance) defeats Jim Renacci (American Patriots)

NORTH DAKOTA SENATE MEDALLION MATCH: Kevin Cramer (AP) defeats Heidi Heitkamp (PA)

Fox News (Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson) defeat MSNBC (Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell) and CNN (Don Lemon and Chris Cuomo)

MISSOURI SENATE MEDALLION MATCH: Josh Hawley (AP) defeats Claire McCaskill (PA)

FLORIDA SENATE MEDALLION MATCH: Rick Scott (AP) defeats Bill Nelson (PA)

ARIZONA SENATE MEDALLION MATCH: Krysten Simema (PA) defeats Martha McSally (AP)

MICHIGAN SENATE MEDALLION MATCH: Debbie Stabenow (PA) defeats John James (AP)

TEXAS SENATE MEDALLION MATCH: Ted Cruz (AP) defeats Beto O’Rourke (PA)

UNIVERSAL PCW TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Sports Entertainment Corporation: P.M.C. Banks and Charlie Blackwell (American Patriots) © defeat Union Jack and NPC (Progressive Alliance) and Weapons of Mass Destruction: A. Tom Bomb and Hy Drogen Bomb (Independent)

HOUSE WAR GAMES MATCH: Progressive Alliance defeat the American Patriots

MAIN EVENT/UNIVERSAL TITLE MATCH: ‘Red Solo Plastic Cup’ Ray McAvay (Independent/Les Miserables) defeats ‘Wall Street Market Analyst with the Man Crush on ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit’ Kirk Walstreit, and ‘The One Man Hollywood A-List’ Stone Chism.

‘RED SOLO PLASTIC CUP’ RAY McAVAY IS THE NEW UNIVERSAL CHAMPION

MAIN EVENT: Extreme Election Night 2018 – Universal PCW Title Match

15th MINUTE [McAvay slaps on an inverted face lock…hooks the arm…and pulls backwards and up.]

Johnny Suave: DRAGON SLEEPER!

[Dark and Stormy end the striptease. The SEC’s Blackwell, Banks, and Tanaka climb into the ring. Les Miserables’s General DeBauchery, Al Cahall, and Nic Koteen throw themselves at the SEC. Walstreit starts to fade. Several other members of the Les Miserables hit the ring and attack Blackwell, Banks, and Tanaka.]

Johnny Suave: ALL HELL HAS BROKEN LOOSE! WE’VE GOT PEOPLE IN THE RING AND McAVAY IS HANGING ON FOR DEAR LIFE.

[Walstreit’s arm goes limp. McAvay breaks the hold…puts Walstreit’s head between his legs…and hits a sit-down powerbomb.]

Johnny Suave: McGILL BOMB!

[McAvay rolls him up. One…two…THREE!]

Johnny Suave: HE’S DONE IT!

*DING-DING-DING*

[Crowder can’t believe what’s just happened.]

Colleen Crowder: Son of a bitch.

Johnny Suave: WE HAVE A NEW UNIVERSAL PCW CHAMPION AND HIS NAME IS RAY McAVAY!

[With the Les Miserables celebrating in the ring, Kimber Marshall does the announcement from the floor.]

Kimber Marshall: YOUR WINNER AT FOURTEEN MINUTES AND FIFTY-NINE SECONDS…AND NEW UNIVERSAL PCW CHAMPION…’RED SOLO PLASTIC CUP’ RAY McAVAY!

[The referee hands the Universal title belt to McAvay- McAvay raises the belt in the air.]

Johnny Suave: I DON’T BELIEVE IT!

Colleen Crowder: I don’t believe it either.

Johnny Suave: TEN MONTHS AGO, RAY McAVAY UNDERWENT NECK SURGERY. TONIGHT, HE IS THE KING OF THE POLITICAL WRESTLING WORLD!

Colleen Crowder: God help us all.

Coming off neck surgery at the beginning of the year, McAvay was the surprise package entered into the three way dance for the Universal PCW Title at Extreme Election Night 2018. Nobody thought he’d walk away with the Universal Title.   But McAvay has always fed on being the underdog.

Ray McAvay’s PCW debut took place on PCW Extreme Political TV back on January 24th, 2011 against Brad Company. McAvay lost the match but he would lay the groundwork for what he would eventually become- a man of the people.   He would be a part of the PCW Tea Party movement in 2011-2012 and have some success in 2014.

REPLAY-6/30-2014 Extreme Political TV: Bird ‘The Mark’ Ridfych and ‘Tin Cup’ Ray McAvay w/his caddy Tromeo and Dr. Molly Greenwood vs. Tom Tebow- Tim Tebow’s Long Lost Black Sheep BrotherNo One Ever Knew Existed and ‘The Luchador With Insanely Poor Oral Hygiene’ Halitosis

[…Ridfych starts with a right hand.]

Crowd: BALL!

[And another.]

Crowd: BALL!

[And another.]

Crowd: BALL!

[Tebow whipped to the ropes.  Ridfych rears back…]

Crowd: BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA…

[…and nails him.]

Crowd: …BALL!

[Tebow eventually tags out and Halitosis comes in and starts flying.  He takes the fight to Ridfych and then tags Tebow back in.  Ridfych in trouble and desperately needs to tag out.  McAvay stands on the ring apron arguing back and forth with Dr. Greenberg about purging his inner demons and seizing his moment.  Finally, Dr. Greenberg hands McAvay a seven iron and orders him to confront his inner demons in the ring.  Ridfych hot tag to McAvay.  McAvay climbs into the ring with the seven iron while Tebow ‘Tebows.’]

*WHAP*

Suave: Oooh.  What a well struck shot.  Crisp.  McAvay is a good ball striker.

[And that takes care of Tebow.  Cover.  1…2…3.]

McAvay would then headline the PCW Reunion show in 2015 and then play a huge role in the Donald Trump-Hillary Clinton match at Extreme Election Night 2016 with his Les Miserables.

REPLAY: Extreme Election Night 2016

[Cut to Paul Ryan. He’s whistling while he ever so subtly tries to inch away from the ring, hoping that no one can see him subtly trying to inch away from the ring.   Mitch McConnell? He’s gone from ringside and nowhere to be found.]

[The rest of the establishment? Sitting in their seats reading the Wall Street Journal or on their phones making plans for their golf getaway.]

♫ Do you hear the people sing, singing a song of angry men…♫

[Quick cut to the Les Miserables section. What had been a full section of people is now half empty.]

Johnny Suave: WAIT A MINUTE!

[‘Prairie Populist’ William Daniels Bryan, ‘Red Solo Plastic Cup’ Ray McAvay, and Charlie Blackwell stream to the ring followed by forty other people sitting in their section.]

Johnny Suave: It’s the LES MISERABLES!

Colleen Crowder: I’m confused Are they coming to help Clinton?

[Bryan hops up on the ring apron. He drapes Dana Milbank’s neck over the top rope and drops to the floor causing the Washington Post columnist to whiplash off the ropes and onto his back.]

Johnny Suave: BRYAN TOSSES MILBANK OUT!

[Bert the Janitor tosses McAvay a Big Bertha Driver.]

Johnny Suave: MCAVAY HAS THE BIG BERTHA!

*THWACK*

Johnny Suave: DOWN GOES CHUCK SCHUMER!

*THWACK^

Johnny Suave: DOWN GOES LINDSEY GRAHAM!

[Mitt Romney sees McAvay using the driver to pole axe his way through the crowd. He wisely uses discretion and decides to slip out of the ring.]

Johnny Suave: AND HERE COMES CHARLIE BLACKWELL!

[Blackwell jumps into the ring wielding a steel folding chair. and starts taking people out left and right.]

*CLANG*

Johnny Suave: BLACKWELL NAILS PAUL KRUGMAN WITH THE CHAIR!

[Blackwell turns and swings the chair again.]

*CLANG*

Johnny Suave: CNN’s DON LEMON GOES DOWN!

*CLANG*

Johnny Suave: HE GOT JEB BUSH TOO!

Colleen Crowder: WHAT ARE THEY DOING?

Johnny Suave: THEY’RE CLEANING HOUSE!

[The rest of the Les Miserables climb through the ropes and suddenly there’s a lot of people in close quarters.]

Colleen Crowder: DEPLORABLE!

[The American Patriots, Progressive Alliance, and media contingent still in the ring decide to hastily exit stage right leaving just Trump, Hillary, McAvay, Blackwell, Bryan, and the forty-odd Les Miserables inside.]

Colleen Crowder: THESE PEOPLE ARE DEPLORABLE! WHAT ARE ALL THESE DEPLORABLE PEOPLE DOING IN THE RING?

Johnny Suave: Actually, they’re Les Miserables.

THE ESTABLISHMENT AREN’T HAPPY WITH NEW CHAMPION

Suffice to say, the Establishment’s reaction to McAvay winning the title could be termed as ‘cool’ at best. The Coke Brothers (who is secretly funding the Red Brand shows) and George Moros (who is secretly funding the Blue Brand shows)…

…oh? Did we just spill the beans? Whoops.

The Coke Brothers and Moros have come out and complained about the fact that McAvay got a ‘free ride’ into the match by his ex-wife Dawn McGill.

Moros bragged that they ‘got rid’ of William Daniels Bryan because he wouldn’t play ball with the Establishment. He warned the new champion that he’d better defend his title at Red Brand and Blue Brand shows or else McAvay would suffer the same fate.

SEC AND CSPN AREN’T HAPPY WITH NEW CHAMPION EITHER SEC Mouthpiece Phil Finebaum complained that McAvay shouldn’t have been in the match in the first place. “He doesn’t wrestle for a power faction.   McAvay being in that match is the same as NCAA College Football allowing UCF to be in the Final Four. It shouldn’t have happened. And now we’re stuck with a substandard champion.”

CSPN CEO Mark Splitter concurred. “I’ve defended the exclusion of wrestlers of ‘lesser factions’ from title matches because they ‘probably don’t deserve to have the opportunity to wrestle for titles.  Because the competition as Phil Finebaum has pointed out is substandard. Now we have a wrestler from a non-power three faction who supposed to be the champion…the best of the best when in actuality he’s nothing more than the best of the mediocre.”

And in other news, Finebaum still hates Jim Harbaugh and Urban Meyer.

PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE REALLY AREN’T HAPPY WITH NEW CHAMPION The Progressive Alliance have registered a complaint with the PCW Competition Committee alleging that they did not have a wrestler in the title match at Extreme Election Night 2018 because ‘The One Man Hollywood A-List’ Stone Chism fraudulently presented himself a member of the faction. They want do-over.

As the Blue Brand Champion, Chism was the ‘Progressive Alliance’ representative to the match. But Chism allowed himself to be counted out of the match sparking a fracas at ringside with the Hollywood left until Conservative actor James Wood came to his rescue.

The PCW Competition Committee turned down the Progressive Alliance’s complaint.

The Progressive Alliance did strip Chism of the Blue Brand Title and will crown a new champion once the Blue Brand shows start up again.

CURRENT CHAMPIONS: Universal PCW Champion: ‘Red Solo Plastic Cup’ Ray McAvay (Independent/Les Miserables) Universal PCW Tag Team Champions: Sports Entertainment Corporation: P.M.C. Banks and Charlie Blackwell Universal PCW Women’s Champion: ‘Extreme Pizza Delivery Girl’ Tessa Martin (SEC) PCW Red Brand Champion: Kirk Walstreit- the Wall Street Market Analyst with the Man Crush on ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit PCW Blue Brand Champion: Vacant PCW Heartland Champion: Vacant PCW Red Brand Tag Team Champions: Banks and Blackwell PCW Blue Brand Tag Team Champions: Union Jack Taylor and the Ultimate Social Justice Warrior PCW Heartland Tag Team Champions: Weapons of Mass Destruction: A. Tom Bomb and Hy Drogen Bomb