#cause even bills teenage daughter thought he was cool

[pinazee]

I finally got to Hey, Melissa! And Im going to have to insist the lang brothers give paul just one goddamn happy ending at some point (preferably soon) Cause um… jesus fucking christ.

Don’t get me wrong, it was a good story and i see what they were doing (p.s i stan a serial killing team of ladies. Im a feminist), but uh, this was a level of torture and humiliation i was unprepared for. And paul was just trying to help- to the point that he didn’t answer emmas call just so he could be there for melissa. Paul comes across as a very neutral guy but he’s actually a full blown hero.

And fucking Ted! Like he didn’t deserve it either but at the same time…fuck you ted.

[bangtancentricsblog]

For @suhdays numbers 27 & 6 from this list, I hope you like it 🙂 please ignore any mistakes I don’t usually type directly on tumblr 🙃 anyways idk if I did it justice and it got away from me lol

It’s odd, the situation that is. Never in a million years would Yoongi have believed to be sitting opposite you in the diner he vividly remembered being your favorite place when you two had been dating. He remembers the happier times, the days and hours you’d spent tucked into his side wearing his letterman jacket, sharing a milkshake listening to the old rock songs playing from the jukebox. It’s strange that he can still vividly remember those feelings, even now years later after high school. After having gone off to college and gotten married to what he’d called the love of his life.

And yet despite all those obstacles, the long distance and the petty fights he’d married you. Your high school romance just wasn’t meant to last not when two years into marriage it had fallen apart. The divorce had been amicable, too clean cut almost as if you two hadn’t loved one another as long as you had, his coworkers that had later become his close friends had said it was a good thing. His marriage to you had been doomed to fail when he’d wanted to settle down and you’d still had so much life in you, so much you’d wanted to do. That you weren’t meant for the married housewife life. And he had somehow agreed, buried his life with you in the depths of his closet almost as he’d never wanted to be reminded of it. Never wanted to see just where his life had taken a turn, a life where he would have to live without you.

He’s staring at you with a furrow to his brow, his expression is one of distaste. Annoyance maybe, you aren’t quite sure anymore. Though if you’re sure about one thing it had to be just how much more handsome he’s gotten with age. The two of you are pushing your thirties but time has only done his wonders. If Yoongi was handsome as a young adult he was downright lethal as a man in his prime.

“What did you call me out here?” He asks face never portraying any emotion.

“You make it seem as we don’t regularly see each other at charity events.”

“That may be, but it’s not because I want to see you.” He almost spits taking note of the way you slightly flinch back at his words.

“Right, I could never dream of that. It’d be silly of me.” You laugh with a small smile he takes note of the way it doesn’t reach your eyes.

“So what did you want?” He asks again.

“Just to catch up, I heard you were engaged.”

“Let’s not do this ____, I know you’ll only hurt yourself.” You nod somewhat timidly a anguished look crossing your features.

“Right, I’m sorry to have called you out for something so mundane. I’ll take my leave then.” You say dropping a few bills on the table to pay for your untouched milkshake. It’s the same flavor you used to share all those years ago.

*

“So you just let her believe you were engaged?” Hoseok asks somewhat disgusted.

“It’s not important, do we have anything scheduled today?”

“I mean you have to pick up your daughter from your ex-wives house. The same one you let think you were engaged. The one who I’ve seen you make puppy eyes at like some lovesick teenager.” Yoongi scowls, but Hoseok is right. He hates to admit it but he’s still very much in love with you as he was when you got divorced. Now he has one more thing to love about you, his daughter was an unexpected surprise. One he’d received after your divorce, and he hated you just a little bit for keeping her a secret until the very day of her birth. But he knows why you did it, his career had taken off shortly after the divorce and you’d made yourself scarce. Virtually disappearing after he’d signed those papers, only popping back up when you’d gone into labor.

He’d made it his mission to avoid you at all cost, because even if he loved you he couldn’t handle the way you just left him. Had hidden your pregnancy from him, had stolen all the precious moments of your pregnancy from him because you were selfish. You wanted out and in the end it had hurt him. He sighs heavily, rubbing at his temples in exhaustion not because of his daughter but because he’d have to see you again after lying to you.

*

It’s some odd weeks later that he finally sees you again. After his little lie you’d done everything in your power to avoid him. You’d sent your daughter to his house with your best friend Taehyung, started skipping charity events, even had your nanny pick her up when he’d pulled up to your house. Frankly he was tired of it, more so because it seemed even Hoseok had seen you more than he had. Perhaps he was jealous, though did he really have any right to be? He’s thoroughly annoyed when he finally catches sight of you across the ballroom, dressed in a black dress that molds to your figure oh so perfectly. He’s more that a little annoyed at the way some of the men stare, and who wouldn’t. You look more than beautiful, it would take a lesser man to not see how beautiful you look, but his gaze it particularly glued to the low neckline that shows a little too much of your ample chest, what’s more is the way your dress not only dips too low in the front, it’s completely missing the back. From here he catches a faint glimmer, something that sparkles just so and disappears into your dress. It sends a rush of blood to his cock, a reaction that forces him to tear his gaze away for just a moment.

It seems though that he isn’t the only one interested in you this evening, but he will be as he easily makes his way over to you. There’s surprise written in your features with something like dread as he smiles politely while asking you to dance. He’s surprised when you take his hand easily allowing him to lead you onto the dance floor. You haven’t been this close since your wedding, he thinks as his hand finds the small of your back. Your skin is cool to the touch, shivering lightly as the warmth of his palm grazes the thin body chain that sits pretty against your spine. He wonders briefly what it’d look like without the dress, he’s quick to push the thought away as you avert your gaze.

“You’ve been avoiding me.” He says as he spins you following the slow waltz he’s lead you into.

“I haven’t.” He scoffs pulling you closer to avoid a possible collision with another couple just behind you.

“You have, and I want to know why.”

“You have a fiancé.” You say.

“So what? I also have a daughter with you, does that mean my fiancé should avoid her?”

“No, but I don’t want to cause a scandal for you.”

“Who would think to cause a scandal.”

“I don’t know but I’m the ex wife, and you’re the ceo of a successful music company. I can see it now, ‘jealous ex wife clings to affianced ceo’ the women who hate me would make my life even more difficult.” You sigh.

“What women.” He asks suddenly interested in your life.

“It doesn’t matter, it’s enough for me that you love our daughter as much as you do.”

“And what about you?” He whispers. You pause, gaze meeting his, taking a moment to really look.

“Do you love me?” You ask afraid of his answer.

“Do I love you? Yes. Do I like you? That’s still up for debate.” He says smirking at you in a way that breathes life into the butterflies that had laid dorment for too long. You look away embarrassed, because the simple truth is that you love him too, will never stop loving him because Yoongi made loving him easy but you couldn’t be with him.

“You’re fiancé will be upset if she hears you.” You almost laugh.

“I don’t have a fiancé.” He says somewhat nonchalantly, noting the way you step on his toes. He’s not sure if it’s by mistake or on purpose.

“You’re the worst.” You say trying to hide a grin. He feels a warmth spread through his being, and here holding you close he considers proposing to you again. It feels like the stars are finally aligning, someone somewhere is blessing them and this time he knows it’ll work out. Because the simple fact is you two were meant to be.

[troop-scoop]

Mistakes & Regrets VIII

Summary: When a trip to your Dad’s hometown of Hawkins goes wrong, you end up in the year 1983, and have to learn how to cope with being stuck in the past.

Pairing: Steve Harrington / Future!Reader (like, a really slow burn)

Warnings: Swearing, (Italics are memories when they’re in bulk, but if it’s one line it’s a thought!)

A/n: Aye, I finally updated!

•••

It was clear that Callahan and Powell didn’t quite believe your story. At least not without the evidence left on your knuckles, and even then, it was like they didn’t completely believe that a fifteen year old girl could hit a taller, stronger and older teenage boy and cause a fight. 

But you did. You punched a seventeen year old Steve Harrigton in the nose, and had the bruising to prove it. You were sure you were the only girl to have ever hit him, and while you felt slightly bad, he still deserved it. 

You didn’t intend for the fight to escalate to what it had been in the span of seconds, but you did intend on the first punch. His words were uncalled for, and hurtful. 

“You said you hit first?” Callahan questioned still holding the note pad and wooden pencil. 

“Yes, for the last fucking time, I hit first.”

Powell gave you a look. “Language.” He reminded. 

Your brows furrowed as you looked up at the cop who stood above you while you stayed seated. “You’re not my dad.” You responded. Both of their faces were clearly annoyed. You’d been giving attitude since they arrested both you and Jonathan. Though Jonathan was still in cuffs, and you were just sitting by Callahan’s desk, because you didn’t punch a cop in the nose. “Now can I please eat?” You asked, gesturing to the box of donuts on the desk. 

Powell sighed and opened the classic pink box for you to get a donut. You reached your bruised hand into the box and pulled out two sprinkled donuts. 

“We said one.” Powell reminded you again. 

“You wanna be the one responsible for my death of starvation?” Taking a bite from the pink frosted donut, both of the officers only shook their heads while you turned in your seat, legs over the arm of the chair. 

“How are you doing over there, Johnny boy?” You teased a bit, getting Jonathan to turn his head to look at you. 

“You know, you’re the most sarcastic person I’ve ever met.” He told you while Nancy held the ice filled dish rag to his face again. 

You nodded with a shit eating grin and continued to eat while Callahan sat down in his seat and Powell went to his own desk. 

“Hey. Jonathan? Y/n? Jesus, what. . . what happened?” You looked up to the doorway to see Joyce, and the chief of police walking into the station. Joyce looked worried as she reached the desk Jonathan and Nancy were sat at, with the chief right behind her. 

Callahan stood up while you grabbed the box of frosted treats, holding it in your lap while you watched the officer stand up. 

“Ma’am. . .” Callahan started 

“In my defense, there was no adult supervision.” You spoke quickly, looking up at the young version of your grandmother who furrowed her brows and shook her head with an absent mind at your statement.

Jonathan turned his head to you again, eyeing you curiously before looking back to Joyce. “We’re fine.” He informed while you finished off the first donut. 

“Why is he wearing handcuffs?” Joyce demanded pointing a hand at Jonathan’s wrists, but the only thing you could really see near his hands was the reindeer dish rag he was holding to his hands. 

“Well, your boy assaulted a police officer. That’s why.” 

Looking up at Callahan you heard Joyce speak. “Take them off.” Your grandmother was assertive in your time, and your dad had told you she actually cooled off compared to how she used to be. You’d never believed him, but you did now. 

“I am afraid I cannot do that.” Callahan was trying to be calm. 

“Take them off!” Joyce now yelled while you and Nancy made awkward eye contact.

“You heard her. Take ‘em off.” the chief’s voice was that of a man who hadn’t had coffee yet that day and was exhausted.

“Chief, I get everyone’s emotional here, but there’s something you need to see.” Powell interrupted the conversation. 

The chief looked at you, and made eye contact, getting a bit of a weird feeling while Joyce and him now made eye contact. He’d given her nod before he and the two other officers left the station and Joyce was pinching the bridge of her nose before looking back at the three of you, She got between the two desks and spoke in a hushed whisper to you. “Who knows?” 

“Jonathan and Nancy.” You didn’t need to have her say what she was talking about. You knew, just from her hushed voice exactly what she meant. 

Joyce looked at Jonathan and Nancy who were looking at her as well. “Okay. . .” She said, still in her hushed voice so no one else could hear her but you. Not even Jonathan or Nancy could hear. “Hopper knows, too.” She informed, the grimace already on her face at your expected reaction being a loud groan of frustration. 

“Great, just what I need.” You commented with a sarcastic nod. 

As if on cue, the chief, Callahan and Powell came back into the station, the chief carrying a box that made a metal rattling noise, he reached the table Nancy and Jonathan dropping the box on the table with a loud ‘bang!’ 

Standing up from your seat, still holding the box of donuts, you looked into the box, your jaw dropping at seeing the large iron bear trap, surrounded by boxes of bullets, the gun from the day before and a few other things.

“What is all this stuff?” Joyce asked, looking through the box.

You leaned down to whisper to Jonathan. “When I said Sam and Dean Winchester,” You started, “I didn’t fucking mean it” Jonathan looked up at you just as confused as when you said it before. “I seriously didn’t mean it.” You told him again

“Why don’t you ask your son? We found it in his car.” 

You eyes shot to the chief as your grows furrowed. As Jonathan spoke “Why are you going through my car?” and you spoke over him saying, “You violated his fourth amendment, what the fuck dude?”

Joyce backhanded your arm when you swore. There wasn’t much of a big difference between what she was like in your time, and now. If you could even say that this was ‘now.’

“Are those really the questions you wanna ask right now?” Hopper asked looking at you, going into interrogation mode. But you’d been suspended once, and almost expelled, you knew how to deal with people in that mode. 

“Yeah, actually.” You told him with a sarcastic, breathy chuckle. “You didn’t have a search warrant, or anything, no probable cause. And you think you can get away with it just because a lot of people forget about the unit in middle school that focuses on the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. Or did you forget everyone’s basic rights? Because I know how much training a cop has to go through, and they don’t refresh anyone on people’s rights.”

Hopper looked irritated as you spoke, but you were more irritated than him. The entire situation was annoying, and all you wanted was to go sleep in your own bed, in your own home, and your own time period. 

“I wanna see all three of you in my office.” He affirmed, you went to argue back when he turned away but Jonathan beat you to the punch, though it wasn’t what you were going to say.

“You won’t believe me.”

“Why don’t you give me a try?”

•••

“So, we’ve got monsters, a girl from the future, and a missing kid.” Hopper spoke after Joyce took Jonathan outside the office, leaving you with Nancy and the chief. “And you’re Will’s daughter?”

You gave a slow nod, “Yeah,”

“Kid-”

“Listen, Chief, I don’t want your pity, so please, just stop.” You told him, crossing your legs and looking down at the ugly carpet

Hopper remained quiet for a moment before he continued on talking, “Who’s taking care of you?”

“I am.” You shrugged a bit, looking back up at the chief, watching as his expression grew sad as he looked down at you.

“How old are you kid?” He asked, still holding the photo of the thing Jonathan had gotten a picture of. 

“Fifteen.” 

You heard yelling in the main area of the station, which is when Hopper pushed himself away from the edge of his desk and went to the door, with you following shortly after, your curiosity piqued. 

You heard Hopper tell Joyce and Jonathan to stay there, but he didn’t notice you following, hot on his heels. You were quiet when you walked, and light on your feet.

“Where’s the chief? I want to speak to him right this instant!” You could hear a woman yelling while the main room came into view. Her greying blonde hair cut into an ugly and ill fitting pixie cut, that people usually called the ‘can I talk to your manager’ haircut. 

“Ma’am, I need you to calm down.” Callahan tried. 

“What is your name, Deputy?” The woman demanded, which is when you looked to the young boy by her side. Probably her son. His arm in a fresh white cast and in a sling over his neck. He looked at you curiously as though he’d seen you before, and you could have sworn you’d seen him once before. 

“Well, I’m an officer,” Callahan chuckled, “Okay?”

“Name and badge number, both of you!” She demanded while you continued to stand in the entryway to the hall, arms crossed as you and the boy continued to examine each other, as if confused by the other’s presence. You couldn’t place it, but he was oddly familiar. 

“What the hell is going on here?” Hopper demanded as he walked to the mother, son, and his officers, stealing your attention away from the boy, and his attention from you. 

“Chief-” 

“These men are humiliating my son!” She shouted, looking at the chief and pointing directly at Callahan who immediately tried to defend himself. 

“No, no, no. Okay, that’s not true-”

“There was some kind of fight, Chief.” Powell informed, uninterested in the situation going on. 

“A psychotic child broke his arm!” The mother added, gesturing to her son’s broken arm. The memory of watching a classmate at school breaking his arm coming back, making you shiver a bit. 

“A little girl, Chief, a little one.” At that, you laughed. Wondering what he’d been doing to piss off a little girl so badly that she broke his arm. Hopper turned his head to look at you and you covered your mouth immediately, still smiling under your palm. 

“That tone! Do you hear that tone?” The mother demanded again, looking at the chief with anger and frustration clear on her face while you continued to smile. 

“Honestly, I’m just trying to state a fact, It was a little girl-” Callahan started again before Hopper interrupted. 

“We don’t have time for this, will you please take a statement” Hopper told them, gesturing silently as if telling them to get the woman and boy out of the station, before he turned back to look at you and grabbed your shoulder, leading you back a step or two. 

“I think it’s his pride that’s hurt more than his arm.” You chuckled a bit before hearing the boy give his description of the girl. 

“She had no hair, and she was bleeding from her nose!”

“Hello?” It was a simple question and the girl only stared at you, confused by your word, as though she’d never heard it before.

You hadn’t seen another person in a long time. You counted the hours on your watch, how often the short hand fully passed over the face of the tiny clock. And it had done it six full times. You’d been there three days, and you felt like it was a death sentence, or that it was a fever dream.

“Hello?” The girl repeated your word back to you, not knowing the meaning. You took a subtle step towards her. But she looked as though she wasn’t were you were. No shadows were cast onto her body, and she looked completely clean, unlike you. 

She was small, and young, maybe only the age of your brother, her eyes scared and dark. Though you couldn’t tell if her eye color was brown or if her pupils were blown wide. Her hair was a medium brown, and buzzed down. And her clothing was almost clinical. Like what you’d think a futuristic x-ray shield would look like.

“Yeah. . . Hello.” You told her. You realized she wasn’t confused by the word, but by seeing you there. She reached a small hand out to you, and you took it. Her pale hand in yours as you stared at each other for a moment. 

Any thought of what was going on around you was gone. You didn’t know if one of those things would sneak up on you or not, you were just intrigued by her presence. 

“Who. . . are you?” The girl asked with a small struggle, like she’d never really been taught how to speak. 

“Y/n, how about you?”

“I know you!” The boy exclaimed, snapping you out of your own thoughts about the girl. “You helped me pay for water balloons back in August!”

That wasn’t right. You’d been in Hawkins since September fifth. There was no way you could have possibly helped the boy buy water balloons. But you did remember buying a kid a pack of them with your brother in Melvad’s when your fathers had let you two go to the town’s small downtown to get snacks at Melvad’s. 

“You had a really thin walkman. . . it was dark silver, and it had a lens. You were wearing a Star Wars T-shirt.”

That’s what you’d been wearing when you went to Melvad’s that day. August 11th. The day before you fell into that hole and ended up in that place. You’d had your phone out and now that you recalled the memory, you remembered the boy looking just like this boy. Now you were confused, and terrified. 

“Yeah. . . That was me.” You told him quietly before Hopper grabbed your shoulder and led you away. 

•••

It was all freaking you out. The story that somehow this girl that you were pretty sure you saw in that weird place was with your uncles Mike, Lucas and Dustin. The men who were were also constants in your life, and your dad’s life long friends. Neither you, or your dad would remember a time where they weren’t around. 

But what was freaking you out the most was that this girl was the reason for the government trucks and cars and helicopters circling around the Wheeler home. And it wasn’t right that you were trying to find the four of them, by rushing into the Byers home to find Will’s walkie talkie. 

Once in the house you went to the farthest room, going to the bed and looking under it while Jonathan went to the desk and Joyce looked through the drawers of his dresser. 

You saw it almost immediately and grabbed it, pulling it out and holding it up like a prize. “Found it.” You told the four others. 

“How’d you know it would be there?” Jonathan questioned, taking it from you and extending the large antenna that was almost as long as your arm. 

“Under bed policy.” You shrugged like it was something everyone had. 

“What?” Hopper asked, looking at you. 

“My dad and I have this rule, if there’s something that I don’t want him to see, I can put it under the bed. He promised me he would never look under there. I’ve hidden many report cards under my bed.” You explained while Nancy took the walkie from Jonathan, turning it on and pressing the button to speak to her brother, sitting on the edge of Will’s bed, Joyce sitting next to her and grabbing your hand 

“Mike, are you there? Mike? Mike, It’s me, Nancy.” You squeezed Joyce’s hand and she did the same to you.

“Mike, are you there” No answer came.

“Answer, Mike, we need you to answer. This is an emergency, Mike, do you copy? Mike do you copy?”

“Nance-” 

“I need you to answer. We need to know that you’re there, Mike.” Nancy finished before Hopper took the walkie from her, giving it a shot himself.

“Listen, Kid, this is the chief. If you’re there, pick up. We know you’re in trouble, and we know about the girl. We can protect you, we can help you, but you gotta pick up. Are you there? Do you copy? Over.” 

There was no answer, and everyone’s confidence and hope in the situation visibly left the room when everyone’s shoulders dropped and their heads tilted in frustration and thoughtfulness, including you, who was still terrified over what the boy named Troy had said in the station. 

“Yeah, I copy, it’s Mike. I’m here. . .  We’re here.” Mike’s voice came from the walkie, a bit of static from the distance. 

“Oh thank god.” You murmured as Joyce scooted over for you to sit and her arms wrapped around your shoulder, holding you close. 

•••

You looked at the four children who got out of the car, as well as Nancy who ran to her younger brother and embraced him in a tight hug. 

But the girl, you recognized her as the girl from that place. But now she was wearing semi normal clothes. An outdated pink dress with a white collar and a jacket that clearly wasn’t her own. Her eyes were on you the moment she got out of the car. 

“Is that my dress?” Nancy asked, looking at the twelve year old girl. 

“Who is she?” Dustin questioned. You knew all of them, saw childhood photos of them when you were growing up. You knew who was who. And you knew he meant you.

Looking to Jonathan, Joyce, and Hopper who just looked at you. The both of you waiting for who was going to make up an excuse first. But none of them did, just staring at you. 

You looked back to the group of children. “Just uh. . . A time traveling weirdo, I guess.” You told them with a tight lipped smile that was more than just forced. 

•••

Add yourself to the taglist!

@disneyprincessbuffyannesummers @jxnehxpper @yllwtaxi @songofcosplay @potatopooper05​ @cheesecakeisapie​ @robinsdolan​ @yall-wildin-like-siriusly

[anxiouslymalicious]

Losers Club Plus One Part 5

A Richie Tozier x daughter!reader series

To read the previous part, click here and for the complete Masterlist, go here.

A/N: I am so sorry this has once more taken so fucking long but things happened and then more things happened and then word and my computer crashed and I had to rewrite like a lot so here we are.

Anyway, thank you guys so much for all the sweet comments and messages and asks, I appreciate them all so much, I appreciate you guys so much. 

This has a word count of 3,000 ish words just for your information and there are descriptions of anxiety, however there is also some fluff in here that’ll hopefully make up for the little kind of angsty parts. 

Enjoy!

A pregnant, solemn silence took over the losers as they held the shower caps in hand, thoughts of Stan flooding each of them uncontrollably. Memories of the first time they admired Ben’s hard work that he told them was nothing. Remembering Richie and Eddie fighting over the hammock, even the smoke-hole ritual didn’t seem nearly as far away anymore.

Ben was sitting with Y/N, animatedly telling her about how much effort he had put into the small club house. Her eyes travelled over the construction, a wondrous gaze raking over the dusty items, the faded posters, the carvings and blemishes that the place had endured over the decades.

“This is fucking incredible.” She breathed. “You’re a genius”

Ben chuckled, tearing his own eyes away from what he had created at such a young age to look at the girl next to him. He, like many of the losers, hadn’t really taken the time to look at her. She didn’t look much like Richie, possibly she took after her mother more look-wise, but the way she talked, the way she acted, the swearing, the messy hair, were so much like her father, it was almost scary. Like a female version of teenager Richie had gotten lost in Derry ages ago, but never aged. Ben’s eyes fell onto a spider in the young girl’s hair, an involuntary grin spreading on his lips.

“What’s up Haystack?” asked Richie suddenly, effectively breaking the comfortable silence.

“Stan really was ahead of his time.” Ben replied, slowly trying to plug the spider away from the mop of hair on the girl. The girl shuddered when she spotted just what he was doing as the other losers chuckled. Those weren’t the happy, almost childlike chuckles Y/N had heard more times than not coming from the members. No. Those sounded broken and, although not watery, they were still thick with unshed tears. Tears they didn’t want to cry. Not again. Not out of disappointment or disrespect towards the man they grew up with, quite the opposite really. Remembering who he was as a kid also made each of them remember what a kind and compassionate soul Stan was. Smart, often acting more like an adult than a child, but the one thing that was crucial about Stanley was that he had reasons for doing what he did. Reasons he carefully thought about. So, although no one dared to speak, they knew that Stan had carefully thought about this and had a reason for doing what he did. They just couldn’t figure out said reason.

“Hey Mike, what are we doing here?” Richie spoke up, finally, diverting the attention, changing the painful topic to another dreadful one. One that scared each of them more than they would like to admit.

“The ritual. It requires a sacrifice.”

“As a sacrifice we can take Eddie.” Richie dryly said, motioning towards the smaller man who now looked at him in a state of shock and something Y/N would almost identify as fear.

“Wait what?” Eddie asked. As Ben, under his breath, mumbled ‘Peep-peep, Richie.’

“You’re little. You fit on a barbeque.” The taller man replied, making his daughter snort in shock. Ben ruffled up her hair at that, a smile on his lips at the sincere reaction of the teen.

“I’m average height in most countries.” Eddie waved Richie off, slightly offended at the comment. “Besides, why are we not sacrificing Y/N? She’s literally my height!”

“Because I still have hopes of growing taller, unlike you.” Y/N fought back, an incredulous smile on her face, trying to hinder the giggles bubbling up inside her from surfacing.

“It’s not that kind of a s-s-sacrifice.” Bill interrupted the bickering, much more serious than Y/N, Eddie and Richie had previously been.

“Your past is buried. But you have to dig it up. Piece by piece. And these pieces, the artefacts, that’s why we’re here. That’s what we have to sacrifice. And since Stan isn’t here to find his, I think that we should all be here together to find his artefact.” Said Mike, his voice dark, rough. Y/N knew that it was taking a toll on everyone to be back. How bad it was the first time around, she still didn’t know, but she was curious to find out. 

Her eyes travelled to Eddie, shower cap in hand, then to the tin can on the ground, next to his feet. She got up from her seat next to Ben and moved to sit next to Eddie instead, following his thought, and fishing one of the caps out of the can.

Both of them pulled the caps onto their heads. They shared a glance. Then, their eyes landed on Mike.

“I think we just did that.” Replied Eddie and Y/N nodded along.

One after another, the losers plus one climbed out of the club house, Y/N being the last, gratefully taking Mike’s hand in support. Hastily, she took a few deep breaths, her airways silently thanking her for finally breathing in fresh, clean air. It wasn’t bad, but she had to admit that breathing in the dusty and musty air was getting quite exhausting and she rarely appreciated the cool air in a forest as much as she did in that moment.

“Okay so where do we find our artefacts?” Eddie asked, nervously pacing over the soft soil. Mike took another second, making sure that the girl he had pulled up was alright on her own before considering Eddie’s anxious figure.

“Yeah, I gotta be honest, man,” Richie started, scratching the back of his head, his lips pressed into a tight line, “all due respect, this is fucking stupid, alright? Why do we need tokens, alright? We remember everything. Saving Bev, defeating IT, I mean we’re caught up.”

“That’s not everything.” Mike tried to calm Richie, get him to admit that he didn’t know as much as he liked to say. There were still things Richie, like the other losers, didn’t want to remember. “We fought. But what happened after that? Before the house at Neibolt?”

Everyone was quiet for a moment. Y/N, not knowing how to feel, stood behind Mike, watching the scene unfold. The group looked dumbfounded for a moment, not even remembering the fight. Slowly, carefully, she strolled a bit away from the group, not wanting to interfere with a moment like that, with a moment as important as that one would be. Once more, she felt like she didn’t belong and she almost started regretting even suggesting as much as following her father to Derry. But what choice did she have? It was in those moments that she felt pitiful for herself, for the lack of a mother, a family. Of course, she was incredibly thankful for her father. She loved Richie dearly, but there were certain moments when she really needed a female adult in her life. Like when she had gotten her first period. Oh lord, how uncomfortable and awkward she felt that day. And how much it hurt to know that her mother had just left her, not wanted her any longer when she was just a baby.

How much it hurt knowing that she didn’t have grandparents like the other kids in class.

How weird she felt when the only family pictures she could bring to primary school while other kids brought pictures of themselves with their grandparents, with their aunts and uncles, cousins, siblings, whatever kind of family they had. She also remembered feeling shy in front of her father that day as she had to ask him about his parents for a homework assignment.

How lost she felt when Richie took her shopping for bras and other clothing. Richie did offer to ask one of his female friends to take her or ask her friends’ mothers to help her out, but Y/N refused. She would have felt even weirder going shopping for underwear with people she barely knew. Hell, she didn’t even want to take her friends in fear of being embarrassed.

The girl felt anxiety building up in her veins, her chest growing tighter, troubling her breathing. With nervous eyes, she searched for her father, who was vigorously shaking his head.

“I’m not letting her alone. I’m going to take my daughter with me.” Richie told Mike before stomping over to her, gently grasping her arms and making her sit down on a tree stump. Richie had noticed that his daughter was breathing unevenly, erratically. He was torn between staying and making a point to his friends and taking his daughter to a quiet place, away from all the trouble that caused her anxiety to skyrocket. The look she gave him was one he understood perfectly though. She didn’t want them to be alone.

“I gotta say… Statistically speaking, if you look at survival scenarios, we’d do much better as a group.” Eddie joined into the conversation, almost anxiously uttering his opinion. From the corner of his eye, he could see Y/N grasping her father’s arm tightly, eyes wide like a young doe, as she was fighting herself. None of the Losers dared to get close to her though, too afraid that Richie might lash out at them.

“Yes. Splitting up would be dumb, man. We gotta go together, alright? We were together that summer, right?” Richie looked to his friends in hopes of them agreeing with him, getting Mike to see how stupid his idea was. Eddie nodded in agreement and Richie got his hopes up. Until Bill spoke up.

“N-no. Not that w-whole s-summer.” And with that, they remembered the fight. They remembered how they physically had to separate Richie and Bill so they wouldn’t smash each other’s heads in, how they spent time separated from each other, each of them too stubborn to face what, deep down, each of them knew would be necessary.

“What happened?” asked Y/N, voice shaky, eyes innocently looking up at her father, then the other Losers. She had managed to calm down enough to speak, but she knew that she was still on the verge of breaking down. No one answered, each of them just let their gaze wander over the greens surrounding them. The trees started losing their leaves and they instead graced the ground, covering the soil in endless shades of red, yellow, orange and even a few brown spots.

“I’ll bring you back to the hotel, then get that stupid token.” Richie finally said, reaching out a hand to help his daughter, who suddenly seemed a lot smaller than she really was, up. Gratefully, she grasped it before sliding her hand up, trying to find some steadiness and comfort in grasping her father’s arm until they were out of what she felt was a danger zone.

The forest made her feel alerted. Something could be lurking behind every tree. 

Behind every bush. 

Behind every tree stump. 

There was room to flee, yes, but at what cost? If they ran and were to be separated, she would easily fall victim to whatever IT was. Y/N didn’t know her way around and Richie wasn’t sure he still knew the place like he did when he was younger and spent almost every day of a whole summer lurking in the shadows, hiding away from the Bowers gang, making plans of how to kill IT and just enjoying the warmth of the summer that took not only his innocence, but also his friends’.

“I’ll join you.” Eddie spoke up, stepping closer to the leaving pair as each of the Losers awoke from their little trance, daring to move now that Richie accepted that he had to find his token on his own. Neither Richie nor Y/N said anything, instead, they started walking, hoping that they were somewhat on the track they had taken earlier to get to the clubhouse. Once they had reached the edge of the Barrens, however, the Losers wordlessly split up and went their own ways. Where to exactly, no one knew. They went wherever their feet, their subconscious brought them. Maybe it wasn’t even that. Maybe something bigger than each of them was leading them, something that they knew existed, but they couldn’t remember yet. It was irking them. Teasing them. Lost somewhere in the back of their minds with the rest of their memories of the last summer. About to burst through that thin layer of blissful ignorance, it just needed a little push to break through to the surface. 

All of the Losers gave in and started their little journey through the place they grew up in. Well, everyone except for Richie, Eddie and Y/N.

“Eds, I appreciate your concern, but Mike said that we all have to do this on our own. You should get a head start, we all know your little legs slow you down.” Richie said, sluggishly joking around. He didn’t have the energy to make fun of his friend now. Not now that his heart was beating restlessly like a kid on Christmas morning and he knew that he had to leave his daughter, the only family he had left, to fend for herself.

“Don’t call me that. I want to be there for you two. She’s your daughter, that makes her a Loser by blood. Besides, I just wanna make sure that you don’t up and leave with her.” Eddie smiled at the pair and, with that, Y/N felt how her chest filled with warmth. She hadn’t ever known a family bigger than her and her father, but knowing that at least one more person, if not the whole Losers Club was right beside her, made her feel like she belonged. Like she had an identity, was a person important to something bigger than being your average high school student.

Y/N gave the man a warm, genuine smile. “I wouldn’t let him leave.”

“I know, little one. I know.” Eddie smiled back at her, laying a hand on her shoulder, not sure how affectionate he could be with the girl without it becoming weird. After all, she was almost like a new addition to the mismatched family of losers and he didn’t want her to feel left out just as much as he didn’t want her to feel uncomfortable or suffocated by the affection shown.

“Watch it, I’m going to outgrow you. There is still hope for me.” She smirked as they slowly started making their way to the hotel. Richie scoffed, hands in the pockets of his jacket.

“Don’t get your hopes up too high, squirt. I don’t think you’ve grown in the past six months and- “

“Fuck off, dad.”

“Don’t tell me to fuck off, without this smart mouth here, you wouldn’t exist.” Richie reminded both her and Eddie, making the pair cringe.

“Beep-Beep, Richie.” Eddie said as he felt himself shudder against his will. Only moments later, a harsh wind blew their way, sweeping the hair from their faces, creating ripples of shivers on their bodies.

“I think I’m gonna leave you guys alone. It’s not far anymore and I feel like I have to go elsewhere.” Eddie said, awkwardly mustering the father-daughter-duo.

“You’re not gonna make sure that I won’t run off with her?” Richie asked, confused at Eddie’s sudden change of plans.

“I trust you, Richie.” Eddie replied, lips twitching up into a playful yet shy smile. Y/N couldn’t hold back her grin at the gentle exchange between the men and watched happily as Richie stepped closer to the smaller, insecurity-ridden man, wrapping his arms around him in an almost therapeutic hug. Obviously, they hoped to see each other again later that day, but were they sure they actually would?

“Come here, squirt. Group hug.” Richie motioned for her, lifting one of his arms to give the girl room as Eddie nodded encouragingly. Joyfully, she complied and wrapped her arms around the two men, as far as they would reach.

“Stay safe.” Y/N whispered as she felt a sudden pull in her chest. It was unexpected, hit her out of nowhere and coating her in an uncomfortable cold. The uncertainty of the situation, the dangers connected to each of them going their own way finally caught up to her and, as it seemed, not only her. As the men heard the raw concern in her voice, they hugged her just a little closer and a little tighter in hopes of consoling her in some way.

“Don’t worry, I will. I’ll see you later in the library and all of us will be fine, alright?” Eddie replied, knowing that he wasn’t speaking the truth. He knew that splitting up was the most dangerous thing they could do. He knew that they might not all return to the library that day. He knew that IT was after them – and IT was seeking revenge. But he felt that, in that situation, it would be more important sugar-coating the whole situation and not worrying her too much rather than telling her about the actual risks of the situation.

“You two stay safe. I’ll be waiting for you.” Eddie told them as he pulled out of the comfort of their arms, leaving to go his own way, not knowing which horrors would be waiting for him as he would be looking for a simple artefact to sacrifice. Richie smiled, nodding a little, then laid a hand on his daughter’s back, pushing her forward. Not before she could wave to Eddie one last time though. Eddie smiled and nodded in reply.

The Tozier-Duo walked in silence for a bit. Until Y/N decided that she couldn’t stand the tension for another moment and decided to speak up with a question that she had been dying to ask for a bit now.

“What is it with you and Eddie, Dad? Have you always been this close?”

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Tags: (Please let me know if you want to be tagged in the next parts! And please forgive me and hit me up again if I forgot to tag you, sometimes things get lost, I am not forgetting you on purpose! ) 

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[strvngcrs]

『 adam brody. forty. cis male. he/him. 』 oh heavens, is that DANIEL ABRAMS from FAIR LANE i see roaming around mapleview? minnie may’s always calling them -BROODING & -EVASIVE. i happen to think they’re not that bad! they’re a pretty cool HORROR AUTHOR and every time i’ve seen them, they’ve always been +DEBONAIR & +ELOQUENT. i hope i see them around again! 

classically rolls in ridiculously late bc i forgot i had to work last night & then proceeded to sleep in today wooo !!  good afternoon ghouls, it’s ya girl maia, finally here to deliver the definition of hot mess with good intentions.

GENERAL

FULL NAME.    daniel elijah abrams.

NICKNAMES.    dan, danny.

AGE & BIRTHDATE.    40 years old ; may 4, 1980.

GENDER & PRONOUNS.    cis male ; he/him.

ORIENTATION.    heterosexual.

MARITAL STATUS.    estranged.

RELIGION.    jewish ( non-practicing ).

OCCUPATION.    horror author.

INSPIRATION.     bill denbrough ( it ), donnie darko ( donnie darko ), lucas scott ( one tree hill ), stephen king.

PHYSICAL

HAIR COLOUR.    black.

EYE COLOUR.    dark brown.

BUILD.    athletic.

MARKS.     freckles scarcely spread across his entire body.

TATTOOS.    none.

PIERCINGS.    none.

HEIGHT.    5'11".

FACECLAIM.    adam brody.

PERSONALITY

ZODIAC.    taurus.

ALIGNMENT.    chaotic neutral.

HOGWARTS.    ravenclaw.

LABEL.    the arcane.

POSITIVE TRAITS.    cheeky, debonair, driven, eloquent, resilient, solicitous.

NEGATIVE TRAITS.    brooding, evasive, inquisitive, sarcastic, stoic, stubborn.

HOBBIES.    smokes like a chimney while writing until he forgets what day of the week it is, dabbles in hunting & fishing (thanks @ his dad), labels all crime / thriller genres as ‘predictable’ but continues to watch them, obsesses over & relentlessly criticizes his own work, drinks heavily & passionately plays moonlight sonata or fur elise as if he’s betoven’s disciple.

BACKGROUND

PLACE OF BIRTH.    california.

CURRENT RESIDENCE.    mapleview, north carolina.

NATIONALITY.    american.

ETHNICITY.    ashkenazi jewish.

PARENTS.   judith miller & mr abrams.

SIBLINGS.    mia miller.

BIRTH ORDER.    eldest.

CHILDREN.    penelope abrams.

EDUCATION.     university of california, los angeles; bachelor of arts in english.

LANGUAGES.    english, some spanish & french.

HISTORY

EARLY LIFE.    born to THE judith miller and some newspaper editor, daniel was raised by the latter and notoriously abandoned by the former. well, not completely abandoned - there’s an old shoebox containing a few letters as proof - but that was the only source of communication in their otherwise absent relationship. while little danny boy didn’t fully understand why he couldn’t see his mother, he sought out an alternative solution by watching her movies. his father wasn’t aware, at first, and dan created this extravagant fantasy of the person he thought she was based on the roles she played. however, once papa abrams found out his son was watching these movies (which were probably not fit for children in the first place lmao oop), he begrudgingly revealed the bitter truth. being forced to come to terms with the fact that his own mother willingly abandoned him with his father, daniel didn’t fully understand what it meant; he couldn’t properly process why. the hurt of absent mother was expressed more out of anger, feeling as though there must have been something wrong with him. there were fewer and fewer letters sent to judith until he gave up altogether and thus, dan’s out of control behavior was born.

TEENAGE FEVER.    SUICIDE MENTION TW.  he struggled in school. his emotions betrayed him. instead of relishing a happy childhood, daniel found himself pushing everyone away, getting into fights, sneaking out late at night to run around the city streets with his friends and get into all sorts of trouble with them. he couldn’t count on his hands how many times the police picked him up and brought him to his dad’s doorstep. it only got worse once one of his best friends was found dead, written off as a suicide, though it didn’t add up in dan’s eyes and seemed so much more sinister. the young man was nearly deemed to be a lost cause, until he discovered his passion for writing. 

                                  language arts or literature was the last thing anyone would ever think to group with daniel abrams. but his english teacher noticed how well he could articulate his thoughts and feelings on paper, and submitted one of his pieces to a writing contest, which earned dan the win and a cash prize. bewildered by a talent he hadn’t even realized was in him, daniel embraced it. he started writing in a journal ( which he kept safely tucked away beneath the mattress of his bed ), documenting every feeling and thought as a way to express his emotions in a more productive manner. this talent earned him a full ride scholarship to ucla with a major in literature and plans of diving into some sort or creative writing career or perhaps becoming an english teacher, to follow in the footsteps of his high school teacher who he came to idolize.

                                  mere days into his freshman year, however, his high school sweetheart showed up in the middle of the night at his dorm with a positive pregnancy test. it was then the chaotic world as he knew it turned a new leaf, revealing a silver lining in the form of their daughter, penelope, who daniel hadn’t a clue, just yet, would save him. and so a shotgun wedding was quickly planned around the pair, both families either completely supportive or in utter disbelief. it was quick, it was cheap(ish), and it was stressful as all heck. but they were young, and in love, and were looking forward to starting a family together, despite it being a little earlier than initially planned.

“ADULT”HOOD.    fast forward five years, and they’re signing divorce papers. fortunately, it wasn’t messy. the two had simply grown apart as they matured in their respective ways, and remaining together was only causing a rift to develop between the two. the last thing they wanted, for the sake of their daughter, was built up resentment to tear the little family apart. his wife, who daniel initially thought to be the love of his life, blossomed into an absolute goddess; she was ambitious and knew exactly what she wanted. daniel, on the other hand, was still somewhat caught up in his ‘bad boy’ habits of drinking excessively and his career was still pretty up in the air. the two just didn’t compliment each others’ lifestyles anymore.

                                   daniel moved out but remained in california, settling for a bachelor’s apartment where he was able to have penelope every weekend. during this time, he finally cracked down and worked on finishing a novel he’d started years prior. within a year, he found a publisher who took interest in his grotesque works, and by the time daniel was twenty seven, his first bestseller hit the shelves, changing his life for the better with the ability to provide for his daughter without stress of landing another odd job ever again.

                                   as his fame increased, so did his desire to slink back into the shadows away from the limelight. at first, he enjoyed the wholesome book signings by day and grungy celebratory benders by night. but it grew old pretty fast and he certainly didn’t want to end up as another washed up shmuck. so, on a whim, daniel decided to move out of california completely, removing himself from the toxic lifestyle he’d grown accustomed to and shacking up on a beautiful piece of land in the rocky mountains of north carolina. the serenity and scenery certainly aided in his inspiration, as well as his unacknowledged lowkey addictions slowly being rehabilitated from his bloodstream.

OLD YELLER.    now, in his utmost prime at forty years old, he’s written numerous cult classics, a few of which have successful movie adaptations. he was lucky enough to land himself in a second marriage, though.... that one is now deteriorating as well because he literally doesn’t know how to maintain a healthy relationship. he received full custody of his daughter when she was sixteen, under the unfortunate circumstance of her mother’s untimely death. although they’d been separated for nearly twenty years, daniel was still very much affected by the loss, more so empathetically for penelope. he’s still hooked on the drink, though he’s definitely calmed down quite a bit from when he was a young buck. basically a messy, depressy old soul who uses sarcasm to deflect his true feelings.

CONNECTIONS

ESTRANGED WIFE.    first marriage was a bust, and the second is turning out to be no better. they haven’t hit rock bottom just yet, in his opinion (which would be finalizing a divorce lmao), and he’s unsure if they should work things out or not but also really.......doesn’t wanna go through the process of another divorce. plus he likes her and deep down adores their bickering. the reason(s) why things started falling apart between them can be discussed of course. lowkey debating on whippin this up as a big official wc but.... if anybody already here would like to snag it, i would 100% mclove it.

COLLABORATORS.    literally anyone he’s worked with over the years, whether they be fellow authors, publishers/publicists, journalists, screenplay writers, etc. yeehooo the possibilities are endless !!

FOLLOWERS.    anyone hooked on his books, whether devout fans from his early beginnings or people who newly discovered his fictional writings.

FORMER CLASSMATES.    could be from high school or university, but he was in california for the better part of his life aka not a mapleview native. former friends to foes & anything in between. dan’s that one kid who spiked the punch bowl at all the dances and years later probably snuck in party favors to snort off the bathroom sink during their high school reunion lmao whew !!

ANYTHING.    literally anything. i’m my groggy state of mind on my lack of creativity rn so please, i’m beggin. if daniel can enrich your characters’ lives in any way, shape, or form, hit me up and we’ll hatch a plan.

[fallenfurther]

More than just a feeling

The final sense for @gumnut-logic Sensory Sunday fics. I had been doing a sense per brother and I thought this would mess that up, then realised there was another Tracy who suited the bill. Previously: See-John, Touch-Gordon, Smell-Alan, Taste-Virgil and Hear-Scott (new WIP). Enjoy!

****

Sally stood on the patio outside the kitchen, her eyes cast themselves over the pool and out to sea. The wind was gentle, and the day was pleasantly warm after last night's storm. She always knew who was on and who was away from the island. She never stopped counting five heads. Seven with Brains and Kayo part of the family. The early morning allowed her time to think. It was a time that brought back memories. Of the boys when they were young, getting them off to school in the morning, making sure they had everything they needed when Jeff wasn't around. The early morning rush to see a new grandchild in their mother's arms. Small, pink, and beautiful. Then there were the mornings she'd spent with Grant. Coffee in hand while they planned what they would be doing that day, be it visit to see Jeff during his downtime, or while he was at college. From deciding what punishment a teenage Jeff deserved after being caught sneaking out at night, to the hugs she used to get when he was small enough to want from Mum. She sighed and headed back inside to the pool supply cupboard and grabbed the large net. Heading back, she held the pole out to the stairs without even checking.

"You'll be needing this."

"Huh?" A startled Gordon gasped. "Oh, thanks Grandma."

She watched the young man run past her with the same energy he had when he was small, slowing as he came to the pool, so he could dunk the net in and start clearing the foliage that had been blown into it. He'd stopped questioning years ago how she always knew he was coming. Always complaining that he couldn't jump out and surprise her. Her little Gordon, with a cheeky grin and messy blond hair. Now it was styled. She still remembered how the boy had mocked his teenage brothers for their hair care! A smile on her face she sat in the kitchen and watched Gordon clear the pool before diving in and starting his morning swim. Years of training and a skint in WASP had embedded the habit. Lucy's water baby. She would be so proud.

There was no set time for Scott to finish his morning run. Some days he needed a longer one than others. Sally knew the man had the weight of the world on his shoulders and pounding it out on the island trails released some of that stress, even if the pressure never truly went away. One thing Sally could do is have the coffee ready. She dropped the old filter into the compost container and placed a fresh in the hold, along with fresh beans and water. Scott couldn't fathom how she always knew, but Sally always hit the start button at the right time. Placing the mug beneath, she did just that. The machine groaned as the beans were ground. The first mug was always hers, but the second was Scott's. It beeped and she took hers and replaced it with Scott’s favourite blue one. Pushing the switch again she got the creamer and sugar, adding a generous amount of each to hers. She took a sip, a smile crossing her face.

"Good morning, Scott."

The coffee machine beeped as a hand fell on her shoulder. The warmth travelling through her body, grounding her.

"Thank you, Grandma."

Her eldest grandson took the drink and lent against the counter to take a sip. Sally regarded the tall man, so like his father in so many ways. The resemblance was there, as were the subtle hints of his mother, which the boys couldn't see. Sally still swore he grew overnight, not really remembering that in-between stage when he was almost as tall as she was. Scott had been shoulder height, then the next day he had surpassed her, and thanks to the military he knew exactly how to make every inch of his presence known. Lucy's fighter pilot. That little boy who flew toy planes around the house, landing them on every surface and even a sleeping baby Virgil once, before being scolded. He had never lost that thrill for the sky, and with his father's same need for speed, he had been destined for the Air Force. How smart Scott had looked in that uniform, pride beaming from his face! Sally had shed a tear that day, in Lucy's place, as they had waved the young man off. He'd always come home though, arms ready to embrace a brother, father, Grandma. Family always came first for that man.

Scott turned to her and gave her one of his signature smiles, dimples deep and blue eyes sparkling in the morning sun. His mother had always said he'd be a heartbreaker. Sally knew Virgil and John kept a count of those things. It saddened Sally that Scott had yet to find someone to stand beside him, like Jeff had. Someone who could lightened the man's burden while bring a joy reserved for those in love. She hoped all her boys would find it one day. With a nod Scott left the kitchen, the shower his next stop, Sally knew. He'd be dressed and at his father's desk before the hour was up.

This was her way to start the day, her way to keep her boys close. She started on the chores next, the only change in the routine was the roar of Thunderbird One and Two leaving the island, causing vibrations to dance across the surface of the water in her bucket. She dipped the mop back in and continued.

"Good afternoon, Kayo."

"Afternoon Sally."

The woman's soft footsteps were the bane of the boys’ lives. Many a time they had jumped a foot in the air when Kayo joined in a conversation unexpectedly. Sally was no better herself, but then she always knew when her family was close. Kayo had become the sister the boys never had; the daughter Lucy always secretly wanted. Lucy would have loved Kayo as her own, accepted her instantly and smothered her like any mother would. Sally knew Lucy would be pleased with Kayo's presence in the boys’ lives. They needed her as much as Kayo needed them. Sally knew the young woman better than most, having often spending time together on the island, also left behind by the boys. It happened less so now she had her own Thunderbird. Sally had helped her through her teenage years, been the mother figure Kayo had been desperate for. Not that Kayo would admit it, she was a tough cookie, but a good cookie none the less.

Later that day, after the roar of engines were heard again, Sally retrieved a Hershey's bar from the cupboard and placed it beside the blender with some vanilla ice cream, milk, and tall glasses. She turned as the arms of her youngest grandson wrapped around her waist and she pulled him close. He was still so young, on the cusp of being an adult. The dazzling blue eyes that now peered up into hers, a gift from her side of the family, had seen more than most people see in twice the time. Sometimes it was just too much. Those eyes were tired, but she knew sleep wouldn't come, not straight away. The freckles danced as a smile lit up his face, even if it was too soon to reach his eyes. It'd been a tough rescue.

"Come on Sprout. You can make these things better than me."

She turned, the embrace changing to an arm over the boy’s shoulder. He still wasn't too tall yet. Only time will tell if he'd catch up with his older brothers. Alan was soon mixing up the milkshakes, the grinding sound filling the kitchen. Lucy had so many dreams for her little boy. She never got to see his passions bloom, for the same excitable energy that Gordon possessed to exist in him but be directed towards space, or to see him pilot a spaceship at such a young age. He may look more like his mother, but he had his father's spirit. Instead Sally had taken on the role of mother for the boy, who remembered it no other way. The precious young one protected fiercely by four older brothers. Lucy's last gift.

With the milkshakes poured and a straw stuck in each, they headed to the living room together. The projector was turned on to the last channel someone had watched, as they say side by side, Alan resting against her. The benefit of being a Grandma was it was never too uncool for a hug, and Alan was never one to turn one away when offered. The cool shakes filling a hole and soothing wounds that only time could heal. When a message pinged from Alan's wrist, a friend asking him to join a game, Sally released the boy and cleared away the glasses. Again, she found herself at the coffee machine, making two cups once more, but this time she carried them to Virgil's studio. The room dedicated to art, a room Lucy would have loved, along with the grand piano in the living room. Virgil was staring at the half complete painting with such intensity, his eyebrows crossed, that her entrance had been unnoticed. The frustration in the man's face and tension in his muscles needed to be released, so Sally held the mug beneath his nose. He stepped back but a smile came to his face when his paint-coated fingers brushed hers as he took the beverage from her. He let out a sigh after the first sip.

"How do you always know what I need?"

The warmth in his gaze melted her heart. Placing a hand on his bicep, she led Virgil to the old couch in the corner. Nothing fancy, just the old family couch that he'd insisted came with them from Kansas. Jeff had given in. They sank into the seats and settled into a companionable silence; Virgil's eyes still fixed on his current painting. How many times had they sat here for a heart to heart? It was one of the few places where Virgil would open up to her. The man worried, much like his older brother, born with a heart that cared too much. Things effected Virgil deeply, even if it didn't show on the outside. Another sigh.

"We had to tear a mother away from her dead child."

Sally's hand fell on his knee. There was nothing she needed to say. Virgil needed to work through it. No wonder Alan had been happy to sit with her so long. They all need grounding as times like these.

"She fought me. Screamed like a banshee as I struggled to carry her away. We couldn't retrieve the body before the building collapsed."

"You did all you could do."

"I can't get it out if my head. It just keeps replaying and replaying."

Placing her mug on the floor, Sally pulled the large man into her for a hug. Her hand rubbing slow circles on his back, just as she had done years ago, on that very couch, after Jeff had disappeared, and before that to soothe the nightmares after Lucy's passing. So much pain for one so young. Small sad memories interspersed the happy ones that she had of this couch. A toddler Gordon spilling his juice on the cushion and not telling anyone, only for Virgil to sit in it. The family photo that had been taken the day each boy had been brought back from the hospital and when viewed together show a happy growing family. Each boy had lain on the couch with a fever, sometime two topping and tailing. Each boy had been soothed in her arms, and each one had sat on it laughing. Now it lived with in Virgil’s sanctuary, there to bring comfort and memories to the man in her embrace. His strong hands capable of lifting great weight, saving lives with a firm grasp, yet still able to touch tenderly when cleaning a wound, to softly press the keys of the piano and apply paint in swift precise strokes to a canvas to produce a picture beyond words. Lucy had been the first to notice Virgil’s artistic potential, and she nurtured it. Placing opportunities in his path the Virgil jumped on eagerly. Lucy’s artist. Her painter and musician. Her gentle soul. She would be proud that he’d followed his dreams without giving up on his passion for the arts.

Virgil slowly eased away from her, but the tension was gone from his shoulders even if the sadness was still in his soul. He pushed himself out the seat and applied small dots of fresh paint to his palette. Sally sat back and watched the painting take shape, knowing her presence was still needed. Eventually needs must and they headed down to the kitchen where Virgil whipped up a quick dinner for them to share. Sally didn’t follow him back to his studio; he needed some time alone. Instead she headed to the reading chairs in the lounge. Her hand hovered over the novel she had started the previous day, but instead ran her fingers along the spines until she found the right one and pulled it out. The astronomy book was not her usual choice, but it was one Grant had given to John and she knew it contained an old sky map. Grant had loved the stars, even if he never had the inclination to visit them like Jeff had. How many times had she sat out on the porch as he pointed out the constellations to her? Closing the book, she careful spread out the paper.

“Oh, are you going to be using that long, Grandma?”

Sally turned to her ginger grandson with a smile on her face. His telescope was hanging over his shoulder and a blanket was in his hand.

“Don’t you have some new-spangled tech to tell you where the stars are? I thought you’d know the sky out there by heart by now.”

A small smile crossed John’s face as he ran his hand through his hair.

“I do… but I thought I’d take the chart with me, just in case.”

“Do you mind if this chart comes with a Grandma attached?”

John laughed, “That’s fine with me.”

Sally carefully folded the chart and placed to book on the side, before following John out to his favourite spot. The moon was a slither tonight, another reason why John was down from Thunderbird Five. There was no doubt in Sally’s mind that he was here to check on his brothers, but John also needed to process the days event. Staring at the stars was his way. John lay down the blanket and set up the telescope, before reaching out his hand for the map. It reminded her of the time the boys had played pirates. John had been forced to dress up, but she had made three maps to three pots of treasure. Scott had paired with Alan, Virgil with Gordon and John had his own. His had been the hardest, but he had risen to the challenge and still beat his brothers to his stash of gold chocolate coins. She had stolen facts from some of his books to make the riddles. John’s chocolates had been hidden behind his telescope. Grant had been so excited when John had shown such enthusiasm for the stars. It had been his idea to get John his first telescope. The memory of Grant letting John view Mars through his telescope when they were sleeping over was a precious one. John had fallen asleep in Grant’s lap after spending over an hour gazing at the sky. It had been Jeff who had sat with the boy on those clear nights, but it was Lucy who had brought them hot chocolate to keep them warm. It was Lucy who read the astronomy books to John at bedtime, who brought the fluorescent stars for the ceiling and brought silver stars to coat John’s sixth birthday cake. She had loved her quiet little boy who kept out of trouble and was happy to just sit and read. He had always been her bright little bookworm. Destined to live amongst the stars be loved. Lucy’s astronomer. It would make her so happy to see him now, all grown up and happy, still using the old map to orient his telescope. Still able to spend hours on end gazing up at the heavens.

Sally lay back and stared up at the night sky. Her heart ached for her son, who was amongst those stars. It had been so long, it felt so impossible, but her heart seemed set on it. Jeff was alive. Every fibre of her body told her that even as she fought to keep the hope contained. They say a mother knows; a mother can tell. Her grandsons were preparing, their hope contained just as hers was. Sally had no idea how long she would have to wait to know for certain if she would see her son again, but her heart told her she would.

[mountainleafuniversity]

Linneaus: Undertow Pt 1

Artwork by: @warrior-kitty

Special thanks to: @gemellath

This story is rated PG-13 for content. You have been warned.

It was a beautiful day for the citizens of Charluftton as the Wild Waves Festival was in full swing. The plaza was full of vendors selling t-shirts and frozen ice, the bar was full of all kinds of live music, including bands like Boil, The Lost Tapes and Art House, and even the beach was full of fun events such as volley ball, sailing, and even a beach 5k obstacle course. Boaters were out fishing and tubing and just all around having a good time. However, for the shapeshifting vixen, she was lying home in bed wearing her work cap, a buttoned jacket and khaki work pants. On her nametag was the name “Kit Rouge”. She was a shy fox who was diagnosed with a disorder that caused her to have trouble controlling her shapeshifting powers, and today, due to the events that occurred at work, was no exception.

“All I did was get grossed out…” she muttered. “Yet of course I turned into a fox bug like I always do when I’m disgusted. And of course, everyone thinks I’m too old for this to happen. I can’t control it…”

Kit had a busy day at work with lots of fishermen and families out buying things from pool toys to bait and couldn’t even stop the lines from the shoppers just itching to get their stuff and hit the water. She swore if she saw another sailor she would transform into her angry form and chuck them off their boat.

Her cellphone rang, and Kit answered.

“Hey Vixie!” Coin started, wearing sunglasses. “Work was rough today wasn’t it?!”

“Oh! Hello Coin! It was rough! Like the time that giraffe all jacked up on cocaine went up to you and-“

“Didn’t you remember our plans for today?!” he interrupted.

“What plans?” the khaki-clad kitsune asked.

“To go tubing with us!” Rio said.

“But I thought we were going to go to the beach!” Kit cried. “I want to lie down, get a sun tan and eat all the cannolis I can think off!”

“The beach is tomorrow and the next day!” Coin replied.

“Just get changed, pack some sandwiches and don’t forget the tube! See you in a half an hour.”

With that they hung up.

Kit thought about it for a second and decided to just go embark with her friends on the boat.

The young vixen put on a yellow one-piece swimsuit and covered it with a Zelda t-shirt and her khaki shorts from her work uniform. She then put on her special waterproof contacts, so she doesn’t turn her friends into her clones again. Finally, she made her friends sandwiches to eat on the boat while they hung out. Kit opened the garage to find Coin’s boat tube and sighed, knowing that none of their days out ever go well.

When she arrived, she saw her jackelope friend in his salmon trunks, purple t-shirt and sunglasses, with Rio harvest mouse perched on top of his antlers. She was in a little sailor’s outfit with a cap.

“First mate Rio! Ready to embark!” she said with glee.

“Hey Kitty!” Coin blurted. “Just put the tube in the back, were going to go fishing for a little while.”

“I thought you had a fear of fish.” Kit replied.

“My dad wants us to get fish for the Braun’s fish recipe!”

“You hate the taste of fish as well!”

“I’m getting paid if I do this.”

“Fair.”

And with that, they entered the boat.

Kit untied the ropes from the hooks, while Rio and Coin brought the buoys into the boat.

“Hey um Kit…” Rio said. “I think you might want to put your sunhat in the cabinet, so you don’t lose it.

“Oh, I’m fine.” Kit said without concern. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

As Coin and First Mate Rio pushed it to thirty miles an hour, Kit began to scream as her body grew more multicolored fur, whiskers grew, and her body became feline. The scared cat held onto her hat as hard as she could while the boat tore through the river.

“I retract my previous statement!” screamed Kit. “This is way too fast! My hat’s gonna fly away if you’re not careful!”

“Too fast?” replied Coin, seemingly unaffected by the rip-roaring speeds they were currently travelling at.

“No way! Calm down, will you? If you didn’t want your hat to get blown off, you should’ve at least stored it in the compartment.”

Begrudgingly, he and Rio slowed to boat down so that Kit could hand the hat over to Rio.

“Honestly,��� she said, “We should’ve insisted on it in the first place.”

As they continued to sail, the trio began to develop an appreciation for the architecture of the waterside houses. Rio would wonder aloud who lives there, or there, or there? Enough time had passed for Kit to have calmed down; one tug of her tail later, and she was back in her fox form.

“Right then,” she said, retrieving her hat at last, “What are we up to first?”

“Sandbar, of course!” replied Rio as the boat sailed towards the spot where the ocean embraced the shore.

The little stretch of sand was surprisingly full of people sunbathing, dipping their toes in the water; anything to make the most of the fresh heat.

“Oh, nice! We can all have a game of keepie-uppie!”

Kit casted her line out towards the water and waited. Soon enough she had something on her line, reeling it in as hard as she could to discover she had caught a gar.

“Nice!” she said, pleased with herself.

“Hey, look guys I caught this cool long-billed thing!”

The crowd looked over, but only saw the fish worth jack squat and laughed.

Kit became slimier and turned grey, with white hair growing until she was now her sad form, the fox slug Granny.

“Dang nabbit!” she muttered to herself before casting the line once again…only to this time catch a sea bass…

“Did you bring the football?” Rio asked.

“Sure did!” Coin said, holding the old pigskin.

“I said the football!” Rio growled.

“This is a football!” Coin responded, perplexed.

Soon an argument erupted between the two of them, until they decided to just toss the ball around. The jackelope through a spiral throw towards Rio, who then responded by nailing her personal perch in the chest. Coin got up, picked the football off of the bar and tossed it again. After a while, he was getting nailed in the face, chest, and even in the groin by the sailor mouse’s throws. He called for a time out to see Granny still trying to catch fish.

“Hey bud.” She said. “Could you give my tail a pull?”

Coin turned her back into Kit.

“Thanks”

“So what’s going on here?” Coin asked.

“I”ve been catching nothing but sea bass and gar…”

Coin looked at her in disbelief.

“Kit there aren’t any sea bass in here…you mean sea trout.”

Kit blushed a little.

“It’s alright, you caught like five of them already!”

So, they waited and caught a decent amount of fish to put in the cooler.

After sunbathing for a bit, the Trio decided it was time to go tubing. They packed up their chairs, their belongings and the fish, which were placed in a water tank on the back of the boat.

“Alright guys!” Rio shouted with excitement. “Time for tubing!”

Coin took off his shirt and glasses, leaving him with only his trunks, while Kit dressed down to her swimsuit. Both of them then put on life jackets and hopped onto the tube.

“Um…” Kit said, somewhat nervous. “I’m not sure I want to do this…”

“Oh we’ll be fine. I’ve gone tubing dozens of times.”

“Get ready you guys!” First Mate Rio shouted as she pushed on the gas. She pulled it forward and the two cryptid creatures were yanked screaming. They narrowly missed other boats and shores, but soon the wild mouse got carried away. At a wedding reception between two mice on a dock, the two burst through and destroyed the dock the mice were on, leaving Coin with a face full of tiny wedding cake, and Kit with the groom in her mouth. Next, the two of them flew over another boat’s wake, which was sunk as soon as the tube landed on it. Finally, they neared an exclusive gated community residence, and ended up going through the yards of the tenants. Statues, trees, and rocks pelted them with pure bruises and scratches. At one point, they broke in through a beaver business man’s house and destroyed his kitchen, his teenage daughter’s bedroom, and his priceless wine cellar.

After breaking out of the last wall, a ramp was seen straight ahead for the duo, and with the ramp, Kit flew off of the tube and belly flopped into the water. Coin, luckily, stayed on, but ended up getting dragged through marsh grasses and oyster beds. He was all chopped up, so when Rio stopped, Coin fell into a million pieces. He healed himself, as always when he got this injured, and pulled into the boat.

“Hang on, where’s Kit?” the crazy driver asked.

From a groan they heard, the two saw her bobbing in the water. Coin spun it back around to collect Kit, who wasn’t very amused about the whole situation once she climbed back on board.

She was trying her best not to snap at Rio, as the jackelope got her a towel to wipe off the water.

Rio than then tried to fire up the engine but called Coin over. After a brief and worried discussion, the rabbit sheepishly confronted his fox friend.

“Umm…Kit….”

“What is it?” she snapped with her eyes already glowing.

“The boat…it’s out of gas…”

Suddenly Kit screamed as she transformed into DemKit, with his voice deepening into a roar. He picked up the cowering and flailing jackelope and chucked him off the boat. Then moved on towards Rio and held her up, shaking her around.

“WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO NOW FIRST MATE RIO?!?!” he roared.

“Calm Down!” Rio said. “Coin can just call the boat tow.”

DemKit dropped Rio and blushed a little embarrassed.

“Sorry Coin!” he yelled out.

“Try to grab the tube.”

Coin swam towards the tube, failing to notice the fin behind him. He climbed onto it, but as he was being pulled in by the fox monster, a shark leapt from behind him and bit down on his swim trunks, ripping them and pulling them into the water. His two friends screamed with DemKit frantically pulling on the rope harder, but it was fruitless as he pulled it in to find the shark had cut it in half. Coin, meanwhile, had a censor bar over his special area and watched as whale watchers and fishermen boated by laughing. The shark returned and pulled the censor off of him, causing DemKit and Rio to blush and look away.

“How can this get any worse?” the mouse said to herself.

“There they are!” an angry woman said, with a crowd of people on a police boat. The officer looked to see a sailor mouse next to a steering wheel, some fox monster, and a naked jackelope behind them.

“Oh crap.” DemKit said to himself, embarrassed.

Later on, Kit, now back as her normal self, and Coin were eating the fish they’d caught in the estuary with their families at Coin’s house.

“I’m glad they found out I was just transformed.” She said. “And they found the shark with Coin’s compressions lodged in its throat at the hospital. He said he needed clothes to deliver to someone.”

“Who?” Gunda asked

“We don’t know yet, but because he pulled my censored bar away he now has to register as a sex offender.”

“As for Rio?” Kit’s father asked.

“Well because she was recklessly driving to the point of bodily harm and property damage, and we didn’t do anything wrong, she has to spend the Festival in jail.” Kit replied.

“It’s a good thing you guys called to get the trout out.” Jonas said. “Proud of you son!”

“Thanks dad! How was the nautical golf tournament?”

“Well, we placed second.” He declared to Margaret. “We have to go to the plaza tomorrow. You are performing tomorrow night correct?”

“Yea, I’m meeting Harry and Roxie at work tomorrow, and D’Arcy is setting up her clothing tent at the beach market.”

“Apparently someone sent a threat to her earlier this afternoon.” Kit’s brother told them. “They’re investigating who sent it.”

“Well, it’s probably nothing we should worry about, but we should tell D’Arcy once we get to the beach.”

Meanwhile the salmon trunks sank into a cave where a sea serpent sat waiting and grabbed it.

“Nice…” she said. “A sample of clothing from one of that jersey devil’s friends.” She smiled with glee. “He could be useful to me… in finally bringing her down…” she laughed as her factory workers continued to work…

[tozierpunks]

Richie, Bev, and Eddie being the wild child(s) (Eddie the tamer of the three) of the losers club. Maybe they’ve got piercings, tattoos, they’ll listen to music and smoke (Eddie occasionally tries but it’s not his thing, he’s vibing to the music tho) Richie’s nails are painted black, Bev’s got her combat boots, Eddie in his ripped dungarees. Taking road trips in Richie’s beat up truck.

I have this hc that there’s a payphone outside Bev’s apartment, and since she couldn’t be caught dead on the phone in her house without some flack from her shithead dad, she uses that one (it’s faced away from her apartment, he couldn’t see her unless he came out). So she gives Eddie the number and tells him to call at least three times, cause she’s bound to hear it one of those times, and that’s how they chat on the phone. She’ll call Eddie, and if Sonia answers, she pretends to be a telemarketer.

They’ll make plans to sneak out and spend the night in the clubhouse if either of their houses are too bad. Eddie brings Sonia’s sugary snacks, Bev will bring magazines or comic books, and sometimes she brings one of her dad’s beers. Both of them hate the taste, but drinking it and gagging at the taste and exchanging that UGH look... is almost like a silent promise that they’ll never talk about this to anyone else.

Because no one else will get it.

No one else understands what it’s like to love someone you hate and fear SO MUCH. No one else knows how it feels to be stuck in a box, and completely at the mercy of someone who was supposed to love you. It’s a betrayal they hope their friends never know.

Then there’s one night Richie comes by the clubhouse after dark, and he’s surprised to find them there. He honestly just wanted a place to read his cousin’s Playboy, and he was shocked to find Bev and Eddie. They jumped up just as a reflex, and it seemed like they were caught doing something.

Of course, he’s a little heartbroken because he feels like he’s on the outside looking in, and he jokes, “Wow Eds, I didn’t know you had it in you. Bev, I always thought your type was... Bill. But this is cool. My best friends... boinking.” and Eddie looks horrified and Beverly flips him off and points out his magazine.

“Were you gonna beat the meat in here? You don’t do it on the hammock do you? Try not to tear it off, Trashmouth.”

Only her one liners are good enough to match his.

They don’t tell him exactly why they’re there, but they swear nothing weird is going on. Bev isn’t ready for all that teenage junk, and neither is Eddie. He’s not really interested in girls at all. (”Er- yet, I guess,” he adds, almost as an afterthought).

Bev offers Eddie a cigarette to give Richie, “five minutes alone with Miss January” and that’s his first time smoking. He choked of course, but he does try it a couple more times before deciding he hates it. The nicotine gives him a headache, anyways. So Richie comes out and invites them to his house, and Maggie catches them sneaking in. She sees how dirty and frightened Richie’s friends are, and she always KNEW something was wrong with that Alvin Marsh, and everyone knows Sonia Kaspbrak is a bigoted, holier-than-thou nutcase...

and let’s just say Maggie Tozier was kind of a bad girl in high school. She remembers what it’s like. Sneaking out, picking locks, stealing a beer or two. Of course she’s still Richie’s mother, so he’s “in big trouble, mister.”

But his friends? While she “doesn’t approve,” they always have room here for Eddie and Bev. She makes them up little beds, offers them a drink, and is the mother neither of them had the pleasure of knowing. And that’s when they start gravitating towards Richie’s house.

Not too long later, he asks what they were doing in the clubhouse alone, at THAT hour. It’s hard, because Eddie and Bev haven’t even said it to each other. They just knew.

Then Eddie does something weird. He starts crying.

He hates crying.

It makes him uncomfortable, because it’s what his mother uses to guilt trip him. Crying never means someone’s sad. It means you did something wrong, and the only way you can make it right is by doing what they want, even if you hate it. Even if it’s bad for you.

Even if it makes you cry too.

So he hates crying, he never lets himself, because he doesn’t want anyone to feel as bad as he does. Especially not his friends.

Richie and Bev FULLY do not care though. They’re immediately there to comfort him, and it feels entirely different from what he’s used to with his mother. Strangely enough, it’s his crying that makes Beverly blurt out the truth. All the horrible things her father has done and said, all the ways he’s made her feel disgusting. All the ways he used to make her happy, because he was still her father. She talks about the anger, and the guilt, and the hate, and all the other ugly feelings trapped inside. Eddie wipes his nose and nods, because it’s the same for him.

Richie doesn’t cry about it until later. After he walks them home. More than anything, he doesn’t wanna leave them. Not in those houses. Not where they’re alone and unprotected. He gets home and Maggie greets him, but he runs into her arms and sobs. He really does love her and Went; they’re the best parents in this whole damn town - next to Mike’s.

After that though, Richie makes sure to always have room for Eddie and Bev at his place. He cleans up the spare room the Tozier’s have been using for storage, and he asks if they can get bunk beds. Or at least a big guest bed for him and Eddie to share, and Bev can have his room. Maggie and Went are proud of him; their boy has the biggest heart, and only a handful of close friends will really know.

That’s the beginning of it all though. Bev starts leaving nail polishes in the guest room, because really it’s not a guest room as much as it is Bev and Eddie’s shared room. Maggie and Went suddenly have another son, and a daughter. Bev always wanted a mother, and Maggie always wanted a daughter. Richie’s a little baffled when she takes Bev out shopping, but he has no complaints. As long as they bring back something for dinner.

Maggie inherits a sewing machine from her grandmother when Gran Tozier passes, and she lets Beverly use it in the guest room. She even starts buying spare fabrics she thinks Beverly might like.

Went meanwhile is teaching Eddie about how to fix a car, because he bought Richie a beaten up truck for his birthday. Richie knows how to change the tires, but he’s not interested enough to REALLY learn everything. Eddie however, watches Went in awe. He asks questions, gets his hands dirty, and he LOVES it. He starts to care less and less when Sonia talks at him about filth and potential dangers. He’s very, “whatever, Ma.”

Richie’s happy to see them both thriving in his house. It’s not like he’s given the shaft; he has his parents 24/7 and they’re constantly there for every talent show, every small bowling alley gig, and they’re taking pictures at every “first day on the job” even if he’s had 20.

All of them get little jobs to start saving up - they want an apartment somewhere far from Derry once they graduate. Of course, their funds are often spent elsewhere. Sneaking a twenty to the already graduated and legal Victor Criss so he can buy them booze, snagging scalped tickets to a Nirvana concert in Boston, getting the truck back when it’s ultimately towed.

And of course they’re still incredibly close with the other losers, but there’s something special about the three of them together. Bev does both of their nails, Eddie helps to perfect her eyeliner, because he can draw wings the best, and Richie makes himself the protector. He loves them both so much, and he’s finally able to believe that they both love and need him.

[thetokenmuggle]

The Sleepover Part 2

follows this story (x)

Includes : M, Jane,Tyler Lee, Daniel Choi,  Astrid Lee, Oliver Lee Choi, Milo Young, Charlie Young and Ella Yang

“Has everyone finished their desserts?” Jane asked as she placed the freshly cleaned plates back in the cupboard. She looked over at the table to see Astrid struggling to finish her second piece of cake, Ella telling Oliver how Mark was teaching her how to play guitar, Milo was looking towards the living room practically jumping in his seat ready to show off the super cool blanket fort he made with M earlier on today to everyone and Charlie was letting M wipe her face because it was somehow covered in chocolate sauce. Jane couldn’t stop the smile from spreading on her face, the whole scene was adorably perfect. 

“Yes Mummy” and “I have and so has Oli,” were called out by Milo and Ella respectively. Jane smiled at the pair waving her wand at their bowls as they floated into the sink to clean. 

“I am almost,” Astrid called out waving her spoon around, Jane winced as some melted ice cream dripped off her spoon onto her floor. It would be easy to clean up but Jane would be lying if she wasn’t contemplating sending a cleaning bill to Sungjae.

“Sweetie you don’t have to eat all your cake tonight,” Jane said to her. “We can always save it for you to take home tomorrow,” Jane offered. 

“Okay , oh and can I get a piece for Mummy, Daddy and Minjae as well?” she said, clapping happily. “Oh and maybe some cupcakes as well,” she said, batting her eyelids at M. “Please Uncle M?” she said with a toothy grin. Jane sighed, her poor husband. 

“I guess you could but you know Minjae won’t be able to eat them right?” M said standing up sufficiently happy with Charlie’s face. “

“You said I need to help Minjae grow so he should learn to eat cupcakes instead of that yucky baby food Mummy keeps feeding him,” Astrid huffed. Jane smirked if she had to guess Astrid’s interest was more in feeding her sweet addiction then helping Minjae out. 

“Oh can i get a cupcake for my dad too?” Ella asked suddenly. “He is going on tour again tomorrow,” Ella pouted, Oli muttered an again with an adorable frown on his face. . 

“Can Oli get some cupcakes to?” He asked softly. “My daddies aren’t going anywhere, or Oli doesn’t think they are,” he said he demeanour completely changed causing M and Jane too look at each other. The normal sweet boy had his fist clenched and eyes narrowed. “But Oli is sure they aren’t,” he said reverting back to normal. “But it would be mean if they don’t get any as well,” he said nodding. 

“Okay, hang on,” Jane said, stopping these kids from turning M into some cupcake slave. “How about this, I will wrap the cake up for Astrid and tomorrow M and I will help you all make cupcakes to take home,” Jane said. 

“Even us?” Milo asked pointing towards himself and Charlie.

“Especially you two,” M said ruffling Milo’s hair causing his son to try and dodge him erupting into giggles as he did so. “But for now you all need to get ready for our movie night,” M said. “After all we didn’t build the blanket fort for nothing right?” he said as Milo jumped out of his seat. 

“No no,” Jane said, stopping her son before he raced into the living room. “First we get our pajamas on and brush our teeth,” she said as Milo pouted. “So if we are all finished girls with me and boys follow M,” Jane said as a chorus of children jumped off their seats. Milo was already out of the room racing up the stairs. Jane laughed watching after him.

“And I think that is our cue,” M said laughing. “Come on everyone,” he said. “Lets get changed,” he said. 

“Didn't Jane say that the girls had to go with her?” Ella asked her head tilted to the side as she look up at M.

“She did but since all the rooms are upstairs I think we might all be able together,” M grinned. “Unless you want Oli and I to go first,”  he joked. The three young girls looked up at M all the three of them shaking their heads.

“No no Uncle M, it’s ladies first -”  Astrid said, nose turned up as she told him this fact. He looked at her incredulously, his eyes darting from Astrid to Jane who was trying not to laugh. “We should go first,” she said looking at Ella, Charlie and finally Jane. “

“So you want to leave me and Oli down here by ourselves, I see how it is,” M sniffed. “After i made you all those cupcakes,” he faked a sob, being shoved by Jane ever so slightly. 

“Hmm Oli can come with us,” Astrid said, lacing her hands in his. M had to stop himself from just imagining what would have happened if Sungjae and/or Daniel were here. “Aunty Jane can decide on Uncle M,” she shrugged and like that the four remaining children had raced upstairs. 

“Hmmm i can decide what to do with you?” Jane smirked, eyes raking over M’s body. “I always knew I was Astrid’s favourite,” she said with a grin. 

“Don’t you already do what you want with me?” M asked, raising an eyebrow. “And you are only her favourite right now because you let her do your hair,” he huffed. “If i had luscious long blonde hair i’d be her favourite to,” M said flipping his non-existent hair over his shoulder.

“I do and don’t you forget it,” Jane said with a wink. “And keep telling yourself that hun,” she said with a huff.  “Also I do believe we just got ditched by a bunch of toddlers,” Jane said . “Nice to know we are already at that stage,”  she laughed. “Give it a month and Milo and Charlie will be telling us to wait in the car for them because they don’t want us embarrassing them,” she pouted.

“They grow up so fast,”  M joked nodding solemnly, “If it helps,”he sighed, “by time Milo and Charlie are teenagers we’d be used to it, the others not so much,” he smirked. 

“I can already imagine Sungjae in tears when Astrid tells him he is embarrassing her,” Jane said grinning from ears to ears.  M smiled in amusement at the gleeful look on his wife’s face at the idea of his best friend going through. “And with that happy thought lets go help the kids before they come out looking like little pajama frankenstines,” she joked. “Lets go love,” she said, lacing her fingers through M’s and moving up the stairs. 

---

“Mummy why aren’t you in your PJ’s,” Charlie asked lips jutted out in a pout as she looked over at Jane who was still dressed in her every day where. The other girls turned around gathering around the foot of her bed looking at her expectantly. 

“Oh so you want me to wear pajamas,” Jane questioned looking at the hopeful faces of the little trio. “Ah but mummy’s  pajamas aren’t as cute as all of yours,” she said hoping that would be a good enough reason for her to stay dressed. 

“Oh are you like mummy?” Astrid asked, her nose scrunching up as she spoke. Jane was almost afraid to ask Astrid what she was talking about but it turns out she didn’t have to because Astrid was more than willing to share. “All of her pajamas are lackey or silk,” Astrid said, shaking her head. “Very not cute!” she huffed.

“It’s okay mummy, you can wear you not cute pajamas,” Charlie said nodding solemnly. “You are old,” she said. Jane let out an affronted huff, playfully glaring at her daughter. 

“I think someone is just asking to be tickled,” Jane said grinning as Charlie already began to squeal bouncing up and down. 

“Nooooo,” Charlie laughed. “Tickle Astrid instead,” she said, throwing her friend under the bus. 

[jane gets pajamas - probably includes one of m’s shirts or hoodies]

---

“Nice shirt,’ M commented his eyes flickering from setting up the media player over to Jane. Jane winked at him as she sat beside him on the couch, muttering a spell for a throw rug to keep warm. The children were all gathered in Milo’s blanket fort chatting happily amongst themselves.

 “Okay we are all ready,’ He said loud enough to grab the children’s attention, five little heads popping out of the fort almost instantaneously. ‘Does anyone have any movie suggestions?” he asked as a chorus of movie titles flew out of the kids mouths. 

“I heard How To Train Dragons, is everyone happy with that?” M asked.  There were a few grumbles among the children but they all eventually agreed - Astrid stating that they had to watch The Adventures of Henry Hippogriff next though. M laughed promising that they could, Jane side eyed her husband as he knew very well most of these kids couldn’t stay up that long. It was already getting close to Charlie’s bedtime. 

“Mr M?”Mrs M?” Oli called out just as the movie began to load. ‘What time is it?” he asked his head popping out.  

‘It’s almost 8 sweetie,” Jane responded, watching the way the boy's face morphed into a concerned one, his face scrunched up as he mumbled to himself “Is something wrong?” 

“No,” Oli squeaked, burying his head into his toy dragon.

“He is worried that if he doesn’t say goodnight to his Appa and Daddy that they won’t go to sleep,” Astrid poked her head. ‘I told him he was being silly that his Appa and Daddy want special Mummy and Daddy time…. Well Appa and Daddy time i guess,” Astrid pouted as she thought that sentence through. Jane rolled her eyes as M suddenly started coughing beside her. One day soon Jane was going to have a talk with Minah and Sungjae about what Astrid should and should not know.

“Special Daddy and Appa time without Oli?” Oli repeated a frown making its way onto his face. Jane had to stop herself from cooing at how cute he was. 

‘It’s not like that,” Ella said softly patting Oli on the back in attempt to comfort him. “M? Jane? Could Oli maybe call his dad’s?” she asked turning to face M and Jane. “So he can say goodnight and see how much they miss him?’ she asked. 

“Ofcourse, come up here Oliver,” Jane sliding across and tapping the space beside her. Oli timidly climbed watching in fascination as Jane pulled out her phone. M had paused the movie so Oli could make his call undisturbed. Jane dialled the number, praying that Tyler would be decent. 

“Jane?” Tyler’s face showed up on her phone, she let out sigh grateful that he seemed to be semi decent, his shirt was barely done up but she knew it could have been worse, though the oof and disappearing figure didn’t fill her with much joy.. “What do you-  Oh my god it’s Oli? Is he okay? I swear to god if anything has happened to him -” he began to rant, eyes narrowed and lips turned into a vicious scowl.

“Daddy!” Oli called out happily. Instantaneously Tyler’s face softened, a big grin made it’s way onto his face. Jane handed the phone to Oli making sure he was holding right so that Tyler could see him. “Daddy! Can you see me?” Oli asked, smiling at the phone and waving with his free hand. “Gyo is here to,” he said picking up his toy and showing it off.

“I can see both of you,’ Tyler said softly. Jane tried not to pull a face, Tyler being soft for anything felt unnatural. ‘I am very happy to see you but why did Jane call me? Is everything okay?” he asked concern lacing his tone. Jane looked over at M who just shook his head, why did these people think their kids would be anything but spectacular under the care?

“Everything is okay,” Oli said grinning. “Oli has had lots of fun,” he added making Jane nod ,damn straight he had fun. “Oli has to goodnight to Daddy and Appa otherwise they won’t sleep,” Oli said shaking his head. “Silly daddy, it’s almost bedtime,” he said as if it is the most obvious thing in the world. “Where is Appa?” 

“Appa?” Tyler questioned loudly, eyes darting some where offscreen. “Oh he is just in the shower,” Tyler said pointedly. Jane scoffed, Astrid was right it was special ‘Appa and Daddy time’ after all. “Look here he is now,” Tyler said turning the phone to find Daniel who was dressed in a dressing gown, hair mused up and an obnoxiously red mark on his neck. 

“Appa!” Oli exclaimed happily. 

“Is that my little prince?” Daniel asked taking the phone out of Tyler’s hand. “Hello baby are you having fun with Jane and M?” he asked sitting down.  Jane while not still not impressed with his disheveled state she was grateful he didn’t automatically assume there was an issue though that might have been because he was listening on the previous conversation. 

“Yes,” Oli said nodding. “We are going to make cupcakes tomorrow, Oli is going to bring you and daddy some,” he grinned. 

“Oh yummy,” Daniel grinned. “I bet your cupcakes are going taste the yummiest,” he said. 

“Naturally,” Tyler chimed. “Anyway,” Tyler said grabbing his phone back holding his arm so they could both been seen. “Oli called to say goodnight to us because he was worried that if he didn’t we would forget to sleep,” Tyler said as Daniel nodded solemnly. 

“That is very serious,” he said. “Thank goodness Oli called otherwise we wouldn’t have gone to sleep and then we’d be all tired and grumpy,” he said. 

“Hi Uncle Ty, Hi Uncle Niel,’ Ella yelled out. Jane had to cover her mouth at the way Daniel twitched when he heard her voice.  “Can i say goodnight as well?” she asked climbing up onto the couch not waiting for an answer inspiring the rest of the kid squad following suit and in an instant there  were five children gathered around her phone which Astrid had said she can hold. 

“Oh look… Ella,” he said with a grimace. 

“And Milo, Charlie and Astrid,” Oli said excitedly, proudly showing off his friends. 

“Hi Mr Oli’s dad and Mr Oli’s Appa,” Astrid said. “Are you having special mummy and daddy time?” she asked bluntly causing both M and Jane to choke. This wasn’t on them, this was on Minah and Sungjae. “I mean appa and daddy time? Does that mean Oli is finally going to get a brother or sister?” she asked. 

“Astrid sweetie,” Jane said, “I think Oli wanted to say goodnight to his dad’s,” she said steering the conversation back to where it should be. 

“Yes,” Oli nodded. “Goodnight Appa, Oli loves you loads,” he said sweetly before blowing a kiss to Daniel. “Goodnight Daddy, Oli loves you loads,” he said repeating the gesture. A chorus of goodnights followed, Jane had to grin at Charlie ‘Goodnight Other Mr Lee’s’  knowing for a fact Tyler and Daniel wouldn’t like that. 

“Goodnight baby, you have fun tonight and be good,” Tyler said to Oli. “We’ll see you tomorrow,” he said before hanging up. 

“All done, everyone ready for the movie now?” M asked from his side of the couch. The kids all nodded jumping back down and crawling into the fort. 

----

An hour later and almost everyone had fallen asleep, Astrid, Oli and Charlie were already fast asleep, Charlie curled up in M’s arm while Astrid and Oli cuddled up in the lounge. Ella was barely keeping her eyes open and Milo was trying to prove he was a big boy but she knew all too well that he was fighting a losing battle against the sleep 

“Should I take this three to bed?” M whispered as Charlie nuzzled into his chest.

“You think you can manage?” she asked, raising an eyebrow, M was strong but carrying three sleeping children all at once might have been tricky for him. 

“Hmm,” M hummed. “I’ll take Charlie up first and come back for those two,” he said standing up shifting Charlie to his other arm before making his way upstairs. 

“Ella, Milo, you two ready for bed?” Jane asked softly as Ella lifted her head nodding, eyes closing as she did so.  Milo nodded in agreement. “Do you think you can walk upstairs on your own or would you like to be carried?” she asked. 

“I can walk,” Ella yawned. “Maybe you can make sure i don’t get lost,” she murmured as M came down the stairs. “Goodnight Mr M,” Ella said to him. “I have to go to sleep, I got to be up early tomorrow,” she said as Jane stood up with her. 

“Milo you ready?” M asked picking up both Oli and Astrid. Milo stood up rubbing at his eyes. “Do you want a piggyback?” he offered and Milo nodded groggily moving to M, M bent down careful not to disturb the two younger ones as Milo climbed up onto his back. 

Putting the children to bed was easy, they either stayed asleep or fell asleep as soon their heads hit their pillows. “Goodnight,” Jane whispered as M hugged her from behind resting his chin on her shoulder. 

“And that is why we are the gold standard when it comes to parents,” he said as Jane grinned flicking his nose. “Hey,” he huffed .

“So it’s getting late it might even be nine thirty now,” she laughed. “As much as i wish i could go to bed right now or atleast cuddle up and watch a movie with you i have some work to do for the guys tour,” she sighed. “I am sorry,” she pouted 

“Don’t be,” M said straightening up and pressing a kiss to Jane’s forehead. “Not only are you super mum you are super manager, in this house we love a multi tasking queen,” he joked. “But i’ll get the coffee ready, “ he said. “Your usual Madame?” he asked. 

“Always,” she grinned. 

[squirrel-moose-winchester]

Idjit

Title: Idjit

Pairing: Dean x Reader AU

Square Filled: Bobby Singer

Word Count: 2246

Summary: Bobby’s only daughter is finally going on her first date… with a boy named Dean Winchester…

Warnings: Fluff, A Bit of Crack, Extra Protective Dad, Nervous/Scared Dean.

Written for: @spndeanbingo​

A/N: I don’t know what else to say other than I love Bobby Singer. This is my take on how Bobby would react if his daughter went out on a date. lol. Please tell me what you thought! Feedback is very important :) Also, reblog and share this with your friends! I would really appreciate it! Thank you guys! Happy reading!! xx

It was Friday afternoon and Bobby was sitting at the kitchen table sorting through all the bills and junk mail, as well as all the paper work for the auto shop, when his daughter came home from school. He immediately noticed the large smile on her face and every hop in her step, and as much as he loved seeing his little girl happy, he couldn’t help let his curiosity take over.

“Hey Darlin’, how was school?” He asked as she bee-lined it to the fridge, grabbing the container of apple juice and taking two cups with her before sitting at the table, planting herself in the opposite seat.

“Dad…” she grinned, “it was the best day ever!” she admitted, causing Bobby to smile.

“Yeah? What happened?” He questioned further.

“There’s this boy…” she giggled, and Bobby’s smile instantly washed away, bills and paper work now long forgotten. “…and well… he asked me out on a date tomorrow night!” Bobby tried to keep his composure, definitely against the fact that his daughter was even thinking about boys and dating. Despite the inevitability, he’d hoped that she would never grow up, but here she was…

“A date huh?” He didn’t sound too happy, and Y/N picked up on it really quick.

“Dad, is that okay? I already told him yes, and I really like him,” she pleaded. “He’s really nice, funny, smart, and really cute! His name is Dean Winchester! You’ll like him Dad, I know you will. Please can I go?” She was looking up at him with hopeful puppy-dog eyes and hands clasped together. In that moment, he could see her mother, his wife, in her.

Singer girls, what was it about them that made him so weak? Oh right, he loved them to bits and pieces.

“Oh, Sweetheart. I don’t know… you’re only seventeen. What’s the rush? Can’t you start dating when you’re… I don’t know… forty?”

She laughed at his response. “Forty? Dad, if you want to have grandkids, I can’t wait until I’m forty! Silly.”

Grandkids? What the hell was she going off about grandkids? Was this boy influencing her and forcing her to have sex?

“What’s this talk about grandkids? He ain’t forcin’ ya to do anything you don’t want to do, is he? You ain’t doing… it, are you?”

“Dad! No!” She looked at him completely mortified. “Dad, I’ve never ever… can we just… can we not talk about that? I already have been given that speech in Health class. That was awkward enough, I don’t need to hear it from you too! I was just saying that in the future, if you wanted grandkids, I can’t wait till I’m forty because I’ll probably going through menopause—”

“Alright, alright! I know what happens when you females get older. You don’t have to give me the lesson,” Bobby groaned.

Y/N was smiling back at him again. “So can I? Please Dad. He’s very respectful. His Mom raised him a good boy, I promise.”

“Balls,” he groaned. “Fine, but I get to meet him first!” He told her sternly, but she didn’t even pay much attention to the seriousness of his tone. His approval was enough to have her giggling and squealing. She jumped out of her seat and gave him a big hug, and his heart melted.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She sang, planting a kiss on his cheek.

Bobby couldn’t help but smile at her affection. For a single father, he did a pretty darn good job at raising a child. He was proud and he knew that if that Dean boy tried anything funny, he could trust her to knock him down a few pegs.

In celebration, Y/N poured two cups of apple juice, handing one over to your dad. “Cheers Dad!” You laughed.

“Oh, Sweetheart, I’m going to need something stronger than this,” he sighed, not at all prepared for his little girl to go on her first date. She was growing up too fast. Wasn’t it a rule that dating shouldn’t happen until kids were in their twenties?

Later in the evening, after Y/N retreated back into her room, Bobby pulled out his laptop, logging into the Facebook account she had created for him. It was pretty simple to navigate, and he typed Dean Winchester into the search bar provided.

A profile of a boy named Dean Winchester popped up at the very top, the little information given said that he went to the same high school and his daughter. Clicking on his picture to further his research on the teenaged boy, he noticed that he looked to be a pretty normal kid. He had no tattoos, had a lot of pictures with his family and friends, liked to work on – what Bobby was going to assume was – his car, and the boy played football, baseball, and other various sports.

Not wanting to admit it, Dean seemed like a good kid.

The next day, although his mind was put to ease, even just a little, he still dreaded the moment that Dean Winchester was going to show up at his door step. He may be a good boy, but he was still trying to take his little girl away from him. And if he ever breaks her heart, Bobby was making promises to himself that he was going to string that boy from his d—

“Dad! What do you think about this dress?” His thoughts were interrupted when Y/N came barreling down the stairs in a while floral dress.

“Don’t you think that’s a bit short?” He asked, disapproving of the length of the outfit. “Why don’t you wear jeans and a jacket?”

“Dad! It’s too hot for that!” She pouted, running back up stairs in search for another outfit.

Y/N returned downstairs wearing a white shirt tucked into a pair of shorts, but your Bobby immediately turned it down. The shorts were far too short. He couldn’t even believe that you owned something so revealing. Her ass cheeks were practically jutting out of the leg holes.

She came down with another outfit but he said it was too tight. “How can you even breath in that thing?” Y/N stared at him, her eyes piercing through his very being. When he started to become uncomfortable under her heated stare, she whipped around and stormed up the stairs once again.

The day grew older and soon there was a knock at the door. Bobby made his way over, already aware of who it was. He had been staring out the window waiting for this guy to show up… in his black Chevy.

When Bobby opened the door, he was greeted with a very nervous looking boy. “Uh, hi Sir. I’m… Dean Winchester. I’m here to pick up Y/N for our… uh… for our—”

“Yeah, I know what ya here for,” Bobby interrupted, moving away from the door but leaving it open. It was Bobby’s way of letting Dean come in.

Dean entered the house, closing the door behind him. “You got a cool yard,” Dean smiled, trying to make conversation as Bobby sat at his desk, picking up his pistol and cleaning it in front of the young man in his house. “You got… uh… a lot of car parts worth salvaging.”

“You like cars boy?” Bobby questioned, picking up his pistol, using an old rag to clean it. Bobby laughed internally when he saw the fear in Dean’s eyes when he noticed the gun.

“Uh… y-yes sir. I do.”

“I thought so. Don’t see much kids your age driving that kind of car.”

“M-my old man gave it to me for my eighteenth birthday,” Dean admitted, forest-green eyes still transfixed on the weapon that could ultimately end his life.

“Looks like a lot of work.”

“Uh, yeah...” Dean tore his gaze of the gun and tried to keep them on Bobby, wanting the older man to know that he wasn’t scared, even though he was. “It is a lot of work, but I… um… I love it. Keeps me busy and she’s—” Dean chuckled bashfully, “she’s kind of my baby, so I don’t mind taking the time to uh… fix her up now and then.”

“Your daddy helps you?” Bobby asked.

“Nah. He taught me everything I know,” Dean smiled, quickly becoming a little more comfortable now that he was talking about something he was proud of, “so I can pretty much take care of her on my own.”

“You know…” Bobby started, “You can tell a man by the way he takes care of his car. And as much as I hate to admit it, that car out there is a real beauty. So I’ve got some high expectations. You better take care of my baby, ya hear? That girl is all I’ve got left. You break her heart and I might have to break you. Got it?” Bobby pointed his empty gun at the teenager.

“Y-yes s-sir!” Dean gulped, his nerves going on overdrive.

“Good.” Bobby stared at Dean for a few seconds before motioning him to the couch. “Have a seat, son.” Dean did as he was told, not wasting a beat. “Y/N! Dean Winchester is here!” He shouted up at the ceiling, Dean nearly jumping out of his seat.

There was a few loud bangs and crashes from upstairs. Dean flinched at the sound, looking up at the ceiling while Bobby shook his head. He knew his daughter too well. He knew she was fumbling around up there like a nervous wreck, but he couldn’t help but feel a warmth spread inside of him. He recalled his first date with her mother. Karen was so nervous, that she suddenly had butterfingers, even throughout their entire date. Bobby loved it though. He loved the effect he had on her. He was relieved to know that she was just as nervous as he was.

Bobby looked over at the teen who was fidgeting with his fingers on the couch. The boy looked like he was about to pee his pants. “Relax, would ya? You seem like a good kid, and she seems to really like you. Just be yourself. You’re gonna be alright.”

Dean looked up at Bobby surprised. “Really? Does she really like me?” Dean asked, perking up in his seat, a wide smile stretching across his cheeks.

“You really like my daughter don’t you?” Bobby asked, his voice a little calmer.

“Yes! I mean, yes I do, Sir. I’ve wanted to ask her out many times but I was too nervous. I never thought a girl like that would ever consider a guy like me. But I figured, senior year… it was now or never. And I couldn’t live with myself thinking “what if,” You know?” Dean rambled.

Bobby was about to say something when he caught sight of his daughter coming down the stairs. He felt a tug in his heart when he realized that she was wearing his late wife’s favorite yellow dress. And as beautiful as Karen looked in it, his baby girl looked just as beautiful… if not, more.

Bobby’s heart swelled. He remembered the first time he saw Karen in that dress. It was their fifth date, and they he had gone shopping with her after school one day. She saw the dress in the window and couldn’t wait to try it on. Bobby sat on a chair outside the fitting room when she appeared in front of him. Yellow was definitely his favorite color on her.

“You gonna get it?” Bobby asked, while Karen felt the dress in her hands.

“Unfortunately, it’s more than I can afford,” she smiled, not seeming the least bit disappointed, but Bobby could still tell how much she wanted that dress.

While Karen was changing back into her own clothes, he snuck to the rack, checking how much it costs. His eyes nearly popped out of it’s sockets, but he was determined to get that dress for her. So he got a job as a mechanic, and eventually bought her the dress. He would never forget the look on her face.

“W-Wow…” Dean muttered, captivated. “Y-you… uh, wow. You look great,” Dean stood from his seat, rushing over to take her hand and help her down the last couple of steps.

“Thank you,” Y/N smiled widely, and Dean’s cheeks flushed red.

Bobby watched the encounter and as much as he hated to admit it, Dean really was a good kid. They way he looked at his daughter, the way he rushed over to help her, and how damn stupid he looked looking all starry-eyed, let him know that she was in good hands. He only wished Karen was here to witness it.

“Dad, we’re going. I’ll see you later,” she waved, eyes lit up with a smile that literally reached ear to ear.

“I’ll have her home by nine, Sir!” Dean blurted, giving an awkward smile and an even more awkward wave, before he was dragged out the door.

When the door shut behind them, Bobby walked over to the window, watching how Dean did his best to court her properly, fumbling over openine the door and hitting his leg in the process. Bobby didn’t need to hear what Y/N was saying. He could read your lips and see the question in your expression. Dean help up his hands, laughing, most likely assuring her that he was okay.

Bobby shook his head before muttering to himself, “idjit.”

Did you like it? Please reblog/comment/share! Feedback is a writer’s fuel!

Say Something Nice Here!

[ringa-starr]

What You Mean to Me Ch 9

A/N: Hey all you lovely people! Ok so I have a bit of good news and bad news for you guys. The bad news is, I start my college classes again on Monday so I won’t have as much time for writing like I have been. Plus, I’ll be working at the college I go to so I’ll be pretty busy.

The good news is this is my last semester which means I will be graduating in December! Then I plan on taking the rest of the year off and going to the University of Georgia as soon as I can next year to study film so I can become a director!

I’m sorry you all had to wait a while for this chapter. At first writer’s block got to me and then, as soon as I almost finished the chapter, the cable people turned our internet off because we didn’t pay the bill.

But enough of my rambling. I really hope this chapter was worth the wait! You guys are just too too awesome and I love you for it!

Stay excellent, breathtaking, and be excellent to each other.

Love you guys!

-Deidra

In River’s car, Emily was sitting in the backseat next to her brother texting Bill:

Emily slipped her phone back in her pocket just as Murray pulled the car to a stop in front of Ted’s house.

The car barely got to a stop when Barry unbuckled his seat belt and opened the passenger side door.

“Time for me to give that little bastard a piece of my mind”, he growled, clutching the knife handle tight.

“Wait a minute you guys- “Emily started but she knew it was no use as she watched Deidra’s dad ring the doorbell.

The only hope she had left was that Ted’s father, a police officer, would step in and help her.

A few moments later, Ted’s dad came to the door.

“Hi”, he said, folding his arms across his chest. “Can I help you?”

“Yeah…yeah you can help us!” Murray snapped.

“You can tell us where your bastard of a son is- “

“Whoa, whoa, whoa”, Mr. Logan interrupted. “I think you need to watch what you say about my kids. In this house, they’re both innocent until proven guilty.”

Mr. Logan paused, thinking about his words.

“Except maybe Ted”, he considered slowly. “That boy’s almost always doing something.”

“Well, did he mention he got my teenage daughter pregnant?” Murray asked.

Mr. Logan’s eyes went wide as he turned his head to look over his shoulder.

“TED!” he called up the stairs with anger in his voice. “GET DOWN HERE!”

A minute later, the sound of Ted’s footsteps could be heard before he hurried down the stairs, stopping dead in his tracks at the sight of all the angry faces in front of him.

~~

Meanwhile upstairs, Ted’s little brother Deacon was in his room, talking on the phone with one of his friends.

The little boy’s eyes went slightly wide at the sound of his dad’s angry voice, cutting into a conversation the boys were having about trading cards, but Deacon didn’t seem to care as a smirk spread across his face.

“Hold on a sec, dude”, Deacon said to his friend. “My brother’s done something again and it sounds huge this time! I’ve never heard my dad this mad before!”

Deacon held the phone to his chest as he carefully eased himself out of his bedroom and into the hallway, peeking into the living room over the stair railing.

“What’s up, Dad?” Ted asked his father, a goofy grin on his face although he was a nervous wreck on the inside.

“You know damn well what’s up!” Barry yelled angrily. “You got my twin sister pregnant!!”

The look of anger Mr. Logan had on his face remained there as he made eye contact with his oldest son.

“Ted is this true?” he asked, in a firm yet demanding voice.

Ted knew this was no time to mess with his dad’s head like he always did.

Besides, he thought, why would I lie? I feel bad enough.

“Yes”, Ted answered quietly, not making eye contact with anyone. “Yeah it’s true, dad.”

“Why you little…BASTARD!” Murray screamed out in utter rage, starting to lunge at Ted.

Murray was followed by River and Barry not too far behind but the three were held back by Emily and Mr. Logan.

Eyes wide, Deacon covered his free mouth with his hand, yelling of all kinds being heard from downstairs as the little boy quickly and quietly made his way back to his bedroom.

“Wait!” came Ted’s nervous voice from downstairs, the sound faint through Deacon’s closed bedroom door. “Don’t I get to tell my side of the story?”

“Your side of the story!?” Murray demanded. “What kind of side do you have to tell?!”

Deacon couldn’t understand much more of what was said due to the sound of different voices yelling over each other.

“Dude!” Deacon gasped into the phone. “You’re not gonna believe this!”

~~

“Whoa!” Deacon’s friend Peter gasped, eyes growing wide. “No way!”

From out in the hall, Peter’s older sister Stephanie had just come out the bathroom after a shower with only a towel wrapped around her slim body and hair, heading towards her bedroom when she heard a bit of her little brother’s conversation.

“Your brother got a girl pregnant?!” Peter repeated.

That immediately sparked Stephanie’s interest, causing her to carefully press her ear against the large Toy Story poster on her little brother’s bedroom door.

Stephanie was best friends with Tiffany, the most popular girl at San Dimas High thus making Stephanie ‘Vice President’ of the school according to her clique of friends.

This meant that anything Stephanie said was to be considered law if given approval by Tiffany.

Stephanie loved being in her best friend’s good graces and she knew this little piece of information would make her ecstatic.

Keeping that bit of information in mind, Stephanie listened to the rest of her brother’s conversation, smiling widely as soon as he hung up the phone.

Peter was sitting on his carpeted bedroom floor when Stephanie opened his bedroom door, now dressed in one of her pajama sets with a sweet smile on her face.

“Hey, Petey”, she said, her voice as sweet as honey. “Whatcha doin’?”

“Watching the Super Mario Brothers Super Show”, Peter replied, not taking his eyes off his small tv.

Stephanie nodded her head and sat down on the edge of her brother’s bed.

“Cool”, she replied, although she couldn’t care less about what her little brother was doing.

Stephanie folded one of her legs over the other, waiting for the show her brother was watching to go to commercial before saying “So Petey...who was that on the phone, sweetie?”

“Deacon”, Peter replied, turning around so he was looking at his sister.

The name perked Stephanie’s interest even more, the smile on her face getting bigger.

“Deacon?” she asked. “Deacon Logan?”

Peter nodded his head, a cute smile on his face.

“Yeah”, he answered. “Why?”

“He has an older brother named Ted, right?” Stephanie asked, feeling like a snake in the grass.

Peter’s smile faded a little, suspicion rushing over him.

“Y-Yes”, the boy said slowly.

Stephanie leaned back a little, trying to control her excitement.

“And did Deacon say Ted got a girl pregnant?” Stephanie asked, her excited smile now a normal frown.

Peter furrowed his eyebrows a little, sensing even more that something strange was going on.

“Hey”, the little boy said slowly, “why do you wanna know anyway? And besides, I don’t think Deacon would want me to tell you.”

Stephanie grinned as she slowly stood up and crossed her arms behind her back, slowly pacing her brother’s room.

She knew how to get him to talk.

“Ohhhkay”, the teenage girl said slowly, looking up at the ceiling then back at Peter’s determined look, his arms folded across his chest, and his lips formed in a cute little pout. “I guess I’ll just have to give that…big, delicious bag of red licorice I have in the kitchen to someone else.”

At the word ‘licorice’, Peter’s eyes grew wide, a big smile forming on his face.

“Licorice?” Peter asked, eyes shining as he started to drool just thinking of his favorite candy.

“Mmhmm”, Stephanie hummed, eyes narrowed. “One of those giant Halloween sized bags.”

She leaned down until she her face was near her little brother’s.

“All for you, sweetheart”, Stephanie cooed, kissing Peter’s cheek before leaning back up again.

“IF!” the teenage girl added so suddenly Peter jumped out of his skin. “You tell me the name of the girl Ted Logan got pregnant.”

Sweat started forming on Peter’s forehead as he clasped his hands together, unsure of what to do.

He loved licorice a lot, but he didn’t want to break his best friend’s trust either.

Stephanie narrowed her eyes and smirked, watching as her little brother squirmed in his seat, listening as whimpering noises came from him.

“Well, while you’re deciding”, she told him, “I’ll be right back.”

Stephanie giggled to herself as she walked down the stairs and into the kitchen, grabbing the extra-large bag of red licorice from the cabinet.

Opening it as she climbed the stairs again, Stephanie mischievously laughed as she took a piece of licorice out of the bag, putting an end of it in her mouth.

She had Peter right where she wanted him.

~~

Peter forgot all about the Super Mario Brothers Super Show the second he layed eyes on the big bag of licorice Stephanie had in her hands when she came back in his room.

His sister couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of how big her brother’s eyes were getting as he stuck his tongue out like an excited puppy dog.

“Gimmie, gimmie, gimmie!” Peter cried excitedly as he scrambled to his feet.

“Ah-ah-ah”, Stephanie tisked as she held the bag out of Peter’s reach, her eyes narrowed again as she lowered her face to his. “The information first then the candy.”

“Oh….oohhhh!” Peter whined, looking back and forth between his sister and the bag of candy.

Finally, Peter couldn’t take it anymore.

“Her name’s Deidra Goldberg!” he exclaimed; eyes now solely focused on the candy.

A sinister smirk on her lips, Stephanie dropped the bag where she stood before picking up the phone from her brother’s floor.

“Pleasure doing business with you, squirt”, Stephanie told her little brother from the doorway of his bedroom.

“Ooh this is gonna be sweet!” she mumbled mischievously to herself as she went back to her room, punching in Tiffany’s phone number.

“Not as sweet as this licorice”, Peter said after he dumped the whole bag on his floor, scooping some of it up in his arms.

“It’s mine!” Peter cried mischievously as well, laughing to himself. “Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine!”

~~

Back at the Logan’s, Deacon was back watching the madness downstairs from the upstairs hall, gripping the stair rails in his hands as he enjoyed the sight before him.

The madness in the living room was only stopped at a halt when the knife Barry was holding slashed across Mr. Logan’s arm, the police officer preventing his son from being stabbed in the chest.

Everyone froze in their place as they watched Mr. Logan grit his teeth together to keep from screaming out in pain before grabbing Barry’s wrists and jerking them behind his back, slamming the teenager onto the floor.

“H-Hey!” Murray cried. “What do you think you’re doing to my son!?”

Everyone in the room’s eyes went as big as plates at the sight of the San Dimas police badge Mr. Logan quickly pulled out from the belt of his jeans, knowing their reign of terror on Ted was over.

It was so quiet in that house you could hear a pen drop.

Mr. Logan then pulled out a pair of shiny handcuffs from the very back of his jeans.

“You’re under arrest for the assaulting a police officer!” Mr. Logan cried as he snapped the handcuffs on Barry’s wrists, before pulling the teenager to his feet. “Anything you say can and will be held against you in a court of law…”

Mr. Logan continued reading Barry his rights as he led him outside where his officer car sat in the driveway, everyone else following him.

“This is ridiculous!” Murray cried as he watched his son get placed in the back of the cop car. “He was only defending his sister-“

“But he also assaulted an officer of the law”, Mr. Logan pointed out to Deidra’s father quickly, trying to keep his cool.

His voice still sounding firm with a touch of anger.

“Yeah!” Ted cried happily, a wide smile on his face. “You tell him Dad!”

Mr. Logan snapped his head up at his son as quick as lightning, a look of fury on his face.

“I’ll deal with you later!” Ted’s father told him lividly. “What in the hell were you thinking, Ted?!”

Ted’s cheery smile faded into a nervous frown as he played with his hands.

“I don’t know, Dad!” he admitted. “She-“

He paused slightly.

“She told me she loved me”, Ted continued quietly, “a-and I guess it just happened.”

“Lov- “Mr. Logan cut himself off as he turned away from his son, taking a deep breath. “Son, you’re seventeen years old! You don’t know what love is!”

“Instead of teaching him what love is”, Murray retorted. “You need to teach him how to keep his thing in his pants!”

River, Adam, and Emily’s eyes went as big as plates, their mouths forming a small ‘o’ shape and eyebrows raised at Deidra’s dad’s remark.

“Well, maybe you outta keep that little whore of yours on a leash!” Mr. Logan snapped back.

“Dad!” Ted exclaimed angrily, feeling his blood boil.

Murray felt his own blood boiling, his heart pounding in his chest, teeth gritted so tight in anger he thought they would break.

Sure, he might have called Deidra a whore earlier, but he regretted it the second the word left his lips.

Now someone else was doing it?!

Murray ran towards the officer, wrapping his hands tightly around Mr. Logan’s throat, both men falling to the ground.

Mr. Logan struggled against the bigger man’s hold, struggling to retrieve something out of his belt holder.

Finally, Ted’s father found was he was looking for, using pepper spray in Murray’s eyes, causing the man to cry out in pain and release his hold.

Still crying out in pain, Murray rolled around on the grass, both hands covering his burnt eyes until he felt someone jerk his wrists behind his back one at a time before yanking him to his feet.

Mr. Goldberg barely knew what was happening his eyes were burning so bad as Mr. Logan read him his rights before shoving him in his police car beside Barry.

Mr. Logan opened the driver’s side door and started to get in, only to stop and give Ted a look.

“You and I are gonna talk when I get back”, he informed his older son before getting in the driver’s seat and heading down the driveway.

Once Mr. Logan’s patrol car had been out of sight for a few moments, Ted ran a hand through his hair and let out a loud sigh, no one knowing what to do or say.

Finally, River turned and looked at his sister. “Why don’t you take Adam home?” he suggested. “I’m going to stay for a little bit and talk to Ted.”

Emily smiled, glad to see her brother had calmed down a little and was now using his head.

River smiled back as his little sister gave him a hug before kissing his cheek and leading Adam to River’s car.

When his sister was gone, River led Ted in the house, Ted sitting on the couch with a hand to his forehead.

“Hey, you mind if I get some water or something?” River asked as he walked into the kitchen.

“Go ahead, Dude”, Ted replied. “In fact, could you bring me some too…and some Advil?”

River nodded, getting two glasses out of the cabinet.

River walked back in the living room a few minutes later, handing Ted a glass of water and a couple Advil’s before sitting down in the lounge chair across from him.

Ted downed the Advil and a couple drinks of his water almost instantly.

“You ok?” River asked as he watched the teen in front of him.

“Dude, do I look okay to you?” Ted snapped, setting his glass on the table between them.

River slightly shrugged.

“I mean, I just got damn near stabbed by the brother of the girl I love, and I don’t even know why!” Ted continued

River’s eyes slowly widened, his anger boiling inside him again.

“You don’t even know why?” River repeated. “You don’t even know why?!”

“Yeah I don’t know!” Ted shot back although he knew exactly why.

River let out a loud, frustrated sigh, facepalming himself before looking back up at Ted.

“Could it be”, River slowly said, trying to control his anger, “that the reason you almost got stabbed is because Deidra told her family you got her pregnant…or the fact that you denied your own child?”

River’s voice got a little louder with each passing word and by now, Ted’s eyes were wide, his face slightly pale.

Breathing heavily, River reached for his glass over water, taking a long drink before putting it back on the table in front of him.

‘Just keep calm’, River thought to himself. ‘Remain calm.’

“Or could it possibly be”, the teen continued as he got to his feet, beginning to pace around Ted’s living room, “that maybe just maybe you rejected everything she confessed to you-“

“Hey, hey, hey, hey!” Ted cried out interrupting River, his voice defensive. “Hold on a sec, dude! How do you know what Deidra told me? She could have told me anything for all you know!”

River stopped pacing only long enough to make eye contact with Ted for a moment or two, his big brother instinct over Deidra taking over again.

“I heard Emily on the phone with Deidra earlier tonight”, River informed Ted in a low, frustrated voice. “It’s not like she called me right after she got home.”

“Well”, Ted said after taking a deep sigh, “she could have told Emily anything. I mean-“

“DUDE!” River yelled, fire in his eyes, his heart filled and pounding with fury. “SHE DIDN’T LIE! OKAY? SHE TOLD EMILY EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED!”

River took several shaking deep breaths before sitting down beside Ted on the couch to calm down a little.

“And you know that, don’t you?” River finally asked softly, his voice a bit hoarse from yelling.

Ted said nothing as he looked into River’s blue eyes before hanging his head and nodding.

River sighed again, starting to feel a bit of sympathy for Ted.

He didn’t need words to know that Ted was scared.

“The thing is, Ted”, River said softly as he sat beside the other teen on the couch, running a hand through his hair, “is that Deidra loves and cares about you…and yes, as hard as it is to say, she’s pregnant with your baby.”

Ted slowly looked up and made eye contact with River again.

“She told me she loved me”, Ted admitted in a quiet voice as he thought back to the night of Bill’s party.

He pursed his lips together before continuing.

“But I didn’t say it back.”

River could have sworn he saw tears well up in Ted’s dark brown eyes.

“So instead…we slept together. An-“ Ted quickly wiped the tears from his eyes with the back of his hand. “And when she told me she was pregnant…God she looked so scared.”

“When she told me”, he went on. “It was like all of my biggest fears in life rolled into one and just hit me like a ton of bricks.”

He let his tears fall freely now.

“And what did I do?” he cried. “Instead of taking her and holding her, comforting her, t-telling her it’ll be ok and making her feel better-“

Ted cut himself off, rubbing his eyes with his hand.

“I make her feel worse”, he finally continued through his tears. “My fear spoke for me and I-I…”

“I told her things I didn’t mean!” Ted cried out through a sob, his hand shielding his face, head slightly down, and his eyes closed. “I even told her we were nothing when I want us to be something!”

All River could do was sit beside Ted and listen, his handsome face softening with understanding.

Ted slightly jumped when River leaned over and wrapped a comforting arm around his shoulder.

“Go tell her, Ted”, River advised softly, gently rubbing his friend’s shoulder to comfort him. “Tell her how you really feel.”

“I can’t”, Ted said softly in a tearful voice. “She won’t listen to me.”

Ted slowly leaned his pounding head up and made eye contact with River.

As if communicating through eye contact, River slowly shook his head.

“Sorry, man”, he said. “It won’t mean near as much coming from me. You have to be the one to tell her.”

“She probably hates me”, Ted admitted, wiping his eyes with the few tissues River had given him. “She probably wants nothing to do with me.”

“She’s just really hurt right now”, River told him. “Give her time she’ll come around.”

~~

Meanwhile back at the Goldberg’s, Deidra, Beverly, and Lainey were sitting around the living room coffee table playing a game of Clue when the door opened and Adam walked in, getting the girls’ attention.

“Oh, man!” Adam cried, eyes wide and a smile on his face as he walked in the living room and sat down on the couch. “You missed it! It was insane!”

“Where’s your father and Barry?” Beverly asked.

“Is Ted okay?” Deidra asked wanted to know, her stomach feeling uneasy at the thought of something happening to him.

“Yeah, he’s fine”, Adam told her, “but that’s the awesome part! Ok, so-“

“Oh, good!” Deidra sighed, feeling her body relax as she sat back on the throw pillow she was sitting on.

“What about Barry and your dad?” Lainey spoke up.

“I was getting to that”, Adam said, still trying to catch his breath. “So-“

“Adam!” Beverly cried. “Tell us please!”

“Okay, okay!” Adam replied. “Dad and Barry got arrested for assaulting Mr. Logan!”

“What?!” Deidra, Lainey and Beverly cried before scrambling to their feet.

“What do you mean they got arrested?” Beverly asked. “What happened?”

Adam sighed and opened his mouth to explain when Deidra spoke up.

“You guys better get down to the police station”, she said.

Lainey nodded and hurried outside after giving Deidra a quick hug, Beverly doing the same before following Lainey outside, the door shutting behind them.

From inside, Deidra and Adam sat in silence as they listened to Murray’s car start up then pull away from the driveway.

Adam sighed with frustration as he got down on the floor, sitting across from his sister.

“So”, he said, “should I be Mrs. White or Cornel Mustard?”

~~

“I can’t believe Dad and Barry have to stay in jail overnight”, Adam said as he sat in the Gynecologist’s office the next morning with his mother and sister, Beverly flipping through a 5-year-old magazine.

“Well, they did attack a police officer”, Deidra spoke up. “What’d you expect?”

Adam shrugged as more silence filled the room.

Deidra looked up from her lap and saw several other people sitting in the waiting room only the women who were pregnant looked a lot older than her.

She was careful not to make eye contact with anyone as she already got enough looks when she walked in the door.

“I’m scared”, she admitted softly, gripping the armrest of her chair tightly.

Beverly closed the magazine she was reading and took her daughter’s hand, giving her a smile.

“Don’t be, Shmoopy”, she replied quietly. “We’re all here for you.”

“But Dad said he was going to throw me out if-“Deidra started but her mom cut her off.

“You leave your father to me”, Beverly told her, causing a small smile to form on Deidra’s lips. “I’ll talk to him.”

“I love you, Mama”, she told her mother softly, Beverly hugging her.

“I love you too’, Beverly softly said in her ear.

“Deidra Goldberg?” a nurse called from the doorway of the examination area.

Deidra felt her heart pounding again, knowing all eyes were on her as pulled away from her mother’s embrace and stood up.

‘I wish Ted was here’, she thought to herself as she followed the nurse to the back.

~~

Deidra laid back against the bed, the room dark with an ultrasound machine beside her bed.

She had to flinch a little at the bright light from the hallway as a doctor carrying a clipboard walked in the room.

“Hi”, the doctor who looked to be in her mid-20’s greeted Deidra with a kind, warm smile that made the teen feel a little better. “I’m Dr. Green. How are you today, Deidra?”

“Nervous”, Deidra admitted as the doctor sat down on the stool beside the bed.

“Don’t be”, Dr. Green told her softly as she took the teen’s pulse. “Everything’s going to be just fine.”

She released her wrist and started going over her clipboard.

“So, it says here you took a home pregnancy test and it came up positive, is that right?” the doctor asked.

Deidra nodded.

“Yes, ma’am”, she said softly.

Dr. Green gave her another kind smile.

“Well”, she said, “let’s just take a look, shall we? Can you lift your shirt just a little please, sweetie?”

Deidra nodded and lifted her aqua blue tank top slightly to reveal her stomach.

“This might be a little cold”, Dr. Green warned before lightly squirting a mint-blue gel onto the teen’s stomach.

A moment later, the dark room was lit up by the light coming from the ultrasound screen as Dr. Green moved the ultrasound wand over Deidra’s stomach, a loud, fast-paced beating sound filling the room as well.

Dr. Green nodded to herself, her own suspicions confirmed.

“There’s your baby”, Dr. Green told Deidra softly, a small smile spreading over her face as she pointed out a little shape on the screen.

Deidra felt her heart skip at beat as she laid eyes on the little figure on the screen, tears filling her eyes.

“Wow!” she whispered.

As she continued to look at the figure on the screen beside her, Deidra started to feel something she had never felt before…she felt the need to protect this little baby inside her at any cost, her heart filling with a love she had never known before.

“I would say you are 9 weeks along”, the doctor told her as she moved the wand a little more before pressing a couple buttons on the ultrasound machine, breaking into Deidra’s thoughts. “Which would make you two months pregnant.”

At that piece of information, Deidra immediately thought back to where she was a couple months ago.

She thought of how sick she felt and how good Ted’s gentle, loving touch felt to her as well as how it felt when he kissed her after she had confessed her love to him.

He didn’t need to say he loved her back…his kiss said it all.

The thoughts after the kiss were all just blissful blurs as Deidra wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, only for another fresh set of tears to sting her eyes.

~~

It was later that night and the San Dimes Jail’s holding cells were quiet for once.

Well, almost quiet.

“Cut that out, ya moron!” Murray cried out in frustration from the jail cell he was sharing with his oldest son.

Barry opened his eyes and slowly took the harmonica he was playing away from his lips.

“Aw, come on Dad!” the teen said with a goofy smile. “I’ve always wanted to play a harmonica in a jail cell!”

And with that, he started playing again, causing his dad to sigh in frustration.

“Where’d you find that anyway?” Murray asked his son.

“Siting here on this bench”, Barry said with a shrug as if it were obvious.

A look of disgust and bewilderment came over Murray’s face before he slowly scooted away from his son, an awkward silence filling the air.

“Goldberg!” an officer called as he walked up the hallway towards their cell.

At the sound of their last name being called, Murray and Barry jumped to their feet, hurrying towards the holding cell’s bars, griping them in their hands.

“You’re both free to go”, the officer told them as he slid the key to their holding cell into the lock, turning it.

The cell door eased open like a charm, the officer gently pushing it to the right.

“Someone post your bail.”

“Yes!” Barry cried happily, slamming his fists in the air. “Let’s get out of-“

Barry’s smile slowly faded at the sight of his mother walking up the hall.

“Mom?” Barry asked in confusion.

Beverly nodded, giving her husband and son a smile.

Barry gave her a small smile back as he and his dad followed out of the jailhouse in silence.

“So, Mom”, Barry spoke up, breaking the silence. “I-Is she…”

All three of them stopped walking and Beverly looked at her oldest son.

Saying nothing, she reached in her purse and handed him a copy of the ultrasound picture.

For a moment, Barry and Murray said nothing; they just looked at the picture in awe.

“Wow!” Barry finally gasped. “That’s inside of Deidra right now?”

Beverly nodded, tears threatening to fill her eyes again as she thought back to earlier in the day when Deidra had come back out into the waiting room, her face stained with tears.

It was right then that Beverly knew the truth and as much as it broke her heart, the news warmed it all at the same time.

At the sight of a photograph her first grandchild, all of Beverly’s anger and disappointment towards her younger daughter vanished and her motherly instinct began to take an even bigger hold.

After watching Barry hand Beverly the picture back, Murray said nothing as he turned around and started walking down the long, dark hallway of the jail’s holding cell again.

“Murray!” Beverly called in confusion. “Where are you going?”

“Maybe jail’s not so bad!” Murray replied with a smirk before continuing to walk down the hall.

Taglist:

@shhh-no-ones-home @celestiaelisia @derangedcupcake @lindszeppelin @ohportgas @loganharpervo

[insideoutstory]

Inside Out → Chapter One

summary: Whenever her father goes away for work, Christine has a sleepover with her friends Barb and Nancy. word count: 2.7k a/n: Hey guys! I don’t know if I’m going to post all the chapters on this blog, since some of them will be pretty long, but I figured I’d give it a shot. Let me know what you’d prefer! [ masterlist ]   [ FF.net ]

November 4, 1983 

By 8:00 PM, most of Hawkins, Indiana was getting ready to turn in for the night. Orange streetlamps buzzed faintly against the dark blue sky, kitchen lights turning off after dishes were washed, and the faint blue light of the television catching the curtains of some families’ front windows. Cars were carefully stowed away for the evening, and children argued with their parents that they could stay up just a little bit longer. 

But one house, at least, was still wide awake. 

“Are you sure you’ve got everything?” a teenage girl asked, eyeing her father’s suitcases. 

“Pretty darned,” he replied. He rounded the corner to the front room, dropping another bag into the pile so he could pull on his coat. “Suits are already in the car. Got my files, got my toothbrush…” 

“Are you sure, Dad?” 

“Christine, I’m a forty-year-old man. I know how to pack for a business trip.” 

“Right,” she said with a curt nod, “and last time you just forgot your briefcase, so I had to hitch a ride to the airport to drop it off for you.” 

“Well, at least I won’t make that mistake again, will I?” 

He grinned at her until she broke. When her pout turned into a grudging smile, he tugged her forward to place a kiss into her blonde hair. 

“Give me some credit. Kitchen is stoked, hotel number is on the fridge, Claudia is next door if you need anything, emergency funds are in the bread box, and the key to the liquor cabinet is in my ‘I Heart New York’ mug.” 

“Dad, I don’t…” 

“Ah, ah, ah!” He waved his hands vehemently, squeezing his eyes shut. “I don’t want you to lie to me. Just promise me you’ll drink responsibly.” 

“I’m serious, Dad. I don’t…” 

“Say it to make me feel better, come on. Please.” 

“Fine,” she laughed. “Yes, I promise we’ll drink loads, and we’ll do it responsibly.” 

“That’s my girl.” He kissed her swiftly on the cheek and picked up his bags. “I’ll be back next Monday. Call me if you need anything.” 

“I will. Love you, Dad.” 

“Love you too, bumblebee.” He winked, and stuck his head around the corner to the living room. “Goodnight, girls! Give your parents my best!” 

“Night, Mr. Walcott!” 

“Have a safe flight!” 

With one last pat on his daughter’s head, he ducked out of the house and closed the door behind him. 

Christine peered through the window, one hand ready on the doorknob in case he came running back to grab something. But her father climbed into the car and backed out without incident. She waved as he pulled onto the road, and then headed back into the living room to rejoin her friends. 

“I love your dad,” said Nancy from her seat on the floor. “He’s just so…” 

“Cool,” Christine finished, rolling her eyes. “Yeah, we get it, Nance. You love my dad. You adore my dad. You are weirdly obsessed with my dad.” 

“Shut up! I didn’t mean it like that.” Barb snorted next to her, and Nancy’s jaw dropped further. “I am not obsessed with her dad!” 

“Sure,” Barb said with a shrug. She picked another potato chip from the bowl and inspected it closely to avoid Nancy’s death glare. “But you do bring him up literally every time we come over here.” 

“Why, thank you, Barb,” said Christine smugly. 

They cackled, watching Nancy blush furiously. Eventually, even she had to chuckle. 

“I just think you’re lucky to have a dad that’s so understanding,” she explained. “If I brought up drinking to my dad, I think he’d go into cardiac arrest.” 

“Uh, no,” Barb corrected, “your mom would go into cardiac arrest.” 

“And then your dad would complain about the inconvenience on the way to the hospital,” finished Christine. 

“Exactly! They’d get crazy upset, and still somehow manage to make it all about them. It’s ridiculous!” 

“She’s got a point,” said Barb. “Your dad is pretty chill.” 

Christine waved a hand in defeat. “Ugh, fine, whatever. My dad’s the bomb. Are we getting pizza or what?” 

Nancy and Barb both raised their hands, and Christine retreated to the kitchen. As she plugged the number into the wall phone, she noticed a dark square sitting on the kitchen counter. She picked it up, flipping it open to review her father’s driver’s license, bank card, library card, assorted cash… 

“Yeah, nice going, Dad,” she mumbled, pinning the phone to her shoulder. “Sorry, hi! I was looking to place an order for delivery?” 

She ordered their normal pies—one extra cheese, one pepperoni—and weighed the wallet in her hand. The easiest thing would probably be to ask Barb to drive her to the airport. If they were lucky, the might even catch up to her dad on the road. She’d have to pay for the gas money, of course, but she could always take a few bills from the wallet… 

Thankfully, it didn’t come to that. She was just rattling off her address when a set of headlights pulled into the driveway. The car door slammed, pounding feet jogged up to the house, and her father tumbled through the front door. 

“Sweetheart? Have you seen my…?” 

Christine whistled, leaning around the corner to toss him the wallet. He grinned, gave her a small salute, and ducked out of the house once more. 

This was standard routine at the Walcott house. Not that her father was particularly forgetful, or that Christine was especially organized. They just kept each other in check. The two of them had a system, and it had been that way for years. It was part of the reason she hated it so much when he had to go away. 

She was getting better though. Every business trip was offset by a sleepover with her two closest friends. They gossiped, ate junk food, stayed up far too late, and watched movies they had no business watching before bed. 

“I can’t believe you made me bring this again,” Barb complained, once they were settled in the living room with their pizza and sodas. She pulled a videotape out of her bag, and pushed herself up on her knees to insert it into the machine. “Can’t we watch something new?” 

“Hey, my house, my rules.” Christine stretched out a leg to kick Barb in the butt, and Nancy giggled. “We watch comedies at your house, chick flicks at Nancy’s. My house is the horror house.” 

“Yeah, I know,” Barb sighed. She pressed a button, and the previews began to fly by on the screen. “I just don’t get why you guys like horror movies. They’re all skinny girls who don’t know how to run and skeevy guys trying to get in their pants.” 

“They’re not all like that,” said Nancy. “I really liked Jaws.” 

“Right. The one with the skinny girls who can’t swim, and the skeevy guys trying to get in their bathing suits.” 

Christine threw a handful of popcorn at her, laughing when a piece got wedged underneath her glasses. 

“Come on, Barb. That’s the whole point!” 

“What? That guys are dumb and girls are dumber?” 

“No, that stupidity gets punished.” Christine leaned against the seat of the couch, setting the popcorn bowl aside. “That’s the whole thing that gets overlooked in horror movies. There’s a structure to them. Skeevy guys, girls that sleep around, bullies, assholes—they’re all first on the chopping block. If you don’t do stupid shit, then you don’t get killed.” 

“Oh, right,” Nancy said with an exaggerated nod. “So you like horror movies because they make you feel better about being a virgin?” 

“Um, yeah. Obviously. What about you, Nance?” 

“Me? Definitely the blood. I just—I love watching massive amounts of gore. Totally.” 

“Funny,” Barb snorted. “I thought you guys just liked this movie cause that one guy looks like Steve Harrington.” 

Nancy and Christine both squealed in protest. 

“Oh my God, he does not!” 

“Woah, hey, Jack looks nothing like Steve!” 

“Right? You’re so right!” 

“Nothing! Absolutely.” 

They nodded at each other firmly in the silence, lips pursed in determination. Barb raised an eyebrow to meet her red curls. Nancy hesitantly pressed a hand over her mouth, trying to hold in her laughter, but the damage had already been done. 

“Alright, except for the hair,” she admitted, kicking Christine’s leg. 

“And the running shorts,” Christine added with a wink. 

Both girls dissolved into giggles, unhindered by their friend’s unimpressed gaze. But the laughter was contagious, and after a few seconds even Barb was wiping her eyes and clutching her sides. 

“Okay, okay,” she wheezed, struggling to maintain her mature composure. “Let’s just watch your dumb camp slasher.” 

“It’s called Friday the Thirteenth, and it’s incredible, thank you very much.” 

“Whatever, Chris.” 

Things settled down as they got into the movie. Christine had already seen it at least eight times since it had come out, but it was still thoroughly entertaining. She liked the anticipation in horror movies—not knowing who’d be next, when the killer would get them or how they were gonna go. But as the crowd of characters thinned out on screen, her interest began to drift. Nancy had tuned out the moment the boy named Jack had been stabbed in the throat, and Barb had been more interested in her pizza than the film since the title card. Which brought the trio to the inevitable second phase of their sleepover. 

“Nancy, truth or dare?” asked Barb. 

Nancy swirled the remnants of her Coke around the bottle, deliberating before deciding, “Dare.” 

Barb smirked victoriously. “Alright. I dare you to tell Christine who your real first crush was.” 

“Excuse me?” Christine gaped, as Nancy’s jaw dropped. 

“No! No, no, no! You can’t use dares to force truths! That’s against the rules!” 

“Wait, your real first crush?” Christine repeated. “I thought it was Ethan Hart? That guy in my English class?” 

“It was,” Nancy insisted, as Barb shook her head. 

“No, it was not.” 

“Who was it?” Christine demanded. “Nancy Wheeler, who was it?” 

“I’m not doing this,” Nancy laughed, shaking her head. “Nope, nope, nope!” 

“Nancy, if you don’t tell her I’m going to.” 

“Barb!” 

“Who was it, who was it, who was it, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me…” 

“Shut up! Fine! It was Peter Jorgins!” 

Nancy immediately buried her face in her hands as Barb and Christine erupted into laughter. 

“Oh my God, Peter Jorgins?” Christine asked. “Isn’t he the one who kept that Princess Leia picture in his wallet?” 

“Yup,” said Barb, nodding sagely. “Metal bikini and all.” 

“Ugh, I know,” Nancy whined, peeking out between her fingers. “He wasn’t always such a perv. This was back in like, first grade. Way before you moved here.” 

“Still, I’m hurt,” said Christine, laying a hand over her chest. “It’s like five years of friendship means nothing to you.” 

“Very funny. Truth or dare, Chrissy?” 

“Fine. Truth.” 

Nancy narrowed her eyes, visibly mulling over a few ideas before breaking out into a smile. “Alright. So you said horror movies have rules, right? Like if you hook up with someone then you have to die?” 

“Yeah, and?” 

“If you were in a horror movie, would you rather be a loner and survive the film, or make out with Steve Harrington?” 

“Oof, brutal,” said Barb, pointing at the girl across from her. “Good one.” 

Christine chewed on her lip, sagging back against the couch as she began her internal debate. It was difficult to push aside her daydreams of what it would actually be like to make out with King Steve Harrington—the most popular boy at Hawkins High School. She could easily spend all night thinking about it and never answer the question. 

It was a stupid question, she knew—make out with one boy or not die? But still. Not every boy was Steve Harrington. 

“Chrissy, you can’t be serious,” Barb said, after nearly a full minute of silence. “No guy is worth dying for. Not even King Steve.” 

“Well it’s just making out, right?” Christine said meekly. “I mean, they couldn’t kill me for making out with him. It’s not sex.” 

“No way,” said Barb. “You’d rather get chased by a crazy psycho with a knife than miss the chance to kiss Steve Harrington?” 

“I can run pretty fast…” 

Christine shrugged, and Nancy cackled next to her. She shook her long brown hair out of her face, fighting for breath as she held up a finger. 

“Okay, wait, but what if you did sleep with him? Survive the crazy psycho monster, or sex with Steve?” 

“Are you kidding me?” Christine laughed. “Have you heard the way Becky Dern talks about him? And they only dated like, a month. I’m pretty sure it would be worth it.” 

“So worth it,” Nancy agreed. 

They turned to Barb, who was watching them both skeptically. She rolled her eyes—her signature move—and grinned. 

“Well, I guess there are worse ways to go.” 

There was another round of giggles, and everyone helped themselves to second helpings of pizza. 

“Anyway,” Barb continued, “you’re one step closer than the rest of us to finding out, Miss Advanced Placement.” 

“God, you’re so lucky,” Nancy sighed, downing the rest of her Coke. “I’m literally so jealous.” 

“There’s nothing to be jealous of,” Christine insisted, though she could feel her cheeks heating up. “I see Steve one period a day, two tops.” 

“But you’re his lab partner! That’s like, infinite opportunities to hang out. Lab questions, last minute reports, study dates…” 

“I don’t think it sounds that glamorous,” said Barb. “Especially since he keeps slacking off.” 

Her disapproving face was back in place, making Christine defensive. 

“He’s been busy. I mean, between school and basketball practice…” 

“Yeah? Well you’ve got a job.” 

“It’s only been two reports,” Christine reasoned. “And he really tries in class, so it’s just the write up that I’m doing. Besides, I don’t mind. I really like physics.” 

“Right. Physics.” 

Christine did her best not to let that sting. She knew Barb was just looking out for her. She was a classic realist, probably the most sensible, grounded person in their group. Still, her protective streak could be a real downer. 

“Hey,” Nancy said gently. “Maybe it’s not Steve’s fault, you know? Maybe Chrissy’s just hogging all the work for herself. She’s a science hog.” 

“Excuse me?” Christine asked with a playful glare. Nancy shrugged. “A science hog. That’s why you’re in upper placement, right? You just love science so much, and you want to do everything yourself. You are a big nerd.” 

“Right. This coming from the straight-A student.” 

“Hate all you want, but straight-A isn’t upper placement.” 

“Of course not,” Barb scoffed. “Just top of your class in English, and trigonometry, and chemistry…” 

“Oh crap,” Nancy sighed, all jokes forgotten. “We’ve got a chem test next week. I completely forgot.” 

“It’s next week,” said Christine, waving a hand. “You’ll be fine.” 

“No, no—Mr. Kaminsky is like crazy hard. I swear half of the last test wasn’t even on the review sheet.” 

“God, don’t remind me,” Barb groaned, and her head fell back toward the ceiling. “I actually had nightmares about the periodic table.” 

“Exactly. And I might have passed the last one, but I have got to seriously ace this test if I want to be on track this semester. My mom tried to have this whole heart-to-heart because it’s not like me to just pass, or whatever, and…” 

“Alright, okay, I get it,” Christine laughed. She leaned over, patting Nancy’s ankle. “But you’re gonna do great, Nance. You always do. If you want, I’ll help you study tomorrow, after I get off work. Promise. Just try not to worry about it for now, alright?” 

Nancy bit her lip, glancing torn at the screen where the movie credits were still playing. She brandished a finger at Christine. 

“Fine. But I’m serious, Chrissy, I need at least half an hour of flashcards.” 

“Deal. Until then—Barb, truth or dare?” 

“Truth.” 

“Who was your real first crush?” 

The living room filled with laughter once more, and they settled back into their lighthearted game. Worrying could wait for another day. For now, all they had to worry about was being teenagers—watching movies, eating junk food, and talking about love and music and movies until they fell asleep on the floor.

[dontyoudarejudgemesworld]

The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far Chapter Four: The Girdle Rule

Alright, so first off this one maybe a bit on the rough side as far as editing goes. My back up beta flaked on me and there was a whole slue of issues with even getting this to be able to post it (say it with me computer problems suck). Anyways this is a very Billie-centric chapter giving a bit more insight to her as a person and why she is the way she is. It's also 6.643 words about 85% of which is rather angsty. And while there arent any real graphic descriptions there are underlying themes of drug use, OD, death, grief, childhood trauma, abandonment issues, and violence. So you know be aware of that.

Also as a heads up the next chapter will land in the series bringing Dipper and Mable into play and really taking the first step toward the real meat of the story. So that's something to look forward too. Other then that if you read this likes comments are always appreciated.

As always this is posted on AO3 and you can read it there by clicking here. 

And with that I scream yet another chapter into the void

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January 2011

Billie sighed as she walked through the mall, it was almost deserted, the snow that fell lazily outside enough to deter all but the most determined of shoppers and teenagers. Pulling her phone out of her pocket she looked at the screen for the millionth time, even though she knew it was useless; Stan didn’t own a cell so when he got the messages she’d left on the answering machine he would call her. Still, she was restless, she didn’t even know what she was doing here. She’s just been up a few weeks ago to throw Stan’s Christmas gift at him and spend a few days getting a crash course on Hanukkah since it turned out the Pines were Jewish. It had been nice to spend an actual holiday with someone, but after she’d left to head down to California for a job everything had gone to hell.

She'd met with the client and decided  to pass on the job. While she wasn't one to pass up a job simply because the employer was obviously less than upstanding, she was one who listened to her gut. And her gut had screamed danger in big red letters with flashing lights and sirens. So she'd politely declined and the soft-spoken man who'd offered her the job had been less than pleased. After trying to throw more money at her only for her to insist she wasn't interested, he'd changed tactics to one of intimidation.  Four hours later after being roughed up a bit by his 'bodyguard' they'd parted ways with the understanding that she'd never met him and would forget his face, and he'd return the favor. It wasn't the first time that sort of thing had happened, but that didn't make her ribs any less sore. After that, she'd decided that it might be better to head out the next town to find another job. And then...

"God damn it, Stan, it's the off-season what could you possibly be doing?" she growled her finger hovering over the screen as she considered calling him again, before shoving the device back into her pocket. She'd already left four messages telling him that she was suddenly in town and asking if she could crash at the Shack,  if she left another he might start worrying. And he didn't need to worry, there was nothing wrong, she'd just decided to come up this way.

In fact, it was stupid she'd even bothered him, she should just call him back and tell him never mind. It wasn’t like she really needed to see him, or she wanted the strange comfort his presence gave her. No, it wasn’t that she wanted someone to tell her that it was all going to be okay. Or that she needed someone to tell her she was wanted. She really should just keep moving. Seattle was close and she had a few repeat clients there she could check in with. Yeah, she would do that.

"... said move on creep. We aren't interested," came a familiar voice sharp with anger and a hint of fear. Her head snapping up her eyes found a group of three men in their twenties crowded around someone besides a hallway over which the word 'Restrooms' was stenciled. They looked a bit rough, and even though she didn't claim to know everyone in the town she could tell they weren't locals. Glancing past them, she found the voice she had recognized; Wendy stood in front of her goth friend defiantly glaring daggers at the men.

"Oh come on. We just want to have some fun. Why don’t you show us around? You two would love to do that, right," the biggest one pressed in a friendly tone as he took a step towards the girls causing Wendy's face to waver as her friend shrink back in an effort to hide behind the redhead. He looked like he just walked out of a James Dean look-alike shoot and just radiated sleaze.

"Yeah, we're new in town. Show us around," one of the others chimed in with a predatory grin.

"We said beat it," Wendy growled, though a slight crack in her voice took some of the venom out and seemed to encourage the men who took a step towards them.

"Hey, fuck face the girl said beat it,"  Billie snapped as she traveled the distance between them in a dozen steps to place herself in front of the two girls much to the surprise of everyone, "So you best be movin' on,"  she snarled her shoulders squaring and fists clenching. While she would never have hesitated to step into such a situation no matter who it was, the fact that the assholes had picked Wendy pissed her off to no end.

"Who the hell are you?" one of them demanded a scowl on his face as he took half a step forward in an effort to intimidate her. Behind her she felt Wendy and the other girl shift as they pressed into her to hide. Letting out a soft growl she leveled her gaze on the one who'd spoken her features unreadable and eye cold as ice.  

"You feelin' froggy, boy?" she asked calmly, "Go ahead, I'll tan your hides gladly," she said with a slight laugh that just screamed unstable. The men hesitated as they looked at each other, before the leader smiled at her, raising his hands in surrender.

"It's cool," he assured her, "Come on guys," he said as he turned and walked away. The other two hesitated before they followed him and Billie glared at them as they headed out the nearest exit. Shame, she really wanted to hit someone today. Rolling her shoulders, she turned to Wendy and her friend, Tammy she thought, flashing them a smile.

"Y'all alright?" she asked and Wendy smiled as she let out a breath she'd been holding.

"Yeah, thanks man," the teenager said as she stepped back, her friend nodding from behind her phone. The older woman nodded and the two stood in silence for a minute as Billie looked her over. Despite the girl's easy going tone and relaxed posture it didn't take a genius to see she was a little shaken up, making Billie wonder just how strong those assholes had come on.

"Alright, but for my own piece ah' mind, let me get y'all home," she said, choosing to pretend she didn't see relief flash across the redhead's face.

"My Dad's picking us up in like a half an hour, but if you need to hang around, that's cool," Wendy told her, "I didn't know you were back in town again. Soos normally texts me when you show up."

"Yeah, not stayin' though. Just passing through to Seattle. Needed a new pair of gloves," she lied smoothly, "Was just picking them up 'fore heading out. Good thing I did."

"Wait, you aren't gonna go see Stan?" Wendy asked in surprise.

"Naw, he hasn't called me back, and I don't wanna just drop in unannounced. Lord knows what Stan's doing. Probably sitting around watching those historical dramas he pretends he don't, but you never know," Billie replied, rolling her shoulders as she looked around. Wendy's face pulled into a confused look. She like Billie, sure she was a bit rough around the edges, but she was cool. Aside from the fact that she was more than willing to help her skip out early sometimes, she had almost the same kind of salty charm Stan did. Though Stan was charming in a gruff kind of way where as Billie had a sarcastic kind of charm... she was pretty sure it was the southern accent that sold it. But there was something off about the woman today.

"You okay?" she asked, earning another charming smile.

"Finer than a frog hair split four ways, darlin'," she assured the girl, "It's been a long drive. Sometimes the glamorous lifestyle of a PI gets tiring," she said with a soft laugh. Wendy stared at her for a moment with her eyes slitted, that was bullshit and they both knew it. But before Wendy could call her on it her phone buzzed and she pulled it out to look at.

"Dad's here Tambry," she said and the goth girl nodded, "Thanks again Billie."

"I'll walk with you, darlin'. I was on my way out anyway," she said smoothly as she turned to lead the way out. Wendy just shrugged, knowing it was better than protesting. Soon enough, they were outside Dan's truck idling right by the doors.

"See yuh Billie," Wendy said as she pulled open the door, letting Tambry climb in first which she managed without ever looking up from her phone.

"Have a good evenin' girls. Stay out of trouble," the older woman  replied, glancing past her to Dan, whose brows were furrowed in confusion at her presence. Flashing him a smile she lifted her hand flashing him a six fingered wave, "Hey Dan," she said as she kept walking heading out to the parking lot and her bike.

"Billie," he rasped automatically in greeting as his daughter climbed in closing the door behind her, "What was that about?" he asked.

"Oh some creeps were hassling us and Billie scared them off," she told him calmly. Dan's eyes narrowed slightly at her words over protective feelings surging at the idea of someone messing with his daughter.

"Creeps?" he repeated, "Who?"

"Dad be cool, it's fine. I could have handled it, and besides Bille took care of it," the teenager sighed settling back in her seat. He considered pushing the issue but decided against it. Instead, he made a mental note to ask Billie about it when he saw her at the bar next.

"Seat belts," he boomed and Wendy rolled her eyes as she buckled up Tambry affirming she already had.

~*~

Billie slouched against the bar moodily working on her fifth beer. She’d been planning on just going out to Seattle. After all, if she kept moving she didn't have to think about anything besides keeping her bike on the road and away from cars. The snow storm, however, had different plans, in town it was a steady drifting fall but once she hit the base of the mountain it had turned into a full blown white out. And as self destructive as she could be she wasn't insane. So she'd landed at the Skull Fracture drinking away the last month. It was a quiet night no one but a few regulars; Bats and Cat (so named for his tattoos) were playing pool in the corner growling threats loudly at each other. Chin lounged at the table beside the door to check IDs if someone happened to venture in, and rowdy laughter drifted over from a few of the Scacr-O-Dacyles who sat BSing in the corner. She'd been invited to join Bats and Cat but had declined. For all the buzz about the place in town she actually liked it. While it could certainly get rowdy and fights were a dime a dozen on Saturday nights the regulars were good guys. She'd  brawled with most of them at some point or another in the last year and a half but after they always wound up laughing and drinking together. Good guys if a bit rough.

Still tonight was quiet which didn't do her much good. Billie had hoped to take her mind off her trip back to Georgia, but only managed to dwell on it. Groaning she shoved a hand through her hair as she took another drink.

"Ugh, how the hell did I get stuck with you?" she growled at her glass her mind drifting to the urn in her saddle bag, "An' what the hell am I supose ta do with yuh now?" she muttered. The call had come in when she'd been on her way to LA; Mary's parole office had found her with a needle in her arm. Billie had wished she was shocked at the news, but she wasn't. Her mother had been an addict in the truest sense, sure she got clean here and there but she always went back. The last time Billie had talked to her was a few years ago when she'd been 'born again', for the third time by Billie’s count. Billie had given her a chance though, told Mary if she stayed clean for six months she'd come visit. That visit hadn't happened. God had lost his appeal four months later. Two months longer then when she'd regained custody of Billie when she'd been 12 and four months sooner then when she'd invited Billie to see her baptized when she was twenty.

Still, Billie had been her listed next of kin, which meant her death had come a whole heap of problems. The woman's older children didn't even speak to her so all the debts, apartment, and arrangements had been left to her youngest. And while Billie had considered telling them to donate her to science and give away all her shit, she couldn't do that to her. As angry as she was there was still a small part of her that remembered eating ice cream at midnight and making blanket forts with her Mom when she was between benders. So for the first time in eight years Billie had gone back, and now she wished she hadn't.

She hadn't had a service or anything instead choosing to have her mother cremated, and after looking through the sad little apartment her mother had for anything of value she'd donated what she could and had a service come clean up the rest. The landlord had been a man so sleazy her skin had crawled and it took every ounce of self restraint she had not to punch him in his face when he'd demanded next months rent and the costs of repairs over the security deposit. Credit cards, pay day loans, and a court fees had run her a pretty penny but she'd made sure they were all taken care of.

And that had been the easy part. She'd also taken the time to call all five of her siblings to let them know; Vernon and Ivy hadn't even picked up, Emma May had hung up on her, and Jesse had laughed over the sounds of his girlfriend demanding to know who 'the bitch on the phone' was. Only her eldest brother Bo had shown any kind of feeling, he’d sighed sadly and asked if she needed help, though she knew his heart wasn't in it. He'd asked out of obligation, he was 11 years older then her and the first born so she knew he felt like he should be the one taking care of it. She'd assured him that she had handled everything, asked the obligatory 'how's the family's, answered his standard 'still doing the gypsy detective thing', and given the standard staying in touch niceties. Bo was a good guy, and honestly they were the only ones that ever spoke with each other even if it was only once every five years or so. Honestly, none of them had anything in common beside having been brought into the world by Mary. And after being separated in the system they had gone on to live their lives trying their best to find some sort of normality.

"Hey!" came a raspy voice pulling her from her internal brooding causing her to blink as she looked over to find Dan towering over her. Blinking again she flashed a smile up at him as she straightened up swiveling the bar stool to face him.

"Oh evenin' Dan," she drawled lazily as she glanced around him finding his perpetual shadow behind him, "Tyler you're in actual jeans...it must really be cold," she told the smaller man with a grin.

"Billie Jean! I didn't expect to see you again so soon. You finally deciding to move here?" he asked cheerfully causing her to laugh. She really liked the flamboyant little man, when he'd first met her he'd squealed in delight asking excitedly if her middle name was Jean. When she'd confirmed that it actually was she had thought he might explode with excitement insisting on calling her Billie Jean, something she hadn't been called since high school.

"Naw sug. Though if I ever decide to settle down this place is in the top contenders," she assured him finishing her beer, "What are you buys up to tonight?" she asked and Tyler laughed happily.

"I should hope so. It's a great place. I convinced Dan to play some pool. Wanna join?" he asked eagerly.

"Naw, I'm beat. Maybe next time," she told him and he nodded before bouncing off to call the table next and eagerly cheer both Bats and Cat on. Chuckling she stretched running her fingers through her hair again as she realized she was feeling the beers more then she'd thought, before looking up at Dan who still loomed over her. Raising a brow she cocked her head looking up at him. She liked Dan as much as Tyler, though he came off as a meat head with too much testosterone and shoulder hair he was actually a lot brighter then most people gave him credit for.

Sure he absolutely fit the name Manly to a tee, and took shit from no one, but shed had more then a few intelligent conversations with him. From the value of reforesting in the logging industry to him telling her that the weird rattle she kept hearing was the Hide Behind, she'd found him rather engaging even if he did deliver his points in a booming raspy voice that could blow out your ear drums. Plus, it was pretty endearing the way he watched out for Tyler.

Apparently, they'd been best friends since elementary school, and Dan really loved the enthusiasm enthusiast. She'd even seen him play wing man for his fabulous friend which had been priceless. She’d sat by and watch Dan distract a middle aged woman who had been all but begging him to take her home so Tyler could chat up her friend, a cute red headed bear of a man...obviously he had type. But what she liked best was he seemed like he was a good Dad; hanging out at the bar was something he did when all the kids were off somewhere safe and sound, and even then he never seemed to get good and drunk just in case he needed to switch into Dad mode. Something she could appreciate, and she guessed that had something to with him towering over her at the moment.

"I wasn't corrupting your daughter. Scout's honor,"  she told him raising two fingers.

"I know, she told me," he growled and she smiled wondering what it was then, "She said some guys were hassling them. Who?" he demanded and she chuckled. There it was, he wanted to know who he was hunting down.

"I dunno I didn't recognize them. Some James Dean wanna bes in leather jackets. They'd cornered them and were trying to get them to ‘show them around town’," she told him as she signaled for another beer, "She was holding her ground but she had...Tammy?" she hesitated trying to remember the goth girl's name.

"Tambry," he supplied and she nodded.

"Tambry hidin' behind her. They were pretty easy to scare off though. Still, I insisted on hanging around until you got 'em," she finished with a shrug as she caught the glass the bar tender sent sliding down to her, "If I see them again I'll let yuh know."

"Thanks," he said after a second, "For keeping an eye on Wendy that is. I know she can handle herself but...," he trailer off a bit awkwardly and she gave him an understanding  smile.

"'Course Dan," she said as Tyler shouted that they were up.

"Sure you don't wanna join?" he asked and she smiled shaking her head. Nodding, he turned and headed over to his friend. She watched him go out the corner of her eye. While she enjoyed Dan as a person she also enjoyed him as the world's biggest piece of eye candy too.  

Settling back against the bar she glared at her drink. It occurred to her that trying to drink away the feeling in her hadn't been the beat idea. While she wasn't drunk, she was certainly feeling it, and booze tended to make her short to begin with. But she had been out of pot for awhile and needed to do something. She knew that the mix of anger and sorrow was normal for grief, and she was self aware enough to know that she'd spent years repressing the complex emotions she had about Mary and that her death was trying to drag it all up again. But still she didn't want to deal with them now. She wanted to stuff them all deep inside and leave them there.

She didn’t want to wonder if she had forgiven her mother and spent more time with her if Mary would have cleaned up a bit. The question ‘Am I going to end up dead alone in some crappy apartment too?’ wasn’t one she wanted to ask herself. Facing the deep seated insecurity of not being a good enough daughter making Mary choose partying over her wasn’t a thing she wanted to do. Every time she’d angrily wished her mother dead, and all the nights she’d spent wondering if she was broken since even her own mother didn’t love her swirled around inside her. If only she had some kind of magic memory ray to erase it all...to delete everything to start fresh tomorrow with out all the damage she carried. Taking a drink she caught someone leaning against the bar next to her as well as movement behind her.

"Hey, you're the one who ruined our fun earlier," came a smooth voice. Setting her drink down she turned to find the James Dean wanna be staring down at her, and realized his two friends were now flanking her. Calmly she glanced at the other two before turning back to the leader who was looking down at her with a predatory grin.

"But I'll tell you what. Since we're such forgiving guys you can make it up to us. How about we have a few drinks and then you and us can see where the evening goes. Maybe find a way to keep us all warm," he leered and she realized he was staring down her shirt. Cocking a brow she wondered if this guy was for real, if he seriously thought she was going to take this. Looking him up and down as he leaned casually against the bar and looked like he owned the place it hit her. She was the only woman in a bar full of bikers and roughnecks, he and his friends assumed they were alphas in the situation. That because she was sitting alone in a room full of men who all oozed testosterone no one would object to them objectifying her. But man had they read the place wrong, while the regulars were certainly less then civilized by most standards none of them were animals when it came to women. Letting out a low chuckle she sat up cracking her neck as she stretched. Glancing at the two that flanked her she returned her gaze to James Dean and smirked.

"Yuh actually think that's gonna work on me?" she asked taking a drink, "Listen son, even if I wasn't already in a piss poor mood I wouldn't keep you or yur flunkies warm if we was six feet deep. Anyone who tries to scare girls into goin' with 'em ain't worth the shit on the bottom ah my shoe," she told them cause the men to shift angrily around her but she just smirked as she stood rolling her shoulders. Displeased with her dismissal of him the scumbag pressed forward almost touching her as the other ones crowded around her. He was using his height to force her to look up at him but she just smiled catching movement behind him, glancing past him she saw Chin has stood from his stool beside the door very aware of the situation. Raising her hand slightly she signaled she had this and he stilled not sitting down but trusting her for the moment.

"You got a smart mouth bitch. Maybe we should teach you how to use it," he threatened and she let out a bark of laughter in his face which only served to piss him off more. Good, she needed to blow off some steam.

"Oh bless yur heart, huh really don't realize how fucked you are do you?" she asked her tone dripping with southern condescending, "Maybe if you weren't so busy trying to intimidate women into yur bed y'all'd've realized you picked the wrong bar to do that in. In fact, y'all picked the wrong town, an' y'all certainty picked the wrong girl," she chuckled.

"Oh really?" he asked glancing sarcastically around, "Because there's three of us and you don't seem to have any friends. So why don't you think this through. We can have some fun and make nice," he offered and she laughed again causing his face to contort in frustration. It was clear he was use to women submitting to them...scumbag.

"Oh honey I got plenty a friends here. But no, I meant at the mall," she informed him raising her fingers to her lips and letting out a loud whistle causing the whole bar to fall silent. The dawning realization that they'd fucked up that was creeping into his face was priceless as she looked over her shoulder to Dan and Tyler who stood beside the pool table staring at her. The look on his face told her that he was already piecing together what was going on and she grinned.

"Hey Dan these are the assholes that were hassling Wendy," she called and the snap of the pool cue as his fist clenched around it sounded like a gun shot in the silence. All at once every pair of eyes turned to the men who surrounded her the hate tangible, before they all looked over to Dan. Well, actually they all turned to the little man beside Dan. Raising a brow Billie looked at Tyler who’s eyes narrowed in anger as he stared at the men around her.

“Get ‘em,” he said softly rendering his verdict to everyone. With those words what was going to happen became clear. Turning back to the scumbag towering over her she felt the acid grin splitting her face.

"Thanks hun. I've been lookin' ta hit something all day," she told him before snapping her hand up to the side of his head and slamming it viciously into the bar. And with that all hell broke loose.

Twenty minutes later Billie panted slightly as she watched the three assholes get rolled out the door. Blood dripped from a split on her forehead and she could feel her left eye swelling already. In the split second after she'd slammed James' head into the bar his two friends had jumped her landing solid hits to her face and chest and the world had gone red. After that it was a blur of fury and pain as she and Dan had beat the living hell out of them. She had taken out every ounce of rage she'd built up over the last month on the poor bastards until finally Dan had dragged her off them, probably so she wouldn't beat them to death. Looking down at his arm that was wrapped around her waist she pushed gently on it.

"Uhh Dan you can put me down now," she told him and he looked down at her skeptically, "I'm not rabid I won't attack," she assured him. Grunting he set her down on her feet and he frowned as she stretched.

"Uhhhh you okay?" he asked raising a brow at her and she sighed nodding. It was obvious that he wasn't just talking about physically. While Billie was always up for a fight she was never out of control. But tonight she had gone insane, and now she was just exhausted. All of her anger had been channeled into her hits leaving her feeling nothing but a strange kind of hollow sadness. Still she put on a charming smile and shrugged.

"Yeah, rough week," she told his dismissively. He opened his mouth to say something but her phone began blasting an air raid siren from under a bar stool. Thanking God for the excuse to avoid any further explanation  she dove for it flipping it open.

"'Ello," she chirped wiping at the blood seeping down into her eye.

"WHERE ARE YOU?!" Stan thundered causing her to pull the phone away from her ear, "I'VE CALLED YOU FIVE TIMES. YOU SCARED ME HALF TO DEATH! YOU SAY YOU'RE IN TOWN BUT NEVER SHOW UP?!" he raged, "IT’S A GOD DAMN BLIZZARD OUTSIDE!"

"You never called me back to say I could crash with you," she snapped and the silence on the other end was slightly threatening.

"I told you last time to just come in," he told her, "Now get your ass over here before you get snowed in," he barked before he hung up the phone. Looking down at the cell phone she snapped it shut and shook her head. Well, guess it was time to start walking cause she sure as hell wasn’t in any shape to drive.

~*~

Stan sat glaring at some late night documentary on the manufacturing of mud flaps played on the screen. It was almost midnight and Billie still hadn’t showed up, he’d called her 45 minutes ago. It wasn’t that he was worried about her or anything he was just cranky that the woman was keeping him up. He’d spent the last two days down in the basement with that damn portal and unsurprisingly gotten no where. So when he’d come up to find the answering machine blinking he’d been glad for the distraction, if a bit surprised to hear she was back so soon. But after listening to the messages he had gotten a bit concerned, the last few times she’d come for a visit she hadn’t asked if she could stay, she’d just told him she would be there. And he’d told her that she was always welcome. But suddenly she was acting like he might turn her away. Had he done something last visit to make her feel like she was no longer welcome? He didn’t think so.

But then when he tried to call her she hadn't picked up, which was weird, the woman was attached to that damned cell phone like if she missed a call she might die.  Seriously, it was like the thing shocked her every time it rang. When she’d finally picked up he was pretty sure that he’d heard the sounds of the Skull Fracture in the background. And the bar was only about ten minutes away so what was taking her so long? Looking outside he could see the snow was falling more heavily then it had been an hour ago. The plows wouldn’t be out until the morning either which only served to make him even more agitated.

She only ever rode that bike of hers and if she had skidded off the road she had no shelter. She could have been hurt or worse. He trusted her to know her limits, and he knew that she never really got hammered. She had a few beers at most and had walked back the few times she had felt she wasn’t able to be safe, but the snow was a different story. Even seasoned drivers could get in trouble in it.

“Damn it Stanley you should have gone and got her,” he growled to himself, “You idiot. What were you thinking? You know she doesn’t have a car,” he berated his anger manifesting in self loathing, “Stupid worthless old man.”

As he stood to go get dressed so he could go out looking for her a knock came on the front door sending him charging towards it like a bat out of hell. Relief washed over him as he wrenched the door open ready to demand to know what the hell was wrong with her, but the sight before him left him speechless.

Billie stood on the porch snow clinging to the messy black braid of her hair and the shoulders of her fur lined parka. Her jeans were soaked through to the knees where she’d obviously trudged through the snow. Still sticky blood coated one side of her face from a large gash on her forehead, her left eye was half swollen shut and blackening quickly, and her bottom lip split and seeping blood. Her skin was even paler then normal from cold or blood loss and her jaw was bruised and angry looking. Staring at her he felt his heart stop in his chest, he should have gone and got her. She’d obviously crashed on her way over and had to walk here, he needed to get her to the hospital. There was no telling how badly she was hurt, she could be bleeding internally, or have broken bones and only be standing because of shock. She could be dying and it was all hi fault. Stupid worthless old man, he should have gone and gotten her.

“Holy Moses, are you okay? What happened?” he finally managed to bark as he reached a hand towards  her pulling her into the house. She was freezing, he could see her shivering and her lips were tinted blue. Good god he need to get the keys to take her to the hospital. “Stay there I’ll get my keys. We have to…,” he began but she cut him off.

“No,” she said her voice thick with pain as she caught his hand with hers. Her skin was like ice, and he noticed her knuckles were bruised and bloody, “No,” she repeated and he stopped looking down at her. Something was wrong, the Billie he’d come to know always had a cocky manner, head held up defiant to the world, sharp eyed and ready to take on the world. But now…she didn’t look like the hell cat that was his daughter. Instead she looked…like a lost little girl. Her shoulders slumped, one arm hugging herself, and big green eyes watery with unshed tears. He looked like he’d felt so many times in his life; lost, alone, and broken. Now, utterly confused he stood looking at her and wondering what the hell he was suppose to do. For a second she stood motionless before shaking her head and moving like she was going to leave. Catching her hand he stopped her, he couldn’t let her go back out there in her current state.

“Billie…what happened?’ he asked again unable to think of anything else to say, “Hey. It’s okay. I’ve been around the world. Whatever it is I’ll understand,” he said echoing the words he’d said so many years ago. He didn’t know what was wrong but this time he wasn’t going to fuck it up again. He refused to loose his daughter like he’d lost his brother, “Come on kid, you’re freaking me out.”

“I…I…Mary died and I had to go back to Georgia. And none of the others seemed to care. And I…I tried to just forget, but it didn’t work. An’ I came here because…I dunno. And I went to the bar but then I beat up James Dean and….and,” she spewed as tears began pouring from her eyes before she lunged forward and hugged him so tightly it almost hurt as she buried her face in his chest. Blinking Stan stood for a second staring down at her as she sobbed quietly into his chest, “I don’t wanna die alone Stanford,” she whimpered into his chest and something in him broke a little as he wrapped his arms around her.

“I know kid, but it’ll all be okay I promise,” he told her his own voice a bit choked. What else could he say? He’d never been good with word or feeling so he just decided to let her cry it out. After all he couldn’t do anything else for her besides be a caring ‘uncle’.

For a while they just stood there; Billie crying softly into his chest as she let out all the grief she’d been holding in and Stan letting her. Finally, she took a step back scrubbing at her eyes and staring at his feet embarrassment washing over her. She must look like an idiot, showing up on his door step crying like a little kid. Sniffing she rolled her shoulders the beating from earlier staring to set in as her body ached along with her heart. Her eyes were puffy and itchy from all the crying and her throat sore from the walk in the snow. She realized she was exhausted in every possible way and looked up at him to find him staring at her hesitantly.

“Feel better?” he asked finally and she gave a jerky nod.

“Yeah…thanks Stan,” she said shoving her hands in her pockets, “So…I’m gonna invoke the girdle rule here.”

“The what?” he asked his face contorting in confusion.

“The fact that you wear a girdle. You know it’s a thing. I know it’s a thing. But we don’t talk about it and pretend it never happened,” she told him and he couldn’t help but let out a huff of laughter.

“Alright, alright I get it,” he told her and she gave a weak smile, “Now not to sound too bossy or anything but you should go get cleaned up and take some aspirin. Probably wanna ice that eye too. Cause it looks like James Dean beat you up not the other way around,” he told her and she let out her own laugh. Nodding he turned to head into the kitchen for the first aid kit and a glass of water for her. She was going to need it.

“Yeah, yeah,” she said as she dragged herself towards the stairs only to pause on the first step, “Really, thanks Stan,” she said not looking at him.

“Sure thing kid. That’s what family is for,” he said not turning from his path to the kitchen. Smiling she nodded as she headed up stairs.

[chewie-redbird]

Country Love : Part 1 “Home Again”

Author : chewie-redbird

Word Count : 2,397

Warnings : none

Summary : Havana ‘H’ West returns to her hometown of Spence’s Bridge, the home she avoided since her mom’s death two years before. Havana comes back for a much needed vacay, her family’s 39th Annual Weekend Business Break. Back to Ruth’s Inn and Bar, which is run by her family’s friends, the Daniels. Back to where she left her heart, back to the one who is her whole world. Back to him, back to Alex Daniels, back to her ex and his family. The family she cut all ties with after her mom and then her breakup with Alex. Havana is nervous as it will be the first time she will see him since he left her in Kamloops.

Characters : all OC characters (Havana ‘H’ West, Alexander ‘Alex’ Daniels, Ashley ‘Ash’ Daniels, Ruth Daniels, Geogre Daniels, Magnolia Bree, Sam Keller, Heath James, Talia Knight, Angel West, Marisa Yamelst, Tom Yamelst, Ray Yamelst, Hannah Yamelst, Faye Roberts, Ethan Garcia & Aaron Hansen)

A/N : Uh this was a dream I had and thought it be a kewl (cool) story and decided to share it, so hope y’all enjoy it!!!

Wow…

I haven’t been home in forever…

I miss it…

As I drive by the familiar Fruit Stand on the side of the highway that soon overlooks the small town. I can see my Grandpa Tom’s place on the other side of the river on the rez. My home where I grew up, where my heart is and where I never ever want to leave again after coming here.

As I drive up to the turn off that leads to the middle of this small town called Spence’s Bridge. Nothing big, just a small town where people pass by as the highway runs along the side. You can see the whole town from the highway, it spread into three parts.

The Yamelst Rez is the rez my family lives on, it’s the first part you see when you come into Spence’s Bridge. Its located on the other side of the Thompson River and its where the Thompson and Nicola rivers connect. My grandpa’s house is visible from the highway, the only blue house in the front line of the rez. Up top is my Aunty Barb and Uncle Cliff’s place, with some family spread in between.

The “downtown” area is just the Baits Motel where a scene was shot there for the movie An Unfinished Life. Some homes, the Log Cabin biker bar and then the main attraction, Ruth’s Inn & Bar. The bridge the town’s known for connects the downtown with the other side. A road before the bridge goes down to the post office that used to be the old school.

On the other side of the bridge towards the south is the other rez, simply the South Rez. Here is the Spence’s Bridge Inn, the Community Hall, a thrift shop run by my Aunty Vera. Further down, is the rez part, home to my Aunty Vera’s house and some other homes. Another little thrift shop is here, also a common playground, the old church and a community place.

Ruth’s Inn & Bar was two buildings, a three story inn consisting of twenty rooms; five of which were the presidential suites on the top floor. The Daniel’s bought the land from the Cook’s Ferry Band a long time ago, like seven generations ago. The band office was here but it moved to where the old post office was that also hosts the baseball field. Ruth’s Inn expanded into where people’s homes were, buying them out about four generations ago. Then the bar was built, becoming a separate building itself out back, with a balcony walkway connecting the two buildings. The driveway was connected to the main road, which it went down and snaked back along the bottom of the hill the road was on. Which then leads to a small parking lot, I pulled up to a spot I claimed for myself when I was a teenager. That was located towards the hill near the highway in the far southeast corner.

I parked my beautiful sparkly black with bright red interior 1963 Mercury Comet Convertible. God, I love this car, my Mom bought me this when she went down to Vancouver before my 16th birthday. I have been taken care of it ever since…. Wow... that was like five years ago. A lot has changed since then, my Mom died of sickness two years ago, and I lost the one person I thought was gonna be there for me forever a month after.

I grab my wine red purse I bought my Mom when she was in the hospital, I’ve claimed as to keep her near me. Even though I have her rings on my necklace I bought off the internet, a replica of The Vampire Diaries necklace Elena had. I also got a gold version too, but the chain broke so I keep it at home among the other jewelry. I grab the red and black suitcases that were my Moms, and wheel them into the lobby.

I look around, memories flying at me as I walk through the beautiful sky blue front doors. I look around drinking in the familiar feeling of being here again, it’s been a while. I barely notice when this person comes up to me asking something,

“What? I’m sorry, I was distracted by looking around. My name is Havana West, I have a reservation” I say reaching my hand out to shake theirs,

“Oh you’re Havana! I’ve heard so much about you already, my name is Magnolia Bree. I started to work here a year ago, when my family moved here. Here are your keys, you have three of the presidential suites booked. Everyone is ablazed with talk of the infamous Havana West returning to Ruth’s” Magnolia tells me, with a kind smile as her shoulder length sunshine wavy blonde hair moves every time she does. Her sapphire blue eyes sparkled even inside the lobby. She's wearing a yellow crop top, a size-to-big black and white plaid shirt open over it with white jean shorts. Complete with simple brown boots, a cute gold star necklace and a beautiful small sapphire ring.

“Um, not to seem rude and all, but can you please not call me Havana, it’s the name my Mom had gavin’ me and it’s just...” I simply say with my eyes glossing over, as it was the first time someone called me that since my Mom herself,

“Oh my god. I’m so sorry! I completely forgot what happened! Please forgive me, I just got so excited to meet you I ended up putting my foot in my mouth” Magnolia apologises while smiling sadly as her shoulders tense up,

“It’s okay. You didn’t know, it’s all good, just call me H” I tell her as she seems to relax again.

I smile back at her, seeing as I turn to start to walk up stairs when I hear Magnolia say,

“Sam! Come get H’s bags for her will ya!” she smiles when someone comes into her view, I’ve known that smile,

I’m about to protest when this tall as hell teenager came running up wearing a white tank top, dark wash jeans and cowboy boots. He is sharing her smile as well and it’s clear there is a connection. He’s dark brown hair long enough to cover his hazel eyes messy and all over like he didn’t care.

“No need, I can take my bags up Sam” I try to tell him,

“No, it’s my job ma’am” Sam says grabbing my suitcases as keep Magnolia’s stare,

“Thanks and don’t call me ma’am, I'm only twenty-one” I say laughing walking up the stairs as I hear him fallow,

“Yes ma’am” he says laughing following me up the stairs.

We make it to the little lobby area right above the lobby, meant for the presidential suites. I walk in the middle looking around, seeing the country feel mixed perfectly with the elite taste of a New Yorker.

“Here” I say turning to Sam handing him a twenty dollar bill,

“Thanks H” Sam says smiling, as he turns to head downstairs,

“Hey Sam, take care of her,” I say to him as he looked confused, then understanding what I meant,

“How? And I will” Sam says as he looks at me,

“The smile, I’ve known that smile,” I say as he returns downstairs, leaving me to look around.

Oh yeah I guess I should explain myself abit, my name is Havana West but everyone calls me H, I never felt like an Ava or Ana. I got my name from Cuba’s capital, cause my Mom loved Dirty Dancing : Havana Nights and was apparently conceived from her late B-Day vacay. I was an only child of Angel West, we were very close, everyone says we were more like sisters than mother and daughter. So it devastated me when she got sick and the horrible moment where I had to pull the plug and let her go. Now before you get judgy on me, just know it was a promise I made to my Mom, she told me if it ever came to the point if she lived on a machine or was let go, to let her go because she didn’t want to live on a machine.

I look at the golden keys, we had rooms 3, 4 and 5 to me and my family. I look at them all, rooms 3 and 4 were okay, but room 5 took my breath away. The room was like a dream come true, it was filled with an amazing red with gold and silver highlights throughout the room.

The room leads to a large queen sized bed, covered in a red silk sheet, with gold-sheer curtains over head. Near the door, was the door that lead to the big bathroom, fit for a queen. It had red and gold marble flooring, the counter was the same. The sink was a deep wine red same with the toilet. The towels were red with gold fleur de lis and silver leaves and vines wrapping around them. I look as the walk-in shower’s tiles were red, with silver speckle and big enough to fit five people. Even came with a seat attached to the wall…..huh…..wonder what stories this shower would say if it could.

I leave the bathroom, walking to the middle of the room, seeing the cherry red-stained-wood dressers next to the bed. They had gold handles with silver fleur de lis on the drawers. I start to unpack as I look around, see the wine red couch in front of a big screen TV attached to the wall. A beautiful gold chandelier was above the room making it look classy and elegant.

There was a double doors that lead to a small balcony, the curtains were sheer deep-red with gold fleur de lis and silver leaves and vines wrapping around them. I opened the door, and walked out, looking around as a breeze sent my shoulder-length dark brown roots and platinum-light blonde hair and the curtains to blow around like in a music video. I smile as memories were coming at me like fans when outside a concert of their favourite singer.

I turn to go back in, deciding on walking around for a bit before letting the family who owns this place know I'm here. I leave my room and head downstairs, seeing Magnolia and Sam flirting back and forth. Ah, to be a teen in love again, I know it wasn’t so long since I have been there. But it feels like eons past since I seen him, or even talked with him. It feels weird to no to talk with him... even being this close to him after what happened.

But I shake my head, he’s not the reason I came home, it was my family’s annual get together. But sadly a lot of them can’t make it due to obligations to the family company, W&Y Industries. So it just be my Grandpa Tom, Aunty Marisa, Uncle Stephan, Grandma Darlene, Uncle Raymond and Aunty Hannah. My little cousins Peyton, Ramsey and baby Julia are being taken cared by my assistant Klare at my Grandpa’s for the night. It’s only a five minute drive from here, so it is not bad, they need a night away.

I left the lobby area, it's really this long hallway from the front doors pointing east, towards the back doors that lead to a walk. It was a balcony/cover walkway, with the balcony/cover that lead to the little lobby upstairs for the presidential suites. The balcony/cover walkway leads to the bar out back, I spent many nights here back in highschool. It was the only bar that let sixteen and over, since the other bar, The Log Cabin, was strictly eighteen and over.

But before I went in, I walked the perimeter, a huge field basically of soft grass fenced off. There were flowers and trees all over, my favourite was the willow trees and roses. Rose bushes were lined along the buildings with lavender planted every now and then. Towards the south, there was my favourite spot, it was a fake-natural pool, with two willow trees on the right and left. It wasn’t huge, but not small either, but it was big enough for thirty people to use it…..don’t ask me how I know.

I went to sit at the edge, took off my brown boots, rolled up my jeans and dipped my feet in the warm water. Ahhhh, I haven’t done this since, basically two years ago, after my Mom died. I have been busy with schooling, attending Thompson Rivers University, a business diploma program, which was hard work. But I may have thrown myself into it after my Mom, making me lose touch with everyone. Even the one I didn’t mean to cut out, the one I wanted to be near me.

After sitting there for a while, listening to Shania Twain, I got up, shook my legs, rolling down my jeans and put on my boots. I walked into the bar, looking around as memories flooded my mind again. The dance floor was basically the whole floor, with red booths along the walls, big corner booths, a small stage a little ways to the left across from the front door. The bar was still the cherry-red-stained wood, the stools a bright red with silver legs. I see the red door down south from the front door, that lead to the kitchen in the back toward the east.

I look over to the right, see the red stairs that lead up to the VIP section up top. There were two big rooms above the kitchen for groups of people, me and my friends used them for celebrations. Upstairs was also a door that lead to the balcony/walkway that lead outside and connected the Inn with the Bar. Along the room with the dance floor, it was lined with red couches facing the dance floor. With some small gold side tables on the ends of the couches so people could place their drinks or food. I just looked around, still the same old black paint, covered in memories from years uses.

I was lost in thought when I heard a loud scream, a loud thud and then this person comes running and almost tackled me to the ground…..

masterlist : @daydreamingfairy @mummybear @bilesbilinskix @mrs-mitch-rapp93 @obrosey-af @hayley-noelle-salvatore19 @seashellrosekitty uh if you want just ask to be added!!

[realmofextremepossibility]

Verboten

AU | Part 1/3 | PG - NC17

This was originally supposed to be an @xfpornbattle prompt, but of course, I never finished it. I’ve never really written anything multi-chapter before, so we’ll see how it goes.

**

Naval Air Station North Island, San Diego, California

June 1981

The salt of the sea tangled in her wind mussed tresses. She scrunched her toes deeper into the sand as the surf lapped at her ankles, a siren call beckoning her back to its depths.

A pair of strong tanned arms swept around her suddenly from behind and pulled her firmly against the chest of their owner swaying them gently from side to side, her burst of surprised laughter breaking over the crash of the waves. Her eyes slid closed and lips upturned as his soft lips nuzzled their way from the freckled skin of her shoulder, across the fine bones of her clavicle and up the curve of her neck to her ear.

“God, you are so fucking beautiful, Dana”

He pressed a gentle kiss in that sensitive spot just beneath it before pulling it into to his mouth. His hands crept lower on her hips, long curious fingers edging beneath the suit line, dancing their way towards the thin strings holding the sides together. A gentle tug on her ear…a gentle tug on the strings…closer and closer…

The sound of a car crunching in the driveway gravel jolted her eyes open and her hand from her panties. She jumped up in a panic, quickly wiping her hand on the towel she had laid down.

She peered out the window, her pulse speeding up and another gush of arousal flooding her already sopping underwear.

Fuck. It’s him. He’s here.

Fox Mulder was 19, brilliant, and beautiful, the star of many a late night teenage fantasy beneath the sheets in her darkened bedroom. He was also the on-again, off-again boyfriend of her older sister, Melissa, the forbidden fruit of her lust at whom she was forever allowed to look but never touch.

His tall, lanky frame leaned unaffectedly on the hood of his beat up Jeep, the epitome of cool, hair swept back and aviators perched on his aquiline nose, entirely unaware of the flurry of teenage anxiousness he was causing two floors up.

Her heart rampaged in her chest as she moved from the window to root around in the top drawer of her dresser, flinging her oversized t-shirt over her head in the process.

Damnit, pull yourself together, Dana. You can do this. This is your chance.

Her hand finally landed on what she was looking for and she pulled out the tiniest black bikini she had ever seen, let alone owned. The push-up cups gave her just the right amount of cleavage without looking too risqué and Melissa had insisted she buy it after dragging her to the mall last weekend.

"You need to learn to live a little, Dana," she'd chided, as she shoved her into the fitting room with the scrap of material. "You look smokin' and there isn't going to be a boy in town that can keep his eyes off you!"

Ahab would freak if he knew she had bought something like that. She looked in to the mirror to settle her breasts just right in the top before tugging on the barely there high waisted gym shorts her mother had expressly told she was not to wear in public. “Hot pants” were entirely inappropriate for a captain’s daughter. Her heart picked up speed at the illicitness of it all. Maybe Missy was right, she did need to get out of her comfort zone. And she knew exactly whose eyes she wanted on her.

Melissa and Mulder had been a thing since they met their sophomore year of high school and had broken up and gotten back together more times than she could count. Dana had been just a lowly thirteen year old in junior high, forever in the shadow of her beautiful older sister, but Mulder never treated her that way.  

He was always kind, asking about school and her science classes, indulging her ramblings on Einstein and physics until Melissa pulled him away insisting she was boring him. He never seemed bored though. Bored people didn’t ask that many questions. Relevant questions at that. In a house where she was constantly talked over by Bill Jr. and Melissa, it was nice to have someone interested in what she had to say for once.

It was an innocent wish of a happy 14th birthday and kiss on the cheek that had changed everything. She'd stammered her thanks as her face flushed the color of her hair. Bill Jr. had teased her mercilessly for weeks afterwards. Her hand strayed to her cheek, certain she could still feel the gentle pressure of his soft lips on her skin, even three years later.

She smoothed her hair and leaned into the mirror, dabbing on just a hint of lip gloss and a few swipes of mascara, opting for the more natural look she knew Mulder preferred from one of the occasional eavesdropped conversations she had been privy to over the years.

Dana knew Melissa cared for Mulder, but she wasn’t the type of woman he needed. She was flighty and impulsive, and uninterested in settling down with one guy.

"Life is too short to tether one’s heartstrings to a single person so young, Dana," she'd once told her younger sister. "I want to follow my heart, be free to give and receive love."

What Mulder needed was someone stable and grounded. Someone to hold him when the nightmares about his sister woke him up crying and shivering in a cold sweat. He didn’t need someone to wave healing crystals over his head and babble about the deeper meanings of dreams and how they were the key to unlocking the subconscious.

Okay, so maybe she had eavesdropped more than just a few times. And Mulder’s bad dreams and beauty preferences weren’t the only thing she had “accidentally” overheard.

She’d heard him sneak in Melissa’s window one night, when they thought everyone else was asleep. Their shared bedroom wall was thin and hushed conversation quickly gave way to creaking springs. She could hear his muffled moans and felt an unexpected tingle down below.

She'd closed her eyes, imagining that she was the one making him make those noises. She hadn’t meant to, but she'd suddenly found her hand wandering lower of its own accord, pressing against the heat of her center. She'd quickly snatched her hand away, the nuns’ constant warnings about masturbation being the devil’s handiwork ringing in her head. But she couldn’t stop thinking about how good it felt.

In that moment, her innocent crush had turned into a full-blown obsession.

Dana Scully was a good girl. She was obedient and polite and god fearing. The heady rush of doing something so bad and wrong and downright naughty was intoxicating, even better than the time she sneaked one of her mother’s cigarettes in the dark. It was too tempting to resist. Night after night, she listened for his voice through the walls, a pile of soiled panties growing beneath her bed until she was alone in the house to do her laundry.

She took a final look in the mirror with a pop of her glazed lips and light spritz of Jovan Musk on her pulse points. “Discover the power,” the TV commercial had declared, claiming to bring more men and women together than any other fragrance in history. In a world filled with blatant propositions, brash overtures, bold invitations and brazen proposals, she was going to get her share. Satisfied, she slung her beach bag over her shoulder and headed down the stairs.

She wasn’t one of those immature girls littering the pages of her notebooks with hearts and his name in a loopy cursive scrawl. Mrs. Fox Mulder. Not anymore anyway. No, she was a woman. A woman who was going to show him that she was more than Missy’s kid sister.

As she made her way down the front steps to the driveway, he was still sprawled, god-like, against his car, chewing on that much fantasized about bottom lip and pensively shucking sunflower seeds with his tongue, an errant lock of hair flopping into his eyes.

Dana's fingers twitched with the urge to brush it back and just slide her fingers through his hair, certain it was as soft as it looked.

Keep it cool, Dana. You got this. Shoulders back, stomach in, chest out. Cool, casual, breezy, confident.

She strutted towards him with a subtle sashay of the hips, her chin tipped with an air of disinterest.

Mulder lifted his sunglasses slightly to peer over the mirrored lens, his eyes flitting briefly over the newfound curves of her body that had bloomed since she’d last seen him. Dana felt her face flush with a streak of pride and bit her lip to keep from grinning, willing herself to keep her cool. She had only recently become accustomed to having this power over men, and she’d be lying if she said it didn’t thrill her. For once, boys actually looked at her, instead of just Missy.

“Oh, hi Mulder,” she tossed out as casually and breezy as she could manage. He never let anyone call him Fox.

He pulled off the sunglasses, training the full force of his smile on her, the bright white glinting in the noonday sun. Her insides turned to mush and her knees went weak. He had no idea of his effect on her. It was entirely unfair.

“Hey, Dana!”

Just the sound of her name on his lips made her stomach flutter and crotch moisten again. She could listen to that throaty monotone for hours. She took a deep breath in a futile attempt to settle her nerves and prayed the thundering echo of her pulse wasn't audible outside her own ears.

"What are you doing here? Didn't Missy tell you she was going out of town for the weekend?"

“Oh…” Mulder murmured, his smile fading. He shook his head as if to clear it, suddenly looking like a lost puppy who couldn’t find his owner. “Yeah, I guess she did mention that. I must have forgotten. Sorry, I should go.”

He reached to put his sunglasses back on and turned towards the car.

“Wait!”

Mulder jumped, startled at the force of her tone and her sudden hand on his arm.

Perfect, Dana...that was absolutely chill, cool, calm, and collected. Fantastic.

“You should come with me to the beach,” she offered brightly, doing her best not to frighten him anymore than she already had. “It’ll be fun! Plus, I hear it rains a lot in England, so you should enjoy the California sunshine while you can.”

He smiles softly at her, his mood seeming to lift. “Yeah, okay. I'd like that.”

"I was planning on going down to Coronado -" she began, frantically stopping midway at his scrunched nose of displeasure."But if you have a better idea, I'm down for anywhere!"

Mulder chuckled and rested his hand against the exposed small of her back to guide her towards the Jeep, sending a rash of goosebumps across her skin.

“Actually, I think I do. Hop in, kid. I know just the place.”

[mrjoelgarcia9]

Let’s Talk #Disney’s #StarVsTheForcesOfEvil: Final Thoughts & Season 5

Star Vs. The Forces of Evil was a great deconstruction of the magical girl genre with a Disney twist.

For my Final Thoughts on Disney’s Star Vs The Forces of Evil, as well as the possibility of a fifth season, feel free to keep reading. There will be spoilers.

The two things that made this show stand out from other magical girl shows such as Sailor Moon, an obvious source of inspiration, were how the monsters were treated and the magic literally being destroyed.

In other magical girl shows, monsters are just mindless beings the characters kill and destroy. In this show, they were presented as normal citizens who just want to live their lives. The people of Mewni saw them as threats and second-class citizens. Only the privileged, such as Tom, could be anywhere near them.

Star, Eclipsa, and Marco all treated them as regular people, while everyone else in Mewni wanted them to go away forever. Even when Eclipsa became queen, they simply moved into the forests to build new civilizations and then joined Mina’s army to destroy them all.

Some fans have debated how the monsters were treated as either being racism or colonialism. Regardless of which of the two you may believe the show may have been presenting, it did its best to show it for a younger audience without referencing real world events.

The most divisive aspect about how the show ended was Star’s decision to get rid of magic forever. It says something when it was considered by some online to be the worst finale the day it aired (Coincidentally, Game of Thrones ended later that evening).

It is understandable why some fans did not like how the series ended, with Star no longer being either a princess or magical. There are numerous pieces of fan art and written fiction online which have Star and Marco eventually becoming Queen and King of Mewni (below) and having a daughter who goes on her own adventures with their friends’ children.

The events of the third and fourth seasons all but crushed the possibility of that ever happening. In the end, it made perfect sense for Star to destroy the magic.

She came to the realization that it caused nothing but trouble. Her parents originally sent her to Earth because of her own magical antics, but even then kept using it to do things such as turn a teacher into a monster and endanger her friends several times.

Her mother Moon, Eclipsa, and Meteora all used magic for nefarious purposes. Moon started a war, Eclipsa played around with dark magic, and Meteora used it to consume souls and almost destroy Mewni. 

When Toffee had the magic, via an unaware Ludo, he used it to burn the Book of Spells, kill Glossaryck (the first time), and almost kill Star. Beforehand, he tried to destroy magic by threatening Marco’s life if Star didn’t disable her wand.

Mina’s undying commitment to Queen Solaria, who may have been the only person to treat her with respect, made her use magic to almost not only kill all the monsters but also the royals she believed betrayed Solaria’s legacy.

In other words, magic in this show’s universe was both beneficial and detrimental at the same time. For once, the bad guy was right. 

(On a related note, Michael C. Hall was awesome as Toffee. Also, Eden Sher was great as Star.)

Star simply leveled the playing field by getting rid of all magic forever.

Despite these positives, there were a handful of flaws, such as the intro and the final episodes acting as somewhat of a rushed fifth season.

The theme song was great, but the visuals barely changed and quickly became dated by what was happening within the series. This is mainly an overall issue with Disney’s animated series, which rarely change their intros’ visuals. The only other notable show to change visuals has been DuckTales (2017).

The first intro works for the first season but makes no sense in the second season since Star and Ludo rarely confronted each other.

The second and final intro which began airing in the third season quickly became outdated right after Eclipsa broke out of her crystal. It made even less sense during the fourth season, since Heinous was no longer a threat and Ludo had all but retired.

The last few episodes of the fourth season, starting right after Eclipsa’s coronation, felt like a condensed fifth season. It wrapped up several story threads, such as what happened to Jackie after the breakup, and then went right into the final arc. It felt rushed after the season had relatively good pacing.

Disney supposedly has a “four season rule” for their shows, in which they end after four seasons regardless of their success and popularity. It is a nonsensical concept since some of their shows have had fifth seasons, such as Disney XD’s Avengers Assemble and Disney Channel’s Mickey Mouse.

Additionally, their shows have had odd runs such as Phineas and Ferb running for four seasons consisting of 222 episodes shown throughout eight years.

For comparison, Star ran for four seasons with 77 episodes within four years.

Should this show return for a fifth season or film? No.

“Cleaved” was a great conclusion to the series, leaving the characters happily ever after with a new status quo. It would be weird to continue a show primarily about a magical girl with no magic. It makes as much sense as a sixth season of Gotham.

Also, it might have been really boring and mundane seeing the characters go from fighting the magical forces of evil to probably running a monster hotel. 

It is possible Disney could revive the series by having the magic suddenly return. However, it might be seen as contrived after everything the characters endured. It would be like if Bill Cipher came back the day after Dipper and Mabel left Gravity Falls.

There is always the possibility for a revival. Both the aforementioned Gravity Falls and Phineas and Ferb returned long after their respective finales, the former as a graphic novel and the latter with crossover appearances on Milo Murphy’s Law and an upcoming original film for Disney+.

In the meantime, there are really good fan continuations currently being written and drawn. One great example is @moringmark's Echo Creek: A Tale of Two Butterflies, a web comic centering around Mariposa and Meteora as teenagers living in a post-”Cleaved” world. It is one of the best fan stories I have ever read and I highly recommend it.

MoringMark is also the artist behind the Ship War AU comic, a fun and dramatic retelling of the second season finale which centers around the future children of Marco, Jackie, and Star. At the moment, it appears to be on a permanent hiatus.

Star Vs. The Forces of Evil was yet another great animated series from Disney. While it may not have reached the same type of mainstream success as fellow series Gravity Falls, it had a great story with great characters and a great conclusion. It was a unique deconstruction of the magical girl genre by Disney that is unlikely to be rivaled in the near future.

Unless the show is compared to its successors just like Gravity Falls is compared to every mystery-based animated series ever.

(Amphibia is a cool new show and I can’t wait to see The Owl House.)

The complete series is available to buy on digital providers and can currently be streamed on Hulu.

Until next time, thank you for reading!