#do not under any circumstances call olive olivia | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

lordkingsmith · 10 months ago

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It’s taken days with just this amount. I know I didn’t even scratch the surface, and I’m not gonna add to it unless I get requests or someone else’s list calls for Tommy. The only two exceptions, because otherwise I am done with Tommy Oliver and his progeny lol

Kat: they missed out not making him Pink. A travesty.

Kim: I can’t comment on a character I don’t know. And we really don’t know her yet. And yea I’m not gonna waste any conjecture about her with everything atm e_o

Her kiddos i reason are safe though, lol. Single mom and they’re little little ones. Plus, I gave JJ’s canon kids the oc treatment so it’s only fair I give Olivia oc kids too.

Billy: I like Amanda a lot, honestly. She’s simple, and that’s fitting for a Billy and Tommy that got together shortly after wotc. She’s another one that showed up fully formed for me. I don’t have to explain much, she sort of explains herself.

Aisha; they work as teammates, but not really married to me? So yea it was fairly no brainer to me to have the two be co-parents but not married.

Fillipa is definitely going to be president, yes. This was very much a thought when I made her lol. She’s going to be the president when she gets out of high school and gets into the thick of things properly.

Any time David deals with Lucinda he’s surprised he didn’t start cackling in her face. She absolutely is, and he can hardly keep his composure. She is just like Tommy, but she has Aisha’s good sense.

Bobby; lol yea…the og dark rangers deserve some personality. Just a smidge. Even a drop. But I’ll work with what I’ve got. I prefer the idea he took over as Turbo ranger and if given the option I’m like. So sure Rocky would have chosen anyone else to give Blue to.

If you want to see the inspiration for Drew, mercury stardust the handy ma’am directly influenced her personality and how she does her channel :) absolutely lovely channel and person~ I love watching Mercury when I need a calming moment. She’s amazing~ and Drew is a lot like her in my mind. So definitely an utter sweetie~

Kristen;

Ahahaha, yea….I couldn’t resist a different angle on lord Drakkon, and Kristen presented a very interesting opportunity. Drakkon was always trying to get Tommy as his ranger. And there was no Tommy in that friend group. But, they acted like he did before he was redeemed. And he’s got a type. So, here we are. It’s a train wreck in mid wreck. It’s horrifying and yet mesmerizing.

Katya…will not kill him, at least. Barrett wouldn’t let her, and she won’t go against her brother’s wishes. Her only good side is that kid. The question is if she’d let the others kill him/torture/otherwise-or doing torture or otherwise herself- or not. He’s in a race for his life against her imminent boredom. At the very least he’s got Barrett on his side. Trakeena and the other evil daughters did influence her a bit lol. Imagine a very intense Trakeena who becomes a Marah around her brother

Barrett absolutely needs to get away from his family asap. He’d be smart to abandon Katya, but he won’t. So Spike is doing his best in the circumstances. He is under a lot of pressure, but he’s keeping this kiddo alive and helping become a full person and not an eagle like the others in his family

Zack; heh. I mean. That’s part of this as a thought experiment, you know? I felt really mean, but it made sense. It could have easily gone this way. So I explored it. It’s terrible this is what causes a better safety net; but it also made sense to me. And Landon’s a sweetie. He’s happy to do it.

Stan: so I actually was thinking of a lot of kids for Stan when you requested Matt. I was still compiling Tommy’s list so I slid Stan in. Stan has a few but they’re not really going to be shown. I’m still debating adding the Stan/Billy one to Billy’s list. But, since I thought of Jurian and this au then it was remiss of me not to include him and the idea here.

Tommy absolutely would get his ass kicked by the wiry older brother, and everyone knows it. Skull is absolutely laughing his ass off whenever he sees his brother with Tommy and Tommy’s -gasp- listening to sense! Plus they’d make a kind of odd couple that you don’t come across much. Everyone finds them funny.

K is purple yes~~~~

Yup yup, Stan joins the club with his brother lol. Spike loves his baby cousin. Probably shifts to look like him now and then to help too~

Anton/Mesogog; 😭😭😭😭 yea, yea it’s a very bad ending idea. Poor baby. Trent is the saving grace. I almost didn’t add the bonus alternative au but I needed it myself

Delphine; probably not well but yea better not to dwell on it. Nautilus is just fantastic despite their parents and how well that’s working XD

Aurico; a bit yea lol. Figured I’d lean into it a little. Mm, no, Corcus is the black Aquitar Ranger. The only Color Aquitar doesn’t have for sure is Pink. Though I don’t doubt Corcus would let Wave take the Aquitar Black if the color itself was amenable to the boy. Corcus seems like a good guy.

Dulcea; she might have been giving all the boys eyes but she only openly flirted with Adam, unfortunately for Adam. I wasn’t sure if she’d really go after Tommy, so I didn’t do that. Plus I like the idea of him being a single parent with an adoptive daughter.

Marleau; yea I don’t know where this came from. I was just minding my own business and then went “but what if Marleau?!” And that was that lol. Their daughter has the best girlfriend~

Trey: …-looks over at Corcus and Aurico- oh trust me. Not the most painful on Trey’s list. Maybe the most headache inducing though? Halsey’s definitely a sweetie which is good yea

Richie;

JJ is a stubborn idiot XD I don’t think he would admit Benji’s got some good points even at gunpoint. We can only hope he eventually comes to the right conclusion but I’m not holding my breath lol. For now the brothers are just gonna duke it out over their differences of opinions

Tommy Oliver Canon and Oc Children and grandchildren

My god this man has so many. Why did he have chemistry with everyone he met. This list is going to be long. Very very long. A cut is necessary this is going to be a wall. I'm also just doing all the ones off the top of my head, but if there's any i miss you wanna see, just request and I'll add them to the list. My only hard no's are Rita, Rito, and Zedd. not for any super specific reason other than I don't really feel like trying to think of how a kid would work given how much Tommy deeply hates and fears these three. Kim and Kat I could reason through, even if I didn't like the ships, same with Bulk and Skull. I...just cannot come up with good ones for Tommy for those three, sorry.

but! I am so so SO glad you guys are taking this opportunity to make your own kids. That was my intent and I love seeing them! I can’t wait to see even more 😁😁 if anyone wants to cover the ones I don’t/won’t, feel free too~

Canon children:

Katherine Hillard;

JJ Oliver. He seems to be in his early to mid 20’s in comics, and is child aged in tv show. Personality wise we know he’s got a chip on his shoulder, he has a misplaced sense of danger and is perfectly happy sassing someone while they’re threatening to kill him. Seems to be messy and enjoys outdoor activities such as cross country biking and competitions and fighting and is in karate competitions. His relationship to his dad is Rocky. Unfortunately unknown how he gets on with his mom. Possibly good since she’s the one attending his competitions and Tommy is. Not. Personally I actually like JJ, but more because he’s got some interesting groundwork. Do I think he should be green? -cackles- nooooo. He’d be a more interesting Pink. We’ll see if I like his alternate reality half sister more lol. JJ is the SPD green as well as green dragon mighty Morphin ranger.

Kimberly Hart;

Olivia Hart, seems to be in her 20’s, more information will be added later

Canon Grandchildren:

Grandchildren by Katherine Hillard;

While I have made an au version of Tommy and Kat's grandsons, and will animate them, I will include the canon two. Nameless kids at the end of a Christmas special for zeo. One of them is a zeo red ranger. Technically the first canon legacy ranger, but he’s nameless and seems preoccupied. Seems on good enough terms with his grandparents and baby brother so that’s good. Their parents are unknown but their dad is probably JJ. I named the older one Ethan, too bad he was never given a canon consideration. Both these two and JJ are blank slates. This is a good and bad thing. But I like thinking this canon version is in a world where Zordon is still alive and the little red Zeo ranger doesn’t know his grandparents are the first zeo rangers. Yet.

Alternate universe grandchildren:

JJ Oliver;

Two sons. One was a red ranger, and then became a blue. He’s dating the purple ranger of his current team, a troll named Milo. Ethan is mute due to an injury and fluent in ASL. His best friend is Chloe Bulkmeier-Hart, who is the pink ranger of his current (and previous-girl is just an absolute pink through and through) team. He misses his younger half brother a lot. Ethan was born by accident while JJ was undercover. He loves his stem mom Anara, however. He knows when Milo meets her he will, too. He was Red of the team Fable Force and is currently Blue if the team Hellion Squad. He’s Hellion Blue, and his element is blue fire. He’s 21 and has been at the mercy of Rito Revolto while being presumed dead for the last two years. He used to babysit Pepper Skullovitch with Chloe, and had an antagonistic relationship with both Iva Song and Max Irons. He finds it funny that the two former comedy duo are both rangers, now. Manages to break mind control because of his brother attacking Rito Revolto.

His half brother, (haven’t decided on name) is ten years old. Sarcastic little so and so, not afraid to kick magic skeletons in the knees. Is babysat by Pepper and Charlie. He wants his brother back and he loves power rangers.

Olivia Hart;

Although Tommy died long before he could really get to see his daughter grow up, she did and she’s thriving. She never got married, she did have two kids. One adopted one not, but the other parent doesn’t matter-at least, they’re not at the age that it matters yet and she’s not going to contend with the fact the baby may or may not be a demigod. Theo, aged twelve, and Clover, eight months, love their mom and grandma. At least Theo does. Clover’s just a baby and generally loves everyone who holds her. Adopted at two, Theo knows about power rangers, knows about his mom being one, knows his grandparents were. Doesn’t particularly care aside from the fact his family helps people. Theo reads a lot, and draws, and helps his mom take care of things. She’s trying to run a small business while also being a Green Ranger, and Theo when he’s home from school is used to juggling school work and babysitting. His only hard me time days are the weekends, when he’s got little league baseball or chess. Olivia supports and understands this, and so far she and Kim have attended every single game and tournament. Has bashed putties in their faces in defense of Clover, before. He got a cake for that one. Privately Olivia knows Tommy loves these two, if he’s watching. And she’s certain he is.

Neither Theo nor Clover are associated with a color. Nor do I see them ever being associated with a color.

Alternate universe oc children:

Billy Cranston;

After surviving the world of the coinless together, the two got very close. Tommy was the first person Billy came out to, Billy was the first guy Tommy went all the way with. They have one daughter. Her name is Amanda Oliver. Aged 19. Amanda is adopted, and completely spoiled by her dads. She wants for nothing, and she loves them back deeply. She's a karate instructor, and a power ranger mentor. She's got a really open relationship with her parents, and trusts them to trust her, and they do. A little bit of a heartbreaker, finds it difficult to lie, loves science and kids.

Eugene Skullovitch;

Tommy invited Skull to a carnival. After first being asked if Skull was a rebound-with a fast follow up to make sure Tommy wasn't taking him to something run entirely by putties-and then asking if he was sure sure Goldar and Skorpina wouldn't be there-Tommy decided he was going to make this a date. and the best one of Skull's life. The effort to help this guy have a proper, healthy, fair love life, meant it more or less accidentally lead to falling in love and while not marriage, they do live together. They have Spike, an adopted daughter Eliza, and a son together named Hunter. Rita thought it'd "bury the hatchet" and had the forethought to let them know she'd decided her first act of being nice would be something that would benefit them. Has not in fact, buried any negative feelings but the effort did mean something. Tommy's straight up told all three of his kids they're not allowed to go to Briarwood. Just in case.

Eliza "Lizzie" Oliver is 21, and wants to be a reporter. Thinks Tommy's worries are a little extreme when they directly affect his kids' lives, but she humors him even as an adult, because she loves him and wants to see him happy. A little selfish, but very smart. Good at picking up on subtext and helps explain things that go over her brothers' heads when she's with them. Tommy's too because he might be smart, but the man is kinda dumb. Not very organized, but somehow always has what she needs in her giant purse. Very resourceful, knows how to pick locks, and is capable of two types of martial arts.

Hunter Oliver-Skullovitch is 16. He's just trying to get through highschool guys, please let him get through highschool. He's been kidnapped twice, and he really just wants to be left alone. More of a punk than Tommy gets, but Tommy and Skull are supportive of his tastes and choices in life. Unfortunately everybody wants a piece of this kid, and while he's not associated with any color (by sheer force of will), this is not from lack of attempts. Hunter's just very very good at making himself too much of a nuisance to be worth taking. Like his siblings he knows two types of martial arts, can pick locks, knows how to get into vents, knows four ways to get out of ropes and other bindings, and can say "help me I've been kidnapped" in twelve languages. as well as "fire!" and "that's not a human!". He loves monster movies, because the monsters actually seem to pose a challenge. He and Tommy do have an understanding, and Tommy and Skull are both happy to let Hunter have a choice in becoming a ranger. He won't get forced into it, if he does he will do this fully with his eyes open and knowing what he's getting into. He will become a black ranger, when he's around 20, and it will be his choice.

Farkas Bulkmeier;

Bulk had been mildly afraid of Tommy since day of the dumpster but after the first couple weeks, he mellowed out. A LOT. Unfortunately Tommy's walking eye candy and that entailed a lot of attention by a lot of pretty people. Bulk found it easier to simply antagonize him rather than directly compete with everyone else. They've had a fun flirtatious back and forth for years. Things got a lot more of a lot more when Bulk came back from Mirinoi, and Tommy of all people got him in a hug so tight he thought he was going to actually get a broken back. They reconnected and opened a small hotel together. It's nothing spectacular but it's consistently filled with people, some of whom even choose their hotel again for future vacations. A couple years after the 'this is going to flop' fear subsided, business partners became married partners. Tommy and Bulk chose to go the adoption and surrogate route. Adoption because Tommy wanted to give a good life to someone who needed it, much like he'd been given, and surrogate because a friend asked during New Years when they were gently shooing them out of the hotel a little after midnight so they could sleep and their kid could sleep. The question had stuck around, which lead to an awkward conversation, which lead to asking around if anyone was willing. The surrogacy via Trini lead to twins, much to everyone's surprise. David thought this was hilarious. Tommy apologized profusely to Trini, who had to remind him he didn't control that. And she was willing to help them prepare for twins if they were.

They have three kids. Beckett, adopted at nine and currently 21 and working at the hotel to save up for college, and the twins. Trinity and Leon, born when Beckett was twelve. Rambunctious, and taking after Tommy a lot. There is no brain cell between them. The hotel is their personal playground when they have to spend time at home, much to the chagrin of Tommy and Bulk, though they have managed to make this work in their favor, and many of the twins' games also double as their chores.

Beckett's the straight man type. He's very up front, responsible, and charming when he wants to be. He can switch from business to leisure at the drop of a dime, is good with money, and knows Angel Grove like the back of his hand. He is practically a walking tour, and has debated whether or not it'd be worth setting up a tour guide side business to help the hotel, and his wallet. Bulk respects the hustle. Tommy just wants him to be careful. Beckett's going into business management. He doesn't necessarily want to take over; it'd be fun to open up a rival place for a while just to see how he does. He's also prepared for any and every eventuality. Living with this family, he's got to be. Not that he minds, he used to wander Boston streets all day and go to the boy's home at night. Tommy ran into him on the street wandering back, and it was basically an immediate whirlwind of Beckett becoming Beckett Oliver and going to live with Bulk and Tommy.

Trinity is the older of the twins by four hours. She's also the go getter and more of the risk taker. She is dragging Leon along after for better or for worse, because no he's not going to let his sister do something dumb alone. That's lonely! They've had run ins with a lot of supernatural things, but that's par for the course so half of them Tommy and Bulk don't know about. Trinity is more likely to fight something twice her size. Also more likely to jump from the second story railing to see if she can fly (she nearly gave Bulk a heart attack and he caught her before she could begin her downward trend. Luckily he knew her by that point). Not currently a color but she's Tommy's. She's going to be a green ranger when she's older. Tommy and Bulk have the twins in judo classes.

Leon's the more careful of the two but that's not saying much. Still the one that decided to experiment with dishsoap in the laundromat. He was grounded for a month. He's also more of the curious one, in the book sense. If he doesn't know, he asks. It's less of a headache. More of a direct talker than his sister, very polite. Is not adverse to using his sister or brother as a distraction. Enjoys parkour, even at nine. He likes detective stories. Enjoys birdwatching. This isn't a calming activity for him; he walked onto a cliff to see if a bird was an eagle. It was. He nearly got very very hurt. Tommy, fortunately, knows him. general rule with the twins is if Beckett Tommy or Bulk is with them it's for everyone else's protection; not their own. Leon is not associated with a color, but he's Tommy's. He'll be a white ranger when he's older.

Although many adversaries did have their eyes on these kids for a time-absolutely not, it's too much trouble. Tommy and Bulk are at least a little self aware and their kids are fully prepared to turn the hotel into a massive booby trap. There's a protocol and everything.

in a tangential au, Beckett is a ranger and passes the Power to either Leon or Trinity as his chosen replacement, so depending he's either white or green.

Matthew Cook;

Tommy and Matt did not really like each other at the beginning. Matt blames Tommy for so so much, but can't do anything about it, and Tommy's missing Dragon Green something terrible and dealing with massive amounts of PTSD for related but different reasons than Matt. Rita trapped them together in a gladitorial area of the Dark Dimension, and Tommy and Matt managed to talk to each other and get into an understanding. When they started dating, it was actually Grace who saw an opportunity, not Rita. But it’d be three more years before she could enact the plan. She didn’t tell Terona, and she was intending to eventually get every coin as well, for a full set.

Verdun Cook is 24, he’s the green dragon ranger, and he’s never met his dads. He’s a top agent for protection of earth. He thinks his parents gave him up to Grace. They think he died in infancy, an unfortunate complication in how he was made. They also think the dragon dagger was destroyed as well, around the same time. When parents and son finally meet, Tommy and Matt are furious. Billy’s furious. Terona's furious. He got Verdun to Tommy and Matt when he found out, even. Everyone’s furious. Matt and Tommy have Verdun live with them to acclimate to civilian life, and get used to being a person. His entire life has been as a weapon; he’s trying to very rapidly learn how to be human. It’s not like he was a success in the program either; the plan was a whole team of legacy rangers in their parents Colors, and he was the only one they could get.

Currently the only people allowed to mess with Tommy and Matt’s DNA is Billy and the Aquitarans and, hilariously, Zedd. He only made a clone. He was very transparent about what he was intending for the clone. Tommy knows where the clone is. He DIDN’T know where his son was, that he was alive, what Grace was intending or what he was doing. He and Matt are in agreement; If they had to chose they’d choose Zedd with their DNA.

When they thought their biological son had died; they adopted. Ricky is fifteen, not associated with a color, and is trying to get used to this with along with their dads. Ricky really is trying to be nice as well, but his overenthusiasm and attempts at bonding are often coming off too strong and borderline antagonistic. He doesn't mean to be. But the bright side is Ricky’s got someone to hang out with. And better yet, Verdun knows nothing about video games, pop culture, or really anything. So. Who wants to watch Star Wars? Ricky's got mixed feelings about his brother, but they're ranging from sad to excited, there's nothing jealousy related. Their dads are awesome, and he's sad Verdun never got to grow up with their dads. And he's excited to be able to have fun with his brother. Ricky is very excitable, and works on the school newspaper. He does volleyball, and has goals to be valedictorian when he graduates. Friendly, upbeat, can sometimes take things too far, but he tries to make those moments right.

They’re all making up for lost time with Verdun. It’s long overdue. At least both kids get along.

Jason Lee Scott;

It started with a challenge, because for these two, it always starts with a challenge. Trying to out do the other in asking each other out, the date, and then the proposals. Because the one who can't top the last proposal has to say yes. because you can't one up a proposal if you're already married. So they've been engaged with no wedding date in sight for decades, going back and forth with proposals. Most everyone is amused, but their two kids are mostly Done with their dads. Travis Scott, aged 26, and Celeste Scott, aged 22, love their dads but cannot with either of them. Travis is a famous race car driver and a gold ranger, Celeste is going into mechanics with a focus on teaching, her goal being a shop teacher for highschool students and a red ranger, and they love their dads but everything is an eternal competition between Jason and Tommy, and it sometimes feel loving their kids is a competition, too.

Violet decided to help Jason and Tommy when they were looking at surrogacy, and was not amused by the fact they decided who the father would be with an arm wrestling match, best two out of three. Jason won. Violet insisted on naming the kid for them so it wouldn't turn into another contest. Jason and Tommy do love each other, but it's so hard for them to be anything but competitive. It's literally their love language. They do make a great team raising their kids, however, and Travis was a bit of a gearhead almost before he could walk, fascinated with cars and bikes and everything with wheels. His first (self chosen) halloween costume was the megazoid, made lovingly out of boxes, construction paper, paint, and paper mache. When he found out Tommy had been a race car driver when he and Jason were considering kids at all, well. His fate was sealed. He's got a rap sheet for illegal drag races, speeding, and a few other things. Jason had to take away the keys for a year while Tommy worked on getting Travis on board with the concept of "time and place" because while Tommy is dumb of ass and pure of heart, he does not fuck around with safety around mechanical objects. especially cars. Now, however, Travis is thriving. He is not on the same team as his sister, ironically while he hates how competitive his parents are, he and his sister are almost worse with their rival ranger teams. Travis is just like Tommy, but tends to have the same manner of dealing with feelings as Jason; bottling to the detriment of everyone around him. Intense, but well meaning. Strong willed and stubborn, but often gets into things on pure righteous fury, or out of a sense of competition or excitement. More than one person has asked him "how are you still alive".

Celeste was adopted in infancy a few years after Travis was born. Tommy has always liked the idea of adoption, and was always grateful for being adopted into the family he was. David threatened them both with their lives if they turned this into a competition, and watched them very very closely through every step. When she was two years old, Celeste stole Travis' toy car and he bopped her in the face to get it back. if you ask Jason, that's the moment the two became rivals. She's been a mild terror, taking apart most things she could get her hands on and later figuring out how to put them back together. The vacuum, the family car, she's just having fun. She also is a little bit of a know it all, especially over mechanical things, and will lecture to whoever listens, though the complexity tends to depend on who she's talking to. Her teammates? a good way to practice going over the subject with teenagers. Her parents? as indepth as she likes. Her brother? middle ground. He knows how cars work, but not how to fix in a pinch. She's become a red ranger because opportunity presented itself, and her brother's two towns over and she loves sending him selfies of her exploits. He's quickly gotten into it as well.

Rocky DeSantos;

Rocky and Tommy always had a rather amicable relationship, which lead to a very comfortable dating life. It wasn't a sparks fly insta love thing, but more like a very slow burn of embers. And after years and years of doing things and having each other's backs and being red and blue and white and red and all that this all entails...it got to the point they looked at each other and couldn't think of anyone else they'd want to be with. They have four kids; Dannica DeSantos, aged 26, Markus DeSantos, aged 24, Johanna DeSantos, aged 20, and Halen DeSantos, aged 17. Tommy and Rocky are currently taking a break (being teammates and lovers on several teams and effectively at each other's hips for decades will do that), but are doing it more to save their marriage than preparing to divorce. Halen's living with Tommy during this, as Rocky is the firefighter chief, and is only at the house three days every two weeks during fire season. Better to have a parent who can actually dedicate time to being a proper parent to the one kid that still needs it. All kids except Halen are scientifically mixed dna of Tommy and Rocky, through cashing on a favor of Billy and the Aquitans. Halen is adopted.

Dannica DeSantos is a racecar driver. She's been a speed demon since she learned how to ride a tricycle, and has been relatively unstoppable since. She has given her parents panic attacks. She's been in jail over the fact she used to do illegal drag races in her teens. Tommy had to put a stop to this by getting behind the steering wheel again and taking his own daughter on in a race. If he won, she waited till she was 18 to pursue this as a career-the legitimate way. If he lost, he'd give her the keys and say nothing. Tommy won, barely. She was pissed, but she honored her word. They had a few years of tenuous peace with warnings interspersed that yes, traffic is awful, but no you can't drive through a park to get to your job on time, Dannica, no.

Since starting her career, though, this has gone down quite a lot and she's been a lot better about being responsible off the racetrack. She refrains from using the name 'Oliver' to her advantage; she wants to do this the right way. She's insanely competitive, and has a very strong code of ethics. She doesn't cheat, she doesn't cut corners, and she's not going to start. The only way to do anything is the right way, and what does it say about everyone else who cheats who keeps losing to her, anyway? Loves her brothers and sister, but she doesn't really get along with her dads. She's the most intense parts of both of them, and while they love each other, it's better to love each other at a distance. She gets the fact they're currently separated; you just gotta take a break sometimes. Not associated with a color, and as she'd willingly drive a car into someone, this is perhaps a good thing.

Markus DeSantos is going to school to be a physical therapist. Probably the most easy going of the siblings, he's a lot like his dads. He's kind of wanted to do this since finding out about the accidents that wrecked Tommy and Rocky's backs for a long time (and even to a point up to now) and lead to them both finally retiring from ranger work. Tommy has to walk with a cane, and Rocky's dependent on painkillers. With excercise. Markus gets that because his dads are so vigorous with their exercise and a lot of luck they were able to skirt past anything worse, and he wants to help people get similar results where possible. So, physical therapist. He's a happy go lucky but take no shit kind of guy. He's nice about it, but nobody gets away with anything around him. And often find themselves doing what they should, under the impression it was their own idea, some hours after talking to him. He loves food, loves his siblings, though he generally gets along with Rocky better than Tommy. But, he manages to get Tommy to do what he's supposed to, because his dad is very much a stubborn idiot about things that are good for him. Checks in often with Halen and makes sure he's doing ok during everything. Keeps both his dads' fridges stocked. Not associated with a color, though he was offered black once. Kept this to himself, he doesn't want to deal with the inevitable "well why didn't you" if he says anything. He didn't because it'd get in the way of goals he already had, that's all. He did suggest someone else, and they're doing very very well, so there's that.

Johanna is assistant manager at the Juice Bar, and thriving. Everything is going well for her. She's got a famous sister, two famous parents, and likes cooking, coming up with new flavors to try on the blackboard, and generally being assistant manager. Does she want to go to school? Maybe. Does she know what for? Not yet, but if she ever figures it out she's willing to go. She's into competitive gaming as a side thing, but it's not her life. Her life is fairly full of other things. She lives with Markus in a rental home, and Halen whenever he needs a break from Tommy. She loves holidays and wears themed clothes every single holiday. She wears bunny ears without shame with extra fluffy skirts every easter, and she's highly embarrassing on Thanksgiving with her turky legwarmers. However, her siblings love her and wouldn't have her any other way. A good source of advice to anyone who needs it, though she tries to stay out of Markus and Dannica's way, because they both get into moods where no amount of advice no matter how gently given will ever be heeded. And she's not going to waste time on useless endeavors.

She sometimes stands in for the karate classes when her girlfriend has to skip. Johanna knows she's dating the pink ranger, and Rose knows Johanna knows. Johanna doesn't mind filling in for Rose when fights edge into class times. Rose would do the same for her if their situations were switched.Johanna isn't associated with a color herself.

Halen DeSantos was adopted when he was six. He was adopted out of foster care, and remembers his last foster care parents. They were nice, but had eight other foster kids. Halen found it no less chaotic but somehow warmer when he got adopted by Rocky and Tommy. Their kids instantly swept him into their midst as sibling, and it was easy to slide into this as well. They squabbled and stepped on each other's toes and got on each other's nerves, but there was a deep love throughout. It is tough finishing high school while Tommy and Rocky don't live together-and Tommy is his biology teacher-but he's trying to remember it's not because they hate each other, it's just gotten a little much right now, and they do still love each other. His siblings always seem to know when he's feeling really low, however, and it's nice being able to get his mind off things. Kind of wants to go into paleontology, like Tommy, or firefighting, like Rocky. He hasn't decided yet, but he knows whatever he chooses, he's going to be supported in it.

Aisha Campbell;

While Aisha acknowledges Tommy as the leader, she doesn’t let him get away with shit. Uniquely while Kat and Kim and Trini didn’t either, Aisha and Tommy had just enough of a rivalry together that Tommy couldn’t quite dare to pull some things around Aisha. Aisha came after the whole “villain Tommy” and just knew him as the himbo dork who loved his friends and being a power ranger.

They never got married, but they do have kids together. Mostly they live with their lives revolving around each other and their kids, but never quite together together. Aisha didn’t think she could be whatever Tommy was looking for and Tommy knew he wasn’t that for Aisha either. But, they liked each other enough for kids, and they’re still good friends. It’s fairly amicable and flexible. They have twin daughters, Fillipa and Lucinda Campbell, aged sixteen.

Fillipa is older by eight hours. She’s into sword-dancing and gymnastics. Friendly to everyone, but doesn’t let anyone walk over her. Fillipa is the school class president, and helped set up a other species welcoming committee into the school. Other variations of humans, aliens, mutants, magical species, even androids, are welcomed and the committee helps incorporate them into the school into friend groups to encourage fellow classmates and teachers to treat these new classmates as normal people. It’s an uphill battle, but she thinks it’s worth it. Her running mate and best friend is a young Tenga queen named Clack, and both of them believe everyone could benefit from a friendship like theirs. It’s been bumpy but it’s somewhat working. At the very least it seems the current ranger team is made up of a wide range of species, and this makes Fillipa very very happy. Not associated with a color but if she were it’d be yellow.

Lucinda Campbell is a rodeo horseback rider, and does the Indian bareback racing and bronco riding. Aisha saw her daughter fall in love with mechanical bucking bronco rides at the mall, looked over at Tommy and went “if I see her as a red ranger later I’m blaming you.” Lucinda isn’t a red ranger.

She’s a green.

Hilariously neither Tommy nor Aisha seem to have realized this yet. Then again, the most green she wears is a green braided bracelet and socks. She loves her sister, and is grateful to her and Clack for being advocates for normalizing species integration, because she couldn’t possibly ask for a better team. They have each other’s backs, cover for each other, take part and enjoy each other’s hobbies, and she loves them all deeply. This is her team.

She’s not supposed to be doing anything with wild horses; she promised her parents not till she was in her 20’s. She’s also got such a skill with them now that if they saw her they’d instantly know she was a ranger. So, this is also a secret. At least good old uncle David’s willing to keep the secret. And offer advise to the team and his nieces when needed.

Adam Park;

They’d been friends since a bit before the transfer, and Tommy was Adam’s leader for years on three or four different ranger teams. There’s a level of trust there you don’t usually get, and they were both black and green rangers in their lives. After Tommy became Dino Thunder Black, and shortly after a divorce between him and Kat, Adam and Tommy started spending more time together. The getting together thing was an accident. Both of them at a Christmas party and then things going from one thing to the next, and Tommy says he’s never felt so at home waking up in someone’s arms.

They have one son together, Isaiah Park. Tommy cashed in on a favor owed by Grace, and soon enough JJ Oliver was trying to figure out where his baby half brother had come from. His opinion was Adam, because he was shorter. It wasn’t until several years later they were able to explain it in a way JJ would understand and accept. But they never let him live the cute story down, to his embarrassment. Given Tommy’s immunity to time fluctuations and manipulations by the Machine Empire, they found out they were living in the same town as Time Force. Tommy was able to complete a doctorate in, to Adam’s perception, a day. Tommy is a lead paleontologist due to this, and Adam works at the museum. However given Tommy being Tommy, there is currently a divorce. Tommy wears his trauma on his sleeve and Adam has given up trying to fix him.

Isaiah Park is sixteen. He’s quiet, thoughtful, and tends to think with his emotions rather than his mind. Lucky, charming, and a natural heartthrob to his school, though he doesn’t seem to notice. Loves music, especially classical, and reading. He hasn’t really thought about being a power ranger, though he wouldn’t say no if he was asked. He was babysat by the Dino Thunder team as a kid, and kidnapped by Mesogog once. All hell broke loose when this happened, and Isaiah’s unsure if he wants to be a ranger when this sort of danger could happen to any of his loved ones. Tommy and Adam are currently in the process of divorce, and Isaiah’s getting used to that idea as well, but it’s nice having JJ to talk to about it.

He has enough to deal with with his dads. They love telling the story of when he was three, they’d go “see you later alligator” and “after awhile Crocodile” and he’d respond, loudly and enthusiastically; “bye bye, froggie!” To this day he’s been unable to get them to stop telling this story to his friends, love interests, and any adult who’d listen. JJ feels the pain. Isaiah is not associated with any color. This is probably a good thing. However if he was, it’d be black.

Bobby (last name unknown);

The green candle was used on a group of bullies who’d recently joined Angel Grove as new students from another school by Zedd, and made the Mighty Morphin Dark Rangers. Dark mirrors to the Mighty Morphin team, except for Tommy. Bobby is the Blue Dark Ranger, and as you’d guess, Billy’s bully counterpart. Tommy was meant to be brainwashed and pulled back into the side of evil with the five mind controlled bullies, but didn’t. They freed the five, and the five became better people and stopped being bullies.

However in this version, instead of Justin Stewart becoming the Blue Turbo Ranger, it was Bobby. Bobby was able to convince Zordon not to recruit a child, and Rocky decided he’d rather have Bobby take his place than the eleven year old. Which was well and fine, and suited everyone a bit better given Bobby had some experience with being a ranger anyway.

He and Tommy bonded over their past stints as bullies turned evil rangers turned good people, and it led to sparks flying. Tommy and Kat broke up, and Kat got together with Kim while Tommy got together with Bobby. Twenty years later, Tommy is a professional race car driver and Bobby is his head mechanic. They have one daughter via adoption, Drew Oliver, aged 16.

Drew’s more of a wood working type of person, and prefers working in the wood shop classes at school. She’s interested in doing carpentry professionally, and Bobby and Tommy don’t see why not. It’s a stable job, good paying, and everyone needs a table, door, chair, and the like, and if you can do quality work you’re never going to go out of business. She also does how to’s on YouTube, and there’s a running joke about her dads, especially Tommy, helping or walking through in the background. Anytime someone brings Tommy up, she deflects with “nah, it’s his clone Tom” or “Tommy Oliver breaks cameras just by walking past him. Couldn’t possibly be” or “Tommy Oliver? :0 who’s that?” Tommy thinks this is hilarious, and he’s returned the joke in kind in interviews. Especially when Drew tags along. Not associated with a color.

Kristen (last name unknown);

Tommy’s fate seems to always revolve around pink rangers, and Kristen is no different. Instead of freeing the Dark Rangers, Tommy joined their ranks and quickly got into a relationship with Kristen. They now rule the galaxy with the Dark rangers by their side. They have two kids, a daughter, Katya, aged 24, and a son, Barrett, aged 16.

Katya is the heir apparent to the known universe and a rather spoiled and self confident little princess. In her opinion she is the center of the universe because of course she is. Everyone has always put her and Jaeris first, or died about it. She’s the current Pink Dark ranger and the leader of the team over her brother being the current red (they go through reds…rather quickly). She’s older, she’s smarter, she’s more clever and she’s the prettiest pink ever so of course she’s the leader. She and Spike Skullovitch have a very visceral love hate relationship. It’s explosive, literally. He’s trying to get his parents out of the extensive prisons, and she’s aware he’s a spy and resistance fighter. Her body guard is also actively trying to kill her. They’re very enemies to lovers. This girl considers blowing up meteors and planets a fun past time. Spike wants a raise. Her parents indulge whatever she wants to do because she’s effective at what she’s going to keep the family in control. Again, Spike wants a raise. A huge huge huge raise. At least her little brother seems okay, and he’s been gently working on making Barrett aware that this is very very wrong, and convince him to become better. Because Katya loves her brother. So, redeem the brother, redeem the sister. And maybe save the universe in the process. If Spike doesn’t get turned in by a bored Katya first.

Barrett isn’t really excited to be a red ranger. There’s been ten since Aster turned sixteen, and while he doubts she’d cause his death, she’s more protective of him than anyone else, it’s everyone else on the team he doesn’t trust. Bobby is the last member of the original team, and their parents’ advisor. He keeps everyone in check and Barrett somehow trusts him least. The first Red Dark Ranger was Bobby’s best friend and now he’s dead, after all. Or at the very least, presumed missing. Plus, Barrett likes his sister’s new babysitter body guard Spike and Spike’s really nice to him. Through Spike he realized he likes model space craft and building ships in bottles. Through Spike he was introduced to underground fighting (by accident), and found out about the darker aspects of the empire. Spike makes him question everything, but Barrett has to be careful. He’s a prince, sure, but he’s more expendable than his sister. He’s not the heir apparent, after all. He’s careful around his sister, but he knows she’s got his back. He just has to lead her to the obvious conclusion; overthrow their parents and Bobby.

Zack Taylor;

Tommy is an airhead, and very hard to convince he’s being flirted with. Kimberly, for months, tried to flirt with her new teammate, and eventually moved on because it just didn’t connect in Tommy’s head. He misunderstood Zack trying to explain it to him as Zack flirting, which made a little bit of a mess, but once it was sorted out Kimberly was dating someone else, and Tommy and Zack realized they did like each other. So they started dating, although there was some hurt feelings between themselves and Kim for a long while. Unfortunately, shortly after they successfully adopted a four year old, Tommy disappeared.

Eighteen years later, Landon Taylor works at Promethea as a systems programmer intern. It’s the closest to Tommy and Zack’s old work that Landon can get. Zack doesn’t want him any closer, and Billy, now CEO of Promethea, takes care of his old friends’ son. Landon admires Promethea and power rangers immensely. He wants to help them by any means he possibly can, and he does so to the best of his ability.

Nothing has come of years of searching for Tommy, and vice president Zack Taylor has proposed several amendments to help protect the teenagers that become rangers. He knows better than to make it illegal for teens and young adults to be rangers like some propose, but he also knows there needs to be suitable protective safety nets just in case. He’s proud of Landon, who’s helping program these safety nets, and he’s proud of the current rangers.

Trini Kwan;

During the incident where Zedd was twisting a neighbor girl of Trini’s into an evil princess on a magic island, Tommy went to help the girl, confident in Trini’s promise; she’d undo the spell on both of them and save them. When the spell took effect, Zedd was true to his word snd released the other teammates, and the evil duo of Green and Lavender debuted. “Prince Tommy” remembered little but the promise of Trini’s. He and the girl, Hallie, killed Drakkon and terraformed the planet into a nightmarish land of fairytale places. Treacherous mountains, terrifying forests, murderous deserts. Razing cities in their wake, making the planet in the image of Hallie’s twisted obsession. It’s not too different than it was, except that the different biomes don’t encourage cities very much. Each region now sentient to an extent. And willing to punish humanity for city building.

Trini and Tommy entered a strange adversarial relationship. Tommy’s obsession with Trini reaching a fever pitch after a few years. The promise and the hatred of fairytales he has twisting into an odd association with Trini. His saving grace, even if he can’t remember what from . They did have a few nights were no fights took place, and they have two kids, with “Prince Tommy” none the wiser that his “Huntress” often has their kids in tow. Bolin and Su are 16 and 14 respectively. Bolin knows who Tommy is to them, Su does not.

Bolin’s been raised his entire life with the resistance and the sole mission of finding the dumpster Rita’s still stuck in, or some other mystic who’d know how to undo the Venus Island spell. He learned about Tommy being his dad two years ago, after meeting David. It didn’t take a lot to put the pieces together with how much David looks like them and Bolin having never seen David’s brother without his helmet until Tommy confronted David and Trini, where he put Trini under a spell. Up till that point Trini co-parented them with Skull and Bulk, and Bolin likes Skull and Bulk as parents and mentors. An adept marksman with throwing knives. Skilled at potion making, and doesn’t know how to feel about Tommy and Hallie. Yes, it’s a spell, but…well. How many times can one take being nearly murdered by maddened tyrants. Considering joining the tyrant prince and princess’s ranks with Bulk to see if he can’t save them…if he can kill them. He’s not currently associated with a color, but he will be a Mastodon Knight, when he’s undercover. Bulk’s his captain and they’re both doing their best. Trini doesn’t approve when this happens, however when she becomes Tommy’s Power Huntress and right hand, it’s not really up to her.

Su is very much a product of her environment. She wasn’t born before nightmare fairytale world, and she can’t imagine anything else. Her logic hinges on magic, and people she knows. Bartering and being kind and clever and very very good with figuring out how to fight with limited space. She doesn’t get why her brother’s been so moody the last two years, and has been traveling with David and Billy to spread the word about Zack and Kim, who both died fighting Tommy, and try to figure out how to undo everything. She’s not sure if she wants to, this version of the world is all she knows but…it would be cool to meet Rita. A real live wicked witch? You don’t see one of those every day. She assumes Richie, who Tommy tortured and killed very early in hers and Bolin’s lives, is her dad. Is more and more motivated to get the curse on Tommy and Hallie broken in any case, just to get her mom, brother, and honorary uncle back. She misses them. Not associated with a color, nor is she going to be a knight of any sort. If she was, it’d be white.

Stan Skullovitch;

Tommy didn’t know Skull even had a brother till Tommy was well into his 20’s and working as a teacher at a high school. Stan had gotten a job as the school’s band teacher, and thought it was a bit hilarious, if annoying, when Tommy found out and wouldn’t stop freaking out. Tommy actually got a little bit shy once he realized, mostly due to his friendship and past with Skull.

Tommy’s ranger students and mentees were the group that set them up, much to Stan and Tommy’s general chagrin. It was on Valentine’s, too. To Stan’s annoyance and Skull’s glee, Tommy called him to double check this was fine. Stan has, over twenty years later, yet to live this down. Tommy and Stan have two kids, a daughter from a fling Stan had years ago. Her name is Kimmie, or K, and she’s 21. Their second kid is a mutant animal human hybrid Elsa decided to make to taunt Tommy at the expense Stan. Jurian is a flying squirrel human hybrid and he is seventeen.

K is too smart for her own good, and far too fascinated with the tech and old thwarted plans of Mesogog and Elsa. Tommy’s lowkey panicking and trying to keep her away from making a huge mistake. She’s going to go too far and he doesn’t know how to protect her from doing that. Stan’s more laidback; she’s gotten interested in dangerous ideas, explored through investigation and backed away from it on her own. He can tell this is similar, but Tommy’s panic is doing the opposite and making her more curious. She is however redirecting it to a different idea; research into possible ties to the aliens and magical creatures with hybrid like features. She is Dino Thunder purple.

Jurian is a little bit of a recluse-on earth-however, he goes to school in space, and usually is purposefully vague about his heritage, as it’s easier to let people assume he’s a human/alien hybrid of some kind rather than a science experiment made specifically to try to hurt his parents. He’s aware it backfired, he’s glad it backfired, he loves his parents but still. He only exists because of someone’s idea of revenge. It doesn’t help K is a little too interested in the concept and he knows she’s coming from a good place but it’s a bit hurtful.

He is active and does have friends, though they don’t know the full story about him. Has a possible boyfriend. Is not associated with a color.

Anton Mercer/Mesogog;

An incident with Mesogog resulted in a baby with their dna and the dna of the prehistoric chicken, Jianianhualong tengi. The kid is an odd and very intelligent twenty year old now. Tommy, during the incident, was also fused with raptor dna. Avian can’t get a straight answer if Tommy, who’s been trained to be a faithful mate of Mesogog, laid an egg. Avian knows it came from an egg but if this was made via science or physically laid, is unknown. And to be honest, Avian doesn’t really want to think too hard about it.

Avian Mercer is non-gender. Avian doesn’t feel like there’s a gender there at all. Avian’s presentation can be pretty broad as well. Feathered and scaled among their normal hair and skin, reptilian eyes, winglike arms with claws, it’s definitely a striking look. However it can vary from more feminine to masculine to indeterminate either way. While Tommy became reprogrammed to being Mesogog’s, he managed to convince Mesogog to free Anton and wait until Avian was a suitable age to conquer the world. Avian escaped at sixteen, and has been trying to head off the inevitable fully since.

Alternate au. Anton and Tommy had a thing going on before this all started, and it restarted after Tommy was able to trick Mesogog and save Anton. However this wasn’t before he became half dinosaur and Avian was born. Avian and Trent share a mild sibling rivalry, given there’s a sixteen year age difference between them. In a lot of ways Trent acts as a parental figure to his sibling, but is also fun big brother when it counts. Trent is an animator and has let Avian tag along to his job more than once to watch (with permission from his bosses). Avian is not associated with a color in any reality.

Delphine;

Tommy when he met Delphine properly again as an adult, immediately hit it off with her. Rocky took Tommy’s place as Red Zeo Ranger, and Billy was able to take his place as Blue Zeo Ranger as Tommy left to be with Delphine while remaining white ranger. He comes back often to help his friends, it’s like he’s barely gone, really.

Their child Nautilus is non-binary and 21 years old. They are Aquitar’s white ranger like their mom before them. Don’t spend a lot of time on earth but they do have a slight rebellious streak and are dating a mermaid pirate queen. She’s a great ally anyway, and a great source of information, although their team and friends fully tease them about the heavy heavy flirting between themself and pirate queen Sylvia. Out of the box thinker, extremely dramatic, clever, sarcastic and nice. They like doing their job but they will not do it within “proper parameters” malicious compliance with rules, and they’re having fun with it. Some people hate them, some adore them, but it doesn’t matter. They’re doing good.

Aurico;

They reconnected in Forever Red, and bonded. Aurico left Aquitar to be with Tommy, and they live in a harbor and beach town for Aurico. They’ve befriended the supernatural sea life over the years. They have a twelve year old adoptive amphibious humanoid son Wave. Aurico was trying to save a met family, and he could only save the small child. Tommy struggles a little with the needs of his partner and kid, but he’s doing his best and he loves them.

Wave’s been to Aquitar a few times, and thrives with his parents both in the sea town on earth and on Aquitar. Music enthusiast, his favorite singers are whales. He’s closer to Aurico than he is Tommy, but it’s fine. Tommy gets it. He can’t share some of Wave’s life, Aurico can. He can just be there on the pier at the end of the day to welcome them home. Wave is not associated with a color but if he were it would be black.

Dulcea;

Tommy adopted Dulcea’s daughter Demelza. The woman had given up her human form to help them, and had given up her life to have a child. Tommy was given an infant by a dying Dulcea, and told she was joining the father in the afterlife but wanted to give the daughter a good life. She chose Tommy to be the best candidate. At the time Tommy was 25, single, no job, and dealing with the concept of having peaked at seventeen. But, he made a promise he’d give Demelza a good life, and as he’s a man of his word, proceeded to put in the work to make his life better so he could make hers the best possible.

Demelza is 22, an owl shifter like her mother, and is manager to a paint your own pottery place not far from where she and her dad currently live. Due to economy, she lives at home with him but she’s got a steady partner, and they love her, a job she enjoys, and friends and family she adores deeply. It’s not a grand life, but it’s a good life. Not associate with a color

Marleau Eskin;

Tommy didn’t meet the rangers first at school, he met Marleau. He fell into a highschool dating to married pipeline. He doesn’t hate his wife but he certainly doesn’t love her either. They have hobbies and jobs that keep them from spending more time than they need to together, but when they do it’s amicable. They have one daughter, Larissa. She is 16 and a little bit of an ice queen.

She’s rich, she knows it, she’s also got the smarts and skills to prove anyone who tries to claim she uses money to get her positions wrong. Larissa hasn’t got time for friends, or more accurately asskissers who like her money and familial influence, not her. A cheerleader, head of debate team, and slated to be the valedictorian of her graduating class. On top of all that she also donates and volunteers at the shelters and soup kitchens. This looks good on her resumes for colleges yes but she also genuinely enjoys it. Tommy’s trying to get her to loosen up and make some friends. He is at this point ready to throw her into a “will absolutely turn her into a power ranger” situation. It’ll at least give her a premade friend group to bond with. He’s like 95% sure she’s going to be some sort of red ranger. He’s not wrong. At 21 she’ll volunteer as a summer camp counselor and will end up with five other counselors as a power ranger, and yes, she is red. To her utter annoyance but it does give her a girlfriend, a yellow. She just hates admitting Tommy is right.

Trey of Triforia;

Tommy and Trey got very close very fast, with Tommy finding excuses to spend every second he could with Billy and Trey’s Id Ego and Superego in the command center. They started officially dating during a break with Kat. However, Trey died before he could be healed and although it took a few years to get to it, even though they’d discussed it, Tommy eventually used his and Trey’s DNA to have a son, Halsey. Halsey is currently aged 17 and currently living Triforia with his extended family.

He had to beg and plead for Tommy to let him, and after a very long time of thinking about it Tommy broke down and let Halsey go to Triforia. Halsey finds it very difficult to stay as one person, and often works in tandem with his id, ego, and super ego. It’s just easier for him. As such he typically exhibits three opinions and minds and feelings about any given thing, but his main overlying personality traits are; caution, curiosity, and an inherent distrust of authority. Also dramatics. Why walk when you can somersault type dramatics. As far as most humans are concerned he’s triplets; but his extended Triforan family are also concerned he has difficulty controlling it. He has a second cousin who is currently acting queen. And he enjoys spending time with her and talking to her about things. Also having the time of his life exploring the cities and culture. He does miss Earth, and is open to sharing aspects of it with the Triforan royal family. He does spend the holidays on earth, with Tommy. Although Halsey loves Tommy, and knows Tommy was just being protective, he feels like he’s missed out on a lot not having done this to begin with. It’s also weird knowing in the abstract his parent he never met was a prince and seeing what that means for himself. He’s not associated with a color. However, he is gold compatible and should his cousin need to, she’s named him as her heir for the throne and for zeo gold.

Richie;

Tommy and Richie rarely saw eye to eye when they talked, in the rare times they interacted. Richie was more of a lawful pacifist with eyes for Trini and Tommy was of course a chaos magnet who was obsessed with Kim. Eventually it was revealed Richie was the white ranger, and Tommy was insanely jealous of him. And annoyed the “pacifist” was an incredibly skilled fighter. However when Richie was nearly killed and Tommy took over as white ranger…things got heated in a different way, and quickly. There was a lot of off and on dating, as intense as anything between two true opposites can be.

Richie owns Ernie’s now, and Tommy is a karate teacher there. They have one son, adopted, named Benji Oliver, and JJ. JJ was an accident between Tommy and Kat, a little before Tommy and Richie got together permanently.

Benji was adopted when JJ was four, and Benji was six. JJ is 27 now and Benji is 29. JJ is a recruit in SPD Academy, while Benji is currently…a lot less legal. And a white ranger. As usual, chaos and order are rivals with an intense relationship. However, this relationship is now sibling rather than romantic, and nobody likes getting between the two when they get into an argument; which is often.

Tommy and Richie have had to physically pull their sons apart more than once, and JJ would sometimes need to go stay with his mom to cool off when they were teenagers. It’s not that Benji and JJ don’t care about each other but it’s so easy to get lost in the wildly different ideals and debate to enragement.

Benji Oliver is a hacker and investigator. He isn’t afraid to call anyone and everyone out or expose them. He’s also stolen things from museums and given them back to the people whose culture it was stolen from. He’s not afraid to join villains to achieve noble ends, and that’s where he and JJ clash. The irony is everyone says JJ is more like Richie personality wise and Benji more like Tommy.

Parents plead the fifth; they have enough to deal with keeping the two from destroying the house on the holidays, please don’t make them think about who’s more like who. The only times of the year Benji is allowed in the country is the holidays. They just want some peace, please.

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janeofcakes · 3 years ago

Text

Soulmates: How John Met Sherlock...Again

Here it is, my friends! I have so much to say, but I’ll just give you the summary instead. I hope you like it!

Ten years after John Watson left with Mary for parts unknown, he returns to London with his daughter in tow to take over a friend's practice. He does not know what became of his best friend and, as much as he may want to see him, he resolves to make no effort to do so. Will he cross paths with Sherlock Holmes again and what will happen if he does?

_________________

Chapter 1

Gracie Watson stands stock-still next to her new teacher’s desk, a backpack slung over her shoulders. She clutches to her chest the school books that were given to her in the main office. Her blue eyes briefly dart around the room from posters to windows before scanning the actual faces of the third grade classmates she has yet to meet. Squeezing the books tighter, she leans back a fraction and turns her head to look back at the classroom door where her father stands with the principal. He smiles genuinely in encouragement and waves, knowing the door is cracked only enough for Gracie and Mrs. Jennings to see. The corner of Gracie’s mouth curls up as he mouths ‘I love you’ and the door closes slowly. Gracie instantly feels the pang of nerves that had loosened winding up into a tight ball in the pit of her stomach again.

“Class,” Mrs. Jennings says from behind her, “this is Grace. She’ll be joining us for the rest of the year. She has moved here from Bath, yes?”

Gracie blinks and looks back at the cheerful woman stepping to stand beside her. A quick flash of panic and adrenaline surge through her body, but it does not show on her face as she tamps it down quickly. Watsons are brave, she reminds herself as she straightens her spine and pulls her shoulders back slightly.

“Yes, Mrs. Jennings,” Gracie’s voice is confident now. “I haven’t been to London before. This is my first time.”

“Oh my, you are in for a treat,” the teacher smiles, her eyes sparkling. “There are a lot of things to see and places to go. Has your father been here before?”

“Yes, he lived here a long time ago,” Gracie answers respectfully.

“He’ll know his way around then, won’t he?” Mrs. Jennings glances at the clock as Gracie nods and then meets her eyes. “We’ll make a little time to introduce ourselves before lunch.”

Mrs. Jennings puts a reassuring hand on Gracie’s shoulder and looks at the twenty-one eight year-olds sitting by twos in three lines before them. The teacher nods at the right side of the room and gives Gracie a warm smile. Gracie feels the knot in her stomach loosen a skosh and the muscles under Mrs. Jennings’ warm hand relax slightly. She has a good feeling about this teacher.

“Why don’t you sit next to Olivia?” Mrs. Jennings gestures with her other hand.

Gracie swallows hard and turns to look at the other students again. They stare back with curious eyes and dull expressions. Some of them look like they are mulling over how best to tease her and make her life miserable, while others wear shy half-smiles. Only one girl sitting alone at one of the wide two-person desks in the back of the room appears genuinely interested, bordering on excited, to meet Gracie.

“Raise your hand, would you, Olivia?” Mrs. Jennings asks. The girl’s arm shoots up before the words are out of the teacher’s mouth. Gracie feels a soft pressure on her shoulder, a nudge of guidance as Mrs. Jennings continues: “Thank you. Go on and have a seat, Grace.”

Gracie nods and begins walking down the aisle. Under normal circumstances she might glance to and fro to see the faces of her new classmates, but she cannot tear her eyes away from the girl called Olivia. Her hand is still raised high in spite of the fact that Gracie knows exactly where she is headed, and her eyes sparkle as they watch Gracie with unwavering focus. They are oddly colored eyes; mostly grey, but they look blue too or maybe green. It is like they change from one to the other with every step closer. Olivia’s skin is as pale as Gracie has ever seen and she wonders if this girl ever goes outside for any length of time. It is made even lighter by Olivia’s dark brown hair pulled back with wisps of escaped curls around her face.

The closer Gracie gets to Olivia, the more she seems to like her. Gracie is good at making friends and was well-liked at her old school. Ever-confident, she typically throws herself into it, greeting new kids when they start. However, this situation is vastly different and Gracie has been ill at ease since the day before. She has never been the new kid in school and honestly never thought she would be. She entered into this school and its halls and this classroom with a great degree of apprehension, in spite of her father and the principal’s assurances. She had put on a brave face and talked herself into believing she felt it, but now, this very minute, slowly approaching Olivia, she finally feels like herself. Olivia has not the look of someone who is staring curiously at a stranger, but of someone seeing a friend who has not been back in ages. Her glittery grey eyes, rosy cheeks and wide, closed-lipped smile tell of genuine intrigue. She seems absolutely thrilled to have Gracie in the seat beside her.

Gracie’s lips curve up as she places her books on the desk and sits. Olivia lowers her hand and gives her new deskmate a friendly nod. Gracie’s smile grows as she leans away to plop her backpack on the floor.

“Perfect. Welcome, Grace,” Mrs. Jennings declares from the front of the room. She takes up position in front of the white board and speaks in a more serious tone. “Everyone get out your math workbooks to page 53. Did they give you all the books you need in the office, Grace?”

“Yes, Mrs. Jennings,” Gracie answers, glancing at the stack on her desk.

“Excellent,” Mrs. Jennings smiles and then turns to the board to write an equation. Gracie starts to lean down again to fetch a pencil from her bag only to see pale fingers holding a bright blue one over the workbook. Her eyes follow the arm and train on the girl next to her.

“Hi. You can call me Olive,” Olivia whispers with a grin.

Taking the pencil with a slow smile on her lips, Gracie thanks her and opens the workbook. Just as Mrs. Jennings turns back to the class and begins speaking, Gracie throws one last glance Olivia’s way.

“Call me Gracie.”

***

The lunchroom is packed with students from grades three through six. Some stand in line joking and holding trays for the school lunch while others head for seats with their friends. The room is alive with movement and noise, but it is merely a low din in the ears of Gracie Watson where she sits alone and stares at a note her father slipped into her lunch bag. It was there between an orange and the sandwich she had made herself the night before.

See, you’re having a great day! XX Daddy

Gracie smiles to herself as she reads it again. He even slowed the pen to make his messy doctor’s scrawl legible. The two of them had discussed the disadvantages of cursive and importance of making letters look like actual letters before. Gracie’s father found them so amusing and always chuckled his way through her tutorials, but how were patients to get the right medicine if no one could read his writing?

Gracie reads the note again and glances around the room, unable to keep from feeling a little sad. There had not been much time to talk to any of the kids in her class that morning. Mrs. Jennings taught lessons and had some one on one time with Gracie while the other kids did school work. She wanted to determine Gracie’s reading level quickly so she would be in the right group that afternoon. No one had spared Gracie a second glance until a few minutes before lunch when Mrs. Jennings had everyone introduce themselves. Gracie could tell right away that Peter and William liked to tease. She also knew in a glance that Josie and Hildie would not be her biggest fans, nor would she like them. Gracie had barely heard all their names before they were shuffled off to lunch. Truth be told, Olive was the only person to have paid her any mind and even that was limited. You couldn’t really talk when the teacher was telling you the principles of multiplication. Still, Olive has seemed keen to know Gracie. Yet here she is, sitting at a small table all alone with nothing but her lunch and a note from her father.

She drops her eyes back to the paper when Josie meets her gaze and wrinkles her nose. The last thing Gracie wants to deal with right now is sass. Why is it so much easier to become the target of a ponce than to find a friend when you’re the new kid?

Gracie sighs and takes a bite from her sandwich as someone stops in front of her table. Gracie closes her eyes, steeling herself for battle. Obviously, Josie has decided she may as well start being a pain as soon as possible. Maybe not such a good day after all. Gracie swallows thickly and looks up slowly. To her surprise, she is met with a grin instead of a sneer.

“Hi,” Olive chirps. She holds a lunch bag in one hand and a small carton of milk in the other. “Can I sit with you?”

“Uh...yeah,” Gracie replies, more than a little taken aback. “Sure.”

Olive’s face brightens and she moves to sit, placing her lunch bag and drink on the table. Gracie quickly crumples up the note in her hands and shoves it in her pocket. Watching as Olive begins removing food from her bag and setting it on the table, Gracie takes a bite of sandwich and chews. She has to wonder about this girl. It seems natural that she be curious about the new kid, but no one else is and Olive is clearly going out of her way to talk to Gracie. Is this some sort of trick? Gracie tilts her head and considers the dark-haired girl before her.

“Want some soup?” Olive asks, opening a green thermos. “It’s the best potato soup ever. My godmother made it.”

“Oh, no thanks. I’m good,” Gracie assures her and takes another bite.

“Please yourself,” Olive blows on the milky-colored liquid in her spoon before it disappears in her mouth. Then she closes her eyes and shakes her head minutely in appreciation. Gracie lets a small smile of genuine amusement flash across her lips. Olive mirrors the look when her eyes open with flecks of green this time.

“So you’re from Bath,” Olive states, scooping up some more soup.

“Yeah, I’ve always lived there,” Gracie says around a mouthful of sandwich, “but my dad used to live here.”

“So you said,” Olive blows on the full spoon. “Have you seen the Roman baths?”

“Oh, yeah. Dad took me every year since I was four,” Gracie bubbled. “They’re fun and Dad knows all about how they were made and why they built them.”

“That’s awesome! I’d love to hear about that,” Olive exclaims, popping her spoon into her mouth. “My dad knows stuff too. He took me to Stonehenge and told me all about it.”

“Wow!” Gracie’s eyes widen in awe. “Did you climb on the rocks?”

“No,” Olive grumbles and rolls her eyes. “They won’t let you.”

“Aw,” Gracie groans, disappointed. “They don’t let you swim in the baths either.”

“But they’re baths!” Olive blinks in disbelief.

“I know, right,” Gracie declares. “That’s exactly what I told Dad.”

Olive giggles and the noise is infectious. Gracie snickers as she picks up her own carton of milk and takes a drink. Olive grabs a dinner roll from her bag and takes a bite.

“So why did you move here?” she asks as she chews. Gracie sets down her drink and wipes her mouth with the back of her hand.

“Dad’s a doctor and he has this friend who sees patients here,” Gracie explains.

“At St. Bart’s Hospital?” Olive asks. “My dad goes there a lot.”

“No,” Gracie wrinkles her brow trying to remember the word her father had used. “He has a practical or a pragmatic.”

��His own practice?” Olive offers between bites of roll and soup.

“Yeah, practice. That’s what he called it,” Gracie says, pointing at Olive and popping the last of her sandwich in her mouth. “Anyway, he’s retiring and gave Dad his practice. So we moved here. Dad came first and found our flat. He started working and came home on weekends for a while before we moved.”

“Really?” Olive wondered. “But who was with you? Do you have a godmother too?”

“No, but Dad has a lot of friends who watched me,” Gracie tells her.

“Oh, because he’s a doctor. Lots of people would know him. Obvious,” Olive nods and takes a bite of soup, gesturing with the spoon once it’s empty again. She leans her elbow on the table. “But why didn’t you both just move at the same time?”

“Dad wanted to make sure he liked the new job first,” Gracie shrugs. “Didn’t want me to have to change schools until he was sure he’d want to stay here.”

“Makes sense,” Olive nods thoughtfully.

“What about your dad?” Gracie asks, beginning to peel her orange. “What does he do? Is he a doctor too?”

“Nope,” Olive places her spoon on the table and straightens her spine proudly. “He’s a Consulting Detective. The only one. He invented it.”

“Oh,” Gracie frowns as she places a piece of rind on her napkin, “but you said he works at a hospital.”

“He does experiments for cases at St. Bart’s,” Olive clarifies, “and looks at bodies when there’s a murder.”

Gracie stops peeling and her mouth drops open. She stares at Olive with wide eyes.

“Murder?”

“He solves them all the time,” Olive nods with sparkling eyes. “And robberies and people who go missing and everything. He works with the police.”

“Wow,” Gracie breathes. “Dad tells me stories about a detective and his friend who solve crimes together. Does your dad tell you about his cases?”

“Sometimes,” Olive answers, putting the thermos and spoon back in her bag. “He lets me watch his experiments when he’s on a case. We do them together when it’s in between.”

“That sounds fun,” Gracie beams and offers an orange slice. Olive grins and takes it.

“Thanks,” she pops it into her mouth and chews. “It is. I love it.”

“So have you always lived in London?” Gracie asks, bringing an orange slice to her lips. Olive nods.

“Dad loves London. I don’t think he’d live anywhere else,” she reflects and takes another slice when Gracie offers.

Gracie squints and considers this. If Olive’s dad likes London so much maybe Gracie’s feels the same way. He used to live here, after all. She is about to ask her new friend more about the city when a gruff voice brings her thoughts to a screeching halt.

“Afternoon, Holmes,” an unpleasant-looking girl sneers as she approaches their table.

Gracie’s head snaps to face her with surprise and wariness in her eyes. The redhead has two other girls in toe and all wear snide expressions. They stop before the table and stare menacingly, the leader with her hands on her hips. Gracie swallows slowly and takes in the scene. The girls have to be older than she and Olive. They are all at least a foot taller than Gracie and have a few inches on Olive as well. They look as mean as any bully at Gracie’s old school. She grimaces. What could she have possibly done to get on their bad side so quickly? Maybe they go after all the new kids, but how do they even know about her and how on earth could they know her middle name?

Gracie opens her mouth to speak, but Olive beats her to it.

“Jones,” Olive says disdainfully by way of greeting as she turns her head to look up at the girl. “They let you out of the dunce chair for lunch? I suppose everyone deserves a break.”

Gracie turns her now shocked gaze on Olive, who stares coolly at the tall redhead called Jones. What is she doing? Jones obviously means business and there’s no reason for Olive to get involved. Antagonizing this kid and her friends seems like the last thing either of them should do. Gracie’s eyes dart back to Jones to see her cold glare focused solely on Olive and it strikes her that Jones has not actually spared her a glance. She was already boring a hole in Olive’s skull when she and her gang, because that’s the only word for it, walked up to their table. Gracie’s eyes shift back to Olive curiously.

“Funny,” Jones says flatly, setting her hips and leaning her weight to her right foot. “I’m surprised to see you here, Holmes. I told you I didn’t want to see your face in here again only yesterday.”

“This is the lunch room,” Olive’s tone does nothing less than tell Jones what an idiot she is and Gracie wants to face palm.”It’s called that for a reason. I would’ve thought you’d pick that up by grade six.”

“Now listen, you little…” Jones launches herself forward with fury in her eyes. One hand is already a fist pulling back and the other reaches for Olive, who hasn’t even flinched. Gracie is out of her seat and in between them before Jones can touch the collar of Olive’s school uniform.

“Stop right there,” Gracie mutters in a threatening tone.

Jones takes a small step back and looks down her nose at Gracie, a cruel smirk on her face.

“Lookie what we have here,” Jones’ lip curls in amusement. “Holmes has a little friend.”

The other girls laugh and Gracie feels a tug on her elbow, no doubt Olive trying to steer her out of the way. Gracie ignores the attempt, standing taller and furrowing her brow.

“You’re new around here, aren’t you, kid?” Jones asks. “If you weren’t, you’d know nobody crosses me. Why don’t you just turn around and get right back on outta here. I’ll give you a pass this time.”

“Not until you shut your mouth and go back where you came from,” Gracie says in a low voice. “Leave my friends alone.”

“Or what?” Jones scoffs, stepping close to Gracie. “What are you gonna do, half-pint?”

Gracie’s hands clench into fists, which does not escape Jones’ attention. The tall girl laughs and turns her head slightly for a remark over her shoulder to her cohorts. Gracie snaps her left fist forward, catching Jones right on the jaw and sending her stumbling backwards into her friends. The three girls stare at Gracie in shock and she glares back. Olive’s hand is still touching Gracie’s elbow, but is rigid and still. Gracie wants to glance around the room to make sure none of the lunch monitors saw, but she will not break her death glare with Jones. Her father would never take his eyes off the enemy.

“Take your friends and go,” Gracie growls. “You answer to me if you come back.”

Jones regains her composure and yanks her arms away from the very friends who kept her from falling on her ass. Her hands are clenched in rage and she looks like she plans to rip into Gracie at any moment, but one of the other girls grabs her arm in warning before she can make a single move. Too many of the other kids in the lunchroom are watching now. Not to mention one of the monitors, who obviously missed the punch, seems to have taken an interest as well.

“This isn’t over,” Jones says under her breath. She presses her lips together hard, turns and stalks away with her friends hot on her heels.

Gracie lets her muscles relax minutely as she watches their retreating backs, her fists loosening. Her eyes dart around the room nervously, but she sees only bright eyes of acknowledgement and a few delighted nods. When she turns back to Olive, her friend is incredulous. She is about to start in on what looks to be a lecture on self-preservation and lunchroom politics when the interested monitor appears at her side.

“Everything all right, Olive?” the older woman asks in a significantly less posh accent.

“Yes, Mz. Chapel, it’s fine,” Olive answers in a friendly voice.

“I don’t know why those three are always giving you trouble,” Miss Chapel shakes her head, looking after Jones and her lackeys.

“Simple minds, Mz. Chapel, simple minds,” Olive jokes and the woman lets out a deep, hearty laugh.

“Now that’s an understatement,” Miss Chapel chuckles. “Who’s your friend?”

“This is Gracie. She’s new in my class,” Olive bubbles excitedly. “This is her first day.”

“Well, welcome, Gracie,” Miss Chapel smiles warmly and nods. “Don’t let those three sour your day.”

“Oh, I won’t,” Gracie assures her. She looks at the woman’s rosy cheeks and smiling eyes and likes her immediately. “I’ve dealt with worse.”

“Oh, dear. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad,” Miss Chapel remarks with concern in her voice as she scans the room and sees two boys who must look suspicious. “You’ll have to fill me in later. Duty calls. Bye, Olive.”

“Bye, Mz. Chapel,” Olive calls and then grabs hold of Gracie’s arm, pulling her close.

“Hey!” Gracie says irritably, but Olive interrupts at a mile a minute.

“What the heck was that? Are you crazy? Jones is the biggest bully in school.”

“You didn’t seem all that scared of her,” Gracie shoots back. “I just followed your example.”

“And if I jumped off a building, would you follow me then too?” Olive demands in exasperation.

“God, no,” Gracie blurts. “I’m not a complete idiot.”

Gracie is sure Olive had been about to say something, but she goes silent and stares for a moment instead. Her expression is unreadable and Gracie cocks an expectant brow. She is not about to be scolded by someone who knowingly goaded a bully. Olive finally opens her mouth, but what comes out is a burst of a giggle. Gracie’s eyes widen as Olive continues laughing, a quite undignified snort punctuating it, and Gracie dissolves into giggles as well. They sink down into their seats again when something occurs to Gracie.

“Your surname is Holmes?” she asks almost before her bum is on the seat. It can’t be. It’s too much of a coincidence, but is the only explanation for Jones calling Olive by the name.

“Holmes with an L, yes,” Olive nods once.

Gracie watches with her brow furrowed as Olive plucks up an orange slice and pops it into her mouth, giving the blonde a stern look.

“Seriously, that was really stupid,” she says. A drop of juice slips down her chin and she wipes at it.

“Hmph,” Gracie harrumphs, putting aside her wonder and shoving a slice in her own mouth. “She was ready to knock you on your butt. You should be thanking me.”

“No, really, Gracie,” Olive leans forward in her chair and rests her arms on the table. Her grey-green eyes are intense, her face deadly serious. “Samantha Jones is not a good person to have as an enemy.”

“Real people don’t have enemies,” Gracie replies with a snort.

“Well, you’ve got one now,” Olive states gravely. “You still real?”

Gracie meets her eyes and swallows her orange slice. It starts out as a pointed stare, but both girls are laughing again in no time.

“I guess we’re in this together then,” Gracie quips. Olive watches her for a good minute, her face open and a grin shining brightly. The bell signalling the end of lunch sounds, but the two girls don’t move for a beat. Olive’s smile grows as she rises slowly. Gracie does the same, both grabbing food containers and shoving them into their bags as they get to their feet. Once they have gathered everything, the two girls stand to face each other with sober expressions. Olive tips her head toward the door where the other kids file out into the hallway.

“Once more into the breach,” she says with a sparkle in her eye. Gracie grins and they start off, but Olive pauses. “Gracie?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

***

Olive Holmes jumps out of the sleek black car that picks her up from school each day and drives her home. Her father hates asking his brother for anything, which is why Olive’s uncle arranged for it without consulting him. Her father conceded quickly, however. It is the safest way to get her to and from, especially considering his profession, and he would do absolutely anything for his daughter. Even put up with his pompous older brother.

Olive throws her school bag over her shoulder and slams the car door. Half turning to the building before her, she waves at the driver in the car window.

“Bye, Charlie,” she calls. “See you tomorrow.”

“Good evening, Miss Olive,” he replies and then watches her walk up to the building, digging in her bag for the key. When she opens the door, she walks headlong into one of the most delightful scents on earth. She closes her eyes and inhales contentedly, angling her face toward the open door of 221A. The woman inside is clearly making her famous meatloaf and has left her door open to draw Olive’s attention, which can only mean one thing. Olive’s father has a case on and will be home late tonight.

“Hello, dear,” Mrs. Hudson appears, drying her hands on a white dish towel. Olive flashes a warm smile and runs to the old woman, throwing her arms around her waist. “I thought I heard you come in. How was school?”

“Great!” Olive exclaims, pulling back and adjusting her bag. “Dad’s on a case?”

“Afraid so, dear. He wasn’t sure when he’d be home,” Mrs. Hudson tuts before smiling brightly. “But now you and I can have dinner and catch up.”

“I know! I can smell it,” Olive licks her lips. “It’s my favorite!”

“I know, dear,” Mrs. Hudson laughs. She smooths down Olive’s hair and brushes a curl from her forehead. “Would you like to help make the potatoes?”

“Can’t, Mrs. H.,” Olive replies with a shrug. “I have some homework first, but I’ll be done before dinner.”

“Homework?” Mrs. Hudson follows the girl to the stairs that lead up to the flat she shares with her father. The old woman wears a look of concern as she watches Olive begin to ascend. “That doesn’t sound like you. Is everything all right?”

“I didn’t do as much of it in class,” Olive explains. “I made a friend today. A best friend.”

“A best friend? Oh my, that’s exciting,” Mrs. Hudson beams. Olive is well-liked by her peers and will go to birthday parties and the like, but she does not interact with any outside of that. She has never really had an interest in it and has certainly never referred to anyone as a best friend before. Her obvious excitement speaks volumes. “You can tell me all about her over dinner.”

“Yes!” Olive grins. “I can’t wait! Her name is Gracie and she’s the best. She’s new in my class today and sits right by me.”

“Fantastic, dear,” Mrs. Hudson rests a hand on the banister and the other on her hip. “You run up and finish that homework and then we’ll talk all about it.”

“Ok,”Olive heads up the stairs again, calling back as she goes: “I’ll be down as soon as I’m done.”

---

“So how was your first day?” John Watson asks his daughter as he sets a glass of milk before her and sits at the dinner table. Gracie has just put a fork-full of rice in her mouth, but doesn’t let that stop her from answering.

“So good,” she says enthusiastically, two grains flipping out of her mouth and onto the table. John knows he should be reminding her not to talk with a full mouth, but her good humor is infectious and he is beyond pleased. She had been so nervous and trying not to show it when he left her at the school that morning. The principal had assured him they would do all they could to make the transition as smooth as possible, but that look in her eye when he last saw her had lingered in his mind all day as he attended to patients.

A grin spreads across John’s face as he picks up his own fork and spears a piece of chicken. Gracie slurps milk from her cup and places it back on the table. Her blue eyes twinkle over her milk mustache as she continues, her elation building with every word.

“I made a friend named Olive. We sit together in class and she ate with me at lunch too. We even played at recess,” Gracie speaks so quickly that John couldn’t get a word in if he tried. “She’s lived here all her life and told me lots of cool stuff about the city. Did you know there are lots of parks here?”

“Yes, I did,” John laughs, finally able to respond when she takes a breath and another bite of rice. “One of them is just up the street, you know.”

“It is?” Gracie gasps, her eyes wide with wonder.

“Yeah,” John chuckles. “We could go on the weekend if you like.”

“Yes, yes, yes! Let’s go right now!” Gracie cries, utterly ignoring the fact that it is 6:30 in the evening.

“Whoa. Hold on, Gracie,” John cautions, chewing a piece of chicken. “It’s too late and a school night to boot. We can go on Saturday.”

“Ok,” she replies, disappointed. She gets another fork-full of rice and slips it past her lips. The corners of John’s mouth curl and he takes pity.

“It’s only a few days away,” he consoles.

“Dad, it’s Monday,” Gracie says flatly.

“But it’s dinnertime and then bedtime. It’ll be Saturday before you know it,” John reminds her. “And you can find out more about your friend all week in the meantime.”

“That’s true,” Gracie considers thoughtfully.

---

“I made a best friend today, Dad,” Olive tells Sherlock Holmes as they pack her lunch together. She glances at the kitchen clock and reads 7:30, which doesn’t leave her much time before bed. She needs to talk fast if she wants to tell him all she’s learned about Gracie. His case, a double murder, had wrapped up faster than expected and he had walked into the entry way just as Olive was leaving Mrs. Hudson’s flat to go upstairs for a shower. As always, Olive had rushed to throw her arms around him in the biggest hug of all-time. Sherlock had chuckled and lifted her off her feet, making her once again rue the day when she would be too tall for him to do it. She was already tall and just kept growing. Two years ago when she was six, Olive had asked her father if he could do an experiment to slow it down.

“Why wouldn’t you want to grow up?” Sherlock had asked her.

“I want you to always pick me up and hug me,” she had told him in a very serious tone. “You’re growing up too and I’ll get too tall and heavy.”

Sherlock had laughed then and picked her up, so their eyes were even. He assured her that it would be a very long time before he grew that much. He also told her that there was no experiment to stop her from growing and she had cried.

She understands all of that now, of course. She is eight, in grade three and very smart. Incidentally, she has also read three of her father’s medical books from cover to cover in search of a way and there is none. She furrows her brow at the memory, but is drawn back to Sherlock, Gracie and her lunch quickly by the sound of her father’s voice.

“A best friend, eh?” Sherlock’s baritone thrums. “You’ve only just met her. Perhaps you should reserve judgement.”

“I don’t need to,” Olive replies decisively. “I can just tell.”

She meets Sherlock’s eyes as he looks at her skeptically. Olive knows he trusts her to make her own determinations. He has spent a lot of time teaching her all he knows about reading people and making deductions. She has never made any quite so quickly before, but Gracie is different. Olive can tell. Gracie is special.

“There was a well-worn copy of Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew #20, Treasure Trouble,” Olive begins as a sly smile spreads across her face. “She obviously likes to read and loves mysteries, like me. When she had the chance to unpack her school bag and organize her desk, there was a small purple notebook covered with stickers that she writes ideas and thoughts in. So she likes to write, examine and think things through carefully, like me. I think she even has a specific section in it where she’s writing a story. She also has a special pencil case for her writing utensils and one particular purple pencil seems to be her favorite. Like. Me.”

Olive pauses here to survey her father’s features as he gleams with pride. He tilts his head and looks at her thoughtfully.

“Based on the Nancy Drew, I’d wager she likes pirates too,” Sherlock comments with a light laugh in his tone. Olive’s eyes widen and she inhales dramatically.

“I thought so too!” she exclaims. “I’m going to ask her about it tomorrow.”

“Just remember to pay attention to Mrs. Jennings,” Sherlock reminds her as he puts a pear in the lunch bag. “You are there to learn, after all. Even if you know most of it already.”

“Obviously,” Olive snarks, shoving a pudding cup in the bag, Sherlock cocks a brow and looks at her with eyes that want an explanation. “May I? I want to share it with Gracie.”

“You may,” Sherlock answers after a moment’s hesitation. Olive grins and thanks him. They turn back to her sandwich, adding cheese and lettuce. “What did she have for breakfast?”

“Egg and toast,” Olive says quickly.

“Oh. Well, I can see why you like her now,” Sherlock teases.

“Dad, stop,” Olive scolds, but there is no bite to it. She wraps the sandwich and puts it in the bag as she continues: “She’s as smart as me. She knew all the answers in class almost as fast as I did and didn’t hesitate raising her hand.”

“Well, I’m convinced,” Sherlock grins and walks to the refrigerator with the lunch bag in one hand. He opens the door and places it inside. “Gracie sounds like the perfect best friend for you. Give me the cheese and things, will you?”

Olive picks up the container and a few other things. Stopping before him, she offers them up and he takes them one by one, adding to the shelves and swapping things around.

“You haven’t even heard the best part,” Olive tells him as she fetches more food stuffs from the counter. “The thing that makes her most like me.”

“There’s something else?” Sherlock questions. “Now this, I must know.”

Olive stops moving entirely and watches Sherlock as he closes the refrigerator door. He turns to her, ready to speak again, but the words die on his lips when he sees her face. Her eyes are soft, her expression the most sincere he has seen in a long time. Concern begins to cloud his own eyes and he opens his mouth, but she cuts him off.

“She loves her father more than anything,” Olive tells him in a hushed voice that loses none of its intensity by being lower in volume, “and she’s fiercely loyal.”

Sherlock swallows around the lump in his throat and holds out his arms, hands open. Olive immediately rushes into the waiting hug. They wrap their arms around each other, Olive pressing her cheek to Sherlock’s belly. He bends down to kiss the top of her head, sighing into her dark curls left untamed after the evening’s shower.

“I’m so glad you met her today, Olive,” he whispers softly. “She sounds wonderful, like just the right best friend for you.”

“Obviously,” Olives replies in her standard ‘Don’t be an idiot’ voice. All Holmeses have it. It’s a trademarked thing at this point. “She’s also either very brave...or very stupid.”

“Oh?” Why do you say that?” Sherlock’s brow crinkles in confusion and Olive pulls away to look at him. She wears a triumphant deduction face he recognizes from nearby windows and mirrors on his own cases. His lips curl up and he only just keeps a grin at bay.

“Jones and her minions started a row at lunch and she stood up to them,” Olive tells him smugly.

“Did she?” Sherlock lets the smile overtake his resolve.

“Yep,” Olive pops the P and giggles, “and then she…”

Sherlock’s brows raise in expectation when she stops and then lower in suspicion as he narrows his eyes. He knows that look. Olive is up to something. She hides her plots well at times, but has never been able to fool him for long. Sherlock turns his head slightly and studies his daughter.

“Olive,” he says slowly in a tone of warning. The girl bites her bottom lip and fidgets a bit before sighing in resignation.

“She punched Jones,” Olive tells him, watching apprehensively. “Right in the face.”

Sherlock’s mouth falls open in shock, his eyes widening tenfold. Completely overtaken by disbelief, his brain doesn’t tell his mouth to close or to speak and he stands gaping at his daughter.

“None of the teachers saw so she didn’t get in trouble,” Olive rushes on, looking nervous, “but some of the other kids did. Word gets around fast. Half the school was saying hi to her by the end of the day. Pretty good first day, eh?”

Olive is grinning now and just a bit smugly too. The initial surprise has worn off and Sherlock’s lips are quirking up again. He must meet this Gracie before too much time passes because he can tell his daughter will be by her side until the end of time if she has any say in it.

“Indeed,” Sherlock agrees wholeheartedly and then gives her a knowing look. “And what about you?”

Olive furrows her brow in confusion.

“Which do you believe based on the evidence?” he asks. “Is Gracie brave or stupid?”

Olive smiles again immediately and gives a little jump of excitement.

“Brave,” she declares with pride. “Gracie doesn’t have enemies. At least, not until today and she made the decision carefully. She didn’t just stumble in blind. She’s loyal to her dad and her friends. And fast too.”

“Yes,” Sherlock mutters as his mind begins to wander to a time when he knew someone like that. Olive watches his expression change and leans in a bit, closing her small hand around his long fingers.

“Did you ever have a best friend like Gracie?” Olive asks him in a soft voice. Sherlock’s eyes shift to her face, but he remains silent. “A best friend?”

Sherlock almost sighs. He has taught her too well. Olive is much too perceptive for an eight year old. She absorbs knowledge and masters it even faster than he did as a child, which isn’t really surprising. Like father, like daughter. What really amazes him are her innate abilities to unlock and understand sentiment, both the feelings of others and her own. With all that working against him, he knows he cannot hide the truth from her and braces himself to answer.

“I did once,” he tells her.

“Your man Friday?” Olive inquires with a warm tint to her voice.

“Yes,” Sherlock chuckles quietly. He has told Olive the stories of past cases and villains, and her favorites are the ones that include John. Sherlock has never mentioned him by name though. He does not know why exactly. Saying it out loud felt too close, too painful. So he borrowed a page from Robinson Crusoe and started referring to John as “my man, Friday”, Olive found it extremely amusing from day one.

“What happened to him?” Olive’s voice breaks Sherlock’s reverie and his gaze focuses in on her again. He smiles kindly as he places a hand upon her head and smooths down her long curls. Exactly what became of John Watson is the last thing Sherlock wants to think about right now.

“It’s getting late,” he says instead of answering her question. “Why don’t you brush your teeth and get up to bed? I’ll be there in a minute.”

“Okay,” Olive gives his hand a squeeze and bounds off down the hall. Sherlock watches her go, straightening his shoulders and resolving to not think about John Watson.

---

“See does get intah tubble,” Gracie tells John around her toothbrush. She spits in the sink and continues before starting on her teeth again. “Some girl in grade six, Olive said she’s her enemy, started bothering us at lunch and what does Olive do? Mouths off to her.”

John fixes her with a stern expression, a sinking feeling in his gut. While Gracie has never been called out for any incidents at school, John knows there have been a handful. He did not address them per se because they were always in defense of a friend or weaker child, but this is not the way to start anew in London.

“Gracie,” John says in a low tone, “what happened?”

“I told her to leave Olive alone or she’d answer to me,” Gracie shrugs and spits again. John looks at her expectantly, but she says nothing more.

“And…” John prompts. Gracie meets his eyes and heaves a sigh.

“I punched her,” she tells him in a pouty voice, knowing she will be on the receiving end of a lecture.

“Gracie!” John’s voice is loud and incredulous.

“I know I shouldn’t have, but she was going to flatten Olive. You always say it’s not okay to be a bully.”

“It isn’t, but I don’t want you in trouble on your first day,” John scolds.

“I’m not in trouble,” Gracie grows defensive and puts her hands on her hips, one hand still clutching the toothbrush. “No one but a few kids saw and they just told other kids. Lots of them are being really nice now. Fastest way I’ve ever made friends before.”

John considers this for a moment and runs a hand through his hair in resignation. It’s no less than he would’ve done for his best friend. Nothing he hadn’t done. He’d even done worse.

“Okay,” John sighs. He looks at Gracie’s reflection in the mirror as she continues cleaning her teeth. “Looking out for your friend…”

“Bess friend,” Gracie interrupts, the toothbrush mincing her words again. John nods hurriedly and rushes on to the point.

“...is all well and good, but fighting is not something you want to do,” John tells her firmly. “Get a teacher’s help next time. Do not take matters into your own hands again.”

Gracie spits one last time and meets his eyes in the reflection. She resists rolling them as she shifts her weight.

“All right,” Gracie full-on pouts now. She leans over the sink to rinse her mouth and then puts up her toothbrush, grabbing a hand towel to wipe her mouth.

“Thank you,” John says, already feeling relieved and yet, uneasy too. “Get into your pajamas and I’ll be there to tuck you in.”

---

“I can’t wait until school tomorrow! I have so many questions for Gracie,” Olive exclaims as she climbs into bed.

Sherlock snugs the covers under her chin and cannot help the smile blooming on his face. Olive has always had friends and loves unraveling the mysteries of new people, but has not been quite this excited about a single person before. Yes, Gracie is definitely an excellent addition to her life. That much is certain. Without having even met, Sherlock feels as though he knows her after everything he has learned from his perceptive daughter. More than that, young Gracie reminds him of a time in his life when he was at his happiest. He never thought he would have that again, but then Olive came along and everything changed back.

“I want to know more about Bath,” Olive is saying when Sherlock returns to the present. “That’s where she used to live. Can we go there one day and see the baths? Except Gracie says you can’t swim in them.”

“You can’t?” Sherlock feigns surprise and crosses his arms over his chest. “Well, that’s ridiculous.”

“That’s exactly what I said!” Olive tells him emphatically. As she recounts more of what she and Gracie spoke of throughout the day, Sherlock clicks on the bedside lamp and rises to turn off the overhead light. His little girl is still going a mile a minute when he sits down on her bed. “And I want to know more about her dad. He’s a doctor, you know. That’s why they moved here. He has a practice. Can we have a playdate?”

Now this is definitely a surprise. Never in her life, no matter how much she has enjoyed another child’s company, has Olive asked to have a playdate.

“We’ll have to see what her father says, but yes,” Sherlock tells her in a measured voice, watching as face grows even brighter.

“Oh, thank you, Daddy!” Olive sits up quickly and throws her arms around him.

“We still have to see what Gracie’s father says,” he reminds her, “and we need to get you to sleep. You have a big day ahead. Which book would you like?”

“Would you tell me one of your cases?” Olive asks hopefully as she lies back again. Sherlock eyes her with doubt as he brings the covers to her chin again.

“They aren’t really appropriate for bedtime,” he says and she shakes her head swiftly.

“It’s fine. It won’t scare me. I want one I’ve heard before,” Olive assures him. He cocks a brow, still questioning whether or not this is wise. “Just one. A Study in Pink? Please?”

Sherlock inhales sharply. Olive is thinking along the same lines as he. She has met a girl she believes will be her best friend for years to come and it has taken her mind right to the very moment Sherlock met his best friend. He lets out a long breath and his face softens.

“Of course, sweetie,” he says quietly. She perks up instantly and whispers thank you just before he begins.

“We met just outside to inquire about sharing this very flat when I got a text from Graham…”

“Greg,” Olive interrupts with a big grin on her face, knowing Sherlock is only teasing about not recalling the CDI’s name.

“Ah, yes,” Sherlock chuckles, gently tapping a fingertip to her nose. “Greg.”

---

“Gracie, you’ve talked non-stop since you got home,” John laughs, pulling back the quilt and sheet on his daughter’s bed. “You’re exhausted.”

“No, I’m not,” Gracie replies as defiantly as she can around a huge yawn. She stumbles to her bed and nearly face plants right into the pillow, but catches herself. John chuckles softly and pulls up the covers while she turns over slowly to look at him.

“I don’t think you can even stay awake for a story,” he remarks playfully, knowing she will deny this every day of the week and with one eye already closed.

“No! No, I’m awake,” Gracie insists, grabbing his hand with her smaller one. “Please tell me a story. You know I can’t sleep without one.”

That is patently untrue, but John just looks at his daughter fondly and brushes her fringe from her forehead.

“All right, sweet pea,” he concedes, his voice already taking on the gentle quality he reserves for bedtime. “Any requests?”

“The first one,” Gracie yawns again. “When they met.”

John leans back a bit to look at his sleepy girl. He had wondered if she would pick this one after meeting her new friend. Gracie told him absolutely everything she had learned about Olive today, as well as all she wanted to find out tomorrow. It was enough to make him wonder if they would pay attention to their lessons at all, and he said as much. Gracie assured him that they only talk when allowed, naturally and eye roll. John had just given her a knowing look and she promised to keep her word.

John brushes her hair from her face again and inhales deeply.

“When Sam Williams and Dean Jensen got to the scene, it was obvious foul play was involved,” he begins. “Dean marveled as he watched Sam work on this, their first case. He saw every detail, every clue that every other person on earth would glaze right over. He was amazing.”

---

“We ran through the back alleys, jumping over fences and around skips,” Sherlock’s voice is urgent. He knows he should not make the story suspenseful since it is just before bed. Olive stares at him with wide eyes and rapt attention, but he cannot stop himself. He has not told this tale in some time and is completely absorbed in the memories and rush of feelings. “I knew we could catch the cab if we were only fast enough.”

---

“But when they got to the street, the cab wasn’t there,” John’s tone is full of hushed intensity. Gracie’s eyes are wide and yet, she can barely keep them open. When she blinks, her heavy lids stay down a split-second longer than normal before she tears them open again to meet her father’s.

---

“We returned to the flat to find Greg and his forces conducting a thorough search of the premises,” Sherlock does not even try to keep the disdain from his voice, remembering how Anderson and Donovan had volunteered in hopes of finding drugs. “They found the pink case and leapt to the wrong conclusion. Idiots. If Greg hadn’t been in charge they would’ve arrested us on the spot.”

---

“And just like that, Sam was gone,” John shakes his head, still remembering his own disbelief when Sherlock was suddenly missing. “It didn’t take Dean long to figure out what had happened, so he hailed his own cab to follow.”

Gracie’s eyes are closed now, her breath evening out and deepening, but John doesn’t want to stop. His mind is flooded with memories and images as the case plays out in his words.

“Dean jumped out of the cab and stared up at two identical buildings. He picked one and ran up the stairs, two at a time, only to find himself looking out the window to see Sam and the cabbie in the other building,” John murmurs, suddenly out of breath. Gracie makes a soft noise and shifts slightly. Her eyes flutter open and then close again. John detects the movement, but is so wound into the case that he just keeps staring at the bed’s headboard like he’s looking through that window again. His voice comes out in a defeated whisper: “He made the wrong choice.”

---

“A shot rang out and struck the cabbie, knocking him to the floor,” Sherlock says dramatically, caught up in the story as much as Olive. “I ran to the window, but couldn’t see anyone in the opposite building. Later when I started deducing the shooter for Greg, I knew.”

---

“Sam knew it was Dean,” John breathes, his words nearly inaudible, even in the stillness of the room.

---

“I walked away from Greg, but made it clear to Friday that I knew what he’d done for me,” Sherlock meets his daughter’s wide eyes, full of wonder. “He smiled at me and I knew at that moment…”

---

“We both knew,” John almost gasps, unable to maintain his distance from the tale now that his daughter is asleep. His eyes have grown soft and watery.

---

“We would be best friends for life,” Sherlock finishes, nearly in a trance that breaks as soon as Olive exhales loudly with the word wow.

“That was better than any other time you told it before,” she tells him in awe. Sherlock’s lips turn up into a small smile and he bends to kiss her forehead. “So what happened?”

“What?” Sherlock’s brow furrows in confusion.

“You were best friends,” Olive clarifies. “So what happened?”

‘Where is he’ is the unspoken question hanging heavily in the air between them. Sherlock licks his lips, trying to decide what to say. Oddly enough, Olive has never before asked for an explanation as to why his best friend is no longer in his life. A pang of despair surges through his body, leaving weariness in its wake. He looks at Olive with some apprehension, pushing thoughts of John and Mary from his mind.

“He got married and they moved away,” Sherlock shrugs uneasily while trying to sound casual. “We grew apart.”

“Hm,” Olive presses her lips together. She looks unconvinced, but mercifully does not push the issue. “I don’t think that’ll happen to Gracie and I. We’ll be friends forever.”

“I’m sure you’re right,” Sherlock says sincerely and kisses her head again. “Good night, Olive.”

“G’night,” she grins and pulls a stuffed bee from beneath the covers as Sherlock stands. She turns on her side and snuggles it close.

Once Sherlock is out of the room and the door is closed, he leans his back against it and sighs sadly. Unwilling to dwell on the memories, he walks down the stairs and into the kitchen where he starts loading the dishwasher he had installed shortly before Olive was born. He knew he would have little time for washing up with an infant in the flat.

Sherlock tries to keep John from his thoughts as he works, but the face that still haunts his dreams will not relent. Mycroft had tried to tell him what had become of John a few weeks after he and Mary had left London, but Sherlock could not bear it. He could not know anything about John without being able to share it. Sherlock had been so broken and hopeless, nearly turning to cocaine for release, but would not do that to John. He knew John would not give a damn at that point, but Sherlock still refused to go back to his old ways.

Sherlock could not really blame John for leaving. He had been the one who pushed him back to Mary after she shot Sherlock, and she wanted to leave London. She seemed to want John all to herself and Sherlock had not expected that. Nor had he anticipated John going with her without a word. That had cut more deeply than any cruel words could have and Sherlock was lost as a result.

That was ten years ago and so much had changed in Sherlock’s life since then. He had healed and repaired his broken heart, but never forgot John, the one true love of his life. Never at any time, however, did he allow Mycroft to tell him anything about the doctor or his new life. His meddling brother knew exactly what John was up to and still did. He would never stop his minions from spying, much the same as Sherlock would never ask what they had observed. In spite of this fact, Sherlock would never delete John and revels in telling Olive of their adventures, but he does keep his distance from that part of his mind palace. It is the only locked door and he approaches it only to slip a case from the letterbox. Why then, does John so plague his thoughts tonight?

Sherlock closes the dishwasher and switches it on. He walks through to the sitting room and goes straight for his violin. Picking up the beloved instrument carefully, he props it under his chin and deftly moves the bow across its strings with a sigh. As a piece of his own composition fills the air, one he only plays on difficult nights, he closes his eyes and allows his mind to work so that it might ease.

_______________

So there it is! What do you think?? Too much pining? Not enough? The girls are the greatest, yeah? Third grade versions of John and Sherlock, but they have their own personalities too. They made me laugh so many times while writing and editing. Lol. I never would've thought I'd like writing kids, but I really do. Of course, I never pictured myself writing Johnlock fanfic either. Oh, how we change as we grow.

Logistically speaking, my plan is to post a new chapter every weekend. The whole story is finished, I just haven't typed it all and I need to edit. I'm sort of old school that way. That said, I may have to post every other week. I'll just have to see how it goes.

Your support means so much to me and I love you all! Jane

#johnlock #Johnlock fanfic #Sherlock Holmes #sherlock #john watson #sherlock loves john #John loves Sherlock #mystrade

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raywritesthings · 5 years ago

Text

Once Upon a Star (City)

My Writing Fandom: Arrow Characters: Laurel Lance, Oliver Queen, Sara Lance, Nyssa al Ghul, Damien Darhk, Ted Grant, Quentin Lance, Malcolm Merlyn, Dinah Lance, Robert Queen, Raisa, Tommy Merlyn, Thea Queen, John Diggle, Dr. Fate, Zatara, Zatanna Zatara, John Constantine, Olivia Queen, Willima Clayton Pairings: Laurel Lance/Oliver Queen, Nyssa al Ghul/Sara Lance Summary: King Robert and Lord Lance enter their eldest children into a betrothal arrangement, only for the celebration to be interrupted by Damien Darhk. Will Lady Laurel fall victim the curse upon her, or will true love prevail? *Can be read on AO3 or FFN, links in my bio*

Long ago, the kingdom of Star had a very special year. Queen Moira was expecting a child, an heir to the throne. With this event quickly approaching, King Robert had his mind on the future. When it came time to meeting with the various nobles who had pledged fealty to the kingdom, this mindset went with him, including in his talks with Lord Quentin Lance.

Lord Lance was a prickly sort whose loyalty and sense of right could not be bought with money or simple gifts. He commanded a measure of respect among the common folk who tended his land and who he protected in times of strife. Good relations with the nobleman meant peace within his kingdom, and Robert thought he saw the way.

“Lord Quentin, I wish you well and congratulate you and your wife on the birth of your daughter.”

“Thank you, your Grace,” Lord Quentin answered with a short bow of his head. “We’ve named her for her mother. And it’s my hope she’ll grow into a true lady of the kingdom.”

“I am certain of that. It’s why I am prepared to make you a conditional offer.”

Lord Quentin frowned. “Conditional how?”

“On the birth of the new heir to my throne,” King Robert told him. “Should the infant be a boy, as I’m hoping he will be, I wish to propose a betrothal between your daughter and my son.” He could see the shock on the nobleman’s face.

“You’re serious?”

“I am interested in focusing on my people, Lord Quentin, not on the lands of others. The future Queen should be one of our own, and I can think of few families finer. But we shall wait for the birth before making any final arrangements.”

Prince Oliver arrived to much merriment, and the two families planned a grand feast to celebrate the births and the future union of their houses into one. All the kingdom was invited, save one.

The day of the celebration, three of the kingdom’s most respected and sought-after Sidhe were in attendance to bless the future union and the infants individually. First were the gifts bestowed upon the Prince, starting with the one called Fate.

He rose half a foot in the air with both arms held out as he spoke. “To the young Prince, I give him strength of body and strength of heart, to endure the hardships of the crown. Where others falter, he will lead.” Thus spoken, he lowered back to the stone floor of the great hall.

“Show off.” Constantine was the second of these Sidhe to step forward, striking a match against the baby’s crib. “I give the Prince what some may call the gift of diplomacy. With his wit and his humor he will charm those who seek war and and soothe those with rancor against the crown. And with this gift, he will woo the fair lady to which he’ll find himself wed.” That said, he stepped back and lit a smoke.

Last if the three was Zatara, who held a hand over the crib as he said his own piece. “To the future king I give a warrior and a hunter’s skill. No weapon wielded by his hand shall be bested, and thus restraint shall be the true measure of his ability.”

With these gifts given to the Prince, the Sidhe turned their attentions to the Princess-to-be. Again, Fate took his turn first.

“To the child, I give the gift of beauty, within and without. Her face shall inspire the poets and her kindness shall inspire the people.”

Constantine breathed out a trail of smoke before speaking. “I give the little lady the gift of a strong voice. Raised in anger or song, all will hear her and all will listen, or quickly learn their lesson,” he added with a smirk.

Zatara stepped forth, but before he could speak a tremendous wind threw the doors open and blew out every torch in the hall. The King, Queen and Lady Lance all drew back in horror.

Damien Darhk, most feared of the Unseelie, stepped through the open doors to several gasps. “Your Majesties, Lords and Ladies. Forgive my tardiness. I only just learned of this happy celebration today.” He walked up the aisle of people that parted at his approach until he had nearly reached the dais upon which the two ceremonial cribs sat. “I’m sure the messenger with my invitation has a good explanation for it.”

Lord Lance stepped forward, a frown on his face. He had never appreciated Darhk’s encroachments upon the kingdom nor his veiled threats. “There wasn’t one sent.”

The Unseelie drew back, face transformed into a mockery of shock. “Not sent? But that means… you didn’t want my presence at your celebration. Such a shame. After all, I only wished to give the dear little girl a gift of my own.”

“You did?” Lady Lance asked hesitantly.

“Why yes. Do listen.” He raised a hand. “The future Highness will indeed be beautiful and kind, loved by her Prince and all that feel her kindness. But—” And here his voice turned from pleasant to cold and hard. “Before the Earth completes its turn past her thirtieth year, she will fall to an arrow, and die.”

“No!” Quentin lunged, but was held back by his terrified wife.

“Seize him, before he harms the Prince as well!” King Robert declared. His guards charged, but the laughing Darhk merely disappeared in a flash of light and smoke. When it cleared, all were left in confusion and dismay. A celebration that had quickly turned to a time of mourning.

“Do not despair just yet,” Fate told the families. “For Zatara has yet to give the final gift.”

“You mean, you can reverse what that monster’s done to her?” Quentin didn’t dare to hope as he looked upon the Sidhe.

Zatara bowed his head for a moment. “Not reverse entirely, but lessen. With my daughter’s help, our magic can divert the course of Darhk’s prophecy to some degree.” He beckoned a small dark-haired girl to stand with him, and the father took the lead. “Dear child, though others wish you harm, I give you this final protection. Should the arrow pierce your flesh, death it will not bring, but sleep.”

“Peaceful sleep eternal,” the young Zatanna repeated. At her father’s urging, she continued with a brighter gleam in her eyes, “Though many may try to wake you, only one way will they find: the kiss of true love, a power stronger than all the darkness of this world, will end the evil curse upon you and bring the happiness once promised to us all.”

A faint glow seemed to emanate around the Sidhe and the cribs, sealing the magic before dimming once more.

“Thank you, Zatara,” King Robert said. “But there is nothing else that can undo this wicked trick?”

“None, save hiding the child away, which is what I would do if Darhk set his eyes upon me,” Constantine remarked. Then he turned and walked away. The other Sidhe soon followed.

The Lances were both crestfallen at this announcement; they could not simply abandon their station to seek a hideaway nor could they expect to keep their daughter safe from the threat of arrows within the kingdom. Lord Lance, however, was loathe to trust the power of something so intangible as true love’s kiss, and so he resolved to have his daughter hidden away from everyone, even himself.

The task was entrusted to a retired knight who held the highest honors: Sir Ted the Wildcat. His wilder nature, already tempered with age, would soften even further in the presence of the sweet child he would raise as if his own. He even gave her a new name to better hide her from Darhk’s spies: Laurel. In the dark of night, he slipped away with the baby deep into the woods in a tiny cabin, as removed from the pomp and circumstance she might have been raised in as one could get.

Lord and Lady Lance produced a second daughter they named Sara. The nobles and the royals decided the betrothal agreement between their families would go on, this time without a special celebration to commemorate it. And though they raised the young prince and the young lady with this idea in mind, their children proved far more inclined to pursue their own fates…

---

Fourteen years later, Prince Oliver of Star rode through the woods. “Ollie, come on! Stay on the path.”

He looked back at Tommy, his closest friend from childhood, and laughed. “You stay on it if you want.” He urged his horse on and soon found himself hopelessly lost, which was probably what Tommy had been trying to warn him about. Oh well. He enjoyed being out in the woods where he wasn’t the King’s son, heir to the throne and all that. He could waste a day away out here if he wanted.

Not far away in a tiny wooden cabin, Laurel was preparing for a day out with a book to read and a basket for collecting berries, herbs and anything else that caught her fancy. “I’ll be back to make dinner, Ted.”

“Don’t go too far,” he cautioned her, as he always did.

Laurel smiled and shook her head. He was such a worrier. She stepped outside and shut the door behind her, humming under her breath. As she went further out, confident in her complete isolation from even Ted, her humming turned to song. First under her breath, then louder as her confidence grew. She liked her voice, but she’d grown shy of sharing it when she hardly had an audience.

Yet that was about to change.

Oliver looked up, pulling the reins to slow his horse to a trot, then a walk. Had he heard something?

Then it came again, off through the trees. The most beautiful voice he’d ever heard. Like a siren’s call, perhaps, it beckoned him. And so he went, riding quickly and jumping over brambles and fallen logs in his path.

He slowed once again to listen, then swung off his horse and walked the rest of the way through the trees that separated him from the owner of such a voice. When he at last lifted a branch aside to see into a small clearing, he was momentarily stunned. “Lord…”

A maiden with long, blonde hair and sparkling green eyes swayed her way this way and that. Her clothes were plain and she’d forgone stockings and even shoes for the moment as she seemed content to feel the grass beneath her feet as she moved to the music of her own making.

Heedless to any observer, Laurel continued her approximation of a dance, the little she had gleaned from her books of how one was meant to dance. If only she had a real partner instead of her daydreams to help show her how it was meant to be.

And then, quite suddenly, she did.

Oliver had tied the reins of his horse to the branch, stepping forward just as her back had turned to catch her hands and guide her in a spin. The surprise on her face mirrored what he felt at his own daring; he hadn’t been able to resist.

“Oh!”

Instantly, he released her and stepped back hands raised. “I’m sorry. You looked a little lonely there.”

Laurel backed up into a tree, eyes wide as she took the young man in who was standing before her. She’d never met a man in the woods before; she was usually so much more careful.

“I wasn’t lonely. In fact, I’m meant to be alone,” she argued. “Or at least, not with some stranger.” There was no need to make him think she was all by herself, after all, even if she feared she was very much out of Ted’s earshot.

Oliver shook his head. “We can’t really be strangers.” He didn’t want this encounter to end so soon.

Laurel stepped away from the tree she’d half-hidden behind, intrigued despite herself. “Can’t we?”

He thought quickly, then asked, “Haven’t you ever dreamed of meeting some handsome fellow?”

Laurel ducked her head and blushed. “Yes.”

Oliver spread his arms. “Well then, here I am.”

“You’re very confident about that,” Laurel teased. “I didn’t even say if he was blond.”

For a moment, he seemed stumped. But Oliver quickly rallied. “Some have described my hair as a very light brown. I’m adaptable.”

“Are you,” she replied, grinning so widely she thought her cheeks might hurt. She wasn’t meant to find strangers so charming, but there was just something about him, as if they really had met in some dream of another life. “Who are you, really?”

He grinned. No one ever asked him that question. He found he liked it. “You can call me Ollie.”

She thought he might be a hunter of some sort. She’d heard them pass by her home a number of times but never seen one so close. And his clothes were of a much finer weave than any she might have expected a common hunter to wear. But whether he was or wasn’t, she didn’t find herself terribly worried. So she curtsied and said, “Well, Ollie, I’m Laurel.”

He bowed in turn. “Laurel. A beautiful name to accompany such natural beauty as I’ve found here.” He was happy to see her pretty blush again. “Shall we continue our dance?”

“I’m afraid I haven’t learned the rest.”

“Then I’ll lead. Trust me, I know them all.” They’d been drilled into his head by tutors, and though he’d been irritated at the time, he appreciated the excuse now to be nearer to her. Laurel allowed him to take one of her hands again as he guided her other hand to his shoulder before placing his own at her waist. He nodded to her once and they were off, dancing around the clearing.

Laurel could hardly believe this was happening. She’d rarely met anyone in her life besides Ted, and now she was dancing in someone’s arms. Ollie guided her less sure movements and never complained or asked why she didn’t know them. He was a perfect gentleman.

Although as they slowed in the middle of the clearing and his arm slipped around her waist instead of resting at the side, she remembered herself. “Wait!”

Oliver, who had just been about to give into the temptation of kissing the beautiful maid, stopped. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m not sure I should — it’s just that, before they died, my caretaker promised them I would wait for my true love to have my first kiss.” She had no way of knowing, of course, that the story was partly a lie; the Lord and Lady Lance still lived.

Oliver, for his part, was saddened to know her life had been marred by such a tragedy so young. He stepped back to allow some space between them again. “I see. But, if you don’t let anyone kiss you, how are you meant to find your true love?”

She shook her head, smiling. “I’d yet to find anyone until today, so I’ll have to let you know some other time.” She scooped up her basket. “I’m behind on my errands. I should say goodbye.”

“And wander through the woods with no escort?” He offered his arm. “Please, allow me.”

With only a moment’s hesitation, she took it, walking along towards the berry bushes she knew would yield the best results for Ted’s cooking; she could not seem to produce food of any quality on her own, but she knew what went into it.

“What is your book?” He asked, nodding to her basket.

“Today, it’s a collection of decrees by the King. Not many apply all the way out here, but I find them fascinating. Like a glimpse of the world beyond these woods.”

“How did you and your caretaker come to dwell out here?” He couldn’t help thinking that Laurel belonged in the palace with all the amenities and comforts such a life provided.

She shrugged. “I’ve lived here my whole life. I think it was a woodcutter’s cottage before it became our home.”

“Laurel?” A voice called, one familiar to her but not Oliver.

“Oh, Ted,” she whispered. She pulled her arm away from Oliver and smoothed her dress. “You have to go. He can’t see you.”

“Alright. But when can I see you?”

“Sometime,” she promised distractedly. Ted had called for her again. “I’m always out here for this or that thing. Just come find me — coming, Ted!” She stopped and turned back to Oliver, grasping his hand with both of hers. “Goodbye. And thank you for showing me the dance.”

“It was my pleasure. I’ll come find you again, Laurel.” He held onto her hands as long as he was able before they slipped from his grasp and she was hurrying away through the trees. Such a strange but captivating young maiden. He longed to be with her again already.

Oliver went back to his horse and rode for home. He evaded all questions of where he had been and what he had been up to, excusing himself to see his betrothed. Though, truthfully, he considered her far more a friend.

Oliver and Sara had courted for a time, and indeed still did to keep up appearances. But Sara had confessed she didn’t wish to settle down and be Queen with all the expectations that came with it, and Oliver, young and uninterested in commitment himself, had agreed to the ruse with little hesitation. So she was the only person he felt he could safely tell his secret to. He told her everything from the voice he had heard to the lovely maiden and the dance and conversations they had shared. “I never knew meeting someone, even for a moment, could change so much. But I think I’m in love.”

“After only one meeting?”

“I’m going to see her again. And I’ll keep seeing her the whole rest of our lives if she wants. I can’t explain it, Sara,” he told her. “I just know this is right.”

“It sounds wonderful, Oliver, it does. But you know your parents will never let you marry a common girl even if they let you out of marrying me.”

The reality of his position caught up to him once more, and his shoulders slumped. Laurel was everything he might have longed for in his love, and he was sure the whole kingdom would find her a most beautiful, intelligent and kind Lady. Even a Queen, someday. But it would never be.

“Then I simply won’t marry,” he declared. There would be two lives for him. One, Prince Oliver, heir to the throne of Starling; the other, Ollie, Laurel’s sweetheart and companion. It was the only way.

---

For years, their clandestine meetings continued. Whenever the Prince could catch a few moments of privacy, whenever the Lady could escape her minder for an hour or so in the summer sun. Winters were long and lonely as they had no place to see each other that protected them from the elements. Campaigns with the knights to protect their borders occupied nearly five years of his time as well, though the fighting kept him from having to answer his parents’ increasing demands to settle down.

And Laurel was growing impatient as well. “Haven’t we waited long enough, Ollie?”

“I thought you were worried about leaving Ted?” Her caretaker had grown quite old in the intervening years, after all.

“We wouldn’t have to abandon him. But I want to make a life with you. A home, a family. We’re already thirty. How much longer should we wait?”

He sighed. It was wrong of him to keep delaying and never explaining why, he knew that. But he was convinced that he had lied for so long about his title of Prince that she might reject him if he told the truth now.

The other complicating factor was that he wasn’t sure he even wanted to be Prince any longer. Oliver cared about his people, but he felt lost trying to fill his father’s shoes. And knowing he would only be allowed to rule without the woman he loved at his side left him defeated and uninspired.

Perhaps he wasn’t meant to be a great King like his forefathers. Thea was of age and a bright young girl at that. She could provide the kingdom with guidance, couldn’t she?

“I’ve loved you for nearly half of my life, Laurel. Is this absolutely what you have your heart set on?”

“It is.”

Oliver nodded. It was time to choose, and he already knew his choice. “Let me return home and make arrangements, gather provisions. We’ll leave tomorrow on your birthday and make our own way in the world.”

Laurel beamed, throwing her arms around him in a hug that he returned, nearly lifting her off her feet. “Thank you, Ollie. I’ll wait for you at the cottage. We can tell Ted and get his blessing.” She leaned up on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek — the closest intimacy they’d yet to share — and then they parted to enact their plan.

Once home, Oliver gathered his most trusted friends. This included Sara, Princess Thea, Tommy and Sir John, his most loyal knight and de facto advisor.

“Some of you know parts of this already, but I’ve finally made up my mind. I’m going to abdicate the throne.”

“What?” Tommy cried.

“Is it for your lady?” Thea guessed with a knowing smirk.

“Definitely gotta be the lady,” Sara agreed.

“Your Highness,” Sir John began with a frown. He had figured out some years ago that Oliver had been purposefully slipping his guard to go somewhere, but had never quite glean the location of the tiny cottage. A fact Oliver was grateful for, as it would have rather spoiled the whole thing. “What about the kingdom?”

“The kingdom is still in my father’s capable hands. And I’m sure Thea will make a better heir to the throne than me.”

“Whoa, who said I wanted to?” His sister asked.

“Ollie, just think for a minute. You’re going to leave your friends and family completely behind just for a woman you’ve met up with every so often?”

“And who you’ve been lying to,” Sir John pointed out.

“It’s not lying if I’ll no longer be the Prince,” Oliver argued, even as guilt twisted his insides. Maybe he would tell Laurel once they had gotten safely away, but he knew doing so right now would only complicate things, so what was the point? “I’ve made up my mind on this. Laurel is more important to me than anyone, so if I can’t have the life I want with her here, I’ll make one for us elsewhere. I just didn’t want you all to worry about me.”

“I say you should follow your heart,” Sara recommended.

“Yeah, but… we’ll miss you,” Thea added. He stepped forward and gathered her in a hug for a moment.

When he offered his hand to Tommy his friend reluctantly shook it before taking his leave. Sir John did not even offer his own hand.

“I suppose you’ll need to be making preparations, Oliver.”

Oliver sighed. He knew the knight thought he should be doing more for the kingdom, but he had served it for his whole life. Did he not deserve some of his own happiness?

Tommy returned to the wing of the castle set aside for him and his father, the advisor to King Robert — and Queen Moira’s lover, though only a very few within the castle knew that. Though he loathed his father, Tommy knew that leaving his authority meant losing his status in the castle, and he was prepared to admit he could not survive as a commoner. Though Oliver’s impending absence from the castle made it a far less appealing alternative.

“What has you in a sulk today, Tommy?” His father asked, sounding faintly amused at his expense.

Well, he had news that would likely knock the wind out of his father’s sails. “Ollie,” Tommy answered him. “He’s leaving his crown to spend his days with a girl he’s been seeing. I’m sure she’s beautiful and a terrific singer and everything else he’s said, I just—”

“She’s a singer?”

“Yes,” Tommy repeated slowly. “Not professionally, she doesn’t travel with the minstrels or anything. Just lives out in the woods with some cranky old guy named Ted.”

“I see,” said Malcolm, the wheels turning in his mind.

What Tommy did not realize was that his father was not content with simply being the King’s advisor; he was hungry for ever more power, and if his suspicions were correct about the identity of this maiden, he believed he had a way to get it.

“I shall have to think on what this means for the kingdom,” he said out loud, excusing himself from the room. He stopped by the royal armory to retrieve a particular item, then descended deep into the dungeons until he entered a secret room which contained only a stone idol. Malcolm knelt before it and waited.

After a moment, a blinding flash of light emitted from the idol, then standing in the room was the Unseelie himself: Damien Darhk.

“You call upon me, Lord Merlyn?”

“Yes. I believe I have information on the Lady you have long sought. And I know how it can help us both achieve our own ends.”

---

In the old woodcutter’s cottage, Laurel had just finished packing her things when a knock sounded at her door. Drawing in a breath, she called out, “It’s open, Ted.”

Her old caregiver entered the room, raising his eyebrows as he noticed the state of her things. “You’re ready?”

Laurel blinked. “Well, yes.” How did he know? Was he just guessing, or had she been too obvious in her attempts to sneak away to see Ollie? “I’ve been meaning to tell you. I just hadn’t figured out how.”

Now Ted was the one confused. “Tell me what?”

“About my leaving to start a new life. I’ve met someone, Ted. Someone wonderful. And he thinks the same of me. He’s been a man of distinct honor,” she stated, as she could see his face already start to fall. “I kept my promise to you about waiting. But I — I really do think he might be the love of my life.”

To her disappointment, he only shook his head. “I should have kept a better eye on you. I didn’t want to restrict you to the house, that just didn’t seem healthy.”

Laurel frowned. “Ted—”

“It’s not your fault. You don’t understand. But Laurel, you can’t be with him.”

She felt the color rise in her cheeks as she marched forward a step. “And why not?”

“Because your marriage has already been arranged!” He exclaimed.

Laurel’s mouth dropped open, and Ted sighed.

“You are the Lady Dinah Lance, named for your mother who still lives. Her and your father, a prominent Lord of the kingdom of Star.”

“My parents? They’re still — but why—”

“At a ceremony commemorating your birth, an Unseelie cursed you over a petty disagreement with your father. The curse was said to take effect by your 31st birthday, but Lord Lance entrusted you to my care, to keep you safe and away from the evil seeking to find you.”

Laurel couldn’t even think of what to say. She’d been cursed? What even was it a curse of? Was it in effect now?

Ted continued. “At that same celebration, the kingdom was also celebrating the birth of the new Prince. It was decided by your parents that he was to be your betrothed.”

“I’m promised to the Prince?” Laurel managed to shake her stupor enough to ask. She didn’t even know who the Prince was! King Robert’s son, she supposed, but the books they had in the cottage were old and made no mention of him. What was he like? Surely nothing like her Ollie.

“When is your young fellow coming here?”

“Tomorrow. For my birthday,” Laurel answered numbly.

“Then we’ll leave immediately to reach the castle by sunset.” He raised a hand when she opened her mouth to protest. “It is better to not involve him. For your own protection.”

She didn’t know what to feel. Her parents were alive? She had a family who had sent her away, but were waiting for her. She was a lady — but betrothed to another man!

It was this that finally caused her to sink onto her bed, her head resting in her hands.

“This isn’t fair,” she cried, her shoulders shaking.

“Life often isn’t,” Ted said simply, though she knew he meant it as a comfort. “And your life has been harder than most.” She heard his footsteps shuffle to the door and back again. “I purchased this from a traveling caravan. It might not be the standards of the court, but I thought it might better suit a lady of your standing than what I’ve been able to give you all these years.”

Laurel raised her head to see the blue gown he held out to her. It was the nicest thing she’d ever had to wear, and all she could think was that she wanted it out of her sight.

“For your birthday, huh?”

Laurel stood slowly, ignoring the dress in favor of hugging her caretaker. “Thank you, Ted. I just wish… but wishing won’t do any of us good.”

Ted nodded and left her room to allow her to change, taking her packing with him to prepare for their journey.

She would have to return tonight to see her parents; they had sacrificed so much to ensure her safety, she felt an obligation to at least assuage the worries they had to have held all these years. Once done, she could explain her situation and how she simply could not go through with the marriage they had arranged for her. Even if it was to the Prince? Surely they would understand.

If they did, would she be able to find Ollie again? How long would he wait at their cottage until he had decided she had left him? She couldn’t see any easy way out of this.

With defeat in her heart, she put on the gown and descended the steps. She felt strange, almost out of her own body in the formal dress. Ted took her hand and led her out to a horse he must have arranged for. He helped her onto it while she figured out how to ride side-saddle, and then he took the reins to lead the animal in a slow walk. To her, it felt like a funeral procession; the end of her old life and dreams.

They continued through most of the night. Sir Ted was wary of stopping for too long on the open road. But eventually, their horse needed to stop for water, so he helped Laurel off while he brought the animal to a small stream.

Laurel stared out at the trees while she waited, wishing for all the world that something might forestall this unexpected change to her life.

Then something did. A green glow off in the distance that was at once captivating and entrancing. It called to her, nearly sounding like the voice of her dear love. Laurel walked toward it, unable to help herself.

Sir Ted turned the horse back around for the path, but stopped as he discovered his charge missing from where he had left her. “Laurel?” Off through the trees, he just caught sight of her back and the green glow drawing her like a moth to flame. “Laurel!”

Laurel was heedless to his shout, hypnotized as she was by magic — for it was Darhk’s magic guiding her steps, closer and closer. She believed herself to be reaching her beloved Ollie, and therefore raised not even a hand to defend herself when the Unseelie stuck her side with an arrow from the Prince’s own quiver.

Sir Ted crashed through the undergrowth just in time to watch his dear charge collapse into the deep slumber the Sidhe had predicted. “No!”

Damien Darhk laughed to see his revenge at last carried out. He dodged the knight’s enraged strike with ease before throwing him against a tree. “You mortals thought you could outwit me, did you? Let this be a message to you all. Of course, I haven’t finished my fun. There’s a Prince I need to see to next.” With that, he disappeared in a flash of blinding light.

Sir Ted crawled towards the fallen maiden, despair filling him at the sight of her still form. “I failed you. Lord forgive me…” His arm outstretched towards hers, he fell insensate for a time.

Sir Ted roused at the sound of hooves against the dirt path. “Prince Oliver!” A voice shouted. “Prince Oliver!”

“Help,” Sir Ted mumbled weakly, before rallying his full voice. “Help, please!”

A number of guards led by Lord Merlyn himself found them. “What has happened here?” The nobleman asked, directing his guards to help both the older knight and the young lady off the earthen floor. “Speak quickly.”

“I am Sir Ted, the knight Lord Lance sent with his daughter years ago to protect her from Damien Darhk. But this night, I have failed my sworn task. Darhk appeared to her and lured her into a trap where she met with the arrow that he foretold.”

“The Prince’s arrow,” Lord Merlyn said, picking the offending weapon up from the ground. “And the same night that he has fled the castle. There has been some treachery at work tonight.”

“It was Darhk, I tell you,” Sir Ted tried to explain.

“Lord Lance must be informed, and the kingdom prepared,” Merlyn said, ignoring the retired knight. He snapped at a pair of guards. “Bring the young Lady Lance. She should be allowed to rest with her family at last.”

They carried her away before Sir Ted could voice another protest. He hurried to his horse, determined to follow the group. Even if he had failed to stop the dark prophecy from unfolding, he refused to abandon his duty to Laurel.

And he sensed a kind of treachery indeed.

---

Within the court at Star, the Lord and Lady Lance were preparing a massive feast, for it was finally the day their daughter would return. Only the older servants truly knew this, though; Quentin and Dinah had long forbidden any mentions of their lost baby, for fear it would incur the interest of the Unseelie who lurked their lands.

Yet in the midst of their preparations, a servant showed in a most auspicious guest along with two of his guard.

“Lord Malcolm,” said Lady Dinah, curtsying low. “We are honored by your presence tonight.”

“I wish I could say the honor was mine, Lady Dinah. But I fear I bring you both news of a tortuous sort. My men encountered Sir Ted the Wildcat in the woods on his way here with a young lady. The one you have been waiting for, I believe.”

Lord and Lady Lance both held their breath. Unknown to them all, Lady Sara had stopped just outside the room, curious and straining to listen in on this conversation.

“She was struck down by an arrow just as you have feared these thirty years,” Lord Merlyn told them at last.

“No!” Lady Dinah’s legs could not support her, and she fell back into a chair.

“What’s more, it was done by the Prince’s hand.”

“What?”

Lord Lance’s exclamation covered his daughter’s own gasp. Oliver had killed some young woman? He would never! And anyway, he was on his way to the woodcutter’s cottage to run off with his lady friend.

“I have begun a search for the Prince. We have no idea what he plans to do next, but it is clear the royal family has turned on us if they have seen fit to rob you of your daughter on the eve of your reunion.”

Daughter? Sara mouthed the word to herself. What did that mean? She was right here.

“I cannot believe this,” Lord Quentin said. “After everything King Robert promised. That his son would — it’s unthinkable!”

“He’s gone mad.” Lady Dinah turned to her husband. “Quentin, if he struck down our eldest, what of Sara?”

“Lord Malcolm wishes to offer protection for her,” a guard stated.

“Thank you,” Lord Quentin said. “I would ask that you protect her and my wife. Lord Malcolm, I wish to join you in your search for the Prince so that my firstborn will be avenged.”

“Wait.” Sara came out into the open at last, startling the group. “What is going on? You’re all talking like I have a sister.”

“There isn’t time, dear,” her mother said. “Go with Lord Malcolm’s guards and I’ll join you once I’ve seen to the servants.

“Come, Lady Sara,” a guard said, taking her by the arm and having to drag her out of the home where they were joined by even more guards.

“What happened to her? Why did you lie to me?” Her whole life, she’d never thought she was anything other than an only child. Why would her parents have sent one of their own away, and why would Oliver ever do something so cruel as to harm her before Sara even got to meet her? This didn’t make any sense!

“Let me go!” Sara struggled to free herself from their hold, but they outnumbered her greatly and had weapons besides. So it was to her surprise that her captors suddenly stopped.

“Move off the path!” One of them ordered.

“I will not,” said a woman’s voice, powerful and vaguely foreign-sounding. When Sara peeked over one of the guard’s shoulders, she caught a glimpse of the stranger; cloaked and with a scarf over her nose and mouth, what struck Sara first was her dark and piercing eyes. Then the sword at her side.

“You will release the maiden and tell me where I may find Lord Merlyn.”

“We’ll do no such thing. Seize her!”

What happened next, Sara could hardly believe. The woman ducked and weaved through the guards, cutting them down with practiced ease until none remained standing. Then she was suddenly standing right in front of her, but Sara found she was the one breathless.

“Come with me if you wish to be safe from those men.”

Sara took the woman’s hand without question, being pulled along away from her family’s castle, through the village, and into the surrounding trees.

“Who are you?”

Her rescuer looked back at her. “I am Nyssa, Heir to Nanda Parbat. I have been sent to settle a quarrel my father has with your kingdom’s advisor.”

“So why save me?”

“Because you required it. Is it not common for those on a quest to rescue beautiful ladies in your land? I had read as such.”

“Um, yeah, it’s common,” Sara replied, feeling her face heat up. She thought she could see the outline of a smirk beneath the scarf still adorning her rescuer’s face. “I’m Lady Sara,” she said, rallying herself. She wasn’t usually so shy, but then, she’d never been saved by a gorgeous lady before!

“Lady Sara,” said Nyssa al Ghul, bowing low over Sara’s hand and pulling her scarf down at last in order to kiss it. Sara has been right; she was gorgeous. “Do you know where I may find Lord Merlyn?”

“All I know is he’s leading my father and a bunch of men to try and capture my friend, the Prince of Star. He’s claiming Oliver hurt my sister or something — he’s claiming I have a sister in the first place, which is already news to me.”

“The fabled Lady, cursed by Darhk, perhaps?” When Sara stared at her blankly, Nyssa elaborated. “My father’s sources told him of a Lady in the court of Star cursed upon birth to fall into eternal slumber after her thirtieth year. She was secreted away from your kingdom to protect her from the Unseelie they call Damien Darhk — but it seems to me this plot is one of Lord Merlyn’s design.”

“Eternal slumber?

Sara wished she could have a minute to just process all of this, but her eye had caught upon an older-looking knight riding in on a horse with some sort of jungle cat embroidered upon his tunic. She pulled Nyssa along toward him.

“Sir Ted?”

“I am, yes. Forgive me, but I must find Lord Lance. I have news for him.”

“He knows about his daughter already,” Sara told him. “And I’m her sister.”

The knight’s face fell, and he dismounted. “I am sorry I could not protect her. But there has been a grave error made. The Prince was not her attacker. I must tell the court the truth, and then return to the cottage to see if I may find Laurel’s love waiting for her there. He may be her only hope.”

“Then it is true love’s kiss which breaks the curse?” Nyssa asked.

“My sister’s name is Laurel?”

Sir Ted looked down. “I called her such for thirty years to better hide her, yes. Her true name is Lady Dinah, the betrothed of Prince Oliver and therefore the future Queen of our kingdom. But if the man she met on her own is her true love, then nothing can stand in the way of bringing him here.”

“No, but my friend, Oliver, he’s the Prince. And he met a girl out in the woods years ago. He’s planning to meet her at her cottage and run away, and her name is Laurel.” Sara gasped. “Ollie’s Laurel. He’s walking into a trap!”

“Then we will attempt to intercede,” declared Nyssa. “I must borrow your horse, Sir. Come, Lady Sara.” Nyssa helped her step into the stirrups, then mounted the horse behind Sara, bracketing her with her arms as she reached for the reins to spur the horse into a gallop.

“Find Laurel!” Sara called back to the knight. “We’ll bring Ollie to her!”

She could only hope they reached Oliver before her father and Lord Merlyn did.

---

As Oliver approached the woodcutter’s cottage for the first time, he observed his surroundings and slowed. The air was still, the trees quiet. Not a single creature making noise, and no candles were lit inside despite it being just after daybreak. Something was amiss.

The door swung open, and a man with nearly white-blond hair stepped out. “Oh fine, don’t fall for it. I can improvise.”

Oliver reached for an arrow in his quiver. “Who are you, and what have you done with Laurel?” He could tell by the man’s voice that this certainly wasn’t her caretaker Ted.

“I am Damien Darhk, the infamous Unseelie. And what I’ve done to your beloved is what I promised to do thirty years ago as thanks for the slight her father Lord Lance dealt me.”

Oliver froze. Lord Lance was Laurel’s father? But she’d told him she was an orphan, and Sara had never made mention of an older sister.

“I can see the wheels struggling to turn,” Darhk remarked with amusement. “Allow me to explain. When you were a baby, your parents entered you into a betrothal arrangement with Lord and Lady Lance’s daughter. Their eldest daughter. The whole kingdom was invited except me. Kind of a harsh way to find out you’re so disliked, right? So I cursed her to die before her thirty-first birthday.”

Oliver had been taught about the Sidhe and Unseelie by his various tutors, but this seemed unconscionable. “You cursed an infant for something she had no control over?”

“Yes. I am evil, that is the idea,” Darhk replied. Just as Oliver nocked his arrow on the bow, the Unseelie raised his hand and he felt himself frozen in place. “I wasn’t done talking,” Darhk said, his voice turning cold for an instant.

Try as he might, Oliver couldn’t seem to break the spell over him.

“Now, the dear girl’s parents hoped to keep her safe by hiding her out in the woods, and it might have worked. Except you told your good friend Tommy all about your sweet maiden with the beautiful hair and stunning voice, and he complained all about how you were leaving him behind to his father, Lord Merlyn. Who works for me.”

Anger, white hot, burned in his gut. His father’s best friend had betrayed them all?

“And see, this has all worked out even better than I could have planned. Your love now sleeps forever unless she can be awakened by true love’s kiss, which is you. But right now, Lords Merlyn and Lance are on their way here with a small army because I may have borrowed an arrow from your armory to do the job. Whoops!”

If he had his voice, Oliver would have uttered a thousand curses and oaths at the Unseelie by now.

“So, you get to battle your way through your own kingdom’s people on your way to the kingdom for your true love, who you may awaken with a kiss assuming you don’t die or have to kill her father or something else horrible,” Darhk said. Then his grin turned sharp. “Or I could just end it all right now and ensure the lovely lady never wakes up.”

He closed his hand into a fist, and Oliver suddenly found his breath stopped. He was choking on nothing.

An arrow shot past him and very nearly embedded itself into Darhk’s eyeball had he not grabbed it at the last second, breaking whatever hold he had on Oliver. “Hm, craftsmanship suggests Nanda Parbat…”

Oliver did not hear anymore. He went crashing through the trees, knowing he needed to put as much distance between himself and the Unseelie as possible if he was to ever reach Laurel.

To his right cane a shout. “There he is!”

Guards normally under the command of his father descended down a slope with swords drawn. He struggled to outrun them and knew they would soon be upon him—

“Ollie!”

Sara’s voice had him looking round. She was holding the reins of a horse while an unknown woman holding a bow swung off the back.

“How did you—”

“Come on!”

“Rescue your love,” Sara’s new friend ordered him. “And leave Merlyn to me.” She stride past him to face the oncoming guards.

Sara reached out a hand to help pull him up. “How did you figure all this out?” He asked her.

“I’m kind of learning as I go. Now you have to go wake up my sister so I can finally have one. I can’t believe you never brought me to meet her.”

“I didn’t know!”

“Sara, what are you doing?” Lord Quentin yelled upon seeing his other daughter preparing to take off with the man he believed to have harmed his eldest.

“You’ll understand later, I promise!” She snapped the reins, and the horse took off.

Lord Merlyn sent some of his mounted guards after them, led by Lord Quentin. Then he approached his adversary on foot. “Nyssa. I suppose I should have expected this.”

“And yet you made no preparations. How thoughtless of you.” She exchanged her bow for her sword, watching as he did the same.

“You think by beating me you will finally win your father’s elusive approval?”

“It matters not. You have conspired against a dear lady and her family.” She readied her stance. “For that alone, I will be glad to rid the earth of you.”

At once, the two charged, meeting in the middle with a clang of swords. Though Merlyn possessed great height and strength, Nyssa was his equal if not better in skill. She had prepared her whole life for the warrior’s path, and her fury at what had been done to hurt Lady Sara and her sister propelled her to new heights. They exchanged blow after blow, circling the small clearing again and again, until at last, Nyssa’s sword caught Merlyn’s and flung it out of his reach.

He held up both hands. “Nyssa, wait. I’m a father, the only family my son has left in this world.”

“Yet you ally yourself with those who would steal children from their parents.” Unwilling to hear his pathetic pleas any further, she cut him down.

Meanwhile, Sara and Oliver’s progress through the woods was greatly impeded by a forest of thorns spontaneously growing in their path every which way Sara turned the horse. “It’s Darhk,” Oliver realized. “I’ll have to go on foot. Hold off your father. Try to explain.”

“Alright, but hurry, Ollie.”

The Prince plunged into the brambles, hacking at them with his sword over and over, slowly but steadily cutting his path. They tore at his clothes and his skin but he battled through the pain, knowing that at the end of all this was something he wanted more than life itself.

He fought off beasts, transformed and monstrous with Darhk’s magic, and forded streams that had turned into raging rapids threatening to flood the land. When at last he spied the gates of the kingdom, he was forced to dodge a volley of arrows from the guards at the ramparts. Oliver used a back way he and Tommy had discovered as children to sneak over the castle walls and into the place he’d called home.

The castle itself was quiet and still. The sudden upset of the coup seemed to have all on edge. Nevertheless, he snuck his way to the kitchen where he hoped to find aid.

“Raisa?”

Sure enough, their old cook still busied herself by the fireplace, though she jumped in alarm at his voice. “Prince Oliver!”

He shushed her, and she glanced around before engulfing him in a hug.

“I’m so relieved you’ve made it home alive. But if you’re seen—”

“Some allies of mine are dealing with Lord Merlyn and the guards. What’s become of my family?”

“The Queen and the Princess have been confined to their rooms. No one is to go in or out, save select servants. I am one.”

“And my father?” He asked, dreading the answer.

Her crestfallen face told him the truth before her words. “Slain by Lord Merlyn. The servants all know it was him.” She wrapped him in a second hug, this time one of comfort which he gladly accepted. “I fear for your life as long as you remain here.”

“I have to put an end to this, Raisa. I have to break the curse, so that peace can be restored and the truth known. Tell me, do you know where they are keeping Lord and Lady Lance’s daughter? I don’t mean Sara.”

“So it is the lost Lady,” Raisa breathed. “I brought water and bread to a knight long retired from his duties. He has hidden himself in the highest room of the tallest tower, where he guards the young lady you speak of.”

“Thank you, Raisa.” He left the kitchens and made his way to the tower. Oliver took the stairs at a run, knowing he was trapping himself the higher he climbed. If he was discovered before reaching the highest room, it might all be over.

At last, he cleared the final stair to find a locked door. He knocked, calling out, “Sir Ted?”

For his part, Sir Ted has done as Lady Sara requested and found her sister. The guards had placed her sleeping form on a cart while they discussed their orders to shoot the Prince on sight, only leaving one guard to watch Laurel. Ted has chosen not to engage the younger man in formal combat and instead punched him out before securing his charge and hiding them within the unused room in the tower. He had hoped to spy the return of Lady Sara, Nyssa and Prince Oliver, but the forest of thorns had obscured his sight. Now, he rose and answered the door.

“My Prince,” he said, bowing his head slightly. Then, with a wary look down the stairs beyond, he opened the door another few inches to allow Oliver inside, taking his place on the stairs to watch for any guards and to grant the couple a moment’s privacy.

Laurel rested on the room’s only bed, her hair like spun gold fanning out over the pillows. Her chest rose and fell slowly, the one indication that she was not totally lost to this world.

Oliver walked forward, kneeling at her bedside and taking one of her hands. “Lady of the court or not, betrothed or not, you will always be the love of my life. I still need you, Laurel.” With this declaration, he softly kissed her lips with his own, pulling back to look at her with his breath held.

Her eyelids fluttered. That was the first sign. Then the color returned to her cheeks. Her fingers curled around his, and her green eyes blinked open.

“What? Where am I… Ollie!”

His eyes felt strangely wet for the wideness of his smile. “Prince Oliver of Star, actually.”

Laurel’s eyes widened. “You- you knew this whole time?”

“Not about this!” He hurriedly clarified. “I didn’t know you were really my betrothed who was cursed by an Unseelie or that I needed to break the curse by kissing you — but I’m glad at least about the last part.”

Laurel touched a hand to her lips. “You kissed me?”

He nodded. “Sorry. I would’ve waited for you to be awake, but that was kind of the problem.”

Laurel shook her head. “I cannot believe we were really supposed to be together this whole time.”

“I can.”

She smiled at him, shaking her head a little as she brought both arms around his shoulders to draw him closer.

But a flash of light startled them both and announced the arrival of Darhk himself. Angered by Malcolm’s and his own failures to impede the young lovers, he sought to take revenge for himself — until Lady Laurel released a scream from her mouth that threw him from the window of the tallest tower and to the ground below. He remained there, unmoving.

Laurel placed a hand over her mouth as Oliver checked this, and both turned upon Sir Ted rushing back into the room. “Laurel!”

“I’m fine, Ted. We both are. I just…”

“The Sidhe’s gifts,” Sir Ted concluded. “They are known to work in mysterious ways.”

Down below came a series of shouts. Loudest among them, the voice of Lord Lance. “Lay down your weapons! We’ve been tricked, all of us, by Lord Merlyn! The Prince is not our enemy!”

“I must tell your father the curse has been lifted,” Sir Ted explained, leaving through the door once again.

“My father,” Laurel echoed, standing to watch the people rushing about down below.

“That’s him there,” Oliver pointed out for her. “The young lady beside him is Sara, my friend. And your younger sister.”

Laurel gasped. “I have a sister?” A tentative smile rose on her lips. “And who’s her lady friend?”

Oliver watched the woman with dark hair who had taken on Merlyn as she followed Sara’s every step like a keenly devoted shadow. “I… don’t actually know yet. But they seem pretty close.”

“You’re the Prince. I’m betrothed to the Prince, which means… I’m going to be a Princess.”

“Not exactly.” When she looked at him, Oliver explained. “Merlyn killed my father, which means I have to succeed him on the throne.”

Laurel stared at him. “I’m going to be a Queen?”

“If you would. I was prepared to run away just to have a life with you, Laurel. I could never imagine doing this without you by my side.”

Laurel’s heart felt warm and nearly overflowing, to the point where all she could do was nod.

“We’ll worry about the details after you’ve had a chance to meet your family,” he promised her.

“And after you’ve had a chance to mourn yours,” she added, taking his hands. He was glad for that measure of comfort and support, and gladder still when she guided his hands to rest on her waist.

“For now, I for one believe I am still owed a kiss.”

“A kiss?” Nevertheless, he obliged.

Though the kingdom was in some disarray from the sudden upheaval wrought by Darhk and his conspirators, the emergence of the young royals would help to soothe the pain of King Robert’s loss for all. King Oliver, helped by his friends and advisors, would work to improve the lives of all the peoples of his kingdom. The most salient advice he found nearly always came from his Queen, whose own experiences growing up outside the courtly life often proved invaluable.

Her sister, Lady Sara, would go on to be the kingdom’s emissary to the land of Nanda Parbat, which made both Sara and Nyssa very happy. The Ladies Lance would also quickly grow close and exchange letters and visits often. And even when Sara was away, Laurel found she had her father, Oliver’s mother and sister, Sir Ted and always Oliver himself to provide the companionship and belonging she had often craved in her youth.

And they all lived happily ever after.

---

“More, more, more!” Chanted four year-old Olivia Queen, still as wide awake where she bounced on her bed as when he’d brought her up here for her story.

“More?” Oliver let his mouth fall open in a gape. “But that’s it! That’s all that happened.”

“Nooo!” Olivia cried, the word drawn out. “They gotta bring peace to the kingdom and get married and go on dates with Lady Sara and her girlfriend and find a nice house for Sir Ted—”

“For the record,” said William, standing in the doorway, “it doesn’t make any sense for Sir Ted to have taken Laurel to the highest room in the tallest tower. How was he going to escape if he needed to?”

“Well,” Oliver said, floundering for a moment. “He didn’t need to.”

“An’ it’s special,” Olivia told her half-brother. Oliver gave her an approving nod.

“You mean it’s Disney?”

“Hey, we don’t support the monopolization of the entertainment industry in this house,” Oliver reminded, pointing a finger at his eldest. “But fair use is fair use, so—”

“I am not hearing snoring children,” Laurel’s voice came in partial sing-song from down the hall before she stopped behind William. “You nitpicking your dad’s storytelling abilities again?”

William shrugged. “A bit.” He wasn’t quite out of the teenage years, clearly.

“Mommy, you were a Princess!”

“I was? Well, that’s news to me.” She stepped around William and walked to the bed, guiding their daughter to finally lie down under the covers instead of hopping around on top of them.

“Uh-huh. And you were asleep an’ dad kissed you.” Olivia giggled, clearly thinking the idea very silly.

“Well, now it’s your turn to get some rest, Sleeping Beauty,” Laurel told her. “I can’t promise you a true love, but I can promise your dad’s pancakes in the morning before we take William to the train station.”

“Does Will have to go?” Olivia whined.

“Yes. We can’t hog him from his mom all the time.”

“Okay,” Olivia agreed, subdued.

“We’ll see him in two weeks,” Oliver promised, meeting William’s eyes and getting a nod from him. Then he stood and joined Laurel to finish tucking their daughter in. “And we’ll do a new story, then.”

Olivia smiled up at him before yawning wide. “I love you, daddy.”

And damn, that really always did something to him. Oliver blinked back the stinging at the corners of his eyes and bent down to kiss her forehead. “Love you too, beautiful baby.”

Laurel and William each exchanged similar good nights with Olivia before they shut all but her Flash-symbol nightlight off and left her room.

Laurel loosely draped an arm around William’s shoulders as they all moved down the hall. “You all packed?”

“Pretty much. Just, you know, toiletries and stuff.”

“Okay, good. Go get some rest, honey.”

“Goodnight, Laurel. Night, dad.”

“Goodnight.” Oliver watched his son head into his own room for the night, breathing in once and letting it out again with a distinct air of contentment.

“Sleeping Beauty? Really?”

He looked down at Laurel. “Why not? You’re beautiful, even when you sleep.”

Laurel swatted at his arm. “Why pick the story where I have to be asleep though?”

He shrugged. “You were only asleep for a little bit. And it kind of, I don’t know, mirrored our lives. The, the life support,” he muttered quietly, still finding it hard to talk about that horrible time she’d been hovering between life and death at the hospital.

It had forced him to grapple with his feelings for her and the conviction he needed to finally do right by her, but he would gladly pay any price never to have to live through something like that again.

Laurel seemed to sense his spiraling mood, for she stepped in close and wrapped her arms around him, fitting herself against him in that perfect way they had. “Hey, I’m fine. We both are.”

He held back a smirk hearing her unknowingly echo some of the lines he’d given her in the story. They really did know each other too well sometimes.

“We have a beautiful family, a city that’s on the mend even if it still needs some help here and there. And we have each other.” She tilted her head back to meet his eyes. “That’s my idea of a fairytale.”

“And here I thought you’d groan if I used a ‘happily ever after’ pickup line.”

Laurel’s forehead dropped against his chest. “I am groaning. That’s so bad.”

He grinned unabashedly. “So bad it’s good?”

“...if I say yes, does that get you into the bedroom?”

“It’s a safe bet.” He allowed Laurel to start pulling them along without an answer.

Fatherhood had certainly given him the opportunity to polish his storytelling skills, but it had also taught him not to let a quiet moment go to waste. And if that was one of the biggest challenges to his day, he had to agree with Laurel that they really were living their once upon a dream.

#lauriverweek2020 #lauriver #laurel lance #oliver queen #arrow #laurel x oliver #nyssara #nyssa al ghul #sara lance #green arrow #black canary #my writing

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cupidmarwani-archive · 6 years ago

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Together (Family!Verse)

Summary: Olivia, Alex, and Noah make dinner. (Can be read as stand-alone)

Word Count: 1235

Warnings: none

It’s been a good day. Those don’t come often enough anymore, when both Olivia and Alex still have energy come the end of the night, and neither of them have to work, and Noah happily shows them a drawing he made at school. Five happy people. Noah in the middle, two women with brown and blonde hair to his left, and two men with brown hair to his right. Nick and Sonny are family too. When Olivia puts it on the fridge with a bright red magnet, she pauses to take a picture to send them- later, she’ll photocopy it at work so they can have it on their fridge as well.

Tonight is for them to be a family, something Alex murmurs against Olivia’s neck. It’s so rare that they get to do something like this, so they definitely won’t waste the opportunity to cook together, especially Alex’s mother’s recipe. Light pours through the lampshade to highlight the exhaustion on her face, the lines at the corners of her eyes and mouth, her chapped lips. She likely wants to collapse into bed, but there’s enough left for her to fill out the rest of the evening with love.

“Noah, come help me knead the dough,” Olivia calls, getting him to run away from his blocks and hop up on the step stool Alex dragged from next to the bathroom sink. He loves this. It’ll need to rise for a good hour or so before they can bake it, but there’s nothing better than warm bread- especially Baba’s. Even though Alex’s mother passed away when Noah was three, he loved her, and he especially loves her recipes and traditions. When Alex makes Kulich in the spring, it’s all Noah will talk about for weeks. This connection to the past, these roots, mean the world to him just as much as his mothers.

She has to remind him to cover his hands in flour first, which earns a powdery cloud covering her face and a bright laugh from Alex, who has her attention on peeling an apple to go into the Krendl filling. It’s not the center of the dish, but it’s a favorite of his, especially because of how much he loves punching it despite being told he should be more gentle.

“We’re making two, right?” Alex asks. “So we can bring one to Nick and Sonny?”

“Always.”

Noah starts to get a little less aggressive with the dough because his arms get tired. Five year olds have boundless energy, but only for the most fun of activities or in times of acute boredom. He can’t do this forever, even though he says it feels like he does. So when his little muscles start to ache, he hops off his stool and throws open the fridge.

“Do we get to cook tonight?”

The easy smile on Olivia’s face tightens slightly. Most children love to eat out, but Noah doesn’t get as many home cooked meals as he should. It shows in how much he whines over the pizza man’s face in the doorway, and how he jumps up and down excitedly at the chance to help Sonny make dinner on their weekly visits. He’s a happy kid. His life hasn’t gotten to be normal. It’s all hospital visits and social workers and hours with a babysitter other than Nick, who recently picked up a job as a PI researcher. As an ex-cop with a bum knee and an arrest for beating a man on the street, it was hard for him to find work, but they couldn’t live off his penchant and Sonny’s detective salary alone.

“Yes, we are. Can you do Mommy a favor and get the chicken off the bottom shelf?”

He scrabbles at it for a moment before yanking it out and letting it plop onto the counter a little too close to the bread, close enough that Olivia nudges it aside with her elbow. They’ll start on it in just a minute, once she rolls up the dough and puts it in the bowl to rise. By the time it’s ready for the oven, dinner will be ready, and they’ll all get a warm desert. For a moment, at least, they’ll be the family they’re supposed to be.

Alex dumps all the filling ingredients into a saucepan together, covers it with saran wrap, and sets it aside for until the bread starts to rise so they can focus on the rest of dinner. She dances in the kitchen, plucking spices from their homes in the cabinet and getting the olive oil down from the top shelf. Olivia should be getting out the vegetables and the stock from the fridge, but she finds herself just watching. Golden hair sways in its ponytail as a soft sweater rides up soft hips that have put on some padding over the last couple years, but are still Olivia’s favorite place to put her hands and lips and praises whenever she has the opportunity. Age does not steal beauty as magazines like to imply. No. It enhances it.

When Alex turns and catches her staring, she laughs. “You’re so gay.”

“You are too.”

“Not as gay as you are.”

“You cried at our wedding.”

“You proposed.”

“You said ‘I love you’ first.”

“You-”

“Ohhhh my gooooosh,” Noah whines, throwing his head back dramatically. “You’re both so gross.”

“And you love it,” Olivia teases in answer.

He sticks his tongue out, but puts it back before he can be reprimanded. Smart kid, just like Alex, who has a penchant for letting him get away with anything and everything. They’re partners in crime, those two. Noah has the ideas. Alex helps execute them. So many times, Olivia has come home on a late night to see them both halfway through pints of corner store ice cream, or with a glass of wine and a few bottles of nail polish ready to pamper her. Their shenanigans aren’t always bad. Just interesting, and a reminder of the bond between the three of them that’s stronger than people like Sheila Porter

Olivia finally manages to get to the vegetables and herbs and starts cutting them into small enough pieces to sautée, get some flavor before they get around to baking the chicken. It’s slower than pan-frying, but Olivia feels like the flavor gets in better, and it’s a lot less hands-on than standing over an oiled pan and waiting for it to turn white around the crisp seasoning.

And Noah occupies himself staring through the cling wrap covering the dough, so he can watch it rise. It makes it go faster, he always says, drumming chubby fingers against the sides of the bowl. More likely than not, he’s waiting for the opportunity to steal a piece and spend ten minutes playing with it before cramming sticky raw dough into his mouth.

“If you can’t wait until dinner, there’s applesauce in the fridge,” Olivia says, because it’s easier to preemptively redirect his focus. “It’s cinnamon.”

His face lights up. In the blink of an eye, he’s got his stool in front of the fridge to locate the little squishy packet, and then he’s presenting it to her so she’ll pop open the cap. Alex laughs again, and the world is safe and theirs. This evening belongs to them. They’re happy, this time, in a way that cannot be stolen under any circumstances.

#cabenson #olivia benson #alex cabot #noah porter benson #family!verse #mine #fic

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westywrites · 6 years ago

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Story with Gods - Chap 4

FIRST - PREVIOUS - NEXT

Though I have been mostly talking about A Mind of Static, this WIP still exists too, so I figured I could pull from it for my post this week (two days late because of work, but better than never). Apologies in advance for the roughness of this chapter, as per always, it’s the first draft so perspectives and other things are a bit whacky.

This will make more sense if you’ve read chapters one, two, and three. In this chapter, Dani is introduced! @whollyart @ratracechronicler @concealeddarkness13 thought you may appreciate this.

Excerpt: She shuddered and focused instead on the beat of their footsteps on the tiles. A rhythmic tapping that echoed but remained constant as they walked through the maze of identical halls. A thrumming like the heartbeat that played in her chest, confirming that against all logic she was alive. She looked to Sophia and noticed that there were no signs that she had been starved, she looked just like she had on that first day so long ago. Actually, not just like she had, there was something different about Sophia now, something about her seemed suddenly surreal.

"Olive!" Sophia scrambled across the floor to her friend. Olivia groaned as Sophia fell into hysterics.

"What's going on?" Olivia sat up slowly, looking around the room. "Where are the others?"

"Oh, it's a miracle." Sophia smiled through the tears running down her face. "You're alive again." She hugged Olivia only to be pushed away.

"Where are the others? What happened?" Olivia's green eyes were wide.

"They're all dead." Sophia was still laughing slightly and crying as she said it. "I died, and they died, and you died but then I wasn't dead, and now you're not dead, and we're both alive, and Bob was right, and we'll get out of here, and it'll be ok."

"Are you ok Soph?" Olivia put a hand on Sophia's shoulder.

Sophia stopped laughing. "Bob was right. Bob was right, oh no he was right and if he's right..." She started mumbling under her breath.

"Who the hell is Bob?" Olivia shook Sophia, but she was zoned out in a broken cycle of mumbling.

"I am,” Bob said cheerily over the speaker. "Very nice to see you're awake. If you could calm Sophia down, I'll explain everything in a minute." The microphone clicked off.

"Sophia, just breathe. Are you alright?" Olivia pulled Sophia's chin up to force eye contact. "Is there anything I can do?" Olivia was under the belief that her friend was suffering a mental breakdown of some kind. Though she was partially correct, she certainly didn't know the full story.

"You know what?" Sophia seemed to look through Olivia. "I'm not ok, not really. How could I be ok when everything I know is wrong?" She laughed again. "Hell, I'm not even human."

Olivia took a shaky breath in. "Soph, you sound crazy. I don't know what happened but..."

"That's right. You don't know what happened. What we are. But you will." Sophia grimaced. "And you'll see, you'll be in the same position as me."

"You're freaking me out." Olivia pushed away and stood up. "Tell me what's going on,” she demanded.

"If you insist, kid." Bob launched into his scripted explanation. Sophia cringed every time he said the word god, and she felt sorrow seeing Olivia's disbelief. After he had finished Olivia started to laugh. She looked between Sophia and the speaker like they were playing some big joke on her. After a minute she looked back to Sophia and fell silent.

"You guys aren't kidding?" Olivia could see the seriousness in Sophia's eyes. A lump grew in her throat, and something inside of her knew it was the truth. She fell quickly to a seated position and rubbed her hands across her face. Numb and confused she sat in silence as Sophia just stared from a few feet away.

"I've called a truck to take you," Bob announced eventually. "I'm not sure you can both go together though. This truck is kind of a special cases only sort of thing."

"Oh, we're going together." Olivia looked up at the speaker. "And there's no way you're stopping us." The tangle of her thick wavy hair and her sharp green eyes made her appear wild and dangerous. Even Sophia was afraid, it was as if Olivia's anger sucked all the moisture out of the air. The only response from Bob was the click of the mic. "That guy's an asshole." Olivia huffed.

"He's actually pretty nice, a little geeky but nice,” Sophia replied softly.

"He says we're gonna fight for his side in a war he's told us nothing about." Olivia raised an eyebrow. "I'd call that an asshole." The passion in Olivia's eyes cast beauty over her face.

"He thinks his side is the right side though if you thought you were fighting someone horrible, pretty sure you'd be like that too." Sophia realized as she said this that she didn't really know, her and Olivia had only known each other for around a month. It had felt like so much longer.

"Well, I'd be an asshole then too." Olivia scooted closer to Sophia. "I'm not fighting anyone until I know both sides completely and objectively."

"I'm just not going to fight anyone at all." Sophia shrugged. "All that injury and death and hatred aren't worth much. Especially considering the fact that it's all pretty easily fixed if people would just sit down and talk to each other and stop being jerks."

"You sound like a hippy." Olivia's laugh was gentle and kind, Sophia was grateful that she would have Olivia by her side for everything that was about to happen. The two girls leaned into each other, small and afraid. They held each other, clinging to the only thing that felt real in the face of their uncertain future. Sophia hummed gently and quietly, repeating a meaningless series of notes that Olivia would echo every so often.

A voice came over the speaker, it wasn't Bob this time but some woman. "The truck has arrived, please present yourself at the door and Robert will lead you out."

"Jeez, that sounded cold." Sophia did a mock shiver as she stood up, deciding once more to make as much light as she could in their dark circumstances. "Wonder what's got her all upset?" Olivia just shrugged in response and looked at the door. Her eyes were wide, and Sophia knew she was afraid. Sophia whispered futile positivities like a mantra and Olivia could almost believe her when she said, "Look, we're here together, we're going together. We have each other, and we'll be alright."

"I know, it's just..." Instead of finishing her sentence Olivia just shook her head and stood slowly. They grabbed hands and headed to the door. It opened slowly, and a small man was on the other side.

"Hi there! Glad to finally meet you in person." He was a geeky looking man with glasses and clothes that seemed to come from the 1970s. He outstretched a hand to Sophia, who shook it awkwardly.

"You must be Bob," she said. "It's a pleasure to finally have a face to the name." She made a face at how formal and stiff she sounded. Bob laughed slightly and lead them out the door opposite the room they had left.

They wound their way through white tiled hall after white tiled hall. They walked in deafening silence and Olivia could only think of hospitals, morgues, places of death. She shuddered and focused instead on the beat of their footsteps on the tiles. A rhythmic tapping that echoed but remained constant as they walked through the maze of identical halls. A thrumming like the heartbeat that played in her chest, confirming that against all logic she was alive. She looked to Sophia and noticed that there were no signs that she had been starved, she looked just like she had on that first day so long ago. Actually, not just like she had, there was something different about Sophia now, something about her seemed suddenly surreal. Olivia shook her head and focused again on counting footsteps. Finally, they came to a set of double doors that swung open into a driveway, like one of those loading bays behind grocery stores. The truck waited for them there, though Olivia would've called it a van. It was one of those square UPS-style trucks but painted completely grey. The back was open and empty except for benches along the three walls.

"Is there any way I could sit up front? Sitting sideways or backwards like that makes me motion sick," Olivia asked and cursed that her voice was so timid compared to normal.

"Suck it up,” said a man in a black uniform and helmet that covered his face. It was like he had appeared out of thin air. He pushed into her back with the butt of a gun and ushered both girls onto the truck. There were six people dressed like that who followed them and sat around the benches. Each one held a gun. Olivia and Sophia looked at each other wide-eyed and did everything they said in fearful silence.

They drove for hours, no one spoke, and the soldiers seemed to never move. The only time someone spoke was when one of the soldiers told Sophia to stop bouncing her leg. After some time the truck slowed and they made several turns in quick succession before backing into somewhere and stopping. The back doors were flung open, and two more soldiers climbed in, they were dragging another girl behind them who was kicking and fighting to get away. Once the doors closed the girl surrendered and started examining Olivia and Sophia with her eyes. She looked like she had been through hell, she was thin and her skin, though dark as night, had a deathly shade. Her nearly black eyes were sunken, and she had the bags of someone who hadn't slept in years.

"My name is Dani." She nodded solemnly. "I guess we're in this shitfest together."

"I'm Sophia, and this is Olivia." Sophia forced a slight smile. Dani seemed unafraid of the soldiers and talked consistently for the rest of the drive. Olivia replied rarely, but Sophia was a glad participant in the conversation. Dani told them that she was from Fort Wayne, Indiana, though technically she was born in Egypt, she seemed proud not to be fully American. She had been forcibly volunteered by a teacher at her school to participate in some personality test thing with a bunch of other students. That night she was kidnapped and supposedly murdered. She ended up waking up a few days later in a strange place, was told some "crazy bullshit" and loaded onto the truck the next day.

"It's not crazy though," Sophia said after she finished explaining their own story. "We know for sure we were dead and now we're not. There's no logical way to explain it."

"Dude there's no way we're some super powerful immortal beings that can change the course of a war we didn't even know was happening." Dani shrugged. "Like no offence but I just met you, and I can tell that you're both just ordinary teenage girls like me. We're not some movie plot, that shit doesn't happen in real life."

"No one ever said we were immortal or even all that powerful." Sophia leaned towards Dani.

"Really? 'Cause they sure as hell told me." Dani leaned away. "Besides do you think they'd assign eight soldiers to a trio of teenagers if they didn't think we're important? They're all nuts and have chosen us as the target of their insanity."

"What do you mean they told you? What did they tell you?" Sophia was intrigued by the new information.

"They told me that they found two others who were really powerful as well, I assume that's you two, and it implies that I'm powerful or whatever." She shrugged again. "And when I said something about dying before I go with them they said that would be a feat because apparently, we're powerful enough to be immortal. Like never-die-ever-no-matter-what immortal."

"I'd rather die," Olivia mumbled, Sophia flashed her a concerned look.

"That's against the natural order of things. Everything has to die eventually." Sophia furrowed her brow. "If there are beings that don't die those beings would likely go insane."

"You know nothing." One of the soldiers laughed. "It's so bizarre that some believe that children like you could change our world when you are here debating and denying fact."

"Have you ever considered that maybe it's not fact but only delusion?" Dani hissed at him.

"I fought and died a human soldier in the First World War." The soldier took off his helmet, he was a young man no older than thirty. "I was nineteen at the time, and now I age slowly. Over a hundred years have passed since my death." He pulled his helmet back on. "There is no delusion."

"You could just be lying." Dani's voice wavered. Something inside her, inside each of the girls, knew that the soldier told the truth. Every bit of truth was like a punch in the stomach. They knew that their lives would never be the same and they were afraid.

#west's words #writeblr #writers on tumblr #creative writing #fantasy #mythology #Story with Gods #godly excerpts #Sophia Grader #dani johnston #olivia misra #minor characters #Olivia is such a mixed bag of emotions #who would prefer not to have emotions at all in general #and Sophia doesnt get it

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