#everybodys gotta Pack!!! gotta get on the road!!

[netripper]

cornered outside the dressing room

[eating-plastic]

Autumn Leaves: Henry Barrow x Reader

Warnings: fluff, first kiss, Henry and reader reunite, some swearing, murder, death (Henry and Marie go sicko mode on Gallows Creek), some guilt (Henry questions his mother's actions), I feel like I gotta say this but spoilers (mostly for the bad ending of the game), probably some grammatical errors

Word Count: 2576 words

A/N: Hey everybody! Let's break up the puppet master stuff with some x reader thingys. Leading the pack is a sequel to my first Henry x Reader fic Carnival Lights. I wasn't going to write a part two, but someone wanted it, and that got me brainstorming. It's funny, I never thought I'd like Henry so much (well, I like my version of Henry lol). Enjoy!

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Ever since that night at the carnival, Henry never forgot you. The first chance he got, he tried to call you. He wanted to believe that you gave him a real number, but there was still this sliver in his mind that wouldn't have been surprised at you deceiving him.

Of course, the moment he heard your voice on the other end of the phone, guilt consumed him for thinking such. You were so happy to hear him, eagerly asking how he was doing and asking him what he had seen on his "road trip" with his mother. He told you everything, with the exception of all the "murder stuff".

Despite wanting to make his mother proud, and wanting to see her plan through, he missed you. That longing to see you again grew with every phone call. With every mile driven in-between the two of you.

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

Henry was lying down on the bed in the motel room his mother had rented. While he was originally listening to the TV, now he was just staring up at the ceiling. His mother sat on her own bed, writing in a notebook on her lap and occasionally mumbling something. He brings his wrist up to his face to look at his watch. It was almost time for him to find a phone booth and call you. He always tried to call you at a set time, so he would never miss you.

He sits up and stretches, before walking to where he and his mother's black trench coats hung.

"I'm going out to get some fresh air, mom," he calls while putting on his coat.

"Alright, be careful,," she replies, glancing up from her notebook, briefly.

"I know," he opens the door and exits the room.

Henry wastes no time walking to the phone booth that stood by its lonesome. He pulls his coat tighter around himself when he enters. It was autumn now, and the weather was getting chilly. He reaches into his pocket for some quarters and inserts them into the machine. He always made sure he carried change on his person now.

He then raises the phone to his ear and waits.

"Hello?," you chirp from the other end.

"Hey, Y/N," he smiles at the sound of your voice.

"Oh, Henry! Hi! How are you?" you ask. He can practically feel your cheerful nature radiate through the phone.

"I'm doing alright. How have you been?"

"I'm good. Nothing too big to report. Just hung out with friends a bit," you respond.

"Well, as long as you're doing okay," he thinks for a moment. "I uh...the road trip's been fine. In fact, tomorrow's the last day."

Tomorrow. The big day. The day that Gallows Creek pays. And then after that...well...Henry wasn't too sure. His mother said that they could finally live a normal life, but where? He thought about asking her to move to your hometown, but then he'd probably have to explain why. And if she said "no"....

Fuck it. He was going to see you again, no matter what she decided.

"Oh, did you have fun?" you question.

"Yeah, it's been fine. I just...I really miss you," he sighs.

"I miss you too. Will you...will you ever be in town, again?" your voice drops.

"I want to. Believe me, I do. I'm...I'm gonna see if my mom would think about swinging through, again. You know, after tomorrow," he decides.

"Really?" you light up.

"Yes...really," he nods to himself.

"And...and if she says 'no'?"

"Then I'll figure something out. Look, I'm not gonna stay away from you any longer than I have to, okay?"

"Okay," a small smile spreads across your face.

"Okay," he parrots. "I, uh...I guess I should say goodbye now, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess so," you sigh. "Good night, Henry."

"Good night, Y/N. I...," he stops himself. "I...I'll see you soon. I promise."

"You better," you quip.

You both hesitate, before ending the call. Henry lets out a shaky breath as he puts the phone back. He was really going to do this. He was really going to go through with his promise.

With that, he walks back to his motel room. When he enters, his mother's bed was now littered with pictures of different people. People he had never seen before. As he glances at them, he feels a bit of guilt twist in his gut. Some of the people in the photos had smiles on their faces, looking innocently into the camera. They really did remind him of you.

He just shakes his head and turns his attention back to the TV. He didn't want to think about that. Instead, he thought about how the faster Gallows Creek reaped what they sowed, the faster he could see you again.

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

As night fell on the small town of Gallows Creek, so did a dark, suffocating cloud. Blood stained the streets under the moonlight. While only some who were lucky managed to escape the wrath of Marie and her son, a devastating list of victims piled up.

Then the end came. Henry visited the radio station KFAM, and stared at the silhouette of Forrest Nash. A savior to few, but definitely not to all. He could hear his mother as she slowly cut away at the man that took everything away from her, Teddy Gallows Jr.

Life really was cruel. His mother, young and alone, trying to raise him with what little money she could scrape up. Meanwhile he sat upon his ivory tower getting richer and richer. If he had it his way, he would take a swing at him too. But no, his place was here. His job was to kill the loose end.

Then Peggy came into the picture. He remembered looking at the photo of his aunt, he did feel a bit ill. She had a smile similar to your own. It was bad enough having to listen to her screams as she died, but Forrest made it worse. He begged, he cried, he sobbed. He wanted Henry's mother to stop, and honestly he did too.

When he had enough, he burst into the room and stabbed him over and over again. Henry just wanted him to shut up, he wanted it all to shut up.

Once he was done, he ran out of the station, keeping to the shadows of the dark alleyways.

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

Henry continues to stare up at the ceiling of the motel room. His mom had been gone for a while now. Sure, there was no possible way that cops could stop her, they both made sure of that. But of course that wouldn't stop vigilante justice from rising up. His mother was just one woman, and a group of people who wanted to avenge their slain neighbors could easily carry that task out. Fortunately, he hears the sound of the lock to the motel room clicking.

His mother walks into the room and removes her mask, an exhausted look on her face.

Henry gets up from his bed and runs over to her.

"Mom, are you alright? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Henry," she nods. "I'm...more than okay."

"So, it...it's over, now?" he asks, hopefully.

"Yes, it's done," she raises her hands to hold her son's face. "Now we're free. We can finally live a normal life."

"Where?"

"Anywhere you'd like," she smiles.

"Really?"

She nods once more.

"Then...then can we live...," he gives her the name of your hometown.

"I don't see why not. Although I don't know why out of all places you'd want to move there."

"I, um...," Henry sighs. "There's something I have to tell you."

A look of concern spreads across Marie's face.

"Okay."

"I...remember when we stopped there and...I had to kill that man at the carnival?"

She nods.

"And I told you that someone was following me around?"

"Yes."

"That...that wasn't true."

Marie's eyes widen.

"Henry," she places a hand over her heart.

"I know I should've done what you told me, and I did...eventually. I...I had fun with them, mom. For once in my life I felt normal. For once in my life I had fun. I...they gave me their number and I've been keeping in touch with them ever since. I...I love them, mom."

He finishes his confession and doesn't break his gaze from his mother's face.

A whole range of emotions go through her mind. She was upset at her son for lying to her. For getting distracted. Then again, that man paid in the end and...and her son was in love. And how was that something to be upset over.

"Oh, Henry," she pulls him into a hug, which he returns. "Remember to hold onto them tightly. To never let them go."

He nods.

"Now," she pulls away. "We've got a bit of a trip ahead of us. We need to rest up the best we can."

Henry smiles, and his mother walks away into the bathroom. He looks down at his hands. Hands that were conditioned to bring pain and death. But not anymore.

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Leaves in shades of oranges and browns dance in the wind as Henry walks down a sidewalk in your hometown. He and his mother pulled in a couple of hours ago, and he needed to stretch his legs.

Oh, and he also wanted to look for you as well.

He could've called you, but he wanted to find you. He wanted to surprise you. Luckily, he gets his chance.

As he passes by some diner windows, he glances inside and sees you sitting at a booth, too invested in your menu to notice him.

He enters, and you still don't look up. You don't look up until he is right by your booth.

"Excuse me, is this seat taken?"

Your head shoots up and a smile spreads across your face.

"Henry!" you stand from your seat and pull him into a tight embrace. He happily returns it. "When did you get into town?"

"A couple of hours ago. Decided to do some exploring."

You giggle and pull away.

"Oh! Are you hungry? Do you wanna have some lunch with me?" you ask

"Food sounds great."

Henry was no stranger with diner food once his mother decided to set her plan in motion. And you know what? He still enjoyed it. From eggs and pancakes to greasy hamburgers and french fries. So he ate what he ordered so eagerly, that you playfully asked him when the last time he even ate was.

Once the two of you finished eating and he made sure to beat you to paying at least for his own food, you decided to show him around town. All while you held his hand in your own, this time without the barrier of his leather gloves.

As you both walk, a flier catches your attention.

"Oh, hey! I got an idea!" you exclaim.

"What is it?" Henry asks, intrigued.

"The fall festival starts tomorrow. Do you wanna go?" you look up at him, still beaming.

"With you?" he asks, jokily. You nod.

"Well then. I think I do."

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

You stand by the entrance of the festival, glancing around. Your friends came by and asked you to join them, but you told them you were waiting for someone, so they hesitantly left you be.

You eagerly bounce on the balls of your feet, the smells of cinnamon permeating the air. Then you spot him walking towards you, a smile on his face and his hands in his black trench coat pockets. You run to him, greeting him with a hug as you did back at the diner.

"What took you so long?" you ask.

"Sorry, my mom and I had to, uh, figure some things out," he says in a way that makes you want him to explain.

"What do you mean?" you look up at him. "How long are you two staying?"

"Hopefully forever."

Shock spreads across your face.

"Wha-wait? What?"

"Yeah, we...we're trying to find a place to live."

"I...," joy consumes you and you hug him even tighter. "Oh my God! Really?"

Henry chuckles and returns the hug, before patting you on the back.

"Come on. Are we gonna stand here, or are we gonna go to a festival?"

"Oh, right! Sorry," you pull away, and he offers you his hand, allowing you to drag him wherever you wanted to go.

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

The night was no different to the night when you both first met, filled with games and candied apples. The only changes were that the weather was colder, and Henry was warmer.

Now the two of you were sitting at a picnic bench drinking some hot cocoa. While you were interested in your sweet beverage, he was glancing up at the lights strung up above you.

"This is nice," he remarks absentmindedly.

"It is," you smile over at him. He takes a deep breath before turning to you.

"Can I tell you something, Y/N?" he gazes into your eyes.

"Of course you can," you say, your cheeks growing warm from his eyes.

"I like this," he begins. "I like...I like hanging out with you."

"I like hanging out with you too, Henry," you nod.

"It...it's more than that," he shakes his head. "You're so sweet, so gentle. It's hard to believe that someone like you exists....And honestly, I am so happy that...that you decided to follow me around."

You let out a small laugh that makes his heartbeat increase.

"Yeah, I'm...I'm happy I decided to bug you, too. I had way more fun with you than I would've had by myself."

"There's...one more thing," after some debating in his head, Henry takes both of your hands into his own. "Until I met you, I didn't have the best life. My mom had me when she was young and my dad was killed. She had no one...she had nothing, and she tried to give me the best life she could, but....I knew that that life wasn't normal, that I wasn't normal. But you didn't care. You saw something in me."

He moves closer to you.

"When I'm with you, I feel normal. I feel so happy with you, and...a-and I love you, Y/N....I-I really really do."

You were silent throughout his whole confession, but you're smiling harder than you had ever before.

"You mean it?" you lean closer to him.

Henry nods, smiling back at your positive reaction.

It was at that moment that you felt like your happiness was overflowing, bubbling over the surface. So you do the first thing that comes to your mind.

You kiss him.

It's a little rough and awkward with you doing it so impulsively and with Henry having never kissed someone before, but you two evened it out rather quickly. And it felt like the best experience in your life. Both of your minds were completely empty, the only resident now being bliss. To make it even better, you both taste the hot cocoa on each other's lips.

Eventually, you two pull away, your smiles still not wiped away.

"I love you too, Henry," you begin. "I promise that I'll do anything I can to keep you happy."

Henry laughs.

"Believe me, Y/N, with you, that won't be very hard."

[thatsthewrongwallcraig]

In The Woods Somewhere

Chapter 5: Club 27 Or The Slow-Suicide Syndrome

Summary: A window to Iggy’s past.

Pairing: Father Ignatius x nun!afab!Reader

Word Count: ~ 2.7k

Content Warnings: Dead Dove Do Not Eat 18+!, Explicit Descriptions Of Withdrawal Symptoms, Explicit Descriptions Of Ill-Advised Intravenous Druge Use, Angst And Whump In Abundance

A/N: I’m dead serious, please heed the content warnings and rather just skip this chapter if any of the mentioned things make you uncomfortable or upset!

Young Iggy Playlist dropped, folks! Please check it out, it's a whole vibe and I put a lot of work into it! 🫶🏻

Tagging: @queer-crusader @midnight-mess @theprettiesthead @blueberrypancakesworld @theidiotwhowrites @nelegance

Carry on, my wayward son

There′ll be peace when you are done

Lay your weary head to rest

Don't you cry no more

- Carry On Wayward Son By Kansas

Municipality of Kiama, New South Wales, 1987

Sharp winds coming from the close coastline whipped at Iggy’s baggy clothes; an olive green zipper hoodie slacking around bony wrists and covering a thin gray shirt, his arms crossed in front of his chest to keep as much of the fleeting heat between the flimsy layers of fabric. The cold he was experiencing wasn’t only coming from the outside but much more from within, discomfort growing and nagging harder with every passing minute.

“Benji, where the fuck are you?” He muttered under his breath, the exhale carrying the stale smell of his last cigarette and his heel bouncing up and down, once pristine trainers tapping against a gravelly, broken concrete road.

Iggy had been waiting for his peculiar acquaintance for about 20 minutes now, each of them feeling like an eternity, and no matter how often he pinballed his gaze from the open side of the street back to the cul-de-sac looping in a small roundabout behind him, there was no trashy, rusty-red Ford Falcon in sight.

He felt cold sweat gathering at the nape of his neck, droplets soaking astray strands beneath a frazzled low ponytail, not blonde but also not quite coppery hair being held together by a worn-out hair tie. Next to come knocking would be the nausea and then the ache riddling through his bone marrow, gnawing away at him so deep on the inside that it would make him do stupid things to make it stop but before it even got that far, Iggy had about an hour left, one and a half if his body was generous with him today. His stomach rumbled dangerously, trying to remind the not-quite-30-year-old that he hadn’t eaten anything besides a pack of somewhat stale potato crisps the other day.

The gurgling sound emitting from his abdomen pushed Iggy to take off on his own eventually. Damned be Benji for being a fucking no-show. Iggy didn't need him. He knew where he had to go when he needed to; the place not exactly his favourite to score but, being a bit of a junk fiend, you gotta do what you gotta do and Kiama wasn't exactly an El Dorado where opiates came streaming down in rivers.

The worst would be the walk along the beach at this time of day: people getting off work, families throwing Frisbees through the air, dogs barking in excitement, tails wagging as they try to jump just high enough to catch it—picture-perfect white picket fence fantasy.

Most days, Iggy just wanted to be invisible to all of them. He'd tried to fit in, but one couldn't shake being a natural-born outlier, it seemed, and somehow everybody noticed - a joy to have in class but still the last to be picked for the dodgeball team, relentless worker but still not quite employee of the month typa beat.

“Watch where you goin’! Fucking knobhead!” A jogger nearly ran Iggy over, almost knocked into the sand by his shoulder he started stumbling.

“Fuck off!” He hollered after the jogger before his arms shot out, instinctively trying to feather the inevitable fall.

Palms grazed the sidewalk slightly before Iggy rolled over into the warm sand, limbs awkwardly splayed out for a moment and eyes squinting to deal with the sun practically laser-beaming at him.

“Fucking knobhead yourself, mate.” Iggy groaned as the dull pangs of pain in his shoulder slowly ebbed away; that'd be a juicy bruise later.

“You good?” He had to shield his eyes with the flat of his sand-covered palm to look at who was talking to him.

“Huh?” He found himself a bit dumbfounded as his gaze darted back at a teenage girl, couldn’t be older than 16 or 17 given her high-school uniform.

“Are you alright, mister?” Mister? Damn, he might be one of the last living dinosaurs, at least he sure felt like it.

“Yeah.” Iggy managed, reluctantly taking the hand being reached out to him.

Sand crumbled off his back, some falling and some getting lost in the back pockets of his worn-through jeans, as he worked himself back onto his feet with the girl's help.

“Thanks.”, Iggy scooped at the pockets of his zipper, tiny beige grains drilling into the in-between of his nails and the pads of his fingers, “Are you okay?”

With his lips pursed in sensory discomfort, he looked at the high school student, watery black mascara splodges peppered around her lower lashline, and bloodshot eyes that looked like she’d been crying harshly not that long ago.

“I will be.”, She worked her face for a faint smile, fingers instinctively wiping around her eyes, smearing the make-up along her under-eyes, “It’s a bit of a day, y’know?”

“Sure am familiar with that.”, Iggy nodded briefly, thoughts already tearing away from the random, albeit kind, stranger as his mind scrambled back to the objective at hand, “You take care, yeah?”

They exchanged a swift nod, Iggy ready to tear himself away from the interaction whilst she looked after him hurrying along the sidewalk until the green zipper and strawberry blonde hair disappeared in the distance.

By the time Iggy arrived at what was widely considered a sketchy part of the usually sleepy and dreamy coast town Kiama, he’d already forgotten most about the girl, the curiosity about what might’ve happened to her vanished quickly because why would he even bother? Probably a tanked algebra test or an unrequited high-school love; simple things that had happened to everybody and would most likely happen to everybody still stuck in the gears of public education torture.

No, Iggy had more pressing matters to tend to. However, before finishing the beeline through a thoroughly neglected front yard, he paused, having Benji’s nagging tone echoing through the back of his head, rambling on about how he shouldn’t go to the den alone because the people rotting away in there weren’t quite right in the noggin’. Thinking about it, Iggy almost produced a laugh because neither Benji nor he himself was actually all that sorted in the brain - that train had left the station about two years ago.

Whatever, really. Go in, score, get loaded, and become invisible again; easy peasy lemon squeezin’ if you’d been dancing along deadbeat tunes for long enough.

The front door wasn’t locked, as per usual, and Iggy pushed it open with the tip of his foot, a certain stench of vinegar layered with the pungent stink of alcohol and dried piss wafting at him like a brick wall of nose-numbing fetor; this place smelled infamously bad, especially considering the number of broken windows that should allow for some sort of airflow.

Iggy dry heaved a little but pushed through regardless, cold sweats and growing discomfort egging him on the make a fucking move soon.

Before he even encountered another soul, Iggy dug for a slim roll of bills, 30 bucks a cap, cradling it in the palm of his hand and ready to slip to the next best someone who could hook him up. Whilst Iggy tried to keep the rising disgust in control, he stepped over endless piles of debris: brightly orange needle covers, strips of burnt aluminum foil, dirt, and other cluttered trash; a see a rubbish to wade through.

“Ayo, Iggy, mate!” His face shot to the side and he stopped in his tracks.

Connor, a rather distant acquaintance in Benji’s orbit, sat leaning against the wall, crouched away next to a dirt-stained sofa.

“‘Sup, Con! Rily somewhere ‘round?” Iggy noticed the muffled sounds of a telly playing something in one of the rooms further into the den, feeding the hopes that one of the more diplomatic freaks, Rily, hung around somewhere in here.

“Nope.”, Iggy’s hopes got crushed immediately, “Haven’t seen him in a bit, actually. You need some, eh?”

Iggy would’ve very much liked to simply jam the whole shoe into Connor’s greasily grinning face, the man immediately sniffing out a possible gain for himself.

“You’re lucky! Got it all set up right here.”, To prove his point, Con pulled out a delicate array of three loaded syringes, even the caps were popped back on, “Don’t even have to cook it up yersel’!”

“When?” Iggy ogled the syringes splayed out like colored pencils in Connor’s pale hand.

“Half ‘n hour ago, maybe? I’m all good on it, mate.” The description of all good was certainly a spectrum in this decrepit place but Connor was right, the proposal annoyingly convenient for a jonesing Iggy.

“Smack?” Iggy inquired and Connor nodded, “Aye!”

The transaction was brief, Iggy leaning down to hand Con the money in exchange for a cap.

“Always fancy doin’ business with you, Ig’s.” Connor sneered as Iggy scurried away, working himself deeper into this garbage dump that was particularly grimy even for a shooting gallery.

Iggy hurried upstairs, mind rattling and racing because some days he was nothing short of an idiot. It felt nice to have the ready and waiting but still lacking the proper rigs. His hands had turned sweaty by the time he slumped down on a pile of old, sat-through pillows, pawing at his pockets to perhaps find something to tie himself off with, however, he wasn’t even wearing a belt and for a moment, he considered just doing it without any, that was, until fidgeting, nimble fingers touched the thick cord looping through the hood of his sweater; that….should do it.

Iggy felt his heart picking up a beat as he pulled the cord free from the zipper, the thing easily long enough to wrap around his upper arm at least twice, and whilst the gnawing greed haunting his bloodstream took over eventually, he shoved at the sleeve, pushing the fabric to pile in folds at his shoulder. The following movements were second nature to him by now; one end of the cord tightly secured, squeezed between ribcage and armpit, two tight wrap-arounds just above the crook of his arm, Iggy’s fist pumped until track mark-spotted veins protruded. Even though he’d lost his IV virginity a good while ago, Iggy never really settled well with the uncomfortable pressure of tying himself off. It egged him on to pull the orange cover from the syringe with his lips, cradling the see-through polyethylene body between index and middle finger in his free hand and thumb lightly moving the plunger to make sure that no air was left.

Entirely juxtaposed with the harsh and uncomfortable pressure emitting from the cord around his upper arm, Iggy felt indifferent to the brief prick of the needle and the inevitably following burn. It was part of the ritual and he could deal with the perishability of the sensation, eyes and mind much more transfixed on the tiny gush of red flowing back into the needle, indicating that he successfully it a vein that hadn’t collapsed - yet.

He thumbed at the plunger, the amber concoction entering his bloodstream. Just as fast as the silvery tip of the syringe had pierced through his skin, it went out again, a little droplet pooling at the injection site to be soaked up by the fuzzy fabric of Iggy’s sleeve that came tumbling down again as soon as he unwrapped his arm and tossed the cord. Within seconds a strange metallic taste spread across his tongue and after another heartbeat or two the much-anticipated chemical orgasm simply didn’t take off.

“Con?!” Iggy shoved himself back onto his feet with his back against the wall before he stumbled off to the rotten stairway railing.

“Connor?!” What had been intended as a yell only came as gargled noise, strangled-off and breathless as Iggy’s heart started thundering inside his chest.

He toppled to the side, trying to maneuver a gradually more out-of-control body down the stairs.

“Con…what-”, He’d reached the corner of the curving stairway, arms wrapped around his torso, as a violent gush of vomit shot up from the back of his throat past his lips, splattering onto a carpeted floor scattered with burn stains and trash, “Wa-was ‘n that?!”

Iggy hurled out another mouthful of barf, his entire upper body cramping as sharp jolts of pain cut through his chest

“Oh, that?” Connor, looking up from his crooked seat, eyes droopy and half-lidded, entirely unbothered by Iggy howling out in pain, “T’was a speedball, Ig’s.”

Iggy stared down at Connor, eyes wide and pupils dilated, and in a moment of clarity, he realized that he was on the likely onset of having a heart attack. The pain in his chest knocked the air from his lungs and his limbs started tingling, making it hard to fight himself down the stairs completely.

“Phone?” An amalgamation of acidic vomit residue and drool trickled from his bottom lip upon trying to utter the question.

“Phone? Does this look like a Hilton to you?”, Connor laughed, Iggy’s ribcage spasmed in heart palpitations and Connor laughed, “Oh, you’ll be jus’ fine.”

“I have an inkling that you weren’t just fine.” You stated, chin resting on your knees as the first nicotine rush after a decade rumbled through you, head comfortably dizzy for a few minutes.

“I very much was not.”, Ignatius returned with a brief nod of his head, gray smoke steaming out of his nostrils as he exhaled, his gaze darting right up against the ceiling of the chapel as he rested laying on his back next to you, frizzed-up strands of hair falling against the bridge of his nose, “Junk, heroin, is bad enough on its own but a speedball is H cooked up with some cocaine and in Connor’s case a whole fucking lot of cocaine. I passed out minutes later, after having thrown up all over myself. Next thing I know, I come to in a hospital bed. My whole body hurts and my sister is standing at the foot of the bed, looking at me, and I’ll never forget that, with nothing but malice in her eyes, going ‘Next time you pull a stunt like that please just take a noose, should be more efficient.’”

“She thought you tried to kill yourself?” You pushed and prodded a little at the topic.

“Can’t even blame her. Shooting up multiple times a day was nothing but a slowed-down suicide. Couldn’t be bothered to put effort into it, yet, I didn’t wanna live either.” He took another drag from his cigarette, snipping the ashes onto the stone tiles.

“I’ll wipe that!” It practically erupted out of him as he grew aware of the way you looked at the falling ashes, pulling a little chuckle from you immediately.

“So, you got fucked up so bad that you said ‘Fuck it, I need Jesus!’” Ignatius couldn’t help but laugh at that as well.

“I mean, that’s one way to put it. Now, what about you?” You’d waited on that question, ready to lean above him, head slightly cocked to the side.

“You alright, mister?” At first, he furrowed his brows, confusion washing over his face in one languid wave before it made way for widening eyes, his lips dropping agape a little.

“No fucking way. You?! What happened?!”

[hunted-moth]

Just Like Him  Chapter Four: A Mad Scientist Gave Us Pasta

Wordcount // 7k

Summary // The group seeks refugee at the CDC, all gose well until the secret about the virus is revealed 

Warning //Angst, Violence aginst women (Shane & Lori scene), Language, Death, Killing of Walkers, Typical TWD stuff really

OTHER STUFF// were so close to the end of season one guys

A/N // ive got chap 5 done, and its really short so it should be out soonish, just depends on my life lol

***: Major time Skip/scene change

*: small time skip/scene change

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

                                              ~~~Day Seven~~~

             “Everybody listen up. Those of you with C.B.s, we're gonna be on channel 40. Let's keep the chatter down, okay?” everyone was gathered around and listened to Shane and Rick explain what was happening “Now you got a problem, don't have a C.B., can't get a signal or anything at all, you're gonna hit your horn one time. That'll stop the caravan. Any questions?” Shane looked around, and then Morales spoke up.

“We, uhh, we're not going,” he said, everyone looked at him in confusion, so Mrs. Morales spoke up.

“We have family in Birmingham. We want to be with our people.” She looked at her family as Shane warned them of the dangers of being by themselves.

“We'll take the chance. I gotta do what's best for my family” He said as he looked at Rick. Rick asked them one last time if they wanted to leave. “We talked about it. We're sure.” Morles semented one last time as Rick had Shane give them a gun. Daryl rolled his eyes as they did so. Everybody else went to say their goodbyes. You didn't know them well but still hugged the kids goodbye.

After the goodbyes, Dale walks up to you and asks if you want to ride in the RV. You thought about it, but the idea of being there if Jim died and turned and being in a small space didn't sit right with you.

“I don't know, maybe I'll ride with Lori or something” Rick must've overheard you and walked over. 

“Sorry Y/n, don't think we’ve got room in the Jeep” Your face dropped a bit, but then you thought about Shane and his Jeep.

“What about Shane?” you asked Dale “Can I ride with him?” Dale had a weird expression on his face when you suggested Shane “Or not” You looked to Rick seeing if he had any ideas, and who just so happened to be in his line of sight, Daryl.

“Hey, Daryl!” Rick shouted as he walked over. Daryl was currently tying down a bike to the bed of his truck when he looked at Rick.

“What?” Daryl asked, not even looking at Rick as he stood by him.

“Ya mind lettin’ Y/n ride in your truck?” Rick asked him with a nonchalant voice, while Daryl looked like he had grown horns all of a sudden. 

“Hell no, have ’er ride with someone else” he refused. Rick just looked at him to eyes with his crystal blue eyes.

“Just do it, think of it as an apology for trying to burn her mom,” He said. Daryl glared and scoffed.

“Jesus Christ,” he muttered under his breath “Fine, she can ride with me” Rick nodded and called you over. When you stood before them Rick clapped Daryl on the shoulder.

“You’re gonna ride with Daryl okay” You nodded your head as Rick and Dale walked away you looked at Daryl. You stood there awkwardly, he looked at you from the corner of his eye. 

“Put yer bow in tha back and get in tha truck,” he said, you did what he said and put your bear bow by his crossbow and hopped into the cab of the blue truck. Through the window you watched everyone continue to pack their things away. You heard the driver-side door creak open and in hopped Daryl. He didn't say anything as he sat there, just biting his thumb. 

Soon you saw the Morales Jeep start driving off along with the RV, prompting Daryl to start the truck. Soon all of you were on the road.

                                                          ***

              It was about thirty minutes of silence. You were about to fall asleep from boredom, while Daryl was thinking about what Rick said, about how he tried to take your mom while you were right there. In his mind, he was right to do so but he guessed he could've done it better.

“Hey, sorry about yer mom,” he said breaking the silence “And yer brother I guess” You didn't know what to say.

“Umm, thanks” You nodded your head slightly “Sorry about yours too” It fell silent again as the CB crackled 

             “HEY UHH THE RV IS SLOWING DOWN, DALE THINKS ITS THE HOSE” 

You heard glenns voice over the CB and even Dale's voice as he cursed the RV

             “UMM YEP DEFIANTLY THE HOSE WERE GONNA PARK”

You looked up ahead and could see the RV pull over along with the other cars. Daryl parked the truck opening the Door.

“Stay in the truck” he got out and went to grab his crossbow. You opened the door hopping out and walked to the RV. Daryl was right by you looking at you with an annoyed look.

“Thought I told yer ass to stay in tha truck,” he said with an annoyed tone.

“Chill, just want to see what's going on,” you said back to him as you quickened your pace. 

You walked over to see Dale talking to Rick about the hose.

“I told you we'd never get far on that hose. I said I needed the one from the cube van.” Dale seemed to be a lot calmer than he was over the CB. Rick looked at the steaming mess trying to think of something. 

“Can you jury-rig it?” he asked, trying to help, but Dale just shook his head. 

“That's all it's been so far. It's more duct tape than hose. And I'm out of duct tape.” Dale admitted. By now everyone had left their vehicles and surrounded the RV. Shane had binoculars and seemed to have locked his sights on something.

“Think I see something ahead, gas station if we’re lucky” You looked in the direction before Jacqui rushed out of the RV. 

“Y'all, Jim, It's bad. I don't think he can take anymore.” she then rushes back to him while everyone looks around, Shane and T-dog decide to check out the area and Rick follows Jacqui into the RV. Dale went back to looking at the hose, he called you over and had you help him.

“You know what we're looking at?” he asked, you shrugged your shoulders “We are looking at a busted radiator hose, you know how we fix it?” he asked again, you shook your head no “You don't! You have to replace the damn things” he joked you laughed a little bit.

“How's the ride with Daryl?” he asked “You can always ride with me in the RV” he offered again. 

“It's fine, he’s real quiet so it any horrible” You leaned against the RV and saw Shane Jeep pull up again. Shane got out and handed Dale some duct tape.

“Here, that should fix it for now” he walked away when he saw Rick walk out of the RV with his head down low.

“Jim has told me he wants to be left behind,” he reveals to everyone “It's what he wants.” You all let out small gasps and wide eyes. 

“And he’s lucid?” Coral asked Rick with a shocked voice, Rick just nodded his head.

“He seems to be, I would say” Rick looked around unsure of what else to say, Dale had a conflicting expression on his face before he spoke his mind.

“Back in the camp when I said Daryl might be right and you shut me down, you misunderstood. I would never go along with callously killing a man.” he paused, gathering his composer.

“I was just gonna suggest that we ask Jim what he wants. And I think we have an answer” he finished. The air around him was thick as everyone thought about his words. Shane looked over at Rick and whispered to him.

Saying if it was right to just leave him here as they drove off. Lori had her hand around your shoulder, she squeezed it before she protested what Shane was saying.

“It's not your call, either one of you” She stared them down, and they looked at each other before they both entered the RV. 

                                                           *

              You watched as Rick and Shane carried him to a tree, you could hear the faint grunts and moans of pain from Jim. Everyone followed them up the small hill to say their goodbyes. You were next to Dale as you held some small flowers to give him. Your grandmother always said that flowers helped ward off evil spirits, thats why flowers were at funerals.

Shane tried one more time to try and convince Jim to try and stick it though but he just refused again. Shane backed away and Jacqui said her goodbyes while she kissed him on the cheek. When Jacqui left Rick walked up with a small gun and crouched down, asking if he would want it. Jim turned down the offer, saying you all would need it. 

Then it was yours and Dale's turn to say your goodbyes. You both crouched down to talk to him, dale went first.

“Thanks for, uh, for fighting for us” Jim softly smiled at him, giving him a small nod. Dale walked away giving you room to say goodbye. You placed the small flowers in his shirt pocket and looked him in the eyes.

“You gonna see your family soon,” you said to Jim in a soft voice. Jim closed his eyes and smiled

“I know” he smiled. You walked away and stood by Daryl waiting for him to go, you watched as he gave a small nod to Jim as he walked away. You looked back and gave him a wave goodbye as you all left.

                                                         ***

              You all had been on the road for hours. You could feel your eyes get heavy but you refused to sleep. Sometimes you'd be staring out the window and then begin to nod forward before you jolt back up, sitting up straight with wide tired eyes.

The first few times you did that Daryl would look at you with a confused and annoyed look. But after the first five times you did that, he just ignored it. 

“Just go ta sleep,” He said with a gruff voice. You rubbed your eyes and looked at him.

“You sure?” You asked him, he just nodded his head not saying a word. So you fished out your dad's coat from your bag, draped it over yourself and used your bag as a pillow, and slept. 

The group drove for a few more hours, you slept peacefully during the drive. Ocasuallying Daryl would look over when you made a noise. Sometimes he would smirk if you made a funny noise.

             “We’re about thirty minutes away from the CDC”

Rick's voice came on over the CB waking you from your sleep. You sat up and rubbed your eyes, your coat slid down to your lap.

“Were almost there?” you asked with a groggy voice. Daryl nodded with a ‘hmp’. You nodded and ate a food bar Lori gave you. You were about to take a bite when you looked at Daryl, you didnt see him eat anything yet and you guessed he was hungry. You broke the chocolate granola bar in half and gave one half to him.

“Here” he looked at it, he switched hands on the stirring wheel and took the half, and ate it.

“Thans” his words were muffled by the food in his mouth. You just nodded while you ate yours.

“You’re welcome.”

                                                              *

              You finally saw the big modern-looking building known as the C.D.C. When the truck was parked and you gathered all your things, you and Daryl got out. You wanted to throw up when the smell hit your nose, you could feel your throat start to gag. You used your shirt to cover your nose as you walked to the bed of the truck to grab your bow.

You followed Daryl to meet with the rest and all walked to the building. You had your bow drawn as you walked near Carol and Sophia. It seemed the closer you got to the building the darker it got, which didn't sit right with you.

You were half convinced the bodies on the ground would stand up and start attacking you all, but you tried not to think about that. But your body filled with dread when you saw all the doors to the CDC were closed, metal white shutters covering them. Shane and Rick tried to pry them open but they wouldn't budge.

“There's nobody here” T-dog voiced. You looked around as you stood by Daryl now. 

“Then why are there shutters down?” Rick tried to argue. You thought that was dumb reasoning, but you guessed he was trying.

“Maybe we should go back to the cars” Your voice was lost in the confusion when Daryl yelled and pushed you away, back towards Carol.

“Walker!”

you looked back to see one limp towards you all, Daryl shot it with one of his bolts. The group started to panic, not knowing what to do. 

“You lead us into a graveyard!” Daryl charged towards Rick. Shane tried to defend Rick, saying that he made a call. “It was the wrong damn call!” he yelled. 

Through the confusion, you notice a walker limp towards you all. Everyone was focused on arguing so you aimed your bow at the dead man's head. The arrow planted itself in his forehead, it staggered a bit before it fell to the ground.

“Fort Benning, Rick, Still an option” Shane tried to suggest but Andrea pointed out that you all had no food, and it was a hundred miles and you all didn't have gas. And with Glenn's input, it was a hundred twenty-five miles.

“Forget Fort Benning. We need answers tonight, now” You could hear Carl and Sophia cry. Lori was at her wit's end, she didn't know what to do and Rick and Shane arguing was not it. Shane started to herd everybody away to go back to the cars. You felt Carol usher you with her and Sophia as you all tried to go to the cars but Rick wouldn't move, his eyes were glued to something.

“The camera, it moved!” he announced, everyone stopped to see, but it looked the same. Shane walked up to Rick to try and drag him back.

“You imagined it,” He said as he put his hands on his shoulders.

“It moved. It moved.” Rick argued again, this time he pointed at a camera.

“Rick, it is dead, man. It's an automated device. It's gears, okay? They're just winding down. Now come on.” Shane tried to drag Rick away but he just fought out of his grasp and yelled at the camera. “Man, just listen to me. Look around this place. It's dead, okay? It's dead. You need to let it go, Rick.” Shane pleaded with Rick, but Rick just brushed him off as he slammed the shutters.

“I know you're in there. I know you can hear me.” Rick yelled at the camera. Shane and Lori tried to pull him away. 

“Everybody to the cars now!” Shane yelled, you could feel Carol pull you away again. You looked over your shoulder to see Rick bagging on the shutter again. It was utter chaos now, yelling and crying filled your senses and you kept your eyes out for any more walkers.

“Please, we're desperate. Please help us. We have women, children, no food, hardly any gas left.” you could hear Rick yell at the camera, you didn't know what to believe, Rick or Shane.

You saw Lori try and fail to pull and push Rick away, but he just kept fighting back and begging whoever was behind the camera. You, Carol, and Sophia kept trying to walk toward the cars, you were in front with your bow in case a walker came out of nowhere.

You could hear Rick shouting incoherently. You looked over, seeing Shane physically push Rick away from the shutters, but something happened.

The shutters opened, it was almost like seeing heaven. Clouds of white smoke field out the door and white light blined you. But you could faintly see a man. 

You all stood there, gobbed-smacked, before Shane started moving forward prompting all of you to follow him. Carol moved you and Sophia more in the group as the adults scouted the area. With guns held high, the men looked back and forth but seemed to miss the man with a gun.

 “Anybody infected,” the mysterious man said. All guns pointed in his direction and he stepped out into the light, reviling himself. 

“One of our group was” Rick replied “he didn't make it” he reviled. 

The man slowly walked forward with the gun pointed at you all with a coautious face. 

“Why are you here? What do you want?” The man asked. He looked pale and sweaty as he walked more in the light.

“A chance” is all Rick said.

“That's asking an awful lot these days,” the man said. Rick agreed with the man as he looked around at all of you. He was studying you all. 

“You submit to a blood test, that's the price of submission,” He told you all, Rick nodded his head and agreed “If you got stuff to bring in you do it now,” he told you. You watched as people all left to get their stuff while you stayed.

                                                            *

              You were all packed in the tight elevator, you stood between Carl and Sophia. You shoved your hand in your pockets waiting to get out of the elevator. You hated being crowded, it made you anxious.  

“Doctors always go around packing heat like that,” Daryl asked Dr. Jenner as you know now. He looked back at you all from his position from the front. 

“There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself.” He said, “But you look harmless enough” he looked around and stopped to look at you, Carl and Sophia.

“Except you three, I'll have to keep an eye on you guys” he joked, earning a laugh from you three. It was quiet again, leaving only the sound of the descending elevator. You tried to stand closer to Lori but it failed so you stood awkwardly close to Carl. He looked up slightly and chuckled a little bit causing you to laugh lightly. Then the elevator doors opened and Dr. Jenner walked forward, so all of you followed him down a hallway.

Many doors were lined the hallway. But you didn't have time to check it out cause Dr Jenner was walking fast, at a neck-breaking pace. 

“Are we underground?” Carol asked Dr. Jenner in a meek voice. 

“Are you claustrophobic?” he asked her, not looking back nor stopping. She replied that she was a little bit, “Try not to think about it” was all he said to her. 

He continued to walk until he led you all to a big dark room. The lights were down but you could see a digital clock that had big red numbers on it. It read 16:12:25.

“Vi, bring up the lights in the big room,” Dr. Jenner said, but you couldnt see anyone but still, the lights turned on revealing a white sterile room full of computers. He turned around to face you all “Welcome to zone five” he said with an unamused tone. 

“Whoa,” you said under your breath. But something didn't sit right with you, you looked around and couldn't see anyone, not even this ‘VI’ person he talked to.

“Where is everybody” he asked, “the other doctors, the staff” Dr. Jenner bowed his head, almost disappointedly.

“I'm it, It's just me here” he revealed to you all sadly.

“What about that person you were just speaking with? VI?” Lori asked the doctor confused.

“VI, say hello to our guests, tell them” he paused as he thought for a moment “Welcome” Dr. Jenner looked at you all as he waited.

“Hello guest, welcome” a robotic voice came out of nowhere, making you flinch a bit. 

“Im all thats left, im sorry,” Dr. Jenner said as he walked away.

                                                            *

              “It's gonna feel like a pinch okay” Dr. Jenner whipped the area on your arm before he grabbed a needle a vile “You scared of needles?” he asked in a soft tone. You shrugged your shoulders as you watched him. 

“I don't know, my mom used to donate blood though, she would take me with her sometimes,” you told Jenner, he nodded his head as he stuck the needle into your arm. Your arm tensed up and you scrunched your face in pain. You opened one eye hesitantly and watched as the blood filled the little vile and watched it.

“Woah, thats kinda freaky” you joked a bit. You got a small smile from the doctor before he pulled it out and placed a small piece of gauze on the injection site. You got up so andrea could go next.

She sat down and Jenner started the process all over again. You went to sit by Carl and Sophia as you all waited for Andrea to get done.

“What the point?” Andrea asked him “If we were infected we be running a fever” she pointed out to him. 

“I've already broken every rule in the book letting you in here.” he argued with Andrea “Let me just at least be thorough,” he said as he stuck the needle into her arm. “All done”

Andrea went to stand up but got light-headed, Jacqui caught her to make sure she didn't fall. 

“You okay?” he asked. You looked at Andrea and noticed that her face was really pale.

“She hasn't eaten in days” Jacqui informed him “None of us have” she finished. Jenner looked around at all of you when an idea sparked in his head

                                                             *

              Laughter filled the room as everyone ate a full-course meal of spaghetti and wine, or soda if you were Sophia, Carl, and you. You were scarfing down your noodles as you ate, the sauce was all over your face. Lori would try and tell you to calm down but you'd only go slow for a moment.

You sat by Dale before he got up to refill people's wine. When he got to Carl he dropped a very interesting fact. 

“You know, in Italy, children have a little bit of wine with dinner.” he said as he filled Lori's cup “And in France” he winked at you and carl.

“Well, when they’re is in Italy and in France he can have some then” She even went to cover his cup. But Rick kept saying what would it hurt if he had some. Lori looked at him and laughed as she uncovered it to let Dale pour it. Everyone laughed as he poured and he looked over to you and asked if you wanted some.

“No thanks, I've tried it before” You declined and watched Carl taste the nasty drink. You laughed when he made a face of disgust and Lori poured the drink into hers. 

“That's my boy. That's my boy. Good boy” she said while she rubbed and patted his back and drank her wine.

“Yuck, that stuff tastes nasty” Carl announced causing you to laugh at him. 

“Yeah, maybe you should stick to soda pop there bud” Shane joked half amused. You laughed a bit and went back to eating. Twirling your fork around the noodles before eating it. Out of the corner of your eye, you noticed Rick get up before he tapped on his glass with a knife.

“It seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly.” Rick nodded his head towards Dr. Jenner in thanks. 

“He is more than just our host” T-dog smirked as everyone cheered for him. You laughed at the adults and cheered with them.

But one person didn't seem to be in a festive mood as he asked Jenner a straightforward question, but one that ruined the mood.

“So when are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, doc? All the uhh the other doctors” Shane asked him as the room now fell silent “They were supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?” you looked around the table in awkward silence.

“We're celebrating Shane, let's not do this now” Rick tried to squish the tension down but it only seemed to fire up Shane more.

“Whoa, wait a second. This is why we're here, right? This was your move” Shane argued with Rick

 “Supposed to find all the answers. Instead we uhh We found him. Found one man. Why?” Shane ranted to Rick. Shane looked around to see if people agreed with him, but nobody talked.

“Well, when things got bad, a lot of people just left. Went off to be with their families.” Jenner spoke up, and you all looked at him. “And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted” he finished while he took a sip of his drink.

“Every last one,” Shane said as he slumped in his chair.

“No,” Jenner said “Many couldn't face walking out the door. They... opted out. There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time” he finished. You looked down at your plate and seemed to have lost your appetite for the moment thinking about it. 

“You didn't leave.” Andrea pointed out the obvious. “Why?” she asked.

“I just kept working. Hoping to do some good.” Jenner finished his explanation. The air was tense now, many people stopped eating and just stared akwardly.

“Dude, you’re such a buzz kill,” Glenn said to Shane, you shyly nodded your head in agreement. Eventually, everybody finished their meals.

                                                             *

              You all followed Jenner down another hall. These, however, were the living quarters. You all followed him as he explained the rules for the power. 

“Most of the facility is powered down including housing so you’ll have to make do here. The couches are comfortable, but there are cots in storage if you like.” you all followed him again as he sped through the halls.

“There’s a rec room down the hall that you kids might enjoy. Just don’t plug in the video games, okay? Or anything that draws power.” he looked at you three kids, and your eyes widened at the thought of a game room “The same applies—if you shower, go easy on the hot water.” but that had everyone stop in their tracks to process what he said.

“Hot water?” Glenn repeated.

“Thats what the man said” T-dog confirmed”

Everyone scrambled to a room to put their stuff down and head to the showers. You picked an empty room with a couch and a coffee table. You set your bow down and put your bag on the table and grabbed some clothes and headed down to the showers.

                                                              *

              You got done with your showers first and headed to the rec room, excited to see what they had. You entered the room strolled over to the shelves and looked at the books. A lot of them were meant for adults but you managed to find one that piqued your interest. You grabbed the book and flipped through its pages and walked over to read it.

You go to sit down in a secluded area and read the book. After a while, you heard Carol, Sophia, and Carl enter the room. They didn't see you as you were behind the bar sitting down, you could hear them get out a game and Carol getting comfy on one of the couches. 

A while later you heard Lori enter the room and chuckle when she saw the sight.

“Any good books?” Lori asked with a cherry tone. You thought about going out there but you were so comfy in your little fort of blankets and throw pillows. Both Lori and Carol talked a bit before Carol ushered the kids to bed, now you were really glad you didn't come out, you wanted to enjoy your books a bit more.

It was quiet for a moment while you read your books before a door slammed shut and ripped your attention away. You couldn't see who it was though so you thought it was Lori leaving before Lori spoke.

“Jesus, you scared me,” Lori said to the unknown person. But you knew who it was when he spoke.

“I’m gonna tell you a few things and you’re gonna listen to me,” Shane said, his words slurred as he spoke to her. 

‘Oh, it's just Shane’ you thought, you relaxed and went back to your book.

“Now is not the time” is all that she said to him. Shane just chuckled dryly, like it was an old joke between them.

Come on. When is it ever the time?” he says to her “How can you treat me like this?” you could hear a thud on the door.

“You’re kidding, right?” Lori said in an agitated tone. You tried to ignore their intimate conversation and focus on your book. Shane made a noise, stating he wasn't kidding. “Because you told me my husband was dead.” she lectured him. 

“Jesus, Lori. I didn’t lie to you, all right? I didn’t. Do you know what it was like there? Huh?” You could hear her footsteps before you heard a door slam again. Shane's voice got louder and more desperate.

“Things were falling apart! They were slaughtering people in the hallways. It was a massacre. There were walkers everywhere!” His voice sounded almost like a plea, a desperate plea. 

“So you left him?!” Lori said, where Shanes was quiet, Loris had a bit of base in her voice. She had an accusatory tone in her voice.

“Everybody else ran. There were no doctors there. It was just me. He was hooked up to machines and I did not know what to do.” he took a breath from his ranting.

“I even took my ear and I put it on his chest and I listened for a heartbeat and I did not hear one. And I-I-I-I- I don’t know why. Maybe it was gunfire. I don’t know what it was, but there was no way he could’ve survived that. No way.” He slammed his fist on the door making you jump. 

You were fully invested the more their argument grew louder. Worried that something could happen

“He did,” Lori said boldly.

“Yeah, but then I had y’all to think about, didn’t I?” You heard them rustle a bit before you could hear them grow closer to the bar.

“I had you and Carl, and I needed to think about it,” Shane said to Lori, she said something back but you couldn't hear her due to Shane interrupting her “I had to get you guys safe to Atlanta. That’s what I had to do. Just stop.”

“If you thought for one second that he was still alive, would you have come?” he paused, waiting for an answer “ So I saved your life you and your little boy’s. That’s what I did. Right?” they were quite, making you peak you head out to see what they were doing.

Your eyes widened when you saw that Lori was pinned to a table with Shane on top of her. You quickly moved back to not be seen.

“And if I could’ve traded places with him, I would have. I would trade places with him right now because” you could hear Lori trying to cut him off. “I love you” he tried to shh her when she opposed what he said to her.

“NO you’re drunk” Lori protested.

“I LOVE YOU!” his voice boomed around the room. It made you jump, you froze a bit as you heard the commotion. 

You covered your ears as your eyes teared up. You could hear Lori try to fight him off, but it was muffled. You could hear screams as tears silently fell from your eyes.

It got quiet, you uncovered your ears. All you could hear was heavy breathing, then a door slamming. You could hear Lori sobbing. You wanted to walk out and comfort her like she does for you, but you were too busy processing what you heard.

After a moment Lori left the room. You calmed down but were sniffling. You got up and gathered your books and left the room.

                                                          ***

              Daryl was wandering around the halls drunk. His current bottle of whisky was running low and he was trying to find the kitchen where the booze was, but couldnt tell the difference between his lefts and rights so he was just walking around the CDC till he found the kitchen.

He took a swig from his drink as he walked past the generic paintings, he’d stop to look at a few to try and decipher what the purpose was. 

He was looking at one when he heard someone crying down the halls. He ignored it at first, ‘not my problem’ he thought. But the more he listened to it, the more it sounded like a kid crying. His conscious got the better of his drunk mind, and he walked over to the crying child.

He turned the corner and saw you crying on the floor. You were in a ball trying to be silent as you cried. Daryl froze in his steps not knowing what to do with said crying child now that he found it.

He grew up in an environment where showing feelings like this got you yelled at and called a sissy or weak. Hell, he even had a nickname for this kind of situation. 

He looked around, trying to find someone else to handle this. Hoping for Dale to pop around the corner or something but he was probably asleep already. Daryl heaved a sigh making you look up at him. You sniffed again as you wiped your eyes trying to compose yourself.

Daryl sloppily sunk to the floor with you. His back slid down as you made room for him and sat. he had one leg outstretched and one to his chest where his occupied hand sat. 

“Why are you awake?” you asked, your voice was a little horsed.

“Could- say the same fer ya” his words were a little slurred as he spoke. You shrugged your shoulders. “Ya thinkin’ of yer ma?” he asked, not knowing what to do.

“Umm,” you staled “yeah, she would've loved this palace” You wiped the wetness from your eye again.

He eyed the books you had next to you. One of them caught his eye, an Edgar Allen Poe book. He picked it up and inspected the cover.

“Wha’s this?” he put his bottle down and flipped through the pages.

“It's a book full of poetry and short stories,” you told Daryl, he huffed at it, closed the book, and put it back.

“Remember readin’ tha’ shit in high school” he picked up his bottle and took a swig. “So why are ya out here cryin’ and not in yer room?” he asked bluntly. Again you shrugged your shoulders not wanting to answer why.

He bit his thumb, thinking. 

“Do you miss your brother?” you asked him bluntly, not knowing what to say to him. 

Daryl looked at you from the corner of his eye. The question caught him off guard. Things have been crazy so he hadn't got a chance to think about Merle. He loved his brother, but he didn't really think about him. 

“Yeah,” he said, it was a short answer, not giving any room for interpretation. You nodded your head in understanding. “You cryin’ fer yer brother,” he asked you, looking at you from the corner of his eye.

You silently nodded your head. Your eyes were heavy from crying and tiredness but your mind wouldn't stop replaying what happened in the rec room.

“Ya should probably git ta bed kid” Daryl rubbed his face before he stood up. But due to him being drunk, he almost fell over, making you jump up and steady him. You hooked one of his arms around your shoulder and started to lead him to his room.

“Where's yer room?” you asked, your voice strained;’ from having to hold him up, but he was heavier than he looked. 

“Down the hall kid,” he vaguely pointed in the direction of his room.

You led him to the door opened it and lay him down on the couch. You noticed he was asleep already so you put a blanket over him then went to retrieve your books and walked to your room.

                                               ~~~Day Eight~~~

              You ate bacon sitting by Andrea and Dale. it was a lot more quiet than last night. Glenn was holding his face in pain, and maybe in embarrassment from his hangover. Carl ate his food unaware while Lori just poked at her food, only taking small bites.

You couldn't take your eyes off of her, you didn't know what to say to her, but you wanted to say something. 

You continued eating your food when Rick walked in and took a seat by Carl and Lori. Carl smiled at his dad.

“Are you hung over?” he asked with a hint of giddiness as Lori looked at him “Mom said you’d be” Lori rolled her eyes playfully. You guessed she was alright, she acted fine. 

Rick laughed at Carl's question “Mom was right” he said. 

“Moms have that annoying habit” she joked causing you to laugh a bit as T-Dog came in with a skillet of eggs. Soon after everybody trickled in as T-dog plated everybody's plate. He gave you and Carl a little extra and gave you a sly wink making you giggle.

Glenn kept moaning and groaning from the loud noises.

“Dont ever ever ever let me drink again,” Glenn said out loud causing a few people to laugh.

Shane entered the room and greeted Rick. you looked at Lori to see she got more tense as he walked over to the coffee machine. 

“What the Hell happened to you? Your neck?” T-dog exclaimed to him. You turned in your seat a bit to see scratch marks on his neck. His eyes widen at the question before coming up with an excuse.

“Must’ve done it in my sleep” He brushed it off. You looked back at Lori to see her fiddle with her hands. Rick's face looked confused.

“Never done that before?” Rick said with a confused tone. You piece two and two together to figure out how he actually got the mark on his neck. It made you shudder thinking about last night. 

Jenner entered the room saying good morning while rushing to the coffee machine. Everyone said good morning to him, but Dale straightened his posture when he saw him.

“I don’t mean to slam you with questions first thing” Dale started but Jenner interrupted him.

“But you will anyways,” he said with a monotone voice. You could tell it annoyed Andrea as she glared at him.

“We didn't come here for the eggs,” she said with a fierce tone. Dr. Jenner turned around and looked at you all a sighed.

“Follow me,” he said walking away at his fast pace.

You all followed him to the big room again with the computers.

“Give me playback of TS-19” Jenner shouted into the air as if it was normal.

“Playback of TS-19” the disembodied voice boomed over the empty room again. On a big monitor, you could see some science data showing on the screen, it didn't make any sense to you but you saw a person's head on the screen which caught your interest. 

“Few people ever got a chance to see this. Very few,” he said while gazing at the screen.

“Is that a brain?” Carl asked.  

“An extraordinary one. Not that it matters in the end.” he pressed some buttons on the panel before asking VI for something “Take us in for E.I.V”

“Enhanced internal view.” the screen zoomed in on the figure's face, showing the brain from the inside. The inside of the brain was… “it looks pretty” you said out loud as you sat on a table, it showed blinking lights, kinda like stars shine at night. 

“Yes, it is pretty” Jenner agreed with you, smiling to himself.

“What are those lights?” Shane asked. It broke Jenner's attention as he thought of the answer

“It’s a person’s life— experiences, memories. It’s everything. Somewhere in all that organic wiring, all those ripples of light, is you— the thing that makes you unique and human” he explained it like he was explaining his favorite thing in the world but was interrupted.

“You won't make sense, ever” Daryl joked sarcastically. But Jenner just continued like he didn't hear Daryl.

“Those are synapses. Electric impulses in the brain carry all the messages. They determine everything a person says does or thinks from the moment of birth to the moment of death” You gazed at the lights, totally mesmerized by everything Jenner was saying.

“Death? That’s what this is, a vigil?” Rick asked walking over to him to get a better look.

“Yes–Or rather the uhh,  playback of the vigil.” you noticed Jennrt stumbled on his wording. Out on the corner of your eye you notice Andrea walk up.

“This person died? Who?” She asked while looking at the screen.

“Test subject 19. Someone who was bitten and infected” Jenner stared at the screen “and volunteered to have us record the process.” he gave a heavy breath as he told VI to do something.

“VI, Scan forward to the first event.” her voice boomed throughout the room again as the screen fast-forward. A mass appeared on TS-19 brain.

“What is that?” you asked, your voice sounding small.

“It invades the brain like meningitis.” he gestured to the image “The adrenal glands hemorrhage, the brain goes into shutdown, then the major organs. Then death.” your eyes widened as you saw the body die in front of you. It tried to get gasps of breath as it writhed in front of you.

“Everything you ever were or ever will be–gone.” the brain then went black and still.

A silent tear rolled down your cheek as Sophia asked about Jim. you noticed Andrea was crying a bit when Lori said something to Jenner about her losing Amy. and Jenner gave his sympathy 

He told VI to scan to his second event which led to the screen to speed up as Jenner talked again.

“The resurrection times vary wildly. We had reports of it happening in as little as three minutes. The longest we heard of was eight hours.” he paused for a moment “In the case of this patient, it was two hours, one minute– seven seconds.” a red light formed in the black mass, it was small but soon engrossed the entire thing.

Everyone looked on in shock and horror as it covered more and more of the brain. “It restarts the brain?!” Lori exclaimed in disgust.

“No just the brain stem.” he corrected “It basically gets it up and moving” he further informed.

“But they’re dead?” Rick confirmed, “It's dark, lifeless, nothing like before” Rick said aloud. “Most of it is dark” he looks to Jenner.

“Dark, lifeless, dead. The frontal lobe, the neocortex, the human part—that doesn’t come back. The you part.  Just a shell driven by mindless instinct.” Jenner got impassioned as he spoke.

You watched the subject “came to life” again as they squirmed around. Its mouth snapped at something while the head moved like a wild animal befor it stopped due to it being shot in the head. Carol gasped in shock and asked what that was. Andra deduced that Jenner shot the subject in the head, and asked him directly which he deflected.

“VI, Power down the main screen and the workstations” he walked away from her as the lights turned off around you all. Andra followed him, wanting answers.

“You have no idea what it is, do you?” her voice full of accusations. 

“It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal.” Jenner began to list off various ways a disease like this could spread until Jaqui interrupted him.

“Or the wrath of god,” she said cooly.

“Or that too”

Andra and Carol both began to question him about the virus and if there was anyone else who was trying to stop it.

“There may be some. People like me.” his voice sounded dejected, and you felt sorta sorry for him.

“But you don't know? How can you not know!?” Rick's voice sounded agitated

“Everything went down. Communications, directives—all of it. I’ve been in the dark for almost a month.” Jenner explained in a defeated voice.

“So it’s not just here. There’s nothing left anywhere? Nothing? That’s what you’re really saying, right?” Andra’s voice is full of accusations and worry.

Everyone started to panic a little. Their faces were full of dread and anguish. You brought your knees to your body when it really started to hit you that this would be your life now. Constantly running from walkers your whole life. 

“Dr. Jenner, I know this has been taxing for you” Dale broke the silence making you trun you head to him 

“and I hate to ask one more question, but, that clock” Dale gestured towards a clock “it’s counting down. What happens at zero?” 

Jenner was quiet, to quiet. Like he was staling.

“The basement generators—they run out of fuel,” he said curtly and walked away before anyone could say anything. But he wasn't fast enough.

“And then?” Jenner just ignores Rick as he walks out “VI, What  happens when the power runs out?” Rick's voice was full of dread. You were filled with anxiety with him, you hugged yourself tighter waiting for the robot's explanation.

“When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur” Its fake voice causes a chill to run down your spine.

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

Next // If only we were in france

Previous // We Ate Some Fish, And Things Got Crazy.

Taglist // @your-shifting-gurl, @underrated-jellygirl, 

// Masterlist //

[maddiehu7]

Heat of the moment | Dean Winchester |

Chapter 8

"Hey em wake up" I hear Dean say shaking me gently

"Mmh" I grumble turning away from him he laughs

"Sam found a case in Colorado you gotta get up" I sigh out turning to face him

"Fine" I grumble

"That's my girl" he smiles getting up and going to the bathroom like he didn't just call me his girl I blush brightly eyes wide in shock I sigh out and smile putting my head in my pillow

~~~time skip~~~

We got all packed up and now we're on the road I claimed shotgun as soon as I saw the car which left Sam rolling his eyes stuffing himself in the back, the whole way to Colorado Dean had his hand on my thigh which made me blush and look out the window to try and hide it but Dean could tell and smirked Sam just fake gagged and I reached back and smacked his head lightly which made Dean laugh heartily

"Were here" Dean says to us we get out and I go to grab my luggage but Dean grabs it first smiling at me

"What a gentleman" I smirk up at him

"When I wanna be" he says still smiling as he walks into the motel to check us in

"I regret wanting you to to be together if it's gonna be all gushy like this all the time" Sam says making a grossed out face

"I will smack you again Sammy" I say rearing my hand up

"Yeah right" he just slaps my hand back down smiling I smile back as Dean comes out giving Sam one key

"Where's mine?" I question

"Well....i actually got us a room together and Sam his own...I hope that's ok" he says looking at me hopefully

"Don't you think it's a little early for that" I try not to burst his bubble

"Well you know it is cheaper to get two one beds" Dean adds he shrugs

"Whatever you say Dean" Sam laughs

"Shut up Sammy" Dean rolls his eyes

"Ok ok fine let's go" I say heading towards me and deans room he smiles like a little boy following me, he places are bags on the table when Sam comes in

"Get dressed in 10" Sam says leaving to go get dressed

"FBI time" I say making fake finger guns shooting them at Dean

"Your such a geek" he laughs admiring me I blush looking away

"go get changed terminator" he says pushing me lightly into the bathroom I laugh going to change

I come out in my suit and dean turns around dressed in his I guess we have the same reaction because we look at each other admiringly, holy hell he looks good in a suit

"Damn em who knew a suit could look so good" he says smirking looking me up and down with lust in his eyes

"I could say the same for you" I say biting my lip seductively Dean looks at my lips swallowing his Adam's apple bobbing up and down

"Well what are we waiting for" I say smirking

"Oh um yeah" Dean says breaking out of his haze I laugh walking out to the car with him Sam's already in the front seat smiling victoriously at me I stick my tongue out at him Dean just laughs

When we get to the morgue we get our badges and guns and put them in our pockets and behind our backs just in case

"Ready" Sam says looking at me

"Duh" I say laughing they smile

We go in and wait for a bit to get signed in

"Agents" the mortician calls us back we go in to see a body in a duffel bag laying on the table

"Meet frank o'Brien" he unzips the bag to reveal the victim

"He died of a heart attack right?" Sam questions

"Three days ago" the mortician confirms

"But O'Brien was 44 years old and according to this a marathon runner" I say holding his file looking confused

"Everybody drops dead sooner or later" the mortician says

"Well he must be fun at party's" I whisper to Dean who tries to hold in a laugh but ends up coughing Sam and the guy look at us confused

"Sorry..bad cold" Dean mutters i smile up at him

"Anyway frank kicked it here, now just yesterday two perfectly healthy men bit it in maumee all heart attacks, don't think that's strange?" Sam asks the man getting back on track

"Sounds like Maumees problem to me, why's the fbi give a damn anyway?" He questions

"We just wanna see the results of franks autopsy" Dean diverts

"What autopsy?" the man asks

"The one your gonna do" Dean says fake smiling the man looks at us weirdly but sighs giving in, he grabs gowns for us to put on which we do and then he grabs a scalpel and starts to cut the man open

"First dead body" the man asks well still slicing the guy open

"Far from it" I say looking at the open wound the man's making

"Oh, good because these suckers can get pretty ripe, hey uh hand me those rib cutters would you?" He ask me I reach over and grab them handing them to him, I notice a tan line where a ring would be on his finger

"Is that from a wedding ring" I ask curiously touching the spot lightly

"I didn't think frank was married?" Sam questions

"Ain't my department" the mortician says still cutting

"Any idea how he got these" sam lifts the dead guys hand up looking at the scratches on his hand

"You know when you drop dead you actually tend to drop body probably got scraped up when it hit the ground" the man says looking at O'Briens hand

"Huh" the mortician says confused

"What?" Dean questions

"I can't find any blockages in any of the major arteries" the mortician says digging into the man he rips his heart out it makes a crack noise and I see Dean gag quietly as I make a grossed out face

"Heart looks pretty damn healthy, would you hold that for a second?" The man asks Dean throwing it at him he catches it holding it like it could hurt him me and Sam smile lightly until the man makes another crack and splatters me and Sam with liquid

"Oh sorry spleen juice" he says looking at us

"I'm gonna fucking barf" I say gagging grabbing a towel that was on the table and wiping this shit off me then handing it to Sam I see down smiling licking his lips trying to hide it I glare at him which makes him look down, after we clean up and take off ours gowns we go to head to the police station

"I'm done with morgues forever" I say walking to the car still completely grossed out by the "spleen juice" Dean laughs

"Not funny!" I say pushing his away from me

"Kinda funny" Dean says stumbling laughing Sam just rolls his eyes at us smirking

We get to the police station, sign in and now we're sitting on the couch in the waiting room when the sheriff comes out

"Hells bells Linus have you seen my-" the sheriff stops when he sees us, we stand up

"Who are they?" He asks

"Federal agents i-" Linus try to say but the sheriff cuts him off

"And you kept them waiting?" The sheriff questions seemingly mad

You-you said not to disturb" he says nervously

"Come on back fellas...and lady" the sheriff says ingoring Linus we go to head back

"Shoes off" he says I look at him weird but we take our shoes off anyway

"Al Britton, good to meet you" he says shaking our hands

"You too" I say shaking his hand, we take a seat and he immediately grabs a bottle of hand sanitizer and uses some of it I look at him confused what do I have cooties or something i think to myself but ignore it

"So...what can I do for Uncle Sam" he asks sitting down

"Well we're looking into the death of frank o'Brien, we understand some of your men found his body" sam says professionally

"They did, me and frank- we were friends hell we were game cocks" he says solemnly but Dean laughs at the word cocks I look over at him shaking my head

"Thats our softball teams name" the sheriff says

"Mmh" Dean says looking embarrassed

"There majestic animals" the man says seriously Dean just moves his mouth words not coming out out of awkwardness

~~~time skip~~~

"Such a weird guy" I say as we walk out of the sheriffs office to the car

"Agreed" Dean says looking back towards the building

"No way that was a heart attack" Sam says ignoring us

"Definitely no way, three victims all with those same red scratches all from jittery to terrified to dead within 48 hour" Sam finishes

"Something scared them to death?" I say confused as to what that could be

"All right so, what can do that" Sam says also confused

"What can't ghost,vampires,chupacabra? It could be a hundred things" Dean says I guess he's right

"So we make a list and start crossing things off" I say looking at Dean he smiles

"All right who's the last person to see frank o'Brien alive?" Dean says I smile back

"Uh his neighbor Mark Hutchins" Sam says rolling his eyes at us I swear one day they get stuck in the back of his head but I ignore it because suddenly a wave of nervousness washes over me

"Hang on" I say and Sam and Dean stop looking at me

"What?" Sam say

"I don't like the look of those teenagers down there" I side eye the group down the street in there bikes Dean and Sam look at them confused

"Let's walk this way" I say walking in the opposite direction off them Sam and Dean look at each other

"I don't know man she's your girl" Sam says shrugging his shoulders

"Shut up" Dean says walking away Sam laughing following him

We head to marks house on the way Dean and Sam look at me weird sensing somethings wrong I just don't understand why I'm so paranoid feeling

( to be continued...hope you enjoyed this chapter!" )

[typewriterstorys]

Chapter two

The trio was stopped at a gas station. Eliana is in the back. Drawing in a notebook with her headphones on.Sam was in the front seat going through Dean's cassette tapes.

Dean walked out of the gas station. With junk food in his hand.

"Hey" Dean yelled.

Sam leans out of the open door and looks at him.

"You want breakfast" Dean asked holding out the food.

" no thanks" said Sam "So how'd you pay for that stuff, You and Dad still running credit card scams?" Asked Sam

"Yeah, well, hunting ain't exactly a pro ball career" Dean said putting the nozzle of the gas pump back on the pump. "Besides, all we do is apply. It's not our fault they send us the cards." Dean said making his way over to the drivers seat

"Yeah? And what names did you write on the application this time?"

Sam said well  swinging his legs back inside the car and close the door.

"Uh, Burt Aframian."Dean says getting into the driver seat and puts his soda and chips down. "And his son Hector. Scored two cards out of the deal." Dean said looking to the backseat.

"Hey Sweet pea" Dean said trying to get Elianas attention but she was too concentrated. So he pushed the poked her arm.

"What Dean" Eliana said putting down pencil and her headphones on her shoulders.

"You want some breakfast" Dena asked

"No" Eliana said back to him

"Come on you are going to eat" Dean said "It's your favorite breakfast" Dean said holding up a apple juice and pack of mini powered doughnuts. Eliana smiled and took them. Saying thank you to Dean.

"By the way Ellie were you get that jacket. It's pretty cool"asked Dean.

"It is Patrick's" Eliana said then opening the doughnuts. She then looked down at her outfit. She was wearing a floral top, had on jeans and some boats. The Patrick's old leather Jacket. Her hair was back and in a small fishtail braid. She also had her mom's hunting bracelet. Along with a bracelet that Dean gave her for her 10th birthday.

(Her outfit please do not hate this is not a y/n story.)

". I swear, man, you've gotta update your cassette tape collection." Sam said going through the box of Cassettes.

"Why" Dean asked

"Well, for one, they're cassette tapes. And two.Black Sabbath? Motorhead? Metallica? It's the greatest hits of mullet rock." Sam said

Dean took a cassette out of his hand and pushed into the player.

"Well, house rules, Sammy."Dean said as he pops the tape in the player. "Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole." Said Dean as Back in black by AC/DC

"You know, Sammy is a chubby twelve-year-old"Sam said too him annoyed. "It's Sam okay."

"Sorry, I can't hear you, the music's too loud." Dean said starting to drive out of the gas station.

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

"Thank you" said Sam hanging up the phone "All right. So, there's no one matching Dad at the hospital or morgue, so that's something, I guess." Sam said

"Yeah it is" Eliana commented not looking up from her drawing.

"Check it out"said Dean pointing of a bridge the driving up to stop the impala. Dean reached across Sam to. The glove box and pulled out a box. It was full of fake badges. He took out one he looked at Sam.

"Let's go" Said Dean getting out of the car. Eliana and Sam following him. The trio walked up to the bridge.

"You fellas had another one like this just last month, didn't you?" Dean said to the police.

Jaffe the officer looked up when Dean starts talking and straightens up to talk to him.

"And who are you?" Jaffe asked.

"Federal marshals" Dean said well he flashed his badge.

"You three are a little young for marshals, aren't you?" Jaffe said looking at the trio

DEAN laughs and said "Thanks, that's awfully kind of you." Dean then went over to the car."You did have another one just like this, correct?" He asked

"Yeah, that's right. About a mile up the road. There've been others before that." Jaffe sass

"So, this victim, you knew him?" Eliana asked

"Town like this, everybody knows everybody." Jaffe said looking at her.

"Any connection between the victims, besides that they're all men?" Dean asked well he circles the car.

"No. Not so far as we can tell." Jaffe responded

"So what's the theory?" Sam asked going to stand next to Dean.

"Honestly, we don't know. Serial murder? Kidnapping ring?"  He said

"Well, that is exactly the kind of crack police work I'd expect out of you guys." Dean said. This made Sam on Dean's foot. This also made Eliana glare at him.

"Thank you for your time." Sam said then starts to walk away with Dean following him. Sam grabbed Eliana arm and pulled her away. This made Eliana give him a glare. Dean and him have always grabbed Eliana arm to pull her away. If they were angry or if they were fine. They always pulled her away. Like they were afraid she wasn't going to follow them. Seems like they were going to lose her.

"Gentlemen." Sam said to the other policemen. Dean came up and slapped Sam on the back of his head.

"Ow! What was that for?" Sam asked

"Why'd you have to step on my foot?" Asked dean going to catch up with Sam who still had a firm grip on Elianas arm.

"Why do you have to talk to the police like that?" Sam asked back

Dean looks at Sam and moves in front of him, forcing Sam and Eliana to stop walking. Sam let go of Eliana arm,

"Come on. They don't really know what's going on. We're all alone on this. I mean, if we're going to find Dad we've got to get to the bottom of this thing ourselves." Said Dean.

Eliana cleaned her throat causing Dean too look over his shoulder at three more police officers.

"Can I help you guys?" Said a man Who looked like a Sheriff

"No, sir, we were just leaving." Said dean Turing and grabbing Elianas arm. Dragging her along with her with him. Sam just behind them

"Agent Mulder. Agent Scully." Said As he walks past the FBI Agent's walk and he nodded his at each of them. When The three got to the car and got in. Eliana spoke up and said

"You are both idiots"

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

They Winchesters were now in the town. Walking around trying to find trying to find A girl named Amy.

"I'll bet you that's her." Said Dean pointing to a girl

"Yeah." Sam and Eliana said at the same time. The trio walked up to the girl.

"You must be Amy." Dean said when they reached her

"Yeah." Amy said

"Yeah, Troy told us about you. We're his uncles and Aunt. I'm Dean, this is Sammy and this is Ellie" Dean said pointing to the twins.

"He never mentioned you to me." Amy said  She then walked away. Ellie, Dean and Sam walked with her.

"Well, that's Troy, I guess. We're not around much, we're up in Modesto." Dean said

"So, we're looking for him too, and we're kinda asking around." Said sam

Then another young lady har name was Rachel. Came up to Amy and put her arm around her.

"Hey, are you okay?" Rachel asked concerned

"Yeah." Amy said

"You mind if we ask you a couple questions?" Asked SAM

The group was now In A diner. The five of them are sitting in a booth, Elian was squeezed in to the window.

"I was on the phone with Troy. He was driving home. He said he would call me right back, and...he never did." Amy said in a sad voice

"He didn't say anything strange, or out of the ordinary?" Sam asked

Amy shakes her head.

"No. Nothing I can remember." She said

Eliana looked down at Amys necklace

"I like your necklace." said Eliana. Amy looked over at her since this was the first time Eliana talked. Amy holds the pendant she's wearing, a pentagram in a circle, and looks down at it.

"Troy gave it to me. Mostly to scare my parents—" Amy paused and then Amy laughed "—with all that devil stuff."

Sam laughs a little and looks down, then up. Dean looks over.

"Actually, it means just the opposite. A pentagram is protection against evil. Really powerful. I mean, if you believe in that kind of thing." Sam said "Ellie has one. Show them your bracelet" Sam said

Eliana held to out her hand to show them her charm bracelet.

"It's beautiful" Amy said

"Okay. Thank you, Unsolved Mysteries" Dean said taking his arm off the back of the seat and leans forward. "Here's the deal, ladies. The way Troy disappeared, something's not right. So if you've heard anything..." Dean finished

Amy and Rachel look at each other.

"What is it?" Dean asked

"Well, it's just... I mean, with all these guys going missing, people talk." Rachel said

"What do they talk about?" Dean, Eliana and Sam spoke in chorus.

"It's kind of this local legend. This one girl? She got murdered out on Centennial, like decades ago." Rachel said

Dean looks at Sam and then Eliana , who watches Rachel attentively, nodding. "Well, supposedly she's still out there."

Sam nods.

"She hitchhikes, and whoever picks her up? Well, they disappear forever." Rachel six

The Winchester look over at each other.

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

The three were now in the local library. Looking up information. They were all huddled around a computer. Dean finished typing In "Female Murder Hitchhiking" then he clicks GO. "(0) Result". Shows up in the screen. Dean replaces "Hitchhiking" with "Centennial Highway" with the same response. Sam is sitting next to him, watching.

"Let me try." Trying to get the key to get the key board. Dean smacks Sam's hand.

"I got it." Dean says. Sam shoves Dean's chair out of the way and takes over. Causing him to bud into Eliana. Dean makes sure she is ok and they both scoot back.

"Dude!" Dean as as he hits Sam in the shoulder. "You're such a control freak."

"So angry spirits are born out of violent death, right?" Sam asked

"Yeah." Dean and Eliana said at the same time.

"Well, maybe it's not murder." Sam said as he  replaces "Murder" with "Suicide" and finds an article entitled "Suicide on Centennial". Sam opens the article, dated April 25, 1981.

"This was 1981. Constance Welch, twenty-four years old, jumps off Sylvania Bridge, drowns in the river." Sam read

"Does it say why she did it?" Asked Eliana

"Yeah." Sam Answered

"What" Dean asked

"An hour before they found her, she calls 911. Apparently her two little kids are in the bathtub. She leaves them alone for a minute, and when she comes back, they aren't breathing. Both die."

Dean raises his eyebrows and says "Hm."

"Our babies were gone, and Constance just couldn't bear it,' said husband Joseph Welch." Sam continued

"The bridge look familiar to you?" Dean asked pointing to it.

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

They were now at the bridge. Dean, Sam and Eliana walked along the bridge, then stop to lean on the railing and look down at the river.

"So this is where Constance took the swan dive." Dean asked

"So you think Dad would have been here?" Sam asked looking over at Dean Ellie doing the same thing.

"Well, he's chasing the same story and we're chasing him." Dean answered then continues walking. The twins following him.

"Okay, so now what?" Asked Ellie

"Now we keep digging until we find him. Might take a while." Dean said. This makes Ellie and Sam stop.

"Dean, I told you, I've gotta get back by Monday—" Sam said but Dean cut his off.

"Monday. Right. The interview." Said Dean well he turns around.

"Yeah. Ellie also has to be back. She has her dress fitting." Sam said pointing at Eliana.

Yeah, I forgot. You two are really serious about this, aren't you? Sam you think you're just going to become some lawyer? Marry your girl? Ellie you think you are going to finish medical school and marry your man?"

"Maybe. Why not?" Eliana and Sam said at the same time,

"Does Jessica and Patrick know the truth about you? I mean, do they know about the things you've done?

Sam steps closer to Dean

"No, and she's not ever going to know." Sam said

"Well, that's healthy. What about you Eliana does you're a little boy friend know" Dean asked

"First no he doesn't and second dena he is my fiancé" Eliana said stepping closer to dean in front of Sam. Holding out her hand. Which had her engagement ring on it. Dean pulled it closer to have better look then letting go of her hand.

"You can pretend all you want, Sammy,Ellie. But sooner or later you two are going to have to face up to who you guys really are." Dean says then he turns around and keeps walking. Sam gets in front of Eliana and grabs her arms the starts following Dean.

"And who's that?" Sam asked

"You're one of us. Both of you" Dean said

Sam hurries to get in front of Dean. Letting go of Elianas arm when he gets in front of his.

"No. I'm not like you. This is not going to be my life. Ellie is not like you. This is not going to be her life." Sam said pointing to him then Eliana

"You have a responsibility to—" Dean said but Sam Interrupted him

"To Dad? And his crusade? If it weren't for pictures Ellie and I wouldn't even know what Mom looks like. And what difference would it make? Even if we do find the thing that killed her, Mom's gone. And she isn't coming back." Sam said.

"Sammy" Eliana said in a disapproving voice. Before Sam could respond. Dean grabbed Sam by the collar and shoves him up against the railing of the bridge. Eliana staying were she was. She knew not to get in the middle of her brothers fighting and she was to tried to intervene. After a long pause. Dean said in a mad voice

"Don't talk about her like that." Then Dean releases Sam and walks away to stand with next to Ellie. Who was standing looking at something.

"What do you see sweet pea" He asked in a gentler voice. Eliana pointed her finger at A women. It was the girl in the article. Constance. Who was standing on the rail of the bridge. Dean said Sam. Sam comes to stand next to Dean. Constance looks over at them, then steps forward off the edge. Eliana took of first with Sam and Dean following. The all get to the railing and look over.

"Where'd she go?" Dean asked

"I don't know." Said Sam and Eliana at the same time.

Behind them, the Impala's engine starts and its headlights come on. The trio turn to look.

"What the—" Dean asked

"Who's driving your car?" Eliana asked

Dean pulls the keys out of his pocket and jingles them. Sam and Ellie glances at them. The car jerks into motion, heading straight for them. Sam Grabs Elianas arm and the turn and run.

"Dean? Go! Go!" Sam said with a death grip on Elianas arm. They run as the car keeps moving faster. Soon it gets to close. This causes Sam to lose grasp of Elianas arm. Dean and him dive over the railing. Eliana didn't make it over In time. The car was about to hit her. But then the car comes to a halt.

Ellie went over to the edge. She saw Sam had caught himself on the edge of the bridge and is hanging on. He sees her and got a look of relief on his face.He pulls himself up onto the bridge and looks around.

"Dean? Dean!" Sam called out then. Eliana and him look down at them same time. There below. Was filthy and annoyed Dean crawling out of the water and onto the mud, panting.

"What?" Dean asked annoyed.

"Hey! Are you all right?" Eliana asked Dean holds up one hand in an A-OK sign.

"I'm super." Dean sarcastically says

Sam and Ellie started to laugh relieved and Sam scoots away from the edge.

Dean shuts the hood of his car and leans on it.

"Your car all right?"asked Sam

"Yeah, whatever she did to it, seems all right now. That Constance chick, what a bitch!" Dean said in an angry tone

"Well, she doesn't want us digging around, that's for sure. So where's the job go from here, genius?" Eliana asked standing in front of Dean. Sam goes and settles on the hood next to Dean. Dean throws up his arms in frustration, then flicks mud off his hands. Sam sniffs, then looks at Dean.

"You smell like a toilet." Sam said. Dean looked down. Well Eliana laughed.

"He looks like one too" Eliana giggled out

[s0uljacker]

The Midnight Vanguard - by me

Sometimes life ain’t got shit going in it.

Got me riding round like I am on a mission.

One way that I know to go and get it.

Ghost every body I don’t fuck with anybody 

Hating everybody is a motherfucking hobby.

I’ma set a bomb in the motherfucking lobby.

Cause when that thing comes rising all around me

Ima take it straight to the motherfucking ground E I’m on this shit like a mission 

I don’t give a fuck who you kissing 

It’s everybody I’m dissing 

Yeah every corpse that I’m pissin 

It’s based off intuition 

I took some blades and some missiles 

The way I know to solve issues After that you need tissue 

And it depends on the venue 

Different people gon feel you

And others they hate you

Don’t nobody want date you

So I go raping?????

Wait retract that statement!!!!!!!

I don’t know what I am saying. I’ma pack all my hate into a fucking cigarette. 

I’ma spin the wheel of death. 

I’m a take it to a nest.

I don’t give this shit a rest

Over use it till I fell

Mother fuck a wishing well

I’m a ride this road to hell that I'm on Alone in the valley,

I don’t know what I am doing 

I done gone and lost my pursuit and,

Really just a lost full man.

Overused tool can.

So go head and shoot me

Followed by looting.

Asking what was I doing so you discard my body

I don’t deserve anybody

Im gonna rot on the pavement 

That shit right there is a statement

What I do lately?

Had regret since a baby

Acted to shady.

Never could keep a lady Sometimes life ain’t got shit going in it.

That’s why it’s up to you to go and get it.

Riding around the valley when I should’ve been dipping,

Caught in your quicksand then started slipping.

Fuckers like you be the first to get faded.

All of that bullshit stay over rated.

Hive mind fuckers gotta stay so sedated 

Only time I care is when the blunt gets rotated. I guess I’m too jaded.

You see like as of damn lately.

I’ve taken mental vacations.

To different lands and some places.

I had a wife and a baby. 

I tend to dream that shit daily.

I ruled the land as a king.

The sun shined down upon me. So you move forward

Right through the door bruh

It’s just me and some cobras

And we getting to know ya.

For some hour long torture 

And see yeah I ain’t no doctor 

But sir your not looking well

Extract your heart go to hell Does my name ring a bell?

See I am the guy that rebelled

I jumped right off yeah I fell

But they know I fought well

My avant garde is the spell

I fought the demon cartel

I’m on that new age pastel I see her face in my dreams

But she does not look at me

I’m asking why don’t you see.

A man that wants to be free.

Me you and kid makes a three.

The thought it feels me with glee

Now I’m sitting like damn

I don’t know even know who I am.

Asking what was the plan.

Am I even a man?

Things that I can’t understand 

Stuck with my face in my hand

Escaping tarnishing lands

From the time, winds and sand

The Midnight Vanguard, is just who I am.

[thraveenperera]

Drake - Sticky - Honestly, Nevermind (2022)

Ayy

Homer hangin' on my neck

The bracelet matches the set

My brother named his ting Nadal

Let's stop all that back and forth over the net

My mama wish I woulda went corporate

She wish I woulda went exec'

I still turn to a CEO

So the lifestyle she respect

Ayy, two Sprinters to Quebec

Chérie, où est mon bec?

They only givin' n****s plus ones

So I never pull up to the Met

You know I gotta bring the set

You know I gotta bring the G-Block

You know I gotta bring the D-Block

'Cause you know how sticky it get, ayy

You know how sticky it get, ayy

You know how sticky it get, ayy

You know how sticky it get, ayy

She want me to play with that cat, ayy

She lovin' how I'm makin' her wet, ayy

You know how sticky it get, ayy

Ayo Eric, bring them girls to the stage

'Cause somebody's gettin' paid and

Free Big Slime out the cage and

Shawty try to play it cool but

Now she wish she woulda stayed 'cause

Every song that I made is

Ringin' like I got engaged, yeah

Love my guys, I wouldn't trade, ayy

From the cradle to the grave, ayy

Gordo got me on the wave, ayy

Ant got me on the wave, ayy

Couple hits, now you brave, what

You n****s better behave, what

All that pumpin' up your chest, what

All that talk about the best, what

You know how sticky it gets

Yeah

If I'm with two of 'em, then it's a threesome

If she alone, you know she a freak one

If it's a escort, it's a police one

King of the hill, you know it's a steep one

If we together, you know it's a brief one

Back in the ocean you go, it's a

It's a deep one

Forgave n****s in they feelings

Lucky for y'all, we don't do civilians

You say I changed, I say that I million

I did

The toughest act to follow's back on tour

Off-road Maybach, Pyrex trap

Virgil came back through the boy, damn

That's somethin' to me, n****s really had they back turned to me

I ain't talkin' my assistant

When I say n****s down to pack somethin' for me

Then they thought they had the trap set for me

How you really think that went for me?

N****s gotta do a fact check for me

When everything is put to rest

And everybody takes a breath

And everything gets addressed

It's you alone with your regrets

All that pumpin' up your chest

All that talk about the best

You know how sticky it gets

Like, we weren't supposed to come up with something this clean

You know it's, like, something happened

[lilyellowsongbird]

Song Of The Day - Jan 18th '23

Detroit or Buffalo - Barbara Keith

I found this song last fall just fucking around on Spotify on a radio for (probably) a Jackson C Frank song. I instantly fell in love with it (I'm a slut for obscure 60's/70's folk artists with only one album). There's a certain kind of melancholy I look for in songs; a yearning, a truthfulness in lyrics that can only come from the deepest darkest part of the soul. Compared to the many, many songs out there, very few have that pure honesty. This one has it.

Keith's voice is soothing and hopeful, yet reflective of the solitude of an outcast. She has resigned to a life on the road, the lonesome life of a rambler. She has a friends and family in her hometown, but she knows that truly, there is nothing left for her there. Her lyrics are are evident of someone who has resolved to find a better life for themselves but knows that they will miss where they've come from. There is a comfort at home, memories soaked into the walls, but as Keith sings in the song "God knows, everybody gotta go sometime"

I spent all of highschool trying to get to college. I knew one day I would find my place in the world, and I would find my people in college. Now I'm here, I've found my people and I couldn't be happier. My homelife isn't exactly rough, but it isn't pretty. Over Christmas break, I realized that there was nothing left for me in my hometown. I had outgrown most of my highschool friends, my beliefs had changed too much for me to relate to them. The ones I did want to spend time with had all moved away, spending only a few days with their families before going back to their college towns. I was stuck in my childhood home with people I hated just wasting my days away until I could go back to campus. There is nothing left for me at home, and even though I love my dad and my brother, I have to pack up and go, Detroit or Buffalo.

Listen to the song here:

[multianime]

Top 5 Song Associations - Denki Kaminari

Best Day of my Life - American Authors

I had a dream so big and loud I jumped so high I touched the clouds. Wo-o-o-o-o-oh, wo-o-o-o-o-oh. I stretched my hands out to the sky. We danced with monsters through the night. Wo-o-o-o-o-oh, wo-o-o-o-o-oh. I'm never gonna look back, whoa. I'm never gonna give it up, no. Please don't wake me now (two, three, four). This is gonna be the best day of my life. My li-i-i-i-i-ife, this is gonna be the best day of my life. My li-i-i-i-i-ife.

Thumbs - Sabrina Carpenter

Don't believe everything that you hear let it go through your left and right ear. Don't just march to the beat of that drum don't be one of them people just twiddlin' them thumbs. 'Cause that's just the way of the world (way of the world). It never ends till the end, and then you start again. That's just the way of the world, that's just the way of the worldAnd so, they keep on twiddlin' them thumbs (keep on). Skiddly-dee-da-dum (skiddly-dee-da-dum). They gonna keep on twiddlin' them thumbs. Skiddly-dee-da-dum-dum (Woo-oo, woo-oo).. And so, they keep on twiddlin' them thumbs (keep on, keep on).

Pumped Up Kicks - Foster the People

All the other kids with the pumped up kicks you better run, better run outrun my gun. All the other kids with the pumped up kicks you better run, better run faster than my bulletAll the other kids with the pumped up kicks. You better run, better run outrun my gun. All the other kids with the pumped up kicks you better run, better run faster than my bullet. Daddy works a long day he'd be coming home late, yeah, he's coming home late. And he's bringing me a surprise 'cause dinner's in the kitchen, and it's packed in ice.

Everybody Talks - Neon Trees

Hey honey, you could be my drug you could be my new prescription. Too much could be an overdose all this trash talk make me itchin'. Oh my, my shit everybody talks, everybody talks. Everybody talks, too much, It started with a whisper. And that was when I kissed her and then she made my lips hurt. I could hear the chit chat take me to your love shack. Mama's always gotta back track when everybody talks back. Never thought I'd live to see the day when everybody's words got in the way.

Finally Free - Joshua Bassett

Breakin' away from the broken hearts no more mistakes, no more empty starts. I'm finally, finally free, finally, finally. New state of mind on the interstate nobody takin' my life away I'm finally, finally free, finally, finally me. Buildin' out from the bottom now there's no way to go but up. And I'm not gonna stop 'til I get enough. And I'm going down a road that I don't know yeah, I let it take me anywhere but home. Breakin' away from the broken hearts no more mistakes, no more empty starts. I'm finally, finally free, finally, finally new state of mind on the interstate. Nobody takin' my life away. I'm finally, finally free, finally, finally me, finally me.

[wheredidhiseyebrowsgo]

Hey I was wondering if you knew any fics where the pack is a mafia and everybody thinks that Derek is in charge but it’s actually Stiles?

Hey @pan-disaster-in-need-of-help! @kevaaronday found some great mafia fics for you.

Not the usual form of payment by Anchanee (31/31 | 98,988 | Explicit | Sterek) John Stilinski has been brutally killed and Stiles Stilinski finds himself thrust to the head of the American branch of the Stilinski Clan at the age of eighteen. The mobster family that operates mainly in central Europe, but had branched out to America with one very talented Claudia Stilinski, who had secured the market of central California (San Francisco, Brentwood, San Jose). She was succeeded by her husband and now her son. 

When his enforcer, Isaac, brings him Derek Hale as compensation for his family's debt, he’s not quite sure what to do. The Hales were a successful family who had worked with the Stilinskis quite successfully over the last decades. Now they are offering their son instead of money. Though Stiles is still learning the ropes of this mob business, he's pretty sure that THAT'S not normal!

Stiles ends up using Derek as a bodyguard which is probably not what you’re meant to do with a rival family’s son, but Stiles is making this up as he goes. And despite him being a mobster, he still has some dignity left.

Between Dogs and Wolves by artemis69 (1/1 | 25,934 | Teen | Sterek) "This is…not four million in cash,” remarks Stilinski.

“Isaac. Did you fail to get my money back and decided to pick up a stripper on the road to bribe me? Because let me make this perfectly clear: this would totally work. Well done.” 

Or

The mafia!AU where the Hales owe four million to the Stilinskis, Laura rents Derek (but not as a stripper), Stiles gets a new favorite, Derek gets a new boss, a new puppy and a new family. 

Sometimes they break people, but mainly, they just snark at each other.

Cars and Canines by tesha198 (16/16 | 20,387 | Explicit | Sterek) Stiles rolls into Beacon Hills one day and sets up shop as a Mechanic. Derek brings in his totalled car after yet another supernatural fight and is immediately taken with him. Slowly Stiles becomes part of the pack. However both sides are keeping secrets that could change everything. Stiles is on the run from his past in the Irish Mafia. Derek has been keeping Stiles in the dark about the whole werewolf thing, not to mention the fact they are actually mates. What happens when Stiles old Mafia life catches up to his new seemingly normal one and everyones secrets are revealed? Will Stiles remain in Beacon Hills with Derek? How far is the pack willing to go to save Stiles and does Stiles actually want to be saved in the first place?

We Gotta Hide What We’re Doin’ by CharWright5 (1/1 | 17,893 | Explicit | Sterek) As a Bodyguard within the Stilinski Rodzina, Derek's one and only job is to watch over the Omega son—and only child—of the Family's Head, Stiles, a task that is easier said than done some nights. It's just good that the Alpha knows the best way to punish the little troublemaker when his bratty behavior threatens to expose a secret that could get the Bodyguard killed.

Take Me Instead by briggs (1/1 | 7,850 | Mature | Sterek) “I know he was a government officer. That’s why he was our fucking prized possession, cuntbag. Do you have any idea what you’ve done? How much does he know?”

---

Or, where Stiles Stilinski is a young Mob Boss with an underground prostitute, drug, violence and weapon black market business, and Derek is an F.B.I. agent.

Consigliere by neil4god (5/5 | 7,042 | Not Rated | Sterek) It's been years since Danny left Beacon Hills behind and everything that happened in it. He moved on, joined the FBI and forgot all about his junior year of High School. At least he tried, but with Stiles Stilinksi leering at him from the FBI's most wanted board, well that makes it kinda hard to forget, and now they want to know all about it. They want him to talk to Stiles, worse still, they want him to wear a wire while he does it.

Amuse by DarkJediQueen (1/1 | 2,297 | Explicit | Sterek) Stiles wasn't amused often, but there were times when he was. Too bad it didn't save the lives of the guys who amused him.

Bloody love by lightsfillthesky (1/1 | 1,601 | Mature | Sterek) Bruised knuckles, skin ebbing together as he felt the fire burning inside him, traveling in his bones and encompassing his soul “You have the fucking audacity of thinking you can touch him?” Stiles gripped the man’s chin between his fingers “Of thinking you could ever come close to killing a Hale”

Wanted: The Hale Pack by howshouldibegin (1/1 | 1,129 | Teen | Sterek) They all wear red. It’s a status symbol. The other status symbol, the symbol of the pack, is kept a secret from the public. But the public, and the police, they know about the red. Blood red. Alpha red. Each member wears it proudly.

Shot Through The Heart (Sorry, Babe!) by clotpolesonly (1/1 | 809 | Gen | Sterek) “Hi, honey!”

Derek doesn’t say anything. He just scowls, far more intensely than usual.

“Welcome home!” Stiles tries again. “So how was your day at work?”

“You fucking shot me,” Derek says. “That was my day at work.”

[thewidowsghost]

Happy Holidays! - Chapter 4

Series Masterlist

Main Masterlist

Kate speeds away, and (Y/n) follows close behind.

“Nice job, Kate,” (Y/n) says.

Kate grins, “Thanks.” Kate’s childish grin has (Y/n)’s stomach fluttering.

The two weave their way through the shelves and shelves of alcohol, but then they hear the sounds of two men speaking Russian.

(Y/n) closes her eyes, listening closely.

“Come on, let’s go. Move,” (Y/n) translates for Kate. “Don’t forget your positions.”

“Mine’s on the left.”

“Yeah, bro,” (Y/n) goes on.

“Get it ready.”

“Move to two.”

“Okay, everybody ready?”

(Y/n)’s eyes flash open, and she grabs Kate, pulling her over just as the door opens, and the men walk out of the room, (Y/n) pressing Kate against the wall.

Kate is glad that the lighting in the room was so dark, her cheeks darkening signifigantly.

When (Y/n) finally lets go of Kate’s arms, they move to peer between more of the bottles.

“Come on, ladies and gentlemen,” they hear the auctioneer say. “This sword belonged to the infamous Ronin.”

Yes (Y/n) had heard of the man before, but she didn’t know who Ronin was.

“Four seventy five,” Armand says, raising his paddle with his number on it.

“Four seventy five, bidder, bidder, do I hear five hundred thousand. I’ve got four seventy five here, it’s going once. It’s going twice. Sold for four-hundred seventy-five thousand dollars. Up next, we have lot number 3-0-9. The companion piece, the Ronin suit.”

As Kate steps forward, examining the wooden box, there is an explosion which rocks the building; people scream.

“You might want to put that back on,” Kate says, turning to face (Y/n).

(Y/n)’s slaps her wrist again, and the suit spreads across her body, and she pulls the mask up to cover her face and her nose, her hair tied back.

(Y/n) throws an behind Kate’s head to protect the woman from the rubble.

Then, a movement catches (Y/n)’s attention, and she motions to Jack, who had picked up the Ronin sword.

(Y/n) and Kate scoot back, pressing their backs to one of the shelves.

Kate looks on the verge of panicking, and (Y/n) takes her hand, squeezing it gently.

Kate takes a few breaths before she nods to (Y/n).

“You stay here, I’ll take care of this,” (Y/n) says and Kate begins to protest.

(Y/n) gets to her feet, moving towards the thieves, flooring two of them with her mother’s signature move.

Unbeknownst to (Y/n), Kate had taken the Ronin suit, put it on, and was fighting the thieves on the opposite side of the cellar.

. . .

Eleanor exits the building, looking worried, her eyebrows knit. She pulls out her phone, trying desperately to call her daughter, “Come on, Kate.”

. . .

“(Y/n),” Kate taps (Y/n)’s shoulder, and (Y/n) tenses, facing the Ronin suited girl. “It’s me.”

(Y/n) exhales. “We have to go,” (Y/n) takes Kate’s hand, pulling her through the hole in the wall.

The scene that (Y/n) next sees makes her boil with anger.

“Hey!” Kate bellows, advancing towards the man kicking the same golden retriever from earlier. Kate kicks the man in the face, and the dog darts off.

Kate and (Y/n) exchange glances before they take off after the dog.

“Wati!” yells Kate as the dog hares through traffic, almost getting hit by a car multiple times.

Both (Y/n) and Kate vault over cars, Kate gathering the dog in her arms, and safely getting the dog to the other side of the road.

Car horns blare as the thieves in tracksuits stop in the middle of the road.

“Come on,” (Y/n) scoops up the dog.

Kate takes off before (Y/n), leading her along.

“Where are we going?” (Y/n) says, panting slightly from the weight of the large dog.

“My apartment,” Kate says.

. . .

“You were right about the tree, Dad,” Lila says, her and Cooper flopping down on the couch to turn on the TV.

“I want one that big,” Nathaniel says, clinging onto his father’s back.

“It wouldn’t fit in our house, dummy,” Cooper replies.

“Please, please, please!” Nate pleads.

“It’s a little late for TV, guys. I’ve gotta pack,” Clint tells his kids, but Lila still turns on the TV.

“We are following a breaking news story. A high society gala rocked by an explosion when it went off at Park Avenue and 68th Street tonight,” the newscaster says. “The cause of the explosion is still under investigation. But witnesses captured cell phone footage of two masked assailants fleeing the scene.”

Clint fixes his eyes on the television, his eyes widening.

Clint’s phone rings and he curses under his breath when he sees the caller ID.

“Hey, Nat,” Clint says, closing his eyes.

“Why isn’t my daughter answering the phone? Why is she running around with RONIN?”

“Nat, I don’t know,” Clint moves away so his kids couldn’t hear him. “That’s not me.”

Word Count: 835 words

Happy Holidays Taglist:

@imapotatao

@starscouffaine

@crazydefendortrash

@harleyswanda

@neverylee

@gay-vet-student

@sofi898

@simsrecs

@Dxnnx04

@xxxtwilightaxelxxx

@suestormswife

[makeste]

BnHA 326: What’s up Kids, It’s Me, Your Old Pal Stain

Previously on BnHA: Ochako shamed the U.A. Clown Mob into letting Deku go back inside his own fucking school by giving them an hour-long speech about how not to be humongous dickheads. Kouta and Gigantic Fox Lady saved the manga by being the only ones brave enough to give Deku a hug. Shouto was all “man, all this togetherness sure does remind me of that promise you made that we would handle Touya together which you immediately bailed on, doesn’t it, Dad.” Aizawa was all, “for the one and a half people out there who thought that my losing an eye and a leg might actually make me less sexy, I’m very happy to prove you wrong.” All Might was all, “[standing outside the U.A. fortress alone in the rain talking to someone or something??].” Like seriously, what was up with that though.

Today on BnHA: All Might is all “here I am in Kamino having a belated mid-life crisis because Deku abandoned me and I’m a terrible mentor and everything sucks and I hate myself.” Stain is all, “don’t make me come over there and give you a ten page speech about why you’re still the goat while menacingly holding you at swordpoint the entire time” because idk if you knew this guys, but Stain is pretty crazy actually. Anyway so he does that, and then All Might gets all emotional, and then the lady from chapter 92 shows up and gives All Might’s statue an encouraging pep talk, and then Horikoshi is all “and it even stopped raining lol can you believe this shit I’m not even a little bit subtle,” and he really isn’t. But I still got emotional anyway, because seeing people reassure All Might that everything he’s struggled for his entire life hasn’t been in vain just got to me okay. Horikoshi knows I am weak to the All Might feels and he just goes for the jugular every time, that bastard.

lmao. “in the neverending downpour, All Might is...” yeah, thank you, glad we’re getting right to that then

“All Might is driving 95 mph in his busted ass car in the pouring rain, is what he’s doing.” huh

so basically a day or two after his adopted child refused to accept the handmade bento that he packed with love, my man is out here acting like he’s got nothing to live for anymore. this sure bodes well for certain prophecies on which the clock is still ominously ticking down

his fucking face though omg. is it weird that I’m kind of hoping more people ambush him just because I think it’d be funny to see them get their asses kicked like the last bunch

(ETA: or maybe he will just stand there openly not giving a fuck and basically daring them to stab him!! get it together please All Might.)

side note, “anti-hero supporters” is such a strange way of saying “people who hate heroes”, which I’m assuming is what they actually wanted to say?? this makes it sound like it’s a group that really loves antiheroes. “these Hannibal stans have been a real menace lately. time to go deal with them”

ha ha ha, fucking ouch

are you really gonna do it Horikoshi you bastard. are you really going to let that be the final encounter between the two characters whose relationship you once described as the vertical axis of the entire fucking story. are you really gonna?? huh??

huh

you’re telling me you were driving 112 mph and you still didn’t get there in time. you’re losing your touch old man. lol Todo’s ice is almost fully melted already, how late were you

(ETA: so apparently this is taking place after the end of chapter 325, meaning he went to U.A., hung out for a bit, saw the kids come back with his bedraggled half-dead protégé in tow, watched as they shamed the civilians into some long-overdue character development, and then was all “welp, time to go argue with the hero-hating faction or something because I’m feeling useless.” and Edge just let him go, just like that. though to be fair I have to imagine it’s pretty hard to say no to All Fucking Might.)

also belated lol at the fact that the kids were all “yeahhhhhhh we are definitely not gonna touch that thing, let’s just leave it here, he doesn’t need it anyway.” probably the right call to make since they couldn’t get a hazmat team on such short notice

fuck. ha ha ha fucking ouch part two

All Might please put that thing down before you get gangrene. also yeah, you dropped the ball, good for you to acknowledge it. nobody’s perfect and you did your best. but yeah you could have handled a lot of things completely differently. but I still love you

is Horikoshi really putting this flashback here. are you serious. what kind of fucking sadist

look, I swear I’m not one of those people that runs up and down the street shouting “DEATH FLAG!!” at every third panel lol. but this shit screamed Death Flag when we originally got it, and it’s screaming DEATH FLAG!!! even more now. like with the capital letters and exclamation marks and all. and that’s just a fact. I don’t like it but that’s how it is

ffkdjslk

“DID YOU READ THE SIGN??!” Horikoshi asks while zooming in maniacally because he thinks we’re blind or something. lol what

-- though actually, it only just occurred to me that this sign is actually written in English. I never really paid attention up until now and had been assuming it was written in Japanese and translated by the scanlators, but the writing here is clearly part of the original image. anyway so maybe that’s why he’s zooming in?? just to make sure everybody pays attention lol

okay fuck this

see, this is the whole problem right here. once again All Might is all on his own. Deku’s self-destructive angst spiral was fortunately brought to a grinding halt because he actually has support from his friends and family and teachers and classmates. but All Might never had that same kind of support, and it’s made all the difference between the two of them, and not in a good way. Katsuki wasn’t wrong when he said All Might and Deku were both cut from the same cloth. but now when it’s All Might’s turn to go all “I WALK A LONELY ROAD~~” once again, there’s nobody in sight

just, after forty plus years of him carrying this torch, I just wish someone would finally come along to let him know he doesn’t have to. all those things that he wanted to say to Deku are also things that he needs and deserves to hear himself. Aizawa was making a little progress there, but now he’s got his sad zombie cloud boyfriend situation to deal with, and we can’t expect him and his perfect hair to solve all our problems. someone else has gotta step up

oh my god

“you rang?” never mind I take it all back sob

omg why am I laughing. shit

this man truly has the best PR game in the series. we were truly convinced he was gonna suddenly become a good guy and defend All Might against the other villains or some nonsense. as if this wasn’t the same man who decided on a whim that Iida Tensei deserved to be paralyzed, and that his fifteen-year-old brother deserved to die for daring to be upset about it

lol even All Might is all “I genuinely never saw this coming” lmao

just want to say, for the record, I have always harbored a very sensible hatred toward Stain. feeling very vindicated right now. good job Past Me

adsfklwkfsdwgkj

ffffwefjslkg. ghsdlkg. dsfkkkslkjldwkjrg

STAIN: heard you talking shit old man

ME: smh that’s what I thought you’d say you dumb fucking Stain

STAIN: how dare you talk about All Might that way

ME: gljfljgk

(ETA: in hindsight I have no idea how I didn’t clue in sooner that he didn’t recognize him -- or, well, ~didn’t recognize~ him, to be more accurate lol. I think it was the whole “is that a slight against the heroes?” thing that threw me. Viz’s translation makes it much clearer that he’s offended on behalf of All Might specifically, not heroes in general. anyways.)

sob. so All Might is all “yeah I don’t blame you for not recognizing me in this sweet leather jacket”

good thing he still knows how to do this party trick

A+ reflexes on Stain’s part presumably pulling the sword back a few inches to keep this dumbass from impaling himself with his whole pufferfish routine. can you imagine if that was the gruesome death Nighteye foresaw. and he was just too embarrassed to say anything

lol anyways guess I was wrong about Stain everyone

way to fucking go, Past Me. you really biffed this one

oh wait

Stain sure is one wacky rollercoaster ride

oh fuck me lol I forgot how much I did not miss this

(ETA: “this here is the sacred ground where All Might gave up the last of his power and turned into a shriveled old man!! please ignore the part where I admit to knowing all about that, and yet pretend not to recognize said man when he’s standing two feet in front of me.”)

Past Me, I know we’ve had our ups and downs these past ninety seconds, but I’m really starting to think you were on to something. this dude has always been kind of insufferable. always acting like his high horse is a fucking giraffe when it’s actually a Shetland pony

dammit now he’s got All Might going off on a depressed monologue

oh my god my heart

shit

why the fuck does that hit so hard. he became a hero because he couldn’t bear to just sit back and let bad things happen to people who didn’t deserve it. I mean that’s basically the same as every hero ever, right? so why does it still hit so fucking hard every single time though. what is it about seeing someone so determined to stand up for other people and fight on their behalf. it just never loses its impact no matter how many times I see that determination mirrored in so many of my favorite characters

“I wanted to make the world a better place.” omg. but you did, though. like seriously, I feel like people are always dogging on him for not being 100% perfect, and fandom really doesn’t give him enough credit for everything he still managed to accomplish. this man came of age at a time when Japan was by all accounts a total shitshow, and singlehandedly managed to bring about an era of peace that lasted for four fucking decades. can you imagine having peace for that long?? that’s longer than I’ve been alive. shit

and he gave people hope. he inspired them and protected them and made them feel safe. and no, he couldn’t save everyone, because he’s only one fucking dude (and also because the whole time AFO was also out there desperately working to undermine him so that he could keep preaching his narrative of “heroes are bad actually”). but you know what he did do, is inspire multiple new generations of heroes who, if they can all manage to work together, will finally be able to accomplish everything he never could

so yeah. forty years of peace, and inspired the “that’s how we all became the greatest heroes” generation -- that’s a fucking win in my book. talk about having a net positive impact on the world. lol anyways now I’m all fired up and ready to fight anyone who tries to talk any shit about you, All Might

“but what if I talk shit about myself” okay listen up All Might I’m gonna need you to try just a little bit harder to work with me here okay. please calm down and stop blaming yourself for every single bad thing that’s ever happened in the world. do you remember that time Bakugou was blaming himself for Kamino, and you gave him a hug and told him it wasn’t his fault, and that he was only a boy, and that even though he was strong, even strong people can struggle with the burdens they place on themselves, and that you were sorry for not seeing that earlier? do you remember all of that? that’s what I want someone to tell you too, dammit. anyway please stop breaking my heart please and thanks

wtf

are you dead All Might

um

I don’t even have the slightest idea what’s happening lol

oh snap did he grab him so they could hide??

hold the fucking phone. don’t tell me this person in the background with the umbrella is here to actually do something decent??

oh my godddd

and here come the feels. oh boy. okay don’t mind me, I’m just gonna sit here sobbing over this fictional lady and her simple act of kindness in this weekly shounen manga that I care about way too much

FUCKING DAMMIT AND HERE’S A SECOND HELPING

DON’T MIND ME, I’M JUST GETTING DISPROPORTIONATELY EMOTIONAL OVER THIS WOMAN’S DETERMINATION TO HONOR A MAN WHO SACRIFICED EVERYTHING TO SAVE HER AND COUNTLESS OTHERS. I’M JUST HAVING SOME FEELS OVER HERE ABOUT HER HEARTFELT, DOESN’T-EVEN-KNOW-ANYONE-ELSE-IS-WATCHING FEELINGS OF GRATITUDE THAT COMPELLED HER TO COME OUT HERE AND MAKE THIS SMALL BUT POWERFUL GESTURE. I’M JUST OUT HERE GETTING ALL PROFOUNDLY WORKED UP ABOUT STATUE MAINTENANCE AND THE HUMAN RACE. NEVER MIND. JUST IGNORE ME AND CARRY ON

holy shit. I was not even remotely prepared. you can’t just do that to me. you can’t just leave all these death flags on my lawn and then suddenly shift gears to show me the best of humanity in a chapter where I was expecting the worst. that fucks a person up lol

OH ARE WE STILL GOING

my heart. you see that, All Might. your legacy is so much more powerful and meaningful than you think

...has. has Stain actually been giving All Might a pep talk this entire time

I give up lol. this dude is a fucking enigma

YAYYY

it may just be a metaphor panel, but I’ll take it lol. I missed them. nice to see the traffic light trio front and off-center. I know the whole “this is the story of how we all became the greatest heroes” thing had left some questioning whether certain characters would continue to play a central role in the narrative, and hopefully this will help to ease those concerns just a bit

anyway, so idk if it’s getting a bit chilly down there in hell, but damned if Stain didn’t just give an actual decent fucking speech

I have to say, earlier when I was whining about All Might not having a support squad, I really was not expecting Stain to be the one to come over and pat his head and reassure him that he made the world a better place

-- okay LISTEN

YOU CAN’T JUST COME INTO MY HOUSE AND HIT ME WITH THOSE ALL MIGHT TEARS AGAIN GODDAMMIT THIS ISN’T FAIR. my god. first 317 and now this

holy fucking shit

“I’m just gonna pretend like I haven’t been stalking him for two days and didn’t see the entire Deku bentogate thing go down, and then I’ll give him the whole big speech that I rehearsed, and then I’ll turn around and be all ‘BUT IF YOU’RE A TRUE HERO’, and then I’ll toss him the super-secret AFO wifi password that I stole from Tartarus. god I’m such a badass. fucking give myself chills”

so basically what you’re telling me is that this whole time my “what’s up kids” characterization of Stain from this shitpost has actually been 100% accurate. just want to make sure I’m understanding this right. okay then

“and then I’ll dramatically spin around and be all NOW COME KILL ME BITCH”

it must be so much fun to write Stain. drawing this coked-out maniac who talks like a chatbot that was trained to speak by reading Alan Moore monologues. that must be a trip

anyway so All Might is still crying, the awesome lady from chapter 92 is admiring her handiwork totally oblivious to the batshit insanity going on fifty meters to her right, and it’s finally stopped raining lol

“THE RAIN WAS A METAPHOR YOU SEE” yes, yes, we got it lol. thanks for that Horikoshi. don’t think we needed any help putting the pieces together on that one but I appreciate the effort

so that’s the end! and as I mentioned in another post, I had the count off by one chapter, but next week should be cliffhanger week! so break out your U.A. Traitor bingo cards, friends and fiends. either that or something else happens that I’m completely not expecting at all. which, based on my success rate with Stain predictions, I’d say is more than likely lol

mmm but anyway, so now that the Hug Deku 2021 campaign has finally come to an end, what’s it gonna take to get a hug for my struggling bento-preparing jacket-rocking world-weary death-flag-waving husband who is the worthiest man to ever live and deserves the fucking world, goddammit

[typewriterstorys]

Chapter two

The trio was stopped at a gas station. Eliana is in the back. Drawing in a notebook with her headphones on.Sam was in the front seat going through Dean's cassette tapes.

Dean walked out of the gas station. With junk food in his hand.

"Hey" Dean yelled.

Sam leans out of the open door and looks at him.

"You want breakfast" Dean asked holding out the food.

" no thanks" said Sam "So how'd you pay for that stuff, You and Dad still running credit card scams?" Asked Sam

"Yeah, well, hunting ain't exactly a pro ball career" Dean said putting the nozzle of the gas pump back on the pump. "Besides, all we do is apply. It's not our fault they send us the cards." Dean said making his way over to the drivers seat

"Yeah? And what names did you write on the application this time?"

Sam said well  swinging his legs back inside the car and close the door.

"Uh, Burt Aframian."Dean says getting into the driver seat and puts his soda and chips down. "And his son Hector. Scored two cards out of the deal." Dean said looking to the backseat.

"Hey Sweet pea" Dean said trying to get Elianas attention but she was too concentrated. So he pushed the poked her arm.

"What Dean" Eliana said putting down pencil and her headphones on her shoulders.

"You want some breakfast" Dena asked

"No" Eliana said back to him

"Come on you are going to eat" Dean said "It's your favorite breakfast" Dean said holding up a apple juice and pack of mini powered doughnuts. Eliana smiled and took them. Saying thank you to Dean.

"By the way Ellie were you get that jacket. It's pretty cool"asked Dean.

"It is Patrick's" Eliana said then opening the doughnuts. She then looked down at her outfit. She was wearing a floral top, had on jeans and some boats. The Patrick's old leather Jacket. Her hair was back and in a small fishtail braid. She also had her mom's hunting bracelet. Along with a bracelet that Dean gave her for her 10th birthday.

(Her outfit please do not hate this is not a y/n story.)

". I swear, man, you've gotta update your cassette tape collection." Sam said going through the box of Cassettes.

"Why" Dean asked

"Well, for one, they're cassette tapes. And two.Black Sabbath? Motorhead? Metallica? It's the greatest hits of mullet rock." Sam said

Dean took a cassette out of his hand and pushed into the player.

"Well, house rules, Sammy."Dean said as he pops the tape in the player. "Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole." Said Dean as Back in black by AC/DC

"You know, Sammy is a chubby twelve-year-old"Sam said too him annoyed. "It's Sam okay."

"Sorry, I can't hear you, the music's too loud." Dean said starting to drive out of the gas station.

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

"Thank you" said Sam hanging up the phone "All right. So, there's no one matching Dad at the hospital or morgue, so that's something, I guess." Sam said

"Yeah it is" Eliana commented not looking up from her drawing.

"Check it out"said Dean pointing of a bridge the driving up to stop the impala. Dean reached across Sam to. The glove box and pulled out a box. It was full of fake badges. He took out one he looked at Sam.

"Let's go" Said Dean getting out of the car. Eliana and Sam following him. The trio walked up to the bridge.

"You fellas had another one like this just last month, didn't you?" Dean said to the police.

Jaffe the officer looked up when Dean starts talking and straightens up to talk to him.

"And who are you?" Jaffe asked.

"Federal marshals" Dean said well he flashed his badge.

"You three are a little young for marshals, aren't you?" Jaffe said looking at the trio

DEAN laughs and said "Thanks, that's awfully kind of you." Dean then went over to the car."You did have another one just like this, correct?" He asked

"Yeah, that's right. About a mile up the road. There've been others before that." Jaffe sass

"So, this victim, you knew him?" Eliana asked

"Town like this, everybody knows everybody." Jaffe said looking at her.

"Any connection between the victims, besides that they're all men?" Dean asked well he circles the car.

"No. Not so far as we can tell." Jaffe responded

"So what's the theory?" Sam asked going to stand next to Dean.

"Honestly, we don't know. Serial murder? Kidnapping ring?"  He said

"Well, that is exactly the kind of crack police work I'd expect out of you guys." Dean said. This made Sam on Dean's foot. This also made Eliana glare at him.

"Thank you for your time." Sam said then starts to walk away with Dean following him. Sam grabbed Eliana arm and pulled her away. This made Eliana give him a glare. Dean and him have always grabbed Eliana arm to pull her away. If they were angry or if they were fine. They always pulled her away. Like they were afraid she wasn't going to follow them. Seems like they were going to lose her.

"Gentlemen." Sam said to the other policemen. Dean came up and slapped Sam on the back of his head.

"Ow! What was that for?" Sam asked

"Why'd you have to step on my foot?" Asked dean going to catch up with Sam who still had a firm grip on Elianas arm.

"Why do you have to talk to the police like that?" Sam asked back

Dean looks at Sam and moves in front of him, forcing Sam and Eliana to stop walking. Sam let go of Eliana arm,

"Come on. They don't really know what's going on. We're all alone on this. I mean, if we're going to find Dad we've got to get to the bottom of this thing ourselves." Said Dean.

Eliana cleaned her throat causing Dean too look over his shoulder at three more police officers.

"Can I help you guys?" Said a man Who looked like a Sheriff

"No, sir, we were just leaving." Said dean Turing and grabbing Elianas arm. Dragging her along with her with him. Sam just behind them

"Agent Mulder. Agent Scully." Said As he walks past the FBI Agent's walk and he nodded his at each of them. When The three got to the car and got in. Eliana spoke up and said

"You are both idiots"

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

They Winchesters were now in the town. Walking around trying to find trying to find A girl named Amy.

"I'll bet you that's her." Said Dean pointing to a girl

"Yeah." Sam and Eliana said at the same time. The trio walked up to the girl.

"You must be Amy." Dean said when they reached her

"Yeah." Amy said

"Yeah, Troy told us about you. We're his uncles and Aunt. I'm Dean, this is Sammy and this is Ellie" Dean said pointing to the twins.

"He never mentioned you to me." Amy said  She then walked away. Ellie, Dean and Sam walked with her.

"Well, that's Troy, I guess. We're not around much, we're up in Modesto." Dean said

"So, we're looking for him too, and we're kinda asking around." Said sam

Then another young lady har name was Rachel. Came up to Amy and put her arm around her.

"Hey, are you okay?" Rachel asked concerned

"Yeah." Amy said

"You mind if we ask you a couple questions?" Asked SAM

The group was now In A diner. The five of them are sitting in a booth, Elian was squeezed in to the window.

"I was on the phone with Troy. He was driving home. He said he would call me right back, and...he never did." Amy said in a sad voice

"He didn't say anything strange, or out of the ordinary?" Sam asked

Amy shakes her head.

"No. Nothing I can remember." She said

Eliana looked down at Amys necklace

"I like your necklace." said Eliana. Amy looked over at her since this was the first time Eliana talked. Amy holds the pendant she's wearing, a pentagram in a circle, and looks down at it.

"Troy gave it to me. Mostly to scare my parents—" Amy paused and then Amy laughed "—with all that devil stuff."

Sam laughs a little and looks down, then up. Dean looks over.

"Actually, it means just the opposite. A pentagram is protection against evil. Really powerful. I mean, if you believe in that kind of thing." Sam said "Ellie has one. Show them your bracelet" Sam said

Eliana held to out her hand to show them her charm bracelet.

"It's beautiful" Amy said

"Okay. Thank you, Unsolved Mysteries" Dean said taking his arm off the back of the seat and leans forward. "Here's the deal, ladies. The way Troy disappeared, something's not right. So if you've heard anything..." Dean finished

Amy and Rachel look at each other.

"What is it?" Dean asked

"Well, it's just... I mean, with all these guys going missing, people talk." Rachel said

"What do they talk about?" Dean, Eliana and Sam spoke in chorus.

"It's kind of this local legend. This one girl? She got murdered out on Centennial, like decades ago." Rachel said

Dean looks at Sam and then Eliana , who watches Rachel attentively, nodding. "Well, supposedly she's still out there."

Sam nods.

"She hitchhikes, and whoever picks her up? Well, they disappear forever." Rachel six

The Winchester look over at each other.

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

The three were now in the local library. Looking up information. They were all huddled around a computer. Dean finished typing In "Female Murder Hitchhiking" then he clicks GO. "(0) Result". Shows up in the screen. Dean replaces "Hitchhiking" with "Centennial Highway" with the same response. Sam is sitting next to him, watching.

"Let me try." Trying to get the key to get the key board. Dean smacks Sam's hand.

"I got it." Dean says. Sam shoves Dean's chair out of the way and takes over. Causing him to bud into Eliana. Dean makes sure she is ok and they both scoot back.

"Dude!" Dean as as he hits Sam in the shoulder. "You're such a control freak."

"So angry spirits are born out of violent death, right?" Sam asked

"Yeah." Dean and Eliana said at the same time.

"Well, maybe it's not murder." Sam said as he  replaces "Murder" with "Suicide" and finds an article entitled "Suicide on Centennial". Sam opens the article, dated April 25, 1981.

"This was 1981. Constance Welch, twenty-four years old, jumps off Sylvania Bridge, drowns in the river." Sam read

"Does it say why she did it?" Asked Eliana

"Yeah." Sam Answered

"What" Dean asked

"An hour before they found her, she calls 911. Apparently her two little kids are in the bathtub. She leaves them alone for a minute, and when she comes back, they aren't breathing. Both die."

Dean raises his eyebrows and says "Hm."

"Our babies were gone, and Constance just couldn't bear it,' said husband Joseph Welch." Sam continued

"The bridge look familiar to you?" Dean asked pointing to it.

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

They were now at the bridge. Dean, Sam and Eliana walked along the bridge, then stop to lean on the railing and look down at the river.

"So this is where Constance took the swan dive." Dean asked

"So you think Dad would have been here?" Sam asked looking over at Dean Ellie doing the same thing.

"Well, he's chasing the same story and we're chasing him." Dean answered then continues walking. The twins following him.

"Okay, so now what?" Asked Ellie

"Now we keep digging until we find him. Might take a while." Dean said. This makes Ellie and Sam stop.

"Dean, I told you, I've gotta get back by Monday—" Sam said but Dean cut his off.

"Monday. Right. The interview." Said Dean well he turns around.

"Yeah. Ellie also has to be back. She has her dress fitting." Sam said pointing at Eliana.

Yeah, I forgot. You two are really serious about this, aren't you? Sam you think you're just going to become some lawyer? Marry your girl? Ellie you think you are going to finish medical school and marry your man?"

"Maybe. Why not?" Eliana and Sam said at the same time,

"Does Jessica and Patrick know the truth about you? I mean, do they know about the things you've done?

Sam steps closer to Dean

"No, and she's not ever going to know." Sam said

"Well, that's healthy. What about you Eliana does you're a little boy friend know" Dean asked

"First no he doesn't and second dena he is my fiancé" Eliana said stepping closer to dean in front of Sam. Holding out her hand. Which had her engagement ring on it. Dean pulled it closer to have better look then letting go of her hand.

(Elianas ring)

"You can pretend all you want, Sammy,Ellie. But sooner or later you two are going to have to face up to who you guys really are." Dean says then he turns around and keeps walking. Sam gets in front of Eliana and grabs her arms the starts following Dean.

"And who's that?" Sam asked

"You're one of us. Both of you" Dean said

Sam hurries to get in front of Dean. Letting go of Elianas arm when he gets in front of his.

"No. I'm not like you. This is not going to be my life. Ellie is not like you. This is not going to be her life." Sam said pointing to him then Eliana

"You have a responsibility to—" Dean said but Sam Interrupted him

"To Dad? And his crusade? If it weren't for pictures Ellie and I wouldn't even know what Mom looks like. And what difference would it make? Even if we do find the thing that killed her, Mom's gone. And she isn't coming back." Sam said.

"Sammy" Eliana said in a disapproving voice. Before Sam could respond. Dean grabbed Sam by the collar and shoves him up against the railing of the bridge. Eliana staying were she was. She knew not to get in the middle of her brothers fighting and she was to tried to intervene. After a long pause. Dean said in a mad voice

"Don't talk about her like that." Then Dean releases Sam and walks away to stand with next to Ellie. Who was standing looking at something.

"What do you see sweet pea" He asked in a gentler voice. Eliana pointed her finger at A women. It was the girl in the article. Constance. Who was standing on the rail of the bridge. Dean said Sam. Sam comes to stand next to Dean. Constance looks over at them, then steps forward off the edge. Eliana took of first with Sam and Dean following. The all get to the railing and look over.

"Where'd she go?" Dean asked

"I don't know." Said Sam and Eliana at the same time.

Behind them, the Impala's engine starts and its headlights come on. The trio turn to look.

"What the—" Dean asked

"Who's driving your car?" Eliana asked

Dean pulls the keys out of his pocket and jingles them. Sam and Ellie glances at them. The car jerks into motion, heading straight for them. Sam Grabs Elianas arm and the turn and run.

"Dean? Go! Go!" Sam said with a death grip on Elianas arm. They run as the car keeps moving faster. Soon it gets to close. This causes Sam to lose grasp of Elianas arm. Dean and him dive over the railing. Eliana didn't make it over In time. The car was about to hit her. But then the car comes to a halt.

Ellie went over to the edge. She saw Sam had caught himself on the edge of the bridge and is hanging on. He sees her and got a look of relief on his face.He pulls himself up onto the bridge and looks around.

"Dean? Dean!" Sam called out then. Eliana and him look down at them same time. There below. Was filthy and annoyed Dean crawling out of the water and onto the mud, panting.

"What?" Dean asked annoyed.

"Hey! Are you all right?" Eliana asked Dean holds up one hand in an A-OK sign.

"I'm super." Dean sarcastically says

Sam and Ellie started to laugh relieved and Sam scoots away from the edge.

Dean shuts the hood of his car and leans on it.

"Your car all right?"asked Sam

"Yeah, whatever she did to it, seems all right now. That Constance chick, what a bitch!" Dean said in an angry tone

"Well, she doesn't want us digging around, that's for sure. So where's the job go from here, genius?" Eliana asked standing in front of Dean. Sam goes and settles on the hood next to Dean. Dean throws up his arms in frustration, then flicks mud off his hands. Sam sniffs, then looks at Dean.

"You smell like a toilet." Sam said. Dean looked down. Well Eliana laughed.

"He looks like one too" Eliana giggled out

[huwujiu]

My Daddy

Word count : 5k

TW : mentions of abuse. Seriously. Nothing explicit, but strongly implied. 

“My Daddy’s smarter than your daddy.” 

Margie looked up from her box lunch, surprised and stung by such a preposterous claim. The new girl, Irma Something-Or-Other, stood regarding her with fey brown eyes.

“He is not,” Margie rejoined, setting down a half-eaten egg salad sandwich and standing up to face the newcomer. “My daddy’s loads smarter than yours.”

“Is not,” said Irma implacably, sitting down on the other side of Margie’s lunch box.

“Is so.” Margie remained standing, fists dug into her hips.

“Is not. My Daddy’s smarter than everybody else’s daddy. Can I have part of your sandwich?”

Disarmed by the non sequitur, Margie sat back down and broke off a part that was mostly crust. She handed it to Irma with a sniff and a toss of her ponytail.

“Well, my daddy’s a lawyer, and he’s never lost a case, so there,” Margie said after a moment’s reflection. “What’s your daddy do?”

Irma smiled. “My daddy works at home.”

“I bet he doesn’t have a job,” Margie said triumphantly. “I bet he’s unemployed.” She said the last word with the peculiar emphasis of an eight-year old trying out a new vocabulary item. Margie had heard the word on TV just last week, and asked her father what it meant.

“My daddy doesn’t need a job. He works by himself,” Irma answered, and wrinkled her nose in an infuriating So there! 

“So, where did you move from?” Margie asked, tired of the argument.

“Somewhere else,” Irma answered. “Not like here, a smaller town.”

Margie considered this in silence, and took a bite on one of the raw carrots her mother always insisted on packing with her.

“Do you have any friends?” Irma asked.

“Lotsa friends. There’s Tammy, Brittany, Joey—”

“Can I be your friend?” Irma swallowed the last bite of sandwich. “My daddy and I just came here in August, and I don’t know anybody yet.”

“I guess so. You can come over to Brittany’s house with me after school--”

“Nah, I can’t. I gotta go straight home. My daddy doesn’t like it when I’m late.”

The bell rang, signaling the end of the lunch half-hour. Irma stood. “See ya back in class. I gotta go to my locker. Thanks for the sandwich.”

“You’re welcome.” Margie finished her carrot stick and headed back indoors.

Irma and Margie ate lunch together the next day, and the day after that. Irma never brought a lunch of her own, so Margie always shared her sandwiches with her new friend.

Irma was different from her other friends, Margie soon realized. Aside from bragging about her daddy – which, Margie discovered, was Irma’s preferred way of starting a conversation – she said little about her family or background. In class, she sat silently at the back, staring at the teacher, Mr. Pugmire, with her odd dark eyes and occasionally playing with her long black hair.

Margie, talkative by nature, chatted freely about her parents, her pet cat Sweeney, and even her cousin Fred, who lived four hours away, was two years older, and whom Margie had worshipped for two years. Irma seemed to enjoy listening without comment, and Margie enjoyed having such an appreciative audience.

After a week of shared lunchtimes (and lunches), Irma appeared beside Margie as the latter left school, and walked partway home with her. When they reached the turnoff for Copper Creek Road, however, Irma stopped.

“Gotta go home, Margie. See ya tomorrow.”

“But can’t you come home with me? I got some cool new videos, and Mom’ll let us have ice cream --”

“Can’t, Margie. I’m sorry. Daddy wants me home.” Irma glanced up Copper Creek Road.

“You live out there? Way out in the country? You oughta take the bus.”

“Can’t. My daddy doesn’t like school buses. Guess he doesn’t want other kids knowing where I live.” 

Margie shrugged. “Okay, then, but sometime soon you’re gonna have to get permission from your daddy to come over for a visit. My mom really wants to meet you.”

“I dunno, maybe. I’ll ask daddy sometime.” With a wave, Irma was off down the road.

The next day there was trouble. The last class of the day, science, had always been Margie’s least favorite, a distaste Irma shared. The two of them frequently conspired to ignore Mr. Pugmire’s lessons, passing notes and drawings back and forth. Until that day, they had avoided detection, but now, in a moment of carelessness, Irma had let fall from her hands a caricature of the teacher that Margie had just drawn. The folded paper hit the floor with an audible snap, and Mr. Pugmire, ever alert, swooped over and snatched it up before either girl could move.

The class buzzed excitedly as Mr. Pugmire’s eyes scanned the picture, then fell silent as he held up the incriminating artifact.

“Who drew this?”

Silence. Mr. Pugmire turned on Irma. “Did you draw this, Irma?”

“I—”

“Irma, is this what you spend your days doing? You never pay attention, and your grades are barely passing.” Muffled titters from several other students.

Irma started to speak again, but Margie spoke up. “I drew it, Mr. Pugmire.”

The teacher wheeled on her. “You did, Margie? A good student like you? Then how come I found it under Irma’s chair?”

“I just – it slipped and fell, that’s all.” Margie did not want to implicate her friend by admitting she had passed the note.

“Oh, and then it somehow rolled all the way over here. Thank you, Margie, for trying to defend your friend, but it’s high time Miss Irma and I had a talk. Stay after school,” he said crisply.

“My daddy won’t like it if I’m late,” Irma said, staring unblinking at Mr. Pugmire. “He gets very unhappy when I’m not home when I’m supposed to be.”

“Oh, he does, does he? Well, maybe he should come in for a little chat, young lady. Your father needs to know about your poor performance.”

“My daddy loves me,” said Irma. “He doesn’t care how I do in this stupid school.”

More titters at this, but a baleful look from Mr. Pugmire shut them up. “Your father is doubtless aware that the law requires you to be here,” he said. “I’m perfectly prepared to hold you back a grade if you refuse to perform.”

“My daddy’s going to be very angry with you,” Irma said softly, almost musically, still fixing Mr. Pugmire with that odd stare. 

“Are you threatening me, young lady?” Mr. Pugmire’s voice had risen a notch, and for a moment, Margie was afraid he would strike her friend.

But Irma looked down at her hands folded on the desk top and whispered, “No, Mr. Pugmire. I’m sorry.”

“Well, then, that’s a little better. I’ll see you after class.” He strode back to the front of the room without a backward glance. 

After school, Margie waited faithfully outside the classroom. For an hour, Mr. Pugmire’s voice crackled on and on, reciting Irma’s many academic and social failings, threatening further punishment, and demanding answers. Irma, however, said nothing at all, which Mr. Pugmire evidently found disconcerting. Once, Margie peeped around the door and glimpsed her friend still staring fixedly at Mr. Pugmire from a front-row desk, while the other berated her.

Finally, Mr. Pugmire gave a sigh of exasperation. “Young lady, I can’t help you if you refuse to speak to me. I’m going to send a note to the principal’s office recommending you receive professional counselling. Also” – Margie heard the sound of pen scratching on paper – “I’m sending this note to your father, informing him of your behavior, and requesting a face-to-face meeting. You will give him this note, won’t you, Irma?”

Irma spoke for the first time. “Yes, Mr. Pugmire.”

“Well, so you haven’t lost your voice! Okay, you can go on home now, and we’ll discuss this more tomorrow.”

Margie heard the sound of her friend shouldering her school pack. A moment later, Irma appeared in the doorway. She grinned at Margie, who raised a finger to her lips. Then Irma turned and looked back into the room.

“Good-bye, Mr. Pugmire,” she said, and giggled softly.

As the two girls walked home, Irma was unusually talkative.

“You didn’t have to tell him you drew it, Margie,” Irma said, kicking at a pile of raked leaves beside the sidewalk. 

“I didn’t want him to pick on you, Irma. It’s not fair how he always treats you like a weirdo in front of the class. It’s bad enough that nobody besides me ever talks to you, and they all say mean things about us--”

Irma stopped and gave Margie a little hug. “It’ll be okay,” she said. “Mr. Pugmire’s just stupid, that’s all. He won’t bother us anymore.”

“But aren’t you scared about what the principal will say? And counseling? I hear that’s only for kids who are crazy.”

“My daddy won’t let them do anything to me,” said Irma as they reached the turnoff for Copper Creek Road. “See you tomorrow, Margie.”

Margie spent the evening worrying about what the next day would bring. Principal Miller, she knew, was very strict, and all sorts of lurid stories of torture and abuse in the principal’s office were a mainstay of schoolground folklore. She also worried that Mr. Pugmire might decide to punish her as well for sticking up for Irma.

But when the first bell rang the next morning, a young woman substitute came in and informed the class that Mr. Pugmire had called in sick. Margie flashed a smile of relief at Irma. The latter, who had deep black circles under her eyes, grinned back. For today, at least, there would be no further punishment.  Maybe, Margie thought hopefully, Mr. Pugmire would forget all about it when he came back.

Mr. Pugmire, however, never came back. To everyone’s surprise, he sent a brief, crudely-typed letter of resignation, packed a few of his belongings, and left town. Although no one had actually seen him leave, his car and some of his clothes disappeared, and his house was left vacant. 

The cheerful young substitute, Miss Davis, was delighted to be offered a full-time position through the end of the school year, and under her tutelage, Irma became, if not a model student, then at least a passable one.

One day not long after the Christmas holidays, Irma said unexpectedly, during a lull in lunchtime conversation, “My daddy says it’s okay for me to come over to your house.”

Margie stared at her friend. “But I thought --”

“He’s changed his mind,” Irma said. “Things are better now. Daddy’s not so mad at me all the time.” She took a bite of the large sandwich she had brought and grinned at Margie. For the last couple of months, Irma had started packing lunch, usually large sandwiches with slabs of some kind of meat, which she often shared with Margie. Irma’s face had lost some of its pallor, and her cheeks were fuller.

“Can you come tomorrow and stay overnight? I can ask Mom today.”

“I’ll ask Daddy.”

Permission from both sides was forthcoming, and the next afternoon, Irma followed Margie home from school for the very first time. She seemed a bit ill at ease as Margie’s mother welcomed her with all the usual platitudes (“We’ve heard so much about you!”), but soon settled down in the living room to enjoy a bowl of ice cream and a game of Uno with Margie.

“Where’s your daddy?” Irma asked through a mouthful of chocolate chip mint.

“He’s still at work, but he’ll be home later.”

“My daddy’s always at home,” said Irma with a superior smile.

Just after six, Margie’s father came home, looking weary as he always did after a long day in court. Margie ran into his waiting arms.

“And this must be Irma,” Margie’s father said after setting his daughter down. “Very nice to meet you.”

Instead of returning the greeting Irma, who had been watching with her arms folded, said solemnly, “My daddy’s a lot bigger than you are.”

“He is not,” said Margie peevishly. “My daddy’s six foot three.”

“He is so. And he has bigger teeth, and his fingernails are lots longer --”

The budding dispute was cut short by a summons to dinner, and the two girls soon forgot the argument. Margie bridled a bit when her friend rudely refused to eat her broccoli and carrots, stating that her daddy hated vegetables. She did manage to consume three helpings of ham, however, which mollified Margie’s parents.

After dinner, Margie and Irma played for a while with Sweeney and watched Beauty and the Beast.

A few minutes after eight, the phone rang, and Margie picked it up.

“Hello?”

There was no answer, but Margie heard what sounded like heavy, labored breathing.

“Is anyone there?” Margie glanced at Irma, who was watching her carefully.

After a moment, the line went dead, and Margie hung up.

“I think that was Daddy.” Irma’s voice sounded different, and Margie saw that she was no longer smiling.

“Can’t your daddy talk? He didn’t--”

The phone rang again, and Irma grabbed the receiver. “Daddy? Yes, I’m still – what? Daddy, I can’t – Daddy, I want to stay. No, I--” Irma fell silent for a moment, and Margie strained to hear any sound coming out of the receiver. She thought she heard something like very soft whispering, but she couldn’t be sure. As she watched, Irma’s face got sadder and sadder, and she kept glancing at Margie.

Finally, Irma said, in a very small voice, “Okay, Daddy, I’ll come home.”

She hung up and looked sorrowfully at her friend. “Gotta go home, Margie. Daddy says.”

Margie was aghast. “You can’t go home now. It’s too late.”

“Sorry, Margie, Daddy changed his mind. Says he wants me home right now.”

Margie’s mother, overhearing the conversation, offered to drive Irma home. “After all, dear, it’s very dark and cold, and it’s snowing pretty hard.”

Irma looked frightened. “No, no, please. I’ll be okay. I know the way. I’ll be all right.”

“I’ll walk with you,” Margie said as Irma donned her coat. “Just to be safe.”

“No!” The look on Irma’s face – of genuine fear – took Margie aback. “No, you mustn’t, Margie. I’ll be fine, really. Just – just stay here.”

“What made your father change his mind about letting you stay, dear?” Margie’s mother asked.

“Daddy gets lonesome when I’m away for too long,” Irma answered, and left without another word.

The following Monday, Irma was quieter than usual. For the first time in months, she brought no lunch pail, and Margie willingly shared with her. As Irma reached to take half a ham sandwich, her sleeve slipped back to expose a long weal on her arm.

“What happened to you?” Margie asked. “Did you fall on the ice or something?”

Irma guiltily pulled her sleeve back down. “No fair looking. I’m not hurt.”

“But what happened to you?”

Irma looked at the floor. “Daddy’s been in a bad mood. He always gets in a bad mood when he’s hungry.”

“Doncha have any food in the house?”

“We had lots for a few months, but we ran out last week, and now daddy’s very, very hungry.”

“Why doesn’t he go shopping?”

Irma didn’t answer.

That afternoon on the way home from school, there was more trouble. As the two girls walked past Krider’s Hardware, three older boys from the sixth grade overtook them from behind and blocked their path. The largest of the three, Billy Dreibelbis, was the most feared bully in the school. He poked a sausagelike finger in Irma’s chest, causing her to drop her schoolpack.

“Where ya goin’, freakshow?” Billy blustered. “Home to daddy?”

“Go pick on somebody your own size,” Margie said, trying to sound brave. “Irma’s done nothing to you.”

“I hear she’s nuts in the head,” Billy said, making a corkscrew motion with his right finger. “I hear she ain’t got no mom, an’ her old man can’t even hold a job.”

“Don’t you say things about my daddy!” Irma flared. “My daddy’ll get you if you don’t leave us alone.”

“Oh, yeah, riiight!” Billy said, and his friends laughed. “I bet your daddy’s home right now, drunk as a skunk. Bet he can’t even walk straight. Bet he never pays any attention to you, which is why you’re such a freakshow!”

“Freakshow, freakshow!” the other boys echoed.

“I may be a freak, but at least I’m not a fat retard like you!” Irma shouted.

Billy stepped closer. “What did you call me, freak?” he gritted, grabbing Irma by the jacket front.

“I … said … you’re … a … fat … retard …” Irma said, looking her tormentor right in the eye, and displaying no fear at all, “and … if … you … don’t … leave … us … alone … my … daddy’ll … take … care … of … you … good.”

Billy gave her a contemptuous shove, and Irma fell backwards into a snow bank. Before she could get up, Billy shoved several fistfuls of snow in her face and emptied her schoolbooks into the slushy gutter. As Irma struggled to free herself from the snow, he swung a hamlike fist, knocking her down again and bloodying her nose.

“Nobody, includin’ a girl, threatens me and gets away with it, freak.”

Irma was regarding him with that same deadly gaze that Margie had seen on her friend’s face once before, after school with Mr. Pugmire. “When I tell daddy, he’s going to come and eat you alive,” she said solemnly.

Billy guffawed. “You tell your daddy to come over to my house anytime. My old man used to be Special Forces, and he has a black belt, and he always wears his .44 Magnum. My old man’ll totally waste your pathetic daddy if he comes anywhere near me.” Billy and his two friends shambled off, laughing loudly.

Margie helped her friend up. “Don’t worry about it, Irma. His whole family is like that. His older brother’s in prison, and my dad says Mr. Dreibelbis once killed a man in a fight, but only had to serve six months. Nobody ever messes with him.”

“My daddy’ll mess with him,” Irma said.

The next day, Billy Dreibelbis missed school. Margie noticed his two chums watching Irma from across the cafeteria, whispering and pointing. After Billy had been gone for a week, the police were summoned to the Dreibelbis house, where Billy lived with his father and a woman who wasn’t Billy’s mother. Although the car was parked out front and the television was on (as it apparently had been for days), the house was empty. Mr. Dreibelbis had failed to report to his job at the steel mill on the very same day that Billy had first missed school. The police found a Colt Anaconda with a six-inch barrel lying on the kitchen floor. The gun had been fired at least three times, but there was no forensic evidence of any kind of a struggle. The Dreibelbis family had vanished without a trace.

Margie heard about most of this over the dinner table, but thought little of it. No one at school, except possibly for a handful of his friends, missed Billy the bully one iota, least of all Irma. Margie’s friend seemed happier, and she even began packing lunch again.

Winter yielded to spring. The other kids avoided Irma now more than ever, especially Billy’s friends, who sometimes turned and walked the other way when they saw Irma coming.

As spring matured, Irma stayed overnight several times at Margie’s house, and they played Uno and watched videos until the wee hours. Summer vacation was approaching, and Margie hoped her mom would invite Irma to go to the shore with them. Irma hated water, Margie knew (“My daddy says water is bad”), but still she hoped her friend would enjoy the sun, sand, and boardwalk.

Sometime in mid-May, Irma stopped packing a lunch once again. Margie was unhappy because it meant that there would be no more of the tasty sandwiches that Irma always shared with her. The slabs of tangy salted meat between thick slices of bread that Irma brought in her lunch pail were extremely flavorful compared to her mother’s bland egg salad and ham confections.

One afternoon, as Margie and Irma watched Nickelodeon, the phone rang.

“That’s daddy,” said Irma, before Margie could pick up the phone.

Margie handed her friend the receiver and waited. Again she thought she could hear strange, barely audible whispering coming out of the phone, but she could not be sure.

Irma listened in silence, her face taut. Several times she glanced at Margie and then shook her head.

Finally, she spoke up. “No, daddy, I can’t. That isn’t fair. She’s my only friend.”

She stopped as her daddy evidently had more to say. This time Margie could definitely hear harsh whispering, and she shivered.

Irma was looking at Margie, and her face was a mask of misery. Finally, she shook her head violently. “No, daddy, I won’t, and that’s that. You can’t make me do that!”

She slammed down the phone and began to sob. Margie put an arm around her friend.

“What’s the matter, Irma? Is your daddy upset?”

“He’s angry at me, and he said terrible things just now,” Irma sniffled, “but he can’t make me do what he wants me to do. It isn’t right. You’ve been so good to me.”

She stood up with a quivering sigh. “I gotta go home, Margie, or daddy’ll be even madder.”

The following day, Irma did her best to avoid her friend. At lunchtime, Margie finally found her alone, with no food, brooding at her desk in an otherwise empty classroom.

“Irma, what’s wrong?” Maggie sat down next to her and started to open her lunch box.

“Go away!” Irma said fiercely. “Don’t give me food. Please, please, go away and don’t talk to me!”

“Why not? We’re friends, Irma. Don’t you want to be friends anymore?”

Irma looked up for the first time, and Margie saw she had a slight bruise on one cheek. She was wearing long sleeves in spite of the warm weather, but Margie could see the edge of another bruise peeping over one of the cuffs.

Irma, seeing her friend’s glance, pulled her blouse partway up, and Margie saw more bruises on her back.

“You see?” Irma hissed. “Daddy’s very, very angry at me. When I got home last night, he tried to make me promise to do a very bad thing, but I told him no. And then he hurt me.”

Margie was very worried. “You can come and stay at our house, Irma. You can sleep in my room.”

Irma’s eyes filled with terror. “No, no, I can’t ever come to your house again. Daddy says if I do, he’ll come looking for me. And we can’t be friends anymore.”

“Why not?”

“We just can’t, don’t you see? Maybe if we stop being friends, my daddy’ll stop trying to get me to do the bad thing.”

Margie did not know what to make of that, but Irma brushed away her offer of half a sandwich and buried her head in her arms.

For the next several days, Irma kept her distance. Once, Margie saw her in the bathroom with her long sleeves pulled up, her arms covered with welts and bruises. She lost weight, and her face paled in spite of the spring sunshine.

Then one afternoon, as Margie was starting home from school, she heard a familiar voice calling for her to wait up. Irma was out of breath, and her face, though gaunt as ever, was shining with new energy.

“I’m so sorry, Margie,” Irma said. “My daddy has been angry at me for more than a week, but now he’s better.”

“So what? I thought you said we couldn’t be friends anymore.”

“I was only kidding,” Irma said in a pleading tone. “Please let’s be friends again. Daddy says it’s all right.”

“I got new friends now,” said Margie, feigning aloofness. “Tammy and Brittany and Joey--”

“Pleeeeease, Margie,” Irma begged. She paused and then added, in a sly, cajoling tone, “Daddy says you can come over to our house to play now.”

“He does?” Margie squinted suspiciously. “How come he’s changed his mind all of a sudden?”

Irma smiled. “Well, daddy has been fixing up the house, and said we shouldn’t have guests. But it’s all done now. You can come over. Come on,” she tugged insistently at Margie’s sleeve.

“Right now?”

“Right now. Please. Daddy’s dying to meet you.”

“Weeeell--” Margie hesitated. “Maybe I should go home first and tell mom where I’m going.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll just stop in, meet my daddy, and then we can go over to your house and spend the night. Daddy says it’s okay.”

Margie shrugged and then smiled at Irma. “Okay, but let’s hurry. I don’t want to be late for dinner.”

“Oh, you won’t be,” said Irma with a giggle.

When they reached the Copper Creek Road turnoff, Margie walked with Irma along the winding lane out of town. At length, they reached a rusting mailbox at the head of a grass-covered lane that wound back into the woods. Margie noticed that the grass was slightly beaten down in a very narrow track, as though only Irma’s small feet had trodden the path. Of wheeled vehicles there were no tracks whatsoever.

“This way.” Irma beckoned down the path, and Margie followed. As they followed the path through heavy dark trees, Irma became more and more animated.

“There it is, there it is,” Irma said, pointing and capering excitedly as a house came into view.

Margie was surprised anyone lived in the place. Many of the windows were broken, and the roof looked likely to cave in. The rusting car in the overgrown yard was hemmed in by raspberry bushes.

“Are you sure you live here?” Margie asked doubtfully.

“Yes, yes, me and daddy both. Nobody ever comes by, so it’s nice and quiet.”

“Well, where’s your daddy, then?”

“He’s inside. Come on, come on!” Irma dashed up on the decrepit porch and pushed the door open.

Suddenly Margie did not want to go inside. There was something funny about the house, and the expression on Irma’s face—

“I – I think I want to go home, Irma.”

“Oh, come on. This is my home, Margie. We’ll go to your home pretty soon.”

“Well, okay.” Margie followed Irma inside.

The living room was dusty and unkempt. The wallpaper was in tatters, and piles of Irma’s things were scattered all around, as if no one had cleaned in weeks. Did Irma even have a daddy? Margie wondered. Maybe she lived out here alone like some kind of crazy tramp.

“So where’s your daddy? I don’t see anyone here.”

Irma giggled again. “Oh, he almost never comes upstairs. He’s down in the cellar. This way!”

Irma flitted into the kitchen, which was full of unwashed dishes and piled high with garbage. Beside the sink was a low door with an old-fashioned latch. Irma opened the door, and Margie could see a rickety staircase descending into the gloom beneath the house.

“Your daddy’s down there?” Margie eyed the dark doorway uneasily. “Are you sure you have a daddy?”

“Of course I do, silly. He just likes to stay downstairs in his workshop during the day.”

“Can’t he come up here?”

“No, it’s better if we go down there. Daddy!” she called down the stairs. “I’ve brought Margie, and we’re coming down.”

From somewhere beneath the floorboards, Margie heard something stir, and felt a rush of relief. Irma wasn’t a crazy tramp, and her daddy really was downstairs waiting for them.

Irma switched on a lightbulb that glowed feebly in the cellar, and down the stairs they went.

Margie was bewildered at what she saw. The cellar was very large indeed. Several large, grimy rooms stretched off into darkness beyond the limits of the weak bulb that hung by a fragile cord over the bottommost stair. There was a very strange odor, like how the neighbor’s cat had smelled after a car ran over it, but much stronger. A few large rusting steel pillars seemed to hold up the house, and Margie noticed several odd metallic objects attached to them, hanging on chains. On the packed dirt floor, Margie could just make out several large stains, and what looked like a few splinters of bone.

Off in the darkness, something big was stirring.

“Irma, can we go now? I don’t think I want to stay here.”

Irma did not answer. She was fumbling with one of the metal things attached to a steel pillar just behind Margie. Suddenly, Margie felt Irma grab one of her hands, and before she could react, something cold and metallic clicked around her wrist.

Margie looked down. She was handcuffed to the pillar.

“This isn’t funny, Irma. Let me go.” Margie pulled and struggled, but the handcuff held fast.

“I’m sorry, Margie,” Irma was saying as she backed towards the cellar stairs, “but daddy said he’d eat me alive if I didn’t bring you here.” The stirring in the darkness became the unmistakable sound of heavy, scraping footsteps.

“Let me go!” Margie screamed. “Irma, let me go! Aren’t we still friends?”

Irma shook her head. “We can’t be friends anymore, Margie. My daddy’s too hungry.” And she whisked up the stairs and slammed the door.

Behind her, Margie heard heavy breathing and, still writhing and chafing in the clasp of the handcuff, turned to meet Irma’s daddy.

[arrowflier]

hi arrow! can i get a fic of ian being jealous on a date (maybe someone flirts with mickey??) and mickey just loves it bc it makes ian all passive aggressive and bossy and saying 'my husband' 283949 times ❤️

Of course you can!  Or at least I tried lol, it got a little random.💖

That Green-Eyed Monster (is my husband)

They never had really gotten in the habit of going on dates, before. Not real dates at least, in public places where you could eat with utensils or sit side-by-side and pretend to watch the entertainment while you were really just watching each other. They had tried, but something always got in the way--the military, jail sentences, arrest warrants, pandemics, family emergencies--they just had shit luck, alright?

So when things got a little less crazy on the aforementioned fronts, they started trying a little bit harder. They had a designated date night, now. Sometimes they planned together, sometimes they took turns surprising each other with heartfelt (or sometimes comical) plans.

This time, it had been Mickey's turn.

“Where are we going?” Ian asked yet again from where he was blindfolded in the passenger seat of Tami’s car.  They’d usually take the ambulance, but Mickey didn’t want to stick out too much today—not in a place where an ambulance could potentially be needed.

“I still ain’t gonna tell you,” Mickey answered, but relented enough to add, “we’re almost there though, you’ll see soon.”

Sure enough, the entrance to the parking lot came up on the right, and Mickey swung in in that ridiculous little car.

As soon as Ian felt the car stop, he was reaching for his blindfold—not one of their good ones, just an old headband they had found on Debbie’s floor—but Mickey grabbed his hand before he could slip it off.

“Hey hey hey,” Mickey chastised.  “What’s the rush there, flash?”

“What, I can’t be a little eager for our date?” Ian pouted, knowing it would get Mickey to give in.  No matter how many times he tried to pretend that he wasn’t soft, Mickey always gave in to the pout.

He was right.  Gentle hands pushed the headband off of Ian’s eyes, which were immediately filled with the sight of Mickey’s own as the other man ran fingers through Ian’s hair in an attempt to smooth it down.

“Alright, come on then,” Mickey ordered, leaving one firm kiss at the corner of Ian’s lips before pulling back and getting out of the car.  “If you’re so eager, you get to pay.”

Ian chuckled as he let himself out and met Mickey around the front of the car.  “Why would I pay?” he asked jokingly.  “It’s your week to woo me, asshole, you get to foot the bill.”

“Foot the bill with your money, sure,” Mickey retorted, and Ian rolled his eyes as he automatically fell into step beside him.

“Our money,” he reminded his husband, getting an arm around his waist.  He was always surprised when Mickey let him do that—he said it felt awkward to walk with the jolly red giant suckered onto his side—but this time Mickey actually leaned into him.

He didn’t even notice where they were, outside a little building in the middle of nowhere.  He let go of Mickey to walk through the door ahead of him, fully intending to continue their playful banter, when he stopped still.

There were a lot of guns in this place.

Paintball guns, that was.

“Mickey,” Ian said slowly as his husband came up behind him, “did you bring me here to shoot me?”

Mickey just smirked as he swanned past toward the check-in desk.

“Maybe, hotshot,” he answered.  “You gonna complain?”

Ian shook his head with a shit-eating grin.  

“Hell no,” he declared.  “You better be ready for me.”

Mickey signed his name on a waiver with a flourish and took the gun handed to him by a worker, tossing it to Ian.

“Am I ever not?”

—

Ian was having a blast, pun intended, as he shot the shit out of everybody else on the range.  Mickey wasn’t faring too badly either; despite being on the opposite team, neither one of them had managed to shoot each other yet.

It didn’t hurt that Mickey looked damn good, either.  He was completely in his element out here, taking guys out left and right with perfect marksmanship and even more perfect form, his shoulders barely moving with the recoil as he shot.  Half the time, Ian missed his chance because he was too busy watching him to fire—the other half, he didn’t even want to if it meant taking Mickey out of the game and losing his eye-candy.

Finally, a break was called, and everyone filed off the course while it was reset for the next round.

Ian grabbed a bottle of water from a long table near the building, guzzling half of it in one go before looking around for his husband.

He found him quickly enough, recognizing his back immediately even in unfamiliar gear with his hair all mussed from the protective helmet they had to wear.

But he did not recognize the man standing next to Mickey, raking his eyes over Mickey’s stocky build.  

The stranger was saying something, Mickey tossing his head back in laughter, and then a hand was on Mickey’s arm and Ian suddenly found himself at Mickey’s back.

“Everything good here, fellas?” Ian asked casually, standing a couple feet away.

“Fine, Gallagher,” Mickey said with a smile.  “Johnny here was just tellin’ me he could give me some pointers before the next round.”

Ian raised his eyebrows, glancing from Mickey’s face to the stranger’s and back.

“Pointers?” he asked, voice going a touch high at the end.  Who the fuck did this guy think he was, offering shooting pointers to Mickey fucking Milkovich?  He had gotten there just in time, it seemed, because there was no way in hell Mickey would let that insult slide.

“Yeah,” Mickey said.  “Says I need to work on my form a little, widen my stance, you know.  Thought I’d give it a shot.”

Wait.  What?

“I was just telling him,” the stranger—Johnny, though how they were on a first name basis already Ian had no idea—chimed in, “that I have a lot of experience with real firearms.”

“And I was sayin’ how much I admire a military man,” Mickey interjected with a smirk, “so I might as well let him show me some moves.”

“Mickey,” Ian hissed lowly, “what are you doing?”

Mickey didn’t answer.

“You ever shot a real gun, Mick?” Johnny asked abruptly, catching on that he was missing something but determined not to lose Mickey’s attention.  

“It’s like nothing else, dude, I swear.  The feel of that smooth metal in your hands,” he continued as he moved closer, lifting a hand to Mickey’s arm again. “The way it moves with you, goes off when you,” he leaned in even closer, and added in a low voice, “pull the trigger.”

Alarm bells were ringing in Ian’s head at this point.

“Nah,” Mickey was answering, “my guy won’t let me play with the real stuff.”

“Sounds like you need a new guy, then,” Johnny murmured, and Ian had had enough.

“He’s taken,” he cut in gruffly, moving to stand by Mickey’s side.  He couldn’t hold Mickey with the gear in the way, but he got a hand on his back, at least, curling fingers into the top of his waistband.

Johnny looked at him askance, and shrugged.  

“I don’t see a ring,” he pointed out, and Ian grit his teeth.  They had taken them off before starting, for safety, and he never regretting following the rules more a day in his life.

“Besides, who are you to speak for him?” Johnny asked.

“Oh, this is Ian,” Mickey introduced quickly.  He was smiling, the asshole, like some guy wasn’t trying to steal him from right under Ian’s own nose.  “He’s my—”

“His husband,” Ian stated firmly, and watched Johnny’s eyes go wide.  “His ex-army, ex-con husband.”

“Hey man, I’m sorry,” Johnny apologized, hands up.  “I didn’t know.”

Ian nodded, ready to let it go despite his urge to send the man packing, when Johnny insisted on talking again.

“You can’t blame me though, right?” he said with a little, nervous laugh.  “I mean, he looks so damn—”

He didn’t finish his sentence, too busy keeling over with his hands on his groin after Ian shot a paintball right at his balls at point-blank range.

—

Two minutes later, Ian and Mickey were racing to the car as employees chased behind them, yelling.  Apparently it was frowned upon to shoot someone on your own team, outside the course itself, during a break.  It didn’t help that Mickey had done the same right after, just for fun.

“Hurry up, you jealous fuck,” Mickey shouted at Ian as he fumbled with the door handle.  “We gotta get outa here before they realize I gave them fake names!”

Ian fell into the car, giddy with adrenaline and laughter.

“The fuck did you do that for?” he giggled as Mickey threw the car into reverse and peeled out of the lot.

“Cause I knew you would do something stupid!” Mickey said, shoving at Ian’s shoulder with one hand when Ian just laughed harder.

Ian gather himself as they drove, and felt his heart-rate start to normalize after a few minutes on the road.  He held Mickey’s hand over the gearshift, finger rubbing over the spot where his ring should be—where it would be again as soon as they had a minute to breathe.  Then, just as he was almost calm—

“Shit, Ian,” Mickey gasped.  “We didn’t return the fucking guns.”

That set them off again, and they had to pull over halfway home until they could stop laughing and hide the paintball guns under the back seat.

Franny and Fred would love them come Christmas.