#got me on holiday talk awfully early but it's okay since it's these two

[quotemenevervore]

Merry Christmas everyone! I know it’s Christmas Eve but oh well. And Happy Hanukkah, Kwanza, Yule, and any other holidays I accidentally missed!

I have finished another fic in time for Christmas though, so enjoy!

Content warnings: soft, safe, g/t vore with bigger prey

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

It had been Quackity’s idea first.

He wanted to see how different it was to store Karl in his normal form, but at first the brunette hadn’t agreed. Not because he didn’t want to, curiosity got the better of him a lot. It was just because most potions he’s drunk in this form did not absorb into his system. The avian backed off, but then approached the next day with a splash potion of shrinking and a grin. “You seem awfully eager to do this. Are you sure it’ll be okay?”

He didn’t say it outright, the idea of one of his limbs getting caught in the sphincter that led to his real stomach, but he also didn’t have to. Quackity’s grin dimmed to a soft smile, and he took a seat beside the lanky form. “I’m not going to lie to you, I’m a little worried about it too. We have to see how big you are when shrunken first, but I can promise you right now you’re not gonna be in any kind of danger if I can help it.”

Karl couldn’t help himself from melting at the words full of love and care towards him, using his lankiness to his advantage and wrapping the avian up in a hug, mindful of his wings while he smothered him in kisses. “You’re such a sap, I love it. I love you.” The blackette was squirming slightly, laughing whenever the shapeshifter gave him the ability to breathe. “I love you too.” He spoke breathlessly.

The moment was cut short by Sapnap walking into the living room, about to announce dinner only to find both fiancés out of breath and flushed down to their collarbones. “You guys were kissing without me?” He pouted, and the former brunette reached an arm up to wrap around him and tugged him down to give him a proper kiss as well. “Well, we were just talking. But you know how that goes.” The avian shrugged, standing to head to the kitchen to get a plate. “What were you guys talking about?” “Quackity wants to try storing me while I’m in this form.” The fireborn blinked, processing the words before looking back to the kitchen. “But wouldn’t that- I dunno. Q knows his limits, I guess.” “He said it’s entirely dependent on how small the shrinking potion makes me. He isn’t gonna put me in danger or anything. Maybe if I get small enough you can store me in this form too.” “I won’t lie, I’ve been kinda curious about it.” “Maybe after tomorrow when me and Quackity try, I doubt he still wants to tonight after eating.” With that, he allowed Sapnap to pull him off the couch and lead him to the dining room, though he had to duck slightly to get into the doorway. His thoughts began to drift as he sat down at the table, still towering slightly over the Mexican across from him.

He’d never learned his height in human terms while in this form, and he couldn’t help but be curious about it! Naturally, there was no easy way to measure that, so all he had was his guesstimate of around seven or eight feet. Maybe nine? Thinking on it, that would make him roughly between seven to nine inches if he shrunk, and he worried slightly about Quackity being able to get him down. Though, that was a question for tomorrow, since Sapnap brought his and Karl’s plate to the table. “You didn’t have to do that!” “I know.” The fireborn took his spot between the two fiancés on the side of the table, and they ate dinner without much fanfare. It seemed the avian decided to drop the topic for the night, as when he finished he washed his dishes and headed upstairs, calling it an early night. He had seemed pretty tired, in his defense. Running a nation built around income and casinos and shiny lights couldn’t be easy, and he’d bet money it was a lot harder than what he and Sapnap do in Kinoko Kingdom.

When he finished, he invited the blackette to join him for a movie when he was done before washing his dishes and going to the living room to set it up. For the rest of the night, the two simply relaxed in each other’s arms, and the thought about what tomorrow would bring didn’t linger in their minds long.

~ ~ ~

Karl had to have had a nightmare, he couldn’t remember, but when he woke up it was on the couch with a stiff neck and- oh, he was in his human form. Yea, definitely had to have had a nightmare, he only switched forms unconsciously when he was dealing with negative emotions or trying to make himself smaller, less of a target. Stretching his form out, he sighed in relief as the stiffness wore away. Just in time, too, as not a minute passed before he was practically tackled by his winged fiancé as he came running into the living room. “Why did you sleep on the couch? I missed you.” He looked up at him with a frown, and Karl offered him an apologetic look. “I meant to head upstairs after the movie, I just got sleepy.” He didn’t even remember if Sapnap had fallen asleep with him, but he was alone when he woke up. Not really new, he tended to be the last to wake up.

“You didn’t even make it through the movie.” Speak of the fireborn, and there he appeared, giving both a soft look from where he stood behind the sofa. “Oh.” “I tried to wake you up, but you started doing that thing where you stretch your limbs out further any time I tried to pull you off the couch.” Quackity snorted at the mental image, and Karl couldn’t help but smile mischievously. “Maybe you weren’t trying hard enough.” “I would have pulled a muscle if I did, then I wouldn’t be able to do the manhunt today.” “Oh yea, I forgot about that.” “Yeah. I'm gonna go ahead and head that way, I’ll be back tonight.” He gave the avian a hug, leaving a kiss on his cheek before pulling away and holding his arms out for the shapeshifter to lean into. “Have fun, kick Dream’s ass for us.” Quackity said, walking towards the kitchen to start breakfast for the duo. “We’ll see. Depends on how willing everyone is to work together to get him and what tricks he’s got up his sleeve. Have a good day Karl, love you.” He lowered his voice for the last part, pressing a kiss to his forehead since he’d lowered himself to be able to hug him. “Love you too. Have fun, we’ll see you tonight.”

The fireborn left after making sure the two would be okay, and once he’d left Karl was tugged into the kitchen. “So.. are you still on board to try shrinking in this form?” “Yea, if you think it’ll work. Wanna eat breakfast first?” “Yea, it’d probably be best.” At some point before the meal was actually finished, he’d managed to switch back to his true form, standing in the doorway of the kitchen and simply watching his fiancé cook. Quackity was, and he didn’t like admitting it, the better cook of the three of them. He and Sapnap had gotten a lot better since they’d all become lovers, but the avian still held the better cooking skills. The only thing is, Quackity hates having people in the kitchen longer than necessary, he says it ‘interrupts the flow’. Plus, he wouldn’t really know how to help, he’s never cooked in this form.

He didn’t even realize he’d been staring until the avian was waving a spatula in front of his eyes, looking amused, perplexed and a little nervous all at once. “Karl, I love you but you’re kinda freaking me out with that.” “Huh?” “The staring. It’s different when you have more human looking eyes, but like the beady eyes are …kinda triggering my fight or flight.” He grimaced as he said it. “It’s nothing against you or this form, I love you no matter what. It’s just my stupid ins-“ “I understand, Q.” Focusing, he managed to pull himself back to his human form and pressed a kiss to his fiancé’s cheek, not missing the slightly sad look he got when he’d turned back. “Your instincts aren’t stupid. I don’t wanna make you uncomfortable.” “That form is uncomfortable for you, though.” He pouted.

“Well, finish breakfast and I won’t be in it much longer then.” He directed the other back to the stove, but not before getting a playful shove. “Impatient, you know it takes a while to cook if you want edible food.” With a chuckle, he went to set the dining room. It didn’t take long, simply setting two spots with silverware and getting two juice cups, before he settled down at the table himself, closing his eyes as his mind drifted about being stored again.

He’d probably be harder to get down in this form, and hopefully he won’t freak out like he had. No, he couldn’t freak out. If he panicked, he’d put both of them in a world of trouble. It would be stupid to lose a canon life over this. He just.. needed to gather his bearings as he was stored, is all.

A plate of pancakes was set in front of him, along with some syrup. A plate of bacon and sausage was set in the middle of the table as his fiancé took his seat beside the other. “You okay?” “Yeah, a little tired, a little nervous.” “Yeah, I hear that. I’m nervous too, if it makes you feel better.” “A little.” He smiled, digging into his pancakes. Despite the nerves, he was pretty excited. Plus, when it was all said and done, he had a warm spot to take a nap in, as close to his fiancé as possible. He couldn’t ask for a better day, if only it didn’t bother him so much to get there.

It did not take long to finish breakfast, Karl doing the dishes as Quackity went upstairs to set up the potion. Neither had changed out of their pajamas, and for that Karl was kind of thankful. It didn’t matter in his true form, but for Quackity’s sake. At least he also got to be comfortable when they did this. He finished the dishes pretty quickly, setting them out to dry as he retired to the sofa as his thoughts consumed his mind again.

He couldn’t deny, he was curious too. Would his fiancé be able to store him in his true form? Would he fit in Quackity’s crop anymore? It definitely wouldn’t be spacey, hell, it's hardly spacious when he’s in his shrunken human form, and he knows he’s bigger with this one. ...Would it be obvious he was there?

That thought alone halted his entire brain. He knew that when they usually stored each other, the other was usually small enough that it was unnoticeable. Even when the one that had been eaten was moving, it wasn’t noticeable at all, except to the person who’d eaten them. There would be no hiding the fact that he was stored by Quackity, and that didn’t even count Sapnap. Even with his storage pouch being bigger he’d still probably be noticeable on the outside. To be honest, he couldn’t decipher how he felt about that.

“Ready?” He jumped, turning sharply to face the other, face slightly burning as if the other had been reading his mind. “Uh, sure!” He didn’t get far with that, the avian’s eyes narrowing and the potion being set on the table. “Uh huh. Wanna tell me what’s going through your mind?” “Did you consider that if this works, I’m gonna be.. visible? From the outside?” He shrugged, taking a seat beside the brunette. “I don’t really care, honestly. We don’t even know if this’ll work, remember?” “Yeah, but-“ “I don’t think it’ll be such a big deal if you’re visible anyway. It’s not like I’m leaving the house with you inside.” “Right.” “I’m a little surprised you’re not more worried about me choking on you, rather than if you’re visible from outside.” Quackity chuckled.

“Oh, I think you can handle it.” He grinned. “I- Hey! No, don’t make jokes like that when I’m about to eat you!” “Store me, not eat me. You said yourself there’s a big difference.” “You- okay, I’m done with you. Shift so I can throw this damn potion at you.” He laughed, shifting out of his human form as the other grumbled under his breath, grabbing the splash potion. As soon as he’d fully shifted, the sound of glass breaking filled his ears as the familiar feeling took him over, a gasp escaping him as he hadn’t expected it to even work. “Karl?” His eyes feel closed, nausea making him feel worse as it couldn’t even effect his stomach. When the feeling finally disappeared, he was scooped up in the avian’s arms like a baby doll, the avian’s good eye wide in alarm.

“Well,” he started weakly. “It worked!” “You okay?” “Yeah. It was just weird having the nausea effect when I don’t have a functional stomach. It threw me off.” Quackity’s eyes looked over his body, gently lifting him up as his eye narrowed. His fingers were curled behind him, with his thumb holding him steady. “You’re definitely bigger than normal.” “Do you think you’ll be able to get me down?” Karl fretted. “I.. don’t know. Only one way to find out, if you’re still willing to do this?” “I’m down. Just don’t put yourself in danger. Nobody’s here to help you if you choke.” “I’ll just pull you out if I can’t. Ready?” “Yeah.” He idly swayed his legs as the avian looked him over again, debating the best way to go about storing him until he finally took the other’s legs into his mouth up to where his knees would have been.

Surprisingly, the texture of the saliva didn’t bother him this time. He kept his shock to himself, not wanting to scare the other out of doing this. He.. wasn’t ready for that conversation with them, anyway. If he ever would be. His fiancé was very careful as he slicked his legs up, and when he felt him take a deep breath around him, he fully relaxed his body, trying to make it as easy as he could. He really didn’t want him to choke on him. The first swallow brought him into his maw up to his ‘hips’, eyes searching him for any sign of needing to be released. Quackity’s eyes had closed, trying to concentrate on not choking as he quickly swiped his tongue across what he had access to, the excess saliva helping him along as he swallowed again, fingers beginning to shake against him as he was released, his head and shoulders being the only things remaining out of his mouth. Looking to the side and down out of curiosity, he could see his body filling the other’s throat, and bit down a noise of surprise.

Thankfully, he wasn’t stuck with the sight for long before his head was tugged in with another swallow. His feet were released from the tight grip of his throat, and he carefully moved them around, hearing a small noise escape the larger as they brushed against the wall closest to him. “Are you still okay?” “Mhm.” He was about to ask if it was too much, but didn’t get the ability to before he was swallowed again, the last of his body finally pulled into the other’s throat. After that, the avian kept swallowing, trying to move him past his windpipe, and he could only tell he made it when he heard a loud gasp for air past the faster heartbeat beside his head, starting to settle back to a normal rhythm as he finally began to breathe again.

He was only halfway inside the other’s crop, and he could tell there wouldn’t be enough room. He was already curled up and there was barely any room left for the rest of him to enter. Without being able to properly convey his worry, all he could do was feel the rest of his body slowly be fed into the small organ, hoping against everything he wasn’t accidentally shoved into the other’s real stomach. His head finally escaped the tight confines of his throat, and with a gasp for air of his own, he tried to shift to become more comfortable, wincing at the loud grumble from below him. There definitely wasn’t much room, but he did fit with just a small amount of wiggle room, to his surprise. A sickly groan echoed around him, and he suddenly stopped moving, worried he’d hurt the other.

Quackity, for his part, was faring as well as he could. “Dios mío..” he breathed out, falling back against the couch. He had the overwhelming urge to curl up, stop the small shifts from his swollen abdomen, but even the thought of doing that almost made him ill. He focused on catching his breath, fingers gently tracing against his fiancé’s form through his sleep shirt. At least for his part, Karl hadn’t been moving much more than to get comfortable. “You okay?” He was even louder at this size than when he normally stored the brunette. “Yea! Yeah, just need to catch my breath.” It was… surreal, looking down and actually seeing where Karl was. It was different when only he knew, when nobody could see or hear him.

That’s not to say he didn’t like it.

The way Karl filled him at this size left him just on the edge of uncomfortably full, and any kind of movement he did was amplified. He was sure Sapnap would be able to hear him with no kind of issue from outside with his enhanced hearing, if he could hear him crystal clear. Speaking of, the door opened and he jumped, sitting forwards and squishing the other in panic. He relaxed seeing the fireborn, but it didn’t last long before a hand clamped over his mouth. “Fuck..” “Hey- oh shit, you okay?” He nodded, trying to get his stomach to calm down. Karl’s weight had thrown him off, and sitting up so abruptly made him feel ill. As it calmed once more, he tried to look at his other fiancé, only to find his eyes locked into his stomach. “What.. happened?” “We.. you don’t remember? Me and Karl were-“ “That’s Karl!?” “Hey Sappy!” He gasped when the large form shifted, pressing against his stomach towards Sapnap. Hissing a breath through his teeth, he held back a groan at the feeling. He wasn’t used to the shifting and moving, it was so much more prominent now. “Settle down, Karl, you’re making Q sick.” The fireborn hadn’t missed the reaction, and he placed a hand on his abdomen, rubbing gently to try and calm the avian’s stomach.

“He’s fine, I’m just not used to it yet. It’s just… it’s weird, I can actually feel what he’s doing compared to when he was smaller.” He sighed as the shifting settled back down, his own hand rubbing against the lump his fiancé left in him. “Is it… bad?” “No Karl, it’s not bad. Honestly it’s not even making me that sick, I just need to get used to it.” He couldn’t admit to the smaller that it actually felt nice, a blush painting his cheeks a light red at the idea of it. “I bet it feels nice. Like, being full and having someone you care for inside. I think I’d like it, at least.”

Sapnap helped Quackity lay back, giving Karl more free reign to move and laying down between his legs, resting his head just below his swollen stomach. “How does it feel anyway, Karl?” One of the avian’s hands found its way to the fireborn’s hair, and he purred softly as his hair was played with. “It’s super cozy. There’s definitely less room, but I’m not really complaining. It’s really nice, it’s like more of a hug than usual.” He cuddled into the crop’s hold, finally having stopped shifting to get comfortable. The textures didn’t bother him as bad in this form, and for that he was grateful. Maybe they could do this again? “I definitely wouldn’t mind doing this again, getting stored in this form.” “Well, good. Cause I want a turn.” Sapnap responded, relaxing into the avian’s body. “Of course.” Karl laughed, eyes closing and body going limp. He hadn’t even realized how tired he’d been until things finally settled down. “You can take a nap, if you want. I’m probably going to.” Quackity yawned, the fullness making him tired. He knew the blackette had to be exhausted from the manhunt, anyway, and he didn’t want to release Karl yet. Not when it felt so nice having him in there now that he stopped squirming.

[ellohcee]

Now that it's officially Turkey-month, what do you think our favorite duo do for this holiday?

Does David actually hunt a real turkey or does he *warning horrible pun ahead* chicken out and buy a frozen one?

Do either of them brave Black Friday crowds?

Whose family do they have dinner with, do they have one big one or do they do two family dinners across two days?

What else do you think they do?

Hmmm I’m gonna say they buy a turkey. I think David would be A-okay dealing with a fresh bird but Jasper thinks it’s too grody and he doesn’t want that going down in their kitchen. Like he’s not usually a big stickler about messes but he’ll draw a hard line there.

Jasper’s probably the expert at snagging online deals for their shopping if there is anything they want. And if it’s something in store only, David is willing to go get it and Jasper goes with because “I gotta to be your secret service, someone’s gonna steal you away in the chaos cause you’re the best thing there-” cue David laughing “oh stop it” but he’s perfectly happy to have Jasper go with him. 

I’m thinking they would have double thanksgiving the first few years they’re together. One the day before at their place with David’s mom (she’s the only one on her side of the family that’s close enough and there’s obv no contact with his dad’s side). Then the day of they’ll go to Jasper’s family. I haven’t thought much on it before now but I’ll say Jasper has a decent sized immediate and extended family, mom and dad, a couple of siblings maybe around his age or a little older, a few aunts/uncles, several cousins. The kind of really busy holiday gathering where there are a few young kids running around, a dog or two, a couple of the adults yelling at the football game, mom and dad arguing over how to best prepare the certain dishes, and overall just lots of activity and people getting a little tipsy.

They love David to pieces, mostly because the immediate fam knows him from when the two were young so he’s already like family, and the extended fam is just charmed by him without much effort on his part. 

And I say the first few years because the family knows about David’s home life, they have for a long time and they insist that David’s mom joins them instead of having two separate dinners. She politely declines in the beginning, not wanting to be a bother, but on the third year David manages to get her to accept because he hates the idea of them going to that big get together while she’s home alone on the holiday, even though they had the other dinner the day previous. It just doesn’t feel right and he wants her to be included.

David bakes. A lot. Come holiday season he will bake and give the stuff away and bake some more. He always invites Jasper to help himself before he gives stuff away and he’s like “Davey you’re gonna make me fat dude” while going for a snickerdoodle or two (not that David would mind at all and he makes sure Jasp knows it, he likes his boyfriend huggable). He probably brings a homemade pie and at least two large tupperware containers of cookies and scones or whatever he feels like to Jasper’s family for the holiday and they always joke “You’re keeping him, right Jasp?”

And he’s just like “duh, here’s hoping he keeps this mess,” and David just grabs his hand and assures him “we’ve kept each other this long!” with a big smile. Cue various ‘awwww’s and some gagging (from jasper’s sibs because they’re all like that with each other)

[dreamties]

Slashers x S/O W/ Red Angel Wings

A/n- Y’know, when I first got this request I thought it was awfully specific, but after watching Carrie it’s making a lot more sense lol 

Decided to add a few other characters just for the heck of it! :)

Let’s just ignore the fact that wings probably don’t work like this,, at all. 

Characters: Carrie White, Billy/Stu, Norman Bates, Michael Myers, and The Lost Boys.

T/W: None that I know of- just let me know if you’d like me to add any! :)

Carrie White

You know Carrie from around school. About her overtly Christian mother, and how shy and secluded she was. And how strange and weird other people saw her. You never bought into that schoolwide belief- you just thought no one took the time to get to know her. 

(part of you related to that- though most people would have thought you were cool to start out with...and then have less than kind reactions when they saw what you were hiding)

You’d interacted with Carrie only a handful of times throughout your high school career- mostly in group projects, or letting her know she had dropped something, or simply trying to spark conversation. She had always been very nervous around you though- almost more so than others. (You’d later come to find out it was because she liked you)

It’s the first time you see each other alone- outside of class. It’s after class and Carrie’s been held behind- by one of her teachers asking her about this and that. While you’re hanging out at the back of the school, there’s no sports that day, so you don’t have to worry about any onlookers. Except Carrie, who decides to head out the back way. Thinking there would be less people she’d run into- less of a hassle.

And she doesn’t know what to do. 

The way you're framed in the light, you look like you're glowing. You look unreal, and so holy and beautiful. You’re so beautiful. but then she spots your wings. They're fitted tightly on your back, flitting open, and spreading out so beautifully- you're standing centered as they flare out. And she's shocked and unsure.

 Oh, she'd be mighty frightened.

 She's shaking and crying, and she's got her mama's voice running through her head. This is what happens when you don't follow the rules exactly. When you come into this world so impure.

And oh, your wings! She let's out a gasp, eyes widening. They're colored crimson- the Devil's color. And she's sure you've come down from the Heavens or- or come from down below...come to mock her. To punish her

She knows you know what she's done. What unknowing sins she's committed. [ my poor girl hasn’t actually done anything though :( ]

 And you look at her, confused. Then your eyes soften, and your wings slowly close behind you. You gently smile, “I’m not here to harm you, Carrie.”  

She begins to calm at the soft sound of your voice, and your pleasant aura. She’s still shaky all over, and part her says to run and hide- but you have your arms out wide, offering her to join you. And she gulps down nervously- maybe this was her accepting her fate. She slowly walks over to you, allowing you to wrap her into a hug. It’s feels so good to have your arms wrapped around her- she feels overwhelmed by the amount of positive emotions sprouting from your actions. You let her stay there, crying in your arms. “It’s okay, Carrie.”

After she gets passed the initial meeting, and the two of you start dating- which takes a lot of time for her to get used to you. Not because she doesn’t think you seem like a good person, but she’s skeptical, given how people have treated her in the past- plus she’s still dealing with the after effects from all the religious abuse with her mother :( 

She starts associating you (and your wings) as almost...protection!

Her favorite thing is to have your wings wrapped around her as she sleeps. She feels safe in them.

Billy Loomis + Stu Macher

Y’all meet at a Halloween party.

It’s Billy & Stu’s favorite holiday, and they always go all out for it! With the costumes, the decorations, etc- maybe even a bit of hidden bloody fun for just the two of them.

You’ve always kept your wings well hidden- folded against your back, underneath big coats. But tonight? Ohh, tonight! You’re able to have them out, allowing them a good stretch. When people ask, you can pass it off as just crazy good mechanisms.

And well, the boys see your “costume”, and they get wicked excited about it! They’ve never seen someone with a costume like this before- it’s so realistic! And the fact you chose blood red, over the standard angelic white? Very impressed by your talent and ideas.

They start asking all these questions about it, cause it’s like, legitimately one of the coolest costume they’ve ever seen. How can you not think giant wings- that move- aren’t cool?? 

But then like Stu excitedly asks if it would be okay to touch it- and you get oddly quiet after that one. “Well, they’re fragile, y’know?”

Stu pouts, “I can be careful.”

You give him a skeptical look, “I mean- just be careful, like you said.”

“Woah, they feel so real!” Oh, if he only knew. “Billy, ya gotta check this out!” He says, nearly shouting, as he nudges his shorter friend.

Billy rolls his eyes, but gives you a look to see if it’s alright. You simply nod, smiling at him- feeling more at ease. As Billy’s admiring them, and finally leans in to touch them- another guest at the party harshly bumps into you. The force of it accidentally knocking their drink out of their hands, drenching your shirt. 

“Aw shit,” you mumble to yourself. “I’m sorry, I’ll have to leave for the night.”

Stu frowns, not liking the idea of you leaving quite yet. He’d been enjoying your company quite a lot, and he’s certain that Billy did too (even if it didn’t seem like it). “You can borrow one of my shirts,” he all but blurts out.

You can’t help but laugh at his offer, “Are you sure?” Stu eagerly nods.

 You’re in Stu’s bedroom changing, and you’re about to slip on his sweater, when the door is knocked open (not on purpose, of course). “Dude!”

They quickly apologize, but then take notice of your wings- exposed as what they truly were. They stare in awe and bewilderment. You’re still freaked out, and yet still try joking your way out of the situation. “Just, really good prosthetics?” 

It takes a bit of explanation on your part, but the boys accept you for what you are pretty quickly. As strange as this all might be. Stu will have a lot of questions for you, and Billy’s somewhat unsure of it for a while. 

Established Relationship Fun:

Okay, okay!! Soft idea!! When cuddling, sometimes you’ll wrap your giant wings around the three of you. so warm and cuddly.

when watching horror movies together, Billy’s always intensely focused on the screen(almost scarily so- but then again this is one of the faces behind Ghostface we’re talking about so...not too surprising), to the blood and carnage. But he always finds his hand idly playing with your feathers, even if you have them closed behind you. He’d never admit it, but he finds them comforting and extremely calming. He can just forget about all his little problems, and just stroke your feathers (plus, you enjoy it when he does that!! And he likes that it makes you feel good!!)

Norman Bates 

You’d be really nervous at first to tell him, because early on in your friendship/relationship, he introduced you to his hobby- taxidermy. And it kind of scared you seeing your feathered friends in such a state. But...Norman would never harm you. 

(Now...his mother on the other hand? Would be more than willing to discard this freak of nature)

(Norman won’t let that happen to you though- he promises) 

Norman is such an absolute darling. He couldn’t judge a single soul for who or what they are- and yes, that does go for your winged-body, too.

He’d be extremely surprised and intrigued though- he’d be all blushy and happy though that you felt safe enough to tell him!

He finds your wings just absolutely gorgeous though.

He’ll often get sorta shy about handling your wings at all. But he’s very careful with them.

And if you get hurt, he’ll be more than glad to help you patch up (while also being upset you got hurt :( ) - since you can’t really,, go to hospitals at all. Who knows what the general public would do if they found out something like you existed.

On that note- Norman will always be there to help cheer you up when you feel bad about having them. Like, it’s gotta be strange being the only being with wings surrounded by humans- and only humans. Norman’s very good at cheering you up though! He’s very soft and sweet about it. One of the few times he’ll touch your wings. He treats them delicately, as if they’ll break upon his touch if he’s not careful enough. Presses gentle kisses to them, and reminding you how much he loves you.

Michael Myers

You meet Michael during one of his hunts.

You never bring out your wings, unless you absolutely have to.

He’s surprised and a bit confused when he sees you, standing in the streets, giant red wings splayed out. The street lights reflecting your wings into pools of red on the ground. He watches intently, as you push yourself into the air with a loud whoosh. He nearly startles.

But besides this initial reaction, he’s fairly indifferent.

Michael knows no human should have wings like that, or even wings at all. And part of him is curious to know more, so the next time he sees you, he doesn’t try to attack you.

The Fun Stuff??

Michael would definitely be a little rougher with your wings than some of the other slashers. 

Mostly because a part of him recognizes you’re not entirely human, so he equates that to you’ll be able to handle more.

He’s still pretty careful though- because he would never want to hurt his S/O.

Michael enjoys killing alone, and he sure doesn’t need protection- but sometimes, when you convince Michael to bring you along, he finds he doesn’t actually mind your presence there. He kind of enjoys it. And, again, he doesn’t need your protection- but you can’t help to be worried about him, okay? You’ll use your wings as a shield when his victims try fighting back. If you get hurt a bit? Then I guess Michael will just have to help you patch up afterwards.

The Lost Boys

Aww, they are so hyped about it!

Most of the other creatures they interact with are human, so it’s so cool to them when they find out you’re a fellow supernatural being! They’re not,,, entirely sure what you are (neither are you, tbh), but that’s okay.

They get to fly around with you, which they wouldn’t be able to do with you if their S/O was a human or some flightless supernatural being.

Paul would love playing with your wings!

I mean, they all do to some extent. But Paul will play with them whenever. Even if you’re out in public. Like,, if anyone sees your wings they have ways of dealing with that, y’know?

Y’all sleep in the same bed together- kind of just like,, a constant cuddle pile lol. And you don’t always do this, but when the boys are feeling especially in the mood for it (like,, maybe they’ve had a long night, or they just really need to be as close to you as they can)  and you’ll just outstretch your wings, covering the four of them. The soft, familiarity of your feathers calming even the rowdiest of the bunch

They accidentally stay out too late, and you’ll use your wings to help shade them from the sun, as you make your way back to the cave.

[lumosandnoxwriting]

Trying So Hard - Harry Potter

Title: Trying So Hard Pairing: Harry x Fem!Reader Warnings: NSFW!!! Unprotected sex, fingering, tbh this is pretty vanilla lmao mentions of pregnancy/trouble conceiving! Summary: Sometimes in life instead of trying hard, it’s best to not try at all. A/N: for the anon who wanted Harry and his wife trying to get pregnant! Feedback is always welcome!!

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“Negative,” Y/N sighs sadly as she rejoins Harry in their bedroom. She drops the used pregnancy test in the garbage can before collapsing onto their bed.

Harry frowns and moves so he’s laying next to Y/N and wraps an arm around her middle, pulling her to his chest tightly. “It’s okay, sweetheart. We knew it wouldn’t happen first try. It’ll happen when the time is right, yeah?”

“But this wasn’t the first try,” Y/N responds quietly. “Five months and five negative pregnancy tests. I thought now was the right time, but I guess not.”

Deciding when to have a baby was not an easy decision for Harry and Y/N. Both of their careers have been thriving, and they were both torn on whether they were ready to slow them down to have a family. But every time a baby so much as looked at Y/N when they were out in public her heart would melt and her chest would start to yearn for her own little bundle of joy to coo at. And whenever Harry stopped by Hogwarts to give a guest lecture or visit Hagrid he couldn’t help but wonder what it’ll feel like when he gets to send his own kids off to school. Spending the holidays with the Weasleys surrounded by Bill’s and Percy’s kids only solidified what Y/N and Harry felt in their hearts: they were ready to start their family. They decided to start trying in the new year, and now with it nearly halfway gone, they’re no closer to beginning parents then they were at the start.

Harry starts to rub Y/N’s back in slow strokes, leaning down to kiss her on the forehead. “I know it’s gotta be discouraging, sweetheart. All the negatives. But half the fun of starting a family is making the baby, isn’t it?” he jokes, hoping to make Y/N smile. The corners of her mouth twitch faintly, and Harry leans down to hiss her softly. “So, we’ll just keep trying and before you know it we’ll be swimming in baby clothes and diapers. Just you wait and see.”

“I know, I know,” Y/N sniffles as tears suddenly start to flow down her cheeks. “It’s just so discouraging, seeing that stupid negative each time. Like we’re not supposed to have a baby or something.”

“Y/N,” Harry coos, holding her tightly as she sobs. “Everything will be okay. We just gotta trust the process.” Harry starts to rub her back harder, slowly rocking them on their bed, desperately trying to make his wife feel better.

-

“You take the test?” Harry asks excitedly as he joins Y/N in bed. In their efforts to start a family Y/N has started tracking her cycle more closely and taking fertility tests to determine when it’s at its highest and giving them the best chance at conceiving. They’ve been trying for seven months now, and Harry has gotten pretty good at remembering when the different parts of her cycle occur.

“No,” Y/N says flatly, not even bothering to look up at Harry from her book.

It had only Y/N two more months of trying and two more negative pregnancy tests after her breakdown for her to get completely discouraged. Her and Harry have an unlimited amount of yearning for a baby and an equal amount of love to give a baby, but clearly the universe doesn’t think they’re ready, or deserving of one. It doesn’t help that it seems everywhere she goes is filled with pregnant women and babies. Three of her coworkers announce they’re expecting in the same week, and when Y/N stops at the market on the way home she’s stuck in the checkout line with a baby on either side of her. It’s as if the universe is laughing at her, and it’s starting to make Y/N think that having a baby just isn’t in the cards for her and Harry.

Harry’s eyebrows furrow as he slips under the covers next to Y/N. “You got your period already? It’s like what, 10 days early?”

Y/N rolls her eyes, of course Harry would know that. “No, I just don’t feel like doing anything tonight is all. No matter what those stupid fertility tests say.”

“Sweetheart,” Harry starts, reaching out to grab her hip. When Y/N scoots away from his touch he frowns. “I know it’s been hard on you, all the negative tests. But we just gotta keep trying, yeah? We’ll get there eventually and that’s what matters.”

“I’m just not in the mood tonight, Harry,” Y/N says firmly, finally looking away from her book so she can look Harry in the eyes. “It feels like we’ve been having sex nonstop since January I just want one night to myself. Is that alright with you?”

Harry’s taken aback by Y/N’s harsh tone and he retracts the hand he’d been trying to settle on her before leaning back against the pillows. “Alright, yeah. Of course, Y/N. Whatever you want.”

-

Except one-night turns to two, which turns to three. And then before Harry knows it Y/N’s period starts, and their baby making window for the month has closed with them barely even kissing, let alone trying to conceive. He gets that Y/N is disappointed that they haven’t  had the easiest time getting pregnant but shutting him out completely is certainly not the answer to their problems. It seems like every time he tries to touch her she’s shying away, barely letting his fingers ghost over her skin and as much as he misses their sexual intimacy, he misses their regular intimacy as well. Harry’s so used to just casually reaching over and grabbing Y/N’s hand while they walk together or sit and eat together, or throwing his arm over her shoulder and cuddling her close while they sit on the couch together and the feeling of her body tangled with his in their bed never fails to lull him to sleep. But now all he has to get by is a quick kiss in the morning before work and another before they go to sleep. It’s killing him on the inside, and he wish he knew how to make her feel better.

“What going on with you?” Hermione asks during lunch one day. “You’ve been awfully quiet for the past few days. Something’s gotta be on your mind.”

Harry sighs and pushes some of the food around on his plate. His and Y/N’s baby making plans have been a secret shared only between them, so that when they’d reveal the news of their pregnancy to their friends and family it’d be even more surprising. But Harry needs to talk to someone and if Y/N won’t let him in Hermione and Ron are his next best options.

“Just relationship stuff with Y/N. We’ve been going through it the past couple months,” Harry responds, looking up at his friends.

“Marriage isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, eh?” Ron jokes, prompting Hermione to smack him on the arm. “I was only trying to make him laugh ‘mione, no need to turn this into a domestic,” Ron grumbles, rubbing the spot Hermione hit.

Hermione rolls her eyes fondly and reaches over to grab Ron’s hand, giving it a tight squeeze. “What’s going on, Harry? Did you two get into a fight or something?”

“Not exactly. We’ve been trying to a baby since the start of the year and things just aren’t working and-.”

Hermione holds her hand up to cut Harry off. “I’m sorry, what? You’ve been trying for a baby and haven’t told us? We’re your best friends, Harry.”

Harry’s cheeks flush pink. “We haven’t told anyone, Hermione. That way when we announced it everyone would be more surprised, and it’d be more special. But it’s been 7 months, and nothing has happened yet, and Y/N is getting, I dunno, depressed maybe? We didn’t try at all last month and she barely even lets me touch her anymore.”

Hermione frowns. “I’m sorry, Harry. I can’t even imagine what you and Y/N must be going through. Have you tried talking to her about it?”

“I don’t even really know what to say,” Harry admits honestly. “I feel like I’d end up saying something stupid and end up making things worse.”

“Then do something to make her feel special. Let her know that you’re thinking about her and that you’ll be there when she’s ready to talk,” Hermione explains softly. “Help take some of the pressure I’m sure she’s feeling off of her shoulders. Reconnect naturally, take things slow. Let her know there’s no rush to have a baby. That it’ll happen when it happens and that’s alright with you.”

-

“Harry, love. I’m home!” Y/N shouts as she shuts the door behind her. The living room is drenched in shakes of orange and red from the sunset streaming in through the windows, but the rest of the house is dark. She can see the faintest light coming from somewhere upstairs, so she heads towards it, throwing her bag on the couch and kicking her shoes off as she goes. “You up here, love?”

A surprised noise falls from her lips when she enters their bedroom, her eyes landing on Harry. He’s standing in the middle of the candlelit room holding a bouquet of roses, with a bright smile on his face. She steps into the room slowly, feeling tears coming to her eyes.

“Welcome home, sweetheart,” Harry greets, handing Y/N the flowers. He wraps his arms around her waist and presses a soft kiss to her cheek. “Have a good day at work?”

“Uh yeah, it was sound,” Y/N responds slowly, her mind racing to try and figure out what’s going on. Her eyes flutter closed as she takes a deep breath, smelling the sweet scent the roses are giving off. She relaxes into Harry’s embrace for what feels like the first time in weeks. “What’s all this for? Did I forget our anniversary or something?”

Harry chuckles, shaking his head. “Just wanted to do something to show you how much I appreciate you, Y/N. I know things this year haven’t worked out the way we wanted them to and that’s disappointing for both of us, but that’s okay. Having a baby is supposed to be fun and exciting and I think we’ve been putting too much pressure on it. So, to hell with the fertility tests and having sex just because we’re trying to have a baby. Let’s just, be together. And if a baby comes this year it comes. And if not, we’ll just keep trying.”

“Harry,” Y/N says softly, pressing their lips together in a passionate kiss. She can feel a few tears leaking down her cheeks, wiping a few away as their kiss breaks. “I’ve been such an awful wife and just person in general lately. I’ve been pushing you away instead of just talking to you about how I feel. I just kept thinking that it’s my fault that we haven’t gotten pregnant yet and I just feel so bad. Like I’m not good enough for you or something.”

Harry takes the bouquet of roses from Y/N and tosses them aside so he can embrace Y/N properly. “Sweetheart you should never feel like that. It’s not your fault, it’s just life. The universe will give us a baby when it’s our time.” Harry kisses her again, cupping her face gently. “Now you can go soak in the bath I just drew while I order us some dinner.”

Y/N bites her lip and brings her hands up to Harry’s neck, dangling her hands in the hair on the back of his head. “Or we could make up for lost time,” she whispers, bringing their mouths together in a hot kiss. Y/N feels Harry’s grip tighten on her waist as he deepens their kiss, and she starts to move them back towards the bed.

“Only if you’re sure, sweetheart,” Harry breathes as he lands on the bed. He watches with wide eyes as Y/N pulls her shirt off over her head, his eyes raking over every inch of skin that’s revealed. He pulls his own shirt off and grabs Y/N’s hips as she settles on his lap.

“Very sure,” she purrs, leaning down to press kisses against Harry’s neck. “I’ve been lonely without you, Harry and it feels like the right time.” Y/N reattaches their lips, grinding her hips down against Harry’s as she slowly lays him back on the bed.

Harry lets out a gasp against Y/N’s mouth as she grinds down against him, his cock twitching in his trousers. He guides her hips down against him, letting his lips trail down across Y/N’s jaw to her neck. “God I’ve missed you,” he groans, nipping at the sensitive skin on her throat.

Y/N moans as Harry sucks on her neck and reaches behind herself to unhook her bra. Once the piece of fabric is off of her arms she tosses it aside and rolls onto her back, so Harry is now hovering over her. “Yeah? Missed having me wrapped around you?” she asks through a moan as Harry nips at her collarbone.

Harry kisses further down Y/N’s chest, stopping to flick at her nipples with his tongue. “You have no idea, sweetheart. I love being close with you, I’ve missed the feeling of your body against mine.”

“Harry,” Y/N moans as he takes one of her nipples in his mouth, her nails scratching down his back. She pushes her hips up against his, desperately searching for friction on her aching pussy. Y/N hasn’t felt the best about herself over the past few weeks, but having Harry make an effort to make her feel special has put her on top of the world, and she’s aching with need.

Harry chuckles and leans up, pressing a brief kiss to Y/N’s mouth. He smirks as her hands immediately land on the waist band of his jeans and her fingers start to work at the button and zipper. “Someone’s eager,” he teases lightly, pinching and rolling one of Y/N’s nipples between his fingers. Her back arches and a breathy moan falls from her lips, causing him to apply more pressure.

Y/N whines as Harry takes her nipple back into his mouth, her fingers shaking as she shoves his jeans and boxers down to the tops of his thighs. Her hand immediately wraps around his cock, starting to stroke him lightly. “Please, Harry. More.”

Harry groans as her hand twists around his cock, his hips moving up into her strokes. It’s only been a few weeks since they were last intimate, but the feeling of Y/N’s hand gripping him tightly is pure euphoria. It makes him feel like a teenager again, when everything was new and exciting. The past several months sex between them has felt robotic, still extremely pleasurable, but it was as if it was a necessity, not something they were doing because they both yearned for the touch of their spouse. But this, tonight, feels passionate and raw like how they used to be and while Harry would love to draw this out, he feels just as desperate as Y/N does and he can’t help but give  into her demands.

“Anything for you, sweetheart.” Harry kisses Y/N again before reluctantly pulling away and getting off the bed to rid her of the rest of her clothes. He takes her skirt and panties off in one go, letting his eyes trail up her bare legs to her dripping core as he settles back on the bed between her splayed thighs. He lets his fingers ghost up her soft legs heading to wear she needs him most. Harry just barely brushes her clit with his thumb, his index finger softly circling her entrance. “So wet, sweetheart. Just gonna warm you up a bit before I give you what you want.”

Y/N lets out a low moan as Harry sinks his index finger into her pussy, her walls immediately clenching and flexing around the digit. “So good,” she pants, her hips starting to work down against his hand. “Always make me feel so good, Harry.”

Harry flushes under Y/N’s praise, and he leans up to kiss her slowly as he brings another finger in to join the first. He curls them both, and when Y/N moans he takes the opportunity to lick into her mouth. He speeds up the movements of his fingers, scissoring them inside of her to make sure Y/N is ready to take him. He applies more pressure to her clit and kisses her one last time before pulling away. “Ready for me, sweetheart?”

Y/N swallows thickly as she nods, her chest heaving with deep breaths. She can’t remember the last time she was this turned on from a bit of teasing, and her pussy is aching to be full of Harry. “Always ready for you, love.”

Harry hitches on of Y/N’s legs on his hip and grabs the base of his cock, slowly guiding himself to her entrance. He braces himself over her on one hand, rolling his hips forward slowly until he’s fully sheathed inside of Y/N. They both groan as their hips touch and Harry leans down to kiss Y/N sweetly.

“Move please,” Y/N begs as Harry breaks their kiss, her hips slowly grinding down against him. She lets out a whine as Harry starts to finally move, his hips moving at a moderate pace as they slam back into her hard. “God you feel incredible, Harry. Missed your cock so much.”

Harry brings one of his hands to Y/N’s core, starting to rub her clit in hard circles. Her thighs are trembling around him and Harry starts to fuck back into Y/N quicker. “Feel so good, sweetheart. Always so tight for me, gripping me so well.” He can feel her walls pulsating around him and Harry hitches the leg on his hip over her shoulder so he can fuck even deeper into Y/N. “Fuck,” he moans at the new angle, his hips stuttering. “Feel like heaven, Y/N.”

“Getting so close Harry, fuck,” Y/N moans as her toes curl from the pleasure radiating around her body. The tip of Harry’s cock is massaging her g-spot with every thrust and with the lack of sexual activity between them the past few weeks she can already feel her orgasm edging closer and closer. “Harder,” she begs, reaching up to dig her nails into his shoulders.

Harry complies, slamming his hips into Y/N’s with more power. “Come on, sweetheart. Want you to cum on my cock. Wanna make you feel good.”

“Oh god Harry, fuck,” Y/N moans as she cums, her eyes rolling to the back of her head and her back arching as pleasure rolls through her body. She can feel her thighs trembling and she clenches around Harry tighter, wanting to bring him to his orgasm as well.

“That’s it sweetheart, gonna cum, fuck,” Harry groans, his grip on Y/N’s hip tightening as he reaches his climax. His hips roll slowly as his cock twitches inside of her, shooting his release deep into Y/N. He doesn’t stop moving until he’s emptied himself completely and he slowly pulls out before collapsing against Y/N on the bed.

“I love you so much,” Y/N murmurs as she cuddles into Harry’s side, pressing a kiss into his sweaty skin.

Harry hums and leans down to press a kiss to the top of her head. “I love you too, Y/N.” Harry kisses her again, before lifting her chin up to look Y/N in the eyes. “How about that bath?” he asks with a cheeky grin.

-

“Oh my god,” Y/N gasps, her hand shaking as she looks at the pregnancy test in her hand. The positive pregnancy test in her hand.

She’s not even sure what possessed her to take the test. Her period isn’t even late yet and she’s felt no symptoms, but when she left Harry on the couch watching a film to use the bathroom, she had this overwhelming urge to take a pregnancy test. They had bought them in bulk when they first started trying, and there were still a few stashed under the sink in their bathroom, waiting for when the moment was right. Y/N hadn’t even thought this could be the moment, but now that it is she can feel happy tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Took you long enough,” Harry comments absentmindedly when he hears Y/N’s footsteps approach. “Missed half the bloody movie you were gone so long.” When Y/N doesn’t join in with his laughter Harry turns around, worry immediately taking over him when he notices the tears on her face. “What happened? What’s wrong?”

Y/N joins Harry on the couch excitedly, shoving the pregnancy test into his face. “I’m pregnant. We’re pregnant. We’re gonna have a baby!”

Harry’s jaw drop as he looks at the test in his hands, reading the word pregnant over and over again. He looks up at Y/N then and he lurches forward kissing her hard. “I love you so fucking much,” he whispers, pulling Y/N into a tight hug.

“I love you too,” Y/N responds, placing her hands on her stomach between them. “You and our baby.”

[atlafan]

Office Neighbors - Part Thirteen

a/n: WEDDING!!! (reblogs and feedback are super helpful!) not proofread, sorry!

warnings: FLUFF! Smut (a little bit of bum stuff, but don’t get too excited, it’s not what you think...yet)

words: 16K

masterpost

You and Harry needed to go down to Boston a few days before the wedding. You needed to go over things with Julian, and he needed to be there for when his family and friends flew in. Andy was extremely excited. Brandon’s parents would be sending him down on the bus the day before the wedding, so Andy would have a buddy during the rehearsal dinner.

It was nice to have a few days off from school, but Andy was sad to be away from Brandon. They hadn’t been able to really discuss everything that happened at the Halloween party like he had hoped. Every time he saw him he just blushed and smiled. They’d hold hands a little underneath the desks in class, and that was about it.

You were off with Julian, Phil, and your parents while Harry and Andy went to the airport to pick everyone up. Harry was somehow able to get everyone on the same flight.

“Six hours with these two buggers behind me. They were worse than the kids!” Gemma says as she hugs Harry, and then Andy. “I needed to take something to fall asleep.”

“Oi, we weren’t that bad.” Niall says.

“Yeah, it’s not our fault there was a football match on the tele.” Louis says. “You should be paying us babysitting fees for keeping those two entertained.”

Gemma glares at the guys before they rush to hug Harry and Andy. Anne hugs everyone as well. She looked pooped.

“I know, long flight and all that, but you’re here now.” Harry says.

Lizzie and Ritchie chat with Andy as they all wait for their luggage to come through baggage claim.

“How are we all going to fit in the same car?” Gemma asks.

“Oh, we rented a van for the weekend. Make things easier to get to and from the commons, so I just drove that here. You’re gonna love the hotel suite Julian’s put you lot in.”

“And you’re staying with us?” Niall says.

“Yeah, about that…” Harry rubs the back of his neck. “Nothing we’re doing is traditional, so I was sort of thinking I’d just stay with Y/N.”

“Nope, no way. Can’t have a proper bachelors night out if we send you back drunk to your fiancé.” Louis says. “You will stay with us.”

“You’re gonna sloshed the night before your wedding?” Anne asks.

“No…we’re all going out tonight. Tomorrow’s the rehearsal, and then the wedding.” He looks at his friends. “M’not spending two nights away from her.”

“You will, and you’ll like it.” Niall says.

Everyone grabs their luggage and heads out to the van, and climbs in. Harry drives back to the hotel. He helps everyone get checked in, and shows them to their suites.

“Oh, this is perfect!” Gemma says. “Look, Mum, two queens in a room for us, and two queens for all the kids, this’ll be great.”

“Andy, your friend Brandon’s coming tomorrow, right?” Anne asks him.

“Mhm.” He smiles.

“Good, it’ll be nice to see him again. He’s such a sweet boy.” She pats his head and puts hers things down. “Well, I need to take a bit of a nap. Are we all going to have a meal together later?”

“Yeah, we’ll all get together for an early dinner. Take some time to rest. Kids, there’s a pool if you feel up to it.”

“Uncle Harry, I’m pooped.” Lizzie whines. “Need a nap too.”

“Alright, darling.” Harry chuckles.

“I’ll take ‘em down later.” Gemma says. “Andy you’re staying with us?”

“Yeah!”

“Fantastic. Do you wanna stay here with us or go with Dad?”

“I’ll hang out here.” He shrugs. “Everyone they’re all doing is boring.”

“Where is Y/N, anyways?” Anne asks.

“She’s getting some last minute stuff together. Her bridal party will be here tomorrow, so you’ll meet just her immediate family tonight, and then everyone else later.”

“Sounds good.” She yawns. “Okay, off to bed for me.”

Harry heads down the hall to Louis and Niall’s room. Harry met his two best friends his first year of uni. They all played football (soccer) together on the school’s team. Harry obviously didn’t continue on with the sport once he came to the states. Louis had a serious girlfriend of his own, but she stayed home to give the boys their fun, and Niall was in-between relationships at the moment.

“So, how’s Holly.” Harry asks Louis.

“Ah, she’s fantastic. Just FaceTimed her quick. She sends all her love.”

“Tell her I send mine right back. And what about you, Casanova?” Harry smirks. “No ladies awaiting your return?”

“Nope.” Niall grins. “I’m a free man once again. I swear I have all the luck. The women I keep dating are absolutely batty. Wouldn’t mind finding a woman of my own to settle down with.”

“Y/N’s friend Nora is single, and she’s awfully sweet.” Harry says.

“Mm, a long distance relationship isn’t in the cards for me right now, but I’ll keep that in mind if I feel like getting laid this weekend.” He winks at his friend.

“Holly and I did the long distance thing in the beginning, remember? Wasn’t all bad. I had a cool place to visit, we never fought, and it was always hot.” Louis smirks. “It’s still hot, but I certainly don’t like it when she gets mad at me for not getting me knickers in the hamper.”

“Maybe get your knickers in the hamper, and she wouldn’t get mad at you. Just a thought.” Harry says.

“No shit?!” Louis says with a laugh. “Fuckin’ genius over here, it’s almost like you’re a doctor or something.”

“Come on, let’s go get your shit from your room and bring it here.” Niall says.

“Fine.” Harry sighs. “But I’ll need to hog the pillows.”

“Are you still a clingy sleeper?” Louis asks. “You’ve got psychological damage, I swear to god.”

//

After everyone had time to get situation, and rested, Harry eventually caught up with you. He explained that his friends are basically forcing him to stay with them.

“You’ll have more fun, Har.” You chuckle. “It’ll give me more time to be with your mom and sister.”

“I suppose that’s true.”

“What are you guys even doing tonight?”

“Think they just wanna take me out to get drunk.” He shrugs. “Wanna come meet them?”

“Yeah!”

You hold hands as you make your way to their room. Harry knocks, and Niall opens the door.

“Hey!” He beams and hugs you immediately. “So this is the lovely lady our Harry’s just been tickled pink about.” You giggle at that and step into the room. “He hasn’t give you enough credit, you’re gorgeous, you know?” Niall keeps his arm around your shoulders and you blush.

“Oi, stop flirting with my fiancé.”

“Why? Not like you’re married yet. Still plenty of time to back out, love.”

“There she is.” Louis says with a smile and hugs you. “It’s so great to meet you. Don’t pay any attention to Nialler here, only rubbish ever comes out of his mouth.” You blink at Louis. “What?”

“You’re…you’re gonna have to speak a little slower.” You chuckle. “Your accent is a little…thick.”

“Maybe yours is thick! Didja ever think o’that?” He looks at you seriously and then laughs. “Only teasing, love, only teasing.”

“How long have you all known each other again?”

“Since we were eighteen.” Harry says as he sits down on the couch in the living area of the suite. “We were all on the soccer team together, and we lived in a triple. It was great.”

“I’m sorry, did you say you were on a sports team?” You were shocked.

“I only played my first year. I’m a better coach than a player.”

“Yeah, the lad here told us there were better opportunities here and left us.” Louis says. “But we all stayed close.”

“We usually get together whenever Harry comes back to London.” Niall explains.

“And where do you both live?”

“I live in London, not too far from Harry’s family, actually.” Louis says.

“Same here, actually. The city was calling my name.” Niall says. “You’re from this area, right?”

“Yeah.” You smile. “Born and raised. It’s the perfect sized city, in my opinion. I never felt overwhelmed or small. I like going to New York once in a wall, but I always get so anxious.”

“London should be fun for you then. You’re coming for the holidays, yeah?” Louis says.

“She sure is.” Harry says as he puts his arm around you, kissing your cheek.

“So, what are we doing for dinner tonight?” Niall asks. “M’getting hungry.”

“We’re all going to this amazing Chinese buffet. You’ll love it.” You say and look down at your watch. “Should probably head down to the lobby soon to meet everyone.”

“Good thinking.” Harry says. “You both ready? We’ll probably leave for our night out from the restaurant.”

“Yup, got everything we need.” Louis says. “Don’t worry, Y/N, we won’t get him too loaded.”

“I’m sure you’ll take very good care of him.” You say with a smirk.

//

You were a bit nervous as you approached the lobby. You had been on a number of FaceTime calls with Gemma and Anne at this point, but it was still wild to be seeing them in person.

“Oh!” Anne exclaims when she spots you, and you smile. “My god, it’s so nice to finally meet in person.” She says as she hugs you.

“Same to you.”

You hug Gemma next, and introduce yourself to Lizzie and Ritchie. Your parents, Julian, and Phil come strolling into the lobby, and everyone else gets acquainted. You all make your way to the restaurant, and are brought to the private room in the back for large parties. A buffet was set up, and the kids sit together while all of the adults co-mingle. You take in everything. Your parents were chatting up Anne as Phil and Julian were talking with Gemma. Louis and Niall were keeping Harry pretty preoccupied. It was nice to see him interacting with them. He had this boyish smile on his face, and it filled you with so much joy.

“Y/N, who’s officiating for you two?” Gemma asks

“My old rabbi is coming.” You smile. “He’s going to do a few prayers for us since that was important to me, and Harry didn’t seem to mind.” He places his hand over yours. “And then our friend Janette is going to step in and do the rest. She was over the moon when we asked her. She works with us as well.”

“That’s great! Harry’s always told nice stories about Janette over the years. Will everyone else from your department be coming?”

“Yeah.” Harry answers his sister. “They’ll be coming to the reception. The ceremony is going to be everyone in this room, plus Y/N’s bridal party. Very small.”

“I like it.” Anne says. “I mean, having a big wedding is great and all, but I like that this will be much more intimate. It makes it more special, in a way.”

“I still can’t believe how quickly you were able to pull this all together.” Your mom says. “I’m happy, don’t get me wrong, but I was shocked when you said it would be happening so soon.”

“We just figured what was the use in waiting a year when we knew it was going to be small. It’s not like we needed to book a large venue, and thanks to Julian, we were able to squeeze into that smaller ballroom for the reception.” You say.

“How will everything work out at the commons?” Niall asks.

“We’re having two small tents set up, one for me and one for Harry, and both parties to hang out in. I’ll be brought over in the van beforehand to take pictures and all that, and then we’re going to do a first look.” You explain.

“We really wanted that moment to be private between us. Andy’s gonna be involved in it too, it’s gonna be great.” Harry says.

“Our admin, Lucas, is taking all of the photos, he’s so talented.” You say. “We’re paying him, of course, but he’s not charging as much as a full-time professional would.”

“It’s nice you two have so many people in your corner to help out.” You dad says. “Makes me feel better about you living so far away, honey.” He gives your hand a squeeze and you smile at him.

You had never felt more blessed in your life. You were with a man your family approved of, and they were happy for you, genuinely! Your parents had been not so great to your past boyfriends, but they took a liking to Harry right away. You wondered if Andy had anything to do with it. They were skeptical, you noticed, at Thanksgiving, but it was like once they met Andy they knew you’d be alright with Harry. It must have something to do with the fact that he’s been able to keep a kid alive and safe. They knew they could trust him with you.

Dinner was great, and everyone felt plenty full. Harry tells Andy to be good and to listen to the adults taking care of him since he’d be mostly likely going to the pool at the hotel with his cousins.

“Have fun you three.” You say to the boys before you all head your separate ways. “Bring him back in one piece.”

“We’ll do our best.” Niall winks.

Harry rolls his eyes at his friends and gives you a hug and a kiss before he leaves with them. You head back to the hotel with Harry’s family after saying goodbye to your own. You meet them all down at the pool to hang out while the kids swam around.

“Have you two been to Boston often?” You ask Anne and Gemma.

“A few times, yeah. We usually fly in here, but we’ve only explored a couple of times.” Gemma explains. “We usually have to hop on the bus up to New Hampshire to get to Harry’s.”

“I think we’re planning our next visit for Andy’s fourteenth birthday since he’ll be done with middle school.”

“And that’ll be when his next birthday party will be at Harry’s house.” Gemma says. “No offense, but I have zero desire to party it up at Paige’s.”

“Oh, please.” You laugh. “I don’t blame you at all.”

“She’s a lovely woman and all, great mum to my grandson, but I’ll never forgive her for hurting my son.” Anne says as she crosses her arms and leans back in her chair, glancing over at the kids in the pool. “I was so shocked the day he called me and told me she was pregnant. He wasn’t done with school yet, and I could tell he was panicked.”

“I had to talk him off the ledge. He was so close to dropping out to find a job. Thankfully Paige had the good sense to remind him he was just about done with school and she was already working full time. I already had the twins, so I was able to give him some pointers.”

“Ah, so they’re about a year older than Andy, then?” You say.

“About, yeah, like a year and half. They all get along great, thank god. At the age they are now, it can feel like such a big gap, you know?”

“Y/N, are you and Harry hoping to have a kid, or are you leaving it with Andy?” Anne asks. “I know it’s not really any of my business, but I had always hoped he’d have more.”

“Oh, no, it’s fine.” You smile. “Yeah, we plan to have a baby at some point. I’m hoping to finish up my doctoral program before we start trying. It’s a lot of stress, and I’d be scared of something happening.”

“Perfectly understandable.” Gemma says. “I was happy with my two for one special.” She laughs. “Got one of each in one go, and that was plenty for me.”

“Have you two talked to Andy about him potentially being a big brother? I know he has Rachel, but that’s a little different. Feel like they’re more like buddies.” Anne says.

“We haven’t talked to him about it, no.” You sigh. “I feel like he’ll be okay with it, but sometimes we don’t really know how he’ll take things. He was awfully upset last year when Paige got engaged. He took ours much better, for whatever reason.”

“He’s a mumma’s boy, just like his father, that’s why.” Gemma smirks. “Harry used to throw a fit anytime Mum went out on a date.”

“Only when Dad and I first divorced, he got over it eventually.” Anne shrugs.

“Yeah, he started dating and said, ‘hm, maybe Mum was valid for wanting to go out’.” Gemma laughs.

“I’m glad Harry having such an older kid didn’t scare you off.” Anne says to you. “It’s one thing when you meet someone and their child is young, basically still a baby, but Andy was, like, ten when you met him, right?”

“Yeah, I think so.” You smile and think back on his chubby cheeks. He’d grown so much in just a couple of years. “I actually think it made things easier. He was able to warm up to me as a friend first, you know? Plus, I think Harry would talk about me to him.”

“He talked about you to everyone.” Anne laughs. “He was smitten before he even knew he was smitten.”

“And there I was totally oblivious to the whole thing.” You shake your head. “Well, not totally, I think I was pretending not to notice. I wasn’t totally into the idea of dating a colleague. I was so new, I didn’t want to seem unprofessional.”

“I get that.” Gemma says. “I met my late husband at work, and we definitely discussed the implications of dating before we actually went out. It can make things really complicated if it doesn’t work out.”

“That’s why I’m kinda glad we started dating in the summer time so we could ease into it a bit.” You say as your phone buzzes. You take it out of your pocket and see a message from Harry. It was a picture of him, clearly one of the boys took, drinking through a funnel. “Oh, god.” You laugh and show them. “They do this often?”

“They’re bad influences.” Gemma says. “They act like little boys when they all get together.”

“They better not make him sick, Harry promised to take us out for some fun during the day tomorrow before the rehearsal.”

//

“Why’d you send her that?!” Harry slurs as he grabs his phone from Niall.

“Thought she’d appreciate you checking in.” Niall smirks.

“Not funny.” Harry says as he tries to text you.

Harry: sooo sorry about that, I’m being good, promise

Y/N: don’t worry about it, I’m glad you’re having fun

“You’re lucky she’s easy going.” Harry says to the two of them. “No more funnels, m’too old for funnels. I’m almost thirty-four for fuck’s sake!”

“You’re, like, three months away from that, chill out.” Louis says and Harry pouts at him. “Fine, no more funnels, let’s do shots instead.”

“Good thinking, Lou, tequila sounds excellent.” Niall says and asks the bartender for three shots.

“Can we sit down? There’s a booth right over there.” Harry points to it and the boys nod. They do their shots at the bar, and Louis orders three more so they can have them at the booth. Harry sighs as he sits. “Much better.”

“Alright, so, you’re really ready to get married? Make that big leap?” Niall asks.

“Yup.” Harry smiles. “I like her a lot.” He takes his phone out. “I mean, look at how cute she is, she’s perfect.” He shows them a picture of you out in the garden, wearing one of Harry’s bucket hats and some dirt on your cheeks. “That’s my baby right there.”

“You did well, Har.” Louis chuckles and pushes Harry’s phone back to him.

“She’s amazing with Andy too, like, she always knows what to say to him. I didn’t realize how much I was doing on my own until she started coming over more and helping out. I feel like I really have someone I can lean on now.” He sniffles and Niall starts laughing.

“Please, don’t get all emotional on us, mate.” Louis says.

“I just can’t believe out of all the people in the world she’s choosing me.”  

“Why wouldn’t she?” Niall says. “I’ve never seen a guy treat a woman as well as you do. Not to mention you’re one of the funniest fuckers I’ve ever met. The key to a woman’s heart is laughter, I swear.”

“it’s true, we laugh a lot.” Harry smiles. “Although, sometimes she tells me I’m not funny even while she’s laughing.”

“That’s because you make really stupid jokes.” Louis says. “They’re so bad they’re funny.”

“Oi, I’m a dad, I get to make dad jokes.” The three do the round of shots Louis had gotten.

“Alright, I’m done with this place.” Niall says. “Onto the next one.”

“And what’s the next one?” Harry raises an eyebrow as the boys grin. “No.”

“C’mon, H.” Niall says.

“Nope, not doin’ in.”

“We have to.” Louis says. “It’s an upscale place, we checked.”

“I don’t wanna watch a bunch of women I don’t know take their clothes off and shake it all around.”

“We’re not goin’ to a strip club, we’re going to a club where there will be some bottle girls and some exotic dancers.” Niall explains. “Nothing overly risqué.”

“Ugh, fine, but let’s do another shot before we go.”

The boys do another shot, and then head to the other club. Harry was feeling loose, so he wasn’t exactly uncomfortable, but he knew he’d feel guilty tomorrow when he was sober. There was loud music playing, and girls in booty shorts and crop tops walking around with drinks. Louis and Niall speak to the bouncer, and they’re brought over to an area that was roped off for them. Harry just felt thankful he could sit for a bit.

“Alright, who’s the bachelor over here?” A girl comes over with a cart.

“That would be this lad here, miss.” Louis says.

“Great! You get a rum bucket.” She grins at Harry as she starts putting the drink together, and Louis and Niall put some bills down on the cart as a tip for her.

“A rum bucket?!” Harry grows wide eyed. “That may be a bit much, I’ve been drinking tequila all night, and-“

“So you’ll nurse it, sweetie.” The girl finishes mixing the drink and hands it to him. “Whoever’s marrying you is a very lucky lady.” She smirks as she looks him up and down. “My name’s Lucy if you need anything, just holler. I’ll be covering your party tonight.”

“Thanks, Lucy.” Niall says. “This cart staying with us?”

“It sure is.” She smiles and walks away. Niall and Louis make their own drinks.

“How’s it taste, Har?” Louis asks.

“Mm, really good, actually.” Harry smiles. “Like…tastes like I’m at the beach.” He takes another decent gulp. “Refreshing.”

The rest of the night is…fuzzy for Harry. Lucy had come over a few times, she tried to flirt with him a little, but he explained not only was he probably way too old for her, but he explained, through slurred words, that he was marrying you, and even showed her some pictures. Louis and Niall got him plenty drunk at the club. Niall offered to buy him a lap dance, but Harry refused profusely. He drank two of the rum buckets, so needless to say he had no idea how he made it back to the hotel in one piece.

//

The next morning Harry wakes up with his head swimming. He almost felt drunk still. He wanted to take a long hot bath, or something. He knuckles at his eyes and sits up. He blinks a few times and jumps when he sees you sitting next to him with a book in your hand.

“Morning sleepy head.” You smile at him. “The boys let me in, wanted to check on you.”

“What is it?”

“Around 9:30. You gotta get up soon, your mom is adamant about spending the day with you before the rehearsal.”

“I know.” He yawns. “She wants to see some of the freedom trail.” He pushes you down onto your back and lays his head on your chest. You giggle as you card your fingers through his tangled hair. “I drank too much.”

“Get sick?”

“Don’t think so. Feel gross now, though.”

“You’ll feel better after some coffee and shower. I got you a small black.”

“You’re an angel, thank you.” He nuzzles further into your chest and then he looks up at you. “I have to confess something.”

“What’s that?”

“The last place we went to was, like, basically an upscale strip club, I’m sorry. I told them I didn’t want to, but they made me. I didn’t do anything though, I even showed the bottle girl pictures of you, and I refused a lap dance.”

“Harry.” You suck your bottom lip into your mouth. “I have to confess something too.”

“You were the bottle girl in disguise!” He gasps and you laugh, petting his head.

“No, baby. My friends took me to see male exotic dancers. It was a show, really, and they all stayed on the stage so it wasn’t like there was any touching or dollar bills flying around, but I did see some skin.”

“Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“I didn’t want you getting jealous.” You say softly. “It was good, clean fun, just like I’m sure last night was.”

“There was a lot of skin showing last night.” He sighs. “Wish it was yours.” He tugs at the hem of your shirt and slides his hand up underneath.

“Oh! Cold hand!” You swat it away and pull it out from under your shirt. “None of that now, we have a lot to do today.”

“Shower with me?” He pouts.

“Can’t, I already did, but I’ll wait in here while you do if you want.”

“Sit in the bathroom with me so we can still chat?”

“Okay.” You chuckle.

Harry takes a few sips of coffee, and you let him use the toiler before hanging out in the bathroom with him as he showers. He tries to recall more events from last night, but he explains a lot of it still feels fuzzy.

“Didn’t take you for someone who would chug from a funnel.” You say to him, and he rips the curtain back to show his face.

“What?”

“One of the guys sent me a picture from your phone. It’s okay, it was funny.”

“Buggers.” He mutters as he gets back to washing up. He gets out and you hand him a towel.

“Better?”

“Much. I don’t know what I’d do if Andy ever saw me that fucked up. I’d me mortified. Where is he, anyways?”

“Down at breakfast with your family. I picked up Brandon from south station earlier, so they’re catching up. They practically leapt into each other’s arms, it was so cute.”

“Sorry I missed that.” Harry sighs as he gets dressed. “Cold out?”

“Not too bad, might wanna wear a sweater.”

He nods and throws one on. He puts some mousse in his hair and scrunches it up so his curls will be more defined.

“Alright, I’m a person again. Breakfast sounds really good right now.” He finishes up his coffee and walks out of the room with you. Niall and Louis were waiting in the living area.

“There is he, and you don’t even look half bad.” Louis says.

“Gee, thanks.” Harry rolls his eyes. “We’re heading to breakfast, you lot joining?”

“Yeah, mate, we were waiting for you.” Niall scoffs.

You giggle as you all had down to the small restaurant the hotel had. You spot everyone right away, and tell Harry to go sit so you can make up a plate for him at the buffet table. He presses a kiss to your lips as a thank you and he goes to sit down. Gemma smirks at him.

“What?”

“Nothin’, have a nice time last night?”

“I did, thank you.” He pours himself some coffee and looks over at all the kids chatting and getting along. “I’m gonna go say hello to my son, if that’s alright with you.” He turns his nose up at Gemma, which makes her and Anne burst out laughing. “Hey, buddy.” Harry says as he sits down next to Andy.

“Hey.” He smiles.

“Hi, Mr. Styles.”

“Hey, B, how was the trip down?”

“Good, I slept for most of it.” He shrugs.

“Pretty brave to go on a bus like that by yourself.”

“I was nervous at first, but Andy told me all about his first time flying alone and it made me feel better.”

Harry smiles at that and looks at his niece and nephew.

“You two behaving and all that?”

“When do we not?” Lizzie scoffs.

“Yeah, Uncle H, give us some credit.” Ritchie says.

“How was the pool?”

“So much fun!” Lizzie says. “And Mum let us use the hot tub, it was so cool.”

“That was nice of her.” Harry smiles, and then feels a hand on his shoulder.

“Sitting with the kids, huh?” You chuckle and place his plate in front of him. “Got you fruit and potatoes.” You kiss the top of his head.

“Thank you, darling.”

“Dad, what time is the rehearsal going to start?”

“Around three this afternoon, gotta do it while it’s still light enough out.” He pops a grape into his mouth and looks at his watch. “Plenty of time to go out and enjoy the city. Got walking sneakers on, B?”

“Mhm.” He nods. “Where are we going?”

“Well, my mum loves history, so we’re gonna walk along the freedom trail for a bit, stop at some of the different landmarks, and then we’ll grab a quick bite to eat somewhere inside Quincy Market.”

“But don’t fill up.” You warn them. “Phil’s preparing an incredible dinner for all of us tonight.”

“You’re not coming?” Andy asks you.

“No, I have to stay here to make sure the room is put together, and be here for when my friends check in. A lot of our friends are going to be coming tonight, so I wanna be a good hostess when they check in.”

“Can’t believe you trust Dad to get us around with you.”

“Oi.” Harry says with a mouth full of potatoes. “I’ve got my wits about me, I know what I’m doing. I’ve gotten you around London in piece, haven’t I?”

“Yeah, but you grew up there.” Andy remarks.

“I’ll tell you what.” You say. “If you feel like you’re lost, just call me, yeah?” You wrap your arms around Harry and rest your head on the top of his chest.

“I’m not a buffoon, we’re not gonna get lost.” He sips his coffee. “Why don’t you lot go to the bathroom before we get going?”

The kids all giggle and stand up to do as he says. You take the opportunity to sit down next him. He rests his head on your shoulder as he continues to eat, and you giggle.

“What?”

“Nothing, you’re just so fucking cute.” You kiss his cheek. “We’re getting married tomorrow.” You nuzzle your nose to his cheek and he turns to look at you.

“Oh, is that why we’re here? Thought we were just having a little family time.” He shrugs and you nudge his shoulder as smile pulls at his lips.

“They’re really cute together.” Louis says to Niall and Gemma. Anne had gotten up to go to the bathroom as well.

“I’ve never seen him like this.” Gemma says quietly. “Even when he was with Paige, like, yeah he babbled about her, but with Y/N you can really see the adoration he has for her.”

“I was gonna say the same thing!” Niall says. “He really truly adores her.”

“Paige was a first love for him, I think.” Louis says. “Which can be nice and meaningful, but that’s true love right there if I’ve ever seen it.”

“I agree completely.” Gemma says. They all smile as they see you scratch at Harry’s head and kiss his cheek. “I like her a lot, so does our mum. Harry’s chill, but he can get worked up easily, you know? Paige can be so high strung, I feel like Y/N brings a nice balance to his life because she’s also equally as chill.”

“Yeah, he said she only really stresses about her doctoral work. He never sees her fret about her classes or grading.” Louis says. “She’s just a genuinely nice person.”

“Seem like a great fit, honestly. Couldn’t want more for him.” Niall says.

Anne comes back with all the kids.

“Alright, I’m itching to get outside. It’s such a beautiful day.” Anne says.

“Tell your son.” Gemma says. “We’re waiting on him to wake up a bit more.”

You and Harry walk over to the table where everyone was waiting for him.

“Okay, let’s hit it. Everyone all set?” He asks. He gets a collective yes and he nods, then looks at you. “Call me if you need me for anything.”

“Won’t be necessary, got everything under control. I’ll meet you at the common at three.” You peck each other’s lips and off they go.

//

You get to the common with your friends and parents around 2:30 just to help them all visualize everything. You point out where the tents are going to be set up, and where the shuttle vans will be dropping everyone off when the time comes. The rabbi arrives you give him a hug. Harry and everyone else come strolling over to the spot.

“Harry! You remember the rabbi.” You say.

“Hi, yeah, nice to meet you in person.” He shakes his hand. “Thanks again for marrying us…I know it’s a little nontraditional.”

“Please, I love, love.” He scoffs. “And I’ve known this woman since she was a little girl, I’m honored to do it.”

“This is my son, Andy.” Harry grabs Andy’s elbow and has him stand in front of him. “Andy this is the rabbi that’s going to be blessing us tomorrow before Auntie Janette does the rest.”

“Hello.” Andy shakes the rabbi’s hand and he smiles at him.

“What a polite young man. You’re very lucky, getting such a lovely step-mom.”

“Yeah.” Andy smiles. “She’s pretty cool.”

“Is everyone here? Shall we get started?” The rabbi asks.

“Yeah.” You say.

You all block out how things will go tomorrow. You and your dad chuckle as you he quickly walks you up to where the alter will be. You and Harry hold hands as the rabbi explains the prayers he’ll administer and then Janette stands in his place and pretends to give her little speech. Once it’s all done you all make your way back to the hotel for dinner. You were ravenous from all the running around you did.

“How was it today?” You ask Harry as you sit down next to him.

“A lot of fun, actually. All the kids behaved, my mum was in heaven with the history, and my friends annoyed Gem, it was fantastic.” He chuckles. “Also…”, he leans in a little closer to your ear, “think something’s going on with Andy and Brandon, like, think I saw them holding hands a couple of times.”

“Oh my goodness, really?” You jaw drops as you smile.

“I think more happened at that Halloween party than he led on, but I’m choosing not to ask about it for now.”

“Probably for the best. He’ll tell us when he’s ready. They both seem to be in pretty high spirits.”

“Yup, they’ve been their usual hyena selves.”

Phil comes in dressed in his chef outfit, and few waiters follow him in with the food. He wanted to give you a plated meal since it was a smaller group tonight. Tomorrow would be the buffet.

“This looks amazing, Phil!” You beam at him. “Thank you so much.”

“Of course.” He smiles. “I hope you all enjoy.” He sits down at a seat Julian left open for him near the door so he could scoot if needed to.

Everyone mingles as they eat. You loved getting to see everyone getting to know each other better. You look at Harry and smile as he speaks with your mother. Then you look over at the kids, the four of them were enjoying mac n’cheese. You notice how Andy and Brandon keep stealing glances of each other. All around, it was a pleasant evening.

“Okay.” Nora says to you. “We’re taking you out of the hotel tonight for drinks. Don’t worry, we’re not going crazy. We don’t want you looking all tired tomorrow.”

“No ma’am.” You say. “The hair stylist should be at our suite around ten in the morning to do everyone’s hair.”

“Perfect.” She smiles. “It’s gonna be amazing. You’re gonna so fucking cool in your ensemble.”

“I’m very excited to strut my stuff.”

After going out for a few hours, you and your friends go back to your hotel suite to get some sleep. Harry had stayed in, well, he went to the hotel bar with Niall, Louis, and Gemma, but he hadn’t drank to excess like he did the night prior.

“I just wanna say goodnight to him.” You tell your friends as you put your robe on. “Be back in five minutes.”

“Mhm, right.” Mark rolls his eyes. “You’ll be back in thirty minutes, freshly fucked.”

“Well…obviously.” You scoff. “It’s the last time I get to call him my fiancé.” You wink and slip out the door and down a few hallways to his room. You knock on the door, and Louis opens it. “Hi.” You smile.

“Hello, love, what can I do for you?”

“Came to tell my fiancé goodnight.”

He grins at you and turns into the room.

“Oi! Harry, Y/N says goodnight!” He turns back to you. “Anything else?”

“Would you get out of the fucking way?” Harry yanks Louis away. “Both of you should go into the other room.” He runs a hand through his hair and tugs you inside. “Hey.” He smiles.

“Hi.” You giggle and quickly go into his room with him. “Thought it might be fun to have one last go as two people who aren’t married.”

“Always thinking, aren’t you.” He pulls the tie on your robe and lets it fall open. You had a simple silk pajama set on, nothing overly special. “Cute.” He smiles and cups your jaw.

He pulls you towards him gently and kisses you. You wrap your arms around him and drag your tongue along his bottom lip, and he opens up for you. He walks you back to the bed, and you both fall on top of it. He tugs your pants down your legs, and you shiver when you feel his hand caress your thigh.

“Don’t leave any marks tonight, I don’t want them showing up in the pictures.” You say as he mouths at your neck.

“What about between your legs?”

“Don’t think a camera will be going there.” You chuckle.

He kisses down your body and parts your legs open. He kisses from your knee all the way to the sensitive skin of your inner thigh. You gasp when you feel his teeth nip at you.

“Harry, don’t tease, it’s not like we have all night…”

“Teasing’s the best, though.”

“For you, maybe.” You pout. “Please, just want you to fuck me.”

“Did you bring any condoms?”

“No…I thought you’d have some with you.”

“You packed them in your bag, remember?”

“Jesus Christ, okay, so just pull out I guess?”

“Can I fuck you from behind?”

“Yes.”

He grins and gets all of his clothes off and so do you. You get on all fours in front of him, and he runs his hands down your back soothingly before giving you bum a smack.

“Oof!” You look behind you, started, as his second smack was against your cunt. “Harry.” You say sternly. “I can’t stay quiet if you do that, and I’d rather not put on a show for your friends.”

“Okay, okay, m’sorry.” He leans forward and pecks your lips.

He pushes his length between your folds to coat himself before he pushes inside you. You groan softly as he bottoms out. He pulls out almost all the way, and thrusts back in. He does this a few times before getting a rhythm going. He reaches forward, and pulls you back to him so you’re flush with his chest. He licks into your mouth as he rubs your clit. You were falling to pieces in front of him. You wanted it quick and fast, and that’s exactly how he’d give it to you. You were his angel, his princess, no, his queen. He’d make you happy no matter what. You were moaning into his mouth and panting all at the same time. You could feel your orgasm approaching. You tug at his hair in he moans right back into your mouth. You bite his bottom lip harshly as you come around his cock. He pushes you off him and onto the mattress. You barely had time to catch your breath before he was coming onto your back.

“Sorry, that was a close one.” He breathes. “One second, baby.”

He hops off the bed and grabs a towel to clean you up with. You use the toilet and then get dressed. He throw his sweatpants back on and pulls you into his lap as he sits on the edge of the bed. You hug him, and he cradles your head to his shoulder. You nibble on his earlobe and smirk to yourself.

“I can’t wait to feel you come inside me when we’re ready to start trying.” You say into his ear and goosebumps raise on his skin. “Bet it’ll feel so good and warm.”

“Y/N, I will fuck you again.” He says almost warning you to behave. “Be good for me, yeah? It’s hard enough I can’t sleep next to you.”

“Sorry.” You peck his lips a few times. “I’ll behave.”

“Thank you.” He kisses you again. “I can’t wait for that too, just so you know.”

“Good.” You smile and get off of him.

“Want me to walk you back to your room?”

“No, just to the door is fine, I can make it.”

He nods and leads you out to the main area, and to the front door of the suite. You kiss one last time, and say goodnight. This time tomorrow he’d be your husband, and you were absolutely buzzing.

//

The next morning you have room service ordered for you and your friends. You have your nails, hair, and makeup done over a couple of mimosas. Anne, Gemma, your mom, and Lizzie all join in.

“So you’re wearing slacks and a jacket, and then you’re changing into a little dress?” Your mom confirms.

“Yes, and I’m really glad I’m doing that because I won’t freeze outside.” You chuckle.

“Your hair looks gorgeous.” Janette says.

“Thanks.” You smile.

You had the hairdresser make two, really nice buns, sort of like the ones you make on your own. Your hair had gotten pretty long, so she was able to make them look full and loose. She took out some pieces in the front and curled the ends. You knew how much Harry liked your poofs, so you thought you’d have them made elegantly. It was perfect.

The time comes for you to put everything on, and your mother has to blink a few tears away. You both giggle and hug. Mark and Darcy walk in front of you out of the room, and Nora and Claudia walk behind you. This way no one would accidentally see you. You all climb into the van, your father, Phil, and Julian were all waiting for you. They tell you how beautiful you look.

Lucas was there waiting for you. Nora goes into the small tent for the bridal party and grabs your bouquet. You take pictures with Mark, Nora, Darcy, and Claudia, then just you and Nora, then you and your parents, then with you, Gemma, and Anne, and then just you and Anne. Then you take one with Phil and Julian, and then one of just your immediate family. Once all that is done you head inside the tent to keep warm until everyone else shows up.

The other van pulls up; Harry, Andy, Brandon, Ritchie, Louis, and Niall all come out. Harry’s suit was magenta, and it really brought out the green in his eyes. Andy, Ritchie, Louis, and Niall all had tan suits on, and Andy was given a special pocket square that was magenta. Louis, Niall, and Ritchie’s were blue. They all go wait inside the tent while Harry goes to the spot he was told to wait for the first look with you. Lucas takes a few pictures of him standing there with his back turned. You take a peek outside, and bite your bottom lip as you see Harry’s back turned. You take a deep breath and make your way out. Everyone was told not to watch so you two could have your moment.

Lucas takes plenty of photos of you walking up to Harry. You get about three feet away and stop. You take a moment to admire his features: his broad back, the way the material stretches over his bum and thighs. You take a deep breath before speaking.

“Hey, neighbor.” You say softly.

“Hey, neighbor, can I turn around now?”

“Yeah, I’m dying to see the front of that suit.”

Harry smiles as he turns around, and his eyes grow wide when he looks at you. His eyes rim with tears. He covers his mouth with one hand, and the other goes to his hip.

“You…you look…I mean, you’re breathtaking.” He says to you. He steps forward and wraps his arms around you. You were trying your hardest not to cry because you didn’t want your makeup to get messed up.

“So are you, you look so handsome.” You chuckle as you hold each other. You cup his cheeks and he grips your hips and squeezes you. “I have a dress for the reception too.”

“Sneaky.” He pecks your lips. Lucas captures everything, and takes a few photos of the two of you. “Alright, it’s our son’s turn, be back in a tick.” Harry goes back to the tent and grabs Andy. He has him cover his eyes as he walks him over to you. “Ready to see your mum, buddy?”

“Yeah.”

“Please, I really don’t wanna cry and you’re making it so hard.” You laugh.

Andy takes his hands away from his eyes and he gasps.

“You look so cool!” He throws his arms around you and you hug him back.

“Andy, you look so incredibly handsome.”

“My pocket square matches Dad’s suit.”

“I see that, very clever.”

Lucas takes some pictures of the three of you, and then everyone else is allowed out. Every combination of photo is taken for each wedding party, as well as every combination of family photo. Everyone goes to wait in the tents as the guests start to arrive. Lisa, Mateo, Sandra, and Andre all take their seats. Some of your other family comes, and a few old colleagues from both yours and Harry’s previous institutions show up.

Janette and the rabbi get into position. Anne walks Harry and Andy up to the alter, and Ritchie, Louis, and Niall follow behind. Brandon was sitting up front and he gives a small wave to Andy. Andy blushes and waves back.

Lizzie walks down the aisle first, putting out rose petals. She hugs Harry briefly, and then stands in her spot. Your mother walks arm and arm with Phil and Julian, and then they sit down. Next comes Mark, Claudia, Darcy, and Nora. Harry takes a deep breath when he sees you and your father. Your smile grows wider and wider, and Harry tears up again. Your father kisses your cheek, giving you away, and you stand hand in hand with Harry. He even wore a yarmulke for you. The rabbi addresses everyone, and says a few prayers before stepping aside to let Janette speak.

“Thank you, Rabbi.” She smiles. “I am so honored to be here today doing this for the two of you. I’ve known Harry for a long time, and I’ve been grateful for our friendship. Y/N, you and I became such fast friends, and I honestly don’t know what I would do without you. Please, don’t ever leave.” You and Harry chuckle at her. “I know it’s a little chilly out, so I’ll try to keep things brief, especially since these two have their own vows. Love is a really crazy thing. We love our friends, our family, and once in a great while we find someone that fall in love with. Watching Harry and Y/N fall for each other was fascinating. It was slow, oblivious, and all of a sudden. They left for summer break as a good friends, and came back a couple. None of us were surprised, of course, but sometimes you just gotta let the kids figure it out for themselves.” A few people laugh. “And I’m so happy you two figured it out. Now, I think the time has come for you to talk, Harry, I believe you’re first.”

“Right, thanks.” He clears his throat and looks at you. He squeezes your hands in his. “Y/N, the day we met I was just excited I was going to have an office neighbor again. Things had been quiet, and I felt bad for always bugging Andre and Sandra.” You laugh at that. “We bonded over not eating meat, and then we won a game of charades, and suddenly you were all I could think about. I wasn’t quite sure why because I hadn’t felt like that in a long time, and I almost forgot what it felt like to be so into someone. I liked you, and so did my son…who’s ours now. It’s not easy dating someone with a child, and you made it seem so natural. You…made me believe in love again.” He blinks away a few tears, and you smile. Janette nods towards you.

“That’s tough to beat.” You squeeze his hands. “When I first came to the university, I was pretty much focused on getting my doctorate. The last thing I expected was to fall in love with my colleague, as charming as he was. When we all went out to dinner that night, you said you had someone at home waiting for you, and I felt weird for feeling relieved when I found out were a single dad. I was so used to being independent and doing my own thing, that I didn’t realize how good it could feel to have someone want to take care of you. I also didn’t realize how good it could feel to want to take care of someone else, and their kid.” You lean and wink at Andy, who was beaming at you. “I’ve never felt like this before, and I’m so happy that I get to keep feeling this way.”

“Andy, the rings please.” Janette says, holding out her hand. Andy drops them into her palm. “Thank you.” She hands one to you, and one to Harry. You each slip a ring on each other’s finger. “By the power vested in, and the state of Massachusetts, I now pronounce you husband and wife!”

Harry steps on the glass, and grabs you by the back of the neck to kiss you. He dips you slightly as everyone cheers. You and your parties make your way to the vans to head to the hotel. All of your guests enjoy a cocktail hour while you change into your dress. Lucas takes a few pictures of you and Harry.

“This is nice, baby.” Harry says to you.

“Thanks, I thought it would be fun to have an outfit change.” You peck his lips. “Hey, I’m your wife.”

“I know, I’m your husband.” He squishes his nose to yours.

“And for the first time as a married couple, Y/N and Harry!”

“Think that’s our cue.” You say to him and giggle. You hold hands and go into the small ballroom.

Everyone cheers as you both come inside. Groove is in the Heart starts playing, which you both chose as your first dance. It was an inside joke between the two of you. You didn’t have a lot of time to plan it, but you were able to choreograph a silly dance to it. Everyone was hollering and clapping as you hit every step. You mouth the words to each other. ‘I couldn’t ask for another. No, I couldn’t ask for another.’ It was a lot of fun. You both hug and kiss at the end, and then giggle. You were so happy Lucas had gotten everything on video.

The song for Harry’s mother-son dance starts to play, and he extends his hand out to her. Andy comes up to you and taps your shoulder. You gasp and smile endearingly at him. You dance with him as Harry dances with Anne. You weren’t expecting this from Andy at all. Next up is your dance with your father, and Harry takes the opportunity to dance with your mother, who was overjoyed.

Nora gives an incredible maid of honor speech, making everyone laugh hard. You almost snorted your champagne through your nose. Louis and Niall give a short little speech before turning the microphone to a nervous Andy. He didn’t love public speaking.

“Um, hi everyone. Th-that’s my dad.” He points to Harry and a few people chuckle. “He’s, like, the best dad in the world. He never really brought his dates around, I didn’t even know he dated. I remember when I first met Y/N…my new step-mom…I thought she was really nice. I asked my dad about her one night, and he pretty much didn’t shut up about her after that.” Everyone laughs. “But that was okay. My eleventh birthday was coming up, and we really wanted to invite her, but he was nervous. So we invited her on a hike to ease to into it. Dad was taking too long, so I asked Y/N to come to my party, and she said yes. After that she kept saying yes to us. I thought my favorite yes was when she agreed to move in, but I think today’s my new favorite.” He smiles and clears his throat. “I…I love you both.”

Everyone cheers for Andy as he comes over to you both to give you each a hug. You both tell him you love him too before he sits down. Brandon gives his shoulder a squeeze. After that, everyone makes their way to the buffet and bar area to enjoy everything. Phil had put an incredible menu together. You and Harry make your way around the room to say hello to the guests who weren’t at the ceremony. Mark was killing it as the DJ, and playing lots of music that everyone could enjoy. A slower song starts to play, so you and Harry make your way to the dancefloor so you can enjoy it.

“I think we really crushed it earlier.” You say. “No one was expecting a fun, choreographed dance.”

“I agree, blew everyone away.” He chuckles and kisses your cheek. “It’s been an incredible day.”

You nod and smile as he leads you around. You rest your head on his shoulder, and let your eyes flutter closed for a bit. You were married, you were actually married. You had the papers to prove it and everything. Sure, you weren’t Mrs. Styles, you’d be keeping your last name, which Harry had absolutely no problem with, hell, he had offered to change his own for you, but you said it wasn’t necessary.

“You know what’s gonna be super sexy of us?” He says and you look up at him with raised eyebrows. “Going on the same insurance plan.”

“God, love it when you talk dirty to me like that.” You giggle and so does he.

The song fades into a faster one, and Andy comes running over to the two of you. He tugs on Harry’s hand so they can dance together. You couldn’t stop smiling if you wanted to. At one point you and Phil share a dance as Harry and Gemma share one. Harry even dances with Julian. You weren’t sure if you had ever seen Harry have so much fun.

“Are you having fun?” Andy asks Brandon as they take a water break.

“Yeah, this is awesome. I had a lot of fun exploring yesterday too. Your family is really nice.”

“Thanks. I’m really glad your parents let you come for this.”

“Me too.” He rests his chin on his palm and smiles at Andy. He reaches with his other hand to fix the collar of his shirt. “Tan’s a nice color on you.”

“Thank you.” Andy blushes.

“Andy!” Lizzie says. “They’re gonna play the cha cha slide in a second, will you come do it with us?”

“Yeah!” He grabs Brandon’s hand to go back to the dancefloor. Everyone gets into position as the song starts.

The music was a lot different than the music that Paige had her wedding. She had more of a generic playlist. You had worked with Mark to play things everyone would like, but you also made sure to have songs on there you knew you’d be able to jam out to. So when Yeah! comes on, you and your friends squeal and all run to dance together. The kids knew the song too, but Andy had never really seen you dance the way you were right now.

“Y/N really knows how to have fun!” Brandon says.

“Yeah!” Andy says. “She really is the coolest!”

Andy knew this wasn’t his dad’s favorite kind of music so he laughs when he sees you drag him over to your friends to dance to the song. You dance up on him in a silly way, and it makes everyone laugh.

“Are they going on a honeymoon or anything?” Brandon asks Andy as they both go to grab cupcakes.

“Mhm, they’re going to Miami during Thanksgiving week. I get to stay at my mom’s for an extra couple of day which will be nice.”

“You won’t mind going back and forth?”

“Nah, it’s only for a couple of days.” Andy shrugs.

“How come her and your step-dad and Rachel aren’t here?”

“I don’t really know. My dad said he didn’t really want her here for this since they wanted to keep things really small. I guess he didn’t want to think about her or whatever.”

“Do you think Y/N and your dad are gonna try to have a baby?”

“I have no idea. I wouldn’t mind if they did, I know my dad’s always wanted to have more kids. He loves babies. Anytime we’re at a party and there’s a baby, he has to hold it. It would be cool to be a big brother, even if I’ll be a lot older.”

“My aunt is, like, ten years older than my dad, and they get along really well. I don’t think age gaps really matter when you’re older.” Andy nods as he finishes his cupcake. Another slow song starts. “Do you, um, wanna dance?” He rubs the back of his neck.

“Yeah.” Andy smiles and takes one of Brandon’s hands.

Andy keeps Brandon’s hand in his, and puts the other on his upper waist. Brandon puts his free hand on Andy’s shoulder. Ever since their kiss, Andy had this confidence about him, not that he wasn’t confident before, but he was certainly less shy now that he knew how Brandon felt about him. No one really pays too much attention to them as they dance. You and Harry notice it and just find it to be sweet.

As the night comes to end, you and Harry thank everyone for coming. Andy and Brandon head up to the hotel suite with Lizzie, Ritchie, Anne, and Gemma. You say goodbye to your family, and your friends go to their suite. Yours and Harry’s things were set up in the room you’d finally be spending the night together in. He laces his fingers in yours as you stand in the elevator. As soon as you get off, you squeal as he picks you up and carries you bridal style to your room. You giggle as you swipe the key card, and he carries you inside. There were rose petals on the floor and a bottle of champagne over ice.

“I don’t think I’ve ever felt more special.” You say and he kisses you.

He sets you down gently, and gets his suit jacket off. Harry pops the champagne and pours some into a couple of glasses. You smile as you take the flute from him and take a sip.

“As if we needed more to drink.” He jokes as he takes a sip. “Did you have fun?”

“So much fun, it was perfect. Couldn’t have asked for a better wedding.” You set your glass down and kick your heels off before wrapping your arms around his neck. “I’m gonna be really busy before we go away.”

“I know, it’s alright. You promise to work while we’re gone, right?”

“I promise.” You nod and he pecks your lips.

“Are you tired? We can wait to consummate if you want.” You laugh at that and shake your head as he squeezes your hips.

“No, baby, I’m not tired. Are you?”

“Not at all. Caught a second wind, actually.”

“Mm, well, let’s put it to good use then.”

You slot your mouth over his, and nip at his bottom lip. His hands slide up under the skirt of your dress to squeeze at your ass, kneading your plushy skin. You start unbuttoning his shirt, and tug it out of his pants. You push it off his shoulders and run your fingers up and down his chest and torso. He grips the hem of your dress and pulls it off in one swoop. You grab at your breasts because you had to use an obscene amount of tape to keep them up.

“What’s all that for?”

“I couldn’t wear a bra with that dress because the back is open, and my boobs are too big to let them just bounce around so I had to tape them up. Give me a second to go take all this off. I honestly forgot about it.” You pout slightly. “Not very sexy.” You say as you walk towards the bathroom.

“I don’t about that, your ass looks great in that thong.” He smirks and you shake your head at him.

He takes the time to get out of his shoes and slacks, leaving himself in a pair of black boxers. He sits down on the edge of the bed as he waits for you. He hears you wince a couple of times, and then you come back out.

“They’re all red now.” You pout for real now and straddle him.

“You and your sensitive skin, poor thing.” He pouts back at you and then kisses on your chest. “Let me make it all better.”

Harry swirls his tongue around your tender nipple, and does the same to other one before gently sucking. You run your fingers through his soft hair as you whimper affectionately. Your hips jut forward against the bump that’s growing in his boxers. He kisses up your throat and to your mouth as he holds you close to him.

“Get back on the bed.” You say against his lips.

You get off of him and he shifts further back on the bed so he can sit up against the headboard. He spreads his legs for you as you tug at the band of his boxers. He lifts his hips to help you take them off. You also take a moment to get your thong off so you both could just be naked.

“I wanted to do that.” He pouts.

“Well, it’s a good thing we’re married because we have the rest of our lives for you to take my clothes off.” You smirk and open his legs back up.

You kiss on his inner thigh, a spot where he was extremely sensitive, and suck a bruise into his skin. He grunts as you do so, and he watches your mouth works up his shift, kitten licks and kisses, up to his tip. You suckle on him and his mouth falls open with a sigh. You slobber all over him so you can pump what you can’t fit into your mouth. Your other hand goes to his balls and he moans as you massage them. You could practically feel them throbbing. You pop off his tip and continue to pump him slowly. You lay flat on your stomach and lick the flat of your tongue over one of his balls, causing his hips to buck up. You carefully mouth at his balls before bringing your mouth back to his tip, swirling your tongue around him.

“Y/N.” He groans. “Let me do you now.”

You give his tip one last harsh suck before you do as he says. You lay back on the bed, but he flips you onto your stomach. He pulls your hips up and you gasp when you feel his breath on your center. He licks into you from behind, and you clench your fists around the comforter on the bed. The noises he was making as he slurped and sucked on you were obscene, but you couldn’t find it in you to care because it felt so fucking good. He briefly sucks on your clit before he drags his tongue all the way back up to your other hole. Your body shudders when you feel two of his fingers slip inside you. His thumb works your clit while his tongue swirls around your other sensitive area. Your eyes nearly pop of your head when you feel his tongue enter you.

“Jesus, fuck.” You cry out. You look over your shoulder at him and see he’s totally lost in you.

His fingers were working wonders against your g-spot, his thumb was rubbing your clit in just the right way, and his tongue…Christ. Your senses were totally overwhelmed. He was moaning and groaning against you, and that’s what makes you totally lose it. You have to grab the pillow to scream into as your orgasm washes over you in waves. He lets go of you slowly, feeling your body shake under him. You carefully roll onto your back and look up at him. Your chest was heaving.

“What?” He asks as he wipes his mouth with the back of his hand.

“N-nothing, that just felt really good.” You bite your bottom lip. “I think I’m warming up to the idea of doing more…down there.” You swallow as his eyebrows raise. “Not tonight, obviously, but…I still think it’s only fair it happens to you first. I’ve been looking into it.”

“You have?” He reaches to stroke your cheek and you press into his touch.

“Yeah, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious. There’s a lot of prep work that has to be done. Are you sure you’d feel comfortable with me doing it to you?”

“Mhm.”

“You wouldn’t feel emasculated?”

“I think I was, like, sixteen the last time I cared about being masculine or not.” He smirks. “I think doing something like that with each other is so intimate and special because it just proves how much we trust one another. It really excites me.” You nod at that. “We can talk more about it later…got condoms in here?”

“Yeah, I put them in the bedside table.”

Harry nods and opens the drawer to grab one. He rips the foil packet open and slides the rubber onto his length. His runs his tip through your folds and around your clit. He pushes inside you and you both sigh out in relief. He comes down to you so you’re chest to chest and you wrap your legs around him. You wanted to make love with him tonight, and he knew that. One of your hands gets lost in his hair while the other grips at his back and shoulder. He rocks in and out of you with precision and care. Soft whimpers leave your lips as he kisses on the skin just under your ear.

“I love you so much, Y/N.” He says into your ear.

“I love you too, Harry.”

He picks up the pace a little and his tip hits your g-spot over and over. You weren’t going to last much longer, and judging by how sloppy he was getting, he wouldn’t be lasting much longer either. Your nails scratch down his back as you cry out, and he spills into the condom shortly after. Once you’re both cleaned up, you flop onto his chest so he can hold you. He wraps his arms around you and kisses your forehead. He pulls the covers over the two of you, and you sigh peacefully. You felt like a big, toasty cinnamon bun, and you couldn’t have asked for anything better, honestly.

//

When you woke up the next morning, you realized you slept with your buns in. You sit up and start taking out the bobby-pins that were used to keep them together. You shake out your hair and moan with relief as you rake your nails through. Harry was sleeping soundly next to you. You reach over on the nightstand for an elastic to put your hair up in a high ponytail. You leave the same pieces out in the front. You realize you didn’t bother to take your makeup off either. How irresponsible, you think to yourself. Harry’s arm was strung across your lap, and he squeezes your thigh when you try to get up.

“Babe.” You say and he grunts. “I desperately need to wash my face, please let me get up.”

“No.”

“Harry.”

“Just a little longer.” His eyes flutter open and he looks up at you. “I don’t feel like being a dad, a brother, a son, an uncle, or a friend just yet.”

“And what would you like to be then?”

“Just your husband.”

You chuckle softly and lift his hand to your lips to kiss his knuckles.

“As sweet as that is, unfortunately, now that you’re awake you’re all of those things. You’ll love the brunch Phil’s preparing. I swear breakfast is one of his specialties.”

“Is that why you’re so good at cooking it too?” He asks as he sits up.

“Mhm, I used to practice recipes with him. It sort of helped us bond as I was getting older.” You stretch your arms out and then get out of bed. “I left all my makeup on, I feel gross.”

He lets you do your thing in the bathroom before going in himself. You throw on a sweater with some leggings, and a comfy pair of knock-off uggs. Harry puts on some joggers and a sweatshirt. You both work to pack up all your things. You sigh as you zip up your dress bag.

“You really did look stunning yesterday, in both outfits.” He says as he wraps his arms around you from behind.

“Thank you, baby.” You lean into his embrace for a moment before he lets you go. “Did you see Andy and Brandon dancing last night?”

“I did.” Harry nods with a smile. “Think they’ve got a secret little thing going on?”

“Possibly…”

“I have a feeling they’re not saying anything because they didn’t wanna have any issues with the hotel room.”

“Why would they have issues?”

“Andy’s smart, Y/N, he knows there are certain dating rules, he’s watched enough movies with me to know that two kids dating usually means they can’t sleep in the same room, let alone the same bed.”

“So if they are dating, are you going to ban sleepovers?”

“Nah, they’re only twelve.” Harry shrugs. “But…they’ll have to keep the door open. Brandon doesn’t usually sleep in Andy’s bed anyways since he only has a little twin. I’m not too worried about it.”

“You’ll have to talk with him a little, though.”

“About what?”

“The birds and the bees.” Harry grimaces at that and it makes you laugh.

“You’re his mum now, you do it.”

“Harry.” You laugh harder.

“Please, I can’t get through a conversation like that. I don’t even know what I’d say to him. He can’t really be thinking about that kind of stuff yet can he?”

“I don’t know, kids today are doing things at younger and younger ages. They could easily be kissing and making out. He should know that he really should be doing anything below the belt just yet. And like you said, he’s twelve…aren’t things a little hard to control down there at that age? He needs some guidance ahead of time in case he gets a little too excited.”

“Shit.” Harry says in agreement.

“We can wait until he tells us what’s going. It could easily be nothing still.”

“True.” He kisses your cheek and grabs a good chunk of the bags.

You both head downstairs, and into the small function room you had the rehearsal dinner in. Your nostrils are hit with coffee and waffles. Phil had set up a waffle bar, pancakes, and crepes! There was also eggs, breakfast sausage and bacon (regular and vegan), oatmeal, and yogurt. Your mouth waters from all of it, but you’re snapped out of your daze when you hear other in the room clap and holler at you and harry. You both bow and curtsey. You say your hellos and good mornings before you both pile up your plates.

“Morning.” Andy comes over to the two of you.

“Hey, buddy, how’d you sleep?” Harry says.

“Good, I conked right out, I was tired. Is everyone going back to London today?”

“M’afraid so.” Harry sighs. “We’ll see everyone again real soon though.”

“Yeah.” Andy looks over at Anne. “I’m gonna go sit with Grammy then.”

“Go ahead.” You say. “Enjoy the time with her.”

Andy nods and goes to sit with Anne. Brandon sits on his other side, although he was deep in conversation with Ritchie about the complexities of soccer versus football. Gemma was busy braiding back Lizzie’s hair.

“So, how is it?” Phil says as he plops down in the seat next to you.

“Amazing, I can’t thank you enough.”

“We’re hoping to do more catering events, so we made sure to take a lot of pictures of everything. This was like a test run.”

“Happy we could help, mate.” Harry says. Louis and Niall sit down next to him.

“Sleep well?” Louis asks Harry.

“Like a rock since I had my girl next to me.” Harry smirks.

“You two officially married now?” Niall says.

“Very much so.” Harry’s smirk grows.

“Hey!” You snap your head in their direction. “None of that at breakfast, please. My parents are right over there.” Your cheeks were beat red.

“Y/N, you and Janette have had such vulgar conversations in front of other people before-“ Harry starts, but you cut him off.

“Not in front of my fucking family.” Your gaze is warning and he nods as you turn back to speak with Phil.

The morning goes on, and everyone enjoys their breakfasts. You wait with Harry’s family and friends as their cabs to the airport would be arriving any moment. It was hugs and kisses all around. You already couldn’t wait to see them for the holidays. After wrapping things up with Julian, you, Harry, Andy, and Brandon all head to Harry’s car.

“Now, boys, this is a momentous occasion.” He turns to look at them in the backseat. “Y/N is actually letting me drive through the city.” You glare at him and he laughs.

“Keep it up and I’ll make you switch right now.”

“How come you’re not driving, Y/N?” Andy asks.

“I have a bit of a headache. The sun is a little bright for me today.” You had a pair of sunglasses on to prove it. “This is a test for your dad.”

“And I’m going to pass with flying colors.” He retorts. “Everyone buckled up?” He hears a yes from both boys and he off he goes.

Andy’s hand creeps over to Brandon’s, and they subtly latch their pinkies as they sit in the back. They look at each other briefly to smile before looking out their respective windows. Andy notices you mindlessly reach your hand out to Harry’s. Harry takes your hand in his, kisses it, and rests it in his lap as he continues to drive. It makes Andy smile softly before his eyelids become too heavy, and he drifts off.

//

“Ugh, I do not wanna go to work tomorrow.” You groan Sunday night as you go through your emails. “So many of these questions could be answered if these fucking kids just used Google, like what the actual fuck?!” Andy and Harry both blink at you. “What?”

“Maybe…close your laptop.” Harry says as he gently closes it. “You can catch up tomorrow morning like how I plan to. Just relax, yeah?”

You nod and put your laptop on the coffee table.

“What movie are we watching?” You ask the boys?

“One of my favorites.” Andy says. “Home Alone.”

“A bit early for Christmas movies, no?”

“Y/N, once it’s November, it’s Christmas.” Andy says.

“You’re just going to skip over Thanksgiving?’

“Dad doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving, so it’s okay.”

“Fair enough.” You chuckle. “Throw it on.” Harry puts his arm around you as Andy queues it up.

“Before we do…can I talk to you both about something?” You and Harry share a glance with each other before looking at Andy. You both sit up straight to look at him. “Don’t freak out…but I’ve sort of been keeping something to myself…about me and Brandon?”

“Oh?” You say. “Like what?”

“Well…so…at Mum’s wedding, we almost kissed, but his dad called him so we got interrupted, and then nothing happened for a while…until Caroline’s Halloween party.” He swallows. “I mean, obviously that whole thing at school happened with Greg, and sometimes we’d sort of, like, flirt I guess in class, and so at the party we were all playing truth or dare, and we got dared to go into the closet together.”

“Oh my god.” Harry says and pinches the bridge of his nose.

“It’s not what you think! We just talked while we were in there. I didn’t wanna have my first kiss to be in a closet with a bunch of people waiting for us to come out afterwards…and I told Brandon that, and then I told him I wanted him to kiss me, and he said he wanted to kiss me too, so when we came out I asked Caroline if there was somewhere he and I could go where there wouldn’t be a ton of people around and she let us go outside.” He chews his bottom lip. “I…I asked Brandon how he felt about me and we both said that we really liked each other, and then we…well, we kissed for a little while.”

“Has…anything happened since?” Harry asks carefully.

“No, well, we hold hands a lot, but that’s been it. We didn’t wanna say anything until after your wedding.”

“Why?” You say. “You can tell us anything.”

“I was scared you wouldn’t let us stay in the same room, or something. I mean I know we were with Ritchie and Lizzie, but I didn’t know if you’d make one of us sleep on the floor.”

“Are you two planning to date? I mean…does he only like boys, or does he like boys and girls like you?” Harry asks.

“I don’t really know how he feels about people one way or the other. I think he’s still figuring it out, but he knows he like likes me, and I like like him…so yeah, I think we’re gonna date. Is that okay?”

“Of course it is.” Harry says quickly. “I mean, in the grand scheme of things I think you’re too young to be getting into a relationship, I felt the same way with Caroline, but I’m not gonna tell you no. However, some rules will have to be put into place, the same ones you had with her. Door open if you’re in your room and stuff like that. Also, if you sleep at his place, I’d prefer it if you didn’t sleep in his bed. I’m sure his parents will feel the same way.”

“Is Brandon going to tell his parents?” You ask Andy.

“Yeah, we both promised to tell tonight. He’s supposed to text me after he talks to them. His parents, luckily, are really cool about this stuff. His aunt has a wife, and she and Mr. Stewart are really close, so he doesn’t really have anything to worry about.”

Times like these you wished all kids had it as easy as Brandon and Andy.

“Alright.” Harry nods. “Then it’s all good. I’m, um, glad you two have figured things out, I know it was a little up and down for a bit.”

“Me too.” Andy smiles.

“Oh my goodness.” You sniffle and they both look at you. “You had, like, a fairytale first kiss! I’m so jealous.” You laugh and so do they.

“Why, what was yours like?” Andy asks.

“God, it was so awkward, I can’t even get into it. It wasn’t with someone special I can tell you that much. I’m really happy for you Andy.”

“Thanks.”

“You and I will need to have a little chat about…things.” Harry says to him. “But not right now, it can wait.”

“What kind of things?” Andy’s face scrunches.

“Just… things…” Harry clears his throat. “Is there anything else you wanna tell us?”

“No.” Andy shrugs and takes his phone out of his pocket to text Brandon that everything went well.

“Okay, let’s get the movie started then.” Harry grabs the remote and hits play. Andy gets up and hugs the both of you before sitting back down on the loveseat, curling up with his blanket. “Andy?”

“Yeah?”

“You plan to tell your mother right?”

“When I see her Friday I will on the car ride.”

“Good. I’m sure she’ll be just as happy for you.” Harry smiles and turns to look at the TV.

Brandon: all good over here too, my mom teared up she’s so lame lol

Andy: lol Y/N did too. Wanna meet at our lockers before homeroom tomorrow?

Brandon: definitely : )

Andy sighs happily and puts his phone down so he can pay attention to the movie. He was on cloud nine.

//

Being newlyweds was a lot of fun. As if Harry couldn’t already keep his hands off you, it was like he was jumping you every second he got. In the morning, in the shower, sometimes he’d sneak you home quick when you should be eating lunch, and if it was a weekend Andy was at Paige’s, god, he didn’t let you leave the bedroom. However, he was good about staying away from while you worked. He respected that you were in desperate need to get things done. The paper itself was just about complete, but you still needed to edit the entire thing, and work on your dissertation defense which was slated for April.

Andy sat down with Paige and Noah and told them what was going on with Brandon. He told Rachel as well. Everyone was happy for him. He said he didn’t want Lydia to know just yet. He knew she was old fashioned, and he was nervous she’d take it the wrong way. Paige completely understood, and she said she’d keep it between them.

The Ariana Grande concert was incredible, beyond incredible. You had to stay back with Caroline while Andy got to do the meet and greet, but his face said it all. He went on and on about how nice she was. Andy was so thankful you were able to take him. He made sure to wear his concert tee over a long-sleeve shirt the following Monday at school.

“Morning.” Brandon says as he meets Andy at his locker.

“Hey.” Andy smiles.

“So, how was it?”

“Amazing, like, I knew she’d sound good live, but holy shit, she was incredible.”

“What was meeting her like?”

“She was a lot shorter in person.” Andy chuckles. “But she was really nice, and she said she liked my nails, and my hair. It all happened really fast. They emailed the picture to Y/N, I’ll have to show you next time you come over.”

“I’d like that.” Brandon leans against the closed lockers as Andy gets the books he’ll need for the first half of the day. “We have that history test in a couple of days.”

“Mhm.” Andy nods, a smile creeping on his lips.

“Do you wanna come over and study together? We could order pizza and stuff.”

“Mm, so like a study date?” Andy smirks.

“If you wanna call it that, yeah.” Brandon nods.

“I’ll text my dad and see if I can come over after school.”

“Cool.”

“Cool.” Andy slots his fingers through Brandon’s so they can hold hands down the hall.

There were a few broken hearts at Thomas Hamilton Middle School. There were quite a few girls that had crushes on both Andy and Brandon. Obviously those close to the boys knew something was bound to happen between them, but anyone on the outside just thought they had a wholesome friendship.

Harry gives the okay for Andy to go over Brandon’s after school. Selfishly that meant he could fuck you when you got home from work before you needed to go up to the loft to work.

“Hi, Andy.” Mrs. Stewart says as she picks the boys up from school.

“Hello, Mrs. Stewart, how are you?”

“I’m good, honey, thank you. How are your dad and Y/N?”

“They’re good, they really like being married.”

She chuckles at that and gets the boys home. Brandon asks if they can have pizza later, and Mrs. Stewart says yes before they both go into his room.

“Uh, boys? Leave the door open, please.” She says shyly and they both nod.

“Her and my dad are still getting used to it.” Brandon explains as they both set up on his floor.

“My dad says my door has to stay open if you come over too. I had the same rules when I was with Caroline.” Andy shrugs.

“Same for when I was with Molly, now that I think about it. I don’t know what they think we’re gonna be doing in here, we’re just studying.”

“I don’t know either, parents are weird.”

After going over their notes, and quizzing each other a bit, the boys enjoy some pizza, and then decide to play some video games. It was the same as it ever was.

“Do you feel like watching TV until your parents come to get you?” Brandon asks him.

“Sure.” Andy shrugs.

Brandon switches the TV to Nickelodeon. Some reruns of Full House was on. Brandon had beanbag chairs in his room, so that was what he and Andy were sitting on. They start holding hands, and slouch into the chairs. They look at each other. Brandon’s eyes glace to the door to make sure his parents weren’t creeping around. He nods, and Andy leans in to press his lips to Brandon’s. They slouch a little further down, and Brandon cups Andy’s cheek. Andy tugs on the collar of Brandon’s shirt to pull him a little closer.

“Andy!” Mr. Stewart yells from the kitchen. The boys jump off each other. “Your dad’s here!”

“Jesus.” Andy catches his breath. “Scared the shit out of me.”

“Thought you’d be used to him yelling by now. He’s just as loud on the court.” Brandon smirks and stands up. He puts his hand out for Andy and helps him up. “I’m glad you came over today.”

“Me too, thanks for having me.” Andy cleans up his things and gets his backpack together. He leans in and kisses Brandon’s cheek before they walk out of his room. “Thanks again for dinner Mr. and Mrs. Stewart, goodnight.”

“You’re more than welcome, tell your folks we say hi.” Mr. Stewart says as Andy leaves.

He gets into the backseat of Harry’s car.

“Hey, Dad.”

“How’d the studying go?”

“Good, I’m feeling really prepared for Wednesday. Where’s Y/N?”

“Oh, she, uh, she’s a little tired so she’s in bed reading.”

“Why’s she so tired? It’s only 7:30.”

“She…” You convinced Harry to let you work uninterrupted until dinner time. He agreed, and then he fucked you on the kitchen counter while dinner was in the over. Then he fucked you again. Bent you over the bed. So, yeah, you were a little too tired to go out with him and pick Andy up. “She worked a lot today, so she just felt like staying in, that’s all.” He clears his throat.

“Can I ask you something sort of personal?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“What do you do…like…I don’t even know how to explain this, um, you know when your pants get tight?”

“When your pants get tight?”

“Yeah, like, in the front?” Andy twiddles his thumbs.

“In the…oh…oh! Yeah, is that, uh, starting to happen to you a little more often?”

“Yeah, usually if it happens in class or something, I just put my book over my lap, but I’m afraid it might happen when I’m hanging out with Brandon. It would be so embarrassing if we were kissing, you know?”

Harry takes a deep as he tries not to crash his car. These were the conversation he was dreading, but he supposed he was happy Andy felt comfortable enough to bring it up on his own.

“Yeah, I know what you mean. It’s pretty tough to control at your age, but something you can do to help yourself out is to think of something gross or sad.”

“Like what?”

“Um…I don’t know, what grosses you out?”

“When people sneeze into their hands.”

“Alright, so think of that.”

“It works?”

“For the most part. Your head gets distracted so other parts of you don’t get as excited.”

“Alright, I’ll give it a try I guess.”

“Do you two, uh, kiss a lot?”

“Well, not really since we feel like we’re being watched every two seconds. Can’t do it at school because of the teachers, and we have to keep our doors open so…” He rolls his eyes.

“That’s so you two stay respectful.”

“You know what’s interesting? Never, not once, have you and Y/N kept your bedroom door open when you both go in there.”

“We’re adults.”

“So that means you deserve privacy more than me?”

“Not necessarily, but there’s an emotional maturity that she and I have that you don’t yet. If your door’s open, you’re not gonna get any funny ideas.”

“Like what? It’s just kissing.”

Harry pulls into the garage and turns the car off. He sighs and turns to look at Andy.

“Kissing can lead to other things sometimes.”

“Like…making out?”

“Yeah.” Harry nods. “And then that leads to more serious things that you’re really not old enough for, but sometimes things happen when you’re not properly supervised, and I wanna keep you safe, as I’m sure Brandon’s parents wanna keep him safe too. Someday, when you’re older, I probably won’t make you keep your door wide open, maybe just open a crack, because you do deserve privacy, but right now you’re twelve, so.”

“Okay.” Andy sits there for a moment. “So, adults get to do whatever they want with each other whenever they want?”

“No, not at all. Self-control is a thing, asking for permission is a thing. You should always ask before you touch, and if someone says no you have to listen and respect that. You can’t take it personally.”

“Do you and Y/N ever say no to each other?”

“Sure! More often than you think, actually. I know she and I can be pretty touchy, but there are times either of us aren’t in the mood to cuddle or whatever. Communication is really important in any relationship. She and I do a pretty good job of communicating our feelings, I think.”

“Well, I would hope so, you both teach classes about it.” Andy laughs.

“You’d be surprised how dense people can be, even when they study something for years. Just make sure you and Brandon continue to communicate. You should be doing things you both feel comfortable with. There’s no need for you two to rush anything either.”

“Alright, thanks, Dad.”

“Any time.”

They both get out of the car and head inside. Andy says he’s going to take a quick shower and then get ready for bed. Harry goes into your shared room to see you still reading.

“Did he have a good time?”

“Yeah.” Harry says as he sits gets changed into his pj’s. “We had an interesting chat in the car.”

“About what?”

“Guy stuff.” You scoff at him. “What?”

“What does guy stuff entail?”

“He asked me what he should do if he accidentally gets a stiffy while kissing.” Your eyes widen and your jaw drops. “He didn’t word it like that, obviously.”

“Did that happen to him tonight?”

“No, but he’s scared that it could.”

“What did you tell him to do?”

“I told him to think of something that grosses him out.” He shrugs, and sits next to you on the bed with his own book.

“Gotta be so tough being a boy.” You pout sarcastically. “Having to hide your boners all the time.” Harry side eyes you. “It’s what you get for having everything else in your lives be so easy. You’re sitting there dealing with that while us girls are sitting there hoping we haven’t randomly started bleeding.”

“Yeah, I remember Gem coming home from school a few times to change her clothes.”

“It’s literally the worst! You can’t tell if it feels like discharge or if you’re just randomly a little wet, so you panic and run to the bathroom, and then you’re relieved when it’s nothing. Plus, you’re crazy irregular at that age, so even if you’re tracking it, it can still be random.”

“That really does suck.” You hum your response. “Am I good to you when you have your period? Is there anything you’d like me to do?”

“Oh, Harry, don’t be silly.”

“M’serious! Should we keep more dark chocolate in the house? Oh! I could get one of those hot water presses to put on your back, or-“

“Babe.” You put your hand on his shoulder. “You do plenty, thank you very much.” You lean over and kiss his cheek.

“I’m kinda glad you got it tonight so you won’t have it on our trip.”

“Me too. Would have been a pain in the ass for sure.” You bite your bottom lip. “I’m very excited for Miami.”

“Same here, the weather’s looking good. We’ll be able to go to the beach, and go to bars, all that fun stuff.”

“Mhm.” You smile and get back to your book.

You had a few things up your sleeve for your week away, but you wanted it to be a pleasant surprise for your husband, so you were doing your absolute best to keep it to yourself.

[evarcana]

Courtiers + Christmas

Sorry, dear anon, it took me ages 😓 well at least I did it before xmas, right?

To avoid the whole discourse about why the bunch of demons and one morally corrupted human are celebrating Christmas, I should say that this is based on the MC inviting the courtiers to celebrate together.

Valdemar🎄😈

Not like they usually pay attention to silly human holidays. But if it is you inviting... “how delightful” - of course Valdemar is coming. The problem is that in their millennia of existence being busy with their research they sort of missed out on what Christmas was about. “MC, don’t give me that look, this is all fairly new”, you don’t even want to what is old for them. But it’s Valdemar so they lock themselves in dungeons and put all their inhuman determination into researching Christmas.

Valdemar’s research is ...advanced. After they excitingly start telling you whether you knew that red in decorations symbolises blood, you decide it’s time to intervene, hand Valdemar list of gifts to buy and encourage them to return to their usual work (who would believe you would ever say it).

They turn to the party/dinner dressed as Santa (or whatever equivalent). Are you shocked? Erm yes... But why are other guests loving it ?! Well they did become sort of xmas expert in less than a week so you guess it’s okay. Expects lots of stories on how Christmas celebrations developed over the last centuries.

Charms your grandma or elderly auntie by being the only person capable of listening about their chronical conditions and actually engaging on the topic. Your little niece/neighbour’s kid loves them too - they expertly removed all those bits of turkey leg they don’t like to eat in less than 5 seconds. Everybody loves them. But Valdemar still spends most of the time telling what a fascinating specimen you are.

When it comes to gift exchange part, you are glad that they only added a few medical books, plague masks and antiseptics to the list, could be worse.., but where is yours present? “You, my little silly duckling, are on the naughty list this year” with this Valdemar gently throws you in their sack grabs you and excuses you both from the party. You try to protest but they only say that they played along for long enough and now it’s their turn to play little game with you. Oh well you can leave early one year, it promises to be worth it.

Valerius 🎁🍷

Every year Valerius receives plenty of invitations to winter holidays parties arranged by the nobles but this is the first time he got invitation to something that personal. Tells you that he needs to check his diary and finally reluctantly agrees only because “there was a rather unfortunate cancellation”. But really in his head he is like “Omg does it mean that I am part of the family now? Cancel all plans NOW.”

Then he learns that you plan to have Christmas dinner/party at your place. The consul of Vesuvia to go to that ...shack?? That’s unthinkable: The party will be in his estate, yes he knows that it’s incredibly generous of him to offer and no you cannot refuse.

And this is when things are getting extra. You know that crazy neighbours competitions whose Christmas lights are brighter and decorations are better? That’s Valerius, although he has nobody to compete with really. The massive xmas tree got delivered from who-knows-where and who-knows-how in 2 days, and there is no red, golden or green decoration item left in stock in entire Vesuvia, oh and some the palace’s best cooks suddenly took a sick leave for a week (no it was Valerius promising them triple wages).

You ask Valerius not to get any expensive presents, otherwise you will feel bad, he did indeed agree that it was reasonable suugestion. Everybody gets presents more expensive than life. The guests surpringly find Valerius a very good host, this might have something to do with those gifts which were definitely extra or with the fact that everybody got merry in like 20 min thanks to all the fancy wine. Valerius is gossip central, argues about politics with your annoying uncle and plays board games with children.

Insists that it would be better if you stay overnight and not travel home late. Falls asleep in chair with drink in hand like an old man. Later that chair somehow migrates to the hallway by the guest bedroom, under the strategically placed mistletoe. Wait, where did red silky robes come from? All planned. Let’s hope that the unfortunate relative of yours is not staying in the same guestwing.

Vlastomil 🎅🏻 🪱

It’s lovely of you to invite him but he is a busy worm man and cannot really leave his children alone. Maybe he can just stop by? “No, MC! Don’t get offended!!”

Then he learns that Christmas is usually about family, does it mean that his children can come as well?? Ugh while you are mumbling something about that worms may not be very comfortable at your place, Vlastomil decides that the Christmas party will be held in his garden so the worms everybody can enjoy it.

Prepare to have a ...thematic Christmas. There is white xmas tree decorated with the shimmery worms and candy canes which have worms wrapped around them. Okay, even you are not the biggest fan of worms you have to admit that the ice sculptures of worms are quite impressive. He even has little nativity scene but with the worms.

Everybody receives crystal tree decoration baubles with live worms inside. Everybody is shocked. Vlastomil explains that it’s only stocking fillers and there are more gifts. (Also crystal baublesare only for transportation, the worms need to be free range, how dare you). The actual gifts are... amazing. Somebody got a scarf that they liked but didn’t have enough money to buy on that day, another person got a album of pin up pictures of snake women even if it was supposed to be a secret interest of theirs and you got that sparkly princess teara you cried for your parents to buy at age 5 but they never did (cmon, x years later, you still like it).

Some little child says that Vlastomil is like Santa with how you he magically read people’s wishes (there there, little one, it’s just the power of gossip), but Vlastomil is vibing: wiggler gets elf outfit from somewhere and you get lots of invitations to “come to sit on Santa’s lap”. Yes you can stay there after all the guests leave (and yes you can keep your sparkly teara on).

Volta 🍪🥛

Was secretly dreaming to be invited since at least October. But is still genuinely surprised when you ask her to come. She asks tonnes of questions: who else is coming, are you sure they would like Volta, what are you going to do, will there be food?

Volta wants to help you with all the preparations. Not like she is super useful but she did dig out from the piles of stuff in her estate and bring you lots of old tree decorations and some nice tableware. She basically spends all your time with you in the build up to Christmas: you decorate the house together, make gingerbread houses (well more like you made one house from the 1000s attempt, they all got eaten before they were actually completed) and pack gifts for everybody.

You warned all the guests that there going to be lots of food this year, and no you finally don’t need to worry about what to do with the leftovers and crying “end me, I am sick of having xmas food for 10 days in a row” because they are not going to be any leftovers. But you didn’t expect Volta to turn up with even more food. “Volta does not want anybody to starve on Christmas!”. She surely eats lots but she is also looking after other people lots, passing them plates with food (just imagine her holding it with both of her tiny hands) and topping up their drinks, she wants everybody to enjoy the dinner.

Everybody at the table is talking of how adorable Volta is, and nobody can even hide tears when Volta presents little hand made gifts that she prepared herself. But Volta humming Christmas carols? How does she even know Christmas carols? This is illegal level of cuteness.

Volta wants to stay to help you to clean up when the dinner is over. It’s quite and it’s only two of you. Oh you might still have some sweet things in the cupboard.

Vulgora🔥🌟

At first super excited to be invited but the next second they ask what is Christmas about and what does it involve. You decorate, eat, chat to people and exchange gifts? That sounds awfully boring to Vulgora. Can they at least smash the tree in the end? What do you mean - NO?!?!

Eager to help too. They need to use their energy somewhere. You are not sure whether it’s the type of help you wanted. You asked them to carry the xmas tree from the market? There are 5 trees in front of the house, one of which is like is almost 10’ tall. You asked them to chop some wood for the fire? Well, there is enough to have a bonfire in the towncentre. But on the positive side, your house is lavishly decorated this year, Vulgora likes the red and golden theme.

Lots of battle stories at the dinner, some of which ...lack xmas spirit a bit. All the gifts are...war themed. Then Vulgora gets bored and wants to fight for the right to cut the turkey/ vegan nut roast, whatever you are having. Oh no. But they can smash nuts with their gauntlets - the guests are impressed and suddenly want more battle stories. On the positive side, it’s definitely not boring this year, Vulgora is load and energetic.

But then suddenly Vulgora suggests you all go outside, when you question them, they say it’s a surprise. It’s hard to believe what you see: they prepared fireworks and sparkle fountains !!! You cannot help but smile watching vulgora excitingly running around setting them all off (but hopefully not setting your house on fire).

You watch firework lighting up the sky with Vulgora hugging you from behind and then..they rugby tackle you to the ground?! Well whether there is snow or not, they want to have a fight. Luckily the fireworks are over and the guests can just...leave you two to it.

[adenei]

I know you don’t want to write about pregnancy announcement anymore but can you do a continuation just for >I’m not sick< please ??? You remember ??? I wanna know the raction of the Weasley’s and Grange’s to this very early news

Hi - Thanks so much for the ask, and I appreciate you remembering me saying that. I got a little carried away with this one, and I hope you love it as much as I do! 

Ask box is open

*******************

The Announcement

Hermione had planned everything out with Ron. They were going to tell their parents that they’d be welcoming a grandchild around the holidays. No one but Ron, Harry, Ginny and Professor McGonagall knew that Hermione had returned home from the semester early. Hermione had kept her interviews at the Ministry and finally decided to take a position within the Magical Creatures department. 

By the time term had officially ended, Hermione was close to three months, and the baby’s heartbeat was strong as ever. A mediwitch had been visiting Grimmauld Place for Hermione’s appointments, and had been required to sign several nondisclosure agreements to protect them and the baby. In order to conceal Hermione’s whereabouts, Ron had insisted he’d ‘pick’ Hermione up from the train, much to the Mr. and Mrs. Granger’s chagrin. 

Ron knew they wouldn’t be happy about the delay in seeing their only daughter, but it helped that Ron had begun to make a habit of going to the Granger’s home once a week for dinner. Even though Mrs. Granger was upset that she couldn’t collect her daughter from King’s Cross, Ron found that she’d given in rather quickly. She was excited at Ron’s suggestion to have his parents join them for their weekly dinner when Hermione returned home, and had begun planning the evening’s meal before Ron had left a few weeks ago.

“Have I told you how sweet it is that you’ve been having dinner with my parents once a week?” Hermione asked, bringing Ron out of his thoughts. She was eyeing herself in the mirror, checking to see how she looked in the flowy, coral colored sundress she’d chosen for the evening. 

“Er, once or twice, yeah,” Ron responded with a grin. He held out his arms for her to come to him. 

“I’m so nervous,” Hermione said. Ron could tell she was holding back tears. “What if they’re ashamed. We should have been more careful. We’re only just starting our adult lives and we’re bringing a child into the world. And we’re not even married yet!”

Ron wrapped his arms tighter around her. This wasn’t the first time she’d spiraled into an emotional mess thinking about everyone’s reactions over how out of order this all seemed. “Well, I thought about giving you a ring to show off tonight, but I didn’t want our parents to die of a heart attack from too much news in one sitting.”

He meant it as a joke to lighten the mood, though he was completely serious about putting a ring on her finger. Baby or no baby, he couldn’t imagine not sharing the rest of his life with Hermione. Ron felt her pull away and look at him.

“You- you have a ring?” she asked. 

“I-” Ron sighed. “Reckon I didn’t think that quite through, did I…”

“Ron,” Hermione pressed.

“Maybe I do. That alright?” Ron said as he looked away. He couldn’t bear her rejection.

“Are you proposing?” Hermione asked in a hushed whisper.

“No!” Ron said quickly. “Er, not yet anyways.” Ron shook his head. “I’m really buggering this up, aren’t I? Yes, Hermione, I do plan on asking you to marry me, but not tonight. I plan on doing it properly, so can we forget this conversation even happened?” Ron was sure his ears were scarlet.

“You really want to marry me?” Hermione asked him cautiously. They’d made mention of the future, but had never actually talked about it. 

Ron’s eyes sought hers. “Course I do. Even if we weren’t going to have a baby sooner than we expected. You’re it for me. It’s always been you.” It felt good to be honest with her. After so many years of skirting around their feelings, they were finally able to be open with each other.

Hermione didn’t trust her voice to tell him she felt the same, so she leaned in and kissed him. Hoping she could put everything she was feeling into that one kiss. Suddenly, it didn’t matter what their parents, or anyone else for that matter, thought. She was going to spend the rest of her life with the only man she’d ever loved, and she felt like the luckiest girl in the world.

“I love you,” she whispered against his lips.

“I love you, too.” Ron reluctantly pulled away and looked at the clock on the wall. “Shite, we’ve got to get going.”

Hermione sighed. “I suppose you’re right. Might as well get it over with, right?”

Ron nodded. They still had a ways to go before it would be the appropriate point in the evening. 

************************

Ron was assisting Mrs. Granger with cleaning up while Hermione and Mr. Granger led Ron’s parents into the living room. 

“Is everything alright with Hermione?” she asked him.

“Er, yeah. Why wouldn’t it be?” Ron responded, trying to be cool. Of course her mother would pick up on her uneasiness tonight. Hermione was trying her best, but she was still quite jumpy.

“She just seems off, is all. Hermione’s normally a ball of energy when she comes home at the end of term. We can barely get a word in edgewise when she’s telling us stories of everything she’s learned. She’s been awfully quiet. You’d tell me if something was wrong, right?” Mrs. Granger looked sternly at Ron. 

“Y-yeah, of course!” Ron said without thinking. 

Mrs. Granger eyed him carefully. As much as she wanted to believe him, there was something in the tone of his voice that told her he was hiding something from her. “Ron…”

“Just, trust me, okay?” Ron pleaded with the woman who would be his future mother in law. “Hermione’s fine. Can I help you get the coffee? I know Mum always takes a cup after dinner.”

Though Mrs. Granger wanted to press him more for answers about her daughter’s peculiar behavior, she let it slide. It was evident that Ron cared deeply for Hermione, and the thought made her smile softly. She completely understood Hermione’s soft spot for the young redhead. She was developing one of her own, it seemed.

After the coffee was ready, they made their way into the living room, and joined the rest of the party. Conversation flowed easily, and now Hermione and Ron were waiting for the right moment to bring up their news. It didn’t take long, since Mrs. Weasley noticed Hermione’s unease now.

Hermione, dear, are you alright? You look pale as a ghost,” Mrs. Weasley said in a concerned voice. “You barely ate anything at dinner, either.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” added Mrs. Granger. 

“I-” Hermione started to speak, but then looked at Ron. They both knew now was as good a time as ever, but the words seemed to fail her.

“We, er, have something we wanted to talk to you about,” Ron finished.

“Is everything alright?” Mr. Weasley asked, looking between the two.

“Y-yeah,” Ron said. He looked at Hermione. He knew she wanted to lead the conversation. She’d said as much earlier today, but he’d be there to fill in if he was needed.

“I’ve- Well, the thing is, I received some news at Hogwarts at the beginning of June,” Hermione started to say.

“Is this about the job you’ve taken with the Ministry?” her father asked. “We knew you were planning to take the job with the Magical Creatures department, but did something else come up?”

“Sort of. I actually finished my exams three weeks ago, and was able to leave Hogwarts a bit earlier than expected.”

“What? But...why didn’t you tell us, sweetheart?” her mother asked. She shot Ron a look, and he knew he was probably going to be in trouble for not saying anything. He met her eyes, not backing down as he supported his girlfriend.

“I- I couldn’t. I wasn’t planning on ending the year early, but I needed to. You see, I’d been feeling really sick and-”

“-You were ill and you didn’t come straight here or to us?” Mrs. Weasley asked, cutting Hermione off.

“I needed to be with Ron. I couldn’t come home or to the Burrow,” Hermione said as she hung her head. She knew she needed to stop beating around the bush. Ron placed his hand in hers, reminding her that he was right there with her. “It turns out it was morning sickness,” Hermione said softly.

“W-what?” Mrs. Granger said as Mrs. Weasley gasped.

“Surely, you’re not…” Mr. Granger started to say.

“I’m pregnant.” Hermione said, regaining her resolve as she looked up. “And Ron and I have talked, and we’re keeping it.”

“How long?” Mr. Weasley asked when no one else spoke.

“Three months,” Ron said.

“So…” his father said, as he tried to do the math.

“Easter holidays,” Hermione supplied. “We said the charms, but Madame Pomfrey said it’s not always entirely effective. It was a shock to both of us at first, but we’ve had a lot of time to think about this, and- and we’re going to see this through. We love each other, and sure, maybe this isn’t the timeline we’d exactly planned, but-” Hermione paused and looked at Ron, who smiled at her.

“When has anything with us ever gone as planned?” he attempted a chuckle. He looked at Hermione’s parents then, and with all the sincerity in the world, he said, “I love your daughter more than anything in this world, and I mean to marry her. I’ll do everything to keep them happy and safe and loved.”

He shifted his arm to wrap around Hermione’s shoulders as he leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. Ron could tell Hermione wanted to say she was sorry, but they’d talked about that, and she wasn’t sorry. They were consenting adults, and the child that was now growing inside her was made with all the love in the world. 

They gave their parents a moment to process the news. Mrs. Weasley finally spoke first as she grabbed her husband's hands. “Another grandbaby. Oh, my word, another! I can’t believe it.” She was across the room in an instant, wrapping Ron and Hermione in a tight hug. 

Luckily, Molly’s reaction shook some reality back into Hermione’s parents. Soon everyone was on their feet, hugging and asking questions about when they were due and whether they predicted it would be a boy or girl. Hermione was feeling more relieved and relaxed now that she’d been assured of their parent’s acceptance. 

Later on, as Ron’s parents were getting ready to leave, he took it upon himself to take the empty dishes back out to the kitchen. As he was rinsing the cups in the sink, he heard Mrs. Granger come in.

“I’m sorry I lied before,” Ron said. 

“I appreciate the apology,” Mrs. Granger said as she set the remaining dishes on the counter. “I’ll admit I was mad at first, but I understand now. I couldn’t ask for a better future son in law, you know.”

Despite himself, Ron smiled. “Thanks. I meant what I said earlier, about taking care of her and our future family.”

“I know. Hermione’s lucky to have you, and so are we. Now, you should get her home to rest. I’ll take care of this. She needs her sleep at this stage,” Mrs. Granger said with a smile. 

“Er, right. Thanks for having us,” Ron said as he bid her goodbye.

Mrs. Granger watched as Ron walked out of the kitchen. For all the issues she may have had about the world she’d let her daughter enter at the age of eleven, she was beyond thankful for the redheaded wizard who’d stolen her daughter’s heart. She knew there was no better match in this world for her daughter than the youngest Weasley boy, and there was a newfound excitement that she was feeling as she thought about the life the two would build together.

[hervoidfury]

Halloween Madness — Trent Beretta.

- first overdue request by @alltimedevil13 ( sorry for being late I wanted it to be perfect. If you want another let me know )

— Trent Beretta x reader. ( I'm naming the reader Christy )

— word count: frankly this feels short so who knows this can be made into a series :'D

Halloween was Christy's favorite time of the year, aside from Christmas; seeing the excited faces of young kids coming in to get candy made the young woman happy. Unfortunately due to the pandemic, things have definitely shifted in terms of celebrating holidays, Halloween being no different than the rest.

Christy had been working with AEW since its debut last year, she had accepted as an assistant to the seamstress Sandra who is the brains behind the ring gears adorned by the AEW roster. Sandra was kind, open and accepting Christy's ideas in terms of creating the perfect ring gear for each male and female superstar.

Although working in a wrestling promotion is hard, Christy wouldn't trade it for anything; AEW is where she met the man she calls the love of her life Greg Marasciulo better known as Trent? — one half of Best Friends alongside Dustin Howard known as Chuck Taylor.

Initially Christy wasn't interested in a relationship given her past few relationships never worked. But Trent managed to work his way into her heart through small gestures, every morning he would bring her coffee and a peach scone; his excuse being is that he overheard her speak about scones to Stella who was the head makeup artist there.

Christy was more than certain that throughout the ten months they've dated, he was in fact the one.

__

" Babe " Christy mutters glancing his way from across the table where they sat in the catering area. " So you know how Halloween is close right? "

" Yeah! " exclaimed Trent in confusion before realizing what she was trying to say. " No! Christy as you can see the world is too fucked up for us to celebrate "

" How come we were able to celebrate other holidays just fine? Come on Greg, it would be fun just to dress up for the fun of it. I've already got everyone on board here and they seem to be down with the idea of adding the festive feel around " said Christy with a sigh.

" Well I'm not feeling it! " huffed Trent.

The pair were soon joined by Chuck, and Orange Cassidy.

" What's up with you? " said Chuck to his tag partner.

" He's refusing to dress up for Halloween for some odd reason, you seemed to be on board last year when you and Dustin dressed up as those characters " said Christy, she wasn't an avid watcher of animations.

" Rick and Morty " said Trent. " That was last year before the fucked up year that is 2020 happened. So no, I'm not okay with dressing up this year "

Christy glanced at the two other men expecting that they would help her only to realize that both of them seemed to lean towards what Trent had said. " Come on guys, not you too. Jim, come on we talked about this "

" I just humored you " shrugged Orange, " It just doesn't feel festive "

" Yeah, it's true " chimed Chuck.

" You three are no fun, if y'all wanna act this way go ahead. I guess I'll just be festive on my own without you " huffed Christy standing up.

The three males watched as Christy left, they felt a bit guilty due to the fact that for weeks she seemed awfully excited about the holiday. " I think we should do it. I mean sure we're not feeling the festive season but at least we can do it for her " said Chuck.

" She does seem sad " said Orange.

Both men turned to Trent who seemed to be lost in his own thoughts, " Alright, maybe we can do it but only for her. I don't like seeing her upset last time it killed me and this time I don't know how I'll feel "

" I think we don't tell her " said Orange, " It can be a surprise "

Chuck and Trent seemed to be convinced, so the three men began devising a plan to help cheer Christy up and hopefully ease what just happened off of her mind.

__

It had been around five days since the incident, Christy noticed how Trent seemed off and won't speak to her; whilst their bout at the catering did upset her she understood his side, she was still going to celebrate on her own ... opting to no longer bring the subject up, she went about with her work alongside Sandra helping her when needed whilst also ensuring that the gears weren't missing anything.

Whilst she was working on the final touches for Brandi's gear, she felt a figure approach her table glancing up to see MJF. an individual who's brought a whole new meaning to the term insufferable asshole ... " Yes? " muttered Christy.

" I came bearing gifts, I noticed that idiot didn't bring you your favorite scone so I took the liberty to bring it " said Maxwell placing the plate.

Christy sighed, what part of get lost and leave me alone doesn't he understand? thought the blonde as she gave him a fake smile, " Thank you, now do you mind? some of us have work to do "

" Of course, I'll see you around sweetheart " He left but not before sending her a wink.

Christy nearly threw up, the fact that he was openly behaving this way made her wish she continued her wrestling training early on, at least she could've smashed his head into a wall. Suddenly she spotted Stella, " Hey Stella "

" Hey Christy, I just saw MJF. I'm assuming he was flirting yet again? " said Stella with an amused smile.

Christy nodded, " Greg and I dating just flies over his dumb head, speaking of Greg did you see him? I haven't seen him all day here "

" Knowing Greg, he's probably with the others filming for BTE " said Stella, " or hanging outside in the arena "

" Must be why he left early? " muttered Christy.

Suddenly a commotion could be heard close by, Stella and Christy both shared a confused glance before realizing who was behind the commotion. Trent, Chuck and Orange were dressed up head to toe as the three musketeers — Christy couldn't help the smile adorning her features.

" This is so cute " said Stella.

" Milady! " said Trent.

" Greg, what is all this? Guys what are y'all doing? " said Christy.

" Well we saw how we made you upset and felt like complete dicks " said Chuck.

" Just so you know I'm not walking out to my match like this " chimed Orange, " But yeah we wanted to cheer you up "

" And ask for your forgiveness, babe I'm sorry I was in a bad mood and I promise I will partake in the festive season with you. This is the first costume by the way " said Trent.

Christy quickly wiped away her tears, rising up to hug Trent along with Chuck and Orange. " Thank you guys for being considerate even if you weren't feeling the mood " she smiled.

" Hey you are our Best Friend and the love of his life " said Chuck grinning.

" Tell you what! After our match you'll tell me all about your plans and we can workout something spooky ... What do you say? " said Trent.

Christy responded by giving him a kiss. " I love you so much "

Trent smiled " I love you too "

[kitkat--writes]

{ The Child of Diagon Alley }

{ CHAPTER ONE : EARLY BIRDS }

[☆]

Warnings: None

Spoilers: None

[☆]

“What’s first on the list then, son?” Lyall put a hand on Remus’ shoulder as he peered down at the list in his son’s hands.

“Um, three sets of plain black work robes.” Remus read aloud.

His father nodded. “Madam Malkin’s does those best.”

He began to steer his family towards the shop when he felt his wife pull on his sleeve. “Are you sure, Ly? Can’t he have some of yours? I expect they’ll be expensive here…”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Hope, the boy deserves his own set of robes! Her prices aren’t ridiculous; I’m sure it will be fine.”

It was relatively quiet in Diagon Alley. The only sign of activity were the shopkeepers getting everything ready for the hustle and bustle of wizards and witches that were sure to arrive in about a week; most people were still on holiday or hadn’t really thought about school supplies yet. It would come later for them, but not for the Lupin family. They’d come early for two reasons: in hope of getting any offers there might be for early-birds and to avoid the madness of the entire population of Hogwarts swarming to buy everything on their lists. They hadn’t actually been in any shops yet, but from the near silence of the crooked street, it seemed their plan was going smoothly.

“Lyall,” Hope fretted, pulling her husband’s sleeve again as they reached the door of the shop. “Someone’s in there!”

Lyall glanced at his son, who didn’t seem overly worried – a little tense, but more curious than anything as he peered through the large glass window at the small girl stood on a stool as a short witch fussed around her. There was no one else in there.

Lyall sighed. “It’s one little girl – honestly Hope, you’re more worried than Remus is – maybe he’ll make a friend. Come on, we’re going in.” he decided firmly as he led the way into the shop.

Madam Malkin turned around and smiled at them as they walked in.

“Mr Lupin! I haven’t seen you around here for a while. What brings you back to us? Ah!” Her smile widened as she spotted Remus behind him. “Bringing the next of the Lupins, are we? Good, good.”

Lyall nodded and smiled in greeting, nudging Remus forward slightly. Hope hurriedly interjected.

“If you’re busy, miss,” she nodded to the girl stood on the stool with measuring tapes floating around her. “we can come back–”

“No, not at all!” Madam Malkin smiled. “I can do two at once; it’s not a problem.”

Remus hadn’t realised he was staring at the girl until he saw she was smiling at him. He managed to quickly smile back before focusing on his shoes. It was hard to tell with her on the stool, but he figured she was about his height, if only a little smaller. She had a lot of curly brown hair that seemed to hover around her face like a halo. Madam Malkin ushered him over to step onto another stool next to the girl, and he prayed he wouldn’t topple off and embarrass himself.

“How much are your robes, if you don’t mind me asking?” Hope enquired.

Before Madam Malkin could reply, Lyall’s head snapped up.

“Merlin, I left my wallet in the bar! Come on, Hope – Remus, hang on there, we’ll be back as soon as we can.” He dragged Hope out of the shop before she or Remus could argue and the two of them hurried down the cobbled street. Madam Malkin chuckled quietly.

She began taking Remus’ measurements, smiling kindly as she told him: “I expect you’ll be back for some more in a year’s time – I bet you’ll grow to be as tall as your father.” Remus gave her a small smile.

“I’ll be back with some more material,” she said to the two children before bustling away to the back of the shop. Remus wondered why she didn’t just summon some, but he didn’t ask, of course.

“Hello,” the girl said suddenly. She held out her hand past the floating tape measures and pieces of fabric. “I’m Dorcas. Dorcas Meadowes.” Remus decided he liked her smile as she beamed at him before shaking her hand.

“Remus. Remus Lupin,” he smiled back at her.

“You’re early, probably for the best, it gets awfully busy here when everyone is around,” she nodded wisely. “Were they your parents?”

Remus nodded. “They wanted to come early to avoid the rush. Are your parents here too?” He realised the girl had been alone in here since he arrived, apart from Madam Malkin.

She shook her head. “I don’t know where they are. I’ve never met them,” she stated calmly. “They left me in the Leaky Cauldron, or we think so. No one actually saw anyone or myself until I started crying on one of the bar tables. I’ve been here ever since.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Remus hoped he hadn’t upset her by asking. Goodness, he was awful at making friends. Well, in reality, he’d never really had any, and it looked like he’d be spending his life at Hogwarts much the same at this rate. To his relief, Dorcas simply shrugged.

“It’s alright, I never knew them. I don’t feel like you can properly miss something if you’ve never even had it,” She seemed very mature for someone so young, and reminded Remus a little of himself. “Besides, I get all the inside knowledge and best offers of Diagon Alley. I live at the Leaky Cauldron too, which is fun. Tom’s nice, as well, everyone is here.”

Remus nodded. He supposed the man at the bar that had let them through was Tom. He did seem very friendly.

“Hey, how would you like to come for ice cream with me at Florean’s after we’ve got our robes? It wouldn’t spoil lunch or anything – it’s only ten o’clock.” she added upon noting the hesitant look on Remus’ face.

He shuffled his feet awkwardly. “Erm, I’m not sure we have any spare money for ice cream,”

“Oh, that’s okay,” Dorcas brushed off the matter. “Florean’s very nice: we’re good friends. He always gives me free ice cream, so I’m sure he’ll give you some too.”

Remus perked up. “Okay then.” he grinned.

By the time his parents had returned, Madam Malkin had finished both their robes. Hope helped Remus fold his as Dorcas went to pay for hers. She whispered subtly to the witch as she handed over her coins.

“Madam Malkin, please could you give Remus a lower price and I’ll save up for the difference?”

Madam Malkin beamed at her; the girl’s boundless kindness never ceased to fill her with admiration. She nodded and winked at the small girl who smiled and hurried back to Remus. Before Lyall had even opened his wallet, he and his wife heard the tinkle of the bell and two sets of feet running out of the shop.

“Remus! Where is he going?” Hope looked flustered, even Lyall seemed nervous at his son’s sudden departure.

“Don’t worry, I heard them planning to go for ice cream. It’s only a few shops down from here, they’re not far away.” Madam Malkin reassured the fretting parents.

Hope nodded, a little less panicked. “Who was that girl, anyway?”

“That’s Dorcas Meadowes, Mrs Lupin.”

“I know that name.” Lyall’s brow creased as he searched his mind for where he recognised her name.

“You probably read about her in the papers, Mr Lupin,” Madam Malkin said as she wrapped Remus’ robes in brown paper to protect them. “A while ago now, but it was all the talk: baby left at the Leaky Cauldron, big search for the parents or whoever had left her there – they never found them…”

“Ah, of course,” Lyall nodded. “’The Child of Diagon Alley’ they called her, I believe.”

“Oh, how terrible for her.” Hope frowned.

Madam Malkin shrugged with a small smile. “I suppose, but it’s alright, really. She seems quite happy here, and we all take good care of her, especially Tom.”

“I’m sure you do,” Lyall smiled. “Thank you again, Madam Malkin, are you sure about the price? It seems quite low…” he trailed off as Hope elbowed him lightly.

“No, you caught my early-bird sale.” Madam Malkin smiled.

“Ah! I knew it was a good idea to come early.” Lyall nodded triumphantly as Hope thanked Madam Malkin and took Remus’ robes. The short witch waved as they left the shop and resolved not to remind Dorcas to pay the extra.

***

“Hello, Florean, how are you?”

The ice cream seller looked down over his till at the two small children smiling up at him.

“Hello there, Dorcas my dear! I’m very well, thank you. School shopping, are we? Who’s this?” he nodded at Remus, who was stood close beside her.

She nodded. “We’ve stopped for a refuel of ice cream. This is my friend, Remus,” Remus felt his heart warm at this comment. “I told him we should come here, as you have the best ice cream there is.”

“I certainly do,” Fortescue grinned proudly. “and any friend of yours, Dorky, is a friend of mine. I’ll give you two whatever you’d like for free!”

Remus’ smile widened and Dorcas nudged him as she whispered “Told you” with a smirk.

[☆]

[flirtingwitharson]

wolfstar secret santa 2019!

happy holidays everybody! i was given the lovely @hehadlovedthestarstoofondly for secret santa, and her prompt was: illness, mutual pining, snowed in, fake dating. i did my best to incorporate all (unfortunately, i couldn’t comfortably fit fake dating into this one) but i really hope you enjoy it!

No way, not today, not today! Remus Lupin thought with great force and seriousness at his own immune system. He felt the excessive warmth in his skin, the slow crawl of illness making its way through his body. Of course he would get sick today, he mused, just his bloody luck.

Remus had had a very shitty immune system since he was a child, when he was diagnosed with some long-titled condition he had long since forgotten the name of, that basically meant he was twice as vulnerable to sickness as the next guy. His friends were all awfully understanding, and he thanked them constantly. However, today he didn’t want his friends to be understanding, he wanted to be able to be with them without any extenuating circumstances. Well, one of them, that is.

The thing was, he had plans. Plans to go present shopping with one Sirius Black whom he may or may not have been in love with. They were Very Important Plans, and Sirius was due at his house any minute.

Remus grabbed his cellphone off of his bedside table and clicked the call button under Sirius’ name without a second thought. The phone rang as his stomach churned and sweat started to bead on his forehead and the back of his neck; Remus swore under his breath a few times for good measure.

“Morning, Moonshine, look who’s up early!” Sirius greeted upon answering the call. “I’m on my way now, was afraid you wouldn’t even be awake by the time I got there.”

Guilt joined illness on its course through his body as Remus responded. “Pads, I have to cancel today—“

“What, why?” Sirius interjected. The immediate note of worry in his tone sent Remus into a spiral of admiration and disappointment. “Are you ill, Remus?”

“I...” he began—Remus hated to ask others for help just as much as he hated being sick—“ A bit, yeah. I think I’m coming down with something. We can go shopping as soon as I’m better, alright? It’s only the first week of December, we’ve got all month.”

He could hear Sirius finicking with the gearshift through the phone and waited patiently. “Sorry, Moons, I’m borrowing James’ car because of the weather and you know I hate driving this thing...right, okay. I’m still coming over and you’re just going to have to sit tight like a good boy and let me, yeah? You remember what happened last year when you didn’t tell any of us you’d caught the flu?”

He did remember. He was hospitalized for that one, actually—he was incredibly lucky he hadn’t caught something worse, and his friends wouldn’t let him hear the end of it until he understood to never try to shrug off sickness again. Instead of a spoken reply, Remus hummed his acknowledgment, accepting his defeat.

“Well, that’s sure as hell not happening again. I’ll be there soon. Just rest until I get there, alright? I’ve got my key for yours on me, so you don’t even need to get up and unlock the door.” With that, Sirius hung up, and Remus was left clutching his phone in his hand, filled to the brim with a complex mix of extreme appreciation and utter adoration for Sirius Black.

Sirius arrived at the door to Remus’ flat not fifteen minutes later. He’d stopped at Boots on the way to gather some basic necessities to take care of a fever, just in case Remus hadn’t had them (though, knowing him, he did, but Sirius was a worrier). He fumbled with his keys until he found the right one and unlocked the door. After shucking off his boots and his jacket, he looked around and grinned. Remus had put up a few new photos on his walls, including a framed one of the two of them at Sirius’ birthday celebration a few weeks before. There were plenty shots of the Marauders, and of Lily, and of his parents, but Sirius selfishly preferred ones of the two of them best.

Of course, that was probably due to the unyielding crush he’d had on the man since they were sixteen, but that was just speculation. He planned on confessing to Remus some time soon, as he was almost sure the feeling was returned, but inconvenience in timing and his own anxieties had been apprehending him.

Sirius gently opened the door to Remus’ bedroom, and saw his friend scrolling through his phone with the lights off. Remus looked up at the noise and sent Sirius a small, tired grin when he realized he’d arrived. “I’m going to be honest, Moony,” Sirius said as he walked over to Remus’ bed, “you really look like shit.”

“Gee, thanks,” Remus deadpanned. “Listen, you shouldn’t get too close, I might” be contagious—“

“Black’s are above sickness, Lupin. Our blood is too strong for such nonsense.”

Rolling his eyes, Remus scooted over and let Sirius fuss over him. He took his temperature and remarked that it was rather high, so he made him take ibuprofen and drink water to stay hydrated. He made him tea and brought him soup, settling in as if it was his sole responsibility in life to take care of his sick, unfortunate best friend.

“Can I open these curtains, now that your head’s feeling better?” Sirius inquired a short while later. It was late afternoon; they’d eaten, and talked, and napped up until then. They were getting ready to watch a movie, and Sirius was just managing to keep Remus acting like a functional human being instead of staying under the covers and wallowing in the melancholy of being ill. Remus nodded, and when Sirius swept the curtain aside, he let out a low whistle. “Christ, Remus. Looks like I’m stuck here, now—it was hardly flurrying when i drove here!”

As it was, Sirius had not been exaggerating. When Remus leaned forward to look outside, several inches of snow had accumulated. There was no way he’d ever let Sirius go driving in that state.

“I’m sorry,” Remus feebly tried to apologize. He knew Sirius had plans to catch dinner and a movie with James and Lily that evening, and felt terrible that both the weather and his own shitty immune system were keeping him from attending.

“No, none of that,” Sirius shut him down. “I’m glad to stay here and hang out with you, and plus, someone’s gotta make sure you take care of yourself, you poor sod.”

He knew that Sirius had meant his words to come off lightly, but as he sat back down on the bad and got under the comforter, it made him think. He stayed quiet as Sirius lazily clicked through Netflix in search of something to watch. Of course, being Remus Lupin, he couldn’t bite his tongue for much too long.

“Why are you here?” He asked suddenly, catching Sirius off guard. “Not that I don’t love that you are, mind—it’s just, you could’ve blown me off, or called Lily since since she lives just down the block, or even left after you came and made sure I was alright, but you stayed. Why?”

Moments of silence passed before Sirius responded. Remus hadn’t thought it was that deep a question, but he’d been wrong about worse things.

“Right,” Sirius spoke, minutes later, “it’s like this. He sat up and turned to face Remus, and Remus decided to blame it on his fever when his skin had turned a surely noticeable darker shade of red. “Remus, I wanted to wait until the time was right, and call me weak for deciding six bloody years was the right amount of time, but, I’m nothing if not dramatic and self deprecating.”

“Where are you going with this?”

“No, let me speak. Anyways, I’m nothing if not a dramatic, stupid son of a bitch, and I suppose you know what you’re in for if this turns out well, but...damn it, Remus, I love you, alright? I know I tell you that all the time, but...well, I wouldn’t make James soup and sit with him until he could face the light of day, I’ll tell you that much.”

Of course, Remus had absolutely no clue how to respond to that. For such a gifted student, he wasn’t the brightest bulb in the box when it came to things like Feelings and Social Cues. So, irrationally, he pressed his lips to Sirius’ instead.

“Fuck me, I’m sorry—please take medicine, I don’t want you getting sick—“ he rambled, having pulled back as fast as he’d kissed him.

Laughing, Sirius grabbed his hand. “Hey, calm down. At least I know I’m not a complete arsehole for telling you I would very much like to date you on your sick bed, now. Perhaps it’s a Christmas miracle, then, that the snow is leaving me no choice but to stay here and cuddle up with you until you’re healthy again?”

Remus nodded, and that was that. Later, when they slept, he hadn’t had the heart to make Sirius sleep on the couch, so he forced him to pop some fever reducers before allowing himself to be held in his arms. Almost masochistically, Remus decided he was looking forward to being taken care of on future sick days at the hands of Sirius Black.

[liliah39]

Merry Christmas, Darling (Brian May x Reader Oneshot)

Warnings: Some smut, nothing serious though. Mainly just loads of fluff! 

A/N:This is part of @dtfrogertaylor ‘s Thank God It’s Christmas event for @hannafuckingsucks ! I’ve loved getting to know you, darling, and I hope you enjoy! Oh! And Merry Christmas!

Word Count: 2.8K+

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

December 25, 1978:

You awoke to the phone at the side of your bed ringing; earning a groan from you as you rolled over, blindly feeling around the nightstand until you picked it up and placed it to your ear.

“Hello?” You mumbled.

“Happy Christmas, Sweetheart.” Brian said as he smiled into the phone, calling you from his bed as well. You could instantly tell it was him, his soothing voice being your main consolation over the last ten years of your life. Brian was your best friend, and there was nothing you’d ever do to change that.

“Brian, it’s nine in the morning. Can’t I sleep in?” You laughed with a yawn.

“Not when I want to be the first one to wish you a Happy Christmas.”

You jokingly groaned in disapproval, earning a laugh from him on the other end. “Well, Happy Christmas to you too, Bri.”

“You going later, Love?”

“To Freddie’s? Of course. Where else would I be?”

“With your family, perhaps?”

“Nah, it’d be hard for me to get home this time of year. Especially when they live across the country, and we just flew into London a couple of days ago. It’s hard work being best friends with the guitarist of Queen, you know.”

The boys had just finished the press tour to their new album News of the World, which of course you had joined them on. You didn’t actually do much of a job, but Brian labeled you his assistant just so you’d get paid to travel the world with them.

“Oh, jeez, Y/N, I’m so sorry. You know you don’t have to come with us every time, Love. I wouldn’t have minded if you left the press tour early to make it home to your family for the holidays. God, I feel awful.”

“It’s alright, Bri.”

“No it’s not, Love. Everyone else’s family is right around where we all live in London. I forget sometimes that you grew up across the country, since I met you here back in Uni all those years ago.”

“It’s okay, really. There’s no place I would rather of been. Really. I wanted to be with you.”

Your words made Brian blush as he fantasized of you having feelings for him as well. “Well I don’t want you to be left alone on Christmas morning. I’m about to get up and ready to go to my Mum and Dad’s house, I can swing by and pick you up if you’d like?”

“Oh, that’s alright. I’m really just looking to get some rest until dinner and the party at Freddie’s later. Even though it’s a more intimate party than he usually throws, you know it’s still going to go late in the morning, and I’m still awfully jet lagged, so I’m fine Bri. Really.”

“Can I at least pick you up to go to Fred’s later?”

“ ‘Course.”

“Alright, Love. See you later then.”

~~~~~~~

Just as you finished getting dressed into your sleek red Christmas gown after curling your hair and putting half of it up, and doing makeup to match your festive attire, you heard the doorbell ring.

“One minute!” You yelled, quickly slipping on your gold heels and putting your shawl around your shoulders as you ran to the for.

“Hi Bri!”

“M-my God, Y/N,” he said, taking your hand and spinning you around as he walked in the door. “You look absolutely breathtakingly stunning.”

“Well I think I could say the same thing to you. You clean up very nicely.” You smiled as you pulled at his suit. You’d liked him for months, but couldn’t get yourself to admit it to him. You were sure he didn’t feel the same way, sure that admitting your feelings would ruin your friendship, so instead you opted to keep to yourself.

“We’re running a little late, Love, so are you ready to go?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” You smiled, grabbing the large bag of presents by the door.

“Oh I’ll take that, really Love. Too much work for someone in such a gorgeous dress.” He winked, taking the bag from your arms as he lead you out the door.

~~~~~~~~~

Freddie’s house was decorated to the nines. You and Brian had only made it in the foyer, yet you had already counted twelve Christmas trees. A server took yours and Brian’s presents and placed them under the largest tree at the center of the house where the presents were being organized by name for you all to go and find after dinner.

“Y/N! Darling!” Freddie exclaimed as he walked in from another room, scooping you up and spinning you around. “You look absolutely stunning!”

“I could say the same to you!” he had on an all red, metallic suit with gold beading concentrated on the shoulders that faded down the arms.

“And Brian!” He exclaimed, bringing his band mate in for a hug. “Don’t the two of you just make the perfect couple!”

“But we’re not-“ you started, only to be cut off.

“Oh I know, Darling. I’m just saying you LOOK like the perfect couple.” He winked at Brian as he walked away, Brian fuming with embarrassment and anger. The other three knew of his feelings for you, and were getting antsy that neither of you had admitted it to the other yet.

After everyone had arrived, you all sat down at the large dining table, where you were seated next to Brian, and began chatting about your lives.

“And what about you, Y/N? Anyone special in your life?” Roger asked.

“Oh no. No time for that, really. I think you four keep me busy enough.” You laughed.

“Fair enough. What about you, Brian?”

“Oh, uh, I- um. No. Nobody special.”

“You don’t sound too sure about that, mate.” John smirked.

“You sure you’re not into someone you’re currently very close to...physically?” Freddie teased.

“Shut your mouths, all of you.” He said, rolling his eyes as his three bandmates snickered across the table from the two of you.

“What was that all about?” you asked Brian.

“Oh nothing. Nothing at all.”

~~~~~~~~~~

After dinner, the bar in the room with all of the presents was opened as a DJ in the back of the room played the perfect blend of Christmas music and trendy music from the radio. You and the boys laughed as you sat and drank together on the couch, and after a while you and Deaky got up to go dance.

With both of you entirely tired out, John decided to go back to his drink with the boys, yet you were empty, so decided to go to the bar to find something else, telling him you’d catch up with them in a moment.

As soon as John sat down, Brian was already prying him for information.

“So? Did she say anything about me?”

“Nope.”

“John, you were dancing with her for like fifteen minutes. She must have said something.”

“No really, mate. We just talked about my baby, the upcoming tour, you know, stuff friends talk about.”

Brian sighed in defeat.

“Bri, if you’re this helpless, I’m sorry, but it’s time to grow a pair, suck it up, and ask her out.” Roger teased.

“I know I know, I just… I don’t want to ruin everything and lose her.”

“You won’t.” Roger said.

“Yeah, it’s obvious she likes you too.” John added.

“Really?”

“Really.” The three said in unison.

“What’d you get her?” Freddie asked.

“A heart shaped diamond encrusted ruby necklace. Got it here in my suit,” he said, pressing his hand to the inside pocket of his suit coat. “Didn’t want to risk someone stealing it. And besides, I want to give it to her myself.”

The other three nodded understandingly. “You should tell her how you feel when you give it to her. You should do it before we all get into gifts too.” Freddie said.

“But Fred, that only gives me fifteen minutes. You said we were doing gifts at 10:00!”

“Exactly, Darling. You need a little nudge to get you to admit your feelings. This is your nudge.”

As Brian noticed you happily walked back over to the four of them, he shushed the other three ad you retook your spot next to Brian.

“Why are we all just not speaking to eachother?” You laughed.

“Oh no reason.” Roger blurted out, the four of them looking between eachother, eventually staring at Brian as if to tell him something through their eyes, which left you completely confused.

“Okay then?”

“Hey, Y/N?” Brian nervously stated. “I uh, I got you something special and wanted to give it to you myself, uh alone if you don’t mind?”

“Oh that’d be wonderful.” You smiled, taking his hand as you stood up.  

“Brian, wait!” Freddie said as he grabbed his friends shoulder and whispered in his ear: “Go to the formal living area at the back of the house. There’s a beautiful tree there, and the fireplace is lit, and no one will be there.”

Brian nodded understandably as he lead you away from the party.

“What was that about?”

“Oh nothing. Just telling me where to go is all.”

As the two of you stepped into the all red decorated room, Brian locked the door behind the two of you as you marveled at the beauty of the room.

“Wow, it’s gorgeous. Freddie really knows how to decorate, doesn't he?” You said as you sat on the couch that was angled toward the Christmas tree with the fireplace to your left.

“Uh, yeah.” Brian said pacing.

“Brian, come sit down.” You said, patting the couch next to you. “Whatever you got me I know I’ll love.”

He sat next to you as he let out a huge breath of air.

“What’s up with you? I’ve never seen you so nervous?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” he reassured. He took out the small box from his coat, placing it in your hands. “Now, I actually helped design this, so I’m really hoping you like it.” He smiled as his hand rested on yours.

You removed the wrapping paper to find a gorgeous, large, heart shaped ruby and diamond necklace. You gasped in shock, tears flooding to your eyes.

“What’s wrong? Do you like it?” He said, worried.

“Oh I love it! Thank you!” You smiled, wrapping your arms around his neck.

“Then why are you crying?” He said as he pulled you into a tight embrace.

“Because no one has ever done something this nice for me in my entire life.” You said, looking at him as he brushed away a tear. “Can you put it on me?”

“Of course, Love.” He smiled as you turned away from him so he could put it on you. “There’s one more thing.”

“Not something else! This is already too much!” You said, turning back to him as he finished putting your necklace on. He took your hands in his, as he stared into your eyes.

“No, this is just something I’ve gotta get off my chest. I, uh, I don’t really know how to tell you this. I mean, you’re my best friend, you know that. And I can’t imagine my life without you. That’s why I’m so nervous right now. But for the last couple of years now I’ve been absolutely crazy about you. I’m in love with you, Y/N, and I haven’t been able to tell you until now.” His hands were shaking from how nervous he was.

“You are?” you smiled.

“Oh god, I’m sorry I even said anything.” He said, pulling his hands away from yours and he turned to look at the fire.

“No, no, Brian, Brian. Look at me,” you said, grabbing his face in your hands. “Hey, open your eyes and look at me.” You laughed as he blinked them open, and you noticed the tears welling in the bottom of them. “I’m in love with you too.” You whispered behind your tears of happiness.

“You are?” he smiled.

“Yeah. I have been for a while now too. Just couldn’t get myself to say anything.” You admitted.

“Really?”

“Really. I’m in love with you, Brian Harold May.”

“God, am I in love with you too.” He smiled as he pressed his lips to yours, the kiss immediately passionate. Your lips molded together perfectly as his hands roamed your body, yours toying with his hair.

After awhile he layed you down on the sofa as he hovered over you, trailing kisses from your mouth down your neck as his hand slipped in your dress as it squeezed your breast, fingers toying with your nipple. You let out a moan, reconnecting your lips with his as he sat you up to try to unzip your dress, yet after a minute or two of his hands roaming your body, he groaned in frustration.

“Why can’t I figure out how to take this fucking dress off?”

You laughed at his annoyance.

“It’s not funny!”

“It’s kinda funny.” You smiled, tapping his nose.

“Well? Why can’t I?”

“Because there’s no zipper, silly. It laces from the inside. It’ll take me at least twenty minutes to get off, and once it’s off, there’s no way I’m putting it back on tonight, so this might have to wait a couple hours.” You laughed.

“Fine,” he groaned in annoyance, “but if you’re making me wait for something I’ve been waiting for over the last ten years, you’ve at least got to come home with me tonight.”

“Well I thought you’d never ask.” You smirked, hooking your finger around his tie as you pulled him in for a chaste kiss on your lips. “And hey, don’t think I haven’t been waiting for this for a while either.”

~~~~~~~~~~

You and Brian quickly composed yourselves, rejoining the party hand in hand, to which the boys sprung up from their seats in applause.

“Finally!” Roger exclaimed.

“Told you, mate.” John smiled, patting Brian on the shoulder.

“So…” Freddie smiled. “Is it official?”

You looked at Brian as he looked down at you, placing his arm around you as he pulled you in close to his side.

“It’s official.” The two of you said in unison as he pressed a kiss from your lips, causing the boys to hoot and holler in congratulations.

As a love song played in the room, Brian lead you to the floor as he placed his arms around your waist, and you placed yours around his neck, lovingly laying your head on his shoulder as the two of you swayed to the music.

“Thank you, Brian.” You smiled up at him.

“Oh anything for you, Y/N. I was hoping you’d like it.”

“Not for the necklace, silly. Well, for that too, but I meant for admitting your feelings for me. I’ve never been happier in my life.” You smiled.

“Neither have I. Thank you for saying yes.” He smiled, making you giggle. “Happy Christmas, My Love.”

“Happy Christmas” You smiled as he reconnected his lips to yours, making this officially the best Christmas you’d ever had.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed! Please excuse any typos and such! -C

Taglist: @yourlocalmusicalprostitute , @bismillahnah , @deakysmisfire , @queer-heart-attack​ , @everything-you-dont-wanna-be , @mercurycrowley , @ikbenplant​ , @xcdelilahxc​ , @chekovs-davy-jones-wig​ , @laedymoon​ , @manicpixydreamgirl​ , @jaylikesguavass​ , @brianskindofcheese​ , @anincurablefangirl​ ,  @jennyggggrrr​ , @delightfullynlove​ , @johndeaconshands​ , @jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels​ , @hannafuckingsucks​

[mandochlorian]

secret (ben solo x fem!reader)

part I part II part III

summary: So, the thing about your mom… it’s not that she’s possessive or controlling… well, she can be. But it’s just that she really has a dislike for Ben Solo, which is why she can never know that you sneak him into your room every Friday while she’s at work.

general masterlist

star wars masterlist

You stare down at your cup of caf, hoping it takes effect and wakes you up soon. All you want to do is see Ben, apologise, make things right and let him know that you want to be with him. That’s all you’ve ever wanted; is to be with him, despite your mom and her opinion on him. 

The house is silent, your parents still asleep. And you wish Ben had stayed the night. Waking up next to him would have eased your anxiety about today. Sighing, you finish your morning drink and head for the door. It’s still dark outside, but you’ll catch transport to the Base soon enough. 

As you sit outside for a few minutes, you finish your caf and set the mug aside. Just as you see the transport shuttle come into view. It touches down and you feel yourself becoming even more fearful. When you board, your eyes immediately look for those of your boyfriends, but he’s nowhere to be seen.

“Y/N!” Someone calls your name out and you turn to see Finn and Poe, sitting beside one another and beckoning you over, “You look like shit.” Poe adds, looking you up and down.

“Thanks,” you sit beside him, running a hand over the flyaways coming from your braided hair, “Maybe that’s because it’s 4:30am.

Poe chuckles, “4:30 is nothing.”

Widening his eyes, Finn shakes his head, “Maybe not to the squadron leader but for the rest of us, it’s the worst.” You nod in agreement, forcing a smile to your lips as you look around at the seats once more, just as the ship picks up a few more people from the housing compartments before making it’s way to the base.

“Hey, uh,” you speak up, looking to the two boys, “Have any of you seen Ben?”

“You and Ben, huh? Getting awfully close.” Poe raises his eyebrows, giving you a teasing look as he nudges Finn. If only you knew, you think to yourself, holding back a smirk. 

“Yeah,” Finn grins at you, “you got a crush on him?”

You roll your eyes at your friends, wishing you could tell them about how you actually have the biggest crush on him. “So you haven’t seen him?” You wonder, taking the conversation back to your question. 

Poe shakes his head while Finn says, “He went to Base early, made his own way there, probably with the General.”

“Oh,” you mumble, cursing at yourself once more because you know he‘s acting this way because of you, “Weird. He never does that.” You think out loud, looking outside the window to see the base come into view. Finn just shrugs as Poe directs the conversation to something else, but not before making one last joke about you and Ben. 

When it’s time for everyone to get up and make their way to their stations to prepare for the mission, you can’t help but try to look for Ben. And when you’re unsuccessful in doing so, you start getting really worried. What if he decided not to go on this mission? No... he wouldn’t do that, he has to pick up the spice shipment. Oh fuck, the spice! Will Ben even want you to come along still? What a mess.

Ben. You reach out, closing your eyes briefly to try and feel him. Ben, where are you?

Upon not receiving an answer, you begin to get frustrated at the boy. What the hell is his problem? Sure, you were mean, but does that warrant being completely ignored? 

“Y/N?” Poe speaks up, one hand coming down to rest on your shoulder, “What’s taking so long?”

You snap out of it, shaking your head and quickly rushing to the weapons table. “Sorry, Poe! I mean... Sorry Gold Leader,” you correct yourself, though it’s odd being only slightly younger but still friends with your superior, you still have to address him properly, “I got distracted. It won’t happen again.” You excuse yourself.

Poe nods, seeing most of the other fighters making their way inside already. He also sees a certain long-haired boy making his way to the gear table too, “Make your way inside when you’re ready.” Poe says, before passing Ben and leaving.

By this point, you’re too focused on collecting a blaster and extra weapons in case something happens to your lightsaber. You don’t even notice Ben appear next to you until he speaks, “I can do the pick up alone today.”

Snapping your head up, you can’t help but frown at him, not trying to hide any emotion. “I thought you were ignoring me.” You reply sarcastically as you place the blaster on its hilt, opposite your saber. 

“Hence why I’m doing the pick up alone today.” He rolls his eyes.

“Without me? Yeah, right. You wouldn’t last an hour without me.” You scoff, standing there idly as he packs a blaster away.

“Since when do you get to be angry at me?” He places his hands on his hips, giving the same frown back to you.

“Are you serious?” You stare at him, face expressionless as anger begins to fill you, “You ditched me on the transport ship and ignored me when I reached out.”

“Hey,” Ben lifts his hands, pointing at you, “You’re the one who said I was a problem.”

“What?” 

“Last night.” He narrows his eyes as he pauses, “Oh, you don’t remember?”

“I was stressed out last night, my mom nearly saw you!” You exclaim, shaking your head incredulously at him, “As if you don’t see how that would have been a problem?”

“It wouldn’t be if you just told them!” Ben exclaims, before taking a deep sigh, “Y/N, we’ve been keeping a secret for three years. Aren’t you tired of it?”

“You’ve been smuggling since you were 15,” you begin, poking Ben in the chest gently, “And you've been keeping it a secret for years.”

“That’s different.”

“How?”

“It just is!”

“How?!”

“You’re hurting me!” He shouts, looking away angrily for a second before turning back to you. All you can do is stand there silently. “Me lying about smuggling doesn't hurt anyone,” he continues solemnly, wishing that this fight didn’t remind him so much of his parents.

“If I tell them,” you suggest, eyeing the sad expression on Ben’s face, “it’ll hurt both of us.”

He sighs once more, feeling defeated and unheard. “You’d rather let this die out than tell your parents?”

“Who said this was dying out?” You shout, looking into his eyes, wondering if he's trying to end things with you.

“I mean... eventually it will, how are we going to be together for the rest of our lives when your parents don’t know about me?”

“It’s not like I’m never going to tell them, I-”

“When?”

“When the time‘s right, when... when they’re more understanding!”

“The time will never be right, Y/N. Your parents are who they are.” Ben shrugs, giving you a small smile, “Just like you.”

“I don’t know...” You frown, looking down as your breath quickens, “I can’t...”

Placing a hand on your arm, Ben takes a step closer and his calm voice soothes you, “You don’t have to do this alone.” 

“Not now... Please.” You mumble, eyes cast down to the ground as you avoid his gaze, “Please,” your eyes begin to tear up, feeling yourself panic at the reaction your mom would have, “I can’t now, not now, soon, I promise. I promise I’ll tell them soon just... please, please don’t leave me over this, i-”

“I’m here, I’m here,” Ben pulls you into his embrace, calming you down as he rubs your back gently, “I’m not going anywhere, okay? Shh, shh.” He rocks you gently, pressing a kiss to your forehead as he closes his eyes.

“I’m sorry, I should’ve thought about what I was saying more,” Ben admits, “I love you, I love you with all my heart. It’s because I love you that I want to know them.” He pulls back slightly, looking down at you fondly, “And I want my parents to know who I love. I want you over to have dinner with them. I want to go on holidays together. I don’t want you to be scared when you come over because you don’t want to be caught.” Ben’s voice turns into a whisper and you see him leaning in slightly. You smile up at him, about to press a kiss to him when -

“Ben?” The Generals voice makes you step away from Ben awkwardly. Ben pushes his hands behind his back, standing before his parents like a soldier. You look to Han and Leia, giving them small, awkward smiles.

“Mom.” Ben forces a smile, acting as though everything's fine though he’s sure they can see the tears staining your eyes, “Dad.”

“You two should be in the meeting room. Is everything okay?” Leia wonders, looking between the two of you. Ben nods, silently.

“If he was being a jerk, you can tell us,” Han speaks up, hands placed on his hips just like Ben, who rolls his eyes.

“Thanks, Dad,” Ben mutters sarcastically, giving Han a glare.

Leia gives you a knowing smile, “I think it may have been the opposite. Anyways, we should all head inside to talk to the team, right?” 

“Right,” Ben responds, his lips in a tight smile as his mother holds him by the arm gently, leading everyone to the meeting.

[mystery-star]

Threshold of Space - Chapter 13 Put to the Test

Pairing: Spock x OC

Warnings: slight sexual innuendos mentions of violence, swearing

Words: 6806

All Parts: 

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 |  Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 | Chapter 15 | Chapter 16

If you want to be added to the taglist let me know!

Please do not repost my work on other sites or platforms!

-

Much to her dismay, the Academy had replaced Moore with someone else only a month later. Although the new professor was great, she was still sad that Spock didn’t teach them anymore. The rest of her class, however, seemed relieved that he was gone. Especially the boys, who seemed to be pining for the female professor.

At that time, they also had to start with their final projects but right now, Carissa had other stuff in her mind; Spock had asked her out on their anniversary at the end of February. Nialaxe helped her getting ready and they were joined by Lucie too. Somehow she wasn’t sure if she liked all the attention she got but she was glad about their opinions. (At least Nia’s because Lucie always assured her that she looked great whereas Nia as a Betazoid was awfully honest)

“Girls, it’s only our anniversary”

“Yes but you didn’t have one before, did you?” Nialaxe asked

“Well we broke up after nine months and got together a year later. So we actually were together a year some months ago. But we didn’t celebrate that or whatever”

“See? Who knows what’s gonna happen? Maybe he’ll propose”

“I don’t know…” Carissa said, cracking her knuckles                                                        

“Oh okay, I can understand you’re not ready for that yet” she pinned back some of her hair with her flower-shaped hairclip “Yes, I think that’s it” she said, nodding as she stepped away. Carissa had a look in the mirror and smiled.

“Yeah, it looks good”

“Really does” Lucie agreed. Since it still was a little early for her to go outside, the three girls sat down on the bed and talked until Carissa had to leave. Lucie squeezed her hand

“Have fun”

“Oh God, was that imagination really necessary?” Nia moaned

“Well looks like being a telepath has its disadvantages”

“Can’t you just… switch it off?”

“There might be a way but I don’t know. I’ve only got the abilities like five years ago” Carissa made a mental note to ask Spock if he maybe knew something she could to do control it a little “Hey, that’s a great idea. Vulcan’s are touch telepaths and they’re very private. Maybe they know something… oh God, Lucie, you’re a genius!”

“What did she think?” Carissa asked

“You could make your final project on that matter. You know, telepathy, its limits and ways to control or steer it”

“That really doesn’t sound too bad” she said “But would you even want to be my guinea pig?”

“I’m still learning to use it and it would be cool to see what things I can do” Carissa shrugged.

“I’ll think about it. Thanks for the idea, Lucie. If you want you can have the topic yourself though, after all it was your idea.”

“Nah. I’ve already got my topic with the question which non-human species is best integrated into the Federation”

“And I’ve got no idea what I’ll do” Nia said with a grin

“Well, you’ve still got two years to think about it”

“True”

“Okay, I gotta leave. Vulcans always come on time”

“Sure… Lucie keep that perverted thoughts private!” although she hurried downstairs, her boyfriend was already waiting for her.

“Sorry” she breathed, “the girls held me back”

“There is no reason to apologize, you are still two minutes and thirty-four seconds early” she gave a quick nod as she pecked his cheek.

“Shall we?” he only offered her his arm which she took, almost feeling like a lady from the Middle Ages. “Where are we going?” she asked when he led her off the school grounds

“You asked me to surprise you. If I told you now, I would ruin it”

“Good point” she giggled. They walked in silence for almost half an hour before he led her into a cozy looking restaurant and where showed their table. “It’s nice here” she said, her fingers toying with the flowers on the table.

“It is good to hear that the location is according to your liking”

“So, how are the reparations of the ship going?”

“We are approximately 2.26 days behind to the schedule since the re-installment of the gravity stabilizer has taken longer than I have anticipated as I was not aware that a third year cadet would be allowed to help during his traineeship”

“Oh you still have trainees onboard?”

“Only engineers as everyone else would not be able to work“

“That makes sense. What about you? Do you miss your work?”

“I am working”

“Sure, you do, but I mean don’t you miss working as Science Officer?”

“Science is needed for the reparations, which makes your question redundant”

“Okay, I didn’t consider that. But wouldn’t you prefer if the ship was already repaired and you could do what you usually do?”

“I cannot understand why I should wish for something that is impossible”

“Okay, let’s forget this” she said opening her menu. Again they were silent until they had ordered dinner. Then Spock asked how her studies were going. “Good, as always. Professor Moore’s replacement is much better than him. Not as good as you though” she chuckled and took a sip from her drink.

“Were you referring to my expertise, my way of teaching or the fact that I am your partner when you mentioned that you preferred me?”

“Uh… you being my boyfriend and of course your intelligence.”

“Alright. Have you been informed about the final projects yet?”

“Yes. We need to find a topic and evaluator until the end of next month”

“Have you already decided on either of those points?”

“No. I’ve got some ideas and just today Nia gave me a new one. Well actually it was Lucie’s idea but they said I could write about it if I want”

“That subject being?”

“Telepathy” she looked at him to see his reaction and wasn’t disappointed when he raised an eyebrow

“I take it that Cadet Uvestri has volunteered as test person for your project?”

“Yeah she did. I’d try to find out what the limits of her telepathy are and if there are ways to stop it”

“Maybe you would want to consider making a comparison between telepathy of different species?”

“Is that an offer to help me as in participate in the experiment?”

“Since I am your boyfriend I would consider it appropriate to do so, yes” she smiled.

“Thanks. I’ll think about it”

“May I ask what your other suggestions for your project were?” after she told him of her other ideas, she asked what he had written about

“I bet I won’t even understand the title. So maybe just tell me the area”

“Astronomical spectroscopy” she frowned

“And there it already starts… I don’t even remember what that is. What score did you receive on it?”

“97% although it should have been 97.2 but decimal places were not allowed”

“I see. That’s very good. I just want an overall score of 75% or more at the end. I mean as my graduation mark, not from the project. Then I’m happy”

“Do you think you can achieve this?”

“I guess so. Up to now I have 81% which means I have a slight cushion” he nodded. Their food came and for a while they were silent before she asked him what he would like to do on the five year mission. Once they had finished their plates, they continued talking for a while before they left the restaurant. Spock accompanied her back to her dorm and decided to say goodbye outside because no one was here at this time.

“I have heard that it is human custom for the male to gift his partner something on their anniversary” she instantly started to feel bad because she had nothing for him

“Oh. You shouldn’t have gotten me anything. And I uh… don’t have anything for you”

“There was no reason for you to give me something in return. Besides, I did not have to obtain this” he said as he pulled out a small casket and opened it to reveal a necklace.

“It’s beautiful” she said, tracing her finger over it “Thank you”

“You are welcome” he took it out “May I?”

“Sure” he put it over her head and she took the pendant between her fingers to have a look at it.

“Where did you get it?”

“It has belonged to my mother” she stared at him

“Spock I-I don’t think I can accept it. I mean… maybe you should keep it if it was hers” he took hold of her hand, gently squeezing it.

“I want you to have it. I am certain that my mother would have been very fond of you had she met you”

“Are you sure?”

“Affirmative” she nodded and let go of the pendant, hugging him instead

“Thank you. It really means a lot to me. Especially considering what the necklace means to you.”

“It is good to hear that it pleases you” he placed his hands on her back and leaned his chin onto her head.

“And thanks for the evening. I really enjoyed it”

“So did I”

-oO0Oo-

It was time for the fourth years to find themselves a job for when they finished the Academy in summer. So she applied for jobs as biologist on every ship that offered this position. She was quite certain that she would get a position on a ship, if not she still could apply as a biologist on earth. Somehow she found this wouldn’t be all too bad in the beginning because a part of her wasn’t so sure she’d be able to constantly go onto missions. What if they were attacked something dangerous happened? A part of her even regretted joining Starfleet and she was almost surprised to have made it that far into her education.

Somehow she was surprised that she already had a reply two days later. But once she saw who it was, she only grinned. Of course Jim Kirk would be the first one to reply and invite her for an interview. So she agreed to his suggestion to meet him three days later and was a little disappointed when she saw that he was alone today.

“Hello there” he said with a grin

“Hello”

“How’d you start at the Academy?”

“I haven’t seen you since the end of term party, respectively the trial later on, so which start did you mean? In summer or now after the winter holiday?”

“Both. I don’t even know what fourth year is like”

“As always” she shrugged. “Just the final project coming up”

“Oh I’ve heard about those” he smirked “Well anyway… I’ll make this short. I wanted you on my ship last time but that didn’t work out. But now I’d really like you to take you onto that five year mission”

“R-really?” she choked out “Are you sure?”

“Do you think I’d have called you here if I wasn’t serious? Starfleet has ordered me to take some new graduates with us… from all departments so I’ll need freshly graduated scientists anyway. And I must admit I really want to have you. You’re one of the best cadets and I know how you work”

“And this decision isn’t just because… I don’t know… because you know me and of my relationship with Spock?”

“Nope. Well, I want you because I know you and know that you’re a great scientist and a quick learner and a good person”

“Really?”

“I read your report. You told Admiral Marcus to go fuck himself and I want people like you on my ship” she grinned

“You want me to tell you to go fuck yourself?”

“No, of course not… but you know what I mean. I’ve only got two people who put my orders into question, one being Bones who’s my best friend and Spock who questions anything that’s not from him anyway”

“So you want me to doubt you too?”

“I sometimes need someone telling me off when I’m an idiot. And I know you’ve got the balls to do so” she snorted with laughter, not too sure about his words. “But if you’d rather start on another ship, where you don’t go onto such a big mission at the beginning I understand. Or if you have enough of me and my crew”

“No, of course not. I mean… thank you for your offer, I feel honored”

“But?” he asked

“Well you’re right, I’m not sure I actually am ready for such a mission now”

“If I can be honest. I bet if anyone can do it it’s you. Besides, you won’t be alone. You already know a couple of people on board”

“Yeah but only bridge crew. And I doubt that this will be where I’ll be working”

“Okay, let me put it that way. I can really see you climbing up that career ladder. We need to report to Starbases at least once a year anyway, so each time we do that, you can complete a new test there and get promoted. So once you’re Lieutenant, which you could be by the end of next year, I could assign you to the bridge. Besides, the Enterprise doesn’t have a Junior Science Officer during Alpha shifts because we got Spock but we may change that…”

“You really don’t need to do this. I mean, I probably am just as happy if I can be working somewhere else on the ship. Maybe even better because then I won’t have responsibility. It’s just… I’d love to go on away-missions too but I know there will be many other scientist who have better qualification for that” he clicked his tongue

“Well, usually an away-team needs the best people. So it would be, speaking like Spock, logical to take people with different talents. And you are a great scientist and are skilled at diplomacy. We can always use someone like you if there are other cultures involved.

“I doubt I could speak their language”

“We’ve got translators for a reason… or Uhura comes.”

“Right”

“So what do you say? Are in interested in a tryout?”

“A tryout?”

“Yeah. We want to see how you’re doing before we can decide. And it’s what Starfleet requires at least for all the cadets. So there will be a big tryout day for all of you, all departments.”

“But how is that possible? I mean, the reparations on the Enterprise aren’t finished yet, so how are you supposed to see us in action?”

“That’s easy. Starfleet Academy has given us permission to use the Kobayashi Maru rooms for the cadets that study Command. As for you scientists, we will find you a ‘mission’. It’ll just take place on earth but we’ll pretend it’s a foreign planet. The procedure’s the same, anyways. Maybe we can still use one of the labs on the Enterprise in the end. It’s not all sorted out yet.”

“Oh okay. When will this be?”

“I’ll need to interview other cadet first and when I’ve made the first decision, we will let you take this ‘missions’ on a weekend. Maybe you’ll have a part in the Kobayashi Maru simulation too. But don’t worry, you won’t need to save another ship or so. We merely need the environment to let you investigate the destination”

“That makes sense” she smiled.

“Oh. One last thing. Did you tell Spock about your application for the Enterprise yet?”

“You mean if he knows that I want to join you on the mission maybe? No, he doesn’t”

“Right. I’d like to keep it that way until the tryout. I can’t wait to see his face when he sees you”

“Does that mean he’ll be there too? I mean… sure he will since he’s your First Officer and Chief Science Officer at the same time”

“Exactly. He’ll be the one to help you with this task for the tryout” he got up and shook her hand “You’ll hear from me as soon as I know more.”

“Sure” she smiled and he opened her the door

“Oh and Carissa?”

“Yeah?”

“I just wanted to apologize for having been an idiot when we first met” she smiled when she thought back of the Kobayashi Maru simulation oh so long ago where she had first met him.

“Forgiven and forgotten. I kinda think it’s funny now. Except for the fact that you cheated on the test”

“Glad to hear that”

“You’re welcome. Thank you for scaring off Andrew last year at the party when…. you know”

“Sure thing” he nodded at her and they parted ways.

-oO0Oo-

In the three weeks before she heard from Jim again, she had been to two other interviews and had been invited to yet another tryout. She also started with her final project and had the first talk with her evaluator. But once she heard more details about her tryout for the Enterprise, this was everything she could focus on. A part of her hated herself because she feared that Spock was the only reason she wanted to be on that ship but she had to admit that this wasn’t true. There were many other reasons and yet she still wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to directly go onto a five year mission. Her parents definitely wouldn’t like that but she didn’t care. In fact, she believed that she’d try even harder to get onto the Enterprise if they tried to prohibit her from doing it.

All too soon another month had passed and the day of the tryout had come. By now all they knew was that they would need to gather data about their atmosphere in the bridge of the Kobayashi Maru simulation, pretending it was a foreign planet, before they would be split into two groups and fly to Europe with a shuttlecraft where they had to fulfill the next part of their ‘mission’. When she entered the classroom they were told to meet, she realized that she knew almost every other science cadet there since they were in at least one of her courses. She took a seat next to Evans and nodded at him, pulling out her PADD to make some notes.

“You applied here too?”

“Of course I did” she said

“Oh okay. I just thought you weren’t the type to be that long into space”

“I admit it is a bit much for the start but I’m sure it’ll be fine”

“Yeah. I really hope I’ll manage to do this”

“Good luck then”

“Thanks. Same to you”

“How’s your project doing?”

“Fine” as he started to explain what he was doing, Jim entered and greeted them.

“Good morning, Cadets. Thank you for coming on that Saturday morning, I know you’ve probably got better stuff to do than participating in an ‘improvised’ tryout. Anyways, Mr Scott, my Chief Engineer, has already taken the engineering cadets with him because they’ve got heaps of work to do on the Enterprise. Doctor McCoy and my First Officer Mr Spock should be arriving any moment. And I will take care of those who want to pursuit a career in command but they’ll only arrive in a few hours. Now, to your assignments. As you have been already informed, everything is a bit improvised and we’ve agreed on the following program: We will make three groups, medicals and other sciences mixed, and you all will spend some time on the bridge of the USS Trainor, where the scientists will investigate a fictive planned we called AlphaBetaGamma. However, the medics among you will pursuit other task on the bridge at that time because we won’t always need you in Sickbay and then you might be working on the bridge one day. Then, we will make new groups and the medics follow McCoy to the Academy’s sickbay to learn something about viruses and bacteria and complete a little workshop on hypos and whatever. Meanwhile, the scientists will be divided in two groups of four and each group gets an instructor who will fly them to Europe in a shuttlecraft, where you’re supposed to pretend you’re on AlphaBetaGamma and collect rocks, bugs, plants and whatever and do some experiments on them before you decide to take them back to the ship, which will be the science lab of the Enterprise because that’s like the only thing that’s working on this ship. There you will finish your tasks and if everything works well, you’ll be finished by tomorrow afternoon. And yes, you will spend a night in Europe. The people from the command division will just stay in the Kobayashi Maru rooms with me and fulfill a couple of tasks once they arrive. Any questions so far?”

“What exactly are we supposed to do with these elements we collect?”

“Mr Spock will explain it to you once you’ve determined everything about our little planet. He’ll also give you more details about what you need to collect.” Jim said “Oh and speaking of him, he’ll accompany you to Europe but he’ll go to Geneva because they asked him to have a look at their particle accelerator because they seem to have a little issue” he shrugged and Carissa remember that Spock had told her about that when she asked him what he was doing on the weekend (because she wanted to find out if he guessed that she would be coming to the tryout). “So he’ll stay there and one group will pick him up on their way back” they nodded and Jim had a look at the time “I bet Spock’s been taking my instruction to give me five minutes a bit too literally…” he said “And Bones’ late anyways” he walked to the door and opened it. “Oh there you are. Come in, I’m done” he said and his First Officer as well as the medical officer entered the room. Their eyes wandered through the room and she could see Spock freezing when he must have seen her and his eyebrow cocked up. She grinned at him, waving a tiny hello with her hand. “And?” Jim asked, standing beside the Vulcan and glancing at him as if he expected a reaction “What do you think of them?” he looked at the Captain

“I trust your judgement that they will be distinguished”

“That’s the spirit” he patted his back before he went to introduce McCoy, then his other friend.

-oO0Oo-

After everyone had a detailed assignment, they left for the Kobayashi Maru simulator. Since they needed a Captain and an evaluator for this task, Spock sat down in the Captain’s chair and told everyone what they had to do. Since they couldn’t all be at the science desk, they took other roles and would all determine one thing about the fictional planet, just that the instruments would take the data from the devices that had been installed on the roof of the Academy. She suggested it had been Spock who made sure the data was visible in on the instruments of the USS Trainor Finally, it was Carissa’s turn and she had to determine what kind of life that could be found on the planet.

“Definitely humanoid lifeforms but different species. The vegetation is almost similar to the one on planet Earth but sparse in that area and I get indicators of vertebrates and also other animal phylums, such as mollusks and arthropods. Most of them also belong to different classes. So I guess it’s safe to say it’s very biodiverse. Wow, even the water has many living things inside it” she decided and had to pull herself together not to get off the point too much. Plus, she was also surprised by how good and detailed the measuring devices on the roof were working “Funnily all lifeforms have already been identified, so there probably won’t be much that is unknown. At least not in that area. And there’s a civilization that’s using advanced technology. But I think we’d better land somewhere else where there isn’t that much populated so that we don’t go noticed. Shall I make out coordinates that we could land?”

“Thank you, Cadet Wiley. Cadet George, please take over and determine convenient landing-coordinates”

“Do I need to find them in Europe?”

“Have I mentioned the continent?”

“Err no?”

“May I hear from you what task I gave you?”

“To find coordinates to land?”

“Exactly”

“Oh I see, I just need to find a good spot and then we pretend that the place in Europe are those coordinates…” he got to work and for a couple of minutes not much happened until he said two coordinates. Spock asked another cadet at the helm to check them out.

“It looks like a shuttle landing place from an airport, Sir”

“Cadet George, I do understand why you think such a place would make a good area to land but the point of our mission is to not get into contact with the natives if possible”

“But Wiley said they’re a known species. So they won’t cause us trouble. Besides, we could land in the night…”

“Yeah sure” Carissa muttered “Because no one will be there then because of course no shuttles land at night. And just because we know a species doesn’t mean they don’t mean trouble” her classmate sighed and tried again, naming two other coordinates.

“That’s a corn field” the helmsman reported after checking

“Yeah, then we could hide the shuttle in there” Spock shifted in the Captain’s chair and she was sure had he been human, he would have buried his face in his hands.

“What if someone is there? And do you really want to destroy their food when we land? That surely won’t cause trouble at all” Carissa asked

“Your classmate is right” Spock said “Please, try one last time”

“What do you expect me to do? Shall we land in the Antarctica or what? You’ve got no one there” Carissa muttered to herself that there still were some science outposts.

“Can you repeat your mission?”

“We’ve got to find three different samples, like rocks, plants or insects”

“Do you expect to find the latter two at the place you just mentioned?”

“Err no?” Spock raised an eyebrow “Yes?” now Carissa buried her face in her hands. “No anyway? I’m confused. You make me nervous”

“I have made that observation as well, yes. Cadet Wiley, please take over” although she felt pride the he wanted her to do it, she felt sorry for her fellow cadet, knowing he had forfeited his chance for a place on the Enterprise.

Once everything was sorted out, they left the simulation room and gathered in the classroom from the beginning again. When the second group was finished, Spock sent the medics away with Leonard before they made two groups of four with the rest of the scientists. Again they were told what they had to do and then left for the ship hangar where they would meet their instructors, the ones who would also evaluate them.

-oO0Oo-

Somehow Carissa felt strange knowing that she had been to space and another planet before but never to another continent on Earth. They landed somewhere in France for all she knew and had to take the samples and do some experimenting there.

“Almost a pity we can’t stay here longer. I’d love to spend a day here before we return” a classmate said as they tried to collect some bugs they had found.

“Yeah. How did your part in the simulation go?” Carissa asked

“Quite well. Though Evan didn’t even ‘scan’ the planet and just told us about Earth’s atmosphere what he knew himself and I guess he made at least one mistake.”

“Oh. Ryan wanted us to land on an airport, then a cornfield and then went for Antarctica” her partner looked at her and grinned

“Okay, I think that’s worse. So where are we now, according to him?”

“Oh Spock was fed up with him and told me to take over. No idea where exactly I brought us but there’s a like some miles away from San Francisco. At least if we had landed at the place I wanted us to go….”

“I still don’t know why they couldn’t just let us stay in America”

“Well maybe that would have been to close. Here it’s a bit different already…Besides, like this we needed to be in that shuttlecraft a bit longer… or maybe because the Commanded needed to go to Geneva anyways”

“Okay, that makes sense” they fell silent again and tried to get the bugs into the jars.

“That somehow reminds me of elementary school”

“Yeah” he chuckled “Wouldn’t have thought back then that I would be collecting bugs in space one day. Well not in space itself, on foreign planets I mean.”

“If there even are bugs on those planet”

“Well, AlphaBetaGamma has bugs” he said, holding up his jar with two bugs in it

“Yes it does. Agile ones” she chuckled. “Hey do you have any idea what the time is?”

“Uhh… I know our American time but I have no idea what time zone we are in right now. Why did you ask?”

“Just because. We need to plan our night and it looks like it’s getting dark soon. Besides, you remember that Commander Spock said he would contact us at 2000 hours local time. Not that we miss his call”

“I still don’t get why he has to call us? We’ve got our instructor”

“He’s our captain in this exercise, don’t forget that. We need to report to him as we would on a mission. Besides, he is responsible for us. What if we got attacked by wolves?”

“I bet the instructor has a phaser. But hey, imagine we would take a wolf with us to examine it. We’d definitely get that place on the ship”

“Still. What if it’s a pack and he’s killed? Then we’re screwed” she shrugged “But I doubt there are wolves here anyways. Maybe he just wants to make sure no one got lost or left or whatever” she shrugged.

“Okay, we can go back to meet the others again” her partner said and got up, wiping the dirt off his trousers. “I think five bugs should be enough for now. We’ve still got to make the experiments” she nodded and took a handful of soil which she put in the container as well. “Do we need to take soil?”

“Nah, but it’ll help to calm down the bugs. Besides more samples are better than too few…” she gave a shrug and they returned to the shuttle. Their teammates were already back and did the tests on their rocks and plants. Also Carissa and Theodore took out the supplies they needed to perform their examinations. The instructor walked over to them and asked them to explain what they were doing as they did it.

-oO0Oo-

Suddenly Carissa saw that the sun had sunk and frowned. This probably meant that it had been 8 PM and she wondered why her boyfriend hadn’t gotten into contact with them yet. She asked the instructor what time it was

“2024 hours” he replied.

“Commander Spock hasn’t contacted us yet” she said

“He must have forgotten it” Theodore suggested

“Definitely not” Carissa said

“The CERN has closed now, hasn’t it?” an alien cadet called Syl asked.

“Yes. So he can’t have been distracted” Carissa said “Which is rare anyways. Vulcans never forget things”

“Maybe he forgot his PADD somewhere?”

“Or the other group has taken longer with their report”

“I guess we should contact them to ask”

“What for? I bet he’ll get in touch any moment now”

“Don’t Vulcans meditate?”

“Ah sure that must be the reason. It probably took longer than usual” the instructor said, obviously relieved

“He probably wouldn’t do it before he contacted us. I mean there’s always a chance it takes longer” Carissa corrected. She entered the shuttle and contacted the other group. They seemed surprised but they hadn’t heard anything from Spock either. “Well,” she said and gave a shrug “Then we contact him” she decided as she tried to reach him on his PADD, ignoring the frowns and protests from some of her teammates. Right now she didn’t even care if she disrupted his mediation, she was worried because she knew it was very, very much unlike him to not contact her at the time he promised. She saw that the connection was built, all Spock needed to do was to answer her call. Which he didn’t. In contrary, he dismissed her “He dismissed the call” she gasped and instantly tried to reach him again but the signal was lost “And his signal’s gone”

“Oh come on, it maybe just was the connection that broke. Must be a mistake in the network. We’re out in nowhere here.”

“That connection is supposed to work without an external network” she said “We can’t expect other planets to have this. I’m telling you one thing. There is something wrong. It makes no sense that he dismissed the call”

“Someone could have stolen his PADD”

“He probably has a communicator with him. He would have contacted us with that”

“Maybe he didn’t realize his PADD is gone and forgot to call us?”

“That sounds unlikely” Syl said “What should we do?” Carissa looked to the instructor

“I guess we should inform Starfleet and see if they can reach him. I’ve got no idea how to contact him on his communicator. Or do you know?”

“I know” he said as he took out his own communicator and switched it on, trying to reach the Commander “Nothing” he said

“Maybe someone stole his PADD and his communicator”

“He’s probably more intelligent than the five of us put together. He would have found a way to contact us if he is in a state to do so”

“He was robbed and knocked out”

“That would have needed to be a huge group who did this. Vulcans are much stronger than most other species that life on earth”

“Well then it was a large group that robbed and knocked him out”

“So we all agree that something is not alright?”

“What are we supposed to do?”

“We contact Starfleet and ask them if we can go and investigate”

“I bet this is just a test… they want us to worry and as soon as we arrive in Geneva, he’ll await us and tell us that we all failed because we ignored our task”

“Come on, if this was a test it we would act correct by go and having a look. Who cares about rocks when someone of our crew could be in danger?”

“Well he isn’t our crew. Besides, it aren’t just rocks, there are plants and bugs too”

“I bet you won’t pass this tryout with that attitude. And I’m going to contact Starfleet now and ask for their permission to go and have a look” before anyone protested she just did that, not even caring if their instructor was okay with it. Starfleet allowed them to go to Geneva to see if they could find the Vulcan, which didn’t really make everyone all too happy. On their way there, Carissa didn’t care about the other cadet’s looks since she could only think about her boyfriend and what could have happened to him. She even demanded the last coordinates of his PADD, what made her frown even more “He’s somewhere in France now. I mean at least he’s been there at the time before his PADD was switched off”

“Doesn’t mean he was there. Maybe that’s where the thieves went” Syl said.

“True. That’s why we’ll go to Geneva first anyway” Carissa said, not even noticing that she had kind of taken the lead of the mission “Someone should go to his hotel to ask if he has been there”

“How are we supposed to know which hotel he is in?”

“Good question” Carissa said, looking at their instructor “Do you know something?”

“I can’t recall the name”

“Then we’ll just look up which hotels are near the CERN” Carissa decided as she switched on the PADD again. Luckily, she knew him well enough to exclude three fancy ones and a hostel. She then handed the PADD to the instructor, who quickly retrieved the address of the right hotel. “Good. That’s where we head first”

“And what do we tell them?”

“The truth” Carissa said

-oO0Oo-

Somehow she was surprised that they were even allowed to have a look at Spock’s room. The other cadets didn’t even dare to enter and if she was honest, she wouldn’t have done it either if Spock hadn’t been her boyfriend. But after all she had lived with him for a year, so this didn’t feel wrong. After all she wouldn’t rummage his things and just have a look if she saw anything suspicious, like traces of a fight. It seemed like he only had been here to deposit his bag and change from his uniform shirt into something else, informal. She figured that he only reason he’d leave his room again was to get food. This was what she told the other cadets and the instructor after she left the room.

“Excuse me, have you seen him leaving maybe?” she asked the receptionist who shook his head. His colleague, however, seemed to have seen him. “Could you see what he had with him? I mean is it possible he had a PADD like this?” she asked, holding up the one from the shuttle.

“Probably…” she answered.

“Do you know what kind of restaurants are nearby? Like approximately ten minutes of walking? Nothing too fancy, crowded or loud. Nothing that mostly sells meat and probably not international kitchen. Maybe something typical from here?” she turned to her colleague and they talked in French before Carissa was told names of certain restaurants

“Oh wait. ‘The Space’”

“It’s international” Carissa was already getting information about it and a small gasp left her lips

“Not international. Intergalactic is more like it” she said

“You mean he went there?” Theodore asked

“I am quite sure they serve Vulcan meals, so yes”

“Alright, let’s go there”

“No, we should try to find out which way he took and take this one too… maybe we find traces of a fight there”

“Or he got involved in a bar fight”

“Definitely” she grumbled, asking the PADD for directions to said restaurant

“He could have just provoked someone without knowing. He just has a manner that makes you want to beat him senseless at times”

“Okay that’s true” she admitted. “We’ll just take different ways and meet at the restaurant in… 15 minutes”

“What kind of traces of a fight do you mean?”

“I don’t know, anything that could have been used as a weapon or blood”

“Isn’t Vulcan blood blue?”

“Green” she mumbled before she told everyone where they should walk through. On the way to the restaurant she didn’t know if she wanted to find traces of a fight. A part of her hoped she would because at least she would have an idea what happened, on the other hand she didn’t want something to have happened to him. But something told her that if he was alright he would have long gotten in touch with them somehow. She swallowed and walked faster. Her classmates were already awaiting her at the restaurant

“Nothing. We even were inside. He wasn’t here. So he either got attacked on the way here, without traces, he didn’t come here or nothing happened at all” she nodded and once again tried to contact him, just out of foolish hope. At least she saw that his PADD was on again. This time she cancelled the call, hoping there would be a way to locate it.

“I’ve got the signal of his PADD again. I’ll ask Starfleet to locate it”

“Good. Then they can come here and investigate themselves. This is not our job”

“We can at least go to have a look. Maybe it’s just the thieves that are there. But then they could tell us something about his whereabouts.” Syl said, offering Carissa some comfort

“Yes. We can get an overview of the situation” she contacted Starfleet and shortly after had the coordinates she asked for. “They said we could go there to have a look. They’re coming too” she informed her friends.

“Good. Let’s return to our actual task…”

“Look, it takes Starfleet over four hours to get here… we’d better go and have look because we’ll need about half an hour with the shuttle. If he was abducted, every minute could count”

“And what do you suggest? That we’d go and rescue him?” although she would have never admitted it out loud, she did somehow like the thought of rescuing him.

-

Next Chapter

[jeonakookie]

I Wish (7)

Pairing: JungkookxOC

Word Count: 3.4k

Summary: Zoya and Jungkook had lost touch years ago. When a situation brings them back into each other lives, they try to go back to how things were as best friends once again. But a lot can change in 8 years. People. Feelings.

Masterlist

The next morning, Zoya woke to noise coming from the kitchen. She reached over to her right for her phone and squinted at the screen as it read ‘9:00am’. With a sigh, Zoya flopped back down on the bed hoping to sleep in a little more, so she cocooned herself in the blankets and closed her eyes. Zoya tried to block out the clanking of spoons on bowls, the laughs of her brother and sister, and the chatter of the TV until she jumped out of bed in annoyance. Realising there was no way she was getting back to sleep; her feet slipped into her slippers and made their way into the bathroom.

Zoya got dressed and, wrapping her wet hair in a towel, quietly made her way into the kitchen. She walked by her brother and sister, who were sat in the living room watching the TV with such concentration that they didn’t realise their older sister pass by. “Morning.” She greeted her mother.

“Morning. You’re up early for once.” Sara stated.

“I wake up at 6 am every morning during uni mum. I think I can afford to sleep in for the holidays.” She says, as she grabs a bowl from the cupboard. “What are you doing?” She sits down on the kitchen island across from her mum, who’s eyes were on her laptop. When she doesn’t respond Zoya tries again, “Mum?”

“Oh right, sorry. I’m just browsing places to go in Seoul. We’re going to go sightseeing today, and it’s changed quite a bit, so it’ll be exciting for us as well as Imani.” Sara explains excitedly as Zoya listens as she munches on her cereal.

“Cool, sounds fun.” Zoya comments as she chews.

Sara grimaces, “Zoya! Don’t talk with your mouth fall.” She chastises with a grimace.

“Sorry.” She says sheepishly. “Where we off to first then?”

Sara looks at her daughter in surprise, “You’re coming today?”

“Yeah, of course. Why wouldn’t I?” Zoya asks, confused at her mother’s surprised tone?

“Oh nothing, I just assumed you’d spend time with Jungkook.”

“I‘ve spent time with him the past few days we’ve been here. I’m sure one day without me won’t kill him.” Zoya jokes. In reality, Zoya wanted to delay the inevitability of facing Jungkook just a little while longer. Of course, she wanted to spend time with her family, but the former was the stronger motivation.

“Mhmm.” Sara smiles at Zoya.

“What?” Zoya sighs out, as she turns her back, places the bowl in the sink as she rolls her eyes.

“I don’t know, you two are awfully close these days. Then again, distance does make the heart grow fonder...”

“Okay one, it’s ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’ and two, we’re just friends mum. Stop being weird.” Zoya complained.

“Fine” Sara held her hands up in defeat, “I’m just saying.” She sings.

“Well, can you stop saying, please.” Zoya huffs. “I’m going to finish getting ready, I’ll be down in a couple of minutes and I’ll be ready to go.” She says before running up to her room.

Not a minute was wasted due to Sara’s intensive planning for the day: from enjoying the bustling of Hongdae to visiting the scenic tourist spaces, they did all they could until they were exhausted from their eventful day.

“Guess we’ll get to Han River tomorrow. But we did a lot today.” Sara states.

“I’m tired mummy.” Imani mumbles sleepily as she holds onto her mother’s hand and slowly follows along and starts to sway side to side in a sleepy haze. Seeing as they weren’t too far away from their place, Zoya decides to pick her sister up before she fell asleep standing.

Zoya grunted as she picked up her sister, “I haven’t picked you up since you were like 4 and you’ve grown well.” Zoya says slightly straining, as she notices her mistake in thinking her 10-year-old sister weighed like a toddler. As she slowly walks towards the house, it comes into view, but so does a figure that was stood near the entrance. Zoya slowed down in alarm, but her defensive state relaxes when she hears her name fall from the stranger’s mouth in a familiar voice, “Jungkook.” She breathes out and starts walking towards him.

“Jungkook? What are you doing here? Is everything okay dear?” Sara asked in worry.

“Oh yes. Everything is fine,” he says scratching the back of his neck, a nervous habit of his, “I actually came to talk to Zoya about something.”

“Oh okay, that’s fine. Well why don’t you come in.” Sara invites him in, and he notices Zoya struggling with her sleeping sister.

“You want help? I’ll carry her.” Jungkook offers.

Before Zoya could speak, Sara accepted his offer knowing her eldest’s stubborn streak. Jungkook sweeps Imani into his hold from Zoya as if she weighed like a feather and waited for further instructions.

Adam brushed past everyone, “I’m going to bed. You guys are taking too long.” He opened the door making his way to his room, and everyone else followed him into the house.

“Erm, follow me. I’ll show you to her room.” Zoya mumbles quietly and walks ahead to her sister’s room as Jungkook followed closely behind. The silence was filled with loud thoughts of the two, both wondering what their conversation was going to bring. Zoya sighed and went through the doorway to Imani’s room and gestured Jungkook to place her on her bed. Zoya slipped off Imani’s shoes and decided that she wasn’t going to manage to get her into her pyjamas, so she laid her duvet over her sleeping form. Zoya swept her sister’s hair from her face and with one last look, she turned the bedroom light off and followed Jungkook out of the room, softly closing the door behind her.

“I was wondering if we could go talk, maybe by Han River.” Jungkook suggested, looking unsure as if he thought she was going to reject his offer. Zoya looked at him once they made their way outside after ensuring Sara that Zoya will be back later.

“Sure, I’d like that.” Zoya agreed softly and noticed Jungkook’s tense form relax a little and they made their way silently into his car to get to the riverside.

“We didn’t get to visit the riverside today; we were going to go tomorrow morning.” Zoya breaks the silence in the car.

“I’d say the view and atmosphere is best during late night. It’s calming.” Jungkook comments whilst staring straight ahead, focused on driving. Although, Zoya felt it was maybe a bit more than just being fully focused on his driving. Zoya hums at Jungkook’s mention of his preference for the sight at night.

It wasn’t long before the car came to a stop and the both made their way to walk by the river.  Zoya shivered slightly, feeling the cool breeze despite being in a thick jumper and crossed her arms over to reserve some heat. Jungkook didn’t fare any better in much thinner attire and his hand were stuffed in his hoodie’s pockets and donned his black cap and face mask, as there were still a few people enjoying the night-time sight of the river. They walked in silence, neither of them knowing how to start. Zoya decided to bite the bullet, “So…you wanted to talk. I’m guessing about last night.” Her voice coming out soft and calm, unlike the beating of her heart at her blunt statement.

“Yeah.. erm..” Jungkook started awkwardly, slightly startled with Zoya’s calm mention of yesterday. “About that… I think it’s best not to think of that as anything. It was just a weird moment.”

Zoya was taken aback by what he was saying, and it hurt a lot more than she anticipated. “Oh yeah…you’re right.” Zoya said tying to brush of the sting of his words. Zoya felt her fake smile wavering and Jungkook started to look concerned. Jungkook stepped towards Zoya to ask her if she was okay.

“Jungkook?” A girl questioned. Jungkook’s body tensed momentarily and then he noticeably created a big distance between himself and Zoya.

He turned to the voice with a smile, “Jihye, what are you doing here?”

“Oh nothing, I was on my way back to the dorms. I should ask you what you’re doing here?” Jihye says stepping closer.

“I just came out on a walk by myself, just needed some fresh air.” Zoya walks further back from Jungkook. The last thing they both needed is to cause any trouble with Zoya being seen with Jungkook right now.

“Mind if I join you for a bit?” Jihye asks as she stands closer to Jungkook and caresses his arm. “I could keep you company.”

Jungkook nervously laughs and peeks behind himself to where Zoya should have been. Jungkook looked around not seeing her anywhere. Jungkook starts to panic. “Erm sorry Jihye, I should be getting back to be honest, it’s getting late. Get home safe.” He hastily bids farewell to the girl and is off to look for Zoya. He whips his phone out and immediately calls her.

___

Zoya’s sniffling was interrupted when phone vibrates in her pocket and she takes it out to see ‘JK ’. She rolls her eyes and declines the call. Zoya decides to stop walking, assuming she’s far away enough from the pair, and sits on a bench ahead of her. She couldn’t watch Jihye flirt with Jungkook for a moment longer. Especially right after he practically said that the ‘almost kiss’ they had was a ‘weird moment’ that should have never happened. She felt as if her heart was physically in pain and fresh tears fell as she let the hurt and humiliation wash over her. Jeon Jungkook is an idol surrounded by girl like Jihye all the time. Why would he even look twice at Zoya like that. “I’m so stupid.” She whimpered to herself, her face hidden in her hands.

“Now that’s a little harsh.” A voice pipes in, causing Zoya to snap her head up at the uninvited speaker.

“Yoongi…” Zoya hastily wipes her eyes “I didn’t- wha-“ Zoya couldn’t form a proper sentence suddenly, but she took a calming breath to  and asked “What are you doing here?”

Yoongi took a seat beside Zoya and merely shrugged, “I come occasionally just to clear my head. It’s gets a little suffocating, you know?” If he saw her crying, quite obviously, he didn’t mention it.

“I guess? When it keeps piling on until you feel like you can’t breathe from the pressure.” Zoya feels unsure when Yoongi doesn’t reply. Before she realises what she’s doing, Zoya turns to him and suddenly says, “Mindfulness.” Yoongi looks at the girl confused. Zoya laughs, “Sorry, I meant to say you should try mindfulness, as a psychology student I totally recommend it. I use it when everything becomes too much.”

Yoongi hums and nods, as if taking in the advice. “So what? You just become mindful of everything?” Yoongi says, scrutinising the method. “Hardly sounds helpful. Sounds more stressful to me.”

Zoya smiles and shakes her head. “It’s not as stressful as it sounds. Here, try it.” Zoya straightens her posture and closes her eyes and gestures for him to follow suit. When met by silence, she opens her eyes and sees Yoongi’s reluctance to follow her instructions. Zoya tries to persuade him, “Come on. Please? Just at least try it and if you still think it’s stupid then I’ll respect your wrong opinion.” Yoongi raised an amused eyebrow at her the latter part of her speech, but finally conceded by closing his eyes and mirroring Zoya’s pose.

All that could be heard was the quiet chatter off the few people still around, the wind and the flowing of the river. “Allow your body to relax, let your arms rest…” Zoya peaked through one open eye and saw Yoongi visibly relax and she smiled and carried on speaking with a clam, soothing tone. “Listen to the wind...the water…let yourself be present in this moment. Be aware of the breathing. You take a breath in…and releasing it fully. Follow the breath as it goes in and out.” Zoya pauses and hears Yoongi’s calming breathing. “Okay! So that’s kind of the gist of mindfulness.” Zoya claps her hands together. “So how was it?”

Yoongi’s eyes open in alarm at the sudden end to the relaxing moment. Zoya smiles at him knowingly, to which he rolls his eyes at but gives her the satisfaction of being proven right. “Fine, that was…actually helpful and relaxing. I would like it if you told me more about this mindfulness.”

Zoya’s smile widens and eagerly agrees. “Of course. What are friends for? We are friends, right?”

“Yeah, of course we’re friends. You can’t get rid of me that easily anymore, you’re stuck with me now.” Yoongi nudges Zoya playfully and she giggles in return.

___

Jungkook spotted Zoya on a bench and ran towards it only to stop a few feet away when he noticed she had company. Watching them from afar, he felt a jealous pang in his heart. Jungkook decided to call Zoya again and saw her look at her phone and immediately her smile fell. She declined the call and Jungkook’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He tried again and she sighed before declining again.

In addition to confusion, hurt marred his face. He couldn’t help but think of what Zoya could be talking about to the stranger, but his heart dropped when the man turned towards Zoya to reveal Yoongi. They seemed happy in each other’s company, as they laughed and Yoongi nudged her with a smile of his own to match Zoya’s.

Jungkook’s fist clenched and then unclenched, revealing crescent indents on his palms.

___

“Someone looking for you?” Yoongi says with a cocked eyebrow once Zoya declined another call.

“I don’t feel like being found right now...” Zoya mumbles as she fiddles with her fingers.

“If you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to.” Yoongi reassured.

“It’s not that. It’s because it’s about someone- “

“It’s about Jungkook.” Yoongi states, cutting Zoya off.  Zoya’s face further confirmed what Yoongi already knew. “It was obvious” he shrugs, “to me at least.” He adds after seeing the panic on her face.

Zoya nervously giggles as she searches for a reply. “If I say something will you tell Jungkook?” She asks. Zoya knows that Yoongi’s loyalty lies with Jungkook as he was friends with Jungkook first and foremost.  This led to her surprise when Yoongi responded with an answer she didn’t anticipate.

“No. Within reason of course.” Yoongi says simply.

Zoya mulled over his answer for a few second and proceeded. “I like him.” Yoongi looks at Zoya as if to say ‘and?’ “I like him like him.” Yoongi remained unfazed. “More than a friend.” Zoya added. Still, Yoongi’s demeanour remained calm and was clear of any look of surprise. Zoya huffed at the lack of response from the man.

Before Zoya could say anything Yoongi spoke up. “Am I supposed to be surprised?” He says with a raised brow.

“I mean…yeah?” Zoya said unsurely, confused by the unforeseen reaction.

“Zoya…” Yoongi laughed and Zoya’s brows furrowed in confusion and annoyance at Yoongi’s actions.

“Look, I wouldn’t have told you if I knew you’d find my feelings for Jungkook humorous.” Zoya felt anger and hurt run through her. She was quick to stand from her seat and walk away, but Yoongi was quick to follow her.

“Wait. Wait Zoya.” Yoongi begged, as he caught up and matched Zoya’s strides. “I didn’t mean it like that. At all.” Zoya’s footsteps only grew quicker, refusing to listen anymore. “Zoya. Listen to me.” Yoongi’s tone had suddenly changed and Zoya faltered, and she doesn’t what it was in his voice that made her stop, but she did. However, she made no move to face the man, but Yoongi took that as green light. He walked in front of her in order to face her. “Look, I wasn’t laughing at you. I was laughing at the situation.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” Zoya glared at him and crossed her arms.

Yoongi sighed but continued to explain. “Zoya, anyone with eyes could tell that the two of you like each other, It seems the only blind ones are the two of you.”

“I don’t think you calling me blind is-” Zoya’s words were cut off as she directed her attention to Jungkook who was suddenly in front of them. He looked, almost as if he was angry.

“What are you doing here?” Jungkook asked bluntly, his question directed at the man in front of Zoya. His voice, expression, and tone were so foreign to see on Jungkook. The happy, cute, silly Jungkook was nowhere to be seen. Instead a stiff, jaw clenched man stood in his place.

“I took a walk to clear my head.” Yoongi replied, seemingly unfazed by Jungkook’s hostile attitude. “What are you doing here?” Yoongi threw Jungkook’s question back at him.

Jungkook eyes flickered to Zoya for a split second before he answered. “I came out for a walk. I was on my way back to the dorms, but then I saw you two.” Jungkook ignored the burning stare of Zoya’s eyes on him, questioning his response. “Does Maya, your girlfriend, know you’re out so late with a girl?” Jungkook emphasised on “girlfriend’ as if to make a point.

Yoongi’s eyes narrowed as stepped towards the boy. “What are you insinuating?”

Jungkook shrugged, not intimidated by the older member “I’m just saying. I wouldn’t be okay in Maya’s shoes.”

Yoongi’s posture went stiff as the younger boy kept speaking. It was then that Zoya realised something: Jungkook knew Yoongi’s buttons and he was purposely pushing every single one. What she couldn’t figure out was why. “My girlfriend is a grown woman who knows I have female friends and Zoya is just that. A friend.” Yoongi steps a little closer to Jungkook and adds “I’d suggest you stop before you really say something you don’t mean.” It was a murmur loud enough for only Jungkook to hear. Yoongi had caught onto exactly what Jungkook was doing. He’d known him since he was a teenager, so Yoongi recognises when Jungkook is jealous.

Jungkook scoffs, ignoring Yoongi’s warning. “Oh, so you’re so close now? I didn’t realise. Fine you can drop her off back to her place then. I’m done with her.” He storms off leaving Zoya and Yoongi speechless.

Yoongi shook his head at Jungkook’s behaviour. Zoya had remained quiet for the entirety of the conversation between to two men and now wished she had said something. Zoya had not done anything to be treated like she was by Jungkook. The more she thought about it the more her anger replaced her sadness.

“Do you mind dropping me off?” Zoya asked, not bothering to hide her emotions. Her voice weak and she blinked rapidly trying to hold back the tears. Despite wanting to be angry at the way she was treated, it didn’t make Jungkook’s behaviour and words towards her hurt any less. Feelings aside, friends don’t treat each other like that, and it only finally hit her that she didn’t know Jungkook. Not this Jungkook. She was blindly clinging on to a memory of her past.

Yoongi decided it was best not to say anything and merely nodded to her request. The sad tone of the silence was deafening on the drive back and before Zoya got out of the car Yoongi spoke. “You know Jungkook only-“

Zoya stopped him before he could say anymore. “You don’t have to make excuses for him Yoongi. He said what he said. It’s fine, I’ll be fine. Goodnight.” She gave him a small smile and wave before heading inside the house.

As Zoya entered her mother popped out from the living room. “Oh, you’re home finally.” She noted.

“Yeah sorry, I didn’t mean to be so late.” Zoya, for the first time since leaving with Jungkook, checked the time: ‘2:00AM’. She’d been gone for nearly 3 hours. “I am really sorry.” Zoya said tiredly, drained from the events of the night.

Sara left the berating for another day, as she noticed her daughter’s mood. “Are you okay sweetie?” Zoya’s mom voice her concerns to which Zoya smiled weakly back.

“I’m fine. Just tired. I think I’m going to head straight to bed now. Goodnight.” Dismissing her mum’s concerns, she left for bed and proceeded to cry herself to sleep.

A/N Wow, look at me uploading again. This is to make up for going AWOL and not updating. Don’t expect me to update twice a week. I am trying to figure out a schedule that I can keep up with, so bare with me. But yeah, this was a packed chapter. Let me know your thoughts, I’d love to hear from you guys :)

-A

Masterlist

[jawnjendes]

shawn meets... | bella

SUMMARY: in the life of a rockstar, shawn mendes comes across some unique people. sometimes, things stray from the norm. (AU, shawn x every one of my oc’s)

AN: hiiii this is somewhat of a continuation of my last series, goth gf. you dont HAVE to read it to know what's happening here, but there will be references to it every so often. if you've been here since the goth gf days then, hi. i appreciate you. enjoy this shit. let me know ur thots.

****let me know if you want to be added to the taglist!

bella's origin story | bella's playlist | masterlist

It felt awfully strange to be in Annalise's hometown, knowing she wouldn't be going home right away. The residential part of North Hollywood where her parents lived still felt like it was a million miles away. The glamorous Lyft Lux was going through the equally glamorous parts of the city, and it was almost mundane despite the fact that she had been away for over a year.

Shawn and his younger sister, Aaliyah, were frequently pointing out the exciting things they had only seen in photos and movies: the Chinese Theater, the Walk of Fame, the Hollywood sign. They were bundles of energy and excitement. Annalise was only jittery because she never fully processed that she lives in the same city as her favorite YouTuber, Bella Santiago.

Over a month ago, Bella discovered the Shawn Mendes profile on Spotify, causing her to give him a shoutout on Twitter. Then, just after the release of his newest EP, In My Blood, Bella messaged Shawn, offering to fly him out to LA, put him in a hotel and make a video with her. Shawn immediately jumped at the chance, but he couldn't go without bringing two of the biggest Bella stans he knew, Annalise and Aaliyah. The only reason why it took until the New Year for this to happen was simple: exams and Christmas.

When the semester ended, Annalise spent the holidays and her 22nd birthday with Shawn's family in Pickering, much to her own family's disdain. It was different, celebrating Christmas on the morning of the 25th, rather than the 24th. It was also different not eating tamales or pozole like she did with her family. It totally wasn't annoying when Shawn blasted that god awful Taylor Swift song on the morning of Annalise's birthday. She totally didn't miss her family either.

She had to promise her parents that she would stay in LA for the duration of the holiday break in return for missing all the important holidays. It wasn't a hard decision to make, but it was going to be hard letting Shawn go. Annalise only hoped that there would be time for him to meet her extended family during this trip. From what she understood, as soon as Bella was done with him, Shawn and Aaliyah were getting on a plane straight back to Toronto.

As it turns out, Bella Santiago is insanely generous. She reserved the three of them a deluxe suite at the Marriott. They had a view of the city, a massive king size bed, and a pull out sofa bed. Everything was spotless, and luxurious.

"She didn't have to go this hard," Aaliyah pointed out as she tossed her suitcase to the side.

"What, would you rather sleep on the floor?" Shawn teased. "And pick that up and move it so it's out of the way!"

She rolled her eyes as she did what he said.

Annalise made herself comfortable on top of the white sheets. While all of this was exciting, she was fucking exhausted. It felt like it was much later in the day, having gotten up at seven. The time change made it feel like it was well in the afternoon, but it was barely eleven.

"How's your tummy?" Shawn asked from the window. He had his phone out and was taking photos of the view.

"Much better," she replied.

Against her better judgment, Annalise had a coffee during the five hour flight, and it did not agree with her. She made good friends with a barf bag… or three. All the caffeine must have left her system if she was feeling better now.

"What time do we meet Bella?" asked Aaliyah, padding over to stand by her brother.

"Three o'clock," Shawn replied. "In the ballroom downstairs."

That prompted all three of them to take a death nap for the time being. It only lasted about three hours, and when their alarms went off, none of them felt any more rested.

Annalise was the first one to actually get up and get ready. For once, she was intimidated by who she was going to be standing in front of today. She had to look her best, even if it was in all black.

It didn't take long for Aaliyah to follow suit. Soon enough, both girls were sitting in front of the window, using the California sun for their light as they did their makeup.

The funny thing is, as much as they cared about looking their best, neither of them were going to be in Bella's video. She only wanted Shawn, who was still lying in bed half an hour before the scheduled meet up.

"What are you gonna wear?" Annalise asked her boyfriend.

"I don't know," he replied, his voice muffled by the pillow. "Will she even care about what I'm wearing?"

"You're gonna be on her channel," Aaliyah said, looking up from her handheld mirror, "which has millions of viewers, including some of my friends who will never let me hear the end of it if they see my brother looking like a clown in front of the queen!"

Shawn grinned and got up. "I'll go like this, what do you think?" He held his arms out, showcasing his plaid pajama bottoms and a Nike hoodie. He also only had one sock on.

"You'll be dead before you step out of the room like that," Ann darkly added.

“Thanks Satan.” He chuckled.

Shawn was only pretending to be calm. Inside, he was shaking and his insides were heavy. He didn't even think about Bella's subscriber count until Aaliyah pointed it out. He really wanted Bella to like him too. She seemed like such a sweetheart from her videos, Shawn hoped that wasn't just a persona.

He had spent most of the flight watching her videos (when Ann wasn’t puking up her caffeine, of course.) He made it through a few tutorials, learning a lot about not only makeup, but Bella herself. She suffers from several anxiety disorders and constantly works to better herself. She left her parents when she came out to them as bisexual, and she hasn't spoke to them or her extended family in years. She recently got out of a relationship with another YouTuber named Ethan Nestor, which was part of the reason why she spent half of 2019 in her hometown of Palm Springs. This woman has some thick skin, there was no denying that.

One of the best things that Shawn learned about Bella was that she had a butterfly tattoo on her left arm. In another video, she talked about how her viewers drew butterflies on their arms in support of her when she was down. She got it tattooed for them, and the colors of the wings were the same as the bisexual pride flag. Shawn looked at his own butterfly tattoo differently now.

The other best thing he learned was how talented of a singer Bella was. She had covers on her channel, and Shawn watched every single one. Bella had such a rich, beautiful voice, and it looked so easy for her to hit any high note. She sang Love on the Brain without any strain on her face. She sang a gayer version of You Belong with Me, and played guitar with it. She sang with Markiplier as the opening act when they were on a comedy show tour in 2018.

Shawn couldn't wait to sing with her, though he was intimidated. He thought he was a good singer, but put him next to someone with Ariana Grande levels of talent? The nerves were never ending.

It was ten til three when everyone was ready. Their only predicament was to go down to the ballroom early or not.

“Did she text you?” Aaliyah asked, clearly antsy. “Is she on her way or anything?”

Shawn shook his head. He had changed into a white tee, black jeans and a denim jacket, which the two girls approved of. “Should I message her? Or… her manager? She’s the one who made all these arrangements.”

“Hey, she might not even be here on time,” Ann said. “YouTubers are like celebrities. They run on their own schedules just because they can.”

“Bella wouldn’t do that, would she?” Aaliyah said in disbelief.

“Only one way to find out.”

And to the ballroom they went. The space was huge, clearly meant for a party. There were sheer white curtains hanging from the huge windows, and a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. In the far corner of the room, tables and chairs were folded and leaning against the wall. Shawn, Aaliyah, and Ann looked around the room, all silently nervous and excited. Only a few minutes into it, they heard female voices just outside the room.

“But we’re always early! I knew I should have driven myself!”

“It’s two fifty-nine! Relax, they’re probably not even here yet!”

“Huh, I’ll be damned,” Ann mumbled, looking at her phone to verify the time.

The owners of the other two voices entered the room, carrying expensive-looking camera equipment and studio lights. They were followed by a bellhop, who was carrying a keyboard in a case. One woman was short and curvy, brown and freckled. Her short black hair was curly and glossed down, and she was wearing a bright red pantsuit.

The other woman was long and lean, decked out in a white long sleeve crop top, a black skirt, and knee high boots. Her iconic bright pink hair made a comeback, that wasn’t in her latest video. Her kind face looked airbrushed and flawless, although her brown eyes looked alarmed, like she was caught in headlights.

The first person to break the silence was the woman in red, already establishing her power. “Hello!” She held her hand out to Shawn. “I’m Sonji, I’m Bella’s manager. I believe we spoke on the phone. And on Twitter.”

“Yeah, yeah we did,” he said as they shook hands. “Uh, this Aaliyah and Ann, my sister and my girlfriend.”

“Hi, ladies!” Sonji greeted, shaking their hands as well. “So lovely to meet you! God, you’re all so pretty!”

Both girls mumbled shy thank you’s.

“Okay, so my handsome friend here and myself are going to set things up for the video,” Sonji explained. “In the meantime-” She looked at her silent client. “-Baller, come talk to your little protégé.”

Then, Sonji led the bellhop further into the room, over by the windows.

Bella still had a bag slung over her shoulder and a massive studio light stand in her hands. She was clutching it to her chest, a very performative and awkward smile etched on her bright pink lips.

“Hi!” she said after one very long second. “Uh - lemme -” She set down the giant lights and removed the bag from her shoulder. Then she stood up straight and smoothed out her hair. “Hi! Uh, I said that already!”

“I’ll say it again! Hi!” Shawn greeted, smiling politely.

Bella looked at him and opened her arms for a hug. “It’s nice to finally meet you!”

It might be weird to put it this way, but she smelled pretty. Whatever perfume she was wearing was probably more expensive than the flight over here. Shawn hugged her around her shoulders, inadvertently touching her surprisingly soft hair. You could just tell that she didn’t spare a single penny when it came to caring for herself.

“Wow, I wasn’t expecting you to be so tall!” she said, looking up at Shawn. “For once, I’m not the tallest person in the room!”

She couldn’t have been taller than Ann, who was five foot five inches and felt very short most of the time.

“And this is the sister and the girlfriend?” Bella said, turning to the other two girls. She went to hug Aaliyah, who was more than delighted by the gesture.

Bella leaned back and took her hand. “I love your nails! Love the shape and color!” She ran her thumb over the white acrylics. “So cute!”

“Aw, thank you!” Aaliyah was beaming.

Then, Bella turned to hug Ann. It’s important to point out that in most situations, Annalise Flores is stone faced, calm, and collected. Today, however, Ann had wide eyes, like she was face the good Lord herself… like she was going to drop down on one knee and propose to Bella.

Shawn wouldn’t blame her.

“Me encanta su delineador!” Bella told her, gently cupping her face.

“En serio?” Ann softly asked.

“Yes, que linda! Those inner wings are to die for! What do you use?”

“Um.. uh, I think it’s NYX? I don’t know the exact one, but it’s definitely NYX!” Ann chuckled nervously.

“Well, it looks amazing!”

Ann looked like she was going to faint with that euphoric dazed look on her face. Thankfully, she stayed on both feet because Sonji grabbed their attention. She managed to sneak by Bella, take the lights and bag, and set them all up by the window. She also set up the keyboard, camera and two chairs. There were three other chairs behind the camera as well. Sonji was incredibly fast.

“We are all ready to go!” she said to the others.

“Shall we?” Bella gestured for the other three to go first.

Shawn, Ann, and Aaliyah went over to the set up, excitement only increasing from here.

"Were you two going to be in the video too?" Sonji asked the two girls.

They both shook their heads.

"Nervous? Don't blame you, the Internet is brutal."

That didn't help Shawn's bundle of nerves. He took a silent deep breath as he went for his guitar case while Bella sat in front of her keyboard. The Internet is brutal, and Shawn's own minuscule corner of it was safe solely because of the size. The fans he tweeted every so often were seemingly normal, and no one was overly critical about him or his music. More exposure means more space for criticism and plain old hate.

Bella had over five million subscribers, and at least forty thousand of them took an interest in Shawn over the last month and a half. It was a lot of new people to make a good impression to. He took another deep breath and removed the guitar from its case. There's no going back now.

"So, I don't want this to be a structured, planned out video," Bella explained when Shawn took the empty chair next to her. "I just want us to talk so my viewers can get to know you, and we'll sing whatever comes to mind."

"Sounds good," Shawn said, not really hearing himself.

"Now everybody - and I mean everybody - take in a deep breath."

The room was silent except for the sounds of everyone inhaling through their noses. Aaliyah and Ann still looked excited as they followed Bella's instruction. Sonji followed as well, like she had done this a thousand times.

"And exhale," Bella breathed out, and the others repeated. "Good. Get those nerves out, breathe away the anxiety. This is fun, we're having fun."

Shawn felt a little better, knowing she was just as nervous, if not more. Throughout all of Bella's mental health videos that he watched on the plane, none of them seemed to touch on how severe her own case was.

Finally, Bella addressed the camera, her soft voice suddenly projected. "Hey, it's Bella! Welcome back to my channel! Today, I'm here with a very special guest! Some of you saw me tweet a while ago…"

Oh god, what the fuck was Shawn going to say? He looked over at Ann, who smiled reassuringly and silently did the motions for deep breathing. Stay calm. You're a strong guy.

"So how long have you been making music?" Bella asked him as she mindlessly pressed keys on her keyboard.

Shawn recalled as best he could. "Uh, I sang covers when I was fifteen. Didn't make my own music until a few years later."

"Nice! Are you in school, or work or something?"

"Yeah, I'm in college. I'm majoring in music and botany."

"Oh, you like plants?"

Shawn was mildly impressed. Most people had to ask what botany is, and he would have to explain for the thousandth time. Then, he would be told to drop the music major because it's easier to find a job in plant science.

"Flowers," he clarified. "I work in a flower shop."

"That's so cool!"

The conversation got easier as time went on. Sometimes Aaliyah or Ann would chime in if they felt that Shawn was getting too confident. Bella giggled every so often, which made everyone in the room adore her even more.

Shawn was about ready to propose when Bella started playing Mercy on her keyboard and humming the beginning. He stared at her in shock for a few seconds before he played along on guitar. Hopefully that didn't look too embarrassing on camera. He listened to her voice for a moment before singing with her in the chorus.

He had plenty of questions for Bella after they went through that song. "Where did you get a voice like that?"

"I could carry a tune as a kid," she explained, "so I was put into singing classes to hone it. Then I did church choir, school choir… I just never really stopped singing." She paused and then chuckled nervously. "This is gonna sound pretentious, but I think I got this voice for a reason. Meaning, I have this platform and all these followers. I think I'm meant to use my voice for good. Help people in whatever way I can."

Shawn smiled. "That's beautiful. I see that in your videos. I kinda went on a binge on the plane."

Bella grinned.

"One thing that stood out to me…" Shawn hesitated, minding the camera and the future viewers of this video. "You are so unapologetically bisexual. You always make the point to the person you needed as a kid, because there is still so little bi representation in the media. And you decided, if no one's going to do it, then you'll do it yourself, and I think that's incredible."

"Yeah, I didn't have anyone telling me it's okay to feel what I feel, and I don't want anyone to go through what I went through as a teen."

Shawn nodded, glancing over at Ann once. He had talked about touching on this particular topic with her, and he was starting to have his own shred of doubt.

But, he learned from his girlfriend. Fuck it.

"I wish I had someone like you as a teenager," he said to Bella, strumming his guitar. "I mean, when I came out to my family, I was lucky. They were loving and accepting, but I still couldn't find anyone out there who was like me, in real life or in the media. I really wish I had found your videos sooner."

Bella was beaming. "I knew I liked you."

The two of them went back and forth between talking and singing. They compared butterfly tattoos, and then Bella was asking him about his other tats. Shawn learned a couple of Little Mix songs too, which led him to discover where his girlfriend got that fixation from. He was mostly amazed at how Bella was able to belt out song after song like it was nothing. Like she was meant for this. Why did she choose to be a makeup artist?

"Have you ever been offered a record deal?" Shawn asked. "Or thought about making your own music?"

"Mm, yes and yes," she said. "But singing is more of a hobby. I can't see myself delving into the music industry at all. Makeup is where it's at for me. Makeup got me through some of the hardest times in my life."

Shawn wouldn't say no to a record deal. He'd move to Los Angeles tomorrow if he could. He would do just about anything to play music full time. He glanced over at Ann again, who winked with a smile.

next chapter

_______

taglist: @normalcyisoverrated-beyou @justordinaryjen @chillingbythesea @iloveshawnieboi @shawnsunflower @someoneunimportantxx

[faveficarchive]

Up in the Air: Part 1

Book Two of That Healing Touch Series 

By K.Darblyne

Pairing: Xena/Gabrielle

Rating: PG-13

Synopsis: Garrett is five months in to her fellowship, and she and Danni are trying to change the game even more, all the while strengthening their bond. 

Chapter 1

The warming water danced along her body like spring showers over newly budding vegetation. Her long form was like a harboring reservoir as the tiny drops of water built up in its dips and cervices and then allowed them to cascade down her limbs and trunk. The warmth of the shower made her think of how much she had come to think of her new family here in Pittsburgh. It was as though each of them had extended a welcoming embrace to her, with that small blonde nurse being right at the heart of the matter. It had been a long time since she connected herself with anybody, yet to think of someone as family. The surgeon shook her head.

Garrett Trivoli had only been in the city five months but it felt more like home than anywhere she had ever lived before. Her time in college, medical school, residency, or the Navy had no holds on her like this place. It was proving to be very different, this year of Fellowship for her. More than she expected. It wasn’t the job or the training that she was impressed with, it was the people who went out of their way to make her feel as if she was a part of them. And she was more at home with the petite blonde than anyone.

Garrett thought about the warm-hearted nurse, Danni Bossard, who had talked her into sharing her house when the new Fellow found herself seeking a place to live, joking about being homeless. The surgeon thought about how appropriate that it was for Danni to have short golden hair. It made her think of the nurse’s unending heart of gold, always giving and caring about others before she ever thought about herself.

A lopsided smile came to her face as she thought about the woman. ‘I can’t believe I didn’t see all of the similarities before.’ She shook her head and continued her shower routine, lathering as she went. ‘It was my brother telling me all along. She’s the soul to replace him in my life.’

She no longer had sadness in her heart when she thought of him. She realized that life goes on, and that for every soul that leaves us, one is sent to take it’s place. It’s just that we have to carry their essence with us until we find that replacement. "Maybe Rene had something there? He did ask me to open my eyes." She chuckled as her mind was pulling things out of the last five months and creating a new order for them in her brain.

Her colleague Rene Chabot had teased her that he would even turn Jewish if it would help her to find someone special. She thought about his tall, thin frame and that rugged French-Canadian accent of his leading prayers at a Synagogue and laughed out loud. ‘I could see you better cast as the Yenta in the Fiddler on the Roof, Chabot.’

Then there was Karen, the E.R. Charge Nurse at night. Mom, as they all called her, had gathered her into that E.R. family, which she was the matriarch of, without a second thought, even though their first meeting was almost life-threatening in nature. Garrett wondered about her own mother, had she lived. Would she have been like Karen in some respects, always the tough disciplinarian on the outside with a soft spot for a heart on the inside?

The surgeon turned off the shower as she reached out for a towel. The sound of music was filtering into the bathroom. ‘Danni must be up now!’ She smiled and thought about the woman who found nights too long when working, but way too short when she was able to sleep through them. "I bet this early morning stuff is going to put a serious dent in her restfulness." Garrett cracked open the door and yelled out, "You better get some livelier music on, my friend. That is, if you want to get up." She paused before continuing with her toweling off, waiting to see if she was heard.

The sound of saucy Latin music was her answer. The lively beat causing even the surgeon to begin moving to the music as she dried off; the towel snapping as she reacted to its rhythm. Her mind filled with thoughts of Rosie, the auburn-haired nurse that was another pseudo-daughter of Mom’s in that growing E.R. family. She had been the outspoken one in the E.R., always riveting to the action of the night. Her loud acclamations of landing a distinguished doctor had only set her up for a fall again with this year’s candidates. Garrett looked down at her own body and sighed, ‘Too bad, Rosie. I guess the name just didn’t have the right body attached to it for your liking.’ She raised her eyebrow at the concept of being a male. Then, just as quickly shook her head, "Nah!" She liked the body she had been given, besides she was finding it quite comfortable.

Garrett continued on with her morning ritual as she readied herself for the meeting that both she and Danni were to have with Dr. McMurray. Her mind thinking about all the people that were making her life different from what it had been. Never would she have dreamed of feeling at home again. Yes, she had found some very good people here in the "’Burgh".

**************

The lively beat of the music was doing its job. The slow movements of the woman were beginning to show more life as her eyes began to open and survey the dimly lit bedroom. "By the gods! The sun isn’t even awake yet," she cried. Then she remembered what today’s meeting was to be about and her mind took on a new attitude. ‘Ah, yes! That meeting with Dr. McMurray about the proposed project.’

Her mind conjured up the image of her tall, raven-haired friend. The demanding perfectionist of a surgeon had scared them all, except for her. She wasn’t quite sure what it was about Garrett, but she knew that underneath the entire attitude was a really good person. "Yep, glad I called that one right.’ She smiled at the thought. ‘I bet she didn’t even know that she carried that baggage around with her all these years.’

As Danni closed her eyes, she could see the interior of the dimly lit cabin, the dark form sitting huddled in front of the fireplace, just staring into it. ‘I’m just glad that you bared your soul to me that night.’ She chuckled at the thought. ‘Not to mention your body, too!’ She could feel her face flush with warmth at the thought. ‘Oh! Better not go there.’

The nurse’s mind jerked her thoughts from the surgeon, to that of getting her small frame up and out of bed. She threw back the covers and found her dream journal tucked neatly where she had left it, under the extra pillow to her right. She picked it up and fingered the cover as she contemplated reading a passage or two. Then, deciding that she didn’t really have any time for it this morning, she placed it on the nightstand. She had her favorite passages and those she knew by heart. She let her mind recount them in her head. Her favorite one of all being that of the fierce, dark-haired warrior with the twinkling eyes. There wasn’t much more to remember. The dreams never lasted longer than a moment or two, and usually occurred right before she was waking. ‘If only I knew what they stood for. Maybe someday they’ll all make sense.’ "I’d better get a move on," she mumbled as she let her feet go over the edge of the mattress and on to the floor. She grabbed her robe and headed for the bathroom.

******************

She wasn’t quite sure whether it was the excitement of beginning the project or the anticipation of the meeting with the Chief of Trauma Services, but Danni was ahead of schedule for a daylight shift. Her morning was moving along rather nicely as she waited for Garrett to finish up in the bathroom. The half-cup of coffee left in her mug attested to that. She never would drink coffee at home in the morning, simply because she couldn’t get up in enough time to fix it and drink it, too. But Garrett, now that was a different story. The woman was an early riser. The routine of her mornings could be timed and viewed with the precision as any close ordered drill in the military, each second planned and executed without delay.

She settled into the comfortable, overstuffed chair in the living room. Danni liked the fact that she was able to relax a few extra minutes and slowly sipped at the creamy brown liquid that was completing her morning wake up. Her thoughts drifted to the upcoming meeting with Dr. McMurray. She thought about her apprehension the last time and decided not to let her nerves get the better of her. It didn’t make for a good impression of their team when one of them had to be pushed into the office while the other had to be physically dragged out of it. ‘Never thought that I could do that one.’ She flexed her biceps and laughed.

"What’s so funny?" Garrett asked as she passed through the room on her way to the upstairs. She dropped her duffel at the foot of the stairs as Danni began to answer.

"Nothing, I was just thinking about how strong I’ve become." She flexed her muscle once more and pointed at it. "See?"

The surgeon shook her head and continued up the stairs. "I’ve just got to get my toiletries for the night. I’ll be right down."

"Okay, I guess that you’re on-call tonight." Her voice trailed off as she made a face, wishing that she could be there all night, too. She contemplated the next twenty-four hours, or more, for the surgeon when the ringing of the phone disturbed her thoughts.

"I’ll get that, Gar," she yelled and made her way to the phone on the hall stand.

"Hello," she greeted the caller.

"Oh, Dan! I’m glad that I finally got a hold of you." The voice was full of life, as her younger sister always was.

"Yes, Brie. It’s me. You’re up awfully early. What can I do for you?" Danni liked her sister, but she knew what the phone call was going to be about, her missing Thanksgiving Dinner with the family. ‘Well, I made my choice and they’re going to have to live with it.’

"I was wondering why you didn’t come home for the holiday. Mother was very disappointed that we weren’t all together. You did remember that it was Thanksgiving last Thursday, didn’t you?" Her tone was sharp as she tried to show her sister what she thought. She paused, silently waiting for an answer.

"Danni," the husky voice called out from the second floor. "I can’t find my razor, do you have one that I can borrow?" Garrett stood patiently at the top of the stairs.

"Who’s that yelling?" Brie was quick to ask.

"Hang on a minute, Sis." Danni laid the phone down on the stand then crossed to the bottom of the staircase. "I have a spare one in the top drawer of my nightstand. Go ahead and take it. I’ll get some more at the store later this week."

"Thanks." The surgeon called back. "I owe you one."

The petite woman returned to the phone with a smile on her face. ‘I like this new Garrett even better.’ It was amazing how much they were growing to rely on one another. Taking a breath to bring her mind back into focus, Danni spoke into the receiver. "Okay, Sis, I’m back. Now, what was that question?"

"Never mind the question, I want to know who that was?" Brie was surprised at what she had heard over the phone. ‘Now, why would anyone want to borrow a razor? Unless…’ Her mind raced with possibilities until she heard her sibling start to talk.

"That was just Garrett, Brie."

"Garrett…Garrett who?"

"Oh, Dr. Trivoli, one of the Trauma Fellows this year." Danni’s voice was clear and without hesitation.

Then her sister took on another avenue of pursuit. "I guess that’s the reason you weren’t at dinner?" She smiled to herself. ‘Way to go, Danni. Mother always wanted a doctor in the family. We all knew you’d come around.’

"Ah…yeah, Garrett pulled that holiday to be on-call, so I volunteered to work, too. That way we ate together and Gar didn’t have to be all alone." Danni was proud of herself. She had answered with the truth and was feeling good about it. No more caving in to her family’s wishes. She was bound and determined to stand on her own.

"So you and this doctor are getting pretty friendly I see." Brie was testing the waters, trying to see just how much information she could extract from her sister without it being considered prying.

Garrett was standing at the bottom of the stairs now, putting her toiletry bag into her duffel. She motioned to her watch to signal her friend of the time, then whispered. "I’m leaving in two minutes, are we driving in together?"

Danni nodded her head and picked up her keys, shaking them in full sight. "Oh, I guess I forgot to tell you, Gar moved in with me a couple of months ago. Hey, Brie, I really got to run now or I’ll be late for work. I promise I’ll talk to you soon. Okay?"

"Yeah, get going, but we have to talk, and soon." There was a bit of urgency in her voice and Danni readily picked up on it.

"As soon as I can, Brie. Nothing’s wrong is there…with the pregnancy, I mean?"

"No, nothing with the baby. Now hurry before you’re late. Bye." She lingered on the phone line, straining to hear any other clues as to what was going on in her sister’s life.

"Bye," the nurse said, then called out to the waiting surgeon as she replaced the phone on to its cradle. "Okay, let me get my coat and I’m ready." ‘Well, that went better than I anticipated. She must be mellowing with the second pregnancy.’

Grabbing her coat as she passed by the chair that it was thrown over, she quickly put her arms into it and worked at the buttons as she went out of the already opened door. Pulling it closed behind her, she checked to make sure that it had locked and then went down the steps trying to catch up to her friend.

The nurse pushed all thoughts of the phone conversation out of her mind. It was going to be a big day and Danni wanted nothing to overshadow it.

**************

The tall surgeon had quickly begun her day as she accepted the trauma pager from her colleague. The ease with which she and Rene had at handing off to one another made others believe that they had been associates for a long time. It seemed that since Garrett had stepped foot into Pittsburgh, her whole life was changing for the better. So often her earlier days in medicine had been met with challenges by the mostly male dominated profession. They had all considered females to be inferior to them and therefore only tokens to keep the equal opportunities people off their backs. Oh, how she had proven them wrong. Her intent was to be the best and nothing less. That is where all of her energies were channeled, to her studies and to honing her skills as an aspiring surgeon.

Now, her efforts were beginning to pay off. She was at the top of her learning experience and had an excellent mentor in Dr. McMurray. She knew that what he had confided in her that first day on the job was true. Her technical skills were impeccable. It was her people skills that she needed to work on. ‘Thank the gods, for Danni.’ Her mind turned over how the petite nurse was making such a large impact on her life. It was as though fate had planned this move for her and there was nothing that was going to change it.

Garrett fidgeted behind the metal desk in her small office. She was growing nervous about the meeting with the Ol’ Cutter. She thought about his nickname, it seemed so appropriate for someone of his medical stature. McMurray always made her more aware of the world around her each and every time he started to talk about one of his photographs that decorated the large office, or his experiences in previous operative procedures. They were taken directly from his life and travels with his wife during his budding career. In a way, it was like learning from a wise old soul.

For a moment, Garrett turned very introspective and thought about what she would have to show of her early days in medicine as she imagined herself as Chief of Trauma Services sometime in the future. She looked down to her hands, the only thing that really symbolized her career thus far. "Maybe I should have them bronzed?" She joked. She could see herself now, trying to make a point, any point, and always reverting back to the bronzed hands. Sighing, she thought about it. ‘I guess they’re only good when you reach out to someone. I can see that talk becoming pretty boring after the second time.’ "Hmm…guess I’ve got a lot of reaching out to do."

Her thoughts were disturbed by the soft rapping on the office door. She looked up pensively from her hands. "Come in," she called out and waited to see what needed her attention now. She was relieved to see the face of Dr. Kreger, the Chief Resident on her service today. "Rob! What can I do for you?" Her voice was sincere. She actually liked her colleague and was glad to see that his initial fear of her was being overcome. She got the impression that he was a sponge trying to soak up all of the surgical skills that she could possibly show him. She liked having him on her trauma nights, especially now that he was coming into his own as a surgeon and finally realizing it himself. The importance of having confidence in yourself was necessary in this field, it added to your maturity and the sooner you learned it, the better you could become.

"I just stopped in to tell you not to worry about the meeting with the Ol’ Cutter today. I’ll cover the E.R. while you’re in conference with him." Rob winked in the knowledge that McMurray’s conferences were never short, his stories always taking precedence over time.

Garrett let her lower lip extend into a pout. "And I was going to hope for the trauma pager to go off," she teased. Her face took on a more normal expression as she nodded in acceptance. "Thanks, Rob. I appreciate that."

"Well, I know how much this project means to you. Say, if there is anything that I could help with…." Rob noticed that the Trauma Fellow’s expression was changing to one of happiness as her eyes began to twinkle in delight before she attempted to reign in her emotions, showing only the stoicism that she was known for. Her intermittent gaze distracted him as he followed it, turning to see what she was focusing on right past him. There, in the doorway, stood the blonde E.R. Nurse, Danni. Kreger’s voice stammered slightly as he continued. "But I…I…see that you probably have more help than you need already." He acknowledged her presence with a dip of his head.

Garrett spoke, her eyes still transfixed to Danni, "I’ll keep you in mind, Rob."

"Okay, I’ll…I’ll just go check in on that patient from earlier this morning. Good luck with McMurray." The Chief Resident excused himself to Danni as he made his way out the door. To be truthful, he felt a little awkward in that small office, especially standing in-between the two women. It was strange. He almost felt that he was intruding on something but just what, he wasn’t sure.

"Thanks, Rob!" "Thanks for the offer." The pair called slightly out of sync as he started off down the hall.

The nurse stepped into the room, her hand lingering on the doorknob. "Hey, Gar," she greeted her friend.

"Hey," was the return as the surgeon allowed the lopsided grin to take over her face. "You’re a little early, aren’t you?" She looked down at her watch. It was 0940.

"Yeah, well, tell it to my stomach. I don’t think those butterflies know how to tell time." She held on to her midsection and grimaced. "They started getting flighty about twenty minutes ago."

"Hmmm…" the surgeon looked very serious in thought. "Would you like me to write you out a script for some compazine? It will settle your stomach right up." Her eyebrow raised in question as she opened a drawer searching for a prescription pad.

The blonde hair quivered as the nurse shook her head, "No, I’ll pass this time." She then ventured further into the small office and closed the door. "Gar, do think that they accepted the whole proposal?"

"Well, I guess we’ll find out when we get the official rundown from McMurray in just a little while." The surgeon watched her friend as she was deep in thought. "Hey, this is really worrying you, isn’t it?"

"It’s just that I’ve never done anything like this before. I mean, write a proposal and all." She shrugged her shoulders. "I feel a little…" she searched for the right word to use, "overwhelmed by it all."

Garrett smirked at Danni’s insecurity. ‘You…insecure? Hardly!’ "Well, if I were you, I’d get used to it. I have a feeling that if we pull this project off, McMurray and the Board are going to expect more from us." ‘I’m sure of it. He’s into that damn teamwork thing. I know it.’

"Let’s just see what he has to say first, then maybe my stomach will settle down a bit and I’ll feel better." Danni bit at her lower lip then spoke. "Do you think we could change the subject? I mean, just for a few minutes."

"Sure, what do you want to talk about?" She was curious now, was it just Danni’s nerves getting to her or did she have something genuine on her mind. "Anything in particular?"

‘Okay, it’s now or never.’ "Have you given any thought as to what you’re going to do after your Fellowship year is done? I mean…where you want to practice?"

"I’ll be honest with you, Danni. I’ve been too busy just getting through this year so far to really give it any kind of serious thought." The surgeon noticed the disappointed look on the face of the woman. "Why do you ask? Does it make any difference?"

The blonde casually shook her head, keeping a disinterested look on her face now. "No. I guess it doesn’t." ‘YES! Yes, it does! By the Gods, please don’t let her leave.’ "I was just wondering if the project would continue without you being here, that’s all." ‘I wonder if McMurray will expect me to continue it without you.’

"I really think that to give it any chance to do some good, it’s going to take more than just a couple of months to even get it off the ground. I don’t think that they would discontinue their support without giving it a fair shot." ‘She may have something there. Maybe I should plant my feet and stay a while, just to get it going. Hmmm…what do you think, Lucas?’ Garrett thought about her brother, after all, it was he that had brought her to this point in her life anyway. ‘I wonder, what exactly it is that you have planned for me?’

The small office was silent with the somber thoughts of the two women. Each one trying to figure out what role they played in this ongoing puzzle of their lives. Each one wanting to keep the other in sight, yet knowing that sometimes friendships are made only to be lost in the events of life with all of its comings and goings. Whatever happened to them down the road of life, each one knew that the other would always be there for them, if only in their memory.

The petite nurse raised her hand to wipe an isolated tear from her eye, as she thought of life without her ‘Amazon’. It would be lonely again just like before. In an effort to distract from her motions, she began to speak. "So, don’t you think we better get up to Dr. McMurray’s office. We don’t want to be late."

Garrett nodded her head. "Yeah, let’s show him how eager we are." She looked over at the nurse. "Danni, am I going to have to push you inside this time or are you walking in with me?" She teased.

"What do you think?" Her tone was defensive and her body reacted to the challenge, her balled fists now rested on her hips. "I was just…just a little taken aback by how big that office was last time, that’s all." She tried to make an excuse for her previous shyness at their last meeting. "Now don’t be silly. You’ll see. I’ll follow you right in." She winked and wrinkled up her nose, still a little shy about being in the presence of such a powerful player in the hospital politics.

The surgeon got up from her desk, moving to the door where she stopped before opening it. Then, with Danni filed in behind her, she softly stated, "Oh, so that means that I’ll be pulling you in after me instead, eh?"

The tall woman quickly let her long strides move her body just out of reach into the hallway. The small nurse was still in the office doorway as she tried to swat at the surgeon in a playful fashion for the comment. The joking banter that ensued as they made their way to the meeting place was like music to their ears and put both of them very much at ease. All thoughts of coming or going were gone and only the time at present would fill their minds. Somewhere along the way, Danni forgot all about those pesky butterflies and just enjoyed her time with her friend.

*******************

The snow was blowing across the driveway in little whirlwinds of flurries. The year was fading fast into winter and the cold weather was being more than generous in its down pouring of the white ground covering.

McMurray stood transfixed to the window, taking all of the conditions into account. His mind still drawn to that warm sensation that he felt when he saw the excited look on his new team’s faces when he had told them the good news on Thanksgiving. He laughed and shook his head at his own doings on the insistence of his wife. ‘I ought to have my head examined. The Chief of a whole department braving a snow squall on a holiday just to pass on some news to a nurse and a Trauma Fellow.’ "Bet they never expected to see me," he grunted. ‘Guess I did look kind of funny being all covered with snow like some arctic teddy bear all bundled up.’ His face was one of disgust at the thought of being a teddy bear, all cute and cuddly. It was not the persona that the Ol’Cutter would like to be thought of. After all, who would respect and fear a teddy bear?

The intercom buzzer sounded, putting an abrupt end to his thoughts. The irritation was evident in his voice. "Yes! What is it?"

"Your ten o’clock appointment is here. Shall I send them in?" The voice of his secretary squeaked and crackled over the intercom, the transmission barely audible.

‘I don’t understand why in the age of computer technology we still can’t get a better system installed in this hospital. That system was probably new in the late 1950’s.’ He glanced over at his desk and the note that was jotted on his daily calendar sheet, a reminder of a problem that needed to be addressed if the proposed project was to get off the ground. ‘Well, at least they’re eager. I wonder how long that will last when they find out what they have to do?’

Several minutes had gone by without a response from the man on the other side of the door. The secretary was concerned that her transmission had not been heard. As she leaned forward in preparation of rebroadcasting it, the mechanically disjointed sound of McMurray’s voice filled the room. "Send them in."

The older woman rolled her eyes and shook her head. "You can go in now, Dr. Trivoli, Nurse Bossard."

Danni could feel the wings of those butterflies coming to life as she edged closer to her tall companion. She found comfort in the quiet reserve of the surgeon. Their eyes met as they each assured one another of their conviction to the project. Garrett had already plotted their course and now it was time to set sail. With renewed vigor, the surgeon stepped forward into the large office as the nurse followed closely behind, pausing only to close the door.

With the team intact, they stood silently before the large desk, waiting for the Ol’ Cutter to acknowledge them. They exchanged several sidelong glances between them as they waited to hear what Dr. McMurray had to say, the nurse and the surgeon both wondering what held his attention as he stood peering out of the window. The first sound that they heard coming from him was that of a deep sigh.

A moment passed before his voice slowly asked the question. "Do you believe in fate?" He didn’t wait for either of them to answer him. Instead he continued with his own thoughts for them to hear. "I used to believe that I controlled my own destiny until I learned a valuable lesson. You’re always at someone’s mercy.

You just have to hope that you can fulfill their needs first before you can fulfill your own." He shook his head as he started to turn to face them. "Enough about philosophy, you want to hear about that proposal of yours. Right?"

The two women were confused by his opening of philosophy, but were eager to find out what they were going to be doing at the Board’s request. The quick flickering of their eyes from one to the other was all that McMurray needed to see to know the answer to his question. "Well, let’s get down to business then. Take a seat." He motioned to the two cushioned chairs that faced the front of his desk. "We’ve got some things to discuss."

Danni and Garrett took their seats without hesitation and sat leaning forward in an ever-attentive manner as they watched the burly man settle into his own high backed chair.

The Ol’Cutter eyed them up, one at a time, then smiled rakishly as he began his speech. "The Board liked the idea and commended you both for the proposal. You have their full blessing and authority to proceed with your plan. The other departments have been instructed to give you all the support that you feel is necessary."

He watched the faces across from him, as each one took the information into their beings. As a team, they covered both ends of the gamut, Danni whose face was beaming with excitement, and then there was Garrett who seemed more reserved and hesitant. ‘Hmmm…one balances the other. They will be a good team.’"In other words, you have carte blanche on the project. It’s all in your hands. You’ll report directly to the Board."

The blonde became shell shocked as that last statement settled on her ears. It was more than she had hoped for. "WOW! Talk about teamwork!’ The butterflies had subsided and an euphoric feeling was rolling across her being now. The petite nurse was so pleased that her friend would be given a chance to heal and, in the process, help others that needed it too. The shimmering of her green eyes was evident as they bounced from Dr. McMurray to her surgeon teammate and back again. "Why, that’s great news. Don’t you think…" Danni looked at Garrett’s face and stopped dead in her thought.

The surgeon narrowed her eyes and gazed across the desk, completely intent on studying the man on the other side. Her mind thought back to Thanksgiving evening when McMurray made the surprise visit to them in the E.R. He had casually mentioned something about getting a lot of rest to them before he left. ‘Something about the Board having plans for us…’ She reached out her hand until it came to rest on Danni’s, causing the nurse to pause and look at her friend.

"Danni, I don’t think that’s all the Board has in mind for us. It’s too good to be true. There has to be a catch somewhere."

The nurse thought for a moment then slowly realized that Garrett was right. "What do you mean by a catch?" Her face turned solemn as she waited for the answer. She looked back and forth between the two surgeons and waited.

It was like a game of poker between the two surgeons, where the stakes were all or nothing, and each one trying to outwit the other before showing their cards. The stoic masks dropped over their faces in an effort not to divulge their thoughts as each one wondered who would be the first to speak.

Finally after several minutes went by, Danni spoke up as she tried to mediate an end to the childish behavior. "Come on now, we’re all on the same team here I thought." She got up and physically stood in the middle of their gaze, putting an abrupt end to the stand off. ‘These two have to have been made out of the same mold.’ She placed her hands on her hips and demanded their attention. "Now, is someone going to tell me what this is all about? Or do I have to give you both a time out?" ‘If you want to act like children, I’ll treat you like children.’

She glared at them both taking turns from one to the other. The shocked look on both of their faces made her think of whom she was dealing with. Suddenly Danni felt small and insignificant as she stood with the Chief of Trauma Services on one side of her and the perfectionistic Trauma Fellow on the other. ‘By the gods, I’m making a fool of myself.’ She smiled politely and moved slowly back to her chair, apologizing for her interference. "I’m sorry, but I just don’t think this is getting us anywhere. Do you?" She collected her composure and waited for the storm to break around her. ‘Why did I ever think that I needed to get involved in this?’ She wrinkled her nose and sat quietly waiting for any kind of response.

McMurray was stunned by the nurse’s actions. He could tell by the look on Trivoli’s face that she was, too. ‘Good God! She’s got moxie! She’ll do all right.’ The man just shook his head in disbelief. "You think that you could work closely with her on a permanent basis, Trivoli?" The Chief nodded in her direction.

Danni bit at her lip, waiting for Garrett’s answer. She prayed that it would be to her liking.

"Perhaps I should ask what you mean by closely before I answer that." Garrett found herself intrigued by the question.

The sound of a half laugh and half grunt was all that came out of him as he smirked at his underling. "You have good reason to ask," he acknowledged her. "Seems that the Board liked the numbers that you two have when you work together. Ian McCormick may not be an ideas man but he knows his way around the numbers." McMurray rubbed his chin. "The Board is willing to give you what you want on your proposal if you do them a favor."

Garrett eyed him cautiously. "What kind of…" she toyed with the word, "favor…would that be?" Her voice was cold and calculating. She thought of all the possibilities in an endless list of scenarios. ‘I’m a damn good surgeon. What more could they want?’

McMurray drew in a deep breath. He knew that what he had to say was not going to be received well at all by either of them. ‘I just hope that they see the merit in all of this.’ "All right! The bottom line is this. The Board wants you out of the O.R. on a regular basis for the rest of you Fellowship." ‘Okay, time for the volcano to erupt.’

"They’re idiots!" ‘My life is the operating theatre, how can I walk away from it?’ Garrett’s eyes were turning to crystals of ice as she stared at McMurray, while her blood was quickly rising in temperature to boiling mad.

Danni quickly picked up on her friend’s outrage. "You’ve got to be kidding!" She looked jokingly at Garrett, small quips of laughter coming from her throat, then seeing the surgeon’s face unchanged and serious, she gasped. "You’re not! What kind of favor would that be for the Board or for the patients?" Her eyes shifted to McMurray as she searched for an answer. The blonde’s eyes penetrated deeply into the brown of the Doctor’s to see if he was serious.

He nodded. "It’s not what you’re thinking, although…" he paused for effect, "you may think differently about it when it’s over and done with. Why, look at all of the exposure you will get to different hospitals and surgeons."

The two women looked at each other then concentrated their gaze at him, each one raising an eyebrow in skepticism.

"And what exactly would you mean by that?" Garrett was first to ask.

"Yeah, what exactly?" Danni’s brow furrowed with worry.

"Let’s just say that you two," he laughed and pointed to them both, "are going to spend more time together than most married couples do."

"I don’t understand. What could that possibly…"

"Trivoli, you’re not paid to understand. You’re just expected to do your best in the environment that we give you." His ears picked up the sound of an incoming helicopter, the whirring of the blades getting louder as it sliced its way through the air in the distance. A smile came to the face of McMurray as he swiveled his chair to look out the window. ‘I couldn’t have asked for any better timing if I’d have planned it.’ His eyes followed the speck in the distance until it became clearly visible on its descent to the helipad outside of the E.R.

"The Board wants to draw some marketable attention to the hospital and what we do here. They all feel that their best bet is to capitalize on you and the good PR that you can bring, not to mention that you two aren’t lacking in the looks department." He gauged the landing of the helicopter outside and continued as he swiveled back to face them. "Everybody and their brother was hyped about the new millenium last year. Well, this New Year’s actually the start of that millenium with the date 2001. They want to use it to our advantage."

The noise of the spinning rotors was getting louder now as the Ol’ Cutter raised his voice to speak over it. "You, Dr. Trivoli are going to be our first Flight Surgeon onboard the helicopters and Nurse Bossard will be your team member.’’ McMurray theatrically swung his chair to face his window, just as the helicopter was hovering in its descent to the pad below. "Welcome to the new millenium of care."

The swirling snow outside the window gave the helicopter an eerie appearance. The eyes of both women were riveted on it, their minds in a quandary of thoughts.

Finally, after the noise of the helicopter had died down and the window was now devoid of any remaining reminders of it, Garrett spoke out. "You can’t expect me to operate in one of those. There’s not enough room to take care of a bad splinter let alone a trauma of any significant source."

"So, you’ve been in one…eh?" His voice was gruff but teasing.

"Been in one, hell! I’ve ridden in them when I was in the Navy and those were a lot bigger."

Garrett’s mind flashed with the scene of the military helicopter as it sat there on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier. The hum of the engine was gone, as were the members of the crew that had flown her in. Well, all except for the lone crewman that stood a silent vigil at the tail section. His eyes never left the sight of the tail rotor as it moved slightly with the rolling seas underneath the ship. She watched the man standing alone, noticing that he was mumbling from time to time to some unseen entity. The closer she came to the tail section, the more details drew her attention to the rotors. There, on one of the blades, were the stains of dried blood. Her naturally curious mind analyzed the pattern of blood splatters as her eyes searched for more. With only a few more feet to travel before she was next to the crewman, he turned toward her, revealing the remnants of bits and pieces of a human being that were still clinging to his uniform. He looked almost catatonic in his stare. The mumbling barely loud enough for Garrett to hear his isolated phrases. It took only a minute or two before she could piece together that the downed crewman had been his friend. His lips moved with words that only his heart had ever thought about before, professing the camaraderie that they had shared.

Danni was still in shock from the recent turn of events. Her mind trying to grasp at anything that could bring her back to something real and tangible. ‘They can’t expect me to ride in one of those. There’s nothing holding it to the ground.’ Her eyes blinked rapidly as her mind fathomed a plummeting airship. Then with a note of disbelief she stammered out. "You…You’ve ridden in hel…helicopters?"

The surgeons mind was pulled back to the present as she tried to focus her attention to the question. "Yeah, that’s how they got me from ship to ship when I’d have to replace a surgeon for any reason." She thought back on her Naval experiences, then smiled and commented. "It sure beat using a Boson’s chair." Her mind flashed with the scene of the blue green water of the Pacific Ocean churning below her as she made her way from one ship to another, belted into a chair that was tethered on a cable stretched between the two. The weather had been too rough for anything to be launched off of the Carrier. By the gods, how she had prayed that the Captains would keep the ships on course and matched in speed so as not to snap the cable, allowing her to be tossed into the ocean or worse. Garrett shuddered with the thought. ‘Don’t even want to think of that one.’

"Boson’s Chair?" The blonde was at a lose for an explanation. "I don’t understand. What’s so bad about a chair?"

Garrett thought for a moment trying to find something that the nurse would understand to compare it to. "It would be like sitting on a chair dangling by a cable stretched between two race cars. One wrong move and…"

"Oh, my!" Danni drew her hand up to her mouth as she tried to catch her breath. For the first time, the young woman was realizing just how sheltered her life had been. She could just see her mother’s reaction if that had been her. ‘Those times at the cabin were nothing compared to that.’ She remembered her fondness for climbing out on the limb of that old Maple tree as it overhung the lake and diving off it into the water below. ‘But at least the tree was planted firmly on the ground and when I dove in, the water cushioned my fall.’ She felt a shiver run up her spine at the idea of falling from the sky, untethered to the ground below and nothing to cushion the impact.

The nurse studied her tall friend who was now pacing the room. She could see the maturity that life and its experiences had brought to the surgeon and wondered why she was being exposed to all of this now. Danni looked up at the man who was eyeing her.

"You’re kidding, right?" She waited for an answer. McMurray only shook his head and smiled warily. Her shoulders slumped and she voiced a breathy but disappointed, "You’re not. The Board wants Garrett to fly into surgeries, literally."

"And you, too, Nurse Bossard."

"The Board feels that your presence in the air will be a highly visible marketing tool to the smaller hospitals in the area, a Trauma Surgical Team flying in to their world. They want your faces to be more recognizable than the presidential candidates." He further elaborated.

Danni chuckled at that thought. "Well, that won’t be hard." It was the nurse’s attempt at weak humor, her usual front line defense when she felt ill at ease in a situation. "But what am I suppose to do? I���ve never been in a helicopter. In fact, the last time that I was even on an airplane was…." The petite nurse gulped hard trying to settle her stomach at the thought, but the telltale pallor was stretching across her features.

Danni’s mind rehashed her only plane ride. It wasn’t hard to remember. There is only so much that one can commit to memory spending almost the entire flight in a catatonic state. Her fear of flying was not easily overcome. Rosie had tried numerous times to get her to come out of her self imprisoned denial of the flight, but Danni just couldn’t do it, or at least her mind wouldn’t let her. It had been the worst vacation that Rosie had ever had, not to mention the blonde nurse. Even after they had landed and she was back on firm ground, it didn’t ease up. The only thing that her mind kept focusing on was the return flight home. It not only effected her waking mind but also her sleep. Rosie finally conceded and cashed in their plane tickets for the return flight home after a second sleepless night. Danni thought about the little trip into her not so pleasant past. ‘I wonder if she will be able to understand?’

The eyes of the surgeon noted the change in her friend’s coloring and the uneasy look on her face. Garrett stopped dead in her tracks and slowly turned to face her mentor. Her eyes narrowed and she raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "You…You want us to fly in and save the day at these little ass Podunk’s of a hospital and make the Board look like it’s reaching out with services to every little nook and cranny of the area." The surgeon’s eyes flashed with anger. "Whose idea was that, the accountant?"

"What’s the matter, Doctor, you afraid that you might have to interact with more people who don’t know your likes and dislikes?" McMurray looked directly at the tall woman. ‘Okay, call me a liar, but I know that’s part of the reason.’ "Maybe if you would put the patient first and not your damn need for perfection, then…" McMurray stopped and just stared at her. ‘Jeez, I just pushed that too far. She’ll bolt and run for sure now.’

Both women were studying his face now, trying to see where he stood. Could he seriously be considering this? The office was silent as all three stared at one another, then finally the silence was broken.

"Come on, Danni. We don’t have to listen to this nonsense." She turned and started to walk toward the door of the office as the nurse slowly rose to join her.

"You do if you want that proposal to become a reality." McMurray called out to her. Garrett’s outstretched hand hesitated on the doorknob as Danni froze in mid step and turned to look back at the man. "You do this for the Board and you have carte blanche with your project. It’s as simple as that." The Ol’Cutter got up and circled the high backed chair. "I know that this project means something to you both. Damn it! It’s that or nothing as far as the Board’s concerned."

"I’m not going to have our faces put all over the place. I’m not some publicity seeking egomaniac and neither is she." The dark-haired woman pointed to her friend and then just shook her head in dismay. "We don’t need to be high profile in our jobs. Flying in a helicopter is dangerous enough with the blades looming overhead and the jet fuel onboard. We don’t need to be on the lookout for crazed fans, too."

"Is that your concern, fans? I’ll tell them that the PR is for the hospitals only and not to go to the general public. Will that help?" McMurray sat down and waited for an answer.

"Gar…er…Dr. Trivoli, maybe we should think about this." Danni looked pleadingly to the tall surgeon. ‘How bad could it be…I mean she only has six months left to the Fellowship. I just know that the project would help her, too.’ There she was, putting her friends and others before herself, once again. ‘Now, really, how many flights could they need a surgeon on? Maybe I’ll feel better in a helicopter…Yeah, right!’ She rolled her eyes knowing that it wouldn’t make a difference.

Garrett thought about all the lonely people that the project could bring out of their depression and agony of being the one left living after a family tragedy. ‘If I can’t do it here, I’ll just wait and do it somewhere else after this year is up.’ She looked over at Danni. Those green eyes were speaking in volumes that were screaming into the surgeon’s head. ‘By the gods, how can she be so giving? I bet she doesn’t even understand all of the hazards that she’s asking me to let her be a part of. Why, if anything were to happen to her….’ The tall woman pursed her lips and licked her teeth as she thought about the situation. She weighed the pros and cons in her mind as she occasionally stole glances at the blonde woman in front of her. She was probably going to regret this one day, but she didn’t have the heart to say no while she was looking at those hopeful eyes. ‘I’ll just have to make sure that she’s well prepared for this endeavor. By the gods, I don’t want anything to ever happen to her.’

"Oh, all right!" She muttered and walked back over to the chair then sat down. "But there’ll be some things ironed out here and now, first." She’d go through with it but only on mutually agreed upon terms.

The nurse’s happiness was piqued at the idea of her friend getting the help and support that she’d need to deal with her past experiences. Danni smiled, allowing her nose to wrinkle up in delight. She patted her friend’s arm and quickly assumed the role of mediator in the ensuing peace talks.

********************

It was nearly lunchtime when the petite nurse and her tall companion emerged from the office of Dr. McMurray. Neither one looked truly happy, but they were rather satisfied that an agreement had been worked out. Danni had done her best to keep the tempers and the egos from gaining any footholds in the negotiations. Garrett’s main concern was for both her and her partner to be properly trained and readied to assume the roles of a flight crew. The surgeon was not one for improvisation when the lives of her crew or their patient were at stake. The nurse had also pointed out that the time spent indoctrinating them into the routine and workings of the helicopter crews would only add to their PR potential. One mistake in the public eye would not only discredit them but the hospital as well.

Danni was glad that the compromises were ones that everyone would be able to live with. ‘Well,’ she thought, ‘almost everyone.’ She still wasn’t sure that she would be able to do it, but she was willing to walk through hell if she had to for the support group to become a reality. ‘I’m not about to be the cause of this not happening.’ She thought about her nice and easy world as she was used to it. It was never going to be the same. At least not for the rest of the time that Garrett Trivoli was here in Pittsburgh. She sighed at that thought and felt the butterflies once again coming to life in her stomach.

Garrett’s mood was somber and thoughtful as she matched strides with her friend while they walked away from the office. She was pleased that she had stood her ground enough to get them the training that they would need to be a cohesive team. She realized that it would be taking away from her time in the O.R. but didn’t want to chance any unforeseen problems with her new friend. The surgeon cast a wayward glance in the nurse’s direction. ‘I bet she’s scared to hell and back.’ She was amazed at how much she was finding out about this woman. More than she had known about anybody in her lifetime. ‘Lucas, you’d be proud of her. She’s just like you, following me wherever my path leads.’

Chapter 2

The days seemed to fly by with little or no effort on the part of Danni. Her mind was being kept occupied with thoughts of everything but her normal nursing duties. First it was the rigorous physical conditioning that started off each and every morning for both her and the surgeon. It was to give them better strength and endurance for the days ahead. At times, she wondered if they were ever going to see a patient again. Thanks to the Cardiac Rehab Unit, they were able to use the indoor walking track each morning before the daily patrons made their way to it. With the weather turning more and more towards winter, it proved to be a blessing in disguise. She just couldn’t imagine herself being pried out of her nice warm bed to run out of doors. At least this way she was able to wake up a little first without the help of the elements.

They were already into the second week of their training when they were informed of the demands on their time for additional classroom periods and mock flight simulations to round out their days. If anybody had thought that this was going to be a piece of cake, they were badly mistaken. Danni could remember her days in nursing classes in college and thinking that they were tough with little or no time for herself. Now she found herself wishing for those days once more. They were cramming everything that they could into her, from how to use pieces of field equipment on the patient, to how to suppress the outbreak of fire in the helicopter while in flight. With each new day and skill that she learned, her admiration for the members of the EMS System and Flight Crews rose considerably.

At times Danni found herself enamoured with the thought of being a part of the "White Knight’s" team and swooping in with rotors-a-whirling to rescue the victim of trauma from the clutches of death. Then there were the other times, mostly at the end of the day, when all she wanted to do was just go home and die in a hot bath. Today was one of those. They had been learning to move patients on and off of the helicopter. It sounded easy enough, besides, she and Garrett moved patients in the trauma room all of the time. Boy, was there a difference when it was just the two of them and not an entire trauma team plus the medics to help. Garrett seemed to have no problem, but with the nurse’s petite frame and stature, she was finding muscles that she never knew existed as she tried to compensate for her size.

‘Gosh! I feel like every muscle in my body is crying for attention.’ Her body seemed to just melt into the warm water of the bath as she lowered herself down into it. The suds of the bubble bath encased her body as it passed through them.

Danni didn’t know whether her shoulders were sore from lifting the dummy filled stretcher in and out of the back of the helicopter or from the constant hunching over that they had to do when in the vicinity of the blades on the rotor. ‘I wonder how Garrett can keep up that posture?’ Then, when she thought of watching her friend in the O.R., standing stoop-shouldered as she worked on the patient. The nurse began to shake her head. "It figures! She’s used to it."

"Used to what, Danni?" The tall surgeon yelled out as she stopped outside of the door in the hall.

‘Caught, again!’ The blonde stuck her tongue out at the door. "Nothing, Gar. I was just talking to myself." ‘Sometimes I swear that she hears better than an owl.’ Then she laughed to herself as her mind played with an idea. ‘I wonder if Superman had a sister?’

"If that hot soak doesn’t loosen up those muscles in your back, I could give you a massage when you’re done. Danni…Danni…." Garrett listened for a reply but there was nothing but the sound of small splashes coming from the room. ‘Poor kid. I don’t think she realized that it was going to be this strenuous. I sure hope she isn’t going through all of this for nothing.’

The woman thought about all the things that they had been doing together as a team now. Each one learning more about the other without really trying to. When they worked as a team, their catalyst was pure instinct. ‘We’re either going to do this together…or not at all. I'll never find someone that knows my needs like she does.’

She started to walk back towards her room. The more she thought about the young woman that fate had brought into her world, the more Garrett realized how empty her world had been. ‘I don’t really think that I’d want to do this with anyone else.’ Then she smirked and shook her head. ‘Who’d be able to put up with me…especially in such cramped quarters?’

Garrett thought about the turbulent rides that she had in a helicopter, her mind then compared those to Danni’s growing motion sickness in the back of a swaying ambulance. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t let her eat before we take that first flight…just in case?’ The surgeon made a mental note to look back in on her friend in a little while then went to check on her mail.

Danni yawned, as her body was beckoning her to rest. The day was quickly catching up to her. Her body had finally allowed itself to come off of full alert status, and now…it needed sleep to heal and strengthen itself. The tired nurse succumbed almost instantly to the lure of the warm water as it swaddled her into sleep.

"Danni…Danni…" the throaty tones echoed in her head. "Ahhh! There it was!" Her muscles recognized that sudden feel of warmth as it stretched across her shoulders. Her flesh seemed to move willingly with the pressure as the strong touch molded her like clay in an artist’s hands. The gentle kneading sensations acting like a cosmic regeneration of some long ago depleted life force. Every change of direction causing the electrically charged particles to run rampant throughout her body, registering passions and delights beyond her realm of thought. She could feel her body tingling now as it betrayed her silent want to it’s very core.

Shadows of the night now loomed across her eyelids as the dark form called out to her from above. The outstretched hand summoning her with a warming sensation that would fill her body with its own language of the night, causing it to soar aloft in the sweet basking glow of the heavens as she floated amongst the clouds. Tender, so very tender was that soft, lingering touch that her body wanted nothing more than to melt at this very moment, never again to feel the need for another’s touch.

Her senses were dulled now as the last waves of exhaustive pleasure rolled through her body taking all of the aches and pains from her. She could hear the world calling to her and with a blurry eye, chose to slowly grasp on to her place and time. There, coming into a sharper view in front of her was the dark form, with beams of dazzling light emitting from around it. It seemed so surreal that it took her breath away, causing her to gasp for air.

"Danni, are you okay?" The voice whispered, trying hard not to startle her. The large but gentle hand reached out to caress her cheek again. "Come on sleepy head. I think that this hot soak has given you just about all that it can. Time to dry off now before you catch a chill." Garrett was sitting on the edge of the tub. Her tall form was towering up above the small woman as it blocked the overhead light from her eyes.

The petite woman felt unclear as to what was real and what had been part of her dream. She could feel an inner peace within herself as her mind acknowledged the presence of her friend. "That was nice," she purred in her wakening state. "Could we do that again some time?"

"Sure, anytime that you want." The surgeon spoke softly, not wanting to scare her. ‘She obviously isn’t talking about today’s activities.’ Garrett brushed a stray lock of hair from the woman’s face. "Well, by the look on your face, my friend, it seems to have done you a world of good, whatever it was." Garrett eyed her with a slightly raised eyebrow.

The blonde’s eyes were open now as her mind registered where she was. The loving expression that was on her face only a second ago now turned quickly into one of startled embarrassment. ‘This couldn’t have been real, could it?’ She asked herself as her eyes searched for a towel. Danni was finding it hard to avoid Garrett’s gaze. "What do you mean, whatever it was? Didn’t you just massage…I mean…offer me a massage?" She looked into her friend’s longing stare and realized that nothing had transpired between them. ‘No, just a dream, that’s all it was.’ Her shoulders slumped at the thought of missing the warming touch of her friend.

"Here," Garrett held the bath towel out for her to take. "It looks like you’re pretty relaxed right now. Maybe next time." ‘Maybe next time I should give her the massage before I let her bathe?’ Then getting up as she sensed the embarrassment that she had caused, "I’ll…I’m just going to go to bed now. I’ll see you in the morning." Garrett hesitated before moving toward the door, letting her eyes wonder across the flexed shoulders with just hints of clinging bubbles remaining on the delicate skin.

The nurse watched in amazement as the door closed once more leaving her alone. ‘By the gods! It felt so real.’ Danni lifted her body partially out of the tepid bath water, allowing the cooler room air to give her a chill. Her arms automatically crossed over her chest in an effort to stave off the multiplying goose bumps on her skin. "What the…?" The blonde woman looked down at her nipples that were already hard and raised. She hung her head and sighed, then mumbled under her breath. "Danni girl, you’ve got it bad. Real bad!"

********************

The night was winding down to the pleasure of the E.R. staff. It had been a little hectic at the start of their shift last evening but soon cleared out around 2 A.M. when the traumas started to roll in the door. There hardly ever seemed to be a slow time anymore. When all the rooms were emptied out and the last trauma sent to Radiology for an angiogram, the staff tried to relax.

Karen, the Charge Nurse, was finding it a little lonesome without her two pseudo-daughters around. She hadn’t seen either of them except for a quick pass through of the E.R. on their way to the gym or the classroom for the EMS Services. Her girls both looked fine except for the hurried look on their faces as they waved and yelled a warm hello in her direction, never pausing or breaking their step as they continued off into the world of helicopters.

It was a little over two weeks now and even Rosie was showing signs of an empty nest syndrome. The spirited nurse was looking at the door in anticipation of her friends’ arrival. "It’s funny how you get used to people being there and then one day, they’re just not." She looked kind of funny at the older nurse next to her. "Mom, are we ever going to get Danni and Garrett back…I mean…to the E.R.?"

Mom just shook her head in disbelief. "Weren’t you the one that wanted to crucify her on July first?"

"Well, yeah, but that was then. She ain’t so bad once you get to know her a little." Rosie shrugged her shoulders.

"And we have Danni to thank for that not so small feat." Mom sighed.

"You miss her, don’t you, Mom?"

Karen sniffed back a tear and nodded her head slowly. "Yes, I do. I miss them both." She hesitated, and then continued. "I even miss you, too, Rosie, when you’re gone for a length of time."

Rosie opened her mouth to answer that but just stared at the door instead. Then glancing over to Mom, she whispered. "Well, don’t look now, but the prodigal daughters just walked in." Her face was turning into a smile.

"Huh? Oh…ah…" Karen was trying to peer over top of the computer screen at her desk. Then the two familiar figures came into sight and her mind felt at ease. "Hi! How are you two doing today?"

The pair walked toward the desk, as each one, in their own way, waved and greeted the group, calling out their names as they came into view. Danni felt like she was coming home with all of the faces smiling her way.

Finally the question was asked. "What, no quick wave and run through of the E.R.? You two doing something different today?" Rosie was just being her usual smart aleck self.

Garrett raised her eyebrow at the remark. "Like we actually have a choice at what’s planned for us." The tall surgeon was not at all enthused about the day to come, and it was evident.

Danni just shook her head. "It’s not going to be that bad now, Garrett. Let’s try to be positive about this."

"I am. I’m positive that I’m not going to enjoy this morning."

"Why? What do they have planned for you this morning?" Mom asked, looking directly at Garrett.

The tall surgeon coughed and talked at the same time, causing her words to be mumbled and unintelligible.

"What did you say?" Mom looked at the uncomfortable posture of the surgeon. "Come on, it can’t be all that bad. Just say it and get it over with."

Her voice registered low and slightly more than a whisper at first. "Publicity photos. We have to have the publicity photos done today."

The petite nurse reached up and rubbed her hand across the back of the leather jacket that Garrett was wearing. "Now it wasn’t that bad to say, was it?" She looked up at her friend, trying to get her to agree. "Garrett?"

The tall woman was noticing that Danni took every chance that she could to be touching the leather of her jacket. ‘Hmm…could she be liking this jacket that much?’ "I just don’t see what all the fuss is about. Why can’t they just use my hospital I.D. photo?" The surgeon took her wallet out of her pocket and proceeded to sort through it until her hospital issued identification tag was in her hand. "Now, tell me, what’s wrong with that picture?" She held it out for everyone to see.

"Dr. Trivoli, nothing’s wrong with it…if you’re already in jail." The older nurse could barely keep a straight face. The tall surgeon was part of her family now, and fair game, just like everyone else. "If you showed me this, I wouldn’t leave you anywhere near my drugs. Yeah, this would make for a wonderful press release." All attempts to keep from laughing were put to a stop as Mom openly started a contagious belly laugh.

The surgeon just shook her head from side to side. "I should have expected as much from you."

The sight of a man slowly walking in through the doors took all of Garrett’s attention away from the group. She didn’t know what was wrong with the man, if anything, but her gut feelings were that he needed her help now. The surgeon had learned a long time ago to follow her intuitions without hesitation and this time was no different. She took off abruptly for the man as she lobbed her open wallet at Karen for safekeeping.

Karen caught the wallet as the contents spilled out onto the counter. "Hey, I was only teasing you. You didn’t have to throw…" She looked up to see Garrett catching the slumping man in her arms and laying him down on the floor. "Oh my! Danni, Rosie go help her." Mom quickly gathered up the disheveled contents of the wallet and stuffed them inside of her lab jacket pocket along with the wallet. She quickly made her way over to the empty stretchers lined along the hallway and wheeled one over to the area of activity by the door.

The two nurses quickly dropped to the cold tile floor and joined the surgeon as they tried to evaluate the cause of his collapse. Garrett hastily ascertained his ability to breathe as Danni searched for a pulse. The only visible sign of trouble at this time was the trickle of blood coming from the corner of his mouth. Rosie busied herself with the removal of his bulky outer clothing as they waited for Karen and their mode of transport to the back hallway and the Trauma Room.

"Sir! Sir!" The strong commanding voice of the surgeon broke through the quiet of the area but elicited no response for the man at her knees. Faces of the staff now emerged from every corner and filled the desolate hallway. "We need a little assistance here." Her words sparked a flurry of motion as the staff rallied to help and together they lifted the weighty man up from the floor and onto the waiting stretcher.

Within seconds they were in the room set up for such emergent needs, with all of the necessary equipment at their disposal. The impromptu team all worked together to find the cause of the patient’s ill health, each one accepting their role in this life or death scenario without a second thought. They were all there for the patient and for each other.

Mom assumed her role as overseer of the flurried activity within the brightly-lit room. Her job would be to record the actions taken and their time of deliverance, along with anticipating any ancillary needs of the team before her. She knew her job and did it well. The arrival of a technologist from the Radiology Department was evidence of that.

Garrett looked up from her patient as the last remnants of his clothing were stripped off, only to see the familiar face of the X-ray Tech across from her, as she loaded a cassette for an X-ray under the patient’s chest. When their eyes met, she nodded her approval and continued on with her physical assessment of the downed man. Only seconds later did she hear the warning, "Clear the chest. X-ray!" She reflexively withdrew her hands from that area of the body as she let her eyes continue assessing the man’s condition.

Danni and Rosie responded in their usually coordinated manner of working together. It was as if they had never been separated for the last two weeks. The petite blonde nurse assuming the role of Trauma Nurse One, as she readily connected the patient up to the telemetry monitor and verbalized the initial readings, as each one became available. "Pulse 110, BP 100 over 76." She turned to double check the positioning of the finger probe for the pulse oximeter, "O2 saturation 94 per cent."

Rosie was right next to the tall surgeon as she was that first day of Garrett’s fellowship, only this time any thoughts that she had were strictly on the patient as she worked feverishly to gain I.V. assess in the patient’s left arm. "Okay, I.V.’s in! Sixteen gauge in the left AC." She announced without ever really thinking about it, as she placed the last piece of tape to secure it in place.

"Okay, no injuries showing on his anterior aspect. Let’s role him and check his back." Garrett watched as the staff opposite her log rolled the patient’s body into themselves to expose his back to her. The skilled eyes of the surgeon roamed freely over the entire expanse of the man’s posterior surface. There, just below his costaphrenic angle on the right was a small laceration. She gently inserted her gloved finger to see the extent of its penetration. ‘Hmmm…there’s his rib,’ she moved her finger in the opposite direction. ‘Feels like a downward direction to me. Look’s like I’m going to get some surgical time in today since the team hasn’t responded here yet.’ She tried to fight back the happy feeling of being in the O.R. once again. "Get us an O.R. room, Mom. He’s been stabbed in the abdomen." She removed her finger and motioned for the patient to be placed on his back once more. "Let’s hang a unit of O positive blood. Somebody put in a Foley catheter and finish drawing the blood work." She stepped back and removed her bloodied gloves. "Get him typed and cross matched for four units and send them to the O.R."

The surgeon came out of the scurrying room of activity to view the now processed chest X-ray. Her keen eye studied it making sure that there was no need for the insertion of a chest tube into the man’s lung.

"Would you like an abdomen film, Doc?" The technologist waited patiently for her reply.

"Huh…oh, yeah! Get that film and then we’re off to the O.R." Her mind went back to the X-ray displayed on the viewer as she studied it once more.

Karen stuck her head out from the room. "O.R.’s ready and waiting for you." She winked at the tall surgeon when she saw the pleased look on her face. "You miss it, don’t you?"

"Yes, I do." Her tone was somber and for the first time in her life she thought about what it must be like to know that you can never do or be with something that you loved more than you own life. ‘I hope that never happens to me.’

Garrett pulled herself back to the situation at hand and stepped into the room. "Let’s get up to the O.R. They’ve got a room waiting for our patient." She smiled as she saw the already assembled entourage in its first steps toward the door. ‘You just got to love these people.’ Her thought surprised her. ‘Never thought I’d be saying that.’ The surgeon stepped to the side of the stretcher as it passed her and matched her steps to the forward motion that had already been established.

Once the patient was on his way to the O.R., Karen finished the last of the charting and went back to sit at her desk up front. Being a Charge Nurse had certain duties to it, one of which was being relegated to staying in the department. ‘Well, the least I can do now is put her wallet back together again.’ She pulled the rather thin looking wallet out of her pocket thinking how appropriate it was for her pseudo-daughter to have. ‘Nothing heavy to tie her down.’ She mindlessly pulled out the assorted bits of paper and plastic cards that had fallen out earlier and tried to give them some order before stuffing them back into the wallet. She couldn’t help but noticing the absence of photographs so far. ‘Now, that’s odd. Mine is stuffed with pictures of my family and friends.’ Then at the end of the pile she came upon a worn and slightly tattered photo. She tried to make out the faces on it but just couldn’t seem to get them into focus. Mom resorted to using her arm to move the photo back and forth to get a better view of it as she concentrated on it.

"Hey, Mom! What you trying to look at?" The pleasant voice of Danni called over to her. She moved closer trying to see.

"Oh, these darn bifocals. You’d think that they’d help." She handed the photo over to Danni. "Here, see if you can make out who’s in this."

Danni took it and studied it carefully. "Mom, where’d you find this?" A smile was slowly coming to her mouth. Her eyes dancing in merriment as she recognized the strong features of her roommate evident on the youthful face in the picture.

"It was in her wallet. Must have fallen out when she tossed it at me." Karen craned her neck trying to see it. "Who do you think it is?"

"Well, the tall one is definitely Garrett," she turned the photo over and looked at the back of it. The youthful writing on it made the nurse sigh as she ran her finger over it. ‘Luc, and me 1980. I’ll be…’ She flipped the photograph over and stared down at it. "It’s her brother," the words slowly came out almost like a prayer.

Rosie’s ears perked up. "Tall, dark, and gorgeous has a brother. How come she’s been keeping him a secret? Let me see." Rosie moved to get a better look from over Danni’s shoulder. "Well, I’ll be." She let out a low whistle. "I wonder were I can find him now."

Danni hesitated as she worked out the numbers in her head. ‘Let’s see, She told me that she was seventeen when the accident happened. Hmm…that would have been…’ then she slowly spoke. "I think this was taken the same year of the accident." The blonde closed her eyes wishing that she could bring him back to her friend. She knew that Garrett and her brother were close but this photo only confirmed it more. ‘By the gods, how she must miss him.’ The looks on their faces and the openness of their posture with one another in the photo told her all that she needed to know. In her mind she just wanted to go right up to that O.R. suite and find the tall surgeon and throw her arms around her in an understanding hug for the loss of such a vital part of her friend’s life. The petite nurse considered it, but knew that the stoic woman would just think her crazy.

Their attention was broken with the banging of the fire doors as John walked into the E.R. The male nurse was considered to be the black sheep of the E.R. family, as his sleazy reputation afforded him. Seeing the women standing around he put on a lecherous grin. "So, you girls want to be the first ‘Maids of Desire’ on my new website?" He held up a shiny looking pocket camera and pointed to it. "It’s digital." The assembled nurses all cringed at the thought. "Danni, come on," he winked at her. "I’ll make you and that tall roommate of yours famous on the Internet. What do you say?"

Nothing ever changed with John. She’d been absent from the E.R. for two weeks and he still wouldn’t pass up a chance to try to seduce her. No ‘Hi! How you been?’ just right to the point of his warped mind. Sex, that’s all her ever thought about. Then an idea came to her mind and a sly smile trickled across her face as she looked up at the camera and back down to the photograph in her hands. She had an idea and John’s camera was just what she needed at this moment. "So, you want a picture of Dr. Trivoli…eh?" She fanned herself with the photo and wiggled her eyebrows up and down.

*****************

Garrett finished scrubbing her hands as she donned her sterile gown and gloves. She adjusted them into place on her way to the surgical table. She positioned the lights and accepted the first of the sterile draping towels to expose the area over the already Betadine prepped abdomen. Upon placing the last drape, she looked up to see the hurried form of her colleague Dr. Chabot enter the room.

"Ah, Rene, you’ve come to assist me." She nodded. "I was wondering who would be my second."

He grabbed at the gown and thrust his arms into it. "McMurray sent me in here. He said that you’re not to be operating." He was breathing hard from running up the back stairs from his office. "He said that you already have a job to do and that I should let you go do it." His eyes searched hers, pleading for her not to take out her wrath on him. ‘I’m only the messenger.’

The tall surgeon’s eyes turned to a steely blue and the nurse standing next to her could feel a change in the climate of the operating theatre, as her stare seemed to turn the air to ice. She wanted to explode on him but knew that it would do no good for any of them, her patient included. The favor that the Board had asked for came dancing back through her head. Her gaze lessened and she let her hands come down to her sides as she stepped away from the table. She was a woman of honor and that meant keeping her word.

Rene moved to replace her at the patient’s side. His eyes looked into hers as he thanked the gods above for not letting him be the brunt of her anger. "I’ll take good care of him, Garrett." He nodded in assurance as he readied himself to take over for her.

Garrett pulled off her gloves as she relayed the knowledge she had about the patient and his injury site. She wasn’t used to walking out of an operating suite before the patient was even worked on. She made her way to the door, then turned and watched as the tall thin man guided his team to best serve the patient. ‘I hope that there’s something good that comes out of this next six months.’ Listening to the quiet direction of surgical equipment to use in the operation as Dr. Chabot began the surgical incision, she pulled open the door and left the operating theatre. ‘I better not keep my job waiting.’ She pulled off the gown and threw it into the first debris container that she passed as she made her way out of the O.R.

****************

The bright lights were making the small blonde perspire as she stood waiting for her friend. It wasn’t going to be a physically strenuous day, but the heat of the lighting was sure to sap her strength. She could feel herself becoming anxious as she wondered how Garrett was making out in the O.R.

"Okay, I’m strapped for time. Set up for the individual shots." The man working with the camera was directing his assistants now. "Somebody give her that flight suit to put on. Come on now, we don’t have all day to get this shoot done."

Danni was handed the dark jumpsuit and directed to the entrance of the changing room. She walked through the studio taking in all that she could see. "Jeez, who would have thought that all this would be in a hospital."

The young assistant just laughed at her awestruck wonderment. "It’s actually not that much, just a big old room with some lighting and a few background props. I’m sorry, my name is Ronnie." She smiled at the blonde.

"I’m Danni, one of the…" Danni twisted and turned to see everything as she went by it, never finishing her introduction. "Is all this for us?"

"Nah, we do all the PR photos for the research and the special events that the medical staff is involved in." She stopped and opened the door to what Danni thought was a closet. "You can get changed in here. Just come out when you’re done. We’ll be waiting for you."

"Okay." She accepted the directions and entered the changing room, then paused. She stuck her head back out of the door saying, "Thanks, Ronnie. It was nice meeting you."

"My pleasure. You’d better hurry and get changed." The young woman looked around for the Photographer. "He hates to be kept waiting," then motioned with her head in his direction.

Danni nodded as she closed the door to the changing closet. She held out the bundle and let it unfold before her eyes. There wasn’t much to the uniform. It was nothing but a jumpsuit with a multitude of zippers and Velcro pockets all over it. After dressing quickly she looked into the mirror and had to laugh. She placed the flight helmet on her head. The mirror reflected back her image, making her look more like a miniature version of a space man. She started out the door only to find the high top jump boots reaching almost to her knee. She just shook her head and continued on. "I guess that’s the price you pay when you’re short.’ She thought of her tall, well-proportioned friend. "I bet she makes these look like a million bucks."

Danni made her way back to the group of people and found herself quickly positioned in a large area of emptiness, engulfed in lights, while hands reached in to tug and pull on her clothing and to arrange her hair. Within minutes she was the center of attention as everyone was talking to her and directing her as to how to stand and where to look. ‘Those models make it look so easy.’ The man with the camera circled around her, snapping and talking to her as he did. Just when she thought she knew where to look, they were yelling some other direction to her. ‘It surely can’t be this confusing for everyone.’

Then, finally from out of nowhere the shout came. "Alright everyone, take a fifteen minute break." The lights dimmed slightly and suddenly Danni was left there, standing all alone.

The photographer strolled over to the man seated in the corner out of the way. "You want me to give you an excited, accomplished looking subject for that PR release." He shook his head. "She looks more like a lost child out there." The photographer sat down next to the man. "Isn’t there someone else that you can use? I’m never going to get any good shots of this one."

Dr. McMurray nodded his head. "She’ll be alright. Danni’s a team player. She’ll do better when the other half of the team shows up." The Ol’ Cutter kept his eye on the young nurse. He could tell that she was floundering under the bright lights and all the attention.

She stood there with a questioning look on her face. It was like she was missing the other half of her soul and didn’t know where to find it. ‘I guess it’s not as easy as it looks.’ Danni looked up just as the tall figure came strolling into the room. She could tell instantly that her team member had arrived. Her face took on a new appearance and seemed to beam forth a newfound confidence in herself.

"Look!" McMurray whispered to the photographer. "That’s the image I want you to get."

The man quickly placed his camera to his eye and began to focus on the radiant women in the light. His face took on a new exuberance as he captured her on film, easily running through the roll in only a minute or two.

Danni never noticed the flashes going off around her. Her mind was only absorbed by the figure coming toward her. "Hey! Glad to see that you could make it, Doc." She smiled at her friend, still unable to see her in nothing but silhouette.

"Yeah, well, there’s not much left to do if your not allowed in the O.R." Garrett shrugged her shoulders. "I figured my job was down here."

The petite nurse reached out for her hand. "Come on. I’ll show you where your flight suit is."

Garrett felt the small hand in hers and a feeling of relief filled her. It was as if she was coming home after being away for a long time. She was no longer mad at being asked to leave the O.R., feeling that her place was here for some odd reason.

Danni turned to face the tall surgeon as she continued walking her through the maze of lighting equipment. "I’ve been waiting for you to come." Her face was full of love as her eyes met Garrett’s.

McMurray sat in his chair and smiled at what he was witnessing. It made his heart feel good to know that he was at the root of her change. With his vision obscured by the photographer making his way back over to the corner of the room, he lost track of the two women.

When he was only a step or two away, the photographer spoke. "So, who’s the tall, good looking one?" He motioned with his head toward the dark-haired beauty. "I’d like to get her on film. Heck, I’d like to have her, myself." He chuckled snidely.

"That, sir, is the other half of the team." The Ol’ Cutter turned to look at the salivating photographer. "And I don’t believe that you could handle her if you tried."

"A wild one, huh? What are they, your secretaries?"

McMurray curled his lip up into a smile as he nodded. "Head strong is more like it." ‘But I think she’s met her match.’ He thought about the two women and how they were coming together in their training and in their lives. He just sat there, a smile etched across his face. The Ol’Cutter wasn’t sure that the man could accept the fact that the pair of women he so loosely referred to were highly skilled caregivers. "My secretaries," he chuckled, "no, hardly."

Within a few minutes the tall woman had changed into her outfit and walked over to the lighted area with her flight helmet under her arm. Her figure was striking in the one-piece jumpsuit. Her tall form commanded attention and brought awe-inspired looks from the photography crew. She was all business as she asked where to go and what they wanted her to do.

Danni stood off to the side until directed to join her fellow team member on the backdrop area. They wanted a picture with the both of them standing side by side. Each of the women waited for the crew to address the small details of their clothing and hair. Their minds deep in thought as they tried to calm themselves. The photographer walked around them, letting his gaze wash over the entire length of their bodies. He snapped his fingers and pointed to Danni. The assistants scurried, rushing back with a small stool.

"Step on it." He directed the blonde. "Much better. Now you," he pointed to Garrett. "Come just a little closer to the lens." She complied and looked slightly back to her right at Danni. "Look at me, not her," he snapped. "Okay, now I want you to think of something that would make you very happy for Christmas." He positioned himself, watching the women’s faces in the viewfinder of the camera and waited.

‘Christmas, huh?’ Danni’s face lit up as she thought about the idea she had for Garrett’s present. ‘She’s never going to expect that. I’ve got to remember to thank John for his help.’

The tall woman’s eyes twinkled as she remembered her friend’s fondness for touching her leather jacket earlier in the day. ‘I guess I’ll call the closest Navy base for that. Hmm…I wonder if they even come in her size.’ The corners of her mouth turned upward as she imagined the look on Danni’s face when she opened the box.

The photographer quietly watched and at the appropriate moment began taking his pictures. After exhausting his roll of film he switched cameras and walked slowly around the two women.

His quick hand jerks and the snapping of his fingers brought the support crew to life once more. Ladders were being positioned and equipment was being moved to his constant directions. The two subjects of the photography session just stood there until his gaze turned to them and, with a flourish of hand motions, he dismissed them from their position.

Once on the sidelines of the activity, Danni watched as the backdrop that they had used was efficiently rolled up and another one was repositioned in its place. The crew moved in the ladders and swiftly moved several of the boom lighting stands out of the way. Ronnie and another crewman carried a pole with different lights attached to it and began climbing the ladders.

"Hey, Gar, what do you think they’re going to do with that?"

Garrett turned a watchful eye to the pair as they climbed to nearly the top of the ladders. "I’m not sure, but I guess we’ll find out."

"Come on now, I don’t have all day for this shoot. I want that up higher and over more." He waved his hands and cursed under his breath. "No! Not there. Over more Ronnie. Can’t you move it any further?" His voice sounded angry.

Danni felt like it was like a slow motion viewing of an event. She knew what was about to happen but had no way of stopping it. Before she could even shout out a warning, Ronnie was falling from atop the ladder. Within seconds the sound of the body impacting with the hard floor was reverberating in everyone’s ears and the lifeless form lay draped over the small stool that Danni had been given to stand on.

The photographer spun around to see the woman on the ground. "Jeez! Don’t go and bleed on the backdrop." His hands moved excitedly. "Hurry up, get her off of there."

The surgeon and the nurse sprang into action, each one sensing what the other would do. Danni found the phone and called the E.R. reporting the nature and whereabouts of the accident within the hospital itself. Garrett made her way to the downed woman. "I wouldn’t touch her if I were you," she warned.

The photographer stopped short and retreated back a step as Garrett pushed past him to get to the figure on the ground.

The surgeon quickly knelt down, positioning herself at the victim’s head, making sure that the woman was still breathing on her own. Having noted the rise and fall of her chest and the gentle flaring of her nostrils, Garrett checked for the quality of the patient’s breathing. ‘Good deep inspirations.’ Then she moved on to see where all the bleeding was from. The petite nurse was coming into view as she looked around for something to help contain the bleeding.

"Ronnie, can you hear me? Ronnie!" Danni called out her name. The muffled sound of mumbling was evident as the woman began to stir. "Don’t move. You’ve fallen. We’ll take care of you." The nurse brushed back the loose hair that had fallen across the patient’s face. "You’re gonna be alright, just let us take care of you."

"Did you get us some help, Danni?"

"Yeah, I called the E.R. and told them we needed a backboard, collar and a stretcher."

Garrett was assessing the patient’s extremities now. Carefully checking each of the arms and legs for any signs of deformity or swelling. ‘Obvious deformity in the left leg. I bet she landed on that one.’ The leg was twisted underneath her and the lower half of her pant leg was beginning to soak through with blood. The surgeon looked around at the people gathered around the outskirts of the lit area. "I need a knife or a pair of scissors."

"Here, will this help?" An older man stepped out of the shadows, holding out a pocketknife.

"Yeah, thanks." She took the offered knife and opened it. Using the large blade, she carefully slit the jeans up the side of the pant leg and exposed the injured site. The skin was hanging from the avulsion and the jagged ends of the bones were showing. It was going to be a nasty fracture, nothing that couldn’t be repaired. "How’s she doing, Danni?"

"Mumbling some, but nothing really coherent." Danni continued to talk softly as she maintained stabilization of the patient’s head.

The clamoring of the arriving group of caregivers announced their arrival. The speed and efficiency that the combined group worked with was evident to all that watched. Within minutes of when the teamwork had begun, the patient was placed in a cervical collar and on a backboard. The flurry of activity was all being directed by the tall, dark-haired woman in the flight suit.

The photographer stood there not moving a muscle, his eyes riveted to her. When the activity had subsided and the entourage of caregivers gone, he walked slowly around the site of the earlier commotion as though he was in shock.

Sensing his inability to cope with the situation, McMurray approached him. "You okay?"

"She…she…" he stammered. "She was telling them all what to do. Why would they listen to a secretary?"

McMurray just chuckled at the thought. He patted the photographer’s shoulder gently and said. "Times have changed, my boy. They’re not just secretaries any more."

********************

The E.R. was buzzing with excitement when the group made its way into the trauma room. The full team had been alerted and was assembled there, waiting for the patient. Garrett noted that it felt funny to be arriving with the patient. After giving a brief report about the patient in hand-off to Rene, the flight-suited surgeon left to go stand in the hallway with Danni.

"Hey, nice outfits. Do you know where I can get one?"

Danni felt the tug on her sleeve. "Huh?" She turned to see John standing next to her, a smile plastered across his face.

"Nice try, but it still won’t get you two on my ‘twins’ page."

"Knock it off, John." Danni wasn’t in a mood to be toyed with, especially not by John. "We were doing the photo shoot for PR when one of the crew became injured. These," she pulled at her jumpsuit, "are the flight suits that we’ll be wearing."

"Oh…you mean you’re still going to do that helicopter thing, even after what just happened in North Carolina? I thought you didn’t like to fly."

"North Carolina…why…what happened in North Carolina?" Danni was curious now.

"You didn’t hear?" John looked at the surgeon and then back to the nurse. "One of the medivac helicopters went down. It burst into flames, killing the pilot."

Garrett’s eyes narrowed as she studied John’s face. "What happened to the rest of the crew?"

"They’re fine. The pilot got some kind of warning signal or message and put down so that they could ground transport the patient. They thought that the problem was fixed and on the test flight it just happened."

The petite nurse gasped as her hand grabbed at Garrett’s sleeve. She was trying hard not to react to the news. Her face turned pale and she could feel the butterflies multiplying in her stomach. ‘How am I ever going to get through this. I can’t pull out now.’

The surgeon sensed Danni’s fear. ‘I’ve got to do something to keep her from thinking about this.’ Come on, Dan. We had better go get our clothes back at the studio." She nudged her shoulder and once she had Danni’s attention, motioned for her to follow.

"Yeah, right…our clothes." The nurse was pre-occupied, her mind seeing flaming balls dropping from the sky, but her body followed after the surgeon.

*******************

McMurray stood waiting patiently at the door for his team when they were ready to leave. "You two worked well together today," he called out.

Garrett felt Danni nudging her in his direction. "Considering…" the tall surgeon questioned him with her raised eyebrow.

"You both knew your responsibilities and you did your best." The man shrugged. "I want to thank you both for the help you gave us in the E.R. today."

"Well, we were right there and everything just kind of clicked together." Danni was honest in her facts.

"I know. That’s why the Board wanted you two for this project." He reached out and touched Garrett’s shoulder. "Six months isn’t too long. You’ll see."

"Yes, sir." Garrett nodded her head. "Did he make it?"

McMurray thought for a moment. "Oh, Dr. Chabot’s patient, yes, he’s doing fine. Said that he was out shopping for Christmas when someone came up and robbed him. I guess they thought that they needed an advantage, so they stabbed him."

The surgeon smiled weakly, "That’s good that he came through alright then."

"Come on, Garrett. We need to get to class." She stepped around her friend and acknowledged the Chief of Trauma Services nodding, "Dr. McMurray."

He stepped aside and watched as the pair walked down the long corridor. Listening, he could hear the almost non-stop banter of the smaller woman as she tried to cheer her friend out of her self-imposed doldrums.

"So are you hungry? I’m starved, want to go to the gift shop on the way to class?"

The tall woman just raised her head and rolled her eyes. ‘Where does she put it all?’ "Yeah, I guess I could use some coffee."

"Okay, but it’s my turn to buy." Danni stopped dead in her tracks. "Jeez, I almost forgot. Mom said to give this to you." She dug into her coat pocket and pulled out the thin wallet. She smiled as she handed it to the surgeon.

Garrett took it and pressed it into the interior pocket of her leather jacket. "Thanks, Danni."

"No need for thanks." ‘Well, at least not yet.’ She wrinkled up her nose and smiled as she thought about the holiday that was fast approaching. "Now, come on…I’m starved." With that, she hastened her pace to keep up with her soaring spirits.

Chapter 3

Garrett stood staring off into the distance. Up on the roof of the hospital, it was as though you could see for miles. Her head turned to survey the glowing city skyline. Each tall building stood out as a testament to the men who built it. ‘I wonder if they ever doubted their effort?’ Her thoughts mirrored her own doubts about the effort that she was giving in the final half of her Fellowship. It seemed like no effort at all, except for her to stay out of the operating theatre.

The bitter wind at her face was no match for her resolve. She had come up here to think and sort out some of her life without any interruptions. It was quiet up here, away from the rest of the world. She looked down on the streets below watching the random moving of the people as they traveled in the cars below. Each one either moving toward or away from some familiar destination, all in a hurry to be with loved ones, whether they were near or far.

She looked up into the darkening night sky and let her eyes shift from one faintly glistening star onto another. The heavens were full of shimmering lights tonight, some of them shining more brightly than others. Like an old navigator trying to set his course, she sought out the North Star using the position of the Big Dipper for her guide. She’d learned a lot in the Navy, more than she realized. The surgeon closed her eyes and imagined herself once again out on the deck of the aircraft carrier, with the strong seas rolling beneath her.

The Flight Surgeon had worked savagely trying to save the young man. The numerous wounds and severity of the blows had made it impossible to stop the bleeding. Within minutes of reaching her operating table, the young seaman was dead. Her mind could not fathom anything with such a degree of morbidity as to what the body before her attested. She needed to know what had caused the man’s death. No, not medically, but mechanically. She had seen for herself the horrors of automobile and airplane crashes as a surgical resident. Nothing compared to this.

The tall woman stood with her hands tightly wrapped around the railing on the ship. She watched out over the sea as the waves broke and then came crashing down on themselves. The sound of the waves deadened her nerves with its watery lullaby.

She had never seen as many emotions on one face as she had earlier today. She closed her eyes and the scene was immediately before her again. The lone sailor standing vigil for his comrade. She wasn’t sure which emotion was strongest or which was more touching to her heart. It didn’t really matter. All that mattered was that his friend was gone.

She tried to cast the images out of her head, but before she could, she felt a presence around her. Slowly she turned to see the gaunt face of the seaman with his haunted eyes. She didn’t know what he wanted but she was sure that it would be in reference to his fallen friend. She turned around to face him and returned his salute.

"Permission to speak, Ma’am" His voice was strong and clear with a hint of determination in his manner. He had something to say and it was going to be now or never.

"Permission granted, Sailor. Stand at ease." She waited patiently for him to speak.

"I want to thank you, Ma’am, for working on my…" he paused to clear his throat and then continued. "…On Seaman first class Williams. I know that you did your best and that he would have been grateful for your effort." Tears were stinging in his eyes as he thought of his friend.

She nodded in acceptance. "I did what any Military Surgeon would have done. I only did my job."

"I know that Ma’am, but you didn’t give up."

The words were echoing through her head as the image of the young man faded from her mind. ‘Maybe it will be worth it.’ The surgeon looked back down to the streets below. Garrett thought about her new role here in the Fellowship, and everything became clearer to her. She was here for a reason and whatever it was, she wasn’t about to give up.

She took one long last look at the night sky and began to walk toward the portal to go back inside and rejoin the world again. Looking over in its direction, she noticed that it was open now and a small figure was silhouetted against the incandescent light of the bare bulb hanging within the stairwell. The stature of the figure brought only one person to her mind, Danni. The surgeon found a smile slowly coming to her lips the closer she came to the doorway.

She watched as the form stepped back on the top landing of the stairwell, letting its figure bathe in the light. The warm glow of the light dulled in comparison to the exuberance of love radiating in her direction. The petite nurse had a heart that could encompass the world and usually did. Her patients could all attest to that. The nurse could make them feel so at ease with her friendliness, giving her heart without a care as to how it was handled. She gave whatever she thought was needed to expedite the patient’s recovery. Danni chose to reveal her true inner beauty to only a certain few, letting them into that peerless heart of hers, to do as they please. The surgeon was privileged to be one of them and realized the responsibility that came with it. Garrett knew that she could never allow anything to hurt her friend, physically or emotionally.

"Hey!" The blonde’s quiet smile was evident even in her greeting. "I was hoping you hadn’t left without me."

The surgeon’s lopsided grin was her only reply as she advanced into the doorway. "How’d you know where to look for me?"

"It’s my getaway up here when the world seems to be crashing in on me. I come up her and just let my spirit soar out over the rooftops. Sooner or later my mind settles and I calm down." She brushed past the surgeon, walking out onto the roof. Taking an exaggerated deep breath with her eyes closed, she turned slowly around with her arms outstretched and then pulled them in tightly to herself as she crossed her chest. "I can almost sense the peace and quiet of the forest here: the air cleansing my mind with its clean smell and fresh scent." She opened her eyes and became noticeably shy as she shrugged her shoulders. "My mother told me that I was a bit of a dreamer, always waiting for the natural wonders of the world to come to me."

Garrett stood watching her, taking in the entire innocence of the moment. Before her stood a woman who was more like a child in her wonderment of the world than the capable caregiver she had come to know, whose dreams seemed to be only the pure and simple kind. The surgeon was beginning to see so much of her brother in the young woman that sometimes, from a distance with the shadows playing tricks on her eyes, she thought that Lucas was here again, in her presence. ‘How could I have been so blind, not to have seen it before?’ Then, she thought of her brother beaming down on her with pleasure and it inspired her. ‘Thanks, little brother for looking out for me.’

"Well, what do you say we take our dreams home and get some rest? We’ve got a full day tomorrow." The surgeon beckoned to her.

"Yeah," she nodded with a weak smile. "That sounds like a plan to me."

The two women headed for the stairway, neither having any need to speak, yet knowing the presence of the other’s mind. Each one was a little nervous about the events of the next day. They didn’t need to draw any more attention to it or their own thoughts about it. It would be their D-day and the truth would be there for all to see. They had to prove that they could indeed deliver an intact and functional Flight Team to a destination and back. The question that everyone was concerned about, was could the nurse keep it together and deliver the payload without becoming a casualty herself?

Danni thought about how lonely it would feel to watch Garrett take off, matched up with another nurse. ‘It would be like watching half of myself leave, never knowing if it would ever return.’ At the bottom of the first set of stairs she turned to look back at her friend, the worry and loneliness etched across her face. "Gar…" she bit at her lip, undecided whether to continue or not.

Sensing the trepidation in her voice, the surgeon looked into Danni’s eyes and saw the concern in the wallowing green pools. Garrett stopped on the landing. She had to find out what was wrong before it took any further hold on the nurse. "What’s on your mind, Danni?" She watched as the young woman still battled within herself. "Come on. We’re a team, let’s talk about it." She lowered her body to meet Danni eye to eye.

With furrowed brow the young woman searched the face of her teammate then started. "What if tomorrow’s the end of our team? I mean…what if I can’t do my job up there and just go off in some catatonic trance? I’ll never get to work with you again."

"Hey, don’t go thinking like that. We work well together. Our numbers prove that. Heck, it’s what got us in this team, isn’t it?" She reached over with her hand and gently lifted the nurse’s chin so that they made eye contact once more. "We’ll do fine up there, you’ll see. We’ll do our job. I can always count on you to do that, whether it’s in the Trauma room, out on the softball field, at a photo shoot or up in the air." Garrett narrowed her gaze and let the fire of her crystals penetrate deep within the shimmering green as she tried to drive home her point. "We always do our job. Right?"

Danni was receiving the message louder and clearer than she dared even think was imaginable. ‘She thinks of us as a team, I can’t let her down now.’ Resigning to try her hardest, she slowly nodded in acknowledgement of Garrett’s belief in her ability to come through when the chips were down. She only hoped that her tall, dark-haired friend was right.

"Now, enough of this worrying. What do you say we go home and relax?" They nodded in unison. Each one trying to reassure the other as smiles slowly resurfaced. "Hey, I’ll even get dinner ready for us. How’s that?"

"I didn’t know that you could cook?" Danni was a little reluctant about this newest revelation of her friend’s abilities.

"Well…" the surgeon started off toward the door to the inner hallway and the elevators. "I never said that I’d actually cook now, did I?" She smiled mysteriously and winked at the petite blonde, then laughed.

Danni shook her head and smiled. "No, I guess you didn’t. Okay, let’s go home. Now you’ve got me curious as to what’s for dinner."

The surgeon just smiled as she reached out, pushing the button to summon an elevator.

‘This I gotta see.’ Danni just watched as the doors opened and the two stepped on. ‘She never ceases to amaze me. There always seems to be something more to her when you think that you have her all figured out.’

***

The ride home had been a quiet one, with only occasional words spoken between the two women. The majority of the limited conversations pertained strictly to the sights and sounds of the approaching holiday. The brightly colored lights and glistening decorations that seemed to be on just about every door or window gave the quaint streets an almost "Dickens" feel. The ethnic neighborhoods of the city, all giving a distinct flavor to the decorating style of its residents made for a rich and flavorful distraction.

Danni hadn’t spoken much on the way home. She had been doing a lot of speculating and thinking of ways to overcome her fear between now and tomorrow morning. ‘Maybe if I just get my mind off of it, I’ll do better.’ She looked around for something to occupy her mind. ‘Who knows, I may even end up enjoying the helicopter ride.’ She picked up the pile of mail and started sorting through it. ‘Yeah, fat chance of that happening.’ The nurse pulled out the two or three pieces of mail with the surgeon’s name on it and placed it in a neat pile by her keys and pager on the hall stand.

"Hey, Gar! How long before dinner?" Danni looked at the return addresses on her mail. "Do you think that I have time to open my mail?"

The voice came floating in from the kitchen, "Sure! It’ll take me a little while to get things done." There was the sound of kitchenware clanging in the background as doors and drawers opened and closed. "I’ll call you when it’s ready."

Danni looked out towards the kitchen, her face attested to her puzzlement at what could be going on with all of the noise that she was hearing. "Okay!" She hesitated, then continued. "Gar, if you need any…"

"No, I’ve got it covered. Thanks."

The petite woman settled onto the couch as she started to open the first envelope. A thought sprang through her mind. ‘I wonder if she’s…nah, she doesn’t seem like the type to want to find their Christmas presents.’ Danni let her mind visualize the gift-wrapped box that now resided in her nightstand drawer. ‘I’ve got to remember not to send her in there for another razor until after Christmas.’ She smiled at the thought and started on the pile of mail in her lap.

Garrett busied herself in the kitchen trying to find something…anything that she could make. ‘You had to go and volunteer, didn’t you?’

It wasn’t that the domesticated world was foreign to her, it just didn’t fit the surgeon’s demanding career. She’d been on her own since she went away to college. Between fast food and cafeteria cuisine, she never needed to provide much more than a sandwich or a bowl of cereal for her daily sustenance. ‘Now, what am I going to make? Hmmm…’ she kept looking through the cupboards in search of anything that would be within her limited capabilities. She found herself muttering under her breath. "You’re a skilled surgeon and perform major lifesaving operations with intricate procedures on patients, there has to be something here that you can…." Her eyes got bigger as she reached for the box on the shelf. "Yeah, I can do this," her voice taking on a renewed determination. She hurriedly looked through the rest of the shelves finding the necessary items to accompany the contents of the box, then set her plans in motion.

The ruckus had subsided from the kitchen and quiet was growing like the calm before a storm. Danni gave thought to investigating the sudden stillness, but decided to have complete and utter confidence in her roommate’s ability to make something for dinner. ‘I’d trust her with my life if I ever needed her skills as a surgeon. I’m sure she can handle making something to eat.’ The nurse bit her lip for a moment, then forced herself to press on to the next piece of mail in her hands.

Her eyes gazed over the front of the envelope, searching for some clue as to whom the sender was. The large looped fancy scroll of the writing was all that she needed to see. She had seen that style of penmanship all of her life. She quickly opened it and set about reading the card from her parents, more specifically, her mother. The Christmas card was of her usual type, the kind that automatically told you who it was from after reading the few words across the front of it. Somehow after all these years, "Merry Christmas to Our Daughter" seemed like a dead giveaway.

Danni’s brow furrowed as she opened the card to reveal the standard printed sentiments on the inside. Instead of the usual scrolling of "Love, Mother and Dad," there were a few sentences penned before it. ‘I guess that I’m still being reprimanded for missing Thanksgiving Dinner with them.’ Her eyes quickly skimmed across the message. Bewildered by the conveyed thoughts, she reread them, only this time aloud as she tried to understand them more fully. "We hope that your plans will include visiting us on Christmas Eve. The family would love to meet your friend, Garrett. If at all possible, please attend. Love, Mother and Dad." ‘By the gods, it sounds like they are summoning me home. Hmm…but why with Garrett?’

"Hey, Dan, where do you keep your…" Garrett saw the deep thought that was etching itself across the younger woman’s brow. "Something wrong?" She motioned toward the card that was still in Danni’s hand. "Pretty special looking card there." The surgeon’s eyebrow rose slightly.

"Huh? Oh, this. No, it’s my Mother’s usual Christmas card, just not her usual penned phrase this year."

"You still taking heat about working on Thanksgiving?" Garrett sounded concerned. ‘Jeez, I know that she did that for me.’

"No," she smirked. "The funny thing is, that’s what I expected. Here take a look at it." Danni handed the card over. "Mother hasn’t mentioned a thing about Thanksgiving to me."

The surgeon read through the card then pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Gee, Danni, you’ll have to give your mother my apologies for not being able to attend."

"You’re working Christmas Eve? I thought you told me that you were covering Christmas Day." ‘Great! Tell me I volunteered to work sixteen hours on the wrong day.’

Garrett smiled, chuckling as she answered. "I felt bad for Nathan and Rene both. I told Nathan I’d cover for him on Christmas Eve from 1800 hours on so he could go home for Christmas." She shrugged. "I figured that it was the least that I could do for them. Besides, I’ll get to treat some real patients for a day and a half."

"McMurray and the Board are all right with that? I mean…they’re going to let you?"

"Not much that they could do. They needed someone here and since I don’t have any family to go home to, it was the only logical choice." ‘But it will be like going home to family for me.’ Garrett thought of the assortment of characters that comprised her new family. ‘Yeah, and with you there for sixteen hours, I’ll really feel at home.’

"Humph! Well, I guess I’ll let Mother know that it will be just me coming home for Christmas Eve." The blonde looked thoughtful as she concentrated on the strange smell coming from the kitchen. "Say, what are you making for dinner, anyway?" She sniffed at the air. "Almost smells like…"

Garrett sniffed at the air also. "Oh, damn!" Then took off for the kitchen, all thoughts of Christmas now forgotten.

Danni chuckled. ‘I’m sure glad that she has other talents to fall back on.’ "Hey, Gar! You better not quit your day job. I don’t think that there’s too much need for Chefs that specialize in Blackened cooking." ‘Besides I bet I could find a few things for you to do with those skilled hands of yours.’ The nurse just shook her head. ‘Where did that come from?’

She picked up the few cards that were left to open and quickly busied her hands as if they would get her mind thinking about something other than the talented surgeon. With the last card left to open, her mind was once again thinking of the Christmas holiday to come with memories stirred by family and good friends. ‘You know, this writing looks vaguely familiar.’ Danni thought of a few people that it could belong to but dismissed all of them. Her curiosity now piqued, she opened it. A softly broadening smile came across her face. ‘David! Isn’t that thoughtful of him? He still hasn’t forgotten us.’

Garrett had stuck her head into the doorway from the kitchen, when she noticed the beaming smile of her young friend. ‘I wonder if that smile is because I’m making dinner tonight?’ Then she noticed the card that the blonde was holding and glancing down at. ‘Whoever sent that card must be somebody special by the look on her face.’ She felt an overpowering urge to be jealous but couldn’t think of why or whom she should be jealous of. ‘Let it go, Garrett. She’s got her own life. Not everything revolves around you.’

"You ready to eat?" She waited for an answer as she watched the young woman before her eyes, as Danni’s mind was a million miles away. "Danni, dinner’s ready."

"Huh? Oh yeah, dinner. I’ll be right there, Gar." She motioned with her head as she glanced over in the dark-haired woman’s direction. ‘I’m going to have to tell Mom and Rosie about the card the next time that I see them.’ She put the card down on top of the pile and went toward the kitchen.

Danni looked around the kitchen as she stood in the doorway. The lighting had been reduced to only the glow of the light from the range hood, giving the room a moody atmosphere of mystery. The table was set with two place settings and food was neatly piled on the plates. "Safe to come in?" Her eyes swept the room for the tall surgeon. ‘Hmmm…I wonder if the lighting is to hide the burnt offerings or to lessen the stress of the day that we had?’

Garrett came in from the door at the rear of the kitchen, a bottle of wine in her hand. "Brrr! It’s cold out there. I figured that it would take less time than the fridge to chill this down outside." She took one look at the amazed blonde and held the bottle up in offering to her. "I thought some wine would go nicely with the meal. Besides, it will help us relax and get some sleep tonight." She pushed the door closed and locked it. "Nothing goes better with spaghetti than a little wine. What do you say?"

"Spaghetti? You made spaghetti."

"Well, my last name is Trivoli." The surgeon laughed as she began pouring the wine into glasses.

"But I didn’t think…I…" The nurse looked over at the cupboard next to the counter where her pantry was. ‘I know that I didn’t have any spaghetti sauce. Where’d she…’

"Come on, sit down and eat before it gets cold."

Danni did as she was instructed taking note of the table and its settings. The nurse was learning something new about her friend. ‘I’m impressed. She even has the knack of setting a pleasantly looking table. I guess she’s just full of all sorts of hidden talents.’ She looked at the spaghetti that was so neatly arranged on the plate in front of her, the aroma of which wafted up, filling her senses. She closed her eyes to concentrate, trying to analyze the many intermingled scents that filled the air.

Garrett watched her friend closely as she sat down at her place and quietly drew her chair in closer to the table. She studied the expression on the young woman’s face, eager to find out if she would be pleased with the offering. ‘Well, it’s not dad’s sauce but it can’t be too bad. Heck, I watched him make it often enough, I should have remembered something.’

Finally the nurse opened her eyes to see the tall woman across from her become a little startled and grab for her napkin, quickly unfolding it to lay across her lap. The rapidly flicking motion of the surgeon’s eyes was a dead give away that she had been watching the blonde intently. Danni only smiled coyly, the skin around her eyes wrinkling slightly at the outer corners. ‘Well, it looks and smells good. I bet she’s anxious. Hmm… how cute that apprehension is on her face. I bet many people haven’t seen that side of her before.’ She picked up her fork and twirled a small bite on the tines. The nurse glanced up to see Garrett once again watching, and smiled graciously at her as she brought the fork full of spaghetti to her mouth. ‘Okay, no matter what it tastes like, I’m not going to…’ She placed the food into her mouth as she deftly slipped the fork out and began to chew. ‘By the gods,’ she looked over at eagerly waiting eyes. ‘This is…’

The anticipation was too much. Garrett quickly let her eyes shift from the young woman’s face to the plate of spaghetti and back again. "What?" She was getting worried now. ‘Jeez! Tell me that I forgot something.’ Her mind quickly went down the list of ingredients that she had used in the sauce. ‘I know that it’s been a while since I’ve made any. No, I didn’t miss anything that could be detrimental to it.’

The blonde stopped chewing and swallowed. ‘What could she have used for this?’ Her mind was trying to put together some kind of idea. She saw the concerned look on Garrett’s face and couldn’t help but giggle.

‘Gosh, she’s laughing at it now. I must have done something wrong.’ The surgeon speedily twirled a forkful and placed it in her own mouth. The delicate tastes burst forth across her palate as she searched for the cause of her friend’s reaction. It was getting just too much now. She had to know. "What?" She asked as she tried to swallow.

Danni face lit up and her smile showed brightly. ‘I’ve never seen her so concerned. She’s not even this worried when she’s got somebody’s life oozing out all over the place.’ She reached out and placed her hand on Garrett’s trying to calm her fear. "It’s okay. Great, if you really want to know." She smirked. "I just can’t figure out what you used to make it."

The surgeon breathed a little easier now as she sighed in relief. "Well, I had to make do with what you had in the pantry. It’s surprising what you can do with odds and ends." Her mouth curled up in a smile.

"Okay, I’ll bite. What did you use?"

"Well, first off was the Heinz Ketchup and a can of stewed tomatoes. Then I used the spices in your rack, oregano, celery salt, garlic powder, and added a touch of my dad’s special ingredient." Her eyebrows were wiggling as she teased. The shifting of Danni’s hand on hers as she began to laugh at the site Garrett was giving her made the surgeon a little self-conscious about the lingering contact, and she slowly withdrew her hand to her lap. Suddenly she felt alone and contemplated bringing her hand back up on the table. ‘What’s all that about?’ The surgeon forced her mind to the conversation at hand.

"What special ingredient?" Danni tried to not let the loss of contact with her friend disturb her, but it did. ‘Why does it feel so natural to reach out to her?'

Garrett picked up her utensil and began pushing the food around her plate. The stolen glances only confirmed her suspicions. The nurse was watching her closely. With her eyes cast downward to the food in front of them, Garrett mumbled the name of the secret ingredient. "Sugar."

"What did you say?" Danni leaned toward the woman across from her. "Did you just say, ‘sugar’?" The young woman shook her head. "I’ve never had pot luck spaghetti before. Gee, I guess red sauce is right up your alley." She smiled, her eyes laughing with kindness.

"Hey, blood isn’t the only red liquid that I’m familiar with, if I do say so myself." The surgeon’s eyebrow raised slightly in mock dare.

"Guess not. Ketchup…huh?" The two woman both let the lightheartedness of the conversation take them over as they continued the playful banter throughout the rest of the meal, all thoughts in anticipation of the grueling next day was pushed out of their minds.

***

The friendly ease that the evening had given the woman before her attempt to sleep didn’t abate the long bouts of restlessness and tortured nightmares. She was worried, and rightfully so. Danni didn’t want to lose the close working relationship that she now had with the surgeon. The nurse knew what she was like on a flight of any kind, the only thing that kept coming to her was her own feeble attempts in the past to overcome her fear. She tossed and turned all night with the fear of the helicopter flight in the morning. If only she could do well enough to be kept with the team, she was sure that Garrett’s strength and friendship would help her, over the course of time, to feel more comfortable with the situations that would arise.

Morning came all to swiftly and the hours quickly flew by. Before Danni knew it, she was standing in the E.R. waiting for Garrett to join her. She looked down at her watch. It was 0900. The nurse marveled at her acceptance of military time since the tall surgeon had entered her world. It was just one more thing that put them on the same page, separating them from the rest of the world around them. Little by little, the young woman was realizing that her world was growing with the addition of Garrett in her life, but shrinking also. She found her world more complete and satisfying when the two of them worked together, especially now.

‘Don’t let that all end today. We make such a good team. I don’t want to be the cause of that falling apart.’ Her mind raced with her own thoughts as the words ‘falling apart’ dredged up her fear of flying and caused the butterflies in her stomach once again to flutter their wings. The fingers of her small hand gently rubbed her flight suit over the area of her abdomen, as she tried to pacify those wings from bursting into full upward motion.

Mom was just coming out of the conference room when she caught sight of the small blond looking out the window at the helipad. She could sense the trepidation in her pseudo-daughter and ventured over to her, compelled to help in any way that she could. "Hey, know anywhere that I could get a suit like that?" She walked up to Danni and rubbed the material of the flight suit between her thumb and forefinger. "Sure makes for an nice look. Doesn’t feel bad either." She chuckled.

"Hi, Mom." Danni’s mood was somber, although she was trying hard at masking her feelings.

"What’s the matter, Danni? Anything that I can do to help?" Karen leaned up against the window ledge.

Danni looked at the older nurse’s face, then back out to the helipad. She blinked and then slowly began. "Today’s…today’s the test flight to see if we…I can make the team." The blonde looked downward, then closed her eyes for a moment as though in prayer. She opened them back up and looked at Karen, her eyes conveying her feelings. "I don’t want to let Garrett down, Mom. We’ve become so close over the last few weeks that I…"

"I know, Danni, I know." Karen patted her shoulder. "You never left me down in all the years that I’ve known you. I’m sure that you won’t let Garrett down now." Mom offered a smile, hoping that Danni would follow along. "Just do your best. I’m sure that once you get started, you won’t even have to think about what needs to be done."

Danni smiled weakly in return. "That’s what I’m hoping for Mom."

The older woman took Danni into her embrace and hugged her like a small tyke. ‘God, watch over my child.’ Then her other pseudo-daughter came to her mind. ‘Watch over both my children.’ She hugged the small woman just a little tighter with that thought before she slowly released her grip, stepping back to view the young woman’s face.

Danni looked up into the understanding eyes. Her smile broadened as she cautiously nodded at Karen. "Thanks, Mom. I think I needed that."

"See, I knew staff meetings were good for something."

Danni furrowed her brows at Karen. "Huh?"

"Well, I wouldn’t have been here now if it wasn’t for that mandatory Charge Nurse meeting with Nan." She winked and chuckled softly. "At least it was good for some reason." Karen watched as the tiny spark of Danni’s ever-eager spirit was once again returning to those green eyes of hers. ‘Yep, best staff meeting that I’ve ever attended and probably the most important one, right here with Danni.’ The young woman smiled warmly as she turned to view the length of hall coming from the elevators, trying as she might to get a fix on someone in the distance.

***

Rene Chabot stood silently in the doorway of the small office. The very intense look on his colleague’s face as she viewed the computer screen was of concern to him. She was deep in thought and had not even heard him open the door. Garrett’s eyes scanned the screen as she read down the page of words, her finger tapping at the ‘page down’ button every few moments.

The tall, thin, French-Canadian finally spoke up. "Reading up on some new operation that I should know about, or just killing a little time?" He motioned toward the monitor.

Garrett finished the sentence that she was reading then looked up with a questioning glance. "Operation? No, nothing like our kind of operation." The woman shook her head in disbelief. "If I didn’t know better, I’d say that the Middle East is gearing up for war."

The man thought for a moment trying to reason what her interest would be in global matters. "Surely you don’t think that your team would be called to transport. That’s a little far for one of our helicopters." He joked.

She looked up once again, her eyes narrowed, becoming steely in color. He could feel them burn into him with her intense look. "Hey, I’m Canadian, remember?" Rene held up his hands in mock surrender. "Why does this upset you so much? I mean, I know that you were in the Navy…"

"I’m still in the Navy, Rene. All that they have to do is whistle and I’m off to their beck and call without any choice in the matter."

His face turned thoughtful as he pondered the newly acquired information. It was becoming clearer to him now. ‘I guess she is finding herself at home here.’ Dr. Chabot’s voice turned somber. "I’m sure that they won’t let it escalate to that."

"I sure hope not. I’m just concerned with this latest act of terrorist bombing. The USS Cole was made to look way too easy to attack. It’s got to be a well-organized group to be able to do that." She bit at her lip. "I’m sure that they have more things planned in the future. I just hope that it won’t include me anyway."

Rene didn’t know what to say to that. Her outlook on the global matter seemed all too ominous for his liking, and it was far from what he wanted to be concentrating on now. Not when it was two days before Christmas. The tall man only wanted to think about his twins and their first Christmas together with he and his wife. It was going to be a joyous holiday and he had the woman in front of him to thank for it.

The thin man rocked back and forth on his heels as he contemplated his next move. "Dr. Trivoli," his mind suddenly thought that this was way too formal an opening for what he was about to say, and his voice turned softer. "Garrett, I’d like to thank you for allowing me to spend Christmas with my family." He smiled at her warmly. "You don’t know what that means for me…for us. My wife was so upset about being away from the rest of the family. Now, she’s in heaven that we are going to be able to set our own family traditions."

"No thanks necessary, Rene. I’m the one who should be thanking you. After all, I’ll be able to treat patients again, and maybe even be able to do a little surgery if the need arises."

"You miss it, don’t you my friend?"

She nodded her head slightly. "We all do what we have to, Rene. I know that I’m here for a reason. I just hope that whatever the fates have planned for me, I’m able to do to the best of my ability."

Dr. Chabot smiled at the woman. He had liked her from their first meeting and marveled at the way she was changing. Nothing dramatic or earth shattering, but he could still see the change. Garrett Trivoli was beginning to let that stoic mask of hers down, facing life with new emotions and feelings. It was all that he could ask for, to just know that her world was becoming more alive.

"So, what are you up to today?" Rene pointed to her clothing. "A little spin around the city, perhaps?" He made his hand imitate the spinning blades of the helicopter.

"Perhaps!" Garrett logged off the computer and stood to her full height. The long line of the dark blue jump suit with all of the glittering metal from the zippers made for a stunning image. "Enjoy your holiday, Rene, and tell your wife that I said Merry Christmas." She rounded the desk and laid her hand on his shoulder, leaning into his ear as she whispered. "And don’t forget to kiss the twins for me, too." He looked at her and nodded in agreement. "Now, I have an appointment with a nurse for a helicopter ride. If you would excuse me?"

He turned and smiled as she walked out the door. "Good luck," he called out after her. "Merry Christmas!" Rene craned his neck out the doorway to watch as she walked away. The casual wave of her hand and nod of the head was Garrett’s only form of reply.

The efficiency of the elevator and the speed of her gait brought the tall surgeon into the E.R. within minutes of leaving her office. She glanced at the watch on her wrist. It was 0905.

Garrett thought about the nurse that she was teamed with. The small woman was a dynamo of strength and vitality when it came to helping the sick and injured. ‘Danni may be small in stature, but she more than equals my size in effort and determination.’ Different scenarios ran through the surgeon’s head. Each one played out the same with Danni and Garrett matched as the team. There would be no team without the two of them working together. That was for sure.

The surgeon peered down the hall to where they were to wait for their ride. She could see Karen in a motherly hug with her arms wrapped protectively around the small blonde. ‘Okay, only positive thoughts. We’re going to do this together.’ Garrett had come to rely on Danni more than she would ever admit, even to herself. The surgeon knew that today would either broaden their experiences, or send them both back to the comfort of the E.R. No one else could do it for them. This was something that they had to do, as a team.

As the space between them lessened, each one could sense the close proximity of the other. The air felt as if it was charged with energy, as only they could know. It was a reaction that the surgeon was becoming more comfortable with as time wore on. Garrett squared her shoulders and strode straight toward the two nurses standing in front of the window.

"Anybody know what time the next helicopter comes by?" The surgeon winked at Mom. Once Danni had turned, making eye contact with Garrett, the tall woman’s lopsided smile came shinning forth. The genuine nature of the greeting was a timeless one, as though it had been given and well received a million times before. "Hey, Mom!" The surgeon never let her eyes leave those shimmering green pools.

Karen waved, returning the greeting as she finished speaking to Danni. She watched as the space dwindled down to almost nothing and soon her two pseudo-daughters where standing together in front of her. ‘I wonder if they realize the power of the attraction that they each have?’ She marveled at the quietness of their communication, but knew enough that even though not a single word was spoken, volumes were actually being transmitted. ‘Boy, are they ever going to be surprised.’

"Oh my gosh! Look at the time," the older nurse made a show of glaring at her watch. "I should have been home and in bed by now." She reached out and pulled both Garrett and Danni in for a group hug. "Now, you be careful up there." She looked from one to the other with motherly notions. "God, I feel like I’m sending you off to your first day at school." She sniffed back a tear, then dredged up a smile. "Look out for each other," Karen’s gaze lingered on Garrett until she detected the slight nod of the surgeon’s head in understanding. ‘She needs you now more than ever.’ Then she looked directly into Danni’s eyes. "I want to hear all about it when I see you on Christmas. Now I better get going before I really lose all control."

The petite nurse gave Karen a quick hug. The whispered gratuity was kept between the two of them as the sound of a helicopter in its descent prevented it from traveling any further. Mom stepped back from the embrace and took in a deep breath as she tried to compose herself before walking through the E.R. After all, she had an image to uphold.

The surgeon had moved closer to the window, letting the tender scene unfold around her. If she had to be taken into a family of any kind, she was certainly glad that it was under the leadership of this loving woman. For a brief moment, she wondered if she could ever offer anyone that sort of unconditional love as she was witnessing now. It seemed too farfetched to think about at the present time, but in her soul Garrett knew that it was something that she had always wanted.

Listening to the increasing hum of the blades outside the window, Garrett noticed the changing pallor of the woman in front of her. The blonde’s fair skin was becoming devoid of all color and she was finding it hard to swallow. Her hand reflexively came to rest over her stomach, rubbing it in a soothing manner. The surgeon could sense her fear and decided that nothing in this world was worth the torture her friend was experiencing. "Danni, if you don’t want to go through with this, it’s okay. I’ll understand."

Golden hair shimmered as Danni’s head turned in Garrett’s direction. The pleading green eyes churning like rough seas as everything from self-doubt to rage at the thought of not being allowed this challenge crossed her mind. ‘What is she doing, giving up for my sake?’ "No!" The feisty woman was putting her foot down. "If I’m not going to be part of this team, they’re going to have to tell me that to my face. It’s not going to be because I didn’t try." Her voice was full of determination.

The nurse looked out the window to see the helicopter just touching down on the pad. The air was full of small bits of debris as the blades slowed down to a stop. The butterflies in her stomach were beginning to stir as her mind began chanting a mantra of positive reassurance. ‘You can do this. It’s just a ride…a nice, safe ride. You can do this.’ "You coming with me, Doc, or are you giving up?" Her eyes shown like emeralds, glowing with a deep burning passion as she waited for a reply.

Garrett liked the fire that burned within her friend. She had felt its warmth and knew of its compassion. But now, she was about to see its mettle put to the test. She knew that Danni had to prove this to herself and no one was going to stop her. That’s when the surgeon decided to help her in any way that she could. "Okay, what do you say we go for that ride and put an end to all this talk?"

"Sounds like a plan to me, partner." Danni reached down to pick their jackets up off the chair. Her hand refused to give up the leather flight jacket to the surgeon, holding on until it was gently tugged from her grasp. The softness of the leather was such a contrast to the stoic woman who wore it. ‘Maybe one day, Garrett, I’ll get to see that soft spot in your heart.’

They both quickly donned their coats and turned to look at each other for reassurance, each one giving the other the "thumbs-up" sign.

"Okay! Let’s go kick some butt." The surgeon gave the "thumbs-up" sign through the window to the pilot as he waited for them inside the helicopter, then headed to the door.

Danni gulped hard trying not to let any of her butterflies’ escape. ‘If I’m going for a ride, we’re all going for one together.’ She replicated the signal to the pilot, and moved quickly to catch up with her team.