#i can’t decide if we can say that he adopted rory

[ivystitches]

so you’re telling me that by the end of the show luke had adopted a whole army of kids

[renee-writer]

The Heart Don't Lie Chapter 71

AO3

Better done all together, she thinks. With Mama Claire ‘s arm tight around her, she faces her family.

 

“What is it child? You look so serious.” Auntie Jenny asks.

 

“Are you ill lass?” Her daddy looks from her to his wife, “Claire, is she…?”

 

Claire squeezes her arm. Right. It is time, God help her.

 

“No daddy,” he just has time to breath out in relief before she adds, “nothing that nine months won’t fix.”

 

Her cousin, Maggie, gets it first. “Holy crap, you are pregnant!”

 

The room stirs, picking up the energy that Maggie’s  proclamation caused.

 

Rose moves first coming up to her sister and wrapping her in a hug. “Whatever you need.” She whispers in her ear.

 

“Is it true, leannen?”

 

Rose holds her other side as she  faces him.

 

“Aye daddy.” She explains all the details as her family reacts to the news.

 

“The first time. How unlucky you are cousin.” Her eldest, Ian Jr says.

 

“Hush, she doesn’t need our judgement right now but our support.” Big Ian tells his son.

 

“I will kill him,” his eyes are thunderous, “Where can I find him?”

 

“Jamie, that is enough!” Claire stills the conversations happening around the room, “They made a mistake, something that you know well. Right now, we have to prevent it from escalating. You going after the bloke would do that.”

 

He lets his breath out, forcing his temper down. “Aye,” another deep breath as the room seems to hold its own. Ian comes up and touches his shoulder. More than a brother-in-law, he is his best mate and the one always by his side, whatever is happening, “aye. Willa Brianna, my love, whatever you need, whatever decision you make, I am here for you.”

 

Claire and Rose let go of her and she falls into her daddy’s arms. The sobs she has been holding in are freely let out. He holds her close, murmuring the same nonsensical words he used to utter when he soothed her as an infant.

 

Claire and Jamie, Jenny and Ian, Willa and Rose, sit together in the great room. The cousins are seeing to the twins and Rory.

 

“What do you wish to do lass?” Jenny asks.

 

“Auntie Jenny, I can’t abort it. I simply can’t. What is easiest, if it isn’t right, I just…”

 

“Hush my child, I agree.”

 

“So do I.” Jamie would keep his word, whatever she wants to do. He is relieved that, that wasn’t it.

 

“Leaves adoption or parenting.” Ian was shocked at his niece’s news. In truth, he worried more about one of his own daughters announcing such more then Willa.

 

“Aye,” her hands twist in her lap, “I ah, am thinking adoption. I just don’t know if I can do this alone.”

 

“The father, he won’t …” Rose was furious at this bloke who stole her sister’s innocence and left her in trouble. Like her daddy, she would love to confront him but Mama Claire is right. Now Willa is important.

 

 

She meets her daddy’s eyes and sees the same barely held contempt for the man.

 

“I need to tell him. I mean, he has a right to know.”

 

“Right,” Jamie mumbles under his breath, “right to be neutered.” Claire hears and frowns at him.

 

“Yes Willa, he does. If you choose adoption, he will have to agree.” She says.

 

“Right. Right. Man, how did things get so messed up! I barely recall this conception. Now I have to tell the father. What if he acts like a jerk?”

 

“Then he will meet your father,” Jamie growls out, “in an unpleasant way.”

 

“You will invite him here so you won’t be alone,” Rose adds, “were he to act that way, you will have support.”

 

“You will have support no matter what. If you decide to keep the baby, you won’t be alone. No matter what he does.” Auntie Jenny adds.

 

“Aye, you will.”

[americxn]

What about headcanons abt how The Evans are with animals?

this is kinda basic but it was fun to write

warnings: swearing

tate langdon

I feel like Tate is good with more 'conventional' pets like dogs, cats and rabbits but hates more exotic animals like snakes and other reptiles. He's definitely scared of snakes.

He probably had goldfish growing up but completely forgot about them and Constance sold them because he couldn't take care of them. He probably wouldn't have even noticed that she sold them either.

Or maybe he had rats or one of his siblings had them and he took a liking to them but would never want to get any of his own.

He likes animals and he’s good with them but I don’t think that he would ever want to get any of his own. I just can’t see Tate ever committing to buying/adopting an animal of his own.

kit walker

Kit + a golden retriever would just be a pairing made in heaven. Definitely more of a dog person but I doubt he has anything against cats.

He strikes me as a person to adopt animals instead of buying them and would probable take in a few strays. I can imagine him finding an abandoned kitten or something and taking it in, staying up all night to make sure that it was healthy and being so careful to feed it properly and ensure that he’s taking good care of it. 

Especially because of the land around his house, I think that there would be a lot of animals and a few strays that he puts food out for each morning.

kyle spencer

I imagine Kyle to be pretty good with animals but not really caring about having any of his own.

Definitely a dog person, I can’t see him liking cats very much but tolerating them. 

Maybe had a hamster or guinea pig growing up but felt kind of relieved what it died because he didn’t like taking care of it.

franken kyle

I mean, we all saw what happened with that dog.

He would definitely have good intentions and wouldn’t want to hurt an animal but he would not be able to take of any kind of animal.

If you got a shared animal with him, it would probably be okay but it might take him a while to understand that the animal relied on him and that he would need to be gentle.

I also feel like he has no concept of danger so wouldn’t expect any animal to bite/attack him which, considering that he probably wouldn’t understand that he needed to be gentle with an animal, could be problematic.

jimmy darling

I can imagine Jimmy putting up a little pen outside of his caravan and keeping a bunny in there. He would make it little salads everyday and make sure to always clean out it’s cage and give it a constant supply of clean water.

Like Kit, I can’t really imagine Jimmy buying an animal but maybe he found one on the grounds of the camp and just decided to keep it.

I feel like there could be a stray cat or two that live near the camp and everyone kind of takes care of them and feeds them scraps of food and leaves their caravan doors open to give them somewhere warm to sleep.

Also, I’m not sure why, but I can imagine Jimmy with a pet tortoise? Like just watching it walk around and feeding it bits of lettuce. Don’t ask, it just makes sense to me.

james patrick march

I don’t think that James would be very tolerant with any animal and he wouldn’t be interested in ever taking care of one.

In saying that though, I feel as if James is really into evolution and natural history so he may have an interest in animals, just not any household pets that he has to take care of.

I mean, he did hunt and kill wild animals so that’s a bit of a red flag.

If you were in a relationship with James, I can imagine him being against you getting a pet, claiming that he didn’t have time to deal with an animal shitting and shedding all over his hotel. But if you got one, I think that he’d hate it at first but tolerate it because you loved it and eventually warm up to it and you would catch him talking softly to it and petting it, especially if it was a dog.

rory monahan

Definitely a dog person and probably grew up with several dogs. Loves visiting family and getting to spend time with his family’s pets.

He would love to get a pet of his own but because of work, especially with having to travel for long periods of time, he wouldn’t have the time to fully commit to it.

I think that he would really want to get a budgie or something and have it sit on his shoulder and teach it to curse but just can’t because of always filming away from home.

He probably also lives in a really expensive apartment that doesn’t allow pets. 

kai anderson

No. He would probably sacrifice it or some shit. 

In saying that though, I feel as if he grew up with cats but his dad hated them and was really aggressive towards them and it put Kai off ever getting more animals of his own.

Maybe Winter would get a pet, like a Kitten or something, and Kai would like having it around but would never let it in his room or help take care of it.

malcolm gallant

He weirdly strikes me as the type to have a slightly more exotic pet, like a lizard or something. He would probably pay someone else to take care of it but he would enjoy having it around and take a long time designing a really ornate cage for it.

Either that, or he would have one of those naked cats and buy it an over priced gold collar and give it matching food bowls and a massive cat tree. Whatever animal he gets, he would probably take care of it well but treat it more like an accessory than a pet.

Spends a ridiculous amount of money on toys, bedding and food for the animal.

Maybe he grew up with one of those crusty white dogs? I’m not sure but he definitely seems more like a cat person.

colin zabel

I can imagine Colin being a bit awkward around animals that aren’t his own, especially big dogs or really friendly cats. 

I also don’t think that he would want an animal of his own because he spends too much time working and doesn’t want to commit to a pet that he can’t take care of properly.

I think that, if he married and had kids, he would agree to get animals for their sake.

In saying that though, I can kind of see Colin walking a big breed of dog, like a german shepard or a dalmatian or something but I just really don’t think that he would have a pet of his own. 

taglist: @kitwalker02 @three-eyed-snail @forevercountess @kitwalkerangel @milly-louise @thecountessesglove @undeadcortez @kitwalker64 @samsassinparvismagna @xmaximoffic @divineruler @liandav @tatesweaterweather @evanmybeloved @tatelangdonsupremacist @ikkleroniekins @ananad1 (dm me to be added or removed <3)

[singledarkshade]

Big Sister

Summary: Now Jonas has settled in to life with Amy and Rory, they decide it's time for him to meet River. Sequel to Foster Parents and Settling In And New Grandpa.

Rory smiled as Jonas bounced excitedly when the doorbell rang, this was his first official outing with his grandpa. Brian had offered to take Jonas for the day while Rory was at work and Amy had a meeting with her publisher. At first it was just going to be the day at his house, but Brian had called the night before and said he’d decided they were going to the zoo.

Jonas was excited, because he’d never been to the zoo before and was getting to spend the day with his new grandfather.

“Morning, Dad,” Rory greeted his father just before Jonas appeared.

“Morning, Rory,” Brian smiled before he crouched to look at the little boy, “Are you ready for our adventure, Jonas?”

Jonas nodded, “I am. Amy and I looked at the zoo map last night.”

“Excellent,” Brian grinned, “I like a partner who is prepared for the day.”

“Why don’t you get your jacket and bag,” Rory suggested, waiting until Jonas had run into the other room before he asked, “Are you sure about this, Dad?”

Brian shook his head, “I can handle him for the day. Don’t worry, Rory.”

“I packed him several snacks and water,” Rory told his father, “He also has sun cream in the front pouch, and you have both our numbers.”

“Rory,” Brian rested his hand on his son’s shoulder, “There is no need to worry. Jonas will be fine with me. I promise.”

Knowing he was being a little over-protective, Rory nodded, “Have fun.”

As Jonas reappeared with his jacket on and his backpack in his hand, Rory crouched down to hug the boy.

“Now be good for your Grandpa,” Rory told him with a smile, “And have lots of fun.”

Jonas nodded and took Brian’s hand, Rory watched them leave before shaking himself and heading to get ready for work.

Amy heard the door open, announcing Rory had arrived home from work and smiled.

“Hi,” he said, when she met him in the hall with a quick kiss. Taking his hand, Amy led him upstairs, “Brian called, he and Jonas are going out for dinner. They’ll be home in about two hours. So,” she took his bag from him as they entered their bedroom, “We can have dinner, or we can make the most of the fact we are alone in the house for the first time in a few months.”

Rory smiled slightly before shrugging, “You know I’m pretty tired after my day.”

Amy rolled her eyes, shoved him onto the bed and slid on top of her husband, “Well, let me see if I can wake you up.”

Amy kissed him, smiling as Rory pulled her closer and they lost themselves in one another.

About an hour later, she lay resting against her husband as he gently stroked her back.

“This is nice,” Rory mused softly.

Amy murmured her agreement, “Yeah, it’s been a while since we spent time alone.”

“I don’t regret taking Jonas in,” Rory said, “But it’s nice to be just us for a few hours.”

“Well, we have Brian to babysit every so often,” Amy said before laughing, “Assuming he survives today.”

Rory chuckled, leaning in to kiss her.

“You know,” Amy sighed, “We’ll have to tell the Doctor and River about Jonas. Especially the Doctor so he knows we can’t travel with him anymore.”

Rory nodded, “And make sure neither of them just appear in the house. We don’t want them to scare Jonas.”

Amy nodded, “I’ll send them both a message. Now,” she checked the clock, “We have about an hour left before we have a kid back in the house,” rolling to look down at him, Amy gave a wicked smile, “So shut up and kiss me.”

Happily, Rory followed her order.

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

 Jonas bounded into the house with a very tired looking Brian following just behind him. Amy moved so she would get the first hug hello before letting Rory hug the boy.

Rory turned to his father and frowned slightly noticing Brian was carrying several bags, “What did you buy?”

“Well,” Brian said, “Jonas and I were in the gift shop where we were looking for things to commemorate our first outing together. And I couldn’t decide what was best.”

“Dad…”

Brian held up his hand before holding out the bag to Jonas, “Why don’t we show them what we got?”

Grinning Jonas pulled out a stuffed lion first, “This is Leo, we got him when we adopted a lion in the jungle.”

Rory looked at Brian who simply smiled.

Jonas then pulled out some monkey magnets for the fridge, “We got these for our fridge and grandpa’s fridge.”

“I love them,” Amy grinned as she took one of the magnets and stroked the fur.

Rory smiled before turning back to his dad, “What else did you buy?”

Brian pulled out matching red sweatshirts for him and Jonas, that had ‘Explorer’ on the back and the zoo logo on the front.

“They look amazing,” Rory shared an indulgent smile with Amy, “Why don’t you say bye to grandpa. Put all your new things in your room and get ready for bed?”

“Can I call Gideon and tell her about my trip after I’m in my pyjamas?” Jonas asked.

“Of course you can,” Amy told him.

Jonas beamed and ran over to hug Brian, “Thank you for taking me to the zoo, Grandpa. I had lots of fun.”

“So did I, Jonas,” Brian replied, “And we will have another adventure soon.”

As Brian released him Jonas grabbed his bag and with Amy headed up to his room.

“You survived then?” Rory asked, as Brian watched the little boy disappear.

Brian chuckled, “He was filled with energy, a bit like you as a boy, and extremely well behaved. It was a wonderful day.”

“Thanks for taking him today, Dad,” Rory hugged his father.

Smiling Brian hugged his son back, “Anytime, Rory.”

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

 Amy hummed to herself as she finished drying the dishes while Rory cleaned the cooker and Jonas was in the living room reading a new book. River was due to visit them tonight, so they were going to introduce Jonas to her.

It had taken them a good bit of discussion to decide how to introduce River to Jonas but, considering the little boy was not only aware of time travel he had experience of it, they decided to be completely truthful.

A scream of terror pierced the room sending Amy and Rory running to the living room finding River standing looking surprised as Jonas was nowhere to be found.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Rory snapped angrily, he quickly moved to the hiding place Jonas had found beside the couch where he found the little boy holding onto his toy dog.

“I…” River stammered unable to reply as she watched Rory lift Jonas into his arms to calm the little boy.

Rory frowned at River as he carried Jonas who was clinging to Rory past them. Amy gently rubbed Jonas’ back as they passed her, nodding to Rory letting him know she’d talk with their daughter before he headed up the stairs.

River’s eyes followed them before she turned back to Amy, “What is going on?”

Amy motioned her to sit, “This is why I asked you not to just appear in the house. We took Jonas in not long after the Doctor dropped us off.”

She quickly explained how Jonas had come into their lives, and that he was now with them permanently.

“Oh, that poor boy,” River breathed, “I was lucky. I may have lost you both, but I got you back.”

Amy hugged her daughter, “And we love getting to see you but it’s not like you need us. Jonas does.”

“Rory was really angry,” River noted, “I’ve rarely seen him like that.”

Amy nodded, “That protective streak that made him stay with the Pandorica has transferred to Jonas.”

River winced, “I should go and apologise.”

“They’ll be in what used to be the spare room,” Amy said as River headed to the door.

 Walking up the stairs, River noted that pictures of Jonas had been added to the wall. All showing a brilliant smiling little boy who looked a lot like Rory had at that age. Reaching the top she could see the spare room’s door was open slightly and on the bed she could see Rory stretched out on the bed, leaning against the pillows with Jonas sitting between Rory and wall, clinging onto her father.

River tried not to think about what she had lost when she was taken from Amy and Rory, even growing up with them as Mels wasn’t the same. Seeing this little boy getting the love and affection from her father that she had missed out on, River felt a stab of jealousy she couldn’t control.

“Jonas,” Rory’s voice brought River back to the present, “Why don’t you go down and get a piece of cake with Amy while I talk to River?”

The little boy looked at her nervously for a moment before he nodded and scampered past River while holding the toy dog close to him.

Rory swung round to sit on the bed and motioned her to join him. Taking the seat at his side, River looked around the room and saw how it was no longer a plain spare room instead it was a kid’s room.

“Why did you not do as we asked?” Rory demanded, “Amy sent you a message which specifically told you not to transport into the house.”

River sighed, “The message seemed odd, I thought you were both in trouble.”

“Don’t you think we would have sent a better message than that or maybe something about not to come?” Rory suggested.

Shrugging she replied, “You’re my parents. Sometimes I don’t think very clearly if I’m worried about you.”

“You know that we’ve not replaced you,” Rory whispered, reaching out to take her hand, “But he needed a home, and we had a place for him.”

River nodded, “I understand.”

Rory smiled, “Not to mention he is related to us somewhere down the line. He is family.”

“So, I’m a big sister?” River chuckled.

“In a manner of speaking,” Rory nodded before he added, “Jonas is an amazing little boy, and I want you to get to know him.”

River nodded, “He’s a lucky kid. Not just because he landed in the hospital but especially because he was found by you.”

Rory gave a smile and hugged River tightly.

 Amy sat with Jonas on the couch, they both had a slice of the cake Rory and Jonas had made a few days before. The little boy was still a little nervous of River, shifting closer to Amy as she appeared with Rory in the living room.

River smiled at him, “Hello, Jonas. It is wonderful to meet you. I’m sorry I scared you before.”

Jonas shrugged, “It’s okay.”

Amy hugged Jonas to her, “We asked River to come see us because we wanted you to meet her.”

Confused Jonas looked up at her, “Why?”

“Do you remember that I told you we knew about time travel?” Rory said, “Well, River is also a time traveller.”

“Like my daddy?” Jonas asked quietly.

Rory nodded, “Just like your daddy. But there is something even more special about River to us,” he glanced at Amy who squeezed Jonas tightly, “River is actually our daughter.”

Jonas frowned at them as he processed the information, “But she’s older because she’s a time traveller.”

“That’s right,” Amy told him.

Jonas thought about this for several minutes before nodding, “Does that mean you lived with other people when growing up?”

River nodded, “Yes, but when I was your age Amy and Rory were my best friends.”

Jonas grinned suddenly to their surprise, “So you did get to grow up with them.”

Laughing River leaned into Rory affectionately, “I did.”

Looking up at Amy, Jonas asked, “Can I show River the tree?”

When Amy nodded, Jonas slid off the couch and took River’s hand leading her out the back door.

Rory wrapped his arm around Amy as they watched Jonas show River the tree they’d planted explaining that it was in memoriam for his parents.

“Well,” Amy mused, “That went a lot better than I thought it would.”

Rory frowned at her, “Other than Jonas being terrified.”

“But he accepted she’s part of the family,” Amy reminded him, “He is an amazing kid.”

Nodding Rory smiled, “He is. Hopefully introducing him to the Doctor won’t be as traumatic for all of us.”

 Jonas was fast asleep tucked up in his bed.

River watched Rory fix the nightlight which threw stars over the room before they left the little boy to sleep.

“He is…” she trailed off and smiled, “Adorable.”

Rory nodded, “He is.”

“And I hate that I am really jealous of him,” River sighed as they walked down the stairs, “Because he got you and Amy when he lost his parents.”

Rory shook his head sadly, “You’ll always have us, Melody. It’s not the way any of us wish it could be, but I promise you’re still always our little girl.”

River nodded, “I know. Although, I’m looking forward to being a big sister.” At Rory’s worried looked, she grinned, “Just think of all the things I can teach him.”

[what-is-your-plan-today]

Stark Spangled Forever- Utter Nonsense Drabble... 40 Questions!

Yeah so don’t ask me where this came  from, but I saw these floating around and for some reason decided it would be funny if Steve and Katie answered  some of them instead of me...

I think the original post was from @odaatlover​  and I think I was taggeed by @sweater-daddiesdumbdork​. Anyway, I took my favourite ones and this was the result...enjoy!

1. What’s one animal you wish you could have as a pet but can’t?

Katie: I’d kinda like a tiger. They’re so graceful and  pretty but pack a mean bite and you wouldn’t mess with one would you?

Steve: Who does that remind you of?

2. Favorite thing to wear to sleep?

Steve: (grinning) Nothing.

Katie : I can confirm that is also my favourite thing he sleeps in...

3. What song really gets you going?

Katie: In what way? If it’s to dance and just act like a crazy fool to then its always going to be “Back in Black” because it reminds me a lot of Tony and happy times growing up. But if its one to spark memories then its our wedding song.

Steve: “The Only One In Color” by Trapt. I also kinda like the John Legend song  “You and I” because it reminds me of her, you know, the bit aout trying on every damned out fit she ownes before we can go out.

Katie: I don’t do that.

Steve looks at Katie, eyebrow raising.

Katie: Ok, maybe I can be a little incecisive....but tha wasn’t really the point of the...you know what, never mind. Next...

4. Where do you usually eat your meals?

Steve: It depends. If its breakfast or lunch dring the week then it’s usual eaten on the go whilst we’re getting the kids sorted or I’m in between classes...but dinner, well we always try and sit down. And at weekends we always eat at the table with the kids. 

5. Favorite meal: breakfast, lunch, or dinner?

Katie: Dinner. During the week Steve and I eat a little bit later than the kids so we have that time to ourselves just to decompress and talk about our day, have a bit of us time...and at weekend we’re al together so I love it.

Steve: I love it for all those reasons, and also because she’s the best damned cook on the planet.

6. Most embarrassing habit?

Katie: Erm...

Steve: It’s pretty embarassing when you throw a Brat tantrum about something.. Katie: I don’t do that in public.

Steve: Bullshit. I refer you to the whole car purchasing situation a few years ago.

Katie: Jamie was only a baby...I was hormonal.

Steve: Hormonal my ass, you were being a brat.

Katie:  Whatever.  Yours is definately the need to stand with your hands on your hips and give someone your Captain look, especially when it’s someone you have never met before but they just happen to be doing something to piss you off.

Steve:  I make no apologies for this.  People can be idiots.

7. Chocolate or fruity candy?

Both at same time: Chocolate.

Steve: Preferably British.  Cadbury’s to be specific. I got a taste for it when I was in London during the war.

Katie: He has a secret stash he hides from the kids...it’s great to blackmail him with.

8. Soft or hard tacos?

Steve: Soft

Katie: Hard

Steve: Although hard ones always remind me of when you went into labour with Jamie.  We were making them for lunch and you had a contraction and crushed one...

Katie: Oh yeah, maybe soft in that case...because that was painful.  And then I went throguh that another 3 times.Which is your fault.

Steve: I take full responsibility, yes. 

9. Worst way to break up a fight?

Katie: Walk into the middle of it and say “Prove it, put the hamer down...” Steve: sighs, That was one time.

Katie: And it levelled a forest.

Steve: Did it work?

Katie: Hmmm, suppose so.

Steve: There you go ...but if its a fight between us, the I can think of the best way to break it up...

Katie : grinning, yeah...that’ s pretty funny. Or the worst one is telling you you’re in the spare room.

Steve: Yeah...that sucks.

10. Best thing to say in an elevator of strangers?

Katie: Putting on deep voice “Before we get started, does anyone wanna get out?”

Steve: Sighing  I wish I had some smart reply to that bu I don’t...

Katie: No, you just threw us out the side of the damned thing from 14 storeys up

Steve: 19

Katie: That’s...that’s not better Steve.

11. Any hidden talents?

Steve: Not so much hidden really but I’m not a bad artist and Katie’s singing and piano playing is off the scale.

Katie: Steve’s really good at DIY. Like, brilliantly good.  And also pretty savvy with technology all things considered...

Steve: When you say all things considered you mean because I’m like 112

Katie: Actually, you’re like 127 if you count the 15 years you spent back in time after putting the stones back.

Steve: hesitates I thought you said they didn’t count because I didn’t spend them with you.

Katie: They don’t, but they still happened.

12. Socks or bare feet around the house?

Steve: Socks

Katie: Bare feet

Steve: Neither of those protect you from standing on lego, which for the record, I reckon has to be a pain worse than chilbirth.

Katie:  Seriously? You’re going there?

Steve: Ok, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration but it still hurts like hell.

13: Favorite board game?

Katie: Monopoly. Its funny to watch Emmy and Jamie getting really agitated and annoyed. The younger 3 don’t really get it, Rori just likes to help Steve by sorting all his money into piles and suggesting things he can spend it on.

Steve: Namely tutus and tap shoes...she still wants to be chorus girl.

14:Heat on or keep it cold with lots of layers?

Katie: Oh my God. Steve is a nightmare as he runs hotter than any of us, so whilst we want the fire or heat on he’s complaining he’s boiling hot all the time. Our bedroom is like an ice block.

Steve: Doll, I’ve been in an ice block. Trust me, our bedroom is like a furnace in comparison.

Katie: It si nice though, like sleeping with a big hot  water bottle.

15: At what age did you first have alcohol?

Katie: I’m sure Tony gave me beer when I was 15 or something but the first time I ever got drunk was aged 17. I went to a keg party at one of my friends and I was aboslutely shit faced. Tony held my hair back whilst i puked my guts upt for a good hour once I was home. I had the hangover to end all hangovers the next day and he cracked JARVIS up to maximum volume just to teach me a lesson.

Steve:  I think I was 18. Me and Buck drank a bottle of his dad’s home made hooch...yeah, it didn’t take me much to get me drunk back then and I was very, very illl. Ma thought I had a fever. Mr Barnes thought it was hilarious, but still gave us both a slap upside th head...

16. What’s the most amount of money you’ve spent on a single item of clothing?

Katie: I would say my wedding dress, but Tony bought that for me, so it would probably the the dress I wore to the  SIP Launch for The Color Of Revenge...that cost...well it was in the tens of thousands

Steve:  Blinking How much?

Katie: You don’t need to know.

17. What do you typically wear to formal events?

Steve: Whatever my gal tells me to.

Katie: And you always look great Soldier.

18. Favorite memory?

Steve: Oooh, other than when we adopted Emmy or the kids were born, I’d have to say when Katie agreed to be my wife. I’ll never forget that day as long as I live.

Katie: Me neither, not least becase I got my camero...

Steve: rolls eyes.

Katie:  Joking aside, yeah the engagement sticks in my mind but I think it was when you finally kissed me for the first time. I knew then that I was never gonna let you go.

Steve: yeah...that...ok you know what this is an impossible question after being together for so long.

19. Favorite shoes?

Katie: I have a pair of sparkly gold Jimmy Choo stilettoes that I’ve had for ages. They’re gorgeous, with ankle straps and pointed toes. I’ve had them for almost  17 years but they’re amazin.

Steve: grins. Yeah, they’re my favourite shoes too...

Katie: Pervert.

Steve: I’m not even gonna deny it. Those shoes ALWAYS stay on if I can help it.

20. Most dangerous thing you’ve ever done?

Both start to laugh hysterically.

Steve: Where do we start?

Katie: New York, Washington, Sokovia, Lagos, Leipzig, Siberia, Wakanda, Upstate and proablly a whole load of other places in between could be good places Stevie.

Steve: Yeah, this...I can’t answer this. 

21. Most embarrassing thing your parents have caught you doing?

Katie: I was 7 when my parents died but taking Tony as surrogate, I reckon him catching us in the kitchen when we were...you know, and he didn’t actually know about us has got to be up there.

Steve: Yeah, that was pretty bad... although my Ma once caught me and Bucky measuring our... looks down.

Katie: splutters What? You never told me this?

Steve: Well its not exactly somethign that crops up in conersation sweethheart? “Oh by the way, once when we were 16 me and Buck compared sizes...” Katie: Blinks. Boys are strange. So who had the biggest...

Steve: Next question...

22. Last time you had an orgasm?

Both grin.

Steve: Last night 

Katie: I can confrim this...there’s not many nights to be fair where we don’t...

23: Celebrity Crushes?

Katie: grins. Does Bucky Barnes count?

Steve: Fuck you.

24: Makeup or natural?

Katie: Normally I just wear a bit of tinted moisturiser and mascara, now I have the kids anyway. I don’t have time to really do my face in a morning. I’ll make the effort when we go out though...

Steve: You don’t need it honey.

Katie: Awww thanks baby.

Steve: Although that red lipstick you wear, the bright red..yeah...I like that... grins wickedly and winks It smears well...

Katie flushes: dirt bag

25. Favorite season?

Katie: Summer. Growing up in Malibu I like the sun and warmth.

Steve: Fall. It’s an artists dream...the colours and textures are amazing to work with

Katie: Fall is rubbish. Everything dies and it’s a bit shit.

Steve: But you make apple pie and get to snuggle in my sweaters.

Katie: literally the only 2 things good about it. 

26. Are you a competitive person?

Katie snorts and looks at Steve

Steve: I’m not even going to deny it. 

Katie: He even refuses to let the kids win a games sometimes.

Steve: Important life lessons, Doll. 

27. First pet you’ve ever owned?

Katie: My goldfish Flounder, the one that Tony replaced about 8 times. Other than that it was my Turkey Marv, he was ace.

Steve: I didn’t have any growing up so mine would be Lucky. He was a great dog. 

28. Favorite pasta dish?

Steve: Mac and Cheese, specifically Katie’s. It’s amazing.

Katie smiling: Yeah  I like Mac and Cheese, but I also enjoy carbonara.

29. Favorite kind of pizza?

Both: Pepperoni.

Steve: New York Style.

Katie: I like Deepdish every now and then.

Steve: It’s not the same...

Katie: well dur, that’s the point.

Steve: Yeah, not convinced. 

30. Lots of acquaintances or a handful of close friends?

Katie: Handful of close friends, without a doubt. They become an extension of your family, you know. All of us in the Avengers were close and when you have that bond, you’ll do anything for one another.

Steve: Agree completely. When you’re close like we all are then it makes everything that little bit easier, knowing that whatever you’re facing you’ve got each others 6.

31: Something that ruins your appetite?

Katie: Narrows eyes Whenver I see Ross on Tv. Makes me want to puke.

Steve: You really should let that go you know?

Katie: Never. I hold a grudge very well.

Steve: Don’t I know it.

32. Night out with a bunch of friends in public or night in with one friend having deep conversations?

Steve: I’ve never been one for big nights out. I enjoy the odd one now and then but, I’d much rather curl up on the sofa or round the firepit with Katie or Sam or Bucky with a beer and some decent talk.

Katie: Yeah, at one time I would have said night out hands down, but certianly since having the kids, or even since we started dating, it’s definately change my ideas a little. Some of the nicest nights we’ve had have been spent on the sofa.

Steve grins: yeah...

Katie: And not just because of that....

33. Have you ever told someone you loved them first?

Steve: I’ve only ever told one girl I loved them and she’s sat right here, and I said it first that night...

Katie: smiling Yeah, yeah you did. I wasn’t far behind though, like 3 seconds or something.

34. Have you ever had sex on the first date?

Katie: Does a one night stand count as a first date? Because if so then yes...

Steve: Same.

Katie: Lottie?

Steve: Storm?

Both look at one another,  teasingly.

Katie: Ok next question...

35. Heroes or villains?

Steve: Some people might say there’s a fine line between the two. Katie: Oh here he goes, getting all Captain Philosophical again...look, everyone knows we were suposedly the heroes Steve, and to be fair we saved the world a fair few times, we were even fighting in the shadows during the Nomad years.

Steve: I know, I know...

36. How many plates can you eat at a buffet?

Steve: You know I’ve never actually counted.

Katie: You did 20 at the last brunch we went to.

Steve: 20...that’s...impressive.

Katie: smirking Bucky did 22

Steve: sighs Of course he did...

37: Favorite dessert?

Steve: Apple pie, preferably Katie’s

Katie: Pecan pie. Hands down. 

38 Would you rather watch a TV show or a movie?

Steve: Ooh, that’s..i suppose it depends. I do like a good TV series, especially if we can curl up and binge watch once the kids are going to bed but I do have fond memories of us working through the films on my list...

Katie: smiling, yeah we had a lot of fun. Still

39. What’s your favorite compliment to give?

Steve: I love telling Katie how beautiful she is, and what a wonderful mother she is...all of which is true.

Katie: I like to remind Steve that he’s my Steve Rogers, not Captain America...because he is. And he’s the most amazing man on the planet, with or withouth that serum coursing through his veins. Which is what makes him the best dad the kids could wish for.

40. What’s the luckiest thing that’s ever happened to you?

Steve: smiling,  she’s sat right next to me.

Katie: smiling , back at ya soldier.

[tallulahchanel]

Beautiful Ones (Prequel/Prologue)

Notes: I already was going to write a fic to go with the deleted scene, but I decided to feed two birds with one loaf by making this fic into the prequel/prologue of a fic I was working on called “Beauitiful Ones”. Enjoy!

Fandom: Black Panther

Words: 1k

~~~

"Watch your step," T'Challa instructed Everett as they entered his office, making sure he didn't trip over the step-down.

Nakia instinctively pulled Kya close before she saw Okoye ready to address their king.

 "It is my understanding that we would keep him alive, then send him on his way. Now he gets a tour of the palace.

 "Mr. Ross, this was my father's office," T'Challa addressed him before turning his gaze to the Dora general. "General Okoye, this is the most secure place to keep him while we deal with our visitor."

 "And Kya and I will stay with him," Nakia reassured Okoye, not seeing Kya's quirked brow—questioning Nakia's right to volunteer her for babysitting the colonizer.

 "Keep your patrols away," T'Challa instructed his general.

 "Yes, my king," Okoye replied respectfully before narrowing her eyes at Everett.

 As T'Challa, Shuri, and Okoye filed out of the room, Nakia patted Kya's shoulder and told her to sit down and read or do whatever on her beads. The awkward silence that ensued was inevitable, and Nakia just stood there and watched Everett set the blanket to the side before looking over the city from the office balcony.

 "I've seen Gods fly....." Everett's voice cut through the silence, but Nakia barely paid attention to his words while she studied his body language, looking to see if there was anything that would make him tick.

 "Do you think T'Challa would let me go after seeing all of this?" Everett asked, finally gaining Nakia's attention.

 "I wouldn't," she replied while sauntering over to him. "But I'm not T'Challa."

They fell into a game of cat and mouse. He said something to get information, masking it as small talk, and she immediately shut him down. Nakia knew that tactic all too well and she wasn't going to let him use it on her.

 "So you didn't want to go to the big meeting?" Everett broke the silence that fell between them for the second time.

"I'm not into politics. I rather be out there doing something about it instead of sitting in a room talking about it."

 "Distastes for politics. You broke it off with him."

 Nakia opened her mouth to scold him for prying into her personal business, but he cut her off.

 "That was a guess, but I'm right, huh?"

 Nakia scoffed. "What about you?"

 "What about me?"

 "You married?"

 "Divorced. Just not ready to take this off yet." He held up his left hand in reference to the gold band on his ring finger.

 "Hmm! Sentimental type."

 "You could say that."

 "Who'd of guessed?"

 "Not me."

 Nakia locked eyes with him, and his expression softened as if he warmed up to her. She wondered if he had, or if this was a ploy to get her to let her guard down.

 Everett's gaze shifted from her and back down to his ring before turning towards the city again. "My wedding day, the happiest day of my life—next to the birth of my daughter. Such a great cake."

 Nakia smiled a little at his words, admitting to herself that he was funny. "Tell me about her."

 Everett locked eyes with her. "My wife?"

 "Mhm," Nakia answered with a nod. "Why did you marry her?"

 "Best friends since childhood. Everyone was sure the marriage would last."

 "So, what happened?"

 "One day we realized we wanted different things, and the partnership we once had vanished."

 "Tsk!" Nakia released as her eyes found the city again. "Sounds familiar."

 "You and T'Challa?"

 "He wanted a wife who could stay here and be a queen for the people. I wanted to be out in the world actually helping."

 "I can understand that," Everett said with a nod while turning towards the city.

 "And your daughter?"

 "Her name is Salina. The day she was born, she wouldn't stop smiling at me. Right now she's attending a Law School in Paris, but she wants to join the CIA like her old man."

 Nakia smiled and looked at him. "I can tell you're proud of her. You glow when you talk about her."

 "She's my pride and joy," Everett replied while locking eyes with her. "Do you have any children?"

 "Can't. An accident on a mission ruined my chances of ever having children."

 "I'm sorry to hear that."

 She shrugged as if it was nothing. "Happens. But I raised the best child anyone could ever have. She's a bit hellion, but she's wonderful."

 "Who?"

 Nakia inclined her neck to point her eyes at Kya, who was currently sifting through the office bookcase.

 Everett glanced at her then returned his eyes to Nakia. "Adopted?"

 "Little sister. I've been her motherly figure since she was nine years old. It wasn't easy, especially those teenage years."

 He chuckled. "I know all too well about those teenage years. Salina pulled a prank involving firecrackers. I've never seen so many angry neighbors in my entire life."

 "Just last year, my omncinci blew up a science lab. By accident, of course." She smiled at her baby sister's antics as her eyes found Kya perched on T'Challa's desk, flipping through the book she found. "What would we do if those two ever meet?"

 "Call the SWAT team," Everett joked, causing Nakia to giggle—something she hadn't done since dating T'Challa.

 She felt a pair of eyes on her and she turned to her sister, who had a curious brow cocked at her. "What?"

 Before Kya could answer, Nakia received an alert on her beads from Shuri and she pressed on them to see a message from Shuri that T'Challa accepted a challenge declared by the outsider.

 "Can you excuse me for a moment?" She left him on the balcony and walked over to Kya, pulling her out of Everett's earshot. "Listen, I'm going out there and I need you to stay here with him."

 Kya's eyes widened. "You're leaving me alone to babysit the colonizer?"

 "Kya, please. I need you to do this for me."

 Kya's eyes moved as if she was scanning Nakia for information. "What's going on?"

 "I'll explain later, but for now, I need you to do this."

 Kya nodded. "Okay, usisi."

 "Thank you." Nakia gave her a hug and a kiss on her temple before leaving Kya and Everett alone in awkward silence.

~~~

Tags: @terrablaze514​ @lady-olive-oil​ @marvelheaux​ @yoyolovesbucky​ @iliketowrite1996​ @thekrazykeke​ @ginghampearlsnsweettea​ @martinfreemanisababe​ @niobechris​ @masterofhounds​ @my-marvel-musings​ @dversstark​ @princessoffireflies​ @martinmotherfckingfreeman​ @letreceksworld​ @hey-im-rory​

[violetwolfraven]

Legacy Heroes AU

((Idk I was feeling emo. Anyway here’s my next gen kids for Arrowverse because idk what I’m doing but y’all can’t stop me.))

It all starts with Rip-Quentin and Laurel Sharpe-Lance. (Avalance Twins who were born a couple years after Mia)

At age 16, these two get tired of riding their moms’ coattails and decide to form their own team.

They recruit their cousin, Quinn Drake (18) (Dinahsiren baby named after Quentin)

They bring in Mia Queen (19) (This timeline’s version of the canon Olicity baby obvs.) and Nora and Joe West-Allen (18) (the Westallen tornado twins because you can pry canon tornado twins out of my cold dead hands)

For a while, it’s just the six of them, but after a while they figure out there’s not much for them to do in their current time period (2040s) but (idk why yet) the timeline is always messed up so why not help out there?

Laurel can assemble a lot of the parts for their own timeship via magic but they still need some help with engineering so they recruit Arthur Palmer (17 and a half) (Dahrkatom baby) who is easily the most mature of them despite being younger than Mia and the West-Allen’s, so he becomes a the dad friend pretty quickly.

And because Ray was still close with John even after he left the Legends, their kids grew up with constant playdates and Calliope Constantine (16) (Constangreen adopted baby) ends up tagging along.

Calliope and Laurel become a chaotic duo because they can both do magic.

Of course since every other Legends kid is coming, they end up with Eleftheria Tarazi (15) (Zarlie baby) and Zavian Heywood-Tarazi. (14) (Naterad adopted baby)

So now there’s ten of them and they’re all just as chaotic as their parents except they were all raised together so they’re all just cruising through time beating people up with the power of sibling love. RQ is the leader like his mother before him.

Somehow after like a year of doing this they end up with ‘in her 30s’ Lita Rory as kind of a cranky camp counselor/vodka aunt but other than that their lineup doesn’t really change at all

They call themselves the Legacies. (I know but I couldn’t think of anything else.)

Here’s the thing: in this timeline, Barry, Dinah, and Laurel Lance all die in Crisis.

Nora and Joe decide go save their dad. When the team figures this out, they send Quinn after them, cause she’s weirdly good at keeping up with the twins’ whirlwind logic.

This backfires because Quinn wants to get to know her moms, too. She convinces RQ (team leader) that it’ll be fine and they can learn things from their parents back when they were cool.

Unfortunately, all this messing with time leads to their timeline becoming unstable. They accidentally erase Mia. RQ blames himself.

Don’t worry, Mia still exists. She’s just not their Mia. When they go back to the 2040s to check on her, she doesn’t remember any of them.

All the kids simultaneously go oh shit because this implies that they accidentally erased themselves from the timeline. Like, all of them except Lita.

And Lita won’t admit it but she loves these kids and they’re all depressed and accepting their demise and she’s like fuck that I’m not letting my kids go.

They figure out that the Legends kids will mostly be safe because Ely is half Fate and should be immune to timeline changes and the others were born on a timeship for one reason or another so they have enough time radiation in their blood to not be affected much.

However Nora, Joe, and Quinn are losing memories very quickly even while in the Temporal Zone.

Then it gets worse and they’re getting physically sick.

The kids figure out the only way to save those three is to use the Loom of Fate.

Only problem... the Legends destroyed it.

They have to sneak onto the past Waverider, the day the Legends reassemble it, get it, use it, and put it back in time to not cause any more changes to the timeline.

Long story short they all go like dumbasses and get caught.

Once everything gets cleared up and the Legends do DNA tests the past versions of the Legends are all intrigued and they want to get to know their kids and the kids are like omg mom/dad wasn’t always old and weird this is kinda cool.

So they end up staying for a little while.

Meanwhile Lita is panicking like where are those shitheads because Nora and Joe are getting sicker and o h s h i t Quinn blinked out of existence. But it’s okay it’s fine with the Loom we can fix it.

But the Legacies don’t remember this. In fact they’re starting to forget why they even came to the past because though it’s slower the timeline changes are affecting them, too.

Even Ely isn’t immune anymore. She’s less affected, but her mind is still getting all mixed up.

And the Legends are getting worried because oh shit something’s wrong with our kids and they don’t even remember why but eventually they think to take a communicator off RQ and contact Lita.

And Lita is all like FINALLY did you get it QUINN FREAKING DIED.

And the Legends are just freaking out because they don’t even know who this person is but apparently she needs the Loom to save their kids who are getting sicker and sicker and apparently there’s three more in the future and one of them already died.

In the end they decide to trust her and they take the Loom and the kids to the ship themselves.

And Mick is kinda just like oh shit is that my kid? Cause Lita didn’t tell them who she was just that she was a Legacy.

And he’s proud but doesn’t know how to say it that Lita has become a Legend and is protecting everyone else’s kids.

Anyway they do save everyone and then when the kids go back to the future the Legends are just like... not sure what to do... because now they know who ends up with who and the kids that result.

*insert drama here* :)

I might be writing and fleshing out most if not all of this at some point, probably not soon though. Anyway let me know if you’re interested in an expanded version of this story.

I might do it even if nobody’s interested just for me though.

[thelittlesttimelord]

The Littlest Timelord: The Fall of the Eleventh Chapter 14

TITLE: The Littlest Timelord: The Fall of the Eleventh Chapter 14 PAIRING: No Pairing RATING: T CHAPTER: 14/? SUMMARY: Elise Smith is now a teenaged Timelord. In addition to losing the Ponds, the fields of Trenzalore are calling. But first they have to figure out exactly who Clara Oswald is.

The Doctor settled into life with the Ponds well enough. He and Elise took walks every day and just talked about things that were on her mind. It felt nice to spend time with him.

Right now he was sitting with Amy and Rory eating fish fingers and custard as they watched some reality television. “If I had a restaurant, this'd be all I'd serve,” the Doctor told them.

Amy scoffed. “Yeah, right. You running a restaurant.”

“I've run restaurants. Who do you think invented the Yorkshire pudding?”

Rory laughed, but stopped when he saw the serious look on the Doctor’s face. “You didn't.”

“Pudding, yet savory. Sound familiar?”

The next morning, the Doctor was playing on the Wii again. His favorite game involved hitting a ball with a racquet.

Elise didn’t see the appeal.

“Oh, yes! Second set, Doctor! Ha ha! Oh, if Fred Perry could see me now, eh? He'd probably ask for his shorts back. Third set decider, come on, then.”

Suddenly, the cube that was sitting on the side table started floating.

It flew in front of the Doctor. “Out of the way, dear, I'm trying to…”

The cube didn’t do anything. It just hovered there.

“Whatever you are, this planet, these people, are precious to me. And I will defend them to my last breath.”

The cube only hovered.

“Is that all you can do, hover? I had a metal dog could do that.”

A little metal tube came out of the cube.

“Oh, that’s clever. What's that?”

It fired an energy bolt.

The Doctor dodged and it hit a vase. The Doctor and Elise scrambled out of the living room.

Well so much for domesticity.

The cube started flipping through images on the TV.

“You really have woken up.”

Rory came running in from the kitchen. “Doctor! Hi. Uh, the cube in there, it just opened.”

Amy came running down the stairs. “The cube upstairs just spiked me and took my pulse!”

“Ha! Really? Mine fired laser bolts and now it's surfing the net,” the Doctor told them. He grabbed his jacket and put it on as Brian came inside the house.

“You're never going to believe this. My cube just moved. It rattled.”

Rory’s phone started ringing and he answered.

The Doctor laughed and ran back into the living room.

“Hello? Okay, I'm on my way.” He hung up. “I have to get to work. They need all the help they can get.”

“Let me come, help out,” Brian said.

“Take your dad to work night, brilliant!” He turned to Amy. “Okay, are you going to be all right here?”

Amy kissed him on the cheek. “Keep away from the cubes.”

“Right.” Rory and Brian left.

The Doctor was looking down at his psychic paper with a smile.

“What are you grinning about?” Amy asked.

“We're wanted at the Tower of London.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Amy, Elise, and the Doctor got out of the car and were greeted by Kate.

“Every cube across the whole world activated at the same moment.”

“Now we're in business. You sent me a message to my psychic paper. You know what? I'm almost impressed.”

“Secret base beneath the Tower. Hope we're not here because we know too much,” Amy joked.

“Yes, I've got officers trained in beheading. Also ravens of death,” Kate said, sarcastically.

“I like her,” Amy told the Doctor.

The Doctor knew another redhead would like Kate.

They entered an area with small rooms containing cubes.

“There are fifty being monitored, and more coming in all the time. I don't know how useful it is. Every cube is behaving individually. There's no meaningful pattern. Some respond to proximity. Some create mood swings,” Kate said.

There was a women crying in one of the rooms.

Amy pointed to one of the cubes. “Er, what's this one?”

“Try the door,” Kate told her.

Amy opened the door and an extremely annoying song (that once again Elise didn’t recognize) started playing.

The Doctor put his fingers in his ears.

“On a loop!” Kate yelled over the music.

Amy quickly shut the door.

They walked over to a bay of computer screens.

“This is the latest,” Kate said.

“Oh dear. Systems breach at the Pentagon, China, every African nation, the Middle East,” the Doctor listed off.

“I've got governments screaming for explanations and no idea what to tell them. I'm lost, Doctor. We all are.”

“Don't despair, Kate. Your dad never did.”

Kate looked over at him and the Doctor smiled.

“Kate Stewart, heading up UNIT, changing the way they work. How could you not be? Why did you drop Lethbridge?”

“I didn't want any favors. Though he guided me, even to the end. Science leads, he always told me. Said he'd learned that from an old friend.”

Elise could hear the fondness in her voice when she spoke about her father. Elise shifted closer to Doctor and put her head on his shoulder.

“We don't let him down. We don't let this planet down.”

A monitor started beeping.

“They've stopped. The cubes, across the world, they just shut down,” the guy who was monitoring the screens said.

“Active for forty seven minutes, and then they just die?” Kate asked.

“Not dead. Dormant, maybe,” the Doctor said.

“Then why shut down?” Amy asked.

“I don't know. I don't know,” the Doctor said, “I need to think. I need some air. Who has an underground base? Terrible ventilation.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Amy, Elise, and the Doctor sat out by the river Thames.

“The moment they arrived, I should have made sure they were collected and burned. That is what I should have done,” the Doctor said.

“How? Nobody would have listened,” Amy told him.

“You're thinking of stopping, aren't you? You and Rory.”

“No. I mean, we haven't made a decision.”

“But you're considering it.”

“Maybe. I don't know. We don't know. Well, our lives have changed so much. But there was a time, there were years, when I couldn't live without you. When just the whole everyday thing would drive me crazy. But since you dropped us back here, since you gave us this house, you know, we've built a life. I don't know if I can have both.”

“Why?”

“Because they pull at each other. Because they pull at me, and because the traveling is starting to feel like running away.”

“That's not what it is.”

“Oh, come on. Look at you, four days in a lounge and you go crazy.”

“I'm not running away. But this is one corner of one country in one continent on one planet that's a corner of a galaxy that's a corner of a universe that is forever growing and shrinking and creating and destroying and never remaining the same for a single millisecond. And there is so much, so much to see, Amy. Because it goes so fast. I'm not running away from things, I am running to them before they flare and fade forever. And it's all right. Our lives won't run the same. They can't. One day, soon maybe, you'll stop. I've known for a while.”

Just like Elise would eventually stop once she met him. The one she was always meant to be with.

“Then why do you keep coming back for us?”

“Because you were the first. The first face this face saw.” He turned to look at Elise. “Besides you of course.” He kissed her forehead and turned back to Amy. “And you're seared onto my hearts, Amelia Pond. You always will be. I'm running to you, and Rory, before you fade from me.”

Both Amy and Elise put their heads on his shoulders. His girls.

“Don't be nice to me. I don't want you to be nice to me,” Amy told him.

“Yeah, you do, Pond, and you always get what you want.” An idea hit the Doctor. “They got what they wanted.”

“What? Who did?”

The Doctor smacked himself in the face. “The cubes. That's why they stopped. Come on.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

They ran back inside and found Kate.

“Kate? Before they shut down, they scanned everything, from your medical limits to your military response patterns,” the Doctor told her.

The power suddenly went out.

“They made a complete assessment of Planet Earth and its inhabitants. That's what the surge of activity was. Problem with the power?”

“Not possible. We've got back-ups.”

“Hmm.”

They ventured into the room containing the cubes.

“Doctor? Look!” Amy said.

All the cubes were showing the number seven.

“Why do they all say seven?” Kate asked.

“Seven. Seven, what's important about seven? Seven Wonders of the World, seven streams of the River Ota, seven sides of a cube,” the Doctor said.

“A cube has six sides,” Amy corrected.

“Not if you count the inside.”

The number changed to six.

“It has to be a countdown,” the Doctor said.

“Not in minutes,” Kate told him.

“Why would it be minutes? Kate, we have to get humanity away from those cubes. God knows what they'll do if they hit zero. Get the information out any way you can. News channels, websites, radio, text messages. People have to know that the cubes are dangerous.”

“Okay, but why is this starting now? I mean, the cubes arrived months ago. Why wait this long?” Amy asked.

“Because they're clever. Allow people enough time to collect them, take them into their homes, their lives. Humans, the great early adopters. And then, wham! Profile every inch of Earth's existence.”

“Discover how best to attack us,” Kate said, realizing what was going on.

“Get that information out any way you can. Go!”

“Right.”

The Doctor ran over to the bay of computers. “Every cube was activated. There must be signals, energy fluctuations on a colossal scale, there must be some trace. There can't not be.”

He turned to Elise, Amy, and Kate. “We need to think of all the variables, all the possibilities, okay? Go, go, go, go, go!”

They were running out of time. The numbers on the cubes changed to four.

[rulesofthebeneath]

masters of our fates chapter 7

hey friends. it’s been a hot second and im sorry :/. But here we are! An update for you. I hope you like it <3.

tagging: @lilmissperfectlyimperfect @lookslikezombiesatbest

TW: graphic description of pain

Chapter 7

 “Grace?” Skye asked in her small voice, leaning against the doorway of the tech booth where Grace had taken up residency just a few hours before the first show was supposed to start. 

 “Hm?” Grace asked absently, not looking up from tinkering with the lighting board. There wasn’t much to do besides set the sequence for the top of the show, but she was going over and over the cues in her notebook until she had them memorized. It was a bit tough with the headache pulsing through her head, but the darkness of the booth helped.

 “I think Ajay finally lost it,” Skye replied without hesitation. “He’s been yelling at everyone all day.”

 “Isn’t that normal for him?” Grace asked. She’d barely had a chance to see him alone because of the demands of Hell Week, but he had brought over some biscuit the previous night and curled up on her couch, apparently having been kicked out of his kitchen for stress-baking too much. Whenever she’d seen him at the theatre, though, he’d looked high-strung and thoroughly stressed.

 “Yeah, but now he’s gone silent completely. He just has his head buried in his hands, won’t talk to anyone. We were hoping you might be able to get through to him?”

 Grace blinked, surprised. “Um, yeah, I guess I can try.” 

 Picking up her bag and slinging it around her shoulders, Grace followed Skye down the stairs. Going across the house as the quickest route to backstage, and sure enough, right by the sound cue desk, Ajay was sitting with his face hidden in his hands. The sound guy, some guy in a beanie with curly brown hair, seemed pissed but wasn’t saying anything.

 Rory appeared with another chair, and as Grace sat across from Ajay they corralled the concerned techs and actors out of the area to give them some space. Grace thought she heard the sound guy grumbling about not being able to set his programs, but she couldn’t care less.

 “Ajay?” she asked lightly, not daring to touch him. “Hey, what’s up?”

 Ajay didn’t say anything, but she thought she heard him whimper from behind his hands. Screwing up her courage, she grabbed his arms, gently pulling his hands away from his face.

 He looked horrible, like he hadn’t slept in days. The bags under his eyes, which had been worse than usual for the past week, had gotten much darker. He looked like he was on the verge of either tears or screaming, she couldn’t decide which.

 Grace let out a breath, knowing Ajay was in bad shape but also knowing that she couldn’t really say anything to make him feel better. Instead, she laced her fingers in his and coaxed him to get up.

 “Your sound guy looked pissed,” she explained. “I’ve already done my setup, so how about we sit in the house until it opens? Skye’s got control of everything, and you can still give your speech later.”

 Begrudgingly, Ajay agreed and stood up with some effort. Grace smiled at him tentatively, and although he didn’t smile back, his face relaxed just the slightest bit.

 Once they’d gotten to the house, Grace dug a bag of goldfish out of her bag and handed it over. Ajay took the plastic bag and examined it, studying it as if it were something bizarre or strange, rather than a simple collection of cheesy crackers.

 “They’re goldfish, ‘Jay,” Grace said, trying out the nickname and liking the way it rolled off her tongue. He looked over, cracked the tiniest smile that was more of a grimace, and opened the bag.

 “Thanks,” he replied, carefully placing a single goldfish on the tip of his tongue and chewing it up almost contemplatively. Grace simply watched him, fascinated by how he could make something as simple as having a snack into something deep and thought-provoking without even trying. 

 After munching a few goldfish under Grace’s careful scrutiny, Ajay seemed to regain some sort of consciousness and raised an eyebrow in Grace’s direction.

 “You’re staring at me,” he said.

 Grace shrugged. “Yeah, well. You can’t blame me. Anyways, is that all you’ve had to eat today?”

Ajay looked down at the bag guiltily, and Grace narrowed her eyes.

 “Alright, that’s it, I’m bringing you to my house for a really late dinner. I’m gonna get some actual food in you if it kills me, okay?”

 Ajay rolled his eyes. “You won’t just let me have my process?”

 “No. You look awful,” Grace replied, “and I can’t be seen with someone who looks like he’s about to yeet himself off a cliff.”

 “Ah, so this is all selfish.” Ajay paused. “Wait, did you really just unironically use the word yeet?”

 “I did,” Grace said, “and I am completely unapologetic.”

 “Fine. Fine, I’ll come eat dinner with you. As long as you promise to let me stop for coffee, too.”

 Grace nodded, then moved to get up. Ajay set his hand on top of hers, causing her to sit back down.

 “Hey. Thanks.”

 “You’re… welcome?”

 Ajay nodded. “I needed some goldfish and some space to think. Thanks.”

 Then, incredibly, he leaned over and pressed a quick kiss to Grace’s cheek. Grace blushed fiercely and fixed her eyes at the ground even as he stood up and called everyone around for the pre-show speech.

 ***

 On the way to Grace’s house, Ajay insisted on stopping at the nearest Starbucks for coffee.

 “You can’t tell anyone I’m doing this,” he whispered to Grace as they walked in.

 “What, getting coffee?”

 “At Starbucks,” he said, putting great emphasis on the word as if it was a sin. “I don’t want to shatter my hipster image.”

 “Image? So you’re not actually a hipster? What’s the real truth, Ajay Bhandari? Who is the man behind the mask?” Grace held out a hand towards Ajay, pretending she was a reporter holding a microphone.

 Ajay leaned in close to her hand and whispered, “I really really like iced coffee.”

 Grace cracked up, then found a table to wait at while Ajay ordered. Once he sat down, she adopted a teasing smirk and rested her chin on her hand.

 “So,” she said, “a secret love for iced coffee. Seems like you’re revealing all your secrets today.”

 “Just the latest piece of the puzzle,” Ajay said. “Now. Shall we?”

 “We shall,” Grace agreed. “I’m gonna make you eat vegetables.”

 “Gross,” Ajay wrinkled his nose. He offered his hand to Grace as they stood up, but didn’t let go of it the entire walk back to his car.

 The drive back to Grace’s house was mostly quiet, Ajay softly singing along to various songs on the radio. Grace’s headache had reappeared with a vengeance, and she stayed focused on the taillights of the cars ahead of them. Too soon, the lights started stabbing into her eyes and she covered them with her hands, trying to block out the light.

 “You okay?” Ajay asked, having looked over at the slight movement.

 “Just a headache,” Grace said, but her weak voice wasn’t very convincing. Ajay made a concerned noise but kept driving, though he looked over at her frequently.

 Five minutes passed, and the pain in Grace’s head only grew.

 It grew past the point where she could just say it was a migraine, and past the point she even thought she could tolerate. She had hoped the pain would be enough to knock her out, but it kept growing and she was awfully, horribly awake through the entire ordeal. With what little thought power she had left, she could only rationalize this to be the agony that she'd always feared as a cancer patient. The awful, horrible battle that everyone faced at some point. She'd nearly died before, drowning in her own lungs and struggling for her life, but this was worse. So much worse.

 Barely conscious, tears rolling down her face and inhuman sounds ripping their way out of her throat, she barely heard Ajay start cursing and turn around, barely felt him reach into her jacket pocket to grab her phone, could hardly even hear him talking to her parents in a panicked voice.

 All she knew was, right then, she wanted nothing more than to die. Because then, at least, the pain might go away.

[abundanceofsoph]

SkyFire 3: Chapter 5

Aurora in Vogue & saying goodbye to Robin: May-June 2017    

Word count: 3.2k

SkyFire 3 MASTERLIST

>Instagram posts - vogue + robin

Stepping into the elevator of Avengers tower, Aurora felt all the stress of the past month leave her body. LA was always fun to visit, but it never felt like home the way NYC or London did and knowing she would be with her parents shortly, added to the feeling of comfort. After weeks of anxiety over the album being released, the pressure of performing again and the constant looming threat of Robins health, the thought of getting a hug from Steve was enough to bring tears to her eyes. The moment she stepped out into the penthouse, Steve and Tony were waiting for her and she gladly fell into Steve’s arms, immediately feeling Tony step behind her, his chest pressed against her back and sandwiching her in the middle of a family cuddle. She was grateful to be spending a week back home in the tower and excited for the photo shoot for Vogue in a few days’ time, however she couldn’t seem to avoid the anxious feeling in her gut whenever she thought of Harry.

She knew how deeply affected he was by his stepfather's continued deterioration and she wished that she had just cancelled the photo shoot and gone straight to Manchester with him to offer her support. Not only did she want to be there for her husband, but she also wanted to make the most of the short time she herself had left with Robin. She was desperately searching for a silver lining or really anything positive to hold on to and so far, all she had come up with was that she was grateful that they all had the opportunity to say goodbye to Robin. Her own mother’s passing had been so sudden and tragic, so she hoped that the time they had to spend with him and say farewell would help them process their grief just a little bit easier when the time finally came.

xXx

After spending a few days with her fathers, Aurora met with the photographer, designers and the rest of the team behind her photo shoot for her article in Vogue magazine. She wasn’t going to be on the cover of the magazine, instead only featuring in an article a few pages in and as such the photo shoot was not the grand spectacle you would assume it would be when Vogue was involved. Some of the photos were taken out on the quiet street outside the Queens photography studio, while the rest of the shoot took place inside. Aurora had plenty of fun, changing outfits and having her hair and makeup perfected and she chose to wear her prosthetic hand for some of the outfits, while leaving it off for others. By the end of the day, she was glad to be back in her own clothes and chatted away to Happy about the day as he drove her back across the East River.  

Steve had prepared a nice meal for the evening, and both he and Tony were waiting in the penthouse when she returned.

“It’s been so good to have you home this week kiddo,” Tony said while they ate. “We’ve missed you.”

“Missed you both too,” Aurora replied. “It’s been nice to just stop for a moment and hang out with you both. Everything is so hectic lately and it feels like Harry and I are always rushing to or from something. Get’s a bit much sometimes.”

“You know we’re always here when you need a break,” Steve promised, reaching out to squeeze her shoulder slightly.

“I know,” she smiled. “Means everything to know I can always come here, and it’ll feel like nothing’s changed.”

“Well some things might be a changing a bit,” Tony replied. “Steve and I have started looking into adoption or surrogacy.”

“You’re going to have a baby?” Aurora squealed, her face lighting up in delighted excitement. “Oh, that’s wonderful!”

“It won’t happen for a while,” Tony continued. “It’s not a simple process and there’s a lot of paperwork and the tower would need to be approved by a social worker and either Pops or I will need to take a lot of time off work, so nothing will happen any time soon. We just want you to be involved.”

“And I really want to be involved,” Rori replied. “This is going to be the luckiest kid in the world to have you two for parents.”

“You don’t think it’ll be weird to have a baby sibling when you’re old enough to be having your own kids?” Steve asked.

“Not at all,” she promised. “Besides you’re technically only 34 Pops. That’s not exactly too old to be having a baby you know.”

Tony stood from his seat and quickly pulled his daughter to her feet, wrapping her in a tight hug. “Gonna be such a lucky kid to have the best big sister in the world,” he mumbled in her ear and she simply squeezed him tighter before they were both enveloped by Steve’s arms.  

xXx

The day after Steve and Tony informed their daughter of their plans to expand their family, she packed her things and after a quick farewell, boarded a flight for Manchester. She was anxious the entire flight, pressing her thumb into the palm of her hand repeatedly or tapping her fingers on the tray table in front of her. Harry met her at the airport, his usual happy smile missing in action as he gave her a quick hug and then herded her back towards his car.

Aurora tried to enjoy her week in Holmes Chapel, she really did. She attempted to find the usual peace and comfort she usually felt when helping Anne in the kitchen, or when arguing with Harry over a game of scrabble about whether he was making up words, but all she felt, underlying every moment was looming dread. With every interaction between herself and anyone in the house she was painfully aware of the ticking clock hanging above their heads. Every time Robin coughed a little too hard or winced when he tried to stand up from the recliner in the living room, she was faced with the reality that she and Harry were there to say goodbye. She tried to hide it behind strained smiles and forced laughter, holding her tears off until everyone was asleep, and she could sneak outside to the back garden and let her sobs break free.

Despite knowing that it was very likely the last time she would see him, Aurora was grateful when it was finally time for her and Harry to return to London.  She felt as though she hadn’t taken a deep breathe since the moment she arrived, so as heartbreaking as it was to say goodbye for what she knew was very likely the last time, she was relieved to be also leaving behind the tense and terrifying atmosphere of the house. They both hugged Robin and Anne goodbye, holding on a few moments longer than usual and neither commented on the others tears as they pulled out of the driveway and merged onto the motorway headed south. There was nothing to say as the radio softly played, breaking what would have otherwise been tormenting silence as Harry drove.

xXx

After only a few weeks back in London and another tv performance, Harry received the call from his mother that they had been dreading for months on end. Robin had finally lost his battle against the disease that had been ravishing his body for near on a year. The moment Anne gasped out the terrible words, Harry’s world stopped turning. His breath caught in his chest, his ears rang in the silence that wrapped around him, and his knees buckled beneath him. Aurora was by his side the moment he fell to the floor, taking the phone from his loose grip and quietly taking over the conversation with Anne. They didn’t speak for long and after hanging up, Rori remained on the floor beside her husband, her arms wrapped tightly around him as he shook silently.

“Rori I can’t breathe,” Harry gasped after many long minutes of silence between the pair.

Aurora felt her heart breaking as she held him tightly against her, his face buried in the crook of her neck as he shuddered. “I know, H,” she soothed. “I know, I’ve got you.”

“It hurts,” Harry continued to sob. “I know he wasn’t my dad but…”

“No,” Rori interrupted. “Don’t you try that shit Harry, not with me.” She pulled him away from where his face was buried against her, each of her hands cupping his cheekbones, forcing him to look her in the eyes. “Don’t you dare try to tell me that Robin wasn’t your father. Because if that’s true then Steve isn’t mine and I know losing him would hurt just as much as losing Mum did. He wasn’t your blood, but he was your dad and you’re allowed to feel this. Do you hear me Harry? You get to feel this. All of it. It hurts this much because he mattered, and he loved you. I know that you know that.”

“I can’t. I can’t do this Rors.”

“You can and you will,” Aurora promised. “Tonight, it’s just me here. You can cry or scream or whatever you need and then in the morning you’re going to pull yourself together and we are both going to be there for Anne.”

“Don’t leave me,” he mumbled.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, my love.”

Given the late hour of Anne’s call and the way that Harry had immediately crumbled, Aurora had decided that they would wait until the morning to drive north to Holmes Chapel, a decision that Anne had agreed with. After what seemed like the longest time, Rori finally coaxed Harry to his feet and helped him down the hall and into bed, only letting go of him long enough to strip out of their clothes before she returned to wrapping herself around his broad shoulders. They stayed awake until well after midnight and Aurora ran a soothing hand along Harry’s back as he clung to her. She pushed her own grief to the side, knowing that her husband needed to be able to lean on her without worrying about being a burden. She knew only too well the pain of losing a parent and she wanted nothing more than to shield her husband from that kind of pain, even though she knew that wasn’t possible.

xXx

Both Harry and Aurora were exhausted as they got ready to leave the following morning. They packed enough clothes for a week, knowing that they could just do laundry if they ended up staying longer and Harry carried their cases, and the garment bags holding their funeral outfits, downstairs to the car. Aurora followed behind him a few moments later, her hands full with travel mugs of coffee to keep them awake for the three hour drive up to Anne’s house. One stern look was all it took for Harry to give up arguing that he should drive and instead, he handed the keys to his wife and climbed into the passenger seat, gratefully sipping on the coffee she traded him for the keys. Aurora frowned as she watched him settle into his seat, before turning her attention back to pulling out of the garage and merging into the early morning traffic making its way out of the city. He looked terrible, his hair a mess, his eyes glassy and puffy, and his trademark smile was non-existent. She knew she probably didn’t look much better after staying up worrying about him all night and trying not to slip into her own feelings of grief she felt welling inside her. She would have time to grieve later, for now her entire focus was on her husband, as well as Anne and Gemma. Once she knew they were pulling themselves back together and supporting each other, then she would allow herself to cry and mourn Robin. Just as she had for Louis when his mother passed, now she put those around her first, taking on the caregiver role that she so naturally adopted in times like these. Even the mere thought of putting herself first made her feel sick to her stomach.

The drive was long, and Aurora was thankful when Harry finally fell asleep an hour into the drive as they passed Stokenchurch. She turned down the radio, driving silently for the next hour, following the motorway until she reached Strafford, taking the exit to stop for a coffee break. Harry continued to sleep, clearly exhausted from the lack of sleep the previous night, not even stirring when Aurora returned to the car and started the engine. She merged back onto the M6 and continued north until she finally arrived in Holmes Chapel. She reached out to gently shake Harry’s shoulder as they turned onto Anne’s street. He woke groggily, knuckling his eyes as Rori parked the car behind Gemma’s out the front of house. She laced her fingers through her husbands as they made their way up the path, the front door swinging open as the stepped onto the porch. Gemma didn’t say a word as she pulled her baby brother into a tight hug and then led them both inside to where Anne was sitting in the living room.

In any crisis, Aurora immediately stepped into a care giver role without really thinking about it and Robin’s death was one of the biggest crises she had ever encountered. For the first two days in Anne’s home, she cooked, cleaned and made sure that everyone always had a fresh cup of tea on hand. Between Anne, Gemma and Harry there was always at least one person in tears, but Anne tried her hardest not to let anyone wallow too much and instead insisted that they share their favourite memories of Robin. They had all sat around in the living room, laughing and sharing stories from years passed and while they were all deeply unhappy, this reminiscing did help lift the mood of the house. Rori spent many hours cuddled up on the sofa with Harry carding her fingers through his hair while he grieved or lying in bed next to each other talking late into the night while sleep alluded them both. Aurora manage to hold herself together and be the rock for everyone else in the house until their third night in Holmes Chapel.

It was late. Really late. Harry had finally fallen asleep, and with the rest of the house silent, Rori snuck downstairs and slipped out into the back garden. It was a clear spring night, a chill breeze blowing through the yard causing her to draw her cardigan tightly around herself. She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly until it turned into a deep sob, the kind that felt like it would break a rib. She gasped for breath as she cried in the darkness, finally allowing herself to miss her father in law. Finally allowing herself to feel the loss without worrying about adding to Harry or Anne or Gemma’s grief. Her cries were loud enough that she didn’t hear the door open behind her, or the footsteps across the patio. She jumped a little when a pair of arms wrapped around her shoulders and pulled her into a hug. Gemma gripped her tightly as she shook.

“Was wondering when you were finally going to let it all out,” she whispered as Auroras sobs began to soften.

“I’m sorry,” Rori said, pulling back from Gemma’s hold and wiping at the tears running down her cheeks. “I’m ok. How are you?”

“Stop,” Gemma replied. “Stop acting like you’re not allowed to miss him too. It’s not a competition. I get that you’re trying to be strong for H and Mum and me, but you’re not helping anyone by holding it all in and then coming out here in the middle of the night to let it all out.”

“I just,” Aurora muttered, “I just don’t want Harry worrying about me right now. I can hold it together so that he can rely on me while he falls apart.”

“You know he’d be furious if he found out you were hurting and not letting him in,” Gemma said. “We can all lean on each other. That’s the whole point of the four of us staying here together.”

Aurora nodded in understanding, not knowing what to say since her sister in law was clearly hell bent on winning this disagreement. “Let’s go inside and make some tea.”

Both women trudged inside, settling on the kitchen stools as they waited for the kettle to boil. “It just isn’t fair,” Aurora murmured when Gemma handed a mug to her and re-joined her at the counter. “He deserved more time.”

“Can’t argue with that,” Gemma said. “I don’t even know what to say to Mum. After so many crap guys, she finally found her soulmate just to have him taken away. Makes me so angry.”

“Makes me angry too,” Aurora agreed. “Feels like we just keep losing parents. First my mum, then Jay, now Robin.”

“Makes me afraid of who’s next,” Gemma replied, gnawing at her bottom lip.

“What are you both doing up so late?” Harry mumbled from the doorway, startling both women. “It’s nearly 4am.”

“Did we wake you?” Rori asked. “Sorry baby.”

Harry shuffled further into the kitchen, immediately noticing that his wife had been crying as soon as he neared her. He didn’t say anything, instead stepping up to her side and pulling her tightly against his chest. Her arms wrapped around his bare torso, as she buried her face against one of the swallows nestled beneath his collarbones. “Please don’t pull away from me,” he whispered.

“Didn’t want to burden you,” Rori whispered back in reply.

Harry loosened the hug, pulling away enough to look her in the eyes. “You’re never a burden to me,” he promised, his voice serious. “We deal with this the same way we do everything, we do it together.”

Aurora didn’t know what to say so she remained silent and instead buried her face back into his chest and clung tightly to him, as if he would disappear the moment she let go. She never noticed Gemma slipping out of the room, but by the time she pulled herself together enough to lift her head away from Harry, the young couple were alone in the kitchen. Harry silently led her back to their room, pulling the covers over them and hugging her tightly against him, neither able to fall back asleep before the dawn light began peeking through the curtains a few hours later.

NEXT CHAPTER

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[merrybandofmurderers]

hey so forgive me if you've already told me this, but yuo's a blood mage, right? what caused him to turn to blood magic? does he feel guilty about it, considering the stigma surrounding it, or does he say fuck all that jazz? and have there ever been lasting consequences to using blood magic? sorry if that's a lot, thank you ily :)

no no no, i LOVE answering questions!! yes, yuo is a blood mage (and also a battle mage, a pretty good combo imo, but also one that’s hard on his body). he doesn’t really use blood magic a lot, just when he really needs it (and obviously when he’s in the inquisition, he REALLY tries to be discreet, which being a battle mage covers up for).

there’s only a few ppl he openly uses blood magic around at first (solas, cuz he gleans it from their magic convos and won’t out him despite their contentious relationship; cole, cuz he reads yuo’s mind basically; bull, cuz he figures it out and doesn’t judge yuo for it).

SO. the backstory. yuo’s mom died when he was 19, just before he received his vallaslin, which has always weighed heavy on him. his dad died when he was.. 22? i think? (both of them die in skirmishes with humans, which is where his dislike of humans really started). the death of his mom he was able to handle somewhat cuz he had his dad and his sister.

when his dad died, his sister did not handle it well either, so yuo was a mess. at that time is also when he and his sister adopted three young elves who were orphaned. he was desperate for more power to protect his loved ones, so he asked his keeper (newly appointed and his sister’s best friend) for permission to learn blood magic. she was worried what he would do if she denied him, so at the next arlathvhen they found him a hahren to teach him ethical blood magic.

he never expected himself to turn to blood magic, becuz blood magic is not widely accepted among the dalish. but he accepted it becuz he figured it would help him (he ultimately comes to the conclusion that nothing he does can protect his loved ones, but he doesn’t stop using blood magic becuz it does make him stronger.)

around his clan he didnt need to hide it. they understood his grief and trusted him. he only really learned the necessity of discretion when he fell in love with a human apostate and trusted him to teach him blood magic and then was betrayed by him (which is the root of his trust issues).

this didn’t stop him from using blood magic, but he realized how careful he needed to be, and the lasting consequence from that was his trust issues which has definitely impacted him negatively. aside from that, as i said, his combined specs are hard on his body, which have left him with recurring pain as well as needing to treat his scars regularly.

(EDIT: okay so i tried to put a cut here to make it not so long, but apparantly tumblr does not like them anymore so i had to remove it to save the formatting :/ thanks tumblr

EDIT TWO: apparantly removing the cut did NOT save the formatting it just put the cut at the beginning :))))

i talked a bit about about the effects of his specializations here, and i talked about his blood magic and grief allowing him to relate to alexius here.

dorian, sera, and blackwall find out about his blood magic during the reclaiming of suledin keep. they agree to keep his secret but it’s a rough process of acceptance for all of them, especially dorian.

these are some excerpts of the confrontations dorian and yuo have about yuo lying about his blood magic

“Have you ever used blood magic on me?”

Dorian hates himself for asking. He hates himself because he knows the answer will be no, it must be. He asks anyway.

Lavellan stays quiet so long, Dorian starts to hate him more than he hates himself. Dread and genuine fear coil in his gut.

“Once. Only once. In Coracavus, when that darkspawn hit you. Dorian, I was afraid you were going to get the Blight. I couldn’t—” He stops, breathes. “That was the only time. Just, to stop the bleeding, keep it clean. Nothing more than I do for myself.”

*

“I don’t understand why you think you need it. You’re powerful enough already—”

“No, I’m not, Dorian. Don’t you understand? I’m not powerful enough—I’ll never be powerful enough. And I have to remember that, I have to remember… nothing will ever be enough. I have to hold onto that every time some fucking demon thinks it can use me by promising to give me what I want. When a demon promises to give me back my parents, to protect my sister, my clan, to save everyone I care about, to keep everything I have—I need to remember that it’s not enough. I have to accept that. Because if I believe—if I hope—for even a moment that there might be some power capable of that—of restoring what’s lost, preserving what I have—I won’t be able to fight them. I have to know it, that no power will ever be enough; I’ll never be enough.”

and here is when yuo ultimately tells dorian the story behind his using blood magic

Dorian sat next to him on the battlements. “Who was it? That you were wrong about?”

Lavellan was silent for a long moment, then, “His name was Rory. He was an apostate.”

“A human.”

“Yes, human. He wasn’t the first I’d been with, though. He wasn’t special… in that way. That wasn’t… a red flag for me. Then. It’s—” He sighed.

“Let me start from the beginning. My mother died when I was nineteen, just before I received my vallaslin, my father when I was twenty-two. My mother’s death, I managed well enough. But when my father died… Anavi didn’t know how to deal with it either. She… closed off. And it was hard to be around her because she reminded me so much of them. She looked just like him but acted just like our mother. It was a mess, we both were, but especially me. I didn’t have anything to—to tether me. I was so desperate. Every night I had these horrific dreams of losing her.

“What I wanted was power. That’s what everyone wants when it comes to blood magic, isn’t it? The power? To protect my sister, my remaining family, my clan, I decided I needed more power. But I was going to do it right. So, I went to our Keeper and asked permission to learn blood magic. Our Keeper by that time was my sister’s closest friend and knew me well. She knew I wouldn’t disobey her if she forbade it, but I needed something to hold on to, and if she didn’t give this to me, she was afraid of what could happen to me. What I would do.

“That year, there was an Arlathvhen. My Keeper found a hahren for me to learn blood magic from. I told you it is not widely accepted amongst the Dalish, but it does happen. So, I lived with this hahren’s clan for a time to learn from them. It got me some space from my sister, from the grief. And they gave me the instruction I needed. The power I wanted, but still drawn from our beliefs. It would have been so easy for me to get twisted, but my hahren guided me, showed me what to do. They reminded me what my magic was for, kept my head on straight. A few years later, I returned to my clan—sooner than I meant to, sooner than perhaps I should have, but another of the clan had died; I needed to be with them, so I went.

“That winter we settled near a village, and that’s where I met Rory.”

Lavellan was silent for a long time, staring into nothing. Dorian sat quietly, watching his somber profile.

“Rory wasn’t special,” he finally continued, “he wasn’t different. He was easy to fall in love with, and I did, and more than that, I trusted him. I didn’t hide my blood magic from him, and he asked me to teach him. I’d already been showing him some magic; he hadn’t really had anyone to learn from. I never thought his questions or intentions were strange or sinister. To me, blood magic was just magic you had to be a little more careful with. So, I taught him.

“Well, the Templars caught him. I don’t know what he did, I don’t know if he actually used blood magic—or any magic—in front of them, if they just suspected, or what. I don’t know if he hurt someone, I just know that they found him, and the reason I know that is because he sold me out to them.”

He sneered. “He told them I had seduced him, bewitched him, used my magic on him, whatever. I’d tricked him into it, coerced him, forced him to use blood magic. All the words that meant he couldn’t be culpable. My clan had been there for several months, and our welcome was already wearing thin. I don’t know if he mentioned them specifically or if it was just me, but the Templars, of course, wouldn’t be taking chances.

“No one died, no one was hurt, but we had to leave, unprepared. And I don’t know what happened to him. All I know is that I loved someone and trusted them, and it turned out I was wrong, and because of that everything I ever cared about protecting almost…”

His hands clasped together, white knuckled. “So, this time the stakes are a lot fucking higher, aren’t they? I’m not going to compare the two of you, because there isn’t any comparison to be had. I was younger then, and eager to be in love with him, and I fought for so long to not feel for you the way I do, but still I love you more than I thought I’d ever love anyone, and once you earned it, my trust in you has never wavered—and that’s why I won’t hate you if you decide you can’t accept this, or—or forgive me, or move on, because you deserved to know and I didn’t tell you.

“Creators, Dorian, if it were just me, I wouldn’t have thought for a second about it. But in this position, it’s not just me—it never was, but he really fucking drove that home for me. My people will always come first, because no matter what, they’re a part of me. I will never be just me; I will always be Dalish. My people will always be there, and I will always have to care about them. However much more love and trust I had for you, the fear was even greater, and I couldn’t—Dorian, I almost lost them, and it was my fault because I was wrong about someone I loved, and I couldn’t take that risk again, I couldn’t. And that’s all I can say for myself, is that I was afraid.”

(please forgive any typos, these are first drafts u.u)

[god-save-the-keen]

Family matters

Book: Mother of the year

Pairing: Thomas Mendez x MC (Tara)

Summary: This was a request for the lovely @desiree-0816, Thomas and Tara decide to adopt the other daughter.

Words: 2155

Warning: a little bit of angst but, like always, mostly fluff.

Prompt: #14 from this list! Although, she asked especially for the adoption thing and I freaking love it 💕

Note: I always love to take request, even if I'm a little slow sometimes 😅💕

Thomas' tag list: @chetachisblog @annekebbphotography @princess-geek @lilyofchoices @ao719 @marycarrillo21 @blackcatkita @kamybelen-blog @cxld-play @vaticanwaltz @thmasmendez @flyawayboo  

Permanent tag list: @gardeningourmet @client-327 @dawn-1994 @malakbesharah

"So, how do you want to do this?" Thomas and Tara were sitting in the living room, a cup of coffee in their hands and the snow falling behind them on the window. She had put her legs on his lap as one of his hands absently caressed her there.

"I don't know…" She leaned against the couch backrest and drank a sip of coffee. "I don't know if we should do it together with them both or separately or if you should talk to Luz and I talk to Rory." Her fingers tapping on the side of the cup, frowning a bit. "I just don't want them to take it the wrong way."

"I know, gorgeous. Me neither." They stood like that, in silence, lost in their own thoughts, thinking about the best way to do it.

"What do you think they are talking about?" Luz asked in a hushed whisper. They were going to the kitchen when they heard their parents talking and stopped in the hallway, hiding and listening.

"I don't know, but must be something important. Normally, they are not this serious."

"Yeah… Normally they have their lips stuck together like with super glue or something." Luz said with a grimace as Rory quietly giggled. "Should we go in?"

Rory observed her mom, her face was worried and she could see she was nervous, still tapping the side of the cup until, a moment later, Thomas took her hand in his, she could see how her mom smiled at him and how she started to relax. "No… I think we better leave them alone. Come on, I know where my mom hid the Christmas candies in their bedroom." And they started walking as quietly as possible, on their tiptoes. She had always liked Thomas, in the last three years he had been more of a father figure to her than her own father had in her whole life, she knew that thanks to him she was with her mom and that alone was enough reason to like him.

"How do you think Luz is going to react?" He hadn't seen her this worried since the trail with Guy. "I don't want her to feel like I'm replacing Soledad." He took both of their cups and put them on the coffee table, his arms encircled her body, holding her close, caressing her back softly.

"I know, Tara. We'll make sure of it." She nodded against his shoulder, hugging him back. "I think maybe the best way to have this talk is all of us together, so they can ask us whatever they need."

She separated from him and snuggle against his chest. "Yeah, I believe you are right. Tomorrow morning?"

"Sounds perfect" He kissed the side of her head, gently leaving his lips pressed there for a moment. "Wanna go to bed?"

"Only if my husband comes with me" She said standing up and taking his hand as he chuckled and followed her. They turn off the lights, only leaving the tree and the fairy lights around the house on and they went to check on the girls. They were in Luz's bedroom, soundly sleeping with a few empty candy packages on the bed and floor. Tara laughed quietly shaking her head, dropping the packages in the garbage, and tucked Luz in bed as Thomas carried Rory to her bedroom, careful to not wake her up. Once both girls were settled, they went to their bed, Thomas spooning her, holding her waist like every night of the last two year. She pressed her back to his chest and entwined their fingers together, making soft circles on his skin with her thumb.

"It's going to be okay, sweetheart." He kissed her nape. "And, if they don't agree, we don't do it and everything continues like always." He said quietly.

"I know… I know you are right, but I'm just so nervous"

"Me too, but right now, we can't do anything about it until tomorrow when we talk to them." He tightened his hold a bit and kissed her behind the ear. "Try to sleep" She snuggled closer to him and, after a while, they were asleep.

When Tara suddenly woke up, the anxiety she felt was driving her crazy, she looked at the clock on the nightstand and muffled a groan with her hands. 5 AM, the house was in complete silence and darkness, Thomas was sleeping beside her, his arm loosely on her waist, snoring a bit and she was completely awake. She sighed, carefully moved his arm and stood up, she changed into a t-shirt and some yoga pants and went to the kitchen as she tied her hair in a messy bun. If she was going to stay up at 5 in the morning she was at least going to use that time to do something. She took a few ingredients from the fridge and the cupboard and started to mixed them to make some cookies, the girls would love them and she couldn't be still, by 6 AM, she had finished cutting the cookies with a ginger man shape and put them in the oven. In a matter of minutes, the kitchen and the whole house smelled delicious. At 7:15 AM the cookies were ready, cooled and decorated, the coffee maker was ready to get started and the mix for the chocolate and the waffles were in the bowls.

"Tara? Are you here?" Thomas entered the kitchen, his eyes sleepy and his hair messy, he was putting on a t-shirt as he walked. "What are you doing up, gorgeous? It's Sunday, you should be resting." He hugged her shoulders from behind, kissing her cheek.

"I can't, I'm too anxious." She leaned against him. "I'm sorry if I woke you."

"You didn't." He took her in his arms, bridal style, and started to walk to their bedroom. "But the girls aren't going to be up for at least two hours so you come with me" She laughed and held onto his neck. They lay on the bed, quietly talking as Thomas' hand caressed her face until she fell asleep, he kissed her forehead and pulled her closer, drifting asleep as well.

The next morning, the breakfast went like always with the exception of freshly made cookies. They ate, chatted and planned the rest of the day, while the girls were finishing, Thomas took her hand under the table and cleared his throat.

"Girls, there's something we would like to talk with you about."

"And we want you to be completely honest with us, you can say whatever you are feeling or ask whatever you want." Tara's voice was gentle and even, her eyes were warm but her hands, under the table were shaking, Thomas' thumb was caressing her skin trying to calm her, to tell her he was beside her.

"We're sorry about the candies!"

"We aren't going to do it again!" Rory and Luz put on their best puppy eyes and looked at them.

"It's not about that, you thieves! Although, we are going to talk about that later." The girls looked at each other. Tara smiled, squeezing Thomas' hand, and continued talking. "We have been talking… And we want your opinion first… We would like to legally adopt you. But only if you like and agreed with it!"

"What about my dad?" Rory asked after a silent pause. In the last year she had seen Guy no more than ten times, always too busy or simply forgetting.

"It's just legal stuff, he will always be your father, but, if we do this, I'll be your legal guardian. Same for you, Lulu." Thomas said, observing both girls reaction as Tara's hand squeezed his again. Luz was serious, a thoughtful look in her eyes, she didn't seem mad just uncertain, Rory, on the other hand observed Thomas and Tara for a while until a big smile blossom on her face.

"I think it's a great idea!" She took another cookie and bit it happily. "We are going to officially be sisters!" She said, excited, watching Luz.

"Yeah, it's great." Luz said and stood up, leaving the table.

Tara felt how her heart broke and her smile disappeared, she didn't know if she should talk with Luz or give her space. Thomas kissed the side of her head and stood up too, following Luz as Rory sat beside her, hugging her mom.

When Thomas reached Luz's bedroom, she was sitting on her bed with a picture in her hands, he sat beside her and hugged her.

"Are you okay, Luz?" She nodded. "You don't have to agreed with this. We don't have to do it." He said, his eyes on the picture of Soledad hugging Luz a few months before the accident. They still had a few pictures of her around the house except in the bedroom he shared with Tara, he didn't want Luz to feel like he was forgetting her mom but he didn't want Tara to feel like she was living in Soledad's shadow.

"It's not that, I like Tara. It's just I'm scared that… someday... I might forget mom, I don't want her to feel like I'm replacing her."

"You think that I replaced mom when I married Tara?" He asked. He had talked with both girls before his proposal and they were okay with it, but right now, he was terrified of what she would answer.

"No dad! Never!" Her eyes widened and he let out a sigh of relief. "I like Tara, a lot, since she came she has been supporting and nice to me. And she makes you happy." She trailed off, smiling for a moment. "I just don't want to forget mom."

"You won't sweetheart. No one wants that to happen. Your mom will always be your mom, no matter what, and she is always going to be part of you" She hugged him.

"You think Tara got mad, for how I left?" He kissed her forehead.

"I know she's not. Tara loves you and will respect whatever you decide."

"Is Rory going to call you dad now?"

"I don't know, depends on her."

"And… should I call Tara mom?"

"That also depends on you… I know she doesn't expect it and she wants you to feel comfortable. She doesn't want to replace mom either."

"I want to do it" She smiled, happier than before, standing up. "I want Tara to adopt me"

"You sure?" She nodded enthusiastically.

They returned to the living room, where Tara was sitting on the couch with her legs on the side reading a book.

"Where is Rory?" Luz asked and Tara lifted her gaze and smiled at her.

"She went to her room, to work on her new rocket." Her voice was as warm as always.

"I… I think it's a good idea too. The adoption thing." Her cheeks a little flushed making her smile thinking of all the times she saw Thomas with his cheeks like that.

"You do? You know you are not obligated to do it, right?"

"I know. But I want to." Tara stood up and hugged Luz tightly and the girl returned the gesture.

"That makes me so happy, kiddo." They separated and Tara kissed her forehead before she went running to Rory's bedroom. Thomas took her hand and led her back to the couch.

"Are you okay?" He asked her cupping her check in his hand.

"I am now." She smiled and kissed his palm. "She really is okay with the adoption?"

"She is. I'm going to start the paperwork on Monday."

"Do you need anything from Guy or me?" She asked laying on the couch with her head on his lap as he smiled, still holding her hand.

"No. It's enough that he doesn't bother you or Rory." Tara smiled wide at him, she loved how much he cared about Rory. "That asshole. What was his excuse this time?"

"None, actually. He just wrote me that he couldn't come." She sighed. "Should I be worried that Rory is used to that?"

"I don't know, in some ways it's better. You say the word and I'll take him to the courthouse again." She chuckled softly as she sat up and kissed him, his hand took her lower back, one of her hands on his nape and the other on the couch, supporting her weight.

"What did I tell you? Super glue." They separated and observed Luz and Rory watching them. Tara giggled as Thomas' cheeks flushed immediately, no matter that they had been dating for two year and married for one, he still blushed like the first day.

"Come on, mom! We were supposed to go to that new park!"

"Okay, okay, we are coming!" She stood up and Thomas followed her, he took his car keys and they drove to the park, feeling like a family more than ever.

❣️

[queerbennyweir]

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[saiilorstars]

Stars Dance

Ch. 9: All Gobbled Up

Fandom: Doctor Who Pairing: 11th Doctor x Original Female Character

[Previous chapters]

(Fairy Tale Memoirs, One Shot/AU Companion story)

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0

Chapter summary: The time travelling group must face a threat from under the planet and, in the process, save Avalon and Amy!

While his companions slept, the Doctor roamed the TARDIS trying to find some entertainment. By now, he was used to the silence that followed every night for an agonizing 8 to 10 hours. Sometimes he had companions who really loved sleep and wouldn't show up for 12 hours! Twelve hours! Who slept for that long!?

Things were a bit different right now, though. Amy and Rory slept the usual eight hours humans took. They were set like stones. Lena and Avalon would vary. Sometimes poor Lena wouldn't be able to sleep well due to her asthma. As much as the Doctor tried, her asthma would just suddenly kick in and make it hard for her to sleep peacefully. Those were the nights he would be on red alert in case she needed something. He didn't want to bring her to the medbay when she had her own comfortable room, but he would make it so that it was the first room next the console room. But other times, she would sleep as soundly as Amy and Rory would. He liked those nights; he didn't like seeing his baby sister suffer.

And then there was Avalon. Oh, Miss Avalon Reynolds was the case when it came to sleeping.

Some nights she would disappear and sleep like anyone else. Sometimes she'd sleep less hours than the others but she would still sleep. Other nights would have her poking her head into the console room and trying to start some type of adventure while everyone else slept. The Doctor admitted that it was nice having somebody around to talk to while it was 'night', but he often worried that she wasn't getting enough rest. It was when he voiced these concerns that Avalon would get irritated and leave the console room in a storm.

That's also when the TARDIS would throw sparks at the Doctor's hands, like she was angry that he upset Avalon. 'Whose bloody side are you on!?' he would yell at the console only to get another spark as a response. And if Avalon happened to be around, she would laugh at him.

The Doctor wasn't very fond of those nights but he was even less fond of the nights where Avalon wouldn't sleep at all.

Those were the nights he sometimes genuinely feared.

Sometimes, Avalon wouldn't sleep for days and it would take a toll on her. She was irritable and sometimes she'd almost doze off in the middle of an adventure. The Doctor would feel sorry for her, as did the others, because it was clear that she wanted to sleep but she just couldn't. He'd offer to help her out but of course she would refuse. Apparently, being hopelessly stubborn was another side affect.

There were various nights where Avalon simply could not sleep and it wouldn't affect her. She didn't seem tired, she didn't act like it, so she would wander through the infinite corridors of the TARDIS. And because the TARDIS seemed to outright favorite her above anyone else - including one possibly jealous Doctor - the box would give her access to nearly every room available. Already Avalon had seen the library, the swimming pool, the bowling alley, the gardens, the gym and one time the Doctor's workroom which she loved and possibly tinkered with until the Doctor had to physically yank her out. She was a wanderer and an explorer, but sometimes the Doctor wanted to shake her until she would just agree to go to sleep.

Of course the Doctor would also admit that they did have some fun together when they actually went out on small trips. He didn't have to wait eight hours to continue adventuring with the others because Avalon was more than ready to go out during 'night'.

To be frank, it was a hit and miss with her. At least the Doctor couldn't say anymore that the nights were boring. He could never be bored when Avalon Reynolds was around.

Tonight, however, the TARDIS began humming in an odd manner...like it was trying to tell him something. Stopping, the Doctor carefully thought what the hums meant. "Avalon and Rory are fine, I just saw them..." he checked the two off his list, "...Amy and Lena...Amy usually's fine, but Lena..." he nodded, "...it has to be Lena. What's wrong with her, old girl? Is it the asthma again?" He raced out of the room and just like the times before, Lena's door was right after the console.

As he neared the door, he began to hear Lena's cries. "Lena?" he knocked on her door. "Baby sister, what's going on?"

"I'M SORRY!" she had screamed and the Doctor, panicking, ran right into the room. Lena was sitting on her bed, chest heaving from the terrible nightmare she'd had. Her eyes were wide and looking from one thing to another to make sure she was in her comfortable room now.

"Lena?" the Doctor cautiously approached her bed, presuming she'd had a nightmare. That was rare, she never had one even with all the trips they had.

Lena's eyes locked with his and immediately softened. "Big brother, did I wake you?"

The Doctor smiled, a bit amused, and shook his head. "Lena, you're the one who woke up screaming. I'd like to focus on you instead."

But that didn't please her. With a snort, she looked down. "Story of my life."

"What's wrong? Do you want me to call Avalon?" the Doctor thought that maybe Lena would feel more comfortable talking with her sister. Seeing as there was nothing physically wrong with Lena, he could go get Avalon now.

"No!" Lena had gasped suddenly, startling him. "I mean...I don't...I don't want her to come for nothing." She swallowed hard.

"It doesn't look like nothing..." the Doctor noted. There was a different sort of fear sitting in Lena's eyes and it made him worry. "I know it's not the same because we haven't known each other for a long time, but...you could talk to me about anything."

Lena contemplated for a moment. Could she trust him with a secret that had been a burden on her ever since she could remember? A secret that she'd learned to put away in the deepest corner of her mind but was now forcing its way back to the surface because...because of where they were?

"Lena?" the Doctor called when the brunette had gone silent. Unlike her sister, Lena failed miserably trying to hide what was bothering her. Avalon was a master at it. Lena's eyes were too frail to act like nothing was wrong. Lena was generally less guarded than Avalon.

"You can't tell anyone," she began in a faint whisper.

"I won't-"

"I mean you literally cannot tell anyone, Doctor," Lena looked him directly in the eyes. "Especially not Avalon."

"I swear I won't," the Doctor raised a hand. "But what is it?"

Lena swallowed hard and looked down, biting her lip. "I...I know something...that I really shouldn't. That I wish I didn't." She closed her eyes for a moment, her lower lip becoming like a chewing gum. "Because it makes me feel really guilty."

"What is it?" the Doctor reached for her hand. The fact she was saying words like those and looking like she did was a big alert that this was no ordinary nightmare she had.

"When I was young, a lot of times I couldn't go outside and play because of my illness so Avalon would invite Amy, Rory and our friend Mels to play inside instead. Our favorite game was hide-and-seek and one time...when I was meant to be hiding...I heard something I shouldn't have from my parents." Lena closed her eyes again and gripped the Doctor's hand. "I really wish I hadn't heard it, big brother, because then I wouldn't have turned into an accomplice and I wouldn't be lying to my sister every day."

The Doctor, although confused, was beginning to make connections on his own but he decided to let Lena get it off her chest. He assumed she had yet to tell anyone and it would do her good to have one opportunity to do it.

"We don't look alike, Avalon and I, not because we're fraternal twins...but because we're not twins at all. I-I don't know what we are, if we're not, but I just know that Avalon isn't my mother's daughter," Lena sniffled more and more as she spoke the words out loud. "I was young, and I got scared...so I ran out before I could finish hearing my parents. Since then I keep getting the same dream over and over of that moment, like a plague..."

"You've been carrying that secret for a long time," the Doctor patted her hand gently.

"I was good at keeping it away," Lena admitted. "But then we came here-" she gestured to the TARDIS as a whole, "-where I thought that Avalon could finally start her own life but instead she keeps focusing on me and missing the bigger picture. It makes me feel awful that she spends all this time on me when I'm not even her sister."

"Avalon has a big heart, and I think she would rather die than let anything happen to you," the Doctor smiled. "But that's no reason to feel guilty, Lena. You should feel special that someone loves you this much."

"I can't, because I don't deserve it,"Lena shook her head.

"What? Lena!"

"It's true!"

"No, it's really not. You've given Avalon the gift of sisterhood, a confidant from the very start of her life. It's always been you two and that is something that no one can replace!"

"I can't tell her," Lena bit her lip, expecting for the Doctor to give her some sermon about telling the truth because Avalon deserved it.

"If you think that's what needs to be done, then you have my support," he surprised her with instead.

"You really...would keep this from her?"

"It's not my story to tell."

"I just...I just don't want you to think that I'm being selfish by not telling Avalon. I-I'm not a bad person, I promise. I just...I would like to spare Avalon from the truth. Because one thing I heard from my parents was that Avalon never had to know."

"I imagine they love her too much to tell her the truth," the Doctor reasoned, and Lena shrugged. "A usual case within adoptive parents. They fear the biological parent or parents would try to take the child from them."

"But Avalon isn't a child anymore. And I think it's really more about my Dad," Lena sighed. "Because my Mum was reproaching him why he never revealed if Avalon was his daughter or not. Isn't that weird?"

"A bit," the Doctor admitted but didn't put that much thought to it. "But parents make the oddest decisions for their children, trust me."

Lena looked at him for a moment, getting that same strange feeling that he was saying this out of experience. "Big brother...did you have children at one point?"

The Doctor's eyebrows rose, and he took his hand from Lena's. "Um..."

Lena saw the struggle to come up with an answer and smiled. "You don't have to tell me. But just like you, I'm always here if you'd like to talk." She scooted closer and hugged him, thinking that both of them needed one at the moment.

~ 0 ~

To say Avalon was upset of the newest destination the Doctor had for them was way past an understatement. He knew, Lena knew, Amy knew, Rory knew that she detested the beach and yet somehow...they had all decided to go to a beach. A big ole Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro, the biggest and 'coolest' as stated by the Doctor. Avalon did not care how flashy nor how big this Carnival was, she was not stepping out of the box and that was that.

Did no one understand?

"We're here!" the Doctor cheered when the box had finally stopped.

Nope, guess no one.

"Off we go!" the Doctor rushed towards the doors, Amy and Rory right behind him.

Lena cast a glance back to her twin who sat glumly on the chairs beside the console. Lena sighed and walked towards Avalon, "You don't want to see Rio?" she questioned softly.

"Frankly, the only thing I want to see is my pillow," Avalon mumbled and jumped off the chair, her hand rubbing a circle on her temple. She could feel a a headache coming on from her lack of sleep.

"You do look a bit...pale," Lena observed her twin with concern, "Have you slept?"

"C'mon, Lena, you know me," Avalon flashed a small smile and turned for the corridors, "Sleep hates me."

"Maybe we can ask the Doctor to help you," Lena tried following but Avalon turned back in an instant, making Lena bump into her.

"No, don't you dare," Avalon pointed a warning finger at Lena, "I don't want any help from no bow-tie wearing alien. Plus, I'm crossed with him right now. He knows I dislike beaches and yet..."

"Yeah, Avalon?" Amy poked her head inside the TARDIS with a crossed face, "You can come out, it's not Rio."

"It's not?" Lena turned with a disappointed expression, "Aw!"

"Surprise, surprise, he got it wrong," Avalon flashed a small smile and strode towards the doors, "Good."

"But I wanted to see the beach!" Lena trailed after her.

Avalon stepped out to see a cemetery as the environment, "Never mind..." she mumbled. Cemetery or beach? Today was definitely not her day.

"Big brother, what happened here?" Lena crossed her arms while she gave her best mock-irritated frown, "I was promised sunshine and music!"

"May have been a bit of a mix up," the Doctor walked a bit ahead and came to an abrupt halt, "Ooh, feel that, though, what's that?" he bounced in place for a second, "Ground feels strange...just me?"

"Yes," Avalon compelled to make the clarification.

"That's weird," he had ignored her as he looked around.

"What's weird?" Rory asked.

"Doctor, stop trying to distract us. We're in the wrong place," Amy sighed as the Doctor ran around to the other side of a church.

"Yeah, it's freezing here," Lena shivered and hugged herself. She committed to Rio and chose a green buttoned rib-knit top with jean shorts. It was not appropriate for where they were right now. "I dressed for Rio..."

"Lena go get changed. I don't want you catching a cold." Avalon had no trouble with colder weather because she hadn't dressed for Rio. She said she wasn't stepping out of the TARDIS and had meant it. She wore a white, short-sleeved, high neck shirt tucked under high-waisted brown and white plaid pants.

"But-"

"Go," Avalon pointed. With a sigh, Lena returned inside the box.

The Doctor was plucking some grass and sifting it through his fingers, "Blue grass. Patches of it all round the graveyard. So, Earth, 2020-ish, ten years in your future, wrong continent for Rio, I'll admit, but it's not a massive overshoot."

Amy noticed three people on the other side of the valley waving at them. Amy squinted her eyes but they were too far away to see the trio clear. "Why are those people waving at us?"

"Can't be," the Doctor murmured, too engrossed with the grass to notice.

Rory started waving back at the trio but Avalon pushed his hand down and shook her head. "Don't wave until we know who they are."

The Doctor finally looked up and took out some binoculars from his jacket to get a better look at the trio. He almost laughed. "It's...hm, it's you two," he pointed at Amy and Rory, "...and...Lena."

"What? That can't be right," Avalon snatched the binoculars and took a look for herself. Sure enough, it was Amy, Rory and Lena waving at them.

"But we're here," Rory looked at each other, "How can we be up there?"

"Ten years in your future. Come to relive past glories, I'd imagine," the Doctor said.

"But where am I?" Avalon frowned and lowered the binoculars. She tried searching for herself anywhere nearby but she wasn't around. "How come I'm not there?"

"Maybe you got married and moved away," Amy teased but Avalon didn't seem to like the joke.

"Don't be ridiculous, I'd never leave Lena."

"Maybe she forced you to," the Doctor mumbled, thinking no one had heard him, until...

Avalon whacked him on the chest with his binoculars, "What did you just say?"

God help the man who married her alright. He rubbed his chest and tried to move the conversation along. "I said nothing. I was actually thinking about-"

"No, you said she'd force me to leave, why would Lena do that?" Avalon moved to stand right in front of him, eyes narrowing for him to start explaining.

"I don't know, I..." the Doctor sighed and took a look at the pair behind the angry ginger for help. He had such a incredible talent at pissing her off and nobody seemed to help him when it happened, save for Lena.

"I'd measure your words very carefully, Doctor," Avalon warned with a pointed finger at his chest.

"Avalon, don't overreact," Amy moved to the ginger's side and swayed her. Fortunately, it rocked Avalon into a nearlike sleep, her eyes even closing momentarily. All arguments had suddenly been forgotten!

"Yeah...sorry," Avalon mumbled and walked ahead, still half asleep.

"That woman is asleep!" Amy exclaimed.

"I've never seen her like that before," Rory mumbled as he moved up as well.

"That's the only side I've seen," the Doctor remarked but still agreed the ginger had not looked so good, even for her natural feisty self. She was in one of her days-without-sleep spree and it would be a bad one.

"I should talk to her, see what's going on," Rory resolved, "She'll tell me and then we can fix it."

"Fix what?" Lena emerged from the TARDIS, now changed into warmer clothes as requested, ordered, by Avalon. Her jean shorts were exchanged for a regular pair and she'd thrown on a thick green sweater.

"Your sister nearly chewed my head off," the Doctor declared and made her laugh. So much for having Lena's help!

"You certainly have a way of pushing my sister's buttons, don't you?" she stepped off the TARDIS onto the mushy grass.

"It's not my fault she doesn't sleep," the Doctor shrugged, "And I'd really not get into that whole mess so how about we go check that big mining thing, eh?" he pointed behind him to the building.

Two different reactions surfaced in the trio: Lena, as expected, simply nodded, while Amy and Rory wore irritated frowns and shook their heads.

"We want the beach," the engaged couple declared.

"But it's a big mining thing," the Doctor insisted, "Way better than Rio! Rio doesn't have a big mining thing!"

"We're not going to have a look," Amy warned.

"Let's go and have a look!" the Doctor took Lena's hand and walked down into the valley.

Rory sighed, "If he can't get us to Rio, how's he ever going to get us back home?"

"Did you not see, over there?" Amy nodded up to the hill where their future selves remained, "It all works out fine."

"After everything we've seen, we just drop back into our old lives, the nurse and the kissogram?"

"I guess. He's getting away," Amy took Rory by the arm and started off when suddenly Rory halted them.

"Hang on. What are you doing with that?" he pointed to her ring finger.

"Engagement ring! I thought you liked me wearing it," Amy raised an eyebrow, not so sure anymore with the face Rory was making.

"Amy! You could lose it! Cost...a lot of money, that!"

"Hm," Amy removed the ring and handed it over, "Spoilsport."

"C'mon, let's go put it away...to safety," Rory eyed her, taking the groaning ginger back into the TARDIS.

After setting the ring back in its box and placed promptly on the console, the two headed back for the doors.

"If we get lost it's your fault," Amy warned as they stepped out.

"We won't get..." Rory stopped once he saw a woman and a little boy standing in front of him and Amy, as if waiting.

"Well, that was quick!" the woman, a brunette, remarked.

"...was it?" Amy replied in an answer as she nervously glanced at Rory.

"It's great that you came."

"Bit retro," the young boy was staring at the TARDIS, "What is it, portable crime lab?"

"Oh, er..." Rory looked back at the box, "...sort of."

"Ambrose Northover," the woman introduced herself as she shook Rory's hand, Amy next, "I was the one who called. I run the meals on wheels for the whole valley. This is my son, Elliot," she gestured to the boy.

"Where's your uniforms?" he questioned the pair.

"Don't be cheeky, Elliot, they're plain clothes," Ambrose scolded, "CID, is it? Anyway, it's over here."

As the mother and son departed, Rory and Amy exchanged uneasy glances...what was going on?

~ 0 ~

"Avalon? Avalon! What are you doing?" Lena gasped and ran forwards.

Avalon was already at the drill site in front of the gated entrance...which she was currently climbing up on. "What does it look like I'm doing?" Avalon grunted and swung one leg over before looking down at them.

"What? Get down from there!" Lena ordered in her best authoritative tone. But when she saw Avalon swinging her other leg she gave up on that and turned to the Doctor, "Do something!"

"Um...it's restricted access..." he looked around, "No unauthorized personnel. Mm..." he gave the ginger a smirk.

"Hm," Avalon smirked and hopped off, now on the other side of the doors. She curled her hands around the gate's bars and grinned, no longer looking like the sleepless night were an issue. "Come along!"

The Doctor pouted at her words. "Those are my words! I say that!"

Avalon smirked again. She pressed her face against the bars, almost reminding Lena of a few times Avalon had been sent to the local precinct, only this time Avalon seemed content. "You gonna stay there or what, Fairy Tale Man?"

"You watch me," he whipped out his sonic and let it tap Avalon's nose between the gates.

"Big brother!" Lena whacked his arm while he sonicked the gates. "You're not supposed to encourage her!"

"Why are the Reynolds hitting me today!?"

Avalon laughed and stepped backwards for when he opened the gates.

Lena groaned at his lack of attention. "That's breaking and entering!"

"What did I break, little sister?" he gestured to the unbroken locks, "I...sonicked and entered, totally different."

"You and Avalon are going to go to jail!"

"Ah, been there done that," the Doctor said as they stepped through the entrance. "We'll keep each other company."

Avalon's eyes widened at him. "You!? What!?" She promptly burst into laughter, once again making him pout.

"You might not believe me-"

"You're right, I don't!"

"Right, okay, so if you're not extra cranky you just make even more fun of me!" the Doctor shook his head at her and linked arms with Lena. "Let's go baby sister!"

~ 0 ~

Ambrose and Elliot had brought Amy and Rory to the graveyard where a plot laid with no tomb inside. Ambrose stepped beside it and peered down, "It's a family plot, see. My aunt Gladys died six years ago. Her husband, Alun, died a few weeks back. He lived in the house two doors down. There's not many of us left up here now."

"Mum, they don't care about that! They want to know about the dead bodies," Elliot reminded.

"Yes, sorry," Ambrose nodded in agreement, "Well, they always wanted to be buried in the same plot, together. But when we went to bury Uncle Alun, Gladys wasn't there. Gone. Body, coffin, everything."

"What?" Rory blinked, glancing at Amy who was just as confused as he was.

"The mad thing is, on the surface, the grave was untouched. No signs of it having been messed with."

"But..." Amy began but shook her head, "...nope, sorry, not getting it."

"Nobody has touched the grave since my aunt was buried," Ambrose reiterated, "But when they dug it open, the body was gone. How is that possible?"

~ 0 ~

"What about now, can you feel it now?" the Doctor asked the twins as they strolled through halls inside the drill station.

"It's the ground," Avalon sighed, "It just feels like...ground."

"But it doesn't feel like it should," he explained, unaware of the roll of eyes she'd given him behind his back.

"It's ten years in the future, maybe this is how the ground feels like now," Lena offered.

"Good thought! But no. It doesn't," he shook his head. They stopped at the sound of a whirring not too far up ahead. The Doctor listened carefully. "Hear that, drill in start-up mode. Afterwaves of a recent seismological shift and blue grass." He still held a few pieces of the blue grass he picked up from outside and placed it in his mouth.

Avalon made a distasteful face when she saw that, Lena simply giggling when he made a face and had to pulled the grass off his tongue.

"You are disgusting," Avalon declared, almost gagging. "Have you always had that...erratic quality?"

"No..." he genuinely considered, "That's recent."

"Ugh, don't ever kiss my twin nor me," Avalon shivered and moved on ahead.

"I gotta agree there," Lena made him shake off the grass still in his hand, "Repeat after me: blue grass is not food."

"Blue grass is not food," the Doctor muttered.

"Hey, maybe I can be a teacher," she clapped, "If I can make a 907 year old alien pay attention, I'm sure I can make 5 year olds do it!"

"That's what you want to be, then?" the Doctor took her by the arm and led her after Avalon, "A school teacher?"

"Mm, I always liked the idea," she shrugged. She never truly put much thought into what type of career she'd want because of her illness. Her father (and Avalon) wanted Lena to take it easy for a few years before she decided going to a college away from Leadworth.

"My baby sister as a teacher, I can see that. And what about Avalon? What super-twin team are you making?"

Lena faintly smiled, "I...don't know. I don't actually know what she wants to be."

"Oh c'mon, isn't that one of the primary teachings you humans always do with your children?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow, "Always asking your kids what do they want to be when they grow up?"

Lena just shrugged, her smile completely gone, "I don't know. Avalon doesn't say much, she doesn't say anything, actually..."

"Not even to Rory?"

Lena shook her head, "Rory's more of the comforting friend. But she doesn't really say much about herself. Still, I'd rather Rory be able to help her out than for her to have absolutely no one. I mean, she comes to me, we have good talks, sometimes...I can get her to talk about what she wants, but those are rare times."

"I'm sorry," the Doctor genuinely said to her, "I promise after this I will get us all to a nice place, no beach, something calm and I'll make sure you get some sister time with Avalon. How does that sound?"

"That sounds really nice, thank you," she softly smiled.

The two finally entered the room where they heard the sound from. They'd arrived just in time to see Avalon being questioned by a woman with short, black hair. The woman seemed to be getting upset that Avalon wasn't answering any of her questions.

"Time to go in and save your sis...again," the Doctor mumbled to Lena as he took out his psychic paper, the brunette chuckling as he moved ahead, "Hello, see you've met my friend here," he flashed the psychic paper to the woman, "Ministry of Drills, Earth and Science! New Ministry, quite big, just merged, lot of responsibility on our shoulders, don't like to talk about it. What're you doing?"

"None of your business," the woman looked at the trio with suspicion, even more towards the Doctor when he started moving around the monitors.

"Where are you getting these readings from?" he asked.

"Under the soil," the woman replied as she moved towards a hole in the ground with certain equipment around it.

Another man entered the room in a quick stride. "The drill's up and running again-" He came to a pause when he saw the newest intruders in the room. "What's going on? Who are these people?"

"Hi!" Lena waved, deciding to go ahead and give introductions seeing how the Doctor was at work and Avalon was...well..half-asleep again. "That's the Doctor and that's my sister, Avalon."

"Why's there a big patch of earth in the middle of your floor?" the Doctor looked up, curiously.

"We don't know, it just appeared overnight," the woman answered.

Lena walked closer to the hole and peered down, confused as she only saw soil. The Doctor stood up rather fast and looked at all of them, "Good, right, you all need to get out of here very fast," he rushed to the monitors.

"Why?" the woman raised an eyebrow.

"What's your name?"

"Nasreen Chaudhry."

"Look at the screens, Nasreen, your readings. It's moving," he pointed at the monitor.

"Lena, get away from there," Avalon instructed, currently rubbing her temple again. She felt a head-ache coming soon to her.

The man that'd walked in had moved to the Doctor and Nasreen, irritated to see the stranger touching all their equipment, "Hey, that's specialized equipment! Get away from it."

"What is?" Nasreen asked the Doctor, concerned of the man's words.

"Why is there steam?" Lena frowned as said steam rose from the hole, "Avalon, come and look," she motioned for the ginger to move over.

"Lena, move away," Avalon made her twin stand up, "Doctor?" she called, "There's steam coming out of this thing. I'm gonna go on a wild guess and say it's not good."

"Very correct," he looked over his shoulder and saw the steam, "It's shifting when it shouldn't be shifting."

"What shouldn't?" Nasreen asked, a bit irritated that none of her questions were being answered.

The ground started shaking as if an earthquake was striking, prompting the Doctor to quickly move his hands over the monitors, "The ground, the soil, the earth, moving, but how? Why?"

"Is this an earthquake?" Lena stumbled back.

"What's going on?" the man demanded.

"Doubt it, baby sister," the Doctor looked around, "Cos it's only happening under this room," he said just as more holes formed on the ground as it subsided underneath, "It knows we're here. The ground's attacking us."

"No, that's not possible!" Nasreen exclaimed.

"Under the circumstances, I suggest... RUN!" the Doctor grabbed Nasreen and headed for the doors.

As Tony quickly followed, the twins made move only to have Lena get trapped.

"No!" Avalon turned, gasping at her fallen twin.

"Stay back, Avalon! Stay away from the earth!" the Doctor, quickly looking for a way around the opening holes.

"No, Avalon, go away," Lena tried waving Avalon to leave, "Don't-"

Avalon leaped over a hole and pushed everything she could to help Lena, "Don't be stupid, Lena. Like I'd ever leave you, hm?"

"Don't...just go," Lena pleaded, whimpered.

"Look, I got - AH!" Avalon found her feet being sucked by the ground underneath, "What the hell!?" she looked down with wide eyes, "Ah! It's pulling me down!" she gave a cry as she went further down.

"No! N-n-n-no!" Lena cried from her spot, feeling so incredibly useless being stuck, "Someone get me out of here so I can help!"

Luckily enough, the Doctor had found a way around the holes and ran towards them, "It's okay! It's okay!" he grabbed onto Avalon's hands while Nasreen and Tony ran to help the other twin in distress.

"Something's got my feet!" Avalon yelped as she sunk to her waist.

The Doctor fell to his stomach with the great pull the ginger had endured, but he never let go, "It's okay, we're going to get you out of here, you'll see."

Avalon had stopped her shouts and looked around with shiny eyes, "Doctor, what is it, why is it doing this?"

"Stay calm, keep hold of my hand, don't let go," he looked over to the others, "Your drill, shut it down! Go! Now!"

Lena was finally pulled away from the hole she was in and so Nasreen and Tony rushed off. Lena tried moving to help the Doctor when Avalon gave a shout.

"Stay where you are! Don't move!"

"But Avalon, I can help-"

"STAY BACK!"

Lena froze in her spot once her sister screamed with full force. It even stopped the Doctor for a moment. "But..." Lena couldn't even open her mouth when Avalon shouted again.

"Just stay where you are! I didn't save you so you can put yourself in danger again! Whatever needs to happen, you let it happen!"

"Don't say that, Avalon!" the Doctor was the one to snap next. "Nothing is going to happen to you! We're gonna get you out! But you gotta stay calm. If you struggle, it'll make things worse. Keep hold of my hand. I'm not going to let you go."

"Ah!" Avalon's arms slipped from his grip as she sunk even lower, "I-i-it's pulling me!" she cried.

"Stay calm. Hold on," he gripped her one wrist with both his hands, "If they can just shut down the drill..."

"I can't hold on!" Avalon sunk down to her neck and arms, "Doctor, you gotta tell me what's down here..." she swallowed, her eyes becoming shinier as more water filled them, "What is under the earth? I don't want to suffocate under there! I'd rather drown!" And considering her hatred of beaches, that meant a lot.

"Avalon, just follow orders please. Concentrate!" the Doctor did his best to keep her spirits up despite the situation. He could feel her hands slipping from his grip so he squeezed as much as he could. He'd apologize for breaking her bones when she was safe in the TARDIS. "That's all. Concentrate. Don't you give up! That's not the Avalon I know!"

"Please don't let them take me..." Avalon whimpered as she went down again, her chin beginning to go under as well. Once she tasted dirt in her mouth, she realized this was happening. She would be going under no matter what. "Fairy Tale Man...look after Lena."

The Doctor's eyes widened. He recognized the resignation but before he could tell her things would be okay, her hand slipped out of his and she sunk into the ground.

"AVALON!" Lena cried and rushed forwards, forgetting all about the holes still threatening them.

"No! No!" the Doctor shouted at the ground, unable to believe he'd actually let that happen. "Avalon! Avalon!" he frantically dug through the whole, hoping nothing more than to see her fiery ginger curls. Suddenly, he wanted to hear her snaps and jabs! He wanted to take her night adventures and play cards when she couldn't sleep! The idea of never being able to do that struck chord that he hadn't felt a in a very long time. "No! No! No! No. No! No. NO!"

"Where did my sister go!? Where is she!?" Lena watched the Doctor use his sonic over the spot Avalon had been in but he got nothing from it.

Nasreen and Tony ran back inside the room thinking everything was good until they saw one angry man and one crying woman. It took them a few seconds to realize that Avalon was missing.

"Where's your other friend?" Nasreen asked.

"She's gone. The ground took her," the Doctor answered quietly, his eyes glued to the hole.

"And it's my fault...again," Lena dropped to her knees in front of the hole. "Always has to save me and then she gets in trouble!" she ran her hands through her hair, completely frantic, "Always, always, always me!"

"Is that what happened to Mo? Are they dead?" Tony questioned, the Doctor shooting the man a death glare as he was not helping the case.

The Doctor bent down and helped a frantic Lena to her feet, "Baby sister, baby sister, breathe," he gave the order, "I need you to be calm and to breathe!" he articulated the last word as he searched inside his jacket and pulled out her inhaler, "Breathe!"

Lena took the inhaler and took her breaths as requested, slowly calming down with each take, "Doctor, you have to save her, please," she sniffled, "I'll help you, but...she needs to be here and she needs to be alive!"

"Exactly what we're going to do," he assured her and took a breath himself before he started to think, "So...it's not quicksand, clearly. She didn't just sink..."

"She said something was pulling her," Lena reminded, wiping away some tears off her face, "If she was being pulled then it meant what ever was down there wanted her."

"The ground wanted her?" Nasreen raised a doubtful eyebrow.

"You said the ground was dormant, just a patch of earth, when you first saw it this morning," the Doctor looked at her nod, "And the drill had been stopped."

"That's right," Tony said.

"But when you re-started the drill, the ground fought back."

"So what, the ground wants to stop us drilling?! Doctor, that is ridiculous," Nasreen shook her head.

"Don't you dare call this ridiculous if it just swallowed my sister!" Lena snapped, surprising the Doctor as he sonicked the hole. Lena never snapped. But she looked so frustrated, so angry and so...sad. She was right in that somehow Avalon seemed to have a habit of getting hurt.

The Doctor felt a twinge of guilt as he recalled Avalon taking a death shot for him as well. Once again, she'd taken a bullet for someone and ended up hurt.

His thoughts were interrupted when the ground started vibrating, "Oh! Oh of course! It's bio-programming!"

"What?" Tony frowned.

"Bio-programming," the Doctor clapped, "You use bio-signals to resonate the internal molecular structure of natural objects! It's mainly used in engineering and construction, mostly jungle planets, but that's way in the future, and not here. What's it doing here?"

"Sorry, did you just say jungle planets?" Nasreen raised an eyebrow.

"You're not making any sense, man!" Tony added.

The Doctor took a moment to throw the man an indignant look. There was no time to waste and here this man was doing exactly that! "'Scuse me, I'm making perfect sense, you're just not keeping up! The earth, the ground beneath our feet, was bio-programmed to attack."

"Yeah, even if that were possible, which, by the way, it's not, why?" Nasreen asked.

"Stop you drilling! We find what's doing the bio-programming, find Avalon, get her back!" he suddenly spun around as if he had twenty people talking to him at the same time. "Ssh ssh ssh! Have I gone mad?! I've gone mad!"

"No time for personal questions, big brother," Lena sighed, "Can we find Avalon now?"

"Ssh ssh! Silence! Absolute silence!" the Doctor held a finger to them and shushed, "You stopped the drill, right?"

"Yes," Nasreen nodded.''

"And you've only got the one drill?"

"Yes!"

"You're sure about that?"

"Yes!"

But the Doctor dropped to the ground on his stomach and pressed an ear to the gun beside the hole where sure enough he heard that faint whirring sound again.

"Doctor, what is it?" Lena stepped forwards, for a second thinking he could hear Avalon still shouting. She shook her head and snapped out of those thoughts.

"So, if you shut the drill down... why can I still hear drilling?" the Doctor looked to Nasreen and Tony, "It's under the ground."

"That's not possible," Tony shot the idea down.

The Doctor ignored the man as he jumped back to his feet and ran towards the machinery with his screwdriver.

"Oh, no, what, what are you doing?" Nasreen quickly followed when she heard the screwdriver making its usual noises.

"Hacking into your records. Reports, samples, sensors, good, just unite the data, make it all one big conversation, let's have a look. So. We are here and this is your drill hole. 21.009 kilometres. Well done!"

"Thank you. It's taken us a long time," Nasreen faintly smiled with pride.

"Why here, though? Why drill on this site?"

"We found patches of grass in this area, containing trace minerals unseen in this country for 20 million years."

"The blue grass? Oh, Nasreen, those trace minerals weren't X marking the spot, saying dig here," the Doctor gave a small chuckle, "They were a warning. Stay away. Cos while you've been drilling down... somebody else has been drilling up," he pulled up a screen with a vertical network of the tunnels underneath the ground, "Oh, beautiful. Network of tunnels all the way down."

"No, no, we've surveyed that area," Tony said.

"Clearly you only saw what you went looking for," Lena shot him an irritated look. If they had paid more attention maybe her sister would still be around.

Nasreen noticed three little green dots that were moving up via the tunnels registered, "What are they?"

"Heat signals," the Doctor started looking into it, "Wait, dual readings, hot and cold, doesn't make sense. And now they're moving. Fast. How many people live nearby?"

"Just my daughter and her family. The rest of the staff travel in," Tony answered.

"Grab this equipment and follow me," the Doctor instructed and headed for the door with Lena.

"Why? What're we doing?!" Nasreen called.

The Doctor stopped ans turned around, "That noise isn't a drill. It's transport. Three of them, 30km down, rate of speed looks about 150km an hour. Should be here in...ooh, quite soon, 12 minutes," he picked up one of the computers, "Whatever bio-programmed the Earth is on its way up, now!"

~ 0 ~

The group were carrying computers and a wheelbarrow with more equipment as they trundled of the building.

"How can something be coming up when there's only the Earth's crust down there?" Tony insistingly asked.

"You saw the readings!" the Doctor exclaimed.

"But whoever is down there...they've got Avalon, right?" Lena hoped, "They took her..."

"Hopefully, and then we can have a nice little chat about that..." the Doctor mumbled, not so sure that a chat was what the creatures were coming for.

"Who are you, anyway?!" Nasreen cut in, "How can you know all this?"

They all stopped when a red light struck across the sky.

Lena gasped, "What was that?"

"No, no, no!" the Doctor took out across slingshot from his pocket and picked up a rock.

He shot the rock to the sky where a force field appeared at the contact in the form of a red light. He used the sonic and made visible the dome-shaped field around the village and drill site.

"Energy signal originating from under the Earth. We're trapped," the Doctor explained.

Rory and Amy joined the group with Ambrose and Elliot behind them.

"Doctor! Something weird's going on here, the graves are eating people," Rory really had no other way of putting it.

"And what was that in the sky?" Amy pointed above, "Red lights and stuff appeared."

"Energy barricade. Invisible to the naked eye," the Doctor waved them off, "We can't get out and no-one from the outside world can get in."

"What if we use the TARDIS?" Lena suggested.

"The what?!" Nasreen looked at the girl like she was crazy.

"No, those energy patterns would play havoc with the circuits. With a bit of time, maybe, but we've only got nine and a half minutes."

"Nine and a half minutes to what?" Amy raised an eyebrow.

"We're trapped. And something's burrowing towards the surface," Nasreen answered with and huff.

"Oh..." Amy nodded but blinked when she realized what had just been said, "No, wait, hold on, what!?"

"Wait, where's Ava?" Rory looked around, realizing they were missing some remarks from her.

"Get everyone inside the church!" the Doctor ordered the others as he picked up the computer he'd been taking out.

"Lena?" Amy asked, knowing the brunette would answer much easier than the Doctor.

"She was taken," Lena whispered guiltily. "Because of me."

"What d'you mean 'taken'? Where's she gone?" Rory demanded as he looked at the Doctor. A growing anger was taking over his expression and a well deserved one too if the Doctor was being honest.

"She was taken. Into the Earth," the Doctor sighed.

"Into the Earth!?" both Amy and Rory exclaimed.

"She saved me, as usual, and she got swallowed down into the Earth," Lena sniffled, "It's my fault."

As Amy moved to comfort the lonely twin, Rory raged at the Doctor, "You need to get Ava back!"

"I will, I'll find her," the Doctor assured, glancing at Lena, "I'll find Avalon. I'll keep you all safe. I promise. Come on, please. I need you alongside me."

Lena nodded and together they all headed towards the church.

~ 0 ~

The group was buy setting up the brought equipment inside the chaotic mess the church's room was in.

Ambrose was closest to the door, overlooking everything that was happening with a frustrated face. She'd been told that her husband, Mo, had apparently

been sucked down into the Earth along with another girl. The whole thing was just mad!

"So we can't get out, we can't contact anyone. And something, the something that took my husband, is coming up through the Earth," she recited what she'd been told and it still didn't sound very convincing

"Yes. If we move quickly enough, we can be ready," the Doctor said

"No, stop. This has gone far enough. What is this?"

"He's telling the truth, love," Tony, her father, looked up from the equipment he was setting up.

"Come on! It's not the first time we've had no mobile or phone signals. Reception's always rubbish."

"Listen lady!" Lena nearly shouted, shocking her friends her voice could actually reach a level like that, "You can sit there and not believe a thing or you can come and help! Your husband my sister are down there and I will not have you waste our time with your unbelieving rants!"

Ambrose stood still with blinking eyes, unsure of what to do or say next. The brunette looked awfully pale and frantic, something Ambrose didn't want to push even farther.

"Lena," Amy gently came forwards to her friend, "You need to calm down," she set an arm around Lena's shoulder, "It's not good for your health."

Nasreen looked between the frantic brunette and the stunned Ambrose. She stayed looking at Amberose and sighed, "Look, Ambrose, we saw the girl's sister get taken, okay? You saw the lightning in the sky. I have seen the impossible today, and the only person who's made any sense of it, for me, is the Doctor."

"Him?!" Ambrose cast a worried look to the Doctor.

"Me," he nodded.

"Can you get my dad back?" Elliot suddenly asked, making the room go silent as everyone looked at the Doctor for his answer

"Yes," he answered and walked towards Ambrose, "But I need you to trust me and do exactly as I say from this second onwards because we're running out of time."

"So tell us what to do," Ambrose breathed, resigned.

"Thank you. We have eight minutes to set up a line of defence. Bring me every phone, camera, every piece of recording or transmitting equipment you can find," he ordered, "Every burglar alarm, every movement sensor, every security light. I want the whole area covered with sensors."

The group nodded and rushed to do the task. The Doctor returned to Lena and Amy and signaled Amy to go ahead and follow Rory out. Once the ginger had left, he set his hands on Lena's shoulders and the brunette promptly looked up with tears in her eyes.

"It's my fault," she sniffled.

"No, it's not. Stop saying that, please," he hugged her.

"It's always my fault, big brother. I always get into trouble and need saving from Avalon. I don't deserve that."

"You're saying you don't deserve your twin sister's love?" the Doctor gave a short chuckle.

She parted to look up at him. "You know I don't."

"Doctor?" Ambrose poked her head back inside the room, "We need help outside," she pointed then rushed out again.

~ 0 ~

Ambrose and Rory finished hooking up cameras in ideal positions where the Doctor sonicked them as the last touch.

Once back in the room, the Doctor monitored the oncoming green dots, "Right, we need to be ready for whatever's coming up," he looked to Elliot beside him, "I need a map of the village, marking where the cameras are going."

"I can't do the words. I'm dyslexic," the boy shrugged.

"Oh, that's all right, I can't make a decent meringue," the Doctor turned to him and smiled, "Draw like your life depends on it, Elliot," the boy nodded and ran off. A moment later the Doctor checked his watch and read the time, "6 minutes 40."

~ 0 ~

Lena watched the Doctor going through Ambrose's van, still confused why he needed this particular car. She went around to the back and opened the doors, "Refrigerators!" she called.

"Oi! What're you doing!?" Ambrose hollered as she walked by, her arms full of garden tools, or...weapons.

"Resources! Every little helps!" the Doctor poked his head around the van, Lena closing the doors.

"I still don't understand what this vehicle can provide for us," she sighed.

"Well, it's a bit chilly for a hideout, mind," Ambrose had joined them and set the tools in the front seat.

"What are those?" Lena eyed what Ambrose had set down.

"Like the Doctor said, every little helps."

The Doctor gave the woman a suspicious look and checked the pile, "No! No weapons," he shook his head and stepped back, "It's not the way I do things."

"You said we're supposed to defend ourselves."

"Oh, Ambrose, you're better than this. I'm asking nicely. Put them away," the Doctor linked his arm with Lena and walked off.

"She was just trying to help," Lena offered as a valid reason, "Her husband's gone missing."

"Your sister's gone missing," he pointed out, "I don't see you carrying a weapon," he stopped and eyed her outfit, "You're not...you're not-"

Lena laughed, the first real laugh she'd given since Avalon had been taken, "No, silly."

"Sorry," he gave a small chuckle, "But I mean you have lived with a feisty ginger who hides weapons in her shoes."

"But she never let me near them," Lena shook her head and started walking again, the Doctor going at her pace beside her, "And you know, the only reason she knows how to use them is because she wanted to know how...protect me. It's not because she likes them. I mean, she kind of does but not for bad reasons."

The Doctor knew Lena was trying to sway his opinions on her twin with weaponry. Lena understood completely his opposition to them and knew that it was a big disagreement between him and Avalon. She just didn't want him to think that Avalon was a bad person for handling weapons. Avalon only used them because of, well...her...again.

"Everything Avalon is, is because of me," Lena continued, sighing, "She's stolen because of me, gone to jail because of me, learned weaponry because of me. But she's not a bad person, big brother. Honest. She's really sweet and caring, you two will be fine."

And the Doctor had to make another stop there, "Why are you saying that?"

Lena slowly turned with fiddling hands, "Because I'm going home after this."

"What?"

"I don't want to travel anymore," she continued walking again. She couldn't look him in the eyes just yet.

"But...b-b-but...what!?" the Doctor shook his head and quickly caught up with the brunette, "Lena, Lena, what are you saying?"

Lena gazed ahead so she could say what she needed to. "Let's be honest, big brother, I stink at traveling. I get scared of everything, I can't run very fast, and I'm not smart. This is not me."

"Lena, you're just saying that because of the circumstances. You'll see that once you have Avalon back-"

"No, Doctor," she turned to him with watery eyes, "I don't want to do this anymore. I keep getting my sister into trouble. She's supposed to be traveling and having fun and actually making a life of her own. But with me here she's just doing what she'd do at home, only here she can actually die," she swallowed hard, "I don't want to be the reason my sister loses her life."

"And you think that Avalon would just stay here when you go home?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow, challenging her thoughts, "The only reason she's here is because of you. If you leave then she'll leave."

"No, that won't happen. I'll make her see that she has a right to make her own life. She needs to go out and meet new people, talk about herself and not focus on me."

"But Lena-"

"Big brother, I've thought about this before. I've known that I can't handle this kind of life and...I think I've finally had my fill. It's okay," Lena touched his arm, giving him a soft smile. "You've shown me more things than I could've imagined. I'm okay to go now."

"Doesn't mean I have to like it," the Doctor said almost with the tone of a child. He felt like he only just started traveling with her. She'd truly grown to become his 'baby sister' and he didn't want to have her leave him.

"Just because I won't be in the TARDIS doesn't mean you stop being my big brother," Lena said as if she'd read his mind. "In fact, I fully expect you to pick me up for a trip here and there."

"I guess so," the Doctor sighed. He couldn't be upset with her, especially his baby sister. It wasn't the first time a companion of his decided that the TARDIS life wasn't for them. "So how exactly are you going to tell Avalon this? Because once she hears you're leaving, she'll go too." And maybe he didn't quite want that either...

Lena smiled innocently, making it clear she'd already thought ahead. "I have a way for her to stay. And you're gonna help me."

"What? How and why?" the Doctor was genuinely fearful of what this idea would involve.

"You're going to drop me off home in secret and for no matter what, you are not to bring Avalon home. And why? Simple, because I'm your baby sister and I am asking you to help me."

The Doctor made a face and bowed his head, "I hate that line. I really hate that line."

"Please, Doctor? Please help me?" Lena took his hands and continued to plead, "Without me Avalon can finally live her life and explore the world with no worries about some sick ole twin and have some fun because she really deserves to have fun and even maybe meet someone who'll make really happy and-"

"Alright!" the Doctor gave up and sighed, stumbling back with the great hug Lena attacked him with, "But fair warning, if you never hear from me again it'll be because your sister killed me and buried me in some planet."

"That's...oddly accurate based off her personality," Lena admitted and shrugged, "But I'm sure she won't...ish," she quickly scurried off.

The Doctor took a breath and continued on his way, actually praying to every deity he knew that the ginger wouldn't react so...murderously when she'd find her twin had departed without her knowledge.

~ 0 ~

Back in the church, Elliot ran inside with his finished map paper in his hands, "I did it!" he exclaimed and handed it to the Doctor who was checking one of the computer screens.

"Look at that!" the Doctor saw the map, "Perfect! Dyslexia never stopped Da Vinci or Einstein, it's not stopping you."

"I don't understand what you're going to do," Elliot admitted with confusion.

"Two-phase plan. First, the sensors and cameras will tell us when something arrives. Second, if something does arrive, I use this to send a sonic pulse through that network of devices, a pulse which would temporarily incapacitate most things in the universe. "

"Knock 'em out. Cool," Elliot nodded.

"Lovely place to grow up, round here."

"Suppose. I want to live in a city one day. Soon as I'm old enough, I'll be off."

"I was the same, where I grew up," the Doctor related as he went back to a a monitor.

"Did you get away?"

"Yeah."

"Do you ever miss it?"

"So much..." the Doctor answered a bit late on it, could he be blamed though?

"Is it monsters coming?" Elliot peered at the screens, "Have you met monsters before?"

"Yeah."

"You scared of them?"

"No! They're scared of me," the Doctor smirked.

"Will you really get my dad back?"

"No question."

"I left my headphones at home," Elliot remembered and ran out.

~ 0 ~

After setting the last of the cameras, the group returned to the church but had trouble getting inside as the wooden door would not budge open.

"I can't open it! It keeps sticking!" Ambrose exclaimed as she continuously pushed, "The wood's warped."

The Doctor had gone to help Ambrose, Lena quickly hurrying to help, "Oi you two!" the Doctor looked back at Amy and Rory, "Any time you want to help!"

"What? Can't you sonic it?" Amy raised an eyebrow, heading over nonetheless to help.

"It doesn't do wood!"

Rory snorted, "That is rubbish!"

The Doctor stopped pushing to turn around, showing his offended face, "Oi! Don't diss the sonic!"

"Oi!" Lena grabbed him by the arm, "Get back to helping!"

Once inside, the ground had started shaking with the nearing creatures. The Doctor ran to the computers, dodging the falling objects from above, "See if we can get a fix!" he tried working on them but after a couple second it sparked and shut off with the power gone.

"No power," Tony remarked.

"It's deliberate," the Doctor mumbled.

"What do we do now?" Lena asked, already afraid as the shaking wouldn't cease.

Tony turned on a bright torch that gave some light in the room. The Doctor looked away from the screens with a face, "Nothing. We've got nothing! They sent an energy surge to wreck our systems."

Once the shaking stopped, everyone gathered together and took a look around.

"Is everyone OK? Is anyone hurt?" Rory questioned them.

"I'm fine," Nasreen sighed.

"Lena?" Rory turned to her, knowing out of everyone she'd be the easiest to hurt.

"Fine too," she crossed her arms.

"Anyone?"

"I'm good," Tony said.

"Me too," Ambrose nodded.

A loud rumbling emerged from the outside, making everyone freeze in their spots.

"Doctor, what was that?" Amy whispered.

"It's like the holes at the drill station," Tony remembered.

"Is this how they happened?" Nasreen asked the Doctor.

He knelt down and bent over to listen to the ground, "It's coming through the final layer of Earth."

"What is!?" Nasreen cried.

The Doctor stood quickly just as silence overtook the area.

"The banging's stopped," Lena mumbled, her eyes darting from one place to another.

Ambrose had started looking around and realized something very important, "Where's Elliot? Has anyone seen Elliot? Did he come in? Was he in when the door was shut? Who counted him back in? Who saw him last?"

Everyone looked around for the missing boy, no one seeing the Doctor stiffen, "...I did," he answered eventually.

"Where is he?" Ambrose turned to him.

"He said he was going to get headphones."

"And you let him go? He was out there on his own?"

Suddenly, they heard pounding on the other side of the door, followed by Elliot's pleading voice, "Mum! Grandpa Tony! Let me in!"

"Elliot!" Ambrose ran to the door, "He's out there! Help me!" she looked at the others.

"Open the door! Mum! There's something out here!"

Everyone hurried to the door and worked on opening it, the wood once again stuck.

"Push, Elliot, push, Elliot!" Ambrose called.

"Mum!"

"Hurry up!" Ambrose ordered the others.

"Mummy..."

"Come on!" Tony exclaimed and finally opened the door, Ambrose being the first to run out.

"Elliot!" she called but saw no one around anymore, "Where is he? He was here. He was here! Elliot!" she ran towards the graveyard.

"Ambrose, don't go running off!" the Doctor called after her, Tony going to follow her out.

~ 0 ~

By the time the rest of the group had caught up to Ambrose and Tony, a lot had happened. Ambrose had found her son's headphones and was attacked by a creature with apparently green scaly skin. Tony, in trying to protect his daughter, had gotten lashed with a...tongue? on his neck.

"My dad's hurt!" Ambrose was at her father's side, trying to help him up.

"Get him into the church now!" the Doctor ordered the others.

"Elliot's gone," Ambrose whimpered, "They've killed him, haven't they?"

"No, they can't have!" Lena shook her head frantically, "Don't say that!"

"N-n-n-n-no!" the Doctor tried calming both women down, "Listen to me, both of you, all of you," he eyed the remaining three silent humans, "Now, they've taken three people, when they could've just killed them up here. There's still hope, Lena, Ambrose. There is always hope."

"Then why've they taken him?" Ambrose sniffled.

"And my sister," Lena looked down, her eyes getting ready to release fresh new tears.

"We'll find Avalon and Elliot," the Doctor assured both, "I promise. But first I've gotta stop this attack. Please, get inside the church."

"Come on, Dad," Ambrose helped Tony up with the help of Amy.

"Lena, you go with Amy," the Doctor instructed.

She nodded and helped the women get Tony back.

"So, what now? Rory raised an eyebrow, still in the dark about the exact plan going through the alien's head.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor walked through the street wearing sunglasses that picked up heat signatures all around him. He noticed something move in the bushes that hadn't given off heat, "Cold blood," he smirked and started to sing-song, "I know what they are..." he moved towards the meals on wheels van where he took a fire extinguisher from the front seat and shut the door, all the meanwhile casually whistling.

Through the van's mirror he saw a creature heading towards him. He spun out of the way when it attacked and used the extinguisher on it. Once the creature screamed, Rory jumped out of the van's backdoor and together pushed the creature in the refrigerated back and locked the door.

"We got it!" Rory exclaimed.

"Defending the planet with meals on wheels!" the Doctor laughed and raised hands to do a high-five when a rumbling cut them off.

"What was that?" Rory looked around.

"Sounds like they're leaving..."

"Without this one?" Rory nodded to the van. The darkness went away and allowed the sun to once more hit the area, "Looks like we scared them off!"

"I don't think so. Now both sides have hostages," the Doctor mumbled.

~ 0 ~

"NO!" Avalon gasped awake, her hands flinging to her neck...only to have them crash against the clear wall in front of her that sealed her inside a near-like coffin. She panted as she came around from the awful nightmare. It seemed that even when she'd been swallowed by the planet and being unconscious wouldn't help her get some sleep. She placed her hands on the wall and tried pushing it off with all her might, "Let me out, whoever you are! I'm alive and you better RUN!" she slammed her hands on the wall repeatedly, "I am Avalon Reynolds and I'm not...I'm not scared!" she saw a distorted figure approaching her, "LET ME OUT!"

"Shh!" it said to her.

Avalon raised an eyebrow, "Did you just shush me? You're dead do you hear me!?" suddenly gas started to fill the coffin, "What are you doing!? Stop that!" she coughed, "Sop that..." she coughed some more then fell unconscious.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor was heading inside the basement with Lena behind him, a rather cautious engaged couple behind her, tentatively reaching for her arm in case the creature sat in the shadows attacked again. They all agreed that when Avalon returned, because she would return, she would definitely kill them all if anything happened to Lena.

"Are you sure? By yourself?" Lena whispered to the Doctor, "She could hurt you."

"Very sure," he assured her.

"But the sting..."

"Venom gland takes at least 24 hours to recharge," he stared at the silent creature, "Am I right?" he called to it but received no answer, "I know what I'm doing. I'll be fine."

Amy and Rory reached out for Lena finally and pulled her back upstairs, leaving the Doctor to deal with the creature. He walked down the remainder of the steps as the creature finally inched out of the shadows with chainmail and a mask over its face.

"I'm the Doctor, I've come to talk," he raised his hands up in peace as he grew closer to it, "I'm going to remove your mask," he he squatted down and removed the creature's mask to reveal a bright green humanoid, scaly face, "You are beautiful. Remnant of a bygone age on planet Earth. And by the way, lovely mode of travel! Geothermal currents, projecting you up through a network of tunnels. Gorgeous! Mind if I sit?' he stood up and reached for a folding chair which he placed in front of the creature and promptly sat down, " Now. Your people have a friend of mine. I want her back. Why did you come to the surface? What do you want?" the creature remained silent, making the Doctor sigh. "Oh, I do hate a monologue. Give us a bit back. How many are you?"

"I'm the last of my species," it responded.

"Really? No. 'Last of the species', the Klempari Defence. As an interrogation defense, it's a bit old hat, I'm afraid."

"I'm the last of my species."

The Doctor grew serious, "No, you're really not. Because I'm the last of my species and I know how it sits in a heart. So don't insult me. Let's start again. Tell me your name."

Seeing no other alternative, the creature responded truthfully, "Alaya."

"How long has your tribe been sleeping under the Earth, Alaya? It's not difficult to work out. You're 300 million years out of your comfort zone. Question is, what woke you now?"

"We were attacked," she spat.

But the Doctor knew that wasn't exactly what happened, to the human's perspective anyways. "The drill."

"Our sensors detected a threat to our life support systems. The warrior class was activated to prevent the assault," and by the looks of her face, Alaya had already made her decision on how best to eradicate their problem. "We will wipe the vermin from the surface and reclaim our planet."

"Do we have to say vermin? They're really very nice."

"Primitive apes."

"Extraordinary species," the Doctor countered. "You attack them, they'll fight back. But, there's a peace to be brokered here. I can help you with that."

"This land is ours. We lived here long before the apes."

"Doesn't give you automatic rights to it now, I'm afraid," the Doctor shook his head, "Humans won't give up the planet."

"So we destroy them."

"You underestimate them-"

"-you underestimate us."

"One tribe of homo reptilia against six billion humans, you've got your work cut out."

Alaya stood up, "We did not initiate combat. But we can still win."

"Tell me where my friend is," the Doctor stood up, "Give us back the people who were taken."

"No," she spat again.

He sighed, "I'm not going let you provoke a war, Alaya," he folded the chair up and returned it to its place, "There'll be no battle here today."

"The fire of war is already lit. A massacre is due," Alaya nearly cheered at the idea.

"Not while I'm here."

"I'll gladly die for my cause. What will you sacrifice for yours?"

The Doctor gave one last look then turned and left in silence.

~ 0 ~

"You're going to what!?" Rory exclaimed after hearing the Doctor's plan.

"I'm going to go down below the surface, to find the rest of the tribe," the Doctor repeated, "To talk to them."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Amy crossed her arms.

"You're going to negotiate with these aliens?" Ambrose nearly shouted.

"They're not aliens! They're Earth...liens!" the Doctor plopped down on a chair with an amused smile, "Once known as the Silurian race, or, some would argue, Eocenes, or Homo reptilia. Not monsters, not evil," he stood up, "Well, only as evil as you are. The previous owners of the planet, that's all. Look, from their point of view, you're the invaders. Your drill was threatening their settlement. Now, the creature in the crypt. Her name's Alaya. She's one of their warriors and she's my best bargaining chip. I need her alive. If she lives, so do Elliot and Mo and Avalon. While I'm gone, you six people, in this church, in this corner of planet Earth, you have to be the best of humanity."

"What if they come back?" Tony reminded, "Shouldn't we be examining this creature, dissecting it, finding its weak points?"

"I don't think dissection is going to keep my sister alive," Lena almost snapped again, "We hurt this creature and they hurt Avalon and I will not risk that, you got it?"

"Lena's right," the Doctor set a hand on her shoulder, hoping she'd calm down soon. Her emotions were rather radical and heavy today, certainly not the best way to keep her health in good state, "No dissecting! No examining! We return their hostage, they return ours. Nobody gets harmed. We can land this, together. If you are the best you can be. You are decent, brilliant people. Nobody dies today. Understand?"

Nasreen gave an applause but stopped when no one joined in, feeling a bit nervous afterwards.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor was heading towards the TARDIS when he heard two pairs of footsteps running closer to him. He looked back and saw Lena and Nasreen coming towards him, "No, sorry, no. What are you doing?"

"Coming with you, of course!" Lena panted for breath once they'd caught up, "Nasreen just came for her life's work."

"What is it?" Nasreen nodded to the TARDIS, "Some kind of transport pod?"

"Sort of," the Doctor answered her then looked at Lena, "You're not coming, baby sister. And neither are you Nasreen."

"He's right, you're not," Tony joined them, looking at Nasreen.

"I have spent all my life excavating the layers of this planet. And now you want me to stand back while you head down into it? I don't think so!" Nasreen shook her head.

"And I have to go," Lena declared, "My sister is down there. You can't expect me to wait up here. Amy and Rory didn't stop me and neither will you," she pushed open the doors of the TARDIS and stepped inside.

The Doctor sighed and let the brunette go, though he did look at Nasreen with a doubtful face, "It'll be dangerous," he warned her.

"Oh, so's crossing the road," she shrugged.

"Oh, for goodness' sake, all right, then! Come on!" he went inside the box and saw Lena already at the console, "Baby sister, your twin is gonna kill me for this."

"I'll explain to her that I forced you to take me," Lena crossed her arms.

Nasreen stood at the doorway, the doors now closed behind her, and stared with wide eyes at the bigger room inside, "Oh my..." she breathed.

"Welcome aboard the TARDIS. Now don't touch anything!" the Doctor called, "Very precious."

"No way!" she walked over with awe, "But that's... this is..." she slapped him on the arm and laughed, "What does it do?"

"Everything! I'm hoping, if we're going down, that barricade won't interfere," the Doctor said just as the box started pitching drastically, making everyone cling to the console, "Did you touch something?!"

"No! Isn't this what it does?!"

"Doctor, what's going on!?" Lena cried.

"We've been hijacked! I can't stop it! They must've sensed the electro-magnetic field!" the Doctor looked at the monitor, "They're pulling the TARDIS down into the Earth!"

The box shook for a couple minutes before it gave a final lurch and sent everyone the floor, finally becoming still. Nasreen lifted her head up and looked around before snapping one of the Doctor's braces.

"Oi!"

"Where are we?" she demanded through a small laugh.

The Doctor got up and helped Lena then rushed to the doors with her. They all stepped out into a yellow-colored tunnel with roots and fungus covering the walls. The Doctor looked up from the way they fell and whistled in impression, "Looks like we fell through the bottom of their tunnel system. Don't suppose it was designed for handling something like this."

"How far down are we?" Nasreen gasped.

"A lot more than 21km."

"So how come we aren't burning alive?" Lena asked the question that made them all think.

"Don't know. Interesting, isn't it?"

"Scary," she corrected and crossed her arms.

"Oh, not really," he swung an arm around her shoulders and the three began walking ahead.

"Is it like this is everyday to you?" Nasreen asked them, curiously.

"Not every day. Every other day," the Doctor shrugged. Nasreen couldn't fathom that type of life; she imagined it was what Lena felt like based off the facial expressions of the young woman.

In reality, Lena just really wanted her sister back already.

[1dffexchange]

Cut To The Feeling

To: Steph @harrysmeadow​

From: Zohra @gonebutstill​

Summary: Harry may be Rory’s co-worker, he may be better at taking care of animals than her; he may be the one everyone seems to love. But that doesn’t mean she has to like him as well.

a story about bonding over knocked-up dogs at the shelter and an ex’s wedding, field trips on Wednesdays and how  consequences of your action often came with knocks on the door.

Author’s Note: A/N: I hope you like reading it as much as i did while writing the little exchange. Enjoy!

October

It was weird seeing Josh after all that time.

The café buzzed with the electricity of a Sunday morning, the murmur of chatter serving as background music for their conversation. Rory's hands were clammy; there was awkwardness in the air. But Josh was sitting with an air of indifference, and maybe Rory did have a tendency to overcomplicate things.

"You look happy." It was the first thing that came to Rory's lips, and the only thing which was occupying her mind ever since she saw Josh walk in through the doors of Caffeinated Highs. He had grown, not only physically but mentally as well. The cheeks that used to be sunken in terribly were now glowing in an I'm-happy kind of way – the kind which made Rory wish he had smiled more while they were together because now she could spot small laugh-lines around the corner of his lips, something she never once thought she would see on him.

His smile deepened, so much that he had to chew on his bottom lip in an effort to not break into a full grin. His eyes were casted down. She followed where his eyes were. Josh was toying with something on his left hand – precisely, it was a silver band on his ring finger. Rory felt something heavy settle deep in her belly. Fearing his next words, pain originated from nowhere and spread all around in her stomach.

Josh might have felt Rory's eyes upon him because he looked up. His eyes changed colors, like they did with each of his emotions. The murky brown was now a shade just lighter than that of honey, and Rory guessed he was feeling sympathy.

"It's the reason I'm here," he spoke, but his voice was low. It was as if he hadn't spoken at all. But Rory saw his mouth moving, and words themselves registered in her brain despite her paying no attention to them at all. "We ended things at the wrong foot, I know, but it would really mean a lot to me and Lara if you came."

From inside his jacket, he pulled out a white envelope – a save-the-date card – and slid it across the table towards her. Rory eyed the card; her mind was still processing the information like a computer which had been in use for a long time. Anxiety was bubbling in her stomach.

The waiter came with the hot beverages they both had ordered. Rory realized Josh was waiting for an answer.

She slowly picked up the card and read the wedding date. December 23rd. Two and a half months from now. She smiled despite herself.

"A Christmas wedding?"

Josh's lips hitched. "Yeah, we figured everyone would be busy with their family on the twenty-fourth so our best option was the twenty-third. Besides you know Lara, and you know you can't say no to her when she says she wants to have a wedding around Christmas."

Lara was like that – always knowing how to have her own way – and it was probably why how their friendship survived. It worked because Rory was as indecisive as can be, and Lara was unwavering. Besides, for as long as Rory knew Lara, it was decided that both of them were going to have a Christmas wedding.

Half of that was going to be true, Rory thought. Lara was going to have a Christmas wedding.

"It's not going to be much," Josh stated, "a small ceremony and then a dinner afterwards."

Rory hadn't looked up from the card from the minute Josh put it forward. She didn't want him to know how much his consideration of inviting her to the wedding affected her.

She didn't want him to know that visions of them two together were hurting her still, and there, at that moment, the gaping hole they had left behind was deeper than the pain inflicted by their actions.

If Josh was getting annoyed at the duration of time she took to mumble just a simple "Okay", he didn't show it. Instead, relief took over his features as he sagged in his seat, for the first time showing how tense he really was.

His shoulders visibly relaxed and the lines over his forehead straightened.

"Okay? Does it mean you'll come?"

She didn't have the heart to tell him that her 'okay' meant something more on the lines of 'I'll think about it' because he was already thrusting the card and its supporting envelope in her hand.

"You need to RSVP it by the twentieth of November."

Rory couldn't ask him whether the invitation was both from him and Lara or just from him. And who she was going to come as; an ex- girlfriend, an ex-best-friend or just a friend, because he was sliding through the booth with his coat draped over his arm.

"It was nice seeing you after all that time Rory."

He left as soon as he had come, it seemed. As Rory sagged in the seat with her head in her hands, she wondered what she had gotten herself into. Agreeing to attend a wedding with no real intention of doing so was not going to end well.

Perhaps it was what which made her shiver, even though the temperature of the café was extremely warm. And suddenly she couldn't make a distinction between herself and the cold cup of tea she had ordered earlier.

.

.

The animal shelter wasn't as warm as Rory would have liked it to be.

She was a firm believer of not wasting food, so she had to drink the cold tea even though it tasted much like ash. The drizzle outside made it worse; she forgot to bring her umbrella and walking while cold and heavy water dripped over her head wasn't an ideal situation either. To top it all off, the heating system in the shelter was not working and she found Moby curled up in a ball and whimpering in the corner of her bed as Penny tended to her.

"What's wrong with her Penny?"

Penny walked with a first-aid box always clutched in her hand or packed in her bag. She specified in dealing with physical injuries – her nineteen years of fighting the universe trying to make her fall making her an expert in dealing with minor cuts and bruises. She was known to trip even over thin air, sort of a feature which made her eligible for the job. Rory was highly thankful for Penny (something she showed time and again by treating Penny to various things), seeing as without her she would have to see the features of the orangutan she had the displeasure of working with.

"I'm sorry I can't tell you much, Rory. She's vomited a couple of times. Something's wrong on the inside and I'm afraid I'm helpful unless it's something internally. But maybe you should ask Harry. He'll know what to do."

Rory paused, "Maybe you should ask him. I really don't have the energy in me to do so."

Penny looked at Rory through the corner of her eyes, giving her a look that read 'really?'. Rory hesitated, clutching her hands together and looking down at the curled up figure of Moby. "I've had a rough morning, that's all."

If Penny didn't believe her, she didn't show it. Truth was, seeing Harry – or worse, seeing him gloat that Rory asked him for help – was only going to put a damper on her mood than really helping her. Rory was still weighed down by the meeting she had had with Josh today, and Harry was only going to be certain to make her suffer more.

"He's with Beth at the moment. I'll ask him to look at Moby on my way out."

Rory thanked her and crouched down next to Moby. She was the first dog Rory got to take care of, so Moby was pretty close to her. Rory had just about adopted Moby. But between classes and work, couldn't do so properly.

She ran her hand through Moby's fur. Moby let out a bark which sounded more like a mixture of a cough and a groan. Rory sighed, "What happened to you, Moby?"

"She's knocked up."

At first, Rory thought maybe she had made up the voice but heavy footsteps later, a body settled itself by her on the floor. Harry's tall frame loomed over Moby's balled up body. He looked more pale than usual, something Rory guessed was the result of the non-sunny weather they were having since a couple of days. She turned her head towards Harry slowly. He was wearing one of his trademark, brightly coloured shirts and the same, brown coloured worn out shoes.

"W-What did you say?"

Harry was smiling for reasons unknown to Rory. She guessed it had to do with him knowing more about anatomy and morphology and whatever concerning biology more than her. It wasn't among Rory's strongest suits, neither was it a strong one; something Rory had made clear couple of times before. That's why they had Penny and Harry working at the shelter. But unfortunately, the latter was there as a pain in her arse than being of any assistance.

"Moby's pregnant," He spoke with such casualty which made Rory wonder the number of times this situation might have occurred with Harry to be so much relaxed about it. He didn't stop speaking, pointing his fingers towards the noticeable signs as he spoke, "How do I know that? Well, for one, her activity decreased substantially in the last week and you see her belly? It's quite early for us to see but there's a slight swelling if you notice carefully. And her nipples have enlarged as her milk glands are developing and –"

Rory gulped and with wide eyes swatted his hands away from Moby's – er - developing milk glands. "Stop touching them; it's hurting Moby."

Harry stopped talking, took in the horrified expression on Rory's face and smiled even brighter. "Ah, yes, I forgot. The nipples get tender and more sensitive during the onset of pregnancy, you see. It's because-"

Rory squeaked and slapped a hand on Harry's mouth whose eyes were alighted by her clear discomfort. "Please stop talking. I beg y- Ew!"

She removed her hand now covered with Harry's saliva and wiped it down on her jeans-clad legs. The smile was ever so present on his face. "You're disgusting, did you know that?"

He shrugged, re-focusing his attention on Moby who was watching him back. "But in all seriousness, you should take her to the vet for proper checkup, though. I'll talk to Beth and make arrangements."

He got up, patting Moby's fur as he did so. Rory sighed, adding 'pregnant Moby' to number second in the list of things weighing her down. She kissed Moby on the forehead just as Harry's forgotten voice rang out again.

"I forgot one more thing; Moby would be experiencing morning sickness so you better be prepared incase-"

Rory groaned loudly, imagining Harry's smirk breaking his face in two. He was insufferable, an orangutan who could be as intolerable as a toddler, someone who never failed to make her blood boil in annoyance. She turned around to see Harry's figure standing a few steps behind her, looking at her with an air of ingenuity. Rory huffed, covering Moby with a blanket and stood up to exit.

"You bother me to no end, Styles."

Harry chuckled as Rory passed him, eyes still alight, "I don't. I just have a penchant of taking pleasure in your distress."

How was that not the same thing? Rory wasn't sure.

//

Little Hope was established in early 1990s by Beth's father Murray, who was at that time a vet. He died shortly afterwards and Beth, still a teenager, took it upon herself to run the shelter. The building was sandwiched between an ice-cream parlour and a hair salon. Beth's eight year old twin daughters helped her paint it bright yellow (all they did was chose the colour) two years ago; which according to Beth suited the atmosphere of the shelter incredibly. Beth's daughters, Blue and Violet had deemed yellow a happy colour prior to leaving their marks - two little hands on the front door which had long since faded – and then proceeded to virtually adopt every animal in the shelter.

Maybe this was the reason (the ice-cream parlour also helped heaps) that the shelter always had influx of little children with waffle cones in their hands and ear-splitting grins as they walked through it accompanied by their parents. Most of the times, their aching teeth would be replaced by satisfied hearts when they'd walk out with adopted puppies in their arms.

This was the thing Rory liked most about volunteering at the animal shelter. This, and the fact that Rory got to look after and befriend animals that would have never come closer to her otherwise. She really had a penchant of scaring away animals when trying to pet them and babies would cry whenever someone would hand her theirs to hold.

She had tried her best to stay away from both but one accident involving a bicycle, a sixteen year old Rory's clumsiness and quick thinking – and perhaps luck as Little Hope was across the block – never-ending crying and hiccoughing after, she found herself looking after a litter of puppies, which, according to Beth, were a few hours old.

Among that litter was a runt, so small and visibly weaker than its siblings. It was pretty much enveloped by its mother, who seemed to be protecting it from its siblings.

Beth came back a few moments later.

"The pup's going to be fine," She told Rory, interrupting her stare-down with the runt, "You can leave if you want, but you're welcome to stay and look at the animals."

Rory was unsure, but decided follow Beth as she showed her around the shelter – Little Hope. She told Rory all about its history, about her father, about the first animal she rescued. She saved a puppy from rain and brought it to her father to take care. The puppy didn't survive, but it left a flicker burning in her to save other animals.

Now Beth ran the shelter and put up puppies for adoption.

"And the corgi back there? The runt of the litter just born? Is he going to be fine?"

Beth laughed, stopping their tour and looking at Rory with kind eyes, "He is actually a she."

Rory blushed, "I'm sorry. Biology is not my strongest suits. But is she going to be fine?"

Beth shrugged; sighing as the bell over the door rang, announcing an incoming customer, "Only time will tell."

But Rory didn't wait for time; coming time and again with things she thought would be helpful for the really young puppy. And they did help – or maybe it was the care she gave the little puppy – for the puppy survived, but her mother didn't.

And that's how after two weeks of coming to the shelter on a regular basis that Rory decided to – officially – volunteer at the shelter, a two-week old mother-less Moby the first dog she looked after.

//

The nightmare came in the shape of Harry accompanying Rory and Moby to the vet, despite of the number of times the former refused. The showers of yesterday resulted in a kind of wet weather and Rory could feel her sinuses taking the burn of that. Her eyes had started burning long before but her headache was only taking flight.

It also didn't help that Harry was aggravating it more.

"Really, Beth, Moby and I are fine by ourselves. You don't need to send Harry with us."

"Oh, but she does." It was Harry. Harry with his tall frame and evil grin (which only Rory could see), his boyish charm and orangutang-ly ways which had everyone under their control. No one could say no to him, he made sure of that.

"Please Beth. There's no need to bother Harry-"

"Oh, but it's not bothering me in any way. I want to go because what if the vet says some term you don't understand and end up making a fool out of yourself? Now, Roro, I really can't let that happen."

"Hey! What did we say about calling me Roro?"

"Let me check. Oh, you said to absolutely call you that whenever I want to bother you!"

"That wasn't-"

If Rory wanted to then she could have made fun of Harry's shoes which were on the verge of falling. But no, despite how much she hated those boots and his flashy shirts (they'd flash his nipples), she couldn't do that. Her tongue just wasn't ready to voice what she had been thinking for as long as he'd been causing her discomfort.

Beth was watching the two bicker back and forth. She, along with all the staff at the shelter, got used to their regular banter in the first month of Harry working at the shelter. It was childish, a usual dose of entertainment for everyone. But it could get annoying pretty quickly.

"That's enough, you two. Harry's going, and that's final."

Rory was quick to shut her mouth, while Harry shot her a dirty smirk. Beth turned her back towards them to grab a couple of things for Moby, giving Rory enough time to flip Harry off.

.

.

Rory would rather untwist her guts with a wrench than admit that Harry was right.

But it turned out he was right after all. Moby was, indeed, pregnant.

Four days pregnant.

Dr. Travis took Moby for some blood tests after examining her physically. He told the same things that Harry told Rory before, except they were less vivid but more detailed, if that made sense. Harry kept shooting Rory smug looks, the kinds which irritated Rory to no end. At one point, she picked up the flower pot with dead stems and almost threw at him. But the doctor turned towards her at the last moment.

Now with Moby gone for tests, Rory was seated alone with Harry in the waiting room. It was small and cozy, the chairs were warm and Rory was close to dozing off. The walls were a pretty blue colour, with paintings hung to give the room an added homey feeling.

Harry sat next to Rory, bouncing his legs up and down as he went through his phone.

"Moby's going to be a mother."

Rory could see his eyes still fixated on his phone. "I've worked that out, I think. I know what being pregnant means."

He chuckled, completely ignoring her comment, "Then does that make you a grandma?"

Rory's brows furrowed, "Whose grandma?"

Harry put his phone away in his pocket, completely focusing his attention on the girl sitting next to him. Rory had to admit; side-profile Harry was much better to look at than seeing him from front. Not only she could really measure the angle of his jaw line (not that this was what she had been spending her time doing) from the side but also this saved her from the heavy intense gaze he used which always made her feel like a little girl looking at a gorilla.

"The pups. You yourself said Moby was like a child to you, didn't you?"

Rory remembered the conversation as clear as a day. It was Harry's first day volunteering (which she didn't know at that time) and accused him of – er – shoplifting Moby from the shelter when in reality he was taking her to stitch up the leg she had just injured trying to jump from the top shelf to the floor. All it did was break her skin open when she landed on her leg, leading to Rory officially meeting the med student who had everyone under his charm the minute he arrived.

"That really does make me a grandma." Rory laughed, the absurdity of the situation kicking in. "If none of them get adopted then I'm going to keep them all."

Dr. Travis had guessed the litter to be composed of six puppies and estimated the expected date of delivery to be about fifty-eight to sixty-three days after. The date happened to clash around the date Josh and Lara were getting married, which reminded her she needed to RSVP to the invite.

"Hey, do you have any idea who the father is?"

Rory didn't. "No, I am actually clueless. Moby hadn't left the shelter in two weeks since Newt was sick with chicken pox and Lacey ended up contracting them too, which left you, me and Penny and all of us were fussing after Earl Grey and her broken legs. None of us took Moby out of the shelter which could only mean it was –"

"-Either Franklin or Turner?"

Rory hummed, "But Franklin was adopted two weeks ago and Moby hated Turner with a passion."

Harry smiles cheekily, and Rory wished he had kept his mouth shut. "Maybe it was not much of a hate than it was sexual tension?"

Rory groaned, getting up from the chair and heading towards the doctor's room. "You'll never learn, Peanuts. C'mon now; they must be done with the tests."

"Peanuts?' Harry's brows furrowed.

Rory nodded, beginning to leave. "Yes, peanuts. That's your name now. They bother me and you bother me. Giving you their name will only remind me why I hate them so much."

//

The flat was reeking of burnt pasta.

Rory didn't try to cook usually because she couldn't cook at all; her flat mate Francine used to do that job. Rory washed the dishes and did the laundry, while Francine cooked three meals for both of them daily. She was taking culinary classes so Rory's palate was the prey for all the experiments Francine would do.

Rory wasn't complaining. It kept her well-fed and healthy. But Francine moved in with her boyfriend a month ago and Rory was left alone to fend for herself.

All Rory could cook without burning were instant noodles, but she couldn't live on them forever. Money was pretty much tight so take-away food everyday wasn't an option. And she had everyone at home convinced that she was doing pretty good job living alone.

But now her dinner was burnt (despite her being so adamant about wasting food) and she hadn't eaten anything since the morning.

Sighing, she took out the frozen pizza stacked in the freezer for emergency (like now). Morning with Moby had tired her out, a really hyper dog was brought into the shelter and Rory kept fussing after him all afternoon because despite of being so active, the dog wouldn't eat a thing. Her own lunch was missed in this.

The evening class wasn't better at all; her professor assigned them some long essay on world affairs or something which she had to submit two days later.

Sitting on the counter, she started devouring the pizza. Almost instantly, her eyes shifted to the white envelope which was in the same position she had left. Looking at the card caused thousand memories to revive and cover Rory as shrouded darkness. Never in her wildest dreams would Rory have thought that Lara out of all people would end up marrying Josh. It was maybe because she knew Josh and she knew Lara and she knew how much opposite their personalities really were. If one was plain paper than the other was glimmering, wrap-up paper. If one was carbonated drink then the other was sparkling wine. One was her best friend and the other was her boyfriend.

They had nothing in common, as much as Rory knew.

But maybe, she didn't know both of them as well as she thought she did. Because her better judgment got the wrong of her and she ended up being pushed to the side. Literally.

The pizza was gone in a second, but the bitter taste left by the cold memories remained even after that. She went to bed with a heavy heart, and even the dreams of Moby cuddling with six small puppies could lighten her mind.

//

Wednesday was the worst day of the week,

It was one of the three days she volunteered at the shelter, the rest were Monday and Thursday. On Tuesday and Friday she had morning classes at the university, while on the other three days she took evening classes.

Beth had started a little something two years ago in which children from kindergarten would come for a field trip. It wasn't a bright idea to have a bunch of pre-schoolers surrounded by animals but the idea hit off almost immediately and every Wednesday once a month, the shelter would be surrounded by little kids who barely reached up to Rory's thigh.

Rory loved kids, but not the ones who came on Wednesday. They were wild and evidence of the theory that man evolved from animals. The kids were uncontrolled, and the animals at the shelter also got wild. The teachers accompanying them would always wander off to somewhere and every other worker in the shelter would leave their work and ran behind children hoping to God they didn't hurt themselves.

No such incident of an animal hurting anyone had yet happened but the incident of cancelling invitation for field trips at the shelter sure did happen which got instantly shut down because Beth was of the view that the field trips provided a speedy track for the animals to get adopted.

Wednesday also sucked because she was paired with Harry to assist the people which had come. Ten children and a teacher arrived at the shelter ten minutes ago. Harry, after drinking the tea Rory made for herself, strolled away fifteen minutes ago and wasn't back yet.

Rory was awkwardly leading the group of kindergartners, showing them the assortment of dogs they had. A small girl, Ava, had taken interest to Earl Grey.

"Does she run fast?"

Ava asked when Rory finished telling them how she broke her legs. She was running after a cat on the street and ended up getting hit by a car. Thankfully, only her legs were injured. She was brought to Beth after Dr. Travis plastered her legs. Lacey ended up giving her the name 'Earl Grey' because she reminded her of the tea.

"She does." It wasn't Rory who answered the question. It couldn't be Rory who answered the question because the voice was sure with confidence and Rory was never that confident about anything (except when she was throwing insults at Harry). It was the devil's incarnate himself.

Ava had gone wide eyed upon seeing him, and the rest of the nine kids busied themselves with the litter of puppies which were brought in yesterday. Lacey had led them away while I was telling Ava about Earl Grey, saying, "Be easy with them, kids."

Harry came closer to where Ava was standing next to Earl Grey's cot. The Border collie was soundly asleep, with her legs hanging from the side of the cot. She looked much like an infant. Earl Grey reminded Rory of the first pet she got when she was around eight. It was a baby sparrow whose mother had made a nest atop the roof of their home back in Yorkshire. Albeit it wasn't a real pet because the sparrows ended up flying like two days later and no one knew she had a pet but in those two days, she took care of the sparrow and gave it food and water daily.

Earl Grey shifted in the cot and moments later her eyelids opened to reveal black eyes. She took a moment before trying her best to sit up, but Harry went forward and adjusted her so she was directly staring at Ava and him.

"C'mon, love. Do you want to pat her?"

Ava nodded with such vigor you'd think someone had asked her to open her Christmas gift. Cautiously, she moved as Harry stepped backwards. Rory was standing to the side, and it felt like both Harry and Ava had forgotten her. She watched quietly as Ava softly patted Earl Grey on the forehead, the latter closing her eyes as she did so. Rory watched as a bright grin spread across Ava's face and lightened up her whole features.

Rory could here other kids' voices, happy squeals mixed with laughter but she was focused on Harry and Ava. The former was being so soft Rory was sure she was seeing an entirely different person trapped inside his body. Harry was smiling like never before. Don't get him wrong, he smiled plenty but his smiles always had an air of smugness and arrogance which always enveloped the genuineness of the action. His smiles never felt kind enough for Rory but now even with his eyes away from her, she could feel the warmth in them. Maybe because his smiles weren't directed at her that she now saw she was capable of being warm, like hot chocolate and blankets.

And Harry didn't look like the evil orangutang she so heartily compared him with. He just looked like a regular orangutang who was capable of smiling and being nice to people (which didn't include Rory).

Ava wasn't done playing with Earl Grey, but Harry stood up nonetheless. Rory quickly composed herself; getting caught in the act of blatant staring by Harry wasn't in her book as it would subject her to at least five years of jokes on her part.

Everything she did in front of Harry would end up giving Harry at least five years of jokes on her part.

She found Harry's eyes to come rest on her, the look in them specifying he forgot she was still there (that was just the effect she had on everyone, no worry). But surprisingly their warmth didn't vanish even though Harry had stopped smiling and now was blatantly staring.

"It's rude to stare," She mumbled offhandedly; she liked the attention, but not from Harry. It always ended in him making fun of her.

"Is what you said to yourself when you kept staring at me?"

Rory was caught off guard. "I didn't!"

Someone had squeezed her neck and was now using a hammer to puncture her chest. She didn't remember her heart beating with such vigour before.

"You didn't say that to yourself or you didn't stare?"

That was clever, really clever. Rory was now fully flustered under Harry's intense gaze, and her airways were having an asphyxiation. No sentence she was stringing in her was making any sense.

"I no stare. You a lie!"

What came out was low even for her. It was clear from Harry's face that he was having the time of his life. A small grin broke on his face. He wasn't mocking her.

"Really?"

Rory huffed, now noticing the environment around them silent. The kids have gone off to somewhere, and Ava was silently watching the two bicker back and forth. Her eyes were wide, but she was also smiling. She took a deep breath before calling for Ava.

"You bother me to no end, Styles. You really do. Now let's get Ava reunited with her folks before they decide to leave without her."

She turned around, without waiting for Harry or looking at his face, and started walking. Her airways were still blocked and her heart was still beating fast. But that didn't matter.

It was the knots in her stomach that weren't there before which worried her. Her stomach was in cramps, and it would take her more trips to the bathroom than she was wiling for to get rid of the pain.

.

.

The students were happy, the teachers were happy, and everyone else was also happy with Lacey (and on the borderline Harry and Ava). Beth was floating on a croissant because a teacher decided to adopt two puppies from the litter of seven puppies for her kids.

But Rory wasn't happy.

Instead of her spending time with Moby and looking after her, she now had small puppies who just pooped (all together) and now were whining. It wasn't all, Harry was playing with Moby, and made sure his voice was heard all the way across the room where Rory was with the puppies, even though both of them were in Rory's clear sight. So Harry knowing that there was no need for him to talk and laugh and even walk so loud was annoying Rory even more.

The puppies were two weeks old, and Rory feared for the moment Moby was going to have her own. Was it going to be exactly like this? Or were they going to be sensible enough to not pee or poop on anything they walk upon and have Rory clear up the mess?

It wasn't that Rory didn't like volunteering. She absolutely did. It was kind of like her thing (taking care of everyone) but Harry made it now hard for her to even enjoy doing that and made her hate every bit of it. He had been working at the shelter only for six months and there wasn't any moment with him around during that period which Rory could recall with a happy heart.

"Hey Roro! Did you know Moby could ___"

It had been like this for an hour. Harry would say something about Moby, some fact he'd just have discovered and Rory would roll her eyes and reply with, "Yes, I did know that, Harry."

When sometimes it would be the first time hearing that Moby can shake hands and sit when you ask her to. Rory didn't know who trained her, probably Beth, and it hurt her to know that Moby decided for Harry to be the first person to show her moves.

Lacey, Penny and Newt were huddled in a corner. Lacey had Earl Grey who was sleeping (again) and Penny and Newt had just gotten back from cleaning the mess the puppies had made in their cots.

"Are you free on Saturday, Rory?"

They were talking about going to the bar that had opened last week.

"The drinks will be on Newt."

Newt's uncle owned that bar, and Newt promised to provide free drinks.

Rory contemplated her options, and narrowed it down to staying at home, eating junk food and trying to set the invitation on fire through her gaze or she could go to the bar, get drunk on free drinks and then forget whatever would happen next.

"Sure, I'm in."

They cheered, and Rory allowed herself to feel happy, till Newt opened his garbage hole. "Great! Harry will pick you up."

Rory snapped her eyes towards Harry, who was busy watching Moby snore. "Okay."

Maybe he hadn't realized what was asked of him. Maybe he hadn't heard properly what Newt said. For he couldn't be as nonchalant as he was being right now.

"No, it's f-fine. I'll be okay by myself. It'd probably bother Harry."

She shot Newt a look, which meant to back her up. But all three of them were looking at her, amused. And Newt's eyebrows were doing a weird dance and it looked like something was in his eyes when he winked.

"Don't be silly! It wouldn't be a bother. Right Harry?"

He still hadn't looked up. "Right."

Rory kept her mouth shut, instead choosing to take the pups to their cots when their eyelids drooped. But picking up five pups at once was a problem.

"Here, let me help."

Harry was behind her in a moment and towered over Rory as he took three sleeping puppies from her. Rory suffered from the same laryngeal asphyxiation and her stomach cramped once again. Harry smelled like grapefruit and his breath was minty. It wafted around Rory and enveloped her. He was chewing bubblegum, probably mint, and Rory mentally slapped herself as her heart readied itself to beat out of her chest.

Harry started walking first, and Rory saw Newt's eyebrows had still not stopped dancing. Even Penny and Lacey had joined him in the process. Rory didn't know what was the deal with them, but she knew they were all in need of a lecture.

Rory quickened her pace, trying not to disturb the puppies in her arm. They hadn't been named, and no one was feeling up to it because they knew they'd soon get adopted. Beth once told them not to name the puppies for it always got hard trying to see them getting adopted. But they each ended up naming Moby, Earl Grey, Franklin and

Turner. But the adoption of Turner and Franklin brought them so much pain they decided to quit naming every animal which would be brought in.

Harry was standing by the pups' cot, and Rory set the ones she was holding down.

"Have you got your mind back on track?"

This was what Rory meant with doing anything and getting mocked. "Huh?"

"So you haven't. I forgot who I was asking."

Rory was getting annoyed. She turned towards him harshly, voice reduced to a hush because she knew the three people in the next room had their ears trained in on them. "Why do you like to bother me so much?"

Harry was feigning ignorance, eyes alight with mischief. "Me? Bothering you? Pssht! How stupid is that?"

Rory huffed. Explaining how stupid that really was would either end up in her crying out of anger (it had happened before) or bursting her vessel. She worried too much, became stressed out much too easily and surely took things to heart faster than they had settled in her brain.

Rory took a deep breath, ignoring Harry and deciding to calmly exit the room.

She could hear Harry calling after her, "But at least let me have your number! How am I going to call you to ask your address for Saturday?"

Rory didn't stop walking. "You're not having my number, Styles. Ask Newt for my address. I think his eyebrows will be glad."

//

Saturday came with a wind.

Just when Rory thought she had left cold weather and her allergies behind, they come surging through with Rory feeling worse for the wear. Her nose was stuffy and her eyes hurt whenever she tried to move them. Her throat was scratchy and she contemplated cancelling going out for one whole hour.

Before Lacey and Newt came barging through her door and demanded she took her anti-allergy pills. Lacey made her some weird looking solution type something to drink, and it helped a lot (she didn't tell Lacey that).

November was around the corner, just two days left. Rory was getting anxious by the second. To say she was procrastinating was the best way to describe her delaying RSVPing the card. Half of her wanted to go, while half of her was doing everything in its might to forget she even had an invitation.

Guess which half was winning.

Rory was absolutely dreading the wedding, and was of the view that maybe some drinks would cheer her up. There were many people on her People To Avoid At All Costs list she knew would be invited. At the top was the bride herself, Lara, and her bridesmaids (Rory was sure those girls would have received the position since she was out of the picture) tailed the next three to four positions. Josh was somewhere along the tenth or so position. (Some people had pissed Rory more than him, surprisingly. Because what could possibly top your ex marrying your ex-best friend?)

What surprised her was that Harry was number seventh, even before than Josh. But ironically, she saw the most of the person she was supposed to avoid at all costs.

But it didn't matter, for she wasn't done getting ready and her hair was a bird's nest due to the frizz and someone was ringing her doorbell like crazy.

Without wearing shoes, she walked the small distance from her room to the front door. The response for the person at the door came in the form of an eye roll and a huff.

"You're-" she craned her neck to look at the clock in the living room, "-ten minutes early, Styles."

Harry shrugged, lazily chewing gum and leaning his wait on the wall to his side. He looked cleaner, not He folded his arms over his chest. "I thought we could beat the traffic but if I knew you would be looking like Merida I would have thought otherwise."

Rory rolled her eyes again. "Well, now that you have seen that I need more time, can you please go back to your car and wait? I'll promise I'll be back in te-"

"Whoah, whoah. Hold on a sec." He quickly straightened up and Rory took a quick look at his attire. He'd changed out of his flamboyant shirts. Rory hated those, especially the flamingo one, and she was of the view he wore them especially to annoy her (even though she never voiced her distaste). He was wearing a black button down with skinny black jeans. Rory was insanely jealous of how his legs looked in them and - would you look at that? The same worn out boots were there.

"You're not inviting me in?"

Rory scoffed, "You're actually taking over Little Hope and I'd really like to keep my home a Styles-free zone." She was about to close the door, but his foot stopped her.

"Uh-uh. Look, it took me twenty minutes trying to locate your house and I know you didn't ask me to pick you up but please, I've digested whatever food I had even before leaving so now I'm hungry. I promise, I wouldn't leave my mark here. I just wanna see where you live."

Rory was somewhere lost in the rambling, "Has someone told you that you talk too much?"

Harry had gone silent, "I just.....I don't talk much. I uh- I ramble whenever I uh- ooh- want someone to agree with me." He flashed a full grin which showed all his teeth. If he were in tv, his teeth would have actually sparkled.

"Riight," Rory was suspicious of his motives, as she was with everything involving him. One time, he brought a cup of tea for her which actually ended up being cement dissolved in actual tea. Rory hadn't been able to trust him after that.

"Okay, Styles. I'll let you in not because I trust you but because you've actually costed me important time and I can't afford to waste more. So, c'mon in and don't snoop around, don't touch anything, and oh, don't sit on anything which is actually for sitting."

She left him standing at the door, not bothering to monitor him like she would have done if circumstances were different. It was the first time Harry had been to her home and while there were a thousand things that could go wrong with that, she didn't have the time to worry about them, the worst case scenario with Harry burning down her whole house.

Rory hurried in her room and quickly grabbed the shoes she was going to wear, deciding to leave her hair the way it was. Rory's hair was pretty short, and she loved how it looked. And she loved Merida more (she was a complete badass) and while she knew Harry was trying to make fun of how it looked, she left it with the frizz completely untamed. She was a completely independent woman who didn't need any man.

(Although she'd like the attention).

The comb had somewhat helped her hair, but when she saw Harry by her kitchen counter and eating a slice of frozen pizza which was microwaved, she imagined her hair standing up like static current was passing through them.

"I told you not to touch anything!"

Harry was going through the papers she'd stacked on the counter, but didn't look up from them. He mumbled, "Yeah, but you didn't tell me I couldn't eat anything."

Rory huffed, "Because that was implied! Eating means touching things with your hands and bringing them to your mouth. How is -"

"-your hair isn't like Merida anymore. I'm disappointed."

The complete change of the subject made Rory angrier than she was before. But now she had completely mastered the act of staying absolutely emotionless around Harry. She couldn't let him see he got to her too easily.

"Well, good. Then we should leave."

"We should, but you should check your mail. The water and electricity bills are two days overdue. Your mother has sent a letter which was titled 'the hot bachelor' and you have to RSVP to wedding of some Josh and Lar-"

"YOU WENT THROUGH MY MAIL?!" There went her plan of completely remaining emotionless. "What part of 'Don't touch anything' did you not understand?"

She skyrocketed all the way across the living room next to him, who was as laid back as usual. Her wild screech hadn't affected him at all, it seemed like a normal thing for him (which was, probably.) She snatched the mail off the table, acting much like a madman, and stuffed them all in the drawer of the kitchen cabinet behind her.

"We're already late, Styles. So I'd appreciate it if you actually did the thing you came here for, instead of snooping around."

"But I was looking for your baby pictures."

"And it's not snooping?"

"Whatever," He grumbled, "If we get stuck in traffic it's all your fault."

Rory didn't get to complain because Harry was already walking in front of her. His butt moved like a female's does when she was being seductive. "Are you done checking my butt? I'd really like to get a move on."

"I didn't-"

"'I no stare. You a lie!' Yeah yeah. Can we leave now?"

Rory could see his eyes brightly shining, it was weird. His evil grin was again plastered on his face. Rory sighed, deciding to reprimand him for later.

She had a night to spend with him.

.

.

The drive was quick, they didn't get stuck into traffic which Rory was thankful for but before she could thank God for having Harry keep his mouth shut the whole night, he spoke up when they reached the outside of the bar.

"Don't talk to strangers and don't absolutely take any drink from anyone and don't wander off to anywhere by yourself and don't even think of defil-"

"I'm twenty-one, Styles. I'm big enough to know what to do and what not."

Harry hummed,"You sure act like it."

"Look, Styles." She turned towards him. He was still looking in the mood to rile her up, but his eyes conveyed the seriousness his face was lacking. "I would really appreciate if you could maybe, possibly let me spend my time here without wanting to bang my head on the wall and give myself concussion? Please."

Harry was silent for a minute. "Okay."

It took Rory by surprise how easily he had given in to get request, but she didn't believe him completely. For all she knew, this could be one of his traps or something. "Okay?"

He nodded, "Okay."

There was some weird The Fault In Our Stars thing going on right now. Rory was confused, but Harry was happily smiling. "You mean, you'll stop bothering me to no end?"

"Yeah, Roro. I'll stop bothering you to no end."

Rory could feel something missing in his statement, a silent message he hadn't got around to say. "But?"

He turned towards her, looking proud, he exclaimed, "But, I'm gonna need your number first. There's this gif I really want you to see."

Oh, boy. Rory sighed, annoyed out of her mind. She was in for a long, long night.

.

.

The bar was full because of the weekend, and Newt was already drunk when Rory reached them. He seemed pretty happy with himself when Rory stated Harry drives them both, and seemed pretty accomplished with himself. He was hanging on Lacey's arm, who had taken to babysit him.

Harry was at her trail, complaining he didn't know anyone at the bar when in reality Rory had counted almost five people who greeted him since the moment they arrived. Rory was in the mood to get absolutely hammered without caring for anyone else, and having Harry got on her trial wasn't helping her case.

She wasn't afraid of embarrassing herself in front of Harry (that was a natural thing she couldn't stop from happening even if she tried). All she wanted was not to spill anything she wasn't supposed to and Harry wasn't supposed to hear (for example, the fact her ex was marrying her best-friend) which would later subject her to more jokes from him. She didn't want to reveal secrets which were better off kept hidden.

She was sat at the bar with Penny, while Lacey and Newt were drunkenly dancing in a spot which was clearly visible from where Rory was sitting. Penny was complaining about some guy she liked. He was a bartender at the same bar they were at right now. Penny had hoped he would be there so she could make a move, seeing the guy was beginning to look like a coward.

Harry had wandered off alone, not before telling not to do the same to Rory. As soon as Harry was out of sight, Rory ordered shots of gin and tonic.

"Are you sure you should be drinking that much?"

Penny had taken the role of monitoring her. She ignored her voice and hurriedly drank down three of the shots placed before her. "I came to get drunk on free drinks so I wouldn't remember what's happening in my life right now. Please, penny," She looked at her friend with the best puppy-eyes she could imitate, "Please let me have this."

Penny sighed before getting up,Okay, fine. But if anything happens it's on you."

Rory squealed as Penny's figure became enveloped by the crowd, drowning the remaining shots before another three glasses were presented before her. She looked up to find a bartender, who looked younger than her, smiling. "Overheard you and your friend. Experience says tequila makes you wild so if you're in for that, maybe you should stick to it."

Rory could feel the alcohol taking over her nervous system, Harry's advice to not take drinks from anyone somewhere drowned by the thumping beat of the bar. Without further thinking, she drowned the clear liquid before asking for a bottle.

She would deal with the consequences later.

//

November

Something was moving inside Rory's stomach.

It was probably blood, but even for someone who flunked biology in her school years knew blood wasn't supposed to make squishy sounds. Maybe her stomach was being squeezed and probably making that sound but it was highly impossible.

Or maybe her liver was probably expelled.

But the thing was round and squeezy, not wet at all and felt something like a ball. It was averaged size, from what Rory could feel.

Her head was pounding, but her whole body felt numb and tired all at once. One of her arms was covered in pins and needles and she realized she was sleeping on it. Her eyes were shut but something was irritating them. It was the sunlight.

Rory groaned when the round something got in her way as she rolled over the bed which was most definitely hers. It took all of her power to open her eyes. Sunlight poured in like fresh acid, making her groan and shut them again.

She was hungover, which meant last night was a success. She definitely didn't remember what happened the previous night.

Rory tried again. This time she was successful in keeping her eyes open for more than two seconds. She realized she was sleeping with a rubber ball the size of a football close to her, and was probably hugging and squeezing the life out of it.

Her phone was dead, so she couldn't check with anyone to find out what happened the previous night. Was she a total babe or embarrassed the hell out of herself? She strongly believed it was the latter but it didn't hurt to confirm.

She begrudgingly got out of the inviting bed and went straight to the kitchen to make herself a strong cup of tea to get rid of the headache. Her leg ached and there was a pretty big bruise running from her knee to the mid on the side of her leg. Her phone was put on charging, she needed to thank whoever cared enough for her to make sure she got home safe. It was probably Penny, since Lacey and Newt were wasted even before she got her first drink, that much she remembered.

The door bell rang minutes after the kettle sounded, announcing that the water had boiled. She practically dragged her feel across the tiled floor up to the front door. She knew she wasn't in any shape or form to open the door. Her hair was all over peeking from the haphazard pony tail someone had made out of it, probably dark circles guarded here eyes and her breath smelled heaps. But frankly she didn't care.

She had no idea who could be at the door. It was around twelve, so she couldn't say it was too early for any visitor. Her leg muscles were burning and as she opened the door, her eyes started burning too.

"The consequence....."

She trailed off as Harry's freshly showered and brightly smiling figure stood in the doorway in the same position she remembered seeing him when he came to pick her up. He looked way too happy to be hungover, and the chip in his step when Rory stepped aside to let him in proved her theory. He wasn't even close to being hungover.

"You look awful Roro."

He was leaning over the kitchen counter, the tea Rory poured for herself already in his hands.

"Do you really have no manners whatsoever? And were you never taught to not eat food lying around?"

Harry shrugged, eyes down, "Can't say."

Rory disregarded the answer, pouring herself another cup of tea. She didn't bother asking Harry what he was doing at her house, thinking it was another of his antics to annoy her.

"Here," He pulled out something from his pocket. When he set it down on the counter, Rory realized it was a key, her key. The key to her house. "I forgot to return it when I dropped you off yesterday. You were pretty much out of your mind so I had to search your purse for this."

Rory took some time so that Harry's words registered in her brain, "You dropped me home last night?"

He nodded, "It wasn't technically dropping off if you add me dragging you to your room and fighting with you to let go off the ball you dragged from God knows where and then treating myself to a cup of tea and the junk you've stored in your fridge. Which reminds me to tell you to eat nutritious food."

Rory scrunched up her nose, "What about Penny? Did she get home safe?"

"She ended up leaving with the bartender. Decent dude. I saw them leaving together so I went looking for you. Spotted you the moment your leg got caught in the leg of the chair and ended up falling face first to the floor."

That explained the bruise. Rory couldn't be annoyed at him because if it weren't for him, God knows what would have happened to her.

"I guess then thank you, Styles. For getting me home safe."

Harry didn't believe her half-hearted gratitude. "That wouldn't work. You owe me something."

That was what Rory wasn't willing to do; owing something to Harry when she knew how evil could his mind be. She didn't want to get stuck in his evil schemes for she knew all he was good at doing (besides taking care of animals better than her) was annoying her.

"What do I owe you?"

Maybe it wouldn't be as bad as she was thinking. Maybe all he'd say was some harmless thing that she'd have no trouble complying to and-

"Have lunch with me."

Forget that thought.

.

.

It was already two when Harry picked up his phone.

"Where the hell are you, Styles?! Was it just a plan of yours to have me standing outside the restaurant for fifteen minutes and not showing up yourself? Did you plan to stand me up so I'd make a fool out of myself?! Were you even serious about having lunch together or maybe I was just a fool to believe that you were?! I swear to God, Styles, if-"

"Hey, hey, hey."

The voice didn't come from the phone, it came from behind her. Harry was once again supporting his flamboyant shirts, this time it was a pink coloured one with white polka dots all over it. Truth be told, those shirts didn't look as hideous as Rory manipulated her mind to think. He looked good in those shirts, even better than she would look. But as always, she wasn't going to tell him that.

"I'm sorry. My car broke down and I had to walk- no, run all the way here. I'm really sorry Roro."

His chest was heaving up and down as he spoke and Rory could see beads of perspiration glistening on his forehead despite of the slight chill November had brought. He was looking at her intently, and he was looking as apologetic as they could get.

She shrugged, "Okay."

The restaurant they had chosen was a small Indian one. The owner knew Rory closely since she often went there. But it came a surprise to her when Harry practically engulfed Neha in his arms the moment he stepped in.

"It's so good to see you, Neha."

Neha was a small Indian lady who moved to England from Mumbai when she was ten years old. She had done her bachelors in cooking, and reminded Rory of Francine. Rory had babysat her kids on more occasions than one.

"It's so good to see you too Harry, Rory."

She greeted them both, Harry more enthusiastically. Rory wondered if he's shown such enthusiasm when they first met, things would have been entirely different now. They were led to a booth next to the windows, and Rory avoided talking to him at all.

He wasn't minding, it appeared, for he was vigorously going through his phone. That was how she wanted Harry to act around her; completely ignoring her. And now that he was doing it, she could feel the awkwardness getting palpable.

She took the initiative, "Was I really....wild last night?"

Harry looked surprised, probably because Rory always avoided making contact with him. But what was she supposed to do when he was sitting directly across from her and they were having lunch together.

"You weren't wild, as per se, but you did have your moments Roro."

"Like what?"

Harry pondered for a second, “Like doing a weird, spider-like dance in the middle of the bar, kneeing a guy when he got too close to you during that, making Newt set up a karaoke machine and then singing songs which seemed to have come from another language," Harry stopped talking, assessing her face for a moment, "It was really fun seeing you like that."

Rory wondered why he didn't bring it up sooner, was he having a change of heart?

"It was really that bad, huh?"

Harry shook his head,"I would have stopped you, but Penny said you needed to have that, whatever that means. So I didn't. But I enjoyed a lot."

It was true, she really needed that. She smiled despite herself. "Thank you for looking after me."

.

.

The lunch passed by smoothly, none of them talked after that. Harry insisted on walking her home, but she refused. She hated to say this, but seeing Harry so out of his element (not annoying her) made her confused. For it annoyed her (what?!) that he wasn't annoying her.

It hadn't registered in her mind till then that a teeny, tiny part of her was disappointed when Harry made civil talk with her, like it really wanted him to act like he normally did around her. It also didn't register in her mind till then that a tent, tiny part of her enjoyed when he did that.

She was confused.

Was she saying that she enjoyed when Harry made fun of her? No. Was she saying that it bothered her when he didn't make fun of her and acted like she was some stranger he hadn't spent the better part of six months trying to annoy? Absolutely.

Unknowingly, she had started liking Harry and his antics. Unknowingly, she had started observing him, how he'd a ruck up his nose and look absolutely cute and how he'd put on his best, adorable puppy eyes unconsciously so no one could say no to her and how even though he'd be making fun of Rory, it would be harmless, childish jokes and how, despite the times he'd said otherwise, he'd ramble whenever he got nervous.

Rory had observed it all. And around doing so, she developed a teeny tiny crush on Harry.

It was just a crush, nothing else. That was what she kept telling herself, but during the lunch, she realized something which could either save her or burn everything.

Harry was loudly munching on a piece of lettuce stolen from Rory's plate. (It wasn't stealing if you consider Rory had put it to the side). When he swallowed, his eyes lit up like fire.

"Hey Roro, do you know something?"

Rory hummed, mouth full of food. "What?"

Harry made a face as he saw that her mouth was filled to the brim, "I got your number."

Rory was surprised, and confused, and surprised. She remembered him asking for it last night. "From where?"

"I asked Newt like you said. You were right; his eyebrows were so glad they started dancing. Also because he was drunk."

She cursed Newt. If it weren't for him, Rory wouldn't have to deal with Harry's arse at all. When Harry got to the shelter the first time, Newt was the one responsible for showing Harry around and letting him get the hang of things. But the bastard got sick the third day and Rory had to replace him. And then cued in Harry and his penchant of annoying Rory out of her mind.

"Great," she drawled out, still slightly hungover and a lot more hungry. She couldn't eat because her stomach was feeling off, but the hunger was still present.

"I didn't get to send you the gif I was talking about, but here you go."

Moments later her phone rang as she got a text from Harry. This better be good, she thought as she clicked on the notification. A sigh involuntarily heaved out of her lips as Harry's laugh rang in the background. Harry had sent her a gif of cow screaming which he found undeniably amusing.

"Real mature, Styles."

She shook her head, not at all amused. Somewhere around that Harry had stopped laughing and now was staring wistfully at Rory.

"Why are you looking me like that?"

Harry shrugged. His eyes were really green, Rory noticed. It was like when grass glistened after the rain. Like that, they were twinkling. They must be a couple of feet apart but Rory saw his freckles, which looked undeniably cute.

"You just- um - you never call me by my name."

Rory's brow furrowed, "But I do! Isn't Styles your name?"

Harry shook his head. "No, what I mean is, you never call me Harry. It's always Styles."

He looked so much like a wounded puppy that Rory was moved to think about what he said. It was really true; she never called him by his actual name. "But you also call me Roro."

"That's different," he pursed his lips together, "When you call me Styles, it's always with an air of indifference. I get the feeling you're trying to push me away. And maybe you are, and maybe I'm really pushing boundaries here. But I don't like when you do that, Roro."

Rory was taken aback by his confession, his face reminded her of the time she got caught stealing a cookie and her mother was so much disappointed in her which she could never forget. The look on her mother's face paralleled that on Harry's face, both making her feel that she failed some test.

"I'm sorry, Sty- I mean, Harry," she muttered sheepishly, "It's just that, you never struck me as someone who'd be interested in befriending me, what with the pact you made since day one to bother me to no end. But," she put up her finger when Harry opened his mouth, "I'm willing to try to be friends if you are."

Harry nodded enthusiastically, the smile he had on his face almost breaking it in half, "I am. Let's start over, but first, there's something I want you to see."

He took out his phone and began typing.

"It's not another screaming cow gif, is it?"

But her phone rang once again. She clicked the notification, rolling her eyes when the text popped up.

"No," he replied, "It's a screaming sheep gif."

Rory, without thinking about anything, let herself smile for the first time around him as he giggled obnoxiously. She shook her head at his childish demeanours. Her heart started behaving as if she'd been on a run, and her stomach started cramping once again. There wasn't anything which could have caused it except for Harry, but Rory wasn't walking on the path.

Seeing Harry laughing genuinely with her and not at her, brought her to conclusion. If she was going to survive going to the wedding, she needed someone by her side to distract her, someone who'd make her laugh when it would get too real. Someone who'd make fun of all the other guests and even the bride and groom with her.

Someone like Harry.

//

The epiphany Rory had left her giddy with nervousness through all the time she was actually supposed to prepare for the wedding and look after Moby.

Her belly was getting bigger, and Rory remembered there were six puppies inside her. Her appetite had also grown to accommodate for six additional dogs and also, to Rory's horror, Moby was having the worst case of morning sickness, which wasn't as much of a morning since she kept puking throughout the day.

To Rory's surprise, Harry was super helpful and super caring with Moby. He made sure she was comfortable and happy all times and even refrained from unnecessary teasing Rory with things related with pregnancy as they made her queasy. She knew it was nature's most exciting phenomena and she'd also go through it someday but it wasn't her fault that she was born with the weakest of heart which trembled at the sight of blood and itself got ready to join the person she would see puking.

Before, Harry wouldn't have let go of the opportunity to gloat about Rory's weaknesses at the sight of blood but now when Moby was puking her guts out, Harry actually offered to look after her, making Rory sigh with relief when he didn't annoy her.

"Thanks for the offer, Harry, but I'd really like to be there for Moby."

Harry. Ever since she had reverted to calling Harry instead of Styles, things had taken a complete U-turn for both of them. Their fights decreased substantially, they laughed with each other (not at the other) quite often and Rory hadn't thought of banging her head on the wall after that.

But subsequently, she had started feeling giddy and nervous around him, probably because she was going to ask him to accompany her to the wedding of her ex. Harry might be more nice to her than before, but she knew because of his curiousness, she'd have to tell him whose wedding was she was talking about and everything. She still had not mustered up the courage to talk to him but she did RSVP to the wedding so now there was no backing up now.

Christmas was getting closer, and so was the wedding. She had a detailed call with her mother who was now somewhere around the other side of the world with her boyfriend Steve who was much like a husband now except for the whole wedding part. Rory's father passed away in an accident when she was two and after years of refusing, her mother decided to date Steve who looked after the both the same way her father would have.

Talking to her mother made Rory realize how much she wished she had her to talk to and get advice from. But her mother, being a social activist, was somewhere in Kenya building nutrition centres. It left her feeling a bit of relief as her mother wouldn't be home for Christmas so she wouldn't have to drive all the way back to her hometown.

Rory would have asked both Penny and Lacey for advice but she just didn't have that kind of relationship with either of them. Sure, she looked at them like an elder sister would but she was the detached kind of elder sister, the one who kept to herself and wasn't at all close to her siblings.

Rory had to do everything on her own.

And with Christmas getting closer, she had to shop for gifts as well. She had a bit of an idea about what she was getting everyone else (she had spent about three years of Christmas with them) but Harry was the worry here. She didn't know whether he'd be going home or not for Christmas or was he going to stay there.

With November halfway gone, Rory was getting fearful with each second which ticked by. There was the wedding, and then there was the confusing things she was beginning to feel about Harry. He made her giddy, he made her stomach cramp, he made her anxious. She had dated her fair share of boys (including Josh) and all of them made her feel some type of way almost similar to what Harry was doing, so she knew she couldn't ignore her feelings.

She didn't know what Harry felt about her, but she was going to get all of her answers soon enough.

.

.

Penny was leaving for her hometown in a week, so the others decided to have a little lunch in her honour.

She wasn't going away for good, she would be back after Christmas. But Newt and Lacey were always looking for excuses to party, and Penny leaving them to spend some quality time with her family gave them enough of an excuse.

With the exception of Moby who was getting close to her expected date of delivery (around Christmas), the shelter was running smoothly. So Beth gave all of them the remaining Wednesday noon off since no field trip was expected.

All day, she spent walking alongside Moby, who was getting lethargic by the day. She'd sit in a corner, and if feeling, would let Rory carry her outside whenever there was enough sunshine.

But with the progressing pregnancy, Moby preferred sitting inside all day. So there wasn't much to do in the shelter and with Harry deciding to get off her back, Rory had a lot of time in her hands to worry about the wedding.

With winter increasing in intensity, the temperature of Rory's home was cranked up and she had taken out her warm clothes. But none of them felt suitable to wear for the lunch which was scheduled for Wednesday at two at Lacey's house. It was across two blocks from Harry's, so Harry decided they would first go to Rory's, have a snack and Rory would change then they'd be going to Lacey's.

This provided Rory with an excellent opportunity to ask Harry to accompany her to the wedding. She even prepared a little speech about what she was going to say to Harry, with added notes on what do to when he showed certain facial expression and what note. It was basically garbage, but it helped her in sorting out her thoughts.

Harry drove both of them home, throwing in jokes here and there. He hadn't fully stopped bothering Rory, but he was on the way and now with Rory realizing she actually liked him doing that, she didn't want him to stop.

They reached her home in no time, and quickly shuffled inside as cold wind hit their bodies. Rory clearly remembered what had happened the last (and the only time) Harry had come to her home. He was filled with curiosity, so preparing ahead, Rory stashed away all pictures of her teen years and before that so Harry wouldn't find anything even if he snooped around.

Besides, she had more serious matters to tend to.

"I really like your home, Roro."

It wasn't much, a living area in centre with kitchen and two rooms on the opposite side. The other room used to belong to Francine, but she ended up moving out so now it remained empty. Rory's mother now paid half of the rent, so Rory didn't put up any ad for roommate.

Rory smiled, walking over to the kitchen counter. "Thank you, Harry." She shuffled around, but came up short of everything she could present before Harry without burning.

"Can you cook?"

Harry was busy flipping through the magazine Rory left on the table. He looked up, eyeing Rory with a peculiar look in his eyes, "You can't?"

Rory nodded, turning towards him and leaning over the kitchen counter, "I'm leaving off of frozen pizzas and instant noodles which is the only thing I can cook without burning so if you're into that, I can heat up some pizza for you."

Harry chuckled, abandoning the magazine and walking over to Rory. He was wearing his signature black jeans paired with a white shirt having black patterns all over it. He had taken off his brown boots which were now lying by the door. Rory decided she was going to get him similar boots for Christmas.

"Don't worry, I can't cook either. I mean, I can boil water but that's about it."

Rory was taken by surprise, feeling a smile curving on her lips, "So how do you get by?"

He shrugged, "My mum comes by once every week and cooks enough food to get me through the whole week. She's pretty keen on having me eat healthy when she knows I hate vegetables."

Rory was amused, "And here you were telling me just some days ago to 'eat nutritious'."

Harry laughed. His eyes were sparkling and Rory found her hands getting clammy. She knew she was about to over-think and probably blew up whatever was going on between them. That was her tendency; to over complicate by over thinking simple things.

"Hey Harry. I was th-"

But his phone rang, cutting her off.

"Yeah, we're at Ror- Oh, okay, cool. Yeah, we'll be there."

Rory was busy wiping her clammy hands off, her heart was beating really fast for someone who was merely standing. Harry ended the call after a few more affirmatives, looking at Rory as he proceeded to put away his phone.

"That was Lacey. Apparently, Lacey left Newt to look over the food while it cooked and he ended up burning it. So Lacey placed the order at some restaurant and we have to pick it up."

Rory sighed, agreeing to leave. One thing she found, it was much easier dealing with Harry by simply agreeing to what he had to say. And that meant agreeing when he called he made fun of her and dropped various jokes surrounding the things she did. It was much easier dealing with him now because Rory kept silent most of the times and let him do his thing.

She didn't know how that could be beneficial even for her but by doing so she discovered a lot of things about Harry that would have otherwise remained under the cover. For example now when she found out that Harry also didn't know how to cook or how his mother came periodically to check up on him.

He was peculiar, and so was she, that's why she was of the view that having Harry by her side would save her from the dread of going to the wedding.

.

.

Lacey was frantic when Rory and Harry reached her home.

She had Newt had gotten into some sort of disagreement after he burnt the lunch and now Newt was sulking in the backyard. Lacey said he was acting like a toddler so she was dealing with him in the same way by giving him timeout. He was actually mad at Lacey for calling him a nincompoop.

Harry laughed loudly when Newt finished explaining why he was angry. Harry explained nincompoop wasn't the worst thing to be called when he'd been called pretty bad things - particularly orangutang - several times. Rory blushed when he looked at her from the corner of his eyes while talking to Newt.

Penny arrived thirty minutes after that. Till then the argument between Lacey and Newt had subsided a bit and Newt was talking to Lacey again.

Lunch was filled with laughter and the voices of people talking over each other. Rory forced her mind to think about anything but the wedding and tried to have a good time. It was fun seeing everyone else around her talking and just mingling about. Occasionally, a loud laugh from Harry's lips would ring out when Newt would crack a joke or something.

Her mind filled with images of Josh and Lara together. They were as apart as day and night yet were getting married. Josh was four years older than her and Lara, despite being her best friend, was almost the same age as him. Lara and her had met at the animal shelter when she first starting volunteering and quickly hit it off, becoming best friends almost instantly. She met Josh a year and a half after that and was with him for the better part almost of two years. Till she found him and Lara, naked, together, in bed and a year and a half later got invited to their wedding.

They both just had a fight three hours before that. They would fight often, but would make up minutes later. However when three hours had passed and no call from Josh came, Rory realized the magnitude of the problem was bigger than what could be solved over the phone.

She was the bigger man who went to apologize but got slapped in the face with betrayal.

Lara sure was her best friend, but it was after she ended relations with either of them that she realized they were never that close. Sure, they talked and gossiped and shares secrets but Lara never gave Rory the sisterly vibe every best friend gave the other (brotherly, if it was a male).

And Rory thought to not go to the wedding at all, to back out. It would save her from feeling distressed now but the consequences might bite her in the arse later. She wasn't the person to run away from her problems. Even after the huge setback, she ended calling them both to settle matters on an even foot. Josh agreed, Lara and her ended up fighting when the former accused Rory of knowing she always liked Josh.

It didn't end well, but at least it made Josh (and perhaps, maybe, Lara) to invite her at their wedding.

Almost everyone at the animal shelter knew what went down between the three of them. Harry, despite of his curiosity and his power to make everyone confide in him, was unaware probably because everyone knew it was a sensitive matter. The rest excluding Rory weren't invited, and Rory guessed it had something to do with Newt, Lara's house on a Christmas night (Lara was away), and a lot of toilet paper.

Rory looked around her. Everyone had gotten cozy after eating and now we're watching The Lion King, much to Newt's demands. Rory was sat next to Harry, not paying attention to whatever was going on the tv. Harry felt warm and comfortable, his arm rubbed against Rory with every breath he took, and it was being impossible for Rory to not rest her head on his arm and close her eyes.

Newt's snores filled the room. He was lying with his head in Rory's lap as his feet dangled over the edge of the couch. His snores were drowned by Simba's 'Hakuna Matata'.

He slept soundly, almost like a baby, and Rory envied him for the ability.

.

.

It was getting close to eight when Rory decided it was time for her to leave.

Newt had already gone to bed, and by bed it meant hoarding the couch as drool dripped from the side of his mouth. Penny had already left, she had some things left to pack an while Lacey stayed up, Rory could see her drooping. It wasn't late, but Lacey had a lot to do today. She was ready to hit the bed and collapse.

As for Harry, Rory could see him rubbing his eyes and yawning. He seemed tired too, but he promised to drop Rory at her home.

"There's no need, Harry. It's not that late, I mean, I can get a bus."

"It might not be late, but it's getting cold. You wouldn't wanna get sick, would you?"

He was leading her to the place he parked his car in the garage. Rory was rubbing her arms, with November ending it indeed was getting cold.

"Hey, Roro?"

Harry asked once he was safely sat inside the car with his seat belt fastened. Rory looked over at him. His eyes were wide as he was trying to keep them open. The engine revved and Rory nodded her head, to indicate that she was listening.

"I was thinking that maybe you could stay over at mine? I mean, uh-" he rubbed his neck and looked away, and Rory could feel a nervous rant coming up, "-it's getting uh, late and I'm tired. And frankly, I don't feel like driving all the way to your home even though I promise I would but I'm tired and-"

Rory chuckled, watching him ramble nervously. Sometimes, she observed, he would rub his neck and run a hand through his hair while looking absolutely anywhere but at her. He'd bite his lips too, and often stutter.

Rory pondered over Harry's invite to stay the night at his house. If asked two months ago, Rory would have laughed in his face, or probably wouldn't believe him or waved it off as a prank. But things were different now, between them and with them. Rory knew he was being genuine, and staying over at his house wouldn't probably be worse than befriending him. He was already very tired, and she knew countering him would only tire him more. Besides, what did she have to lose?

She agreed, cutting his weird formation of sentences that made little to no sense. The look of relief that passed over his face was worth taking a picture, his hair were a mess and looked very inviting for Rory to just run a hand through them.

She wondered what it would feel like to do so, and for the first time, she wondered who actually got the chance to run their fingers through the mess on his head. She realized in the six months she had known Harry, he never brought a girl with him to any of their group meet-ups, and it wasn't as if she kept tabs on him, she never saw him leave with anyone when they'd hit a bar or something.

Take the night when they went out to the bar Newt's uncle owned, for example. He stayed looking after Rory, instead of enjoying himself.

It opened various different probabilities and uncertainties for Rory, the kinds of which made her stomach ache and heart beat much faster for someone at rest.

.

.

Harry's house, despite what his personality (mostly his attire) would suggest, was completely monochromatic.

Rory was surprised seeing only black and white wherever she looked. The house was much spacious than hers and smelled of lavender and a bit of oranges. It was warm and cozy and Rory instantly fell in love with it.

She followed Harry around by dragging her feet over the carpeted floor, feeling too tired to even lift her feet. Harry led her through a flight of stairs and down a small hallway which had three doors, over to a room on the left.

He turned towards her, "This room is mine, the only available one since the rest are a bit....messy."

Rory didn't want to question how much messy the other two rooms really were. She simply nodded and eyed him when he kept standing.

"You don't expect me to sleep on the couch, do you? I mean, I know that's what a gentleman would do but being tired and sleepy has extracted the gentleman out of me so the best and the only option for us is to share the bed. I hope it's alright with you."

Rory could only stare at him in surprise, "When were you a gentleman anyway?"

Harry eyed her, making a show of flipping his hair over his shoulder in a dramatic fashion. "I am a gentleman, thank you very much. I just never showed it around you."

Rory rolled her eyes, shaking her head and fighting a smile when Harry opened the door and bowed down, "Milady."

His room, contrary to his house, was an exact replica of the shirts he wore. While his house gave a sophisticated vibe, his room was more on the boyish side. It didn't look like it belonged to a medical student. His walls were painted a mulberry colour, while the floor was yellow. His bed sheet was blue and the dresser and various drawers he had were all brown. It was just a mesh of colours and photographs and various posters on the wall, and Rory got her answer when Harry opened his mouth.

"My mum decorated the rest of the house while giving me only this room to decorate so I did it to the best of my ability."

Truth be told, it looked exactly like the place Rory would have expected Harry to live in. Posters of Queen and Coldplay amongst various other bands were pasted over his walls, and Rory could see a picture of Harry in his adolescent years peeking from the bookshelf.

"I like it," she finally spoke, "It's so you."

"So me?"

"Yeah. It goes along with those shirts you wear."

Harry was rummaging through the drawers, and Rory invited herself to sit on the bed which was perfectly made. "It took a lot of begging to have mum let me colour the floor yellow. I think it brings out the colour of the walls."

Rory hummed as Harry turned around. He was holding folded clothes in his hands, looking really relaxed and sleepy, and cuddly too.

"Here, you can wear these to bed." He stifled a yawn and motioned towards a door to the right, "That's the bathroom and if you'd look on the first cabinet to the right, you'll find a spare toothbrush. I'll just use the one downstairs."

Rory nodded, thanking Harry when he handed her clothes and entered the bathroom. It was dimly lit. Rory went over to the sink to was her face and remove the makeup she was wearing. Searching for the toothbrush in the cabinet Harry mentioned, she found one and proceeded to brush her teeth. She changed into the clothes Harry lent her, she saw the shirt was actually a flamingo one she had seen him wearing countless times before. It reached her mid-thigh, and the shorts were well below her knees. She had to make do with them.

Harry was already settled under the blanket when Rory got out. He looked comfortable, and showed Rory the boundary he had made using pillows in the middle of the bed.

"I'm called the blanket hoarder, so you better be aware."

Rory wanted to retort back that during the sleepovers she'd have as a kid, none of her friends slept in the same space as her because she'd hoard all the space and the blanket and irritated everyone else. She slid under the blanket silently, facing away from Harry and closing her eyes after hearing the click of the lamp.

It was completely silent for a while, crickets chirped outside and owls hooted. Rory could hear Harry's steady breath and her own heartbeat. She could hear Harry shuffling and a minute later, she heard his voice.

"Roro, are you asleep?"

She sighed, turning towards him, "I'm definitely asleep."

There was a pillow boundary between them. Half of her was thankful for that, but half of her wasn't because her feet were really cold and she couldn't sleep with them being that cold nor she could earn them by herself.

"Isn't it surreal how two months ago, you could barely look at me without wanting to sever my head and now you're in the same bed as me?"

Rory shook her head, "I never wanted to sever your head. You just kept bothering me to no end and I didn't think you had any boundary."

From the little light that poured in through the window, Rory could see the silhouette of Harry's arm removing the pillows between them. She was greeted by his figure which she could just make out.

"I liked knowing I could get to you so quickly. I still do."

Rory took a pillow Harry just put next to his head and hit him with it. It reached his arm, and Harry snatched it from her grasp.

"See?"

Harry chuckled, making Rory groan. She turned her back towards him, taking the covers all the way over her head. Her mouth had gone dry, and her head was having jumbled thoughts.

"Hey Harry, what are you doing for Christmas?"

Her back was still towards Harry, and she could feel him shuffling closer. Hear radiated off of his body under the shares blanket.

"I'll probably be staying here. My mum will be visiting my sister in New York so I'm gonna be alone."

Rory swallowed, turning her back and facing Harry. She could see that his eyes were open and he was staring at her.

"Then there's a wedding on the twenty-third. Do you want to go with me?"

There. She had said it, now it was out in the open. Rory could feel her heart stopping for a moment as she anticipated his answer.

"Sure, I'll go with you."

That was easy, almost too easy. Rory could feel her breath coming back to her as she sighed with relief. She shuffled closer to Harry, him leaning forwards as she rested her head against his pillow.

"Thank you Harry."

He shook his head. Rory couldn't make out his eyes in the dark but guessed them to be twinkling. "Whose wedding is it, anyway?"

Rory was silent. He was going to find out one way or another. Or worse, he'd find out at the wedding himself. It wouldn't hurt telling him, it was simply two words. She asked him to go to the wedding, telling him the name of the person wouldn't hurt her more.

"My ex's."

Rory couldn't see his reaction, but she saw his silhouette moving in the dark as he got up and looked down at her by resting his arm on the bed to support himself. "What? Wh- Really?"

Rory nodded sheepishly, "Yeah."

Harry was silent, so was Rory. She could feel a thousand questions running through his mind, given his curious attitude. But what came out of his mouth made Rory facepalm.

"Then maybe you could introduce me as your boyfriend, yeah? I'm sure any ex of yours would totally be jealous of my body and my face and my body-"

"Go back to sleep Harry."

He obliged quickly, dropping his head on the pillow and closing his eyes. Maybe now, Rory could say she was actually looking forward to the wedding.

//

December

With the change in weather, changed the whole environment of the shelter.

Since winter provided the chance for more stray dogs likely to be brought to the shelter, Beth was getting more and more occupied by taking care of dogs. She'd have her husband drop her twin daughters Blue and Violet at the shelter and they'd help around the shelter.

Rory was getting increasingly busy with Moby. Her belly was increasing in size day by day. With enough help from Harry, mixed with his snide comments about her lack of knowledge regarding anatomy and morphology and what not, Rory did whatever she could to make it as comfortable for Moby as she could.

Rory, through a series of unfortunate events, found that no one in the shelter actually knew about Lara getting married. It happened on a Wednesday, when one of the field trips had arrived at the shelter. Harry was with Rory, looking after the puppies, of which now only three remained. They were getting bigger in size, and Harry, like always, was grilling Rory about her ex

"Maybe now that your ex is getting married, we can have him give you dating advice. Or maybe at the wedding, we can found some good-looking dude for y-"

"Josh is getting married? What, when, why?"

Newt was beside Harry in a second, eagerly looking between the two of them. His face resembled much like a puppy with his tongue out who had a ball dangling in front of him.

Harry looked at Rory for a second, as if silently asking for permission to tell him (or maybe asking about what to do). Rory found it cute he asked her first before saying anything. She moved her head to one side, asking him to stay silent. She wanted to break the news herself.

"Why do you want to know?" The look on Newt's face made her eyes widen in realization. She gasped, "Oh, you're not thinking about-"

"I took revenge on Lara last year but Josh got away-"

"Who's Lara?"

Rory might have avoided telling Harry who Josh was marrying on purpose. She didn't want him to think that her love life was pathetic.

"She is - or was- Rory's friend. Josh is probably marrying her."

Unlike Harry, Newt didn't have any concern for Rory's privacy. Rory bit her tongue and glared at Newt, avoiding looking at Harry. He seemed to have gone silent. Rory believed at least two good things came out of Newt's not having a control on his trap hole. One, he didn't mention Lara to be Rory's best friend. And two, he saved her from going through the torture of herself explaining the situation.

"Oh."

Yeah, oh. Rory looked at Harry. Thankful the didn't seem at all sympathetic. Instead, his eyes had a mischievous glint in them. Like the one which was always present whenever he made Rory bang her head against the wall.

"What were you going to say Newt?"

Rory started shaking his head at a rate she believed was fast enough to burst a vein. "Harry, Newt, if you're think-"

"I say we egg his car, or house would be even better. I'm sure he'll be having a bachelor-"

Rory got up before Newt could finish his sentence. "If you finish that sentence, I'll swear I'm going to tell Lacey about the crush you have on him."

That had him shutting his trap hole faster than the speed of light. Harry's loud laugh rang around her and the image of him genuinely being happy settled warmly in her stomach. Blood rush to her cheeks as Harry caught her staring. Not wanting a repeat of last time it happened, she quickly started walking, Harry being hot on her trail.

"Does he actually have a crush on Lacey?"

Rory shrugged, reaching Moby's cot and finding her sleeping snugly. "He denies it every time anyone brings that up but by the look in his eyes whenever she's around, I figured he liked her."

Harry hummed, settling beside Rory as she looked over sleeping Moby. "And was Lara actually your friend?"

Rory sighed, "She was my best friend, Harry. Till I found Josh and her in bed, together."

Rory didn't avoid looking at him. His face was unreadable, but his eyes were soft. "You know, Roro, the offer of me going as your boyfriend to the wedding still stands if you're up for it."

Rory shook her head, chuckling as he laughed. "You're never going to stop bothering me, do you?"

"To no end, Roro. To no end."

.

.

Moby's babies came with a bang.

The bang was actually Newt knocking over several boxes at once when he saw Moby sprawled over the nest in the box Beth made two weeks ago. Harry predicted Moby was getting close to the due date. Rory thought his prediction wasn't needed since Moby's belly which was carrying six pups was enough of an indication. Ever since then, Moby was feeling the need for seclusion and often moved with the nest to one corner of the room.

Rory helped set the nest by providing whatever blanket she could find for her. It was decided that neither Newt nor Rory needed to be present at the time of birth two weeks ago. Newt would probably faint while Rory had the chances of puking.

Moby's delivery kept the wedding and Harry accompanying her off of her mind completely during day but at night, anxiety would grip her and make sleep almost impossible. She would complete her required quota of sleep during her classes. The professors weren't much caring of what the students did.

And at the shelter, after taking care of the animals and looking after Moby who had started secluding herself, she'd come to think of Harry who was being exceptionally caring towards Moby. Being a med student, he was more aware of what was going on inside her body. He spent a great deal of his time at the shelter just making sure Moby wasn't having any complications.

And when Newt knocked over the boxes announcing the beginning of Moby's labour, Harry was the first to rush to her, followed by Beth and Lacey.

Rory and Newt cleaned out a room for this purpose, since both of them had enough energy to see what was happening. Lacey had laughed for hours at Newt, now calling him a chicken while Harry only smiled at Rory, choosing to not comment on anything. Rory thought he was only laying off her because of all the ex-marrying-best-friend drama, and she hated that.

It took three hours, all of which she spent with Newt biting her nails off in anxiety. Even though Harry and Dr. Travis both declared several times that dogs didn't generally have any complications during labour, she couldn't help but worry. Newt was starting to doze off, but compose himself.

"Hey, Rory?"

She heard his voice and hummed. Her mind was preoccupied, but she heard his words loud and clear.

"What's the deal with you and Harry?"

She stilled for a moment. What kind of question was that? What was it supposed to mean?

"What do you mean?"

He was sat across from her, so he had a clear look of her face just like she had of him. Rory knew avoiding looking at him wouldn't work.

"I mean, what's going on between you two?"

Rory was quick to answer, "There's nothing going on between us. Why would you even think that?"

"You let him call you Roro." He spoke as it was enough of an answer. She only let Harry call her that because he was pretty much persistent and stubborn. Despite her asking him to stop doing so, he didn't and kept calling her that.

"And why's that a big deal? It's just a nickname."

"A nickname you hated. You specifically told me to call me anything but that when you first arrived. I couldn't think of any nickname except that and you threatened to chop by balls and feed to Moby."

Rory thought over his words for a second. Some kid in pre-school spoiled the name 'Roro' for her as he would make fun of her name by calling her that. She grew up to hate that name. It was stupid and didn't make any sense.

But it didn't sound stupid coming from Harry's mouth.

"And besides the name, I've seen the way you two look at each other. It's like being trapped in some Nicholas Sparks book or something."

Rory could feel her ears heating up. "The way we look at each other? What about the way you look at Lacey?"

Newt was quick to turn red, "Let's not make this about me. And don't try to run-"

"So you can ask me about my feelings for Harry but I can't ask you about you and Lacey huh?"

Newt eyed her, and in the moment she realized he was actually acting like a younger, annoying brother. Rory thought if she had a brother, he would have behaved in the same way Newt was doing.

"So you agree you have feelings for him, huh?"

Rory was about to object, quickly going over the things she said to him that might have suggested that. There was nothing she could find, Newt's eyebrows were doing their weird dance and she was getting frustrated by the second.

She opened her mouth to object, but a voice stopped her from possibly telling Newt off.

"Rory, Newt! Come, take a look at the puppies!"

Rory was the first to jump over her feet and rush to the room Moby was in. She saw Harry by the box Moby was in and Beth was at the side. Rory rushed forward, feeling her heart beat with excitement and stomach in the knots she had grown accustomed to. In the box over folded blankets laid Moby, with six different but at the same time similar looking pups curled up around her. They were small, really small and really weak, and Rory could feel her throat clogging up as tears welled up in her eyes.

"Oh my God! They're so tiny."

A laugh broke through the tears as she sniffed. Harry was taking off the gloves he was wearing and Beth asked Rory is she'd like to hold the pups.

She agreed and took one in her hands. The pup was an exact replica of its mother, and Rory brought it towards her lips and kissed it above the eyes.

"I'm a grandma."

.

.

Harry decided he'd drive them to the wedding.

Rory was nervous. She hadn't seen Lara since the fight after the break up, and there were definitely a few people on her list of never seeing again whom she would have like to avoid. They came in Lara's circle of friends, and Rory didn't liked them nor they did Rory, as they made clear several times. But alas, the day was here and she couldn't back out last minute.

It had not snowed in but it was getting really cold. Christmas decorations were in full bloom and Rory had her house completely immersed in fairy lights. She bought a little tree for her house and since she knew no one would be available she handed everyone the presents she bought for them. Everyone except Harry.

In the end, Rory ended up buying him a shirt she saw instead of the shoes she had initially planned to buy for him. It was a Rolling Stones one, similar to one he already had but the few times Rory had seen him wearing it, she could spot holes in the fabric and often times, it would be held together with safety pins. The shirt was new, and she planned to give Harry that after the wedding.

Rory was dressed in a simple pale blue dress which her mother sent her as a Christmas gift, paired with heels that weren't too high. She had put on light makeup; a little eyeshadow which brought out her eyes and lipstick. Harry rang the bell of her home at the scheduled time, not a minute late or early.

She went down, feeling giddy and afraid all at once. A small part of her heart wanted to impress Harry, to get his approval while the remaining part didn't care what he thought of her. The small one was winning.

She opened the door and was surprised to see Harry dressed formally in a black tuxedo with white shirt an black bow tie. He was freshly shaved and hair combed back. His eyes were brightly lit and mouth curved into a smile at the sight of her.

"You cleaned up nice, Harry."

Rory chuckled when he flipped his hair over his shoulder. His brown shoes had been replaced, and Rory was surprised and sad all at one.

"So do you, Roro. You look amazing, really."

Rory couldn't help but blush. Just two months ago, they were at each other's throat but now both were complimenting how the other looked.

"Shall we?"

Rory took a deep breath and wrapped her arm around Harry's.

.

.

The wedding was small.

Not much people had come. Either Josh and Lara hadn't invited many people or it was because many would be spending time with their families. Rory strongly believed it was the former, since Josh always liked to keep his crowd small.

Rory had decided to bring the couple a present, a picture she found of the two together. It was even before Rory could expect anything of this sort to go down between the three of them, but it was a memory to cherish nonetheless.

They had taken a trip to Lara's beach house once summer. It was only a week long, but they made strong bonds. In the picture, Lara and Josh were sat on the sand as the sun set behind them. Rory had herself taken the picture, falling in love with it at once. She didn't put her name or anything on the wrapper, knowing Lara would know once she saw it.

Harry and her were seated in an adequate position in the church, not far away from the altar but not close enough either. Rory could spot Lara's mother and the relatives she had met and knew but didn't bother to greet them. She had told Harry she wasn't going to interact with anyone, and Harry after trying to tell her otherwise so many times agreed.

She was really thankful for Harry, because he could feel how stressed she really was and occasionally tried to lighten the weight over her shoulders without overstepping the line. He'd comment on various guests, making Rory laugh and while sometimes she'd completely ignore him, he would know she needed her space of mind.

And she did, because Josh was soon standing at the altar and Lara was walking down the aisle with her father by her side. Rory's mind went blank and she didn't hear a word the priest said. She could feel Harry's eyes on her throughout the ceremony, but she didn't care.

Before, seeing Josh and Lara together felt unnatural, like something was put out of place. It was like seeing a square trying to fit in a circle's place or the way your ears bled when you heard nails being scraped against a chalkboard. It felt like something surreal and completely out of space.

But now, as their lips locked together and shouts broke out from every direction and a smile so graceful appeared on Lara's lips, Rory knew they were meant to be together all alone.

.

.

Rory didn't interact with anyone after the wedding. Not even Harry.

He tried his best to give her all the space she needed, but he was a human after all. She could sense his patience dwindling away as she sat at some bar Josh had rented for his big night.

Harry had left to get Rory some water as she was slowly drinking away her sorrows. It was her number one talent; running away when things got tough and preferring to forget what was happening instead to stay and fight the battle and cut to the feeling.

But no.

Someone had spilled their drink on her, but she was too drunk to care.

Rory was alone. Alone with a few bottles of vodka and a dress which smelled strongly of champagne. Classy people.

Even Harry had left her and now she sat with the thumping bass of the bar which wasn't enough to drown the slow songs from the wedding which pounded in her ears. She was alone with tears streaming down her face and drunken giggles coming out of her dried lips.

She got up, making her way through the crowd of bodies which was better seen as one. She had found Harry’s slippers somehow lying in his car and forced him to let her wear those since her feet were ready to fall off even though her heels weren’t that large. She exited the bar, it was raining slightly and she was holding a bottle of tequila in her hand. Not fearing the cold, she laid down over the wet ground, feeling mud seep into her hair and probably her cheeks.

She was alone - no one was in sight - with tears stained on her cheeks and mouth dry despite all the drinks she had earlier.

Alone with subdued music and excited individuals burning with energy she had been drained of.

Alone with a bottle of tequila in her hand and mud on her cheeks which drips with the rain water she’s drenched in and slippers too big for her.

She was alone. But then she saw Harry, and the way he stressed over her. She saw the gentle way with which he touched her skin and made her tremble. She saw the way he bothered her to no end. She saw the way with rich his fingers moved over her cheeks and wiped away her tears. She saw how her heart sped up when he asked if she was alright.

Rory felt alone, and a boy partial to flamboyant shirts held together with safety pins and wearing worn boots and a penchant of getting under her skin might be the distraction she desperately needed.

.

.

Rory smelled lavender and oranges.

The scent was really strong, enough to overpower the sleep which was currently gripping her. Strong enough to overpower the headache which wanted her to sleep more. Strong enough to make her open her eyes and realize it wasn't her room she was sleeping in.

The roof was mulberry, so were the walls. She groaned as a wave of nausea hit her, making her quickly sit up as her headache worsened in protest. She brought her hands towards her head, realizing something she hadn't before.

She was naked.

Her heart starting beating fast, throat clogging up as she tried to recall the events of previous night but came up short. What was happening and how did she get in- holy crap - Harry's bed?

Her eyes widened in horror as she looked around the room. She was indeed in Harry's bed, naked, but he was nowhere to be found, nor were her clothes. Slowly she got up, forcing the headache aside and wrapping the blanket which smelled strongly of him around her naked body. She looked around her, still not in terms with whatever was happening. But a door creaking behind her make her snap her neck towards it.

Harry shrieked when he saw Rory standing in front of him. He had taken a shower, and Rory could see water droplets dripping down his hair and chest. A towel was wrapped around his waist. His whole body was in view for Rory, and she spotted all the tattoos that marked his body for the first time; the most noticeable being the butterfly on his tummy and the swallows just above where his waist dipped below.

Rory gulped.

She hadn't seen him like this before. And she was really confused about their situation. Harry was awkwardly staring at her face, his bare body standing just at the entrance of the bathroom.

Rory's mouth went completely dry. She was confused and probably scared of the unknown. "I was-uh, looking for my clothes."

Harry immediately looked down. Rory's heart started beating faster and she could feel her face getting warmer.

Harry nodded, avoiding looking at her, "They are uh- downstairs."

Downstairs. Holy crap. Rory's eyes fell out of her socket. "Did we really-?"

Harry's silence was all the answer she needed but still she saw her head move in a single nod. Whatever going through Rory's mind vanished like the wind and her heart dropped to her empty stomach. As if that wasn't enough, Harry avoiding looking at her made her feel worse. Even when he did spare her a glance for a fleeting moment, his eyes reminded her of brick walls and steel, so much that despite of the heat cranked up she shivered when he looked at her.

Grasping the fragments of her thoughts, she desperately tried to make sense of what she was feeling. Standing naked in front of Harry with a blanket wrapped around her body and with the intellectual part of her leaving her system, she was the most vulnerable she had been in front of him. She was hungover and her head was pounding like there was no tomorrow, and yet Harry was standing like his soul had left his body.

He looked up slowly, perhaps wanting to tell her that whatever happened between them was best regarded as a mistake, but as soon as he opened his mouth, Rory cut him off.

"We need to-"

"It was a mistake."

Rory could tell Harry was surprised, because his eyes widened and he took a step forward, "What?"

"We were drunk," Rory rambled, pacing the room as her stomach started aching, "and we probably didn't know what we were doing. We also didn't want this to happen and-"

"I did."

Rory stopped talking, halting in her tracks as Harry's mumble reached her, "What do you mean you did?"

Harry took a step forward as Rory tightened the sheets around her body. His eyes weren't wavering from her face but she still felt uncomfortable standing in nothing except a blanket in front of a boy she didn't even fully know, but still had sex with.

"I mean, I was drunk, but I was also tired of pretending that I couldn’t stop myself from kissing you whenever I saw you."

Rory, for the second time in a span of ten minutes, found her heart dropping to her stomach. Her eyes widened to the size of saucers and her breath hitched in her throat. "I don’t understand-”

"I wanted it to happen."

It came like a huge blow towards Rory as Harry stood in front of her with a few millimetres space between the both of them. Her mind was still comprehending the situation. Harry's eyes were soft but his face was set in a serious look. His hair was still wet, and Rory feared he'd get a cold or something but he still radiated warmness. It was like the night she stayed at his house and slept next to him, waking up in a bed which smelled like lavender.

But Harry smelled like oranges, not like the grapefruit she had smelled on him ages ago. He might have changed his body wash, and Rory didn't know whether she liked or love the smell.

"Don't you see it Roro? I wanted this to happen."

He gestured between the two of them, still not making any movement to touch her. He was standing really close to her, and she worried for the safety of her mind because Harry was overpowering all of her senses.

Rory took a deep breath, gazing into his eyes which reminded her of summer grass and green leaves. His confession had taken her by surprise, "You did?"

He nodded, searching her face for something which Rory didn't know, "I do."

"What about all the trouble you made me go through when you started volunteering? Did you want this-" she gestured between the two of them like Harry had done "-to happen even then?"

He stepped closer, diminishing the space between them till his bare feet touched Rory's. She felt his body warmth enveloping her and taking over all of her senses. The smell of oranges wafted around the air around her and made a warm home inside her. Her eyes didn't waver from his face, and his breath warmed her face.

"Truth is, I liked you from day one but you, Roro, were just too oblivious to see."

Truth was, when Rory first met Harry, she couldn't help but think how attractive he really was. Not only his face and attached physique but the way he interacted with his fellow workers and how he took care of wounded animals and just the idea of him in general real spoke out to her. But then she had to take care of a litter of puppies with him and came to a decision that he was put on earth just to spite her.

And he did, lots.

But now with the confession of his feelings came the fear which dating Josh had inflicted upon her. "But what if this doesn't work out?"

Harry was quick to speak, "It might but also may not happen. We can't predict that, but what I want to do is cut to the feeling, Roro, with you. Don't overthink it, we'll see where it goes. And also, you'll have to promise me reply to every gif I send you."

A smile crept up Rory's face, and she could feel the weight on her chest getting light. Cut to the feeling, that was what he said, "So you're saying you'll keep bothering me, Harry?"

He smiled, dipping his head down enough to have his lips ghosting over hers, but not touching still.

"To no end, Roro. To no end."

[selfconstructedself]

6, 7, 19, 21

Thanks friend!

6.) Who in the system are you closest to and why?

Probably Carson. We don’t really talk much but I feel like if we were completely separate people we’d be good friends. I also thought that I was him for awhile, and we’re the same age and have some similarities. I’ve also played around with Lina Carson as a pseudonym a little bit.  -Lina- 

7.) Is there anyone you argue with a lot?

I used to argue with Rory all the time, and Alyria some, for getting us into risky situations. I feel like if we’re trying to make decisions in the headspace or by writing to each other, discussions can turn into arguments because while it may seem like we agree on a lot, we typically just end up compromising. -Lina- 

19.) What keeps you going?

The weekends (lol). The moments where I’m not exhausted/in pain/blurry and I actually enjoy the work I do. Books I can’t put down and TV shows I watch all the way through. Friends who make me laugh so hard I cry. My favorite hot chocolate in the winter. Long warm hugs. Curiosity and sometimes hope for the future. The way it feels to get lost in the music when I play a particularly beautiful piece on my flute. Painting. Riding horses. Opportunities to travel, and the places I haven’t seen yet. The things I still want to do like adopt a cat and go to a music festival and publish a book and get my master’s degree. -A bit of everybody- 

21.) Which fictional character are you most similar to? 

This one is a bit hard to answer! We don’t really have any fictives. Alyria is pretty similar to a character named Gwendolyn from a novella that we were writing back when Alyria was first developing - I thought we were just being super imaginative and doing some method writing, but turns out Alyria was using writing as a coping mechanism to explore their personality. 

We have/had a younger part who went by Kat and identified with Pusheen and other cartoon cats a lot, but she either merged with Lily or is dormant, don’t know which one. 

Lily says Peppa Pig or Pikachu, but I don’t think she’s super similar to them so much as she just really likes them. 

I’m sure if I really thought about our favorite TV shows at different points when parts were developing, I could find influential fictional characters, but I’m tired so maybe another day. -Lina- 

Edited with the other number 21.) Which part in t he system are you most similar to? Do you get along well? 

This is also a hard question. In some ways we all have similarities and we all have differences. I’d say Carson and I are similar, though we’re more like two sides of the same coin. I used to think of Carson as “me but a boy” because he developed during the Great Gender Confusion Time of 2014™️. I think he holds a lot of the gender dysphoria from that time before we decided fuck it gender is fake and being nonbinary is ok. And I like to think that he and I would be integrated if being trans in an evangelical environment wasn’t such a traumatic time. We don’t not get along? I don’t feel like we’re co-con much so I can’t be positive but refer to question 6 above. -Lina-