#i have a steven in my head that likes dave so i agree with ya.

[dayshift-confessions]

I LOVEEEI LOVEEEE DAVESTEVEN STEVENDAVE OR QHATEVER THE SHIP NAME IS I LOVE IT I LOVE IT

\>o</

[hockeyisreligion]

The One That Got Away - Part 4

been awhile, I hope you all are well!

the link to part 3 is here: part 3

Talia was super nervous for the Lowry family barbecue she was attending. She hadn’t been to one since the summer before Adam left for Newfoundland, and they broke up. A lot had changed in the 6 years that have passed since Talia was a regular attendee. 

“Why are you nervous?” Adam comments as Talia gets into his truck to head to the Lowry household. He could tell just by how she scurries to the car. Talia had insisted on bringing something, and Adam finally cracked and told her she could bring a salad.Talia was wearing the cutest floral sundress and she was continuously pulling on it, Adam could’t believe how nervous she looked.

“Nice to see you too,” Talia murmurs. “You aren’t nervous?”

“Why would I be, Tal? I’ve been attending Lowry family barbecues my entire life.” Adam smiles over at Talia, pulling away from her apartment building.

“Ha ha,” Talia mocks. “Does your mom know I’m coming? I seriously don’t want to overstep.”

“Talia,” Adam pauses, talking a look at her to make sure she was being serious. “My mom has considered you to be her daughter since they day she met you. Just because we broke up, that doesn’t change a thing, I swear.”

“So she does know I’m coming?” Talia asks to confirm as they pull up to the famous Lowry house- or mansion as Talia refers to it as.

“You know,” Adam pauses putting the car in park. “I didn’t get a chance to tell her, so let’s go surprise everyone.”

“Adam Steven—”

Adam has gotten out of the car and is walking around the truck to try and get Talia out of the truck as well. He opens the door to see Talia biting her lip, she looks to be shaking a little. “Hey, c’mere” He begins to wrap his arms around Talia’s small figure. “You seriously have nothing to worry about Tal. My family loves you more than they love me.” Adam reassures, rubbing his hand up and down on her back.

This makes Talia chuckle, Adam takes this as a good sign and begins to pull back and get Talia out of the car. Adam grabs the salad she had made and took her hand gently tugging her along with him. They stopped outside of the front door, where Talia took a large deep breath. “There’s nothing for you to be nervous about, okay?” Adam smiles and gives Talia’s hand a squeeze before dropping it and opening the door to the Lowry house.

“We’re here!” Adam calls throughout the house.

“We?” Someone replies back, Talia thinks its Adam’s dad, Dave.

Adam and Talia round the corner to the kitchen and see the absolute surprise on everyone’s face (except Joel’s) when they notice Talia is with Adam.

“WHAT” Tessa, Adam’s younger sister, screeches, practically sprinting towards Talia bounding her up in the biggest hug. “Oh my god, what are you doing here?” Tessa questions, pulling back and looking at Talia from an arm’s length.

“We saw her yesterday grocery shopping and we invited her,” Joel comments, smiling at Talia.

“I’m mad that you two didn’t tell anyone I was coming,” Talia mutters, finally Tessa has let her go and Talia is being wrapped up by Elaine now.

“And ruin this surprise? I mean all of your faces were priceless,” Joel booms with laughter.

“I’m shocked you actually kept it a surprise, Joel” Adam nudges him.

“I told Sven,” Joel mutters, referring to the Lowry family dog.

“Let me at her,” Dave jokes, playfully pushing Elaine out of the way to give Talia a big hug, lifting her off her feet. Talia hadn’t seen Dave in a number of years, she couldn’t remember the last time.

“Easy big guy,” Joel jokes.

“It is so good to see you kid,” Dave whispers in Talia’s ear, putting her down with a swift kiss to her head.  

“Where’s Sarah?” Adam asks.

“She will be here soon, they just went to their hotel to get settled in.”

“Sarah’s in town?” Talia questions.

“Yeah, have you ever met the rug rats?” Dave asks referring to his grandsons and Sarah’s two boys, Lawson and Linden.

“I’ve met Lawson and I’ve seen Linden over facetime. But its been awhile, that was when Linden was a baby.”

“Sarah will be so excited to see you.” Tessa smiles, hugging Talia again. “We need to catch up, help me and mom in the kitchen?” Tessa questions which Talia nods with a smile.

“Okay boys, get grilling, so we can eat soon.”

___

It wasn’t long until Sarah was walking through the door. “We’re back,” she sing songs, followed by little fast steps running into the kitchen.

Sarah rounds the corner to see Talia cutting up some tomatoes for the hamburgers they were having, she immediately screams as she runs over towards her. Tessa and Sarah basically having the same reaction.

The two boys, Lawson and Linden look at this interaction with wide eyes and Lawson looks to their dad, Kyle to explain. “Daddy, who’s that?”

“Do you remember uncle Adam’s friend, Talia?”

“That’s her?” Lawson whispers now to his dad.

Sarah has finally let Talia go and now Kyle is giving her a friendly hug, Kyle and Sarah were only dating when Talia and Adam were still together. “How are ya, Tal?” Kyle asks.

“I’m good, what about you, dad?” Talia jokes, giving Kyle a nudge.

“Good, have you met the boys before?��� Kyle runs his hand through Lawson’s hair.

Talia bends down to be eye level with Lawson, Linden hiding behind his dad’s leg. “You must be Lawson, my name is Talia.”

“You uncle Addy’s girlfriend.” Lawson smiles wrapping his little arms around Talia’s head. This gets the group to laugh. Talia doesn’t bother correcting him, just returns the squeeze. “Meet Lindy,” Lawson says trying to get his young brother to come out from hiding.  Linden looks out from behind his father’s leg and gives Talia the smallest of waves.

“He’ll come around,” Sarah comments. Talia stands up to see Adam, Joel, and Dave walking in with a plate of burgers from the barbecue. “Is the table set?” Sarah asks.

“We need another spot made up for Talia, and then we can eat.” Elaine comments, whisking everyone to the kitchen table.

___

Dinner was great, Talia forgot how much she missed Elaine and Dave’s cooking. After they ate, they enjoyed sitting on the patio, enjoying some drinks and the nice, mild night they were having in Calgary. Dave and the boys were talking all things hockey, even though it was the offseason for every Lowry, the NHL playoffs were still going on, with the Stanley Cup finals about to begin. The girls were catching up, asking a lot about Talia’s job. Talia felt like nothing had changed since the last time she was at the Lowry household for a barbecue. It was as if Adam and her were still together.

Adam really enjoyed having Talia over for dinner. He didn’t realize how much he missed having her fit in with her family so well. Talia and her family were so close even after all these years and their breakup, it still felt like nothing had changed. Talia was so close to his two sisters, fitting right in with them. It made Adam’s heart hurt a little seeing Talia interact with his family, especially his two nephews. It reminded him of what could have been, and that thought hurt Adam a lot. However, Adam was just happy having Talia back in his life, even if it is just as friends.

Talia, cleared her throat, getting everyone’s attention. “I just wanted to say a little thank you to you guys.” Talia pauses, taking a deep breathe before continuing. “When Adam invited me, I was quite nervous because it had been so long since I’ve been around you all. Which sounds stupid now because you have been nothing but welcoming to me and have always treated me like family. So I just wanted to thank you guys for that.” Talia blushes.

“Oh honey,” Elaine murmurs, moving her hand to rest on Talia’s thigh. “I have considered you to be one of my own since you were 7 years old. You will always be welcome here.”

“You and Adam not being together anymore, doesn’t change anything.” Joel comments, “You are still my sister.”

Talia had tears brimming her eyes and she took a big breathe collecting herself. “I wish I hadn’t stayed away from you guys all these years.”

Adam felt sick to his stomach, sitting there with his first love, best friend, and love of his life all wrapped into one, he felt helpless. He hated seeing her cry and knowing that he had a part in making her this emotional.

“Well you are here now, aren't ya?” Sarah comments, wrapping an arm around Talia. “Its been long overdue but I’m so glad you are here.”

“Me too.”

___

Talia and the Lowry family stayed talking until after midnight. She enjoyed catching up with the whole family and had even agreed to go to brunch in a couple of days with all the Lowry girls, before Sarah flew back home.

Adam dropped Talia back off at her apartment, they were both exhausted from the events of the day.

“I’m so glad you came,” Adam murmurs when they pull up to Talia’s building.

“Thanks for inviting me,” Talia replies.

“It was my pleasure, my family loved seeing you.”

“I loved seeing them.”

“I told you it was going to be just like old times,” Adam jokes, getting out of the car and walking around towards Talia in the passenger seat.

“I know,” Talia smiles. “You didn’t have to get out of the car,” she comments.

“I know, I just wanted to give you a hug.” Adam blushes, wrapping his arms around her in a tight embrace. They stand like this for awhile, Adam nuzzling his head in Talia’s neck.

“Can we hang out again soon?” Talia murmurs quietly.

“I’ll hang out with you any day.”

[anogete]

Sneak Peek #1: Untitled Steve/Darcy (Shieldshock) Fic

I’ve been working on this for the past week and passed the 22,000 words mark today as I was writing Chapter 5.  To celebrate, I thought I’d share an excerpt from the first chapter.

This takes place after Civil War.  Steve and Darcy both find themselves employed by The Agency: an organization that isn’t affiliated with any government, has shady funding, and is run by Nick Fury.  Darcy is there to assist Jane develop a device that might help eject unwanted hostiles from the planet.  Steve is there to save the day, of course.  The fic will also contain a small bit of Sam/Nat (which I didn’t intend, but kinda just happened) and will also involve a bit of Thor/Jane as well.  I’m trying to work with current canon.  It will definitely not follow with Infinity War since I’m avoiding all spoilers.

I don’t have an estimate on when it will be finished and ready for posting, but I think it is safe to say probably the second or week of May.  As always, the excerpt below is not beta’d and is subject to change as I go through and edit ithe fic later.  I made it a bit longer than my usual excerpts so you can get a taste of the interactions.

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

God, he was coming straight toward her.  Feeling self-conscious, she stubbed out the cigarette in the ashtray and waved away the last bit of smoke lingering in the air around her.  His expression was unreadable.  Rumor was that he and that perfect girlfriend had called it quits a couple months ago.  Well, actually, the rumor was that Sharon had dumped him and was spending time with a guy named Dave Thompson who headed one of the cleanup squads that went in to put things to right after Captain America and his team had torn things up.

The interesting delineation between Cap’s job fucking shit up for the sake of saving people and Dave’s job cleaning up Cap’s mess hadn’t been lost on Darcy when she heard that Dave was picking up right where Cap had left off with Sharon.  Since the rumor mill started churning in The Agency, Steve Rogers had not said a word about it.  If anything, he was scarcer than he’d ever been. If he wasn’t out in the field on a mission, he was holed up in his quarters on the corner of the fourth floor of the main building.

“Miss Lewis,” he said, nodding his head in greeting as he stepped up on the concrete pad from the lawn.

“Darcy,” she corrected. “You could have warned a girl that you were going to jump off the roof, Captain Rogers.”

His quick, no-nonsense stride faltered and he slowed before coming to a stop.  “Sorry about that, Darcy.”  There was a soft, subtle smile on his face that was more attractive than it should have been.  “And it’s Steve.  Lost my title when I left.”

“They still call you Cap around here,” she said.  “I doubt that will ever change.”

“That ain’t me anymore,” he replied, resting his hands on his hips.  It just accentuated his broad shoulders and showed off those sexy forearms that she had wet dreams about.

“Yeah,” she said, pushing the ashtray away from her.  “I heard your code name is Nomad.  That’s a weird choice, Steve.”

He laughed softly under his breath and took a couple steps closer to where she sat on the surface of the picnic table.  “I’m surprised you know that.  Code names are classified.”

“Hey, I hear things.  Not sure how you run things out there in the field, but around here people haven’t heard the phrase about loose lips.”

Steve titled his head to the side.  “What’s that phrase?”

“Loose lips sink ships.  Lots of chatty Kathys in these parts.  I’m surprised more heads don’t roll with Nick ‘Need-to-Know’ Fury in charge.”

“Hard to keep people from gossiping, I guess,” Steve replied, lifting a hand to push his hair back.  Fuck, Darcy thought, he was too sexy, too effortlessly delicious, too much.  What the hell was Sharon Carter thinking?  Boring Dave would be invisible standing next to hottie-with-a-body Steven Rogers.

As his comment settled into her consciousness, Darcy almost winced.  She wondered how much and what he knew about the gossip over the demise of his relationship with Sharon.  “True,” she agreed, “but me?  I’m the soul of discretion.”

This made him chuckle under his breath before nodding at the ashtray.  “Those’ll kill ya, ya know.”

“Yeah, I know.  With the amount of shit I get from Jane, you’d think she was a medical doctor and not a science doctor.”

“Is a medical doctor not a science doctor?”

She narrowed her eyes at him.  “You know what I mean, Steve.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied.

“Don’t ma’am me.”

“Yes, Darcy.”

Wasn’t that just fuel for her fucking dreams?  “I could get used to the elusive Nomad agreeing to my every request.”

Another soft chuckle, this one just a little bashful as he ducked his head and shifted his gaze away from her.

“You want a cancer stick?” she asked, fishing the pack out of her pocket and offering it to him.

Steve shook his head and smiled warmly at her.  “Nah.  I, uh, tried to take up the habit a long time ago.  All I got was a coughing fit.  When I tried to stick it out, I got sick and lost my dinner.”

“Yeah, it’s bad for you,” Darcy agreed.

“I was a scrawny kid and thought it’d make me look cool, make girls like me.”

“Don’t think you need any help with that now, Steve.”

He shrugged, his shoulders bunching up around his neck before they relaxed and leveled out.  “Maybe the coughing fit was my body trying to tell me that asthma was enough to handle; I didn’t need to be complicating things with, uh, what’d you call ‘em?  Cancer sticks.”

“Yeah,” she said.  “I’m quitting.”

“That so?”

“Yep.”

“Since when?”

“Since now. You inspired me, Cap.”

“Glad to hear it,” he said with a smile.  “Goodnight, Miss…”  He stopped himself before clearing his throat and amending his farewell with, “Goodnight, Darcy.”

She watched him walk past her and punch his code into the pad by the door.  “Night, Steve.  Welcome back from Tibet,” Darcy replied.

He opened the door before turning around and saying, “You really shouldn’t know where I was.  That was classified.”

Darcy just smiled and said, “Loose lips, Steve.”

He just shook his head and gave her a wave with his gloved hand before disappearing into the building.  Well, she knew what she was doing when she crawled into bed tonight--imagining how well the shape of her vibrator compared to Steve Roger’s undoubtedly glorious and perfect dick.