#let me see if I have this. your aunt elizabeth gives you an order but to get you to follow it‚

[widowshill]

you can put words in any order

[alwayschasingrainbows]

Inspired by one of @lizzy-bonnet 's wonderful posts about Elizabeth Murray (THANK YOU!), I decided to try and do some research to answer the question that had been bothering me (and probably only me!):

How old were the Murrays, when their youngest sister (Juliet) was born?

Let me start with quoting Douglas Starr: "Elizabeth and Laura and Wallace and Oliver and Ruth were old Archibald Murray’s children. His first wife was their mother. When he was sixty he married again—a young slip of a girl—who died when your mother was born. Juliet was twenty years younger than her half-family, as she used to call them." (Emily of New Moon).

So, here we go (my very own order):

I. Elizabeth Murray: about 26-27.

"Aunt Elizabeth was nearly seventy." [...] "You will be twenty-four your next birthday," said Aunt Elizabeth." (Emily's Quest).

So, let's say she is about 69-70 when Emily is 23, which would make her about 46-47, when Emily is born.

We don't know for sure how old Juliet was when she gave birth to Emily. Yet, her age might be guessed... at least, a bit.

Douglas tells 11 year old Emily: “I met her [Juliet] twelve years ago, when I was sub-editor of the Enterprise up in Charlottetown and she was in her last year at Queen’s." (Emily of New Moon). Queens is a two-year course, and if Juliet attended it right after Shrewsbury High School, she would be around 19 when she met Douglas and 20 when Emily was born.

Elizabeth also gives such an older sister's vibes. She rules the family and even orders Wallace to "leave this child [Emily] alone". (Emily of New Moon).

II. Wallace Murray: 23-26.

"Your Uncle Wallace might, seeing as he reckons himself the head of the family. He’s only got a grown-up daughter."

So, I would say, he is the second oldest (and a first-born son). He seems to think he is the head of the family, which would be understandable if he was the oldest son. There is not much more evidence, but I would say he might have been 1-3 years younger than Elizabeth (so, 23-26).

III. (or IV?) Oliver Murray: 19-25.

Not much evidence here, either, but one of Oliver's children - Andrew - is only a year or two older than Emily and another unnamed child (probably daughter) gets married, when Emily is 20: "Emily, just home from an interminable week's visit at Uncle Oliver's, where a cousin had been getting married" (Emily's Quest).

So, at least a couple of his kids are about Emily's age (which doesn't really prove anything, due to the fact his own father was 61, when his last child was born).

Yet, Oliver is old enough to have "bristly white moustache." when Emily meets him, so I would say he is probably older than Ruth. He seems to be in his early to mid 50s, when he meets Emily (so, 39-44, when Emily is born?). I think he is Wallace's younger brother (he doesn't have the importance of a self-proclaimed "head of the family").

I always thought that New Moon was going to belong to Andrew, not because he was the oldest son's male child, but because Uncle Wallace didn't have a son, only a daughter (and girls did not inherit anything then). On the other hand, Elizabeth ruled The New Moon, so maybe it was not the matter of gender...

IV. Ruth Dutton: about 22.

When Emily is about sixteen (the night she and Perry get caught "kissing"), we learn that:

"Ruth Murray," he said, "do you remember the story that got around forty years ago about you and Fred Blair? Do you?" [...] "When she was a girl of eighteen she had been trapped in a very ugly situation."

So, Ruth is about 58, when Emily is 16 (42, when Emily is born, and 22 at Juliet's birth). She seems to be a bit younger than Oliver (although not sure about it).

V. Laura Murray: 14-18.

She and Dr Burnley were believed to have been romantically involved with one another, before Beatrice Mitchell came along. Ilse was the same age as Emily and Dr. Burnley was 36, when she was born. Aunt Laura was probably around Dr Burnley's own age, perhaps few years younger, or older.

So I would say: 34-38, when Emily was born:

"Rhoda said once that Aunt Elizabeth hoped Dr. Burnley and Aunt Laura would make a match of it—which, you know means get married—but that is not so."

"Beatrice Mitchell—one of the Shrewsbury Mitchells. She was only eighteen when Allan married her. He was thirty-five." (Emily of New Moon).

It would make her the youngest. Actually, it fits her character: she seems meek, gentle, delicate and visibly younger than the rest.

She looks to be in her 40s, when she meets Emily for the first time: "She was almost pretty, with her delicate features and the heavy coils of pale, sleek, fair hair, faintly greyed, pinned closely all around her head." (Emily of New Moon).

Her hair doesn't turn white before the winter Emily is so sick: "Laura Murray, whose hair had turned from ash to snow that winter, went to her room and knelt down by her bed to thank God." (Emily's Quest).

So, that is how I picture The Murrays' ages!

Please, feel free to disagree :).

[eventcharts]

The nun and the monk who fell in love and married

Twenty-four years after becoming a nun, it was a brief touch of the sleeve of a monk in the parlour of the convent in Preston, Lancashire, that changed everything for Sister Mary Elizabeth.

Venus (attraction) conjunct Pluto (intense (I just felt a chemistry there)). Juno semi-square Mean Node (10 ta 7'27"). Vesta (14 pi 16'1") square Great Attractor (14 sa 16'1").

The prioress of the order had taken her to meet the friar Robert, who was visiting from a priory in Oxford, to see if he wanted anything to eat. But Sister Mary Elizabeth's superior was called away to take a phone call, so the two were left alone.

"It was our first time in a room together. We sat at a table as he ate, and the prioress didn't come back so I had to let him out."

Sister Mary Elizabeth had lived a devout, austere and mostly silent life as a nun, spending most of her days in her "cell". As she let Robert out of the door, she brushed his sleeve and says she felt something of a jolt.

"I just felt a chemistry there, something, and I was a bit embarrassed. And I thought, gosh, did he feel that too. And as I let him out the door it was quite awkward."

She recalls that it was about a week later that she received Robert's message asking if she would leave to marry him.

"I was a little bit shocked. I wore a veil so he never even saw my hair colour. He knew nothing about me really, nothing about my upbringing. He didn't even know my worldly name," she recalls.

Before entering the Carmelite order - an ancient order of the Roman Catholic church - at the age of 19, Sister Mary Elizabeth had been Lisa Tinkler, from Middlesbrough.

Though her parents had not been religious, an aunt's pilgrimage to Lourdes awakened something in six-year-old Lisa, such that she asked her father to build an altar in her bedroom.

"I had a little statue of Our Lady on it and a little Lourdes water bottle. Actually, I thought it was the bottle that was holy and not the water - so I was just filling it from the tap and drinking the water," she says.

Lisa would make her own way to one of the Roman Catholic churches in her home town and sit alone in the second pew - where she says she developed an overwhelming love for the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus, and ultimately a feeling she had a vocation.

A weekend retreat at a monastery while she was still a teenager convinced her of her calling. The monastery was run by Carmelite nuns from an order that had origins in the 12th Century and where the life was particularly spartan, secluded and strict - but she decided that was precisely the life she wanted to lead.

Though Lisa had wanted to join immediately, her mother - who was troubled by her daughter's decision - secretly wrote to the monastery to delay her departure for a few months, so Lisa could spend one more Christmas at home. She joined in the new year.

"From then I lived like a hermit. We had two recreation times a day, about half an hour, when we could speak, otherwise you were on your own in your cell. You never worked with anybody, always on your own," she says.

Over the years, Sister Mary Elizabeth felt her vocabulary diminish as she had little more to talk about with the other nuns - who were all decades older than her - except the weather and the nature in the garden. She saw her mother four times a year through a grille.

"When I had my 21st birthday, my cake and my cards were all passed through the drawer. And when my nephew was born he was passed through a kind of turntable," she chuckles, looking back on it all quite fondly.

She describes the way she felt her "interior world" open up as the outside world closed to her. There was a sense of feeling content and fulfilled. But, that day in the convent parlour, it all changed with the touch of a sleeve and a message asking if she would walk away from monastic life and get married.

Sister Mary Elizabeth didn't give Robert an answer to his question and did not know what to do.

He may have known nothing about her, but she knew a little about him.

On his visits from Oxford to the Carmelite retreat centre in Preston he had occasionally come to say mass at the nearby monastery and Lisa had watched his sermons from behind a grille.

Through hearing his anecdotes as he preached, she got snippets of a life growing up in Silesia in Poland near the German border, and about a love of mountains. Though she says at the time it did not feel like it had a profound impact on her.

Now, suddenly, that had changed.

"I didn't know what it feels like to be in love and I thought the sisters could see it in my face. So I became quite nervous. I could feel the change in me and that scared me," she says.

Sister Mary Elizabeth eventually plucked up the courage to say to her prioress that she thought she had feelings for Robert, but the response she got was disbelief.

"She couldn't understand how it had happened because we were in there 24/7 under her watch all the time. The prioress asked how I could have fallen in love with so little contact," she says.

Sister Mary Elizabeth had imagined the reaction of her family, or of her bishop, if she left. She also wrestled over whether her relationship with God would change.

But the interaction with her superior caused her to do something uncharacteristically impetuous

"The prioress was little bit snappy with me, so I put my pants and a toothbrush in a bag and I walked out, and I never went back as Sister Mary Elizabeth," Lisa tells me now.

Robert had messaged her to say he was planning to visit Preston again that evening. This time, it was to meet a Carmelite friend for advice at a nearby pub, the first person from the order he had trusted to tell of his and Lisa's predicament.

Lisa guessed they would be meeting at the Black Bull about a mile up the road, so that was where she decided to head.

But instead of it being a joyful moment, Lisa was thrown into deep turmoil that November night in 2015.  

"The rain was lashing down as I was walking along the Garstang road. The traffic was coming towards me with bright headlights and I just thought 'I could just finish this,'" she says, referring to a momentary suicidal thought.

"I was really struggling, I thought I should just stop this from happening and Robert could get on with his life. But I also wondered if he really meant what he said about getting married."  

But Lisa kept walking until she found herself on a Friday night drenched, without a coat, in her habit outside the Black Bull. She only plucked up the courage to go inside when she saw the monk inside through an open door.

"When I saw her, my heart stopped," says Robert.

"But actually I was paralysed by fear not by joy, because I knew in that moment that I had to be entirely for Lisa, but I also knew we were not practically ready for that," he says.

Robert had been a Carmelite friar for 13 years by this point. He was a thinker, academic and theologian who came to monastic life in a search for meaning during what he describes as a crisis of faith and identity.

Looking back now, he feels his roots made that confusion almost inevitable - growing up in a region that recently transitioned from Germany to Poland, with a Lutheran father and Catholic mother.

But it was a dark period after a failed relationship that led him to continue his search for fulfilment in England where, in spite of the Lutheran Protestant theology he had settled on, it was in a Carmelite Roman Catholic monastery where he found his solace.

"I didn't know much about Carmelites before and had not considered being a monk. In fact, I was always very suspicious of this kind of expression of faith," Robert says.

But he says the order taught him how to embrace darkness, difficulties and crisis to the point where he felt settled. However, the encounter with Lisa - who he barely knew then as Sister Mary Elizabeth - turned his life upside down.

"That touch of Lisa's on my sleeve started a change, but while I felt something gradually growing in my heart, I don't think I ever reached a point where I felt I was crazily falling in love, because in becoming a monk or a nun they teach you how to deal with emotions like love," says Robert.

He explains that his message to Lisa asking if they could marry was almost an intellectual tussle with himself.

"When she appeared at the pub the little demon in me was terrified. But my fear was not religious or spiritual, it was purely about how I would start a new life at the age of 53," he says.

The transition was difficult, particularly at the beginning. Lisa remembers a moment just before Christmas, soon after they had both left their monastic lives.

"I looked at Robert and he was distressed and crying. At that moment we both hit rock bottom and it felt like we should just take something like Romeo and Juliet and just end it," says Lisa.

"It was so hard because he both felt so alone and so isolated and didn't know the way forward. But we just held hands and we got through it," she says.

They describe the moment at the job centre when they both burst into tears when asked about their transferrable skills - and another time when they were driving from Preston to Yorkshire.

"I had ordered a book in Polish about nuns who had left their orders for various reasons. I read and translated it for Lisa in the car, but she had to pull over on the M62. We both needed to cry because their stories were so emotional and we could relate to them," says Robert.

What brought them peace was the thing that guided them to their monasticism in the first place - connecting with their personal faith.

"All through your religious life, you're told your heart is supposed to be undivided and given to God. Suddenly I felt like my heart was expanding to hold Robert, but I realised it also held everything else that I had. And I didn't feel any different about God, and that was reassuring to me," says Lisa.

Lisa first found work at a funeral home and later as a hospital chaplain. Though he was upset by a letter from Rome telling him he was no longer a member of the Carmelite order, Robert was soon accepted into the Church of England.

They both did get married, and now share a home in the village of Hutton Rudby in North Yorkshire - where Robert has been made a vicar of the local church. They are still on a journey to adjust to life outside the monastery.

Lisa in particular, who had been isolated for 24 years and not had the academic life Robert had before, talks of feeling like an observer in the outside world. Only now is she working out what hair styles and clothes work best for her after a life in a habit.

They both still yearn for elements of monastic life, Lisa even says that if it was not for Robert, she would return to being a Carmelite nun tomorrow.

"We became so used to the silence and the solitude, that's hard to find in the business of the world, you get pulled in so many different directions, so it's a constant struggle for me and Robert to remain centred and grounded," says Lisa.

But they have found a solution that works.

"I often think I live in a monastery here with Robert, like two Carmelites where everything we do is given to God. We anchor ourselves in prayer but love can make a sacrament of everything you do and I realise nothing has really changed for me," she says.

Lisa says they both agree there are three of them in the marriage.

"Christ is at the centre and comes before everything. If we were to take him out of the equation, I think it wouldn't have lasted really."

Lisa and Robert's story is explored further in the first episode of a new series of Beyond Belief at 16:30 on BBC Radio 4 on Monday 2 January - afterwards it will be available on BBC Sounds.

[fandom-puff]

Tommy Shelby x reader, where they’ve known each other since children, been each other’s first everything,and they are dating before he left for war, they get married and she tells him she’s pregnant and when she’s giving birth, they don’t realize they had twins, and it’s just fluffy dad!tommy, also hope your doing well during the pandemic! Lots of love 💕 -🥺💕

Hi hi! I sort of... ran with this !! 

Firsts

warnings: swearing

 “Am I nearly done, Pol?” you moaned lowly, hair sticking to your forehead as your husband’s aunt rubbed your back. 

“I’m afraid not, love,” she said gently and you let out a sob. You had been in labour for hours, which Polly warned would happen as it was your first child. You moaned as you felt the next contraction revving up and Polly prised your hands off the bedpost, guiding you to lie down. “let's see how far along you are. If you’re fully dilated, you can push, and we’ll see about getting this baby out, okay?” you moaned and nodded, allowing Polly to guide you onto the bed and check how dilated you were. She looked up to you and smiled. “You can start pushing with the next contraction love,” she said and you gave her a weak smile, waiting. 

You did not have to wait long. With your next contraction, you began pushing, clenching your fists tightly and grunting with effort. When it passed, you panted, whimpering. You let Polly guide you, though, doing as you were told. 

“Big push, YN! One great big push and I’ll be able to put your baby in your arms!” 

“I’ll kill him! I’ll bloody kill him, Pol! I’ll chop his balls off and throw ‘em in the cut for this- ah!” you screamed, as you felt the baby’s body get eased from your body, hearing the rush of amniotic liquid. 

“A boy!” Polly called over the sound of your baby’s hearty crying. over his screams, you heard the rest of the Shelby family downstairs cheering and slapping Tommy on the back. You accepted your baby onto your chest, opening your nightgown up for him. 

“Hello little one...” you whispered. “I’m your mummy... Pol... I want Tommy. Is he allowed in now?” 

She smiled and leaned out the door. “Thomas! There’s someone up here YN wants you to meet!”  you laughed tiredly as Tommy bolted upstairs and pushed through the door. He stared at you with wide eyes and you beckoned him over. Laying next to you he leaned close. 

“A boy, Tom... we’ve got a little boy,” you whispered and he smiled, kissing your cheek and looking at his son with wonder. 

Meanwhile, Polly was still between your legs, frowning slightly. “YN... I’m just going to rub your belly a little... I need to get this afterbirth out...” she murmured, but you couldn’t bring yourself to take much notice as she massaged your belly, your entire focus directed on the calming babe on your breast, your head leaning against Tommy. “I don’t bloody believe this... twins,” Polly said and you and Tommy both looked up. 

“You’re joking,”

“Oh, not another load of pushing!” 

Polly went to the door and yelled downstairs. “One of you ring for a doctor! Tell them we’ve got a woman delivering undiagnosed twins!” 

Polly instructed Tommy to put the baby in his bassinet and hold your hand. Within twenty minutes, your second baby was born and you flopped back against Tommy’s chest. “I swear to god the next thing that comes out of me had best be the afterbirth, Pol,” she chuckled slightly. 

“This one’s a girl,” she grinned, holding her up and you smiled, letting out a tired laugh, holding out your arms. 

The doctor arrived just as Polly had finished clearing you up, and he checked you over, Tommy giving him a firm look of warning. 

“Everything looks to be in order, Mr and Mrs Shelby. Both babies and mother are in good health. Any symptoms of infection, Mrs Shelby, then call for me again. Good day,” 

Polly shooed the doctor out of the room and smiled gently at you two. she slipped out as you cradled your little girl while Tommy retrieved her brother from his cot. “Elizabeth,” you murmured, getting in a more comfortable position and looking up at him. 

“After Pol?” Tommy asked, kissing your hair gently. 

“She’s done more for me than my family ever did,” you mumble and Tommy nods. 

“Well, hello there Elizabeth Ada Shelby,” he smiled, giving her her Auntie’s name as her middle name. You smiled as your husband talked to your daughter. “And what about your brother, eh? What’s his name going to be, eh?” 

You smiled softly. “There’ll be murder if we name ‘im after one brother and not the other. 

“I’m not naming my son after Finn, because he’s getting way too big for his boots”

“He’s only just turned 13, Tom,”

“And John has half a tribe named after him,”

“What about your uncle Charlie?”

“You wanna name him Charles, yn?” you nodded. 

“If that’s alright with you?” you looked up and Tommy smiled. 

***

You were in a fresh nightgown and your twins were both fed and dressed in little knitted gowns you had made during your later months of pregnancy. You cradled your babies on your chest, propped up on plenty of pillows, head leant on Tommy's shoulder as Pol ushered the family in. You smiled up at your brothers and sister-in-law. 

“Bloody hell...” Arthur murmured, standing back. Tommy frowned. 

“Come closer, brother,” he said. “You won’t hurt them,” he took Charles from you and placed him in Arthur’s arms. “Charles Arthur. Your nephew. And over there is Elizabeth Ada,” big Ada gave a squeal. “Your niece. You won’t hurt them, alright?” You smiled softly.

“You’re absolutely fucked, mate. I could barely cope with my first... I’ve got four now, and another one in the oven,” John grinned. 

Tommy grinned and returned to you, stroking Elizabeth’s hair gently. “If anything,” Tommy grinned, “I’m more worried about the fact that Pol didn’t know it was twins,” 

Polly slapped his arm, though she was grinning. “Well... there’s a first for everything, eh?” 

“I think there’ll be plenty of firsts with these two,” you smiled softly. 

Tommy pressed a kiss to your lips. “You’ve given me many firsts love... but this has been the best one yet,”

[luv-eddiediaz]

Hi. Me again, with my obsession of cowboy Eddie and city Buck. 

I was driving around the country last night looking for some cool rocks to put in my yard (I live in town, but like 20 minutes from all the ranches and wide open spaces), and I had like a Buddie version of a Hallmark movie playing in my head the whole time. 

Imagine with me:

Buck has been living in NYC. He’s been working at some art gallery and dating Abby and living with her in her fancy loft while she sculpts, but something happens and she still needs to go find herself, so off she goes to abandon our boy, who, after a couple of months, and some conversations with his friends, realizes she isn’t going to come back, and he sets off to start over. 

He basically throws a dart at a map, and it lands on El Paso, and so that’s where he packs his bags to go. He gets a job at a local bar, and rents a room in the back. He doesn’t think El Paso is going to be for him, so he’s just going to work a few weeks until he can figure out where he wants to go and has some more money saved up to get there.

He notices that every other night, a dark haired man comes in and orders a whiskey, neat and two beers. He sits alone and doesn’t talk to anyone except the girl who works at the bar with Buck at night (I’ve named her Desiree). To Buck, he seems kind of sad. 

One night, Desiree is off, and it’s Just Buck. The guy comes in and Buck brings him his whiskey without him having to order. The man tips his hat, and Buck smiles, but they don’t say anything. When he’s finished his whiskey, Buck goes back to him with his draft of Budweiser, and again he tips his hat, and Buck smiles. They don’t talk until Buck brings him last beer. 

“It’s Buck, right?”

“Uh, yea, how did you know?”

“Desiree is my cousin. She’s mentioned you a few times. Doesn’t like you very much.”

Buck laughs, “I didn’t think she did.”

“It’s your shoes. They’re too shiny, and she says you smell too nice.”

“How does someone smell too nice?”

“Girls here are just different than where you come from.”

“Everyone here is different than where I come from.”

And the man laughs so quiet Buck isn’t even sure he’s laughing, and then he holds out his hand, “I’m Eddie.”

“Nice to meet you.” Buck meets his hand, and it’s softer than Buck would have thought given his dirt stained jeans, and his small drawl, and the cowboy hat he never seems to take off his head. 

So, now whenever Eddie comes in, Buck waits on him, and as the customers dwindle down, Buck ends up sitting in the corner booth with him, and they talk. About New York mostly, about Abby and art, Eddie’s son, and how Buck thinks he might do better in Austin if he was going to stay in Texas. 

“If you change your mind, and want to stay,” Eddie says one night, “I have a shed I converted to a guest house. I’d be more than happy to rent it out to you.”

Buck isn’t sure why, but the thought of Eddie wanting him to stay makes him feel good, and so he decides to take him up on the offer. He meets Eddie at his place one Sunday afternoon, which is this sprawling ranch, and a large, gray stucco house. Eddie shows him around the grounds.

“So, these are Greg and Elizabeth,” he says of two goats nosing at Buck’s shoes, “those are the three Rosies,” he points to three brown cows, “the chicken coop is in the back, but you’ll have to ask Christopher their names, because honestly, I don’t know. I think he keeps changing them.”

“All these animals are yours?”

“Uh, the goats and chickens, yes. One Rosie is a boarder, and the other two are ours until I find them somewhere else to go.” 

“Do you like rescue animals?”

“Sort of. I’m a large animal vet.”

“How did you not tell me this?”

Eddie shrugs and smiles this little half smile Buck has come to adore, “I don’t like talking about myself. And you love talking about yourself.”

“Do not.”

“You really do.”

Then Eddie shows him the shed/house, and Buck decides he’s going to stay there. Eddie also asks if during the day Buck wants to help out answering phones and stuff in the clinic.

Hilarity would ensue with Buck in his fancy sweaters and nice shoes trying to help wrangle the goats and the cows. Sweetness comes when he’s out feeding the chickens with Christopher, and eating sandwiches with him at the reception desk of the vet clinic. 

At some point, he starts wearing flannel shirts, and faded denim. Eddie even buys him his own cowboy hat the day he takes him out horseback riding. 

That same day, they sit by a creek, underneath a tree while their horses graze, and have a more serious conversation. Eddie opens up about his wife’s recent death, but how they had been on the rocks for a while, and Eddie thought maybe they were going to work things out, but she said she didn’t want to and then she had an accident in town. 

Buck doesn’t think he’s crazy when Eddie puts Buck’s hat back on his head and he feels this electricity as they stare at each other, close enough to smell what the other had for breakfast on their breath. He thinks maybe Eddie is going to kiss him, but he doesn’t. And it leaves him disappointed. 

So, of course. with the two of them on this precipice of something, Abby comes back! 

She finds out where Buck is, and goes down to Texas. It’s a Saturday night, and Buck is working at the bar, and it’s a little bit busy, but Christopher is staying the weekend with his aunt and cousins, and Eddie is down there, and between serving Buck lets Eddie try and teach him to line dance, and they shoot a round of pool that lasts forever because Buck keeps having to go work, but it doesn’t matter, because he is having the best time, and he’s seeing Eddie laugh with his whole face, and he knows, he just knows he is falling in love with this man, and only hopes he’s falling in love back. 

They are literally just about to kiss in a dark corner when Buck sees Abby in the middle of the bar, and says her name. He doesn’t forget Eddie is there, but he kinds forgets Eddie is there and walks over to her, gives her a hug.

“What are you doing here?”

“I missed you too.”

“Can we talk?” she asks, “are you busy?”

“I’m working, but I can take a minute; here.” He leads her to a small booth and slides in across from her.

“Look,” she starts, “I’m not sorry I left, because I had to. I was feeling suffocated.”

“By me?”

“No, well, yes, but not you. Just my life, and you happened to be a part of that. I needed to get lost to find myself again.”

“And did you?”

“Yes.”

“It’s been five months, Abby. I left us. I left New York; I started over.”

“I see that. Kind of a weird choice.”

“I like it.”

Because he likes Eddie. 

Shit. Eddie. Buck looks around the bar and sees that he’s gone, and he doesn’t blame him for bailing. He looks back at Abby; at the beautiful curve of her face, her bright green eyes that still pop through the lenses of her glasses. He remembers what it felt like to kiss her lips, and feel her hands through his hair. He never loved anyone the way he loved Abby - she was the first real thing in his life, but he knows now, that Abby never loved him the way he deserved.

“Buck?”

“Thank you for coming here to explain yourself.”

“I was kind of hoping I could talk you into coming to New York with me.”

“Nah, I’m good here. I’ve got all these flannel shirts now, and the concrete would just kill these boots.”

Abby laughs, “not to mention the cowboy.”

“What cowboy?”

“The one that’s been staring at us like he’s ready to pull my hair.”

Buck looks to where Abby is nodding and he wonders how the hell he missed Eddie sitting there.

“Yea, and the cowboy.”

She smiles and kisses Buck on the cheek as she gets up to leave. Buck waits a few seconds until she’s walked out the door and saunters over to Eddie with a woeful look on his face. He sits on the barstool next to him 

“I’m sorry about that,” he says.

“Oh, you’re sorry for dropping me like a dirty rag as soon as you saw your ex-girlfriend? Or is she still your girlfriend?”

“No. She’s my ex. There’s uh, there’s someone else I’m kind of interested in.”

“Anyone I know? It’s a small town after all.”

“I think you may be familiar with him.”

“Him? That could be a dangerous thing here.”

“I like a little bit of danger.”

Eddie smiles, “what time do you get off?”

“About another hour.”

“Hmmm, I’ll come back and pick you up.”

Eddie tips his hat and leaves the bar, and Buck thinks the last hour of his shift drags on forever, but finally he’s cashed out and collected his tips and he goes outside to find Eddie sitting in his truck. Buck gets in, and they drive out past the town lights, past his ranch, almost right up to the border to Mexico, and park. 

Buck feels like he’s in a country song as the radio hums in the background and Eddie leans over the console to touch his fingertips to Buck’s chin and pull him towards himself to give him a soft, slow kiss. 

It’s the best kiss Buck has ever had, and he can’t help but smile the entire time. It’s the beginning of what Buck knows is going to be the rest of his life. 

[ellynneversweet]

There’s this thing that frequently comes up in discussions of intimate partner abuse, which is that people in abusive relationships often seek to make their friends and family complicit in the task of keeping their abuser happy, because a dispute between a friend of the abused party and the abusive partner will often result in private ‘retaliation’ against the abused party. Anyway, this section from P&P where Elizabeth engages in this carefully conciliatory conversation with Wickham gives me chills:

She was roused from her seat, and her reflections, by some one's approach; and before she could strike into another path, she was overtaken by Wickham.

"I am afraid I interrupt your solitary ramble, my dear sister?" said he, as he joined her.

"You certainly do," she replied with a smile; "but it does not follow that the interruption must be unwelcome."

"I should be sorry indeed, if it were. We were always good friends; and now we are better."

"True. Are the others coming out?"

"I do not know. Mrs. Bennet and Lydia are going in the carriage to Meryton. And so, my dear sister, I find, from our uncle and aunt, that you have actually seen Pemberley."

She replied in the affirmative.

"I almost envy you the pleasure, and yet I believe it would be too much for me, or else I could take it in my way to Newcastle. And you saw the old housekeeper, I suppose? Poor Reynolds, she was always very fond of me. But of course she did not mention my name to you."

"Yes, she did."

"And what did she say?"

"That you were gone into the army, and she was afraid had -- not turned out well. At such a distance as that, you know, things are strangely misrepresented."

"Certainly," he replied, biting his lips. Elizabeth hoped she had silenced him; but he soon afterwards said,

"I was surprised to see Darcy in town last month. We passed each other several times. I wonder what he can be doing there."

"Perhaps preparing for his marriage with Miss de Bourgh," said Elizabeth. "It must be something particular, to take him there at this time of year."

"Undoubtedly. Did you see him while you were at Lambton? I thought I understood from the Gardiners that you had."

"Yes; he introduced us to his sister."

"And do you like her?"

"Very much."

"I have heard, indeed, that she is uncommonly improved within this year or two. When I last saw her, she was not very promising. I am very glad you liked her. I hope she will turn out well."

"I dare say she will; she has got over the most trying age."

"Did you go by the village of Kympton?"

"I do not recollect that we did."

"I mention it, because it is the living which I ought to have had. A most delightful place! -- Excellent Parsonage House! It would have suited me in every respect."

"How should you have liked making sermons?"

"Exceedingly well. I should have considered it as part of my duty, and the exertion would soon have been nothing. One ought not to repine; -- but, to be sure, it would have been such a thing for me! The quiet, the retirement of such a life would have answered all my ideas of happiness! But it was not to be. Did you ever hear Darcy mention the circumstance, when you were in Kent?"

"I have heard from authority, which I thought as good, that it was left you conditionally only, and at the will of the present patron."

"You have. Yes, there was something in that; I told you so from the first, you may remember."

"I did hear, too, that there was a time, when sermon-making was not so palatable to you as it seems to be at present; that you actually declared your resolution of never taking orders, and that the business had been compromised accordingly."

"You did! and it was not wholly without foundation. You may remember what I told you on that point, when first we talked of it."

They were now almost at the door of the house, for she had walked fast to get rid of him; and unwilling, for her sister's sake, to provoke him, she only said in reply, with a good-humoured smile,

"Come, Mr. Wickham, we are brother and sister, you know. Do not let us quarrel about the past. In future, I hope we shall be always of one mind."

“Unwilling, for her sister's sake, to provoke him.” Lydia’s fifteen, and going off to live on the other side of the country in a time where travel is difficult and expensive, with very little money of her own and under the legal authority of an adult man her family already knows can’t be trusted to treat her well. Jane Austen fuckin’ knew, man.

[penwieldingdreamer]

Dante's Prayer - Chapter 3

The 2nd part of the Ball, hope you guys will like it. Let me know what you think about this. A big thanks to my beta @fortheloveoffanfic for keeping me on track with the characters 😉

Warnings: cursing

Words: 2094

"Mrs. Gray, why don't we retreat to the parlour for a drink and leave the men to talk their business." Helene suggested linking her satin gloved arm with Polly's and led her away from Thomas and her husband, nodding at the two men in parting. 

"Lady McCann, please call me Polly, after all, we'll be family soon once the wedding is done." the Shelby matriarch told her nephews soon-to-be mother in law with a smile, the two women nearly gliding over to the smaller parlour of Castletown House. 

Returning the smile, the duchess nodded her head. "By all means, then I'm Helene. We will be family soon, given that my daughter won't bail on us." A soft sigh left her lips, knowing Saoirse could be difficult. "Your nephew will have his work cut out for him, I reckon." 

"Oh he'll learn how to deal with it. I have a good feeling that once they'll get to know each other they'll find common ground." The words were reassuring, yet both women knew that it would take a while for their children - in Polly's case she felt like her brother's children were just like her own - to warm up to the idea of sharing a life together. 

Arriving at the doors separating the sitting room from the grand ballroom, Helene nodded at the butler, who let them enter. They sat down at the round table, plush armchairs providing comfort as the Birmingham resident looked around the room. Polly thought back to the time when she had to work hard to provide for her family and be there for Ada and Finn during the war, and all she could feel was gratefulness toward Tommy who was able to give them the life they led now. 

"Has Thomas told you what he wants his wedding to be like?" the mother of three inquired, nodding at the butler in thanks for bringing them both refreshments and leaned back into the high-backed armchair. "I gather now that it is his second wedding he might want to change a few things." 

Taking a sip from the champagne, the gypsy lightly shook her head. "So far, he hasn't said anything. He only does this out of duty to the family. I told him it was a good deal, but other than that he's not going to object to anything. All I can ask of you is considering a custom my family on my mother's side has partook in every time during a wedding." Polly wasn't too sure, the duchess would agree to traditions of the travelling folks but the soft smile on her face and the light nod gave her hope. 

"I haven't always been a duchess, Polly." the blonde lady started, holding the Flute glas in her hand and watching the champagne sparkle in the soft glow of the lamps. "My mother originated from Germany, her cousin married the emperor of Austria and she was made Empress of Austria and Hungary. I often visited her when I was still a child and Sisi would visit the travelling folks of Hungary. Not all is as it seems, my daughter has the same spirit in her as Elizabeth did. Headstrong, modern, loyal to a fault, kind and with a childish wonder the war has snuffed out in many people. I do hope that Thomas won't try to do what the war hasn't been able to do. Despite me agreeing to this arrangement without her consent, she is still my little angel and I will grant you your customs just like we have ours, but should your nephew hurt her in any way, he will wish for war to take him again."

Nodding her head, Polly grinned at Helene, knowing they would get along splendidly. Protective of her family, just like herself, the Shelby matriarch knew that there was a good future ahead, bright was still to be questioned, but good at least. 

Just then the decorated glass doors of the light coloured parlour flew open, a disheveled looking Arthur standing there, eyes ablaze and his face red from anger. 

"Did ya know, Pol?" he asked storming over to his aunt, hands already grabbing for her arms. "Did ya know 'bout 'er, hm?" 

Polly had never been someone to be frightened or threatened, especially not by her family, so she wouldn't start now and still Arthur always had a soft spot in her heart. Delivering a hard slap, she pushed the eldest of the brothers away from her, regret shining in her eyes. "What the fuck are ya talkin' about, Arthur?" 

"I'm fuckin' talking about Niamh." he glared, his cheeks already turning a darker shade of red from anger and the hit he received. "She's been here all them years, pregnant with ma son, so 'm askin' again: did ya know 'bout it?" 

Wide eyed, Polly felt the wheels in her head turning, remembering the girl Arthur had left behind to marry Linda, the redheaded beauty in the back of the church. "She was at the wedding, didn't say a thing, just left when it was over. That's all I know." 

Letting out a heavy sigh, Arthur stumbled back into the armchair on the other side of his aunt, closing his eyes to order the thoughts in his head flitting about like butterflies. "What am I gonna do now?" Polly moved over to him, pulling Arthur into a tight hug because she knew it was hard on him. 

Even though she wasn't a fan of Linda, her nephew loved her and she had to live with that. Now he needed to make a decision on what to do with the mother of his first child. "You need to talk to her, that much is clear. And get to know him, too." 

Nodding his head against his aunt's belly, Arthur felt a small portion of the weight lifting of his shoulders. Linda would be furious, she already was with him leaving for Ireland to be part of the wedding preparations. Nothing had been decided yet, but the eldest Shelby had a distinct feeling, that Lady McCann would want the ceremony to take place in their home and he already dreaded the day the whole family would again sit on Tommy's side of the church and Linda coming face to face with his former lover and mother of his first son.

"I thought you'd have ta greet guests." he said, a cigarette perched between his lips as he watched his wife-to-be gazing at the sky. 

"And I thought you would talk about business with my father." she replied, a smirk grazing her features and might he say it looked more like a small smile than a smirk. 

Her body leaned against the banister and Tommy couldn't help but let his eyes roam over it, breathing in the smoke of the cigarette he had missed all evening. "There's not much business to talk about when there's a wedding about to take place." 

Nodding her head, Saoirse turned her face towards his own as he leaned against the stone parapet next to her. "I hope Arthur has calmed down again after his encounter with Niamh when I left." she said after a moment of silence.

"Ach, he's fine. Needs to talk to her, though." Tommy shrugged, his stormy blues void of emotion as he stubbed out the cigarette on the banister. "His wife's goin' to have his hide, but he'll get over it." 

Shaking her head, Saoirse looked away from the gang leader, feeling like the little progress they had made went up in smoke just like the cigarette. "You shouldn't be so indifferent to the feelings of others, one day you might not have anyone left to turn to." 

"Often enough you only have yourself to rely on." he replied before he stood again, running a hand through his short hair and holding the other out to her. "We shouldn't make your guests believe that we hate each other, it's bad for business." 

Snorting, the youngest of three took his hand, feeling the warmth of Tommy's skin through the satin of her glove as he led her inside to the ballroom. "Who said anything about me liking you? I don't really care what my guests think, mother's guests on the other hand, that would be a shame. After all, they came all the way from Austria and London." 

"I see, you're not going to make it easy for me, are you?" he wondered, twirling her around so they could dance to the waltz the orchestra started to play. "What is this marriage going to look like, hm?" 

Putting her left hand on his shoulder, Saoirse mentally thanked her mother for making her take the dance lessons in Vienna or else the future bride of Birmingham's most known gangster would have been an embarrassment. Her right hand delicately laid in his left and she couldn't help but wonder if they could do more than just hold a gun and kill. "I believe you'd like me to play the obedient wife, staying at your house and doing nothing, what with your fortune now. I heard you have a son, so probably be a mother to him, while you go out and do whatever you do." 

"So, ya do know something 'bout me." he smirked, leading her across the grand room, unaware of the other dancers and their families. The pair danced in their own world and voiced their opinion on the upcoming union. "And here I thought ya didn't know anything." 

"My sisters talk, Mister Shelby, although I didn't know which one my husband-to-be was, I still heard their opinions on you loud and clear." 

The smirk on his lips widened at the thought of what Amalie and Louise had told their sister. "An' what pray tell did they tell ya?" 

"Oh, you know, that you're a gangster, cold as ice, a former war hero and would do anything to get money." Saoirse shrugged, trying to rile him up as she saw his blue eyes darken. Tommy knew that he had to keep it cool. It wouldn't do him good to drag her off and…no, he wouldn't yell at her and make a scene, that would break the deal he made with her mother. He'd rather enjoy the rest of his life while it lasted. 

Pulling her tighter into his body, he felt a satisfied grin make its way onto his face at her gasp. "You'd do well to keep those comments to a minimum. That money you so kindly brought up will grant you safety among Birmingham and the rest of England and Scotland. I don't want another of me wife killed because she wouldn't listen and had a mind of her own."

"Well then, you'd better look for another wife because I can be just as stubborn as you, Mister Shelby." 

"I'd rather not. You're more than enough." Wincing at the thought of having to go through that process again, Tommy shook his head. The music had changed and another waltz was played. "Besides, finding a good woman that freely accepts my son is quite rare in these times."

Pursing her lips, Saoirse looked up into his stormy blue eyes. "I couldn't imagine someone not liking your son. Judging by what Louise told me about him, I take it he's a ray of sunshine." 

"Are you really trying to make me hate you right now? But yes, Charlie is in fact a ray of sunshine despite having me as his father." Before the youngest daughter of the Duke could say anything, Tommy had twirled her outward, keeping his eyes on her face as he read the delight written all over it. 

He couldn't help but enjoy these moments, couldn't remember the last time he danced like this with anyone that hadn't been Grace. When Saoirse had returned to his arms, she sent him a grin, a genuine one at that. "I'm not trying to make you hate me, I was stating a fact and to be honest I can't wait to meet your son." 

Nodding his head at her answer, he led her around the ballroom for one final dance. "In two weeks you will meet him, so I do hope you won't change your mind about this arrangement." 

"Don't do anything to make me change it and I'll be there." she answered him, her right hand squeezing his left tighter than before and Tommy couldn't help but grin at her attempt to threaten him. Life would be a lot more interesting once the wedding was over. 

tagging

@fortheloveoffanfic @fics-not-tragedies

[innocentbeing]

personally i think rciel is capable of greater evil AND kindness than ociel

like i think theyre pretty much the same but rciel is more on an extreme scale.. like, ociel loves something but rciel LOVES it you know what i mean??? and ociel hates stuff but rciel hates stuff. you get me??like, he feels stuff deeper and he gets more attached despite having better composure.

while ociel def cares abt ppl, its easy for him to let them go and/or move on ahead without them (’cos of a wall he built due to trauma ofc but he was kinda always like that given his low self esteem and feeling like a burden) and he obviously feels guilt when he does bad things like killing good people (like the circus crew who were victims of their circumstances) or sacrificing innocent lives (like the prostitute he used in order to catch madam red). 

but for rciel, i don’t think he’s someone that can just... detach himself from ppl he cares abt like oc. i dont mean it in like a, “oh we’re always gonna be together forever” kind of way— i DO think he was able to accept that he & oc we’re gonna go their separate ways as adults and i think he accepted that no matter the distance and no matter what they’re always be brothers. it’s the emotional attachment he can’t get rid of. like, he can’t just “oh wow i loved you and you hurt me?? you fucked me over?? i hate you now. i don’t care what happens to you anymore.”

LIKE I MEAN... he’s capable of, you know, fighting back and hurting them as we see he’s currently doing with ociel (though i genuinely think he could do so much worse and is going soft on him*) but regardless he clearly still loves and cares about him.. shown to be proud of his growth and his achievements when any normal person in his situation would feel bitter and resentment. its an excellent contrast to oc who is mad with rage and ready and willing to take him down loool

*(not saying i think he’s underestimating him or anything. he’s just not really giving it his all in this battle, i think. not yet, at least lol.)

and like... ociel is able to form new bonds like with soma, sieglinde, the servants etc.. he’s capable of like.. starting again with other people. “wah wah they’re just pawns.” no they’re not. he obviously cares about them but there’s a lot of things holding him back from fully embracing it.

but like.. i don’t think rciel is.. or rather, i dont think he would even be interested in that. like, if rciel was the one to survive instead, i think his attachment to his family would forbid him from ever moving on. instead of being like ociel, where he’s terrified of finding happiness again, i think he would genuinely just straight up not care about anyone else because no one will ever replace his family. im not saying ociel’s “replacing” them ofc, but that’s probably how rciel would see it.

i think, in a way, its like what ociel tries to be, that “i dont care about anyone. i’ll use anyone as my pawns” is what rciel would be if he lived instead.

and like, it’s so telling how rciel says “father / auntie ann / lizzie” while ociel uses “my predecessor / madam red / elizabeth” etc... ociel distances himself while rciel fully embraces it.

i always envisioned that rciel would not like diedrich calling him son all the time if he and ociel switch places lol. ociel doesnt mind at all but i like to imagine rciel twitching ever so slightly and saying “I’m not your son” ; v;

and like,  i dont think rciel would be cool with grell strutting around in madam red’s jacket after killing her sdhusijd. i mean ociel is really just like, “oh yeah.. whatever what’s done is done” but im really hoping at some point in the manga, if rciel meets grell again, he’ll put two and two together and be like ... “Is that my fuckign aunt’s coat???” SUHDIS I THINK IT’D BE SOO FUNNY and would LOVE the contrast between him & ociel’s kinda defeatist attitude abt it LMAO

[12timetraveler]

May You Always Be The Wild One (Parts 1 and 2)

Reader is kidnapped on a job gone wrong, and Hosea is prepared to burn all of Lemoyne to the ground if he has to in order to get her back.

Hosea/f!reader

CW: kidnapping, torture, attempted sexual assault, descriptions of violence

(I try not to be too graphic but please be advised that part one is quite dark.)

Hey all so this is a two part story I've done. Part 1 is all about the kidnapping and the rescue. Part 2 is all fluff and smut months after the event in part 1

Part 1 is posted here and part 2 is the chapter that immediately follows.

And in the morning when the sun comes up

And it brings you to your knees

May you always be the wild one

May you always be free

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

It had been a solid plan. Well of course it was, it was Hosea's plan. But the master con man had been conned. Or maybe you all had underestimated just how perverted the target was.

You and Hosea had spent the morning making yourself look rumpled and dirty. Hosea had been smearing some dirt on your cheek. You suggested, only half kidding, that you and he just step out of camp for a quick romp. That usually got you looking plenty disheveled. Your beloved had laughed and lamented that you were too short on time, but promised he’d take you out for a night after this job was over.

Once you looked perfectly exhausted, skirt dirty, hair ruffled, like you’d been tossed from your horse and walking all night, Arthur had taken you out to the road, about a mile down from the target’s house.

“Alright. You start walking, and I’ll join the others near the house. Hosea says the target always spends his mornings on the front porch. Once you get him away from the house, we’ll be in and out. Mrs. Adler is waiting for you in Rhodes to take you back to camp so you’ll be long gone from town before he even gets back home to see he’s been robbed. Even if he does realize you were in on it, he won’t find you.”

“Understood,” you said as you slid off the back of his horse.

“Yeah, well even still, you got your gun?” He asked. You nodded and patted your thigh. Hidden under your skirts was a small pistol. Nothing special but it would protect you.

“You think I’m dumb enough to work a job without something to protect me?” You asked.

“No, s’pose not,” Arthur chuckled. “That and I doubt Hosea would have let you do this if he didn’t have some back up.”

Hosea trusted you completely, but he was far too wise to ever think that just because you were quick on your feet and good in a fight, that you’d be fine without some sort of weapon. As he was helping you get dressed this morning, Hosea had carefully strapped the little pistol to your thigh, planting a few sweet kisses around it before moving on to helping you lace your corset.

“Alright well, see you back in camp,” Arthur said, giving you a lazy salute.

“You boys stay safe,” you called.

“You’re the one who’s taking a ride with the man to town. You stay safe,” Arthur replied as he trotted off. You stood there for a minute, letting Arthur ride ahead of you before you started your walk down the road.

The Lemoyne sun was harsh, only just rising but already beating down on you. Within minutes you were sweating. You cursed Arthur for dropping you off so far away from the house, but your exhaustion would make your story more plausible, easier to act out.

By the time the house came into view, you were miserable. Thank god you had your hat to protect your face from the sun.

Just like Arthur had said, the man was sitting on his porch, sipping some coffee and watching the world start it’s day when you hobbled up.

“Good Mornin’ miss,” He called from his porch, looking you up and down as you rested against his fence.

“Howdy, Mister,” You sighed.

“Are you alright?” He asked, sitting up slightly as he took in your ragged state.

“I’ve been better, I’ll admit,” you said. “My horse spooked on the road during the night. I’m not sure if it was a snake or what. But he spooked and tossed me in the dirt and ran off. I’ve been walking for hours now.” You sighed.

“Can I give you a ride somewhere?” The man asked, standing up and downing his coffee.

“If it’s not too much trouble. My sister is waitin’ for me in Rhodes.” you said gratefully. The man nodded.

“Sure. I can get you there. Give me just a moment to hook up the wagon,” He said, stepping inside to put his mug away before heading out to the barn out back.

You glanced off into the trees near the house. You caught a glimpse of Arthur’s hat. You gave a small nod, letting him know it was all going to plan. A few minutes later the man came around the house, leading a black Tennesse Walker pulling a simple wagon.

“Alright, Miss, let's get you to town.” He said, helping you into the wagon before climbing into the driver's seat. With a flick of the reins, you were off. You slumped in the seat, happy to be off your feet.

“Name’s Dawson. Ephriam Dawson,” He said, reaching out to shake your hand.

“Tabitha Sanderson,” You said, using one of your aliases. You shook his hand

“Good Lord is it hot,” You sighed, fanning yourself. Dawson chuckled beside you.

“You ain’t from Lemoyne, are you?” He asked. You shook your head.

“No. I’m from West Elizabeth. Strawberry to be exact. It’s cool and wet and rainy there.”

“What’re you doing all the way down here?” He asked.

“My sister and I came to visit our sick aunt in Saint Denis,” You lied, thinking quick on your feet. “My sister went to Rhodes yesterday morning. I wanted to spend one last day with Aunt Susan before heading back, so I said I’d meet her in Rhodes last night.”

“Well, I’ll get you to your sister safe and sound, don’t you worry Miss,” He said.

The rest of the ride was pleasant, punctuated with idle chit-chat now and then. On occasion Dawson would point out a landmark or something he found interesting. You’d nod along and listen with fake interest. Dawson sat a little too close, in your opinion, but it was a small wagon, so maybe there just wasn’t room.

Finally the water tower of Rhodes’ train station peeked up over the hillside. You sighed in relief.

“I was starting to think I’d never get here. I would have been walking for hours yet without your help. Thank you,” You said, giving Dawson a grateful smile.

“You’re welcome,” Dawson said, tipping his hat. “Now, where is your sister waiting for you?” He asked.

“She should be at the general store. If not there, then maybe the Parlor House. If you just drop me off by the statue I can walk from there.” You said.

“Nonsense. I’ll make sure you and your sister are reunited.” Dawson said as the cart rode into town. Instead of parking near the butcher like you thought he would, he turned the cart up the hill, past the church.

“Sir, where are we going?” You asked, trying to keep your outlaw paranoia at bay. But something did not feel right.

“I’m just parking up here,” He assured you, pulling off just past the gallows. “It’s easier to get out of town if I park up here and walk,”

“Well, thank you very much for the ride Mr. Dawson,” you said, beginning to climb down from the wagon. He grabbed your wrist, stopping you.

“Just a moment, darlin’,” He said. “We still need to discuss my payment.”

“Oh, of course, how silly of me,” you said, reaching into your bag. You’d brought a little silver watch and a few bills to pay the man with, should he ask. You’d earn that back and more, if Hosea were right about the score. “I don’t have nearly enough to thank you for your help. But… here.” you said, pulling out the bills and the watch and handing it to Mr. Dawson before climbing down off the wagon.

“Thank you again, I really must be going,” You said as Dawson climbed down from the wagon. “My sister must be worried sick for me.” he came around the side of the wagon, and the glint in his eye made your heart drop.

“Hang on,” He said, “This isn’t the payment I was looking for,” He said, holding up the pocket watch and small stack of bills.

“I… I don’t have anything…” Before you could say another word, the man grabbed you and pressed you against the wagon, his lips slamming against yours. You struggled against him, trying to push him away. Finally his lips released yours, and he allowed you to push him a couple steps back.

“Sir!” you exclaimed, “I don’t know who you think I am, but I ain’t that kind of girl!” You said, scrubbing his saliva off your mouth. “I appreciate the assistance, but I really must be going,” You were stopped by his hand slamming into the wagon, blocking your exit.

“I don’t care what kind of girl you think you are,” He whispered dangerously. “The way I see it, I helped you with something you needed. Now you help me with something I need.” His other hand came down to his trousers, undoing the buttons. “You say you ain’t a whore, fine. I won’t use your cunt. But you’re gonna get on your knees for me and put that mouth to good use.”

You met his gaze a moment, weighing your options. Your pistol, though hidden conveniently on your person, wasn’t easy enough to reach so that you could do it before he did something to you. However, if you could get your skirt out of the way...

You gave him a defeated nod, pretending to concede. Very slowly, you did as he instructed, sliding down onto your knees. You adjusted your skirt underneath you under the pretense of getting comfortable, then looked up at Mr. Dawson looming over you.

He gave you a wicked smile, and patted your head. He moved to pull out his cock, but before he could, you’d reached under your skirt and retrieved the pistol from your garter, cocking it and aiming for his manhood.

“Sorry mister, I think you have me misunderstood,” you said, standing once more, gun rising with you until it was pointed at his chest. “I won’t be doing anything with your disgusting prick. So you can either take the money and the watch and let me go, or lose something you can’t grow back.”

You and Mr. Dawson stood still a moment, staring each other down, waiting for the other to cave first. He never dropped his disgusting smile, and he still had a glimmer in his eye that you didn’t like one bit.

“On your way, mister,” You said, waving your gun slightly.

In the blink of an eye, he swung his arm up, grabbing the gun and forcing you to point it away from him. His other hand came up to your neck, slamming you back against the wagon and pushing the air from your windpipe. He slammed your wrist against the wagon a few times, until the gun fell to the ground.

You squirmed against him, trying to get your knee up into his crotch, find something of his you could bite, anything to get him off of you. But his grip on you was tight, and the hand on your neck was squeezing until spots danced across your vision.

“Little Jezebel,” Dawson cooed in your ear, “You’ve led the wrong man on. I’ll get what I want, just you wait.”

“Sadie!” You screamed, desperately hoping your voice would travel far enough. “Sa--” Dawson slammed your head against the wagon once more, and it all went black.

[rainiswriting]

I don't know if anyone did this black Butler au before and if anyone did I'll like to read or maybe I'll write some au's like this:

1. The blond kid from the twins memory didn't die and become sacrifice first, r!ciel fearing the same thing will happen to his brother accidentally called a demon and make a deal with the demon.

O!ciel is still alive and try to talk r!ciel out of it but r!ciel is determine so o!ciel and r!ciel maybe makes a deal with Sebastian? Idk I'm still working on it

2. Undertaker and r!ciel convinced everyone that Sebastian manipulate o!ciel and is planning to kill him later on (undertaker and r!ciel don't like the thoughts of o!ciel making a deal with a demon) and forcefully take off his eyepatch revealing the mark but both undertaker and r!ciel said that Sebastian is part of the cult that killed him and o!ciel eye is prove Sebastian manipulate him.

O!ciel order Sebastian to run and hide through their bond and r!ciel kept o!ciel in their mansion to protect him (I really want to write the part in chap 152 but this time all the midford family is there to talk to the twins and witness o!ciel eye)

3. R!ciel is able to run away from the burning mansion with o!ciel and didn't get kidnapped, they meet up outside the manor with auntie ann or the midford family (or both) and o!ciel is passed out because of his asthma and almost die, after recovering and the manor is fixed o!ciel becomes afraid of thr outside world and shut himself in. R!ciel the new Earl let this because he don't want to lose his little brother (brocon r!ciel) (his last remaining family) (mini drabble with Edward talking big bro feelings with r!ciel)

"Ciel..this isn't healthy" ciel holding a tray of food for his little brother stop in his tracks looking at Edward

The midford family visit atleast three times every three months to check up on him since the fire three years ago to help him with his earl duties or just being there for him since there's nobody else in the manor except him, his little brother, Tanaka, meyrin, bard, and finnian

The best people to protect his brother

"I thought we already went over this conversation years ago" the earl glared Edward went stiff a bit but shook it off

"But ciel! He's a kid YOU'RE a kid! You two should run around having fun! Let father and me handle your work and play with lizzy and--"

"Edward! I told you" his voice booms silencing Edward "astre is save here! Outside will only hurt him!" He scoff and continue walking

(Maybe something happens that make o!ciel to stop being a shut in slowly but surely, but I'm still thinking)

(Another mini drabble in the Weston school arc but o!ciel [being called astre] visit his brother to watch him, and r!ciel is so damn proud)

"God only knows, Sapphire Owl!"

Everyone parted and clap as white owls fly down to each students arm in good sync

"This is underwhelming" ciel mumble

"CIEEELL!! SO CUTE DO YOUR BEST!!~" Elizabeth between the crowds scream as energetic as ever, ciel follow her screams and saw her in the back he smiled and nod until he finally realized a shorter boy besides her

"Astre!" Ciel doesn't care if he'll get scolded later astre is here! Watching him as he promise

Ciel waves with a smile and give a 'focus ciel' face

-after the ceremony-

"Now group up! Were holding a meeting--"

"ASTRE!!" Ciel cut off, the blue house froze a bit nobody cuts off a prefect and phantomhive the usually calm one just burst out screaming

"Big brother, calm down--" ciel almost tackle astre but he of course remember that he's the older and stronger twin while astre is small and weak so he didn't crush astre completely

"With my little brother being here I for sure need to win this!" Ciel cheer

"Well isn't this familiar" a women older than them come up behind bluewer

"S-sis!" He gasped as he suddenly surrounded by all his sisters four youngest (two of them are even twins) and three older

'It look exactly like violet drawing' ciel though still hugging his brother close everything and everyone is tuned out by him now all he could see is his dear little brother

"Astre how's the ride? You're feeling okay right? There's so many people here don't forget to tell me if you start feeling overwhelmed--" astre laugh and pat his brother shoulders "I'm fine ciel, calm down a bit"

"My, Lawrence isn't that the phantomhive boy you talk about in your letters?" Suddenly one of bluewer older sister come up to them ciel hug astre closer but keep a smile

"Why hello, Nice to meet you" they shook hands

"Aww! What a gentleman! And a cute one at that"

"His looks, brains, and lineage are all good" another one of bluewer big sister come up to them

"And there's two of them! Say how about taking our little sister as your wife!"

"W-what!? Sister"

Ciel politely hold a hand up another hand wrap around his brother "I apologize madams but I have a fiance and" ciel squish astre defeated face "I'll rather die than hand my adorable little brother to anyone soon!" He claimed cheerfully

"Ah of course the perfect one's are brocon" both ladies sigh as their younger sister scold them for embarrassing her

Eliizabeth sigh with a smile behind them Edward and aunt Francis is there two bored with the scenery

"Ciel, I can't believe you'll rather be with your brother than my adorable little sister you brocon" Francis look at her deadpan "are you hearing yourself Edward"

[lyssismagical]

we swapped our smiles, gifted advice

Parkner Week Day Five: “He ordered one black coffee for himself and kept driving.” / irondad / parents au

 Tony doesn’t get to babysit very often. Living so far out of the way in the cabin, already dealing with one child, he’s not the first choice very often as a babysitter. Whenever it’s only for a couple hours, they have a babysitter in the same building they’ll pay, and whenever it’s overnight or longer, they’ll let May have the kids.

Tony really only gets to see his children and grandchildren is if it’s at the same time. For holidays or birthdays or anniversaries or whenever he begs them to spend a weekend at the cabin.

This weekend is one of those times.

Harley and Peter take their three children up to the cabin on Friday night, planning on staying until Sunday afternoon. Morgan’s home too, now sixteen, and misses the family like crazy whenever they spend months away, too busy to make trips down to the cabin with all of them. She’s decided that when she leaves for college, she’s hoping to go to NYU, she’ll become the permanent babysitter for their kids.

Their oldest is five, Elizabeth. One of their mutual friends got pregnant, but couldn’t keep the baby, so they offered to take her in. The other two are twins, June and Ben, surrogate kids, who just turned three.

Between the three young kids’ schedules, especially now that Lizzie’s started kindergarten, their careers as co-owners of SI, and superheroing, it’s nearly impossible to find weekends they can all take off.

Harley makes it to the door first, grinning brightly with a cup of coffee in his hand. He’s holding June on his hip, pressing a kiss to her forehead before he lets Pepper take her from him. She doesn’t seem too bothered, but Peter makes it through the door pouting with an angry Elizabeth on one side, an uncaring Ben on the other side. 

“What happened?” Pepper sighs exasperatedly.

Peter rolls his eyes, shooting a glare at Harley. “We wanted to get Macdonald’s. We all wanted fries or milkshakes. Harley was driving. Do you want to tell them what you did?”

Elizabeth pipes up from where she’s got her head tucked in the crook of Peter’s neck. “He ordered one black coffee for himself and kept driving.”

“Nice one,” Tony says, lifting his hand to high-five Harley. At Peter’s scoff, he moves forward and takes Ben off him so he can put Elizabeth on the floor too before moving into the house to close the door behind him. They’ve left their suitcase in the car for now, not having enough hands.

“Hey, bug,” Peter murmurs, seemingly forgetting about his previous sadness. He tugs Morgan into a hug, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “How’s high school treating you?”

Morgan smiles, corners of her eyes crinkling. “Good, it’s really good. And before you ask, no, nobody’s treating me badly, nobody’s mean to me, I’m not hiding anything from you, and I’m still very much single.”

“Acing all your classes?”

“You know it.”

Elizabeth, still hanging onto Peter’s jeans, lets go in favor of grabbing onto the hem of Morgan’s shirt. Morgan tries to pretend she doesn’t have a favourite between her nieces and nephews, but she’s got a particularly soft spot for Elizabeth.

Morgan scoops her up, peppering her nose, cheeks, and forehead in raspberries and kisses. “I’ve missed you, Liz. You ready for a weekend of fun with your favourite aunt?”  

Careful of everyone gathered in the foyer, Peter moves to the side where Harley’s leaning against the wall, sipping his coffee, to step into his arms. He slips into Harley’s awaiting arm, leaning his head against Harley’s shoulder and accepts the coffee when offered.

“You excited?” he asks, ducking his head to press a kiss to Peter’s forehead. “We get to sleep in tomorrow!”

Peter laughs, leaning heavier against Harley like just the mention of sleep is enough to make him feel exhausted. There’s been a lot of late nights and early mornings and no time to catch up. It’s no wonder they’re tired, CEO’s of a multibillion-dollar company, parents to three under the age of six, and Spider-Man to balance.

“I’m so happy to be back here again, we need to make this trip out more often,” Peter murmurs, pressing his lips to Harley’s jaw quickly.

“Next trip we make has to be Tennessee. I know you said we’d wait to take the twins on a plane, but Mom’s starting to freak out because she hasn’t met them yet. Abbie’s going to be back home in a couple months, maybe we should match up our trips.”

Peter laughs, looking over at where Morgan’s dancing with Elizabeth on her feet. June and Ben’s watching with wide eyes, and Morgan promises she’ll dance with them too.

“Abbie has to fight for her title as favourite Aunt. We need to get the whole family together too. Maybe this Christmas we’ll do a party, pay for Mom and Abbie to come out here,” Peter suggests, lifting an eyebrow tiredly. “That way, Abbie and Morgan can duke it out in person.”

The younger girl looks over with a glare. “I’ll win. I fight dirty.”

“Abbie fights dirty too. Don’t forget she grew up in Rose Hill, she spent most of high school getting into fist fights behind the school like I did.”

Peter opens his mouth to join the argument, but June lets out a whine before he can, squirming in Pepper’s arms. He sighs and pulls away from Harley’s chest to take the toddler back.

“It’s not really babysitting if you won’t let us help,” Pepper says, but she hands June over nonetheless. June’s a shy kid, so she doesn’t talk much to strangers. Ben and Elizabeth are both much louder and chatterboxes like their dads.

June presses her face against Peter’s chest, little hands curling into his shirt. “Hey, sweetie. You getting a bit overwhelmed?”

Harley presses his chest against Peter’s back, kisses his temple and then turns to the rest of the family. “What do you say we get dinner going and then a movie?”

“I could use a hand or two in the kitchen,” Pepper says, nudging her husband and then giving Harley a pointed look.

The three of them head off without a question, leaving Peter and Morgan with the three kids.

“How’s parenting treating you?” Morgan asks, lifting Ben onto the couch and patting the cushion on her other side for Elizabeth to sit. Peter falls into the armchair, June curled up on his lap.

Peter yawns, finally letting his muscles relax. “Lizzie being in school is a gamechanger, but don’t let people fool you, it’s hard. I have no idea how May did it. If I didn’t have Harley, I think I would’ve lost my head a long time ago.”

“Can you be honest about something?” Morgan’s voice goes serious, eyebrows furrowing, making an identical expression to one Peter’s seen on Tony hundreds of times. “Are you going to give up Spider-Man?”

“Why? Do you want me to?”

Morgan shrugs, swallowing thickly. She looks down at Ben who’s playing with the string on his sweater, so small and innocent. “I just worry. About you, about Harley, about your kids… Do you not think about what could happen?”

He pauses for a second, not wanting to give her an answer off the top of his head.

He’s thought about it before, but he tries not to. It hurts to think about the possibilities. He grew up without his parents, he lost his uncle, he spent a long time scared that May would be taken from him too, he got awfully close to losing Tony. He was drowning in grief for years of his life, he’s dealt with a lot.

And he knows the consequences. He knows that one wrong move out in his suit would leave Elizabeth, Ben, and June without a second parent, without their Dad. It would leave Morgan without her brother, May without a kid, Tony and Pepper without a son. It would leave Harley on his own. Harley would lose his husband, his best friend, his second half. He knows the kind of stress he’s put Harley under because of Spider-Man.

But if he doesn’t go out, it’s risking a lot.

There would be daughters and sons who wouldn’t make it home to their parents. There would be husbands, parents, who wouldn’t make it back to their family.

He can’t even imagine what it would feel like to lose a child. If he can stop that, he has to try.

“It’s more complicated than that,” he settles on eventually. “I know what I have to lose, and I will do everything in my power to make it home to them. I wouldn’t do anything to put me too close to harm. I know my limits. But I can’t leave New York to fend for itself. I can’t, in good conscience, leave the little guys.”

Morgan frowns like it’s not the answer she expected. “I almost lost Dad because he’s a superhero. He gave it up for us. He retired to make sure none of us would go through that.”

“Do you really think he wouldn’t put on a suit if the world was in danger? Do you think he’ll stay side-lined forever?”

June snuffles against his chest, little fist lifting up to touch his jaw and mouth before falling back to his shirt. Elizabeth’s eyes are on him, face set in concentration and hands fiddling in her lap. “Daddy?”

Blinking back sudden tears, Peter focuses on his oldest daughter. “Yes, sweetheart?”

“Are you going to leave?” She looks too worried for a five-year-old. It’s one of those things that would haunt Peter forever if she felt like she was going to lose her dad. If he made any close calls. This is what he’s fighting for.

“No, honey, Daddy’s just fine. I’m not going anywhere, I promise.”

Morgan seems to see just how close Peter is to breaking, and guilt immediately floods her eyes. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up, I just- I guess, I just worry about you. Do you need a second? I’ll watch them if you want-”

He nods quickly, definitely needing a second to stop seeing that future. The possible future of these wonderful children growing up knowing loss and grief and pain like he did. He quickly shifts June onto Morgan’s lap, bending down to kiss both girls’ foreheads and promising his children that he’ll be back in a second.

As soon as he can, he ducks into the kitchen where Tony’s make a bad dad joke, and Harley’s cracking open a bottle of wine, and Pepper’s cutting vegetables, looking properly like a family.

“Harley?” Peter says, voice thick and shaky even to his own ears. Immediately, all three sets of eyes are on him, and he knows he must look like a mess already. “Could I talk to you for a second?”

His wonderful husband, all wide-eyed with worry and hushed tone, leads him down the hall to their bedroom where they’ll be staying, Peter’s old room. As soon as he shuts the door he asks the question, “What happened?”

“Morgan asked why I haven’t retired from Spider-Man.”

They’ve had enough talks, enough breakdowns, enough arguments, to know the heaviness and the meaning of the words. It’s been something Peter’s been struggling with for a while. Ever since they took in Elizabeth, Peter’s been weighing the pros and cons.

“Darlin’,” Harley says gently, arms encircling his waist and drawing them close. “We’ve got the weekend off, you don’t have to think about-”

“I want to give it up,” Peter says, something he hadn’t even admitted to himself yet. It’s so true, it hurts, but he needs to say it. He needs to be honest with himself and with Harley.

Harley frowns, bending just enough to look at Peter in the eyes properly. “What?”

“I want to give Spider-Man up, I’m just scared that New York won’t be safe if I’m not there. Whenever I go out, I can’t stop thinking about not coming home to you, and I can’t do that.” His voice breaks and he curls his hands around his husband’s biceps to ground himself. “I don’t want you or our kids to have to worry about my life every day. I don’t want there to be a possibility that our children grow up without me.”

“Okay, take a breath, if that’s what you want, we’ll make it happen. We’ll find someone else to look out for the city. We’ll figure it out,” Harley soothes. “If you want to hang up Spider-Man, you can. Nobody will stop you.”

Peter finally lets out the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding and relaxes into Harley’s hold. “I know what it’s like to lose parents, to lose people, I know what it’s like and I don’t want to do that to them, to you.”

There’s a knock on the door and they both look over to see Tony leaning against the doorframe.

Harley offers a half-smile, tightening his hold on Peter. “I suppose you want to give your advice?”

“I think it’s a good idea,” Tony says. “Less grey hair for me, at the very least. I’ll get in touch with Wilson and Barnes, and the Young Avengers program. I’ll see what I can do.”

“Love you, dad,” Peter mumbles, smiling against Harley’s shoulder. “I’ll love you even more if you want to watch your grandkids tomorrow and let me and Harley sleep till noon? Maybe even take the whole family to the zoo?”

Tony scoffs. “And leave you two in the house by yourself? I don’t think so.”

“We’re married adults now, Tony. I can’t believe you still pretend we don’t have-”

Tony, forever the mature adult he is, plugs his ears and starts humming loudly, backing out of the room. “You’re coming to the zoo with us!”

Harley laughs, pressing a kiss to Peter’s temple. “Please tell me we’re cooler parents than Tony.”

Taglist: @littlemissagrafina  @spidey-reids-2003 @romeoandjulietyouwish @c-artara @shadedrose01 @likeaphoenix13 @pj-hermes-tonystark-obsessed  @you-get-killed-walk-it-off @kitkatwinchester  @emo-girl10 @justme--emily  @hold-our-destiny @imalivebecauseirondad @spiderman-peterman @dykeragee @maryserrao @heeeyitskay @parknerandirondad {Let me know if you wanna be added or removed}

[queen-of-my-goofball-army]

OC Master List

Obviously if you’ve followed me for any length of time you will know that I have a really nasty habit of making characters of my own design. I love to be creative and make my own realities through this medium. It’s actually one of my favorite things to do. I’ve wanted to make this for a while because my friends sometimes get confused as to which OC that I’m talking about so this is the master list for everybody. 

My Hero Academia: If I have any fandom where most of my OCs go it’s into the MHA fandom. I have currently five OCs in this show so let’s talk about them one by one. 

Mitsuki Haruka: My first OC that I truly ever created and invented with the knowledge of doing it. Mitsu has a really special place in my heart because she was the first and the one that I work for the most in this fandom usually. Her comfort character is Katara from Avatar The Last Airbender. Her quirk is water. She can pretty much do anything with water. She can heat it, freeze it, glide around on it, whip it out of her and use something that I stole from Fairy Tail called waterlock where she locks a person inside of a body of water. Her canon partner is Tenya Iida my favorite square boi. I often talk about her with her adopted brother and my amazing friend @bio-hazard0us OC Kaku. 

Violet Katsuragi: Violet is one that I don’t really talk about in great detail a whole lot because every time I try to I cry. Her family is a massive shit show and I always feel so bad for making it that way.  I’m always like “My poor baby who is making you suffer so much-oh yeah it’s me sorry about that babe.” She is my “villain” OC. She is really only a member of the league so that she can stay close with her boyfriend and love of her life Twice (Jin). Her quirk is that she can control the plant tattoos that are on her arms by summoning them and using them in combat. Her comfort character is Mary Poppins because it reminds her of her older brother. Violet is an actress for a local community theater once the league disbands quietly. She and Jin also adopt Toga (a younger member of the villain league) as their own daughter to give her a second chance at life. I love her even though she’s the saddest backstory one that I have to work with it’s also the most fulfilling when I write fluff for her. 

Shizuko Kanade: Another absolute baby with a crappy home life. I’m sorry that I made it that way hun but it gets better for you I promise. Shizuko is my quirkless OC and my genius tech girl. She lives below her best friend and brother in arms Denki Kaminari and they’ve been best friends since they moved into the same building together. Her comfort character is PJ from the Goof franchise especially from Goof Troop that was her favorite show to watch with her aunt when she was growing up. She starts off really chubby, the cute kind of chubby but starts drastically dropping pounds in order for her parents to love and accept her. When they still don’t Denki has enough and talks to his mom and they decide to call the police and foster Shizuko into their own home. They get a restraining order against her biological family and my best girl gets a happy home. She wants to be the first quirkless hero to rely completely on support items. (She is also partnered with Shoji if anybody is curious.)

Arashi Mitsuha: This absolute baby, I love them. Ari is my gender fluid OC that I made who started off as just your everyday cis male but then I had an idea that spiraled from Ari in eyeliner to Ari in a skirt and then we wound up with the gender fluid absolute icon that they are today. Ari has a weather quirk. Basically anything involving weather they can do it with their eyes closed. Thunder and lightning storms, tsunamis, tornados but also snow and sunshine. They’re really OP and hella versatile it makes it more fun to write their fighting style. I paired them up with Denki in your stereotypical meet-cute scenario. In terms of backstory they just had a really bad ex-boyfriend before Denki came into their life like a literal speeding bullet. Their comfort character is Hedwig from Hedwig and the Angry Inch. 

Litzy Diaz: My last and FINAL MHA OC I promise you. Litzy is from a small town in Mexico and transferred to UA giving herself a second chance to start anew with her new friends and away from her toxic parents. She is fostered by Aizawa and Present Mic who have already adopted Shinsou so they are brother and sister in every way but blood. Her quirk was very heavily inspired by my love of Dr Facilier in Princess And The Frog. She can control shadows, shadow travel through things such as walls and she can control her friends on the other side basically demons from the underworld. Present Mic sees her as his long lost daughter and basically worships the ground that she walks on. He loves her more than anything in the entire world. Her comfort character is Miguel from Coco and La Muerte from Book Of Life. Her canon partner is Juso from Class B. 

DuckTales: I only have one DuckTales OC (thank the Gods) but she’s very special and important to me. I love the reboot of this show even if I’m way the hell behind on it (I promise I’ll catch up after Gravity Falls Donuts!!). 

Sabrina Duck: Sabrina is a sister for Huey, Dewey and Louie!! She shares the title of oldest quadruplet by thirty seconds and often took over the motherly role for her siblings when their mom wasn’t there. She was always reminding them to do their homework, regulated who got TV time and who was in charge of the delegated family movie night. This resulted in a rift between her and her brother Dewey that only got bigger overtime. School was really hard for her to deal with. She was never the best at paying attention during her classes and had a really bad sensory overload one day. She was really close with her uncle Ludwig though and he offered to teach her. They have a really special bond between the two of them that I love writing for. Sabrina was the person that grounded Ludwig to not think up as many crazy inventions. She also knits!! She loves knitting sweaters for her friends and family around the holidays. I am partnering her up with Gosalyn eventually. 

Star Vs The Forces Of Evil: To be perfectly honest with you guys, I have not seen the entire show. It’s really hard for me to get into it. Because when you only really love one character in the entire thing it gets harder to keep coming back for more. Especially because in the first two seasons you don’t get a whole lot of him and I’m stuck on season 2. 

Allania (Nia) Alvez: I feel like out of all my OCs I am the most like Nia. She’s a half elf-half mortal princess that isn’t allowed to live with the elves so they sent her to live with her mortal father. Her dad’s run a bakery in town and she works there as an assistant baker when she isn’t preparing for her next drag show. She grew up in this family full of love and acceptance and grew excited about one day having a relationship just like her parents. Her first brush with love left her broken by the side of the road even though no relationship came of it. A lot of my feelings for my ex-best friend went into Nia’s personality. However, there is a bright side! Of course with every one of my fics so far there is a bright side that comes in the form of my favorite character Tom who gives her the love that she deserves. 

Animaniacs: Of course this is me we’re talking about so there has to be an Animaniacs OC on this list! This is actually the first character that I ever made on my own free will! She has changed a lot throughout the years that I’ve had her mostly because my tastes have changed.  

Elizabeth Martin: Lizzy is a member of the scene crowd, I was inspired by my best friend and what she wears every day. For the modern au that I have her in her and Yakko are dance partners in a musical theater style school. For the regular fic she’s cast as his love interest. I love this girl so much. To me she is everything that I want to be even now. Her strength and confidence to get through every situation, even the ones that she is afraid to deal with speaks volumes to how I want to be one day. One of the few things that we have in common is that we both did martial arts! She stuck with it for longer than me though and is currently a green belt in kempo karate. Her favorite musical is Fun Home because it’s the one that she relates to the most through the eyes of the mother Helen Beckdal. Her parents basically had three other kids and went here take care of these it’s your job. Every time I listen to Days and Days I think of how much she had to go through just to make sure that everything was going according to plan. 

Looney Toons: Who doesn’t love Looney Toons?! We all have our personal favorite characters, mine has always been the schemer Daffy Duck. I thought that he was a combination of the funniest and had the most personality other than Bugs. I love his antics and get rich quick schemes and I thought to myself one day “How cute would it be if he had an adorable little niece who loved space?!” 

Daniella Duck: This began the creation of one of the best ideas that I personally think that I have ever had. So Daniella is the only one out of all my OCs that does not have aspergers. Instead I looked at Daffy’s elongated tongue and was like “Hm something inside of me thinks that she would have down-syndrome...” At first she was just going to have a little bit of her uncle’s speech impediment but this is what happens when I get ideas when I’m working out. Daniella lives with her uncle on the warner movie lot in the show fic. I love writing for her and her uncle’s relationship because it’s soft Daffy (it’s very similar to writing for soft Grunkle Stan and I LOVE BOTH). Daniella also has an uncle figure in Bugs and Porky of course. I gave her canon partner to Wakko because I just thought that they would be SO cute together. He helps her work on her self confidence and working her way around her speech impediment. In the modern au that I have she has a brother Ding Dong (@oo-fabooo02 OC). She goes to school with Wakko, loves Ed, Ed N Eddy, helps her uncle on his podcast because Daffy is a comedian in this au and she helps him write his script for the episodes. She loves space in both aus but in the modern au she actually is able to become an astronaut! 

Teen Titans\Promare: I have the same OC for both Teen Titans and for Promare but she’s more for Promare right now. What started off as just a happy au that she could have with her comfort character from the TT fic sort of spiraled into this whole other au. 

Keiko Katsuragi\Fotia in the Promare au: Keiko is a really special OC in my heart. She’s adorable, fun loving, sweet and just an all around amazing girl. In the Teen Titans au she’s a lot more damaged emotionally. Her father gave her powers through a serum that she didn’t even really want (she thought that he was joking) and it caused her house to burn down. When she left Japan she was homeless until the Teen Titans found her. Keiko is a member of the decora community and loves cutesy, girly things (especially Pokémon, Sanrio characters, Spongebob, Strawberry Shortcake and Care Bears). Her collection of stuffed animals is immense and intimidating. Her canon partner is Beast Boy. I’ve had Keiko since I was six and only just started to refine her and make her into an official OC. Promare au Keiko still has BB as her partner but I made him into a fire fighter for this au to work. She started off in a poly relationship with Meis and Gueira but I changed my mind. Writing the Promare au gave me the chance to make a happy unscarred Keiko. Her comfort character in this au is Dot. 

Princess And The Frog: If you forced me to pick a favorite Disney movie this one would be one of the two answers that I gave to you. I have a very big soft spot for this movie in particular. It is one that changed my life when I sat there as a young child and watched the movie unfold in front of my very eyes. Every time I rewatch this movie I am reminded of how much of my childhood I spent loving hand drawn Disney animation. 

Rhiannon (Rae): Rae is the daughter of Tiana and Naveen. I named her after Raymond the firefly. If you knew what a big comfort character my favorite cajun firefly is for me and my mom then her name will come as no surprise. She is the baker and pastry chef for Tiana’s Palace. Rae is a multi musically talented young girl she plays the ukulele, trumpet and accordion. When I first started writing for her I knew that I wanted her to be bisexual. So I turned to one of my favorite animation fun facts that I know. When Jim Cummings was first auditioning for Raymond they had him sing a song. This song that he sang is by Leon Russel and it’s called Cajun Love Song. It is also the song that he sings when he is untying Tiana and Naveen’s tongues. The song is about a girl named Alice. And part of my brain that makes these connections went perfect! That’ll be the name of her girlfriend. Rae is mostly a daddy’s girl. The relationship between her and Naveen was really what helped me refine her personality. Her comfort character is Rabbit from Winnie The Pooh. She is a gardener in her free time and that’s where she gets a majority of her fresh fruits and vegetables for her pastries and desserts. She isn’t really the best at being a princess. In fact she hates when she has to go and visit Maldonia. She doesn’t feel at home there and they won’t let her cook or bake anything at all because it’s not seen as ladylike. This is when she mostly feels like something is wrong with her. Why can’t she just do this one seemingly simple thing for her dad? When he does so much for her why can’t she do this? She learns that even though she isn’t perfect she is so very much loved that it’s ridiculous. Her family loves her so much and they’re willing to move hell or high water for her to be comfortable. 

Gravity Falls: My most recent obsession (I did not have cable when the original show was being released please don’t kill me). I have recently been binging this show on Disney+ and have just started the second season. I hope to be done with it within the next week or so because I love it so much. My favorite character so far is definitely Grunkle Stan. I love his growth and development from a power hungry greedy old man to somebody that clearly loves the kids that are put under his care. Watching his adorable relationship with mother and the father son relationship with Dipper is something that is really close to my heart.

Twilight Pines: My most recent OC!! Twilight is the older sister of Mabel and Dipper and has been visiting Grunkle Stan for years prior to the start of the show. She’s used to his money scheming antics by now but she still loves her favorite Grunkle. Growing up, Twilight had a nervous stutter. She was shy, nervous a lot, socially awkward and was never really the best at dealing with other people. This made her comfort character Piglet from Winnie The Pooh. Her stutter is still there but it’s gotten a lot better!! She spent the year before the show starts at drama camp trying to get over her stutter. While it’s not gone completely it was a lot of progress. She has a really strong relationship with her caretaker for the summer because of the years that she’s spent with him in the past. Up until Mabel went with her for the summer she thought that she would be the only niece in his heart. See, after Mabel was born she took up a lot of the attention. Everyone wanted to look at the cute one instead of the nervous one. It’s just the way that life is. But during the summer she got to spend it being the favorite relative of somebody. When she notices how close Mabel and Stan are getting that’s when she knows that it’s over. She was naive to ever think that somebody would pick her as the favorite. Not when Mabel existed alongside her. It’s not that she doesn’t love Mabel because she clearly does. It’s just that well sometimes she wants to be loved and appreciated by her parents instead of constantly being sidelined. That’s why her summers with her Grunkle were so important to her. It was just three months out of the year. But for those three months working at the Mystery Shack and having all kinds of chaotic fun were the highlight of her year. She has to learn that she has her own values too. One’s that while don’t oversell her sister are still her’s and they are still beautiful. She learns that her parents love and care about her just as much as her sister. It’s just hard to be a show stealer in this house let’s be honest. Twilight is a pansexual and her canon partner is Wendy. 

[priorireverte]

Congratulations Storm!

Your application for Molly Weasley has been accepted. Of all the Weasleys I ever thought we’d get, Molly was not one of them. I am delighted to have been proved wrong.

Please look to the checklist for the next steps and reach out if you have any questions!

OUT OF CHARACTER:

NAME & PRONOUNS: Storm, they/them

TIMEZONE: EST

ACTIVITY LEVEL: I should be able to post a few times a week and keep up with the activity requirement! I wouldn’t apply if I didn’t think I had the time to actively participate.

ANYTHING ELSE: Graphic depictions of gore ( more of a squick than a trigger; it just makes me uncomfortable, but if I see it it’s not the end of the world! This would apply mostly to gifs and images / aesthetics though )

CHARACTER DETAILS:

NAME: Molly Elizabeth Weasley

BIRTHDATE: October 30, 1950

DEATHDATE: n/a

GENDER, PRONOUNS, and SEXUALITY: Female ( she/her pronouns ); bisexual – Molly has always been comfortable with who she is, and her sexuality is no different. She realized she liked both men and women from a young age and was unashamed of the fact because, unlike muggle society, sexuality wasn’t deemed a problem like blood status would be. It didn’t matter in the end, though, because once she laid eyes on Arthur Weasley, she knew he was the one for her. No crush could compare to the pure love she felt for the bumbling redhead who stole her heart.

BLOOD STATUS: pureblood

HOUSE ALUMNI: Gryffindor

OCCUPATION: Unemployed. Molly, at one point, considered returning to school as either a professor at Hogwarts or an educator for young wixen children ( sort of like muggle pre-school ), but after her marriage and many children, work was never in the cards. Now that she’s older, she’s once again considering offering a daycare of sorts for young children – she has time to spare with her children all grown up, and she’d rather be looking after and teaching children than left to her thoughts.

FACECLAIM: Amy Adams

CHARACTER BACKGROUND:

POSTBELLUM

Molly had the disprivilege to live through not one, but two wars started by the same sick man, and they both had no small impact on her. During the First Wixen War, Molly wanted no part of it, staying firmly neutral even though her beliefs were aligned with the Order of the Phoenix. She and Arthur were married with a small brood of children by the time it picked up in earnest, after all, and her primary thought was to stay by her little boys to keep them as safe and innocent as possible – going out to fight and possibly die would do no one any favors. Her point was only proven in the death of her younger brothers, something that was a catastrophic blow on her soul. She and her brothers were close, after all, or as close as they would let her; Molly would have done anything for Gideon and Fabian. It was their deaths that made her question whether or not her choice to stay out of the war, as logical as it was, ended up being the right one after all. What if she’d been able to save them somehow? What if she’d been at least somewhat involved in the order and privy to their plans? Maybe she could’ve convinced them to stay home that evening. None of those regrets mattered, in the end – her brothers were dead, and soon after you-know-who was dead as well. Things were over… or so everyone thought. The Second Wixen War was unexpected, but Molly was more involved that time around. She didn’t volunteer to go out on missions; she still had children to look after. She was involved, though, particularly once Ron brought home young Harry Potter himself. Molly cared for Harry like her own son, and he was smack in the middle of the war to start with. She hated that her children were involved in a war, but this time would be different – this time, she would do all that she could to keep her family safe like she couldn’t with her brothers. Fred’s death took that resolve, chewed it up, and spat it right back at her. How foolish was she to think that her family, so involved as they were, would not be drastically impacted by the war yet again? Five years did little to ease the pain of losing a child, and she was certain she would be burdened with that pain for the rest of her life. She could still see her darling Fred’s face, still in death with the ghost of his last smile as she sobbed over his body just as much as she could see him alive and playing tricks on the family with George in her mind. Encumbered by grief like she was, Molly hardly paid much mind to the first report of the Returned making its way around. The second report piqued her interest ( and her confusion ), and despite herself, she kept watching and waiting for those she lost to return to her. She got her wish in the form of Fabian, young as the day she lost him, but that only made the Returned become something of an obsession of hers. If one brother was back, surely Gideon would be right on his heels? If her brothers were back, then surely she’d see her little Fred again, back from the dead and finally home? She knows the obsession isn’t healthy and is only making her grieving process worse, but Molly can’t bring herself to give a damn. She just wants her loved ones to finally come home.

PERSONALITY

Molly is and always has been a homebody. Family has always meant the world to her, the Prewetts having been a loving family who could lean on one another through thick and thin. While some would appreciate that and move on, Molly took that as a core part of who she was as a person and became what people dubbed “the mom friend” to her friends during school and beyond: she fussed over those she cared about greatly, to the point of being an annoyance, and worried over strangers if they looked like they needed a friendly face or shoulder to cry on. This tendency made her a rather outgoing person, and she was rarely judgmental if she could help it; Molly just wanted others to be happy. Some, however, saw this more as annoying than anything else. her caring nature backfired half of the time, painting her in the light of being far too nosey rather than concerned and wanting to be helpful. She’s guilty of eavesdropping on others, and while she says this is out of concern, she secretly knows it’s because she loves to listen to gossip as well. Molly likes to be in the know, whether she’s told directly or not. This has led to more than a few fights with friends, family, and strangers, but it’s always been part of who she was. Molly is unapologetic about who she is. These arguments are never small, either; Molly is short-tempered and can get easily annoyed when she’s not watching herself, and arguments where she’s been accused of something bring up this fiery part of her more than anything else. Despite her flaws, Molly tries to, first and foremost, be kind. Everyone needs a smiling face to look toward, and in a world as cruel as theirs, she tries to be that person for whoever needs it. If someone needs somewhere to stay, she’ll open her home up gladly; if someone needs to vent, she will lend an ear. She’s particularly fond of children ( if her own seven didn’t give that away ), and taking Harry and Hermione in whenever they wanted or needed to stay at the Burrow wasn’t even a question in her mind – of course they were welcome. war has taken much from Molly Weasley, but she refuses to let it take her kind heart.

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF FAMILY

The Prewetts were a loving, if loud and obnoxious, family, and Molly wouldn’t have had it any other way. She was the daughter of upstanding ministry workers, Mr. and Mrs. Prewett both being respectable in their departments and showing their children to be so as well. Respectable, however, didn’t necessarily mean disciplined, and most of Molly’s early childhood was filled with the yelling of her brothers, the soft croons of her parents’ voices, and the mewling of a stray cat Molly begged to keep ( creatively named Cat ). It was through her parents that she learned the value of truth and the power of words, learning from a young age that her greatest weapon won’t be her wand, but the words that come out of her mouth. A debate is just as deadly as a spell, her father would say. Speaking the truth shows the true value of a person, rather than lies that anyone can spill from their tongue, her mother would add. Molly took both to heart, making her quick-witted and stubborn to a fault when she knew she was right. As a Weasley, life was quite similar, though her role was reversed. Her home was still loud with the sound of screaming children, the heavy thundering of footsteps running through the house echoing what she experienced as a girl. Instead of partaking in the running, however, she was instead the one to scold like her mother did, but never fully discourage. Her family was part Prewett, after all, and Prewetts were nothing if not a little wild. It was she that taught her children the power of words, rather than the one learning them, and listening in as her husband taught their children how to be kind and judge others based on character rather than anything else. Life as a Weasley was dancing in the kitchen with her husband in the early hours of the morning, breakfast cooking while the radio crooned in their ears. Life as a Weasley was just as full of love as life as a Prewett was, and Molly cherished every moment. She always would.

HISTORY

Life was a series of moments, and Molly’s was no exception. Those moments formed her into who she was, after all; who would she be without being sorted into Gryffindor? She never would have met Arthur, whom she swore to this day that she fell in love with at first sight ( that wasn’t quite true; no first year knew love like theirs at such a young age – she fell hard, but love didn’t come until later, when she knew she would marry him before they both left Hogwarts ). Hogwarts introduced her to her friends, people who would become close enough to family that she’d introduce them to her children as aunts and uncles alike. Hogwarts made her a Prefect, though not Head Girl, and brought out her motherly side even more as she helped first years adjust to being away from home in an overwhelming environment. Being a Prefect prepared her to care for young children, though she still fumbled her way through Bill and Charlie’s infancy – she was much more prepared by the time Percy came around. Her children introduced her to their friends, who would grow their family even further ( both in marriage and in simple friendship; all friends were family in Molly’s book ). Each person she was introduced to expanded Molly Weasley’s capacity to love and to be loved in return, which made the Battle of Hogwarts that much harder as she saw others that she knew lying dead in the rubble. She mourned for Fred, but she mourned for the friends of her children as well, and for the friends she made through the order. It all hurt so much, but she’d rather take that hurt than lose that capacity to love.

OOC EXPLORATION:

WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO? I was introduced to this rp by Nic, aka Fabian Prewett, and it looks absolutely phenomenal! The plot is super intriguing, and I honestly can’t wait to start playing in this verse with everyone.

ANYTHING ELSE? https://pin.it/23mXrSb <<< I wrote Molly elsewhere too who had a connection to Bellatrix, so ignore that section! Every other section is relevant to Molly here however.

EXTRA FOR NON-BIO CHARACTERS:

This section is only if you are applying for a character that does not yet have a biography written (i.e. a character not listed on the character page). Any character can be applied for, so long as they can realistically fit into the plot and add substance to the roleplay! It may be a good idea to send a message to the main before applying to a non-bio character so we can work with you.

CHARACTER CONTRIBUTION: Molly has a ton of connections to characters both already in play ( Fabian, George, Ginny ) and available to play ( Bellatrix, the golden trio, potentially Fred and Gideon if they’re brought in down the line ), so I think it would be interesting to have her there to bounce off of others and let her bounce off of them in return. She’s a pillar of support to many people and is happy to offer that support to many more, but I plan to make her more than that. Molly is dynamic as a person: she’s kind and warm, yet fiery and firm in her beliefs. She has an obsession with the Returned because of how many people she’s lost in such a short span of time, to the point where she might use her free time to try and figure out how they’re coming back even though she’s not part of the Ministry and is missing a lot of critical information. Whether that goes anywhere is up to the admin team, of course, but it’s a line i’d love to look at in more detail.  

PRESENT: Though life has improved slightly over the past five years, Molly is still very much riddled with grief and a shadow of who she was a decade ago. She still has her warm heart and does her best to be who people expect her to be, but sometimes she’ll see a shadow, or see a flash of red hair, and fall into herself once more while she mourns Fred’s loss. News of the Returned only made this grieving process worse, because instead of learning to move on, Molly clings to the fact that she’ll see her loved ones once more – something that intensifies once Fabian returns to them. Now it’s more akin to an obsession than anything, and Molly wouldn’t stop the obsession even if she wanted to. She just wants her loved ones to finally come home where they belong.

[cbseung]

cobblestones: modern prince! hyunjin - [pt. 1]

✧༺♥༻∞ modernprince!hyunjin because hwang hyunjin is a literal prince

[masterlist]

[pt 1] [pt 2] [pt 3] [pt 4] [pt 5] [pt 6] [pt 7] [pt 8] [pt 9] [pt 10] [final]

author’s note: so this imagine isn’t historically accurate and here’s why

queen elizabeth doesn’t exist but one direction does

there’s also no current reigning monarchy in korea irl? that i know of anyways, but in this story there is 

hyunjin has a british? accent

but i hope you enjoy anyway :D (also! this is part 1 because this idea just popped off in my head and i want to execute it well)

also side note: the timing for this was too perfect thanks for posting hyunjin 

pairings: you x hyunjin

genre: fluff! lowkey enemies to lovers! 

word count: 1,115

description: your best friend had some mysterious secret, and now you’re having dinner at the buckingham palace with the same boy who called you dumb after HE ran into you at the market earlier that day

ever since your one direction phase back in 2014 you’ve wanted to go to london

and find one direction 

and on that note, you and your best friend, hwang yeji (who you may or may not have forced to come with you) are five minutes from boarding

and you’re internally trying not to freak out???

it’s not like you’ve waited for this moment for like?? 5 years??

you are VISIBLY shaking due to your excitement

so yeji ELBOWS you to STOP and says

“hey my fam from korea is in london the same time we are and they want to meet us for dinner the day after we arrive and they’re rich rich so i said yes”

and who are you to disagree?? you love free food and free food from the rich nonetheless

with that said, you two start to board the plane

yeji links your arms together and says

“let’s go!! i have a feeling this trip will be one to never forget!!”

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。..・。.・゜✭・.・。.・

so you guys arrive to london after that 6 hour flight

and if the dictionary had a picture for the definition of death you’re 100% sure your current state would be it

you were SO sure you could sit on the plane for those 6 hours but BOY WERE YOU WRONG

now all you wanna do is sleep in a fortress made of pillows and blankets but no no, LONDON AWAITS

AND WOW IT’S PRETTIER THAN YOU THOUGHT

SO MUCH TO DO SO MUCH TO SEE SO MANY PEOPLE TO MEET

it’s 12:30 pm when you arrive, so you and yeji start by eating lunch and exploring what london has to offer

you stop at a market to buy food because you guys are staying at an airbnb and ya’ll need to cook cook

so you buy coffee to beat DEATH the jetlag 

you separate from yeji in order to cover more ground and as you turn to walk to the first vendor you—

oof

...

and then you feel it

your poor, lowkey scalding hot coffee is now all over your brand new shirt you bought just for this trip!!!

“HeeEeEEEy” you whine

“hey uh you should watch where you’re going” you hear a deep voice say

????????????? excuse me???

you step back in order to see who ran into and -

oh? he’s kinda cute? bucket hats don’t look good on anyone and wow does he work it!! and that mole under his left eye looks so cute i kinda just wanna kiss it and- oh wait he’s waving his hand in front of your face

“uh hello? anyone home? look i know americans are dumb but i didn’t know they were this dumb

oh he’s rude rude

“HeY uH maybe YOU should watch where you’re going??” you retort back, “and sorry i kinda had to process that the holy elixir of life is all over my brand new shirt because some idiot decided to run into me”

“holy elixir of life??? wow are all you americans that dramatic? tea is so much better anyway?”

“wow! are all british people this snobby and rude?”

“not all of us are, just me darling”

you can just hear the sarcasm dripping from his lips

you walk away fuming

BECAUSE HE JUST?? RUINED YOUR OUTFIT >:( AND COFFEE >:(

you call yeji frantically because you need to go back to your airbnb which totally puts a damper on today’s festivities and that means you have to cancel everything today because it’s such a hassle to go back to the city city and-

oh yeji says just to buy a new shirt and then you’ll figure it out later

and that’s why she’s your best friend

cause she rationalizes and calms you down

uwu thanks yeji

you and yeji meet up when it’s dinner time, and you start complaining about cute rude mystery guy

“you should have HEARD the way that guy who ran into me talked to me!! he was so rude >:(  ᵇᵘᵗ ʰᵉ ʷᵃˢ ᵏᶦⁿᵈᵃ ᶜᵘᵗᵉ ”

“oH? what’s that i hear?!? y/n has a cruuuush!!!”

“IT’S! NOT! A! CRUSH! also you totally ignored me when i said he was mean!”

“oop whatever you say”

“no but seriously” you sigh, “it wouldn’t hurt to see him again”

“ᶦᵗ'ˢ ⁿᵒᵗ ᵃ ᶜʳᵘˢʰ ᵐʸ ᵇᵘᵗᵗ ” yeji mutters

you also ask her about her mysterious rich family

“so like how rich rich is your family”

“let’s just say old money goes a long way.. also they’re sorta famous back in the homeland” yeji says

famous??? how famous?? how exciting!! maybe they know one direction

with this new pep in your step you can’t wait until dinner tomorrow!

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。..・。.・゜✭・.・。.・

okay woah wait a second

you were expecting some family that owns some moderately successful business in london like those folks you see in your dramas and can afford that gordon ramsey restaurant you wanted to eat at but couldn’t pay for

you really were an idiot sandwich

but not the royal family?? you know like the kings and queens and princes and princess that have knights with the shining armor and stuff

wait you might finally meet your knight in shining armor ooo

as you step into the buckingham palace-

woah wait you!! are stepping into!!! buckingham palace!!!

“this is absolutely insane???” you tell yeji, “how tf do you know the royal?? family??”

“well ,,, my aunt and uncle are kinda?? the queen and king of like parts of korea?? let’s not get into the logistics”

you and yeji are greeted walk into the grand entrance of the buckingham palace and WOW

IT’S SO???? PRETTY? AND BIG?

THE GOLDEN HANDRAILS, THE TWO STAIRCASES DESCENDING FROM THE BALCONY? SO PRETTY

and this is just the entrance!!!?? you think

there’s two figures standing at the top of the balcony

“auntie!!!!” yeji yells as she runs towards them, “i’ve missed you!!”

after a few minutes of them catching up (and by catching up i mean, ‘oh yeji how are you how’s your mom do you have a boyfriend yet what are you studying in university’) yeji introduces you to her aunt

“auntie! this is y/n! she’s my bestest friend back home! y/n, this is my aunt ”

“it’s so nice to meet you!” you say

“it’s nice to meet you too y/n!” she says as she gives you a hug, “dinner will be served in a few minutes, but why don’t you say hello to my children! they should be in the dining room!”

OOOH more exploring!!! and new friends!!!!! you can’t WAIT for how the rest of the night is gonna go!

but oof honey you’ve got a storm coming, and you won’t know what hit you

[end of part 1] 

[imagine-avengers]

Biker Part Three- Bucky Barnes Series

3/10 This is part three of my Biker Bucky series. The part one and two can be found on my masterlist, as will the other parts once they come out!

The next few days had flown by. As promised Bucky sent over Scott Lang, their new Security guy, or new to Elizabeth at least and her security system was hooked up. Scott had given Elizabeth the code and a key to the new locks he had made and mentioned that Bucky requested a key and the code which Elizabeth waved him off knowing Bucky would end up with it either way. Elizabeth spent time around her house getting everything set up and finally finished unpacking with the help of Peggy, Wanda, and Natasha on Wednesday night, along with three bottles of wine between the four of them, luckily Steve was able to walk and get Peggy and Natasha and Wanda ended up spending the night in the guest bedroom as the third room was now Elizabeth’s office space, where she could work on the book she had been writing. It wasn’t until Saturday that Elizabeth had ventured anywhere, having to go get groceries seemed to be a hassle. Her car refused to start while trying to leave for the store. With a groan she decided her best bet was to call Bucky or Steve, or maybe Clint as he owned the mechanic shop that the Howling Commandos frequented. Elizabeth picked up her phone and dialed Clint’s work number. The phone rang and rang and finally a voice answered.

“Barton’s Mechanics, this is Peter.”  A voice spoke into the phone that Elizabeth hadn’t recognized.

“Is Clint there?” Elizabeth asked pacing in front of the car.

“He’s not can I take a message?” The man asked as Elizabeth groaned.

“Who’s there?” She asked. “Who’s working today?”

“Uh,” The kid paused.

“Kid, Peter, come on.” She groaned.

“Sam and Mr. Barnes.” He stated timidly.

“Put Barnes on, tell him it’s Liz.” There was a pause before the phone was picked up.

“What’s going on?” Bucky’s voice came through the phone.

“Car won’t start, been having issues with the starter for a while now.” She stated rubbing her head as she leaned against her driver side door. “You think you could take a look at it for me?” She asked.

“Yeah, give me ten and Sam and I will be on our way to come get it. You good?” He asked.

“Yeah thanks Buck.” Her voice was soft. “Anyway, I could come too? I’m getting stir crazy here, and I kinda need food.”

“Sweets, you think I’d leave you carless?” Bucky chuckled. “I got you, I’ll be there in ten. Peter, get Wilson tell him we need the truck.” Elizabeth headed back towards her front yard. “I’ll be there soon okay.” He stated.

“Alright, thanks Buck, see you soon.” Elizabeth hung up and moved through the house grabbing her things. After ten minutes she heard the truck and Bucky’s motorcycle come down the street. Walking out of the house she locked the doors and set the alarm and tossed the keys towards Bucky.

“I told you years ago to scrap this piece of shit.” Bucky mentioned as Elizabeth laughed.

“Yeah I know, sentimental value Buck.” She mentioned with a small smile. “You know damn well how I feel about this car.” She stated noticing Sam hooking the car up to the truck.

-

“Who’s been working on it the past five years?” Bucky asked an hour later as they stood inside the garage, his body leaning over the car.

“Some mechanic in DC.” She shrugged. “It broke down a few times, nothing major.” She knew Bucky hadn’t liked anyone but himself, Clint, or Steve working on her cars.

“Well your starters shot, you need new spark plugs, and your engine is on its last leg.” Bucky stated looking at her as he wiped his hands on a rag. “Not worth fixing to be honest.” Elizabeth sighed.

“I don’t have the money to buy a new car Buck.” Elizabeth groaned. “Hell, I don’t even have a fucking job, my savings is dwindling,”

“Elizabeth.” Buck said touching her shoulders to stop her pacing. “Breathe.” He told her. “I never said you had to buy a new car.” He stated. “I can fix it if you really want me to, but it isn’t worth it.” He stated. “But I have the truck you can use.”

“James.” She said sighing and running a hand through her hair. “You know I can’t do that.”

“Lizzie, I’m not letting you go without a car. I don’t want to fix this one because who knows how long it’ll run; it’ll give me peace of mind if you’re driving a vehicle, I know is safe for you.” He stated as Elizabeth bit her lip before nodding slightly.

“Fine.” She mumbled. “But only until I can afford a car.” She told him sternly as she glanced at the car that she had had since she was sixteen. “How much do I owe you for the tow?” She asked as they headed back towards the office so Bucky could find the keys to the truck that sat in the back-parking lot.

“Don’t worry about it Liz.” Clint’s voice came from standing by the young boy, maybe sixteen, at the reception desk.

“Clint.” Elizabeth’s voice was stern. “I’m paying for the tow.”

“You’re family Liz.” Clint stated pulling the keys to the truck off the hook and tossing them to Bucky. “Needs an oil change and breaks.” He stated looking back at Liz. “This is Peter, Tony and Peppers kid.” Clint nodded towards the boy whom was adopted by Tony Stark and his wife Pepper years ago after his parents, their best friends, passed away.

“Little Peter? You were like ten last time I saw you.” She asked with a laugh. “How’s Tony and Pep?” She asked as Bucky went to check on the truck.

“They’re alright.” Peter stated.

“Elizabeth Smith.” She shook the boy’s hand. “Heard you’re a big brother now, Morgan, right?” She asked as Peter nodded. “Ran into Happy a few months back.” Elizabeth mentioned. “Said you’re wicked smart.” Peter blushed and nodded. “Well it’s nice to see you again.” Elizabeth stated looking towards Clint. “How’s the wife and kids Barton?” She asked leaning against the counter and scrolling through her phone to order lunch for everyone at the shop.

“Good, good, just had Nathaniel.” He stated.

“After Nat?” She teased mentioning how he named his son after his best friend. “When am I gonna get a kid named after me?” She asked pouting as she heard Steve’s bike coming in. “Rogers I want a baby named after me; better tell Peggy you’re having another!” Steve’s bike turned off and he took his helmet off.

“You better tell her yourself. If I mention a baby to that woman, I swear she’ll cut my dick off.” He stated tossing the helmet towards Peter. Elizabeth laughed at the man and shook her head.

“Well someone better name a baby after me.” She mumbled.

“Name your own kid after yourself.” Sam stated heading over to the front desk and pulling out paperwork for a woman who was walking in after he fixed her car.

“And who the hell am I having a kid with?” She asked smiling over at the woman.

“Well I’m available.” Sam smirked as he handed the woman the papers to sign.

“Watch yourself Wilson!” Bucky called from under the truck. “If anyone is having kids with her it’s me!” Elizabeth groaned and hid her face.

“I vote to have kids with neither of you.” She mumbled as Steve chuckled heading over to the coffee pot and pouring a cup.

“Come on Lizzie, you’re not getting any younger.” He teased as Elizabeth picked up a pen and tossed it at his head.

“Shut the fuck up. Pour me a cup of that please.” She said as the women began reading over the papers. Steve poured a second cup of coffee for Elizabeth before he started a new pot. “Thanks Stevie. Also, fat chance of me ever having kids.” She mentioned before the group stood around talking for a bit and eventually five boxes of pizza arrived paid for by Elizabeth. After a half hour Bucky had ended up coming back over towards her and taking her cup of coffee. “I was drinking that.” She stated as Bucky reached for the pizza on her plate. “And eating that.” She mumbled watching Bucky eat her pizza.

“Eh you can share.” Bucky smirked at her before hearing Steve’s phone ring.

“Rogers.” Steve answered before glancing at Bucky. “No, no leave it Nat. We’re on our way. Natasha.” Steve growled. “Bucky and I will be there in five.” He stated hanging up. “We gotta go, Sam take Lizzie and Peter to my place, Clint you’re with us. We’re closing up.” Steve stated moving towards his bike as Bucky moved towards Steve, the two mumbling together before Bucky turned towards Elizabeth.

“I’ll pick you up, stay with Peggy, for the love of god Elizabeth, do not leave Steve’s.” Bucky stated as Elizabeth sighed.

“Buck, I live four houses down.” She whined.

“Elizabeth.” His voice hardened as he gave her a look that she knew meant not to argue with him.

“Fine.” She sighed and nodded. “I’ll wait with Peggy.” She stated. Bucky and Steve left leaving Elizabeth with Clint, Sam, and Peter. Sam drove both Peter and Elizabeth over to Peggy’s where the three waited for hours, Peggy had long since put the kids to bed and Peter had fallen asleep on the couch, and Sam took the liberty of calling Peter’s Aunt May to let her know he’d be staying with Steve. Meanwhile Elizabeth had been pacing for the last three hours.

“Elizabeth stop with the pacing.” Peggy stated from her spot on the chair with her book.

“You know I don’t like being out of the loop Peg.” She stated turning to Peggy. “You know that look Steve gives when shit is going down and he normally tells you to go to the cabin?” She asked as Peggy nodded. “That’s the look I got from Bucky.” She told her best friend with a sigh. Peggy closed her book as Sam looked up from his phone.

“Love, you know that’s the look that Bucky gives you no matter what.” Peggy stated as Elizabeth shook her head. “I’m teasing love, everything’ll be fine.”

“Don’t worry Liz, they got this.” Sam stated as Elizabeth fell to the chair with a sigh. Another few hours passed and by then it was three in the morning. Elizabeth was wide awake, while Peggy had gone to bed around one and Sam was knocked out sitting in the chair with his arms crossed. Sam phone had begun ringing causing Elizabeth to groan.

“Sam.” She stated nudging him with her foot. “Sammy.” She whined causing him to groan and mumble a small ‘what’. “Your phone is ringing, answer it.” Sam’s eyes opened and he answered the phone.

“Wilson.” He was quiet for a minute. “Mhh, got it.” He glanced at Elizabeth a moment. “Nah she’s still here.” Sam rubbed his eyes and sighed. “Man, she ain’t gonna sleep until you get here.” At that point Elizabeth had known that Sam was talking to Bucky.

“Let me talk to him.” Elizabeth held her hand towards Sam, who ignored her.

“Man, you serious?” Sam sat up straighter. “No, I got it.” He stated. “No no, Peter passed out and Peggy is upstairs with the kids sleeping.” Sam hummed a few times. “Yep, bye.” Hanging up without giving Elizabeth the phone causing her to glare at him. “There’s been a complication, nothing bad, just not gonna be back until early in the afternoon, said you should sleep.” Sam stated as Elizabeth huffed crossing her arms.

It wasn’t until around two that afternoon that Steve and Bucky arrive at Steve and Peggy’s. Elizabeth had been in the kitchen with Peter and Emma teaching them how to bake her famous butterscotch brownies while Sam was playing with JJ and Peggy was doing housework. Steve and Bucky walked in as if they hadn’t been out all night, Emma ran towards her dad whilst JJ ran towards his namesake, both men immediately picking up the kids.

“Pete, Tony got you a ticket home, Sam’s gonna drive you to the airport.” Steve stated. “He needs your help at home. Thanks for the intel.” Steve stated motioning Sam to do as he said, both guys left leaving Elizabeth glaring slightly at Bucky as Steve took the kids to find Peggy.

“Hey.” Bucky said softly causing Elizabeth to roll her eyes.

“Hey? That’s all you have to say James? I’ve been stuck in this house for almost twenty- four hours.” She huffed crossing her arms. “I hate not being in the know, you know this.” She stated as Bucky leaned against the counter.

“I know.” He spoke as Elizabeth looked him over. “Come on, lets go talk at your place.” He stated but Elizabeth shook her head.

“No.” Running a hand through her hair. “Just reassure me you’re not hurt, and I can go home.” Bucky did just as she said and proceeded to walk her home, promising to come and drop the truck off the next day.

[hrhduchessoflancaster]

Chapter Ninety-Two:  Joy to the World

Disclaimer: see Prologue

A/N: Thank you all for reading! From now on until the end of the story, there will be a series of time jumps.

xx Bea

_________________________________________________________

One year later

A year after the great divide that had almost broken down the family, Harry and Elle had settled into their new roles as future Prince and Princess of Wales. She had finally finished her work and published a book about her research on medieval history. Harry had left the Army with honours and a grand party at the Barracks, curtesy of his commanding officer, Colonel Nathaniel Craig. Meanwhile, they had began attending more and more engagements with Her Majesty such as the annual luncheon and garden party at Buckingham Palace, Harry had began to take part in and later give investitures in her name, Elle had represented the Queen in a few events related to her patronages and at Armed Forces events when Elizabeth couldn't attend. 

In the year and a half they had to adjust and fit in their own agendas with their new commitments, Elle and Harry had also taken the time to make amends with William and Charles. Every so often they would travel to Norfolk, specially on weekends to see the Cambridges. Arthur was particularly fond of his cousin Charlotte and looked up to George in all things. It was very sweet the way they interacted with one another, which lead to Harry and Elle having a conversation about having another addition to the family.

" I think it's time.", he had said to her one evening, after they had Arthur to bed. She paused for a moment and looked at him, seeing no mark of joke on his face. 

" Yes... I think so too.", she replied with a smile from the corner of her lips. " In fact, I've been thinking about it for a while now.", she continued.

" Oh really?", Harry asked her, encircling her waist with his arms and smirking. She simply nodded her head and pulled him by the neck, joining their lips in a passionate kiss.

" I believe that was an invitation to start trying for a sibling to Arthur...", pondered Harry mumbling in between as Elle began tracing her lips down his neck, murmuring an agreement.

" Oh that is most definitely an invitation.", he said picking her up and racing with her in his arms to the library, which was the closest room from where they were. Needless to say they've been very active in that department as well. 

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

June 2019

It had been decided earlier that year that due to their new status, they'd both receive further honours from the Queen. Harry was to become a Royal Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter while Elle would receive the Royal Family Order of Queen Elizabeth II and would become a Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order. Titles and honours the both William and Catherine had received as next in line. Elle's investiture would be a private affair set for the summer, while they were staying with the family in Balmoral. Harry's on the other hand would start in about two hours, as they prepared for the Order's parade at St. George's Castle.

They had been staying at Windsor with the rest of the family for the past couple of days, enjoying the break from their busy schedules. Dressed in a pale blue dress with a matching fascinator, Elle sat on the bed with Arthur on her lap and watched Harry get dressed in his navy blue suit while she bounced their son on her lap. 

" Papa is looking so dashing, isn't he?", she said to the toddler. The child grinned and clapped his hands saying Yes, Dada! Yes, Dada! as his parents chuckled. As always, Harry was struggling with his tie so he turned his head to face Elle with a distressed look on his face. Sighing and shaking her head, she put Arthur on the floor -- who immediately began walking towards his toys on the other side of the room -- and walked closer tot her husband. Taking the messy strip of fabric in her hands she skilfully began tying it around his neck. 

" When are you gonna learn to properly tie it, Major?", she asked him, shaking her head once again. He smirked at her and pecked her nose.

" Why bother when you're always here to do it for me?", he replied smugly. She playfully hit his arm and pecked his cheek. 

" There. All done.", she said stepping away from him and looking at him all dressed up. She was about to comment on his look when someone knocked on the door. 

" Excuse me, Your Royal Highnesses, but it's time.", said the officer. They thanked him and with one final check on their looks, Elle picked Arthur on her lap and they descended the stairs making their way to the Throne Room. Some of the family was already inside, a few fellow Knights and Ladies. Harry stayed behind waiting for his grand entrance while Elle was to take her place among the other. She stepped closer to him and kissed his lips quickly.

" For luck.", she whispered to him as she walked towards the entrance of the room. He watched from the anteroom as she greeted a few people and sat down with Arthur in her arms close to William and Catherine. Breathing in and out, Harry shook off the nerves that were beginning to hit him and prepared to be called. As he was the only new knight being invested, he walked alone down the lined corridor of chairs towards the throne where his grandmother and grandfather sat. Harry then kneeled down, with his left foot forward. The Queen stood up and with Charles and Andrew's help, fastened the garter just below his knee, while the chancellor of the order read:

To the Honour of God Omnipotent, and in Memorial of the blessed Martyr St. George, tie about thy leg, for thy renown, this Most Noble Garter; wear it as the symbol of the Most Illustrious Order never to be forgotten or laid aside, that hereby thou mayest be admonished to be courageous, and having undertaken a just war, into which thou shalt be engaged, thou mayest stand firm, valiantly fight, courageously and successfully conquer.

Then, they placed the riband -- the famous blue sash with St. George's insignia on it -- was placed around his body, as well as the collar followed by the dark blue mantle on his shoulder and gave him the hat he was to wear during the procession. 

" Wear this Riband, adorned with the Image of the blessed Martyr and Soldier of Christ, St. George; by whose imitation provoked, thou mayest so overpass both prosperous and adverse encounters, that having stoutly vanquished thy enemies, both of body and soul, thou mayest not only receive the praise of this transient combat, but be crowned with the Palm of eternal Victory.", said the Queen, smiling softly at him.

" Thank you, your Majesty. I pledge to loyally to keep and observe the statutes of the said Order as far as within my loyal ability I am able.", said Harry. And with that, the ceremony was over. He kissed his grandmother on the cheek and bowed to her, which was followed by the applause from his fellow companions. 

Later that day, after the parade was done and most people had retired, Elle and Harry sat quietly together in each other's arms in a cosy Drawing Room. It suddenly dawned on her where they were and she chuckled.

" What's so funny?", he asked her. Turning her head to face him she smirked.

" Do you not realised where we are?", she asked him. Harry looked quizzically at her and thought for a moment, shaking his head.

“ Well... let me refresh your memory then...", she whispered in his ear, taking off his jacket and untying the knot on his tie, discarding them on the floor, as she trailed kisses down his throat. Breathing heavily, Harry closed his eyes as she continued to kiss and occasionally lick down his body, opening each button on his shirt in painfully slow motions.

" Is it working?", she whispered to him and he mumbled a "not yet" which made her giggle. Elle suddenly stopped and straddled his legs, looking directly in his eyes.

" I want you now.", she said. Harry's eyes widened and realisation washed down his face. She bit her bottom lip and smirked at him. It took him a quarter of a second to attack her lips and peel off the clothes from her skin, ravishing her body as she did the same to him. They knew they could be caught at any moment but if they didn't care then, they certainly wouldn't care now. Breathing unevenly and hard, she came began moving back and forth on his lap, as he groaned in sweet pleasure.

" Oh damn it all!”, he mumbled, turning their bodies on the sofa, now on top of Elle.

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

July 2019

At Balmoral Castle, in the presence of her parents, aunt, uncle and cousins, as well as her closest members of the Royal Family all dressed in their uniforms and regalias, Elle was appointed a Dame Grand Cross of the Victorian Order. She had never before experienced herself something this grand yet intimate. But as she walked then kneeled before the Queen it all became very real. Much like on Harry's investiture, she was given a riband, a blue and red sash worn from the right shoulder to the left hip, and insignia of the order and a mantle of royal blue and red. 

There was no oath but she thanked and curtsied to Her Majesty when she was given all the insignias. She was embraced and kissed by all as they were directed to a grand meal sans all of the order, of course.  Looking around the table, Elle smiled inwardly as she watched them laughing and talking to each other in a way she hadn't seen in a while. And it warmed her heart to see that in the year that went by they had successfully healed their major wounds and reattached their strings, even though what has happened would never truly be forgotten. 

After lunch, hand in hand, the couple took a walk along the garden and stopped at the familiar and special greenhouse. Smiling, they entered the place and smelled the sweet aroma of the flowers and herbs kept in there. 

" I remember every single thing about that night, you know?", said Elle. " The way that you fidgeted nervously, the way you smiled at me, how your hand was always in search of mine, how you made my heart jump and took my breath away with every single surprise you pull off... how the lights reflected in your eyes, how handsome you looked... all those tiny little things are forever imprinted in my brain.", she continued. Harry smiled lovingly at her running his hands on her arms and then over her barely showing stomach. She smiled at the action and put her hands above his.

" We'll have to tell people soon.", said Elle.

" Yes, but not just yet. At the end of summer.", said Harry.

" At the end of summer.", she agreed, nodding her head.

And so they did. After telling their families and friends, the official announcement was made on all social media accounts and polls soon started regarding the date of birth, sex and name of the child. The best reaction they got was when they told their son about him becoming a big brother. The toddler put his hands on his mother’s lower belly and gently tapped a few times, put his ear on it and even gave it a kiss. 

“ Baby”, he said repeatedly. “ Boder? Sista?”, he asked his parents.

As with Arthur, they didn’t want to know if nugget was a boy or a girl, so all they could say to their eldest was “sibling”. Elle and Harry had already been to several appointments with Georgiana in the past weeks and all was well with their second child. As with Arthur, they didn’t want to know if nugget was a boy or a girl. 

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

December 2019

Her second pregnancy was very different from her first. She felt incredibly more tired and swollen this time around and her child was very very active; always kicking and moving. Sleeping had been a challenge. Staying on her feet even more so. So much so that Elle had to cut short her engagements and start her maternity leave at her thirtieth week. Arthur, ever the attentive child, was happy to help his parents decorate and arrange new and old things for his sibling. He was kind enough to select a few of his toys and clothes to give to the baby, which Elle and Harry thought it was very amusing. As her belly grew, Arthur’s questions increased. Once he learned that the baby could hear him, he spontaneously began siting close from his mother and place his tiny hands on her middle and would tell the baby all about his day, his toys, Sir Lancelot and all of his family. It often brought tears to Elle’s eyes and were the object of many pictures taken by Harry. 

As his wife began her last weeks before labour, Harry wanted to make sure all was in perfect order this time around for the baby’s delivery. With Helen’s help once again, they had been practicing their breathing and meditation and had set a peaceful schedule to help with Elle’s stress and constant tiredness. They also prepared themselves to be in London on the week of the baby’s birth, which gave them enough time to enjoy Christmas with the family at Sandringham. 

The couple was extremely excited to show Arthur all around the estate, since now he could walk around properly and play with his older cousins. Christmastime was indeed a time to celebrate. And in their case even more so as new life was coming into the family and Prince Philip, who had been ill on the last couple of months was recovered, which had been a great relief to all. 

Their arrival in Norfolk on the morning of the 23rd was filled with much joy and warmth from all of the family. They all — including Sir Lancelot — had taken the train to Sandringham, which had been Arthur’s first time on a train ride. He absolutely loved it and had his little face glued on the window the whole time. This time they were joined by Leo and Ingrid on their way but made sure the RPO’s would return home for the holiday since they’d be staying in Sandringham until Boxing Day, when they’d travel to Wiltshire to see Elle’s parents. 

“ Happy Christmas! Come in! Come in! Let’s get you all warmed up.”, said Sophie, pulling them into the house and taking Arthur from Harry’s arms. Ingrid and Alfred were king enough to help with their bags into the manor. 

“ Happy Christmas, aunt Sophie. How are you?”, Harry said.

“ I’m very well. We all are. And how are you all?”, asked Sophie.

“ We’ve been good! Arthur in particularly is very excited about Christmas… and his baby sibling.”, said Elle chuckling.

“And how’s the little one?”, asked Sophie as they put away their coats and bags. 

“ The baby had been oddly quiet today. Barely any kicks at all.”, said Elle, running her hands lovingly on her belly.

“ Probably due to lack of space in there. Both Louise and James where very active up until the last couple of days before the delivery. Then they grew quiet. It was like they knew the time was coming.”, said Sophie.

“ You’re probably right.”, replied Elle smiling. 

“ Come, they’re all in the living room.”, the older woman said, guiding them through doors and corridors. As they entered, cheers and greeting were heard from everyone, since they were the last to arrive. After and array of kisses, hugs and playful jokes, they settled together in the spacious room, telling stories, watching telly, playing with the children — who demanded all their attention — and talking about their lives. Christmas at Sandringham had the effect of making everybody cheerful and somewhat, normal. 

“ Now that we are all here, let’s give this festive tree its final decorations.”, said Elizabeth. And so, as per tradition, the family gathered around the colourful display and placed their individual bobbles. 

“ Next year, we’ll have a new bobble on that tree.”, said Harry. Elle smiled at him and watched at hers, his and Arthur’s names inscribed on the bobbles sparkled with the lights. Soon, baby nugget. Soon., she thought to herself, caressing her belly. 

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

On the early evening, Elle was soaking in the hot bathtub, relaxing her worn out body as everyone prepared for dinner. She was so warm and cosy that she had no intention of leaving that tub until it was absolutely necessary for her to move. She could hear Harry and Arthur playing on their room, their laughter carrying on to the bathroom.

“ In no time you too will be playing with your papa and older brother, Nugget.”, she said, hands on top of her belly. In response, she felt a sharp kick and pain. 

“ Wow there, little one. No need to be aggressive with your mama. I know you’re excited but calm down for a little, will you?”, she said jokingly. Then she felt it again. Another wave of pain. Breathing through it, she sat down on the tub. That’s when it hit her. Oh no… not again., she thought. 

“ Harry!”, she shouted. “ Can you come here for a second, love?”, she asked, trying to remain calm. She didn’t want to scare him or Arthur. Elle heard the step getting closer and soon Harry’s head was peeking from the door, a smirk on his lips.

“ Yes, my love?”, he asked. She gave him her best smiled which was soon replaced by a frown of pain and discomfort. Worried, he rushed to her side, kneeling on the floor.

“ What is it? What wrong? Elle, talk to me.”, he urged her, caressing her hair. She kept on breathing in and out until she calmed down a little.

“ Don’t panic, but I think the baby is coming.”, she said and his eyes widened. 

“ Text Georgiana and Helen. Get Sophie and Catherine, take Arthur to Zara. Quickly.”, she instructed him. Harry barely acknowledging her, hushed through the door leaving it open. Elle could see him picking Arthur up and hurrying through the door. A few moments and another contraction later, Sophie and Catherine were at her bathroom door, followed by Harry, who was on the phone with Georgiana.

“ Harry said it’s the baby.”, said Catherine.

“ Yes, I think it might be coming. And quickly. My contractions are not that far apart…”, she said. She then felt her water breaking and panic took over.

“ Oh gosh…”, she said.

“ What’s wrong?”, urged Sophie. 

“My water just broke.”, she replied. 

“ Quickly, let’s get her in the bed.”, advised Sophie. Harry promptly picked her the top half of her body and helped her stand as the woman helped her into a fluffy robe. Another contraction hit her and she almost fell down. 

“ I can hold on much longer…”, she said, as they helped her into the bed. Catherine and Sophie had pulled out the sheets as Harry held her. 

“ We need to call a doctor or an ambulance.”, said Catherine.

“ Her doctor is on the way. I got Hector to fly Georgiana over. She’ll be here in a half an hour.”, said Harry. Elle nodded her head and practised her breathing with him holding on her hand.

“ We should let everyone know.”, said Elle and Harry nodded his head. 

“ Kate, could you tell everyone downstairs. I’ll call Elle’s parents.”, he said to his sister in law, who nodded her head and smiled before leaving the room.

“ Eleanor, dear. Do you need anything?”, asked Sophie, maternally. 

“ I’d like some water, please.”, said Elle and Sophie too rushed out of the room.

Over the course of the next half an hour, the families were told and excitement filled the manor. A doctor was called from the nearest hospital to check on Elle and the baby while they waited Dr. Yates, who arrived just in time. Helen wouldn’t be able to be with them but was on speaker with Elle. 

“ Oh thank goodness you’re here!”, exclaimed Elle seeing Georgiana. The older woman smiled and talked briefly with the doctor who had been attending her. The man was soon dismissed from the room, wishing a good delivery to the royal duchess. They were left alone; just the three of them — plus Helen on the phone and an assistant nurse — as Elle had wanted. Georgiana scrubbed up as best as it was possible and walked over to Elle.

“ Let’s see how things are going, shall we?”, said Georgiana. Elle felt another sharp contraction hitting her. 

“ I want to push”, said Elle, breathing deeply.

“ Yes, I can see things are speeding up very quickly this time. Lara, help me put the protective bedding around here.”, said Georgiana to the assistant nurse. They moved quickly and efficiently around them. Soon it looked similar like a bed in a hospital, much cleaner than te bedsheets she had been previously on.

“ Alright, you know the drill, as soon as the next contraction come you start pushing okay, Elle?”, said Georgiana and Elle nodded, holding tightly to Harry’s hand. She pushed as much as she could. For the next hour she kept on pushing and pushing. 

“ The head is out. Just a little more, Eleanor. You can do this!”, said Georgiana. Focusing on her breathing and rhythm, Elle pushed again and felt a the pressure leaving her, meaning that this time the push had done its job. Cries were heard and she knew her child was safely into the world. She looked up to see Harry’s tear stained face, a huge smile plastered on his lips. 

“ What do we have, Georgiana?”, asked Harry. 

“ Another healthy boy, sir!”, said Georgiana. Elle and Harry laughed and grinned. 

“ Another son?”, she asked him in disbelief. He nodded his head and kissed her sweaty temple. Harry then cut the cord as he did with Arthur making the doctor smiled, as she and the nurse checked on the baby and performed the first assessments. He helped her sit up on the bed and drink a few gulps of water, as he gently patted down her forehead from all the sweat. 

“ You did wonderfully, my love. Wonderfully.”, he said to her. “ I’m so so proud of you.”, he continued placing kisses on her temple and forehead.

“ I’m so glad he’s here.”, said Elle, sighing. The parents smiled as the nurse brought their youngest son to them, placing the wrapped newborn on her mother’s arms. 

“ Hi little one…”, she whispered, kissing his chubby cheek, caressing him as Harry ran the tip of his fingers on his head. 

“ He’s a perfectly normal baby if only a bit early. He weights 3.8 kilograms and measures 51 centimetres. Quite a heavy little thing!”, joked the nurse. 

“ We’ll leave you be for a moment. But we’ll need to take him to the hospital tomorrow for a proper evaluation.”, said Georgiana. 

“ Thank you Georgiana. And Lara.”, said Elle. As soon as they left the room, the trio fell silent, enjoying each other’s company. 

“ He’s got blond hair…”, noticed Harry.

“ Like you had when you were a child.”, commented Elle, smiling at her husband. The child was snuggled into his mother arms, quietly dreaming and enjoying the heat and care he was receiving. 

“ Here… hold him.”, she said, passing the infant to Harry’s arms. He held his son carefully and gently, cradling him close to his body. The baby stirred a little but settled soon after on his father’s arms. 

“ Hello my son. Welcome. We’re so happy to have you here. You’re so loved. Your mama and I love you so much. Your older brother Arthur doesn’t know you yet, but he already loves you too.  We all do. Blessed child.”, he said, kissing his son’s head. Elle smiled and held back tears watching the interaction between father and son. 

“ He’s our Christmas present.”, said Elle and Harry nodded his head in agreement. A few moments later, Georgiana and the nurse got back in to check on them both. 

“ You should tell everyone.”, said Elle to Harry.

“ Do I have to?”, joked Harry, making her chuckled. 

“ Yes, my darling. You do. And take your time. I want to get cleaned before you come back. ”, she replied. Sighing, he gently placed the baby on his mother’s arms once again and with one final kiss on both, he exited the room and rushed down the stairs. Downstairs, the family had eaten in silence, waiting for news. As the loud steps approached all turned towards the door.

“ We have another son!”, exclaimed Harry, beaming. Cheers and joyous words filled the room as he was hugged and patted on the back by his family members. 

“ How are they?”, asked Elizabeth.

“ Very well, Granny. Elle was splendid and the baby is perfectly healthy. Chubby cheeks and a spot of blond hair.”, said Harry.

“ Much like you were as a newborn.”, commented Charles.

“ How are you feeling, Harry? Now that you are a father of two?”, asked William.

“ Honestly? Over the moon. Worried but extremely happy.”, replied Harry, making Charles and Philip chuckle.

“ Ahh now you’ll see how much fun it is to have two boys running around the house. I’d know!”, commented Charles.

“ Speaking of which, where’s Arthur?”, Harry asked. 

“ He’s playing with the children in their room with nanny Maria.”, replied Catherine. Harry nodded his head. 

“ We are very happy indeed for you, Harry.”, said Elizabeth.

“ Hear, hear!”, exclaimed Anne with nods and cheers of agreements from all the other. 

“ And does he have a name?”, asked Camilla.

“ He does. Elle and I have settled on a name but we’ll tell you together.”, replied Harry.

“ Always so mysterious...", commented  Sophie, making them all laugh.

“ I should get back to Elle.”, said Harry smiling. “ I’ll let you know when she’s feeling more rested so you can come and meet our son.”, he continued.

“ Yes, dear. Send her our love.”, said Elizabeth, smiling. “ I will!”, he replied. Walking up the stairs again, he stopped at the nursery to pick Arthur up.

“ Little cub? Arthur?”, he called out as he entered the nursery. 

“ Papa!”, he exclaimed, throwing himself at his father’s legs. Picking him up, Harry smiled and hugged the child. 

“ Thank you for looking after him, nanny Maria.”, he said to the woman who smiled and nodded her head at him. Leaving the room, he walked slowly to his own bedroom.

“ Have you been good to nanny and your cousins?”, he asked.

“ Yes, papa.”, the boy replied. “ Papa, where mama?”, he asked his father.

“ Mama was busy… your baby brother has arrived.”, said Harry. Arthur’s little eyes lit up and he smiled.

“ Boder?”, he asked.

“ Yes, baby brother.”, replied Harry.

“ Can I see?”, he asked his father. 

“ Yes, little cub. We’re gonna see mama and your brother very soon. But remember you have to be very quiet and very gentle with him, ok?”, said Harry.

“ Okay, papa.”, Arthur replied. Approaching the bedroom door, Harry turned to his son and said:

“ Now Arthur, what did papa tell you?”

“ Baby boder is hewre. Need to be quaite…Shhhh.”, replied the toddler, making Harry smiled.

“ Good boy.”, Harry replied, kissing his son’s temple. 

The first thing he noticed was that it seemed cleaner and cosier. It didn’t look like a birth had happened in there. Elle was sitting in the middle of the bed, looking tired but refreshed, with their son on her arms. 

“ Harry. Little cub!”, said Elle smiling. “ Come here… come meet your baby brother.”, she continued. Harry smiled at them and gently sat on the bed beside mother and baby, seating Arthur on his lap. 

“ Arthur come say hello to your brother…”, said Elle. Gently, the older boy lowered his head and whispered closely to the newborn:

“ Hi baby boder.”. Needless to say that all the tears Elle had held on to, were now calling freely down her cheeks. Harry then instructed his elder son to caress the head of his youngest.

“ That’s is, little cub, gently, soflty…”said Elle.

“ What baby boder call?”, asked Arthur. Looking at each other, Harry and Elle smiled and she nodded her head.

“ Owen. Your brother’s name is Owen.”, replied Harry.