#my mom has been making me redraw things from this book shes made.

[squirmydonnie]

Me and my dad are finally getting somewhere again

( he agreed and understood me. And be said fucked up. And we don't curse or cuss in the house. So I found it a bit exciting. Because he listened to me. I think its because he used to draw a lot and paint some. He also did pottery. He used a pottery analogy for my art)

[a-lonely-tatertot]

Artist!Keefe hc

When Keefe gets nervous he draws

Sometimes on himself, little flowers and fires on his fingers

but mostly he likes drawing on other people

Fitz and Biana could almost always tell how bad the day was buy how crowded his hands are

during Black Swan meetings, he’ll wordlessly grab Fitz or Biana’s (really whoever he feels comfortable with unless they’re really into it and he thinks he’ll be distracting) and grab a pen or pencil from his pocket and start doodling

When they thought that Sophie and Dex had died, Keefe was at Everglen almost everyday

He would lightleap over, walk up to Fitz’s room, and grab his arm

Keefe and Biana were the only people allowed in Fitz’s room at that time, sometimes they’d all sit on his bed, Biana leaning on Fitz, Keefe holding onto Fitz

And when Keefe’s pen would sometimes poke a little too hard Fitz would say anything he would flinch either, because if Keefe had to deal with Fitz throwing things across the room and yelling and anything and everything, he could take a little pain

Then while Alden was broken, Keefe would find himself in Biana’s room, the sparkle pen that Biana had given him for midterms one year, drawing on her while she cried because after so many years of it, the feeling of the pen on her arm slowly moving was comforting

While they hid in Mount Everest Keefe found himself resisting the urge to reach into his pockets and grab his pen, but he left it at home because he it wasn’t the time

And after when they found out that it was his mom he found himself running out of reachable room on his arms and ankles

Then they were at the Black Swan and his co-revenge with Dex he finds himself trying to calm his panic attack that shouldn’t be happening why now?? Dex asks what helps him and finds himself rubbing his back while he draws beautiful designs on his arm

Keefe knew he was coming apart but he didn’t find himself in front of Fitz’s door, he was in his own room surrounded by papers on the walls because he didn’t need to calm down he needed to figure it out

and when he decides to join the Neverseen and he feels even more alone because they took away his pen so he was left with tracing ideas on his arms

When Sophie tells him it’s time for him to come home he grabs his pen along with the caches because screw it Biana gave it to him and like hell he’s gonna leave it and he finds himself trying to keep Sophie alive with his nonexistent healing skills and he’s done all he can waiting for some to 

and she does she doesn’t say anything about the pen marks on her arm because they have bigger things to worry about and he’s ignoring them just as much as her

when Sophie tells him that he has to stay home Ro makes fun of him for drawing like a crazy person but when he wakes up from a nightmare and she has to calm him down she lets him draw on her only moderately complaining about how sparkly it is couldn’t he have any other pen? but only when she knows he’s okay because she cares guys

and when he visits Quentin for something that he was supposed to pick up, he finds no one home, and the package on the table when he hears muffled sobs coming from another room

after a bit of debating he tries to trace them through the house he finds Amy curled up on a couch sobbing into her knees he approaches her slowly and asks if she’s okay to which he gets a soft shake of her head and so he sits next to her and asks if she wants a hug to which she launches herself at him and he holds her for a bit because keefe would be an amazing older brother and loves kids and he asks if he can draw on her arm, because that helps him and he’s been told it’s soothing

so he lets her talk as he draws and she talks about her family and her life in the Forbidden Cities and she asks if she can draw on him and at first he’s surprised but he hands her his sparkly pen and lets her draw on his hand and he tells her about things in the Lost Cities and she asks about Sophie and their friends so he tells her

Eventually he remembers the package and she asks if he could come back again and they become friends and when she goes back, they find a way to keep in touch because amy’s like his little sister and amy wants to keep an eye on this reckless idiot that’s her older brother

In the library when they’re searching their way through books and Tam passes out what it’s boring and he’s never actually had a full nights sleep and what’s a better time than now? and he wakes up to his left arm having stars and trees drawn on along with this little icon that look suspiciously like his bangs and on the inside of his wrist is surprisingly nice handwriting “Sorry Bangs Boy, you passed out” 

Tam just sighs and washes it off after showing it to Linh who laughs and thinks it’s cute that that’s what Keefe does when he’s stressed because they’d be lying if they said they didn’t notice how tense Keefe had been

Three days later while combing the streets of Atlantis, he finds himself ranting to Linh who just nods and listens and when they sit down at a shop he finally feels comfortable to ask if he can draw on her hand and Linh gets very excited because he’s trusting her and he acts like it’s no big deal when she compliments the henna like drawing on her hand and asks if Biana gave him the sparkle pen

During the trials he goes to draw on Fitz’s arm, but as he reaches out Fitz yanks his arm away and blankly stares straight ahead and there’s a small part of Keefe that cracks a little because Fitz hadn’t done that before and Biana glances over at him and gives him a sympalizing look and he remembered that he was supposed to be comforting them

When Fitz and Sophie got stuck in the Healing Center Keefe felt his gut wrench everytime he looked at Fitz because the last time he had been awake he had made it clear that Keefe wasn’t allowed to touch him

the days he’s not with Sophie he’s with Biana, because she needs someone, but in turn he’s hanging around Dex again and often he’ll find himself in Dex’s room testing out some new gadget with Biana, ro makes fun of him often for it or they’re training with Linh and the best part is it’s often that they ask him to draw on them

When Biana feels anxious about her scars he makes them in to falling stars or flowers, at one point he makes them into a snake and she decides that that’s her favorite a very pink and sparkly menacing snake

When they’re all tired from school Dex finds himself with Keefe holding his arm connecting the freckles as the rest find new things that they look like

And Linh always wants a new fancy henna-like design on her hand

When Tam gets taken and Fitzphie becomes a thing, Keefe is with Linh drawing as she cries chanting that they have to get him back, “We will, we will”

He’s there for the others, like he always has been, to the point that their parents aren’t surprised anymore when he randomly light leaps and finds his own way up to their rooms

he talks to Amy too, making sure things are okay, and he smiles and jokes around with her when she asks about them, he doesn’t want her to worry

Dex and Biana tell him about Team Valiant the first chance they have

And when Sophie needs him he’s there, but with a smile and a joke and a plea for human cookies because she didn’t need art, she needed him

And when he comes up with the plan to go to the dwarven city Linh and Marella immediately agree because there was no way in hell they were keeping Linh away from her brother

When he goes into acoma everyone loses it

Sophie and Fitz switch off on days

Linh hasn’t washed off the last mark he gave her, she won’t not until he wakes up, Marella and Marcua go with her sometimes Tam will too “Never thought I’d miss you making fun of my hair buddy”

Biana gets more sparkle pens for him and draws her snake twisting around his arm “She’ll protect you”

Keefe only has a few freckles, and they’re mostly on his hands, so Dex makes sure to connect them “Come on Keefe, I can’t prank people without you”

After the first week when it really set in, Fitz cried next to him for hours while Biana held him, “You can draw on me everyday for the rest of our lives if you just wake up” he says pounding the nightstand

As Sophie watches the drawing appear she starts adding some of her own, some are candy from the Forbidden Cities, and she claimed the inside of his wrist with Alicorn wings like he drew the first time 

When Amy asked why Keefe wasn’t returning her calls Sophie realized that she didn’t know, and she didn’t even realized that they talked and when she tells her Amy goes absolutely feral Sophie comes to grab her and she barges right into the Councillor’s meeting room not giving a shit that she could be banned forever, and pounds her fist into the table and tells them that she will be visiting once a week after so long it got moved to once a month and she dares any of them to tell her otherwise

Bronte and Oralie are the first to agree and Emery is the last, and he tries to give this girl his hardest stare, and even Sophie cringes a little but Amy stares back jaw set, face hard, hands in fists on the table and finally he agrees

So she visits and sometimes if others are there they’ll fill her in on somethings, and occasionally they’ll tell her stories about Keefe about their history and she’ll sit their holding Keefe’s hand in a death grip and will listen

Elwin quickly learns what marks he can and cant wash off most of them stay some they like to redraw, he learns who will leave easier and who wont and he learns to be a bit harder but a bit softer with these stubborn kids the only one he won’t kick out forcefully is Amy the one and only time he tried she let a massive string of human cusswords and yelled that she wasn’t going to leave her brother’s side and Elwin knew not to mess with the young human who made the Council bend to her will Amy makes a bit of a reputation for herself they learn to fear her a bit

Ro is the only one that never left Keefe’s side because he was her charge but more importantly her friend 

Most days she sit in the corner silently, her gaze flickering throughout the room, checking all the exist and checking on Keefe and even after her father relieved her of her duty over Keefe and said she could come home she refused and said she wasn’t leaving til he wakes, Amy was the first one to approach her she plopped herself down next to her and stared at her dagger until she would let her hold it, when she comes over Amy demands that she teaches her how to fight and she does sometimes Elwin asks if they’ll go outside before they ruin his office please and thank you I can look after him for a few minutes and so they do and Ro teaches her everything and sometimes Sandor and the others while help train her a bit, no one knows against what, she says it’s to keep herself grounded and maybe a bit because she wants to storm up to the Neverseen and tear them apart bit by bit

But all it took to get this many people to care about him was one simple quirk of drawing on people’s arms i might make one of these about ro and amy’s friendship because it’s adorable and I think it would be great

[justalittlelitnerd]

By A Thread by Lucy Score

We weren’t touching. But it felt like the space between us was charged with something. It was acting like a defibrillator on my heart.

This book had everything I want in a romance: a sassy, non-damsel heroine and a hero with soft boi vibes (I am a complete sucker for assholes covering up soft, warm centers). 

Don’t let the office romance aspect dissuade you (it’s obviously a common, but controversial trope in romance b/c power dynamics and whatnot), this is not ~in my experience~ a conventional office romance. 

First, Ally only ends up working at Dominic’s company after he gets her fired and his mom (who’s also his boss at the magazine she also owns) makes the job offer in reparation.  

Second, in addition to the two characters being completely at odds from the first meeting (he got her fired after all), Dominic is staunchly against an office romance not only because of his own values and awareness of power dynamics but because of his father’s history of sexual harrassment and assault. When they eventually fall into bed together (because duh this is a romance) he immediately offers to quit his job so the power dynamics of the office wouldn’t be an issue. 

That being said Dominic is an overbearing, and at times straight up controlling, son of a bitch (sorry as Ally would say his mother is lovely) and it made me want to throat punch him sometimes, but at the same time so did Ally’s stubbornness and pride. 

Score has a talent though for balance because any time Dominic started to get out of control, Ally wouldn’t hesitate to go head to head with him and speak her mind and the honesty and directness was refreshing. 

The ending felt a little bit rushed because clearly Dominic was trying (although in ways that were grossly overbearing and were exactly what Ally didn’t want him to do) and she made it clear that she couldn’t forgive him and I wanted more of a conversation or thought process to why she finally did aside from “that’s what love is.” 

This book was fun and funny and sarcastic and their banter made the story flow and is definitely the main reason I would consider rereading this romance.

Keep reading for some top notch quotes!

It wasn’t out of the kindness of my heart. I had neither kindness nor a heart. I considered it atonement for being an asshole.

Clearly, she wasn’t intimidated by an asshole in Hugo Boss with a haircut that cost more than her entire outfit. I basked in her disdain. It was miles more comfortable for me than the terrified glances and “Right away, Mr. Russo”s I got in the hallways at work.

It had been too long since I’d squashed a disrespectful underling. I itched to do it now. She looked not only like she could take it but that she might even enjoy it.

“Fine. But if she poisons me, I’ll sue her and her entire family. Her great-grandchildren will feel my wrath.” My mother sighed theatrically. “Who hurt you, darling?” It was a joke. But we both knew the answer wasn’t funny.

I knew he felt it, too. That unexpected jolt. Like taking a shot of whiskey or sticking a finger in a light socket. Maybe both at the same time. For one moment of pure insanity, I wondered if he intended to take me over his knee and if I’d let him.

I’d assumed they’d all get used to me. Apparently I’d assumed incorrectly. I was the beast to my mother’s beauty. The monster to the heroine. When they looked at me, they saw my father.

Her tone was steely and anger all but crackled off her. I hoped she got the guy’s balls in the divorce.

“You know, you’d be a lot prettier if you smiled once in a while,” she mused, fluttering her lashes. No wonder women hated it when men said that.

It was fucking cold. February was right around the corner, and if there was anything colder and damper than January in New York, it was fucking February. Of course, fashion didn’t heed below-freezing temperatures. No. Fashion made its own rules outside of time and space and temperature.

I, on the other hand, didn’t trust myself to survive even basic contact. Ally was only safe, my soul was only safe, as long as I didn’t touch her.

He was looming over me, but rather than threatening, it felt intimate, careful, almost safe. Like I wanted to be exactly here with exactly him.

Tell me the top five things you hate STAT. (This is the secret to finding out just how bad a person is in case you need it for interviewing future wives or human sacrifices.)

Somewhere along the line, she’d started talking to me like we were friends. As if that moment of honesty in the bar, those emails exchanged, had somehow made us friendly. And while I craved her next confession, I also couldn’t handle the intimacy. I was ripped down the middle. Torn between wanting to know everything there was to know about this woman and wanting to forget she existed.

I hated it when she walked away from me. It always felt like she took the light and heat with her. I added that to my Hate List.

Those blue eyes weren’t cold now. There was a victorious fire burning in them. And I was acutely aware that I was in immediate danger.

My heart was trying to blast its way out of my chest. I didn’t know where the organ had gotten actual sticks of dynamite, but that’s what was happening. My insides had turned to lava… or magma, whichever metaphor was most appropriate.

“Lots of people dance for money. Prima ballerinas, Jane Fonda, Laker Girls, back-up dancers, Rockettes. All women who make money by moving their bodies. There’s nothing remotely shameful about it,” Faith insisted. “You aren’t doing anything wrong. And anyone who tells you that you are is—” “Part of the patriarchy.”

I hoped to God security was up to the challenge tonight. Because if anyone laid a hand on her, one single finger on her, I was going to lose my shit.

I wondered if I was leaving a trail of body glitter behind me like I was a Questionable Life Choices Tinkerbell.

If mystery bothered him so much, this son of a bitch—wait, no. His mother was a lovely human being. This alphahole was going to suffer. I’d make sure of it.

I wanted to believe in my bones that he was doing this as some stupid mind game, that he got off on playing puppet master with my life. But deep down, I was worried that it was something much, much worse. Dominic Russo was trying to take care of me.

I was so pathetically happy that she was speaking to me in multisyllabic words I would have let her slap me across the face with the folder.

I walked back into the room feeling like Cinder-freaking-rella. If Cinderella’s fairy godmother had given her a sexy, skin-hugging gown the color of crimson or, as I liked to think of it, Dominic Russo’s crushed heart.

Everyone was hitting the open bar like it was last call, and those little appetizers were doing nothing to soak up the liquor. It was entertaining, but I had a feeling this is how bad things happened at office Christmas parties. Inhibitions lowered, tongues loosened, and shit went down.

Oh, boy. I’d heard rumors of Drunk Dominic. But they hadn’t prepared me for the reality of him. He was adorable… and in no way capable of functioning as creative director right now. I needed to get him home.

Damn it. My shattered broken heart was trying to knit itself back together just so it could fall for him all over again.

I hooked my pinky around his and tried not to fall in love with the idiot when he pressed his lips to our joined fingers.

Nights like these changed lives and were retold as stories for years to come. But I didn’t know what my story would be. Would it be the time the up-and-coming designer made me temporarily semi-famous? Or would it be the night I finally realized my heart belonged to a man I was never going to be with?

Tacos and home renovation supplies with an entrepreneur, a male exotic dancer, and a drag queen on her day off. Just another glamorous day in the life.

I spent the rest of the day on the couch, which delighted Brownie. We watched the entire first season of The Great British Baking Show and then three episodes of Queer Eye. I was inspired to order and to eat an entire sponge cake from the bakery three blocks over and pondered growing a beard. Then I pondered what Ally thought about beards. And the shame spiral began again.

“I’m not hiding this,” Dom said quietly. “I don’t think I could even if you asked me.” Okay, coming from Dominic Russo, maybe that was kind of a swoony thing to say. It wasn’t a declaration of love, but it was real. These feelings felt real.

“I don’t need to be saved.” Dalessandra and I blinked at each other as the words came out of both our mouths in unison.

I wanted to take care of her. I wanted to take her worries and concerns and problems and solve every last one of them so she could focus all of her attention on me. And Brownie of course. I wasn’t a completely selfish monster.

I didn’t want her drawing lines when I wasn’t thinking clearly enough to redraw them properly. She would live here. She would have anything and everything she needed. No one would ever take advantage of her or lay a hand on her ever again. End of fucking story. I was her Prince Fucking Charming.

“Dom, of course people are going to talk. Trying to avoid being a topic of conversation is a pretty lame way to live life. Sometimes, accepting the discomfort is how good things are earned.”

It was disconcerting to wake up one day and find myself… well. Here. Making plans for two instead of one. Looking forward to sharing things like beds and weekends and closet space. I’d dated before. But I’d never gotten this deep, this fast. I’d never made space in my home for a woman before. Change was happening, and I didn’t know how I felt about it.

Ally didn’t bitch-slap, but Faith did it like it was an Olympic sport and she was a gold medalist.

“Everyone has baggage, Russo. Most of us are just smart enough not to hurl full-sized suitcases at the people we love.”

But sometimes an inch might as well be a mile. And I didn’t know how to cross it. I didn’t know how to ask him for what I needed. Because I didn’t know what I needed.

[luwucas04]

About 4000 (I am so sorry) Words Concerning Films that Helped Define My Existence

Ah, movies. So much in one package. Story, music, visuals, what’s not to love? Today I shall be elaborating on the most noteworthy films in the thrilling ever-changing saga that continues to be my life. Screenplay alongside a screenplay, if you will (please take this statement as modestly as you can).

The first ever thing in my entire life that I remember being an avid and enthusiastic fan about was the original Star Wars saga, written and directed by George Lucas, spanning May 1977 (A New Hope) – May 2005 (Revenge of the Sith).

As mentioned in the podcast and as you may be able to tell from said podcast, I can’t really pinpoint an exact point in my life where I was introduced to it as it was kinda integrated into my upbringing from the get-go—and due to this it’s a very near and dear franchise to me. And oh boy fun fact my first ever childhood crush was Luke Skywalker (I vividly recall my uncle asking why I had his page bookmarked haha). I remember it was something that I would always watch with my dad and or grandpa, and then when I couldn’t find the VCR set that we had for it, I officially commenced my illicit streaming career (not really though, I didn’t get very far. Only crappy 20-minute clips on YouTube). Star Wars for me was the first thing that I actively sought out stuff for or showed genuine interest in pursuing if that makes sense. Like, you’d watch whatever movies or shows were thrown at you and you never thought much of them. Ohoho not Star Wars, though, that one lasted years. My cousin and I would always bring our little action figures to play with whenever we visited—or we’d find long-ish sticks in the backyard and have lightsaber fights, I got the video games, posters, Lego sets of ships (X-wing and Y-wing to be exact), an entire encyclopedia that I still own to this day (I just checked and there’s a date written inside, April 9th 2010 (which is my 7th birthday)), and of course inspiration for my own art and such. I remember I made this magazine that was essentially just me redrawing pages from the guidebook I had. I still have it, too! Sitting at the bottom of a drawer right now. Also, later on for some reason I absolutely loved drawing Ashoka Tano. Over and over again man. I drew her taking up my cousin’s entire driveway in chalk once.

Not only are the Star Wars films a nostalgic and comforting series, but it held onto its marvel throughout the. Wow well over 10 whole years, I’m getting old. Additionally, because at the time we didn’t have as much access to the things we can achieve with modern technology, I was basically all on my own with it. I fueled my own fascination. And shockingly, not a lot of people in my elementary school (up until maybe grade 6-7) showed much interest in it either. So it was pretty much just me myself and I, and occasionally my cousin whenever he visited, and I think that made it all the more special to me. Also, at the time I think it was geared way more toward kids. There weren’t series like The Mandalorian or active internet communities that were obsessed with the series as far as I was aware, so there wasn’t the same quantity of content nor overall enthusiasm around it. Nonetheless, it was and still is a very personal series due to how engrained it is into basically every aspect of my childhood. I’ll try not to be too repetitive with what I said in the podcast, but ultimately the clear nature of the franchise (attractive character designs, colours, setting in general (it’s an action-packed space adventure what’s not to love)) is what really made me latch onto it, and it kickstarted my interest in the very essence of media and understanding the film medium and what it has to offer. I remember asking how they got Jar Jar to exist on screen and he told me they made him out of CGI, and I interpreted that as they somehow made a real-life computer model out of him and that they were actually interacting with like a physical, solid hologram. Anyway, revisiting the franchise and diving into more of its intricacies now (like the production diaries) is like an absolute goldmine. There are so many aspects of it that 100% contributed to and nurtured my goals, passions, and ultimately who I am as a person. Here is some of my very recent art for good measure:

Up next up we got Lord of the Rings (dir. Peter Jackson, December 2001 – December 2003) or I guess a better way to put it would be those plus The Hobbit (December 2012 – December 2014) trilogy. I think it was earlier than the Marvel phase (which follows this section) because like Star Wars I can’t really remember my first viewing of it, but I definitely watched it all. It might’ve been around grade 3 so 2011-ish? Quick anecdote, one time I had a sleepover I was really excited for, and as we all know when you’re excited for something as a kid and it’s later on in the day, time doesn’t actually pass at all, and so my genius ass decided to flip on The Fellowship of the Ring and boom it was 5 pm and time to leave. Also my grandparents from my mom’s side of the family (they’re German so we call them oma and opa) were visiting once and my opa (grandpa equivalent) wanted to watch something so I was like “omg Lord of the Rings is perfect there are so many characters he can feel empowered by (Gandalf and Saruman because they’re old)”. Phenomenal logic—now thinking back it was probably much too violent for his tastes but yknow.

I love Lord of the Rings so much because it’s the true embodiment of an ideal fantasy story; there’s such pure character dynamics and personalities and Tolkien created such an incredibly solid world in which these stories take place. Man knew his stuff, and in turn provided a charming and utterly wonderful scape for young minds to roam free within. I was going to talk about this if I did my other culminating idea regarding masculinity within the media, but I have the perfect opportunity to do so here: something so great about said world is how sincere and genuine a lot of the male characters are (yknow minus people like Denethor and Alfred). Namely the fellowship, they all openly care for and are affectionate towards one another, something we rarely see between men both in modern media and in real life. Aragorn is a perfect example of someone owning and being comfortable in his masculinity. He is kind to and uplifts others, and communicates openly with them. He isn’t afraid of being intimate and vulnerable towards them, either. We see this in Boromir’s death scene. Aragorn doesn’t patronize him for trying to take the Ring, he consoles Boromir in his last moments and they treat each other with the utmost tenderness and respect—not callously or stiffly. Right after decapitating an orc, Aragorn is still able to run to his side, hold him, and kiss him on the forehead following his passing. Aragorn also isn’t afraid to share fame or glory, in fact he never seeks it out in the first place despite his lineage. It was at the battle of Helm’s Deep that he embraced that destine to be king, not out of lust for power, but because these people needed guidance and leadership and he could provide it for them. He elevates others in an incredibly positive and empowering way, especially Frodo and Éowyn, and is content with the fact that the story is not about him. Even at his own coronation, he directs every single person’s attention to the literal earth-saving feat that the hobbits have achieved in light of his own massive accomplishment. He is such a great role model to have been able to look up and aspire to be like, and I wish there were more characters and people like him.

I was a fan of those original films at an earlier point in my life, but the thing that brought that interest back a little stronger was undoubtedly the release of the Hobbit prequels. Like the Star Wars prequels, everyone can say what they want but they are very gorgeous to me. I skipped out on seeing Frozen with my class to go see The Desolation of Smaug with my dad and that was SUCH a good decision. Although, I’m rewatching them all now and Battle of the Five Armies kinda sucks at the beginning. They kill Smaug in like the first five minutes and like it wasn’t bad but it was very anticlimactic. I also don’t like how they shoved Legolas in there, his personality is really jaded and he’s kind of a big prick in those films. But it’s fine I love Martin Freeman and Richard Armitage and the rest of the dwarves the most. They were obviously the most significant and I like them a lot, and there are three movies as opposed to the one book so there’s even more content!

WHEW sorry about that anyway The Hobbit really was the revival/rekindling of that past love for Tolkien’s world. I also had a good close friend who was also along for the ride as well—being able to be into these things alongside someone is always fun and I’m grateful she was there and shared my same energy. She had the Lego game for that one, very similar free-roam concept as my Marvel one (coming up next), so we had lots of fun with that too. To reiterate, I am rewatching these movies again now as an older person with like an actual conscience, and my takeaway from them is vastly different on more of like… a philosophical level, I suppose. I appreciate the process of things more and the backstory behind Tolkien’s lore and the timeless characters and deeper meanings that he’s conceived. But that wouldn’t be very chronological of me to go into it here so moving on.

Proceeding next, around grade four at the most (so just after it came out), I watched The Avengers (dir. Joss Whedon, 2012). Not only did this single-handedly make my art convictions explode (in a good way), it also instigated my love for soundtracks (and also the entire Marvel universe but we’ll obviously be covering that very soon).

The Avengers was like an epiphany for me. Literally ground-breaking and earth-shattering. Changed my entire 10-year-old life. It was all that I ever wanted and more, and since it was around 2012-13 that I became aware of its existence, the internet community was blossoming with possibilities and content. That same friend liked it as well! My Avengers/Marvel phase definitely rivals my Star Wars phase; I think I watched The Avengers first, and then my dad was like “yeah ok you need to watch everything else now” and so henceforth Captain America and Iron Man and Thor. Those were very good times, and I actually remember experiencing all of them for the first time ever. The Christmas of 2013 was absolutely wild. I only got Marvel related gifts which was incredible at the time. My first ever ‘art of’ book was for the Avengers film, too! I also got an arc reactor shirt that actually lit up and I thought that was the absolute coolest thing ever, and then I remember I cut my tongue on this candy I was eating and my mouth bled profusely for a while. However the most iconic gift of all was my copy of Lego Marvel Superheroes for the PS3. I finished it in about 2 days, and it’s the only Lego game that I’ve gotten 100% completed progress on. I love that game dearly and still play it sometimes. The thing that I love specifically about it was the ability to free-roam the entirety of New York City as any character you wanted, me and that friend would do that exclusively for hours on end and make up our own stories with all the characters. Here is Galactus perusing the streets

Speaking of characters, this was the first thing that really got me making up and drawing a shit ton (apologies for lack of a better phrase) of original characters. I’d make superhero characters for me and my friend (ok I guess I should give her a name huh), Mackenzie, and even for random people in my class cause we needed to fill in some blanks in the stories we’d make. I’d create comics, write little stories, make variation after variation of these people we came up with, and of course like normal children me and Mackenzie would go to the park near my old house and pretend we were said characters. Man it was so fun. Then we’d do all those personality quizzes to find out which member you were most like. Mackenzie and I would do these quizzes on none other than our state-of-the-art BlackBerry playbooks. For me it was usually either Iron Man or Thor, and Mackenzie had this weird curse where she’d only ever get Loki as a result for anything at all which was very hilarious to me. Circling back to soundtracks, The Avengers OST was one of my first full album purchases. The main theme was my favourite track out of all of them for obvious reasons, but I still paid respects to all of them and listened to it often. Since I bought it with my dad’s Apple ID, it’d show up on the communal iPad that we used for music in the kitchen and I have full recollection of my grandpa playing it on blast in the morning to wake us up one time. I was aggravated at first but then when I realized what it was I was like ah yes of course. After the Avengers soundtrack, I got the Wolverine (2013) OST and that was fun but I didn’t like all the tracks in the same way, but THEN I got the Days of Future Past soundtrack. THAT is a good soundtrack AND a phenomenal film.

Anyway, after that I was a Marvel connoisseur for a little while. Like Star Wars I got an entire character encyclopedia, a bunch of comics, posters, you name it. My parents and sister also enjoyed dabbling in stuff too; we’d watch the animated series together on Netflix and eventually ended up seeing all the new movies together when they came out in theatres (except not my mom though cause she gets motion sickness from action films). Marvel was a staple in the adolescence stage of my life before I was introduced to anime (then it was all downhill from there (I am kidding anime was a part of my life that I look back at with great fondness)). It was reason for so much of what I explored with my art and my own imagination, and was one of my first experiences in what it was like to be a part of a fandom-esque community. There were also memes ripe for the picking when it came to Marvel; as one can assume I had no access to memes in kindergarten to grade 1 in the late 2000s. It was such a lovely and warm point in my life, something that established what kind of passion I really poured into something when I really liked it. And akin to Star Wars, there’s just so much to like about it. There’s so much to offer, an array of colourful characters and storylines—and of course, creative liberty when it came to superpowers and that whole narrative. The sky was literally the limit. Here is some of my ancient 2014 portraiture that I dug up for the sake of this assignment

Ok heads up we are now veering AWAY from childhood content and touching on a film that played a more personal part, namely during a very pivotal point, in my life. I picked up The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky, 1999) at a bookstore and read it at the speed of light; I was crying in my room on my bed by the time I finished it. I love how we see Charlie’s character change over the course of the novel, not only through what he describes or how he perceives things but his style of writing in general. Anyway, I wanted to read the novel first before I watched the movie (dir. Stephen Chbosky 2012), and I was pleasantly surprised by how accurate the movie is to the book (well duh the author directed it). I read/watched this right before I started high school, so I was kind of (but not really considering the built-up childhood trauma he has yikes) in the same position as the protagonist, Charlie, as he was starting out (minus a lot of the major aspects of his character and what he went/goes through (like drugs)). A lot of the things that he learns were really important takeaways for me before heading into that new chapter of life like he did.

Contrary to the title of the (I know it started out as a novel but I’m just gonna say film) film, you need to put yourself out there and advocate for yourself in life. It’s great to be a trustworthy individual whom everyone is vaguely aware of and likes, but you need to approach things with reason and make yourself known somehow. At the time, both before and during grade 9, and even still sometimes in the present (though I do it more deliberately now), I found myself just standing on the sidelines as life happened before me and I let it sweep me away without having any feet planted on the ground. It was like I wasn’t in control of it, and in turn I might’ve struggled in some areas more than I should have. I didn’t own anything, like I wasn’t totally present. Similar to Charlie, I was a person who’d always be there for others, someone people could talk to and confide in, and ultimately someone people truly enjoyed having around—which is pretty great. But I didn’t fully know my position or what I ultimately wanted in any of those situations. Don’t get me wrong, I am incredibly grateful for my entire freshman experience and I absolutely wouldn’t have wanted it any other way considering all personal circumstances, but with that foreknowledge of the importance of making a name for yourself, especially in high school, I think I was able to branch out with ease a bit more than I would have without it. I at least was aware of what was going on in that sense. That movie is really special to me because it ended up being a pseudo-mirror of my own experiences. Charlie’s English teacher, Bill, embraced his writing abilities and urged him to participate more, share his own thoughts, and express more of his personality by giving him books for extra reading. My first ever semester of Laurier did the exact same for me as Bill did for Charlie. It fostered my interests and intellectual abilities, and you guys constantly urged me and everyone else to go above and beyond what we were used to because you knew we could do it (even though I feel like I could’ve done a lot better on some things as my marks in grade 9 are a bit lower than I’d like them to be, but hey it was a time of adjustment and I did my best and that’s what matters). As a direct result of Laurier, I’m really lucky to have been surrounded by an amazing group of passionate students, a handful of which became my closest friends throughout high school, and that my very first teachers of the day were people who uplifted me and genuinely cared not only about furthering my academic work, but about my growth as a person.

Whew let’s wade out of the sap and get into some more energetic stuff!!! To tie off this recollection of my life through film the most recent and notable movie that impacted my life was, the one and only, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (dir. Peter Ramsey, Bob Persichetti, Rodney Rothman, 2018). Similar to The Desolation of Smaug and Frozen, I went with my dad to the cinema but parted ways with him to watch this movie by my lonesome (he went to the Aquaman theatre instead smh). Again, phenomenal choice. I talked about this in my grade 11 blog, but Spider-Verse is an absolute masterpiece in every way shape and form.

At the point I watched it, I knew what I wanted to generally do with my life (be part of the art industry) and the visuals of this movie alone were enough to make me want to elope with it and never see or talk to anyone ever again. It is such a gorgeous film. The way they strayed from the yucky 3D conventions norm—and there is literally no way they could’ve done the majority of what they did in that movie effectively if they did it live action. Or, they could definitely try and make an attempt, but it’d look like garbage. For example, a lot of the action scenes in general and also when they become abstracted like with the particle collider. 40-60 fps would not do that sense of movement justice at all. Too smooth. Not enough grit and personality.

Anyway, they also pioneered new animation techniques in mixing 2D and 3D, and explored a newer superhero trope where the main character’s own mundane life struggles are equally as important as him trying to sort things out with these new powers. It’s more of a battle between what Miles wants with his own personal life—new school, the friends he won’t be able to see because of said new school, owning his own abilities and adjusting to change. Then on top of that he’s met with all these alternate-dimension people that he has to work and be on par with. Aside from the art, I thought the overall message was every special: Miles learns through trial and tribulations, unsureness—and most importantly, failure. Confidence and optimism, in regard to what he thinks he can and can’t do, is vital. Amidst everything he is faced with, he starts out as just another kid who wants to be just another kid. But we all have something special inside us that we must choose to embrace if we want to truly flourish. We see him come to terms with the fact that he really is capable of greatness if he sets his mind to it—and that’s the main message: anyone can wear the mask. And can we talk about that soundtrack??? Not only the instrumentals, but the actual songs were great too! “Sunflower” and “What’s Up Danger”? Lovely and fitting. And back to the OST, the Prowler’s theme??? Shivers.

There is such a unique and beautiful vibe to this movie, and it’s inspired me in more ways than one. Aside from that nice motivational stuff, it also has recently played a tremendous part in developing my own art. All of the artists who worked on the film are people I immediately tried to find on social media so I could see more of their work. I purchased the art book, and even bought a 2D sequence illustration course provided by one of the art directors, Patrick O’Keefe. That course also came with the (digital) brushes he uses, and I’ve used them in pretty much every single one of my pieces since downloading them. This movie really showed me the possibilities of what could be achieved in the art industry, and it made me want to be a part of it so much more than I was before. I want to be involved in revolutionary visual achievements, and I want to develop characters and stories and worlds that are as interesting and loveable as the ones in Spider-Verse. (my stuff featured below)

So there you have it folks, 5 (five) of the most significant movies in my life relayed in a whopping just over 4000 words. I hope this has been enlightening for all you readers out there, perhaps you now have a better understanding of how I came to be personality/interest-wise, and I hope you can catch a glimpse of that same importance these pieces of media have in regard to me and my values.

[vanillatwilight17]

A New Beginning (Chapter 7)

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N: Thank you for all the awesome reviews I got on the last chapter. Special shout out to kmomof4 for her amazing reviews of the whole story! It's Christmas in July for this chapter! I hope you enjoy and please review to let me know what you think!

Chapter 7: The Most Magical Time of the Year

Christmastime was in the air in Storybrooke, Main and it seemed like everyone was floating around on clouds completely immersed in the holiday spirit. At seven months pregnant Emma was now fairly large in the stomach area and tired very easily and perhaps as much as Killian wanted her to she hadn't let it slow her down any. They had just this morning resolved the issue of when she was going to stop working.

"You said you were going to take some time during Henry's school break to spend with him before the baby comes right?" Killian had asked that morning after they had gotten into the station and were getting their day started.

"Yea…" Emma said wondering where this was going.

"Well I was thinking that maybe you should let that be the start of your maternity leave as well."

"Huh? Did you get into the rum last night while I was sleeping?" Emma asked him. David put down the file folder he was looking over and relaxed back in his chair.

"This is going to be good." He said.

"You stay out of this!" Emma said pointing her finger at him causing David to throw his hands up.

"Well you were going to need to stop work eventually right?"

"Yea but not with two months still to go before the baby is born! What am I supposed to do for two months? Sit home and knit?" Emma asked frustrated at her husband.

"You know how to knit?" Killian asked.

"Figure of speech!" David whispered to his son in law causing Emma to shoot him a death glare.

"Killian, I'm pregnant not sick or handicapped. I'm not going to break so stop treating me like a piece of glass."

"You are my one true love and you are carrying my child! Damn right I'm going to do everything to protect you both now and for always! I know you aren't going to break but you need to slow down a little! As the due date gets closer I think we just need to start planning a little for these things you know?" Killian said.

"Dad!" Emma said turning to David.

"I thought you wanted me to stay out of it?"

"Well now I want you in it. He's saying nice things and making me want to cave." Killian let out his famous pirates grin on that one.

"I think…you two should compromise." David said.

"What a copout answer you are supposed to take my side!" Emma said.

"I had this same argument with your mother around this time when she was pregnant with you and your brother. I agree with both of you. Emma you need to start slowing down a bit, I know you may feel like you can still go one hundred miles per hour but the more this pregnancy progresses your body is going to be more susceptible to stress. You were born a week early because of it. Killian, I understand you completely as I have been in your shoes, with every day you are going to worry abut them more and more but believe me when I say she's not going to break." David said.

"Fine, how about this? When I come back from time off with Henry I will be strictly on desk duty and then once February rolls around and we are in the home stretch I'll take it on a day to day basis." Emma said.

"Second week of February you go on maternity leave an take the time at home to prepare for the baby." Killian said. The two had a stare down and David found his eyes going back and forth like watching a tennis match.

"Fine." Emma said returning to her work and Killian got up and went over to her and gave her a big hug and kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you love! I love you more than anything you know that?" Killian said.

"I wouldn't push it mister." Emma said.

"Right, then, back to work I go." He said walking back to his desk.

"Killian,"

"Yes?"

"I love you too." Emma said smiling at her husband who returned the gesture.

"Ok there are way too many of us, if we give presents to everybody we are all gonna be in the poorhouse." Regina said as she, Emma, Snow, Zelena, and Belle planned for their big holiday get together one evening at Snow's house.

"Agreed. So how do we want to handle this?" Snow said.

"We could do Secret Santa." Emma said.

"What is Secret Santa?" Zelena asked.

"So typically there is a hat or a bag and everyone who is going to be in the gift exchange puts their name in and you take turns drawing names and whosever name you get you buy a gift for that person. Everyone gets a gift but it saves a you a lot of money." Emma said.

"I love that idea!" Belle said.

"Agreed!" Snow said and the others nodded their heads.

"Ok there are basic rules to it, like you can't get your own name, you can't say who you have because then it's not a secret anymore and once one person says who they have it becomes this domino effect of process of elimination of who has who and the fun is gone."

"I say a fifty dollar limit on the gift. Anyone object?" Regina offered and everyone agreed.

"What about the kids?" Snow asked.

"I say the kids are fair game, I feel like Henry will want to participate though so we can put his name in and let him pick. In immediate family's what you choose to do for actual Christmas Day is up to you. I was planning on getting Killian and my parents something for instance and obviously "Santa" is coming to see Henry." Emma said.

"Aww Henry still believes in Santa?" Belle asked.

"If it's out there, Henry believes in it. I think he knows the truth but I enjoy that he still goes along with it." Emma said.

"Soon you will have another a little one at Christmas and that is the best!" Snow said rubbing her daughter's belly.

"Ok so when we pull names, you can't get yourself, you can't get anyone in your immediate family, and you can't say who you got." Zelena offered as official rules and everyone agreed. They met everyone at Granny's that evening and names were pulled to yield the following results. It was decided that since Red was off with Dorothy in Oz Granny would be invited to their family get together. After several times needing to redraw everyone ended up with a Secret Santa. Everyone also got a good laugh out of people's reactions to who they got.

Emma = Regina "Ok that's not so bad!"

Killian = Granny "Oh bloody hell!"

David = Zelena "This will be…interesting."

Snow = Belle "Oh that's easy!"

Henry = Gold "Probably good I got this one."

Regina = Snow "I would pull that one."

Zelena = Henry "Thank God!"

Belle = David "How exciting!"

Gold = Emma "Why me?"

Granny = Killian "Well this will be cheap and easy, got the perfect present in the back!"

"I give it two days until everyone knows who has who." Granny said.

"What's the fun in that? Everyone keep your secret! We will exchange gifts and have dinner Christmas Eve at my house!" Snow said.

"We're going to be spending the night afterwards as well." Emma said.

"Really?" David asked excitedly.

"Yea, we talked about it a few days ago. That way we can just be there for Christmas morning and stuff." Emma said.

"Do you want me to take you over there after you open your presents?" Regina asked Henry.

"Actually I was just going to stay there with them and then come to your house later, unless that's not ok." Henry asked. Emma silently kicked herself, she should have talked to Regina first before she made these plans.

"Oh…that's fine. Just let me know when you are headed over." Regina said smiling but obviously a bit crushed at not being with her son first thing Christmas morning.

Later that evening Emma sat down in front of Killian who was reading a pregnancy book on the couch.

"Ok so I got Regina." Emma said.

"I think you missed the point of Secret Santa love." Killian said putting down the book.

"No I'm telling you because I need to talk to you about what I want to give her because it involves you too." Emma said as Killian grabbed her feet and started giving her a foot massage.

"Now I'm frightened." He said.

"I wanted to ask her, if it's alright with you that is, to be the baby's godmother." Emma said.

"The irony of the Evil Queen being godmother to Snow White's grandchild is beyond anything imaginable." Killian said.

"I'm aware of that but besides you and my parents she is my best friend." Emma said.

"I feel like there is more to it then that. I saw the face you made when Henry announced his plans for Christmas morning earlier."

"Ever since I came back into his life and the first curse broke Henry has drifted more towards us and while he and Regina have a great relationship I can tell she misses him and the days she had him to herself terribly."

"Henry isn't a child anymore love, he makes his own decision about where he wants to spend his time. Albeit when he started calling me dad I could tell it bothered her a bit." Killian said.

"Now that there is a new baby coming, one that is going to be his sibling none the less I feel like he will gravitate this way more and more. So I want her to have a special role in the baby's life and feel included. She spent so much time shut out from the family…"

"Her own doing…"Killian reminded her.

"Agreed by her own doing but she's done the hardest thing anyone can do, you should know this, she changed. So what do you think?"

"I think…it is a great idea." Killian said smiling. "How do you plan to give it in a gift though?"

"I was thinking something similar to how I told you about little one here," Emma said placing her hand on her stomach.

"Regina doesn't strike me as the pocket watch type." He said laughing.

"I was thinking more like a locket or something." Emma said swatting at his leg.

"Sounds good to me love." Killian said leaning over to kiss his wife on the lips.

Soon enough presents were bought and wrapped and it was Christmas Eve. When Emma and Killian walked into Snow's house that afternoon they found her mother and Granny hard at work in the kitchen.

"Hey Mom! We're here! Need any help?" Emma said as they walked into the kitchen.

"Hi Sweetie!" Her mom yelled back. "No I think we got this covered you just relax. Where is Henry?" Snow asked as Emma walked over to hug her mother.

"He was with Regina last night so I could wrap all his presents so she's bringing him with them. Spoiled turd!" Emma said.

"That's what kids are for!" Granny said and David and Neal came in the kitchen.

"Emmy, Emmy!" Neal said running to his sister as Emma bent down to pick him up.

"Hey buddy!" Emma said giving her brother a hug.

"Is Santa coming tonight?" She asked him.

"Yes!" He said excited. "Baby come?" He asked pointing to her stomach.

"No, baby isn't coming yet, soon though. It's getting hard for me to hold you right now Bud," Emma said and Killian reached over to take him from her.

"Killy!" The little boy said.

"Were you a good little lad this year?" he asked him

"Yes!" Neal answered.

"Good, because Santa only brings toys to good lads!" Killian said.

"I good lad!" Neal announced causing everyone to laugh.

"That's good. David could you help me bring these presents in from the car. We need to stash some down in the basement so this guy and the one coming later don't see them until tomorrow." Killian said.

"Sure thing!" David said.

The evening progressed and people started to arrive and the tree became almost hidden behind all the presents. Dinner was incredible and after everyone had finished eating the kids declared it was time to open presents. They let the kids open their gifts first since they couldn't wait any longer. Soon Robin, Neal, and Gideon had so many new toys they didn't know what to do with themselves.

"And Santa hasn't even come yet!" Belle said looking at how loved all the children were. Henry got gifts from his grandfather and Granny as well but was told he would have to wait until tomorrow for his other gifts. Gold gave Henry an orb that would change color depending on the weather, his mood, moods of other's around him.

"That better be all that thing does Gold." Regina and Emma said not trusting the Dark One.

"I'd never hurt my grandson ladies, don't worry!" Gold said. After the kids opened their presents it was time for Secret Santa. Killian and Granny laughed that they had each other. Killian had gotten Granny a new set of pots and pans as hers were getting old and rusted and she had given him a bottle of rum and a monogramed flask.

"You know me so well Granny." Killian said. David got Zelena tickets to go see Wicked on Broadway and he was surpised to find she loved the idea.

"I've been dying to see how those bastards depict me this time."

"You're actually a good guy, Mom took to me see that play a while back." Henry said and the gifts continued to be exchanged.

"It appears it's my turn." Gold said getting up to grab his gift.

"Mrs. Jones." He said handing the wrapped present to Emma.

"Oh God." Emma said not sure how to feel.

"Relax, it's nothing magical. It's more…sentimental. Something I found lying around my shop that I believe once belonged to you, that I thought you might want for your child." Gold said. Emma unwrapped the box and opened it to find a glass unicorn mobile inside causing Snow to instantly burst into tears.

"Oh Emma that's the mobile from your nursery!" She said. Emma looked down at the gift and felt speechless.

"Gold I don't know what to say…thank you." She said. Perhaps the man really did have a heart in there somewhere after all.

"It seemed only right you should have it." He said as Belle put her arm around him and smiled. The person to give her gift was Emma who reached over and grabbed a small box and handed it to Regina.

"Saved the best for last!" Emma said nervous at Regina's reaction to her gift as she opened the box to reveal a locket.

"Thank you Emma it's beautiful." Regina said.

"Open it." Emma urged. On one side of the locket was a picture of Regina and Henry and underneath inscribed the word 'mother.' On the other side was a picture of the baby from the 3D ultrasound they did with the word 'godmother' inscribed underneath.

"Emma…"Regina said looking from Emma to Killian.

"Regina, you have been a huge pain in the ass but you have also always been there for me when I needed you. You are my best friend and an incredible mother to Henry and it would be our honor if you would be our baby's godmother." Emma said. She barely got the words out before Regina was across the room with her arms wrapped around her.

"Of course! I would love to be the baby's godmother! You have no idea what this means to me. Thank you guys so much!" She said then turning to hug Killian.

At the end of the evening everyone had gone home except Emma, Killian, and Henry. Cookies were put out for Santa and everyone sat down so David could read The Night Before Christmas before everyone went to bed. The next morning there were even more presents than the night before surrounding the tree and Henry and Neal were anxious to get started unwrapping.

"Hold on guys, let me get the camera!" Snow said before they started. Killian had gotten Emma a beautiful necklace with a heart that had two stones in it, an aquamarine for March when Henry was born and an Amethyst for February when their baby would be born. She had gotten him a new ring with the same two stones in it and they laughed at how similar their minds worked. Henry was thrilled when he opened his new Nintendo Switch.

"Thank you guys!" He said running over to hug his parents.

"You're welcome kid!" Emma said hugging him back. "Ok guys hold on, I have a special gift for you!" She said to her parents and she went and grabbed a box. This is something I have been working on for awhile now and I finally got it done!" She said handing them the box.

"It's for both of us?" Snow asked and Emma nodded and Killian put his arm around his wife knowing what the gift was.

"How long before she cries?" He asked.

"Second page max," Emma said and her parents opened the box to find a scrapbook.

"So I don't have a lot of stuff but this is everything I held on to or was given by my foster parents or the system when I aged out." Emma said. It was a scrapbook detailing in pictures, art work, school work, etc. her childhood. Snow didn't even make it to the second page before she was absolutely in tears.

"Emma you have no idea what this means to your father and I to have this. We missed so much with you and now we have a glimpse into your childhood and a chance to have some of those memories back. I promise that we will be here for you from this moment until our last days. You are an incredible mother to Henry and this new baby is going to be so lucky to call you Mommy." Snow said hugging her daughter. Emma looked over to see her father also in tears looking at pictures of his baby girl.

"Come here Daddy," She said and he came over and kissed the top of her head holding her close to him.

"I love you Em," He said.

"I love you too Daddy." She said back.

After they had dropped Henry off at Regina's and carted all their stuff inside Emma and Killian sat down together for a few quiet moments.

"Merry Christmas love," He said to her, kissing her softly.

"Merry Christmas Killian."

"Merry Christmas baby." They both said to her stomach where their hands entwined.

"Next Christmas we will have an almost one year old." Emma said.

"That's hard to even wrap my head around at the moment." Killian said.

"I know I can't even grasp that soon the baby will be here let alone what our lives will look like in a year," Emma said. "I have one more present for you though." She pulled out a small box she had been stashing. Inside was a small ornament for the tree that showed a man, woman, and boy, the woman with a swollen belly and man with his arms around her, that said: Killian, Emma, and Henry on the top then Jones Family Christmas 2017.

"I figured every year we could get a special ornament like this and it could be like a milestone for the year." Emma said.

"I love it Emma. However, you have already given me the greatest gift of all in the form of you, Henry, and this little one right here." Killian said and he leaned in to kiss her one more time and they relaxed on the couch, watching the fire in the fireplace enjoying some of their last few moments together before the baby arrived.

"Merry Christmas to all." Emma said.

"And to all a good night." Killian said back.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed. The baby will be here in either the next chapter or the chapter after that at the latest I haven't totally decided yet. Any guess on boy or girl? Please review and let me know what you think!