#office bag evolution

[lori11hen2ry]

Leather to Modern Versatile Bags

As work culture evolves, the demand for bags that offer both flair and functionality grows, catering to professionals' diverse needs.

[defectiveporcelaindoll]

Chapter IV: The Prophecy

“Hand on the throttle. Thought I caught lightning in a bottle, oh– But it's gone again.”

series masterlist previous chapter

pairing: post-prison/ cm: evolution Spencer Reid x BAU AFAB!Reader (I like to think this is where Spencer is during the current seasons.) series synopsis: an unsub with a taste for couples and power imbalances leads Doctor Spencer Reid not only back into the classroom but down the hypothetical aisle with the BAU's newest Probie for an undercover assignment that may change his life. cw: age gap (Spencer is 42, reader is 24 in chapter 1), Use of y/n's (I'm sorry, I know I'm sick of it too.), fake marriage, romance romancing, kisses, and touches but no smut (yet…maybe); Reader is feisty and flirty; Spencer is anxious and has an aggressive outburst; female reader she/her pronouns, and mentions of typical CM violence. wc: 2.5k of conversation and world-building

The drive back to the university was nearly silent, with only the hum of the engine and the rhythmic tap of the rain breaking the tension that still hung in the air from Spencer’s outburst. When they finally arrived home, an unmarked car with government plates was waiting for them.

With a sigh, Y/N moved to open her door, only stopping when Spencer reached out, taking her hand in his. “Wait—” His voice was soft and timid, melting a part of her soul. Her gaze shifted from the waiting officer to Spencer. He cleared his throat, his grip on her hand tightening. “I’m really sorry that I snapped at you. We were having a great night, and I hate that I might’ve made you feel unsafe in my company…”

Y/N’s brows knit together as she shook her head, turning to better face Spencer. Her free hand cupped his cheek as she leaned in, her nose brushing gently against his before their lips connected. “Hey…I could never feel unsafe with you, okay? I understand it’s the job, it’s tough, and it can get to you…but we’ll figure it out. We’re in this together…till death do us part or whatever.” She teased, desperately trying to lighten Spencer’s somber mood.

He chuckled, nodding his head gently against hers. “Yeah…okay.” He kissed her quickly before letting her hand fall away, getting out of the car, and rushing to grab her door for her.

The pair looked a sight—clothes still dampened from their frolicking in the rain, wild curls, and kiss-bruised lips. They looked more like a pair of high schoolers than professionals.

“Looks like you two had a good night,” the agent called, slamming his car door. He looked annoyed, or maybe that was just his face, Y/N thought, observing the new file box securely under one of his arms. “The press finally caught wind of this one; it’ll be all over the 11 o’clock news if you two are too busy…socializing.”

The agent smirked, his eyes raking over Y/N’s body, catching the way her dress clung to her curves, leaving little to the imagination.

“I’m going to need you to apologize—” Spencer started, taking a protective step in front of Y/N. She had to admit, the role of husband looked good on him. Her hand gently gripped his bicep, trying desperately to ground him. “Spence—” Her warning tone begged him to stop.

“Come on, bro, be serious. I didn’t say anything that wasn’t true. I mean, good for you, honestly, bagging a newer model?” The agent threw Spencer a wink.

“Newer model—?” Spencer’s brows shot up in disbelief as Y/N snapped, her brows knitting together. Her feet carried her towards the agent, and her fist connected hard with his jaw before she even had time to register what she was doing. She snatched the box and stormed into the house.

“And I look unstable—

Gathered with a coven round a sorceress table.”

“Em, sorry, I punched him. If you get a call saying that one of your agents punched Agent Asshat or whatever his name was, I take full responsibility. Go ahead and write me up.”

Y/N all but yelled into the phone sitting in the middle of the table, a very tired Emily Prentiss on the other end.

There was a muffled yawn from the other end. “Did he deserve it?”

Y/N sighed, “Well—”

“Yes,” Spencer cut her off, returning from the kitchen with a makeshift bag of ice for her hand. “We may have looked less than professional, but that doesn’t excuse his blatant misogyny, nor the way he was practically eye-fucking Y/N on our front lawn.” He huffed, sinking onto the sofa.

“Sounds like he deserved it…” Much to Y/N’s surprise, Emily didn’t sound upset. If anything, their unit chief sounded amused.

“Should’ve seen it, Emily. She would’ve made Morgan proud. I think she might’ve broken his nose,” Spencer chuckled, glancing over at his literal blushing bride with a cheeky grin.

Prentiss laughed. “I don’t condone violence…but good on you, kid. I’ll let you know if I receive that call, but if he’s the jack-off you’ve made him out to be, I doubt he’ll admit to his superiors that a woman broke his nose. Regardless, I won't be writing you up for this.” There was a brief pause, the sound of shuffling papers and drawers closing on Emily’s end. The time difference between Seattle and the District meant it was past midnight.

“You should go home, get some rest, Em. We’ll look over the newest crime scene photos and see if anything stands out. If it does, we’ll let you know. The agent made the comment that the press had the story…so we’ll keep an eye on that as well…”

Emily, ever the workhorse, sighed. “Fine…I’m going to head out of the office now, but as always, call me if you need me or if there are any urgent developments.”

“Have a good night, Em…” Spencer sighed, his head lulling back against the cushion as the line went dead. “How’s your hand?” he muttered quietly as he started unpacking the newest box of evidence onto their coffee table.

“It hurts…” she shrugged, flexing her fingers under the ice pack, “but I hope his face hurts more.”

Spencer couldn’t help but laugh, a genuine smile tugging at the corners of his lips as he gazed at Y/N with pure admiration and pride. “Angel, I genuinely think you might’ve broken that idiot’s nose. I can almost—actually, no, statistically, I can guarantee his face will be hurting for a while, especially right now.”

“Pad around when I get home— I guess a lesser person would’ve lost hope.”

The night slipped by, the story was run, and the case stayed the same— unsolved. Nothing particularly groundbreaking was found at the crime scenes, and the MO and victimology were painfully consistent, which left little for Spencer or Y/N to analyze. It was driving Spencer crazy, how after nearly twenty years with the BAU, he found himself genuinely stumped.

In the coming days, everything suddenly became real. After their date, their kiss—it wasn’t just a cover story anymore. Spencer and Y/N no longer felt like characters in a tragic play. They were a couple, who kissed and held hands, who slept in the same bed and talked about their days.

Days turned to weeks, and before they knew it, August had slipped away like a bottle of wine. As the leaves began to change, the lines between reality and their cover began to blur. 

For the first time in a long time, Spencer was happy, and content in a life he had always imagined for himself—a wife, a home, a steady schedule. None of it was real, but if only for a moment, it was real to him. His classes ran smoothly, with students who weren’t just there because he had a pretty face—they cared, and it was groundbreaking. The university had even given him a TA to hopefully lighten his workload. She was sweet, not much older than Y/N, but working on a doctoral thesis in his field of expertise. All the pieces of this illusion had fallen perfectly into place.

"Still, I dream of her…"

Spencer woke with a start. He hadn’t had that particular nightmare in years, not since his brain had nearly bled out all those years ago, not since he saw Maeve that one last time. He couldn’t seem to catch his breath, his hands blindly searching for Y/N in the bed beside him… and then there she was, groggily furrowing her brows.

She wasn’t lying next to a psychopath in a pool of blood, cold and lifeless at his feet. She was in his bed, in his arms even, tangled in the sheets.

Memories and flashes of that night with Maeve, with Diane—the way she’d touched him, the way Maeve had looked. The cases were different, yes, but something felt very familiar to him. Reluctantly, he pulled himself out of bed, padding into the living room where the coffee table had been overrun by evidence from the newest murder. The body count was up to eight now, four couples, and the press was having a field day with this; they’d named the unsub The Albatross.

“Cautions issued, he stood shooting the messenger. They tried to warn him about her.”

The words danced across his mind, echoing in his ears as Spencer sat on the sofa, his eyes searching the crime scene photos desperately. The MO had shifted with the latest couple; the once precisely slit throats were no more, instead replaced by a single shot through the heart. The couple themselves were the same—an older man and a younger woman. However, with this couple, there had been an incident—a fatal shooting years back involving a stalker. Spencer shuddered at that information, his stomach twisting as he read the original case report.

“Shooting the messenger…” he scoffed, tossing the note back into the pile of evidence. He sat back, his head lolling tiredly against the back of the sofa as his mind worked overtime, assessing the words on the page as well as the previous notes left behind, trying to find any connection, any story or reason to the cryptic poem.

“What’re you doing up…?” Y/N’s sleepy voice caught him off guard. He turned to glance behind him at the half-asleep woman leaning against the hallway wall. “Rolled over and you weren’t there…” Y/N mumbled, trying to rub the sleep from her eyes.

“Couldn’t sleep…” he shrugged, trying to hide the fact that he’d been sleeping just fine—except for the haunting nightmare. He opened his arms for the younger woman, beckoning her to come and sit beside him on the couch. He needed to hold her, to know that she was real, but he wasn’t quite ready to get back in their bed just yet.

After a brief moment of contemplation, Y/N shuffled over, flopping down beside Spencer on the couch, her blurry eyes scanning the photos from the crime scene. She’d seen them earlier before they had inevitably decided to call it a night, but now, something she hadn’t noticed before caught her eye.

Without hesitation, she leaned forward, snatching up the evidence bag that held the latest note, her brow furrowing as she examined the reddish-brown splotches near the edge of the page. 

“Is that blood?” she asked, glancing back at Spencer as she handed it to him.

He stared blankly at the mess for a moment before reaching out for an evidence bag that held yet another cryptic poem—though this one was different—if only because he was fairly certain the unsub’s blood had dripped onto it, considering that when the lab had run it, there was no match to any victim. 

"Poisoned blood from the wound of the pricked hand."

“Oh—” Y/N shook her head, looking over the victim's hands…not a drop of blood.

“If it’s not from the victim, it’s sloppy…why not start over, why leave a trace behind?” she said softly, fighting a yawn as Spencer nodded slowly. 

“It’s almost like she's giving us a clue—”

“She?” Spencer asked, raising a brow. Dr. Spencer Reid was the king of picking out a female unsub, usually long before anyone else on their team. What had she seen that he’d missed? “How do you know it’s a woman? What stands out to you?” Spencer asked, leaning forward on the couch, observing the mess of case photos.

“Well, up until this last set…the husbands' throats are slit, and these notes are placed in their left palms. It’s brutal, but there’s an art to it.” She hummed, sinking back into the plush cushions of the sofa. “The wives, on the other hand, are laid out peacefully in bed with an albatross feather in their hands. It shows remorse—after the fact, the unsub is giving the women the respect that’s deserved…it's a different kind of death for the women."

“Okay, and what do you think the notes signify?” Spencer encouraged, slipping into teacher mode as his own mind raced a million miles a minute, putting together all of the points she’d made against the profile he’d been building in his mind.

“Well, they’ve always been in the left hand…ancient beliefs said the left hand was feminine, while the right was masculine. Other ancient stories point to your left hand being bad luck…which clearly…” she motioned to the gruesome photos before them with a sigh. “In some literary works, the left side symbolizes decay…death.”

Spencer nodded along. He’d already reached his conclusion, put the puzzle together, and built his profile. Now he was left to guide her, wait, and see if the younger agent would find her way to the same conclusion.

“Why slit their throats?” he asked softly, his eyes trained on the younger woman’s features, carefully analyzing every micro-expression he could find.

“Obviously, our unsub believes the husbands took something significant from their wives. The way our unsub is slitting their throats leads me to believe that she thinks it’s their voices or possibly their autonomy…I mean, we’re dealing with older men… I mean, it’s the history of man, right? To use women? Take something so simple but vital,” she said thoughtfully. “But it’s the albatross feather in the woman’s hand…such a heavy symbol, and you said before that the bird is associated with burden and guilt. It feels like the unsub is trying to release the wives from any guilt she believes they’re enduring…she’s just setting them free.”

Spencer nodded. “And this tells you what about our unsub?”

Y/N paused for a moment, thinking over the details before offering Spencer a small shrug and a heavy sigh, “Well, I would say that our unsub is a woman, and these men are surrogates…but she identifies with the wives and feels a need to avenge them.” She glanced up to meet Spencer’s eyes, desperate for the approval of the older agent, which he gave with a small nod, so she continued, “The careful way she arranges their bodies shows she has a sense of empathy… she sees herself in these women.”

“Exactly,” Spencer said with a warm smile. “Why do you think she targets older husbands?”

“She probably has a history with an older man—someone who dominated her or took away her voice. This is her way of reclaiming her power and avenging the other women she sees as victims.” Her voice trailed off, her eyes fluttering between Spencer’s eyes and his lips, as he leaned in to gently press a kiss to her forehead.

“Right…you are one hundred percent correct,” he sighed softly, his eyes raking over her delicate albeit exhausted frame with a frown. “And fortunately for us, this case will still be here when we wake up. Come on, let's get you back to bed…”

With a soft yawn, Y/N nodded, slowly rising to her feet, her hand outstretched for Spencer.

“Come on.”

"But I look to the sky and say

please…"

taglist : @olives-and-sunshine @iniyalovesall @suzysface @guiltyyassin @spencereidbasis @tatilolz @cherrycemeterry @hiireadstuff @r-3dlips @sweetpeterparker @catertotshitposts @purple-flower9 @wonderstruck4llthew4yhome @torturedpoetspsychward @skewedcherries @jackchampiongf13 @bouquetolegoflowers @pleasantwitchgarden @conrad4life13 @jdjwjdjjd @lilyn1909 @liquormoneysex @lynlin379 @imgublergirl

I hope i got everyone! if you’d like to be added to the taglist don’t hesitate to lemme know and as always i’d love to know the thoughts and feelings! So sorry this took so damn long

xo

[heartfullofleeches]

Franken-Hound Role Reversal AU - Undead Hound Reader and Yan Scientists hoping to create the next step in human evolution only to make the sweetest man-eating puppy instead. Reader being the obedient, hungry pet they are happily devours trespassers while their masters cheer them on from the window. Terrorizes the town thinking they're being helpful by stealing the mailman's bag and bringing it home. Their masters jump to defend their actions, grilling people for harassing a poor defenseless beast that doesn't know any better.....

Also they have a terrible habit of losing track of their limbs

-

Police Officer: I'm here about reports of a rabid animal attacking someone?

Yan Scientist: False reports, officer. Just my sweet pet playing with their food again

[The officer looks over their shoulder and sees an enormous dog-human creature mauling someone three times smaller than it]

Officer: .... have a safe night

-

Yan Neighbor, rubbing their face against reader's palms: Your fur is so soft... I wish I could hold your hands forever

Undead Reader: Oh! If you like my hands that much you can take one with you. I can tell my masters I lost it in the river again [tears the stitching in their non dominant arm and gives it to the neighbor]

Yan Neighbor, sweating: can.... can you feel whatever happens to your body parts when they're detached?

Undead Reader: Sometimes.... why? :)

-

Yan Scientist, pointing at their cheek: kisses?

[The hound tackles their master against the wall - rolling its long tongue over their face and chest]

Yan Scientist, pointing at a test dummy: kisses?

[The hound tackles the mannequin to the ground and tears its head off]

Yan Scientist, petting their ears: Such a good puppy

[prins-maurice]

Strange Attractors - Ian Malcolm x Reader (smut)

Strange Attractors - The Lost World (4423 words) by WizardToad

Summary: After recovering from the events at Jurassic Park Ian Malcolm signs an NDA, reserving himself to the somewhat quiet life of teaching. When you show up, however, you turn his life upside down. Giving into desires you both know you shouldn't, while a man called Richard Levine keeps pestering him about a so-called Lost World. (Smut in chapter 3)

Chapter 1: That’s Plagiarism, Young Lady

His lips make their way over your shoulder as his hair tickles your neck, sending shivers down your spine. His hands roam freely over your curves. The aroma of his cologne mixed with the coffee on his breath envelops you. He grips your waist and lifts you up, setting you down on his desk. You wrap your legs around him, pulling him flush to your core as your lips meet once again. His hands squeeze your thighs at the sensation. Your hands slide over his black shirt, almost ripping the buttons open-.

You manage to shake out of your chaotician-induced hypnosis just in time to see the one and only Dr. Ian Malcolm squinting at you in the bright sunlight. Shit, the whole auditorium is looking at you, he must’ve asked you a question. He knows he caught you daydreaming and a self-satisfactory grin appears on his face. A single ray of sunshine creeps in through the window, shining right on the man in front of you. Paying attention to Professor Malcolm's lectures was never easy, but the way the golden rays reflect off the stray gray hairs on the side of his head is making it entirely impossible today. You haven't heard a single word the man has said, too sucked up in your daydream.

“If you recall, miss (Y/L/N), we were just talking about the ways in which self-organizing behaviours of complex systems are of interest to the study of evolution.” He gestures with his hand, urging you to continue.

Fuck, you really should’ve been paying attention. You were a good student, you really were, but he had caught you off-guard now. He loved tormenting you like that. Dr. Malcolm had been talking your ear off about this a few nights ago when you were reading some papers from a freshman course. Racking your brain for something to spew out, you remember a bit he said about adaptation and the way complex systems seem to strike a balance between the need for order and the imperative to change, locating themselves at the edge of chaos. He raises his eyebrows and smirks, satisfied with your answer. You mentally wipe the sweat from your forehead as he continues his lecture.

Malcolm’s is the last class on Friday evening so the students practically storm out of the auditorium the second it's over. You, however, still have TA duties to fulfill. You deeply regret agreeing to spend the evening working on some stuff in his office. It seemed like a good idea at the time, the two of you alone. You've had a major crush on your professor ever since you stepped foot in his class. Hell, it's the whole reason you applied to become his TA. But now it just felt silly, and you’d rather be in a bar getting shit-faced with your roommate. 

As the others stampede out like a herd of buffalo, you saunter over to his desk at the front. He’s still packing away his papers.

“Don’t think I didn’t notice you copying me word for word. That’s plagiarism young lady” He teases, sending you a lopsided smile 

“Well you did put me on the spot, I had to say something” You lean against his desk, cracking your back. If they’re gonna make people sit in them for two hours, they really should make those damn chairs a bit more comfortable.

“Or maybe you should just pay attention to the lecture next time” He closes his bag and you roll your eyes. He pauses for a minute, thinking. The curiosity kills him, he has to ask. “What were you so preoccupied with?” He comes around the desk and leans next to you, the height difference even more apparent now. 

You feel your ears burning red, recalling the daydream you’d had earlier. You couldn’t tell him the truth, obviously. You scramble for something to say, managing to come up with “Oh, just this assignment for Dr. Thorne’s class. He’s making us solve one of his impossible engineering mysteries again, you know how he is.” You laugh awkwardly, hoping he doesn’t inquire further about the non-existent assignment. He nods “Yeah, typical.” he hums. You let out a soft sigh of relief, he bought it. He swings his bag over his shoulder and ushers you toward his office “C'mon, we've got a lot of work to do tonight.”

As Dr. Malcolm’s TA, you were usually tasked with doing the shitty jobs he didn't want to do. You sometimes wonder why he even has a TA if he barely needs help with anything useful. So now you were stuck in his office, entering research data into the computer on his desk while your roommate was out partying. 

He paces the office with long strides, focused on the papers in his hand. He stares at them with a frown. "Can you believe this shit?" You look up from the computer, finger on the paper in front of you to keep track of the number you were just about to enter. 

"Douchebag" he mutters. 

"Everything okay Dr. Malcolm?"

He looks up at you, a glint in his eyes. He loves it when you call him Dr. Malcolm. He’d never admit it of course, but it made him feel strong and authoritative. For years after the park, he couldn’t go anywhere without his cane. He used to be known as the rock star scientist, and now people just looked at him with pity. Having to rely on others had made him feel weak, the way they looked at him as they helped him up, or held the door open for him, it drove him crazy. Everyone treated him like a sick puppy, except you. You still looked at him with that sense of wonder in your eyes, as if you couldn’t believe that you were standing in front of the great Dr. Malcolm, and he eats it up every time. It makes him feel like his work is still worth something. 

He appreciated that you never asked about this injury either. After the park, everyone involved signed an NDA, forced to keep quiet about what really went down in Costa Rica. Ever since then people haven’t stopped pestering them with their crazy conspiracy theories, some more accurate than others. Regardless, he had to keep to his story, and lie to the masses. Lie to you. His leg had been much better these days, though. He didn’t need his cane anymore, but he felt his reputation had been tarnished anyway.

"Remember that uh- scientist who interrupted my lecture last week? What's his name, uh- Levine. He's convinced there's a real Lost World somewhere." 

The Lost World hypothesis was one of the many theories scientists had come up with to try and answer the never-ending questions regarding the K-T extinction event. The hypothesis states that dinosaurs may never have fully gone extinct and that somewhere in the world, there's an isolated haven where there are still living, breathing dinosaurs. It's absurd, but then again most scientific theories are. 

"What? But that's just a theory. It's a fantasy."

"You don't have to tell me" he runs a hand through his hair sighing. You can tell he's bothered by it, maybe more than he should be, but you decide not to press it. 

"He wants me to help him research it. Find the supposed island, go on an expedition, the whole works. He's been bugging me about this theory all week but I didn't think he'd go this far."

"He's completely nuts." You shake your head.

"He's a pain in the ass is what he is" he grumbles, walking up to the desk and throwing the letter in the trash can. He leans on the back of your chair, hands nearly touching your neck making you shiver from the near-contact. You sigh audibly as you enter in the last data on this page, just seven more to go.

“You know what?” He suddenly exclaims, slapping the back of your chair ”We’ve done enough for tonight. We shouldn’t be holed up here all night. Go on home (Y/N)” You lean back in the chair, tilting your head all the way backward to look at him. “You’re the best, Dr. Malcolm. I think my fingers are about to fall off.” You sigh, your brows knit together. He laughs, turning the chair and shooing you out the door.

“Go on, go out and have fun or whatever young people do. See you Monday.”

“See you Monday Dr. Malcolm.” You wave him goodbye as you walk to your dorm. Your roommate had let you know which bar she was going to, and it was still early enough to quickly change and meet up with her there. Easy peasy, your Friday night could still be saved. 

- Chapter 2 -

[ltwharfy]

"The Amazing Rudy" and the Evolution of Rudy and Louise's Friendship (Long Post)

Rewatching "The Amazing Rudy" last night made me feel like I finally want to write a little (using the term loosely) analysis about why I love the final act of that story so much. (I thought about doing this during Roudise Week but was too busy with fics.) I think the ending of that story is so wonderful not just because it is sweet in itself but because it reflects one of the things that I love about Rudy and Louise's friendship- that it has grown and evolved over the course of the show.

A lot of stories begin with characters who are always friends, the origins of the friendships are unexplored or pretty simple ("they grew up next door to each other" etc.). Or you get stories where the characters go through one adventure together and are suddenly BFFs. Rudy and Louise's friendship isn't like either of those.

It seems pretty clear that the events of "Carpe Museum" are the first time they've interacted much- but they don't immediately become besties after it. In Rudy's next two speaking appearances ("The Unnatural" and "Bob and Deliver") he doesn't interact with Louise at all. And when the Belchers enter the juice caboose in "The Kids Rob A Train", Rudy introduces them to Beanbag by saying he knows them from school- not that they are his friends. And there are some moments in that episode that I think are really important for their friendship- in particular, the moment when Rudy tries to get Louise to give him the bag full of candy through the train window and she's convinced he'll take it and ditch her, and the moment at the end with Rudy's fake severe allergic reaction- and Louise's panicked response.

But I'm not interested in going through every moment in their friendship. (I mean, I am. Absolutely. But not in this particular post.) What I think is really interesting about Act 3 of "The Amazing Rudy" is looking at in relation to the two episodes where conflict between Louise and Rudy plays a big role- "House of 1,000 Bounces" and "Bridge Over Troubled Rudy". Looking at those episodes, you can see Louise learning how to better read and respond to her friend's emotions.

In "House of 1,000 Bounces", Louise leads the rest of the party guests in stealing the bounce house from Dahlia. Rudy mentions twice that he'd be happy just to do the spoon puppets, but nobody listens to him. And then he blows up at them in Ranger Jail. (And, I think it is interesting to note that he is not just mad at Louise, but at all his friends- "I didn't want to steal that bounce house, but none of you would listen!") Louise tries to make things right by organizing the play with office supplies- and Rudy thanks her for that. But she never apologizes to him for not listening to him earlier- and it seems like maybe she never even noticed he was unhappy until he blew up at her.

At the beginning of "Bridge Over Troubled Rudy", Rudy communicates pretty clearly to Louise that he's feeling stressed because he isn't going to be able to return to his dad's for two weeks; Louise acknowledges that, but then gets caught up in her excitement over the Blaster Bridge, leading to Rudy getting upset, her calling him a weenie, and him asking her to leave. It's pretty clear that Louise recognizes right off the bat that she screwed up- she's taken aback when he asks her to leave, and then there's the whole bit while walking back with Tina and Gene where she decides she can fix things (not that she can yet acknowledge that things need fixing) by moving the bridge. At the end of the episode when they are blowing up the bridge, Louise finally says the thing that she couldn't say earlier in the episode or in "House of 1,000 Bounces": "Yeah, well, I'm sorry I kept pushing you when you were stressed out. And I'm sorry I called you a weenie...And I'm sorry, I didn't just say sorry right away. I'm not great at that, maybe. And I'm glad we're friends." Admitting that she is not great at apologizing right away- or generally acknowledging others' feelings and when she's hurt them- is a big step for Louise.

I know some fans are kind of tired of "Louise learns a lesson" stories, of which "Bridge Over Troubled Rudy" is certainly one, but I don't mind them, if they are actually entertaining and if the lesson stays learned. After all, if a show is going to be on the air for over a decade, why not let the characters have some growth and development?

Act 3 of "The Amazing Rudy" shows that Louise did learn a lesson from "House of 1,000 Bounces" and "Bridge Over Troubled Rudy". In "The Amazing Rudy", without Rudy saying anything specific directly to her, Louise alone among the Belchers realizes just how stressed out Rudy is and why. There is some really great, subtle writing, voice acting, and especially animation, that shows that Louise understands that something is troubling Rudy more than he is willing to admit. After he slips up and talks about the food he ordered, you can hear her suspicion and concern when she asks: "What you ordered?" Then, in Act 3, when Bob is getting ready to drive Rudy back to the restaurant, you can see that Louise is paying attention to Rudy, keeping her eyes on him the whole time, while not saying anything until she proposes her idea about walking back to the restaurant with him. She is the only one of the Belchers to recognize what is truly bothering Rudy- which he may not even have been able to articulate himself: that he feels lonely.

Bob and Linda are clearly (and reasonably) looking at Rudy's situation from a concerned parent's perspective: everything will be okay if Rudy is back with his parents who are worried about him. in Act 3, Tina seems to be very much sitting at the adults' table (metaphorically)- worrying about Vicki's pants and if Bob has his keys. Gene's focus is primarily on getting back to his baked potato lasagna. None of this is to understate how kind the other Belchers are to Rudy in the episode- but at that moment, none of them are as focused on him as Louise is.

In "The Amazing Rudy" neither Rudy, nor any other character, says that he feels lonely or isolated- but its clear from the episode that that is one of his real sources of sadness in that story. He is a kid surrounded by adults who are kind of focused on their own stuff- the scene where they are waiting for their table is the best visual illustration of this but their are others- for example, the multiple conversations where he is in the backseat and his dad is in the front. And then when his parents and their partners are literally on the same level as him- when they are all sitting down for dinner, he feels that he has to be center of attention to make the situation less awkward. He has to perform as The Amazing Rudy (or Rudy the Illusionary Visionary).

What Rudy really needs throughout the story is a friend- and Louise recognizes this without him having to say it. And she not only recognizes the cause of his pain- she comes up with a way to address it, by going back to the restaurant with him.

From "House of 1,000 Bounces" to "The Amazing Rudy", Louise goes from ignoring-and perhaps not even noticing- that Rudy is upset because she took over his birthday party with her bounce house scheme to recognizing and coming up with a plan to address a pain Rudy is feeling that he does not (perhaps cannot) even articulate. And, to me, this doesn't seem unrealistic or out of the blue. Rather, it seems like a logical growth of their friendship, building on "Bridge Over Troubled Rudy", as well as other episodes, with plots or subplots about their friendship that I haven't really talked about ("The Hawkening"; "Bob Actually", among others) and other non-Rudy-focused episodes that show how Louise is developing to be a more emotionally aware person ("Flu-ouise", "Thelma and Louise Except Thelma is Linda", "Prank You For Being A Friend". etc.).

Rudy and Louise's friendship is not the focus of "Bob's Burgers". Not even close. I did the math once, and I think Rudy's in just over 10% of the show's episodes. But I still think that, with Rudy and Louise, the show has done one of the best jobs of developing a friendship on television- from classmates who didn't really know each other, to friends who are still learning about each other and figuring out how to communicate, to friends who can pickup on each other's nonverbal cues and know just the right thing to do.

And I love that.

(P.S.: Someday, I will be able to think about this episode without tearing up. That day is not today.)

[quirkwizard]

Hello your grace! Could we get training, evolutions, equipment and super moves for Full Staff???? I hope the evolutions would be amazing. What equipment other than a lighter or taser would be good for this Quirk? I'm anticipating for the support items/equipment ^^

I am SO gonna use Full Staff! That's such a cool Quirk! Any hero name ideas? I was just thinking typical stuff like Sorcerer or Warlock, but I bet you'd be able to think of something better. Also, what kind of stuff would work? Could just a battery make lightning blasts? A water bottle make water blasts? Some aspirin for healing mist? Some weed killer for poison mist?

I loved your "Full Staff" quirk so much! Can you give more examples of uses (items) for the quirk please? To what extent can the user utilize the items? If they put lockpicks or locks into the staff would they able to open or locks doors for example??

I mean, any variant of the magic user name would fit, like Magi or Magus. Alternatively, you could always reference some famous magic user from myth or history, like Merlin or Ivar. Or something like their regular name with an adjective, like the Great and Mighty Kevin!

So what "Full Staff" is capable of is really depends on what the object itself is doing and what it's overall function is. A battery would charge stuff better and weed killer would kill plants better. For example, a water bottle may have the user absorb small amounts of liquids into the staff to disperse them later, a water gun would let them store and shoot water out of it, and a water hose would let them siphon liquid from a source to spray it out. This is obviously a lot, but all this variety is done at the cost of power and complexity of it. Something like a lighter or taser is about as advanced as it would go. Food and other edibles like aspirins can't really be used either since people can't exactly eat the staff. And no, a backpack would not let you apply more items to the staff.

So training it would see the user learn what items do what and how to use them with their staff with all their items. It'd mostly be sticking something in and applying it, potentially to use it with few moves. Learning some stick based combat would be helpful as well. Evolving it could see them expanding how much the staff could hold, both in number of slots and how many of the same items. They could apply the same item in it over and over again, changing the look of the staff to reflect it. This would expand the application of it in power, like the lighter making bigger blasts of fire, but this would sacrifice a lot of the variety. They could even learn to combine items usage with more complex movements, like using the lighter with a fan to make a stronger blast of fire.

As for equipment, it'd really depend on what role the user wants to fill out with their staff. The user could have a wizard robe, or whatever magical equivalent you wish to take inspiration from, filled with all kinds of stuff to swap in and out or have as back ups. It'd be stylish and practical. Sure, you could take items on their own to combo with them, but the staff is the star of the show here. I'm talking sticky hands for snatching, a fan to make wind blasts, add a knife to make it a super spear, power tools to build or smash objects, a bag of sand to blind people, a confetti launcher to disorient them, rope to tie people up with, a flashlight to blind enemies, a shield to help deflect attacks, or enough random office supplies to make Sero feel inadequate about his own power.

[fortheloveofarchons]

Neuvillette bakes some macarons for the others...

Inspired by @onaxart_ on Instagram, Tiktok and Twitter!

Go check her out and give her a follow, her art is amazing!!

C.W. - A Neuvi/Wrio ship - Characters such as Aether, Paimon and Sigewinne are included - Fluff and domestic fluff - Baking - Cookies - Mentioned Navia, Clorinde and Furina

.

.

In the cosy embrace of the kitchen, lies a white-haired man humming a tune while he decorates his cookies. From his many years spent in Fontaine as a human, one of the things he noticed was the evolution of desserts. Although the Chief Justice does not indulge in desserts, his keen sense of perception allows him to understand the joy of sweet food that indulges in human society. 

Rainbow Macarons, Coffee Bavarois, Pate de Fruit, Conch Madeleine, Fruity Trio, Blubber Profiterole, and Fontaine’s famous La Lettre a Focalors are truly artisan crafts in Fontainians’ kitchens. 

As a token of appreciation for the upcoming holiday where people give their friends, families, and lovers their own gift of love, Neuvillette wishes to adapt himself into this special day by making some rainbow macarons. He has heard that making desserts can be a special occasion for humans. It can be a sign that someone’s birthday was afoot, or perhaps a festival. As such, desserts held special places in humans’ hearts, for their dedicated baking was an act of love, a way to show that they were special and worth celebrating. 

Although Neuvillette does not understand how an individual could bring themselves to consume deep-fried foods like Fish and Chips, or oily food like Garlic Baguette, or even grilled food without a sauce to balance out the flavours. 

He’ll never forget those Charcoal-Baked Ajikenakh Cakes, the most dehumidifying food he has ever seen. Truly the worst culprit in the Chief Justice’s eyes! 

While he has heard that Miss Navia’s favourite hobby is making macarons and sharing them with the ones she cares deeply about, he could not possibly ask her for the recipe because he feels distant from her, as if he’s observing the starry night sky from the bottom of the deep lake. Even with Miss Navia’s apology for her emotional outburst and accusations of his cold-blooded heart, his heart still feels an uncomfortable tinge of guilt, for what has happened to her father. 

After all, human emotions are not like water. They do not settle quickly once agitated, nor do they naturally incline towards equilibrium. 

Perhaps, by making these human treats himself, could he understand more about the human experience of trying something new. He has been indulging himself in ceramics, perhaps baking would be something he would be interested in the future. 

With careful consideration, he decided that making cookies would be best instead of macarons. After putting the cookies on a tray, Neuvillette’s dark blue eyes sparkle as he watches the cookies slowly bake inside of the oven. While he waits for them to finish baking, he thinks about who he wishes to send the desserts to. 

One for Wriothesley, and of course, we can’t forget Sigewinne . His eyebrows knit as he remembers. The traveller and Paimon are no exception, and I mustn't leave out Miss Navia and Miss Clorinde. Unfortunately, I only made a small batch, so I don’t have enough to distribute to the Melusines and the others that have aided in preventing the prophecy… A shame. 

Ding! 

Oh, it’s done. 

~~~~~~

Aether didn’t know what the occasion was when Neuvillette invited him to the Fortress of Meropide. 

Did something happen? 

Why would Monsieur Neuvillette ask me to visit him in this place? 

Unless… Does this concern the Duke? 

Although his heart is certain that this letter would most likely involve Wriothesley, this was not what the traveller had expected when the white haired man gave him a small bag of heart-shaped cookies in Wriothesley’s office. 

“Monsieur Neuvillette, this is…” Aether blinks once, twice, and then looks down at his hands, staring at the colourful cookies made by the Chief Justice of Fontaine. Next to him, Paimon is practically drooling from her gifted bag as well, her eyes sparkling with joy from seeing such sweet delicacies in her tiny hands. 

“Well well,” Wriothesley holds the bag of heart-shaped cookies close to his face with one hand, his other hand resting on his waist, eyeing Neuvillette with a smirk. “I never thought that there would come the time where the Chief Justice of Fontaine would give us something sweet.”

“I…” Neuvillette coughs, then folds his arms defensively, making his stance. “I made them myself, and there is nothing wrong in indulging in human festivities.” 

That only made Wriothesley raise an eyebrow to him. 

Meanwhile, Sigewinne has already unwrapped her bag, her eyes widening at the sight of the pink and white cookies that nestled inside like precious jewels. Each one was a work of art, its smooth surface adorned with pink and white chocolate cream and delicate dustings of powdered sugar. 

“Can we eat it now?” Paimon flies down to look at Sigewinne’s bag, her excitement increases from smelling the freshly baked desserts. 

“Of course you can.” Neuvillette says, reaching a hand out for them to try. “Please, help yourself. I hope the flavour is to your liking.” 

Without hesitation, everyone slowly unwraps their own bag, and plucks out one of the cookies of the bag. While Aether, Paimon and Sigewinne happily take a bite, Wriothesley hesitates for a few seconds, looking down at his cookie...

[familyagrestefanblog]

It's actually crazy just thinking about how much crucial context the Paris special can include from the endless day of 4x24 til 5x03 and therefore completely withheld from the season 5 experience.

Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised by that at all because the first 3 episodes of season 5 has such a massive narrative hole in it, just barely doing enough for Marinette and Gabriel to get by and lead into the rest of the season.

But Adrien, Nathalie, Tomoe and Lila ? No chance. The narrative withheld most informations on them and only showing little glimpses of what happened for them in the Agreste narrative while Gabriel was out here restructuring the whole story.

But if it was the special's job all along to elaborate further on them while season 5 in the beginning only did the barest minimum on explanation for Marinette and Gabriel, then this glaring hole regarding every other mayor player actually makes sense, leading into season 6.

Thinking about it, I wouldn't be surprised if it's the special that finally shows us when and how Lila found out about Gabriel. Because back when "Evolution" aired in France it was a writers commentary special and there they already confirmed that it's at the end of "Strike back" and "Evolution" where Lila finds out but the season itself never showed us that while simultaneously having been written with that fully in mind.

So the Paris special being meant to fill in that hole as transition to her taking over as Butterfly now from season 6 onwards is a solid way to go about it. Especially since the special retrospectively takes place in "Destruction", the very end of that endless day.

Plus, we never found out what happened to the bag Félix left behind in the train, the fake butterfly miraculous and tablet he stole from Nathalie with the decoded Grimoire was still in it. And maybe even where Ladybug's lucky charm ended up since it was curiously not used for the villains' plan in the s5 finale.

For all it is, this is also where we could find out why Gabriel in "Pretention" was suddenly in possession of the gadget Adrien found at the end of "Risk" in his father's office.

Why Adrien's room was so incredibly messy for ONE scene in "Jubilation", straight up telling us he took the several weeks BADLY

Nathalie's possible connection to Tomoe, why Tomoe got involved this much, Nathalie switching sides and more on her background as treasure hunter ect.

And thinking about it, good hero Gabriel could even have seriously influenced Gabriel's sudden change in how he presented himself in season 5 to deceive people and we had no idea.

[everytimeigetmoody]

Kimchay wip because kimchay take up way too much space in my brain.

Chay scheduled lunch with his brother. Porsche had dinner with Kinn that night so Chay was reduced to lunch. He insisted that they eat in their old house for once. Porschay spent the previous night cleaning what was once their home, the home that Porsche ruined their life for. The air was stale and dusty. It almost made it hurt to breathe. 

He started with his room. It was a slow process for him, and it involved a lot of staring at Wik’s photos. Chay was sitting in his hard rolling chair at his desk looking at Wik with his head tilted back, mouth opened like he was laughing with Chay. It was strange looking at the photos, knowing Kim. He couldn’t imagine Kim like that anymore. Kim was stoic, unfeeling, and cruel to both others and himself. He couldn’t remember a moment where Kim had laughed. All he had were vaguely amused smiles that now brought a flush of shame to his face. It was humiliating that he thought Kim was ever in love with him. It was humiliating that he thought Wik could ever be real.

Those photos made their way to the trash, right underneath a half eaten bag of chips, food wrappers, and a pile of used tissues.

Porschay chose to leave every other bedroom the same. He only stayed in Porsche’s room a moment before realizing it was just as clean as it was when Porsche left it, only a sheen of dust had coated all of his objects, making everything feel gray, dull and grossly fuzzy.

The kitchen and living room had been cleaned prior by Kinn’s men after Chay had been kidnapped. His brother-in-law had felt awful about the experience so he took care of the aftermath. All Porschay had left to do was grocery shop and dust. That was the common theme around the house. While the messes varied from room to room, the still atmosphere and oppressive dust that swirled in the air and if you so much as puffed a breath against any surface remained true throughout their first home.

Porschay took a rag to most of the counters and the few knick knacks that remained that either stayed mostly intact after the attack or that debt collectors thought were too worthless to steal and sell. It was an almost calming experience. He took inventory of what they had left and what Porsche had taken to his new home.

All the pictures were gone. Porsche grabbed those as soon as he could. He brought them to their mother, trying to fill her in on what she had missed in their lives. Porsche had hoped adding visuals would help her understand. Maybe if he showed their baby photos and then the evolution of them growing up, it would finally click that they were her sons.

After that didn’t work, Porsche scattered the photos in his office and his shared room with Kinn.

[blasphemecel]

Mayuri Kurotsuchi ― Truce

PAIRING: Mayuri Kurotsuchi/Reader WORD COUNT: 2.6k TYPE: Crackfic WARNING: Some NSFW jokes NOTE: Note: This is the same reader character as Thorn In Your Side, but you can read it without reading the first one

Someone left a note for Kurotsuchi Mayuri outside of office hours, which was impressive considering he worked until late at night. Whoever it was must've been very adamant not to cross paths with him and relay the message verbally. He examined the envelope with visible boredom, toying with the edges.

It was possible this came from the Captain Commander. Only Yamamoto was ancient enough for it to be reasonable to write a letter instead of contact Mayuri through the computer system, but then again, he was among cavemen. It could've been something the brute Zaraki asked the toddler to write for him (obviously, he had to be illiterate).

After he ripped the wrapping, Mayuri realized this was not Yamamoto's handwriting, though the paper had been folded and the words in the upper right corner brought a smile to his face.

Kuchiki, Byakuya Division 6, Captain Letter of Complaint Subject: [L/n] [Y/n], Division 12, Unseated Officer

Amazing. You could get in huge trouble for whatever transgression you committed against him. It was also nice to know you had become the bane of someone else's existence for once. The excitement at the prospect of having an excuse to fire you could've been enough to give him a boner on a bad day. Mayuri controlled his movements like he was trying to prolong the moment before he opened a long-awaited present, manic grin widening with every passing beat.

Dear Captain Kurotsuchi,

I would like to know how you have allowed that waste of a Shinigami to happen?

Whatever happiness Mayuri may have been feeling vanished. His eye twitched.

That snob Byakuya had some nerve using this as his opening line, addressing him in such an insolent manner. Maybe this was why he was an embarrassment to his clan, because he said shit like this. And... an unexpected defensiveness came over him. Sure, he had called you worse, but that was between you and him. Considering Byakuya's lieutenant was about as smart as a bag of rocks, Mayuri did not want to hear his criticisms of you.

Perhaps it was hypocritical since he had been excited to read all about it earlier, but he found it wasn't half as satisfying as he had imagined. Definitely nothing to jizz about. Regardless, he had to continue.

What were you thinking, letting an unseated officer prance around psychoanalyzing people?

Okay, Mayuri did not let you do that. It was one of those things you went off to do on your own, like usual. But that was part of the game, which Byakuya didn't understand since he seemed to be a moron or because he didn't care, but either way Mayuri disliked that the blame for your horrid behavior fell on him.

He was a man of research, however, and because of this, curiosity about what you had said to prompt this plagued him.

Surely if you had disciplined the fool properly, they would know they have no right to speak to me in that way. A District 72 runt of no standing to a captain such as myself, nonetheless.

There was the obligatory nobleman drivel. Though he found it interesting how you had pissed off Byakuya enough that he went and dug into your background. Mayuri scratched his chin.

This was a misunderstanding of your character. Mayuri had 'put you in your place' many times throughout the centuries you had known each other. It was just that it accomplished nothing. Since you were both dedicated scientists, things changed over the years, of course, since stagnancy wasn't beneficial. But something that wasn't prone to evolution was your audacity. Again, the notion that Mayuri tolerated you without repercussions was insulting.

And you knew you had 'no right' to say whatever you had said to Byakuya, probably. It didn't stop you from doing so, was all.

It disgusts me to type this out or think about it again, but nevermind. Needless to say, I don't appreciate being told that I am 'frustrated (in a vulgar manner of sorts) because of my self-inflicted vow of celibacy' and other such presumptuous things. Especially from the likes of that person.

I would hereby like to request [L/n] [Y/n]'s expulsion. I think it is a reasonable punishment for the level of disrespect I endured. Thank you in advance.

Regards, Kuchiki Byakuya

'Regards'? Bastard.

Then again, this went to prove Captain Kuchiki really was not an expert judge of character. Mayuri would sooner swallow acid (which he did sometimes whenever he was in the mood for developing a new unnecessarily potent drug) than let somebody boss him around. Maybe Byakuya's wish would have come true if he hadn't worded it like this. He moved his creepy chin-scratching down to his neck and stuck out his tongue, and his eyes darted around in different directions.

Yes, there was only one way to deal with this.

___

Your latest venture was therapy, so you set up office hours and everything.

You were one of the few people from Division Twelve who ever saw the sun more than once a month. Though Mayuri didn't like this 'going outside' thing you tended to do since it prevented him from supervising you, he never sent out someone to track you since that was similar to admitting defeat, and he never went looking for you because you thrived on negative attention. And, really, he had better things to do.

Then there was his method of surveying. When word got out he had set up cameras everywhere, it turned into a discussion about HR violations, since a lot of his subordinates filed complaints about it because he scared them shitless. His ability to monitor them when he wasn't in the immediate vicinity had disconcerted them. The Gotei 13 held a meeting about it, but then it turned in a two-hour debate during which Mayuri insisted that the other Captains were morons for not doing the same as him, and the matter never got settled.

After this, you called him a 'peeping Tom' and Mayuri publically denounced you as a degenerate. But that was beside the point and wasn't even the first time he had done so.

Since no one elected themselves as a subject to your counseling, you decided to satisfy your curiosity by forcing your therapy onto someone. Not that everybody avoided your services because you were stupid. Some people suspected you had so many screws loose because you knew so much you went crazy.

Mostly, the problem was that whatever you had planned was guaranteed to be unpleasant.

Byakuya was a skilled captain, so he considered himself competent enough to know when he's being followed, but this kind of stalking was different. For one, it was not very subtle.

"Hello, Captain Kuchiki," you said while saluting him.

Byakuya didn't answer, instead opting to keep walking.

"Hi," you tried again. "Hello."

He halted. Humoring you never fared well for anyone, but he figured if he spared you a few seconds, you would get bored and leave, so he turned and looked at you with steely eyes. Your smile did not waver.

When Byakuya was in a bad mood, he went outside and brooded while looking at the cherry blossoms. You had noticed that during your daily patrols around the Seireitei grounds. It was a bit auto-fellating, but you weren't here to judge. That wasn't what therapy was about.

You raised your hand and asked, "You and Captain Zaraki haven't been getting along, right?"

"We never get along," he said.

At this, you whipped out a scrapbook and a pen, and scribbled something. "It's been worse. Why's that?"

Levelly, he said, "I don't see how my personal affairs concern you."

"My observations tell me his vast bosom distracts you. That's no good for a captain, so of course I'm concerned." There was mock pity in your tone.

Appalled by what he just heard, Byakuya rose an eyebrow. Like he would ever look at that barbarian's 'bosom,' even if it was, in fact, huge. Maybe willingly poisoning yourself over and over was messing with your head. Apparently you took his silence as a cue to continue because then you said,

"And you've been angsting by the trees more than usual. It points to feelings of betrayal and self-loathing." That was how you interpreted his behavior after you gathered information from some books in the library, at least. Division Twelve didn't have a psychology department, and you were seeking to change that, but Captain Kurotsuchi had told you to get lost, and that it'd be more suitable for Squad Four, and blah blah blah. So now you have turned it into everyone else's problem.

He did not know how you gathered that from his vacant stare at some plants, or even how long you had been at this, but then he remembered the therapy poster you had put up all over the hallways. That was a few months ago.

"It's in your best interest to keep quiet," Byakuya advised. Captain Kurotsuchi also said this to you many times, in less refined language, but what was in your best interest never entertained you, so you pressed the issue.

"You don't need to take out your guilt on Captain Zaraki," you said. "He doesn't understand. It's not helping."

Again, Byakuya did not dignify that with a response, but his stare bore into you harder. Good, so he was listening. It seemed your expertise had rendered him speechless. This could only be a sign for you to keep going,

"Have you considered your celibacy is making you unpleasant?"

"What?"

"Like, your sexual frustration because of your fifty year long dry spell? It's making you irritable."

"What."

"Abarai is having a terrible time, Captain, I can tell."

Byakuya tensed his jaw and reached for his sword, though he didn't know if he could justify this kill in a report. Maybe he should leave the job to Kurotsuchi instead? At least he could pass it off as an accident during an experiment or something. You smiled, and it was unnerving because he couldn't anticipate what other horrible thing you could say.

He figured his best course of action was leaving and you wrote 'DENIAL' in your scrapbook. Then, before he could escape out of earshot range, you asked, "Are you not coping with bisexuality well, Captain Kuchiki?"

He shunpo'd to the other side of the Seireitei. You considered this a job well-done because Byakuya would probably need real therapy after this conversation, and maybe if he demanded for it, someone would consider making a suitable department somewhere.

___

"We need to talk."

You ignored Captain Kurotsuchi and continued typing up the report you needed to do, which provoked him into yanking you by the shoulder.

"I said we need to talk," he ordered.

"Oh, you're so desperate for my attention," you said in a shrill voice which usually made him mad, but this time he brushed it off. You tapped your chin curiously at his unusual behavior and he led the way since apparently he thought he was above providing an explanation.

While you stood in front of him in his laboratory, Mayuri reached for something crumpled on his desk and unfurled it. "I received this," he said, and you leaned closer to squint your eyes and try to read it. You skimmed it and noticed that he had been nice enough to underline 'I would hereby like to request [L/n] [Y/n]'s expulsion.' with red in case you somehow missed it.

A grin split your face and you pretended to be sheepish and wrung your hands together behind your back. "You know, I didn't expect him to be so sensitive about it," you said. "I mean, I know his wife's dead, but it's been fifty years, right?"

Mayuri didn't care about Byakuya's melodrama, and neither did you, since you were being so callous about it. So at least neither of you needed to address that. And your sad attempts at matchmaking a widowed man wasn't something he knew about, so you could shift the focus of the conversation.

"Ya think he's gonna need therapy after all that?"

"Not this again," said Mayuri. "Now that Captain Kuchiki, whose mental health I don't care about, has written me this letter, there's only one logical course of action."

"And that is?" You batted your eyelashes. "You're not letting me go, are you?"

Mayuri massaged his temples. "Could you stop being a pest for five seconds? I know it's hard for you to ignore your innate desire to be the most annoying creature on the planet since you have no sense of self-regulation-"

"See, I read about that in the psychology books. They claim I'm hedonistic."

"-but I'm trying to give you a promotion here."

When he said this, you both examined each other thoroughly for a few seconds. After a long bout of silence, you burst out into laughter and Captain Kurotsuchi ground his teeth together into his usual lunatic smile before he threw away Byakuya's note in the trash bin.

Only you and him would find rewarding a request for expulsion with a promotion funny.

Between making out in various attempts to drug one another, the many foiled assassination plans on both sides, and the brief time you spent as liquid in a labeled jar, you did not expect messing with Captain Kuchiki would be all it took to quell your hundreds of years long feud with Mayuri. Of course, the truce was only temporary since you loved to hate each other. Still, it was... sort of progress.

"Maybe I should piss off Captain Zaraki and make it to nineteenth seat."

Mayuri snarled, "Don't push it, I'm just being generous today." Besides, the more he thought about it, the less likely it was that both Kenpachi and the toddler could write a letter even if they collaborated. Sleep deprivation must have influenced his first imagining of the scenario.

___

Word of your promotion traveled, which made people question if you and Captain Kurotsuchi had 'squashed the beef,' which was jargon the talented hero Kurosaki Ichigo introduced to Soul Society, since he had refused to acknowledge your abilities before this. The rumor was something you and Mayuri strategically spread, so Byakuya would find out because what you had in common (pettiness) usually tore you apart, but this time, it united you.

"It's like a sadomasochistic relationship," said Matsumoto, who found your eternal fighting with your captain hilarious. She loved when you guys argued in public. It was the best drama this job offered, which was also a little sad.

"No. Sadosadistic," Yumichika corrected, which made Matsumoto cheer, since it sounded even more amusing and dysfunctional. Though he had also coined it a few seconds ago, so maybe there was a term that was more applicable. He was also the most adamant in his agenda that the two of you were somehow romantically involved. Ever since the moment during which you gave Mayuri pink eye by grazing his eyeballs with your lashes, and the comment he made about it that traumatized Nemu and Akon, he had been convinced this was the case.

Maybe Nemu and Akon could be exhibits in your argument about opening a psychology department? Yes, splendid. Thank god Yumichika went and ruined their day that one time.

Ikkaku didn't know why he was even listening to this conversation. Perhaps he enjoyed the opportunity to ogle Yumichika and Matsumoto simultaneously, but that didn't require listening. So he tuned them out.

[theangrycomet]

black and white 3: Integrating the Gimmicks

Unova was the generation before every region got its own battling Gimmick, and honestly, I don’t think they need their own. HOWEVER, I do think there are ways to bring back other Gimmicks, even the region exclusive ones.

If ONLY so we can see them used more in battle competitions

the BW3 is going to get all sorts of toys to play with lol.

Terra Orbs: Accessible Post-Game

Imported from Paldea, these require recharging at unique stations only found in special PokeCenters

unfortunately, these recharging stations have to be regularly shipped back to Paldea in order to recharge the Tera Crystals inside

these are still in beta until Postgame

They have been distributed to select trainers in but can be earned through a small series of tests

this is the Paldea’s League way of checking to see if Unova is safe enough for them to be willing to participate in the Pokemon World Tournament

the testing area is run by a Elite 4 member Rika and Poppy, as well as a champion-level student studying abroad

Dynmaxing: Accessible Post Game

By far the least favored of the gimmicks in Unova due to the sheer SIZE of the affected pokemon being far greater than most infrastructure is design to handle, few areas allow it

like Tera Orbs, Dynamax bands would require recharging from special “Eternal Lanterns”

this is Macros Cosmo’ attempt to wheedle into the Unovan Market but has been notably unsuccessful

the player would receive a dynamax band post-game out of sheer desperation, but would be unable to use it until recieving/finding one of these lanterns

cannot be used in official league battles outside of the Pokemon World Tournament due to the buildings being unable to handle them

Z-Crystals/Z moves (+ bringing Grimsley and Colress back into Unova): accessible in early game

Castelia City:

look if Galar can blatantly steel Silvally from Alola with NO EXPLANATION, Grimsley can sneak out of the country with a box full of Z-Crystals and a Z-Ring or two

Only work with if the character has 1 of four special Alolan Totems (one from each island, each Z-Crystal only works with the Trial Captains associated diety)

First Z-Ring and Z-Crystal (type only, no Species Z crystals) of your starter is free if you beat him in battle but the totem costs you 60,000 pokedollars, halved to 30k if you beat him again afterwords

Will only sell you one Z-crystal a day for 15k of your choice IF you beat him

If you loose you have to wait for the next day

Only found at night

Colress on the other hand, will give you a random Z Crystal (that you may or may not already have) if you beat him in battle using a Z Crystal (so he can study it’s energy)

Once you have gotten all the Z-Crystals and Totems, the next time you see go to them they are together, they mention packing up their bags to try different haunts

They leave with a final gift to them for their assistance/indulgence of their games (INSERT SOMETHING INSANELY HELPFUL BUT NOT PLOT RELEVANT- shiny charm maybe?) 

As soon as they leave the scene, the officer Jenny shows up, and asks the player if she/he/they have seen two suspicious/shady men with strange hair and coats

The player can say yes and point in the direction they ran and send the Officer’s on their tail, or say no and point them in the wrong direction

If player says No, Grimsley and Colress will appear occasionally through out the city and greet the player (possibly at Gear Station as challengers?)

If the player rats them out Colress and Grimsley are never scene again

Either way, this would lead to a later Post Game cutscene during the Pokemon World Tournament with Kukui regarding the missing totems and Z-Crystals where the player has the option to return the items or lie and keep them

Player returns the Stolen Items (of course, half the games about being TRUTHFUL) to Kukui (as the Totem have been drained at that point)

Kukui can now be used to “recharge” the Totems to real low access to Z-Moved

Mega-Evolution: accessibility early game

Nimbasa City

Mega Ring with Key Stone gifted to player from dad after he returns to trip from Kalos, unfortunately he doesn’t have a mega stone for it, but that can be another adventure/quest for the player to work on!

Mega-Crystals can be gifted from NPCs after helping them with requests or purchased at Gear station using BP (higher price items) 

Professor Augustine sent a bunch of mega stones to the Subway Bosses (pre-PLA) in an attempt to prove they were safe (after Hoenn’s smearing the public image of Mega-Evolution)

NEW MEGA-EVOLUTIONS

Flygon: ground/dragon -> dragon/bug

Goodra (Reg): dragon-> dragon/water

Arcanine: fire-> fire/electric

Luxray: electric-> electric/dark

Victini: no type change

Chandelure: ghost/fire-> ghost/electric

Zebstrika: electric->electric/fire

Braviary (reg): Normal/Flying -> Fighting/Flying

Mandibuzz: Dark/Flying-> Ghost/Flying

Druddigan: dragon-> dragon

Haxorus: dragon-> dragon(/steel(?))

Archeops: rock/flying-> steel/flying

Stoutland: normal-> normal/ghost

Liepard: dark-> dark/psychic

Mienshao: fighting-> fighting/flying

Basculin (NOT WHITE STRIPED): water-> water/fighting

Lycanroc: DEPENDENT ON FORM

Midnight: Rock-> Rock/Dark

Midday: Rock-> Rock/Normal

Dusk: Rock-> Rock/Fighting

Pawmot: Electric/Fighting-> Fairy/Fighting

Tinkaton: no type change

Krookodile: No type change

Golurk: Ground/Ghost-> Rock/Ghost

[gatefleet]

Hints and Could Be's

Stargate: Atlantis; Evan Lorne Word Count: 1013 (T)W: Being lifted against your will. Request: Yes. “I was wondering if you could do an Major Lorne imagine or Fanfic. Set in Atlantis but can have a cameo of SG1 💁🏼‍♀️ Where reader/Yn is an archeologist (like Jackson) has a PHD and they meet one day and it’s a hint of what could be, head strong like carter. Enjoys making fun of flyboys, is kinda a “hot girl” if you will 🤦🏼‍♀️ (trying a different than the shy “nerdy” girl) could of joined the Airforce but has too strong of a memory of what Generals can be like. (Has family ties to the airforce! Oh she totally likes to “bullies” McKay, he actually respects her (secretly) because she can stand up for herself and show off her knowledge. She might have a dark past?? Unsure Have fun! Thanks for looks at my request 🙋🏼‍♀️” @stargurl-battleship A/N: I am so, incredibly sorry this has take so long! Some of your request I'm kind of working into an SGA long shot and to prevent myself from (accidentally) reusing lines, I wasn't able to cover everything in the request, and I'm so sorry about that! I hope this is close to what you were looking for!

Being part of the Stargate programme was one of the best things that could have happened to you. Never once in all your years of studying, did you think you would ever get to use your degree to the extent which you currently were. Seeing the different races and cultures that participated towards the evolution of your own made your other hopes for your degree usage pale in comparison. You hadn’t realised that the stargate programme would be made up of mainly military personnel and was even more shocked to discover that most of them were Airforce and the few scientists that were in the team tended to be civilian contractors, with Major Samantha Carter seeming to be the exception to the rule. You studied under Dr Daniel Jackson for the first year or so of your career with the Stargate programme, you learned the dialects, the common and uncommon hieroglyphs, the correct pronunciation of words from Dr Jackson and Teal’c.

Eventually you joined a different SG team and would travel with a Major Evan Lorne and his team once Dr Jackson had deemed you ‘well versed’ enough to go solo. You and Lorne both got along well enough and had a similar bond to O’Neil and Jackson. You would call out Lorne for his ‘military tactics’ and he would call you out on your ‘naïve and protocol breaking ways’. When you were both made aware that you would be joining the Atlantis programme and travelling off world for an extended period of time, you made sure to grab any PDF’s you could on the language and dialects of the ancients and attempted to pack as lightly as you could. When Lorne came by your office to check in on your progress, he was highly amused and alarmed at the books piled high, the scattering of objects and the general untidiness of your normally pristine workspace. He had the greatest smirk on his face when you randomly popped your head out looking extremely disheveled, and making Lorne catch his breath without realising it.

“No, no, no, it can’t be time to leave already! I haven’t finished packing yet!” You panicked more, bouncing between different piles of books and artefacts. Lorne became more amused and continued to watch you from the doorway.

“Came on nerd, let’s go through this together, you still have a couple of hours until we actually have to leave, yet.” He put his rucksack down by the doorway and made his way into the office.

After a lot of debate and a few arguments of what’s logical to take and what’s essential to take, you and Lorne had finally managed to get a) your bag packed and b) drastically reduce the amount of bags you were trying to take through the gate with you. You both made it to the gate room just as the dialling sequence was finishing, much to Lorne’s annoyance, and bid your farewell to the Cheyenne Mountain Complex.

When you both arrived at the Atlantis site, it was breathtaking. You spent your first few days exploring the city, or what was open and accessible of it. You met Sheppard and his team. You found Tayla and Ronin friendly enough and learning of their cultures was fascinating. McKay was arrogant, selfish and definitely someone you made a mental note to avoid in the future. You were capable of keeping pace with McKay, but wasn’t up for the constant debate that you felt was sure to follow with being in a close proximity to him. You heard from Tayla that McKay appeared to enjoy your company and the intellectual sparring. You mentally gagged at the thought. When you were sent on your first mission with Lorne and Sheppard’s team you were excited, you made sure to keep at least 2 people between yourself and McKay and stuck close with Lorne.

When you were translating something, lost in thought and focussing on the writing and translation, Lorne would make sure that you remembered to hydrate and eat (even if it was just a snack) and when he was doing a perimeter check he would ensure that someone else from your team would take over the role of ensuring you ate and drank.

Once the survey of the planet was completed, you had packed up your equipment and was trying to grab some last pictures to study when you returned to Atlantis. Lorne made sure to watch your 6 and gently hurry you along. After about 5 minutes the patience ended and while you continued to ignore his pleas to head back to the gate, Lorne eventually huffed and grabbed you, throwing you over his shoulder and hauling ass back to the gate. Your protests being greatly ignored. Sheppard looked incredibly amused at the sight before him, Lorne attempting to run with your legs randomly kicking in protest and your faint voice calling for 5 more minutes to go back as you had missed a few columns for researching. Tayla completed the dialling sequence as you made it to the gate and Lorne refused to put you down until you were all through the gate. You huffed and squirreled yourself away in the research lab, using the Ancients data base to try and help translate faded parts of the text.

Lorne would periodically pop in or send Doctor Beckett in with nutrients and hydration, but you were so lost in thought (and truthfully still annoyed at Lorne) that half the time your forgot to eat the ever-growing snack/fruit basket which was accumulating on your desk. On Lorne’s 8th check-in he threatened to carry you to med bay for nutrition if you didn’t sit and eat soon. “Y’know I’m tired of you airforce boys trying to threaten me with med bay.” Lorne tried to hold back a smirk and stopped himself from bringing up the fact that you should be used to it growing up with ‘flyboys’.

The light smirk you attempted to push down when speaking with Lorne stole his breath. His checking in on you, made your heart skip.

(GIF Credit belongs to the owner, please let me know if it belongs to you and I'll happily tag!)

Tag list;

@thot-2-thot (Won't allow me to tag)

see pinned post to be added or see this link

[lexiloos-currentobsession]

Memorable moments, lines, and my observations from season 4:

Smoke

-Howard saying “Jimmy, don’t” while standing in front of the coroner van right before it drove off made me gasp

-Jimmy’s reply to Howard bearing his soul about causing Chuck’s suicide sent a chill down my spine

Breathe

-Lmao at Jimmy fawning shock over the printer being so good it could counterfeit money. Bob played that so well.

-Kim goes OFF on Howard, like DAMN. I would watch this woman scream the phone book

-Kim kissing Jimmy on the couch 🥹

Something Beautiful

-Me when Jimmy opened the door for the twins at the Vet’s 😳

-I feel confident the Vet saying “can you not hit every damn pothole, please!?” was a Joe DeRosa ad lib

-The printer shop guy sleeping in his office specifies he wants his pizza sliced- in my head cannon that’s a Breaking Bad call back to the pizza place that doesn’t slice their pie

-HEY GALE!!!

Talk

-The cell phone store aesthetic is spot on. My dad had a few Nextel/Sprint stores in the early 00’s and like Jimmy I had to make my own fun while hanging out there for hours on end

-The twins raiding the compound was v Breaking Bad-esq

-Just realized the advice Mike gives Jimmy after Bag Man about realizing you can forget came from Stacy talking about Matty in group!

Quite a Ride

-We get our first flashback to the Breaking Bad timeline!

-Jimmy’s hair is SO fucking cute in phone selling montage

-I did not enjoy seeing Howard so broken in the courthouse bathroom

Piñata

-Fuck you, Jimmy

Something Stupid

-The “Need to call? Buy from Saul!” business card we see in the opening montage is just the next step in his catchphrase evolution. I wholeheartedly appreciate the attention and care that went into showing us exactly how Jimmy got to Breaking Bad Saul

-I love that you don’t know who Jimmy is giving the office tour to and it’s Huel lol

-You’ve been selling drop phones? On the street?

-KIM’S FACE when Suzanne Erickson refers to Jimmy as a scumbag disbarred lawyer

Coushatta

-SO many silly one liners:

-I’ll leave the bottle

-Are you prosecuting Santa Clause!?

-Clarence is going at the organ, I’m gonna step into the vestibule

-I will be with you PRESENTLY!!!

-The fake donations on the church website is some tasteful foreshadowing/calling back to Saul laundering Walt’s money through fake online donations

-The staircase kiss!!

-I love the painting in the boardroom at Mesa Verde. It’s called The Blue Rigi: Lake of Lucerne Sunrise

-PACA PACA PACA it’s LALO!!!

-Overall this episode is a 10/10. It’s silly and entertaining but also feels so pivotal on a rewatch because it sets the stage for everything else that will happen. The entire show can kinda be divided into pre and post Coushatta

Wiedersehen

-Slow down, I’m wearin flip flops!

-I didn’t know I needed an origin story for that fucking bell until I got it

-The! … suspense… ! They really make you think Werner is gonna explode and then he does but not how you expected

-Jimmy driving like a bat out of hell through the S&C parking garage is a vibe

-The way Jimmy’s voice quivers when he says to Kim “you look at me and you see Slippin Jimmy” 😭I just want to comfort him

Winner

-ICONIC karaoke scene

-Mike’s gum trick was so slick. What can I say the man knows parking

-Two details about Kristy Esposito reinforce Jimmy seeing himself in her: Howard’s question to her was about working with elders and she’s the only candidate wearing a fun funky shirt

-Michael, is that you? 😏

-I’ll do everything in my power to be worthy of the name McGill… changes his name 5 minutes later

[smolwritingchick]

Forced To Believe Chapter 61- Catching Up With Old Friends

Summary: Melanie visits TNA and live tweets for Raw. Melanie goes with CM Punk to a tattoo shop.

Words: 4,000+

Back in Philly, Melanie arrived back home, walking inside her parents' place.

"I'm home!" she shouted.

She immediately heard her Parson Russell Terrier happily barking and running towards her.

"Ellie! Hey girl. Did you miss me?" She happily petted her and gave her belly rubs.

She laughed as she began licking her. After playing with her dog, she placed her bags in her room and got settled in. A while later, she heard the doorbell ring and looked into the peephole as a smile crept on her face.

"Who is it~?" Melanie grinned.

"Bitch! Open the door! You know it's me, grapes!" Leah chuckled.

"What's the password?"

"Melanie is awesome."

She opened the door. "Good enough."

Once Leah saw her, she engulfed her in a big hug and spun her around after heading inside.

"I missed you!" Leah beamed and released her.

"I missed you, too! You've lifted a lot more weights. Jeesh."

They shared a laugh while Melanie shut the door.

"I saw what happened last night, oh my gosh you do not know how mad I am because of what Rosa and Evolution did."

"Haha. A lot of fans are angry."

"How's the neck?"

"Sore but it'll go away in a couple of days. I just got a call not too long ago that they've made changes to the storyline. They want me back sooner rather than later. And I'm like wow, all this last minute and sudden changes,"

"That's WWE for you. Last minute storyline changes. Your acting was wild. You had me crying when you were in that ambulance!"

"Glad I made it believable!"  

"My parents should be coming home soon. They're out shopping. And...it's almost time for Raw, good,"

"You gotta tweet during the WWE shows?" Leah sat next to her on the couch after they grabbed some snacks.

"Yep. Knowing me always being on Twitter, they didn't even have to ask me."

Once the show was on, Leah shouted, "Are you serious!?" when it was announced that Dean Ambrose would be in a battle royal for his US title.

Melanie tweets 'Seriously? I wish I was there to support you but good luck baby! #BelieveInAmbrose'

As they watched Raw, Diego, and Jane finally returned with their shopping bags.

"Melanie!" Jane placed her bags down and rushed over to her.

"Hey, mom!" Melanie stood up to hug her tightly.

"I missed you, sweetie!" She began giving her several kisses all over her face.

"Mom!" she complained.

Leah giggled and greeted her and Diego before helping with the bags. Jane and Melanie followed them and she hugged her dad.

"Melanie, how's the neck?" he asked.

"Sore, but it'll heal in a couple of days."

After everyone got situated, they went to the living room to continue watching the preshow of Raw.

Dean stands in the middle of Roman and Seth.

"I didn't get into this business...because it was easy..." Dean said with seriousness. "And you don't hold on to the United States champion for a year because you can't handle pressure. And you see 20 to one odds. I just see a tough night at the office because when you represent The Shield, when you represent this. The new symbol of excellence, you hold yourself to a higher standard. I'm sure Triple H, Rosa, and The Authority think this is pretty funny."

"They look so serious. Their facial reactions are amazing." Jane said.

"I know right! How did you do it?" Leah wondered.

"Do what?" Melanie asked.

"Deal with them glaring at you when you were feuding with them?"

"I had to get used to it. Especially with Joe. I remember we had a segment when he was yelling and screaming at me. Those tears I shed were real, not fake. I was scared. But that was when I first started because it's been a long time since we all worked together and when his character got a little bit renewed, it took a few weeks to get used to. He's a big teddy bear though,"

"But I'm not complaining. Because I gotta get up in the morning no matter what happens and I gotta answer to me," Ambrose continued. "So what I'm gonna do...is throw punches until my arm falls off! Because I am the dirtiest, meanest, nastiest, most rotten son of a gun to walk on this planet and I'll tell you this, I wouldn't want to be any of those 19 other guys trying to steal from me and take what's mine."

"That's right," Seth said. "You got this...you got this, but I'm telling you guys, something still doesn't feel right about the situation. If anything happens out there and if this turns into anything more than it's supposed to be..."

"We got your back. Believe that. And believe in The Shield." Roman reassured.

------

"Welcome to Monday night Raw! We are kicking things off with a unique United States championship match." Cole said as The Shield walked through the crowd. "Dean Ambrose will defend his United States championship by the orders of The Authority in a 20 man over the top rope battle royal."

"Oh my gosh..." King said with worry.

Melanie tweets 'Which is a load of crap...'

"And perhaps this is punishment from last night," Cole went on.

"Speaking of last night, as you can see Morgan isn't here,"

"Yes and we have just gotten word that Morgan will be out of action for her neck injury. Rosa defeated Morgan with the help of Evolution after they ambushed The Shield backstage, last night."

"And after the match, they sickeningly assaulted her. It was hard to watch."

"On a positive note, she's tweeting live, right now! At least she'll be tweeting while watching Raw." JBL added.

Melanie tweets 'I have a bad feeling...'

During the match, Dean managed to survive throughout the match. It was the final five. Him, Jack, Ryback, Axel and Sheamus. Ryback and Axel began to take on Ambrose and gang up on him.

"I am just surprised at that man, the current champion, Dean Ambrose is still in this match!" Cole exclaimed.

Melanie tweets 'It's going to be okay. Nothing bad is going to happen. #NailBiting'

Ryback and Axel try to eliminate Dean but he hangs on and lands on the apron. He manages to eliminate Axel as the crowd cheers. Ryback gets tossed over the apron and starts punching Dean back and forth. Ryback runs towards him but Dean dropkicks him on the knees, making him fall off the apron.

Melanie tweets 'That's what I'm talking about, baby! Yes!'

"And we're down to three!" Cole said as Jack tried to pick up Dean.

Dean manages to get back down on his feet and pick up Jack to throw him out of the ring.

Melanie tweets 'Just one more! One more! You got this!'

The crowd goes wild until Rosa runs down the ramp.

"What the what is she doing here!?" Cole exclaimed.

She gets on the apron and starts yelling at Ambrose. The crowd starts to boo while Seth and Roman look alert at the situation.

"Aren't you missing a certain Outspoken Diva?" Rosa got under his skin and smirked.

Dean glares at her and his emotions start to get out of control.

"What are you going to do Dean? What? Are you mad that your precious Morgan had her career ended by the hands of me? Poor darling." she went on.

"Rosa and her mind games," JBL looked on as Seth and Roman started to argue with her.

Roman tries to grab her but Rosa evades his attempt and runs around the ring, making him and Seth chase her. Dean turns around to receive a Brogue Kick from Sheamus.

"Oh my gosh!" King exclaimed.

"Oh!" Jane and Leah shouted.

"This isn't good," Diego mumbled.

"Come on Dean!" Jane shouted at the TV, making Melanie chuckle.

Melanie tweets 'Son of a...'

"Sheamus just blindsided Ambrose!" Cole exclaimed.

"And all thanks to Rosa. That kick took his head off!" King shouted.

Sheamus picks Dean up and throws him out the ring.

"Ambrose eliminated! Sheamus is the new United States champion!" Cole shouted as Sheamus celebrated.

Roman and Seth stop chasing Rosa and look annoyed. She starts jogging up the ramp and grins in satisfaction.

"Damn it!" Leah pouted. "Really Rosa? Really!?"

"Hahaha!" Rosa laughed at The Shield.

Melanie tweets 'I wish I could wipe that smirk off her face...it's okay guys. Stay strong.'

Roman and Seth help Dean up while Sheamus gets out of the ring and celebrates with the title. The Shield get back in the ring. Dean slams his fist on the mat, looking upset.

"What are you supposed to do y'know? You were this close man; you were this close." Seth spoke up.

Triple H walks out, meeting up with Rosa on the stage. He pats her back and smirks at The Shield.

"Last night Evolution engaged in an unforgettable war. And at the end of it, you three were extremely lucky. But...one member wasn't. Looks like Morgan failed to adapt. And I can guarantee she's not going to be seen here any time soon." He said as The Shield shot him dirty looks.

Ambrose leans on the ropes and starts gritting his teeth.

"Ambrose is crazy." Diego chuckled.

"You just noticed that? I love him!" Jane grinned.

Melanie tweets 'Guess I'm a taboo subject here.'

"Now...since Ambrose just lost his US championship, it looks like your luck is changing. And considering the fact that at the end of the night tonight, the three of you are gonna be in six­ man competition... against the Wyatt Family." Triple H announced, earning loud cheers. "I'd be willing to say, your luck has run out."

"What a main event!" Cole said.

"Is there no end to the vindictiveness of Triple H?" King asked.

"I think it's good for business. What a great main event for Monday Night Raw!" JBL added.

-----------

The Shield and The Wyatt family get into it in a back and forth match. The match begins to pick up when Roman gets tagged in and takes the Wyatts down with superman punches, apron clotheslines and a top rope flying clothesline. He sets up for the superman punch until Erick goes after him.

All members of each team get in the ring and start to get into it while Dean and Seth hit Erick and Luke with a suicide dive out of the ring. Roman hits Bray with the superman punch and stalks him with his teammates. All of a sudden Evolution's theme comes on.

"Oh my God, here they come!" Cole shouted as Evolution and Rosa walked out.

Melanie tweets 'Frustrations...building...'

The Shield face off against Evolution as they walk down the ramp. Seth and Dean take out Evolution, Erick, and Luke with another suicide dive but then Bray blasts Reigns and quickly hits him with the Sister Abigail for his team's win.

Melanie tweets 'Should have known...'

Evolution starts attacking The Shield while Rosa watches. Batista throws Ambrose into the steel steps while Orton hits Rollins with a DDT off the top rope. Batista hits Ambrose with a spinebuster on top of the steel steps while Roman escapes Triple H's pedigree. Orton waits until Roman turns around to receive an RKO. Triple H gets angry and hits Roman with a pedigree.

"Triple H is livid," Cole said as Evolution stood tall.

Melanie tweets 'I just wish I could help...'

"Pick him up here! Come on!" Batista shouted as Orton and Triple H picked him up so they could hit him with the triple powerbomb.

Rosa gets on the top rope and strikes Roman with a diving clothesline while Evolution slams Roman down.

"Triple powerbomb with a clothesline. It took six men to leave the three members of The Shield laying tonight." Cole looked on as Rosa and Evolution put their fists out.

"No way!" Jane shouted. "They just did you see that?"

"Wow..." Leah shook her head.

"Haha! This is insane!" Melanie laughed.

Melanie tweets 'This bitch...really? First of all, you didn't do the move right.'

"Evolution is not through with The Shield," Cole said.

Melanie tweets 'Don't worry, you only just motivated my boys. They're going to kick your asses. #JustYouWatch'

-----

Since Melanie was going to be off the road for a while, she finally had the opportunity to visit Phil and April in Chicago. She has talked to Phil about getting a tattoo for the past year now and he finally talked her into coming to Chicago to get one. She was nervous but excited about the new ink.

Melanie tweets 'Okay...I think I'm ready. Ready to get that tattoo CMPunk #TattooBuddies'

Phil replies 'Sweet. I'll be waiting for you. Don't chicken out on me WWEMorgan101'

Melanie replies back 'CMPunk hardy har har. I won't. Promise! #TryingNewThings #Inked'

Her twitter was already getting blown up with the idea of her getting a tattoo and hanging out with CM Punk, the man who walked out on WWE. But she'd always remain friends with him. After meeting up with him, the two headed over to the shop and she checked out all the different designs.

"Nervous?" Phil asked with a smile.

"A little," she admitted.

"Come on, you said you wanted one and you wanted your best guy friend there."

"You're one of my best guy friends."

"What? I'm hurt. I thought I was number one." He playfully replied in a saddened voice.

"You'll live, man," She patted him on the back.

"So what are you getting and where?" He asked as they checked out all the different designs.

"Well..."

After a few hours of tattooing, her tattoos were finally done and she showed them off.

"Gosh, how do you do it, dude? How do you stand the pain?!" Melanie asked.

"It's not that bad."

"Easy for you to say. Anyway, here's the first one." She put her hair up and revealed her name in Chinese writing. The tattoo was small and ran down from her upper back to down on her spine to stop before the middle of her back.

"That's sick!" Phil nodded in approval. "And the other one?"

She let her hair down and showed him her right wrist. It had the name Mox and each letter was attached to each other, having an easily seen cursive font to it.

"You went for a wrist tat? I'm proud of you."

"I'm flattered."

"So, what's the story behind that?"

"Working with Jon as Jon Moxley was my favorite part of the indies. He's someone I'll cherish forever because if I didn't have that feud with him, I wouldn't have been my Morgan character. I'd probably be a girly character today in WWE, honestly. Plus, I wouldn't be wrestling guys and stuff if it wasn't for him."

"Nice. I wonder how Jane is going to react,"

"I think she'll be okay,"

"She's going to freak out."

"No, I really think she'll be okay."

---------

"Are you crazy!?" Jane shouted, making Leah wince and hold her ear. "You—­you got a tattoo!?"

"Two, actually," Melanie revealed, making her exhale and sit on the couch.

"Come on sweetheart, she's not destroying her body. Like she said they have stories behind it." Diego said, trying to save her from the situation.

"I think they look awesome!" Leah grinned.

Jane exhaled. "All right. They do look really interesting."

"Does Jon or anyone know?" Leah wondered.

"Yep, they just didn't see it though," Melanie replied.

"Man, I want to see Colby's reaction. He's going to be elated when he sees that you two have almost similar matching tattoos."

"Can't wait to see the look on his face when he finds out, that I actually went along with his idea. He thought I was going to chicken out on getting tattoos."

------

The next day, Jane, Leah, Diego, and Melanie head over to Jane's new bakery.

"I can't believe this is happening," Jane looked around in excitement.

She saw her bakery sign called 'Jane's' and saw some employees already in the shop to prepare the free samples.

Melanie tweets 'Wanna meet Jane and I? Come down to Philly for the grand opening of Jane's bakery! Check out the free samples!'

Seconds later WWE's Twitter retweets it and so does the roster until the fans start retweeting it, gaining more traction.

"Word travels fast, huh?" Diego chuckled. "The power of technology."

"Let's not wait any longer!" Jane rushed inside and looked around. "This is amazing!"

After Jane worked with the employees to get everything good and ready for the day, she shared some of the free samples with Melanie, Leah, and Diego as they raved over the deliciousness. The cookies they tried were soft and just the right amount of sugar.

When it was time for the grand opening there was a big crowd, making Jane's day even more better. The fans got photos of her and Melanie and asked Melanie about her neck. Melanie told them she was doing great and couldn't wait to get back in the ring.

-------

With permission from WWE, Melanie decided to visit her old TNA friends. After talking with Dixie and catching up with the guys, she walked inside the Knockout's locker room, she caught up with Madison Rayne, Velvet, Gail, and Angelina Love. It was great to see them still thriving in the company.

Later when it was time for the show and the little segment she had planned, Melanie sat by ringside.

Angel on my shoulder comes on as the Beautiful People walk out in black evening gowns. They were about to compete in an elimination evening gown match against Brittany and Madison Rayne.

"The following Knockout contest is an evening gown match. Introducing first, the Beautiful People!" Christy Hemme announced.

As soon as Angelina and Velvet walk to ringside, they spot Melanie.

"Oh my gosh!" Velvet grinned and rushed over to her with Angelina.

"Melanie! You're here!" Angelina beamed while Melanie stood up and hugged them with a big smile on her face.

"And look who we have at ringside! Melanie!" Taz announced.

"Melanie visiting TNA, I wonder what's going to happen when she sees Madison again." Mike Tenay wondered, recapping their past feud years ago.

"And their opponents, introducing first from Orlando, Florida, Brittany!" Christy announced as she strutted down the ring, tagging some hands.

'She's a Killa Queen'

"And her tag team partner, from Seattle, Washington, Madison Rayne!"

Madison grinned and twirled around before doing her princess wave.

"This is all Madison's fault. She could have been back with the beautiful people but she turned it down." Taz said as Madison stopped at the end of the ramp and turned her attention to Melanie.

"Uh oh." Mike looked on as she walked over to Melanie.

The Outspoken Diva slowly stood up, facing off against her as the crowd cheered in anticipation.

"I thought these two were done! They still have beef?"

"Don't worry, Melanie! We got her! We got her for ya!" Angelina reassured while Madison got in the ring.

Brittany was impressive, hitting Velvet with a moonsault. She is about to take Velvet's gown off but Madison hits her out of the ring as the ref orders her to get back on the apron. Melanie chuckles at the Beautiful People's dirty work while Angelina holds Brittany's foot so Velvet can eliminate her.

"Brittany has been eliminated," Christy announced.

"Madison is now out numbered," Mike looked on.

"Three on one. Who knows what Melanie is going to do? I can still feel the tension between those two." Taz stated.

Madison holds her own until she gets thrown into the ropes by Velvet. Angelina makes her fall flat on her face by pulling on her legs.

"That was nice, wasn't it?" Angelina grinned and high fived Melanie before getting back on the apron.

"Come on, queen." Velvet choked her on the middle ropes.

Madison fights back and spears Velvet before stripping Velvet.

"And now it's gonna be a one on one match." Mike looked on.

Angelina attacks Madison from behind and chokes her with Velvet's gown.

"How do you like that!?" Angelina shouted before releasing her. "I got her, I got her."

Madison starts fighting back and starts choking her with Velvet's gown before throwing her across the ring a couple of times. All of a sudden, Velvet walks down to the ring again with a towel, distracting her and the ref.

"What are you doing!?" Madison exclaimed before Velvet showed her body to the ref. "You're disgusting, Velvet! Really!? Really!? Really!?"

"Wow," Melanie mumbled while Angelina sprayed Madison with hairspray and stripped her to win the match.

"Your winners! The beautiful people!" Christy announced while Madison covered her eyes.

Velvet meets up with Angelina in the ring and celebrates with her. Melanie jumps off the barricade and walks up the steps.

"And now Melanie is going to celebrate with them," Taz said while Velvet and Angelina hugged her.

The three of them grab a mic while Madison continues to hold her eyes in the ring, still looking embarrassed. She recovers and goes to spear Angelina until Velvet beats her down and holds her down into a headlock.

"How dare you!? How dare you, disrespect us!? You were a nobody! A nobody! Before you were in the beautiful people!" Angelina screamed.

"Don't forget that!" Velvet screamed.

"The only reason we hired your ugly butt was to make us look better! But that's all gonna change. Right...now." Angelina grabbed a brown paper bag with her face on it and put it on Madison's head as the crowd booed.

"This is total humiliation," Mike murmured.

Melanie starts to look uncomfortable. This wasn't right at all.

Angelina and Velvet laugh and high five each other.

"Come on Melanie, hit her!" Velvet shouted.

As she continues to watch, she starts to look upset. In the ring she saw two different women. Madison Rayne and the Madison Rayne years ago. The difference? Madison suffered a lot because of the beautiful people and has been humiliated by them so many times. And maybe that was why she did what she did. She tried to be Melanie's friend but instead took her anger out on her.

Madison has changed a lot these past few years and she wasn't the same heartless, wicked woman anymore. She had a baby and changed her ways. Started to do what was right. And maybe Melanie should do the same.

"Is...is Melanie going to hit her?" Taz questioned.

Suddenly she walked up to Madison and took the paper bag off of her, ripping it into pieces as the crowd cheered.

"What are you doing?" Velvet exclaimed.

"The hell are you doing!?" Angelina shouted.

"Madison...you've made my life a living hell back when I was in TNA but I fought back against you. You've changed a lot over the years and you're trying to do what's right. Now Angelina, Velvet, are you seriously doing this childish crap again?" Melanie asked.

"Are you kidding me!?" Velvet shouted.

"First of all, you two aren't beautiful. You're ugly. Ugly personalities. I'm not a beautiful person and I never will be. I'm a Killa Queen just like Madison." she dropped the mic while Madison speared Velvet, making her roll out the ring.

"Look at this! They're working together?" Taz exclaimed as Angelina's jaw dropped.

Angelina walks over to see Velvet down and out at ringside. As soon as she turns around, she gets hit with a double clothesline by Madison and Melanie. The crowd begins to cheer when she helps Madison take off Angelina's gown and throw her out of the ring.

"Are you kidding me!?" Velvet screamed as she helped Angelina and tried to cover her up.

Melanie chuckled. "Sorry."

She shrugged while Madison's theme came back on. She turns around and grins at her before hugging her.

"Whoa, look at this! They did make up!" Taz looked on. "Two enemies helping each other out."

"Two former enemies." Mike corrected while Melanie raised Madison's hand.

"This isn't over!" Angelina shouted while Madison gave them the princess wave.

---------

Smackdown was underway with each member of The Shield in singles competition for the night. Unfortunately, Ambrose failed to recapture the US championship from Sheamus and was upset as he banged on the mat, mumbling, "Damn it!"

Then, Roman defeated Mark Henry after giving him a Samoan drop over the top rope, showing off his power, and then a spear. And finally, Rollins took on Batista but lost by count out after Batista evaded Seth's dive, hitting his head on the announce table.

Even though the match was over, Batista decided to throw Seth back in the ring and began beating him up.

"Batista just wants to punish Rollins now," Cole said after Batista hit him with a Batista bomb. "That was completely uncalled for and unnecessary."

Melanie tweets 'Ooh...I just wanna...I'm going to do something that's going to hurt Evolution and Rosa...mentally.'

Later that evening, Rosa was in action against Naomi, having a back and forth match.

"Rosa is really holding her own here tonight," JBL looked on, impressed, as Rosa threw Naomi into the steel post outside the ring.

"This is a scary change in Rosa's character. She's very vindictive." Cole added as Rosa threw Naomi back in the ring.

Rosa tries to take control but Naomi starts fighting back with the crowd behind her. She goes for the rearview but Rosa kicks her butt, making Naomi fall.

"And Rosa counters." Cole watched as she grabbed her for the Gory Bomb, making a sick impact on the mat.

"1!"

"2!"

"3!"

"And Rosa continues to dominate," Cole announced as she got her hand raised.

Naomi rolls out of the ring while Rosa grabs a mic. A 'Rosa Sucks' chant surrounds the arena, making her glare at the crowd.

Moments later, she laughed. "Oh Morgan, how does it feel to see your friends get beaten up by me? I am the best diva­—"

'I've had enough I'm taking you down'

"What!?" Cole exclaimed.

"Morgan's back!" JBL shouted as Rosa's eyes widened and started to look nervous.

The crowd goes wild as they patiently wait for Morgan to come out but then her theme fades out.

"Wait a minute..." Cole said suspiciously.

Melanie tweets 'Corny bluff...Laugh while you can...'

Rosa starts laughing again, making the crowd even more angry with her.

"Haha, you fell for it! You all fell for it! I mean come on, did you really think Morgan is going to come back to the WWE? I ended her career. She's gone. She's done. Morgan doesn't have what it takes to be a top diva. I do. I'm even better than Paige! And I know you and her are buddies, but I'm going to show you that I can beat the Diva's champion. So believe that and believe in Rosa Mendes." She blew a kiss and exited the ring.

"Rosa is continuing her dominance. Will anyone stop her?" Cole wondered.

"I don't know but Paige better watch out. She may have a new challenger for her championship." JBL stated.

[ptrckjcne]

⇨ What You Do When You Love Someone

pairing: luke alvez x penelope garcia word count: 3.5k timeline: canon divergent, post evolution 16x06

luke deals with the aftermath of the explosion. penelope takes care of him.

read on archive of our own, or below the cut!

He was dizzy. He had been hiding it, knowing he would have been sent home the very same second he opened his mouth if he had let anyone know, but he was dizzy. Oh, and he had a headache. Getting into it, he was in a fair share of pain too, but like his dizziness and the headache, he wasn’t about to let it spill. Truth be told, it wasn’t the first time Luke had been within close proximity of an explosion (though he did believe it was the first time he’d been attempted killed by someone with the mentality of Sicarius), but it still didn’t mean he was immune to the unfortunate side-effects – such as the dizziness, the pain, and the faint ringing in his ears. 

Luke groaned as he shifted in his chair, the bullpen quiet around him. He was desperately trying to focus on the paperwork on his desk, the report of the explosion he had just been in doing nothing to help with any of his post-explosion symptoms. Most of the team had gone home long ago; JJ had left as soon as she had been able to, wishing to spend her evening within the comfort of her own home with her family. He had barely seen Penelope since his return to the headquarters, same with David. Emily, however, had stuck around, hovering around him like a ghost, and while it was something along the lines of stressful, it was still oddly comforting. 

It was almost like she knew he was hiding something, and instead of pushing him to spill, she would look out for him. Her route to whatever, wherever, would be placed right alongside Luke’s desk, something new shoved across the surface each time – a cup of coffee, tylenol, a sandwich, a chocolate bar. At one point she even shoved a stack of post-it notes onto his desk, the top one displaying a short, but sweet message about how he was doing a good job (the bit about his work not going to be so good if he didn’t go home and rest was unwritten, but heavily implied, and he could see it in her eyes when he lifted his gaze and made eye-contact with her).

The next time she stopped by his desk, she stopped, pulling a chair closer as she found herself sitting down to keep him company. “How much does it hurt?”

“What?”

“Don’t play coy with me, Alvez.” Emily spoke dryly, shifting her position slightly as she crossed one leg over the other. However, he didn’t respond, hanging his head low as he tried to return his focus to the words on the pages scattered across the desk. “If it’s like anything I’ve ever experienced, you’re probably dizzy, you have a headache and ringing of the ears, as well as various aspects of other physical pains.” She trailed off, tilting her head slightly as his hand came up to his face, pinching the bridge of his nose in an attempt to ground himself, the words on the pages jumbling together. “Right?”

He sighed, letting his hand drop to the desk as he sat back, stifling another groan. “I’m fine, Prentiss. I really am.” Luke offered her a weak smile, knowing it was the furthest thing from convincing – he just had to try. After all, if successful, he could be coaxing her away from his desk so he could find an abandoned office where he could be spending the night, the overnight bag he kept at his desk meaning he technically wouldn’t have to go home for clothes – and, seeing as Roxy was with her dog sitter for the night, he didn’t have anyone waiting for him. “I’ll try to get this-,” he waved his hand wildly around the desk, not to a specific sheet of paper, though to the entire mess in general. “By the end of the night. The sooner we move on and catch this sick son of a bitch, the better.” 

“You know I agree, Luke.” Emily sighed, head still tilted as he finally lifted his gaze to look at her, his eyes betraying his words as he truly showed how tired he was. “But we won’t be able to catch this son of a bitch if you fall asleep in the middle of a take-down, or if we have to check you into the emergency room because you haven’t been looking out for yourself.” 

“It’s okay, I promise. I can survive a little pain. As for being dizzy, I’ve had my fair share of carousel-rides during my childhood, and this little thing’s got nothing on what I went through back then.” He scoffed, poorly masking the wince that came with the jolting huff that came to his ribs. Emily, however, chose not to comment on it, though the frown conquered her face, even for just a brief second, gave her away. “Besides, I’ve been through worse. Some bruised ribs and a headache won’t stop me, no matter how much it hurts.” Luke flashed her a crooked, toothy grin, and while it didn’t reach his eyes, and it definitely didn’t convince Emily of whatever it was he wanted to truly tell her, she sighed somewhat defeatedly and got up, reaching out to place a hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t overdo it, Luke. Promise me that?”

His smile faltered, exchanged for a smaller, albeit genuine one as he nodded. “Yeah, I promise. I’ll head out as soon as this is done.” 

“Don’t think I won’t notice if you stay.” Emily responded, her tone sounding an awful lot like a warning, which seemed off, because she wouldn’t be warning him, a former Army Ranger, to head home and take care of himself? Surely he was able to reach those conclusions on his own. 

Luke’s mind seemed to cloud over again as Emily left, the words still nothing but a still jumble on the papers, and he found himself pinching the bridge of his nose, wincing slightly at something of an aftershave stench overwhelmed his senses as another agent rushed past his desk. Part of him could feel Emily’s gaze on him from where she stood on the walkway outside her office, clearly still worrying about him, and Luke wondered – just for a moment – if she would have been worrying about JJ the same way if she had still been around the bullpen, and not at home with her family.

He kept avoiding her, time feeling like it was standing still or moving at the pace of a sloth, and at some point he must have dozed off, because when he came to it, someone was sitting in the chair opposite of him – and this time it wasn’t Emily. Luke rubbed his eyes tiredly, beard scratching against the palms of his hands as he huffed into his hands. “Hey there. Been here a long time?”

“Half an hour, maybe.” Penelope sighed, her tone gentle as she looked at him, head slightly tilted. Luke found himself trying to wrap his head around just why she was sitting opposite of him, knowing she went home at a somewhat respectable hour (unlike himself), knowing she hated having to stay longer than she was needed to. He wasn’t going to lie, he did feel guilty that they had roped her back into it, but he didn’t regret it even for a second. Especially not when it had her sitting there, by his desk, keeping his hurt self company as he became far too aware that he’d never be able to finalise the report on his desk. “You know, she’s not expecting you to finish that.”

“No.” Luke admitted sheepishly, wincing slightly as he leaned back against the chair, the hard edge of the chair pressing against his sore back. “But I am expecting me to finish it.”

Penelope seemed like she wanted to respond, yet remained quiet, instead standing and offering Luke a hand. “Come on, you’re going home.” Her tone was still quiet and gentle, a tone that was far too easy for Luke to tell no, maybe even ignore, if it hadn’t been for the fact that it was Penelope. “Don’t you think Roxy is waiting for you? I’m sure she’s been pacing around, waiting for you to take her on her evening walk all afternoon.” 

“Roxy’s – uh, she’s with her dog sitter.” Luke lifted a hand to rub at his neck, muscles sore where he worked to relieve some of the tension. He froze, though, as Penelope came around the desk, linking her hand with his. “What are you–,”

“I’m taking you home, Luke.” 

He shifted uncomfortably in his chair, though he didn’t stand, even when Penelope gave his hand a gentle tug. “I thought we-,”

This got Penelope to roll her eyes, even just slightly, as she gave his hand another tug, a bit firmer this time. She dropped his hand as if it was a hot potato, though, when he winced, the jostling move of her tug upsetting his sore muscles. “Thinking is not your strong-suit, so please, just get up and let me take you home.” Penelope sighed again, not quite able to hide the pleased grin on her face as he came to standing up, towering above her. Throwing a look in the direction of Emily’s office, and though the blinds were shut, he was certain Penelope’s late-night return to the office was her doing.

Sucking in a sharp breath, he told himself he would have to thank her for it.

“I’m driving.” He grumbled as he ambled behind her, the pleased bounce in her step keeping her at a pace a little too quick for him. Truthfully, had it been earlier in the day – before he sat down at his desk – he could have been able to keep up with her, the adrenaline keeping his head in the game. She didn’t complain, however, as he got into the driver’s seat, happily getting into the passenger’s seat herself. Penelope did, however, tamper with the radio, some god awful pop-song channel flowing from the radio, causing Luke to grimace (not necessarily because the songs were so bad, but because they didn’t go very well with his headache).

Reaching Luke’s apartment building, it was Penelope who followed behind Luke in a slow pace, eyebrows furrowed as she observed him fumble with the keys to his front door, not failing to pick up on his grumbling (though she didn’t pick up exactly what he was grumbling). “Look, I’m fine – you don’t have to come in.” Luke sighed, turning on his heel to look at her, though found himself turning too quickly and ended up swaying on his feet. “Yeah, okay, maybe I’ll let you help me get inside and to the couch.” 

Penelope reached out, one hand gently on his forearm, the other on his shoulder, as she led him inside. “Go shower, Luke, and I’ll freshen this place up a little bit.” She shot him a reassuring smile, immediately getting herself to work. The drapes remained closed, although she cracked open a couple of windows. In one of the cupboards in Luke’s kitchen, Penelope found a couple of scented candles that he couldn’t remember he had ever gotten (which meant they were left there when Lisa moved out). Humming to herself, she moved around, though it was not until she had to physically push (more like gently nudge, not wanting to cause any pain) Luke out of the way, she sighed, tilting her head to look at him. “I wasn’t aware you were that quick to shower. Interesting choice to put on the same outfit as well.”

“Penelope-,”

“Luke.” She cut him off, hands placed firmly against his shoulders as he swallowed nervously. “Go shower, please. I’ll order something for us to eat, because I took one look in your fridge, and we need to do something about the food you keep in your house, mister.” She swatted at his chest, nudging past him to fetch the take-out menus she had found in his kitchen. He remained in the same spot for a while longer, simply observing her, how at home she seemed within the walls of his residence, his home, and it left him with a mixed set of emotions as he compared it to the tragedy they called their date.

Eventually, he caved, though he cut down his shower-time drastically, keeping it a lot closer to the three minute Navy-length than his usual ten minutes. Dressed in grey sweats and a black t-shirt, he returned to the living room, finding Penelope there, looking very much at home on his couch, the remote to his TV in her hand. “What did you order?”

“Indian, from that place down the street. You had circled out some options on the menu, so you better hope they’re good, or I will complain for the rest of the night.” Penelope shrugged, pulling up some ridiculous reality show on the TV, before patting the couch next to her. “Come on, I know you’re in pain, so I got you some tylenol. I know you didn’t actually take any of the ones Emily offered to you. Even that Douglas guy reported to her that he saw you drop things into the drawer on your desk.”

He sat down, but was quick to shift uncomfortably in his seat, swallowing nervously – again. “Yeah, I-,” he cleared his throat a little, focusing his gaze on the screen, trying to ignore the throbbing of his head at the fluorescent light flickering from the TV screen. “Didn’t feel right, I guess.”

“So you’d much rather be in pain?” Penelope turned towards him, her focus completely abandoning the TV screen and the fairly stupid episode of some dating show that was playing on it. “Luke, please look at me. I worry about you.” She scooted a little closer, noticing how his jaw clenched as she reached out to put her hand on his forearm, the soft fabric of his hoodie transferring the warmth of her palm to his skin. “I sat by and watched your camera feed die. I thought you had died.”

He sighed heavily, breathing ragged as he tilted his head in her direction, bruises along his ribs hurting – grounding him. “But I didn’t.”

“You could have.” Penelope’s voice was weaker, the grip on Luke’s arm tightening, and he found himself grateful that it wasn’t his hurt wrist she was holding onto as he sucked in a sharp breath. “I don’t think I could have lived with myself if you died out there in the field, and it would not just be because I had been watching the feed go dead.” 

Luke snorted out a laugh, an inelegant sound as he turned away from her again, stretching his legs out underneath the coffee table. “Is that so?” His tone was cooler again, jaw set tensely. He didn’t mean to come across as rude, or cold, or to dismiss Penelope’s feelings. No, actually, Penelope’s feelings was one of the things he cared the very most about, but even three years after the tragedy of a dinner, it still stung, the hurt and possibly even regret seeping out of him. He had offered his heart to her, and had it stomped on in return. “Look, I’m fine and I’m alive. Guess you won’t have to figure out what it’s like to live without me just yet.”

For a fleeting moment, Penelope thought of Tyler, who probably spent his afternoon lounging on the couch of her apartment, covered in short, black cat hairs, both him and the cats’ fur a stark contrast to the otherwise bright and happy vibe of her apartment. But Tyler didn’t matter. No, Tyler who had somehow pushed himself into Penelope’s life, and found himself occupying the apartment belonging to Penelope, he didn’t matter – at all. 

Luke? Luke mattered.

“I’m glad I don’t have to live without you.” Penelope uttered, voice a little stronger, her gaze locked on him as he pulled away from her touch, groaning as he stood up to pace. There was a slight limp in his step, and hadn’t it been for their current situation, their current conversation, Penelope would have eased him back down, asked him what hurt, and she would have gotten something to ice it down with. Right now, however, he needed to pace, and she somehow just knew. 

He froze, turned, dark eyes looking at her as he sought out what she meant. “What’s that supposed to mean? Last time we had a true heart-to-heart, that wasn’t related to work, you told me my person is still out there, and so is yours.” Luke’s voice had dropped, barely even a whisper as he trailed off, struggling as he tore his gaze away from her. Clearing his throat, he straightened up and found both his courage and his voice as he turned back to her. “How am I supposed to know what to do, or say, when this is how we do things?”

“What if I came to realise I messed up?” Penelope was standing now too, and she wasn’t quite sure when it happened, but it felt needed – she felt in the need of evening their battleground, even as Luke still stood taller than her (and truth be told, he might not be angry now, but just the view of his tensed up self now, Penelope found herself feeling sorry for those in life who had to come up against an angry Luke). 

Luke laughed, a bitter and harsh sound as he lifted his hand to rub at his jaw, the scratching sound almost hypnotic along with the sounds from the TV, which they, quite frankly, had forgotten was even on. He opened his mouth, about to continue, when the doorbell rang, and his hand fell, along with their built up tempers and walls, and Penelope sighed. 

“I guess that’s the food.” She shifted uneasily from one foot to the other, watching as Luke huffed, crossing the living room to find his wallet, nearly mutely accepting the food and handing the delivery guy his tip. “Luke, I’m sorry-,”

“You’re not making it any easier, you know.” He groused, his back turned to her as he picked plates from the cupboards of his kitchen, stiff muscles long lost to adrenaline (though he was already dreading the silent approach of night, when he would be alone with his head and his pains). “This whole situation, you, me, my feelings, the explosion, everything that comes with it – I had it all under control.”

Penelope remained quiet, swallowing nervously as she watched him, his slow movements as he turned, pressing his back against the counter. Luke’s gaze had softened, a deep sigh rolling off him as if it brought some of the weight from his shoulders with it. “What do you mean?”

He laughed again, though this time it was free, it was happier. “Come on, Penelope.” Luke wrapped his fingers around the edge of the counter, knuckles turning white as he gripped onto the hard edge of the marble. “You know, I was really excited for that date we went on. I don’t know why it failed, though … maybe we tried too hard, maybe I had too many expectations.” He sighed, chewing on the inside of his cheek as he lowered his head. “I don’t know. I think I failed you, and I’ve hated myself for that.”

“No, Luke – you didn’t fail anyone.” Penelope rushed out, and though she had walked over to him twice, and kissed him thoroughly, in her mind already, she was still standing in the living room, both the couch and Luke’s kitchen island keeping them divided. “I was nervous. I haven’t had the best experiences with dates, and I guess I was just stressing out about it, but then-,” she trailed off, swallowing hard as she felt herself choke up. “Watching that feed, and seeing it all go away … I couldn’t cope with it, Luke.”

His gaze had returned upwards, meeting hers as he sunk his teeth deep into his lower lip. “I know we have dinner, like, right here-,” he motioned towards the kitchen island, where the thin, white plastic bag containing the warm Indian food she had ordered for them stood, plates and cutlery neatly placed next to it. “But, I need to ask you this.”

Luke breathed the words out, as he moved to the back of the couch, still keeping the piece of furniture between them, as if he thought it could protect him if Penelope decided to act out. “I would really like to take you out on another date.” He uttered the words slowly, almost as if he was tasting each letter, trying out one word at the time to see how Penelope’s face changed into a responding expression. “Besides, I do believe I owe you a lunch, where work-talk is strictly forbidden.” 

She didn’t respond, not right away, though she moved closer, leaning across the couch to press a sweet, gentle kiss against his lips. “I would like that very much, Luke.” Penelope giggled, and Luke swore right then and there he had heard his favourite sound. “First, though, I say we have some hopefully good Indian food, and watch a movie, okay?”

He grinned – dumbly and widely – feeling as if he was living in some sort of haze. “Yeah, that sounds nice, Penelope.”

[i-was-bored-so-this-happened]

Alexandra's Evolution Chapter Eleven: Monsters and Sea Serpents - Part Three

Fandom: Primeval Wordcount: 5k Warnings: Near-drowning

Helen Cutter makes contact through a flooded basement and changes the trajectory of the anomaly operation

Read on AO3 Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

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

The library café is always the busiest cafeteria on campus, but that makes it the easiest place to discuss state secrets while also consuming a half dozen cinnamon rolls. Alex has just torn their third pastry in half, licking her fingers clean so she can open a textbook she’d lifted from Nick’s office. The library seems to have forgotten that the palaeontology department exists - the biology school at large really - so she’d raided Nick’s office while Connor’s booted up his laptop.

“Okay. Okay, I admit the website is useful.”

“Say it again.”

“Don’t make it weird Connor,” Alex tells him, despite the fact that when Connor opens his mouth she voluntarily posts a chunk of cinnamon roll in, “Show me the Cretaceous, if this guy comes back we need to know what else could come through.”

“Oh, pretty much anything. We can’t really determine what part of the world it came from, the ocean was pretty warm all over. If we could’ve sent that seaweed to your algae guy that would have helped.” Connor explains as he clicks through the relevant pages. Lester hadn’t let Stephen send their seaweed samples off to Dave.

“So we hope it doesn’t open in the Thames and let through a whole pod of grown mosasaurs. Pod? Is that the word I want?”

“A group of sharks is called a shiver.”

“I like that better, a shiver of mosasaurs.” Alex decides.

“Roll me.” Connor says. Alex posts a fresh lump of cinnamon roll into his mouth before taking up her own orange juice. Connor’s friend Duncan, having located them in the café, takes the chair across from Alex.

“Ooh, roll me.” Tom says in a gravelly voice, poking his head between Connor and Alex’s, the latter of which turns and hits his shoulder,

“Oh you are so not funny.” Alex snaps her book shut for punctuation and rescues the remaining pastries before Tom can nab one. Rejected by cinnamon rolls, Tom moves Connor’s bag to take that chair and still be able to see Connor’s screen.

“Mosasaur, huh? Cretaceous era marine predator, anything from two to twenty metres in length and two tonnes in weight. Extinct sixty-five million years ago.” Tom pulls a face, raising his eyebrows. Alex pulls one back.

“What’s with this new dinosaur obsession, anyway?” Duncan asks from across the table.

“Duncan, we’re studying palaeontology,” Connor reminds him, “Dinosaur obsession is sort of an entry requirement.”

“Thought you were doing your project on the Nessie cover-up?” Duncan asks, sounding genuinely confused.

“Believe it or not, Cutter didn’t like that idea.” Alex tells him, then asks, “You got rainbow shoes to match that shirt?” It’s a genuine question, the rainbow-converse patterned shirt intrigues her.

“I do, actually.”

“Oh cool.”

“Have you seen a mosasaur? Is this another gorgonopsid?” Tom asks.

“Drop it, Tom.” Connor tells him, closing his laptop despite Tom’s protestation. Duncan sips his tea while his counterpart keeps prodding,

“You can’t say you’ve seen a dinosaur then sick the police on us, Con, that’s not cool-”

“We didn’t sick the police on you, you were reported by the groundskeeper for trespassing on private land.” Alex corrects.

“No one owns woods.”

“The Crown owns the New Forest, Tom, the professor found that out while he was talking to the police to get you out of the charge,” Alex reaches across Connor to poke Tom, “We were almost talking treason.”

“They wouldn’t have done us for treason for bein’ in the forest.” Tom rolls his eyes and Alex rolls hers back. Duncan snorts a laugh into his tea. Connor’s watch beeps an alarm and in a unusually fluid movement for him he wedges his laptop and his books under his arm before folding his jacket over his elbow,

“Andy, we’ve got to go.”

“Andy?” Duncan repeats.

“Alex, Connor, it’s Alex.” she wraps the last two cinnamon rolls in a napkin, screws the lid back on her juice and shoves it in her pocket. Connor’s already standing as she reaches for her bag to slide her own textbooks in.

“Woah, hey, what’s the rush?” Tom asks, adding when Connor's expression remains blank, “It’s DVD night? Battlefield Earth, director's commentaries? Your turn to get the pizza?” Connor thinks for a moment, Alex can see him processing, and she shrugs when he looks at her. With his free hand he digs into his trouser pocket and brings out some intensely scrunched up paper notes to press into Duncan’s hand.

“Have it on me, we’ve really got to get to work.” Connor finds Alex’s elbow and guides her to turn away from the table and their friends.

“Why are you avoiding them?” Alex whispers, pulling her elbow free and taking Connor’s jacket so he can put his laptop in his bag.

“Same reason you’re avoiding your boyfriend.”

“Connor.” Outside the library now, Alex turns for the car park and stops to make Connor look at her, “It’s not the same. They’re your friends and you bolt every time you see them.”

“I’ve already gotten them in trouble. And Abby. And Cutter, I don’t…I don’t want him to think I can’t do this.”

“Do you think you can do this?”

“Jeez, Mr Motivator-”

“Connor,” Alex repeats to regain his full attention, “He doesn’t think you can’t do it, but this is as new to him as it is to you and he’s not exactly the easiest person to get along with. You’ll figure him out.”

“Doesn’t feel like it.” Connor mumbles, disheartened. Alex links her arm with his and starts walking again, dragging him along with her.

“When I turned twelve, I put him in charge of my birthday party. He was twenty-five, had no idea what kids like, still doesn’t. We ended up with a dozen kids crammed in his flat, buried in about a ton of Pom Bears because that was the only snack he knew I liked and watching Children of the Corn because it was the only movie he knew that came out the year I was born,” Alex lets go of her friend to slide her arms into her jacket, “He’s trying, Connor. Now come on, tell me where we’re going.” Having arrived at her short-term destination, she picks up her helmet and offers it to Connor.

“What?”

“You said we had to go, you don’t have a car, and I’m not taking you on the bike without a helmet.”

“On that?” Connor asks, gesturing to the motorbike he seems to have forgotten Alex owns, cherry-red to match the helmet.

“Some respect for Stella Vittoria, please.”

“Who?”

“The bike, Connor, obviously the bike.” Alex tells him, taking her seat on the old motorbike. Connor examines the helmet which is quite badly scratched.

“Who’s Adrian?” He asks, finding a name tag inside.

“My dad,” Alex answers, strapping her bag to the back of the bike. She jerks her head, patience wearing, “Come on, now, tell me where we’re going.”

***

“I’ll tell you one thing right now,” Alex announces, staring down into the flooded basement, “I’m not getting back in the water, ‘m still pruney.”

“No, you’re not.” Stephen agrees, sweeping light over the water. He’d been thrilled when he’d been trusted to wield the industrial torch. Less thrilled when the team had to pass two body bags to get into the house. One is the plumber the owner of the house had called upon finding an indoor pool in her basement. The other is the diver that had swam through the anomaly at the reservoir. No one is permitted in the water alone. There had been a creature here when the soldiers arrived, but it had been scared back through the anomaly by all the noise they’d caused. Some sort of bird, as far as they could tell. Alex shifts her weight further to one side to get a better view of the anomaly. Under water, its light isn’t as bright. Less crystalline, more…blobby. Gelatinous?

“You know, you’re a lot heavier than you were when I met you.” Nick groans dramatically and pushes Alex off him.

“I was nine.” Alex pushes back. Nick moves down a step and she falters, almost tripping into the water. He turns back when he hears someone calling his name at the top of the steps, and Alex shoulders her way further down the steps for a better view. Stephen catches hold of her hood when she crouches to lift something from the water: a rag doll tangled in the same purpley seaweed they’ve been analysing all week. Stephen presents her with a bag to drop the toy into. His hand tenses, pulling Alex’s jacket collar tight around her neck. Still holding the hood, Stephen moves up the steps to follow Nick, pulling his niece by the hood like a reluctant kitten. He nudges her in the direction of the front door, through which Connor and Abby are taking turns carrying equipment, and Alex splits off from him to take the sledgehammer Connor’s visibly struggling with. 

“What’s this for?” She asks. Connor shrugs, trying to disguise the action of rolling his wrists to relieve them,

“Someone was worried the anomaly was behind a wall or under the floor or something.” They sidestep to let a soldier through with floodlights, “What’s going on?” he nods towards the conservatory, where Nick, Leek and Stephen are in conversation.

“Dunno. Think they found something, but I guess we’re at the kids table.”

“Rude.” Connor complains. Alex grunts an agreement, propping the sledgehammer on her shoulder. Leek’s holding an evidence bag. An official police one, not the freezer bags the scientists have been using. Neither of them can tell if it’s the bag itself or the evidence that’s white. Leek’s speaking quietly, probably hoping to avoid locking antlers with Nick again. He’s got a bee in his bonnet about this anomaly. Nick, that is. Leek shakes the bag at them. Nick’s leaning against a door, calm but with eyebrows raised. Stephen’s head turns towards the door and Connor and Alex scatter, but not quickly enough. He calls them back to him, towards the stairs that lead to the next floor.

“We just want to know what’s going on!” Connor jumps in, “It’s not fair if-”

“Connor, shut up.”

“Shutting up.”

“Al, do you remember Auntie Muriel?” Stephens asks, turning so his back is to the conservatory door and effectively blocking Alex and Connor’s view.

“Yeah, she had, like, old-lady blue hair and she gave us all those monogrammed napkins.” Alex still has them, in a box under her bed at Nick’s house that holds birthday cards and trinkets from Nick and Helen’s families.

“Handkerchiefs.” Stephen corrects.

“And she died in 1998 after-” Stephen’s expression has hardened, his mouth a firm line. Alex’s frown softens with understanding, “She’s here. Or, or there.” her gaze is drawn to the basement door, to the blackhole

“Auntie Muriel?” Connor asks, once again out of the loop and confused.

“Slackers!” Abby calls from the front door, trying to heave a wooden pallet that must weigh almost as much as she does across the threshold, “A hand, anyone?” She blows her fringe out of her eyes, and then squints outside, “What’s Lester doing here?”

It takes a tight two minutes to assemble the team in the Dexter family’s living room. It’s rather like being pulled into the headteacher’s office, wherein Lester’s the rector and Leek’s the secretary that had rounded the children up. Abby and Connor stand with their hands clasped in front of them, intently watching the floor. Alex is a few steps behind them, trying to crack the meaning of Tom Ryan’s expression but the man’s a rock. A pair of soldiers guard the door behind them while. Nick leans against the piano, cool as a cucumber. Stephen watches him, hands unnaturally still at his sides.

“The revelation that Helen Cutter’s alive changes everything.” Lester starts. It sounds like a strong start to a royal telling off, but Connor interrupts him anyway, looking up from the floor, 

“Wait, she’s still alive? How did I miss that?” he twists to look at Alex, who grimaces “Oh. Auntie Muriel.” 

“All three of you knew?” Leek asks, somehow surprised that Nick and Stephen had effectively kept a secret from him.

“So, eight years she’s been living in the past?” Connor checks, “My god…how are we going to explain Celebrity Love Island to her?”

“Really?” Alex asks. When Connor looks at her she widens her eyes and shakes her head. He closes his mouth and takes a deliberate step backwards, and Lester takes a second crack at his speech, 

“She’s eight years ahead of us in terms of understanding the anomalies. Her knowledge could be priceless,” the s sounds almost whistle through Lester’s teeth, “and we have to share it.”

“Which is fine if she were here, but she isn’t.” Stephen points out. Alex glances from him to Nick and back before returning to her inspection of Tom Ryan’s eyebrows. Personal history is liable to boil over here if Lester doesn’t tread lightly.

“Which is why we’re going to go and find her.” Lester counters. There’s surprise all round. “We know she wants to make contact. She’s to be brought back here. By force, if necessary.”

“By force?” Alex echoes.

“This is a person you’re talking about,” Nick reminds Lester, pushing his weight off the piano, “She was my wife.”

“Which is why I want you to go through the anomaly and bring her back,” Lester tells him. Alex breaks her focus on Tom Ryan to watch Stephen’s reaction to unfolding events. He’s chewing the inside of his lip. He doesn’t like this, “You will of course have a military escort.” Lester adds.

“To do what,” Nick asks, “Shoot her if she won’t come back?”

“To protect you. Both of you. The alternative is you sever all ties with the anomaly project with immediate effect, and we’ll go and find her ourselves.”

***

Alex moves down the stairs to the basement, carefully feeling out each step. When she reaches the bottom she sets down the plate she’d been carrying on a shelf high above the floodwaters. A cabinet, padded with the pallets Abby had been bringing into the house, sith just high enough for the team to stand on and use to monitor the anomaly. The anomaly, and the line that strings through it attached to Nick’s scuba tank.

“Forty-seven-fifty,” she says before Stephen can ask. He’s been counting the seconds himself but if anyone comes within eyeline he double-checks with them, “Take a break, Steve, cuppa upstairs for you.” He hesitates before passing her the rope, but he does it. Alex’s hand stays on his shoulder until he’s out of reach. She settles onto the wooden pallet, bringing her plate with her.

“‘S wet.” Tom Ryan warns her. He’s been down here with Stephen the whole time, squatting so as not to get his civvies damp. It’s the first time she’s seen him out of uniform.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got the wetsuit on.” Alex quips. He stares at her, trying to figure out if she’s joking or not. “Take your tea, Tom Ryan.” In truth, she’s simply accepted the inevitable fact that she’s more likely than not to end up in water today so she might as well get ahead of herself. She wraps the orange line around her wrist to not lose grip of it and passes Ryan a mug of tea. It must belong to one of the Dexter kids, it's printed with Thomas the Tank Engine. Alex retrieves her chosen mug.

“Who gave you permission to use their stuff?”

“I’ll clean them, don’t worry.”

“Not my concern.” Ryan assures her. They sip their tea in silence. Alex adjusts the wire of her earphones so it doesn’t get wet. Her knee bounces. “How well do you know her? Helen Cutter?” Ryan asks after a few minutes. Quiet on his part, soundtracked by Queens of the Stone Age on Alex’s part. 

“I only knew her for three years…but they were the years between eleven and fourteen. She was influential. I didn’t know many women, so she was the coolest thing since…”

“Since the Spice Girls?”

“Oh, nothing was as cool as the Spice Girls,” Alex assures him. Ryan’s tea threatens to spill when he laughs, “But Helen was pretty up there. She’d take me to the dentist, she paid for fencing club.”

“Fencing?”

“It was how the Cutters met Stephen, through fencing,” Stephen got a free ride to the university on a sports scholarship, and the only way to keep that after taking subjects like Chemistry and Ecology was to enrol in a bajillion extracurriculars. This is where fencing came in, “So she paid for me to go to the kiddie division of their old club,” aiming a finger at Ryan she adds, “Which means if we ever duel we’re going swords.” Ryan frowns and gives a little shake of his head,

“Duelling?” he says, with the distinct air of wondering how he got to this point in his life. Another toy gets caught up by the gentle waves of the water. Ryan leans forward to save it with his new partner, the litter-picker. Alex sips her tea.

“I don’t know what to say to her,” she admits quietly, staring into the anomaly as it ripples, “Nick wouldn’t let the funeral go forward for so long. We had to look for her. Spent weeks worth of hours in that forest,” Alex’s eyes meet Ryan’s, “She really fucked them over when she left. Both of them,” a small, regretful smile, “Turns out she wasn’t that cool.” 

“Fifty-eight thirty-two.” Stephen clatters down the steps with this update. He’s found a sleeve of Jaffa Cakes.

“Guys, we can’t just steal their food.” Ryan sighs.

“We’re not stealing, Tom Ryan, they’re from the emergency stash in the car,” Alex shushes him, shaking a hand in his face, “Nick said we were out of those.” She puts her mug down and makes grabby hands in Stephen’s direction until he donates some sweets to her.

“They were under his seat.” Stephen explains, taking up a stance leaning against the wall rather than sitting with Alex and Ryan. Nick’s favourite hidey holes are always under places he sits. 

The tiny waves are turning the basement into a cave that echoes back every glug of water hitting brick wall and magnifies the sound of the three people breathing. The sound flows in and out depending on whether the listener actually notices it, rather like the ticking of a loud clock. Alex shifts her sitting position so the wire of her earphones is less likely to dangle into the water when one of the buds inevitably pops out of her ear.

The three sit in a rather tense silence for about forty minutes. It’s not entirely uncomfortable, but each of them is just a little unsettled. Stephen gives the impression of being carved from rock, totally still, while his niece fidgets, unwrapping and rewrapping the line that connects her to Nick around her hand. Stephen doesn’t try to take it from her. Ryan shifts position every ten minutes to prevent cramp, glancing at Alex every time he does. When songs fade from one to another, Alex’s feelings are being torn trying to come to a conclusion. What does Helen think she’s coming back to? Has Nick forgiven her? Has Stephen? Should she? Alex has become an adult since Helen left, what if her childish memory had been even more faulty than she already knows it is?

“Stephen?” Connor, upstairs. The floorboards above them creak, following Connor’s path through the living room to the basement door. Stephen touches Alex’s shoulder as he stands, and she passes the orange line to Ryan to follow her uncle up the steps. It’s Abby that meets them at the top, not Connor.

“How long has he been?” Stephen asks, the cue for all of them to check their watches.

“Ninety-one minutes, forty-one seconds,” Abby answers. Alex agrees. Stephen nods. “He’s in here.” Abby takes them through the living room, to the kitchen where Connor has spread out the blueprints and maps Nick had had the ARC people find for him.

“I’ve been looking at the drains,” Connor pulls his fingers along the map, “in theory, a creature could make its way along the sewage system all the way to the river.”

“Mass hysteria,” Alex echoes Leek’s words from the morgue, “How probable a theory?”

“More likely than I’m comfortable with, anything could have come through before we got here. Good news is the size of the drains rules out anything bigger than a small mosasaur.”

“How small?” Abby asks.

“Not small enough.”

“Fuck,” Stephen takes a deep breath, hand on hip, “Where’s Leek?”

“I thought he was in the living room.” Connor says, pointing at Abby.

“I thought he was in here with you.” Abby frowns.

The front door snaps open with the sound of a crackling walkie-talkie. Expecting Leek, they wait to show him that he was right to be concerned for the Thames, but it’s not Leek they see first. A group of men, halfway into wetsuits. The Special Forces divers that had been working with them at the reservoir. 

“What’s going on?” Stephhen wonders aloud. Leek comes into view. He’s taken his jacket off and folded it over his arm. The phone is glued to his ear but he gestures to the divers, who move into the living room. Leek catches sight of the team gathered in the kitchen. He reaches out and closes the doors. “Basement.” Stephen grabs Alex’s elbow and pulls her towards the other door. They slide down the steps to get there before the divers. Stephen yanks the line from Ryan’s hand and sits firmly on the dresser.

“Ninety-six minutes exactly.” Ryan says, brushing off Stephen’s abrupt manner.

“What are army divers doing here?” Alex asks. She stays standing, glancing up the stairs. Ryan pushes to his feet, joins her at the base of the stairs. They look up to the wetsuited men moving past the door.

“I didn’t know about this,” Ryan says. Alex looks at him, head tipped to the side, “I didn’t.” he repeats. Alex rights her head.

“You guys really need to decide if this is a science thing or an army thing.”

“How much power do you think I have here?” he asks, very seriously. Stephen checks his watch again. And then again, as though it might have been lying to him. Ryan glances from him to Alex. “I’ve got enough to find out what the plan is. I’ll send Ethan down to watch with you.” Ryan’s hand glances off Alex’s shoulder as he turns to climb the steps, two at a time. Alex watches him go, and then moves to crouch next to her uncle.

“What’s the plan with Nick?”

“We wait,” Stephen answers, “Can’t pull him back early, he’ll have untethered to go on land, if we pull he’s lost his way back.”

“What’s the plan with Helen?”

“We hope she’s less of a bitch.”

When Ryan comes back, he’s got company. Two divers, and Leek. He flashes an apologetic look Stephen’s way but doesn’t say anything. No one does. They are frozen for ten minutes. When Abby pokes her head through the door and shouts that her stopwatch says a hundred and sixteen minutes, that’s when Stephen moves. Shifting into a crouch, he passes a length of line to Alex who in turn stands and tosses a handful to Ryan. 

“Is the ambulance on site, sir?” Ryan asks.

“Minutes away.” Leek replies. 

“Pull!” Nick had a mile of rope and he’s used almost all of it. They can’t afford to wait until the last second. Wet rope passes from Stephen to Alex to be coiled by Tom Ryan and wedged underfoot. Alarms on watches start going off before there’s any sign of Nick. Muscles are tightening, cramping, the only breaks being when each of the Harts stop their watches with their teeth, refusing to let the rope go entirely. The ripples are turning into small waves as the rope disturbs the surface, the sound of them drowned out by laboured breathing and one of the divers counting how far past the two hours Nick is.

When they see him, there’s only relief for a split-second. Nick is limp in the water, the rope secured around his body instead of any of the equipment he’d gone through with. He’s lost his oxygen tank and there’s no way of telling how long he’s been without air. Stephen drops into the water without hesitation, not hearing Leek shouting at him, not hearing any of the shouting from anyone. Ryan quickly follows Stephen to pull Nick towards the solid surface of the dresser. They’d both shoved the remaining rope at Alex, who throws the orange line away and goes down on her knees to reach out to Nick. Between the three of them, Nick is soon up on the wood on his back. Alex unhooks the rope, Stephen pulls his goggles off, Ryan’s hand finds a pulsepoint. It occurs to Alex that she doesn’t know what to do when someone almost drowns.

“I’ve got a heartbeat, but he’s not breathing,” Ryan braces his hands over Nick, “Stephen?”

“Do it.”

Ryan’s hands push into Nick’s chest. Again. Again. Again-

“Alex, upstairs, get the paramedics.” Stephen gives her a task to do, distracts her. She trips up the steps. Connor catches her at the top, hands clamped on her shoulders before she can fall into the wall.

“Is he alright? Is Helen here?”

“Where’s the ambulance?” Alex doesn’t even hear his questions. Connor’s eyes move from hers to the basement door, to the shouting coming from below. A hand slides from Alex’s shoulder to link with her fingers and pull her outside.

“Stretcher!”

***

The team form a tableau outside the ambulance they’ve been evicted to. Connor stands nervously, feet dragging on the tarmac when he moves. Alex sits on the ground nearby, leaning against a wheel. Abby’s inside the ambulance, periodically rubbing Stephen’s shoulder. They’re both watching Nick, who’s still unconscious. Alex and Connor are watching the house. The precious seconds where Nick was conscious had been seized by Leek demanding to know if Helen had in fact been on the other side of the anomaly. Once this was confirmed, the scientists were pushed out of the house in favour of the Special Forces divers. Lester had brought in the military after all. Almost an hour has passed.

“I’m going to tell you what you need to know about Helen now,” Stephen says, quite suddenly. Alex rolls around onto her knees so she can see into the ambulance. He sighs. He looks from Nick to the leather bracelet around his wrist and she knows what he means, “Helen is cleverer than you and she knows it. She’s manipulative and she’s selfish-”

“Woah, hang on,” Connor cuts in, hands up to accompany his words, “She was his wife, and he…he’s not like that.” He indicates Nick.

“And she cheated on him…” Stephen lets this sink in, “with me. Her student. Her husband’s friend.” Abby’s hand retracts from his shoulder. “She wasn’t the best person in the world but she still matters to us, alright?” He looks at his niece, and she taps her fingers together in silent applause to indicate her pride at his openness. 

“Still matters to me.” Alex adds, making herself a little echo and pulling some of the attention off her uncle. It’s a difficult situation with thorny feelings and it’s better for Connor and Abby to hear it directly from Stephen now than a mangled version from somewhere else. Or when those feelings prickle out of control.

Nick groans. Abby’s mouth closes so tightly her lips go white. Connor pulls himself up into the ambulance.

“How long have I been out?” Nick asks. His voice is surprisingly clear, his hand reaching for Stephen’s. Abby and Connor’s eyes track it like it’s a bomb.

“About an hour.” Alex tells him. Stephen moves from one side of the ambulance to the other to keep a steadying arm supporting Nick’s back as he sits up. Nick frowns when he sees the expressions on Abby and Connor’s faces, and Alex can’t blame him. There’s some weird cocktail of confusion and anger and surprise and other things on there. “Stephen told them everything.”

“Ah. Aye, a bitty complicated.”

“A bit more complicated,” Stephen tells him, “Lester and Leek brought in the army divers as soon as you got out.”

“What?” Nick grinds a swear between his teeth and makes like he’s about to stand. Connor tries to stop him, but Abby instinctively reaches out to support the side Stephen’s not on and helps Nick towards the door.

There’s a commotion at the house. The front door bangs open. Black uniforms pour out, Lester and Leek marching solidly ahead of them. Nick lurches forward, trying to get out of the ambulance, but Connor manages to stop him. There’s a ring of soldiers around them too, their guns incredible contrast to the civilian clothes they’re wearing. If Nick leaves the safety of the ambulance, their guns will be trained on him. They’ve already had to corral Alex and Connor, they tried to get back into the house. 

When the soldiers pass them, they can finally see what’s at the eye of the storm. A woman in a green jumpsuit, soaked through and hair hanging in ropes. She had really been dragged through the anomaly backwards. Her hair is the same length it was when she left. The shirt under the half-buttoned jumpsuit is the last shirt she was seen in. Her face looks thinner than it was even in the photos from the Permian camera. The eye contact she maintains with Nick as she’s manhandled towards Lester’s car and pushed into it like a police vehicle has an edge to it that it didn’t used to have. 

Helen Cutter is alive.