#pretty soon everyone's calling her lily jo

[otrtbs]

southern lily evans with josephine as a middle name and her mom calls out "lily jo!" from the back porch when it's time for her to come home for supper send tweet

[iamtrebleclefstories]

help, ‘cause I need saving - part one

six times Jo and Alex saved each other from horrible dates and the one time they didn’t 

a two-shot fic taking place in a Season 9 alternate universe

One

“Yeah, you know I just really think it’s weird for a woman to be a surgeon. I don’t know, it just doesn’t sit right with me. I feel like your skills would be of better use in…”

Jo drowned out the voice of the man sitting across from her, willing herself to not give an outburst as a result of her date’s misogynistic comments. She should’ve known that he would be a sexist asshole the moment she heard his name. No self-respecting guy goes by Trent. But no, William Trenton III, insisted on being called Trent because Billy was his grandpa and Will was his father. 

She wanted to bang her head against the table and throw a tortilla chip in Trent’s eyeball. Her patience was quickly fading and Jo was struggling to think of a good enough reason to bail on this guy that Stephanie had set her up with. From the corner of her eye, she watched as Alex Karev walked into the bar. Despite what she’d originally told him about she’d never sleep with him, Jo couldn’t deny that she was extremely attracted to him. It honestly wouldn’t take much from his part to get into her pants. Especially since she’d started spending more time on his service, learning from him and growing as a surgeon. They weren’t exactly friends, but ever since she had shared her tragic backstory with him, there was a sort of kinship between the two doctors. 

Hoping he would catch on to the hints she was dropping, Jo looked over at her superior with a desperate expression on her face. Locking eyes with her, Alex tilted his head in question at the intern. Jo motioned to her date with her head and mouthed the words “help me” as discreetly as she could. Alex raised an eyebrow and his lips twisted up into a smirk as he realized the situation. 

Schooling his expression, Alex walked over to the table with a serious look on his face, “Wilson!”

“Dr. Karev,” Jo feigned surprise. “Is something wrong?”

“Hate to break up your date, but we’re being paged for a trauma. Let’s go,” Alex pointed towards the door. “Now.”

Jo scurried up from the table, grabbed her purse, and mumbled an insincere apology to Trent as she exited the booth and followed Alex out the door. Once they were outside, Jo let out a sigh of relief, “Oh God, thank you so much. I thought my brain was going to melt if I kept talking to him for one more second.”

“That bad huh?” Alex chuckled. “You looked pretty miserable there.”

“It was horrible,” Jo leaned against the outside brick wall. “He kept talking about how the OR was no place for a woman and that my skills would be of better use in the kitchen when I told him that I’m a surgeon. He was a sexist asshole that I hope never has any children because his daughters will grow up oppressed and his sons will grow up to be oppressors.”

Alex nodded, an amused expression on his face, “So, it was worse than bad. Got it.” He leaned against the wall next to her. “Well, I’m glad you got out of that horrible date, but now you owe me a drink.”

“What?” Jo raised her eyebrows. 

“I was going on there to get a drink to wind down after a long day but instead I had to fake a page to get you out of there. I can’t exactly pop back in. So, now you owe me a drink to make up for the one I gave up to help you,” Alex stated, hands in his pockets.

“That’s fair,” Jo conceded. “Well, I know this place near my apartment that does buy two, get one half off beers. It’s not as nice as Joe’s but it’ll do the trick for one night.”

“Lead the way Wilson.”

+++

Two

He wasn't quite sure how he got here. But after friending an old high school classmate on Facebook, Alex found himself on probably one of the worst dates he'd ever been on with Britney Bowers from his high school English class. He was glad that he told her to meet him at Joe's so that he could fake a patient emergency and never call Britney back again.

“I think it’s just so important to eat healthy and live a clean lifestyle. People are so focused on all the illnesses there are nowadays but they refuse to see all the wonderful things that nature has to offer us. I guarantee you that none of that modern medicine stuff is necessary if people just ate the right foods. You see it all comes down to your gut. That’s the root of all the diseases. If we eat healthy then we don’t get sick and there’s no need for medication or vaccines or the healthcare field,” Britney’s ignorance seeped through as she voiced her opinion in conversation. “It’s such a scam, all of it. It’s just Big Pharma that wants your money and everyone is in on it. Why do you think doctors make such good money? I bet half the time they treat you, there’s nothing wrong with you or there’s something that can be remedied naturally that they’re refusing to acknowledge because it takes away from drug companies that stuff money in their pockets.”

“You do know I’m a surgeon, right?” Alex stared at her incredulously. 

Britney laughed awkwardly, "Oh, I'm not talking about you. I'm sure you aren't trying to scam people for their money. I'm just… you must know a lot of people who do."

"Nope, I don't," Alex shook his head. "Most of the people I work with are just trying to save your life, not take your money. We aren't the ones in charge of billing." 

"Huh," Britney stared at him dumbly. 

Much to his luck, Jo had been sitting at the bar witnessing the travesty and found it in herself to be merciful. She walked up to the table with her best innocent expression and spoke, "Dr. Karev, I'm so sorry, you told me not to bother you tonight, but I was monitoring Lily Phillips vitals and I noticed that her SATs started dropping again. I know her parents were hoping not to have to operate again, but I think you should come in and see if there's something more serious going on."

Alex’s eyebrows shot up when he saw who had come to his rescue. Realizing that this was his out, Alex stood up, “Crap. Yeah, lets go.” He turned to face Britney. “Listen, it was great catching up, but I’ve got to go.” 

“Oh, no worries, I get that you’re busy,” Britney flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder. “You can always call me and we can continue this another day.” 

“Sure,” Alex smiled awkwardly, trying not to glare when he heard Jo’s quiet snort. “Goodbye.” 

As soon as they were outside, Jo burst into laughter, “Wow, that was hard to watch. ‘There’s no need for medicines or vaccines or the healthcare field.’ Please, if it weren’t for modern medicine, natural selection would have weeded her out a long time ago.”

Alex laughed along with Jo, “You’re not wrong.” 

“How did you even meet her?” Jo asked as they walked over to their cars. 

“We went to high school together,” Alex huffed in annoyance. “She found me on Facebook and sent me a message. I answered like an idiot. She said that she moved here a couple months ago and was surprised to see that I was living here too. She asked if we could meet up and since I didn’t want to be a complete jerk, I said yes. I also kind of had a thing for her back in the day, so I guess I wanted to see what she was like after all these years. Not making that mistake again.” 

“Yikes,” Jo grimaced. “Well, on the bright side, now you know that you wouldn’t have worked anyway, being that she believes we’re in cahoots with Big Pharma.” 

“You’re right,” Alex chuckled. He looked over at Jo gratefully. Ever since Bailey’s wedding when they fake cried their way into a stranger’s hotel room two weeks ago, they became fast friends. Honestly, Jo was probably one of the people he trusted most in the world. Not to mention she was really hot, which was clouding Alex’s head with all kinds of confusing things, especially when his friends were hell-bent on insisting that he and Jo were more than friends. All he knew was that he enjoyed her company and found himself wanting to spend more time with her. “What do you say we go get some pizza and beers and eat them at my place?”

“Sounds great to me.” 

+++

Three

“So… I’m going on a date tonight.”

Alex raised his eyebrows as he looked over to Jo who’d come up next to him by the fourth floor nurses station, “Okay… and?”

“And, I need you to be on-call in case I need to get out of there,” Jo rested her chin in her hands. 

“You want me to sit by my phone all night waiting for you to call me just in case your date goes bad?” Alex made a face. “If you’re so worried, why are you going out with this guy anyway?”

“Because my drunk ass may have agreed to go on a date with him after you left me alone at Joe’s last night,” Jo narrowed her eyes. “This is why you can’t leave me alone while I’m drunk. I can’t be trusted. I make stupid decisions while drunk.”

“It wasn’t like I wanted to leave. I got paged,” Alex rolled his eyes.

“Ah, yes. I’m sure you tell all the girls that,” Jo grinned sarcastically. 

“Shut up,” Alex sighed and placed the chart down on the counter. “Where’s your date and what time is it at?”

“It’s at the movie theater ten minutes away from here,” Jo answered. “I haven’t been on a movie date since I was sixteen. That’s how I know that it’s going to be interesting…”

“Fine. I’ll be at Joe’s with my ringer on and a bottle of beer, trying to think of a creative way to bail you out,” Alex crossed his arms. “But if an hour goes by and you still haven’t called me, I’m going to assume it’s not horrible and I’ll worry about myself. Maybe I’ll pick up some chick and get laid.”

“You’re the best! I’ll text you later,” Jo smiled brightly as walked away to finish her shift. 

Sure enough, later that evening, Alex snorted when his phone lit up with a message from Jo. 

J: Save me please 

A: Dude, you haven’t even been there for 20 minutes

J: I know but I need to get out of here ASAP. He’s creepy and I feel uncomfortable.

   His name is Brock. BROCK! 

A: Don’t panic 

    I’m coming.

    What do you want me to do? Interrupt the theater?

J: Yes. I don’t know… just help me. And the movie hasn’t started yet. We’re just watching the previews. 

A: I’ll be there in ten minutes 

    I’m going to call and text you fifteen times now

    Don’t answer, it’s part of my plan

Ten minutes later, Alex was standing in front of the ticket booth bargaining with one of the workers. 

“Listen man, I don’t need to sneak into a movie. I’m a surgeon. I’ve got the twelve dollars you need to get in, but I’m telling you, this is an emergency.”

“I’m sorry sir, but I cannot let you in there. Especially now that the movie is about to start any second,” the young ticketmaster said. 

“Dude, you’re not getting it. I’m not asking to go in there. I’m asking you to get someone to interrupt the theater before the movie starts and get her,” Alex huffed. “Her phone is on silent, so she probably hasn’t realized that she had about twenty missed calls. Her brother was just in a car accident and might not live to see tomorrow. I think you can make an exception just this once.”

The teenager looked back and forth between Alex and the theater and sighed, “Fine. What’s her name again?” 

Back in the screening room, Jo was bouncing her leg anxiously as the lights began to dim, signaling the start of the film. She looked at Brock warily as he attempted to rest his hand on her thigh. She brushed it away and chewed on her lip, hoping that whatever plan Alex had in place would begin soon, so that she would have to be stuck watching the movie with this creep. 

Suddenly, the lights brightened again, and she watched as one of the teenaged workers walked into the front of the theater. 

“I’m so sorry for the inconvenience, but I’m looking for a Josephine Wilson.”

The moviegoers grumbled at the interruption, but Jo shot up in her seat, “Yes. That’s me!” 

The worker walked up the steps to her level and spoke, “I’m so sorry, ma’am. But your friend Alex is outside. He says he’s been trying to contact you and you haven’t answered.”

“We’re on a date, of course she hasn’t answered the damn phone,” Brock sneered. “What the hell could be more important than this?”

The teenager looked down apologetically, “He said that he’s called you about twenty times. It’s an emergency.”

Finally catching on to Alex’s plan, Jo suppressed a laugh. She looked down at her phone and indeed saw all the missed calls that he’d warned her not to answer, “Oh my God. It says he called me nineteen times. What happened?”

“Ma’am, your brother has been in an accident,” the worker—Vinny, as described by his name tag—gave her a sympathetic look. “I was told it was really bad.”

“Oh God,” Jo pressed a hand to her mouth and got to work on her fake tears. “Is… is he alive?”

“I’m not sure,” Vinny shook his head. “But I think you should come outside and head over the hospital with your friend. 

“Yes, yes of course,” Jo nodded as a couple tears made their way down her face. 

“I’ll go with you,” Brock stood up from his seat. 

“No!” Jo said, almost too quickly. Shaking her head, she held a hand up. “No. It’s alright. Stay here. Enjoy the movie. We can always go out another day.”

“Okay…” Brock sat back down and watched as Jo walked out of the theater, not realizing that he had no way of contacting her until it was too late. 

When Jo exited, she kept up her façade and ran straight into Alex’s arms, fake tears staining his shirt. He rubbed her back soothingly, “Hey. It’s okay. We’re gonna go see him now.” Alex looked back at the kid. “Thanks for your help.”

“No problem,” Vinny waved his hand. “I hope everything works out with your brother, ma’am.”

“Thank you,” Jo sniffed and wiped a couple tears. She looked up at Alex. “Can we go?”

“Yeah,” Alex led her out of Vinny’s view and into the parking lot. 

As soon as they entered the car, Jo and Alex both burst into laughter. Jo held her stomach as she laughed, “When I said yes to interrupting the theater, I didn’t think you’d actually do it.” Jo wiped her eyes on her sleeve. “My brother was in a horrible accident? Do you know how hard it was not to laugh at that? I don’t have a brother.”

“It was the first thing I could come up with,” Alex took a few deep breaths in an effort to calm his laughs. “You were great in there, though. The crying was very convincing.”

“Thanks,” Jo giggled. “You know he tried to come with me? Brock.”

“That right there—his name—should’ve been a red flag from the get go,” Alex chuckled. “You were right though, fake crying gets you out of everything.”

“Stick with me and maybe I’ll teach you some other tricks,” Jo grinned.

They stared at each other with mirth in their eyes for a few moments. There was no denying that there was something brewing between the two of them. As much as they tried to ignore it, there was this connection that neither of them could quite explain. It was comforting but electric at the same time. But neither of them were bold enough to take it any further. 

“What do you say we get some fried chicken and eat it in the car like we were raised to do?” Alex suggested. 

“I’d say… I think I love you,” Jo joked. “In all seriousness though, let’s get out of here before Brock comes looking for me.”

“Yeah, probably a good idea.”

+++

Four

“So you know how helping each other get out of dates now is our thing?” Alex said as he fell into step with Jo as she exited the intern locker room. 

“Is it now?” Jo raised an eyebrow in amusement. “Didn’t know that.”

“Oh come on. I’ve helped out get out of two really bad dates already, and I expect you to return the favor,” Alex gave her a sideways glance. 

“Mhmm,” Jo hummed. “What kind of trouble did you get yourself into this time, Karev?”

“I haven’t gotten myself into anything yet,” Alex placed his hands on his hips. “I’ve got a date tonight with this blonde chick named Tiffany. I met her last night while I was out grocery shopping. She seems pretty nice, normal, but then again, I met her in the frozen food section so who knows what she’s like. Anyway, I was hoping you’d be available to get me out of it in case things go horribly.”

“I’d love to, but it all depends on what time I get out of here tonight,” Jo sighed. “I’m on Medusa’s—I’m sorry, I mean Dr. Grey’s service today.”

“No you’re not,” Alex shook his head. “I switched with her.”

“What? Why?” Jo scrunched her eyebrows as they approached the elevator. “Is this because you want me available to bail you out?”

“No. Well… yes, but it’s not the only reason,” Alex pressed the elevator button. “Murphy was on my service and I know it’s been months but she still gives me those creepy, weird looks and I don’t feel like dealing with her today.”

Jo snorted in laughter, “You are such a douche.”

“Whatever. She knew what she was getting into when she slept with me,” Alex shrugged. “So, if I let you out when I leave, will you hang around in case I need you.”

“I guess,” Jo faked annoyance.

“Great, thanks.”

By the time the date rolled around, Alex had been pretty optimistic. Sure, Tiffany wasn’t the girl he wanted to go out with, but since he couldn’t date the one person he wanted to date, Alex was doing his best to try to find someone he could make it last with. So far, he wasn’t having the best luck.

It started out normal, great even. So great that for a while there, Alex thought about texting Jo and letting her know that maybe he wouldn’t need her tonight. He discovered that he was very wrong rather quickly. 

Tiffany was beautiful, he couldn’t deny that. But she was too clingy. To the point that it was actually scaring him. He was sure if this went any further and they broke up, he’d have an ex who wouldn’t take no for an answer—or worse, a stalker on his hands. 

Sending a quick text message to Jo under the table, he waited for a reply. 

A: Definitely going to need your help tonight

J: what happened?

A: She’s too clingy. Bad clingy. Creepy clingy. 

    Take a lock of my hair and clone me later clingy. 

J: Yikes. Where are you again?

A: The club across the street from that diner we like to eat at. 

    I should’ve known it would be bad when she suggested going to a club on the first date 

J: You think?

    I’ll be there in fifteen

A: Please hurry 

True to her word, fifteen minutes later, Alex watched as Jo entered the club and took a seat at the bar. He spent about five minutes looking back and forth between Tiffany and Jo, who’d taken to flirting with a couple guys that had come up to her in the short time since she’d arrived. Bouncing his leg impatiently, Alex sent another angry text to Jo. 

A: What the hell are you doing?

    You’re supposed to be helping me, remember? Not trying to get laid.

“Is everything okay?” Tiffany asked. “It’s just, you keep looking at your phone.”

“Yeah, everything’s fine,” Alex rubbed a hand on his neck awkwardly. 

In that moment, Alex heard a gasp from his right side. Jo had materialized and wore an angry expression, “You!”

“Me?” Alex pointed to himself, confused as to what her play was. 

“Oh my God. You don’t even remember me,” Jo clutched her drink in her hand. “I shouldn’t be surprised. You’re a hump ‘em and dump ‘em kind of guy.” 

“What did I do?” Alex widened his eyes as he waited for Jo’s cue. 

“What did you do? What did you do!” Jo’s eyes hesitated for a split second before she threw her drink in his face. “Thanks for the syphilis, you ASSHOLE!” She turned to face Tiffany before walking off. “Don’t waste your time!”

Sitting there in shock, Alex watched as Tiffany rose from the couch they'd been sitting on to look at Alex with a face of disgust, “And to think, I had picked out our kids names.” 

Once Tiffany grabbed her face and exited the club, Jo came back with a semi-apologetic, but mostly amused face, “I’m so sorry about your shirt, but that was awesome! I’ve always wanted to do that.”

“Yeah, I bet you’re having the time of your life right now,” Alex glared.

“Hey, you told me to get rid of her and that’s what I did,” Jo defended, a shit-eating grin on her face. “Come on, I have one of your old t-shirts in my car.”

“Why do you have one of my t-shirts in your car?” Alex scrunched his face in question. The thought of her having one of his shirts in her car did things to his brain that he wasn’t even sure how to vocalize. 

“It’s from the last time I crashed at your place on the nice, comfy couch I bought you,” Jo smiled. 

“Yeah, with my money.”

“Semantics,” Jo waved her hand. “Anyway, let’s get out of this hell hole and go to watch movies at your house.”

Alex rolled his eyes at her antics, “Fine.”

+++

Five 

Alex should’ve said no the moment April Kepner offered to set him up on a date. Knowing Kepner, he should’ve known what kind of thing he’d be getting himself into. But when she came up to him with a request from a former patient’s daughter who thought he was attractive, he found himself having trouble saying no and ended up agreeing to the date.

That’s how he ended up spending the past 20 minutes staring across the table at a woman who might as well have been the carbon copy of Izzie Stevens. 

He’d truly tried to give the woman a chance and not associate her with his ex-wife, but the longer they spoke, the more freaked out he was getting by the whole situation. Especially when she started talking about her love of baking.

“I’m gonna go use the bathroom real fast,” Alex started to stand from his seat.

“Oh yeah, no worries,” the woman waved her hand. 

The moment he stepped foot into the bathroom, Alex searched for his cellphone in his pocket and dialed the one number he needed to get him out of this situation. It rang four times before a voice came through the speakers.

“Hello?”

“Dude, I need you to get me out of here right now,” Alex whispered into the phone. “I’m at the bar and grill 20 minutes away. I can’t do this anymore. I can’t stand this for another minute.”

“What’s wrong with this one?” Jo chuckled on the other line. 

“She looks like my ex-wife,” Alex hissed into the phone. “She’s got strawberry blonde hair but they have the same face. Their brown eyes are the same. Sure her tits are smaller than Izzie 's were, but they even have the same creepy, overly perky laugh. And her name is Katherine. That was Izzie’s middle name. But she insists on me calling her Kitty Kat.” 

Jo snorted into the phone, “Gosh, you really know how to pick them. What do you want me to do? How are we going to play this?” 

"First of all, I didn't pick her," Alex paused. "Kepner set me up."

"Mistake number one right there," Jo giggled in amusement. "Okay, again, how do you want to play this?"

“I don’t know,” Alex shrugged helplessly. “Pretend you’re my girlfriend and come in here kicking and screaming at me because I’m a cheating asshole or something.” 

“Wow, you’re really desperate this time aren’t you. Aren’t you traumatized from what I did last time?” Jo laughed at his expense. “Okay, I’m changing out of my scrubs right now. Give me half an hour. I’ll figure out a story on my way there.”

“Thank you,” Alex sighed in relief. 

He made his way back to the table giving Kathrine an awkward smile as she continued to yap on and on about some cooking show she’d almost been a contestant on. He was about ready to gouge his eyes out with his fork when he saw Jo walk towards the outdoor area where he and Katherine were sitting with an oddly shaped bundle in her hands. 

“What the hell Alex? Tell me why I just got off the phone with your mother only to find out that you were supposedly at dinner with me, when you told me you were working late,” Jo exclaimed, causing the bundle in her arms to let out a cry. 

Alex stared at her in shock, wondering where the hell she had gotten a baby from. He hoped the very real confusion on his face would come across as shock to Katherine, who was sitting there, jaw dropped and eyes wide, watching the scene unfold. Alex opened his mouth, "Jo—"

"Don't, Alex. Just don't," Jo held up one hand as she rocked the now screaming baby. "I know things have been difficult since the baby was born, but I really expected more than this. I don't know when you stopped loving me, but I expected more respect as the mother of your child. I thought you'd have the decency to at least tell me the truth! Instead of lying to me and your mother, about where you were and who you were with."

Alex looked back and forth between Jo and Kathrine, unsure of what to say. Jo was really selling it this time and he did not want to throw her off by saying the wrong thing, "Jo, I—"

"Shut up, Alex. Just shut up and hold your son," Jo shoved the crying baby into his hands only to scoff when the child stopped crying immediately after landing in Alex's arms. "Of course! Of course he calms down as soon as you hold him. I'm done!" Jo threw her hands up in the air and turned on her feet back towards the car. 

Alex cradled the child close to his chest and looked up at Katherine, “I should go…" 

Much like Izzie used to do, Katherine turned up her nose indignantly, "Yes, and I think it's best if we never see each other again."

"Yup," Alex nodded sheepishly as he made his way out of the outdoor seating area and to Jo's car.

Rocking the small infant in one arm, Alex opened the car door with his free hand and sat inside the passenger seat, staring at Jo who smiled at him. 

“How was that for a rescue?” 

“Where the hell did you get this baby from?” Alex scrunched his face in question. “Please don’t tell me you stole some stranger’s baby.”

“I didn’t steal the baby,” Jo shook her head, a smile playing at her lips. She bent over to stroke the baby’s head. “I signed up to be one of the people that picks up the safe haven babies after they’re dropped off at the fire stations. I got the call about this little guy two minutes before you called me to get you out of your date. I picked him up and came to get you. Which honestly, I would’ve interrupted your date regardless because I wanted you to be the one to give him a check up. I’m supposed to head to the hospital with him now.”

Alex watched as Jo became entranced with the little boy currently resting in his arms. She was a natural when it came to kids, and it showed now as she fussed over a whole bunch of details he hadn’t thought of himself. He opened his mouth in confusion, “Wait, so you used a kid abandoned by his mother at a fire station to play our fake son and get me out of my date with my ex-wife’s doppelganger?”

“Yeah, that pretty much sums it up,” Jo took the infant from his hands and looked at him lovingly. “Come here you little guy. I know it must be scary to be away from your mommy, but I have to believe she did this because she thought she was giving you your best chance. She might not have been able to give you a home, but I will make sure that you end up in a very nice home, with some very nice people, who can give you all the love you deserve.” 

Seeing this side of Jo was incredibly sweet. She was so tender with the child resting in her arms, cuddling him so that he’d never know that he’d been abandoned; so that he would be surrounded with love. Alex knew instantly she would be an amazing mother one day. What scared him though, was that he’d begun picturing himself in that position with her. 

Jo sighed dreamily, “Okay. We’ve got to take him to the hospital for a check up and contact a social worker. If we don’t do it now, I’m afraid I’ll fall in love with him and take him home with me.” 

A crooked smile pulled at the corner of Alex’s lips, “Here, I’ll get him into the car seat and sit in the back with him. You drive.”

+++

Six

“That’s going to be fun. I’m especially excited for that kid’s next eighteen years.” 

They had just finished monitoring a newborn with the most difficult set of parents Alex had ever gotten a chance to work with. When he and Jo were paged down to OB for the case that morning, he never would’ve guessed that the parents would end up being coworkers who hated each other, hooked-up once, and ended up with a baby. But hey, not much surprised him these days. Still, the success of the little boy making it past the benchmark was a special moment for the two parents, who despite their differences were able to come together to make a decision in favor of their child's health. 

The situation inspired a conversation between Jo and Alex regarding workplace relationships. If Alex was being honest, he was a bit biased when it came to his answers. Ever since Jo had all but dragged him into that linen closet to celebrate their win against Cahill with powdered sugar donuts last night, he could not get her out of his mind. Working with her today made him realize just how much he enjoyed her company. They'd grown so close in the last couple months and if he let himself, he could see them potentially becoming more.

Deciding to take initiative, Alex turned towards Jo, “Hey, do you want to go get a beer?”

“Oh, I would love to. Especially after today, but I actually already have plans," Jo waved over to a guy standing in the hallway wearing pink scrubs. "Tomorrow night? Is that cool?”

“Yeah… yeah that’s cool,” Alex looked at the guy suspiciously. "So, you have a date tonight? With someone from OB?"

"Yeah," Jo smiled nervously. "I've been wanting to ask him out for a while now, but, well you know my luck when it comes to dating. Anyway, I finally got the balls to do it today. We’re just going to Joe’s."

“Huh,” Alex nodded. For the first time, Alex felt strange knowing that she would be going out on a date with someone else.  “Well, if you need help getting out of it, I’ll probably be hanging around the bar too.” 

“You know, I don’t think I’ll need you this time. I feel really good about this one,” Jo beamed. She looked over at the doctor in pink scrubs before turning back to Alex. “Jason is waiting for me. I’m going to go change for my date. I’ll see you later.” 

“Yeah, see you later,” Alex waved lamely at her. 

He seriously considered forgoing a drink at Joe’s altogether. He didn’t want to see the girl he was falling for having fun on a date with some guy that wore pink scrubs to work on a daily basis. But another side of him wanted to keep an eye on Jo and make sure she was okay. He wanted to be around in case something happened or that Jason guy tried to pull something fishy. 

When Jo first saw Jason, she was immediately attracted to him. Who wouldn’t? He was hot and delivered babies for a living. After going on failed date after failed date over the past few months, Jo wanted a win. Besides, she needed a distraction from the thoughts invading her head about Alex. Because it definitely was not appropriate to think of your friend in the way she’d begun to think of him over the past few months. Especially when said friend was a pediatric surgeon who held babies on a daily basis and she’d begun picturing what he’d look like holding their own child. Yeah, that was a glaring warning that she was treading into dangerous territory with Alex. 

What she hadn’t banked on was Jason being the worst date she’d ever been on. From the outside, they looked like a normal, carefree couple, but something within her was raising some giant, blaring red flags. Maybe it was the way Jason had insulted and disapproved of her close friendship with Alex the moment they walked out of the peds wing earlier that evening. Maybe it was the way he mansplained everything and spoke down to her. Maybe it was the way he roughly grabbed her arm and raised his voice when she said something he disagreed with. 

She needed an out and she needed one fast. 

Alex was standing in the corner of the bar playing darts, periodically glancing at Jo and the guy she was with. He made sure to get a really good look at this Jason guy, memorizing his face enough to imagine it on the dart board as he flicked his wrist and hit a bullseye. One second he was pulling a dart out of the board and taking a swig of his beer and the next, someone was tugging on his arm to get his attention. 

“Kiss me,” Jo looked up at him with wide eyes. 

“What?” Alex sputtered his drink. 

“Jason. He’s the worst one Alex. The worst. And he’s at the bar getting more drinks and I need to get away from him,” Jo rambled. 

“I still don’t understand how—”

“Just kiss me,” Jo blurted, eyes desperate. “Public displays of affection make people uncomfortable.”

“Yes, they do,” Alex responded dumbly, still unsure as to what was going on. 

He didn’t have any time to think about it though, because as before he knew what was going on, Alex was being pulled into a searing kiss. While this wasn’t the way he’d pictured his first kiss with Jo going, he wasn’t complaining. Not when he could feel her this close to him. Not when her tongue met his own. Not when he could hear her whimpers as she deepened the kiss. 

They could’ve kept going. They would’ve kept going, if it weren’t for Jason’s angry interruption, “You little bitch. I should’ve known you were a liar when you said that there was nothing going on between you and Karev.”

“Jason—” Jo attempted a weak protest. 

“No, you know what? I dodged a bullet with you Wilson. I don’t need to be dating a whore,” Jason’s fists balled up at his sides. 

Seeing the red in Jason’s eyes and his fists ready to strike, Alex intervened, “Don’t you dare call her that or any insult ever again. She’s not your girlfriend, she’s not even your friend. She didn’t cheat on you. So, if I hear you ever disrespect her like that again, you’re gonna want to skip town and that’s a promise.”

Jason glared at them in disgust before turning on his heels and walking out of the bar. 

It wasn’t until Jason was long gone that they were reminded of what had happened minutes prior. Staring up at each other with the strangest expressions on their faces, Alex and Jo waited in silence for a moment. Because what were you supposed to say when you kissed your best friend and you liked it?

The question was, where do they go from here? 

With the surfacing of Jo’s thoughts about Alex blaring 

loudly in her mind, Jo mumbled a small, “thank you” in order to avoid the very real possibility that she’d just thrown this friendship down the toilet. 

Alex nodded awkwardly at her appreciation, “Yeah… don’t mention it.”

And for the first time in months, the end of a horrendous date was not celebrated with Jo and Alex hanging out. It was spent alone. 

[bolbianddolanhouse]

BNHA self insert AU [Book 2]

Beginning of Book 2 Read here to catch up!

Chapter 12: What Was the Reason?! WHAT WAS THE REASON?!

Currently, I’m about one bad interaction away from slapping the shit out of Toei. He’s improving but not in the areas I need him as a team. It’s July and we’re training at the USJ (aka, The Death Dome) again. Not too excited to be in the dome again.

“...and as for you two,” sensei stood in front of us, assigning areas “You’ll be in the rocky area with the non-quirked villain.”

I sighed as Toei got pumped “Oh boy! We’ll win this time!”

“Whatever you say chief” I was just feeling dead inside with all the easy assignments that Toei could barely survive.

“Miss Iida, can I talk to you for a quick moment?” asked sensei to pull me aside. “I know you’re not having the best time, I see it and I’m quite tired of this low ranking too with your ability. But this is the last one before the partner switch, if Toei doesn’t perform well, he’ll have to take the reevaluation exam. So please hang in there!”

That was some hot tea, I was taken back a bit “Will do sensei, I hope he’s better prepared this time.”

“Alright, that’s good to hear!”

I walk over to the rocky area with Toei, trying not to think of the fuck ups he might do. Instead I make sure my ribbon wands and silk obi were in place.

“Hey Iida-san!” Toei snapped me out of my concentration “If we win this one, I’ll take you out to some DDR at the arcade.”

I narrowed my eyes, knowing FULL well he’s gonna fuck it up “If I say yes, will you put in more effort to actually win?”

Our classmates within earshot reacted to that roast. 

“That was ice-cold Iida-san!” “Oof she got you there buddy!” “YES BITCH! CALL HIS ASS OUT!” were some of the things they said.

That roast went over his head “I always put in the most effort! I’m confident that we’ll win and move up this time.”

We get to our zone and the enemy gives us no time to think. Immediately we were bombarded with rocks. I had to think fast! 

“Okay Toei, if you can-”

 “I’M GOING IN!”

“NO!” I screamed as I saw him Naruto run toward the villain on the higher ground “Damn it! Toei are you crazy?!”

“I got this!” He looked back at me, giving me that cocky smile and thumbs up.

I had two options, let him get rekt on his own so he can learn from his stupidity OR I go scoop him up and tell him my strategy. At first I sat and watched him struggle but then the villain brought out a stun gun and I KNEW that I had to go in for the rescue. I ran and jump high enough to get my ribbon lasso for the save. But at the same time, I got in direct line with the stun gun that was meant for Toei and I got a direct hit in my face. I blacked out after that...

-At a nearby hospital-

Lili was snatched out of the air before her body hit the ground by a USJ staff and was rushed to the hospital. Nobody is sure if that direct hit was lethal or not.

“Oh my baby” cried out her mother as she pushed through the nurses to get by Lili’s side “I was so worried that something like this could’ve happen! Why my baby? Why today!?”

“Be strong Ita” soothed Tenya, also trying to hold in his strong emotions “I’m upset too, but lets not cry yet.”

“Too late” whimpered Iwata as tears rolled down his face “is Lili gonna be okay?”

“Daddy, please tell me Lili is gonna wake up?” whimpered Hanaka, pulling at his sleeve.

“Lili, quit playin’! Wake up!” Oro begged as he shook his older sister’s leg “I can’t look at her like this, it’s so hard.”

Tenya didn’t know what to do or say, this environment was overwhelming him and he couldn’t stay strong. “I-...I don’t know” he managed to stammer as tears fall from his face “What can I do?! Nobody told me it was going to hurt like this! I just want my daughter to be okay.”

Her mother put her hand on Lili’s face “It seems like everything is normal, stun guns cause rapid brain activity. And she’s experiencing that.”

“I was just about to say that!” said the doctor “But it seems like you’ve caught on to the main diagnosis.”

“So what did you find?” Asked her mother.

“To make things brief, there’s no brain damage” explained the doctor as he put brain scans up on the light box for everyone to see “nor brain trauma, thankfully. But we are noticing that her brain is taking a while to readjust, so what will happen is that she’ll have mild amnesia” he sat on his padded stool “So don’t be too surprised if she doesn’t remember you right away, it will go away on it’s own but if you re-jog her memories or have trigger objects that’ll bring back her memories, the better.”

“What a relief” Tenya sighed and wiped his tears “She does take a while to recover from anything.”

“As soon as she wakes up, she’ll be discharged” responded the Doctor “She’s still young and strong, so recovery will be fast. I will warn for her to be more careful next time! She’s fortunate that the stun prongs pierced her shoulders and her mask deflected the other prongs that could’ve been much more lethal.” He stands up “I’ll be coming by again in an hour to check up on her.”

“Thank you doctor” responded Ita as the doctor walked away. She turns to the others “You heard him, she’ll be fine. Now we pray to the higher power for her fast recovery.”

“All Might?” blurted Tenya, serious faced.

“What? No! To GOD!” exasperated Ita “What the fuck is the spirit of All Might gonna do?! Detroit Smash from the spirit world to revive her?!”

“All Might’s spirit can suck my ass!” huffed Oro.

“He can suck a caterpillar dick!” Iwata added.

“Can we not slander All Might?!” chopped Tenya “Your sister is trying to re- HANAKA!”

“What? Oh is it a crime that I found the wheelchair?!” Hanaka sneered as she popped a wheelie.

Tenya pinched the bridge of his nose “This family is so chaotic, I can’t sometimes.”

“Remember when you said you wanted as many children as possible?” Ita sighed as she propped up her head with her hand “And how much you cried when they were born? Is it sinking in how much chaos you brought into this world and raised them?”

“I’ve been aware” he rubbed his temples as the two boys joined their little sister in wheelchair tricks “Curly hair and rebellion may be the dominate traits, but I still love them.” he sighed “Because they remind me so much of their mother, whom I love the most.”

“Aww babe” Ita cooed as she levitated the three kids, preventing them from speeding away with the wheelchair “Love you too!”

The family decided that they wanted their privacy and not have visitors. Instead, Tenya put it upon himself to watch over Lili until she wakes up. Ita had important matters to attend to for her company and Iwata was going to be taking care of things at home. Everyone was concerned for Lili’s well-being, sensei didn’t tell the class out of respect of her parent’s wishes. Pretty much only her immediate family and honorary family knew of her condition.

-3 days later-

“Lili, I’m back” softly spoke her father as he sat at the chair at her side “It’s Tuesday, so mom might swing by for a bit if she gets out early enough for visiting hours.”

At this point, Lili still hasn’t woken up nor moved. So Tenya has just been talking to her in hopes that she could hear him and wake up.

“You know, your mom was also hospitalized in 2nd year. And I feel all those worried feelings all over again.” He leaned on the railing of the hospital bed “I’d whisper my feelings to her and give her sweet kisses, like she’d wake up when I did.” He sighed and stroked her hair “Will today be the day you wake up? Everyone is getting awfully worried. But lets see if you like what I brought today.” He pulls out a book from his satchel “It’s one of your mom’s classic literature novels, Little Women. I read a book to your mom when she was like this and she remembered listening to me reading it” he opens the book “So maybe this might work too...ahem, Chapter one, "Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents," grumbled Jo, lying on the rug...”

He didn’t have to read too far into the book before Lili woke up. Eyes watering as the hospital lights were stinging to her eyes, she groaned as she stretched her body.

“Nnnh...thirsty” she hoarsely uttered.

Her dad quickly reached for the ice water on the tray “Here, drink slowly.”

She could barely see the cup and who was giving it to her, but she sat up to drink out of it. “Thank you” she said as she tried to rub her eyes and saw the IV connected to her “Am I, in the hospital?”

“Yes, do you remember anything?”

“I remember practicing in the yard for the summer showcase” she rubbed her eyes with the other hand “and that’s all...wait, did I pass out because of the heat?!”

“No...wait, do you recognize me?” carefully asked Tenya, trying not to scare her.

She looked at him and blinked “Yeah? You are my dad” she giggled “you’re my dad! BOOGIE WOOGIE WOOGIE!”

Tenya breathed out, relieved “Oh you gave me a scare there!” he gets up “sit tight, I’ll get the doctor.”

She waits patiently, a little confused on why she was there in the first place. Her dad ran in before the doctor.

“Please Mr. Iida” panted the doctor “I’m a doctor, not an athlete!”

“Sorry! I was just excited” apologized Tenya “But look, she’s awake.”

The doctor gathered himself “Hello Miss Lili, how are you feeling today?”

“I’m feeling a little sore and woke up with extreme thirst” she explained “But otherwise, I’m okay.”

“That great to hear! Can you tell me your full name, age and your parent’s names?”

“Um sure? My name is Lili Perla Iida, I’m 15 years old and my parents are Tenya and Itati Iida.”

“Interesting, okay” the doctor muttered as he wrote something on his notes “Thank you, now I’m going to explain what’s going on...” The doctor explained that she was in a training accident and her diagnosis “...so while you might not remember everything right now, you will very quickly with the help of your family” he stands up “so, you’re free to go home and go back to school. Just be careful and I suggest a better head gear to prevent more accidents.”

“Thank you, I’ll be more careful” She said as the doctor left. “Dad, what did he mean by better head gear? Dance isn’t a contact sport.”

“I’ll explain more when we get home” he handed her a change of clothes “Here, your sister chose your outfit since you came in with your costume on.”

She change and got wheeled out of the hospital to go home. Lili sat in silence the whole way home, she recognized her dad’s car and the route home. But what’s missing from her memory?

“We’re home” announced Tenya.

“Welcome home Lili” yipped the robo dog “Mom told me you got hurt and I’m happy you’re home safe.”

“Doggie” she bend down to pet the robo “I remember you for sure!”

“LILI!” screamed the three younger siblings as they stampeded toward her.

“Hi” she managed to say before they group hugged her “huh? Since when did you guys...looked like this?”

“What do you mean?” they said in unison.

“I don’t remember Iwa wearing t-shirts this fitting?” she pointed out “And since when did you get boobs Rosa? And the fuck did you do to your hair Oro?!”

“Huh? I’ve been wearing proper wearing shirts since I started middle school” Iwa explained himself “wait, dad, did she forget years of memories?!”

“I’m afraid so” Tenya responded “She doesn’t remember anything from the last 3 years.”

“Oh fuck, so you don’t remember your friend?” Rosa asked her sister.

“Maru?” she asked “what about him?”

The four of them glared at her in shock.

“No, your other friend...from school” Iwa spoke up.

“I- don’t have friends from school?” she furrowed her brow “come to think of it, I don’t think I have any friends from dance academy either.” 

Everyone look at each other, not knowing how to break it to her.

“Um, lets go sit at the couch and let me explain” Tenya said as they walked over to the living room “Okay, so things look a little different now because you’re not 15, you’re 17 about to be 18-”

“I’VE BEEN IN A COMA?!” screamed Lili.

“NO! You’ve been in the hospital for 3 days and you just have amnesia” her dad took control of the situation “I’ve been watching over you everyday in the hospital and the doctor explained that you just need to get your memories back. And we’re all here to help.”

“So...I’m in high school?” she asked and everyone nodded “And I have friends?”

“Lots of friends!” Her dad explained “you’ve gained the respect of so many and you have your own little dance circle where you Ki Ki.”

“I do?! Wow I sound like a cool kid” she giggled “Where do I go to school? Is it that private arts school in Shibuya?!”

“No...um you” Her dad put his hand on her hand “don’t scream but you attend UA and you’re in the hero department.”

“Oh...I see” she blinked and stood up “will you excuse me a quick moment?” Before anyone could say, she dashed to her room to look through her things. And she found her admittance letter along with all her rejection letters from the schools she applied to. She sat on her bed and tried to remember anything, but couldn’t, so she cried.

“Lili, it’s okay” Rosa said in the doorway “you wanted to go to UA, trained for it and everything” she slowly made her way next to her sister “you even got in without the recommendation of our parents! You went in to flip the script on what our family is known for and changed your ways to become a hero.”

“I wish I could remember” Lili wiped her tears “You guys say all this but nothing is coming back to me. This sucks!”

“Maybe mommy can help when she comes home from work” the little sister said as she tugged on Lili’s sleeve “come outside and eat oranges with us.”

“I am hungry” she stood up “okay, lets go.”

She spent the rest of the afternoon trying to distract herself from everything until her mom came home. Nothing seemed to spark anything until dinner.

“Lili? Are you alright?” her dad asked worriedly “You haven’t reached for the pizza.”

“I remember something” Lili replied, eyes wide “You upgraded my phone on a pizza night, at around Iwa’s birthday.” She looked her dad “If you say I am in high school, then I must have memories on my phone!”

“That could help, but mom has your phone for safe keeping” he answered as he served her a slice “You know how paranoid she gets when things happen in the family.”

“Guess I’ll have to wait until-”

Comically on time, her mom came home. “I’m home!” her mom panted as she rushed into the dinning room “Lili! Oh sweet daughter of mine” she brought Lili into a tight embrace “You have no idea how worried I was! Did you wake up alright?” 

“I just woke up thirsty” Lili responded, face squished in her arms “Mom, not to be rude, but can I have my phone? I was just saying that something might trigger my memories back.”

Lili followed her mother into her home office after dinner. The familiar scent of lavender hit her and it triggered the memories she had in there. Once she got her phone and turned it on, a flood of texts rolled in from classmates and people from her circle.

“If you’d like, you can stay home for summer break” suggested her mother “if going back is going to be overwhelming.”

“No, I want to go the dorms” Lili said with confidence “My journey to who I became started at school, because if I did make up my mind to be a hero and threw away my dream of being a dancer, then all those memories started there.”

“Alright Lili, when do you want to go back?”

“Hmmm, on Friday? Is that okay?”

“It is, I just gotta let the school know.”

And so I went to my room to check if I had any pictures, most of them were just selfies and videos of some crackhead activity outside (from what I assume is my dorm room) window. So much for helping me, gotta take more pictures of my friends! I clean out my inbox and see that this one contact I have saved called “Hoshi 💫🌟”. I scroll through our text history and it’s like I text them a lot! Is this the friend Rosa was trying to talk to me about? Wish I had a picture of them but it seems like our texts were saved all the way back from December, almost 7 months ago! I decided to give it a rest and get ready for bed. I lay in bed but I couldn’t sleep, like something was missing from my sleep routine. Did I add something while I was away from home? Needless to say, I didn’t wake up totally refreshed. The little things triggered my memories as I did my everyday routine and, after 4 days, I remembered up to the day I quit the dance academy to go to UA.

“Mom, do you think everyone will be patient with me?” I asked as mom was driving me to the dorms ��What if they trick me or take advantage?”

“You have nothing to worry about! Everyone will help, or at the very least your circle of friends and teachers will” Mom replied, glancing over at Lili’s face “Hey, why don’t we go to a McDonalds before?!”

I get excited “For two cones and a number two combo with Sprite?!”

“Yup, glad to see that your excitement for secret McDonalds is still there” chuckled Mom as she took the left turn into the downtown area “The usual I see.”

“You know that’s been my order since I was old enough to speak!” I wiggled in my seat and looked out the window “McDonalds! McDonalds! Gimme McDonalds!”

Thankfully there was no line at the McDonalds and I enjoyed my two cones before pulling up to the dorms. I grab my bag and my drink before following my mom into the building, nothing was coming back to me yet.

“This way Lili, we have to talk to your teacher” Mom pointed to a door “Hopefully he’s not too wrapped up to talk.”

I watch her knock on the door and the sound of somebody falling off something responded along with hasty footsteps “Yes? Oh! I wasn’t expecting you two so soon!”

“Ha ha very funny mom” I was being sarcastic “How much did you pay Diaper Boy to be in on this prank?”

“Ya know Lili, I might be one of the richest women in the country but not even I’d pay Mr Mineta to be part of anything” my mom sighed and pinched her brows together “He’s your sensei...deadass.”

I nearly choked on my Sprite “No way! No wonder I ended up in the hospital!” I felt offended “You got this purple ball flinging, toddler sized, ketchup-smellin’ teaching the next generation of heroes?!”

“Hey! TO BE FAIR, I wasn’t responsible for your accident” sensei cried out “secondly, words hurt. Both of you have been roasting me for long enough, I am a man and a hero!”

“Yeah okay Diaper Man!” I roasted, which promptly triggered my memory of the first day of school “Oh man, that roast was so powerful that it triggered my memory.”

“Oh thats good! Thats what we came here first for” Mom shifted focus “Minoru, I’m going to need you to help Lili trigger her memories in terms of academics. In turn I propose Lili gets a training break until her memories come back.”

“I will allow it, don’t worry about her getting injured again” he gave his thumbs up “She excused from summer training due to her rescue points, which is this leg of the training.”

“Great! Here’s her updated medical records, please hand them to Eri when you get a chance” Mom hands over a manila folder “I just need to talk to Hoshi real quick and I’ll be on my way.”

“Wait, Mom” I stopped her “where are you going after this?”

“I’m going to do some agent work” she explained “my team has been called upon a lead for a re-opened case. I might be gone for a few days, so Dad will be there for you if you need anything.”

“But, what about me?” I pouted, feeling abandoned.

“I know its a little scary being in an environment you don’t recognize, away from your parents and siblings” She comforted me “Trust me, I know the feeling. But you have one person to rely on at least, and it’s your best friend. Hopefully you remember them after a while.” She pointed to the cat tower “Why don’t you see if Clawford is taking a nap? I’ll be quick!”

I watch her teleport out and I do what she said. She says things like this to make me feel better about her being gone for more than a day, but I still worry. I peek my head in the cat hole and see the chonky cat staring back at me with their bluish eyes. I reach in for a gentle pet and they seem to like me, maybe I spend a lot of time in this area and play with them? I don’t know how long I’ve been petting them but when I turned around, there was a group of at least 10 people just staring at me.

“Um... Howdy!” I greeted awkwardly.

“Oh my goodness! She’s not yelling at us” spoke a girl to another girl in the group “what do we say?”

“Yo Toei-kun is right there, how long until she scraps with him?” whispered the boys.

“ENOUGH! Can’t you see our classmate is back?!” spoke up one of the boys and takes a few steps towards me “Iida-san, welcome back! It’s good to see you recovered and well.”

I blinked and lightly scrunched my face “I’m sorry, but...had we, met before?”

Everyone gasped

“What do you mean? It’s me, Hashima-kun, class representative of Hero class A.”

“Class rep?...Sorry, but I don’t remember” I looked to the others “and I don’t remember any of you.”

Sensei came out of his room to inform everyone of my condition. My mom came back out with somebody before heading out.

“Okay Lili, I’ll be going now” She squeezed me “take care and call Dad for anything! I love you.”

“Okay bye Mommy” I waved “I love you!”

I watch her get in her car and drive off. Everyone’s whispers were getting on my nerves in an unsettling way. It was getting me anxiety and I felt frozen in place.

“Hey, are you okay?”

I turn around to see a tall guy with frosty, blonde hair and icy blue eyes. He was looking at me with gentle concern and that confused me.

“Yeah, um...I was just looking at my mom drive off” I meekly responded “Anyways, uhhhhhh can I ask you a very dumb question?”

Now he looked confused “Sure?”

“Where’s the bathroom? I’ve been it holding in for like 20 minutes now” I whispered, hoping nobody heard me.

“Here I’ll show you” he asked me to follow him. We walked up some stairs and down a hallway “So...memory loss huh?”

“Yep”

“Nothing from the last few years, ey?”

“Nope!”

We arrive at the bathroom “At least you remember me right?”

I run in the bathroom and into a stall before I could answer him. And just when I think I have my privacy, I hear the bathroom door open.

“Lili, you remember me...right?” he asked again.

“Um...I-” I try to not make any bodily sounds “I don’t remember you, sorry.”

“You....don’t remember me?” he responded, voice cracking and trailing off “how can that be?! We’ve done so much together! I’m saved on your phone, we have matching lock screens, you made me this shirt... does anything trigger at least the day we met?”

I flush the toilet and walk out to wash my hands “I wish it did, but it seems like routine has been triggering my memories” I go to dry my hands “and I guess that’s my second question, are you in my daily routine?”

He suddenly gets very coy “Well..um” he rubs his face “I basically never leave your side, we share a dorm room.”

“Oh...” I stare blankly at him as a hard blush rose up to my face “Will you excuse me for just a moment?”

I turn around to walk into a shower stall, closed the door and screamed for a solid 2 minutes. “Okay, I feel better” I cleared my throat as I walked out the shower.

“You know that those showers aren’t sound proof.”

“Kinda wish you didn’t say that” I blushed again “now uh, where’s our room?” 

I follow him a little ways down the hall from the bathroom. He opens the door to a cramped space.

“Welcome back, hehe” he nervously said “anything?”

I look around “Not yet, but this is a bit of tight space” I walk in to see which side is mine “Hey, that’s the vanity I wanted!”

“Well, it is yours” he explained “along with that fabric wall, sewing station on the balcony, that’s your dresser and your half of the slide closet” he then points to the bed with pink sheets “And that’s your bed, don’t worry, I didn’t sit or sleep on it. I know how picky you are about that.”

“Oof, I hate that box spring feel” I cringed at the sound the bed made with I sat on it “damn bitch, we live like this.”

The boy starts howling with laughter “You’re killing me Lili! Good one!”

I watch him laugh and it made me...happy?

“Are we...best friends?”

“We are!” He calmed down to answer me “We’re like a two for one special! We do almost everything together and you understand me the most” he smiled “You’re the most important person in my life, and no matter what, I’ll help you remember everything. Because you never gave up on me and it’s about time I return the favor.”

“Really? I’m important to you?” I questioned “then I trust that you’ll help me through this.”

He smiled harder and glanced at my bag “What’s in the bag? I don’t remember you having that rhinestone bag.”

“This is my old dance bag” I zipped it open “I have my McDonalds in here.”

“Oh? Did you order your two cones, a number two with large Sprite?” 

I froze in place “Whoa, you memorized my McDonalds order?”

“Yup, when we didn’t feel like going to the dorms yet after school, we’d go to the McDonalds and get it to go.” He explained “My order is the number 6 with a vanilla milkshake to dip my fries in.”

“I see, you’re a man of culture as well” I gave a face of approval “Then will you accept this orange.”

“Sure! WAIT!” He stopped himself from taking the orange from my hand “Oranges? Did you-”

I dumped all the contents of my bag on the bed “Pick a bunch of oranges before I came here because our tree was heavy with fruit?...Yes, I did.”

“Oh Lili!” he chuckled “You haven’t changed a bit, I’m so happy you’re back.”

I watch him peel the orange, trying to see if it triggered anything “Hey, not to sound dumb but” I asked as I was eyeing their shirt “what is your name?”

“Hm? My name is Hoshi Togata” he looked up from his peeling.

“Oh you’re my saved contact on my phone!” I picked up my phone “that makes me relieved that it’s you.”

“Yeah, look” he picked up his phone to show me the lock screen “We match, I’m the Big Bad Wolf from Shrek and you’re Donkey.”

“I was wondering why Donkey was there!” I giggled “This feels weird, I’ve never had a best friend before.”

“What about Maru?”

“Oh shit, lowkey forget he exists sometimes” I admitted “but we don’t do things like this. I’d never share my food with him or watch movies.”

“I’ve never had a friend period! You were my only friend for a while because-” he stopped himself from saying it “um, well...that part isn’t important anymore BUT we found more friends!”

I spent the rest of the day trying to figure out things all over again. And when it came for bed, I couldn’t really sleep again because I felt like something was missing. This sucks!

To be continued

<Previous - Next>  

[hannahindie]

The Wedding Singer : Track 14

Epilogue: “Grow Old With You”

Characters: Dean, Reader, Jo, Chuck, Sam, Bobby, Cas, Ellen, Charlie, Gabe

Word Count: 2,986 (including lyrics)

Series Warnings: Angst, Fluff, Language, Mentions of Infidelity, Alcohol

A/N: This is fourteenth and final chapter of an AU SPN Series co-written by myself and @pinknerdpanda entitled The Wedding Singer and is inspired by the movie. We have been working on this for the last few months and though we are excited to finally give you an ending, it’s a bit bittersweet. It has certainly been a labor of love and we sincerely hope you’ve enjoyed this ride as much as we have. You never know, maybe the co-writing bug will get us again soon. I made our 80s inspired aesthetic and the series was Masterbeta’d by @wheresthekillswitch.

Track List

Track 14: Epilogue - “Grow Old With You”

6 months later…

Dean shifted nervously as he straightened his tie in the mirror, which continued to hang just slightly off center no matter what he did to it. He gave up, resigning himself to having a crooked tie, and pulled his jacket on, brushing the shoulders and smoothing the lapels. He stared at the mirror a moment longer, mostly pleased with how well he cleaned up, and left the makeshift dressing room.

The past six months had passed by in a blur. Despite the bullshit that had gone on, and the high likelihood that his career would be washed up after the multiple incidents involving Lisa and Ketch, things had finally begun to look up. He was pretty sure that Bobby and Ellen’s anniversary party had signalled a new beginning for The Lost Boys; since then, they'd gotten calls to play in Nashville, and were planning on recording an original album in the next six months. He knew that there probably wasn't a correlation, unless you counted the lowered stress levels after Ketch and Lisa both left town. He was pretty sure they hadn't left together, but he didn't care; if anyone deserved each other, it was them.

He stopped in front of a closed door and stared at it for a moment, wondering if he should interrupt what was happening behind it. After a brief internal debate on whether his intrusion would be met with a smile or irritation, he risked it and knocked. The door swung open and Y/N looked at him in surprise.

“What are you doing here?”

He smiled, “Oh, just thought I’d stop by for good luck.”

She smiled back and leaned against the door jamb, “Is that a thing? Some sort of musician code that I don’t know about?”

He shrugged, “It can be. Seeing your best girl before a big event always makes it a little bit easier.”

“Oh, so you’re nervous now, rockstar? Never thought I’d see the day.”

Dean grabbed her by the waist and pulled her against his chest, then buried his face in her hair. She laughed and tried to pull away, “You have to get ready! I have to get ready. Jo is going to lose her mind, and I can guarantee Chuck is going to come looking for you in the next five minutes.”

He sighed against her, then pulled back just far enough to plant a soft kiss on her forehead, “You aren’t wrong. It’s why I keep you around, kid.” She smacked at him playfully and he grinned, “Well, I guess I keep you around for more than that, but it is pretty convenient.” He stepped back and dropped his arms from around her waist, capturing her hand in his. “It is nice to see you, though.”

She squeezed his hand, “Yea, it is.”

“Y/N! What are you-Dean?! Get out of here, we’ve got stuff to do. Don’t you have something you have to go sound check or set up or something?” Jo appeared behind Y/N, her hands on her hips and her eyes narrowed.

“Your boyfriend should have had that set up by now, so probably not.”

Jo’s eyes widened and her cheeks turned pink, “Chuck’s not...we’re not...what?”

Dean laughed, “Yea, that’s what I thought.” He kissed Y/N, a chaste brush of his lips against hers, and dropped her hand. I’ll see you out there.” He walked away, winking at Y/N over his shoulder as he disappeared around the corner.

The sun was just beginning to set and Dean took a deep breath, the smell of flowers filling his senses as he looked around the garden. There was a slight twinge of déjà vu as he took in the lights strung around the small space, the white chairs slowly filling with friends and family as the big moment crept closer and closer. Chuck, Gabe, and Charlie played quietly in the background and Chuck winked at him when Dean caught his eye. Dean smiled, then looked over his shoulder at Cas who was beaming widely at him. Sam appeared next to him, and clapped him on the shoulder.

“It’s almost time. You ready?”

Dean nodded, “More ready than I’ve ever been. Any word from Jess?”

Sam smiled, “Yep. She said they’re getting ready to head this way.” He stepped back and Dean looked back over the crowd, the seats filled. Stragglers crowded around the fence, standing shoulder to shoulder, and everyone turned to look as the band faded out the song they were playing and switched gears to one of Y/N’s favorites.

Wise men say only fools rush in But I can't help falling in love with you

Jo appeared at the end of the aisle, and though Dean knew he shouldn’t be as nervous as he was, he breathed a sigh of relief when she smiled at him. She strolled down the aisle and as she passed Chuck, they locked eyes as he finished the first verse. Dean made a mental note to make those two talk to each other later.

Shall I stay? Would it be a sin If I can't help falling in love with you?

Jo made it to the altar and moved off to the side, winking at Dean then nodding towards the aisle. Dean looked back and for a moment he forgot how to breathe. Y/N’s arm was linked through Bobby’s, her long hair in gentle waves that fell past her shoulders. She was holding a fairly simple bouquet of lilies and wildflowers, which complimented the beautiful lace dress she was wearing.

Like a river flows surely to the sea Darling so it goes

As she got closer, he realized that the dress she was wearing was the one he’d seen her trying on all those months ago. It fit her perfectly, hugging her curves, then flaring out at the waist as it trailed out behind her. She was beautiful, ethereal, and Dean could feel the tears pricking at the corner of his eyes.

Some things are meant to be Take my hand, take my whole life too For I can't help falling in love with you

Chuck trailed off as Bobby and Y/N reached Dean, and it hit Dean even harder when he realized even Bobby was tearing up.

“Who presents this woman to be married to this man?” Cas asked, and Bobby cleared his throat gruffly.

“Her aunt and I,” he said with a shaky voice, and Y/N leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. He kissed her forehead, then looked at Dean, “You best take care of her, idjit.”

Dean nodded, “I intend to, sir.” Bobby stared at him for a moment, then patted Y/N on the shoulder and went back to sit with Ellen. Jo slipped closer and took Y/N’s bouquet, and Dean grabbed Y/N’s hand and smiled, giving it a quick squeeze.

Cas smiled as he looked at the two of them, then out to the crowd, “We are gathered here today to celebrate two of Chapel Hill’s finest. Dean has been my best friend for as long as I can remember, and Y/N has very quickly become a part of my family, a part of everyone’s family. I believe that they have written their own vows, so I’ll uh...I’ll just let them take it away. Dean?”

Dean took a deep breath and smiled nervously, “You’d think someone who sings in front of people for a living wouldn’t be so nervous.” He shifted his weight from one foot to the other and Y/N squeezed his hand in reassurance. “Y/N, from the moment I met you, I knew that you were special. At the time, I thought I was happy...I thought I had everything I could have asked for. And then suddenly, it was all gone. I’d be lying if I said that the three weeks that followed were rainbows and sunshine, and I’m pretty sure all of Chapel Hill can agree that I had seen better days.” Quiet laughter rippled through the audience. “But despite all that, you were there. I’m not sure what I did to deserve your love, your patience...but I’m glad that my luck seemed to change when I met you. One of the worst things I have ever experienced brought me to the best thing I could have ever dreamed of, and I would never change a single thing. I promise that I will do whatever I can to keep you safe and happy and cared for. I love you and I like you, Y/N.”

Y/N smiled tearfully, and Dean reached out and wiped the wetness from her cheek. She laughed and shook her head, “I always told myself that when I got married I wouldn’t cry, and here we are.” She wiped another tear away and took a deep breath, breathing out slowly as she tried to calm her racing heart. “I thought I knew what love was. I had this totally skewed idea of what my life was going to be like, and how familiar was safe, familiar was solid. It turns out that even the most solid foundations can eventually crumble. And, when it does...it collapses and destroys indiscriminately. I thought my life was full, and then I met you. I remembered what that first kiss was like,  how it felt to miss someone so much it hurt. I remembered what passion and love felt like and I knew that something had to change. I am so glad that we found each other, and even more so that we somehow managed to find our way back. I love you and I like you, Dean Winchester.”

They both looked to Cas, who smiled as he spoke, “I don’t think there’s anything I can add to that, except to say that truer words have not been spoken.” He looked towards Sam, “The ring, please?” Sam stepped forward and handed Dean the simple silver band, then moved back into place. “Dean, as you place the ring on Y/N’s finger, please repeat after me: Y/N, this ring is a token of my love. I marry you with this ring, with all 
that I have and all that I am.”

“Y/N…” He could feel his throat tighten as he looked at her, radiant in the setting sun, the pinks and oranges shining off the beads scattered across the lace, and for a moment he forgot that they weren’t alone. She smiled, and in it, he saw his entire world. He cleared his throat and tried again, “Y/N, this ring is a token of my love. I marry you with this ring, with all that I have and all that I am.” He slid the ring onto her finger, and it slipped perfectly against her engagement ring, the diamond throwing a rainbow across her delicate hand.

Cas looked towards Jo, “The groom’s ring, please?” Jo stepped forward and handed Y/N Dean’s ring, tears shining as she smiled at her cousin. Y/N took it and Jo stepped back, clutching Y/N’s bouquet tightly.

“Y/N, as you place the ring on Dean’s finger, please repeat after me: Dean, this ring is a token of my love. I marry you with this ring, with all that I have and all that I am.”

Y/N slid the ring onto Dean’s finger, “Dean, this ring is a token of my love. I marry you with this ring, with all that I have and all that I am.” She could feel the tears rolling down her cheeks as she looked into his eyes, the green brilliant in the evening light. She had never been so sure of anything in her life, and looking at him now, his smile bigger than she had ever seen it, she was reminded that this is what love was supposed to look like. It had taken far too long to realize it, but she was glad that, despite all the drama leading up to it, that it had happened.

Cas closed the small book he was holding and crossed his hands in front of him, “Because you two came here today intending to marry, because you joined hands and made solemn vows and exchanged rings to remind you of those vows, and you are now joined as partners in mutual love and respect, according to the powers vested in me and the highest power of the land and the sea; I pronounce you to each other, husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride.”

Dean grinned, “I thought he’d never say it.” He put his hands on Y/N’s waist and pulled her into him, kissing her gently. He stepped back and and she smiled at him, a sight he didn’t think he’d ever tire of. “Hello, Mrs. Winchester.”

She winked, “Hello yourself, Mr. Winchester.” They turned to face the crowd, and Cas patted both of them on the shoulder.

“I introduce to you, for the first time, Mr. and Mrs. Dean Winchester!” The crowd cheered, and Y/N and Dean strolled arm in arm down the aisle and out of the garden to the shouts and whistles of the people they loved most in the world.

“Go talk to her, man. Just go talk to her.” Dean took another bite of food and leaned back in his chair, his free arm resting on the back of Y/N’s chair as she laughed at something Charlie said.

Chuck ducked his head and shrugged, “She’s busy talking to Cas, I shouldn’t-”

Dean smacked him in the back of the head gently and laughed when Chuck glared at him, “I guess NCIS isn’t on your list of shows...that’s fine. Sorry. Anyway, do you really think she’s interested in Cas?” Chuck shrugged again and Dean rolled his eyes, “You know for a fact she’s not. I noticed how you two looked at each other at my own wedding. Do you really think no one else has? You’re both ridiculous.” He grabbed his beer and took a swig from it, then sat it down a little more forcefully than necessary, “Watch this. Y/N!”

“What’s up, buttercup?” She shifted so that she was facing Dean and Chuck, and rested her chin in her hand.

“Don’t call me buttercup, for one.”

Y/N winked, “Sorry, I do what I want. Welcome to married life, Dean Winchester.”

He nodded, “Fair enough. Does Jo like Chuck?”

Y/N raised an eyebrow as she looked Chuck up and down, “Depends on your definition of like. If you mean, can’t stop talking about him and is constantly checking him out when she thinks he isn’t looking...then yes, absolutely.”

Chuck choked on his beer and looked at Y/N with wide eyes, “What?”

Dean clapped him on the shoulder, “Go talk to her. I mean, I could continue playing matchmaker at my wedding reception, but I’ve got other things to do...like dance with my wife.” Dean pushed back from the table and held his hand out to Y/N. “Chuck, if you’ll play our first dance for us, do me that one solid, you can let Gabe take over for the rest of the night so you can woo our sweet Jo. Sound good?”

Chuck grinned, “I think I can arrange that.” He took off towards the stage and Dean led Y/N to the dance floor. “Good evening, everyone. I hope you’re enjoying your time here at Chapel Hill’s liveliest community center. We’ve had a beautiful wedding and a fantastic dinner, and now we’d like to bring to you a perfect song for our even more perfect couple’s first dance. A bold choice, but one I think fits them well. This is for you, Mr. and Mrs. Winchester.”

The room burst into cheers and whistles and Dean grinned, “Ready to dance, Mrs. Winchester?”

“I sure am, Mr. Winchester.” She wrapped her arms around his neck as the opening chords began to echo through the room, “Think we’ll ever get tired of saying that?”

Dean shook his head, “I know I won’t.”

I wanna make you smile whenever you're sad Carry you around when your arthritis is bad All I wanna do is grow old with you

Y/N looked up at Dean in surprise, “You picked it,” she whispered, and for the second time that day, felt the tears threatening to spill as it hit her just how lucky she was.

“Of course I did, it’s what my best girl wanted.” He leaned in and she could feel his lips lightly against the shell of her ear as he sang quietly along with Chuck while they swayed.

I'll get your medicine when your tummy aches Build you a fire if the furnace breaks Oh, it could be so nice, growing old with you

Y/N closed her eyes, Dean’s deep voice rumbling against her, and tried to memorize every detail about this moment. The smell of his cologne that he only wore for special occasions, the faint hint of beer and whiskey on his breath, how solid and strong he felt as he held her close, moving her around the floor in slow circles.

I'll miss you Kiss you Give you my coat when you are cold Need you Feed you Even let you hold the remote control

“I love you,” Dean whispered, pulling her tighter against him, and Y/N sighed happily.

“I love you, too,” she said as she looked up at him, a smile pulling gently at the corner of her mouth.

Dean leaned his forehead against hers as the song finished.

So let me do the dishes in our kitchen sink Put you to bed when you've had too much to drink Oh, I could be the man who grows old with you I wanna grow old with you

Like what you see? Want more? My Masterlist is here and the lovely @pinknerdpanda ‘s can be found here. Thanks for reading! :)

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[croik]

Lots of TEW2 thoughts

So I finished The Evil Within 2 and I have a lot to say, but Seb can handle the short version.

To be honest the marketing had already put my expectations pretty low, so I can't say it was much worse than I already figured it would be? And I can see why the pro reviewers are scoring it as high or higher than they did the first one.  And I'm also willing to accept that my opinions of the first game are probably biasing me a little.  But despite a couple of cool ideas and segments, overall I didn't like the game and I think it was huge step backward creatively speaking.  I can't think of a more generic and safe route for the story to have taken than what they gave us.  Even without having ignored the two largest cliffhangers from the first game, they disregarded a few major plot points and rewrote entire character relationships?  So much of the acting was terrible, most of the new characters were 1 dimensional, and I wasn't a big fan of the changes in gameplay.  It felt like I spent half the game in crafting menus and the only improvements that were made to the weapons/combat options were things every other similar game has (especially using bottles like shivs from TLOU, sidequests across a limited worldmap with waypoints etc).  Having just recently replayed TEW1 I can't say that the controls were much smoother and there were still a lot of performance issues (and one major crash).

When I played the first game I finished in 19 hours with 112 deaths, and I rated it a B-.  I finished TEW2 in 13 hours (dunno how many deaths) and I'd give it a C+.  The plus is for Kidman.

And the rest of my thoughts are spoilers so under the cut!

So to get this out of the way, the fact that neither Joseph or Ruvik are properly addressed is bullshit.  And saying that "Joseph is alive we'll talk about it later" is not addressing it.  

From the opening cutscene there's a very clear sense from the writing that they didn't particularly care about continuing or addressing major plot points from the first game, with the way Sebastian reacts to Mobius.  For the first time in three years he has confirmation that Mobius exists, but prior to going into the machine he doesn't ask what happened to Joseph who has been missing the whole time, or to his wife, who he also knows was taken by Mobius. He doesn't spare a thought for Ruvik who has been on the loose all this time (but then again, neither did Mobius), and even when he sees a large specimen jar labeled with his daughter's name, his first thought isn't "that's just her brain in there." Because that's what it ought to be, given his experience with Mobius.

And then Seb is inside Union, and he can't stop talking about how much it's like Beacon while still acting like he's never been inside STEM. He calls out to civilians to make sure they're okay.  He gets upset when Stefano kills roomfuls of "people" even knowing that those are NOT people, they're STEM ghosts whose real human bodies have already been disconnected.  When he sees a vision of Myra in his own mind, giving him a pep talk, he knows (and WE know) that she is not the real Myra, she can't be, but he believes her anyway. He basically is talking himself into forgiveness and it works!  He spends the entire game just chattering away to himself, repeating plot information we just learned, making bland jokes, not one bit of his dialogue challenging or interesting.  It's like the writers heard people complain about how boring Seb was in the first game and thought the solution was just to have him talk a whole lot more about nothing. That's not giving him character, he's still the same tired hero cliché we've seen a million times.  That's just highlighting his faults by putting them on display more often.

And it's basically the tent pole around which all the game's story problems hinge.  With two notable exceptions, no one in the game makes any choices that take them outside the narrow box of their generic characterization.  Sebastian doesn't do anything throughout the game that no one else in his position wouldn't do.  He sets out to save his daughter, he does.  All the Mobius goons are mostly loyal up until they realize their own life is on the line, and then they righteously rebel. Theodore and Stefano are power-hungry maniacs, just like the Admin is a power-hungry maniac, no complex thought required.  In the first game, we had several different motivations at play, between Seb and Jo trying to escape, Kidman trying to save and then kill Leslie, Ruvik's revenge, Jimenez covering his own ass, Mobius and their whatevers.  When Joseph realized he was losing his mind and tried to kill himself, that was genuinely unexpected and added another layer to the narrative—now Seb doesn’t have to just worry about him going nuts, he has to worry about him hurting himself, too.  That plot line may have solved itself off screen in an unsatisfying way but at least it added a layer to the narrative.  In TEW2, EVERYONE is either trying to save Lily or control Lily, and there's virtually no changing of sides or shifting motives.  All the heroes accomplish what they set out to do from the start and even those that don't make it have their deaths telegraphed far in advance.

Everything is just so expected, every character boiled down to their most obvious character traits.  Seb takes the brunt of it but I'd argue Myra is the worst offender. The game comes out and says that there's nothing left of her personality except for her maternal instinct.  In the previous game we only got hints of Myra from Seb's journal and other items, but it was still enough that we got several aspects of her personality, not just "mom" but wife and detective and administrator.  And now that we finally get to meet her all of that is gone in favor of generic overprotective mother figure.  With her perfect bun and pearl earrings and mom sweater….  This game has more women in it than most so I can't complain too much about a female character being reduced to mother trope, but it is a disappointment that after so much speculation about Myra and her character and why she's in Mobius, that they went with the safest course and most one note characterization for her.  Especially since they contradicted canon once again to do it.

So let's talk about contradicting canon!

When I was writing Myra meta after the DLC I noted how the description of Myra as a mother changed from Seb's journal to the flashbacks Kidman sees. In TEW1 Seb notes that Myra took a three year leave of absence from the force in order to be a stay at home mom for Lily, before then hiring a nanny.  In the DLC, Seb notes that she stayed home for only a few months and wanted to get back to work as soon as possible.  He expressed some disappointment in her not being more motherly than that.  The DLC was also where we learned Myra was working for Mobius, and it seemed obvious that they were linking the two together in an ominous way.  But now in TEW2 we have Sebastian tell us again that Myra was an amazing and devoted mom.  If the DLC was made knowing a sequel was also coming, why add that detail of Seb commenting on Myra's lack of maternal instinct, when TEW2 is about nothing BUT?  It's a such a small, thoughtless contradiction, but the game is full of them.

Seb's relationship with Kidman is another one.  In Seb's original journal he describes Kid as a cold fish who he doesn't trust.  In the DLC Kid describes Seb as "seemingly drunk all the time." But then in Kidman's flashback we see Seb's determination to train her, and in TEW2 the pair of them talk about being friends and working together as a team.  So what is the truth??  Why is it so hard for the writers to keep straight how these characters feel about each other?  In the DLC Kidman had no idea that Seb was ever married or had a child, despite being recruited and trained by Myra.  In TEW2 we learn that Lily was intended to be the heart of STEM all along, and Myra recruited Kidman specifically to be part of her "fuck Mobius forever" plan.  So did Myra send Kidman into STEM the first time without warning her about the dangers, that she was expendable?  Or did Myra's intentions for Kidman only come into play after Beacon? Or did Myra really just hope that Kidman would get Leslie out, because then Mobius would use him instead of Lily? But that wouldn't allow her to go through with the plan of destroying Mobius.

And speaking of Mobius, what the hell is their problem??

They determine that STEM can only be core'd by a psychopath or a child (which ought to be the first clue that this is a bad idea).  This a requirement that's not touched on at all in the original game, since Ruvik was the core first, and after modifying STEM only someone compatible with him would have been able to take his place.  How Leslie would have fared as the core without Ruvik is left as a total mystery, because while his mental issues gave him a child-like demeanor, I'd argue that he's pretty much the opposite of an egomaniac, which is the defining requirement.  But in any case, Mobius kidnapped Lily originally because she was just so smart and special, things you can totally determine about a 5 year old /s. Timeline wise we're not sure when this was compared to the main story.  According to Seb's journal it was no more than a year or two before the beginning of the game, but in the DLC Kidman refers to those flashbacks as "way before I got here," and Seb and Jo are visibly much younger.  So at what point relative to Ruvik sabotaging the machine was Lily taken?  There are very few references to Ruvik in the game so we don't really know if Mobius determined STEM's supposed requirements before or after the first game.  

I feel like the only timeline that makes sense is that Ruvik completed STEM, Mobius decided they wanted to use Lily as the core, and when Ruvik found out as much, he sabotaged the machine so that it would only work for him. They then had to put Lily on ice for a while, so to speak, while they de-brained Ruvik and tried to go forward with just him, then moved on to Leslie.  And once the main STEM became totally useless, they went back to the original plan of using Lily.  But that raises the questions of 1) Where they really planning to put Lily into the STEM as its core during the timeframe where Ruvik was using it exclusively to torture people? And 2) Why would Mobius ever allow Myra to join them under those circumstances?

Because we now know that the timeline is that Lily was kidnapped, Myra investigated, found Mobius, and was allowed to join.  Which is out of this world, that Mobius is so powerful as to control a majority of the globe's politicians and media, while also being foolish enough to let a mother who is also a decorated police detective join their cult after having kidnapped her daughter.  Hoffman insists that Lily wasn't mistreated but they had her sealed up in a jar for YEARS. The notes say that a Core can't be missing for more than a few hours before things start to go loopy so once Union was up and running she was in there pretty much all the time.  Did they really think Myra would be okay with that? Especially when up until that point STEM was a torture device that killed anyone who connected to it??  Did they try to brainwash her and it just didn't remotely work?  How do you let a police detective with a grudge against you join the ranks of your world domination cult and expect her to stand by idly while you perform inhuman experiments on her young daughter??  And not only that, within a very short span of time they promoted her high enough that she was recruiting and training agents of her own!  

If Mobius is so cavalier about the kind of people they let in, why didn't Myra just recruit Sebastian once she was on the in?  She went through the trouble of telling Lily that her father was dead, let him stew as a drunken waste for 3 years, and not once just suggested bringing him in?  No one would have even noticed he was gone at that point.  And if that was too dangerous, why not slip him more advance warning of what was up?  She instructed Kidman to take Lily to Seb once they got her out, but didn't give him any kind of heads up even though he was a jobless wreck.  Mobius is lax enough that Theodore, Myra, and Kidman were all able to meet in public and discuss their plan, so why couldn't one of them at least drop him a note to be ready of some kind?

In any case, these are all relatively minor quibbles when compared to the entirely faulty conceit of the game's main plot: the Wireless STEM.

A note in TEW2 explains that the STEM needs to log a certain number of people and the data that represents their consciousness before it can achieve a wireless state.  This completely flies in the face of the previous game, because in that, the wireless feature was something that Jimenez simply installed himself based on Ruvik's original blue print.  It had nothing to do with Ruvik connecting enough people physically in order to achieve wifi.  He got MORE powerful the more people he connected, with references to his influence outside the machine, but all they had to do to go wireless was to turn the damn thing on.  It makes even less sense because in the TEW2 note, it says that they need at least 20,000 people to have been connected at one point in order to have enough data, and there's no possible way Ruvik had that many people in STEM.  I mean, I guess it's possible with help from Mobius, but damn.  Did they really go through that twice??

There's also the issue of The Core.  We don't know where in Union Lily was supposed to be that matters so much that her leaving that place sends the whole city haywire.  We don't know at what point she stopped being the Core and Myra took over, or how Myra was able to accomplish that when she's neither a child or psycho (and her selfless devotion to her daughter is the opposite of the "unfettered ego" Hoffman describes as being necessary).  We don't know why Hoffman was perfectly aware that the Core is a little girl named Lily, but O'Neal was baffled by the concept (even though Lily's name is literally printed ON the Core itself).  Some of this might be explained in notes but we don't really know how Stefano or Theodore were able to wield Lily's power just by having her be near them, or how they thought they could achieve wireless by fucking up Union beyond repair. After all, Mobius stopped importing people on the regular into STEM as soon as there was a problem, so why didn't Theodore wait to make his move until wireless was ready?  How did he expect to achieve it, just by the Admin putting in teams 5 people at a time until they reached threshold?

More importantly, why the fuck do all Mobius operatives have a kill switch in their head, INCLUDING the Admin himself?  The chips are explained as being a protection AGAINST the influence of STEM, so that the high ranking can continue to monitor the system. Obviously the Admin doesn't want his mind to be at the mercy of a child.  So how is it possible that a failsafe AGAINST STEM can so easily be manipulated into a murder signal by STEM itself?  That is the OPPOSITE of its intended purpose, how was Myra able to change the programming on chips inside of people's heads enough to achieve that without anyone noticing??  Why did Mobius link up their global transmitters before the STEM had been fully realized, and why wouldn't they shut those off in the case of an emergency, given what happened with Beacon?

Gosh there are just so many ways that this new game contradicts the original (though to be fair it also contradicted itself a great deal). There are a million examples I can think of, on top of things that simply don't make much logical sense, scenes and characters that add nothing.  Why did they imply in the first game that Tatiana was a Mobius agent only to completely discard that and make her Sebastian specific?  How does Mobius retain control of the entire world supposedly when every Mobius agent you meet is willing to abandon ship at the first sign of trouble?  Did Hoffman know that even if she helped you reach Theodore, Myra's killswitch would have killed her, too?  Did Sebastian ever think about that later?  Why don't you see Myra's body connected to the STEM tubs, why didn't Sebastian try to retrieve it?  Why did Myra make a big deal out of telling Sebastian to go get Lily at the end of the game, as if it's a last goodbye, only to limp up to the house herself and do the entire scene over again??  Why is she made out of plaster, what is the significance?  Why did Ruvik's notes at the end of the DLC about Kidman and the Admin having bits of his consciousness inside them not come to anything?  Why is Seb's hand bandaged as to suggest he has one too, except not really, he just got in a bar fight or something I guess?? If the Mu church is of a Scientology-like standing how does no one recognize the symbol when it's all over Beacon, and if it was created as a front and not the actual origins of Mobius, why is it given such significance in Ruvik's mind??  And where the fuck is Ruvik anyway???

Where is Joseph, and more importantly, why doesn't Sebastian care!?

So yeah you could say I have a lot of questions, and I intend to New Game + so I can get all the files I missed and hopefully piece something together from this mess.

But it's not all bad.  In the last part of the game, when Kidman becomes a total badass, that was AWESOME.  Unexpected that we would get to play as her and kick ass.  That was the most cinematic and interesting part of the game hands down.  I found Seb's family drama to be overly cheesy but at least pairing it with Kidman's assault and urgency helped a lot.  That was great stuff.

I also really liked Liam's little arc, such as it was.  He's pretty much the only character that goes through character development that wasn't broadcasted a million years ago. Seb coming to grips with his guilt and saving Lily was the most obvious and safe route for him to take.  Liam going from coward to pawn to sub-boss to repentant was really fun, and he looked fantastic as the hognose. The thought that he was going to motivate the plot through betrayal was a breath of fresh air after a slog of "find Lily find Lily find Lily."  His death was tragic without being overstated.  Good shit.

And of course, The Upgrade Chair <3  Sebastian's conversations with Tatiana were a lot more interesting than anything he had to say to the other characters, too.  While everyone else is just blah blahing exposition at you the whole game, Tatiana's conversations had some mystery, some level of unease that called back to the first game in a way the rest of TEW2 failed to do.  

Because THAT was what was so intriguing about TEW.  As irritating as it was at times to feel like you were entirely in the dark with no answers in sight, that at least gave the game a sense of momentum.  I felt driven to complete the game because everything was just so fucking weird and I was desperate to understand what was happening to the characters.  That didn't pay off in an entirely satisfying way, but at least it was interesting, at least it made you really think.  In TEW2 everything is spelled out for you and the only thinking that needs doing is "Did these people actually play their own game before writing the sequel?"  Because I'm honestly not sure.

It's obvious whoever's doing the comic did not, at least.

So yeah.  I'll be starting a new playthrough to get more things and take some notes, because if nothing else I'd like to determine SOME kind of workable timeline.  Why does the article about Sebastian's mental health describe Lily's death as "recent" but Kidman says that Lily was taken "long before joined them."  Was it recent, or long ago?  Do the writers even know???

Ficwise I don't know what I'll be up to yet.  I'm open to suggestion and I'll probably make a separate post about that later.  And if anyone wants to talk about the game, please lemme know, there's still a lot on my mind I didn't manage to get out here.

[everlark-fanfic]

The Kids Are Alright Chapter 1

So basically I wrote this chapter 1 as a sample for a post-epilogue fanfic centered around katniss and peeta’s kids, more particularly their daughter. If anyone is interested in me going further, let me know. Otherwise, enjoy: 

Lilly

It was all basically a blur.

“One more!” “Another, Lilly, come on!” “Don’t be like that, just one more.”

The brightest lights I’ve ever seen, the smoothest alcohol I’ve tasted, the best music that I can’t help but dance to. The most handsome boy I’ve ever laid eyes on, pressing his lips onto mine, and then disappearing out into the crowd like he was never even here.

The Capitol is my new favorite place to be, hands down. I don’t know why I never listened to my cousins when they told me to come visit for a party, but tonight, on my cousin Finn’s 19th birthday, I had to see if all the stories were true. And they absolutely were.

In 12 a birthday party is basically your mother and father rounding your closest family and friends who aren’t dead to sit around and dance to the same exact song on the fiddle. Every year. And every year I roll my eyes and grit my teeth as my parents show all my friends the old square dance they used to do back before the revolution. Once my mother explained it to me, why she loves it so much, and why I’ll never understand how much dancing around on a full belly celebrating another year of life means to her.

And she's right, I will never understand. But right now all I can think about is how my speech seems to flow in cursive, my eyelids feel like they weigh a ton, my body seems to move like an ocean, and my lips still tingle from the sensation of a stranger. I’ve never felt more on top of the world than I do now, and then I fall.

“Lilly!” Piper laughs, “Get up, you look like an ass!”

“I can actually see your ass” Burch gloats.

“Ok, ok. I’m um, I uh, who was that?” I stammer, looking in the crowds for the beautiful hunk that just vanished.

“Who knows,” Fletcher giggles, “But he’s long gone now, better get your fix somewhere else.” He pours an ounce of a bluish purple liquid that looks like space into a small glass, handing it over, “One for the road?”

I feel violently sick just looking at it. “No thanks,” I croak out, visibly nauseated. “I honestly better be getting home soon.” I look over at the clock and I almost faint when I see that it reads 2:04 am. “Shit” I mutter. My parents are literally going to kill me. Now that the transit system in Panem is used a lot more to travel to the outlying districts, they had to make the trains much faster. Still, even with our ridiculously fast trains, I wouldn't be home until three or four in the morning.

Finn, who’s the oldest out of all of us grabs me by the wrist and hugs me so incredibly tight I feel like I can’t breathe, “THANKS FOR COMING LILY!” He practically screams right in my ear, obviously very drunk. He quiets down a bit, “Honestly, thank you, like you just are the greatest, and,” he hiccups “and I am so happy you came here for my birthday. IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!” he yells out to the crowd and they roar back encouragingly.

I smile and give him a kiss on the cheek, “Love you Finn, I’ll see you soon. Happy birthday!” He smiles and ruffles up my hair a bit, backing away slowly and then returning to the dance floor.

I turn to the group who appears to be taking another shot of the space juice. I chuckle when Piper and Burch make faces of disgust desperately trying to keep the liquid down. Fletcher does his best to look unfazed, minus the tears welling up in his eyes.

“Can I walk you out?” Burch asks politely, and holds out his arm for me to take. I gladly take it and Piper immediately takes my other side and we exit the party, leaving Fletcher and Finn to take care of each other.

The walk to the train station is quite chilly, in the midst of January it can get pretty cold here, so we all huddle together for warmth. After 10 minutes of us three drunken slobs stumbling away, we arrive at the station and the screen lets us know the next late nite train will be arriving in 8 minutes. We sit down on the bench on the platform and wait together.

“That was so much fun,” Piper sighs. “Finn is so drunk I can’t even believe it.”

Burch and I laugh, “Yeah, but it’s his day so we’re not allowed to judge. Every other day we can, though” Burch says.

While Burch and Piper joke about how Finn was starting to turn into our uncle Haymitch, I sink back on the bench and check my phone. 1 missed call from Mom, 1 missed call from Dad, another missed call from Mom, and a text from Terrin reading: “You’re in so much trouble :)”

I look around and cringe at the thought of going home. I feel so incredibly uneasy about it. I never really disobey my parents and I always let them know exactly where I am, especially if I go out of the district to visit my cousins, which I’ve been doing a lot more of lately. This time however, feels so different. I feel so uneasy, I could almost--

I hurl all over the platform, barely missing everyone's shoes. Burch and Piper look horrified.

“Sorry guys,” I wipe my mouth. “I’ve never partied like this before”

“Happens” Piper giggles and I shoot her a grin.

I can hear the chanting of the train coming closer, and soon enough it’s breeze is cooling off our sweaty faces. I carefully step over my pile of vomit and wave goodbye to Piper and Burch, “I’ll see you all soon. Let me know next time you want to do this again, if I’m not grounded by then.” I hop on the train and watch them try and mimic my moves to get over the pile. Burch pretends to push Piper into it and she almost loses her balance and swats him playfully.

My train leaves and through the window I can see Burch put his arm around Piper and gracefully swoop her up before he gently leans in for a quick peck on her lips. The sight of it makes my stomach wrench and before I know it, I’m puking again, this time into a paper bag behind the seat meant for motion sickness. After a few hurls, I look down and I whisper to myself “Burch? And Piper?” I hold down another wave.

I mean they’re cousins for God’s sake. Well, not really biologically. The six us have grown up together, at every family gathering, at every birthday party, at every funeral, and every wedding, these kids are my family. Our parents told us that we were cousins when we were young, but as we got older we figured out the real dynamic.

Finn came first, he is my aunt Annie’s son. My parents said as soon as they saw how happy Finn made Annie, the thought of having me didn’t scare them so much anymore.

Next came Burch, my uncle Gale’s son. He and Finn are only six months apart, and Burch was born right after the revolution. Needless to say, Burch was an accident, my uncle Gale only knowing my aunt Maple for three months before she was pregnant with him. Two years later, after getting married, they welcomed Fletcher, who is now sixteen.

Piper is my aunt Johanna’s daughter and she’s seventeen just like me, only about ten months older. She is the closest thing I have to a sister, my absolute best friend. My parents have been really close with aunt Johanna for almost twenty years, her and my father are even closer. Sometimes if something falls and makes a loud noise, they will start breathing hard but in the exact same way and my mom has to keep them from getting violent. I’ve only seen it happen once with aunt Jo, but a handful of times with my father. Aunt Jo was seeing this man formerly from District 11 when she moved to 2 to join the armed forces. They married and had Piper quickly, only for her husband to die in a test run of a new hovercraft they had designed. Her and Finn will occasionally bond over the fact that their dads are both dead and neither of them have even met them.

I came next, a surprise to my mother. She told me that she thought she was sterile, that when she went into the games her first time the stylists implanted something to stop her from menstruating and had no idea that it was reversed as soon as she and my father won. Three years later, my brother Terrin was born, he’s now fourteen, the youngest of us all by a two year gap, so he’s never really invited nor is he interested in going out to the Capitol with us.

When we were young, our parents couldn't really explain to us how they all knew each other. How could they? We would never understand that they knew each other because there was a Hunger Games every year for 75 years, and our parents had gone through it, and been a part of a revolution to put an end to their former regime, so they just told us we were family, and family we are.

That is why is so incredibly weird to see what I just saw. I have a million questions. How long has this been going on? Do uncle Gale and aunt Johanna know about it? How could Piper even THINK about seeing Burch like that? I shudder and then do my best to shake the feeling, dozing off, doing my best to try and sober up before I have to deal with my parents.

I’m woken by a sudden halt of the train, early morning miners quickly rushing out onto the platform to start the day. I get up, rubbing my eyes and smearing off mascara that Piper loaned me and check the clock to see that it’s 3:45 am. I find my father’s car and start it, driving painfully slow home, as I know what’s coming up if not tonight then first thing in the morning.

On my way home, I notice that the street signs are passing quicker than they should for the speed I’m going. That I seemed to not have gone through any intersections or stoplights, and as soon as I start to realize that I may not be as sober as I thought I would be, my headlights meet a tree trunk, my head hits the steering wheel, and then everything goes blank.

[shadowcatgirl09]

Fic updates everywhere!

Damn that last time I did one of these was in December I think?? Wow. Okay so I finally have the motivation to do one of these again (didn’t think that was gonna ever happen.) I’ve mostly doing some writing here and there, reading (I’ve recently become obsessed with this ya trilogy called Num8ers, it’s really good), and been in a weird funk as of late. But I’m living off of the salt of my facebook timeline right now. Fair warning this will be long. So without further ado.

 First I’m getting @leianaberrie out of the way because my girl didn’t update not once but five times.

Original freaking Sin

Joshua, Grams, and Abby discussing locating and killing Kai. Please tell me they got that blood from Jo and not from Bonnie’s stomach. Poor Bonnie, that girl is in too deep right now. Poor nephew uncle Zach getting his memory wiped. Bonnie runs off to find Kai and leaves the necklace behind I’m like:

I should not be excited about this. I was right, it was a trap.

But at least they were reunited for a little while before all hell breaks loose.

I’ll Wed You In The Golden Summertime

Holy cow this story just became 10x more tolerable now that Damon’s ass is out of the picture! Shame he didn’t actually die though. So it’s all just a ploy. Okie dokie then, Bonnie’s a good actress. I know she’s pissed with her cousin, mom and the Gemini Coven and it’s supposed to be justified but my hatred of Damon just makes me look at Bonnie like:

He’s seriously not worth the trouble. Hmm but that BonKai sexual tension though.

I love how she just can’t get him out of her head (not that I blame her I mean it’s Kai.) I loved when Kai called her out on her hero complex. I never understood that myself actually, especially considering who she was mostly sacrificing for. But that’s a rant for another time. Bless you Jeremy for opening the floodgate of doubt! I mean Freya planted the seed but

I needed that. And then Nora out here giving Bonnie the truth. I loved that she would not betray Kai no matter what. All of my respect.

Bonnie’s devotion of Damon isn’t fucking natural fam. He treats her like shit repeatedly while she goes above and beyond for him. He only pulls through when it benefits him. Their relationship is so one-sided it’s downright disturbing. She needed to hear that. The fact that she couldn’t even counter back left me satisfied.

I thought Kol and Bonnie had an one-sided crush thing going on not a full ten day honey-moon like fling! Girl you could’ve had it aaallllll.

Of course we get to the end of the chapter where Damon does what Damon does best and that’s twist and manipulate facts in his favor.

And sadly Bonnie believes him because like the author’s note said the story wouldn’t be the way it is if she didn’t come to Damon biased conclusions. Le sigh.

Sweet Jesus! I’m barely finished when you update with another chapter! Omg how do you do it?

Bonnie, Bonnie, Bonnie, I get her anger, truly I do but Lucy has her cousin’s best interests at heart. Ugh it’s so conflicting! On one hand I want to feel bad for Bonnie because her family really wasn’t there for her when she needed them but her actions toward everyone got me like:

Her outburst at Liv was uncalled for. I’m glad Liv put her in her place. I wish they had let Lucy in on the plan. Man when she said what her favor was I was like:

I kinda had a feeling that’s what her favor was but actually hear her say it. I feel bad for Lucy.

So now Bonnie’s starting to slowly question everything. Bout damn time.

Ha she gonna make Damon explain.

“You mean he’ll tell you a more convincing lie.” 

I mean it’s what he does best. I can’t wait to see how fast Damon’s gonna throw her to the wolves when he finds out about Lucy’s favor (or what was her favor.) Please for the love of god Bonnie listen to Jeremy. That or make her go through something to see that Kol wasn’t lying. That little invisible letter trick was pretty cool. Ah so the traitors are slowly starting to show themselves.

Okay so is she gonna legit kill one of the Gemini or is she going to tell Kai that they contacted her? Now I’m anxious for the next chapter.

Long Shadows!

It was finally updated

Bonnie, Elena and Caroline just being friends hanging out like before all the bs happened

While I need more BonKai (I’ll get to that in a minute) I need more of that too. Cause the show don’t know what it’s doing with anything right now. My god Kai and Matt’s argument at the table. In fact that whole dinner was crazy fam. Rebekah attacking Kai (it was justified imo), Bonnie saving him, and of course all of the stuff the MF gang was out of the loop about had me like:

Matt was all types of disrespectful. I understand he had losses but so did his friends. Like Bonnie mentioned he still has family left. I’m gonna need Matt to just out right tell her has feelings because this is getting out of hand.

Okay I’m not gonna lie while I want to see Bonnie and Kai working together (but let’s be fair that’s not happening anytime soon) I’m actually more interested in whoever the traitor is. It’s playing out like a murder mystery and I gotta admit I’m more into that than the Heretic mess. Speaking of which props to Rebekah for wanting to help out the team, hopefully that goes well.

Alrighty first I just wanna say both Kai and Bonnie were in the wrong with the Heretic situation. Kai should’ve never brought them out no matter what he had in mind for them and Bonnie should’ve stayed out of his business. I understand where she was coming from but yeah the point still stands. Anyhoo~

At the same time I’m gonna need these two to have hot angry sex or something because the tension between these two in this story is ridiculous man. Like Kai legit has blue balls. I need an update for this one!

Safe Haven

@mysticfalls-originals Girl you hurting me here. My poor baby is suffering from nightmares again! Poor Bonnie is worried about him and he won’t admit something’s wrong making it worse by the day.

But when she got home and saw what Kai did I was like:

He bought her a thousand single stemmed roses and made her her favorite breakfast. Goals man goals.

Omg the Kai and Jeremy talk. “Your bar was raised pretty high when you knocked it down like a bad round of Jenga.”

Damn Kai. Okay I totally get why Jeremy doesn’t trust Kai really I do but the hypocrisy is real as Kai pointed out. Jeremy could’ve been the bigger man but eh he screwed himself over during that little convo. Hell that was the highlight of the chapter for me. I’m waiting on the next chapter to see how the party goes seeing as how she said the Gemini Coven is coming there.

I seriously love that crew, Cody in particular. Seriously this fic is the reason Theo Raeken is usually all over my dash.

Mundane

Oh how I wish that author of that fic had a tumblr, on that note I wish pennytree had one too.

Back to the subject at hand. They’re back to being friends like their friendship was never messed up in the first place!

No like seriously their friendship gives me life in this fic. Oh god Bonnie still has feelings but doesn’t know if they’re reciprocated.

Bonnie honey no, just suck it in and continue to be friends with him. Lol things are awkward with Connor now

I shouldn’t be laughing at that but it’s hard not to. Wait nope scratch that he played himself on that date, he had it coming. Kai’s going to England for the summer. Bonnie and me like:

Bon’s hella lonely now. I mean she counting days and crap. Her phone call with Kai gave me cavities. Ah good old Sheila knew just what to say, Bonnie needed to hear that. Rudy reveals he’s dating LILY SALVATORE. Bloody hell I don’t know how I feel about that one. I’m stuck between shock and ew. OMFG Jo no!

For the love of god stop messing with that boy! Your brother gonna wind up killing him.

Aww Kai booked an earlier flight back and wanted to surprise Bonnie.

Oh hell I thought the phone call gave me cavities. They really did the cheesy ass reunited at the airport hug. It was beautiful. I need a blood sugar pill now.

After that reunion there’s no way in hell there’s no mutual feelings there. Oh crap some classmates saw them together. Because this is a high school au this can go one of two ways. A. The girls are just hype they saw Kai or B. Rumors are about to be spread about Bonnie and Kai being a thing (it’s more than likely B.)

Subterfuge

@albion19 This fic is everything right now. No Damon just Bonnie and Kai in 1994.

I’m loving their friendship right now. Kai and his little slip ups that Bonnie’s catching on to. “I think we’re part of each other’s lives now. I’ll support you.”

But then I remember that this is a BonKai fic and Bonnie’s words are more than likely going to come back to bite her in the ass

Doing Time In Sedona

Joshua still a freaking creeper like:

I mean I wouldn’t mind Kai and Bonnie mixing bloodlines if you get my drift but the way Joshua goes on about it is just no. He literally marked off which Bennetts he could or could not use. The little Parkwood moment was cute.

Bonnie finally took the steps and kissed Kai!

My ass was waiting for that since he was introduced in the fic! Unfortunately she has to leave right after.

 Hopefully they’ll get to be reunited without to much trouble.

@jemicloisfan Damn girl you updating like leianaberrie!

I admit I’m still getting used to two things with her writing,

1. I’m not used to someone shipping Jeremy and Elena (at least she makes them not related sometimes) 

2. Her simplistic way of writing, it’s not bad, in fact I enjoy it because it’s quick to get through.

Red Blood

I never knew I needed a Werewolf!Kai au before. I love how everyone keeps commenting on the guyliner. Oh bloody hell I’m sensing a love triangle but knowing her work it’s gonna get shut down.

I love when she does that.

Safe In Your Arms

She got her memories back and is heading to Mystic Falls!

Kai stop it, try as you might you know damn well you ain’t moving on from Bonnie. Oohh so the siblings are going to work together to kill Daddy Parker or at least lock him up somewhere, good shit.

Damon attacks Jeremy out jealousy, Alaric blows him up I think (no seriously there was a denotar and stuff). Elena to Alaric “Please take out the trash.” Alaric takes Damon outside.

Me:

In light of episode 10 of this craptastic season I needed that.

Hate That I Love You

I’ll say it once, I’ll say it a thousand times; Two things I will never get tired of reading about in BonKai fics is jealous!Kai and daddy!Kai. In this story Kai has a little mini me running around that he didn’t know about (to be fair if he had stuck around he would’ve known.) After going through some arguments with Bonnie and making up he gets to see his son again. I was just:

The little boy is immediately attached to him, they’re building model planes together, and his son wants to grow a beard just like him. I’m a mess because it’s rare for Kai to have a little boy in fics.

The Beat of My Heart

BONJAKE! There seriously needs to be more fics of these two!

Anyway~

Damn even in an au crossover Bonnie still gets screwed over. The poor girl’s pregnant, the baby dad is a dead beat, and now she’s stuck in quarantine. Ugh Jake is such a sweetheart and their developing relationship is too adorable.

Okay look I’ve never watched Containment I just saw clips here and there; (I’ve seen the Tomorrow People and TVD, Julie’s crap is well yeah.) But I am enjoying what I’m seeing here and can’t wait for the next update.

Thinking of You

I’m not gonna lie I’m iffy about this because it’s based off of Pearl Harbor and couldn’t stand that movie. Of course I’m an open-minded person so I want to see how this story turns out. I will admit I’m liking what I’m seeing so far.

Regency

I should be ashamed because Enzo died recently but when Kai cut off his finger my ass was that above gif. I was feeling like Bonnie in that moment.

Damn Kai like omg, his obsession with Bonnie is real fam. He’s willing to jail his trusted advisors, get a divorce, and when the divorce doesn’t work he’ll kick his wife out. When he finds out Bonnie’s not a virgin is going to be hella interesting.

[foursprout-blog]

the 9 things on my 2017 *W I S H L I S T * + 2 holiday facts.

New Post has been published on http://foursprout.com/happiness/the-9-things-on-my-2017-w-i-s-h-l-i-s-t-2-holiday-facts/

the 9 things on my 2017 *W I S H L I S T * + 2 holiday facts.

These are the special things I’ve got my eye on outside my full gift guide which you can find here. Below is my personal wishlist. I love minimalism so I have a few things but quality things, therefore I have a constant wishlist in my phone of things I’m saving for. Then every so often I’ll buy something on the list. When I do it feels special and exciting. If it’s an experience I’ll really enjoy it and if it’s a physical item I’ll likely keep it for a long time.

Here’s what I currently have my eye on… 1. The Weighted Gravity Blanket– I’ve been hearing about this for a while. It seems like something that would be perfect for anyone who is chronically cold (me) and likes to be hugged (everyone?). I’ve never tired one but I’m assuming I’d like it but also wouldn’t want to carry the box up my stairs… have you tried it?

2. Wax & Oil Candle– My friend Dree sent me a care-package a couple months ago. It had all the best things in it, including this Wax & Oil vanilla candle. I adore the smell and what I like even more is how portable the candle is. I’ve adapted a new morning ritual based on something Dree told me about on her episode of my podcast a couple months ago where she shared this book with me called The Lotus & The Lily. I haven’t started yet but what Dree explained is that the book is basically a 30 day inner quest with exercises for going inward and each morning (regardless of where we are) we light this candle, drink a warm drink, read the short passage , and do the journaling exercise. It’s a beautiful way to start the day and while any candle would obviously work for this I love how portable this one is with it’s cap and that is is natural, soy based, and smells like fresh baked cookies.

3. The Jesse Kamm Ranger & Sailor Pants– I’ve been hearing a lot about these pants for the last year and seeing them all over NYC. Past podcast guest Christine first told me about them (I adore her style) and this YouTube channel I enjoy Dearly Bethany did a review on them that told me everything I needed to know. They are super pricey so I want to make sure I find the perfect fit so I can have them forever so I’m going to try to make it to a store in NYC that carries them so I can try them on. I’m also going to try Everlane’s version of this style pant because my friend (& photographer) Abbey was wearing them when she was in New York and raved about them. Unfortunately, the color I’m after is out of stock until February but I’m hoping to swing by the first Everlane store that just opened in NYC.

4. Any & Everything from Cap Beauty– this is my favorite natural beauty store in New York City’s West Village. I adore going into Cap and even treated myself to a facial there a few months ago which was a delight! I also love Credo Beauty which is another natural beauty store I discovered this summer while living in Williamsburg, they have a location in Brooklyn and Manhattan. They sell some of my favorite lines including, RMS Beauty, show sponsor and genuine fav Juice Beauty, and so much more!

5. Nu Evolution Plum Lipgoss– This is one of the items on this list I actually do own, I’m just running low on it. I can’t say enough about this lip color. I left it in Nick’s pocket after a wedding we attended this fall and was without if for about a month and actually missed it, no other lip product compares. Listen, I never even wore lipgloss that was pigmented before this summer when I wandered into Credo asking for a lipgloss that worked like a chap stick nourishing my lips. I wanted something that wouldn’t feel sticky or make my hair stick to it,  I wanted it to smell good,  and lastly I wanted a color that worked well for me. This lipgloss hits all of those requirements while being organic, cruelty-free, and leaves my lips feeling nourished (not dry), stays on for a long time, fades well, and smells like vanilla.  I love the shade “plum” for me but may try another color soon too.

6. Facial at Face Gym NYC– Speaking of fancy facials in NYC, I’m dying to try Face Gym. It’s not really a facial it’s a face workout and looks so interesting. According to their website it’s non-invasive, zero-risk facelifting just by their original non-invasive face workout that visibly tones and tightens your face muscles leaving you looking fresh, glowing, and lifted. I think it sounds pretty fun to try.

7. A New Backpack– My current backpack as been with me for years. We’ve traveled all across the country together on my book tour, back and forth to Hawaii twice, and moved to NYC from Michigan. I’ve spilled leftovers in it, I’ve dropped it on busy subway floors, and I’ve stuffed it full with podcasting equipment shlepping all over the city. It’s time for an upgrade. I’m thinking this one might be the ideal fit for a new laptop backpack. Anyone have this backpack? I’d love your thoughts on it. Which color do you like best?

8. A Sleep Shirt– I feel like PJs are the best gift. Buying clothes for someone is always a bold choice and risky but a sleeping outfit seems like a much easier thing to pick out for another person, plus at the holidays store tend to have such cute novelty sleepwear. I especially like this from J.Crew & this from Madewell & also this set (but I’m sure they’ll be half off by the first of the year…)

9. SHHHOWER Cap– It’s no secret by now to everyone I know and most of the internet that I only wash my hair about twice a month. Therefore, you’ll be happy to know I’m shower while trying to keep my hair dry often. I’ve been using hotel plastic shower caps with yoga headbands hoping for the best, until I discovered the SHHHOWER Cap which is such an upgrade. It not only looks like a fashionable turban, it does a fantastic job at actually keeping my hair dry. I love them so much I reached out and got us a discount so we can get one for 10% off : use the code KATIE.

two more non-gifts related holiday things…. –I would like ever space I step into until December 25th to smell like this or this. —Serendipity is my favorite Christmas movie & I watch it every year at this time. Related, Cool Yule is my favorite holiday song. –Here is my full gift guide + A Cup of Jo does gift guides better than anyone on the internet.  

The post the 9 things on my 2017 *W I S H L I S T * + 2 holiday facts. appeared first on Katie Dalebout.

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the 9 things on my 2017 *W I S H L I S T * + 2 holiday facts.

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the 9 things on my 2017 *W I S H L I S T * + 2 holiday facts.

These are the special things I’ve got my eye on outside my full gift guide which you can find here. Below is my personal wishlist. I love minimalism so I have a few things but quality things, therefore I have a constant wishlist in my phone of things I’m saving for. Then every so often I’ll buy something on the list. When I do it feels special and exciting. If it’s an experience I’ll really enjoy it and if it’s a physical item I’ll likely keep it for a long time.

Here’s what I currently have my eye on… 1. The Weighted Gravity Blanket– I’ve been hearing about this for a while. It seems like something that would be perfect for anyone who is chronically cold (me) and likes to be hugged (everyone?). I’ve never tired one but I’m assuming I’d like it but also wouldn’t want to carry the box up my stairs… have you tried it?

2. Wax & Oil Candle– My friend Dree sent me a care-package a couple months ago. It had all the best things in it, including this Wax & Oil vanilla candle. I adore the smell and what I like even more is how portable the candle is. I’ve adapted a new morning ritual based on something Dree told me about on her episode of my podcast a couple months ago where she shared this book with me called The Lotus & The Lily. I haven’t started yet but what Dree explained is that the book is basically a 30 day inner quest with exercises for going inward and each morning (regardless of where we are) we light this candle, drink a warm drink, read the short passage , and do the journaling exercise. It’s a beautiful way to start the day and while any candle would obviously work for this I love how portable this one is with it’s cap and that is is natural, soy based, and smells like fresh baked cookies.

3. The Jesse Kamm Ranger & Sailor Pants– I’ve been hearing a lot about these pants for the last year and seeing them all over NYC. Past podcast guest Christine first told me about them (I adore her style) and this YouTube channel I enjoy Dearly Bethany did a review on them that told me everything I needed to know. They are super pricey so I want to make sure I find the perfect fit so I can have them forever so I’m going to try to make it to a store in NYC that carries them so I can try them on. I’m also going to try Everlane’s version of this style pant because my friend (& photographer) Abbey was wearing them when she was in New York and raved about them. Unfortunately, the color I’m after is out of stock until February but I’m hoping to swing by the first Everlane store that just opened in NYC.

4. Any & Everything from Cap Beauty– this is my favorite natural beauty store in New York City’s West Village. I adore going into Cap and even treated myself to a facial there a few months ago which was a delight! I also love Credo Beauty which is another natural beauty store I discovered this summer while living in Williamsburg, they have a location in Brooklyn and Manhattan. They sell some of my favorite lines including, RMS Beauty, show sponsor and genuine fav Juice Beauty, and so much more!

5. Nu Evolution Plum Lipgoss– This is one of the items on this list I actually do own, I’m just running low on it. I can’t say enough about this lip color. I left it in Nick’s pocket after a wedding we attended this fall and was without if for about a month and actually missed it, no other lip product compares. Listen, I never even wore lipgloss that was pigmented before this summer when I wandered into Credo asking for a lipgloss that worked like a chap stick nourishing my lips. I wanted something that wouldn’t feel sticky or make my hair stick to it,  I wanted it to smell good,  and lastly I wanted a color that worked well for me. This lipgloss hits all of those requirements while being organic, cruelty-free, and leaves my lips feeling nourished (not dry), stays on for a long time, fades well, and smells like vanilla.  I love the shade “plum” for me but may try another color soon too.

6. Facial at Face Gym NYC– Speaking of fancy facials in NYC, I’m dying to try Face Gym. It’s not really a facial it’s a face workout and looks so interesting. According to their website it’s non-invasive, zero-risk facelifting just by their original non-invasive face workout that visibly tones and tightens your face muscles leaving you looking fresh, glowing, and lifted. I think it sounds pretty fun to try.

7. A New Backpack– My current backpack as been with me for years. We’ve traveled all across the country together on my book tour, back and forth to Hawaii twice, and moved to NYC from Michigan. I’ve spilled leftovers in it, I’ve dropped it on busy subway floors, and I’ve stuffed it full with podcasting equipment shlepping all over the city. It’s time for an upgrade. I’m thinking this one might be the ideal fit for a new laptop backpack. Anyone have this backpack? I’d love your thoughts on it. Which color do you like best?

8. A Sleep Shirt– I feel like PJs are the best gift. Buying clothes for someone is always a bold choice and risky but a sleeping outfit seems like a much easier thing to pick out for another person, plus at the holidays store tend to have such cute novelty sleepwear. I especially like this from J.Crew & this from Madewell & also this set (but I’m sure they’ll be half off by the first of the year…)

9. SHHHOWER Cap– It’s no secret by now to everyone I know and most of the internet that I only wash my hair about twice a month. Therefore, you’ll be happy to know I’m shower while trying to keep my hair dry often. I’ve been using hotel plastic shower caps with yoga headbands hoping for the best, until I discovered the SHHHOWER Cap which is such an upgrade. It not only looks like a fashionable turban, it does a fantastic job at actually keeping my hair dry. I love them so much I reached out and got us a discount so we can get one for 10% off : use the code KATIE.

two more non-gifts related holiday things…. –I would like ever space I step into until December 25th to smell like this or this. —Serendipity is my favorite Christmas movie & I watch it every year at this time. Related, Cool Yule is my favorite holiday song. –Here is my full gift guide + A Cup of Jo does gift guides better than anyone on the internet.  

The post the 9 things on my 2017 *W I S H L I S T * + 2 holiday facts. appeared first on Katie Dalebout.