#saw this while writing my reply to shanes answer

[howabhwmwn]

Hoeward hamlin

[k-evans-reads]

In Living Color

Chapter 21

Summary: When Natalie Marton, lead character designer for Buzz Lightyear, meets the voice of Buzz, Chris Evans, the sparks are undeniable. But when their work pushes them away from each other, both physically and emotionally, will the sheer differences between their worlds be enough to force them apart?

Pairing: Chris Evans x Pixar Animator OFC Natalie Marton

Word Count: 4,358

By: @k-evans-writes and @ourfinest-hour

We do NOT give permission for our works to be reuploaded, translated, or reposted on any other site. Our work is our own.

Warnings: None.

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April 2022

Nat balanced the phone between her shoulder and ear as she put a dish in the oven, shutting the door as she turned on the timer. “So have you given work an answer about the promotion yet?” Her father asked, his voice a calming wave over her as she cooked dinner. 

“Not yet but I have to by Monday,” she replied, biting her lower lip as she watched the timer count down on the small screen. She had a lot going on, a running to-do list in her mind – and on her phone, her computer, and the back of her hand – but at the top of it right now, was the man on his way from the private airfield nearby. “I was going to talk to Chris about it last weekend when I went to his sister’s wedding but obviously that didn’t happen. I tried to talk to him a few times this week but he didn’t have time but he’s in town this weekend for his friend’s bachelor party, and he’s coming over soon so I’ll talk to him then.” 

Eric made a small sound at those words, assuring her, “I’m sure he’ll be so excited for you.” 

“I hope so,” she sighed, frowning as she stared down at the stove top in front of her. She ignored the messy remnants of the previous week’s cooking, the messy kitchen sink, and the billowing work bag strewn across the kitchen table, scrutinizing herself and Chris rather than the chaos surrounding her. 

“You don’t sound so sure…” 

She sighed again, tilting her head back as she stared up at the ceiling above her. “Chris has just been so unhappy about my hours and work lately that I’m afraid when he hears the word ‘promotion’ he’s just instantly going to be against it,” she admitted to Eric. It’d been a build up that hadn’t gone unnoticed by Nat, starting in January. She and Chris had discussed her schedule while in Washington for New Year’s, but since then, something had shifted between them. She’d long attributed it to the distance really being back in full-throttle for the first time in several months, with Chris across the country working long days on set while she worked long days in Burbank. But as plans were changed, canceled, and argued over, she recognized that the distance she felt wasn’t the physical distance, but their minds. They were in different places, focusing on different things, and life just felt as if Chris was suddenly not the companion he once was to her. 

He sighed on the other end of the call, and the noise made Nat feel as though he was sitting right behind her in the kitchen, watching as she cooked. “Just remember to make the right decision for you, Nattie. You’ve worked for this for so long and I don’t want to see you give up what you want for a guy,” he encouraged, his voice firm and proud. “I saw you hold firm to who you were through everything with Shane and I was so proud of you for that.” 

“Thanks dad, that means a lot to me,” she spoke honestly, but her mind was racing as she moved around the open apartment to sit on the small sofa. As she folded her legs next to her, she added, “I hope I’m just worrying over nothing. Hopefully Chris will see that this will have me working less in the long run and is a good decision for us. It’s been so hard lately with Chris being gone and then he told me before I went to Atlanta that he signed onto another project for the fall and winter so it’ll be nice I’ll have more flexibility to visit him by then.” 

“Yeah,” Eric told her quietly, his voice sounding distant suddenly. 

“Dad? What are you thinking?” 

“What? Why do you say that?” 

“Because I know you and I know that ‘yeah’ meant you’re thinking something,” she insisted, rolling her eyes to herself as she leaned back against the soft cushions of the couch. 

Eric sighed, the action sounding almost frustrated while he delicately began, “Nattie, honey you know how much I love you. And you know how much I love Chris and how happy he makes you.” 

“But…” She trailed off, practically able to hear the argument coming from her father. 

“I just can’t help but wonder why he’s the one complaining about your hours but then is also the one signing onto new projects,” Eric hurriedly confessed. He knew some details of what’d happened between Chris and Nat lately, but she wouldn’t be surprised if he had heard more from either of her sisters. She mulled over his words, seeing the validity in them, that Chris was the one disrupting her schedule when it was convenient for him. “I’m not saying that he shouldn’t be doing what he loves but it seems like from what you’re telling me that you’re the one making more of the decisions for your relationship and he’s still kind of doing what he wants.” 

“...I think some of it is just that he’s worried about me working a lot but I do think that a part of that might be true,” she admitted slowly and carefully, choosing her words deliberately. “But I’m not just making this choice for our relationship, I want this promotion too. I want what it could offer me and that it can help me keep moving up.” 

The familiar, comforting sideways smile of Eric’s was evident in his voice when he assured his youngest, “Then I think it’s as simple as that, Nattie. If you want to do it, then I think you should do it, plain and simple.” 

“I want to do it,” she decided, her voice clear and steady. 

“And I’m so proud of you Nattie. I remember filling out those forms for art school and just knowing that you’d go on to do incredible things, and you have,” Eric told her, his voice thick with emotion as tears threatened to spring from Nat’s eyes. “I wish your mom could be here to see it, but I’m proud enough for the both of us.” 

“Thanks dad, it means a lot to me,” she murmured, but as her phone chimed with a text and she pulled it away from her ear to momentarily read it, she told him, “Hey Chris just texted me and said he’s on his way up, but I’ll call you tomorrow.” 

With her father’s praise rattling around Nat’s mind and Chris’ impending arrival looming, she listened to the sounds around her. The gentle humming of the oven as it ran, the rattling of the air conditioner outside her unit, the chirping birds, the occasional honking horn from the road outside, and eventually, the sound of a familiar set of footsteps approaching her unit, until finally – the sound of a set of keys unlocking her door. 

It didn’t take long for Chris to cross the room and have his arms around her, holding her tight against his chest as their lips pressed together passionately. Although there were so many things lingering around them and swirling inside of Nat, it still always felt so good when she was with him. Somehow things just felt a little less chaotic when they were together, but she just only hoped that it stayed that way once she told him the things he didn’t know yet. 

Nat let him pull her onto the couch, her legs in his lap and his hand rubbing along her thigh as they caught up, sharing so many of the things they hadn’t had time or space to. But even as they talked, eventually moving to the table to eat together, that gnawing feeling showed up inside her as the inevitable loomed and soon enough, Nat just couldn’t take it anymore. 

“Chris, there’s something I wanted to talk to you about,” she finally told him, her fork rattling as she dropped it against her plate. 

His brows rose and fell quickly as he wiped his face with a napkin, murmuring, “That doesn’t sound too good.” 

“No, no, it’s good but I just wanted to be able to tell you before you go back to Atlanta tomorrow,” she assured him, but was unable to help herself from tapping her foot anxiously against the floor. 

“What is it, baby?” He asked, nodding his head encouragingly as curiosity took hold. 

“Last week I had a meeting with the department head of animation,” she began, pausing to note the miniscule changes in his expression, knowing he had a horrible poker face. “And he was telling me that they’ve been really impressed with all of my designs that I did for Lightyear and that they thought I did a good job as the lead character designer for it.” 

His jaw dropped a bit as he shook his head, a sideways smirk on his lips while he assured her, “That doesn’t surprise me at all. You’re so fuckin’ talented Nattie.” 

“Well that wasn’t all he wanted to tell me…you know how I’m the lead designer for Disgust on Inside Out 2?” She paused, smiling a little as Chris immediately nodded in acknowledgement. “He told me that they want me to move to overseeing the development of all the characters in the film.” 

“Seriously?” Chris asked, pausing himself before he delicately asked,  “… is that what you want to do? I mean, what exactly would that job look like?” 

She took a long sip from her water glass, her foot still tapping nervously as she explained, “I wouldn’t be really designing the characters myself anymore and doing the day to day type stuff but instead I’d be the person that the leads report to and I’d kind of give them feedback and make sure all the designs are fitting in the mold of the movie and everything.” 

“So you wouldn’t be designing yourself?” His voice quietly asked.

“Well, not really,” she answered, shrugging her shoulders as she nervously pulled her long-sleeved tee over her hands. “It’s overseeing more.” 

“Do you want to do that, Nattie?” 

She nodded, her gaze breaking away from him as she stared past him into the hallway. “It’s a huge promotion, like honestly it’s kind of unbelievable that they offered it to me,” she shook her head, adding on, “I’d be moving up the ladder and switching over to Pixar.” 

His brows furrowed in confusion and he tilted his head, clarifying, “So wait, you wouldn’t be at Disney Animation anymore?”

She took a deep breath as the other aspect was finally brought up, informing him, “No, I’d be going to Pixar since all the leads are at their headquarters in San Francisco.” San Francisco had always been in the back of her mind, especially with how often Jamie went back and forth for meetings and events, but especially as of late. She’d kind of reached her peak for growth at Disney Animation, having a much smaller-scale Pixar team here as compared to in the Bay Area. It was the natural progression, not only for her specifically, but for nearly anyone involved with the company. 

Chris leaned back in his chair, his lips pursed as he unhappily concluded, “So you’d have to move if you took the job.” 

“...You don’t sound like you’re very happy about this,” she replied, her brows furrowed and a deep frown on her lips as she stared over at him. She thought he’d be thrilled. She didn’t see why it mattered to him whether or not she was in Los Angeles anymore, especially given how little he’d been in the city for any reason that wasn’t to see her in the past year. A few meetings happened, sure, but if he was in Massachusetts, Georgia, or anywhere else, what difference would it make that she wasn’t in this city? 

“I’m just surprised I guess. I wasn’t expecting you to say this,” he shrugged, his voice clipped and frustrated, causing Nat to sigh exasperatedly. 

“It’s a huge step in my career that I think it’d be stupid not to take this,” she explained with a shake of her head as she dropped her napkin on her plate. “This is making a career out of art.” 

“Haven’t you done that already though?” 

“But now I’m the one in charge of it though. I’m overseeing all of it,” she explained, her hands moving wildly as she attempted to explain the entire picture to him. 

“Nattie this just… doesn’t seem like what you wanted before. You love being able to actually create the characters and now you won’t get to do that,” he dismissed her enthusiasm, running a hand through his hair as he shook his head. “I don’t really get where you wanting this is coming from.” 

“You’re the one who’s always complaining about my hours and wanting me to work less so I thought you’d be happy about this,” she pointed out, biting her lip as she huffed out a breath. “I wanted to do this for us.” 

“I just am shocked, I guess,” he shrugged, eyes looking away and around the apartment as he thought. “But we can think it through and talk about it to see what’s best for us, I’m sure you don’t have to give them an answer immediately, right?” 

“I have to decide by Monday and I want to say yes,” she told him, knowing the date Jamie and the other heads had given her. Her mind had been racing ever since, but she knew in her heart what she wanted, and it was to prove her worth beyond the small impacts she’d made, to take the logical next step so that in the long run, they’d get more time together to do the things she knew they’d both craved and dreamed of. “They want me to move up to San Francisco soon if I say yes.” 

Chris scoffed as he shook his head, his voice dripping with near-sarcasm as he told her, “So basically what you’re saying is that it doesn’t matter what I want because you’re going to say yes anyway.” 

“That’s not what I said and you know it,” she told him firmly, her voice wavering slightly as she watched the way he reacted. “I was going to talk to you about this last weekend but I got sick. That wasn’t my fault, Chris.” 

Nat watched as Chris abruptly pushed his chair back, a horrible screech from the wooden chair scraping against the floor, before he stood up, walking a few long strides away as he ran a hand through his hair anxiously before turning around and blurted out in a sharp tone,“So you’ve known about this for a week and just didn’t want to tell me,” 

While tossing her napkin on the table, Nat stood up and insisted, “I tried to tell you this week and you were too busy to talk to me!” 

“I was filming!” His blue eyes were wide as he threw both hands up in the air. 

“I told you that I wanted to talk and you didn’t make time for it! What was I supposed to do?” 

“You could have fuckin’ told me it was about your job!” Chris’ six foot frame suddenly seemed so much taller and the space between them feeling so much farther as he shot back, “I kind of would like to fucking know when you make decisions that alter your life and mine by the way.” 

But with this explosion of emotions, Nat couldn’t help but wonder if the selfish side of him was just annoyed that it would affect him and that their relationship would take a lot more work now than it had before. Her hands came to her hips as she fired back at him, “Are you just pissed because I’m going to have to move?” 

With a scoff and his head turning away for a long moment, shaking it back and forth before he loosely waved his hand, struggling to find the words before his voice came back a bit softer than it was before, “I thought we were getting closer, Nattie. I thought that we were really serious here and now I feel like you just threw it all in my face!” 

“I thought you’d be happy for me but I guess that’s too much to ask,” Nat felt her anger rising. As much as it hurt to hear his push back to her news, it almost hurt feeling the same sort of rejection and unimportance as she had before, telling Chris, “This is exactly what happened with Shane. He pretended like he cared about my career until it didn’t suit him and then he wanted me to drop everything that I’d worked for to go be with him and now you’re doing exactly the same thing!” 

“What the fuck, Nattie!” He exploded, blue eyes growing wide as his voice boomed. “I don’t give a fuck where you live! I don’t want you to drop everything for me but this just isn’t you! I don’t fucking know why you’re uprooting your life to go do a job you don’t want!”

Nat shook her head, curls bouncing wildly and she leaned against the kitchen counter, arms crossed over her chest as she retorted, “Oh it’s nice to know that you know what I want more than I do now.” 

“When have you ever wanted to be a fucking mananger, Nat? What part of that is you?” Chris insisted as he leaned his upper body toward her, a hand held in the air like a question mark. 

She pointed a finger at her chest, loudly reminding him,“The part that has busted my ass for over a decade working to make art my career.” 

“And you have! You’re doing what you love so why do you want to do this now? Why do you want to be a manager and not design things yourself and move away from Mark and Jamie and all your friends here?” 

“Because this is a huge deal! You have no idea what this promotion could do for me!” 

“Like what? What could it do?” He wanted to know, eyebrow cocked as he stood up fully upright, his arms crossing over his chest mirroring her position. 

But Nat wasn’t going to let him bulldoze her and answered his patronizing question, “It could let me keep moving up. It can open doors for me to keep progressing in my career!” 

“What the fuck does that even mean? So you can go sit in some office and make sure everyone is doing their job? Nat, you’re the one creating things, not the one making sure they’re getting done,” he argued.“Why is your end goal moving up the ladder?” 

“Because that’s something most artists never get. Most artists don’t ever get to do this, especially people like me and I can’t throw this away,” she was firm in her statement. 

There was a long silence between them, both staring at one another with a harsh gaze. Nat stayed in her place, arms crossed defensively as she watched him take a long breath before turning his back to her, walking over to the other end of her apartment as he looked out the window for a long moment before coming back to his previous position right in front of her. She watched as he rested a hand on his hip, the other running through his short hair and his tone was softer as he brought his blue eyes to meet hers, “Look, I don’t know what the fuck is going on but this isn’t you, Nattie. You’re an artist and a damn good one and now suddenly you decide to take this promotion immediately and basically become a manager?” 

“I’m still an artist but it’s time to grow up,” Nat’s answer was simple, emphasized with a soft shrug. “I’ll still be creative but now I'm just overseeing it instead of doing it myself.” 

“But doing it yourself is what you love!” He insisted, both hands held out as he rationalized, “I thought you were wanting to do your own art and make more time for that and now suddenly you’re moving and doing this?” 

“This is the career everyone wants. Everyone wants to move up,” she struggled to understand how he couldn’t see this. He couldn’t seem to understand that not every creative had the opportunities he did and had an upward trajectory. Chris didn’t understand what it was like to struggle to make it in the creative world and how much this promotion validated that all her hard work had paid off so she decided to put it plainly for him by telling him, “This is the dream.” 

But Chris just shook his head, eyes flickering down for a minute before clarifying, “No, it’s not your dream.” 

“And since when are you an expert on my dreams?” 

“Since I fell in love with you and got to know who you are,” Chris reminded her that she wasn’t alone on all of this, but any softness that was there seem to get ripped away when he sarcastically scoffed, “Seriously, what is this? Is this little Nattie trying to follow in her big sister’s footsteps and prove she’s successful like they are? Or are you just trying to run away from what you really want?” 

“This is what I want!” Nat yelled, not knowing a more simple way to get it through his thick skull. 

“So what the fuck was all of that shit after your art show about wanting to create for yourself? You told me that you wanted to slow down and focus on the things in your life that made you happy and that you didn’t want to get caught up in what society deemed as being successful and now here you are doing exactly that!” Chris’ tone rose to match hers before asking with his left eyebrow raised, “Or was that just a bunch of bullshit you fed me because that’s what you thought I wanted to hear?” 

But Nat just couldn’t understand how no matter what she said, no matter what she told him that she was feeling, it was met with an argument and could only arrive at the conclusion, “I feel like you just don’t want me to succeed!” 

“You’re right, I don’t want you to succeed at things you don’t give a shit about! I want to see you succeed at the things you actually want in life!” Chris insisted, his whole body filled with tension as his low voice scoffed, “I thought that our relationship was one of them.” 

Nat wasn’t about to let him put everything on her though. She had supported him in so many things along their relationship and didn’t understand why he couldn’t do the same for her now. She knew how unfair he was being and questioned,“Why does getting a promotion and moving mean I don’t want our relationship to succeed? You took on two more projects for this year that put us on separate coasts and the only thing I did was cheer you on and now when I have an opportunity you just shoot it down and try to convince me that I don’t want it!” 

“Sorry for trying to fucking make sure you’re doing what’s best for you Nattie!” 

“Why do you always assume you know the right answer to everything?!” She shouted, not understanding how he felt he held the magic answers to everyone’s life and reminded Chris, “I can figure things out on my own!” 

“I thought that we’d make decisions together!” Chris emphasized, drawing out his words in a way that made Nat scoff as she rolled her eyes. 

She pointed a single finger towards Chris as her hand nearly shook with the emotions coursing through her system. “Oh like when you signed onto your extra projects without talking to me first? Was that a decision we made together? Or does that together shit only apply to my decisions because you want control of them?” She scoffed, laughing bitterly as she shook her head. 

His hands flailed at his sides before he extended them fully, waving them as he insisted, “I’m not trying to control you!” 

“Yes you are!” 

“Fine, then fucking go to San Francisco. Go fucking live your ‘dream’ that is the exact opposite of what you’ve told me you wanted but this isn’t my Nattie. This isn’t the Nat that I fell in love with,” he ground out, his body tense as his voice quietly – but increasingly angrily – sent warning signals to her, but Nat was too angry with his hypocrisy to pay them any mind. 

“So just because I made a decision you didn’t like, suddenly I’m not the same person?” She asked, pausing to let Chris try to plead his case one last time. But when the man standing across the room from her fell completely silent for the first time since dinner had begun. She scoffed at how little he tried to push back before she concluded, “You’re just like Shane. This is exactly what happened with him!” 

“Don’t fucking do that Nat. Don’t compare me to that dickhead,” Chris instantly rebutted, his face bright red. “I’m trying to help you!” 

“No, you’re just trying to tell me what to do!”

“No, I care about you Nat!” 

A heavy silence fell between them, anger flushing both of their faces as they stared each other down harshly. Nat’s lips were pursed as she looked at him with his hands on his hips as he waited for her response but it ended up coming a lot more calm than expected when Nat stated, “Well maybe I don’t want you to if this is what that looks like.” 

“...Then I guess I better go.” 

“I guess you better.” 

And just as suddenly as Chris had entered her life over a year ago, now he was leaving it just as suddenly, slamming the door behind him as he left the broken pieces of what they had been, shattered on the floor. 

[scarisd3ad]

Invisible string

(Part of the to the end and back series)

Pairing - platonic!glenn Rhee x fem!reader

Summary - who knew that a pizza delivery boy you met 2 months before the apocalypse began would end up being your absolute best friend.

Warnings - regular twd warnings

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A/n - just a little fic that takes place before the timeline of the main fic! Also, s3 ep1 should come out this week or next! also I love adding more depth to the readers character like I never really said where readers grandparents farm was but it's in the same town as Hershel's might also write a fic where reader and Maggie meet when they were younger!

edited

I sat in my boyfriend's living room, my face buried into Jack's chest as he talked to the pizza place on the phone. This was a rare occurrence, us spending time together. He lived in Macon while I lived in Atlanta for school, so we only did this once every month. "Yes, just one medium pepperoni. 12.49? Alright, yes, that's fine, thank you, yes, yes, alright," he says before hanging up the phone. I look up at him, and he looks down at me before pressing his lips to my forehead. "they'll be here in 30 minutes," he says before pressing play on the movie we were watching before we decided to order pizza.

 About 30 minutes later, a few knocks are on the front door. Jack is about to get up when I pat his chest. "I've got it," I whisper. he takes his wallet and hands me a 20-dollar bill. I get up and walk over to the door. I unlock the deadbolt and the door's primary lock before opening it. In front of me is a guy probably around my age with a black hat with the words 'pizza palace' embroidered and a pizza delivery bag in his hand. "Um, one medium pepperoni that will be 12 dollars and 49 cents," he says. I nod and hand him the bill. "keep the change," I say as he passes the warm pizza box to me. "Thank you. Have a good day," he replies as he stuffs the bill into his pocket.

 "no, thank you..." I look down at the badge pinned to his chest, Glenn. "Glenn"

 August 28th, 2010

"No, Jack, please, you can't go down there," I cry; we're stuck up on the roof of an apartment building after the world has presumably gone to shit. Down below us, the streets are crowded with people trying to escape the city and the crazy people within. I don't know what's happening, but everyone is going crazy, biting and attacking people. It was something straight out of a horror novel. "I've gotta get us something to eat, honey. I'll be right back," he whispers as he cups my face. "I-I'll go with you. Please don't leave me," I cry out. "Please, Jack, I don't want to lose you too." 

"Alright, but we've gotta be fast, okay?" he says, grabbing my hand. We were going down into one of the empty apartments below. We couldn't stay here anyway. Maybe we could hunker down in one of them until the government figures out what the fuck is going on. There's no one in the building as we walk down the blood-covered hallways. We assumed there was no one until we saw a group of those crazy people stumbling down the hallway. "Jack," I whisper as I back up, "Go, you go, I'll find you, I promise." 

September 27th, 2010

It's been a month since the world ended. I waited a few days for Jack to find me, but he never did, so I assumed he died and left. I had to go. The building was starting to become overrun with what I call walkers. I'm stumbling down some road, I don't know which, but I know I'm out of the city. I'm covered in blood when a jeep pulls up before me. "Are you bit?!" I look up at the man in the car. I don't know if I should trust him, but I shake my head. "c'mon, I've got a group up near the quarry." I get into his car despite the concern that fills me. "Shane, my name is Shane." I don't answer at first; I'm shaking from pure fear. "I-I'm y/n," I whisper. 

We arrive at Shane's camp; there's a big RV parked far back near a bunch of tents while the group huddles around a fire. Shane helps me out of the car. "Found her out near the road, scared to death," he whispers to a lady I assume to be his wife. I take a seat near the fire and stare into it. I'm traumatized. I've seen so much death in the past month that every time I close my eyes, I see every single replaying in my mind. "I'm Glenn." I look to my left to see an Asian guy I've sworn I've seen before. I remember that name, voice, and face, but I just can't figure out where I know him from. He smiles at me, and it is comforting to see someone smile. He wears me down until I tell him my name. "I'm y/n," I whisper; he smiles again. How could he smile during this? "Where are you from?" he asks. I let out a sigh as I looked over at him. "Um, I'm from Senoia but moved to Atlanta for college," I say.

My grandparents owned a farm out in Senoia, while my family lived in a small town about 40 minutes away, but I spent most of my life in Senoia. "Cool, cool country shit," he whispers, which makes me laugh, "Yeah, I guess my grandparents did own a farm, so country shit." I look into his eyes, studying his face a little more before asking, "Have I met you before?" he shrugs. "I do. Maybe I did deliver, but out in Macon, so..." Pizza delivery, the guy that had delivered our pizza when I had gone out to Macon to visit Jack. I don't know why I remembered his face. Maybe we were supposed to meet again, and my brain ensured I remembered him. perhaps it was an invisible string tying us together.

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[naughtyneganjdm]

Good Luck Charm - Chapter 19

Summary: Lucille comes to Y/N in search of Negan in a desperate moment and Y/N discovers a few things that make her very emotional changing her life in many ways.

Characters: Negan, Shane, the reader (OC), Lucille, Evie, etc.

Warnings: Swearing, Angst, etc.

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/39423063/chapters/106289136

Notes: Want to give thanks to those that take the time to actually comment on my stories. Thank you for reading first of all, but when you comment you really fuel us writers to keep writing. So thank you. I do want to give a pre-warning just in case it may bother some people, there are mentions and talks of someone having a miscarriage in this chapter. So please know that before reading this. I don't want to hurt anyone.

It would be an understatement to say that things were complicated and confusing lately. Since Y/N had broken things off with both Negan and Shane, it seemed like the world was falling apart around them. For some reason the world seemed to be acting on their rage. After a few incidents happened in their town, both Negan and Y/N agreed that they would take Evie out of school in order to have her home schooled. Y/N was working at home and Negan didn’t have a job, so they both were there to help her with her schooling. And although she loved having Evie around to spend more time with her, it was definitely a change from the normal.

“You know that it’s past the time for your schooling,” Y/N looked up to see that Evie was still deep into reading one of her books. Evie lifted her hazel eyes to stare out at her mother with curiosity. “You can go play if you want. School would have been done for you a few hours ago.”

“I know, I just like reading,” Evie explained with a yawn, reaching up to rub at her eyes. “A lot of kids in my class hate reading and writing, but I don’t. I like reading better. I like drawing pictures to go with the stories that we read.”

“Oh yeah?” Y/N saw her daughter reaching for the pieces of paper that were beside her on the dining room table that they were both working at. Evie slid them over to her mother with an excited breath seeing that Y/N was impressed. “Oh, these are great Evie. We will have to put these on the fridge in the kitchen. These are so good.”

“Thank you,” Evie was enthusiastic over the fact that her mother was feeding her ego. “I think reading and drawing are my two favorite things. I’d rather read than play anyways.”

“Well you have to make sure that you have fun,” Y/N reached out to place her hand in over Evie’s small hand to give it a squeeze. “You’re going to go through all the books that we have for your schooling and we will have to figure out other things for you to do.”

“How long do you think I’m going to do school at home?” Evie closed up her book and set it aside, her eyes big with emotion when Y/N closed her laptop up.

“Do you miss regular school?” Y/N wondered knowing that it was probably hard for Evie going through this. She went from having a very social life to kind of being only around Negan, Lucille and Y/N for most of the time.

“Not really. I mean, I guess I miss my friends,” Evie answered with a sigh, curling her fingers through her dark hair while she thought about what her mother asked her. “I just wondered how long. I like being with you and daddy.”

“I don’t know baby. Your dad and I just wanted things to calm down before we consider putting you back in public school. Your daddy was a teacher before so I think when you’re with him, you’re in good hands and…” Y/N began watching Evie’s expression change when she mentioned Negan.

“You’re really smart,” Evie interrupted Y/N making her chuckle.

“That’s not where I was going with that, but thank you sweetheart,” Y/N replied with a smile hearing her daughter refer to her like that. “I do my best.”

“Daddy says I’m going to be like you when I’m older,” Evie boasted with a happy smile, her eyes glimmering when she thought of it. “He says I work hard just like you.”

“I think you’re going to be better than me. You’re smart and you’re super talented,” Y/N reached for the drawings that Evie had done. It was surprising how good Evie actually was with her schooling at this stage of the game. When Y/N was a kid, she found school boring. It wasn’t until high school where she started to take things seriously. “You keep at it, I think you’re going to blow people away with your talents Evie.”

“My drawings?” Evie bounced with excitement hearing that her mother thought she was talented. Drawing was something that Evie was always doing, so it really seemed like she liked it. Nodding, Y/N knew that she was giving Evie the answer that she wanted before Evie let out a long sigh. It was true though. Evie impressed Y/N in so many ways. “Mommy? Is daddy sad?”

“What makes you think that?” Y/N inquired with an arch of her eyebrow wondering where Evie was coming from with her question. That comment actually worried her. “Did daddy say something to you?”

“Kinda,” Evie waved her hand out in the air making Y/N’s face flush over. “Daddy used to smile, a lot. But lately, not so much. I asked why he wasn’t coming over as much and he told me that he upset you. Did the two of you fight?”

“Evie…” Y/N didn’t know what to say with her daughter’s eyes on her like a hawk. “It’s hard to explain.”

“You can try,” Evie placed her hands out over the table, sliding in closer to show that Y/N had her full attention. “I’m a good listener.”

“I don’t know Evie, it’s complicated,” Y/N sighed not understanding how she could break something down so that her daughter would understand why Y/N didn’t want to be around Negan right now. It wasn’t something that Evie should have been involved in anyways. It would make Evie feel like she was forced to pick sides and that wasn’t something that Y/N wanted her to have to do.

“That’s what daddy said when I asked him too,” Evie informed Y/N with a shake of her head. It was clear that Evie hated that answer. She was frustrated to hear the same thing Negan had told her. “You both think I’m too young to understand. But I’m not. I’m seven years old now. You know that? I’m not six.”

“I know that baby,” Y/N couldn’t help but chuckle at her daughter when Evie frowned and folded her arms out in front of her chest displaying very much so a face that Negan would always make. “Your dad and I are just…going through some things.”

“You know, there are times where I get real mad at you or dad. The other day I got so angry that I yelled at daddy. He took away one of my books because I wasn’t listening to him. I didn’t clean something up so I told him he was being a douchebag,” Evie informed Y/N who let out a tense laugh trying to hide the fact that her daughter had just said that out loud. Yeah, it was bad for Evie to say, but it was actually kind of amusing. “I know, I shouldn’t have said it. I heard it at school and repeated it. He sent me to my room. He thought it was funny, but I knew it was bad. After I was done being angry, I came out and I apologized.”

“Which was a good thing to do,” Y/N remarked on her daughter’s story making Evie throw her hands up in the air. “What sweetheart?”

“You’re missing my point,” Evie held her finger out to point at Y/N. That was something she certainly got from Negan. She was very animated in the way she tried to get her point across. “If you and daddy are upset with each other, you should talk. Apologize. How can things be fixed if we don’t talk?”

“Baby,” Y/N wished that it was that easy, but with Evie’s big eyes staring out at her she simply nodded. It was still hard trying to get Evie to understand without saying things. “You’re right.”

“So maybe you two should start talking again,” Evie clapped her hands together, a very serious expression flooding her face. It was hard because Y/N knew how much Negan meant to Evie. That was never something she wanted to mess with. “I miss when the three of us would have family time.”

“Me too,” Y/N cleared her throat knowing that Evie lived for the moments that it was just the three of them together. In the past, Y/N loved them too. It would give her that small glimpse of hope that she used to have about having a family with Negan. The dream life that she always wanted but knew that she couldn’t. While she enjoyed the thought of them, it also hurt her to think about them. “It’s just sometimes Evie, mommies and daddies don’t always get to spend time together. Your daddy is married to Lucille which is who he should be spending his time with.”

“I don’t understand something,” Evie tilted her head to the side, her face scrunching up real tight. “Why can’t daddy be friends with you and be married to Lucille? I’ve noticed people get weird about boys and girls being friends.”

“Boys and girls can be friends,” Y/N agreed with Evie knowing that this was a much deeper conversation than she was ready to have with Evie. With a knock on the door, Y/N found herself thankful that she had something to break away from this discussion. “I’ll be right back sweetheart.”

“Okay,” Evie gave a bright smile grabbing her book that she had placed aside before they started talking.

When Y/N got to the door, she let out a tense breath when Lucille pushed forward into the house making Evie look up from the table to wave excitedly when she saw Lucille, “Is Negan here?”

“It’s just the two of us,” Y/N could see that Lucille’s face was flushed over, it looked like she had been put through hell and it made Y/N immediately worry. “Is everything okay?”

“Can the two of us talk?” Lucille begged of Y/N making her nod immediately. With how desperate Lucille looked, there was no way that Y/N could deny her. Reaching for Lucille’s hand, Y/N led her toward the back and gave Evie a smile. “Evie, baby…we’re going to be outside for a few. Just stay here and read your book. Okay?”

“Okay,” Evie agreed to what Y/N was asking of her. Lucille released Y/N’s hand for a moment to head over to Evie. Y/N was confused when Lucille brushed Evie’s hair back after kneeling down to be before Evie. Evie gave Lucille her full attention and turned in the seat. “Are you okay?”

“I’m better now that I’m seeing you,” Lucille gave Evie a wink making Evie smile radiantly. Lucille seemed to be locked on Evie and she sighed. “A hug might help me feel better?”

“Of course!” Evie leaned forward to wrap her arms tightly around Lucille who happily accepted. The encounter was sweet, but it also made Y/N worry seeing it. When Lucille pulled back slightly, she looked Evie over and kissed Evie’s cheek.

“You know how much I love you, right?” Lucille questioned making Evie immediately nod. “I am so proud of you. I’m so glad that I’ve gotten to have you as my stepdaughter. I’ve never met a child more perfect than you.”

“And I think you are the best step-mother,” Evie replied almost immediately making the expression over Lucille’s face change. “You look sad.”

“I’m okay sweet girl,” Lucille leaned in to press another kiss against Evie’s temple before hugging her again. “Your mom and I are going to be in the backyard if you need us.”

“I’m right here if you need me,” Evie assured them with a thumbs up making the both of them smile. “You know, if you need hugs or smiles or anything…”

“Sounds good,” Lucille gave a wink and grabbed ahold of Y/N’s hand again. Y/N led Lucille toward the back and toward the chaise lounging chairs. There was a purposeful attempt at making sure the chairs were facing the back door so Y/N would be aware if Evie was headed out. It felt like the type of conversation that they wouldn’t want Evie to be involved in.

“What’s going on?” Y/N could see that Lucille was shaking. It was the most uncomfortable she had ever seen Lucille. “Hey?”

“I had an MRI done today. They had me wait in this room and afterwards the doctor…the doctor told me,” Lucille’s voice was tremoring and she could see that Lucille’s eyes were tearing over. Whatever it was, it wasn’t good. “I have pancreatic cancer.”

“Lucille,” Y/N breathed out feeling like she had been kicked in the gut when that was revealed to her. Sliding forward, she squeezed her hands tighter around Lucille’s. How could you respond to something like that? “What did the doctor say? I mean is there a way that we can try to fix this? Is there something that can be done?”

“It was hard to comprehend everything. They wanted someone to be there with me in case I received bad news, but Negan said that he couldn’t. Told me that he had a meeting with his probation officer. So while I was talking to the doctor, my mind was kind of wandering other places. They gave me information packs and numbers to call,” Lucille informed Y/N who seemed incredibly worried after the bomb that Lucille just revealed. “I guess I understand now why they want someone to have a person with them because of how you feel when you find out…”

“You could have called me,” Y/N insisted with an upset exhale. Sadness flooded her body knowing that Lucille had to take on all of this on her own. That’s not something someone should have learned on their own. “I would have gone with you. I could have been there and…”

“You have already gone through so much,” Lucille shook her head and bit down on her bottom lip. “I was just hoping that Negan was here. I was hoping that he was here with you and the two of you…I don’t know, worked something out.”

“No, I wouldn’t have kept something like that from you,” Y/N shook her head, her eyebrows furrowing. Hearing that Lucille was hopeful that Negan was with her made Y/N confused. “Why did you hope he was here?”

“Because I called Negan’s probation officer and he isn’t even supposed to see Negan for another two weeks. He lied,” Lucille clarified looking down toward the ground and there was a shaking in her tone. “I was hoping that maybe Negan had fixed things with you and the two of you were close again. So close that he felt like he should have ditched me to be with you.”

“I would have never allowed that. I would have made him go,” Y/N declared with a sense of anger. The idea that Negan would have ditched Lucille in such a moment really pissed her off. Y/N would have changed all of her plans to be able to help Lucille. So what the fuck was going on with Negan? “I don’t understand, you’re everything to Negan and…”

“Lately, not so much. Over the last couple of months he’s been really distant from me. Acting out. Not being him…” Lucille addressed looking back over her shoulder to make sure that Evie wasn’t near the back door. “We were fighting a lot more and while we have had our fights, they have been much angrier. And he just fully gave up on finding a job. He just sits in front of that fucking video game system playing all the time. The only positive thing he has done is started learning to cook more. He was a good cook, but now he really prides himself on his cooking. I thought maybe he should try getting a job doing that, but he just doesn’t want a fucking job. Not only that, but he also keeps fucking spending money on things. Money that we don’t have.”

“Really?” Y/N was surprised to hear that especially since Negan was focused on trying to get them out of debt in the past.

“He bought a six-hundred-dollar leather jacket. Put it on the credit card. I only figured it out because I went to pay a bill and it bounced,” Lucille vented, tension flooding her entire body when she weakly pulled her fingers from Y/N’s hands to brush her fingers through her own hair. “I called him out on it and he lied to me, telling me that he had two jobs lined up. We both know that’s bullshit because no one is hiring him. I told him I would return it, but he apparently threw the fucking receipt away. It’s one thing after another. The other day when it was supposed to be Evie’s time working on her homework, he had her playing a video game with him instead. It’s like he just doesn’t fucking care anymore.”

“I’m sorry Lucille, I just…I don’t understand,” Y/N hesitated trying to make sense of what Lucille was telling her. “The man that I know, the Negan that I’ve grown accustomed to…nothing is more important than you. You are everything to him. I’m so sorry you are going through this.”

“Unfortunately, it’s all I can think about,” Lucille sniffled showing that her emotions were locked on Negan. “Right now, he’s what’s on my mind when…”

“To be fair, I’m a little less concerned about Negan acting like that and more worried about what is going on with you. How you are right now,” Y/N tried to change the subject since she knew that this whole cancer diagnosis was a bigger thing going on right now over whatever the hell was going on with Negan. If anything, she was furious with Negan for putting Lucille through this when Lucille needed him the most.

“Not great Y/N because I realized that Negan ditched me today to do something he didn’t want me to know,” Lucille tried to get her words out, but she was stammering over them trying to not get too emotional about things. “I think Negan is having an affair with Janine.”

“Come on,” Y/N refused to believe that considering that Janine was Lucille’s best friend. “I don’t think he would do that. I don’t even think he liked her all that much.”

“Let’s be honest, he easily had an affair with you for how long? Negan is perfectly capable of having an affair with someone,” Lucille reminded Y/N making her feel guilty hearing that. It made Y/N look down and away from Lucille since she wasn’t wrong. For years Negan had an affair with Y/N and played the doting husband when he wasn’t with Y/N. “I called both of them. They weren’t answering their phones. Janine always answers. She’s a gossip. She would want to know everything.”

“Maybe it’s not that,” Y/N didn’t want to leave Lucille feeling awful about this, but with the expression over Lucille’s face she knew that Lucille was completely certain that was what was happening. “I’m so sorry Lucille. That’s…that’s not the man that I know. I don’t know what’s going on with him. I know that he was ashamed of the man that he became after he lost the job and got arrested, but…”

“Don’t apologize for him,” Lucille scoffed letting out a frustrated sound. It felt like she was going to erupt and she didn’t know how to respond. “I’m so angry with him right now that I feel like I could kill him.”

“And I understand that, but what did the doctor say about all of this?” Y/N went back to the topic of Lucille being sick because that was the thing that was eating away at her. “What can we do?”

“They want me to start treatments,” Lucille exhaled loudly finding it extremely hard to talk about what she was going through. It almost felt like a storyline out of a movie, not her real life. It hit her that she was sick, but she assumed that it didn’t absolutely destroy her like it should have because she was dealing with everything with Negan as well. “He said since we caught things early, that it might be okay, but…”

“But?” Y/N repeated seeing the way that Lucille’s eyes teared over making Y/N’s heart break.

“I looked it up. The survival rate for this is awful Y/N,” Lucille educated Y/N on what she had learned in just a small amount of time. “Even with treatments, the survival rates for someone with pancreatic cancer is eleven percent for five years.”

“You can’t look at those numbers and assume that you are going to be part of those statistics,” Y/N was gutted hearing that, but she was trying to stay positive. There was a look that Lucille was giving her showing that Lucille thought she was full of shit. “Lucille, there has to be something. Anything that I can do, I will. I will pay for your treatments, find you the best…”

“Y/N,” Lucille interrupted Y/N seeing that she was getting super emotional. Her eyes were tearing over and Lucille noticed that she started shaking. “You are an incredible woman and I know you would do anything to help me, but you can’t save someone who is already doomed. There isn’t enough money in the world to stop what is happening to me.”

“Lucille,” Y/N found the world spinning around her before she moved forward to reach across the distance to pull Lucille into her arms to hold her tightly. “I am so sorry. I should have never let things play out the way they did…I should have done things differently. Forgiven Negan and…”

“Stop blaming yourself,” Lucille hushed Y/N, pulling back enough to see that Y/N was having an absolute meltdown over the idea of this and it was effecting Lucille too seeing the way that she was responding to things. “You don’t have control over my body, Negan…the world. Everything does not belong on your shoulders Y/N…”

“How am I not supposed to feel this way when someone I love is…” Y/N began finding herself getting choked up and she lowered her head feeling her heart breaking. “We should have ran away together. We should have said fuck Negan and the rest of the world.”

“I regret telling you no,” Lucille stammered reaching out to sweep her fingers in over the side of Y/N’s face. “At least I know that the last parts of my life would have been spent happy. It’s my fault for not pushing it with us. I was just so hooked on Negan and how he felt that…”

With Lucille explaining her feelings, Y/N felt the world starting to spin around her. This was something that she wished wouldn’t have been happening now. Lucille deserved all of her attention and here she was feeling like she was about to get sick again.

“I’m sorry,” Y/N got up swiftly heading toward the side of the house where the garbage cans were and Lucille heard Y/N throwing up. Lucille slowly stood and headed in the direction that Y/N went seeing that she was hunched over with her hand pressed against the house. Carefully moving in behind Y/N, Lucille caressed her hand over her shoulder and felt her body shaking. “I’m sorry Lucille. Lately, I’ve been so stressed that this keeps happening. I didn’t want to throw up in front of you.”

“Stress will do that to you. It took everything to hold it in when I found out,” Lucille explained with uneven breaths. Knowing that it was upsetting Y/N this much learning about Lucille’s cancer, it showed how much that Y/N visibly cared about her. “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to put more stress on you. I was just hoping that I would find Negan here and…”

“Please don’t apologize for telling me. I’m glad that I know,” Y/N tried wiping at her lips with the back of her hand still trying to keep space from them. “I want to be able to help as much as I can Lucille.”

“There is nothing you can do Y/N. I’m going to have my chemo treatments and just hope for the best,” Lucille swallowed down hard, her eyes searching Y/N’s for a long moment.  Something caught Lucille’s gaze when she looked beyond Y/N. “You have to be fucking kidding me.”

“What?” Y/N looked over her shoulder to see Lucille pushing open the gate to her backyard. Following Lucille, it was then when she noticed what Lucille had spotted. There was a police car parked out in front of her house and inside was Shane who visibly had been watching them. “Lucille.”

“What the fuck are you doing here? Are you stalking her now?” Lucille approached the police car and Y/N swiftly followed Lucille toward the car. “What is wrong with you? You fucking rape her? And then you hit her and now you’re going to start stalking her?”

“Lucille,” Y/N called out her name seeing Lucille start to hit at the windows of the car making Y/N’s heart pound inside of her chest. “You can get in trouble.”

“I don’t give a fuck if I get in trouble at this point. I’m dying anyways,” Lucille stammered hitting the windows over and over again. “Get out. Come out here Shane. Come on…”

Grabbing a hold of Lucille, Y/N watched Shane give her a glare before starting up the car to drive away and she heard Lucille let out a frustrated sound, “He’s not worth it.”

“Has this happened before?” Lucille turned in Y/N’s arms, her eyes absolutely furious after what she had done. “Would your security cameras pick this up?”

“Calm down. He’s not worth it. You’re getting yourself worked up and you get worn out easily,” Y/N urged Lucille to relax stroking her fingers through Lucille’s hair. After a few seconds she heard Lucille start to break down. Y/N was surprised it took this long, but when she did, she reached out to wrap her arms around Lucille to comfort her. Lucille stayed there for a while but decided to leave because she wanted to wait for Negan. Lucille promised that she would keep Y/N updated, but all night that was all Y/N could think about. Lucille…and sadly Shane. When Evie was asleep, Y/N had pulled out her laptop and started going through her security footage. There was a sense of discomfort that flooded her veins when she realized that it wasn’t the first time Shane had done it. In fact he was doing it quite frequently. He would stop in front of her house and park there for quite a while before finally leaving. “Fuck.”

Just when she thought things were starting to turn back to normal, she realized that things were just getting worse and weren’t normal at all. A few weeks passed and Lucille had kept Y/N updated with the things that were going on telling her that Negan pretty much had a meltdown when Lucille told him that she had cancer. It had immediately changed the way that Negan was acting toward her. He was caring and doting. The way a husband should have always been. It snapped something inside of him and it made Y/N happy to hear that, she just wished he would have done it earlier. Lucille was still very much certain that Negan had been cheating on her as Janine had a fit when both Negan and Lucille had written her off.

It had been a hard day in general so she had fallen asleep pretty quickly, but during the middle of the night she had found herself distracted by the wind outside. There was a scratching at her window that had drawn her to tiredly look over her shoulder. When her eyesight came to, the silhouette of a frame sitting in the chair in the corner of her room was revealed. Scrambling out of bed, she pulled open her side drawer and grabbed something before flicking the light on.

“Really?” the familiar voice responded seeing that she was pointing her gun in their direction. It was then that she realized it was Shane that had been there sitting in the corner of her room. “Well I can see that the gun that I got you went to good use for you, huh?”

“What the fuck are you doing here Shane?” she felt panicked seeing her ex-boyfriend in her bedroom watching her. Shane gave a tiny smirk when his head tipped to the side. “How did you get in here?”

Without answering her, Shane reached for something from his pocket and dangled the key that she had given him when he was living with her. Stepping forward, she went to grab it, but he didn’t allow her to, “You never took this back.”

“Then give it back!” she demanded reaching out to try to grab it again while keeping the gun up and pointed at Shane. “You’re not welcome in my home Shane.”

With a gasp, she felt Shane hop up from the chair and hook his arms around her. The strength Shane had overpowered her when he managed to get the gun away from her and threw it on top of the nightstand, “I can’t believe you just pulled a gun on me. Let alone the gun that I gave you.”

“Shane,” she whimpered feeling his fingers sliding in over her mouth to cover it to keep her quiet. Doing her best to break free from his grasp, she heard him trying to hush her, but she kept fighting him.

“Relax. I’m not here to hurt you damn it,” Shane roared with a grunt, still keeping his hand wrapped around her mouth. “I heard on the police radio that there was an attack on the next block and I wanted to be here to make sure that you and Evie were okay.”

Realizing that there was nothing she could do to get out of his grasps, she calmed down in his arms and heard him huff out, “I’m going to let go of your mouth and you’re going to be quiet, right?”

With a nod, she did as he asked of her when he let her go. Moving over toward the corner of the bed, she sat down and looked up at him. Her heart was pounding inside of her chest when she saw him head back for the chair, “You can’t do this Shane. I broke up with you. The stalking has to stop.”

“I’m not…stalking you. I’m checking on you,” Shane corrected her with a shake of his head. His jaw flexed, his eyes shifting back and forth. “This area has become riddled with crime and assaults. It’s good to check in on you to make sure that you are safe. I checked in with my family and friends back in Atlanta. It’s not like this there.”

“I’m not your responsibility. We’re not your responsibility,” Y/N tried to reason with Shane, placing her hand in over the center of her chest. “You’re scaring me. Stalking me. Entering my house on your own. Using the key that I gave you…”

“Again with the stalking. It’s not stalking,” Shane bickered back with her throwing his hands up in the air. “It’s keeping an eye on you. This is a dangerous world Y/N. I think it’s good to have someone looking out for you.”

“I can look out for myself,” she declared staring up at Shane with fear in her eyes. “You scare the shit out of me.”

“Why?” Shane blurt out making her give him a glare. Acting like there was no reason for her to be scared of him was absolutely fucked up and he knew that too. “Okay, I get why you would be uncomfortable, but I’ve not tried to do anything to hurt you.”

“You were sitting in the dark watching me sleep!” she pointed toward the chair and Shane placed his finger in over his lips to get her to be quiet. “It’s creepy. Anyone would be scared by that Shane. This has got to stop. I appreciate you caring about Evie and me, but we’re not together anymore. I’m surprised your still here and you didn’t go home.”

“I’m going home in a few weeks,” Shane mentioned making her thankful to hear that, but she didn’t want to show signs of relief when hearing that. Anything could piss him off and she didn’t want to test him. “I was hoping that I could convince you to come home with me.”

“Shane…” she shook her head immediately knowing that would never be an option between the two of them after what he did to her. “You put a shit load of holes in my wall. You punched me in the face. I don’t trust you. We’ll never be going with you.”

“I understand why you feel that way, but things are weird here Y/N,” Shane interjected tossing his hands up in frustration. There was no way that she would ever be able to trust him again and that infuriated him. “You’re going to need someone to help you at some point. You can’t keep doing things on your own here.”

“I will be perfectly fine on my own,” she claimed with a firm shake of her head. “You caught me off guard Shane, but I’m fully capable of taking care of myself and my daughter. Please…leave. You don’t belong here.”

“If you saw some of the things I have,” Shane let out a shuddering breath, his eyebrows furrowing with disgust. “You would understand why I was here and you would thank me for it. You should be happy that someone actually cares enough about you to make sure you are okay.”

“I’m still stuck on how you think it was okay to enter my home without my permission using the key I gave you before we broke up,” she uttered with an angered sound standing up from where she was seated to approach Shane. “I have so much shit going on in my life and the last thing that I need is you scaring the shit out of me. Wondering if you are in my house and I don’t know it. If you are following me…”

“It’s not as bad as you are making it sound,” Shane grunted, his brown eyes furious with the way that she was accusing him of things. “I’m just trying to…”

With a shove, Y/N made Shane grunt when he stumbled back and lowered his head. The sound of a loud breath escaping him made it obvious that Shane was trying to keep calm and not let his temper get the best of him, “Give me back my key. Right now.”

“Why don’t you try to get it from me?” Shane snapped almost challenging her showing that he wasn’t about to give the key up to her. Stepping forward, she reached for his pocket and Shane managed to slip out from her attempts. “You don’t realize I’m just trying to keep you safe. If you would stop being ridiculous for just a minute…”

Fumbling with Shane, she managed to snake her hand into the pocket that she had seen him shove the key in previously. With a wince, she felt Shane wrap his fingers tightly around her wrist and pull it from his pocket. And then there was a shove. Her back hit the bed and he was crawling in over her while pinning her wrists to the bed.

“Get off of me!” she shouted while he fought with her in attempts to keep her down on the bed. “Get off.”

“Would you knock it off?” Shane snarled using one of his hands to hold down both her wrists while his other hand grabbed a firm hold of her throat to keep her in place. “You’re fighting with me like I’m trying to hurt you. You’re just not listening to me. I’m trying to tell you that things are getting really weird here Y/N. If you know what’s good for you, you will start packing and come with me. I’ve seen things that are unexplainable.”

“I don’t want to come with you,” she winced when the pressure over her neck got tighter. “I would rather face the fears here because then at least I know that I won’t always be scared of how you might erupt next time.”

“I’m just trying to help you,” Shane growled hearing the sound of the door opening and Shane looked to the side to see Evie standing in the doorway. “Evie…”

“What are you doing to my mommy?” Evie moved forward with all of her might hitting at Shane’s side over and over again in attempts to get him to get off of Y/N. “Let her go.”

“Evie, I’m not hurting your mother,” Shane reasoned with Evie, trying to turn just enough so he could talk to her while still keeping Y/N down. “I’m just trying to keep the both of you safe. I promise you that I would never…”

With a wince Shane felt Evie manage to hit him in the groin with enough force that he pulled his hand away from Y/N to shove Evie away. When Evie stumbled backwards and hit the ground, Shane immediately released Y/N trying to reach for Evie.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to do that,” Shane lowered down trying to reach out to Evie, but she slid back and away from him visibly scared of Shane. “Evie, it’s me. You know that I just love you and your mom. I would never…”

With the way that Evie was looking at him, Shane felt his heart breaking. The last thing he wanted was Evie scared of him. With him effected by Evie’s response left enough time for Y/N to scramble to Evie to put herself between Shane and Evie, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that. I just want to keep you two safe. I wish you would realize that.”

“Get out,” Y/N ordered making Shane let out a shuddering breath.

“I just wanted to keep you both safe,” Shane repeated showing that he was clearly upset that Evie thought illy of him. With a shuddering breath, Shane nodded and reached inside of his pocket to hand over the key that he had. Snatching it from Shane’s hand, Y/N pulled Evie into her arms and held her close. “I’m sorry.”

Evie cuddled her head in closer to Y/N when Shane left the house and the sound of the front door closing was heard. Checking on Evie, Y/N made sure that she wasn’t hurt. She was perfectly fine, just shaken up with what she had seen with Shane. Shane was someone she had come to trust and love in the past so seeing him like that really upset her. Y/N thought it would end there, but in the middle of the day she had seen Shane driving past her house several times and because she was worried about the idea of him coming back, she asked if Evie could be with her best friend’s family for the night. And for the first time in a very long time, she called asking Negan for help.

It was uncomfortable at first, but when Negan heard what happened with Evie, he agreed to come. It was unnerving considering they hadn’t actually talked to each other in a long time other than to work with each other over Evie.

By the time there was a knock at the door, she was nervous to go. Whether it was Negan or Shane, it was going to be uncomfortable. Getting the door open, she let out a surprised sound when Darwin pushed through with an excited bark making her smile. Standing at the door was Negan with a bag of dog food over his shoulder.

“What is this?” she was confused, stepping aside to allow Negan into the house as he carried the dog food toward the kitchen to set it down.

“There’s two reasons. Darwin here is a much better listener than I am. If he hears any car, he’s going to bark,” Negan whistled for Darwin to move in beside him. Lowering down, he brushed his fingers over Darwin’s head and sighed. “I was also going to ask you if you could watch Darwin for a while? With all the testing we’re going to, along with the money we’re spending…I just need someone to watch him for a few weeks until we can get back on our feet.”

“Oh, of course,” she immediately accepted lowering down on her knees which excited Darwin. The age was showing in Darwin’s face since he was now eleven years old and it made her heart ache remembering when they had first gotten him. “You know how much I love him.”

“And he loves you too,” Negan replied seeing the way that Darwin cuddled his head in closer to Y/N. “That’s why I asked you before anyone else. I know how much he means to you too.”

“He’ll be right here waiting for you,” Y/N promised, pressing a loving kiss over Darwin’s head while she pet him.

“Where is Evie?” Negan looked around making her remember that she hadn’t told him about letting her leave.

“She’s at her best friend’s home for tonight. Just so we can make sure that Shane won’t come back,” she explained hearing him let out a long sigh before moving over toward the couch to drop down on top of it. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mention that. I just wanted to keep her safe.”

“It was the best thing to do. I’m just going to sleep on the couch here. Lucille has my mother with her so I will stay updated and you know my mother. She will be up Lucille’s ass making sure she has everything that she needs. Probably to the point of annoying the hell out of her,” Negan pointed out with a yawn while he stretched himself out on the couch. “I’m glad you are taking this whole Shane thing seriously.”

“Negan,” she stood in the corner of the room seeing his hazel eyes gazing over at her. There was so much she wanted to say, but all she could muster up was something about Shane. “Can we go over how to keep myself protected in case Shane comes back? I know we talked about it at the farm that day, but when he was here…I panicked.”

“Sure…” Negan pulled himself up into a seated position before rising again. “The best things to remember when it comes to a man is the groin. It’s always going to be a sensitive spot no matter how hard you hit it or where. Ears, nose, throat…”

Negan listed over the things that she could do to keep herself safe. Even went as far as to put her in certain positions where she could get out of them. If there was one thing that Negan was good at, sadly it was fighting and she was going to listen to everything he had to offer. There was no logical reason that Negan was able to beat Shane in a fight, but he had. So if she could listen to him and learn from him, she would take everything in.

After they had all of their lessons on self-defense, the two of them sat down on the couch together to watch some old reruns of tv shows together. She wasn’t eager to go back to sleep after what happened and Negan was fighting falling asleep while they sat together. Darwin was on the middle cushion of the couch between them enjoying the fact that they were both petting him.

“Hey,” she whispered looking across the couch at Negan. Unhurriedly turning his head, Negan stared out at her with tired eyes and she sighed. “How is Lucille doing?”

“Don’t you talk to Lucille still?” Negan pointed out, his dimples sucking in when he made it obvious he still knew that Y/N and his wife were close. “You should know how things are going. She’s doing treatments. They are hard on her. It’s made life…rough.”

���I guess I should have asked how you are doing then,” she changed her question making him smirk before looking back toward the television. “I still care how you are too Negan. I just needed some space to figure out…me.”

“How did that go?” Negan blurt out, looking over at her with an arch of his eyebrow. “Any new discoveries?”

There was no kind of response she could really come back with. It felt like Negan was being a bit sarcastic, but she didn’t want to be negative back in return since he was doing this for her, “I overreacted. I’m sorry. I just wanted to figure stuff out in my head. Realize things for myself. I shouldn’t have been so cold to you.”

“Eh, we both know that I deserved it,” Negan suggested with a simple shrug of his shoulders while getting more comfortable on the couch to stretch out his body. “No reason to be sorry for it.”

“No, you didn’t deserve it that harshly after you risked everything to save me,” she urged Darwin to get down when she slid in closer to Negan on the couch to place her hand in over his in a supportive grasp. Negan looked to her hand and after a moment, his fingers loosely hooked with hers. “I care about how both you and Lucille are. I can imagine this is really hard on you too. I know how much you love Lucille. So this has to be breaking your heart…”

Negan’s head was down looking at the way her thumb stroked over his hand. Letting out a loud exhale, she could see that Negan’s bottom lip was trembling and she reached out to palm in over the side of his face, “You don’t have to be strong with me.”

Negan’s hazel eyes were damp. With each second, his emotions were growing and she reached out to pull Negan in closer to her when he started sobbing. Stroking her fingers through his dark hair, she did her best to comfort him while he fell apart in her arms.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do. I can’t lose her Y/N. Not like this,” Negan pulled back his head enough breaking her heart to see him like this. “It should be me that’s sick. Not her. She’s done everything right. I’m the one that has fucked with life so much. I should be getting punished for what I’ve done. Not her.”

“I don’t think anyone deserves what Lucille is going through, but what I do know is that Lucille is one of the strongest people I have ever known,” Y/N thought back on what she knew and she let out a shuddering breath herself. “If there is anyone that can kick cancer’s ass, it’s her.”

Hearing that made Negan half-smile before lowering his head again. A tear dripped from Negan’s nose and she skimmed her thumb in over his cheek to collect a few of the others, “I think you’ve stepped up incredibly well. You’re being a great husband from what I’ve heard and…”

“I should have been doing it from the start,” Negan interrupted her making her frown with how upset he still was. “I wasted so much life by being such a fucking asshole. If I would have been like this from the start, I might have actually enjoyed life. I could have made her happy.”

“I think she’s happy right now. Not with being sick, but with everything…” Y/N paused feeling a bit of nausea flooding her and Negan tipped his head to the side. “I’m sorry. I’ve just been feeling sick lately and…”

“Sick how?” Negan seemed worried to hear that and she shook her head.

“No, I’m fine,” she waved her hand in the air to dismiss his worries. “Seriously, I’m sorry for even saying that. Knowing how Lucille is, the way I’m feeling is nothing in comparison and…”

“Just promise me that if something is feeling wrong, you don’t wait,” Negan whispered, caressing his fingers over hers and she nodded. Curling her fingers around the back of Negan’s neck, she led him back into a hug. It lasted a while before Negan was laying in her lap while she stroked her fingers over his scalp like she had done in the past.

It didn’t take long before Negan was asleep in her lap. With how tired he was, she wondered if this was the first time he had been able to sleep in quite some time. Instead of moving him, she let him stay like that for a while. That was until she felt her stomach starting to turn. Before it got any worse than it was, she carefully moved out from underneath Negan replacing her lap with one of the throw pillows on the couch. Darwin hopped up with Negan when she left as she made a quick dash to the bathroom. She barely made it in time before she threw up while down on her knees hovering over the toilet. With a groan, she cussed to herself while she waited for things to get better. Still feeling sick, she sat on the floor and rest at the corner of the bathroom. This was becoming more and more frequent. It made her wonder if it was the stress or a food allergy or…

“Fuck,” Y/N cussed out when she thought of all the times she had been throwing up. Standing up from the floor, she quickly moved toward the sink and looked at her pale face in the mirror. Stepping back and away, she let out a shuddering breath when she lifted the shirt she was wearing to look over her abdomen. Palming in over the small swell that was there made her cuss out when she thought things over. It had been a long time since she’d really looked at herself naked. For the most part, she just hopped in the shower and got out. “No…”

Swiftly moving for the medicine cabinet, Y/N pushed through a few things before finding the box that she wanted. Looking at the expiration date, she let out a thankful breath. Starting the test, she thought about everything that was going on and let out a shuddering sound. This was something she probably should have included Negan in.

Heading back into the living room, she felt a severely anxious sensation flooding her veins. This wasn’t really something she wanted to do, but this was something that had just hit her all at once. It was something that she didn’t know how to feel about.

“Negan,” Y/N called out making Darwin’s ears perk up when he lifted his head from Negan’s chest from where Negan was sleeping on the couch. Deep breaths were still filling the air alerting her to the fact that Negan was still sleeping. Moving over toward the couch, she sat on the edge of it and felt her heart pounding inside of her chest. Reaching out to grab a soft hold of Negan’s foot that was stretched out. The movement made Negan’s eyes flutter to an open and when he saw that Darwin’s face was in his, Negan jumped up letting out a tense breath. When Negan noticed her sitting there, he attempted to pull himself up a bit looking out at her with his tired expression. “We need to talk.”

“Yeah, sure,” Negan reached up to rub at his tired eyes, a yawn falling from his throat when he attempted to wake himself up. “What’s up? Did you hear something with Shane or…?”

“I just think there is something I need to tell you,” she took in a long, shallow breath trying to coach herself into telling him. “I guess I should just come right out with this. I’ve been feeling not the greatest over the last few weeks.”

“Of course you haven’t. Shane is a fucking psychotic piece of shit stalker,” Negan reminded her, adjusting Darwin so he could pull himself up into a seated position. “You are likely stressed as all hell with everything that is going on.”

“I mean that probably doesn’t help,” she noted with an uneasiness in her tone while she waved her hand about. There were so many ways that she wanted to say this, but there was nothing that sounded right. “Negan, I think I’m pregnant.”

“With Shane’s baby?” Negan questioned, his thick eyebrows arching up and his jaw flexing.

“No. Not Shane’s baby. I haven’t slept with Shane in a very long time,” she stammered feeling her face getting hot when an expression flooded Negan’s features that she couldn’t quite read. “I have a pregnancy test in the bathroom that I started and if I’m pregnant…it’s yours.”

“Are you sure?” Negan blurt out, his deep, raspy voice making a lump grow in her throat with the color draining from his face. “I mean, you could just be stressed. Right?”

“I feel like I did when I was pregnant with Evie,” she reached down to place her hand in over her lower abdomen making Negan’s eyes lower down toward where she was touching her belly. “I’m fairly certain that I’m pregnant Negan.”

“Yeah, but how many times did we fuck without something? Why did it work all of a sudden after that one night?” Negan’s response to her thinking that she was potentially pregnant surprised her since he seemed panicked over the idea. “I mean that doesn’t make sense. Wouldn’t it make more sense if it was Shane’s since you were sleeping with Shane for a while?”

“I told you, I hadn’t slept with Shane for a very long time and any time I had sex with Shane it was with a condom. I made sure that we used protection. If it was Shane’s baby, I would be a lot more pregnant than I am,” she explained, standing up from the couch to fold her arms out in front of her chest. “If I’m pregnant Negan, it’s yours.”

“Fuck,” Negan cussed to himself, brushing his fingers through his hair in a tense moment. Seeming to rock back and forth where he was seated, Negan shook his head and looked up at Y/N with worry in his eyes. “Did the test say it was positive?”

“I don’t know yet,” she slurred hearing him cussing to himself under his breath over and over again. “You know what? Forget it. I’m sorry that I mentioned it.”

“Hey, wait…” Negan called out when she headed back for the bathroom where she had the pregnancy test waiting. Tripping when he stood up, Negan headed toward the bathroom and pushed his hand into the door before she could lock him out of the bathroom. Brushing his fingers into his messy hair, he stood in the doorway and cleared his throat. “Are you absolutely certain that it’s mine?”

“Yes Negan. You’re the only person I’ve slept with and we weren’t safe,” she reminded him with a frown. Having him ask her this repeatedly irritated her. She wasn’t the person that had been sleeping around. That was him.

“Why do you even have pregnancy tests?” Negan pushed further, his face twisting with confusion when he gazed over Y/N. It was like his eyes were focused on her abdomen trying to determine if she looked the way she did when she was pregnant with Evie.

“I don’t think you want to know that,” she whispered, her face flushing over when Negan chuckled and folded his arms in front of his chest. “It’s not worth talking about.”

“I mean, women don’t just keep pregnancy tests in their medicine cabinets Y/N,” Negan huffed while throwing his hand up in the air, his forehead creasing with how upset he appeared to be. “So why do you have pregnancy tests?”

“Because I thought I was pregnant after we went to Florida together as a family,” she stated with an uneven breath making the color drain from Negan’s face. “I thought I may have gotten pregnant from that time we were in the shower down in Florida or one of our times together with Lucille.”

“No, because if that were the case you would have told me,” Negan spoke up with an anxious sound, his jaw flexing with uncertainty.

“Not if I kept it to myself,” Y/N replied back in a whisper feeling an overload of guilt when she admitted to Negan what she had kept a secret for so long. “There was a lot going on at the time. I didn’t think it would be good to bring up the fact that I thought I was pregnant.”

“Were you?” Negan was curious making her look down toward the ground and shrug. With her reaction, she could hear Negan’s breathing getting loud. “Y/N?”

“It’s complicated,” she let out a shuddering breath making him step forward, his jaw flexing when she thought back on the past.

“How is it complicated Y/N? Were you pregnant or not?” Negan demanded an answer making Y/N let out a sad breath. With the way she was reacting, he could feel his heart hammering inside of his chest. “Did you have an abortion with my baby?”

“God no,” she blurt out making Negan’s face redden over. There was a silence that fell over them when she slumped further down. “I had my period.”

“What does that mean?” Negan pushed further noticing that she was getting emotional thinking about it. “Y/N?”

“It means that I was pregnant…then I wasn’t,” she retorted with a wrinkle of her nose throwing her hands up in the air. “It was in the first three or four months of being pregnant so it wasn’t that big of a deal that I lost it. It would have been worse if it was later in the pregnancy I guess.”

“Of course it’s a big deal. Why would you keep that kind of thing a secret from someone?” Negan blurt out, his voice raspy with him trying to hold back his emotions on this whole situation.

“I didn’t want you to pick me over Lucille just because I was pregnant. You mentioned wanting to be with me at Christmas and you kept saying that you wanted to be with me, but you never made a move,” she reminded him of that time period, her words coming out in a stammer since she was having a hard time reliving those moments. “Then you did the thing with the farmhouse. I thought it was a sure sign that we were meant to be together. I knew it was wrong with Lucille, but you asked me to marry you. You found your dream house. We were finally going to live the life that we both promised each other. I thought it was the world falling into place.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me then you were fucking pregnant?” Negan yelled, his body shaking with anger. Stepping forward, he curled his finger underneath her jaw when she refused to look at him. She was crying and he shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t you think I deserved to know that?”

“I messed up,” she confessed with a whimper, her eyes showing that she was in agony remembering what had happened in the past. “I thought that I should wait until I knew for certain that it was me that you wanted to be with. I didn’t want to force something that wasn’t meant to happen.”  

“That wasn’t your decision to make,” Negan snapped and she pulled her face away from him. “I deserved to know. That was my baby too…”

“Negan, I was going to tell you the day I got the keys to that farmhouse. You never showed up. When I came to your home, you were so cruel. You broke up with me again. Told me that you wanted a family with Lucille, not me. Why would I have told you then? It was what you said to me that helped confirm that I shouldn’t tell you,” she reminded him of the hurtful things he said to her that day when he let her down in not the best of ways after not showing up to collect the keys to the home he planned to get with her. Negan’s lips parted and he let out a frustrated grunt. “There was a reason I was so emotional Negan. Not just because I was batshit over getting dumped again. But because I was getting dumped when I was pregnant for the second time.”

“I told you then I wasn’t dumping you. I just…couldn’t do what you wanted from me. Why wouldn’t you say something?” Negan threw his hands up in the air, still visibly shaken by what she was telling him. “You should have told me.”

“It doesn’t matter,” she whimpered knowing that it bothered her for a long time, but there was a reason why she always felt super connected to Negan. It had hurt her so much that she was eager to have some kind of positive response from someone because she was letting it eat away at her. It comforted her having the relationships that Negan and Lucille had with her separately. To finally have Negan making love to her and trying to be a better man made her feel better. It got her mind off things. “I lost it not long after that day. You wouldn’t have cared either way. It happened between that day and when you came to apologize to me.”

“Yes, I would have cared,” Negan bit at his bottom lip and shook his head. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”

Instead of saying anything, they both went quiet and she felt like her body was on fire. Negan was cussing to himself under his breath and he lifted his head to look at Y/N, “And you feel like you did when you were pregnant those two times?”

“Yes,” she simply answered. What else could she say?

“Fuck me,” Negan cussed, tugging at his messy hair when he started to pace the small bathroom that they were in. “You would be what? Three or four months pregnant right now? You don’t look as big as you did when you had Evie?”

“I didn’t look super pregnant with the last one either,” she recalled hearing the frustrated hiss that fell from his throat when he covered his eyes with his large palms.

“This was not the response I was expecting from you,” she slurred making Negan scoff when she lowered down on the edge of the bathtub to look up at him. “You tell me that you would have cared about the miscarriage I had, but here you are now acting like it’s the worst thing in the world that I could be pregnant. I made a mistake then and I was trying to involve you now.”

“Well what the fuck did you expect from me Y/N? I don’t have the fucking money for another child. Do you know how much babies cost?” Negan shouted at her making her eyes get wide when he got visibly angry at the idea of having another baby. “Lucille and I are in a fuck load of debt and now with her having cancer with her treatments, they are only going to get worse.”

“I said I would help,” Y/N reminded him of what she had told Lucille when she found out that Lucille had cancer. “I told Lucille I could pay for her treatments…I could help with the debt. I don’t need your money in order to take care of this baby…”

“Listen, you’re not going to help me take care of my wife,” Negan held his finger out to point at Y/N, his eyebrows furrowing when she felt a chill run down her spine. It made him furious that she even suggested it. “It’s my job to help take care of this. You have no idea how much it pisses me off that she told you before she told me that she had cancer.”

“Well maybe if you weren’t…” she had to stop herself knowing that Lucille had told her that Negan was cheating on her with her best friend and she lowered her head when Negan’s expression changed. Obviously, Lucille had not mentioned to Negan that she knew what Negan was doing and she bit down on her bottom lip. It wasn’t her place to rip Negan a new one for doing that to Lucille. “This isn’t the time to have pride Negan.”

“This is one time where this is none of your business Y/N,” Negan grunted, his thick eyebrows bouncing up watching the way her eyes seemed to get upset. “I can’t afford having another child right now. I’m going to be too fucking busy trying to figure out things with work and to pay for the treatments.”

“There is still that security job Negan,” she reminded him and Negan rolled his eyes before resting his back against the edge of the counter. “I’m here to help if you need it. You know that and…”

“I don’t have time for this Y/N,” Negan muttered visibly upset that she might be pregnant with his baby. “I don’t have time to take care of both you and Lucille right now. I asked you to take Darwin with you. I was going to ask you to have less time with Evie because we aren’t going to be able to take care of her like we could while Lucille is sick.”

“You’re what?” Y/N felt her stomach sink when Negan threw his hands up in the air, his eyes upset the further he went on. “You want less time with Evie?”

“I need less time with Evie. Maybe one week out of the month instead,” Negan shrugged his shoulders, his Adam’s apple bouncing in his throat when he saw something change in Y/N’s eyes. “You know that when you have Evie, she has to have all the attention. Right now, I don’t have the time for that. The treatments are going to be hard.”

“Don’t you think right now is the best time for Evie to be near Lucille? Lucille is just as much her mom,” Y/N reasoned with Negan watching his jaw lock up and he lowered his head to keep his eyes from hers. “In moments like these, I think Evie should be with her just as much. The love of your kids could be healing and…”

“Evie isn’t Lucille’s,” Negan corrected Y/N, his head tipping to the side and he shook his head. “I’m telling you. I don’t have the money for another child and I don’t have the time for it either. I don’t even have the time for the one I have right now.”

Silence filled the small bathroom and he could see Y/N’s face turning a light shade of red when she lowered her head down, “Right now the most important thing in my life is Lucille. You understand that, right? Lucille has pancreatic cancer Y/N. Do you know the survival rate of that Y/N?”

“Yeah, I did extensive research on it when Lucille told me because I care about her too,” Y/N lifted her head, her eyes tearing over when Negan threw his hands up in the air. “Which is why I think that she needs to be surrounded by the people who love her.”

“Lucille isn’t going to have the strength to be around Evie. Evie is full of energy. Evie needs attention and I fucking guarantee Lucille would not be ecstatic at the potential idea of you being pregnant,” Negan’s hazel eyes were glaring out at her making her feel awful about the whole situation at hand. “What the fuck did you think was going to happen here? That I would be happy?”

“Not this,” she admitted feeling her heart-breaking hearing Negan saying all of this out loud. “I thought it would give you some sense of hope. Something bad was happening, but at the same time something good was happening. I didn’t want to make the same mistake I did in the past in not telling you.”

“I’m sorry. Do you honestly think you getting pregnant is going to make me feel better that the love of my life could potentially be dying?” Negan turned to face her, his rage growing even more. Between what she told him about the miscarriage she had and this whole thing he was so mad at her.

“It was just something that Lucille wanted when we were all together and I thought…” she tried to breathe out making Negan’s thick jaw lock up, his nostrils flaring when she tried to reason things out with him.

“What Lucille wanted was a family of her own. She wanted me to get her pregnant. Not you,” Negan corrected her, his index finger pointing at her and at this point she felt like she was being scolded for everything. “What she was doing was settling with the idea of you. Lucille wanted a baby so much that she started a fucking trio between us because she knew that she couldn’t get pregnant. You were just Lucille settling.”

“Lucille loved me,” Y/N shook her head making Negan roll his eyes before dragging his large hand over the front of his face. “I thought you wanted another baby.”

“Lucille wanted another baby. Not me,” Negan denied that idea, his voice getting raspy the further that they had this conversation. “I knew better than that. I couldn’t afford it. One fucking kid is more than enough trouble.”

“Do you hear the way you are talking about Evie? One fucking kid?” Y/N stood up from where she was seated and Negan looked back at her over his shoulder. “I never realized your daughter was such a fucking bother to you Negan. There was a day where you were fighting to have three weeks out of the month with her now you want to drop it down to one.”

“I love my daughter, but I have to be realistic right now,” Negan turned on his heel, his face scrunching up while they continued to fight. “I can’t take care of my daughter the way that she deserves to be taken care of. Lucille has to come first right now. Lucille is the most important thing in my life at this moment. Not Evie.”

“Wow,” Y/N was happy that Evie wasn’t there to hear it because whether Negan was just mouthing off because he was scared or truly meant it…it was something that her daughter would have been broken to hear. “I don’t even think Lucille would be happy with the things that you are saying right now.”

“Because I want to put my sick wife first?” Negan shrugged his shoulders, his nose wrinkling in response. “You’re just upset because I want to put Lucille first which is what any good husband would do.”

The sound of the alarm going off was heard and they both looked to the pregnancy test that was on the counter. Negan went to reach for it and she pushed him aside. Grabbing the test, she headed back to where she was before to sit down and Negan looked down at her expectantly. There were tears burning at her eyes when she lowered the test, “It’s negative.”

“Thank God,” Negan let out a sigh of relief, dragging his hands down over his face and falling back against the wall. “Fuck…”

“I hope Lucille gets better, so you have the family you always wanted with her,” she stood up from where she was seated and slid the test into her pajama pocket. “I’m not going to be the one to tell Evie that you are abandoning her. That’s your job. You can do that in the morning when she comes home.”

“I’m not abandoning my daughter,” Negan blurt out, following Y/N toward the kitchen where she was headed toward the coffee. Negan reached out to grab a hold of Y/N’s wrist, but she pulled away from Negan with an upset sound. “It’s just right now she has to take a backseat in my life until Lucille is better.

“Like I said, that’s your job to explain, not mine,” Y/N shook her head, going to reach for something, but Negan grabbed her and turned her to him. There seemed to be confusion in Negan’s features with the fact that she was crying.

“What is wrong with you?” Negan was confused and she shrugged her shoulders.

“Just go home to Lucille and I will bring Evie by tomorrow so you can explain to her why she will be with me three weeks out of the month,” Y/N pointed toward the front door, pulling her wrist from him. “I don’t need you here.”

“You were scared. You want me here,” Negan reminded her hearing the dog moving into the kitchen with them. “Lucille would not be okay if I came home right now when she knows that you are scared.”

“Which is it? Are you staying because I’m scared or because Lucille will get mad at you if you don’t stay here?” she pushed making Negan roll his eyes before heading back into the living room to lay down on the couch with a huff. “I have Darwin, just get out of here Negan.”

“I’m going to wait for my daughter until morning so I can talk to her,” Negan turned on his side away from her, facing the back of the couch. “Go to bed Y/N. You’re clearly emotional right now and it will be for the best.”

There was so much that Y/N wanted to say, but instead she found herself heading for the bathroom again to slam the door shut behind her. Looking down, she reached inside of her pocket to pull out the pregnancy test that was there. A shuddering breath fell from her throat when she saw the positive result. Tossing the test aside, she lowered down on the ground and buried her head in her hands. Lying to Negan about the test was better than telling him the truth. She could only imagine what his response would have been if she was honest. It wasn’t a reaction she felt like she could have handled. So for now, she would just have to keep this a secret from the world around her.

---- Tags: @slutlanna976​​ @fuckthis-and-fuckthat​​ @jennydehavilland​​  @felicity291​​ @ibelongtonegan​​ @smallsadjellyfish​​ @labyrinthofheartagrams​​  @msjamesmarch​​ @thebeautysurrounds​​ @hotfornegan​​ @redmercysugar​​ @caprithebunny​ @tuttifuckinfruitty​​ @emoryhemsworth​​ @a-girl-interupted​​ @akumune​​ @stoneyggirl2​​ @xsarcasticwriterx​​  @insertneganhere​​​ @haleygreen23​​​ @xhannahbananax03​​​ @sanctuaryforthelost​​​ @burningredaffair​​​ @killaweiser​​​ @dead-of-niight​​​  @ayumi-wolf​​​ @neganswoman​​

[mandoalorian]

Biology [Dio x Reader]

Summary – You are stressed about college applications but by a twist of fate, a boy comes into your life and agrees to help you in exchange for something else.

Pairing – Gender neutral reader x Shane “Dio” Morrissey (No Y/N)

Warnings – general school related anxiety

Word count – 2.2k

A/N: For now this is just a one shot but if people enjoy it please let me know and I can write more! Comment if you would like to be tagged in a possible future update/s.

-

“I’m heading home now,” the high school librarian announced, as she threw the keys in your direction. The clanking of the metal hitting the desk interrupted you from your thoughts. “Lock up.” She ordered you and before you could reply, she was gone. You had stayed late at the school library every night for the past two weeks trying to work on your college applications. You had applied for one of the most prestigious fashion schools in your country and were spending time working on your portfolio, trying to make sure everything was perfected. Every night, however, you found yourself staying late and as the submission deadline neared more and more things were seemingly going wrong. In the dim light, you stared at the computer screen as the brightness stung your eyes. Just then, a crash made you jump out of your seat and run to where the noise emanated from, thinking something had happened to the librarian on her way out. Instead, you saw the silhouette of a boy, clumsily picking up fallen books from the floor. You got closer and went down on your knees, reaching your hand out to pick up a book, but his hand overlapped yours. The contact sent a shiver down your spine and you diverted your gaze from the book, to the boy. He was already staring at you. Your lips parted as you realised who he was and he said your name in a gentle tone. The dim light brought out a sparkle in his eyes which almost made him unrecognisable. “Dio…”

He was the boy in your classes, who sat at the back and didn’t say a word. He was different to the other boys. He wore all black, he had piercings and, you looked down at his hand which was resting on top of yours, noting his chipped, painted black nails. You smiled; he was certainly different. Dio was one to always get in trouble, fighting with people who crossed him wrong or using his smart mouth to back-talk the teachers. You remembered just the other week he had threatened to stab someone. You ripped your hand away from his, remembering the incident and stumbled back to your feet. He stood up with you and you folded your arms over your chest, almost defensively. “Why are you here?” You quizzed Dio. There was no reason for someone like him to be in the school library so late at night.

Dio stood awkwardly, looking at you and looking at the pile of fallen books on the ground. “I- uh-“ he struggled to get his words out. You picked up one of the books and ran your fingers over the title.

“Biology?” You raised an eyebrow.

“I’m failing,” Dio admitted with a sigh. “And, I can’t fail. So I’m studying. I usually just sit in Ms Greene’s classroom every night after school. No one knows I stay back. It’s uh, kind of a secret.”

“No way,” you shook your head in disbelief. “You? Studying?” You panicked slightly, feeling as though your tone might have come off as rude, but he didn’t seem fazed.

“I don’t want to go college,” Dio shrugged. “But I want out of this hell-hole. I want to graduate. I’m already a grade behind because I failed my finals last year. I can’t fail again.”

“You’re a year behind?”

“I’m nineteen,” he told you and you nodded, listening to him intently. He was finally making eye contact with you, and the softness in his look brought you a feeling of safety, despite him being your high school’s intimidating Goth boy.

“Well,” you cleared your throat and changed the subject. “I’m here every night too.” Dio gave you a weak smile and rubbed his feet along the old carpet awkwardly.

“Studying?” he asked.

“No,” you replied and handed him the biology book. He took it and slid it back into its place. He didn’t even want it anymore. “College applications.”

“Yeah? What are you applying for?” Dio asked and you raised an eyebrow at his curiosity.

“Fashion,” you informed him, pointing at the only switched on computer which lit up the corner of library. Dio’s smile grew and you wondered if he was about to poke fun at you.

“Can I see?” He followed your finger and also pointed at your computer.

You hesitated. He probably wanted to sabotage your portfolio... that sounded like a ‘Dio’ thing to do. The awkward silence went on long enough and you gave in, agreeing, and taking him over to your computer. You slid back down into your chair and flicked through the pages of your virtual fashion file. Instead of pulling a seat up, he leaned down to your level, his hand resting on the back of your chair. The distance between you both was very small, you swore you could even feel his breath on your neck. “Ms Cassidy says all applications are due in this Friday and I’m just about happy with my portfolio-“

“-You should be,” Dio interrupted. “This is incredible.”

You paused, dumbstruck by his compliment. Dio doesn’t just give out compliments like that. Especially not to people he’s just met. Hell, you were even surprised he knew your name. “…But,” you continued. “I need this to stand out and be special or else the admissions team won’t look twice at it. Fashion is so competitive. I had this idea. I wanted to do a segment on alternative style but I need a model and I’m not sure if I could find one who fits my image in time. I feel like giving up.” You sighed, exasperated, but he didn’t answer. He was paying very little attention to your words, or even your portfolio. His eyes burned into your face, memorising and taking in every little detail like you were the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. “Dio?” You interrupted his thoughts.

“Yeah?”

You sighed again. “I can’t find a model because no one has that special air of style these days. Everyone is the same. Same is boring. We all want to look the same as each other because… it feels safe.” You shrugged.

“Right,” Dio agreed, shuffling around in his long black leather coat. The noise it made pulled you to look at him, and as you took in his appearance, you were struck with an idea. Dio must’ve seen the lightbulb appear above your head and he laughed.  “No no no,” he shook his head. You didn’t need to verbalise your thoughts, he already knew exactly what you wanted. “Not me. I’m not a model.”

“Please!” You begged, standing up and pressing both of your hands to his chest as you felt the different layers of material he was wearing. His breathing hitched under your touch and he squirmed slightly. “You’re perfect… you…” Your voice trailed off as you imagined the various poses he could do in his different clothes. He was everything you needed; your ticket to get into Fashion school. “Dio.” you pulled your hands away and pressed them together in a praying gesture. “I’ll pay you.” Your voice changed seriously. “Do you have any idea how much I want this?”

“I do… I do…” Dio said, uncertainty still dripping from his tongue. He thought of how much his friends would tease him if they found out he had been out on photoshoots with you. If they knew he was your model. But there was no reason for them to find out, and if it meant he could spend more time with you… “You can pay me. Yeah?” He eventually agreed.

“Yes!” You exclaimed, filled with happiness. “Of course Dio, thank you.” And acting on impulse, you hugged him. You felt him tense up and you buried your face into his chest. After a delay, he wrapped his arms around you. He was warm. You didn’t know what it was, perhaps his strong arms or broad shoulders that made you feel protected. It was crazy. Of course you had seen him around before, but suddenly he had you feeling all these things. “Thank you,” you mumbled. You finally felt like you had a shot at fashion school – a chance. From that moment, you swore he was your lucky star.

Dio had always stuck out in a crowd of high school students with his black gelled hair, kohl eyeliner and multiple piercings around his ears. You were certain he was feared, even by the jocks, but that only drew you in closer to him. He was like an enigma, and in this moment, you had never felt more compelled to discover more of him. Realising your hug probably had lasted way longer than appropriate, you were the first one to pull away. “So, uhm,” you cleared your throat, figuring you should go over expenses. “I can do 30$ for the first hour and if it takes longer… then 10$ for every hour after that.”

“No I don’t want your money,” Dio said, and you knotted your eyebrows together. He wanted more.

Dio knew you better than you knew him. He had been watching you for a while now, taking in your every move. He knew your GPA was above average and that you were worrying way more than you needed to be about college. He had complete faith in you. He saw you every day, laughing with your friends in the cafeteria. He watched you from his seat at the back of the classes you shared with him. He admired how smart you were, and especially how hard-working, something he felt like he could never be. You felt like you would be good for him, a positive influence which is something he knew he so desperately needed. But there was something about you that made him lose his confidence. It was a feeling he’d never felt before which made him question all his motives. He wanted to go out with you, kiss you with hunger and passion. He had done these things plenty of times before and lord knows he was experienced but it was like there was something inside of him that stopped him from making any advances. In the darkness of the library, in the close proximity, he felt the butterflies in his stomach. He felt the spark of electricity when your hands had previously touched. He’d done a lot – been with guys and girls before but the outcome was always the same. Meaningless sex and then never speak to them again. Now, he was suddenly feeling this emotional attachment. A sense of longing.

He wanted to ask you out. He wanted to tell you that he didn’t need your money, he just needed you, and he’d take you right now in the library if he could. He looked around, contemplating his surroundings. He simply couldn’t do it, and yet the urge to kiss you was so strong. “I don’t want your money,” he repeated. “Look, you help me pass biology and that’ll be enough.”

You felt the tension in the air. You wondered if he could feel it too. “Before we start on biology,” your voice was barely above a whisper. “How’s your chemistry?” You intertwined your fingers with his and bit your lip, taking a step forward to him, filling any distance. Dio felt the smirk playing on his lips at your confidence but nervously, you looked up at him doe-eyed. This was the first time you had ever gotten close to someone. Dio lifted his free hand and cupped your cheek, his thumb tracing the softness of your lower lip.

“Good enough for me to know it’s alright to do this,” his voice was dark. He leaned in and his nose brushed against yours. You hummed and found your fingers in his hair as you pushed his face closer. Your eyes fluttered closed as he kissed you delicately. It wasn’t how you had imagined at all. You had seen him around other people; the way he’d push his partners into the lockers and run his hands over their bodies. You’d see people hang out with Dio, and they’d turn up to class the next day with hickeys and love-bites all over their jaw and neck. You imagined him rough, but this felt – gentle. He was passionate and took his time to deepen the kiss. You felt safe in his arms, you wanted to stay like this forever. He was such a good kisser, although him being your first kiss, you didn’t have much to compare it to. When he eventually pulled away so you could both catch your breath, you felt your knees weaken and couldn’t wipe the smile off your face. Dio spoke your name softly and squeezed your hand. “Let me walk you home.” He murmured, to which you agreed, but not before kissing him again.

-

I hope you enjoyed!! Like I said let me know if you want to be added to a tag list and I will write more if people want more. Thanks for reading. xx

[soniaxdixon]

The New World; Series, Pt 4.

okay this one is definitely longer than the others but I just kept writing. Things get a little more heated in this chapter ngl. I rushed through the first part a bit, I’m kinda assuming we’ve all seen season one so everyone gets the gist of this part.

TW, Shane is a dick in this and starts to get a little too close

Warnings: Swearing, Angst but it gets real fluffy. 

Word Count; 3175 - sorry in advance, I skimmed through reading it so if there are any grammatical errors, my bad.

Okay so this is my first time writing a fic and obviously will be my first series but I’ve just rewatched TWD for like the 17th time and my obsession with Daryl has reached new levels. I hope that it isn’t too shit and that you guys actually read/like it. Thank you in advance for baring with my average writing but I mean, how else will I learn? Anyway, enjoy!

Sonia x

pt 4 of ?? 

The events of the day that followed your night encounter with Daryl went by quickly. Between watching Andrea mourn the death of her sister while the rest of you grieved for the people you lost, you felt the day slipping away fast. Finding out about Jim being bitten broke your heart and before you knew it, you were packing your life away yet again and preparing to head to the CDC.

You crammed your camping gear in the back of Shane’s car along with your bags, walking over to your group when you heard Morales say that he and his family were not going to the CDC with you, he had to do what was best for his family and you understood that. You all said your good byes as you headed towards your cars.

“Y/N, you can ride with me if ya want.�� You heard Shane say and you nodded. Your stuff was already in his car, you may as well.

“Thanks, Shane.”

Daryl shot you a look that you couldn’t quite comprehend as you jumped in the passenger side of Shane’s car. He scoffed and rolled his eyes, stepping into his pick up truck and slamming the door shut as you all began driving away, towards what you hoped was safety.

The RV came to a halt in front of the convoy, smoke and steam spilling out of the front. Jacqui interrupted everyone with news about Jim’s state. Shane said he was going to head up to what he thought looked like a gas station while rick stepped inside the RV to see Jim. He came out soon after breaking the news to you all that Jim wanted to be left here to die.

“He said he wanted to be with his family.”

Tears formed in your eyes as you thought about leaving the man who had become a dear friend.

The group decided to do what Jim had asked. Shane and Rick helped place him gently under a tree as you all stood around him and shared one final moment. You walked up to Jim and kissed him carefully on the forehead, caressing his hair one final time, forcing yourself to look into his eyes as you said good bye.

You watched as Daryl simply nodded to the man and you all made your way back to your cars, ready to continue the journey you had started.

After a while, the CDC finally came into view, you all slowly got out of your vehicles, hands on weapons as you hastily made your way to the entrance. Walkers were strewed across the ground, the smell of decaying bodies filling the air making you gag repeatedly. Shane and Rick began bashing on the front of the CDC roller door as walkers started approaching.

You began pacing, looking for ways to get in to the building when you looked up at the camera as it moved.

“The camera, it moved.” You heard Rick say

Dale was quick to respond “You imagined it.”

You backed Rick up “No, I saw it move too. It moved.”

Walkers started approaching quickly, threatening the groups safety. While Shane attempted to convince Rick to leave the CDC you started bashing on the door, yelling at the camera.

“I know you’re in there, let us in!”

Rick joined in, bashing on the roller, “I know you can hear me, please, we’re desperate.”

More walkers began pacing towards you while there was still no answer.

Shane started dragging Rick away while he was yelling.

“You’re killing us, you’re killing us!”

And then the light shone upon you. The doors opened emitting the brightest light you have ever seen. You all froze.

You followed Rick’s lead and stepped in cautiously, guns raised. A man rounded the corner, gun aimed at you all.

“Anybody infected?”

“One of our group was, he didn’t make it.”

“Why are you here, what do you want?”

“A chance.”

The only thing the man asked of you was to submit to a blood test which made you feel sick. Walkers, they were scary but you could handle them. Needles, now that’s where you drew the line. Rick looked at you when he remembered your fear. You locked eyes with him and then you looked around, it was the first time that you had walls surrounding you in a long time and if a needle was what would allow you to have that safety again, you would do it. You looked back at Rick and nodded.

“We can do that.”

“You got stuff to bring in you do it now, once that door closes it stays closed.”

You grabbed your bags from the cars and ran back inside, allowing yourself to finally take a breath. You heard the man say his name was Dr Jenner as you followed him into the main room. Rick asked the question that you were all thinking. Where were the other doctors? Jenner replied saying that he was the only one left.

Your leg started bouncing up and down while you sat and waited for your turn to have your blood test. You felt a wave of nausea over come you, your head became heavier and you felt like you were about to pass out. Jenner called you up and your knees became weak, you braced for your fall but Shane caught you.

“Woah there, don’t go fallin’ for me.”

You chuckled, “Ain’t gonna be that easy, thanks for catching me.”

“Ya still scared of needles?” He asked while linking his arm around your back and leading you towards Jenner.

“Never got over the fear, still scares the shit out of me.”

He gently placed you on the chair and asked Jenner if he had a smaller needle or something to help you calm down. You looked up at him in surprise at how kind he was being right now.

Jenner reached for the butterfly needles and proceeded to set it up, as he grabbed your arm, you subconsciously reached for Shane’s hand and squeezed it slightly, looking into his eyes as Jenner pushed the needle into your arm.

“Thanks, Shane.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Daryl was forced to sit there and watch the entire interaction between you and Shane, seething at every word that came out of Shane’s mouth. His heart tightening when you were returning the affection towards him and when you grabbed Shane’s hand his heart broke. That should have been him comforting you but no one knew about the night the two of you had, no one knew about the feelings you shared and now he wasn’t sure if you were even telling the truth.

Jenner led you all to the dining area, food graced the table and Jenner even brought out a few bottles of wine and other alcohols. You all laughed like never before. Telling each other stories, relaxing more and more as the alcohol set in. You were on your third glass of wine, glancing occasionally at Daryl who was drinking straight from the bottle. You wondered why he hadn’t spoken to you since last night and why he looked so angry every time your eyes crossed paths.

Shane brought everyones mood down instantly when he began questioning the doctor about where all the other staff had gone. You just sat and listened while Jenner explained everything, including the way that some of the doctors ‘opted out.’

Jenner began taking you through the halls as he explained that most of the rooms had couches but there were some beds available, all though some people may have to share rooms. There was also a rec room down the hall filled with books which made you extremely happy.

“If you shower, go easy on the hot water.”

Those words were like music to your ears, shower, hot water. Things you always took for granted in the previous world.

You walked past a few of the rooms that were already taken, Glenn and T-dogg sharing one, Lori, Carl and Rick in another when suddenly Shane stopped you.

“You can share a room with me if you’d like.” You looked up as Daryl walked past and saw the sudden look of hurt flash across his eyes.

“That’s okay Shane, thanks for the offer.”

You chased quickly after Daryl after he had turned into a room that had a double bed, he threw his bag on top and then threw himself next to it. You knocked on the door quietly and he shot up.

“The hell do ya want?”

The sudden burst of anger had your chest aching.

“Excuse me?”

“Ya heard me, what the hell are ya doin’ in here?”

“I was coming to ask if you wanted to share a room, you know, after last night and all.”

He scoffed at you “Last night was a mistake.”

And there it was, you felt yourself grow angry at his words but you knew this was what he did, he pushed people away to make himself feel less attached.

“What did you just say?”

He stood up from the bed now, stomping over to you, his face inches away from yours. “I said, last night was a fuckin’ mistake.”

“Thats bullshit Daryl Dixon and you know it.”

“I meant what I said.”

“Fuck you.” It came out as barely a whisper but it was enough for him to hear it, tears started uncontrollably streaming down your face as you wiped them away quickly but they fell too fast for your sleeves to stop them.

Daryl looked at you crying and felt his heart break even more. To think that he was the reason for your crying broke him. “M’ sorry.”

“No, fuck you, you don’t get to apologise just like that. You don’t get to say that last night was a mistake when you know it wasn’t. You told me how you felt, you expect me to think that just went away over night.”

He went to reach for your arm but you smacked his hand away. “Are you kidding me, don’t try and touch me, don’t try and comfort me, just tell me why you’re fucking acting like this.”

“Ya should be with Shane, not me.” He couldn’t stop himself from blurting it out.

“What?”

“Ya deserve someone better, like Shane. He’d treat ya better than I ever could.”

“What in the world makes you think that?”

“I saw the way he was helpin’ ya before, I didn’t even know ya were scared of needles.”

“Daryl, I don’t like Shane, I like you.”

“Naw, ya just sayin’ that, just like ya said all that shit last night, ya didn’t mean it.” You could see the pain in his eyes when he forced himself to speak his worries.

“I meant every word and I’ll say it again. I like you Daryl, I’ve liked you since the day I met you. Seeing you walk into our camp with your brother, I knew you would be a pain in my ass and I was right but God, I wouldn’t change that for the world. I know you like me too, I know you’re scared to admit how much you like me, but I know you do.”

He just stared at you, his eyes flicking between your eyes and your lips until slowly he reached up and pushed a strand of your hair behind your ear. “Ya know I’m not good with words but can I, uh…”

“Yes.”

With your permission he leant down and kissed your lips, so gently that you could hardly feel him, your hands reached behind his head, entangling in his hair and pulling him in closer, deepening the kiss.

After a short while of staying in that moment you pulled away from him to look in his eyes, your hands staying in his hair.

“Do you believe me now?”

He just nodded and leaned his forehead against yours.

“Will ya stay with me tonight? I’ll take the couch. Ya can have the bed.”

You chuckled slightly pressing another gentle kiss to his lips before completely stepping back. He watched in confusion as you walked away into the hall, leaving him standing there alone, only to return with your bag in your hand, putting it down on the couch. His eyes grew brighter when he understood that you were staying.

“We can both stay in the bed but God I need a shower…And so do you.”

“Nah, ya heard what Jenner said, there ain’t much hot water, ya go and have a shower, I’ll wait here.”

“Daryl Dixon, I am not sleeping in a bed with you if you’re dirty, you’re just gonna have to shower with me.”

His heart raced at your words, his cheeks flushing red and then he remembered his scars and you saw the panic set into his face.

“You can face me the whole time, I promise I won’t make you do anything you’re not comfortable with.” You walked closer to him, grabbing his hands and slowly pulling him towards the bathroom. He allowed you to lead him.

You turned the water on and let out a small squeal of joy when you felt the hot water hit your hand, this earned a small smile from Daryl. You slowly removed your shirt, then your pants as you watched Daryl struggle to figure out where he should be looking. You laughed softly at the awkwardness of this man which drew his eyes back to you, the tips of his ears turning red. He began chewing his thumb as you pulled off the rest of your clothes and stepped into the shower, relishing in the hot water, something you didn’t realise you had been craving for so long.

“Whenever you’re ready, only if you’re comfortable.”

You heard him undo his belt and a minute later he was stepping into the shower with you. You pulled him carefully under the water and watched as the dirt began to discolour the floor beneath you. You placed your hands gently on the sides of his face, pulling him into a slow kiss, breaking away moments later. You reached for the shampoo behind you and put some in your hands as you reached up to his dirty hair and began to wash the dirt away, watching as Daryl’s face softened and his eyes closed at the feeling.

“Hold your head up while I rinse, I don’t want to get it in your eyes.”

He tilted his head up and let the water wash the soap out of his hair, you couldn’t help but smile at how relaxed he was in this moment, because of you. No one had ever cared for him this much.

He slowly put his head back down, looking at you before he placed his hands on your waist and pulled you into him, burying his head in the crook of your neck, letting the water wash over the both of you. Your hands found his hair as you played with his wet locks until you were both ready to get out.

You got out first so you could pass him a towel to cover his back. He took it from you nodding as you dried yourself off and began to dress in some clean pyjamas. He pulled on some loose pants and one of his tanks before making his way into the room that you were both sharing. He laid down on one side of the bed, covering his eyes with his arm.

“I’m gonna go and check out the book collection, I’ll be back.”

“M’kay.”

You felt like you were on cloud nine as you made your way just down the hall into the rec room, Carl and Lori had just walked out as you walked in, you ruffled Carl’s head on his way out and he gave you a cheeky look.

As you shuffled through the books you heard a door shut and you jumped slightly at the sound. “Jesus Christ Shane, you scared the shit out of me.”

“Ya with the redneck now? That how it is?”

Your eyes snapped to him quickly as you heard his words, you could hear they were slurring slightly from the amount of drinks he’d had.

“He has a name, ya dick.”

Shane began pacing towards you, forcing you to put your hands against him when he slammed his body against yours, pushing you both into a wall.

“Ya know he ain’t gonna treat you right, girl. Ya know I can.”

“Shane, get off me, now.”

“Ya know I’ll protect ya better than he ever can.”

“Shane I’m warning you, get off of me.”

“What are you gonna do girl.” He dropped the bottle that was in his hands to pin your arms above your head, holding you in place against the wall as his lips found your neck.

“Shane please, stop, please.”

“Beg for me, I like it when ya beg.”

You twisted beneath him trying to get out of his grip but it was no use, he had you pinned and you couldn’t move.

“DARYL!” You yelled as loud as you could.

“Shut up, god damn it.” Shane slammed you into the wall again, winding you. You couldn’t find your voice to yell again so you prayed that Daryl had heard you.

Within moments, Daryl came barreling into the room ripping Shane off you and throwing him to the floor.

“Ah shit” was all you head Shane muster before he copped punch after punch, Daryl’s weight completely holding him down. You reached for Daryl’s hand as he was about to swing yet again.

“Daryl stop, please.”

He looked at you, you had never seen him this angry but when his eyes found yours, the anger melted away.

He stood up, climbing off of Shane, looking down at him again.

“Ya ever touch her again, I’ll fucking kill you.”

Daryl grabbed your hand and quickly led you back to the room where he checked you over for any injuries, lightly tracing his fingers over your neck sending shivers down your spine. You wrapped your arms around his middle and he felt your tears start to soak his shirt. He caressed your hair as you stood there for a good five minutes until you finally let go of him and looked up.

“I didn’t think you heard when I yelled. I thought he was gonna…”

“Stop. I’ll always protect ya, ya hear me. Always.”

You felt the effects of the long day start to take a toll on you as you led Daryl towards the bed, pulling the covers back you climbed in on one side and Daryl climbed in on the other. Something about being with him made you feel calm, made you feel like everything was going to be okay. You turned over on your side, your back facing Daryl as you felt his arm snake around your waist, pulling you into him. You fell asleep within minutes of being in his arms. It was the best sleep you both had in a long time.

[fernando-jpg]

Christmas time

Summary: Reader finally gathers up courage to ask Daryl about his past while they chat.

Pairing: Daryl Dixon x F!Reader

English is my second language so if you see any mistakes in my writing just let me know!

You were staying at some abandoned house, you and Rick had found on the run for supplies. You two were just coming back, backpack stuffed with food and other needs, thankful that you found something, when you two stumbled upon this house. It was big, with a rather high fence around it. Rick shot you a look instantly as you two noticed it, before you took off your backpack and dropped it down behind the fence. Rick offered helping you out with climbing but you declined, getting up the fence and dropping down behind it. You took Rick's backpack before he jumped over the fence too. You pulled out your machete before gesturing to Rick to open the front doors.

You two got inside and searched throughout the whole house, twice before exiting the house. It was fully furnitured, and even had a stove running with gas. On the yard there was a well. You checked it and found that it hadn't frozen and the water wasn't infected with anything.

You and Rick quickly returned to the little camp you had on the road and told everyone the news. Obviously we quickly moved in there. We slept in the living room where was warmer than in other part of the house due to the fact that there was a fireplace. You settled in the left corner where you could lean against the wall with Carol next to you. Despite it seeming like heaven after you spent four months on the road mostly, there were zombies wandering around the house. Not many of them, but still.

Christmas Day rolled in finally. Girls have decided to decorate the room you were sleeping with some things they found on the attic. They cut some old fabrics and hanged it. They also found a small Christmas tree and settled in on the table. They wanted everyone to feel the Christmas spirit. But you couldn't. You didn't felt it. For the first time in your life.

After having a small Christmas dinner, you've noticed someone's absence. Daryl was nowhere to be found. You excused yourself from the people you talked to but they didn't want to let you go so easily.

"Where are you going?" Carol asked. You almost forgot that they wanted to sing some Christmas songs. You liked singing but you really weren't in the mood for it.

You replied with a short excuse, saying that you'll be back soon. You brushed past her and Lori, before heading out of the room. You grabbed your jacket and went down the hallway. You opened the doors and walked into the front porch. You didn't find anyone around so you've decided to sit down on the bench. There was a blanket hunched over the back of it and you've decided to wrap it around yourself.

"Watcha doing here?"

You looked over your shoulder only to see Daryl walking up to you with his crossbow in hand.

"Sitting." you answered. "You can sit with me if you want."

He mumbled something in response before placing his crossbow against the wall of the house. He then walked over to you and sat next to you on the bench, keeping a small distance between you two.

"You were hunting?" you asked.

"Nah, jus' lookin' around." he said. "I saw some walkers but they seemed to be more interested in the cat that was runnin' away than me."

"Poor kitty." you murmured.

"You shouldn't be out. It's cold here."

"I'm fine. I needed to catch some fresh air." you said, fixing your jacket. "In the end, I found this blanket. It's pretty cosy, not gonna lie."

"That's m' blanket." he remarked as he looked you up and down.

"Oh. Sorry--It was just laying here." you replied.

"Yea' m' keepin' the watch t'night." he answered.

"I can give it back to you, but I if you want."

"Nah, ya seem to be enjoyin' urself with it." he sent you a small smile.

"And you seem to be freezing your ass off." you remark. You quickly unwrap the blanket from yourself and place it on his and yours shoulders. You scooped closer, your legs touching now so you two could fit under the blanket. "Better?"

"Yea', thanks."

You sent him a brief smile before returning to looking at the trees that were surrounding the house. You and Daryl sat in the comfortable silence for no more than a minute before you've heard voices coming out of the house. You two looked at each other before you spoke up.

"They started to sing the carols."

"I ain't coming there." he scoffed.

"Me neither." you answered with a chuckle. You turned around to again Daryl who looked at you with raised eyebrow. "What?"

"Why ain't ya celebratin' with 'em?" he asked.

You shrugged. "Dunno. I'm not really feeling it. The Christmas spirit, y' know? These Christmas aren't like these I used to have for previous years."

"Yeah, now everything's different." he grumbled, looking briefly into the distance.

"Back in the days I would dress up the Christmas Tree almost a month before the actual holidays." you said and Daryl looked back at you. "I would play in the snow and build a snowman with my brother. Sometimes our dog would get lost in the snow because he was so small." you giggled and even Daryl let out a snort. When the slight laughter died you sighed softly.

You reached into your jacket pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes as well as lighter. You reached out the pack to Daryl and with a gruff he took one cigarette from you. You took one as well before lighting up yours and his tobbaco and hiding the pack.

"What about you?" you asked as soon as you exhaled the smoke from your mouth.

"'bout me ?"

"How did you spent the holidays?"

"I-uh, didn't really celebrate the holidays." he mumbled out.

"Really?"

"Yeah, uh, my fam, didn't really care' bout such things."

You noticed he looked down as if embarrassed of what he just told you. He took a long drag of his cigarette and you were sure he was stressed. You knew what it was about. You heard that Merle was pretty much locked up in sorts of prisons throughout his life. That their parents were drunks who didn't really care about their children. You overheard that when Merle was arguing about this sort of thing with Daryl once at the quarry.

"Have you ever got anything for Christmas? Present?" you asked.

"No." he sighed. "I come from a poor family. My old man preferred to spend money on things he needed rather than what me and Merle wan'ed."

"...I'm sorry Daryl."

"Ya have nothin' to be sorry 'bout." he said. "Not your fault my parents were shit."

"They were that bad?" you murmured the question. You didn't want to offend him but still wanted to find out more about him.

"One time, I got lost in the woods. I couldn't find m' way back home for a few days. After I finally managed to get back home, dirty and starvin' I realized… my old man didn't even acknowledged my absence."

"What about your mom? Merle?"

"Merle was at that time locked up at some facility for stealin' and… my mom was gone by that time for good few years."

" She died?"

Daryl scoffed dryly. "Stupid bitch burned herself on her own bed with a cigarette." he mumbled before taking one last drag of his cigarette. He dropped it down onto the wooden floor and smashed it with his boot. You did the same.

You looked at him shyly, but he didn't hold your gaze. He was staring off in the distance, wearing a blank mask over his face as if he just said, didn't bother him in any way. But I did. You knew it.

"The scars at your back…Your dad did it to you?" you finally gathered the courage to ask him this. Ever since you noticed his scarred chest and back, that time you were patching him up at the farm, you couldn't let go of it. You were curious about them but more sad. There must have been a sad story written behind them. You wanted to ask him about them but you couldn't just jump straight into questioning him about them.

Daryl wasn't responding for some time and you felt embarrassment wash all over you. You overstepped the line; you shouldn't have asked. Of he was ready he would tell you.

"I'm sorry I shouldn't have-"

"Yeah it was him." he cut you off. "After he got drunk he would lash out his anger on me. It was bad when Merle was locked down but it worsened when he ran away from the house. Eventually I did too."

You felt bad for him. He was pretty much treated like shit most of his life and. They called him redneck and more stuff even since him and Merle arrived at the quarry. Daryl wasn't like that. He was kind and caring man who would die for people he bonded with.

"I'm sorry Daryl." you muttered. "You don't deserve that shit. You didn't deserve to be treated like that."

He sighed softly to himself before softly nodding. Your heart hurt when you seen him in that state. You need to lighten up the mood.

You reached back into your jacket pocket and pulled out your lighter. You picked her up while you were on the run with Shane and Glenn once and since then she hasn't left your pocket.

You reached your hand over to Daryl and grabbed his hand. He immediately looked at you but didn't flinch as he had before. You opened his hand and placed the lighter inside.

"Let's say it's my Christmas present for you." you said as you closed his hand with yours. "Keep it."

"You don't have to give me that." he said, finally looking into your eyes.

"I know. But I want to." you sent him a sad smile.

You slithered your arms around his own and placed your hand on his shoulder. He stiffened at first but when you started to rub circles against his biceps he seemed to relax.

"Merry Christmas Daryl." you whispered.

"... Merry Christmas."

[harryhooksgazebos267]

Looking at me~ Jungkook x Reader

Pairing: Jungkook x idol!reader

Genre: Angst, comedy (not a lot)

Warnings: Probably cursing

Requested: Yes, based off of the song by Sabrina Carpenter titled Lookin at me

A/n: Anon, I’m so sorry 😖 This is absolute trash but I tried my best 🥺👉👈 I hope you like it…

MASTERLIST

It had been about a five months since you last talked to Jungkook and honestly, you had taken the break up pretty bad. Sure, he had been an asshole but that didn’t mean you didn’t love him. It had caused you to fall into severe depression and you couldn’t even leave your dorm for days. When the news of your break up came out, the media had a field day. The responses were pretty spilt on who they supported. Contrary to what Jungkook said, your group was actually pretty popular (you were apart of Red Velvet?? Like seriously dude, you didn’t even need him for popularity) so you had a lot of fans supporting you. But, of course with love there is always hate. At one point, the hate mixed with being hurt over Jungkook got so bad, that it caused your company to postpone your solo debut. The only reason you got out of your slump was because of you members, specifically Irene.

“Y/n you have to get out of bed! Why don’t we go get something to eat?” She suggested while jumping on your bed and laying next to you.

“No,” you mumbled as you snuggled even deeper into your blanket.

“You can’t sit and mope around all day you know.”

“Isn’t that’s exactly what I’ve been doing? So if you don’t mind, I shall continue on with my mopping,” you sass back as you turn and face the other way.

“Y/n,” she sighed out as she sat on her knees and placed her hand on your shoulder.

“What do I always tell you about men?” She questioned while shaking you a little.

“ᴹᵉⁿ ᵃᶦⁿ’ᵗ ˢʰᶦᵗ”

“I’m sorry I can’t hear you? What did you say?”

“Mᴇɴ ᴀɪɴ’ᴛ sʜɪᴛ,” you muttered out a little louder, a small smile forming on your face.

“Oh come on, say it a little louder!”

“MEN AIN’T SHIT” You screamed causing the two of you to laugh.

“Ahhh come on, is that all you got?”

“MEN AIN’T SHIT! MEN AIN’T SHIT! MEN AIN’T SHIT!”

The two of you began to chant at the top of your lungs. Yeri and Joy suddenly came into the room, falling in sync with Irene and you. A few moments later, Seulgi and Wendy, who were just out shopping, came into the room looking really confused causing you all to stop. You all kind of just looked at each other and then in unison started the chant once more. That was the first time you had smiled or laughed in a loooong time. After that, you decided to change your entire solo song and performance. At first you had planned on doing a cute little love song but you felt as though that wouldn’t be the best thing to do. No, instead you decided to write a song that would basically be a big “fuck you!” to Jungkook.

Thus, bringing us to modern day! So, you had decided not to drop the MV for your song until after you performed it at the MAMA awards! With Jungkook and BTS all there to hear it! Cute right?

You were currently backstage getting yourself hyped for you performance. To say you were nervous would be an understatement. First of all, you were the first one in Red Velvet to have a solo debut and this would be the first time in months you had performed or been in the public eye. Second, there was the entire thing with Jungkook so…

“Y/n?”

Ah speak of the devil!

Turning around, you were met with the boys wide eyes as he smiled at you awkwardly.

“Jungkook,” you replied back with no emotion.

“You look so beautiful,” he commented as he eyed you up and down.

“I know, thanks.”

“Ummm how have you been?” He nervously asked as he bit the inside of his cheek.

“I’ve been great, how about you?” You questioned with a wide smile, he didn’t need to know how much he had hurt you.

“Do you want my honest answer or a lie?”

You thought about it for a second but decided one the latter.

“Honest I guess.”

“Honestly, I’ve felt like shit. I’ve felt so lost without you. Baby, I’m sorry for everything I said. I don’t even know what I was thinking, you know I didn’t mean any of it.”

“Clearly you met what you said, why else would you have said it,” you scoffed.

“I….okay I did mean it but it came out really wrong and I shouldn’t have said it to your face. I’m sorry y/n.”

“You shouldn’t have said it to my face?” You laughed out bitterly as you bit your lip and shook your head.

“Well, I’m glad you’re sorry because you should be but I don’t know what you thought was gonna happen by telling me all this. If you did it to make yourself feel less guilty or whatever, I hope it worked. Did it make me feel any better? No but you never were the best at making me feel good. Now I have to go and-“

“Wait y/n please! Just give me a second chance, I’m sorry. I know what I said was wrong and I’m…I’m just so sorry! I don’t understand what else you want me to do or say!”

“See that’s the problem! You think that just saying a simple sorry is going to fix everything and it’s not! Giving me a sorry exscuse for an apology doesn’t solve anything! Until you realize how much you fucked up, I don’t want to hear it. You lost me Jungkook and there is nothing you can do about it.”

“Y/n? Is everything okay?” You heard Wendy’s voice call out to you as she approached Jungkook and you with a confused look on her face. You gave Wendy a tight smile as you took a few steps away from Jungkook.

“Of course! I’m sure it’s almost time for me to perform so we should go right?”

“Y/n,” Jungkook called out in one last attempt to get you to forgive him.

“I have to go now or else I’m going to be late. You already fucked up one thing, don’t make me miss one of the biggest performances of my life and fuck up another,” you told him coldly.

Wendy gave Jungkook one more glance before putting her hand on your shoulder and lightly pushing you down the hall.

“You okay?” She asked once you were out of ear range of him, taking your hand in hers.

“Yep, I’m just ready to get out there and perform,” you told her with a determined look on your face.

One of the stage managers came up to the two of you and informed you that you had 5 minutes before you were going to go on.

“I think that’s my cue to leave. You’re going to kill it out there! You have worked so long and so hard for this and I can’t express how proud I am of you. Now go out there and show Jungkook and the rest of the world how badass you are” She hyped you up as she pulled you into a hug.

“Thank you Wendy, I love you.”

“I love you too! Break a leg!” And with that she was gone.

Your heart began to beat loudly in your chest as you waited in the wings. You paced back and forth as your nerves grew bigger and bigger. Finally, you heard the intro music as your background dancer began dancing, signaling for you to enter the stage. You heard your fans scream as they saw you enter causing you to smile lightly. That smile faded as you got in position and began singing.

Did I catch your attention? You look like you lost your breath, huh

When I circle the room, you an owl, you gon’ twist your head

Don’t you come at me green with an attitude when my lips and my soles are red

If I leave you behind, you can look for the broken necks

No, no

‘Cause I’ve been here once or twice

Never worry ‘bout the eyes, come on

Don’t just stand there staring, honey

Try to move your feet

If you think they looking at you

They looking at me

I can make it nice and easy

I'ma take the lead

They ain’t even looking at you, baby

They looking at me

They looking at me

Yeah, yeah, they looking at me

May be young for a teacher, I’ll teach you what you don’t know

I could teach you the things that you wanna know

But I can’t give it up all at once, you would overdose

Don’t you bring any bull in the room tonight, it’s a whole new rodeo

It could be you and me, but you know that I’ll steal the show

Oh, yeah

'Cause I’ve been here once or twice

Never worry 'bout the eyes come on

Don’t just stand there staring, honey

Try to move your feet

If you think they looking at you

They looking at me

I can make it nice and easy

I'ma take the lead

They ain’t even looking at you, baby

They looking at me

They looking at me

No, no, no, no

Yeah, yeah, they looking at me

But they looking at me, babe

'Cause they looking at me, baby

hey

If I leave you behind, you can look for the broken necks

Don’t just stand there staring, honey

Try to move your feet

If you think they looking at you

They looking at me

I can make it nice and easy

I'ma take the lead

They ain’t even looking at you, baby

They looking at me

They looking at me

Yeah, yeah, they looking at me

But the truth is they looking at me

They looking at me

Once you were finished, the crowd went wild. You looked over to where your members were sitting as they screamed their lungs out causing you to laugh a little. You looked over to where bts were and they all were staring at Jungkook. The two of you made eye contact but he looked away, shaking his head. Suddenly he got up and began to walk away, clearly upset. You watched as Namjoon and Taehyung followed after him.

Leaving the stage you felt extremely proud of yourself. Not only did the fans seem to enjoy the song but your performance went off without any mistakes. In your head, that was the best performance you’ve ever done. You made a statement. You proved a point that at the end of the day, people can think they’re better than you but you know that’s far from the truth. You’re the queen and nobody can deny that. You know that the fans got the message and clearly the one person who needed to hear it most, got it too.

Link to song in fic

A/n: tell me why my petty ass wanted to be like “he got a slice of humble pie” 😭 This Shane drama is taking over my life.

MASTERLIST

[the-daily-multi-fandom-post]

Part two to this request (—here—)

“Can you write a story where the reader had a one night stand with Merle and got pregnant at the Atlanta camp, she didn't tell anyone because even though Merle wasn't a dick when it came to her, she was scared of the others' reactions. When you're at the farm with the group Shane notices your stomach showing and he calls you out on your secret. Daryl takes you under his wing and treats you like a sister. And Merle's reaction at prison b4 he dies. Maybe Y/n falls in love with Tara later on? Love u”

This is part two for this request. Link here

👉______👈 For the first part.

Request: anom.

Tags: @thanossexual

Y/an heart broke seeing the love of her life as one of those monsters. The little baby she had with Merle was in her arms when she and Dayrl found Merle eating someone it broke both of their hearts. Y/n was sobbing catching the attention of walker Merle. Dayrl was sobbing too, watching as his undead brother started limping towards them.

Dayrl pushed Merle backwards away from Y/n and her baby. Merle kept coming back until Dayrl stabbed Merle making him fall onto the grass. Dayrl continuously stabbed Merle over and over and over again. Sobbing he fell backwards. Y/n ran over to Dayrl pulling him into his arms. Her baby still on her side, sleeping soundly as she hugged the man she thought as a brother.

“He’s gone.” Dayrl sobbed into her shoulder. Y/n nodded, kissing his forehead.

“I know,” she whispered. Looking over Dayrls shaking body to where the love of her life laid dead.

“I know.” She shakily spoke as tears silently slid down her Y/s/t face.

—Months later—

The morning after the storm , all is peaceful. Maggie wakes up to see Daryl still awake. She sits by his side and talks with him, telling him he should get some sleep, and that it's okay to rest now.

Y/n sat with her back against a bail of hay, she rocking her Y/e/c eyed son, trying to keep him asleep. She softly hummed rocking Mason in one arm. Her other arm was draped over Carl protectively like a mother. Judith was asleep soundly in a blanket filled box. Just beside Y/n so she could take care of the small child, while Carl could get some sleep.

Maggie and Dayrl looked over at Sasha across the room asleep. "He was tough," Daryl remarks, referring to Tyreese. Maggie nodded in agreement, looking over at the sleeping woman. "So was she," Daryl adds, talking about Beth. "She didn't know it... but she was." Daryl hands Maggie the music box Carl gave to her. “I fixed it.” He spoke gruffly. Maggie smile as she took it. “Thank you.”

She then wakes Sasha and the two leave the barn. Looking around the barn they see the storm had killed most of the walkers or decapitated them, impaled or crushed by the trees

“I’m surprise the barn hadn’t fell down. It looks like a tornado has been through here.” Sasha says as she and Maggie made their way through the fallen trees to an open field.

Maggie and Sasha then sit down on a downed tree and watch the sunrise together. As they sit, Sasha tells Maggie what Noah said about himself, that he doesn't know if he can make it. Sasha admits that she feels the same way too. Maggie reassures her that she will survive. Maggie tries to play the music box, but finds that the box is still broken.

The two laugh, but their conversation was cut short by a young man, cautiously walking up to the two.

“My names Aaron, I came to speak to your leader Rick.” The man

The women are confused as they draw their guns and ask how he knows about Rick.

“I have good news!” He starts holding his hands up, showing the two women they could trust him.

Maggie and Sasha brought Aaron to the barn where the rest of the group was resting. Rick and the others appear to be wary over Aaron's arrival.

Maggie gives Rick Aaron's gun, which Rick keeps as he asks Aaron what his intentions are.

“How did you know we were here?” Rick looks at the young man. “I’ve been watching you all for a while. I needed to make sure you guys weren’t gonna kill me as soon as you saw me. But I was the one to give you guys the supplies yesterday.” Aaron informs the group.

Rick chooses not to believe him, and convinces the group that Aaron has another agenda. Aaron, knowing that he would believe so, asks Sasha to give Rick his backpack, directing him to a small set of photographs of his community which he had taken as evidence of its existence. As Aaron explains what his community is about and emphasizes on its security, Rick punches him in the face, knocking him out. Y/n shook her head looking at the unconscious man.

“He could be dangerous.” Rick said looking at Y/n with kind eyes. Y/n nodded as she hugged her young son close to her chest. “I trust you.” She whispered giving him an nod. He nodded pulling her into a brotherly hug, careful not to hurt the baby in her arms.

Tara look over at Y/n giving her a soft smile. Y/n smiled back as she pulled away from Rick. “You should get to know Tara, I see it in y’alls eyes. You have some type of connection.” Rick whispered into her ear. Y/n shook her head as she looked at Rick.

Before she could say anything Rick stopped her. “I know it’s been only a few months since Merle passed, but you should be happy. And before you say anything. I know your happy with little mason here, but still you should have someone there for you.” Y/n huffed knowing Rick was correct.

“I hate it when your right.” She said looking down at her Y/e/c baby. “I know, that’s why you don’t like me. ‘Cause I’m always right.” Y/n snorted a laugh looking up at Rick. “That’s funny.”

“Alright, you three,” Rick starts pointing at a few of people of the group. “Go out keep watch. Make sure nobody’s watching us.” A few of them nodded but Michonne shook her head.

“I don’t think Aaron’s a threat. I mean look at him.” Michonne tries to convince Rick.

“I don’t care, we still aren’t trusting him. Rick insisted.

“There aren’t many places for anyone to hide.” Glenn informs Rick, causing more panic within the group. As Aaron regains consciousness, he maintains a positive attitude, jokingly complimenting Rick's strength. Rick shoots back saying that they cannot trust someone who is still laughing after being beaten.

“How many people are in you group?” Rock asked bearing his flare gun as evidence of company.

“It don’t matter how many, it won’t affect whether or not you’ll trust me.”

Rick insists he confesses anyway, and Aaron informs him that there is only one. Aaron also reveals that he and his accomplice have vehicles that they had attempted to bring closer to the barn, but had been blocked by the surrounding trees.

Michonne tells Rick that she wants to know the truth by checking it out. Rick turns down the task saying that it is a bad idea, but after Maggie and Glenn speak up in favor, Rick decides to let everyone except him, baby Judith Y/n and her baby to go scout ahead, ordering Abraham and Rosita to go with Glenn, Maggie, and Michonne and the rest of the group to search the surrounding area.

As the groups leave, Aaron tells Rick that he used to be pointed at with guns before the apocalypse, due to his job as an NGO worker, and that he believes he and his people are good. Rick instead warns Aaron that if his people do not return in one hour, he would put a knife in the base of his skull.

Michonne, Maggie, Glenn, Rosita and Abraham are still walking towards their destination. Glenn warns the others to shoot whoever comes out from the woods, should the time come.

Michonne, horrified by Glenn's orders, voices her opinion. Glenn replies saying that people should not come to the people who have guns like them. Disagreeing, Michonne says that Aaron's community are not bad people, reminding him of how they rescued Gabriel, of how they saved Tara after her involvement with The Governor, and of how they saved a crazy woman with a sword, implying herself.

Glenn reluctantly agrees. They reach the specified location, finding a car and an RV, and realize that Aaron was telling the truth. A pair of walkers come out from the woods, one almost biting Abraham before Rosita intervenes. Abraham thanks her but is ignored.

In the barn, baby Judith starts crying, while Rick crushes acorns for her to eat.

“Why don’t you just let me feed her?” Y/n asks, talking about breast feeding Judith as she helps crush the acorns.

“You need that for Mason, it’s okay.” Rick says quietly.

“Her crying’s going to attract walkers.” Aaron reminds the two from his spot. tied to the barn's support.

“Look, just take the applesauce from my bag. I promise it’s safe to eat.” . Aaron insists.

Still cautious of Aaron's intentions, Rick extracts a spoonful of the apple sauce from the supplied jar and offers it to Aaron, telling him to eat it first as a precaution.

Aaron, realizing what he is doing and taking offense from it, refuses, saying that poisoning his baby would be the last thing he would have ever done.

Rick, however, insists, even after Aaron informs him that he dislikes apple sauce. Against his wishes, he consumes it. After realizing it is safe, Rick rushes back and shares the sauce with Judith. Rick reminds Aaron that he has 43 minutes left.

“Thank you.” Y/n mouthed to the man tied to the barn support. He nodded softly with a smile while Y/n walked over to the corner of the room. A soft little whine caught his attention. Looking over he seen Y/n picking up a baby, who seemed to be around 5 maybe six months old. He noticed Y/n was about to feed her baby and redirected his eyes elsewhere.

“How did you know he needed to be fed before he cried?” Aaron asked Y/n as she covered herself so she wasn’t exposed.

“A mother’s instinct I guess.” She answered honestly. “Are you the mom to them both?” Aaron asked, looking at the Y/h/c haired woman.

“No, just him.” She answered nodding down to her son she was breast feeding.

Aaron nodded noticing Rick wasn’t looking very happy at the mention of his daughter not having a mom.

“But I like to think I’m a momma to the both of them.” Y/n says softly. “I may not be biologically, but I take care of these kids like they are mine.” She says talking about Carl and Judith not just her and merles son, Mason.

Months after being in Alexandria:

Y/n stood in front of the gray crib. Watching as her son slept soundly. It had became such a habit of watching her son sleep. She could barely leave him in the crib for five minutes. She always had to be near him, no matter what.

Y/n heard a knock on the door and hummed softly as she left her sleeping sons room and went to answer the door.

Opening the door she seen Tara who seemed to be a little nervous.

“Tara, why are you knocking? You leave here too.” Tara nodded nervously as she looked into Y/ns beautiful y/e/c eyes.

“I know, but I was just trying to see if you were home, and I didn’t want to rush in their and wake the baby.” She answered, almost too quickly.

“Oh, well, did you need anything?” Y/n asked opening the door wider for Tara to come in. Tara smile walking into the door and to the kitchen where she had smelt the warm black coffee.

“I never would’ve thought I would have coffee ever again.” Tara rambled, not getting to the point of her being in the house instead of being on a run like Y/n had thought.

“Well, Thank God for the people here. If it wasn’t for them we wouldn’t have the hot running water, clean clothes, shelter and food.”

Tara nodded as she took a sip of the coffee.

“I didn’t come in here for coffee though. I Umm... I came in here to tell you something.” She started, grabbing Y/ns hands into her own.

“I like you Y/n. Like, like you, like you. I think I’m in love with you. Seeing you with Mason, makes me feel like I want that, but with you. I see you and I see the person I want a future with. The woman I have grown to love. The woman who is strong and powerful. The woman who protects her children.” Tara confessed her love for Y/n.

Y/n smiled looking at Tara. “I love you too. I have for a whole now, but I just thought it was too soon from Merles death. But I talk to Dayrl and Rick about it. I think I’m ready. I want to be with you.” Y/n said looking into Taras soft brown eyes and then to her soft plump pink lips.

Tara leaned in slowly placing a soft kiss on Y/ns lips. And that was the beginning of their story.

[sdvvillagers]

Please some fluffiness of Marnie taking care of Shane as a child

Speaking of things getting out of control and ending up way longer than I intended, this one just got away from me and I couldn’t stop myself.  Such a fun one to write, thanks, Anon!  I hope you enjoy!

~*~

Marnie nervously glanced between the clock and her front door, back and forth, as she waited for her sister to arrive.  She had received an unexpected call from her sister Peggy, nearly in tears as she vented about her son Shane’s behavior.  Apparently he was acting out in school, his grades were failing, and he was giving her tremendous amounts of attitude at home.  With his winter break from school beginning, Peggy was desperate to get him out of the house, if even for a few days.  She reasoned that a few days on the family’s ranch would be the kick in the pants he needed to start acting right.  Marnie was never very good with kids, but she always seemed to get along well with her nephew, Shane.  She would never admit it to her other nieces or nephews, but sweet little Shane was actually her favorite.  When she had received the frantic call from Peggy, she was happy to oblige and invited Shane to stay in one of the spare bedrooms for a few days to give both Shane and Peggy some space.

When she finally heard a knock on the door, over an hour past the time her sister was supposed to arrive, Marnie swiftly opened the door to find Peggy and Shane standing at her doorstep, both looking miserable.

“Thank you so much for this, Marnie,” Peggy sighed, barreling past Marnie into the house.  Shane quietly followed, holding a small duffel bag.

“No problem, Peg,” Marnie answered, closing the door quickly to prevent more cold winter air from entering the house.

“He’s driving me absolutely crazy,” Peggy huffed, throwing her hands up dramatically in the air.  Shane shuffled away from the door and stood off to the side, his head down the whole time.

“Please, keep your voice down, he can hear you,” Marnie whispered, narrowing her eyes at her sister.

“I don’t care, I’ve just about reached the end of my rope with him,” Peggy hollered frantically.  “Maybe spending a few days on the ranch and seeing what a REAL day’s work is all about will make him appreciate how good he has it at home.  Don’t hold back on him, put that boy to work.”

“Alright, Peg, I think I’ve got it,” Marnie said firmly.  She could see Shane shifting uncomfortably in place and knew that it was best to get her out the door as quickly as possible to prevent a heated argument.  “Go home, relax, and unwind for a few days.  I’ve got this.”

“Good luck, Marnie, you’re gonna need it,” Peggy snapped, narrowing her eyes slightly at Shane.  Peggy approached Shane and looked down at him, her expression becoming serious.  “You be on your best behavior for your Aunt Marnie, you understand?  If I so much as hear that you were anything but well-behaved for her, Yoba help me you will be in a world of trouble.”

“Yes, Mama,” Shane uttered quietly.

“See you both in a few days,” Peggy said, waving to the both of them as she headed toward the door.

“See you in a few days,” Marnie repeated, showing Peggy out the door.  Once Peggy was gone, Marnie turned to Shane and gave him a warm, welcoming smile.

“Hey, kiddo,” Marnie said softly, crouching down next to him to look at him at his level.

“Hey, Aunt Marnie,” Shane replied quietly.  He finally turned his eyes from the floor to look at Marnie and she could swear she saw the smallest hint of a smile.

“Go ahead and set your luggage down, I want to take you on a tour of the ranch,” Marnie said gently.  “It’s been awhile since you’ve been here, I thought you might like to meet some new members of the family.”  Shane tilted his head in confusion, causing Marnie to chuckle slightly.  “I just mean some new animals.”

Shane set his duffel bag on the floor and followed Marnie outside toward the large enclosure where she kept her animals.  Right away, Marnie could see Shane cower slightly at the sight of her large dairy cows, he seemed to position himself slightly behind Marnie and she suspected that he might be slightly intimidated by such large animals.

“These are my cows, in the morning I’ll show you how to milk them,” Marnie began.  “They look intimidating now, but I promise you they’re very friendly girls.”

“They’re a lot bigger than I thought they’d be,” Shane said hesitantly.

“That’s because you’re seven,” Marnie said jokingly.  “Everything looks a lot bigger when you’re seven years old.”

Marnie continued past the cows and into the coop where she kept her chickens.

“Here’s the chicken coop,” Marnie went on, gesturing toward the many chickens that were strutting around and pecking at the ground.  “They’re a lot smaller, so maybe they won’t be so bad.”

Shane glanced curiously around the chicken coop, he seemed a lot more open to the idea of working with the chickens than he did with the cows.

“Tomorrow we can work together to collect their eggs and clean out the coop, it has to be done every day or else the floor will be littered with debris and droppings,” Marnie said casually, though Shane immediately grimaced.

“Ew, gross, we have to clean their poop?!” Shane exclaimed, looking disgusted.  Marnie couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Hey, animals have to do their business the same as the rest of us!” Marnie said in amusement.  “Just be glad I’m not making you clean up the droppings from the cows, pigs, or sheep, chickens are smaller so it’s not as bad.”

“But Mama said I had to nothing but work the whole time I’m here,” Shane said in disappointment.

“Well, what your mama doesn’t know won’t hurt her,” Marnie said with a wink.  “I’ll have you help with a few things here and there, but I want you to enjoy yourself, Shane.  I won’t make you shovel animal droppings all day long, I’m not THAT mean.”

Marnie very quickly showed Shane the rest of her ranch and introduced him to the pigs, sheep, and goats.  Much like with the cows, he seemed to want to keep his distance from the bigger animals.  It might be a good idea to just put him in charge of the coop tomorrow, it might help him feel better knowing that he’s fully in charge of something.  Once the tour was complete, Marnie led him back into the house so that they could wash their hands.  Marnie glanced up at the clock and was startled to see that it was starting to get a bit late in the day.

“It’s almost dinnertime, would you like to go to the saloon with me to grab some dinner?” Marnie offered with a shrug.

Shane nodded quietly.

“What do ya say… does some pizza sound good?” Marnie asked in a slightly higher voice, grinning at Shane.  She knew it was his favorite.

“I LOVE pizza, Aunt Marnie!” Shane exclaimed, suddenly perking up.

“I know you do,” Marnie replied affectionately.  “I want you to enjoy yourself while you’re here, it sounds like things are rough at home right now and I think you need a break just as much as your mama does.”

“Yeah, Mama’s been getting mad at me lately,” Shane said sadly.

“Wanna talk about it over some pizza?” Marnie asked, resting a comforting hand on Shane’s shoulder.  “I’d love to listen.”

“Yeah… we can talk about it,” Shane answered with a small nod.

“Great.  Let’s get your coat on, it’s freezing outside,” Marnie said, walking toward the duffel bag that Shane had brought.

“I don’t have a coat,” Shane said, causing Marnie to stop dead in her tracks.

“You don’t have a coat?” Marnie asked softly, looking at Shane in shock.

“I lost it at school and Mama won’t get me a new one, she says that coats are expensive and that if I’m going to lose expensive things, I don’t get to have a new one,” Shane answered, looking down at his feet once more in embarrassment.  Marnie’s heart fell at the sight of Shane awkwardly shifting in place, looking away.  It was heartbreaking.

“Well I’m sure I have something here that you can use to stay warm,” Marnie finally said, sniffing to try to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall from the corners of her eyes.  She didn’t want to start crying in front of her nephew.

Marnie quickly crossed the room to her coat closet and was able to find an old work jacket of hers that she could no longer wear.  She had purchased it in her thinner days, before she befriended the local farmer who kept her in a constant supply of pumpkins for freshly made pumpkin pie.  This jacket certainly didn’t fit her anymore, at least it could be put to good use.  When she helped Shane get the jacket on, she had to stifle a laugh at the sight of the sleeves hanging over six inches longer than his arms and the hem of the jacket brushing along the tops of his knees.  She helped him roll the sleeves up as best she could, though it resulted in his arms looking like big, puffy marshmallows.

“Lookin’ good, kiddo,” Marnie said affectionately, flashing him a thumbs up.

“Thanks, Aunt Marnie,” Shane said appreciatively.

Marnie quickly put on her own coat and opened the door to let Shane through so that they could head to the saloon.  Once Marnie closed the door behind her and began walking, she faltered for a moment as she felt Shane’s small hand reach for hers, holding her hand as they walked side by side into town.

[fuckupsoverhere]

Promises {Chapter Two}

“If you make a promise, you have to keep it. You can’t go back on one, because if you do, you have to flush your little finger down the toilet.”

There is nothing more sacred to Jasmine Dixon than a promise. When the world was destroyed and nothing was left, her promises became even more important to her and nothing would be able to stop her. All Jasmine wants to do is to be safe and, maybe try to, be happy.

The Walking Dead Fan Fiction

Word Count: 1646

Warnings: violence, murder

AN: I missed this story. It has always held a special place in my heart and even though it didn’t seem like many people were interested in this, I write for me, not for anyone else. If you’re one of the few people who does actually enjoy this then you are my new favourite person.

I waited. Waiting for daddy to come back. He was always hunting. I decided to walk around the camp to try and find something to do. As I reached the edge of the camp, I heard a faint sound, but it was getting louder. I decided to go over to Dale and tell him as I had no idea what it was.

“Dale! Do you hear that?” I shouted up to him on top of his caravan.

“What is it?” Shane asks, “Can you see anything?”

“It’s a car alarm,” Dale replies with his binoculars against his face.

Suddenly, a bright red car drives up with its alarm blaring out and Glenn jumps out. Jim and Dale instantly get to work on taking it apart. The words go right past me and I pull Glenn into a tight hug.

“Where is everyone else?” I ask.

“Wasn’t you listening?” He asks and I shake my head, “They’re in a van behind me.”

I let out a sigh of relief that I hadn’t realised that I was holding in, “I’m glad that you’re safe.”

“Only because of officer friendly- a cop from down the way- that first nearly got us killed, but then he saved us.”

Just as he said that the van pulled up. I watched, waiting for Merle. I didn’t like him, but he was still my uncle. I watched Carl reunite with his dad which made me smile. I then realised that Merle wasn’t there, so I looked around as I started to get worried.

“Where’s Merle?” I asked. Everyone who had gone on the run tried their hardest to avoid eye contact with me, so I started shouting, “Where is my uncle! Answer me now!”

“Jasmine, please calm down,” Glenn said to try and calm me down.

The cop walked over from Carl and Lori, before bending down in front of me. He put his hand on my shoulder, but I took a step backwards, so I was out of his reach. “He was putting the group in danger, so I handcuffed him to the roof of a building.”

“You what?”

I started crying. I hated Carl’s dad, so I started punching him. Who did he think he was? As I’ve got weak punches, I knew it wouldn’t hurt, but Glenn pulled me into his arms to restrain me in a hug, “How could you leave him?”

 Glenn kept me by his side all night. He only let me go to the toilet by myself, any other time he was standing right next to me, making sure that I didn’t have a hissy fit and attack anyone with my tiny punches.

We were all sitting around the campfire. I sat next to Glenn with my head on his lap, Glenn was like a big brother to me. I loved him in a family way. He was always there for me, if I needed anything then I would ask him, and he’d give it to me. Glenn and I had private jokes, a close sibling kind of relationship, even my dad trusts Glenn to care for me when he is not around. As I was the youngest, I wasn’t allowed to stay by myself so if my dad was not here then Glenn would look after me, but if both of them are busy then I stay with Lori and Carl.

The adults were talking about how they were going to tell my dad about Merle. No one asked me for advice because the knew it would be a touchy subject. They did not know how my dad would react to this news. They thought that he might try and leave the group, but I wouldn’t let him do that.

I didn’t realise how sleepy I was until I fell asleep in Glenn’s lap. I woke up when he picked me up to put me to bed in my camp bed in his tent.

 The next morning, I walked up to Carl and Sophia as I knew that I needed to fix what friendship I had with them.

“Hey guys,” I said looking at my feet.

“Hey, Jas!” Carl replied happily.

“You won’t want to be here- we’re playing,” Sophia told me.

I didn’t expect anything less, I was rude to them the other day, “I know, and I was wondering if I could play too?”

They looked at each other and nodded as I smiled at them. “Yeah,” Sophia said as she walked up to me, “IT!”

Sophia tapped my arm before her, and Carl ran off. I chased after them and we played for a while which was a lot of fun. We continued until we came across a dead deer, it took a second to notice that a geek was eating the deer. We all started screaming and running back to camp as all of the adults came running past us. The men killed it before I saw daddy coming back. I ran to him and he picked me up.

“Hey, Jazzy!” He laughed.

I frowned as he knew that I hated being called ‘Jazzy’, but I went with it because he is the best dad ever. “Daddy! I missed you so much.”

“I’ve missed you too. Now, where’s your uncle Merle?” He asked as we walked back to camp.

He started calling out for Merle and no one replied. Everyone started to look for something to do until Rick (officer friendly) came up to him, “Daryl, just slow down for a second. I need to talk to you.”

Daddy then turned me around, put me down and pushed me to the side (like always). “About what?”

“About Merle? There was a… there was a problem in Atlanta.” Shane told him.

“He dead?” Daddy asked.

“We’re not sure,” replied Rick.

I couldn’t bear it, so I walked over to Glenn and hugged him. I covered my ears as I couldn’t listen to this again. I didn’t think that dad would get physical, but he did. When he started swinging at Rick, I burst into tears as I didn’t want anyone to get hurt.

“DADDY! STOP!” I screamed at the top of my lungs as tears flowed down my face. He looked at me and calmed down. When dad started to walk away, Glenn let me go so I could run after him, “Please don’t go again.”

“I have to get your uncle back!” Daddy told me.

“But I don’t want to lose you too.”

“You won’t.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.” Dad told me, “Lori, will you look after Jas?”

“Of course, she’s a pleasure,” Lori told daddy.

I watched my dad leave again with Rick, T- Dog, and Glenn. It hurt because I felt like daddy was choosing Merle over me.

“Jasmine, why don’t you go and help the others do the washing?” Lori asked as I stood watching where the car had gone. I just nodded in response to her.

We all went down to the lake where the adults washed their clothes. I think that they might have forgotten that I was there because they started talking about dirty things. I stopped listening to the conversation, but every so often I could hear the odd word or two. I wasn’t paying attention to anything and I was just humming to myself to distract myself when Ed threw clothes at Andrea. This caused a big argument between them until Shane suddenly walked over and started fighting Ed. I started screaming as I was terrified of what was happening.

“STOP SHANE!” I yelled and he looked up at me before stopping.

“I’m sorry, Jas.” He muttered as he walked past me.

I ran back up to camp, leaving everything and everyone behind as I just had to get out of there. I ran up to Lori and hugged her, she held me tight and didn’t ask any questions. She just held me close and stroked my hair. It reminded me of how I imagined what my mom would do if I was ever upset, she would stroke my hair and sing in my ear. I wish that she was real. She did it for a while before I got up, slowly.

I just laid on the floor in the middle of the forest and no one seemed to do anything about it. I guess people were used to it, I did this whenever I need a moment to myself. I could smell cooked fish and it wasn’t long until Amy came over to me to tell me that dinner was ready. I got up and walked over to the campfire where Andrea gave me a plate with some fish. I ate it slowly, savouring every last moment. It was so nice that I wasn’t even paying attention to Dale’s mumbo jumbo.

Suddenly, all we could hear was screaming. Lori grabbed onto Carl and me. She pulled us along and tried to keep a hold of us within the chaos. I got separated from them and a shot went off right next to my ear. I started tilting, leaning from side to side. My ear was ringing, I could hardly hear anything. Following the adults as best as I could, we got to the RV and I leaned against it, slowly sliding down behind a rock. I saw daddy and tried to get up, but I just fell back down. He didn’t notice for a while as he was too busy killing walkers.

Once they were all dead, he started to look around, “JAS! JASMINE!”

Carefully and slowly, I got up and called out to him. He ran over and hugged me, before picking me up. He held me as close as he could without hurting me. I hadn’t realised that I was crying until daddy looked at me and wiped my eyes.

“I promised that I would be back and I am.”

[alittleoptimistic]

Psychic For Hire

A Buzzfeed Unsolved Fanfic

Summary: Shane is a psychic for hire working in LA, and sure, he’s a fake, but at least he’s telling people what they need to hear! That is, he thought he was fake. But after a strange accident, he has the oddest dreams… Meanwhile his old friend Ryan is researching his next greatest supernatural horror novel in the underbelly of the LA psychic scene and wondering how on earth you convince someone they might be psychic for real?

Trigger warning: violence, car accidents, cussing, dead people.

________________________________________________________________

Chapter 2

Sometimes you’ve got to just be like, ‘well, okay, this is how today is gonna be.’ Ryan dropped his fifth quarter into the vending machine and blinked, long and slow at the options. He got lost for a second, his eyes focused on the reflection of ceiling lights and the waverly look of his own face in the glass. He had a bruise just beneath his left cheek, (coffee cup, he was pretty sure), and a cut on his upper arm. Pick a snack, he ordered. His arm lifted up and tapped in the numbers.

Chips, a slim jim. They clunked at the bottom and Ryan wandered toward room 247 A, where Shane lay sleeping. Ryan felt an odd calm. He should freak out, but he’d gone beyond that and now he floated in this haze while he waited for Shane to wake up.

The hospital room had vertical fabric blinds that let in a dirty evening light. When Ryan entered, Shane was sitting up in bed, gingerly poking at the small bandage over his left eyebrow. He’d been smacked pretty hard. Scary, hard. Ryan had never seen someone that pale before. They were lucky. His chest shuttered.

“Hey, big guy, you’re awake.”

Shane blinked at him, no trace of confusion in his eyes. He knew exactly where he was. Which was very typical of him, to be honest? He relaxed into a smile, apparently unperturbed by the whole situation. “You totaled my car. It’s like college all over again.”

“Fuck you,” Ryan threw the slim jim at him. “Don’t stick your head out the window like a dog.”

“I was throwing up. Christ, my head hurts. Am I okay? I feel okay?”

Ryan nodded.  “You flew out the window, so everyone is super shocked that you are. They think you probably have a concussion, though, which sucks. You’re supposed to rest or whatever. They’ll probably be in here in a few minutes.”

And they were. A few more hours of pandering around, being poked, asking and answering questions, and getting prescriptions, and then, remarkably, they were on their way out. It was… wild. He’d been so scared, and now here they were, catching an Uber.

“I wonder what happened to the people who hit us.” Ryan mused as they watched the animated Uber car on his phone get closer and then miss them entirely.

Shane huffed. “He’s fine. Won't try to change his shirt while driving again, I’m guessing. Don’t worry about it.”

Ryan glanced up. “You don’t even-”

“Is that our guy? I think I see it. Purple Toyota? Purple Toyota, baby!”

The night slipped into a darker, deeper purple as they arrived at Shane’s suburban fever dream of a house. The brightest light by far was Shane’s neon PSYCHIC sign on the front window. Ryan found himself staring at it as they climbed out of the Uber, saying their goodbyes.

He wasn’t sure this was such a good idea anymore.

He had four months to come up with the first draft of a novel about the LA psychics, according to his publishers. Ryan was thinking about some kind of mix of Dead Zone and the celebrity lifestyle… if that was possible. It made sense to stay with Shane, do research the way he always did. Part of his angle was always the real-life research he did before writing anything. He wanted to give people as much truth as he possibly could. Shane was his best friend (or was , ten years ago) and Shane was a professional psychic. It would be stupid to pass up an opportunity like it. This was a strange thing for Shane to be, of course. Ryan remembered first hearing about Shane’s job through a mutual friend and he’d laughed and told them they were confused. Shane, a psychic? Shane was goddamn Doubting Thomas reincarnate.

It made sense, now that Ryan was here, talking to him. Shane wanted to be a therapist in school, but he had to quit midway through after… something. Ryan couldn’t remember what had happened exactly. Shane had told him they couldn’t room together next semester, and just like that, he disappeared off the face of the earth. Ryan got the impression any questions about this were very off-limits, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t curious. The point was, the way he explained it, Shane managed to find a way to be a therapist without technically having a license.

It didn’t make him any less of a con artist, obviously, and it put an honest horrible taste in Ryan’s mouth. He’d rather not know about any of it than have to recalibrate who he thought his friend was. He couldn’t tell any of this to Shane. And he needed the room. Not to mention, it was going to be great for his book. What better insight to this side of LA then through the eyes of someone who knew all the tricks. Then, Ryan could find the real ones, couldn’t he? Or, he could try.

Shane unlocked the front door. He was talking casually about nothing in particular and Ryan laughed in response without really hearing the words. Shane’s house was simply ordered, a single hallway down the center with a living room and open kitchen to the left, and the closed-off office to the right. Two bedrooms further down the hall, and a bathroom at the end. Apparently, Shane used the other bedroom to do video work? Editing had always been a hobby of his, something he and Ryan bonded over originally. “I’ve got a foldout couch in there you can use, ” he told him.

They met around the breakfast counter and Shane poured him a glass of something. Ryan frowned. “I don’t think you should drink if you have a concussion.”

“I’m going to have a headache tomorrow either way,” Shane answered.

“Wh- no, Shane, Jesus-”

Shane took a sip and gave him a put on look. “It’s fine. I’m fine. You drink. You’re all shaky still.”

Ryan wanted to tell him he was not shaky, thank you very much. Instead, he picked up the glass and did so. Surprised, he took another sip. “This is… really good.”

“Gift from a friend,” Shane hummed, sitting down on the tall chairs. His feet still touched the ground, and Ryan realized a moment later, his own did not.

“You have friends?”

Shane rolled his eyes, amused, and then winced. He could brush it off all he liked, but his head was definitely hurting him. “Got me there. A client, then. Lilly Keller.”

Ryan choked on the wine.

“Wait. Like, the Lilly Keller?” Lilly Keller, the famous actress, winner of multiple oscars at the young age of twenty-three. Lilly Keller, America’s newest heartthrob. Ryan’s mouth dropped open. “You can’t just- Frick, dude, you’re Lilly Keller’s psychic?” Shane gave him a cheeky grin. “She’s a sweet girl. You can come with me to a session if you like.”

“ If I like? Who else do you know? Do you know Leonardo Dicaprio? Please say you-”

“She’s the only celebrity, don’t get too excited!”

Ryan was about to reply when headlights shot through the room from the front window. They were inordinately bright, especially since he and Shane hadn’t turned on more lights than the small one over the stove. The car faced them, unmoving. The headlights flipped on and off and on again with deliberation.

Ryan held up a hand to squint at it. “What the hell?”

Shane didn’t say anything.

“Shane?”

Ryan looked at him. Shane was stiff, his face blank. He set the glass down with a clink on the counter. “...shit…”

Ryan’s breath caught. “Is something wrong?”

Shane raised his eyebrows, meeting his eyes suddenly. “Naw. Just something I’ve gotta do. You wait in here.” Without another word, Shane crossed the kitchen and opened the door of his office. Ryan stayed at the counter, too shocked to do anything but obey.

Maybe this really was a bad idea.

Shane cursed in the dark of his office as he pushed aside a few books on his bookshelf to reveal the safe hidden behind. He opened the dial quickly. Inside lay a pile of jewelry, some watches, other important documents, and piles of cash. It wasn’t all his technically. He got rent from several other psychics around the area and then delivered a portion of his and theirs to the person above him.

Shane counted the bills, fumbling. His head pounded like it was shrinking around his brain. There was no way he was going to get around avoiding explaining this to Ryan. With a sigh, he straightened, closed the safe, and walked to the front door. Ryan met his gaze and his eyes widened when he saw the money in Shane’s hand. Shane didn’t have anything to put it in or else he would have. Shane didn’t respond. He already knew Ryan was scared. It was bleeding off him like sweet sick. Fear and disappointment.

Shane had a knife in his back pocket just in case as he walked down his sidewalk. It was wet from the sprinklers. Just at the end of the driveway sat a black, shiny car, windows thick.

The moment he saw it, his headache pulsed worse. But he relaxed. His shoulders dropped and he picked up his pace. Thank God…

The window rolled down as he got closer.

“Good evening, Jack.”

Jack, a black-haired kid with a pointy nose and bruised eyes, leaned into the streetlight so he was visible. “How’d you know it was me?”

Shane handed him the cash. “The way you park? I dunno. Wasn’t expecting you tonight. I thought you guys weren’t coming till the twentieth? Where’s Hera?”

“She’s at a party. Apparently she has some big meeting in the twentieth. She told me to come collect early.”

“Well, you’re lucky I had extra meetings this week.”

“ You’re lucky.”

Shane wasn’t scared of Jack. He wasn’t a bad kid, all things considered. It wasn’t his fault his family was batshit crazy. Shane smiled and drummed his fingers on the top of the car. “Well, tell Hera I said hello.”

“Will do.” Jack turned the car back on, putting the money on the passenger seat. He nodded toward Shane’s head. “Someone get ya?”

“Hmm? Oh, no. Car accident earlier today.”

“Aw, that sucks. They give you morphine?” Shane blinked at him. “A little. Gave me crazy dreams.”

The kid grinned a wide, toothy smile. One of his teeth was gold. “Nice. Thanks, bitch. See ya. Hera said she wants you to start taking in the money yourself or she’ll kick your ass.”

Shane opened his mouth to protest. Then he shut it. He managed something like a smile. “Fine. Stay safe, Jack.”

“Whatever, voodoo man.” With that, Jack rolled up the window and slunk the car down the street.

Shane hesitated in his front yard. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He was... so tired.

And Ryan was peeking through the blinds. Of course, he was.

Shane turned around and met Ryan’s eyes immediately, startling the man into dropping the blinds and disappearing. It would be funny in other circumstances. Suddenly, he didn’t want to stay up and drink with his friend anymore. His headache was only getting worse and Ryan was worry pacing in his living room like an anxious cat.

Shane made it back to the kitchen. He rubbed the back of his neck. His body ached. The pain medication must have been wearing off. “Well, you wanted to know what it's like being a psychic in LA...” He laughed.

Ryan stood stiff, his hands trembling. “Who was that?” Shane ignored the question. “My head is killing me. Can we… I'm sorry, can we talk about this tomorrow?”

Ryan wavered. “Are you in danger?”

Shane waved the question away in dismissal. “Naw, calm down. My boss likes me.” He knew Ryan was brimming with questions, but they had a whole two months at least to get answers to them, and Shane was having a hard time focusing now. He walked out, down the hallway. “I set out the blankets and pillows on the bed in there.”

Ryan didn’t have a choice really, but he relented and followed. “... Okay. We’ll talk tomorrow?”

Shane turned at his door. “Duh? Night, Ryan.”

“... night.”

Shane put the door between them as quickly as he could. He was being totally unfair, but he really didn’t have the energy to explain. He sat down on his bed, took his shoes off, and then lay flat on the covers for a minute, thinking he’d get up and change any second. His body was heavy, and he was very aware for no reason in particular that he was a creature inside it.

Shane sat in the passenger seat as the car whizzed the highway. The radio played Miley Cyrus’s ‘The Climb’. Shane turned his head. He recognized the feeling, the thickness of the air like moving through dough. In the driver seat, Jack sang not-so-well, but earnestly, as he drummed his hands on the wheel. The sight made Shane smile. Jack wouldn’t be caught dead listening to something like this.

Shane stood in a bookshop, looking up at the reflection of a book on the inside of a display. ǝɿiH ɿoꟻ ɔiʜɔγƨꟼ. A dark-haired man passed by.

Rapid images passed his eyes. A girl cried in her bathroom, a man and a woman fought in a kitchen. A plate broke. The images passed faster and faster until he couldn’t distinguish them. Everything was too quick, too much information all at once. His stomach began to ache.

Then he was laying on cold marble tiles. Heels clicked past his ear. Above him, marble arches stretched into a dome centered by a massive chandelier that shone like the damn sun. He tried to sit up and managed to turn his head instead. Gravity was too heavy. A familiar woman opened the front door. She wore a mink fur shawl over a nightgown, clearly heading toward the bed. “Jack. you look like shite, honey, why doesn’t your mama dress you properly.”

“Got the money, auntie.”

A pause. “Excuse me?”

Jack stepped back. Shane could see his sneakers. “I have the money, auntie Hera, Ma’am.”

He gave it to her and she hummed. “You told him to come here?”

Jack nodded.

“It’s about time we initiated that dry ass fucker… I’ve never seen a more well-behaved pet.” She leaned forward and pulled Jack down so she could kiss him on the cheek.

“Aw, ugk, auntie- auntie, he’s paying fine, I don't see why you’ve gotta-”

She grabbed his cheek, a little rougher than she ought to have. “How about you run along and let the adults do the thinking, Jackie dear. Have a goodnight, tell your mama she’s a whore.”

“Okay, auntie.”

Shane was listening so closely, he almost didn’t notice until it was too late. The stone crept around his legs and up to his body. He screamed as he fell into the marble.

Concrete surrounded him. He couldn’t breathe. Coldwater rushed at his back. Suddenly he dropped into water, tumbling, slamming into walls. It was so cold. He gasped and flailed and-

Jumped up out of sweat-soaked sheets.

Shane choked on nothing, shivering, breathing rapidly. His whole body hurt. He was battered and bleeding and-

No, no he wasn’t. What kind of nightmare…

Shane scrubbed his face and hissed in pain at the cut over his eye. Sunlight streamed in from the window. A few moments passed, and his heartbeat slowed.

The door rattled. Ryan poked his head in, hair tousled. “Yo, you want eggs?”

Yes, he did.

Man, concussions sure were weird.

________________________________________________________________

previous            to be continued....

[agentmarymargaretskitz]

The Goatman’s Bridge.

Quite a few months ago, @lostinthespeedforce and I were talking about Ava and Gary recruiting Goatman to help them out after we saw a BTS pic of Jes and Adam with the guy who played Tiberius. After seeing him on last week’s episode, I figured I needed to sit down and write it last night so I could get it up before tonight’s episode. So here you go.

AO3

“Are you sure about this idea? Because maybe we can do something else that works just as well and then we don’t have to go down to Hell. I can ask John if he knows a-”

“No,” Ava shook her head while she watched Gary prepared the spell. “You said that you had something that could be used to keep in touch, even from Hell. It’s a good idea and we can really use it now that Astra’s no longer in Hell.”

“I’m pretty sure it works. I haven’t really used it beyond another room before, but it’s strong magic.”

“Then I’ll take it,” Ava stood up as Gary finished the circle. “Are you ready?”

He fidgeted a bit. “As ready as I can be to go back to Hell.”

              Ava stepped inside the circle with Gary. Once again, she did have to motivate him to chug the demon blood down. After he had and started chanting the spell, Ava smelled sulfur before the circle surrounding them burst into flames that rose above them. When they fell, the two of them were standing in a dark and dirty alley instead of the clean, pristine Waverider.

“How long do we have down here?” she asked once they found their way onto an actual street.

Gary checked his watch. “Around an hour and a half. I modified the spell so we didn’t have to spend so long down here again. How long can it take to talk to him anyways?”

“If we’re lucky, I should be able to negotiate something quickly,” Ava replied, leading them across the street. “Hey, thanks for doing this with me.”

“You needed a wizard, I needed to not be afraid of doing this, and it’s a good idea,” Gary shrugged. “Kinda weird how a few years ago we were just two Time Agents trying to fix a history broken by the Legends. Now we’re working with them to keep it safe.”

“A lot has changed,” Ava mused before looking back to him. “Do you ever miss it?”

Gary was quiet for a moment, ducking his head as a few denizens of Hell passed them. “Sometimes I do. I liked being part of something bigger, and it was nice to have that cool tech and a desk. Getting paid was great too. But I like being a wizard… or almost a wizard.”

“Yeah, being a Legend turned out to not be so bad after all,” Ava agreed. “I get to travel with my girlfriend. I fight serial killers and Fates. I started a podcast. But I do miss a paycheck. Maybe my office too a little.”

“It was a nice office.”

“Had some good memories there,” Ava smiled wistfully as she remembered her birthday before catching sight of Astra’s club. “We’re here.”

              A determined glint in Gary’s eyes matched the one in her own. They entered the club, weaving in and out of the damned to get to Astra’s office. A few people gave them funny looks, but none of them attacked or tried to stop them. Once they finally made it to the office, Ava shut the door while Gary pressed the buzzer on Astra’s desk. Now all they had to do was wait.

Minutes of their precious time ticked by before the door opened and the horned man entered. However, he stopped short when he saw Gary at the desk.

“Tiberius, right?” Gary asked. “Remember us?”

His lips curled into a snarl. “You’re not Astra.”

“Good eyes,” Ava slammed the door shut and locked it. “Astra’s working with us now. But we need to have a talk.”

“Whatever do you want to discuss?” he leered. “If you’re wasting my time, I’m sure I can find some extra torture cells down here for the two of you.”

Gary gulped. “We’re actually here with a suggestion. Perhaps you’d be interested in forming an alliance with us?”

“What?”

“What he means is that we can help each other out,” Ava clarified. “Souls from Hell are coming back for revenge and causing chaos. Also, the Fates stole Astra’s soul coins to control them to find pieces of the Loom of Fate. They’ll probably keep using them too until they get their hands on the Loom. Once they have it, they’re going to change things and restore them to the old order.”

“Including Hell,” Gary chimed in. “And how everything gets run down here.”

“Right, and I’m betting that won’t be as much fun as it is now.”

Tiberius growled. “It was awful. Everything was uptight and miserable.”

“Sounds like it would suck to go back to that,” Ava crossed her arms. “But if you help us by letting us know who gets out and what the Fates are up to when they’re down here, we can prevent that from happening. You can keep going about life is Hell doing…whatever you do.”

Tiberius looked between her and Gary, silent as he considered the offer. Ava waited; her hand ready to grab Genghis Khan’s sword if necessary. She had Bonnie Parker’s gun in her coat as well as one of Sara’s knives should things get ugly. Ava had no clue if Gary had any tricks up his sleeve with magic, but now was not the time to find out. All she could hope for was that Tiberius accepted her offer.

“I do like Hell the way it is now,” he mused. “And I’m not eager to let it go back to the ways of old. But if you’d like my full cooperation, the two of you will have to do something for me.”

“Name it. What do you want?”

“Before my confinement to Hell, I spent some time on Earth. I constructed a few gateways that connected Hell and Earth. It wasn’t anything terribly significant and they didn’t get used often, but they were mine. Unfortunately, being away from them has loosened the hold I had on them. Sometimes I can pop up and scare away a human trying to stake a claim. A while back, two fools challenged my claim on one such gateway, I couldn’t make it to the surface to stop them, and I lost a bridge to them as a result.”

Ava frowned as she listened to the story. Something about it sounded familiar. “Was this bridge in North America by any chance?”

“Why, yes. It’s known as the Old Alton Bridge in-”

“Texas,” Ava finished, looking at Tiberius again as the pieces clicked into place. “Wait, you’re THAT Goatman?!”

Gary’s eyes widened. “He’s Goatman? Ava, we’re talking to Goatman?!”

“The humans never stuck around long enough to ask for my name,” Tiberius grumbled. “But they still had to call me something when they told the stories to anyone who would listen. That’s what they came to know me as. Then that lanky buffoon made a mockery of me and took my bridge! You don’t take a demon’s hell gateway without consequences?”

“So…what do you want us to do about it?” Ava asked him. “You want your bridge back from Ryan and Shane?”

“Exactly! And take care of Shane Madej while you’re at it?”

“Oh, that’s all!” Gary looked relieved. “Yeah, we can do that. We can just drop in and make sure he’s doing alright from time to time. You know, it’s really sweet that you care about him even if he did take your-”

“I said take care of him!”

Realization dawned on both of them and the happiness drained out of Gary’s expression. “Oh.”

Ava shook her head. “I’m not going to take care of him.”

“Then no deal.”

“Ava-”

“I got this,” she muttered to Gary. “What if I get him to relinquish his claim on the bridge instead? He gives it up, you get it back, and everything works out.”

Tiberius considered it. “I suppose it will suffice. You have a deal. I’ll provide information and updates. The two of you get my bridge back.”

“Great,” Ava shook his hand. “Gary, how much time have we got left?”

“Seven minutes, and I still need to give him the mirror.”

“Oh right. You can take that one.”

Gary stepped towards Tiberius now and pulled a mirror out of one of the pockets of his coat. “So how familiar are you with Harry Potter?”

“I don’t believe I know anyone down here with that name.”

“Oh, uh, I can explain it without,” Gary passed the mirror to Tiberius. “You look into this and speak to it. We have the other half. If you have something to say, we can see and hear you and talk back. Kind of like Facetime.”

“Face...time?”

“Like he said, you see us, you hear us, you talk to us, and vice versa,” Ava told him. “Anything happens, then you tell us. And we’ll let you know about the bridge.”

“Excellent.”

~~~~

              Charlie had been planning to construct the Loom of Fate before Nate had found the Hell sigil. Now they were camped out by it with the rest of the crew sans Sara. Ava and Gary were missing and unaccounted for, so it was likely they were down there. Gideon had also ratted them out when John asked where Gary had gone. So they were all waiting for the former Time Agents to come back and explain why they’d gone to Hell.

“It’s nearly complete,” Zari pointed to the circle. “So how are they coming back?”

To answer her question, flames surged upward, revealing Gary and Ava when they flickered out.

Gary was the first to notice they had an audience and waved. “Oh hey, guys!”

“What were the two of you doing down there in Hell?” Charlie demanded as Ava stepped out of the circle.

“Gary and I got someone to keep an eye on the Encores coming up to surface,” Ava explained. “Although we have to go scare someone now for claiming Tiberius’s bridge. So we have to do that.”

“You’re what?” Nate frowned.

“We have to get Goatman’s bridge back,” Gary told him.

Zari looked over at them. “Are you serious? He’s real?”

“Who’s Goatman?” John asked.

“It’s a long story that Astra might be able to explain part of, so ask her,” Ava said. “Gary and I used to watch a series on YouTube at the Bureau, we’ll have a viewing party on it later. But we have to go scare someone from it who doesn’t believe in demons or ghosts and I want to get it over with. Let’s go, Gary.”

Everyone watched them leave, not sure what to make of what they’d just heard.

[a-forgotten-spirit]

Azriel x Reader

A/N: I AM TAKING REQUESTS. GOOD DAY. FAM I CRIED WRITING THIS IM SORRY

Tags: @alphaomegahybrid @cookiemonsterwholovesbooks @livlaughlove20 @klashmafia @tiasbandom​ @shane-knight @ourbooksuniverse @warning-fangirl-at-work @xxpapasfritasxx @shadowsingersxks @-im-fantastic- @kenzie-cold-greenkale @great-goddess-of-sin @judig92 @pugzzzz @mariamuses @salma-mohammad54

———————————————————————————————————–

Y/N P.O.V

I couldn’t breathe or think, my lungs were not strained or begging for air. I wasn’t panicking I was, hidden. My body was hidden from my mind but I wasn’t scared. I wanted to run. To leave. I wanted to go home. I couldn’t be here, Rhysand needs me I know that but my body wasn’t listening to the commands I gave. I wanted to fight, I wanted to kill. I wanted power and I wanted it all. 

I was going back into my war ways. I was a High Lady and demanded respect. I was powerful I knew that I could crush mountains and kill armies with my bare hands. I needed this feeling to leave or for me to at least harness it, the war was upon us in only a few days and I was to command my army and win this war. I could do it myself if I let go but I wouldn’t. 

I ended by a lake my breathing was fast and I knew no one could find me here not even my men, the shadows moulded with me. No matter the person they would find no one here, not even if they stepped on me. I sat near the water watching the water ripple as leaves fell upon the surface. My legs moved to sit out in front of me as though I was a doll. The wind danced upon my skin sending a shiver through me. 

My hair moved with the wind, slowly flowing like a wave. This is where I let my thoughts run wild, the thoughts of previous wars the people I fought for and the ones I lost. I could feel the worry down the bond but I never moved, I lasted fifty-three years he can wait a few hours. The shadows danced around me in a flourish of black inky material. 

This war is taking a huge toll on me and it hasn’t even started, I want to keep training to perfect my moves. I want to keep my mate safe, I want to keep my family safe, I want to keep the ones I hold dear safe but at what cost? How much will I have to pay going into this war? I don’t think I’m ready to find out. My body is prepared as any warriors would be but the mind is a dark and wistful place. 

Your mind controls everything you do, every time a thought runs through it is your mind. People blame others but you know it’s you. Not many people can comprehend that fact, the fact that your own mind creates your thoughts. No matter how gruesome, gory or downright sociopathic they may be, they are yours. 

I understood that.

I know my thoughts. 

They are mine. 

And mine alone. 

My mind does not care for war or the better explanation my mind does not care for the people in war. They are simply an obstacle I must face, with a wave of my hand they will fall no matter the strength you hold when going against someone who cannot die. You can’t win. 

I watched as the sky turned from a beautiful blue to blazing orange, yellow and red then slowly to a dark blue almost black. I saw the stars appear in the sky, The Night Court did have the best nights. My court was known for shadows and mystery while others got beautiful things like the seasons or day cycles.

Getting to my feet I walked around the forest, feeling the dirt crunch beneath my shoes. I walked with no hast breathing in the night air, I heard no noise but I remembered I was around Illyrian males but doubted any of them would come near me as I was mated to Azriel and friended to Cassian as well as Rhysand.

I knew my role in this war, simply to keep everyone else alive as my men fight. I knew the Hunters had something up their sleeve they always do. I walked calmly through the forest, the crisp air licked at my skin as I moved. Feeling the caresses at my mind I simply ignored the feeling and continued on my way. My knife hung loosely in my hand the metal never stopped being cool. I wanted this war over and it hadn’t even begun. 

I made it back to the camp and saw as people watched me with fear, quickly turned their heads or stopped to stare. I wasn’t comprehending why as I walked through, most stopped to stare as I walked. I made my way through the tents and commotion, I saw the opened tent Rhysand, Cassian, Feyre and my dearest Azriel were in. Standing over a table and talking with concern, eyes darted across the map. 

I stepped in and Azriel’s head whipped to me as did the others. Feyre’s eyes were wide as her hand came to cover her mouth as she looked at me. Cassian stepped back as he looked me up and down. Rhysand’s eyes changed from mine to Feyre’s. Azriel looked at me in horror, I wasn’t afraid or concerned no I was shocked he looked at me that way. But pushing it down and pretending he did no such thing was easier said than done, ignoring it completely I looked to Rhysand. 

“When do we move out,” I asked, my voice seemed emotionless and bland. As though I was a doll that a child pulled a string, letting it go and I would speak. I could feel my men whispering in the shadows as I stood tall, my hands at my sides and I waited for the reply. 

“We were to wait around four days,” he said slowly as though weighing the words in his mind as he spoke. It was interesting to watch his reaction. The way his eyebrows rose and eyes narrowed. 

“I will be attacking in around four hours” all went silent, Azriel’s eyes sparkled as he looked to me but my eyes did not reach his. I heard a few gasps from outside the tent and I heard people stop in their footsteps. Rhysand’s questions flooded his eyes while Cassian’s seemed to get lost in his mouth. Seeing the questions I spoke “I came here for a war, you know my past. Know my name, she has come back and I wish to have more blood on my hands” I didn’t mean it to sound so straightforward but I did, thinking id apologize or look away perhaps feel some guilt but I did not. 

“Y/N” Feyre stuttered and stepped back, lightly grazing Rhysand’s arm as she did. Seeming she was about to pass out or come running at me I didn’t know which would happen first if any at all. 

“What do you mean” Cassian yelled and stepped closer to me, his emotions were coming through in waves, I could sense he wanted to scream and collect my form into his arms and hold me. He was always like a brother to me. 

“I mean what I said. Cassian you saw me in the last war, I haven’t changed. Simply adapted. I miss the days of the war. I crave it, the way soldier’s fall at my hand” I looked to my hand and noticed long sharpened nails, longer than before. I couldn’t dwell for long as I continued talking “This is my life, I was born a machine of war and I will die a machine of war” I spoke and looked to him. My hand came back down to my side the knife in this other. 

“But” he paused shoulders moving with quickened breaths as he looked me over “Please don’t do this, just wait. I can’t lose my best friend” stuttering as he spoke. This wasn’t like Cassian and I hated to see him like this. Shaking my head I apologized but he butted in “Y/N please” he turned to Azriel who seemed to be in shock “Are you going to say anything” his eyes were ablaze. 

“Why” Azriel breathed out. He seemed to be scared as shadows circled him and to my realization, my body too was clouded in shadow. I was looking to me for answers but I could only come up with one. 

“It’s who I am” smiling and sighing lightly. “I will be leaving. Do not participate in this war. I have this, they will fall” I wanted to add ‘As will my mind’ but I didn’t.  “I’m sorry but this is me. I shall see you all soon” I looked to them and smiled once more. 

Turning on my heel and walking from the opened tent, I saw men standing and watching me in fear and a few seemed to look at me with something else but I ignored them. I walked to my home, going inside and grabbing all I needed. Changing clothes, getting more weapons and making sure everything was perfect. 

I saw my reflection in my knife, eyes were as black as coal, they held no light. Lines like lightning came from my eyes for a few inches, they were black and faded into my skin. I walked out of my temporary home and began to walk out into the forest. I could hear Cassian yelling orders as people ran around and Azriel standing at the walls of my mind. I wanted to open them but no I wasn’t going too. 

I stood in the forest for a moment “My lady. There has to be another way” Araysh spoke and came to kneel in front of me a hand to his chest. I didn’t look to him my eyes forward while he was to the ground. 

“I will protect my family” I whispered sadly and smiled to him putting my hands out to glide my hand through his hair. 

“Yes, My Lady” he replied breathlessly and fell into the ground beside me. I was walking through the forest by myself I could feel the shadows wrapping around me like a comforting blanket, I could feel Azriel at the edge of my mind but my walls were firm and not allowing in anyone, this is a war and I didn’t need to get distracted. A whole new world was upon us and I needed to get my head in the game. My court was here, in every crevice and shadow, they were here. I made my way out of the forest and could feel the way people followed me, Cassian’s men.

“Y/N please listen to me” I heard and stopped for a moment seeing Cassian run in front of me his eyes about to burst with liquid emotion and his body crumbling at the seams. “Don’t do this” he begged. ‘’

“It has already begun, Rhysand asked for my help and my help he shall receive. You will be safe, Rhysand will be safe” I paused “Azriel will be safe” I concluded and looked to him as he shook his head. 

“It means nothing if you aren’t. Azriel and running around trying to find a way to end this. Please Y/N you’re my best friend I can’t lose you. I lost you once and I can’t do that again” he mourned, he was breathing heavily and I was sad for him, truly he was my best friend as much as Rhysand was. 

“I lost everything” I whispered and watched as his eyes widened “Don’t you see, I was asked to end this war to keep you all safe. Azriel waited fifty-three years to come and visit me. I saw you more than I saw my own mate, he didn’t want me. All those years wasting away because my mate didn’t want me and now look at me falling back into his arms like a dog, I’m here to end this and then I will be gone. Forever” I stood tall and looked to Cassian and he looked confused. 

“Why does it sound like you are going to die” when I didn’t respond I believe he found his answer and at that he shook his head a single tear falling from his eye. “Azriel left for you, to keep you safe” he pleaded “He cried and didn’t speak for years all he wanted was you but if they found you he would never forgive himself” he tried to get across his point. 

“I know” I looked down and breathed out “He wanted to protect me but for all that time not a single message, not even a feeling down the bond, how was I meant to react to that Cassian. Carry on living, as though I was happy without him” I shook my head “Once this is over then I will leave and he can move on as can you and Rhysand” 

He grabbed my hand pulling me into his chest “I don’t want to let go, you’re my best friend, I love you and if anything happened to you I couldn’t live with myself neither could Az or Rhys” I wanted to cry, laugh and melt into the world all at once. 

“Then you will understand why I would sacrifice myself for you all” I smiled “The war has begun Cassian and I will do whatever it takes in order to make sure you are all safe” I promised. “Even if that means letting go of my humanity” 

“Why” I heard a voice and looked to see the two other boys as I moved back from Cassian. Azriel had spoken and I looked down before breathing slowly then looking to them all. These boys were my family and I would do anything to assure their safety. 

“Because I would rather give myself over then see any of you hurt. Those stories of after a war looking for the wings and begging it not to be each other” I breathed trying not to cry as I did. “I want you to understand the pain I went through, not only did I lose my mate but my family. I was left alone in darkness even Cassian stopped his visits after the years went by. Now that they have died it is over, Azriel wants me but this war could destroy us all and I’m not ready to let you three die just so I may be as I am now” I looked to them all and sighed out once more. “So please let me do as I must and protect you” I begged. 

I was left with stares as I saw Mor, Amren, Lucien, Feyre in the background listening in. When I made eye contact with Azriel I could see the fear in his eyes and the fear dripping down his face. I needed to keep them safe. “We made that deal” 

“That was years ago” Rhysand yelled as I put up my hand a small crescent moon sitting on my wrist as all the boys had. 

“We promised to protect each other” I began and Azriel shook his head. “The deal was if the time came where I was to give me humanity in order to save you three you’d let me do it” I looked to them and Cassian shook his head. 

“I didn’t know you were my mate than” Azriel called out and shook his head. 

“Y/N please there has to be another way” I looked to Rhysand and he sighed out. 

“A deal has been made. We can’t go back on it” he whispered and looked away. 

“Let me save you three” I whispered and smiled to them. Before I knew it I was engulfed in a hug but all three of them I could hear the sound of the opposing side coming faster the way their horses ran and the horns being sounded. I hugged them all back letting a single tear fall down my cheek. 

“You’ll be ok, you are always ok” Cassian repeated quietly to himself as he held me tighter. I wanted to sit with him, play with his hair as I used to. Braid it and make jokes with them as Azriel smiled and Rhysand made tea. This was my family. 

I could hear crying and Rhysand and Cassian looked to Azriel who had tears running down his cheeks “I just got you back” he whimpered, he looked weak and frail something he never showed “Please I love you, don’t do this” he begged and I sighed lightly. 

“I love you more than anything in this world and that is why I must do this” I smiled and pulled him against my lips for a final kiss. It was short but perfect. “I will always be with you in here” my hand came to his chest as I pulled back his leathers to show our deal. “This shows our love. I love you Azriel” I whispered and smiled at him. 

“I love you too Y/N” he replied and I stepped around him going to face the army before me.

I turned to look at my family the ones I would soon lose my humanity for “Goodbye” I smiled and let the shadows take over my body.

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

Chapter 10

[stardewtales]

You should write more about that first part of those headcanons 💚

anon i literally thought you were riley because she asked me to do the exact same thing .2 seconds after she read them y’all are kindred spirits i swear

but anyways I hope you like this!! one tall glass of shane juice just for ya babes. putting a cut because this got hella long. chug that spicy fluff ladies x

It’s the end of autumn, and Marnie has asked Shane to look over Jas for the night. Jas is absolutely elated.

“Sleepover! Sleepover! Sleepover!” she chants, jumping up and down on the couch.

Shane chuckles, bringing out plates of pizza slices for them into the living room.

“It’s not a sleepover if we already live together, squirt,” he teases her.

Jas pouts at him. “Yes it is!” she insists.

He huffs. “Fine, you know what, if you want this to be a sleepover, let’s make it one. Just please don’t tell aunt Marnie I heated up pizza instead of the soup she left for us.”

Jas giggles. “Promise I won’t tell,” she tries to wink but just ends up blinking. “Pinky swear!” she adds, holding out her pinky and waving it at him.

Shane easily grabs her pinky with his. “I’ll hold you to it,” he says with a faked seriousness.

He pops in the movie into the player, some animated film about dancing sister princesses. If he didn’t go to Jas’s room regularly, he wouldn’t remember the last time he saw so much pink. He doesn’t mind, though; Jas is delighted, which is all that matters. 

They finish their pizza pretty quickly, and Jas nestles into his side on the couch. He puts his arm around her, a swell of pride burgeoning inside. She’s so tiny, her breaths so small. He forgets sometimes. 

They are halfway through the movie when someone knocks at the door.

“Who is it?” Jas asks, looking up at him.

“I don’t know,” he answers, frowning as he checks the time. “Don’t worry, I’m going to go check and be right back. You can tell me what I missed when I get back,” he ruffles the top of her head.

She giggles, before focusing back on the movie. He gets up with a grunt, stretching out. His steps are lazy as he makes his way to the door. The knocks come again.

“Yeah, yeah, coming,” he mutters.

He swings the door open, and is shocked to see you there.

“What are you doing here so late?” he asks, confused.

You take a second to answer, blinking at him. “Why hello Shane, good to see you too,” you grimace.

He sighs and scratches his cheek, slightly embarrassed. “Sorry. I, uh, nice to see you. But why am I seeing you, exactly? Weren’t you… mad at me?”

“You weren’t at the Stardrop,” you say, shifting on your feet, avoiding his gaze. “I was worried you might be sick or… something. You can be a rude ass when you put your mind to it, but that doesn’t mean I want you to perish, you know.”

His neck burns with heat at that. He’s still ashamed you had to find him like that by the cliffs, this summer. But you should know he’s doing better by now, shouldn’t you? It’s all because of you, after all. No matter how often he snaps at you, which he only does because he’s freaking out. Freaking out about how fast you make his heart beat and how great your hair smells when you hug him and how he’s still just waiting for the other shoe to drop when you decide you’ve had enough of his friendship.

“I’m babysitting Jas,” he explains, clearing his throat. “Marnie’s off boning the Mayor tonight,” he adds in a whisper so Jas won’t have a chance of hearing.

Your eyes grow wide and he sees you stifle a burst of laughter, biting the inside of your cheek. He… he likes when you do that. Couldn’t say why. He just likes it. 

“There’s, uh, leftover pizza if you want to hang out a bit,” he offers. He really hopes you’ll stay; you’ve been so busy preparing for the winter, he’s barely seen you this week. And, there’s been the whole mad at him thing, because he called you overbearing and fussy for telling him to ease up on the drinking last Friday night. 

You seem to hesitate, looking out towards the path that leads to your farm. “I need to wake up early tomorrow,” you start, and he deflates, “but I guess a slice of pizza can’t hurt.”

“Oh,” he says, not having expected that. “That’s, erm, cool. Jas is gonna be really happy to see you, too.”

“And you won’t?” you ask with a smirk, stepping inside.

He feels his cheeks burn. You make him blush so easily, it’s horrible. 

“Jury’s still out on that,” he teases, hiding his fluster.

You glare at him as you kick off your boots, but he knows you don’t mean it.

“Jas?” you call out, heading for the living room.

He follows behind you. He can’t help his eyes dropping to eye the sway of your hips as you walk, and flushes once more as he forces himself to look away. Get a grip, man, he chastises himself.

He hears Jas gasps as she tumbles off the couch. “You’re here!! Are you here for the sleepover?” she exclaims, running to hug your legs, and you almost topple, but you keep your balance and laugh as you pet her hair affectionately.

“Hey baby girl,” you smile down at her. “If you’ll have me, I’d be really glad to join your sleepover, yeah.”

“Don’t be silly,” Jas giggles. “Of course you can be in the sleepover.”

Shane can’t help but chuckle at the whole thing. He can’t believe he’s lucky enough to have the two best girls in the world with him for the evening. 

You get yourself some of the pizza, and Jas sums up the beginning of the movie for you, sat between you and him. Shane can’t help his eyes drifting to you every so often. At some point, he watches you bite into the slice, heat creeping up his neck when you swallow and lick your lips. You catch him looking, and he feels himself reddens harder, but you don’t seem to notice.

“Want some?” you simply hold out the slice to him.

“Uh, no,” he gulps. “I’m fine, thanks.”

You shrug, and he focuses on the screen. As soon as you set the plate down, Jas looks at you with expectant eyes.

“Can I braid your hair? Please?” she asks you.

“Well,” you smile, “It wouldn’t really be a sleepover if I said no, uh?”

Jas is ecstatic as you slide down to sit on the floor in front of where she sits on the couch. She takes up to braiding sections of your hair as she hums along to the songs in the movie, wildly out of time. Shane lets out a laugh when you start to dance along moving your shoulders as much as you can while still allowing for Jas to keep working on your hair.

“What?” you turn around with an exaggerated indignant expression.

Jas inhales loudly, before turning to him as well. “Yeah, what, uncle Shane?” she mimics.

He only laughs harder, pulling Jas to him. She squeals as he kisses the top of her head, and he catches you smiling softly at him and Jas. It creates a knot in the pit of his stomach. 

“You look ridiculous,” he teases you, gesturing to the uneven braids.

Jas gasps. “No she looks pretty!” she argues. 

“See, Jas knows what she’s talking about,” you stick your tongue out at him.

Jas is squinting at him. “Say she looks pretty,” she orders him.

His mouth dries up. You’ve suddenly taken to watching the movie very intently. Jas tugs on his sleeve, insistent.

“Okay, okay,” he gives in, swatting her away. “She’s… she’s pretty. There, happy?”

She gives him a toothy grin. “Really pretty?”

His breath strangles. “The prettiest,” he mutters, and you choke on the cold popcorn you’re munching on, startling him. “That good enough for you?” he asks his niece.

She nods vigorously, before settling back down behind you. As the movie goes on, she starts to yawn more and more often. By the end of it, she’s rubbing her eyes, struggling to keep them open. She barely puts up a fight when he tells her it’s time to brush her teeth and get to bed. He feels a warm rush when she hugs you goodnight and you plant a kiss on her cheek. You’d just fit so well into his life, he knows it. You already do.

He’s tucking her in when she asks him the question she’s asked him five or six times already.

“Uncle Shane?” she asks, voice sleepy.

“Hmm?” 

“Why isn’t she your girlfriend?”

He sighs deeply. 

“She is, squirt, she’s a girl who is a friend,” he replies. 

Jas pouts. “Do you love her?”

“I…” he hesitates. “I do. Like I love you and aunt Marnie. That doesn’t mean I want aunt Marnie to be my girlfriend, now does it?”

She crinkles up her nose. “Gross.”

He chuckles. “Yeah, got that right. Sleep tight, baby girl. Sweet dreams,” he kisses her forehead.

“Night night,” she yawns, clutching the covers. 

He’s as silent as he can be as he shuts her door and walks back to the living room. He finds you picking at your nails on the couch.

“Hey,” he whispers.

“Hey.”

You seem about to say something as you look towards the door. He speaks up first; he doesn’t want you to go, not yet. 

“I don’t know about you, but I need a palette cleanser after all that glitter.”

You chuckle. “Won’t we wake Jas if we put on another movie?”

“I have a TV in my room,” he offers, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible. 

“Oh, right,” you nod. “Yeah, okay, sure.”

He exhales in relief when you get up to follow him to his room, before the nerves kick in. It’s not like you haven’t been in his room before. It’s just that every other time, Marnie was around, and it wasn’t past nightfall.

You shiver as you walk into his room with him. “Your room is freezing, man,” you say, rubbing your arms.

“It’s not even that cold,” he rolls his eyes.

He crouches in front of the TV to put in a movie, and he hears his bed creak behind him. 

“What are you doing?” he asks, shocked when he turns around to see you settling down on the bed, back against the wall. “There’s a couch over there.”

You eye the couch briefly. “I’m not sitting down on your ratty couch, pal. Last time I did my jeans smelled like beer for a week.”

He flushes a deep red. “Fine,” he grumbles. “What movie do you want to watch anyways?”

You shrug. “I don’t mind. Your pick. Just make it good,” you tease.

He rolls his eyes. “Sure, no pressure then.”

He goes for an old favourite of his, pops it in before walking up to the bed, but he hesitates. You pat the place beside you, smirking, and he clumsily climbs up beside you, making sure to leave some distance. When the opening credits begin, you laugh incredulously.

“Are you kidding me right now?” you ask. “That one, really?

“What? It’s a classic!”

“It’s the cheesiest action movie ever made, is what it is,” you laugh.

“Be quiet,” he shoves you, and you only laugh harder.

You’re twenty minutes into the movie when he notices you looking around the room.

“Need anything?” he asks you.

You rub your arm. “Do you have a blanket or something? I’m a bit cold, but I’ll manage if you don’t.”

He scans the room as well, before remembering the throw he keeps for colder nights is in the laundry.

“Shit, sorry I don’t really have anything to offer you,” he says, contrite.

“That’s okay,” you wave it off.

Some more time passes before you shiver again.

“Boy you’re really cold aren’t you?” he notes. He wanted to sound like he was teasing you, but what ends up coming out is just soft. Too soft.

The embarrassed smile you offer him has him weak. 

“Do you… do you mind if I come closer?” you whisper, staring ahead at the TV.

His blood runs cold. “Do I mind if..?” he trails off, only able to echo your question.

You don’t leave him much time before you scoot against him, pressing against his side. The way you exhale, leaning your head down on his shoulder, isn’t too far off from a sigh, and his heart jumps in his ribcage. Your legs are folded, resting on his lap.

“Oh,” he says. “Okay, uhm, here, I’ll just put my… arm around you,” he struggles to say, before doing so. “Like this…How’s this?”

“Better,” you hum. 

He nods. “That’s good,” he murmurs.

He can’t remember the last time he’s been this nervous. Thank goodness for the darkness, because he knows that hearing you breathe like this, so very close, it has him flushing a dark red.

“Your shoulders are really comfy,” you say, shifting your head a bit. 

He can only swallow. When the big love scene comes on, the two of you are still as rocks. He can hear the way your breath grows a bit shallow. It’s almost the end of the movie when you reach a hand forward, dragging on his stomach, to grab his hand, lacing your fingers with his. 

“What are you…?” he asks hastily, heart skipping a beat. He becomes very self-conscious of the softness of his abdomen. He doesn’t see how you won’t notice it.

He hears you gulp, notices how you retreat your hand slightly. You still won’t look at him. “Would you rather I don’t?”

“No,” he sputters hastily, instinctively clutching your hand tighter. “I mean, I,” and he relaxes his grasp a bit, “I’m okay with it.”

“Okay,” you whisper.

For the rest of the movie, he can’t seem to focus. Having you curled up against him like this, it’s something out of his wildest dreams. He can’t piece together what it means, doesn’t understand what can possibly be going through your mind. He startles every time you shift in the slightest, every time you inhale a bit deeper or your breath hitches from following the action on screen. The top of your head is tantalizing; he wants to stroke it, to lean down and kiss it so you’ll finally know. He can’t bring himself to do it.

He grabs the remote and shuts off the TV when the credits start to roll. You don’t move. He tries to look down, but he can’t see your face, only the top of your head still.

“I’m sorry I was such a dick the other day,” he ends up saying. “I… I never mean it, when I snap at you.”

“I know,” you answer, and your voice is a low hum, so pleasant. “Why does it keep happening, though? If I annoy you, you can tell me before I reach your limit, you know.”

“No, it,” he pauses, struggling to find the words, “It has nothing to do with you. Or at least, it’s not your fault.”

He’s sure you’re frowning, despite being unable to see. “What is it, then?”

He exhales shakily. “Sometimes… sometimes I worry too much and I forget how to act. I get so fucking scared of losing you. You’re the only person who likes… gets me. As I am.”

You finally tilt your head to look up at him, and he’s short for breath. You’re so close. “I’m not going anywhere, Shane,” you tell him, squeezing his fingers. Usually, there’s always something teasing in your tone, even if it’s just underlying. But the way you say this… the way your eyes are so soft as you peer up at him, it’s gentle in a whole new way. Tender. “I don’t want to lose you either,” your eyes shut painfully. “I wish you’d stop pushing me away.”

Your eyes flutter back open. He doesn’t know what to say. You let go of his hand, and he lets it go reluctantly. And then you bring it up to his chest, and he gulps when his breath catches. 

He doesn’t know how much time passes as you just look at each other like this, anxious. And then something shifts, something you both can feel but couldn’t pinpoint. Your mouths meet each other halfway, him leaning down, you tilting up, so tentative and slow. Your eyes flutter shut. At first, his lips barely graze yours.  But then they do again, and your lips draw his in definitively this time. He overwhelmed by how loudly you exhale through your nose; it sounds like somehow you’ve just might’ve been holding out for this just as much as he has. 

His head spins when you pull apart. “Woah,” is the only sound he can muster, filled with quiet wonder.

You huff the quietest of laughs. 

“Can we, uh,” he swallows, “do that again?”

He expects you to to tease him for that, to give him that mocking smile of yours that seems to come so easily. Instead, you just nod, sitting up, your hand pressing further into his chest for purchase as you go back to kiss him again. 

This time he’s ready. There’s more conviction to the way his mouth captures yours, more yearning. You make a sound halfway between a moan and a whimper, ringing so loud in the silence of the room. His arms wrap around you tighter. He doesn’t want to let go, ever. The abandon with which you kiss him has him reeling. He almost whines when you pull away.

“Let me stay here tonight,” you breathe. “I know you. If you don’t wake up with me beside you tomorrow morning, if I don’t hold you as soon as you open your eyes, you’ll convince yourself this isn’t real.”

He can hear blood thrumming in his head. You place a gentle kiss on his lips to drive your point home, before pulling back and holding his gaze.

“Nothing has to happen,” you add, blushing, and fuck, it’s adorable. “Nothing will happen. I just want to… be with you.”

“But,” he scrambles, “where do we go from here? I just… I don’t know how to do this. I didn’t think I’d get to.”

You smile gently and stroke the stubble on his cheek. He feels like he’s meeting a whole new you. There’s affection pouring from every touch. He’s never been touched like that, not really. 

“We’ll figure that out in the morning,” you tell him. 

You kiss him again, sweet as ripe fruit. His hunger for it hasn’t been sated yet. He wants you to feel how hard he wants you, every last part of you. It’s not a physical desire. Well, it’s part of it, and he knows he needs to stop before too much blood rushes down below, but mostly he wants you in an all-encompassing way. 

He wants to spend evenings cuddled up with you by a fire as the wind rustles the pines. He wants to hear you say his name the way you do when you can’t bring yourself to be mad at him again and again. He wants to go to the beach at dawn with you for no reason, which is stupid he knows because he hates waking up early. He wants to be inside of you as the birds chirp in the morning and you still have pillow creases on your face.

“Stay,” he nods, breathing deeply when he pulls away. “Stay, and, and sleep in my arms. You’re right, you’re always right. I need…” he pauses, “I need you to stay.”

You kiss his jaw, and his eyes flutter shut. “I know. And I… I need it too. I need you too.” 

[retro-rezz-the-est]

The Right Alpha pt. 2 (Drew/Reader/Roman A/B/O)

Summary: A/B/O action with Drew and Ro accompanied by real time plot lmao. No smut this time, but plenty of angst and fluff.

(A/N: I wanted to get this out for my birthday and for the 500 followers milestone last week but since I’m a lazy piece of shit who’s brain doesn’t work properly, I forgot lol. So here it is! Thanks once again for 500+ and let’s hope that I haven’t lost my marbles due to VKM’s crap by the next milestone. God bless @writinglionqueen and @writing-reigns for being my betas and my support system throughout this. Love y’all both! ^3^)

Warnings: a lot of harassment/sexual harassment, brief flashbacks of the douchebag ex from the first part and Roman and Drew bc they should come with their own warning labels lmao

Word Count: 6728

Read part one here 

(Y/n): your name

                                                       ~~~~~

“You sure you don’t need anything tonight?” Roman asked.

“Trust me, Ro, I’ll be fine,” you said, holding your phone to your ear as you walked towards the backstage door. Even though Ro was still scheduled to be at tonight’s show, he still had yet to show up to the arena. Duffel in hand, you shouldered the door open and were met with the bustling sounds of the production team and the stagehands prepping for that night’s SmackDown Live taping. 

You heard him chuckle in your ear. “If you say so, baby girl. Love you.”

“Love you too, Big Dog.”

Your heart felt light as you ended the call, sighing to yourself and holding the phone to your chest. You’ve been floating on air since Roman and Drew confronted you in that hallway after RAW a few months ago and with the implementation of the new, albeit incredibly stupid, “wild card rule”, you were able to spend more time with your Alphas. For the first time since jumping ship to the blue brand thanks to the new rule, you felt…

...happy.

You were actually eager to come into work that day, mentally preparing for your tag match with Bayley against Alexa and Nikki Cross. Sporting one of the merch tees you stole from Ro and a pair of jean shorts, you tried to maneuver your way around everyone and make it to the women’s locker room in one piece. You tugged on it and bought the collar to your face, inhaling and smiling as the scent of your alpha washed over you.

You really have it bad, don’t you? you asked yourself, your thoughts taking over.

Yep, and I don’t mind one bit.

You didn’t notice the figure in front of you until you crashed into them nose-first, bashing your head against the back of theirs.

“Shit,” you said, pocketing your cell as you tried to speak with a mouth full of hair. “Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention!”

“It’s ok, girl. I shouldn’t have been standing around like an idiot,” the voice replied, their body turning to face you.

The now-revealed Smackdown Women’s Champ ran a hand through her long hair and smiled at you, taking her other hand off of her suitcase’s handle briefly to give you one of her iconic hugs. When you first transferred from the Monday show, the Beta was the first person to show you any sort of kindness. So, the two of you became fast friends, looking out for each other both in and out of the ring. “So, how’s my fave tag team partner doing?”

“I’m doing well, actually,” you replied as you started off on you way again, her trailing closely behind you. “SmackDown’s a lot more chill than Raw is, to be honest.”

She let out another short laugh. “You’re not wrong here, (Y/n), but the wild card rule keeps shaking everything up around here.”

“Ugh, tell me about it. If I keep having to see the same people getting pushed when there’s quality talent just sitting back here, I’m gonna pull my hair out.”

“I know, right? I’d love to face some of the other girls here, like Kairi or Ember,” she added, unzipping her dark grey hoodie.

You raised your brow at her suggestions and noted, “I would actually pay to see those matches happen.”

“Well, at least it hasn’t been all that bad lately. You still get to see your mates every day thanks to the rule,” she sighed in content and looked at you. “I’m literally so jealous of you. Two mates! How do you guys even function?”

You started to ramble on about your relationship with the two Superstars as the two of you continued to walk down to the locker rooms, but you soon noticed Bayley glancing at you funny.

“What?” you asked her, brushing yourself off. “Is there something on me? Is there something on my face?”

“Nah, there isn’t. I was just hoping that you were gonna get into the more… juicy details,” she cheekily wondered, a sly grin plastered on her face.

“B-Bayley! I’m not gonna gossip about my sex life here! There are three topics you don’t talk about at work: politics, religion, and sex!”

“Aww, come on, live a little!” the beta whined. “Just this one little thing? For me?”

She already knew the answer the moment she looked back at your face, pouting in defeat. She made a move for her pocket and paused, feeling around in it when her eyes went wide.

“What’s wrong, Bayley?”

Groaning, she answered, “My hair ties. I think I left them with that stagehand I bumped into when I got here about an hour ago. Can you wait for me here and watch my bag while I try to find them? I promise I won’t be gone for long.”

“Of course,” you responded as she handed her small suitcase over to you. She shouted a “thank you” in your direction as she ran off and turned a corner.

You dropped your duffel on top of her suitcase and pulled your phone back out and leaned up against the wall behind you, scrolling through your old texts as you drowned out the hustle and bustle around you. You opened your group chat with Drew and Ro, giggling at how they both complained about working with Shane and his behavior.

Reading through the messages, you didn’t notice the shadow that had just loomed over your body. A hand slapped the wall next to your head, but you didn’t want to look up. You didn’t want to look up because you already knew who it was.

Speak of the fucking devil.

“Hello, (Y/n).”

You could already hear the sickly sweet adoration dripping from his voice, but you still didn’t look at him when you responded. “What the hell do you want, Shane?”

“Woah there, Omega. Is that any way to speak to your boss? I feel offended,” he said, his voice still filled with endless loads of fakeness. You could smell the cockiness rolling off him in waves, so much so that you had to hold your breath whenever he was around. The hand on the wall was slowly moving closer to your head and you could hear it, and you hoped to whoever’s above that someone would do something about it.

But no one ever did.

You could feel your hands starting to tremble as he leaned closer to your face. “I was just gonna ask where your two big, bad Alphas were, sweetheart. There’s no harm in that.”

The weight of his leer felt like a brick pressing against your forehead and you kept getting whiffs of want her and mine that you sure as hell didn’t need today. The Alpha above you moved a piece of hair away from your face and chuckled at your hesitance, already familiar with it.

“Y-You should already know where Drew is, you prick. And Ro’s here as well. He’s just not… here… right now.”

Your wolf was going absolutely batshit at the sight of him, and the thought of him touching you made it even more ravenous.

Hit him! Tear into his smug face! Kick him in the balls! Tell him off! Do something already!

You could feel your teeth start to grow sharper as he chuckled again, his free hand descending to your waist while the other made its way to the back of your head. You could feel his gaze lingering in your cleavage, and you felt more exposed than before.

Why can’t he just leave me alone, for fuck’s sake?

“Oh, he’s not here right now? What a shame. Truly,” he said teasingly. Shane’s hands gripped you tighter as he pulled you closer to him, forcing you to look up at him and drop your phone to the floor with a clatter. His eyes were malicious, but they held in them a caring look so fake and plastic that it made you sick.

Your entire body shuddered as you looked into his empty eyes. “Yeah, he’s not here now. So, w-what do you want from me, S-Shane?”

It was still shocking how no one passing by saw him do this to you. It still shocked you how no one interfered with him tormenting you like this.

“You know what I want, (Y/n). Just say yes and I’ll go.”

Resisting the urge to scoff, you uttered, “The fucking answer’s still no and you know why.”

“Aww, come on, live a little!” he whined, mocking Bayley’s earlier comment and making you cringe. “I could show you a really fun time.”

He managed to pull you even closer to his chest and he leaned down to your ear. “Just picture it: a night out celebrating with me and Drew after beating your pathetic, waste of space mate to a pulp once again. And as the night grows even later, we could get more… intimate, if you will.”

Don’t say anything, you told your wolf despite the immediate pushback from it. Shane’s breath was near potent and you actually felt the need to eject a wave of vomit onto his Jordans. Keep quiet and don’t make this any worse for me.

“Plus, seeing as those two idiots haven’t even claimed you yet, I can show that Scottish dud how it’s really done.”

Gripping your hair, he yanked your head back and bashed your head on the wall, ogling at your unmarked neck while you hissed in pain. With your arms stuck against his body, his head fell and he drew his nose over the skin. “You’d love being mine, Omega. I’d treat you right, unlike those absolute brutes you have for mates.”

Don’t do anything because if you do, then you’ll bite his nose off and we’ll be out of a job.

“What do you say, (Y/n)? You wanna take this for a test drive?”

His wedding band started to dig into your side through your shirt and you yelped, telling him, “You shouldn’t be doing this, Shane. You’re married, right? And you have pups?”

He roared with laughter at your comment, and all you wanted to do in that moment was curl into a ball and hide with your mates at your side. He responded with a large grin, saying, “And what about it, sweetheart? She doesn’t have to know now, does she?”

Moving up to your jaw from your neck, his lips brushed against your cheek as he added, “And besides, you like knowing that, don’t you?”

Before he could move closer to your own mouth, his own phone rang and you thanked every deity in existence that he released you and moved away to take the call.

“We’ll finish this conversation later, (Y/n). I’ll see you around.”

Holding the phone to his ear, he brushed off his chest with his free hand and casually walked away, you looking bewildered as he did so. You felt nauseous and dirty, feeling your now sharpened nails digging into the palms of your hands as you curled them into fists.

You hated this.

You’ve hated it since he started this little “game” of his a month ago, and you sure as hell hate it now. You hated how easily he could corner you and make you feel as vulnerable and weak as a small child. And you couldn’t even do anything about it because he was your fucking boss!

Your wolf howled in anger, letting out kill and must tell mates with every other breath. Everything around you continued as normal, but you knew that it was far from it. Your eyes burned with the feeling of unfallen tears and you could feel your breath grow faint when a familiar voice reared in the background. 

“Hey, (Y/n)! I’m back! Sorry I took so long, the stagehand wasn’t in the spot where I had found them originally and I had to go searching for them again but that took ages-”

Bayley stopped her mini rant and took a good look at you, your entire attitude seeming to deflate since she had left originally.

“Hey, are you okay?” the Beta asked you. “You look...sick. Like you’ve just seen a ghost or something.”

Blinking the tears away, you forced a laugh out and moved your hands behind your back. “It’s fine. I’m just… just a little nervous about tonight. It’s my first time going against Alexa and I want my first match with her to go well.”

“Well, I’m sure you’ll be fi- oh my god, (Y/n)!)”

You quickly looked around, eyes wide with shock. “What? What happened? What is it?”

“Your hands!”

“My wha- oh.”

Drops of blood were currently dripping from your fists and onto the floor, making small puddles at your sides. You didn’t feel the bite of your nails digging into your skin, but you chuckled nervously and tried to hide them again. She grabbed your wrists in one hand and reached for her bag with the other.

“We have to get these cleaned and wrapped before out match tonight. Come on!” she told you, hoisting your bag onto her shoulder and dragging you by your wrist to the medical personnel with her free hand.

~~~~~

“Haha, take that, Bliss! You’re never getting your hands on this!” Bayley exclaimed at the blonde as the woman clutched her sides at the champ’s feet, you raising her arm above her head in victory. Moments later, Nikki slid into the ring as soon as you two slipped out of it.

Bayley gave you a hug as she started to make her way up the ramp with her title held high, Bliss and Cross limping back up a few minutes later. You, however, walked in the direction of the announce table where an empty chair and headset were waiting for you. You gave a brief greeting to Graves, Saxton and Philips before situating yourself next to the first man.

The last match of the night was a one-on-one bout between Ro and Shane and as always, Shane cockily walked out to the ring with Drew in tow to the sounds of boos from the crowd and his “best in the world” introduction. Drew grabbed two mics for him and Shane before they both climbed into the ring, looking like they absolutely owned the place. It would’ve made you smile if it weren’t for him being the lackey at the likes of Shane. 

Shane raised his to his mouth and was about to talk, but he was interrupted by the blaring sound of Roman’s theme. He came out with a smirk on his face and you could almost hear the thud of his boots as he stalked to the ring.

He threw you a wink when he made it to the ropes closest to you and you smiled, hearing the ref signal for the bell and seeing Shane immediately rush at him from behind. He threw his forearm into the back of Roman’s head and crippled him, making you gasp. Drew applauded at ringside and the two of you locked eyes.

You shuddered under his intense gaze and you quickly looked away just in time to see Shane stomping out Roman, your mate groaning as his heel connected with his chest. You glanced away from the match briefly to discuss other matters with your fellow commentators (minus Graves, of course) before turning back and seeing Shane glaring directly at you, the look in his eyes making feel nauseous as you wrap your arms around your torso.

He winked at you like Roman had, taking his time raking those eyes along your figure and Roman was quick to notice. The Samoan bared his teeth and growled as he began to let out his wolf and rose from the ring floor, charging at Shane and spearing his head into the ringpost he was closest to. As the grey-haired Alpha started to regain his senses again, he threw his chest back and howled with the rest of the Universe and speared Shane again. The match was over before you could even blink, and Roman quickly pinned the other Alpha to pick up the win.

Huh, Shane’s off his game tonight. Good, you thought as you heard the three-count and you stood to clap for your mate. Taking off your headset and thanking the three men at commentary, you made your way into the ring and took Roman’s arm to raise it.

You two quickly moved out of it and began walking up the ramp side by side, his arm thrown around your shoulders and your own wrapped around his waist. Glancing behind you, you saw the dirty look Shane threw you and you smiled internally at that, claiming it as a small victory over him.

He pulled you aside near some supply crates as you made it backstage, bringing you into his chest while you inhaled his familiar scent. It had momentarily calmed your nerves down, being there with him, but they were briskly replaced by a new feeling of dread when he moved your hands from around him and looked down at your bandaged hands.

“How’d this happen, Omega?” Roman asked, worry making his brows furrow. “Did you hurt yourself?”

He started to rub at where the skin of your palms would be as you answered him. “Yeah, I did. I was nervous my match and I didn’t notice my nails digging into my hands. Bayley bandaged me up well, so I should be fine.”

You and your own wolf felt bad for lying to him about them, but you didn’t need him going after Shane with a death wish in tow and getting fired because of it.

This is better, you assumed, seeing his eyes grow soft. It’s better for all of us.

“I’m just glad that you were able to pin Shane tonight,” You raised your hands to cup his face and he nuzzled himself into them, making you chuckle. “Lord knows he needs to be put in his place.”

Roman laughed as you said the last bit under your breath, squeezing your waist before lifting his hands to move yours from his face. “Speaking of Shane,” he questioned, looking down at you with concern in his warm brown eyes, “what was that wink all about during the match? Is there something you’re not telling me, baby girl?”

“What? No,” you scoffed, answering him quickly. “Shane’s just being his usual dickish self in order to get under your skin and make you mad. Nothing more.”

The quickness of your response made the Alpha quirk his brow for a second when he smelled hurt and shame wafting off of you but he brushed it off, agreeing with you. You rose onto your toes and planted a kiss to his cheek, saying, “Now, you wait for Drew here while I go and get our things ready, ok?”

You let go of him and began walking away, hearing him reply with a “yes ma’am” and pivoting on your heel to see him throw up a faux salute in your direction. His eyes lingered on you even as your figure grew smaller until you finally turned a corner.

Your heart wanted to fall out of your chest and flop around on the floor when he asked you about your hands, and even more so when he asked about Shane’s shitty excuse of a wink. But, you persisted, even though your wolf continued to berate you about the situation.

Lying will not make this better. Makes it worse for you and mates. You’ll see.

~~~~~

Since your tag match with Bayley against Bliss and Cross went over so well on SmackDown, you were told that you had to give a dual promo with the blonde Omega the next week on the red brand. 

You arrived to the arena dressed in a casual black tank with some skinny jeans, your sweater tied around your waist. Since the skin on your hands was starting to heal and you didn’t want to encounter Shane again, you decided to take the longer route to the locker room instead, using as many of the hallways as you could. He was always lingering somewhere on both shows and was always eager to find you, and you weren’t taking any chances.

A few minutes had passed since you’d seen anyone and you let out a breath you didn’t even know you were holding in. Turning down another empty hall, you felt a presence trailing behind you as you walked, but you paid it no mind. Then, a rough hand grasped your shoulder and spun you around.

“Thought you could run away from me, little Omega?”

How in the absolute hell?!

Your eyes went wide when he spun you around and pinned your arms to your sides. Shane moved in closer and you had the incredible urge to just raise your head and scratch his face up with your teeth.

“H-How did you find me?”

His laughter bounced off the concrete walls, making your bones vibrate. “I told you last week that we’d finish our conversation later. And to me, ‘later’ means ‘right fucking now’.”

He laughed again at your lack of words, your mouth slightly agape and hyperventilating. You were smart in that you didn’t ball your hands up as to not puncture the skin of your palms again, but you were damn near close to.

You could feel his hands sliding up your bare arms and situate themselves at the base of your neck, his thumbs drawing figures along your collarbone. All you could see was his smug grin, complete with eyes that were filled with absolutely zero remorse for what he was doing.

“Why do you do this to m-me, Shane? What did I do to you?”

This caught his attention. “You haven’t done anything yet, but you will.”

Huh?

“Like I said numerous times before, you’ll need a real Alpha like myself to show you the ropes. You’ll need me to claim you and show you how to be a good-”

He talked to you as if you were an incompetent child, and his hold on you grew tighter with every word. You began to struggle and try to get yourself out and away from him, but to no avail.

This hurts.

“- obedient -”

Pain.

“- little Omega for me, (Y/n).”

Struggling became useless as your breathing became quicker and quicker with each passing second and you shut your eyes tight, feeling them shift along with your teeth. His words were reminiscent of those from your ex-lover, and you couldn’t help but see blood red all over at the sound of them. 

All you could think of was how dirty your ex made you feel, putting you down constantly with his hurtful, disgusting actions and words, and he made you feel the exact same way that he had and you wanted him to. You had to physically hold yourself back from pouncing on him and dragging his face into the ground.

Get him now!

“Shane? Shane, where th’ fuck are ya? We’re on in thirty bloody minutes!”

Oh, thank the gods above.

Shane groaned and released you abruptly, causing you to stagger back. “Fucking hell, Drew.”

The large Scottish Alpha’s feet reverberated off the walls around you and he turned the corner closest to you two, looking around. He spotted you both and stomped over, clearly pissed off with Shane.

“What th’ hell, man?! Ya say you were gonna meet me here, an’ then you just rush out like a bat outta hell!”

Dressed in a simple white tee and jeans with a leather jacket on top, he curled his hands and growled, letting off more feral scents combined with his usual one. Through his frustration, he saw the glow of your shifting eyes and how much you were trembling, accompanied by the growing of your nails at your sides.

Eyes flickering between the two of you, he looked at the other Alpha and grimaced. “And what were ya doin’ all alone here with my mate, Shane? I thought I told ya she’s taken.”

The other man chuckled nervously as you cupped your neck, feeling the imprints from his fingers already beginning to bloom into small bruises.

“We weren’t doing anything, McIntyre. I just caught up with her and was just politely asking her a question about her new feud with Alexa. Isn’t that tight, (Y/n)?”

You nearly barfed at his piss poor attempt at being nice, but you decided to play along. “Yeah,” you murmured, willing your eyes to fade to their normal hue and your nails and teeth to shrink down. “We’re all good here.”

You feigned another laugh and quickly put your sweater on, zipping it up fully to keep your skin hidden. Drew looked as if he didn’t buy any of it but soon turned around, grabbing Shane by the collar and dragging him away.

“Woah, hey now, watch the shirt! This thing is worth more than your monthly salary!”

“Cut th’ shit,” the Scot grumbled, stomping away with him in tow. “We’re already running behind schedule and I don’t need t’ hear your daddy runnin’ his mouth at me again.”

And with that, the duo disappeared behind another wall, their voices fading into nothing while you stumbled back into the wall behind you, clutching your chest and feeling your heart race.

“Great,” you muttered, briskly walking in the opposite direction of them. “Hope the Glam Squad has enough concealer to cover these up.”

Your promo was one of the first segments of the night and you were finished with it relatively quickly, getting a fairly good reaction from the crowd when the other woman had come out to do her bit. You were glad everything went smoothly once you finished and when you finally got backstage, you started to make the journey back to get the remainder of your things and head back to the hotel.

You made it to the women’s locker room and shut the door, grabbing your sweater and bending down to stuff it into the bag you had Natalya bring for you. You got out your phone to text your mates and ask them when they were going to be finished when the door behind you creaked open, twin footfalls thudding on the floor. Their scent slowly filled the room surrounded you before you saw them and you relaxed your shoulders.

“Hey, are you guys finished for the night? I was gonna text you to see when you-”

You pivoted on your heel to face the two large Alphas with a grin on your face, Roman dressed in a long sleeved black tee and shorts and Drew in the outfit you saw him in earlier. They stared back at you intensely, Roman crossing his arms and Drew moving to go lock the door.

You shuddered under their intense glares, asking, “Is everything okay?”

Roman was the first one to speak, uncrossing his arms and walking over to you. He moved your bag and took your hand, sitting you down on the bench behind you as the Scot watched from the door.

“Me and Drew were talking earlier, and we feel like you’re hiding something from us, ‘mega.”

Oh, help me now.

“Me? Hiding something from you two?” you pondered, scoffing and chuckling anxiously. “Everything’s totally fine. Trust me.”

“And there it is again,” he shot back, “you’re doing that thing again. You’ve been acting skittish and dodging our questions for almost a month now. Why won’t you tell us what’s wrong?”

He was confused, and you could clearly see the hurt in his eyes when you looked into them. But you couldn’t bring yourself to tell them yet.

Do it.

“I mean, was it something that we said? Something we did?”

“N-No, of course not, Ro! You know you’d never do anything to hurt me! You both wouldn’t!”

You sighed and took your hands out of his, placing them on your head as your eyes fell to your lap. It took everything in you not to burst out into a fiery mix or rage and tears. “Look, I already told you guys before. It’s noth-”

A loud bang brought you back from your stupor and you yelped, jumping out of your skin and directing your attention to the door. Drew stood there with the side of his fist against the door, and there was a crack emulating from the impact.

“Enough of this, (Y/n). We’re your Alphas, your mates. You’re supposed t’ tell us when something’s up. Why’re ya hidin’ from us?” he whispered, his voice cracking near the end.

Drew didn’t really express his more sentimental emotions outright but when he did, it absolutely crushed you. You could see your mates hurting - feel them hurting - and they were slowly chipping away at your walls. The silence after he spoke was deafening and you knew that if a pin fell then, you would hear it.

Every second felt like a minute and every minute felt like an eternity until you opened your mouth again.

“I don’t want you both to think that I’m a bad Omega for not saying something sooner.”

Your soft voice prompted Drew to move away from the door and kneel down to your height, placing both of his hands on your thigh. “Leannan (sweetheart), nothing ya say right now will make us ever think that. You’re our mate, and ya should be able to tell us anything plaguin’ ya.”

“We love you, (Y/n), and we do care,” Roman added, moving his hand to cup your cheek. “You don’t have to tell us everything if it’s too much, but at least give us something.”

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

The fuse was lit.

Boom.

With that permission, you didn’t notice how quickly your body shifted into attack mode and you hastily stood, knocking your bag over.

“It’s fucking Shane’s fucking fault!” you barked, baring your teeth and nails to no one. “He keeps on stalking me and harassing me and bothering me and saying how much fucking better he’d be as my mate!”

You moved from the bench and began to pace the room, huffing and blocking out all outside noises as you continued to rant. “That little rich shitbag thinks he can do all of this over and over again with no consequence, and he thinks that he can just grab me and toss me around like I’m some useless thing! It makes me feel sick and dirty and… argh!”

The two Alphas jumped when you kicked a nearby locker, putting a dent in the shape of your foot in it. “I want to claw his eyes and scratch his smug stupid face! I hate it when he says that he’s gonna ‘show me the ropes’ and fucking claim me as his own when he’s got a whole wife and pups!”

You paused to catch your breath but you couldn’t stop the tears that were burning your eyes from falling. Your back hit the wall and you slid to the floor, cradling your face in your hands.

“I just… what did I do to deserve any of this?”

Your mates rushed to your sides as you cried, Drew holding you to his chest as you let the tears flow. You could feel Drew's heart beat faster and faster and you could feel Roman's heavy breathing on your neck.

The Samoan stood up and looked at your wrecked form, growling. You could see his eyes dilated and flash gold for a second before he turned away from you and unlocked the door, almost ripping it from its hinges as he stormed out with murder on his mind.

“Shane! Where the fuck are you, you bastard?! I’m gonna tear you apart!”

Oh fuck, you though, untangling yourself from Drew and getting up as quickly as you could to follow him. You two scrambled outside to find the wild Alpha and spotted him barreling through anyone who dared to get in his way as he continued to shout.

“Everyone get the hell out of my way! Where’s Shane?! I’m gonna fucking kill him!”

You ran after him, shoving past poor stagehands and other Superstars to get to your angered mate. Reaching him, you took his wrist and spun him around, seeing his eyes blown out to a full gold. His chest heaved with every harsh breath, and you could see veins popping out of his neck from how hard he was clenching his teeth.

“You see? This is why I didn’t tell you in the first place! I didn’t want you to go on a murder-happy fucking rampage and lose your damn job!”

“She’s got a point,” Drew added, firmly grasping Ro’s other wrist. “You need to think!”

He was having none of it. “He hurt my mate, our mate, and that waste of space needs to pay! I’ll find him and rip out his eyes myself.”

It scared you how aggressive he was when he meant it, but you stood your ground. “You’re not the only one who wants to kill that bag of human scum, Roman, but we do have to be smart about this.”

“We can deal with him next week,” you sighed. “Just… just calm down, please.”

No! Now! Get him now!

Drew nodded, agreeing with you and helping you to pull the other man back in the opposite go get the rest of your things even though he continued to try and escape. You smiled to yourself, though, at the thought of the things you were going to do to Vince’s son in the near future.

                                                          ~~~~~

For the next week, your two mates didn’t leave your side for a second, with Roman escorting you out to the ring for your match on SmackDown the next night and Drew acting as your personal bodyguard when the cameras weren’t rolling. They wouldn’t let anyone get near you, growling and baring their teeth at anyone who wasn’t a personal friend who dared to get in your personal space.

Monday came far too soon and the three of you arrived to the arena, game faces on as you waltzed in like your own little pack. They each had an arm around your waist with a hand in each of your back pockets, leering at everyone while you grinned.

Roman and Drew were already planned to have another in-ring bout prior to Extreme Rules, but they wanted to have you out for the main event as support. You already knew that Shane was going to be there, going ringside to cheer the Scotsman on and berate his opponent.

You all had your roles, you all had your positions. Now, it was just time to put it all into play.

As their match was the one to close out the night, you had to deal with hearing Shane’s long introduction when him and Drew went through the curtain. You watched them travel to the ring and you saw the Scottish Alpha’s hand twitch, eager to get his large hands on the man next to him.

Shane continued to rant before you and Roman cut him off, trekking down to the ring to meet him. He swiftly ducked under the ropes as Ro approached him but he smiled at you when he saw you, instantly making you sick to your stomach.

Gripping his elbow, you whispered, “You know what to do, right?”

“Of course I do, baby girl,” he replied, brushing you off. “I got this.”

He smirked at you, climbing up the steps and under the ropes. The bell rang and the match began with the two men locking into each other in the middle of the squared circle, Drew quickly getting Roman into a headlock and bringing him down to one knee.

He managed to shove the larger man off of him and into the ropes to throw his forearm into his clavicle and drop him down with a thud. Roman roared as a “Let’s go, Roman!” chant erupted from the crowds. You applauded him and Shane sneered, creeping closer to the ropes like a rat to freshly tossed food.

The match went on for several minutes, each filled with blows delivered and taken by both Superstars. Drew took a harsh Driveby from Ro on the edge of the ring and you were almost certain that he had been knocked out, had it been for the groan he made when he reached up to rub at his head.

It quickly turned to the Samoan being on the receiving end of most of the blows when Drew landed a nasty Glasgow Kiss to his skull, dropping him like a fly. He dragged the fallen wrestler to the middle of the ring, standing above him menacingly.

“Pin him! What are you doing, man? Just pin him already and get it over with!”

Shane’s loud voice could be heard above all else and you prayed that Roman would get up and walk it off like it was nothing. Instead, Drew chuckled and ducked out of the ring, walking around it to come face to face with the McMahon. As the older Alpha continued to go on and on, your mate threw the fastest right hook you’ve ever seen, making Shane plummet to the floor like a stone in water.

You looked around at the shocked faces of the commentators as well as various members of the WWE Universe, but you didn’t expect the roaring cheer that one move got.

He kneeled down to his level and proceeded to pumble the man further, driving fist after fist and hit after hit into him. You were full-on belly laughing at that point, noting how comical it was to see the once high and mighty Shane McMahon who had cornered you numerous times be put in a similar, vulnerable position.

It was beautiful.

Hearing the newfound commotion, Roman arose from his spot on the ring floor akin to the Undertaker and the crowd went wild once more. He got up and ran to the ropes behind him, bouncing back from them and diving over the set in front of him, Drew moving so he wouldn’t get hit.

Shane’s head struck the ramp below and began bleeding as his face and body grew battered and bruised. The two men towered above him and rained down blows and kicks galore, and you wished you had a phone with you to record the magic happening. They then hooked an arm under one of his and hoisted him up from the ground, looking at you gleefully. 

It was your time to shine, your chance to get your licks in.

“Go on, leannan!” Drew shouted, a wide, wicked smile plastered on his face. “Show this ugly bastard what’s for!”

Roman laughed alongside him. “Show ‘im your spitfire, Omega! Make him pay for what he did to you!”

Make him pay.

You roared, baring your sharpened teeth and charged at the silver-haired man, landing a solid dropkick to the middle of his chest. He fell with an “oof” and laid there like a limp ragdoll, but you weren’t going to let that deter you from having your own fun.

“If you ever-”

Punch.

“-ever-”

Another punch.

“-ever-”

One more for good measure.

“-think about touching me or talking useless crap about my mates again, I will fucking. End. You!”

With every word let out, you let out led to another hit to his body, your feet flying everywhere they could reach. After a solid five minutes of you three tossing him around and beating him to a pulp, you landed a fine tuned pointed-toe kick to his crotch. He crumbled to the ground, clutching his body as you and your mates looked on victoriously.

You could barely hear yourself think over the commotion going on around you, but you didn’t care. You got your payback. You all did and if he tries some shit like that again, you’ll be bound to pay him back again by a ten-fold.

You raced up the ramp to meet your lovers at the head, raising their arms to signal your win against Shane’s bullshit. You felt a weight being lifted off of your chest and you felt relieved for the first time in over a month.

Karma really is a beautiful thing, isn’t it?

                                                         ~~~~~

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