#she wanted to put some on the teddys on her shelves under the bed but there was no room so my mum went out and acc bought some of those | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

itsallyscorner · 4 years ago

Note

Hey Ally idk if you are taking requests at the moment but if you are could you write something really fluffy with either Sebastian or Bucky! I am just not having a good time right now and would really appreciate anything you got! If you need a more specific idea i can come up with one just let me know and obviously no rush ♥️

Hiya hun! I hope this brightens your day/night and gets your spirits up💛 Sending all my love and good energy to you, happy reading!

💌.

Flowers and Nutella

Your body felt as if it were glued to the bed. The warm covers you’ve been wrapped in all night brought you comfort and served as a protection from the cold of the harsh world. Today had been one of those days. You know those days, the ones where you wake up and it seems like the world is out to ruin you. You didn’t want to get out of bed because it was like you were dreading of going through with the day.

The past week had been difficult. A failed mission; false leads that ended up being a mouse trap. You were put in charge of Peter, it had been one of the few Avengers mission he was allowed to come along on. You lot were supposed to collect data about an ex SHIELD agent selling alien weapons to different buyers, including Hydra members. The whole thing turned out to be a trapped, long story short, it ended up with Peter getting shot in the shoulder by one of the weapons. Thankfully, Banner and Dr.Cho knew how to patch it up so he was safe, back to the energetic bright eyed puppy he was.

The week had just been hard to get through completely. The affects of those events had finally taken its toll on you and decided to pile up on you during this gloomy morning. You didn’t plan on leaving your room. All you wanted was to watch things on Netflix, eat, and just stay in your safe haven. Your room.

You had been watching Gossip Girl once again when a knock was heard from your door. You didn’t feel like interacting with anyone so you didn’t answer it. A few minutes pass and the door slowly creeks.

Outside Bucky was dressed in gym shorts and a loose gray shirt. His hair was twisted up in a bun, something he had learned from you and grown to love. It was Saturday and the two of you usually had training sessions together in the morning. When you didn’t respond to your door he grew concerned. Usually you were up and going, bouncing on the balls of your feet as your pony tail swayed side to side.

His head peeks behind your door and the sight in front of him makes him furrow his brows. You were far from ready, barely even close. You were in bed, wrapped in your blankets, eyes heavy as you watched some show on your tv.

“(Y/n)? Doll?” He calls out to you, slowly entering your room. The atmosphere was heavy as he took in the darkness and chilling temperature in your room.

Your hair rustled against your pillow as you move your head to look at him. You squint at him as the light from the window poured into your room. Bucky had pulled open the curtains and turned up the thermostat in your room.

“Buck? Hey, what are you doing here?” You eye his attire and groan.

“Shit, I’m sorry. I forgot we had training today.” You apologized squeezing your eyes shut. It was as if you couldn’t do anything right lately.

Bucky waved you off settling himself beside your legs on your bed. He nudges your thigh with his elbow, “No worries. But are you okay? You never forget our training days and you’re usually bouncing from wall to wall by now.” His soft voice fills your room flowing like honey. You feel a swell in your chest at how comforting his voice was.

“What’s going on, darling?” He looks at you, eyes full of concern as they plead you to tell him what’s wrong. You sigh and push your cheek against your pillow. One of your arms curling underneath the cushion while the other gripped to your blanket.

You shrug the shadow of a smile on your chapped lips, “I don’t know. Just don’t feel up for anything today. I just want to lay here and rest.”

Bucky sends you a comforting smile as his large hand comes to rub the small of your back, “It’s alright, sometimes we need breaks from the outside world.”

A small smile forms on your lips, though it didn’t bring that crinkle by your eyes, a sign that you were genuinely happy.

He looks around before his sparkling blue eyes come to land on you again. “D’ya need anything before I head to the gym?”

You hum shaking your head, “Nope, thank you though.”

Bucky nods and claps his hands against his thigh. Getting up and leans forwards to poke your nose, “Alright. Give me a call if you need anything, I’ll be here.” You let out a simple, “mmk” as he turns to leave your room.

The door shuts behind him as he presses his back onto it. Screw the gym, he thought to himself. You were clearly upset and there was a voice in his head telling him to go fix it. You probably didn’t want him prodding in on your rest day but he just wanted to see a smile on your face.

His long legs take him to the kitchen where Wanda, Nat, and Sam were. “Ladies.” He greets them, nodding his head. A silent look was sent to him by Nat, probably because she hadn’t had her coffee yet. Wanda sends him a smile as she uses her powers to cook multiple dishes for breakfast.

“Sam.” He greets his friend who responds to him with a grunt. Bucky shoves himself to a stool at the counter as he tries to come up of ways to cheer you up.

Wanda glances at him, “I don’t think she would enjoy a picnic outside, she likes to stay in her room when she wants a break.”

Bucky’s eyes move from the marbled counters to the back of Wanda’s auburn hair. “Well what do you think she would like right now? I walked in and and she just looked so out of it.”

Natasha sighed as he inhaled the rich smell of coffee, “Barnes just leave her alone, she’s had a rough week, let her get some rest.”

Bucky grumbled a frown on his face, “But she looked so sad, I can’t just leave her like that.”

The elevator dings as the doors slide open. All heads turn towards the hall as they see Peter come out from the elevator. His backpack was slung over his shoulder as greeted all of them with a boyish grin.

“Hey guys!” A round of “mornings” is heard amongst the group as Peter enters the kitchen. He looks over Wanda’s shoulder as his hand reaches under her arm to grab a piece of bacon.

The witch rolls her eyes as she swats his back, “You could’ve burned your fingers, Pete.” She scolded him motherly.

“I’m fine, what’s up guys?” Peter answers with the strip of bacon hanging from his mouth. He places his backpack on the floor and joins the others at the counter. Bucky glances at the boy. Maybe he would know a way to cheer you up. The both of you had been hanging out together a lot since you were his mentor, besides Tony, of course.

“Parker, what’s something that’ll get (y/n) to cheer up?” The boy perks up at your name.

“Flowers and a jar of Nutella.” He answers almost immediately, a proud grin on his face. His quick answer earned him some looks from his older team mates.

“How would you know that, Parker?” Nat asks him, sitting in the stool beside him. Peter fiddles with his fingers as he adjusts himself in his seat. His mouth opens to answer but Sam interrupts him.

“Someone gotta crush on (y/n)?” Sam teases the teenager. Peter’s eyes widen as his cheeks turn rosy, a clutter of stutters coming out his out.

“N-No! I mean— she’s pretty, really pretty. Beautiful in fact, but no, I don’t—I don’t have a crush on Ms. (y/n).” He manages to defend himself. A poor attempt of a defense in Sam’s opinion. Sam shakes his head at the boy, “Buck, looks like you’ve got competition.”

Peter’s eyes almost fall out their sockets at the mention of Bucky. The boy stares at the metal arm that could choke and kill him in an instant. “No! You don’t have any competition Mr. Barnes, sir, I swear.”

Nat smirks from beside him as Wanda chimes from behind them, “I could read minds, Peter!” She sang.

“How do you even know she likes flowers and Nutella?” Natasha asks him.

“Um—I asked her to go to prom with me, remember? She said she’ll only go with me if I buy her flowers and a jar of Nutella.” Peter answers. Bucky was up at his feet at an instant, patting his shorts for his wallet. When he felt the bulky object he glanced at the elevator. Walking behind Peter, he pats the boy’s back with his metal hand. Peter jumps almost yelping in his seat.

“Thanks, Parker.” Bucky chuckles then walks to the elevator.

He takes a train to get around the city. He ends up at the nearest retail store, looking through the shelves for Nutella and other things you might like. Once he had two bags full of treats and gifts he approaches the man outside the store who had a cart full of flowers. He didn’t know if you had a preference, but he chose the brightest out of the bunch. To him it represented your personality and the effect you had on his life.

He rushes back to the compound, bags in each hand and a bouquet of flowers under each arm. The sight of him might’ve been funny, a large bulky man with arms full of colorful flowers, a teddy bear, and all the cheesy pick me up gifts. He enters the kitchen not bothering to greet the others. Though he stops to take out two spoons from the drawers. Steve looks at him curiously while Sam nods at him in approval.

He heads straight to your room, excited to give you all the gifts he’s gotten you. He knocks on the door with the top of his foot, “I’m coming in!” He struggles to twist the knob of the door but he somehow manages to get it to open.

He slams the door shut with his back and greets you with a wide smile. Your eyes widen at him in shock.

“Surprise!” He yells happily. You feel your lips tug themselves upwards at him. You shuffle around in your bed, moving the blankets out the way.

“What’s all this?” You ask him trying to peer into the bags. He places them on the floor, gesturing for you to sit back.

“Alright, first off, here’s some flowers.” He grins handing you the two colorful bouquets. A giggle erupts from you as you take them from him. You take a whiff of the flowers, the floral smell entering your senses.

He digs through the bag and pulls out a large jar of Nutella. You gasp as Bucky presents it to you with a golden spoon from the kitchen. He hands them to you then bends back down to go through the bag.

“I wasn’t sure if you wanted some snacks, so I got some cookies, your favorite chips, crackers, some wine. I didn’t bother getting a cup, just chug the bottle.” He explains placing each item onto your bed.

“I also got you a teddy bear. But they had too many and I didn’t know which one you’d like so I got the bear, a llama, and a dog.” He chuckles bopping your face with the llama’s snout. You laugh as you try to hold all of them in your arms.

“Oh yeah, and here’s some candy.” He places at least five boxes of different kinds of candy onto your lap. You look at him in awe, the joy bursting in your chest at his lovely gesture. The happiness soon became too much and your eyes began to water. The proud smile on Bucky’s face falters, his shoulders slumping. He crouches in front of you, hands beside your legs.

“No! Doll, what’s wrong? Was it the candy? Do you not like skittles? Or is it the Hershey’s kisses? I could take them back! Do you not like the llama?” Questions began to roll off his tongue as he stared up at you. His thumbs came up to wipe stray tear from your face. A laugh bubbles from your chest, your free hand gripping onto his wrist.

“No, Bucky, this is just—no one’s really done this for me before. Thank you.” You smile at him through your tears. “Thank you, I really really appreciate it. You didn’t have to do all of this honestly.” You sniffled fiddling with the plush llama’s fur.

“It’s fine doll, honestly. Anything to see that smile on your face.” He grins up at you, happy with himself that he got to bring the smile that formed crinkles to the side of your eyes. You giggle once again and place all the gifts on your bed, you leans towards him, wrapping your arms around his neck and hiding your face into his neck. Bucky sighs in content, his metal hand coming up to stroke circles onto your back.

“Thank you, Buck.” You whisper against the skin of his neck. Bucky presses a kiss to your temple, “Anytime darling.”

You pull away and organize the things on your bed. You sit against the headboard did your bed and motion for him to join you.

“I’m gonna need help eating all of this.” You tease him. He settles beside you, arm around your shoulder. He reaches for a pack of Reese’s and rips it open with his teeth.

“Well good thing I’m a super soldier.” He chuckles tuning into the movie on your tv. You get curious and look at him.

“How did you know about the flowers and Nutella though?” You question him with a raised brow.

“Spider-boy.” He answers mouth full of the peanut butter cups. You laugh and lean back into his arm. You reach for the jar of Nutella and twist it open, pealing of the gold seal. Your spoon dips into the chocolate, breaking the smooth surface.

Bucky glances at you, “Feelin’ better?”

The spoon hangs from the corner of your mouth, savoring the delicious spread, “Much better.”

#marvel #mcu #avengers #Bucky Barnes x reader #Bucky Barnes imagine #Bucky Barnes #bucky barnes fluff #bucky barnes one shot #bucky barnes drabble #bucky barnes headcanon #Sebastian Stan #sebastian stan x reader #sebastian stan fluff #sebastian stan oneshot #sebastian stan imagine #winter solider #ally’s requests

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lfcology · 4 years ago

Text

swatches | sirius black

summary: you had loved sirius black for longer than you could remember. through two wizarding wars and a harsh time in azkaban: you were head over heels. what happens when he misunderstood your relationship? everyone lives au lowkey as it should be!

pairing: Fem!Reader x Sirius (post books so they’re slightly older)

word count: 1.6k

warnings: misunderstandings, mention of pregnancy/getting pregnant

Two wars. You had survived two wars against the most powerful dark wizard ever and had no inclination to tell your longtime friend you loved him. You'd been head over heels for Sirius Black for the better part of two decades yet opted to keep your feelings to yourself – stating something about the timing not being right. But if not during a war – nay, two wars – when would the time be right? You'd been with other people, trying to get over the raven-haired beauty yet no one ever made you feel anything close to what you did with him.

He'd served years in Azkaban, convicted of some of the most heinous crimes against muggles and the reason behind his best friends death, but you knew he was innocent. Sirius Black was a lot of things but a traitor was not one of them. Now, years later, he was finally free – an innocent man to the world. Once the dark lord was defeated again, and things started to calm down, 12 Grimmauld Place wasn't needed for the order anymore so you insisted on helping Sirius clean it up.

Though you couldn't wash away the painful memories of his childhood, it didn't mean you couldn't try. Harry was old enough to live on his own now but after years apart he and Sirius wanted to catch up on lost time. The first order of business you planned was putting that horrid painting of Mrs. Black in the basement. It took a lot of spells to detach her from the wall but the relief that came across Sirius' face once she was gone was worth it. The two of you worked together tirelessly to bring brightness into the home for the first time since it was built. The Black family tree tapestry was peeled off and replaced with a fresh coat of white paint and a photo wall.

Photos of James, Lily, Marlene and other friends lost over the years lined the wall and memories flooded your senses. There were moments in time captured that reminded you of easier days. Your times at Hogwarts. Your summers at the Potters. You, Sirius and Remus, admired your handy work on the wall. You three had lost so much but the thankfulness you felt to still have each other was beyond you. Sirius wrapped his arm around you and pressed a kiss to your temple. Remus excused himself to spend time with Teddy, leaving you and your love alone. "Should we start clearing out some of the rooms?" You suggested despite not wanting to leave Sirius' side just yet.

He hummed in confirmation before (rather reluctantly) letting you go. The house had been empty and cold for years so in an attempt to revive it Harry, Remus, Tonks and baby Teddy were due to move in. You two started with the guest room that would become a nursery for Teddy. Magic made cleaning much easier but being around Sirius meant more time joking around than actually being productive.

"This whole bloody house smells like dirty boxes." He said with a huff and a wave of his hand to open the window.

The two of you sat for longer than you'd like to admit trying to put a crib together the muggle way. Soon you gave up and used magic, much to Sirius' dismay who insisted "it'll just be 5 more minutes". With a wave of your wand, the walls were coloured a soft sage green compared to the drab mud brown it was before. Things were finally coming together.

"Do you wonder what it's like?" Sirius asked as he set a few toys out onto the shelves.

"What what's like?" You asked from your spot at the bookshelf.

"Being a parent." He clarified.

You shrugged and put down your copy of ABCs with Merlin. "I suppose... I kind of assume I won't have kids. I'm too old now."

"Nonsense!" He replied quickly.

You raised your brows and crossed your arms. "I know you're about to mention something about Moony but shall I remind you he didn't carry the child?" You countered.

"You make it sound like you're ancient." He scoffed. "Don't rule it out, darling."

You let out a laugh and returned to your task of sorting the shelves. "It takes two to have a baby and I don't exactly have a lineup of people wanting to impregnate me.”

"I sure hope not." He said incredulously. "Now, what colour should the walls in the master room be?"

You furrowed your brows. What on earth did he mean by I sure hope not? Instead of letting yourself dwell on it later, you decided to outright ask him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He looked perplexed. "What? The colour of the master room?"

"No, no... that you sure hope there isn't people lined up for me?" You said crossing your arms a tad defensively.

Sirius, to put things simply, had a habit of being rude sometimes without realizing it. So, you were expecting a backhanded comment about your looks or a joke about how long you've been single. "Well, wouldn't exactly be the best for my odds." He said with a chuckle. "Now, the room colour." He repeated holding the swatches up.

"To hell with the swatches Sirius! What are you talking about!" You all but yelled at him. Was this a joke? Did he find out you were in love with him and decided to subtly tease you about it? How had he even figured it out? You felt yourself going into overdrive. You were going to kill Moony. He had to be the one to tell him after all!

"The swatch is for your room too so it does matter," Sirius said bewildered.

"What?"

"What?" He repeated making you huff. He could be so frustrating sometimes.

"What do you mean my room?"

"Well, it's gonna be our room." He clarified.

You were surprised if that's what you could call it. Sirius thought you were moving in? And sharing a room with him? What on earth was happening? "Sirius, I'm not living here? I thought it was just you, Harry and Moonys family?"

"What? Why? It's meant to be a family home!" He protested with a pout that reminded you of the ones he wore as a student not getting his way with Professor McGonagall.

"We don't have room for me if Teddy has his own room. He'll need one as he grows up." You explained.

"That makes no sense! We would share a room."

"Why the hell would we share a room? We're adults we can't just be dormmates like we're kids." You said and he gave you a disgruntled look. “We've been sharing beds for 20 years why does it matter now?" He rebutted and crossed his arms.

"Don't you want privacy?" You asked.

"For what? We're dating so I don't see why you're being so weird about this."

Now that shocked you.

"DATING?" You shouted and he chuckled softly as he took a step towards you. "Since bloody when?"

"Well, we've had a weird relationship for 20 years I just assumed? Two wars change people." He said and you gaped at him.

"Bloody hell Sirius." You said rubbing your temples. This was not how you expected to find out your feelings were returned. Was this his loneliness speaking? His trauma?

"I'm sorry if I overstepped in thinking that..." He said rubbing the back of his neck and losing his confidence. He became sheepish under your scrutiny. Maybe it wasn't so outlandish of him to assume that. You two did kiss and cuddle a fair bit more than the average friends. But Sirius had always been fond of physical affection with his friends and you chalked it up to that. You honestly never expected him to feel the same way you did.

"I-" You began before swallowing down in an attempt to collect your thoughts. "-You weren't wrong. I just never really thought you'd feel that way about me."

He scoffed. "I've felt that way since we were in 5th year!"

"That makes no bloody sense! You hooked up with half the damn school but didn't look at me." You scoffed back.

"Because I was trying to hide my feelings like a dumb teenage boy! It killed me seeing you all over Peter so I deflected the only way I knew how." He countered. You rolled your eyes. You and Peter had gone out twice before realizing you were better off as friends.

"You don't get to do this Sirius. You can't just say you've liked me for more than 20 damn years and not made a move." You said pointing your finger at him accusingly.

"Need I remind you I was in prison for half of it. And I just asked what colour you want our room to be." He replied with a huff.

You were silent. He wasn't wrong after all but in your overflow of emotions, you chose to place all the blame on him. "I..." You looked down. "I'm sorry. I just always thought I wasn't your type."

He took a step closer and gently held your shoulders. "It's my fault for not letting you know how utterly in love with you I am."

Hearing those words come out of his mouth shot electricity through your body. It was a euphoric feeling you could definitely get used to feeling all the time. You looked up at him and cupped his cheek softly. For the first time, you realized the way you looked at him was the same way he looked at you: with utter love and devotion. You were so worried about not letting your feelings for him spill that you didn't realize you'd been dating the man of your dreams this whole time. The man you'd longed for but thought was unattainable.

"I love you too..." You said through happy tears. "I have for so long."

"Now darling, what colour for our bedroom?" He said with a perfect smirk and a kiss to your temple.

It took two wars but you and Sirius were creating the silly little family you always dreamed of.

taglist: @writing-wh0re

#sirius black x reader #sirius black #sirius black one shot #marauders #marauders x reader

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fromthedeskofelizabeththird · 4 years ago

Text

Habanero

You're a good girl, well behaved.

Absolutely not the type to rail random guys in nightclubs.

Until you are.

Fandom: BNHA

Pairing: Polyamorous Erasermic x Reader

Rating: Some references to explicitness towards the end

Trigger Warnings: None in this chapter.

AO3: Here | Want to support me? I have a Kofi

Chapter: 16/16 (all chapters)

You were proud of your home.

You had painted the walls yourself, built cupboards and shelves and painted those too. You’d crocheted your own throw blanket and stuffed every single cushion you owned.

You had made room in one corner for a moses basket and built a wine rack for when you had adult guests over.

It was warm and cosy and you often found yourself dozing off on the couch.

Today, in fact, was such an occasion. You opened your eyes to soft light, snuggled up in the same position as when you returned from work. You had taken off your coat and shoes and set aside your purse, meaning to take a couple of minutes before getting up to make dinner.

Clearly, that had not gone according to plan. You sat up with a wince and rubbed the spots of your back that had grown stiff. How long had you been asleep?

You moved to get up from the chair but that was easier said than done. You were, after all, extremely pregnant and even if your center of gravity wasn’t completely displaced, navigating your swollen belly was getting increasingly difficult.

This was your last week at work before you left for maternity leave and you’d be lying if you said you weren’t glad. Your nesting instincts had hit you hard within the past month or so and you’d reshuffled the furniture more times than you could count.

Nezu had been more than accommodating when he brought staff members into the dorms on site. Your dormitories were more like apartment complexes than the shared halls the students lived in. Your apartment was built to very specific requirements, namely that it was sound proofed and made from two apartments merged into one larger one, with doors connecting them together. There was enough room for Hizashi to do his radio show, for a home office, a bedroom for Eri and, more recently, a nursery.

Eri had a room to the left of yours, specifically chosen for easy access when she had nightmares and needed reassurance. You chose the room on the right of yours for the baby. Eri had offered to share her room, though you got the feeling she didn’t understand much about babies in general, let alone night time feeds and diaper changes.

You could hear three sets of voices coming from the nursery and you waddled towards it, clasping one hand over your belly and the other on your hip for balance.

Hizashi, Shouta and Eri were in the middle of building a crib, Hizashi leaning over the half finished frame, Shouta holding out tools and Eri sitting cross legged in the nursing chair, squinting at an upside down set of instructions.

“Are you sure that’s the right screw?”

“Positive.”

“It’s just that...I need five of them. How many do you have there?”

“One.”

Hizashi was a lot better at DIY projects than Shouta, thanks in part to how much of his time he spent building sound rigs and fixing his equipment. You could have lingered in the doorway forever, just watching them, though your back and ankles were already beginning to protest.

“Having fun?”

Eri gasped in happiness at the sight of you standing there, launching herself out of the nursing chair and reaching for your hand.

“We’re building the baby’s bed,” she said, hopping on the spot as you lowered yourself into the chair. “They’re following my instructions!”

“So I see,” you said. “Looks like you’re being very helpful!”

“We couldn’t do it without ya, Eri,” said Hizashi, before turning back to Shouta. “How many do you have now?”

“ One .”

“That can’t be right.”

Hizashi sat up and shuffled across to Shouta, counting out the screws and other materials.

“One,” he said, turning the screw over in his hand. “Why would they only give us one ?"

“Probably so we’d have to go back and spend more money,” said Shouta.

You sat back in your chair and rubbed your hand over your belly, glancing round at the near complete nursery. Everyone had contributed something; all four of you (and several others) had made your mark on this room.

Hizashi had assembled just about everything, from the changing station to the bookcase to the nursing chair you were currently sitting in. The very same day you told him you were pregnant, he came home with an armful of toys, almost all of which were sound related and certainly far too advanced for a newborn, though he refused to hear it. He’d also bought a music player and specialised headphones so that he could play music or voice recordings through your belly. It had become his favourite thing to do ever since your bump got noticeable, mostly because it almost never failed to make the baby kick.

Eri (under supervision, of course) had painted rainbows, clouds and kitties on the walls, as well as a picture of her and the baby enjoying a basket of apples. She didn’t know much about babies, much less what this one would look like, so her painting looked a little like a potato. She’d been something of a bad influence on Shouta, too, who couldn’t refuse her at the best of times, much less when she was pointing out cute onesies.

Shouta supplied almost all of the stuffed animals in the room, as well as the mobile you planned to hang above the cot. You hadn’t realised just how many baby toys, clothes and equipment were cat themed until Shouta bought almost all of them.

Nemuri’s gift lurked in the corner; an enormous teddy bear with glass eyes and a tartan scarf. It was almost as tall as you were and possibly the most hideous thing you had ever seen, but she and Hizashi had both smiled so widely when she brought it over that you had had little choice but to put it next to the bookshelf.

Your colleagues at UA (with the exception of Shouta and Hizashi for obvious reasons) had gifted you a storybook, with buttons at the side. They had recorded themselves speaking the lines and sometimes, when you wanted a giggle, you pulled it off the shelf and pressed the buttons yourself.

You had overseen everything without picking up quite as many individual items, though in your defense you were contributing the baby.

“That reminds me,” you said aloud without meaning to, “just a second…”

You had done something a little special, something you had been working on for weeks and couldn’t wait to hand over.

You climbed up out of the chair and waddled into the bedroom, coming back with a box you’d gone so far as to wrap with a ribbon.

“What is it, doll?”

“I got the test results back a few weeks ago,” you said with a grin, holding the box out towards them. “I was wondering how to tell you...so I made this.”

Due to your somewhat unique circumstances, you had gone through much of your pregnancy without knowing the identity of the father. You knew it was either Shouta or Hizashi, but couldn’t put that on the birth certificate.

You’d sent samples of your blood and Hizashi and Shouta’s saliva to be tested, though as far as they knew, that was where the story ended.

Both of them eyed the box in your arms, knowing that whatever was inside it would change the course of your futures. One of them was about to become a father, biologically speaking.

Eri didn’t fully understand the situation, but she did understand the concept of presents.

“Can I see?” she cried out.

“Sure, sweetie, why don’t you open it?”

You handed the box to Eri and sat back down in your nursing chair, watching in anticipation as she unfastened the ribbon and lifted the lid.

Maybe it was the hormones, but you’d been thinking about Ego a lot lately. You remembered glasses shattering against the floor, remembered your heart shattering into just as many pieces.

“It’s a onesie,” Eri cried out, dragging the black fabric out of the box.

“Sure is, honeybun,” said Hizashi. “What else is in there?”

It had been years since that night at the bar that changed everything and up until then you hadn’t been the biggest believer in destiny.

“Look,” said Eri, dragging out a small, grey strip of fabric, “it’s a scarf! Oooh, and there’s goggles!”

“That’s right! It’s a hero costume.”

You remembered how long you had shivered inside of a toilet stall, scrubbing away a stranger’s cum. You’d panicked, the reality of what you had done sinking in. You had never been so happy as when you got your next period; you didn’t even complain about the breakout and hellish cramps that came along with it.

You planted a hand on your belly, unable to stroke your son’s hair and so settling for his general vicinity.

Needless to say, you were a believer now.

#erasermic x reader #poly!erasermic #aizawa shouta x reader #hizashi yamada x reader #present mic x reader #habanero

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moodys-art · 4 years ago

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heyy, so requests are open and i am just so needy of attention.... maybe bucci gang headcanons of they helping you falling sleep, anyway thank you so much and you write very well <3

Hi, thanks for your requests! I just finished writing that while heading off to sleep, so,,, mood

Bucci Gang helping you fall asleep

Bruno Bucciarati

Bruno makes sure you stick to a regular sleep schedule. He doesn't want you to get distracted by your work or your phone just before bed time.

If you are difficult to convince, he sets up your shared room into a cozier place. You don't like complete darkness ? He buys fairy lights and hangs them onto the walls. He also invests in quality blankets : if Bruno has to spend a lot of money on your well-being, then so be it. He’ll do it within the blink of an eye.

Bruno knows a few relaxation techniques, and may help you to adjust your breathing and making you calmer.

If you still have trouble, he's be there for you as long as you need to. He wraps up an arm around your face and talks to you until you eyelids flutter shut.

Leone Abbacchio

If you can’t sleep and keep moving under the sheets, Abba simply carries you to the living room,and makes you sit on the sofa. He quickly brings two cups of camomile tea for the two of you and settles to your side.

He’s willing to rub your back consistently, if that’s what soothes you. Abba also likes to play with your hair while some relaxing jazz music is playing in the background.

In the end, if you really don’t get sleepy, he’s willing to watch a movie with you. The two of you bundle up in a warm plaid. If you bring your plushee/teddy bear, you two take turns to hug it. Leone will never admit it, but hugging your teddy bear brings him HUGE comfort.

You end up falling asleep on Abba’s shoulder. After he turns off the tv, he can’t help but to fall asleep too.

Giorno Giovanna

In my mind, Giorno’s not the type to have a regular sleep schedule. As a don, he now has lots of work.

However, if he sees you are not getting quite good sleep yourself, it might worry him to the point where he puts aside some of his work to come to your rescue.

“What’s going on, amore? Oh, can’t sleep, huh.” Let him get under the covers and embrace you in his arms. He hums some songs, plays with your hair, traces patterns over your arms, anything. He even calls GER for it to create a wildlife-like environment.

The flowers and lights surrounding you quickly get the best of you, and you finally drift off to a peaceful sleep.

Guido Mista

Mista’s the best at hugging you to sleep. His body is always very warm, so when winter gets the best of you, your boyfriend makes you know that he’s right there by your side, and that everything is going to be okay.

He might talk to you and ramble about things as he usually do, but he slowly stops and just settles for watching you, admiring you.

The Pistols may nuzzle to your sides, under your chin, giving you some hugs and kisses. Their breathing rhythm soon lulls you too sleep, and that’s one of the things that makes Mista really proud of his stand.

He’ll give you a slopy smooch on the forehead, but if you ever notice it, shh, that’s a secret ! “Babe, what ?! No, you were dreamiinggg !”, and then this dork proceeds to wink forcefully.

Narancia Ghirga

He gathers all the pillows, covers, plaids, and plushees he can find. You two end up all bundled up in a comfy pile of soft textures. Narancia is softly buzzing, cheeks blushy and almost giving in to sleep already. But he’s hanging onto consciousness because he wants you to fall asleep too.

His warm body comforts you enough for you to relax a bit more. He talks to you about video games and pizza toppings until you fall asleep. As you nuzzle into the croock of his neck, barely bothered by his messy hair spread all over the pillows, he’ll let out a sigh of contentment and fall asleep just after you.

Pannacotta Fugo

Knowing that you can’t sleep unsettles him. He himself dealt with many, many sleepless nights, and you going through the same thing ? He’s having none of it.

Fugo actually does everything he can just so you can sleep. He’s a decent cooker, so he makes sure to prepare you a healthy dinner.

No screens allowed in his room. Just help yourself and pick up a book from his shelve, he doesn’t care, as long as you’re not exhausting yourself on social media.

He scratches your hair and makes sure you’re comfortable, happy, and relaxed.

Trish Una

By the end of the evening, Trish is already preparing for bed. She likes to get her sleep hours so she always get to bed early.

With her, you don’t have to worry about anything. Why ? Because she has a night-time routine, and if you happen to have trouble sleeping, she’ll introduce you to it.

First of all, a good bath can’t do any harm. She allows you to use her colorful bath bombs, lotions, creams, anything that you want. Trish is likely to advise you on the many products she owns, so that you can use relaxing ones.

Now, you have to put on comfy pajamas. It’s a first step towards getting a good night’s sleep. She regularly scrolls the pajamas section of her favourite e-shop, so be prepared to have more than one pajamas to wear.

When you two are in bed, she’ll sing you a lullaby (actually the most beautiful thing you’ve ever heard).

#jojo x reader #jjba headcanons #jjba x reader #fugo x reader #mista x reader #narancia x reader #abbacchio x reader #bruno bucciarati x reader #jojo's bizarre adventure #jojo no kimyou na bouken

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lombredanslaeu · 5 years ago

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softly | lee taeyong

▸ mafia! taeyong x reader, mafia! nct

▸ warnings: smut, fluff, angst

Lee Taeyong was always known as the no-nonsense boss of the no-nonsense mafia, NCT. He crawled his way through fire and blood to put his team to the top of the chain. Contrary to popular belief, Taeyong isn’t fond of playing around with women unless he sees a future with them and he isn’t one to put something before his work. On another note, Kim Y/N was always protected by her older brother, Kim Doyoung - one of NCT’s hitmen. She is the only family Doyoung has left so he invested in keeping sure she is always away from harm; with his wealth, it was not a problem at all. Doyoung also kept Y/N away from his field and from his comrades - no matter how much he trust them. But a pest investation in their university dorm forced Y/N to live in the NCT Mansion for the mean time.

Taeyong’s presence shouldn’t bother you as much but it does. The only interaction you’ve had with him was during your first night at the mansion. You made eye contact with him during dinner and it would be a lie to say that his stares never ran through your thoughts every night. It was the finals week in university and you only needed a few work done before you could enjoy the summer break. With Doyoung as your brother, you never got to enjoy the so-called “college life”. It was a shame to admit that you are a bit innocent to things people your age are exposed to because your brother never allowed you to go out after 9:00 pm. He makes up for it by going on trips with you overseas during your school breaks.

You noticed the time was almost midnight. You stretched your back and felt the sweet relief after hunching on your desk, writing an essay for almost three hours now. You became thirsty so you decided to go down and get a glass of whatever you could find. The men in the house was kind enough to stuff their huge refrigerator with food during your arrival. According to Yangyang, it was always empty; except for like an apple or something. You looked for something to drink inside.

“Warm milk is best for falling asleep,” a voice spoke behind you. You pivoted and saw Taeyong. His presence immediately made your cheeks flush. This feeling was foreign to you and you blame it on his magnetic eyes and beautiful bone structure. “Here, I’ll warm some up for you.”

“Oh, I can do it,” you immediately offered, worried that you might be keeping him away from doing something. “You might be doing something and I don’t wanna bother you.”

He remained silent, as if he never heard you, and continued on getting a pan from the shelves. Before you could repeat what you said, he spoke. “I don’t help anyone warming their milk so just accept it.”

You kept your mouth shut. Even though he is dressed in pajamas decorated with ducks, he still radiated dominance over everything. That thought made you feel funny somewhere. You decided to sit on the kitchen island as you watched him heat the milk up. While he waited for it to finish, he sat opposite to you.

Taeyong has always found you attractive. He noticed the pink flush that covered your cheeks when you first came to the mansion. It wasn’t in his nature to fall for the soft ones - he always preferred the fiesty ones. All he wanted to do from the very beginning was to touch your skin but he kept his composure that day. It’s only been two weeks since your arrival but all he thought about every night since your arrival is how would you look on your knees, in front of him.

“Do you usually stay up this late?” He asked, wanting to get to know you better. Despite what others might label him, he actually enjoyed getting to know people.

“I’m in university, it’s natural for us to stay late.” You responded. “I’m currently writing an essay for my class. That’s why I’m up this late.”

“What is it all about?” He asked. You furrowed your eyebrows at his sudden curiosity. For the short time you’ve been around him, he never seemed like he gave a shit about you.

“It’s about Othello.” You replied. “It sounds like a high school thing to do but it’s the topic of the class.”

“I like Shakespeare.” He stated. “If you want, I could help you.”

The two of you became close that night. It was also the first time you heard him laugh. He helped you finish your essay. The following nights made you two bond more. The mornings are always hectic for everyone - even you, with your classes and errands. You would go home earlier than any of the men and it won’t be until around 7:00 PM do you see them arrive one by one. The rest of the night would always end up with you and Taeyong doing something together; whatever you both end up doing that night, you found yourself happy and comfortable. There was a night where he asked you to watch a movie with him. He helped you bring your favorite blanket and teddy bear to his room; and yes, he uncontrollably laughed at the fact that you still needed a teddy bear to help you sleep. That revelation ended with him jokingly calling you “baby��. You found yourself a little closer to him that you expected to be. Your shoulder overlapping his as you sat on his bed watching the movie.

Taeyong looked at your side profile as your eyes was fixated to the screen of his laptop. Each time he lays his eyes upon you, he is reminded that there is beauty in this destructive world. You were too pure to be held by someone like him. His hands are tainted with the ghosts of every man he killed and he thinks they’re undeserving to touch you. He was just a mere mortal and you are like a deity that he longs so much to reach. You noticed him staring and you took every bravery you have to match his stare. Before you know it, his lips are moving against yours and his palm on the side of your face. It was a foreign feeling. No one has kissed or touched you like this before. Despite your lack of experience, you found yourself replicating the movements of his lips. You wanted so bad to be good enough for him. As if on instinct, you leaned closer to his touch as your hands searched their way through his hair. As he was about to push you to lay down, your phone alarm interrupted you both. It was time to you to head back to your room before Doyoung wakes up. You smiled at him, to assure him that you wanted it. He kissed you one last time, as if to remind you that this will happen again, before letting you leave his room.

You left school earlier than you usually do. You finished all the work needed for your classes and you didn’t have any lectures anymore. It was a Friday so it was natural for the boys to be at home. You wanted to show Taeyong the good score you got for the Othello essay. The memories of the previous night made your veins alive. As you were approaching his office, the faint sound of screaming entered your ears. The door to Taeyong’s office was slightly ajar, allowing you to see what was going inside. You saw him standing from his seat and as calm as his face was, the words that left his mouth said otherwise. An older man was seated in front of his joke, trying so hard to be heard but Taeyong’s angry rebuttals prevented him to do so.

“I told you, it’s not always that there’s a malfunct-” before the old man could continue, Taeyong cut him off with a threat.

“If you don’t shut the fuck and leave this room, so help me God, I will put a bullet through your skull.” Taeyong said with conviction. The look on his face and the tone of his threat sparked fear in your heart. Taeyong has always looked cold and domineering when he’s outside of his comfort zone. It was only at night you seem him smile and relax. The man hurriedly exited the office, leaving the door widely open which made your figure visible to Taeyong’s vision.

“I- you weren’t suppose to see that,” He started, sitting back down on his chair before sighing. Seeing the stress and frustration in his demeanor, all you wanted to do was to kiss him until he forgets about whatever it was that made him angry.

“Is there anything I could do to help?” You asked, softly. Taeyong was glad he had such a lovely presence right now.

“Sit on my lap.” He ordered. There was something dominant about his tone, but he still never failed to make it soft for you. You obliged; all you wanted right now was to help him relax. You made yourself comfortable in his lap as you linked your arm around his shoulders. His fingers brushed away the hair from your face as he looked into your eyes. His lips found yours in no time. You grew confidence with your kissing abilities. His hands found themselves from your waist down to the skin of your thigh that your skirt provided. He helped you put your knees on the sides of his hips so that you could straddle him. You gasped lightly as you feel him underneath you. You brief stories about this man and never once in your life did you think that you would be in this position. You moaned into the kiss as his fingers found themselves under your skirt.

Taeyong couldn’t bear it anymore. His length was hardening within his slacks but he knew better than you fuck you immediately. He knew this was your first time and the thought of him being the first one to feel you - to touch you like this - made his ego inflate. With his hands supporting your ass, he lifted you and set you down on his desk. For a moment, he felt like it was inappropriate to take you for the first time in his desk but he really can’t be bothered to walk to his room.

“Can I take this off?” He asked, his own question foreign to him. Usually, he would take off anyone’s blouse without question. But you were his baby - he wanted to put you first before himself. You gave him permission to strip you off all your clothing and he took off his as well. You gawked at his body. The sight of his muscles overwhelmed you but definitely made you burn to your core.

“Like what you see?” He smirks. You felt yourself become embarrassed and lowered yourself in hopes of avoiding his eyes. He noticed how you became shy and held your face, before leaning down and capturing your lips with his. His hand trailed down to the waist band of your underwear as he slowly peeled them away. Once there was nothing between him and your core, you closed your legs from embarrassment. He chuckled and placed his hands on your knees.

“Open up, baby, I won’t hurt you…” he said, as he slowly opened your legs to reveal your moist pussy. “…yet.”

His fingers opened your folds and his eyes devoured your pink matter.

“You’re so wet for me, baby,” He praised. “I can’t believe no one has fucked you before. You’re so hot.”

You squirmed at his words. You feel yourself become wetter and needier. You wanted him to touch you so bad and he’s still not doing that. “Please, Taeyong,…”

His head shot up at your words. Your begging was like the angels singing. He wanted to hear you say more of it.

“I can’t hear you, baby, what did you say?” He teased. His palms running up and down your legs, the sensation bringing more heat to your core.

“Please…please,” Then, you said something that drove the beast inside him nuts. “Ruin me.”

He wasted no time but to push two digits into your pussy. He moaned at how tight you felt. His cock grew needier each moment he feels your velvet walls clench around his fingers.

“You think your tight, virgin pussy can handle me?” He spoke, his face dangerously close to yours as he kissed your neck. You wanted to push his face away from your neck. You knew it could cause hickeys and you weren’t sure you wanted Doyoung, or anyone, to know you were fucking their leader. “Can you be my good babygirl and take all of it?”

“Yes, yes,” You breathed, desperate for him - all of him. “I’ll be your good girl.”

He smiled proudly at the sight of you begging for him. The first night he met you all he wanted to do was ruin you. “This will hurt, baby.”

You whimpered. You felt his tip enter your folds. You grip his shoulder tightly as he kissed your face to help ease the discomfort. “Tell me if you want me to stop.”

He took his time, letting you adjust inch by inch. It wasn’t look till you’re full of him. He hasn’t moved, letting you savor him for a while before doing so. He groaned at how tight you felt. It was like you were made for him. He started to move slowly. You hissed at the sudden movement but he immediately comforted you by kissing you. His pace grew faster each time and soon the pain you felt was shadowed by pleasure. You felt like it was a sin to feel this good.

“Moan for me, baby, let them know who you belong to,” he stated. Usually, you would be appalled at how men thinks women are their objects. But here you are, fully accepting to yourself that you belonged to him. You obliged him, like you always do. His thrusts are faster than before, hitting you in the right spot and leaving you breathless. You felt a knot tightening within you and it’s aching to be released.

“Tae, I’m…” you couldn’t continue what you were about to say as your mind was clouded with lust.

“Go on, baby, cum all over me,” He said. And what he says, you will do. You felt your orgasm rock over your system as you clenched your walls around him. His pace was still controlled and quick.

“Can I come inside you?” You nodded at his questions. It wasn’t long until you felt him coat your walls with his cum. Your walls clenching for the last time at the sensation. He stayed inside for a while before pulling out. He watched his release leak from your tight pussy.

“Are you okay?” He asked, his eyes filled with concern as he stroked your hair. You nodded, still unable to form words. He lifts you and placed you back on his lap, where he held you close for a while.

Your relationship didn’t remain hidden for so long. Everyone was shocked but was still happy for the two of you; especially, to their leader who found true love after all this time. They vowed to remain loyal to you as they are loyal to Taeyong. Your brother, on the other hand, acted like any brother would. He was furious that you two had sex before even having a first official date. He was mad for a solid hour but in the end, he was glad it was Taeyong you fell in love with. Being with the leader of the top mafia meant extra security and protection. If you think Doyoung’s protectiveness over you couldn’t be topped, it definitely was when you met Taeyong. Your friends invited you to go to Jeju for the summer break. You wanted so desperately to have fun and be out of the house for a while. Doyoung couldn’t take you overseas because he was deployed to do surveillance work with Haechan in Busan. And Tayeong, being the leader, was always busy. Your friends knew you would say no but you appreciated how they always ask you, nevertheless. You felt sad that you missed out on such a fun adventure but Taeyong assured you he will make up for it once time was right.

The beginning of the new semester was fast approaching. It was a peaceful evening when Taeyong found you deciding what classes you should take for the semester. His heart felt heavy with the weight of the question he was about to ask you. He didn’t know whether you would like it or not and the mere thought of you being angry at him, scared him to the core.

“What do you mean I have to quit school?” Your smiley exterior was immediately replaced with a serious frown. Taeyong hated having to explain himself. But he needed you understand where he’s coming from.

“Y/N, we’re in a serious relationship now. Being Doyoung’s sister was already a risk for you. What more if the rivals find out that we’re together? You will be put into a much greater risk than you already are.” He explained.

You were tired of this. Tired of being treated like a baby. Tired of always missing out trips and fun things with your friends. You never blamed Doyoung for taking this work and you will never blame Taeyong. However, if he can’t find it in himself to protect you - with the skill and power he possess - then, he shouldn’t have bothered you at all. Education was seriously important to you. You worked your way to get accepted in a university with a low acceptance rate. You were on top of the class and never missed one lecture from any professor. That was how serious you took your education; it was something no one could take away from you.

“I’m not quitting university.” You stated with finality. You saw Taeyong’s face become frustrated but you didn’t care.

He rubbed his face with his hands before talking again. “Y/N. I care so much for you. I know how much this will affect you. But, I can’t risk your safety.”

You weren’t accepting any excuse. He could take away your liberty of having fun outside this mansion but no one could take your liberty of finishing college. You felt so conflicted that you wanted to cry. You love Taeyong. You want to be with him until you die. He made you feel things you didn’t believe in before. He made you feel wanted and beautiful. But, you also had dreams; dreams that you established for yourself way before you met him.

The semester starts within a week and you needed to go back to the city to fix some stuff before classes start. Your building management already informed you that it was now safe to move back. The conversation that you and Taeyong had a couple nights prior was still unsettled. He took it as a sign that you were okay with his idea but the sight of your boxes and bags packed and ready to go told him otherwise.

“Where are you going?” He started.

“I need to go back to the city to fix some stuff before school.” You replied. “I’ll just get these things settled and I’ll go back here later tonight.”

“Didn’t we discuss this already?” His brows furrowed. Yangyang, who was helping you pack, grew nervous about Taeyon’s demeanor so he excused himself out.

“Yeah, we did.” You stated. “I’m not quitting university. I can come back here every weekend-”

“You really don’t listen, do you?” He cut you off. “I’m doing this to protect you. I love you, Y/N. I know this is a huge decision for you but I expected you to understand.”

“I love you too.” You responded, making relief come to his nerves. But, that didn’t last long. With tears in your eyes, you begged for him to let you go. “I’m not leaving university. I have dreams, goals that I want to achieve. If you love me, you would let me have that.”

“If you love me, you would stay here and keep yourself from harm. I can’t lose you, you know that.” Frustration was evident in his voice. You were scared to see where this is going but you stood your ground.

“I don’t think you love me enough to take the risk.” You started, surprisingly calm despite the rage of emotions inside you. “and I don’t think I love you enough to scratch my future for you.”

You turned around from him, and head outside to go to the city.

The following nights you expected him to call. You called yourself dumb for even thinking that. He was a mafia boss; he had a huge ego and pride. You missed the way his skin felt against yours. You missed him and slowly, you started to think that maybe this was bad idea. The urge to call him first and tell him you wanted to go home to him was overpowering you. You reached for your phone and you noticed an email notification from one of the renowned companies in your field, offering you an internship.

You hoped someone would magically whisper what to do. Taeyong gave you a summer to remember. Within just a few months, he gave you a dreamy love story. You lived like you were on a dream.

That’s the problem with falling in love with dream boys. Sooner or later, you have to wake up.

a/n: hey! this is my first time writing a smut scene so pls be kind hehe i actually dont know if i’ll keep this fic up since im kinda lowkey not happy with it. idk lemme know what u think hehe

#lee taeyong #taeyong x reader #taeyong x you #taeyong imagines #nct taeyong #taeyong angst #taeyong smut #nct smut #nct imagines #nct scenarios #nct drabbles #lee taeyong imagines #lee taeyong x reader

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jemej3m · 4 years ago

Text

Pull To Talk

uhh heres a toystory au no one asked for

When Junior was picked up from the gutter, all he could think was: shit. He plastered on his neutral face and let his limbs go limp.

“Kevin,” a adult woman scolded. “Put that down!”

“Mom,” pleaded the kid. “It’s Junior! He’s limited edition!”

“Kevin,” his mother warned. “It’s probably someone else’s.”

“No name on the tag,” Kevin reasoned. “The whole story is that whoever finds him gives him a name and a story. But this one is blank!”

“I would rather you not bring home a doll covered in gutter gunk,” she said, though it seemed she knew she had lost the fight. “Fine. Make sure this one doesn’t get lost, okay? Like Jean.”

“I won’t,” Kevin said, opening up his backpack and depositing Junior within.

“Well?” his mother asked. “What do you want to name him?”

The boy hummed, and then said: “Neil.”

The boy’s room was miraculously neat: Neil had never been inside a child’s room before, but he’d done some calculated guesswork and Kevin didn’t quite fit in.

It wasn’t until he’d been positioned by Kevin’s bed. He had a window shelf dedicated to his toys, where they remained still and perfectly positioned. He didn’t have many and Neil didn’t recognise any of the models. None of them came from his franchise or line: that was a relief. He didn’t particularly feel like interacting with a Lola or DiMaccio anytime soon, especially seeing as he’d only just sewn his limbs back on a few days prior.

His story was simple: a comic surrounding his father’s midnight murders evolved into the story of a missing mother and her son. Whilst Mary’s narrative was well hashed out - a brother, a terrible decision leading to a violent marriage - running away with 5 million dollars - her son’s story was kept a mystery. Junior dolls were far and few between, seeing as he didn’t feature much in the Wesninski comics. The kids who purchased Junior dolls were meant to give him a name and a story. It wasn’t up to him.

That was fine by Neil, so long as he was kept well away from his father and his many cronies.

Kevin nudged over a plastic doll dressed up in hip-hop gear with a bandana holding back her short curls, positioning Neil against the window.

“Welcome home,” Kevin said. His mother called him to lunch, so he gave Neil a gentle pat on the head and darted off.

The doll beside him slumped immediately. “Jesus, does he have to put me in such difficult positions every time?”

“You can’t whine,” said a blonde Bratz doll as she kicked off her extremely tall heels and slumped to the floor. “Those shoes are a crime.”

“Are we all just going to ignore the fact that Kevin brought home someone new?” cheered a teddy bear, ambling over. He was a bit worn and thin, but the twinkle in his eye was just as bright as the rainbow ribbon around his neck. “Hi there! I’m Nicky!”

Neil just blinked.

“Don’t mind him,” said the hip-hop dancer. “He’s always like that. I’m an old DAN5ER model. Dan for short. It’s nice to meet you.” She held out her hand: her elbow squeaked as Neil hesitantly shook it.

“I don’t remember a looker like you on the shelves,” the Bratz doll remarked, hopping over on foot-less stumps. She pinched Neil’s cheek and looked into his eyes. “Hm. Real glass beads. Aren’t you just fancy?”

“That’s Allison,” Dan sighed.

A Madeline doll ambled over. She had white hair that a child - not Kevin, for it was far too messy - had coloured in with various textas and a pinafore dress. “I’m Renee. We’re glad to have you here. It’s been a while since Kevin has brought someone new home.”

“Why?” Neil looked between the curious faces of Kevin’s other toys. “Was it Jean? His mother mentioned Kevin losing him.”

By their reactions, he could tell he’d hit the nail.

“Cutthroat,” came a new voice. “How refreshing.”

Neil looked up and saw a small, blonde figurine, perched on top of a stack of books. His features were angular and he wore all black. Beside him was a toy identical to the first but obviously a different model: he had different clothes and hairstyle, and was wearing glasses.

The first blonde figurine hopped off the books and landed at Neil’s feet, standing up from his crouch with a slight stiffness to his knees. The sleeves of his jumper were pulled to his wrists, where he wore little black fingerless gloves.

“Where’d he find you, then? Garage sale? School? You didn’t come with no packaging.” A finger prodded Neil’s deflated shoulder. “A little worse for wear, too. Maybe he just saved you from landfill.”

“Andrew,” said the Renee doll. “He’s only new.”

“Right,” he said. Neil watched with horror as his head spun around, showing a secondary face etched into the back of the figurine’s head. Andrew’s second expression was a twisted grimace that looked more like forced laughter than genuine happiness. “Welcome! We’re sure as hell excited to have less space on the shelf, but at least there’s a new target for Riko’s twisted attention! Great to have you. Hopefully you won’t last long!”

Neil shot a look at Dan, who only rolled her lips into her mouth in response, turning away.

Andrew’s head twisted back around, his bored expression far more palatable than his false euphoria. He glanced at the Renee doll and jerked his head: together they jumped off the shelf, onto Kevin’s bed and then down the crack between the mattress and the wall.

“That was Andrew,” Dan said, sounding tired. “His twin, Aaron, is still up there.”

“Won’t you come say hi, Aaron?” Nicky called out. Aaron just shuffled away from the edge of the book stack in response, disappearing out of sight.

“Matt’s still not back,” Allison pointed back. “If he’s not here by the time Kevin gets back from lunch, the kid is bound to notice.”

“He’ll be back.” At Neil’s arched eyebrow, Dan explained. “Matt’s my boyfriend. He keeps watch just in case Riko comes over.”

Neil didn’t understand. He’d only seen Kevin and his mother here. Who was Riko? “What about Kevin?”

Dan cocked her head. “What about him?”

“We’re Kevin’s toys, aren’t we?”

The doll hesitated for a moment, as if she was trying to figure out what the right thing was to say.

“Kevin is a good kid,” she said, finally. “He only wants us to be happy, but he can’t always keep us safe. ”

Whatever she was talking about, Neil knew that he had to find a way out of here before it happened. He didn’t like being around other toys: for a while it’d been just him and Mary, but he’d been on his own for a long time. New names and faces were overwhelming him.

The hidden loop was cold against his skin. If you pulled it, he’d say my name is Nathaniel Wesninski, or I don’t know who I am anymore. He kept it hidden under his sweater, praying that no one would ever find it.

Whoever this Riko was, Neil would have faced worse in his time. These toys didn’t know what it was like, and for their sakes, he hoped they never would.

All he had to do was sit tight for a little while, plaster on a stitched smile and pretend everything was fine. When the moment was right, he’d run off again.

Just as his story intended.

whoops

#toy story au #andreil #all for the game #andrew minyard #neil josten #aftg #just...drake being that sid kid #renee being from a preschool #idk i have many feelings

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chickensarentcheap · 4 years ago

Text

I Found- Chapter 1

A/N: Hey folks! This is little visit to the past in honour of the one year anniversary of Extraction and this fic itself. As of tomorrow, I will post two to three chapters A DAY until all are up. I know they’re a mess on my blog right now and people who don’t want to go to Ao3 can’t find all the chapters. I was going to thoroughly edit, but I thought ‘why not leave it as is?’. It’s a little more than 365 days old now and a lot has changed for both the characters and my writing itself. As my long time readers and supporters can tell you :). So keep in mind, this was my first foray into writing Tyler and it’s rough and it’s a little...not the me I am now...but it’s a fun ride, IMO.

Fandom: Extraction

Pairing: Tyler Rake and Esme Rake (Original Female Character)

Face Claims: Chris Hemsworth (obviously) and Rachel Bilson

Premise: Broken and bleeding. Weathered and in tatters. Two damaged and weary souls find one another when they least expect it. Wrong place, wrong time. Yet both powerless to stop it.

Summary: Eleven months after the events in Dhaka and his near death experience, Tyler Rake is a new man. A different man. Struggling with the demons of his past while balancing being a husband and a father.

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23945782/chapters/57587218

It's been just shy of twelve months and his instincts are still keen; nerves rash and fresh, body and mind always on high alert. The proof to the old adage that old habits really do die hard.

A journey to the very brink of death. Weeks of lying in a hospital bed teetering on the threshold of this life and the next. Countless agonizing hours of rehab and physical therapy just to relearn the basics and get back onto his weary and battered feet. Once he was home nothing had been able to slow him down. He threw everything he had into healing. Every ounce of mind, body, and spirit. Pushing himself past the warnings and the limits that the doctors and specialists had set for him. Ignoring the advice on not to push himself too hard, too fast. He felt as if he didn't have a choice. He no longer just had himself to worry about; another human being with one on the way that was relying on him. Depending on him to take care of them. Provide for them. Protect them. So he had pushed himself to the brink of both exhaustion and physical and emotional collapse. Eventually finding himself back at at the gym and packing on the weight and muscle. Anxious for some semblance of the man he used to be.

He hears the soft rustle of blankets though the monitor on the nightstand and his eyes immediately snap open. Sleep was a strange beast for him these days. Nights where he could fall into a peaceful slumber and stay there until sunlight was streaming through the window, others where the pain was all encompassing and nauseating and he couldn't get comfortable, and those where he was haunted by the demons of his past. The latter didn't come nearly as often as they did before; managing to find some hint of internal peace with the things he had done and witnessed. Once in a while he'd find himself back on that bridge; assaulted by the smells of gun powder and lead. The acrid taste of blood on his lips. And he'd hear her voice and feel her hands; the way she cradled his face in them, the way she'd pulled his nearly lifeless body tight against her, felt those tears that fell on his skin. Thankfully he'd awaken and quickly discover that he was in the safety and comfort of his own home. His own bed. And he'd watch her as she slept; the way the moonlight painted her smooth skin in an ethereal glow and the slight smile that tugged at the corners of her mouth. He'd watch her and listen to her breathe and he'd remind himself of just how far he had come. Gratitude spreading through him like a slow burning fire. Thankful for the second chance that he'd been given. For the love that he'd found during one of the darkest and most difficult periods of his life. She'd given him a reason. A purpose. And he wasn't going to take that for granted.

He groans as he rolls over onto his back. The pain isn't as bad tonight. There were times he could barely even move. Where the agony made him dizzy and nauseous and even the simplest of tasks seemed impossible to preform. Tonight it's a dull ache; a nagging pain that has settled deep into his bones and his joints but he has learned to deal with. Placing his hands behind his head, he waits and listens. The lights from the monitor dancing across the ceiling as life stirs in the room across the hall. He's gotten used to it; the little noises, the soft sighs, the slight fussing before she settles herself back to sleep. It wasn't his first rodeo after all; not his first foray into fatherhood. But it is the first time he's been able to be more hands on. Put his be all and end all into the nurturing. And this time he knows he will get it right. He's determined to make amends for the mistakes of his past. Moving on didn't mean forgetting. It didn't mean that the love and regret and the guilt weren't still there, lingering just under the surface. Sometimes the greatest homage to the dead was how the living continued. How they made up for the bad decisions they made and how those decisions had...in the end...helped shape them into a better person.

The sounds through the monitor continue and he sits up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and giving his body and brain time to adjust to full consciousness. Running his hands through his hair and over his tired face, fingers brushing against the various scars that serve as a lasting memory of his former life. A pair of sweats sit in a discarded pile by the bed and he reaches for them; softly muttering profanities at the various cracks and pops that his body makes at the simple task of pulling on his pants. Scar tissue, arthritis, remnants of shrapnel and bullets that couldn't safely be removed. All working together to be a complete pain in his ass. His wife moves behind him. Sighing loudly and contently as she rolls over onto her side. Not waking as her hand instinctively reaching out for him; finger tips brushing against his back just as he stands up.

He is out the door and in the hall before the first shrill cry erupts. Yawning and stretching noisily as he steps into the nursery. A cheerful room with soft yellow walls, pink, white, and purple stripped curtains and natural wood furniture. Teddy bears and dolls staring down at him from the perches on the shelves on the wall, accompanied by framed photos of baby animals and Disney characters. He'd never pictured himself a 'girl dad'; frilly dresses and the tiny socks with the lace around the ankles, and the little headbands that served no other purpose than being cute. He was rough and tumble. Always had been, even from an early age. So when he'd found out he was having a daughter he'd been terrified. He didn't know the first thing about taking care of little girls and doing their hair and healing their broken hearts. And for the first time in his life was actually scared of something. Or someone. A being that hadn't even been born yet but was already making a huge impact on his life.

“You'll be fine,” his wife had assured him when he'd expressed his concern. Watching from the couch as she stood at the kitchen table folding laundry. Including a newly purchased outfit and those tiny teeny socks that she had purchased just hours ago. She was so beautiful. Standing there with that chestnut hair tumbling down to her waist, her belly swollen with their child. HIS child. A child that had been conceived in the midst of all the chaos and uncertainty. “You've ridden this particular bike before,” she'd reminded him. “This isn't your first time going through this.”

“That was different. That was a boy. This is a girl. This is dresses and pig tails and tea parties and make up and other boys.”

“Tyler, that's years down the road. You can't worry about that stuff. Make up and boys? You can't dwell on what she's going to be like when she's a teenager.”

“I sure bloody well can. Because knowing my luck she'll end up just like her mother. Full of piss and vinegar and all kinds of trouble.”

“You always did know how to get yourself into heaps of it,” she'd smirked, and tossed a pair of balled up socks in his direction, just missing his head. “But you always managed to get yourself out of it too.”

“I knew you were trouble from the very second I met you, you know,” he'd said, as he got off the couch and wandered over to where she was so diligently working. Liking the way that simple white gold wedding band looked on her finger. He still hadn't gotten used to; it had only been a few months and even with that life growing in her belly, they were still very much enjoying being newlyweds. He liked it. Being a husband. He liked the simplicity and the comforts that came with the little things that took up their new life. Household chores and preparing meals and sharing a bed with the same warm body and beautiful face each and every day. Mundane to some. A welcome change and relief to him.

“I wasn't the one with the reputation for being difficult,” she'd reminded him. “I wasn't the one who was like a bear with a sole asshole even on his best days.”

“Yet here you are. Playing house with me. A good little wife. Giving me babies. So I must have done something right, huh?” he'd playfully nudged her with his elbow. “You stuck around. Through thick or thin. I put you through a lot of shit and agony and here you are. Here WE are.”

“You can't get rid of me that easily, Tyler Rake. You think you would have realized that by now.”

“Getting rid of you is the last thing I ever want.”

They'd stood in companionable silence; working quickly and efficiently together. Little boring tasks that they almost never got to experience. He'd never take things like that for granted again. And he'd grabbed a pair of her underwear from the fresh pile and hooking them around his finger, grinned as he swung them around.

“How'd we ever graduate to these, huh? These are not what I remember you wearing. You weren't wearing any the first time we...well...you know...”

“You're such a pig,” she'd grumbled, and tried to snatch them away. Frowning when he held them high above his head. Not an easy reach for a woman that only stood five foot three. “What is wrong with you? Seriously.”

“I thought you were trouble the second I met you. The way you shook my hand. The way you smiled at me. But I knew it for sure when I had you pinned against that wall and I put my hand down your shorts and realized that you weren't any underwear. Remember that? That first time? I knew I was in trouble but I didn't want to stop. I couldn't stop. I was surprised you were such a kinky little thing.”

“You've got issues. What is your major malfunction?”

“Nothing wrong with a little visit to the past. Especially when it involves being naked.”

“Would you stop?” she'd perched herself on her tip toes and frantically tried to grab the offending piece of clothing from his grasp. “What's gotten into you?”

“It's what hasn't gotten into you in a while,” he'd retorted, laughing when she'd directed a slap to his gut, his arms circling her waist when she'd lost her balance and tumbled into him. And they'd stood like that; her head against his chest, his eyes closed and his chin resting on the top of her head. Loving all those things about her that had become so familiar and comforting to him. The lingering scent of coconut shampoo that clung to her hair, the feel of her heart beating against him, those small and soft hands stroking up and down his back. This woman...the one that had seen him at his most fragile...who he owed his life to.

Her hands were on the back of his shoulders when she'd pulled away and looked up at him. Her eyes sparkling as she smiled. A smile he had once thought he'd never see again.

“I love you,” he'd told her. Three words that he had always hesitated on uttering before but now couldn't say enough. If Gaspar was still around he'd call him soft. Tell him he was whipped and a pussy and needed to get his balls back. But he wasn't around anymore.

A lot of people weren't.

“I know,” she'd said. “But not nearly as much as I love you.”

“Hey, this isn't a competition. And if it was, I'd win. I always do.”

“You have a very overinflated sense of yourself,” she'd chided.

He was her rock. He knew that. Even when he was still recovering and he was nothing more than a mere fraction of the man he once was. Even when she had to help nurse him back to health and he'd had to trust her completely with even the mundane things like feeding himself and brushing his teeth. But she'd stuck by him. Even when he felt humiliated that he even needed help with such things. Embarrassed that she was seeing him so vulnerable. Allowing her to see his tears of anger, frustration, and pain. She'd always said that he was the only one that made her feel safe and secure. Protected. Even when he wasn't at his best.

“Shit...” She'd grimaced when the baby had kicked her especially hard. Eyes closing and her forehead falling onto his chest.

“Even I felt that one.” He’d e'd move one hand from her waist to her ever growing stomach. Marvelling at the way he could feel their baby...his baby...moving inside of her. It may not have been his first time. Not his first child. But he was determined to enjoy every second of it and not take a single moment for granted. “See what I mean? Trouble just like her mom. Feisty as all hell. A boy wouldn't cause this many issues.”

“Boys come with a whole shit load of issues. After all, it was a boy that got me into this situation in the first place.”

“Come on now, I wasn't the only one that was having all the fun. You seemed to be enjoying yourself too. I didn't make this baby all on my own, you know.”

“It was fun,” she'd admitted. “It always is.”

“Yeah. It most definitely is.”

One of her hands came down to rest on top of his and they stood there together, feeling their child moving inside of her. Marvelling at all the kicks and wriggles. At the miracle that they had created. All because two people fell in love during the entirely wrong time and in the entirely wrong place.

“You need to take it easy there, sweetheart,” he'd spoken to his daughter, his hand moving in slow, comforting circles. “Go easy on your mum, okay? Daddy's already put her through enough to last a lifetime.”

“She listens to you already. She likes your voice.”

“Already takes after her mother. Isn't that one of the first things you said you liked about me? My voice?”

“It does funny things to my insides. Even now.”

“I like doing funny things to your insides,” he'd dropped a kiss on the top of her head and she'd looked up at him once again.

“I think we should go to bed.”

“It's only eight thirty.”

“I don't mean to sleep. I mean to do other things. Fun things. Things that help you sleep better.”

A slow grin had spread across his face.

He didn't need to be told twice.

*******

“What's going on in here?” he asks as he steps alongside the crib, where his tiny baby girl has managed to to shed herself of her tight swaddling and was preparing to whip herself up into a frenzy. She has his temper already; slow to anger but almost impossible to control once the fuse was fully lit. “What kind of trouble are you getting up to in here? How'd you get yourself into such a mess? Clever little thing, aren't you.”

The crying dies down. Settling down to a mere whimper. She recognizes her daddy's voice. His face. And she knows she's in good hands. The wailing replaced by an impossibly dramatic pout on someone so young.

“You really are your mother's daughter,” he says. “I recognize that look anywhere. How does a little one like you get yourself into trouble? Look at you...” he untangles the receiving blanket from between her legs and scoops her up from the crib. Lifting her to the safe and warm confines of his chest. A forearm supporting her bum, his palm on the back of her head. “It's okay now,” he croons, and presses a kiss to the side of her head. She has his hair; same texture and colour. His eyes. Even his nose and lips. He can hear his wife now. Complaining about doing all the leg work and going through all the pain, only to have the baby coming out looking just like him. “Daddy's here now. Everything is fine. You're okay now.”

After a quick diaper change, he carries her through the apartment and into the kitchen. That tiny little body laying perfectly along his forearm as he warms a bottle from the fridge. She fits so perfect in the crook of his arm; head nestled into the valley on his elbow, feet by his wrist. She's long. Lanky. Just like he'd been as a kid. “You're probably wondering why I'm out here doing this,” he speaks as he waits for the bottle to warm. “You know this is usually your mummy's thing. Getting up in the middle of the night. And I know she doesn't exactly use these silly things to feed you. But I thought we'd be nice and let her sleep. She does a lot for us, you know. She deserves to sleep.”

He sits on the couch as he feeds her; both feet on the coffee table, knees bent with her lying along his thighs. One hand holding the bottle and the fingers of the other exploring every inch of her. She is wondrous; big blue eyes and impossibly long dark lashes and freckles across the bridge of her nose. And has he talks to her in a deep and soothing tone, her gaze is focused intently on him. Eyes never leaving his, one of her tiny hands reaching for the hand that holds the bottle, all fingers curling around just one of his. He had forgotten what this was like. The pure magic of being a father. Knowing that you had helped create something so incredible. That you had played a part in bringing another human being into this world.

As crazy and fucked up as the world could be, that is. It gave him a sense of peace. The knowledge that when the end came, he'd go knowing that he had done something truly good and valuable with his life.

He stands and carries her over to the balcony window. Once again holding her with a forearm under her bum and a firm hand on the back of his head. “You see that out there...” he nods towards the skyline; twinkling lights of skyscrapers and glowing street lights and blazing stars. “...that can be a real scary place. There's a lot of really bad people out there. But there's a lot of really good people too. People that would protect you, no questions asked. People that already love you without even really knowing you. And somewhere out there, is some guy that's going to come into your life and probably break your heart. And you know what? That's okay. It's okay to get your heart broken. Because it makes you a better person. It makes you stronger. Even if you think it's going to kill you at the time.”

She stares up at him with those huge blue eyes. With so much wonder and trust that it it causes a lump of emotion to gather in his throat and blur his vision.

“You know, there was almost a time where this might not have happened. Where I might not have been here. Where it might have just been you and your mom. And if it wasn't for your mom, I probably wouldn't be here. She's something else, you know. She's the bravest and strongest person I've ever met in my entire life. And there were so many times where this could have been too much for her...where I could have been too much for her...and she could have just walked away. But she never did. She never gave up on me. Even when I was ready to give up on myself. She's the one you need to worry about, you know. She jokes around that I'm going to be the one that scares all the boys away but I have a feeling it's going to be her. She doesn't let anyone mess with the people she loves. She's a momma bear. She's ferocious and she's loyal and she will f...” he bites his tongue “...mess someone up if she needs to. I was even kind of scared of her when I first meet her. Not because she's scary looking or I was afraid she'd hurt me. Mind you, she probably could if she got mad enough. Like how she gets when I leave the toilet seat up in the middle of the night. She scared me because I'd never felt that way about anyone. At least not that quickly. You can be the strongest person in the world, but when that one person comes along, you can't stop it. No matter if the timing isn't right. No matter how screwed up things are. Even if it is the wrong place, wrong time. You're powerless. Your heart just takes over. The important thing you have to remember is that you let your heart and your head work at the same time. That's the only way things will be okay. Or at least that's how it worked for your mom and I.”

He adjusts his hold on her, bringing her up to rest against his chest. Fingers combing through her thick, silky hair, his other hand softly stroking her back.

“Your mom came into my life when I'd pretty much given up on everything. When I didn't even feel human any more. Where nothing mattered. She came into my life and rescued me. In every way a person can rescue someone. And I know she'll probably deny that if you ask her. She'd say that I'm the brave one. That I'm the one that rescues people. But she had the toughest job out of them all. I'm not the easiest person to love. And she knew that. Yet here she is. A year later and she's still sticking around. Still putting up with my crap. So I must be doing something right, yeah? She hasn't smothered me with a pillow in my sleep or put poison in my food or put a hit out on me.”

“You just had to ruin the moment,” that soft voice says from behind, and he watches her reflection through the window as she journeys over to them. Chestnut hair messy from sleep and falling loose to the middle of her back. She is heavier now; softer and curvier in all the right places. Having a baby will do that to you. But she's still the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. Even more so decked out in one of his shirts; the fabric hanging to well below her knees, sleeves rolled and bunched just about her elbows. “What are you two doing? It's late. Or really early. Depending on how you look at it.”

“We're just having a little daddy daughter bonding time.”

She squints her eyes and peers at the clock on the nearby wall. “It's ten after three.”

“Time means nothing when you have a baby. She doesn't know what time it is. And I barely sleep, so...”

“So what does this bonding time consist of? Shit talking me?”

“I only said that last part because I knew you were behind me. I said all good things, I swear. And I was telling her all my best stories.”

“Lord I really hope not,” she rubs his shoulders and presses a kiss to his back before sidling up beside him. “All your best stories are gory.”

“I'm saving those ones for when she's old enough to be able to kick someone in the balls if they're bothering her. So she doesn't have to rely on a brother to do it.”

“Not even two months into this and you're already contemplating another? Good luck doing that yourself. Let me know how it works out for you.”

The subject had come up once or twice. About whether or not this was a one off or there were other children in their future. After he'd lost his son and given up on life, he hadn't thought there'd be any other kids. It wasn't as if he lived the kind of life he'd be proud to bring a child into it. She'd been a complete surprise. They thought they'd been careful. Apparently they hadn't been careful enough.. But she wasn't a mistake. Far from it. A happy accident was more like it. Now that he'd gotten his feet wet again in the parenting pool, he was open to having more kids. He craved it, actually. Another two or three. And a modest house on a good parcel of land. Somewhere close to the beach. With a window that looked into the backyard that he could watch his children through. Where he could grow old and gray with the love of his life.

But he still had a lot of shit to deal with before any of that could happen.

She yawns loudly and steps in front of him; both arms wrapping around his waist she lays her head against him. “Are you okay?”

“Best I can be, I guess. Little sore. But what else is new.”

She just nods. She knows it goes beyond being 'a little sore'. She had seen the extent of his injuries. She'd lived out the horror right alongside of him. It had been his blood that soaked her that day on the bridge. But she also knows he isn't the type you fawn over. He doesn't like the attention. Feeling as if he's weak. Or that he may be a burden. He was still trying to get that confidence back. The ego takes a serious beating when you're left unable to do even the smallest of tasks for yourself. “You're having trouble sleeping?”

“When haven't I had trouble sleeping?”

“But it's worse now, isn't it. I know how many times you get up in the middle of the night. It's worse now.”

“Just a stage,” he assures her. “I'll be fine. How many times have we been through this, huh? How many times do I have to tell you not to worry about me?”

“A million. But I still won't listen.”

“That's never going to change,” he teases. “You didn't listen to me a year ago and you don't listen to me now. And you wonder why I say your daughter is going to be trouble.”

She grins up at him. “Why does she become just my daughter when you talk about trouble?”

“Because we both know who the real trouble maker is in this relationship,” he retorts, and presses a kiss to her forehead.

In silence they watch their daughter; the way her eyes shift between the two of them before slowing beginning to close, a yawn escaping her mouth. A surprisingly large one that ends in a tiny squeak. He's in awe of her. Of how tiny and fragile she is. How he'd managed to make something so amazing.

“She's beautiful,” he speaks around a lump of emotion that sits square in his throat. His emotions have been raw since that day in Dhaka. And even more so since becoming a father for a second time. He can hear Gaspar in his head again. Talking about how soft he was becoming. That he didn't even recognize him any more. That growing a heart this late in the game was going to be his biggest downfall and his most relentless enemy. “Like her mother.”

“She looks just like you.”

“I honestly don't see it,” he hopes he sounds a least a tad sincere.

His wife gives a derisive snort. “You have some seriously strong genes, Tyler Rake. Imagine if we had a boy? Probably be your splitting image. By the way...” she rubs his stomach and smiles up at him. “...you do the really big, strong man with a tiny baby thing very well. It's kind of sexy.”

“Just kind of? I was going for totally sexy. Insanely sexy. You might as well said mediocre sexy.”

“Don't expect me to stroke your ego at three in the morning.”

“Why not? Not like you've been stroking anything else lately.”

“Shhhh...” she places a finger over her lips. “...there's innocent ears in this room.”

“She's asleep. And even if she wasn't, she wouldn't understand what I was saying anyway. Besides, she's going to end up learning where she come from sooner or later.”

“Well let's make that later. Much later. And mediocre sexy? Really? As if you could ever be anything other than out of the world sexy.”

“You're lucky. I was going to have to file for divorce if you called me 'average sexy'.”

“You're too much,” she giggles, and dropping one of her arms from around his waist, runs the palm of her hand along the baby's hair. “And you're right. She is beautiful. She is perfect.”

“It's hard to believe sometimes, isn't it? That we made her? During all that craziness and all that madness, we actually made a life together. Surreal, huh? That something so beautiful could come out of all of that?”

“A lot of beautiful things came out of that. We just have a hard time recognizing what they are sometimes.”

He nods in agreement. Sniffling noisily and swallowing heavily when the weight of emotion becomes almost too much to bear. He's never had to hide this side of himself when it came to her. After all, she was the one who'd successfully bulldozed all of his walls to the ground. So it comes as no surprise to either of them when the tears finally do come; blazing hot against his skin, the taste of salt stinging his lips.

“Baby...” she turns to face him, reaching up to take his face in her hands. “...what's wrong? What...?”

“Nothing's wrong. I just...” he struggles to find the words, inhaling deeply and releasing a shaky breath. “...thank you...” he says. “...for her. For you. For us.”

“I think you played a pretty big part in her being here,” she reminds him. “It's not like I did this alone.”

“I don't deserve all of this. I don't deserve her. I don't deserve you. This...this life...” he shakes his head. “...this was meant for someone else. A better man than me.”

She chews pensively on her bottom lip and regards him through her own tears. He knows she won't let them come. She's been the one holding back lately. When they'd met, she'd been the high strung and overly emotional one. Always on edge. Waiting for the other shoe to drop. He'd been that calm, cool, and collected one. The one that held shit together when it threatened to blow apart. Talking her down off the ledge while trying to keep both of them...and eventually Ovi...alive. Since the baby she'd changed. Her motherly instincts and her love for their child could never be matched by anyone else. But she had closed herself off in other ways. She became the strong and silent one. The one who always held her emotions in check. He figured it was all that time she spent helping him get back on his feet. What she'd seen and had to endure would harden anyone.

But he'd be lying if he didn't say he wasn't concerned. If he didn't find himself wishing for that emotional and broken girl she'd once been.

She was out there. And he knew where.

She was still back in Dhaka.

Still standing on that bridge.

#Tyler Rake #Tyler Rake fan fiction #Extraction fan fiction #Chris Hemsworth Tyler Rake #Tyler Rake x OFC #Tyler Rake fan fic #Extraction fan fic #I Found-Tyler Rake/Esme Rake

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chilling-seavey · 4 years ago

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Passchendaele WW2 Extension - The Dragon Slayer

A/N This is choppy so sorry about that - but breaking it up made each blurb not quite long enough-

T/W Mentions of war trauma, death, pstd, panic attacks, and nightmares.

September 12, 1945

Charlie’s room was just how he left it. Well, except for the sheets that looked like they had been slept in. He lingered in the doorway, bag in hand, and eyed the unmade single bed.

“I’ll put on fresh sheets for you.” Elizabeth said quickly and hurried past him to strip the bed.

Evelyn glanced at her father who was standing quietly beside her. The three of them knew that Daniel had found slight comfort in sleeping in his missing son’s bed over the last few years but the women didn’t express this fact aloud. Charlie sort of knew himself though. He didn’t speak on it.

As his mother brought in clean sheets and hurried to change his bed, Charlie walked farther into his childhood bedroom and scanned all the shelves and pictures on the walls. He lingered at the window, staring out into the backyard and the vast expanse of green grass that came with their home, the view all too familiar. He stared up towards the evening sky and the orange sunset and he almost waited for the streaks of Spitfires to jet across in front of the clouds. There was nothing.

His family watched as he refamiliarized himself with his bedroom, Elizabeth quietly tending to the sheets as Charlie continued around the perimeter, scanning the bookshelf that seemed much smaller than he remembered it. He ran his fingers over the spines of the neatly lined up books and wiped the thin sheet of dust off on his uniform pants. The posters and photographs above the bookshelf had Charlie freezing in place.

Richard’s eight-year-old smile shone back at him from the faded black and white image. The boys stood side by side, each on their own bikes, beaming with pride they both learned how to ride within the same week.

Charlie swallowed thickly. He hadn’t seen his best friend’s face since they took his body away a year and a half prior. Charlie choked back his forming tears and turned away from the pictures.

“Come on, darling boy.” Elizabeth called gently. “Let’s get you into bed.”

Charlie shuffled over and let his mother take his bag from him and set it on the ground. He stood blankly in front of her and watched her quietly as she unbuttoned his uniform for him.

Evelyn said a quiet good night to her father to leave her brother with his privacy and she headed into her own bedroom for the night. She needed a quiet second to wrap her head around the afternoon herself too.

Daniel stood in the doorway of Charlie’s room and watched with a concerned expression and his hands in the pockets of his trousers as Elizabeth spoke gently and reassuringly to her son as she stripped him out of his uniform. He felt like he was watching his own past.

Charlie didn’t protest his mother seeing him in his underwear. Either he didn’t have the energy to ask her to leave or he was too shaken and had missed her touch too much to even want her to leave. Elizabeth folded his uniform and draped it over the back of the chair nicely before returning in front of him with his folded pyjamas. She crouched in front of him and rolled up a pant leg to help him dress.

“One foot at a time, darling.” she instructed. Charlie stepped one foot in, gently resting his hand on his mother’s shoulder to stabilize himself as she dressed him. “These might be a little small on you now but I will go into town first thing tomorrow and buy new a few new sets.”

She pulled his striped pants up his legs – the hems sure enough reaching well above his ankle – and made sure they were sitting well around his waist. She then wrapped his shirt around his back and he slid in one arm at a time and watched her button it up.

“Thank you, Mama.” Charlie breathed shakily.

Elizabeth could have cried right then and there. She just smiled at her son and leaned up to press a kiss to his cheek.

Daniel came over to his bedside as Charlie got into bed and Elizabeth tucked the blankets around him snugly.

“Are you cozy?” she asked quietly, brushing his frazzled brown hair from his face.

Charlie nodded weakly.

“Good.” Elizabeth leaned down and kissed his forehead. “I am so happy you’re home.”

Charlie nodded.

Daniel just stood a few paces away and stared silently at his son, offering him a gentle pat to his hand in good night and the parents left him to sleep.

Elizabeth and Daniel got themselves ready for bed in silence, shuffling through their room as they changed into pyjamas and closed the curtains and Elizabeth unpinned her hair. They didn’t quite know what to say.

They sat up in bed side by side for a moment, both staring straight ahead and trying to process the events of the day.

“Was today real?” Elizabeth asked the air around them.

Daniel didn’t reply.

She glanced over at him only to see his eyebrows furrowed and lip wedged tightly between his teeth. Elizabeth set her hand on top of his, “What’s on your mind, darling?”

“I hate this.” Daniel breathed. He finally looked over at his wife and let her fingers lace with his, “I hate seeing him like this. I…I didn’t want him to end up like me, Lizzie. I…I prayed that he wasn’t going to end up like me.”

“I know.” Elizabeth said, rubbing her hands over his lovingly. She watched him take a shaky inhale, “But you know you can’t control what happens…just how you react.”

Daniel nodded.

“And he’s safe. Our babies are sleeping warm and safe in their beds tonight, Dani. That’s the best thing we could have asked for.”

Daniel nodded and shuffled closer to her, lifting her head up by a finger under her chin to kiss her lips softly. Elizabeth slid her arms around him and he tucked his face in her neck and just held her for a moment or two.

“Is that what I was like?” Daniel asked quietly into her shoulder.

“What do you mean?”

“Useless. Needing you to dress me?” Daniel lifted his head up from her neck to look at her.

“Some days.” Elizabeth answered, holding his face in her hands. “You still asked me to marry you though.”

“At least I was somewhat sane.” Daniel whispered.

Elizabeth cracked a small smile and kissed the tip of his nose, “I promised you before you left for the Great War that I would be yours forever no matter what. There was nothing I would rather have done than taken care of you when you got home. You’ve always been the love of my life, Daniel Seavey, and I would have sat by your side every minute of every day if it made life easier for you.”

They shared a soft kiss.

“And now,” she held his face in her hands still with his arms lovingly around her waist, “you have blessed me with two children and it is only fair to pass on my promise to them too. Especially to them and especially Charlie right now. At best, helping you is what prepared me for this. He’s just like you in all the best ways too…I know how to care for my men. Nothing is going to scare me away. Not then and certainly not now.”

Daniel just stared at her in near awe, “Elizabeth Winifred Seavey, you are…an angel on earth. What the hell did I do to ever deserve you?”

“You loved me.” Elizabeth answered with a shrug and a smile. “That’s all I wanted.”

“I don’t say it enough.”

“You don’t need to. I just know.”

May 2, 1922

Four-year-old Charlie was scared of a few things. He was scared of the dark, he was scared of strangers, and he was scared of three headed fire breathing dragons that seemed to like to crowd his dreams at night. There was a while there where nightmares were common and Charlie would snap his eyes open in a cold sweat, panicked, and all alone in his bedroom. With any and all courage left in his body, he would grab his teddy and jump out of bed and run across the small upstairs hallway to his parents’ room.

He would quietly open the door and tip toe quickly to the end of the double bed and crawl right up in the space between his parents. His father always woke up first – he never slept as deeply after his time on the mainland fighting – and right away he would scoop up his little boy against his chest.

Charlie’s favourite place was in his father’s arms since it was where he felt the safest. His mother was a close second. Like routine, after a nightmare, he would wiggle his way into his parents’ bed and find comfort in his father’s embrace.

Daniel would pet his hair and whisper down to him, “What’s wrong, little one?”

Charlie would just cuddle closer, finding the safety he needed against his father’s chest and strong heartbeat and he would lull himself back to sleep after a few mere minutes. To four-year-old Charlie, Daniel was England’s best dragon slayer.

September 13, 1945

The three headed dragon easily was forgotten about as Charlie grew up but it was never gone for good. It moulded into different things from time to time from failed exam marks to someone who wanted to take his sister, but the worst was the plane. The three headed dragon always moulded into something that was possible but this one was the worst because it wasn’t just possible, it was real and it had happened.

The green scales of the dragon was the chipped paint on the wings of the plane, it’s fiery breath were the flames was engulfed the metal, and it’s teeth were the evil bite of Nazism, threatening to take Europe and it’s men down with it. Richard was its prey and it held him in its jaws until a rain of blood was drenching Charlie’s uniform and soaking into his hair. He screamed for mercy, to take him instead, but he would be ignored and his brother would be devoured.

Charlie woke with a gasp, heaving for breath as he sat up quickly in his bed, sheets drenched in sweat which wasn’t an unusual sight. It took a second for him to process where he was, his head whipping from side to side to try and piece together the German prisoner of war barracks or the Air Force bunks. His own bedroom stared back at him quietly. He sighed a shuttering sigh.

He choked back forming tears, wiping his clammy palms on his pyjama pants, the sweat feeling far too much like the remnants of blood. He trembled. He felt as if the dragon was watching him.

Charlie tossed the sheets off his bed and stepped one foot to the cold hardwood floor after the other before shuffling towards the door. The house was dark and silent. Charlie wasn’t afraid of the dark anymore but he was scared of fear itself.

It only took him five steps to cross the upstairs hallway – it used to take him eleven as a little boy – and he rested his hand on the door handle. He fought with himself a moment, his heart racing in fear as if there would be a punishment for being out of bed in the middle of the night. At the prison camps there was at least.

Charlie opened the door quietly and slipped inside without bothering to close it behind him. He took his usual spot at the end of his parents’ double bed and took a second to watch them sleep. His heart ached and he let out a small sob that he smothered into his hand as he climbed up onto the end of the bed. Charlie shuffled right up between them, choking quietly through his tears as he squeezed his grown-up body between his parents.

Daniel and Elizabeth both woke up at the movement, Elizabeth rolling over to face her distraught son who was trying to curl himself into Daniel’s chest. They shared quiet glances before helping to shuffle him under the blankets with them.

“There you go, little one.” Daniel whispered, tucking the sheets up nice and high around Charlie’s shoulders and then wrapped his arm around him, “We’re right here. You’re safe.”

Charlie only cried harder, clinging onto his father through his sobs without speaking a word.

“Good boy, Charles Christian.” Daniel praised softly, rubbing his son’s back lovingly. “Let it all out.”

Elizabeth sniffled quietly, petting her hand through Charlie’s tangled brown hair as she watched him weep and tremble helplessly. Daniel hummed softly, resting his chin against his son’s head as he cuddled up against his chest and cried into his shirt, rubbing soothing patterns across his back.

“It’s not your fault.” Daniel whispered into his hair as if it were going to be processed by his mind easier that way. “It’s not your fault. None of it was your fault.”

“I miss him!” Charlie sobbed, “Richie!”

“Shh, I know. I know you do.” Daniel held his son closer and pressed a kiss to his forehead, cradling his head under his chin.

“It’s not fair!”

“I know.” Daniel shut his eyes tightly. “It isn’t fair at all.”

Charlie was heaving for breath, chest shuttering and throat choking over each inhale until he was just making himself panic.

“Okay, darling boy, listen to Mama.” Elizabeth spoke gently, resting her hand on his shoulder, “Take some nice deep breaths with us.”

Daniel and Elizabeth both breathed in together to lead him, holding him close as he tried to copy but his trembling and his weeping made it difficult.

“In and out, Charlie.” Elizabeth whispered to him, giving him enough room where he didn’t feel crowded as he fisted the back of Daniel’s shirt in his hand and started to breathe easier. Each inhale was shaky and each exhale was paired with a sob and Charlie just shut his eyes and clung onto his father.

Soon his breathing was calmer and his wails had fallen into whimpers, exhaustion taking over amidst his feeling of safety. Charlie rested against his father’s chest, lips chapped and pouted and long lashes resting on flushed cheeks, his brown hair a shaggy mess on top of his head and it almost flopped in front of his eyes. Elizabeth gently brushed his hair back from his face and left him with a kiss to his cheek, pausing to admire her little boy as he finally fell back to sleep.

She glanced at Daniel and whispered a concerned, “Are you okay?”

Daniel nodded and made sure the blankets were tucked nice and high around his son, “I’m fine.”

“If this brings up things for you, I can always take over.”

“Lizzie.” Daniel interrupted her quietly. “I promise. I’m alright.”

She nodded and leaned over Charlie to kiss her husband’s cheek. They shared quiet ‘I love you’s and curled up close in their double bed now taken up by three grown adults. They wouldn’t dare to complain.

Daniel stared down at his grown-up son in his arms, feeling him breathing steadily and sleeping soundly.

You see, Daniel and Charles were more alike than either would have liked to admit. Their looks down to their passionate personalities were quite similar but even their experiences and how they dealt with grief were similar in themselves. One thing that differed between Daniel and Charles was that Charlie had parents…good parents…and a father who would put his life on the line for his son no matter what.

Daniel never had that paternal comfort growing up and even less of it when he returned from the war and he always feared of becoming like his father. Maybe he was quiet and distant as a young man and was a bit too over cautious when it came to his children, but Daniel knew perfectly well that his purpose in life was to be the father that his children deserved and needed. His son needed him to take away his pain and that’s what he was going to do. He was to be the father he never had, now more than ever.

#✉

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myownsuperintendent · 4 years ago

Text

Fic: “Through the Years”

Scully, Mulder, Emily, and William experience life as a family through the years. Family fluff. I moved Baby #3 up five-ish years to make it less ridiculous. Rated T for mild sexual content. Also here at Ao3.

.....

They come up the stairs to her apartment, Scully carrying the bags. “This is it,” she says. “This is…this’ll be home.” Emily doesn’t say anything; she’s been quiet since they got on the plane this morning. Scully tried talking to her, pointing to the clouds and the tiny houses below, telling her about the fun things they’d do once they got to Washington. Eventually she let her sleep. She knows this won’t be perfect, not all at once. But she can’t help it: she has so much hope.

“Do you want to go in?” she asks. “See your room?” Emily nods, after a moment, and Scully unlocks the door and goes in.

Emily’s room should be ready, even though Scully’s been staying out in California with her. They ordered furniture from a catalogue—she let Emily pick out her new bed and sheets—and they packed up the things from Emily’s old room and had them shipped. She wanted it to be here for Emily when they arrived. Mulder’s been a help to her with all of it; he came over to her place to supervise the delivery. “Everything accounted for,” he told her over the phone yesterday. “I didn’t even injure myself setting up the bed.”

She laughed. “Thank you,” she said. “Really, thank you so much for…for everything you’ve done.” She hasn’t said anything to him, but she is worried that this will change things between them; she knows she won’t be able to travel as much, for one thing, and so the way they work will have to be different. She worried he might resent that, but so far there aren’t any signs of it; he seems as excited about the new direction her life is taking as she does.

“It’s nothing, Scully,” he said. “Any way I can help. Let me know.”

“Thank you,” she repeated, softly, because she couldn’t think of anything else to say.

And when she opens the door to what used to be a spare room, a place for her to store extra books, it’s Emily’s bedroom: everything they picked out is there. The new sheets are on the new bed, Emily’s picture books and stuffed animals are on the shelves, and there’s a night light on the wall. “Here we are, sweetie,” she says. “What do you think?”

Emily goes over to the bed. “What’s that?” she asks.

Scully looks; there’s a teddy bear sitting in the center of the bed, along with a little book. A card is propped against the bear. “Looks like it might be a present for you,” she says. “Should we read the card?” Emily nods, and Scully opens it. “Dear Emily,” she reads. “I hope you like your new room. Since I missed your birthday and Christmas this year, I wanted to give you some belated presents. Maybe I’ll see you soon. Mulder.”

Emily’s already holding the bear. “What’s belated?”

“It means late,” Scully explains. “Since it’s after your birthday and Christmas.” He didn’t have to get Emily presents at all, of course. He didn’t have to, but he did.

“Can we read the book?” Emily asks.

“Sure we can,” Scully says. She takes a seat on the bed, and Emily leans against her; she’s shy sometimes, but she seems to like this kind of proximity when Scully is reading to her. They do that a lot, because sometimes it’s the simplest way for them to be together: one that doesn’t bring up any troubles or uncertainties. The book Mulder gave Emily is called The Little Fur Family, and it has a fuzzy cover, which Emily touches gently while Scully reads.

When the book is finished, Scully shows Emily the rest of the apartment; Emily follows her, still not saying much. She carries the bear under her arm. “His name is Buttons,” she says, while they’re eating supper (Scully really needs to get groceries, after a month and a half spent in California, but luckily she found a box of macaroni and cheese in the cabinet).

“That’s a good name,” Scully says. “Would you like to call Mulder after we eat? I want to tell him we’re back, and you could tell him that you named Buttons.”

“Okay,” Emily says.

Mulder answers quickly when she calls. “Hey, Scully,” he says. “You home?”

“We’re home,” she confirms, looking down at Emily, who is sitting next to her on the couch. “Thank you for setting up the room. It looks wonderful.”

“Really, it was no trouble,” he says. “Glad to do it. Did Emily see her presents?”

“She did,” Scully says. “She has something she wants to say to you.” She hands Emily the phone.

“Hi,” Emily says, her voice coming out whispery. “Thank you…The bear’s name is Buttons.” She seems to have run out to things to say now; she looks up at Scully questioningly, and Scully takes back the phone.

“She really likes them,” she says. “Thank you so much, Mulder. You really didn’t have to.”

“I wanted to,” he says. “She deserves them.”

Scully smiles. “Well, thank you. I want to…I think we’ll take the next couple of days to settle in, the two of us. But after that…we’ll see you soon?”

“Of course,” he says, and she’s happy, when she hangs up the phone.

Emily wants to read The Little Fur Family again before bed, and Scully reads it to her before tucking her in, pulling the new comforter gently up under her chin. “Sleep well,” she says. “You remember where my room is?” Emily nods, sleepily. “Well, I’ll be right in there if you need me. I’ll leave the door open.” Emily nods again. “Good night, Emily. I love you.” She hugs her daughter tightly. She still can’t believe it all.

“Good night, Dana,” Emily says, in her soft voice, and Scully kisses her cheek and turns out the light.

It takes her a while to settle down—aside from the events of the day, her body’s still on California time—but she’s asleep herself when she hears Emily’s voice, suddenly. She sits up, trying not to panic, and turns on the light next to her bed; Emily’s standing next to it, crying. “Dana,” she says, “I had a bad dream.”

“Oh, sweetheart,” Scully says, jumping out of bed, stooping down next to Emily, putting her arms around her. “It’s all right now. I’m right here. I’m right here.”

“My mommy…” Emily sobs, in the most heartbreaking voice Scully has ever heard.

“I know, sweetheart,” she says. “I know it makes you sad.”

She walks Emily back to bed, tucking her in again, drying her tears and stroking her hair. “I’ll stay with you until you fall asleep again,” she says. “How does that sound?”

“Okay,” Emily says, still with a choke in her voice.

“I’m right here,” she says again. “And I love you so much.”

She lies down next to Emily, although there isn’t much space on the little bed. She strokes her hair back and forth, humming a lullaby off-key. She isn’t sure when Emily falls asleep. At some point she falls asleep too.

.....

Scully’s mom called to say that she’ll be late—there’s a lot of traffic—so the three of them are waiting in the living room now. Emily’s huddled into a corner of the couch. “Where are you going?” she asks, not for the first time this afternoon.

“To dinner, sweetie,” Scully says. “But you’ll have lots of fun with Grandma. And we’ll be back later.” Mulder nods.

“Why can’t I come?” Emily asks.

Scully isn’t sure what to tell her. She kissed Mulder for the first time a month and a half ago—on this very couch, while Emily was sleeping down the hall, after the three of them had spent the day together—and since then the two of them have been, well, dating she guesses is the word for it, although it feels a little simplistic considering the history of their relationship. So far it’s going well. More than well. But she hasn’t wanted to tell Emily yet, just in case. She knows it’s not a good idea to introduce things like this into kids’ lives too quickly. And that’s even in cases where those children haven’t already gone through a lot of upheaval.

So she just says, “Mulder and I are going to spend a little time just the two of us. Because we’re friends and—”

“Mulder’s my friend too,” Emily says. “Aren’t you?” she adds, quickly, glancing up at him.

“Of course I am, Em,” he says. “What I think your mom is saying—”

“Why don’t you stay here anymore, then?” Emily asks. “Why don’t we all play together? We used to, and now…now we don’t!” And she bursts into tears then, her face pressed against the cushion. “Why doesn’t Mulder stay?” she asks again, sobbing.

Scully scoops her up, feeling horrible. Emily has a point: it used to always be the three of them, whenever Mulder came over, and now it isn’t, not always. She’d thought they were still spending plenty of time together aside from their dates, but apparently it isn’t enough for Emily. She’d thought she was protecting Emily from change; instead, she’s just made it worse.

“Oh, Emily,” she says. “I’m so sorry. Don’t cry, sweetie.”

“We didn’t mean to make you sad, Em,” Mulder adds, hovering over them, looking as upset as she feels.

“Why…do you…eat dinner…without…me?” Emily asks, in between sobs.

Scully makes a snap parenting the decision, the kind she’s had to make a lot of since last year and doesn’t feel used to yet. But she’s hoping the truth will be less painful for Emily. “Emily, Mulder and I…we’ve been going on dates. Do you know what that means?”

“No,” Emily says.

Scully tries to think of an explanation that will be within Emily’s frame of reference. She’s seen a number of Disney movies, which have probably been her biggest exposure to romance, but they tend to go for the love at first sight angle. But she can’t think of anything better, not quickly enough, anyway, with Emily still crying in her lap. “You know in Beauty and the Beast,” she says, “when they eat breakfast together and they play in the snow? And then they dance?” From the way Mulder is looking at her, she guesses she sounds insane.

But Emily latches on to the explanation. “Oh,” she says. “So it’s like falling in love?”

“Well…” Scully begins. She hasn’t used that word yet, with Mulder. She’s thought about it, but she hasn’t said it out loud.

Emily hasn’t stopped talking, though. She turns to Mulder now. “Do you love Mommy?”

Scully’s breath catches. But before she can say anything, tell Emily that she shouldn’t ask that, Mulder speaks. “I do.”

“Oh. That’s good,” Emily says, although Scully’s only dimly aware of it. “But why does that mean we can’t have dinner together?” She wipes her eyes.

“We…we can,” Scully manages. “We just…we didn’t tell you everything before, because we thought it would be a surprise for you.”

Emily looks at her, her head tipped to one size. “No,” she says, finally. “Not a surprise.” Scully is beginning to get a little annoyed with this kind of reaction. Her mom (“Well, it’s about time, dear”) was one thing, and Skinner’s knowing look when he bumped into them holding hands last weekend was another. But to have her four-year-old daughter tell her that it’s not a surprise…At least Emily looks happier now, though, and Scully gives her a hug.

“How about we stay home tonight, after all?” she says. “And when Grandma gets here, we can all have dinner together.” She gives Mulder a half-apologetic look, but he doesn’t seem upset at all. And looking at him makes her think of what he just said. He loves me, she thinks. She has to tell him; she can’t let him think it’s all on one side. But there’s Emily sitting right in between them.

She gets her chance soon enough, though. Her mom arrives, and Emily wants to show her the drawings she did in preschool that day, and Mulder offers to help Scully make dinner. He follows her into the kitchen, standing close to her as she takes vegetables out of the refrigerator and pasta out of the cabinet. “I didn’t plan to tell you like that,” he says. His voice is soft, almost self-conscious.

She turns and smiles at him. “I’m not complaining. Maybe Emily knows how to run this thing better than we do.” She steps up, takes his hand. “I love you too,” she says, the words coming out in a breath.

“Yeah?” he says.

“Yeah,” she says. “Really.” His smile makes her feel warm. And she stretches up and kisses him, fairly chastely since her mom and Emily are right there, but hoping he’ll get the intention behind it. From the way he holds her, his arms tightly around her waist, she thinks he does.

Emily comes running into the kitchen then. “What are we having?” she asks.

“Spaghetti and vegetables,” Scully tells her.

“You want to help me and your mom?” Mulder asks. He hoists her up into the air, and she shrieks with joy. Scully knows how she feels.

.....

Mulder hears the door creak open, and Emily bounds in, landing on the foot of the bed. “Good morning.”

“Good morning, Emily,” Scully says. “Remember that talk we had? About knocking?” They’re both fully clothed, because they know she’ll forget, but they’re hoping the message will sink in one of these days.

“Sorry,” Emily says. “I did remember. But I was just excited for today.”

“So’re we,” Mulder says. He ruffles her hair as she slides up to lie between them.

“What time are we going?” she asks.

“Our appointment’s at eleven,” Scully says. “So we have three hours.”

“That’s so long,” Emily says, pouting. “Three whole hours?”

“It’ll go faster than you think,” Mulder says, even though he secretly agrees. “Should we get up and have breakfast?”

Making breakfast distracts Emily a little, although he can tell that she’s still excited; she bounces up and down and pours extra maple syrup onto the pancakes. Scully catches his eye and smiles, and he smiles back at her. Emily’s right. It’s a momentous day.

They’re out of the house at last, in the car, driving to the courthouse. They’ve all dressed nicely; he’s wearing a suit, and Emily is wearing the blue dress they got her for the wedding. She’s still smiling, although Mulder’s a little nervous, and he thinks Scully is too. He doesn’t know why they should be—they were told that this second hearing was largely a formality—but maybe because it means so much. They each take one of Emily’s hands as they walk into the courthouse, and she looks up at them. Her face is serious now; maybe she’s caught the mood.

But everything goes as it should, as they’ve been told it would. They leave the courthouse with a copy of the adoption certificate: his name is on it, listed as Emily’s father. She’s already been calling him her dad since he and Scully got married, but it means something that now it’s official. They all feel it. He stoops to hug Emily before they get back in the car, kissing the top of her head.

They go out for lunch afterwards, and they get ice cream too; that’s part of his job as Emily’s dad, he thinks, buying her ice cream. She sits by his side in the restaurant booth, scraping the bowl with her spoon, and leans against his shoulder.

When the waitress brings the check, he says to her, “Would you mind taking a picture of the three of us?”

“Sure,” she says. “Not at all.”

They hang it on the refrigerator, the picture of him and Scully and Emily, all sitting together, all smiling. A family in print.

.....

William’s the most incredible thing Mulder’s ever seen—and he’s seen a lot of incredible things. He’s been alive for twelve hours now, and the novelty hasn’t worn off one bit in that time. He can’t take his eyes off his son, a tiny bundle in Scully’s arms.

“Hi there,” Scully says to William, who’s staring up at them both. His eyes are blue. “Do you know that we love you more than anything? Because we really, really do.”

“Your mom’s right,” Mulder says. William yawns, and he marvels. “He just…he’s amazing, Scully.”

“Isn’t he?” She looks exhausted and overjoyed.

Maggie stayed with Emily overnight, but they should be on their way to the hospital now. Mulder wonders how Emily’s going to take to her brother. A part of him can’t imagine anyone not adoring William, but he knows that Emily’s been anxious about not being the only child anymore. Especially during the last few months of Scully’s pregnancy, she clung to the two of them, wanting seemingly constant attention. “Will you love me as much as the baby?” she asked, only a few days ago, and even though they told her that of course they would, trying to reassure her with hugs and soothing words, she still looked unsure.

There’s a tap at the door to the hospital room. “May we come in?” Maggie’s voice.

“Yes, come on in!” Scully calls.

The door opens, revealing Maggie and Emily, who’s clinging tightly to a bunch of flowers. “Mommy! Daddy!” she says. “I missed you.”

“We missed you too, sweetie,” Scully says. Mulder takes William, and she holds out her arms. “Come here so I can give you a hug.”

“Gently,” Mulder adds, as Emily runs towards her mother. She stops for a minute and then slows her steps, giving Scully a careful hug.

“We brought you flowers,” she says, as if just remembering; the bouquet is a little crushed now from the hug, but Scully takes it anyway, smiling.

“They’re so beautiful,” she says. “Did you pick them out with Grandma?” Emily nods, and Scully kisses her cheek. “Well, thank you both so much.”

Emily’s looking up at William. “Is that him?” she asks.

“Yes,” Scully says. “That’s your brother. Do you know what his name is?”

“William,” Emily says. “Grandma told me. After she talked to Daddy on the phone.”

“That’s right,” Scully says. “Do you want to say hello to him?”

“Okay,” Emily says. They all crowd around; Mulder moves, carefully, to sit on the bed next to Scully and Emily, and Maggie comes by too, wanting to get a look at her grandson.

“This is William,” he says, softly. “William, this is your grandmother. And this is your big sister, Emily.”

“Oh, he’s so sweet!” Maggie exclaims. “Look at that face! I think he looks like you, Dana.”

“I think so too,” Mulder says.

Emily is staring. “He’s so little,” she says finally, in a soft, awed voice. “I didn’t know he’d be so little.”

“Well, he’s brand new,” Scully says. “Not even a whole day old. Do you want to say hi to him?”

“Hi,” Emily says. Her voice is still soft, almost a whisper and very, very gentle. “Hi, baby William. I’m Emily. You’re so, so little.” She looks up at them. “His hands are so little.”

“They are,” Mulder says. “If you touch his hand with your finger, he’ll grab it.”

Emily looks astonished. “Will he, really?”

“Try and see,” Mulder says.

Emily places her index finger gently against William’s hand, and his own fingers curl around it, gripping tightly. “Wow,” she says. “Wow.”

“Would you like to try holding him for a little bit?” Scully asks.

“Oh,” Emily says, “oh, could I?” There’s longing in her voice.

“Why don’t you sit in the chair,” Mulder says, “and I’ll bring him over to you?” Emily nods quickly, taking a seat in the chair next to the bed, and Mulder hands her William, carefully, supporting her arms with his own at first. “You have to keep one hand under his head,” he tells her. “Like this, see?” Emily nods seriously, mimicking what he’s doing. Even when he takes his arms away, he hovers near the chair. Emily’s right: William is so little, and so precious.

“I’m your big sister,” Emily is saying to William. “Your big sister. And I’m going to take care of you. Because you’re so little.”

So far, so good, Mulder thinks. She doesn’t seem like she’s upset about William being here. He looks at Scully, who’s watching Emily hold her brother with an incredible smile on her face. He bends over to kiss her cheek.

They go home from the hospital the next afternoon. They settle William into his crib, and then Mulder helps Scully get settled too, putting her things away for her, arranging her pillows until he’s sure that she’s comfortable. “Mulder,” she says. “You don’t have to do all of this.”

“You just had a baby, Scully,” he points out. “Two days ago, in fact. You know, I couldn’t do what you did.”

“Yeah,” Scully says, grinning. “I don’t think that’s physically possible.”

“You know what I mean,” he says. “You’re incredible. A force of nature. And you deserve to rest now. While William’s sleeping. You will rest, won’t you?”

“Yes,” she says. “I’ll rest. Since William’s sleeping, and all.” He can tell she’s tired from her voice, from the way she settles back on the bed. He leaves her to sleep then, thinking he’ll look in on William. He wants to make sure everything’s okay with him.

As he heads toward the nursery, he can hear Emily’s voice. Hoping she’s not waking William up, he opens the door carefully. William’s awake, but he’s not crying or fussing, just staring at his sister. She has her face pressed up against the bars of the crib, and she’s reading aloud. Mulder can see the book in her hands. The Little Fur Family.

“Em?” he says. “What are you doing, sweetie?”

She turns to look at him. “I’m just reading to him. To keep him company. He likes the book.”

Mulder smiles at her. “Can I sit with the two of you?”

“Yes,” Emily says, and Mulder takes a seat in the rocking chair, his eyes on his children. Emily finishes the book, closing the covers carefully. “I can read you another book later,” she says to William. “I have a lot of good ones.” He blinks at her, and she turns to Mulder. “Daddy?”

“Yes, Emily?”

“I really love him,” she says. “I think I’m going to love him forever.”

“Me too,” Mulder says. He stoops down and hugs her. “And I’m going to love you forever too.”

They sit quietly in the nursery, the three of them, until Scully comes in to join them. She feeds William, then, while Mulder gets dinner together for the rest of them. He’s tired too—he can feel it, somewhere in the back of his mind—but right now he doesn’t care.

.....

It’s one of those days when William just keeps fussing and fussing. Emily usually likes to play with him, but not right now, not when he just cries whatever she does. Mommy says that he might be getting new teeth; she’s trying to get him to stop crying by giving him things to chew on. But Emily’s tired of it, right now, so she goes to see if she can find Daddy.

She finds him sitting on the back steps, looking out at the yard. She sits down next to him. “Hi,” she says.

“Hi, Em,” he says. He doesn’t look at her when he says it, so she tries to figure out what he is looking at. The flowers, she thinks.

“Are those the ones you planted?” she asks. “For…for Samantha?” She isn’t sure if she should say Aunt Samantha, because Samantha was Daddy’s sister and that would make her Emily’s aunt, if she were here, but Emily never met her. She died a long time ago, she knows. That’s why Daddy planted the flowers when they moved into the house, earlier this year, and Mommy helped. They planted them at the house, because Samantha was dead but Daddy didn’t have a cemetary to visit for her, like you do with most dead people. Emily couldn’t see them then—they were just seeds—but now she can; they’re bright yellow ones.

Daddy nods. “Yes.”

“They’re pretty,” she says. “Do they make you sad, though? To look at?” His face looks a little sad.

“The flowers? They don’t make me sad, exactly,” Daddy says. “They just make me think about Samantha. And that makes me sad, sometimes. Because I miss her.”

Emily nods. “I’m still sad when I think about my other mommy and daddy, sometimes,” she says. “Even though that was a long time ago too.”

Daddy puts an arm around her. “I think we all feel sad,” he says, “when we think about people we miss.”

“Was it a really long time ago?” Emily asks. “When she died, I mean.” She thinks it must be, because she’s seen a picture of Daddy with Samantha, and he was only a kid in it. An older kid, but still.

“Yes, a long time ago,” Daddy says.

“How old were you?” Emily asks.

“Well, I was twelve the last time I saw her,” Daddy says. “And she was eight then.”

Eight’s not a lot bigger than Emily. She doesn’t really like to think about it. “Did you play together?” she asks. “Like me and William?”

“We did,” Daddy says. “Sometimes we’d play outside, on nice days like this. That’s why I decided to come out to look at the flowers. Just to remember her. Just to think.”

Sometimes people like you to be quiet when they think, Emily knows. “Do you want me to go back inside?” she asks. “So you can think?”

He smiles at her. “No, that’s okay, Em. You’re not keeping me from thinking.”

They sit and look at the flowers together then. “I think they’re really pretty,” Emily says. “I bet she would like them so much.” Daddy doesn’t say anything. “Would we all play together?” she asks. “If she were here?”

He smiles at her, but his eyes look sad. “I bet we would,” he says, and he hugs her tight.

She hugs him back. “It’s okay to be sad,” she says, because Mommy and Daddy tell her that sometimes.

“Yeah, Em,” he says. “You’re right.”

They sit there for a while longer, and when they go back inside she gives William a hug too. Because he is her brother, even if he fusses a lot.

.....

It's been a busy several weeks. They’ve both been swamped at work, and then the kids have been passing a series of bugs back and forth between them. Scully knows it’s entirely out of their control, but after the third week of sniffling and coughing she wondered if they were doing something like licking the walls in the school bathrooms. Childhood illnesses are something she’s equipped to deal with, and she’s very grateful that her children are facing nothing worse, but that doesn’t make it any more fun.

She’s barely had any time to spend with Mulder, either, outside of the daily round. They’ve been tag teaming work and childcare and housework (the latter pretty minimal at this point), but something’s had to give, and unfortunately that something’s proved to be them as a couple. They’re too exhaused, most nights, to do anything more than smile at each other over the dinner table and then fall asleep as soon as their heads touch the pillow. She remembers days in the office, in the car together, in motel rooms, when she was sure she was going to die if she didn’t get to touch him. Now she’s got the chance, and she doesn’t have the energy to take advantage of it.

She tucks in Emily one night; she thinks Emily’s getting over whatever she has, although she doesn’t want to count on anything by now. “Are you feeling any better, sweetie?” she asks.

“I think so,” Emily says. She still sounds congested, but not as much as she did yesterday.

“Well, I’m sure sleep will help you,” Scully says. “Good night, Emily.”

“Good night, Mom,” Emily says. Scully turns out the light and leaves the room.

Mulder’s sitting on their bed, working on something on his computer. “Hey,” he says, when she comes in. “Just trying to get this lesson plan done. Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” she says. She opens her drawer to look for pajamas. “I’m behind on that too.” She sighs.

Mulder looks up. “You doing okay?” he asks. “I mean, I guess none of us are doing great right now, but under the circumstances?”

“Yeah, I’m okay,” she says. She flops down next to him, just for a minute, and promises herself she won’t fall asleep in her clothes. At least tomorrow’s Saturday, thank goodness. “I just hate feeling like I’m dropping the ball.”

“You’re not dropping the ball,” Mulder says. “Life happens to everyone.”

She knows he means it. She knows she should accept the comfort. She thinks it’s probably easier to extend yourself that kind of grace when you’re not trying to be a woman in a workplace that’s still dominated by men. When your male students don’t talk to you with condescenscion. When you’re not being told what you have to do to be a good agent and what you have to do to be a good mother and finding impossible gaps in between them. She knows if she told Mulder this he would listen. But she doesn’t feel like it.

“I guess,” she says.

“Also,” he says, “I know we haven’t had much time to think about it, but do you have any ideas about what you want to do next Sunday?”

Sleep for fifteen hours, she thinks. “Is something going on next Sunday?”

“Yeah,” he says, “our anniversary.”

Shit, she’s an idiot. Add good wife to the list of impossible roles she’s trying to play right now. “I lost track of the dates. Sorry.”

“Hey,” he says. “It’s okay.” He kisses her cheek.

“It’s not okay,” she says. “I just…I wish we had more time for us.”

“We’ll get through this,” he says. “The kids are getting over their…whatever it is they have this time. And then we’ll catch up on work and…we’ll get through this.”

She knows he’s right, even if it doesn’t feel like it right now. “I’ll think about next Sunday,” she says. “Try to come up with something.”

“Surprise me,” he says. “You’re good at that.”

“You’re good at it too,” she says. He’s never stopped surprising her, in all these years together. That’s one thing she can be glad about.

They don’t talk about it more right then, because they’re still exhausted. He finishes up the lesson plan, and she puts on her pajamas, and they both fall into bed.

Scully does try to think about their anniversary though, in between all the other things that make up her day. What she’d really like would be just for the two of them to have some time alone together, some time to relax and enjoy each other—that seems special enough right now. Maybe she can enlist her mom, she thinks, get her to take Emily and William for the day. She calls her, in between classes, and her mom says she’s happy to do it, that she’d expected to be asked, even. So that’s one part of the problem solved. Now she just has to figure out what to do with the rest of the time, if she should plan something or just let it unroll spontaneously. She doesn’t want to half-ass things, but then sometimes the spontaneous days, with the two of them, are the best ones.

She doesn’t have that much time to dwell on it over the course of the week, though. Emily and William are both healthy again, back in school, but that means extra time to devote to catching up on the work she let slide when they were sick. In her spare time, she wonders if Mulder is planning anything. It would be nice to let someone else do the work for once. Still, she wants him to know how much she appreciates him too.

And before she knows it, it’s Saturday night, and she still hasn’t come up with much of anything. At least she has the babysitting locked down. “My mom’s going to watch Emily and William tomorrow,” she tells Mulder. “So we can have some time alone.”

“Yeah, I know,” Mulder says, and, in response to her inquiring look, he adds, “I called to ask her, and she said you’d already arranged it.”

“Oh,” she says. “Great minds think alike, I guess.”

“Absolutely,” Mulder says. “Do you have a surprise planned for tomorrow, Scully?”

“Sure,” she says. She doesn’t add that if there’s a surprise, it will be a surprise to her, too. He smiles at her. She’s afraid he’s planned something elaborate, something to which anything she can plan in the next few hours won’t possibly measure up.

When he’s gone downstairs to look for a book, she digs through her underwear drawer—maybe there’s something she can wear in there, something special that he hasn’t seen in a while. They don’t often have time to make an occasion out of sex these days; of course, it’s still enjoyable when it’s not an occasion, but since it’s their anniversary, well, she wants it to be at least a little special. A lot of what she finds is depressingly practical, but near the bottom there’s a black set…She’s not even sure when she got it. But it’s pretty. Lace trim, red ribbons at the hips and the cleavage. She picks it up, looks at it. She likes what she sees. She wants Mulder to like her in it, but she thinks it might make her feel good too.

She stuffs it back into the drawer when she hears Mulder coming down the hall, but she’s smiling now. At least she has something planned. Even if it’s not elaborate, it’s special.

Her mom picks the kids up late in the morning, and then it’s just the two of them.

The energy feels different, as soon as the door closes. A day for her and Mulder, with no responsibilities. She feels like a kid playing hooky. She feels delicious. She feels like she wants Mulder to find out what she’s wearing under her t-shirt and jeans.

She thinks he feels the same, from the way he’s looking at her, and that’s before he presses her back against the wall and kisses her. She kisses him back, abandoning herself to it. Today she wants to be exhausted again, but only in the best way.

“So I have to admit,” Mulder says, drawing back from the kiss, “that I didn’t come up with much of a surprise for today. Because I just wanted to spend time with you.”

“I want that too,” she says. “Mine’s only a little surprise. But I think you’ll like it.”

“I’m sure,” he says. “Right now, I want to take you upstairs and make love to you. How does that sound?”

“I like what you’ve got in mind,” she says.

“And we can do that until we get tired of it,” he says, “or until our limbs don’t work any more. Whichever comes first.”

“I don’t think,” she says, “that I’m going to get tired of it.”

He half-carries her up the stairs.

This is what she needed, Scully thinks, as they kiss and kiss and kiss. As they pull at each other’s clothes; she tugs his shirt off and runs her hands down his chest, and he grabs her shirt too, pulling it over her head. And then he stops and looks.

“Scully,” he says. Just that word, just her name, but that and his look are enough. Even before he says, “God, you’re so beautiful.” And he says that again, when he has her jeans off and he’s looking at her. And “You’re so fucking sexy.”

They make love until she feels boneless, utterly sated, more content than she’s been in weeks, and so full of love for him. Then they drag themselves down to the kitchen, where they make a meal out of various leftovers. It’s not exactly a fancy anniversary dinner, but Scully can’t think of anything she’d rather do than be here with him. From the way he’s smiling at her, she can tell that he feels the same.

“So I did get you a little something,” he says, when they’ve finished eating. He opens the freezer, takes it out, and presents it to her. Rocky road ice cream, the good brand, the kind she doesn’t keep in the house because she knows one of two things will happen: the kids will eat it before she gets a chance to, or she’ll have to scarf it down to keep that from happening. But the kind she likes the best.

“Thank you,” she says. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” he says. “And hey…I wanted you to know that I’m proud of you. You do an amazing job with everything, even in crazy weeks like this one.” He smiles at her. “You deserve to feel good about that.”

She didn’t tell him how she was feeling in so many words, but he knew. She doesn’t answer him in so many words either, but she kisses him long and slow.

She eats the ice cream right out of the carton; she offers Mulder some, out of obligation, but he doesn’t take any, except for a little that he licks off her lips. “What time is your mom bringing the kids back?” he asks.

She looks at the clock. “Around seven, I think. She said she’d give them supper. We still have a few hours. Back to bed?”

“You read my mind,” he says.

They make love again, and then they doze next to each other, which is almost as pleasurable, in its own way. She’s so happy they had this day for just them. But she’s truly happy, too, when the doorbell rings and they go down to hug their children hello.

.....

Emily’s really good at baseball. She plays with high schoolers, a lot of the time, even though she’s only in middle school, and she’s the shortest one and the only girl, mostly. She’s William’s favorite baseball player. He likes some other ones too, but Emily’s special because she’s his sister and he actually knows her. The other baseball players he likes he only gets to see from far away.

He also gets to play with her. Even though she’s so good, she’ll always play catch with him. She can throw the ball really fast, he’s seen her, but when they play together she throws it slowly so he can catch it. She helps him practice hitting too, and she’ll run around and catch the balls he hits, even though a lot of them don’t go where he means them to go, and sometimes she has to run a really long way.

“It’s okay,” she’ll tell him. “That’s why you practice. I had to practice a lot, to get to where I am.” Sometimes when Emily says things like that, their dad says that she’s twelve going on twenty-five. William’s not sure what that means, but he thinks it’s a good thing, because he always smiles when he says it.

William wishes he could be as good as Emily, even though she tells him she wasn’t that good when she was six. Everybody in their family likes baseball. They all like to watch it, but William’s the only one who can’t really play it. When Emily practices with just their mom and dad, they can go fast, but when he plays with them, they have to go slow. Emily’s a lot older than him, and mostly he likes that because she can teach him things and stick up for him and they don’t really fight a lot. But sometimes he wishes he could be bigger, so that he could be good at things like she is.

They’re playing catch together in the yard one day when their dad comes outside too. “How’s it going?” he asks them.

“Good, Dad,” Emily says. “I’m trying to show William how to throw the ball overhand. Want to show Dad, William?”

So he tries, but the ball doesn’t go where he wants it to go. It almost goes into Emily’s face, but she ducks. “I’m sorry,” he says. “It’s hard.”

“That’s okay, Will,” Emily says. “You just have to keep trying.”

“You’ll get it soon, buddy,” their dad says. But William doesn’t know if he will or not. He knows Emily says she had to practice a lot to be good, but he doesn’t remember her ever not being good.

“I guess,” he says softly. They play for a little longer, and then Emily says that she has homework to do, and she goes inside. William sits down on the steps.

His dad sits down next to him. “Everything okay, Will?” he asks.

“I wish I could be good at baseball,” William says. “Everyone else is.”

“You’re still learning,” his dad says. “What matters is that you have fun with it. Do you have fun playing?”

William thinks about it. Sometimes he does, but sometimes he doesn’t, because it’s hard. “I guess I do,” he says. “Usually.”

His dad looks at him for a minute, and then he squeezes his shoulders. “You don’t have to play if it’s not fun,” he says. “You can take a break.” But that just makes William feel worse, like his dad doesn’t think he should keep playing. Because maybe he’ll never be good like Emily. He just shrugs then, and he stays sitting there while his dad goes inside. He bounces the ball up and down, and then it rolls away.

He's watching it when his mom comes outside. “Hey, Will,” she says. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” William says.

“Your dad told me you were feeling a little sad,” she says. “About baseball.” She sits down on the step behind him, and he leans against her legs.

“Emily is so good at it,” he says. “And you and dad are good too. But I’m not.”

She smoothes his hair. “It’s hard sometimes, when you’re younger,” she says. “I remember when I was your age. I wanted to be able to do everything Bill and Missy could do.” That’s her older brother and sister, William knows—Uncle Bill in California, who they sometimes see at Christmas and Thanksgiving, and Aunt Melissa, who died before William was born. “You know how we moved around a lot, right?” William nods. “Missy was so good at making new friends, wherever we went. I wanted to be able to do that too.”

“So what did you do?” William asks.

“Well, I sulked some of the time,” his mom says, and she laughs. “And then I tried to copy whatever she did, but that didn’t work so well either. And finally…I tried doing things I was interested in and finding people who liked to do them too.”

“And that worked?” William asks.

“It did,” his mom says. “Much better than trying to be exactly like Missy.”

William can tell she’s trying to tell him something. “I don’t want to be exactly like Emily,” he says. “It’s just that she’s really good, and I think…I think that’s nice.”

“And there’s nothing wrong with that,” his mom says. “It’s good to have things you want to do, Will. But you shouldn’t get down on yourself if they don’t happen exactly like you expect them to.” She kisses the top of his head. “And there can be different ways of playing baseball. Just like there can be different ways of making friends.”

William doesn’t understand that. There’s a way you’re supposed to play baseball; it’s in the rules. “What do you mean?” he asks.

“Well, think about it,” she says. “First of all, you can play lots of different positions, right?”

“Right,” William says.

“So you might be better at one than at another,” his mom says. “And then there are different reasons you can like to play. Like Emily likes to play with her team. And I just like to play with you and Emily and your dad, so I can spend time with all of you.”

That makes sense, William guesses. “Are you saying I should just play at home?” he asks. “Instead of on a team?”

“Not exactly,” his mom says. “If you want to be on a team, I think you should keep practicing for that. And I’d be happy to help you. But if you’d rather just play with us, that’s okay too. It doesn’t mean you can’t be good at baseball. Or that you can’t love it.” He looks up at her; she’s smiling. “One of the reasons I love baseball is because your dad showed me how to play it. And that’s a really good memory for me. It might not be the reason anyone else loves baseball, but that’s mine. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

William thinks about it. He thinks about going to a baseball game for the first time, with his mom and dad and Emily, and eating lots of popcorn, and all of them wearing matching baseball caps, and cheering so loud. He thinks about Emily playing catch with him, every day sometimes, in the summer. “Yeah,” he says. “I understand.” And he hugs his mom. She hugs him back.

.....

The first time Scully went away for a conference, after they had the kids, she called at least twice each day to check in, to tell them she missed them. (Mulder would make fun at her, if he hadn’t done exactly the same thing.) Now, when Emily’s sixteen and Will’s ten, she’s a little bit more calm about it all. She’s away until Saturday; today’s Thursday, and she told them she’d call this evening, and Mulder doesn’t expect to be hearing from her ahead of schedule.

When he gets home from work, he decides to ask the kids if they have any ideas about what they want for dinner. “Pizza,” Will says. He’s doing his homework at the kitchen table.

That sounds pretty appealing. “Good idea,” Mulder says. “Do you know where Emily is? I’ll check with her too.”

“She went up to her room, I think,” Will says, and, as Mulder turns to go, he adds, “She was mad about something.”

“Mad about something?” Mulder asks. “What do you mean?”

Will shrugs. “I don’t know. I asked her what was up and she told me to leave her alone. And I didn’t even do anything.” He looks faintly injured.

“It’s probably not anything you did,” Mulder says. “Thanks for letting me know, though. I’ll check on her.”

He heads upstairs to Emily’s room. The door is pulled closed, and he knocks. “Emily? It’s me. Can I come in?”

“Okay,” she says, and he opens the door. When he sees her face, he can tell that Will was at least partially right: she’s definitely upset about something. He doesn’t think she’s mad, though. She looks more sad.

“Are you okay, Em?” he asks her. She shrugs. “Is something bothering you?” She nods, after a minute. “Want to talk about it?” She’s getting older, and he might not be able to help solve her problems as easily as he once did, but he’ll always try.

“I don’t know,” Emily says. “I’d kind of…I’d rather talk to Mom about it. It’s that kind of thing.”

He’s not one hundred percent sure what that means. “Okay,” he says. “You can talk to her when she calls tonight. Are you all right physically, though?”

“Oh, yeah,” Emily says. “It’s not about menstruation, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

He has to smile when she puts it like that, because it was one of the things he was thinking, and because she sounds so much like Scully. “Good to know,” he says. “Well, then…”

“It’s about a boy,” she blurts out, as he’s hovering between staying and going.

“Ah,” he says. He hopes the boy in question hasn’t broken her heart. It seems so early in life for that to be happening, although a part of him knows that he thinks that because she’s his daughter and he wants to keep her safe and happy.

“Well, sort of,” she says. She doesn’t say anything more, but the way she looks at him makes him think that she wants to talk now, not wait until the evening. Scully’s not here, though, so maybe he’ll have to do.

“You sure you don’t want to talk to me?” he asks. “I know some things about boys. As they were when I was one, anyway. Maybe they’ve changed since then.”

Emily almost smiles at that. “I don’t think people really change in how they act,” she says. “Okay, well, it’s…there’s this boy at school. And we’re in a lot of classes together. And we talk sometimes. And…I kind of like him.” The words are soft, like an admission, and Mulder nods, trying to look as understanding as he can. “So we have the spring dance coming up next month, and I thought I would ask him if he wanted to go together. I mean, why not, right?”

“Good for you, Em,” Mulder says. She’s braver in some things, at sixteen, than he’s ever been.

“So I asked him today,” Emily says, “and he said no.”

“Just like that?” Mulder asks. “Just ‘no’? What’s the matter with this guy?”

“It wasn’t just no,” Emily says. “He was nice about it. He just said he was sorry, but he didn’t feel like that about me. I’m not mad at him or anything.”

“I get why you’re upset, though,” Mulder says. “Still, you should be proud of yourself for asking him. That kind of thing’ll stand you in good—”

“That’s not exactly what I’m upset about,” Emily says. “I mean, I am disappointed. I’m just…I was talking to one of my friends after and I started wondering about why. She was saying…well, that maybe it was because of what I’m like in class.”

“What you’re like in class?” Mulder asks.

“Yeah,” Emily says. “Because I always answer a lot of questions. And I talk a lot, when we have discussions. And she said it’s not that boys don’t like it when girls are smart. But they don’t like it when the girls are smarter than them. And that’s just…I mean, I’m not going to stop talking in class. That would be an idiotic thing to do. But I just wonder if that means I won’t ever get a boyfriend.” She’s biting her lip now. She looks young, and confused, and sad.

So maybe Emily’s not mad, but Mulder is. “What kind of friend is this?” he asks. “To tell you something like that.”

Emily shrugs. “She’s not my best friend or anything. But she didn’t say it to be mean. She was being honest.”

“Well, maybe she thinks she was,” Mulder says. “But Em, that’s not something you should be worried about at all. You will meet plenty of people who will love how smart you are. Guys included.”

“How do you know?” Emily asks.

“You’d say your mom was pretty smart, wouldn’t you?” he asks, and Emily nods. “And that’s one of the reasons I fell in love with her. One of many reasons,” he adds. “And if you love someone who’s smart, like that, you can have much better conversations, and…I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t want to be with someone smart.”

“Yeah, but you guys are older,” Emily says.

“That’s true,” Mulder concedes. “And I will admit that a lot of people in high school don’t really know what they want or where they’re going. But some do. I know you’re one of them.”

“Sometimes, I guess,” she says.

“Sure,” Mulder says. “It’s not always simple. But you were brave enough to ask that guy. And you know you’re not going to stop talking in class, no matter what anyone says. Those things are important, Emily.” She’s watching him, listening. “I bet you’ll meet other people who know those things too. And if you don’t…you won’t be in high school forever, either. There’s a lot more out there.”

“Thank God,” she says, and he chuckles. She smiles too.

“Your mom and I are really proud of the person you are,” he tells her. “And you should be too. Don’t waste your time with anyone who acts like that’s not good enough. Okay?”

“Okay,” she says, and she hugs him spontaneously, which she doesn’t do as often as she used to. “Thanks, Dad.”

“What I’m here for,” he says. “Will and I were thinking about getting pizza for tonight. How does that sound to you?”

“Good,” Emily says. “Can we get extra cheese?”

“Absolutely,” he says. “And you can talk to your mom by yourself tonight, if you want to. Will and I will go, after we’re done saying hi.”

“Thanks,” Emily says, and then, after a minute, “I already feel a lot better, though.”

“I’m glad,” he says.

.....

Emily and Will have been sitting in the diner all morning, and even though it’s not crowded or anything, the waiter has been giving them looks. They’ve tried to keep ordering, but there’s a limit to how much you can eat (at least Emily thinks so—she’s not sure about Will, but she feels like it would be irresponsible to let him have a third plate of bacon). And she’s already too amped up for another cup of coffee.

“How much longer do you think it’s going to be?” Will asks.

“I don’t know,” Emily says. “These things take a while.”

He’s quiet, fiddling with his utensils. “I hope Mom’s okay.”

“Mom will be fine,” Emily says quickly. “She said everything looked really good at her last appointment, remember? She wouldn’t lie to us. And she’s got good doctors. And she’s got Dad.”

“Yeah,” Will says. “But still…it’s hard, right? They say it’s hard and it hurts and…” He looks worried.

“I know,” Emily says. “I’m sure she’s…it’s not like a fun day or anything. But she’s done it before, right? With you.” Not with Emily, herself; she knows the whole story now, and sometimes she’s mad about it, but it’s never made a real difference in how she feels about her relationship with her mom, with her dad, with Will, with this baby who’s coming into the world today. “And she was ready to do it again, so that must mean something.”

“I guess,” Will says. “Do you remember it? When I was born.”

“I wasn’t there,” Emily says. “I was at home with Grandma. I don’t think I was worried about Mom or anything. Too young, probably. I was just worried that Mom and Dad were going to love you better than me.”

“They do,” Will says, and she makes a face at him.

“But I came to see you all the next day,” she says, “and I liked you a lot better than I thought I would. And Mom was fine. And she’ll be fine today, too.”

Will nods. “Can we get pancakes?” he asks, after a minute.

She doesn’t feel like arguing with him right now, and besides, pancakes sound good. “Sure.”

“Aren’t we supposed to smoke cigars?” he asks, when they’re eating. “While we’re waiting for the baby. Don’t people smoke cigars?”

“Well, we shouldn’t smoke cigars at all, because it’s disgusting,” Emily says, “but I think that’s for after the baby anyway. And it’s for the dad. He’s supposed to give cigars to people, or something.” She laughs. “I can’t really picture Dad doing that.”

“Nah,” Will says. He pours a lot of maple syrup onto his pancakes. She does the same.

It’s mid-afternoon and she’s lost track of how many meals they’ve had when her phone rings. She sees it’s their dad and grabs it. “Hi! Is the baby here?”

“She’s here,” their dad confirms, and she knows he’s smiling, even though she can’t see it. “She and your mom are doing great.”

“Who does she look like?” Emily asks.

“She’s got your mom’s eyes,” he says. “But brown hair. You can decide for yourself what you think.”

“So we can come over?” Emily says.

“Yeah,” he says. “We can’t wait to see you both.”

“We can’t wait either,” Emily says, and they say goodbye.

She fills Will in while she’s paying for a truly outrageous amount of food, and then they walk over towards the hospital. There’s a florists’s on the way, and they stop there; Will says they should get blue flowers, because their mom likes blue, so that’s what they do.

They make their way in by the visitors’ entrance. Their dad texted her the room number, with directions, and they find it pretty quickly. Will’s carrying the flowers now, so Emily taps at the door. “Come in,” she hears her mom’s voice say, and they do.

It was strange, finding out she was getting a little sister now, when they’d only be in the house together for ten months or so before Emily went off to college. She was excited about it, but sometimes she wondered if she’d be able to be close to the baby the way she was close to Will.

But when her mom says, “Here she is,” and they go over to look at the baby, she decides that was silly. It might not be exactly the same, but she knows she loves her little sister. She knows she’s excited to have her in her life.

“Hi there,” she says. “Hi, sweetie.” She touches one of the baby’s hands.

“Wow,” Will says. “She’s so little.”

Their dad laughs. “That’s what Emily said when she first saw you,” he says.

“Mm-hmm,” their mom says. “Doesn’t seem that long ago, does it?”

“Are you okay, Mom?” Will asks.

She smiles at him. “I’m great, sweetheart. Thank you for asking.” She touches the baby’s head, and she looks so happy.

“Did you figure out the name?” Will asks. They’ve been going back and forth about different ideas.

“Yes,” their mom says. “Susanna.”

“Hi, Susanna,” Will says. Susanna yawns. They stand together and watch her.

#my fic #the x files #msr #family fic #fluff

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dancing-the-hellfire-rumba · 4 years ago

Text

There’s Nothing More I’d Rather Do

(title insp) Alternatively: Me-Time

Pairing: Chris Evans x Fem!Reader

Warnings: None.

WC: 1.1k

Mini A/N: I literally have never written for this man before. I needed to flex my writing muscles and write what I needed to read. Enjoy :)

It feels like being surrounded by feathers, soft on her skin and warm, exactly what she needed after a day like the one she’s had. The water smells of lavender and vanilla and it has assumed this watery- milk white, almost light blue color, interrupted by dark violet petals that smell of roses. Her hair is in a half-hearted, loose bun, with strands poking out left and right like prison escapees, a couple of them falling in front of her eyes and the back of her neck, getting soaked in the bath water.

Smooth, deep jazz tangles with the air and dances softly, pushes at the candle flames and urges them to dance along. It mixes with the sloshing of her limbs moving under the water- and a knock sounds at the door.

"I'm sorry, honey, do you mind if I get my toothbrush?" A soft, crescent moon smile crosses her features. She calls for him to come in.

With a soft click, the door creases open and- there he is, socked feet and grey sweatpants in all their glory. He smiles gently at her, pushing at his hair a little. Attempting to make quick work of his task, he grabs his toothbrush, puts a little bean sized amount of toothpaste on it and- okay he can't resist- stops to kiss the top of her head, before leaving.

"Hey," she calls to him as he's half way through the door. He stops and peaks from the side of it. "yeah?"

"You don't have to leave," she tells him, voice as smooth as the still water she's bathing in, and Chris's shoulders slack a little, his smile goes sugary sweet. Her mouth feels like she tasted honey.

"I don't wanna interrupt your me-time, baby," he tells her and shoots a smile her way, ready to leave again, but she stops him.

"You could be a part of it?" she suggests, just as gently and Chris seems to melt a little, though reluctantly. "Please?" Hands stretch up and out of the water, fingers wiggling sneakily and she can see his resolve visibly cracking and falling away.

"Alright," he sighs, and smiles at her victorious wiggle and broadened grin. "Just give me a second," he tells her and makes quick work of brushing his teeth, leaving the bathroom and returning a minute later with a chilled, opened bottle of white wine and two glasses in his hands. He disposes them carefully next to the tub with a playful kiss, placed firmly on her wet cheek. Her smile is worth it.

Simple candle light illuminates his creamy skin, every dip and plain, as he slowly pulls his white tee off of his body. It's not as sculpted, since there's no Marvel movie forcing him to dehydrate himself just for a set of abs, and she likes this look on him. Healthy, soft. His sweats go first, then his socks, then his briefs, tossing the latter in the hamper, while the rest of his clothes, he balls up and places in the lid of his toilet seat so they won't stay on the floor. She opens her arms and urges him to sit between her legs, as he slowly gets in the tub, one foot at a time, lowering himself in the milky water with a relaxed sigh.

Y/n's hands rub his arms comfortingly, wanting to say 'welcome home', her feet bumping his thighs playfully. Fingertips slowly going to his shoulders to give a brief squeeze, dropping a kiss at the nape of his neck, fingers going up, combing through his hair. His back leans on her chest, arms rested on the sides of the marble tub and head falling backwards, on her shoulder with a resounding sigh. The tension seems to seep from his body, melt and go down the clogged drain. She combs through his hair, one arm over his shoulder, hugging him into her, a kiss on his temple, her chin on his shoulder.

"This is lovely," he notes, and he sounds exactly the way he looks, almost relaxed, soft, at ease. She smiles at the side of his head, blunt nails scratching at his scalp.

"Never had a bath before?" she asks gently, lips never leaving his skin, words whispered right by his ear, and if she weren't this close, he wouldn't have heard her. He shakes his head.

"Momma used to shove Scott and I in a bathtub with all our plastic little toys when we were kids." She smiles at the thought of the young brothers splish-splashing in shallow bathtub waters, making a mess, cheeks red, smiles bright and wide as can be. She drops another kiss on his cheek this time. He seems to lean into it. "But it's been decades." She huffs out a laugh.

"You talk like you're eighty years old."

A scoff. "I practically am," he mumbles, sinking a little lower. She smacks his chest lightly and he laughs a little.

"The only thing you practically are is crazy, if you think that, Evans" she mumbles, buried in his shoulder. She can feel his stupid smile. She wants to kiss it.

"Yet here you are," he replies with a teasing edge to his voice, his left hand falling on her knee. He pulls her leg over his thigh and runs his hand over it absentmindedly. A quiet show of appreciation for her being with him.

They sit like that for a while, sharing a few sips of wine and listening to jazz. Chris closes his eyes for a little bit and sighs the last of his worries down the drain. He relaxes, almost dozing off in her arms and she lets him. He's so exhausted, the poor man, and she missed him. This quiet time with him is everything they both needed.

Eventually, they have to get out. The water is growing cold, and he's about ready to fall asleep, and as much as she loves him, he's too heavy to carry back to their room alone. "C'mon, honey," she whispers, patting him on the shoulder. He mumbles a complaint at having to move. "I know, but we should go to bed, hm?"

He really looks like a kid at that moment, stumbling out of the bathroom, barely towel dried, with a sour face, while she blows out the candles, kills the music, throws away the wet petals and removes the plug from the drain. The wine is shelved, the glasses disposed at the sink, and she makes her way to their bedroom, completely drying herself off. She puts on some lotion just to complete the self care evening, and pulls on a shirt of his and a pair of underwear, before slinking under their covers. Chris is sprawled under them, only in his boxers, almost on his third dream by now.

Still he feels her, and he blindly throws his arm around her, pulling her close under his chin like she's a teddy bear made for cuddling (and maybe for him she is. )

"I love you," he tells the side of her head, with a kiss sleepily dropped on her lips, lazy and tired. She smiles against them, noses bumping into each other and sharing an exhale..

"G'night, baby." She snuggles in his arms, breathing him in. He smells like lavender now. Her eyelids feel heavy and so does her heart, in the best possible way. "I love you too. "

Did you like it? Lemme know :) I'd love to hear from y'all.

#chris evans #chris evans fanfiction #chris x fem!reader #chris evans x fem!reader #chris evans fluff #chris x reader #chris evans x reader fluff #mcu #marvel #captain america #marvel cinematic univerce #ca:tws #ca:tfa #ca:cw #avengers #mcu fanfiction #mcu fluff #my fanfiction

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blazerina · 5 years ago

Text

Surprise (Ethan x MC)

Word Count: 4,962 (omg that’s a lot)

Author’s Note: Okay so this is my “mature Ethan & Allie AU” where they’re already married and have been together for a little while. It eludes to some of my other Ethan & Allie stories a little bit and sets the scene for another more angsty Ethan & Allie story I plan to write soon. I had no idea how to end this so I’m sorry if the ending stinks. Hope this brings some joy to you as you read it – thank you to all of you for your support and encouragement regarding my stories.

**This story is dedicated to @noboundariesplease who became my 800th follower a few weeks ago!!**

@parkerattano @justanotherrookie @mrswalkerwritesagain – thanks for being my fandom besties!

A few of you asked to be tagged when I posted this story so here you go:

@unusualvisionsblog @itstaygs @ethandaddyramsey @x-kyne-x @flyawayboo

Some of you liked my message about this story coming soon so I thought I’d tag you too – hope that’s okay: @queencarb @schnitzelbutterfinger @liam-kostas-wife @keepcreative @lion-ess24 @lifeof-liv @rookieinbflat @imonlyalittledeadinside @desmaranj @havenofearoficecoldbeer

Love and hugs peace to all of you!! xoxo

Ding dong.

The echo of the doorbell rang out among the small, empty foyer of the two-story home that Ethan and Allie shared, just outside of Boston. Allie was in the master bathroom, her hair in large rollers, putting the finishing touches on her makeup; mascara wand in hand.

Waiting a moment to hear if Ethan opened the door, Allie let out a sigh and rested her hand on the edge of the counter in exasperation.

“Ethan? You gonna get that?!” She hollered.

The doorbell rang again at the same moment Allie went back to applying her mascara.

“Ethan!” She yelled again, tightening the belt on her robe.

Ethan’s head popped into view behind her in the mirror. Leaning in from the doorway with the phone glued to his ear, he silently mouthed the words I’m on the phone.

Rolling her eyes, Allie put the mascara down and went quickly to the door. A delivery man was standing on the doorstep, holding a basket full of cookies, with several colorful balloons attached.

After signing for the package and offering her thanks, Allie went immediately to the kitchen. Ethan was sitting at the table, still on the phone, looking out the window into their backyard.

“For you…” Allie smiled, placing the basket in front of him as he turned around.

He rolled his eyes and looked for a card. After reading it quickly, he tossed it aside, rolling his eyes again. Allie could hear the voice on the other end of the phone. This person was clearly frazzled, rambling on and talking at a rapid pace.

“I will not apologize for your lack of planning, Douglas. I have already been waiting two days beyond the deadline I originally gave you…you’re testing my patience and I already don’t have much…”

While Ethan continued on the phone, Allie poured him a glass of iced tea and set it down on the table in front of him, giving him a soft kiss on the cheek.

Ethan reached for her hand and kissed the back of it silently, looking up at her through his glasses with tired eyes.

Allie smiled and started walking backwards. Making sure she had Ethan’s attention, she mimed at her wrist, tapping it as if a watch was there.

“We need to go soon…” she reminded him, quietly.

Ethan nodded and then shooed her out of the room as his conversation increased his frustration.

“And I’m telling you that I will not have a diagnosis until I get those results…”

Allie and Ethan had been married almost 16 years now. Their relationship had weathered many storms at this point, but their connection to one another had never been stronger or deeper. Looking at the pictures in frames throughout their house one could see how their own love and affection for one another had grown. In the pictures from their first days of being together, their eyes sparkled and glistened. Photos from their small and intimate wedding ceremony showed true joy and happiness in their smiles. As the years wore on, they included other family in their pictures, pictures of Jenner alone in a field of wildflowers, and another new puppy, Chief. Nieces and nephews and cousins galore adorned the walls and shelves of their home. In each more recent picture of their life, their eyes were just as sparkling, smiles just as happy, but their faces older and wiser, and maybe a little more tired.

The couple had been through a lot together; it seemed as though from day one they would have more than their fair share of trials and tribulations. But through it all they managed to come out stronger with more love, devotion and appreciation for one another than either of them thought possible.

Allie was keeping an eye on the time, her stomach a bundle of nerves. She was working hard to ensure her lipstick looked just right, while also checking every other little detail of her makeup in the mirror.

Tonight need to be as close to perfect as possible.

Downstairs, Ethan furiously ended his call and slammed his phone down on the table with more force than he intended. He glanced quickly at the ridiculous basket and balloons, muttered a curse word under his breath and checked the time on the wall clock in the kitchen. He quickly realized he was running late and took the stairs two at a time to get changed.

Allie heard him enter their walk-in closet and called out to him.

“All done with that phone call?”

“I am.” Ethan responded, scanning his suit jackets for the one he had in mind.

“I cannot believe you made me go to the door in my robe with my hair in these curlers!” She teased, securing an earring in place.

“You can’t honestly believe that I was going to fall for that…” Ethan scoffed, talking to her through the closet as he began to change.

“Fall for what?” Allie asked, spraying perfume on her wrists and neck.

“Allie…” His tone came across as though he was admonishing her.

“I learned my lesson! I promised you that I would never, ever in the rest of our time together, try to surprise you with anything for your birthday ever again.”

“Well forgive me for being worried that someone dressed as a teddy bear or something equally as cliché and silly, was going to jump out from behind the bushes with a song and some chocolate. You’re very unpredictable, you know.”

“And you love it.” Allie retorted.

A few moments of silence passed between the two of them as Allie made her way to the closet, too. They danced around each other a few times, Ethan reaching here to grab a tie, Allie wandering over to her shoe selection, trying to decide which ones she wanted to wear.

Her eyes scanned the footwear choices before her and she mentally calculated the pros and cons of each, tilting her head in an analytical fashion, her eyes squinting as she thought to herself.

“You still have the curlers in?” Ethan questioned, almost completely dressed now, with the exception of his tie and jacket.

“I told you, I take them out at the very…last…second…” Allie reached for a pair of shoes as Ethan stopped her.

“Wear those instead…” He nodded in the direction of one shelf above the pair Allie was going for.

“Those are old!” She insisted. “You only like these because I was wearing them two years ago on our anniversary when we went to the opera and ate at the one place with the great steak and scotch – I can’t remember the name but you loved it…”

“So what if I did? It was a lovely evening and those shoes bring back good memories.”

“Maybe for you…” Allie’s eyes grew wide as she remembered the blisters they created on the heels of her feet.

She grabbed them anyway and gave him a sly grin.

“The things we do for love.”

After laying out her dress and shoes, she returned to the bathroom and started taking her hair down. Ethan was now sitting on the end of the bed, putting his shoes on, but stopped to watch her, mesmerized by her beauty.

He could only see her reflection in the mirror from the angle at which the bed was to the entrance of their master-bath, but he still couldn’t stop his own breath from catching in the back of his throat. Not a day passed when he didn’t wake up and consider himself the luckiest man on the planet.

Sure, time had weathered them both in certain ways – physically they both had more wrinkles and gray hair; but emotionally they had grown, developed and matured in their desire for one another and their need to rely on each other through all that life had thrown their way.

Ethan was not looking forward to the dinner they were attending tonight. Allie was the magnetic one – the woman who could make the cashier at the grocery store feel like she had known her forever. Allie was the one everyone wanted to be friends with and the so-called friends the couple did have, were only tolerant of Ethan. They were really friends with her, and he knew it. She had so much that he didn’t. He was in awe of her and admired her more than she was aware.

Allie’s long reddish-brown hair tinted now with a few streaks of gray, fell from each roller, across her shoulders and down her back. The soft tendrils were exactly the way she hoped they’d be – not too tight but not too loose. She was actually pleased with the way her look was coming together tonight. She then reminded herself that she needed to hurry.

Ethan finished putting his shoes on and straightened himself up.

“All right, I think this is as good as I’m going to get so I’ll wait downstair—”

“Wait – could you help me with my dress please?” Allie pleaded, exiting the bathroom and stepping into the closet, then emerging again with the dress already on.

She swooped her hair to one side and turned around in front of Ethan, a silent request for him to zip up the garment.

He could smell her perfume. The same perfume she had been waring for years. The scent that would forever and always remind him of her.

Without saying a word, he slowly closed the dress, his rough calloused fingers grazing across her smooth, silky skin. He lightly kissed the exposed side of her neck while running his hands up and down both of her arms. She turned around to face him and smiled.

“Please, darling. Promise me. Promise me tonight is just a dinner, our closest friends, a simple night out and NOT a birthday celebration.” His tone was soft but serious.

“You are really worried about this aren’t you?” Allie arched an eyebrow moving closer to him, her lips almost touching his.

“Allie.” Ethan sighed, eyes closing briefly. “I just don’t like surprises. My birthday is on a Tuesday which won’t be ‘fun enough’ for you, so I’m just worried you’re trying to plan something and make it amazing. You always have good intentions, but I never react appropriately and then I feel guilty and people are watching…”

She interrupted his stream-of-consciousness speech with her lips on his. It took him a moment to kiss her back, but he quickly melted into her touch on instinct.

“I promise I have not planned a birthday-related surprise for tonight. Relax.”

He let out a shaky breath and nodded.

“Okay then.”

“Now go get in the car, I have to reapply my lipstick already, thanks to you.” She swatted his behind as he walked away and he chuckled to himself, slightly relieved.

“This is where we’re eating?” Ethan questioned as valet circled the car and helped Allie out of the vehicle.

“Dr. Ramsey, Dr. Valentine – we’ve been waiting for you. Right this way.” An older woman with gentle eyes and white hair led the couple through the lobby of a very fancy hotel.

Ethan felt like everyone was watching them, but he stayed focused on trying to calm his own nerves. He wanted to trust Allie and not be paranoid about some crazy birthday plan, but he couldn’t help himself.

Allie held his hand and smiled at everyone that passed by. Her heart was beating fast too. Ethan could feel the pulse in her wrist as he clutched onto her for dear life.

“Ethan…” She whispered, “Are you okay?”

He didn’t respond, his gaze fixed ahead of him, following the woman to a huge ballroom full of banquet tables. When the doors opened Ethan felt light-headed. Not one seat was empty.

Music was playing and there was a stage set up at the front of the room. The room was beautifully decorated and whoever planned whatever event Ethan found himself attending, obviously spared no expense. People had just begun to eat their plated dinners. It seemed as though a few less people paid attention to him now that he was safely inside the room.

His emotions were a mixture of relief and confusion.

Allie’s voice coaxed him out of his own thoughts.

“See?! Told ya. Nothing birthday related!” She kept hold of his hand and led him to a table closer to the front, where two seats had clearly been reserved for them.

Naveen and Harper were already at the table along with the chairman of Edenbrook’s Board of Director’s and the President of the hospital.

“I was wondering how late you’d be tonight, Ethan. The table was taking bets before you walked in with this lovely young woman on your arm. Does Allie know?”

Ethan pulled the chair out for Allie and relaxed a little more, now that he was around familiar faces. He still didn’t quite have any idea what was going on.

“Ha-ha.” Allie chimed in sarcastically, leaning over to Naveen and kissing him on the cheek.

“Lovely to see you all this evening – thank you for coming.” She added.

“No, my dear, thank YOU for making this event possible.” The chairman spoke up, nodding towards Ethan.

“If it weren’t for Dr. Valentine, we’d only see Ramsey here walking the halls of the hospital day and night. He’d have no real life to speak of!” Naveen teased.

As the table made feeble attempts at small talk with one another, people would come up to Ethan every so often and shake his hand or clap him on the back, telling him how good it was to see him here or offering their most sincere congratulations. Ethan tried his best to be polite but was quite frankly starting to get a little annoyed. He was hungry and irritable and already wanted to be left alone.

He always felt so awkward and out of place at these things. He never knew what to say or precisely how to act. Charming people and making idle conversation with them was not his strong suit. It was entirely out of his comfort zone. And what was worse, tonight, he clearly was already supposed to know what event he was attending or at the very least what was going on, however, he really had no clue.

Obviously there was no way that the Dr. Ethan Ramsey was about to admit to a table full of his medical peers, that he did not know what was happening or exactly what they were gathered together to celebrate tonight. To appear as though he had no answers was the worse possible fate he could imagine.

“Allie…” he whispered sweetly into her ear, placing his hand on her upper thigh, below the table.

“What exactly is going on? Help me out here…”

“Allie! I feel as though it has been forever since I’ve seen you!” Harper gushed, clearly, she had already had a few drinks and was feeling quite conversational.

“It has been!” Allie engaged with her but then quickly responded to Ethan between talking with Harper and the rest of the table.

“You’ll see.” She pecked him quickly on the lips leaving him stunned and puzzled. He could not for the life of him figure out what any of this had to do with him.

Allie knew he’d never ask anyone else at the table what was going on. She had him right where she wanted him. He knew it too and he hated her for it.

As hard as he tried not to get mad, he felt anger rising in his chest. He always struggled when he didn’t feel in control. When two plus two didn’t add up to be four, he had a very difficult time adjusting. Everyone was being nice to him, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Was this some kind of party?

Ethan took a few shallow breaths and pushed through, talking to those around him and grasping for Allie every chance he got, in a respectful and not attention-seeking way. Little touches here and there left her connected to him. She was what kept him grounded and he needed her desperately tonight.

He was continuing to get old. He saw it in the mirror as it reflected his own face every single day. This birthday coming up was just another reminder of how much life had been lived. The depth of the few relationships he had and the stark reminder of what he lacked, always hit him square on, around this time of year. Birthdays were not and never would be his favorite.

Dramatically, he began thinking of how betrayed he felt by Allie. She had duped him once again and led him on. How could she promise him she hadn’t done anything when clearly this whole thing had been executed flawlessly? She was too smart. She knew he wouldn’t blow up on her here, in front of people.

He then began looking around at the decorations, the food, the stage, this lavish hotel he’d only been in once before, and the dollar signs began adding up in his mind. Now suddenly worried about how much she had spent on this over-the-top soiree, he needed to excuse himself and go get some air.

He slowly released his grasp on Allie’s hand, and sheepishly removed himself from the table.

“Ethan, no. Sit down. You can’t…you can’t leave right now.” Allie smiled as she instructed him, but her tone was serious.

“Alexandra, what in God’s name is going on? This is ridiculous that I cannot even…” Ethan was interrupted by a man on stage and he quickly took his seat, not wanting to make a scene.

Through clenched teeth, he leaned over to Allie once again.

“You promised me.” He hissed, beginning to seethe with anger. He thought after all this time she would know him better than this.

“Is a slideshow of my life going to start playing soon? Clowns and confetti coming through in a second? All these people?! Allie, come on!”

“Hush.” She put a finger to his lips, remaining calm. “Pay attention.”

“…it is with that in mind that we take time tonight to pay honor to a man who really needs no introduction…”

“Is that the Governor of Massachusetts?” Ethan gawked. “You got the governor…”

“Put these on.” Allie slid his glasses over to him with a smile. “Yes, that’s the governor. Now hush and listen.”

Ethan was totally put out at this point, but put his glasses on and sat back in his chair. He was frustrated. His leg was bobbing up and down unconsciously. He had nervous energy. He wanted to leave. He wanted to get up and run out the door. He mentally noted the exits in the room. How fast could he make it? He was a little sore from his run earlier this morning but with this much adrenaline, surely, he could…

“Leading the nationally renowned diagnostics team at Edenbrook hospital has been the bulk of his responsibility for the last 25 years. Under his leadership, this team has brought great prestige and esteem to Edenbrook, to Boston and to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Not to mention the incredible notoriety and hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue that we have all benefitted from, due to his excellent work.”

Ethan paused, sitting up straighter, starting to put the pieces together.

“His colleagues from across the country have gathered here tonight to celebrate his contributions to the medical field, but tonight I want to celebrate his contributions to our state and to our community. There will be time for more accolades as the evening continues but first, and foremost, let us celebrate him and hear what he has to say.”

Allie squeezed his hand again, beaming with pride.

“Ladies and gentlemen, it is my distinct honor, pleasure and privilege to be able to introduce you to our guest of honor tonight. Please join me in congratulating this year’s recipient of the Massachusetts Medical Society Lifetime Achievement Award, Dr. Ethan Ramsey of Edenbrook Hospital.

The room erupted in applause with some people whooping and hollering. Immediately everyone sprang to their feet, even Ethan. For a moment he wasn’t sure if he had to go on stage or not, but it became clear that there was an award he needed to accept and most likely a speech that would been expected.

Stunned and feeling as though he was floating on air, he quickly made his way up to the stage, hoping no one could see that his hands were shaking a bit. He shook hands with the governor, took his award in both hands and immediately looked out among the crowd.

Ethan tried to scan the faces, wanting to soak in this moment – he was stunned and still unsure if he was really awake. While he tried to focus on the faces and really see who it was who had come out to support him, his gaze was instantly drawn to one and only one person in the room.

Allie wiped tears away from her eyes quickly, wanting to keep her emotions at bay. The only thing she felt in this moment was immense pride, and maybe a little bit of satisfaction in pulling this over on her beloved. Standing and still applauding, she looked up at him in awe. Awe that he was hers. Not that his accomplishments and professional achievements weren’t worthy – but the only thing he was to her in that moment was Ethan. Her husband. The love of her life.

“Please.” Ethan cleared his throat as he spoke into the microphone, both his heart and mind racing.

“This is quite enough, please sit.” He instructed a little more forcefully.

Allie led the group in finding their seats as a hush fell over the crowd, waiting to hear from the man they were all there to honor.

“I know this will come as a shock to most of you who know me well, especially those who work with me on a daily basis…but I’m finding myself speechless at the moment…”

Ethan chuckled as did the rest of the room. He bit his lip, locking eyes with Allie and shaking his head, grinning and smirking, a combination of the two.

“I had no idea, absolutely no clue that this was happening tonight. I’m blown away by your support and your presence here tonight. I…uh…” He cleared his throat again, then looked back out into the audience.

He found Allie’s eyes, and also his words again.

“I do not take this award lightly and it truly means so much to me. I don’t know that I like the fact that I’m old enough now to be receiving lifetime achievement awards, but I am grateful, really. I love what I do, I’m fortunate to have a wonderful job that keeps me guessing every single day; really great co-workers, at least most of the time…” Again, the audience laughed.

“I get to teach med students in their first years of residency, and then you know, help save people’s lives. It’s actually surreal that this is the life I get to live.”

Ethan took a deep breath, biting his lip and trying to measure out his next statements carefully.

“As great as all of that is, I know that there is absolutely no possible way for me to be standing before you tonight as the person that I am today, without the love, devotion and care of my wife, Allie Valentine. She’s my Rookie.”

He paused, looking down, one hand finding his heart as he became overcome with emotion. He took several seconds to gather himself, he wanted to stay composed.

“I was actually pretty upset with her tonight for dragging me here and not telling me what the hell was going on. Even though all the things that have been written about me and said about me are true, and my accomplishments have garnered our entire team with a lot of recognition and such, I am most proud of being her husband.

Why she chose to settle down with a grumpy old man like me, I’ll never fully understand…but everything I am and everything I have today is completely because of her faith in me and her ability to make me the best possible version of myself.

When we met, I thought I would be the one teaching her everything she needed to know, but in the end, she has taught me more than I ever taught her.”

Allie’s eyes were filled with tears, she could hardly look at him without feeling as though she was going to burst with pride. She blew him a kiss from her seat and wiped away more tears, not daring to let them fall down her cheeks and ruin the makeup she tried so hard to perfect earlier that evening.

“I feel like I’m Rambling Ramsey up here so I’ll wrap this up - I could go on all night telling you about what Mrs. Ramsey means to me, what this award means to me, but I’ll stop here. Thank you again and please, I want to work the room as they say and thank all of you personally so come find me and…really, sincerely, this means so much to me. Thank you.”

Before he knew it, Ethan was swept away for pictures, people swarming around him, talking to him, handing him scotch after scotch, as it was well-known to be his drink of choice. It felt like at least an hour before he made his way back to Allie. She had just finished speaking with the Governor, when Ethan snuck up behind her.

Immediately, she turned and wrapped her arms around him.

“Happy Birthday, my love!” She whispered in his ear.

“I cannot believe you did this to me…” He said seriously, looking in her eyes. “I hope you know you’re going to get it when we get home.” Ethan teased.

Laughing, Allie picked her glass of Prosecco from the table and raised it towards him in a mock toast as she wiggled her eyebrows and walked towards the open bar.

“Was already planning on it…” She muttered under her breath as she watched him walk away.

“I heard that…” He called out over his shoulder.

Throughout the night each one of them independently visited with people, giving them their sincere thanks and letting them know how meaningful it was to share this evening with them. Every few minutes or so Ethan would find Allie or Allie would find Ethan and they’d give each other a quick squeeze of the hand or a kiss on the cheek as they brushed passed each other and moved on to the next well-wisher.

“I don’t know what she sees in you…” Naveen said to Ethan as he took a swig from a beer bottle, nodding towards Allie who was across the room. “She’s perfect.”

“No doubt about it, I’m the lucky one.” Ethan agreed as Allie sauntered over to the two of them.

“This cannot be good.” She laughed, pointing at them both. “What are you plotting?”

“You’re the schemer.” Naveen chided. “No one could have pulled this off better, my queen.”

Naveen pretended to bow before her with both arms raised above his head while he bent at the waist.

“Oh stop.” Allie waved him off.

“It looks like this crowd is thinning out and if I stay in these shoes much longer my feet will need to be amputated.”

She leaned on Ethan, stifling a yawn.

“I know a guy who can help with that…” Naveen offered, finishing his drink.

“You really know how to throw a birthday party!” He added, following Ethan and Allie out to the valet line for the cars.

“It wasn’t a birthday party!” Both Ethan and Allie said in unison, Allie’s brow furrowed in mock anger.

Naveen begged for forgiveness and said his goodbyes while the couple waited for their vehicle to be brought around. As they sunk into the vehicle, beyond tired, Allie immediately kicked off her heels and Ethan loosened his tie. He threw his jacket into the backseat along with Allie’s shoes and rolled down the windows a bit for fresh air.

“Before we get going…” Allie put her hand on his as it rested on the gearshift.

“I know I said no more surprises – but you can’t be mad at me because this technically wasn’t a birthday surprise it was a general surprise and I knew that if you knew they were giving you an award you’d come up with some excuse not to go and I just couldn’t live with myself if you didn’t get a chance to hear all these people tell you how amazing you are because I know you’re amazing and I tell you all the time but sometimes you don’t believe me.”

She stopped to take a quick breath.

“So, I hope that tonight you know just how many people agree with me that you’re incredible – so please, please don’t be mad. I don’t want to ride all the way home with you in silence because I pulled one over on you.”

“Whoa. Allie. Calm down.” Ethan reached out to her and held her face in his hand.

“I’m not mad. It was a great surprise and…”

He reached across the console and kissed her hard, passionately, with so much force that his lips burned her skin.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.” She whispered.

He laced his hand into hers and held it all the way home, staying the way they had been all the years of their relationship and even in little moments all night long…connected, grateful and in awe that somehow, someway they had found each other and were never ever letting go.

#blazerina babbles #ethan x mc #mc x ethan #ethan ramsey #ethan ramsey fanfiction #dr. ethan ramsey #dr ethan ramsey #open heart #open heart fanfiction

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holylulusworld · 5 years ago

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Claimed per accident - Part 11 – Forgiveness

Summary: The Winchesters are your blessing and curse at the same time.

Pairing: Alpha!Dean x Omega!Reader, Alpha!Sam x Omega!Reader, Alpha!John x Omega!Reader, Castiel

Warnings: angst, abo dynamics, scenting, true mates, language, tension, longing

A/N: For my fic, John made the deal to save Sam, not Dean. Castiel gripped John tied to raise him from perdition. Sam was soulless and Dean a demon. This is partially an AU.

Claimed per accident Masterlist

While you check on all the stuff the brothers tossed into the bags you snicker as Dean seems to be more interested in the pie than the beer John puts into the fridge.

“Got an apple pie for you too, Sweetheart.” Humming you glance at the pie, as Dean gets a knife out to cut a slice for you. “I know you like apple more than cherry.”

“You only try to get more cherry pie, Dean.” While you talk about the best apple pie you ever ate and try to sort all the things the brothers bought John leans against the counter, watching you taste a piece of the apple pie.

“Not bad, but not my grannies. If I find the time between the try to not get killed and keeping three needy Alphas under control I will bake one. I still have my gran’s secret cookbook.”

Sniffling you rub your eyes. “It’s one of the few things I could take with me before I got kicked out.”

“I think all of us would like to taste a piece of your gran’s pie.” John rubs his chin, glancing at you as he tries to tell you what Castiel brought to the bunker for you.

“Castiel, he and Crowley stayed behind after we left, and our favorite angel said your father kept your stuff.”

“Why should he keep my old things? I don’t think my father wanted a reminder of the shitty daughter he kicked out of his life.” John’s features soften as he points toward Cas standing in the doorframe.

“Your father didn’t know that the neighbors, who helped him packing his belongings when he moved out, packed your things too. I read his mind and knew he does not know about it. A woman must’ve packed your things and she left a letter.”

Taking the letter, you smile as you recognize the handwriting. “That’s Miriam’s handwriting. She was my friends’ mother. After my mom died, she became like a mom to me and I spent many nights and days at their house.” Unfolding the letter, you smile as at least one person did not judge you.

“Do you want to read it in private?” Glancing at the letter Castiel wants to leave but you shake your head. “We can give you some time on your own.”

“No. You brought this to me, Cas. Thank you.” Your fingers shake as you read the first lines.

Dear Y/N,

I hope one day you will be able to get your belongings. I know how much your diaries and the pictures of your mother mean to you. We hid the boxes on the attic when your father moved into the new house.

Your father wanted us to toss everything belonging to your away but Elize and I just could not do it. Whatever your father told us, I know things can be complicated between an Alpha and a young Omega.

My husband and I mated after knowing each other for not even a few hours. He claimed me and I became pregnant. I understand the struggle of being Omega too well, Y/N. Never let anyone tell you that you are not a good person only as you fell for an Alpha and he left you.

The same thing could have happened to me. Luckily, my mate wanted to stay with me.

Whenever I look at my daughter, I see a piece of you in her too as you helped her grow while you were around.

I pray you will grow stronger through the loss and pain. I know you will become an independent and wonderful person.

If you find this letter, you can call me anytime. My number is still the same, but I added at the end of the letter, just in case you forgot.

Have a long and wonderful life.

Stay safe,

Miriam

Tears in your eyes you press the letter to your heart. ”Miriam always was nice, but I never thought she would be on my side in this. She was strict, always said to Elize that she should not run around with an Alpha.”

“I think she tried to protect her daughter. She was in the same position as you were and knew about the problems an early bond can cause. In the end, she understood your situation better than anyone.”

Castiel saw enough pain and loss due to bonds formed with the wrong mate to know that the Winchesters regret that they were not with you to strengthen your bond.

Smiling the angel watches you walk into the library to open the first box with shaking fingers. It inherits clothes you will never wear again and you are laugh at the crazy shirts you liked to wear.

“Cute shirt.” Snickering Sam glances a pink ‘Hello Kitty’ shirt in the box. “You can wear it anytime.”

“I do not think I will ever wear a ‘Hello Kitty’ shirt or Hawaiian shorts again. The clothes are brand-new. I think I’ll donate those.”

Humming Dean glances at the pink shirt. While you open the next box, he snatches the shirt out of the box to hide it under his flannel.

John smirks watching his son hide the shirt. He knows Dean wants to see you in the shirt and presses his index finger to his lips to make sure Sam keeps his mouth shut.

“Books, my diaries and pictures. I’ll keep those things.” There are five more boxes and your smile grows as you see Miriam even saved your toys. “Maybe one day I can give the dolls and teddy bears to my children.”

John heart races and his cock twitched imagining you filled with his pups.

“Pups…” Purring Dean steps closer to have a look at the toys. “We will find a safe place to store the dolls and things.”

“In here are more books, CD’s, DVD’s and a few pictures.” Sam goes through one of the boxes and you nod as he shoves it toward the other box with the things you want to keep.

While you check on two more boxes Dean’s eyes never leave your face. You never thought you would ever see your things again and now it’s just overwhelming to have all your belongings back.

The last box is full of random things. Make-up, a few thongs, figurines, and other things are hastily thrown into the box. You assume Miriam did not have the time to sort the things in the last box.

“Uh-huh! A red thong…hmmm…” Sam grasps for the underwear before Dean can snatch the thongs too. “Sammy…” Whining the Alpha glances at the thongs and you shake your head at his needy state.

“Dean stop stealing clothes from our Omega. Let us help her carry the boxes into her room and we can have dinner later.”

John picks the first box up as Dean looks one last time at your underwear before he grabs a box too.

“Looks good. I like the pictures and drawings.” Leaning against the doorframe John let his eyes wander. You placed pictures onto the desks and Dean helped you fixating some drawings and pictures at the wall behind your bed.

On the shelves are your books, CDs, and DVDs along with tiny figurines and a box with your jewelry.

You only kept two pairs of jeans, a dress, two shirts, and your shoes. Sam brought the rest the Salvation Army to donate the clothes you do not need any longer.

“I got a call from a friend. He said your father sued us at the Sheriff’s department.” John smirks as you look at him with wide eyes.

“Good thing the Sheriff is a good friend of mine and gave a shit on your father's statement.”

“How can he do this? It was his fault my Alpha’s defended me. He should know that the law says every Alpha has the right to defend his Omega.” Walking into your room John looks at the pictures on your desk.

There is one of your mom and you. John can see you must have cut your father out as the is a gap in the picture, but he does not say a word.

“I want to make dinner. Any wishes?” Poking his head in Dean looks at you. “Burger? Pasta? My charming personality?”

“I’d like a burger and salad.” Nodding the eldest brother looks around your room.

“I like the knife next to the fairy.” Liking your style Dean gives you a wink before he strolls toward the kitchen. “Y/N wants a burger, live with-it Sammy.”

“Burger? Again?” Grumbling Sam walks into your room, glancing at the pictures of you, your family and friends. “Can we not eat healthily for once?”

“Tonight, I want a burger. A girl got to eat meat to make sure she can take all of you down if needed.” John’s smirk grows as he sees a shirt of him on your bed, along with one of Dean and Sam.

“She’s a little thief, dad. Look at the bed.” Sam purrs, circling your bed like his prey. “I bet she’s rubbing her cute nose into our shirts. Dirty little ‘mega.”

“Sam be cautious, our Omega is a feisty one. Hard to handle and lovely at the same time. Look at her room, it reflects her personality. Gracile fairy and deadly hunter.” John’s deep voice goes lower every time he gets a whiff of your scent.

“I heard that, old man. You better try to get into my good graces.” Stroking the soft skin behind John’s ear you smirk as he purrs for you. “I think you should eat more meat too, John…I have plans for you…”

“This is the best burger I ever ate, Dean. You are a genius, Alpha. I hope you can cook more. Maybe we can team-up. I could bake a pie using my gran’s recipe and you can make dinner.”

Dean’s eyes lit up when you moan after you took the last bite. He can sense you are calmer now that you claimed both, Sam, and Dean.

While Sam watches you with amusement, knowing you try to tease John with your behavior his father tries to not purr as you rub your hand over his crotch.

“Dean and I will clean the dishes. It’s getting late and I guess…” Sam can’t hold back the dirty grin on his lips as his father starts to shiver every time you stroke his dick. “You and dad need some time alone.”

“How’d you find out?” Your hand moves faster until John stops it. His eyes darken and you know you broke his resistance. “Submit to me and I am yours tonight, John…”

Your hand slides over his thigh as you lean closer to purr the words into his ear.

“I think it’s time to forgive each other our sins, John. I hated you for too long and you, you felt guilty as long as my hatred was kept alive by my memories…”

“I want you, little ‘mega. You are our queen; you’re my queen and I kneel if I have to. Let me show you I can be more than an Alpha in rut.”

When you take John’s hand to lead him toward his room, his sons whistle.

“Be gentle. He’s an old man.” Dean snickers.

“He can’t take too much excitement. Take good care of him.” Sam adds.

“Don’t worry, boys…” Giving the brothers a wink you smirk. “I’ll make sure he purrs in no time…”

Tags in reblog.

#Claimed per accident Masterlist #dean winchester #Sam Winchester #john winchester #alpha!sam winchester #alpha!dean #alpha!john #alpha!dean winchester #alpha!dean x omega!reader #alpha!john winchester x omega!reader #alpha!sam x reader #Alpha!Dean x OmegaReader x Alpha!Sam #alpha!dean x reader #alpha!dean x omegareader #alpha!john winchester #abo #abo dynamics

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seaweedbrain404 · 4 years ago

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Wolfstar Au: A Guide to Parenting, Friendships and Heartache (pt1)

read the rest on ao3

Still, he felt it wasn’t fair to him, they had been married nearly a year but had been dating for years and years beforehand. It wasn’t fair to him or Anna’s parents because all three, Anna and his parents were dead. Remus, Marie and Edward were forced to navigate some sort of way to raise the baby by themselves. Of course, it should’ve been all Remus but Marie and Edward were just too nice. He felt they had a sense of duty or maybe a love for their grandson that made them do it.

Either way, they were suffocating. Always up in Remus’ business and he felt horrible for thinking that because without them, the past few years would’ve been hell. Now, Teddy was six years old and Remus needed to get the hell out of the small town that was nestled in the back-arse of nowhere in Wales. Sure, he would certainly miss the beautiful scenery and his job at the local chipper but it was time for a change. That time was now.

Remus picked a cheap apartment somewhere in Liverpool, bid his in-laws goodbye and packed up shop. One of the reasons that Remus chose Liverpool is because he had to drop out of college to help support Teddy and now he was considering going back to actually get a degree. It didn’t escape him that he still had Teddy to think of but he couldn’t just stay on a job that just paid minimum wage and kept them threading above the poverty line for the rest of his life. It was now or never.

It was all these things Remus was thinking about one night, months after they had arrived. He had gotten a job but he hadn’t started night school like he’d wanted to. Teddy was tucked away, asleep in bed when Remus made his fourth cup of tea that evening.

He knew he needed to hire a babysitter. The thing was, he wasn’t sure who to trust with Teddy. Besides, it wasn’t like he had sufficient funds to hire anyone until now. Earlier that day he put a notice on the board downstairs, hoping that if he had to trust someone then it would be someone from this building.

The clock showed 2:30am when Remus finally retired to bed, checking in on Teddy before doing so.

The next morning, the school run was as normal as ever. Teddy was in Year 1 and was getting on exceptionally well, despite having moved school just under halfway through the year. Remus was glad about this, at least he hadn’t unintentionally messed his kid up.

“Daddy?” Teddy asked through a mouthful of toast that morning.

Remus looked up from his tea, ready to give his son full attention.

“Can I have a friend over?”

“A friend?”

“Yeah, his name is Harry and he’s really good at Lego”

Remus thought for a moment before responding, Teddy having a friend over seemed like a good idea, especially since this was the first time he’d ever heard Teddy mentioning anything about a friend. “Well, I don’t see why not but I’ll have to talk to Harry’s mummy or daddy first, okay?”

“Okay” Teddy grinned at him, wolfing down the rest of his toast.

“Daddy, why do I have to wear this?” The 6-year-old grimaced as Remus helped him do the buttons on his coat.

“Because, in school you have to wear a uniform”

“But whyyyyy” Teddy took Remus’ hand as they walked out of the flat, waiting patiently as Remus locked the door behind them.

Remus just smiled and shrugged.

Teddy didn’t let the silence linger for long as the two walked down the street towards the school. “Daddy, why don’t we have a car?”

God, it was moments like these Remus wished social class didn’t exist because how do you explain to a 6-year-old that the reason they don’t have a car is because Remus works a minimum wage job, having to support himself and a small child.

“I don’t really like cars” He said instead.

Teddy cocked his head to the side, looking up at his father. “Why not?”

“They’re too noisy and they make the air bad”

“Oh, I guess it’s okay to not have a car then”

Remus let out a light laugh, never a dull moment with Teddy.

“Harry said I could go over to his as well, that’s why I asked if he could come over too” the small boy said, in reference to their conversation over breakfast.

“Mmm… we’ll see, I still have to talk to his mummy or daddy”

“Yeah- oh look!” Teddy stopped dead in his tracks at the school gates, pointing to a boy about his age with dark hair and round glasses. “That’s Harry daddy, I have to go!”

“Wait- do I not get a hug and a kiss before school?” Remus crouched down, eye level to Teddy.

“Oh, sorry I nearly forgot” Teddy turned around and hugged his dad tightly. Remus gave him a kiss on the forehead before letting him. “Bye daddy!” He called, already running off.

Remus watched Teddy run up to the boy he pointed at earlier and tackle him with a hug, which was eagerly returned. He had a small smile on his face when he felt someone tap his shoulder.

“Are you Teddy’s dad?” He was face to face with a red haired woman with green eyes, she had a kind smile on her face as she held out her hand.

Remus shook it. “Yeah, yes I am”

The woman smiled wider. “Brilliant! I’m Lily Potter, Harry’s mum- Harry has been going on about Teddy for ages”

Remus didn’t know what to say. He hadn’t realised he’d be known as ‘Teddy’s dad’ instead of Remus. It was a surreal moment before he realised he hadn’t introduced himself. “Remus Lupin, Teddy mentioned something about a playdate?”

“Oh yes, would you like my number?” Lily asked and kept talking as Remus produced his phone from his pocket. “We can work out the time later but how does Saturday sound? I don’t usually work weekends so any day is okay for me” she handed Remus back his phone, shrugging a little.

“Thank you… I’ll get back to you on that one, Saturday should be fine” He smiled and waved a little, walking backwards before turning around.

Remus felt a little lighter as we walked into work that morning. He worked in a small bookshop with very flexible hours and shitty pay so it was both a curse and a blessing. The owner even let him bring Teddy in during the weekends and after school if he wasn’t finished his shift. Teddy liked the picture books and the ones with dinosaurs the most.

About halfway through the shift, Remus’ phone rang. At first he thought maybe it was from the school and something horrible had happened but then he saw the number onscreen; it wasn’t saved so it couldn’t be the school.

“Hello?”

“Hi, is this Remus Lupin?”

“Um- yeah”

“Cool, cool…. listen, I saw your notice downstairs and I’m wondering if the babysitting position is still available?”

So that’s what this was about. Remus hadn’t expected anyone to respond so quickly and eagerly. “Oh! yes, yeah it is”

“Great, I’d love to take it so”

“Okay um, thank you Mr….”

“Sirius Black, I live just across the hall…. I can start whenever”

“Right, oh, can I get back to you? I’m not sure what day I’ll need it but it’ll only be once a week and then we can talk fares then too”

“Sounds brilliant, cheers”

“Cheers” Remus replied, then heard the other man hang up.

“Ooooo…. you look cheery after that, who was it?” His coworker, Alice, gave him a wink.

“I got a sitter sorted for Teddy so I can do night classes”

“Oh! that’s lovely dearie” She pulled Remus into a quick tight hug. Somehow Alice Longbottom always seemed to hug him. In fact, she always seemed to hug anyone she was half familiar with.

The rest of the shift went blissfully even when Remus went to collect Teddy and brought him back to the shop to finish off the last few hours of his shift.

“Daddy, did you talk to Harry’s mummy?” He asked suddenly.

“I did” Remus answered, sorting through some of the front shelves. He looked over at Teddy, who was sitting on top of the counter besides the till. Alice had put him up there, despite Remus telling her to just leave him sit on the floor.

“Annnnnd?”

“She said Saturday and I said Saturday was okay”

“Yay!” Teddy jumped off the counter, which considering the fact the counter was a lot taller than him and he was 6-years-old was enough to give Remus a small heart attack and scold him.

“Teddy! you can’t do that, you’ll hurt yourself” He chided the child who had wrapped himself securely around his father’s leg.

“But I didn’t hurt myself”

It was too hard trying to argue with a child and Remus resorted to shaking his head. “I know but you might, I’m just worried” He said, bending down and picking him up.

“Why are you worried?” Teddy asked, taking Remus’ face between his small hands.

“I’m your dad, that’s my job” He said before blowing a raspberry into Teddy’s stomach which made the boy giggle and squeal with joy, and putting him back down. “Now, let me finish this so we can get home starfish, okay?”

“Okay” Teddy nodded in agreement, starting off towards his favourite picture books.

Remus continued filling the shelves when he heard Alice speak next to him. “You’re a good dad, y’know Remus”

Remus smiled slightly. “I try my best”

“I just hope Frank will be too, I’m thinking of having a baby with him” She confessed, smiling a little madly.

“I’m sure Frank will be great, he sounds lovely from what I’ve heard”

The rest of Remus’ shift flew by and soon, the father and son duo were walking down the street again.

“What’s for dinner?”

“I was thinking pasta”

“Are you going to try and make the one with the weird green sauce again daddy?”

“Pesto, and no, I know you like the red sauce”

“That’s okay then”

A brief silence settled between them before one of them broke it and this time it was Remus.

“Teddy?”

“Yeah, daddy?” The small boy looked up at Remus, putting a hand over his eyes to shield them from the sun.

“How do you feel about a babysitter?” Remus asked cautiously.

Teddy seemed to think about this for a moment. “Why would I need a babysitter? I have you”

Remus smiled a little at that. “I want to go back to school- grown up school, college, and I’d go late so a really nice man will come mind you for a couple hours and put you to bed and then when you wake up in the morning… I’ll be home again”

Teddy was quiet for a long time again. A bit too long for Remus’ liking but eventually he nodded. “Yeah, I think that’s okay”

So, just like that, Remus and Teddy walked home the rest of the way with Teddy telling him everything that had happened in school that day.

Once they returned home, Remus started on dinner and Teddy did his homework at the kitchen table. All was well. Bathtime then bedtime rolled around quickly and soon Remus was the only one awake.

He turned on his laptop and started browsing night classes. It was still early enough in the school year for him to join. He wanted to find a course that took place once a week and would teach what he wanted. It took a while and once he found it, he realised it would take him far longer to complete his degree than he initially thought. That didn’t deter him though because he sent a text to Sirius Black, asking if Thursday worked for him. Thankfully, the response was very enthusiastic.

Wednesday went by like a flash. The pair got up, had breakfast and when Remus dropped Teddy to school, he spoke with Lily again. They arranged a time for Saturday and then Remus was off to work again.

“Remus?”

He looked up from the till and gave Alice a small smile. “What’s up?”

Alice looked a bit sheepish, fidgeting with her one of her rings. “Would you and Teddy like to come for dinner sometime?”

Remus opened his mouth to answer but Alice cut him off.

“It’s just that, Teddy’s so good and Frank is thrilled about the idea of a baby but he says he’s really scared and I thought maybe if you two came for dinner, you could talk to him and maybe he could see how wonderful Teddy is”

“Oh-“ Remus paused, scratching the side of his neck. “Yeah, I guess we could… I mean- I don’t see why not, Teddy adores you so I’m sure he’ll behave”

Alice smiled widely, pulling him into another one of those tight hugs. “Thank you Remus! I don’t know what I’d do without you”

The rest of the shift passed quietly, not many people came to the bookshop and so when it was time to pick Teddy up, Alice told Remus to just go home.

“If I need anything, I’ll call you” She reassured him, pushing him towards the door.

“Alright, alright, I’ll see you tomorrow”

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