#she’s going to the hospital she’ll be fine they’ll take good care of over

[inlovewithaspiderguy]

I just watched my grandma being taken away by paramedics

[4wkjun]

daddy sim | sjy

Chapter 8: He would die for you. ➥ Contains: pregnancy complications, swearing, crying. ➥ Word count: 2.7k ➥ Taglist: @missychief1404, @riksaes, @simhinata

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September 22nd, 2022 Wednesday

Jake left the room with the doctor, ready to sign your papers while you stayed lying down, staring at the ceiling. You had your phone with you, but you didn’t feel like scrolling through any social media or calling anyone, you just wanted to fall asleep and wake up realizing it was just a bad dream.

It took almost 20 minutes for Jake to finish signing your papers, including explaining to the nurse that you were not married yet. Once he finished, he checked his phone. 06:27. With a sigh, he called Jay.

“Hey”, Jay answered right away. “I was about to leave the house, do you need anything?”

“No… I mean, I need you to tell Chaewon we’re not going today”, he responded with a groan. “Y/n won’t show up for at least a week, you think you can tell your teachers?”

“What? What happened?”

“I don’t really know”, Jake said, pressing his back against the wall of the hallway. “She woke up in the middle of the night, her water almost broke or something. She’ll be hospitalized for at least a week and they’ll check on them.”

“Oh, God… I didn’t see that coming.”

“Me neither, dude”, Jake sighed. “The good thing is: the doctor told me she had a tiny rupture, she’s gonna be fine.”

“What are you gonna do?”

“I’ll be here with her”, Jake responded as if it was obvious.

“Yeah but… You need to eat, take a shower, etc”, Jay pointed out. “Text me when you find out the visitation schedule. Chaewon and I will be there so you can go home for a few hours.”

“That’s not necessary, Jay.”

“I’m not asking, dude”, Jay scoffed. “Text me and we’ll be there ASAP.”

Before Jake could say anything, Jay hung up. With a faint smile, Jake came back into the room.

“Hi, Jongseong”, Chaewon greeted over her counter. “Have you seen y/n? She’s late.”

Jay placed his shoulder bag on the empty stall, pouting and facing Chaewon. “She’s not coming today.”

“Oh, really? She didn’t tell me anything.”

“Yeah, about that…”, he started. Chaewon raised an eyebrow. “Don’t overreact, she’s fine. But she had a little trouble with the baby and she’ll be hospitalized for a week.”

Chaewon’s eyes got big – really big – and her mouth dropped. She placed both of her hands flat on the counter, ready to get up.

“Don’t overreact? What the fuck, Jay? What happened to her?”

“She’s not in danger, chill out!”Jay whispered-screamed, looking around to check if she brought the attention to the two of them.

As the weeks went by, your belly started to show a little more. At first, the gossiping was about your weight gain, until one of the girls in your class heard you talking about baby names. In a few minutes, almost your whole block knew about your pregnancy. You didn’t really care about the gossip, you just didn’t feel comfortable with everyone knowing about your personal life.

“Look, they’ll give her some medication and she’ll be back soon. We can visit her later if you want to… I mean, I’m going anyway because Jake will need to go home at some point.”

“I’ll come with you”, Chaewon mumbled.

Chaewon felt ridiculously worried about you and the baby. How could she even concentrate in her class knowing her best friend needed help? Especially medical help!

“Ms. Choi, we just finished preparing an actual room for you”, the nurse smiled by the door. Jake was still sitting next to you and caressing your hand as the nurse walked in with a wheelchair.

“Can’t I walk?”, you pouted.

“I’m sorry, ms. Choi. This is the hospital’s policy, any pregnant woman with any kind of risk needs to rest as much as possible.”

You nodded, a little upset. Jake helped you sit in the bed, holding you by the waist as you hopped down the best way you could.

“The room has two beds available, mr. Sim”, the nurse said as you slowly sat down. “As long as there is no other patient, you can use it instead of these uncomfortable chairs.”

“Thank you”, he smiled.

He walked right next to you, holding your hand in the sweetest way possible. The nurse smiled at the two of you as she pressed the elevator button.

“We’ll keep you in the obstetrics, ms. Choi. Visitation hours open at 10 A.M. and close at 4 P.M.”, she said, pushing the wheelchair towards the metallic cubicle. “In case you need to go home, we will keep an eye on her, ms. Sim.”

Jake scoffed and nodded, squeezing your hand. He told you about Jay and Chaewon wanting to visit, so he knew the nurses wouldn’t have to keep an eye on you.

The nurse guided you through the hospital hallways and you looked down, avoiding eye contact with any other pregnant women. They were all huge, their bellies as big as watermelons, smiling and walking calmly around. You didn’t even reach the middle of your pregnancy and didn’t know if you would even reach it.

“Before getting you in the bed, we need to change you into hospital clothes”, the nurse said as you entered the room. She opened a cabinet next to your bed and showed you a little plastic bag with the clothes mentioned before. “Would you like me or your husband to help you change, ms. Choi?”

Before Jake could say he was not your husband yet, you smiled faintly and said: “My husband, please.”

Even though the situation sucked, his heart beat harder inside of his chest. He smiled big behind you and caressed your hair, placing a kiss on your head.

The nurse placed the bag on your lap and calmly pointed towards the bathroom.

“Bathroom’s this way”, she said softly. “I’ll wait here to properly accommodate Ms. Choi into her bed.”

“We’ll be right back”, Jake smiled as he pushed you through the bathroom door.

It was pretty small for a shared room, barely fitting you, Jake, and the wheelchair. He locked the door behind him and smiled softly at you.

“C’mere”, he said, softly pulling the hem of your shirt.

“I can change by myself”, you mumbled, trying to push your shirt back down.

Jake kneeled, holding your hands between his.

“Baby, you heard the nurse. You need to rest as much as possible. Plus, I like taking care of you. Let me do this for the two of you, hm?”

You pouted but nodded anyway.

“You’re just trying to see my boobs”, you mumbled. Jake chuckled, finding you adorable.

“Consider that my payment”, he shrugged, pulling the shirt over your head.

Even though Jake always loved admiring your body, that didn’t feel like the right moment. He just passed the thin fabric of the hospital clothing through your arms and closed every button with care.

“Here”, he said, ready to hold your hands.

Your hands reached out for his and you used him as a support for getting up. You held his shoulder as he kneeled to pull your pants down your legs, as careful as ever.

Once you were completely changed and sat again, he smiled at you and gave your lips a quick peck.

Jake pushed you through the door and stopped in front of the bed you’d use for the next seven days.

“I’ll help you get comfortable and will grab your medication”, she smiled.

“Medication?”, you asked, confused.

“Yes, we will start on antibiotics to prevent any infections in your baby”, she smiled.

“Ah”, you said, nodding.

Once you felt completely comfortable in the bed, you threw your head back, eyelids suddenly feeling heavy.

“What time is it, Jakey?”, you mumbled.

“Almost 8:30, love”, he answered, standing by the bed.

You hummed and yawned. Jake scoffed, caressing your head.

“Won’t you sleep a little?”

“I will”, you smiled faintly. “But only after the nurse pokes me with her needle.”

Jake scrunched his nose, not liking the idea. He had an intense fear of needles and felt his stomach turn a little.

“Damn”, he mumbled. You laughed.

“I know you hate needles. That’s ok, you don’t need to watch it.”

“Thanks”, he sighed. You chuckled again, opening your eyes. Your hand reached out for his cheek, caressing the soft skin.

“Thank you for being here”, you mumbled. Jake laughed.

“Stop thanking me for doing the bare minimum!”, he said, still caressing your hand. “We’re in this together, remember? You, me, and our little girl.”

“That we don’t know if it’s a girl”, you reminded, closing your eyes again – but your smile never faded.

“I know”, he whispered. He just knew, deep down in his heart.

“Hi”, Jake whispered and smiled as Chaewon and Jay entered the room. It was almost 1 P.M. and you were asleep as they walked in. “She dozed off a few hours ago.”

“Poor thing”, Chaewon pouted. “Is she in pain?”

“No”, Jake responded, shaking his head. “She said she feels nothing, just woke up in a wet bed…”

“How did that happen?”, Jay asked, eyebrows furrowed.

“The doctor said it’s hard to find a reason”, your lover shrugged. “The… Am… Amniotic?”

“Amniotic sac, go on”, Chaewon scoffed. Jake rolled his eyes, smiling a little.

“That. It ruptured a little, she lost a bit of that liquid and the baby could get in fetal stress if she keeps losing it.”

“So…?”

“So she’ll be here for the next week. They’ll check on her and the baby constantly and see if she needs anything special.”

Chaewon nodded, not knowing how to proceed with the conversation.

“Hey, um… I brought my car. Maybe I could give you a ride home so you can… Take a shower?”, Jay asked Jake.

“I don’t know…”, Jake whispered.

“Don’t worry”, Chaewon said. “I’m right here in case she needs anything.”

“You sure?”

“Of course! That’s my best friend, remember?”

Jake chuckled, nodding.

“‘Kay dude, let’s go.”

“Make yourself home”, Jake said, throwing his keys on the dinner table.

“I will, don’t worry”, Jay said, playfully.

“I’m gonna take a shower real quick and… I don’t know, you think she’ll need anything?”, your lover asked, stopping right in front of the small hallway of your shared apartment.

“I don’t think so, man”, Jay responded while sitting down on the couch. “She’s more than well assisted in the hospital. You’ll only need to take her some clean clothes once she gets dismissed.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Damn, I can’t think straight”, he groaned, pulling his hair back.

Jay pouted, worried about his friend.

“Look, you’ve been through a lot today, and it’s not even 2 P.M.”, Jay stated. “Go take a shower and try to relax a bit. Is there anything I can do for you?”

Jake smirked, grateful. “Nah, you’re already helping a lot.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll have to pay back later”, he responded playfully.

Jake flipped him off with a soft chuckle and walked towards his bedroom. The two of you talked about cleaning his bedroom and transforming it into the baby’s room just yesterday before going to bed. How the hell did things end up this way?

He picked up his remaining clothes off this wardrobe – most of his baggy t-shirts and sweatpants were in yours since you couldn’t fit your own clothes anymore – and walked towards the bathroom, his mind running a thousand miles a second.

Looking at his reflection in the mirror, he noticed strong purple-ish circles under his eyes. He couldn’t sleep since you woke him up in the middle of the night, your expression of pure fear wouldn’t let go of his mind. Your eyes were telling him how afraid of losing the baby you were and he hoped his own eyes didn’t do the same to you – he wanted to give you peace of mind, at least for now.

Jake opened the shower and let the hot water run down his body, from his head to toe. With his eyes closed, he let the tears stream down his cheeks, feeling his heart heavy. You’ve been pregnant for 18 weeks and barely started to show. The two of you still haven’t picked out names for your little bundle of joy. You don’t even know if it’s a boy or a girl. You can’t lose the baby, damn, there is so much to do! So much to live for!

The poor guy dreamed about feeling the baby kicking – the obstetrician told you it could happen at any time between the 16th and the 20th week, and it still hasn’t –, the baby shower, preparing the layette, being there for you during labor, being the first one to hold the baby, teaching the baby how to walk, how to speak English… So much awaits for the three of you.

His shower took longer than necessary, but Jay wouldn’t dare say a word, only imagining what you were going through. He patiently waited, scrolling through his TikTok and casually texting his friends.

“I’m ready, let’s go”, Jake said, showing up fully dressed in the living room, but his hair was still damp.

“It’s freezing outside, go blow-dry that”, Jay said, half scolding, half joking.

Jake pouted and rolled his eyes, but he did come back to do so. The last thing he needs is to be sick right now.

“Morning, sleepy head”, Chaewon chanted softly as you opened your eyes. She was sitting down next to you, where Jake was before.

“Oh, hi”, you mumbled, smiling a bit.

“How are you feeling?”, she asked, honestly worried.

“I’m… Ok, I guess”, you responded. “I think I’m much better now that I know this is not a critical case, but my heart still hurts from the shock I had earlier.”

“Wanna tell me what happened? I don’t know if I can trust Jake’s version”, she asked with a cute nose scrunch. You chuckled.

“I woke up in the middle of the night feeling something wet beneath me. Not a lot, though. The doctor explained to me it was a little amniotic fluid gush”, you said, trying to remember the details. “The amniotic sac ruptured a little and it can cause premature birth, which, right now, would be like… 90% fatal to the baby…”

“Oh…”, Chaewon mumbled. She pouted, upset.

“Thank God we rushed to the hospital. The faster the diagnosis, the higher the chances of ‘fixing’ it”, you said, smiling softly. “I’ll take antibiotics for a week to prevent infections in this little one”, you said, caressing your bump. “And perform a few tests to make sure the amniotic fluid is enough to keep her safe and sound.”

“Keep her safe and sound?”, Chaewon repeated with a big smile. “Is it a girl?”

“Oh”, you said, feeling your cheeks hot. “No, we don’t know yet”, you chuckled. “Jake’s 100% sure we’re having a girl, I think I let it in my mind.”

“Yeah, sure”, your bestie laughed. “What about Jake?”

“I think he’s trying to be strong… But I know he’s terrified of the idea of losing the baby. So am I, to be honest, but I think he felt this whole chaos harder.”

“How can he feel it more than you? You’re literally carrying the baby.”

“Won, I don’t know how to explain it… But Jake would literally die for our baby. He loves them so much, I feel like the baby means his whole existence right now…”, you said, eyes teary. “I’m not saying I don’t love the baby to death – ‘cause I do –, but Jake… I don’t think words are enough to describe how bad he loves them.”

“God, this is so adorable”, she mumbled. “I can’t believe how cute the two of you are.”

You laughed, caressing your best friend’s hand as she caressed your baby bump.

“I still gotta talk to him and calm him down”, you said, sighing. “I think things are a lot worse in his head.”

“Yeah, but I don’t judge him. You said it yourself, he’d die for you.”

“I said he’d die for the baby”, you corrected.

“Please, we both know he would die for the both of you”, she said rolling her eyes.

And she was right.

[quietlyimplode]

the language of flowers and silent things

Whumptober 2023: Day 17 - Leave me alone

Warnings: aftermath of torture (graduation ceremony), red room.

Word Count: 1.7k (gif not mine)

Summary: After the graduation ceremony, Natasha tired to find reasons for moving forward. Sometimes it’s a friend, sometimes it’s something bigger.

A/N: this story is a little bit different- it leads into the head-cannons and story built into the travel through the shadows with me (a fic of how Clint recruited Natasha) timeline. If some of it feels familiar it’s because it has some of the story in it. This is the prequel of that story - no prior knowledge is needed and can be read as a stand alone.

Masterlist

Whumptober Masterlist

.

2007

RUSSIA

There’s a certain despondency that comes over Natasha as she’s discharged from the medical team. The doctors, if they could be called that, tell her she’ll be fine in no time.

This coming from the team that runs experiments on them, that pumps them full of drugs to make them awake longer, hit harder, run faster.

This is different.

Feels different.

It’s not just drugs in the system.

Natasha always has thought of herself as her own person.

Even when the Red Room tells her otherwise.

They always said she was theirs, but she held the belief that she never was. The ribbon and the photo proved it far more than their words could ever take away.

Now.

She really was theirs.

Take parts of her away, parts that mattered to her anyway, makes everything feel redundant.

She is the Ship of Theseus, change her, rebuild her and is she the same person?

The other girls, they know.

Isla, tried to tell her, snuck inside the medical rooms and held her hand, told her everything was going to be okay as she writhed in pain.

Antonia, laughed when she returned.

“Oh Natasha, congratulations. You’re truly a widow now.”

Of the girls who were left in Natasha’s graduating class, only the three of them remained on base.

Isla, due to reeducation. Natasha, due to the surgery, and Antonia for some reason that neither Isla or Natasha were sure about.

Isla was convinced it was to spy on them, keep them under control, Natasha didn’t have the presence of mind to even ponder.

Antonia’s behaviour had seemed erratic, manic and mean.

If Natasha cared, she would ask her, help her maybe, but everything felt too hard.

The expectations were still the same, get up; report to Dreykov, orders, training.

Natasha did it, pain continuously rolling through her body.

Voice gone, words seemingly caught in her throat as she has nothing to say.

Days she doesn’t talk.

Isla notices.

Finds her a heat pack, and an ice pack, puts on her head and the other for around her surgical wounds.

The small kindness that can be afforded.

Isla tries to offer assuring words but they get lost in her throat.

There’s not much anyone can do or say.

They took away a part of her, and she became theirs.

.

Isla comes for her in the morning.

Natasha can’t find it in herself to get up.

There’s no point.

She just wants to be left alone.

“Tell them I’m sick,” she whispers as Isla looks on in fear.

“They’ll take you,” she whispers back, the doors of all the dorms now unlocked. They have five minutes to get to Dreykov.

“Please?”

Five minutes, before alarms are raised.

If Isla does this, then she knows…

Gently, she kisses Natasha’s clammy forehead.

“Ok,” she agrees.

Standing she takes one last look at her friend, and gathers her courage to go and report by herself.

.

Dreykov is angry.

Makes the medics go and get Natasha and drag her out of bed.

Isla protests but it’s met with a backhand to the face that sends her to her knees.

She watches them frogmarch Natasha to the medical hospital.

Feet dragging as the doors closing behind her.

Isla knows nothing good happens behind those doors.

She doesn’t see Natasha for two days.

When she returns, her hands shake and she responds robotically, not missing a beat when asked questions.

In the dark of night, Isla leaves her room, picks the lock of Natasha’s and enters to find her friend still shaking.

“Oh Nat,” she whispers.

“What did they do?”

Compulsively Natasha answers.

“Shock, sodium pentathol. Thought. I was. Lying,” she bites out.

Isla shivers. Two days in the chair.

The electricity pulsing through it, and you, as questions are fired at you.

It’s torture.

She crawls into Natasha’s bed, and hugs her.

“It’s okay,” she whispers, her warm body against Natasha’s cold one.

“No one’s coming now, I’ve got you,” she tells her, whispering the only words that come to her mind.

“Does it still hurt?” she asks, as shaking become less.

Natasha nods.

“Yes,” she says, voice breaking, a sob coming out.

“Why does it hurt so much?”

Tears come out of Natasha’s eyes, as she brings a hand to her mouth to bite down on to stop.

As best as Isla can, she rocks her, Natasha eventually falling asleep as Isla looks over her.

.

It becomes a routine.

Natasha crawls into Isla’s bed, or if she doesn’t come, Isla seeks her out.

On bad nights Natasha sits and watches the door.

On good nights they make shadow puppets with their standard issue torches

They both seem to sleep better, in the same room, like they did when they were younger. Whatever sleep they can gather is between the nightmares that neither are willing to admit to.

The routine is kind, friendly and a light in the sea of darkness that is their lives.

Natasha thinks that if she was normal, and had a normal sister or upbringing, maybe it would be similar to this.

Someone to share your thoughts and feelings with, someone to confide in.

Isla’s reeducation and torture is brutal and Natasha endures some with her in rebuilding her strength and endurance.

“It’s okay,” she whispers, “you’re still you.”

Water trials, seduction, mini missions off base; the ones both of them hate the most are the ones involving the younger girls.

Those nights give the worst of nightmares, the fact that she’s helping produce the next generation.

Sometimes it feels like the only person that understands is Natasha.

Survival of the fittest.

It means that it requires you to be self serving.

.

Natasha presses hard to the pit of her elbow as the needle is withdrawn.

“One more, and then you’ll be discharged,” the nurse tells her, looking into unseeing eyes.

The nurse, an older lady, usually one with the smaller widows, watches her closely, torn between wanting to say something and letting it be.

“They know,” she says under her breath.

“They’re watching you and Isla.”

Sharp eyes look at her.

Snapped out of dissociation, Natasha knows not to say anything, but the nurse can tell she wants to.

“Stop it, and they’ll likely let it go,” she whispers, “if not, they’ll probably try and turn you against each other.”

Natasha’s heart stops.

The nurse draws up another needle, diluting it slightly.

“One more,” she says cheerfully, to the cameras.

.

Isla comes as she always does, looking forward to telling Natasha about the latest stunt with the handlers and her mini mission but Natasha ready and waiting.

“Leave me alone,” she tells her, a different kind of pain than the one that courses through her body.

Guilt in the wrongness of the words and the ache it causes makes Natasha look away.

Isla looks confused, stepping back.

“Nat?”

She looks at her friend, and frowns.

“Leave me alone,” Natasha repeats.

Reopening her door, she ushers Isla out.

“Leave me alone,” she says a third time, before whispering away from the cameras and spying eyes.

“They know.”

.

The mission in France is surveillance.

A solo mission handed directly from Dreykov.

Natasha’s first since the operation since graduation. Whilst not a hard one, she feels the despondency creeping back.

Once allayed by a friend, the consistency of companionship and support, making her feel more human, more of herself; the further away from it she is the more she feels like a former shell.

Consciously, she pushes the feelings and thoughts down.

They own her.

Her body, her mind.

There’s no way out of this.

Just when she thought she hit rock bottom, Natasha feels herself falling further.

.

FRANCE

She’s lost time. Again. Her limbs are heavy and the feeling of not being able to move sinks her further into the bed. She should get up. She needs to get up. Her limbs are leaden and the effort is monumental.

She pushes, and starts her day, remembers as she looks in the mirror of her black eye and bruised ribs.

Failure. It won't be taken lightly when she is returned to Russia.

Groaning she drops to the floor and begins to exercise, pain shooting through her shoulder, ribs protesting hard. It helps to clear her mind of the invasive thoughts all but the one she needs to get rid of.

Failure.

Moving through her daily routine, the feeling of being unwell is pervasive, it's not a cold sickness, but the sickness of being on the precipice of falling.

She ends the day vomiting in the toilet, gives up and goes to bed.

.

Opening her eyes is hard. So so hard. If yesterday her limbs were lead, then today they are concrete. Moving is an impossible task.

Cognitive dissonance, her brain supplies. That what she wants, is that, what she will never have.

If she just lays here, perhaps all the questions that've been plaguing her for weeks will go away.

What's the point of her? To be a good little soldier? Except. She’s not. She failed. And now they think it’s on purpose.

They’re watching her.

Waiting.

She thinks back to her lessons on pain, on the wind-up effect and how she feels this is exactly what's happened to her.

That if pain is received frequently enough, the brain rewires itself to just constantly feel pain where there shouldn't be any.

Her whole life has been painful, but today it's unbearable.

She closes her eyes and gives into the darkness, grateful for the black hole that envelops her.

.

The alarm that blares pulls at her. If she had any survival instinct left, she would move.

Tells herself to move.

Move.

But all she can do is open her eyes, light streaming, and daylight calling.

She's lost time.

If she doesn't check in, they'll come for her. She can't make herself care.

The alarm stops, and it's only when she's being pulled by the blackness that she realizes it was her phone.

.

[dollsonmain]

So, I have met a small handful of That Guy’s work friends now.

It’s interesting to see how different a person he is around each other person or group of people. He is a completely different That Guy around different people and I hate that because THEY get his Good That Guy or his fun, energetic, caring That Guy while Son and I get asshole babyman That Guy who makes our lives miserable.

When it’s Josh (Interrupting Cow) and Danielle, he’s energetic and openly, loudly bigoted because Danielle responds with loud, vicious agreement and laughter. That desired approval.

When That Guy says something cruel like that he has this specific laugh (HNhnhNHnhnHnHNHnhnHnh) so you know that he knows he’s being an asshole and enjoying it.

Homophobic, transphobic, racist, ableist, mocking the poor, homeless, and sick, etc. I can’t write out exactly what kinds of things they say because my brain remembers the emotion those words evoked and not the words themselves which I know is useless.

Danielle is my least favorite so far and I’m glad she’s overseas for the time being. She’ll be back in 2 years I think. If I’m lucky, she’ll go somewhere else rather than coming back to this area and I’ll never have to see her again.

-

When it’s just Josh both Josh and that Guy are quieter, but they’ll both throw out the occasional bigoted comment that gets my hackles up.

They also both get drunk.

I’m tolerant of Josh. I don’t particularly like him but don’t feel like “I want him to leave” when he’s here without Danielle.

-

Nick and Alexis (married) have been over twice, now, and That Guy is on his best behavior for Alexis (she’s His Type and watching him try to garner her favor with both me and her husband in the room is awkward to say the least), but if Alexis leaves the room (assuming I’m also not in the room/where they can’t see me) both That Guy and Nick start in being dicks, and stop when she comes back.

Nick also keeps ragging on Alexis and seems to take joy in pointing out her flaws and mistakes, usually starting with “HER problem is...” which makes me not like Nick.

I get a feeling that he’s hiding his true self when either she or I are nearby.

-

With JD he was nerd man and a little bit of a dick to Son, but not bigoted man.

JD got super comfy awkwardly fast but that honestly doesn’t bother me. I prefer that to the whole walking on eggshells thing we do when around new people. He also occasionally made the weirdest sounds when excited. It was really funny and also made it easier for me to be comfortable around him. He may be neurospicy.

It was, I keep saying interesting but that’s probably the best word for it, interesting to see That Guy bring a black friend over and treat him just fine while being racist and bigoted around his white friends.

What the fuck is that.

He also lied to JD at least twice while I was standing there, in ways that would make him look, I don’t know, “better” than the truth?

First lie he was recounting the One Chip Challenge story and said that he got very sick, asked for help from coworkers, was given tums and water, and eventually got over it and got back to work when the truth was that he ended up in the hospital overnight, which I pointed out.

Second lie was when JD asked me if I was pro- or against- That Guy cutting his hair and when I was trying to say that I really didn’t care and wanted That Guy to choose because it’s HIS hair, That Guy said that he cut it himself.

He did not cut it himself, he whacked at it randomly with scissors out on the deck until I went out there, saw the mess he had made of himself, and offered to take over. I pointed out that one, too.

[dark-frosted-heart]

Bunny Stealing event bonus story: Rio vs Silvio

Rio asks MC out on a date. It's been a while since they've had a day off so they should go into town. It'd be nice if it weren't for MC wasn't acting as a noble's daughter. He says it'll be alright, he already has permission from Sariel. They'll also go to a neighboring town where no one knows MC. She's been so on guard because of the visiting princes that she deserves a break. While MC wouldn't consider it a "date", she's grateful either way. And so they go out, enjoying their time together. Until a certain someone showed up.

As they think about what to do after eating some sweets, MC spies a gilded carriage and points it out to Rio. She thought she heard an irritated tongue click from him, but he was still all smiles. He apologizes before pulling MC into a hug to shield her from the carriage. After a bit, a voice asks what the hell they're doing. Turning her head, MC sees Silvio, the 2nd person she didn't want to see today (the first person being Gilbert). Rio tells him that he's on a date with MC, so he can kindly mind his own business. Silvio had noticed the disgusted look on Rio's face. "The shitty dog should be grateful for the attention he's getting." Rio calls him annoying and tells him to continue on his way. MC's noticed that Rio's always unusually aggressive toward Silvio. On the flip side, Silvio's harsher toward Rio than he is with others.

Silvio's business negotiations just finished so they should be grateful that he has time to entertain them. Silvio has MC tell him what's been going on. MC tells him that's they're just taking a break in the neighboring town. Rio says he's helping his master. They wouldn't be able to let loose in the castle because of a certain someone. Silvio's never interrupted their days off. Rio says he's doing it now. Silvio points out that Rio's the only one bothered by him. Silvio sits with them and Rio's not happy. He'll be joinging MC on her day off. How kind of him... MC says it's fine, he doesn't have to. She can't take up his time. Since he made a profit today, he's in a good mood. So he's going to help MC. Rio calls that an unwelcomed favor. Silvio tells him not to judge his hospitality until after it's accepted. He'll show MC how much better he is than the shitty dog. Silvio takes MC's hand and grabs Rio by the collar, dragging them to the gaudy carriage.

They're taken to a fancy building. Some high class spa. And there's a Benitoite crest inside. MC thought the palace life had prepared her for stuff like this, but apparently not. This place is on a while new level. Silvio has the staff take care of MC. She tries to excuse herself, but Silvio's wondering what she's complaining about. She's supposed to be a noble after all. Rio explains that she's more of a frugal type of lady. Silvio then says that MC should indulge herself once in a while, it's his treat. The staff ask MC to come with them. She'll be treated to an aromatherapy massage, followed by a hot bath, and then bodywork therapy, etc [me: Silvio, I need this]. MC's a bit intimidated. Silvio takes Rio away while MC's taken away by the staff.

MC's skin's glowing, her complexion's gotten better...the therapy money can buy does wonders on the body. Rio asks if she's alright, it's like her soul's leaving her body. She's fine but is unsure if she'll do this again. She goes over to Silvio and he grabs her hand, pulling her closer to him. Examining her, he's satisfied by how she looks better now. She asks him to let her go. And what does he mean by her face looking better. He says that she always looked so pale at the castle. MC wonders to herself if he was worried about her and then thanks him for the soothing experience. Silvio's like, of course it is. Much better than the shitty dog's method isn't it? Rio gets in between the two and tells Silvio not to get too cocky. He can heal MC himself just fine. Rio asks MC to sit down and he starts to massage her hand the way she likes it. Rio would often give MC a massage when she was tired and he's good at it. It's something he's researched, but really, it's just an excuse to touch MC. Silvio says that massages aren't a big deal, he can do them too. And he grabs MC's other hand and imitates Rio's movements. It hurts. He says she's just stiff. MC looks like she's about to cry. Silvio tells Rio to shut up. Anything Rio can do, Silvio can do as well. Or so he claims. There they go arguing again. And MC sits there with a sore right hand and a supple left hand.

Watching them, MC realizes how similar they are, despite their different personalities. The way they bicker and the similarity in their faces... MC cuts in on their argument. She thanks them both for today. She wants to treat them to something in return, surprising the two.

MC brings them to a tavern [the text literally says she brought two dogs 😭]. MC passes out with a drink in hand, tired from the day's events. Rio and Silvio both stop drinking at the same time and look at her. Silvio scolds her for falling asleep. The two end up reaching out to her at the same time. Rio had told him before not to touch MC. But Silvio has no obligation to listen to Rio. Rio says he's MC's butler and Silvio reminds Rio that he's a prince, so Rio should know his place. MC's also a woman of high standing, so Silvio should leave her alone. Rio asks why he's interested in MC. Silvio wants to take Rio's favorite woman away from him. Rio won't hand her over. They both end up letting go of MC. Rio gives SIlvio a look that makes him uncomfortable. Returning to his drink, Silvio tells Rio that this moment for him's just a short-lived dream. Rio tells him to shut up. The two then agree that they'll never get along. They continue to drink in silence with a sleeping MC between them.

[lena-in-a-red-dress]

Stronger Together

"Dreamer!"

Lena's alarm sears across Nia's senses. She registers the danger at the corner of her eye-- a Brevakk ripping off his sleeves to expose the keratinized spurs protruding from his arms. One sweep of his arm and she'll be dead, skewered in a spray of thick quills sharp enough to penetrate her suit and lacerate any organ they could reach. But she's locked in battle with a K'hund attacking from the front, so all she can do is brace for the inevitable impact.

Suddenly, Nia's view of the Brevakk is eclipsed by the shadow of Lena's back.

"NO!"

The force of the thorns' impact knocks Lena fron her feet, slamming into Nia and causing them both to go down with a cry. Lena's gauntlet fires once, stunning the Brevakk with a glancing blow. Nia throws her own arm out towards her opponent in a desperate bid to gain some ground. The blast of dream energy sends him flying, and when Nia doesn't notice that he doesn't rise again. Her attention is locked on Lena, and the half dozen quills that have found a home in her chest.

"Lena, Lena, oh my god." Nia's hands shake as she climbs out from under Lena and kneels beside her on the pavement. "No, no, no..."

Lena's eyes are glassy and dazed. She looks down at the horns, reaching drunkenly towards them only for Nia to pull her hands away.

"Why did you do that?"

Nia's suit wouldn't have helped much, but it was better than Lena's blouse-- a silly silken thing now ripped and torn, digging into the edges of the wounds around the quills. Lena had no protection beside her gauntlet, and still she had jumped between them.

"N-nia..." Lena's voice crackles in her throat. She coughs, and blood spatters across her chin, staining her berry-red lips a color far more sinister.

Nia's heart lurches with panic. Her head whips up in search of Kara, but Supergirl isn't here. She's on the other side of the city with J'onn, fighting further unrest there. Her eyes lock on another figure, black leather instead of blue.

"ALEX!!"

Nia's shriek cuts through the din, and Sentinel's head whips towards her. In an instant, the pistol in her hand shifts into a warhammer, and Alex slams it down on her opponent, all thoughts of mitigating casualties forgotten. She skids to her knees beside Nia, nearly elbowing her out of the way to crouch over Lena.

"Lena? Jesus... Lena! Can you hear me? Look at me, look at me--"

Lena's eyes track to Alex, and Nia chokes on a sob when she sees the fear in them. But Alex only calms.

"Good, you're okay," Alex tells her, stroking Lena's hair once with a gentle hand. "You're going to be okay."

With her free hand, Alex fumbles for the watch on Lena's wrist, flipping open its face and silently pressing the symbol embossed there. She doesn't take her eyes off Lena for a moment, and when the signal is active Alex slides her palm into Lena's, which curls tightly around hers.

"H-hurts--"

Lena's breath begins to quicken, and the corners of her eyes pinch with the onset of pain. The shock is quickly wearing off, leaving nothing to dull the pain. Alex nods, giving Lena's hand a squeeze.

"I know, but it's going to be okay," she promises. "We're going to get you somewhere safe--"

Supergirl touches down at the moment, pavement cracking beneath the force of her panic. "Lena!!"

Kara kneels opposite her sister, taking in the damage with wide eyes. She grips Lena's free hand tightly, even as she looks to Alex for instructions.

"Hospital," Alex says simply, urgency clipping her tone. "Now."

Kara nods, and gently maneuvers Lena into her arms. Lena cries out, the sound sharp in Nia's ears. When Nia blinks, tears dampen the fabric of her mask.

"I'm sorry," Kara murmurs, pressing her nose to the side of Lena's head. "I'm sorry."

"K-kar--" Lena gasps for breath, coughing up more blood. Her back now visible, Nia sees that one of the thorns has penetrated so deeply that it tents the back of Lena's shirt.

"It's okay," Kara echoes the well-meaning lie of her sister. "I've got you."

In a burst of wind, Kara takes off, and Nia sits dazed in her wake. It's long moments before she registers Alex's insistent hands tugging her up.

"It was supposed to be me," Nia intones, flat with shock. "She--"

"I know," Alex cuts her off, not unkindly. She tugs Nia to her feet then shoves her into a run. "But we need to go. Now!"

Together, they make their retreat, leaving the alley and the unconscious aliens behind just as the distant wail of approaching sirens cuts through the air.

---

Nia wastes no time in stripping off her costume and changing back into her civvies. But before she can reach the exit, Alex cuts her off. "You can't go to the hospital."

Surprise jolts through Nia, before its quickly replaced with anger. "Are you insane?"

"Nia--"

"I can't just wait here-- she-- those barbs were meant for me, Alex! She's hurt because of me. I can't not be there!"

"Kara just called."

Time seems to freeze. Nia feels ice pool in her veins as a lump climbs to her throat and lodges there. "No..."

Alex rushes to reassure her. "No! That's not-- no, Lena's still in surgery. But-- the police are there."

Nia's relief that Lena is alive cuts short with confusion. "What? Why?"

"They're there to take Lena into custody."

"They can't do that!"

"She's aided and abetted known vigilantes," Alex explains. "With everything that's been happening lately--"

"It's not right!"

"Lena will be fine. Truly. Kara is going to CatCo to get Andrea to make the arrest as public as possible. Between that and the Luthor reputation, my guess is that they'll question her about our identities and then let her go."

"That's-- that's--" Nia struggles to find words through her growing rage. The helplessness of the past few months, the rising anti-alien sentiments, the crackdown on Supergirl on her friends... it all comes to a head, and Nia can barely breathe.

Alex reaches for Nia's hand. "If you go now, you'll only risk exposing yourself. Lena wouldn't want that."

Nia sucks in a breath, but it comes in a sob. The next thing she knows, Alex's arms are around her and she's crying into her shoulder, huge lurching sobs that feel like the world is quaking around her.

"It's okay," Alex promises.

"It's my fault," Nia gasps. "It's all my fault..."

"Lena's going to be okay."

---

Nia may not be able to go to the hospital, but she can't stay in the Tower either. In the end she goes to CatCo, ready to throw her weight behind Kara's pitch to fry the police in the press. Luckily, Andrea doesn't need the convincing.

"I want both of you on this," their boss delivers with a coolness sharpened to a razors edge by the glint of rage in her eyes. "William too. I want you to dig up anything you can find about the arresting officers. Any whisper of corruption within the NCPD that you might have been sitting on, now is your time to air it. CatCo won't stand for this."

Nia and Kara both nod solemnly before retreating to their desks. But instead of diverting to her own desk, Kara follows Nia to hers.

"How are you holding up?"

The gentle question threatens a resurgence of tears. Nia looks away, only for her eyes to catch on the photo of her and Lena on her desk, taken at one of their sister nights the year before. Nia can't remember the last time they've hung out, just the two of them.

Blinking furiously, Nia flips the picture down and opens up her laptop. "Fine."

"It's okay to not be fine..."

"Do you want to know if I'm angry that my friend is alone in the hospital because of me? Fine! I'm angry!"

Kara's features soften. "Nia..."

"It's my fault she's there in the first place!" Nia hisses. The lump returns to her throat, and her eyes burn with unshed tears. "She just, just... she just jumped between us! I should've--"

"Hey." Kara calms her with a hand on her shoulder. Nia sucks in a breath, then another, trying to steady herself. Finally, Kara's features pinch into a bemused smile. "You know Lena... There's no line she won't cross, for the people she cares about."

Instead of comforting her, Kara's words only makes Nia grit her teeth. She turns back to the computer. They better be willing to do the same for her.

"Let's get to work."

----

The first article runs the following morning, skewering the police department for rampant anti-alien abuses while highlighting Lena's charity and outreach. While it's not quite enough to banish the police presence from the hospital, it does get a single visitor in to see Lena. Nia expects Kara to take it, but to her surprise Kara simply nods her towards the door.

"Go," Kara says softly. "Give her our love."

Nia doesn't stop to ask twice. She's ushered into Lena's hospital room by a kindly looking nurse, glaring at the officer posted outside the door on her way in. The second her eyes land on Lena, rage swells in her chest at the side of the handcuffs tethering Lena to the bed.

"Is that really necessary?" she demands, balling her hands into fists. "Where is she going to go?"

"Nia..." Lena's soft voice from the bed interrupts her before she can gather much steam. "It's okay."

Nia huffs, eyeing the way the officer slowly moves his hand from his sidearm when Nia turns back to the room. But then all she can see is Lena, hair limp and torso bulky with bandages under her hospital gown.

"It's not okay," Nia says, sitting in the chair thats been placed next to Lena's bed.

"It's just a misunderstanding," Lena insists, her gaze sliding towards the door. The door itself remains open, denying them any sense of privacy. But Lena doesn't seem to mind when her gaze returns to Nia. "You okay?"

Nia chokes on her own tongue. "Am I--? Lena, you're in the hospital..."

"And I'm okay." Lifting her cuffed wrist, Lena silently reaches for Nia's hand, which Nia offers without hesitation. "Promise."

All of a sudden, the tears come back, pressing against her eyelids as she squeezes her eyes shut. "I promised myself I wouldn't cry--"

"It's okay," Lena assures her. "I'm okay."

"You shouldn't have--"

"Been there in the alley? When that guy tried to mug me?" Lena asks pointedly. Clearly, she's already established her cover story. "You're right, I should have known better." She pitches her voice loud enough to carry to the door. "I'm just lucky Sentinel and Dreamer were there to help me."

They wait a moment to listen for a response, but when none comes, they devolve into a fit of giggles.

"Ow," Lena grimaces with a cough. "No laughing for a while."

Nia tightens her grip on Lena's hand. "I... Lena, I'm so sorry--"

"I'd do it again," Lena returns, softly this time. Her words are for Nia alone. "That's what friends do."

---

Alex turns out to be right. As soon as Lena is well enough to leave the hospital, she's taken to the precinct for interrogation, but between CatCo's articles stirring up enough local support that a crowd forms around the precinct to protest the arrest, and the kind of lawyers a Luthor can acquire even after abandoning the family legacy, Lena is released without charge in a matter of hours.

Nia stays at the Tower hoping to see her, but Lena doesn't come.

"She's guessed she's probably being watched," Alex tells her. "She'll being laying low for a while til the heat dies down. All the better, honestly. It'll give her time to heal."

Nia swallows thickly. "Where is she?"

"Home. Kara's with her, but I'm sure she'd love to see you."

Nia approaches Lena's condo without much of a plan. She's armed with snacks and movies, but she knows that having Kara there won't give Nia the time with Lena she needs. She misses Lena, all more the more since she realized how long it had been since they'd just been... friends. More than allies, more than teammates, just... friends.

It feels like Maeve all over again.

But she swallows her nerves and takes the elevator up. Kara opens the door just as Nia lifts her hand to knock.

"Hey," Kara says quietly. She steps aside to let Nia in, and though she can hear the tv from the next room, they linger in the foyer.

"Is everything okay?" Kara asks.

Nia nods. "Yeah. Um. I just--"

She doesn't have an explanation either. Nia stares at her feet, until Kara breaks the silence.

"Look, I have a favor to ask..."

"Yeah?"

"Would you mind staying with Lena for a few hours?"

When Nia looks up, she finds Kara scrubbing the back of her head with one hand, looking sheepish.

"Yeah," she continues, "I've been kind of... hovering? And I think it's getting on her nerves a little. So I figured I could get some stuff done at CatCo--"

"Yes," Nia blurts. "Yes, of course. I'll stay."

Kara grins. "Thanks. She's in the living room now, if you want to..."

"Right. Yeah, I've got this. Go."

Kara thanks her with another smile that makes her whole face shine. "Call if you need anything."

She slips out the door with a wink, and locks it behind her. Nia walks to the living room on wooden legs, and finds Lena laying on the couch against a pile of pillows, propping her up to take the pressure off her wounds.

She looks up when Nia enters, and though her eyes are tired, her features crease into a smile. "Hey..."

"Hey."

Lena struggles to sit up, prompting Nia to close the distance swiftly. "No, no, no, stay comfy."

Relenting with a sigh, Lena groans. "Not like I have much choice these days."

"It'll get better."

Silence follows. Nia stands awkwardly, hands gripping her bag of candy tightly until Lena regards it with curiosity.

"What's all this?"

Nia starts. "Oh. Uhm... I thought-- well, I was wondering..." She trails off, shoulders slumping. "It's been a while since we've had sister's night."

When Lena doesn't answer, Nia risks a glance up to find Lena blinking in astonishment, before her features soften to warmth. She smiles.

"Well, there's no time like the present."

Lena lifts her arms, making playful grabby motions with her hands.

"What'd you bring me?"

----

Hours later, Kara returns home to find Nia seated on the couch with Lena's legs across her lap. It's as close to cuddling as Lena can get, with her injuries, and the way Nia's hands are spread over Lena's shins tells Kara that the contacr was very much needed.

Lena sleeps peacefully, the tv low in the background. Nia looks up at Kara from the shadows, the light reflecting in the tear tracks painted on her cheeks. Without a word, Kara slips in next to Nia, working her way under Lena's ankles to wrap one arm around the younger girl's shoulders.

Nia hugs her back, shaking quietly with the effort to keep her crying silent.

"It's okay," Kara whispers. Nia nods against her. So long as they were all together, they could get through anything.

"We're going to be okay."

[aggravatetheaxe]

Hi there! I was wondering if I could request an imagine where a victim “escapes” from the slashers and hurts s/o in the process. What would the slashers do during and after? Thank you!!

Hi! I wasn't sure which slashers you wanted for this, so I put my list into a randomizer and went with the first 5!

Walter Sullivan

Thomas Hewitt

Jason Voorhees

Deacon Billings (OC Ghostface)

Erik ("The Phantom")

SLASHERS WHOSE VICTIM HURTS THEIR S/O

cw: mentions of suicide, reader being injured/in mortal peril, mentions of torture and killing etc etc

--

Walter Sullivan

Oh no. Oh dear.

You are possibly the only good, pure thing in this world or the Otherworld and someone hurt you? Walter is ... not happy, to put it lightly. The only person who should ever hurt you is him, and he won't do that unless it's for your own good.

This only enforces his belief that the world and everyone in it are monstrous. It drives home the truth he's already convinced of - this existence in terrible and torturous and needs to be destroyed if anything holy is ever going to be allowed to blossom again.

Whether The Victim is pre- or post- Walter's suicide, he's already stopping at nothing to go after them. He doesn't view it as personal, he doesn't hold any particular hatred for most (most) of his victims; they're simply links in a chain. But this person, the one who hurt you ... it's personal. They'll die in absolute agony.

If the victim in question is pre-suicide, Walter will bring them down and find somewhere to keep them for later. This will not be a quick death.

While they're bound/gagged or knocked out, he'll check on you. You're special, possibly even the Mother Reborn, and he can't let you die until the time is right. If you're seriously injured, he'll see to it that you're taken to the hospital, and pray to a dead God if he has to that you'll be alright. If you're not seriously injured, he'll do his best to patch you up - he lived on the streets for many years and had to take care of himself, so he knows basic first aid.

Once he's certain you're safe, he will put you somewhere where you won't witness what he's about to do. Even if you want to see it, he'll insist you stay hidden, saying the sinner doesn't deserve to be in your presence. You'll have to really convince him if for some reason you want to watch.

Their torture will depend on what they did to you. If it was just a few scrapes and cuts, he'll let them feel every ounce of pain before they die. If they really hurt you, their torture will be prolonged. In his mind, and according to his religion, death is a sacred sacrament, and this evil being doesn't deserve its release. If they did something to seriously traumatize and/or sully you ... the crime scene he leaves behind is going to be grisly, to put it lightly.

If the victim in question is post-suicide, the results will be similar, but he has absolute control over the Otherworld - and he will utilize that. He will have his creations take care of you and keep you somewhere safe ... they may be terrifying, but they won't hurt you unless he wills it. As for the victim, he can twist them into their worst nightmares over and over again before killing them. He will make them see their wrongdoings and pay for their evil. They will beg for mercy and there will be none.

After it all, he will simply move onto the next one, with you somewhere safe ... until it's time. Until it's time. You are so perfect.

Thomas Hewitt

Dammit. If he'd just been quicker or smarter, he could have caught them before they escaped and hurt you. He immediately blames himself.

There's no time to beat himself up over it, though. He briefly checks to make sure you're not bleeding from anywhere vital and sends you (or locks you up) somewhere safe before going after the victim. You're on your own for first aid for now - unless you're literally dying, he can't let them leave the property.

If you are literally dying, he's staying and doing all he can to help you. But if Hoyt yells, he may have to pawn you off on someone else and hope they do a good job taking care of you. He'll hold your face and give you tender kisses goodbye - whether you want them or not - because this might be the last time he ever sees you.

He chases the victim in a fever, much more erratic than you would expect from him. He's faster, less careful, more inclined to put himself at risk just to get a swing in at them. It's not generally anything personal when he kills someone - it's something he does for the good of his family, and because he was told to. This one he's not interested in saving for meat. They hurt you. You, his special person. He's going to grind them into the mud, and he's not even going to let Hoyt have a go at them.

Sometimes, sometimes, he struggles to see the animals in his victims. But this one ... he doesn't even feel the urge to twist them into an animal. That's a whole human, an evil one, one he wants to kill. It's a different feeling for him.

Once it's all over and everything's calmed down, he's rushing directly to your side. People don't come around all too often, so he's comfortable putting down the chainsaw for now. He neglects any skin projects he planned and lets someone else do the butchering, focusing on taking care of you, especially if you're seriously injured and put up in bed.

If you're not as seriously injured and tell him you're fine, he's still keeping an eye on you ... and making sure you're well-fed. You've been through a lot and it was all his fault. He doesn't want you to be exposed like that again. Next time someone comes around, he'll insist you hide somewhere.

Jason Voorhees

It's a toss up whether or not he'll actually notice you're hurt. Not because he doesn't care or anything, but because Camp Crystal Lake is a lot of ground to cover and there's a low chance he'll be in the same area as you at any given time.

For this imagine, though, let's assume you've found your way to him or he's sensed you're in trouble and has rushed to you.

You were supposed to be safe in the cabin, so he's a little irritated that you wandered out, but that's completely overshadowed when he realizes you're hurt. He stops everything he's doing and clinically and thoroughly pats you down, identifying every solitary injury.

Just like his mother before him, he is a vengeful soul, so he is not letting this go even if you're just scraped or bruised. If you are critically injured, he'll at least get you to the cabin and get a tourniquet on you.

Otherwise, he leaves you behind. Not very mindful, but you should know that he wants you to get back to the cabin or at least stay out of the way. He is no longer thinking of you - he has established his target and knows what he has to do. He's laser focused and decisive as he stalks after them, using anything at his disposal to get to them.

Their death is quick - he doesn't play around - but he has a lingering sense of irony and playfulness. If there's a particularly interesting weapon nearby, he'll take them out with that; or perhaps he'll hurt them in the way they hurt you, just, you know ... more fatal. And a lot gorier.

After that, he'll move onto their friends, until every last one is dead. Once his objective is completed, he is returning to you directly and finishing the job of patching you up.

He can't help but feel a little guilty that you were hurt. You shouldn't have left the cabin, true, but perhaps he should have been watching for you. He should have locked you up. Pamela might say rude things in his head. Then again, she might comfort him. If she doesn't like you, maybe she'll even wish he'd left you to die.

Deacon Billings (OC Ghostface)

Well ... you usually keep him around to scare off other Ghostfaces - something he's very handy at - but you don't usually run into trouble with his victims.

He doesn't really tell you to go anywhere in particular when he's killing. He knows you can take care of yourself. But now he feels stupid for not having a backup plan. Of course some asshole was gonna eventually identify you as his loved one and try to get cute. He should've had something prepared for that.

But, if he's good at anything, it's improvising. He skids into whatever room you're in, drops his weapon, and pulls his mask off right away to check you over. If you're only mildly injured, he's visibly relieved, and tells you to stay put while he deals with whomever hurt you. If you're more seriously injured, he'll grab your phone and shove it in your hand. "Get in the car, get the fuck out of here. Drive to the emergency room if you have to, just leave."

If you're unable to drive, he'll make you call emergency services - or call them for you, if he has to. The game is over, he's done playing; this isn't fun if he's not winning. Everyone in this place is gonna be dead and he'll be long gone by the time the ambulance shows up for you.

The one who hurt you is going to get an extra special surprise. A particularly grisly death, and a bunch of selfies/short videos of Ghostface with the corpse - taken with the victim's own phone, posted to their instagram, tiktok, facebook, sent to any discord groups, and any other social media they have. If he has the time, he'll even make them in meme formats (definitely posting with meme captions, the fucking troll). He'll probably send a copy to you as a "hey, look what I did!"

If there are survivors, especially if that survivor is the one who hurt you, you better believe he is immediately doxxing them. Since he's had a little time to cool down, he might even play the long game, maybe catfishing and blackmailing them. Ruining their pathetic little life even further would be pretty fun. In the end, though, they'll die like all the others.

When all is said and done, he's going to be there for you, helping you recover any way he can. He'd suggest rest (for an amount of time relative to your injury), some movies and candy, maybe some video games. And time spent with your favorite Ghostface, of course, right?

He'll never forget what happened, though. Even though the person is dead, he'll be stewing and pissed off about it for a long, long time. And he won't let something like that happen again, or at least, not without a contingency plan in place.

The hash mark/tally mark he stitches into his costume to symbolize this kill is gonna be twice as long and large as the others, maybe in the place you got hurt as a reminder.

Erik

You already know what's about to happen.

If anyone so much as hurts your feelings they're getting menaced and receiving a strongly worded letter - actually physically harming you? That's suicide.

If he can't immediately kill this person, or if you're seriously injured, his primary objective is helping/comforting you. He has to push down a lot of wrath to do it ... every instinct tells him to immediately dispatch the fiend responsible ... but you are more important to him than anything in this world, even revenge. He will administer any first aid you need and may even drug you with ether to ensure you rest.

Don't think that means your attacker is off the hook, though. As soon as he decides you're well enough, he will put you somewhere safe - lock you away if he has to - and kill them. His preferred method is the Punjab lasso, but if they did something particularly egregious, he'll knock them out and take them to his torture chamber. They have a lesson to learn before they go to Hades.

Another option is, like Deacon, playing the long game ... playing with his food, stalking them, making them live in fear before they die. But he has a lot of wrath in that skinny little body, so it's a toss up as to whether or not he'll actually be able to follow through with that for very long. It depends on his mood, really!

He will keep the killing and torture hidden from you, of course ... unless you express an interest in seeing the vengeance being carried out. He would be worried for you, however, and advise against it. Those sights are not for the faint of heart, and certainly not for someone as beautiful and good as you.

Once all is said and done, it's as if it never happened. As if that person never existed! What a happy thought! Sometimes you even think Erik has completely forgotten the incident ... until he's stalking another victim and he locks you away again, and you remember you are always on his mind. He will never, never let that happen to you again.

[bonniebird]

Bella x Reader

Requested by anon​

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When you got to Billy’s there were several people outside. You still hadn’t learned everyone’s names yet but Jacob was quick to introduce you. Seth led the way inside. As soon as you stepped into Billy’s living room you recognised who was down on the sofa.

“Peter?” You said nervously. You glanced at Jacob and ran your hands over your face. “I need um… I need to check him for any wounds that aren’t healing and I need to check for response to light… Um. I don’t know how to check for poison. I think the nose goes purple if wolfsbane is inhaled and foaming at the mouth if it’s mistletoe.” You rambled nervously.

Jacob and Paul helped move Peter so you could check for wounds that weren’t healing. Sue had fetched a bowl of warm water and a flannel which she used to wash away blood stains while you checked. “He’s healed?” Jacob asked and you nodded.

“I don’t know how to check properly for poisoning though.” You admitted. Billy sighed and moved his wheelchair closer.

“Do you think that he’ll turn in the hospital?” Billy asked and you sighed.

“Peter had more control than other wolves but… without knowing what's wrong I couldn’t tell you.” You admitted. Billy sighed and looked at Sam.

“We’ll take him to my home and try to take care of him as best we can.” Sam assured you.

“I have books. I’ll look through them and there are some herbs that can help. If I can find where they were hidden they’ll be able to help.” You said quickly. Billy nodded and you turned back to Peter. He seemed to still. It made you nervous. “I would try and avoid shifting where the hunters were, if you know where that is. They’re not exactly… good to wolves. I know you’re different but…” 

“Thank you. The map that you made, perhaps we could build on that and try to find a safe way around this.” Billy said quickly. You nodded. 

“Maybe if we lay low and hide Peter they’ll pass on. They won't stay if they think there’s no activity here. Also… I think you should know that one of the Cullens is back.” You answered.

“Thank you.” Billy muttered as he looked at Peter. You could see the worry on his face. You weren’t sure if it was you or Peter that brought the hunters here. But you were sure of one thing. If you needed too. You would sell Peter out and use him as bait for the hunters. Anything to get them out of town. 

By the time you headed back to the house Charlie was home again. “I asked you to watch Bella!” Charlie said as soon as you came in.

“I know but. Sue Clearwater’s son had an emergency and Jacob asked me to give them a ride home. Alice was with Bella.” You explained quickly.

“With Alice? Well they’re gone. They just left a note and left.” Charlie said. He seemed angry but as if he was trying to stay calm. “I tried calling and she wouldn’t pick up.”

“I don’t know what happened between her and Edward but Alice said something about him being depressed and Jacob said that Bella was bad before. Bella can take care of herself and Alice is with her.” You said trying to be comforting. You looked around and held up a finger and hurried into your room. “She took the meds so she’ll be fine.” You said. Charlie nodded and went to sit down at the kitchen table. He looked lost. The way the Sheriff would when you, Stiles and Scott would come home after sneaking out in the middle of the night. The way Melissa had before she knew what was going on with Scott. You wanted to tell him. It was so tempting to try and ease his mind. To tell him, don’t worry, she’s with a vampire and I grew up with werewolves so we’re both good. It must have been hard for him, having Bella so detached and struggling, to take you on as well. 

He sat at the table for a long time. You made him a hot drink and left him there, looking at the note. Deciding you’d had a long day you went to bed. Wondering if today would have gone differently if the others had been with you. Maybe there was a chance they were just being held hostage and one day you’d meet up again. You hoped that Bella was ok. Reaching for your phone, which you’d set next to a glass of water on your bedside table, you sent Bella a short text, asking her to check in, telling her a wolf had been attacked and that Charlie was worried. You hit send as your eyes begin to feel heavy and fall shut. 

You woke. Unsure if it was still the same evening as it was dark. In your confusio you checked your phone. A short message from Bella said, ‘I’m fine. Will be back soon. Can talk when I'm back.’. You got up as you heard people shouting outside. Or rather you heard Charlie shouting. Hurrying to the front porch you saw Bella stood with Charlie. Jacob was lingering nearby and a new boy who had the same eyes as Alice was standing by a car you didn’t recognise.

“Everything ok?” You asked. You took in a deep breath and tried to shake the sleepiness from your body as you walked over to Charlie.

“It’s fine (Y/N).” Charlie said quickly. You smiled when you saw Bella and hurried to hug her.

“Everything ok on your end?” You asked her quietly.

“Yeah. How about you?” She whispered.

“Well short of finding a doctor who can work on werewolves we’re screwed.” You muttered quietly. Charlie sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as he looked between the two of you.

“Look. Both of you head inside. Bella, you're grounded. You. I don’t want you around for a while.” Charlie said as he pointed at Edward. You looked around for Jacob but he had gone. You headed inside with Bella. She took a seat on your bed as you went out to see if Charlie was ok. You didn’t trust Edward. You didn’t trust Alice either but she hadn’t hurt Bella so that was a plus. You glared at Edward from the porch while Charlie finished talking with him. As Charlie headed inside you watched Edward get in his car. Heading back inside you found Charlie checking on Bella who was asleep on your bed.

“I’ll keep an eye on her, Charlie. You should get some rest.” You insisted. He tucked her under your blanket and stroked her head before nodding and heading up to bed himself.

[master-sass-blast]

Care and Trust: Chapter Two.

Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five -Chapter One

Summary: “--and he says to me ‘my birthday’s every year, dude,’” the shorter one --he’s got gentle green eyes and dark, wavy hair--laughs. “Like, if the bushel of lilyweed I caught him with wasn’t evidence enough--” He pauses when he sees you and Lin waiting, takes one look at your bag and table, then tries to book it. “Nope!”

The taller one grabs him by the shoulders. “Bolin, come on! It’ll be okay!”“Nope! I’m totally fi --agh!”

You wince sympathetically when the younger one cringes and jerks in pain, then step forward so you can get one arm behind him, then introduce yourself as you usher him into Lin’s office. “It’s nice to meet you, Bolin. Why not sit down for a minute, okay? Take a load off? Maybe” --you glance at Ryu-- “we could have a cup of tea?”

AKA you learn why you got called to Lin's office.

Pairing(s): Lin Beifong x Reader

Rating: T.

Word Count: 4.2k.

Also, a huge thank you to @chromecutie for beta reading this fic in addition to all the others in this series! I would not have had the confidence to post any of HTH if she hadn’t assured me that I was doing the characters justice.

Lin’s office is a real, proper office; go figure, she’s the Chief of Republic City’s entire police force. It’d be weird if she didn’t have a proper office.

It’s an expansive, long room, with wrought iron support beams and a dark, wood panelled ceiling. A desk sits in the center of the room, right across from double doors. There’s a leather chair that looks like it’s worth more than your apartment behind the desk, as well as one to the side of the desk (presumably for visitors or reporting officers).

There’s a small sitting area to the left of the doors. Two couches are positioned across from each other, with a metal coffee table in between. On the opposite wall is a wardrobe --you’re putting money on a second set of armor and some clean casual clothes, given the horror stories Lin’s told you about messy crime scenes.

Aside from a third couch tucked into the corner of the room --it looks luxuriously padded, and you’re also putting money on Lin sleeping on that couch during long haul shifts--and a vase to the right of the double doors, the rest of the room is entirely utilitarian. Filing cabinets, bookshelves, a few boxes with active case files in them.

It’s Lin to a tee. Thoroughly practical, borderline spartan, but what is there is more than you could afford in a lifetime.

You politely turn down Ryu’s offer of tea or coffee, then set your massage table and bag on the floor. You pace a short circuit back and forth, mentally filing through what you know about Lin and how her body bears out physical stress. Any injury is liable to have aggravated her hip, given the body’s tendency to compensate to avoid pain. Combine that with her scars and her left side’s propensity to knot up… she’ll probably need some stretching and healing work before I could even try to adjust her--

The doors open again --and in walks Lin Beifong.

You cross your arms over your chest and cock your head back. “Let me guess --you didn’t have time to see a healer earlier, and now it’s biting you in the ass.”

Lin’s eyebrows spike to her hairline. She blinks, then holds up her hand. “Whoa, no. I’m fine.”

“Cut the hippobullshit, Lin. Your personal secretary called me here--”

“It’s not for me,” Lin interjects. She glances behind her, then closes the doors before continuing. “It’s… for one of the younger officers. Something of a situation.”

Your brows draw together as you frown. “If they’re seriously injured, they should go to the hospital--”

“No, no, it’s not like that. He was…” Lin grimaces as her voice trails off, “...advised to see someone like you after getting injured during the dock explosion debacle, but he’s… not comfortable with the thought of getting adjusted.”

“Oh.” You blink, wind going out of your sails as the panic ebbs. “And… your assistant called me…”

“I asked her to,” Lin clarifies. “I know I can trust you to handle this right.”

Something warm and heavy settles in your chest at the thought that Lin trusts you, especially with the well-being of someone that’s clearly important to her. You gulp hard and ignore the way your eyes are starting to sting. “Oh. Thanks.” 

The sound of footsteps and chatter outside Lin’s office draws both your attention.

Ryu opens the doors and lets two young men in --one shorter and stocky, the other taller, leaner.

“--and he says to me ‘my birthday’s every year, dude,’” the shorter one --he’s got gentle green eyes and dark, wavy hair--laughs. “Like, if the bushel of lilyweed I caught him with wasn’t evidence enough--” He pauses when he sees you and Lin waiting, takes one look at your bag and table, then tries to book it. “Nope!”

The taller one grabs him by the shoulders. “Bolin, come on! It’ll be okay!”

“Nope! I’m totally fi --agh!”

You wince sympathetically when the younger one cringes and jerks in pain, then step forward so you can get one arm behind him, then introduce yourself as you usher him into Lin’s office. “It’s nice to meet you, Bolin. Why not sit down for a minute, okay? Take a load off? Maybe” --you glance at Ryu-- “we could have a cup of tea?”

The assistant smiles knowingly, nods, then slips out of the room.

“Okay, sure,” Bolin concedes, still wincing. “But I promise, I’m totally fine.”

You hold up your hands and take a seat on the other side of the coffee table. “Understood.” You staunchly ignore the way your pulse spikes when Lin sits next to you --Spirits, the effect this woman has on you--and turn your attention to the other man. You introduce yourself and extend your hand.

He takes it --firm grip, but not painful. “I’m Mako.” He nods to the younger man. “I’m his brother.”

“Ah, wonderful.” You smile warmly at the brothers. “How long have you two been on the force?” 

***

It’s easy to get the boys talking --or, rather, it’s easy to get Bolin talking.

Mako’s a harder platypusbear egg to crack, but there are small things to pick up on; the way he frowns whenever Bolin winces in pain, for instance, tells you he’s genuinely concerned about his brother. He sits a little straighter whenever he looks over at Lin, but he’s not sweating or cowering in front of her, which you take to mean that he wants to impress her, to earn her approval.

He’s also watching you closely --which is fair, considering you likely scare his brother.

You meet his scrutiny with a relaxed, polite smile and do your best to convey ‘I’m here to help, please trust me,’ through your eyes and posture.

Bolin’s far more relaxed around Lin --almost remarkably so. He leans back against the couch as much as he comfortably can, and actually jokes with her (or tries to, but he doesn’t seem deterred whenever Lin doesn’t respond with more than a twitch of an eyebrow).

You also catch him looking towards Lin whenever he talks about an aspect of his job, a hopeful smile on his face, which then broadens every time she nods or confirms whatever he’s saying.

Honestly, it’s adorable.

(Lin’s also an interesting one to watch in all of this. She’s still as stoic as ever, but she doesn’t roll her eyes at Bolin’s lame jokes or talk down to Mako despite him being miles lower in rank than her. If anything, the air you’re getting from her is… warm. Almost maternal.

It’s wonderful to see.)

“I’ve been studying for the detective’s exam, though,” Bolin chirps with a bright smile. “Mako says I’m doing pretty good.”

You grin, then shoot a playful glance at Lin. “And your thoughts, Chief?”

Lin smirks and crosses her arms over her chest. “They’re both green --but, with time and training, they’ll be excellent members of the police force.”

There’s no missing the way both boys glow under Lin’s praise; Bolin outright beams, and while Mako’s more subtle, you still catch the small, pleased smile that flickers across his features.

You smile.

There’s a brief pause in the conversation when Ryu walks in with a tea set. She sets it on the coffee table between the two benches, then leaves with a nod when Lin waves her off.

You murmur a quiet “Thank you” when Lin fills your cup, then turn your attention back to Bolin. Time to try and make forward progress. “So, what happened to your neck?”

Bolin turns his head to look at you --and promptly winces. “What? What do you mean? How did you know?”

“You’re not the only detective,” you say with a wink. You smile when he chuckles, then gestures to his neck and head. “You’re compensating. You’re tilting your head to one side to avoid using the injured muscles. You probably didn’t even realize it.”

Bolin’s eyes widen. “Wait, seriously?” He tries to straighten his neck, then grimaces and lets out a yelp. “Ow!”

“Just leave it be for now,” you interject, holding one hand out to stop him. “You won’t be able to force it to straighten out on your own. Best leave it to the professionals.”

He offers you a weak smile. “And that’s you?”

You smile and nod. “That’s me. I’m a chiropractor and massage therapist; I specialize in scar tissue treatment and injury rehabilitation. Started my degree at Atege Medical University in the Northern Water Tribe, then finished it here at Republic City Medical University, and then I did my training here in Republic City at Kyoshi Rehabilitation Center. About… oh, five years ago, I moved to the Northern Moon Physical Therapy Facility.”

Mako raises one thick eyebrow in assessment. “So that’s… what, seven years?”

You snort. “Flattering, but no. Try closer to twelve. Medical school and residency takes a long time for chiropractors, too.” You spare a moment to watch Bolin --he’s paled since you’ve started talking about being a chiropractor, and the rest of his body’s gone tense--then try getting to the point once more. “What happened to your neck?”

He grimaces and rubs the side of his neck. “I was at the docks when the explosion went off. I didn’t get hit by the debris or anything, but the shockwave knocked a lot of us over.”

You nod along. “That makes sense. Considering how close you were, the shockwave might’ve been enough to throw something out of alignment.”

Bolin grimaces. He hesitates, then offers you a nervous smile. “Look, I appreciate you coming all the way out here, but I’m fine. I promise! I’ve had tons of injuries before --used to do competitive pro-bending, all that jazz. I know how to handle these kinds of things: a little heat, some stretching, and everything will clear up before too long.”

“Street beat’s a physically demanding job,” Lin interjects. She arches an eyebrow when Bolin opens his mouth, then continues when he closes it. “I can’t have you on the duty roster if you’re hobbled.”

“Not to mention that if something’s out of alignment, you could make it worse by stretching,” you add with a concerned frown. “And things are likely to get worse without treatment, too. I know this isn’t your favorite idea,” you say with a sympathetic smile, “but it really is best to handle things early before they become bigger problems down the road.”

“It’ll be okay,” Mako assures his younger brother. He puts one arm around Bolin’s shoulders. “Chief’s the one who called her in; she wouldn’t ask some quack.”

The corner of your mouth turns up at the commendation, but your mirth fades when you watch Bolin cover his face with shaking hands. You cock your head to the side, listening, then purse your lips when you hear a quiet sniffle. “What is it about adjustment that scares you so much?”

Bolin shrugs (and winces), then waves his hand dismissively with an unsteady smile. “Eh, it’s nothing. No big deal to let someone jerk around your neck like crazy; not like it’s gonna break or anything.” He grimaces, then ducks his head to hide the tears forming in his eyes. “That’d just be stupid.”

“It’s not stupid,” you assure him. You duck your head so you can catch his gaze, then smile understandingly when he looks at you. “It’s not. Self-preservation is one of our most natural, baseline instincts. Besides, you’re hardly the first client to be scared of getting adjusted.”

Bolin straightens gingerly. “I’m not?”

You shake your head. “Not at all. I work with a lot of trauma patients; several of them have anxiety over being touched and adjusted. And I’ve had a lot of people ask me about snapping necks, believe it or not.”

Bolin turns his head to one side and assesses you warily. “And… what do you tell them?”

“The truth: I don’t use remotely enough force to snap a neck,” you say, “nor am I working at the right angles to cause a break. It’s not as easy as all the pulp fiction novels make it seem.” When Bolin doesn’t relax completely, you start mulling over other ideas to help convince him. Chances are he’s never been adjusted before, given how nervous he is, meaning he doesn’t have any previous experience to apply to what I’m saying. Short of letting him watch an adjustment-- You snap your fingers when a lightbulb turns on in your mind. “What if… what if you could watch me adjust someone else? That way, you’d be able to see that it’s perfectly safe.”

Bolin quirks his mouth to the side. “...I guess. It couldn’t hurt.”

You nod, then turn to Lin. “Would you be willing to let me adjust you, since you’ve already been through it all before?”

Lin nods without hesitation, then smirks. “I’m guessing I’ll need to take my armor off.”

“Well, since I’d rather adjust your back than crush my hand, yes,” you quip back. You shoot a reassuring smile at Bolin, then stand. “Let me set up my table.”

...

Bolin, for all his warmth and magnanimity, doesn’t coax along easily. It takes adjusting both Lin and Mako before he agrees to it (who has scarring in his left arm from a lightning injury that he got, according to him, while taking down Kuvira’s giant mechadroid less than half a year ago, and if you get a little too caught up in analyzing his injury and talking about treatment plans and Lin has to remind you --albeit subtly--that this is her office and she has work to do, well, it’s only a tribute to your commitment to your career.

Anyway.)

Between the three of you, though, you manage to get Bolin onto your massage table so you can start working on him.

He grunts as you dig into the muscles that run along his neck. “I know what you said about not using enough force, but it sounds like you’re breaking something.”

“I get it,” you laugh. “What you’re hearing, though, is the release of gas that builds up in the joints and tissue, plus the joints and ligaments being adjusted back into place.” You let up for a moment so you can reposition your thumbs, then press down again.  “Okay, deep breath in… and out… good; just like that.”

Some light examination and prodding with your waterbender had revealed the culprits: stuck rib heads in the upper back, a few misaligned vertebrae in the neck, and some very irritated and inflamed muscles. Painful, but easy to fix with the right treatment.

You curl your fingers, using your waterbending to knead the muscles in Bolin’s right shoulder. “Oh, come on… I know you’re not happy, but if you could please relax for me…”

Bolin groans when the muscle finally unkinks. “Oh, yeah, that’s the spot.”

“I bet,” you laugh. You bend the rest of the water back into your skein, then put some oil on his skin and start working the spot with your hands.

“Is it hard to work around injuries?” he asks, voice slightly muffled by the massage table’s headrest.

You make the grunt equivalent of a shrug. “It depends on the location and what state of healing it’s in. Sometimes, it means I can’t do a normal adjustment --or do one at all, really; some injuries or scars mean that moving the joints and ligaments around would cause further damage to the site. Other times, it’s a matter of waiting until everything’s healed, and then I can do normal adjustments again.”

“How can you tell which to do --oooh, right there.”

Your lips turn up in a small smile, and you keep working a tense, knotted muscle in his upper back. “The patient’s medical history tells me a lot. X-Ray imaging helps, too, if there is any --and I can usually get a good feel for what’s wrong with my waterbending.” You keep going until the muscle releases, then pat Bolin’s shoulder. “Okay, I think you’re ready for adjustment.”

As expected, he tenses. His neck works as he gulps, and when he speaks again, his voice comes out high-pitched and thready. “Are you sure?”

“I wouldn’t try if I didn’t think you’d adjust properly.” When Bolin doesn’t respond --or move--you kneel down so you can see his face through the hole in the head of the massage table. “Hey. It’s going to be okay. We’ll take this nice and slow, alright? I’ll tell you everything I’m going to do before I do it.”

Bolin nods, gulps again, then flips onto his back.

“I need you to sit up so I can put the adjustment board under your back.” You slip the board into place, then put a pillow under his head before having him shift lower on the table. “Okay, good. I’ll adjust your middle and upper back first, like I did on Lin. You might feel some discomfort in your upper back because of how the rib heads are stuck, alright?”

Bolin nods, then offers you a feeble smile. “You’re sure I’m not too heavy for you?”

You wink. “I’m stronger than I look. Whenever you’re ready, cross your arms over your chest.” Once he does what you ask, you adjust his arms so they’re in the right position. “Okay, curl your chin down against your chest… good. Alright, it’s gonna be just like how you saw on Lin. I’m gonna help lift you up, I’ll put my hand under your back, and then I’ll lay you down so I can adjust your back. Sound good?”

Bolin clenches his jaw, but meets your gaze and nods minutely.

“Alright. You ready?” When he nods again, you do exactly as you said you would --help Bolin curl upwards, put your hand under his back, against the board, then adjust the position of your arm around his shoulders. “Alright, deep breath in… and out.”

The series of adjustments up his spine go without a hitch. You grin down at Bolin after the last adjustment and congratulate him for doing so well. “You took that like a champ!”

Bolin blinks, startled, then smiles. “Eh, I’ve been told I’m a quick learner.”

“Oh, you’re an absolute natural.” You grin when he chuckles, then step towards the head of the table. “I’ll give you a minute before I do anything else, but is it okay if I feel around your neck to see where the tension is?”

Bolin pales. His eyes go misty, but he nods regardless.

You murmur a quiet “thank you,” then put one hand on each side of his neck and start prodding at the muscles. “Well, it’s better after the massage work and the adjustment.” You rub your thumb against his trapezius muscle, then grimace when it refuses to relax for you. “Actually…” You take your hands off his neck and rifle through your bag. “I think I’m going to use an activator on your neck, if you’re comfortable with that.”

“What’s that?” Bolin asks, voice fraught with panic.

You hold the device up for him to see. “I use it to tap the side of your neck; it helps loosen up your joints so that when I adjust you, we get you back to your full range of motion.” You fire the device so he can see, and your stomach sinks when you see tears well up in his eyes. “I can use it on your forearm, if you want, soyou can feel how hard it’s going to be.”

Bolin swallows hard, then nods. He holds his arm up --then blinks when you press the tip of the activator against his arm and fire it. “Oh. I thought it’d be a lot stronger than that.”

“Tui and La, no,” you say with a laugh. “The neck’s a delicate instrument; I’m not trying to make things worse for you.”

Bolin smiles shakily, but it slips back to a frown after a few seconds. “Is… Will it hurt?”

“I’ve never had a patient complain before,” you say, sincere. “I’d be stunned if you felt any pain whatsoever from this.” You smile reassuringly when he gives you a questioning look, then place the tip of the activator against his neck when he nods. “Alright. I’m going to tap you a few times on each side of the neck, then I’ll take another feel at what your joints and muscles are doing. Okay?”

“Can you… give me a minute?”

“Of course.” You pull the activator away from his neck, then place a hand on his shoulder when he inhales shakily. “Hey, deep breaths. You’re gonna be fine. I promise.” After a moment he nods again, and you press the activator back against his neck and fire it.

“...It kind of tickles.”

You let out a huff of laughter. “That’s a new one.” You finish working on both sides of his neck, then tuck the device back in your bag before putting your hands on his neck once more. “Alright, right now I’m just going to stretch your muscles some more and get your head into position, okay?”

Bolin clenches his fists at his side. “Could you --do you think you could give me a countdown before you, y’know, do it?”

“Uh…” You purse your lips, then shake your head. “I don’t think so, no. I don’t want you tensing right as I try to adjust you; you’re liable to get hurt that way.”

“It’ll be okay, kid,” Lin says when Bolin lets out a shaky breath. “I wouldn’t have called her if she wasn’t the best.”

You duck your head to hide a shy smile, then try to focus past the warm glow spreading through your chest. “Okay, Bolin. Deep breath; in through the nose, out through the mouth… good, just like that.” You slowly turn his neck, angling his head until you feel the right resistance. “Tilt your chin up; I’m gonna stretch your neck a little.” You tug gently until the muscles loosen, then surreptitiously keep working him to the proper angle. “Good… just stretching… feeling everything out…” You adjust the position of your hands on his neck. “Another deep breath in, then let it all out.” You wait for him to exhale --for his shoulders to relax--then jerk his head to the side.

Bolin grunts, then shoots you a wide eyed look. “You said you were just stretching me?”

You smile apologetically. “I needed to make sure you were relaxed. Makes things better for both you and me. Did you feel any pain?”

“No,” Bolin says after a moment of consideration. “It felt… pretty good, actually.”

“Good!” You start massaging the other side of his neck. “You think you’re still alive?”

He chuckles. “Pretty sure I’m still breathing, yeah.”

“Good stuff,” you joke right back. “Means less malpractice suits for me.” You grin when he laughs, then start stretching the other side of his neck. “Let’s do this side, and then I’ll do your lower back and get you back to work.”

***

“Sorry that took so long.”

Lin waves a hand at your apology. “It’s fine. I figured the kid would take a while to calm down enough for an adjustment.” She offers you a small smile. “Thanks for making the trip up here.”

“Of course.” You resume packing up your things, then let out a quiet laugh. “Honestly, I’m just glad it wasn’t you that needed an adjustment. I damn near had a heart attack when the receptionist told me your assistant called.”

“I told you I was fine.”

You shoot Lin a flat, unimpressed stare. “Right, because you’re the type to always consider the limits and needs of your physical well being.” You roll your eyes when she merely arches an eyebrow at you, then zip the carrying case for your collapsible table shut. “How does the department handle billing?”

“Send the bill to my assistant,” Lin answers, writing down the proper mailing address on a slip of paper before handing it over to you. “She’ll file it with the department’s insurance company. The department will pay out the rest.”

You nod and reach out to take the paper--

Lin holds it back. “Write the bill for all three adjustments. Clear?”

You smirk and pluck the paper out of her fingers. “Pay me more. Fine by me.” You grin when she rolls her eyes, then cast your gaze down to her desk.

It’s a nice desk. Solid, polished wood, with engravings and etchings of Earth Kingdom style patterns.

Unbidden, images of Lin fucking you on her desk --bending you over it, laying you out on your back, sitting in her chair while you bury your face between her legs--flood your name.

Lin either picks up on the spike in your pulse, or maybe she knows your facial expressions well enough to know when you’re horny. Either way, she smirks up at you. “Problem?”

“No…” You absently trace your fingers along the edge of her desk, then shoot her an impish smile before grabbing your things. “Call me when you have a free night.”

You can hear Lin chuckle behind you as you walk out of her office.

[lokifantasies]

Stress and Anxiety

Summary: You convince Loki to go home, and he and Jade have a father-daughter bonding moment.

A/N: Enjoy this father-daughter moment. I think I'm done breaking everyone's hearts...for now.

Character(s): Loki, Jade, & Reader

Read the Mischievous Life series here!

Follow Jade, Loki, and Reader!

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Loki holds your hand as you try your best to breathe through the cramps and pain – hoping and praying that nothing happens to your unborn son.

"Loki, I can't go through this again," you cry – terrified that you're in the process of losing another baby.

Loki gently massages your hand – doing whatever he can to keep you calm. "You'll both be fine, my love."

This god's strength is something you admire. No matter what seems to happen, Loki always seems to know how to keep you calm. Sometimes you wish you could read his thoughts and know what's going through his mind, but you're sure his thoughts differ from the words he says to keep you relaxed.

"I love you," you say – giving him a weak smile as he wipes tears from your eyes.

Loki leans down and kisses your forehead lovingly. "And I love you...both of you."

Jade tries her best to take care of her siblings while you and Loki are at the hospital – making sure that Emmy, Ivy, and Kaiser sleep soundly through the night. Mia, however, can sense the two of you gone. The five-month-old cries in her big sister's arms, and no matter what Jade does, she can't seem to calm the baby down.

"Please, Mia," Jade quietly begs – carrying her baby sister into her bedroom where Stripes is sound asleep. "Please, stop crying. I changed you, and you're not hungry, so what's wrong?"

Jade walks around for a few minutes – talking to Mia and lightly bouncing her in her arms. After an hour or so of trying to get the infant to stop crying, Jade sits on her bed with Mia, and she begins to text her dad.

You can tell Loki is trying his best to help Jade and be with and support you.

"Babe," you say – getting his attention from his phone as he texts Jade. "Please go be with her. We will be fine – just like you said."

Loki looks offended at your words. "No way am I leaving you," he argues. "You and our son need me here."

"They need you more," you insist. "Jade is in no shape to take care of the others...she needs at least her dad there."

Loki closes his eyes – clearly conflicted on what to do, but the door to the hospital room opens, and his eyes open in response. "How are we feeling?" the doctor asks – approaching you and Loki.

"Not as bad," you tell her. "Do we know anything yet? Am I going to -,"

"You're not losing your baby," she tells you with a smile.

You and Loki breathe sighs of relief that you weren't even aware you were holding, and instantly, the weight lifts back off your shoulders.

"I do want to keep you overnight, however," the doctor continues. "Just for observation...have you been on bed rest like I told you to?"

You give the doctor a guilty smile. "There's been a lot going on with Jade," you begin to explain. "It's been...stressful."

"Your baby needs you to try to avoid as much stress as possible, okay?" she practically begs.

"Okay," you quietly say – nodding your head. "So, everything's fine?"

The doctor nods. "Yes, it was just some cramping. Other than that, we need to work on relaxing and avoiding stressful situations if we want to get his oxygen levels up."

You finally smile at the doctor. "Deal."

The doctor tells you that she'll be checking in with you every two hours to make sure everything is still fine, and then she leaves the room.

"Loki," you say – a warning tone in your voice as you look over to the god.

"No," he refuses again. "I want to be here...with you."

"And I want you to be here too," you retort, "but our daughter needs you at home...you can't tell me she's not terrified of being home alone."

Jade walks around the house – finally getting Mia to go back to sleep after what seems like forever. Wherever she goes, she swears she can feel someone behind her – someone watching her every move. Multiple times, when she walks through the living room, she pulls the curtains back and looks out the windows – ensuring that no one is waiting to get her. Her anxiety skyrockets the longer you and Loki are away, and finally, she goes into her room and grabs her bong – taking it and the weed her dad had gotten her out into the living room to smoke. Jade takes giant hits – smiling as soon as she feels the effects starting to kick in. As the sixteen-year-old leans back and relaxes on the sofa – Loki comes walking through the door.

"Hey, dad," Jade says in a chill voice – greeting her father. She sits up when Loki sits down next to her. "How's mom and baby?"

Loki flashes Jade a quick smile. "They'll be fine...they want to keep her overnight for observation, though."

"Thank God," Jade exhales – the weight also lifting off her shoulders at the knowledge that her mom and baby brother are going to be fine. "Why're you here? Shouldn't you be with mom?"

Loki chuckles and slides the bong over towards him – catching Jade's attention. "Mom wanted me here with you and your siblings...she knows you don't want to be alone."

"Right, hey dad, what're you doing?" Jade mutters a quick response – watching Loki suspiciously as he refills the bong. "I was done with it for the night."

"I'm not," Loki says with a mischievous smirk. "You're not the only of us one who has stress and anxiety."

Jade raises an eyebrow. "Uh...is that even going to affect you? Please don't smoke all my weed."

"Really, my love?" Loki questions – giving Jade a knowing look. "Do you honestly believe that I went to some random dealer to get you the weak marijuana that Midgardians seem to love so much?"

Jade's mouth drops. "You went to Asgard...and bought me Asgardian weed?"

"Did you expect anything less?" Loki smiles – lighting the bong and taking a large hit – leaning back on the sofa before exhaling – Jade soon following suit.

"So, that's why it's so good," the goddess finally figures out. "I'm gonna need you to get me some more of this."

[bts-reveries]

expect the unexpected | 24

TW: Mentions of death & miscarriage

italicize = flashbacks

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

“What happened?” Rina asks, running to Jin who’s pacing back and forth in the waiting room. Sian and Jungkook were running behind her. 

“I don’t know, Minseok found her unconscious in our room,” he says, running his fingers through his hair.

“Is the baby okay?” Jungkook asks him, in a low voice. Rina looks at him with wide eyes.

“Baby?” She asks, turning to Jin.

“The kids don't know about it yet, but yeah. She’s pregnant. Which is why I’m freaking out right now,” Jin says, staring down the hallway where the doctor went. 

Jungkook turns to where the kids were sitting, Minseok and Soojin were just sitting on the waiting room chairs, watching videos on Jin’s phone. Haneul was resuming his nap on the chairs next to them. 

“It’s going to be okay hyung,” Jungkook says, putting a hand on Jin’s shoulder. “By the way, Yoongi hyung, Hobi hyung, and Jimin hyung will be here. They’re worried too. The others aren’t able to come but told me to let you know that they’ll be here when they can.”

“Thanks Jungkook. Hopefully the doctor comes soon and gives us good news. We may have to stay overnight.” Rina and Jungkook nod. Sian plays with his hand and looks up at Jin, wondering what was going on.

“If anything, one of us will take the kids home. They can stay over our place if they want,” Rina says, looking back at the kids. “Unless they want to go to Taehyung’s or something, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind either.”

“Okay, thank you,” Jin says, turning to the kids. “We can ask them about it later.”

“Mr. Kim?” Jin hears, his heart suddenly stops, turning to the doctor that was walking up to him. 

“Yes?” Jin says, although unable to move his feet to walk towards the man. “I-is everything okay? Is my wife okay? What- what about the baby?” Jin says, speaking quickly. “She’s had a miscarriage before a-and--”

“Mr. Kim, don’t worry, everything is okay. Your wife and the baby are fine,” The doctor tells him. Jin sighs in relief, although Rina and Jungkook look at him with wide eyes. The mention of Yn having a miscarriage was never brought up before. Neither of them knew about it. “We’re going to have her stay here overnight, to make sure she gets some rest. It looks like she has been stressed the past few days, and also hasn’t been eating much, which we already know is not good for a pregnant woman. So I would suggest you stay here and take care of her. She’ll be able to go home tomorrow.”

-

“Is everything okay?” Yoongi asks, walking into the room you were in. Hobi and Jimin came right before him.

Jimin furrows his brows, putting his pointer finger to his lips. “Shh.” He points to you asleep on the bed and Yoongi puts his hand over his mouth. 

“I’m sorry,” he mumbles. He sees Jin asleep on a chair next to you too, he has his head laying on top of his arms, resting on your side of the bed. “What happened?” Yoongi asks the boys. Jungkook was holding Haneul in his arms. He was awake now, but he kept his head resting on his uncle’s shoulder. Rina was on the side, braiding Soojin’s hair, and Hobi brought books and toys for Minseok and Sian to keep themselves entertained with. 

“Jin hyung and noona have to stay overnight to make sure Yn gets the rest she needs,” Jimin informs him. “She has been overworking herself, stress built up, and she hasn’t been eating well either so Minseok found her unconscious in her and Jin hyung’s room. They rushed her here and that’s what the doctor told them.”

“The baby is fine though, both Yn and the baby,” Rina adds. “Jin was super worried about both of them, even mentioned a miscarriage that Yn had before.”

“Miscarriage?” Yoongi asks. He didn’t know about it either.

“Apparently she went through one before Haneul. Jin hyung said he’ll fill us in with that later,” Jungkook says. Yoongi nods.

“Okay, will the kids be staying here with them overnight? I think we should bring them home, no?” Yoongi says, looking over the kids.

“Yeah that’s what we were saying, it’s their choice who they want to come with,” Hobi says.

“So, where do you kids want to go?” Yoongi asks them, the three kids look at each other before looking up and saying all at once.

“Home.”

-

The Next Day

You and Jin stayed at the hospital overnight. You woke up at random times in the evening, your heart beating fast. 

“Are you okay?” Jin asks, pushing your hair back. “Do you need anything?”

You shake your head no. 

“W-where’s the kids?” You ask, seeing that it was just you and your husband.

“They’re at home with Taehyung, Bora, Jungkook, Rina, and Sian. Don’t worry, they’re okay.” He says, reassuring you.

“W-what about our other baby,” you say, holding onto your stomach. “I couldn’t understand the doctor well when he was talking to me before you got here. I was too tired, I- I--”

“He-- or she--’s okay,” Jin says. “The doctor says you and the baby are fine. Don’t worry.” You nod, relaxing your shoulders and laying back into your pillows. 

“I’m sorry, by the way,” Jin starts. “I didn’t mean to react that way when I found out. I was just overwhelmed at the time and you know what happened before, I was just scared. I’m sorry, it’s my fault you’re here right now, I’m sorry.”

But now you’re coming home. The doctor told you not to overwork yourself, to make sure you rest and eat regularly. This is also your fifth pregnancy and it could be risky so they reminded you to be more cautious.

“Everyone’s here,” Jin says, he’s driving up the driveway and into the garage. “Taehyung said everyone came over because they wanted to see you.”

“Oh how sweet,” you say, eager to see everyone. “Do they all know?” Jin nods.

“The boys all know, I’m not sure about the girls. Other than Sarang and Rina.”

“Aw,” you pout. “I wish we could’ve announced it to them in a more special way..” A tear started to fall from your eye and you quickly wiped it away with the back of your hand. 

“It’s okay,” Jin says, parking the car. “I don’t think the kids know yet, we could still do it for them. Our kids and all of our nephews and nieces. I’m sure they’ll all be excited.”

-

“Mommy’s home!” Soojin yells, running up to you. 

“Hi princess,” you say, picking her up. “How are you?”

“Umm, the real question is, how are you,” Sohyun says, walking up to you. “Come here,” she says, pulling you into a hug. “I got so sad when I heard you were at the hospital. What happened? Yoongi didn’t tell me much.”

“I’ll explain everything, but let’s get the kids in another room.”

-

“So you are pregnant!” Byul says, putting her hands over her mouth. Jin had all the kids go into your room. He played a movie for them and they’re all sitting on the bed calmly watching. He made sure the older kids kept watch of the younger ones. Aka Haneul and Mingyu.

“I’m so excited,” Byul says, slapping Namjoon’s leg next to her. “I’m buying her-- him-- it? Whatever-- I’m going baby shopping.”

“Wait, can you tell?” You ask surprised. “I’m not really showing yet.”

“No, well,” Byul tilts her head to the side. “No, because we’re usually in sync, like with our period, and that one time I texted in our group chat how I was dying from my cramps because I was on my period, you didn’t say ‘omg me too!’ like you usually do. And I know you two did the--” She wiggles her eyebrows at you rather than saying the actual word. “-- during your anniversary trip because what else would you two do on a getaway without your kids? Anyways, I connected the dots,” she says pointing to her head. 

“I’m sorry, she’s been watching a lot of theory videos on YouTube lately,” Namjoon says. 

“Hey, but I was right!” Byul retorted, making you laugh.

“Wait,” Jungkook says. “So let me get this straight, because I’m kind of confused.” You nod your head, telling him to continue. “You two fought about it,” he says. “About the pregnancy when hyung found out. Why? I know Jin hyung told us about it but I was still confused because he said he does want the baby, but then he was stressed out with three kids alone and told noona he only wants three kids and,” Jungkook sighs. “I couldn’t even give him any good advice because I was confused!”

“He watched TedTalks to prepare for the moment,” Rina says. “Then came home saying he didn’t know what to say.”

Jin sighs, scratching the back of his neck.

“It’s a lot,” he says.

“Well the movie the kids are watching is almost two hours long,” Yoongi says. “We got time.”

“Okay.” Jin says, about to start. “So before Haneul, we obviously only had two kids right? Well Yn and I wanted to try for our third baby and honestly, I was already so scared for that one because...” Jin was leaning over, his elbows on his legs as he sat next to you on the couch. He looked over at Namjoon before he continued. “Well, luckily we were able to get pregnant right away and we were both happy, but we had to wait before we told you all about it-- well the ones that were already with us. Umm.. I’m sorry I have to mention this,” he says, looking at Namjoon. Namjoon caught on to what Jin was trying to say and he nodded at him, letting him continue. “Well we got pregnant a month before Moonji was due. We wanted to wait until after she was born to announce to you all because we wanted to wait the three month mark before announcing to everyone that we were happily expecting. 

But then, Moonji was born a little earlier than expected. Of course we were happy for our friends, but when we found out that Eunji passed away during the birth, I was terrified.” Jin looks down at his hands. “I never told this to Yn until last night when we were alone at the hospital, but we were the next couple to have a baby after Eunji’s death and I don’t know… I was just really scared. No one wants that to happen to their significant other, I was scared something might happen like that with Yn but then we lost the baby instead.”

The two of you were with the rest of your other friends in Namjoon’s house, helping him pack up Eunji’s things. It was a sad time. Meanwhile, you were in Moonji’s nursery, feeding her with a bottle as you sat on the chair you and Jin gifted Eunji on her baby shower.

You hummed to little Moonji as she was starting to fall asleep with the bottle. You were still pregnant at this time, you were a lot more sensitive than usual and you just started crying. 

Eunji was a close friend of yours, you never expected her to be gone so soon. No one did. But the thought of her leaving right when her daughter entered the world hurt you even more. It’s something no one ever wants to happen for… well.. anyone. You were actually scared as well, you were currently pregnant and you didn’t want what happened to your friend to happen to you. You didn’t want these thoughts but yet they were there, circling around your head. 

If anything were to happen, you’d leave two of your babies behind. Even a new one that you’ll never meet. 

And of course, Jin.

You’ve watched how Namjoon is now that it’s just him and his daughter. It’s obviously a lot different. He never imagined this to happen, but it did. You can tell he’s trying his best to be happy. 

But you know it’s hard for him.

You only began to wonder if Jin is worried too. Considering if anything happened, it would be him and the three kids. 

“Are you two okay?” Namjoon asks, peeking into the room. He had a smile on his face. Quickly, you wiped the tears away.

“Yeah,” you say, your voice wavering. “We’re okay.”

-

“Uncle Taetae come home with us pwease,” Soojin says, pulling on Taehyung’s hand. You all just finished helping out Namjoon with Eunji’s things. 

“I am coming,” Taehyung says. You asked him previously if he could help out with a client. The client was looking for unique paintings to decorate her living room but couldn’t find the perfect one. Of course you recommended your artist friend, none other than Kim Taehyung himself. “Imma help mommy with work stuff, so I’ll be at your house.”

“Yay!” Soojin yells happily. 

As you five headed to the car, you started feeling a bit sick. 

“Are you feeling okay?” your husband asks you when you two got seated in front. “You don’t look so good.”

You shake your head. “My stomach is hurting,” you say. Jin’s heart skipped a beat. 

“Where? Where’s it hurting?” He asks, putting his hand on your stomach. Taehyung furrows his brows as he watches you two. 

“Lower,” you say, moving his hand down to your lower stomach. “Here.”

“Is everything okay?” Taehyung asks from the back seat. 

“Are you sure you don’t just have to go to the bathroom?” Jin asks. 

“I- I don’t know,” you say. 

“Well while we’re still here at Namjoon’s, why don’t you go to the bathroom first? I’ll come with,” Jin says. 

“Okay,” you say, stepping out of the car. 

“Where are you going!” Minseok asks, watching you and Jin walk out of the van. 

“Mommy’s not feeling well,” Jin says, running to the other side to help you. His eyes widen when he sees red. 

“Honey,” Jin says, pointing to her bottom. “There’s blood.”

“I understand why you never told us about it,” Yuna says. It was already a sad time, you two didn’t want to add more to it. Not only that, but you and Jin didn’t like to bring it up. The thought of it hurts your heart even more.

“Yeah, well I wasn’t there,” Bora says. “But I understand, I’m guessing only Taehyung was the one to know then.” She says, putting her hand on Taehyung’s hand.

“Yeah he helped with the kids when we went to the hospital. But, even so, we still wanted to try for another one. You know? Which is why we always say it’s always three, we thought it would end with three considering how hard it was to conceive Haneul. We had a lot of trouble with him,” you say. You glanced over at Sarang who was quiet this whole time. 

“It was a hard time, we were scared for the miscarriage to repeat if we were ever to get pregnant again. We worried a lot during that time. It was a confusing time, really,” Jin adds on, looking at you. “It was like… we were scared to get pregnant because of what happened previously and then we were scared that we wouldn’t be able to get pregnant again, you know?” 

“So don’t worry too much,” you say, looking at Sarang. “I know you two are working hard to try and conceive but maybe if you stop doing it as if it was a chore… it’ll come when you least expect it.” Sarang smiles softly at you. She nods.

“Expect the unexpected,” Hobi says with a small laugh. “I guess that’s what happened huh.” Jin nods.

“Now and before,” he says. “We didn’t expect Haneul to come. Right when we were about to give up, we found out we were pregnant with him.” 

“Is that why you named him Haneul?” Sohyun asks. You and Jin nod. Minseok and Soojin both have names coming from their dad whilst Haneul didn’t. Haneul instead meant sky, your special rainbow baby.

“So what about now?” Jimin asks. “What about this baby?”

You look over at Jin, waiting for his answer. I mean, you already knew. 

“So why did you react that way?” you ask Jin, the two of you unable to sleep now. This was at the hospital. It was past midnight and you couldn’t sleep anymore. 

“I was scared. Haneul was hard enough. His pregnancy, I mean, you know? I was in that constant state of fear and worry. Thinking if at the end of those nine months if it’ll just be you or if it’ll just be him. After what happened to Eunji, I realized how it can happen to anyone. I didn’t want that to happen to us. Then after we lost our baby, it hurt a lot you know? I know it hurt you more since you’re the mom and you carried that baby inside of you… but I still feel like there’s a piece of my heart that’s missing,” he answers. “I know how hurt we both were after that happened, I was scared it might happen again. It’s too good to be true. 

Not only that, but on top of things, I had a really hard week with the kids. I started to think I wasn’t good enough that I couldn’t balance my time with all three of them and work with you gone. But then I found out you were pregnant… The worries and the thoughts flooded my mind that it blocked out any happiness I would’ve felt at that moment. I didn’t want what happened to our baby to happen to this one because I knew how it would be. Even worse, I didn’t want what happened to our friend to happen to us… Not only would I lose you but our three-- four kids would be stuck with their dad who can’t even handle a week without his wife, then what would happen if that was forever?”

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

expect the unexpected

♡ part twenty-four: if anything ♡ 

pairings: ceo, dad!jin x interior designer, mom!reader

a/n: okay it wasn’t as lengthy as i hoped lol

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The Rookie 4x01 Life and Death Recap ****Spoiler city****

I promised a friend a recap, since she can’t watch until tomorrow, so I figured I might as well post it for anyone who wants to see it? I never can figure out a read more break on mobile so fair warning, DON’T LOOK IF YOU DON’T WANT SPOILERS 😁

This is just a rough draft thing, so it’s probably full of typos.

@hamburgerheroes @piratesbooty63fan

Phew… crazy first episode. Unfortunately I was fielding calls and texts about a work issue the whole time so my viewing was very disjointed. So I’m rewatching as I type this recap for you.

The episode is preceded with a recap, of course. Then the opening scene is Chen, Bradford, Nolan, and Harper in tactical gear approaching a warehouse.

While waiting for the go order from Grey, grey has flashbacks of a few hours earlier. They realize Lopez and West are both missing, they find out La Fiera has escaped and assume she took them, then they get security footage of the kidnapping and are watching it at the station, still in their wedding attire. As we suspected. The footage shows Lopez being put in a vehicle and West struggling, then shot in the back, then stuffed into the trunk. Everyone is in shock, Lucy is crying.

Lots of fans are really upset about Jackson, and I get it. But the show runner and writers had no choice. Here’s excerpts from an interview with Alexi

At this point, we’re back to Grey a different officer wants to wait, but Grey says it’s been 3 hours and they need to move fast and orders them in.

They breach the warehouse, find an empty get away car and Angela’s wedding dress on the floor. Lucy moves to pick it up, Nolan stops her, there is a trip wire to explosives under the SUV. They leave the warehouse and realize they had a plane waiting there from the tracks it left.

Next we see La Fiera, Angela, and her female goon in the airplane. Angela assumes they’re going to Guatemala so she can torture and kill her slowly, but La Fiera tells her (as we suspected) that she’ll be kept alive until Angela safely delivers her (La Fiera’s) baby (of course)

Next Grey and Wesley are meeting with a DEA bigwig who essentially says, we ain’t helping. Next they arrive in the compound in Guatemala and talk about how impenetrable it is, etc. She meets the doctor who will be attending her. Angela tries to tell the doctor not to touch her and La Fiera says if she resists she will be sedated for the rest of the pregnancy.

Back at the station Lucy is talking with Nolan, beating herself up about not seeing the trip wire. She’s really just upset about Jackson, she says she can’t believe he’s gone and she and Nolan hold hand for a moment.

Tim and Harper join them and discuss if Lopez is still alive and why. Lucy comes up with the theory that La Fiera wants Angela’s baby as the ultimate revenge. Grey tells them the DEA won’t help. They talk about how Jackson scratched his killer and they’re running DNA. Grey tells them all to go home and get some rest while they work on a plan. ***Chenford alert***

Lucy says she can’t go home and see Jackson’s empty room. Tim says, “you don’t have to, you can stay with me”

Dying!

She says she doesn’t want to impose and this is where he says she shouldn’t be alone right now. She says thanks, he says yeah, then she wonders how Wesley is holding up.

Cut to Wesley meeting with some bad guy and offering to turn dirty lawyer in exchange for finding out where Angela is. I do not like this development and what it can/will do to them in the future.

Cut to a short, weird interaction with Lopez and the female bodyguard then, back to Chenford.

We see Tim in his jammies, setting up his couch to sleep on. The house looks different than I remember it and surely it has at least 2 bedrooms, so why the couch 🤷🏻‍♀️. Anyway. He looks adorable in his jammies. He says, “I’ll take the couch”. Lucy walks out of presumably his bedroom and says she thought he was setting up the couch for her. He says he’s not going to have a guest sleep on the couch and she says she’s not going to kick him out of his bed. He says okay, gets up. Looks a bit awkward, a bit nervous. Asks her if she needs anything. She says “the last 24 hours back”, he says he doesn’t have that power. She says, “a hug” and he says, “yeah. Come here” in a soft voice that nearly made me combust! He hugs her. As they go to part things get all UST, he croaks out “night”, can’t quite meet her eyes. Meanwhile she’s definitely got the “realization” light bulb starting to go off slowly. Still a bit confused. He goes to his room and flops into bed. Obviously affected by what just happened. she is the same out on the couch. Fidgety with nervous energy. He looks toward the door like he’s about to go back out there to her, say something more (do something more?) she looks toward his door from the couch, obviously contemplating same. Back to him purposefully looking away from the door, back to her making her decision. She’s pushing the covers off about to go to his door, when his door suddenly opens. He’s on the phone saying “yeah, okay, we’ll be right there”. She tries to pretend she wasn’t already up and moving toward the door. He says Wesley knows where Angela is and they head into the station.

Oh man, it was sooo gooood!!!

Next it’s the Wesley telling them that he knows where they’re holding Angela. They all say they want to help, but Grey says how’re we gonna do that . They bring up “Max” the covert government guy from the counterfeit money case. Grey says fine, reach out. He tasks Tim, Harper, and John to start tactical plan and says Lucy will stay with him to run the murder case. Then he takes a moment to congratulate Nolan on officially becoming a P2. They get the DNA back, the killer is a 17 year old kid.

Government guy shows up at Nolan’s they coerce him into helping. They go to Guatemala separately from Wesley who is supposed to get a meeting with La Fiera without getting killed. Nyla and Tim look hot playing with military surveillance toys while John steals the plans to La Fiera’s compound from the architect.

Lucy and Grey go after the killer. Grey has a really great scene after cornering the killer and he and Lucy take him in.

Back at the compound Wesley gets to see Angela. John tells Nyla and Tim that he has the plans and there’s a weakness, but the drone shows that the weakness has been fixed so they have to go to plan B. Nyla does not like plan B!

Cut to a very sad scene of Lucy finally going home and looking at Jackson’s room as he left it. Tim calls, says they’re going to plan B. Lucy, as well, does not like plan B. She says to give her a minute to get set up. Tim then radios government guy Max, who also does not like plan B. They decide on a different extraction point and he reminds them if they aren’t there at the agreed upon time they will be left behind.

They alert Wesley with fireworks. Turns out plan B is him injecting Angela with pitocin to start contractions so that they’ll have to transport her out of the compound to the hospital. Nyla will have a drug to counterreact the pitocin at the hospital.

Unfortunately, they separate Angela and Wesley. He’s put in a different car to take him away and kill him so Nolan goes after Wesley while Tim and Nyla get set up at the hospital. Lucy is tapped into a satellite giving them info on the vehicles, etc. Tim says, thanks, we got it from here”. Lucy says, “Tim”, the tension clear in her voice. “Please be careful”. With more significance than just one officer to another. He’s in business mode and replies, “I always am”.

Bradford and Harper ambush LaFiera et al. Angela gets into the hospital with Tim and Nyla and gives Angela the reversal shot. As they make their escape to the helicopter LaFiera follows and fires on them, grazing Angela’s leg, she turns and shoots La Fiera, killing her. They make it to the chopper, tell Max they need to get Wesley and Nolan, he says no, they all point their guns at him and he decides to make the stop.

Wesley and Nolan fight their two bad guys (Nolan simply must save the day in each episode). They make it to the chopper, everyone is safe and they get the hell out of dodge.

Then, the time jump. It’s 3 months later and Angela and Wesley are arriving home from the hospital with their son to a surprise welcome home party with Grey, Nolan, Harper, and Chen. They’ve stocked their freezer and bought them a second freezer and stocked that too. Tim is happy and relaxed. Lucy is a bit overly cheerful, it’s obviously a bit forced. She and Nyla present Angela with a basket full of teas and herbs and cookies tailored to uterine health and breast milk production (as she would). Nyla admits that it was all Lucy when she walks away. That it was good for Lucy to concentrate on something positive. This makes Angela turn a bit sad and reflective. The show ends with Angela holding her baby and standing at Jackson’s grave updating him on her life and how she misses him and hopes by the time her leave is over that she’ll be able to face the station without him in it. She then reveals (again, as we suspected) that her baby’s name is Jackson😢

[grantiskeith]

Baby Wolf Cub (Davidxreader) Part 2

I don't know about anyone else, but this stopped being about ASMR a long time ago. Redacted's storytelling ability and world-building skills are fantastic. I would 100% read a book if he wrote one.

Here is part 2 of the first fic I have ever written.

Words: 1.8k

Warnings: dad vibes, blood, gunshot

"Hello?" I picked up my ringing phone "what! Who is this!" David picked his head off the floor, ears perking up. The little pup yawned and stretched against David's fur.

"Where? Tonight?" Click. 11:14 pm. David shifted back into his human self which prompted the sleeping cub into a sleeping baby with its butt in the air. "What's going on?"

I dialed another number without answering him."Milo, hey I need you to come over. It's an emergency. No, no one's hurt but we need your help. Yeah, thanks"

Click. "They followed me from Chicago, they want the kid back." I walked to the little one one and bent over to pick him up. David stuck his hand out in front of mine.

"Don't touch him, let him sleep. Shifting takes magic and doing it as often as he is would be exhausting for a full grown adult. He'll figure it out, but he needs sleep. Now what the hell are you talking about? Who called? Stop! don't put your jacket on"

"I don't know who, all I know is that there's a lead on the corner of South and Maple and I'm going to figure out what's going on." I did put my jacket down but only to grab a light blanket off the couch and draped it over the baby's legs.

"Angel, that's too dangerous, they could be vampires or murderers or..."

"They're most likely kidnappers, which is why we need to stop them"

"Listen to yourself! You're not Sherlock Holmes, you're not Batman"

Angel put his hands on my shoulders and looked into my eyes, "you're just a fragile human and you need to stay here and be safe."

"It's not your job to protect me"

"Actually it is. As soon as you became my mate you became part of the pack. As the Alpha and your mate it is my duty to take care of you" he backed up from me and rubbed his hands over his face. "I love you Angel! I would give my life for you without question"

"I would never ask you to!" I said that a little louder than I should and the baby turned over before it started crying. I went over to pick him up but David got to him first and subtly bounced him on his hip.

"Why are you putting something so special to me in harm's way? You are a fucking danger to yourself and the more you get involved in these messes the more likely you are to put me and my pack in the line of fucking fire. There are things about the magic world that you don't understand and there are more threats than you can see. Let's ignore that call and just take this trouble maker to the department."

I put my head down to the floor. It was late and I was tired. Almost a half tempting offer. But there was a mystery to be solved here and possibly a larger crime.

"Sitting in bed and watching tv does not help anyone," I told him. "I am the mate of one of the most influential wolf pack's alpha. You know I'm tough or else you know I wouldn't last long. I was made of something durable and built for being more than a fucking house wife!"

David put the baby on the couch and laid the blanket out next to him. Carefully, he wrapped the little one up into a burrito and scooped him up to cradle him.

"Before you go and get your life sucked out by a damn shade or something. Throw a cup of milk in the microwave for a few seconds" David said, sitting down on the couch.

"Uh sure" I said. "I am not a complete dumbass, I know I shouldn't go alone. If you won't come and back me up then I will ask Milo." I handed him a lukewarm glass. "How did you get so good with infants anyway?"

Silence from David. I hate it when he just shuts down. He propped the baby up against his chest and titled the cup up until the little one could drink.

"Instinct, basic life skills, common fucking sense. All things you don't possess, clearly" he put the cup down on the table. And took a deep breath. "My dad… he would make me help out new moms in the pack. He used to say I needed to spend time with women since my mom wasn't around. It was a way of helping the pack feel more like a family"

I sat down next to him. Coat on, shoes on, ready to jump out the door.

"Angel, I have lost so damn much. Just from life already being as fucking dangerous as it is. If something happened to you... I just... I don't know what I would do... I fucking..."

I cut him off, "I know. I love you too. Unmistakable fact of life. I love you."

A knock at the door, "hey guys it's me." I got up and opened it to Milo's anxious face, "What's wrong, that's the emer.. Holy shit! is that yours" Milo stared in disbelief.

"Yes, it is, in the 48 hours I was gone I went and had a werewolf baby and now you're the designated sitter so we can go make another one" I was monotone in my sarcasm. I stepped out the door, "you coming Davey?"

David carefully slipped the baby into Milo's arms, "support the head and neck here," I heard him say. "Yeah, remember when we used to do this with Ginny's baby a few years back?"

He grabbed his jacket off the back of a chair and followed me "of course I'm coming you dumbass." He yelled down the hall at me, "Oh Milo, if he starts whimpering just shift and lay with him, he's docile. There's warm milk on the table and more in the fridge if he's crying. He didn't mind the couch but feel free to lay him on the bed"

"Let's go!" I yelled to David down the hallway.

"What the fuck is going on" was the last thing I heard Milo say before David shut the door.

South and Maple was a quiet intersection, although most are at the ungodly hour of 2am. Surrounded by three or four story buildings with alleyways and parked cars. There was no shortage of places to hide or spy down on the intersection. David and I stepped onto an alley between two buildings to discuss a plan. Unfortunately we didn't get the time.

"Where is he?"

We both turned to a tall lanky woman at the end of the alley. She was dressed in a pantsuit, real realtor vibes. Two men ran around the corner and took their place behind her. David growled but I put my hand out in front of him, "hold back" I whispered.

"Who are you and what do you want? Where are the parents?" I yelled down the alley.

"Where? Honey probably at the bottom of the the lake considering the rocks tied to their ankles"

David started growling again but I told him again to wait. This conversation was not violent yet.

"You stole that baby!" I accused

"Baby?" She laughed, "that was not a baby, what you have hidden somewhere is a freak circus animal that many are willing to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for."

"You bitch!" I yelled

"I have bids lined up" the men besides her both shifted in werewolves which prompted David to do the same. The sudden magic and chaos of growling and barking filled the air. David was significantly larger than the other two but he was outnumbered. There was a mix of growling, barking, and biting. I was bewildered that I didn't even hear the shot. The lady whistled and both the other wolves ran to join her. They walked around the corner.

David shook himself off and ran to follow. Water fell down the side of my leg. Water? I looked up trying to find a leaking gutter or rain. No rain. I looked down and saw a red stain on the side of my shirt growing. I balled up a chunk of shirt and held it against my side.

"Davey'' my voice cracked. "Davey!" I couldn't get it to be as loud as I needed. My left ear started ringing loudly. My head was full of sawdust and my vision became the static of an old tv. I felt a hand over my own behind me. Fuck, Davey. Where did he come from?

"Can you ..." was all I heard before I felt my knees give out. David picked me up bridal style and ran to the end of the alleyway. I heard the car door open and the next thing I saw was the ceiling over the back seat. David climbed in the back with me and shut and locked the door.

"Just.. drive" fuck, talking hurt.

"Classic triage Angel, stabilize then transport." He tried to move my hand away from the wet spot I was holding.

"It doesn't hurt that bad! Just drive" I was using whatever I had left to keep him away.

"That's cause you're going into shock" he grabbed my denim jacket from the front seat, "hey, Angel look at me. I'm going to lift your hand up just for a second and put your jacket under it ok?"

I winced and nodded. It actually didn't hurt that bad. I couldn't feel anything and everything had a vague cold numbness. He drapped his leather jacket over my shoulders.

I took a deep and painful breath. I closed my eyes for a moment but then I felt David snapping his hand over my face. When did he get in the front seat? When did he start driving.

"Hey! Keep your eyes open"

"I'm fine, I'm ok. I just blinked"

"You're pale. Are you nauseous?" David put his eyes back on the road, "if we go back to the apartment they'll follow us and find the kid" he said, "but if we go to a human hospital they'll ask too many questions. So we're going to.. Hey Angel! Open your eyes and keep holding that jacket down. We're going to Milo's mother's place. She'll be ready for us. Angel! Are you listening to me? Asher and Milo have the baby. Christan is leading the pack to hunt down that woman."

I was barely making out the words. Davey was the alpha for a reason, that's the only thing I understood. Cool under pressure, rallying the troops, delegating orders. I nodded, at least I think I did. "I love you" were the words that I tried to get out of my mouth. I felt the engine of the car rev louder.

[whump-town]

Will You Take Me Home?

Here is some heart-warming fluff to make up for what I did with the cancer fic. I would do it again so I’m not sorry but I do feel remorse for hurting you

Word Count:  5055

Retired Hotch’s Birthday

The normal temperature of the room outside his nest of throw-blankets and heating pad causes goosebumps to break out over his exposed arm. He groans, not even bothering to check the caller ID as he puts his phone to his ear and answers “Aaron Hotchner”. His voice has taken on the gravel of disuse, fogged by the painkiller-induced nap he’d accidentally fallen into. If he was following his doctor’s orders, that wouldn’t happen. His body would have acclimated to the drugs and the pain wouldn’t leave him so exhausted that he can hardly keep his eyes open when it dulls to throbs. Which, he’s not aware of just yet, but is the very nature of this call: his detrimental habits.

“Sleeping beauty,” the other person greets and he leans back against the pillows behind him, rolling his eyes. The phone rustles and Hotch shakes his head as he hears the faint scratching and rustling of keys at his door. “I knocked four times,” he’s informed. “I was starting to think--” the door comes free and Hotch doesn’t even look up. “I thought I was going to find you dead in here.” The call ends and from the other side of the couch, he hears, “which, by the way, would be a hell of a thing, you know? Dead on your own birthday.” He closes his eyes but feels the cushions get pushed down, the telltale sign she’s leaning over the back of the cushion overtop him. “Speaking of which,” she beams. “Happy Birthday, old man.”

He looks up at her, taking in the full effect of mischief he could only hear before. The expressive lines of her smile spread across her face and it’s a distinct moment when all he can think about is how truly awful things had been between them at the beginning. How mean he was, really, because it wasn’t her. It was his own inability to trust. Yet, here she is before noon on his sixtieth birthday leaning over his couch and no doubt about to start a pot of coffee that she’ll consume over three-fourths of.  Suppressing the smile tugging at his own lips, he raises a more important matter at hand. Far more pressing than why it is that she’s letting herself into his home. “How long until they come?”

Retired doesn’t mean born yesterday (whatever the opposite of that is, really). He’s not around the office anymore but given Garcia’s questioning last month of his favorite cake flavor, Dave’s inquiry into his schedule for this week, and Emily’s early arrival he knows exactly what they’re doing. To her credit, Emily pretends she doesn’t and she might be more convincing if he didn’t know every tell she’s had for the last two decades.

“Who?” she asks. “How long until who comes?” He just looks at her. A stand-off, really, to see who caves first. They’re assholes so this could go on forever and if she were looking for the thrill of watching him break and she would press on. She cracks but not because he’s better at this game, just because she’s excited. “You have an hour. I’ve been sent to get you ready so you’re not a crabby old bastard when they arrive.”

He groans, sinking back into the couch and pulling his blanket up over his head. Effectively locking her out. Well... not really. She just leans further over him, not caring when he grunts tries to burrow farther away. “Come on,” she shakes his shoulders. “Aren’t you the least bit excited? Penny made you those cookies you like and Derek is bringing Hank, who, I might add, is very excited to see Hops.” And she’s only buttering him up because-- “I’m not supposed to tell you this because it’s a huge surprise but Dave left this morning to go pick up Jack. He’ll--” she can’t even get it out. He peaks out, just the top of his head so he can narrow his eyes at her. To see if she’s just fucking with him, using his feelings against him but he sees only sincerity. She grins, she knows she’s won. “So up and at ‘em old-timer! You’ve got a gaggle of people to entertain!”

Old-timer? He’s four years older than she is. That’s not what he comments on. “Gaggle?” he repeats back to her, grunting as his knees protest his standing. “Really showing your age there,” he mumbles and steps out of the way of the pillow she throws at his head. “What?” he defends. “You said it, not me.” He shakes his head, heading back to his room and leaving her to entertain herself. Which she will and he can hear her rustling around the coffee machine. Nearly surprised that she doesn’t complain he still hasn’t set up the Keurig she got him for Christmas (which they are rapidly approaching him having owned now for a year).

Though he isn’t sure how to express it anymore, he’s excited to have them here. Even if he knows that it will get overwhelming, he can’t deny that the night will end far too soon and he’ll find himself missing them all over again. But that’s not what’s important. In an hour (less than that knowing Penelope and her strict party-throwing agendas) he’ll have them all right here. Reid with his never-ending knowledge, quizzing him on the book recommendations that Hotch has been slowly working his way through. With Derek and Savannah and Hank, the latter of which can’t pronounce Hotch and it makes his heart do a funny little thing when the toddler sees him and screams in pure delight “Hops!”

JJ will pour in with Henry and it’ll be like old times watching Henry and Jack slunk off together (and they all pretend like they don’t know they’re smoking pot in the backyard). Emily and Dave force him to mediate the same four fights that they always have and then they’ll stick around long after the others have gone home to talk about whatever comes to their minds.

And Penelope.

His house is about to be flooded with baked goods and meals in containers because despite being alive as long as he has, she denies the notion he can feed himself. She’ll organize them in specific ways and each will be labeled in her neat handwriting so he can tell what’s in each. Most of them will be vegetarian because she’s worried about his cholesterol (and the environment) and a few will be spicy and chicken will make its way into a few of the dishes. He’ll thank her and kiss her cheek and she’ll remind him like she always does, that all he has to do is ask. He won’t but he does appreciate how much she cares. As smothering as it can be.

He showers quickly, giddy in a strange way to get out and be properly ready when the others arrive. Not too quickly, the last thing he needs is to bust his ass while Emily is here. She is far too comfortable with herself and with him and he knows that she will come in here if she hears him. The other thing about that woman is that she might have a distaste for constantly being touched but she can put that aside to annoy him. Which has created this weird mind-game thing he knows he’s losing when he doesn’t even notice her encroaching on his personal space.

Everything is a battle with her.

He decides to save himself the trouble of being bullied and searches through his dresser for a pair of jeans. He owns maybe two pairs of jeans both purchased forever ago and just to help him fit in with the parents at Jack’s school during field trips and soccer games. He stuck out like a sore thumb when he was a kid and he knows he still does but he won’t be the reason Jack gets weird looks. Emily had raised an eyebrow at that (why he had even divulged this to her is beyond him) so evidently it didn’t really do the trick but Dave assures him he looks fine and Garcia thinks he looks like a DILF so… he’s fairly certain that’s good. He’s not really sure what that means but he’s learned it’s better not to ask her to clarify.

Emily is fixing the couch when he comes out, the apartment filled with the scent of the coffee she’s brewed while he was showering. “You’re going to burn the house down with this thing,” she tells him. She holds up his heated blanket as it offends her. “You need to go to the doctor, there has to be something they can do.”

What surprises him isn’t her apparent anger-- with Emily, it’s a diversion. Her anger is rarely that, it’s to distract, and right now he knows he’s to perceive her anger and not the way she fears for him. The way that she can’t say “I love you” like the others but can, instead, be outraged that his body has been working against him for so many years. She’s not angry at him for needing to be tucked up in that blanket all the time, she’s afraid of a vascular issue that might kill him or that he’ll leave untreated until they’re all being reunited at the closest general hospital. Waiting for a doctor to tell them that he waited too long or that his heart can’t handle another surgery or a million other things.

He takes the blanket from her, clumsily folding it over and tucking the cords into the folds. “I have gone to the doctor,” he assures her. Not for that specifically but he did bring it up. He leaves it at that for now and she understands that means maybe later. It’s not worth getting into and he doesn’t feel like thinking about George Foyet and his knife today.

“Hey,” Emily hums, smirking at him. “Your ass looks really nice in those jeans.”

He stops dead in his tracks, frowning as he looks back at her but just as he’s about to inquire what, no doubt, awful thing she’s done to make her feel the need to compliment him to compensate for it, the apartment door opens. They both turn to the noise and Garcia steps in and freezes when she notices the two of them standing there.

Looking at the bags full of things she has in her arms and then to Emily and then to Hotch she sheepishly smiles. “Happy Birthday?”

With a sigh, having accepted this defeat a while ago, Hotch steps to help her with bags. He tries to hide his amusement but he cuts Emily a glance, three bags in his left hand and more still coming, and he can’t help it. Garcia turns back just as the smile eats its way up his face and he shakes his head. For a split second, he can see her apprehension, the way that her fear of going overboard or embarrassing herself washes over her before she carefully masks it (and to think he gets all the shit about masking). “Thank you,” he whispers so sincerely that he has to avert his eyes. Adding softly, “you know, you’re the only person who ever cares to make me celebrate it?”

Which just makes her sad. “Sir,” she whispers frowning. “You deserve the world, do you know that?”

He blushes, shaking his head, but he can’t get the words out in his shock.

“Oh,” she tsks. She stands on her toes and pulls him down so she can wrap her arms around him. “I love you.”

Emily makes a sound of disgust behind them and he’s glad for the distraction before all this undue attention gives him a heart attack. “Bleh,” Emily rolls her eyes. But she brightens when she sees the red Tupperware container holding the cookies. “Are those the--”

Garcia sees Emily zero in on them and hands them right to Hotch, holding them to his chest. “Are not for you,” she says to Emily with a nod of her head.

So Emily just looks to Hotch and he passes them to her with a shrug and weakly defends, “they’ll go stale if she doesn’t eat half of them.” They’re his birthday cookies but she’ll get her hands on them anyway. If not today then the next time she lets herself in. If not her then Reid when he gets bored and wanders over here for entertainment. If not Reid then Dave then Derek… you get the point. He’ll never finish them on his own.

Garcia lets it go because she knows that’s how he is and because she has a crapload of other things to make sure he eats. He leaves her to mess with his fridge, it’s better to let her do her thing. She’ll move his almond milk to the side door because that’s its proper place (even though he’ll move it right back) and come in about five to ten minutes to fuss with him about a specific something she notices he’s lacking. Today it will be the complete lack of breakfast foods in this house when she knows for a fact that his doctors are giving him hell about eating more than once a day.

He’ll have no excuse, never does, but she won’t give him a chance to provide it either way.

Reid arrives next and actually knocks and waits for someone to let him in, something none of the others will do. He sheepishly offers Hotch the books he’s artfully wrapped in a newspaper and Hotch ignores it for a moment to hug him. If they don’t do it now Reid will just wait in anxious anticipation for it because he knows it’s what people do and he likes being hugged by Hotch but he doesn’t know how to initiate it himself.

“The Sultan of Brunei spent $27.2 million on his 50th birthday,” Reid tells him as soon as Hotch lets him go. “Michael Jackson was there,” he says with a nod. And Hotch smiles and listens to him anxiously work his way around the point that he’s trying to make. Which is that by the standards of the Sultan of Brunei, this party will be exceptionally small and quiet… the way Hotch would want it to be.

They are still standing at the door, talking about what the act of giving a card means. The way that the stories get warped and it thrills Reid to slide the pieces of that puzzle together through-out various cultural ideals until you have them. And that America has a very strange, above-average affinity for birthday cards.

Derek nearly hits Reid with the door when he comes in. Too distracted with a squirming Hank on his hip and Savannah behind him fussing with him for not knocking. He brightens the second he places his eyes on the two of them, a face that Hank matches perfectly upon seeing his favorite people.

“Weed!” the toddler greets throwing himself into his godfather’s arms. Reid takes him happily, laughing at how tightly Hank holds onto him. He just loves that Hank never gets tired of him. He could still see Hank every day for a month and Hank would still greet him with the same enthusiasm as the first day.

Derek is kicking his shoes off, offering Savannah his hand so she can do the same when he notices Hank still excitedly talking to Reid. That’s by all means not abnormal but-- “Hey,” Derek mumbles Hank. He nods his head to Hotch who is standing watching Reid and Hank with a bright, wide smile. “Don’t you have something for Hops?”

Reid puts Hank down before the toddler can start to squirm and Hank immediately glues himself to Hotch’s leg. No one knows why it’s just what Hank likes to do but not just, in general, he only does it to Hotch. He stands for a few seconds, both arms wrapped around one of Hotch’s legs, face pressed into the material of his jeans, and Hotch stands still to allow him to do it. Hops is a nickname he has no control over, the same way that Reid doesn’t fight that he’s been “Weed” now since Jack was two and stumbling over his name.

Hotch got off easy. When Henry was younger he just sort of kept his distance from Hotch. Hank… just really loves him.

“Is that a hot wheel?” Hotch asks softly when Hank finally peels himself away enough to offer the bright toy clutched in his hands. Hank beams up at him and stretches to hold it higher, trying to get Hotch to take it. “Oh wow,” Hotch gasps, shaking his head and pretending to just be so impressed by this toy so severely dwarfed in his hand. “Do you know what colors these are?”

Derek holds his hand out for Savannah to take and guides her through the house. Moving them to the kitchen to talk with Garcia and Emily knowing that he won’t be getting his son back this afternoon. Both because Hank won’t want to leave Hotch or Reid’s side and because Hotch and Reid won’t want him to leave. The Hotwheels was entirely Hank, they spent twenty minutes finding the perfect one when all Derek needed from the store was stain. Though they all agreed to no presents because Hotch would already hate them invading his home with cake, they all got him presents.

The others all got him books because that’s what they know he likes and he really does love to receive books. They’re fun entertainment and they all say something about how not only they perceive him but also the sorts of things that they like and he… well, he loves that.

Derek built him a new bookshelf. It’s sitting in the back of the truck and he’s waiting on Will to get here to drag the thing in here. Derek had noticed two weekends ago that one of the shelves Hotch uses in the hall was bowing under the weight of the books on it so he’d made something to replace it. Thin but heavy-duty-- he’d considered all the ins and outs of the current shelf. Things he didn’t like about it until he has a higher shelf that doesn’t stick out so obscenely.

Which doesn’t matter, really, Hotch will love it either way.

Hank keeps “Hops” distracted while the others pull dinner together. Emily is set to ice the cake but she’s awful and she’s sent to sit in the living room with the other three. Hotch is sitting in the recliner, Hank sitting on his knees and telling him about what he did in preschool this week while Reid pokes through the bookshelf Hotch keeps by the door.

JJ knocks as she comes in but still lets herself in. Henry is bummed to see Jack isn’t here yet but he’s quickly distracted and swept right back out the door to help his father and Derek move the bookshelf into the house. They don’t really need Henry’s help but it’s an effective way to ensure Hotch doesn’t try to help. Not because he can’t but because… he’s old and they don’t want to break him.

They’re just buying time, anyway, until Jack and Dave get here.

With them comes the party…

Hotch only puts Hank down to hug Jack, biting down his tears when he realizes that his son now stands just as tall as he is. Probably bound to be taller. He’s grown out his blonde hair in college and just as Hotch is opening his mouth to ask about school, how seeking out that Master’s Degree is treating him, he spots--

“A puppy!” Hank shouts.

Jack smiles timidly, stepping back to show his father the dog still held back by Dave’s hold on her collar. “Her name is Scout!” Jack kneels down, beaming up at his father while the thrilled puppy licks his face. “Do you get it?”

Oh, he gets it alright. Emily had snitched him out two weeks ago (to his own son, of all people) and admitted she was a little worried. He still doesn’t think there was ground for her fears. It’s not abnormal for him to shut himself out and if his therapist doesn’t think he’s any crazier than normal then that should mean he’s fine. At least, that’s how Hotch feels about it. That’s ignoring the way that everyone else feels. Which is that he’s visibly more on the edge and jumpy. That he gets irritated in public spaces and his anxiety is getting worse despite starting therapy and medicine he swears is helping.

Jack had done his best to get through to his father but sometimes Hotch makes those conversations like talking to a brick wall. That conversation had ended rather badly, honestly. Jack had yelled, shouting mindlessly that he’s twenty-five and he’s too young to have to be taking care of Hotch like this. Too young to have to fear that each day he’ll receive that phone call and the crazy thing is that Jack wouldn’t even be surprised-- everything about Hotch’s life is damning proof to the fact that he acts impulsively, reckless, and without care to his own well-being.

Jack had called later and he’d apologized, they both had. It had been careless on Jack’s behalf, Jessica had explained to him at sixteen some delicate things about his father. He’d come to understand just what it means for everyone around Hotch to love him. The way that his mother had tried to stifle that urge in his father and Jessica and Dave and Emily and Derek and everyone who has ever loved a man like Aaron Hotchner has tried to walk him back off that ledge. But it’s as if he was born there and you can move him but you can’t take that fundamental calling away. Can’t wash his darkness away.

Jack had spent his entire childhood likening the characters around him to his father, just pulling at strings to understand the man. Sometimes he’d earn himself a smile and other times a grunt. He’d bring his father the books or replay scenes in movies all to just see his reactions to know if the man he sees his father as is the same one Hotch sees himself as.

Freshman year of high school they’d read To Kill A Mockingbird and he’d thought his father to be a man like Atticus Finch. In many ways, he is but he keeps coming back to that book. Until during that heavily apologetic phone call, Jack had laughed and realized his father might be a bit like Atticus Finch but he’s a Boo Radley. The recluse that always represents unwavering good.

Hence Scout.

What had driven Boo Radley from his home? Little Scout Finch.

He lets them into the house, not really sure what to say. “You know,” Hotch mumbles, shaking his head. He watches the puppy eagerly work her way around the others. Snaking between legs and nearly knocking Hank over in her excitement but the boy is around enough dogs to only laugh harder. “You could have just got me a… gym membership of something.”

Derek huffs at that and now, he’s sitting in his living room watching his closest friends snickering at his son’s clever book reference. With a sigh, he leans down and offers his hand to the puppy, frowning when her first instinct is to lick him. “Hi, Scout.”

Jack squats down, petting Scout while she continues basking in Hotch’s attention. “You don’t go to the gym, dad.” Jack rubs behind her ears, smiling when Scout doesn’t divert her attention from Hotch. She’s zeroed in on him and he’s fairly content with that. “Besides I got Scout from that program that they run in Richmond.” There’s this dog training thing they do down there that his friend actually works at. Scout failed her training-- as it turns out she’s a bit of a reject. They’d tried to start her out as a service dog but she’d been too smart for that too. Too eager.

Hotch raises an eyebrow at that, not liking the sound of what he thinks is happening. Those dogs are expensive and it’s already enough that she’s a German Shephard. “What do you mean?”

Jack glances at Dave, “well…”

Dave steps up and soothes it out. “I made some calls and Jack’s friend helped us out. Scout is a reject from two academies, a failed service dog and from the police dog academy in Richmond. So she’s too smart for them to just send anywhere.”

Great, Hotch thinks.

“It’s perfect,” Emily snickers. “Hotch loves to take care of things and now he’s essentially got a toddler again.”

“She is potty trained,” Jack offers quickly.

But Emily is right and the idea is brilliant. Hotch does like to take care of things and having Scout will prompt him to start taking walks in the morning again. It might help him implement a strict eating routine, place him in the kitchen to feed her. He won’t go do things for himself but he will take her to the dog park and sit there until she’s tired. Throw balls for her to retrieve and (what had been the killing stone) is that she’s far too smart for her own good. She’s got other training. Senses anxiety and depression and is very protective.

Hotch frowns down at Scout, she’s placed her head on his knee watching him as he takes this in. Hank is leaned up against her side, fingers trailing through her short fur, and she’s entirely unbothered by it. She’s only worried about Hotch and Hotch is worried about her. He’s never had a pet before. Jack had a goldfish he fed occasionally but… there’s no way that counts.

“Thank you,” he says softly, rubbing at his fingers anxiously and frowning when Scout smacks his hand with her nose. He sighs and puts his hand on her head, scratching like he thinks she wants. Too distracted to note what she’s effortlessly just done. Put off by her clinginess, he’s not even thinking about the curling hot ball of nerves in his stomach. His mind does wander but she nudges him again and he sighs and keeps patting her head.

Dinner goes well and Scout and Hank are glued to his sides. Hank to his left feeding him chips and Scout green beans which Hotch sees and chooses to ignore. Her immediate allegiance to him is a little strange, she’s not too bothered with Garcia or Derek no matter how hard he tries to win her over (feeding her green beans just like his son). Scout does like Hank, Henry, Jack, and Reid. She takes to them like it’s nothing. She’ll go from ignoring Derek’s attempts to get her to sit to trot right over to Reid and lay over his feet.

Hotch does enjoy that, it’s funny.

They funnel out slowly after eight. Hank has already fallen asleep in Hotch’s arms and Savannah has to wipe his tears up and shush him back to hazy contentment with the promise he’ll see Hops soon. Derek will probably be over in a day or two to make sure that the shelf is holding up well and to transfer the books and he’ll bring Hank along to distract Hotch to do it.

JJ and Will trickle out not too long after. Henry and Jack conspire together to get Dave to take them for ice cream and he caves-- Jack promises to text him before he falls asleep to tell him where he landed for the night.

Garcia takes Reid home, won’t let him take the subway back at this hour and Hotch doesn’t even have to ask they just know to text him when they get home safe. He promises to eat the food Garcia left and she already has the date in which he should run out marked on her calendar. She’ll give him a week to bring back the Tupperware before coming over here herself and seeing what he has and hasn’t eaten.

Emily sticks around until ten. The two of them picking up meager things and she promises to come by early tomorrow and the two of them will go to PetSmart to figure out what kind of food Scout should be eating.

And before he knows it…

“I guess it’s just me and you then.” Scout tilts her head at him. “You want to… go to bed?”

He’s not really sure how the dog thing works. TV has shown him plenty of times they’re not supposed to sleep in your bed so he makes her a blanket bed of her own and marks down a dog bed on his list of things to get tomorrow at the pet store. He tells her goodnight and then blushes at how silly that sounds.

He’s in bed, changed into pajamas, and yawning into his book but he’s committed to reading a chapter every night. He hears her get up but he still jumps when his bedroom door is opened. She doesn’t wait for a command and doesn't listen to his “no” before jumping up into the bed alongside him. He’s trying to grumble, to get up but she lays right across his hips. Turning her head to look up at him and he gives up. “Only tonight,” he says.

Tonight turns into the way she sits between his legs, when they’re listening to the guy at PetSmart help them pick out food. To the way she looks up at him when he tries to estimate how big she’ll be to get her a properly sized bed. Which ultimately turns into him giving up and Emily hiding her smirk at just how whipped he already is.

Tonight turns into every night and if his nightmares stop coming as frequently because she’s laying atop him he doesn’t say anything. If he starts going out more and the team starts picking out pet friendly places to meet him for lunch or to have a coffee break then he also doesn't say anything but Scout is right there.

So… what exactly does it take to draw Aaron Hotchner away from the ghosts? A puppy.

[cherriesradio]

Soulmate Headcanons with The Big 3 cause why not

(Gn reader) (no warnings) (fluff)

Mirio

Cliche - can hear his soulmate sing

The first time was when he (and y/n) was 5

Y/n was watching the little mermaid for the third time and was like “hey I remember the lyrics to the song so ima sing it too!”

And Mirio, who was eating his lunch at the time with Tamaki, was surprised

“Mom theirs a person in my head should I try to get them out? I don’t wanna though, I like their voice”

And his mom gets so excited (I haven’t reached the flash back scenes so uh yeah) and is like “Mirio that’s your soulmate!”

And he just has a happy grin and is like “Whoa! That’s cool! I wonder when Tamaki will hear his!” And Tamaki is just blushing at the thought

And then in fourth and fifth grade y/n is in choir and he has a love/hate relationship with it

On one hand, he loved hearing his soulmate and having the constant reminder that theres someone out there just for him

On the other hand it got really annoying having to hear them sing the same song over and over again lol

He dealt with it tho

And then comes UA

He has this one classmate…… their REALLY cute……

Low key feels bad for liking someone who (he thinks) isn’t his soulmate

But he doesn’t really think about it much cause he’s busy workin hard hard to be a hero

And then one day he finds this class mate in the dorms commonroom

Singing

And before he finds them he’s like “oh cool soulmate™️ is singing”

And then he walks in the room and at first he’s like “are my ears ringing or something? I hear doubles”

He has just sees y/n sitting there sing it under their breath while studying or something and just

BLUSH

BLUSHING SUNSHINE BOY

And he just plain walks away

After a day or two (where he quickly realized “whoa y/n is actually really amazing” and gets a crush) he just casually goes up to y/n and says “hey can you sing for me for a second? While I walk in the other room?”

And y/n is like “uhhhh sure”

*does that*

Mirio comes running in and is like “YOUR MY SOULMATE!” With the widest grin in the world

And y/n is just so happy as well cause they’ve definitely been crushing on him forever

And their relationship? Most wholesome thing in the world

Cause he’s super caring and stuff he’ll always ask before he does anything at all

“Hey can I hold your hand” “mirio we’ve been together for almost a year” “so can I hold your hand” “*sigh* yes, thanks for being considerate”

Tamaki

Cliche - Red String

As soon as he realized what it’s for he’s just blushing

Sometimes he just looks down at it and blushes

(His parents and Mirio/ Nejire find this to be the funniest thing)

Once y/n flew to Korea to visit family and the string was really tight compared to normal

And Idk about you but I like to think that this can mean two things: their soulmate is more far away then normal or they died

And Tamaki being Tamaki immediately starts think they died

“Tamaki it’s probably fine, their just traveling or something” “y-y-yeah but-but wh-what if if th-their no-not??????”

And then they come back and he just has the three day equivalent of a relived sigh

And then when they move closer to go to UA????

Jesus when the string loosens he just looks down like

O////////////////O “shoot”

And when he sees them in his classroom for third year and the string is so short and then sees them look down

OH YOU BETTER BELIEVE HE DID A MILLION FLIPS TO TRY TO MAKE IT SEEM LIKE THEY WEREN’T HIS SOULMATE

cause he’s a shy baby 👉👈😳

And one time y/n goes up to him and asks to train with him cause “he’s the strongest in the class” (and y/n has a crush on him)

And he just awkwardly nods through the whole thing while y/n is like “where do you wanna meet up? What time?” And then has to have Nejire tell him what they said

And then when they meet up and their like right in front of each other and Tamaki is just STARING at the string as if y/n can’t see it too

“Can you see it?”

Tamaki’s response: O ///////////// O

“So that’s a yes?” *nods* y/n smiles

“That’s nice. Anyways, let’s go start training”

He fidgets with it a lot

He also tugs on it slightly when he wants y/n but their talking to someone else or their working

On a missions when he gets really hurt and goes to the hospital and y/n isn’t with him he’ll tug on it so they know he’s okay

They get a cat when they move in together and once it sat right on the string and Tamaki’s paranoided mind was like “what if we can’t lift it from under him????”

And then y/n had to reminded him that it only affects them two

Whenever Tamaki’s having a panic attack he shakes and trembles and y/n feels it

And then just feeling them running as fast as possible towards him to help

“Y/n where are you going aren’t you on patrol in only half an hour-“

“GOTTA GO TAMA’S PANICKING

Nejire

Cliche - wrist writing

They have knew each other since they were kids, family friends and all

Always knew they were soulmates but still acted like friends till high school when both were finally ready for dating

Every morning one will wake up to a little “good morning honey ❤️”

And all though the day they’ll both doodle on their wrists and some times write little funny things to make the other laugh

It’s like when couples keep each other awake texting till 1am

Once she tried to cook and told y/n and then after half a hour just a wrote “please come to the kitchen help”

Y/N WAS SWEATING

She started a grease fire and was easily put out by Mirio don’t worry ❤️

She’s the type that will get bored and just draw those amazing looking sharpie tattoos

And then she’ll find y/n with them and be like “twins!!!!!!!”

When she was introduced in the show when they visited 1-A?

She gave y/n the wrong time so half way through they wrote “soooooo how’d it go????”

“Oh sorry we’re half way through! Mirios beating them all up :)”

Y/n was concerned

At some point she finds out that it’s not just the wrist but all over their body so one morning she gets a marker and draws little freckles on her face because y/n talks about how they always wanted freckles

She was out shopping and she was like “hey I just found this shirt you would like should I get you it” and when y/n asks what it looks like she draws it instead of bothering to take her phone out and send a pic

Never texts lol

“Why would I text them when I can just write on my arm??????”

Sometimes she’ll pull them by the wrist to drag them somewhere and she does it to herald sometimes and check her wrist and think “on its smuggling that means I’m pulling to hard” and then apologize for ten mou straight

She’s a angel and no one can change my mind

[let-the-dream-begin]

In My Daughter’s Eyes Chapter 27: Vortex

Chapter 26

Read on AO3

Vortex: a mass of swirling water that draws everything to it

——

In late August, with September right around the corner, Claire and Faith were about to experience their first hurricane. Claire had experienced all levels of terrifying weather with Uncle Lamb out in the field, including floods, sandstorms, mudslides, and nearly every other manner of natural disasters. Hurricanes, however, had eluded them. They’d only gone to South America one time, and they’d merely seen some heavy rainfall.

Claire had been keeping her eye on the news, seeing how hurricane Matthew was affecting other areas along the east coast. She shuddered to think of them even losing power, let alone anything actually disastrous happening. All news and weather outlets were assuring that by the time it hit the island, it would have lost most of its power, so the storm wouldn’t be devastating, but it would do damage nonetheless.

Claire was doing another scan of the weather channel (which Faith did not appreciate) before work when her phone rang. Jamie.

“Sassenach?”

“This is she.”

“Good morning, lass. Sleep well?”

“I did, is everything alright?”

“Aye, fine. Just wanted to check in. The storm is gonna hit tomorrow; wanted to make sure ye were prepared.”

“Prepared enough,” Claire said, throwing a bar and a yogurt into her purse. “I’ve gotten the bread and milk, as they say. Stocked up.”

“Aye, that’s good. Are ye prepared for losing power?”

“Flashlights are ready with spare batteries and all. Portable charger for the iPad.”

“What about fer you?”

“Oh, I have to be at the hospital before it starts and then stay. It runs on a generator so I’ll be good with a regular charger.”

“Wait, what d’ye mean, stay?”

“Well, I’m considered an emergency worker so I can’t take off. I’m going to have to sleep there if the roads are flooded or blocked with trees.” Claire zippered her purse as she flitted back into the living room, then started pulling on her shoes.

“Ye could be there for days, Sassenach.”

“I know.”

“What about Faith?”

The little girl in question barreled into her as if on cue, waiting for her goodbye. “One second, Jamie. Yes, time for goodbye hugs.” Claire crouched down and gave her daughter a squeeze and a kiss. “Be good for Mrs. Lickett. Yes? Okay, bye-bye.”

With one final kiss and a farewell to Mrs. Lickett, Claire was out the door. “Sorry, what were we talking about?”

“What’re ye gonna do wi’ Faith while ye’re at the hospital?”

“Oh,” Claire said, opening her car and sliding into the driver’s seat. “I’m dropping her off at the Abernathy’s with a few provisions before work tomorrow. After I’ve taped all the windows, of course,” she added wryly.

“She’ll be alright?”

Claire sighed as she started the car. “She’s going to have to be.”

Her voice wavered, and she cursed herself.

“She’s never spent the night away from home. Will she no’ get upset?”

“I don’t really have much of a choice.” She was not defensive or angry, but resigned, sad. She didn’t want to leave Faith at someone else’s house, but she could not very well ask Gail to live with her toddler and child in her small apartment for an indeterminable amount of time. The fact that they’d opened their home to Faith was kind enough. She couldn’t very well ask it of Mrs. Lickett, either. Her children were older, but she still shouldn’t be away from them for that long during a potentially dangerous storm.

Jamie was silent on the other end, and as Claire turned onto the main road, something clenched in her throat. He couldn’t be upset with her, could he? He couldn’t be judging her decision, condemning her for planning to dump her child off during a natural disaster? Logic told her that of course he wouldn’t, but she was so god damned insecure about it all herself that she could not be calmed.

“You still there?”

“Aye,” he answered quickly. “Sorry, I was thinking.”

Claire swallowed. “What about?”

He paused again. “Tell me to shut my gab at any point going forward,” he began uncertainly.

Claire’s brow furrowed. “Ehm, alright…”

“What if…what if I stayed wi’ her. In her own home.”

Claire was gobsmacked. Her mouth actually dropped open in surprise.

“Please tell me no if ye’re truly no’ comfortable, Claire. I mean it. I ken it may be too soon, and I understand. I just thought to offer — ”

“Jamie,” Claire cut him off. “It’s okay…I…” She blinked away tears. “Would you really be alright doing that?”

“Aye,” he said quickly, perhaps a bit too quickly. “Anything I can do to make it easier fer her. It’s gonna be scary.”

Claire swallowed thickly. “She’s heard thunderstorms before.”

“I’m sure. But this willna be like anything she’s ever experienced. And Gail is lovely, truly, she’s a blessing fer ye both, but she’s…she’s no’ you.”

“And she’s not you,” Claire said, finishing for him what he likely was thinking but would never say.

“Claire, I’d never presume —”

“Well I would,” Claire said. “There’s no denying you have the experience that Gail lacks, Jamie. And Faith trusts you. And I trust you.”

He was silent, likely processing what she said. Claire turned into the employee parking lot.

“Besides,” Claire said with a chipper tone that was only slightly forced. “It’ll be good for her to have you all to herself. You’ve never been alone with her before.”

She heard him chuckle. “Aye. Ye think she’ll like that?”

Claire put her car in park, and her heart swelled, warming her from the inside out. “I really think she will.”

——

Jamie arrived the following morning with a duffle bag and a backpack. The sky was already gray, the air thick with the oncoming storm, the wind picking up. He’d half expected the skies to open up on his way there.

The door opened, and his heart cracked. Claire’s sweet, lovely “hello” included a smile, but he could see that frantic look in her eye. She was close to tears. He greeted her gently and then addressed the bouncing, squealing thing below them.

“Ah, yes, hello, wean.” He cupped her head gently to stop her bouncing. “I’m happy to see you, too, lass. Can ye fetch ballerina Minnie Mouse? I’d like to see her if ye dinna mind.”

Like a shot, she was off, eager to please Jamie, and Jamie pulled Claire into his arms. She clung to him tightly, breathing deeply into his neck.

“It’s times like these,” she began shakily, “that I believe Frank was right.”

His brow furrowed. “Whatever d’ye mean?”

“That I should’ve given it up, that I still should.” She sniffled. “I don’t know if I can leave her for several days during…during what they’re saying it’s going to be…”

“It’s alright, Sassenach.” He kissed the top of her head, and then Faith emerged from her room, waving the stuffed animal above her head. “Ah, thank ye, lass. What about…” He wracked his brain, trying to remember any of the dozens of toys she’d shown him. “Daisy Duck? Can I see her?”

She was off again, and Claire laughed wetly against him.

“Listen to me, Claire Beauchamp.” Jamie pulled far enough away so that he could tilt her chin up and look her in the eye. “Ye’re a doctor because it is what God put ye on this Earth to do. Ye’re a damn fine one, from what I gather. Ye’re going to help lots of people in the next few days, people that might have been much worse of wi’out ye.”

“What about the baby that He gave me?” Claire said hoarsely. “The baby with…so much that she needs from me…”

“It’s not just you,” Jamie said, with the most careful combination of firmness and gentleness he can muster. “No’ anymore.”

Claire rested her forehead against his, breathing deeply. “It’ll be alright,” he assured her, Faith puttering back in with the next toy. He praised her quietly, tucking Daisy under his arm with Minnie. “I will do everything in my power to see that she’s alright these next few days.”

“I know,” Claire said, then pressed her lips to his. “I know.”

Faith was reaching up, bouncing again impatiently. Jamie handed her back down her toys; evidently, she did not like them out of place for very long.

“I can’t thank you enough for this,” Claire said, squeezing his hands. “I think I’d be beside myself if I left her away from home. Well,” she laughed dryly, “more so than I already am.”

“It is an honor to ease yer burden, mo ghraidh.” He lifted their joined hands and kissed her knuckles fervently. 

Claire led him around the apartment to show him one last time where everything was kept; Faith’s vitamins and nighttime medicine, snacks, candles, spare batteries, matches. Jamie had remembered, but he let her show him all of it again to ease her mind. He knew it helped her feel like she had more control over the situation.

“Once the power goes out,” she said, gathering her own duffle bag with her overnight essentials. “Either soybean butter and jelly, cold cuts from that cooler that’s still in the fridge for as long as they’ll keep, or the spaghetti-o’s. Just pretend you’re using the microwave or something and she’ll never know the difference.”

Jamie nodded seriously, though he’d remembered all that, too.

“And watch her with the fridge. She’ll keep it open and stare in there looking for something which is bad enough when there is power. Make sure she doesn’t let the insulated coolness out if you can help it. Though if it’s gone for too long it’s a moot point.”

“Right. Got it.” Jamie nodded curtly. A large gust of wind howled outside, rattling the windows.

“Jesus.” Claire shuddered.

“Ye’d better get going before ye get stuck in the oncoming downpour,” Jamie said.

“Right.” Claire froze in the middle of the living room, her eyes glued to Faith, sitting cross-legged with Angus’s head in her lap, calmly stroking his fur. Jamie’s heart strained, and Claire looked like she might cry again. She exhaled heavily and crouched down next to Faith.

“Hey, baby.” She cupped her little head and smiled. Faith kept her attention on Angus, and Claire gently tapped her nose. “Can you look at me, Faith?” She did not, and so Claire took her hands off of Angus and held them between hers. Somewhat annoyed, Faith looked up at Claire, obviously waiting for her hands to be released. “Hi,” Claire said. “Remember what we said? Quiet hands, quiet feet, and quiet mouth for Jamie.” She pointed to each mentioned body part. “And listening ears on.” Claire poked each of her ears, one after the other. “Mummy will be gone for a few days, but Jamie is going to play with you, and keep you safe. It’s all going to be okay. It might get very dark, or very loud, and there might not be any tellie. But Jamie is going to make sure you’re okay. Yes?”

Faith moaned impatiently, and it was unclear if she was listening.

Jamie is going to make sure you’re okay.

Jamie’s chest involuntarily puffed out, and his back straightened. He silently and solemnly vowed to do just that.

“I’m going to miss you, lovie.” Claire cupped both of Faith’s cheeks. “I love you.” She held up the sign, and Faith mirrored her as always, pressing their foreheads together.

“I’m going to call every day. I’ll talk to you on the phone. I promise.” Claire pulled Faith in  for a hug, squeezing her tightly. “Big goodbye hugs,” she whispered into her hair.

When Claire released her, she stood up with a heavy sigh. Jamie was holding her duffle bag, and he walked her to the door.

“Please be careful,” Jamie said. “Text me when ye get there.”

“I will.”

He kissed her deeply, pressing her tightly to him. When their lips parted, he looked into her eyes, those swimming pools of amber and honey. On his tongue was something he’d known, something he’d been burning to unleash from within him since April.

I love you.

Instead, he swallowed thickly and kissed her forehead. “Drive safe, Sassenach.”

With one final squeeze of his hand and a reassuring smile, she was gone. Jamie ran a hand over his face before peeking out the window to make sure she pulled out of the driveway. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to tell her. Christ, he’d wanted to reply with it the second he watched that video; he’d wanted to tell her that day in the office, he’d wanted to tell her on the ferris wheel, the carousel, he’d wanted to tell her when she fell asleep and drooled on his shoulder halfway through The Godfather, he’d wanted to tell her when he’d finally positioned himself between her legs and entered her, and felt so completely fulfilled and complete, and every time he was in that position thereafter.

But he didn’t. He couldn’t. Not until she was ready to hear it.

He knew she was scared; no matter how well this was going, he knew she was still worried and paranoid. He wouldn’t rush her.

A giggle pulled him out of that train of thought, and he realized that Claire’s car was long gone. It had also already started to rain, and it would definitely get nasty soon. He turned to see Faith grinning impishly down at Angus, who was licking Faith’s open palm over and over. This was something she did often, put her palm right at his snout and wait for him to oblige her. Jamie supposed she liked the tickling sensation. He smiled and made his way to the couch, sitting down and watching Faith with her loyal companion for a while.

Claire had given him a whole list of things that Mrs. Lickett usually does with Faith while Claire is gone for the day. There was play-doh, the big clunky legos (both good for fine motor), the flashcards for identifying signs, and of course coloring. On the list, Claire wrote that when Faith colored with Mrs. Lickett, Mrs. Lickett always — underlined several times — signed the color that Faith picked up. Color identification would be a big deal once she started school.

Something else that Jamie knew would come once school started was the school district-provided tablet for text to speech communication. Claire had been recommended speech therapies to get a head start on that, but she’d turned them all down, insisting that it was very important to her that Faith know how to sign before relying solely on the screen. And since Faith had proven capable, she’d stuck to that.

It amazed Jamie how Claire somehow just knew what was best for her child. Jamie saw all too often at the stables parents that had no idea what they were doing. Which was understandable and nothing to be judged about. But when he’d reach out, recommend additional services, hint that they might get more out of equine therapy if they approached certain things a different way, they didn’t want to hear it. It was hard to watch those kids regress because their parents weren’t willing to set their pride aside and admit they weren’t aware of something. But his reach only extended so far, and if he was going to sleep at night, he had to let those things off his conscience.

With Claire, if someone offered her advice, she could plainly tell them that she’d already researched that and had either tried it or decided it was not going to work, but thank you very much. Prompt speech therapy, for instance. If Jamie had a nickel every time Claire complained to him that yet another person had recommended Faith try it, he’d be quite the rich man. Prompt speech involved a lot of touching, and Faith would certainly not be okay with that. Even if it meant her daughter would never say a word, Claire would not put her through it. Not even an eval.

And Jamie admired the hell out of her for it.

After letting Faith continue with Angus for a bit, Jamie intervened and ushered her into the kitchen for some “structured play with learning benefits,” as Claire had referred to it. Faith, having never done any of the listed activities with Jamie, wanted to do every single one. They went on even longer than Jamie had anticipated she would sit still for because playing these games with Jamie was a novelty. They built a castle with a wall with her legos, made several snakes and desserts out of play-doh, colored, and worked on signs. Faith was not satisfied until every single card was flipped over and worked on. Jamie knew full well that she did not insist on such a thing with Mrs. Lickett. It made him grin smugly and melt at the same time.

It was pouring in earnest by the time Jamie finished getting through Faith’s stack of flashcards. Instinctually, he checked his messages from Claire, even though she’d told him hours ago by now that she’d gotten in safely. The wind was picking up, too, turning into a constant roar.

“Ye’re brilliant, Princess Faith,” Jamie said, giving her a thumbs up. “Ye did such great work today, lass. I’m so proud of you.”

She smiled cheekily and then reached for her crayons and princess coloring book again. Rain suddenly pelted against the kitchen window, the wind having changed direction to blast the water right into the glass. Faith dropped her crayon with a startled cry and clamped her hands over her ears. Jamie had to admit it even startled him.

“It’s alright, lass,” he crooned, getting out of his chair to kneel beside hers. He stroked her back soothingly. “Just the rain. It’s alright.”

She kept her eyes squeezed shut and her hands on her ears, so Jamie switched tactics. He scooped her in his arms, cradling her to his chest. He brought her out of the kitchen and deposited her on the couch. If the wind was blowing into the window in the back of the apartment, perhaps a similar noise would not happen in the front windows. He called Angus over when Faith still would not move or open her eyes, and after a few minutes of deep pressure, she at least opened her eyes. Jamie was then able to coax her into picking a DVD. They were on borrowed time until they lost power, so he thought it best to take advantage of the tellie while they still had it.

She ended up choosing a Winnie the Pooh movie, jabbing at it with her elbow, hands still on her ears. She didn’t even take them off to put the movie in the player, though she stood by and watched every move Jamie made as he did so instead. As the DVD started playing the previews before the “play” screen, Faith got behind Jamie and started pushing against his legs. He took this as his cue to walk, and he allowed her to push him into her bedroom. He knew immediately what she wanted. He smiled widely as he stepped into the room and picked up the enormous “Pooh Bear” that he’d won for her at the carnival. Faith hummed in excitement and bounced a little as Jamie carried the giant bear into the living room and deposited him on the couch. She skipped back into her room and Jamie gathered the rest of her Hundred-Acre Wood friends, arranging them around their giant leader.

A few minutes into the movie, Faith finally took her hands off her ears and began enjoying the movie in earnest. The wind continued to howl and the windows continued to rattle, but the movie drowned most of it out for now, as did Faith’s giggling and humming along to the little songs. At one point, she moved all of the little toys into Jamie’s lap and tipped over the giant bear so she could lay bodily on top of him. It really was practically a mattress underneath her. She nuzzled further in, humming contentedly and smiling broadly, bottom lip caught between her teeth. Jamie smiled down at her, her eyes fixed on the screen, and then he brought his legs up on the couch, cross-legged, so he could fit every toy she’d given him in his lap, holding onto them with as much care as he would if Faith herself was in his lap.

The power went out before the movie finished, close to the end if Jamie deduced correctly. Faith immediately sat up, nearly toppling off the couch because of her uneven position on the bear. Jamie felt dread settling in his gut, and he immediately wanted to kick himself. He’d made the wrong move, and he was about to pay dearly for it.

Faith slid off both bear and couch and marched right up to the tellie. She began pushing all the buttons on the tellie and the DVD player, the volume of her whining increasing. Jamie set aside her toys and approached her tentatively.

“Faith, it’s alright. Remember what Mummy said? That there might be no tellie?”

With a great wail, she began slapping her hands against the television screen, and Jamie grabbed her wrists.

“No, lass, ye canna do that. No hitting.”

She began screaming in earnest, jerking against him with all her might.

“I’m sorry, Faith. The tellie is all done. I’m sorry.”

Fat tears rolled down her cheeks as she continued to pull against his grip on her wrists. He swiftly picked her up under the arms and deposited her away from the electronics. She pointed at the tellie, bouncing impatiently, wailing all the while.

“Aye, lass. I ken. It’s my fault, I’m sorry.” Jamie genuinely hated himself at the moment. He thought they’d have time before the power was gone, he thought that it would be good for her to be able to watch a movie that wasn’t downloaded to her tablet. He should’ve thought of this possibility, and he should’ve known that she’d be grossly unhappy if the movie was unable to finish. It would drive her mad for hours, knowing that the movie was sitting unfinished in the player. She couldn’t even get it out of the player to put away. One of her biggest OCD triggers had gone off, and it was his fault.

Jamie wracked his brain. Claire had said if she were melting down to either give hugs and cuddles, or to deposit her in her room and let her scream it out. That is if Angus didn’t do the trick. Jamie tried for the hug, but narrowly avoided a swinging fist. Clearly she blamed him for the tellie’s sudden malfunction. As she should, he thought miserably.

He called Angus over just as Faith started swinging her arms with abandon, and Jamie caught one of her fists before it collided with a picture frame on the table behind the couch. She pushed at his hand, punched his arm, pulled backward, but Jamie knew that if he let go, she’d dive right for trouble and possibly break something. Angus arrived just as Faith sank her teeth into the skin of Jamie’s hand.

He swore in Gaelic, and then he pinched her nose shut, causing her mouth to immediately open as a reflex. Jamie shook his hand, hissing in pain, but he didn’t skip a beat. He maneuvered himself to be behind Faith, and he scooped up the photos in her reach. He stood back and let Angus do his job, shoving his bleeding hand into the pocket of his shorts to avoid dripping anywhere else. At least if it stained, it wouldn’t be where anyone could see.

Angus kept hopping up on his hind legs so he could brush his snout against Faith’s screaming face, gently patting her chest with his paw before falling to all fours again. Every time, Faith pushed him away with an indignant yelp, but he kept trying until she sank to the ground with him, tightly squeezing his neck. Jamie sighed with relief when girl and dog were settled in a pile on the floor. He took the opportunity to put a bandaid on his hand before it soaked through his pockets.

When he returned after being in the bathroom for mere seconds, Faith’s screaming had been reduced to a heartbreaking, whimpering sobbing. Angus used his front paws to stop Faith from scratching and hitting her face or pulling at her hair, and he started licking her palms to keep them otherwise occupied. Jamie sighed and quietly made his way to the kitchen, where he could sit down and still see her through the doorway. He kept his eyes glued to her, his leg jiggling and his left hand tapping on his thigh. The urge to press her to him for comfort was painfully strong. Ignoring the urge to comfort was just as painful as it had been with her mother, all those months ago, before he’d ever really held her.

Jamie’s eyes must have glazed over, either with tears or weariness, because when he blinked, Faith was standing right in front of him, still weeping quietly.

“Hi, leannan. What d’ye need?” He restrained himself from touching her. Her hands were laced in Angus’s fur, sitting dutifully beside her. “What d’ye need, Faith? Show me?”

She inhaled slowly with a great tremor, and on the exhale, she put her arms up in front of her with a long, drawn out whimper.

I need a hug.

He heard her, loud and clear.

“Oh, lass…” Jamie’s voice broke, and he practically sprang forward. “Come here…I’ve got ye.” He scooped her into his lap and hugged her tightly, rocking gently. “It’s alright, now. Ye’re alright. I’ve got ye. Dinna fash, now. It’s alright.”

Claire had said that during a meltdown she wouldn’t want to be touched, but that perhaps after, she’d need to be held. Jamie had thought about it, then brushed it off. This was his fault. It was clear she’d blamed him for the mishap. She’d bitten him, swatted at him. She’d take her comfort from Angus until she was calm, and then she’d ask to be fed. That was what he’d thought.

But here she was, clinging to his shirt and sputtering into his neck, wetting his collar.

“I know, mo chridhe, I know…” he soothed. “I’m sorry, leannan. It’s alright. I’m sorry…”

He continued to whisper such platitudes, in both English and Gaelic, rocking her and holding her tightly. He knew how silly his train of thought had been. He’d seen with his own eyes this exact same pattern of kids coming back again and again despite how much it seemed like they hated their parents or guardian. He was always the first to assure a parent that it was never personal, that the child just could not see past their distress and only wanted to swat at whatever was in the way.

But even the thought of Faith resenting him had made him sick, however briefly it came to him. He couldn’t mess this up; god, he just couldn’t.

She burrowed in further, nuzzling her wet cheek against his neck, and then her hands came up to caress his beard stubble. Jamie smiled involuntarily. He knew she liked how that felt. He let her rub her hands and arms all over his cheeks, even shaking his head back and forth so she could feel it across her skin.

And then, after an indeterminable amount of time, she was quiet.

——

Claire [9:22]: Made it here alive. Just in time it would seem. Have a good day. xx

Jamie [9:25]: glad to hear it. stay safe. good luck. xx

Jamie [10:03]: cheerios and a banana for breakfast. made sure she had milk too.

Jamie [10:03]: not in the cereal, mind. I ken she doesn’t like that.

Jamie [10:37]: *photo attachment*

Jamie [10:37]: look at the size of that castle :)

Jamie [11:16]: *photo attachment*

Jamie [11:16]: “snakes. why did it have to be snakes.”

Jamie [11:16]: since i ken you’re too busy to answer, i’m just going to trust that you got that reference.

Jamie [11:17]: don’t panic, they’re made of play-doh. lol.

Jamie [11:56]: *photo attachment*

Jamie [11:56]: the art gallery we’ve created today

Jamie [12:32]: *photo attachment*

Jamie [12:32]: the gang’s all here for movie time. bet ye can’t guess what we’re watching ;)

Jamie [12:32]: got through a bunch of signs cards today btw. she did great. very proud.

Claire [12:46]: Thanks for all the updates. Faith looks so happy in all these. You’re amazing Jamie. Thank you.

Jamie [2:17]: power went out a bit ago. wee meltdown, but she’s alright now. eating soybean butter and jelly. already picked oreos for her treat.

Claire [2:18]: I saw the word meltdown. Do you need me to call? Are you okay? Any blood or bruises?

Jamie [2:19]: everything is fine. angus did a great job. i swear she’s perfectly content now. back to work missy.

Jamie [3:24]: *photo attachment*

Jamie [3:24]: needed to hold the flashlight while she did this so i couldn’t help. shame. i love puzzles. can’t believe how dark it got.

Jamie [3:24]: she’s got the headphones on now. wind is really loud. hope everything is ok by you.

Claire [4:04]: I’ll be able to call at 7:30. If she starts asking for me, tell her that.

Jamie [4:05]: aye aye captain

Jamie [6:02]: dinner promptly at six. spaghetti-os.

Jamie [6:55]: *photo attachment*

Jamie [6:55]: a wee faerie in her den.

——

Jamie tucked his phone back in his pocket after sending the latest message, smiling contentedly. The “faerie den” was a fort of sheets in the living room, tall enough for Jamie to sit up. Draped around the edges above their heads were battery powered string lights that Jamie had picked up a few days ago. He’d also blown up the air mattress that he’d known Claire had (with a battery powered air pump), put on a fitted sheet, and piled it with blankets and pillows from both Faith’s bed and Claire’s bed. Claire had told him to sleep in her bed, so he’d assumed the pillows would be up for grabs to do with as he pleased.

Faith was absolutely enamored with it. The smallness of the space made her feel cozy and safe, and it also made it easy to illuminate, so it was very bright in there in an apartment that was otherwise very dark. The worst of the storm was happening right at that moment, and it was dark as night at six in the evening in August. If Faith hadn’t been wearing her headphones, she’d be inconsolable at the sound of the wind, the occasional crack of a tree, the rattling of the windows. But she was blissfully unaware, petting her dog in her faerie den, tablet at the ready.

After Claire’s phone call, Jamie pulled out his flashlight and led Faith to the bathroom to brush her teeth. On their way there, she tried turning on every light switch they passed, growing increasingly distressed the more she encountered that would not work. When they reached the bathroom, she flipped the switch an uncountable amount of times and then started crying. No matter what Jamie did, she would not allow him to brush her teeth; she just sat on the floor with Angus and cried inconsolably. Jamie brushed his own teeth to the sound of her wailing, and she only got off the floor when Jamie pushed aside one headphone and she heard the words “faerie den” in her ear.

She calmed down very quickly after she was settled back in her bright little safe space. Jamie quickly shot Claire a text that teeth-brushing did not go very well, but that he’d snagged the Risperdal and dropper from the medicine cabinet so he could give it to her without reminding her that the lights weren’t working.

Apparently, she’d be sleeping in the fort tonight. Jamie had anticipated the possibility, which is why he’d included the mattress, blankets, and pillows. The question was whether or not he’d be sleeping in there.

The answer came shortly after when Faith had fallen asleep in his lap at the end of the movie she’d put on for them to watch on her tablet: Brave. Jamie couldn’t hear since she was using her headphones to continue to block out the storm, but he watched it playing, laughing when she did, pointing at the screen and signing to her occasionally. It was a whole new experience, watching her watch it rather than watching it with her. The only audio he got was from Faith herself, humming along to the music. It made his heart ache with love.

They were nestled in a veritable nest of blankets and pillows when Faith fell asleep in his crossed legs, head resting against his heartbeat. For a moment, he told himself he would simply stay in that position all night, that it would be worth it if it brought her a good night’s sleep after the chaos of the day. But then his hip started cramping in the open position, and he remembered he hadn’t given her Risperdal yet. So he had to move. 

Cradling her like a tiny infant, he lifted her off his lap and laid her gently atop a free section of the air mattress. He commanded Angus to lay beside her and left the fort to put on the sleep clothes he’d brought in his duffle bag. Just as he got his shirt off, Faith started whining. He quickly finished dressing and crawled back into the fort.

“I’m here, leannan. I’m right here.”

Right. So he was definitely sleeping in there.

After coaxing her to take the dropper of her medicine, Jamie swiped a pillow off the air mattress. She began whining again.

“Come on, lass. I’m no’ going anywhere. See?” He settled in on his pillow, facing the air mattress and looking up at her. “Go back to sleep.”

She did, and Jamie flicked off three out of the four strings of lights inside the fort before laying down again, getting as comfortable as he could on the floor.

——

Jamie [9:02]: she’s asleep. we watched brave in the fort and she crashed. made sure she had her medicine.

Claire [9:11]:  Of course you watched Brave. That’s the one she associates with you.

Claire [9:11]: I’m in bed now myself. These cots are not nearly as comfortable as my bed. Especially when you’re in it.

Jamie [9:11]: don’t start talking about me being in your bed. not when i can’t do anything about it.

Claire [9:12]: ;)

Claire [9:12]: Really though, I’m about to crash myself. Sleep well, darling. Give Faith a kiss for me.

Jamie [9:12]: what about me?

Claire [9:12]: I think you know exactly what you can give yourself. From me.

Claire [9:12]: ;)

Claire [9:12]: Goodnight, Jamie.

Jamie: [9:12]: goodnight sassenach