#the fact Tom and Joe are gone | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

whatstruthgottodowithit · 7 months ago

Text

Love In Trouble [Part Five]

Fandom: Elvis Presley, American Musician, RPF

Pairing: Elvis Presley x Original Female Character, Austin Butler x Original Female Character

Characters: Elvis Presley, Original Female Character, Austin Butler, Red West, Sonny West, Jerry Schilling Colonel Tom Parker, Minnie Presley, Vernon Presley, Dee Presley, Joanie Esposito, Joe Esposito, Pat West

Rating: Mature

Word Count: 5041

Summary: Lori Presley lives the high life. She has a lovely home, a elegant wardrobe and her parties are the most sought after ticket in town. Not to mention her husband is the King of Memphis. But what if she no longer wants to be the Queen?

Tags/Warnings: This is a mafia au with detective austin butler entering the chat, Memphis Mafia, Detective Austin Butler, Adultery, Infidelity, Love, Angst, Unhappy Marriage, Murder, Court Room Drama in the loosest possible way, AU, Set in the 70s

Notes: I've had a shit few weeks but we're carrying on and thank god cos our Boys have finally met <3

LINK TO ALL PARTS // LINK TO AO3 // LINK TO PINTEREST

‘Are you ready?’ Austin asked, swapping the receiver of the phone to his other ear so that he didn’t miss her answer.

‘I think so,’ Lori replied quietly

‘It can't be think, Lori. It’s got to be a yes or no,’ he said trying to keep the frustration out of his voice but remain firm. Because it had to be yes or no, preferably yes. Otherwise he'd gone to bat for nothing. He had pissed off his captain and sheriff and made a stink amongst the precinct for nothing. He’d be the new guy swooping in from California and ruining the delicate Memphian ecosystem of bribes and looking the other way. Even the district attorney, who had backed him, had done so on the promise of bringing down the entire operation. He wasn’t bothered about Presley or Tony for that matter. He wanted to be the one to oust key players from the city’s underbelly. For morality or glory Austin didn’t know but it was the reason he kept himself from sounding too agitated. If they were going to bring down anything they needed her. She had even been the one to point out that they had cause to arrest Presley as he was sure to have a ten card from previous, something Austin hadn’t even considered.

‘No, I am,’ she said, her breath a little shaky which didn’t fill him with confidence but he accepted her words nonetheless. It wasn’t as though he had a choice not to. He could hear her shift, hesitance in her breathing that insinuated she was going to ask him something and so he waited for it, ‘do you know when?’

‘Tomorrow,’ he replied, ‘early morning. The DA wants to make sure no news gets out, that they don’t get to alert one another, so we’re hitting every house at once.’

‘How many?’ she asked quietly.

‘Just the names you gave me,’ he said. It had felt odd to have followed her to a chapel of rest but getting a hold of her without someone watching he was fast learning was an art. Even having her on the phone had taken a handful of calls until she and she alone had picked up. Fortunately no one in the Presley enterprise seemed keen to accompany her in staring at a closed casket. There had been no service and no attendees other than him and her which had been fortunate for him even if it had made him feel a little dirty.

‘Right,’ she muttered, ‘are you coming?’

‘Yes.’

‘Like you’ll arrest him?’ she asked

‘Yes it’s my case,’ he replied, his frustration growing at the hitch in her breathing, ‘is that a problem?’

‘No,’ she said quietly though her tone was not reassuring furthering his nerves which prompted him to ask, ‘if you don’t think you can act-’

‘Honey I’ve been acting my entire life,’ she whispered, ‘I’ll be ready.’

✵✵✵

Lori didn’t sleep most of that night. She didn’t do much but potter around her bedroom fretting. In fact she only stopped when she heard the rumble of a car pulling into the driveway signalling that Elvis was home. At that she’d leapt into bed and turned the light off, turning herself to face the wall as she listened to him stumble in and strip off his clothes before he clambered into bed. Fortunately he had fallen asleep quickly, far away on the other side of the bed which meant she wasn’t forced to face him. Instead she spent her night watching him. He looked younger when asleep, more innocent. That was when the uncertainty had crept back in. When Austin had asked her if she was ready she had thought she was but looking at him like that made her doubt herself.

She knew it was selfish. That her only doubts were on her own behalf but she couldn’t help but feel them. Those doubts had been the soundtrack she had fallen asleep to and they were interrupted as she was brought back to the realm of consciousness by a dull thud, the padded door of her bedroom hitting the wall at a pace.

‘Boss! Boss you gotta get up!’ she heard Charlie’s voice call before she came to and when she did he was already pulling clothes out of their closet ready for Elvis who had yet to stir.

‘Elvis,’ she said groggily, a limp hand shaking his shoulder as she tried her best to rouse him, ‘Elvis wake up.’

‘Boss you gotta come quick,’ Charlie said, throwing an outfit on the bed as he too tried to shake her husband awake. He came to the moment Charlie touched him.

‘What is it?’ he asked crankily.

‘Cops,’ Charlie said, ‘they’re askin’ to come in. Say they’ve got a warrant or something.

‘What?’ Lori gasped.

‘What are you talkin’ about?’ Elvis said, forcing himself up in bed quickly and wiping the sleep from his eyes.

‘They want you and they’re not takin’ no for an answer,’ Charlie said, offering the clothing to Elvis who started to dress without care his friend was in the room.

‘What do you mean?’ Lori asked but her question was ignored by both men.

‘Go and tell ‘em I’ll be down in a minute,’ Elvis said, rubbing his tired face as he tried to wrap his head around what was going on. As Charlie nodded and scurried out of sight Lori moved a little closer, keeping her tone as worried as possible as she asked, ‘El what’s happening?’

‘How the fuck do I know?’ Elvis grunted as he slipped on his pants, donning a pale blue shirt over his tanned torso a moment later. At that she fell quiet fearing too much questioning would cause too much scrutiny on her end.

Yet she couldn’t help but watch him. He was clearly disgruntled by the whole thing. His jaw was set and his gorgeous blue eyes though tired burned bright with indignation. A sentiment that was confirmed as they left the bedroom. She could hear people downstairs, worried chatter carrying up from kitchen stairs and the muttering of men in her hallway. But he didn’t turn the corner, he lingered on the landing, almost forcing her to walk into the back of him, before he straightened his shirt and then sauntered down the stairs without a care in the world. Lori followed behind in trepidation.

When they got down there Austin was standing on their front stoop, in amongst a gang of officers who seemed wholly unenthused to be there. In fact the only one who didn’t seem entirely put out was his fellow plain clothed officer who nudged him as he noted Elvis stride into view. Lori kept close behind, smiling weakly as Charlie threw her a reassuring smile and trying to ignore how Elvis’ grandma’s eyes bore into the back of her skull from her chair in the living room as she watched on.

As they got to the front step the chattering amongst the officers grew quiet, all eyes on them as Elvis surveyed the party before he said, ‘someone wanna tell me what the fuck’s goin on?

‘Mr Presley?’ Austin asked, his eyes flitting to Lori behind him for half a second.

‘Yeah,’ Elvis grunted.

‘We’re here to serve a warrant,’ Austin said as he produced a stack of papers from his suit jacket and handed them across where Elvis could snatch them out of his hand. He read quickly, his eyes scanning the pages before they narrowed and he asked, ‘in relation to a murder?’

‘Yes,’ Austin replied.

‘The fuck this have to do with me?’

‘Well that’s what we’d like to ask you about,’ Austin’s partner said.

‘Down at the station,’ Austin added. Lori kept her eyes trained on her husband watching as his jaw clenched in indignation.

‘I already told you I don’t know nuthin’ about that,’ Elvis said.

‘Yeah well we have new evidence that states otherwise,’ Astin said, with a tight smile, ‘so if you’d come with us. These boys can get to serving their warrant.’

‘What evidence?’ Elvis spat.

‘Like I said we can talk about it down at the station,’ Austin replied.

‘Like hell,’ Elvis baulked throwing the warrant so that it hit Austin square in the chest, fluttering to the floor onto white concrete. Austin sighed and stepped forward. He was looking up at Elvis, the step to the portico meaning they were on uneven footing but he was standing tall with a look of warning mirth on his face as he said, ‘that’s not a request so unless you want cuffing you need to come with us.’

Elvis narrowed his eyes. Everyone was watching him which admittedly wasn’t a new phenomenon but he normally didn’t care what those around him saw. Now however he seemed aware that he needed to play this carefully and though his words sounded like a consent there was an air of contempt woven through his demeanour as he turned away and looked to Charlie as he said, ‘get me jacket will ya.’

‘Elvis what do we do?’ Lori asked as he moved inside the hall checking his appearance in the mirror as if he was going out for a leisurely stroll and not being arrested. Austin pulled back and loitered with his partner who was tucking the dropped warrant back in his pocket.

‘Call the colonel,’ Elvis said, quaffing his hair before he took the jacket from Charlie who had now reappeared. He continued as he slipped it on, ‘call daddy and tell ‘em what happened.’

‘Right, okay the colonel,’ Lori said, watching as he walked out onto the front stoop ready to move along. Lori came to stand at the door unsure of how to part from him. A kiss felt too familiar especially in the presence of so many officers and yet not to do so felt off. Everything felt wrong which was no surprise given that her stomach had been doing somersaults since the moment her eyes had snapped open.

‘Tell ‘em not to worry,’ he said, glancing at Austin and a uniformed officer who were striding out ahead of him to a car sitting by the bottom of the steps before leaning in to press a kiss on her cheek. She should’ve known an audience wouldn't deter Elvis Presley from showing especially considering he didn’t sound at all worried as he said, ‘I’ll be home before breakfast. You’ll see.’

And then he was gone. Lori watched as he walked to the car and climbed through the door being held open for him which closed with a squeak and a slam. He was in shadow in the back seat so she couldn’t see him properly but nevertheless she watched as the car drove down the winding drive before embarking onto the street.

When she moved from the door the uniformed officers entered and by the time she’d left the hall they were already going through cabinets and cupboards with no rhyme or reason. Her belongings spilled from drawers onto carpets and tables. Her couch cushions littered the floor around Grandma Dodger. Gladys’ finest China clinked as it was pushed around the cupboard without care. As she wandered through to the kitchen she tried to remind herself she had asked for this. She had tossed the grenade herself and that she couldn’t be reluctant for things to feel a little messy. Messy would prevail in justice for Tony. Punishing Elvis would punish her in return which was what she deserved. Even if she was feeling all out of sorts because of it. In a way she supposed that was better, if she’d been cool and collected Elvis would’ve sniffed her out she was sure of it. At least a nervous mess she was playing the game.

Finally she made it to the kitchen, unhooking the receiver of the phone from the latch as the staff whispered from a huddle in the corner as they tried to stay out of the way of the officers. However she didn’t get very far in dialling before she heard her name called and swivelled around to find the other plainclothes officer, what she suspected to be Austin’s partner watching her intently.

‘Yes?’ she asked, trying to keep her voice even.

‘What's this?’ he asked, gesturing to the TV unit on the kitchen worktop that displayed a picture of the gate.

‘Our security system,’ she said.

‘Is it just on the gate?’ he asked just as Charlie came in looking harried.

‘Yep,’ she said, her throat dry and sticking with now two pairs of eyes on her.

‘And it’s on twenty-four hours a day?’ he asked.

‘Yeah, we don’t shut it off,’ she confirmed.

‘Does it record?’ he asked.

‘Uh, yeah,’ she said, ‘I think so.’

‘Great thanks,’ he said, donning his glasses as he moved to inspect the bulky contraption. Lori turned to restart her phone call, the dial tone now missing given her prolonged absence but as she did she felt a hand on her elbow and a set of lips by the shell of her ear as Charlie whispered, ‘what did you tell him that for?’ before moving past her towards his room.

Lori watched him go, glancing at the detective who was still scrutinising the camera system. It looked as though her acting wasn’t the only thing that was going to need to withstand scrutiny.

✵✵✵

Elvis Presley was not a patient man. He never had been, being an only child and the apple of his mother’s eye hadn’t helped him with his temperament, but notoriety and twenty or so years of bossing everyone around had meant he hadn’t got used to waiting around. He certainly was not used to being given as little information as possible other than being read his rights before he was stuffed into an interview room on his own. Not even his lawyer, a nervous, sweaty man called Hank, arriving had hurried the process up. Which was why he was still sitting in an uncomfortable metal chair, glaring at an older detective as his lawyer flicked through a thin file and tried to ignore the way Elvis’ leg rattled against his as it bounced against the tile floor.

He only broke his gaze as the door unlatched, the blonde detective, the one who’d been stirring the pot since day dot, sauntered in, case file in hand. Elvis watched as he closed the door quietly and unable to stop the irritation from bubbling inside him he found a snarky, ‘by all means take your damn time,’ fall from his lips without warning.

Austin threw him a glance but didn’t respond, electing to remain silent as he dropped into the seat opposite. Because he knew Elvis Presley wasn’t a patient man. No man who had half of Memphis cower to his every want and whim could possibly be patient. He was too well catered to and more importantly too used to everyone bending over backwards to accommodate him, it was why he’d left him in here for the longest time. It was why he’d interviewed all his cronies first. It was why he didn’t say anything as he got settled, allowing the other man to shift in his seat as he muttered, ‘ain’t bad enough you hauled my ass down here on some bullshit charge.’

Again Austin ignored him, gesturing for his partner to flip the switch on the large tape player in between both parties which he did, shifting awkwardly as he realised Austin was allowing him some input. Of course John did not know his partner that well but he’d been in enough interview rooms to know the dynamic his colleague was aiming for. And so he cleared his throat and prepared his most polite tone as he said, ‘interview commenced at nine fifteen am on June twelfth. Detectives Butler and Melling present along with the appropriate counsel. Sir, could you please state and spell your name for the record?’

John was watching Elvis as he spoke, everyone was, but the man’s gaze remained locked on Austin, his blue eyes narrowed and a distinct curl on his lip in contempt even though it wasn’t him asking. Austin didn’t react.

‘Uh, Mr Presley,’ John said, clearing his throat again awkwardly when he failed to answer, ‘could you please-’

‘Elvis Presley,’ Elvis replied, his eyes still on Austin, ‘E-L-V-I-S P-R-E-S-L-E-Y.’

‘Thank you,’ John replied, an awkward but thankful smile on his lips that Austin resisted the urge to roll his eyes to. It hadn’t been easy to get everyone on board and though John had backed him but less out of the belief Austin had a good case and more out of some archaic duty to support his partner when he was under fire. Still it hadn't meant he was entirely on board and even he wasn't immune to trying to make Elvis Presley feel comfortable.

‘Now you gonna tell me why the hell you dragged my ass down here?’ Elvis challenged, not bothering to respond to the officer who had been speaking to him. There wasn’t much point, it wasn’t as if he’d stopped staring at Austin throughout the entire conversation.

‘I assumed that was clear in the warrant you were served,’ Austin said. Elvis’ glare deepened and his jaw tightened at the whiff of snark but Austin merely smiled and said, ‘but we can get to it anyway.’

Elvis watched as he shifted in his seat, opening up a manila folder and scanning through it as he produced a pen from his pocket. He moved slow, as if he was doing paperwork at his desk and not interrogating a suspect and Elvis watched him angrily waiting for him to speak.

‘Can you tell me where you were on May thirtieth?’ he said once he’d finally settled himself.

‘Ain’t I already told you?’ Elvis sneered.

‘I’m asking again,’ Austin said, tight but firm.

‘That dead kid ain’t nuthin’ to do with Kings,’ Elvis sneered.

‘That’s not what I asked,’ Austin replied, again his tone teetering on the edge of snark. Elvis glared at him but glanced towards his lawyer who had remained quiet through the entire thing, no doubt wanting Elvis to take charge before he made any decisions as everyone else seemed to do.

‘If you could provide some information that’s probably for the best,’ Hank muttered into Elvis’ ear, making his jaw tighten further.

‘At home,’ he said, his voice tight and low.

‘All day?’ Austin asked.

‘I went to the club,’ Elvis said.

‘That’s Kings night club, correct?’ Austin said.

‘Yes,’ Elvis replied, his tone dripping with resentment at having every little detail pulled from him. His irritation was also mounting at the way the detective was scribbling notes every time he spoke as though his word wasn’t trustworthy enough. It may have been a long time since anyone didn’t bend to his whim but it had been even longer since someone had failed to take his word as gospel.

‘And what time was that?’ Austin asked.

‘About eight, eight thirty,’ Elvis replied.

‘What did you do when you got there?’ Austin probed.

‘What I always do,’ Elvis said, sighing as Austin said nothing but raised an eyebrow, ‘it was a Friday right? So I watched the new acts, had some drinks and then went into my office to do some paperwork and calls.’

‘And someone can verify that?’ Austin challenged.

‘Just about everyone who was in the damn club,’ Elvis snapped, heaving a sigh as Austin merely looked at him as if waiting for specifics, ‘Sam, Sam Thomspon, my bartender. He was on that night so I guess he can verify I was there.’

‘What time did you leave?’ Austin said, jotting another note on his piece of paper.

‘About one am,’ Elvis said.

‘Alone?’ Austin challenged.

‘No,’ Elvis said with contempt, ‘I have drivers. And bodyguards.’

‘And their names?’ Austin asked.

‘Haven't you already spoken to my entire staff?’ Elvis scoffed, rolling his eyes as Austin failed to bite once more, ‘Jerry Schilling, Red West, Sonny West.’

‘And they left with you?’ Austin asked.

‘Yes.’

‘Where did you go?’ Austin asked.

‘Home,’ Elvis replied, his eyes flicking to the pen that had stalled, curious as to why his answer was not immediately being jotted down in the file in front like all the others.

‘You didn’t drop them off first?’ he asked. Elvis scoffed, ‘they wouldn't be good bodyguards if they left me on my own now would they.’

‘Guess not,’ Austin smiled, with a glint in his eye that Elvis didn’t care for. Neither was the way he added another layer of suspicion as he asked, ‘and they’ll verify this?’

‘Yes,’ Elvis grunted.

Austin nodded, flicking through his file for a second before he looked at his colleague, the lawyer and then back at Elvis as if he was checking they were all listening before he started, whatever question he wanted to ask appearing significant though Elvis didn’t know why as it was only, ‘how long did it take you?’

‘What?’ Elvis asked. The questions had been trivial enough but this seemed to border on the edge of banality. Like he wanted Elvis to spell every single detail out for him. He could tell by the accent that this Butler guy was not a native Memphian and so he might not know the streets well enough to guess but he was getting sick of having to hold the guy’s hand through this entire process. Whenever he’d dealt with Memphis’ boys in blue before it had never been this formal. Over the years there’d been cursory visits but it was normally uniforms who took his word at face value. Anything else was usually dealt with by the Colonel who normally spared him facing the inside of a police station unless it was being angled as a publicity stunt. Now he was starting to sweat, beads of perspiration forming between his shirt and his hairline as piercing blue eyes watched him.

‘That time of night it's got to be ten, fifteen minutes max to get from the club to your house right?’ Austin asked.

‘I guess,’ Elvis said, trying to keep his wariness from his tone.

‘But you left the club at one ten am, we got that from your CCTV, yet your gate camera only clocked you getting back home at two fifty-three am. Where were you for an hour and forty-three minutes?’ Austin asked, his eyes set on Elvis’ face. But it wasn’t just him watching him. Everyone was and he suddenly realised this was not what he’d thought it was. He wasn’t holding this guy’s hand; this guy was laying the foundations to trip Elvis up.

He didn’t know why he’d been so stupid. Annoyed sure but that was because trouble never usually hung around this long. Problems in Elvis Presley's world were dealt with the moment they raised their head. Sure people asked questions but they usually knew it wasn’t worth digging any deeper than the surface level. Of course he had heard this Butler guy had been digging but he had figured it was just because he was too green to know better. Too ambitious, he’d had lower-level guys in the club like it before. They just needed to be put in their place. Now it was too late because he’d got him boxed into a corner. And both of them knew it.

It was why he didn’t probe. He just sat there, allowing the silence to fester until one of them got uncomfortable enough to speak. Only it was Elvis’ lawyer who hesitated first, mumbling to his client, ‘if you could explain that it’d help.’

Elvis cleared his throat and sniffed, trying to maintain an air of nonchalance as he shrugged and said, ‘we went for burgers.’

‘Where?’ Austin asked pointedly.

‘Louie’s.’

‘And your friends, sorry bodyguards, will confirm that?’ Austin asked.

‘Yes,’ Elvis said.

‘Hmm,’ Austin said dismissively and though he was trying to remain cool Elvis couldn’t help but bite, grunting a ‘what?’ before he could stop himself.

‘Nothing,’ Austin said casually, ‘it's just I don’t see how you had the time.’

‘An hour is plenty of time to get a burger,’ Hank the lawyer protested.

‘Maybe but it's not enough time when you’re across town murdering someone,’ Ausitn challenged.

‘You think I murdered the kid?’ Elvis scoffed.

‘I’m sure you did,’ Austin said, leaning forward in his seat, ‘in fact I think you saw Tony leave his shift at one and you followed him home. Now admittedly he stopped for a pizza so whether you headed back to his place and waited or sat outside the pizza parlour I’m not sure but I’m sure you showed up at his apartment. And when you knocked on the door and he opened it and saw his boss, well, who wouldn’t invite them in. He even gave you a drink.’

‘Speculation,’ Hank protested.

‘Not exactly,’ Austin corrected, ‘you see we have your fingerprints on a half-drunk glass of scotch in Tony's apartment and considering it wasn’t moved it’s safe to assume it was being used just before he died.’

Again the silence festered, a satisfied Austin not bothering to prod as the blows landed better than he’d anticipated. But John must’ve been feeling uncomfortable which prompted him to ask, ‘can you explain that?’

‘Maybe he doesn’t clean his glasses very often,’ Elvis said.

‘So you were there at some point?’ Austin challenged, suppressing a smirk at the irritated grunt Elvis made, ‘or am I to believe that he left two glasses of whiskey on the side for what a week? A month? That he never touched or moved them leaving your prints perfectly unsmudged? The same way I’m supposed to believe that he left his freshly bought pizza on the side or left his mail unopened. No, I think the two of you had a drink and a conversation and then for some reason you blew his brains out, which is crazy considering you didn’t even know the kid ten minutes ago.’

Elvis said nothing.

‘So come on, what happened?’ Austin probed. Elvis glared at him but Austin didn’t relent. He stared back, challenging him to say something, anything though he didn’t see what he could say that wouldn’t muddy his defence even more. After a moment Elvis muttered, ‘no comment.’

‘Oh come on!’ Austin laughed, ‘you’ve been happy to run your mouth up to now what’s the matter? Afraid you’re going to tell the truth for once? Or are you going to tell me that your prints being in the apartment of a dead guy you don’t know is all coincidence?’

Elvis stayed silent.

‘Just like you leaving right after him must be. Just like your alibi not matching all your little friends is,’ Austin smirked, leaning closer as Elvis’ gaze snapped up at the mention of an alibi. Of course he’d known that all this mounted to an alibi but he hadn't anticipated he’d be one step ahead, ‘you know we asked your pals where you were that night. And they confirmed you left together and that you went straight home. No burgers. No stopping. No nothing. Is that coincidence too?’

The room was deathly quiet and all of a sudden Elvis was feeling rueful he was such an impatient man. He hated that everyone tried to bend to his will or that no one felt as though they could make decisions for him. If he wasn't maybe they would have found a lawyer who wasn’t too scared to jump in and fix this mess. If he wasn’t maybe he wouldn’t have friends so eager to defend him in their haste they’d landed him in hot water. If he wasn’t maybe he wouldn’t have been so relaxed about this whole thing being pushed under the carpet. He wouldn’t have underestimated this detective. He wasn’t fool enough to think that the whole justice system would bend to the will of the king of Memphis but it had been so long he had become acclimatised to expecting it.

And this guy was a force to be reckoned with. No one had spoken but he kept pushing as if he could niggle something out of the other man if he kept needling, ‘let me guess it’s a coincidence the type of gun used was the same make and model of one you own.’

‘Have you got the gun?’ his lawyer asked, finally making some traction in ‘defence’.

‘No,’ Detective Melling admitted, ‘we don’t…the gun box at your house was empty.’’

‘Then I don’t see how that incriminates my client,’ Hank replied.

‘You don’t think it’s odd that the week we come looking around your clients house for a gun he owns is the same week said gun up and vanishes from your clients possession,’ Austin challenged.

‘I own a lot of guns,’ Elvis said, trying to keep his voice confident though it lacked conviction.

‘And?’ Austin asked, ‘let me guess someone else used the type of gun you have and shot a guy you don’t know after you'd been in his apartment? That sound plausible to you?’

‘I think you’ve got scraps of evidence and you’re adding them together hoping for a good story,’ Elvis spat.

‘Elvis,’ Hank warned.

‘Scraps?’ Austin rebuffed, ‘we’ve got proof you were there, the last one to see him, and he was shot with a gun just like one you own which coincidentally is missing now. Not to mention how you’ve tried to throw off the scent by being cagey as hell and yet you still haven’t managed to coordinate a decent alibi. That’s more than a good story.

‘Oh yeah and what’s the reason?’ Elvis growled, leaning forward in his seat threateningly though Austin matched him, their faces not so far apart as the tension rose, ‘why would I kill some punk kid who works for me?’

‘You tell me why you wouldn’t.’

They remained looking at one another, the ire rolling off them both until finally Austin sloped back in his chair as he looked to John awaiting him to do the rest. His partner sighed and looked to Elvis, ‘Elvis Presley I am charging you with the murder of Anthony Bowen…’

ELVIS TAGS

@girlblogger2002@sania562@caitlin1996@literally-just-elvis-fics@notstefaniepresley @18lkpeters @velvetelvis @jaqueline19997 @elvispresleyxoxo @amydarcimarie @everythingelvispresley @elvispresleywife @lillypink @richardslady121 @louisejoy86 @ccab @i-r-i-n-a-a @lettersfromvenus @artlesson8892 @presleyenterprise

AUSTIN TAGS

@purejasmine @caitlin1996

#my writing #elvis #elvis presley #love in trouble #Elvis Presley x ofc #austin butler #Austin butler x ofc

11 notes · View notes

bisluthq · 9 months ago

Note

See I’m was you I don’t like Kelly one bit, I legit find it fascinating that Taylor invited her to the studio and probably played her some of TTPD before it was released, what makes it even more fascinating is that she continued to fuel joe hate, to me she screams I want clout from swifties and the fact that swifties can’t see that is insane to me

Me too lol. I think Taylor likes her because she’s totally unthreatening and sucks Taylor’s dick real good. Like I think Taylor’s real friends also don’t call out a lot of her bullshit tbh but Keileigh (is that now right? I’m legit trying???) is like 🤩😍😘 at the expense of her OWN FUCKING HUSBAND lol which is the part that 🤯 makes my brain explode. Literally *I* would be embarrassed to act the way she did at the Globes because I’ve been to Cannes as a journalist (which obviously wasn’t the same but I was there physically lol) and my boyfriend works in film. I’ve never been and I’d be really excited to dress up and go like ngl it’d be cool af but *I* wouldn’t act like a fucking stan who won a competition? Literally that woman was more excited than Make A Wish kids ever are lol. She was more excited than the fans who got Swiftmas gifts. It was intense. And I like could get behind it if that were idk a random girl Taylor had accidentally befriended - like if a Frostie girlfriend had ever gone with Taylor to an event and acted like that I’d be like “okay one minute you’re working a normal 9-5 in the City and dating… let’s say the architect… and the next you’re walking the Red Carpet with Taylor Swift lmfao okay pop off girlie embarrass yourself you’ll regret it in the morning but yolo” but the problem is Kelly (I give up) is married to a full on A lister, has presumably been to Tom Cruise’s house (that’s like celeb experience wise as cool as Taylor imho) and did not regret it in the morning? Unless Miles is v embarrassed of her and treats her badly as a result idk and maybe she’s projecting her distaste for Miles onto Joe???

2 notes · View notes

theholidayslingerlikebadperfume · 1 year ago

Note

The person is stupid you can write song happily and still being sad at other time, she can write things about privacy, want privacy at a time of her life and then change her mind, she's human lol ( and they're are still very private we don't know every detail)

( and she can have heard the chorus from Joe and imagined from that a love triangle, there is no big contradiction)

( and I think she said in some date of the eras tour that she was drinking too much wine during the pandemic but I might be wrong)

This is exactly my train of thought, anon.

Like, that's exactly it. Taylor is a human and that means she's imperfect and dynamic. She is not a static thing, she can change her mind the more she experiences the specific things that she has experienced. Like, I can see taylor having an extreme reaction to the harry, karlie, calvin, tom situations and wanting to be extremely private as a defense mechanism against the trauma of those relationships being so public. it doesn't mean that just because her last relationship was private, all the rest of relationships will be in the future.

and like literally nothing taylor has said about folklore is contradicatory and the fact that she made that little "making sourdough bread or whatever" snide remark on tour is proof to me that she really did write that shit with Joe. Like, instead of seeing her as being petty and hurt in that moment, some gaylors would rather see her as being conniving and lying ????? she could have written cardigan and then heard the basic ass lyrics to betty's chorus and decided to make it a whole Thing. it's perfectly fine and plausible to assume joe wrote the shit with her and he, *gasp* even inspired her to write some really good, sad shit.

and finally, taylor saying she 'drank too much wine' is not her saying she is a lonely drunk and the fact that you are putting those words in her mouth is further proof that you don't like who taylor swift is as a person. She has her flaws, she is not a beacon of sainthood, she will engage in self-destructive behavior and lash out and be petty and hurt in public and still try to put on a brave face and instead of giving her compassion and empathy, you're calling her a "Drunk" like what the actual fuck is wrong with you, yanno?

but like the thing that gets me the most is that she started off with "if you bothered to listen to the lyrics" like babe, have YOU listened to the lyrics? "how long could we be a sad song until we were too far gone to bring back to life" if that's not confirmation she wrote folklore with joe, what is? her lyrics don't add up to lesbianism, the queer imagery in her work is still valid even if she dates men. you can be queer with a preference for men and still be queer.

#taylor swift #gaylor #anon love #ask and you shall receive

3 notes · View notes

nycmade1999 · 2 years ago

Text

Other then the fact Tomdayas are on this app daily speculating about two people the don’t know them the fact you guys also over analyze Tom and Z’s actions especially Z is also telling Joe much you guys lack a social life and definitely have no love life. Like her singing one of the most popular R&B songs of the 90s and you guys must be weird and make it about Tom and her relationship. “OMG she’s so gone” or “we’ve lost her”. Like do y’all not hear how stupid you all sound like she can’t even sing a popular song without y’all making it about her relationship. Like y’all are really deranged

2 notes · View notes

bllsbailey · 1 month ago

Text

Not Taking It Lying Down: WH Reminds Selena Gomez of All the Victims She DIDN'T Cry for on Social Media

You may have seen the video that went viral Monday of pop star/actress Selena Gomez bawling uncontrollably because she was concerned that the Trump administration was actually carrying out their campaign promise to repatriate illegal aliens to their home countries. This after former president Joe Biden welcomed in untold millions of illegals during his failed one term in office.

Let me just say, I have no personal animosity toward Ms. Gomez; my daughters watched her Disney show back in the day; her pop songs are catchy enough if that’s your jam; I enjoyed the show “Only Murders in the Building” where she starred alongside funnymen Steven Martin and Martin Short; and although she’s had her share of personal drama like most stars who hit it big when they were just kids, she seems like a nice enough person.

That being said, the video is cringeworthy to watch – and in full disclosure, I stopped just a few seconds in because it was that uncomfortable. Who would want the world to see themselves in that condition, much less go out of their way to blast it out over the interwebs?

Cue the Violins: Selena Gomez Cries Uncontrollably Over Trump's Repatriations: 'The Children!'

But the problem isn’t just that it’s hard to watch; it’s that it represents much of what has gone wrong with so many Hollywood celebrities: they spout off in highly emotional diatribes when they have no idea what they’re talking about. On Saturday, the White House communications team decided to educate Gomez and remind her of all the terrible tragedies that she and so many others in her world have been noticeably silent about in the past.

The reality that Selena seems unable to grasp can be summed up with three names: Kayla Hamilton, Jocelyn Nungaray, and Rachel Morin.

Powerful stuff. Watch the mothers of the three victims who were brutally murdered by illegal aliens and ask yourself where you can find Selena’s crying video about them. Hint: you can’t, because it doesn’t exist.

The president’s appointee to solve the crisis that Biden left had a similar response as the White House’s to the infamous video, see below; meanwhile, RedState’s Brandon Morse opines about how the episode exposes a “disgusting” side of the left:

Trump Border Czar Tom Homan Responds Accordingly to Viral Selena Gomez Crying Video

Selena Gomez's Meltdown Really Highlights One of the Left's Most Disgusting Issues

As a mother's son, a husband, and a proud #GirlDad (I'm equally proud of being dad to a cool young dude), I take no joy in watching a young woman sobbing uncontrollably, nor do I feel like eviscerating her in the manner that I would someone like, say, the odious Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA). I don’t think she’s evil; I think she’s… [searches for a nice way to say it]… just not very well informed.

I come to two conclusions about the entire affair: 1) Hollywood celebrities have been regularly jumping the shark with their hyper-emotional hot takes on subjects they know almost nothing about (but nevertheless will, in knee-jerk reaction, almost always side with the clueless progressive take). People are tuning them out, and we know this for a fact because dozens of big-name music and Tinseltown stars, from Bruce Springsteen to Oprah Winfrey to George Clooney to Taylor Swift to LeBron James, stumped for the Harris team—to no avail.

No one cares what they have to say anymore because, frankly, so many of them are idiots.

2) Trump has taken the lessons of his first term to heart. He will not sit idly by while taking incoming. The new administration will clap back at every BS narrative thrown at them, and they will do so effectively.

Just like they did here. This ain't 2016.

1 note · View note

yourreddancer · 3 months ago

Text

Resistance HQ Bulletin 7, 11/18/24

Resistance HQ Bulletin 7, 11/18/24 Ron Filipkowski Nov 19 ∙ … Joe and Mika from MSNBC’s Morning Joe inexplicably traveled to Mar-a-Lago this weekend to patch things up with Trump and “restart my communications with Trump.” Trump repeatedly accused Scarborough of murdering a staffer in his district office to possibly cover up an affair, and has called Mika dumb and ridiculed her plastic surgery. Gross. I guess legacy media feels they have to humiliate themselves for access and ratings, because that’s what this is. Count me out.

… Trump told Fox: “I received a call from Joe Scarborough requesting a meeting from him and Mika, and I agreed. We met at Mar-a-Lago on Friday morning. Many things were discussed and I very much appreciated the fact that they wanted to have an open communication. In many ways, it’s too bad that wasn’t done long ago.”

… More from Trump on the meeting: “They congratulated me on running a great and flawless campaign - one for the history books.” How sweet. He went from Hitler to Lincoln.

… Right-wing media and social media influencers all mocking Joe and Mika for “kissing the ring” and “surrendering” to Trump. They are getting trashed from both sides. I think many people were willing to accept the “he fooled us” narrative after 2016 with much skepticism, but the willingness for viewers to leave that in the past is likely gone forever now.

… The spin they put on it was also pretty pathetic - especially Mika comparing it to her dad meeting with foreign leaders as NSA. They are completely out of touch with the mood of their shrinking audience - it will be interesting to watch the ratings this week.

… Fox was having a field day with the clips of Joe & Mika, mocking them for being phonies and frauds for calling Trump every name in the book then flying down to kiss the ring. It just undermines any credibility they had, and Fox is using it to discredit all Dems by suggesting that their criticisms of Trump was all contrived.

… Some of us meant every word of every one. Obviously not all of us.

… Of course, it doesn’t help also that Chuck Schumer was laughing and joking with Trump at the Al Smith dinner and Joe Biden was smiling and shaking hands with him in a two hour meeting in the Oval Office. I’m a big civility guy, this isn’t that. It goes way beyond that.

… Even Nikki Haley was mocking Joe and Mika, saying that they are frauds and sellouts and are just doing this because their ratings are so bad. When Nikki is calling you a fraud and a sellout, that’s when you know it’s really bad.

… Daily Beast is reporting that a source close to Morning Joe said the meeting “was f_ing worth it” since it caused Trump to tell Fox afterwards that he was going to try to be more cooperative with the press. Are these people really that stupid, or are they just screwing with us?

… Conflicts of interest is concept that Donald Trump has never recognized or concerned himself with - either for himself or his appointees, but this term is going to make his last one look ethically pristine. Trump has now nominated Brendan Carr for FCC Chair. Carr is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Starlink, and he will now head up the agency that controls space communications.

… Carr also just happen to write the section on the FCC for Project 2025. Just as Tom Homan wrote the section for Project 2025 on the border. But Trump has no connection to Project 2025. Doesn’t even know what it is. Never heard of it. According to Trump.

… Carr made the following statement after the nomination was announced: “Broadcast media have the privilege of using a scarce and valuable resource - our airwaves. In turn, they are required by law to operate in the public interest. When the transition is complete, the FCC will enforce this public interest obligation.” (IF THAT WERE TRUE, FUX NOISE WOULD'VE BEEN YANKED OFF THE AIR AFTER THE DOMINION LAWSUIT!!!!)

… Axios is reporting that there was a “massive blowup” between long-time Trump advisor Boris Epshteyn and Elon Musk over Cabinet picks and leaks to the press. Boris has been in the inner circle for a long time, took an indictment for Trump, and is tight with a lot of key players. Musk reportedly accused Epshteyn of leaking stories to the press about appointments he didn’t like.

… The Vanity Fair story about Pete Hegseth’s 2017 affair was sourced from a “Transition team member,” - obviously someone looking to tank Hegseth’s nomination.

… The Hegseth sex assault / NDA story was also leaked to WaPo by a Trump insider.

… What could be happening here is OG MAGAs like Epshteyn are hacked off that people like Musk and RFK Jr have supplanted them, and appointments are going to a new batch of sycophants while they are being passed over twiddling their thumbs on their podcasts waiting for the phone to ring.

… Mitch McConnell put a marker down and said “there will be no recess appointments.” If he was still Majority Leader that would certainly carry more weight. But his trusted lieutenant John Thune is, so maybe this will stick. The best thing for the country and the constitution is for each Trump nominee to go through the vetting and confirmation process. McConnell realizes that after seeing the first several, hopefully he’s speaking for Thune as well.

… Mike Johnson was asked about recess appointments: “There might be a function for that.” He’s such a worm. He’s the kid in 3rd grade who rats you out to the teacher for chewing gum in school because he things it will help him get an A.

… Constantly seeking attention, Rep. Nancy Mace has introduced a House Resolution to ban transgender people from using women’s restrooms in the Capitol. This clearly comes in response to the first transgender getting elected to Congress, Democrat Sarah McBride. Mace: “Never thought this would have to happen … Protecting biological women starts here and it starts now.”

… That Resolution will get Mace 5 Fox appearances and 6 Newsmax appearances and will do absolutely nothing to help her constituents. Which sums up Mace’s entire career in Congress. She already got a big write up on the Fox website.

… Mike Johnson, Tony Gonzales, Tom Homan and other Republicans spent the weekend on cable news shows assuring America that Trump was going to carry out deportations in a “measured” fashion and was going to focus initially on deporting those with criminal records (the vast majority of which are for driving without licenses because they can’t get them). Then Trump contradicted that at 4:03 AM with a post that he was going to declare a national emergency and use the military to begin mass deportations immediately. … Sarah Palin is getting frustrated that as “The Mother of MAGA” she has not gotten a call from Trump since the election for an appointment to his Cabinet: “Funny how politics work” she responded to her fans expressing disappointment on her social media page that she has been left out so far.

… Another name conspicuously absent from Trump’s appointments so far is Ric Grenell, who many in MAGA World wanted to be Secretary of State.

… Grenell was able to serve as Trump token gay appointee in his last Admin, so expect him to get a call soon to be his DEI hire.

0 notes

frontproofmedia · 1 year ago

Text

JOSH TAYLOR VS. JACK CATTERALL 2 MANCHESTER PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

Follow @Frontproofmedia!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id))(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');

Published: February 20, 2024

JOSH TAYLOR VS. JACK CATTERALL 2 MANCHESTER PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES

Eddie Hearn, Matchroom Sport Chairman: "Welcome to Manchester for part two of a slightly lively press conference ahead of the British fight of the year, the rematch between Josh Taylor and Jack Catterall, April 27 in Leeds. We have a night that you are not going to forget. "The controversy of the first fight will be settled in an unbelievable night live and exclusive on DAZN around the world, part of your subscription on the global home of boxing."

Josh Taylor: "I’m looking forward to getting this fight done. The first one is done, he couldn’t beat me the first time and he certainly won't beat me this time, so I’m looking forward to it. "It’s been a long two years coming. We tried to get the fight done straight away and it never happened, the mandatory then came in. But we’re here now, there’s no point in keeping on talking about what happened, we’re going to settle the score on April 27.You need to have a word with your man, that’s three times he’s tried to put his hands on me, he’s meant to be a professional athlete. Keep your hands to yourself you little rat. "It is must-win, it’s a crossroads fight for us both, when I beat him this time again, he’s got nowhere to go. His biggest night is me and when I beat him again, he’ll have nowhere to go and he’ll retire without a prime, with no belts and he’ll never be a World champion. "You’re in the wrong game if you don’t believe in yourself, so of course he’ll think that, but he’s never knocked anyone out in his life, not anyone credible. "On April 27, I end Jack Catterall’s career, one that he never got going, and he’ll never be a World champion." Joe McNally: "I’m 100 per cent confident in Josh. the first fight was a cracker and I just hope that we get the opportunity for Josh to showcase his skills, Jack with his counter-punching and we have the right official, so there’s no holding and clinching and they let the fight flow. If we get that, we’ll get a good fight and we’ll be in for a good night. "We’re in professional boxing, small gloves, anyone can be knocked out, but Jack isn’t a knockout puncher and that’s a fact. He couldn’t get an old, shot Jorge Linares out of there, so to think he’s going to get Josh out of there? Not a chance. I just hope he performs and he’s ready because he’s with a fantastic team, because Josh will be ready, may the best man win and we’re really confident. "There were a few things that needed addressing in the camp with Teofimo, I personally think we shouldn’t have gone ahead with the fight off the injury that he had. But it was one of those fights that a round here or there, we wouldn’t be sitting here right now, he’d be fighting a Devin Haney or Gervonta Davis. We never got the decision so we’re sitting here because of Josh, not Jack, that’s a fact. I’m excited for it and to go into this one all guns blazing." Tom Grant: "This is what it’s about, these domestic dust-up are what the fans come out for. All that matters is what happens on April 27 now, and that is that Josh Taylor is going to beat Jack Catterall on April 27 and all these people are going to struggle watching it." Jack Catterall: "I want to thank everybody that has come out today. It’s an exciting fights, it gets the juices flowing, it’s been talked about for the last two years and it’s the same for Josh, everyone always asking when the rematch is, so it’s good to have the rematch locked in, and I’m ready to settle it. "You know what it is, they’ve said it’s the England vs. Scotland heritage, but it’s more of me just fighting a pr*ck. He’s just not a nice person. That’s it. "I know what lies ahead of me. As much as we have the press conferences and the weigh-ins, I have a job to do on April 27. I’m preparing for the best of Josh Taylor, so when I beat him and do it convincingly, I can move on with my career. "I think he’s there to be beaten and I’ve got his number, and it’s only a matter of time before he touches the canvas again. Can we get some more tickets for the fight Eddie, please? We’ve had a great response and that’s expected with a big domestic fight, so I’m very grateful for everyone’s support. "Josh, you are finished after this fight. In nine weeks' time, we get to put him to bed." Jamie Moore: "I’ve always been a big believer in Jack, I’ve always said the day that he came into our gym that he would be a World champion. I’ve just done loads of interviews and basically said the same thing, this is such a good fight because it’s been created by that narrative. It was a controversial decision in the first fight, and the vast majority thought Jack won. The two years in between has created a better story and made people more interested in it now than when it first should have taken place six months afterwards. "You have kept Jack busy, he’s active and that’s the main thing that’s not been good for him over the last five years. He’s always in the gym. Josh has had that one loss, but I don’t buy into the fact that he’s on the slide because he’s lost to Teofimo Lopez because he’s an unbelievable fighter. So, we’re going into the fight knowing we’re going to get the best version of Josh Taylor because it’s such a grudge match and we’re going to train hard for it. "The first fight is irrelevant now, all that matters is what happens on April 27." Sam Jones: "Yesterday we were in the great city of Edinburgh, and it is a great city, but it’s not a patch on Chorley. I didn’t hear what Tom said yesterday, he mentioned Ben Shalom for some reason, but they have a bit in common, they both got the charisma of the weather outside. "It’s a fantastic fight, we’ve got two of the best trainers in the country up here today, all I want is for Josh not to make any excuses. He demanded it to be at 140lbs, I think that is a ready-made excuse right there, but it’s just a fantastic fight, British boxing needs rivalries like this, with two great fighter, one former undisputed champion and one guy that should have been undisputed, and it’s going to be a great fight, and as I said yesterday, Jack Catterall is going to whoop Josh Taylor on April 27."

(Featured Photo: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing)

#HF #Josh Taylor #Jack Catterall #Matchroom Boxing #DAZN

0 notes

littleharpethcrossfit · 2 years ago

Text

Saturday, March 11, 2023..... Warmup.....Power Cleans...... 25 Minute EMOM.

The appearance was that of a warm and sunny morning, but actually the temp was in the high 40s.

Armando led us in his usual dynamic and mobility warmup session.

Warmup:

Dana demo-ed and led this one.

3 Rounds

10 Banded Clusters

20 Mountain Climbers

Strength WOD

Power Cleans: 3 Reps Touch & Go EMOM X 12 Minutes

Bernie=195 WG/Armando/Average Dave=175 Ed/Chase=155 Dana/Timmy=135 Tom/Rodney=110 Linda/Joe=75 Sandy/Shannon=65 Coach/Warren A/Alicia/Angel/Kayla=PJ Lew=Biked

Metabolic Conditioner

25 Minute EMOM

15 Wall-Balls (E=30/20/14)

20 Kettle Bell Swings (E=70/53/35)

15 Pull-Ups (E=C2B)

20 Slam-Balls (E=40/30/20)

15 / 12 Calories On ROWER

SCORE: Successful Completion

Elites:

Chase attempted this at the 0730 workout, but died and ultimately gave himself a “PJ”.

When the 0930 class came in, the boys noticed what Chase did and decided that they didn’t feel Elite today. In fact, the only person who even tried RX was Dana.

RX:

Dana= +

Keeping score was not a function of this workout, so no scores were posted. Survival and completion was the successful score, and athletes who scaled and gave themselves a “check-mark”. Since my laptop doesn’t have a check-mark, I gave them a +.

Ed/Joe/Tom/Rodney/Timmy/Shannon all posted +.

Armando/WG/Chase/Linda/Coach/Warren A all posted “PJ”.

Sandy=DNF Average Dave posted “Delete”. Bernie posted

a drawing of what looked like the Battle Flag of the Confederacy.

Lew posted “BIKE”.

Angel/Alicia/Kayla=did something but didn’t post anything.

Notes:

Somebody said the WOD today was “FIGHT GONE BAD” gone bad. A few people actually said they liked the WOD, but they were intelligent people (girls) who realized before they started that survival would require severe scaling. I wish Robert had been here today so we could at least watch an Elite Games Ready Athlete complete the WOD.

The Weather-Lady is predicting rain for tonight and tomorrow morning. The chances fall to less than 50% for our 7:30 class, and less that 10% for the 1 PM class. So forget the rain.

Sunday at 0730 and at 1 PM.

1 note · View note

love-takes-work · 4 years ago

Text

Notes on SU Commentary Tracks

I watched the commentary tracks on the Complete Steven Universe DVD Set and I took some nerd notes.

The episodes with commentary tracks are “Reunited,” “Change Your Mind,” and “The Future.”

I’ll bold stuff that was maybe bigger news or more surprising for easier reading. And yes, some of this was already known from podcasts, other Q&As, or interviews, but I listed it if they said it again here.

Read on after the jump to read these and other highlights:

Steven’s original wedding speech

Older ideas on dialogue for Lapis when she came back to the beach

Scrapped concepts for the scene that ultimately included Steven communicating with the others in a mindscape

Discussions of earlier concepts for White Diamond having a power to “freeze” Gems into statues to make them perfect and having a gallery of them on Homeworld

Pink Pearl’s original fate

The translation of the writing on Obsidian’s sword

The origin of Pink Steven’s design

What Rebecca did to pitch the “SHE’S GONE” scene

Earlier plans to include Shep in “Change Your Mind”

An unused concept of how Steven feels about Biggs

The inspiration for the Heaven and Earth Beetles’ healed design

How Volleyball/Pink Pearl was almost a mini-villain

Discussion of how they did not get to share the origin of the Diamonds

Jasper’s scrapped participation in the movie

“Reunited” -

Commentary with Rebecca Sugar, Ben Levin, Matt Burnett, Hilary Florido, Joe Johnston, Ian Jones-Quartey, and Kat Morris.

In 2015, an episode idea called “If You Love Yourself So Much” was discussed but rejected. It included some early ideas that ended up getting incorporated into “Reunited,” most notably Garnet marrying herself and putting rings on both hands.

The idea of the Cluster arm wrestling was planned for a long time. A scrapped idea of Steven banging his fist on a vending machine to get some Chaaaaps was supposed to visually parallel some of that scene, but it was axed.

When they got pushback on the wedding idea, they kept adding more and more “high entertainment value” items like a big musical number so the episode would be absolutely unmissable and appealing to everyone.

The song at the beginning of the episode was meant to check in with the entire cast and sort of remind you they exist and what their state of mind is going into the wedding.

Ian made a comment joking about “All 15 people in Beach City” being in the audience.

Just about everyone on the Crew touched this episode, despite that there are four main storyboarders credited for “Reunited.”

In 2016 Ian Jones-Quartey proposed marriage to Rebecca Sugar. They felt like the characters based on them (Sapphire and Ruby) HAD to get married in the show now because otherwise it wouldn’t be honest. But then their characters got married before they did.

They really love the idea of having characters get married who have known each other for a really long time, versus the fairy tale trope of movies ending with weddings between people who have met very recently.

Steven’s speech as officiator at the wedding used to be longer in its first draft--it was described as being weird and full of jokes, and there would have been a scene with Pearl getting weepy and pulling tissues out of her pearl.

Ian mentions loving a joke Jeff came up with having Greg play one chord to make Steven fall asleep--it’s sort of a “dream” chord you hear in cartoons a lot before a dream sequence.

The Crew discussed what it might be like if someone had never seen the show before and started with this episode.

Ian really wanted Steven’s psychic powers to figure into the episode.

Blue using a sadness wave to attack the Gems was a very old idea they’d planned for a long time. So was Lapis’s arrival.

There was a discussion of having Lisa Hannigan performing her lines as Blue VERY early in the morning.

Ian was happy the sword got broken because it was so momentous but it was just a sword. And later appeared on a shelf in the house as an artifact.

Miki had drawn a torn dress for Garnet at one point so she could be shown fighting and moving around more accurately, and this led to a long discussion of whether Gem clothing can even actually get torn the way human clothes can. They concluded that no, it shouldn’t be torn, so they backed up and gave Garnet an open-front dress from the beginning so the fighting version would make more sense.

Lapis originally might have had a longer speech upon arriving back on the beach. They eventually decided to just have her say “Hey.”

The barn falling on Blue Diamond was an intentional Wizard of Oz reference.

They point out that Steven even once said “drop the barn on the beach” (in a previous episode, “Can’t Go Back,” which was also a Miki episode).

Destroying the house was a big deal, and they always thought they’d end up doing it but backed away from it until “Reunited.” They almost even did it back in “Coach Steven”! But it just ended up with a little damage to the porch.

The Crew thinks Miki is really good at drawing ensemble shots.

Rebecca was always overwhelmed whenever she got to have Patti LuPone record for Yellow.

Originally the giant figures of everyone’s statue bodies in the mindscape were too dark and had to be revamped so they could be seen.

An earlier idea of Steven’s “psychic-ghost-situation” had him as a ghost actually trying to interact with the other characters during fighting action, but it was pulled back to this mindscape so there wouldn’t be as much confusing action to keep track of and more focus on what Steven was doing to encourage his teammates and contact the Diamonds.

Hilary was glad not to have to block out a fight.

Ian mentions loving having Bismuth back in the group.

They originally wanted the “Diamonds sensing Pink’s energy” plot to happen when Steven was in the palace somehow, but everything got moved to this scene--which the Crew all agrees turned out incredible, like how cool it was to have Steven essentially reminding each character why they fight and summing up their whole arc in a sentence.

“Change Your Mind”

Commentary with Rebecca Sugar, Ben Levin, Matt Burnett, Hilary Florido, Joe Johnston, Ian Jones-Quartey, and Kat Morris.

They like to refer to this episode as “The movie before the movie.”

They loved incorporating “princess tropes” into Steven’s time on Homeworld, which is why there were so many references to “mice” (well, Pebbles) making clothes, being locked in a tower, being reminded of his manners, loving animals and freeing imprisoned pets, etc.

Deedee did the voice of the rainbow worm pet. She apparently didn’t find it memorable and was surprised when she was reminded she did the voice.

Rebecca was super excited for the confrontation with Blue.

There was some discussion of how Steven would have died of starvation if he didn’t have someone practical like Connie to remember to bring food.

They love working with the huge scale the Diamonds present.

The Crew always wanted to put someone in Blue’s hair loop. Originally they wanted Blue to tuck Greg in there when she kidnapped him, but they didn’t end up being able to do any hair-loop-carrying until this episode.

The Crew bantered back and forth about what the heck those Pebbles’ names were and how hard it was to track them.

They agreed that Paul draws the best Yellow Diamond, which makes sense since he also drew the first episode with Yellow (and her stink face).

The scene where Yellow asks Blue to stop using her powers on her and then realizing she’s crying on her own was one of Rebecca’s favorite scenes to get to finally.

Steven Sugar thought Gems would spend a lot of time in their own chambers/rooms just not really doing much of anything unless they had to fulfill their purpose.

Some of the Homeworld ideas were based on a Soviet artist’s concepts, Boris Artzybasheff, and also many ideas were inspired by Busby Berkeley regarding how people were objects and furniture.

The mech was an old idea. Once they had the hand ship from “Jailbreak,” they knew there had to be bodies somewhere.

They focused a lot about what could be the coolest and funniest way for something to happen. The concept of the yellow and blue spaceship arms appearing out of the sky to smack the White Diamond mech around was one of those.

Rebecca really wanted things to look more and more cartoony and bizarre as you get deeper into Homeworld.

They spent a very long time trying to decide on characters’ new outfits.

The trash can lid is said to be a reference to “a flying bear cartoon” and they dance around speaking a direct reference because they’re not sure they’re allowed to say its name.

In discussing the powers of the Diamonds, there were debates on what White’s power would be; with Yellow being physicality-based and Blue being emotion-based, they thought White as identity-based made the most sense.

Different ways to express this were played with before settling on the idea that she thinks she’s perfect and others’ colors make them less like her and less perfect. But then she becomes a hostage to her own beliefs about herself because if she does anything that reflects on everyone else, so it’s best to do nothing.

They had some cool earlier ideas of White’s powers making statues out of other Gems and having a gallery full of frozen Gems, frozen by White to make them perfect.

They also weren’t sure what fate befell the original Pink Pearl and discussed whether she might have been destroyed.

Rebecca discussed how creepy it was to have White Pearl speaking in Christine’s voice and not Deedee’s--that we should find it fundamentally disturbing at this point.

Tom Herpich came up with the crack on White Pearl’s face.

In real life, pink diamonds aren’t understood as well as yellows and blues. It’s more known what makes a diamond yellow or blue, and some of those facts Rebecca researched were originally woven into the speech White gave about their “impurities.” But it turned out to be too dry and most of it got cut.

Rebecca loves having Lapis with pants and sandals for easier cosplay.

Ian had to draw the scene where Steven is falling and fusing with inert characters--he wasn’t able to properly explain it to Rebecca so she had him draw it.

They really wanted Rainbow Quartz 2.0 to have a scarf, but they couldn’t figure out how to get that into Pearl’s design. They miss the scarf.

It was really important to have these Fusions display call-forwards of the Gems’ new outfits which we hadn’t yet seen.

Rebecca points out that Sunstone’s design breaks a design rule and she feels like Sunstone should have Garnet’s pant leg colors on their legs, but at the same time she understands the rule of cool and likes it like this.

It’s discussed how none of Steven’s fusion weapons are exclusively offensive weapons either.

Rebecca still really wants a suction cup Sunstone toy.

Sunstone’s ability to transcend reality and break the fourth wall was a joke that exploded in the discussion room among the Crew. As soon as the idea was pitched everyone kept coming up with ideas. Sardonyx’s fourth-wall-breaking is more snarky, but Sunstone’s is helpful.

Rebecca was disappointed that the rule about Steven’s clothes wasn’t always followed with having his clothes appear on Obsidian’s hand, but she was delighted that you could see them in one scene.

They spent a lot of discussion time on making sure Steven-Obsidian was different somehow from Rose-Obsidian. The hair is different.

Old versions of Obsidian were drawn with wrapped-together Twizzlers legs, which sort of is reflected in the present design.

The sword had been planned forever--and it first appeared in “Bubble Buddies.”

Miki worked on the Ninja Turtles show so Rebecca was really excited to see her depictions of Bismuth and Sunstone.

An early plan to have Obsidian draw the sword from their mouth was complicated because fusion weapons should be combinations, so they finally reached the solution of having them combine to make the hilt, then get the blade out of Obsidian’s mouth.

The blade of the sword is thought to say “We’ll always save the day,” but you’d have to ask Steven Sugar.

Another really old idea was climbing into the White Diamond mech eye.

Rebecca was disappointed that some of the merch made of White Diamond did not feature her cape sparkles.

There were many debates early on about where Rose might “actually” be. There were tons of references to this fundamental question throughout the show--introducing Lapis as a Gem trapped in an object, having Pearl ponder pulling Steven’s Gem out as a baby, straight-up wondering what would happen to him in “Bubbled” when Eyeball was trying to take his Gem, etc. They all decided Rose was definitely gone but that the idea of her possibly being inside him should be on his mind a lot, leading to disturbing images like dreaming about coughing up her hair.

Yellow Diamond and Blue Diamond both challenged Steven about things he was very confident about, but White’s question of his identity got to him because he in fact is not confident about that.

The black and white eeriness of the fuzzy background and the other characters having their colors washed out helped make the scene in White Diamond’s head so disturbing and creepy.

The split screen showing Steven’s two perspectives was exciting to Rebecca, and was a pretty old idea. And she points out it sort of “breaks the show.”

The Gem Steven, Pink Steven, was represented by a slightly modified version of his model sheet. Everyone laughed when they saw what was getting used.

They decided that an earlier idea of Pink Steven looking angry should be replaced by an emotionless version of him. All the emotion should be with Organic Steven.

In the pitch meeting for this episode, Rebecca herself screamed “SHE’S GONE!!” and shocked the hell out of everyone. She pointed out how no one expected this of her because she’s pretty quiet, but she just wanted to shock everyone the way Steven would in the show.

They point out this is the first appearance of the geometric shield that got so much use in Future.

The fact that Steven is Steven is the ultimate reveal of the show. Usually in fantasy shows there’s some other kind of revelation, but Steven just being amazingly human and amazingly Gem and amazingly himself is wonderful here.

They like having the pilot reference with “What’s your excuse?”

If Rose had somehow still been alive in him, all of this would have been cheapened.

Ian loves that you can faintly hear Sadie’s concert from way out in space as the camera approaches Earth.

They got a lot more use out of the Beach-A-Palooza stage than they thought they would when it had to be designed for “Steven and the Stevens.” There was a joke about how at one of the conventions a real Beach-A-Palooza stage was constructed and they had a thought about how oh good, it’s getting reused.

Sadie having green hair in the finale was a late change but they liked showing her progression.

They had originally kicked around the idea of Sadie already having her new partner Shep at this point, but decided to develop that in Future instead.

They compare White Diamond’s stepping gingerly into the fountain to skeptically getting into a public pool.

Some silliness they didn’t get to use was that Biggs would be “beloved by everyone” except Steven. They never got to cover it, but originally Steven was just going to not really understand why everyone loves her so much and doesn’t personally much care for her.

The Heaven and Earth Beetles are based on the Mothra Ladies.

The healed Gems’ horns are supposed to be side effects of the corruption that they continue to bear in the present.

Larimar and Orange Spodumene ended up different in the ending scene than they became in Future. Many of the designs were retroactively pulled into this scene after being designed for the movie.

Rebecca wrote “Change Your Mind” as a personal song to express her feelings surrounding her fight for the wedding.

“The Future”

Commentary with Rebecca Sugar, Kat Morris, Alonso Ramirez Ramos, Hilary Florido, Joe Johnston, and Ian Jones-Quartey.

The animatic for this episode ran SO long--they’re supposed to be just over 11 minutes but this one was 17 minutes.

Steven’s calisthenics routine, a callback to “Future Vision,” was on the chopping block to make the episode shorter but Rebecca wouldn’t allow it to be cut because she wanted to show that Steven’s been taking care of himself.

They were very excited to get a chance to cover some of the things in Future that they couldn’t squeeze into the original show, like the unbubbled Rose Quartzes, Volleyball, etc.

The new writers on the show also helped bring forward the idea of Steven finally making some of his OWN mistakes to fix.

This also helped construct the idea of Steven essentially being the “final boss” of his own battle.

Usually stories that involve someone being in a fight and winning don’t explore the effect just being in a fight has on a person, regardless of whether you won.

Rebecca really wanted to play Ocarina of Time after beating it so she could go back to all the places and see how people were doing. She wanted this epilogue series to explore that a little too.

Little Homeschool is sort of a Tiny Toons reference--older cartoons teach younger cartoons how to be cartoons, and this is Gems teaching other Gems how to be Gems on Earth.

Lamar came up with the silly joke about receiving that art set with all the different media types in it--the one artists are always getting from a well-meaning relative at holiday time.

A scrapped plot idea involved Volleyball/Pink Pearl as a sort of “mini-villain,” with a focus on her activating the un-activated Pearls.

There’s discussion of how victimization turns people into villains sometimes. But since showing that happening with Volleyball wouldn’t have served the interests of Steven’s arc, they couldn’t fit it in.

There was also a “very specific” Gem origin and Diamond origin story that’s quasi-religious in nature--it’s very cool and complicated. But they do not tell us what it is.

Ian and Joe both really wanted to have Jasper living alone in the woods and stacking rocks. They’re glad they got this series to do that with her.

There was originally an idea for a B-plot involving Jasper in the movie. They don’t discuss the specifics.

There were many ideas they didn’t get to work on because they would have started new arcs and Future was not about kicking new plots into gear.

“Mr. Universe” was the last episode they wrote/finished.

Miki really wanted to include a kiss between Connie and Steven to show their relationship was okay. Among the Crew everyone knew their relationship was basically eternal but Miki wanted to make sure WE knew that.

Steven driving conveyed momentum for Future; in the original show, we always came back to the laundry hand, back to home, but in Future that’s changed and home isn’t what it was.

They were really excited that a gourd family made it to the crowd scene in Future.

Thanks for reading!

Note: The movie had some commentary tracks too, but the one on this DVD set is the same as the one released on the original standalone movie DVD, so I did not outline it here. Here is my post about the DVD commentary from the movie.

#steven universe #steven universe future #rebecca sugar #crewniverse #my su analysis #myblog

872 notes · View notes

septembersghost · 2 years ago

Note

Since I haven't seen you discuss this topic:

What do you think is Tom's feelings regarding hiddleswift/Taylor these days?Do you think he holds some resentment towards her? Because I feel like he was really into her and thought that relationship was heading somewhere. He also chose to date her in the peak of kimye drama(something we (rightfully) praise joe for) and it cost him a role.His reputation and the respect he garnered as an actor was Lower than ever after that. He introduced her to his family and was really hurt when asked about her at golden globes. But Taylor not only used him to get out of a toxic relationship but also had eyes on someone else the whole time. Then she released a song(that slaps btw I LOVE GETAWAY CAR) that blatantly calls him a rebound. We know her enough to know her reasons to do it, what she was going through, how joe was her light et ...but if someone used me like that I would take a long time to forgive them if ever. So do you think taylor is the 'bad ex'(zhe is not she is flawed) in his love life?

[Inspired by recent comments from Tom's team regarding his relationship with zawe

A source said: 'Tom really has fallen for Zawe in a big way. But he is so paranoid about his private life since his relationship with Taylor that he has gone to great lengths to keep this under wraps.'

Tom told the New York Times after his romance with Taylor: 'Yes, I'm protective about my internal world now in probably a different way. That's because I didn't realize it needed protecting before.']

i don't talk about this too much for ~reasons~, but it's a late night conversation so i saved it for liminal hours

there are certain fans of taylor's who are shockingly nasty about this and treat tom like trash and mock him for falling hard and fast (lol hypocritical. as if she doesn't?), and act like he somehow was in the wrong here, and i think they are VERY WEIRD.

there are certain fans of tom's who are misogynistic slut shamers who will offer her no grace for the extraordinarily Bad place she was in when all of this happened, and i think they are frightfully mean.

i was a fan of both of them before they hooked up, and remain so, and i have a lot of sympathy for them both in this situation, but the way she handled it was a mistake, and hurt me for him. i say that with nothing but care for her, which i'm sure you know is clear. people we like can still do the wrong thing. getaway car is a banger showstopper incredible never the same, my fave rep track, but it took me...a while...to be able to listen to it without a twinge of guilt...? "if someone used me like that I would take a long time to forgive them if ever." same, and i don't think he has any obligation TO forgive her, though i'd imagine he has.

so. here's where we have to have space for people to be human and thus flawed. she acted rashly and i believe somewhat carelessly in this situation. "i wounded the good and i trusted the wicked" has actually always read as a quiet tom reference to me, but then she did long story short and...anyway. he has a particularly stellar reputation as a thoughtful/considerate/gentlemanly guy. the profile he did with gq where he talked about her is an interview that i find remarkably compassionate and honest. the fact that swifties will quickly weaponize for her when she's slighted at all, yet mock tom for being deeply hurt by what happened, does not sit right with me. she fucked up. she shouldn't have gotten entangled with him, to escape calvin nor when she already had the deep feelings we know she had for joe. you can say that and still recognize that she was VERY hurt and struggling enormously with various things in her life at that point. i don't think any partner could've withstood the scrutiny piled on tom at that moment, nor the heinous fallout of the kimye drama. but he clearly wanted to support her, and she was...not there and not okay.

the fact that it dinged his reputation (sigh) or cost him a role is horrible, but not her fault, it's the industry being ruthless and a nightmare at times. but he's rebuilt himself from that quite well, and never lost respect where it mattered, no matter what tabloids might print.

i don't believe he resents her, partially because he doesn't seem to be wired in that way. he's never said anything but lovely comments about her as a person, as the woman HE knew. i DO think he profoundly resents what that relationship did insofar as the press coverage and surrounding hoopla and meanness, and that it jaded him quite severely (understandably) and caused him to clamp up and share far less with the public, which...is well within his rights, people were weird as fuck towards this man due to the marvel stuff LONG before he dated taylor, so it might've gotten bad for him eventually regardless, but the mockery and judgment and cruelty that happened there...he didn't deserve that at all, he still doesn't. what happened with tom changed taylor too, it's a big part of the reason she and joe keep things so tightly under wraps and have for over six years. i do not blame tom for being a bit paranoid (i mean, GROSS things happened when he was on broadway totally disconnected to the taylor aftermath that probably would've made him more careful/paranoid anyway, some people have no boundaries), and i definitely don't blame him for trying to keep the woman he loves who is his partner and the mother of his child as far out of that glare as possible. i hope they're so happy and have a wonderful life together. tbh i hope he barely thinks about any of this and is just thriving in his personal life and career in whatever ways he chooses to follow.

#anonymous #letterbox #thrown out speeches

4 notes · View notes

whatstruthgottodowithit · 2 years ago

Text

Here You Come Again [Part Eight]

Fandom: Elvis Presley, RPF, American Actor

Pairing: Elvis Presley x Original Female Character

Characters: Elvis Presley, Addison Goodwin, Original Female Characters, Priscilla Presley, Colonel Tom Parker, Vernon Presley, Gladys Presley, Minnie Mae Presley, Marci Cunningham, Jerry Schilling, Red West, Sonny West, Marty Lacker, Joe Esposito, Charlie Hodge, Lamar Fike, Alan Fortas, George Klein, Memphis Mafia

Rating: Mature

Word Count: 9107

Summary: When Addison Goodwin was seventeen years old her life was turned inside out after a chance encounter with her past. Now, fifteen years later her life is the best it’s ever been. She has a home, a good job and a daughter she loves more than anything in the world but will all that remain when an old familiar face rolls into town.

Tags: Angst, Fluff, Graceland, Las Vegas, The International Hotel, Elvis In Vegas, 1970s, 1970s Elvis, Friends To Lovers, Rekindled Romance, Parenting, Time Line is Sketchy, Guilt, Betrayal, Teenage Pregnancy, Hawaii, Hidden Pregnancy, Jealousy, Sex, Absence of Parent, Single Motherhood, Trauma, Oral Sex, Tension

Notes: Why does tumblr just decide to make stuff shitter every so often. Cba.

LINK TO ALL PARTS // LINK TO AO3 // LINK TO PINTEREST

Elvis was riding on a high. There had been something about tonight that was different though he couldn’t put his finger on just what it was. Maybe it was the fact the crowd had been particularly receptive tonight given that many of them had just rolled into Vegas for the weekend and were still buzzing off the anticipation of getting up to something they shouldn’t. Maybe it was because he wasn’t as tired as normal since he had managed to negotiate to do only one show a night – even if it was only for the duration of Lisa being in town. He didn’t think it was that though. No, he figured it was because he had been able to spend time with both of his daughters for almost the entire evening, Just the three of them. He had gotten to see them interact and from the looks of things they actually seemed to be getting along, especially since Jess had sided with Lisa when she had informed her father that he was colouring in wrong [something he didn’t know was possible but from the stern look on his five-year-olds face apparently it was]. But above all, he got to enjoy just being a dad, not even a dad just a person, without someone needing something from him other than time and love. That was why he was riding on a high.

However that high meant that he wasn’t ready for bed quite yet. He was wired and so instead of heading back to his bedroom suite, he headed to the main one hoping he could check on both of his girls. When he got inside though he found it wasn’t dark as he expected as lamps were still lit throughout the suite. That was when he noticed Jess standing in the middle of the living room though she whipped around when she heard him enter.

‘Hey, what are you still doing up?’ he said coming towards her but as he noted the unnerved look on her face it triggered panic inside him, ‘what’s going on?’

‘She’s been throwing up,’ Jess said looking back towards the couch where Elvis could now see Lisa. She was laying on her side clutching her stomach and though her eyes had been closed they opened at the sound of his voice, her own coming out whiny and melancholic.

‘I don’t feel good,’ she groaned as she squeezed her arms around her stomach tighter.

‘Since when?’ Elvis asked moving towards her though his gaze remained on Jess.

‘About an hour,’ she said biting her lip. He perched himself on the coffee table, placing the back of his hand on his daughter’s forehead which felt clammy but fortunately not too warm.

‘Why didn’t you call downstairs?’ Elvis asked sternly, ‘I would’ve come straight up.’

‘I-I-I was going to, but I couldn’t find the sheet you gave me and Jerry had already gone downstairs to sort something out and I couldn’t remember where he’d gone and she just came into my room and puked all over the floor so I panicked,’ Jess waffled.

‘My tummy hurts,’ Lisa groaned looking at her dad and forcing him to take his eyes off Jess for a moment.

‘I know honey. It’s okay,’ he soothed stroking her cheek.

‘I’m sorry I just didn’t know what to do and I didn’t want to leave her on her own,’ Jess said feeling her voice getting thick with tears. On seeing her start to well up Elvis felt guilt course through him and he reached a hand out to hold hers gently for a moment, ‘it’s okay. Don’t worry about it, I’m here now, okay?’

‘I just panicked,’ Jess said quietly.

‘I know,’ he said, ‘it’s okay.’

‘Elvis my tummy hurts,’ Lisa groaned making Elvis offer Jess one more reassuring look before he turned his attention back to his youngest.

‘I know sweetie but we’re gonna get you fixed up, okay?’ he said earning a nod from Lisa though her face remained pouty.

‘Actually, she’s already being fixed,’ Jess said nervously making her father look up at her confused. A confusion that only grew as Addison appeared behind her daughter looking between them as if she was missing something.

‘Everything okay?’ she asked looking from Elvis to her daughter who now looked more shaken than the moment she’d arrived and given that Addison had walked in and found her looking horrified as she held Lisa’s hair out of the way whilst she puked into a trash can that was some feat.

‘What are you doing here?’ Elvis asked a little more accusatorily than he had intended as he stood up.

‘Jess called,’ Addison said simply, seeming not to take offence at his tone as she moved past him so she could get to Lisa whom she placed a cold cloth on the head of before she offered her a glass of pale liquid with a gentle, ‘here you go sweetie.’

‘Thank you,’ Lisa said, those southern manners shining through in her weakened state.

‘Jess called you at midnight and you just drove all the way down here?’ Elvis said, accusation lacing his words again.

‘It sounded urgent,’ Addison shrugged.

‘She could’ve come and got me y’know,’ Elvis said defensively. He didn’t know why he was being like this. He knew Addison was only trying to help but the entire situation was getting him on edge. After all, things had been going so well with Jess and yet she hadn’t even given him a thought before she’d dialled in reinforcements.

‘I know,’ Addison said firmly and before he could respond and be any more obstructive, she took a seat on the coffee table and leaned in towards Lisa, ‘how’s that sweetie?’

‘Good,’ Lisa said through laboured breaths as she tried to gulp as much of the drink she had been given down her throat like she had been stranded in the desert for days.

‘Well, that should help,’ Addison said taking the cup from her as she lay back down. When she looked up she found Elvis watching her closely.

‘Would you stop looking at me like that I said it’s fine,’ she sighed, ‘don’t worry about it.’

‘It’s just… you should’ve come and got me,’ Elvis said looking at Jess.

‘I just thought Mom would know what to do. She’s a nurse after all,’ Jess said and at her words Elvis softened. When he thought about it like that he could see her point of view. After all, she was just a kid. Her brain had probably gone into overdrive and she had dialled the only number she could think of. All in all, she’d been looking out for her sister.

‘I forgot about that,’ Elvis admitted, ‘I guess it makes sense when you put it like that.’

‘No harm done,’ Addison said earning a nod from him. As Lisa stirred from the relaxed state she’d been in, her blue eyes watching them all gathered around her, Elvis sat down on the coffee table next to Addison and placed his hand over his daughter’s.

‘Are you feeling any better honey?’ he asked making her big blue eyes find his as she offered a weak nod.

‘A little bit,’ she said.

‘That’s good,’ Elvis said looking at Addison, ‘so what’s the diagnosis?’

‘Well, the good news is I think she’s gonna be fine,’ she said.

‘Yeah?’ Elvis asked.

‘Yeah, she doesn’t have a temperature and her abdomens soft so I don’t think it’s anything too serious,’ Addison said.

‘Are you sure?’ Elvis asked though he trusted Addison completely the image of his little girl laying in front of them looking troubled made his heart hurt, ‘maybe we should get her checked out.’

‘Jess, what did you have for dinner?’ Addison asked looking towards her daughter. The question came out of the left field for both Elvis and Jess but nevertheless Jess, who had been standing there still feeling anxious, answered.

‘Pizza and ice cream,’ she said.

‘And then you guys watched a movie?’ Addison questioned. Though he had no idea where she was going he figured the way she was making his brain do gymnastics as he tried to figure out her point was only punishment for his less-than-inviting attitude.

‘Yeah,’ Jess said not managing to connect the dots.

‘Where you had popcorn?’ Addison asked.

‘Yeah and M&Ms and Lisa had some Twizzlers-’

‘See where I’m going with this?’ Addison asked raising an eyebrow. Elvis seemed to contemplate it for a moment before the points clicked into place.

‘Oh,’ he said, ‘yeah I guess you might be right.’

‘I know sugar-induced puke when I see it,’ Addison said.

‘You saw her puke?’ Elvis asked.

‘Who do you think cleaned it up?’ Addison asked. Again, guilt flooded through him but this time it felt more than just guilt. It felt like an embarrassment, like he needed her to clean up his messes literally and figuratively. She had trusted him to take care of his daughters and he had barely lasted the night without needing help.

‘You didn’t have to do that,’ he said feeling the defensiveness from before creep back in.

‘Eh,’ she shrugged, ‘it’s not a big deal.’

‘Still,’ he said not sure what he was trying to prove.

‘Anyway,’ she said ignoring him, ‘I think the best course of action is probably rest.’

‘Yeah, you're probably right,’ Elvis said.

‘For you too lady,’ she said standing up and placing a hand on Jess’ face in an attempt to reassure her though she still looked torn at the thought of being sent away. She knew if it was just her dad here she’d be allowed to stay up but she knew better than to argue with her mom and so she nodded.

‘Okay,’ she said, ‘I hope you feel better in the morning Lisa.’

‘Me too,’ Lisa mumbled though her eyes didn’t open as she continued to lay on the couch.

‘Night,’ she said receiving ‘Goodnights’ from both of them in response.

Once she was out of the room Addison took a seat on the couch beside the one Lisa was on whilst Elvis sat next to his daughter, placing her head on his lap as he stroked her hair gently. She disturbed a little as he moved her but the pain seemed to be ebbing minute by minute which meant that by the time she was lying on him properly her breathing had already changed signalling she may have been falling asleep. Elvis watched her closely for a moment and Addison watched him. She knew that by coming here she had hit a nerve but in the moment she hadn't been thinking of anything other than Jess. She realised it could’ve been construed as interfering, but she hoped he would see that it wasn’t the fact that she thought he couldn’t do it alone, it was the fact that Jess was just so used to her doing it she hadn’t thought past that. For a moment she didn’t speak, she knew him well enough to know that he’d tell her sooner or later and when he pulled his gaze away from Lisa’s peaceful form and clocked her looking at him he did.

‘You really didn’t have to go to all this trouble you know,’ he murmured his fingers till playing with Lisa’s golden locks.

‘I know,’ Addison said.

‘And I didn’t leave them alone. Jer was just next door and I told her to come and get one of us if she needed anything. I gave her a full list of phone numbers, I left it right by the phone,’ he said quickly as if he needed to explain.

‘I know I found it in the same place you left it,’ Addison said making him look at her.

‘If she had it why didn’t she-’ Elvis started to question but Addison cut him off.

‘I think she just panicked. You know what it’s like when you’re panicking your mind just goes blank and she didn’t want to leave Lisa on her own, so she called me.’

‘I guess every kids first instinct is to call their mom,’ Elvis said. His irritation was ebbing, the initial worry that Jess hadn’t thought he couldn’t handle it fading the more Addison spoke. The guilt however didn’t seem to be lifting even more so as Addison replied.

‘Well if it was mine the phone would be ringing for a long damn time,’ Addison said. He expected bitterness to be behind her words but there was nothing. In fact, the joke didn’t even seem sarcastic but genuine as he noticed a smirk on her lips. It made him sad to see how unattached she was but then the memory of her heartbroken face the night Mona had left flashed through his mind and he realised maybe this way was better.

‘That’s probably why you’re such a good mom,’ Elvis said making her look at him, ‘because of Mona I mean.’

‘Oh, I guess,’ she said suddenly feeling uncomfortable though she didn’t know if it was at the compliment or because even though she had spoken of her mother it had been a long time since it had been to anyone who actually knew her.

‘I mean it,’ Elvis said doubling down. He was starting to feel bad about the way he had acted and though he knew she never did well with compliments he couldn’t help but say the words he hoped she already knew, ‘you’re like the exact opposite of her. Jess couldn’t have a better mom…in fact, I’m glad you’re here. I mean I know I said I could’ve handled it but I’m not sure that’s true.’

‘What are you talking about?’ Addison scoffed. If the compliments had made her uncomfortable the fact he was putting himself down was just as upsetting.

‘Well Cilla usually takes care of this stuff or the nanny,’ he said smirking as Addison tried to hide a smile before he shrugged, ‘I don’t really know what I’m doing. Hell I can’t even get her to stop calling me Elvis.’

‘Well to be fair to her that is your name,’ she smiled though as his mood didn’t brighten she sighed, ‘don’t beat yourself up about it. None of us do.’

‘You look pretty sure of yourself to me,’ he said. Addison sighed.

‘I’ve had more practice that’s why,’ she said quietly. He knew it wasn’t a dig but something about it made his heart twinge, ‘you think I had any idea what I was doing when she was Lisa’s age? You think I knew what to do with a sick kid? Of course not but it happens once and you get used to it. And then the next time it happens you know what to do. It’s not about being a better parent it’s just about being prepared.’

‘Yeah, I guess,’ Elvis said though that guilty feeling was still niggling inside him. Seeing he was still lost in his head Addison sighed and shuffled forward placing her hand on his knee. He smiled at her and she offered one back before pulling back and taking her hand away.

‘You know one time when Jess was little,’ she started immediately piquing Elvis’ interest, ‘like really little she grabbed something off my plate when I wasn’t looking and ate it. I don’t even remember what it was she just threw it in her mouth and it immediately got stuck and she started choking, and I mean like going blue in the face choking. I had no idea what to do. I was on my own and I was just panicking then I remembered you’re supposed to slap their back, so I did. I hit her so hard it came flying out of her mouth, practically flew across the room, and then I felt awful because I’d hurt her. Not only that but she didn’t have a clue what was going on so all she could do was cry and cry and cry and I just felt like the worst mom in the world. I just picked her up and we sobbed on the kitchen floor for hours.’

‘You saved her life,’ Elvis said watching the memory dance across her face. She offered him a weak smile.

‘I know but I still felt terrible. Like I should’ve just known what to do without hurting her, like I should’ve just been able to dive into action without any thought and no consequences…but that’s not realistic. I mean I still feel guilty about it now and Jess doesn’t even remember the damn thing… but the next time she tried to grab something off my plate you better believe I knocked it out of her hand before she could even get that pudgy little fist in her mouth,’ she said with a small smile. Elvis sighed.

‘So I shouldn’t feel guilty huh?’ he asked raising an eyebrow.

‘Do you think she’s going to remember what happened tonight or who brought her some ginger ale? No, she’s going to remember that her dad was there and stroked her hair whilst she didn’t feel well,’ she said. As she spoke Lisa stirred in his lap, her tiny hand resting on his thigh as she moved. It made his heart flutter with love.

‘I think you might be right,’ he said with a smile.

‘Always am,’ Addison smiled.

They watched her for a minute but then she started to stir more as if she was threatening to wake up any moment.

‘Maybe I should move her to bed,’ Elvis said.

‘Yeah, she might be more comfortable there,’ Addison said. As Elvis contemplated how he was going to move Addison took the cold compress that was still on her forehead off and placed it on the coffee table. Then Elvis lifted his daughter up and slipped out from underneath her before he scooped her up onto his hip, her head resting on his shoulder, all in one fell swoop. When he turned Addison was still watching him trying to ignore the flurry in her chest as she watched him move the hair out of Lisa’s eyes as she slept soundly against him. She couldn’t believe he’d ever doubt how good of a dad he was. She knew from watching him with Jess that there was no doubt he was a good dad yet it was different with Jess because she didn’t need him in the same way Lisa did and watching him fuss over the little girl in his arms made her realise just how much he was made for it. It was lovely to watch but also heart-wrenching. If only things had been different this could’ve been their life.

‘I’ll be back in a minute, okay?’ he asked snapping her from her thoughts.

‘Sure,’ she said offering him a small smile. He looked like he wanted to say something but he wasn’t sure that he should. It made the flurry inside Addison amp up as she anticipated whatever it was.

‘Do you wanna stay for a while?’ he asked. It wasn’t quite a plea but both of them could hear just how much he wanted her to say yes.

‘Yeah,’ Addison said, ‘I’d like that.’

✵✵✵

When Addison awoke the next morning it took her a moment to adjust but as she took in the ornate mouldings above her and the brightness streaming in from the window she had neglected to close the curtains of it all came rushing back. Aside from cleaning up vomit and trying to keep everyone calm last night had been nice. After Jess had gone to bed and Elvis had carried Lisa back to her room the pair of them had stayed up and watched television though she doubted either of them could even say what had been playing since they had spent most of the night just talking. If anything she hadn’t realised just how much she had missed Elvis. Throughout this whole thing she had been getting used to seeing him as a dad, as this new man she needed to get to know but last night had shown her that even after so many years he was still that same boy she had known when she was three years old. But last night was catching up on her now and she could barely fight to keep herself from flopping back down and catching a few more minutes of sleep. Unfortunately, her longing for rest wasn’t fulfilled as she heard the door open and found Jess coming inside.

‘Oh good you’re finally up,’ Jess said.

‘Morning,’ Addison said with a yawn.

‘Actually, it’s afternoon,’ Jess said.

‘What?’ Addison said pushing herself up and looking at the small clock on her bedside table which informed her Jess was in fact right, it was 12:46 pm.

‘Jeez,’ she said.

‘Late night?’ Jess asked with a smirk.

‘We all had a late night,’ Addison said.

‘Yeah, but me and Lisa have been up since ten,’ Jess reasoned as she sat down cross-legged on the end of her mother’s bed, ‘can’t say the same for you and Dad though.’

‘We were just talking,’ Addison said stiffly though she didn’t know why she felt the need to defend herself.

‘Oh I know,’ Jess said, ‘I could hear you guys still up when I went to the bathroom. That’s why I let you both sleep.’

‘Well that’s very kind of you,’ Addison said wryly, ‘but I think I should be getting up don’t you?’

She went to push the covers back but stopped as she realised that she was only in her underwear. Instead of climbing out of bed she shuffled to the edge of it, keeping herself blocked from Jess as much as possible she looked for the pile of clothes she had been wearing before she’d climbed into bed. She had been tired when Elvis had walked her to the room she would be staying in and the last thing on her mind was scouting out where to get some clothes to sleep in.

‘Nice outfit,’ Jess said as her mother grabbed her jeans off the floor and started to throw them on.

‘Yeah, well I didn’t think of packing a bag when I ran out the house to come and help did I?’ Addison said as she shirked on her pants, leaning back to button them.

‘You could borrow some of the stuff Patsy brought me,’ Jess said.

‘Honey I might have your figure in my head but reality is a little different,’ Addison said as she pulled her shirt over her head pulling the hair that had got caught under the collar out as she did, ‘it’s fine. I’ll just go home and change.’

‘I don’t think you’ll have time,’ Jess said.

‘Why not?’ Addison asked.

‘We’re going out and dad asked if you’d come and well, I said you would,’ Jess said, ‘that’s why I came to wake you up.’

‘Well can’t we just swing by the house?’ Addison asked.

‘I don’t think so…I didn’t realise you didn’t have stuff…I didn’t think you’d mind,’ Jess said shifting awkwardly. Addison sighed.

‘I don’t. It’s fine,’ she said. Jess offered an apologetic smile which she rolled her eyes at, ‘c’mon, let’s not have everyone waiting.’

‘We’re only waiting on you,’ Jess smirked as she clambered off the bed and headed out the door. Addison followed whatever retort she was going to offer stemmed as she yawned.

‘Hey sleepyhead,’ Elvis said as they entered the dining room. He was sitting at the head of the table with Lisa at his side standing on the chair beside him as she draped her body over the table and slapped another card down on the pile for whatever game they were playing.

‘Hi,’ Addison said standing behind one of the chairs, ‘someones feeling better I see.’

‘Oh yeah much better right buttonhead?’ he said looking at Lisa who glanced at him and then looked at Addison.

‘Much better,’ she smiled, ‘Elvis is taking us to the zoo.’

‘Is that right?’ Addison said looking at Elvis, ‘taking it easy I see.’

‘Eh, she’s feeling better and it’s her last day in town,’ Elvis said. He kept his tone even but Addison could see the sadness behind his eyes before he dropped his gaze to look at his cards as Lisa tugged on his sleeve, evidently not happy with how he had slowed their game for a conversation. Once he had placed his card down he looked back at them, ‘you guys are comin’ right? Daddy’s comin’ and some of the boys I thought we could make a day of it.’

‘Have I got time to go home and change?’ Addison asked making Elvis glance down to find she was still in the same clothes as yesterday. He knew it didn’t mean anything, no one would even know they were yesterday’s clothes, but the idea of knowing that she was wearing that because she’d not wanted to go home made him want to smile.

‘Not really,’ he said checking his watch and gesturing for Lisa to put her cards down, ‘we’ll be leaving in a minute.’

‘I can be super quick,’ Addison said.

‘It’s quite a drive and in the opposite direction of your place,’ he said making her sigh. Seeing the topic could be up for discussion Elvis looked at Jess and said, ‘would you mind helping Lisa find her shoes so we can get going?’

‘Sure,’ Jess said gesturing for Lisa to follow her which she did, jumping off her chair and running to her sister’s side as they headed down the hall to her room.

‘I really won’t take that long,’ Addison said as he climbed out of his seat, resting against one of the chairs as he stood next to her.

‘I know but I’ve kinda got everything lined up what with it being her last day here and everything. I don’t wanna miss any of it,’ he said. At that Addison wavered. Sure it wasn’t ideal but she could manage for one day. Elvis however had an idea, ‘why don’t I just buy you something new? There’s a lil boutique around the corner-’

‘It’s fine,’ Addison said waving him off, ‘I’ll just wear this.’

‘It’s not a big deal,’ Elvis reasoned as he stood up properly, ‘better than yesterday’s clothes.’

‘Either you take me home and I get a fresh pair of clothes or we go as is,’ she said.

‘You’re gonna walk around all day in day-old clothes?’

‘What am I gonna embarrass you?’ she challenged.

‘I just don’t see why you can’t just have something new. It’s gotta be more comfortable,’ he said.

‘You’re not buying me new stuff not when I don’t need it,’ she said making Elvis sigh. He should’ve known she would never have relented to that one. He leaned in towards her eyeing her in a way that made her stomach flutter with butterflies that only worsened as he leaned down and said, ‘you’re infuriating you know that?’

‘And you like showing off,’ she countered trying to ignore the fact she could feel the heat coming off his body he was so close. She watched as his lip curled up in a smirk.

‘Hey you’ll relent one day,’ he said.

‘Doubt it,’ she challenged folding her arms across her chest.

‘Wanna bet?’ he asked.

‘You’re on,’ she smirked. Elvis watched her for a moment, trying to ignore the fire in his belly as she met him toe to toe, but it was broken as they heard Jess call for Addison’s help. She offered him one last smug smile and then toddled off to find out what the problem was. As Elvis watched her walk away an idea bubbled in his brain. He was going to win this little wager fair and square, he just needed to make a couple calls first.

✵✵✵

Elvis had been right about the drive and by the time they got to the zoo it was mid-afternoon. Lisa chattered nonstop in the car on the way over and though Jess was less eager about a day out to the zoo she couldn’t help but feel a little excited too though she wasn’t sure if that was because this would be the first time they’d managed to do something outside of the hotel or their house or because of the smile on both her parents faces as they interacted with one another.

It was nice to see her mom this way, happy. It wasn’t that she was always sad or anything it was just that Jess had always felt that so much of her life had been left behind the moment she had her. Her mother had always assured her that she was never a burden and that she wouldn’t choose a life without her but there were times she wondered what could’ve been. Especially when she watched her dad tell a joke that made her mom snort a laugh or how she watched him with Lisa, an adoring look on her face. She was glad her mom was her mom but seeing her like this reminded her that she was a woman too.

Jess was only pulled out of her thoughts when they arrived at their destination. The zoo wasn’t a big one but this had been intentional as Elvis had picked one a little further out of town that was less likely to be populated so that when he requested for the owner to let them have the run of the place their loss of business wasn’t too bad. Of course there were caveats to them getting the whole place though that mostly included him having his picture taken with nearly every member of staff but eventually they managed to make their way into the park to see some animals. Lisa bolted straight for the first exhibit, lugging Jess and Vernon along by the hand, whilst their tour guide attempted to keep up. And seeing that they weren’t needed for much protection the boys walked ahead taking advantage of the fact the group was doing something that involved being outside in the winter sunshine instead of being locked away in a hotel or casino.

Elvis and Addison however stayed behind the group. They made conversation here and there but both of them found that there wasn’t a need to say much, if anything they were just enjoying one another’s company. They walked around for a while, grabbing a bite to eat halfway through until eventually, they got to the tiger enclosure.

‘He’s a big un isn’t he,’ Elvis said. Jess was standing next to him but he had Lisa in his arms so that she could see, hoisting her up so that she could lean against the enclosure wall.

‘He’s really big,’ Lisa said.

‘Let’s just hope he ain’t hungry huh?’ Elvis said shaking her a little as though he was going to toss her over the barrier making her shriek with laughter.

‘Actually, he probably is,’ the tour guide said pointing to a sign in front of them that said, ‘FEEDING TIME 4 PM’.

‘Are you going to feed him now?’ Lisa asked excitedly.

‘Well actually we do offer guests to feed him, on occasion,’ she said looking at Elvis which seemed to trigger an idea in his youngest daughter’s mind.

‘Elvis, you should do it!’ Lisa said looking at Elvis who chuckled.

‘Aw hell no,’ he chuckled.

‘Oh go on,’ Jess giggled earning herself a scowl.

‘Please!’ Lisa begged.

‘Have you seen that thing?’ he said as the girls watched him expectantly.

‘Not scared are you?’ Addison teased from Jess’ other side.

‘Hey I lose a hand my instrument playin’ days are over,’ Elvis reasoned.

‘It’d be fine, I could be your new guitar player,’ Jess giggled. Elvis looked as all three girls watched him expectantly. He had no desire to step into an enclosure with anything but the way they all watched him expectantly he could feel his resolve crumbling.

‘Y’all aren’t gonna let it go huh?’ he asked.

‘Well, we could ask one of the boys, right girls?’ Addison said turning around and finding the boys standing close by watching amusedly as their friend squirmed under the pressure, ‘you’d do it right Son?’

‘Oh sure,’ Sonny chuckled, ‘you know me. Ain’t afraid of anything.’

‘Yeah, except pickin’ up a check,’ Elvis grumbled though Sonny merely rolled his eyes at the dig, ‘aw hell alright.’

‘Yay!’ Lisa said kissing him on the cheek.

‘If you’d like to follow me sir,’ the guide said gesturing for Elvis to follow her towards a doorway which led to the back of the enclosure. He looked hesitant but after a moment he lifted Lisa forward so that Jerry could hold her so she’d still be able to see.

As he followed the young girl into the back of the enclosure, disappearing out of sight, Jerry moved to stand next to Addison whilst the boys moved so that they were standing along the wall.

‘You know he’s gonna be insufferable after this right?’ Jerry chuckled as Lisa turned to her grandfather and started chattering away to him.

‘He could’ve said no,’ she reasoned.

‘When has he ever told you no,’ Jerry said before his attention was caught as Elvis appeared on the other side of the circular enclosure climbing up onto a large platform at the back. He had a couple of keepers with him now, both hauling a heavy box between them, and the crowd watched as the tiger who had been lounging in the grass allowing them to watch him sleep, stood up suddenly realising it was time to be fed.

Addison watched on nervously, though her nerves weren’t really to do with the scene in front of them. It was Jerry’s words. The group laughed and jeered whilst Elvis was talked through the process and eventually tossed a hunk of meat on a string down for the large cat yet she barely even registered it.

‘When has he ever told you no,’ the thought echoed in her mind. It had been true when they had been dating, even in the months leading up to it, he had always caved but that was because he had been in love with her. It wasn’t like that now, right? No, she reasoned with herself. Elvis wasn’t in love with her and this stunt wasn’t for her benefit. He had done it for the girls. Yet as she watched him the idea swirled in the back of her brain. It was an idea she forced out of her mind. She couldn’t think that way. This wasn’t about them, this was about Jess, nothing more.

She was pulled out of her thoughts as Jerry nudged her gesturing for her to follow the rest of the group that was heading down towards the enclosure entrance to wait for Elvis to emerge. Addison stayed back as he came out immediately congratulated by both the girls and though he had grumbled once he saw how excited they were about it she couldn’t help but notice the smile on his face.

‘Well done man,’ Red said as the group started to meander towards the next exhibit.

‘Yeah well done son,’ Vernon said.

‘Did you see how he tore that thing apart?’ Sonny whistled, ‘pretty impressive.’

‘Near pulled me off that damn platform,’ Elvis said as Lisa slipped her hand into his and Jess came to his other side as they walked.

‘Were you scared?’ Jess asked.

‘Naw,’ Elvis said making Addison smirk though she knew he couldn’t see her, ‘I mean I don’t think the zoo’s reputation could handle being the place that killed Elvis Presley so I think I woulda been okay.’

‘Will you wear your tiger costume on stage tonight?’ Lisa asked looking up at him from his side, her hand clasped tightly in his.

‘Do you want me to?’ he asked making her nod, ‘well alright then.’

‘Are you gonna tell this story on stage tonight?’ Red chuckled as he turned to look at them, walking backwards as he did so, ‘cos I think I can already hear the girls hollerin’ about it now.’

‘Oh yeah better bring earplugs,’ Sonny chuckled.

‘What can I say I’m just an impressive guy,’ Elvis smirked.

‘Oh yeah, you think?’ Sonny said as Addison slotted in between him and Jess, ‘what do you think Addie, ladies' perspective?’

‘I prefer lion tamers myself,’ she joked making Elvis roll his eyes.

‘Not your type huh?’ he said though as he looked at her he could’ve sworn there was a flicker of something behind her eyes that moved too quickly for him to catch. Before she could say thing else though Lisa said, ‘look penguins!’ and then scarpered towards the round glass tank a little further up.

Yet as everyone followed her towards the tank which was now being occupied by several keepers who were chucking bucket loads of fish into the water Addison wandered away from the group and took a seat on a nearby bench. No one seemed to notice she was gone, well not until Elvis looked back to find her nowhere close. Since the group was distracted he moved away and came to sit beside her, earning himself a small smile.

‘You alright?’ he asked. She nodded. Even though Jerry’s comment had put her in her head a little bit she brushed it aside as much as she could. She didn’t want to think about things like that, not today, and so as Elvis watched her she decided not to dwell on it and instead just be in the moment.

‘Are you okay?’ she asked raising an eyebrow. Elvis hiccupped a laugh and flopped back on the bench, his arm going behind where she was sitting.

‘Don’t know how I didn’t crap my pants but sure,’ he chuckled.

‘Well, the girls loved it,’ she said.

‘And you?’ he said making her roll her eyes, ‘hey now it was your teasin’ that got me in there. C’mon honest answer.’

‘You were very brave,’ she said sarcastically, a smile playing on her lips.

‘See was that so hard to do,’ he chuckled.

‘And at least you have a story for your show tonight,’ Addison said resting back against the bench.

‘Yeah, that’s true,’ he said.

‘And the girls did love it,’ she reiterated.

‘Yeah and now look. I’ve been replaced by some penguins,’ he chuckled.

‘Oh you should’ve heard them,’ Addison said, though she had been lost in her thoughts she hadn’t missed the giddy chatter Lisa had with Vernon or the awestruck way Jess had spoken to Red as they watched.

‘Yeah?’ he said earning a nod, ‘well it's good to know I’m not an embarrassing dad just yet.

‘You’re kidding, right? Those girls idolise everything you do,’ Addison said truthfully, ‘I’m glad actually. I think this is the first fun thing Jess has done in months.’

‘What do you mean?’ Elvis said sitting up which meant he was closer than before not that either of them seemed to care.

‘I’ve just been busy recently. Work’s been hectic and I just feel like she’s been on her own a lot,’ Addison said, she didn’t know why this was all spilling out of her now. After all, airing her insecurities in the middle of a zoo probably wasn’t the best place to do it but as Elvis watched her she felt that familiar tug from within. Like they weren’t at the zoo but holed away in his bedroom or driving around Memphis in his car like they used to. Like she was seventeen again.

‘I guess I’ve been feeling a little bad about it. I can’t even remember the last time we did something like this,’ she said genuinely trying to wrack her brain for the answer.

‘That doesn’t make you a bad mom,’ Elvis said.

‘I know,’ she said, ‘I just feel bad y’know? I guess it’s been since Marci left, Jess always had someone other than me…we’re just getting used to her not being here.’

At hearing Marci’s name Elvis’ mind whirred once more. He’d gotten some answers from Jess but there had been something burning inside him that he wanted to ask. A question he hadn’t dared broach just yet. Addison seemed to sense his curiosity as she said, ‘what?’

‘I guess I’ve been meaning to ask,’ he said tentatively.

‘About what?’ she asked.

‘Jess said you and Marci used to live together,’ he said.

‘Yeah?’ she asked not understanding where his thought process was going.

‘So…she knew? About Jess,’ he said.

‘Oh,’ Addison said quietly, ‘um, yeah.’

‘Did Jer?’ he asked, the worry that had been swirling around in his brain finally coming out. It had been bothering him from the start. His question seemed to startle her but she recovered quickly.

‘Of course not,’ she replied placing a hand on his thigh when she saw how worried he looked. It soothed him but not as much as her words did. It didn’t erase the fact people had betrayed him but knowing Jerry wasn’t one of them was something, ‘in fact I don’t even think he knows I was the reason they split up.’

‘What happened?’ he said curiously.

‘Well, she came and found me,’ she replied.

‘I meant all of it,’ he said making her brow furrow as he tried to explain, ‘what happened…after you left.’

‘Elvis,’ she said quietly. Again she felt that familiar tug but speaking about Marci was one thing. Telling him about all the other stuff was another.

‘You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,’ he said his baby blue eyes watching her hazel ones closely, ‘but I wanna know. All of it.’

‘Okay,’ she said with a sigh. He could tell she was gearing herself up to speak of it and he settled in hoping that if he just listened she’d humour him, ‘well you know that the Colonel shipped me off, right?’

‘Yeah,’ Elvis said trying to keep the bitterness inside him from his tone.

‘Well, I didn’t know what I was gonna do. I knew I couldn’t come back but being totally separated was hard, y’know? So, I kept in contact with Mar,’ she said.

‘Did she know? About the Colonel?’ he asked.

‘No,’ she said dropping her gaze to her lap, ‘I mean I didn’t really know how to tell her and I knew if I did she’d try and convince me to come back and I couldn’t do that…so I just kept it vague. We planned to go to college and how you’d be home in a couple of years…and then I found out I was pregnant and they moved me to a mother and baby home.’

‘What’s that?’ Elvis said though something in his gut told him he already knew. He hoped from the way she breezed past it meant that it wasn’t as bad as he feared.

‘A way for the school to keep its reputation essentially. You get moved over there, out of the way, with the idea that they’ll help you. And at first, I believed them. They made it seem like even having Jess that young I’d still be able to go to college like we planned but the longer I was there the more I realised they were pushing me to stay in school because they wanted me to give Jess up, probably even had a set of parents lined up,’ she said bitterly as she looked back at him, ‘once I realised that I took off, got on a bus and got off at the last stop. I ended up in the middle of nowhere…somewhere in Texas. Found a little motel and got a job cleaning for them, they even let me stay there.’

‘And Mar?’ he asked his heart aching at the ordeal of it all. He couldn’t imagine going through all of that – unable to tell anyone.

‘We kept in contact, but it was hard. She kept asking about colleges and why I hadn’t come home after the semester ended and I didn’t know what to tell her so I stopped answering her calls,’ she admitted, ‘which was dumb I know but at that point I knew there was no going back to Memphis and the more she talked the more it hurt.’

‘What happened?’

‘Your mom died,’ she admitted, ‘after that she knew something was wrong. She knew I would’ve been there…so she hauled ass to Texas.’

‘Sssh,’ Addison cooed as the baby continued to cry against her shoulder which was making tears form in her own eyes, ‘come on Jessie…just go to sleep okay? Mama really needs you to go to sleep.’

It was an empty plea; one Addison hoped her daughter would hear though as the continued to empty her lungs of every scrap of air inside them it didn’t seem to be working. Four days. Jess was only four days old and in that time Addison’s world had started to crumble. She knew it wasn’t going to be easy but if she was being honest with herself she had only been focused on the giving birth part. The rest of it hadn’t occurred to her.

She hadn’t anticipated the fact that even though she was still dog tired from labour she wouldn’t be afforded the luxury of sleep. She didn’t realise that whilst she held her daughter to her tender breast once again she would find that she had no food in the house to feed herself seeing as she had not been able to get to a grocery store at any point. She didn’t know that she would offer everything she could think of to this tiny human being and it still wouldn’t be enough or that she wouldn’t know how or what to do to fix it. And above all she hadn’t anticipated just how much her daughter would look like her father. How those tiny blue eyes sparkled like his even if they were filled with tears.

‘Come on Jessie, please,’ she said feeling her own sobs coming, ‘for Mama?’

As Jess continued to fuss Addison patted her back which suddenly expelled a modicum of spittle onto the shoulder of Addison’s only clean shirt. It wasn’t ideal but as soon as it was out of her she started to soothe making Addison heave a sigh of relief as she rubbed her baby’s back. Eventually she felt her start to doze off and she placed her into the Moses basket.

The other thing Addison hadn’t anticipated was just how much she would love her. Even with all the screaming, crying and pooping thrown in. As she fell into a sound sleep Addison grabbed a cloth off the dresser and wiped the small amount of baby vomit off her shoulder before she tossed it in the general direction of the laundry basket and collapsed onto her bed, feeling her own sleep coming.

She had barely closed her eyes before there was a knock on the door and though she was startled she leapt up to open it determined not to have the noise disturb her now soundly asleep new-born. Though as she wrenched the door open though she got quite a surprise. Standing in front of her wasn’t one of her disapproving neighbours [ones who came around to ‘check she was okay’ but always managed to slip in the fact that they were being disturbed by the racket] but instead, it was Marci.

‘Mar?’ she said stunned.

‘You’re not dead then,’ Marci said angrily before she pushed past her into the house.

‘Mar-’ Addison started as Marci walked into the middle of the room though she didn’t seem to take any of it in as she whipped around to confront her friend.

‘Do you know how worried I’ve been!? You practically disappeared off the face of the earth! No calls, no letters! I’ve been going out of my mind!’

‘I’ve been a little busy,’ Addison said tightly though she didn’t know why she was being short with her. She knew she was in the wrong but the number of hormones and exhaustion coursing through her right now was making it hard not to be snappy especially given her tone.

‘Busy? Doing what?!’ she asked, ‘because right now the only thing you should be busy doing is being on a bus back to Memphis! You know what’s happened right?’

‘What are you talking about?’ Addison said.

‘Elvis is back,’ she said her anger falling to sadness as she added, ‘his Mamas passed away.’

Addison stood there stunned. Marci’s words didn’t even seem to penetrate her brain but as she stared at her the more they sunk in. Elvis was back in Memphis. Elvis was back. And Gladys was dead. Her heart squoze tightly in her chest.

‘When?’ she asked through the lump that had formed in her throat.

‘A couple of days ago,’ Marci said quietly, ‘I’ve been waiting for you but Jerry said you’ve never been around and with you going silent…what’s going on?’

‘Mar,’ Addison said feeling tears prick her eyes. But she didn’t have to tell her anything. At that moment Jess started to fuss causing both of them to look towards the basinet in the corner of the room that Marci hadn’t even realised was there. Though her head was still reeling it was like a switch had been flicked in Addison and she moved past her friend to her daughter, picking her up which made her settle. As she held her in her arms Addison took a seat on the bed, her friend watching her in stunned silence.

‘I didn’t know how to tell you,’ Addison said after a moment, ‘I didn’t know how to tell anyone.’

‘Oh honey,’ Marci said taking a seat beside her friend and pulling her in with one arm as Jess continued to sleep in her mother’s arms. They stayed there for a moment, Marci watching the pair of them as tears rolled silently down her friend’s cheeks.

‘Addie,’ she said after a moment, ‘Addie you have to come home.’

‘I can’t,’ Addison said thickly.

‘Addie he needs to know about this,’ she said firmly.

‘I can’t Mar,’ she said looking at her pleadingly, ‘they don’t want me. None of them do.’

‘Elvis does,’ Marci said, ‘he loves you.’

‘It’s not enough,’ she said, ‘I wish it was but it’s not.’

‘Addie,’ Marci said sadly.

‘Mar I’m not going back. I can’t. And I know you don’t understand right now but I’ve had months to think this over. And no matter what I’m choosing my daughter. I’m choosing to protect her,’ she said. Marci looked at her friend. She didn’t understand, in fact, she wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to comprehend anything again in her life her mind was so all over the place at that moment but looking in Addison’s eyes she couldn’t help but feel her heartstrings tug. She hadn’t been able to help in past. With her dad. With Elvis. At every turn her friend had tried to hold it together herself and looking around the room at the chaos it looked as though this time she wasn’t winning the battle. Marci sighed.

‘So, what are we going to do?’ Marci said.

As the memory played on her mind she found Elvis watching her closely. It was something she hadn’t thought about in years and though at the time it had felt horrendous looking back now it was a fond one. It was the pinpoint of her life intertwining with Marci’s the way that it had. It was the reason she was even still going today. As Elvis waited for her to continue, she shuffled suddenly feeling under scrutiny.

‘And then she just stayed,’ she continued, ‘she wanted me to go back but she didn’t push. Honestly I don’t know what I would’ve done without her. I was a mess and she completely rallied around.’

‘Marci?’ he asked struggling to picture the ditzy teenager in the driver’s seat. Not when Addison was on board.

‘Yeah, I guess I’d been fighting for so long I didn’t have much fight left in me…’ Addison said quietly, ‘we spent the first year or so working in that little motel. Then she got a place at cosmetology school here in Vegas and we moved up here. We split working so that one of us was always with Jess. She even let me work for her when she started her own shop because it meant I could have Jess at the store with me instead of babysitters.’

‘That’s nice,’ he said. Though it hurt his heart to hear everything he was glad she had Marci. In fact, he was struck by how similar the situation was to his parents caring for her on behalf of Joe.

‘Yeah, not that cosmetology was really my thing,’ she said with a wry smile, ‘but once Jess was in kindergarten I decided to go to back to school. I mean I had my diploma so it wasn’t too hard and Mar still helped a lot. But about a year or so ago she met this guy and moved to California and I’m happy for her don’t get me wrong, but it was always just the three of us y’know? She was just always there…it’s just been a big change.’

‘I get that,’ Elvis said, ‘but it sounds like you guys did good…I’m glad you had her.’

‘Me too,’ Addison said with a soft smile, ‘that’s why I miss her so much. I know I was on my own but I wasn’t…not really.’

‘Well you’re not on your own now,’ Elvis reasoned, ‘you’ve got me. Both of you.’

‘Yeah, I guess you’re right,’ she said feeling hope flutter inside her.

‘Hey EP you guys coming?’ they heard Red call and when they looked over they found most of the group was already strolling to the next exhibit with Red lingering a few yards behind having noticed they hadn’t tagged along. Elvis smiled at her apologetically and then stood up offering a hand out to pull her up which he was surprised she took. As she smoothed out her clothes and started walking back to the party by his side she felt a weight be lifted off her.

It wasn’t easy but telling him all this stuff felt right. They had eased back into their friendship almost immediately but there still felt like a chasm between their souls, one that seemed to be healing with each interaction they had. That was why Jerry’s comment had unnerved her. She couldn’t love him, not like that, not yet at least, because there was too much that needed to come before any of it. Fortunately, it felt like that stuff was starting to happen.

SERIES TAGS

@girlblogger2002 @sania562 @caitlin1996 @literally-just-elvis-fics @notstefaniepresley @artlesson8892 @18lkpeters @velvetelvis @jaqueline19997 @elvispresleyxoxo @amydarcimarie @presleyenterprise @everythingelvispresley @elvispresleywife @lillypink @richardslady121 @lettersfromvenus

#my writing #elvis #elvis presley #elvis presley fic #elvis fic #elvis presley x oc #addison goodwin #here you come again

35 notes · View notes