#then the person who got me there via car decided to sleep in my apartment for another 3h so I went ahead and cleaned the whole house

[yeonban]

I went through one day of Tobias' daily life lite and I frankly have no idea how the hell this guy does it

[onewithnomightypowers]

clandestine (chapter 1)

PAIRING: Tom Holland x fem!Reader

SUMMARY: Y/N is an up and coming actress, married to a once hotshot actor, Harrison (Haz). What happens when her co-star, Tom, makes her realise that she is stuck in a loveless marriage. A marriage starts crumbling and a new romance stars brewing.

Chapter 1: too wise to trust

A/N: y/n is bisexual but not paired with a women. the characters have been aged up. the characters in no way portray how these ppl are in real life. i do not encourage cheating. i hope you guys like it as much is i do. if you want to be tagged them pls tell me. also comments are appreciated as they motivate me to write more and i love to know how you guys feel about the story.  

warning: cursing, mention of miscarriage, mention of sex, mention of cat calling, angst. fluff? 

word count: 1.4k

important: character thoughts are bold and italic, flashback is in italic

masterlist   series masterlist   chapter 2

She picked up her makeup bag from her vanity and started walking towards her empty suitcase which was wide open on her bed. “What time is your flight?” Haz asked while walking into their bedroom. “I think it’s at 6:30 in the evening but the car will be here to pick me up at 4”, she replied whilst folding her clothes.

“So we have at least an hour to us”; he pulled her by the waist and started kissing her neck. She tried pushing his chest away but failed miserably. “Haz, I’m not in the mood, please stop”

“Fine. But you have been saying that for months now”, he was frustrated.

She ignored his words like always. 

He was right. They hadn’t had sex for at least five months now and it was starting to gain on Harrison. Their marriage, which had been ‘couple goals’ according to the internet, was now slowly falling apart. It was clear that Y/N was falling out of love but she couldn’t find grounds for it. She couldn’t reason it by making him the villain because he was a good man who, in theory, had done nothing wrong. Though, to her, it felt like he had. Maybe he didn’t love her enough or maybe all had gone astray when they had lost their baby last year.

“Will Tom be there?” his words felt like venom, entering her bloodstream.

She placed her hand on her forehead, trying to indicate that she did not want to have this conversation or the inevitable fight, again.

“Of course he will be there, he is my co-star. You should get off the internet, it’s feeding you poison”, she said in an almost nonchalant way. Trying her best not to give him the satisfaction of a reaction to his name. His name, which did not mean anything to her. Tom was her colleague whom the internet liked to ship her with, but he was just a friend. Haz found it hard to believe this because the internet told him so. Their relationship was so far gone that he had no other way of knowing what was going on in her life. 

His wife was so far gone. She was as distant as the sun is from the moon. The distance left coldness between them. The kind of cold that you feel when you pass a stranger. She was a stranger to him and the only reason he could think of was that she and Tom were having an affair. This was not true, but the ache in his soul found comfort in painting Tom as the villain. 

“I don’t believe you”, Haz spat out.

She threw her heels inside the suitcase in anger. “What do you not believe? That Tom is my co-star? Is that what you don’t believe?” her voice was louder than before.

“I don’t trust him.” Haz matched her voice.

“Do you trust me?”

Trust? Her? How can I trust a stranger?

It was his turn to ignore her.

She zipped her bag, put on her shoes, and left the room. “Fuck you”, she cried before slamming their apartment door and leaving for London.

--

Y/N had first met Tom at a cast and crew dinner in New York, six months ago. Greta, the director, had invited both her and Haz but he had decided to opt-out of the ‘fancy’ dinner. Y/N was excited to meet her new co-stars and mark the starting of a new project, a new phase in her life.

It was cold in New York, she figured she shouldn’t wear a dress. She put on black stockings underneath blue bell-bottoms to keep her warm. She wore a dark grey American Eagles t-shirt and over that, a tan leather trench coat. She liked commuting via subway because she believed ‘nobody gives two shits about who is sitting next to them on the train’; and a town car was much slower, especially when it had been snowing. She stuffed her heels in her purse and wore her commuting shoes.

Tribeca to West Village was a good ten minutes train. Her travel was mostly uninterrupted except for the catcalls which felt like the usual to a native. Just before ringing Greta’s doorbell, she got out of her Converse and wore her heels.

Y/N entered a packed house. Almost everyone was there and she was late. But someone was to arrive even later than her. She examined the room, everyone was mingling with each other. She didn’t know anybody there except Noah Baumbach from the time she auditioned for ‘marriage story’. She didn’t get the part but still loved the movie. She realized Tom was missing.  

Greta pulled her into a conversation about when the production of the movie would start or something like that. She wasn’t really paying attention. She was so eager to meet Tom that her eyes couldn’t stop roaming around the room, trying to find him, and just when she thought he wouldn’t show up, he did. 

Everybody’s head turned towards him when he entered the living room. It was as if every person in the room wanted him, including her. His dark brown hair, falling into place like a domino, had snowflakes in them.

“Excuse me”, Greta gave a small smile to Y/N and walked over to Tom. She greeted him and politely touched his back. “Now that everyone is here we should take the party to the dining hall”, she said in a loud and cheerful tone.

Following Greta, everyone started moving towards the dining hall. Tom sat right across Y/N on the grand dining table. “Hi, I’m Tom”, he introduced himself in his thick British accent. “And he’s English”, Y/N said, adding to her list of things she found captivating about Tom.  

“And?” Tom gave her a confused look.

Shit. I said it out loud.

“I-I mean hi, I’m Y/N”, she tried to cover up her mistake.

His dark brown eyes on her, made her thoughts run wild. It was wrong enough to feel right. The dinner was served and small groups of conversations were taking place. Somehow the whole table took on the topic of bisexuality. Y/N felt obligated to take part in the conversation, being part of the community herself. 

“I think bisexuality is a gateway to being gay”, Tom said to the whole table.

“You’re being bi-phobic, Tom”, Y/N called him out. All eyes were on her now.

“And how do you know that?” Tom asked Y/N.

“Because I am bisexual, and any decent human being would know that”

“Are you calling me indecent?”

“No, I’m calling you bi-phobic”

“But aren’t you married to a guy?”

“That doesn’t change my sexual orientation, and you’re being bi-phobic. Again.” There was silence, everyone was listening carefully. 

“Okay, so please explain to me how I’m being bi-phobic?”

“Just the fact that you believe bisexuality is a gateway to being gay and me being married to a guy, means my bisexual card has been revoked, portray your biphobia”

“I am a little confused”, Tom said while reaching for his wine glass. 

“Someone who is bisexual is attracted to both men as well as women. It isn’t a gateway to being gay, it is a legit sexuality of its own”, 

“Hmm, I suppose I stand corrected. I’m sorry if I offended you or anyone. I will go home, do the research and try to be more open-minded”, said Tom, smiling.

“Good”, Y/N said, feeling accomplished and impressed by Tom’s ability to accept his mistake.

Haz would have never accepted that he was wrong.

Y/N felt wonderstruck. Blushing all the way home. She hoped Tom knew how enchanting it was for her to meet him. She wondered if someone was waiting for him at home, like someone was waiting for her. She wasn’t quite sure whether Haz was waiting for her to reach home or not.

She reached home to an empty bed. Not knowing what to make of it, she got ready to sleep. 2 AM and Haz was still not home. She didn’t try to reach him because she knew all phone calls would go straight to voice message and all messages would go unreplied. She closed her eyes, feeling indifferent towards Haz. Even in her sleep, her mind echoed Tom’s name. She was unaware of the treacherous road ahead of her. And that gave her comfort. His thought gave her comfort.

[tangledstarlight]

2. “Sure, you can use me as a pillow.” For willex 😃

hello hi this could have been so much longer but it’s 2am and i gotta go to sleep, but i also felt compelled to do this tonight so here we go! and yes okay i nearly forgot there was a prompt my bad 😬 hope you like anon!! 

hurt/comfort dialogue prompts!!

2. “Sure, you can use me as a pillow.” 

The thing about traveling is that Alex really hates traveling. 

Sure, he likes going to new places and experiencing new cultures and buying hotdogs from street vendors in New York who don’t work out of a car. But that actual act of traveling? Of getting from one place to another long distance via plane? Absolutely hates it. As he sits around in hard plastic airport chairs he often finds himself wishing he could just teleport himself. Think of where he wanted to be and poof! there he was. 

But he couldn’t poof around the world and instead he was stuck on a flight back to LA from New York that was already an hour delayed and was now a further two hours delayed on the tarmac while they were on the damn thing. 

Balling up his jumper and stuffing it behind his head Alex tries to relax, to stretch his legs out in front of him a little and let the tension leave his shoulders. He thinks about the apartment that him and the band had rented for the three months they’d been in New York working on their new album. Of how he could be on the plush grey sofa right now, listening to Reggie talk over whatever film they’d picked and trying to throw popcorn into Luke’s open mouth after he’d fallen asleep ten minutes in while Julie tried with m&ms. 

But no. He’s stuck in a plane and starting to get cramp in his leg and regretting not accepting the travel pillow Reggie had tried to give him before he left. God there had better be an open bar at his sister's wedding to make up for this experience. Though he knows that’s partly a lie, because seeing his little sister walk down the aisle in her white dress will be worth it, but the way his parents will avoid him the whole weekend? Oh yeah, he’s gonna need an open bar for that too. 

“Sorry folks, looks like we’re going to be stuck here a little while longer. Please remain in your seats and if you need anything––” Alex, along with the majority of the plane, stop listening to the pilot's voice on the speaker. There’s a collective groan and he can hear people complaining and the little tell-tale ding of someone calling for assistance. 

Alex blows out a breath and tries to go back to relaxing in his seat. Which feels awkward and uncomfortable and exposed, probably due to the fact he’s got an aisle seat. Logically, he knows that. Logically, he knows that no one is really judging him right now because they’re all too busy dealing with their own shit. 

The sleeve of his jumper slips free, dropping to his neck and, without thinking, he swats it away. Belatedly, and okay yeah, only after the responding grunt, does Alex remember that there’s someone sitting next to him. 

Eyes snapping open he looks at the man next to him, takes in the long hair and the tie dye sweatshirt and the wires of his headphones and the raised eyebrow as he looks back at him. 

“I am so sorry I just––” Alex trails off because he doesn’t have an excuse. He just forgot there was someone sitting next to him. Which, the longer he looks at his seat neighbour and takes in the jaw line and the lips curving into a smile and the way his eyes haven’t left his–– how the hell did Alex not notice him when he first got on the fucking plane? (He’s going to blame it on how much he hates traveling, it blinds him to all hot people in the vicinity, even if they happen to be right next to him apparently.) He can feel his cheeks growing warm and he realises he’s just staring and hasn’t actually finished his sentence. 

“Fell– neck, y’know?” He gestures vaguely to his neck, and the sleeve of his jumper that’s still on the other man's shoulder and god fucking damn it Alex that wasn’t even a sentence, get it together! If Luke or Julie or Reggie were here right now they would be laughing at him. 

“It’s all good man,” the stranger says with a light laugh and–– god he’s got such pretty eyes that Alex is almost distracted from what he says next, “You seem a little tense there though man. You goo?” 

And see, this is exactly part of the reason why Alex hates traveling. It’s the awkward small talk on the plane or the train or when you’re unfortunate enough to end up next to an extra chatty person on the bus. It’s why he shoves headphones on and pretends he can’t see lips moving. Though, he’s maybe willing to break that rule just a little today.

“Not a big fan of traveling,” is all he says, trying not to grimace about how much of an understatement that is. 

“On planes or just in general?” 

“Just in general. Though after this it might be a plane thing,” he tries to joke, and he’s pretty sure it’s a terrible attempt but the stranger giggles and oh man Alex hadn’t thought he could get cuter. 

“Yeah, this has been a pretty shitty few hours,” he agrees, biting down on his bottom lip for a moment before seeming to decide something, “I’m Willie. By the way. Since we’re going to be stuck next to each other for a while.” 

“Alex. Hi,” and, for some strange reason he lifts his hand and waves at him. That magical teleportation power would come in handy right about now, he decides. 

But, for whatever reason, Willie doesn’t find it weird and they start talking. Alex learns that Willie’s flying back to LA because he’d been in New York for an art show, and that he’s into skateboarding and he looks really good when he ties his hair up in a bun. In turn, Alex tells him about the band and recording their first album and about his weekend. 

“So wait, your parents don’t want you going to the wedding?” Willie asks, body half turned towards him in his chair and there's a look of confusion on his face. 

“They’d didn’t explicitly say that but we all know they’re going to be disappointed when I show up,” he shrugs. It hurts, but it’s also just been a fact of his life for so long now that Alex sometimes forgets that not everyone has the same experience. And anyway, he’s not going for his parents, he’s going for his sister. 

“Man that’s fucked,” he mutters, eyes seeming to zone out for a moment, only to refocus as Alex claps a hand over his mouth to block a yawn. 

“Sorry. I put off going to sleep so I could sleep on the flight but,” he shrugs, shooting Willie a slightly sheepish smile but he just shakes his head, another smile on his lips. 

“You’re all good. When this thing finally takes off you can use me as a pillow,” there’s a slightly teasing edge to his words but a challenge in his eyes. 

And maybe it’s because he’s been stuck in an airport and then on a plane for four hours longer then he’d expected to be, or because he’s just really tired or maybe he’s just feeling brave in the face of his weekend ahead, but Alex smiles back at him and says, “You’re probably much comfier then my jumper.” 

There’s a beat before Willie laughs, knocks his knuckles casually against Alex’s shoulder. Half an hour later, when the pilot announces they’ve been cleared for takeoff and the majority of people cheer, Alex and Willie share a high five, palms lingering maybe a touch too long, but he’s not going to complain. 

He doesn’t sleep on the flight, but he does leave LAX in a taxi with Willie’s number saved in his phone with the first text he’d sent being the address of his sister's wedding and an assurance he didn’t need to bring a gift. 

So okay, maybe traveling isn’t the worst thing in the world.

[tinawritesstuff]

Andiamo a conoscere la famiglia

(Let’s meet the family) 

Pairing: Chris Evans/ Fisrt Person Reader

Wordcount: 4.7k 

Warnings: smut, NSFW, read under caution

Request: “Hello!! If you’re still taking requests I was wondering if you could write a one shot where the Chris evans and age gap reader go on vacation with her family for the first time and it’s just supa sweet maybe even a little smutty? Thanks a ton”  by the lovely and patient @bellamy-morley-blake​ 

A/N: This is my first CEvans OS and I don’t know what lead me to write the tittle in Italian, but oh well. Hope you enjoy it! Don’t forget to reblog and comment if you like it! 

CEvans taglist: @mrsnegan25​

When I agreed to be Chris Evans’ girlfriend, the thought of him meeting my family never really crossed my mind, considering that I never thought our relationship would go further than a couple of dates.

And I’ve never been more thankful for being wrong. We’ve been together for half a year now, and things have been wonderful. He’s the most passionate guy I’ve ever met, about his job, his hobbies, his family and now, me.

We met in Disneyworld, at Magic Kingdom to be more precise, and to say sparks flew instantly would be an understatement. I was traveling with my family and him with his, and we met on the line for one of the rides. He asked for my name and then we started talking, completely forgetting about our relatives and the line ahead and behind us. After that, we went to a couple of dates, inside and out the parks at Disney, and as they say, the rest is history.

Since the moment our first date started, I knew that Chris was the type that my parents would like for me, even though our age gap was kind of obvious. But that didn’t matter so much, specially to us.

The idea of spending the holidays with my parents was mine, and I was nervous about the outcome of it and how Chris would react. I happened to be wrong, again. My boyfriend was thrilled about the idea and was excited because he’d wanted to meet my relatives for a while. So, we decided to surprise them with a trip to the Bahamas. The idea was to departure, each of us, from the locations we were in (Chris and I from Boston, to L.A., and then to the Island; and my parents from my hometown), and we would all meet and check in at the hotel.

I close the zip of my bag and let out a big huff, because I’m finally done packing my clothes and necessaire with my “lady stuff” as Chris calls it. After days and days of procrastinating, the day of our flight finally arrived and my luggage wasn’t even half way made. So, I had to go full speed and get it all together a couple of hours before leaving.

Chris texts me, saying that he and his brother are on their way to pick me up to go to the airport. I reply back with a “Ok! Can’t wait!!!” and then finish packing the last necessities.

After some minutes, I don’t know exactly how many, my phone starts ringing and when I go to pick up, I see that it’s Chris. Who else, duh?

-          We’re here, baby! Do you need help with your bags?

 -          Uhm… I think I got it. But come up here to give me some kisses, I’ve missed you. – I pout and I hear him laugh.

 -          Okay, babe. I’m on my way up. – he hangs up and I keep packing stuff on my carry-on baggage: phone charger, earphones, passport, airplane tickets, etc.

 I hear a soft knock on the door, then it gets opened and Chris comes in with his childish smirk. I smile back at him and walk fast to his waiting open arms. When I reach him, I jump on him, wrapping my legs around his slim waist and my arms around his neck, and he holds me tight against him, putting one of his hands on my back and the other under my butt.

I grab his face with both my hands and bring him close to me, to seal our lips in a deep kiss. The last time we saw each other was ten days ago, and I can see that he missed me as much as I did him. When we break apart, he smiles at me and I peck his nose, then his cheekbones and finally go back to peck his pink and full lips. Gosh, how I’ve missed him.

-          I’m afraid that, if you keep this up, we won’t make it to the airport. – he says between pecks and I nod my head, but don’t let go of him.

He then puts me down, seeing that I have no intention of doing so, and grabs my face to give me one last full, deep kiss. We separate and he goes to grab my big bag, silently asking with a nod of his head if there’s anything else I need him to carry, to which I shake my head no and he nods again. I go grab my backpack and then we both take off, me closing and locking the door once we’re outside. We walk hand in hand down through the building I live in, till we reach the lift. Once inside it, we make small talk about his latest projects and my online classes. He talks a bit about A Starting Point, how the interviews have gone and how it has impacted to young population (me included, and I’m not even from the U.S). I feel so proud of him, he’s achieved a lot, after working so hard for it.

When we reach the first floor, the metal doors open and we walk to the reception of the building, where Albert (the doorman by the entrance) greets us and opens the door for us. When we step outside, I thank the kind man and we both walk to Chris’ car, where his brother Scott is waiting for us. My boyfriend opens the trunk to get my suitcase inside, and I open the back door to get into the car.

-          Hi sweets, how are you? – greets me Scott once I’m seated, with a big smile on his handsome face.

 -          Hello, handsome. I’m pretty well, how about you? – I smile back at him and lean forward to kiss his cheek.

-          Awesome. It’s been an amazing couple of weeks lately.

 -          That’s great, hon! Tell me more about it.

I pay high attention to him while Chris climbs on the passenger seat, and Scott tells me all about this new guy (Steve) he’s been seeing lately. I love how happy he is, he definitely deserves it. 

On our way to the airport, we share what each of us has been up to in the time we didn’t see one another, while Chris controls the music with his phone that is connected to the stereo via Bluetooth. “More than words” by Extreme sounds through the speakers and my boyfriend looks at me through the side mirror and smiles lightly at me, letting me know with that gesture that this song is dedicated to me, to us.

The thing is, we haven’t told each other the ‘L’ word yet and the worst part is that I don’t even know why. We love each other, we show the other that we feel that way, but expressing those words out loud has proven to be a difficult task. 

I smile back at him and lean forward to leave a peck on his shoulder, with the car seat between us. Scott keeps making small talk, and sometimes the three of us would sing whenever a classic song comes next. It takes us at least forty minutes to arrive to our destination, and when we do, we still have one more hour to do the check in and wait to board our flight. Chris and I go to the check in and dispatch area, where we hand the kind old lady our passports and tickets, and she does the procedure to send us, later, to the boarding waiting room. We say goodbye to Scott, with huge hugs and kisses from my part and a tight hug with a pat in the back from Chris, and we go to the security scanner to get ourselves checked. It only takes us around twenty minutes, and we are finally able to go to wait for our flight to be announced.

Some fans come to ask for pics with Chris, and he can’t refuse them. They stare at me weirdly, making me feel anxious in a way, because I’m not sure how to interpretate those looks. Are they mad? Are they judging me, or my relationship with Chris? We haven’t gone public yet, so I don’t really know what they could possibly be judging me for. So, I decide to let it go for now.

A voice in the speakers calls for the attendants of our flight to board, and that’s when he can finally come back to me. He gives me a sympathetic smile while I collect our stuff and I just wave it off. It’s not a big deal. 

After almost thirteen hours of flying and waiting (five hours from Boston to L.A, then three hours waiting for our next flight, and finally four more hours to Bahamas), we make it to the hotel around six in the morning, completely tired and with zero energy to do anything but sleep. We leave our bags next to a couch the room has, and I decide to go and take a quick shower to remove the airplane smell from my body. When I’m done, I get out of the bathroom with just a towel around my body and one holding my wet hair, and I spot Chris soundly snoring on the bed. I let out a little laugh and then proceed to get comfy in one of his shirts and one of my black thongs he loves so much. After that, I go lay down next to him until I can’t keep my eyes open anymore and fall deeply asleep.

The next day, I wake up tangled between Chris’ limbs and I let out a big yawn before circling my arms around his back, closing my eyes and kissing his naked shoulder. I feel him stir and then turning around to face me, leaving a trail of kisses from my face down to my neck and shoulders. He keeps pecking every inch of skin he can reach, until I open my eyes and smile lightly at him, and he smiles back at me, before leaning forward to leave a sweet kiss on my lips.

-          Good morning, pretty girl. – he mumbles against my cheek and leaves a peck there.

 -          Good morning, big guy. How’d you sleep?

 -          Mmm… your incessant snoring actually kept me up for a couple of minutes, but I’m getting used to it by now. – I reply coyly and he lets out a snort.

 -          Like a baby, considering I’ve finally got you all to myself. – he smiles again and I back at him. – How about you?

 -          You aren’t what they call a light sleeper either, my love. Have had your fair share of snores as well.

 -          And I’m sure you haven’t been able to sleep properly for it, specially tonight. 

We spend a couple of minutes there, laying in bed, sharing kisses and silent touches, showing to the other that we lounged for this moment, after being apart for so long. The clock marks ten past eleven in the morning, and we decide to get up and unpack our bags. Chris goes for a shower first, and then joins me to do the task in hand.

After some brunch, we head out of the room after I receive a text from my mom saying that they were settled in the hotel (same as ours) and that we should meet them at the lobby. Chris takes my hand, and I can feel him sweating with the tip of his fingers cold as ice, touching the skin of my own. I take our joined hands to my mouth and leave a little kiss on the back of his, letting him know that everything’s fine, and he turns to look at me and smiles nervously but his shoulders visibly relax.

When we reach the lobby, I can see my parents waving their arms at us, and I wave back at them with a big smile on my face. I’m so excited about this.

Chris and I walk hand in hand to them and when we are face to face, I jump to hug both my parents after months of not seeing them due to my job commitments. They hug me back, telling me how much they’ve missed me. When we break our group hug, I turn to my boyfriend and stretch my hand to him, beckoning to come closer to us. He does just that, but stays an arm length to greet them with a handshake (I suppose), except that my mom doesn’t let him and pulls him in a big hug, taking Chris by surprise.

-          I’m sorry, darling, but we’re huggers.

 -          It’s ok, ma’am. I am one myself, but didn’t want to cross any line.

 -          I’m starting to like you and I don’t even know your name, son. – my father smiles and pats Chris on the back, instead of going for a full bear hug like my mom did.

-          It’s Chris, sir. Chris Evans, a pleasure to finally meet you.

The day goes on pretty much that way. Chris and my parents engage into deep conversations about diverse topics, like politics, sports, even religion. Dad explains to him the importance of meritocracy to make a citizen evolve (according to his point of view, obviously) and Chris gives his opinion about that topic as well.

We enjoy some time in the hotel pool, my mom and I sunbathing while our men chat away in the bar, and when the sun starts to go down a bit we decide to go and sightsee around the island. First, each of us go to our respective rooms, to shower the chlorine off our bodies and get into comfortable clothes.

Once that’s done, we meet again at the lobby, where my parents arrived first (because my man and I took some extra time to do… some extra activities), and were talking with the receptionist, asking him where we can visit. He gives us some maps that show the nearest touristic area, somewhere we could reach walking, and we all thank him before leaving.

We go to a small village, where local markets are still open to the public, and we all go our ways to see and buy stuff if we feel like it. Chris and I walk with our fingers intertwined, me resting my cheek on his strong bicep and leaving little pecks every now and then. I feel the love I have for him radiating through my veins, after the success of this afternoon, all I want to do is be with him, show him how much I thank and love him for today and all the effort he put to make things easier.

-          Look, baby – he says signaling a stand with different handicrafts on a table, with a lovely smiling old lady standing behind it.

 I look around, and Chris leaves my side for a moment to go and check out some of the rest of the stands. A quartz stone necklace catches my attention and, after asking the kind lady, I grab it between my fingers.

-          Each of the rocks have different meanings, you know. – the woman says and I look back at her – The green one you’re holding now represents prosperity and wellness, and they all change according to the color. The purple one goes for spirituality and meditation, the blue one for calm force and relaxation, and the list goes on and on. – she smiles sweetly at me and I back at her. – Any of them caught your eye?

-          The green one, actually. If you had two of them, it would be amazing.

 She smiles again and leans down to reach for something under the table, to come back up with another necklace just like the one I’m holding in my hands. She puts them both inside a little paper bag and I hand her the money, then I thank her and go back to my boyfriend.

We continue our walk until the sun sets completely and we decide to grab some dinner before heading back to the hotel. After dinner, my parents decide to go to bed early because of the long flight and the hours of endless fun they had with us, calling it a night. But Chris and I opt to go to walk through the beach for some time. And that’s what we do.

The path is silent, but nice. We walk holding hands and suddenly I remember the two pieces of artisan jewelry I have inside my little purse, which makes me stop my walk and Chris to look at me confused.

-          I got something for, well, us. – I say with a smile handing the pendant to him. He looks at me with a confused but lovely smile – When you left be on that stand, I saw these necklaces and instantly fell in love. The nice lady said they have different meanings depending on the color.

 -          Well, what does the green one mean baby?

 -          It’s a symbol of prosperity and wellness, according to her. And I knew I had to get one for each of us. – I take a deep breath. Okay, here it goes. – Today was lovely, with my parents and everything, you made it so special and joyful. I’m so thankful for you, that I had to get you something to express that, so this is it. This is my wish for us, a commitment I decide to make to you, for this relationship to be as prosperous and strong as this solid piece. Because I love you, and all I want to do is grow this love with you next to me, supporting each other and working hard to make it work.

 I finish my little speech with a crack in my voice, tears accumulating in my eyes, but I couldn’t care less, because I’ve been dying to let him know that I love him with every piece of me, every fiber of muscle, every single part of me loves him like I never loved anyone before. When I look up at him, I see the same emotions radiating from his baby blues, and he wastes no time to grab my face between his soft hands and kisses me with all the adoration he has for me, that I know he has.

-          God, I can’t believe you’ve made me tear up like this. – he says when we break the kiss and we both chuckle – You’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever met, inside and out. Your words just made me fall in love even more deeply with you, and now I feel like an idiot for not expressing my feelings well enough. - He laughs in embarrassment – But the thing is, I love you with all of me, with every piece of mind and soul, in every way there’s possible, and I commit to you as well to make this love grow even more, and work for it through thick and thin. You’re my world, nugget.

Now I’m fully- ass crying. I hug him tightly, circling my arms around his strong shoulders, and he puts his around my back, lifting me and hiding his face in the space between my neck and shoulder. Chris leaves little pecks on the skin there, and finally moves his mouth to mine, sealing our love deal with a searing kiss. A kiss that holds every emotion we have and share, emotions we’ve been suppressing all this time. No more, though.

When we break apart, he asks me to put the pendant around his neck and he does the same with me, and with happy smiles on our faces we walk back to the hotel.

 We reach our roon and I can feel the change on the air. There’s tension, and Chris looks at me with a promise of a night full of showing me that he meant every word he said. I walk backwards, with Chris walking towards me, guiding me to the bed and making me fall on it when I reach it with the back of my knees. He crawls above me, placing both his hands on each side of my head, looking directly in my eyes. I smile at him, bringing one of my arms up to caress his bearded jaw, and he leans into my touch, leaving a little kiss on my hand right after.

Chris starts caressing my legs, from my ankles up to my thighs, leaving a path of goosebumps on my skin as he lifts my long skirt and rolls it up on my hips, leaving my covered crotch exposed to his starved sight. I let out a sigh when he blows a thin rush of air from his mouth, hitting my pussy directly, making me squirm because the contrast between the heat of my wet womanhood and his cold breath is evident and rushes a wave of pleasure through my body. He grabs both my legs with his big hands, opening me wide and exposing me even more to him, then goes and presses his nose right on my mound, inhaling deeply and closing his eyes while doing so.

-          You smell divine, doll. – he whispers and pecks my, still, covered mound.

 I let out an almost soundless whimper at that statement. His bed vocabulary is so vulgar, yet he makes it sound so erotic and sexy. He hooks his thumb and index finger around the waistband of my underwear and pulls it off, taking it to his nose and giving a little sniff that makes me close my eyes out of shyness. He can be so dirty, but oh so hot at the same time.

-          Open those beautiful eyes, pretty girl. I want you to look at me directly while I have this tasty dessert.

 I open my eyes, moving my body to be laying on my elbows and have a better angle to look at him, and he finally sweeps his tongue along my slit, teasing my clit with the tip once he reaches it. I look down at him, biting my lower lip and he goes back to the long strokes. Letting out a moan of protest at how slow he’s going, I grip the back of his head with one hand to make him go a little faster, deeper, harder; I don’t know, anything. Or at least I try.

-          Patience, my sweets. Marvelous things come to those who wait. – he says and licks up and down my opening a couple of times before pulling away

 Chris removes his polo shirt, exposing his tight chest muscles covered on all those sexy tattoos he has, and I find my mouth watering at the sight of his hot self. Then, he undoes his pants and pulls them down, along with his briefs, before coming back to be on top of me again.

-          I thought you wanted to taste me? – I pout and he smiles widely at me.

 -          I will, my lovely. Just wanted to get comfortable, don’t wanna mess up my pants with jizz, now do ya’? – his Boston accent comes out and I moan closing my eyes.

-          No, sir. We don’t want that – I answer in a small voice, biting my lip once again and batting my eyelashes at him because I know it drives him wild.

 He lets out a guttural groan at that and finally holds my legs, puts them on his shoulders to have better access, and dives in to eat from my wetness, like starved man. I yelp in surprise when I feel his mouth making out with my lower lips, adding his tongue to the mix, driving me completely crazy, and he wastes no time to flick my clit with the flexible muscle inside his mouth, then sucks it between his lips, making me mewl because he’s just so good.

 -          I swear you have the sweetest pussy I’ve ever tried, baby. So juicy, I could spend a lifetime eating you.

 Chris keeps his wonderful mouthy work, until he makes me cum the first time, adding his fingers to the process. It’s always like this: he makes sure I’m absolutely ready to take all of him, all of what he has to offer me, making me cum at least twice with his mouth only. I know I’m in for a really long night (but no one hears me complaining about it, oh no.).

The sensitivity in my core is too much, but he’s having none of it. He keeps lapping around my opening, then goes up and creates patterns with his tongue around my nub, drawing eights and different shapes to stimulate it. I grab a hold of the back of his head, making him immediately stop his movements and leave his tongue out, and I start grinding my wetness up and down his mouth, marking the rhythm and speed to my liking. I’m seconds away from coming, and he knows it because this is what I usually do when the pleasure his mouth gives me overwhelms my senses.

After a marvelous second orgasm, he climbs on top of me again, caressing my legs and pecking every inch of skin he reaches as he goes to my kiss my mouth. He places himself on his elbows, placing them on each side of my head, and with one delicate thrust he goes all in, getting a low and long moan from me and making me cling to him with all the sentiment and passion I feel for him.

-          Fuck, baby. You’re so goddamn tight, still can’t believe this little cunt takes all of me in.

He lets out a low groan after that, being so into dirty talk, he can’t keep himself from saying the nastiest things I’ve ever heard right in my ear, which adds more lust to the situation.

Chris’ thrusts are slow but hard, taking his time to let me feel all of him inside me, making me moan and arch my back to him. He moves his arms to hold me close and still, taking his hands down to grab my ass, all while he’s still pounding into me. I grab myself with a firm grip on his shoulders, kissing him passionately as he becomes more agitated and uncoordinated, meaning he’s close.

One of his hands travel to my mound, and it doesn’t take him long to find my sensitive bundle of nerves and he starts rubbing it in swift but decided circles to bring me close to my third climax.

-          C’mon, baby. Cum for me, I can feel your tight pussy clenching around me, I’m right there with you, let’s cum together.

 The intensity of his words, the flicks on my clit and the powerful thrusts of his pelvis inside my channel, are enough to bring me to the ectasis that has been boiling inside of my lower belly, making me moan and groan out his name. The sudden tightness around his cock are what makes him go still and let a growl out of his pink and bruised mouth, releasing all of him inside my womb.

Riding me through my orgasm and his, Chris slows the pace of his thrusts, until he pulls put completely and lays all his weight on top of me, not that I mind in the slightest. I kiss his temple a couple of times, while holding him close to me, and I feel him kissing my shoulders and neck. Once our breaths are settled and calm, he rolls over to his side of the bed, bringing me with him to lay y head on his chest and interwind our lower joints. 

-          Thank you for today, love. It was amazing – I whisper against his pec and kiss him there.

 -          I should be thanking you, baby. Your gift got me even softer and weaker for you, and I thought that wasn’t even possible – he chuckles and I with him.  

-          It’s just something for you to remember me when you’re away working. 

 -          I always carry you with me, my sweet girl. And I always will- he whispers and then closes his eyes – I love you so much, honey.

 -          I love you too, big guy – I close my eyes and let sleep wash over me.

 We fall asleep like this, together, holding each other in a mix of sweat, body fluids and a promise of always loving each other. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

[freudensteins-monster]

You Say “Mad Scientist” Like It’s A Bad Thing

Based on my own tumblr post: 3am thoughts… Has anyone written Jane Foster as a mad scientist, I mean like a villain?

Chaotic neutral Darcy and Jane featuring modern/human SHIELD Agent Bucky.

Available on AO3.

Content Warnings: Implied/Referenced Torture, Aftermath of Torture, Amnesia, Memory Suppressing Machine | The Chair (Marvel), Dark, Sort Of, Ambiguous/Open Ending...

In a world full of megalomaniacs, straight up supervillains, and fricking aliens, mad scientists were a dime a dozen. Dr Foster was one such scientist who was quickly moving from mildly irritating to SHIELD’s Most Wanted.

Dr Foster’s gimmick was portals. She first gained international attention when she claimed responsibility (via an untraceable Instagram account, @dr-mthrfckng-foster) for diverting LA’s 405 to a dirt road in rural Australia. Then came a string of impossible robberies – bank vaults and the private collections of the world's richest assholes stripped bare in seconds. Then she created a portal that caused an Indonesian typhoon to bear down on Wall Street, flooding the trading floor. And then she robbed a top secret government black site of some classified technology.

And that’s when Director Nick Fury made finding and stopping Dr Foster SHIELD’s number one priority.

Agent James Barnes had been stuck on suspension for two weeks, with two more to go, and was itching to get back into the field. He had way too much free time on his hands: he’d caught up on his sleep and everything in his Netflix queue. He’d cleaned out his refrigerator, done laundry and enough meal prep to last him until next month. He’d caught up with his family, cleaned his whole goddamn apartment twice, and now he was well and truly bored.

He was out for his fifth run of the week (and it wasn’t even Wednesday) when his work phone rang.

“Thank Christ,” he muttered before answering.

“Barnes.”

“It’s Hill. How’s the arm?”

“Fine,” Barnes grunted, rotating his metal shoulder irritably. “You got something for me?”

“Are you up for a recon mission?”

Usually he would have protested. He headed tactical units. He was an elite ‘first through the door’ kind of field agent. Not that he couldn’t be stealthy and patient - he’d been a sniper in the army for christ's sake - but going unnoticed in public was kind of a problem for him these days; he’d have to wear jackets and gloves in the middle of August to hide his prosthetic for starters.

On the other hand, his mother had been calling him every second day to feed him carb-heavy meals in exchange for help around the house, all while dropping not-so-subtle hints that he should start dating again. Requests for more grandchildren couldn’t be far behind.

“I’ll be there in thirty.”

Thirty-five minutes later Agent Barnes was back at his desk at SHIELD HQ perusing through the increasingly large file of one Dr Jane Foster. 

She had been a brilliant student and had earned a PhD in Astrophysics from Culver University by the age of 25. By all accounts she should have been one of the leading researchers in her field, and if doctoral programs handed out superlatives Dr Foster’s would have been “Most Likely To Win a Nobel Prize By 30”. 

Unfortunately for Dr Foster, and the rest of the world, she had been forced from that path by a sexist tenured professor who publicly denounced her theories, and the woman herself, as crazy, discredited her published work, and used his influence to ensure she was denied all of the more lucrative research grants.

When federal agents went to interview him after the 405 incident they found his office looking like a tornado had gone through it and the professor himself was nowhere to be found. A few weeks later he stumbled into a US Embassy in Russia after being found wandering in from the forests outside Vladivostok, half mad and still decrying the evils of allowing women into scientific fields.

He had been placed into witness protection and promptly admitted into a psychiatric facility under his new name, and was being monitored by several undercover agents in case Dr Foster felt like punishing him some more. 

Anyone else who had a part in ruining Dr Foster’s legitimate career was also under surveillance, as was her mother in London, a terrified ex-boyfriend in Boston, and a handful of known associates, though Dr Foster hadn’t been in contact with any of them in years.

SHIELD and other federal agencies had tried the usual methods of tracking down a rogue mad scientist. They tried to find out where her base of operations was, firstly by looking for any properties in her name, but Dr Foster had been a broke student with an impressive amount of debt (until the day she decided to wipe it, and the rest of Culver’s student debt, out). So if she had property it would definitely not be in her legal name and all but impossible to trace back to her. Then they tried to look for drains on the powergrid. However she managed to generate her portals - SHIELD scientists still hadn’t figured that out - it surely had to be using huge amounts of electricity. So far they’d found six grow labs and two server rooms running illegal god-knows-what, but no Dr Foster.

Agent Barnes read the file twice, reviewed all the transcripts of the interviews with her known associates, and came to one very important conclusion: she had an accomplice. 

As smart as Dr Foster was there was nothing in her academic history to suggest that she had a background in computer science that would account for the notable hacks and the untraceable nature of her activities. To add to that several interviewees had made passing remarks about her not having a cell phone for most of her academic career, and how she had zero interest in social media.

Two days later, after getting the okay for a field trip from Hill, Agent Barnes made his way to Culver University to speak to anyone who had even the vaguest recollection of Dr Foster. And that’s how he learnt about the intern.

He’d started by dropping by one of the physics labs where Dr Foster had spent most of her time, and by pure chance met a doctoral candidate who remembered her, and her intern.

“I think her name was Darlene. Glasses. Always on her phone.”

…which led him to the academic advisor who put the two of them together...

“Darcy. Darcy Lewis. She was actually a PoliSci major but left it too late and Dr Foster’s internship was the only one available. She had only been working with her for a few weeks before… before Dr Foster’s funding was revoked and she was asked to leave.”

...who pointed him to one of Darcy’s former professors…

“Average student. Good debater. Often late, and always had a coffee in her hand.”

...who gave him a few names of some former classmates who might remember her…

“Not the worst person to be stuck with on a group assignment. Pulled her weight. Obsessed with her stupid iPod.”

“I swear she lived off pop tarts and coffee. And not Starbucks either. Some stupid hipster chain.”

“Deja Brew. Serious problem. Went through one of those loyalty punch cards every week. Always complained about having to go home for the holidays and resort to big chain coffee shops.”

...which had him driving out to Darcy Lewis’ hometown, located a few hours south of Roanoke, Virginia, stopping first at the local high school to speak to the school principal…

“She’d always been good with computers but wasn’t allowed to use them at home for some reason so she spent a lot of time at the local library using theirs. We had to suspend her once. One of her classmates accused her of accepting payment from other students to hack the school’s records and alter their grades. Their grades were definitely getting altered, but we couldn’t get any concrete proof it was her.”

...who was able to find a photo of 16 year old Darcy in an old yearbook and told him what bar he could find Darcy’s mother in.

“She knows not to come to me if she’s in the shit, because I would call the cops in a heartbeat. Especially after that stunt she pulled before she went off to college…”

“What stunt was that, Ms Bennett?” Agent Barnes asked patiently, hoping he wouldn’t have to enable her alcoholism to get some useful information. 

“I made some mistakes, okay,” she slurred defensively. “I was having an affair with my boss. Don’t know how Darcy knew. She told her stepfather but he didn’t believe her. Then a few weeks later we went out to dinner for my boss’s birthday... all the tv’s in the bar start showing security camera footage of us falling into offices and motel rooms. Took her all of a minute to ruin two marriages and a law firm.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” he replied diplomatically. “Is there anyone she could turn to for help? Her father, perhaps.”

“He died when she was about twelve. They were as thick as thieves,” she recalled with a tinge of bitterness.

“Was there any place that was special to them? Someone she might go to ground?”

She shook her head. “He used to rent this old cabin near the Catskills off a buddy of his every other year. Winter or summer, Darcy loved it. But it's long gone. Forest fire, I think, the year before his accident.”

Back in his car Agent Barnes reviewed the data points.

Dr Foster had a base of operations somewhere. Had to be private, and as best SHIELD could guess it must be off the grid and Dr Foster must be generating her own power.

Dr Foster was a space nut at heart, and while an abandoned observatory might be too much to ask for, she’d probably want somewhere with minimal light pollution.

And while they could portal anywhere, neither of them spoke any other languages and had no familiarity with any international locations, so they were most likely still State-side. (Dr Foster’s mother had moved to London when Jane was twenty-three, but she’d never found the time to visit.)

Miss Lewis was familiar with the Catskills area. A base of operations there could be very isolated.

Dr Foster was most likely building and modifying her own own equipment so she had to be able to access materials. Sure, she could portal to her local hardware store, but having Darcy drive into the nearest town for supplies would attract less attention.

Miss Lewis had an addiction to coffee procured from Deja Brew, a small hipster chain with only a handful of locations along on the east coast. While she could have found another way to get her caffeine fix, people were creatures of habit.

Miss Lewis was also known for stocking up on poptarts. In one of the only images of the other side of one of Dr Foster’s portals there was what appeared to be, if one squinted, a box of limited edition pop tarts on a counter.

He plugged it all into SHIELD fancy search engines and got a few results back. The most promising was an abandoned ski chalet turned abandoned research station halfway up a mountain, an hour drive away from an up and coming tourist town, whose main street hosted a Deja Brew cafe. They also had a small mom and pop hardware store, as well as a post office, and a grocery store that had still been selling pumpkin pie pop tarts around the time Dr Foster’s portal had been caught on camera.

Agent Barnes came to with a groan. The flesh of his shoulder where it met his prosthetic felt like it was on fire, and he was pretty sure he could smell fried wiring.

The research station had come up in SHIELD’s initial search for a potential mad scientist's lair, but had been dismissed for not using any power and for not sending back any heat signature readings. Perhaps they’d found a way to fool the scanners. Or maybe they just weren’t in the day the readings were taken. Whatever the reason, Agent Barnes had a good feeling about it. He filled his tank up at the nearest gas station and got on the highway, forgoing checking in at the Triskelion on his way past in favour of driving all night. He’d call Hill when he had something solid. 

** *** **

“Fuck…”

He willed his eyes open and came face to face with Darth Vader.

Barnes reeled back at the sound of the synthesized voice. “Who sent you? Who do you work for?! The Rebellion?” 

“What the fuck!”

It took him until his eyes adjusted to the fluorescent lighting to realise that Darth Vader was wearing a grey knit dress and black tights. Darth Vader laughed and ripped off his mask to reveal a smiling bespectacled brunette underneath. The accomplice. Darcy Lewis.

“Sorry, I was just messing with you, dude,” she teased, tossing the mask over her shoulder. “I’ve always wanted to do that. But seriously, who do you work for? Who knows you’re here?”

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about,” he lied. “I was just camping in the woods, man. I saw the lights and decided to check it out,” he rambled in a lazy Canadian accent. “How the hell did I get here? Did you electrocute me?”

He used his not-quite fake panic to test the limits of his restraints. He’d been strapped into some sort of junkstore barber chair, with thick metal shackles locked around his wrists, ankles, and chest. His metal arm could probably make quick work of them but the damn thing was not responding. His panic became a little less fake.

“Just camping, huh?” she echoed back with a raised eyebrow, leaning forward to the point where Barnes couldn’t avoid getting a good look down her top and the 15-carat pink diamond (worth about 40mil and reported stolen in one of Dr Foster’s vault heists two months ago) hanging around her neck. “So that wasn’t you poking around town this morning?” she asked pointedly, drawing his attention to the wall of monitors he hadn’t noticed showing various street cameras around the town. “I’ve got eyes and ears everywhere, dude. You got into town bright and early in a beat up looking truck with plates that didn’t exist two weeks ago and started flashing my yearbook photo around. So, who do you work for?”

He levelled his best steely-eyed agent stare at her and switched back to his native pissed-off Brooklynite accent. “I ain’t tellin you shit, sweetheart.”

“C’mon now,” she cooed, taking a seat on his lap. “Who do you work for? FBI? Interpol? SHIELD? Crawford County Library Services? Listen, I was totally going to return Eat Pray Love, but we had to skip town in a hurry and it got lost in the move. I will totally pay to replace it.”

Years of training (and regular poker games with the Black Widow) had taught him to school his features, even if that last one threw him for a loop.

“Nothing? You sure you don’t want to talk to me? Fine,” she whined. “Jane!”

It was only then that Barnes switched his focus from his captor to his surroundings and realised that there was another occupant puttering about on the other side of the large telescope that took pride of place on a hydraulic platform underneath the research station's retractable roof. The infamous Dr Foster.

“Jane!”

“What?” came the irritated reply. 

“Come over here and practise your monologue. Look! You’ve got a captive audience and everything!” she announced, laughing at her own joke. 

“I don’t have time, Darcy,” the disgruntled voice argued. 

“Hey! I spent two days writing up that monologue, the least you can do is spend twenty-five minutes reading it out loud so I can make sure it doesn’t make you sound too much like a cartoon villain.” 

“Twenty-five minutes?! Are you kidding me?” Dr Foster stormed out from behind the telescope to wave a wrench at her assistant. She looked less put together than her ID photo, appearing to be long overdue for both a shower and a nap. “I’m in the middle of something. I’ve almost figured the problem with the mobile portal generator, and… Darcy, why is there a man tied to a chair in my lab?”

“This man?” Darcy snorted, taking Barnes’s chin in her hands and wiggling it about. “This is the intruder. You remember the intruder alert, like fifteen minutes ago? Lots of flashing lights and alarms? Well, I found this guy passed out on the lawn. For most people, hitting my force field would be like getting lightly tased, but this bad boy,” she continued, tapping a fingernail against his dead metal arm, “meant you ended up getting the full 50,000 volts to your heart. Thanks for letting me practice my CPR by the way,” she added with a wink.

“It’s not a force field, Darcy. It’s a glorified invisible pet fence, upsized and modified so it reacts to the electrical impulses in the human body.”

“It keeps people out; I’m calling it a force field.”

This was definitely the weirdest interrogation he had endured by a large margin, Barnes mused as he followed their bickering like a pingpong game.

“Who is he, Darcy?” Jane sighed wearily. “What is he doing here?”

“Fiiiine. Janey, meet Agent James Barnes of SHIELD.”

“What?! SHIELD?!!”Jane screeched. “Why did you bring him here?”

“He found us, Jane. What was I supposed to do?”

“Something other than bringing him inside our secret hideout.”

“I am not killing him and burying him in the woods; I just did my nails.”

Jane scowled, turning the full force of her overtired fury on James. “Why can’t you SHIELD issue jackbooted thugs just leave me alone? Can’t you understand how important my work is? I am challenging the very foundations of modern science - of the laws of the universe! I am on the verge of a breakthrough! And if you or Nick Fury think you can stop me, you’ve got another thing coming!”

Before his mouth could betray him and ask how the hell they knew his boss Darcy spoke up.

“A little off script, but I like the energy, Jane. Very much the mad scientist vibe we’re going for. But next time, try not to make it so personal – we’ve got to hide the target of our frustrations, remember? Instead of saying “SHIELD” say “government”, instead of saying “Nick Fury” say “president”.”

“Right, right,” Jane nodded absently, tapping the side of her head with the wrench she had just been waving around like a weapon.

“Now, go back to work. I’ll handle this.”

“Okay, thanks Darce. Oh, have you seen my soldering iron around?”

“It’s in the locked cabinet because you’re not allowed to use it unsupervised, you know that. Gimme ten minutes, I’ll bring it to you.”

Jane wandered back to her side of the observatory, muttering under her breath, leaving Barnes at Darcy’s mercy.

“She’s not the criminal mastermind here, is she?” he wondered, his eyes roaming over the strange cupcake of a woman in his lap.

“Not exactly,” Darcy admitted. “I mean, it’s not like she set out to be a mad scientist. I kind of rebranded her after that little freeway incident.”

“Rebranded?”

“Yeah. She was in a bad way after New Mexico and then when the first live test of her portal engine went a little sideways I didn’t want dudebros on the internet coming after her, so I changed the narrative. Instead of ‘girl scientist makes mistake, should stick to making sandwiches’ I changed it to ‘Dr Foster, genius astrophysicist, causes chaos, totally on purpose.’”

“And all those robberies?”

“I may have encouraged that. I’m all for sticking it to the one percenters, and Jane needed to fund her experiments somehow,” she added with a shrug.

“So Jane’s the absent-minded professor and you’re the brains behind this operation, huh?”

Darcy laughed and slid out of his lap causing a distracting amount of friction. “I’m really not. So you, Coulson, and Fury should be really, really scared.”

“How do you know those names?” he had to know, cover be damned.

“You don’t know? Of course you don’t,” she huffed. “Fury and his clearance levels. I’d tell you to ask him about New Mexico sometime, but you’re not going to be able to.”

“Why not? What are you going to do to me?” Barnes fretted, unable to ignore the sinking feeling that he was in big trouble; she wouldn’t have told him anything if she intended on letting him walk out of here.

“Oh, relax. I’m not going to kill you. I’m just gonna scramble your brain a little.”

She circled his chair, flipping switches as she went, and something behind him started humming ominously.

“So, admittedly I didn’t major in hard sciences. I had an ex who did, but he also fancied himself something of a cat burglar, so when he went to jail I liberated all his college textbooks and gave myself a crash course in electrical engineering. And it helped that those HYDRA designs were really easy to follow.”

“HYDRA?” Barnes cursed.

HYDRA had been the scientific branch of the Nazi regime and believed that discovery required (human) experimentation. They were supposedly eradicated at the end of WWII but Project Paperclip saved some of HYDRA’s greatest minds, giving them immunity in exchange for their genius. If Foster or, more worryingly, Darcy had aligned themselves with some surviving HYDRA faction the results could be catastrophic.

“Yeah, I found them in that SHIELD warehouse when we recovered Jane’s stolen research.”

“What are you talking about?”

“They just call it ‘The Chair’, which is totally not creepy at all,” she continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “And this is the Halo,” she added, drawing Barnes’s attention to the whirring circle of metal that was lowering itself over his head.

“What the hell are you doing?” he shouted, renewing his efforts to break free of his restraints. “Get that piece of scrap metal the fuck away from me!”

“Hey! Don’t mock my work. It may look like I raided a junkyard for the components - and I did - but my welding game is on point. It’s totally safe. Mostly safe. It’s just going to send focused electrical pulses to your…” she paused to consult some smudged writing on her hand, “hippocampus and prefrontal cortex.”

The Halo stopped moving and two metal plates extended, pressing against the sides of his head, holding it like a vice.

“Please… don’t do this,” he begged as she approached him with a rubber mouthguard.

“C’mon, open wide. You don’t want to end up braindead and unable to chew your food,” she jested, waving the thing in front of him. “Oh, just one question before I fry your brain,” she added just when he was about to give in. “How did you find us? I was so careful,” she whined.

Agent Barnes, terrified as he was, still managed to look smug at his small, short lived success. “Deja Brew coffee.”

“Curses!” she wailed theatrically. “Betrayed by my one true love!” 

Darcy huffed and quickly returned her attention to the matter at hand. 

“Thanks for that,” she said with a smile as she forced him to bite down on the mouthguard. “I’ll know better for next time. Start making my own coffee at home… but it never tastes as good,” she muttered to herself.

She stepped away from him and bent down to pick up a similarly frankensteined industrial remote with long wires snaking back to the chair and a clichéd big red button at its centre. He began struggling anew, screaming around the foul tasting rubber, begging for mercy.

She took great delight in his terrified expression and put on her best supervillain voice, “Give my regards to Nick Fury.”

Nick Fury observed his agent from behind a two way mirror as he sat behind a table in an interrogation room. Barnes had been sitting there for the past hour as still as a statue, except for his unfocused eyes which flitted about the room. 

In true horror movie fashion, Agent Barnes’ screams echoed down the mountainside like an avalanche, sending animals fleeing in terror for miles around.

** *** **

Local LEO’s had found him wandering aimlessly down a stretch of highway just outside the ruins of what had previously been Puente Antiguo, New Mexico, and ten minutes after they ran his prints Agent Romanoff had been on a quinjet to collect him. She’d been directed to the nearest hospital and found him sitting up on a bed but not responding or reacting to any of the medical staff as they buzzed around him. Agent Romanoff took a cautious step forward and held her breath as his unfocused eyes settled on her. 

“Hello James...”

An excruciating minute later the veil lifted and he attempted a smile. 

“Hey Tasha.”

She’d brought him back to base and dragged him to SHIELD’s medical bay for more tests - not that Barnes put up much of a fight, in fact he was terrifyingly compliant. The SHIELD doctors confirmed what the New Mexico doctors suspected: the bruising and electrical burns around his temples and his memory loss were indicative of some back alley version of electroshock therapy. His memories should come back in time - how long was anybody’s guess - but for the moment Agent James Barnes had no memory of the last four weeks.

Fury picked up a tablet with depressingly little information on its screen and stepped into the room, waiting for Barnes eyes to focus on him before taking a seat. 

“Agent Barnes.”

“Director.”

“I know you’re probably sick of questions by now, but I have a few more for you, if that’s alright.”

“Yeah, sure…”

It rankled Fury to no end how meak and passive Barnes seemed. Heaven help him, he missed the argumentative sonofabitch.

“What’s the last thing you remember?”

“Being called into your office.”

“What for?”

“I punched Rumlow.”

“Why?”

“He was bragging about taking advantage of a drunk woman at a club when he was last on leave. He didn’t like me calling out his shitty behaviour. He punched me, I punched him back.”

Fury sighed. He hadn't gotten a straight answer out of Barnes at the time of the incident and he couldn’t feel happy about getting one now. 

“Do you remember what happened once I called you into my office?”

His brow creased and his eyes zipped back and forth like the carriage of a printer as his mind searched for the elusive memory.

“You suspended me?”

“I did,” Fury confirmed. “For a whole month. But two weeks into it I pulled you in for a special assignment.”

Barnes tensed, shrinking in on himself. The confusion about his lost time seemed to be the only thing that got under his skin, but only when someone brought it up. Once the moment passed he forgot to be concerned about it.

Fury took pity on him. “For the past two weeks I had you running down leads on the whereabouts of Dr Jane Foster.”

“The scientist with the portals? Did she do this to me?”

“It’s not exactly her MO, but then again no law enforcement agency’s ever managed to have a confrontation with her. Never had the chance. Those portals of hers let her keep at a distance. You might have been the first person to have a face to face with her, but I can’t confirm it because I don’t know where the hell you were when this happened,” he grumbled, letting a little more of his usual exasperated tone filter through. “You missed check in by two days. The last we heard from you, you were at Culver running down leads on what you said was a potential accomplice. We found your car in Tromso, Norway, a day after you were found on the side of a road in New Mexico. You don’t appear on any security footage or speed cameras in the area. There’s no activity on your work or personal credit cards. Your activity logs on our highly secure system for the last two weeks are nonexistent, as are your call logs on your work phone. Even the messages you sent Romanoff from your personal phone complaining about your assignment have since been deleted - from her phone too. She’s real pissed about it. As far as your digital footprint is concerned you disappeared from a gas station outside Roanoke, Virginia, last week - do you know how weird it is to know you were headed out towards a place called Roanoke only to up and vanish?” He sighed at Barnes’ painful silence. “Is there anything you can remember, anything at all about Dr Foster or her accomplice? Anything that will help us catch up to you without talking to everyone on campus to figure out what you discovered?”

Barnes’ brow creased in painful confusion.

“I think… I think I saw Darth Vadar.”

Director Fury blinked. “Right…” He took a deep breath to stop himself from venting his frustrations at Barnes, the sorry bastard looked like a kicked puppy as it was. Instead he got up and tapped the tablet against the metal tabletop harder than strictly necessary. “Well, I’ll just go put out a BOLO out for Darth Vadar then.”

“Okay,” Barnes murmured, and promptly zoned out again.

Agent Romanoff exited the viewing room looking uncharacteristically unsettled. 

“I want a full detail on him at all times,” Fury ordered as he stormed off towards the elevators. Hill had just stepped off and was looking even more grim than usual. “Until his memories come back he’s vulnerable, and once they do he’ll be a target.”

“I’ll get a STRIKE team on it. Not Rumlow’s.”

“Get another one along with any assets currently not on assignment. Flood that campus, interrogate everybody. I wanna know who the hell Dr Foster’s accomplice is, and I wanna know yesterday. Understood?”

“I think we might have more pressing concerns, sir,” Hill reported, tapping at her tablet as it beeped erratically. “Coulson’s said there’s an issue with the Tesseract. Dr. Selvig read an energy surge from it fifteen minutes ago.”

“NASA didn't authorise Selvig to test phase,” he grunted, taking the tablet from Hill.

“He wasn't testing it, he wasn't even in the room. Spontaneous advancement.”

“Motherfucker.”

[wiypt-writes]

Riding High

Ch23: Full Circle

Chapter Summary: Mary takes a trip to Boston, but it doesn’t go exactly according to plan and both Frank and Fliss find themselves making a return to the place they both ran from.

Chapter Warnings: Bad Language words.

Chapter Pairings:  Frank Adler x OFC Fliss Gallagher

A/N: Nothing major in this, except please bear with me…I’m a Brit so don’t have a wonderful knowledge of the US Health service… thanks to those of you who helped me with this one, you know who you are… ;-)

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Fliss Gallagher and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Riding High Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Chapter 22

In the eye of the storm, you remain in control, and in the middle of the war, you guard my soul, you alone are the anchor, when my sails are torn, your love surrounds me in the eye of the storm.

 "You got everything?" Frank looked at Mary as she shrugged her pink backpack over her shoulder and nodded at him, grinning. "All set..." "Have a good time sweetie!" Fliss grinned as she bent to give her a hug. "I'll make sure Monty is ok, and Fred gets his ping pong ball." Mary wrapped her arms around Fliss, squeezing her before she turned to Frank and did the same. "Call or message me when you land." Frank straightened up as Mary turned to climb in the car as Evelyn held the door open. It was in instruction, not a request and that didn’t pass Evelyn by. She looked at him, smiled and nodded. "Of course. Our flight is due into Boston at 10pm so I'll let you know straight away." Frank nodded and Fliss slipped an arm around his waist as Evelyn settled into the car, the door closing behind them. "She'll be fine..." Fliss gave his hip a gentle squeeze as they both waved the car off, Thor playfully bounding after it for 2 or 3 strides, barking. "It’s only 2 nights sailor...she'll be back Sunday evening" "I know..." he sighed, turning to face her. "And I know it’s different to the last time she went..."

“But that won’t stop you worrying, I get it.” Fliss said, as she gently slid her arms round his neck.

“Stupid, huh?” Frank sighed, his hands falling to her hips.

“No, not at all. You’re behaving like any dad would…” “I’m not her dad.” Frank shook his head.

“And Bill isn’t mine, biologically.” Fliss looked at him, her head tilting to one side. “I’ve told you before, don’t sell yourself short.”

Frank took a deep breath and looked down at Fliss, her large brown eyes studying his.

“What you wanna do tonight?” He asked, changing the subject. It always made him feel slightly uncomfortable being referred to as Mary’s Father, it was almost like he was betraying Diane’s memory in a way. It was stupid, illogical, he knew, as he was her father, in every way but biologically…but still.

"How about you take me for a ride in the new truck?" Fliss smiled. “I’ve not sat in it yet!” Frank looked over her shoulder for a moment at the sleek, shiny new silver Mitsubishi Triton he’d taken delivery of that morning. He smiled a little, before he looked at Fliss, his hands flexing on her waist as he had an idea. "Why don't we see what's on at the Drive In up at Tampa? Good trip to give it a test and we can take the blankets and cool box up, sit on the back?" "Ooooh, sounds great!" Fliss grinned "grab some munchies too!" Frank nodded, giving her a peck on the lips before they headed back up to the apartment. The evening film turned out to be Bohemian Rhapsody which Fliss was eager to see and after checking the time they packed up the truck with what they needed before hitting the road. Fliss was taken with the modern interior of the new vehicle, fiddling about with the dials and the screen on the centre console, tuning the radio in and programming the rest of the stuff which Frank couldn't give a crap out. The only thing useful on there in his opinion was the built in GPS. "Did Greg call you today?" Frank asked Fliss as she sat in the seat beside him. She turned to face him, frowning. "I thought I told you?" Frank school his head, glancing at her. "Oh God, Frank, I’m sorry!" She slapped her palm to her forehead and groaned, shaking her head. Frank chuckled and reached out to squeeze her knee. "Honey, its okay" he assured her, giving her a smile which she returned. He knew why she had been quick to apologise. As part of their moving forward since their little 'blip' as Frank referred to it a few weeks back, Fliss had agreed one hundred percent disclosure on anything and everything to do with her ass hat ex and she didn't want him thinking she was holding out. Another part of the deal was they went to the police. After seeing the evidence and taking statements they had questioned John, who of course had denied it. Given that the evidence was circumstantial the prosecution had told Fliss that they wouldn't be pursuing it further however, upon learning this Greg, had taken matters into his own hands and was pushing for further action. Given that the weight of probability with John's history, swayed towards him being responsible Greg was actively yet unofficially harassing the Assistant District Attorney in Suffolk County (who he knew from Law School) to at least consider holding a Grand Jury Hearing. "He hasn't heard back from his pal at the DAs office yet." Fliss shrugged, her eyes moving back to the road "Mind you, John's been quiet though for the last month now since the photo. Part of me wonders if pushing for this is just gonna kick the Hornets nest so to speak." "Maybe." Frank mused. "But Greg seems confident if we can get him up in front of a Grand Jury, they'd without a doubt decide there was a case to answer." "He just wants to second chair the Prosecution" Fliss grinned and Frank snorted. "Yeah he has taken it kinda personally." Frank nodded, before he sighed and reached out for her left hand which was now nervously twisting the fingers of her right. He pressed a gentle kiss to her knuckles before he linked his fingers with his and dropped his hand to the arm rest between them. He didn't mention it again. Instead they concentrated on enjoying themselves and once at the Drive In, Frank reversed the truck so the flat bed was facing the lager screen. They sat in the back, cool box of beer and snacks at their disposal, huddled together and enjoyed their film, sharing the odd lingering, deep kiss that left the pair of them smiling and grinning like a couple of teenagers on the back row. Once the film was finished they headed home via one of the All Night Diners on the for a shake and some pie, at which point Frank received a photo message from Evelyn that showed Mary asleep in the back of her car, accompanied by the words "Safe and Sound" and a promise that Mary would call in the morning. He passed the phone to Fliss who grinned at the image. "See, nothing to worry about." She said gently, passing him the phone back. "I'm not worried..." he began to protest but Fliss simply arched an eyebrow and he let out a soft sigh. "Okay, maybe a little..." "It’s gonna be fine. She's going to come back full of tales about what a great time she had and that's the most important thing here Frank. You said you wanted her to be happy. Clearly, having Evelyn in her life is what she wants." "I know, I know...you're right." He nodded, before his attention flicked to the waitress who was bringing them their food. Once finished they made their way back home and decided to take Thor for a quick walk down to the Marina. It was dark, and getting a little bit chilly (well, as chilly as it ever got in South Pas) but it was nice none the less, just taking the time to themselves in the moonlight. As they walked and talked, Frank felt the veil of anxiety he had been feeling about Mary’s trip lift slightly and he started to relax properly. It was hard not to, he loved spending time with Fliss like this, just doing simple things alone and it didn’t escape him how if you had asked him eighteen months ago if he would be spending his Friday Nights walking down the Marina with his girlfriend of a year he would have laughed.

At that he stopped.

A year.

Fuck.

“Lissy…” he pulled her back to him. “It’s our anniversary tomorrow.”

“I know.” she smiled “I take it you just remembered?”

“No…” he started to protest, and then gave a laugh as she arched an eyebrow at him, calling him out.

“You’re so full of shit.”

“Maybe I did just remember but that’s only because every day with you feels as special as our first date.” “Oh fuck you Adler!” she snorted and he laughed, tilting his head back, his right hand flying to his chest. “That’s is such a shit line.” “Okay, okay, sorry!” he chuckled, tilting his head to look at her. “I’ve never been in this position before so cut me some slack huh!”

“Well, I’m not expecting a card or flowers or any crap like that.” she smiled “It’s not like it’s a wedding anniversary, which, for the record, when we get married, you forget one of those I would smother you to death in your sleep…” “When…” Frank looked at her, a soft smile on his face.

“I mean if.” She flushed, biting her lip.

“Nope, you said when…”

“Piss off.”

“So you don’t wanna marry me?”

“I didn’t say that?”

“So you do then…” “Frank, seriously, shut up!” She laughed, hitting him on his chest. With a chuckle, he dropped his arm round her shoulder. They continued their walk, looping around the marina to start the head home, when after a few moment she spoke again.

“But, hypothetically speaking, if I was to ask…” Fliss took a deep breath as they continued to walk, before she stopped and looked up at him. “Hypothetically?” “Of course…” She smiled, and looked down slightly, before she grinned up at him “Then it would totally depend on what ring you got me.”

“Materialistic…” Frank nodded, “Noted.” She shoved him again and he looked at her, “What?” he asked through his chuckle.

“I wonder why I love you at times.” “No you don’t.” He said gently and it was her turn to laugh as she shook her head.

“Yeah, you’re right. I don’t”

“You’ve still not answered my question…” He said, looking at her.

“Ask it properly and maybe I will.” she sassed back.

Frank felt his face split into a grin because that was all the damned answer he needed. He leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to her lips before he pulled her close and they headed home, Thor running in front of them barking at the lights that were reflecting on the dark water.

******

Frank blinked. It took him a while to realise what had woken him, but his phone was ringing. Reaching for it with a yawn he looked at it, and as soon as the caller ID registered he sat bolt upright and answered. "Mother?" He frowned, his voice thick from sleep "What's happened?" "Don't panic..." she spoke immediately, and he felt his chest contract straight away in worry as she continued "but we're on the way to hospital..." "Why, what's going on?" He asked, as Fliss stirred next to him as he began to push the covers down, before swinging his legs so he was sat on the edge if his bed. "Mary started complaining of pains in her stomach just before bed. She seemed to settle after some pain relief but woke about half an hour ago screaming. So I decided call an ambulance." Evelyn's voice was calm but Frank could sense the underlying current of anxiety "they're here now and they want to take her in, they think its appendicitis..." There was a pause as someone said something to her on the other side and then Frank could hear Mary's soft crying and he felt a lump in his throat. "Ok, where are they taking her?" He asked "Cambridge?" "Yes." Evelyn spoke "Frank, I need to go but I'll call you as soon as I have news." "Ok." Frank nodded, standing up "I'll be there as soon as I can" Evelyn didn't argue, she simply promised once more to call as soon as there was an update and he hit cancel. "Frank?" Fliss asked softly, clicking on the lamp as he turned to face her. "What...."

"It's Mary." Frank looked at Fliss as he moved the wardrobe and pulled out a bag "She's been taken ill, they're err...taking her to hospital. I need to go..."

"Hospital?" Fliss threw the covers off the bed "What for?" "Suspected appendicitis..." Frank said, as he tossed the kit bag onto the bed "I don't know much more but..."

He took a deep breath as Fliss reached out for him, and he fell into her arms as she gently gave him a hug. He pulled away and ran a hand over his face.

"Ok, first thing's first." Fliss spoke. "We need flights..."

"Flights?" "Yeah, you can't drive there Frank." Fliss looked at him, "It will take you a day." "Yeah, yeah." he nodded, realising that his plan to simply jump in his truck and floor it was a ridiculous one, before he frowned. “Hang on, we?"

"Yes, we. You're not going on your own." "I don't want you back in Boston." Frank shook his head. "Not whilst..."

"Frank, I'm not having this argument with you." Fliss said sternly "Fuck John. This is Mary. I'm coming, end of discussion." Frank looked at her for a moment, her face was stern leaving him absolutely no doubt she was being serious. If he was 100% honest with himself, he didn't want to go without her either, so with a deep breath he nodded.

"I’ll sort the flights and then I'll call my mum and dad, they can come get Thor and Fred. Where's your ID?" "Kitchen drawer." he said, as he began pulling a few items of clothing and stuffing them in the bag. She nodded and headed out of the room, the lights in the hallway flicking on as she went. He shoved what he had pulled from his drawers into his bag. He hated this, he'd always been there when Mary was sick, and the fact he was a damned 3 hour flight away was killing him.

"Dad's on his way over, and the first flight I could get us on is at six-fifteen which gets us in at nine-twenty.” Fliss said, coming back, her phone in her hand "So that gives us just under three hours." she said.

Frank nodded and that was the confirmation she needed, and she tapped a button nodding. "That's done. So you're gonna need your paperwork, insurance etc..." "Yeah, that's..." he frowned, "erm..." "Filed with everything else." she looked at him, "It's in the drawer in the bureau."

"Right." "And we should probably take some more stuff for Mary." Fliss looked at him, "She's gonna be there a little longer than anticipated so she'll need more clothes, pyjamas...maybe a few books...want me to sort it?" "Please." he smiled softly at her, thankful that she seemed to have taken control.

She nodded and headed into Mary's room and began to pull a selection of things for her together, returning with them moments later. They spent the next 15 minutes gathering what they needed before they both dressed, and then there was a soft knock on the door. Frank made his way to answer when his phone rang again.

"I'll get the door honey." Fliss spoke softly as he answered the call.

"Mr Adler?" "Speaking." "This is Ava Fields calling from Cambridge Hospital...I just need to collect some details from you regarding Mary...I believe you're the Minor's official guardian?"

Frank took a deep breath and confirmed the status with the woman, and then headed into the living room, nodding slightly to Bill as he went to the file which Fliss had placed on the dining room table. Flicking through he found his policy details, number and proceeded to recite the information over the phone.

"Listen..." he spoke to the woman once he had finished "I'm in Florida at the moment, but I'll be flying up as soon as I can...in the meantime, could it be possible to delegate responsibility when I'm not reachable to Evelyn Adler, she's Mary's grandmother, my mother...she came in with her. I don't want anything to be held up whilst I'm in the air..." "No, of course Mr Adler." The woman spoke kindly, "I'll make a note that you're happy for Mrs Adler to be the point of contact until you arrive...now have a safe trip and try not to worry." Yeah, right.

With a thanks he cut the call and immediately dialled his mother.

"Any news?" he demanded.

"The doctor has just arrived." Evelyn spoke quietly "He's doing a quick physical then I suspect she'll be taken up for some tests or..." "Ok, well our flight leaves at 6:15." he said, walking back into the bedroom "Arrives in Mass at 9:20."

"I'll send a car for you." Evelyn said.

"Thanks." Frank said "Oh, and I've told the hospital that if they can't reach me to defer to you. I hope that's ok." "Of course it's ok Frank." Evelyn replied softly "She is my granddaughter." "Just call me the minute there's any news." he said, ignoring her sudden softness. "Sure." Evelyn said "And keep me posted as to where you are." With a goodbye Frank slid the phone into his pocket and unplugged the charger before he threw that into the bag along with his documents before he zipped it up and lifted it, along with the smaller one which contained Mary's stuff and headed into the hall.

"Hey Bill..." he said with a sigh, dropping the bags to the floor "Sorry, I wasn't being rude..." "Stop." Bill shook his head, cutting Frank’s apology off "How is she?" "Still being examined. I should know more shortly." he took a deep breath, looking at Fliss "Mother's sending a car for us once we land."

"Ok." Fliss said "I couldn't get two seats together but we're a row behind one another..." Frank nodded, it wasn't important. What was important was that they simply got there.

"Deep breath..." Fliss said softly, her hands resting on his arms "Have we packed everything?"

He nodded, running over the list in his head and Bill reached for one of the bags. "Ok, let's get going..."

"Dad's gonna drop us at the airport." Fliss said, "Save us having to sort out Car parking..." "Thanks." Frank looked at Bill, who waved his gratitude away.

"No problems...all set?" "Jacket." Fliss looked at Frank and he cursed, heading back into the bedroom. Grabbing the warmest one he owned, which was a dark grey Super-Dry zip up he carried it back into the hall and the three of them headed down to Bill's Range Rover.

15 minutes into the trip he had another call from Evelyn to say Mary was being taken up for scans as soon as possible.

"The initial examination seems to confirm it's appendicitis..." she said "They've given her a sedative for the pain and once the scans are done, if its confirmed they're going to need to operate. The good news is it doesn't appear to have ruptured so it can be done via a laparoscopy..." "Yeah, that's wonderful..." Frank said sarcastically before he sighed "Sorry, I'm just worried..." "I know." Evelyn said "But she's in the best place Frank." "Yeah..." he sighed, looking out of the window. "Thanks...keep in touch." He explained to Fliss and Bill who were both looking at him questioningly before they fell silent again, no one speaking for the rest of the journey, which took them just over 35 minutes in total. After giving Bill quick instructions for Thor and Fred, and the man promising to call Alan and Joanne for them, as it was unlikely they would be back on Monday, they both gave him a hug and Bill gently slapped Frank's back slightly, in as Fatherly a manner as he could have done.

Check in and security took them about 40 minutes to clear, meaning by the time the hit the lounge they had roughly an hour before they could start boarding. Fliss suggested they grabbed a coffee and Frank agreed, even though he didn't particularly want one, he knew it was a way of passing the time. He was also getting antsy as there hadn't been any more news from his mother or the hospital. Fliss directed him to sit on the tan, leather sofas in the Coffee Bar area of the lounge and headed to the counter to place their order. Whilst she waited she turned to glance at Frank, to see he had crossed one long leg over the other and was rubbing at his forehead with his hand. She knew he was worried, hell, they both were, but Frank was normally the level-headed one out of the pair of them, more often than not being the one bringing Fliss down from a rage when Mary came home and told about something a kid at school had said to her, even when Mary didn’t actually give a shit herself. But now the tables had turned and Fliss knew she had to be the calm one despite the fact she herself felt anything but.

Taking the coffees with a smile she turned and headed over to where he was sat, placing the mugs on the small table in front of them and then dropping gently into the seat besides him.

“Thanks.” he murmured, before he pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked it again.

"She’ll be ok Frank." Fliss said gently, her hand dropping to his knee.

"She's gonna be so scared Fliss" Frank sighed, his hand sliding into hers "A strange place, in pain, and ...I'm not there..." "No, but you will be as soon as we can." Fliss soothed.

"What if they operate, and then she wakes up and..."Frank's voice croaked "I promised I'd look after her and..."

"Hey..." Fliss said softly, her fingers tightening around his "You do look after her. No one could have predicted she would fall ill, that isn't something you can control, ok? I know it’s easier said than done but try and concentrate, keep a clear head. So when you do get news you can digest it rationally ok?"

"I know going back can't be easy for you." he looked at her, "But I'm glad you're here...I don't know what I'd have done without you before..."

"Probably jumped in your truck in nothing but your boxers." She said and he gave a soft chuckle.

"Probably" he agreed.

They made small talk for the rest of the time before their flight called and they headed to the gate. He called Evelyn to inform her they were boarding and she told him that they were still waiting for a doctor to come by with the scans results. That frustrated him, as it had been almost 2 hours since they had said they were referring her for one but there was nothing he could do about it.

They found their seats, Frank shoving their bags into any space in the overhead locker he could find and thankfully, the man next to Frank was happy to swap seats when Fliss explained the situation to him, meaning they could sit together. Whilst Frank had earlier stated it wasn't important he was glad he was by his side. He could take her hand, feel her presence which itself was calming.

The flight itself felt like the longest 3 hours of Frank's life. He tried to concentrate on a film, but that didn't work. Nor did the paper from the flight attendant, or trying to talk to Fliss. After 40 minutes he just settled into a contemplative silence, his mind working overtime, simply taking Fliss' hand in his as he willed away the minutes. Eventually, their descent into Logan was announced and after Fliss spoke to the flight attendant again, they were allowed to exit the aircraft first. Frank was back on his phone as soon as they walked off, and Evelyn answered immediately saying Mary had been taken down to surgery approximately 50 minutes ago. She assured Frank that Mary had been ok, knew he was on his way, and Evelyn had been with her whilst she fell asleep, which was something at least.

As they were travelling with their bags in the cabin, once they cleared security they didn’t have to wait for luggage reclaiming, and they strode quickly into the arrivals lounge where they were met by their driver who Frank greeted with a nod. They followed him outside to the sleek grey Mercedes and both climbed into the rear once Frank had tossed their bags into the trunk.  Fliss gently placed her hand on Frank's knee as his leg was shaking and he shot her a small smile as he looked out of the window at the sights of the city he had left behind almost 8 years ago.

Nothing had changed, nothing of notice anyway. A few new housing developments here and there but as they made their way through to Cambridge it appeared to be the same leafy suburb he had once called home. Although he knew Fliss had lived in Concorde, this had to be jolting memories for her and it seemed he was right as he glanced sideways at her and noticed a look of contemplation on her face.

"You ok?" he asked, and she smiled, nodding.

“Was just thinking about how beautiful it all looks this time of year." He smiled softly and they fell into silence again, and less than 20 minutes after leaving the airport they pulled up outside the hospital. The driver hopped out and opened the trunk so they could grab their bags before they thanked the man and headed inside straight to reception. The woman greeted him, gave him the relevant floor and Ward name along with a room number, informing him Mary had her own private area which he was glad about.

"Come on..." Frank urged the elevator as it ascended to the floor they needed, tapping his foot on the floor. After what felt like hours, the doors opened and he strode out, his hand round Fliss' as they checked the signs on the wall.

"This way." Fliss tugged on his arm. She gently led him to the right and they checked the numbers on the doors before they reached Mary's. Without knocking Frank opened the door and Evelyn's head snapped up.

"Where's Mary?" Frank demanded as he spotted the bed was missing from the room. "Not back from theatre." Evelyn said, standing up and Fliss smiled at her, taking in her appearance. She was as casually dressed as Fliss had ever seen her, in a pair of jeans and a sweater, her hair pulled back into a pony tail and she noted how soft and almost maternal it actually made her look in contrast to her usual School Mistress appearance. "It shouldn't be long now...as soon as she's out they'll be taking her to the post anaesthetic care unit and come down to get us."

Frank dropped the bag he was carrying to the floor and walked to the window, taking a glance out, chewing the inside of his lip. Fliss watched him for a moment before she turned to Evelyn as she spoke.

"Good flight?" the woman asked, clearly trying to make conversation.

"Yeah." Fliss nodded "Felt like it took an age but..."

At that moment there was a knock on the door before it opened and they all turned to see a doctor step into the room.

"How is she?" Frank asked immediately.

"Mr Adler I presume?" The light haired man smiled at him. "I'm Dr Jeffords. Mary is fine, the operation went without hitch. If you come with me I'll take you up to PACU...but I'm afraid only 2 of you can come..." Frank took a deep breath and immediately looked to Fliss, who turned to Evelyn. "Evelyn, you can..." "No." she shook her head, "You go..."

"You can take turns if you wish." The doctor said gently "She shouldn't be in there for too long, once she's come round and her vitals are stable she'll be brought back down so..." Evelyn nodded and Fliss turned to Frank as he took her hand. With a final nod to his mother they followed the Doctor to the elevator.

"Just to prepare you, she does have an IV line in and could be a little groggy at first..." The doctor spoke as they followed him down a corridor. "That's all perfectly normal..."

Frank nodded as the Doctor opened a door to their right and Frank saw Mary for the first time in the middle of the bed at the far side.  She looked so small and there was a nurse stood by her, checking something on a screen.

"Oh, Jesus.” Frank's voice caught in his throat and Fliss gently rubbed at his back.

"It looks worse than it is." Doctor Jeffords assured him "Like I said, there were no complications we just need to monitor her for a while until she comes round fully. Now if you need anything or have any worries, please just grab one of the nurses, and I'll be back in about half an hour to check on her. By the she should be with it enough to take back to her room."

Fliss thanked the Doctor as Frank walked over to Mary's bed, bending down gently to kiss the top of her head, his hand brushing her hair back off her face. She gently placed her hand between Frank's shoulder blades as the two of them stood looking down at Mary, Fliss' hand rubbing soft circles over Frank's grey t-shirt as he took a deep breath. "She looks so small." Frank said softly "I never considered how little she was really" "She's not." Fliss chuckled. "She is to you because you're big." "Big?" Frank looked at her and she shrugged, smiling. "Yeah you're tall...broad shouldered..." she mused, her eyes flicking back to Mary, her hand falling from his shoulders to the base of his back. "I'm just over six-foot, it's not that tall." Frank's lips curled into a smile "Your Steve is taller than me, your dad is the same size..." "Steve is an animal." Fliss said, shaking her head "he was your height at the age of 16. Ridiculous." At that Mary made a little noise, and her face creased up, eyes closed. "Hey." Frank smiled softly, his hand reaching out again, gently brushing her cheek. "Hey Stack."

Mary made a noise, and then her face screwed up and she began to try and sit up.

“Shhhh.”  Frank moved further up the bed, gently bending over so his hands fell either side of her. “Just…stay calm, its okay…”

But even as he spoke she became even more visibly distressed, and no matter what he said she didn’t respond. He looked up at Fliss, helplessly, his eyes filling with tears and Fliss took a deep breath, swallowing as she called over for a nurse.

“I know this looks horrible,” the Nurse said softly as she strode over, “but she’s experiencing something we call Emergence Delirium, very common in children.” “What, what do I do?” Frank asked, shaking his head, his eyes still fixed on Mary as she yelled out, her arms flailing “I can’t…”

“There’s nothing you can do really other than gently talk to her, stay calm, be reassuring…” the Nurse said gently. “I promise you, she won't remember any of this when she comes round fully Mr Adler, it’s worse for you than her…”

Frank gently placed his hand on Mary’s forehead and at his touch she seemed to relax a little, so encouraged slightly he began to hum the melody to God Only Knows by the Beach Boys, something he had always sung to her as a small child, a song she’d grown up with and they now sang along to in the car on occasions. Fliss moved to his side, her arm curling round his waist as she simply stood with him, lending him comfort and eventually, Mary blinked, her eyes opening and when they focussed on Frank she gave him a small smile.

Frank let out the breath he had been holding and wiped his eyes hastily before she realised he’d been crying.

"Hey Stack." he said gently, looking at her, his hand softly stroking her cheek. "Welcome back."

She blinked again, and then looked to Fliss, her face cracking into an even bigger smile and Fliss reached down and gently placed a kiss on her head.

“Hey baby.” Fliss smiled.

“Evelyn…” Mary coughed slightly, her voice croaky and she looked at Frank “She said you were on your way…” “I got on a plane as soon as I could.” he said, “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here earlier.” “Where is she?”

“She’s in your room.” Frank said “Only 2 of us were allowed in here at once.” “Do you want me to go get her?” Fliss said.

“But then you would have to go.” Mary frowned.

“Yeah, but if you want Evelyn that’s fine…” “No.” Mary shook her head and Frank gently curled his hand around Fliss’. Mary closed her eyes again before she opened them and looked at Frank “Where’s Fred.” Frank let out a snort “I couldn’t bring a cat in here with me, Stack. Bill and Verity have him.” “And his ping pong balls?” “And his ping pong balls.” Fliss assured her.

“Oh, ok.” Mary looked at them both “That’s fine. Hey, did you bring me any snacks?”

Frank looked at Fliss, the pair of them sharing a grin before Frank shook his head “No, but when the doctor says it’s ok I’ll go get you whatever you want.” “Good, Evelyn wouldn’t let me have any chips last night.” she said, wrinkling her face “I know I’ve said this before but she really is bossy…” *******

When the Doctor returned he began his examination to make sure Mary was ok to move back to her room, and Fliss had to snort at the way Mary started demanding an in depth report on what exactly the Operation had done. Doctor Jeffords looked at Frank, who merely rolled his eyes with a smirk and gestured for him to answer so, with an amused expression he did just that. Mary quizzed him for a good 15 minutes until Frank stepped in and told her that the poor man had other people to go and see, not just her.

Little over 20 minutes after the Doctor was left they were back in Mary’s room, and she seemed fairly bright. Frank had been momentarily dumbfounded when he had seen his mother reach over to hug Mary, tears in her eyes when she had returned to her room. But Mary didn’t act like it was a big issue, so he could only assume that his mother must have hugged her before, and it struck him as being a little sad how surprised he was by this realisation.

The three of them sat with her, the TV on the wall playing something in the background. Frank made sure her laptop was charged so she had something to do as well in case she decided she was getting bored. They Face-timed Bill and Verity who were both over the moon to see Mary ok, and they talked to them for a good forty minutes, Mary demanding to see Fred and Thor as well, Bill making good natured grumblings about how he was offended she didn’t really want to see him. All in all, the day passed fairly quickly all in all, and at about 4pm the Nurse popped in to ask if Mary wanted something to eat. She nodded eagerly and when they returned with a list of what she could have, Frank sat next to her and they began to decide. Fliss smiled softly at the sight of him, sat up on the bed, arm looped round the headboard as they both pulled a face at something on the menu, shaking their heads.

“String beans by any chance?” Evelyn asked, clocking the exchange and Frank looked up at her.

“How did you guess?”

“You always hated them as a child and do does she….” Evelyn said, a little distractedly as her phone began to ring. She glanced at the number and then looked at Frank “Sorry, do you…” “No, go for it.” He said, nodding. She answered the call as she left the room, Fliss watching her go before she turned to Frank as Mary looked at him.

“Are you staying here with me tonight?” “Course I am.” he assured her “I’m not leaving until you can come home.” “And that’s tomorrow?” “If they’re happy you’re ok, yeah, tomorrow. Although you won’t’ be able to fly back to Florida for a while.” “Does that mean we’re gonna be at Evelyn’s for Thanksgiving?” Frank paused for a moment, he hadn’t even thought about that, or in fact where they were going to stay whilst Mary recovered. His mother’s was the logical option, despite how he had no desire to step foot in her house ever again, but that wasn’t important. What was important was Mary, and being at his mother’s was going to be a damned sight better for her than a hotel.

“Looks like it.” he nodded.

“Will we still get our dinner?” Mary frowned “Like, we said we would do a beef roast this year.” “I’ll still make you a roast.” Fliss smiled,  “As long as Evelyn is ok with it.” “Ok with what?” Evelyn asked, walking back into the room.

“With us staying until Mary is well enough to fly home.”  Frank looked at her.

“And Thanksgiving dinner.” Mary added.

“And dinner.” Frank nodded.

Evelyn looked at him “Well I assumed you would be staying with me until she was well enough to fly home, Francis…” Frank arched his eyebrow at the fact she’d dropped his full name and besides him Mary sniggered.

“Francis…that’s so lame…” “Hush.” he looked at her before he turned to his mother. “Are you sure?” “Of course, there’s plenty of room.” she said.

“Thanks. Who was on the phone?” Frank asked.

“Oh, just someone from the University asking how Mary was.” Evelyn shook her head, “No one important.”

“That all they wanted?” Frank asked, and Evelyn sighed

“I should have been on a call this afternoon.” “On a Saturday?” Frank looked at her.

“Research doesn’t stop at a weekend…” Evelyn glared at him. “But like I said, no important. I’ll catch up on what they wanted another time.” with that she rubbed at her eyes . Frank studied her for a moment and gave a sigh, she looked exhausted. They all did to be fair, but his mother was almost 65, she was bound to be feeling it a little more than he or Fliss.

“Why don’t you head off?” he asked. “Go catch up on whatever they wanted, get some sleep and come back in the morning…you too.” he turned to Fliss. Immediately she began to protest but Frank looked at her, shaking his head “Look, all that’s gonna happen is I’m gonna eat half of Mary’s dinner-“ “-hey!”

“-and fall asleep.” he finished, grinning as Mary glared at him over the threat regarding her food. “It’s 5 pm now…I guarantee by 8 I’ll be flat out.”

“Well then I’ll go at 8.” Fliss pouted.

Frank looked at her, about to argue but Evelyn stood up.

“I’ll call for my driver.” Evelyn said, “I’m not going to lie, I am dying for a hot bath and a bottle of Malbec.”

“I don’t want to go yet.” Fliss pouted.

Frank took a deep breath, “Really, we’re going to have this argument about you being a stubborn brat?” “No argument. I’m not going yet.” “I’ll go ahead.” Evelyn said, stepping in as she saw Frank glaring at Fliss “I could do with making sure the guest room is ready anyway and making a few calls. I’ll send the driver back for you in an hour or so?” Fiss took a deep breath and then sighed “Ok, fine.” Domestic argument averted, Evelyn bid Mary a good night, gently pecking her head before she turned to Frank who was sat next to Mary and surprisingly did the same to him. He swallowed and looked at her, frowning a bit. She looked like she was about to say something but didn’t, instead she stood up and told Fliss she would send her a set of keys back with the driver.

Frank watched her go before he turned to Fliss who looked at him, shrugging her shoulders.

“She clearly found her inner mom.” Mary said, and Frank looked down at her, “Something underneath the Mother.” “She’s always been mother.” Frank said “I’ve never once called her mom, not without her protesting anyway.”

“Her loss.” Mary shrugged and Frank frowned again, looking at Fliss.

“Why do you say that?”

“Coz Verity told me that being a mom and a nanna was the best thing ever.” she shrugged “If Evelyn’s only ever been a mother, well that sucks…” Frank stared down at her, utterly dumbfounded at her comment as she handed him the menu card “I’ll have the chicken, but no string beans…”

***** Little over an hour or so Fliss received a call telling her that the driver was waiting outside. Once they finished removing what Frank needed from the bag, Fliss turned to Mary and gave her a hug and kiss goodnight before Frank followed her out of the door.

“Call me when you’re home.” he said, and she nodded, stepping into his arms before she gave him a soft kiss.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can in the morning.” she said gently. “I love you.”

“Love you too.” he smiled, kissing her again “So much baby girl.” Smiling at the nickname she picked up the bag, and with a last peck to his lips she headed out.

The drive to Evelyn’s was reasonably quick, and Fliss soon found the car pulling off the main road onto a sweeping driveway and into a large, open courtyard. The house was big, bigger than her parents so it looked but it was hard to see much it was dark. She thanked the driver as he walked her up to the door with her bag, before handing her the keys. Once inside she found herself in an immaculate terracotta tiled hallway, illuminated by a very expensive looking floor lamp in the corner under the huge stair case. Fliss turned and gave the door a soft pull before she began to walk deeper into the house, bag deposited by the foot of the stairs. She headed into a large sitting area, which contained a pristine leather couch and matching arm chairs, large TV and followed that through to another area which contained a grand piano, a large table and numerous bookshelves. That led into a large kitchen with hanging, brushed copper lampshades, and the room looked as though it spanned the entire width of the house. She stepped inside and then through another door which led back into a hall, passing another two doors to her right, which were both closed.

Frowning, Fliss saw the front door was open slightly, she must not have shut it correctly, it was quite a heavy wooden one after all in comparison to their PVC one at the apartment and probably needed a little more than a quick tug. Making sure it was snapped shut and the lock had clicked she grabbed her back and made her way upstairs. She reached the top and then stood, looking round. The hallway circled back round the stairs, rooms on all four sides. With a shrug she headed down towards the first door an opened it. It was a spare room, but clearly where Mary had been staying. It was decorated in soft shades of dusky pinks and golds, and there was a small bookcase with a few children’s books, some puzzles and TV with a DVD player sat on top of it. Fliss smiled before she headed to the next one. This was a larger room with a huge double bed, and on top of it sat two sets of clean towels. Deciding this was likely to be the one Evelyn was prepping for them, Fliss dropped her back down, and shrugged off her jacket, glancing at the door that led to the en-suite. Taking a quick look inside she knew she really should find Evelyn before she did anything else so she continued down past the next room which was empty, then the huge bathroom with a roll top bath, until she reached the final one which was on the opposite side of the landing. She gave a soft knock, before she entered, glancing around at the opulent master bedroom as soft music hit her ears, along with the sounds of water sloshing in a tub.

“Evelyn?”

“Fliss?” the woman called back and Fliss headed over to the door of the en-suite.

“Yeah…sorry, I didn’t want to disturb you…”

“It’s quite alright, I won’t be too long. Have you found your room?”

“Yes, thank you.” “Ok, well, go and help yourself to a bottle of wine and run your own bath in the main bathroom. Fuck knows you can probably do with unwinding a little too.”

Although she knew Evelyn swore, the sound of the words from her mouth still made Fliss chuckle so after thanking her she headed back down the stairs to grab herself a bottle, as directed. She headed into the kitchen, and as she was passing the open door to her left which she assumed led into some kind of utility room, a movement caught her eye. She stopped, but before she could investigate further she saw a figure emerging from the shadows moving towards her. Automatically Fliss began to back away and she felt her eyes widen and her chest constrict in utter fear as the man’s features became clear as he strode into the soft light of the kitchen.  It was a face she hadn’t seen, other than in her worst memories and nightmares for years, not since she’d seen the court bailiffs lead him down from the dock after the jury had delivered their verdict. His cold grey eyes locked on to hers and he gave her a sinister smile.

“Long time no see Felicity.” John said, arching an eyebrow.  “You changed your hair.”

**** Chapter 24

[chrissyutimagines]

Damsel in Distress

This is a soulmate au one shot. As per usual, '---------' marks point of view changes, and the setting is on the surface. This one is with a gender neutral reader, starring Butch from @bigoltrashpile. I don't own Butch, and if you want to read more about him please go to their blog. Oh, I've gotten permission to use their characters for a series of soulmate au stories. Stay tuned for more~ It would take a long while tho...

In this dangerous, shady world, you led a quiet, normal life.

Living in a small but cozy apartment, working as a front desk manager at a small hotel, hanging out with a few friends... It all seems normal, except for one thing... You've never been caught in the midst of any sort of chaos, be it a simple bar fight or a massive mafia shootout.

A usually rowdy speakeasy would be oddly quiet with you there, never getting attacked walking down a dark alleyway, a mafia shootout taking place in the area you had just left a few minutes ago... It was like you had some kind of lucky aura that protected you from the dangers of this society. Because of this you have been given the nickname 'Clover'.

You've always gave them a smile and accepted the nickname...

But you knew luck won't always be on your side...

Glancing down at your wrist, you see a short message tattooed on it.

'you okay, doll?'

It was said that those words are the first words your soulmate tells you.

...and by the looks of it, you'd be in quite a bit of trouble when the time comes.

You've received a letter from your friend, whose family is stupid rich, and was invited to a masquerade ball to celebrate the fifth anniversary of their luxurious hotel.

Knowing your friend, they will call you to shop for dresses in 3, 2, 1...

'Ring' Ah. Just as expected.

You pick up the phone.

"Hey Sof."

"OMG! Did you get my invitation?! We're going shopping in a minute! You better be ready by then! Oh! And we need to catch up lately! It's been too long!"

"Heheh! Sof, we were chatting just two days ago!"

"Yeah! Way too long! See you in a few minutes! 'click'"

Typical Sofia. Well, loud or not she's a good friend. And you should better change clothes before she...

'Ding dong!'...arrives.

You sigh and go greet your friend.

"How did you get here so fast?"

"Oh! I was in the car when I called you! Now go change into some decent clothes! We need to get some proper dresses for the ball!"

She herds you into your bedroom and a short while later you're in a high-end dress shop. While you gape at the beautiful yet expensive dresses, your friend starts searching through the various dresses.

"Don't just stand there! Come over here. It's not like you've been to this place before."

"Alright, alright. I'm coming."

The both of you start to pick the best dresses while making small talk.

"...so I just went like- Oh my! This would look amazing on you!"

Sofia holds up a red and black velvet dress, it looks like a dress fit for royalty.

"Oh! Sof, I, I don't know."

"Oh stop worrying about me, your know I don't look good in red. Now go put this on and show me!"

You sigh and let her push you into the dressing room. You try on the dress and twirl in front of the full body mirror in the room. You... Look stunning. You hear intensive knocking on the door.

"Hey, get out here and lemme see how it looks!"

You sigh and chuckle her eagerness, then walked out of the dressing room, giving a small twirl to show off the dress.

"Well?" She was silent for a few seconds.

"...well? It's fantastic! You're getting this one! Now, help me choose a dress!"

"Of course, Sof. Just let me change first."

"I'll wait for you then."

You change and start helping your friend. You soon found the perfect dress for her, which she said was, 'The prettiest dress I've ever seen!' But, you know she's just bluffing, she has always been the dramatic type. You sigh and chuckle, following her too the cashier to check out both of your dresses.

After searching the mask store for a while you managed to find a beautiful, classy, red and black mask to go with your dress. Sofia has also found a sparkly mask to go with hers. You both chatted for a short while before parting ways.

When you got back home, you marked the day of the masquerade and placed the clothing away. This would be a perfect break from your boring routine...

Or would it?

----------------------------------------------------

Butch is sleeping in today... Or he would be if Noir haven't dragged him up. He grumbled.

"come on! ya know 'ow late i worked last night!"

"This Is Important Lazybones! You Have To Get A Decent Suit Tailored Asap!"

"*yawn* why?"

"You Are Going To A Masquerade Ball. We Have Business With The Hotel Owner."

"*sighs* *grumbles* alright, fine."

He begrudgingly went to the tailor and got his measurements. Then Noir dragged him to a mask store to get a 'suitable' mask... Which basically means Noir picked one for him.

When they finally got back, Butch just flopped on his bed and dozed off. This would be another boring, pesky business trip...

Or would it be something more?

----------------------------------------------------

On the day of the ball, you dressed up in the stunning dress and mask you got via Sofia, did your hair to compliment your dress, and put on some red heels to finish the look. You have decided against make up as no one can see it under your mask. Sofia said she wanted to arrive at the ball with you, so she would be here in three, two, o-

*knock knock*

Bingo. You open the door to see Sofia practically bouncing with excitement.

"OMG! (Y/N), you wouldn't Believe how excited I am! Are you done?! Come on!"

"Alright, alright, I'm coming, Sof. Just let me grab my hand bag."

You grab your hand bag and went to the exquisite, grand masquerade ball with Sofia. She excitedly told you all the details of the ball, and from what you gathered, you think this'll be a delightful evening.

But you have no idea what has truly been in stored for you.

----------------------------------------------------

It's the day of the ball, and Butch is, well, being his usual grumpy self. Putting on the freshly tailored suit and the well-picked mask along with a pair of freshly polished leather shoes, he went to attend the ball.

Thinking of the business meeting with the owner made him annoyed about actually attending and participating in it.

But, he didn't know that someone would change his mind.

----------------------------------------------------

The ball is in full swing. Everyone was dancing, laughing, and enjoying the grand ball. You have just finished a few dances, and feeling a bit parched. So you, along with an equally tired Sofia, went over to the food tables for a nice snack break.

"That was *pant* Amazing! Did you have fun? *pant*"

"Ah yes, having fun dancing so much my feet are sore from being stepped on by multiple dance partners." You said sarcastically.

"Oh. I'm so sorry. How many?"

"I lost count after 10." She winced.

"Ooo... That's not good."

"Yup. I'm going to stay here for a while. You can go dance some more."

"Okay. But you rest up okay?"

"I will."

She smiles and waves at you as she went back to dance some more.

It was then that you heard the whispers

"They look like a couple."

"That dress they're wearing matches the suit he wears."

"How do they look so good in red?"

"Are they together?"

Feeling uncomfortable from all the whispers, you ducked in a dark corner hoping to leave the center of attention. It worked, but the action has got you the attention of someone.

"Hey there, beautiful." You instinctively take a step back as the stranger approached you.

"Who are you? And what do you want? I do not want to dance right now."

"Oh we're not going to dance, sweetie. We're going to have some... Fun..."

You tried to make a run for it, but he caught your wrist. You struggle to break free of his hold, but to no avail. You tried to yell for help, only for the guy to clap his hand over your mouth. This is it, you thought. You were going to get taken away by a random guy and be ruined. Tears streamed down your face as your struggles grow weaker and weaker.

Just as you thought all hope was lost, you feel the weight of your attacker leave. Your eyes shot open, and you saw the blurry form of your savior standing in front of you.

"What do ya think yer doin'?!" A baritone voice growled.

----------------------------------------------------

Butch arrived at the ball, and started hanging around to look like an ordinary party-goer. As he was chilling, he heard whispers.

"That suit looks exquisite."

"It matches the dress the dress that person's wearing."

"Do you think they're a thing?"

"It sure looks so."

He feels his anger creep up in him, but was interrupted by a man tapping his shoulder.

"Sir, the owner would like to speak with you."

He groaned internally and followed the man. He will be out of here after business is done anyway. No reason to stay right? He thought.

After a bit, the business is done, and Butch finished what he came for. He grumbled a bit as he emerged from a dark corner in order not to attract unwanted attention. Just as he was going to leave, his eyelights caught a glimpse of red... And that's when he saw them... A beautiful person wearing an elegant black and red dress with a matching mask... Who is also being assaulted by a scumbag...

He's snapped back to reality at that, and immediately used his magic to drag the guy away from them. Anger bubbling up in him, he growled.

"What do ya think yer doin'?!"

"I-I was just taking my p-partner-"

"bullshit! they were struggling!"

"I-I'm s-sorry-"

"shut up. i'll deal with ya later." He uses his magic to bound him and threw him to the side, not wanting to alert anyone else.

Turning back to the person assaulted, he kneels down and touches their cheek.

"you okay, doll?"

----------------------------------------------------

You whimpered, and threw yourself at the stranger that saved you, sobbing.

"whoa, whoa. hey, it's okay. it's over now. yer a'right now, doll. shh..."

The guy held you in his arms, gently rocking you. Slowly, you calmed down, and pulled away to look at him.

"You, you saved me." His eyelights widen, and you tilt your head curiously.

"What? Is there something wrong?" He didn't reply, instead, he pulled up his sleeves and showed you his wrist-bone? Your eyes widened as you read the tattoo.

'You, you saved me.'

You flipped your own wrist to reveal yours.

'you okay, doll?'

You stared at each other with wonder.

"w-we're-"

"-Soulmates..."

You continued to stare into each other's eyes, till a noise coming from your attacker broke the both of you out of your trance.

"Ow! Why is there a glass piece here?!"

"*sigh* sorry, doll. gotta deal with this bastard first." He stands and helps you up.

"ya think ya can stand on yer own?"

"I-I think so..." He smiles.

"good. i'll be back on a sec."

His hand glows red and the guy floats up. Then, they disappeared. You blinked a few times, not knowing what happened. And just as suddenly, your savior appeared. Seeing your shocked expression, he chuckled.

"ya okay there, doll? dun worry yer pretty lil head off. it's jus' a 'shortcut'."

"H-how?"

"mmmagic." You huff, and he chuckles.

"hehe. 'ere, take my hand. let's go to somewhere quieter."

With one hand extended to you, he seems almost nervous. Is this the same guy who pulled the jerk off you? You giggle, delicately placing your hand on his. He closed his large hand around yours, and gently wraps his other arm around you, pulling you close to him. You shivered a bit as he whispered in your ear.

"hold on tight, doll."

You feel yourself being pulled into seemingly nothingness, you clutched on him, needing to feel a sense of reality. Then the both of you appeared on the balcony. You tried to pull away from him, only to feel an overwhelming dizziness and fall back into his arms.

"take it easy, doll. shortcuts can be a bit disorientin' the first few times."

You grip onto his suit, taking deep breaths to regain yourself as he cooed words in your ear, while soothingly rubbing your back.

When you finally recollected yourself, you stood back up on your feet gazing up at his eyelights.

"Thank you. For everything. But..."

"but what?"

"I haven't even gotten your name." He looks stunned for a second, before bursting out laughing.

"hahaha! y-yer right, doll. w-we... pffft... 'aven't even... ahaha!" You giggled with him at how ridiculous that is.

When you both calmed down, he took his mask off and introduced himself.

"the name's butch, doll." You smile, liking his handsome features, then took your own mask off.

"My name's (Y/N). Pleased to be saved by you."

He looks at you with stunned eyelights. His hand slowly reaching up to cradle your face.

"y-ya look... gorgeous... 'ow did i get so damn lucky?" You blush at his words, and the fact that his face is getting closer and closer to yours.

"Y-you're the one looking so dashing in that suit." His face glowed red as your said those words.

"'m only a bag o' bones... yer... yer the true diamond, doll. can i...?"

His breath lands on your lips as his thumb absentmindly smoothed over your cheek. You blush but nod and closed your eyes. You then feel a pair of lips touch yours, you questioned how a skeleton has lips in your mind, but the thought was gone as you feel yourself melting into the sweet and sensual kiss. By the time you both pulled away, the both of you are panting heavily.

"Wow..."

"wow indeed, doll." You open your mouth to ask about a skeleton with lips, but closed it as his answer would most likely be 'magic'.

Then you noticed your clothes...

"...we match."

He looks down at his clothes, then yours. And his face glows red again. You giggle.

"what's so funny?" he said with a scowl.

"Hehe. You're cute." His face glows redder.

"nah. yer the a'dork'able one 'ere, doll." He smoothly take your hand to kiss the back of it, causing you to blush.

"Hey! Pffft. No fair! You can't charm me with puns and smooth words!"

"oh. so i'm smooth an' charmin' huh?"

"H-hey! *giggles*"

After your giggles died down, you sigh and look at Butch.

"So... What now?" He smiles and puts his mask back on, extending a hand.

"we dance. i mean, we look like the ultimate power couple, might as well."

You giggle, and fix your mask back on as well, delicately placing your hand on his.

"Lead the way then."

As he led you back in, the crowd parted as if they expected the both of you. When you got to the dance floor, a slow song starts and the two of you danced. Couples looked at you two with envious eyes, bystanders whispered around you, but the two of you are too focused on each other to care.

You are with your prince charming and he has found his damsel in distress.

Nothing else matters.

There! Sorry that I'm so inactive lately. It's been quite busy... I'll be working on this series and that second story of Dance of our Souls first. But it'll be really slow as well... Sorry... Hope you liked this story!

[whatareyousearchingfordean]

Happiness Begins

Part 19

Chapter Summary: Jared needs some time to come around to the idea of his best friend and his sister, but will he be able to get over all the lies? 

Warnings: Language, angst, descriptions of anxiety, a mild physical altercation

Word Count: 2.1K+

Author’s Note: Hey guys! Happy Sunday! First, I’d like to say a huge thank you to all of you still here with me. This past semester was a difficult one for a number of reasons. Until I started writing again, I hadn’t realized how much I truly missed these two and being in this little world I created. It was a truly therapeutic experience to get back to it. Also, I already have our sequel all outlined and ready to start. xoxo Alex

Catch up with the series masterlist and check out Alexandra’s Library for more works by yours truly!

Jared was gone before she woke on Monday. Well, not technically before she woke as she didn’t actually sleep. The sound of the front door startled her before her alarm for the morning had gotten the chance to. She wasn’t surprised. Jared didn’t come out of his room the rest of the weekend. Only once for food and even then he just stockpiled what he could into his room.

This wasn’t exactly what she had expected, but again, it didn’t surprise her. After he had stormed out, she rolled out of bed and decided then to start her day. What difference did it make whether she got up now or stared at her ceiling for another half hour anyway? 

When Clif showed up with the car at his normal time, Jensen was already in the back seat. He smiled at her as she climbed in next to him, the corner of his mouth dropping when she shook her head at him. Jensen nodded his understanding.

Y/n stared out the window as the lights of the city flashed passed them, one hand on her chin as she chewed on the nail of her thumb. Jensen’s fingers wrapped around her wrist and pulled her hand to his face, kissing the back of her knuckles. She turned to face him, a weak smile on her lips.

“Take a breath.” Y/n did as she was told, breathing in deeply and holding it for a beat before letting it back out. A move she had perfected years ago when her anxiety first started to go from bad to worse.  She repeated the deep breath a few more times, allowing the action to help the stuttering in her chest slow down to a more bearable rate.

“It’s gonna be a long day.” She noted. Jensen nodded at her and linked his fingers with hers. There wasn’t much else to say between them. She had kept him up to date via text all weekend, so they were on the same page when it came to Jared. 

Friday, she had said all she could to her brother. If he couldn’t accept her apology, what else was she to do? They both knew they had messed up and the guilt that has settled in her chest was suffocating. At this point though, she wouldn’t take any of it back. Jensen was the light she hadn’t known she was missing. He was her safe place, the one person that somehow knew her better than she knew herself. There was nothing that could persuade her from giving that up. Maybe it was selfish, but after everything she figured it was her turn to be a little selfish. If Jared had been there to peer over their shoulders, who’s to say they would have been able to truly find each other. No, that was a risk she couldn’t take. 

They spent the rest of the ride in silence, neither knowing what would greet them when they reached set. With the tension in all of their relationships sure to be noticeable by everyone else, it was best that her and Jensen kept up their facade. The last thing either of them wanted was all their dirty laundry out for everyone to see, something they had come to an agreement on during their many conversations over the weekend. 

Jensen led her towards the makeup trailer as she trailed behind a step. Crew greeted them on their way like usual, a ‘good morning’ here and a nod of a head there. Y/n noted as they walked past the trailers that Jared’s was dark. This didn’t mean much as the set was a large space, and he could still be anywhere. She knew what time he left the apartment, but she couldn’t be sure when he actually arrived on the set, if he had yet done so at all.

Jensen stepped up and pulled open the door to the makeup trailer, allowing her to enter first. She was greeted by a warm smile from Trish as she peeked over Jared’s head. Jared’s body stiffened as he caught his sister's eye in the mirror. Neither of them said a thing, allowing a heaviness to blanket the inside of the trailer. Neither looked away from each other either, their looks of longing and sadness literally mirroring each other’s. They stayed that way for what felt like minutes when in reality it was less than thirty seconds. Just enough time for Jensen to enter behind her, his visage in the mirror stealing Jared’s attention. 

“Morning.” Trish broke the silence in the trailer as the door shut behind Jensen, who muttered a noncommittal response along with Y/n. Trish’s brow furrowed slightly, now picking up on the energy in the room, though she chose not to say anything. 

“It seems like the sun might actually be on our side today.” Y/n noted, trying to break the tension and pull Trish’s focus. They had an outside shoot, and originally the forecast had called for rain, switching at the last minute to partly cloudy. 

“As long as Jared here doesn’t sweat off all my hard work.” Trish teased as she leaned back to inspect her work. Jared’s clipped voice cut through the light conversation.

“Am I done?” Trish nodded, a soft ‘of course’ leaving her mouth. The poor woman had no idea what to make of the sudden mood shift in Jared. He jumped up from his chair and exited the trailer, the door slamming behind him. Y/n flinched at the noise and shared a quick, tense look with Jensen before Trish rounded on them, the furrow in her brow insisting on some answers.

“What’s up with him?” 

“I’m not exactly sure.” Y/n lied, the words tumbling out of her mouth like vomit. “I haven’t spoken to him at all today.” That part wasn't a lie, though she didn’t feel any better about it. The purse in Trish’s lips had Y/n’s heart rate picking up for a moment as she tried to assess if the woman believed her. Trish hummed under her breath, content for now not to ask anymore questions. She collected her things in silence, bidding Jensen and Y/n a goodbye in no time. Y/n let out the breath she hadn’t realised she was holding. 

“I can’t do this.” She hung her head as the tears returned. Never before did she think she could cry this much, and she already admits to being a crier. She had been so sure that her tear ducts would have run dry from how much they were being used. A sob shook her chest as she just let go in the presence of just Jensen.

“Hey, come here.” Jensen’s hands found her waist and pulled her to sit in his lap, her legs laying across his own. “Please, don’t cry. Jared just needs more time.” His thumbs wiped the streams flowing down her cheeks away, the action in vain as the salty liquid just kept coming. 

“I know, but I’m not sure how much longer I can handle this. I’ve never seen my brother like this and I just feel so damn guilty.” 

“I get it, I do. But honey, you’ve said your peace. What else can you do?” Jensen placed a soft kiss to her forehead. Her breathing was beginning to even out as she got control of her emotions, allowing the proximity of Jensen to ease her mind. At least, she knew that she was not alone in all of this. There was one person that could understand this feeling in her gut. A soft hiccup fell from her lips before she spoke again. 

“Beg for his forgiveness.” She suggested.

“If that’s really what you want to do, I’m here for you.” Jensen promised her, his eyes intent on hers as he made his promise known. A hint of a smirk appeared at the corner of his lips, offering her a view of her favorite dimple. He understood the hyperbole in her statement, something that she could never repay him for. Even still, she wasn’t completely opposed to the idea. It was just something to add to her list of the ways he had changed her life and view on the world.

****

The rest of their day consisted of much of the same. Jared was absent when he absolutely was not needed on the set. Though both of them still delivered Sam and Dean like they have been for the past fifteen years. Not that she doubted either of them. They were still professionals after all. The one big difference became their demeanor in between takes. 

Y/n could tell people were clearly suspicious of both of the men’s activity, it was written all over their faces. Though, not one of them chose to comment, much like their dear Trish. She wasn’t sure it would last. Someone was bound to open their mouth sooner or later. She was just surprised it came almost a week and a half later. 

Things had not gotten better in any sense of the word. Jared hadn’t said anything to either of them since the incident. Only interacting with Jensen when the script dictated so. It was the director who opened his mouth after the two men were struggling to connect for the first time in fifteen years. 

“Okay, what is up with you two?” The man came out from behind the camera, his ball cap low on his head as he yelled cut. He hadn’t been getting the performance out of the boys for the dramatic brother scene they were filming today, and he knew something was up. 

“Nothing.” Jared’s nostrils flared as he spoke, one of his little indicators that Y/n had picked up on growing up. He was annoyed and trying desperately to hide it. 

“Bullshit. You guys haven’t so much as said two words to each other this whole episode.” 

“It’s just stress. We are coming up on the end here and I think we are all getting a little emotional.” Jensen stepped up to offer an explanation. 

“I’ve known you both for years. I’ve seen you go through all sorts of things, and never before have I seen this coldness between the two of you.” 

“It’s nothing. I’m sorry. We will get it right.” Jensen promised. Though he didn’t seem convinced, the director left the two standing on stage and returned to his seat behind the camera. 

“I’m so sick of you.” Jared’s voice was soft, but Jensen heard it. 

“Excuse me?” He rounded on Jared.

“You heard me. You always think you know best. Nice cover story for Bill, didn’t want to tell him the real reason why I can’t even look at you?” Jared hissed. Jensen had no idea where this was coming from. Sure, he knew Jared was pissed, but he had never seen him act out like this. It was scaring him to be completely honest.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think you would want our business spreading around the set. You know how gossip can travel, especially when it involves the leads.” Jensen shot back. Trish nudged Y/n’s shoulder when she noticed the heated exchange between the actors. Y/n whipped around to where she had indicated. From her spot, she couldn’t hear exactly what was happening, but it was a safe bet that it had to do with her.  

“I’m not the one that has anything to be ashamed about. I’m the victim here.” Jared shoved Jensen. The force wasn’t anything that the man could’ve done at his full strength, but it was enough for Jensen to stumble backwards on his feet. Jensen made no move to react, instead simply accepting the punishment that Jared was dealing out for him. 

It was what happened next that was a blur. Jensen’s lack of a reaction seemed to only piss Jared off more, and he moved to push Jensen harder this time. Jensen dodged the movement, ready this time, only for a swarm of crew members to step between them before things could escalate even further.

Y/n couldn’t focus on anything but the sound of her heart thrumming in her ears as the tears threatened to fall once again. The sounds of grumbled shouts from the director for everyone to take a thirty minute break sounded like she was underwater. Jared was pushed back from the set by someone with their hand against his shoulder. Jensen walked off on his own in the opposite direction. 

What did it feel like to be kicked in the gut? Right now she was sure the feeling in her abdomen was a close approximation. The two men she loved most in this world were at odds because of her. Panic, guilt and fear all swirled into one nauseating sensation. She just wanted the world to stop, if only for a few hours, so she could get her shit together. So she could figure out a way to fix all of this. She had to fix this.

Part 20

Forevers: @spn-impala​​ @22sarah08​​ @turtlepad​​ @callmekda​​ @chaldei​​ @hobby27​​ @cowboysnwinchesters​​ @tranquility-or-chaos​​ @pikabootoyouchu​​ @dawnie1988​​ @grease222​​ @awesome-badass-cafeteria-sauce​​ @polina-93​​ @clarinette07​​ @moonlight-babeh​​ @suckerforfanfics​​ @witandnargles​​ @sleepylunarwolf​ @stiles-stilinski-24-dylan​ @geeksareunique​ @akshi8278​

Et Cetera: @jbbarnesgirl​ @hillface89​ @arses21434​ @thevelvetseries​ @sslater34​ @mrsirishboru​ @smoothdogsgirl​ @spnfamily-j2​ @encounterthepast​ @facadeformyrealblog  @supernatural-bellawinchester​ @screechingartisancashbailiff​​ @rebeccathefangirl​ @squirrelnotsam​ @heartinmyhead1​ @1d-killed-me​ @samsgirl93​ @deans-baby-momma​ @deanmonandnegansbitch​ @woodworthti666​ @supraveng​ @onethirstyunicorn​ @heartsaved​ @know2grow​ @littlewhiterose​ @surprisinglysarah​ @stoneyggirl​ @carryon-doctor-lock​ @thebookisbtr​ @youaremyfiveever​ @kalesrebellion​ @lilulo-12​ @winchester-fantasies​ @vicmc624​ @supernatural3002​ @winchester-writes​ 

[prettytoxicrevolver]

Best Friend | Daniel Seavey

Warnings? None? I don’t think it’s that good I’m sorry!

Requested! Yup! I hope you like it :)

Summary: You and Daniel have been best friends for years via your younger brother Zach. Who knew feelings would slip out over your normal diner run? 

Word Count: 1,404

“Will you stand still?” your mom asks as you pace to look around the baggage claim for the millionth time. 

“I can’t I’m too excited.” 

Today, your brother and best friend were finally coming back from tour after 3 long months on the road. Your little brother Zach had left with his bandmates, Corbyn, Jack, Jonah, and your best friend Daniel for their band’s fourth tour and you were home for school waiting for them to come back. 

“They’ll be here soon just calm down,” she insists and you roll your eyes. 

Just as you’re doing another look around for the boys, a group catches your eye and you see them finally coming down the escalator. Jack and Jonah first, deep in a conversation about god knows what, then Corbyn who’s scrolling mindlessly on his phone, your brother Zach who’s sleepy eyes are accompanied with beats covering his ears, and then Daniel. 

Before your mom can tell you no, your bounding over to the group of boys as they head towards you, and when Daniel spots you his face lights up. He drops whatever he’s holding, expecting you to fall into him and you do. You run straight into his arms, legs wrapping tightly around his waist as he catches you as if you’re air and your arms wrap tightly around his shoulders. 

“Daniel!!” you practically screech into his ear and his warm laugh fills your ears the one you’ve missed greatly. 

You pull back from him slightly and a grin so wide it’s nearly breaking stretches across his lips and you’re certain you’re reflecting it. Before Daniel can say anything, your brothers voice cuts in making you roll your eyes. 

“Am I nothing to you?” he asks sarcastically. 

You break from Daniel’s hold to walk over to your brother where you wrap an arm around his shoulder and pinch at his cheeks in which he swats your hand away. 

“I’ve missed you too Zach darling,” you joke. He rolls his eyes and you two hug before pulling away. 

You greet the rest of the band with hugs and catching up remarks before returning to Daniels side where he slips an arm around your shoulders comfortably and you lean into the embrace. Your stomach swirls with butterflies as Daniel smiles at you before leading you towards the exit and home. 

You and Daniel had been friends for a little over 3 years now ever since you met him through your younger brother Zach. While it took a while for you two to start talking and hanging out, you were best friends right from the start when you did. You shared a love and passion for music and bonded over creating it. 

You two were constantly over each other’s houses, popping in randomly just to head up to the other room, flop down on their bed to scroll on your phone for 20 minutes before finally saying something to each other. Which was usually along the lines of “wanna get food?” or “bitch I’m bored.” It was simple and fun always. 

“Are you sleeping over tonight?” You ask Daniel as you and the rest of the guys along with your family climb into your mom’s car. 

“I’m down,” he says and Zach rolls his eyes. 

“Come on. We just get home and I can’t even catch up with my sister?” He whines and you smile. 

Two years apart and you and Zach were inseparable your entire lives. You were like those twins whose personalities were based on each other in school. You always hung out, had the same friend group, and took the same extracurriculars. It got to the point when you got to your freshman year and Zach was still in 7th grade your parents wondered if you’d two survive without each other. 

“Oh don’t be so dramatic,” you joke and Zach sighs but smiles regardless. 

Your mom ends up dropping the boys off at their houses before taking you, Zach, and Daniel back home much to Zach’s dismay. Once home, Zach heads upstairs to drop his bags in his room and Daniel does the same in your room. 

Once you’re all settled, you head back downstairs for dinner. Your family and Daniel sit together and trade stories back and forth, mostly the boys entertaining you with tour stories for the entire time. By the end of the night, Reese is asleep, Ryan is upstairs doing homework, Zach is asleep in his room, and you and Daniel are relaxing in yours. 

“What was it like?” you ask, throwing your phone down and turning to face Daniel. “Being in a different state every day and playing shows every night?” 

“It’s like you’re on a roller coaster, and your stomach is doing drops but you're screaming your head off cause it’s so much fun,” he says and you nod trying to understand. “You’re still nervous every show but after that initial drop, you’re having the time of your life.” 

You stare at your best friend in awe, proud of the achievements he’s accomplished, and can’t help but wish you were there to see some of the shows. You loved watching Daniel perform and could almost see the rush he got from it. You loved his passion. You loved him. 

So it wasn’t a total secret (well it was to Daniel) that you had a massive crush on him since you two became friends. It stemmed out of late nights making music, car rides, and dinner dates. Everything was fun with him and you fell slowly before it smacked you in the face one day. Your brother thought it was cute, but of course was annoyed you still hadn't told the blue-eyed beauty how you felt. 

What was secret to you also, was that Daniel had liked you ever since he saw you. He loved your style, your personality, your smile, your laugh, he loved it all. But he never had the guts to tell you how he felt. Even if he never did, he decided being your best friend would be enough. 

You both fell asleep, relaxed in each other's presence, and happy that Daniel was finally home. 

The next day, you and Daniel wake up slowly checking your phone notifications before speaking to each other. It's how you always operated at sleepovers. Phone for a bit, then words that are usually about food are exchanged. 

"Wanna get food?" you ask and Daniel nods. 

You both get dressed and ready before heading out in your car to the closest diner. As you drive, Daniel skips through your music and whines about your musicals. 

"Hey, Mamma Mia is good leave me alone."

“It’s show tunes, no one listens to it,” he jokes and you roll your eyes before shoving his head lightly causing a laugh to erupt from the fake blonde. 

When you get to the diner, you’re seated immediately and you take one look at the menu before closing it again. 

“Bacon egg and cheese and home fries?” Daniel asks and you smile. You and Daniel always ordered the exact same thing as each other whenever you went to restaurants and even if you didn’t, you still knew each other’s orders by heart. 

As you eat, you catch up more, the little stories that you’ve missed over the past few months and you can’t help but smile at each story. You adored having Daniel back and spending time together again. 

“You didn’t say that to a customer,” he says laughing loudly so that other people in the restaurant start to stare. 

“Hell yes, I did. I’m over this job,” you respond laughing just as loud and Daniels smile sends your heart soaring. 

“God I love that,” he says shaking his head. “I’m in love with you.” 

The moment the words leave his lips, you both lock eyes, and your expression turn serious. There’s a glint in his eyes though, one that tells you before you can even ask that he’s for real. 

“For like our entire friendship,” he continues and your smile widens so much it’s cracking. 

“Oh thank god. Cause I was gonna say it back and I didn’t want anything to be awkward when you said ‘in a friend way,” 

“Shut up.” 

He takes your hand in his, giggling softly and your smiles reflect widely. He leans over and pecks your cheek and your certain your heart is practically bursting for everyone to see. 

[what-is-your-plan-today]

Riding High Ch23: Full Circle

Chapter Summary: Mary takes a trip to Boston, but it doesn’t go exactly according to plan and both Frank and Fliss find themselves making a return to the very place they both ran from.

Chapter Warnings: Bad Language words.

Chapter Pairings:  Frank Adler x OFC Fliss Gallagher

A/N: Nothing major in this, except please bear with me…I’m a Brit so don’t have a wonderful knowledge of the US Health service… thanks to those of you who helped me with this one, you know who you are… ;-)

Chapter Song:  Eye Of The Storm by Ryan Stevenson

Series Masterlist // Main Masterlist 

In the eye of the storm, you remain in control, and in the middle of the war, you guard my soul, you alone are the anchor, when my sails are torn, your love surrounds me in the eye of the storm.

"You got everything?" Frank looked at Mary as she shrugged her pink backpack over her shoulder and nodded at him, grinning. "All set..." "Have a good time sweetie!" Fliss grinned as she bent to give her a hug. "I'll make sure Monty is ok, and Fred gets his ping pong ball." Mary wrapped her arms around Fliss, squeezing her before she turned to Frank and did the same. "Call or message me when you land." Frank straightened up as Mary turned to climb in the car as Evelyn held the door open. It was in instruction, not a request and that didn’t pass Evelyn by. She looked at him, smiled and nodded. "Of course. Our flight is due into Boston at 10pm so I'll let you know straight away." Frank nodded and Fliss slipped an arm around his waist as Evelyn settled into the car, the door closing behind them. "She'll be fine..." Fliss gave his hip a gentle squeeze as they both waved the car off, Thor playfully bounding after it for 2 or 3 strides, barking. "It’s only 2 nights sailor...she'll be back Sunday evening" "I know..." he sighed, turning to face her. "And I know it’s different to the last time she went..."

“But that won’t stop you worrying, I know.” Fliss said, as she gently slid her arms round his neck.

“Stupid, huh?” Frank sighed, his hands falling to her hips.

“No, not at all. You’re behaving like any dad would…” “I’m not her dad.” Frank shook his head.

“And Bill isn’t mine, biologically.” Fliss looked at him, her head tilting to one side. “I’ve told you before, don’t sell yourself short.”

Frank took a deep breath and looked down at Fliss, her large brown eyes studying his.

“What you wanna do tonight?” he asked, changing the subject. It always made him feel slightly uncomfortable being referred to as Mary’s Father, it was almost like he was betraying Diane’s memory in a way. It was stupid, illogical, he knew, as he was her father, in every way but biologically…but still.

"How about you take me for a ride in the new truck?" Fliss smiled. “I’ve not sat in it yet!”

Frank looked over her shoulder for a moment at the sleek, shiny new silver Mitsubishi Triton he’d taken delivery of that morning. He smiled a little, before he looked at Fliss, his hands flexing on her waist as he had an idea. "Why don't we see what's on at the Drive In up at Tampa? Good trip to give it a test and we can take the blankets and cool box up, sit on the back?" "Ooooh, sounds great!" Fliss grinned "grab some munchies too!" Frank nodded, giving her a peck on the lips before they headed back up to the apartment. The evening film turned out to be Bohemian Rhapsody which Fliss was eager to see and after checking the time they packed up the truck with what they needed before hitting the road. Fliss was taken with the modern interior of the new vehicle, fiddling about with the dials and the screen on the centre console, tuning the radio in and programming the rest of the stuff which Frank couldn't give a crap out. The only thing useful on there in his opinion was the built in GPS. "Did Greg call you today?" Frank asked Fliss as she sat in the seat beside him. She turned to face him, frowning. "I thought I told you?" Frank shook his head, glancing at her. "Oh God, Frank, I’m sorry!" She slapped her palm to her forehead and groaned, shaking her head. Frank chuckled and reached out to squeeze her knee. "Honey, its ok" he assured her, giving her a smile which she returned. He knew why she had been quick to apologise. As part of their moving forward since their little 'blip' as Frank referred to it a few weeks back, Fliss had agreed one hundred percent disclosure on anything and everything to do with her ass hat ex and she didn't want him thinking she was holding out. Another part of the deal was they went to the police. After seeing the evidence and taking statements they had questioned John, who of course had denied it. Given that the evidence was circumstantial the prosecution had told Fliss that they wouldn't be pursuing it further however, upon learning this Greg, had taken matters into his own hands and was pushing for further action. Given that the weight of probability with John's history, swayed towards him being responsible Greg was actively yet unofficially harassing the Assistant District Attorney in Suffolk County (who he knew from Law School) to at least consider holding a Grand Jury Hearing. "He hasn't heard back from his pal at the DAs office yet." Fliss shrugged, her eyes moving back to the road "Mind you, John's been quiet though for the last month now since the photo. Part of me wonders if pushing for this is just gonna kick the Hornets nest so to speak." "Maybe." Frank mused. "But Greg seems confident if we can get him up in front of a Grand Jury, they'd without a doubt decide there was a case to answer." "Greg just wants to second chair the Prosecution" Fliss grinned and Frank snorted. "Yeah he has taken it kinda personally..." he nodded, before he sighed and reached out for her left hand which was now nervously twisting the fingers of her right. He pressed a gentle kiss to her knuckles before he linked his fingers with his and dropped his hand to the arm rest between them. He didn't mention it again. Instead they concentrated on enjoying themselves and once at the Drive In, Frank reversed the truck so the flat bed was facing the lager screen. They sat in the back, cool box of beer and snacks at their disposal, huddled together and enjoyed their film, sharing the odd lingering, deep kiss that left the pair of them smiling and grinning like a couple of teenagers on the back row. Once the film was finished they headed home via one of the All Night Diners on the for a shake and some pie, at which point Frank received a photo message from Evelyn that showed Mary asleep in the back of her car, accompanied by the words "Safe and Sound" and a promise that Mary would call in the morning. He passed the phone to Fliss who grinned at the image. "See, nothing to worry about." She said gently, passing him the phone back. "I'm not worried..." he began to protest but Fliss simply arched an eyebrow and he let out a soft sigh "ok, maybe a little..." "It;s gonna be fine. She's going to come back full of tales about what a great time she had and that's the most important thing here Frank. You said you wanted her to be happy. Clearly, having Evelyn in her life is what she wants." "I know, I know...you're right." He nodded, before his attention flicked to the waitress who was bringing them their food. Once finished they made their way back home and decided to take Thor for a quick walk down to the Marina. It was dark, and getting a little bit chilly (well, as chilly as it ever got in South Pas) but it was nice none the less, just taking the time to themselves in the moonlight. As they walked and talked, Frank felt the veil of anxiety he had been feeling about Mary’s trip lift slightly and he started to relax properly. It was hard not to, he loved spending time with Fliss like this, just doing simple things alone and it didn’t escape him how if you had asked him 18 months ago if he would be spending his Friday Nights walking down the Marina with his girlfriend of a year he would have laughed.

At that he stopped.

A year.

Fuck.

“Lissy…” he pulled her back to him. “It’s our anniversary tomorrow.”

“I know.” she smiled “I take it you just remembered?”

“No…” he started to protest, and then gave a laugh as she arched an eyebrow at him, calling him out.

“You’re so full of shit.”

“Ok, so…maybe I did just remember but that’s only because every day with you feels as special as our first date.” “Oh fuck you Adler!” she snorted and he laughed, tilting his head back, his right hand flying to his chest. “That’s is such a shit line.” “Ok, ok, sorry!” he chuckled, tilting his head to look at her. “I’ve never been in this position before so cut me some slack huh!”

“Well, I’m not expecting a card or flowers or any crap like that.” she smiled “It’s not like it’s a wedding anniversary, which, for the record, when we get married, you forget one of those I would smother you to death in your sleep…” “When…” Frank looked at her, a soft smile on his face.

“I mean if…” she flushed, biting her lip.

“Nope, you said when…”

“Piss off.”

“So you don’t wanna marry me?”

“I didn’t say that?”

“So you do then…” “Frank, seriously, shut up!” she said, laughing hitting him on his chest.

“Ok, ok…” he laughed, his hand dropping round her shoulder. They continued their walk, looping around the marina to start the head home, when after a few moment she spoke again “But, hypothetically speaking, if I was to ask…” Fliss took a deep breath as they continued to walk, before she stopped and looked up at him. “Hypothetically?” “Of course…”

She smiled, and looked down slightly, before she grinned up at him “Then it would totally depend on what ring you got me.”

“Materialistic…” Frank nodded, “Noted.”

She shoved him again and he looked at her, “What?” he asked through his chuckle.

“I wonder why I love you at times.” “No you don’t” he said gently and it was her turn to laugh as she shook her head.

“Yeah, you’re right. I don’t”

“You’ve still not answered my question…” he said, looking at her.

“Ask it properly and maybe I will.” she sassed back.

Frank felt his face split into a grin because that was all the damned answer he needed. He leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to her lips before he pulled her close and they headed home, Thor running in front of them barking at the lights that were reflecting on the dark water.

******

Frank blinked. It took him a while to realise what had woken him, but his phone was ringing. Reaching for it with a yawn he looked at it, and as soon as the called ID registered he sat bolt upright and answered. "Mother?" He frowned, his voice thick from sleep "What's happened?" "Don't panic..." she spoke immediately, and he felt his chest contract straight away in worry as she continued "but we're on the way to hospital..." "Why, what's going on?" He asked, as Fliss stirred next to him as he began to push the covers down, before swinging his legs so he was sat on the edge if his bed. "Mary started complaining of pains in her stomach just before bed. She seemed to settle after some pain relief but woke about half an hour ago screaming. So I decided call an ambulance." Evelyn's voice was calm but Frank could sense the underlying current of anxiety "they're here now and they want to take her in, they think its appendicitis..." There was a pause as someone said something to her on the other side and then Frank could hear Mary's soft crying and he felt a lump in his throat. "Ok, where are they taking her?" He asked "Cambridge?" "Yes." Evelyn spoke "Frank, I need to go but I'll call you as soon as I have news." "Ok." Frank nodded, standing up "I'll be there as soon as I can" Evelyn didn't argue, she simply promised once more to call as soon as there was an update and he hit cancel. "Frank?" Fliss asked softly, clicking on the lamp as he turned to face her. "What...."

"It's Mary." Frank looked at Fliss as he moved the wardrobe and pulled out a bag "She's been taken ill, they're err...taking her to hospital. I need to go..."

"Hospital?" Fliss threw the covers off the bed "What for?" "Suspected appendicitis..." Frank said, as he tossed the kit bag onto the bed "I don't know much more but..."

He took a deep breath as Fliss reached out for him, and he fell into her arms as she gently gave him a hug. He pulled away and ran a hand over his face.

"Ok, first thing's first..." Fliss said, looking at him "We need flights..."

"Flights?" "Yeah, you can't drive there Frank." Fliss looked at him, "It will take you a day..." "Yeah, yeah..." he nodded, realising that his plan to simply jump in his truck and floor it was a ridiculous one, before he frowned "hang on, we?"

"Yes, we. You're not going on your own." "I don't want you back in Boston." Frank shook his head. "Not whilst..."

"Frank, I'm not having this argument with you." Fliss said sternly "Fuck John. This is Mary. I'm coming, end of discussion." Frank looked at her for a moment, her face was stern leaving him absolutely no doubt she was being serious. If he was 100% honest with himself, he didn't want to go without her either, so with a deep breath he nodded.

"I’ll sort the flights..." she said, nodding ."And then I'll call my mum and dad...they can come get Thor and Fred. Where's your ID?" "Kitchen drawer." he said, as he began pulling a few items of clothing and stuffing them in the bag. She nodded and headed out of the room, the lights in the hallway flicking on as she went. He shoved what he had pulled from his drawers into his bag. He hated this, he'd always been there when Mary was sick, and the fact he was a damned 3 hour flight away was killing him.

"Ok, so Dad's on his way over, and the first flight out is 6.15 which gets us in at 9.20." Fliss said, coming back, her phone in her hand "So that gives us...just under 3 hours." she said.

Frank nodded and that was the confirmation she needed, and she tapped a button nodding. "Ok, that's done. So you're gonna need your paperwork, insurance etc..." "Yeah, that's..." he frowned, "erm..." "Filed with everything else." she looked at him, "It's in the drawer in the bureau."

"Ok..." "And we should probably take some more stuff for Mary." Fliss looked at him, "She's gonna be there a little longer than anticipated so she'll need more clothes, pyjamas...maybe a few books...want me to sort it?" "Please..." he smiled softly at her, thankful that she seemed to have taken control.

She nodded and headed into Mary's room and began to pull a selection of things for her together, returning with them moments later. They spent the next 15 minutes gathering what they needed before they both dressed, and then there was a soft knock on the door. Frank made his way to answer when his phone rang again.

"I'll get the door honey." Fliss spoke softly as he answered the call.

"Mr Adler?" "Speaking." "This is Ava Fields calling from Cambridge Hospital...I just need to collect some details from you regarding Mary...I believe you're the Minor's official guardian?"

Frank took a deep breath and confirmed the status with the woman, and then headed into the living room, nodding slightly to Bill as he went to the file which Fliss had placed on the dining room table. Flicking through he found his policy details, number and proceeded to recite the information over the phone.

"Listen..." he spoke to the woman once he had finished "I'm in Florida at the moment, but I'll be flying up as soon as I can...in the meantime, could it be possible to delegate responsibility when I'm not reachable to Evelyn Adler, she's Mary's grandmother, my mother...she came in with her. I don't want anything to be held up whilst I'm in the air..." "No, of course Mr Adler." The woman spoke kindly, "I'll make a note that you're happy for Mrs Adler to be the point of contact until you arrive...now have a safe trip and try not to worry." Yeah, right.

With a thanks he cut the call and immediately dialled his mother.

"Any news?" he demanded.

"The doctor has just arrived." Evelyn spoke quietly "He's doing a quick physical then I suspect she'll be taken up for some tests or..." "Ok, well our flight leaves at 6:15." he said, walking back into the bedroom "Arrives in Mass at 9:20."

"I'll send a car for you." Evelyn said.

"Thanks." Frank said "Oh, and I've told the hospital that if they can't reach me to defer to you. I hope that's ok." "Of course it's ok Frank." Evelyn replied softly "She is my granddaughter." "Just call me the minute there's any news." he said, ignoring her sudden softness. "Sure." Evelyn said "And keep me posted as to where you are." With a goodbye Frank slid the phone into his pocket and unplugged the charger before he threw that into the bag along with his documents before he zipped it up and lifted it, along with the smaller one which contained Mary's stuff and headed into the hall.

"Hey Bill..." he said with a sigh, dropping the bags to the floor "Sorry, I wasn't being rude..." "Stop." Bill shook his head, cutting Frank’s apology off "How is she?" "Still being examined. I should know more shortly." he took a deep breath, looking at Fliss "Mother's sending a car for us once we land."

"Ok." Fliss said "I couldn't get two seats together but we're a row behind one another..." Frank nodded, it wasn't important. What was important was that they simply got there.

"Deep breath..." Fliss said softly, her hands resting on his arms "Have we packed everything?"

He nodded, running over the list in his head and Bill reached for one of the bags. "Ok, let's get going..."

"Dad's gonna drop us at the airport." Fliss said, "Save us having to sort out Car parking..." "Thanks." Frank looked at Bill, who waved his gratitude away.

"No problems...all set?" "Jacket." Fliss looked at Frank and he cursed, heading back into the bedroom. Grabbing the warmest one he owned, which was a dark grey Super-Dry zip up he carried it back into the hall and the three of them headed down to Bill's Range Rover.

15 minutes into the trip he had another call from Evelyn to say Mary was being taken up for scans as soon as possible.

"The initial examination seems to confirm it's appendicitis..." she said "They've given her a sedative for the pain and once the scans are done, if its confirmed they're going to need to operate. The good news is it doesn't appear to have ruptured so it can be done via a laparoscopy..." "Yeah, that's wonderful..." Frank said sarcastically before he sighed "Sorry, I'm just worried..." "I know." Evelyn said "But she's in the best place Frank." "Yeah..." he sighed, looking out of the window. "Thanks...keep in touch." He explained to Fliss and Bill who were both looking at him questioningly before they fell silent again, no one speaking for the rest of the journey, which took them just over 35 minutes in total. After giving Bill quick instructions for Thor and Fred, and the man promising to call Alan and Joanne for them, as it was unlikely they would be back on Monday, they both gave him a hug and Bill gently slapped Frank's back slightly, in as Fatherly a manner as he could have done.

Check in and security took them about 40 minutes to clear, meaning by the time the hit the lounge they had roughly an hour before they could start boarding. Fliss suggested they grabbed a coffee and Frank agreed, even though he didn't particularly want one, he knew it was a way of passing the time. He was also getting antsy as there hadn't been any more news from his mother or the hospital. Fliss directed him to sit on the tan, leather sofas in the Coffee Bar area of the lounge and headed to the counter to place their order. Whilst she waited she turned to glance at Frank, to see he had crossed one long leg over the other and was rubbing at his forehead with his hand. She knew he was worried, hell, they both were, but Frank was normally the level-headed one out of the pair of them, more often than not being the one bringing Fliss down from a rage when Mary came home and told about something a kid at school had said to her, even when Mary didn’t actually give a shit herself. But now the tables had turned and Fliss knew she had to be the calm one despite the fact she herself felt anything but.

Taking the coffees with a smile she turned and headed over to where he was sat, placing the mugs on the small table in front of them and then dropping gently into the seat besides him.

“Thanks.” he murmured, before he pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked it again.

"She’ll be ok Frank." Fliss said gently, her hand dropping to his knee.

"She's gonna be so scared Fliss" Frank sighed, his hand sliding into hers "A strange place, in pain, and ...I'm not there..." "No, but you will be as soon as we can." Fliss soothed.

"What if they operate, and then she wakes up and..."Frank's voice croaked "I promised I'd look after her and..."

"Hey..." Fliss said softly, her fingers tightening around his "You do look after her. No one could have predicted she would fall ill, that isn't something you can control, ok? I know it’s easier said than done but try and concentrate, keep a clear head. So when you do get news you can digest it rationally ok?"

"I know going back can't be easy for you." he looked at her, "But I'm glad you're here...I don't know what I'd have done without you before..."

"Probably jumped in your truck in nothing but your boxers." She said and he gave a soft chuckle.

"Probably" he agreed, reaching out for his up of coffee. Fliss watched him for a second before she cocked her head to one side.

“Your hairs getting kinda long, well, long for you anyway...” she mused. ”Beard too...”

“I know...it all needs a cut.” he said, running his hands through it. He’d noticed the other day that it was far longer than he normally wore it and had taken to parting it slightly at the side. She was right, his beard was also a little thicker too, instead of being a slightly thick layer of stubble it was now a fairly substantial covering of hair, although that wasn’t intentional, his trimmers had broken about 3 weeks back and he’d yet to get himself a new pair.

“I like it.” Fliss mused 

“Yeah?”

She nodded.  “Makes you look...I dunno, like older maybe...but good older. I can’t explain...”

“Hmm, well maybe I’ll keep it for a while...just get the sides trimmed...”

Fliss smiled, having diverted his attention for a little while and they made small talk for the rest of the time before their flight called and they headed to the gate. He called Evelyn to inform her they were boarding and she told him that they were still waiting for a doctor to come by with the scans results. That frustrated him, as it had been almost 2 hours since they had said they were referring her for one but there was nothing he could do about it.

They found their seats, Frank shoving their bags into any space in the overhead locker he could find and thankfully, the man next to Frank was happy to swap seats when Fliss explained the situation to him, meaning they could sit together. Whilst Frank had earlier stated it wasn't important he was glad he was by his side. He could take her hand, feel her presence which itself was calming.

The flight itself felt like the longest 3 hours of Frank's life. He tried to concentrate on a film, but that didn't work. Nor did the paper from the flight attendant, or trying to talk to Fliss. After 40 minutes he just settled into a contemplative silence, his mind working overtime, simply taking Fliss' hand in his as he willed away the minutes. Eventually, their descent into Logan was announced and after Fliss spoke to the flight attendant again, they were allowed to exit the aircraft first. Frank was back on his phone as soon as they walked off, and Evelyn answered immediately saying Mary had been taken down to surgery approximately 50 minutes ago. She assured Frank that Mary had been ok, knew he was on his way, and Evelyn had been with her whilst she fell asleep, which was something at least.

As they were travelling with their bags in the cabin, once they cleared security they didn’t have to wait for luggage reclaiming, and they strode quickly into the arrivals lounge where they were met by their driver who Frank greeted with a nod. They followed him outside to the sleek grey Mercedes and both climbed into the rear once Frank had tossed their bags into the trunk.  Fliss gently placed her hand on Frank's knee as his leg was shaking and he shot her a small smile as he looked out of the window at the sights of the city he had left behind almost 8 years ago.

Nothing had changed, nothing of notice anyway. A few new housing developments here and there but as they made their way through to Cambridge it appeared to be the same leafy suburb he had once called home. Although he knew Fliss had lived in Concorde, this had to be jolting memories for her and it seemed he was right as he glanced sideways at her and noticed a look of contemplation on her face.

"You ok?" he asked, and she smiled, nodding.

“Was just thinking about how beautiful it all looks this time of year." He smiled softly and they fell into silence again, and less than 20 minutes after leaving the airport they pulled up outside the hospital. The driver hopped out and opened the trunk so they could grab their bags before they thanked the man and headed inside straight to reception. The woman greeted him, gave him the relevant floor and Ward name along with a room number, informing him Mary had her own private area which he was glad about.

"Come on..." Frank urged the elevator as it ascended to the floor they needed, tapping his foot on the floor. After what felt like hours, the doors opened and he strode out, his hand round Fliss' as they checked the signs on the wall.

"This way..." Fliss said, tugging on his arm. She gently led him to the right and they checked the numbers on the doors before they reached Mary's. Without knocking Frank opened the door and Evelyn's head snapped up.

"Where's Mary?" Frank demanded as he spotted the bed was missing from the room. "Not back from theatre." Evelyn said, standing up and Fliss smiled at her, taking in her appearance. She was as casually dressed as Fliss had ever seen her, in a pair of jeans and a sweater, her hair pulled back into a pony tail and she noted how soft and almost maternal it actually made her look in contrast to her usual School Mistress appearance. "It shouldn't be long now...as soon as she's out they'll be taking her to the post anaesthetic care unit and come down to get us."

Frank dropped the bag he was carrying to the floor and walked to the window, taking a glance out, chewing the inside of his lip. Fliss watched him for a moment before she turned to Evelyn as she spoke.

"Good flight?" the woman asked, clearly trying to make conversation.

"Yeah." Fliss nodded "Felt like it took an age but..."

At that moment there was a knock on the door before it opened and they all turned to see a doctor step into the room.

"How is she?" Frank asked immediately.

"Mr Adler I presume?" The light haired man smiled at him. "I'm Dr Jeffords. Mary is fine, the operation went without hitch. If you come with me I'll take you up to PACU...but I'm afraid only 2 of you can come..." Frank took a deep breath and immediately looked to Fliss, who turned to Evelyn. "Evelyn, you can..." "No." she shook her head, "You go..."

"You can take turns if you wish." The doctor said gently "She shouldn't be in there for too long, once she's come round and her vitals are stable she'll be brought back down so..." Evelyn nodded and Fliss turned to Frank as he took her hand. With a final nod to his mother they followed the Doctor to the elevator.

"Just to prepare you, she does have an IV line in and could be a little groggy at first..." The doctor spoke as they followed him down a corridor. "That's all perfectly normal..."

Frank nodded as the Doctor opened a door to their right and Frank saw Mary for the first time in the middle of the bed at the far side.  She looked so small and there was a nurse stood by her, checking something on a screen.

"Oh, Jesus… Fliss, look..." Frank's voice caught in his throat and Fliss gently rubbed at his back.

"It looks worse than it is." Doctor Jeffords assured him "Like I said, there were no complications we just need to monitor her for a while until she comes round fully. Now if you need anything or have any worries, please just grab one of the nurses, and I'll be back in about half an hour to check on her. By the she should be with it enough to take back to her room."

Fliss thanked the Doctor as Frank walked over to Mary's bed, bending down gently to kiss the top of her head, his hand brushing her hair back off her face. She gently placed her hand between Frank's shoulder blades as the two of them stood looking down at Mary, Fliss' hand rubbing soft circles over Frank's grey t-shirt as he took a deep breath. "She looks so small." Frank said softly "I never considered how little she was really" "She's not." Fliss chuckled. "She is to you because you're big." "Big?" Frank looked at her and she shrugged, smiling. "Yeah you're tall...broad shouldered..." she mused, her eyes flicking back to Mary, her hand falling from his shoulders to the base of his back. "I'm 6ft, it's not that tall..." Frank's lips curled into a smile "Your brother is taller than me, Bill is the same size..." "Steve is an animal." Fliss said, shaking her head "he was 6ft at the age of 14. Ridiculous." At that Mary made a little noise, and her face creased up, eyes closed. "Hey..." Frank said softly, his hand reaching out again, gently brushing her cheek. "Hey Stack..."

Mary made a noise, and then her face screwed up and she began to try and push herself into a sitting position.

“Hey, hey…”  Frank moved so he was stood further up the bed, gently bending over so his hands fell either side of her. “Just…stay calm, its ok…”

But even as he spoke she became even more visibly distressed, and no matter what he said she didn’t respond. He looked up at Fliss, helplessly, his eyes filling with tears and Fliss took a deep breath, swallowing as she called over for a nurse.

“I know this looks horrible…” the Nurse said softly as she strode over, “But she’s experiencing something we call Emergence Delirium, very common in children…” “What...what do I do?” Frank asked, shaking his head, his eyes still fixed on Mary as she yelled out, her arms flailing “I can’t…”

“There’s nothing you can do really other than gently talk to her, stay calm, be reassuring…” the Nurse said gently. “I promise you, she won't remember any of this when she comes round fully Mr Adler, it’s worse for you than her…”

Frank gently placed his hand on Mary’s forehead and at his touch she seemed to relax a little, so encouraged slightly he began to hum the melody to God Only Knows by the Beach Boys, something he had always sung to her as a small child, a song she’d grown up with and they now sang along to in the car on occasions. Fliss moved to his side, her arm curling round his waist as she simply stood with him, lending him comfort and eventually, Mary blinked, her eyes opening and when they focussed on Frank she gave him a small smile.

Frank let out the breath he had been holding and wiped his eyes hastily before she realised he’d been crying.

"Hey Stack." he said gently, looking at her, his hand softly stroking her cheek. "Welcome back."

She blinked again, and then looked to Fliss, her face cracking into an even bigger smile and Fliss reached down and gently placed a kiss on her head.

“Hey baby.” Fliss smiled.

“Evelyn…” Mary coughed slightly, her voice croaky and she looked at Frank “She said you were on your way…” “I got on a plane as soon as I could.” he said, “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here earlier.” “Where is she?”

“She’s in your room.” Frank said “Only 2 of us were allowed in here at once.” “Do you want me to go get her?” Fliss said.

“But then you would have to go.” Mary frowned.

“Yeah, but if you want Evelyn that’s fine…” “No.” Mary shook her head and Frank gently curled his hand around Fliss’. Mary closed her eyes again before she opened them and looked at Frank “Where’s Fred.” Frank let out a snort “I couldn’t bring a cat in here with me, Stack. Bill and Verity have him.” “And his ping pong balls?” “And his ping pong balls.” Fliss assured her.

“Oh, ok.” Mary looked at them both “That’s fine. Hey, did you bring me any snacks?”

Frank looked at Fliss, the pair of them sharing a grin before Frank shook his head “No, but when the doctor says it’s ok I’ll go get you whatever you want.” “Good, Evelyn wouldn’t let me have any chips last night.” she said, wrinkling her face “I know I’ve said this before but she really is bossy…” *******

When the Doctor returned he began his examination to make sure Mary was ok to move back to her room, and Fliss had to snort at the way Mary started demanding an in depth report on what exactly the Operation had done. Doctor Jeffords looked at Frank, who merely rolled his eyes and gestured for him to answer so, with an amused expression he did just that. Mary quizzed him for a good 15 minutes until Frank stepped in and told her that the poor man had other people to go and see, not just her.

Little over 20 minutes after the Doctor left they were back in Mary’s room, and she seemed fairly bright. Frank had been momentarily dumbfounded when he had seen his mother reach over to hug Mary, tears in her eyes when she had returned to her room. But Mary didn’t act like it was a big issue, so he could only assume that his mother must have hugged her before, and it struck him as being a little sad how surprised he was by this realisation.

The three of them sat with her, the TV on the wall playing something in the background. Frank made sure her laptop was charged so she had something to do as well in case she decided she was getting bored. They Face-timed Bill and Verity who were both over the moon to see Mary ok, and they talked to them for a good forty minutes, Mary demanding to see Fred and Thor as well, Bill making good natured grumblings about how he was offended she didn’t really want to see him. All in all, the day passed fairly quickly and at about 4pm another Nurse popped in to ask if Mary wanted something to eat. She nodded eagerly and when they returned with a list of what she could have, Frank sat next to her and they began to decide. Fliss smiled softly at the sight of him, sat up on the bed, arm looped round the headboard as they both pulled a face at something on the menu, shaking their heads.

“String beans by any chance?” Evelyn asked, clocking the exchange and Frank looked up at her.

“How did you guess?”

“You always hated them as a child and do does she….” Evelyn said, a little distractedly as her phone began to ring. She glanced at the number and then looked at Frank “Sorry, do you…” “No, go ahead.” He said, nodding. She answered the call as she left the room, Fliss watching her go before she turned to Frank as Mary looked at him.

“Are you staying here with me tonight?” “Course I am.” he assured her “I’m not leaving until you can come home.” “And that’s tomorrow?” “If they’re happy you’re ok, yeah, tomorrow. Although you won’t’ be able to fly back to Florida for a while.” “Does that mean we’re gonna be at Evelyn’s for Thanksgiving?” Frank paused for a moment, he hadn’t even thought about that, or in fact where they were going to stay whilst Mary recovered. His mother’s was the logical option, despite how he had no desire to step foot in her house ever again, but that wasn’t important. What was important was Mary, and being at his mother’s was going to be a damned sight better for her than a hotel.

“Looks like it.” he nodded.

“Will we still get our dinner?” Mary frowned “Like, we said we would do a beef roast this year.” “I’ll still make you a roast.” Fliss smiled,  “As long as Evelyn is ok with it.” “Ok with what?” Evelyn asked, walking back into the room.

“With us staying until Mary is well enough to fly home.”  Frank looked at her.

“And Thanksgiving dinner.” Mary added.

“And dinner.” Frank nodded.

Evelyn looked at him “Well I assumed you would be staying with me until she was well enough to fly home, Francis…” Frank arched his eyebrow at the fact she’d dropped his full name and besides him Mary sniggered.

“Francis…that’s so lame…” “Shuddup.” he looked at her before he turned to his mother. “Are you sure?” “Of course, there’s plenty of room.” she said.

“Thanks. Who was on the phone?” Frank asked.

“Oh, just someone from the University asking how Mary was.” Evelyn shook her head, “No one important.”

“That all they wanted?” Frank asked, and Evelyn sighed

“I should have been on a call this afternoon.” “On a Saturday?” Frank looked at her.

“Research doesn’t stop at a weekend as well you know.” Evelyn glared at him. “But like I said, not important. I’ll catch up on what they wanted another time.” with that she rubbed at her eyes . Frank studied her for a moment and gave a sigh, she looked exhausted. They all did to be fair, but his mother was almost 65, she was bound to be feeling it a little more than he or Fliss.

“Why don’t you head off?” he asked. “Go catch up on whatever they wanted, get some sleep and come back in the morning…you too.” he turned to Fliss. Immediately she began to protest but Frank looked at her, shaking his head “Look, all that’s gonna happen is I’m gonna eat half of Mary’s dinner-“ “-hey!”

“-and fall asleep.” he finished, grinning as Mary glared at him over the threat regarding her food. “It’s 5 pm now…I guarantee by 8 I’ll be flat out.”

“Well then I’ll go at 8.” Fliss pouted.

Frank looked at her, about to argue but Evelyn stood up.

“I’ll call for my driver.” Evelyn said, “I’m not going to lie, I am dying for a hot bath and a bottle of Malbec.”

“I don’t want to go yet.” Fliss pouted.

Frank took a deep breath, “Really? We’re actually going to have this argument?” “No argument. I’m not going yet.” “I’ll go ahead.” Evelyn said, stepping in as she saw Frank glaring at Fliss “I could do with making sure the guest room is ready anyway and making a few calls. I’ll send the driver back for you in an hour or so, give you a little more time.” Fiss took a deep breath and then sighed “Ok, fine.” Domestic argument averted, Evelyn bid Mary a good night, gently pecking her head before she turned to Frank who was sat next to Mary and surprisingly did the same to him. He swallowed and looked at her, frowning a bit. She looked la little startled, like she hadn’t meant to do it, and to be fair she probably hadn’t, and then she made as if to speak but instead she stood up and told Fliss she would send her a set of keys back with the driver.

Frank watched her go before he turned to Fliss.

“Ok now that was weird.” he mumbled, she aint so much as hugged me in god knows how long, let alone given me a kiss...” Fliss looked at him, shrugging her shoulders.

“She clearly found her inner mom.” Mary said, and Frank looked down at her, “Something underneath Mother.”

“She’s always been mother.” Frank said “I’ve never once called her mom.”

“Her loss.” Mary shrugged and Frank frowned again, looking at Fliss.

“Why do you say that?”

“Coz Verity told me that being a mom and a nanna was the best thing ever.” she shrugged “If Evelyn’s only ever been a mother, well that sucks…” Frank stared down at her, utterly dumbfounded at her comment  as once again her little mind had managed to see something so clearly, in such an innocent way, and it made perfect and utter sense that she was most likely right.

Mary smiled at him as she handed him the menu card and simply told him “I’ll have the chicken, but no string beans…”

***** Little over an hour or so Fliss received a call telling her that the driver was waiting outside. Once they finished removing what Frank needed from the bag for an overnight stay, she turned to Mary and gave her a hug and kiss goodnight before Frank followed her out of the door.

“Let me know when you get to Mother’s” he said, and she nodded, stepping into his arms before she gave him a soft kiss.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can in the morning.” she said gently. “I love you.”

“Love you too.” he smiled, kissing her again “So much baby girl.”

Smiling at the nickname she picked up the bag, and with a last peck to his lips she headed out.

The drive to Evelyn’s was reasonably quick, and Fliss soon found the car pulling off the main road onto a sweeping driveway and into a large, open courtyard. The house was big, bigger than her parents so it looked but it was hard to see much it was dark. She thanked the driver as he walked her up to the door with her bag, before handing her the keys. Once inside she found herself in an immaculate terracotta tiled hallway, illuminated by a very expensive looking floor lamp in the corner under the huge stair case. Fliss turned and gave the door a soft pull before she began to walk deeper into the house, bag deposited by the foot of the stairs. Pulling out her message to text Frank to say she’d arrived and would call him shortly, she headed into a large sitting area, which contained a pristine leather couch and matching arm chairs, large TV and followed that through to another area which contained a grand piano, a large table and numerous bookshelves. That led into a large kitchen with hanging, brushed copper lampshades, and the room looked as though it spanned the entire width of the house. She stepped inside and then through another door which led back into a hall, passing another two doors to her right, which were both closed.

Frowning, Fliss saw the front door was open slightly, she must not have shut it correctly, it was quite a heavy wooden one after all in comparison to their PVC one at the apartment and probably needed a little more than a quick shove. This tim she made sure the lock had clicked before she grabbed her bag and made her way upstairs. She reached the top and then stood, looking round. The hallway circled back round the stairs, rooms on all 4 sides. With a shrug she headed down towards the first door an opened it. It was a spare room, but clearly where Mary had been staying. It was decorated in soft shades of dusky pinks and golds, and there was a small bookcase with a few children’s books, some puzzles and TV with a DVD player sat on top of it. Fliss smiled before she headed to the next one. This was a larger room with a huge double bed, and on top of it sat two sets of clean towels. Deciding this was likely to be the one Evelyn was prepping for them Fliss dropped her back down, and shrugged off her jacket, glancing a the door that led to the en-suite. Taking a quick look inside she knew she really should find Evelyn before she did anything else so she continued down past the next room which was empty, then the huge bathroom with a roll top bath, until she reached the final one which was on the opposite side of the landing. She gave a soft knock, before she entered, glancing around at the opulent master bedroom as soft music hit her ears, along with the sounds of water sloshing in a tub.

“Evelyn?”

“Fliss?” the woman called back and Fliss headed over to the door of the en-suite.

“Yeah…sorry, I didn’t want to disturb you…” she spoke thorugh the door.

“It’s quite alright, I won’t be too long. Have you found your room?”

“Yes, thank you.” “Ok, well, go and help yourself to a bottle of wine and run your own bath in the main bathroom…fuck knows you can probably do with one too. Glasses are in the cabinet to the left of the sink.”

Although she knew Evelyn swore, the sound of the words from her mouth still made Fliss chuckle so after thanking her she headed back down the stairs to grab herself a bottle, as directed. She headed into the kitchen, and as she was passing the open door to her left which she had earlier assumed led into some kind of utility room, a movement caught her eye. She stopped, but before she could investigate further she saw a figure emerging from the shadows moving towards her. Automatically Fliss began to back away and she felt her eyes widen and her chest constrict in utter fear as the man’s features became clear when he emerged into the soft light of the kitchen. It was a face she hadn’t seen, other than in her worst memories or nightmares, since the court bailiffs had led him down from the dock after the jury had delivered their verdict. His cold grey eyes locked on to hers and he gave her a sinister smile.

“Long time no see Felicity.” John said, arching an eyebrow.  “You changed your hair.”

[yeaahishowedupatyourparty]

@.JaneyPowellx: Thank you for the overwhelming feedback on chapters 1 to 3. I’m so glad that everybody has understood why I’ve decided to do this; not to romanticise or sensationalise my experience, but to raise awareness and give answers that I’ve never been able to verbalise.  I want to say again that if you choose not to follow this story, it doesn’t make you any less of a fan. In this book are experiences humans aren’t supposed to endure or witness, but unfortunately do. 

In the first instalment of this story, I gave you the build up to my abduction from my perspective. The purpose was so that you could see all of the mistakes I made, and all of the red flags I missed, and avoid making them yourself - or help somebody who you see in the same state of mind. In these next chapters, I’ll be talking about what actually happened while I was away.

So many people have told me that I don’t have to talk about it and that what happened while I was out there doesn’t have to be relived. But, I do understand the curiosity that coincides with stories like this. Most of us will never go through it but it’s something every single person fears to some extent. 

If you’ve read this far, thank you. 

Janey x 

TW: abduction, assault, murder

//OOC: This isn’t a full on story, just the outline! I think it’s taken her ages but she’d definitely record like a diary-styled retell of everything that happened to her involving the abduction that happened when she was 15. It’d be super cheap and available in stores AND online but all the profit would be go to appropriate foundations.

CHAPTER FOUR: MOVING DAY 

Janey would recall how she remembers falling asleep on the floor of the flat she’d been staying in and seeing the time on the microwave say 22:32 (10:32) on the last day of August. She was woken up abruptly at 03:00 by the men who were keeping her there. She was told to stay quiet and wait by the door. The boyfriend of her best friend dressed her in one of his hoodies and told her to keep her head down. She’d explain how she knew they were leaving because the police were getting way too close, but she also felt hopeful. If just one person caught her face while they left the tower block, she’d be safe. However, they didn’t take her out of the main exit but the fire exit, into a car that was already waiting at the bottom of the stairs. Janey would explain that she remembers running her fingers through the ends of her hair and trying to leave some on the stairs in a desperate last hope that someone might detect DNA. That was never the case as far as she knows.

She’d explain how she was put into the back of a seven-seater car and she had no idea where she was going, but knew they were moving out of the city because of how dark it got and the lack of buildings/street lights. She remembers thinking they might be going back to the Springs and if they were, she could make a run for it, but that never happened. They stopped off at a motel and picked up two other girls and a guy. The girls were also put into the back of the car and Janey remembers them looking terrified but never saying anything to her.  After more hours of driving and several stops at convenience stores and to get petrol, they ended up at a ferry port in Kent. All three girls were told to get into cases; which they did; and lay low. Again, Janey was almost certain they’d be found...but they weren’t. They were on a ferry and were kept int he car for another two days while the guys drove from France to where she now realises was The Netherlands and more specifically Amsterdam. 

The two girls Janey had been travelling with were dropped off with the guy and her friend’s boyfriend on the cusp of some city. The boyfriend’s friend and Janey were left in the car and she was allowed to ride up front. She remembers having to beg to use the rest room and get some food from a cafe. He let her and she’d explain how she tried to get a woman’s attention once she was in the bathroom, but there was a language barrier and the woman seemed almost scared of her.

The chapter would end with Janey arriving at a small house in Volendam. She would see out the rest of the year there and for the most part, she had a lot of her privileges back. She was allowed to venture out as long as she stayed close to the house. Most nights, guys would arrive and continue to sleep with her and she quickly realised this is what it was. As long as she didn’t draw attention to herself or kick up a huge fuss, she would be kept alive because she made good business. It didn’t make it any easier though; she was lonely and depressed and just wanted to go home. She didn’t speak the language and hadn’t seen anymore reports about her case since August. She felt forgotten and lost.

CHAPTER FIVE: WHERE DID SHE GO? 

Janey would explain how sneaky and subtle her traffickers were. They’d let her be in public and hide her in plain sight to not seem suspicious. She’d speak about how they went back to France briefly in the Spring of the following year and she was excited to see a brief broadcast of her case. But, she’d also recall how there were a lot of instances where she could have been rescued but she was scared - if something went wrong and she ended up having to stay with her capture, they could punish her for trying to speak. She’d mention how she was once approached by an English couple in Paris and just as she went to speak, the guy came out of the bathroom and took her away. It messed with her mind so she just focused on staying alive, rather than escaping. 

Janey would talk about how for the majority of her years away, she was moved around Europe; specifically Croatia, Bulgaria, Poland and Russia. She’d explain that how some nights were worse than others but now she’s writing about them, she can’t pinpoint one. The majority of her time away is a blur and she’s sure she’s blocked them out on a subconscious level for her own well-being.

Janey would specifically talk about her last year of being in these people’s possession. It was a summer night in Russia and she was staying in an apartment in Moscow; somewhere where she seemed to get a lot of clients. At this point, she was living in a tiny room with five other girls who more or less did the same thing; she was nineteen. They were taken to a party which wasn’t out of character; there was alcohol, drugs etc. But, this particular party got raided. Janey decided to run while everybody was distracted by the police showing up.  She didn’t get far and one of the guys caught up with her in his car. She’d talk about how she remembers breaking down and remembers asking him why her? But, he’d always say why not.

She’d explain how being upset would earn abuse because it drew attention to them. She’d talk about how it was the worst night in the four years of being away and she cried herself to sleep in the apartment. Before falling asleep, she remembers hearing the friend and her friend’s boyfriend discussing going back to London because of how they’d raised a lot of suspicion in other countries. That’s when she decided she’d try one more time to get away. 

CHAPTER SIX: THE COTSWOLDS 

January 2020 - Janey would describe how she arrived back in London via flying and fake passports. She’d given up hope of anybody recognising her but was heartbroken when they went past so many officers and security workers with nobody recognising her or any of the men she was with. But, the relief of being back home, in the country where her family and friends were, brought her some sort of comfort. They had to wait at the airport to be picked up by another friend and Janey woud describe remembering how she’d been at Violet Springs airport so many times with her family and distracted herself by thinking about times she, Annabel and Harvey would run excitedly around airports or be falling asleep in the back of cars.  She also spent time watching one family with two little girls returning from a holiday; both being carried by their Dad. She figured that once upon a time, somebody had probably seen her too and never would’ve guessed where she’d end up. Who would?

Once they were picked up, she had the agony of driving through Violet Springs; past her old school, the downtown shops, the lake, even a friends house. She remembered how she always said she’d run if she got taken back home, but she didn’t. She was too weak, tired and felt like at this point, it was her fate to just stay put.  Plus, she’d probably be putting others in danger if she tried to reach out. Once they got to St Judes, she remembers seeing a group of kids walking home from a night out and she briefly wondered if any of them still thought about her. 

They drove out of Violet Springs and into a house in the Cotswolds (the countryside beyond VS, I think?). At this point, it was less about being paid to sleep with people and just being held captive because they couldn’t let her go. The guys were still abusing her but she’d become numb to it. She rarely saw anybody else and was never let outside. The only time she would leave was when the men wanted to go to the pub that they apparently owned. They’d take her through the back and leave her with in the storage room while they enjoyed themselves. 

Janey would speak about how one day, just before her 20th birthday, one of the guys brought her into the living room. They sat her down and told her to put on dark clothes. They explained they weren’t going to be a part of the ring anymore but still couldn’t let her go because she knew too much about them. Janey, at that point, swore she wouldn’t and begged them to let her go to no avail. They told her that it’d be her last night with them; they had to visit a few friends in London; but then she’d have to die. She was instructed to wait in the house until they got home from London. She was locked in the upstairs bedroom. 

Janey would admit how weirdly, it was the least scared she’d ever be. There were two endings for her now; to escape and somehow get home or to have her life ended & escape the mind games and torture she’d be living in.  She’d explain how she waited for an hour until she was sure they were gone and then started trying to escape. Her first thought was to kick open the door, which she did, but then everything else was locked and she couldn’t get out. So, the next thing she did was smash a window and climb out. She cut her leg on the way out but wasn’t about to stop to check it out. She’d explain how she ran faster than she ever had even though she was weak and hadn’t eaten in a while. She ran all the way to the nearest train station and jumped he barriers, she didn’t once look back and got on to the nearest train heading to Downtown Violet Springs. She wasn’t sure if she was going to actually get off there or hide out somewhere else, but she knew she had to get away from the house. 

[kane-m-killer]

Here’s a small horror story draft

________________________________________

Has anyone seen Pete? He’s 25,6’1,black curly greasy hair,pimple face? Used to frequent this subreddit often? I wanted to ask you all if you have seen them cause I’m an old friend of his and I wanted to say if any of you saw him or have seen him.

Run away, Run far away.

No I’m not joking either,Or trying to paint him in a bad light. This guy is serious bad news, and if you won’t take my word for it. First off, good on you for not trusting a random Redditor. Allow me then to start from the beginning as to why the next time I see this man it will be in a morgue when we are both dead.

I met him at a A&A meeting. I was in bad shape when I met him, addicted to drinking at 21 and down on my luck. He was a new member we had to say hi to and he sat next to me once he introduced himself.

I can’t remember the details of the conversation but I know we talked about something boring like the weather maybe.

He was there for a few more sessions until he stopped coming.

I didn’t think much of it until one autumn night when I left the building after the meeting,7 weeks sober then mind you, he was there leaning against the building. It was like he was trying to seem cool but in actuality just looked dumb and a try hard.

But nevertheless I still went up and talked to him, I can’t tell you why but I guess it doesn’t matter now. We talked more and his slow monotonous voice gave an air of disturbed charm to me. I thought he was like one of those guys that are bland on the outside but fascinating on the inside. And strangely because of that we became friends.

Friends for 3 years for that matter. And through all that time he was a good friend, he offered his advice and gave me a shoulder to cry on when needed. It’s just that something about his behavior sometimes really should’ve told me he was trouble.

For example when me and him were at a bar being the sober friends at a party and he was flirting with a girl next to us, me being too tired to be a wingman I stayed quiet but listened to his conversation.

“So what are you doing tonight honey?” He started off with

“Nothing to do with you that’s for sure” she retorted and I held back a laugh.

“…You should shut the fuck up then before I take those hot lips of yours and cut them off.” He said with a voice that I haven’t heard him use ever. It was fucking creepy

“Excuse me?!” The lady said immediately getting up to leave

“I’ll be able to kiss your sexy lips all the time if I cut them off, you sure aren’t using them much if you're using them to talk shit.” He continued grabbing her arm. I was utterly shocked and disgusted with him and got up and punched him clean in the face. He reeled back and gave me the dirtiest look and yelled at me, we argued, screaming at each other for a good minute before we were kicked out the bar for disturbing the peace, he left in his car and I was there with no ride.

I was about to call an Uber when someone tapped my shoulder. It was the girl who Pete harassed, she wanted to thank you for defending her and asked if I needed a ride. We talked on the way to my house and I’ll cut off at this bit to just say Her name is Desiree and she’s now been my best friend for three years.

The reason I’m telling you this is because me and Desiree became close enough to move in together, and throughout that whole move from my mothers house (yes I know, cringe) I haven’t told Pete about her and me, in fact I don’t think I had a full conversation with him since the bar fight. And honestly I was fine with that.

I just wish it stayed that way.

It’s been a couple weeks since I fully moved in with Desiree and I was home alone while she worked the night shift. I was messing around on my phone when I felt eyes on me. Not the kind of eyes you feel from a worried mother or annoying friend but just eyes, cold unmoving eyes.

I got up from the couch and looked at the windows. Desiree had one of those studio apartments with the balcony window the size of the wall. I tried to stare into the blackness that was night outside but of course I saw nothing of anything or anyone. But the eyes still wouldn’t leave me. I looked everywhere in the house but no dice.

The eyes felt like it was amused at me failing to try and find its source. I decided it was just my mind messing with me and I just went to bed.

I fell asleep pretty easily after I calmed down and the eyes almost went away,until I woke up.

Now there’s this thing about humans that can detect if it’s life is in danger. I think my body activated because of that. Cause when I woke up I felt a weight at the side of the bed.

Someone was in the bed with me.

I didn’t dare move, I didn’t dare speak. Anything that could have indicated I was alive save for my breathing ceased. I tried to access the situation but a hard metal object touched my back, it felt like every nerve in my body prepared me for this moment but when the moment came I just froze. It’s such a pathetic thing to do but I couldn’t do anything other than freeze.

I felt the person scooch up to me pressing the knife closer at my back, to the point where I was drawing blood and the person’s chest was touching my back. I could feel their hot breath on my neck that night.

We stayed that way for what felt like hours. I think they were waiting for me to move or show that I was awake or something cause I stayed froze in that position, at that time I couldn’t even feel my body with how hard I was trying to keep it together.

The worst part about it was that they never spoke a word, but their eyes were unmistakable. They were the same eyes watching me from afar earlier now staring at the back of my neck waiting for me to mess up.

The front door soon opened with what I assume was Desiree coming home from work, the person in my bed slowly moved away and came off the bed. Their weight being so heavy I almost flew up when they got up.

While they opened the door out of my room I slowly reached for my phone on the desk. I heard him walking downstairs and typed in a number quickly.

Pretty soon I heard it. Desiree’s phone rings. She picks it up and her sleepy but joyful voice almost makes me cry of relief.

“Hey dude, what’s up? Did you go to sleep early?” She said, I can hear her smile as she puts down her things and opens the fridge. I can’t hear the person who was in her house.

“I’m fine, just wanted to say hi, and yeah…could you do me a favor and go outside real quick?” I said trying my best to not sound like I’m shaking as my body finally responds to moving as I snuck out of bed.

“Um,what? Listen man I’m too tired for any games rn.” She said sounding a little annoyed. I don’t blame her.

“Just, go outside like right now.” I hear a creak of wood on her end of the line “please.”

I raised a glass cup high above my head, the plan came to me during the call as I was straining to listen for the intruder. I smashed the glass against the wall and I heard it double on the phone.

“Now!” I screamed into the phone before hanging up and jumping out the window of my room, her apartment was thankfully on the second floor to the way down wasn’t deadly. But concrete on bare skin hurted like a bitch.

I heard a scream from the window and my heart dropped, but the next thing I saw made my whole body stop again. The intruder was looking at me recon the window I dropped from.

And it was Pete.

Me and Pete stared at each other for what felt like eternity, his dark eyes and pimple faced morphed by the dark room into something hideous to look at. I heard the building door open and out came Desiree with blood coming from her arm.

We both ran away with him close behind. It hurt to move after being still for so long but I had to keep running. We managed to lose him in traffic and alleys and after thirty minutes found a police station. We came in scared and with bloody bare feet, we told them everything and we stayed there for the rest of the night.

Some police went back to the apartment and by a stroke of luck found him waiting for us in Desiree’s room doing stuff that I won’t repeat here. He was arrested for attempted murder and breaking and entering. I later found out he was outside watching me through the window via a ladder. So that would explain the eyes.

But something happened in court and he was let go due to good lawyers from his family. He’s out free and I haven’t seen him since

So that’s why I ask, have you seen Pete? I don’t know if he’s moved to another country or is still around here. He could be anywhere and I wouldn’t have the foggiest idea where to look.

Remember what he looks like. 25,6’1,black hair and pimple face. Don’t trust anything he says to you and just run.

And watch the people you meet in a AA meeting

[miraculoussage]

Breaking Out

Sorry for the lack of formatting regarding this section. My laptop charger broke so I’m currently stuck with mobile, and I am not great at mobile text organization. Also sorry for the lack of a read-more. Once again, mobile :(  fixed bc i have a laptop again B)

Rating: General

Characters: Adrien Agreste/Chat Noir main character; lots of other characters making an appearance, lots of Plagg, Marinette/Ladybug, and Gabriel

Relationships: Light love-square (pre-relationship)

Other tags: Trans boy Adrien, mostly closeted trans Adrien, transphobia (no transphobic violence), mentions of a dead name but no actual use of the dead name, misgendering, mentions of Dysphoria; supportive friends, Gabriel Agreste is a soggy tissue, minor mentions of diet control, minor redesigns of LB and CN costumes, major redesigns of civilian Adrien bc closet trans. Use of the word queer as an identifier and not a slur.

Part 2

♪~ ᕕ(ᐛ)ᕗ

The worst thing about being a popular fashion model, Adrien thought, was his image pasted all over the city. He had to see himself in the mirror enough as it was; seeing himself dressed up in the most feminine clothes his father could design, his long blond hair professionally styled into curls and braids and up-dos, and with enough makeup for three circus clowns made his skin itch. All of Paris, all of the world saw him as he was on the billboards and posters, in heavily edited magazine photos, set on backgrounds of flowers and butterflies. Everyone saw Adrien as a girl, Gabriel Agreste’s beautiful model daughter. Everyone except himself.

He had thought about coming out to his mother and father before, but while he was trying to find the nerve or the right moment, he overheard his father firing one of his models for coming out as trans. After that, his anxiety grew. He could never tell his parents, especially his father, not until he was living on his own and not relying on his modelling career and his father for survival.

Even when he went to school for the first time, he had to introduce himself as his dead name and endure the misgendering. He had considered coming out to Chloe, too, but while she didn’t seem to be transphobic, he didn’t trust her enough to keep it a secret. She thrived on gossip, sometimes even at the expense of her friends. Whether or not it was on purpose didn’t exactly matter to Adrien in this situation.

Plagg was the first person he ever came out to, not entirely on purpose. When he transformed into Chat Noir the first time, he actually cried for a few minutes. He felt different and he felt right and when he caught his reflection in a mirror he saw exactly who he wanted to be. Aside from his inhuman eyes and the strangeness of the costume, of course. His hair was short and messy and the makeup his father insisted he wear every day was entirely gone.

His costume was thick black leather, covering his whole body up to his neck where a bell sat at his collar. There was soft padding on his shoulders, elbows, and knees, barely visible under the leather. He had black combat boots with green soles that reached half way up his calf, laced with bright green laces, and lined with soft material if the same colour. His gloves, too, were black leather with soft green lining, claws on the fingers. Over the black bodysuit, he had a sleeveless hoodie; the fabric was looser and lighter than the leather, it almost seemed like cotton except it was sleek and waterproof. The pouch pocket was bright green with a single black paw print in the middle. All of the lining was the same bright green, visible in the hood and extending to the hems of the shirt. The hood itself had spaces cut out for the leather cat ears on his head, and fit loose and comfortable without falling over his eyes. Most importantly to Adrien, his chest was entirely flat without pressure.

After the first Akuma was stopped and Adrien transformed back, Plagg was suddenly gentle where he wasn’t before. “So what was that, then? What are your pronouns? Got a different name than the one I know?” After answering the questions and having another emotional moment, Plagg was back to being aloof and snarky, seemingly only concerned with cheese.

Adrien warmed up to the little cat-god fast. It felt more than amazing to be called the right thing for once, and Plagg at the least acknowledged his angry and frustrated rants about anything related to his gender that he’d never been able to share with anyone before. “As long as you keep giving me cheese,” Plagg had said, but somewhere along the way the meaning of the sentence changed to “always”, unspoken but genuine.

At school, things started out nice despite the rough start from being Chloe’s friend. The misgendering and dead name weighed down on him, though, and soon his new friends shared their concern about him. No one had any idea what it was about. It could be anything from his father to his mother to his modelling to just not getting enough sleep, but he’d hidden himself enough that no one would ever guess what it truly was about.

Nino was good about (sort of) silent comfort, offering to talk about it but relenting easily and moving to sharing music, food, memes, stories, and just a comforting presence. Alya always tried to figure out what was wrong and when she came to her own conclusions she would give him advice, though it was never the advice he needed. And Marinette...

Though Marinette was shy and got flustered easily, when her friends were in pain, she would stop at nothing to help them feel better. When he sighed about going home at the end of the day, she would invite him over to do homework, which usually ended up actually being video games. It became almost a routine by the spring, the two of them (and sometimes their friends) hanging out in the Dupain-Cheng apartment, snacking on yesterday’s left-over pastries while they played games, watched movies, talked, or rarely actually doing homework. Marinette’s parents were incredibly kind to Adrien, he was even envious that Marinette had such a supportive family. She was open about her biromantic identity, and never suffered for it at home.

As a result of their time spent together and Marinette’s own tendencies to not back down from helping her friends, she was the second person he came out to. It was a mess of tears between them, and Marinette apologized profusely for the misgendering, despite having no idea she was doing it. It made Adrien laugh, which made Marinette laugh, and then they were both laughing and crying at the same time. When Sabine came up to check on them, Adrien found he didn’t care that she was seeing him like this, and didn’t try to hide his identity from her anymore. Then, Sabine was crying with them, hugging Adrien close and giving him all the affirmations he never got from another human. (It was then that he decided he was now Adrien Dupain-Cheng, and she and Tom were his new parents.)

They all understood how important it was to keep this new information a secret, from everyone. If it got to his father or, gods forbid, the media, everything would go to hell in a hand basket. Marinette helped him fix his makeup before he left, apologizing even more about him needing to wear it. As usual, Sabine snuck some fresh pastries into his bag while he pretended not to notice when she hugged him goodbye. On the way out, Tom stopped him. The bakery was empty, just closed for the evening minutes before. “Adrien,” the news had reached him earlier via Sabine, “if you ever ever need a place to go for any reason, you’re always welcome here. No questions asked, any time day or night.” He had to hand a napkin to Adrien, tears gathering in his eyes again. As Adrien’s car pulled up to the front of the bakery, they said goodbye for the night, and Adrien was on his way back to the mansion. It wasn’t home, not anymore.

He came out to Ladybug third, but he didn’t know if it counted as third when he was Chat Noir. It was a rather casual interaction, against all expectations. The two of them were jogging across rooftops, keeping their eyes out for any sort of problem, just a regular Saturday patrol. They were talking about TV shows, sharing their theories for the next episode and the rest of the season; Ladybug theorized that one of the characters was a trans man, and Chat Noir seized the opportunity without a second thought. “Oh, like me,” he said, and Ladybug didn’t even blink. She just smiled at him, and he smiled back. Before they parted for the night, she thanked him for trusting her with his secret and promised it was safe with her. “I know, my Lady, I wouldn’t have told you if I thought you wouldn’t.” Nothing even changed between them after that, though Ladybug did seem to talk more openly about queer subjects when they came up.

He came out to other classmates and friends on a case by case basis, with Marinette there for support every time. Nathaniel, Alix, Nino, Rose and Juleka, Kagami. People he could trust entirely to keep it a secret and that he knew weren’t queerphobic from their time knowing each other. He always had some anxiety about it anyways, but with constant unspoken support from Marinette and her parents, it didn’t seem as daunting as before. Nathaniel drew pictures of him with different styles of short hair and more masculine outfits, “for when you’re able to choose your appearance”. Marinette had helped Nathaniel design the outfits, and she had plenty more in her own sketchbook designed just for Adrien. Alix and Nino casually called him “dude” and “bro”, a way to affirm him without actually outing him, since the terms were so casual and usually neutral.

As his support outside of the mansion grew, Adrien realized day after day just how terribly he was treated by his father, and Natalie and the other staff by proxy. Aside from his father’s thinly veiled queerphobia, he also controlled Adrien’s diet, his schedule, his social life, his career, his finances, and almost every aspect of his life. Before going to school, he thought most families were like that. It wasn’t until Alya complained about being saddled with babysitting again and the others lamented with her that three evenings that week was a bit excessive that Adrien realized most of his classmates actually got to decided what they did in their spare time without having to beg for permission. They got to choose what to eat for lunch, some even got to make their own food, and they didn’t have to follow a strict diet. They weren’t constantly afraid of their parents punishing them at the slightest mistake.

He spent more and more time at the Dupain-Cheng’s, at home, they even gave him his own key. More than once they’d woken up early to open the bakery, just to find him curled up on the couch in his clothes from the day before, the throw blanket wrapped tightly around him. Marinette made plenty of casual clothes and loungewear for him, until half of her closet was his. They almost always had a plate of leftovers from dinner with his name on it in the fridge. One afternoon, they surprised Adrien; the room that was formerly the office was converted into a full bedroom with his clothes moved into the closet already. The room was even decorated, soft green and light grey, paintings on the walls, a desk with a silver cat paperweight next to a lamp. Plagg seemed even more excited about it than Adrien was, which was saying a lot because Adrien was over the moon. They really were serious about the “anytime, no questions asked”.

After three years of school and crime fighting, Adrien made the biggest decision in his life. He talked to the bank and a lawyer. He had his rightful savings moved from the account under his father’s surveillance to a brand new private account. He had his friends and real family at his back. And then, he came out to his father. It went about as well as he expected; Gabriel threw a fit, accused Adrien of acting out for attention, and ultimately ended up locking Adrien in his room and forbidding him from going to school. Fortunately for Adrien, he had an escape plan in the form of a magical ring.

He was across the city in a matter of minutes, detransformed, and contacting his lawyer. His emancipation was officially in process. He texted the Dupain-Cheng family chat letting them know he told his father and it didn’t go well, but he was not in the house and he was safe. They were the only ones who knew about his plan, given they were part of it all. Though the idea of living full time with Marinette gave him butterflies, he could ignore his crush for everyone’s comfort.

Before his father or Natalie had a chance to suspend his access to his accounts, he made an Instagram post. A photo of himself, no makeup and his hair pulled back into a bun so it wasn’t so visible, wearing one of the more formal outfits Marinette made for him (a blue suit with a white undershirt and a pink bow tie). It had been taken a few days earlier, in front of a nondescript grey wall in his bedroom, unable to be linked to any location. As the caption, he wrote “Adrien Agreste, he/him, proudly trans! Stay strong, and know you are loved.” He posted it in as many transgender and fashion tags as he could, and was happy to see screenshots of it spreading almost immediately before it was taken down from his own account and his access was cut off. He texted Marinette one last time to tell her he would be unable to contact her over the phone, then turned the phone off, left it on a nearby cafe table, and disappeared down an alley. Thirty seconds later, Chat Noir was vaulting between buildings, headed nowhere in particular.

Stick around for part 2! ♪~ ᕕ(ᐛ)ᕗ

[genogenocrazycatman]

Milkshake - Finn Balor x OC

Milkshake [Archive of Our Own, FanFiction.Net]

Progress: 1/1

Characters: Original Female Character, Finn Balor, Bayley

I know a place.

***

“You're quiet today,” Finn said. “Trying to focus,” I said, shading one of the teeth on the demon. “Distracted?” My eyes flickered up to Finn’s. They were closed, but I didn't have to see them to know that when they opened that they would be reflecting the same playfulness as the smirk he was wearing. “You’re not dry. You're going to crease if you keep smirking.” I was a cosmetologist. I had gone to school gotten a basic understanding of every area in the field and then gone off on own to really learn the various disciplines, earning all of the certifications that came with. However that isn't what I wanted to do. While your standard beauty care was fun and it paid the bills, I really wanted to work in special effects.  I wanted to transform people into monsters and aliens for the movies and TV. I didn't pursue it like I probably should have and got stuck in a rut of smoky eyes and wearable looks. When the opportunity came to work at NXT I jumped. Sure it wasn't what I wanted, but it was a good platform. Then came Finn Balor and the demon. Seeing as I was the only member of the team with legitimate body painting experience, I got the job of painting him anytime the demon was to make an appearance. Body painting is a very intimate thing, no matter how professional you are. You spend hours in their personal space pouring out your imagination and artistic heart on to their skin. You have to talk to pass the time, and you get to know your canvas. Considering the frequency that I had to paint Finn, I knew him well. And it escalated. The better I got to know him the more lines got blurred. Casual talk turned into deep conversations. Forced formality gave way to teasing and flirting, but it never left the chair. Until last week. I was finishing up the last touches on Finn’s back, adding a bit more shading into the eye to make it pop.

 “Why don’t you ever come out with us after the show?” he asked me.

 “Because I like sleep and hate alcohol. Watching a bunch of people get drunk isn’t my idea of fun.”

 “What about milkshakes?” he asked.

 I paused my actions and looked up at where he was trying to look back at me. “What?”

 “Do you like milkshakes?” he repeated.

 I shook my head at him. “Yes, I like milkshakes.”

 “Then will you go and get a milkshake with me after the show?” he asked.

 I bit my lip, thinking it over.

 “There’s this place nearby that makes the best. They’re hand spun.”

 ‘What the hell?’ I thought. “How can I say no to the best? Will they’ll even be open?”

 “Open until two,” he said.

 I nodded, giving his back one last look over, before moving to face him. I gave him one last once over. “Done,” I told him, before taking a step back and stretching. I had been hunched over painting for hours and god my back hurt.

 Finn checked himself out in the mirror. “Brilliant as always,” he said.

 I smiled in response. Grabbing the cleaning fluid so that I could clean out my air brush.

 “Thank you, Lucinda.”

 “You’re welcome, Fergal.”

 “I’ll meet up with you here after I shower and change.”

 “See you then,” I said, watching as he disappeared through the door.

 A couple of hours later, putting the last of my things back into my kit, when he showed back up now dressed in a dark grey suit with a black shirt and black shoes. I couldn’t help but stare for a moment. I mean he was an attractive man. 

 “Cin?” he questioned, gaining my attention.

 I covered and quickly. “Four hours of back breaking labor, down the drain with a little soap and water.”

 He chuckled. “On the bright side if you miss it so much, you get to do it again.”

 “Joy,” I deadpanned. “One of these days, I’m gonna get you in this chair and paint something fun.”

 “Like?”

 “I don’t know yet.”

 “Well, while you figure it out, would you like some help with those?” he asked, referring to my two rolling cases.

 “I got it,” I answered. “But opening the doors for me, that would be much appreciated.”

 I drug the two cases outside. Once we made our way out, he gained the attention of the fans. I put my stuff in my trunk while he interacted with them.

 A short while later we were sitting at the counter of this diner type restaurant, each of us with a milkshake in front of us.

 “You’re right. There are the best,” I said, shoving another spoonful of my rice crispy milkshake. It was vanilla ice cream, blended with marshmallow topping and rice crispies and rainbow sprinkles. There was whipped cream on top more sprinkles and rice crispies and a cherry. Finn had one that was banana chocolate and peanut butter.

 “You sound surprised. Do you really have that little faith in me?”

 “You’re Irish. You eat weird crap, like blood pudding.”

 “I eat weird crap?! What was that you were eating the one day? Chit- Chit?”

 I snorted out a laugh. “Chitlins, and touche.”

 He scrunched his face up in disgust.

 “It’s soul food, and they’re not that bad when they’re fried and covered in hot sauce.”

 “Whatever you say.”

 We went back and forth arguing about food and where we’re from. Conversations always flowed easily between us and that was true now even without it being a necessity of the job.

 “Turn your head,” he said at one point.

 “What? Do I have something on my face?” I asked, wiping at the area around my mouth.

 “No.”

 “Then-“

 “I just wanted to see your face.”

 I couldn’t help but shy away from his gaze, turning my attention back to my milkshake. I tipped the glass to finish it off.

 Fin chuckled.

 “Look at me.” He tilted my head so that was facing him and then ever so gently wiped away at a spot on my face.

 He didn’t let go though, and eventually I forced my gaze to meet his. The small smile on his face faded and he closed the space between us, stopping just before his lips could touch mine. It was an out.

 I didn’t take it, instead, I closed the distance between us.

 It was soft and timid, neither of us willing to push our boundaries any more than we already had.

 “I’ve been wanting to do that for a while,” Fin admitted, when we pulled apart.

 My heart was sounding off in my ears like the beginning of his entrance music. “I kind of want to do it again,” I said, before my brain could really process how stupid that sounded. Finn smiled, before obliging and connecting our lips once more.

 That was a week ago. NXT had gone on a tour of the Pacific Northwest in that time, and I hadn’t gotten a chance to see or even talk to Finn outside of text messages. Then by the time he got back, I had been on set for a music video two consecutive all day shoots.

 This was the first time that I had gotten to see him, and for some reason I was nervous. The stupid butterflies in my stomach weren’t helping things any. When you’re painting someone, it’s easy to see them as a canvas, something to paint. It makes it easier to ignore the fact that this is a person and that you are ridiculously close to their body. When you’ve been pressed up against the side of your car in a diner parking lot with their tongue down your throat, it’s hard to see them as just a canvas. Instead I was hyper aware of the distance between his skin and mine. The more coated he was, the easier it got. Needless to say this was one of my fastest paint jobs to date.

 “I had fun last week,” he said.

 I had known this, it having had come up in our conversations via text.

 “I did too,” I replied, not even trying to hide the grin on my face.

 “I was wondering if you would go on a real date with me.”

 I looked up. His eyes were now open, even more piercing in contrast against the black paint. “I would love to.” I stood back and gave him a once over. “You’re all good.”

 He checked himself out in the mirror. “Bril.” He grinned. “Thanks, Love.” He took my hand and gave it a squeeze, all he could do given the amount of pigment that I had sprayed onto his skin.

 “No problem,” I said. “Now get out there.”

 “I’m gonna try to swing back here again, before you go. If not I’ll text you later,” he said.

 “Alright. See ya.”

 I stared out the door, with a small smile, which turned into a full blown grin, when Bayley walked in.

 “Demon all done?” she asked.

 I nodded. “Yep. You wanna pick my brain, while I get everything ready?”

 Bayley hopped into the chair that Finn had previously occupied, while I got everything sorted. Bayley had really taken to the NXT makeup classes and actually came to me for more help. She hadn’t expected to enjoy the process as much as she did.

 She had already competed and showered, and I was done with everyone for the time being.

 “You’re smiley today,” she said.

 “It’s been a good day.”

 “And does that have anything to do with a certain demon?” she asked. I looked at her in the mirror. She was giving me a knowing smirk.

 “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said.

 “Sure, you don’t. That’s why your smile got wider.”

 I turned my attention back to the airbrush that was now cleaned out. “And if I do?”

 She squealed. “That is adorable. I wondered who he kept texting on tour. Finn isn’t one to keeping worrying about his phone,”

 “Nothing is adorable yet,” I responded. “We haven’t really gone out yet.”

 “Are you going to?”

 “Yes, but we haven’t made the plans yet-“

 “Don’t matter. Still adorable.” She hopped out of the chair and hugged me.

 I rolled my eyes, but hugged her back. How can you not hug Bayley? She doesn’t really give you an option in the matter.

 “I’m so excited for you,” she said.

 “It is just a date, Bay.”

 “Sure now, but I can totally see you two being a legit thing.”

 “We’ll see,” I told her. “Now, what do we want to work on today?” I asked.

 “So what do you think he’s-“

 “Contouring,” I decided, pulling out the appropriate products. I was gonna do her eyes first and then she was gonna do her face afterwards. Contouring was the thing that Bayley found the most confusing.

 “Don’t think I’m going to stop,” she said.

 “Cream contouring,” I said, knowing that she was gonna have to focus more and talk less.

 “Well played.”

 “I try.”

 “Now, what do we start with?”

 “Primer,” she replied.

 I nodded, leaning against my work table, so that I could watch her work.

 Bayley started to work in the primer in. The entire time, she kept speculating.

 I had been hoping that her obsession with improvement would be enough to keep her focus on her makeup, but apparently not.

  “He’s probably going to take you out to dinner,” she said as she dusted the last of the powder off of her face and turned around to look at me.  She did well. It could have been a little more blended, but it wasn’t really noticeable.

 “That’s exactly what I was thinking,” Finn said, still in his paint. “Friday at eight?” he asked.

 “You are so cute,” Bayley said, before slipping out.

 I rolled my eyes at her.

 “That’s fine, but one thing.”

 “What?”

 “No blood pudding.”

 He chuckled. “No blood pudding.”

 “Then, I’ll see you Friday,” I said. “And congrats on the win,” I said, nodding towards the belt that he had managed to retain.

 “Thank you. I’m thinking about going to celebrate.”

 “What are you going to do?” I asked.

 “I’m thinking milkshakes.”

 I smiled and shook my head at him. “You know, I know a place. This really attractive Irishman showed it to me.”

 “Oh really? Where is it?” his grin matched my own.

 “How about I show you?”

 “That sounds ace.”

 “Good. Meet me back here after you’ve showered.”

***

After Party 

***

Master List | Mobile Version

[wordsfromthesol]

Neighbors (2/3)

Author: @wordsfromthesol Pairing: Dick Grayson x Reader Summary: After a late night you realize you left your keys at work. You’ve heard your new neighbor frequently come in late at night, so you decide to try and see if he can help. Warnings: Language (per usual), blood & violence Word Count: 1.6k A/N: This was supposed to be a one-shot...oh well. Part One   Part Three

A week, nearly to the hour, had gone by without seeing Dick again when you heard a knock at the door. Still in bed, after another late-night surgery, you groaned as you pushed up from the bed and made your way to the door. You rubbed your eyes as you opened the door, realizing you probably should have checked through the peep hole before doing so. Before you knew what was happening, Dick Grayson sauntered into your apartment and sat on the couch.

“Sorry, did I wake you, doc?”

“Hmm…it’s fine. I got called in for a surgery late last night.”

“Seems to be a regular occurrence. Isn’t that how the key debacle happened?”

You nodded as you made your way to the bathroom to fetch your medical kit once again. You sat down and started working on the stitches.

“Being on-call at Gotham General pretty much means your working, it’s just a matter of when.” You continued to rant, half unaware in your sleep deprived state, “Between the vigilantes, crime lords, and run-of-the-mill thugs we get our fair share of work…at least it’s gone down a bit since Red Hood stopped shooting people. Bullets are never fun to deal with, and you have the shrapnel. Though the vigilantes stopping definitely doesn’t mean the criminals are…” you had finished with the stitches but couldn’t stop your mouth. You leaned back into the couch, eyes half closed as you continued, “I honestly don’t get how those guys do it. I mean, the bad guys don’t hesitate to kill…and then you have the outfits. I mean is spandex really comfortable? Why do so many vigilantes wear spandex –” your voiced faded as you drifted back into sleep.

Dick looked over at you with a faint smile on his face. Taking you in his arms, he walked you into the bedroom and placed you gently on the bed before covering you with the blankets you had haphazardly tossed aside earlier that morning. Dick probably stared at you, fast asleep, for a little too long before he made his way to the door, though he realized there was no way to lock it before leaving, and he felt weird about leaving via fire escape. He walked next door to grab his computer before coming back and setting up at her dining room table. “Might as well get some work done…” he mumbled to himself, walking over to make some coffee.

*****

You woke up a few hours later, dazed and confused. When did I go back to bed? Did I dream taking out Dick’s stitches? You walked out of your room, hand running through your hair when you jumped at the sight of Dick Grayson sitting at your dining room table with a cup of coffee.

“Making yourself at home, are we?”

“Oh, well you fell asleep…and there was no easy way to lock the door if I left…so I figured I’d just wait.”

“Because that’s not weird at all.” You walked over and poured your own mug of coffee before joining him at the table. “Whatcha workin’ on?”

“Missing persons case”

“Hmm, how long have they been missing?”

“Almost 48 hours”

“You think they still have a chance?” He looked up at you with curiosity spread across his features. “Don’t look at me like that, I deal with death and tragedy every day. Plus it’s not like I even know the person’s name.”

Dick turned his computer towards you, revealing a picture of a young girl, about twelves years in age. He watched as your eyes grew wide, “Got some sympathy now, doc?”

“It’s not that…I know her. Well not really know her, but she was in the hospital last night.” You took a sip of your coffee, “She was stable when I left the emergency room, whoever had her really did a number. Not sure how she got out alive.”

“Y/N, who brought her in?”

You shook your head, “I wasn’t there, got called in to help patch her up. I think…yeah Jackie was working.” You glanced at your watch, “She’s probably asleep now, I’ll text her to give me a call once she wakes up. The girl is probably still at the ER though.”

“I’m going to head there,” Dick closed his laptop and got up from the table before he paused, “You wouldn’t want to go with me, would you?”

“Sure, let me get dressed.” You walked back to your bedroom and threw on some jeans and threw on a random t-shirt before walking back to the living room. A smirk ran across Dick’s face. “What’s that look for?”

“Nothing, I just…I like your shirt.” You looked down an realized it was a black shirt with Nightwing’s symbol outlined in brilliant blue; though lots of people worn vigilante themed shirts, so you weren’t quite sure why this one made his face look like that.

You slipped on your tennis shoes by the door and grabbed your jacket off the hook. “Well, off we go. Your car or mine?” That smug look still hadn’t left his face when he answered.

“Mine.”

You took the elevator downstairs and stopped short as he approached a motorcycle.

“Seriously? No warning or anything Grayson?”

“What, you scared?” He chuckled as he tossed you the helmet.

“No, but don’t you need a helmet too? Maybe that’s why you’re so banged up.” You poked his chest as you climbed behind him on the bike.

“Somehow I think a helmet is the least of my worries. Hold on tight.” You didn’t want to admit that you had never been on a motorcycle before, but your death grip around his waist probably gave that away.

You didn’t realize that you had your eyes plastered shut through most of the ride, Dick however, did.

“Y/N, you know we’ve stopped right.”

You opened your eyes to realize that you were in the hospital parking garage. “Oh..uhm..yeah, just, ya’know making sure.” You tried to be nonchalant, but Dick saw right through you yet again.

“Right, well. We’ve stopped, I think you can loosen your grip a bit. Maybe we can go check on that missing girl.”

“Oh yeah, right.” You retracted your arms from his waist and swung your leg over the bike, while you took off the helmet. You realized you probably should’ve only done one at a time because you felt yourself beginning to fall off said bike, yet somehow you never hit the hard concrete. You pulled the helmet off and noticed Dick twisted around on the bike with his arm under your waist.

“Guess I should’ve waited to take off the helmet.” You chuckled, realizing Dick seemed frozen in that position, and realizing yet again there was nothing you could do to help get yourself out of that position. “Uhm…you getting in an arm workout, or are you going to help me out here?” Your question snapping Dick out of his fog.

“Oh right, sorry.” He pushed up against your back, allowing you to stand up.

“I think she was transferred to room 426 just as I was leaving last night…er…this morning.” You motioned for him to follow you inside, where you went directly to reception.

“Dr. Y/L/N, I didn’t think you were in today.”

“Quit with the formalities Caden, I’m not working. Just helping out a friend with Bludhaven PD. That girl that came in last night, what room is she in?”

“The Jane Doe?”

“Yeah.”

“Room 426.”

“Thought so, thanks Caden!” You called out as you headed towards the elevators, Dick following you like a lost puppy.

“So what do you know about the girl?”

“Hm…oh, she’s the daughter of some big-time financial advisor.”

“That’s it, she was tortured because of that? Come on Dick, even I know that’s bullshit.” The elevator doors opened, but Dick didn’t answer until the two of you were behind it’s closed doors.

“Alright,” he whispered barely moving his lips, “we are pretty sure her dad fixes the books for some pretty powerful mob bosses. And one of those books showed up at BPD two days ago, mere hours before his kid –” Dick stopped short as the elevator door opened at the fourth floor.

You exited the elevator and headed straight for room 426. “She’s still unconscious.”

“Yeah, but that’s definitely her.”

Your phone began to ring, you quickly answered when you saw Jackie’s name come across the screen. “Jackie, question for you about that Jane Doe from last night…yeah, that one…who brought her in?...Oh, alright…no that’s it…get some sleep girl.” You turned to Dick, “So a vigilante brought her in, that uhm, Red Hood guy.” You watched as Dick’s entire body tensed. “What, not a fan?”

“It’s not that…” Suddenly he grabbed your shoulder and pushed you to the ground, pointing at two large men in the hallway. You motioned to the girl and he nodded while putting up his hand for you to stay put. Dick crept towards the door, waiting for the assailants to enter the room. As the first one entered, he brought his arm down on the back of his head. The man collapsed in the doorway and Dick charged at the other. He shoved the heel of his hand at the man’s chest and then sunk to the ground kicking the man’s feet from under him. The second assailant fell backwards to floor. Dick walked back into the hospital room and turned towards you.

“Got any zip ties around here? I didn’t exactly bring my handcuffs…”

Still stunned by the events, you slowly rose from the ground and weaved your way around the unconscious men heading for the supply closet. You entered in your code and pulled zip ties out, handing them to Dick.

“Thanks doc. I’m going to call BPD, keep an eye on these guys for me.” All you could do was nod as he sauntered down the hallway.

[introvertllux]

Peace in Normalcy: Chapter One

(The chapter is told from Prue’s point of view. Anytime, that you see italicized words, that means Prue is speaking via her internal monologue). 

Genre: Romance, Drama, Comedy, Comedy-Drama

Warnings: 18+, depictions of mental health, mental disorders, depression, suicide, and sexual abuse. (Please do not read, if you may be triggered).

*Any depictions of mental health are based on MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCES. Please do not think I’m making fun or or mocking anyone, again these experiences are based on what I have seen and, or been through myself. Also, I am not intending to romanticize mental health or disorders in anyway. Lastly, If you do decided to read this story I am very thankful and I hope you enjoy it. : )

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Prue's P.O.V

(Picture of Prue)

Friday, September 27, 2019

Isn’t funny how in an instant- and with a snap of your fingers your life can turn completely upside-down. I mean really think about it. One day you’re just doing your average daily routine, completely minding your own business. Then next thing you know, something happens- and incident. Imagine that said incident happens at your job of all places and you end up in a place like this. Who would’ve known, huh? Who would’ve known that one incident, no one mistake could make you end up in the nuthouse? Not, me.

"Prue! Time to go!" I heard a voice yell in the distance from behind me. I ignored the voice as I laid down on the grassy field of the psychiatric hospital’s courtyard.

(Psychiatric Hospital Courtyard)

I kind of like it out here. It brings me peace. I can breathe some fresh air and get away from it all. The meds, the therapist, and the patients. Being out here was as close to freedom as I was going to get for a while. But, to tell you the truth I’ve grown to like this place, the institution as a whole wasn’t so bad, when I really think about. The meds keep me stable, I guess. The therapist actually treats me like a normal human being, and I can relate to the other patients. This place was sort of like a sanctuary for me. For the first time in a long time I feel like I belong. For the first time in my life I actually feel like I fit in. I think I’ve made up my mind. Yeah… I’ve definitely did. I’m never leaving. Never.

The shouting of my name continued as heavy footsteps began to approach me. I sighed softly.

I must have visitors. Well, more like a visitor, most likely my sister, Mallory. She was the only one that has visited me during this whole ordeal.

The footsteps came to a halt as the figure hovered over me,  blocking my view of the sun. I wasn't surprised to see a male orderly; they always came to pick up people either for medicine or a visitor.

"You have a visitor. Come on." He said.

I stood up and brushed the tiny pieces of grass off of my pants and followed the male orderly back inside. As I walked, I couldn't help wondering why my sister was visiting me. She normally would visit me every two months on a Saturday. But she visited three weeks ago and today is Friday.

After walking for a couple minutes, I noticed the route we were taking would lead us back to my room. Usually, visitors we not permitted to go to a patient's room unless-

I heard a loud squeal followed by "Prue! Surprise!". I walked around the orderly and stared into my wide-open door. To my slight surprise was my sister, Mallory quickly packing two large black suitcases.

(Picture of Mallory)

Yeah, just as I suspected. She was here to pick me up early. But why?

I stepped into the room as the orderly shut the door behind him. I stared at my sister as she continued to pack my things.

"Um?" I questioned quietly with a slightly raised brow.

"I know. I know what you're thinking. I'm back. Again. But this time I'm back for you. I was able to work something out with the courts. I’ve been going back and forth with them for months. They said they would monitor you and if you showcased good behavior and improvement within your counseling sessions, they would let you out early. Don’t you want to come home?” She said as she continued to pack my things.

I was ordered on a plea deal to stay here for a year, but it's only been nine months. And, I don’t know do I want to go home? Wasn’t I just fine with staying her the rest of my natural born life, just a few minutes ago?

Mallory cleared her throat and spoke after a few moments of silence, "Uh, I guess you would probably want to pack your own things, huh?" She chuckled softly after she paused her actions.  "I'm sorry, I just got a little excited you know, my little sister is finally coming home!" She shouted and giggled.

I moved around her and started to finishing packing what was left of my clothes. "You know, I bet you're really excited to get away from all of this." she said waving her hands around the room. "To finally get back to some normalcy." She said.

I paused and flinched slightly at the word normalcy.

Normalcy? Back to normal?

I began to zone out, getting into my own head.

"I'm sorry, did I-did I say something wrong?" She asked as she began to panic.

"No. No, you didn't it's fine." I said a bit dazed. I quickly snapped out of it and continued to hurriedly pack my last article of clothing.

"Are you sure? I- "She said worriedly.

"I said you're fine Mallory. It's fine. I'm fine. We're good." I said as I slammed the top of my suitcase down and zipped it up quickly.

She nodded her head slightly. "Well, if you're all set to go, let’s get going." Mallory said as she grabbed one suitcase and I grabbed the other.

As we exited the room and I looked back slightly at the room I called mine for the last nine months. I then turned my body forward and walked down the hallway, following slowly behind my sister. I look my time walking so that I could get one last look at all the décor and rooms that I sent the last months several months in doing arts and crafts, eating lunch, playing with board games, yoga, participating in group therapy, and individual therapy. As strange as my sister may think this place it, this was my normalcy for nine months and I was about to be pulled from it before I was ready.

A few moments had past and we made to her car.  It was a 2019 Volkswagen Beetle. Was it cute. Sure. Practical? Absolutely not. This care had to be one of the tiniest cars to ever exist. There’s barely enough room to fit both of these suitcases. As my sister thought about this “dilemma”, I gently tugged on the passenger, signaling her to unlock it. Seconds later I heard the sound of the car door unlocking followed by two high-pitched beeps. I then proceed to move the car seat forward, I figured I didn’t need that much space considering I was on 5’2. I then eased the large suitcase into the backseat. As soon as I finished, I looked behind me see that Mallory had managed to squeeze the other suitcase into the tiny trunk.

(Mallory’s car)

I then went to sit down in the passenger's seat. I began to position myself to accommodate to the lack of space. Once I got comfortable, I buckled my seatbelt. and buckled up. Mallory then opened the driver's side got in, buckled up and started the drive home.

As we began the journey back home, I contemplated whether or not to look out the window. To be honest looking reminding me of the path I took to get here in the first place. I didn’t want to think about it. I just didn’t want to think at all. I just wanted to shut down for a minute or two. I decided that trying sleep will help me just disappear for a few hours.

I as I began to drift off, Mallory began to play some music. Which I was glad for. For some reason, music has always helped me sleep and get through just about anything ever since I was little.

I woke up to the sound of tapping. I squinted out the car window to see Mallory rapidly tapping on the window. I groaned as I slowly unbuckled my seatbelt and sluggishly began to make my way out of the car.

"We're home! Well, my house. It looks different since the last time you’ve seen it!” She said excitedly. I just blinked slowly trying to process everything that was happening.

“I thought you'd be more comfortable at my house before you go to mom and dad's house. Don't worry about your stuff we can get it later." She said.

She locked the car door and began to shuffle through her key rings to get the key to the front door. The house looked very different from the outside. It had a more modern look, which I wasn't surprised at Mallory is an interior decorator after all and she happens to be very good at her job.

(Mallory and Jahmal’s house)

"Welcome to Casa la Jones." She said dramatically as she flicked the house lights on.

Yeah, remember when I said she happens to be very good at her job? Yeah well, I meant to add she can sometimes be a little too good at her job. It was like Kim Kardashian meets the middle of Massachusetts.

"So, what do you think. It's nice, right?" She said grinning brightly.

"Uh, yeah. It's very nice." I said feeling slightly overwhelmed by grandiose it was.

I looked around the house and noticed that it was quiet, too quiet. Where was Jamal?

I rubbed my tired eyes and yawned as I ask, "So, where is Jamal?"

"Oh, Jamal I told him to go hang out with Leslie and David. You remember them, right? Two of our old friends from college." She said quickly. "I wanted us to have a sister night." She added she walked toward the kitchen.

I followed her into the kitchen and took a seat at one of the barstools.

(Mallory and Jahmal’s kitchen)

"Leslie and David?" I asked as I eyed her. She laughed lightly, "You probably don't remember them, huh?"

No kidding we're ten years apart. If you meet them in college, then that means I was definitely learning how to multiply fractions in the fifth grade.

“You were only like what, nine when I brought them home with me during spring break. But yeah, they became really good friends of ours towards the end of college. Then you know, you eventually went away to college, so you guys never really got to know each other." She said quickly again.

"Anyway, I made your favorite. Chicken Parm." She said as she walked towards the refrigerator.

Chicken Parmesan?! I hate chicken parmesan (and it's actually her favorite). The tomato sauce always gives me extremely bad acid-reflex. My favorite meal is Chicken Alfredo, but I will still eat her meal because she thought about me, sort of.

After Mallory placed our food in the microwave, she leaned over the kitchen island.

"So, I know you normally sleep in the basement when you stay but... it's being occupied at the moment. But good news you can have the guess room. I remolded it as well. You remember where it is right?"

I didn't even bother to question who or what was taking over the basement. I just nodded my head. As we continued to wait, for our food to warm up Mallory began to hum. I began to analyze the new interior of the kitchen. I started to get anxiety looking at all the changes that not only happened to her house but even the growth between her and her friends that came to know as just the people who “needed somewhere to crash for spring break. And now the basement, the room I always stayed in is now preoccupied. When did everything change? I was only gone for nine months; how can things change this much!?

"Prue? Prue? Hello? Are you okay? Speak to me." Mallory said as she made way over to me and grabbed my shoulders.

"I'm fine. I just- I just was thinking about something." I said trying to end the conversation.

Mallory nodded her head and turned her attention to the microwave as it beeped loudly. Mallory began to plate the food and grab glasses. She poured herself some wine.

"So, I only have white wine right now but-." I cut her off and spoke with a tight face, trying to contain myself. "Mallory. I don't drink remember. Frist off, I hate alcohol. Plus, the medication. I'm on medication remember." I said through slightly gritted teeth.

She placed the bottle down on the countertop. "You're right. How could I, forget. I'll get you some, uh water." She said as she turned on the faucet and filled the glass halfway.

Mallory then grabbed the two plates carefully and placed one in front of me and the other at the head of the island. She then went back and grabbed the drinks.

After a few moments of eating, Mallory cleared her throat. "So, Prue. Before you go to mom and dad's house, I just wanted to talk to you about somethings." I ignored her as I continued to pick at my food, trying to avoid as much tomato sauce as possible.

"You know, now that you’re home there's some rules that you have to follow. It was a deal we made in order for the courts to agree to let you out early." She said softly.

I slammed my hands down on the countertop. "Can we not talk about this right now! "I yelled.

"Prue." She said gently trying to rapidly diffuse the situation.

"No, don't Prue me. Nine months! I haven't been home in nine months and all you want to do is remind me that something is wrong with me! Why can't I just come back, eat some food and sleep in a nice warm bed!" I yelled as tears began to form in my eyes.

Mallory looked at me sympathetically. "I-I'm not reminding you or even saying- "She started to say before I interrupted her.

"But you are. The face-expression you're making is the same one you had the day I got sent away, and the same one mom and dad had on too. And you know what, it's the same one they will have on tomorrow. That's exactly why I don't want to go there tomorrow!" I said as I got up from the barstool.

"Prue. Please." Mallory said with her hands up in surrender. "Oh my God!” I screamed as I backed away and spread my arms out wide. “You see! You see! You're still making that face and now- now you have your hands up. Like you’re scared. You think I'm going to do something don't you, that I might try and hurt you! You're calling me crazy and you don't even have to say it!" I yelled as tears began to stream down my face rapidly.

"Prue, I never said you were crazy. I just. I'm just trying to help. If you don't follow these rules, then you have to go back." She said still standing defensively.

I let out an agonizing scream. "Good, great! Then I'll be back where I belong with the crazy people, right?” I said as I gripped the sides of my face tightly.

I then took quickly grabbed my plate of Chicken Parmesan and smashed it onto the floor, "And I hate Chicken Parmesan, it gives me acid-reflex. You should fucking know that by now!" I exhaustedly screamed one last time as I ran up the stairs and slammed the guest room door.

Hours had past and the house remained quiet. The sun had gone down and it was so dark out that the sky had looked pitch black. I looked over at the digital clock in the room and saw the time. The clock read 12:32 AM. I tried to go back to sleep. Normally, it was never easy for me to fall asleep sue to me feeling anxious all the time, but right now the nausea I was feeling due to my acid-reflex acting up only aided in my lack of sleep.

I let out a groan as I held my stomach tightly. I squeezed my eyes shut hoping that the pain would go away or subside in at least the slightest way. Unfortunately, nothing was working. The only other possible solution I could think of was to take a walk. Usually, I take walks to get my mind off of things if music wasn’t an option or if I just needed some fresh air. Before I went to the hospital, I would walk around with my music and let it guide me. But, since that's not an option I guess I will let my feet be my guide this time.

I got up from the soft bed and tied my sneakers. I grabbed my jacket and slipped it around the pink pajamas my sister had left out for me. I stood up too quickly and fell back down. I felt a wave of nausea hit me. I took a deep breath and tried again, this time getting up carefully and slowly.

I walked quietly out of the room closing the door gently. I slowly crept down the hallway and down the staircase. I then slipped passed the kitchen and exited out of the front door careful not to slam the door too hard. I wasn't too worried about the door, since I knew it had an instant lock.

I began walking down the cul-de-sac styled neighborhood. I gripped the sides of my jacket as the cold air made me shiver slightly. I kept stopping to take deep breaths to try and stop my waves nausea that came every couple of minutes. I kept walking for a few minutes until I couldn't take it anymore. I felt too sick. I need to sit down.

I looked around me to see if I could spot somewhere to sit. I decided to sit on the curb in front of a random house. I felt dizzy and my head began to pound. Before I knew it, I had vomited.

"Fuck!" I yelled as some landed on my pajama shirt and jacket. I quickly covered my mouth as I notice my voiced had echoed. I looked around to see if anyone in the neighborhood had heard me. I closed my eyes and sighed in relief as I saw no sign of active neighbors.

"Hello? Whose out there?1" I heard a voice yell.

Damn It.

I began to panic as I saw a house light flick on. I then heard the sound of curtains aggressively sliding open. I still stood there, like a deer in headlights.

"I'm calling the cops!" The older male voice threatened.

I began to run as quickly as I could down the street as I saw more house lights begin to turn on. I started to feel dizzy again and my head was pounding even more. There was nowhere to hide so I decided to sit beside a small shrub on the sidewalk.

What felt like 15 minutes had gone by and I thought for sure I was off the hook until I then heard police sirens in the distance getting closer and closer by the second. I groaned, placing my head in my hands.

The sirens came to a stop. I heard footsteps approach me and the sound of a very familiar voice.

"I've gotten calls from all over the neighborhood, something about a nutcase screaming throughout the neighborhood and waking them up. That wouldn't happen to be you, would it?" The office asked smugly.

I just groaned in pain and annoyance. The officer walked closer to me.

"So, now you've got nothing to say, huh? Typical." He asked as he waved a flashlight on me. I groaned again, not wanting to look up at him.

"Look at me." He said sternly. I dreaded this moment.

I lifted my head up and placed my left arm in front of my face to try and block the bright light radiating from the flashlight,

I then heard laughter, followed by "Oh! Oh! You’re kidding!  This must be my lucky day! Prue? Prue- Prudence Walker. Is that really you?  They said you were getting out today but never did I think, I'd find you roaming the streets. Less than 12 hours back and you're already losing your shit again, huh?" He said laughing.

“Can’t say I’m surprised.” He said waving the flashlight around.

I groaned again as I began to wrap my arms around my waist, hunching over slightly. "J-just take me back to my sisters' Taylor.

(Picture of Officer Taylor Miller)

"That's Office Miller to you. And why should I? I could just arrest you and have you shipped right back to that psych-ward." He said smirking.

I didn't say anything to him. I just gave him a pleading looking, hoping that he would find some kindness in his black heart to just take me back to my sister's house.

He laughed again and grabbed my arm roughly, he pushed me into the back of the police cruiser and proceeded to drive off. Fifteen minutes had gone by and we arrived in front of my sisters' house. He opened the door and I walked out quickly trying to move past him.

"Not a chance." he said as he gripped my right arm tightly. He dragged me to the front door of the house and immediately proceed to bang loudly on it.

We waited a few seconds, before the door opened widely.

"Prue!" Mallory yelled exasperatedly as her eyes grew wide instantly.

"I found her just roaming the streets. The neighbors called. You've gotten keep an eye on her. I can let her off with a warning this time." He said fakely, pretending to care as he let go of my arm.

"Get inside, please." She said exhaustedly.

As I walked inside, I heard Mallory say, "Thanks Tay, I swear it won't happen again. I owe you one."

I door then slammed shut.

"I-I just can't right now. We will talk in the morning." She said, in a very and disappointed and exhausted tone.

I went straight upstairs and tried to get some sleep trying to avoid thinking about the many conversations that awaited me tomorrow.

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Links to:

Chapter 2

Masterpost