#thinking that if she reacted positively then she’d have to be not telling the truth about her mother’s death

[daydreamerdrew]

Spicy Tales (1988) #16, reprinting a story from the May 1950 issue of Super Detective

[acourtofthought]

Just in case people are confused why Eluciens don't feel Jurian is the reason Elucien shouldn't end up together and why we'd have no issues with her interacting with him -

Jurian looked right to Mor, whose mouth was a tight line. “You were my friend,” he said, voice straining. “We fought back-to-back during some battles. And yet you believed me at first sight—believed that I’d ever let them turn me.”

“And I was glad to do it,” Jurian snarled. “I was glad to do it, if it bought us an edge in that war. I didn’t care what it did to me, what it broke in me. If it meant we could be free. And I have had five hundred years to think about it. While being held prisoner by my enemy. Five hundred years, Mor.” The way he said her name, so familiar and knowing—

“You played the villain convincingly enough, Jurian,” Rhys purred. Jurian snapped his face toward Rhys. “You should have looked. I expected you to look into my mind, to see the truth. Why didn’t you?”

“You mean to imply,” Mor pushed, “that you’ve been working to help us during this?”. “Where better to plot your enemy’s demise, to learn their weaknesses, than at their side?”

I said to Jurian, “You don’t want to kill Miryam and Drakon.” There was stark honesty in Jurian’s eyes as he shook his head once. “No,” he said roughly. “I want to beg their forgiveness.”. I looked to Mor. But tears lined her eyes, and she blinked them furiously away.

Jurian was not my enemy. I couldn’t wrap my mind around it. Even as Rhys and I both looked. I didn’t linger for long. The pain and guilt and rage, what he had seen and endured … But Jurian spoke true. Laid himself bare to us.

Jurian leaned in as if he’d kiss me, and brought his mouth to my ear. “Were you smart enough to kill her before you took her skin?” My hands tightened on his jacket. “She got what she deserved.” I could feel Jurian’s smile against my ear. “She’s in his tent. Chained with steel and a little spell from his favorite book.” Shit. Shit. Perhaps I should have gotten Helion, who could break almost any— Jurian caught my chin between his thumb and forefinger. “Come to my tent with me, Ianthe. Let me see what that pretty mouth can do.” (Jurian helping Feyre find Elain after she was taken by the Cauldron)

“Jurian …” Lucien blew out a breath, scanning the carved wood ceiling above. “Thank the Cauldron for him. I never thought I’d say that, but it’s true.” He ran a hand through his silken red hair. “He’s keeping everything running. I think he’d have been crowned king by now if it wasn’t for Vassa.”

“How’s the Spring Court?” Nesta asked. The fire crackled merrily to her right, and she let the sound ripple through and past her. Acknowledged the crack and what it did to her, and released it. Even as she concentrated on the male she’d addressed. Lucien’s jaw tightened. “How you’d expect.” Tension rippled through the room, confirmation that Tamlin had heard the news of Feyre’s pregnancy. From Lucien’s grim face, she knew he hadn’t reacted well. Nesta said, “And Jurian and Vassa?”

We've got canon confirmation that Jurian is actually a good guy, that he was willing to suffer so long as it saved the rest, that Rhys and Feyre looked into his mind to confirm this, that he's been a friend to Lucien, that he was Mor's friend.

So you'll understand why that all holds a bit more weight for us regarding Jurian’s true character over what anti's like to cling to, crass statements made while he was pretending to be the bad guy while Hybern and / or his lackeys were present.

Sarah has clearly moved the story forward showing Jurian in an extremely positive light. SHE is the one who wrote him making the joke (because it made more sense than Jurian telling Lucien Elain would be fine in the NC since they were his friends and he knew they'd keep her safe) then SHE is the one who revealed him as the good guy playing double agent. All we're doing is understanding what she wrote.

Elain would be lucky to have a war hero as her friend.

[sleepershell]

truth or dare

synopsis y/n convinces the Skittles to play truth or dare. It's all fun and games until Reggie doesn't like your answers. He storms out and, when you go to confront him, he's forced to admit how he feels.

Word count 1309

note loosely based on a prompt I saw @sufferingstarlight write from.

warnings a little sad, angst, mention of death eaters/the dark mark, some swearing

pairing Regulus Black x reader (no pronouns I think? Although I was writing it thinking f! Reader)

I couldn’t believe I’d convinced all these pureblood wizards to play a muggle game. But there they were, all my friends, sitting around me and playing a game of truth or dare. Evan charmed a Hufflepuff girl into giving us some weed for free, and we’d smoked it outside before running giggling back to the Slytherin common room. The seventh years all left at the first sight of us. They probably knew we were in the mood to start some trouble. 

It was never hard to sneak Dora in anymore, although that probably had something to do with Regulus’ clout among our housemates for being a Black. Or maybe our housemates’ fear of him being a Death Eater. Either way, it worked out well for us. Dora was leaning against Reg, her long legs splayed in front of her. I was in a similar position, my top half leaning on Cas so she could play with my hair. It was the most euphoric feeling in the world to have her hands in my hair, especially when I was high. Evan was between Cas and Reg, while Barty sat between Dora’s and my feet. It was a good position, since I could give him a good kick whenever he said something stupid. With all that brain of his, one would expect him to say less dumb shit. 

I was just recovering from a fit of laughter at Evan’s last confession when Cas asked “y/n, truth or dare?”

“Hm,” I pretended to think. Normally I would love a good dare but, knowing Cas, she’d try to give me something she knew I’d struggle with. No one quite knew how to push my buttons like my best friend. “Truth this time.” I cracked my knuckles for effect. 

“Alrighttt.” I could feel the vibrations in her chest as she spoke. “If you could kiss any of the boys at school, who would it be?” 

My stomach dropped. Of course, she still had found a way to torture me. Oh, that girl was going to get jinxed later. She’d never be able to sleep safely in our room again. There was no way I could tell the truth. It would be painfully embarrassing to admit who I really, really wanted to kiss in this group. I wouldn’t live it down. Barty was wagging his eyebrows at me, and Evan looked equally interested in my answer. I was always so careful to keep who I liked close to my chest, though I suspected everyone already knew. I had to think of something before the length of time got way too suspicious. I let a glance fly over at Reg. Like always, he just stared at me, eyes blank, a slight furrow in his brow. I should say Sirius. Then maybe he’d actually react to me for once. Then maybe I’d know how he felt. Saying Potter might hurt him even more… But I couldn’t do something like that to him. 

“Uh, Remus, I guess.” I shrugged. 

Barty wrinkled his nose at that. “That boring friend of Sirius’?”

“He’s not boring,” I protested, “he’s… nice.” 

A scoff from Regulus. 

 I sat up straight, ready for a fight. “Is there something you want to say?”

“Nope.” Cocky asshole.

“Fine.” I crossed my arms. “Reggie: truth or dare?” 

“Truth.” His dark eyes were still blank but I could see tension in his lips. 

“Who in school would you kiss?”

He shook his head with a small laugh. “This muggle game is ridiculous.” 

All at once he was standing and stalking out of the common room with the haughty grace typical of all the Blacks. Pandora looked shocked when he disappeared from beside her and nearly fell over. Other than she and I, everyone gave a collective shrug. It wasn’t out of character for Reg to leave so abruptly, to get rumpled over nothing. But this time I hopped up from my spot as well. He couldn’t just leave like that. 

“Where are you going?” Evan asked. 

“I’m going to find that fucker.” I called back over my shoulder.

“Oh boy.” I could hear them all break out into laughter as I slammed the door behind me.

Regulus wasn’t hard to find. When I didn’t see him in the dungeons I knew where else to look. It was late in an October evening, and I had to wrap my arms around myself as I followed the edge of the Black Lake. There was no moon above, the only reflections cast on the water from the monolith of a castle behind me. So many days we’d spent out on the bank of the lake, on the side closest to the Forbidden Forest. There was nowhere else he’d go.

And there was Reg, pacing back and forth, his hands held out in front of him grasping the cold air. Strong hands. Piano hands. Writing hands. Hands I’d almost reached out for so, so many times. He appeared suspended in an argument with nothing.

I held my tongue until I was near, but had to speak when my presence wasn’t acknowledged. That close, I could finallyI see emotion on his face. Twisted up and white as a sheet. 

“Reg, tell me what’s going on.” My voice was soft, barely more than a rasp. 

“Nothing.” Still not a glance at me, though he’d stopped pacing. His chest was heaving as if he’d been yelling. “Go back inside, y/n.” 

He loved to give orders. As if anyone had any reason to obey him. 

“I’m not going anywhere.” The words flew out of me with a bite, and he looked up as if he’d been slapped. Maybe my tone was too close to his dreadful mother’s for comfort. But I couldn’t worry about that. We’d been playing pretend for too long. “Do you have a problem with Remus or do you have a problem with me?”

He scoffed again, his eyes up to the moonless sky. “You have no idea what I’ve got going on.” He always had to play superior. Always had to play prince. 

“Salazar, Regulus, I’m not a bloody idiot! Do you think that little of me?” 

He glared down at me, his eyes glistening. I took a step closer. The gap between us was so small I could feel his breath. 

“Either you’re jealous and you want me or you don’t and you’re the blood purity asshole Black family heir you want everyone to think you are. Just say which.” 

“Stop.” He shook his head at me.

“I’m already in. You can’t scare me away.” 

“Please stop.” Head still shaking. 

“I am in love with you, Regulus. I won’t take it back because it’s true and you can’t ignore it anymore.”  I could see the water welling in his lower lids. It was in mine, too. 

“We can’t,” he breathed. 

My hand, out of reflex more than anything else, lifted to his chin. I brushed my thumb along his bottom lip. He didn’t shy away from my touch like he had so many times before. 

“Please walk away.” There was so much desperation in those eyes. “Please.” 

“Why?”

He grasped his sleeve and wrenched it up. I didn’t have to look; I already knew. 

“If I have to take the mark myself, I will. Anything. Anything.”

“Fuck,” he sobbed, the tears finally falling. He let himself fall forward with them, our foreheads bumping against one another. 

“You love me.” I didn’t ask, but it was a question. A desperate question I’d asked myself about him a million times before. Does Regulus Black love me like I love him?

A nod that shook my own head with it. His red-rimmed eyes bore into me. “I love you.”

I moved my hands to cup his face on either side. “You never told me your answer.” 

And then I felt the softness of his lips on mine. 

xx

[fallow-hollow]

Hi may I request Pattadol with gn tall-man reader where she crushes on us when she and canaries came for their work? I really want canaries to tease her(ye even slowly rehabilitating Mithrun) I can imagine her trying postpone their departure to at the very least confess before leaving after everything's done, coming up with weird reasons until her new job given by the Queen allows her to stay a bit(by elf standards) more.

deadline extension

ft… pattadol, the canaries

tags… pining, fluff, open-ended, reader is a tallman, the canaries being nosy, marking as spoilers but honestly there isn’t much

word count... 1654

notes… WE’RE SO BACK BABYYYYYYY if you cannot tell by my blog theming, i love pattadol, so of course i’m gonna be super excited to write for her as well!! i started this request a while ago and only finished it up recently, so I apologize if it strays a bit from the prompt by accident!! i live to create good side characters fics for you guys <3

Being as high strung as she is, there’s no way Pattadol will react well to this.

Most of her interactions outside the Canaries are purely for work purposes, and since her team never stays in one place for too long, making friends with the locals was never a priority of hers.

Truth be told, though, it only really takes one compliment to have her smitten. All her coworkers pretty much never take her seriously, so it’s a nice change of pace for someone to actually listen to her for once…

“This dungeon is currently in what we would call stage four.” The other Canaries stood a slight distance behind Pattadol, most appearing generally disinterested in a speech she had most certainly given many times before. “We separate the life cycles of dungeons into five stages from beginning to end. The fifth is the most dangerous, so we do our best to avoid it at all costs, which is why we do our best to seal the dungeon during the third or fourth stage.”

The whole time she spoke, you stood at attention, enraptured by her words. “So dungeons are like their own living organisms, then?” A bright spark danced in your eyes, burning brighter when fed this fuel of information. “I’ve never seen another adventurer think of dungeons as much except for a dangerous place with money to be made.”

She watched the way your fingers flexed while you held the hilt of your sword, but never quite unsheathed it. In fact, she’d been so engrossed by your body lactate that she squeaked in surprise when you continued.

“Your knowledge is very impressive. I see now why the elves of the west have such a widespread reputation!” After a pause, the corners of your smile rose just a bit higher to add, “however, I’m sure your individual merit is just as evident.”

“Ah!” Behind her, Cithis smirked when the shorter woman’s ears perked up. Trying to show humility at your praise, a pale hand waved in front of her. “Such is expected of someone in my position. We are all here to ensure the safety of the public!”

Though, she highly doubted there was another member of the public as pleasurable to serve as you were.

You come back each day with more questions, and, time permitting, she’s happy to answer. At times, she will have to wave you away when she’s busy with other matters, and the disappointed look on her face almost makes her wish she hadn’t.

Before any of them catch on, her coworkers are mostly either annoyed at her getting distracted or relieved to have even a moment away from her watchful eye and strict attitude.

The first to realize what’s going on is pretty much a tie between Cithis and Mithrun, though I’d say Mithrun realizes just a bit earlier, but doesn’t say anything to the others, of course.

The captain’s gaze was practically drilling holes in the back of her head, so much so that she feared she’d start getting a headache sooner or later. With no warning, he appeared at her side, and she wasn’t sure if he used teleportation or if she was simply that distracted. Nonetheless, Pattadol feigned composure and looked at her superior attentively.

“Is there anything you need, captain?”

Her expectations were some sort of order, needing directions, but certainly nowhere close to what actually fell from the captain’s lips.

“Don’t get distracted.”

If she wasn’t so busy standing stock still in embarrassment, she would’ve demanded to know what he was insinuating. Not like she needed to, of course. The subject of his statement immediately came to mind, and all she could do was furrow her brow and clamp her mouth shut.

Oh, she was doomed, wasn’t she?

As much as she wants to be, Pattadol isn’t subtle. It doesn’t take long for the rest of her coworkers to get the picture. The teasing was strong at first, happening nearly every time you two were near one another, but I think they’d get bored eventually. After all, they’ll be gone after the dungeon is sealed, and you’re a short lived race! The idea of the two of you getting together was pretty much impossible in their minds.

The rapidly approaching departure was both a blessing and a curse to Pattadol. On one hand, she wouldn’t have to endure these treacherous feelings getting in the way of her duties, and soon, the judgmental gazes of her coworkers would shift their focus away from her love life and back to her just being a “stickler”. After all, she wouldn’t even see you anymore!

But on the other hand… she wouldn’t even see you anymore.

To her own shock and horror, she actually starts looking for reasons to stay.

Now, Pattadol is literally the furthest thing from dishonest one could imagine. She would rather die than lie to the queen of all people, but if there’s something like, say, some damaged runes that can’t be read but could easily be done after the dungeon is sealed, she’ll choose to do it now under the guise of due diligence.

The other Canaries will definitely notice her demeanor changing, but a slower pace definitely isn’t a bad thing for most of them, so as long as the job gets done, they won’t exactly object.

She was supposed to be gone, wasn’t she? A confused expression took over your face when you caught sight of the long, blonde hair and the green cape. To you, she was unmistakable.

“Hey, weren’t you supposed to leave this morning?” The reaction to your voice was near instant, with Pattadol’s head turning just a split second after her ears perked up in recognition of the sound. Though she was smiling, there was a hint of something apologetic in her eyes.

“Well, we were,” a stray lock of hair was moved into place as she spoke. “We ended up finding some tunes on the walls that were partially damaged, and even once the dungeon is sealed, they’ll still be of great interest to the queen, so her orders were to restore and decipher them to the best of our ability while we were still present in the area. Decided that it would be more efficient.”

After that long string of words, she inhaled deeply, and you couldn’t help but notice her cheeks were slightly flushed. It looked good on her.

“So you’ll be here a little longer?” Even if she hadn’t specifically requested more time at this location, she couldn’t have said no to you. Not like this, when your eyes were so hopeful and your smile so contagious.

Grinning now herself, she acquiesced to your unspoken wishes. “Of course. We value doing our work thoroughly and properly.” Your eyes met once again, and the both of you knew that wasn’t all that she had to say.

“That aside, I’m glad to be here. I’ve wanted to speak with you a bit more…..”

A confession would likely be meticulously planned out by Pattadol, each word carefully handpicked into a linguistic bouquet that could express how she feels.

Your acceptance would shock her, really. In her mind, there was such a large gap between the two of you, and considering her position, there was little chance of anything truly working out in the long term.

Trying to reassure her that the two of you could make things work might fall on deaf ears at first, considering her emotional state. Writing letters was always an option, of course, but it just didn’t feel right to do that to you. You deserve someone who could be with you every day! She wouldn’t want you to spend your life waiting for her while she was overseas carrying out the bidding of the queen….

Many nights were spent deliberating her predicament, pacing back and forth in the Canaries’ quarters while muttering to herself. So many, in fact, that her coworkers decided to help her for their own sanity.

Pattadol, was, of course, against it at first, and even more against trying to bargain for more time, but soon enough she realized that she’d have absolutely no peace of mind if she left, either.

“W-we can’t do this!” The other Canaries ignored the frantic waving of the guard’s hands, signaling in every way physically possible that she wanted this all to stop. “It’s dishonest, it’s against the code! And- and it wouldn’t even work! Better to spare me the heartache!”

From the bottom bunk bed behind the panicking blonde, Lycaon propped himself up on one arm. He observed Pattadol with a largely unamused expression, waiting for a quiet moment to say his piece.

“So you’re saying…” he waited for his superior’s head to turn towards him before continuing. “…that if you left this lover of yours as soon as humanly possible, you would feel little heartache and get over it quickly?”

The look on her face, crestfallen and lost, said all that he needed to know.

Feeling defeated, Pattadol could only hang her head and sigh. “….Just don’t do anything outrageous, please?”

The methods aside, with Mithrun’s influence as captain as well as his lack of fear towards behaving out of line goes quite a bit farther than Pattadol, who was only really willing to use believable excuses. She’s practically tripping over herself to thank them, but most of them are just happy to get a break from nonstop work. Except for Mithrun, probably, who might even try to get reassigned down the line to get back into a dungeon sooner, but that’s Mithrun for you.

When she sees you next, she’s elated, telling you that she’ll now be here for a much longer time with you! Sure, it’s only a measly ten years, but it’s something! Perhaps you can work out something more down the line?

…Huh? Why do you look so confused? Did she say something strange?

[winchesterszvonecek]

Prosecutorial Misconduct 18+

Chapter 8 - A Whirlwind of Emotions

Word Count: 10,584

Warnings: mentions of attempted suicide

Series Masterlist | Full Masterlist

When a new case came teetering across the wire that morning, Melanie was the first, and only, one out of the team to volunteer to take the details into Liv. On any other day, she wouldn’t have. She’d have simply leaned back in her chair, watching happily, with her feet up on her desk, as Carisi was forced to get up from his and begrudgingly deliver the news himself.

However today…things were a little different than usual. 

For starters, Carisi wasn’t even at his desk in order to be forced to stand up from it. He was still hiding in the break room with Rollins and Fin, after they’d all been quick to make a point of not wanting to be in the bullpen when Chief Dodds inevitably came strolling in with the new Sergeant in tow. And it wasn’t because they were nervous around William. Or partially reluctant to meet Mike after having asked about him once, only to then have Melanie snap furiously at them and warn them what would happen should they do so again. No, it was simply because of one thing and one thing only… 

Fear. 

That’s right. All three of those big brave detectives were cowering simply because of their shared, deep-seated, and anxiety induced fear over finally seeing how Melanie would react to having her brother walk in, as they had no clue that the twins had made up the other day. If they did, then there wouldn't be any need for them to be hiding in the break room, metaphorically shaking in their boots over the possibility of World War Three breaking out in the squad room… which, if we’re being totally honest here, may have been entirely Melanie's purposefully planned out fault. 

She had been fully intending on telling them the truth, honestly, she had been…but then she’d overheard them last night, at Rollins’ baby shower. After they’d all learned that Mike would be joining the team in the morning, she’d stumbled across the three of them all huddled together in the corner, ‘deducing’ with one another over how Mike, a cop who’d never worked a day of sex crimes in his life, could have possibly gotten this job on such short notice, and if she was telling the truth, that pissed her off even more than her desk duty did.  

As if Mike didn’t get this job the exact same way she did: through hard work and determination, which had absolutely nothing, whatsoever, to do with their father as neither of them needed him to pull any strings to get to where they were. And okay, yes, William might have put Mike’s name into the hat for the Sergeant’s position, but it wasn’t him who made the final decision as to the winner. That was the role of the higher ups, and they wouldn’t have picked Mike had they not found him impressive and qualified enough for the job, and it was because of that… 

Because of the audacity they had to form a childish little gossiping session to talk about her brother, that Melanie had been rather happy to keep her co-workers on edge that morning, as maybe then they’d think twice about ever pulling the nepotism card out of that deck of answers again. 

But anyway, minor revenge plotting aside and getting back to the present day situation, the sole reason as to why Melanie was the first one to volunteer to take the case into Liv was because it was Mike’s first day at SVU. And I know what you’re thinking, why would that encourage her to actually want to do her job considering she may lose it? Well I’ll tell you why, and it’s simple really… You see, when William first came waltzing into the precinct with Mike in tow, Melanie had been all for getting in on the introductions with Liv, as who better to talk Mike up other than his literal other half who wanted nothing more than for him to feel welcome? 

At least, that’s what she been thinking to herself all morning but apparently, for some eye-twitchingly annoying reason, William hadn’t agreed with her thus resulting in him being far too quick to forbid — that’s right, you read correctly, forbid her from so much as being near Liv’s office for the duration of those nicety introductions… And if that didn’t piss her off more than her gossiping co-workers did, then Lord knows what would, so you can see why Melanie was rather glad to finally get an excuse to interrupt things.

“Hey,” Melanie said as she poked her head around the office door, watching as her dad and brother turned away from Liv, and spun, unsurprisingly, on their heels towards her, “Sorry to interrupt.” 

“No you’re not,” Both William and Mike said in unison. 

“You’re right, I’m not,” Melanie grinned, earning two sets of rolled eyes as she entered the office properly, waving a small post-it note between her fingers. “But I did just catch a case.”

“Did you now?” William questioned suspiciously, his eyebrow raising as it seems oddly coincidental that she’d catch a case only moments after being told to stay outside. “That’s convenient.” 

“Isn’t it?” Melanie answered humorously, her grin only widening with pure sarcasm as she stepped even further into the office, ignoring Mike’s quiet chuckles from beside her and focusing solely on her dad’s intense sceptical glare. “If you don’t believe me, daddy, you can ask the desk Sergeant.” 

“Just…” William sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as he grew to regret bringing Mike in himself. “What’s the case, Melanie?” 

“Oh, I’m so glad you asked,” Melanie replied chipperly, even despite the next few words she was about to say as she could never not find great pleasure in exhausting her dad. Or her Lieutenant. Her tone did fall serious rather quickly, though, as she glanced down at the note in her hand…The one she hadn’t even read herself yet as she’d been too eager to interrupt their meeting. “Oh what do you know, it’s the Park Milano hotel. Again…” 

At that, it was Liv’s turn to sigh as…when was it not? That place should be shut down if you ask her, but alas she didn’t have the power to do so and instead could only investigate the crimes after they’d happened. 

Speaking of which… back to Melanie. 

“According to this, Alessandra Bay, the lead violinist for this group Belle Donne, was assaulted there in her room last night,” Melanie read aloud, giving them a brief glimpse of the post-it note before dropping her hand back down to her side and sharing hopeful glances between her dad and brother. “Now here’s a fun idea I only just thought of… What do you say all three of us go check it out? Call it a…family day out?” 

“You’re on desk duty, Melanie,” William so rudely reminded her, all but shattering her newly formed dream of starring in a live-action family game of cluedo. “And that means staying at your desk.” 

“Oh, come on,” Melanie complained, “It’s a four star hotel… And you’d be there. What trouble could I possibly get myself into?” 

A lot probably, as having her dad around only seemed to exacerbate her need for chaos. 

“I dread to even think about the answer to that question,” William said, to which Mike and Liv were far too eager to agree with their smug little head nods and eyebrow raises. 

Rude, Melanie thought to herself, she wasn’t that bad. And also, since when had her dad and Liv become such a close knit duo in the team up on Melanie club? Last she checked, Liv didn’t even like her dad yet now she was going against her and happily backing him up? What’s next? Matching t-shirts? 

“You’d get yourself into trouble in a padded room, if you tried hard enough,” William continued, much to Melanie’s evergrowing annoyance.  

“Perhaps she should,” Mike muttered, unable to stop himself from participating when the moment arose so perfectly in front of him. “I’ve always wondered what she’d look like in a straight jacket.” 

“Oh,” Melanie shook her head, drawing her tongue over her back teeth as she laughed dryly, “If you two keep it up I’m going to start lighting things on fire.” 

“Okay, why don’t we all just…relax for a second?” Liv interrupted swiftly as she held out her hand, stepping, wide-eyed, out from behind her desk and feeling like she was suddenly working in a daycare centre — with Chief Dodds as one of the kids and she never thought she’d ever have to say that to herself. 

But turns out, to her utmost surprise and complete and utter shock, there was a lot more personality behind his hard outer shell than she ever thought she’d see and honestly… if this was how a brief second in her office was with the three of them together then she’d hate to imagine what the holidays were like.

Mayhem, Liv. The Dodds' family holidays were absolute mayhem, and you should feel incredibly thankful that all three of them were forced to put their guns on the gun table before their gingerbread house competitions began at Christmas. Otherwise… you don’t even want to imagine how things would end up. 

Anyway, brushing those harrowing thoughts aside, Liv carried on and suggested, carefully, “Mel, why don’t you stay here with your brother and hold down the fort? Maybe show him around? Get him settled.”  

At the partial humour that unintentionally danced in Liv’s eyes at the idea of her playing tour guide instead of detective, Melanie’s face scrunched up in both disgust and disbelief. A tour guide? A frickin’ tour guide ? That’s how Liv wanted her to spend her morning? What’s next? Getting demoted to secretary and spending the rest of her days making coffee and printing copies for everyone until the patience-testing printer caused her to throw it and herself into oncoming traffic? 

She would rather be fired and sent to jail than ever do that, and with that in mind, alongside a sense of aggravation bubbling in her veins, Melanie stepped further into the office and opened her mouth. She was about to speak, to voice her very explicit opinion on where each and every one of them could shove that idea, but before she could her dad cut her off… Which was probably, and to Melanie’s own personal vexation as she knew it was right, for the best.  

“Better idea,” William cleared his throat, stepping subtly in front of Melanie as though shielding the others should her fuse run out and she explode like a firecracker. He then turned his attention to Liv, where he didn’t so much as ask, more like suggest… For all their sakes, “Why don’t you take Mike with you?”

“Yeah,” Mike agreed happily, “No better time to learn than the present.”

Kiss ass, Melanie said to herself yet she still turned her attention eagerly towards Liv, who looked a little …uncertain, almost, about the situation. Hesitant, too. Perhaps even intimidated as well, whether it be from Melanie’s sharp glare trying to force her to say no, William’s demanding eyes trying to force her to say yes, or Mike’s blank look as he contemplated his whole entire life, no one really knew. 

And neither did Liv, honestly. All she knew, unfortunately, was that she felt incredibly outnumbered. Overwhelmed , even, as there were far too many Dodds’ in her office than she was beginning to like and if she could, she’d do whatever it took to get rid of them. 

And so, she smiled, “Okay, then.” 

Mike was going with her…great, Melanie thought to herself. This was just…perfect. Exactly how she wanted her day to go, what with her newbie brother being allowed to get straight into action whilst she had to return to her desk and…type? Is that what she was supposed to do with her day? Type things? Maybe… Probably, actually, but honestly most of the time she was on desk duty she just ended up playing Papa’s Pizzeria all day until it was time to go home. 

“Son,” William began, clasping Mike’s shoulders supportively as they began to follow Liv out of the office, with Melanie trailing begrudgingly behind them. “You know what they say… Sink or swim.” 

Swallowing, Mike nodded semi-confidently and made his move to cross the squad room after Liv, Fin and Carisi, with such an added swagger to his otherwise normal walk that Melanie simply couldn’t bring herself to ignore it.  

“Aw, look at him. Acting all confident,” she said tauntingly, leaning back against the door frame and watching as Mike’s posture suddenly stiffened a little. Clearly he’d heard her, whether with his ears or his twin-mind, who knew…But luckily for her he was gone by the time she added, “Almost makes me want to loosen the screws on his chair.” 

“Melanie.” 

“What?” Melanie said innocently, fighting against the scheming smirk that wanted to rise on her face at William’s fatherly tone. She’d forgotten he was still there. “I said almost .”

“Hmm,” William hummed sceptically, narrowing his eyes towards her and watching as she tilted her head, smiling at him all sweet and childlike. 

Hell, she was practically batting her eyelashes at him as she showboated her innocence and if that wasn’t a sole cause for him to check Mike’s chair for any signs of sabotage, then lord knows what was.

Nevertheless, he shrugged it off as nothing more than wishful thinking and stepped towards her, patting Melanie on the shoulder with enough force that it dipped beneath him, “Now, my darling daughter, if you’d like to come with me.”  

“To where?” Melanie asked, pushing herself off the door frame as the excitement brewed inside her over the thought that maybe she wouldn’t have to spend the whole day making pizza for pixelated characters, after all. 

That was, until William’s lips curled into an all too telling smile and he replied happily, “To your desk. Where you’re going to stay until the very end of the day.” 

“Yeah,” Melanie scoffed, deflating like a balloon and allowing her dad to swivel her around where she stood, facing her directly towards her desk. “If I don’t kill myself first.” 

As she folded her arm across her chest, she fully expected her dad to then guide her across the room and back to her desk, where he’d all but have to force her knees to bend so he could shove her down into her seat and handcuff her there. But instead, to her confusion, all he did was remain still behind her, with his hands placed loosely on her shoulders and not a single word passing through his lips. 

“Dad?” Melane glanced to her side, her brow furrowing, “Did you malfunction?” 

A shallow, shudder of a breath left William’s lips in response and Melanie turned instantly, to find that all traces of humour were now gone from his face as his eyes stood fully closed. Her brow only fell deeper, with a sudden ball of anxiety growing and twisting in her stomach over what could possibly be wrong with him. Did he grow ill all of a sudden? Was he…having a heart attack? Was he dying? Every sort of sickening idea flew through Melanie’s racing mind and crippled her with worry until suddenly, she remembered. 

If I don’t kill myself first. 

God, that was the worst, most disgusting thing she could have ever said to him with what was so hauntingly approaching this time of year. Her shoulders quickly sank, a deep sigh leaving her nose as her eyes closed briefly and her anxiety vanished. Replaced with nothing but the overwhelming feeling of regret… Self-hatred… And some of the worst, most immense guilt she could ever have found herself drowning in.  

“Daddy, I’m sorry…” Melanie whispered, swallowing thickly and wishing, more than anything, that she could go back to ten seconds ago…to beforeshe said that.

Or actually, if she was wishing for anything, she’d wish to go back and stop herself from doing the very thing she had just joked about doing. And in front of her dad? The very person who had been the one to find her lying on the floor of her house with a needle in her arm that would have killed her , had he not had narcan in his car? How could she ever think that that was an appropriate thing to say to him? 

God, she felt terrible right now. Like the worst daughter she could ever be, and let me tell you that was saying something as in her life, she hadn’t exactly been the best one she could be. But she was trying. So, so hard was she trying to be a good daughter lately, yet she’d just gone and said that. What was wrong with her? Of all the fucked up things she could ever say that might relate back to a moment in her life, and she just had to go and joke about the one that almost ended it? Well, to say that she had royally fucked up her progress as daughter of the year would be an understatement and she could already feel herself sliding down the snake, and landing right back on square one. 

“I… I didn’t mean it,” Melanie shook her head, despite William still having his eyes closed. No doubt due to the fact that he’d probably only end up seeing her the way he did that day. “I was just kidding. I was just…please don’t be mad at me.” 

And just like that, William’s eyes shot open and they instantly softened, his hands raising to land gently on each side of her face, “Sweetheart, I’m not mad at you… I could never be mad at you, I just… It worries me, when you talk like that, that’s all.” 

“I know. And I’m sorry. I didn’t…” Melanie sucked in a shaky breath, trying her hardest to compose herself. “I didn’t think… About what I was saying. Or how it might make you feel… But, dad, you don’t need to worry about that anymore because I’m good. I’m in a good place right now…”

Aside from the fact that I’m making myself miserable on purpose by refusing to acknowledge my feelings for a certain ADA, Melanie added mentally, as if she said that to her dad then, his own personal grievance with Barba aside, he’d be trailing her to his office and making the two of them kiss like they were Barbie dolls. 

“Really, I am… I’ve got Mikey back. You and I aren’t butting heads as much as we normally do,” Melanie continued, a humorous smile tugging at her lips when she nudged her dad playfully, her heart then warming when he managed a small smile himself, as it wasn’t very often he allowed a genuine one flash across his otherwise stone-like face. “And aside from the fact that I’m under investigation for assault, I’m doing really well here at SVU… So you don’t need to worry about me anymore.”

“Melanie, I’m your father. No matter how good your life is, there won’t ever be a day when I stop worrying about you… Or about finding you like that again,” William confessed, watching as Melanie bit at her wobbling lip and tried her hardest to remain collected. “And I know some days it doesn’t seem like it. That it seems like I’m being purposely hard on you, but that’s only because I love you. And I don’t want to lose you.” 

The now fervent display of fear that ran deep in the lines of her father’s face broke Melanie's heart more than she ever thought possible after what she’d been through, and without saying a single word she fell against him. His arms wrapped around her immediately, holding her tightly enough that had she not had incredible lungs with a high capacity for holding air, he might have suffocated her.

But at that moment, she didn’t care. She didn’t need to breathe, she just needed him to know she wasn’t going anywhere, not any time soon. She really was in a good place right now despite what you might think, so it was important for her to let him know that she would never, under any circumstances, ever think about putting him in such a scenario again, where for a brief moment in time, he had to think that his only daughter had ended her life. 

“Now you be good today,” William said when the two of them had pulled apart, after realising they were still standing in full view of the squad room — many occupants of which were flabbergasted that the two of them so much as looked at each other, let alone hugged. “Stay at your desk. And please, no picking on your brother.” 

“I’ll stay at my desk, but I can’t guarantee I won’t pick on Mikey,” Melanie said humorously, as it was true. She couldn’t guarantee it and she was already planning to glue the wheels of his chair to the floor. 

“Well, I guess one out of two isn’t bad,” William shrugged, as he should have known better than to assume otherwise. 

“Exactly, but if it makes you feel any better, I’ll go easy on him.”

“It doesn’t, but I appreciate the gesture.” 

“You’re very welcome for it,” Melanie said playfully, hearing her dad chuckle softly as he set his hand on the side of her head and drew her closer to him, placing a soft kiss to her forehead before finally taking his leave. 

“Everything okay in here?” Rollins asked, passing Melanie by as she made her way back to her desk with a cup of decaf in her hands. “The whole squad room is staring at you like you just flashed them.” 

“They wish,” Melanie said with an abrupt laugh, yet at the same time her brow furrowed and she quickly cast her gaze across the room, finding that Rollins was, indeed, correct. 

The whole squad room was staring at her like that as every officer seemed to be suddenly frozen in place, with their mouths slightly gaped and their eyes as wide as could be without them popping right out of their skulls. Only, rather than it being because she flashed them, which she almost wished it was, it was simply because of the rarest, almost extinct, display of family affection they had all just had the pleasure(?) of witnessing. 

The entire time Melanie had worked there, they’d never once seen her hug the Chief… Or smile at him, in a way that wasn’t sarcastically mocking anyway. But most of all, they’d never seen him kiss her forehead. Nor did they ever think Melanie would allow him to do so and honestly… The shock-filled way in which those facts had them looking at her was making her rather uncomfortable and the more they did it, the more she felt the need to run her mouth. 

“What?” She asked, widening her own eyes as she stepped further into the room. “Are you all waiting on a briefing or something? Get back to work!” 

And as she clapped her hands together to emphasise her point, every officer jumped into action and returned to their business. 

“Damn girl,” Rollins chuckled, sipping on her coffee as she settled into her chair. “Part of me thinks the wrong Dodds might be in charge of this unit.” 

“Oh please, if my dad had noticed them staring like that they’d all be rushing to put in their transfer papers,” Melanie replied, sinking into her own seat and propping her feet up on her desk as she fired a glare at an officer who kept glancing towards her, making him jump beneath his skin and scarper off to work at a different part of the floor. “Honestly, it’s like working with an audience in here some days.” 

“Well, you do know how to put on a good show.” 

“Thank you,” Melanie said with irony, interlocking her fingers behind her head and leaning back in her chair as she closed her eyes, exhaling quietly, “It’s one of my many skills as a performer.” 

“Oh yeah?” Rollins raised her eyebrow curiously, “You, uh, you got other skills as a performer that we don’t know about?” 

At the slight dirty humour that riddled her tone, Melanie cracked open one eye just in time to see the mischief dance across Rollins’ features. She huffed out a chuckle, opening her other eye and adding playfully, “Honey, you flash me some cash and I will be more than happy to show you.” 

“You know, most days…” Rollins began, opening up her laptop, “I can’t tell when you’re joking.”

And neither could Melanie as her life was that much of a joke most days that she sometimes struggled to differentiate. 

As did her dad, which is partially the reason as to why Melanie’s good mood seemed to have shifted so violently to the left. And things had started off so great today too, which only made her feel that much worse. She’d had a really nice breakfast bagel from her favourite bodega, which was technically free as she bought it with a twenty dollar bill she’d found on her stoop when she left for work. She’d even had change left over to buy herself a donut on the way in and after that…things were going as well as could be expected for a detective bound to her desk under threat of criminal charges. 

The whole supposed incident with Campesi had been the last thing on her mind today, if she was being honest. It was Mike’s first day. She’d been thinking about that and she had really wanted to enjoy it for his sake. Yet here she was, still banished to her desk where she could do nothing but stew miserably over an irresponsible slip-up with her words that only left her wishing that somehow , she could fix it. But the damage was already done. Her dad, and herself, were both already reminded of that horrible day and really, there was only one thing that could ever make her feel a little less guilty over it entirely.

And that was solving the very case that started it. But unfortunately for her… as when would Melanie’s life ever be that easy? That case was colder than her mood, so the chances of her solving it in the next sixty or so minutes were practically non-existent. 

Nevertheless, she still chose to look into it, as it couldn’t help to glance over it again and see if there was the slightest chance she might have missed something. She knew it wasn’t possible, as she’d been over every detail with a fine tooth comb, but still, Melanie straightened herself in her chair and opened up her bottom drawer. She began to root around amongst the mess that was inside: crumpled up pieces of paper, candy bar wrappers, empty cans she’d been meaning to recycle but never bothered too, there were even full packets of chips lying half deflated amongst the handful of files that now called the drawer home, but eventually she worked her way past all that and found what she was looking for. 

Brushing off some crumbs, which fell back into the drawer full of mysteries, Melanie pulled out the thin manila dossier and, after shoving some of her ongoing cases aside for the time being, set it atop her desk. From just looking at the case file number on the top, she could already feel her chest tightening over the mere thought of what lay inside it. She didn’t really want to see it again, not today anyway, but she knew she had to. It had been months since her last attempt at cracking it and if she ever wanted to improve her mood before her brother came back to the squad room, then she at least needed to try. 

If not for her own sake, then for Mike and William’s as she seemed to forget, sometimes, that she wasn’t the only one who lost something that day. 

And so, with a barely audible sigh that shook as it worked its way past her lips, Melanie flipped open the dossier and got to work. 

Not that she had much to work with in the first place as there wasn’t anything in the folder besides a few crime scene photos, a single witness statement and the incident report. There was no evidence, no other eyewitness statements, not even a single damn camera that had picked anything up and to most detectives, this case would be known as a lost cause.

But Melanie wouldn’t give up. She couldn’t. It wasn’t in her to ever let something like this go, not until the person responsible was behind bars where they belonged. And with that need for justice coursing through her, and after getting herself some much need caffeine, she kept her head down and carried on, allowing her eyes to read and reread every single little detail in hopes of something sparking inside her mind that could help lead her towards the truth. 

But the more she read, the more frustrated she grew as there wasn’t anything in front of her that was new from the last time she’d gone over things. She always knew it was a long shot that she’d ever solve it, but that didn’t mean that each time she tried, that truth didn’t hit her hard. 

Hell, it didn’t even let her sleep most nights, knowing that person was still out there. She tossed and turned so much, with the memories of that day, and the days that followed, replaying constantly in her head, that she often ended up down stairs playing video games until the early hours of the morning. It’s why she was always tired. She slept no more than three hours a night before she had to resort to gaming to help keep her distracted. To help stop the haunting thoughts that had caused her to try to end her life in the first place from sparking in her head again.

And with that in mind, along with the irritating fact that she couldn’t come up with a single new piece of information, Melanie slammed her folder shut in frustration and threw it back into her drawer, kicking it with the side of her foot and causing a few officers jotted around the place to jump from the sudden sound of it slamming. 

“Is your blood sugar dropping?” Rollins asked absently, not even looking up from her laptop. “Do you need something to eat?” 

“No,” Melanie replied, her brow then dipping a little as come to think of it…she was a little hungry actually. “Well, maybe…” She added, before quickly shaking her head. “No, I just… I need a distraction. Something to…take my mind off the thoughts that are racing inside of it.” 

“You could take your meds.” 

“You could kiss my ass,” Melanie fired back, making Rollins chuckle as it hadn’t hurt to try. 

“You want me to call down to ballistics, see if they’ll let you test fire some weapons?” Rollins suggested for real, still not glancing up from her desk as she typed away. 

“No, I don’t want to do that,” Melanie breathed out, causing Rollins to instantly stop what she was doing and slowly turn to her, her eyes wide and her mouth slightly agape. “What?” 

“You don’t want to fire any weapons?” Rollins repeated, dumbfounded to say the least as that was Melanie's favourite thing to do. 

“I’m not allowed to hold weapons, or are you forgetting that?” Melanie uttered in annoyance, slumping back into her chair and slowly sliding down it until nothing but the upper part of her back was placed atop it. She then let out a frustrated groan, allowing the rest of her body to fall from the chair until she was lying on the floor. “If you need me, I’ll be down here…dying.”

“Alright, but if Carisi comes back and trips over you again I’m not taking him to the hospital.” 

“That’s okay… I’ll get Mikey to do it.” Melanie mumbled, hearing Rollins laugh quietly to herself as she turned back around on her chair. 

Melanie lay there on the coolness of the tiles for a minute or two, doing nothing but staring up at the darkening spots on the ceiling as she let the thoughts settle inside her mind. She knew she was being childish. That she was basically throwing a tantrum and causing actual police officers to have to step over her, without even batting an eye as it wasn’t the first time, but she just needed a minute of quiet and sometimes lying on the floor helped her get it.

Ding.

With a groan that amused Rollins greatly, Melanie reluctantly sat up from the floor quicker than she would have liked and began to blindly feel around the top of her desk for her phone. She knocked over her empty mug, scattering a few pens in the process but eventually she found it, dragging it back across the surface and allowing it to fall lazily into her lap. She picked it up, clicking it on and going straight to her message thread, where the only new text she had was from Mike. 

Mikey: How’s desk duty going? 

Melanie: It’s not, I’m on the floor

Mikey: Oh, naturally… But since you aren’t busy, you mind looking up a name for me? 

Melanie: I guess I can pull my laptop down onto my lap

Mikey: Atta girl. 

Melanie: What’s the name? 

Mikey: Anton Kransikov, he’s a famous flautist from Russia

Melanie: A what?

Mikey: He plays the flute 

Melanie: Gotcha… But yeah, I’ll check him out. 

Mikey: Thanks, we’re on our way back to the precinct now, shouldn’t be long 

Melanie: Great, will you grab me an energy drink from the vending machine on your way up? We’re all out in the break room 😊

Mikey: How many cups of coffee have you had today? 

Melanie: One 

Mikey: Mellie

Melanie: Okay, fine. I’ve had two… but I’ll drink decaf for the rest of the day, I promise🤞🏻

Mikey: Fine, I’ll get you one

Melanie: Yay! Thank you 🥰

Mikey: 👍🏻

A thumbs up? God he is such a dad sometimes, Melanie thought to herself as she lazily got up from the floor and tossed her phone back onto her desk. With a faint groan, she stretched out her back and arms then plopped herself down in her chair, quickly tidying up the pens she’d scattered around earlier before setting her empty mug on Carisi’s desk. She flipped open her laptop, heading straight for the NYPD database to begin her search into Anton Krasnikov. 

It wasn’t long after she’d come back from the break room after printing out Anton’s file, did the others eventually return with that very man in tow, who Melanie had to admit, didn’t look like a flautist. Fin and Carisi led him to the interview room immediately as Mike made his way towards her, setting her energy drink on her desk and watching as her lips rose into a smile.  

“Thank you,” Melanie said gratefully, cracking open the can and taking that first small sip of the glorious caffeine within. “Ah, just what I needed.” 

“Savour it,” Mike told her, lifting the file on Anton from her desk as she continued to sip away. “It’s the only one you’re allowed to drink today.” 

“Yeah, whatever,” Melanie brushed off, taking one more sip before she set the can on her desk and glanced around. “Where’s Liv?” 

“Oh, she ran into Tucker downstairs,” Mike said casually, flipping briefly through the file Melanie had put together for him and not even bothering to acknowledge the way her face had fallen. “She told me to head on up.” 

“Wonderful,” Melanie muttered dryly, rolling her eyes. “I wonder what IAB wants with me now.” 

“They want to give you this,” Liv said suddenly as she rounded the corner, drawing Melanie’s curious gaze up to meet her. She carried on across the bullpen, a pleased smile holding up her lips as she set Melanie’s very own gun on her desk. “Your alibi checked out…You’re off the hook, detective.” 

Melanie’s brow dipped, “I don’t have an alibi.”  

“Well, apparently you do,” Liv replied, glancing briefly towards Mike who remained with his nose buried deep in his file. “And it must be a good one. Tucker said there was absolutely no way that you could have been responsible for Campesi’s attack.” 

“What’s gonna happen to her?” Melanie asked curiously. She’d deal with her alibi revelation later, but for now she just wanted to know what they planned to do about Campesi. “Are they gonna charge her with conspiracy?”

“Conspiracy?” Liv repeated in confusion, and even Mike looked up from his file as Melanie hadn’t said anything to him about a conspiracy. “What makes you think it was that?” 

“Um, everything?” Were they blind or just stupid, Melanie thought to herself, as it was clearly a conspiracy to get back at her for testifying. 

“Mellie, I don’t think she was conspiring to frame you for assault,” Mike said, closing his file and tucking it under his arm. “I think she genuinely thought it was you.” 

“Are you being serious?” Melanie chuckled delusionally, as Liv she got, but Mike? Be for real right now. “She clearly set this whole thing up from the start!” 

“Okay, just take a breather,” Liv said calmly, raising her hand and motioning for Melanie to settle, which she did. A little. She took a sip of her energy drink, but honestly Liv didn’t know whether or not that would make things better. Or worse. “I did ask Tucker what he planned to do with her, and he told me that they have no interest in pressing charges.” 

“No interest?” Melanie scoffed, her fingers tightening around her can. “So she can frame me for assault and what? Get off scot free?” 

“She’s already under indictment for manslaughter, I think she has it tough enough already.” Liv said, yet she regretted it the second it passed her lips when Melanie’s jaw clenched and even Mike took a step back. 

“Oh, sure,” Melanie began, her tone oozing with sarcasm as she let go of her can before she caused it to erupt all over her desk, “I almost lost my job. There’s parents out there mourning the loss of their son but Campesi is the one who has it tough. Of course, how silly of me to suggest we pile any more on top of her.” 

Liv sighed, “Can’t you just be happy that you’re cleared?” 

“Oh, I am thrilled,” Melanie said chipperly — which was forced, of course, and paired nicely with her signature satirical smile that stretched from ear to ear, making Liv have to refrain from rolling her eyes at her dramatisation. “I get my gun back and IAB lets Campesi off the hook for lying about it? I literally couldn’t be any happier.” 

With her smile swiftly swapping to a scowl, it was Melanie’s turn to roll her eyes as she fell silent…as if she attempted to sound any more sarcastically cheerful about the complete bullshit that was this situation then she was going to hurl. 

But she gets it, though…She almost gets framed for assault but because Campesi is already under indictment for manslaughter there’s no point in piling any more on top of her. Seems fair. It was only Melanie’s entire life on the line, but whatever…she was cleared so it’s no big deal, right? Why waste time trying to get to the truth when there were far more pressing matters to attend to? Figures. No one at IAB ever seemed to give a shit about Melanie unless she was the one in the line of fire, where they were never happier than when they got to pull the trigger. 

“This is a gift horse, Mel,” Liv said, lightly tapping her fingers atop Melanie's desk to draw her murderous gaze back to reality. “Now do me a favour, don’t look it in the mouth.”  

“I hate proverbial phrases,” Melanie said bluntly, slipping her gun back into her holster as Liv simply smiled knowingly, only adding to Melanie’s mood as…she’d done that on purpose. She then waved her hand lazily, brushing it off in a barely intelligible mumble, “Just… Whatever. Thanks for getting me my gun back, I guess.” 

“Oh, don’t thank me,” Liv said, causing Melanie’s eyes to slowly narrow as she backed up towards her office. “Thank whoever was smart enough to tell Tucker the truth.” 

And with that, Liv was gone as she didn’t want to be anywhere near Melanie when she got a hold of Mike. 

“You’re right,” Melanie said to herself, nodding her head and slowly spinning on her chair to face her brother, her tone falling childishly as she said his name, “Mikey, would you care to explain?” 

“Wait,” Mike chuckled in disbelief, “You think I told Tucker where you were?”

“Well who else could it be?”

“I thought you said you didn’t have an alibi?” Rollins asked curiously, yet she almost wished she hadn’t when both twins' eyes landed directly onto her. “You know what… Nevermind.” 

A satirical smile rose on Melanie’s lips as she silently agreed, watching as Rollins stood up from her chair and happily took the file on Anton from Mike before scurrying across the room towards Liv’s office. It wasn’t until she disappeared inside it, did both twins turn back towards each other and Melanie’s lips part, about to spew out another accusation before Mike swiftly cut her off.

“I know we’ve been at odds for a while, Mellie, but if you think that I broke our bond over this...” 

“Who else could it have been, Mikey?” Melanie cut him off, standing abruptly up from her chair as she didn’t like the way he was looking down at her. “Are you forgetting that you’re the only one I told?” 

“No, but you seem to be forgetting that there’s one other person involved in this,” Mike said a little angrily, before he took a step back and sucked in a breath. He placed his hands on his hips, firing glares at those who were watching — all of whom couldn’t help but think that Daddy Dodds was finally out of the boxing ring and that Big Dodds was in — as he quickly calmed himself down. “The guy… The one you were with, did you ever stop to think that maybe he told IAB?” 

And just like that, the sudden realisation kicked in and Melanie’s eyes widened, the pieces clicking back together inside her mind as whilst she was freaking out thinking that someone was following her, or worse, that Mike had broken the twin confessional, she had completely forgotten… She had been in Barba’s apartment. He had literally been there too and if Mike wasn’t the one who told Tucker the truth…Then there was simply no one else it could have been. 

“Oh, he didn’t,” Melanie breathed out, placing her hands on her head and gripping her hair just to feel something other than… God, she didn’t even know what she felt right now as today had been a whirlwind of emotions and it wasn’t even past noon yet. “He’s gonna get himself into trouble.” 

“Well, maybe he doesn’t care about that,” Mike said softly, closing the gap between them should there be any ears dropping eaves around them. “As like I said the other day… Perhaps the only thing he truly cares about is you.” 

“That’s no excuse,” Melanie gritted stubbornly, grabbing her phone from her desk and ignoring the deep sigh Mike let out as he watched her make her way towards the bunk room. 

“Go easy on the poor guy, would you?” Mike called after her, causing her to glance back over at him questionably. “He saved your ass, just remember that.” 

With a partially mocking, and sibling accurate smile, Melanie carried on towards the bunk room with her phone gripped so tightly in her hand she could already feel the dents forming in her palm. She couldn’t believe it. She couldn’t believe that Barba had gone to Tucker without telling her first. And okay sure, it was partially her fault for not letting him know that she didn’t want him to go to Tucker because she didn’t want anyone to find out where she was, but then again…how could she tell him that? 

How could she possibly begin to explain to Barba that the reason as to why she’d rather go down for assault than confess to IAB that she’d been at his apartment, was because she was scared? That she was worried about dragging his name through the mud should people think the two of them were involved? 

Spoiler alert, she couldn’t. There was simply no good place to start that conversation and no matter what anyone said…no matter how many times Mike kept telling her that perhaps Barba only really cared about her, Melanie would never be able to bring herself to tell him the truth. He’d only try to convince her otherwise and whilst he may turn out to only care about her, she wasn’t about to let him possibly ruin his career by getting involved with someone like her. It wouldn’t be fair. She was damaged goods, and Barba deserves far better than a mess like her. 

He deserves someone who has their life together. Who doesn’t have as much emotional baggage as she does and if that means her own heart gets broken in the process then so be it. It wasn’t like all the pieces were there anyway, so what were a few more chipping away if not nothing? 

Regardless of that though, it didn’t mean she was letting this go. She needed to understand why he did what he did and so, as the door to the bunk room slammed noisily behind her, Melanie pulled up Barba’s contact within seconds of entering and called him. 

He picked up immediately. 

“What the hell did you do?” Melanie demanded, having barely given the dial tone a second to click off before she did and perhaps this wasn’t what Mike meant when he told her to go easy on him.

But, oh well. She was pissed. She was…sad. She was all over the place today and Barba should be damn lucky she hadn’t chosen to visit him in person. 

“Good morning, Melanie, how are you?” Barba greeted, his tone soaked in sarcasm and if Melanie closed her eyes, she could practically see that smug little smirk of his. 

“Don’t you get all nice with me, Rafael Barba, I know what you did.” 

“What I did?” Barba repeated questionably, clearly playing dumb and Melanie could tell by the grin that all but travelled through the phone. “I must confess, detective, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Sighing, Melanie gritted, “Rafael.”  

“Melanie,” Barba exhaled, in a defined exaggeration of Melanie’s own exasperated tone.

With a delusional chuckle, Melanie moved the phone from her ear and pressed it hard against her forehead, feeling the curved edge of her shark-patterned phone case digging deep into her skin, where it would no doubt leave a mark. Was this what it was like dealing with her? Was this how irritated and exhausted other people felt when she acted like this? Because if so… Boy, did she owe a lot of people a gift basket…coincidently starting with Barba himself. 

Pressing her lips together regrettably, yet knowing damn well she wouldn’t be changing her attitude for a second, Melanie dropped the phone back down to her ear and allowed her tone to soften, “Please, Rafael, just tell me… Why did you go to Tucker?

“Because you’re being framed for assault, that’s why,” Barba said plainly, “ And because you had a solid, perfectly believable alibi, which I must say hurt to hear you didn’t use.”  

Even though he was clearly joking, she hoped , Melanie’s heart still twinged as she lowered her voice, mumbling almost sadly “I did that for your sake.” 

“My sake?” 

“Yes, your sake,” Melanie replied, with an empty chuckle she had to force to leave her throat should Barba suspect she was almost tearing up at the sudden memory of her own fears. “To save you the trouble it might bring you should people start thinking that we… you know .”

Even though he couldn’t see her, Melanie still widened her eyes and tilted her head knowingly, as if to help implicate her clear and obvious meaning without actually having to say it out loud. You know, like a good detective with an important secret they’d like to keep…which honestly is something Barba should really take a lesson in as he wasn’t at all shy about putting that scenario out freely into the world.    

“What?” Barba questioned, almost tauntingly as it was interesting to know that that’s where her mind went with all of this. “You’re worried they might think we slept together?” 

“God,” Melanie exhaled, flinching the sudden verbal announcement and she couldn’t help but begin to glance almost nervously around her. “Can you not say it so loud? Someone could hear you.”

“Who’s gonna hear me?” Barba asked, outwardly amused by her sudden shyness for all things sexual. He then slurped purposely at his coffee as he basked in it, making Melanie's expression fall instantly blank as she always hated that sound. And he knew it. “I’m in my office, there’s no one here.” 

“What about Carmen?” 

“Well, yes she’s here,” Barba said casually, causing a soft noise of exclaim to leave the back of Melanie’s throat that he took to mean no one’s around, my ass . “But relax, mi cariño, she’s learned to drown out the exact frequency of my voice by now, so you needn’t worry.” 

Melanie huffed in amusement, “That’s not surprising, you do love the sound of it.” 

“Yeah, and I bet you do too,” Barba muttered smugly, and Melanie raised her eyebrow. 

“What’s that now?” 

“Nothing.” 

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Melanie uttered as she rolled her eyes, yet the swiftness and playful innocence to his answer still made her smile from ear to ear, her stomach fluttering in a disgustingly affectionate way as he was right… She did love the sound of his voice and she could only ever dream of hearing it in the way she knew he meant. 

“Look,” Barba began, the soft squeaking of leather following faintly behind telling Melanie he’d sat up in his chair. Time to get serious. “I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you that I was going to Tucker, but I knew that once I did…you would have handcuffed me to my desk and threw the key into the river.” 

“You’re damn right I would!” Melanie agreed, before taking a second to calm herself as she was well aware that she’d just yelled at him. She sighed, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap, it's just… You could get into trouble.”  

“For what?” Barba scoffed, “Providing a safe place for an inebriated detective to spend the night? You’re right…I should be taken out back and shot.” 

At his witty tone, Melanie's caring mood fell swiftly and she glared at him through the phone, “Keep up the attitude and I’ll be pulling the trigger myself.” 

“See, and you wouldn’t be able to do that had I not gotten your gun back, now would you?” Barba asked tauntingly, to which Melanie stayed silent as she burned a hole into the bunk mattress in front of her with how fierce her gaze was. She wasn’t going to answer him. Absolutely not, the smug bastard, and when he came to that conclusion himself, he breathed out in satisfaction, “That’s what I thought, now are you done berating me for saving your skin? I’m needed in court.” 

“For now,” Melanie hissed, “But you better watch your ass cause I’m coming for it.” 

“Now who’s being unprofessional?” 

“I hate you.” 

“Mhm,” Barba hummed knowingly, unphased by her words. “I’ll call you later.” 

“You better and…” Melanie sucked in a breath, letting it out in a soft, but sweet, whisper, “Thank you, Rafael, it was really considerate of you to do that for me.” 

“You know I’d do anything for you,” Barba said, in a tone so utterly quiet Melanie might have missed it had she not been holding her breath. 

“And that’s what worries me,” Melanie whispered, her heart aching terribly in her chest as she’d already known he’d do anything for her but to hear him say it out loud?

Well…perhaps repressing these deep seated feelings she had for him wouldn’t be as easy as she’d hoped. 

The two of them parted ways moments after a brief stint of silence where neither of them knew what to say, as Barba really was needed in court and Melanie didn’t think she could stomach another second talking to him on the phone should she say anything she shouldn’t. She pocketed it immediately, after typing a quick note to herself to make sure she picked Barba up a bottle of scotch as a means to say thank you properly, as the way in which she really wanted to…she knew she’d never be able to bring herself to do. 

And after lying face down on a bunk for…God knows how long, Melanie finally made her way back into the squad room. Rollins was gone, Fin and Carisi were both still in with Anton, and the only person left sitting at their desk was Mike. She headed towards him almost instantly, her soft footsteps gaining his attention as he lifted his eyes from his computer screen. 

“You okay?” Mike asked, a little worried by his sister’s sudden deflation.

“We’ll see,” Melanie exhaled tiredly, leaning back against his desk as Mike let it go, as he knew it would be useless to press her further for information. She’d come to him when she was ready to, but for now, it was back to the case. “What are you doing?”

“Booking a date with an escort,” Mike replied casually, watching as Melanie’s brow furrowed and she seemingly forgot about her own love life. 

“Oh, Mikey, are you really that lonely?” 

“That’s very funny,” Mike muttered, easily unamused and that only made Melanie smile. Thankfully. He then went on to explain what was happening with the case. That Anton had spent the night with an escort who then ended up robbing him and drugging him, which only led to him then assaulting the victim, Alessandra. “So I figured, the best way to track down this Savannah would be to book a date with her.”

“Smart, I guess,” Melanie said with a partial shrug, picking at her nail polish as a soft sigh left her lips. She couldn’t be less interested in working right now, if she was being honest. 

Earlier had really taken it out of her and if she could, she’d pack up her things and head home for the day.

“You want to help me collar her?” Mike asked, his eyebrow raising as he gently nudged her. “Maybe even take down her pimp in the process?” 

At that, Melanie perked up visibly, “You know I’m all for taking down pimps.” 

“Good,” Mike chuckled, rolling back in his chair and getting to his feet. “Now go grab your jacket, I don’t want to keep my date waiting.”  

With a little more pep in her step, Melanie pushed off the desk and rounded it, grabbing her jacket from the back of her chair and slipping her arms into it. She then followed Mike as he headed for the stairwell, as unlike anyone else on the team he always chose to take the stairs whenever the two of them had to go somewhere together. They descended them quickly, making their way across the foyer and out onto the street before climbing into the car, which, in case you’re wondering, Mike was driving as he fully intended on surviving his first day on the job. 

“So,” Melanie began, pulling her knife from her pocket and beginning to flip it as they set off for the motel. “How’s your first day going?”  

Mike let out a scoff as he shuffled in his seat, “It could be better.” 

“Oh boy,” Melanie chuckled, shaking her head. “What did you do?” 

“Aside from offer telling Carisi to drop my name with hotel security, offering a rape victim a glass of water before her rape kit and telling Liv that dad assigned me here to take pressure off her, nothing much.” 

“Damn, you hit the trifecta,” Melanie exhaled, her eyes widening as she drew her gaze out the window. “Might as well just hand in your shield at the end of the day.” 

“Thanks for your support,” Mike muttered sarcastically, hearing Melanie laugh quietly to herself as she flipped her knife closed. He then glanced at her from the corner of his eye, still keeping his focus on the road as she shuffled around to face him.

“Mikey, it’s your first day here, no one expects you to be perfect… I know I wasn’t,” She said, all traces of humour gone from her tone, and her eyes. “I almost blew my first case, but the more I watched how those around me did things…The more I picked up, so just hang back. Don’t try so hard to make a good impression and whatever you do… Do not play the dad card.” 

“Wish you’d told me that ten minutes ago,” Mike mumbled, as he literally had played the dad card and he was already starting to reconsider his transfer. “The Lieutenant all but told me off for even booking this date.” 

“Look, one thing you need to know about Liv is that sometimes… she sees the world in nothing more than black and white.” 

“How do you mean?” Mike asked curiously, glancing towards her again as she bit at the skin of her lip. 

“I just…” Melanie took a breath, running her fingers through her hair. “I don’t want to affect your opinion of her but she’s very… shoot first ask questions later.” 

“So like you?” 

“What? No,” Melanie said, offended. “No, I don’t shoot unless I know someone is guilty whereas Liv… she’s very quick to assume that they are and sometimes… I think that she sees everyone as a victim, that’s all.” 

“I see,” Mike mused, yet he couldn’t help but find it a little strange as Liv did seem very eager to wrap up this case even though Anton himself might have been a victim. 

Nevertheless, he said nothing. He trusted his sister’s opinion, maybe even more than his own, as over the years her intuitions had never once been wrong about someone. She told him from the get-go that he couldn’t trust his ex, and what do you know, she turned out to be cheating on him. Not to mention, she knew when their parents were getting divorced even before they did and honestly…Mike often wondered if they were meant to be triplets but that she’d somehow absorbed the other one and ended up with a third eye.

But anyway, back to the case… 

It wasn’t long before the twins arrived at the world's seediest motel. Mike had gone straight to his room to get himself ready, whereas Melanie hung back in the damp, smelly hallway, waiting just around the corner for Savannah to show up so she could then kick down the door and arrest her. But unfortunately, things didn’t go that smoothly and an entirely different escort to the one Mike had booked in with showed up, meaning, as a result of their planned being ruined, they had to put a call in to the pimp, Slice. 

Slice was a scrawny looking guy, with a terrible moustache and an even worse Hawaiian shirt, which is why Melanie wasn’t too worried when he eventually showed up and entered Mike’s room. She lingered outside, with her ear pressed to the door and her gun in her hand should things go south…as you never know what a pimp might be capable of when it came to defending his money. 

Not that Melanie didn’t have faith that Mike could handle himself but sometimes even the most underestimated of people could cause the most damage, and as soon as she heard Mike’s raised voice as he identified himself, she was quick to kick down the door. Mike was already disarming Slice as she did and she pulled out her cuffs, tossing them towards him and watching as he caught them without so much as even looking at her. 

“Look, my girl didn’t didn’t do anything and you didn’t pay anything,” Slice babbled, a soft grunt leaving his lips as Mike shoved him against the table to cuff him. “So what the hell is this? Some kind of shakedown? Huh, how much you want?” 

“You hear that, Mikey?” Melanie questioned, irony riddling her tone as she delved further into the room. 

“Yeah, I do,” Mike replied, spinning Slice around and keeping him in place as Melanie approached them. 

“Attempting to bribe a detective and a sergeant?” Melanie chuckled dryly, shaking her head. “Man, you must just be dying to see the inside of a jail cell.” 

Slice sighed, “What the hell do you want?” 

“We want to talk to Savannah,” Mike replied plainly, jostling Slice a little to gain his attention as he did not like the way he kept ogling Melanie. “You get her here, this all goes away.” 

Turns out, however, that Savannah was too keen on answering the phone, thus resulting in the twins having to drag Slice’s scrawny ass down the station. They threw him into the interrogation room, taking turns trying to get him to pick up the damn phone again before either one of them lost their temper. 

It was quite the show, for the others, watching as the twins bounced off each other so smoothly it could have been like watching one singular person doing the interview. But unfortunately for everyone, it didn’t last too long before Slice said the magic word. He lawyered up, no more than five minutes after having entered the room and thus ended the interview. 

“You wanna lawyer up, Slice? You go ahead,” Mike said, his palms on the table as he leaned forward, looking Slice directly in the face as Melanie waited patiently behind him. “You’re free to do that, but you're on my list now… Which means I’m free to follow you. Tap your phone. Question your girls.” 

“Come on man,” Slice said defensively, “I ain’t a bad guy. Savannah stole from me too.” 

“Then find her,” Mike gritted, slamming his closed fist down onto the table. “And if you don’t…I don’t care what bus you get on or what hole you crawl into. I will track you down and pull your testicles out through your throat.” 

And with that eye widening, ‘ did he just say what I think he just said?’ moment dropped so suddenly before them, those who were watching glanced towards each other in shock. However, not one of them said a single word as they didn’t need to, not when the exact same thought was plastered hauntingly over each and every one of their faces…

Oh dear Lord… There’s two of them. 

<- Chapter 7 | Chapter 9 ->

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tags: @the-nerd-dimension @doublebassallie

[itsrheasgirl]

AN UNEXPECTED GUEST - PART 6

Chapter 2 for Forbidden Love series. The Forbidden Love series follows a relationship between Rhea x Reader.

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The Reader has a strong friendship with Liv Morgan.

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Liv is in love with The Reader but hasn’t told them.

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fem!reader.

rhea x liv x reader - rhea x reader.

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TW: coarse language, aggressive actions and mild violence, mionors read at own risk.

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@rheasbaee @riverscyberwife @you-got-me-star-lost-16 @innagnv @bittersweetastoria @chillinbri @call-me-a-simp @sithfar @rooskaya-yelena @half-of-a-gay @teenagedramaqueenlisa @hit-the-dirt-and-get-back-on @bl0w-m3 @l0v3e1i @heartcandles-co

•

The cool night air whipped around your features as the four of you stepped out of the nightclub and into the parking lot, the chill cooling the rage that still burnt under your skin as you scooted round to stand in front of Rhea.

“Demi let me look at you.”

You requested urgently. Rhea chortling softly as she allowed you to tilt up her face and search her features for any damage Liv could have inflicted, her palms moving up to hold both your wrists as she spoke softly.

“Babe I’m fine, I promise. I’m not hurt.”

Rhea could be telling you the truth, or she could be lying to look tough— either way, you would be the judge of if she was hurt or not.

“I heard it, Demi. There’s no way it didn’t hurt.”

Gently tugging your wrists down in order to remove your palms from their cupped position around her cheeks, Rhea slowly pulled you into her chest to keep your hands locked away. If it were up to you, you’d keep looking for any sign of injury all night and Rhea knew that, but all she wanted was to ice her face and spend some time alone with you like she’d promised.

Exhaling a long sigh as you buried your face into Rhea’s chest, you wiggle your arms free to wind them around her waist.

“I can’t believe Liv reacted like that. What was she even talking about, poisoned me how?”

Rhea wasn’t even sure how to respond. She wasn’t entirely sure what Liv had meant, how could the two of you spending time together be breaking her trust?

“I thought she was over this.”

Your words were quiet and muffled against Rhea’s chest, but she heard you, pressing her lips down against the top of your head. She understood how hard everything that transpired was for you, having to scream at Liv because of her actions.

“Let’s just get back to the hotel, pretty girl.”

Titling your head back to look up into Rhea’s glistening hues, a soft smile claims your lips as she gently scooped back the loose curls that framed your face and tucked them behind your ears. Her sapphire gaze so comforting as she leant forward to press her lips down against your own.

“ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS!?”

Your jaw clenches together as the shrill tone of Liv’s voice reached your eardrums, pulling away from Rhea’s kiss as your tongue coaxes across your teeth. Which part of you were done did Liv seem to be struggling with?

Stepping to your side so she can wind her arm around your waist, Rhea looked up at Damian as he came into view and draped his muscular arm around your shoulder. The Judgement Day protected their own and if Liv wanted to keep going, you wouldn’t stand alone.

“We’re not doing this again Ginny, just drop it.”

Liv scoffed as she hopped over the fence that lined the bars patio in one swift motion— much to the objection of Raquel who was just trying to get her back to the hotel.

“Does she have her claws into you that fucking deep, you seriously can’t see what she’s doing?”

You could feel Rhea’s posture change, her entire form stiffening as she held tightly onto your waist. Liv was writing cheques she couldn’t cash and if she didn’t back off things would not end well for her.

Liv continued to advance towards you, her attitude frenzied as her gaze fixated on Rhea as she spoke. Each word from her lips dripping in venom.

“You think she’s so perfect…”

You could see the concern crystal clear on Raquel’s face as she made her way into the parking lot after Liv, keeping her distance but still alert— just incase Liv’s actions needed to be cut short.

“You think she’s so….. important!”

Your heart was immediately in your throat. Your entire form solidifying as you realized just what had happened to send Liv into another downward spiral of jealousy.

Liv’s palm moved to cover her mouth as a devious smirk claimed her lips, a throaty chuckle vibrating from her chest as her gaze finally shifted to you.

“Oops. Was I not supposed to hear that?”

With one swift motion, Rhea released your waist and slid directly in front of you. Her gaze burning into Liv’s own as she licked at her top teeth, not once blinking.

“That’s enough, Liv. We’re done here.”

Rhea turned her back to Liv and immediately took both your palms in her own. Quickly glancing up at Damian with a bob of her head, she gave your palms a gentle squeeze.

“Go with Damian.”

Before you have time to object or even answer, Rhea jerks forward as Liv’s palms collide with her back.

“We’re done when I say we’re done.”

You’d never seen Rhea’s features change so fast, every ounce of concern for your safety draining from her face— being replaced with anger. Her fist balling at her side as an enraged expression claimed her features. You don’t even have time to blink before Rhea turns back in Liv’s direction, a sharp crack ringing through the night air as her fist slammed into Liv’s jaw.

“No!”

You shouted, Damian’s palm gripping at your shoulder as you attempt to move forward.

Liv stumbled back slightly, almost bashing into Raquel as she regained her footing. Her arms darting out to make sure no one touched her, her jaw wiggling a few times before she launched back in Rhea’s direction.

Liv stood no chance as Rhea grabbed her mid pounce. The tiny blondes arms and legs struggling to get free as she wound her fingers into Rhea’s dark locks— tugging down in a sharp motion.

“Damian let me go.”

You struggle to get out his hold as you watch Rhea and Liv’s fists beat down against each other, neither female backing down.

“We can’t let them do this. Damian, let me go.”

You couldn’t take your eyes off the two females as they continued to brawl. Rhea’s fist colliding with Liv’s jaw once more, another against her rib. Liv mimicking Rhea’s actions with her own jab to Rhea’s ribs, her knee shifting up to jab into Rhea’s stomach. This wasn’t the fighting they did for work— in ring fighting was staged, but this.

“I promised you I wouldn’t let anyone hurt her. I promised you, now let me GO!”

Yanking your arm as hard as you can, Damian’s hold falters enough for you to pull free. He doesn’t move, his posture remaining stern as you hurried in Rhea and Liv’s direction. This was a stupid idea, one wrong move and you’d end up on the wrong end of a punch, but you couldn’t let them kill each other.

“Stop it. Just STOP IT!”

Your lower lids began to fill with salty tears as you screamed, Liv attention falling away from Rhea’s jabs just enough for her to land one last pop to Liv’s cheek. The tiny blonde stumbling back into Raquel’s awaiting arms.

You only had a few seconds to get between them, your palm pressing into Rhea’s chest as Raquel kept Liv in place. A few stay tears trickling down your cheeks as you tried to catch Rhea’s gaze. She wouldn’t look at you, her breath heavy as she glared down at Liv with daggers.

“Demi, don’t do this.”

You kept your focus on Rhea as she tried to get around you, your palm still placed on her chest as Dom took a few steps forward in your direction.

“Dominik.”

Damian uttered as he moved his forearm out and over Dom’s chest, keeping him from getting any closer.

“No te metas, confía en mi. Deja que hable con ellas.”

You could hear Liv grunting behind you as she tried to get free from Raquel’s grasp, your focus not shifting from Rhea as you cupped her cheek and gently ran your thumb over her cheekbone.

“Demi. Baby, I’m right here. Please look at me.”

It was as if your touch soothed all the fire that burnt under Rhea’s skin, her staggered breath slowly falling into line as she simply stared into your glistening gaze. She could see the pain on your face, the tears that cascaded your cheeks leaving little damp circles against the fabric of your cropped shirt.

“Y/N you have to listen to me.”

You spin on your heels to face Liv head on as the words barked from your lips, another wave of tears leaving your waterline as you glared at the petite blonde.

“I don’t.”

Liv’s lips opened to speak as she continued to struggle in Raquel’s hold— desperately trying to get herself free, but you shut her down.

“I don’t want to hear anything from you.”

Taking a small step towards Liv as she finally manages to get to her feet— Raquel’s palms still grasped around her biceps to keep her back from you, you jab your finger into her shoulder.

“I don’t care anymore, Ginny.”

You retract your finger from Liv’s shoulder as you fall back in line with Rhea, pushing her palm down and away from you as she tries to wrap her arm around your waist. Swallowing back the ball of saliva that pooled on your tongue as your eyes once more begin to fill with tears, you don’t fight Rhea as she simply takes your hand instead.

You’d begged Liv to let it go, your life was your own and she had no right to intervene. She didn’t care about your friendship with Raquel, with Bianca, so what made Rhea different. You had a connection— like you were meant to be together, but something about that rubbed Liv the wrong way. Her jealousy made no sense.

“I’m your best friend.”

Liv scoffed. Pulling one of her arms free from Raquel’s hold and then the other.

“And that means you will listen to me...”

Rhea’s hold on your palm tightened slightly as she gently pulled you back in Damian’s direction. She didn’t want anything to happen to you and it was clear Liv wasn’t finished. You just wanted to leave, there was nothing she could say to you at this point that would change your mind.

Turning your back on Liv as you keep your hold in Rhea’s palm, you follow in suit as your three counterparts begin to head in the direction of the awaiting cabs. Raquel could take care of Liv, maybe she could talk some sense into her.

“She’s using you! She doesn’t care, Y/N.”

Liv shouted as she took a few quick steps forward to wrap her fingers around your free wrist, your eyes widening as a snarl of anger parted Rhea’s lips. You don’t even have the time to stop her before she got her palm locked round Liv’s throat, pushing her back in Raquel’s direction as she glares deep into Liv’s hues.

“You have no fucking idea what you’re talking about, Gionna! You don’t know ANYTHING about what I’m doing! You have no idea how I fucking feel!!”

Aggressively shoving Liv back into Raquel’s frame, Rhea steps back as her increased breathing huffs out a heavy sigh.

“Can you not see what you’re doing to her!”

Liv glanced over Rhea’s shoulder in your direction, your petite frame curled into Damian’s side as tears moistened your cheeks.

“She is not your girlfriend, you don’t control her. Her life is non of your fucking business and from now on you’re going to stay out of it.”

Liv’s lips part to object, but the expression on Rhea’s features had her second guess. Her head bobbing in a gentle nod as her gaze drops to the ground. She didn’t want to hurt you, she loved you and even if you didn’t feel the same right now— times could change.

- - - - - - - - - -

You’d spent the entire cab ride back to the hotel curled into Rhea’s side, her fingers running through your long curls as her other hand held onto your palm— her thumb gently tracing over your knuckles. No one spoke, the only sound to be heard was the cab drivers radio on a lowest setting. You couldn’t wait to be back in your room, you’d been holding in a lot of emotion and you just needed to shower and let go.

The cab pulled to a steady stop outside the hotel and Rhea helped you to sit back up before opening her door to hop out, her palm reaching back into the car for you as she spoke.

“Come on babe, let’s get you upstairs.”

You payed no attention to anything or anyone as Rhea helped you from the car, holding onto her hand tightly as you crossed the lobby toward the elevators. You couldn’t put two thoughts together, the only thing playing over in your head was Liv. What if she followed behind? What if she got back to the hotel before you could get to your room? You didn’t want to face her again, you couldn’t take anymore of her cryptic messages hidden within her lies. It was obvious Rhea cared about you.

Slipping into the elevator as the doors opened, you selected your floor before leaning back against the wall. You couldn’t stop your legs from giving out beneath you, your form sliding down the glass until your sat on the elevator floor.

“I hate her.”

You didn’t even realize you were speaking until the words had already left your lips, your gaze locking with your reflection in the opposite mirror as you let out a long sigh.

“You don’t mean that.”

Rhea was already sat down beside you as you turned your head to look over at her, your cheek lowering to rest down against her shoulder. She was right— of course she was right, you didn’t hate Liv. You couldn’t hate her, she was like a sister to you. Inseparably from a young age. But she’d crossed boundaries no one got to uncross.

“I do.. Right now..”

You pause, lifting your head from Rhea’s shoulder as you find her crystal hues.

“I hate her.”

The doors ping and open to reveal an empty hallway, a long sigh expelling from Rhea’s lips as she hopped up off the ground and leant in to help you up.

You still couldn’t process that yet another trip had been ruined by Liv and all because of one person. One amazing person. Lacing your fingers with Rhea’s as you both walked the hallway hand in hand, you fumble in your pocket for your door card.

“Make sure you try and get some sleep, please.”

Rhea gave your palm a gentle squeeze as you stop in front of your room. Turning your back to the door, you take hold of her other hand and crane your head back to look up at her. Even after getting hit in the face she looked incredible, the glimmering purple shadow around her eyes twinkling in the hallway lighting.

“You’re beautiful.”

You utter, reaching up on your tiptoes to press your lips gently against Rhea’s. A small chortle vibrating in her throat as she pulled back to flash you a questioning smirk.

“And you need to rest. Maybe take a bath.”

This could be the last time you get to be together for a while and you weren’t going to let her go that easy. Pressing your lips back against hers, you drop your hold on her wrists and move them to the small of her back. Rhea’s palms moved to your hips so she could pull you forward, your own palms sliding up her torso before snaking around her neck. Your lips parting as Rhea’s tongue slipped between them to search your mouth, you drop the hand that held your room key. Gently tapping it against the lock before pushing the door open, you keep your palm around Rhea’s neck and slowly take a few steps backwards.

“I have a better idea.”

Part 7

[greatideas-badwriter]

Sacrificed To The Banished Prince Ch. 31

“I’m relieved she has an appetite this time,” Madara said once all three Uchiha men were sure Sakura was asleep. 

Sasuke studied his sleeping wife’s face, oblivious that they’d given up talking about the kidnapping. The subject had turned onto her. 

“The doctors…. Did they say whether or not she was assaulted?” 

The prince’s eyes darted up to his brother’s, narrowing, “She didn’t consent to being inspected, but denies it.” 

The king hissed in a quieter voice because he truly didn’t want her to overhear his next words, “She hid the truth last time. Can we trust she isn’t doing so again?” 

Both Uchiha brothers shot annoyed looks at him, the eldest speaking up first, “They are married now, Uncle. I’m sure you can recognize the difference in their relationship.” 

Sasuke’s gaze turned onto his wife again, mulling over Itachi’s words. ‘It really has changed since the wedding. I can’t possibly mask my feelings for her in front of others, whereas before it was relatively easy to remain stiff.’ 

His princess was stronger than anyone he’d ever known. She’d had a terrible upbringing and experienced horrifying traumas since meeting him, too. Not only did she survive being the prisoner of notoriously bloodthirsty mercenaries, but she informed him last night that she’d done so while pregnant. The prince was determined to spend the rest of his life thanking her for enduring such hardships. He didn’t want her to so much as pull a muscle or stub her toe for the remainder of her pregnancy. 

Madara and Itachi shared a look before lowering their voices further, the king speaking first, “There is something else we must tell you.” The prince turned his gaze back onto them, disliking the tension they suddenly exuded. “Remains were discovered not far from a hideout the knights discovered East of the kingdom.” 

Sasuke’s eyes danced between the two before locking firmly on Itachi, who nodded uneasily, “They belong to Hihara Haruno.” A strange mixture of relief and fury boiled the pit of his stomach. He was glad that monster had perished, but he was angry he wasn’t the one to deal the final blow. “That’s not all,” Itachi continued, his frown deepening, “His cause of death was strange. It’s evident magic was involved, but the user left no trace, so we have no way of identifying his murderer.” 

The prince wasn’t sure what to say. His teeth gritted as he once again looked at his wife. She seemed so peaceful compared to the wildfire blazing in his thoughts. ‘How will she react when she finds out?’ 

“I should inform you, certain laws bind even us, so I’ve sent word to the Haruno family to come claim the remains. They will arrive in two days,” Madara said. 

“We’ll leave the palace tomorrow, then.” Sasuke didn’t need to think about a response to that piece of information. He didn’t want that wicked family anywhere near his wife. Now was time for her to heal and know peace, not have old wounds reopened. 

Itachi asked, “Are you sure you wouldn’t like to stay until Lady Sakura is able to walk? Moving her in that condition will cause her body distress.” 

Sasuke slid his hand out from between the woman in question’s, instead pulling the blanket up to her chin. 

He spoke, barely a mumble, “The positive memories she has of this castle are few. If it means she’ll be able to return to our home, I’m sure she’ll agree with my decision.” He watched the slow rise and fall of her breathing and added even more softly, “I will ask her when she wakes. If she wishes to stay, then we’ll stay.” 

Soon, the first prince and king left so he, too, could rest. He’d been injured, after all. Honestly, the wounds to his arm and hand didn’t offer much discomfort. The healing potion had done great work. The maids silently took the trays of food and drinks. Once he was completely alone with Sakura, he gently brushed her hair from her face. A small smirk tugged at his lips as he memorized the picture before him. 

‘She ate more than usual. It must be the baby.’ 

An unfamiliar warmth met his chest, something like pride. Sasuke had never imagined having children. He thought it wasn’t even an option. When he realized what Sakura was trying to communicate last night, though, unbelievable happiness flooded his entire being. Instantly, the few memories he had of his late parents came to mind. 

There were times his father would train him and Itachi with wooden swords. They’d be so exhausted by the end of the day that he’d have to carry them home, the older brother on his back and the younger in his arms. He remembered hearing him and his mother whispering amusedly when he’d arrive home with two dirty, sleeping boys. Though it seemed far-fetched, given Sasuke’s introverted personality, he wanted to be an amazing parent like his had been. 

‘Sakura will make a great mother,’ he mused. 

She had similar characteristics as his mother when he imagined it. She’d undoubtedly raise a child with gentle hands, encouraging them with her entire soul. It was likely she’d read them stories before bed and stay with them through the night when they were sick. 

Sighing, the man walked around the bed to slip under covers. Sakura stirred when he did, turning onto her back. He turned onto his side, hesitating momentarily before placing a hand on her stomach. It was impossible to tell she was with child at this point. She’d lost weight while they were apart, and they only spent one night together, so the date of conception was concrete. 

A realization suddenly came to Sasuke. The light-hearted content turned into stone-cold ice. His wide eyes lowered to the blanket covering where his hand rested. ‘....I wasn’t the only one. That was the night that The Curse….’ It wouldn’t matter, right? It was still his body, after all! …Still. His body became capable of inhuman things when the demon was in control, like crying tears, heightened senses, and incredible physical strength. Would his very DNA be affected by that? It’d be impossible to find that information in a book. The only person who might’ve known was Orochimaru, who died a decade ago. 

The prince shook his head, gently pulling Sakura closer and holding her tightly, ‘The child is mine. This is my wife, and it was my seed that took root.’ 

The morning of the next day, Sasuke explained the situation to his wife while they bathed, a few maids tending to them that he ignored and she attempted, and failed, to. “So, I leave the choice to you. Would you like to leave today for the Winterlands, or are you content to remain here until your body has healed?” 

A pretty blush colored her cheeks. It was charming how bashful she was about being tended to, especially now that she was an honest-to-God princess. Her voice had come back, though she kept it softer than usual to not harm it further, “I want to go home.” 

He’d figured correctly. 

“But-” 

Or so he thought. He was truly surprised to see her hesitation. 

She avoided meeting his gaze, “I know this isn’t the time, but do you know which members of my family are coming to collect the remains? My sister, Hana…. I haven’t seen or heard from her since becoming your fiance. She hasn’t responded to letters, either. I’m worried.” 

Ah. Sasuke had forgotten about the youngest Haruno sibling because he’d yet to even meet her. If he correctly recalls, Sakura was close with the mystery girl. ‘Yes. I remember her saying she used to read books to her little sister. It was the day we first met face to face.’

Sighing, he looked over his small wife’s appearance, an uneasy feeling brewing in the pit of his stomach. ‘Is it wrong to want to lock her away so no one can hurt her again?’ 

Yes. It was wrong because it wasn’t what she wanted. Disregarding her desires would make him no better than those mercenaries that’d held her captive. So, he nodded defeatedly with a stern frown, “You mustn’t leave my side.” 

Sakura seemed mildly surprised that he agreed without argument. Then, she smiled bashfully, “I understand.” 

The duo spent most of the day humoring the doctors and palace staff who fretted over them on behalf of the king and first prince. After dinner, though, Sasuke had had enough. He was a man who valued privacy more than most. So, when the doctors bid the couple a good evening after one last vital check, the prince climbed out of bed, walked around it, and knelt beside his confused wife. 

“Sasuke? Is something wrong?” The princess sat up with a red face when he tugged the covers from her. 

Finding her behavior charming, Sasuke bit back a smirk. He cleared his throat before masterfully picking his wife up like the royalty she was, “I’d like to sleep in a room, in a real bed, where none can enter unannounced.” 

Sakura squeaked upon being lifted, naturally grasping a handful of his shirt. She hissed so as to not be overheard by anyone as Sasuke left the room and began carrying her upstairs toward the guest bedrooms, “S-Sasuke! What if someone notices we’re gone and thinks-” “Let them think what they want. We’re married,” the prince cut off his wife, surprised she’d bring up a sexual topic so casually. When no verbal response came, the man looked down to see his wife burying her face in his chest and actually chuckled at her. 

She groaned, evidently embarrassed, “I meant what if they think we’ve been kidnapped, not…that.” 

He waited until they were in a room to respond, and laid her down on the bed with amusement dripping into his tone, “That?” 

“Yes. You’re aware of what I speak,” Sakura averted her gaze and busied herself with pulling back the covers and climbing under them. 

Sasuke didn’t hold back his smirk this time. He shrugged his shirt off over his head and let it fall to the floor while walking across the room to switch the lights off. At the very last moment, he noticed his wife glance his way. It’d have been easy to allow lust to take over, but he didn’t. No, an adoring warmth to which he was becoming more and more accustomed met his chest. 

Sakura had a habit of cuddling up to him for warmth in the night, and he’d grown fond of it without outwardly letting that fact show. When he joined her under the covers, however, she remained laying on her back. While Sasuke had learned to read Sakura’s body language more easily in their time together, he couldn’t determine what was going through her head when he turned onto his side. He thought she might’ve been blushing because of his mild teasing, but she wasn’t. No, she looked almost melancholy. 

‘Have I frightened her by taking her to such an isolated room?’ 

Hesitantly, the prince asked, “Is something wrong?” 

Brilliant green eyes turned onto him before closing tightly. The woman was quiet for a pause before she groaned and shook her head, “I’m realizing how uneducated I still am after having spent so many hours in your library.” Sasuke still wasn’t sure what she meant, so he waited for her to elaborate. When she realized this, she admitted in a barely audible voice, “Is it harmful to the child if…that happens while I’m pregnant?” 

The Uchiha almost laughed. Almost. He tried his best to hold back his grin while shaking his head, gazing lovingly at his wife’s humiliated face, “Do you require my attention?” 

Sakura nodded, her blush brightening, “Do you think I’m well enough to-” Sasuke smoothly moved over her, sliding his body between her legs and cupping her cheek in his hand, “I’ll take care of you. Don’t exert yourself.” 

The look of astonishment and arousal on his shy wife’s face was encouraging as the prince kissed her. He moved the hand on her cheek down to leisurely unlace her gown. He meant those words, both in regards to her sexual urges and whatever else she’d ever need. Sasuke had found his person, and his person had endured so much for his sake. He fully intended to show his appreciation until the woman was able to understand his feelings.

[pearl484-blog]

Well, That Went Suspiciously Well Adrien AUGreste Entry 2: Truth

After all the revelations from the Season 5 finale, Ladybug tells Adrien the truth. Adrien doesn't react as expected. Link to AO3 story. Link to Adrien AUGreste 2023 series.

Cards on the table, I originally made this as a joke, but my stupid writer brain can't resist adding character drama in there. Fire Opal says it detracts from the joke, but I say it adds to the plot so it's staying. After all, a joke MIGHT be funny one time if it lands well, but a sincere story can be enjoyed for awhile.

Like last time, this is an entry for Adrien AUGreste, but unlike last time, I can actually post this on time. Whoo! Considering my schedule, that's will probably going to be rare. As per usual, this was not Beta'd, so if you see errors or if anything is unclear, please let me know. ~*~ Ladybug took a deep breath as she tapped lightly on the window to Adrien’s bedroom. She had to do this. She needed to do this. It was the right thing to do, she told herself, even as her heart practically screamed at how wrong it was. She was going to have to tell Adrien the truth, even if it shattered him completely, and she had to do it tonight.   

Ladybug knew Adrien wouldn’t take it well. He’d just lost his Father, and things were…complicated after Monarch’s defeat, but after her fight with Monarch, the truth had begun eating Marinette alive. So, she’d done the only thing she could think of. She’d told Alya, and that had kicked off a massive argument that had lasted for weeks. 

Alya was insistent that this truth was way too big for Adrien not to know, that he had a right to know, even if it wasn’t a problem anymore since he had his amoks on him at all times. Alya had fought hard to get Ladybug to confess, and she’d pulled out all the stops. 

Alya had called Marinette a liar. She’d demanded to know what would happen if Adrien figured out the truth from someone else. She’d told Ladybug that she had crossed a line. She reminded Ladybug how all it took for evil to win was for good people to do nothing. She pointed out how Monarch had terrorized the city, and Marinette had just given him what he wanted, and as much as Ladybug hated to admit it, Alya had a point. 

But, Adrien was still at a fragile point in his life. He’d just lost his father. He’d just narrowly escaped being shipped off to London, and he’d been pushed to his limits again and again. Ladybug didn’t know that Adrien could even survive this, but Alya didn’t understand that. 

Instead, Alya had given a final ultimatum. Either Ladybug told Adrien the truth tonight or Alya would tomorrow. So, Ladybug had caved. It would be easier coming from her, especially if he had an entire night to process it before he went back to school, and she could stay with him throughout the whole night if she had to.   

It barely took a minute for Adrien to notice her tapping and rush over to let her in. It almost physically hurt to see the happy, innocent look he gave her as he invited her in. 

“Hey, Ladybug,” he said, smiling at her just a little starstruck -Adrien starstruck, with her!- as he helped her get down from the window gracefully. It felt like all the times that he’d helped her out of the car on those dates like a true gentleman, and Ladybug tried to stop her traitorous heart from beating too fast and hide her blush. 

This was serious, and Adrien didn’t know he was dating her. No matter how cute he was, she absolutely, positively could not flirt with her boyfriend now. It was time to get down to business. 

“It’s nice to see you, Ladybug,” Adrien said, with that infuriatingly adorable smile of his. “Do you want to take a seat?” He gestured to his couch like it was an offering to royalty, and Ladybug really had to fight back a blush. Dang it. Why was her boyfriend so friggin cute? 

Focus, Ladybug, she told herself as she took a seat. This is about to really hurt Adrien. You have to be sensitive. Scolding herself internally, she immediately gestured for Adrien to sit beside her. This was going to be a shock, and he’d want to sit. 

Thankfully, Ladybug was able to wait until Adrien was sitting before she started talking, but unfortunately, her mind was running too fast to wait much longer. 

“You're a senti-monster,” she blurted out before wincing at the tactlessness of her approach. Yeah, that was how to be sensitive to her boyfriend. Just throw it out in the open with absolutely no warning whatsoever. No build up, nothing to soften the blow, just go straight for the throat. God, Adrien must hate her.

Yet, instead of being shocked, Adrien kinda frowned, confused as he asked, “Me, a sentimonster? Are you sure?”

Mutely, Ladybug nodded her head, meekly averting her eyes as she waited for the truth to settle in.   

“That’s pretty cool,” Adrien said instead, and Ladybug opened her eyes to see that Adrien looked genuinely excited. “Am I super-strong? Invincible?” He gasped. “Do I have powers?”

“No, no no, you’re perfectly normal,” Ladybug said, before correcting herself, “I mean, you’re amazing, but you’re not, you know, superhuman. You should be completely perfectly human, or like a human, I guess, except you can be controlled by a ring.” 

“Oh, that’s it?” Adrien deflated before he straightened up in surprise. “Wait, did I hurt anyone? Did I do something without realizing it?” In a quiet voice, he whispered, “Did I hurt you?” 

“No, but your dad controlled you,” Ladybug admitted. “I don’t know what all he did, but from what I know about him,” Ladybug fidgeted anxiously, “it wasn’t nothing.”

“Oh,” Adrien nodded, taking a deep breath. “Okay, wow. That-that explains a lot, actually. I-”, Adrien laughed, a little self-consciously, “I thought I was going crazy, really. I thought I was just weak, you know? Everyone said I was a coward, but he had my amok.” 

Adrien sighed, looking… relieved? Ladybug marveled at her boyfriend’s resilience as he muttered, “All this time, I thought I was a coward. I couldn’t understand…but it wasn’t my fault. It was his.” 

Adrien laughed, and Ladybug wondered if this was it, this was the moment her boyfriend lost it before he relaxed completely into the sofa, running his fingers through his hair. He almost seemed satisfied, like Chat Noir did when one of his puns actually made Ladybug laugh.  

“Oh my God,” he said with a crooked half smile on his face that didn’t look happy, but it didn’t look sad either. “I want to say I can’t believe it, but he would, he totally would. All my life, he wanted to control me, and he found a way.” 

“You’re taking this really well,” Ladybug said, a little worried since she’d gotten this far, and Adrien had actually managed to take this a little too well. It shouldn’t have been possible. How was Adrien, the sweetheart of Paris, the one who had been made into a puppet by his own father, taking this better than Ladybug, an actual superhero?

Adrien shrugged, as if he’d heard news this life-altering all the time. "Well, yeah,” he said. “Mind-control akumas are a dime a dozen. It's not the first time I've been mind-controlled. Heck it’s not even the first time someone I cared about mind-controlled me. I've been through this like a bazillion times. It sucks, but,” Adrien shrugged in a ‘what can you do?’ way, “that’s life.” He paused for a second before he asked, “Do you happen to have my amok?”

Ladybug could’ve facepalmed. Of course Adrien would want his amok back. They were the things that could control his very existence. Who wouldn’t? Thankfully, that had already been taken care of. 

“It’s your parents’ wedding rings,” Ladybug said, grasping Adrien’s hands and holding them so they reflected the light. “The ones your father wanted you to have. Your amok’s in those.”

“Huh,” Adrien said, staring softly at the rings. “I guess my dad really did love me, in the end.”

“Of course he did,” Ladybug said. “Trust me, his last thoughts were of you.”

Adrien was quiet for a minute longer before he finally said, “Thanks, for giving these back to me.”

“Yeah, absolutely,” Ladybug said, “It was the right thing to do.”

“Are you sure though?” Adrien asked, still staring at the rings. “We don’t know if I still have to obey any of the commands people gave me before I had these, and I know Felix hurt you when he took the Miraculous last time. If you’d kept them, you would have had someone you would’ve known you could trust, who would never disobey you or hurt you. You would’ve felt safe with me.”

Ladybug shifted uncomfortably, not liking how the conversation was going. “It’s your free will, Adrien,” she said. “How could I have kept it and still been a hero? How could anyone have kept and still seen themself as a good person? This is yours, Adrien, and nobody else’s. There is no one else that I trust with this more than you.” 

Adrien still looked doubtful, and so Ladybug grabbed him by the hands, careful not to touch the amoks. “You’re a good person, Adrien,” she told him. “Yeah, Felix hurt me, but there was a reason I gave you the Dog and the Snake Miraculous in the first place. I trust you, Adrien. I know you’d never hurt me.”

Adrien fidgeted again, weighing something in his mind, before he said, “My father never approved of my relationship with Marinette, my girlfriend, and he didn’t exactly keep it a secret. Near the end,” Adrien frowned, “a lot of the weird things that were happening messed with my relationship with her. I couldn’t do the things she wanted me to do, be there when she needed me to be.”

Adrien sighed, staring towards Marinette’s house. “I really hurt her,” he said, his voice cracking under his sorrow, “And I never wanted to do that to her. I just wanted her to be comfortable with me, but if my Father was using my rings to make me do that stuff, what if I still do it? What if I can’t undo those commands? What if I hurt her even more?” He rubbed the amoks. “She’s scared of me, Ladybug. Scared that I’ll break her heart. Do you know how hard it was for her to tell me that she loved me? Maybe if I gave her the amoks…if she knew that it was okay…”

“NO!” Ladybug cried, before she realized how harsh that came out and corrected herself. “No, Adrien, you can’t do that. You shouldn’t do that. Listen, I know what it feels like, worrying that you’re going to hurt somebody, but it’ll be okay. Now that you have your amok, no one can make you do anything anymore. All those orders are in the past now.” 

Or at least, Ladybug hoped so. She hadn’t exactly had the chance to confirm it with Duusu before Felix left with him, but that had to be how it worked. It worked for Senti-bug. It had to work that way for Adrien. It just had to.  

“This is your choice,” she told Adrien. “It’s your future. You can’t let anyone, and I mean anyone else have those rings, no matter how much you trust them.” 

Seeing that Adrien was still hesitant, Ladybug stared him in the eyes. “Promise me you won’t let anyone else have your rings, Adrien. Promise me.”   

Adrien nodded, averting his eyes. “Yeah,” he said. “I promise.”

“Good,” Ladybug said, letting out a smile. “I hate to have to beat up your girlfriend just to get it back for you again. Can’t let just anyone wander around with that sort of thing, you know what I mean?” 

Adrien nodded, giving her one of his least sincere smiles. “Yeah, thanks, Ladybug.”

“Anytime,” Ladybug said, her smile only just a little forced. 

They sat together for a minute, staring at Paris’s skyline before Adrien looked at Ladybug. 

“Do you think,” he asked hesitantly, “that there’s another me around?

“Another you?” Ladybug repeated dumbly. “What do you mean?”

“You know,” Adrien shrugged, “did I replace anyone? Did something happen to the real me,” Adrien stopped and corrected himself, “the human me, and that’s why Dad suddenly started being so nice to me before he died? Because his real son-his human son- died?” 

Then Adrien frowned, shaking his head. “No, wait,” he said, “that doesn’t explain..” he trailed off, lost in thought. Ladybug wanted to ask what he meant, or why he thought that he wasn’t the real Adrien, but Adrien had already pulled himself out whatever reverie that he’d gotten stuck in and started pacing agitatedly.    

“Unless,” Adrien said slowly, “the other me left or something and then something happened to him, and Dad got scared.”

Ladybug grabbed him by the arm, holding him firm. “Adrien, you are the real deal, and you’re irreplaceable. I’m pretty sure that you were born a senti-monster.” Ladybug took a breath as she decided to strike the lethal blow. “I think your mom making you with a broken Miraculous is what made her sick.”

Adrien stopped pacing, thinking for a moment, before he simply said, “Huh. That explains so much.”

Ladybug blinked before asking, “It does?”

Adrien nodded. “I always wondered why Father avoided me all the time and why he was always so over-protective.” Adrien hummed thoughtfully. “He must’ve felt really bad because Mom died. I get why he’s upset, but in a way I guess that we were lucky.”

“Lucky?” Ladybug repeated in disbelief, unable to believe that Adrien -her sweet little drop of sunshine- could be so calm about this whole deal. His mom was dead because she’d made him, and now Adrien was saying that he was lucky? Did Adrien not understand what Ladybug was telling him? Was she doing this wrong?

Adrien suddenly realized that he was being a bit too insensitive and his face flushed as he avoided Ladybug’s eyes. “Yeah,” he said, suddenly sounding much less confident. “I mean, I guess. Look, all I’m saying is that if you’re saying having me is what killed her, then I got lucky to have 13 years with her. Not everybody gets that.” 

Adrien must’ve seen the skeptical look on Ladybug’s face because he continued, “I mean, look at Chloe. Her mom left her when she was really little, and she didn’t come back till the akumas drew her back. Plus, there’s Mylene’s mom, or Jagged Stone, or what about the people whose moms never even make it through childbirth. Some of them would’ve killed to have one day with their moms. I had 13 years.” 

For a minute, Ladybug stared at Adrien, looking for a sign that Adrien wasn’t really as calm about this as he seemed, that he was just putting on a strong front for his sake, but in the end, she had to admit defeat. 

“I don’t get it,” Ladybug said, shaking her head in disbelief. “How are you so calm about this?”

Adrien hummed, thinking about it for a moment before he finally said, “I guess it’s because I came to peace with Mom dying a long time ago. This doesn’t really change much. 

Then realizing how awful that sounded, Adrien backpedaled hastily, “I mean, I'm glad I finally know what happened. It's not GREAT news, but she was sick for awhile, and then when she disappeared, I mean, I wanted for her to be alive, but,” Adrien shrugged, “after awhile, I knew she was dead. There was no way that she would’ve been gone for so long and not be dead, you know?” 

Adrien shrugged helplessly, and Ladybug wanted nothing more than to hug him, but she didn’t know if that would be crossing a line. Adrien was Marinette’s boyfriend, not Ladybug’s, and they weren’t exactly friends, or were they? Ladybug didn’t really know, and she didn’t want to push it. 

In her hesitation though, the moment ended, and Adrien forced himself to relax as he sat back on the couch. 

“Besides, it’s not like I chose to be born,” Adrien said blithely. “Mom said she'd always wanted a kid, and she called me her little Miracle all the time. Mom wasn’t the sort of woman who let anyone make her do anything. I think she knew what she was getting into, but she still chose to have me anyway. She never regretted it, and I dunno,” Adrien hummed. “I guess I don’t either. I’ve had a good life, a good career. I’ve made some mistakes, but…I’m happy with who I am, I guess.”

Ladybug didn’t know what to say to that. She’d always known that Adrien was mature, but she’d never thought that this entire thing would go so smoothly. It was just such a relief. Honestly, it was silly that she’d be so worried about it. This was Adrien, probably the calmest person that Marinette knew.  

As if to prove that point, Adrien spoke up to say, “Thank you, Ladybug, for telling me this. I know this must’ve been really hard for you, but it means a lot, coming from you.”

With that, Ladybug’s mind was made. “Adrien,” she said, laying her hand over his, ���About your dad,” she took a deep breath. “He was Hawk Moth.”

“WHAT?” 

Ah, there was the reaction Ladybug had been expecting.

[maria021015]

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR CHAPTER 37!

“Oh, thank God you’re alive!” Stiles sighed in relief when Scott finally answered one of the several phone calls he’d sent in the past twenty minutes. “What happened?”

“Boyd was in there with Derek’s little sister, Cora. Erica…Erica’s dead. You guys were right - it was a trap. When we dropped into the vault it was sealed with mountain ash-” Scott began but at that, Zaida had to interrupt him.

“Mountain Ash? But that means there must be a human working with the alphas. Supernaturals can’t set Mountain Ash.” She pointed out.

“They probably have an emissary,” Peter spoke up from the couch he was currently lying on.

“What’s an emissary?” Stiles’ brows furrowed in confusion.

“Druids - kind of like a witch. They give packs advice.” The alpha explained drolly.

“How did you get out?” Zaida asked Scott.

“Allison showed up and broke the mountain ash, and Boyd and Cora got free. We’re tracking them down now. We think they’re headed for the Preserve.” The werewolf answered.

“Allison? Why the hell was Allison there?” Zaida interjected once more.

“She tracked the bank logo from the symbol that girl bruised into her and Lydia’s arms and broke in. Derek totally bit her head off about breaking the barrier to save us, and he told her I was lying to her about what happened the night her mom died. I had to tell her the truth, and…oh God, she probably hates me.” The boy mumbled sadly over the speakerphone.

“Scott, she could never hate you. You know how Allison gets, she’ll be pissed off and in a mood for a bit but she’ll get over it…in ten to twelve business years.” Zaida snickered at her own joke, failing at her attempt to be supportive.

“Okay, we can talk about Scott’s tragic love life later. For now, let’s focus on the bloodthirsty killing machines, please.” Stiles scolded them with a roll of his eyes.

“Where abouts are you guys? I’ll meet you there.” Zaida offered immediately, wanting to get in on the action. She’d sat by idly enough tonight.

“Zaida…it’s dangerous enough for us, and we can heal faster than you. You’re not ready.” Scott told her hesitantly, knowing she wouldn’t react well.

“I won’t ever be ready if you never give me a chance to be!” She protested with a glower even though he couldn’t see her face.

“I’ll keep you guys updated, okay?” Scott promised and then hung up, not giving her room to beg him even more.

“He severely underestimates you, little nymph.” Peter tutted from his position on the couch.

“What do you know?” She scoffed at him rhetorically.

“I know quite a bit about your kind. My sister, Thalia, once knew a nymph - a nereid. A beautiful woman. She looked a bit like you, actually.” Peter hummed and assessed her with analytical eyes. “Her name escapes my memory, though.”

“I-” Zaida was speechless for the first time that night. A nereid that had looked like her? Could it really be a coincidence? And was he even telling the truth or was he trying to bait her? But how else would he know that her mother was a nereid?

“And I bet a tasty piece of information about Zaida could jostle that name from your conveniently forgotten memory, right?” Stiles scoffed and pulled Zaida away from him protectively. “No thank you. We don’t want to play your game.”

“I think the little nymph would like to play.” Peter continued, unswayed by Stiles. “Hmm? What do you say, sweetheart?”

“Fuck you,” Zaida spat at him after a brief hesitation. “I’m not telling you anything.”

“How about you just show me something then? Just one little trick and I can tell you what you want to know about her, and about how Thalia knew her. I think you’d find that particularly interesting.” The scintillating man dangled the forbidden fruit in front of her with a serpentine grin.

“It’s not happening,” Stiles answered for her, noticing that tempted glint in her hazel eyes. He gripped her hand and pulled her further from the couch and into the opposite end of the loft. “He’s just trying to get you to show him your element.”

“What if he actually knows something?” She whispered now that they were alone.

“Maybe he does, but is it worth giving him what he so desperately wants? He wouldn’t offer it if it didn’t benefit him.” Stiles questioned in a low tone.

“I know that.” She insisted and forced her mind back on track. “Whatever. If Scott won’t let me help, I’ll call Isaac. I have a feeling they’re going to need backup tonight.”

“Yeah, call Isaac, I’m sure he’ll be incredibly helpful.” Stiles huffed and muttered under his breath bitterly, feeling an uncomfortable twist in his stomach.

“Oh, stop your grouching.” She waved him off and lifted her phone to her ear, waiting until the werewolf picked up her call.

“If this is a late-night booty call-” He started and Stiles’ eyes widened in fury at her.

“Stop with the jokes before Stiles’ eyes pop out of his head.” She rolled her eyes. “Scott won’t admit it but he needs our help with something, so I need you to get to Derek’s as fast as you can to pick me up, and then we’re heading to the Preserve.”

“What’s happening at the Preserve?” Isaac immediately sobbed up, getting serious.

“Scott and Derek broke Boyd and that other girl out of the bank and now they’re loose on the town and completely out of control.” She explained.

“Okay, I’m heading there now.” He replied and she frowned.

“Wait, you’ve gotta come pick me up first.” She insisted.

“Zaida, I’m not taking you just so you can get torn into pieces.” The boy scoffed humorlessly.

“Hey, I fought you off once, don’t you remember? And that was before I knew how to use my powers.” She defended her abilities for the third time that night.

“I was also freshly turned, trying to restrain myself, and you had help, remember?” He shot back and she pouted when she couldn’t deny he was right. “It’ll be more dangerous if I take you with me. I’ll be more worried about keeping you safe than keeping myself alive. Just stay with Stiles.”

“I think that’s the first smart thing he’s ever said,” Stiles admitted begrudgingly.

“Ugh, the next time I see you both I’m going to kill you for benching me.” She growled into the receiver only to see another incoming call. “I’ve gotta go, Lydia’s calling.”

“Zaida?” The redhead’s voice was weak and she sounded as though she was either crying or on the verge of a panic attack.

“Woah, Lyds, what happened? Where are you?” Zaida was immediately distracted from the previous conversation, dropping everything to focus on her friend. “Are you alright?”

“No. I- I’m at the pool. There…” Her words were shaky as she tried to explain in her shocked state. “There’s a body.”

“A body?!” Stiles repeated, his spine straightening and his mind instantly going to the werewolves currently on the loose.

“Okay, we’re on our way,” Zaida assured her and gripped Stiles' arm, dragging him towards the main entrance to the loft. “Try and stay quiet and out of sight. Wait in your car if you can, and lock the doors.”

When she hung up the phone, she and Stiles exchanged concerned looks. What was Lydia doing at the pool at this time of night?

As Stiles continued to inspect the body and look for clues, and Lydia tried to look anywhere but at the crime scene, Zaida stepped away to call Allison. It was a strange impulse and not one she’d expected to feel when she stopped to think about what Scott had said about what had happened with the girl earlier. Truthfully she wasn’t even sure if the brunette would respond to her call. It was the first time Zaida had contacted her in months. She was almost too surprised to speak when the huntress did pick up and answered with a hesitant but hopefully greeting. “...Zaida?”

“Hey, Allison.” Zaida cleared her throat. “...Scott told me what happened at the bank, and I, uh…just wanted to see if you were okay and if you got home safe?”

“Oh, that’s…really nice of you.” Allison sounded equally as surprised as Zaida had felt when she’d answered. “Uh, yeah, I’m doing as well as a person who just found out their dead mother tried to kill their ex-boyfriend, making the whole revenge spree they went on completely meaningless.”

“So…not great then?” Zaida jested awkwardly and Allison gave a small chuckle. Zaida frowned when she heard the heavy clanking of metal in the background of the call. “What are you doing now?”

“Oh, nothing much,” The girl lied incredibly badly. “Just watching a movie at home.”

“Uhuh, right. Now what are you actually doing?” Zaida raised a brow, knowing something else was up. Silence answered her. “You’re getting ready to go help the boys round up Boyd and Cora, aren’t you?”

“Look, I already know what you’re going to say and-” Allison began to defend herself, thinking Zaida was about to try to dissuade her.

“I won’t tell anyone if you take me with you.” She interjected, seizing the opportunity that had just presented itself to her. “Come pick me up from the pool.”

“What are you doing at the pool?” Allison questioned as she finished loading up the gear in the back of her car and shut the boot with a loud thud.

“Lydia found a dead body,” Zaida explained and the line went silent once more. “She’s okay, just shaken up and traumatised, but then again what’s new about that.”

“I’ll be there in ten.” Allison agreed to the ultimatum the shorter girl had set down. She made it there in nine and Zaida was waiting on the street, hopping into the car eagerly as soon as it slowed to a stop. “Where’s Lydia?”

“As if I was going to bring her with us to a werewolf hunt. Especially after what she just went through.” Zaida scoffed. “She’s waiting with Stiles until the police show up.”

“I take it the boys didn’t want you involved either?” Allison raised a brow as she pulled back out onto the road and headed straight for the Preserve.

“I begged Scott and Isaac to take me to help and neither of them went for it.” She sighed in frustration. “Stiles wasn’t too happy about me leaving just now either, but he knows better than to try to stop me.”

“Now, don’t take this the wrong way because we would never get anywhere without your brain and determination, but what exactly are you going to do against two rabid werewolves?” Allison questioned.

“Oh, yeah I forgot you don’t know,” Zaida smirked and held up her hand with her palm facing the roof of the car, conjuring a swirling mist that grew into a spiral of water.

Allison’s doe eyes widened impossibly large and the car swerved, causing Zaida to lose control and drop most of the water over her own lap. She drifted her hand over her wet clothes and the residue evaporated into steam and disappeared into the air. “What the hell was that?!” Allison exclaimed in disbelief when she regained control of the vehicle.

“Tada!” Zaida wriggled her fingers in a show of sarcastic jazz hands. “I’m a nymph. A naiad, to be exact.”

“What does that even mean?” The huntress gawked at her, her gaze repeatedly flickering from the road to the girl in the passenger seat. “And since when?”

“To give you the four-one-one, as they say, I come from a long line of nature spirits. My mom was one too, which was why she and my dad were murdered by someone from their old pack - a werewolf. I, as you just saw, can manipulate water because I am a water spirit. It comes with a whole heap of other neat tricks too. Peter bit me the same night he bit Lydia and it sort of kickstarted or boosted my powers. I found out a few months ago, went on a quest for information and I’ve been training since. I’m getting pretty good too.” She explained the shortened version of events.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me?” The huntress questioned. She knew things weren’t great between them at the moment, but they had been close once, after Zaida had been bitten.

“Don’t feel too bad. I didn’t tell anyone for a while. For a long time, it was just Stiles and I working on it, until Lydia found out about the supernatural and then it was just the three of us, until the end of summer when Stiles told Scott. Derek and Isaac saw me use my powers and found out themselves, and Peter already knew because he tasted it in my blood when he bit me. So yeah, you’re kind of the last person to know, but in case you didn’t notice, we weren’t exactly on speaking terms when I decided to come out about it.” Zaida drawled. “Plus, for a little bit, I thought you might kill me yourself if you found out.”

“Yeah, that’s fair.” Allison grimaced as she remembered pulling that crossbow trigger and sending a bolt flying straight into Zaida’s leg. The look of betrayal and pain on the girl’s face had been more than enough to haunt her afterwards. “I’m still really sorry about that.”

“Eh, I’m getting over it.” Zaida brushed it off with a casual wave of her hand. “Slowly. But if you do it again I’m coming for you.”

“I’d expect nothing less.” Allison’s lips quirked into the ghost of a smile at the joke and turned to park her car at one of the many entrances to the Preserve - the one in a direct line with the First Nation Bank. It was likely where Boyd and Cora had entered the Preserve. “Honestly, I wasn’t sure if you’d ever forgive me for what I did.”

“Yeah, me neither. I’m still not entirely there yet, but I’m working on it.” Zaida admitted in a quiet voice and picked at her nails to avoid the thick blanket of tension that had settled over them. She hadn’t felt comfortable talking with Allison about anything too deep since it had all happened, but she found herself wanting to open up about it - wanting to work towards mending things. “To your credit, you did what I asked you to. You’ve pushed everything else away to work on being better, fighting those darker impulses. After taking some steps back and cooling down, I know it wasn’t entirely your fault. You were being groomed and manipulated, and I was angry and I said some things at the time that were…harsh.”

“You weren't wrong.” Allison pursed her lips. She hated the girl she had become under her family’s influence. “I deserved it.”

“You’re not like your aunt, Allison. Or your grandfather, for that matter.” Zaida assured her. “You were the first friend I made in this town. We’ve sure had our ups and downs, but…that does mean something to me. I miss that girl with the bright eyes and dimples, and the heart of gold.”

“So do I.” Allison swallowed dryly, her emotions rising and tears threatening to well in her eyes. “I haven’t felt like that girl in a long time. I thought that she was weak, and that I needed to become someone else to handle this world, but…I was wrong. She would never have done what I did to you, or what I did to Derek’s pack.”

“I’m not the same girl I was when I arrived in Beacon Hills either. What we went through was bound to change us.” Zaida spoke firmly but encouragingly. “You won’t ever be that girl again, just like I won’t. You’ve outgrown her, and that doesn’t have to be a bad thing if you don’t let it.”

“You’re very wise, for a sixteen-year-old.” Allison wiggled her eyebrows playfully and in that moment there was a flash of the girl that had been her friend.

“Oh come on, don’t play the ‘year older card’.” Zaida laughed and rolled her eyes, unbuckling her seatbelt and throwing the car door open. Allison followed her lead and walked around to the boot of the car, opening it as Zaida peered inside to see stacks upon stacks of weapons and gear.

“You ready for this?” The huntress asked, looking at her with analytical eyes.

“Lead the way, Argent.” Zaida took a deep breath and nodded. “What’s the plan?”

The taller girl pulled her longbow and a sheath of arrows out, swinging both over her shoulder as she rummaged through the rest to pull out knives that she slid into various straps in her custom hunting clothing. She offered Zaida a pair of daggers, but the shorter brunette simply smiled and raised her palms to the sky, collecting multiple orbs of water that spread paper thin when she snapped her wrists inward. At Zaida’s will, they were sent flying straight into a neighbouring tree trunk, slicing straight through several inches of wood. “Thanks, but I’ve got my own.” She shrugged.

“That’s a neat trick,” Allison grinned, impressed. She continued to gear up. She shut her car boot and turned towards the treeline, starting their trek into the dark woods.

“How are we supposed to know where they are?” Zaida questioned.

“We won’t. That’s why we need to bring them to us.” The girl answered and pulled out a ring dagger, twirling it around her finger before cutting a slice into her wrist with barely a wince. She held it over the foliage below and allowed it to drip a trail as they walked deeper. “They’re still human, but their animal side is in control. We can use the scent of blood to lure them.”

“What’s their scent radius?” Zaida wondered aloud as her boots crunched over dry leaves, trying to make as much noise as possible to draw Boyd and Cora to them.

“About two miles,” Allison shrugged.

“And what’s the expanse of the Preserve?” Zaida asked with an arched brow, pointing out the vast amount of ground they would have to cover.

“That’s why we’re going to set up a trap area, and make all our blood tracks lead them right to it,” Allison explained.

Once they had hiked to a space they thought was suitable, the huntress taught Zaida how to set up multiple tripwires similar to the one they’d witnessed Scott get caught in all those months ago. “These are gonna suspend them in the air and hopefully keep them there long enough for us to incapacitate them.”

“How’s this?” Zaida asked as she set the last trap in place. Allison inspected it with a faint smile.

“Perfect. You’re a fast learner.” The girl nodded at her work in approval. “Or maybe I’m just a great teacher.”

“Don’t let your head get too big or it’ll make you an easy target.” Zaida dusted the dirt off her hands, feeling the chill of the night send goosebumps rippling up her bare arms and legs. She wasn’t expecting to be out in the elements when she had chosen this outfit. “Now what?”

“Now we trail blood, we wait, and we watch.” Allison handed her a pair of what looked like binoculars, but when Zaida peered through them at the girl, she could see they were clearly IR glasses, meant to track thermal signatures. “During a full moon, their body heat will be a lot hotter. It makes them easier to spot in the dark.”

When Allison brought her knife out once more to make another incision, Zaida offered her own wrist, but the girl shook her head. “You’ll heal too fast.” She reasoned and sliced into her own arm again, holding it out to bleed over the forest floor as they kept walking, Zaida using the glasses to scan the treeline. The air was filled with the sounds of nature - crickets chirping and birds cawing - along with the snapping of sticks beneath their heavy boots.

“What’s that noise?” Allison cocked her head as she listened for a gentle buzzing noise.

“Sorry, it’s my phone.” Zaida grimaced in apology and pulled the device from her pocket to see multiple messages from Stiles.

Sheriff Junior: Just asked Lydia what she was doing at the pool. She says she didn’t even realise she was driving there until she got out of the car. Just like when she resurrected Peter.

Sheriff Junior: Hey, are you still alive? Because if you’re not, I’m gonna kill you.

She quickly responded to his messages, assuring him that she was indeed alive and unharmed, and that whatever was happening with Lydia couldn’t be good news. She didn’t register the faint smile on her lips when she was replying to his concerns about her, but Allison did.

“So, you and Stiles are pretty close, huh? I mean you two always had some sort of… unspoken connection, but it’s more than that now, isn’t it?” The huntress prodded the subject carefully.

“Yeah, we’re pretty great friends, if that’s what you mean,” Zaida answered cautiously.

“That’s not what I meant, and you know it,” Allison smirked, taking Zaida’s avoidance of the subject as potential confirmation of her suspicions. Whilst they may be working on mending their friendship, Zaida wasn’t yet okay with talking about this with her. Hell, she hadn’t even spoken to Lydia about it yet - though that was largely because she didn’t want the redhead to feel awkward about the situation. Or for her to feel like Zaida resented her for it, because she didn’t.

“Are we lost?” Zaida questioned by way of changing the subject when she spotted a tripwire.

“No, I know where I’m going,” Allison assured her confidently.

“You’re sure we haven’t been going around in a circle? Because if not, and that tripwire over there isn’t ours, then there are other hunters out here.” The shorter girl identified tersely.

“I don’t think we’ve turned around…” The huntress didn’t sound as sure this time when she recognised the equipment as the exact same that they used. They ventured further only for a soft, glowing light emitting from through the brush to catch her eye. “Okay, that’s definitely not ours.”

“What is that?” Zaida questioned, moving closer through the foliage to a large metal stick embedded in the dirt. The top was pulsing with white light.

“They’re emitters - they send out signals that only werewolves can hear. We use them to corral them, like sheep dogs rounding up a herd.” Allison realised with a jolt. “This is our equipment. That means my dad’s out here.”

“I thought Papa Argent retired?” Zaida raised a brow.

“So did I,” Allison muttered under her breath, crouching down with her fingers brushing over the indent of dirt in the shape of a footprint. “He must be helping Scott.”

“How do you figure that?” The shorter girl leaned down to see what Allison was looking at.

“My dad wears heavy hunting boots. The prints would be deeper and wider. These are from sneakers,” Allison rationalised her deduction.

“But these are bigger than Scott’s feet…” Zaida could tell because she knew exactly whose shoes were this size. “They’re Isaac’s.”

“At least now I feel less guilty about going behind my dad’s back, because he’s clearly doing it too. So much for trust.” Allison sighed and got to her feet.

“Well, now we know where they’re leading them.” Zaida pointed out the benefits of their discovery. “We just have to follow these.”

“Good call,” Allison hiked her bow and sheath up higher over her shoulder from where they’d slipped.

They didn’t have to follow the transmitters for long before it became clear to both girls exactly where the boys were leading them. “They’re taking them to the school? Why?” Zaida’s brows furrowed in confusion.

“They’re trying to trap them until the full moon is over…they’d need a heavy enough door to keep them from breaking out, and the school has a boiler room with a pretty heavy-duty door.” Allison connected the dots.

“What are we waiting for, then? We know where they’re going. We can take a shortcut.” Zaida flashed the huntress a smile.

“Well, they’re definitely here somewhere.” Zaida huffed, slightly out of breath from trying to keep up with Allison as they jogged their way out of the woods and through the bus bay of Beacon Hills High, hearing loud and feral growls.

“Not just somewhere,” Allison whispered, peering around the corner of a large yellow bus. Zaida followed her and peeked around to see both Boyd and the figure of a female werewolf climb over the outside of the school building and land on the ground, headed back towards the Preserve instead of inside where the boys needed them to be.

“I think they need some help,” Zaida noted, and nodded towards the bow on Allison’s back and a specific type of arrow she recognised from a time Allison had used it in front of her and Lydia months before.

“I’m on it.” Allison agreed determinedly and began scaling the side of the bus, using the smallest of handholds to pull herself up to the top.

“Yeah, I’m gonna go around the bus.” Zaida watched her with eyes wide in wonder, knowing there was no way she could replicate that. All else aside, Allison was a badass.

Zaida readied her powers, summoning larger flat disks of water with dulled edges. They’d hurt if they were to hit someone, but they wouldn’t be fatal. They hovered and rotated in the air as she made her way around the bus to see flashes of blinding light as Allison loosened her flare arrows into the surrounding stone structures and concrete floor, forcing the two wild betas towards the open double doors leading inside the school. Zaida sent those disks hurtling through the air towards their heels with a flick of her wrists, urging the wolves forward as the heavy masses of frozen water shattered into pieces at their feet with loud smashes. Both of the betas sprinted inside to escape the onslaught and a tall figure emerged from the shadows to shut the doors behind them, turning towards the bus to spot both of the girls. With his face turned to the moonlight, illuminating his expression of amazement, it became clear it was Isaac. Only he wasn’t staring at Zaida. The shorter girl realised with a sudden onset of surprise that his eyes were locked on Allison.

“I thought I told you to stay at the loft, where it’s safe !” The boy finally tore his gaze away from the taller girl above the bus when she dropped to the ground and retreated, disappearing into thin air.

“And I thought I told you that I could help, and here we are, with me helping.” She crossed her arms over her chest with a raised brow. “You’re welcome, by the way.”

“I’m not thanking you.” He stated stubbornly but not ungratefully. “Now take Allison and get out of here. We’ve got the rest of it.”

“Only because we helped!” Zaida called out in a sing-song voice as she walked backwards the way they had come, leaving him to hurry inside the building.

“Ready to go?” Allison was waiting for her behind the bus, assessing her with those sharp brown eyes and Zaida fell into step beside her. They headed in the direction of Circle Street, which ran from the school and around through town just a few blocks away from the Preserve boundary line. Allison’s car was parked just a few side-streets off that main road at one of the Preserve entrances.

“What?” Zaida questioned her with a heavy sigh, continuing when the girl sent her a confused expression. “You’ve got this look like you’re trying to figure something out, so just ask me.”

“It’s just, I thought…” Allison began, and then paused, trying to figure out a way to re-word her thoughts in a way that didn’t blatantly reveal the fact that she was so sure there was something going on between Zaida and Stiles. “You and Isaac aren’t still together, are you?”

“God no,” Zaida let out a puff of laughter. “We ended things ages ago, way before summer break. And it’s not picking up again, before you start wondering if that’s the case. What’s with the interest?”

“I’m not…” Allison shook her head in denial, but Zaida knew that look on her face. It was the way she’d always looked when lying about Scott, back when they’d been dating.

“You think he’s cute, don’t you?” Zaida’s lips spread into a slow smile.

“What? No-” Allison shook her head, her cheeks flushing a light pink hue.

“For what it’s worth, I think he thinks you're cute too.” Zaida laughed lightly. Her mind - and heart - immediately went out to Scott. The poor boy was still hung up on the huntress, even though it had been months since they’d broken up.

“It’s not gonna happen.” Allison insisted. Sure, Isaac was attractive, but she’d loved Scott, and a part of her would always love him.

“Is it because of Scott?” Zaida questioned, somehow knowing where the girl’s line of thought had headed.

“So you won’t answer my questions about your love life, but you’re okay to ask me about mine?” Allison scoffed, clearly deflecting.

“That’s because I don’t have a love life. There’s nothing for me to tell.” Zaida gave the girl a half-lie. “Plus, you shot me with a crossbow, so I think I get a free pass.”

“How long are you going to use that as a get-out-of-jail-free card?” Allison chuckled, happy that they could now talk about it so casually without it getting awkward.

“I didn’t think it had to have an expiry date,” Zaida hummed and her phone vibrated in her skirt pocket. She drew it out and checked her notification to see yet another message from Stiles.

Sheriff Junior: Meet me at the morgue when you’re done.

“You wanna come over for a movie or something?” Allison asked her hopefully, having enjoyed the time they’d spent together this afternoon. Towards the end, it had almost felt like normal, back when they were close.

“Actually, could you drop me off at the morgue?” Zaida slipped her phone back into her pocket.

“No rest for the wicked?” Allison shot her a knowing smile.

“Never,” Zaida sighed heavily.

[coffeeman777]

I have a bit of a silly dilemma, and I don’t know if you actually have any advice for it, but, I thought I’d try asking anyway.

I lie a lot. I know it’s wrong, and it’s about the dumbest thing. I read a lot on my phone, and sometimes it’s books I own, sometimes it’s books I borrow from a library, and sometimes it’s fanfiction. And when I’m reading fanfiction, and I get asked what I’m reading, I lie about it. I don’t read anything objectionable, I’m just embarrassed and afraid people will judge me, and by people I mean my mom.

I love my mom but she can sometimes be a little bit judgy. She really strongly dislikes any and all fantasy/sci-fi and has made it clear to me. And by fantasy I don’t mean game of thrones or even harry potter, neither of while I’ve touched or have any interest in, but like… she doesn’t like the animated disney princess movies. Like, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. She doesn’t try to push her convictions on me explicitly, but I can still feel very judged sometimes by the ‘ick’ way she reacts to things. I struggle with legalism and scrupulosity and find myself trying to follow my mom’s standards and convictions for right and wrong, and I really have a hard time knowing where the line between ‘honor your father and mother’ and ‘don’t do anything that could cause a brother to stumble’ and just straight up legalism is.

That to say, I guess I can’t know for sure, but I think she’d really disapprove of me reading fanfiction sometimes, or even just think it’s super weird. I wish she just didn’t ask me what I was reading, but if I say that I’m afraid she’ll think I’m hiding something or doing something wrong. I guess I just don’t want her to think bad of me, and whether I tell the truth or brush it off I’m afraid she will, so I claim I’m reading whatever book I last read or recount one of my favorite books I like to reread when she asks me to tell her about it. I know it’s hurting me spiritually to lie, especially when I’m making excuses to myself over it, which I do far too much. And it’s a much bigger issue now that I’m visiting home from college over the summer and am already getting asked much more frequently than I have, because I’m around now. I don’t know what the right choice is. Do I be honest with her? Do I ask her to stop grilling me, even though I know she’s just trying to make conversation? Do I cut this out of my life? My instinct is to cut it out, especially since I don’t want to. My anxiety tells me that self-denial of everything is the most morally right way to live, and I know that’s flat out false. I’m afraid if I cut it out I’ll end up in the cycle I’ve been in before where once I start cutting things out of my life, the next thing I know I’m convinced that if I don’t get rid of or donate everything I care about or like the smallest bit and spend all of my time either praying or reading my Bible I’m going to Hell. When I enjoy something, I worry that must mean it’s sinful or an idol or both and I need to purge it all from my life, now. But I don’t know if I’m just making excuses for myself and saying ‘oh it would be legalism to get this out of my life’ in order to keep sinning. I just… I don’t know what to do, but I don’t want to keep ignoring this sin in my life, no matter how small I tell myself it is, even though it’s easier to pretend.

Heya! I don't think your dilemma is silly. Little stuff like this can cause big problems. It's important that we be able to consistently apply Biblical teaching to all areas of life.

My position on honoring your parents is this: when you're living with them, obey them. Even when they're being ridiculous and unreasonable. The only exception to the rule is your parents telling you to do something that's against God's commands. But in all other matters, obey them patiently, even when it means a personal loss. This greatly pleases the Lord.

Now, when you're grown up and out of the house, you're no longer beholden to your parents. You still deal with them respectfully, still look out for their well-being, but you're free to live your own life. Obey the Lord according to your own convictions, and within that constraint do what you want. When you're around your parents, apply Romans 14; for the sake of your mother's disposition, do what she likes. Don't read anything she doesn't like, or do anything else that violates her convictions, not because it's sinful if you do, but just because you love her. That way you're honoring God's commands and loving your mother.

I hope this helps!

[fae-fucker]

Breaking Time: Final Part

Remember when I said “I could get this done before the end of the year”? Last year? Anyway. This is it, lads.

Chapter 26

So Klara’s father confronts her about her lying to him, but he does it in the least interesting way possible, because Sasha can’t write. You’d think an actual parent would be, I dunno, worried?  Upset? But this guy is just so mild and understanding that it boggles the mind why this scene exists to begin with.

“I changed my mind about college. I thought I might get it back, or at least I was hoping to, but it just never happened. I wanted to tell you, but—” She paused. “It was Mom’s dream. I felt like I was crushing it by not wanting to go.”

Her dad’s brow furrowed in concern and in the next second, his arm wrapped tightly around Klara. “Her dream was for you to be happy, honey.”

Klara breathed out. Even though this wasn’t exactly her top concern right now, finally telling the truth felt like coming up for air. “And that’s not the only thing going on right now,” she added.

He was still nodding, still squeezing her with reassuring pressure. “Yeah, I kind of guessed that. Why couldn’t you tell me what was going on in your head? Did I do something? If I did—”

“No,” she said firmly, heart breaking that he could even think it was his fault. “I just—” She breathed, bracing herself. “Right now, I’m dealing with something else kind of...big.”

“You can always talk to me, kiddo. I know I’m an old fogey, but I have grown up before, you know.” He smiled down. “Or did you think I was born perfect?”

No, but with the way you’re acting right now, you’re clearly written to be perfect.

I’m in a fun position where I have one parent that sucks and one parent that’s good, so I can sort of compare and contrast. My mom is very understanding and tries her best, even if she fails a lot of the time. Point is, she trusts me and accepts most of my choices.

But do you think she’d be okay with finding 18-year-old me in a strange place with a strange man, after also figuring out I’ve preemptively dropped out of college? She’d freak the fuck out, justifiably. Ya know, because she cares about me? Not because she’s evil and or because she doesn’t understand or trust me?

I know what Sasha’s going for, that they’re so wholesome and understanding, but it’s just not realistic? If this has been his parenting style until this point, I’m surprised Klara gives a shit about him at all. She should be a spoiled brat with the way this man clearly sets no boundaries and offers zero discipline. The utter perfection of this relationship is saccharine and phony. I’m not asking for every parent-child relationship in media to be fucked up, but parents are people too? You could hint at some pain by just having the dad react differently, by letting him be upset at her sudden withdrawal. Now, with how unfazed he is, it both comes off as him not giving a fuck, and wastes the reader’s time because you’ve spent so many words forcing Klara to worry about hurting a parent who ends up being totally cool with everything.

They have some generic uwu wholesome child-parent banter that’s still deeply unfunny, they talk about Klara’s mother and he gives Klara her mother’s necklace for reasons, then the dad leaves the way he came, pleasant and understanding and not bothered by anything at all. Sasha, just make your protags orphans next time. Clearly you have no business writing parents if this is how you’re gonna waste their word count.

“I’m sorry for not telling you, Dad. I really I am,” [...] “I just—I need to do something, and I can’t tell you what. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” [...] Her father took a deep breath. “Everything within me is telling me to take you home with me but I know you. I trust you.”

Ain’t that fucking convenient.

Chapter 27

Time skip to the Samhain celebration. Because Callum reacting to seeing a parent and child have a heartfelt (well, supposedly) reunion would have no interesting effect on him, being an orphan and all. Gotta get to the good part!

Klara stopped. “Happy Samhain,” she said darkly, shifting the weight of the sword higher on her shoulder.

Callum looked at her, examining her face. Her lips glowed in the firelight, and in profile she looked like a Celtic warrior queen of Thomas’s tales. He tried to memorize every line of her lovely face—the strong line of her nose, the swoop of her jawline, the eyes which so often danced but now looked steady and serious.

Yeah I’m sure a lot of Celtic warrior queens looked like skinny upper middle class American YouTubers. This is so embarrassing. You’d have to pay me to write a self-insert this blatant and this girl did it for free and got (some) money for it? I’m being Jokerified.

Here’s an eyewatering exchange, and not because it’s emotional.

[...] “Do you really believe it could stop Llaw?”

Callum did not want to lie to her anymore, so he said nothing. The flames looked suddenly pale.

“Do you think anything can stop him?” she said.

“Ye can, Klara,” he said forcefully. It was the only thing he felt certain of. He put his palm over his chest and knelt to show fealty to her. “I swear it, with all my heart.”

“Oh my god, Callum.” Blushing, she grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him up to his feet. They stood chest to chest, just barely a hand’s length between them. “But—how do you know?”

“Because I believe ’tis your destiny,” he said softly. “My purpose is here, my heart is here.”

“I don’t want to be your purpose, Callum. At least not like this.” She looked up, into his eyes. “I don’t want to be the reason you get hurt, or worse.” Her eyes welled with water, glowed fervently like a candle burning low. “I want to be the reason you want to live.”

Wish I was Jared, 19. And what, do you think this is the end of the trite regurtitations of a talentless hack? Because it’s not! They dance in the light from the bonfire with all the other people there, there’s music and song and laughter and bla bla bla. Just imagine the totes emotional bonfire scene in any other piece of vaguely historical romantic media and you’ve got it. Except instead of maybe being good or fun, it’s heavily undercut by the two main characters declaring their love for each other after less than a week of knowing one another.

Instalove is a fundamentally flawed trope that takes a very skilled writer to make work.

...

I think I’ll leave it at that.

Now feast your eyes on this:

“Ye’re not going to die—”

YE’RE?! YE’RE?!

OH MY GOD.

Anyway, one moment they’re making out, the next ... a couple breaks them apart? Somehow? This also somehow knocks Callum on his ass? Bro aren’t you a bigstrong hunky Scot fighter? What’s happening?

I think I get what Sasha’s going for, that Callum loses Klara in the crowd, but they were literally making out. As in, occupying the same space. As in, holding each other tightly. You’d have to put conscious effort into breaking a couple apart like that. Granted, Sasha does try to make it work by saying a loud voice forces them to part first, but I call bull. Figure out a better way for Callum to get lost. Especially when he spots the bean-nighe right after this. Why couldn’t he just see her in the crowd and come up with an excuse to leave Klara? Whatever.

Callum runs after the bean-nighe. She’s all evil and mysterious and says some nonsense bullshit that’s supposed to mean something but won’t. Make up your own mysterious dialogue, whatever you come up with will probably fit in here because there’s no point to it anyway. Once Callum gets the strength of ten men, he runs off to find Klara, but she’s left without him. He runs off to the Ring of Brodgar, the final mystic center and sees Klara ... step ... into ... the mist? Idk.

It’s supposed to be dramatic and all, but I’m struggling with the sense of scale and distance in this thing.

Chapter 28

Klara hated this feeling.

It reminded her of visiting the pool with her family when she was young. She insisted on jumping off the tallest diving board with the big kids. With each step she took, the more frantic her heart beat, the rougher the board scraped the bottoms of her feet. At the top, the sun bore down on her from above. She wanted it to melt her on the spot.

All she had to do was get to the edge of the board and do it. Just do it.

“Can’t she just jump already?”

“Hurry up.”

“Loser.”

Oh great, is this where we find out Klara was bullied, too? This book is so fucking funny. Like a collection of a writer’s first mistakes. Klara was bullied but she has totally loving and understanding parents! She’s an awkward loner but had a boyfriend in high school and is gorgeous! She’s totally not rich but lives in a massive historic mansion and has never struggled financially in her life! Ok girl.

Klara enters the ring and takes out her Main Character Sword.

If she was going to win this fight, she would have to use her power, her wits. Her heart. There was no technical training for that. She closed her eyes, and focused on her heart—the string that had pulled her in the right direction every time before. Her gut, her intuition, her destiny, whatever it was, it would take her to what she needed to do.

The plot. Call it whatever in-universe thing you want, but functionally, that’s the plot. She may have the Main Character Sword, but she still can’t act for herself and has to wait for the writer to hold her hand.

She stabs the sword into the ground and a bunch of mist appears and is very mysterious. Not sure how it connects to the sword being stabbed into the ground, as the mist appears from the outside and in instead of pouring out of the earth, but ok. Missed an opportunity for a cool visual and some logic to Klara’s plot-demanded actions, there.

As this is going on, Klara’s narration keeps referencing Stephen King and horror movies. No, really.

The mist closed in on her and gathered around her feet. She took a step. The mist clung to her like a shadow, as if she were in a Stephen King novel.

Well, she didn’t like that. If you ended up in his books, you’d probably end up dead. Or worse, wishing you were.

[...]

There was a reason Klara hated horror movies. It was the suspense, the lead-up to a jump scare that always nearly killed her. She didn’t need to fear being murdered, because she would die of fright waiting for the killer to pop out from a closet or under the bed. Right now, she felt fear churning in the marrow of her bones.

It’s like Sasha knows that reading and enjoying other media will improve your writing, but took it to mean that you should just reference the material instead of learning from it.

Given the level of “analysis” in her book reviews, I’m not particularly surprised.

I know horror is hard to write, but maybe going “You know how scary those things are in other stories? Yeah, this is like that” is not the right way to go about it. Especially referencing movies in a book. C’mon. You’re a different medium.

Anyway, Klara finds her mom in the Otherworld.

Chapter 29

Callum is standing about when he hears a spooky howl in the distance.

Callum closed his eyes and let his senses focus. He had always been a decent tracker and patient hunter, perfecting his stillness while Thomas lazed about and sang songs, sometimes scaring a hare from its den with sheer luck.

Okay? Drop new info on us three chapters before the book ends, why don’t you?

Being a decent tracker and patient hunter doesn’t help Callum in this case, because Llaw shows up with four more scawy cweatuwes and hands Callum his entire ass. Again.

“Hellhounds,” said a familiar voice.

Callum whirled. Llaw. Smiling.

Such writing.

Alright I’ll give the guy some credit. Callum does take out the wolves before going for Llaw. But Llaw kicks his ass in the end anyway and Callum fucking croaks lmao.

He’s kind of useless for a bigstrong heartthrob Scot, isn’t he? It’d be endearing if it was intentional, now it just comes off as a bit embarrassing. All that bean-nighe angst only to get killed off almost immediately.

Now that I think about it, a lot of this book is characters worrying about shit that doesn’t end up mattering in the end or is resolved super quickly.

Moving on.

Chapter 30

So I won’t go too hard on the reunion of Klara and her mother because it reads pretty okay and feels disctinctly like a more genuine and less self-indulgent personal touch from Sasha. The need to connect with a dead loved one and get some closure is very human and I won’t harp on a person including that in their novel for some personal catharsis. That’s what art is for, after all.

However, everything after their heartfelt reunion and once Arianrhod crashes the scene? Free real estate, baybeeee.

Arianrhod explains that Llaw can’t enter here, aka the Otherworld. We knew this already, yet Klara reacts with surprise and relief. Then ...

Klara remembered Llaw’s speech. He talked about ushering a new age of gods and men, which she had scoffed at and dismissed. He yearned for a world that gave him power, though he didn’t deserve it. Not anymore, at least.

But the power had existed, Klara realized—it existed here, where she stood, in the Otherworld.

“That’s what he wants.” Klara shifted on her feet, growing eager as understanding dawned on her. She felt her mother’s protective presence next to her. It kept her bold. Safe. “He wants to walk among the gods as an equal—”

Y-yeah? I ...? Yeah?

I’m sorry, am I being gaslit again? How is understanding dawning on you when you’re repeating information that has been explicitly stated to your face multiple times at this point?

This book is a fucking fever dream what the hell.

Arianrhod says that Klara is safe here but that time is stagnant, and if she stays, decades will have passed by the time she returns. Meaning she can’t camp here and wait for Llaw to croak on his own time unless she wants all her loved ones to die, too.

Klara says that she came here in order “unlock her powers” and asks if Arianrhod can help with that.

“I am the Silver Wheel. The goddess of life, death, rebirth, with a throne in the stars.” Arianrhod stared at Klara. “It seems like there is something in you that needs to be born.”

Relief, along with fear, washed over Klara. She was pretty sure that was goddess for yes.

Well, I’m glad Klara could make sense of that, because it’s pure nonsense to me. It probably was nonsense, too, because Arianrhod does and says nothing else after this lol.

Her mom embraced her. “Sometimes I get really annoyed with myself for doing such a good job raising you,” she whispered [...]

Yeah, ya didn’t.

Her mother’s hands gripped her. They radiated warmth; the warmth spread through her veins, then grew hot—but this was not pain. Not at all. It was renewal.

The fire spread through her, washing her body clean of what was, replacing it with what is. And yet somehow, at the same time, it was only revealing what had always been.

For her whole life, she had been one of billions. But her true self—her secret—was hidden within. In that moment, Klara could see herself suspended in the space between worlds, hair blazing around her like a halo of fire. The dormant power fully awake, no longer buried and forgotten.

I’m so glad this wealthy, pretty cishet white girl finally feels as special as she thinks she deserves to be. Confirmed by a goddess, no less.

And she didn’t have to do anything to get there, either. It was just bestowed upon her by a higher power. Lifted above others by chance rather than merit or effort.

I guess Klara truly is a self-insert, isn’t she, Sasha?

You know what’s funny, though? This whole book was about Klara and Callum going to mystic centers to try to unlock Klara’s powers, which they sort of did, right? But in the end, all it actually took was asking Arianrhod to do it. There was no final trial or test, no character development to justify this power-up. Arianrhod didn’t even say anything about Klara finally reaching her potential or proving that she deserved to have her powers unlock. Even Klara’s little epic inner monologue comes after Arianrhod gave her the go-ahead. It’s a little sad, really. She didn’t do anything herself. Even her supposed specialness is only there because a goddess gave it to her for no apparent reason. And once again, it shows how much of this was a waste of the reader’s time. If all Klara actually had to do was ask Arianrhod for help, why did we bother watching her prance around Scotland with her boytoy?

Klara yeets herself back to the real world just in time for Callum’s dead ass to land at her feet. It’s very funny, but I don’t think it’s supposed to be.

Chapter 31

Klara collapsed over him, as if her body could shield him from the injuries that had already riddled his body. She placed a hand along his damp cheek, she could see the clammy beads of blood masking his face.

“I didnae imagine death would have such a sweet embrace.” He murmured from his bloodstained lips.

Oh god, kill him faster before he says more cringe shit!

It was then, at the final moments, that she realized, he was it for her. He was the man she loved.

And now he was gone.

[...]

She wanted to pinch herself and wake up from this nightmare, but she knew that this—this devastating, irreparable moment—was her reality. Nothing she could do would change it. It didn’t matter if she had a goddess’s blood running through her veins. She was alone, with a power she didn’t understand and the boy she...loved...dead.

So anyone else kinda rooting for Llaw? Hear me out. He’s evil, but he’s hot. And he wants to kill Klara and already killed Callum. That’s pretty sexy of him, I think. Sasha just hates to see a girlboss winning so that’s why he’s the antagonist.

Klara gets the random idea to try to summon Cernunnos because he said something about how he’s always there for her.

But instead, Llaw just ... materializes in front of her and shoves her to the ground with his boot? I genuinely don’t know, it’s so awkwardly written, especially when he says nothing and Klara barely reacts and instead seems to focus more on Callum. Either way, she’s on the ground next to Callum’s busted-ass corpse and with Llaw’s foot on her chest. That’s all you need to know.

The shadow of the waning eclipse acted like an extension of [Llaw’s] darkness. He tipped his head down to look at her. To her surprise, he did not look angry, nor did he glare at her with hatred. Instead, he smiled, as if bemused by the very sight of her. A slick of white hair fanned down to his shoulders. Behind him, the shadows seemed to darken, as if a mass of monstrous beasts waited just out of sight. The hem of his cloak swirled around her in waves.

Days ago, she might have said he looked godlike—but she would have been wrong.

He looked tired. His eyes were ringed with darkness, as if he had not slept in days. A shudder passed through her. How long had he walked the earth? Hundreds of years? Thousands?

His unkempt appearance gave her a sliver of hope. [...]

Me too, honestly. I think I could fix him.

Klara gets a power surge and throws Llaw off. He lands on the ground on the other side of Callum’s busted and borked Scottish remains.

The eclipse was almost total, as if a symbolic reference to Callum’s life. She wished it were not; the thought ruptured her soul.

Yeah, totally makes sense for her to be thinking this. Love how Sasha just states it’s symbolism instead of using symbolism. Chef’s kiss, truly.

And ruptured her soul? Really? Okay.

They exchange some “middle schoolers hopped up on shonen anime” type dialogue. Check a look.

“You find this funny?” [...]

[...] “A little girl, thinking she knows how to wield the strength of a god? If not comical, then it’s just pitiful.”

[...]

“You are pathetic,” she said. “Honestly, I almost feel sorry for you.”

“And why is that?” he said.

[...]

“Because I know what you want, Llaw, and you’ll never get it,” she taunted. “All of the lives you stole will have meant nothing. They’ll have died for nothing.”

“You know nothing, child,” he said. “Enough games.”

Klara scoffed. “That’s rich, coming from you .”

“Your blood belongs to me,” Llaw said.

[...]

“You can’t have it!” she cried.

Truly some “mom said it’s my turn on the xbox” shit.

Klara taunts him that she was welcomed into the Otherworld, unlike him who can’t go in there because his presence “has no weight in the hearts of the dead or the eternal.” I’m confused. So is Klara able to go in there because of her super special blood, or her mother wanting to see her? This doesn’t make any sense.

Anyway, Klara chops Llaw’s hand off. He’s like “omg what” but then is all like “whatever, man” and tells her it’s not over yet before stabbing her sword into himself. It’s unclear whether he dies or not, I assume not because of his threat before, but either way, light bursts out again and Klara is yanked through time and space.

Chapter Epilogue

Klara lands in Rosemere, in the same spot where Thomas got shanked. Except Thomas is still alive, his wound wrapped in bandages.

She knew only a few things to be true in this moment, in her current reality.

Thomas was alive.

Callum was dead.

And somehow she had ended up five hundred years in the past without any clue how to get back home.

She’s a literal time traveller and doesn’t know how to get back home? Huh?

Yeah I ... don’t know, y’all. Nothing means anything.

Multiple reviewers complained about the random cliffhanger and I have to agree. It’s not even bad, it’s just ... confusing? Perplexing? Not even exciting, it feels like a non sequitur, like Sasha pulled it from her ass last minute.

Most importantly: Do we think this will get a sequel? Or has Sasha's pride been wounded by the paltry and mostly negative reception? I suppose only the sales will tell, and I have no way of checking those.

I’m conflicted. I don’t want there to be a sequel, because Sasha needs to learn how to write before trying to publish again and that’s clearly gonna take the better part of a century if this is what 6 years of work looks like. Buuuuut I also need to read the rest of this trainwreck.

Guess we’ll see!

Acknowledgements

I’m not gonna critique these, obviously, but her editor’s name is Kate Sullivan. Just uh ... putting it out there. For reasons.

As for my acknowledgements: Thank you everyone for your patience while life happened and I scraped together the time to write these. I hope you enjoyed this journey, and may we have many more in the future! I’ll be posting a review of this novel later, which will mostly be based on these posts, so that’s something to either ignore or look out for.

Thanks for reading!

[clusterclump]

i would like to talk about Another queer zack martin ship i have and that would be zack x bailey (hear me out.)

so going all the way back to the start of the show, when bailey is undercover as a boy, she rooms with zack! and of course, he inevitably finds out- but he keeps it a secret, remember?

'please tell me the explanation is that you're a girl, because- strangely attracted to you right now.'

'don't worry. it'll be our little secret.'

'we figured, opposites attract.'

'here, lemme show you how to do it.'

now, i will wholeheartedly admit that i prefer zack over cody- and cody and bailey's relationship was never that interesting to me. but zack and bailey seems like an inherently queer pairing. regardless of whether zack is actually queer, had bailey maintained her cover for longer, they would've been seen as queer by others. and sure, back when suite life on deck had just started airing, there were definitely some bigoted jokes made. but giving zack the benefit of the doubt (especially knowing how well dylan got along with the rest of the cast/how sweet he was and how beloved he was in return), i can absolutely see him being completely fine with people thinking he's queer.

however. this post isn't talking about a cishet relationship that is misinterpreted as queer.

it is truly mind blowing to me that nobody seems to headcanon bailey as transmasc.

they gave us the perfect set up for it- a 'girl' from a small town in the middle of nowhere (likely conservative) sneaks past his parents and secretly registers as a boy. it's canon that bailey partook in boys' sports and, while she is undeniably feminine throughout the show (and in no way am i attempting to make her out to be canonically transmasc- she was such a girlboss icon for me growing up), she does also have closer interests to the boys.

at the end of the day, there isn't really any backing i have as to why i see her as transmasc in my headcanons, it's really just that she is in such a perfect position for the headcanon to fit in closely with canon. think haruhi fujioka from ouran highschool host club- same deal.

what i love about this headcanon specifically is that it can be used in so many different ways- does bailey already know he identifies more masculinely by the start of the show, and is that why he signed up for the boys' dorms? or was it truly just a ruse at first, until he slowly comes to the realisation that it felt less like putting a mask on but rather taking it off?

what if zack gives bailey his first, utterly terrible haircut? even if you go with the route of bailey still thinking he's just pretending to be a guy, he'd have to get a haircut at some point to keep it believable, right?

and i just know that london would be funding things like binders once she finds out. maybe zack would go to london, ask for some money, and when she refuses, he tells her what it's for- but not who it's for? london thinking zack is trans and thinking nothing of it would eventually give bailey the courage to tell her the truth. sure, she’s a little selfish- but if anything, it’d benefit her too. as long as she helps ensure bailey passes as a boy, she’d get to keep her room to herself! even canonically i always figured london would help fund bailey’s ‘disguise’ if she found out.

and zack, my sweet boy. zack has always, always been mlm to me- with the whole max situation and everything, he's just never had a straight bone in his body. he can be gay, mspec, any form of mlm would work with this headcanon. he's already seen as a delinquent, definitely has adhd or another form of neurodiversity- he'd take being openly queer in stride. or maybe bailey's already terrified of being outed as trans, he doesn't want to risk raising suspicion by being seen as mlm either? or they start dating while bailey still thinks he identifies as a girl, and sees the way cody reacts to them and decides to pretend they aren't dating to protect zack?

i could ramble on and on about how dear my beloved ship is to me. queer boarding school ships will always hit different.

all the zack martin (suite life) max russo (wizards of waverly place) ‘competitions’ were literally just dates. they’re fruity. VERY fruity. zack martin is so fucking bisexual and max is very gay ty for coming to my ted talk

[twentytanya]

If The Sky Is Pink And White | Tangel

Date: Late April 2024 Featuring: @angel-milano Warnings: Discussion of death and neglect/abuse

Tanya tells Angel the truth, and Angel tells Tanya a truth of her own.

TANYA

Tanya had wrestled with this for a long time. Maybe it would be better not to tell Angel. Maybe she could find out from other people what had happened to Tanya after the fact, and that would be fine.

But Tanya knew the heart of every ghost story was the same: it was about taking care of unfinished business. And leaving Angel in the dark would mean leaving unfinished business. They hadn’t known each other for very long, but Tanya had very quickly grown attached to the other girl, and it just seemed wrong not to have closure. So she was doing this. Even if it was hard, and Tanya couldn’t really know how Angel would react.

They were hanging out, doing their usual loiter-about-town, when Tanya stopped in the park. “Angel, uh… can I talk to you about something? It’s, uh, kind of important.”

ANGEL

It had been awhile since Angel had gotten close to anyone like she had Tanya. Then again, it had been awhile since she stayed in any one place for so long. While it seemed like all leads on her father had dried up, she didn’t yet feel the need to fly the coop and start over somewhere else. Maybe because there were things worth staying for in Swynlake.

When they stopped at the park, Angel sat on a bench, letting her hair down and running her fingers through it. She glanced up when Tanya spoke before a smirk tugged across her face. “What, did someone die or something?” She joked. It wasn’t a very good joke, and probably in poor taste, but she wasn’t exactly the best at being a comforting shoulder to cry on. If it really was that bad, then Angel was not the person you wanted to go to.

TANYA

Tanya actually snorted at that. Which was not the right response. It wasn’t funny. Okay, it was a little funny. She just felt bad because Angel didn’t know why yet, and she didn’t want to freak her out.

“Sorry, uh- sorry. It’ll make sense in a moment,” Tanya said quickly, sobering again. “Uh, I think we should sit down. Sorry- I’m really not trying to scare you. I just…”

She sat down on a bench and turned to Angel. “I’m going to tell you something, and it’s probably going to sound kind of mad, and I just need you to… stick with me, okay? Don’t freak out. And… please don’t tell anyone.”

ANGEL

Angel smirked at Tanya's snort. Okay, so they were joking about something. Good. She wouldn't have to deal with the heavy stuff.

Or? It didn't take long for Tanya's mood to go down again, which really grabbed her attention. This was not the kind of vibe they usually went for. And there was nothing like "I'm not trying to scare you" to scare someone.

She didn't let herself show that, though. Instead, she put on a bit of a put off look and went to tie her hair back up in a messy bun. "Yeah, uh. Okay." With that, the two of them found a bench to sit on. Tanya continued to preface this whole thing in a way that made her stomach drop.

"Alright, can you just spit it out already? All this lead up is just making it worse." She didn't mean for it to come out so harsh but again, this was not her forte. 

TANYA

“Sorry,” Tanya sighed, well aware that dragging this out was doing exactly that. She wanted this part of the conversation over with too. But it never seemed to get any easier, no matter how many times she did it with different people.

She took a deep breath and turned to face Angel. “So. Do you know what a revenant is?” she asked, trying to sound very calm and matter-of-fact but already bracing herself for whatever Angel’s reaction could be.

ANGEL

Angel wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting, but it certainly hadn’t been that. Her brow furrowed in confusion as her eyes flickered away before looking back. “You mean, like, the movie…?” She asked, incredulously. She was almost positive that wasn’t what Tanya meant, but it was all she could think of.

TANYA

Now Tanya was confused. “What movie?”

True, Tanya had been around when the Leo DiCaprio project had hit theaters, but the twenty-two years between her death and her final year of Swynlake Secondary were honestly pretty blurry. Everything faded eventually— Tanya knew that if she stuck around Swynlake long enough, even her memories here would fade. That was part of the reason she knew it was time

She shook her head. “Never mind. I don’t know what happens in that movie, but revenants are basically a specific kind of ghost. There’s, like, complicated magic stuff that makes them difference, but the main thing is that they manifest really powerfully, so you usually can’t tell they’re even dead.” 

She looked at Angel uncertainly, trying to get a sense of whether she was getting it yet. 

ANGEL

"It was some movie with Leonardo DiCaprio," she said, though she honestly couldn't remember much more than that. She'd watched it with some guy whose couch she was crashing on, though they didn't "watch" the movie for long.

But it didn't matter. As Tanya began to explain about ghosts, Angel's eyes narrowed a bit, her brow knitting in confusion. "Okay...?"

It didn't take long for the pieces to start connecting. "Is that...what you are? Is that what you're saying?"

TANYA

People always had different reactions. Maybe that was why it never really got easier, telling people— you never knew exactly what they were going to say, or how they were going to feel about it. Just because someone was a good friend or a good person did not mean they handled supernatural shit well. So Tanya braced herself before she nodded and said, “Uh, yeah, basically.”

Angel’s expression was hard to read. So Tanya started rambling. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I don’t usually tell people, because it freaks them out- like, rightfully so- and sometimes they want to, like, try and banish me ‘cause they don’t think ghosts should stick around. Not that I got that vibe from you, but it’s like, you have to be careful who you tell. But, um, I kind of needed to tell you now, before…” 

She gulped. Oops. She hadn’t meant to start that part of the conversation. But maybe it was better to rip the Band-Aid off. “Before I go.”

ANGEL

At first, Angel was sure this was some kind of joke. She was sure that Tanya was about to assign her some kind of supernatural creature to be for their next escapade, since the whole college shtick never really fully took off. But as she began to ramble with that worried expression on her face, Angel sat up a little straighter.

Wait, was she being serious?

Angel opened her mouth to say something, and then closed it. Then opened it again. Go?? The words caught in her throat, and she had to swallow them back down.

For a lengthy, tense moment, she said nothing, her expression still unreadable. Finally, she began to nod slowly. "...Okay. That's, ah...a lot. Do you like, have ghost powers and shit, then?" She decided proving this aspect of reality would be a good place to start, mostly so she wouldn't have to face the other end of it.

TANYA

For a moment, Tanya couldn’t be sure that Angel believed her. It was a pretty crazy thing to say. Tanya wouldn’t blame her if Angel didn’t believe her. But from that long pause, from that unreadable look on her face, Tanya was pretty sure she had gotten the point across.

“Um, no, not really. Other than the, uh, thing where I’m already dead, so I can’t die again,” Tanya said, hoping the bluntness of the statement would make it all seem a little less far-fetched. “You, uh, believe me, right? I know it’s a lot. Like you said. But I wouldn’t make this shit up.” 

Tanya hoped so. There were ways to prove it, of course, all Tanya had to do was dig up some old news articles. But she really did want Angel to believe her. 

ANGEL

Did Angel believe her? She had been told some pretty ridiculous lies in the process of being abandoned. She’d come up with some gnarly lies doing the same. This was definitely up there, though. But in this Magick-friendly town, it wasn’t even the weirdest thing she’d experienced so far.

“It’s pretty wild, not gonna lie,” she finally said, not confirming her belief nor denying it either. Still dancing around the true matter of the conversation, she instead asked, “So like. Hoooow? Did you die? And when?” 

TANYA

That question actually momentarily stunned Tanya. People didn’t usually ask so directly. It was kind of an unspoken rule amongst the undead: you didn’t ask people how they died because the answer was usually pretty dark. But, then again, that was something Tanya had always liked about Angel. She was straightforward. And she wasn’t afraid of the dark.

She exhaled and laughed nervously. “Just going right for it, huh?” Tanya joked. She didn’t want Angel to think this was, like, a big deal. Even though it totally was. “Uh… yeah, so, basically, I used to be a sorcerer. Fire specialty, to be exact. And I was doing a spell on a roof, and I fucked it up, and, uh, yeah. Boom.” Her voice cracked, just a little bit, and she swallowed hard. “It was about twentyish years ago, give or take. Honestly, a lot of what happened between then and now is really fuzzy. I don’t really get to keep most of my memories in the afterlife for all that long. That’s part of why I think it’s probably time for me to, uh, move on. I don’t want to start forgetting things about Swynlake.”

It was just one part of it, but it was an important part of it. Tanya used to think it was a rare blessing of being dead, that she didn’t have to remember the worst parts of her afterlife. But being in Swynlake had changed her mind.

ANGEL

Angel's eyebrows and hackles raised when Tanya revealed that she'd been a sorcerer. It was instinctual at this point--logically, she knew that not all sorcerers were "like that", but it still was disconcerting every time she came face to face with one. Did she still have her powers all this time and Angel didn't know? Did Tanya always have this secret leg up on her that she could use at any moment--

It was when Tanya's voice cracked that she was drawn out of her paranoid spiral. It was the first time either of them had shared that kind of emotion, instead of smothering it under dozens of layers of sarcasm and irony. That was when Angel knew this was real. And none of that other shit mattered.

"...Shit. Wow. Uhm," her throat grew dry. She was running out of detours to take avoiding the inevitable. So, she skirted around the edge. "So like. "Moving on", what does that...mean?" She asked, though pretended to be too focused on braiding her hair to look at Tanya directly.

TANYA

Tanya noticed the alarmed look on Angel’s face, but it could have been for any number of reasons. She didn’t suspect it was because Angel thought she still had her powers or anything. She figured it was just because the story was, uh, kind of gruesome.Or maybe it was because she didn’t know about that ghostly memories thing.

Angel’s question, though… that was hard to explain. Tanya felt like she understood it, but she didn’t quite know how to make it translate for mortals. Because it wasn’t like dying. Tanya was already dead. It was… something else. 

“It’s kind of like- well, the thing about ghosts is, like, they’re dead, right? But not in the same way most dead people are dead. Like, when most people are dead, they don’t become ghosts, they just go on to… well, whatever you believe happens after you die, I guess. Heaven, or purgatory, or reincarnation, or, like, nothing. But ghosts get stuck in between. So… I’m getting myself unstuck, sort of. Does that make any sense? It’s okay if it doesn’t.”

ANGEL

"No, I get it," Angel insisted. At least, she was pretty sure she did. It wasn't all that different from living. Once you decided it was time to move on, you just went. You didn't always know where you were going to end up until you were there. And no one knew where you end up when you die. It's not like anyone could come back to tell you.

But there was a difference, wasn't there? When you're alive and move to someplace new, it was your choice. Was this Tanya's choice? If so, why?

'Why are you leaving me?'

A twinge of disgust soured in the back of her throat as the thought crossed her mind. Fucking stupid. This happened every time. She got close to someone, and then they'd leave. But they didn't owe Angel to stay, just like she didn't owe the countless people she'd left first. They didn't even know each other all that long, and their friendship was built on an endless series of lies and falsehoods. It was nothing. This was nothing.

Then why was a lump forming in her throat?

She quickly swallowed it down and rolled her neck, letting some of her long hair fall into her face to hide her expression. "So uhm," her voice wavered just a twinge and she cleared her throat aggressively. "Do you just get to like, go whenever you want? How do you uh..."unstick"?"

TANYA

Tanya knew what Angel was doing. Avoiding meeting her eyes. Asking all these practical questions. She was trying not to freak out, like Tanya had asked her not to. But it was kind of a freaky thing. Tanya couldn’t really blame her for her reaction.

“Uh- basically, yeah, I guess. The whole reason I was stuck was because I was really scared of it, you know? Like… the unknown of it and all. I was holding onto this afterlife thing really tightly because it was the thing I knew. But I’m not that scared anymore. And I think whatever’s next, I think it’ll be worth it. I just want to take care of some stuff first, and then… yeah. I’ll go.”

She paused. Tanya didn’t actually know Angel that well. If they’d had more time together, maybe they would have been really good friends. But Tanya still considered her a friend, and she wanted to check in.

“Are you okay? I know this is, like, a lot.”

ANGEL

"Yeah, I'm fine," Angel said too quickly, too aggressively. She forced a jaded smile to keep her expression from betraying her. "I'm jealous, actually. Wish I could just fuck off like that."

She knew it was wrong the moment it left her mouth. It was just how she did things. Push people away at the last second so that no one could see her at her most vulnerable. But what good was it to do that with Tanya? She was moving the fuck on with her life--literally. She wasn't going to remember Angel as a cool girl or a bitch or anything. And she didn't have to tell her any of this. She could've just moved on and Angel wouldn't have known. Tanya was trying to do the right thing and she was repaying it by throwing it back in her face.

"Fuck-- I'm sorry," she blurted out. "I just-- yeah, it is a lot. And I don't know what I'm supposed to say. Like, congratulations? I'm happy for you?" That felt a little more right, so she leaned into it. "I am. That kind of sureity, like, knowing you're ready and being ready...I can't imagine what that feels like. I don't know fucking shit."

There was a heavy pause before she took a deep breath. "I appreciate you telling me. You don't owe me shit so the fact that you cared enough to say anything is...more than a lot of other people ever gave me. So...thanks." Building up as much courage as she could, she tilted her head and peeked at Tanya through a gap in her curtained hair, offering the barest smile.

TANYA

A year ago, that would have really pissed Tanya off. Jealous of a dead girl? No way she was. No way she understood how much it sucked. Mortals never appreciated what they had and all that-

And Tanya knew that would have pissed her off because Gem used to say shit like that. And they would fight about it. She wondered if Angel knew Gem. They had a lot in common, actually, Tanya thought.

Anyway, that wasn’t the point— the point was that a lot had changed since then. Tanya had accepted that this was the hand she’d been dealt, that this was how things had turned out for her and she couldn’t change the past. It didn’t make it fair, but being bitter and angry and only ever made things worse for her.

So now it just made her kind of sad. But in the same way that Tanya believed that Gem would come to appreciate what he had someday, that he would come to really love this life— so would Angel.

She had to appreciate, too, what Angel was saying. Because that part didn’t remind her of Gem, necessarily— it reminded Tanya of herself. How hard it was to express when you cared about people. When you considered them one of your friends. It had taken over a year of friendship with Mim even to admit that. So Tanya thought Angel was doing okay, all things considered. 

“It’s okay. You don’t have to apologize. That’s why I asked. I know it’s a lot,” Tanya said, returning the smile. “And… look, for what it’s worth… the reason I’m doing this isn’t because I want to fuck off. It’s not because I don’t want to live. It’s because these past couple of years have taught me just how much I miss it, life. How much I love it. And I don’t know what happens next, but I feel like it’s my best shot at something like it. That’s not guaranteed, I mean, it’s like I said– nobody really knows what comes after this. But I really want to believe it’s something like life. Or maybe something even better. So… I actually really don’t know shit. But that’s okay. That’s… kind of the whole point, I guess.”

ANGEL

Well, she wasn't yelling at her, or telling her to fuck off, so maybe she didn't fuck things up--for once. Of course the first time would be with someone who was about to disappear forever.

She listened to what she had to say and nodded along. "Yeah, I...I think I get it." At least, as much as someone who had never experienced anything remotely similar could get it. At the very least, she "got" that Tanya sounded sure about this, sincerely. That kind of sincerity was something that Angel couldn't even fake.

A silence hung in the air for a bit before she spoke. "Hey, you want to know something wild? You're a ghost...I'm a werewolf."

TANYA

Tanya raised her eyebrows in kind of an amused way, as though maybe Angel was making a joke. But she wasn’t. 

Well, shit.

Obviously, it didn’t matter. There had been a time when Tanya had been afraid of werewolves, but you kind of gained a new perspective on “scary” Magicks when you became one. It was actually kind of nice to know, now that Tanya thought about it. Obviously, their experiences were not the same, but they weren’t completely different, right? They’d both had secrets. Maybe that was part of the reason they’d been drawn to one another in the first place. Because on some level, they both kind of understood that. 

She smiled. “Well, look at us, huh? Couple of Halloween asses,” she joked. Then Tanya got a bit more serious. “No, but, uh, that’s cool. I mean, I dunno if it’s cool, I know people feel differently about that stuff, but what I mean is, like, we’re cool. I won’t tell anyone or anything, don’t worry. Is it, uh, is it a new thing?” 

ANGEL

"I know, right?" She snorted and smirked at the Halloween comment. That was probably the best way Tanya could've reacted. Then again, she didn't really have anything to be scared of, right? It's not like Angel could bite her and bring her back to life, right?

...

Right, no, that would be stupid. She didn't suggest it. She was grateful that Tanya took it so well. She wasn't really worried about her telling anyone because why would she? Even worsties wouldn't do that.

She shook her head. "No, I was born this way. My dad was a werewolf, but he left before I was born. And my mom, uh...couldn't handle it," she said carefully. "So I grew up in the foster care system. It fucking sucked, and eventually they just handed me over to a sorcerer who drugged me with wolfsbane for the entirety of my adolescent life. I ran away, and have been pretty much been hopping place to place since."

She didn't know why she was explaining this. She hadn't told anyone in so long. And the secrets kept spilling out, those she hadn't yet told anyone. "That's why I came to Swynlake. I heard my dad might be here. But I haven't found shit. I don't even know what I'd do if I found him. I feel like I might just kill him."

"I don't know what I'm still doing here," she admitted before it fell silent. In the quiet, her mind caught up with her mouth and she felt shame begin to rise. "Fuck. Sorry, didn't mean to trauma dump on you."

TANYA

It didn’t really feel like trauma-dumping to Tanya. Well, it was traumatic for sure, but it wasn’t like Angel was a stranger, and it wasn’t like Tanya hadn’t kind of teed her up for that. Mostly, Tanya was just kind of surprised that Angel was telling her all of this, considering how private she seemed about most things.

Maybe it was some kind of response to finding out Tanya was leaving or something. It wasn’t like Tanya could tell anyone after she was gone. Or maybe she felt like she could talk about it now that Tanya was being so honest. It was probably a combination of things, Tanya reflected.

“It’s okay. It helps to talk about it sometimes,” Tanya suggested. She paused and took a deep breath before answering. “I… that’s shit, Angel, I’m really sorry. I mean, you didn’t deserve all that. No one does, especially not when you’re a kid. And I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to kill him, honestly, for leaving you like that. But there’s gotta be other reasons to stick around here, right?”

ANGEL

Angel felt like kicking herself. Here Tanya was telling her that she didn't deserve it and all that comforting bullshit that felt completely alien to her. She didn't need comfort, she needed-- what? Revenge? Maybe. But the comfort made her feel weak, as if she hadn't been strong enough to endure it. 

But she knew that isn't what Tanya meant. This was how normal humans spoke to each other, or at least were supposed to. She knew she meant well. So even though it made her skin crawl and her wolf pace around uncertainly, she just accepted it with a nod. She couldn't bring herself to say anything, though.

The last question caught her off guard. She glanced to Tanya, brow furrowing. "...Is there? I mean, you're not."

TANYA

Well, Tanya couldn’t deny that. She’d just told Angel she was leaving. But it was different, wasn’t it? It felt different. Because Tanya could have made a choice a long time ago to run from Swynlake when things started getting too real. The fact that she hadn’t felt important, even if the story was ending this way.

“...It’s not because I don’t want to be here,” Tanya said heavily, fiddling with her sweatshirt sleeve. “If it was, I would’ve done it a long time ago. I hated this place when I first got here. And I came really close to running off a few times, because people found out my secret or just because I started actually giving a fuck about people here and that scared me. But I stayed anyway, and… well, I’m actually really glad I did. I’m leaving now because I love the afterlife I created here, and I know that it’s time. I know that probably doesn’t make any sense, but… I dunno.”

She looked at Angel. “I can’t tell you what to do, Angel. You’ve got to figure that out for yourself. But I will say that my friends here— and yeah, it took me a long-ass time to admit they were my friends— they’re good people, and they’re not perfect, but they’re good, and I think you should talk to them after I’m gone. That’s all.”

Angel:

Angel looked up at Tanya as she spoke. Because in the end, she didn't get it. She was happy here and that meant it was time to leave? How did that work? Was it even possible for ghosts to go anywhere else or were you stuck in one place with the after-afterlife being your only escape?

But there were other things that she connected with deeply. The feeling of wanting to run away when you started to give a fuck about people--she'd done that more than a few times. Maybe that's part of why she was considering leaving now. Would this place just remind her of the first friend she'd made in how long?

Then Tanya mentioned her friends, and how she should talk to them after. Mim was the only one she had met, but there were others that she had mentioned before too. "How are...they handling all this?"

TANYA 

Tanya shrugged. She didn’t know, honestly, how to assess anyone’s response— but she understood maybe it would be helpful to Angel to know. 

“I mean, it’s complicated for everyone,” Tanya admitted. “I think it’s a little easier that some of them already knew I was a ghost. But there’s some people, like you, that I had to explain all of it at once. I wish I didn’t. I wish you had more time to process the ghost thing first.”

That was something she regretted, but there wasn’t much she could do about it now. There was no easy way to go about this, after all. 

“But yeah, I guess there isn’t much of a right way to handle this. All I can really ask is that people support me. And… well, there’s one more thing I’m asking people. If that’s okay.” 

ANGEL

Angel nodded small. Yeah, there were people out there who knew Tanya was a ghost. She couldn't help but wonder, would she have ever told her, if their friendship had lasted long enough? Then again, would Angel have revealed her secret?

In the end, there was no point dwelling on it. Instead she sighed but smirked. "It's fine. I'm sure I would've been really excited to come up with a storyline where Danielle kills Ta-bitch-a who then spends her afterlife haunting her." The least she could do was bring some levity to the situation. "You know, maybe I should pursue a career writing for the CW. Think I'd be good at it. I'll give you co-writing credit, obvi."

Her smarmy expression dropped a bit when Tanya asked for one more thing. "...What is it?"

TANYA

Tanya laughed. This was one of the things she liked about Angel. She was funny, and she knew the value of a well-placed joke when things got a little intense. Once again, Tanya wished she had more time with her. But she just had to hope that would work out for Angel, whether it was a joke or not, whatever she wanted to do.

“Uh, do you know what a zine is?” Tanya asked, then decided just to explain it anyway. A lot of people her age didn’t. “It’s basically, like, a homemade version of a magazine, but with less celebrities and more, like, cool shit. Like art, and music, and photos and collages and stuff. I used to be really into making them when I was alive, and I wanted to make one to leave here after I go. I’m asking all my friends and stuff to put something in it. Would… you wanna be a part of that?” 

ANGEL

"Uh, yeah, I know what a zine is," she replied incredulously. It was basically her main form of entertainment while she was out on the streets. Most of the time they were free and always about the most niche topics you could find. But why would Tanya know that about her? There was so much they didn't know about each other--so much they didn't get the chance to. It brought an uncomfortable heaviness to her chest, but she quickly tried to move past it. She wasn't going to bring the mood down.

"Yeah, that sounds cool," she replied with a smile. "What's going to happen afterward? Are we all going to get one, or is it going to be a Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants type situation?"

TANYA

That reference was lost on Tanya, so she gave Angel a brief quizzical look before she decided just to move on with it. Probably not important. They didn’t have a lot of time. And Tanya knew what Angel meant, anyway.

“Oh, I was just gonna keep it in the library at the Inn. Seems like a pretty fitting place to put a ghost zine,” she explained, still not fully used to Angel knowing about her, though it had quickly become surprisingly easy to talk about. “I figured that way people can go look at it whenever they want. And then it sort of belongs to everyone.”

ANGEL

Angel's expression dropped slightly at the mention of the Inn. "Right, yeah," she replied, a bit far off. Should she tell Tanya about her experience? She'd gone out of her way to offer her a job--maybe even the position she was leaving behind.

Well, why not. "So, about the Inn. I connected with the manager--at speed dating by the way, she's super cute but I don't think she was into me--anyway, we set up a time for an interview but when I went there...the place reeked of vampires. And lots of other Magicks too, but mostly vampires. So I didn't think I'd be a real "welcome" employee and I just...didn't show up. I hope that didn't make you look bad or anything--for referring me."

TANYA

Oh, right. Tanya had forgotten about the whole werewolf-vampire thing. Well, she did know about it, but it wasn’t the first thing she’d thought of when Angel told her she was a vampire. Tanya’s face fell.

“Oh, no, that’s okay- I really don’t care, Snow and I are friends, so she wouldn’t hold anything like that against me. But…” Tanya looked up at Angel again. “Would that make it hard for you to go look at the zine? If you don’t like being at the Inn? Sorry, I didn’t even think of that…”

ANGEL

Angel shrugged. "Nah, it'll be fine. I actually live next door to a vampire so I have to deal with the smell a lot. I just didn't want to have to smell it at home and at work, you know what I mean? But if it's just for a visit, then yeah. Honestly, I'd be more worried about offending the hoity toity vampire customers than me."

A silence fell over them, a natural end to the conversation. Angel wondered if there was more she should say, before it was too late. But what else was there to address?

Probably the weight that still continued to pull inside her, threatening to drag her down. She put everything she could into ignoring it. While Tanya was here, in front of her, she didn't want to let any more vulnerability slip out than there already was. For their final moments together, she'd remain the cool girl, the chill friend who was totally whatever about their friend dying.

After all, she would have all the time in the world to fall apart after she was gone.

Finally, she rolled her shoulders and stood up from the bench. "Come on, let's go to campus and grab a snack," she offered, their first meeting grounds to be the final resting place of their relationship. She held out a hand and grinned. "We gotta come up with the brilliantly tragic way that Tabitha goes out."

TANYA

Tanya grinned. She knew this couldn’t be easy for Angel. Even to other Magicks, ghost shit was hard. That was something Tanya had learned over these past few weeks— over these past twenty-five years, too, though that past was distant and hazy now. She could tell Angel was just being strong for her. And for once, that didn’t embarrass Tanya or make her feel bad. It just made her feel lucky to have such good friends.

She took Angel’s hand and followed her. “Space shuttle malfunction. She was going to be the first heiress on Mars,” Tanya decided. “Unless you can think of a better one!”

And they were back in the game, back in their familiar rhythm. And Tanya wouldn’t have it any other way. This was how Tanya wanted Angel to remember her: laughing, making fun of people, being a stupid kid, not an angsty ghost. Because reminders of that were everywhere. But this, this thing they had? Much more rare and special.

[boldlyvoid]

Wheels Up

Characters: Spencer Reid, Reader (Y/N), Aaron Hotchner, David Rossi, Derek Morgan, Savannah Hayes, Emily Prentiss, Elle Greenaway, Tara Lewis, Jennifer Jareau, Matt Simmons, Luke Alvez

Summary: JJ goes on maternity leave, Spencer falls in love with her replacement that he's supposed to be mentoring, Emily Prentiss and Elle Greenaway work a case together that brings Simmons and Alvez in for help...

Warnings: Genius!Reader, mutual pining, idiots in love, drinking, star gazing, lots of fluff, mentions of past assault, grooming, drug addiction, spencer's trauma, Abductions, Rape, Murder (typical canon violence)

word count: 9.4K

a/n: this is for @starry-eyed-spence and @simmonsmilf CM fanfiction week, Day One: Favorite Character... only I couldn't pick just one.

To say Spencer fell in love at the least opportune time was a bit of an understatement. Everyone he’s ever come close to admitting his love to has either left him or died. Now he’s stuck with loving someone in secret, keeping it to himself and hoping that one day she’ll love him back.

He fell in love with a co-worker once again… which wasn’t the worst thing, office romances happen and it’s quite frankly all Rossi’s fault that they even had to worry about fraternization policies. The part that makes liking Y/N so difficult is that he’s supposed to be her mentor, he’s 5 years older than her, and if he was to ever make a move she would feel inclined to reciprocate in order to keep her job because that’s the unfortunate truth behind office relationships with significant differences in positions.

And worst of all… she doesn’t like him that way at all. She’s called him the brother she always needed, a best friend, the best mentor ever. She wasn’t interested in him in the slightest.

“And why would she be?” He’s said this to everyone who knew about his crush on her. “I’m old and boring and she’s so cool?”

But he didn’t get it. He didn’t understand that every time she asked him to hang back to help her file something, or when they would buddy up in hotel rooms to discuss cases all night and end up down some star trek rabbit hole instead, every time he talked to her she was falling in love with him right back.

It once again all circles back to Rossi, if it wasn’t for him, Spencer wouldn’t even know her. She wouldn’t have ever been introduced to the unit, he wouldn’t be attached to her at the hip and he probably wouldn’t be as happy as he is with her in his life. Even if she wasn’t his girlfriend.

He’ll never forget the day Rossi asked him to meet her, to help her settle in…

“Spencer, can I talk to you for a minute?” Rossi called him into his office.

He sighed, putting his book down and walking up the stairs to his office. He closed the door behind himself and smiled awkwardly, “what’s up?”

“Sit,” he gestures to the chairs in front of his desk, where Spencer pulls one out and proceeds to sit down, anxiously. “As you know, both Kate and JJ will be out of the field in the next few months to have their babies and we need to bring someone in to fill the void until they return, so I reached out to the academy to see if they have any up and coming Dr. Reid like agents that they could loan us.”

“Why?” Spencer laughs at the choice of words.

“Well, honestly, why get new 2 agents when we could have two Reid’s? JJ will be back after a month or 2, it’s better to have more brains than brawn.”

“So they found someone and you want me to be their chaperone?” Spencer clues in. “Who are they?”

“Y/N Y/L/N, she’s a wonderful agent, but she’s pretty quiet, I don’t know much about her personally.” Rossi prefaces. “She’s a genius, high IQ like yours and just a plethora of knowledge inside that mind of hers. You’ll like her.”

“Alright,” he nods. “When do they start?”

“When JJ’s water breaks, but I’d like you to meet them and maybe even have them shadow you for a day?” Rossi asks, “I’ve actually arranged for you both to get dinner at a friend's restaurant?”

“Is this an arranged date or purely business? Don’t send me in there blind,” he worries. “I need at least a week's prep before I go on a date again.”

“It’s not a date, kid,” Rossi laughs. “She's just a lot like you were when I met you, and I know from watching you all these years that it’s not easy to do it alone, so can you just walk them through it?”

“Of course.”

That first dinner Rossi set up for them was more exquisite than either of them prepared for.

They spent the whole night discussing dissertations and their independent journeys through becoming a genius. He understood perfectly why Rossi and the Academy would think she was a lot like him, she was a genius, but she was awkward. It took a while for her to break out of her shell and open up, but by the end of the night, he already knew they were going to be friends.

“So,” she smirks, “would you mind telling me honestly how hard this job is?”

“Why?”

She sighs, “I’ve heard a lot about Thee Doctor Reid and how you were the youngest hired to the BAU and all the shit you’ve been through.”

“What are the rumours these days?” He awkwardly smiles back, rolling his eyes slightly.

“That you were brain dead in a cemetery from an overdose and yet you’re so smart you came back from the dead to kill the unsub and escape…” she looks more and more disappointed in the rumour as she tells it.

His tongue hits the roof of his mouth as he opens it to speak, making a tsk noise as he shakes his head. “Well, I did OD but it was the unsubs main personality that resuscitated me.”

“Holy shit,” she whispers.

He nods, “what about you? I’m sure you have a reputation based on a rumour?”

She presses her lips together the way he always did, just as awkward. She sighs, huffing the air out of her nose and looking fed up. “I was groomed and assaulted by an older boy who then told kids I had a stalkerish crush on him so if I was to ever tell anyone what happened, then no one would believe me.”

“I’m so sorry,” Spencer knows the words don’t make up for what happened. “I’m guessing that’s why you wanted to get into profiling?”

She nods, “I got away with some PTSD and trust issues, most girls go through much worse… they deserve someone who gets it to look into their cases.”

Spencer nods. “That’s how I felt after my kidnapping too. It took a while for me to look at crime scene photos and not think about how they felt, and wonder why I lived when so many die?”

“I’ve never been a religious person,” she prefaces. “But I do believe we are here for a reason. Whether you choseto be here after your last life or this is some learning opportunity, or God is actually real? And you’re supposed to do good.”

“In narcotics anonymous, they reference god a lot, it’s helpful for the addicts, but I never get into it,” he opens up with her more than he’s ever opened up with any friend. “If my Devine purpose is to suffer in order to relate to those I’m supposed to help that’s a load of bullshit… honestly, I can get pretty angry thinking about why I’ve gone through what I’ve gone through doing this job, but it’s not as bad as what happened to me growing up, and it leads me to believe that I probably wouldn’t have had an easy time no matter how I live.”

She nods, “I know, I get that.”

“Sorry,” he snaps out of it. “I didn’t mean to trauma dump on you.”

“It’s exactly what I asked for actually,” she reminds him with a soft smile. “If you can still come to work every day, after all that, you must be incredibly strong— and if I’m anything like you the way people say I am, I guess I can do it too.”

He had no idea she would end up being his best friend.

She shadowed him just once in the office, picked up everything right off the bat and immediately made a name for herself in the unit. Derek tried multiple names on her before one stuck, and they knew it stuck when even Hotch called her Baby Genius.

She brought a different knowledge base to the team, similar to Spencers but visibly younger. She fit in with the crowds of kids they had to interview, she understood why kids reacted the way they did to trauma and abuse, and she was still a kid at heart. It was the reason Spencer fell for her.

She allowed him to feel free again. They went out together outside of work, going to events he always wanted to go to with a partner but never had a chance. She loved all the same things as him, and she takes him to places he’d never imagine enjoying before her.

Like laser tag… that was an afternoon he’ll never forget with her.

When JJ went into labour, that’s when Y/N started full time and Hotch hired Tara Lewis in the same week. The team barely had time to adjust to being undermanned before they were restocked.

Joining Spencer every morning for every case, she waited out front of her apartment for him to pick her up most mornings, sticking to his side throughout the long days and nights until he drove her home again. Even at work, they were partnered up for everything: heading to the M.E. together, bouncing facts back and forth at the precinct, playing good cop bad cop with perverts, and her personal favourite… Making the geoprofile.

And Spencer liked doing that part with her as well. Because it typically meant they were completely alone in a room, spreading out a map and leaning in close to each other as they placed every sticker and marker. Brushing hands, bumping shoulders, longing glances as they made connections… he also just liked to watch her hands move.

She was delicate and careful and precise… and he was falling in love with everything about her as the days went by.

Everyone on the team had noticed. It was really hard not to when they’ve all known Spencer for almost 11 years now. He was so different with her in his life, he was happy and giddy and dressing even better than before. His hair was perfect and he was glued to Y/N’s side. Or she was glued to his.

Even though they were mentally similar, physically they were polar opposites. Y/N wore all black and was a lot more outgoing than they expected. Rossi thought she’d be quiet… But she was constantly talking. To Spencer, to other officers, to witnesses, she never stopped talking and starting conversations, and thank god she did because she’s cracked 4 cases that way.

The biggest surprise the team learned about her happened on a case in Florida, a shooting in a local park in broad daylight with lots of witnesses meant the whole team was on the boardwalk asking questions. She went out to do her thing, talking to the local skaters, asking them if they knew anything but they didn’t want to cooperate.

They were too cool for the feds.

“Can I see your board?” She asks, “if I do some tricks will you answer some questions for me and Doctor Reid?”

“Knock yourself out,” one of the boys laughs as he hands her his board.

She hands Spencer her gun and shoots him a wink before taking off to do a few tricks. The whole team watches in awe then as Y/N showed off. Cruising along the halfpipe effortlessly like she was a professional.

“Okay Tony Hawk,” Morgan teases her, “where did that come from?”

“Skateboarding is easy, it’s just physics,” she shrugs. “I can figure skate too…”

“What do you want to know?” The boy takes his board back. “We always see some sketchy guys around here.”

Morgan pats Y/N on the back with a smile, applauding her ability to get anyone to open up before leaving her to take the statement.

“Agent?” One of the girls pulls her aside just before they are about to leave, “how did you do that kickflip? I’ve been trying to learn and the boys won't help me.”

“Sure thing,” she takes the girl's board and demonstrates a kickflip first.

“So, you see as I start the kickflip I bend my knees?” She shows her another kickflip all while explaining it. “Much like the with an ollie, I’m building pressure so I can apply it to the tail, making the board pop. The one thing that makes this trick different from the ollie is that instead of sliding my foot up, I just flick my toe out to the right of the board, by doing this, the board flips in a 360-degree motion.

She demonstrates again and it’s another flawless kickflip, and a huge smile on her face as Spencer watches her.

“How fast the board spins depends on how much force I put into it when I flick it out. As soon as the board flips in a full 360, your feet should connect and drive the board back to the ground.”

She hands the board back to the girl, “your turn.”

She takes a deep breath and shakes her nerves out before taking off on her board, looping around and carefully bending her knees, she follows every step and it’s a flawless kickflip.

“Flawless!!” Y/N claps. “Those boys better watch out, you’re a natural.”

“Thank you,” she wraps her arms around Y/N and gives her a hug, “it’s taken me so long to be able to do that, you’re so cool.”

“You’re welcome,” she smiles. “Good luck out there.”

She waves as she takes off on her board, leaving Y/N with a smile as she turns to Spencer. “I miss being that age and thinking everything is so cool.”

“You are really cool,” he agrees. Smiling softly as a blush fills his cheeks. “You’re always surprising me. Is there anything you can’t do?”

She laughs, “yeah the one thing I want to do the most.”

“Which is?”

She sighs, “maybe I’ll tell you someday.”

—

He’s sitting beside Penelope and Savannah, watching Derek and Y/N get drinks for what’s left of the group as the night drags on.

“When are you going to tell her?” Savannah asks.

“What?” Spencer pretends he doesn’t know what she’s talking about.

“You have a crush on the new girl…” she pokes his cheek as he blushes and gives it away. “Tell her, what’s the worst that can happen?”

“She could feel forced to say yes because I’m a supervisory special agent and she isn’t and she wants to keep her job so she feels like she needs to,” Spencer worries. “I want her to like me back because she fell for me and I want her to initiate it because then I’ll know it’s not just a power dynamic issue.”

“Have you tried asking her, genius?” Penelope teases. “Because if you asked her then you’d know she has a crush on you and she’s afraid you’ll turn her down because you’re an SSA and she isn’t.”

“When did you hear that?”

Penelope pretends to lock up her lips and throw away the key, making Savannah laugh loud enough to get Derek's attention at the bar. When he and Y/N return, that’s when the questions start.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing,” Spencer gets up and leaves the booth, walking out towards the smokers' exit at the back of the bar, getting a moment of semi-fresh air to think about what Penelope said.

“Spence?” She calls to him from the door, “are you okay? Can I come out here?”

“Yeah,” he nods. “Sorry, I needed some air, it’s nothing.”

“Do you need a hug? I read it helps the most when people are stressed out,” she plays it off with a shrug.

“So you do have a crush on me?”

“She told you?” Her face lights with fury, “what the fuck, Penelope?”

“She didn’t mean to,” he tries to cover it up. “It was only brought up because I have feelings for you as well.”

Her eyes widen, her brows raise and her mouth slowly opens as she freezes.

“Y/N?”

She blinks a few times and shakes her head, “impossible. There’s no way.”

He laughs, “I’ll take that hug now?”

She lunges for him and wraps her arms around him so tight. Breathing him in, her hands wander his back as she takes in every second if it and he does the same. He can’t believe she’s that close to him, her hair smells nice and she’s so soft in his arms.

It’s quiet outside, they can hear the music behind the door, the people in the ally talking and the crickets in the night. It’s just them outside, holding each other in the smoking section with smiles on their faces, amazed that it’s finally happening.

“Can we keep this between us?” She whispers into his ear. “Just for a bit? I don’t want to go through all the paperwork and have to separate in the field if it doesn’t work out?”

“Wait,” Spencer pulls back. “Are you asking me to be your boyfriend?”

She nods, “well yeah isn’t that what happens when two people have a mutual crush? They date?”

“Okay,” he smiles, staring at her lips and then flicking his gaze back to hers with a blush. “I have more than a crush on you, I really, really like you.”

“Prove it,” she teases, “let's go on a real date soon?”

“You know what, let’s get out of here. I have something I want to show you,” he takes her hand and waits for her to nod.

“Take my lead okay? You don’t feel good and you’re going to wait outside while I say goodbye,” she has a plan right away

“After you,” he holds the door open for her and lets her inside first.

—

“I’m taking Spencer home, he’s not doing well,” she’s a much better actress than Spencer expected, patting his back and watching him leave the bar before her like she asked him to do. “He’s really anxious?”

Penelope looks worried, “oh no, I fucked up. I told him you like him.”

She just shrugs, “if he didn’t know that already then I guess he’s not as smart as he pretends to be.”

“See,” Derek looks at Savannah. “I told you everyone else also thinks he’s faking being that smart.”

“Shut up,” she shoves him and turns her attention back to Y/N. “Go make him feel better, he’ll like your company.”

“I’ll see you guys at work on Monday,” she waves them goodbye, surprised they bought it as she rushes her way back outside to Spencer.

He’s already in his car, engine running and waiting for her with a smile. “Come on,” he hurries her inside and is taking off down the road before she even has her seatbelt on yet.

“What’s the rush, Spence? It’s only 1 in the morning I’m sure tones of places are open still?” She teases.

“You’re going to like this, I used to go here all the time when I started with the bureau,” he explains, leaving the main road to take a back root, and eventually they’re driving on gravel.

“If you’re taking me here to murder me this is a dumb way to do it because they all know I left with you,” she teases. “At least when you go to get rid of me, do yourself a favour and dig 6 one-foot holes instead of one 6 foot hole…”

He laughs, “would you really give your murderer tips?”

She nods, “my goal would be to piss him off so much he either lets me go or murders me quickly. I don’t want to go through all the pain.”

“It’s not fun, that’s for sure,” he shrugs it off but she knows it hits too hard.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers, reaching her hand out for his to hold by the gear shift. “I think you’re like the strongest guy in the world, you know that, right?”

“Why?” He asks as if that's a preposterous thing to say.

“I think if I got kidnapped and tortured at 24 I wouldn’t still be working in the FBI,” she admits. “I barely made it through the academy, I know this job is intense but I don’t think I could handle being in that situation.”

“If it’s up to me,” Spencer squeezes her hand tighter and brings it to his lips for a kiss. “You’ll never experience anything like that.”

He’s so good at making her feel safe that she almost believes he has the power to do that. He would do anything and everything to move fate for her safety.

He turns down another back road then, around the edge of a lake and towards a clearing. He follows old tire tracks and parks by the dock. “I found this spot one night on a random drive to clear my head.”

“I thought you hated driving?” She quizzes him.

He shrugs, “I like to drive at night when no one else is on the road because then I don’t really have to worry about anyone else. I hate driving because I can’t always anticipate other drivers' movements. If I could read minds, then I’d drive more.”

“Valid,” she nods, “now why is this such a special spot that you needed to show me right away?”

“Well, I have a telescope and it’s been in my trunk for the last 13 years so that every time I come here, I can look up at the moon…”

“You brought me here to look at the moon with you?” She swoons, “that’s so cute.”

“You think?” He looks like his heart is doing the same swelling as hers.

She gets out of the car before she can lean over and kiss him the way she wants to. In his trunk, he does have a telescope, and a blanket, which they set out on the dock and sit upon.

The sound of the lake, the loons in the distance, frogs and crickets and music travelling from somewhere down the lake. The moon was big, the stars were amazing, and this was the closest she has ever seen them. It's amazing, and of course, it was Spencer showing her everything.

He was everything to her.

And it didn’t take long for him to become everything to her either.

Joining the BAU was a dream to many at the academy, but Y/N never thought that she would get the job, overjoyed that she did. They were a family unit; they got the job done, they protected each other, and it was a wonderful environment to be a part of. She obviously liked Spencer the most out of everyone. He took her in, he made her feel comfortable and safe and she opened up more with him than she has with anyone she’s labelled a “best friend” in the past.

She liked everything about him. The way he talked with his hands, how his sweater, vest, shirt and tie always match, his gun looks a little out of place on his belt, like it’s too big for him, but it’s cute. His hair’s been getting longer too, sometimes he wears glasses and sometimes if she’s lucky, he doesn’t shave every day.

She can’t take her eyes off him when he’s busy and won't notice, just to then move her focus away when he stared at her. She only wishes she could see the way he stares at her in awe, because if it’s anything like how she looks at him, he must love her.

She keeps her hand in his, trading the telescope back and forth in turns, her face was close to his every time they switched and she kept getting bolder with each exchange. Letting Spencer look, she kept her face close to his, kissing his cheek softly as soon as he was busy peering up at the moon.

He turned to her with a gasp, “what was that for?”

“You’re cute,” she shrugs. “I’ve wanted to kiss you for a while.”

“How long?” He teases, leaning in closer and kissing her nose to make her laugh.

“Since you dropped me off at my house after that first dinner…”

“So this is me,” she nods out the window, “thank you for the ride, I appreciate not having to be in an Uber all by myself.”

“Anytime you need a ride, you can give me a call?” He asks. “Seeing as we’ll be going to the same place anyway.”

She nods with a smile, “I’d love that, do you live close to here?”

“Just up the street,” he nods. “So we could carpool?”

“I can drive some days if you want?” She asks, “I know you mostly take the subway, and I know that because I’ve seen you reading on there before.”

He can’t help but smile, “so you never thought to say hello?”

“No,” she shakes her head, “you looked peaceful, and I’m sure you don’t get many moments like that in your line of work.”

He sighed, knowing she was right. “If it ever gets to be too much for you, please never feel like you have to pretend to be okay? None of us expect you to be stone cold, none of us are either. The job gets to us, just tell me if it gets to be too much?”

She looks from his lips back to his eyes and over again, “thanks, Spencer.”

He does the same to her, “anytime. Should I walk you to your door?”

She shakes her head, “that’s okay you’ve done enough for me tonight.”

“Fair enough,” he laughs. “Have a good night Y/N.”

“You too, Spencer,” she smiles before she exits his car, smiling at him from her porch before he drives away.

“So it’s been mutual this whole time?” He shakes his head at the absurdity. “I’ve been so lonely for so long and then I found you and you make me feel like I don’t need to be alone anymore.”

“You complete me too,” she makes one more comment before connecting their lips.

It’s like the world stops then. It’s silent and serene and everything she thought kissing Spencer Reid would be.

She pulls back with a smirk, “oh no.”

“What?” He worries.

“I’m going to want to kiss you all the time now…”

“Good,” he mumbles the words against her lips before reconnecting them.

—

At work on Monday, it’s very hard for them to look at each other without remembering that they’ve kissed. Spencer’s practically glowing with admiration for her that he gives it all away. He’s overly happy, offering to do things for others, standing way too close to her and bringing her coffee all morning.

“Okay, pretty boy,” Derek takes him by the scruff of the neck and redirects him into his office. “What’s going on with you today, I know you’re not this happy for JJ’s return?”

“What do you mean?”

“Did you get laid or something?”

Spencer laughs, “no, you know I don’t get laid. You actually remind me of that fact quite often.”

“You’re so happy I’m worried you’ve moved to crack,” he says it. “Okay, you were acting weird on Friday, you missed brunch on Sunday and now you’re waaay too happy.”

“I’m not on drugs again,” Spencer assures him. “I’m just letting myself enjoy my time with Y/N, if she falls in love with me in the meantime that would also be nice.”

“Oh, so you’re doing this to get laid,” Derek teases him again. “That’s good, I’m sorry if I triggered you by asking, but I had to make sure you’re okay.”

“No, no,” he places his hands on Derek's shoulders, “thank you for caring.”

“Always—“

“Guys!” They hear Hotch yelling from the bullpen, cutting the tender moment short, saving Spencer from spilling the truth.

Rushing back, he sits beside Y/N at the briefing room table. “We have a bad one,” Emily Prentiss of all people walks in the door, followed by Elle Greenaway.

“We’ll have time to mingle in a minute, right now there is a woman who needs our help,” he announces.

Spencer quickly reads over the case files, recognizing Elles handwritten notes, she was a private investigator now. “With Penelope’s help, I’ve been able to set up alerts in College chatrooms in the area so that I can help to missing and assaulted women right away.”

“She’s alerted when someone reports a missing woman and she has advertisements for people to reach out to her for help,” Penelope explained.

“I’ve been working on these cases for the last 9 years,” Elle announces. “This morning Aasia Desai called me saying her sister Bahni never showed up for lunch and it’s not like her, we know she went clubbing last night and so far Penelope’s tracked her down an ally and then she’s gone.”

“Her parents are British diplomats so Interpol has asked me to join, luckily I was just in Ontario so it was a short trip over,” Emily adds. “JJ will be here in half an hour for her first day back, and we will celebrate when we can, but I see we have some new faces here?”

“Special Agent Y/N Y/L/N,” she waves, still glued to Spencer’s side. “I’ve heard a lot about you both from Doctor Reid.”

“Doctor Tara Lewis,” she stands and shakes Emily’s hand, and then Elles.

“So it says here that the first missing case was in 2006 just after you left the BAU?” Spencer changes the subject before anyone can pry into why he would be telling her about the women who worked there before her.

“I did,” Elle nods. “I was too late for her, by the time her parents realized she was missing and called me in the case was cold. I started this as a way to get ahead of it.”

“How long has she been missing?” Tara asks.

“She was last seen at 1:07 this morning,” Elle confirms. “We have 25 hours, maybe, to beat the odds.”

“Reid,” Hotch cuts in, “I would like you and Elle to go check out the street she was last seen on, find any private cameras or anyone who might have seen something.”

He turns to Y/N who just shrugs in silence; “it’s fine.”

“Tara and Derek, I’d like you to interview Aasia when she and JJ get here, Garcia can you do a deep dive into Bahni’s spending and academic records?”

“Sure thing,” she starts clicking away on her computer immediately.

“And Y/N,” Elle looks at her. “I need you to go over the footage of the man who followed her to the alley and get familiar with his face. We’re using you as the face of the investigation to hopefully draw the unsub out.”

“How would she be able to do that alone?” Spencer gets defensive, a way he used to with JJ when she was the media liaison.

“If she goes on the news and makes Bahni seem like a person while describing the unsub as someone who can help solve the case, it will draw him out,” Emily explains for Hotch, who is glaring at Spencer for second-guessing the plan already.

“And she’s college-age,” Elle adds. “If that’s who he’s been going after all this time he will want to come in and talk IF he can talk to her.”

She places her hand on his leg under the table, “it’s a good plan.”

“It is,” Hotch agrees.

“What do you not have a saying to replace wheels up when they stay in town?” Elle teases him.

“Wheels away?” Emily joins her, “that works?”

“just get to work,” Hotch tries not to smirk at them.

Spencer stands up to leave with Elle, “can I just talk to Spencer before he leaves?” She carefully asks Hotch.

“Make it quick,” he agrees reluctantly and lets her follow him down to his desk.

Spencer rests his hands on the back of his desk chair, holding it tightly in an attempt to calm himself down.

“I’m going to be fine,” she assures him. “I don’t think the guy on the tape took her, we’d see him leave if he did.”

“Unless he lives in the alley,” Spencer combats. “Can you ask Penelope to do a background check on all the cars coming in and out of the campus and that street between midnight at 2 am?”

She nods, placing her hand on his gently. “Good luck out there, okay?”

He nods, “it’s been 2 days they’re going to know by the end of the week.”

She laughs, “so be it.”

He says fuck it right then and there, wrapping her up in a hug and kissing the top of her head as the team watches in the briefing room. “I’ll see you later.”

“Yes you will,” she smacks his side as he lets her go. “If you’re going to make a scene at least give me a real kiss.”

“Hmm,” he teases. “No cause then I’d have to sign some paperwork and I’ve got to go…” he starts to back away.

“Coward,” she teases.

He just shrugs, meeting Elle by the door and heading towards the elevators in silence.

She doesn’t ask, not even when they get to the garage or inside the SUV. They’re driving down the road for maybe 2 minutes when Elle finally brings it up. “So—”

“What do you want to know?”

“It's that easy now? What happened to you?” She teases. “You’re so different from the baby Spence I left.”

“Well you missed my drug problem, my dad being a possible child molester, getting shot in the knee, getting shot in the neck, my girlfriend dying, and now my mom might have Alzheimer's so you know… I had to grow up a bit,” he lays it all out for her to ask any question she wants.

“Why don’t you ever call me? I would have been there for you through anything,” she reminds him.

“I know that,” he reaches over for her hand, “thank you. But I was a big fan of suffering in silence… and now I have Y/N and she makes me feel normal?”

“That’s good, you deserve some fraction of normal in your life and she’s really cute,” Elle smiles back at him before returning her focus to the road. “How old is she?”

“27,” he smiles. “She’s the best.”

“You love her,” Elle notices it.

He presses his lips together to fend off a smile as he nods, “I think I do.”

“Tell her, you deserve to hear that someone loves you back.”

—

She’s anxiously tapping her foot as she waits for the elevator to arrive with the suspect, Rossi standing just behind her. Only 15 minutes after being on the news, the man that was in the security footage contacted them. Making his way over for a voluntary interview.

He looks Y/N up and down with a smile, “I heard you were looking for me.”

“I sure was,” she plays along with it, smiling and making him think she’s interested as well. “I knew you’d get the message, we just need all the help we can get right now.”

“Of course,” he has his ego stroked so well that they can roll with it.

“Would you mind coming with me and Agent Rossi to talk about everything you saw?” She batts her lashes at him, really selling it.

“Sure,” he follows them down the hall.

Rossi opens the door and lets them in first, letting her get him settled and a glass of water. “So you can tell me everything from that night?”

“Sure,” he nods, explaining his taxi job, his run for the night and his alibi.

“So why did you step back into the doorway?” She asks as she sits in front of him. Straight-faced as she catches him off guard.

“Excuse me?”

“You stepped out of the way to let her pass and then followed her, she made no motion to say she wanted your services, so I’m just wondering why you would follow her before she disappeared?”

“Huh,” he suddenly feels played and his personality switches. “I thought this was just a chat?”

“I’m simply asking you questions? If you don’t have answers that makes you suspicious. An innocent person would have given me an answer,” she fights back.

“She’s right, you got very defensive very fast,” Rossi finally speaks up.

He shakes his head with a huff. “I was going to ask if she needed a ride, she looked pretty messed up. And then some guy came over and wrapped his arm around her and they walked off. They seemed to know one another. I thought she was safe in his hands.”

Only his tone doesn’t match the words. He sounds jealous— It’s not like she would have been a large tab, he wasn’t jealous because he lost a customer. No, he’s jealous like someone stepped in and prevented him from snatching an easy victim.

“Fair enough,” she pretends to believe him. “Thank you for your cooperation.”

“I can go now?” He changes right back to confused.

She nods, “I’ll escort you down if you’d like?”

“Thanks,” he stands and follows her to the door where Rossi stops her.

“Are you sure?”

She nods, “I’ll be back up shortly.”

She catches up with him by the elevators, “did you have to drive far to get here?” She makes small talk.

“Not really,” he shakes it off. “I like your necklace.”

She touches her necklace and her face drops, “thanks.”

“Necklaces are my favourite.”

“You don’t wear any?” She notices in the form of a question.

He shakes his head as the elevator opens at the ground level. “I think they’re nice gifts.”

She nods along, pretending that didn’t set off every ret alert and alarm in her mind, “well here you are. Thanks again for all the help.”

“No problem,” he goes to leave, turning to stop and block the doors from closing. “If you want, later tonight I can show you everything I saw at the alley?”

“Yeah, sure,” she agrees with no plan to go.

“8 pm? At Cafe Linda?”

“See you then,” she agrees and he steps back letting the door close and then she loses her cool.

Feverishly smashing the floor 6 button, and begging to make it back up to Hotch to tell him everything. But she also just wants to cry but she holds it in as she makes it to their floor matching past Rossi and right into the briefing room.

“He may not be our unsub but that man is a creep,” she announces. “He not only complimented my necklace but he asked me to come to the alley tonight so he can walk me through what he saw.”

“You’re not going,” Hotch announces.

“I didn’t plan to,” she snaps. “I think we need to look into him because he’s either giving little girls necklaces to keep them quiet or he’s taking necklaces after he kills women.”

“Kathy’s parents said she was in a necklace when she went missing,” Emily adds. “His connection to this case and being at NYU right before she went missing gives us enough probable cause for a search warrant.”

Hotch sighs, “fine. I’ll call a judge, you and Y/N can go and search his place.”

“So shouldn’t we arrest him before he leaves the building?” Morgan asks.

“He’s still in the garage, I’ve let the security know to stop him and arrest him at the gate,” Garcia adds, listening in and planning in advance.

“Thank you,” Hotch smiles at her, “you’re always reading my mind.”

Garcia smiles back at him, “always, sir.”

“Okay, let’s go,” she looks at Emily and waiting for her to turn to leave the room.

“Let’s,” she motions for Y/N to take the lead and follows.

The drive to his house is so weird… she doesn’t quite know how to talk to Emily, knowing only slightly about her and her knowing nothing about Y/N.

“So how long have you and Spencer been dating?” Her first question just gets right to the point.

She laughs awkwardly, “3 days…”

“Oh…”

She hums as she nods along, looking out the window and avoiding Emily’s eye contact. “It’s new, we’re both pretty infatuated with each other but we’re taking it slower than most people because I’m afraid to let my feelings change how I do the job.”

“Makes sense,” Emily replies. Her voice is so sweet, she has an aura of calm that follows her and lets Y/N feel safe. She gets why Spencer said she was his best friend on the team before her.

“The necklace comment… why did it make you so wary of this guy?”

“When I was in middle school a guy gave me a necklace while he was grooming me,” she whispers. Looking out the window and pretending it doesn’t bother her now. “It’s fine, I don’t have it anymore, but I knew this guy had that same vibe.”

Emily put her hand out, letting Y/N interlock their fingers and hold it. “I know I just met you, but you’re family now. I’m here if you’re ever suddenly not fine with it anymore…”

“Thanks,” she smiles. “Let’s get this fucker.”

—

By the time the warrant went through, Spencer and Elle had joined them to search the first suspect's house while Emily left to help the rest of the team with suspect two. Tracking all the license plates in the area like Spencer suggested lead them to a Chinese food delivery driver in the area.

That didn’t stop Y/N from destroying her suspect's house. They tore the house apart, searching every nook and cranny for any answer that would make sense. She was tempted to lift the floorboards up, call in SCSI to run ground-penetrating radar and search the fucking walls if they had to.

But then she found it.

A small metal box in the laundry room contained some tools and when she lifted up the fake bottom, she found 5 necklaces.

“Elle!!” She yelled through the house.

They both came running down the hall to her, “is this Kathy’s necklace?”

“Oh my god,” she whispered with a nod.

“I want to kill this guy,” she mumbles under her breath as she places the necklaces back in the box and closes it up.

“Spencer doesn’t need another girl he has a crush on to murder someone and get kicked out of the bureau,” Elle teases.

“What?” Y/N asks.

“Way to go,” Spencer nudges her.

Y/N stands up with the box and slides it into a large evidence bag before taping it up. “I guess he has a type then.”

“I don’t,” Spencer tries to cover up. “I mean, if I do then it’s people who are nice to me…”

She smiles at him, unable to even pretend to be jealous or mad. “It’s hard to be mean to you when you’re so cute.”

“Ew,” Elle announces her disgust as she leaves the room.

“Let’s get out of here before I end up kissing you in a murderer's laundry room,” Spencer teases, taking her hand and leading her out of the house as the rest of the forensics team takes over the bagging of evidence.

“Guys,” Elle rushes back to them with her phone pressed to her ear. “We have a bigger problem than we thought with Bahni.”

They rush into the SUV, putting the team on the speaker to hear the most unthinkable. “So I did what Y/N suggested and searched every single driver coming in and off-campus and the last street she was seen on,” Penelope explains back. “And I came across a man who was delivering Chinese food under the name Tom Larson… and it’s ironic his name is tom because he has a plethora of peeping offences and general creepiness alongside a metric shit-ton of abuse from his dad and dead mother.”

“Okay?” Elle follows.

“Tom Larson lives near Bahni,” Emily explains, “I was just at his house where I found him and his father had been murdered.”

“So we have not 1 but 3 creeps in this case, and none of them are who took Bahni?” Spencer rubs his eyes. “Please tell me we know who was in Tom’s car last night.”

“That’s where it gets tricky,” Penelope says with the doles tones of keys clicking behind her words. “We were just contacted by the fugitive Taskforce because they believe one of the murderers they’ve been tracking took Bahni… but he has ties to a much larger scale global sex trafficking ring.”

Elle flies through the streets with their lights on, pulling back into headquarters and right up to the security check. “So who is this guy?”

“Once you get back up here, Agent Simmons and Alvez will explain everything,” Hotch confirms. “I’m taking Derek to see Cruze, we need to tell him what’s going on.”

“Sounds good,” Elle hangs up and throws the SUV in park.

Y/N hesitates, staying put and taking a few breaths as Spencer watches. Elle’s left the car and is already on her way to the elevator. “What’s wrong?”

“Can I just have a hug real quick?”

“Yeah,” he wraps his arms around her and holds her close. “Are you okay?”

She nods against him, “yeah it’s just good to have at least 8 hugs a day.”

“Hug me whenever you need to,” he whispers against her hair, kissing the side of her head before she pulls back.

“Kisses are helpful too?”

He smiles, leaning in and pressing his lips to hers, mumbling against them, “how many?”

She hums, “10?”

He pecks her lips 10 times and counts each one, making her giggle, it takes so much effort to hold her smile back to keep kissing him but she feels much better.

“Thank you,” she beams and she can swear Spencer's eyes sparkle as he smiles back.

She pulls him into another hug, “I hate that we have to go catch a killer right now.”

“Come on then, as soon as we get him we can go on another date somewhere?”

She shakes her head, “after this case I think we should take a nap together… I’m exhausted and I don’t want to let you go.”

Spencer shakes his head in amazement, “you really like me?”

“Yeah, maybe I do,” she teases him. “You should get used to it because it’s only going to get more intense and I will smother you with love.”

He just shrugs, “it’s about time—“

They’re startled with a knock on the window, “we get it you’re in love, can we go now?”

“Sorry!” Y/N calls back with a giggle, pulling him in for one last kiss before getting out. Spencer follows with a deep blush that everyone will see when they get back upstairs, but it looks cute on him.

Luke Alvez has been trying to catch one criminal for the last 2 years. Simon Garrett has been a pain in the ass for the FBI, the CIA and DEA. He first showed up on their radar when his DNA was found on 14 women’s remains, all of who had been missing for at least 5 years.

His DNA was then traced to his son in the foster system, who’s been off the radar for the last 10 years. Everette Garrett.

“Now he’s interesting because I’ve been investigating his sex trafficking ring between Canada and the United States,” Matt adds. “All 14 women his father's DNA was found on were thought to be in his ring, which means when they get too old he hands them to his father to take care of.”

Y/N shakes her head as she listens, “so if you’ve been looking for them for this long what makes you think we can find them in time to save Bahni?”

“We’ve been tracking him for a while, we knew that he had a new girl on his radar and when we heard it was Bahni Desai we knew it was time to get you guys,” Matt explains.

“So far we know that she has to be taken to this warehouse in Alexandria before she goes any further, we’re going to intercept them before they make it to the warehouse and then use their car to gain access to take the whole thing down,” Luke rolls out a map of the facility then.

“We need to have the place surrounded for any runners, SWAT is getting prepped, we’re going tonight at 3 am,” Matt adds. “Morgan, Hotch, Prentiss, Alvez and Myself will be running a team at each of the 5 exits. Once inside, each team's swat unit will deploy gas to carefully knock everyone out, from there we need someone to cuff everyone at least until we know who is a victim and who is working there.”

“We’re taking everyone alive?” Spencer makes sure he hears them right.

“We need to know what the step after this warehouse is if we want to rescue more victims,” Luke’s voice is gentle yet stern as he explains. “I’ve seen this man take too many women from good homes and ruin their lives, I’m not letting him slip out of my fingers.”

“We’ve had this planned for months, we just needed to wait for the next confirmed drop-off.”

“Who’s driving?” Y/N asks, having a feeling it was her and Spencer.

“He’s Reids age,” Hotch announces from the door as he walks in with Cruze, “so we’ll replace Everette with Reid and Bahni with Y/L/N.”

“Rossi and Elle will be there to apprehend Everette, we’re setting up a fake traffic spot to irritate him and inhibit him from running. You two will be in a duplicate car arriving at the warehouse at the arranged time,” Emily confirms. “We just have to prep SWAT and then we can leave.”

“Alright, let’s get ready.”

—

Pretending to be kidnapped in the back of a car driven by her boyfriend was possibly the weirdest way to spend a Tuesday morning. Driving the exact make and model as their unsub, her heartbeat was loud enough to cover the sound of the engine and distract her from the long drive. She was overly anxious, and rightly so, it was her first sting.

And she was doing it all without coffee. Tired but full of adrenaline, she wanted to close her eyes and drift off but she knew she needed to be ready to apprehend the men at the gate with Spencer.

She feels the large bump, indicating they just went over a speed bump and she knows what that means. The car slows and she can hear the muffled talking before swat steps in, soon enough Spencer is cracking the trunk open and reaching in for her.

“Are you okay?” He helps her to her feet and makes sure her bulletproof vest is on right before handing her, her gun and watching her clip it on.

“Yeah, what happened?”

“The guards are down, Swat moved in as soon as we arrived, now we have to stand here and wait for them to clear the building,” Spencer explains as they walk to the front of her car.

She draws her gun and keeps it pointed low, guarded as they watch the front entrance for anyone to escape. “Do you know if Bahni is okay?” She whispers towards him.

He nods, “they radioed in that they got her, she’s being airlifted to the hospital with JJ right now.”

She nods with a deep breath, “okay good.”

“It’s going to be fine, we have enough SWAT here to take the government,” he tries to joke, getting a laugh from one of the officers… very strange to see someone laugh while holding an assault rifle.

One of the swat side steps towards Spencer, “I’m hearing on the line that they’ve cleared every room. They’re cuffing everyone, you’re free to enter.”

“Thanks,” Spencer replies.

The high-pitched screech rubber gripping asphalt in an attempt to stop draws their attention backwards. Elle and Rossi jumping out with their guns drawn, ready to join even though the exciting part is long over.

“No runners?” Elle asks, holstering her weapon. “Aw man, I was excited.”

“Not a one,” Y/N adds, watching the front entrance for the rest of the team to start funnelling out with the unsubs.

Luke exits first with a big smile on his face, Simon Garrett cuffed and barely stumbling out the door in front of him. He finally got him.

“well done,” Elle congratulates him. “Let me help you get him in SWAT van.”

“I think she has a thing for Luke,” Rossi leans into Y/N to gossip. “she wouldn’t stop asking about him on the drive…”

“Ooo,” Y/N teases, getting more and more tired as her adrenaline drops. Her eyes are heavy and Rossi can tell.

“Why don’t I bring you and the good doctor home, I don’t think they need all of us for the wrap-up,” Rossi pats her back. “You’ve had a long night, kid.”

“Thank you,” she smiles, holstering her gun and turning with him towards the SUV. “I’m so exhausted.”

“Well you’ve been on the job for almost 24 hours now, you’ve officially made it through your first overnight sting op,” Rossi congratulates her like he’s her grandpa.

She turns back when she doesn’t hear Spencer following her, “Spence? Are you coming?”

“Um,” he has something to ask as he follows then but he doesn’t say it. “Yeah, sorry.”

“It’s okay, come sit with me in the back?” She asks, sliding in beside him and resting her head on his shoulder as soon as their seatbelts are on.

“Did you still want to have a nap together?” He whispers, feeling her nod against his shoulder before she pulls back.

“Come here,” she tugs him in against her chest, snuggling in as best as she could in their sitting position. Holding him close and feeling him drift off in her arms. She has no problem following suit.

When she wakes, Rossi is parked outside of her apartment, “here you go, Y/N.”

She hums as she comes to, shaking Spencer awake too, “Spence, come on, let’s get to bed.”

“He’s going with you?”

She nods, “don’t tell Penelope. She’ll have a field day, I just want a nap.”

“You better get more than a nap,” Rossi orders. “You guys need to actually rest before you come back to work on Wednesday.”

“Thanks, Dad,” she teases him. “We will.”

“Bye Dave,” Spencer whispers as he gets out of the car. “Thank you for the ride.”

“Anytime kid,” Rossi waves them off, waiting for them to enter the building before driving away.

“Finally,” she sighs, dragging Spencer down the hall and towards her apartment. “I’m so fucking tired.”

“me too,” he barely says.

He follows her inside like a lost puppy, taking off his vest and shirt, slipping out of his pants until he’s in an undershirt, boxers and his mismatched socks. She’s amazed by how comfortable he is with her, but she has known him for 3 months, it’s enough time to fall in love with someone… right?

She’s loved him since she started working with him. When she realized he valued her opinions, he looked at her as a person and he genuinely loved her company. She felt a real connection with him, not just childish infatuation. He was everything to her.

She slides into bed beside him and snuggles in, wrapping an arm around his middle and resting her head on his chest.

“I guess I really can do everything,” she smirks.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

She pokes his chest and giggles away the awkwardness, “the thing I wanted to do most, the thing that I couldn’t do… that was to fall in love with you, but I did it anyway.”

“Well, then I guess I can do everything too.”

She pulls away to look at him, “I love you, Spencer. I don’t know if it’s too soon, but I’ve loved you for a while.”

He pulls her in for a kiss, shocking her as he breathes her in and holds her there. “I love you, more Y/N.”

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[cerissalefford]

.

hearing of that. ceri was glad she was able to speak to her cousin in such a candid manor, wanting him to know he could trust in her telling him everything. it would only hurt both arron and his new wife to keep secrets about what had happened. and she knew arron could handle the truth of what happened.

"that is what gwen said in response to your wife. that jasper did have a mother," ceri relayed, remembering how gwen’s demeanor had changed after those words were spoken. "and afterward, it seemed she realized her misstep in the conversation. she appeared to try to distance herself from her initial remarks, or at the very least, recognized the poor choice of words given the circumstances."

ceri's gaze softened as she continued, her trust in aaron's ability to confront the truth evident in her demeanor.  "i am not familiar with the customs of the reach, but perhaps you are correct. it may be more acceptable to speak more informally with a princess," she mused, “i am not sure. but i trust you know best on that.”

a smile spread across the young lefford’s face as she leaned forward to mimic her cousin’s move, as if they were telling a secret. "think we should be very thankful the conversation was in private chambers. if it was publicly then…well. i cannot speculate on how everyone would react but honestly i do not think the greater court would have been happy."

“i will do my best for it not to spread anymore, cousin,  if that is what you’d wish. the other ladies present in the room might already be talking but i can try to make sure nothing further is said if you’d wish.” she said, quickly adding in. “i have no gossiped about it, just telling you about it. i promise.” ceri offered earnestly, her willingness to assist her family evident in her words. since her return home, she’d been lucky to find herself in attendance to her cousin. it gave her a position in the court, let others see her family standing behind her, supporting her. and now if she could find a way to help her siblings and her cousins, she would be happy.

There were two thoughts among the women. They either thought the Princess consort meet ill or they thought her well meaning and quite careless. Arron wasn't certain about the details until Cerissa mention a portion of conversation none had managed to bring up when speaking with him. Many, especially servants, saw Arron Lannister and became paralyzed with fear. He was a large man in height and thick with muscle. And while many were afraid of him, he was skilled at making people feel ease when he wished for it to be so.

"Jasper has a mother." Arron spoke flatly, a bit of confusion crossing his features, leaving as quickly as it arrived. He supposed it made some sense. No it didn't. Well, maybe? Arron Lannister knew little about the Reach and less about the practices of Goldengrove. Did they find to strange to ward a child? Did she not know the story of Jasper? The danger in his existence or did she believe the rumors used to keep the boy.

The smile returned. "Thank you. I often find a worry for my wife. She's from a region that's quite different than others. I hear the Reach has quite close interpersonal relationships. A youth among one another and now they rule a kingdom together." Perhaps they were more informal?

"Judging by your experience in our lovely lands," He leaned forward as it to share a secret, "should we be glad this conversation was quiet? That it will be kept quiet?"

[grelleswife]

Also I remember when Lizzie found out that O!Ciel was pretending to be his brother, she said something about that if the younger twin would have come back as himself and not his brother, she wouldn't have cared. While I think Lizzie has every right to be mad at O!Ciel for lying to her for three years, I was kinda angry at her for saying that? Like does ANYONE IN THIS FRANCHISE CARE FOR THIS KID?

Hi, anon! I’ve been sitting on this ask for a while because I wanted to give sufficient thought to my answer before making a reply, so I apologize for the delay! In brief, saying that Lizzy doesn’t care about O!Ciel is a blatantly false statement and ignores the complexities of her inner turmoil in the chapter you mentioned (144: “The Butler, Under Arrest”).

It’s true that Lizzy bonded more deeply with R!Ciel during the kids’ childhood, but that’s a product of circumstance. In addition to having more robust health, which meant that he was more active and hence made for an easier playmate, R!Ciel was Lizzy’s fiancé—of course she’d be encouraged to spend more time with him. If anything, I think the adults are the real parties to blame for O!Ciel’s feelings of marginalization. If they had made more of an effort to ensure he was included in all the children’s activities, I’m sure our warm-hearted Lizzy would have developed greater affection for him.

Moreover, consider her initial reaction to finding out that R!Ciel is “alive”:

As Lizzy explains to Edward, “My first thought was not “Oh, I’m so happy!” But rather, “What should I do?”” If she truly didn’t give a damn about O!Ciel, we would expect her to toss him aside upon learning the truth. But notice the bottom panel: She’s positioned between the two twins, loyalties torn, and her figure cracks and crumbles in imitation of her shattered heart. Even though Lizzy didn’t recognize O!Ciel as “the spare” when he returned from the cult, she now has history with him, such as the moment on the Campania when he accepted her authentic self. Lizzy’s knowledge that he stole his older brother’s identity doesn’t automatically eradicate those memories she made with the younger twin.

But now to get to the heart of the matter: The allegation that she wouldn’t have cared if O!Ciel had been honest from the beginning.

Lizzy tells her brother that, “I’m not sure I could’ve said something like, “I’m glad that at least you’ve returned to us alive,” and meant it. If he hadn’t lied...

“I wish Ciel had survived instead.”

Such a heartless thought might have popped into my head.”

Here’s the thing that I believe a lot of the folks who bash Lizzy fail to acknowledge—humans as a general rule are biased creatures. That’s not right, and it’s not fair, but it’s our natural inclination. If your significant other’s or best friend’s life was placed in peril alongside that of a casual acquaintance who you liked, and only one of the two could survive, your gut instinct would be for your most cherished person to make it out alive. Kuroshitsuji isn’t about saintly characters who do no wrong whatsoever; even sunny souls like Elizabeth Midford’s possess patches of shade.

In addition, we are not defined solely by our thoughtless, ignoble impulses, but by our responses to them. And how does Lizzy react when she’s forced to acknowledge this hurtful partiality where the twins are concerned, her past self’s failure to value O!Ciel? She sobs her eyes out. She is wracked with guilt. She views herself as an “awful person.”

Does the picture of anguish above look like the face of a girl who doesn’t care? Assuming O!Ciel truly meant nothing to her, I doubt that Lizzy’s conscience would torment her this way.

We do not tolerate Elizabeth Midford slander in this household. Yes, she’s angry, frightened, confused, and flawed...but she’s also one of the kindest and most self-sacrificial characters in this manga, and despite his betrayal, I maintain that she does care for our boi.