#tw misscarriage

[jollyreginaldrancher]

When it hits you that the plane crashed in November and Shauna had her baby after 2 months and change, in Winter, which at most would be something like 4 months after she got pregnant... 5 if we're generous?

Even in the 1/100 chance that the baby did come out alive, it would have been so so premature. No matter how you slice it, that baby was never gonna make it, but the way these girls were so hopeful, even while she was delivering it? It's never not gonna break my heart.

[jokerislandgirl32]

still whining over that fetus you lost?

Zach:

I’m taking this one JIG/Vi…

Wow, anon, you are so bold to assume you can just plop this into my wife’s inbox and think you can get away with it. This is the second time in 2 months that you’ve sent such a vile message to her, not even considering the trauma she and I have endured from the loss of this, “fetus” as you call OUR CHILD. Our daughter who would be nearly 3 years old now, our daughter who never leaves our minds, our daughter who we will love forever.

JIG takes great precautions to label any posts concerning Alexandria accordingly. She has stated that if you don’t want to see these posts you can just block tags or even block her. She does not care! She understands that some people don’t want to see such content! Literally….look at this post, in response to the last hate message you sent her way, she explains it all!

But the fact that you continually seek her content out about this topic and attack her over it, under the guise of an anonymous jerk is despicable. And that’s coming from an evil genius himself!

JIG/Violet and I have discussed the possibility of who you are anon, and we have our suspicions. But she won’t allow me to voice your identity, and even though you don’t deserve it, I will respect her wishes. But I will say: if you are who we think you are, LEAVE HER ALONE. She is done with you and doesn’t want anymore to do with you so just get out of our lives and stop making her miserable. And if you don’t, well….*sigh*….Violet’s giving me a glare, so I better shut up.

JIG/Violet: I’m struggling because of this, but I’m putting this in the main WK tag for a reason, please block the tags (#alexrinellavarm and #loss of child) if you don’t want to see such content.

[depressedtrenchcoatbees]

[pentopaper23]

The First of Many: Chapter Two - Why wouldn’t his hands work!?

Belle knew what was happening before she even opened her eyes. If the wet warm feeling of blood coating her inner thighs wasn’t enough, then the strong deep cramps in her lower stomach were. They hadn’t even been trying but the joy of finding out they were with child was unparallel to anything else. Jack was so excited that Belle thought his smile would be a permanent fixture on his face. But it seems all that joy was for nothing.

“Jack,” Belle gasped in pain smacking her hand on his bare chest. Her husband jerked awake with a start and groaned when he felt that the bed was wet.

“Belle what…” he stopped when he rubbed his fingers together and felt that the liquid was blood.

“No!” He shouted jumping out of the bed to turn on the oil lamp. Belle was laying on her back the bed sheets a tangle around her legs; she had a greyish colour to her face and her hands were cupping her stomach.

“No, no, no,” he said as he ripped the sheets away from her body to find that the bed was indeed covered in blood and a slow trickle was seeping to the edge of the mattress.

“Jack,” Belle said again wincing when she felt a lightning like pain rip through her. She rolled over to curl up on herself and groaned into her pillow.

“I can’t...there’s…” Jack panicked as his hands hovered over Belle’s body not knowing where to put them to help her. He fell to his knees beside the bed.

“I know darling,” Belle said reaching up with a bloody hand to stroke her husband’s face.

If this had been anyone else, he would know what to do and even through his panic he saw diagrams of pregnancy flashing behind his eyes. But this Belle, his wife and for the first time in his career he froze, unable to remember what to do and he didn’t know where to put his god dam hands! Why wouldn’t his hands work! He could feel them shaking as he reached up to cup her sweat covered face and brought this forehead to rest against her. He could feel her trembling and straining against the cramps that were assaulting her and he could nothing to save their child. He could only stay with her, whispering sweet nothings in her ear as she broke apart.

[kristannafever]

Into the Mouth of the Unknown - Part Two

All my wip’s and unfinished fics and this is what I was drawn to most with my desire to write again after over two years  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  

Rated: MA (!TW’s in Tags! - Angst!/Fluff)

WC: 11,214

Into the Mouth of the Unknown (first part)

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

Anna started crying as soon as she heard the car pull up.  It was a sound she recognized as welcomed and excruciatingly painful at the same time.  Not this time, though.  He said he was coming home.  This time he was going to stay.

She ran out to him. He was barely out of the car when she threw herself into his arms.  He hugged her tight, sobbing uncontrollably into her ear.  She realized that she too that she was crying as hard as she ever had.  Each sob was a measure in tortuous relief.  It was over, she knew that, just as she knew they would never get back that lost time.  It was just the way it was.  The way it had to be.

They held each other. It could have been years.  The moment ceased to exist in time.  It was simply them, together again.  Now and for the rest of their days.  

Anna was so overcome with emotion that it took her a minute to realize she was no longer standing. Kristoff had her in his arms, walking them to her house.  

No.  Our house. Kristoff is home now.

He took her into their room and laid her on the bed that they used to share every night… a decade ago.

Kristoff kicked off his boots and settled himself beside her, pulling the unmade sheets over both of them.

“I feel like I haven’t slept in ten years,” he muttered with a sadness in his tone that just about shattered her heart.

“Me either,” she admitted, eyes welling with tears again.  

She listened to him breathe for only a few minutes before she realized he was asleep.  Anna snuggled even further against him and relaxed, ready to join him, wondering idly what lay ahead for them, until sleep took her as well.

-----

They sat at the kitchen table with a coffee cup in front of each of them and stared into each other’s eyes. They slept long and late.  They slept the sleep of the dead.  Anna was so groggy when she woke, she was almost alarmed to find a warm body in her bed.  Then it all came rushing back and she hugged Kristoff tight, accidentally waking him up too.  By the sudden tensing of his body and slow relaxation, she knew he must have woken up very much the same way she did.

They got out of bed without talking much and took turns in the bathroom before they sat themselves at the kitchen table waiting for some coffee to brew.

“You want a smoke or something?” Anna asked, hating that it felt wonderful yet awkward to have him sitting across from her again without the fear that he was going to bolt to his feet and run again.  Well, at least she didn’t think he was going to.  He had told her he was home now, after all.

He slowly shook his head, eyes looking sad all over again.  “I quit.”

Anna nodded.  She understood and pushed her own pack across the table to throw away later.  The past ten years had been very hard on them, emotionally and physically.  Whatever Kristoff had smoked driving back to Oregon had been his last cigarettes, she could see that definite decision as clear as day on his face.  There was no way she was not going to follow his lead on deciding to quit cold turkey.

“So, what now?” she couldn’t help but ask.  Her mind was going in a million places as to how they were going to get back even a semblance of what they used to have.

“I…,” Kristoff sighed. “I don’t know.”

Anna eyed him a moment, watching the way his gaze slowly lowered down to the table.  To the same spot it always did when he was feeling especially guilty about coming back after he kept telling her he wouldn’t. She knew what was going through his mind at that moment.  

“You want to run again, don’t do?”

He looked up quickly. “No.  No, it’s not…” He sighed harder and put his face into his hands. “Maybe… maybe a little, yes,” he mumbled.

Anna nodded, willing back the tears that stung her eyes.  

“I just… it’s the guilt, Anna.  It’s not so easy to shake.”  

“Kristoff, what happened wasn’t-” He jerked his head up so quickly, eyes blazing, that Anna choked on her words.  

“Don’t!  It was!  It is! And it always will be, okay?  I can’t have it any other way.”

Anna nodded again, almost shaking with seeing such sudden intensity from him.  Was everything going forward going to be this hard?  After all they had shared together before Elsa’s death, had everything in the past decade ruined that?  She knew things were going to be different, but were they even compatible anymore?  Were they capable of anything other than angry sex and being mostly silent in each other’s presence?  They’d hardly said a dozen words to each other since he got back the night before.

Kristoff slid his open palm across the table and spoke softly, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Anna sniffed, putting her hand in his and looking into his haunted eyes.  She wondered if they would always look like that.

“Where do you think we should start?”, he asked, voice as tender as she’d ever heard it in the past ten years.  

She shrugged.  “Well, I already quit my job when you told me you were coming home, so we should move, I guess.  Now that… that you’re… back with me, we can start fresh… you know?”

Kristoff seemed to ponder that a moment and Anna had to wonder why she suddenly felt so afraid to talk frankly to him.  Maybe she was more worried of him changing his mind that she realized.  He just still looked so… broken.  And he clearly still felt the pull to leave.

“Where would you want to move?” he asked, raising his eyebrows in an encouraging way as if he picked up on her nervousness to speak her mind.

Anna shrugged again. She couldn’t help herself. “Anywhere, really.  You’ve been all over the country, where would you want to start our new home?”

He looked confused for a moment.  “What about being close to your…” he swallowed hard, “Your family?”

Now Anna felt confused. “My parents are dead, Kristoff. Have been for years.”

As she saw his face pale in front of her eyes, Anna realized with a sickening realization that she had never outright told him that.  All the times he’d been to see her since they both passed and she had never actually mentioned it to him.  Never said the words out loud.  She had rehearsed it, so many times, she was sure that one time she was drunk that she had come outright and told him… then again she couldn’t remember what he did after so that must have meant she had mistakenly thought that-

He pulled his hand away from hers and stood quickly, horror all over his face.

“Kristoff, no, listen, I’m so sorry, I really thought that I had told you!  realize I guess I never did-”

But he wasn’t listening. He was turning and walking to the front door like he was going to be sick.  He lurched forward briskly, clearly shaking and stuffed his feet into his worn-out boots so quickly that Anna didn’t have time to put herself between him and the door.  She could only chase after him as he marched towards his car.  

“Kristoff, please! Don’t go!  Not now!  You said you were coming home for good!”

He either didn’t hear her or didn’t care because he threw himself in the driver’s seat, slammed the door and gunned the engine to life.  The car surged forward and hit the street with a squeal of the tires.  

Tears fell mercilessly down her face as she watched him speed out of sight.  And then, at the end of the street where he stopped at a four-way… he sat.  For a moment Anna wondered if he was deciding which way to go, but after he sat there longer, and longer, she understood.  

Never taking her eyes form the car as she took a seat at the bottom step of the stairs to their house, she watched as the car slowly pulled forward, turned right, and made a big circle to come back to the house.  Kristoff pulled slowly up the driveway and stopped, put the car in park and turned off the engine.  With that done, Anna went inside.  He needed this time to think, she realized that now.  All his thinking in the past decade had been completely on his own. He would come in when he was ready.  

As Anna shut the front door and went to make something for some sort of brunch, she felt a sense of relief to know that he was, in fact, not going to leave her again.  But he was still a broken man who was trying to repair himself in a way that he could be functional with her.  Anna knew she needed to give him the time and space to do that, no matter how hard it was going to be on her.

-----

“Thanks, Anna,” Kristoff muttered as he cleared up their plates.

It hadn’t been much. All she had in the fridge was a loaf of bread, some cheese, and a very sad and wrinkly tomato.  Certainly not a breakfast of champions.  Or lunch for that matter since it was nearly noon.

Kristoff had shuffled back in the house two hours after Anna went inside.  She offered to cook, such as toasting bread can be called cooking, and he agreed, taking a seat at the table and watching her silently while she went about making the food.  They were silent still as they ate and the sound of both of them chewing the dry toast grated on Anna’s nerves.  Feeling so incredibly alone the past decade aside, she still hated silence.  Normally she always had the damn idiot box on for background noise, but she didn’t want to disturb Kristoff.  She knew he preferred silence.  Even before he liked quiet to read or think.

When he was done cleaning the dishes, he poured them each a fresh cup of coffee and sat back down at the table and spoke slowly, pointedly.

“How?  When?”

Anna took a deep breath. “My Dad, four years ago. Stoke.  My Mom, about seven months after him.”  She shrugged now.  “In her sleep.  Broken heart, I guess.”

Kristoff stared at her a moment before burying his head into his arms on the table.  “Oh God, Anna, I’m so sorry.  I’m so fucking sorry.”

He was crying and it was impossible for Anna not to cry when he was crying.   They remained that way until neither one of them seemed to have any more energy to shed emotion.  When Kristoff looked up, he could not meet her eyes with his.  

“And you were all alone for those loses.  Just like your sister,” he sniffed.

All she could do was nod even thought he was staring at the wall.

He heaved a shaky sigh. “Well, quitting smoking aside, I need a drink.  Or, drinks. Is that Pub still down the street?”

“It’s a health food store now.”

“The liquor store still a block over?”

“I have booze, Kristoff.”

He finally looked at her. “I need to think, Anna.”

“You can think here,” she offered softly.

He shook his head and stood. “I’ll be back.”

Anna didn’t bother following him to the door.  All she did was whisper “I know” to an empty kitchen.  

-----

She was surprised to hear his car pull back into the driveway an hour later.  She knew he didn’t drive drunk after what happened. Had that changed now that he was back? Did he have a couple beers and figure he’d be fine to drive?  Or did someone else drive him home?

With her own drink in hand, she sat on the couch in the living room and waited.  He walked in, looked right at her, and without breaking his gaze, took his boots off, shut the door and leaned his back against it.

“I sat in the parking lot for a bit.  Couldn’t bring myself to go in.”

Anna nodded, trying to keep the emotion from her face.

“This is hard for me.”

“I know it is, Kristoff.”

“And it is for you too.”

Anna opened her mouth to protest, only to shut it and nod slightly.  He was always so preceptive.  She knew that the past years hadn’t changed that.  They hadn’t talked much when they were together, but she knew he was still very much aware.  Too aware, if she had to say so herself.

“We’ll figure this out… won’t we?”  His eyes were pleading.

Anna’s heart melted. She placed the drink she no longer wanted down as she got up and walked to him, folding herself against him in a hug which he returned eagerly.  From there she simply had to look up at his face and he was kissing her.  Softly.  Oh, so softly.  Like he used to before.

Eventually they went to the bedroom, kissing and caressing each other with a forgotten tenderness and appreciation.   They fell onto the bed, slowly undressing one another until they were naked under the covers re-learning all the wonderful curves and discovering all the new scars and hardships of the past ten years over their bodies.  For the first time in over a decade, they made love.

Afterward they fell asleep with no talk, too tired to care that they were about to sleep the rest of the afternoon away.

-----

They woke sometime around five and lazed about in bed, talking idly about what they might do for dinner.  It didn’t take too long to settle on take-out since neither of them wanted to leave the house.  Their talk moved to other things, what had changed since he’d be gone, some of the jobs he did when he was away and he places he stayed at.  Then Anna mentioned that she still owned her parents house – left to her when they died – and rented it out for income, and Kristoff immediately went on guard.  Anna had a feeling it was going to be like this for a while, but there were still some things she needed to clear up before she could put talk of her parents to rest for a long time.  

“Kristoff, I need to tell you something else,” Anna started, not sure how to bring it up but figuring the rip-it-off-quickly band aid approach might be best.

His eyes rolled over to meet hers, weary and worried all over again.

She swallowed.  “I know that it was my father who told you to leave.”

He seemed surprised. “He told you?”

Anna sighed. “No.  Never.  Like you never did.  I figured it out.  I knew, Kristoff.  If there was any reason in the world that you would leave like that, it was because my father told you to get out of my life.”

He looked at her for a long time, stoic, when he finally spoke.  “And I just confirmed that, didn’t I?”

She couldn’t help but nod.

He sighed and looked at the ceiling.  “And I suppose you wonder what would have happened had one of us just told you the truth?”

“No,” she said immediately, then hesitated a moment before continuing.  “Well… not at first.  I was too hurt, way too hurt to even think about reasons.”  She felt his body stiffen and added quickly, “But I understood, Kristoff.  The first time you came back, when you left so suddenly… that was when I figured it out. And I understood.”

“And yet you didn’t even feel the need to ask him, or me, or even mention it to me when he died?”

Anna felt anger well up despite herself and sat up.  He immediately followed to look her in the eyes.

“You weren’t here,” she said through gritted teeth.  Despite how much she felt for Kristoff and his feelings, hers mattered too and she was dammed if she was going to spare him at this moment.  

“Anna-”

She didn’t care about the sudden panic in his eyes again, or the apology or the worry.  This needed to be said.  “You were gone, Kristoff.  You weren’t a part of my life.  For ten years, I didn’t know when I would see you next.  Day after day, month after month, I waited, wondering, hoping, wishing! I’m not going to apologize for keeping you posted on my life during that time when all we did was smoke, drink and fuck!”

His eyes narrowed, and for a second Anna almost thought was furious at her, then he turned his head and looked at the wall, grimacing back more tears and she realized he was furious with himself.

Anna went on, tone firm but gentle.  “I did ask my father once.  A couple of months after you came back the first time.  I asked him outright if he told you to get out of my life, and he said he would never do such a thing.  Perhaps in his grief and stress he forgot, or he straight up lied to my face, I don’t know. But I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was lying, because you were gone.  And you never said goodbye.”

“How could I?” he mumbled at the wall, sniffing and wiping the back of his hand across his eyes. “Your father told me he couldn’t lose you too and that he didn’t want me in your life.  And you know what?  I agreed with him.  If it was our daughter…”

Kristoff choked and dissolved into sobs, curling himself into a fetal position and burying his face in the covers.  Anna laid down with him and curled herself around his back, holding him, wishing for the millionth time that she had been driving the car that night.  She would give anything to spare Kristoff the guilt he was carrying.

-----

For the next week they did little but sleep and talk and try and heal their bodies from a decade of cigarettes, drinking too much and too little sleep.  It was hard, and they both felt like shit, but also good at the same time for clearing up their minds and bodies, clearing up the lost history between them, and working on mending the rift that had come between them.  

They laid in bed, talking about where they might go to start their new life.  Neither of them wanted to stay in Oregon, as beautiful as it was. There was too much pain in Oregon.

“San Francisco?” Anna asked.

Kristoff shook his head. “Way too expensive there.”

Anna sighed, although not in a dejected way.  “This is hard you know.  Why can’t you suggest anywhere?”

“Because I’ve been all over this country.  You tell me where you want to go,” she gave him a pointed look, “Within reason,” he raised the arm from the bed that wasn’t holding her to make a point.  “You want in the bay area?  It’s going to be Oakland.”

Anna hummed, twisting her mouth in thought.  “I’m not sold on California.  I just want to see San Francisco someday.”

Kristoff’s heart fell. It had been doing that a lot in the last week.  He had no money and Anna didn’t have a lot saved.   She was paying the mortgage on her own after all.  She had her parents’ house – which was more of a cottage – but it had fallen into disrepair and wouldn’t make a huge impact for them when it was sold with the renovations it needed.  If he’d stayed, the money situation would be different, he was sure of that.  But now they were a decade older and starting from scratch again.  Less than that actually, because back then he had a promising construction job.  Now he’d have to figure out what his social insurance number was to get a legitimate tax paying job again… and then there was what he was doing with himself for the past ten years which he was sure the IRS would be curious about-

“What’s the East coast like?”

Kristoff thought about that a moment, feeling relieved any time Anna took him away from his dark inner thoughts.  “It’s the same, but different.  Does that make sense?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Manhattan is something to see.”  He just about smiled, but couldn’t quite bring himself to do so.

“Yeah?”

He nodded.  “I was only there once though.  Too expensive, not enough cash work.  Now, New Jersey on the other hand, there was some good work there.”

Anna was silent a moment before she asked.  “All those odd jobs you told me about and all the places you found work… you never liked a place you wanted to settle in?”

Kristoff thought back to the one time he’d almost felt comfort since the accident, even though then it had still been very fresh, and maybe that was the reason it had felt that way to him.  “Well, I almost felt that once.  It was in Canada.”

Anna sat up and looked down at him.  “You went to Canada?”

Kristoff nodded, a small smile he could not stop spreading on his face to think about Cliff and Bea again and the kindness they had shown him.  He told Anna all about it.  He opened up to her in a way that he could see that she needed from him, and they talked about it for so long that by the time she knew all there was to know – the good and the bad – it was well into the evening and they were famished for dinner.

“Where should we go?” Anna asked as she dressed, excited that Kristoff had suggested they go to a restaurant.  

All week they’d been sheltering in the house, ordering takeout and grocery delivery as they healed, and for someone who hadn’t spent more than a couple days in the same place while he lived out of his car for the past decade, being stuck in their little house for a week was making him stir crazy.  

“Anywhere you want, Anna. I don’t know what’s around here anymore.”

The past pain flashed across her face, but it was quickly replaced with a smile.  “There’s a cool new Pub looking over the ocean on the other side of town.  I’ve been dying to go there.”

“There we shall go, then,” Kristoff smiled.

They readied themselves and got into Kristoff’s car, and he sat in the front seat like he had done thousands of times before, and nearly put it in drive before Anna even had her door shut.  Muscle memory was a hell of a thing and he was shaking his head at himself as he looked over at Anna as she buckled her seatbelt.

She looked back at him and smiled and suddenly Kristoff was struck with the weirdest sense of déjà vu. He had imagined her there in that seat millions of times as he crossed the county, smiling at him just like she was smiling now.  Suddenly he couldn’t breathe.  He felt panicky and scared.  He felt exactly like when Anna told him her parents had died when he was off being a selfish piece of shit.

Her smile was faltering. He needed to say something but he couldn’t think straight.  All he saw was her there, and then not, and then there, like he imagined her in his mind, but she was here for real and he knew it was different but he was having a hard time comprehending what was happening, even after the past week they had spent together.

“I can drive,” she offered, clearly trying to offset his obvious panic.  

“I need to sell this car,” was all he managed before he kicked the door open and practically threw himself out of the vehicle.  He tried to get back to the house but the next thing he knew he was face down in her dry lawn.  He could hear her calling his name and felt her hands on his body, trying to roll him back over.   Almost every fibre of his being wanted to quit then, to give up, because this was too damn hard no matter how much he tried to trick himself into thinking that it was going to work out.  He was too broken, too damaged.  There was no hope for him and would never be, because he had taken an innocent life and destroyed Anna’s.  All of the sudden he was laying in the snow, looking at that green lighter and he felt like he was finally going insane.

Then he heard his name though the fog.  It was Anna. It was always Anna.  Whenever he heard a voice telling him something in his head in the past decade that he was unsure about, it was always Anna.  She was, and always would be, the thing in the world that he could not live without, no matter where she was or what she happened to be doing.  He shuddered to think of what he would have done had he returned to Oregon all those years ago and found out she hadn’t made it.  Beyond a shadow of a doubt, he would have taken his own life right then and there.

“Kristoff!  Kristoff!”

He opened his eyes and found hers.  There was pain in her eyes, sadness, worry, love and a whole lot more that he could not place.  He opened his mouth, feeling a weird calm wash over him.  It was like he finally saw a way back to some normalcy.

“Can we just order pizza tonight?” He tried his best smile despite still feeling disoriented.

Anna stared at him a moment before her mouth twisted down in a half smile, half grimace, that tugged on his heart.  “Sure, Kristoff.  Yes, I would love to order some pizza.”

He sat slowly, with her help, surprised he didn’t feel at all like passing out anymore.  He was dead serious about selling the car. There was no way he was going to sit in that thing ever again.

“I will take you out tomorrow night, Anna.  That is a promise.  But we need to take your car.”

Anna nodded at him, and he found complete understanding in her eyes.

-----

They sold Kristoff’s car first.  Technically it had been Anna’s, but Kristoff stole it and claimed it as his the night he left.  He lived in it for a decade, it was his car.  He was not sad to see it go.  In fact, he practically gave it away to a young college-bound kid just trying to get out of their small town.  The kid was ecstatic and Kristoff was happy to see it drive out of his life forever. He knew the car would do the kid well. He’d taken meticulous care of it himself.  It had been his mode of transportation and the only roof over his head, after all.

Next was Anna’s parent’s cottage and neither of them expected that to go as easy as it had. When Anna approached the renters that she was planning on selling the place, they suggested visiting the bank and trying to see if they could make an offer.  Anna agreed that was a good idea and threw them a price way below market value since there was so much work to be done on the place.  They were a pair of young lovers, like him and Anna had been once, and Kristoff had a feeling Anna felt much about her parent’s place as he had about his car.  The bank came back with a mortgage value for the kids that was slightly below the amount of rent they’d been paying and Anna was happy to sign all the papers to make the place theirs.  

Then it was time to sell the house they had started their lives in.  Anna had done her best with the upkeep, but the outside needed a lot of work and the realtor said the kitchen was severely outdated.   In the end they decided not to do any of the work but to list it for what the realtor thought they could get.  The amount he gave then was slightly disappointing.

Over the next two weeks of house showings and trying to figure out where they were going to move, Kristoff and Anna had grown incredibly close again.  They still struggled, and Kristoff still had merciless nightmares, but they were making it work better than either of them had expected. They even began to laugh together again, a sound Kristoff missed to much he still felt jolted to hear it.  

They sat at the kitchen table chatting with the realtor after yet another open-house and he was telling them he felt good about a few people who’d come through.  One older couple even had visions of all the renovations they could do to the place, which was apparently encouraging talk to the realtor.  Deep down, however, Kristoff felt a twinge of sadness to realize that this place would no longer be theirs.  Not that he really had any claim it, he’d left Anna and it was all in her name now, but they’d bought it together and they were proud of themselves.  He wondered if wherever they ended up if he’d feel the way they felt when they spent their first night in the little house they had bought on their own.

That night for dinner, Kristoff took Anna to a little Italian place on the other side of town and asked her what she thought about it, sharing the feelings he had earlier in the afternoon.

“Well,” she hesitated, putting her fork down and taking a sip of water.  “I understand why you feel that way, Kristoff.  You haven’t had a place to live in over ten years… I did. And it was our house.  But I was alone.”  

Kristoff nodded, not taking his eyes form hers.  They were past expressing hurt and confusion over what had happened.  Now they talked about it frankly.  The scabs were getting thicker day by day.

“I had wanted to leave so many times, I guess I won’t be that upset to actually leave it behind, you know?”

“I get that.  I know I’d feel the same way if I was in your shoes.”

She smiled at him softly. “Can we take a vacation before we settle down?  A little road trip?”

That surprised Kristoff a little and he raised an eyebrow.  “A vacation?  Where would we go?”

Anna chewed her lip and looked down for a moment, thinking, then brought her eyes back up to his. “Maybe Canada?  That place you went afterwards?  Unless, that would be too painful?  I understand if this is way out of line, but I just can’t get the thought out of my head after you told me about it and I just kind of wanted to… what? What’s with the look?”

Kristoff couldn’t help but chuckle softly.  “You know what’s weird, I was having the same thought about going back to see them. Like you said, a road trip. Except maybe this time we stop along the way and see some sights.  A proper vacation.”

Anna’s face lit up and Kristoff was happy they’d finally picked a way to start over once the house was sold.  

-----

Two days later the realtor came in with an offer from the couple he had mentioned to them.  They were new retirees with no kids and three dogs and they had fallen in love with the potential to make the place their own. The offer was below listing, but Kristoff and Anna accepted it anyway and agreed to a thirty-day close.  

Two days before the turnover date, they packed only the things they really wanted and a few mementos and piled them in the trunk and back of Anna’s car.  They both decided to donate their furniture to the community and the house was completely empty by the end of the day.  Kristoff had booked them a room in one of the nicer hotels in town and they were excited to hit the road in the morning and head up to Canada. It had been a pain in the ass for Kristoff to get a new passport, but once he had all his paperwork sorted, he was able to get it done just in time.  

For what felt like the first time in his life, Kristoff was excited for what lay ahead.  And he knew Anna was too.

-----

“Okay, it’s official, I’m obsessed with Tim Hortons.”

Kristoff laughed behind the wheel of the car as they pulled away from the drive-thru.   “Locals just call it Timmy’s.”

“I’m obsessed with Timmy’s then.  Especially these Ice Capps.”

“Those and your Timbits.”

Anna chuckled with him and settled further into her seat, heart full and happy.  Their time visiting Cliff and Bea had been wonderful and Anna had a new appreciation for the story Kristoff had told him of his time with them.

Bea had instant tears in her eyes when she opened the door and saw Kristoff standing there.  She pulled him, and Anna, into a wonderful bear hug before she even said hello.  Cliff appeared at the door a moment later, curious expression turning into one of genuine happiness to see who had knocked on their door.  He embraced them both as well and they were invited in for dinner.

Anna loved their little home.  It was everything she imagined a grandmother’s home would look like, even though Kristoff had told her they were never able to have their own kids.   The colours were earthy and warm, the furniture – though dated – was taken care of and comfortable, and the wonderful smells coming from the kitchen could only by Bea’s home cooking and Anna’s stomach started grumbling as soon as they stepped inside.

Cliff and Bea never asked Kristoff what he’d been up to the past decade and Anna knew that Kristoff had appreciated that.  Instead, they had filled him in on the happenings in their town, what had changed, what had stayed the same, who had died, who got married and who moved away. Kristoff hung on every word, clearly remembering all the people they had been talking about.  Anna sat in silence for the most part but she was simply happy to listen, getting more and more of a picture of what Kristoff’s life had been like back then.

Anna jumped at the chance to help Bea get dinner on the table and enjoyed talking to the older woman about herself when she was asked questions.  Bea was clearly an intuitive person and never asked her anything personal about her and Kristoff, just things about herself as a person.  Did she like to read?  What was her favourite flower?  Was this her first time in their country?  Wonderfully simple things that Anna appreciated.  And Bea was very gracious in answering all Anna’s similar questions.  

It struck Anna how easy it was to talk to Bea when she was setting the table.  Even easier than her own mother, and that was even before Elsa had died.  Afterward, talking to her parents was difficult.  It was as if when they looked at her, they only saw Anna’s boyfriend who got their precious first born killed.  Part of her always felt that they resented her for that.  They did nothing to make her feel any other way about it.  She only had wished they understood how hard it was for her, and how impossibly hard it had been on Kristoff.  They could not put themselves in hers or his shoes.  Anna loved her parents unconditionally, but when they passed away, she had to admit that there was a very small, deep-down part of her that felt relief she would no longer see that resentment in their eyes.  

Bea had put a hand on Anna’s shoulder and she realized she had zoned out, pondering the feelings of the past.  She felt embarrassed, hoping that Bea wouldn’t ask her what was wrong, but she didn’t.  She simply smiled a sweet and understanding smile at Anna and asked if she would please call the boys in for dinner.  Anna happily did so and they all had a wonderful meal together.

That night they stayed in the room Kristoff had once occupied while he tried to heal a broken ankle and came to terms with living with a broken heart.  Kristoff told Anna they would insist they stay instead of wasting money on a hotel.   It was a wonderful gesture and they were happy to stay, but both Kristoff and Anna lay awake that night, no words between them but their minds both thinking about similar things.  Eventually Kristoff pulled Anna into an embrace, mumbled in her ear, and they were able to fall asleep.

“There were so many nights back them I wished you were here with me,” he had sighed.  “I’m grateful that you are here now.”

-----

They had stayed for three days, Anna taking a great delight in helping around the house while Kristoff and Cliff went about working on things outside that needed to be done. Bea had taught Anna how to bake a perfect loaf of bread, the process of canning preservatives and the art of saving things around the house for re-use in various other ways.  Anna knew most people their age had lived through some financially hard times and knew all the best ways to save a buck and reduce useless waste, which was very much unlike her parents.  They had squandered a lot of the money her father’s family had, and by the time Anna and Elsa came around they were living a comfortable middle-income existence with little regard for tossing things into the trash.

When it came time for Kristoff and Anna to move on, there was a palpable sadness as they said their goodbyes.  Unlike the last time Kristoff had left however, or so she imagined from what he had told her, there was a good feeling amongst the four of them.  A feeling of hope and a feeling of a future, and a promise to keep in touch and return again someday.  

This time there were no tears with the goodbye.

They drove towards the mountains and ended up in Banff, a place Kristoff said he’d always heard Cliff and Bea talk about.  Even though they were in the cheapest motel in the whole town, it was clean and well taken care of and they had a wonderful time while they were there.  Kristoff took her all over, driving something called the Minnewanka Loop, taking a gondola up to the top of Sulphur Mountain, exploring the museums in town and going to the Cave and Basin National Historic sight, where some of the first settlers of the area believed that the natural hot springs had healing qualities.   Anna was in awe of the beauty of everything, especially the spectacular Rocky Mountains that towered around the town, all their angles gleaming in the sunlight.

On their last night while they lay in their motel bed after making love, Anna told Kristoff what had been on her mind all day.   The more and more she thought about it, the more conviction she had that it was the right decision to make.  

“I’ve lived by the ocean my whole life.  I want to live close to the mountains.  Our new home should be in the mountains.”

Kristoff had smiled at her with an incredulous shake of his head.  “Even after all this time, we still have the same ideas.”

Anna grinned, heart filling anew with joy and excitement for what lay ahead.  

-----

They followed the Rocky Mountains south and a week later they arrived in Denver.   They figured it was the best place to start out since jobs in small mountain towns were scarcer than that of a city.  

They did all the right things.  They got themselves a small apartment, they got life insurance and added Kristoff to Anna’s health insurance.  They got jobs and they got rental insurance and they bought another beater car for Kristoff to drive to and from work since they both headed in opposite directions. They shopped grocery sale items and put whatever money they saved each month into an interest-bearing account. They did all the proper adulting things they could, because they had a new dream to buy a place of their own in a small mountain town and start some sort of business for themselves to sustain the rest of their lives.

Five months after they began their new lives there, Anna found a better paying job closer to home and Kristoff was promoted at the construction company he worked for, which came with a raise.  They went out to celebrate that night, an extra fancy place for the one night a month they went for a meal out, and toasted each other on a job well done.

It was a wonderful moment in time and they had a wonderful evening.  Life was looking very bright, but darkness has a way of hiding around the corner, and it can fall upon you when you least expect it.

-----

“Do you ever think about kids?”

Kristoff choked on the coffee he had just taken a sip of, coughing and sputtering as he wiped the back of his hand across his mouth.  

“I’m only thirty-one, Kristoff.  It’s certainly not too late,” she added, not giving him much of a chance to catch his breath let alone think straight.  “Even if we had two kids in three or four years, we would still be at an appropriate age, I mean, a lot of people have kids later in life these days, right?”

Kristoff had a feeling this was going to come up someday soon, but he was still unprepared for the feeling it had given him for Anna to actually bring it up.  His mind was racing in all sorts of directions, but deep down his heart always harboured a desire to have children with Anna.  And right in that moment, he realized that there was nothing his damaged mind could do to remove that yearning from his soul.

“Anna,” he coughed, trying his best to repress the spasms of his throat, but Anna wasn’t done pleading her case.

“I know that you must have all kinds of thoughts about kids, and maybe you have some reasons for perhaps not wanting to, but I want you to talk to me about this, and even if you want to take some time to think more about it, hopefully we can-”

“Anna,” Kristoff managed more clearly and she stopped, looking at him with those beautiful wide eyes all full of hope.

He cleared his throat a few times, finally confident that he could now speak without hacking.  “The answer is yes, I have thought about having kids.”

“And?” she asked.

The smile that ghosted across her lips almost broke his heart all over again.  He pulled in a deep breath, letting it out slowly as he prepared to tell her the truth, even though he was scared out of his mind.  

“When we were younger, I always knew we’d have kids.  Then after what happened,” he paused, feeling the waves of guilt wash through him for the millionth time.  His smile faltered as the familiar weight settled itself back into his shoulders. “After that,” he continued, raking a hand through his hair and trying his best to look her in the eyes.   “I pictured it often.  Our life with a family.  It hurt, but it was also… nice.  I imagined it a lot actually, no matter how devastated it always made me feel. But now… now with the way things are and with what we can do with what’s left of our lives, I can’t pass on the opportunity to try and have a family with you, Anna.  I can’t.”

She threw herself at him then, weeping with joy and knocking his coffee cup right off the table, clacking off the linoleum floor and spewing coffee everywhere.  It was a wonder the mug didn’t break.

They both decided there was no time like the present, and made love every day for two weeks.  Their efforts were rewarded when Anna’s period was late and a pregnancy test came up positive.  There was no diminishing the joy they had both felt and the love that they had for their baby on the way.  They talked every night about names for boys and girls and all the things they couldn’t wait to experience when the baby came.  

Then on Anna’s ninth week of pregnancy, she started to bleed.

At first it was only spotting, something the baby books said could happen, but then it got worse, and eventually she decided to go to the hospital to find out what was happening.

They did blood tests and an ultrasound and Anna didn’t really know what to think beyond the worry over their baby.  She was anxiously waiting to hear about the results of all the poking and prodding but the next thing she knew it wasn’t a doctor she was talking to, it was grief counsellor, passing her a pamphlet on dealing with the loss of a pregnancy and cooing about how these things happen, they are no one’s fault, and that there were ways to process the grief of the loss.

Anna was numb.  She sat there for a long time after the hospital counsellor left them to deal with the tragedy.  She couldn’t come to grips with what she had been told.  How could this have ended in a miscarriage?  They were supposed to have a baby.  They were supposed to start their family and get the joy out of having children.  They were supposed… it was supposed to happen for fucks’ sake!

They drove in silence. Kristoff hadn’t said one word since they left the hospital.  He was despondent, he wouldn’t even look at Anna when she softly said his name, and Anna was becoming terrified that this was the thing that had broken him for good.

“Kristoff, please, talk to me,” she pleaded, putting her hand gently on his arm that was gripping the steering wheel so tight, his knuckled were white.

Suddenly he wrenched the car to the right, plowing into the shoulder and slamming on the breaks. Before Anna could make heads or tails of what was about to happen, he was out of the car and on his knees, screaming up at the sky.  The anguish in his cry turned her blood cold.  

Anna shook violently, fumbling with the door release to get out of the car and get to Kristoff.  Wild fear made her think he was going to get up at any second and hurl himself into oncoming traffic or just take off into the woods on the side of the road and she would never see him again.  

But he wasn’t going anywhere.  His outrage turned into horrible sobs and he laid down in the dirt with his hands over his face by the time Anna reached him.  She kneeled next to him, ignoring the rocks poking her knees through her tights, pleading him to talk to her, to even just look at her.

Eventually he did and Anna didn’t know what to make of the eyes looking back at her, but he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she could never have kids with Kristoff.  If they tried again and this happened again… it would be the death of him.  

-----

Kristoff was too messed up to do anything but slump his body across the backseat, so his miscarrying wife was forced drive his pathetic ass home.   Everything he had taken from Anna, her sister, ten years of her life, her future, and now he had taken a family away from her too.

He closed his eyes and wished he was dead.

Anna was talking softly to him the whole way.  He wasn’t sure what she was saying however, he was too far gone in his own mind.   He wasn’t even entirely sure if she had helped him into the back seat, or of he had just slithered himself into the car like the snake that he was.

Voices through the fog told him he was a monster.  That he was the reason that they lost their child.  Kristoff was a murderer after all, of course their child would pay that price with its life.  That was how Karma worked right?  An eye for an eye.  He’d taken a life so a life was taken from him.  Only it wasn’t, it was taken from Anna, right from inside of Anna.  Again, she was suffering because of him.  She would always suffer because of him.  What he needed to do was finally get himself dead and spare her the curse that he was on her life.

Then Anna’s sweet voice broke through the midst.  She was telling him to see a therapist.  She’d said it before, many times, and he wondered if it was memory he was hearing, or her talking to him now.  She was still there, he could feel her presence.  He knew she was talking, but he was simply unable to focus on what she was saying at that moment.

I don’t want you in Anna’s life anymore. I can’t lose another daughter!   Do you understand that? I can’t!

Kristoff winced as Anna’s father shouted at him.  Then all of the sudden he was looking at Elsa’s twisted body in the snow, the words coming again but echoing as though they were far away.  Anna’s mothers sobs echoed from the dark forest all around the wrecked car.

A green lighter. Blood in the snow. A broken body.

Blackness.

-----

Kristoff startled awake when something cool touched his face.  He jerked up in surprise, scaring Anna as she was trying to adjust a cold washcloth onto his forehead.  Anna gasped, flinching back in a way that made Kristoff sick to his stomach to realize that he was the reason she looked scared.  

In all of the earth, was there a sadder excuse for a man than him?  He didn’t think so.

“Kristoff, are you okay? Talk to me, please.”

He stared into her eyes and he was suddenly filled with intense shame.  Outburst aside, he should never have shut down like that.  Anna was in pain, losing the baby, and he was acting like a fucking child having a temper tantrum.  He felt at a profound new low, and that was saying something.

His mouth opened but he had no words.  There was nothing he could say.  He realized then that no matter if the voice of Anna he heard was one from the past or from earlier that day, he needed some help.  

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, sitting up and sliding towards the open door to get out.  He took a couple of breaths before taking to his feet, steadying himself with the open car door.  His legs felt like jelly and his heart lay heavy in his chest.  How could he tell Anna that he absolutely could not live through this again?  How could he tell her that he had to break his promise, that he could not try again to have a child with her?

“It’s okay, Kristoff. It’s okay.  I understand, alright?”

Anna was nodding supportively but the deep sadness was like a neon sign on her forehead.  He didn’t have to tell her he was going to break her heart again.  She knew.

She always knew.

-----

Therapy was working wonders for Kristoff, and it didn’t take long for him to come to terms that what had happened to their first baby was ‘just one of those things’.  It made him feel more human to realize that the part of his soul that wanted to have kids with Anna wasn’t killed as he had feared it had been that day three months ago when they went to the hospital.

Anna was washing dishes when Kristoff got home.  He was slightly annoyed to see her doing so, insisting that since she got home from work first and always made dinner, that she was to leave all the dishes to him, even tough she came home from work most days on her lunch break to cook for herself since she worked so close.  He found her doing her lunch dishes more often than not and it bothered him that she simply wouldn’t leave them for him like he’d asked.  He would cook dinner if he made it home earlier, but with his long work hours and regular therapy sessions, she was always the one to get the groceries and make dinner.  Perhaps he was annoyed because he felt like he wasn’t providing for her the way he wanted to.  Likely, he was annoyed with himself and not her.

The things he was learning in therapy still amazed him.

Letting his petty annoyance go, he stepped up behind Anna and wrapped his arms around her waist, nuzzling his nose against her neck and planting soft kisses on her skin.

“I know, I know,” she started.  “You want to do the dishes, but dinner is all in the oven and I know you work so hard so I just thought-”

“Let’s try and have another baby,” he said against her skin.

Anna stopped washing and her body went ridged in his embrace.  He let the silence stretch, at peace with his decision, even if Anna decided that she was the one who didn’t want to try again, he was calm.  But he knew her, and he knew she wanted a family with him more than anything.  The only reason she wouldn’t have one, would be because she changed her mind.   He vowed to himself it would not be because of him.

“Kristoff,” she sniffed, still not moving and clearly trying not to cry.  “I don’t want to put you through anything like that again if… well if…”

“It’s okay, Anna.” He said, gently turning her around to face him.  She still had wet hands and a sopping sponge in her hand that dripped onto the floor between them.  “I want to try again.  As long as you are willing and this is still something you want?”  Anna nodded quickly.  “Then I do, too.”

The sponge made a splat sound on the floor as they embraced each other with tears in their eyes.

-----

Kristoff thought he was going to pass out he was so scared.  His heart jackhammered away in his chest as he tried to remember all the information from those damn classes.

“Breathe, breathe,” he kept repeating while his mind drew a blank on literally any other word that he knew.  His whole vocabulary, out the window.

“I am breathing!” she half moaned, half screamed, baring her teeth with her eyes squeezed shut.  Her hand had his in a death grip but he didn’t feel it, all he felt was unbridled terror that something was going to go wrong.

“You’re doing great, Anna. Push on the next contraction, okay? You can do it.”

Kristoff barely heard the doctor, but Anna opened her eyes and nodded her agreement to the woman positioned between her legs, then her eyes went to him.

He nodded at her, speechless, trying to be reassuring when all he felt was cold dread.  Despite all the therapy, there was still a part of him that was convinced he was going to lose Anna and the baby because of the car accident when they were young.  

“I’ve got this.” Anna said to him.

Kristoff blinked, seeing new determination on Anna’s face.  Part of him felt that it was there more for his benefit than hers, and that made him feel pretty bad about himself as a man.  Anna was giving birth to their child and in more pain than he could ever imagine, and here she was being strong for his fragile psyche as well. He was going to have to take up this incredibly inadequate feeling in his next therapy session.

Anna gave a guttural groan as she pushed again and then all of the sudden, she gasped, and the room was filled with the wail of a baby.

“It’s a girl!” Announced the doctor, pulling the baby up and gently placing her on Anna’s chest before resuming a flurry of activity of next steps that Kristoff had read about in books but failed to bring to mind just then.  All he could do was stare at the small form on Anna’s chest as both mother and baby cried.

He was in shock.  The world around him went gray and he wondered idly if he’d kill himself by hitting his head on the way down to the floor. That would be fitting, since he had made a deal long ago with whatever higher power might be out there, that if anyone in his family was going to bite the dust next, it better be him, or there would be literal hell on earth to pay for it.  

A nurse caught him by the shoulder and forced his ass clumsily down into a seat as they greyness went in and out on the sides of his vision.  Anna was calling his name, bringing him back, but it was slow, fighting the urge to just slump over and take a quick nap to reorient himself.   Finally, he came back, and his focus cleared on Anna and her breathtaking smile beaming proudly at him.

And that was it.

Clarity took over and he had tears in his eyes before he even realized it.  

A girl. Their baby girl. Their daughter. She was finally here.

-----

Unlike the previous time, they had wanted to find out the gender of this baby rather than have it be a surprise at birth like their first.  An unlike the birth of their daughter, Kristoff held new strength and new conviction, determined to be a rock at Anna’s side.

“How the fuck did I do this last time without an epidural?” Anna groaned miserably.

“Because you were too far dilated.  Don’t worry, the nurse said they’ll be here soon.”

“They fucking better be!” Anna wailed as another contraction took over.

Kristoff rubbed her back while she stood and leaned herself against the bed, riding it out and trying to breathe.

“I swear it’s because it’s a boy,” Anna panted as the contraction ebbed.  “More morning sickness, high blood pressure, all of it!”

Kristoff had to laugh. They had been talking about that for the past three days.  They both had a feeling this little boy was going to be a handful.

Their daughter was going to be eighteen months old in two weeks.  It might seem a little crazy to have two kids under two, but Kristoff and Anna both wanted two kids, if it was in the cards, and they wanted them as quickly as they could have them.  When they agreed to start trying again nine months after their daughter was born, they had almost assumed it would be a little while before she got pregnant again, but apparently, they were the two most fertile people on earth, and the pregnancy test Anna took four weeks later was positive.  

Anna groaned through another contraction before she was finally got the epidural she had asked for. Afterwards she was able to relax and the birth of their second child went wonderfully while Kristoff spoke encouraging words to her the entire time.  The screaming baby was placed on Anna’s chest and she beamed that proud smile at Kristoff again, giving him an odd but welcoming sense of déjà vu.  He felt that weird clarity again, although this time he was nowhere near fainting.  He smiled back at her, elated.

Now that their son was here, their family was complete.   Kristoff had already made a vasectomy appointment for the next month.  They were excited about their future, excited about watching their kids grow up.  

Excited that they got this second chance at happiness.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

EPOLOGUE

The children’s laughter filled his ears.  The smell of Anna’s famous chocolate chip cookies hit his nose.  His eyes took in the sight of their four grandchildren playing on the lawn.

Kristoff’s heart was full. The cancer was eating away at his body, but his heart was light and happy.

The diagnosis had come months earlier.  Stage two pancreatic cancer.  That night him and Anna had cried themselves so sleep holding each other.   Kristoff had strange dreams of beauty and horror, mingling together, attacking him from both sides.  He felt pulled and stretched, haunted and at peace, scared and resigned.  

The next morning, they phoned their children.

Their daughter was distraught and her family was at their door within the hour.  Their son was upset and angry that such a thing would happen to his father and arrived with his family not long after their daughter. After a lot of tears amongst the adults sitting around the kitchen table while the children played in the next room, the mood began to lighted as they all agreed Kristoff was going to beat this.

And he’d be dammed if he wasn’t going to give it the fight of his life.

Still, there was a part of him that was at peace – almost glad, dare he say – to know that in all likelihood, he’d be the one leaving next, as selfish a thought as that was. His family would grieve and they would be in pain, but they would move on, and he hoped they would all live very long, happy and fulfilled lives, even if he wasn’t there to see the rest of it.

Everything that had happened in his life, he knew that if he died tomorrow, he would die a fulfilled man. Both his kids were married to wonderful people with two children each of their own, and a third on the way for his son. They had their own lives and they had their own futures and he knew they would take care of Anna after he was gone. They all loved her so very much.  

He would be eighty-one next month and that was a respectable age to die.  At least in knowing his death was approaching, he could tell his kids all the things he wanted to tell them.  He could give Anna all the rest of the love he was able to give with his time left.  He could make arrangements and make sure they’d all be taken care of when he was no longer there.  They’d be okay.  

Anna offered him a cookie from the nearly empty plate after the grandkids took fistfuls of them but he politely waved it off.  The chemo was making him sick to his stomach and he had little appetite these days. His chances were about fifty-fifty they told him.  Every morning he pulled a beanie over his nearly bald head and wondered if this was the day the cancer would win the battle.  

He reflected more and more over the life him and Anna got their second chance at having.   There were hard times, times when him and Anna went hungry so that their kids could eat dinner when the bills were more than they could handle.  There were times Kristoff had to work nights so that they’d still have a roof over their heads.  There were times that Anna had to swallow her pride and go to the food bank so that there was something she could pack in their kid’s school lunches.  There was one time Kristoff ended up stealing a loaf of bread, something that bothered him so much, he went back to pay for it eight months later when money wasn’t as tight and he was able to pay back the $1.49. But throughout all the struggles, his kids were happy.  They were all happy.  No matter how hard the struggle was, they were a very close family and they shared many laughs together.  

Kristoff and Anna had worked hard for everything they had.  They even built themselves a business at night instead of sleeping. So tired they were, that their kids often woke them while they dozed off while reading books to them or telling bedtime stories.  On more than one occasion one or both of them would wake in their children’s beds and need to stagger to their own room and collapse back into sleep.  But it was worth it.  Not long after launching their custom printing business, it took off, sales soared, and they were able to live very comfortably with the pleasure of working from home.  While they never did get a home in the mountains – their kids were in Denver and they wanted to stay close to them – they had enough money for yearly vacations all over the globe.  Truly it had been a blessed life, despite everything in their youth.

Kristoff thought about the guilt and those impossibly hard years more along with all the good that had happened.  He supposed it was all part of it, part of his path or whatever.  He was agnostic, he didn’t profess to know what was beyond his capacity to understand, but part of him hoped that there was something beyond death now that it was looming in his very near future.  Whatever the case, he knew he would die at peace.  Anna had given him that.  She’d given him the peace he had longed for in life.  She had given him everything, even after what he’d taken from her.  And he would fight this thing with all the strength he had left, for her.

A squeeze of his shoulder brought him back from his thoughts.

“You okay, Dad?”

Kristoff smiled up at his daughter.  “I’m wonderful, sweetheart.”

“The kids want to know if you want to play hide and seek, but I think maybe you should just rest since-”

“Nonsense!”  Kristoff laughed, struggling a little to get to his feet.  “I’m not going to pass on a chance to play with my grandkids.”  

His daughter helped him down the front porch while they kids squealed that he was ‘it’.  Kristoff closed his eyes and counted loudly to twenty, smiling to himself at hearing them scamper away.  When he opened his eyes, he looked around, already spotting a pair of small shoes poking out from behind the bushes the lined the porch.

“Ready or not, here I come!” He exclaimed, eyes passing up to the porch and catching Anna’s gaze.

She smiled at him. That sweet, understanding, compassionate smile.  He smiled back and mouthed ‘I love you’.  She blew him a kiss and then mouthed it back.  Then he went searching for his hidden grandkids, determined no matter what happened with his illness, that he was going to squeeze every last drop of joy out of however much life he had left.

[thedepthsoffandomminds]

The dragon, The Witch and the Window.

An Aemond x Reader story. - You re his wife but there was another woman. Is there more too it than just an affair?

TW: misscarriage, hinted SA

"A broken heart, my Prince. There is no other explanation. The princess is losing hope. Her wounds will heal but There is nothing I can do." The maester bowed to prince Aemond, who pushed past the wide man to get back into your room. You lay on your side on the bed, staring blankly into the space beside you. He knew he was partly responsible for this, his affair had been a catalyst for a series of events that had broken you. The woman, a maid, had been spirited away to god knows where at his request. The babe in her belly lost to the moon tea given to her. A cry outside the castle told him even Vhagar felt the loss of your dragon. A male, silver skinned and almost as large as his own, he had died one week prior.

Aemond moved to the bed, crouching in front of you.

"My wife, I need you to move, the bed needs to be cleaned. I'm sorry, you cannot lie in this." He desperately wanted you to move, so they could clean the sheets, but you would not. You wouldn't speak to him, when he tried to touch you, your arms would slide below the sheets. Defeated the prince stepped outside the door, brushing by his brother.

"Daemon wait."

"No, I can't Aegon, she hates me. I've ruined everything." Daemon sighed, his fists clenching at his sides.

"I'm sorry brother." Aegon called after him. He closed his eyes, ashamed at his hand in it all. If only he had been smarter, if he had cared for his friend a little more then none of this would have happened.

Aegon pushed back the door, his breath stopped when he saw you.

"Draw a bath for her." He told a maid before walking to you. He had to stop himself from falling apart there and then. You were the only woman he had truely respected, loved even as a friend. You had been a formiddable dragon rider, a wit beyond compare and could drink him under the table. He had not been honourable to you. Aegon took your hand in his own, "come on sweet girl. You need to bath, I'll help you."

You allowed him to move you, guide you from the bed to the large tub, quickly being filled with steaming hot water. Aegon took extra care of your bandaged wrists and the wound on your side, while he slipped the white night gown from your body. The water made little difference to your temperment, though it did sooth the aches in your bones.

Aemond had come back, his eyes stained with tears. He watched as his brother had lifted you up and placed you gently into the bath. Quietly Aegon used a cloth to wet your hair, drawing the dried blood from your white locks. He was sure the red would stain the length for a long time.

"Y/n, you need to come back to us." He whispered to her, "you are my only friend, y/n. It pains me to see you this way." Your eyes moved to his and matching tears fell from your eyes and his. Your mouth opened like you were about to talk, though nothing came out. "Let your husband help you, I know there is anger there, but y/n, you must allow him to help you. Aemond hurts. Please, will you let him?"

You nod your head once. Aemond took that as his cue and as softly as his boots would allow him, he moved to the side of the bath. Aegon slipped away. With shaking hands Aemond took up the bathing cloth and gently ran it over your skin. Gently lifting your arm he used the honey soap to rid your skin of the blood. His heart clenching at the sight of your cut wrists. when his fingers brushed yours you closed your fingers around his hand.

You still would not talk, though you no longer pulled away from his touch. Once the water had grown tepid and all traces of yours and your dragon's blood had been removed Aemond lifted you out of the water. He dressed you in a clean night dress after replacing your bandages. The maids had stripped and remade your bed without you realising it.

Aemond laid you back against the pillow and slid in beside you. He was sure you had fallen asleep, so he let himself find some slumber.

A sob woke him, in the dark room your body in the window casting a shadow over him. You stood with your toes over the edge of the stone wall. Fear burned his blood. He dove out of the bed, dragging the sheets with him and he caught you just in time. Pulling you to the ground in his arms as you'd begun to step off the window. Aemond dropped to the floor, back against the wall.

"You can't do that. Y/n you would've died." He scolded you, holding you tight against his chest. Tears racked your body and his.

"I deserve it?" You shout at him.

"No, no you don't, please." He held you tighter, until your body, exhausted, fell asleep in his arms.

Over the next days Aemond watched you like a hawk. A maid and guard were instructed to stay with you whenever he was made to leave your side. Forcing you to dresseach day, he would hold your arm in his and walk you around the gardens, the gods wood and court. Having you attend dinners with the family each day. Anything to keep you safe from yourself. Aegon took shifts with you, coaxing you to play games with him, chess had once been a favourite between you. You obliged them, did just enough to be considered alive, but you never smiled, and you never spoke.

After another visit from the maester you sat by the fire in your chambers, waiting for your husband to return. Your mother by law, Alicent sat across from you reading a book to you. When Aemond entered she quietly put down the book, kissed the side of your head and pressed a hand to her son's hand. The prince stepped to your side, kissing the back of your hand so softly. He had been so tentative to you, you could almost have forgotten what he did. When he sat across from you you could no longer hold your tongue.

"Why? Why did you do it?" You asked, Aemond knew your meaning.

"She was going to kill you. The woman is a witch, she posed as a maid to gain entry to our home. I had no control of myself. I tried to fight against it, my mind was screaming but I could not control my body. I'm sorry, y/n, when I attempted to stop it she threatened you. I did not think she would actually do anything. She made me watch when she used her magic to bring down your dragon."

"It wasn't magic that left me in a cave for a week with those men." You said. Aemond choked back his emotions.

"I was powerless, trapped in this room..."

"Our child, they..." you couldn't say it. The memory of finding you still haunted Aemond.

It was true the maid had been a witch, her blazen red hair showed her devotion to an old god of light. It had taken six men to break into the room and drag her away. A further day before her spells wore fully off the Prince. When he finally found you in the cave, Dragon cold beside you, his heart broke. Your hands were bound together, tied above you. A large wound from the fall covered your lower back and left side. Below you the remains of a baby he hadn't known was inside you lay bloody on the stones.

"I carried you back here, I was so confused. I hardly remember those weeks. I keep trying to, trying to find answers "

"I lost everything, my dragon, my baby, my husband." A sob shook your chest. Aemond dropped to his knees in front of you. His hands holding your knees.

"I'm here, I'm right here. I'm yours, you haven't lost me." He drops his head.

You look into the fire, feeling no warmth from it. There had been no heat in fire since that day. As his last act your beloved dragon, Rhegaran, had breathed his fire across you. You didn't burn, you didn't get a riders death.

Your legs pushed him away as you stood, taking a knife from the small table.

"She has your child, what am I but sullied goods? Torn apart by bandits, left to rot. If you were mine, she could not have taken you." You hold the knife to your heart, 'I want to be with my son." You say, a trickle of blood dripped from the blade tip. Aemond ran to you, ripping the knife away. It clatters on the ground behind him. His hand grips your arm.

"Listen to me, I too mourn for him. The child that would have bonded us truly together, but if you forgive me, there will be other children for us to love." His words came out of gritted teeth.

"You're hurting me." You blink up at him. He instantly releases your arm.

"Y/n please don't leave me, if you leave, I will follow you." He begged you, holding your face in his hands. Cautiously, he pressed his lips to you. They were warm, his whole body was warm, making you shiver against the relentless cold in your bones. Aemond felt you lean into him and some relief brought breath back to his lungs. "Lay beside me tonight." He asked, guiding you to the bed. You lay below the sheets, tucked under his arm, his heartbeat below your ear. His affirmations of apologies echo into the night.

Perhaps you could forgive him. Perhaps you could let your herat heel. Or were you fooling yourself?

Let me know if you want a second part to this.

[lya-dustin]

Delirium

de·​lir·​i·​um:an acute mental disturbance characterized by confused thinking and disrupted attention usually accompanied by disordered speech and hallucinations.

Or a small au for All is Bliss where Aemma misscarries and in her delirium beats the shit out of Alicent.

Inspired by that scene in Magnificent Century where a delirious Hürrem beats the shit out of Hatiçe who cursed her.

Tw: violence, misscarriage, madness and implied murdere

Aemma had known her misery would only go from bad to worse.

The Stranger is not done taking from her and the first week as Aegon’s Queen and Prisoner ends with blood just as it began.

She had felt the pains, seen the blood as the dawn began after another sleepless night.

Aemond holds her despite the bloody sheets, comforting her and himself for the death of their baby.

And yet, Aemma doesn’t grieve for it like he and the rest of the keep do.

She is burning on hatred, on rage, on grief for her mother, her grandmother and everyone who has died because of the war she never wanted.

She hates her. She hates Alicent now more than ever.

Alicent who no longer has the precious heir she wanted, Alicent who killed her mother and her baby sister, Alicent who ruined her life in the name of duty.

They give her milk of the poppy for the pain, for the sleepless nights and yet she roams the halls like a ghost because she cannot rest until Alicent and Aegon are dead.

The young queen sees her at the end of the hall, a green thing shrouded by a black web. A black spider web only she sees since they day they brought her back here in chains. Webs that emanate from Alys who sits in them like a green spider.

She’s told no one about those webs lest they think she has gone mad, but it all makes sense now.

Alicent had used Alys to kill her mother and take the throne.

“You should rest.” The auburn haired woman says with concern. As if she truly cared about her well-being.

Aemma only scoffed at her words. “I will rest when you are dead, your grace.”

“Aemma, you are grieving, you are in pain, you do not mean that.” The bitch of the Hightower continues speaking in a calm tone, almost motherly, as if she did not spend her entire adult life making others miserable.

Even worse, she comes and tries to touch her.

Aemma has always recoiled from her touch ever since she was child, there was always something about Alicent that made her feel sick to her stomach even then.

Now she knows why.

This time in her revulsion at feeling her clammy pale hands on her, the young queen reacts with violence.

She slaps the hand away and when her goodmother tries again, she hits harder and then the slaps turn to punches and before she knows it, Aemma is straddling her as she beats her to bloody pulp.

She is screaming, obscenities and cursing her the seventh hell for murdering her mother.

No one stops her, no one comes. Not Criston who’s too busy elsewhere, not her maids who fear her, not Alys who knows she will hang or burn or be split apart by carts because she won’t stop until she’s dead as well.

It is cathartic, primal and something she’s never been allowed to do. No wonder men are always in better moods after a spar or a melee or a hunt.

Sometimes what you need is violence. Sometimes what you need is to kill those who wronged you.

Aemma leaves the hall in the same daze she walked in with and wakes up with no recollection as to why her fists are raw and bloody.

She only knows it's been the first time in a week that she’s managed to sleep in peace.

[pandora2023]

I was again slightly late for work for finishing writing this.

Sometimes I get the urge to write sad things.

TW: mention of misscarriage

Light and shadows

The hour of the wolf, the darkest hour of the night, standing at the window he could only imagine the waves crashing against the rocks on which stood the castle of High Tide. Over the sky in the distance he could see the flashes of lightning, a storm was coming. As a sailor he knew better than anyone that change is the only constant in this life, a calm sea can soon become a rough one, the sun's rays can suddenly be eclipsed by black clouds, you can set a destination but never the path.

He would have liked to think that he had lost count of the nights he had woken up just to feel the breeze on his face, but those were the same nights since that terrible day, and he was not going to forget that.

Neither did she and he was sure she never would. Why them? Why her? It was clear that they were not the noblest people who had ever walked the world, they had never pretended to be, they were only human, with mistakes and flaws, of course, but they did not deserve this, they did not deserve to be mere spectators while life slipped through their fingers in front of them. Give me a battle and I will fight it, I will not run away, I will fight and look my enemy in the eyes, but how to face a God whose name is the stranger, it is ironic, everyone has witnessed his passing, but no one has seen him, and yet he found himself asking the same god to take that soul who had never known the light of day to a better place, for of all people it was the most innocent.

He could barely see her, I think it scared him to see her so fragile, as if just with the weight of her gaze she would break, but he also knew she was strong, after all she was here, breathing, with that hope that maybe soon the gods would reward them for all the pain they had caused them.

The dim light of the candles next to the bed managed to draw the silhouette of her face, her thin lips, her soft cheeks and that expression of ephemeral tranquility. What he could tell was that this was the first night in which she had managed to sleep without waking up shaken between tears and laments.

"Why Corlys? Why?"

She asked without consolation in his arms, reviving the tears that in her dreams had already begun.

What could he answer, what comfort could he give her? The only thing he was able to do was to hold her in his arms caress her, give her tender kisses, profess his love with everything else but words, for what had happened to them had no name.

He too had shed tears, he too had broken down, the loss was as much his as hers.

"Have you thought of what to name him yet?"

Between his fingers he stroked a lock of his wife's hair.

"You still think it's going to be a boy."

She met his gaze in the mirror on her dressing table.

"I know he is, a sailor, like his father, maybe he'll go farther than I ever could."

She put down the comb that had helped her untangle her hair after her walk through the air as had become customary.

"It's still too early, remember that during Laena's pregnancy, you, me and half of Westeros assumed it would be a boy, and the first time I held her in my arms I can swear she had a reproachful face, I don't want this baby to be born thinking the same thing"

Now standing and facing him, her hands rested on the small curve of her belly, she was still able to wear all her dresses, but soon, very soon she would have to leave them in the trunk for a while.

"Patience is not my strong suit."

His hands now accompanied his wife's at the place where her hopes rested and grew.

"That I know better than anyone my love."

It was then that their lips met on the road and they joined, a sweet dance they had perfected over time.

Maester Kelvyn said he had been a boy.

"I want to see him!

Her cries flooded the room, but it was her tears and her grief that made it unbearable, the pain, the loss, almost impossible to tolerate, this was the battle and they had lost it, their greatest defeat.

"Rhaenys I don't think it's…"

Her hands ran down her face filled with beads of sweat that mingled with the bitter tears.

"He is my son, I want to see him if only for once."

She pleaded with her voice in a whisper.

The room was left alone, just the two of them with their son in their arms and their grief, their pain.

The hour of the nightingale, the sun would soon peek as always over the sea, the dark hour was passing and light was what ruled flooding even the smallest corners, not everything remained in the shadows forever.

"Corlys!"

His wife's voice brought him out of his thoughts bringing him back to reality, back to the present.

"It's still too early Rhaenys go back to sleep."

He said reaching for the bed.

"I know, but you should too, we both need it."

Her delicate hands tucked one of her dreadlocks behind her ear.

Without further ado he climbed into bed and covered his wife with his arms. He did not give in to exhaustion if not until he saw Rhaenys' breathing sink into a soft beat.

"I love you."

He whispered before joining her in the dream world.

We will get through this

[sipsofeverything]

Hanvi Headcanon

TW: Miscarriage

Ok hear me out. I sit on this hc for a while now because I needed more time to think about it. I'm pretty convinced I'm not the only person having these thoughts (saw this take regarding K18 here and there, too, and I think the same!)

Hanvi is a couple I really enjoy because it's a healthy and very human relationship, same goes for K18. This exact humanness is what draws me to them.

As we know the DB characters are insanely strong and have lots of helpful, world- and nature-changing tools up their sleeves (the Dragon Ball, CC, senzu beans and - even though an exception - the power to revers time). They challenge nature many a times.

This is where my "take" comes in (which isn't entirely new Ikr but nobody talks about it enough imo, even in real life this is still a matter none likes to talk about):

Videl tried several times to get pregnant and had 3 to 4 misscarriages before she and Gohan were finally successful. This obviously devastated them both but Gohan was so caring and tried to convince Videl that it's not her fault and these things happen etc etc. This has to do with Gohan's hybrid nature (although I like the thought of Videl being the "problem" but nobody put her into the equation, because it was obvious for the people around them who knew (and many knew, e.g. Bulma, Chi Chi, Son Goten, even Goku or Krillin and A18 ... because she can relate sm!)). Just as A18, human type earthlings who are somehow hybrid or "different" may have problems with fertility. Strange comparison I know, but mules and other hybrids in our world have the same problem. It makes sense.

You ask yourself now: Why tf is she so focused on this?? Is it all about the angst?? (partially ofc ... this HC is fuel for so many potential good interactions!) but let me come back to my second paragraph: What intrigues me about all this is the fact that this time they are powerless! This time they need to accept nature's horrors and can't reverse shit. It makes them all so increcibly fragile and human. And I love that.

(This is also the reason why Gohan is exceptionally protective of Pan ...)

It is still indrecibly sad for Videl and Android 18 of course and please don't think I find pleasure in this ... I can't even imagine this kind of pain. Maybe I'm so into this at the moment because a dear colleague of mine at work has had a misscarriage a few weeks ago and is so devastated because of it ...

Let me know what you think!

[vintagepresley]

this is a long one but it needs to be said and TW

am I the only one that thinks lanas most sad and personal songs are ignored. (This is what makes us girls, heroin, wildflower wildfire, cherry blossom, fingertips, kintsugi, A&W)

like???????

This is what makes us girls is about her life after boarding school. ‘’Sweet 16 and we had arrived’’ she turned 16 in a plane on her way to Spain. ‘’I got sent away, I was waving on the train platform crying cause I know I’m never coming back’’ fuck Patricia grant

heroin is about her boyfriends from 2011 who passed away due to heroin overdose

‘’ im flying to the moon again, dreaming about heroin, how it gave you everything and took your life away’’

wildflower wildfire she refers to her mother as her dads wife ‘’my father never stepped in when his wife would rage at me’’

cherry blossom is possibly about a misscarriage. ‘’Little ghost, blonde hair’’. ‘’And when you’re scared, I’ll be right there, you feel afraid, mommy is there’’

kintsugi is a Japanese word for filling broken pottery with gold. She talks about sad things that have happened to her and then sings ‘’ that’s how the light gets in/shines in’’ so I think she’s talking about fixing her broken heart.

Fingertips (her saddest song ) she talks about her having a baby.

‘’Caroline, will you be with me? Will the baby be alright? Will I have one of mine? It’s said that my mind is not fit or so they said to carry a child. I guess I’ll be fine’’ by ‘they’ I assume she’s talking about Patricia. she talks about prescription pills that she doesn’t want to take but has to

‘’it wasn’t my idea the cocktail of things that twists neurons inside- but without them I’d die’’

she talks about her uncle commiting suicide and how it effected her

‘’and Dave who hung himself real high, in the national park sky’’. ‘’To get to you, save you, if I take my life find your astral body’’. ‘’Take you home i, i’ll give you a blanket your spirit can sit and watch tv by my side’’. ‘’I couldn’t handle it, I was in Monaco, I couldn’t hear what they said on the telephone, I had to sing for the prince in two hours’’

She talks about how she tried committing suicide

‘’when I was 15 naked next door neighbours did a drive by, pulled me up by my waist long hair to the beach side’’. ‘’But sometimes it’s just not your time’’

then about her mother

‘’ Caroline, what kind of mother was she to say is end up in institutions’’ ‘’Aaron ended up dead and not me. What the fucks wrong in your head to send me away never to come back? Exotic places and people don’t take the place of being your child’’

And then A&W the fist part. the song is about girlhood and the loss of innocence. It’s about how young girls are told to dress a specific way to not provoke adults or older people. And about how women are seen as objects by a lot of men. ‘’I haven’t done a cartwheel since I was nine’’ people were making jokes about this but she’s talking about how she became aware of what creepy men are like. She talks about being bullied for her body by the public (2021 during lockdown). Which she still looked gorgeous btw!!! A&W stands for American whore but it’s also an American food drive thru thing. And drive thru are associated with strippers/prostitutes sometimes. This could imply that she’s being used for only when he wants her. ‘’forensic files wasn’t on watching teenage diary of a girl wondering what went wrong’’ she’s saying that instead of watching diary of a teenage girl and being fed lies about girlhood, she should have been watching forensic files so she knew how messed up people and their minds can be. then she talks about being raped

‘’ I mean look at my hair, look at the length of if there and the shape of my body. If I told you that I was raped do you really think that anybody would think I didn’t ask for it. I didn’t ask for it’’

when sexual assault survivors come forward and they have to go to court to testify or make a statement the rapists are often dismissed because apparently the victim asked for it to happen. There was a case of a girl wearing a thong who was raped and the judge said it was her fault and that she shouldn’t have been wearing a thong (vile). ⬅️ ‘’ I won’t testify I already fucked up my story’’. Like yeah the second half or A&W if amazing. But why haven’t I seen anyone talk about the first half when it has so much meaning. I’m sure any female has gone though the realisation process of how messed up the world is and how (mostly men but not all) think of women as objects.

I’m so sorry this is really long but it’s so sad that I’ve not seen anyone talk about her sad and personal songs. DYKTTATUOB is definitely in my opinion a healing album for Lana. I think She’s getting everything out there and wants to have a restart. And her finishing it with a second edition of Venice bitch!!!!!! She knew what she did with that but Lana is happy , and she’s glowing more than she ever has and that’s the most important thing.

THISSSS. I feel like a lot of people didn’t really like this album which was weird to me but then I also feel like people didn’t really listen to it. I think everyone was expecting her usual stuff. But this album is definitely one of my favorites. The songs you just listed are so damn good! Fingertips is another fave of mine! The lyrics are so damn sad in all these songs and you can definitely hear how she’s healed from it as well.

THANK YOU FOR THIS AND THANK YOU FOR SAYING IT.

[harryfeatgaga]

paige please what’s the context i’m so confused https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7doWgKN93b/?igsh=NGw1dDdubnlwd2Fx

major tw!!!!!

she was talking about how she had a misscarriage after she was r*ped

[meanermina]

📲 You know what's sad?

📲 I thought maybe one day I would actually get to run the family.

📲 Especially after responsible for Ro, the twins, Nia, and Siko. I wasn't allowed to have a life as a kid or a teenager because I was too busy being mom/auntie 2.

📲 But no. That was Matt's job and now it's Roman's job. And what do I get? A marriage at 16, a divorce by 21, a decade and some change of loyalty to an old man who has pushed me aside in favor of others, slew of hook ups, let's add a broken heart for good measure, and miscarriage.

@bosswithanattitude @itsglowtime

[cordonia-continued]

Captivated

Chapter 26

AU - TRR Liam x MC (Riley Taylor)

A/N - Set after the Tariq scandal is cleared. Liam ends his engagement to Madeleine and proposes to MC as per the original story, but Riley turns him down. This AU follows their life from then on.

Trigger Warning - this chapter contains mature adult themes, reader discretion is advised. 

Thanks for the likes, comments and re-blogs, I appreciate every one of them!

Word count - 4,176

@kingliam2019 @ imjusthereforliam @amandablink @hopefulmoonobject @texaskitten30 @mom2000aggie (I’ve no idea why the tags aren’t working. Let me know if you want/no longer want to be tagged)

catch up here

Found.

Alive.

As soon as Liam hears those words sound out from the radio that's clutched in Drake’s white knuckle grip he’s up out of his seat and shouting commands at the guards that are standing at the doors of the conference room. No other thought enters his scrambled brain except getting to Riley.

As soon as the blacked out SUV carrying the king pulls up outside the rear of the hospital Liam rushes out and through the back entrance doors before anyone can blink.Two of his kings guards race behind him with Drake and Olivia eagerly on his tail. Their speedy progress is halted just passed the doors by a plump, rosy faced nurse. It takes all of Liam’s restrain not to grab hold of the girl and shake the slow torturous words from her mouth as she unhurriedly and calmly checks a computer before she directs them up to the private wing. His heart is hammering in his chest as they exit the lift and rush out into the corridor. Bastien is standing guard outside of a room and Liam knows Riley must be in there. His heart constricts with a mixture of anger, love and concern.

Before Liam can make it to the door of the room Bastien makes his way down the deserted corridor towards them. His eyes show the kind of gentle concern that a father might reserve for his children. He motions to a side room and despite Liam’s urgency to see Riley he steps in without argument followed by Drake and Olivia. As the two King’s Guards stand watch outside, Bastien rapidly explains that Riley is with the doctors, that they will have to wait to see her. He then immediately leaves to take up his promised post outside her door, leaving his king before he has a chance to take umbrage or refuse to wait. Bastien has seen that steely intent in Liam’s eyes very few times before and knows it’s only a matter of seconds before he demands access to her, and woe betide anyone who gets in his way.

As soon as Bastien leaves the room Liam can no longer hold in the anger that’s been building up inside of him for the last 3 days. In one swift movement and with an angry cry he launches his fist at the wall puncturing a hole straight through the drywall. Drake walks calmly over to him putting a hand on his shoulder, he pulls Liam around into a tight bear hug. Eventually Liam collapses down hard into the armchair behind him. Olivia holds out a coffee in front of him, he grabs the cup and hurls it at the wall, the flimsy paper cup releasing the brown liquid, splattering it up the beige paint work.

“Liam!” Drake admonishes him. “Calm down. You’re no good to Taylor like this.”

Liam bends over resting his elbows on his knees, his head in his hands.

“I’m so sorry Olivia, that wasn’t aimed at you. I’m just so fucking angry. If he’s touched her Drake I swear I’ll kill him with my bare hands.”

Drake’s heart echoes the same sentiment as Liam’s and his fists curl up at his sides at the thought of someone harming Riley. It’s usually he who’s the brash one, lashing out without thinking. He pushes his anger down to comfort his normally level headed friend.

“Li stop thinking like that. We don’t know anything yet. Just wait and see what she says.”

“I can’t help but think the worst.” It comes out of Liam as a sob.

Drake crouches down in front of his friend.

“Just let the doctors and the police do their job. Taylor’s strong, she’ll get through this.”

“I hope so Drake.” Liam sighs pinching the bridge of his nose, composing himself.

To distract himself from his torturous thoughts Liam looks around the empty waiting room, it’s clearly a room designed to inspire confidence and allay apprehension. Watercolours of beach landscapes are hung on the walls, each depicting slightly different versions of the same beautiful calming scenery of rolling waves on idyllic sand. A pale wooden glass topped coffee table with health magazines on top sits in the centre of the room. Comfortable chairs in complementary browns, fawns and blues line the edges, calming neutral beige coloured walls, one now splattered with brown coffee, surround them. Underfoot is a dull beige carpet that covers the whole room. A television is hung in one corner displaying the 24 hour news channel on mute. A montage of pictures of Riley flash onto the screen over and over again, captions recounting the disappearance of the king’s girlfriend run along the ticker tape at the bottom of the screen. Liam is too anxious to read any of the magazines or watch TV. He sits on the edge of the rigid armchair and taps his foot impatiently, placing his hands on his knees with the hope that it’ll stop them from bouncing every five seconds.

****

Riley’s eyes flicker open, she scrunches them up tightly against the harsh dazzling strip light above as she tries to make sense of the noise and unfamiliar smell of the room surrounding her. She slowly and hesitantly peels her eyes open and tries to call out but her voice is a small stifled moan inside the mask covering her mouth. As she looks around the sparse clinical room, to her fuzzy eyes everything appears to be coated in a fog that feels like it’s not only in her eyes but in her head too, deep inside her brain, spreading all the way through her, right out to the edges of her vision, circling everything she looks at in a dim misty halo. She blinks...someone is speaking to her, saying her name.

Confusion and fear descend upon her like clouds in a thundery sky heavy with the threat of rain. She jerks her arms and feels relieved when the move freely. Sudden clarity hits her and she remembers she’s in hospital, she’s safe, the person saying her name is a kindly looking nurse with a cheery round face covered in freckles wearing a too bright pink lipstick and too much blusher.

Suddenly embarrassment washes over her as she thinks back to when she was bought into the hospital. The nurses had tried to prise her hand from Bastien’s so she could be examined and she had screamed at them, thrashed her legs and clawed at his shirtsleeves, trying to keep her grip on him, not wanting him to release her from the safety of his firm hold. Eventually they sedated her to calm her down and make her let go of the vice like grip on his hand, the last thing she remembers was him promising her he wouldn’t move from outside her room, and then the fog closed in, colourless and opaque, and everything went quiet as she floated into the darkness away from the strange sounds and confusion and pain.

A short while later Riley tries to listen intently as the doctor with his pleasantly accented voice explains to her that she’s dehydrated and is being given fluids and pain meds from an IV line. He explains that they’ve run blood tests to check that whatever her kidnapper injected into her has left her system and to see if they can identify what it was. She’s struggling to concentrate on his words, her mind is a tangled mess of emotions and jumbled thoughts. Her troubled gaze keeps going to the back of Bastien’s head that she can see through the open blinds hanging at the glass window in the door of her room, checking he’s still there, checking that he’s not left her on her own. Her doctor clears his throat. And she turns her attention to him, trying to focus her brain.

“I’m very sorry Lady Riley but you unfortunately suffered a miscarriage.” She’s about to correct him and tell him to just call her Riley when she belatedly registers what he said. Her head snaps up to his face. For a moment the room spins and her mouth goes dry.

“What?” She questions gasping. The doctor notices the shocked look on her face.

“Sorry, you didn’t know you were expecting?” He asks kindly.

Her voice shakes and uncontrollable tears fall once again from her eyes. “No. Well, I thought maybe....I mean.” Her foggy brain struggles to find the words she needs. “I was going to do a test but I never got the chance. How can that have happened I’m on birth control.” She sobs.

“These things are never 100% effective. All it takes is an upset stomach or a missed pill and pregnancy can happen. I would say from hormone levels that you were 6 or 7 weeks along. We have confirmed the miscarriage with a physical examination and I would like to perform an ultrasound to check there are no complications. The pain meds should help with the cramping. Unfortunately we can’t say what caused it. Whether it was from what you were injected with, due to stress or dehydration or if the pregnancy just wasn’t viable.” He continues speaking, saying more, much more, but none of it changes what he has already said so she barley listens to him.

“Does...does Liam know?” She interrupts the doctors flow.

“His Majesty is not your next of kin.” He checks her chart. “Some one called...” He pauses as he flips through the pages. “Bertrand Beaumont is listed.”

“Oh God, please don’t tell Bertrand, he would never forgive me for another scandal.” Her chest tightens and her breathing quickens. She pulls her legs up to her chest as she struggles to take in a breath. A blackness creeps in once again from the edges of her eyes as her vision narrows into a tunnel. She leans over and puts a hand to her chest gasping, she thinks she’s having a heart attack and wonders if this is how she dies, after all of the drama of the last three days, it seems a bit ordinary and undramatic.

“Calm down, its ok.” The kindly older doctor rubs her back up and down. “Take deep breaths, you’re having a panic attack, I know it feels scary but its ok.”

How can I take deep breaths when I can’t even get one breath into my lungs Riley thinks as she struggles to breathe.

“Breathe with me – in, two, three...and out, two, three.” Her doctor continues in his soothing calm voice. Until finally she controls her breathing and feels her racing pulse settle back down.

“Patient confidentiality is taken very seriously, I promise I won’t tell anyone. Legally I cannot tell His Majesty anything about your medical history without your consent. But if you would like me to tell him I can.” He asks.

She shakes her head and quickly chokes out “No. No please don’t.”

“Then I will respect your wishes. Do you wish him to know about any other injuries or illnesses sustained? It might be easier coming from me. He’s been asking about your welfare since the moment he got here.”

She nods. “Just not about the pregnancy, please. He doesn’t need to know about it, not now.”

The doctor nods and leaves the room. She buries her head in her hands and sobs until her eyes sting and her throat feels like it might close from exhaustion.

****

For an agonisingly long time Liam stares at the blank wall in front of him and tries not to give in to the thoughts that are racing through his mind; why are they taking so long; what has she been through; how badly is she injured. The room is deathly silent, save for the ticking of the silver framed wall clock, which seems to linger an extra minute at every passing second. Time seems to stand still as he takes his gaze off of the clock, silently vowing to not look at it once more until he absolutely needs to. He can’t hold a conversation or sit still while his thoughts dance in infinite directions, Drake and Olivia sense it and shoot each other concerned glances but remain silent. He feels the tension and anxiety build up in him as he stares blankly at the insipid beach landscape watercolour on the wall, his mind full of questions. Just as he regains a steady heartbeat by practising breathing techniques he had been taught long ago, he hears the familiar continual tap of a heel against the vinyl floor of the corridor outside and his pulse rate shoots up once again. He stands up almost too quickly, sending a dizzying rush of blood to his head.

A knock at the waiting room door draws all of their attention. They all watch as the shiny silver handle lowers and a middle aged man walks into the room. He’s dark skinned with wavy black hair that’s greying at the temples. He’s wearing a white coat and horn rimmed glasses and has a quiet air of confidence and dependence about him. He addresses Liam directly.

“Your Majesty, I’m Lady Riley’s doctor, Dr Sanjay Ahmed.” He bows his head at Liam.

“Doctor can you tell us anything about what happened? How is she?” Words rush out of Liam in a panic. He’s halted by the calming voice of the older man.

“If I may have a private word with you Your Majesty?”

Drake and Olivia reluctantly leave the room closing the door behind them and wait impatiently in the corridor. Olivia leans back against the cool wall behind her, closing her eyes and resting her head back. Drake sits down heavily into one of the plastic seats lining the walls.

Inside the waiting room Dr Ahmed leads Liam over to an armchair and takes a seat opposite him. He eyes the hole in the wall and the coffee stain now dry on the paintwork. He keeps his voice even and calm.

“As you are not Riley’s next of kin I can only tell you the information that Lady Riley has agreed to allow me to divulge.”

Liam tries to protest but the doctor holds firm.

“Your Majesty, unless I have a court order compelling me to disclose a patient’s medical records I will treat all of my patients with the same confidentiality regardless of who they are.”

Liam nods in understanding. Both him and the doctor know he could use his position to quite easily have an order drawn up and signed by a judge within the hour, but he also knows he will respect Riley’s wishes.

“When she was bought in Lady Riley was confused, anxious and agitated, we had to give her a drug for rapid tranquillisation to aid with examination. It’s not something I’m surprised about given the extreme situation she’s been in. She will still be feeling the impact and will be drowsy and may seem out of it for a while. She is dehydrated and we have her on fluids through an IV line to rectify that. Her blood pressure is low and she has a rapid heart rate, the machines she is hooked up to are nothing to worry about and are just monitoring it. It’s most likely been caused by the dehydration and the immense stress she’s been under.”

The doctor clears his throat and continues on, trying not to let the fact that he’s sitting opposite the king of his country phase him.

“We found a small puncture site at her neck”

Liams eyes widen and the doctor hesitates for a fraction of a second.

“Now, I’m not sure how much you’ve been told about what’s happened but from her description of the events on the day she was taken we believe she may have been injected into a vein with an unknown substance to knock her out.”

The doctor pretends not to see Liams face drop and the colour drain out of it.

“Due to the length of time that has elapsed since the injection we don’t think that we will be able to identify what it was exactly, we can narrow it down to a few possibilities but it may be a cocktail of more than one, we have taken bloods and will get the results soon.”

Sanjay can feel his nerves are making him talking too fast and makes a conscious effort to slow down. Liam sits opposite in stony silence, the occasional head nod the only indication that he’s taking all of the information in.

“She’s been extremely lucky, any tranquillising drug can lead to respiratory depression or cardiac arrhythmia, especially those found on the black market. The police have been made aware that they should inform us immediately of any drugs found during the premises search. As we cannot verify the syringe used we have also tested for any blood diseases that can be picked up from used needles just in case. The results for that will take a bit longer to come back, post exposure treatment will not be viable as more than 72 hours have elapsed so we will need to test again in one and three months, I would suggest that until then you either refrain from physical intimacy or use protection.”

The doctors flow is interrupted as an anguished gasp involuntarily releases from Liam’s mouth, but he otherwise remains silent. He leans his head back against the wall behind him and stares at the glaring strip lights that adorn the ceiling, taking in the deeper meaning of information being given to him, blinking heavily and willing the tears in his eyes not to fall.

“She has superficial lacerations to her wrist from tight ligatures, those have been cleaned and bandaged but they will clear up on their own in time with minimal scarring if any. She has some bruising and minor scrapes to her arms and shins. She’s weak and exhausted, both mentally and physically. She’s understandably very upset and emotional, she’s been through quite an ordeal. She’ll need time to come to terms with what happened to her. I recommend counselling and can provide some good therapists who come highly recommended.”

Liam has to clear the emotion from his throat before he can speak.

“Thank you Doctor Ahmed.” He pauses before he can get the next words out. “Can you tell me...was she...did he touch her?”

The doctor knows immediately what the king is trying to ask. Although Riley didn’t give her express permission to divulge those details, he knows Liam needs to hear them. He makes a split second decision in that moment to provide his king with the answers that he seeks.

“I can tell you that that we found no sign of any injuries in line with a sexual assault.”

“Oh Thank God. Thank you. Thank you so much for telling me.” He lets out a long puff of breath and closes his eyes. His shoulders visibly relax. “How long will she be here?”

“We will keep her in overnight to get the fluids into her and reassess her tomorrow, it’s likely she will be able to be released in a few days.”

“Thank you again doctor.” Liam’s gratitude is genuine and he makes a mental note to ensure that a formal letter of gratitude is sent from the crown to the straight talking physician and that a large donation is sent to the hospital.

Dr Ahmed looks down at Liam’s hand, now red and angry, a purple bruise beginning to appear on his knuckles next to the small scrapes.

“Your Majesty I can get that hand looked at for you.”

Liam’s cheeks blush pink and he looks down at his hand in embarrassment while shaking his head.

“No, no it’s fine...I’m sorry about the wall...I guess I just lost it momentarily. It’s been a long, difficult few days. I’ll get someone to arrange a repair straight away.”

“It’s ok Your Majesty. It’s not the first time it’s happened, I’m sure it won’t be the last. I’d rather you let me get that X-rayed.” He takes Liam’s hand in his and examines the knuckles. Liam pulls it away ashamed of his earlier outburst.

“No. It’s fine. Thank you.”

The Doctor nods. “Very well, I’ll get a nurse to bring you an ice pack. I’ll see if Riley’s ready to see you now.” He adds before leaving the room.

****

Liam approaches Riley’s room with trepidation, unsure of what he’ll find. He slowly pushes the door open and sees her small body curled up under the white sheets of the bed facing away from the door, an IV line going into the back of her hand, machines beeping out a steady rhythm at her side. He looks around the typical hospital room, it’s sparse and functional with the usual hospital undertone of bleach. She makes no movement or noise to acknowledge his presence and he wonders if she’s asleep. He approaches the bed slowly and quietly, sitting in the chair next to it. He reaches out and gently strokes her arm, he feels her whole body tense under his touch and knows that she’s awake.

“Riley love, it’s me, are you awake?” He whispers softly. She shakes her head no in reply and he smiles at her back. “I just want you to know that I’m here my love, if you want to talk to me?” She turns over and gives him a small sad smile. He notices her eyes are sunken and ringed with dark circles. Her once bright skin now looks pale and sickly, her long blonde hair hangs limply around her face.

“Hi” she croaks out. He smiles back at her. Her eyes, once always bright and sparkling are now soaked in pain. He has never seen her so sad and pained and he swallows down the sob that’s trying to escape him.

“I’m so glad that you’re safe. I can’t imagine what it must have been like for you.” He longs to reach out and hold her. Instead he holds himself back and gently rubs a finger over the back of her hand.

Riley’s voice freezes in her throat. She can’t form words and just shakes her head again, tears spilling down her cheeks.

“Hey it’s ok you’re safe now. Can you tell me what happened? Are you hurt? Did he...Riley, did he touch you?” Conflicting emotions swirl within Liam, he doesn’t want to hear the answer but at the same time he has a strong need to hear every detail that she went through.

Riley curls up into a ball and rolls over facing away from him. She doesn’t want him to see the pain and guilt in her eyes. She pulls the sheets up over her head as she sobs at the memory of the man’s hands on her. She retches as she remembers his cold slimy tongue trying to press into her mouth, she clamps her lips and teeth shut to as if to block the memory of its path.

“Please love, talk to me. Tell me what happened.” Liam begs, but she merely sobs harder in response. A knock at the door disturbs them and Liam looks up to see Bastien hesitating at the threshold.

“Sir, the police need to speak with Lady Riley now.”

Liam nods. “I want to stay.”

In a quiet whisper from under the bed sheet he hears Riley say “No.”

“Yes. I need to hear what happened. I want to stay and make sure you’re ok.”

She turns to him, her eyes red and puffy, a desolate expression on her pale face.

“No Liam. Go. Please.” She knows she can’t re-live it in front of him. She knows she won’t be able to hold it together if she sees his reaction or has to look at his face as she recounts what happened. She longs for him to hold her, to feel safe in the comfort of his arms again, but she can’t let herself fall into him, not yet, not until she’s done this. She feels dirty and impure. She feels the need to wash every part of her skin until it’s raw before she can let him touch her again. She’s scared once she holds him she might never let go. He reaches for her and she shrinks back against the bed. His heart feels like it’s breaking in two.

Bastien speaks from his position still at the doorway.

“Sir, I think it’s best if you leave the police to do their job.” Liam nods at his guard and wipes a single tear from his face.

“I’ll be outside love, I won’t leave you. I promise.” He rises from the chair and leaves the room. He turns to his guard as they step out into the hallway.

“Bastien please stay with her, I need to know what happened.” His guard nods and walks back down the corridor, dreading their debrief already.

Two police detectives – one male and one female file into Riley’s room with Bastien. Riley motions for Bastien to sit in the chair next to her bed while the others pull up chairs and place them at the foot of the bed. Lifting her hand she reaches for Bastien’s, he complies and reaches his hand out to hers, his heart hurts for her as she links her fingers through his, careful not to dislodge the tube running into the back of hers. Her fingers hold tightly to his as if letting go would cause her to spiral down into an abyss of such darkness and despair that she would never find her way back. Since she saw him racing towards her in that god forsaken hell hole she was held captive in, he’s become her protector – although Bastien would never class himself as such, he works hard everyday for others and considers it an honour to have the chance to do so. He’ll never forgive himself for Riley going missing on his watch. He’s already planning the team upgrades and demotions, heads will roll for this, metaphorically if not literally – although if the king gets his way it might well be literally.

Hesitantly Riley relays all that she remembers from the last 3 days, her voice small and quiet, her story punctuated by sobs. The detectives tell her that her kidnapper has been apprehended at his place of work and that he’s in custody. Her whole body sags in relief.

[sslytheriiin-archive-blog]

starter    for    @rosegvld    based    on    x    6th    bullet    (   3   /    3   )  

                    she   hadn’t   expected   to   see   him  here   &.   yet   here   they   are  .   she’s   nervous   ,   fingers   play  with   the   hem   of   her   dress   as   she   lets  chocolate   hues   look   at   the   homme   before   her    ❛   yeah   ,   we   got   divorced   .   after   i   lost   the   baby   ,   things   went   downhill   ,  for   us   .    ❜

[eldritch-hall-asylum]

I don’t know if you got it the first time;

Have any of the staff/adults have fainted before? And if it’s possible, can I know why [they fainted]?

Mira fainted one time when she was sixteen in France. She was miscarrying and didn't know it.

Octavian fainted in gym class and was sick when he was also sixteen.

Elspeth passed out when her brother died. She was just so...shocked and numb for a while.

[daenerys-targaryen-moved]

remember when lena confirmed that they had filmed a scene meant for season 7 where cersei had a missscarriage? but then she’s pregnant until she dies in s8? like... a mess.. a mess a mess... clown town..