#we did have to go over why the guys from the csi shows would fail tho. | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

thescatterbrainedwriter · 4 years ago

Text

Unexpected Karaoke

Word count: ~4,000

Warnings: none

Pairings: Oc x Cannon (lite)

Flash fanfic

**Note: at this point in time, none of team Flash know what Estrata’s real name is. Estrata = Emily. Also, Emily is my personal character. I just like to stick her in places 😅 Enjoy!! 🥔 🎨

——

Two weeks, only about two weeks had passed since the enlightenment was halted and Harrison was given his basic mind back. While he wasn’t the easiest person to deal with he cared deeply for the Team Flash of Earth 1, it just happened to be buried under layers of grump and grief and worry. It was so buried in fact, Emily couldn’t really believe she had taken a liking to him. Everyone was devastated when they heard what was happening to his mind because of the thinking cap, and everyone was equally ecstatic when Marlize was able to restore it, but Emily underestimated how much it affected her. Which is probably how she found herself in this predicament.

The last time Jessie had payed Earth 1 a visit, Emily gave her a subspace communication relay in order to contact the Lab on Earth 1 easier. It was able to link up to the coms to both her personal headset and the coms in the cortex, something she discovered was possible by accident when Thawn was masquerading as Dr. Wells. With this new avenue opened, they were able to keep tabs on the reconstruction of Earth 2 after Zoom and Jessie could ask Barry questions if needed without breaching. It also meant Emily could call Jessie and vice versa whenever the opportunity struck them, and the opportunity that presented itself to Emily had her debating wether or not to call.

Secluding herself in her accommodation room, she paced around. The constant mental back and forth had caused her heart rate to increase due to self imposed stress and indecision. It would be totally understandable to call and ask how he’s doing, given what he went through recently, she told herself. Besides, I’m sure the rest of the team would like a status update. We all got attached to him after all, I could even ask how the reconstruction was going, or how Jessie is doing. I’m sure it’s been hard on her too. She paused, turned on her heels, and reversed the circle she was walking in. No, no, I don’t want to bother her. I’m sure she’s busy with her own responsibilities. I don’t want to come off as clingy either, she contradicted herself. But I’m sure he’ll appreciate the fact we’re all thinking about him and checking in to see how he’s doing, she said reversing the circle again. Ugh, but what if.....what if the constant checks are irritating to him? It’s only been 11 days and he’s gotten 5 check in calls already. Then again, some of those check ins were about the reconstruction and Jessie, he just happened to be in the background. She smiled remembering one call where he managed to push Jessie out of frame a took it over, and another where he claimed to have borrowed the relay just to say hi. I’ll have to build him his own, that way Jessie won’t have to share, or at the very least have it stolen again. Yes, I think I’ll do that.

Having made up her mind and deciding not to call, she headed toward Cisco’s lab to see if she could find equivalent parts to the relay she already made for Jessie. She hadn’t even made it two steps toward the door when her earpiece chimed. Calling up the accompanying hud screen she was surprised to see Jessie calling. “Oh, Jessie hey! Believe it or not I was debating on if I should call you or not. What a coincidence.”

“Yeah, how ‘bout that,” Jessie replied with a smile. “I was just calling to see how things were going there. Anything exciting?”

“No, not really. Just, you know, meeting Barry and Iris’ daughter. Their future daughter.”

“Wait, what??” Jessie near yelled. “Future daughter? How??”

“Turns out she’s a little speedster herself,” Emily replied with a shrug.

“Wha— well actually that doesn’t surprise me, honestly.” They both laughed in unison before Emily paused. “Well, since you’re already on call,” she started, “how’s your dad? Is he still improving?”

“Uhhh, yeah,” Jessie replied looking around what looked like the living room behind her. “Yeah, he’s starting to be his old brainy self again.”

“Jessie? Is that you? Who are you talking to?” Emily heard a voice echo from somewhere behind the girl. “Yeah, it’s just me,” Jessie responded yelling off screen. “It’s Estrata, she was wondering how you were doing.”

“Estrata?” Harry repeated now sounding closer. “Hey, hey!” Harry greeted barging his way into frame. “Hi, what’s up?” Emily chuckled as Jessie groaned in protest at the intrusion. “Dad, c’mon really?”

“Harry, really. Give her some space, you’re practically melding your face into hers.”

“Oh come one, she loves this,” he teased rubbing his cheek against hers. “See?”

“Uuuugh, dad! Stop that!” Jessie complained pushing him away. “Honestly, I don’t know which version of you is more annoying.”

“Aww, he just loves you is all,” Emily teased with a chuckle.

“Oh not you too!” She whined with a laugh.

“So, you calling to check on me again?” Harry asked with a smile.

“Oh no, actually I was the one who called her,” Jessie replied. “Figured I’d be the one to check in for a change.”

“Oh, I see,” Harry said a little sad.

“She was debating on calling though,” she added with a smirk. Harry looked at her, then Emily. “Oh? You were? Why didn’t you?”

“I....didn’t want to seem like I was bothering you,” she explained. “It’s only been about 2 weeks and you’ve had so many calls already and—“

“Estrata,” he interjected, “it’s ok. Really. You guys are like family, and family makes sure everyone’s ok.”

*Yeah, family...* Emily thought to herself. *We’re family, not more.* “Well, since you seem to be well on your way to mending, and Jessie, you seem to be holding up pretty well along with Earth 2, I’m gonna go. I have a project planned and have yet to start.”

“Oh hey, wait!” Harry cut in nearly shoving Jessie out if the way again as he leaned over the back of the couch. “You had, wanted to, uh, see Earth 2 right?”

“Uh, yeah? Why?”

“Well, reconstruction is, as you said, going well, and while it may not look like— much like how it was before, it uh, it would be. Well it would be a good opportunity to come and, uh, see things. If-if you still wanted to, that is. I could even show you around, if yooouuu wanted.”

Emily paused with a small smile as he rambled and was amused with how he seemed to get flustered by the end of it. The pause seemed to make him more nervous as he darted his eyes toward Jessie. “Jessie could come too, if you wanted. You’re ok with that right?”

“Uh yeah, yeah sure. I, would actually love that.”

“See, she would love it. So, what do you think?” Harry asked with a hint of excitement.

“Ok, alright. You’ve convinced me,” Emily chuckled. “When would be a good day?”

Harry froze clearly not having thought this far, maybe not even thinking this conversation would even happen in the first place. “Toooooomorrow would probably be a good fit,” Jessie offered noting his brain freeze. “I can get the night off from being Jessie Quick, Dad’s taking fewer hours at the lab and by the sounds of things, you have one extra hand to help with whatever meta comes up. You should be able to get away for a night, right.”

Harry watched the screen in anticipation as Emily considered the points. “Yeah, ok.” She finally said with a smile. “I’ll tell them I’ll be gone tomorrow night. What time did you want to start the tour?”

“6:30?” Harry postulated looking at Jessie for confirmation. “That works for me,” she confirmed. “Hmmmm, yeah I think I can swing that,” Emily confirmed as well. “Please keep in mind though, it’s possible I’ll be late. We’re trying to find a particularly difficult meta, one that’s killing other metas. So it might get, well, a little dicey. I’ll call if I have to cancel, alright?” Harry and Jessie both stared at her with blank expressions. “You, uh, failed to mention that point of excitement,” Jessie said.

“Oh, I did?” Emily asked obliviously.

“Uh huh, yeah. You did. You only mentioned Barry and Iris’ daughter, by the way what was her name?”

“Wait, they have a daughter?” Harry asked with the news. “Future daughter,” Jessie answered. Harry sighed bowing his head. “Of course there’s time travel involved.....”

“Nora,” Emily answered. “Nora West-Alan after Barry��s mom. She also decided to follow in Barry’s footsteps by becoming a CSI.”

“I don’t think I could expect anything less,” Harry commented.

“Alright, so we’ll expect you by 6:30 but will plan for delays. Sound cool?” Jessie said getting the conversation back on track. Harry and Emily nodded in agreement. “Yes, that sounds like a plan,” Emily confirmed.

“Alright, I’ll— we’ll, see you tomorrow,” Harry said with an awkward smile. “Oh and, please. Be careful, with the, the murder, meta.” Emily smiled back with a wide grin. “I’m always careful, don’t you worry,” she said waving goodbye before Jessie ended the call. She stood dwelling on the conversation for a while before she continued toward Cisco’s lab, what better opportunity to deliver him his own relay than when she went to visit.

——

Shortly after Weather Witch was apprehended and her weather vein turned in, Emily hung around the cortex and waited for team to come back thinking of how to say what she needed to say. Once everyone was present she decided to just go for it. “Hey, guys?” They paused turning their attention to her. “I’m uh, I’m not gonna be available, tonight. I have plans.”

“What kind of plans?” Barry asked curiously. She never had plans and usually hung around the lab all the time. “I uhm, I am going to Earth 2.” Emily replied.

“Is everything ok over there?” Barry asked somewhat concerned.

“Oh yeah yeah,” Emily assured. “I was just invited to a tour around.”

“Really? A tour?” Barry asked sadly. Emily giggled. “Yeah, I had mentioned in passing that I wanted to see Earth 2 seeing as it’s so different and Harry said it was a pretty good time to see it since everything is relatively quiet now.”

“Harry invited you?” Cisco asked raising an eyebrow.

“Him and Jessie. She actually set up the time.” Cisco smiled. “Oh ok. She was the one who set up the time.”

Emily squinted at him. “....yes....? Anyway, I won’t be able to help with Cicada, but with Nora here I doubt you’ll miss me much.”

“You gonna need me to open a breach?” Cisco asked.

“No, Harry has that covered. Thanks though.” Cisco pouted having wanted to witness the potential awkwardness. “Alright, well, I’m gonna go get ready to leave. Behave and, don’t hurt yourselves too badly, alright?”

“Can’t promise you anything,” Barry said with a smile.

“We’ll make sure he’s safe. For the most part anyway,” Cisco adds. Emily smiles with a nod before exiting to start preparations to travel to Earth 2. As she was leaving Cisco’s lab having picked up some spare parts for Harry to repair his relay if needed, Nora came across her. “Oh, hey Estrata! What cha doin?”

“Oh, Nora!” she said in surprise. “Hey! I uh, I’m just. Uhhh.....” Emily paused trying to think of how to put it. “I’m going to Earth 2 for a tour with Harry and Jessie.”

“Like a date?” Nora asked.

“Erm, n-no. Not a date,” Emily stuttered suddenly nervous about such prospect. “No, with the reconstruction after Zoom well on its way, and I think near completion at this point, Harry said it was a good opportunity for me to get a good look around. I’ve wanted to see things since my first accidental visit.”

“Accidental visit?” Nora said quizzically. “What do you mean by accidental?”

“Well, you see, I’m able to make personalized wormholes to get to and from different points faster. Usually I’m able to use them without issue but, recently I’ve been ‘Earth hopping’ and somehow managing to travel to Earths in different multiverses. In this case I managed to stay in this particular one.” Nora stared at her trying to compute what she was just told. “Soooo, kinda like how my dad uses the speed force to go to other Earths?” Emily paused to consider the comparison. “Yeah, kinda. Just, with more room for unforeseen world travel. The way I do it can be wildly inaccurate.”

“Sounds pretty scary,” Nora commented.

Emily shrugged. “I was terrified the first time it happened, but now I’m pretty used to it, if not a little annoyed,” she sighed with a smile. “I’m ready to go home, but the places I’ve landed and people I’ve met have made me less homesick.”

“Hope I’m one of those people,” Nora smiled.

“Yes, yes you are,” Emily confirmed making her smile wider. “I can confidently say I’ve not met anyone like you in all my travels.”

“So how many other Earths have you gone to?”

Emily paused to think. “Hmmm, looks like......7 at the very least. Not including multiverse Earths.” Nora’s eyes grew wide in awe at the number. “Wow....” she whispered making Emily chuckle. “Ok, well, I have to finish getting ready. Could you try helping Cisco keep your father safe while I’m gone for the night?”

“Oh? All night?” Nora asked mischievously. Emily’s face dropped unenthusiastically and gave her a look. “No,” she said plainly. “Not for that.” Nora just smiled. “Ok, whatever you say.” Emily huffed before heading off to change. She wanted to see if she could blend in and not stand out so much and decided on straight brown pants, a green blouse, and some flats. She stood looking in the mirror wondering if this was too much before taking a breath deciding to forget thinking about it too deeply and left for the breach room.

On her way down one of her drones who were free roaming followed her whirring in curiosity asking what she was doing. “Oh, hey GP. Where? I’m going to Earth 2.” The drone whirred again in concern. “I’ll be ok. I promise. It’ll just be for a few hours,” she said only managing a few steps before the drone was in her face again rambling on about its concerns. She chuckled grabbing it gently with both hands, similar to cupping someone’s face, and smiled softly. “Is this your way of saying you wanna come too?” It made what sounded like a sheepish admittance sound making her giggle. “Ok, fine. You can come too. But we have to hurry, it’s almost time to go.” Just as she entered the breach room a connection forms and Harry appears. Emily smiled and waved, Harry returning the gesture with an awkward smile. “Ready?” He asked. Emily nodded enthusiastically. “Yes!”

He extended a hand toward the breach ushering her in first, Emily bowed with a smile before jumping through with Harry right behind. Jessie greeted them on the other side with a smile. “Hey Es!” She said with a wave. “Welcome back to Earth 2!”

“Hey Jessie!” Emily replied. “Long time no see! In person anyway.” Jessie laughed in agreement as Harry popped back through and the breach closed once again. “Alright, lets get going,” Harry said ushering them both out. “I suppose we’ll start with the Lab, it’s been refurbished since you last crashed in.”

“Alright,” Emily agreed. She had only seen the lobby last time and, while she didn’t expect many differences, she still wanted to see the rest of it. Since they were on one of the lowest levels, they stopped at the pipeline first. It wasn’t quite as repaired as on Earth 1, this Earth didn’t have an Eobard to repair it for his personal use, but it was a bit more than just run down. Walking onto the gangway inside, Emily was still filled with awe at the large structure even if it looked mostly like the one she was well aware of. “Can I take a look all the way around?” Emily asked already floating a few inches off the ground. Harry sighed recognizing she was asking out of courtesy and would investigate one way or another and nodded with a smile. “Sure, have at it.”

“I’ll race ya!” Jessie exclaimed before taking off. “No, wait, Jes—“ Harry began before cutting off his sentence as Emily took off after her. Jessie makes it back first with Emily close behind, the latter crashing into the former sending them to the bottom of the pipeline a few feet below. They erupt into laughter with Harry trying not to loose his cool resorting to just looking over the edge. “Are you two ok? Are you done?” He called down. Emily pops back up, Jessie in tow, with both confirming they were fine. Placing Jessie back onto the gangplank, Emily makes her way back around, albeit slower this time, and takes her time looking at the construction. It took 20 minutes but she eventually came back around, floating parallel to the ground facing the ceiling.

“Satisfied?” Harry asked when she stopped above the gangplank again. Still upside down, Emily looked over with a smile and nodded. “Yes, I think my curiosity is sated for now.” Harry’s heart fluttered for a moment at her smile and he couldn’t help mirroring it before reaching out a hand to her to escort her back in. Flipping around Emily landed and took his hand, Jessie watching the exchange with amused curiosity and following silently behind with a smirk playing at her lips.

Labs, offices, even just hallways, Emily looked over them all with wide hungry eyes. Harry didn’t understand but found it amusing how inquisitive she became. “This your office?” She asked after a while pointing into a relatively large room with a desk, chairs, coffee table and a medium sized couch. “Uh, yeah. Yeah that’s mine,” Harry responded as she wandered in. “Hmmm, you know. Come to think of it....” Emily said looking around. “I’m not sure Harrison Wells of Earth 1 had an office. None that I remember seeing anyway.” She paused. “Unless you count the time vault, but it looked like a futuristic closet more than an office. But who knows, maybe that’s how future offices look....” She turns and smiles wide. “I like the aesthetic of your office much better.”

“Aannnd what about it do you like?” He asked following her in. She shrugs looking around again. “I dunno, just pleasing to the eye.” Harry’s gaze lingered on her as she continued looking around before he realized what he was doing and snapped himself back. “Ahem, shall we see the rest of the city now then?” He asked trying to distract himself. “Yeah sure!” Emily says with a smile. Harry’s heart skipped but he kept his composure enough to turn around and lead her and Jessie out of the Lab. Jessie continued to watch amused, even more so at the fact Emily seemed oblivious. She trailed behind them as they continued walking around the city, watching in amusement at their interactions. Emily would pay close attention to what Harry was saying or point out, Harry seemed to get more expressive as he got more comfortable, they even seemed to walk closer to each other becoming more comfortable with each other’s presence.

“So, what do you think so far?” She asked Emily linking her arm around hers. Surprised, Emily paused before smiling at her and placing her free hand on Jessie’s. “This is amazing!”

“Yeah, my dad is pretty great huh?” Jessie asks with a grin. Emily trips having been caught off guard by the unexpected implication of the question. “I... wha...” She glances over at Harry, who had shot a look over at Jessie, and tries not to blush as she searches for what to say. “Well, I mean.... least he’s not grumpy anymore.” Jessie giggles and Harry huffs. “And he does know how to be very detailed,” she continued. “I’m honestly surprised how emotive he became explaining everything.”

“I can be enthusiastic,” Harry near pouted.

“Everyone *can* be enthusiastic, it’s just surprising *you* managed it. Given your past interactions, can you blame me for not believing?” Emily asked. Harry paused before shrugging. “Alright, I’ll give you that one,” he relented. Emily smiled before looking down at her feet while they walked, Harry doing the same, and they continued in awkward silence until Jessie spotted Jitters near by. How fortunate they were walking by at that moment, and it seemed they had a new venue featured. “Hey,” Jessie piped up, “why don’t we stop into Jitters for a bit? I could use a coffee or something.”

Harry looked over at the newly repaired bistro and nodded. “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. What do you think Estrata?” Emily noticed the ad for the featured venue and pursed her lips with a pause. She had a tingling that Jessie was trying to fenangle something sneaky but nodded in agreement anyway. “Yeah, sure. Good idea, Jessie,” she said emphasizing the name with a suspicious squint her way. Jessie just smiled and pulled her along with Harry following close behind. “Oh? Open mic?” Harry observed quickly reading the sign. “That’s different.”

“Yeah....” Emily said eyeing Jessie again. “Quite the coincidence we happened to walk by as they were featuring such a thing. Huh, Jessie?”

“Yeah, I mean what are the odds?” Jessie tried to dismiss. “Hey, didn’t you say you like to sing in your free time? You should sing something!” Emily crossed her arms looking unamused. “Subtle....”

“Hey yeah,” Harry agreed. “Yeah, that’s a good idea Jessie,” he grinned at her, Jessie doing the same. “I’ll go get some coffee,” she said briskly walking to the counter. “He—wha—“ Emily stuttered trying to counter. “Ok, c’mon,” Harry said ushering Emily toward the back of the shoppe to sign her up. “Wai— n— “ Emily protests trying to switch gears. “Harry, no, please, I don’t— I don’t sing in public. Harry no, do—“ she cut her protests short in an effort to act natural when they met with the open mic organizer. “Hey,” Harry said with a smile. “Hi,” Emily added trying to compose herself. “Hey folks,” the man said with a smile. “Can I help you with sumt’n?”

“Yes! Yes, you can,” Harry quickly answers cutting Emily off before she could try weaseling out. The man raised an eyebrow suspiciously noting Emily’s nervous face and Harry’s overzealous behavior. “And in what way?” He asked cautiously.

“She would..... like to.... to.... sign up for the op—en mic. Thing....” Harry said amid Emily trying to cover his face with her hand as he spoke. The man still didn’t look convinced and darted a look between them. “She sings,” Harry assured. “I sing as a hobby,” Emily clarified. “And not in front of people!”

“Well lucky for you we’re open to all skill levels,” the man said with a smile. “And it looks like you’re the only one who was interested so far. I’ll put you at the top of the list, I just need a name.” Emily gave a long sigh and stared at Harry, who just smiled tilting his head encouragingly at the man, before begrudgingly answering. “You can put down Estrata.”

“Ah, what a unique name,” he commented scribbling it down. “We’ll be calling you up momentarily. We’re just waiting to see if anyone else is interested, but it’s looking like you’re the only one. For now anyway.” Harry smiled at Emily who just resorted to glare at him. “Hey have fun,” Harry said turning and briskly walking away and toward Jessie. “I don’t like you anymore,” Emily teased. “You’ll do great,” Harry assured with a wink causing Emily to just roll her eyes. All she could do was watch as Harry met back up with Jessie and they both took a seat to wait for things to start. They both grinned over at her and Emily just half smiled and chuckled shaking her head. “Walking migraines, both of them,” she muttered.

After a few more minutes of anxious waiting, the man greeted Emily again. “Looks like it’s your lucky night,” he said cheerfully. “No one else has signed up so you get the floor all to yourself.” Emily puffed her cheeks and sighed. “Well, maybe after I sing once, someone else will come up,” she wondered aloud. “May well be the case,” the man agreed before walking over to the mic. “Ladies and gentlemen, thank y’all for coming out to C. C. Jitters. Tonight, we’re gonna be trying something a little different, just to see what y’all think.” He smiled waving his hand toward Emily who stiffened out of anxiety. “We have a lovely young lady by the name of Estrata who has graciously agreed to sing for y’all tonight to get this open mic going. So please, don’t leave her all alone up here. If you like what you hear and want to join in and try your hand at it, feel free to step on up.” The man turned and smiled at Emily motioning toward the mic indicating she was free to start. “Just so you’re aware, I’m not a lounge singer in any capacity.” Emily warned. The man just smiled figuring she was trying to find an excuse to leave. “Give ‘em whatever it is you’ve got.”

Emily gave a nervous smile and cautiously made her way to the mic, it had been quite a while since she had done something like this so she was worried she would mess up somehow. “Aaaand I’ve suddenly forgotten every song I ever knew....” she muttered to herself. She looked around in a mild panic before realizing no one was really paying her much mind, Harry and Jessie excluded. “Right, right, lounge singers were somewhat like background singers.” GP popped up next to her and buzzed quizzically. “I dunno what to sing,” Emily hoarsely whispered covering the mic. GP buzzed again with a suggestion and Emily smiled. “Ah, how could I forget that one?”

“Aww, she’s nervous,” Jessie smiled observing Emily standing awkwardly. “She always seems so care free, this is actually really..... adorable.”

“Yeah....” Harry agreed absentmindedly with a smile. Jessie raised an eyebrow peeking over at him. “What was that?” Harry paused before burying his face into his coffee and mumbled something trying to dismiss her inquiry. She just smirked going back to sipping her own coffee and turned her attention back to Emily.

Emily took a deep breath and looked into the audience. Most were still not paying attention but she didn’t care, she’d sing one song and go. Just one. “I.... apologize in advance,” she said to the handful of people watching. “I’m a little rusty, and not a lounge singer so, here goes nothing....” she nodded to GP who started playing the music part of the song and she tentatively started.

* You light the skies, up above me*

*A star, so bright, you blind me, yeah*

*Don't close your eyes*

*Don't fade away, don't fade away, oh*

*Yeah, you and me, we can ride on a star*

*If you stay with me, girl*

*We can rule the world*

*Yeah, you and me, we can light up the sky*

*If you stay by my side*

*We can rule the world*

Her voice cracked and wavered every now and then and her posture was stiff. She felt the same as when she sang at her high school talent show and kept her eyes closed to stave off the panic seeded in the pit of her stomach.

*If walls break down, I will comfort you*

*If angels cry, oh I'll be there for you*

*You've saved my soul*

*Don't leave me now, don't leave me now, oh*

*Yeah, you and me, we can ride on a star*

*If you stay with me, girl*

*We can rule the world*

*Yeah, you and me, we can light up the sky*

*If you stay by my side*

*We can rule the world*

*Oh, all the stars are coming out tonight*

*They're lighting up the sky tonight*

*For you, for you*

*All the stars are coming out tonight*

*They're lighting up the sky tonight*

*For you, for you, oh*

She was still stiff but Harry could tell she was getting more comfortable. He saw her becoming more emotive, even just a little, and started putting some emotion into the lyrics. He smiled nearly forgetting about his coffee, Jessie smirked over at him and continued to sip her coffee acting as though she didn’t see.

* Yeah, you and me, we can ride on a star*

*If you stay with me, girl*

*We can rule the world*

*Yeah, you and me, we can light up the sky*

*If you stay by my side*

*We can rule the world*

*All the stars are coming out tonight*

*They're lighting up the sky tonight*

*For you, for you*

Getting a bit braver, Emily opened her eyes and smiled awkwardly as the new number of people watching, her ears got red when she realized Harry was watching quite close making her voice crack again. She griped the microphone pole tight to ground her so she wouldn’t loose composure as she closed out the song.

*All the stars are coming out tonight*

*They're lighting up the sky tonight*

*For you, for you*

*All the stars are coming out tonight*

*They're lighting up the sky tonight*

*For you, for you*

*All the stars are coming out tonight*

*They're lighting up the sky tonight*

*For you, for you*

Emily let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding and bowed her head a little to signal the end of the song. A few people in the crowd clapped and praised her singing making her smile wide. “Oh, thank you!” she said bowing again. “I’m glad you liked it!”

“Sing another one!” Jessie yelled from the back.

“What?” Emily asked mildly panicking. It grew into a flush when she heard a few other people ask for another as well. “I.... uh...... hmmm....”

“C’mon, that was great! Pleeeease?” Jessie pleaded. Emily glanced over at Harry who had averted his gaze to closely examine a near by wall as he sipped his coffee that was somehow not yet empty. Emily sighed and rolled her head. “Ok, alright. Fine, one more. I’ll give you one more.”

“So, what would you little maniacs like to do first?” She asked after a pause to no one in particular placing her hands on her hips and wiggling her eyebrows as she started again. GP happily started the music moving in what could be interpreted as amusement.

*Watching through my fingers, watching through my fingers*

*Shut my eyes and count to ten*

*It goes in one ear out the other, one ear out the other*

*Burning bright right till the end*

*Now you'll be missing from the photographs, missing from the photographs*

* Watching through my fingers, watching through my fingers*

*In my thoughts you're far away*

*And you are whistling the melody, whistling the melody*

*Crystallizing clear as day*

*Oh, I can picture you so easily, picture you so easily*

*What’s gonna be left of the world if you’re not in it*

*What's gonna be left of the world, oh*

Feeling far more comfortable than before, she began acting out some of the lyrics and danced a bit in place. Harry even noticed she was smiling more, mainly at GP as he flew around her.

*Every minute and every hour*

*I miss you, I miss you, I miss you more*

*Every stumble and each misfire*

*I miss you, I miss you, I miss you more*

*Watching through my fingers, watching through my fingers*

*Caught off guard by your favourite song*

*I'll be dancing at a funeral, dancing at a funeral*

*Sleeping in the clothes you love*

*It's such a shame we had to see them burn, shame we had to see them burn*

*What's gonna be left of the world if you're not in it*

*What's gonna be left of the world, oh*

*Every minute and every hour*

*I miss you, I miss you, I miss you more*

*Every stumble and each misfire*

*I miss you, I miss you, I miss you more*

Emily paused and changed her posture to be a bit more composed. "If you want to be a party animal, you have to learn to live in the jungle. Now stop worrying and go get dressed,” she spoke, though somewhat exaggerated, before continuing singing.

*You might have to excuse me*

*I've lost control of all my senses*

*And you might have to excuse me*

*I've lost control of all my words*

*So get drunk, call me a fool*

*Put me in my place, put me in my place*

*Pick me up, up off the floor*

*Put me in my place, put me in my place*

A sudden small jolt of confidence and mischief prompted Emily to grip the mic and look into the crowd with a challenging look, amusement pulled at her lips every time she sang ‘put me in my place’ and her gaze swept the room ending in a wink.

*Every minute and every hour*

*I miss you, I miss you, I miss you more*

*Every stumble and each misfire*

*I miss you, I miss you, I miss you more*

*Watching through my fingers, watching through my fingers*

*'Cause every minute and every hour*

*I miss you, I miss you, I miss you more*

She smiled and giggled when the song ended, she had the attention of most of the room now and the applause was much louder this time around. She bowed again and attempted to leave when the crowd protested again. “No no,” Emily dismissed. “No, I’m— I was in the middle of.... something. I should get back to that. The.... thing....”

“Oh c’mon,” Harry called out. “You can do one more.” Jessie’s eyes grew wide in surprise as she looked over at her dad, his arms were crossed over his chest and he had a sly smirk threatening to spread over his face. She smiled and giggled turning to look at Emily, who was just as surprised, before chiming in. “Yeah, one more! Please?”

“Yeah, please?” a young woman called from another near by table. Emily recognized her and her two friends as the ones who hung around her table whenever she visited the shoppe on her accidental trip a while ago. She smiled awkwardly and chuckled nervously as her face became rather rosy. “Alright, alright. One more, but this is the last one!” The room cheered and clapped as they waited in anticipation. She gave a long sigh into the mic and gave a stern look at Harry. “You see, Harry, this is why I don’t sing in public,” she said with her mouth close to the mic. Harry just grinned with a chuckle. Emily sighed with a growl preparing for what she hoped to be her last number.

* Sometimes you need a reason*

*A little love you can't believe in*

*A little hug, a little day dreaming*

*Apparently there's some correlation*

*Between hearts and outer space*

*All I'm really trying to say is*

*That I'm just a Sagittarius and we're kind of spontaneous*

*So let's fly out to Vegas and find an Elvis to marry us*

*Don't try to argue with the moon*

*We can blame it on the stars*

*Oh, come on let your heart just breathe*

*Stars, oh, come one let your guard down*

*And we can blame it on the stars*

Having accepted the fact she wasn’t going anywhere any time soon, Emily decided to dance along while she sang as GP flew around adding to the up beat mood. Harry watched happily as she slid back into her carefree personality, Jessie also amused by the shift in behavior so quickly although more so with her father encouraging the events and enjoying himself.

* We'd like to think that we're waiting*

*On a previous reservation*

*It's all written in the constellations*

*Now I don't know, but neither do you*

*Truth is, it's a good excuse*

*For both our hearts to let loose*

*And I know that you're a Cancer*

*Which means you like holding hands*

*So show me how to do this dance*

*And spin me like a ceiling fan, oh*

*Don't try to argue with the moon*

*We can blame it on the stars*

*Oh, come on let your heart just breathe*

*Stars, oh come one let your guard down*

*And we can blame it on the stars*

* I read your horoscope*

*And baby you should know*

*Just what your future holds*

*Let your hips move*

*Let my fingers find you*

*Wrap my arms around you, here we go*

*Stars, oh, come on let your heart just breathe*

*Stars, the stars, stars*

*We can blame it on the stars*

*Oh, come on let your heart just breathe*

*Stars, oh, come one let your guard down*

And we can blame it on the stars*

*We can blame it on the stars*

~~~~

So I miss judged the length of this one and had to break it up. It’s juuuuust over the post limit. Stay tuned for part twwoooo 🥔🎨

#harry wells #harrison wells #the flash #flash fiction #fan fiction #oc x canon #my ocs #funny #nora west allen #barry allen

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eighth--wonder · 4 years ago

Text

alright fuck it

here's a lil story i'm writing. i have no idea where it's heading but i want to share it.

first | next

Stranger

“Do you have a minute?” asks the stranger that has taken a seat next to me. I just wanted to read a book in the park and NOT talk to people. It’s the reason I’m out here, to not talk to people. Well, that, and the fact that my therapist keeps yelling at me to go outside.

“Y-yes?” I said back to him, shutting my book. There it goes, that darn stutter.

“I’ve had a heck of a day. I got laid off from the only thing keeping me from living in my parents' basement, my phone shattered after this stupid kid knocked into me on his bike, I lost this really important family heirloom after my house was robbed by my step-mom, and, I have no friends to vent to, which why I’m talking to you, a stranger. No offense.”

I smiled. “None t-taken. That sounds li-like a pretty crappy d-day to m-me.”

He looked confused. “You…”

“I-i-i-it’s my s-stutter.”

“Oh. I’m Cody by the way.” He said, delivering a warm smile along with a hand to shake.

I shook his hand. “I’m Wil-Wilson. N-nice to me-meet you.”

Here is usually where the people who thought I could be a potential friend go away, but Cody was different. He stayed, asking me what book I was reading, talked about how the economy was failing, new shows on Netflix. Ya know, the usual.

Eventually, he decided that I was good friend material, and we exchanged numbers.

I walked home after Cody left, considering my social interaction bar had been used up for the day talking to him. Cody, the only person who judged me by how I acted instead of my stutter. He was nice, his appearance wasn’t anything out of the usual indicating he wasn’t a serial killer, which was always a perk. He also didn’t show any signs of isolation which is why I was surprised when he told me he didn't have any friends, but everybody copes in their own way, I guess. His tone of voice suggested that he goes to therapy, he sounded very on edge, possibly paranoia, but he did say he had a bad day.

I shook my head in an attempt to clear my thoughts. My CSI training tended to kick in from time to time. I had gotten “let go” from my CSI position at NJPD because of head trauma, also known as, “We don’t want a kid with a broken dream and a stutter solving murders.”

I opened the door to my apartment and stepped inside. Just as I had expected, nothing had happened. My living room was a mess, decorative throw pillows all pilled and smushed. The coffee table had empty coffee mugs littered around its surface leaving white rings on the table. I guess I should clean them up.

After cleaning up the coffee mugs and the white heat rings, I grabbed a cup of water, sat down in front of the TV, and flipped to the news.

As usual, the news delivered nothing but depressing news about how the president’s attempt to do something-or-other was succeeding. Or failing. I never paid attention to the news.

I turned the TV off and decided to go do something productive with my time and then did nothing because who has time for productivity and stared at the ceiling.

Eventually, my body started telling me I needed to sleep and listening to it, I changed into my sleepwear and went to bed.

I woke up to birds chirping and the sun shining through my bedroom window, which would lead you to think I would have a wonderful day, meet someone new, maybe go shopping for supplies to make a delicious meal, but no. My plan for the day was to update my laptop, watch some TV, then maybe mow the lawn.

While I was staring at the black screen of my updating laptop, my phone vibrated signaling a text message had come through. Getting text messages was not a usual occurrence for me. I only ever got messages from my data plan telling me I ran out of data. I looked down at my phone and to my surprise, it was Cody asking if I wanted to hang out today. After proofreading my response and then proofreading it again, I sent it to him.

Waiting for his response, I sat on my bed chewing my nails.

What if he isn’t really your friend, he’s just pretending to be?

What if it’s all a joke and he hates you?

No, stop that.

Why would anybody want to be friends with you?

You can’t even speak right.

Stop.

Nobody even likes you.

That’s it.

I got up and got changed, avoiding looking in any mirrors. My outfit wasn’t anything extraordinary, a pair of jeans with an old band t-shirt and leather jacket matched with Converse. Without waiting for a meeting place from Cody, I headed out the door, slinging my beige satchel over my shoulder. In my satchel was my phone, my wallet, a pocket knife and a lighter.

I arrived at the park searching for Cody: vitiligo, blonde hair, freckles, blue eyes, glasses, a pretty good sense of style. Judging by what he wore yesterday which was a pair of work pants, a long-sleeved light pink dress shirt, and a navy blue tie, he would wear something casual like jeans and a sweatshirt. What he wore yesterday was obviously his work clothes but as he said, he had gotten laid off from his job so he wouldn’t be wearing work clothes.

I had actually done research on jobs for him based on the personality gathered from him. I know, I know. I’m weird because somehow I know his entire personality after just meeting him for the first time. Yeah well, I don’t care. The job turnouts were nice, things along the lines of psychiatrists, therapists. Ya know, socially demanding jobs. Something I could never do.

Eventually, I found Cody at a coffee shop talking to the lady at the counter about how she should go see a therapist to cope with the loss of her husband. What a gentleman.

He turned around to find a seat in the crowded coffee shop and noticed me standing in the middle of the shop, staring at him like a loser.

“Wilson, you found me!” He said, walking up to me as if he had known me longer than a quick chat on a bench.

“I did,” I said, nervous that other people would see. “Now le-let’s go,” I said, grabbing his arm and dragging him to the door.

“Don’t you want anything?” He said, struggling not to spill his coffee.

“No, I’ll p-pick up a Mo-Monster on the w-way to the ma-mall,” I said.

Realizing I was basically holding Cody’s hand, I let go and turned to face him.

“S-sorry,” I said, turning a slight shade of pink.

Cody situated himself. “About what?”

“Nevermi-mind,” I shook my head as if doing that would remove the awkwardness from the situation.

Cody kind of smiled. “Okay. So, we’re we headed?”

“I was th-thinking the mall, m-maybe hit up H-Hot Topic,” I said as I started to walk down the trail.

The trail at the park was an absolute must if you’re a tourist. In the fall, the trail became covered in amber-gold leaves. Animals of all sorts rustled the leaves, burrowing to make their homes. Grumpy park keepers raking leaves into piles only to have children jump in them and ruin them. God, I love it.

“Sure. Doesn’t the mall have a food court? We could stop there and get something to eat.”

I turned to look at him. “Th-that would be g-great.”

We walked in silence to the mall. I could never quite figure out Cody’s shopping preference. He looked like he shopped at Kohls or Sears. Some relatively nice places. Maybe Boscovs. I, on the other hand, shop at places like Hot Topic and Journeys.

We arrived at the mall and made a direct line to a Hot Topic. I could tell Cody had never entered a Hot Topic in his life, considering the fact he scrunched up when he saw the cashier.

I walked up beside him and nudged him. “This your fi-first time?”

He took a sip of his coffee. “In a Hot Topic, yes.”

I turned back to the t-shirts. “I can te-tell.”

We browsed the store, Cody striking some conversation with other shop goers. How is he so social? He even got the kids in Hot Topic to talk to him.

“Wilson, c’mere!” Cody yelled from the other side of the store. The entire store, which consisted of like, 3 people, turned to look at me.

I chuckled awkwardly. “Uh, h-h-hi.” I gave a tiny socially awkward wave which was responded with an understanding nod from some kid in a Panic! At the Disco shirt.

I scurried over to the other side of the store. “Wha-what do you wa-want!” I hissed at him.

Cody gestured over to the shirt he had in his right hand. “Don’t you like this band? I saw them on your lockscreen.”

He was holding a Twenty One Pilots shirt that had the words: “I belive in Josh Dun” etched around the alien-like symbol that represented Josh Dun. The shirt wasn’t really my style, but Cody looked so proud of himself for finding a shirt that I could possibly like, that I couldn’t turn it down. I grabbed the sirt from his hands and slung it over my shoulder. I looked for other t-shirts, failed, and ended up in the pin section. A sign underneath the bucket read, “Buy 2 get 1 free”. I was always a sucker for deals.

“Watcha doing?” A voice was accompanied by a brush on my shoulder. I suspected that it was Cody’s arm, because his hand brushed against mine. As if that same hand had taken a paintbrush, my face was painted a light red. Well, more of a light pink. For some reason, Cody’s touch made my chest feel all weird, my stomach flutter, and my face heat up. Of course I knew what this feeling was, I’m not stupid.

“Uh, I’m l-looking for pi-pins. They’re b-buy two get one fr-free.” I said.

Cody was immediately intrigued. He rummaged through the pins, discarding ones he didn’t like. I already held two pins in my hand, a Fall Out Boy one and a subtle LGBTQ+ Pride pin.

Now, Cody wasn’t the type of person I would have thought to have also picked out an LGBTQ+ Pride pin as well, but here we are, Cody with an extremely flamboyant Pride pin in the palm of his hand.

My face tuned a medium shade of red. Holy crap, Cody’s gay. I mean, it didn’t bother me, obviously, but you never would have guessed it.

Somehow, I completed the transaction between the cashier and I, and me and Cody made a beeline for the Five Guys. Five Guys was a restaurant I had come to many times when I was a kid. I ordered what I usually got, a Veggie Sandwich. Cody ordered a Cheeseburger with Small Fries. An order I can respect. We searched for a place to sit before choosing a seat underneath the trees they put in the mall. It never occured to me why they put trees in the mall until now.

Seeing Cody smile at me from underneath the trees, a stray ray of sunlight shone through his glasses and making its way to his blue eyes, his smile making me feel warm inside. God, what I would do to take a picture of him right now.

“H-hey, can I t-take a p-p-picture of y-you, Cody?” I said, pulling my phone out of my pocket.

“Sure. Where do you want me to look?” He said. I was honestly surprised by his reaction. He didn’t think I was weird or refuse.

I adjusted my phone camera to the light settings. “J-just look directly a-at the c-cam-camera and smi-smile.”

He did as I said, smiling directly at the camera. The shot was super cliche, but he looked great.

I took the picture, ignoring weird looks from other customers, and sent it to Cody. The picture came out nice.

“Put a black and white filter on it.” Cody’s voice sounded from my shoulder. His chin rested right where my shoulder met my neck.

I put the black and white filter on it. The ray of sunlight that passed diagnally on his face was turned to a light gray.

“But it l-look-looks better with col-colour.” I said, changing it back.

Cody stared at it for a few moments, his face looked rather studious, as if he wanted to remember every aspect of the photo.

“Yeah, your right. Keep it coloured.”

I smiled. “I’m al-always ri-right.”

Something about how quickly our friendship had formed made an impact on me. We met on a bench yesterday and now I’m sending him a picture I took of him in a mall plainly because I wanted to. Something wasn’t right; friendships don’t move this quickly. People weren’t just nice. As depressing as it sounds, it’s true. People aren’t nice with no reason. We’d love them to be, but they just aren’t.

Cody threw away the remains of his lunch and sat back down in front of me.

“So, want do you want to do now?” He said.

I shrugged. “I do-don’t know. May-maybe we c-could go to-”

Cody gasped. “What about a play! There’s a theatre down the street, and the admission’s free!”

I smiled. I friggin’ love plays. Especially musicals. Something about how people can change their person to a completely different personality always made me happy.

“I lo-love the sound of th-that.” I said, standing up and throwing the remains of my veggie sandwich in the garbage can.

We left the mall in a hurry, rushing to hail a cab to the nearest theatre. We both sat in the back of the cab as the driver drove us to our location.

“So, do y-you know wha-what play it i-i-is?” I asked.

Cody shook his head no. “Honestly, I don’t really care what play it is. I just love the acting behind it.” He said.

“Me t-too. I just lo-love how the pe-pe-people on st-stage can tra-transform into wha-whatever chara-character they ne-need to-” I was cut off by the cab driver.

“Ay kid, could ya knock it off with that stutter? It’s really annoyin’ and it’s gettin’ on my nerves.” He said. He had a heavy jersey accent, a contrast to our current location of New York.

“Yes s-sir.” I said, folding my hands in my lap and drawing my eyes to my feet.

Cody kept looking between me and the cab driver. “What? No.” He said, knocking on the glass that divided the passengers and the driver.

“Sir, can you pull over?” He said. His tone sounded like a mother who was about to scold her child.

The cab driver groaned and pulled over.

“What?” He said, twisting his body so he could see through the little window.

“My friend can’t help his stutter, okay? And for you to ask him to ‘knock it off’ was extremely impolite.” Cody said.

‘Friend’. I held back my smile.

The cab driver snorted. “I don’t care if he can help it or not, it’s annoying and it distracts me from driving.”

Cody laughed in disbelief. “Oh, I see. Well, in that case, can you stop talking in that obnoxious jersey accent of yours? It distracts me from enjoying the view. And, maybe stop smelling like rotten fries because it makes it hard to focus. And I would heavily enjoy it if you threw out that black ice smelly tree, because all it does is combine with the scent of feces back here and makes it smell worse.” He smiled sweetly. “Thanks so much, mmm-bye.”

He opened the cab door and walked over to the sidewalk to open mine. I got out, throwing a dirty look at the cab driver. We left without paying.

“Hey, th-thanks for standing u-u-up for me b-back there. It rea-really meant a lo-lot.” I said.

Cody smiled. “No problem! It just pisses me off when people are mean to others.”

We walked to the theatre. Cody was right, the admission was free and it was one of my favourite plays. Romeo and Juliet.

Cody and I walked up to the admission box, standing rather close to each other.

“One ticket for me and one for my friend.” He said.

There it was. That word Friend. Now that I think of if, I haven’t really had a friend before. Yeah, I know. You’re probably thinking ‘Wilson, I bet you had at least one friend.’ Nope. None of the kids in elementary school talked to me enough for me to develop a friendship with them, and middle school was, well, middle school, and after my accident in high school, no one spoke to me straight up. I’m honestly surprised I have the social skills I have.

We walked down the aisle and found our seats. We were seated in the 3rd row of the middle section. So right near the front.

“Have you ever seen Romeo and Juliet?” Cody asked.

I raised my eyebrows. “Have I ev-ever seen R-Romeo and Juli-Juliet?”

Cody smiled. “I take it you have. Well good, because I’ve never seen it.”

“Really?” I said. How?????

Cody shook his head. “Nope. Never seen it.”

I sighed. “Do you at le-least know th-the p-plot?”

“More or less. I know theres a thing with a balcony?”

“Yes.”

“And they,” He looked side to side, checking for people. “Both die?”

I smiled and nodded. “Y-Yes! So you kno-know the basic-ics. G-Good.”

We turned our attention to the stage as the lights dimmed.

yea that's it so far. ask me if you wanna be tagged!

#stranger #<- that's the name of the story btw #danny tries to write

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what-is-your-plan-today · 4 years ago

Text

CSI: Rogers and Barnes- The Serious Cereal Serial Killer Ch 13: Cap’N Crunch

Co-Written with @icanfeelastormbrewing

Episode Summary: The investigation begins to slot together...with some suprising results.

Episode Warnings: Bad Language words. SMUT (NSFW) NO UNDER 18s!!!!

Episode Pairings: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

Song for Episode: The Imitation Game by Alexandre Desplat

A/N: This is a LONG chapter guys, but the case is cracked... ooooohhhhhhh!

As always we live for re-blogs and comments

CSI Rogers and Barnes Master List // Main Masterlist I'd look at one of my stonecutters hammering away at the rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet, at the hundred and first blow it would split in two, and I knew it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before. - Jacob Riis

By the time they had arrived at Pierce’s, the press were already circling like vultures. Steve called Fury on the way to fill him in on what they had found in Stan’s notes and to his surprise the Commander wasn’t as shocked as Steve had expected. Mind you, he had stated to Steve that he suspected a cover up had happened so maybe this was simply cementing his initial suspicions. The Captain drove carefully through the crowd which was being parted by a number of Thor’s officers, before the large blonde himself gave them both a nod, lifting the tape to allow him to steer his car into the inner boundary. They parked up, climbed out and headed up the drive way which led to the double garage at the side of the large house.

Tony, Sam and Bruce were already in the garage along with Bucky and Commander Fury.

“Sir.” Steve nodded to the man, watching in the corner of his eye as Katie approached the car, stopping by the driver’s side to get a look.

“I take it that’s what killed him.” She said, nodding to the body. Steve walked up behind her, stooped down and his eyes flickered to the single bullet hole straight between Pierce’s eyes.

“Yup.” Tony said. “No other marks or bruises. The blood splatter indicates that he was shot where he is now, so we’re not looking for a second crime scene, same as the others in that respect.” “Yeah, and here’s your cereal…” Bruce said, holding up a clear bag “I’m no expert but these look like Apple Puffs to me.” “Well that fits.” Bucky said “AP, Alexander Pierce.”

“Time of death?” Steve asked and Tony looked at him.

“Judging from the body you’re probably looking at between 5 and 6 hours ago.” “We’ll know more when we get him on the slab.” Sam said, and Steve nodded.

“5 or 6 hours ago means he was killed in daylight.” Fury said, and Steve took a deep breath.

“I’ll get Thor to have his team conduct a door-to-door.” he said, and Fury nodded as the Captain turned to Bucky “I take it there were no signs of breaking and entering?”

“No.” Bucky said. “Natasha and Clint are in the house supervising the detailed forensics sweep but so far nothing. No forced door, picked locks, smashed windows.”

“Which confirms, as with all the others that Pierce knew his attacker.” Steve nodded.

“This is all pointing one way.” Katie said, “Rumlow. He fits the Profile to a tee…”

“But if what you found in those files is right, Pierce has been shielding Rumlow, hell, hey all have one way or another. If it’s him, why is he targeting them? Fury asked

“And why is he suddenly breaking with his MO?” Steve asked, “None of our other bodies have been killed at home or in broad daylight.”

“Maybe he’s just getting sloppy.” Bucky shrugged

“No.” Katie shook her head “That was an execution. Nothing about this is sloppy. If you want my opinion, he’s reached the end, everyone on that list of people involved in the conspiracy is now dead. This was done on purpose so we would find him like this, he’s taunting us…look what I did before you figured it out…”

“But that doesn’t answer my question.” Fury said “Why would Rumlow target the people who protected him?”

"Maybe he's just a fuckin’ psycho." Bucky shrugged “I mean, hey, Sam…” Sam looked up at his shout “You said the last body, Schmidt, had been beaten in a blind rage right, symptomatic with someone losing their temper?”

“Yeah…” Sam nodded before he bent back over into the car, continuing his examinations and Bucky looked at her

“Point proven, he’s a loop.” “No. He’s not. He's too meticulous.” Katie shook her head and looked at Bucky “Each killing escalated in violence right? I think he was doing that to frighten Pierce. Leading him to think he was going to meet the most violent end of all.” she bit her lip. “What is it?” Steve asked.

“Rumlow can't have known for long...that Pierce was his father I mean.”

“His what?” Bucky spluttered as he looked at Katie then to Steve as Sam let out a huff of surprise too.

“Oh, yeah, there’s a lot we need to fill you in on…” Steve looked at the sergeant apologetically. “But not here…” Bucky nodded and Katie continued.

“If he had known, he would have been using him long before the rape case to progress his career because that's what he was like, a narcissist. Everything was about him. When Sarah Klein turned him down, he took her anyway...and then tried to do the same with me.”

“So he finds out about his parentage...he tells Pierce to make the rape case go away or he blows the fact that he got an underage girl pregnant.” Steve looked at her and she looked at him.

“That’s my guess, yeah.”

“So Pierce plays ball otherwise his career and reputation are dead in the water.” Fury mused “Which leaves Rumlow free to continue at the 99…” “And then he assaulted me.” Katie swallowed “Which is where my dad comes into it. The assault charge against me is dropped as well, and we can assume Pierce was to thank for that too, only this time they hadn’t factored in Dad’s amazing ability to kick up a shit storm…so Pierce has no alternative but to force Rumlow to resign.” she paused again and Steve spotted the look on her face, the look she wore when things were finally slotting into place.

“That’s what this is about…” she continued and looked up at Steve, then to Fury then to Bucky “In Rumlow’s eyes they all failed him…” she looked back at Steve “Rumlow had no family, no wife, nothing but the job so take that away from him and he becomes a no-one, which is the worst thing in the world that can happen to a narcissist.”

“But why wait 5 years?” Bucky looked at her.

“He didn’t.” she said, shaking her head “He killed the person he blamed at the time- My dad. Then 18 months or so later he gets busted for the robbery and handed 3 years. Only Pierce doesn’t bail him out this time so he spends his sentence getting angrier and angrier, because everyone else is to blame but himself. He gets out, and starts hunting the rest of them down. One by one. Anyone and everyone that he feels is at fault.”

There was a moment’s pause.

“Well…” Fury looked at Katie, the corner of his mouth twitching upwards lightly “Looks like you just cracked it Stark…”

And damned it, Steve couldn’t help the proud smile that spread across his face. His girl was clever, and he fucking loved her brain as well as her beauty.

“No wonder you wanted to bring her back from DC. Well, apart from the obvious more selfish reasons…” Bucky muttered to Steve, who looked at him, raising his eyebrow.

“I told you Buck…” he said, watching Katie who was talking to Fury now “She’s the best in the business.”

“…we still need to find him.” her voice said as Steve tuned back into what she was now discussing with the Commander. “And I need to prove it too. Back it all up with facts so it isn’t merely supposition…and I still want to know for sure what the fuck the cereal is all about.”

“So do I.” Fury said, as he looked at his watch “Ok, I’m gonna head back to Plaza, speak to Rhodes and Wuntcsh. We need to handle this press release carefully.” “I think we need to put Rumlow’s face out there.” Katie said “Let’s name him, have everyone in the country looking for him.”

Fury nodded “I agree, time we went public. Keep me up to speed.”

“Sir.” Steve nodded and watched the man make his way down towards his car. He turned back to his troops just as Natasha and Clint emerged from the house “Anything?”

They both shook their heads “Nothing out of the ordinary.” “Alright, in that case can you organise and supervise the house to house, Nat, get Thor onto it. Someone has to have seen something. Meanwhile, we’ll head back to the station.” he looked at Katie, Clint then Bucky “We’ll start digging into this theory, see if we can make it tie up. We could use your hawk eyes on this one Clint.”

“Happy to oblige Cap.” he saluted, before he turned to Nat “You keep my car, I’ll grab a lift off Super Serge…” he said, patting Bucky’s shoulder.

“Lucky me.” Bucky rolled his eyes, playfully.

***** They had been back at the station for roughly 2 hours, digging through everything they could think of whilst sprawled in the Incident Room. Clint had ordered pizza in for them, and as such there were discarded boxes along with cans of soda littered around the place, adding to the general chaos of the room.

Katie had written the key points of her theory on the whiteboard, and they were busy tacking documents to the board which seemed to back the different points up. The idea being, as Katie said, they could make connections, trace one link to another easier if the visuals were right there in front of them

It struck Steve just how like Howard Katie was. She worked in a very similar way, his mantra always being that if you eliminated the impossible, no matter what remains, however improbable, it had to be the truth. His daughter seemed to do the same. She was eliminating things that didn’t matter, that couldn’t possibly be true, things that were unimportant as she was following this one thread through the entire case. She’d said right from the off Rumlow was involved, even though they’d had no hard evidence to back that up. Well, now they did, and they were uncovering more and more as they worked.

Steve looked up as he saw Katie reaching for her phone. “Yeah, you get something?” he watched as she paused, her hand running through her hair before she grinned “Tony’ you're a fucking genius..."

She put the phone down and she stood up, moving to the board and pulling the DNA results off from where they'd been tacked up

"These are duplications..." she says "Tony's been digging and talking to a few of his friends in the private sector...apparently these were run originally by a Dr Armin Zola, who was struck off not long after for malpractice. The originals were mailed out to a Mr Brock Rumlow a few weeks before the rape took place...and guess what? Zola turned up dead a week or so later...choked on a steak."

"How the fuck did Tony find that out?" Bucky looked at her.

"Ok, when I say talking to a few friends...I actually mean hacking, but that's not important. I was right, Rumlow didn’t know until that point and ever since he's been using it. Pierce keeps him out of jail but when he's done for robbery he can't…” she tapped at a photo on the board, “because the CCTV footage, everything...it's too much. It would attract attention.”

Steve looked at her, then Bucky before Clint spoke up.

“Yeah, and I've been digging into Rumlow's financials. The guy was destitute. After leaving the police he struggled to find work- was doing the odd bit of security but nothing big, and he couldn't take his pension yet. This was the prosecutions main angle during the robbery case- that he needed the money.”

“The cereal…” Katie mumbled. “Fuck, when I said about the caviar and silver spoons normally being used about making a point, people being rich.”

“He is making the same point, but the other way around.” Steve looked at her and she nodded.

“No posh or fancy silver spoons for me, just mundane cereal. He’s bitter. Bitter he never had the fucking lifestyle that being Pierces kid would have brought him.”

“So he kills Zola…” Bucky looked up “And makes it look like an accident?” Katie bit her lip and something else flashed in her eyes and her mouth dropped open.

“What is it?” Steve looked at her.

“I don’t think he did…”

“The MO…” Bucky started, but she shook her head.

“It’s different. None of the others actually died from choking. They were hit with a hammer, or in Pierce’s case shot.”

“So someone else did Zola…” Bucky looked at her and Steve let out a sigh, the dots connecting in his own mind.

“Pierce.” he said looking at Katie. “Rumlow approaches him with the evidence and he kills Zola to keep his dirty little secret quiet...”

“And then when my dad uncovers all this…he killed him, and mom too.” She shook her head, looking down before she reached for her chair sinking into it “It was Pierce…he killed my parents…I can’t believe it.”

The room fell silent as the 3 men all exchanged a look and Steve turned back to his girl, whose eyes had filled with tears. And at that point, he decided enough was enough.

"Alright, I'm calling it." he said "It's midnight, it's been a long day.” he took a deep breath “Rumlow must have been staying somewhere since he got out of jail. Tomorrow we need to find out where” he turned then to Clint, “We’ll reconvene here at 8 am sharp. Barton, first thing I want you and Nat to follow any lead, no matter how small we got from the house to house. And before you go, get onto Thor...I want all eyes out for Rumlow on the night shift. If they see him, arrest on sight.”

****

Steve, Katie and Bucky all climbed out of Steve’s car in the underground parking lot attached to the apartment block. Steve headed to the trunk and pulled out Katie’s bag, which Bucky noticed was larger than normal meaning she was intending on staying for longer than the night, but he refrained from making any snarky comment. She’d hardly spoken a word all the way home and he couldn’t blame her. Instead he simply observed as Steve reached for her hand which she took and the two of them walked slightly ahead of him to the door that led to the elevators.

They emerged onto the landing and Steve unlocked the door, swinging it open to let Katie in first. Once she was in she took off her jacket, hung it on the coat stand by the door and turned to them both.

“I don’t want to be rude but I’m exhausted. I’m gonna take a shower and get in bed.” Bucky gave her a smile “Don’t blame you Doll Face.”

She managed a roll of her eyes with a smile at the nickname and she moved to take her bag from Steve but he shook his head.

“It’s ok, I’ve got it.” he said and she smiled at him before she turned back to Bucky.

“Night Buck.” “Yeah, see you in the morning.” he said.

Steve followed her down to his room where he deposited her bag on the chair in the corner and she turned to him, wrapping her arms around his waist, burying her face in his chest. The rain was beating against the bedroom window and he glanced outside, his chin resting on the top of her head as he gave a sigh. Looked like this shit weather was in for the night, which was fairly apt really all things considered. Eventually she stepped back and looked up at him and he leaned down pressing a soft kiss to her lips.

“Go get sorted.” he said, “I won’t be far behind you. Do you want a drink or anything?” “No, I’m good thanks Stevie.”

He smiled again and then left her to her own devices. When he walked back into the kitchen Bucky was sat at the breakfast bar and slid him an open beer as he dropped onto the stool besides him.

“She ok?” Bucky asked.

“Not really.” Steve sighed

“And what about you?” Bucky looked at him. “You were close to Howard. That’s bound to have been a head fuck.” “You’re not wrong.” Steve sighed “We gotta catch this bastard Bucky. Pierce will never face justice for what he did but Rumlow can.” “And he will.” Bucky said, taking a mouthful of his beer “We’ll find him.”

The two friends sat talking until their beer was finished and at that both decided to call it a night. Steve’s room was dark when he entered, the only light coming from outside street lighting which flooded through the crack in the curtains. He went to pull them shut tightly but Katie stopped him.

“Don’t, I like the light.” He chuckled as he turned to face her “Now we both know you’re not afraid of the dark, Star.” “I know…” she said as he pulled off his Henley, discarding it over her pile of clothes on the chair “I just like it, that’s all.” Once he was down to his boxers he crawled over her, dropping a kiss to her lips “I’ll be 5. Just gonna shower.” “Ok.” she yawned, settling herself down further under the covers.

Steve took the hottest shower he could stand, willing the warmth to wash away the events of the day. His shoulders ached from them being so damned tense and he rolled them slightly, cracking his neck from side to side as the water beat down on him. Once he was done he headed back to his room, towelled off, pulled a clean pair of boxers on and settled down besides Katie. He pulled her to him, her back pressed to his chest as he dropped a soft kiss to her bare shoulder just to the side of the strap of her cami top. They lay silent for a while, the only sound was the rain falling outside, but he could tell she wasn’t asleep from her breathing.

“Remember that trip we took to Camp Lehigh.” Katie broke the silence and Steve took a deep breath.

“How could I forget?” he smiled. And he meant it, that weekend was ingrained in his brain forever. He’d split up with Peggy a few weeks before hand and Katie had split up with Grant a couple of months before that as well. The pair of them had been miserable, basically slumping around her apartment or his, wallowing in their joint grief and pity before Katie had decided they needed to go and do something, something fun. Camp Lehigh had been somewhere that her parents had taken her and Tony every year as kids, an activities camp of sorts, with little cabins and all kinds of sports and activities to do, so on a whim she’d booked them in for the weekend and they’d headed off. It had been great. They’d gone hiking, done the assault courses, paintballing, kayaking, drunk round the campfire with the other people there. In fact, that was where her star necklace had come from, the gift shop. It was a cheap, sterling silver pendant but he’d wanted to say thank you as the weekend had been a balm to his soul. Upon leaving they’d vowed that was it, their lives started over and they moved forward. Which was what they had done, and every spare bit of time they had they’d filled with something fun.

“You made me take the top bunk.” She said, “You were afraid if you took it you’d come falling through and land on me in the middle of the night.”

“Well on the second night we both ended up in the bottom one anyway.” he said, his arm pulling her closer “It was raining, like it is now, and then it thundered and you shit yourself.” “I did not…” she said indignantly, causing him to snort. “Ok, maybe a little…”

They fell silent again, and she shuffled in his arms, turning to face him. “You know, that night when we just lay there and we were talking for hours until you fell asleep…I could feel your heart beating in your chest and I remember asking myself how Peggy could have ever let you go.” Steve looked down at her, brushing her hair back slightly off her face as she continued. “In fact, I think that’s the moment I realised I loved you. I mean, I’d had those feelings for you for a long time but that was the time I finally understood why whenever I was with you I got that safe, happy feeling.” Steve pressed a kiss to her lips, his forehead resting against hers. “We wasted a lot of time Doll.”

“I know.” she sighed. “So stupid when you look back on it isn’t it?” “Well, there’s no point thinking about it now.” he said softly, his hand gently sliding up and down her back “You’re stuck with me forever.” “Promise?”

“Cross my heart Star.” he said, his lips catching hers again in a soft kiss before he grinned. “Even if you are afraid of thunder.” “Piss off…” She chuckled, shoving him gently.

“You know, I always found it odd…how you could be so scared of thunder but quite like a Storm…” he quipped and she let out a groan.

“Again, Steve?”

“Sorry, sorry…” he chuckled, “I know, it’s just…well it was only a week ago tonight that I thought I’d lost you again when you left with him.” “Keep on mentioning him and I just might do it again.” “Uh-uh…” he said, grinning as he rolled her onto her back. “Like I said, you’re stuck with me forever. You’re never leaving.” “Never?” “No.” “What you gonna do? Handcuff me to the bed?” Steve let out a soft groan as she tilted her hips upwards, pushing into his groin “Don’t tempt me Star…” She bit her lip as she looked up at him. “You wanna go all bad cop Captain?”

“Yeah, well, you bring out the absolute worst in me…”

“You love it.” she teased.

“No, I love you. The rest of the shit just comes along.” he mumbled, his lips catching hers again. This kiss this time fevered as her tongue slid into his mouth, tangling with his own. She gave a soft moan which almost died in her throat as she pulled back and looked up at him, her hands tangling in his hair. It took a while for the fog to clear from his lust addled brain, but eventually Steve pulled back, searching her eyes in the dim light of the room.

“Sweetheart, you need sleep…” he said, clearing his throat as his nose brushed up against hers. “After everything that’s happened today, I-“

“I need to forget…” she whispered, cutting him off, her hand cupping his face. “Please, make me forget Stevie…” She whispered into his mouth.

And that was it. Suddenly he was pulling her top over her head, his mouth nipping and sucking at her chest as she writhed and keened underneath him. His hand worked into the waistband of the shorts she was wearing and she gasped as his fingers gently started to tease her, before he upped the pace slightly, and with a flick of his wrist pushed two inside her, curling against that soft spot that he knew would leave her boneless and pliant underneath him.

“I love you…I love you so fucking much…”He said, making her groan again as he continued to work her with his hand. Eventually she couldn’t take it anymore and she wriggled underneath him.

“You want something?” he teased and she raised her head, glowering at him.

“Steve if you don’t fuck me right now I swear to God…” “You’ll do what?” he raised an eyebrow.

“I’ll call Storm…”

“Doll, don’t threaten me…” his voice grew low. She was such a mouthy little shit at times and she knew what buttons to press and when to press them, fucking brat.

“Or what?” she propped herself up on her elbows. Oh he knew exactly what. In a flash he had reached out, and grabbed at her hips, flipping her over so that her front was pressed into the bed covers. She let out a little shriek, followed by a dirty giggle which made his already evident arousal even harder as he crawled over her, nipping at her neck. In seconds he had her moaning again, and grinning to himself he pulled back slightly and she let out a cry of frustration.

“Steve…” she said, her voice pleading. He completely ignored her as he hovered over her, his mouth tracing a line down her spine as she continued to whimper. His lips formed a smirk against her skin and as he reached the dip of her lower back he wriggled out of his boxers and grasped her hips, pulling her ass off the bed. He easily discarded her shorts before he positioned himself behind her, the tip of his aching, rock hard cock simply teasing at her entrance.

“This what you want?” he practically purred and she groaned.

“Yes, Jesus Christ…” In one swift move he was buried to the hilt and she let out a load moan, her face muffled slightly by the pillow.

“Ah, ah Star” he said, as his hand reached out and gripped her shoulder, he pulled her back so she was propped up on her elbows “I wanna hear you…”

Katie bit her lip as he started moving, hard, fast, deep. He could tell that every thrust was rocking her very core and she was putty in his hands within minutes. As his hips snapped back and forth, loud grunts and groans filled the room, mingling with the sound of skin slapping on skin as he continued his ferocious pace, his hand still on her shoulder pulling her back onto him with every pound forward he made. Steve bent over her to nip at Katie’s neck, a little harder than usual, and he spoke into her ear with a growl. "You feel so good. So fucking good.”

"So do you…" she moaned to him as he kept up his relentless pace, and she felt the release creeping up through her belly. “Shit…Captain…” Captain…fuck he loved that! He gave another nip to her neck before he pulled back, looking down at the place they were joined, were he was pumping in and out of her as he continued his salacious assault on her spot. He felt her legs go rigid and she tightened around him, her head tipping back.

“Come for me doll…” he groaned and a loud cry ripped from her throat as her hands fisted around the sheets and her entire body shook. Unable to control herself she collapsed and in a flash Steve curled his arm around her waist, he’d never let her fall. A few short thrusts and he was done, the entire world around him tilted on its axis as he spilled himself inside of her with a low growl, before he collapsed forward, letting her down as gently as he could, finally face planting onto the bed, sweating and spent besides her. Neither of them moved for a moment, the only sounds that could now be heard was deep breathing from both of them as they came down from their high, fighting for composure. Eventually Steve felt Katie move and he turned his head lazily to the right to see she was led on her stomach, her head turned towards him, and at the sight of her looking utterly wrecked thanks to him, he couldn’t help the smug grin spreading across his face.

“I kinda like Bad Cop.” She mumbled and he laughed, reaching out to brush her hair behind her ear before he pulled her face towards his for a soft, gentle kiss.

********

Steve's eyelids were heavy the following morning and he struggled to open his eyes before rubbing them and giving a yawn. His bladder was full but his mind wandered to the events the previous day, exhausting as they had been, which had led to a no less exhausting, albeit for better reasons, night. He smiled as he turned around to reach for Katie only to find the left side of his bed empty. He ran a hand over the vacated space and sighed at the cold touch.

After the customary visit to the bathroom and putting on a t-shirt, Steve went out of his bedroom and headed for the kitchen, following the clattering sounds of breakfast getting ready as if he was following the Pied Piper. When he reached the kitchen door the smell of something just baked mixed with the delicious scent of freshly brewed coffee hit his nostrils.

But something even more delicious caught his sight. Just as he had predicted Katie was already up, making breakfast. She was wearing one of his Henley shirts over her lacy panties and nothing more. He was sure. He had spotted Katie's bra discarded over the back of the chair with the rest of her clothes from the previous night before heading out. Steve felt something stir inside his boxer briefs at the sight of his shirt covering the curve of his girl's ass and how it hung over the upper part of her thighs. Fortunately, he had decided as a last minute decision to put on a pair of pyjama pants.

He couldn't deny the sight of Katie, in his clothes, making breakfast in his kitchen like she just belonged, made his chest burst with happiness. To the point that he let out a contented sigh from where he was leaning on the kitchen's door frame.

It was then that Bucky, who was sitting at the breakfast bar eating his plums, noticed his presence and turned around. He saw his friend, and observed the way he was staring at Katie and mouthed Pervert at him. Steve just smiled and said "Morning." At that Katie turned to greet him back and Steve instantly saw the stains on her cheeks. She had been crying. He gave her a concerned look before turning to look at Bucky who didn't need any words to understand what he was expected to do.

"Erm, I'm gonna get ready." he said as he just sat up before nodding at Steve as he left the kitchen giving them some space.

Steve then crossed the floor of the room towards her and Katie simply leaned into him, wrapping her arms round his wide back. Her face pressed into his T-shirt, inhaling his scent. He didn't say anything. He just rubbed his girl's back as he thought he could get used to her being there in his arms every morning, before stepping back and wiping her face with his finger pads.

"Sweetheart, how much sleep did you get?" he asked her softly.

"Few hours." she shrugged. "I just couldn't stop thinking about mum and dad... and how Tony needs to know we're pretty sure Pierce did it and..."

Steve sensed her beginning to spiral and decided to take the matter in his hands.

"Shhhhh...Star, just breathe... let me help you with this ok? We'll go to the station, check on the status of the search for Rumlow and then we'll go speak to Tony." he cooed, hugging her against his chest again.

Katie nodded and Steve, satisfied with how things were turning out, tried again with another distraction.

"What were you cooking?" he asked nodding towards the stove.

"I did cinnamon buns, your Ma's recipe...and was just whipping up some eggs and bacon." she answered as she resumed her position in front of the bowls and pans that were scattered over the kitchen counter.

Steve realised then she had to have been up for hours if she had managed cinnamon buns as whenever she made those, she usually got them ready the night before to bake in the morning. He shook his head in a disapproving gesture before approaching her again, hugging her from behind this time, and kissing her head.

"Ok Doll, let's get those ready and we can eat." he suggested.

"I'm not that hungry..." Katie began to explain.

"That wasn't a request. You're already sleep deprived. I don't want you fainting because you haven't eaten." Steve stated, nearly ordered, going into concerned Captain mode.

She saw Katie smile, instead of getting all pissy at his commanding tone of voice, and bite her lip.

"What?" he asked.

"You'll make a great husband one day..." she said with a simile that reached her eyes.

And just like that Steve was brought back to his ma's banter about the ring and the proposal for the second time in less than 24 hours. And not only that. Fucking hell! It hadn't even been a week since they had got back together. What day was today anyway? Friday? Just the previous Friday he was moping around and getting dragged to the Compound in a stormy, you could say, turn of events. But then again, as everyone liked to point out lately, they went back to 10 years before any of this. Everything they've done...it really was like they had dated but without the physical side. How the fuck did he not see what was right in front of his damned eyes for all that time? Coz you're a stupid, punk. His little inner voice answered for him, a voice which was annoyingly similar to Bucky's. But back to the husband thing....

"Well, as long as it's your husband Doll..." Steve said as he felt his cheeks flush.

Katie stopped what she was doing to look at him and simply smiled again, that damned smile that got him weak, before giving him a gentle kiss.

He then grabbed a tea towel from the breakfast bar and threw it over his shoulder to start helping Katie. He was loving the domesticity. How she directed him around as if they were a pair of newly- weds getting breakfast ready on a lazy Sunday morning. Again those marriage thoughts but he didn't mind as he helped her with the food before shoving more coffee on. And then their domestic bliss was broken by a piercing sound.

"Can I come back in now? I'm starving!" Bucky shouted from somewhere in the living room.

"Jerk." Steve yelled back.

"Smells good, doll face" Bucky said when he appeared in the kitchen a few seconds later.

"That fucking name!" Katie said, throwing a spoon at him.

"You know? I still remember the first time I called you that and you got mad." Bucky grinned catching said spoon expertly in his right hand.

"I hated you back then." Katie retorted as she whipped the eggs.

"You didn't doll face. You loved me. And HIM." Bucky said gesturing to Steve. "Even though you pretended otherwise." he shrugged before biting another plum.

Steve then saw Katie stop what she was doing and slowly turn to look at his friend with narrowed eyes. There she is, he thought, his face cracking into a grin at the dirty look she was shooting his best friend.

"Piss off Barnes."

Bucky laughed before looking at Steve. "Steve tell her how you were mad at me coz you thought I was hitting on her."

"No...that's...I never said that..." Steve tried to protest as he looked from Bucky to Katie.

"Oh you absolutely did." Bucky said nodding exaggeratedly.

"Seriously Steve...you can't lie for shit." Katie said after watching him for a couple of seconds, a smile playing on her face.

"Remember when they all gave you the slip and I bought you lunch?" Bucky asked Katie. “Well apparently I did that because I wanted to bone you…” At that Katie let out a huge laugh and Steve sighed, shaking his head.

"Ok, maybe I was a little paranoid..."

"Yes, paranoically in love...." Bucky quipped.

"Do you wanna eat this breakfast or wear it, jerk?" Steve said with feigned indignation. Well, maybe not so feigned. Although it was true, he didn't like being exposed like that. Not that Katie didn't know how he had felt about her, though.

Katie chuckled and shook her head as she started to plate up breakfast.

Bucky then shot Steve a wink, to which the captain mouthed Thank you. He really appreciated his friend's efforts to keep her distracted from her thoughts again. Even though Bucky could be like an annoying little brother at times, Steve felt the dynamic the three of them had set was remarkably good. True Katie and Bucky had hit it off from the beginning, despite their constant bickering, but the addition of Bucky to the equation that was his and Katie's budding relationship was flawless. Mind you, he could be a teasing jerk sometimes, and there was no way he didn't hear them the previous night the way they were going at it but he hadn't passed any comment. Not yet, at least.

They headed for the station without further ado that morning. There was so much to do, so many phone calls to make, so many reports and evidence to go through once more, now the case had taken a much needed, though unexpected, turn. They had no time to waste and they were also eager to know if the search on Rumlow had thrown any light.

So Steve pulled the car into the station's parking lot after a quick stop to grab their usual morning coffee treat, seeing as it was his turn to buy and Bucky wasn't willing to let it go. No matter how busy they were, no matter what the circumstances were. Steve wondered what was with Bucky and just eating plums for breakfast first thing in the morning and not having his dose of caffeine until much later through the day. Unless he was hungover that is, which was happening a lot quite recently.

When the three of them entered the station's main office they were met with a face they weren't expecting. Sure, they didn't expect to find Wanda but her replacement had arrived fast and might have caused a stir in the organization of another precinct.

"Gina! Oh my god..." Katie squealed, approaching the woman with her arms open.

"What are you doing here? Not that I don't want you here but are you Wanda's replacement?" Steve asked, trying to understand.

"Kinda... I'm gonna be doing 2 days here, 3 at the 99 until Fury finds someone." Gina explained as she stepped back from Katie’s embrace.

"Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in." Steve frowned.

"Well, there's a lot of things he doesn't tell people." Gina shrugged, as if she hung out with Fury on a daily basis.

Steve went quiet and looked at Katie, who was unsuccessfully trying not to laugh. His own mouth was quirking as well when he turned around to look at Bucky who had an expression of utter whatthefuckness, if that was even a word, all over his face. But Gina didn't seem to be bothered in the slightest, as she continued sharpening the pencils Wanda had left in the pencil pot at the reception desk before asking. "What did you do to Maximoff."

"I didn't do anything to her, she quit." Steve informed, yet a bit offended.

"Ah, maybe that's why she resigned... Anyway Captain, your post is on your desk and I sent pretty eyes out for a Danish." Gina said, turning into assistant mode.

"Who's pretty eyes?" Bucky asked.

He had met the woman twice, once when he had been at the 99 with Katie to fetch Rumlow's case files and the other a week or so ago on the night out. He remembered clearly on their trip to the 99 Station, she had been teaching Holt how to trash talk. Frankly, the woman was something else.

"Clint..." Katie said, smiling as she sat down on her chair and switched her computer on.

"Is he married?" Gina asked nonchalantly.

The three of them then paused and looked at one another. They didn't know what to say because, truth be told, they hadn’t got a clue.

"I dunno actually, ask Romanoff..." Katie was the first to speak.

"She's kinda scary..." Gina trailed.

"No more than Diaz." Katie quipped, winking an eye at her.

"Yeah, ok, fair point. Anyway I'd love to chat all day but I got stuff to do so stop distracting me." Gina shrugged and started to sort some post on Romanoff's and Barton's desks.

Steve frowned and opened his mouth to say something to the woman but he was utterly lost for words. If whatthefuckness really wasn’t a term then someone needed to add it to the dictionary because that was the only thing that came to his mind right then. So he closed his mouth again and looked at Katie, who again was trying not to laugh.

He was so lost for words to express what he had just experienced that he didn't think too much of it when he dropped a kiss to Katie's cheek who looked up at him surprised.

"Oh... Ok... Finally." Gina said casually before heading back to her desk.

Steve then went bright red at the realization of what he had just done. That was not what he was supposed to be doing in the office he thought as he headed for his office door in a rush, cursing internally, without glancing in Bucky's direction. He didn't need to look at him to know he would be grinning like the Cheshire Cat. Thank God, Clint and Nat were nowhere to be seen.

Speaking of the devils, just as Steve was closing the door of his office he saw Clint walk in with Natasha with a brown paper bag, presumably from the deli round the corner. He could hear the banter the two detectives were having with Gina as he took off his jacket hung it over his chair's back.

He ignored the muffled sounds that came from the main office and decided to have a look at his post. He picked up a few letters and went through them. It seemed to be just the normal internal memos and stuff. There was also a note from Fury to say Gina would be starting. No shit Sherlock, he thought.

He then noticed one manila envelope that was a bit larger than normal. He frowned as he opened it to discover it was a box of special K cereal. He instantly dropped it and stood up giving a very loud “Fuck!”

Steve could hear the sound of chairs being dragged and concerned words he could not fully understand in the main office before his office door was slammed open and everyone headed inside, Katie leading them. But they all stopped on their tracks as they spotted the cereal box on his desk.

"Shit, he hasn’t finished...” Katie looked at it, as she glanced at Steve “Special K... SK...Fuck Steve, he's going for Sarah Klein." Katie stuttered, but still managed to get her thoughts expressed.

Steve blinked at the cereal box just as Katie's words sank in and instantly went into Cap mode.

"Buck, get onto Interpol. We need to inform the German Authorities, warn them. Barton and Romanoff I want everyone looking for Rumlow right now. Get Thor to step up patrols. He has to have been staying somewhere, so find him." he called it, nearly barked.

"I'll grab an evidence bag, get that to Tony." Katie offered.

"Doll, you don't have to do that, I can send someone from patrol..." Steve trailed, his voice softening.

"Did he just say doll?" Clint asked Nat, quirking up his eyebrow.

"Loud and present." she answered.

"I can do that, Steve." Katie said, ignoring Bucky's smirk as he had overheard Clint and Nat too.

"I’ll go with you, I said I would..." Steve insisted, but she cut him off.

"No, it's fine. I want to talk to him about what we found yesterday and think its best I do that alone. And besides, you're needed here."

"Ok, get to it. I'll call Fury, keep him updated." he said after a moment’s hesitation, nodding.

And that was the cue for everybody to retreat to the main office and start working on their Captain's orders. There was no time to waste. Steve grabbed his phone and was about to dial Fury's extension number when he noticed Bucky hadn't left his office and was smiling at him.

"What?" he asked, placing the phone on his desk again.

"So, before you kissed her cheek, and now you called her Doll in front of everyone." Bucky said, slumping on one of the chairs in front of Steve's desk.

Steve groaned and blushed again before asking “Did I? Fuck... It came out naturally, I didn't mean to..."

"Don't worry, Pal." Bucky said, waving whatever embarrassing thoughts Steve might be getting with a movement of his hand.

"I should control it though, Fury..." Steve said, ignoring his comment.

"Steve, Fury is on your side. Otherwise Katie would be cleaning toilets at Police Plaza instead of being here." Bucky tried to calm him.

But he remarked the last word and Steve got what he was trying to say. It was Saturday. Officially Katie should be off the case, but here she was working on it despite Fury’s orders. Mind you, Fury had been there yesterday when she had basically cracked it and had also, albeit maybe not expressly, given Steve the permission to keep her involved on an unofficial basis…but he would be damned if he abiding by the official orders and benching her now. And he was willing to bet no one in the station would go and tell Fury. With Wanda out of the picture, they were a perfectly assembled team again, watching each other's six.

Steve smiled at him and Bucky stood up and turned to go just as Katie came back with an evidence bag and gloves. He watched as she methodically put the box in the evidence bag and looked at him, nodding.

"Ok, I'll call you in a bit." she said.

"Ok..." Steve nodded and smiled at her. Then he checked around and decided this time it was safe, no eavesdroppers or unwanted witnesses, before saying "Love you. Try not to worry."

"I will and love you too..." she said back before heading off, nodding to Thor who was passing her.

"You're in a rush little Stark?" he asked.

"Gotta get this down to the lab. Talk to you in a bit..." she nodded.

"This is taller and stronger, is he married?" Bucky heard Gina asking Nat.

For the following hour and half everyone was doing what they had been told to as if doing it was second nature to them. The bullring was like a busy marketplace, full of people talking. Thor was helping Nat organize a sting whilst Clint was on the phone talking to some contacts, all of whom seemed to be some sort of former spies if you asked Bucky based on the odd bits of conversation he could get from his desk, trying to trace Rumlow and emailing his photo left, right and centre. Bucky was focused on getting onto Interpol, Rumlow's photo was already at all major airports, but they have to alert the Munich Police force to take Sarah Klein into protective custody.

Gina was assisting them all in whatever phone number or data they might need while screening calls according to importance or relevance to the priority case and taking messages for all of them and Bucky had to give the woman credit, she was doing it well.

At some point Bucky saw Gina stand up from her desk and beeline to Nat's desk where Thor was perched revising some notes on the police operative for the sting.

"Can I get you something to drink?" she said looking at the tall blonde as she pointed in the direction of the kitchen with her right thumb. "Maybe tea?" she insisted, seeing Thor was looking at her wondering who the woman was.

"I don't drink tea." he stated plainly.

"What do you drink?" Gina asked again, now curious about the man.

"Not tea." he stated again as if it was obvious.

Bucky chuckled as he saw Gina look at Thor as if he was some kind of mixture between an alien from another planet and a God, and just as she shrugged and moved to head for the kitchen she nodded at the photos of cereal brands that Natasha was shoving back into a file.

"By the way, what's with the cereal?" she asked.

Natasha then started to explain but soon Thor cut her off and started rambling about how every victim had a different make of cereal shoved down their throats once they were dead. There had been Puffed Rice, Jump Start, Juicy Skulls and finally Apple Puffs.

"God, that's so unimaginative. It should be a cereal that represents the person..." Gina spoke her mind.

"It did." Bucky explained. "It was their initials."

"No. I mean like their personalities..." she said before elaborating on her idea. "So, I would be something sophisticated, like a Granola."

Bucky, Thor and Natasha looked at her, finding it hard to believe what she had just said and Clint snorted as he lifted his eyes from the screen of his computer. At that point Steve walked out about to ask for an update when Gina continued her charade.

"And Captain Hottie Rogers here would be Cap'n Crunch" she said with a flourish of her hand and a wide grin, proud of her own joke.

"What are you talking about?" Steve asked her. "What is she talking about?" he asked again, looking at Natasha this time.

"She's just critiquing the Cereal Serial Killer's choice of breakfast snack." the detective said, smiling slightly.

Steve took a deep breath, reminding himself she wouldn't be here for long, before speaking. "Ok, can we focus, please? Thor, report on your troops."

"The gates of hell are filled with..."

Steve stopped listening to Thor, who seemed to have been infected by Gina's nonsense rambling, as from the corner of his eye he saw Clint whisper something to Nat, who snorted. Steve then glared at her. He had too much on his plate right now as it was and they were starting to give him a headache with their shenanigans and high-school whispers.

"Care to share with the rest of the team?" he asked Clint, sternly.

"Sorry, Cap. It…it was a bad joke." Clint apologized.

"Well, it was clearly amusing so let's hear it." Steve insisted.

Clint looked at Bucky, who nodded discreetly at him. Steve had used his Captain voice, he was pissed off. You'd better answer him, pal.

"I just reminded Nat of a joke we used to make... how Katie would be your Special K, that's all, was just a..." Clint explained. “We code named our matchmaking plan Operation Cap’n Crunch and Special K…you know, it…”

"Ha, that's amusing." Thor's laugh echoed throughout the main office, earning an appreciative look from Gina. "Cap'n Crunch and Special K..." he added, shaking his head.

But instead of laughing at the lame joke a cold feeling washed over Steve as the lightbulb suddenly lit up in his head. "Shit."

"Sorry..." Thor trailed, starting an apology.

But Steve wasn't listening to him, his eyes darted at Bucky instead whose mouth had dropped open.

"It's not Sarah Klein..." Bucky mumbled, looking at his friend.

Steve pulled out his phone and pressed the call button. Bucky saw his hand tremble as he brought the device to his ear and yelled "Buck, call Tony. Check if Katie is there. Hurry!"

Clint and Nat shared an understanding and concerned glance just before Gina asked "What's going on?"

Natasha looked at her and swallowed before answering. "Special K...it's Katie Stark... not Sarah Klein."

"Steve..." Bucky's voice which was slightly shaky attracted all the attention just as Steve looked at him. "Tony says Katie hasn't been to the lab..."

"Fuck!" Steve hollered. "Son of a bitch!" he swore again, kicking a chair before turning and starting barking orders, going on full Captain mode like they had never seen him before.

"Natasha, get the CCTV up from the parking lot." he ordered before pointing at Clint "If she left in her car, get on to traffic, pull up any cameras on the way to the lab, see if they track her plate."

Next he pointed at Thor, then Bucky "You, you with me now, we'll take a patrol car and run the route to the lab..."

There was a flurry of movement in the office as everyone jumped to it. Steve, Bucky and Thor literally ran from the office as soon as Steve had grabbed his jacket. He was trying to ignore the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, but his breakfast wasn't willing to cooperate.

#csi rogers and barnes #csi au #steve rogers #steve rogers x original female character #steve rogers x oc #katie stark #bucky barnes #tony stark #natasha romanoff #clint barton #thor #bruce banner #brooklyn 99 #mcu #mcu fanfiction

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flowerfan2 · 4 years ago

Text

I Love Making Connections

David/Patrick, 1600 words, M, A03

S05e07 - A Whisper of Desire Episode Coda (with more than a whisper...)

Patrick lets himself into the apartment, trying to stay quiet in case David is already asleep. He blinks until his eyes adjust to the dim light, and sees David crouched down on the floor next to their bed.

“David?”

David scrambles up quickly, a hand landing on his hip. “Hi.”

“What are you doing?”

“Oh, um. Just some push-ups. I’m starting a new exercise routine.”

Patrick moves closer. David’s in his striped sleep shirt and soft joggers. And he’s never seen David do push-ups. Ever.

“Everything okay?”

David’s eyes flicker towards Patrick and away. “Yes.” He knows Patrick isn’t fooled.

“Why don’t you come here and tell me about it?” Patrick says, setting a hand on the small of David’s back and leading him towards the couch. He can feel the tension in David’s body. “I brought treats.” Patrick turns on a light and sets a bakery box on the coffee table.

David folds himself onto the couch next to Patrick, close against his side. Patrick wants to grab him and hold him tight, wash away whatever stress he’s feeling, but he made the tactical error of mentioning treats and so that will have to wait.

“What’s in there?” David reaches across Patrick to open the box, and coos in excitement. “Cannoli? Where did you get these?”

“It’s Ivan’s latest new offering. Twyla had them at the café. Consider them an apology for me getting back so late tonight. I wanted to read through the whole script for <i>Cabaret,</i> and then I started googling stuff about Berlin in the 1930’s, and I lost track of time.”

David sits back and looks at Patrick, his face open. “You don’t have to apologize.”

Patrick shrugs. “I know, but… it’s nicer to go to sleep together, right?”

David tucks his head, failing to hide a blush. “Sure.”

“You want to tell me what you were doing on the floor?”

David huffs and pouts and looks so much like Alexis that Patrick almost wants to laugh. “Nothing.”

“Not push-ups?”

David’s eyes widen as he realizes that he already forgot his original explanation. “Fine. Whatever. You caught me checking under the bed. Can we move on or do you want to humiliate me further?”

“David…” Patrick grabs his hands, halting David’s waving, and holds them together. “There’s no need to feel badly about it.”

“Right.”

“I check under the bed sometimes too.”

David looks at him from the corner of his eye, trying to figure out whether Patrick’s just being a troll. It’s fair, he does it often enough.

“Years ago I watched an episode of some tv show where there was this awful guy hiding under the bed – I won’t give you the details, you don’t need that image in your mind.” Patrick shakes his own head, he doesn’t want it there either, that CSI episode terrified him for years. “So, yeah, every once in a while that pops into my brain and I can’t get it out until I take a quick look to make sure no one’s there.”

David studies Patrick, and leans into him, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. “You’re very nice to me, Patrick.”

Patrick doesn’t think that not giving his boyfriend shit for being nervous about something that pretty much anyone he’s ever met is scared of makes him unusually nice, but he knows David’s experience of people sets this bar unfortunately low.

“Well, I did bring you cannolis. I can’t believe you haven’t tried them yet.”

David perks back up, leaning across Patrick to reach the table. Gingerly, he picks up the box and peers in. “As much as I am obviously excited about dessert, I’m not sure I trust Ivan with this.”

Patrick swipes his finger into the ricotta filling and holds it out to David. “Try it.”

Eyebrows raised – whether at Patrick’s attempt at a sexy voice or his unsanitary approach, Patrick isn’t sure – David takes Patrick’s hand and guides his finger to his mouth.

“That’s pretty good,” David says, voice going low.

Patrick holds David’s eyes and digs into the cannoli again, an even bigger dollop on his finger. “Here, have some more.”

David inhales sharply, and pulls Patrick’s outstretched finger into his mouth. This time he sucks a little, swirling his tongue around Patrick’s fingertip and then letting it go with a pop that goes straight to Patrick’s groin.

“David.” Patrick just has to kiss him now, leaning forward and capturing David’s sugary lips, and David hums back at him, ditching the pastry box on the coffee table. Patrick closes his eyes and breathes in the faint smell of David’s cologne, his hand settling along David’s jaw. He licks David’s mouth clean, nips a little to make sure he’s got it all, and David slides his fingers up into Patrick’s hair.

David takes charge then, one hot brush after another, then a firmer press, his hand on Patrick’s neck controlling the angle. Electricity sparks down Patrick’s spine. Needing to be closer, Patrick shifts and swings a leg up and over David’s lap, straddling him as David’s tongue sweeps inside his mouth.

David is so good at this. He kisses Patrick like no one ever has before, and it’s not just the stubble that’s the difference. He puts all of his passion into it, his anxieties dropping away to reveal the strength and fire at his center. He’s vulnerable when they’re together like this, and Patrick loves it, loves him, can’t get enough.

He grinds against David, who grabs his ass and digs his fingers in, pulling him close and egging him on. But the angle isn’t quite right, and while he can feel how hard David is getting in his joggers, Patrick’s still got his jeans on and they are decidedly in the way.

“Bed?” he asks, panting into David’s ear, and David slaps his ass and stands them both up off the couch. They’re stripping their clothes off as they stumble over, arousal making them clumsy but no less eager.

David shoves the duvet out of the way and Patrick tugs him down, their legs wrapping around each other and hips struggling to find friction. “What do you want?” David asks, his hand finding Patrick’s ass again, this time free to squeeze and tease without the barrier of Patrick’s jeans.

“I don’t know, god, fuck,” Patrick says, sucking kisses along David’s scratchy neck, and hissing out a breath as David gets a hand between them. “How’d you get me so hot so fast?”

It’s a rhetorical question, and David knows it. “This good?” David asks, as he starts to stroke Patrick’s cock, his thumb caressing the tip with each pass.

“God, yes, so good.” Patrick moans and starts thrusting against David, fucking his hand. He’s achingly hard, and David’s touch is perfect, one hand on his cock and the other on his ass, a finger sliding into his crack, pressing just there –

It’s going to be over for Patrick too soon, but he wants to feel David, wants him there with him too. “Come here, let me-” Patrick snakes his hand down to find David. He’s so hard now, so hot, and Patrick cups his hand around him. David moans and shifts so that they can both jerk and thrust. It’s a little dry but it’s so good, Patrick wants it to go on forever, just spend the rest of his life here in this bed with David panting into his skin. He’s so caught up in it that he’s surprised when David comes, shuddering and shaking with the force of his release.

He strokes David’s shoulder, his side, anything he can reach. “Mmm, god, David, you’re gorgeous,” he murmurs. David raises himself up on an elbow, his eyes blown and hair a mess, and then slides down Patrick’s body and takes his cock in his mouth.

The delicious shock of it pushes all the breath out of his lungs, and if David didn’t have an arm slung over his hips Patrick would have jumped right off the bed. He was so close already, the feel of David’s hot, wet mouth surrounding him is almost too much to take. Patrick arches up, his head tipping back, and David sucks him deeper. He comes in a rush of sensation, stars exploding behind his eyes. David’s arms enfold him. “I’ve got you,” David whispers, and Patrick knows with all his heart that it’s true.

*****

A few days later Patrick is laying on his stomach on the rug next to their bed when David comes home. Ever curious, David joins him on the floor, sneaking a kiss onto his cheek.

“Hard day?” David asks, pulling Patrick into his arms.

“No, actually. I got a lot done.” Patrick rolls over and points under the bed. “What do you think?”

David takes in the large storage boxes Patrick has arranged under the bed. They’ve got clear sides so you can easily see what’s inside them.

“They’re not visible until you get down here,” David says, and Patrick nods. David wouldn’t want plastic boxes sticking out from under the bed, so these don’t fill up the whole space. But they would make it pretty hard for a scary creature to lie in wait.

“What’s in them?”

“I put some of my books from those boxes that were in the back of my car, and a few winter coats I don’t wear.”

David tucks his chin on Patrick’s shoulder. “The ones that were taking up all that space in the closet?”

“Mmhm.”

“So, let me get this straight.” David runs the palm of his hand over Patrick’s chest, a smile spreading across his face. “You gave me more closet space, and saved me from potential murderers?”

Patrick leans up and pecks David’s lips. “And I bought us more cannolis.”

#Schitt's Creek fic #Schitt's Creek #David Rose #Patrick Brewer #S05e07

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hockeytrashgoblin · 4 years ago

Text

Ice Cold ~Part 10

A/N: A few of these are kind of intense in the angst and drama department but things get better and cuter before things start to really ramp up. Enoy!

"Mornin sunshine!" I exclaimed bounding down the stairs.

"Turn this song off now." He said frustration clear in his voice.

"You ready to talk?"

"Now! (Y/n)!" He roared hissing as he touched the bars.

"Thought it wasn't going to bother you." I teased making him glare at me. "You ready to talk or what because I can go back upstairs and try again later, I've still got like two days-"

"Fine, fine we can talk. Just turn it off for fuck sakes."

"Sick." I turned it off and sat back down in front of him. "Start explaining then."

"I don't even know where to start."

"How about start at the beginning. What happened when me and Steph left?"

"Let's come back to that one."

"Alright fine. Explain the bathroom thing then."

"I was incredibly overwhelmed and very very angry. That girl was what Peter would call a puck bunny. I lost control of myself completely with the alcohol and all the heightened emotions. Once you walked in I knew there was absolutely no chance that I could get away with anything I had done that night. I thought if I scared you, you wouldn't tell the boys. It was never my intention to traumatize you or trigger past traumatic events. I completely lost control and for that I will apologize to you. I am incredibly sorry that I caused you to relive that pain again at my hands. I promise I will never lay a hand on you as long as I live."

"I accept your apology Auston. Thank you. I really do appreciate it."

"Can I ask you a question about that?"

"Will you answer my first question?"

"If you answer mine I'll answer yours." He said with a sigh.

"Fine then go ahead."

"Did you ever go to the police about the guy? Tommy I think I heard you call him last night."

"I didn't. He's dangerous. He had people watching me to make sure I didn't say anything."

"And you didn't?" He asked getting angry.

"Look Matthews, my life wasn't the only one in danger. He had eyes on my family constantly too. You don't get to judge how I save myself and those around me."

"Why are you still scared of him?"

"This is way more than one question you know."

"Yours will be too I'm sure. Why are you still scared of him?"

"Because he's still around Auston. He still sits outside my place. He still calls in the middle of the night to scare me. One night he was crashing things outside my window. I don't even want to think about what could've happened if Willy hadn't come over. He's terrifying, that's why I'm scared still."

"Why has no one taken care of this man yet?!"

"Auston calm down. He's powerful. No one wants to cross him."

"I sure as fuck do."

"Auston it's fine. Eventually he's going to get what's coming to him. I'm waiting impatiently for that day."

"It's not fine. He's definitely going to get what's coming to him."

"Can we stop talking about him? Please?" I asked fidgeting with my sleeves.

"Yeah, yeah sure. Sorry."

"It's okay. So tell me what happened when Steph and I left."

"You're not allowed to judge."

"Auston I wouldn't. Go ahead."

"So you guys left and we were all just talking about the game and drinking. After a bit Kasperi went to go see if he could find a girl to bring home. Will went to go order more drinks. Mitch confronted me about shielding my thoughts from him. I didn't know what to say."

"Why are you shielding thoughts?"

"I've just been having thoughts I want to keep to myself lately."

"Fair enough. I wish I could do that."

"It takes practice." He said, shrugging. "Anyway he got mad at me for not having an answer. Told me to just forget about it and that he was going to find you guys. I was mad so I went into the crowd trying to find someone to take my frustration out if you know what I mean."

"Yeah makes sense I suppose. You're mad, drunk, and horny. Makes perfect sense. What happened next?"

"I uh kissed someone. Well more like pushed up against a wall and kissed rather aggressively. I'm really ashamed of it."

"Why?"

"It was a man."

"That isn't something to be ashamed of Aus."

"A taken man."

"Oh that's a little different I guess." I was thinking about it and suddenly everything clicked. I jumped up in shock. "Oh my God!"

"Jesus, what?"

"You're the one who kissed Mitch!"

"What no I-"

"Yes! It all makes sense now!"

"(Y/n) stop pleas-"

"Oh my God! Auston I can tell by the look in your eyes!"

"Can you just sit and calm the fuck down?"

"I'm sorry but this is huge!"

"Did Mitch really not tell you it was me?"

"No he just said it was some guy. Kinda like you, made it sound like it wasn't the biggest deal who with."

"It was a big deal. He's a big deal."

"I know Auston, I know."

"Did he tell you anything about it?" He asked trying to show no interest but failing miserably.

"He said that it was amazing. He told me that it's been hard on him knowing Stephanie isn't his soulmate. Knowing that you are. He told me everything except your name."

"Understandable."

"What happened after that?"

"I ran. I ran into the crowd and this girl came up to me when I stopped. I was upset and angry and drunk so I thought it would be a good way to just forget about it. I ended up losing control and biting her."

"Was she alive..?"

"Yes of course. I would never kill someone. I've only killed one person in my whole 70 years as a vampire."

"Lilly doesn't count Auston."

"Then I've never killed anyone. Not going to start killing innocent people now just because I'm upset."

"That makes sense to me."

"I hate that he's with her. It's so stupid."

"Maybe you should talk to him."

"I want to."

"Then do it. I told Mitch to talk to you too but he didn't seem very brave about the whole situation."

"That sounds like Mitchy." He said with a fraction of a fond smile.

"Is this why you've been so fucking miserable?"

"I've been concentrating really hard on keeping my thoughts away from Mitch and with you and Will being in my face it makes it harder to keep the shield up. I haven't been able to relax since you guys met. I'm angry that it's so easy for you guys."

"Maybe you don't need to talk to him first at all. Maybe you could just let the shield down. Mitch is really confused and doesn't even think you like him. He thinks you're mad at him and that's why you're shielding."

"That's so ridiculous. He would think some bullshit like that."

"Hey you're not exactly helping him at all."

"What do you mean?"

"You're literally giving him nothing to go on. His last resort to read your mind isn't even an option because you're hiding. What conclusion is he supposed to make?" I asked, crossing my arms. My stomach growled loudly making me laugh. "Sorry apparently I'm hungry."

"Go eat something. Tess is out but there's always human food in the fridge. Not like I'm going anywhere."

"That's true. Alright I'll be back later."

I went upstairs and got some food. After I was done I took some time to myself. All this talking with Auston was both eye opening and draining. I was really hoping for the best between him and Mitch. As I was thinking about them my phone started ringing. It was William.

"Hi babes."

"Hey love. How are you?"

"I'm really good! I think me and Auston might be okay by the end of your mini road trip. At least at a point of tolerance."

"That's great news!"

"Yeah! How are you? Are you still mad?"

"No I'm not mad anymore. I thought you were being reckless and dumb. After talking to Morgan I understand that this was necessary for our family to become a family again. I'm sorry for yelling at you."

"That's okay William. I understand, I'd be mad too if the roles were reversed. When will you guys be home?"

"We're leaving after the game so we should be back in the middle of the night. Probably 3-ish? Don't wait up for us. I know what you're thinking and do not. I will sneak in quietly and join you in bed and you'll wake up in the morning with me beside you. Doesn't that sound nicer than staying awake to greet me?"

"That does sound pretty nice. I can't make any promises though. I'm very excited to see you again."

"Me too my love. I don't like being away from you."

"I want you around all the time."

"Just think, in the long run these few years where I'm traveling will seem like nothing."

"I'm hoping that it'll feel like that."

"It will honey, I promise. I have to go meet with the guys for team lunch. I'll see you later. Are you going to watch the game?"

"Absolutely love, me and Tessa are gonna watch together."

"I'm glad that you two are getting along, Morgan will be happy with it too."

"Yeah it's cool!"

"Alright baby, I'll talk to you later. I love you."

"Love you more."

"Not possible. Bye cutie."

"Bye Willy."

I hung up the phone smiling wide. I really loved the idea of spending a long time with William. An unimaginable amount of years. Could we really just go on to spend forever together? Would these first years apart really feel like nothing eventually? I hoped so.

I watched CSI for a little while before deciding it was time to talk to Auston again. I hadn't wanted to go down all happy and make things harder on him. When I got down the stairs he was standing against the wall, looking out the small window.

"Took you long enough."

"I'm sorry. I talked to Will and didn't want to upset you or make you mad that I was happy."

"I'm not mad that you guys are happy. I would never be mad at William for finding happiness. I just wish it was easy for me as it is for you two."

"Maybe it will be after you talk."

"I hope he'll be willing to talk to me at all."

"He's hurt Auston, that's all. Just fix it."

"I wish he was as stubborn as you are. You get hurt and you corner the person until you make progress."

"Only because you were trapped and can't hurt me. If you weren't in there I would've been too scared to talk to you. I was still scared."

"Why?"

"I don't want you to kill me."

"I thought we were past that? I was drunk and didn't mean anything I said. I wanted to scare you into being quiet. I was never intending on hurting you or killing you. I could never hurt William like that. I'm not going to have my first kill be you, for having to use the restroom." He scoffed and rolled his eyes at me.

"So I'm safe then? You're not going to hurt me when you get out of here?"

"Absolutely not. We aren't friends. Don't let this weekend fool you, I'm not your friend. I will ease up though and you're not in danger. That's as good as I can do right now."

"That's really all I ask. All I wanted was for us to get along enough that William didn't need to pick sides all the time. I don't want to tear you guys apart. You're really important to him Auston. I don't want to be the reason that crumbles."

"You won't be. I'm sorry that I've made things harder than necessary."

"Water under the bridge Auston. Just don't be a dick to me and talk to Mitchy and we'll be good. You're hurting my friend and I'll be damned if you hurt me again."

"That's fair."

"(Y/n) game's starting!" Tessa yelled from the top of the stairs.

"Oh shit already. Coming!" I called to her. "See you later Matthews."

"Yeah whatever. Bye."

I went upstairs and flopped down on the other side of the couch. Tessa laughed and pushed popcorn towards me. I took a handful and shoved it into my mouth.

"You okay?"

"Yeah I'm okay. That was just such a draining couple days."

"Did you at least make some progress?"

"Yeah we seem to be on the same page now. Mutual dislike but no animosity and really that's all I can ask. It should be okay from now on I hope."

Our conversation died out as the game started. Not on purpose, I just really tend to get into games. The boys ended up losing which sucked but that meant Ottawa won and I really like the senators. After it was done we just sat together.

"Tess can I ask you something kinda personal?"

"Sure, go for it!"

"Are you ever going to be a vampire?"

"I honestly haven't decided yet. Morgan knows obviously but I've asked him not to give it away at all. I want it to be my choice completely without the influence of a knowing source."

"That makes complete sense. They told me I'm going to be like them but they didn't tell me any details."

"Isn't that a scary idea though?" She asked curling up further in her blanket as the wind and snow whistled outside. "You know how you're going to end up. You're future isn't yours to figure out anymore. I don't like that."

"I only know because I was anxious about growing old while he stayed the same. I just get uglier and saggy while he stays hot. Not an idea I'm too fond of."

"Fo you think you would choose that for yourself if they didn't tell you about it?"

"I honestly think I would. I think it would take me some time to reach that conclusion but I think I would. I love William a lot and want to spend as much time with him as possible. If there's a way to spend more than my fair share of time with him I'm going to be selfish and take it."

"See that's the part of it that I like. Being with Mo for as long as the earth is around. That sounds like a dream come true. But there's so many negatives too."

"Like what?" I asked, yawning a little and curling up into the couch.

"Like watching your family and friends die while you live on. You might not even get to keep your friends and family for long since you won't age and they will. How will you explain that? You can't change everyone you know."

"But Tessa that happens regardless. How many old people are there that have no more friends or siblings or parents? They have kids and grandkids probably but they've watched everyone they know get old and die."

"I guess you're right. I'm just trying to figure out the best path for me. Whether I want to watch my friends and family grow old or if I want to age with them. Right now I don't know the right path. Luckily Morgan is giving me the chance to figure it out on my own in my own time."

"That is lucky. Morgan seems like he's always really lovely and understanding."

"He is. I really love him. I've always been so practical with my emotions and Morgan really caused all that to go out the window. I love more passionately and fiercely than I did when I was married."

"That's insane. I totally understand what you mean though. Nothing in my entire life has been this intense. Half the time I don't even no what to do with myself. Afraid I'm either going to push his boundaries or look dumb in front of him."

"Don't be scared of that. William is a really sweet goofball. He's not going to care about the little things you do to show him affection, even if you think they're weird."

"You're probably right." I said smiling thinking about him. It was interrupted by a yawn though which made us both laugh. "Maybe I should head to bed. I was going to try and stay up to greet the guys but I'm so tired."

"I usually try to do that too but I always end up falling asleep on the couch."

"Well I'm going to head off to bed. I'll see you in the morning."

"Goodnight."

I left the room and went upstairs to William's room. I snuggled into his bed and I loved it. It smelled just like him and it was awesome. I fell asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow and didn't wake up again until the sun was shining in the window.

I opened my eyes to see a beautiful, too bright, wintery scene outside. It was like a Christmas card. While I was looking outside, arms wrapped tighter around me.

"Morning baby." William said kissing my shoulder.

"Willy!!" I rolled on top of him and hugged him as he sat up cradling my head. "I missed you!"

"I missed you too my love. So much."

We were quiet for a while alternating between giggling, hugging and kissing. It was so nice to just be near him again. I hated the road trips so much.

"How did things go?"

"Auston and I aren't friends. But we have mutual respect for one another. I'm not in danger and he said he's going to back off."

"That's wonderful darling. I'm so glad. You really told him about Tommy?"

"Yeah I did. He was really mad I was in that situation. He's mad that I still am not safe."

"I'm mad about that too. I wanted to talk to you about that."

"What about it?"

"Well I guess there's no real way to ease into it so I'll just go for it." I nodded, confused at his nervous expression. "Will you move in with me and Kappy?"

"William I don't want to impose."

"You're not imposing. And before you ask I've already talked to Kasperi and he said yes. He wants you safe as much as the rest of us. Plus he thinks it'll be fun to have you around. Get used to you being there. I would really feel better if you were with us or in the building if we're gone for road trips. We've got security and a door man that won't let anyone we don't have on a list inside. No one could show up outside without you wanting them to. You'll be closer to work so less commute. Just think about it? Please?"

"Of course I'll think about it love. Thank you so much." I gave him a soft kiss and pulled back to smile at him. "I love you."

"And I love you."

#nhl imagine #nhl story #hockey #hockey story #hockey imagines #maple leaf #maple leafs #maple leaf imagine #toronto maple leafs #william nylander #william nylander x reader #mitch marner #kasperi kapanen #morgan rielly #auston matthews #halloween #vampire

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official-helpless · 4 years ago

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Here it is people!! An official chapter from book two of my Helpless series; Retaliation! This is chapter seventeen. This chapter is 13 pages long with 3,116 words! Enjoy! And as always, I love feedback!

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Dustin and Talon park on the opposite side of Dean Henderson’s new street.

“Are you sure about this, Talon?” Dustin is obviously nervous. Talon is about to kill a man. “What if you get caught?”

Talon chuckles, “I won’t.” He assures his boyfriend confidently. He looks across the street at the medium-sized gray house.

“Is he even home?” Dustin looks over too, moving his head to try and get a better look.

Then they spot him. He is cleaning his windows. Talon can see the dark bags under the old man’s eyes. “His face still makes me sick.”

“What exactly did he do to you?” Dustin is genuinely curious. He never really knew Talon’s other abusers. Other than his parents and that pack of bullies.

“He would call my parents and lie to them about how I was doing in school. He would turn a blind eye to the gym teacher that would harass the boys in her class, including me. He would punish me when Chase would attack me and say I attacked him. A lot of the beatings I got were because of him.” Talon explains darkly. He pulls out his guns and double checks to make sure they’re loaded.

“Holy shit.” The gleaming guns reflect in Dustin’s bright eyes. “Those are your weapons? Color me impressed.” He takes one gun from Talon and examines it, “I’ve always wanted to shoot one of these.”

Talon laughs and takes the gun back. He puts them both in the holders on the inside of his jacket, “Maybe you can come shooting with me on one of my practice days. I can show you how.”

“Not gonna lie, Talon,” Dustin exhales slowly, “That’s probably one of the hottest things you’ve ever said.”

Talon smiles and gives Dustin a quick kiss, “This won’t take long.”

The three brothers are parked a little further down the road. Their attention is dead set on the house, as is Dustin’s. He’s still nervous and prepared for anything to happen.

Talon strolls right up to the house and knocks enthusiastically. As if this was a casual visit. The man answers the door and his expression twists into one of confusion.

“C- can I help you?” Dean asks hesitantly. He squints his beady eyes. “Do I know you?”

Talon grins and pushes the man back into the house. “Home alone?” He steps in and slams the door shut, “Let’s have a little talk.”

“How do you think he’s going to do it?” Zeke asks, leaning in close to the window.

“This guy didn’t rape him,” Bone replies, narrowing his eyes a little, “So there won’t be a bullet to the crotch. My guess is in the chest. Not too messy.”

“Nah.” Zeke shakes his head slowly. “I say right between the eyes.”

“Wanna bet?” Bone casts a sideway glance at his brother. They smile at each other slyly. “Twenty bucks it’s in the chest.”

“You’re on.” Zeke leans back and reaches between the seats to shake Bone’s hand.

“You two are fucked up.” Damien speaks up from his seat. His wide eyes stare at his brothers in complete disbelief.

“How long has it been, Mr. Henderson?” Talon saunters around the old man’s living room, inspecting his poor taste in decor as he waits for an answer.

The man’s wide eyes watch Talon practically circle him. “M-my wife will be back from the store soon.” He says, hoping to scare the albino off.

“Then you better answer quickly.” Talon retorts. The man doesn’t respond. “Come on Dean.” Talon whispers harshly, “You’re a smart man. How long has it been?” He wants the satisfaction of the man admitting he knows exactly who Talon is.

Dean swallows hard. There are sweat stains in the pits of his cheap polo and his hands are trembling. “It.. It’s been f-five ye-”

“Five years.” Talon interrupts with a slow nod, “Let me ask you something, Dean.” He looks at his hand and slides the fingernail of his pinky under the fingernail of his thumb, “Man to man, do you think you lived a good life? Are you proud of yourself?

Dean’s chest rises and falls rapidly. “I- I’d like to think I did.”

Talon squints and puts on a fake smile, “Did you though?” He circles Dean again. “So, calling a child a demon because of his skin is something to be proud of.” He stops and takes a step towards the man. “Lying and getting that same child beaten, giving him detention when he gets beat up, telling the other teachers to intentionally fail him just to get him in trouble? That’s living a good life, huh?” He shrugs, “I suppose it was a good life for you. Getting away with that must’ve been pretty satisfying.” He pulls out a gun and cocks it. “This, however, will be satisfying for me.” He presses it to Dean’s forehead.

Dean has tears in his eyes. He never expected to die this way. He is frozen to his spot, his pants are soiled and his entire body is shaking. His jaw twitches and his bottom lip trembles. He looks pathetic.

Dustin flinches at the sound of the gunshot. He sees blood and brain matter splatter onto the window. He looks around frantically. No one else is around, and no one seemed to hear anything. He’s glued to the window, waiting anxiously for Talon.

“Look at that splatter,” Zeke says with a dark laugh. He moves his blond bangs away from his eyes, “Totally shot him in the head.”

“Dammit.” Bone grumbles. He knows he can’t argue with the evidence. He pulls out his wallet and gives Zeke a twenty. “Just you wait till we get to the gym teacher’s house. Double or nothing.”

Zeke chuckles as he shoves the twenty in his pocket, “You got it, big guy.”

“I hate you guys.” Damien mumbles grumpily. His two brothers don’t get along very often, and when they do, they bond over the darkest things.

Talon steps out of the house and closes the door gently. He wipes his face with a black cloth as he crosses the street to the truck. “That went better than expected.” He says quietly. He pauses when he notices Dustin staring at him. Why was he staring at him like that? Was he scared?

Dustin uses his thumb to wipe away some blood that was still on Talon’s cheek, “Point blank?”

Dustin’s question surprises Talon. It’s an odd question. “Yes?” He answers in an uncertain tone.

Dustin takes a moment to look at Talon’s eyes. They’re glowing brightly. The bright green and shocks of pink. His cat-like pupils are dilated. The albino is visibly exhilarated. “That was impressive.” He compliments.

Talon smiles and a wave of relief crashes over him. His phone beeps, and he sees a text from Damien saying they are heading to the next house. “We are hitting the gym teacher next. Her house is on the way back.” He informs Dustin.

Serpent and Spade are only forty-five minutes behind the others.

“S- Serpent. There are cops here.” Spade speaks up anxiously as they pull up to Dean’s house. “And it looks like he has a wife.” He notices a cop comforting a grieving older woman.

“Don’t worry, little doctor.” Serpent shuts the car off and steps out. Spade exits the car hesitantly. He walks beside him and they cross the street.

“Hey!” A cop shouts as they near the house, “You can’t-”

“There’s nothing for you here.” Serpent’s voice is a deep growl and his eyes glow. He looks at the small group of officers, “You and everyone else on this property need to leave. Nothing happened.”

They all mumble their agreements and get in their cars. They leave without a single argument. He tells the old lady to follow them quietly. He does the same thing to the CSI workers in the house he did to the cops. They leave without a word.

“Sit.” Serpent says to the old lady. She sits silently.

“H- how did you do that?” Spade is amazed. He’s never seen Serpent do a trick like that.

“Compulsion. One of the perks of being me.” Serpent says with a low chuckle.

Spade stops. All this time, Serpent could force him to comply, but he doesn’t. He feels a whole new respect growing.

“Eighteen hundred years alive and you don’t know what you are? What category you fall in to?” Spade looks up at him, “Doesn’t that bother you?”

“Not at all.” Serpent responds, examining the body. The bullet is still on the floor. “Finding out what I am won’t change it. I’ll still be me either way, so I’m in no hurry.”

That’s another quality that Spade admires about Serpent. Nothing ever bothers him, and if it does, he doesn’t show it. He handles each situation with dignity and control.

“You got lucky. You knew what you were right away.” Serpent looks down on Spade, “Nymph.”

Spade’s cheeks redden, and he looks away. “I wouldn’t call that lucky. Male nymphs are extremely rare and-”

“And extremely beautiful.” Serpent adds with a grin.

“And,” Spade adjusts his glasses nervously, “That quality gets my kind kidnapped and sold.” He says sadly.

“That’s where I come in.” Serpent reaches in his pocket and pulls out Spade’s favorite pen. He dropped it at the house when Serpent picked him up. “You’re safe with me.”

Spade’s mother originally hired Serpent to protect Spade. Spade needed protection and Serpent needed a doctor to work with him. Serpent took Spade with him, causing some waves with the doctor’s mother, but there was no way for Serpent to do his project and protect Spade in one place, “You’re always safe with me.” He promises.

“Thank you.” Spade takes the pen with a shy smile. He watches as Serpent sets Dean’s body ablaze. “What about her?” He turns to look at the old lady.

Serpent gazes at Spade. “Look away, little doctor.”

Spade’s eyes flutter a little. He turns away and stares at the floor. He hears the woman whimper, followed by the sound of her neck snapping. He puts his hand over his mouth and closes his eyes. He turns back around as Serpent is setting the woman on fire. “Couldn’t you have just compelled her to forget?”

“I could have, but who knows who else knows them. She could end up with a family member that asks too many questions. It’s easier to kill her.” Serpent places his hand on the small of Spade’s back and leads him out of the house.

Serpent is right. Spade links his arm with Serpent’s and allows the man to lead him back to the car.

“N-no! You’re supposed to be dead!” Michelle is terrified. Talon Adams is standing in her kitchen. “You can’t be here!”

“Oh, I understand.” Talon walks up on her, making her stumble backwards and trip on one of her dining room chairs, “I’m too old for your tastes.” He taunts.

Bone and the others are parked around the back of the house. There is no gate. Bone scans the backyard. Something rather peculiar catches his attention. He nudges Damien.

“Hey, look at that.” The tattooed man says urgently. He points to the storm cellar in the woman’s backyard. There are a pile of clothes beside it and a plate of food scraps.

Damien finds the sight a bit odd as well. He reaches to the back seat and shakes Zeke awake. “We might have a problem.”

Zeke sits up straight, “With Talon?” He asks, blinking away the sleepiness.

“Not exactly.” Damien points to what Bone showed him.

“That’s… Strange…” Zeke narrows his eyes and shifts in his seat. “Let’s go check it out.”

They all exit the car and sneak into the backyard. Dustin sees this and watches them with confusion. After a moment, he decides to follow them.

“What are y’all doin’?” Dustin asks them in a hushed tone.

Zeke cocks his head towards the cellar and points to the clothes and plate of scraps.

Dustin’s muscles tense up tightly. What the hell is this?

Bone looks at the cellar doors. “They’re chained shut.” He grabs the chains, “They’re rusted pretty badly. I can probably just-” he breaks the chains with a deep grunt. He tosses them to the side and they land with a loud clink. He opens the doors slowly, “Hello?” He calls down, careful not to be too loud.

They can hear little whimpers as a response. Bone freezes instantly. He stands up and whirls around, “She’s got someone down there. Tell Talon. Now.” Without another word, Bone races down the concrete steps and into the musty cellar.

“T- Talon, please… listen to me…” Michelle whimpers. She grabs the top of the counter and pulls herself to her feet, “I- I’m not as bad as you think.”

Talon raises an eyebrow. This should be good. “Why is that?”

Michelle lets out a shaky breath and wipes her forehead. “W-when I was little, I… My father molested me… It happened a lot and as I got older, I thought performing acts like that meant you loved someone…”

Talon holds back his laughter. “Are you telling me that when your father did those things to you, you felt loved?”

“Well… No… I felt scared and alone…” Michelle admits.

“So, you’re trying to tell me you harassed and molested boys because that’s the only way you could show love?” Talon scoffs. “Let’s put aside the fact that these boys were underage. None of them wanted it! Including me! You didn’t love us! You loved feeling like you were in control. Just because your dad traumatized you as a child, doesn’t give you the right to traumatize innocent people!”

Michelle knew her excuse was bullshit, but she was so desperate to stay alive that she was ready to say anything. No matter how ridiculous. “B- but isn’t that what you’re doing now?”

A smile tugs at the corners of Talon’s mouth. “No, you ignorant woman. You were sexually abused and in turn, you sexually abuse underage boys. You project your pain onto innocent people who had no intention of hurting you. I am projecting my pain on the dirtbags that had every intention of hurting me. People like you create trauma. I want to prevent it.” He takes a step towards the shaking woman, making her flinch. Just then, his phone buzzes. He pulls it out and glances at it to make sure it’s not an emergency. His anger boils hot inside of him.

“You…” His head lowers and his bangs fall over his eyes, “You sick bitch!” He shoves his phone in his pocket and rushes the woman. He snatches her up by the throat and lifts her above his head. Her feet kick at the air and her nails desperately claw at Talon’s hand. “You vile woman. You disgust me! You’re a complete waste of flesh! You’ve got someone locked in your cellar!?” His eyes flash defiantly, “How old is he!?” When the woman opts for silence, he tightens his grip. “How old is he!?”

Hot tears streak down Michelle’s face as she chokes out the words, “They’re sixteen!”

Talon feels something in him snap. Black slowly takes over the white sclera of his eyes. He throws the woman across the small kitchen. She hits the wall with a heavy thud. “There’s more than one!?”

Bone squints as his eyes try to adjust to the darkness of the cellar, “Hello?” He calls out again.

“P- please… don’t hurt us.” A small male voice whines in fear.

Bone blinks a few times and walks in further. He finally sees them. Two boys about the age of sixteen. His heart sinks at the sight of them, “I will not hurt you.” He says, slowly inching his way towards them. The three of them hear Michelle screaming, followed by several gunshots. The two boys start to panic and cry.

“No, no, no, no. It’s okay. You’re okay.” He crouches down and grabs the chains on their ankles. “These are fairly strong.” He mutters. He looks up at them. “Is there a key?”

One boy nods quickly. “She keeps it in a toolbox by the steps. We can’t reach it.” His voice is like gravel.

Bone gets up and heads back towards the steps. He comes back a moment later with the key. He unlocks the restraints and takes them off of the boys’ ankles. He notices they are only in their underwear. He takes off his coat and throws it around one boy, then takes off his hoodie and puts it on the other. He’s left in a black, sleeveless shirt. The boys look up at him with grateful and needy eyes. Both have dirty blond hair and shamrock green eyes.

“Do you have anyone to take you in?” Bone asks them. They shake their heads. “Do you want to come with me?” They nod their heads eagerly. “Alright.” Bone gathers them both in his arms and stands up. They cling to him desperately as he exits the cellar.

Zeke and Damien’s eyes are wide with shock. Dustin gasps at the sight. Bone carries them to the car and places them in the back seat. “Zeke, are you okay to drive? I want to sit with them.”

“Yeah, no problem, dude.” Zeke is still in complete disbelief. That woman really had two boys trapped in a cellar. He can’t imagine what they’ve been through.

Talon is coming out of the back of the house. The group can see a fire forming inside. “How many?” He asks abruptly.

“T- two.” Dustin notices the change in Talon’s eyes and feels a rush of fear. “Talon-”

“I just got off the phone with Serpent. They are heading back to the house to get supplies ready for those boys.” Talon interrupts harshly, “I collected the bullets myself and started the fire. We need to go. Now.”

The brothers nod and get into their car. Talon and Dustin get into the truck and the vehicles start. They drive off quickly.

“Talon, are you okay?” Dustin’s hands grip the steering wheel. “You looked really… angry back there.”

“Of course I did. That bitch had two sixteen-year-old boys in her cellar. She tried to blame her past trauma on her actions. I’m thoroughly disgusted. Aren’t you?” Talon’s tone is biting. His narrowed eyes glare at the blood beading on his hands where that vile woman scratched him.

“Well, yeah, but your eyes, they-” Dustin is cut off when Talon’s phone buzzes and the albino deliberately answers it. ‘Guess we’ll talk later.’ He thinks with a deep concern.

#helpless #violence #lgbtq #albino #romance #retaliation #kindle books #series #book two #Talon Adams #books #writing #guns #revenge #february 2021

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empty-dream · 4 years ago

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Just watched 13 Reasons Why S4

Ended up making a full blown commentary per episode because this is finally the last season and I’ve been enjoying this mess since S1. I even forgot that it was released until a friend brought it up to me. So in short,

Ep1

OKAY WHO DIES AGAIN HUH??

Clay, narrating: *I'm good at hiding shits so my parents don't notice at all." His parents: *concernedly looking at him pale and mushing food on the dining table*

The concequences of investigating murder cases and creating conspiracies instead of studying your ass off because it's a damn school really caught up huh.

Charlie holy shit I love you he's so chill and good.

It's been years I still can't believe Justin is really adopted by the Jensens. Funny that now the table is reversed, with Justin finally actually doing better and taking care of the increasingly-ill Clay.

SCOTT!! OH MY GOD! SCOTT REED!! OH MY FUCKING GOD!! AAAAAAAAAAAAA HOLY SHIIITTTTTTTTT AAAAAAAAA!!!

Wow my headcanon is approved, he already graduated by S3. No reason he didn't hang out with the gang after all the shits in S2 if he was no longer around in the first place.

He's still so nice even in Clay's trippy nightmare. Is that what Clay remembers about him? Well not really surprising, considering Scott actually was worried about him in S2.

Good god finally Clay meets a therapist- Wait a minute that's the guy from CSI:NY?!?! Isn't Clay just gonna get clobbered instead.

Okay I knew they are really close and I do adore their relationship so much but HOLY SHIT THEY ACTUALLY GO AT IT WITH ALEX AND ZACH???

Alex: *panicking over the kiss* Zach: Ayy don't worry let's just continue perhaps-suicidally hanging out on dangerous rooftops that you were almost fall to your death from. Alex: ????

Ep2

That narration of Clay ranting about college applications. I'll drink to that bruh.

Ya I too make my applications and other supposedly important matters at 3AM instead of any other more sensible time.

Oh my fucking god that is the creepiest smile I've ever see.

I feel like as Justin gets better and better with his life, Clay goes worse.

Justin is so excited about going to college! You deserve the future man.

The old-time stoners and drunkards are rehabbed or dead. Enter Zach.

Winston: *eyes and ears up to your shit 24/7*

Nobody likes Tyler in S1 but now everybody likes him.

Okay. Cops doing shit jobs at protecting. This feels too real with this situation right now.

Clay's adventure to put the trash into the trash bin.

Omg they got the paint to the lab this is going real CSI.

Idk about u but at this point I don't exactly want to pay attention to Jessica/Justin problems anymore.

I know Zach and Clay don't get along and that's why I need their adventure together.

Clay drunk-puking on Justin. Well well well how the turntables.

The return of Monet!!

"I have 2.8. If I work hard, I'll get 2.9" Winston omg same.

Tht held gaze between Alex and Winston.. Is this slow burn fanfiction???????

Yes Mr. CSI it will definitely get worse.

I know writing about your feelings can make you feel better but probably not in your college essay form.

Ep3

I'm starting to think Clay is the one who dies in the end? Idk tho.

I guess the toll of busting ass trying to save everyone by yourself is catastrophically high, huh, Clay? Funny that he now goes from 100 in S3 to 0 in here and that's actually realistic.

Alex and Winston are really pining each other with Zach in the background lmao.

"You don't wanna go on the Valentine Dance with me? Even as friends?" Well sometimes there are moments when you just don't go back to being friends. It's an actual normal thing.

And besides the last time Alex goes with Jess for something she wanna do, he ends up murdering somebody. So.

"Hey Zach. Hey punch me. Hey you pussy now? Hey hey. Bitch." *poke* *poke* *poke*

No Zach he's trying to save all of your asses. You can't just say that.

Charlie is really just there trying to do his best in this shitshow and like Justin I wanna laugh but also am proud.

Everyone: *being paranoid and unto each other* Alex and Winston: *having the date of their life*

I wish everyone doesn't have this level of trust issues but then again we won't have a shitstorm drama like this.

When did this become "what is love?" philosophy class?

"You know love but you love so fiercely and sometimes it hurts."Wow Mr. CSI you hit the mark.

How many parties can the Liberty High hold in a year?

"You go with Charlie to get back to Justin, right?" Wow Diego you HIT the mark.

I still have problems with Ani as a character, but I do like her casual banters with Clay.

You know, with all these trust issues, I'm surprised nobody actually tries to peek on other's phone. Like, I know that's low. But, you know, faster solution. And better than having mass hallucinations.

Oh God the football team really is a bunch of jerks. Good fucking thing Scott is outta here.

Alex and Winston almost die like couples in a cheap slasher movie.

"Fuck Love." Clay Jensen, 2019 (according to the movie timeline)

Ep4

Why is Charlie talking? Why is he wearing the football jersey? Who on earth dies?? Is it Zach? Justin? Somebody else from the football team? But the content of your speech man...

Ah yeah. Clay did survive a great big deal of many ugly shits. Single-handedly thanks to adrenaline, mostly.

Jess got a point tho. Ani could have followed Clay to stop him, by herself or with the gang. What did she do? She spied on Winston and Alex, and then went back to the dance. So much for handling anything themselves.

Or maybe, the gang shouldn't have let Ani and Clay take care of it themselves.

Does anybody in this show ever figure out Clay has dead people hallucinations?

Domestic Jensen family is my everything.

Charlie really out there bribing Zach with his homemade cookies I-

Ah yeah, I kinda forgot that in reality Alex and Winston have a really difficult situation. With Bryce and Monty stuff.

"Looking back on your time at Liberty, do you have any regrets?" Really? Isn't that all they have?

"Who do you trust most in your life and why?" Everybody: *immediately side-eyeing each other*

Clay c'mon wtf Justin is really just worried sick and trying to help you. Aaand he's gone.

Jess you don't put your hands into something without checking it first...

Why would you only send 2 adults to supervise 30-50 kids on a camping wildlife trip? They wouldn't be able to do shit.

"I thought you were a football player!" "I AM a football player! And so are YOU!" Gold.

Dream!Monty and Dream!Clay really sit like that and I almost laugh were it not for the fact that I do that too. It's strange to see that for once, they talk normally, heart-to-heart, without the usual snickering, chiding, all that venom.

Oh shit they really make Monty and Clay mirror each other like that. They both protect people they love but have tendencies to snap, one way or another.

Zach, dude, I know you've been a real good friend. But Alex almost died. Twice. Because of your drunken ways. And you laughed. Didn't you spend an entire season trying hard to not let him die again? What's wrong with you?

When did this become a horror movie?

The Standalls :((

CHARLIE MY MAN WITH HIS COOKIES. And incidentally, a wild Zach appears.

"So are we gonna fall apart or trust each other now!" Justin my man.

Clay dude that would have been an amazing entrance were it not for the fact you looked insane.

I can't fucking believe they just go normally at campfire like that. Two people almost died. Several got beaten. What the fuck.

Does it come from the bottom of your heart or it doubles as a threat, Clay?

Alex you had us at the first half not gonna lie.

GR A NO LA CA MP C O OKIES? ??

Wait. So who has been fucking around with the football team? Who moved Clay?? Huh??

Ep5

GUYS THERE IS A THING CALLED GPS ON THE PHONE?? What are you? 3?

Justin finally breaking down after 5 episodes being the most decent and healthy person around. Well Charlie is too but he's new, so.

Finally an obligatory meeting at Monet.

CYRUS AND THE PUNK GANG!!! God I love you guys where have you been. And you guys are computer geeks?!?!?! Perfect.

My question exactly, Clay. Good replies tho, Cy.

I'm still thinking how for a nerd, Clay knows A LOT of people and knows who to ask what.

"How am I even friends with you?" Ya Alex that's my question too. How are you suddenly bff with Zach? I don't remember you two being close in S1?

Hm. If you aren't holding his family at stake, there is no way Tony would even think to rat out.

Mr. CSI starts going CSI on Clay.

I almost forgot Charlie's last name is St. George. The cast goes by Charlie mostly so.

Justin really shows up at the party with the angry mom pose and disappointed look at Clay. The turntable, people. Flynn's voice got raspy.

Oh no no Clay you don't go there. Please don't split my Jensen-Foley brothers like that. Meanwhile the punk gang be like just watching there.

C O O KI E S??? Goddamn Charlie do you bring cookies everywhere you go??

Charlie my boy you T_T I was kinda suprised that the cookie baking actually had a sad backstory.

Clay-Zach bonding that I fucking wish for oh yeah. I definitely didn't expect it with piano and drunk singing tho.

While Clay is having the time of his life, Tony is seeing life flashes in his eyes.

Yassss he winssss!!!!

Caleb's expression when the sherrif hugs him lmfao

Nice try Sherrif but Tony knows your tricks.

"What of any of this is okay?" Wow things you'd never hear Justin says in S1.

Meanwhile, Charlie and Alex are high on weed cookies as fuck. Their conversation is the most interesting thing I've seen beside the Scott cameo till now.

The look on Justin's face when Clay pushes him :((

MY DUDES HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN ABOUT JEFF'S DEATH? WHAT HE WAS ACCUSED FOR?! You do not, under any circumstances, drive drunk.

Ep6

Clay be spitting truth.

They really be discussing Clay's chronic hero syndrome huh.

Okay. Operation Clay-Zach failed.

Weren't Zach all fuck it all yeah! kinda guy? Guess when you are the one who faces death it's not that fun anymore huh.

"One Clay Jensen is enough" Jess truth.

Do Alex and Charlie really study Spanish in front of Tony who is not helping at all? That would be embarrassing lmao.

Clay: Fuck off. Hallucination!Monty: *sits next to him*

Gotta hand it to Timothy Granaderos. He could go venomous to puppy eyed in 1 second. Amazing.

Man. School shootings are fucked up. There are many things I wonder about mankind and one of them is why is school shooting even possible?

Hallucination!Bryce: Hi I’m sorry I’m late. I hear this is time for Clay’s dead people hallucination party.

"Are you a hero or a martyr?" Wow they really throw the question.

And here is Clay sitting under the desk between his two most hated dead people hallucinations whispering moral dilemmas to him.

Meanwhile Winston and Zach got high.

Charlie helping Alex to breath.

The talk with Estella and Tyler.

"No offense, you are cool, but I don't wanna die with you." Zach chill lmao.

Are.. Are you sure outing that to Winston is a good call, Zach? For a guy who was super paranoid that his gang would narc him, he sure is loose mouthed himself.

I like how everyone from Tyler to Zach to Winston, admits that Alex is a really kind guy.

Wow Tony did you really expect anyone could do anything in that situation, in fucking Evergreen situation, for that matter?

Charlie is a great friend wow.

Cl-CLAY DON'T GO OUT that is EXACTLY what you are NOT supposed to do!!!

Goddamnit Clay. Holy shit Clay.

Dylan Minnette really worked hard in this scene.

.......... WAIT A MINUTE IT'S NOW ACTUALLY CHARLIE ALEX????? Tony be just walking in.

Ep7

Clay really got into a psych ward. Talk about darkest hour. And it’s only ep 6?

Wow Ty that's some brave lines.

Which hallucination-induced person is Clay talking to before Ani gets there?

Ok that therapy session made me tear up.

These kids are having college interviews at the worst time possible. They are all fucking breaking down one way or another.

And Charlie just, really never gives up on Alex huh.

What's most important to Clay is his friends. Real quick to answer that question huh.

God Justin lashing out at the Jensens. It's the first time he does it and it hurts.

Zach holy fuck. I appreciate you didn't out it but holy fuck you didn't have to do that are you trying to die

Clay-Tony combo is back baby I miss them so much. Although perhaps Tony you would mind a bit about Clay's health because clearly he was out of it.

This is so short. I too really don't like application essays and interviews and the inevitable revisit of the sadder parts of my life because of them.

Ep8

When did this become sci-fi apocalyptic story?

God I miss the time when Clay's dreams are just Inception-styled trippy shit with Scott randomly says hello and gets him water.

Okay. Everyone's got their own way to cope with existential and moral crisis huh.

You know what, I would like one movie out of this sci-fi dream.

I knew it Tyler was a bait to smoke out illegal gun dealers. Is that... An okay thing to do for a high schooler? Sounds fucked up, all things considered.

Yaaay Justin's got the college! I'm super happy!

Wow Estella good question.

Wow Tyler good statement. If they trust each other a bit more, everything would have been a bit better.

Ah shit. Justin relapses again.

Does Tony need to be pummelled first before he finally goes all off to finish his opponent or what?

Is this going Big Brother Is Watching

What the fuck. That locker fight scene is disgusting.

Jess and Clay might throw shades at each other but together they share one brain cell.

"I think it's a walkout, Sir" Tyler lmao

Wow Zach and Alex heart-to-heart.

Cyrus really steps on some pedestal to make his point.

Aaand Zach and Alex really go all out on "doing it right" huh.

They really have students vs cops riot at this time. Talk about timing.

It's nice to see the punk gang enjoying the fighting again.

Dude what happens if you don't have anything on your bag tho.

Aaaah the punk gang with Tyler again!!

"Why are you with me and not with Charlie?" Zach ouch that hurts.

Zach no no no Zach get out of there too Zach pls

Clay really becomes 2nd in command to Jess huh.

Charlie tries to save Clay but gets whacked on the head instead.

Tony you came back!! Oh so that college scout was.. Oh.

Oh shit Clay. Oh. Shit. I should have realized that. Goddamn.

Ep9

"I like sleep." Charlie me too.

God Alex and Charlie literally sleep together jaldjwaownaljewoalsj that some cute shit.

Wow Clay really takes Mr. CSI's advice to round up the gang and confesses. That's a step.

Charlie sometimes has a good idea, huh.

The Jensens meeting is probably the reason why the idea of parenthood scares me.

Also Clay and Justin really put the practice of "tell the parents the less-harsh-but-still-harsh truth, then ask them to get prom back" by the book. And it's awkward.

Aww Charlie coming out to his dad and the response he gets... When you put the rich fams like Dempseys, Walkers and Saint Georges together, the last one is really the only healthy one huh.

Way to go Jess!

Ah I forgot Alex has an older brother.

Aaaahhh Charlie has dinner with the Standalls! Their reaction is so sweet!

"Does he make you happy?" "Yeah. A lot." AHDKWJWOAKDUWLAOEL I mean after everything that has happened to Alex, man I am so happy he can say that with a fond smile.

WHAT THE FUCK HAHAHAHHA CHARLIE WHAT THE FUCK HOLY SHIT LMFAO I THOUGHT THIS WAS JUST AN TRIPPY ANIMATED IMAGINATION THING and Alex is so done with his extra shit.

Wow Ani you do karaoke good, asking Jess out even better.

OH MY GOD IT ESCALATED. Also Alex is right that one is creepy Charlie.

I thought by special doughnut Caleb means some diet-related stuff fit to Tony's menu for fighting. Why didn't I expect a literal Will You Go To Prom doughnuts?

CHARLIE PLEASE STOP AHAHAHAHA you dumb rich kid where did you get all those lamps and prop candles.

"Would you love me any less?" Aww Clay knows Justin loves him.

"You three all look adorable" Ya Jess, same.

Tony really out there doing the "I'm here because he's here" to Caleb.

Clay, Alex, and Charlie be like judging Zach hard.

Oh right that one kid from Cyrus's gang is gay and he brought his boyfriend!

Zach: You two sitting here like it's a funeral. Also Zach: *proceeds to continue sitting as well*

"We deserve to live." Finally something from Zach's mouth that I can agree for this season.

I love that Tony and Caleb are such good friends to Clay.

And now it's Winston turn for dead people hallucination.

..... The door to the other side again.. :'''((

CHARLIE AND ALEX WON THE PROM KINGS AAAAAAHHHHHH I mean with all those extra efforts, it'd be hard to not to. And there goes Alex finally giving in to dance.

I don't like Luke the football guy when he's the enemy but I like him when he's a friend. He's a hype man lmao.

Alex I'm so happy for you man. I'm glad you are finally happy. My heart was tight at the dance part .

Everyone: *dances* Clay: *sits there, monologuing philosophically*

I like that Clay and Ani finally being honest that they don't fit each other romantically. As romance goes there is not much romantic tension between them. And they have way too many flawed traits that when paired, would turn the relationship sour and possibly toxic in the end.

Justin do u like to show up and make everyone step aside for you or what.

I like that Clay was just watching from a distance. Then at last minute decided to join the crowd with his mother, whom he had a few trust issues with in all seasons.

Charlie: "Foundry's gay?!" Alex: "Mind's blown" Me: Same.

There has been nothing wrong going on in one episode, aside from the Zach one that's timely stopped by Charlie and Alex. I'm suspicious.

Ah. Yes. Of course.

Oh my god Justin's the one dead huh?

Ep10

Oh thank God he hasn't died. Yet.

Oh God Justin no. No no no.

Get your shit together Zach. Even Charlie tells you that.

No no no not like this not after everything oh god.

Somebody would you actually please run after Clay too.

Oh my god Clay.

Oh my god Alex you. Even when he admits it to Winston, he still covers for Jess. I- oh god.

It's been only 15 minutes and it hurts.

Charlie and Alex, the moms of the group.

You know, for a guy who says he doesn't love Justin, Alex gives a lot of shit about him. I guess you can still be around people you don't like?

I know the kiss is huge news Charlie but that's not the issue here lmao.

Zach: *hugs Clay* Clay: ????? Alex and Charlie: ?????? Zach: *pats Tyler's head* *leans on Clay*

The Padillas :''')

Clay Jensen. Class speaker. Wow.

Yeah Mr. CSI's voice is really calm, rather chilling, actually.

"You've looked at death too many times for a young person." Damn right Mr. Jensen.

Ah so that's the reason why Zach stole that letter. Makes sense, emotionally.

You know, I did say Idc anymore about Justin/Jessica problems but when it gets to this point, I can't not care.

So many people come to the hospital...

Clay and Justin's talk. I'm sorry I can't hold it in anymore. I'm fucking sobbing at this moment.

He's dead. He's dead. He's dead just like his mom. But he died not in the same way. He died holding his bro's hand. He died surrounded by his family. He died with people who loved him around.

"After everything, this is how it ends." Fucck

DID HE HAVE TO DIE??? DID JUSTIN FOLEY-JENSEN HAVE TO DIE?? Did you really have to put yet another sucker punch in the last episode of the season?? Yeah I know real kids and people do die from AIDS but really? After a whole season of Clay screaming kids wants to live to the point he lost his mind???

I spent the entire funeral screen crying. I couldn't even scream again when Scott is present in the funeral. I know he'd be there but god I can't right now.

Mr. CSI sure knows super effective ways to make Clay react.

"If Justin's dead, the none of the rest of it matters. " Clay..

He opens up.

Oh yeah I forgot Charlie is a junior.

AAAA COURTNEY AND RYAN ARE HERE!!! I MISS YOU GUYS!!!!!

SCOTTTTT!!!!!! And CHLOE TOO!! It’s nice that they come together. But they aren’t like, together, right? I mean if he is her boyfriend she would say his name right away to Zach instead of a mere ‘would you like to meet him? He’s outside.’

These 4 are such good friends to attend their friends’ graduation ceremony.

The punk guys in toga are so... Refreshing to look. Such hype men.

"It's easy to hate. It's easy to fear. It's goddamn hard to love. But it's not optional. It's essential." Jessica Davis, everybody.

Jeff, Hannah and Justin really died in the span of 2 years. Add to that is Bryce and Monty, whose deaths left uncountable traumas on top of existing traumas. Yeah. It was hellish time.

Scott’s proud small smile when Clay gives his speech. Im love.

"Choose to live. Even on the worst day, life is a pretty spectacular thing." Clay Jensen, everybody.

Ma boi Zach really teared up at Clay's speech.

Luke and one of the punk kids talking about some geek thing I am not familiar with I-

“No offense Luke. You’ve got great arm but you haven’t been known for your brain.” PETER That BURNS LMAO

Poor Winston just being alone. OH HELLO RYAN YOU ARE FAST.

Zach is gonna study music! Nice foreshadowing since he plays a lot of music this season.

Clay having a gratitude moment with his parents and Scott be like munching cupcakes in the background.

Oh god Hannah ...

Wow the old tape gang is here!! The nostalgia hurts.

They bury the tapes on the same hill again asdfwosaiofai.

Kinda salty Sheri and Scott aren’t here. But then again I guess back then Scott was just helping Clay and co when he could and mostly minding his own business. HOWEVER isn’t Sheri like in the tape and pretty prominent too :(( Like she was really cool with Clay (despite the whole guilt over Jeff), tried to make amends and really helped with the polaroid cases.

Also you can't just insert Scott in Clay's dream and then not have them interact in the end. The dream was such a perfect bait. Like we know at least they apparently get along well.

Everything in Jessica’s final conversation with her Bryce hallucination. Everything in it.

Ryan: “Gordon Lightfoot?” Ha Ryan you miss a whole lot of drama.

Fuck I'm tearing up again at Justin's essay. He deadass makes an entire essay about Clay and how he is his savior I-

Oh my god they end it exactly like S1 with Tony and Clay riding away. They are really each other’s ride or die.

That’s it. It’s over. It’s been a long trainwreck. So the 2019 class graduates, so does Justin, they are doing uni right now and keeping in touch with everyone. Bye.

#13 reasons why #13 reasons why season 4 #random saying

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possiblyimbiassed · 6 years ago

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John’s wedding is a crime scene - Part III

I’m sure I’m far from the first one to suggest this; I know a lot of people have discussed it years ago, but it hit me so hard now while re-watching the stag night scenes in TSoT, that I just can’t get it out of my mind: This is not some random apartment of a dead man; the crime scene of the Mayfly Man is actually 221B! If you like, this can be seen as Part III of my earlier meta series called “John’s wedding is a crime scene and Sherlock is the victim”. You can find the first two parts here (1) and here (2).

You don’t believe me? OK, let’s do a crime scene investigation à la Sherlock and sample the different clues here:

Hmm, well, I do see a wallpaper with a pattern of large flowers on it...

...and I also do see a leather sofa with Sherlock on it:

Yes - nice, isn’t it? John really seems to appreciate it. ;) But this meta is going to hurt, so if you’re not up for it, please don’t read further.

We also have a buffalo skull...

...not very unlike the bison skull on the wall of 221B:

In several cultures, this is the symbol of someone being cheated on. But judging by the headphones, this guy apparently tries to turn a deaf ear to it.

Sherlock’s chair is square-ish, with seats of leather...

...while John’s chair is more well-rounded:

And they both seemed very comfortable in them, just a little while ago...

But, back to the crime scene: Why would the land lord let some random drunk people into his dead tenant’s apartment late at night, just because a woman claimed she had been dating another person there? It’s not exactly a murder case we’re talking about. And the thing is, we never even see them leave their own flat! It doesn’t make sense.

And, even before that: Why would Mrs Hudson let a client in late at night at Baker Street, when she knew that both John and Sherlock were too drunk to even stand on their feet? And how could the client be so stupid to rely on a detective who was very obviously drunk? It doesn’t make sense.

But what is Sherlock actually doing here? Well, John tells us:

He’s trying to find out where it all went wrong, isn’t he?

To continue ‘clueing’, we also have a soft rug, just like we have in 221B. Many people have pointed out - since long ago - the sexual nature of this scene, and many fics have been written about the whole stag night:

Or what about this innuendo?

People have also pointed out long ago that the stuff on Sherlock’s mouth doesn’t really look like vomit:

And why on earth are we suddenly two centimeters from John’s mouth directly after this? Who is looking so closely at it, while John is sighing?

So, my hypothesis here is that these two guys indeed did got intimate on John’s stag night, inside 221B. But what we see is Sherlock setting up his repressed memories of this in his Mind Palace/Mind Theatre. After reading John’s blog and reminiscing their life together (as I have suggested before X).

Why is the ‘crime scene’ supposed to be a dead man’s apartment? Well, probably because Sherlock felt completely dead inside while setting this scenario up in his Mind Theatre. And hey; they were interrupted by a nurse. Who else do we know that is a nurse, and who has definitely come between John and Sherlock?

As for John Watson as an unreliable narrator, what does the blog say? We know that Sherlock was indeed organising John’s stag do, because John himself says so in the post about the Bloody Guardsman (June 29th):

And yet, John’s description of this whole stag event afterwards on the blog was simply this:

A “quiet, civilised evening in the pub”. John never mentions that it was his stag do! I do believe John is hiding something here, and the timeline might also be altered. And neither does he mention that they went to the dead man’s apartment to investigate traces from the Mayfly Man; indeed it seems like Sherlock investigated merely by the info he got from the client. And this is John’s last post on the blog. John never wrote up Sherlock’s solutions of both the Mayfly man case and the Bloody Guardsman case, when he elegantly saved John’s wedding from ending in disaster - why? Because John was busy preparing his own honey moon? Didn’t he appreciate what his friend did for him? Or was it because these solutions didn’t actually happen? When Sherlock hacks the blog and starts talking jealously about their ‘sex holiday’ after the wedding, John (and Mary) just tell him to shut up and stop posting. And when Sherlock explains his solution to the Mayfly Man and the Bloody Guardsman as two back-stabbing cases, he’s only met with complete silence from John.

Additionally, Sherlock here claims that the attempted murder happened “today”, when the wedding must have been at least a couple of days ago, because on August 11th he told us that John and Mary were already on their ‘sex holiday’. I’ve said before that I find the idea of a mere uniform belt (which mustn’t be worn uncomfortably tight, because it would render both the uniform and the soldier in it inefficient) stopping the blood flow from a stabbing utterly unlikely. And I’ve actually asked a guy I know who works as a royal guardsman in my town, if he ever has lost the feeling in his back muscles while standing guard for hours. His answer was no; he rather gets to feel an increasing pain in his back. And if the Mayfly Man failed to kill Bainbridge with this method, why did he proceed to try the same inefficient method on Sholto?

So no; I don’t believe this actually happened in the show’s reality. And John’s silence on the blog might be a confirmation of this. (And/or possibly a sign that at this point John stopped reading the blog and instead tried to get someone to check on Sherlock, since the guy clearly was using again).

OK, just a couple of clues more: When John wakes up after the stag night, he feels like he’s imprisoned:

And Sherlock is sleeping beside him.

So, what’s the actual ‘crime’ here? Why are Sherlock and John imprisoned? I’m not sure about what the law says in UK, but I somehow doubt it would be a criminal offense to be accidentally sick on someone’s rug (it’s not a public place), and the landlord had actually let them in. So if this is a symbolic arrest happening inside Sherlock’s head, what’s the actual reason? Is it a) John cheating on Mary, or b) John breaking Sherlock’s heart? Or is it c) that these two guys actually had sex with each other (Internalized homophobia)?

If this actually happened (as I tend to believe it did - look at all the clues!); if they did end up having sex at 221B on the stag night, while drunk, and John then woke up, with closet angst and terrible guilt over what he had done, and then he - in desperation - left Sherlock there and decided to get married anyway, that must have been the final blow, the most painful heartbreak possible for Sherlock. Because then he was treated like just one more of John’s one-night stands or never-to-be-serious girlfriends. Hence the back-stabbing metaphor repeated twice in TSoT (the wedding only sealed the deal). Hence the Mayfly Man mirroring John. Hence Culverton Smith the Coagulation of Human Evil in TLD. Probably even the Serial Killer Jeff Hope outliving several people in ASiP. And hence John’s devastating guilt in TLD over cheating on Mary in TST by mere text messages (which looked innocent enough). OMG; if this turns out to be the truth, it really, really hurts. Because that’s burning someone’s heart out, indeed.

Tagging some people, just in case they’re interested:@sarahthecoat @tjlcisthenewsexy @ebaeschnbliah @fellshish @gosherlocked @loveismyrevolution @sagestreet @sherlockshadow @darlingtonsubstitution @devoursjohnlock @tendergingergirl @kateis-cakeis @csi-baker-street-babes @88thparallel @timilina @dieseldrakilis @sherlock-overflow-error @elldotsee

#Ouch

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literallyprentissstwin · 6 years ago

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one last time - chapter 2

thanks for the overwhelming feedback to chapter 1 <3 i´m really happy that you guys like the story so far. remember to hmu when you want to be added to my tag list for the story or for all my works in general. :)

warnings: same as in chapter 1. angst, crime scene and case talk, all the criminal minds jazz.

“Feel like a failure, ´cause I know that I failed you. I should´ve done you better, ´cause you don´t want a liar.”

After what felt like an eternity, the team finally arrived at the Boulder City Police Department after they had checked into the hotel to get a quick change of clothes and to freshen up a bit. Hotch and JJ were the first one´s to step into the police department followed by the rest of the team.

“Are you with the FBI?”, an older man asked as he walked towards the group.

“We are. I´m SSA Aaron Hotchner. These are the agents Jareau, Prentiss, Morgan Rossi and Dr. Reid.”, Hotch introduced them and shook hands with the man.

“I´m Detective Charles Landon. I´m leading the investigations on our family murders.”, the man introduced himself as well.

“Is there anywhere we can set our stuff up?”, JJ wanted to know.

“Of course, the conference room is all yours. Please follow me.”, Detective Landon said before he showed the team the way.

“What do we know so far?”, Reid asked as he set down his bag.

“Not much, I fear. We´re still trying to figure out if there is a connection between the families and we are still trying to reach out to friends and relatives of the families that have been killed, but..”, the detective explained but got interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone, “excuse me!”, he said before he took the call.

“Okay, I´m gonna call Garcia and let her check if there is a connection between the families. There has to be something. Dave and Emily, you´re heading over to the latest crime scene. Maybe you can figure out how our unsub did it and..”, Hotch explained as he got interrupted by Detective Landon.

“He did it again.”, he exclaimed.

“What?! But this is way too early for him. The week has only started.”, Prentiss wondered out loud.

“Well, that´s not the only thing that´s confusing about the new murder.”, Charles expressed and sighed before he continued, “his newest victim is the Griffin family. Dad Neil, Mom Jessica and their youngest daughter Monica were found dead in their beds. However, their oldest daughter Faye seems to be missing.”

“That´s a huge change in MO out of sudden.”, Morgan said.

“Something must have happened that he lost control this quickly.”, Rossi agreed.

“Whatever it is, we need to find it out as soon as possible if we want to have a chance to find Faye alive. JJ, Reid, Morgan? You´re heading over to the newest crime scene. I´m staying here and coordinate everything with Garcia. Dave and Emily, you´re going to the last crime scene as I said. Let´s go.”, Hotch said before everyone hurried off to fulfill their tasks.

15 minutes later, Reid, Morgan and JJ arrived at the newest crime scene along with Detective Landon ans some CSI´s. After they showed their badges, they were allowed inside and the three agents took a look around while the Detective stayed outside, interrogating the woman that had found the family.

“Okay, there are the chairs again, so he didn´t change that.”, JJ said.

“Yeah, there are four chairs. He made the kids and the husband watch her mother and wife being stabbed.”, Morgan agreed.

“There are no indications of a forced entry.”, Reid told them as he joined them in the living room.

“So the family must have let him in. Either they knew him or he used a trick to get inside.”, JJ thought out loud.

“Okay, so after he stabbed Jessica, he must have dragged her into their bedroom. We have drag marks all over the floor.”, Morgan continued as the three followed the marks up until the bedroom of the parents.

“Yeah, and then he must have forced the kids to go to their rooms before he strangled them.”, Reid said.

“And then, he killed the father. But how in the world did Faye make it out alive? Why would he take her?”, JJ wondered.

“That´s what we need to find out.”, Morgan said right before Charles joined them at the feet of the stairs to the upper floor.

“Found something out?”, the dark skinned agent wanted to know.

“Her name is Lindsay Clark. She´s a family friend. She was supposed to meet up with Jessica this morning for lunch. When she arrived, the front door was slightly ajar, so she went inside to check. That´s how she found them. As for Faye, she´s pretty sure that she must have been at home during the time of the attack. So either, the girl managed to run away or..”

“the unsub took her.”, JJ finished Detective Landon´s explenations.

“I´m gonna call Hotch and fill him in.”, Morgan said and was about to grab his phone and dial Hotch´s number when he heard noises coming from the upper floor.

Making sure that he hadn´t been the only person to hear them, they all took out their guns and slowly and as silent as possible headed upstairs where they split up. The last room that has to be checked was Faye´s room.

Reid entered first, followed closely by JJ and Derek. They checked all the corners and underneath the giant bed when they heard the noise again, coming from the closet directly in front of them.

Spencer flashed his flashlight and discovered a little puddle of liquid coming out from under the closet door. The Doctor turned around, looking at his team mates before turning back towards the closet and carefully opening the doors.

What they saw next was something neither of them expected to see. There in the corner, shaking and with a pure expression of panic and fear on her face, sat Faye Griffin who looked at the intruders in shock and tried to crawl even more into the corner. Reid registered it at first and immediatley put his gun and flashlight down and his hands back up. JJ followed Reid´s actions and so did Morgen before he grabbed his phone and whispered a strangled “I´m calling an ambulance.” while quickly leaving the room.

Spencer meanwhile knelt down on Faye´s level, trying to get the distraught girl to look at him.

“It´s gonna be okay, you´re safe now. We won´t hurt you, okay?”, he told her over and over again, but his words didn´t seem to reach her, but he didn´t give up. So he sighed and continued talking to the girl.

This would be a long day.

A/N: i´m sorry if this seemed rushed and idk weird maybe? but i just really wanna get to the point as quick as possible and i´m not good at describing cases so bear with me! so there is no point in sending me feedback like “blabla it´s too quick, blablabla it´s so rushed” I KNOW THAT! i love you all!

One Last Time Taglist

@confused-and-really-hungry @justintofandoms @maybeinmylife @smolpersonbigworld @nctjessiica @dreatine @stircrazyfry @sinnersandsugars @potato-bears @kaliez323 @eeveelols @solarflares-softlips @georgewife @admiralkatcornwellfan @notsosmartbutcute @slytherinstudent00 @we-found-wonderland-in-1989 @ashleytooley @honeychlorine @jhillio @fromouterspxce @extremeobsessions101 @hogwarts-is-home-gryffindor @basketcase80 @yooassbutt @ultrarebelheart @cats-on-the-beach @itsmeedee

General Criminal Minds Taglist

@dontshootmespence @veroinnumera @ultrarebelheart @illegalcerebral @cherrybombs-and-rabbitholes @butsomeofusarelookingatthestars @tommyhollandd @crimindsaspe @remember-me-forever-silent-angel @lifeistooshorttowasteyourtime @uncomfie @lookwhatyoumademequeue @tenaciousarcadeexpert @marvelfanlife @sam-carter-in-training @sweater-vest-reid @crimeshowtrash @acespence @spencerreidreads @idkbutspencer @iammostdefinitelyonfire26 @princesswagger15 @dionnaea @smolpersonbigworld @spencereid2018 @spensurreed @luna-xxxxx @whaaatthefuuuuck @notsosmartbutcute

#criminal minds #criminal minds imagine #criminal minds fanfiction #criminal minds oc #spencer reid #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid x oc #one last time series #chapter 2

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robininthelabyrinth · 6 years ago

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Fic: An Internal Affair - Chapter 16 (Ao3 link)

Fandom: The Flash Pairing: Leonard Snart/Barry Allen

Summary: Leonard Snart, the CCPD Captain of Internal Affairs, is known as Captain Cold for a very good reason: He hates corrupt cops with a merciless vengeance, and once you’re on his list, you’re in serious trouble.

His next target?

A CCPD lab tech named Barry Allen who’s developed a suspicious habit of disappearing at random intervals.

—————————————————————————————————

"So the plan for today is to search STAR Labs, right?" Barry asks, mentally reviewing his calendar.

"That's right," Cisco says, tossing his pencil up into the air a bit too high and fumbling the catch. "Wells is taking that video conference call from home today, the long one, and it should take him all morning. I've dialed into it myself to make sure he's still on the call and repositioned some satellites with infrared detection in his direction to make sure it's actually, y'know, him and not like a hologram or something. I'll be monitoring it all from here." He makes a face. "Now I can listen to him talk to the accountants."

"I'm glad I don't have to do that," Joe remarks, slouching against one of the computer desk. "No offense, Cisco, but that sounds boring as hell."

"It is, but I can play video games at the same time," Cisco tells him. "The joy of multiple screens."

Joe shakes his head mournfully, clearly despairing of this new generation.

"Give up, Cisco," Caitlin teases. "He's never going to appreciate your technology."

"Joe, you've started looking into the Dibny thing I told you about yesterday, right?" Barry asks, ignoring their interplay. He's charged up with energy today - the speed training, whatever Wells' goal with it, is definitely working, and ever since things have gone well with Len...

The phrase 'walking on air' comes to mind.

Barry's having to make an effort to ensure he doesn't accidentally walk on air, literally.

"Yeah, yeah," Joe says. "I asked a few guys over in Vice to check out what Dibny's up to; they've promised to get back to me later today, maybe tomorrow. Y'know, I'm still not sure it isn't just your old grudge against the guy coming up again, but since you got Cold's authorization for the search, it's probably still worth checking out."

Joe's voice has gone bitter. Again.

Barry scowls at him. "Joe, we've talked about this. Yes, we're dating. No, this isn't some sort of 'secret plan' to get at us; he's a good cop and he wants to do the right thing, and the right thing right now is taking down the Man in Yellow –”

“Reverse Flash,” Cisco interjects.

“– and he’s helping us with that. And you can stop hinting that he's only agreeing to look into Dibny because I'm dating him any time now!"

"I wasn't saying that!"

"It was implied," Caitlin says. "Heavily."

"And you did kinda do the same thing to Iris and Eddie Thawne when they first started dating," Cisco points out meekly.

Joe crosses his arms and scowls.

"Why don't we focus on our search of STAR Labs?" Cisco hastily suggests in an obvious bid to change the subject. "Thanks to Iris' digging, we've managed to map out the parts of the Accelerator built by Zoom Contracting, and thus probably by the Reverse Flash; if he hid something inside of STAR Labs, it's probably there. Barry, you ready?"

"Sure am," Barry says. "Let's start with -"

A door slams in the hallway and they all freeze.

"Wells?" Joe asks, his hand automatically dropping to his belt.

Cisco squints at his screen. "No, he's still on the call - he's even talking. Can’t be him."

"Then who -?"

Another door, and then the off-beat echo of footsteps, accompanied by a heavy thump every few seconds.

Barry knows that thumping walk quiet well, though the individual responsible has never been to STAR Labs before.

"Len..?"

Len comes through the door.

Barry is already stepping forward, starting to smile automatically at the sight of his boyfriend despite being unsure of what brings him to STAR Labs unannounced, but Len's expression - bloodless lips pressed tightly together, face tight and pale with rage, jaw clenched - makes him pause, as does Kara following him close behind, an extremely worried expression on her face.

"Len?" he asks, smile fading, replaced with worry. "What's wrong? What's happened? Is everyone okay?"

"Where are they?" Len demands, ignoring Barry’s questions. "Where have you put them?"

His voice is harsh, though it remains as cold as ever.

If Barry didn’t know him, he’d think Len was angry, but not furious; he’d think he was indifferent and coldly disapproving – but Barry does know Len. He’s seen him talk about Mick. He knows the overwhelming coldness that swallows Len up when he’s been ripped apart inside, the agony of pain and betrayal that he tries and fails to hide behind a layer of icy fury.

Len is unbelievably angry right now.

“Put who?” Barry asks, a sinking feeling in his stomach. “Who are you talking about? Who’s ‘them’?”

“The people,” Len snarls. “The ones with powers! Your victims!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Cisco says. “Victims? What the hell are you talking about?”

“That seems kind of uncalled for,” Caitlin says.

“Uncalled for?” Len says. “Uncalled for?”

He grits his teeth, obviously trying to rein in his temper enough to even speak.

Barry tries to look at Kara to see if something has happened, some meta similar to Bivolo affecting Len’s emotional state or something happening with Mick, but she’s refusing to meet his eyes.

Bad sign.

“Okay,” Len says after a moment, his voice even more controlled now. His hands are clenching so hard on his crutches that his knuckles have gone white; he’s clearly not actually calmed down at all. “Okay, let me rephrase and put this in a way that you people might understand –”

This does not bode well.

“– please tell me, without delay, where you people put the human beings – entitled to all human rights under international law – that are, just to add insult to injury, also United States citizens – with all the rights that entails under our legal system – that you fucking assholes assaulted, kidnapped, and illegally imprisoned?”

Oh shit.

“You know,” Len adds scathingly. “The ones you all didn’t tell me about?”

Barry’s brain just – freezes.

He’s gotten used to his mind moving faster than most people's, after the Accelerator, and even when he’s had his mind crash before, it was because he was thinking too many things at once.

Not now.

Complete stop.

Complete blank.

“Uh,” Cisco squeaks. “You – mean the metas?”

“Yeah,” Len says. “I mean the metas. You remember them, I hope? The ones that Barry here knocked out on the streets of Central City – battery, assault, maybe grievous bodily harm, I don’t know –”

No.

“ – and then moved without their consent – just so you know, legally we call that ‘kidnapping’ or ‘human trafficking’, take your pick –”

No.

“– in order to put in a secluded area in which they weren’t allowed to leave, aka, unlawful imprisonment. Do you want me to cite legal provisions at you? I can do that.”

No!

“It’s not like that,” Joe protests. “You don’t understand –”

“Oh, I understand all right,” Len cuts him off. “You – all of you – you think you’re judge, jury, and executioner all at once. Who needs the laws, huh? Who needs rights when some random civilians think they can do it all themselves – this is just like I thought it would be, right from the start –”

“It’s not like that!” Barry exclaims, finally regaining his voice.

Len finally looks at Barry. His expression is hard, but his eyes reflect the light – he’s got suppressed tears in his eyes. This is not easy for him; this is hurting him.

“Yes, Barry,” he says, and his voice is even a little gentle, just for Barry, when for anyone else it would stay sharp and unyielding. “It is like that. It’s exactly like that. You’re a CSI. You work for the CCPD. You took the same oath every cop takes, to uphold the laws and protect the people. You, you of all people, should know exactly how important it is to protect the right to a free and fair trial where you can defend yourself. And you still...you still took that right away from these people.”

Barry’s breath catches in his throat.

Len’s right.

Len, who cares so much about corruption –

Who feels personally betrayed by those who swore to respect the rule of law and then don’t –

Whose father was a dirty cop, whose life was ruined by a dirty cop, whose partner was nearly killed by a dirty cop –

Who confessed one day when it was just the two of them, curled together on a park bench, that he liked Barry from the very beginning, liked him a lot, but just couldn’t bring himself to trust that Barry really meant well – and how much it meant to him to find out that Barry wasn’t like that –

And now this.

The metas.

The metas they’d put away.

The disappearances that Len thought the Flash was responsible for – they weren’t all Family hits or related to STAR Labs, after all. Terri had had three piles of disappearances, after all: Family-related, STAR Labs-related…and Flash-related.

Len was so happy when he discovered that Barry wasn’t behind the disappearances.

But he was.

Kyle Nimbus. Jake Simmons. Tony Woodward. Shawna Baez. Mark Mardon.

Those disappearances?

They’re all him.

And Barry didn’t tell Len about them.

Oh, he never made a conscious decision to omit the information from what he told Len or to deliberately try to hide it. He was just so focused on how removing those names from the list of disappearances revealed things about their investigation, on how that narrowed-down list showed that Wells was up to something related to the Families, on how this new information got them a step closer to the answers, he never even thought about what it meant.

It never occurred to him to mention that those disappearances weren’t really disappearances; that he knew where they were; that he knew what had happened to them.

It wasn’t a deliberate deception at all.

Barry just forgot about them.

He’s pretty sure Len will think that that’s worse.

“It’s not like what happened with Barry’s dad at all,” Joe interjects, trying to salvage the unsalvageable. He takes a step forward, glaring at Len; he never liked Len, and undoubtedly sees this as yet another instance of that dislike, rather than the reckoning it really is. “These metas were committing crimes and harming people –”

“Even criminals have rights, Detective West,” Len snaps. The gentleness in his voice is gone. “All people do. The right to a fair trial. The right to a proper arrest. Or are you telling me that Barry here – who, let me remind you, is a private citizen, not even a cop, and thus not authorized to even arrest anybody – Miranda’d all the metas before taking them in?”

“I –”

“No, please, tell me, Detective West! I’m dying to know! Did you read ‘em their rights? Did you process their arrest in a public database according to the law? Did you give ‘em access to a lawyer? A judge? A call to family? Can they invoke the right of habeas corpus? Can they sue you for unlawful arrest if you messed up any part of that process?”

Len takes a step forward, leaning even more heavily than usual on his crutch. His eyes are boring into Joe’s, but his words are aimed at all of them.

“And what about the conditions once they’re captured, huh?” he continues. “They get their three hots and a cot, one hour of mandated physical activity, the right to company, conjugals, regular contact with friends and family? Or bail, huh, how about bail? Who decided they couldn’t be bailed out? That’s a judicial decision, and for some reason, I’m suspecting that none of you are sworn judges!”

Joe’s mouth moves, but he doesn’t say anything.

There’s nothing he can say.

“Especially you, Detective West,” Len continues, his voice dropping to a whisper. “You’re not a judge. But you are a cop. Sworn to uphold the law. Except you didn’t, did you?”

Joe still says nothing.

Barry can’t blame him.

It’s not just Joe, after all. Barry took the same oaths, made the same vows, promised himself he was doing the right thing.

And he wasn’t.

Len’s mouth twists. “No, you didn’t. You did the same thing every goddamn corrupt cop in the city did, thinking that what you think is right is more important than the laws.”

“I was trying my best to protect the people of Central City,” Joe says woodenly.

“Guess what, Detective? The ‘people’ you think you’re protecting include the people you’re abusing – yes, I said abuse!” Len says, holding up a hand to cut off Joe’s protest. “And I mean abuse! This is precedent, West; if you can decide to imprison someone without their rights, why can’t everyone else?”

“I saw them commit crimes!” Joe says. “I saw them, we all saw them! They’re not innocent! We know they’re not innocent!”

“It doesn’t matter if they’re innocent or not innocent! Even fucking serial killers that get caught red-handed get the chance to defend themselves in court!” Len exclaims, his voice starting to rise as his rage begins to escape even his icy self-control. “It doesn’t matter if they’re standing on a mountain of the corpses of their victims that you just saw them murder right before your eyes! You’re just a cop! You don’t get to decide ‘oh what the hell, they’re evil, I’ll just shoot them’, not if you have the option of taking them in peacefully – and if you do, you deserve to be fired and go to jail for manslaughter. But you certainly don’t get to decide that they don’t get to be arrested according to procedure. You don’t get to decide that they don’t get the right to have a trial, a lawyer, anything. You don’t get to lock them away and throw away the key!”

Joe bows his head.

“And you know that! You’re a cop; you can’t say you didn’t know. You knew they had rights, you knew what they were entitled to, and you just decided to do it anyway,” Len continues. “You decided to ignore every single damn thing that society says that all people, even criminals known to be guilty, deserve! You locked these people up without telling anyone like - like they were fucking stray dogs! You took their rights away from them! And for what? What possible reason could justify that?”

He takes a limping step forward.

“It can’t be just because you saw them committing a crime,” he says. “You’re a detective; if you started kidnapping everyone who ever committed a crime in front of you, this place would be overflowing. So no, it’s not that. That’s not what made you feel you could do this.”

Another step forward.

“Having powers, is that it? Is that what makes these people different? That must be it. But you don’t get to make that decision – and you know why? Because like every corrupt asshole in the book, you won’t apply it equally. You’ll say it’s okay to do all this to one person, but not another, and why? Because you think you’re able to make that judgment call. You. Just you. Because you’re above the law. And that’s what corruption is.”

Another.

“We’re all supposed to be equal under the law, Detective West. I’ll be the first to admit there’s a shit ton of inequality baked in there, with poor people and minorities getting the short end of the stick, but at least they’re the laws we’ve all agreed we’re following. At least we all know what to expect. Being kidnapped at superspeed and locked away without a trial? Ain’t no one expecting that.”

Len looks around the room.

“All of you,” he says. “So self-righteous, ain’t you? Thinking you’re doing the right thing.”

He shakes his head.

“Tell me,” he says, “think any of you’d object if I took Barry here and put him in a hole, never letting him talk to any of you ever again, leaving you wondering what happened to him? You would, wouldn’t you? Of course you would. He’s your friend. But why is he any different from all the rest of 'em? He’s got powers, too! You’ve seen him commit crimes, too! By your logic, you ought to treat him just the way you treat the rest of them! All of you - you’re no better than those monsters that keep girls in their basements!”

“But it is different! You don’t understand; these metas are dangerous!” Cisco blurts out, unable to suppress his dismay anymore. “We didn’t have a choice; we had to put them in the Accelerator! With their powers, there’s no way the cells at Iron Heights can hold them –”

“Iron Heights isn’t the only goddamn prison out there! If you hadn’t all been so obsessed with keeping Barry’s identity a secret – with keeping all of this a secret, putting the public and your fellow cops in greater danger because they went into the field not even knowing that they didn’t know what they were facing – you could have just told the CCPD about it!”

Len mimics holding a phone up to his ear. “Ring ring, hey, guess what, I’m reporting a crime, and hey I managed to stop it from happening but it turns out the perp appears to have unusual powers that probably won’t be contained by Iron Heights’ normal cells. Luckily, by chance, I happen to have a place that will hold them securely; do you want to use it while still granting them due process?”

He drops his hand back to his side, his face twisted in disgust. “Guess that was just too fucking hard for you guys, wasn’t it?”

“It wasn’t…you don’t…Wells said –” Caitlin says, her voice wavering.

“Oh, Wells, yeah, Wells,” Len says. “Let's talk about Wells. How convenient, of course, it’s all Wells’ idea. Sure it was. You know what, let’s even say it really was his idea, whole and entire, and none of you had anything to do with it. Who cares? Unless the guy is carting around an idiocy field that reduces the brain function of anyone within twenty feet of him, you’re all adults! Rational, thinking adults! How could you permit this?! How could you not try to stop it the second you realized what was going on?”

Barry’s breath is coming hard and his brain just won’t start up again, won’t start thinking again, refuses to function in a vain attempt to keep him from having to understand and acknowledge the truth.

To understand what exactly he did.

His mind just keeps repeating: he’s right. He’s right. He’s right.

Len’s right.

This – all of this – is wrong.

Horrifically, awfully, terribly wrong.

Unjust.

Illegal.

Wrong.

And they just – went with it.

All of them. Barry. Joe. Cisco. Caitlin. All of them.

They just agreed.

They just let it be.

They just allowed it to happen.

Each of them could have stepped up to the plate and said: no. This is wrong. And they didn’t.

They didn’t do anything.

They can’t blame that on Wells. That’s on them.

They just let themselves be swept away by the excitement and unreality of it – superpowers! Superheroes! Supervillains! And when each episode is over, then the bad guy goes away into the jail cell, never to be thought of again…

A modern oubliette, as Len says. Put them there and forget about them.

(In the beginning, Wells said they would rehabilitate them. No one even remembered to try.)

“Listen, okay, maybe we didn’t handle all this the best way,” Cisco starts, coming to Barry’s defense. Ever the loyal friend, even when Barry is the one in the wrong. “But you can’t just –”

“Shut up,” Len says. “You don’t get to talk. Not after what you’ve done.”

Cisco jerks back as if he’s been hit. “After what I’ve done –”

“Oh, yes, you,” Len says. “Friendly, smiling, cheerful Cisco Ramon, the jailor of STAR Labs. Or is someone else operating the controls? I thought that was your job.”

Now it’s Cisco’s turn to go mute, horror twisting his face as he opens and closes his mouth.

“Tell me, do you feed them?” Len asks him, his voice biting. “Do you clean their cells? Let them go on bathroom breaks? How do you do that – drug them, maybe? Does it make you feel powerful, treating them like rats in a cage?”

“No – no, I don’t – I’m not like that –”

“Funny,” Len says. “From what I hear, you’re exactly like that. Tell me, Ramon, do you know that it’s legally considered torture to deliberately play loud music at someone who can’t escape?”

Cisco blanches.

“Oh yeah, I know about that,” Len says. “Torturing a deaf man, how fun! But hey, he was mean to you at work a few times; I’m sure that balances it all out in the eyes of law, right? No jury’ll ever convict you, ‘cause being an asshole, causing some property damage, and getting into a fight with Barry, well, you know, that’s it, that’s three strikes right there –”

“You don’t –” Caitlin starts.

“Oh, don’t you start, doctor,” Len interrupts venomously. “Unless the version of the Hippocratic Oath you took comes with an exception that allows you to care for people in illegal solitary confinement without doing shit all to remedy their status. ‘Do no harm’, right? Do no good either, apparently.”

“You’re right,” Barry croaks. “You’re – you’re right.”

“You bet I’m right,” Len says. “You’re keeping people locked away – locked away in solitary confinement – do you even know what that does to a person? Even in regular prison, where they know they have access to a lawyer, where they know they still have rights, where they know that at least someone knows where they are and cares?”

He looks tired, suddenly. “It’s much worse when you know there’s no one there,” he says. “So much worse. When you’re all alone in a room, left alone to suffer, and you know no one is watching out for you ‘cause without the law you’ve got no rights but what human mercy can offer – and human mercy runs pretty damn short.”

Len’s imprisonment.

Locked alone in a room, guarded by Family thugs intent on torturing him to death, and no one knowing where he was.

Of course.

Barry - Barry should have thought. Barry should have realized.

They've treated the metas fairly well – excluding whatever it was Len was referencing with Cisco, which sounds seriously problematic – but that still doesn’t make it right.

“The laws might be soft in Central,” Len says, getting a hold of himself. “But by God I will see them applied. You’re going to transfer every single meta you have here to police custody –”

“We’ll do that,” Barry promises. “We will, I promise. I’m sorry, Len. I should’ve done better.” He swallows. “If you don’t want to be with me anymore, after this, I’d understand –”

Len starts laughing.

It’s not a good laugh. It’s sharp and jagged and very nearly hysterical.

“Barry,” he chokes out. “Oh, Barry. You don’t understand. The question isn’t are we staying together. The only question left here is how many years in prison you’re all going to be sentenced to.”

“Hold up,” Joe says, straightening. “You’re not seriously –”

“Oh, you bet I am,” Len says. “I’m going to bring hell down on your heads so hard you won’t even know what hit you.”

That gets them all talking all at once.

“You can’t! The investigation – Wells –”

“We have to help –”

“It’s important –”

“There are mitigating factors –”

“You have to give me a chance,” Barry begs. “Let me fix what I’ve done –”

“I don’t care!” Len bellows. “Right now, I couldn’t care less about the investigation. You’re all going to –”

His phone rings.

Len falls abruptly silent.

Everyone does, mostly from surprise at the sudden sound.

Barry’s more surprised than most, though. Len’s phone basically never rings. It’s a joke by now, one that Barry’s laughed over with Kara, with Iris, with everyone – Len always texts, never calls, and no one ever calls him.

Len digs his phone out of his pocket.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Joe says. “You can’t honestly be answering –”

“Shut up,” Len snaps, jabbing violently at his phone to accept the call. “What the hell do you want? Now’s not a good time, so –”

He falls silent, his face suddenly going stark white.

“Len?” Barry asks, stepping forward. He’s pretty sure they’re not dating anymore and he can’t blame Len for it in the slightest after what just happened, but he still can’t help but be concerned. He can’t help but reach out for him, to try to help him with whatever is causing that expression.

“Boss? What’s going on?” Kara asks, stepping forward herself, sliding neatly around him to stand between him and Barry, her back to Barry as she protects Len –

Protects Len from Barry.

And she's right.

Because this is all Barry’s fault, in the end. If he’d told Len the truth at the beginning, then maybe he wouldn’t have had this reaction – maybe then Len would have understood how much Wells had misled them all, how he’d played on their enthusiasm and naïveté to brush over their concerns, how he’d led them all to think that this was all okay – maybe –

But Barry hadn’t told him.

Now his only hope is that Len will decide to give them just enough mercy to try to prove themselves. To prove that they do mean well, that they aren’t evil, that they aren’t corrupt.

Because that’s where all this came from, isn’t it?

Central City’s corruption, seeping through its pores, affecting them all.

Joe, an officer of the law who just wanted to do the right thing, who wanted to help people, but who thought nothing of locking the ‘bad guys’ away to keep them from hurting anyone – who thought nothing of the rights those ‘bad guys’ themselves had, because it’d never been all that important to his work before.

Caitlin, a doctor, sworn to help people, forgetting that she had to do more than just care for their wounds.

Cisco, so focused on the technical aspects of how STAR Labs’ prison worked that he forgot about the value of the humans lives they kept within its walls. The nerd who treated life like a comic book, and didn’t remember that the story went on past the closing of the last page – who thought that things were ‘awesome’ without considering their moral value.

And Barry.

Barry, who, of all people, should have known better.

Barry, who struggled against injustice when it was his father suffering under it. Barry, who took the hard line against Dibny because he thought justice mattered. Barry, who just wanted to help.

And look what he’s done with it.

“Boss,” Kara says again, more urgently, when Len doesn’t answer her even after he’s ended the call. “Boss, tell me what’s wrong. What happened?”

“Mick,” Len croaks.

Barry straightens at that. “What happened?” he demands. “Is he okay?”

After all, Barry’s the one who was dating Len. He knows exactly what Mick means to Len.

Mick’s Len’s best friend, his partner in crime, his anchor – his version of Iris. Mick’s the one Len lied to, the way Barry lied to Iris; Mick’s the one who Len wants so desperately to apologize to, the way Barry wanted to apologize to Iris.

Except Barry got his chance to do that, and despite his fears, Iris forgave him; he knows that Len would sell his soul for the chance to have the same.

He knows that Len is not nearly as okay as he pretend to be. He knows that Len hasn’t really gotten over everything that happened to him: the betrayal, the torture, the loss of the life he built for twenty years, and all of that wrapped up in his grief and rage over what happened to Mick.

He knows that Len is barely holding it together, with nothing but strength of will and a desperate need for atonement he’s sublimated into an unending drive for vengeance.

If Mick dies, Len will shatter into a million pieces.

Barry doesn’t want that to happen.

Even after all of this, he still – he still –

He’s pretty sure he loves Len.

Shit.

What terrible timing for that little revelation, given that even in the highly unlikely event that Len decides not to throw them all into prison for the rest of their lives, he’s still definitely not going to forgive Barry for, well, any of this.

And Barry deserves it, too. He deserves never to be forgiven.

He’s going to be the reason all his friends go to jail.

(He should have told Iris from the very beginning. She would never have agreed to tolerate any of this.)

“Boss!” Kara is saying urgently, pulling the phone out of his unmoving hands, waving her hands before his unmoving eyes. “Boss, talk to me! What happened to Mick? Tell me what happened!”

“Len,” Barry says quietly, stepping forward to stand by Kara’s side. He knows she doesn’t want him there – her glare is very nearly hot enough to burn, just like Len’s always joking it is – but he thinks he might be able to get through to Len despite the shock of whatever news he just got. Len knows that Barry understands his relationship with Mick. “Len, tell me you hear me.”

Len’s eyes move and land on Barry.

“Tell us what happened,” Barry instructs.

“It’s – Mick,” Len croaks.

“What about Mick?” Kara asks again. “What about Mick, boss?”

Len swallows as if his throat has suddenly gone dry, then swallows again when his voice fails him. His eyes are wide and his hands are shaking and he looks – shattered, somehow.

“It’s Mick,” he says again. And then – “He woke up.”

#coldflash #leonard snart #barry allen #joe west #cisco ramon #Caitlin snow #kara danvers #my fic #an internal affair

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letmetellyouaboutmyfeels · 6 years ago

Text

THE BISEXUAL WYATT MANIFESTO: PART DEUX

The previous post simply got far too long for me to put it all in one place so here is part the second. Put below a cut and my apologies to mobile users!

Part one here.

PART THE SECOND: POURQOUI???

But why, Mads, you shout? Why decide to headcanon a character as bi? Is it just so you can write your dragon porn?

maybe

Ahem.

Listen. I love diversity as much as the next person. Y’all know I do. I mean, I’m a huge fan of Rufus and Jiya, and Denise, queen of my heart. But… I mean we already have a het ship with Jiya and Rufus. And I feel like, y’know, Wyatt being white AND cis AND male AND straight? Feels like a little much, y’know? And there’s no reason for him to be straight, he just IS, and that feels—I mean where’s the whole backstory about it, right? And it feels a little illogical to have… I mean I don’t have any friends who are white and straight and cis male. It just feels unrealistic.

Okay, okay, extreme salt aside and mostly out of my system…

As a character, even in season one when I did like him, Wyatt is boring. He’s the same white straight male soldier/law-and-order character that we’ve seen in literally every single piece of science fiction since the dawn of time. You will find an exact copy of him in Stargate SG-1 (my apologies to Jack O’Neill), Stargate Atlantis (sorry John…), 12 Monkeys, Sarah Connor Chronicles, Terra Nova, Battlestar Galactica, Andromeda, Star Trek Enterprise, Eureka… and that’s not even touching all the mystery/crime shows (CSI, Bones, Criminal Minds, NCIS, Law & Order, Blue Bloods, Take Two) and military shows (SEAL Team, 24, etc). He’s got a dead wife, fantastic, so does the Punisher, so does Sam Winchester (also created by Eric Kripke), so does GARCIA FLYNN, another character on the show, and Flynn’s wife’s death actually ties into the bigger mystery of the show. By God, if you’re gonna fridge a wife at least make her fridging the entire reason the show exists.

Yes, you heard me. Think about it. If Lorena and Iris Flynn don’t die, then Flynn never wants to go on a vengeful rampage, so Lucy never chooses to give him the journal, so he never steals the time machine… killing Lorena and Iris was the biggest mistake Rittenhouse ever made. If you’re gonna play the dead wife card then by golly at least do it like this and make avenging her death the entire reason for the show.

So not only is Wyatt the same cookie cutter character we’ve seen in every TV show ever, he’s also a repeat of Flynn. He’s not just boring, he’s redundant.

Wyatt is also the only character on the show that you could replace with someone else without changing any of the main plot. When I originally decided to do a fic where the team comes back to find one of them was erased from existence on the trip, I knew it had to be Wyatt—erasing Lucy would change everything (which I explore in The Void is Open), erasing Flynn would take them to a world where Rittenhouse has won, erasing Rufus would mean potentially no pilot… you see what I mean. But Wyatt is very neatly replaced with Dave Baumgardner in 1.14 and shows us that Wyatt is, literally, replaceable. Of course he isn’t to Lucy and Rufus at that point because they care about him but for writing reasons? For plot? Literally any soldier would do. Any. Denise could hop in there with them if she so chose.

Now, all this makes it sound like I dislike Wyatt. And I didn’t in season one. I quite liked our puppy. I liked him for two reasons: 1. He had a lot of potential and 2. his character mirrored/paralleled Flynn and I saw a copious amount of opportunities with that.

Both Flynn and Wyatt have lost their spouse. Both Flynn and Wyatt are soldiers. Wyatt had an abusive father and given that Flynn goes on a potential suicide mission for his mother but we never once hear him mention his father (he might as well not have one for his importance to Flynn’s life), I’m taking a guess that Flynn’s father wasn’t all that great of a person either. Both Flynn and Wyatt risk everything to save the people they love and both pay heavy prices for it and become people they’re ashamed of (Flynn all of season one, Wyatt in 1x13). Both Flynn and Wyatt care deeply for Lucy and look to her for guidance.

Wyatt and Flynn mirror each other. One is willing to break rules, and to forge his own path, while the other follows rules and is scared to strike out on his own. Both of them struggle with identity–Wyatt has no idea who he is now that Jess is dead, and Flynn believes he’s turned into a monster and who he once was is lost. Taking advantage of that mirror makes for compelling storytelling, and the writers failed in that in season two after setting it up so beautifully in season one.

The fun thing is, these parallels become even more poignant if you make Wyatt bi and have him be attracted to Flynn (and is a convenient shortcut to bring those parallels back to the fore).

We touched in the previous section how it’s easy to see Wyatt as attracted to Flynn and that’s why he lashes out so much, and indeed how that is the only rational explanation for why Wyatt is so goddamn against Flynn the whole time.

Let’s dive into that, shall we?

Of the original trio, Rufus and Lucy have ample reason to dislike Flynn. Wyatt? Has none. Flynn makes things personal with Lucy right out the gate, and Rufus’s family will be hurt if Flynn isn’t stopped. But Wyatt is just supposed to see Flynn as an enemy soldier. No personal vendetta involved. And before you say rivalry over Lucy–most of Lucy’s pivotal moments with Flynn in season one are without Wyatt present, and the ones she does have in front of Wyatt aren’t automatically read as romantic. Wyatt himself doesn’t even admit he’s got feelings for Lucy until season two, and as far as he knows, Lucy’s still dealing with Noah.

But Wyatt hates Flynn. As we’ve seen in our examples, he reacts to Flynn with a violence that is missing from Rufus and Lucy. And there is no reason for that violent dislike to be there.

Unless Wyatt is attracted to Flynn and is scared of that from internalized homophobia.

If Wyatt finds Flynn attractive, and has internalized homophobia from, y’know, growing up in Texas and having an abusive father and going into the army, then his anger towards Flynn, his stubbornness, his refusal to listen to Flynn (because if Flynn is right about things and Flynn is an okay guy that opens the door to other more ‘dangerous’ thoughts), and his tendency to react to Flynn’s time with Lucy with such anger–it all makes sense. The last one is partly about Wyatt’s jealousy and possessiveness over Lucy but if it’s coupled with attraction to Flynn it makes even more sense.

Having Wyatt behave this way simply doesn’t hold up. It relies far too much on the audience making leaps of logic about Flynn and Lucy’s relationship in season one and assuming that Wyatt and Lucy are meant to be together, without enough evidence for the latter and Wyatt not at all present for the former.

If Wyatt’s bi, it all makes sense and is logical and again adds another dimension to his character and to his interactions with Flynn.

Monkey Brain: heh heh Wyatt and Flynn kissing is hot as fuck

Wyatt’s toxic masculinity becomes even more interesting and important (and make more sense) if Wyatt is bi.

In this meta here (my first for the Timeless fandom!) I talk about Wyatt and his toxic masculinity so to avoid repeating myself howzabout you go read that and come back mmkay?

…

You done? Perfect. So. Now that you understand where Wyatt’s toxic masculinity comes from and how he displays it in canon, I can say this:

Wyatt being bi forces him to confront his toxic behavior in a unique and powerful way that he can no longer ignore.

Part of Wyatt’s toxic behavior is that his behavior is specifically based in the masculine and the patriarchal. And so most of his bad behavior is rooted in how he treats his romantic interest–which has been Lucy and Jess.

Wyatt was, by his own admission, jealous and possessive towards Jess. He didn’t know how to relate to Lucy when she was no longer a romantic option, so he keeps trying to be romantic with her instead, and his possessive behavior comes to the fore as he tries to control who she spends time with and tries to get her to be as emotionally intimate with him as she was before, despite his wife being back and that intimacy no longer possible.

Getting Wyatt to realize his toxic behavior is difficult, since so many people have bought into the lie that men are supposed to be territorial and possessive towards the women they’re in relationships with. However, most heteronormative toxicity falls apart and is recognizable as harmful once we put it in a new light.

When a situation is bad, you often need an outside perspective, or to change one of the circumstances, in order to see how bad it is. Wyatt’s been lectured at by Lucy, Rufus, Flynn, and Jess, and he didn’t see his behavior was unhealthy. But if we change one of the circumstances i.e. the gender of the person he’s attracted to romantically/sexually, then suddenly he has to look at his behavior towards that person in a new light.

Let’s take Flynn for example. Wyatt can’t treat Flynn the way he’s treated Jess or Lucy. If he tries to be possessive of Flynn, not only would he be unable to, but he’ll realize that it’s wrong of him to even think of it. Wyatt wouldn’t find it natural to try and be jealous when Flynn talked to another man, because Flynn is a man, and he wouldn’t automatically assume another man was flirting with Flynn, or that Flynn was flirting with that man.

Because the thing is, our society is pretty heteronormative still. It’s genuinely hard to tell when someone is just being friendly or actually flirting, but we tend to really assume that when a man is interacting with a woman, one or both of them are flirting. With people of the same gender (or of non-cis genders such as trans and nonbinary) it becomes harder to tell, and a lot of the time we assume that it’s just platonic. So for Wyatt to become jealous over Flynn talking to a man–that goes against the norm because it means he’s assuming romantic rather than platonic interaction, the opposite of what we assume when we look at two people of the same gender.

It would force him to take a second look at all of his behavior and choices. It would force him to realize that his behavior was wrong towards Flynn, which means it’s wrong towards Lucy and Jess, etc. It changes an element and so it forces him to see everything in a new light.

On top of all this—Wyatt’s character is pretty stagnant. I believe that’s why they brought Jess back, honestly: because without Jess coming back to complicate things, there’s nowhere for Wyatt to grow. Forcing him to confront his behavior towards Jess was, I think, what the writers ultimately intended for him (the smart ones, anyway). I don’t think they intended for him to end up with Jess at the end, at least not originally. There are things said by Shawn Ryan in interviews that suggest to me that they realized Flynn/Lucy and Wyatt/Jess was a more interesting dynamic than the originally planned Wyatt/Lucy, so they switched gears and planned to have Jess end up with Wyatt. BUT, whether a romantic reunion endgame for them was the plan or not, given the alley scene in 2x10 and other scenes in season two, I fully believe that prior to the nuclear bomb of dog shit that was the Christmas finale, the plan was always to give Jess a redemption arc and that Wyatt would become a better person through convincing her to turn double agent (and through becoming a father).

If you don’t bring Jess back, there’s nowhere for Wyatt’s character to go. Nothing for him to do. Rufus, Lucy, Flynn, Mason, Denise, Jiya—they all have hugely powerful arcs and tough situations. I could go into them but that’ll send me off into another tangent that we don’t have time for. Suffice to say, I can off the top of my head think of two internal struggles and places for each character to grow that would last a couple seasons. And that’s just off the top of my head.

But Wyatt? You can’t. He’s got nowhere to go.

Bringing back Jess is one way that you can force growth and give Wyatt a new arc, but you can’t just give a character one single arc. You have to give them multiple. No real life person is struggling with just one thing, we’re struggling with multiple things. Take Lucy in season two. She’s struggling with Rittenhouse, with her relationship with her mother, with her realizations about herself and what she’s willing to do, with losing Wyatt, with getting back Amy, and with her growing relationship with Flynn.

That’s a lot.

Rufus and Jiya have their relationship AND Jiya’s visions that lead to an arc about destiny versus free will, AND both struggling with the “what are we willing to do to win/who am I becoming” arc.

Give Wyatt JUST Jess, and that’s not enough. It’s also something that, to do right, you have to stretch over I’d say two seasons, seasons three and four. So you need something else to fill in more gaps.

Having Wyatt be bisexual and having him struggle with his sexuality gives him dozens of more opportunities for interesting interactions with other characters, it gives him more ways to address his toxic behavior (as we discussed), it gives him more ways to grow. Because we don’t just grow in a straight line. We grow like trees, with limbs stretching up all over the place and roots digging in deep and crisscrossing everywhere.

Wyatt is a stagnant character. Giving him bisexuality gives him a way to continue to grow that isn’t dependent on another character (Jess) and can be shortened or drawn out depending on how his other arc (Jess, potentially Lucy as well) plays out.

Having Wyatt be bi takes away all of his redundancy, and stops him from being boring, and stops him from being so easily replaceable. If a character isn’t intrinsically tied to the plot (Rufus is there because he’s the only pilot, Lucy is a history expert and tied to Rittenhouse, etc) then you need to think of other reasons for the viewers to really care about them and I’m sorry, but having a dead wife and then being stuck in a heterosexual love triangle doesn’t cut it in the year of our lord 2016 (or ’17, or ’18, or any other year that follows).

And no offense to anyone struggling with PTSD because it needs to be addressed, but the whole ‘soldier with PTSD’ has been done before and, despite making it a main feature in 1.05 The Alamo, it hasn’t been touched on since. Not once. So that’s I guess been thrown out the window by the writers as a plot device (although again that could be brought back by having Wyatt bond with Flynn and Flynn talking with him about shared experiences could be a way that Wyatt further develops feelings for him YOU SEE WHAT I MEAN!?!?).

It also, as I outlined in part one, explains all of his behavior. It takes behavior that made no sense and was toxic alpha male bullshit and puts a whole new and interesting and understandable spin on it. Note I said understandable, not justifiable, this does not in any way excuse any of Wyatt’s behavior. But boy howdy does it make it a lot more nuanced and layered. Having Wyatt be bi suddenly opens so many goddamn doors for his character I can’t even keep track. His PTSD, his relationship with his father, his relationship with Jess, his relationship with Flynn and Lucy, his time in the army, all of those things have new and boundless opportunities in them. It gives opportunities and explains and gives depth to one-note, shallow, cliche male behavior.

Not to mention, um, making him a repressed bisexual gives so many more opportunities for angst and hurt/comfort and all that delicious, delicious character conflict that we all love. Mmmm yes the precious. And, BONUS, it gives us character angst that doesn’t necessarily revolve around a romantic pairing! You can give a character a sexuality crisis without giving them a person to be paired off with! Wyatt can have his crisis over Ian Fleming or Wendell Scott or Rittenhouse Agent No. 5, and figure it all out with only platonic assistance from the team. OR he can be pining over Flynn without Flynn having a clue because Flynn needs his love interests to hit him over the head with a baseball bat to get him to notice and even then it doesn’t always work. OR have him worry about confessing to Jess and/or Lucy and fearing they’ll see him differently given their past sexual/romantic entanglements! ALL. THE. CHARACTER. ANGST. BITCHEEEEEES.

Finally, last but not least, why should Wyatt be bi? Because representation matters, that’s why.

Up until now I’ve highlighted why Wyatt, specifically, as an individual, should be bi. But stepping away from him individually… why the fuck not make your character bi?

It’s the 2010s. The world is finally waking up to the fact that LGBT+ people are here, we exist, and also having us as characters makes your ratings soar. People were ecstatic over The Day Reagan Was Shot, which focused on Denise and her coming out. Timeless’s diversity was a huge point in its favor and was a huge part of why critics loved it. Making, of all people, the most rough and tumble masculine man’s man of the cast be bisexual is important because it reminds us that anyone can have any sexuality, that there are no stereotypes, and that not all LGBT+ people are fashion gurus.

I’m sorry, Wyatt, but it’s true, you are no longer allowed to dress yourself, I’ve submitted you to Queer Eye.

What could be a more powerful storyline for today than a man who was abused as a kid, exhibited toxic masculinity, and was clearly unhappy with himself as a person and looking outside of himself to someone else to fix him, come to terms with himself, come to love himself, come to say “hey I love who I love and I am who I am and fuck anyone who says otherwise”? What could be a more wonderful representation of the diversity and family bonding themes of the show then to have Wyatt, the insecure difficult-with-feelings small town poster for typical masculinity come out, scared of rejection, scared of their reactions, only to have everyone show him love and acceptance and unwavering support? To have Denise hug him and tell him she understands how she feels? To have Lucy tell him she doesn’t see him any differently? For Rufus to joke this is why Wyatt can never choose a cereal and then reaffirm their friendship?

Having Wyatt be bi isn’t just good for him as a character, it’s good for the audience, and it continues the themes of the show and continues to break down stereotypes and honestly, there’s no reason for any character to be straight, either. We just ask “but why” because straight is still the default in our heads and all deviancy from the norm must be explained and rationalized. But there’s no need for that. Wyatt has the most typically heterosexual traits out of all of them, and he’s from a small town in Texas, and he went into the army. How powerful for people to see him come out. How wonderful. But Wyatt can be bi just because you damn well feel like it, because there shouldn’t be a big list of reasons (although I do have them, clearly). He can be bi just because, well, there’s no big tragic backstory for why I’m bi. I just am. And so is he.

In conclusion: Bi!Wyatt is ten times more interesting, nuanced, and unique than Straight!Wyatt, it adds depth and opportunities for growth, it gives layers to existing storylines and character relationships involving Wyatt, it explains his behavior and makes it more understandable, and it gives us needed representation.

My monkey brain adds that the opportunity for humor with this is also boundless and honestly I agree, good job monkey brain, you get a treat.

Thank you for coming to my TEDTalk.

#wyatt logan #timeless #timeless meta #wyatt meta #Wyatt Logan's Bisexuality Crisis #koortega #tagging her since she sent me the original ask

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msbeccieboo · 6 years ago

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Arrow 7x10 brain dump

Wherein I attempt to offload my thoughts on this slightly underwhelming mid-season premiere. I didn’t hate it…it just didn’t really hold my attention all that well. One day I hope to be able to write a concise episode summary or review, but, alas, that day is not today lol, so I will put a break in.

The episode was split into 4 clear sections, so I will approach the review accordingly…seriously though, this is such an indication of how bloated this cast has gotten; most of the sections didn’t even intersect.

Olicity 😍😍

I think I saw on Twitter that Olicity made up 7 minutes of screen time…this is not enough time people!!! (I know Stephen was still filming the crossover)

First we have that frakking crime scene scene 😡😡…see all the rage here. Also, CSI lady…at a crime scene we also cover our hair and clothes, fully photograph and catalogue evidence before removal, and maintain a chain of custody when evidence is collected and passed on…so how about we pipe down!

So Olicity content; we got our first kiss of 2019 YAAAAY!!

Source: oliverxfelicity

After the world’s fastest ever DNA test (sorry I just really hate these types of inaccuracies; I did my degree in forensic science so this is now a curse for watching tv lol), Felicity learns that Emiko is Oliver’s sister! I loved Felicity telling Oliver to sit down 😂, and also mini shout outs to Roy and Thea!

We then get to see them going through all of Robert’s nefarious documents (and Oliver’s old drawings…adorbs!!), and we discover that Robert had a whole second family, with a mistress he ‘loved’ (seriously, would this not have overlapped with his ’soulmate’ Isabitch?! He was such a man-whore!!), that he left living in the Glades. Really, the Glades?! 1) He was a billionaire...that’s just cheap, and 2) He was going to help level the Glades!! Moira (and possibly Walter too, but doubt that letter ever reached him…I miss Walter!) also knew about them, and she was the one to cut them off after Robert died, and continue to keep from Oliver and Thea, and was also happy to level the Glades for a time!! I swear, Robert and Moira Queen are the true Arrow series villains!!

Stephen Amell was so good in these scenes; Oliver was absolutely devastated. I loved how he explained how hard he worked to redeem the Queen name, but he realises once and for all that they were garbage people. He was so choked up when he was talking about abandoning the little girl, and they expect us to believe that he and Felicity abandon William and possibly Maya in the future too???

(The scene was at least brightened up by Felicity’s delightful jumper haha!)

Lastly we got a Felicity Peptalk™, I love a Felicity peptalk!! She always just seems to put things into perspective so simply for Oliver.

Source: olicitygifs

Source: lyricalarrow

We got some cute little touches thrown in there too. Olicity balcony scenes are always gif-worthy!

Source: olicitygifs

But really, how was this episode “Oliver focusing on his marriage”?! WHERE WAS ALL THE LOVEMAKING GUYS?!?! We are a fandom deprived!!

Continued under the cut

Emiko/Rene/Curtis

Sigh. I’m not feeling Sea as Emiko yet, but she does ship Olicity, so there’s that! Also, Emiko not shaking Curtis’ hand is such a mood 😂😂

We got a hit-you-over-the-head-with-a-sledgehammer-obvious season 1 Oliver vibe with Emiko throughout the episode. S1 was one of my least favourite seasons, and now they expect us to relive it with a character we haven’t grown to care for (yet) and without Tommy Merlyn?!?! Hard pass thanks.

I think what annoyed me is that this was supposed to be Emikos’s episode, and instead they heavily used Rene to tell her story. Who thought that Rene was the guy for this?? Surely the writers know by now that Felicity is the go-to girl or new character introductions (or you know, her actual blood relative Oliver)? Or maybe they want us to not necessarily warm to her straight away, by linking her to Rene (hello…annoying now, evil in the future) and a lack of a mention of her in the flash forwards, the writers might be aiming for a level of distrust?? I think I’m putting too much thought into this haha. I think I just had higher expectations of her than we got in this episode (that old recalibration tack failed me again lol), but the preview of her and Oliver in next week’s episode looks more promising. I’m also hoping they address her training, and why she’s taken on the Arrow persona; I really thought we’d get that in this episode.

Rene…ugh. Just because he happens to be the currently least hated member of NTA doesn’t mean they have to build a whole episode around him (again). I was really irked by him in this episode; I felt he was emotionally manipulative to Emiko, bringing up his dead wife and playing the sympathy card over Oliver going to jail (wtf you put him there), implying that she had to work with him because he’s been helping her, when she didn’t ask for it. That whole scene made me very uncomfortable. Then when she begrudgingly took him to her lair he's all, “you did all of this alone?”, girl had a board with 20 pics on and a laptop (Felicity, hook her up)...condescending turd!

Dyla/Lizard

Ugh Lizard Boy…I need to remind myself about this storyline as I have no idea what they want with him. I want to care about Dyla again….make me care writers!!! I enjoyed seeing Diaz being a sulky little brat haha…bring on the brain bomb!! I did really love the Dyla conflict here though, especially Lyla’s immense Amanda Waller burn towards Dig haha, and telling him to respect her authority….yaaaas queen!!

I continue to be annoyed at the notion that anyone, let alone badass Lyla Michaels is supposed to be afraid of Lizard Boy. I’m just waiting for him to die (and hopefully take Curtis with him).

Flash-forwards

Donald Trump called, and he wants his wig back Rene! Seriously, no chance this isn’t a wig in the future judging by Rene’s current hairline…just saying 😬😬 Rene continues to be the worst in the future as mayor of an entirely isolated, heavily controlled, ‘utopian’ society who is planning to level Star City and still harping on about his dead wife…basically he is a low rent Malcolm Merlyn/Damien Dhark in the future. Also that creepy guy who’s bitch Rene seems to be….suuuuuper creepy and slimy and classic pantomime villain. Like he could have had Felicity Smoak killed!

I liked that Zoe is playing both sides a little, as Rene’s chief of Staff and a Black Canary…unbeknownst to Rene haha! I quite like Zoe’s character…but where are Roy/William/Maya?! They are who I want to see in the future!

The Archer program….gotta be felicity right? But also sounds a bit Pandora/Helix-y to me. It’s clearly in the wrong hands for sure and Dinah just got Rene to hand it over with a simple threat cos Rene is weak 😂😂

They keep insisting on telling us felicity’s a criminal (she’s not), at least they had decency to look sad that she’s dead (she’s not).

Then lastly, the interesting reel-off of Team Arrow’s names, after Dinah shows off her smudgy tattoo 😂, with notable absences of Thea (dead?), Emiko (baddie? Dead?) and Curtis…HE IS SO DEAD IN THE FUTURE AND DON’T TELL ME ANY DIFFERENT PLEASE!! Hopefully Diaz will see him off in the next few episodes.

Well this got long…oops! I feel like I’m just moaning again, which is why I didn’t do a crossover review, as I like to try and be positive, but at the end of the day I’m British and we like a rant haha! I did really enjoy the Olicity moments we got, I just think they could have saved this episode for a time in the season where Stephen was more available, because this introductory episode for Emiko really needed his presence to make it more meaningful for us as the viewers.

#arrow #arrow spoilers #arrow 7x10 #olicity #beccie's brain #arrow season 7

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soprana-snap · 6 years ago

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Magnolia Seven-Seven

Chapter Three: Too Much of a Bad Thing

Summary: Magnolia is like every other city, full of traffic jams and hoards of people. When Captain Gajeel and Detectives Gray and Natsu get involved with a shady crime boss that seems to have the whole crime ring in his back pocket, they need a little more backup to bring him down: i.e ADA Lucy Heartfilia, Evidence Technician Levy McGarden, and Caffeinator Juvia Lockster.

Rating: M for adult situations and language

A/N: Hey guys. It’s been a while, huh? I’ve been busy planning my wedding and taking care of some elderly family members. I didn’t have much time to write...or the will to.

Recently, my brother had an accident and he didn’t make it. I’ve been kinda lost for a bit, hence me going through some old drafts and trying to pick up writing again. Here’s to trying.

Be warned, there is some heavy adult themes in this chapter: Drug use, sexual implications, classic CSI. We can’t have all sunshine and rainbows in this M-77 ride!

Previous Chapters: One Two

“Have you ever, you know, tried to be anything more than an over-sized child?”

Gray leaned back slightly in the booth, swallowing down his pizza with a few chugs of soda. Cheese strings hung from his lips, swinging like willow branches in the wind.

“Uh, no?” he said, slurping them up and wiping his mouth on his sleeve. He didn’t mind the stains, making a mental note to dump half a bottle of stain remover into the laundry. “Since when did this make you feel childish?”

The man sighed, glancing over to the giant mouse currently dancing with a toothy five year old wearing a party hat. Or, more like some guy in a mouse costume, the mascot of the place.

“Chuckie Cheese. Really Gray? How much longer are we going to pretend like we are the same old kids?”

Gray scowled, laying the pizza on the pastel plate and leaned in close, brow twitching. “Oh? Is that so? Then why are you holding on to all those tickets, Lyon? Give’em to me.”

Lyon paled, scrambling to grab the pile of pink tickets from Gray’s seeking hands, nearly leaping from the booth. “Wait-let’s not get hasty! I earned these.”

“Come on, give the over-sized child what he wants.” Gray teased lightly, making a show of reaching further and laughing when Lyon slapped his hands away.

“Only you are the over-sized child here. Ultear would back me up on this!” Lyon laughed, rolling the tickets around his wrist. He could never be too careful with Gray. He was nosy as hell and loved to ‘borrow’ stuff. If he got his grubby hands on these tickets, Lyon could kiss his Captain Planet power ring set goodbye. “Too bad she didn’t come, huh?”

Gray rolled his eyes, grabbing another slice of pizza instead and digging in. “Yeah, something about a meeting in the capital. Jeez, she could have just said she didn’t want to come.”

“Yeah, well being a senator makes her too busy for her brothers nowadays. You know she would have kicked your ass in skee ball.” Lyon said, taking another slice for himself.

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Gray sighed. “She’s always had a stick up her ass. I don’t know how her and Ur were related.”

Lyon blinked at the name, glancing up to stare at Gray for a second before returning his attention to the pepperonis. “But she’s always treated us like her brothers, even after Ur passed.”

Gray frowned, his mood turning somber. “On second thought, I can see the relation.”

Lyon licked his lips, glancing down to the chipped wooden table with the faded logo before speaking again. “Speaking of Ultear, I have some good news to share, although she will hear about it from my texts...I’ve almost got enough money to do it! Meredy and I counted our assets just the other day.”

Gray glanced up, broken from the somber mood in a heartbeat, his grin wide. “Finally going to be a big boy and get a real job?”

Lyon pouted, flicking pizza crust at Gray, unsurprised when the man caught it and ate it in less than five seconds. After all, it was Gray that said even adopted siblings shared the cooties. Plus, with the animals that were his roommates, Lyon was sure Gray got over whatever little germophobia he had. He had once watched Natsu ingest a hole can of expired green beans, crowing about going to Valhalla as he did so. His younger adopted brother learned by examples, after all.

“Lay off. Uber eats is a fine job! I make enough to get by and save. Meredy also makes good tips at Moe’s.” Times had been rough before, but the future was bright in Lyon’s eyes. They finally got it turned around without the constant offer of help from Ultear and Gray. Old debts were getting paid. He could make it by on his own.

“You don’t even have a car. You deliver by bike.” Gray deadpanned.

“For now! I almost have enough to buy that old building off on Waters Street. Then, the era of Vastia’s Realty will dawn! Vastia will sell your house fast-ia!” The moment it slogan rolled off his tongue, Gray’s cheeks inflated, his poor attempt to stifle his laughter failing. Lyon sighed.

“D-Did’ja...pfft, think of that by yourself?” Gray wheezed, slow clapping. “It really...shows your passion.” He broke into a fit of laughter.

“It’s still in the works.” Lyon dismissed coolly, mildly put off by his brother’s lack of enthusiasm.

“Oi, I think you’ll be great...just, leave the marketing to Meredy. That slogan was pretty rough.” Gray rolled his shoulders, adopting a contemplating expression before speaking, “Come to Vastia Realty and meet the most interesting realtor in the world! How about that?”

To be honest, Lyon did kind of like it. But, Gray actually being helpful was fishy in itself. “And how would I back that up?”

Gray’s smile turned wolfish. Ah, here it comes. “We can hang baby pictures of you up in the lobby and tell stories like how you wet the bed until you were-”

“Okay, let’s not.” Lyon interrupted a little louder than he wanted. Some mother shot them a withering glare before turning her attention back to her tot trying to count tickets. “I like the ‘most interesting realtor’ pitch, but let’s leave out the rest.”

Gray shrugged, helping himself to the pitcher of soda. “Suit yourself. I thought it had flare.” He waggled his free hand in a poor rendition of ‘the ol’ razzle dazzle’.

Lyon flashed a pointed tongue at him. “You would. You’ve always had bad taste...and a stripping habit!” he added as Gray fidgeted with his shirt, lifting it up past his pectorals. Lyon swore he could hear the indignant whispers of mothers all around. “Stripping is bad enough. Stripping in front of kids is worse.”

To his credit, Gray paled and shoved his shirt back down. “Still haven't kicked that habit. Remember when we tried out for the swim team and asked Ur to train us?”

Lyon blinked, a wistful smile crossing his face. How could he ever forget anything that had to do with Ur? “I do. I remember her telling us about when she was an olympic swimmer and how she would train. And like fools, we asked her to push us and push us hard.”

Gray let his face fall into his palms. “Oh, that was the worst decision we ever made. Remember when we had to ‘think speed’? Strip down to our shorts as fast as we could, then sprint at and dive into the water? She made us run that drill until I strip out of habit!”

His brother laughed softly, eyes gleaming with fond memories as well. Something about Gray eating it one day with his pants half off. That was hilarious. “Yeah, but it got us on the swim team. Ur was so proud.”

“The little league swim team. I don’t know why she had our team pictures on the fridge.” Gray chuckled, pushing his empty plate away, shifting on the uncomfortable booth seat.

“She was proud because we set out and did it. For the first time, her two lost boys found a way with pure grit.” Lyon said, staring into his glass of ice water. “We weren’t lost anymore.”

The silence that stretched after that lingered long after the pizza had grown cold. Lyon could see the grease of the cheese start to coagulate, the pepperoni curling up as it dried.

“So-” Lyon finally said, his voice a croak “-what is Gray Fullbuster up to these days? I yakked about my plans. What are yours?”

Gray blinked, at odds with the fact that for once with Lyon, he didn’t have the heart to brag about his life. Not after remembering all that was in their childhood. Ur wouldn’t want them putting each other down.

“Well...the guys and I have this new case. Natsu is raring to go as usual, but he put both of us into a produce cart when we were in a chase. I told you about Lucy, right?”

Lyon nodded with a small smile. “Still not giving him the time of day?”

Gray grinned. “You got it, but I see her easing up. I think that asshole enjoys giving chase to her.”

Both men sighed, Lyon rolling his eyes. “That guy is something else.”

“Yeah, well, he’s takin’ to quoting Shakespeare at her...incorrectly. So that’s a thing. Gajeel, well, still has a steel rod up his ass but he keeps us in line.” Gray sighed, looking at his watch, mildly uncomfortable sharing anymore details. “At this rate we are gonna be here for dinner.”

Lyon started, glancing at his own phone in surprise. “Whoa, I’m late. I got an extra gig and I still have to run home and change.”

“Run, Lyon, run.” Gray teased.

“Shaddup Gray.” Lyon snapped as he stood, flopping a measly two dollars onto the table.He paused, looking grim as he dug deeper into his ratty wallet, pursing his lips as his search continued to be fruitless.

“Oi, I got it.” Gray said finally, “Get going. Next time, I treat you to this really great coffee shop.”

Flashing a grateful smile, Lyon slid his wallet into his pockets quickly, bumping fists with his brother before whipping around and hustling away. Watching him go, Gray rolled his eyes, fishing out his own wallet, not in the least peeved.

After all, he had plenty of time to pester Lyon to pay him back.

Some people didn’t just have days off. No rest for the wicked. That sort of thing. As Gajeel leaned closer to the stack of paperwork he had on his desk, it didn’t make the sort of difference he wanted. The stack was still tall, and half of it wasn’t his own.

Damn that Detective Fullbuster for putting in a day off right under his nose when he fell behind on paperwork. He had better things to do that pick up the slack!

At least Natsu did his paperwork on time...with doodles for ‘extra credit’ as he called them. Some of them were little stick people getting eaten by dragons, others were of miscellaneous things like cheeseburgers or the scribbles of ‘Mr. Natsu Heartfilia’.

God, he was pathetic.

Gajeel let his forehead smack the desktop, once, twice, a third time for extra assurance before he took up his pen again, signing away. Register evidence to the locker? Check. Release personal items to families? Check. Release news to press? Fuck that, the vultures can find it on their own!

The stack loomed over him, reminding him of the drill sergeant he had in the academy. It’s been years before anyone actually tore him down to the bare frame, his mind honed in a carefully forged body of muscle. Sure, he was a little rebellious back then and needed a lot of work, but he had people to put him back on the right path.

So did Fullbuster and Dragneel.

Gajeel sneered at the memories of the three of them, three boys desperate to be changed men. They didn’t realize it at the time, but they all were after the same thing: belonging. As much as it ground his gears in the beginning, they were a pretty good set besides the tiffs every now and then.

They were still fucking morons...but they could be morons together. Absently, he touched his left eye, where Dragneel had given him a black eye once, then is right cheek, where Gray had once slugged him. If anything, Gajeel imagined them to be like brothers, not that he had any desire for some. They kinda just...fell into his lap one day, literally. They had a fight in the mess hall and fell into his lap, knocking his grilled cheese into orbit.

Assholes.

But that’s how they became friends, and he used the term loosely. They paired up for sparring, got stuck in the same bunk area, had the same obstacle courses, and eventually volunteered each other for pepper spray and taser tests. He could still remember Natsu’s cackle when he got to taze Gray, and Gray’s chortles when he got to pepper spray Natsu. He, however, got to taze and spray them both.

Somehow, the fuckers ended up studying with him, comparing notes and giving backhanded advice to each other. They became some funky trio, like the Three Stooges. The two stuck like glue to him. Gajeel could see why.

Natsu, with his fucked up past and his desperate push after his adopted dad’s death, felt alone and clung to the one thing that kept his feet grounded on the right path: the police academy. He was volatile, shouting at instructors and usually running extra laps, but it was all a face to hide the pain. Gajeel had heard of the gang Tartaros before, back when he was young and in the gang life too. He knew of the Black Wizard, the leader, and of his little monster brother, END. It wasn’t until later in the academy that Gray and he learned the truth. That Natsu was one and the same: END. Gray’s snooping habit bit them in the ass, intercepting a letter from a penitentiary. What a mistake. They let Natsu wallop them that time.

But it cleared the air and Natsu slowly came down to the land of actual people.

Gray, well, had an equally screwed up past. The death of his parents by the drug lord, Deloria hit him hard. The foster system dropped him like a hot potato after he started getting picked up in juvie. It was pure luck that a foster mother suitable for assholes like Gray picked him up, adopting him not long after. Gray had a more stable life than he or Natsu, but it shattered just as fast when his mom died, leaving the older sister to care for them. From what he knew, Gray’s brother started getting into trouble where as Gray pulled himself up by his bootstraps.

As for himself, well, he was naturally a troublemaker. Which of course drew those dweebs to him like flies to food.

Then they graduated, moved into a rented house together, and lived happily fucking after. That was nearly five years ago. Which is how long it’ll take him to finish this paperwork!

With a snarl, Gajeel shoved a stack aside, just barely stopping himself from pushing just a little more so it all toppled into the garbage. Gray would be in so much shit, but then his leadership would look bad too. With all the faith this department put into his sorry ass, that was unacceptable.

He signed away paper after paper, not bothering to check the clock. The stack began to shrivel, still a formidable size for Gray to deal with tomorrow.

Was he allergic to paperwork or something? Why was it so hard? All he had to to was not read and just sign. Then, he got to get yelled at for not reading. It wasn’t rocket science.

He supposed that he got stuck with them as punishment, for what, he didn’t know. It was shitty, shitty karma.

He glanced up for a moment, freezing as he stared out of the glass of his office and into the halls. Or rather, in the conference room beyond the hall.

It was a quiet room, one designated for detective use only. Cork boards and whiteboards decorated the walls, all meant for cases. There were a few desks too, but the main table was an oval, situated where one would see the biggest whiteboard.

Inside, fingers tangled in his hair, nails scratching away in frustration, stood Natsu. He faced down the largest cork board, photos and sticky notes plastered all over. Even from a distance, Gajeel could see the red yarn that Natsu favored, tied around thumb tacks and drawing lines. It was old fashioned but effective; Natsu being a hands on-learner requiring more of the old fashioned.

By the looks of it, he wasn’t making headway on whatever case he was looking at. Be it the increased car thefts or the increased amounts of misdemeanor crimes. It was looking like he had no headway in either.

Though, the same could be said for Gray as well. No leads on the increased drug trade or the sudden flux of counterfeit money in the city now. But he didn’t see Gray on the edge of a mental breakdown.

Or...kicking a chair over.

The clatter was lost over the distance and walls between, but Gajeel saw Natsu cringe at the sound, calming immediately. That guy...mind like a steel trap but still with a temper.

He watched Natsu move, gently setting the chair upright once more before returning to the board looking more pensive.

Gajeel didn’t get to squint and take a peek at what Natsu was dealing with, because a figure crossed his sights, passing between the rooms through the hall. Orange sweater with a yellow headband, blue hair. His heart sputtered, his mind cleared of any questions about Natsu’s cases. Levy slowed, turning her head to look at him, eyes locking on.

Time slowed for a moment before she sent that smile. Fuck, now he was blushing and squirming in his seat. He had time, right? Paperwork could wait. Those manly butterflies were back, strumming electric guitars and singing ‘shooby doo’.

They dropped like lead, however, when Levy blinked, glanced to his door, and flushed the brightest shade of red. He heard the knock echo in his head as Levy looked to the floor and scurried away, taking his music with her.

There went that.

“Come in.” he grumbled, pretending to be working and schooling his face back into a scowl. Who dared come through his door?

“Redfox.” Oh fuck.

“Scarlet.” he greeted, praying his brow didn’t have sweat. She was oblivious to most things but the scent of fear. She was viciously scary without trying, the air around her heavy with threat.

She smiled and he relaxed. No, she didn’t know.

“Enjoying your day?” she mused, eyeing his completed stack with approval in her face. “You’ve certainly been busy.”

He would have been busy with something else if she hadn’t darkened his doorway. Someone else.

“Eh, yer definition of enjoying varies from mine.”

The smile stayed. So she was amused? Wha-

“So you forgot about your court appearance, I suppose?”

His stomach bottomed out, eyes tearing to the clock. He wasn’t- aw shit he was late. Standing up, his chair rolled back as he scrambled around the desk, accidentally getting his foot stuck in the wastebasket. A curse on his lips, he kicked it away, stumbling his way over to the door. Erza stepped aside with that stupid smirk. If only he could wipe it away.

Ah.

“Finish up my paperwork for me, thanks Scarlet.” he said, flashing a sneer of his own. If anything made her frown, it was paperwork.

The smirk widened, like a hyena with a plot. “Me? Why Detective Dragneel happens to be right across the hall. I’m sure he has the time. I’ll do you a favor and pass it along.” With a toss of her hair, she nodded to the door. “Well? Get moving!”

A shiver crawled down Gajeel’s spine. Well, he tried! Without even glancing at Natsu and sending a mental apology, Gajeel hustled away, knowing he’ll be forgiven by Natsu after a punch or two...but never by Lucy if he left her hanging, not until he bought her a new law book.

“Ms. Heartfilia, could you please get off your plane of existence and explain your point frankly?”

Gods, she was so tired, her eyes burned like she opened them in the ocean. It wasn’t her fault that they couldn’t follow the leads she was laying down. She spent days getting this evidence, days arguing it in court, and at this point it will be longer. She literally just proved this guy guilty while speaking plainly.

Oh well, she forgot that some people never went to law school. She looked at the jury, embarrassment flooding her at the blank looks that greeted her. Oh, maybe she did overdo it.

Judge Fernandes seemed to have followed her but he was just as on par with her trail as she was.

“Of course, your Honor.” she allowed, closing her eyes and taking a breath in. Okay, simplify.

“The evidence against Mr. Prominence is overwhelming. He has DNA evidence linking him to no less than ten missing women this year alone. Of the most recent: Millianna Gato, Susan Farlow, and Michelle Starbrooke. All three of high school age and interested in a summer internship. An internship sponsored by Mr. Prominence, himself.”

Lucy breathed in, and instantly regretted it.

“Objection!” Bora’s defense growled, spittle flinging from his lips.

“On what grounds?” Judge Fernandes asked.

“I object on the grounds that Ms. Heartfilia is trying to sway the jury through plain statements that hold no full proof that my client is in fact guilty of these girl’s disappearances.” He was still slinging spit, like a leaking faucet.

Lucy scowled. Of course she was trying to sway the jury. It was her job. What kind of crackpot lawyer did this guy hire?

Judge Fernandes seemed to have the same idea. “Overruled. There have been no full statements from Ms. Heartfilia that directly accuse Mr. Prominence. Ms. Heartfilia, proceed.”

“Thank you, your Honor.” Lucy said graciously. “As I was saying, this internship, if you recall, took young and ambitious girls that dreamed of becoming models and promised a study abroad trip that the internship funded should the girl not be able to provide.”

She stepped closer to the jury, moving her hand in sweeping gestures as she continued, “Prosecution has presented bank statements linking Mr. Prominence to the girl’s tickets purchases, evidence that the girls met with him before their disappearances, and evidence that these girls have been sold as slaves to Bosco with handwritten receipts.” Honestly, he wanted to get caught. He never wiped the hard drives before police seized them. He filed printed bank statements in a cabinet. He was the most self-incriminating criminal she had ever seen in court.

“If the jury desires, I can present even more evidence-” she began, freezing when the Judge coughed.

“Ms. Heartfilia, we are out of time. I will adjourn until a later date. I will take a parting statement.”

Crap. She took too long.

“Of course, your Honor. I only leave the reminder that should the jury wish, I will present more evidence to support a sentence.”

She thought she heard a groan from some of the jury. They should fear. She won’t take ‘not guilty’ for an answer. Those girls deserved as much.

“Indeed,” Judge Fernandes conceded, “something the jury will deliberate next session. This court will adjourn until next Wednesday at eight AM.” His gavel hit the desk and instantly Lucy relaxed her muscles.

“Officer Redfox, now that you have joined us, please escort Mr. Bora Prominence to the detention officers.”

Lucy tensed all over again, whirling around and watching Gajeel sheepishly move from the aisle to enter the floor, fishing out his cuffs. So he did show up! She hadn’t seen him at all during the defense nor when she took the floor. Meaning, he was late when he promised not to be. Judging by the way he avoided her pinpoint gaze, she figured he knew she noticed.

Sounds of the jury standing and shuffling to the back room echoed through the courtroom; the polished wood that accented every inch of the room made it reverberate like they stood inside a drum.

It was the music of dismissal, the melody of justice that she had become accustomed to since her internships.

A sigh on her breath, Lucy wandered back to her table, trying to gather her chaos back into her briefcase. Today was yet another day of frustration potent enough for her to get messy with paperwork. This trial has been going on forever and truth be told, she was even tired of it. The jury was wilting, looking bored each and every day now. No matter how much evidence she dug up, the defense barely managed to counter.

This trial was a joke. What a waste of her precious time.

By the time she latched her case and slung it over her shoulder, Gajeel had returned, holding open the gate that separated observers from the court.

“You were late.” she said, stepping through and pausing for him to follow.

His gaze averted for a second before he met her eyes. “Yeh, I figured ya noticed.” He flashed her a grin, ruffling her hair and snorting when she squealed, “My hair!”

“Sorry bunny girl, I had to cover Fullbuster’s paperwork and Dragneel was busy with his cases. Time ran away, I guess.” It was true...enough he supposed.

Lucy smiled, walking alongside him through the halls. “Well, that’s acceptable. Nobody got rowdy this time.” She brushed strands of hair from her face, eyes drifting to the old tile floor as her heels clacked on it. “And, I’m not surprised to hear that Gray skimped out of work...or how hard Natsu is working.” She laughed lightly then, “They are something else, huh?”

Gajeel rolled his eyes, grumbling, “Oh yeah, something else, alright. Both are moronic monkeys on my back.” Bringing up his hand, he scratched at his chin, scowling at a point along the farthest walls. “Gray’s hidin’ something. He’s always texting someone, not saying who it is. He’s starting to be absent from dinner and sometimes not coming home at night.”

Lucy blinked, staring up at Gajeel before a sly look crossed her face. “Oh~.” she hummed, a glint in her eyes. “Getting worried, are you? Gajeel, I never expected you to be a mother hen!”

She was teasing, but it grated his nerves enough to flash her a glower. “Careful what you say, bunny girl. I won’t stand for that kinda talk.”

Lucy stuck her tongue out at him. But instead of rising up, Gajeel grinned cheekily and went for a lower blow. “Oh yeah, Dragneel told me to tell ya, ‘What is a drunken man like? Me when I see you.’”

Her face warmed, but she laughed lightly, shaking her head. “He never gets the quotes right.” she sighed, reaching into her purse and pulling out a small composition notebook and her pen. Natsu never got the quotes right, but she would remember every single one.

“I don’t think he realizes I double majored in Law and English literature.” she sighed.

Gajeel shrugged, his lips bordering a sneer now. “If he ever figures out you write down every single one of his botched quotes-”

Lucy smacked his pierced cheeks with her pen, a playful scowl that did not hide her raging blush on her cheeks. “You are sworn to secrecy, crepe chef.”

Gajeel clamped his mouth shut, starting to pout. Ah, checkmate.

“I swear you, Erza and Levy can be wicked. All these women managing to keep me in check. I can’t even make fun of the idiots now.”

He was so full of pizza he felt like he had to roll home. Every time Gray invited him to lunch, he always pigged out. Meredy actually teased him about gaining a few.

Stepping over a pothole in the sidewalk, Lyon walked on with what could only be described as the swagger of a full and confident man. Of all the things he was proud of, deceiving his brother once again was one of them.

He hated it, sure, but lying seemed preferable to actually having Gray disappointed and insisting on helping he and Meredy out financially. He wasn’t a damn child, no matter how he and Gray teased each other.

The realtor business wasn’t even close. Their funds weren’t even in the ballpark. They lived off of ramen and spaghettios. He stole WiFi from his neighbors.Their water was shut off twice this month alone.

Ur would be ashamed and Lyon knew he couldn’t handle the shame in Gray’s eyes too. Ultear was never around much, so his secret stayed safe from her, at least.

Ur’s two perfect children and the one not-so-perfect one.

He and Meredy needed a call soon or they’d fall short on rent again. After just barely squaring it away from being four months in delinquency, the landlord promised to be far less understanding in the future.

He’d do anything to keep her off the streets, cold and hungry.

As if by a miracle, his phone buzzed in his pocket, the ringer long since malfunctioned to forever stay silent. Not like he could afford a better phone anyway.

“Yo.” he greeted coolly after flipping the phone open, effortlessly pulling off his classic ‘Badass™’ look.

The voice on the other side was like an angel, his one kryptonite.

“Hey Darlin’, I was just thinking about y-”

An angel that had some fantastic news, apparently, since she didn’t wait for him to flatter her properly.

“What? A job?” He tried not to sound too overeager. He failed when she gave him the payload.

“A-Are you serious!? Twenty grand just to do that?!”

She spoke again and he had to grasp the wall of the nearest building to prevent him from falling to the earth.

“Each?!”

He felt like Icarus, the boy that fashioned wings of feather and wax to take to the skies, to taste that freedom that had been eluding him for so long. As long as he stayed away from the sun and the tumultuous waves below, he could soar forever.

With Meredy sounding just as thrilled as he, it was hard not to smile. This was they big break. This was their moment.

“Count me in. Where do I need to be?”

Magnolia was a beautiful city, accented mostly by the canals and the gorgeous cathedral. While tourists stuck to the well lit, well patrolled parts, most locals knew where not to be at certain parts of the day. Like now, Main Street would be overflowing with traffic, so much so that cars would clog the intersections because the lights never changed fast or often enough.

It was the case now here in the development district. No local in their right mind would be on Abandoned Row, the street filled with the most abandoned warehouses. Most belonged to Heartfilia Railways, but after the latest stock hit, the company had to sell off a few assets...and abandon some too.

Locals avoided it, so naturally it was the perfect place to do the less than legal things.

He was a little late, so by the time he was speed walking up to the meet point, Meredy was already motioning to a large, unmarked truck to line up with the loading zone. She flashed him a smile, one that never failed to set his heart aflutter, before returning her focus back to the task at hand.

Lyon had just enough time to sidle up to her side, assuring that the warehouse doors were accessible as the truck screeched to a stop. If he had to guess, the left rear axle was needing some serious diagnostics, but that wasn’t his job to care.

Before his sweet Meredy could open her mouth to finally greet him, the door to the truck started unfurling, metal sheets clanking as they rolled up to the top.

Then, Lyon laid his eyes on something as pretty as a heap of stinking garbage.

“Lyon. Meredy.” The man greeted coolly as he kicked out the ramp, steadying it on the loading dock before making his way across the gap. “I see not much has changed around these parts, then.”

“Kageyama.” he said just as icily, pasting on what could only be a leather-like smile. Maybe the corner of his lips started cracking. “Still you, I see.”

Meredy shot him a look out of the extreme peripheral of her eyes, her lips pursed. Ah, right. Manners.

Kageyama threw his head back with a bark of a laugh, no humor behind it at all. “Just as well. I’m only in town to clean up Erigor’s mess and then I’ll be out of your hair.” He kicked at a chock with the point of his shoe, watching the pyramid bounce away and fall down through the gap of the loading dock. “Getting arrested and all. His shit still needs to be shipped.”

“A minor setback, of course.” Meredy spoke finally, tossing her hair and turning to the warehouse door. The lock had already been disposed of, the metal shears left abandoned in the corner. With a dainty kneel, she grasped the handle and lifted with her knees, raising the door up with all the upper body strength she had.

“Gotta like a woman that can bend and lift.” Kageyama mused, grinning wider when Lyon shot him a withering look. “Aw now, I ain’t stepping on your territory, man. Just admiring.”

“You treat her with respect, you-” Lyon began, baring his teeth just a little.

“Boys. I’d like to get home sometime today. Let’s go.” Meredy cut in, giving Lyon yet another meaningful look before turning to enter the dark warehouse, a chuckling Kageyama following behind her.

“Yes Ma’am.”

He waited until Kageyama was deep in the truck, adjusting boxes so that the goods wouldn’t get damaged in transit, before speaking to Meredy in low tones.

“You know I don’t like when you’re disrespected.”

She flashed him a gentle smile, one usually reserved for him in private moments. His breath hitched and her eyes got just a little bit brighter.

“I know, babe. But we gotta keep it together. The Boss needs to keep a firm hold on his business or Mard’s gonna sweep us all out.” Her hands, soft and small, brushed his cheeks as gentle as a summer wind. “Play nice and we’ll be living the high life soon.”

Play nice. Her warning was clear. “Yeah, I got it. It’s kinda nice not having to fight Mard’s shitheads anymore. I get to do business on both turfs now that they came to a truce.”

She hummed, gathering more boxes in her arms. “Right. So, let’s get this truck gone by nightfall, hm?”

He couldn’t find the will to argue with her when she gave him that look. So, he put his head down and pushed, wishing more than anything to watch that truck drive off into the dusk and leave him alone with the one girl that could ever understand him...and a wad full of cash for his best behavior.

He felt he looked quite the part of insane, gazing up and down at the walls of his cell. His fingers were dusted white, as well as his palms. Of course, it wasn’t the white powder he was used to dealing with but when the guard on duty offered something occupy his time other than just singing annoying songs, he couldn’t resist adding substance to his planned insanity plea.

The song that never ended was not a popular choice of tunes for the cops, he supposed.

Half the chalk was gone now, being replaced by repetitive games of tic-tac-toe scribbled all over the walls. He was losing to himself, 130 to 0 if his count was correct.

It was so dull here in his little corner of hell. He had half an urge to lay on the floor and draw out his chalk outline just for giggles. Or maybe imagine it as that pesky Redfox’s outline. That would be something too.

From the open spaces beyond his cell, a throat cleared, and Erigor, ever bored and curious, turned to glance behind him.

White hair fell like waves of silk from her head, her smile ever so sweet as she stood before his prison. The classic police uniform she sported was the same as the guard’s had been, but she wore it like one of those cheesy camera girl bits, her cap tilted to the side and her buttons undone near her throat.

He grinned at her, eyeing her from head to toe, focusing on the tray of food she held out.

“Angel.”

Her grin widened, her eyes fluttering. “Erigor. Good to see you, as always.” She knelt down, sliding the tray through the opening under the gate. “I brought extra. Lord knows they don’t feed anyone enough in this joint.” she mused with a cute giggle.

Erigor didn’t wait, snatching the tray and dragging it to him as he sat cross legged on the floor. A burger and fries, how nice, he thought as he started to smother the bun in mustard and ketchup from the packets provided.

“Thanks doll. Maybe you are good for something other than being the Boss’s hot piece of the week.” he barbed, biting into the burger and watching her reaction as he chewed.

Angel just smiled serenely, letting the insult slide off her back like water off feathers.

“Always such a gentleman, Erigor. I’m charmed.” She followed it up with a bat of her wrist playfully, eyes falling to his food. “Anyway, try the fries. I got em from Fred’s, unsalted of course to make sure they were as fresh as possible. You got salt there to your right.”

Erigor grinned like a cat got the cream kind of way, snatching the salt and practically dumping the whole shaker over the fries. “Thanks. I haven’t eaten all damn day!”

For once, Angel cringed, still watching him from her kneeling position. “You know, too much salt can kill you one day. Maybe you should cut back your consumption a little?”

To reply, Erigor met her eyes and dumped even more salt on his fries before shoveling them into his mouth. She rolled her eyes and sighed.

He was halfway through his burger when something made him freeze mid-chew. His mouth felt dry, his cheeks hot and puffy. With wide, horrified eyes, he stared at Angel, who was smiling gently.

“What? Don’t like tomato?” she asked, watching his now pale face in interest.

Erigor didn’t reply, instead spitting out the chewed mess and scrambling for the bottle of water, chugging noisily. Then, he dropped it and curled on his hands and knees, dry heaving and sobbing. After moments of failure, he dug his fingers into his mouth, reaching for the back of his throat.

“I told you, didn’t I? Too much salt can kill you.” Angel said, still kneeling just outside the cell, watching his every move with calculation. “Although, that wasn’t just salt but really, all I know how to do is spread my legs, right?”

Erigor wheezed, panic aiding in his failure to retch. “Why…?” he managed, losing strength in his limbs alarmingly fast. The sight of her was blurring, his head spinning like he had too much liquor.

She laughed brightly, as if he told her a joke. “He is not too pleased with you, Erigor. Plus, you might squeal to the cops and he can’t risk that, can he?”

He started to convulse, gasping and grunting as his fingers scrambled for the tray. His eyes were rolling to the back of his head, making him more like a grotesque fish out of water than a man.

“Keyes is going to make this look like a natural death and you will be laid to rest like a dog in a backyard. How is that for your so called ‘greatness’?” Angel added, her smile twisting into the cruel gleam he knew was beneath it. So that was how she got her nickname.

He choked on his answer, drool and foam oozing from his dry lips as his body finally collapsed to the floor.

“Remember my name as you pass, Erigor. Angel of Death. I'd love to stay but I have more important things to do than watch you die, you know. Ciao.”

He can’t see, so he isn’t sure if she’s actually gone, but he reached out anyway, dragging his fingers through the smears of mustard and ketchup.

He can’t feel his body anymore, so he isn’t sure if he’s making it clear enough, but he tried anyway, dragging his fingers along the concrete floor.

His eyes rolled back, his last breath like a series of knives in his throat. He stared on, hoping his effort wasn’t wasted as his pulsing ears hear the calls of others echoing all around him.

“Help! Detention Ward!”

With his final moment ticking by, Erigor stared at his ketchup and mustard stained fingers, the colorful ‘AoD’ he scrawled just beyond his vision.

With that, Erigor died, surrounded by nobody on the cold floor of Magnolia’s second district county jail.

#nalu #gajevy #gruvia #fairy tail #my writing #m77

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ezairick · 6 years ago

Text

Unpopular opinions about NCIS

When NCIS first began, I loved the show. It had interesting characters and cases, and there was more focus on the interaction of the characters than with the other relatively new show, CSI. This didn’t mean I was blind to problems with the show, but they were relatively minor compared to the show just a few seasons later. The small problems became big problems and though the show can still be entertaining, though I must admit that I haven’t watched any of the newer episodes after Tony left, so can’t speak to anything after that.

The cases themselves changed. For the first two seasons, while they certainly dealt with terrorism, the cases of the first two season were mainly crimes committed by ordinary people because of grief, love, envy, money, stupidity and so on. However, ever since Ziva joined the team, it felt like every case was about terrorism. I know that is not entirely true, but it seemed like every episode started with a bomb going off, and then instead of an interesting episode of guessing who could have done the murder, and why, now you instead wondered which terrorist group was going to get mentioned this time, and for what ideology. And honestly, it got boring real fast.

Which brings me to the characters of the show.

Gibbs is probably the most iconic character on the show, but let’s be honest, if NCIS was real he would have been fired years ago. Comparing Gibbs of season 1 and 2 to the rest of the show, it is easy to see that Gibbs was changed, and not just because of the amnesia. He was always a bastard but in the first two seasons, he had more principles, he didn’t break the law, he certainly bent it but he didn’t break it, and he didn’t commit crimes or let others get away with it. The whole plot surrounding his Shannon and Kelly, and murdering the guy who killed them, was not thought up, before the change in the management, which happened between season 2 and 3.

There are many issues with Gibbs, some of which were there from the start. There is his behaviour towards his team. No one should be allowed to head slap a colleague, besides being abusive it shows disrespect. And I feel this is part of the reason that Kate, McGee, and Ziva did not take DiNozzo seriously. Another reason for this is that Gibbs set DiNozzo up for fail. Because he created a flat structure, McGee and Ziva saw themselves equal to DiNozzo in terms of rank, even though he was the Senior Field Agent. And as the SFA he was supposed to be in charge when Gibbs wasn’t there but because Gibbs didn’t respect the position, and treated all three as if they were of equal rank, DiNozzo was often undermined by the others, and therefore incapable of doing part of his job.

Though Gibbs took pride in being a bastard, he should never have been allowed to run his team, like that, nor should he have been allowed to keep them at work for so many hours as he did. After all agents who haven’t slept nor eaten are far more likely to commit serious mistakes. Another difference between the first two seasons and later is that in the first two seasons we often see Gibbs, helping with the collection of evidence, sketching, and taking photos, but now he just mainly stand around asking, Ducky for a time of death, and drink coffee.

Further, just why is it Gibbs is treated like a god at NCIS? The directors of NCIS, except for Tom Morrow, who kept Gibbs at his proper place as the team leader of MCRT, though if truly proper place he should just have fired him, Jenny and Vance seem to treat Gibbs as if he can do nothing wrong, even when he is causing more problems. Gibbs completely run over them and acts like he is the director of NCIS and everything must go his way, and what is worse the directors let him. He is constantly given access to things he should not, and make decisions way above his pay grade. He is treated more like a co-director than anything else. And this is the same guy, who killed the man who killed his family, way to start your law enforcement career, who helped Mike Franks smuggle in immigrants, again not necessarily bad but he works for a law enforcement agency, allowed Mike Franks to not only get away with assaulting his agent, DiNozzo, but also allowed him to get away with murder, seriously the only way you can tell Gibbs is supposed to be the good guy, is that he has a badge.

Gibbs also constantly live by the rule – Do as I say not as I do – and as seen requiem it nearly let to the death of himself and a civilian, but he didn’t seem to have learned anything from that.

The team might have the highest closing rates, because of Gibbs, but it will naturally also have the lowest conviction rates of any teams at NCIS. I know we don’t get to see the aftermath of a case after Gibbs have gotten his confession, but if we did it would be of a flustered prosecutor, trying to convince the jury that the guy at trial is a bad guy, because Gibbs said he is. And that would be what the prosecutor had to work with, when trying to get a conviction. Gibbs often don’t have the time to get a warrant, even seems to think he is above such things, but that means that everything they find in the houses or other privately owned places they enter without warrants Is inadmissible in court and so is everything else found based on those finds. And the same applies with McGee’s and Abby’s hacking. Further the confession can be tossed because of Gibbs threatening behaviour in the interrogation room.

Gibbs is mostly known for being a bastard and seems to take pride in it, but how can he be such a role model, and why don’t the show realise that there is something wrong with having a team leader, who treats his team with disrespect, especially DiNozzo, who has serious issues with control, as in throwing tantrums when not the person in control of things, a person who is willing to actively sabotage other people’s cases just so he can close his case, and a person who seems incapable of handling any form of competition, and always have to be the best, in his own definition of the word.

For Tony DiNozzo I would like to give a huge shout out to Michael Weatherly, who managed to make Tony a comprehensive and cohesive character despite his character either being a complete moron only there as the comic relief, or an extremely competent investigator, lightyears ahead of the others, depending on who wrote the script for that week, so props to that. Tony is my favourite character on the show, but that doesn’t mean I don’t understand when people see him as annoying. He can be. He is constantly going through people’s things, and he wants to know everything he can about them and what they are doing. He also plays various pranks on his team mates, however he is not abusing nor bullying the others. Those descriptions fit Abby, Ziva, and McGee better.

Starting in season 3 DiNozzo has been dumbed down to, I suspect, make the other characters look that much more impressive. Despite this DiNozzo is still the best at investigating, also when you look at their educations. Phys. Ed. Isn’t just about sports, they are also required to know anatomy and psychology, add to that his many years in law enforcement as a detective. On the other hand, Ziva and McGee, who both had a few seasons where they seemed to think that they are so much better than DiNozzo, and were more suited to be the SFA, are actually less prepared to be investigators. McGee is a better fit for the Cyber Crime Unit as that is all his education qualifies him for, and though Ziva was trained by the Mossad, they are not an investigation agency, they do espionage. That is like saying because I ride horses, and horses are often on grass fields, I must be exceptional at golf, because it also takes place on grass. Besides as a liaison officer assigned to NCIS she would never have been made SFA, nor should she ever have been allowed on the team. I sort of like Ziva, but every time I start really liking her, the writers pulled a new stunt, that just worked against her. And unlike McGee and Abby we didn’t have those seasons and episodes to help us like her more.

I talked before about how Abby, McGee, and Ziva were bullies without explaining how. Now as before I stated that DiNozzo could be annoying and I can certainly see that and understand how that can be frustrating having to work with him, but DiNozzo has never questioned the qualifications of his fellow colleagues, which those three have done repeatedly, or said that the only reason they had the position they had was because of how long they had been there and not because they were qualified and competent, nor has he ever considered them incompetent and incapable of doing their jobs, Abby and her training stickers amongst general statements made by the others. He has never second guessed them in front of witnesses or argued with them about his work in front of other colleagues or witnesses. He has never pulled a gun on them and threatened to shoot them, and he has never ever left them without backup and then treated that significant breach in trust as a joke. If I had to choose I would rather work with someone who could be annoying than work with people who routinely questioned my ability to do my job and my position on the team.

I actually like Bishop, it took a while to settle her character, but she is not as antagonistic as Ziva and Kate, which makes for a nice change, and she seems to respect the chain of command. The show has settled down some between Tony, McGee, Ellie, as there aren’t as much in fighting and backstabbing as there was before with Ziva, and to some respect Kate, on the team. It’s nice that the team can be seen more like friends instead of colleagues who hate each other.

Ziva and McGee broke the fundamental rule of law enforcement, you don’t leave your partner without backup, which they did in the episode Dead Air, and for the rest of the episode it was treated like the greatest joke ever, after all, leaving your partner unable to call for help should he need it, when looking for a terrorist who has already killed three people and are saying that more are to come, is just do damn funny. I will say I have read some fanfiction dealing with this episode, and though for the most part I like them, one thing that puzzles me about it, is that the authors of these stories often put the majority of the blame on Ziva and then redeem McGee. I think the reason for that is that as I stated before that we have episodes of naïve baby McGee who listened to Tony to fall back on, while Ziva started out as the sister of Ari, who killed Kate, and a short time later, was the new colleague who thought it a good idea to invite every person of the extended team except Tony, and then the woman who refused to give vital information to Tony, and instead decided that she would only tell Gibbs about Rivkin, and then as the grieving woman who pulled a gun on Tony, to the woman who paid Tony back for saving her from Somalia by leaving him without backup. Unless you’re a Ziva or Tiva fan it is easy to see why she gets the punishment while McGee who is just as guilty is given redemption.

Which brings me to the bane of NCIS: Tiva. I get it, both Tony and Ziva are played by attractive people, and the writers certainly ended up pushing it down our throats. Or at least for us who don’t like Tiva. Normally I get that people have different tastes and therefore ship different pairings, and I am fine with that. I am not the shipping police, but let’s be honest when it comes to Tiva, it’s just plain wrong. If Ziva was played by someone not attractive or it was Tony who had pulled all that shit on Ziva instead of the other way around, people would have been busy shouting about the obvious abusive relationship, but it is not so and instead the relationship seem to be a fan favourite.

I have never understood that and especially after Dead Air. How can you possible justify a loving and respectful relationship between them when Ziva was very much willing to let Tony die, when she left him without backup. How can there be a relationship between them, a good healthy and respectful relationship, when it is obvious from just watching a few episodes that Ziva does not in any way respect Tony nor respect his position on the team? If you are unable to respect your partner at work, then how can you possibly respect them at home? And why would they even be together? Why would Ziva be with Tony when she doesn’t respect Tony at work, and routinely disrespect him and questions his competence and orders? And why would Tony like someone who doesn’t respect him, has pulled a gun on him, have actually shot him, although by mistake, and someone who left him without backup and then laughed about it?

There are many more things that are bugging me about NCIS, but this is the end of this rant. Sorry for the ramblings.

#ncis #leroy jethro gibbs #gibbs #tony dinozzo #anthony dinozzo #ziva david #tim mcgee #mcgee #abby #abby sciuto #tiva #dead air #personal rant #sorry for the rant #ellie bishop #bishop

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sleepyeye17 · 7 years ago

Text

The Bath

Robin had called Cormoran late in the afternoon, telling him that she was at the police station, and would he please bring McMum’s case file. They had been hunting down a client’s daughter, a nineteen-year-old last seen working for a pimp named Golden Archie. During the investigation Robin had discovered that Stephanie, Whittaker’s former child prostitute, had been given to Golden Archie to repay a poker debt. Robin had taken Stephanie out to lunch the week previous to try to get information, but the girl kept her mouth shut, sharing only that Archie was a good man who never hurt them, and bought them nice clothes. It was true that from a distance Stephanie seemed much better off with Archie than when she had been with Whittaker. She had no visible bruises, and had some color in her skin. Her uniform had changed from the ratty hoodie to a sequined crop-top and white shorts. Up close, though, Robin could see track marks on Stephanie’s elbows, and a heaviness behind her eyes that revealed the true abuse that Archie was inflicting. Robin had arranged to meet with Stephanie again today.

Stephanie had been hysterical when Robin arrived, waving around a needle and crying so that Robin couldn’t understand a word the girl said. Before Robin had known what to do, Stephanie had thrust the needle into her vein.

“I’m not in trouble,” Robin told Cormoran on the phone, “But Stephanie ODed and they want to know what we know.”

“Jesus. Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. Stephanie is in a coma, though, they don’t think she’ll make it.” Her voice was high and shaky.

“Were you there when it happened?”

“Yeah. She was upset, and then… It all happened very fast.”

Cormoran got Robin at the police station and they went back to his flat, where he made her his favorite comfort food, scrambled eggs with brown rice and melted cheese. Robin ate mostly in silence.

“Are you going to want more, or should I put it away?” Cormoran asked. Robin didn’t answer.

“Robin?” He touched her hand and she jumped like he had shocked him.

“What?” she asked.

“Are you still hungry?”

“No, you can… Uh…” She blinked up at her. “What was I saying?”

They had both experienced adrenaline before, the haziness, the memory loss.

“Do you want a bath?” Cormoran asked, “Would that help?”

“I haven’t taken a bath in a long time,” she said.

“Is that a yes?”

Robin considered, then nodded.

“That might be nice. Thanks”

Cormoran ran the bath while Robin cleaned up the dishes. Robin’s own flat didn’t have a bathtub, just a tiny shower that spat out occasionally hot water. Cormoran needed a shower big enough to fit a chair, and had been quite lucky with his flat’s bathroom. The flat itself was tiny, but the bathroom had a large rectangular tub with thick flat edges that he could sit on easily to maneuver into the shower.

Happy with the water temperature (he knew Robin liked her showers scaldingly hot), Cormoran went back to the kitchen to find her putting the dishes away still dirty. A brief glance around the kitchen showed that she had put nearly everything on the shelves still caked in eggs and cheese.

“Robin,” Cormoran said, “Did you forget to wash the dishes?”

She looked down at the bowl she was holding like it had materialized out of nowhere. Cormoran eased it out of her hands.

“Come on baby,” he said, “I’ll finish up here. You take your bath.”

Robin drifted into the bathroom, and Cormoran went back to the kitchen to fix the mess. He knew how adrenaline worked: once, after a client’s husband had threatened him with a gun, he had arrived at work with his jeans and his coat on backwards, and no memory of how they had gotten that way.

He was in the process of scrubbing out the pans when he heard a muffled sound coming from the bathroom, something between a choke and a whimper.

“Robin?” He went into the bathroom to see her in the bathtub, her hands pressed to her mouth, silent tears rolling down her face. “Oh, Robin, honey.”

“I’m fine, I’m fine, it’s just adrenaline,” she gasped, rubbing tears out of her eyes. Black crescents of makeup had pooled up under her eyes. “Crying is a… a physical response to adrenaline. It’s just a physical response, that’s all. It didn't get to me or anything.”

Cormoran knelt beside the tub, suppressing a grunt of pain, and took her face in his hands.

“Robin.” His voice was firm. “That’s utter bullshit.”

She gasped out half a laugh.

“Not like I haven’t seen worse,” she muttered.

“I know,” he said, “You’ve seen worse. And I know you can handle it, too.” He rubbed a washcloth over her back and she released her shoulders with a shudder. “But what you saw today sucked. It sucked.”

“I wasn’t even in any danger.”

“What you saw today sucked,” he repeated.

She sighed.

“It sucked,” she conceded.

“Just because it makes you emotional doesn’t mean that you’re weak. If anything it makes you strong.” He brushed a strand of hair from her face. “I’ve always been amazed by your empathy.”

“I just keep thinking about all the things I could have done differently. I knew Stephanie. I had spoken to her. I had bought her lunch. If there was just something I could have said, something that could have made her listen.”

“I saw that Carver is on the case. Did he get to you?”

“Yeah. He kept asking why I didn’t do more.”

Cormoran made a disgusted sound in his throat.

“I could wring his oily neck.”

“He’s a wanker.”

“It’s not even remotely your fault. You were probably the one kind person she’s known in ages.”

“But somehow kindness wasn’t enough.”

“Some people are broken in ways that we can’t imagine. That doesn’t mean that kindness doesn’t count for anything.”

Robin pushed the water around in the bath, thinking.

“Do you think I’m too kind?” she asked.

Cormoran raised an eyebrow.

“Wot?”

“Like, if I had used tough love, or tackled her, taken the needle out of her hand, been a bit less polite and gentle, would it have gone different?”

“Yeah, you would have gotten a solid dose of heroin in your bloodstream, and maybe some HIV to boot.” He shifted his weight, ignoring the sharp pain in his knee. “She’s in the hospital now, where people can take care of her. Maybe this will be a turning point.”

“If she survives the night.”

He sighed.

“Yes, if she survives the night. What matters is that you got her away from her pimp. And you got people on the case. Maybe Carver will catch the guy.”

“I don’t trust Carver as far as I can spit.”

“He’s a prick, but he's good at the cut and dry stuff. Pretty clear who’s at fault here.”

“I guess.” Robin laid back until her hair fanned out like feathers in the water. “I want to help people,” she said, “That’s my favorite thing about the job. But if I can’t even handle one sick junkie, how good am I ever going to be?”

Cormoran thought about this. He wanted to say something, anything, to reassure her, but all of his words seemed trite and meaningless.

“Wait here,” he said, “I’m going to nip downstairs, I’ll be right back.”

Robin looked baffled, but before she could ask any questions, he was gone. She sank down until the water covered everything but her nose, and she was lost in a soft world of warmth and steam and muffled echoing sounds. She wanted to cleanse herself, mind and body. She wanted to forget that she had ever known Stephanie. She tried to imagine the events of the day being scrubbed off of her and dissolving in the bath, but they swirled around her like sweat and dirt in the water. She was surrounded by soap and perfume, but she couldn’t get the smells out of her nose; piss and mold and the sour vinegar scent of black-tar heroin.

She felt quite silly for letting it get to her so profoundly. She felt she should be stronger, not so sensitive. Cormoran was being so kind about the whole thing, making her dinner, cleaning up, running a bath. A nasty voice in her head whispered, “It’s because he’s had plenty of experience with hysterical women, dating Charlotte”. Robin always tried to be as different from Charlotte Campbell Ross as she could possibly be. She tried to stay organized, independent, and emotionally steady, so that he would know that she was different. But sometimes she just couldn’t keep it up anymore.

She heard the bathroom door open again, far away under the water, and emerged, hair streaming into her face. Cormoran sat on the toilet seat so that he wouldn’t have to put his knee through the torture of kneeling again. He was holding a sheet of paper in his hands.

“What’s that?” Robin asked. Cormoran held it out for her to see. It was the drawing of a bird that Orlando had made for her. She still kept it over her desk, but hadn’t looked at it in some time. Robin blinked at it.

“You helped Orlando Quine,” Cormoran said, “Here everybody thought her dad didn’t love her, that he’d written terrible things about her, and you proved them wrong.”

Robin sniffed and smiled at her toes.

“I did help with that, didn’t I,” she admitted.

“You brought justice for Lula Landry,” he went on, “You saved Angel and Zahara Vincent from a sexual predator. Every day you work bringing people the truth, helping them out of unhealthy relationships and exposing wrongdoing.”

He looked intently at the drawing as if it would tell him what to say next.

“And, you know, you saved me,” he said, barely over a mutter.

Robin looked up at him. He scoffed.

“Don't look so bloody surprised,” he said, “You know it's true.” He leaned back, stretching his leg out. “Sometimes I wonder where I'd be if you hadn't fallen into my office that day.”

“I wonder that about myself, sometimes.”

“My life was going down the shitter when I met you. Failing business, homeless. Smoking like I had a third lung.” He shrugged. “I wouldn’t be here without you.”

Robin beamed up at him, tears threatening behind her eyelids.

“You’re no so bad at saving people, either,” she said, sniffing hard.

Cormoran smiled and scratched his nose, trying not to blush.

“Listen,” he said, “Lucy got me a boxed set of CSI for my birthday. You want to watch it in bed and pretend that the justice system actually works that way?”

Robin grinned.

“Let’s get really wild and throw in some Ben and Jerry’s,” she said, “Make a proper party out of it.”

#fanfic #cormoran strike series #cormoran strike #robin ellacott

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