#what kind of lawyer is he ? she's usually a guidance counselor but she has lots of needs for lawyers in her life tbh lmao

[packagecfgirlyevil-a]

"And how do you think I was looking at you, Ethan?" Her lips purse as she fights off a grin - she's merely looking, she knows better than to think she can touch, for now at least.

"No you are!" Ethan's not easily flustered but for some reason... "Just not like that."

[tw-anchor]

35. Emotional Tethers

Anchor

Stiles Stilinski x Original Character

Episode: 3x11; Alpha Pact

Word Count: 7,880

Warning(s): Mature language, canon violence + gore, human sacrifices, Scott’s asshole dad, 

Author’s Note: I’m updating with a new chapter today because I’ve been gone for a while and I need to play catch up. My grandma died, so I haven’t been very motivated lately. I hope you enjoy this chapter! Please let me know what you think, reblog, and like!

Masterlink in Pinned Post!

"Derek?!" Stiles shouted and he sounded so terrified it broke Olivia's heart. He slapped his hand down on Derek's cheek to stir him awake. "Derek, come on!"

Olivia shook her cousin's body while Stiles kept on hitting him. She didn't know if it was because Stiles was scared or taking his anger out on Derek for Jennifer's disappearance, but damn, he was putting all of his strength into his blows.

"Derek, wake up," Olivia shook him again. "Derek!"

Stiles curled his open hand into a fist and reared back, ready to punch Derek awake. Just as his arm reamed forward, Derek lifted his hand and caught it. Olivia sighed in relief and placed a chaste kiss on Derek's sweaty forehead before helping him up into a sitting position.

Derek looked around the elevator, bewildered. "Where is she?"

"Jennifer? Gone with Scott's mom," Stiles answered, his voice still panicked.

"She took her?"

"Yeah, and if that's not enough of a kick to the balls, Scott left with Deucalion, okay?" Stiles informed him. "So, we gotta get you out of here. The police are coming right now and we gotta get you the fuck out of here."

Olivia and Stiles both worked together to get Derek to his feet. "Woah," he stumbled slightly. "What about Cora?"

"She's with Isaac and Peter," Olivia told him. "They should be in the parking lot with the Argents."

"Olivia and I will hold the police off," Stiles added. "but you have to go right now."

Derek glanced at Olivia worriedly. "Be careful," he touched her cheek for a second and then brushed a thumb over the small cut just under her temple from where she hit the wall earlier. "and get that cut cleaned."

"I will," she assured him. "Go now."

Derek took off toward the parking lot and Olivia and Stiles made their way to the Emergency Wing's lobby. They sat in chairs right next together; Olivia laid her head on Stiles' shoulder while he grabbed her hand and locked their fingers together.

"I'm sorry all of this is happening, Stiles," Olivia whispered; there was something about the silence in the hospital that made her want to not disturb it.

"S'not your fault," Stiles kissed the top of her head. "Babe, you almost died last night. There wasn't anything you could do to stop Jennifer from taking my dad or Melissa."

"I know," and she did know that; she didn't blame herself for what was happening. None of them knew that Jennifer was the darach until she tried to kill her and Lydia. "but that doesn't mean that I can't feel sorry for the pain you and Scott are going through. How are you feeling?"

"Not great," his hold on her hand got a little tighter but he made up for it by playing with her fingers; it made her smile. "Maybe Cora was right, you know? We're only finding the bodies," he sniffed, a single tear making its way down his left cheek. "I don't want to find my dad's body."

Olivia gently detached her hand from his and wrapped her arms around him, her chin resting on his left shoulder. "We're gonna find him, Stiles, okay? We're gonna do everything we possibly can."

"How? We don't have a plan," he shifted so his face nuzzled her neck, his fingers pressing firmly into her back. His voice was absolute miserable and it made tears sting Olivia's eyes.

"We'll come up with one. I'll get Allison, Lydia, and Isaac and we'll come up with something. We're all smart, we can do it. Even if I have to join Deucalion, I will do that for you."

Stiles shook his head in protest and whispered. "Don't. I need you by my side."

Olivia stroked the back of his head. "Okay. I won't leave your side. Not even to go to the bathroom."

Her little joke coaxed a smile out of him, she could feel his lips quirk against her skin. He was about to reply when loud sirens alerted them to the fact that the police had arrived. They separated as the police officers and numerous FBI agents stormed into the hospital.

Stiles spotted a man that Olivia didn't recognize and sighed heavily. "Oh, just perfect."

Olivia gave him a questioning look but was unable to ask him what was up, because the man—who had to be a giant—walked over to them.

"A Stilinski at the center of this whole mess," the man stopped in front of Stiles, glaring down at him. "What a shocker. Think you can answer some questions without the usual level of sarcasm?"

Olivia started to protest—she was pretty sure Stiles was allowed a lawyer with him while being questions, or something like that—but Stiles had already spoken up, very sarcastically, "If you ask the questions without the usual level of stupid."

The smile smiled just as sarcastically. "Where's your dad?" he asked Stiles. "And why has no one been able to contact him?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen him in hours."

"Is he drinking again?"

"Is that question appropriate for this investigation?" Olivia glared at the agent.

The man gave her a firm be-quiet look and turned back to Stiles. "Answer the question."

Stiles sighed heavily. "What do you mean, again? He never had to stop."

"But he did have to slow down," the man prompted. "Is he drinking like he used to?"

Stiles licked his lips and glared up at him. "All right, how about this? Next time I see him, I'll give him a field sobriety test, okay?" his voice hardened. "We'll do the alphabet, start with 'F' and end with 'U.'"

Olivia bit the inside of her cheek to hold back her laughter. Stiles totally made the agent look like a fool.

The agent smiled tightly. "How about you just tell me what the hell happened here?"

"I don't know what happened here," Stiles exhaled heavily. "Olivia and I were stuck in the elevator the whole time."

"You're not the one who put the names on the doors, are you?"

Olivia and Stiles shared a confused look. "What name?"

"Argent."

-

"The word is guardian, Allison," Mr. Argent said as he opened the door to their apartment, Allison, Olivia, and Stiles piling in after him. "More than anyone, you know that's a role I haven't exactly lived up to lately."

"But she took Scott's mother and Stiles' father," Allison pointed out as they walked through the apartment and into Mr. Argent's office. "That's not a coincidence."

"Yeah, I'd also consider the fact that someone put your name up in large block letters on the elevator doors," Stiles added. "That kind of felt like a warning to me."

"I think it was Ms. Morrel," Olivia stated, remembering how the guidance counselor told Scott about Deucalion wanting them in his pack. "She knows everything about the alpha pack and she knew Jennifer before. I think she might be trying to help us."

Stiles scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Well, she needs to get on that a lot faster, okay? Seeing as how the lunar eclipse is less than two freaking nights away."

He sat in one of the chairs in front of Mr. Argent's desk; Olivia went to him, putting a calming hand on his shoulder.

Mr. Argent gave him a kind look. "Stiles, don't give up hope."

Stiles ducked his head. "They could already be dead."

"I don't think so," Mr. Argent disagreed. "There's something about Jennifer's tactics. It's like she's still positioning, still moving pieces into place."

"And you're one of them," Allison reminded her father.

"Then let's not wait around to see the next move," Mr. Argent grabbed the map of Beacon Hills and the telluric currents and flattened it on his desk. "Everything she's done has been on a telluric current, so Melissa and the sheriff have to be somewhere on one of those currents, right?" he paused when he saw that Stiles hadn't followed Olivia over to the desk. "Stiles, if we're gonna find them, we need your help."

"You're seriously want to go after her?" Stiles didn't stand up, bracing his elbows on his knees. "I mean, what if she just takes you like the others, huh? No offense, but what's the difference between you and them?"

Mr. Argent reached for one of the drawers in his desk. He pulled it open and Olivia watched in shock as he pulled out a huge handgun. She inched closer to Allison, who gave her a reassuring smile. She had never been shot, but there was something about seeing Mr. Argent hold a gun in front of her that made her itch.

"I'm carrying a .45," Mr. Argent told Stiles bluntly. "Maybe she can heal from a shot to the leg and a few slashes to the face, but personally, I'd like to see how she holds up with half her skull blown off."

Olivia looked back at Stiles and quirked her lips, her expression telling him 'he's got a point.'

Mr. Argent set the gun back on his desk. "We've got one priority right now and that's to find Melissa and your dad," he said firmly. "We've got a map and every clue we need to figure this out. The only thing we don't have is time, which is why I need all three of you."

Stiles sighed and stood up. "Where do we start?"

Mr. Argent pulled out his blue light so they could see exactly where he had marked the telluric currents, the places where the victims were kidnapped, and the places where their bodies were found.

"The place where the sacrifices have been committed have usually been different from where the bodies have been found. I think the placement has to do with the strength of the current," he held the light over the map, hitting three different places. "So, there's the school, the animal clinic, and the bank."

"Wait, hold on," Olivia spoke up thoughtfully, her eyes studying the map. "You don't think she would use the same place twice, do you?"

"Only if she didn't succeed the first time," Mr. Argent hit the light against the mark at the bank.

"Scott's boss," Allison realized.

"Deaton," Mr. Argent confirmed. "It was her only failure. That could mean something."

"That's just one place so far," Stiles grumbled. "We're gonna need a lot more help."

Allison looked at Olivia. "What about Lydia?"

Mr. Argent looked at the girls, confused. "Lydia? What can she do?"

"She's a banshee, a harbinger of death," Olivia told him. "She's been finding the bodies without looking for them. Which, now that I think about it, might not be the best thing. Because if she can find Ms. McCall and Sheriff Stilinski, that means..."

No one said anything as her sentence trailed off. They all knew what that meant.

"We can still bring her in," Mr. Argent decided; Olivia nodded in agreement. "What about you? Are you able to locate them?"

"I can try. They're not considered official pack members, but their relation to Scott and Stiles might give me something," she glanced at Stiles, who gave her a small smile.

Mr. Argent nodded. "All right, good," he glanced at Allison. "Let's get ready then."

Olivia and Stiles watched as the Argents pulled out their weapons. Mr. Argent went down to the basement of their apartment building where they had a storage locker full of weapons, while Allison went around the apartment and pulled out the ones they kept with them all the time. Guns—big and small—bows and arrows, Chinese ring daggers—those were harder than they looked to use, Olivia knew because Allison had been attempting to teach her the ropes—more knives, smoke grenades, and anything else that would help defeat Jennifer, and/or the alpha pack, were laid on the desk.

Stiles looked at the collection of weapons with wide eyes. "Woah," Mr. Argent cocked his gun into place. "I thought you guys were retired."

"Retired, yes. Defenseless, no," Mr. Argent set the gun back on the desk and then turned to face Olivia and Stiles. "Make sure both of your phones are on. If either of you hear from Scott, let us know immediately."

Stiles checked his phone, where there were no messages or missed calls from Scott, and frowned. "Yeah, I'm thinking that's gonna be kind of unlikely."

Mr. Argent glanced at Allison, seeing the frown on her face. "All three you, try to remember he's just doing what he thinks is right," he advised them all.

Allison's gaze was already on the door; Olivia, Stiles, and Mr. Argent turned to see Isaac standing within the door frame. "I can't shoot a gun or use a crossbow, but..." his claws slipped out of his nail beds and he held them up. "Well, I'm getting pretty good with these."

-

The one thing she had not expected when she stepped a foot into her house a half-hour later, was Natalie rushing up to her. She pulled Olivia into a tight hug—a very tight hug—and held the back of her head, as if assuring herself that Olivia was alive and relatively okay.

Olivia should have expected it. Natalie might not be her mother, but all intents and purposes, she was. She watched over Olivia for six, going on seven, years, she fed and sheltered her, and she loved her and cared for her just as much as Lydia. Her stomach dropped when she realized that she hadn't gotten in touch with Natalie after the whole fiasco that she and Lydia went through with Jennifer. She had been too caught up with the events happening in the hospital and she knew that Lydia was okay, only because of her tether to her.

"I was so worried about you," Natalie sighed into her hair.

"I'm sorry," Olivia apologized sincerely but then had to lie about where she had been. "I was at Derek's. He took care of me."

Natalie frowned and pulled away from the hug to get a good look at her. "Your neck. God, I'm going to kill whoever did this to you two."

If only that was possible.

"I'm okay," she assured her aunt; and as if the universe hated her, her voice squeaked like she was a male going through puberty. She cleared her throat, having gotten used to the pain, and asked, "How's Lydia?"

"The poor thing has a concussion and a couple of stitches by her hairline," Natalie sighed sadly and reached up to Olivia's forehead, thumbing over the cut she had cleaned up at the Argents' apartment. "I'm so glad you two are okay."

"Me too," Olivia took her hand and squeezed it quickly. "If it's okay, I'm gonna go see Lydia."

"Of course, honey," Natalie nodded encouragingly. "How about in ten minutes, I come up there and help you get ready for school? I know you don't like to miss it."

"Thanks, Aunt Nat. I'll see you in a few."

Olivia left her aunt and climbed the stairs, heading straight to Lydia's bedroom, only a door from her own room. She knocked gently and waited until she heard Lydia's permission to enter, before going into the room. Lydia was sitting at the end of her bed, dressed in pajamas, flipping through pages of an old photobook. Olivia recognized it; it was the one from their first year in middle school.

She looked up and smiled at Olivia as she padded over to her bed. "Hey."

"Hey, how are you feeling?" she sat next to the redhead.

"My head hurts a little bit, but other than that, I'm fine," Lydia studied the bruise on her neck. "How about you?"

"Just a little bruise."

Lydia pressed her lips together sadly. "What happened last night?"

Olivia described everything that went on last night. She told her about confronting Jennifer with Stiles, Scott, and Derek, about how Jennifer had poisoned Cora with mistletoe and that was why she wasn't healing. She explained how they went to the hospital and the alpha pack showed up, the many ways they tried to thwart them, and the plan that they eventually came up with. Finally, she told Lydia about Jennifer taking Melissa and Scott joining Deucalion and the rest of the alphas.

"I don't believe it," Lydia shook her head with a sigh. "Scott can't really be with them. He can't be."

"He's doing it for his mom and the sheriff," Olivia frowned; more and more, she was thinking that Scott had made the right decision. And she should have done it with him. If making a deal with the devil was the price she had to pay to make sure Noah and Melissa were safe, she'd do it. "And the look on his face..."

"Okay, so what can I do?" Lydia immediately volunteered to help them, making Olivia smile thankfully at her. "I know I'm supposed to be some human Geiger counter for death or something, but you told me that I could maybe save some people. I don't know how to turn it on and off yet, but..."

When she hesitated, Olivia bit the inside of her cheek. "What?"

"Remember what Jennifer said when she was going to kill me after you?" Lydia reminded her. "She said I knew too much."

"You're right. She didn't know you were a banshee."

Olivia's mind raced. Jennifer tried to kill Lydia because she knew something about what was going on, but what was it? She thought back on how Lydia had been acting since the school year started, and other than finding the dead bodies and that stint at the Motel Glen Capri, she couldn't think of much else...Except, wait. There was something. The day before, when they were in English class learning about idioms, Jennifer had commented on Lydia's drawing.

"Your drawing," she said aloud to see if it sparked something in Lydia. "The one you always draw, the tree."

Lydia looked at her confused, "What are you talking about?"

"The tree you always draw," Olivia got up from the bed and rushed over to Lydia's desk, picking up one of the notebooks there. She opened it up and on the very first page, was the tree. She showed it to Lydia. "This tree. You've been drawing it everywhere, Lyds."

"What?" Lydia asked, horrified. She ripped the notebook out of Olivia's grasp and flipped through the rest of the pages. Over and over, on each page, a drawing of the same tree was there in various sizes. "What the hell?"

"She knew that you knew something about the tree, but she didn't know what," Olivia pointed out. "Do you know what the drawing means?"

Lydia shook her head. "No, I don't. I mean, I talked about it with Ms. Morrell once in one of our sessions, but—"

"Ms. Morrell knows?" Olivia cut her off urgently. "About the drawings and stuff?"

"Yeah, why?" Olivia didn't answer her as she pulled out her phone and started messaging Stiles. "Liv?"

"Sorry, sorry," Olivia turned back to her cousin. "Okay, Stiles and I are gonna head to the school and talk to Ms. Morrell. Do you think you can try to get ahold of Aiden and see if he or the other alphas know anything about Jennifer that we don't?"

"I can try," Lydia seemed bewildered at how flustered Olivia was. "Are you all right, Liv?"

"Yeah, yeah, I just need to go," Olivia rushed to the door before stopping and turning back to her. "Hey, do you think I should cover this," she gestured to her neck. "up?"

"No," Lydia said firmly. "You survived Jennifer's attack. You don't need to hide that."

Olivia inhaled deeply, feeling herself get emotional, and smiled softly at Lydia. "Okay, thank you. I love you, Lyds."

"I love you, too, Liv."

-

After getting dressed and throwing her hair into a topknot—she had not had time to shower, which was unfortunate, because she was pretty sure she still had blood in her hair—Stiles picked her up and they rushed to the school. As they started heading over to Ms. Morrell's office, Olivia got a text message from Lydia.

Lyds: Aiden's not texting me back

Liv: All right. Just keep trying, okay?

Lyds: I will. Be careful

Liv: You too

While she was texting her cousin back, she saw a message come in from Isaac. She ignored it for just a second as she looked up at Stiles and informed him of what was going on with Lydia, "Aiden's not texting Lydia back," she paused and saw that he had stopped walking in the middle of the hallway, his phone in his hand. "Are you okay, Stiles?"

Stiles continued to look at the phone, his face crumpling.

"Stiles, what's going on?" she asked cautiously. She walked over to be by his side and saw that Stiles had gotten a text message from Isaac as well. "What does it say?"

"Jennifer, she t—" he inhaled shakily, his hands shaking. "she has Allison's father. She took him. "She's got all three now."

Olivia's heart started racing in her chest but she somehow found words. "There's still time," she focused on that; Jennifer couldn't do anything until the lunar eclipse started. "We still have time, Stiles."

Stiles didn't respond. His hands shook terribly as he put his phone back into his jeans pocket, he was pale and sweaty, and she didn't need to have enhanced hearing to hear how shaky his breath was. Not only did his tether—his was her favorite, a light brown like his eyes when the sun hit them just right—start flashing, different than it did with the werewolf tethers.

"Stiles," she stood on her tiptoes to place the palm of her hand against his cheek, grounding him for a second. "Stiles, are you having a panic attack?"

Stiles struggled to breathe as he nodded, his eyes wide with panic.

"Okay, it's okay, um..." she looked around the hallway and thanked God that Ms. Morrell's office was close to the boys' locker room. "Okay, come on, Stiles."

The frantic gasping that came from Stiles was scary, she wasn't going to lie. However, she needed to be there for him. She had never experienced a panic attack, but she had read about them. And because she knew Stiles had anxiety, she had learned multiple ways to help people who were experiencing panic attacks. Even though everyone was different and so were reactions, she hoped one of the techniques would help him.

Olivia helped Stiles take a seat on the floor, his back leaned up against one row of lockers, and then kneeled down in front of him. Stiles was really beginning to worry now, his face had lost all color and his breathing had turned into hyperventilating.

"Stiles? Stiles, look at me," she gently grabbed his face and tilted it upward so he could look her in the eyes. "I know you're scared right now, but you have to calm down. Can you breathe with me?"

Stiles nodded, breathing heavily.

"All right, here," she picked up one of his hands and pressed it against her stomach where he would be able to feel how she breathed. "and breathe slow like this. Slow inhale, slow exhale."

She demonstrated the breathing for him. Stiles tried to copy her actions but his thoughts must have gone to his dad again, because he went through two or three cycles of breathing before it picked up again.

"Liv-Livvy," he gasped out, his eyes boring into hers, panicked.

"Okay," that didn't work. "um, okay. Tell me five things you see in this room right now."

He gave her a bewildered look. "I-I can't."

"Yes, you can," she insisted as she stroked his cheek with her thumb. "Right now, Stiles. Please."

"O-Okay," he panted, his eyes quickly tracing the room. "Okay, u-um, my locker."

"Good, good. What else?"

"Y-You're wearing—you're wearing a blue shirt. Blue is pretty."

"Yeah, it is," Olivia smiled at him. "Okay, three more things. You're doing great, sweetcheeks.

"The, uh," his breathing was better but not totally okay yet. He gasped quickly and then continued, "the regional ch-championship trophy."

"That's great, Stiles. Two more."

Stiles eyes darted behind her, where the sinks were lined up on the wall. "The leaky faucet. It's, uh, it's the third one."

Olivia glanced behind her and smiled when she saw that he was right. "Good. One more," his breathing was much calmer now. The gasps were gone and each breath he took was less wheezy. "You're doing great, Stiles."

Stiles' eyes went back to her face, searching it intently. "You're wearing that lip balm you like," he said finally. "it's pink and it tastes like strawberries."

"Yeah," she gazed at him fondly. He inhaled deeply and exhaled, his breathing back to normal. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," Stiles took the hand of hers that was on his face and kissed her knuckles. "How'd you know how to do that?"

"I, uh, I knew you had anxiety, so I looked up some methods that might help with panic attacks," Olivia answered him sheepishly. "I have a few more. You can name some colors or hold your breath, and you can even distract yourself with something funny that you like. Like for you, it'd be—"

Her rambling was cut off but Stiles pulling her in for a loving but passionate kiss. Of course, she returned the affection. She loved Stiles so much and she was very happy to know he was feeling better.

When he pulled away from the kiss and stared at her. And he was so damn cute, staring at her like she was the most wonderful person in the world. "You really did that?"

"Of course I did," she stroked his cheek again once she moved it back to his face. "I would do anything for you, I love you."

"I love you, too," Stiles pressed his lips to hers again and pulled away before she could react. "I love you so fucking much, Livvy. One day, after all this is over and we graduate, I'm gonna marry you. And then we'll go to college and get an apartment next to Scott, and we'll have however many dogs you want—because I know you secretly love them so much—and then we'll have a family and we'll—"

"Okay, okay, settle down there," Olivia giggled and gave him a bright smile. The only way she could describe how she felt at his words was that there were a hundred butterflies in her stomach who were just as overjoyed to hear him say that as she was. "We have to get your dad, Melissa, and Mr. Argent back first. We'll see about the rest then, okay?"

"Okay," Stiles nodded with a grin. After Olivia climbed to her feet, she brought her hand down for him to take. He took it gladly and she helped him up. "We should get to Ms. Morrell's office now, huh?"

"Yeah."

After leaving the locker room, they rushed down the hallway and stormed into Ms. Morrell's office. Ms. Morrell wasn't there at her desk like they thought she would be, but there was a student waiting for her. She looked kind of familiar, but Olivia just couldn't place her face at the moment.

"Are you here for Ms. Morrell?" Stiles asked her.

"No, I thought this was gym class," she snarked back at him.

"Okay, listen, we're not in the mood for unneeded sarcasm," Olivia put up her unfeeling mask she used for her classmates and the other students—and teachers—at the school. "Do you know where she is?"

"If I did, I wouldn't be waiting her for twenty minutes," the girl huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "So, how about you two lovebirds back out the door and wait your turn?"

"We're here for a session," Stiles told her.

"Well, I am, and I've got some serious issues to work on."

"Woah, hold on," Olivia studied the girl's face, finally realizing where she had seen her before. "You were at Heath's birthday party. Uh, it's Danielle, right?"

"We've had class together, but sure, I was the girl at Heath's birthday party," Danielle rolled her eyes. "I was his best friend and you and your cousin stopped hanging out with him. That's what Morrell and I have been working on three times a week."

"Wait, did you say that Morrell's twenty minutes late?" Stiles interjected.

Danielle nodded. "And I don't know why, either. She's always on time.

Stiles nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I've been seeing her since freshman year," he looked at Olivia. "She's never late...so, she must be missing."

Olivia gave him a knowing look. "What if we're not the only ones who think she knows something?" she mused. "Aiden wasn't answering Lydia, remember?"

Stiles nodded and glanced at the filing cabinet behind Ms. Morrell's desk. "Then let's find out what she knows," he knelt down in front of the filing cabinet and pulled out a lock-pick kit that Olivia had no idea he had. "You said Lydia's been seeing her since the start of the semester?"

"Yeah."

"What are you doing?" Danielle asked, affronted, as she watched Stiles break into the cabinet and sift through the files. "Those files are private."

"We're looking for my cousin's file," Olivia told her. "She gave us permission."

Danielle didn't look impressed but she didn't stop them or go to tattle on them, either.

"Find it!" Stiles stood up and tossed Lydia's file onto the desk.

Olivia opened the file and went through the various papers that Ms. Morrell had collected on Lydia. There were no notes like there would be if Morrell was a normal guidance counselor. Instead, it was full of Lydia's drawings, each one of them a tree just like the ones that filled her notebook back at home.

"Wait, wait, stop," Stiles caught her hand as she went to pick up another paper. "Look at that."

The paper he had pointed to had the tree on it like the others. However, this one was different. It was upside down compared to the other ones, making the tree look more like roots, and at the bottom, it was labeled. In Ms. Morrell's writing, it said, 'Nemeton.'

"Oh, my God," Olivia breathed in realization. "It's the Nemeton. That's where she's keeping them. It has to be."

Stiles nodded in agreement. "That's where Derek brought Paige, right?" Olivia made a noise of confirmation as they rushed out of the office, leaving Danielle behind. "Okay, so—"

"Stilinski!" the agent from earlier, who Stiles had told her was Scott's father, shouted for him as he stomped down the hallway.

"Fuck," Stiles cursed under his breath. "All right, you should go to Derek and ask him about the Nemeton and its location."

"I will," Olivia glanced behind him and bit the inside of her cheek when she saw that Agent McCall was only a few feet away from them now. "Be careful."

"You too."

Olivia walked away as Stiles confronted Agent McCall and swiftly turned into a different hallway, the one where her locker was located. She didn't leave like Stiles wanted her to, she had a few phone calls to make.

She took a deep breath and dialed Dr. Deaton first.

-

-

"Did you know your dad's car is in the school parking lot and has been since last night?" Agent McCall asked him. He was sitting on Coach's desk while Stiles sat on one of the students' desks right across from him. He felt like he was in the worst detention he had ever experienced. Scratch that, Mr. Harris' detentions were the worst.

Stiles ducked his head, staring at his fingers and he nervously wringed them together. "No. What does that mean?"

"It means he's officially missing," Rafael told him. Stiles stayed quiet: Tell me something I don't know. "Stiles, why am I getting the feeling you know something that could help us find your dad?"

Stiles lifted his head and narrowed his eyes at his best friend's father. "If I did, why would I not tell you?"

Probably because you, nor the FBI, know anything about what it's really like in Beacon Hills. You don't know about the supernatural, you don't even know that your son is a werewolf, a fucking true alpha, he thought bitterly.

"If it meant helping your dad, why wouldn't you?"

Stiles gave him a look that clearly asked the agent why he was being so idiotic. "So, you're asking me to tell you what I wouldn't not tell you?"

"First, I have no idea what you just said," Rafael said calmly. "Second, how about you just help me help you?"

"Well, I don't know how to help you help me tell you something that would help you if I don't know it," even Stiles was confused about his words, but he stuck to them.

Rafael furrowed his eyebrows. "Are you doing this on purpose?"

Stiles sighed. "I don't know anything, okay? Can I just go?"

Rafael shook his head. "Where are your other friends?"

"You mean Scott?"

"I mean Scott," McCall took out his handy-dandy notebook and listed off all of Stiles' friends, excluding Olivia—he knew where she was—and including some that weren't his friends. "I mean Isaac Lahey, Allison Argent, Lydia Martin, these twins Ethan and Aiden," he shut the notepad and put it back in his jacket. "I've been told your whole little clique didn't show up at school today."

Stiles rolled his eyes. "I don't have a clique."

Especially not one with Ethan and Aiden and...Well, I guess Isaac's part of our pack of friends...

"Stiles, come on," Rafael sighed, wishing he would just say something. "There's been a pretty disturbing amount of violent activity in this county in the last month, several murders tied to this school. I don't know what's going on here, but it's serious."

Stiles ducked his head again. McCall didn't have to tell him about what was going on. Stiles knew more about it than he did.

"And hey, your dad is missing," Rafael caught his attention; he lifted his head but didn't say anything. "Fine. But I don't want you going home alone. You have someone you can stay with tonight?"

"He's with me," a new, familiar, voice spoke up. Stiles and Agent McCall both looked over to the door where Deaton was standing, Olivia behind him. "Come on, Stiles."

Stiles eagerly jumped off the desk he was sitting and threw Agent McCall another glare before following Olivia and Dr. Deaton out of the classroom.

-

-

Olivia, Stiles, Allison, Isaac, and Lydia had all gathered in the exam room at the animal clinic with Dr. Deaton. Lydia had gone to see Derek and Peter, at Olivia's insistence, and asked them about the Nemeton, but according to them, Talia had taken those memories from them. That left them with no new leads on Jennifer or a location of the Nemeton, and the sun had already set. They had twenty-four hours to figure everything out.

"It has to be on a telluric current," Stiles declared, leaning against the stainless-steel cart in the middle of the room. "or maybe even at the axis of two or where they all intersect..."

"We just know that Derek took Paige to die there," Olivia finished.

"My dad and Gerard were there once," Allison told everyone from next to Olivia. "but Gerard said it was years ago and he couldn't remember where it was. And my dad obviously isn't here to tell us now."

"Yeah, mine either."

Olivia bit the inside of her cheek, and comfortingly rubbed Allison's back with one hand and Stiles' back with the other. She didn't know if it was comforting but she wanted to show her support for them anyway.

"Then how do we find this place?" Isaac spoke up.

The five of them looked over to Dr. Deaton, who had been pacing with a thoughtful expression the whole time they spoke.

"There might be a way," Dr. Deaton said finally. "but it's dangerous. We're going to need Scott."

Olivia immediately set to work on finding Scott's location. After only two minutes—she was getting much better at locating her pack members—Stiles and Dr. Deaton went to go find him. While she and the others waited for them to bring Scott back with them, she pulled herself into her map and tried to find Sheriff Stilinski, Ms. McCall, and Mr. Argent.

The whole thing was trickier than expected but she didn't care. Knowing that she was most connected to Stiles, she started with his tether. First, she dived deep down into it—while trying not to disturb Stiles, where he and Deaton were—and stayed there for a few seconds, getting used to the feeling of it. She pictured Noah and Stiles together, using one of the memories in which she had gone over to their house for pizza one night so Noah could get to know her better. She focused on them and their bond. Although Stiles and his dad didn't look much alike, their personalities were damn near the same, with a little less sarcasm on Noah's side. They really loved each other, and each one was the last family that the other had.

Once she was comfortable with both Stiles and Noah, she moved onto Noah by himself. Something about Noah just screamed green to her, but that was nice. Green was warm and comforting and that fit him. And when she saw a faded green dot in front of her, she knew that it was him. The thing was, the dot was dull and blurry—she couldn't see him properly. She tried going further toward him but she couldn't move. Something was keeping her back.

She cursed under her breath as she opened her, realizing what was happening. Lydia, Allison, and Isaac were all looking at her expectantly, wanting to know if she got anything. "Jennifer," she scowled. "I think she's blocking me somehow."

"Then we will have to go through with the plan. It's our last choice," Dr. Deaton entered the exam room, followed by Stiles and Scott.

"Yeah, what exactly is this plan?" Lydia asked curiously. Dr. Deaton and Stiles had left before the former was able to explain the plan.

"Essentially, Scott, Allison, and Stiles need to be surrogate sacrifices for their parents," Deaton explained.

"They're going to die for them?" Olivia asked, furrowing their eyebrows. She wouldn't be able to handle that. Stiles was the love of her life, Allison was one of her best friends, and Scott was a friend to her as well. Three members of her pack, three people that she loved and cared about would be gone.

Stiles, it seemed, could read her mind. "He can bring us back," he assured her, crossing the room to pull her into his side. He glanced at Deaton to make sure, "You can bring us back, right?"

Dr. Deaton pulled a half-grimace. "You remember the part where I said it was dangerous?" everyone nodded. "If it goes right, the three of you will be dead for a few seconds, but there's something else you need to think about. This is a dangerous thing for more reasons than one. You'll be giving power back to the Nemeton, a place that hasn't had power for a long time."

"This kind of power is like a magnet. It attracts the supernatural, the kind of things that a family like the Argents can fill the pages of a bestiary with," he said seriously, finishing up. "It will draw them here, like a beacon."

Olivia wondered if the Nemeton was the reason that their town was named Beacon Hills in the first place. If it had been a long time since the Nemeton had power, it might have been. The Hales had always been a prominent family in Beacon Hills for over a century, so it was entirely possible if they had named the town themselves.

Stiles shrugged. "Doesn't sound any worse than anything we've already seen."

Deaton shook his head. "You'd be surprised at what you have yet to see."

"Is that it?" Allison asked, folding her arms over her chest.

"No, it will also have an effect on the three of you," Deaton answered her. "You won't be able to see it, but you'll feel it every day for the rest of your lives. It'll be a kind of darkness around your heart and permanent, like a scar."

"Like a tattoo," Scott mused thoughtfully.

Stiles, Scott, and Allison were allowed to leave the animal clinic to head back to their homes to grab a token that represented their parents. While they did that, Olivia, Lydia, Isaac, and Deaton got to work on setting things up for the ritual.

The set-up was much like the one that they used for Isaac's when they were trying to find Boyd and Erica. There were three large tubs this time and each one was filled to the brim with water, ice, and herbs that Dr. Deaton had mixed for them. While Lydia and Isaac continued working, Dr. Deaton pulled Olivia aside.

He told her that, unlike Isaac's ritual, she wouldn't be able to help with this one. When Olivia heard his explanation, she agreed. Because Stiles, Allison, and Scott would be dead—at the minimum for a few seconds—she wouldn't be in the best shape. Deaton even told her that she may be out of it for a period of time while they were gone, if they were gone for more than a few seconds or even minutes. Honestly, it scared Olivia. She felt the whole in her heart desperately when Boyd died. It was undoubtedly going to be worse when the ritual started.

When Stiles and Scott came back, followed shortly by Allison, Olivia went straight to Stiles and wrapped her arms around his waist. He had to know that she was nervous about the whole thing because he wrapped his arms around her, too, and whispered soothing words into her ears.

"All right," Dr. Deaton said once the tubs were ready to go. "What did you bring?"

Stiles unhooked one arm from around Olivia and dug his hand into his jacket pocket. "Um, I got by dad's badge," he told everyone, staring at it sadly. "Jennifer kind of crushed it in her hand, so I tried hammering it out a bit. Still doesn't look great."

"It doesn't need to look good if it has meaning," Deaton assured him.

Stiles nodded and pressed his lips together.

"Is that an actual silver bullet?" Isaac spoke up, looking at the token that Allison was holding.

Allison nodded. "My dad made it. It's a kind of ceremonial thing," she explained. "When one of us finishes learning all the skills to be a hunter, we forge a silver bullet as a testament to the code."

"Scott?"

Scott held up a dainty watch. "My dad got my mom this watch when she first got hired at the hospital," he scoffed lightly. "She used to say it was the only thing in their marriage that ever worked."

"Okay," Dr. Deaton started to explain what they needed to do. "the three of you will get in. Olivia, Lydia, and Isaac will each hold you down until you're essentially...Well, dead. But it's not just someone to hold you under. It needs to be someone who can pull you back, someone that has a strong connection to you, a kind of emotional tether."

Olivia quickly looked up. "Did you say emotional tether?"

When Deaton nodded, Olivia and Stiles shared a knowing look. Stiles was the only one she told about her knew system of keeping track of her pack and how it worked much better than before. The fact that Deaton was mentioning an emotional tether like the ones she used couldn't be a coincidence.

Had she been led to start thinking of her attachments to the pack as tethers for a reason? The answer seemed to be yes. Olivia didn't know if she be freaked out or relieved that she was understanding her abilities better.

"Lydia," Deaton called out the redhead's name when she went to stand by Allison. "you go with Scott."

Olivia and Stiles shared another look, both of them shocked at the turn of events. Olivia looked back at her cousin with a questioning look but Lydia steadfastly ignored her as she went to take her place by a very surprised Scott.

Scott...and...Lydia? What was going on here?

They'd be cute together, though, Olivia admitted to herself.

Allison looked between one of her best friends and her former boyfriend, confused. "Are you sure?" she asked Deaton. "I mean, I have to go under, too. And Isaac—"

"Isaac will go with you," Dr. Deaton told her. "Olivia, you'll be with Stiles."

Well, that wasn't a shock. Isaac and Allison and Scott and Lydia, though? What a plot twist.

Before the ritual began, Olivia made sure to take Stiles aside for a second.

"If you stay dead, I'm gonna kill you," she warned Stiles, making him laugh through his nerves. "I'm completely serious, Stiles."

"I know you are," he smirked down at her. "It's gonna be fine, though. I love you, baby."

Olivia didn't object to the pet name. He was going to be dead for a few seconds, so she'd let it slide. "I love you, too, sweetcheeks."

They quickly kissed and Stiles placed an extra one on her temple, his lips quirking into a knowing smile. Olivia may be hard to read for other people, but it was easy for him to figure out what was going on in that stubborn head of hers.

They both made their way back into the exam room. Olivia squeezed Allison's hand meaningfully and smiled at Scott, wishing them a good luck without words. Then, they all lined up at their respective tubs.

Allison was the first one to step in, deeply inhaling at the freezing cold water. Scott got into his tub as well. Stiles looked back at Olivia before he got into his tub and she gave him the most reassuring smile that she could. It worked for him, though; he stepped into the tub fearlessly.

They were all having trouble breathing from the freezing cold water as they fully submerged themselves. A second later, Olivia took her place behind Stiles with her hands on his shivering shoulders; Lydia and Isaac did the same for Scott and Allison, respectively.

Teeth chattering, Stiles looked to his left to speak to Scott. "By the way, if I don't make it back and you do, you should probably know something. Your dad's in town."

Tears slipped down Olivia's cheeks as she pressed down on Stiles' shoulder at Deaton told them to begin. Stiles kicked and struggled underneath the water, but she kept going, knowing that this was what he wanted. It was just a little heartbreaking to keep him under.

Stiles, Scott, and Allison all stilled at the same time. Olivia didn't even have to let go, she collapsed under the weight of their nonpermanent deaths, slipping into nothingness.

(Gif is not mine)

[charmedtheselfproclaimedking]

Charmed Again: Season 3 (Charmed Fanfic)

Episode 4 - The People Versus Raven Turner

Warnings: I don’t own the rights to any of the characters from the hit TV show “Charmed” or the storylines related to the show those rights belong to original creator Constance M Burge.

15+ Moderate/Graphic Displays of Violence, Sexual Innuendos, Witchcraft and Potentially Triggering Scenes.

Raven shimmered onto the witness booth in the magical community’s courtroom the entire room being completely black except for the large white floor and two large white desks for the accused.

It’s the same court room in which the original charmed ones were put on trial for reckless magic and fought to save their friend Daryl’s life many years ago with the exact same large heads floating above the room preparing to make their judgement on the proceedings.

Raven looked over at one desk for the accused somewhat comforted to see her brother Cole sat behind it along with Paul, Pan and Drake and their white lighter Lacey while the headmaster at magic school Dermot McQueen sat alone at the other table clearly ready to condemn the demon.

“My name is Raven Turner I’m part human part demon, but my demonic side is the reason why I’m standing here today.” Raven addressed the court. “I was born and raised by my mother after she killed my father but unlike my mother, I chose a different path for myself. By choosing this path of peace I had no choice but to leave the Underworld behind forever because I refused to believe that just because I’m a demon that automatically makes me evil.”

“Your receptionist, your neighbor and several of your employees at Halliwell and Turner were slaughtered not to mention a student at my own school.” Dermot told the half demon half human hybrid. “Tell me why a demon would go to such lengths to hurt you unless you are the demon who did the hurting?”

“You really don’t understand the Underworld, do you?” Raven snapped at the elder. “Hurting people is exactly what the evil love doing more than anything especially hurting a demon who rejected their rules and way of life.”

“Perhaps not but you do in fact know my employee Mr Drake Black and you are a friend of his are you not?” Dermot asked the accused. “Therefore, giving you the opportunity to get to know and possibly even kill my student.”

“Objection!” Drake shouted at the top of his lungs as he rose from his chair, eager to fight for his fellow hybrid.

“On what ground?” Asked one of the three heads.

“This elder is arguing the archaic theory that just because someone she may or may not have had some contact with the victims then she must clearly be the guilty party however as we all know people die around us all the time.” Drake addressed the court. “Raven is no different from a good witch who is just here trying to explain why people are dying around her but instead of being a witch she’s a demon and therefore there’s this assumption that she must be guilty which is biased and frankly idiotic.”

“Witches lose innocents all the time which the explanation there but Miss Raven Turner isn’t a witch she’s a demon and whether you like it or not you can’t argue that when people start dying around a demon it’s usually the demons fault.” Dermot argued with Drake.

“Raven has powers just like a good witch does she doesn’t kill innocents just like a good witch and the only person in this court room who sees Raven Turner as anything less than a valuable part of the magical community is you and people with prejudices like you.” Drake schooled his boss once again before looking up at the three judges. “Raven has never shown any signs of wanting to hurt anyone the whole time I’ve known her, she literally escaped the Underworld because she wasn’t able to hurt anyone and now you want to put her on trial when we should be protecting her.”

“There is no evidence to prove Drake’s theory that Raven needs any protection just like there is no evidence of any other demon around when these crimes were committed other than Raven Turner herself of course.” Dermot argued.

“None of you may have any reason to trust Raven Turner because none of you really even know her but you’ve all heard of me and accept me enough to not only be a charmed one but a guidance counselor at magic school.” Drake said taking a different approach in his defense of his friend. “I’m half demon just like she is but all this is pushed aside by you all because I’m a charmed one, but it shouldn’t be because the demon part of me makes up the charmed ones just as much as my witch side. The elders have overturned many archaic rulings over the years we no longer live in times where any demon should be judged just for being a demon. I know Miss Turner and I can honestly say without a shred of doubt in my mind she isn’t guilty of this crime.”

“Is it not true Mr Black that you also trusted her and her brother Cole Turner before they betrayed you by working alongside the ancient mistress of dark magics Morgana to unlock the dark grimoire?” Dermot questioned Drake. “I mean for a demon who doesn’t want to harm anyone the unlocking of the dark grimoire would’ve caused a lot of harm would it not?”

“Yes, but that was under a desperate act the siblings had to try and reunite with their father we have all done reckless things out of grief.” Drake replied to him.

“That is not an excuse for almost unleashing all kinds of torment into this world the only thing that this proves is that your judgement is clearly not reliable.” Dermot told Drake before returning his attention back to the judges. “Drake Black shouldn’t be trying to defend anyone because history has proven time and time again that his judgement can’t be trusted. Drake has been romanced by the dubious demon Ash Anderson as an attempt to make him the prince of the Underworld, has been lied to and fooled by his own family who sit beside him now time and time again, his mother and grandfather were both sources of all evil and let us not forget the time he himself became the source.”

“Oh god this isn’t looking so good!” Pan told an equally worried Paul, Lacey and Cole as she looked at clearly infuriated Drake.

Drake stormed over to Dermot and launched his fist at the elder punching him straight in the face and causing the magic school headmaster to fall to the ground.

“We don’t condone violence in this court room!” All three judges shouted in unison.

“Yeah well that kind of got away from me.” Drake told the judges before he quickly vanished from the courtroom by their doing.

“Please Paul you’re going to have to take the stand after all you are the lawyer around here.” Cole pleaded with Paul.

24 Hours Earlier

Raven walked into the front entrance of the building for her law firm Halliwell and Turner holding a plastic tray containing two takeaway coffees in her hand with a big smile on her face as she walked over to the reception to greet her receptionist Patty Craft by handing her one of the coffees.

“You know you really should be getting me to do coffee runs Miss Turner after all I am your receptionist not the other way around.” Patty told her as she willingly accepted her coffee while sat behind the reception desk.

“Well I always like a coffee before starting work anyway so it’s only fair I pick one up for my favorite employee at the same time I mean you are the first face anyone sees when they walk in so there’s no point that face being missing because she’s off running after other people making them coffee when everyone is perfectly capable of making their own coffees.” Raven told her.

“About that Miss Turner I normally wouldn’t ask but I was wondering if I could finish an hour earlier today?” Patty nervously asked her boss. “My daughters are coming in from New York today and they rarely ever get time off together.”

“You mean your workaholic daughter Penny has finally got some time off being a detective in the big apple at the same time Rose is taking time off from studying at Columbia? That is a pretty big deal.” Raven replied with genuine excitement in her voice. “Of course, you can finish an hour early in fact you can half a half day with full pay so you can spend some time with your girls I know how precious family can be.”

“Are you sure Miss Turner?” Patty asked her, thrilled to get the time off. “You’re the best boss ever!”

“Please just call me Raven I feel like the two of us should be on first name basis by now.” Raven told her. “I mean here at Halliwell and Turner your practically family.”

Drake walked sneakily down the main hallway of magic school trying to rush his way to his office door after running a little late that morning only to make it right to his front door as Dermot orbed himself in front of the Halliwell hybrid.

“You’re late again Mr Black.” Dermot told him.

“Only by five minutes and as far as you know it could’ve been a charmed emergency.” Drake replied to his boss.

“Was there a charmed emergency?” Dermot asked to which Drake nodded to signal a no. “Then your late for no reason…again.”

“I’m sorry,” Drake apologized. “I’ll try my best to make sure it won’t happen again.”

“Good because the elders and I have put a lot of faith in you by giving you this position at magic school I’d hate to see your potential go to waste because of your tardiness.” Dermot advised the guidance counselor.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Drake replied with a forced smile.

“I really don’t know what to say!” Pan said to Lacey as the two of them stood within an empty apartment located somewhere within San Francisco. “It just seems a little meh to me to be honest it doesn’t feel like it could be home.”

“Clearly this isn’t the one for us but there’s so many more on the viewing list yet I’m sure we’ll find the perfect home.” Lacey replied to her fiancé.

“I know this should be an exciting time for us both and I’ve always wanted a place without siblings and ancestors popping in every two seconds but I’m really dreading having to tell Paul we’re moving.” Pan admitted to her. “He’s not going to take it well we’ve lived together all our lives and he loves that his whole family is final under one roof.”

“I understand that, but he’s got to let you go at some point the two of you can’t live together forever you both have to live your own life sooner rather than later.” Lacey told her. “Besides Drake and Lilah will keep him company it’s not like their going anywhere anytime soon.”

“You’re right you always are.” Pan replied before kissing Lacey. “But I’ll hold off on telling Paul until after we find the perfect place.”

“So, your named Raven because your mother used to turn you into one every time you did something to displease her?” Paul asked his business partner while she sat behind her desk in her office as he sat in the chair in front of her desk at Halliwell and Turner as the two of them ate salad during their lunch break. “As parenting goes that’s pretty bloody awful.”

“To be honest that was far from the worst parenting in the Underworld and I actually quite enjoyed being a raven sometimes I mean the flying made me feel free at a time when I felt imprisoned and getting to scare clueless teens was also a lot of fun.” Raven admitted before laughing to herself. “Thank god for horror culture always finding a way to amuse me.”

“Making people jump is probably the baddest thing you’ve ever done.” Paul joked with her.

“I’ve really missed this…I’ve missed you.” Raven said with sincerity.

“I’ve missed you too!” Paul replied before their lunch was interrupted by loud screams coming from people outside of their office.

Raven and Paul quickly rushed out of their office chasing the sound of the screams from various people as they passed reception and walked out into the parking lot outside of their law firm only to be left horrified to find a completely burned up corpse laying on the ground next to a car Raven instantly recognized as Patty Craft’s, the law firm’s number one receptionist.

Drake was sat behind his desk in his office at magic school typing away at his computer when he heard a knock at his door before his boss Dermot walked into his office.

“Okay you’ve literally just moaned at me about time keeping what’s next on your list to have a go at me for?” Drake asked him.

“Well actually I was hoping you could sit in with a meeting I’m having right now to make sure I’m not handling it with a biased view considering the incident happened within my class when I was teaching.” Dermot replied. “A student apparently thought it was okay to attack another.”

“Can’t say I can blame either one of them really having to listen to your lectures would turn anyone violent.” Drake mocked his boss before reluctantly standing up. “Of course, violence in school is never unacceptable but why can’t you handle this yourself? After all you are the boss around here.”

“Because it involves two demonic students and I have a feeling you’d throw a fit again if I handled it incorrectly so this way it saves us both a lot of time.” Dermot teased the guidance counselor with a wicked smile on his face.

“Does anyone actually like you here?” Drake wondered.

“Other than you people seem to love me.” Dermot responded with a laugh. “I’m very popular around here actually.”

“Yeah well Satan’s popular around certain circles too.” Drake taunted him.

After the police and coroners were called and took away what remained of Patty Craft, Raven, Paul and Lacey had found themselves sitting on a couch within the reception area of Halliwell and Turner which was now completely empty barring the three of them as Raven and Paul told everyone to go home following Patty’s untimely and horrific demise.

“My guess is some demon is trying to send one of you a message.” Lacey suggested to them both. “But considering we’re talking about a charmed one and a demon turned good the list could of possibilities could be endless.”

“Her daughters were coming in from New York today she never got to see them as often as she’d like, and she was so excited to have them both home for a few days.” Raven cried. “Penny is always busy with work and Rose is always busy studying that they’d never have enough time with Patty and now some monster has made it so these girls will never get another moment with their mother.”

“I know it’s awful Patty Craft was an amazing woman.” Paul told Raven as he reached out and held her hand. “The best receptionist we ever had I wish I got to know her better…I didn’t even know she had children.”

“I can’t remember the last time I’ve lost someone I knew I believe it was my father all those years ago if this is because of me if some demon has a vendetta against me then I’ll never forgive myself.” Raven told them both.

“You’re not to blame for any of this Raven even if it is some demon trying to get back at you that happens to us all the time.” Paul tried to reassure her while holding Raven’s hand tighter. “We will get justice for Patty and make whoever did this pay I promise you that.”

“I guess I’ll check in with the elders and find out what’s going on from them if they know anything.” Lacey said to Raven and Paul. “You guys try and sit tight until I’m back.”

Drake walked into Dermot’s office to find the two female students sitting on opposite ends of the headmaster’s couch. He quickly rushed over to his boss�� desk and sat down behind it on Dermot’s chair.

“How come he gets the comfier chair?” Drake mumbled to himself. “I’m so stealing this later.”

“Look Mr Black I didn’t mean to get violent but she kept saying the charmed ones thought they were so much more important than they actually were and so I argued with my first.” The redheaded student claimed.

“Hey, you’re the one who said charmed 2.0 has nothing on the original.” The brunette student snapped back at the redhead.

“What now?” Drake asked looking at them both, clearly unimpressed before going on to say. “There is absolutely no excuse for violence of any kind within magic school I would say or out of it, but sometimes folk need vanquished.”

“Fine,” The redhead sighed before turning to look at the brunette. “When I said the charmed ones were self-important, I meant Charmed 2.0 not the original charmed ones the originals rock.”

“Yeah, they do, don’t they?” The brunette agreed. “Prue’s my favorite.”

“I personally love Piper!” The redheaded student replied.

“Whether the two of you agree or disagree there’s no reason to answer an argument with your fists trust me when I say there are a lot of people in this life that are going to irritate you but punching them is never going to be the answer.” Drake educated them both.

“You mean like the way you stop yourself from knocking Mr McQueen’s lights out every time he reprehends you?” The redhead replied to him. “He seems to be a lot nicer to the other teachers around here.”

“I knew he was extra strict on me for something reason.” Drake agreed before returning himself back to the matter in hand. “The point I’m trying make is when someone says something you don’t like speak it out instead of going fist first and maybe just maybe you won’t wind up with detention again.”

“Well I think Mr McQueen’s got it hot for you!” The brunette suggested. “There’s nothing hotter in the library than demon/angel romance novels and you guys are like the real edition.”

“Okay I think I’m done here,” Drake changed the subject as he stood up from his chair. “You’re both getting detention every day after school for a week hopefully I won’t have to hand you anymore detentions in the future although if you suggest any romances with me and Mr McQueen again, I’ll give use detention for life!”

“I think I have theory on who might have done this Paul.” Raven told the Halliwell lawyer as the two remained sitting on a couch with the reception area of Halliwell and Turner. “I think she’s come back for me once again and it’s all my fault for believing she’d ever leave me alone.”

“Who do you think it is Raven?” Paul asked her.

“My mother Beth Turner she never did know how to let go of me or Cole and she specialized in burning her victims alive I mean sure she had another talents when it came to murder but when she wanted people to know who killed her victim she’d burn them like that.” Raven explained. “I haven’t seen her in so long I had hoped I was finally free…I guess I’m never going to be free from her.”

“We need to tell Cole straight away between the two of you, the elders and us we can figure out what to do to stop your mother and make sure she doesn’t hurt anyone else.” Pan told his fellow business partner.

“No this is my fault for not killing her all those years ago which means I must finish this one way or another.” Raven replied before kissing a shocked Paul. “If things don’t end well look after my brother.”

Before Paul had any chance to talk Raven out of whatever it was that she was planning she had already shimmered her way out of sight.

“Are you like everywhere now?” Drake asked Dermot as Dermot walked into his own office to see Drake sitting comfortably behind his desk and no students to be found.

“You do remember I sent you in here to deal with students not to take over my office, right?” Dermot asked him.

“Yes, I do…now.” Drake replied as he stood up from Dermot’s office chair. “I’ve delivered detentions to both students for a week and I think helped them bond over their love for the original charmed ones and their joined believes that neither me nor my father or aunt will ever live up to their legacy so you’re welcome.”

“I guess you’re continuing to prove yourself worthy of your job tittle…for now.” Dermot told him. “Long may it last.”

“Let me make myself perfectly clear Dermot,” Drake snapped as he stormed over to stand in front of the headmaster. “You can keep riding me as hard as you want but I’m not going to buckle under anyone’s pressure I’ve been through so much more than you could ever handle and I refuse to let some old man with a god complex make me quit now so if you want me out of here you’re going to have to fire me.”

Raven shimmered her way to different caves and locations within the Underworld relentlessly searching for her mother not stopping for long as she continue to search high and low for her twisted mother refusing to be scared of being caught by anyone as she vowed to seek revenge on Elizabeth Turner for all the crimes she had committed, finally coming face to face with her mother within one of the endless caves in the Underworld.

“Well if it isn’t one of my failures, you’re a very brave girl to come back here after all this time knowing everybody here wants you dead.” Beth told her daughter upon their family reunion.

“I can’t believe after all these years your still hurting people just to get to me!” Raven screamed at her mother. “You murdered that innocent woman just to spite me what kind of monster are you?”

“I’m a mother who simply wants her children to live up to their potential instead of continuing to disappoint me repeatedly.” Beth snapped back. “We are demons darling not pathetic humans and the sooner you learn this the better.”

“You need to leave me and my brother alone forever or I promise you I’ll break my no kill mission just to end you!” Raven warned her.

“Please you’re nothing but a disappointment you couldn’t kill anyone.” Beth cruelly mocked her daughter. “How about we test this little threat of yours?”

After a long day at work Drake found himself facing an even longer night at magic school following a list of reports that had been handed to him from his boss on students he needed to check up on leading to Drake calling on Cole to pick up Lilah to babysit while he continued working, refusing to let Dermot win in a battle he was convinced the elder had started to make Drake quit a job that despite his terrible boss he had found himself loving.

“Me allowing you an unsupervised visit with Lilah doesn’t mean we’re back to being besties again or anything it just means I’m willing to give you a second chance so try not to blow it again.” Drake told Cole while the two walked down the main hall of magic school with Drake pushing Lilah’s pram while Lilah was fast asleep in her seat.

“I promise no more family drama is going to get me betraying you again.” Cole promised him.

“Yeah, I’m done talking this to death so take my daughter for an hour and I mean an hour tops and then bring her back and god help me if you so much as…” Drake began to say before Cole interrupted him by kissing him on the lips much to Drake’s surprise.

Before Drake could even respond to Cole’s surprise act, he had grabbed a hold of the pram and shimmered away with Lacey just before a clearly panicked Raven shimmered herself in front of Drake.

“Drake I really need your help.” Raven told him.

“I’m beginning to think there’s some huge conspiracy going on right now to keep me here forever.” Drake said as he walked Raven into his office at magic school. “Sorry…please go ahead and tell me what you need.”

“My mother has returned and she’s killing people right left and center in some attempt to torture me and I would’ve went to Cole but he’s on recently back on side and I don’t know how he’ll react to our mother being back.” Raven explained to him. “I need to stop her somehow, but I’ve never killed before not even something as wicked as her.”

“Wow as revelations go that’s quite a big one to get my head around.” Drake admitted. “Don’t worry I’ve got your back no matter what you want to do with her.”

“Thanks, I just want her to be stopped once and for all so no more blood is on my hands because of her.” Raven told him.

“Raven we’re not to blame for our parents it’s something I had to learn myself you know with my mother being the source of all evil and everything. You’re not responsible for whatever your mother is doing but I can sure as hell help you stop her once and for all.” Drake reassured Raven.

“First you’re late to showing up and now you’re late to finishing I’m beginning to think you’re one confusing witch Mr Black.” Dermot said as he walked into Drake’s office before recognizing Raven straight away.

“Trust me I’m going to leave once I’m done the reports which I’ll do after helping my friend here so you can turn back around and mind your own business thank you very much Mr McQueen.” Drake snapped at his boss.

“Yeah that’s not happening Drake I’m going to need to speak to you in my office right now!” Dermot argued with his feisty employee.

“I will be there once I’m finished helping my friend.” Drake told his boss.

“My office now!” Dermot shouted before storming out of Drake’s office.

“I’m sorry about all this he’s turning into the first ever elder I’m going to vanquish,” Drake apologized to Raven. “I’ll be straight back and then we’ll vanquish your mum please just stay here for a minute.”

“You really do have quite the variety of people stopping by your office.” Dermot snapped at Drake as Drake met him within the main hallway of Magic School.

“Again, with this demon hating talk are you ever going to learn from this self-hatred you have for demons?” Drake argued with his boss. “I get you may have not been a big fan about me working here because I’m a demon but I’m a damn good one and guess what so is my visitor.”

“You’re so beyond naive is frustrating when are you going to learn to stop trusting everyone so bloody easily?” Dermot told him. “This naivety of yours is going to wind up harming one of our students.”

“I’m here to help all students the demonic ones especially and the only way for magic school to ever really change for the better is for you to either shut up and accept the changes or back the hell down!” Drake shouted at Dermot.

“You really think you know everything don’t you your so beyond frustrating it’s driving me crazy.” Dermot shouted back at him as he got up in Drake’s face, both completely furious with each other.

“No, it’s you who’s convinced you know everything and you’re the one driving me crazy!” Drake snapped back at his boss before he was once again surprised, this time by Dermot pulling his body in towards his own and passionately kissing him.

The two looked at each other with pure confusion in their eyes, unsure of what just happened between them while longing to kiss each other again until suddenly they heard a loud scream coming from Drake’s office a scream which Drake instantly recognized as Raven’s.

“How the hell did you get in here mother?” Asked a horrified Raven after her mother shimmered into Drake’s office holding a male student from magic school by the throat. “Please just let him go and I’ll do whatever you need me to do.”

“I remember a time when this school never let our kind in and now it seems by trying to be more inclusive of us, they’ve just opened themselves up for any old demon to talk in.” Beth replied to her daughter while continuing to strangle the student.

“Let the kid go mother, stop hurting these innocents and start hurting me instead I know that’s what you want.”

“But darling hurting others seems to hurt you so much more!” Beth told her daughter before setting the student on fire with her magical touch alone.

“No!” Raven screamed at the top of her lungs.

Present Day

Raven was sat on the witness platform as her court case withing the magical courtroom continued after Drake found himself kicked out of court while the three heads remained above them all judging the demon on trial as Raven tried to focus on Paul, Pan, Cole and Lacey who were sat at the defense table.

“The entire case presented here against the accused is nothing more than a case of prejudice within the magic community spearheaded by the headmaster of magic school nonetheless which only serves to prove if anything that Mr Dermot McQueen is far from the right person to be head of any school where demonic students reside.” Paul addressed the court after standing up from his chair and walking over to stand in the middle of the courtroom floor. “In over 100 years Raven has never harmed a single innocent and instead of believing a victim who is quite clearly under attack you all jump to this conclusion that she must be guilty because she’s a demon and demons are only good for killing people. Raven was right when she said she wouldn’t be here if she was a witch and for that reason alone you should all be deeply ashamed of yourselves.”

“Objection!” Dermot shouted as he rose up to his feet from behind the desk of the opposition. “Paul Halliwell is clearly a biased party who despite having a law degree is unwisely basing hi argument on emotion instead of evidence or logic.”

“No this entire court proceeding is based on zero evidence except from a corpse being found near the accused while the other corpse was found with the accused when she was having lunch with myself and therefore I’m here alibi for the first murder which was identical to the second which occurred in magic school.” Paul argued with Dermot before looking up at the three judges. “If change is really going to happen in the magical community then we have to be the change, the driving force to make it all happen.”

“Enough!” Raven shouted as she stood up from her seat and began walking over to Paul. “I may have never hurt an innocent life but as of today I can no longer say I haven’t claimed any lives.”

“Show us what you mean please Miss Turner.” One of the three judges asked her.

“Of course.” Raven agreed before a screen suddenly appeared to the right of the courtroom as they watched Raven’s mother kill the male student in front of Raven in Drake’s office at magic school completely burned the body before Raven returned the favour to Elizabeth Turner  as she set her own mother on fire before Beth exploded and the screen disappeared along with the footage.

“You did the right thing Raven!” Cole told his sister as he stood up from his chair. “Our father would’ve been so proud of you.”

“You vanquished a demon who was killing innocents Miss Turner that makes you a hero in our eyes not a murderer.” One of the judges said to her.

“Today has honestly shown us of our own prejudices along with many others within the magical community.” Another judge stated while the three judges looked at Dermot.

“We thank you for your services Miss Turner and apologize for this trial ever having to take place.” The third judge apologised. “As for prejudices within Magic School we will be implementing some changes to ensure a brighter future for all students.

“We won!” Paul smiled as Lacey, Cole and Pan stood up to cheer before Paul hugged Raven.

“I’m not sure we did.” Raven replied to him.

[likeshipsonthesea]

A Happy Ending

Nursey Week Day 6: Dreamer

*

         Nursey sits on the floor of the living room, playing with Legos and trying to build the coolest castle there ever was. He considers two Legos thoughtfully, deciding eventually on a pink door over a green one.

         The castle, Nursey decides, belongs to a King and a Queen. They have a son, the Prince. The King and Queen work a lot, as kings and queens usually do, which leaves the Prince to his own devices much of the time. He wanders about the cool castle excitedly, ready to find a new secret passageway or a painting willing to have a conversation (because, in the cool castle, paintings can talk).

         The Prince finds a room filled with toys. So many toys that it’s overwhelming. There is a wall lined with stuffed animals, cupboards filled with action figures and shelves filled with colorful books detailing stories of unearthly adventures. The Prince runs about the room, picking up toys and playing with them for a while before moving on. He puts together a puzzle of the Eiffel Tower in France, which he’s seen himself, and then he uses dolls to act out a tale of falling in love. In the back of the room, there’s a group of people the Prince’s age, willing to play hockey with him when he asks.

         When the Prince tires of playing, he attempts to find his way out of the room, but he cannot find the door he came in through. Nothing looks familiar and the Prince begins to get scared, worried that he’ll be stuck in this room forever. As cool as the toys are, he misses his parents, the King and Queen, and he doesn’t want the toys if he can’t have them, too.

         Just as the Prince starts to cry, hopelessly lost, the King and Queen rush over to him, having found him in the large, cool castle.

         The Queen scoops the Prince up in her arms, cooing softly. “We were so worried about you,” she says, petting his hair and holding him close. “We missed you so much.”

         The King puts a hand on the Prince’s back, rubbing soothingly. “Yes, son, you are the most important thing to us and we thought we lost you.”

         “What about-” the Prince sniffles, “- what about your jobs?” he asks.

         “They don’t mean anything compared to you,” the Queen says.

         “You are the most important thing to us,” the King says, nodding.

         The Prince smiles, pressing his face into his mother’s chest, and hugs her tighter.

         “Now, what would you like for dinner?” the King asks, but it doesn’t sound like the King’s booming, deep voice.

         Nursey frowns, looking up at his nanny, who’s wearing an expectant look on her face.

         “What?”

         His nanny rolls her eyes, annoyed. “What would you like for dinner?”

         Nursey blinks at her, confused. “Don’t Mommy and Daddy decide?”

         “They won’t be eating it. They have to work late.”

         “Oh.” Nursey looks back at his Lego castle. “Whatever’s fine,” he says. His nanny leaves, walking towards the kitchen. Nursey starts taking apart the castle.

*~*~*

         The saying, “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to see it, does it make a sound?” is an incredibly arrogant thought, Nursey decides halfway through his math period. Like, who says that something is only true if you’re there to witness it? Things happen even if you aren’t there. Things happen even if humans aren’t there. Humanity is not the be-all end-all of the world.

         Humanity is pretty arrogant too, now that he thinks about it. They consider themselves the top of the food chain, the smartest, the best species. Just because humans don’t understand what animals are saying doesn’t mean that animals aren’t just as smart as them. It’s not unlike when people who don’t speak English are considered stupid in the eyes of bigoted only-English speaking people simply because they can’t understand what the non-English speaker is saying. Not to say that non-English speakers are animals and English speaking people are “higher” like humanity considers itself to be, just that the prejudice both experience are somewhat similar.

         “Mr. Nurse?”

         Nursey looks up to see the teacher, Mr. Camilleri, wearing an expectant look on his face.

         “What?”

         The kids around him laugh and Nursey tries to duck down further into his notes.

         Mr. Cam, because he’s chill as hell, glares the rest of them into silence and re-asks, “What was your answer for number four?”

         “Uh.” Nursey looks down at his paper. Number four is artfully decorated with some confusing scribbles, random lines, and a circled 42˚. “42?”

         Camilleri nods, turning back to the whiteboard, where he writes down 42˚. “While that’s not the final answer, it is a pit stop on the way of getting there. Ms. Junip, could you help us get to the final answer?”

         Nursey pays attention as Penelope Junip explains the rest of the problem because he knows he’ll need to understand this for the next test. When the question is over, and they move onto number five, Nursey finds that he actually got the right answer for that one, so he lets himself drift as Camilleri explains it for those who didn’t.

         He wonders if numbers have relationships with each other. He feels like five would be a dick; he’s so special and everything, only fitting into numbers that end in five or zero. Ten is probably humble, a little embarrassed at five’s arrogance. Eight probably loves nine, but nine only has eyes for ten, and they’re such a perfect couple that eight always feels bad for his feelings. Six probably knows this, and takes eight and seven out when any of the three of them are feeling bad. Seven always feels out of place, so awkward and never feeling like he fits except with a select few, like six, and eight. Nursey almost laughs at himself when he finds himself identifying with the number seven.

         Next period, he has English. They’re reading Romeo and Juliet, and though Nursey’s already read it, he can’t wait. English works in his mind the way that math does in Penelope Junip’s. Metaphors and similes, figurative language peppered with repetition and symbolism and allusions. It makes sense the way an equation should; everything fits. But it’s more fun than math, because he can move things around and still have it make sense. There isn’t such structure to English.

         He finds this ironic, of course, because he usually loves structure, control. Any differentiation has him freaking out in a decidedly unchill manner. But it’s also perfectly understandable, he reasons. All the best things in his life are unstructured, craziness, chaos. Shitty Knight, hockey, poetry. He’s just a chaotic kind of guy.

         As they move onto number six, Nursey laments his situation while also trying to figure out how in the world Camilleri got 73˚.

*~*~*

         There’s a brochure in front of him. Actually, there are several brochures in front of him. There’s one for Yale, since it’s an Ivy and would get him an internship in any of the places a child of parents like his ought to get an internship. There’s two other ones of colleges in New York, Columbia and Cornell. Columbia because it’s in New York City and his guidance counselor assumed he might want to stay close to home, and Cornell, a product of his mother’s lingering hope that he will go into engineering. Harvard is there, his father’s way of pushing Nursey into law so he could go and tell his business buddies that his son is a lawyer.

         In the middle of them all sits Samwell University. This one was given to him by Shitty Knight, who stopped by Andover in February for Nursey’s birthday celebration and to taunt some of his least favorite teachers with pranks. He had clapped Nursey on the back, laughing and telling him that it all starts now, with seventeen and freedom and independence.

         “You’d like it,” Shitty had said, eyes earnest despite the haziness of the alcohol. “It’s-” He had shaken his head, beaming. “It’s fucking sw’awesome. Come to the hockey tour; I promise you won’t regret it.”

         Nursey hadn’t regretted it. He had loved Samwell, from the hockey rink being beautiful enough to inspire sonnets to the teammates who welcomed out-of-the-norm people to the quietly outstanding libraries to the two girls he saw kissing in broad daylight like there was nothing to be afraid of. Samwell was everything he had wanted in high school and never got. Well, he got a taste of it, in the form of Shitty, but Nursey wanted a world of Shitty Knight.

         God, he could never tell Shitty that. His ego, and Nursey’s tolerance of it, would explode.

         He imagines himself at Samwell, surrounded by those people and those things. He could get a boyfriend- or girlfriend, he is pan, after all, but he can get a girlfriend at Andover- and flaunt him like he would deserve. He could live in the library, with books and that architecture, crying over its beauty and his sure-to-be-deadly coursework. He could spend practices and roadies and wins and losses with guys who collectively yelled at the one taddy that made a comment about that baking one’s femininity.

         In his mind, Nursey sits on a couch in a frat house. It smells terrible. There’s pie.

         It’s wonderful.

*~*~*

         There’s a room somewhere, the place is irrelevant. In this room, there’s an unending supply of tea, all the flavors Nursey could dream of. All of his favorite books are in a pile next to the comfiest couch that was ever made. Next to that pile are all the books Nursey’s ever wanted to read. People are only allowed in the room if they’re wearing fuzzy socks and of a mind that’s ready to relax.

         There are no clocks in the room, so there is no time. Nothing outside the room matters and Nursey is sitting on that couch, sipping tea, reading books, and wearing fuzzy socks.

         He is not, as he was earlier led to believe, underneath the Haus dining table attempting to cram for his environmental science midterm while Bitty flutters about the kitchen, offering him pastries every once in a while. That, he’s sure, would be terrible and ridiculous in equal measures.

         Of course, the illusion is shattered when Dex shoves himself under the table as well, already bustling in before he seems to realize that Nursey already occupies this space. He considers Nursey for a moment with an angry expression before muttering, “Budge over,” and settling in next to him. He pulls out a French history textbook and begins taking notes.

         It’s a well-known fact that underneath the Haus dining table is an excellent spot to study. Ransom spends at least half of his break downs under here. Shitty can usually be found here before finals, naked save for a textbook artfully covering his junk. Lardo has been under here so many times to finish a piece that the bottom of the table is covered in paint splatters. They, the glorious upperclassmen, imparted this knowledge on the lowly Frogs, who use the spot when necessary.

         Nursey is too stressed to argue, so he just moves over. The two of them cram for a long while. Halfway through a sentence about wind patterns, Nursey snorts to himself when he realizes that his desire for timelessness seems to have been achieved. It isn’t exactly what he meant, but no fulfilled wish ever is.

         Sometime after that but before Nursey gets to the end of that chapter, Bitty pokes his head under the table, offering out a plate of something that looks delicious.

         “I made meringues. You boys want one?” His studying is usually done in the form of making his textbooks unsellable after the end of a class by dirtying them with flour and the like. Dex, who doesn’t mind, bought three of them in the beginning of the semester.

         “Yes, please.” Dex, who’s closer, takes the plate and puts it in between his and Nursey’s legs. They bite into them simultaneously and groan likewise.

         “Fuck, Bits,” Dex moans around his own. Bitty blushes. Nursey tries not to find it attractive, but it’s a battle.

         “You’re the best,” Nursey says earnestly. Bitty rolls his eyes, but his lips curve into a pleased smile.

         “You boys flatter me.” He rights himself, his head disappearing, and Nursey and Dex take a break from studying to devour the meringues. There’s an odd number, so they are left with one on the plate when they’ve polished off the rest. Nursey and Dex exchange a look. Then, Dex picks it up and cleanly breaks it in half, holding one piece out to Nursey, who smiles a little, surprised.

         “Thanks,” he says quietly. Dex nods. They eat they’re shared treats, eyes shining like kids who found the cookie jar hidden above the refrigerator. It’s a secret, almost, and it tastes sweet.

*~*~*

           There’s cheering, overwhelmingly loud cheering. It’s cold, as it always is on the ice, but Nursey loves it like he has since he shakily skated onto the rink near his parents’ apartment in New York. Everything is sore, and the cold doesn’t help, and his under armor sticks to him all clammy and sweaty like someone’s hand he doesn’t want to be holding.

         The captain is beaming, laughing as he’s tackled by the rest of the team. They won, he’s thinking, it’s in his eyes, we did it, I can’t believe we did it. The goalie is being lifted into the air, laughing as the pressure of being the only thing between a victory and sadness drifts away. The coaches are clapping each other on the back, all of the players left on the bench having joined the fray. They share conspiratorial smiles, like proud parents able to bask in a moment of Look at what they did, look at what we helped them do.

         For a second, the captain is Jack, looking proud and emotional but knowing that this isn’t it, there’s more to come. The goalie is Chowder, crying a little and scrambling away when Holster and Ransom try to hand him the puck, a Frozen Four win puck. Murray and Hall have that parental look about them, the kind of look that Nursey’s never seen on his own parents, and it makes him ache, but he doesn’t mind. It’s Samwell’s bench that’s void of players; the ice is covered in red and white jerseys; it’s red and white confetti falling from the ceiling.

         The next second, Nursey is walking into a locker room with twenty-two other emotional young hockey players. Jack is nowhere to be seen; Chowder is crying- Nursey got that part right; Murray and Hall are attempting to tell them all that they did a good job, but their eyes aren’t quite convincing enough. Nursey curls a hand around Dex’s shoulder, the sound of his helmet banging on the floor reverberating around in Nursey’s ears.

         He imagines cheering, in the next second. Whooping and the sloshing of Gatorade as it’s dumped on Jack, Chowder, the coaches, everyone. There would probably be a Gatorade fight, when Nursey thinks about it. Everyone would be laughing. Bitty would be thinking up the pie he was going to make in celebration. Shitty would probably be naked. Dex would probably be smiling that forest fire smile of his; unrestrainable and radiating warmth.

         Nursey knows he has another three years to try, to do this again, to win. But, as he sits down at his designated cubby, his eyes catch on Shitty, whose hair falls in his face, his expression closed off. He looks at Jack’s stall, empty. Nothing has changed in that stall since Jack stood up from it two hours ago and gave a speech telling them to give it their all and that he would be happy. He isn’t happy now, Nursey thinks.

         “Nursey,” someone says, breaking him out of his reverie. “You’ve gotta shower.”

         Nursey looks up to see Dex standing there, anger in the set of his jaw and worry in his eyes. The anger seeps out a bit, though, when he sees Nursey’s face.

         “We deserved it,” Nursey says, rambling in his mind and shutting his mouth tight. This isn’t how it was supposed to go. In all the movies, all the books, the team that deserved it won. The captain who had done his best, been encouraging, had gone through so much, he would get the win, win it all. Or-or the underdog, freshman goalie who was the sweetest person anyone would ever meet and a stone-cold killer between the poles, he would get a NCAA win his first year. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.

         “I know,” Dex says, and Nursey thinks he does.

*~*~*

         A Snap sits unread on the screen of Nursey’s phone. It’s from wjp_dex and it sits unread because Nursey hasn’t finished this chapter yet. He doubts he’ll be able to finish a novel if he’s stopping every other word to look at the snapshots of his life that Dex gives him.

         When the chapter is complete, he picks up and unlocks his phone, receiving his small gift. It’s a picture of Dex, a little sunburnt, with the bay behind him. He’s wearing a backwards cap and there’s a little ginger girl with her face smashed against his, grinning with a smile that’s missing a few teeth. Dex looks so content, relaxed around the eyes and his mouth in an easy smile. It’s captioned with sadie thinks your name is weird.

         Nursey takes a picture of his laptop screen and sends back your face is weird. Then he takes another one of himself and clarifies dex’s, not sadie’s. sadie’s is adorable.

         Suck up, Nursey gets back with a picture of Dex sticking his tongue out and Sadie smiling smugly.

         In Maine, Dex would play in the water with Sadie and Scott and all the other siblings that have names so Irish that it’s like they’re trying to prove it-like the hair wasn’t enough. Nursey would lie on the beach, a book in his hand, or maybe a journal, so he could write. He would look up every once in a while to watch them all splash around, smile, and then go back to his work. After a while, Dex would get annoyed and send one of his cutest little relatives to go get him.

         They’d spend the afternoon in the water, turning to prunes and tasting salt long after they’d left the beach. They’d walk back to the Poindexter’s house and Mrs. P would yell at them the second they walked in, telling them to hose off or go find some other place to have dinner. Dex would help his younger siblings get clean of sand and then start a water fight with Nursey, like they weren’t already soaking wet.

         “You look like a drowned rat,” Dex would laugh, pushing Nursey’s mop of hair out of his eyes, as it usually fell there when it was wet.

         “You look like a drowned rat,” Nursey would say back, too happy to come up with some other kind of insult. Then maybe he’d lean in and feel Dex’s sunburn-warm skin against his own, maybe it would be okay, maybe they’d-

         wjp_dex has sent you a Snap! Nursey’s phone says. He opens it. Dex has taken a picture of the water and asked, how’s the novel coming along?

         Bit by bit, he sends back, a picture of the half-filled (he’s always been an optimist, despite his attempts at the opposite) page he’s got on his screen.

         Dex sends back another picture, still of the water, and a thumbs-up emoji. Nursey smiles, and turns back to the screen.

*~*~*

         They’re fighting, and Nursey kisses him to shut Dex up. Dex’s skin is flushed with anger and his cheeks are warm under Nursey’s fingertips. He keeps trying to argue under Nursey’s lips, but silences himself when Nursey tells him to shut the fuck up. He pushes Nursey back against the door of whatever room they’re in-preferably one of their dorms, since there are beds there- and shoves his thigh in between Nursey’s. Nursey groans, his head falling back, and Dex fits his mouth around the skin of Nursey’s Adam’s apple and it’s-

         They’re drunk and get caught on one another as they navigate the dance floor, sticking like soda that hasn’t bene cleaned properly off a counter top, but more pleasantly than that sounds. The music works its way into their hips, their hands, and they tell themselves- Nursey tells himself- that it’s Beyoncé, it’s the alcohol, it’s the kegster, it’s not them, and continues telling himself that as he licks at the sweat forming on Dex’s collarbone. Dex groans and Nursey feels the vibration in his mouth and it’s-

         They’re both tired from practice and then lectures and they’re sitting in Nursey’s dorm studying, flipping through textbooks and laptops without making a sound. Dex starts typing, as he usually does, and Nursey starts humming to counteract it, and they both get so annoyed with one another that Nursey grabs Dex’s fingers to stop the tapping and Dex attempts to press them against Nursey’s mouth to quell the noise, but he only succeeds in getting their faces closer together. Nursey stares at Dex for too, too long and then leans closer and feels Dex’s exhale of breath against his check and it’s-

         And it’s funny, because in every one of Nursey’s dreams of this situation, whenever he let himself think about it, he started it. Nursey would kiss him, Nursey would lean in, Nursey would be the instigator. Maybe it was a subconscious part of himself saying that Dex would never be the one to start it, mainly because he would never feel the same way. But whatever it was, Nursey always thought of it I kiss him, he doesn’t say no, because it would be the most plausible thing his mind could handle.

         That’s how he knows that he isn’t dreaming right now, because Dex kissed him first. Dex said, “Hey, Nursey?” while they were sitting in the Haus basement as Dex attempted to fix the washer for what must be close to the hundredth time. Nursey suspects that it isn’t yet the hundredth time because he’d expect more confetti and celebration when it reaches the big one-o-o. Dex was the one that leaned in, so close that Nursey’s eyes widened and his heart started racing. Dex was the one that said, “Could you hand me the Phillips head screwdriver?” Dex had been the one that put his tools on the other side of Nursey’s spot, put Nursey between the tools and the washer.

         “I-I don’t know a Phillip,” Nursey had said, aiming for witty and just sounding nervous. Unchill, his mind said, and he almost laughed.

         “Oh,” Dex had said, his eyes laughing and his lips smirking. “I’ll get it then,” he murmured, and leaned forward. As his hand searched for the tool, his lips touched Nursey’s and his eyes closed. Which is a really ineffective way of searching for a tool, Nursey thought, before he sighed and closed his eyes as well.

         Now, Dex is the one moving his lips like waves at the shore, relentless and intoxicating. Dex is the one putting his body in between Nursey’s spread thighs, gripping his waist all sturdy and focused, like when he’s fixing things. Nursey drops his hands off the planes of Dex’s broad shoulders, his wrists bent as his fingers intertwine in the sparse hairs on the back of Dex’s neck. He let his hair get long over the summer and Nursey has dreamed about that, too.

         When Dex pulls back, he smiles. He holds up what Nursey presumes to be a Phillips head screwdriver.

         “Got it,” he says.

         “Yeah,” Nursey breathes out, and then smiles. Dex’s little laugh is way better than any flimsy dream.

*~*~*

         Nursey sits in a waiting room. His phone lights up with texts from Shitty, Chowder, Dex, and the rest of the team, but mostly the first three. Good luck, a lot of them say, you’re going to do great a couple read.

         Nursey closes his eyes.

         He lives in either Maine or Massachusetts. There’s a big house with lots of rooms and comfy furniture that costs a decent amount, but it’s good furniture. He and Dex fought about the price of the couch and then made up when Nursey had it delivered without telling Dex and then let Dex fuck him on it. Nursey and Dex have their own room, with a big bed piled high with pillows and the softest sheets money could buy, which Dex didn’t fight him over because he’s a diva when it comes to blankets.

         Some of the other rooms are also bedrooms. A guest room, for when Shitty and Lardo stop by, and a couple pull out beds for when more than one of Dex’s siblings comes by at a time. The other bedrooms are kids’ rooms, kids who love Dex and love Nursey and know what it’s like to be loved back, know what it’s like to be more important than anything else.

         One of the other rooms is a home office, where Nursey writes, sometimes. Sometimes he stays in his and Dex’s room; sometimes he stays in the kitchen. Depends on the muse, really. Nursey writes a lot, being an author and all. His books are loved, maybe not famous, but loved and cherished and a lot to the people who read them. He makes enough off of them that they can be his job and damn does he love his job.

         Dex comes home with the fucking bunch of kids that they have and presses a kiss to the side of Nursey’s face. “I love you,” he says, before asking about Nursey’s day and telling the kids to go do their schoolwork. Nursey loves him too, so much, and this is their life together. A little messy- how could it not be messy with all the kids they have?- but filled with love and warmth and presence.

         “Mr. Nurse?” the receptionist calls, leaning out of a partially opened door. “We’re ready for you.”

         Nursey grips his manuscript tightly- they had wanted a printed copy- and takes a deep breath. He knows that it wasn’t real, but a dreamer like him can accomplish anything, right?

[sweethaikyuuhc]

Haikyuu Sibling HC

So we know Tanaka, Tsukishima, and Hinata have siblings, but what if the other members of Karasuno had siblings? What would they be like, and how would they influence each other’s behavior. This is my personal opinion so share yours as well

Daichi: I think Daichi would be an only child, but have a shitload of younger cousin’s. He probably gets trampled at every family reunion because of it and has to make sure everyone is safe and in line. This reflects on how he treats his team like a family.

Suga: Suga would definitely have an older sister. She’s most likely be in her last year of college or already graduated. She would have most likely been Suga’s main influence on being kind to everyone he meets and to never judge a book by it’s cover, because you never know what’s going on in someone’s personal life. She either graduated to become a psychologist or a guidance counselor.

Asahi: He would likely be the youngest of his family. Having an older brother or two wouldn’t be surprising. The brothers would probably be very athletic and were ace’s of their sports teams as well, but are very kind.

Nishinoya Yuu: I feel as if he might have an older brother that’s like, eight years older than him. He would live in Tokyo or even abroad somewhere and Noya doesn’t get to see him very often, but he was a giant influence on Noya life that you can be small in stature, but large in voice. His brother would probably be a lawyer or business man.

Ennoshita Chikara: A younger sister or brother or maybe both fits Ennoshita’s personality of being done with everyone’s shit all the time. Definitely the eldest child.

Kinoshita + Narita: Only children

Kageyama Tobio: An older sister. He seems like that his sister would be a third year at least. Maybe even older. She would be a setter like Kageyama and play a shit ton of volleyball, but she is strong in nearly everything she does. Perfect in nearly every way. She’s practically a Mary Sue, if she didn’t care so little about everything, including her brother’s well being.

Yamaguchi Tadashi: Yamaguchi would definitely be someone with a lot of siblings. My best guess would be an older sister, just graduating college, an older brother, just starting college, and three younger sisters, all of them in their second year of middle school. Yamaguchi would usually be the one that wasn’t paid attention to because his siblings all had their super cool talents. His older sister would be starting a fashion company, his older brother would be going into engineering and design, and his younger sisters would be musical geniuses. On top of all that, Yamaguchi probably looks nothing like his siblings in anyway, which is one of the reasons he gets bullied and make him so insecure.

[maxdamico791-blog]

The Top 10 Mistakes Single Women Make At Weddings Through Py Kim Conant.

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