#yes he does send me SOS emojis when he gets injured on the job yes it gives me a hernia every time

[shibaraki]

thank you for the tag @namodawrites this was so fun (and time consuming LOL) I LOVE MY HUSBAND DONT U FORGET IT

no pressure tags: @cinnagalliard @reddriot @tinie @sluggybunny @autumnalsteahouse @isagimbap and anyone who wants to try: template under the cut ^_^

[sambergscott]

teddy from jazz brunch

pregnant amy bumps into teddy on a case ft a very ridiculous bonus scene at the end

The wait for the bomb squad to show up is always an anxious one. Especially when the guy running it is an ex that has proposed to her three times since they broke up and the last time she saw him he tried to stop her wedding. She can’t tell whether the fluttering in her stomach is the nerves about the case, seeing Teddy again, the baby kicking or a combination of all three.

“Apparently they’re five minutes out,” Rosa informs her, returning to the scene with two to-go cups. She hands Amy the soothing ginger tea and keeps the coffee for herself.

Amy sips the herbal tea, scrunching up her nose in disappointment. She’d much rather have a coffee and a shame cigarette or two but her doctor probably wouldn’t approve. Nor would she want to do anything to harm their little Shrek.

“You think there’s any chance Teddy has given up his super cool bomb squad job and retired to the South of France before he’s 40, do you?”

“No, I don’t think there’s any chance of that. I worked with him last month.” Rosa narrows her eyes suspiciously. “What’s wrong?”

She knows her so well. It’s kind of annoying, considering how little Amy knows about her, but she’s always had her back, especially since Jake went to Florida. She feels comfortable confiding in Rosa more than almost anyone (except Jake) and lets all her worries slip out.

“I haven’t seen Teddy since the wedding and what if he proposes again or tries to hit on me or acts weird about the baby?”

“Then I’ll punch him for you,” she says without hesitation.

And Amy knows that as a Police Sergeant and soon-to-be-mom she should not condone violence of any kind, but she’d be lying if she said Rosa’s words didn’t bring her a teeny bit of comfort. Maybe aversion therapy is the only way to stop Teddy’s toe-curling declarations of love. Every time he tells her he still has feelings for her: punch. Every time he gets down on one knee: kick. He’d probably have a dozen broken bones before lunch and still propose as the paramedics loaded him into the Ambulance.

“Santiago,” Rosa mutters, nodding at the swarm of bomb squad trucks pulling up outside the warehouse.

Teddy is the first one to jump out and walk towards them.

Crap.

She practices the breathing techniques from the lamaze class they went to last week and hopes he’s gone blind or doesn’t recognise her or will walk straight past them and talk to the other officers gathered nearby.

No such luck.

“Sergeant Santiago,” he grins, his eyes clearly lighting up when he sees her.

She smiles awkwardly back at him. “Lieutenant Wells. Good to see you again.”

“Good to see you too,” he responds, sounding a lot more genuine than her feeble attempt at a nicety. “Still married?”

Oh, boy. He lasted all of what, ten seconds?

“Mm-hmm,” she hums, showing off her ring.

“Happily?”

“Very happily,” she insists. She tries hard not to roll her eyes. There’s a bomb that needs diffusing, she needs to be professional. She lowers her hand and instinctively rests it on her bump. Big mistake.

Teddy’s eyes follow the movement then widen like saucers. “Oh. You’re - oh - OK - wow.”

“Yep. I am.”

He looks back at her - his expression filled with a weird concoction of disappointment, confusion and hope?

She’s a great detective, she’s great at reading body language in interrogations and anticipating what a suspect is about to do next. She knows when her husband is happy, sad, horny; she knows when he’s had a shitty day at work and just needs to snuggle up with her and watch Die Hard and when to blast Taylor Swift and dance around the apartment. She knows her unborn baby is most active at night when Jake pulls up her shirt and tells him about all the fun things they’re going to do together and that he hates the smell of Boyle’s lunch as much as she does. She can even tell how Captain Holt is feeling.

“Is it mine?”

And OK, she didn’t predict that.

Despite her expert intuition skillz (with a z, her husband is rubbing off on her), she could have never predicted that. She doesn’t even know how to respond.

Thankfully, Rosa steps in.

“You haven’t slept with her in over five years, dumb-dumb. It’s Jake Peralta’s. You know, her husband. The guy who broke you two up.”

Amy bites her lip to stop herself from laughing.

“Uh, yeah, yeah, I remember him,” he mutters, scratching the back of his head. “Nice to see you again, by the way, Detective Diaz.”

“The feeling is not mutual,” she responds.

He cowers under her glare. “Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. So, uh, the bomb?”

“Yes. The bomb.”

She explains the situation, how their investigation into a drug dealing operation led them to this warehouse, but they’d spotted a bag with wires hanging out through a window on the east side of the building. He follows her to the window and gets on his tip-toes to see inside. A few seconds later, he confirms their suspicions that it’s almost definitely an explosive device, probably designed to destroy evidence rather than actually hurt anyone.

“You know the drill, we’ll need to clear the area. You probably shouldn’t be here,” he says to Amy, gesturing at her bump. “It’s not safe. I love you and I want to protect you and that baby.”

Rosa clenches her fist, true to her word, but Amy places her hand over it before she can make impact with his face.

“What the hell, Santiago?”

“I don’t want you to get suspended, I need you on this case. And besides, Teddy’s right. It is too dangerous. I’ll go back to the Nine-Nine and read your notes later. Please don’t kill him,” she adds as an afterthought. When he goes off on one of his tangents about Pilsners or San Diego or Belgian Spaghetti, it can be kind of tempting. It was for her, even when they were dating. But Rosa can’t go back to jail. Their baby already loves her and they asked her to be godmother only last week.

“Fine,” she growls. “But if you say the word Pilsners once, so help me God, I will-.”

“Bye Teddy,” Amy cuts her off, turning 180 degrees with a flick of her perfectly shiny ponytail and heading towards the police tape they set up earlier. She pulls out her phone and texts Jake to ask if he’ll pick her up.

He responds twenty seconds later with on my way and the kiss face emoji.

She finally relaxes.

--

bonus: Holt sends her home early, claiming that she looked tired and she should not be over-exerting herself at seven months pregnant. He informs her that the mission was successful; the bomb was diffused safely, that no-one was injured and that they were able to collect enough evidence from the warehouse to bring down the entire operation (the dumb-dumbs left a phone lying around with everyone’s name, phone number and contact photo in). The case is a slam dunk. 

She doesn’t see or hear from Rosa until morning. She shows up late, wearing the same clothes as yesterday.

“Walk of shame alert!” Charles announces, clearly noticing, too. “Means you had sex. Nice one, Ro-Ro!” He raises his hand for a high five, but she barges straight past.

“We’ve all been there,” Hitchcock smirks, slapping his hand against Charles’.

“Gross,” everyone complains, shuddering at the thought of Hitchcock’s sex life.

“Right, I’m going downstairs,” Amy says to Jake, resisting the urge to kiss him. He looks very cute and kissable today with his unruly curls and her favourite plaid shirt. She really misses working opposite him. “Come visit me in an hour?”

“’Course I will.”

She grins and heads towards the elevator, but the doors open before she can gets there. 

Of all people, Teddy walks out.

His uniform is crumpled and his hair is a mess and she’s already having PTSD-like flashbacks to when he came in to audit the precinct and proposed to her in front of everybody. She’s already drafting her rejection speech in her head when he says Rosa’s name and this time it’s Amy’s eyes widening to the size of saucers.

“You left your phone at my place,” he explains, brandishing said phone.

She actually blushes (Amy has never seen her blush before) and retrieves it from him, stomping back to her desk.

“Oh. You - oh - OK - wow,” Amy stammers, taken aback. “You... and Rosa?”

[ktrivia]

All Men Dream

Bucky x Reader

Summary:

Reader is enhanced with the powers to enter dreams. She originally entered Captain America's dreams just to see if she could, but kept returning to them because she loved spending time in the 1940s ease of life in his idyllic versions of the time. But what happens when the good Captain figures out something is amiss?

Author’s Notes:

When I originally wrote this chapter I had just had dental surgery and I guess the meds I was on (which probably helped with writing this) made me think I posted it. No joke, I just spent a half hour searching through tumblr and almost messaged @searchingforbucky​ to find my own damn fic. Turns out I just never posted it to begin with (insert shrugging emoji here)

I’m currently in the process of writing the next chapter and I greatly appreciate everyone’s patience during my long absence from this story!

If you would like to be tagged in this story (I’m so excited that people actually want to read this) please send me a message!

Also let me know what you think of this chapter! I always love getting comments, questions, and theories!

Chapter 5

Bucky’s POV

               I tried opening my eyes, but it felt like someone had poured cement over them. They were heavy and it took every little bit of focus to get them cracked open. As light filtered in and shapes began to form, I began to hear snippets of the voices around me.

               “Clint! Clint! Wake-“

               “Med bay!”

               “Blood coming from-“

               Turning my head slowly, I tried to see what the commotion was about. Why was I so tired? I saw Clint laying on a medical bed next to me with Natasha essentially on top of him as she shook his face violently. Had we gone on a mission and he’s been injured? Lifting my heavy head, I looked down at my body, inspecting it for wounds, but there was nothing out of the ordinary.

               As I looked past my feet, I saw her. Y/N was slumped over in her chair. Electrodes were still attached to her forehead and chest, but she seemed almost lifeless. Adrenaline shot through me as my eyes opened completely and the memories of her in my dreams appeared again.

               Scrambling off the bed was as ungraceful as it could be with the sedatives still burning from my system, but I stood up and started making my way to her as fast as I possibly could. I was stopped by a large body blocking me.

               “Buck! What did she do to you?” Steve questioned firmly while taking in my sedated state.

               “She didn’t. It’s those damn drugs Banner gave me to knock me out,” I explained without taking my eyes off of Y/N. Now that I was closer, I could see blood running out of her ears and nose.

               “Steve, we have to help her,” I said as I pushed around him. Steve grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

               “Clint’s not awake Bucky. We don’t know if she did something to him and it backfired and that’s why she’s bleeding.”

               “That’s bullshit and you know it,” I yelled. “He’s just sedated. She needs help. She purposely did this to herself so Clint and I would get out of there safely.” I wrenched my arm free and ran to her, dropping to my knees in front of the chair. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Banner running to grab the hospital bed I had been lying on.

               I placed my hands on each side of her face, tilting her head up to face me. With each thumb I gently pulled open her eyelids to check for pupillary response. When light hit them, her pupils both contracted which meant her brain had hopefully not suffered too much damage from what had happened, if any. Steve spoke as I manually checked her pulse, not trusting the low reading on the electrodes were showing.

               “What happened in there?”

               “She looked uncomfortable the minute she brought Clint into there,” I explained clinically while still checking her vitals. “She was still sarcastic and seemed outwardly upbeat, but she started getting really pale and I could see her wincing like something was hurting her. By the end, she looked like she was going to keel over and that’s exactly what happened. But instead of waking up and helping herself, she made sure Clint got out. I don’t know how she did it, but she made sure He and I were safe before breaking the connection. She saved our asses, Steve.”

               By the time I finished explaining, Bruce had arrived with the rolling hospital bed. Carefully, and without removing any of the attached electrodes, I picked her up and placed her on the bed. Tony unlocked the breaks on the machines reading her vital signs and brain activity so he could roll them alongside her as they rapidly moved towards the rooms exit.

               Steve, Wanda and I followed the two men and they began asking questions and trying to get explanations.

               “Wanda, was there anything malicious happening in her head?” Steve asked.

               “No,” Wanda replied with a shake of her head. “She showed them a field and an ice cream shop from one of your dreams. She was just trying to explain everything as best she could but there was a lot of pain there. It felt like she was being ripped in two. Her consciousness was almost splitting in half while trying to keep hold of Bucky and Clint’s minds.”

               Wanda’s answer explained why Y/N had seemed like something was hurting her. An edge of guilt started to fill me as I realized I had made her do this task she’d never tried before.

               “Bucky and Clint’s vitals were perfect until the very end of it except for that one little spike Bucky had in the middle,” Bruce explained when they reached the elevator that would take them to the med bay.

               “You see a stripper from the 40s while you were there, Manchurian Candidate?” Tony asked, sarcastic even while they were rushing someone to emergency care.

               “She brought us to an ice cream shop Steve and I went to all the time. It must have spiked my heart rate,” I answered absent mindedly as I watched the floor numbers tick down.

               When the door opened, doctors were waiting and ready for us. They grabbed the gurney and rushed Y/N into an exam room. I tried to follow, but Steve’s arm blocked me.

               “We need to finish debriefing and the doctors need space to work,” he commanded, but I could see there was a bit of guilt in his eyes too. I watched through the glass and the doctors begin doing diagnostic exams as Y/N just laid there, unmoving.

               Wanda and Steve were still going over what Wanda had found in her mind while Tony scrolled through a tablet someone had brought him.

               “I went deeper into her mind while I was in there and I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. She lives a very normal life and unless she has some higher power to hide memories, there is nothing nefarious about her.” Steve nodded at Wanda’s explanation and was about to respond before Tony interjected.

               “I had Friday run a background check on her and she’s literally so normal she could be an extra in a movie. Both parents still alive, one brother, a cat at home in her Brooklyn apartment. She works, well worked, for a marketing agency. Her boss fired her for not coming in yesterday so he seems like a genuine asshole. Her work is actually pretty good. Seems like she does the design work and marketing plans on her own. Oh, and she creates slogans and jingles too-“

               Tony!” Steve interjected as Tony began rambling about Y/N’s job. “Are there any red flags at all?”

               “No. Not a single one. Her file is completely clean. Not so clean that it’s suspicious, but clean enough where her worst offense is a parking ticket.”

               The room fell quiet as everyone considered the information they learned within the last ten minutes. Not only did Y/N not work for one of our enemies like Hydra, but she lived a normal life with a normal family and probably normal friends. We had swooped in and interrupted that to the point of her being fired and who knows what else.  Steve spoke first.

               “Sam went and searched her apartment. There was nothing suspicious there, but he did grab the cat and bring it back here. Even if there was something going on with Y/N, there was no reason for the cat to starve.”

               We all nodded, remaining quiet again. Each of us alone with our own thoughts.

               “So, what we’ve all just established here is that we abducted, somewhat tortured, and potentially seriously harmed an innocent woman.” Tony said.

               “Yes,” Steve whispered with a small nod.

               “Then what do we do now?” Tony questioned.

Tag list (Please message me if you would like to be added to it):

@paradisiacalsparks @cals-cigarette @searchingforbucky @mavelfanatic @some-person-somewhere @marvel-th @unfortunately-im-awake @jessicakimba @fandom-addict-aesthetics @simplysaying @spnsquirrel @bxrnsfeyson @magnolialikes @buckyinantarctica @fluffymadamina @willowtree42095 @horsesandwolvesaremyanimals @pieofawkwardness @mirajanestrauss987 @nerdypisces160 @in-avengers-we-trust @lilo-1398

[a-libra-writes]

Could you do ⛅ 💎 💥 💤 and 🌸 with Aberama Gold? You can delete this if you want to cause idk if I sent this beyond a deadline. And if you do it you can choose one of the emoji, I liked them all lol so I'm fine with whichever one you want. Thank you so much, I love how you write for Aberama so it would mean a lot if you do write the headcanon. Not that I'm trying to guilt trip you into doing it, not my intention at all. I just really live your writing and wouldn't be hurt if you didnt write it.

aaghh sorry i took so long with this!! stupid work grumble grumble save me. I hope u didnt think I deleted it haha, I like Aberama a heckin lot. Glad you like how I write him! OK LETS GO LONG BOI

⛅ Sunset HC

He loves watching the sunset. Once you got to know him, this didn’t seem so strange. As the afternoon began to end, you’d notice him glance toward the sky no matter where you two were, and he’d be a little more distracted if it was an especially clear, beautiful day.

Getting such pretty sunsets wasn’t too common in London,  or any city, which is why he preferred being out in the country. 

Aberama used to think by himself during these times, but he began to like it when you joined him. He’d have you sit on his lap and chat with him - and if that was too embarrassing - at least sit beside him. During the colder months he’d wrap his jacket around you (and probably put the hat on you too, because you’re too cute).

When he’s feeling particularly sentimental, he’ll tell you all about how beautiful you look with the golden and red colors shining on your eyes and skin. He’ll sweet talk you until the moon comes up.

His favorite sunsets are the fiery orange and red ones that are scattered with clouds. To him, they look like a glimpse of heaven... he often thinks these are the only looks he’ll get of that place.

💎 Marriage HC

It was obvious when he was smitten with you, and more obvious that he wanted something more long-term. He’s actually quite a romantic man, in spite of his occupation, and he wanted to make a life with you. He thought you were just perfect.

And yes, he was a bit into the age gap.

Your wedding was modest, but surrounded with family and the reception is lively. Plenty of dancing, drinking, music and laughter, and his family put together a new wagon that was decorated in flowers and vines, just for you. Aberama couldn’t keep you out of his lap or his arms the whole time. 

Depending on your preferences, you either had a small cottage in a village or you stayed with his family in the wagons. Due to his jobs, Aberama would disappear for days at a time, sometimes a week or more. He’d come home, tired and a mess - sometimes injured - but he always gave you a kiss and hug before washing up. He preferred to be clean and in a change of clothes before holding you again.

He doesn’t discuss his jobs with you, period. He doesn’t want you getting tangled up in them, and he’s expressly forbid his men and Bonnie from discussing it with you. Even if it frustrates and worries you, he doesn’t budge on this decision.

If you didn’t know Romani, he’d gradually teach you. Since he wasn’t around all the time, Bonnie and his daughters would help.

He’s very delighted that you get along with his children, especially the younger girls, who don’t remember much of their mother. As much as he’d love children with you, he’d understand if his were more than enough. 

Bonnie sees you as more of an older sister figure than a mother - since he still remembers his mom - but you two still get along great. You’re usually patching him up after a boxing match or cooking him filling food. He’s glad you made his dad happy, but could you two please stop being so sappy in front of him and his friends? Thanks.

Once Tommy meets you and realizes how much Aberama dotes on you, he makes a point to invite you to gatherings together. He hopes you’ll calm the man down or act as a pacifying presence. It ... sort of works. While he is in a better mood with you on his arm, he’s also far more likely to bash the teeth out of any man who disrespects you.

He’ll bash the teeth out of his own men if they dare the same thing, and that’s if they’re lucky. Bonnie doesn’t tell you, but he’s seen his father send more than one man to a ditch for insulting you and your family (especially if you were non-Romani).

No matter what, he’d be protective of you, but it would happen behind the scenes. He wouldn’t want you to feel like he was being possessive or suffocating, so he’ll have a guard or two quietly watch your home when he’ s away, and he’ll deal with the before mentioned troublesome men on his own.

This has led to situations where you go to him in a panic, saying a strange man has been following you and standing around the house. He grabs his gun and investigates and ... it’s one of his idiots. “Be more careful, would you? Just go the fuck home, I’m here anyway.” 

When he comes back he acts like he chased off some scary robber and you play along and give him plenty of kisses.

Basically, you two have a very loving, sappy marriage that makes people forget he’s one of the deadliest guns-for-hire in England. 

💤 Napping HC

Aberama hardly ever naps, but he can fall asleep anywhere. You have no idea how he does it. He can do sitting in a horse, leaning against a wall or standing up. 

His “technical” naps are when he gets back from a job in the middle of the afternoon. He’d been up for days at that point, and he collapses on the couch and tells you he’s just going to rest his eyes for a few moments. You eventually gently wake him.

Still, he much prefers to fall asleep next to you. After staying up for an ungodly amount of time, he’ll let you drag him to bed, only if you promise to lie down by his side. 

When he sleeps, he reminds you of a cat with how he tucks his head down and curls into himself. Often his face twitches with expressions, but only for a moment.

💥First Fight / Making up HC

Your first fight is also what your subsequent fights and squabbles have been about: The danger of his jobs, and what little you know about them. Aberama wouldn’t give in, curtly telling you there was zero reason for you to be involved.

You knew about these “jobs” while he courted you, and you didn’t delude yourself into thinking he’d stop after you married. But this time he came home with two bullet wounds, and he was gone for two weeks. Couldn’t he at least have sent a man to tell you he was alright? Or where he was? That he was hurt? At least that?

Aberama just dismissed you, which he so rarely did, as he was just as tired and frustrated... Not to mention the wounds. He hoped in the morning, you’d understand, and both your moods would be better.

It wasn’t. You were still pissed, so he left, insisting he’d be back.

You fumed, but began to worry. What if you were too harsh, especially since he was in such bad shape? Maybe he didn’t want to worry you, or maybe someone was on his trail and he didn’t want anything coming back to you. He always kept you and his daughters out of his messes. Maybe ...

Your mind began to race, and you were feeling frustrated and emotional all over again. You decided to go look for him, it wouldn’t be hard. Right as you opened the door, Aberama was walking up to the doorstep. He had bought your favorite flowers and he quickly pulled you into an embrace. 

While he still thought he was doing what was best for your safety, he understood your worry and recognized he was dismissing your concerns. He said all this, giving you plenty of kisses and apologies.

He wanted to make love to you to show you how truly sorry he was but those bullet wounds were kind of, you know, painful as all hell. Aberama was still gonna go for it but you insisted “cuddles until that’s healed”.

🌸Kissing HC

There’s no such thing as chaste kisses or pecks unless he’s truly in a hurry. He feels so much for you that those just seem inadequate displays of affection.

Whenever he kisses you, he wants to properly show his love, although it never does seem like enough. He’ll hold the small of your back and bring you closer, because you always have to be close when he does this. If there’s not many people around, or better - none - he’ll start at your neck and work his way to your lips.

The kisses on your lips are always deep, and you feel yourself pressing back against him. If he has to say goodbye, he’ll make sure it’s longer, and he’ll promptly kiss your cheek and promise to be back soon.

Even when you’re just parting for a few hours while he goes to the boxing ring or you leave to town, he’ll pull you into his embrace and give you a firm kiss. “Behave yourself, dear.”  “Aberama, I always tell you that.”

It’s kind of nauseating to anyone who watches, Bonnie has long learned to just walk away 

To be sure, it’s very jarring for some of his men to see their terrifying boss turn to his wife, give her a sweet kiss, then turn to them with a sharp gleam in his eye, like he’s daring them to say something.

At home, he often gives you stray kisses on your neck, your cheek, your hand, whatever suits his whims at the time. In bed, even if you aren’t making love, he wants to give you several kisses goodnight. When he walks into the house and you’re already asleep, he’ll give gentle kisses that won’t make you stir. He hopes you can feel them in your dreams.

[thelastspeecher]

Screw it, just give us the scene of villain Mearl giving stan the warning talk while tending to some plants. Maybe be makes a metaphor out of killing off a weak plant or something.

🌼- Caring for some plants

This was wonderful to write, thank you so much for this prompt.  Stan getting nervous around Angie’s villainous parents is gold.

Send an emoji for a ficlet!

              Stanswallowed nervously and approached Pa McGucket, who was crouched in the middleof an expansive garden.  Without raisinghis head or turning around, Pa McGucket spoke.

              “Stan.”

              “Your,uh, your wife said you were out here,” Stan stammered.  Pa McGucket nodded.

              “That Iam.  I take it ya wanted to talk to me?”

              “Yeah.”

              “Then goahead.  Talk.”

              “Okay.”  Stan took a deep breath.  “I know that Angie’s like- she’s a modernwoman or, uh, or whatever, and she doesn’t need me to do this- she might noteven want me to do this.  But, um, my- mydad – he’s a jackass but he still raised me – he raised me to, y’know, talk to-uh, and ask- he always said that was what you were supposed to do.  I kinda, uh, I broke his rules already, butit was the right thing to do, ‘cause Angie wouldn’t have put up with that, andI, um, I think that this is what I should-”

              “Spit itout, boy,” Pa McGucket sighed.  Stanswallowed again.

              “I wannamarry Angie and I would like- I’d like your blessing to propose to her.”

              “Huh.”  Pa McGucket stood and walked over toStan.  He was only a few inches tallerthan Stan, but those inches felt like feet at the moment.

              He’s like Angie.  He’s good at somehow getting taller withoutactually getting taller.  Damn.  Wonder if either of the girls will pick thatup.

              “Tell me,Stan,” Pa McGucket said softly, in a tone that had a hint of malice runningthrough it.  “What makes ya think you cantake care of my daughter?”

              “I’vebeen doing it for a while already.  We-we live together, y’know.”  Pa McGucketnodded slowly.

              “Fairenough.  And why did ya decide to proposeto her now?  Ya got her pregnant almostthree years ago.”

              “Yeah,but we didn’t know each other.  I didn’t-um, I didn’t wanna spook her by proposing to her back then.  And then, I dunno, the- the whole fact thatwe have kids together didn’t seem to, uh, didn’t seem like it really matteredas a reason for us to get married right away.”

              “Thatexplains why ya didn’t pop the question then. Why now?”

              “Lastweek, her crew went up against my squad,” Stan said.  “And I saw her sucker punch this guy on mysquad.  He’s the mouthiest, most annoyinghero I’ve ever met.  And Angie knewthat.  She knew how much I hated thisguy’s guts.  Right after punching him,she winked at me.  She knew I’d like that.  But then…” Stan grinned at the memory.  “Thenthe hero pops back up, shouting ‘You broke my nose!’  And Angie just burst out laughing.  She was so damn proud of herself, forbreaking an annoying hero’s nose.  That-that was the moment that I realized I wanted to marry her.”

              “After yasaw her injure someone?”

              “The guyhad it coming.  And it wasn’t just thefact that she broke his nose.  She takespride in her job, she doesn’t hold back, she’s strong and she’s not afraid tolet people know it.”  Stan shrugged.  “And yeah, she kicks ass.  That’s an attractive quality in a woman.  Angie has a lot going for her.”

              “Hmph.”  Pa McGucket slid a small packet of seeds outof his sleeve, popped it open, and emptied a few small seeds onto theground.  He then crouched down andcovered the seeds with soil.  “Have youever gardened?”

              “Um, no,”Stan said, confused by the apparent change in topic.

              “Well,when ya start out yer garden, ya have to tend to it carefully,” Pa McGucketsaid.  He hovered his hand over theburied seeds.  A small green sproutpushed its way through the soil.  “Afterall, yer plants ‘re all small and weak. A strong storm could wash it all away. But…”  The sprout began to grow inearnest.  “…When ya spend enough timetendin’ to it, nurturin’ it, it becomes strong. It can weather any rainstorm or thunder or lightning.  And in fact, havin’ a storm every now andthen is beneficial.  Keeps the plantshydrated.”  Pa McGucket looked back atStan.  “Do ya understand?”

              “Uh, Idon’t have much of a green thumb,” Stan said slowly.  Pa McGucket rolled his eyes.

              “It’s ametaphor.  Any relationship is agarden.  Starts out fragile, but growsinto something that can withstand the fights that will come.  And they willcome.”

              “Yeah, Iknow,” Stan muttered.  He thought back tothe numerous disagreements he and Angie’d had, particularly during thepregnancy and shortly after the girls were born.

              “A fightevery now and then ain’t somethin’ to be worried about.  All it means is that ya have some differin’opinions on some things, and ya have to hash it out ‘fore ya can come togetherproperly.”  Stan nodded silently.  Pa McGucket sighed.  “You and Angie…the two of ya grew a beautifulgarden together.  One that, despite athousand storms when yer plants were barely germinated seeds, grew into athriving field of flowers.”  Pa McGucketchuckled softly.  “Yes, I did use thatparticular analogy because yer daughters ‘re named after two flowers.”

              “We, uh,we did argue a lot at first,” Stan said, rubbing the back of his neck.  “But a good chunk of the time that happened,it ended with us being on better footing than before.”

              “The twoof ya had a lot to work out.  I don’thave enough fingers ‘n toes to count all the times my daughter called me,tryin’ to decide if she was upset or relieved by her latest interaction withya.  In the end, though, as much as Ihate to admit it, ya- ya made her happy.” The plant Pa McGucket had been coaxing sprouted a bud which abruptlyburst into full bloom, revealing it to be a red rose.  Pa McGucket carefully plucked it from theground and stood, rolling the stem between his fingers, deftly avoiding thethorns.

              “What’sthat?” Stan asked.

              “It’s arose.”

              “Well,yeah.  But why?”

              “Not manyfolks know this, but there’s a floral counterpart to the concept of abirthstone,” Pa McGucket said.  He lookeddown at the rose.  “Each month has aflower associated with it.  And the onefer the month of June is the rose.”

              “That’swhen my birthday is.”

              “Yes.  I recall my daughter mentionin’ that fact tome,” Pa McGucket said with a small nod. “But more importantly, I think that it is a great month fer a weddin’.”  He handed the rose over to Stan.  “Get my daughter a nice diamond ring.”  Stan’s eyes widened.

              “Does thatmean-”

              “You havemy blessing.”  Pa McGucket smiled.  “Son.”