#sorry danny. you have school tomorrow and family sleeping in the bedroom next door

[starry-bi-sky]

my body's aching like a knock-down drag-out

and my poor heart is an open wound A Childhood Friends Au snippet that very briefly delves into Danny's life post-accident. CW: Mild Mentions of Blood, Violence, VERY mild gore ig. Danny briefly recalls getting impaled during a fight.

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What they don't tell you about being dead is that it hurts. That it can hurt. That it can hurt more than when you were alive. That when you die, the emotions you die with stick with you like a leech that just won't let go. That emotions are ugly little thorns that stick their barbs into you and grow beneath your skin; or, at least, whatever’s left of it. 

Danny is familiar with anger. It kept him warm in Gotham, when his parents weren't home from work and he and Jason were crowding Crime Alley with their presence. It kept him warm in Amity, when the fresh sting of moving was still needling into his heart and he wanted nothing more than to rip and tear into the closest person next to him.

He's familiar with violence. With fights. With death. He's seen people die in Crime Alley probably every day. From overdose, from gunshots, from stab wounds; anything that can kill, rest assured he's seen it. He's familiar with getting his own knuckles rough and bloody when other kids turn and bare their teeth at him and Jason; they're all just starving dogs stuck in a fighting pit, primed and ready to rip out each other's throats. 

Black eyes, stomped hands, bloody noses. You name it; he’s had it. Gotham is paved with the blood of her children, and Danny likes to imagine that when he was born, the doctors handed his mother a file and told her; “Take it. He’s going to need it for his teeth.” 

Danny’s mom (and dad, for that matter) was too busy trying to keep him and Jazz fed, so Danny stole the file from her drawer with Jazz’s help, and did it himself.  

He’s familiar with anger, he thought he was getting better at it these days. It doesn’t come to him as easily as it did before. Of course, that was before Jason died. 

Danny is less familiar with grief. Caring kills and Gotham kills the caring, so Danny cares very little about other people. Or he tries to. But grief hurts. His grief hurts. It hurts too much. It hurts like a bug trying to crawl out of his chest; like a rat chewing a hole through his heart. Some days he wants to dig his hands into his hair and split himself down the middle. Some days he just wants to scream. 

He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s dead. 

He wants the whole city to hear him wailing, some days. It sticks itself in the back of his throat like bile, and Danny is one wrong retch away from letting it loose. It sticks in his lungs like all the tar he’s smoked in since he was nine. It pushes and aches at his temples, in his head, like his brain is trying to swell out of his skull. His thoughts becoming so loud they threaten to commandeer his tongue.  

He has no mouth, but he must scream. 

Something they don’t tell you about being dead is that it hurts. That it hurts more than when you were alive. Something they don’t tell you about being dead is that it’s violent. That it’s bloody. Or as bloody as it can be when everyone has no blood. 

Another thing they don’t tell you about being dead, is that it’s a lot like Gotham that way.

With no threat of death, Danny’s enemies forget death itself. Blood comes easy, like water, and teeth are encouraged. Bring your own fangs to the fight. Dying is something you can just walk off. 

Danny’s been dead for three months. He can’t say he’s been walking it off easy. He’s perfected the art of turning his nails into claws since his heart was still beating, but he can’t say he’s perfected fighting other ghosts. 

Scrappy is just not enough. 

He feels like he’s back in Gotham again. Back in her death-shroud alleyways, fighting someone bigger than him. But there’s no Jason to watch his back, and Danny has to get himself out of there alone. Or he might just not get up at all. 

Black eyes, busted lips. It’s familiar to him like an old scent, Danny isn’t quite sure that he’s missed it. It’s more familiar than his fights with Dash. 

But there’s no one else who can do it but him. Not Sam, not Tucker. He can’t lose them too. He can’t. He can’t. He can’t. His heart can’t take another break, he already feels like he’s going insane. 

With no threat of death, Danny’s enemies fight like death themself. He learns why when Technus puts a street sign through his stomach one day. It pins him to the asphalt like a moth pinned by its wings. 

Danny claws at the metal like how an animal caught in a trap chews off its leg, and every move is blinding pain. He thinks he was howling, but it’s hard to tell. He couldn’t recognize the sound of his voice. 

He bleeds green. It mixes in black with the pitch blackhole in his heart, which throbs and twists and cries in time with his reckless panic. The finger-choking terror of dying again strangles out the air he doesn’t need. His blood evaporates, only to reabsorb into him. It just bleeds out again, cycling like a snake eating its own tail. 

Danny breaks his nails clawing at the metal, and eventually gets it in his mind to pull it out. So he does, and the end drips ectoplasm green as he gets to his feet. In red-vision, Danny sends the sign back with snarling, vicious fervor. The pain is irrelevant in his rage.

Only after the fight does the hole the pole left start to close. Danny doesn’t shift human until it’s gone. Unlike other injuries, a scar stays behind. Ugly; mottled, it aches for a week with every twist and stretch his body makes. He hates it. 

Being dead is agony. 

Every part of him is in pain. Every step, every word he speaks, everything he does, it is prerequisite with pain. The body is temporary, but the soul is forever, and death has carved into it with its freezing green hands and left him with never-ending heartache. It has torn from him and stolen what of him it could, and in return it’s left him with sorrow. 

His pain is his grief, and he’s sobbed in the safety of his room more times than he can count. It’s still as fresh as the day he heard the news of Jason’s death. He knows, instinctively, that it will stay fresh forever. 

In his room, Danny shoves his hands over his mouth and shrieks in whatever, muffled way he can into his pillow. It’s not enough. It’s never enough. He needs to be louder. He needs to be heard. He refuses to be. 

Being dead hurts. 

[dopescotlandwarrior]

Sinners & Saints-Chapter 14

               A special thanks to @statell​ for all your help

Previous chapters at AO3

Chapter Fourteen

The tender ride to the island had Claire’s last nerve in shreds. She was very afraid of having her chip taken out today, even though Jamie already tested the safety of the procedure the day before. The four of them split up at the front of the clinic, Darius and Maia would hang out at the back door of the facility just in case the good doctor made a run for it.

Jamie held Claire’s hand and scowled at the nurse during check-in. The doctor saw them and abruptly turned around but was soon escorted back by Darius. The nurse was decidedly unfriendly today which added another layer of stress to the procedure. Jamie just wanted it over with and pulled Claire to the treatment room when they were called.

The doctor thankfully started with a shot of Valium that put Claire out completely. It was a little unnerving. Claire was not a rambunctious mover when she wasn’t sedated, but this complete stop even unnerved the doctor, so he put a monitor on her heart. Jamie held a glass jar out for the doctor to drop the bloody implant into before closing the incision. He knew women had a thing about their upper arms looking nice, so he watched every stitch closely.

Jamie handed the doctor ten one-hundred-dollar bills and they left as soon as Jamie could wake her up. Claire smiled continuously and said hello to everyone they passed. She stopped to pet a lady’s purse and asked what its name was. Jamie was struggling to keep her walking in a straight line and if he stopped she would go off in another direction, so it took multiple attempts to call Darius.

Once Claire was in the tender, he searched for Darius and Maia, hoping they would hurry. The inebriated Sassenach needed to be locked in her room until the Valium wore off. Everything almost went south getting her onto the aft deck when she fell backward. Jamie was able to catch her before she slipped into the ocean. He was so rattled, he put Claire to bed and watched her from a nearby chair. Maia came in with a tray of food and agreed to sit with her so Jamie could get his sketch pad. He was intrigued by the locals, the tone of their skin, their gestures, and facial expressions. While Claire slept, Jamie roughed in the scene he wanted to paint and the remainder of the day was uneventful.

Jamie had given up hope that Claire would wake up that day. He wanted to talk about Danny and the extraordinary things she said and knew about his paintings, even those not done yet. It would have to wait until tomorrow he decided and slid his sketchbook into his bed table.

Claire’s eyeballs peeked out from under their lids at first light. She could hear the rhythmic breathing of her husband next to her, so she knew it was very early and after almost twenty-four hours of sleeping, she needed to get up. Adso had other ideas and did nothing but purr when she stroked him.

Sipping delicious coffee on the foredeck, the sun energized her to feel more alive by the minute. There was movement on Danny’s yacht and she watched the peculiar crewman standing on the foredeck holding a flat of flowers like a statue. How odd, she thought, until she saw Danny’s head pop up and take a handful of young Petunias before dropping out of sight again. She forced herself to stop looking and jumped at the vibrating cell phone next to her. Javier was the only person who called so she picked it up and said his name.

“Javier!”

“No darling, it’s Danny, do you remember giving me this number? If not, I’m sorry to intrude. How are you on this beautiful morning?”

“I feel amazing today, and you?”

“Very well indeed, but I could use a hand with these young plants if you have a moment.” She chuckled, “I apologize for being unacceptably straight forward, dear, please forgive me.”

“No, no, I would love to help, plant flowers? On your boat? I love gardening but never considered doing on a boat. Yes! I would love to help you, Danny. I see your tender is out, can someone come and get me in ten minutes?”

Claire left a note for Jamie and got into the tender waiting for her at the aft deck. She was excited to see Danny again and planting small flowers, however weird that was on a boat, was the perfect activity for her energized morning.

Danny smiled brightly when Claire walked onto her deck, removing her gloves to shake her hand warmly. The tender engines screamed away until it was clear of the yacht, then the crewman pulled the steering wheel harshly for a nautical-donut that launched the young man sideways, splashing down about twenty-feet from the tender.

“Oh my God!”

Danny held her arm before she could jump overboard and rescue the man. “Don’t worry about the cub my dear, he has a racer’s heart and can’t help himself. I had the tender engine modified so when someone let’s go of the throttle it stops moving. He’s fine,” she giggled. “Let me show you our chore for this morning.”

Claire followed Danny along the side deck to the other end of the enormous yacht and stepped down to the foredeck. She watched her step descending the six steps and noticed greenery around her feet and heard the most amazing music. Once on the deck, she looked around at the beautiful garden Danny had created. There were large trees, many bushes, vines, trellis clinging roses, a proper rose garden, and planters overflowing with pansies in every color that lent their sweet smell to the air.

“This is amazing, Danny! It is the last thing I would expect on a boat. It is beautiful but what happens during a storm?”

“If we can’t outrun it the planters are wheeled into a garage beyond that door. You just lift a bit on the end of the planter and the wheels pop out.”

“Oh! That is so clever! Well, I’m ready, where do I start planting?”

Danny showed her an empty planter and they discussed what levels and colors should be included then Claire got to work. When Danny came to check on her a bit later, the planter was done. She and Danny took turns watering the expansive deck full of flowers and talked as they worked.

“Have you always loved to sale or yacht?”

“No, I bought this yacht to get away from my son who wants to put me in a home. Turns out I really like the freedom, the people, and my crew.” She regarded Claire for several minutes and finally spoke to her about the joys of being nosy.

“My dear, I was raised strictly, trained in social graces at the best boarding schools, I was a debutante, and my family is at the top of the social food chain so to speak. I caught a fever in my early thirties that killed my husband and put me into a coma for a month. I had a lot of time to think before I woke up and I was a changed woman from then on. The first change was I spoke my truth, whatever that was. Let me demonstrate.”

Claire was delighted with her perky and fun attitude and listened closely.

“You, my dear, might spend the entire time asking socially acceptable questions and never get an answer to the question that burns in your mind. Give it a try, what do you want to ask me?

Claire watched Danny encourage her to speak up and she finally blurted out “how can you afford this boat and live-in crew? Oh God, it’s none of my business Danny, please forgive me!”

Danny stood straight and held her head high, “nonsense! When I tell you the answer, we will be friends and I want to be your friend so come inside, out of the sun for some refreshment while I explain.”

Claire pulled off her deck shoes and looked up as a glass wall opened to the formal saloon. She was struck dumb as her eyes took in the exquisite furniture and art in the massive room. There was a double grand staircase that went up to the second floor of living space and the boat seemed to go on for a mile. She was barely aware of Danny talking to her until she felt her hand slip through her elbow, leading her through the saloon.

“I can see that you like my floating home, and now there are two burning questions, are there not?”

“What…what does the rest look like?”

Danny chuckled and led Claire on a tour of luxury and abundance she didn’t know existed. The artwork was exceptional and they chatted about several of the artists. The formal dining room could serve twenty-four people comfortably with another dining room for everyday use. The floor to ceiling windows provided a stunning view with glass doors spaced to provide fresh air and an exit to the side deck. Beyond the double staircase were Danny’s expansive office, sitting room, private atrium, and bathrooms as big as Claire’s bedroom. All the flooring was Italian marble that also lined the walls of the shower, which you could fit a basketball team in.

“I don’t stay in these rooms, too big. I live in one of the staterooms and it’s just right for me.”

“What? Why? My God Danny, this is so beautiful it’s making me emotional.”

Danny showed Claire the private deck with a hot tub, full bar, outdoor shower, and lounges big enough for two. They continued the tour to the upper decks, four of them, a large movie theater, an upper saloon that was a bit more casual with flatscreen televisions that appeared when a button was pushed, a bar that looked fully stocked, and a foredeck with formal dining. Another level was dedicated to a full-sized gym with all the equipment, free weights, benches, a huge screen for watching aerobic videos, two saunas, a huge hot jacuzzi, and a running track that circled the enormous room.

They stepped into an elevator made of glass and went down to the lower deck with a large swimming pool and waterfall. The glass wall in front of the pool opened completely to the aft deck that was set up like a beach party with two bars, outside showers, lounges, and a closet full of towels. Danny pulled Claire’s hand and they were somehow back on the main deck walking through the expansive galley that included four of every major appliance needed for entertaining, four commercial refrigerators, freezers, and dishwashers, a two-hundred bottle wine cellar, and huge tables for food preparation.

Claire was in luxury overload and felt sad she would forget half of what she had seen.

“I wonder if you would accompany me for lunch and the second question you asked?”

Claire was delighted to spend more time with a woman she was really starting to like. Danny led her out to yet another private deck off the galley that was smaller and more intimate with a small table for two already made up for lunch. She picked up the phone and spoke to someone about a sore ankle, asking questions that made Claire feel she was really concerned about the person on the other end. Then she ordered avocado toast and tuna stuffed tomatoes with several side dishes and iced tea. Claire was overwhelmed by the experience and the calming water around the deck, about thirty feet down she guessed. When the food came, a muscular young man brought the plates stacked carefully up and down his forearms which were transferred to the table with no apparent effort. He limped away.

“You are very quiet dear Claire. Oh, you’re starving, poor thing, I don’t imagine you had much to eat yesterday.”

Claire’s head jerked up to look at Danny, smiling at her cheeks stuffed with food. How would she know about no eating as she slept yesterday away?

“Well, you eat while I tell you who I am and maybe what I hope to be to you sweet girl.”

“My birth name is Sepora Cornelius Meyer. My grandfather immigrated to America from Poland and worked in a small grocery until he learned to speak English. He purchased the store eventually, but I digress. Everything my grandfather touched turned to gold and he reinvested every dime he made in oil, real estate, and steel. The short version is he became rich and celebrated before he died, leaving a son to take his place, my father.”

The young muscular man came out with plates of cheese and fresh vegetables that were bite-sized. While Claire crunched on carrots she looked to Danny with anticipation.

“Things were different then. The household adopted the opinions of the father and never questioned. They had more money than could ever be spent but an idle life was not allowed, so my father worked, starting at the bottom, learning the business of steel, oil, and real estate. He was quite a man, my hero, never to be replaced.”

Claire waited and crunched celery while Danny took several tiny bites of her avocado toast.

“Before my brother died, poor Alfred, my life was positively glorious! Boarding school in France and Sweden, summers in various countries with my friends, and beautiful parties during the social season where we could be in the same room with boys our age. It was such fun. When we buried Alfred, all that changed. No more school, no more summers away, and parties became a new kind of classroom where I would learn from watching the men. I didn’t like it one bit so I stuck my nose in the air through the first season and won myself a stiff neck and a cross father, more determined to ruin my life.”

“What took the place of school?”

“I spent dreadfully long hours reading communications from my father to other companies, banks, businessmen, and political people. When the steelworkers refused to let me take an active role on the production floor my father set up a small desk and chair and that is where I read stacks of documents. When I could finally wash at the end of the day, I pretended I couldn’t hear my mother saying I was now deaf from the ungodly noise of the production floor. She smiled and told me to set the table when my hearing came back or none of us would eat. I recovered quickly.”

“Did it ever get more tolerable for you?”

“Father planted fake letters, several of them during my second year leaning the business. Brazen mistakes in accounting, materials, even which political party he supported. I missed them all because I was daydreaming of lovely parties or who I would marry. Father became distant and terribly unhappy and one night I heard him talking to mother about his shame over not having a qualified heir to lead the business. He was so sad and it broke my heart hearing his defeated voice. It took about a minute to realize I was an utter failure to the most important man in my life.”

“Oh, Danny, how could you know how important it was for you to learn?”

“He and mother both told me and I didn’t listen, until that night. After that, he would hand me a stack of documents and I ran back to his office for more, asking questions about certain decisions and correcting the math where I found mistakes. It took several days to convince him, but soon I was waiting for him to come down the stairs for our walk to the office and I pumped him with questions along the way. It seemed like he grew three inches but it was the weight of defeat getting off of his back, allowing him to stand straight and proud, beaming his smile to the world. I was never so happy, or relieved, to know I wasn’t a failure in his eyes. And that’s all there is.”

“What? How old were you when you took over? Did your family keep all three businesses? How did you survive the depression? What was it like to be the leader of that kind of fortune? What …”

Danny smiled at Claire and her eyes twinkled. “I would love to tell you more after we discuss my coma.”

“What?”

“I had become my father when I fell ill. My loving husband had succumbed to the illness and I didn’t know it for over a month as I was deep inside myself. I could see how I distanced myself from real life to free my mind for running the business and such. When I woke up I had a new burden to suffer because I could see things in people. Their happiness, sorrow, who they loved, and who they were deceiving. It was like living in a nightmare that never ended. Young people from the best families would shake my hand and I would see their hands around someone’s throat, choking the life out of them. It felt like I had gone insane, especially when my mother had me committed and took over the raising of my son.”

“Good God.”

“You are feeling my pain at the moment because you are an empath, dear Claire, and those that confide in you feel they are truly understood for the first time. It is a rare quality.”

“I think everyone feels the way I do.”

“Wouldn’t that be lovely?”

Claire heard a loud whistle and looked across the water finding Jamie and Darius standing in the tender holding spears up with two large fish impaled. She smiled and clapped a bit in the air, suddenly wanting to wrap herself around her husband.

“Thank you for spending time with me today, Claire. I hope to see you again, but it is time for me to rest. The cub has a boat race later and I will need my strength to endure it.”

Danny walked Claire to the aft deck and was truly surprised when Claire hugged her, thanking her for everything. Jamie helped her into the tender and she waved to her new friend who watched them smiling, until she disappeared into her own boat.

Jamie, Darius, and Maia, were asking about Claire’s morning making her uncomfortable with keeping Danny’s confidence about all she told her. She finally went to her room and drew a bath with bubbles to idle away part of the day.

“Everything alright, love?”

“No.” She looked at Jamie’s handsome face, “I miss you, although I don’t know how that could be.”

“I do, because I miss you too Sassenach. I came to ask you to go to the island with me today. I want to take some pictures of the five lads that will be in the painting. After that, we can play, have dinner, or drinks. But it is a date so look your best, like you do right now, mo chridhe.”

“What, here in the bath?”

“No, that wouldn’t be right unless we stayed right here.”

Jamie smiled and tried to grab her getting a wet sponge in the face for his efforts. Claire pulled the plug and stepped into the shower so Jamie could wash her hair.

When he came back an hour later, Claire was sitting on the deck in a pretty yellow dress that reminded him of something. She had straightened her hair and wore makeup to add the exotic dimension to her eyes. He slid his arms around her waist and asked if she was ready to go.

Once on the island, it wasn’t hard to find the five boys that hung out together. Jamie explained he was painting a picture and they were in it which caused quite a ripple in the calm of the afternoon.

Jamie took several pictures of each of them, close up of the face, one showing some mannerism, the other a body shot. He showed them and they laughed. Once Jamie sat down to sketch, Claire called them to her and when they realized how friendly, and pretty she was, they showed off for her trying to outdo the others. The sun was shining off her hair and shoulders and her smile was like a beacon on her tanned face. Jamie laughed at the playfulness of the boys he guessed to be fourteen to eighteen. Gentle, beautiful boys who had taken over his creative mind. Jamie packed up his paper and tools and they bid the boys goodbye to wander around town.

Jamie could see Claire’s shoulders getting red in the sun and pulled her into a dress shop that had a large section of hats, which he brought to her, five at a time. He chose a wide-brimmed hat and the shop owner was happy to wrap a yellow ribbon around it, tied in the back with the extra length hanging off the brim. They laughed and stole kisses and wandered aimlessly until it was time to find a restaurant and gorge themselves on local cuisine and whisky. Jamie slipped an arm around Claire when they left. If they had been more aware of the people around them, they might have noticed the stares, but they were in their own world.

Claire pulled her shoes off when they reached the sand. Jamie waited to be alone with her on the beach because the full moon provided all the light he would need.

“Sassenach, I have something for you.” He pulled her hand and she turned around with her tipsy smile and sparkling eyes. “God, your beautiful.”

“Do I get some sort of prize for something awesome I did?”

“Something like that.” He pulled a tiny box from his pocket and handed it to her.

She looked excited until she pulled the box open and her eyes fell on the diamond inside. She could not pull her eyes away from it.

“We can take it back and get something you like better. Just put it on, one time, and then decide.”

She handed him the box and never took her eyes off the ring. Offering her outstretched hand she watched him push it onto her finger, and then he pulled her to his mouth for a sweet kiss.

“Thank you, Jamie,” she whispered.

“Your welcome, love.”

Once in the tender, they moved slowly to the yacht, careful to keep the engine quiet as they passed boats and yachts with people sleeping inside. Claire moved to the floor of the tender and leaned against the inflated side and dropped her head back. She was looking up at the moon, directly above her, feeling deliciously happy, slightly buzzed, and ran her hand down her burning nipple. Jamie watched her tipsy arousal and wanted her naked under the moonlight.

When the motor shut off, she looked at him like he was all she needed for the rest of her life. Jamie crept toward her and pulled off his shirt and shorts. He wanted her to remember this night. The dress came off, as did the tiny thong she wore and he pulled her leg up and over the inflated side of the tender. He pushed into her body placing greedy kisses on her face and neck. He wanted it to last but seeing his naked wife and the way her breasts bounced with every thrust was his undoing. He couldn’t help himself, he let it go when her orgasm started and pumped his warm love into her body while she clung to him.

They laid in each other's arms and talked quietly, about love and what was ahead.

“Jamie, I want to buy a new tender. This is like an inflatable raft, so I suppose the previous owner had little use for it. It doesn’t feel safe, but it was a marvelous bouncy thing to make love on.”

“Of course, Sassenach.”

Jamie raised up on an elbow and looked around the tender in all directions. He pulled Claire up with a worried look and helped her dress before getting them back to the yacht. He held Claire with one arm and drove the tender with the other.

“Did you just turn completely around?”

“That I did Sassenach. Lay against me and rest, we’re almost home.”

When Jamie turned again she started giggling. “Sweetheart, are we lost?”

The motor started to sputter and lurch as the last of the gas was consumed. Claire could not stop giggling which calmed Jamie more than she would ever know. Claire dropped to the soft bottom of the tender and held her arms out to him.

“Come here, my darling man, and rest under the stars with me.”

Once she had twisted her arms and legs with his and laid against his chest, Jamie smiled at the moon and decided to relax. When they were dropping into sleep a huge noise woke them up and they clung to each other.

“What the fuck was that, Jamie?”

“It’s gone love, whatever it was. Rest now.”

Claire wasn’t relaxed and buzzed anymore, she was panting with fright and suddenly felt something very large push against her from under the water. Before she could say anything the horrendously loud noise was back and slimy cold water rained down on them.

“Jesus Christ, Jamie, what is that?”

Jamie suspected it was a whale that surfaced near them but had not formed a word before he felt something bump the tender. Claire started screaming as the bump came again, harder this time. Jamie pulled out his cell phone and prayed Darius would answer.

“Darius, thank God. We have a bit of a problem here.”

Something under the surface pushed on the tender again and kept pushing it until they were spinning around clinging to each other. Claire was screaming for all she was worth, and Darius was trying to sound calm for both of them.

“Do you see any lights, anywhere?”

“No, Claire sweetheart please don’t scream.”

“Do you have a flashlight? If you point it at whatever is beneath…”

“No.”

They were spinning in the tender pushed by something massive under the surface. Darius was running down the stairs as fast as his legs could go, worried they had drifted into the shipping lanes where they would never be seen before a gigantic cargo ship plowed over them, dragging them underneath it.

“Darius searched the water and saw nothing. “Jamie look up and tell me if you can see…”

“The sky is full of clouds now Darius, I can see nothing, it’s pitch black out here and something under the water is pushing us in circles. We need help!”

Darius noticed the lights coming on all over Danny’s boat and two bright searchlights swept the water for as far as he could see. He heard a tender approach and jumped in pointing a direction for the crewman to go. He had his phone on speaker and the young man was getting rattled by Claire screaming. He moved away from the throttle and told Darius to drive.

Claire was screaming the boat was going to tip over and Darius did his best to calm them down.

“Jamie! Hold onto Claire really tight and ask her to stop screaming, I’m in Danny’s tender and I’m coming to get you!”

When it was quiet Darius took a deep breath and played the only card that might save them.

“Be calm and don’t blow this, my friend. There is a flare gun in the water-tight compartment under the steering whflareIt is the only chance I have of finding you so ask Claire to sit perfectly still, take aim at the sky directly above you, and fire.”

A minute later the crewman pointed to a brilliant purple streak climbing into the sky, in the other direction.

“Did you see the flair from the water level?” The boy shook his head no, which meant they were very far away and Darius had only seconds before the flair extinguished.

“Sit down!”

Darius pulled back on the throttle and the dual engine tender launched in the direction of the flair. He noticed both searchlights were now directed at the ocean under the flair and hoped they could see the lights and know help was on the way.

Talking at that speed was impossible because the wind snatched your words away. Darius dropped the speed enough to tell the crewman to keep sight of the flair and then watch the smoke if it went out, then tap his leg when they were close. The tender jerked alive again, like a bullet shooting across the water. Darius was feeling frantic when the boy tapped his leg and he pulled up on the throttle. It was black as pitch above and below them and he knew his friends must be terrified. The boy put something in his hand, it was a flare gun!

“Holy shit, you just saved the day my man!”

“Jamie, are you there?”

“Well, I was about to hang up but decided to stay on a little longer,” said sarcastically.

“We have flairs, shooting one now, watch it for my direction.”

The bright red flair went shooting to the heavens. “Starboard, maybe half a mile.”

The crewman found an emergency box stored inside the bench seat at the back of the tender. There was a light that plugged into the battery port and it almost blinded them both. He held it high above his head and Darius shot another flair.

“Talk to me brother!”

“Portside, same distance.”

“What?!”

“We aren’t spinning anymore, it’s pushing us, a bit rough I might add.”

Darius could not wait. They had to take a risk if they were going to find them before the boat sank from something underneath.

“Your name.”

“Ethan, sir.”

“I’m Darius. It’s only right I know your name before risking your life. How do you feel about that..Ethan?”

“It’s what I came for, sir.”

“Perfect.”

Darius aimed the light a foot above the water and about 500 yards ahead. Once Ethan took the light, Darius pulled back on the throttle and kept his eyes glued to the direct path ahead.

Claire was on the edge of sanity after being bumped, spun, and pushed, by something large underneath the little tender. She couldn’t see anything in the dark black night except maybe a two-foot space that was lit by Jamie’s phone. She watched that space while Jamie talked to Darius and when an unexpected shape came up out of the water, caught by the dim light, Claire’s scream shattered the night and she fainted.

Jamie looked up at a large head shaped like a torpedo with an eye that regarded him before slipping back under the water. He held Claire on his lap and patted her cheek, begging her to wake up. Jamie was aware of another flare shot into the sky and realized he heard the gun go off this time.

“Darius! You’re close! Starboard and close!”

“Can you see my light, Jamie?”

Suddenly, there it was, like a hand reaching through the dark night to save them. He watched it until the white teeth of Darius’s smile materialized. Claire was rubbing her eyes and crying, waving at Darius in her filthy yellow dress.

Jamie pulled her to him, “thank Christ.” He reached for the rope and tied it tightly to the tow ring at the front of the tender. Darius heard the song of the Humpback whales in the distance and smiled at Claire.

“There’s your tormentor. Probably a female with a calf who had a bit of fun playing with the tender.”

Her ghostly white face peeked out from Jamie’s chest and he could see her shaking and teeth chattering. Jamie asked if she wanted to ride back on Danny’s boat. She moved to the side of her boat and looked down at the water before launching back into Jamie’s arms.

Darius slowly turned Danny’s tender around and moved the boat forward very slowly until the rope was taught and they were pulling the other boat. He turned toward them and asked them to lay on the floor of the tender and hold onto something. They were right in the middle of a shipping lane and Darius wanted to get them out of there pronto. He told Ethan to watch for bodies flying out and picked up speed gradually keeping the tow rope taught. Soon they were flying across the water until he gradually slowed down when the yachts were in view. Darius circled the boats twice, letting his wake provide resistance to slow the towed tender. Danny was waiting on Claire’s boat with Maia and helped bring Claire on board with teeth chattering and pasty white skin. The women helped her into bed and covered her with a quilt.

Danny sat next to her and pushed her hair out of her eyes. “I can’t imagine how terrifying that was for you. Luckily, your man is strong as an ox and would have beaten the sea thing off to save you.” Danny’s voice was soft and caring and Claire was so grateful for her help. Jamie is coming to warm you up and I hope you rest tonight dear. Goodnight.

Jamie and Darius thanked Danny repeatedly, not finding the right words to convey she had saved them tonight. Danny looked at Darius with a sleepy smile.

“You are rather good at what you do, don’t ever doubt that Darius. I saw your brave heart tonight and felt your relief when you found them. Quite extraordinary. Goodnight.

“Thank you for everything tonight ma’am.”

Darius helped Danny into her tender and watched until she was safely on board, the tender was resting in the garage, and the lights flicked off one section at a time. He knew the chance of finding them in time was zero without a fast boat and he felt the gratitude down to his toes.

Small arms circled his waist and he looked down at the incomparable Maia with her head tilted and her chin raised in a healthy come fuck me pose that threatened his very sanity. She would pull him back to earth and make him right again. He gave himself over to her.

[anthropwashere]

Phic Phight: set the self upon the shelf

Prompt from @five-rivers: Jack and Maddie acquire the pieces of Freakshow's staff.   

@currentlylurking @phicphight

Word count: 3,841

=

In hindsight, Danny should have expected something like this to happen. He'd been on a good streak; a really good streak. No catastrophes, no explosions, no be-all, end-all ultimatums with terrible creatures trying to squeeze the life out of some poor schmuck trying to go about their day. Heck, aside from a few toothy Day-Glo bright beasties waking him up just shy of his alarm and the usual irritation of the Box Ghost haranguing the nearest postal office, things have been easy. There hasn't even been any test to stress out over. So with how his luck usually is, he's overdue for a bad day. 

Today's that day, turns out. It's just not so obvious as bad days usually go for him anymore. It's insidious, creeping, sly. 

Worst of all, his parents are the ones to blame, and they're not even trying to take Phantom apart molecule by molecule this time.

It's a Wednesday, as dull as any other Wednesday can be, when he unlocks the front door of FentonWorks, leaving it open for Sam and Tucker to come in after him. They're all in the middle of another round of friendly bickering, some he-said she-said I-read-this-article goofing with no stakes or real anger in any of their threats to shut the others up. They're just goofing. Danny locks the door once they're in, punches in the pass code on the panel his parents had installed a couple months back so the trigger-happy security system doesn't take umbrage with whatever-the-hell just strolled in through the front door. Tucker's managed to bamboozle the security somehow—Danny can almost follow along with the concept of coding if Tucker's in the mood to skip the jargon, but sit him in front of a command prompt with nary a word of English to be found and his whole brain just fritzes out in self-defense—and point is, the security recognizes Danny's not very human, but it does the software equivalent of a shrug and dumps the notifications into a hidden folder his parents would need to get real creative finding. 

He means to lead them to the stairs to dump their backpacks off in his bedroom before raiding the kitchen. The Box Ghost had decided to ruin lunch today instead of Algebra, like a jerk, and Danny's starving as a consequence of his sandwich ending up on the floor and burning up a ton of energy chasing the idiot around the entire school six times. He's trying not to laugh as Sam keeps up her rant on how unreliable sad nerds on forums are for relaying what cocaine-addled movie producers in LA may or may not have agreed to, when Tucker says, "Danny?"

"Yeah?"

"Where you going?"

Danny blinks. He's halfway down the stairs to his parents' lab. He didn't even notice. "Uh," he says, turning around. Sam and Tucker are still on the top step, raising identical eyebrows at him. "Sorry. Habit."

"BG can wait, dude. I didn't get to eat either."

"Ha. Right."

They go upstairs, Sam picking up her rant again on the second-floor landing. They drop their bags off in his room and tromp downstairs again. Danny flicks the light switch on as he passes through the doorway to the—

"Danny?"

He blinks. Halfway down to the lab again, and he'd been sure he was in the kitchen this time. He swallows, putting on a sheepish grin for his friends as he trots back up to them again. Tucker looks amused so he almost thinks he's gotten away without worrying them, but one look at Sam tells him to dump that hope in the trash and forget about it. Her painted mouth is downturned and distinctly worried. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he says. The funny thing is, it's not even a lie. "Why?"

She hesitates, then shakes her head. So he's not worrying her enough that she needs to make a parade of it. That's good. That's great. All he wants to focus on right now is microwaving the entire box of taquitos his Dad snuck into the grocery cart the last time his parents went shopping, and then eating it as fast as half-humanly as possible. 

Jazz comes home while they're all splayed out in the kitchen, poking her head in to say hi and ask if he needs any cover stories drummed up with lunch having been so chaotic. "Nah," he assures her, "I'll just dump the Box Ghost into the Portal after Mom and Dad go to bed. Thanks, though."

"Patrol tonight?"

"Always."

"Let me know when you head out?"

"Sure."

She smiles at him warmly, and not for the first time is Danny glad to have her in on his secret. She's overbearing and controlling and way, way too worried about rule-breaking, but still. It's nice. He trusts her, he loves her, and he gets no small amount of delight at having her in on all the ridiculous excuses he concocts for his parents. He has no idea how he managed so long without her helping him keep his secret. 

"Don't let him do anything stupid," she tells Sam and Tucker. Tucker gives her a mock-salute without looking up from his phone. 

"That's a tall order," Sam says with a roll of her eyes. Danny elbows her. She elbows him right back, and hers are sharp.

Jazz laughs so hard she snorts. It's a sure sign she's comfortable around Danny's friends, which is a lovely relief all on its own. For all that they don't talk much about not-ghost stuff, Danny knows she's struggled to make friends for a long time, knows she's lonely, knows she's just as happy to be included in all the Phantom business as he is to have her there beside him. She waves a touch sarcastically at them and goes off to her own room, presumably to be a good straight-A student and do all her homework for the rest of the month somehow. 

Whatever. Danny's got a full-sized mountain of taquitos to plough through and nothing the least bit life-threatening on his radar for the foreseeable future. That's as sure to change in the next five minutes as it always is. He's used to having a tight knot of panic clenched around his heart and/or the funny little cold spot where his ghostly core leaks through to his human side. He's always on edge, always ready for something. It's half the reason he can't remember the last time he got a decent night's sleep, too stressed to do more than toss restlessly in his bed until the wee hours, and the proper ghosts all seemed to have unanimously decided that five a.m. is the best time ever to come charging through the Portal to cause a little pre-dawn havoc.

"Danny?"

He blinks, and he's halfway down the stairs to the lab again.

He licks his lips, swallowing nervousness. He... he doesn't even remember leaving the kitchen. He looks over his shoulder to find Sam and Tucker up on the top step again, equal amounts of concern furrowing their brow. Down in the lab he hears his parents' voices, just low enough that he can't make out individual words over the heady thrum of the Ghost Portal. "Uh," he says.

"Something's wrong," Sam says. it's not a question.

"I'm okay," he says automatically. "Really. Not lying. Just... I dunno. Let's go upstairs."

They go upstairs. Danny plows through his taquitos as originally intended, relaying through rude mouthfuls that he really does feel fine, totally normal (for him, shut up Tucker). He doesn't think he's losing time or anything as worrying as that. He's just... going through the motions so much that he doesn't even notice when he misses his mark.

Sam and Tucker do not like the sound of that, but he convinces them to let it lie. His parents are probably just working on some new gadget. He'll take a look at the lab later tonight. It's not like it feels evil or anything. It doesn't even hurt, which considering the trend of ghost hunting gizmos they've drummed up the last few months is a welcome change of pace. It's fine, really. He's fine, really.

"If you're sure," Tucker says, doubtful.

"I am. Give it a rest, will ya?"

They do, and they reluctantly bunker down to make a decent dent in their homework so they won't have to worry about it in that anxious gray waiting after dinner with their families and before they can sneak out for patrol. Normal kids do their homework after dinner. Not them. They're halfway between valedictorian and delinquent in their habits, toeing the line between abandoning homework entirely and only keeping up with it as best they can to avoid any unnecessary eyes. Danny can't afford the extra attention. 

The afternoon wanes, evening looming like an executioner's axe—Sam and Tucker are all too aware of how long they've gone without a proper catastrophe too—and sooner than they'd prefer it's time to part ways. Sam and Tucker gather up their things and hide away their patrol schedules and the like in the hollow space in Danny's ceiling as per usual. Then the three of them tromp down the stairs again to dump their plates in the sink and pay lip service to a goodnight until tomorrow in case Danny's parents are around. They're not at first glance, or at second glance for that matter, but better safe than sorry. Danny starts to follow them to the door, uneasy of the doorway down the lab yawning like a mouth, and this time he feels it—

(come here)

—but there's nothing for it. Knowing he's being bidden down the basement doesn't stop him from swiveling on his heel to start down the polished stairs. It's only Sam's quick reaction that stops him only two steps down, her hand a firm vice on his bent elbow. 

"Yeah," he says, a little breathless with surprise. "Felt it that time."

"Only that time?" Tucker asks in a tone firmly detailing how little he likes the sound of that. 

Danny looks over his shoulder to nod at them both. "It doesn't hurt," he reminds them. "It's okay. I can handle—whatever it is they're doing down there."

"Tell Jazz," Sam says, which is surprising enough that Tucker gawks at her too. It's not like she and Jazz get along, after all. Danny promises, too surprised to scoff or tease her for worrying over nothing. Maybe that should've been a warning sign too.

He waves them off at the door, locking it and punching in the code again with a habit so well-honed he doesn't even think about it, and before he knows it he's blinking harsh neon green light out of his eyes. Down in the basement, and he only remembers walking down the stairs after the fact.

"Danny-boy!" His dad shouts with his usual boisterous energy from over near one of the examination tables. His mom's off at one of the far counters, bent over a heavily modified microscope. Both of them have their hoods up, and Danny has to swallow a shiver when his dad looms too close. Something about the goggles always reminds him of how a praying mantis' eyes bulge; charmingly goofy right up until it snatches its prey up in its scythe-like forearms. 

"H-hey, Dad."

"Whoa, is it that late already? Baby cakes, it's almost six!"

His mom straightens up with a murmured groan as her back pops audibly. Her red-lipped smile ratchets right up into something uncanny and wrong without her eyes visible to soften the bright flash of teeth. "Is it? Oh, hell, I completely forgot to take the hamburgers out to thaw. Danny—hi, sweetie—do you mind calling in take-out? Your choice." 

"Uh. Sure, no problem." Funny. Never mind the taquitos he devoured an hour ago, he's always on the cusp of starving. Ghost powers or puberty, or both. He doesn't know and it doesn't really matter so long as nobody notices how much he puts away without gaining an ounce. He casts a wide glance around the lab, feigning bored curiosity, hoping to find some strange new device with his dad's face stickered all over it that will explain this weird urge demanding he be down here—

—and feels his heart and core both stutter at the sight of what's laid beneath his dad's broad hands.

"What," he chokes out. It's all he can manage. His usual anxiety—something's coming, something will come for him, any moment now, any moment, soon soon soon—transmogrifies into a full-blown panic attack so fast he feels the air in his lungs literally, genuinely freeze. He clenches his jaw against the coughing fit threatening to expose him as wrong, pointing at the long black staff laid on the table instead.

"Oh, this? You're never gonna believe it, Dann-o." His dad beams at him, proud of his work and glad his son's taking an interest in it. "We got a call yesterday on the 800 number. Some hiker found this thing absolutely covered in little ghosts down in Little Grand Canyon and figured this thing oughta have a proper once over from us instead of being left to lie where the river'd dumped it."

"It appears to generate a frequency too high for humans to perceive," his mom chimes in, walking over to join them at the table. She shoos a small sparrow-looking ghost away with naked disgust curling her mouth; it goes sailing on stiff wings off to settle on a sturdy crate off in one corner, red eyes leaving streaking after-images as it twists and ducks its little head, taking in all the strangeness of the lab. Danny pretends as hard as he can that he can't hear it asking, where am i? where am i? 

"That's right," his dad confirms, plucking the staff up with a frivolous little twirl that has his mom swatting his shoulder with a laugh. "There must have been thirty birds and snakes and the like swarming all over this thing when we got there this morning. We had to melt the lot of them to get our hands on this thing, and we've got no idea yet what got them so interested in this thing."

"At first glance it's only a simple iron-wrought staff," his mom says, tugging it free from his dad's hands to display the detailed bat at its top and the glittering shards of crimson-colored glass running down its back. "But see this glass? There's a tremendous amount of energy emitting from it—harmless to humans, don't worry. But that bird's the seventh ghost we've seen since we brought this thing down here. Something about the frequency is compelling to ghosts. They have to come see what's going on. Although why they feel such a compunction or what this thing's original purpose was is beyond me...." 

In the back of Danny's mind he hears an echo of an echo of Freakshow's voice urging him on. (take it. bring it back to me. come home. come home to me.)

"Yeah," he manages thinly. "Weird."

They ramble on for a while, too giddy to have him showing an interest in their work to recognize that his interest stems from something adjacent to terror. He musters a rictus grin, nodding like some wall-eyed bobblehead toy when they look to him for input. All the while the beady red eyes of the bat on the staff burn his skin like lit cigarettes, like brands, like red-hot manacles he might not be able to shake this time.

(come here,) the staff bids him, its voice so gentle it could his own mind assuring him that this is the best idea he's ever had. (take me. bring me home. bring me to him. it will all be so much better once we're his again.) 

"Dinner," he chokes out eventually, backing away toward the stairs. "I should—order. Order. Dinner. Pizza?"

"Sounds good to me," his dad says cheerfully. "You know what I like."

"My wallet's in the kitchen," his mom adds.

(stay,) the staff says. (take me. bring me home.)

"Nngh," he says, nodding dutifully. He doesn't know who to. It takes far more effort to climb the stairs this time, his grip white-knuckled on the banister, his gaze reluctantly dragged away from the basement and up to the living room. Once there he blinks, feeling the tug of the staff fade to something slight again. He can ignore it up here, but now that he knows what it is he can't stop hearing-feeling it. 

(come here,) it urges. (downstairs. i'm here. take me back. take me home. come home with me—)

He slaps his hands over his ears (for all the good it does), and stomps over to the kitchen where the landline is. Pizza. He. He's gotta order dinner. His parents will suspect him if he doesn't do this one perfectly normal thing. 

He dials. He orders. He fumbles around his mom's wallet for her debit card. He manages a stammered apology to the person on the line, who laughs indulgently and tells him "No worries!" in a tone that says she knows how young he is just by his voice. Underestimating him. Simple human. Stupid human. He could show her how wrong she is. He should show her. Scare her. Make her scream. Hurt her—

He drops the phone, breathing heavily.

Shit. 

Shit.

"Hello?" The girl's tinny voice asks uncertainly, a hundred miles away at his feet.

He picks the phone up. "S-sorry. Anyway, the number's...."

He finishes the order. The girl on the phone tells him to expect the driver to arrive in about 45 minutes. He makes a few incomprehensible noises that might translate to something like a thank you if the girl happens to feel real generous. He's never calling this pizza place again.

Once the phone's back on the receiver he bolts up through the ceiling, straight up to the roof, past the Ops Center, up up up until he feels the final sticky thread of the staff let him go, until he's skirting the scraggly cloud cover and thinking clearly enough to realize he really ought to ditch visibility while he's up here trying to figure out what the fuck he's gonna do next.

Freakshow's in jail.

Freakshow doesn't have the staff.

Freakshow can't control him now. He can't. He can't.

It's the staff. Just the staff down there, and whatever about it that makes it so—intoxicating? Smothering? Comforting?

He's far enough away that it's easy to recoil from that. It's not a comfort. It's not. It's not easy, or gentle, or good. It's piano wire tugging on his joints, turning his mind to so much waterlogged cotton. There's no knowing what the staff would do to him without someone at the metaphorical wheel. Just because what he remembers from when Freakshow controlled him is a warm, soft cocoon doesn't make it right. He put humans—people—in the hospital. He stole thousands of dollars worth of jewelry from eight different stores in six days. He nearly killed Sam. 

These are things he knows because he was told them secondhand. He read articles, watched news reports, listened to Sam shakily try to convince him that she was okay, really, just as he'd done to her a hundred times before. 

But the truth of the matter is this: he has no concrete memories of that week spent under Freakshow's thumb. He remembers warmth, and rightness, and glee. He remembers feeling a good so giddy it might be better than any description of any drug he's ever heard of. He knows the comedown was hard, and disorienting, and cold, and that he couldn't shake the ring of Freakshow's laughter in his ears for weeks. He knows that the majority of him hated every minute of not being himself. He knows that nine-tenths of him still feels a touch unclean in a way he doesn't know how to voice to Sam and Tucker, to know that he did those things without any semblance of self, and that last little part of him reveled in just... letting go. Running wild. In doing things for the fun of it and not caring at all about consequences, because what did consequences matter to a ghost?

There's a very, very tiny part of himself that wishes for the freedom of that feeling. Yoked and manacled in the sticky, impossible-to-resist way of magic, but free from the burdens of Danny Fenton. No expectations, no future, no what-ifs, no curfews, no algebra. Just Phantom. Just free to do whatever he pleases.

Skittishly he looks down at FentonWorks a thousand feet below, unsure if he's put enough distance between himself and the staff, unsure if he can trust his own thoughts yet. He doesn't know. He doesn't think there's any way to know for sure.

What should he do?

What can he do?

Just being within easy reach of the staff puts prickles all down his spine, numbs his hands and feet and tongue. He broke it. That's how he got free of Freakshow. He dropped it to save Sam because she was more important, and it broke, and now he's free. He's free. He is.

Maybe the orb-thing wasn't the source.

Maybe....

He doesn't know.

He can't let his parents keep it. That much he does know. If they figure out how to utilize it, even at a fraction of what Freakshow was capable of, then there'd be no winning. Phantom could barely fight it with Sam begging for her life right in front of him, and that was with a stranger at the reins. If his mom or dad told him to come down to the lab and lay down on an examination table....

He can't.

He can't.

What can he do?

His hip buzzes, so unexpected he drops twenty feet before catching himself with a yelp. His first instinct is that it's an attack, and he switches to Phantom and throws up a shield faster than thought, twisting around in the dark trying to find the source, trying to see who's coming for his throat next—

It's his phone. A text. That's all. No more, no less.

He changes back, not trusting his shaky hands with gloves on. It's from Jazz, asking where he's at. He calls her back, and she answers on the third ring.

"Hey, Danny," she says, relief audible in her voice. "Was there a ghost?"

"Uh-uh," he says. "Worse. Jazz, I—I need a favor."

"What was that? You broke up."

"Oh. Uh. Hang on." He drops hundreds and hundred of feet in free fall, watching the Ops Center racing up to meet him, all its floodlights swiveling round and round on automated patterns. He halts on a dime, far faster than any human could endure, and feels only an irritating tug on his bones as he swivels to find balance again. "Can you hear me now?"

"Yeah, that's better. What's up?"

He takes a deep breath. "I need a favor. A really, really big one."

[mr-lancers-english-class]

DannyMay Day Thirty One: Free Day!!!

Quick shoutout to @dp-marvel94 for (probably unintentionally) single handedly motivating me to finish this. Your support mean a ton to me!

AO3

It was the third anniversary. Three years. Three hundred and sixty five days, three times over. Six semesters of high school. Three birthdays. One alternate evil timeline averted. Two kings overthrown. One full country of dead yetis saved. Two different tearful confessions to get the truth out and then set it straight. All within three years. And here it was.

His third Death Day.

The first had passed with little fanfare, just a casual remark from Tucker about how it had been a full year of fighting ghosts. The second had been an overdramatic affair hosted by Skulker, as he was the only ghost who had found out the exact date, that had ended with half of the dead partygoers locked up in prison for such crimes as intoxication, theft, destruction of property, and cursing in the presence of a young ghost, and all of the living partygoers nursing ectoplasmic-drink-induced headaches for weeks. This was his third Death Day, and he had very simple plans: sleep in, order a pizza, annoy Jazz, and game with Tucker and Sam all night.

“What do you mean you can’t make it?” Danny nearly shouted into the phone. “It’s my Death Day!”

“I know, Danny, and I’m sorry. I really am. My parents didn’t tell me about the gala until this morning!” Sam was genuinely sorry, Danny knew, and she almost sounded embarrassed.

“Do you have to go?”

“I tried to talk them out of it, but I think I’m stuck.”

“Are you able to come over tomorrow?” Danny switched his phone to his other hand, erasing and adding a few things to his whiteboard calendar.

“I can make that work, yeah.”

“Great! Then we can have my party a day late!”

“I’m so sorry!”

“You’re fine, Sam. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Danny hung up and flopped onto his bed. It was less than a minute later when his phone started to ring. Without even checking the caller ID, Danny answered.

“Did you talk them out of it, Sam?”

“Uh, hi Danny,” Tucker answered.

“Oh. Hi Tucker.”

“You sound disappointed to hear me.”

“Sorry, just, Sam can’t make it tonight.” There was silence on the other end, and Danny felt the need to fill it. “Y’know, to my Death Day party?”

“Um, heh heh, I uh, I have something to tell you,” Tucker’s voice dropped to a whisper.

“You can’t make it either, can you.” It wasn’t a question.

“No, I can’t. My aunts and cousins are gonna be in town for the night, and my parents have decided we’re doing a big family dinner. They’re even making me help cook. Tucker’s famous pork roast is on the menu tonight!” Danny held the phone away from his ear as his friend’s volume grew.

“Your aunts are coming to town?”

“Yeah, the lesbian ones.” Tucker sounded exasperated.

“No, I know who you’re talking about. I mean, they’re only gonna be in town for one night?”

“Yeah, road trip stuff. They’re driving cross-country, and are just stopping for the night.”

“So would tomorrow work? Because Sam can make tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow should work, yeah!”

“Great! I’ll see you then,” Danny sighed, hanging up and tossing his phone to the other side of his bed.

“Alright. How’s a halfa to spend a lonely anniversary of being brutally killed by an interdimensional gateway?” he asked into the emptiness of his room.

~~~

There was a knocking at his door. Danny blearily opened one eye. The other was pressed into his pillow and crusted shut. The knocking was incessant.

“Ugh huh ugh,” he croaked out, before falling off his bed with a thump. The knocking stopped.

“Danny? Are you okay?” Jazz’s muffled voice called through the door.

“Ugh.”

“Can I come in?”

“Yes.” The door opened slowly, before Jazz poked her head in.

“Oh, there you are. Are you okay? That doesn’t look comfortable.” Jazz took a few steps into the room and sat on the foot of Danny’s bed. Danny gently floated himself up from his position on the floor, untwisted his body, and sat next to Jazz.

“It wasn’t too uncomfortable.”

“Oh. Uh, okay. Well, can I show you something in the lab?”

“Ugh! What is it?”

“Just a little something I’ve been working on for the past few days. I think you’ll like it.”

Danny groaned and flopped backwards across his bed.

“I’m not really feeling it, Jazz. I’ve kinda had a bad day and I just want to curl up in a ball alone in my room.”

“Danny, I get that you’re tired and probably had plans that got cancelled, but you can get up and walk down stairs and stand in the lab for five minutes. Hell, you can fly down the stairs for all I care. But I really want to show you this, and it’s important to me.”

“Jazz, seriously, I don’t feel like doing anything,” Danny said, rolling to face away from his sister.

“Danny! It’s five minutes! So can you please get over your moping? Besides, I really think you’ll like it.” Jazz reached over to grab Danny’s shoulder, but her hand fell through.

“Jazz, no! I’ve been telling you that for like five minutes! I just want to sit up here and be alone!”

“This is about your Death Day, isn’t it?” Danny glanced over his shoulder, surprise written in his features. “Oh, don’t look like that. I remembered. You didn’t tell me the last two years, but I was at Skulker’s party. And, well, this is kinda about that. But I was expecting to show you tomorrow.”

“Why tomorrow?”

“I thought you were out with Tucker and Sam. You mentioned you had plans, and it was so quiet I thought nobody was home, so I was planning on showing you a little late. But then Mom asked me to come up and check on you. So here I am.” Jazz paused, waiting for a response. When none came, she continued. “You can go back to your moping as soon as we’re done, but since you’re home, can you please come down so I can show you this actually on your Death Day?”

Danny groaned with enough exaggeration to shake the walls of his room slightly. “Fine.”

“Thank you. Now come on.” Jazz grabbed her brother’s hand and pulled him out of his bedroom. She let go when they reached the stairs, but could still feel his presence behind her. To the unaccustomed, being around Danny activated the most primal fight or flight response possible in mankind. Those who didn’t know very rarely identified that it was Danny giving them that reaction, but as someone who had lived so close to him for so long, Jazz was unaffected and could see what happened to everyone else. At this point, most of Casper High didn’t really feel it anymore, but there was always the occasional outsider Jazz could study from afar.

“So, what is it you want to show me?”

“It’s a surprise, but it will definitely help you with your patrols.”

“Can you please tell me?” Jazz thought she could feel Danny making the praying motion with his hands as they entered the kitchen. “Please?”

“It’s literally at the bottom of the stairs. You can wait that long.”

“Fine! But this had better be good.”

They reached the lab doors. Jazz unlocked them and waved her arm for Danny to go first. “After you, little brother.”

“Why are the lights off?” Danny asked, halfway down the stairs. Even with the kitchen light coming from behind them and her brother in his human form, Jazz could see Danny’s slight glow. “I swear, I’m gonna trip and fall and die again. Can you-”

As Danny reached the last step, all the lights in the basement turned on at once. Approximately thirty ghosts shimmered into the visible spectrum as five humans jumped out from behind various boxes, shelves, and tables.

“SURPRISE!”

Danny stopped, eyes wide and jaw dropped.

“Happy Death Day, little brother,” Jazz said as she caught up. Danny turned to look at her, and Jazz took a moment to realize how tall her brother had grown.

“Wait, what?” Jazz was about to answer, but before she could, someone grabbed Danny away and swept him into a hug.

“Happy Death Day!” Tucker shouted, picking Danny up in a hug. As soon as he put him down, Sam picked him up instead.

“You really think either of us would miss this, you big dork?” she asked.

“I-”

“Danny-boy! C’mere!” Jack had picked up his son the instant Sam had set him down. For as tall and as filled out as he was, Danny was incredibly light. “Happy Death Birth Day, son.”

“Dad, that’s-”

“Oh Danny,” Maddie gushed. “Happy Death Day.”

In the ensuing minutes, Danny was swept from human to ghost and back again in seconds. Each being in the room wanted to make sure that they got to wish him a happy day and make sure he knew they were there to celebrate him.

From Dora to Frostbite to Dani to Valerie to Ember to Johnny back to Sam and Tucker to Kitty to the Box Ghost all the way back to Jazz, Danny didn’t know what to say. His friends and family, both alive and dead, were all here. They hadn’t forgotten. They were all here for him.

It was his third Death Day. And he’d be damned if it wasn’t his best one yet.

[northsidemarleyrose]

Fix You \\ Ryley

Who: Marley Rose and Ryder Lynn (@serpentlynn) What: Ryder comes to the “rescue” after Blaine leaves Marley alone in the apartment.  When: Monday, December 2nd, later night. Where: Blaine’s Apartment Notes: Ryder is BOLDED, Marley is regular. Too cute to handle. Hints at Marley’s eating disorder. Word Count: 1,741 

Ryder knew there was a chance that Blaine and Marley’s conversation wouldn’t end well. He still didn’t think Marley should try to force herself to try having sex with Blaine, and while he did manage to fall asleep that night while rewatching Teen Titans, he kept his phone next to him in case something happened and Marley needed him.

And that time came, because he woke up to his phone ringing and he answered as soon as he could open his eyes, “Are you okay?” were the first words out of his mouth, trying to not sound like he had just woken up. Marley’s voice came through on the other end, asking if he could come over, and once he said he’ll be right there, he hung up and got out of bed. He only pulled on a jacket over his pajamas and grabbed his keys, beginning to make the drive over to the Northside. But before he got to Marley’s, he made a stop for some movies, feel good ones to help him make her feel better, and some ice cream.

Not long after, he was there, getting out and noticing the door was unlocked, so he came in. Immediately, Ryder spotted her in the hallway and he frowned a little that whatever happened between his friends had to end like this.

“Hey, would’ve been here sooner but I thought I could bring some movies to help cheer you up. No superhero movies, just some fun, upbeat ones.” He spoke, moving closer to her and holding out a hand so she could get up, “So I thought we could watch one of these while you tell me what happened.”

Marley knew Ryder was coming but she couldn't stop herself from hoping it was Blaine who was going to appear when the door opened. To no one's shock, it was Ryder and she couldn't even meet his eye right away. She trusted he wouldn't pull an I told you so on her, but she felt it just by looking at him.

She forced out a small smile when he explained what'd taken him longer than planned, he was really too much. She took his hand and pulled herself up. She made her way over to the couch as Ryder put a movie on, Grease, and she smiled. Still her own personal Danny Zuko. Wiping her eyes she let out a quiet laugh. "You're ridiculous," she told him as he sat down.

After he put Grease on, he sat down on the couch next to Marley, grinning a little when he heard her laugh and say he’s ridiculous. “Oh, come on, Marley. It was right there, I couldn’t not pick it.” He put his arm around the back of the couch, kind of a silent almost invitation if she wanted to get closer, but not too obvious in case she wanted space after whatever happened between her and Blaine.

“I got cookie dough ice cream for you, and chocolate marshmallow swirl for me if you wanted to have some of mine.” Ryder told her, listening to the opening song play and giving her some time to relax before talking about what happened tonight. He didn’t want to bombard her with questions or anything, this was entirely her pace.

Ice cream and movies. For someone who'd never really dealt with a messy breakup before, he was sure pulling out all the seemingly right stops. Though, eating was the last thing she really wanted to do right now so she just shook her head. "I had a big dinner," she lied, scooting closer and leaning on her friend, happy he was there.

She watched as the movie played out for a few minutes, trying to ignore the fact that she could nearly feel Ryder's curiosity. She sighed and sat up a little so she could look at him, deciding to give him a short version of what had happened that night, minimal details about what had happened in the bedroom before she'd stopped Blaine.

He bit his lip slightly when Marley said she had a big dinner, because he remembered Thanksgiving at Pop’s and her not really eating at all, and high school when she didn’t seem to eat much then either, so he was a little hesitant to believe her. But he didn’t say anything. It wasn’t the night to bring up her not eating much. It was just the night for her telling him what happened and for him to help her feel better.

And he soon got those details, not too many, but he didn’t need the whole thing. “I’m sorry, Marls. That sucks. But hey, Jean Grey and Scott Summers broke up too, under different circumstances obviously but still, it’ll work out for you. Jean got with Wolverine, so now all that’s left is for you to eventually find your own Wolverine and you’re all set.” He didn’t mean to go on a ramble about superheroes again, especially not about the two he compared Blaine and Marley to, but he couldn’t help it. “It’ll be okay, you got me and Charlie and your other friends who aren’t as cool as me. You can get through this.”

Marley really didn't know who Scott Summers or Jean Grey were. Luckily, she did have a vague idea of Wolverine, and by vague, she knew he was played by Hugh Jackman in the movies. She'd never land a Hugh Jackman, but she thought the sentiment was cute.

"I'll probably text Charlie tomorrow," Marley told Ryder, leaning back against him and turning her attention to the movie. "See if I can stay there for a bit. I don't B'll want me around here..." Even if that wasn't true, she didn't know if she could be here after tonight. She knew she'd have a moment tomorrow morning where she just forgot everything. And then she'd remember and the hurt would happen all over again.

When she leaned back against him, he kept his arm around her. He didn’t think that B wouldn’t want her around here, even if they were broken up, he was still her best friend, but he didn’t say anything. “I wish I had room in my trailer, I’d totally let you stay with me.” But he still lived with his parents and the trailer wasn’t big enough to add Marley. “And we could have Lucky Charms for breakfast.” He added with a grin, knowing she wouldn’t agree to that since she didn’t agree that marshmallows were a necessary part of the morning meal.

Ryder wished he knew how to just make her pain go away, because he would do anything it took to make her not sad about this and hurt. But he couldn’t, he just knew that he had to be here for her and help with what he could do. Which was making jokes and watching movies, what he does best.

Marley couldn't help but roll her eyes at the mention of Lucky Charms. But, it was sweet of him to say he'd let her stay with him and his family. She didn't know how many other guys she knew would say something like that.

They weren't even halfway through the movie when Marley's began to flutter shut. She didn't want to fall asleep, especially not on Ryder or on the couch. She had a bed here ... or ... she used to. Trying to fight a yawn she focused on the TV. "They might be the best Danny and Sandy," she said quietly. "But I think we were a pretty close second."

Ryder nodded along to her comment, he could tell that she was getting tired, which was a good sign, at least to him. That she was okay enough to sleep for now. “We definitely gave them a run for their money, especially during You’re The One That I Want, you were so good.” He responded, doing Grease was honestly one of the best parts of high school for him. He met Marley, joined Glee club, it was awesome.

After a few short moments, he rubbed her arm a little, “You can sleep if you want, I’m getting tired again too.” He did wake up just to come over, not that he minded, because he was coming over for Marley. He’d do pretty much anything for her, out of the girls in town, the Rose’s were definitely the ones he trusted the most, Marley maybe a little more so.

"You were better," Marley quipped sleepily. Compliments were always served a plenty between the two of them, something she never really complained about. Ryder was ... special. It was different with Sam or Finn or even Blaine. He was just ... Ryder.

He was giving her permission to sleep, something she didn't realize she'd needed. "Okay," she answered, nodding a little and grabbing the throw blanket from on top of the couch and covering herself with it. Other people might make assumptions if they knew Ryder came over or that he was spending the night but it was Ryder. She couldn't help but be anxious, knowing Blaine could walk through the door at any second, but ... he wouldn't get mad, Ryder was their friend.

Her worries slowly drifted as she started dozing off. Instinctively wrapping her arms around his middle section. "G'night," she mumbled moments before her eyes flickered shut.

Ryder grinned, though he didn’t think he really agreed that he was better. Seeing her on stage that night was incredible, she was such a good Sandy and just a great actress and singer in general. She was a great person too, always complimenting him and just being amazing. He was really glad he was lucky enough to be friends with her.

Even though moments like this, sitting on the couch and watching a movie while she was leaning into him, made him wish they weren’t just friends. But he pushed that thought out of his head quickly, she called him here because she broke up with her boyfriend, he didn’t need to be thinking about having any sort of more than platonic feelings for her. Not now anyways, not while she was hurting.

He fixed the blanket she put over herself a little, grinning when he felt her arms around him, “Night, Marls.” He responded, shifting his position a bit and laying his head back, closing his eyes while the movie kept playing in front of them.

[serpentsong]

Devil’s Backbone-Sweet Pea x Reader

Description: Reader is from a devout religious family and has been seeing Sweet Pea for quite some time.

Based on the song: Devil’s Backbone by The Civil Wars

Oh Lord, Oh Lord, what have I done? I’ve fallen in love with a man on the run Oh Lord, Oh Lord, I’m begging you please Don’t take that sinner from me Oh don’t take that sinner from me

You laid back to chest with your boyfriend, Sweet Pea, on a Saturday night. His arms were wrapped around you, making you feel as safe as ever. He had gone on a run with FP Jones earlier in the day and now he was just trying to relax with the woman of his dreams. You two had been together coming on ten months and your family still doesn’t know. It’s not like you didn’t want to tell them. Hell, you wanted to shout it from the rooftops that you’ve found someone who just makes you complete. But they simply wouldn’t approve and wouldn’t understand. So, while they thought you were tutoring a third grader, you were really soaking up as much time with your boyfriend as you can.

“What time do you have to be back?” he asked, his thumb rubbing circles on your arm.

You checked the clock and sighed, “Probably soon. They’ll kill me if I oversleep and miss church, again.”

He chuckled softly, “I’ll take you. C’mon.”

He unraveled his arms from your shoulders and you groaned. “I was so comfy.”

“I know baby,” he laughed, moving and helping you up. You slipped back on your shoes and pulled your sweet pea’s hoodie on, zipping it all the way up and waiting for him. He threw on his signature Serpent jacket and grabbed his keys, holding the front door open for you.

Oh Lord, Oh Lord, what do I do? I’ve fallen for someone who’s nothing like you He’s raised on the edge of the devil’s backbone Oh I just wanna take him home

Sweet Pea had parked five houses down and on the opposite side of your block, per your request. He knew the drill. He leaned against his bike, pressing a kiss down against your lips. You gripped his jacket, leaning up into the kiss.

You both broke away and you rested your forehead on his collarbone. “I hate hiding,” you mumbled.

“I know baby, me too. And if you ever decide to tell your parents, I’ll back you 100%. But our friends know and we know, and that’s good enough for me.” he pressed a kiss to your head.

You hugged his middle before letting go, giving him a smile, “Goodnight, Sweets.”

“Goodnight, babygirl. Text me when you get inside.”

You nodded, crossing the street and walking up the block. Sweet Pea remained in his position, out of sight, but watching for your safety. You bounded up the steps, using your key to unlock your door and walk inside. You snuck upstairs, avoiding waking your parents and silently closed your bedroom door, shooting a quick text to Sweet Pea.

To: Sweets  Made it in babe. I’ll call you tomorrow. Get home safe. Goodnight. I love you.

Your phone buzzed with a quick response.

From: Sweets You know I will. Goodnight. I love you too baby

You clicked your phone closed with a smile and quickly changed into sweats and a tank top, curling into bed and going to sleep.

Oh Lord, Oh Lord, he’s somewhere between A hangman’s knot, and three mouths to feed There wasn’t a wrong or a right he could choose He did what he had to do Oh he did what he had to do

The next morning, you headed downstairs shortly after you woke up to meet your family for breakfast. Unfortunately, you didn’t realize your tank top cut a little low and a hickey from just yesterday was on display for the world.

“Y/N. What’s that?” your younger brother asked, turning all attention to you as he pointed at your chest. You cursed mentally, only blaming yourself. Sweet Pea was careful to not mark up your neck. But your chest? That was a whole different story.

“Y/N Y/L/N. What have you been doing?” your mother asked, eyes widening at you.

You stumbled over your words, pulling your tank top higher, “U-um, n-nothing.”

“Do not lie to us, young lady. Tell your mother and I where you got that mark!” your father barked.

“I have a boyfriend!” you blurted out and your parents stayed quiet, waiting to hear more as your little brother knew better and excused himself to eavesdrop from the staircase.

“We’ve been together for almost ten months. I love him, okay? And he loves me, so.” you crossed your arms over your chest.

“Who is this boy?” your mother asked.

“He goes by Sweet Pea.”

“That Serpent boy!!?” your father shouted, eyes bulging from his head.

“The Serpent boy, yes. But he’s so much more than that! He’s good to me.” you defended.

“He has a criminal record, Y/N.” your mother spoke, worry clear on her face.

“He’s only done what he’s had to do to survive. If you guys knew half of the things he went through, anyone in the South Side went through, you wouldn’t be so quick to condemn them.” you replied.

Give me the burden, give me the blame I’ll shoulder the load, and I’ll swallow the shame Give me the burden, give me the blame How many, how many Hail Marys is it gonna take?

“If you continue to be with that criminal gangster, you will not be allowed with this family. I won’t have you and your sins ruining our family name.” your father spoke.

“Honey, don’t you think that’s a bit harsh? It’s not fair to blame her for her boyfriends mistakes.” your mother asked.

“No. She needs to learn that we don’t accept the devils work in our family. If she chooses that life, it won’t be with us around.” your father replied.

You just nodded, standing up. “Okay.”

“Okay what?” your mother asked.

“Okay, I’ll leave. If you want to find me, go look in the trailer park.” You turned and walked upstairs, passing your little brother with sad eyes.

He walked in as you packed your bag. “Y/N/N, don’t go. I’m sorry.” he said sadly, tears running down his face.

“Hey, bubba. It’s not your fault. They were gonna find out anyways. I’ll always be here for you. I just won’t live here.” you said, pulling him up on your bed.

“I’m gonna miss you.” he replied.

“I’m gonna miss you too. Here.” you said, taking off your necklace with your birthstone, dropping it in his hands.

“You keep this. I’m always with you.” you said and he nodded, smiling.

He wrapped his arms around you tight and you did the same, kissing his head. “I love you, kid.”

“I love you too, Y/N/N.”

He bounded off into his room and you smiled, pulling out your phone to text Sweet Pea.

To: Sweets  Hey baby. So, my parents know. Um, they didn’t take it well. I’ll be over soon.

You put your phone away and finished packing your bag. The door to your bedroom crept open and in walked your mother, taking a gentle seat on the edge of your bed.

“Your father will come around, honey.”

“I know, mom. But maybe this is good for everyone. Sweet Pea and I take care of each other, he’s good to me, mom.” She smiled at your words, placing her hand on yours.

“Let me at least drive you to his place? Even if your father won’t come around, I will. I just want what’s best for you and I know that if you’ve picked him this long, you’re being smart.” You smiled, nodding.

You sat in the car, headed towards Sweet Pea’s trailer. Your mom pulled into the trailer park as you pointed her in the right direction, finally stopping at the trailer in which Sweet Pea already stood outside.

“ I love you, mom.”

“I love you too, honey. You be safe.” You nodded, getting out and grabbing your bag. Your mom had told you she would bring by more of your stuff later if you wanted. You made your way over to Sweet Pea, who now stood on level ground to envelop you in his arms.

“You take care of my daughter, Sweet Pea.” Your mother shouted with her eyebrows raised.

“Wouldn’t dream of doing otherwise, ma’am.”

Your mom smiled and drove off, leaving you and Sweet Pea to walk into his trailer together, where you proceeded in telling him the whole story.

“I’m so sorry baby. You know you’ll always have a home with me.”

“It’s not your fault, Sweets. They were bound to find out sometime.” you replied, leaning into his arms.

“Looks like it’s you and me against the world?”

“You and me against the world, baby,” you smiled, leaning back into his arms.

-10 Years later-

You and Sweet Pea were now 27 and happily married. He owned a mechanic shop and went to trade school in the city while you attended university. You were a double major in social work and psychology and worked to ensure children in the system were safe and cared for, to the best of your ability. You and Sweet Pea had moved into a beautiful home on the border between the north and south side to raise your family. You had a pair of fraternal twins, aged 3, a boy and a girl. You were also currently pregnant with, what you hoped would be, your final child. It was a girl and the whole family was excited. Your father never did come around and it made for some harsh times with your mother and brother. Speaking of which, your brother was graduating today! Your mother had invited you, without your fathers knowledge of course. So, you were currently piling your family in your car.

You buckled in your son, Alex and Sweet Pea buckled in your daughter, Amelia. You climbed in the passenger's seat and buckled up, watching as Sweet Pea finally got Amelia buckled and climbed in, revving up the car and driving off.

“You sure your dad won’t cause a scene?” Sweet Pea asked. Your mother gave up updating your father and just opted for not telling him anything at all. He didn’t need to know if he didn’t support it anyway.

“On Danny’s graduation day? I don’t think so.”

Once you arrived, you each held a child and made your way into the graduation, finding your mom in a heartbeat. You both let the kids down and they went running full speed towards her.

“Grandma!!” they screamed, wrapping their little arms around her legs and she smiled. You and Sweet Pea made your way over, his arm on your waist and your hand on your 7 month belly.

“Grandma, who’s that?” Alex asked, pointing up at your father.

“Alex honey, that’s your grandpa.”You said, taking a seat on the bleachers.

His face was etched with confusion and you heard your mother whisper harshly to your father, “You haven’t seen your daughter in ten years. You better not ruin this!” A small smile made its way to your lips as Sweet Pea took a seat beside you, Alex rushing to beat Amelia to his lap.

Amelia furrowed her eyebrows and got angry, “Daddy! I wanted to sit on your lap!” Sweet Pea just chuckled and swooped her up, letting her sit on his free leg.

“There’s room for the both of you. No need to get mad, Amelia.” he spoke softly and she nodded, resting her head on his shoulder. Your fathers voice from behind you took you out from your thoughts and you turned around.

“Y/N, I know it doesn’t mean much, but I’m sorry. I just didn’t understand back then.”

“I won’t push you away, I know how that feels. But you missed a lot, and I won’t have you in mine or my children’s lives just to disappear. So, if you plan on sticking around, by all means. But if you’re going to degrade me or my family in any way, don’t bother.” He nodded at your words.

“I can respect that. I hope to be around a lot more., Y/N.”

You just nodded as the graduation ceremony started, Sweet Pea’s hand resting on your back.

Don’t care if he’s guilty, don’t care if he’s not He’s good and he’s bad and he’s all that I’ve got Oh Lord, Oh Lord, I’m begging you please Don’t take that sinner from me Oh don’t take that sinner from me

A/N:Ahh! I know it’s been so long. Things have been nonstop stress since December and it’s been so hard to get something out, especially with my birthday and my brothers birthday this week. I feel like I could’ve gone a different route with this song, but for now, this is what I’ve got. Maybe I’ll use this song again in the future. Requests are open!!!! Hopefully soon it will speed up again.Thank you for reading. xx bec

[j-loves-bts]

I found something

I just a draft for an original story I was gonna write like last year lmaoo.

Not that anyone cares but im gonna post it because I don’t think it was that badly written or that much of a bad idea.

Enjoy

Or dont whatever

Robert knew. He knew that trying to hide his children would not protect them forever but he had hoped. He had hoped that moving from a luxurious mansion to a tiny three bedroomed house on the outskirts of Wolverhampton would do something to stop them but it didn’t, it never would. They wanted his children, just like they had wanted him and his father before him. And he knew he couldn’t stop them.

Bee dee! Bee dee! Bee dee!

The alarm clock on the bedside table started its wakeup call. Charlie’s dirty blonde hair, the only thing visible from underneath her duvet, was sticking up in all directions. Ugghh. Her arm slid out from the warmth of the bed and hit the snooze button as her head slowly lifted to look at the clock. She could barely see out of her blurred vision.

6:30 am.

She slammed her face back down into the pillow, just five more minutes she thought to herself as she began to slip into sleep once again. She was startled awake by a banging on the bedroom door.

“Charlie come on! School!” Robert yelled.

She hated Mondays.

Charlie sat up in her bed, duvet wrapped around her petite frame, and huffed. If there’s one thing Charlie hates more than Mondays its January, winter was pretty, blankets of snow covering the ground and the smell of the fresh crisp air was all very beautiful to her but she was not too fond of how winter felt. The harsh coldness that made her layer up on clothing had never interested her, and the constant grey weather that never failed to put her in a bad mood.

Charlie sat in silence staring at the time as it went by, five minutes passed and Charlie was met with more banging and decided that it was about time to get ready for school.

“Okay I’m awake calm down!”

The room was full of darkness, another reason to hate winter she thought, she leaned over to turn her lamp on and with the flip of a switch the once black room was illuminated. She slid her feet into her bright red slippers and let the heavy duvet fall from her shoulders as she stood up. The drop in temperature caused her to shiver and run to the other side of the room to put on a dressing gown, she put on her glasses and opened the bedroom door.

She shuffled her way across the hall and down the stairs into the kitchen where her father and brother were eating breakfast.

“Good morning Charl” Robert greeted her but was given nothing but a grunt in response.

“Someone’s in a mood” Daniel sniggered.

“Shut it Danny” Charlie spat back at her brother as she made herself a cup of hot chocolate.

Daniel frowned at the back of her head and took a sip of his coffee.

“You’re the one who’s moody not me”.

“I am this close” Charlie brought her finger and thumb together “to pouring the contents of this kettle over your head”.

Charlie sat at the table with her drink in her hand and huffed at her brother.

“Guys it’s not even seven am yet, stop fighting” Robert looked at the both of them sternly before returning to his food.

Once Daniel finished his coffee he went to his room to get ready for school, he scanned the room in front of him until his eyes landed on his uniform that was neatly draped over the back of his desk chair. He took the clothes from the chair and began to get dressed while looking at his phone, checking messages and also the time. Daniel realised that his tie was nowhere to be seen and began searching the room for it but couldn’t find the piece of fabric.

“I do not have time for this.” He though aloud.

He went to the bathroom to fix his hair in the mirror, he combed his dirty blonde waves to one side while letting a few fall the opposite way and returned to searching for his tie.

Daniel ended up backdown stairs during his search and back in the kitchen asking for help.

“Can’t find my-“He began before being interrupted by his father who was holding the tie in his hand, not taking his eyes off of his newspaper.

“Ah thanks! Where was it?” He asked putting the green fabric around his neck.

“Where you always leave it, the Living room floor” Robert sighed. “Learn to pick your things up after yourself”

“Sorry, will do, bye!” Daniel rushed to the front door.

“Bag!” Robert and Charlie shouted after him.

He ran back into the kitchen, grabbing his bag from behind the door before leaving the house again just as quickly.

“Thanks!” He yelled as he shut the front door behind him.

Robert turned to Charlie as he began to get up.

“You need to get ready too before you’re late”

“I know, I’ll go now. What time are you home from work?” She stood up.

“Late, you better take your key” Robert grabbed his bag, bid a brief goodbye, and left the house.

Charlie returned to her room to get ready for the school day ahead, she enjoyed being in the house alone she found if relaxing and as though she could take her time with everything. Once dressed she brushed through her hair, making it tidier than when she woke, brushed her teeth and made her way to the school.

Charlie just made it as she entered the gates as the bell rang signalling that she needed to be in registration, teachers were dotted around the yard telling students to hurry up as Charlie entered one of the buildings. It was three floors high and extremely dull, the only colours visible being grey, white and a pale green. Charlie made her way up the stairs to the first floor, the maths floor, where her registration class was.

She entered the classroom and sat down at a desk, the seat next to her was empty and belonged to a friend whereas the desks surrounding where almost filled with students. Every desk except the one in front of her which happened to belong to her brother. She set her backpack on the back of her chair along with her puffy coat and took her phone out and messaged her brother to find out where we was, that was until he walked through the door seemingly out if breath and sat in the seat before her. He repeated her own actions with his backpack and coat before swivelling around in the chair to face her.

“Hey” Daniel rested his arms on her desk.

“You’re lucky sir isn’t here yet otherwise you’d be getting a late detention.” Charlie put her phone in her blazer pocket.

“You’re always late too!” He exclaimed.

“Why are you late anyway?”

“Got caught up in something”

“Fine don’t tell me” Charlie rolled her eyes and leaned back in her chair.

Just as a second bell rang indicating that everyone should be in registration a tall black haired man walked into the room and sat down at the front of the room. He smiled to the class giving them a quick apology for being late and began to take the register.

Robert was home sooner than he had anticipated, it was 1pm and he had found himself sitting at the dining room table looking through some paperwork. All he could hear was the faint ticking of the clock perched on the wall behind him, it was almost irritating, he was used to noise and was hardly ever home alone so when he was it felt unnatural. To him natural was hearing music blaring from upstairs, it was having to listen to his teens bickering about who knows what. Natural was getting comfortable on the couch for a family movie night which would, sooner or later, cause yet another argument. He had lived with constant noise for the past 16 years of his busy life and wasn’t planning to sit in silence for the rest of it. Roberts thoughts were interrupted by a loud ringing echoing through the house, piercing the silence. Robert was hesitant on answering the phone as he did not recognise the number but figured it would be best to see who it was. He pressed the answer button and brought the phone up to his ear.

“Robert Manning?” A raspy voice asked through the speaker.

“Yes, who is this?” Robert questioned. He had heard this voice before but couldn’t pinpoint where or when.

“Well I am quite surprised you don’t remember me but I guess I have to take into consideration how long it has been, it has been a while hasn’t it?” The voice sounded amused at the fact he didn’t remember.

The voice sent shivers down Robert’s spine, who was it? Where had he heard the voice before? One thing he could interpret was that a man was speaking to him, he didn’t like how the voice was making him feel and was growing impatient.

“Who are you?” Robert asked more demanding and irritated than before.

“Its Johnathan, Robert, Johnathan Archer”

Robert’s eyes widened, his face ridden with fear. He froze in his place too terrified to move, he could practically hear the man smirking down the phone. That’s who it was, how could he not have known after all those years of answering to him. The name and the voice fit perfectly like pieces of a puzzle, the very same name that brought back so many memories for Robert. He was paralysed, unable to speak, unable to move.

“Are you shocked?” Jonathan laughed. “I thought you would be. Listen I haven’t got all day and I have several of these phone calls to make so lets make this as quick as possible shall we? I want them Robert.”

“My kids?” Robert swallowed hard and prayed to be wrong.

“Yes, your kids. Make this easy for yourself Robert, you knew this day was coming. I want them by tomorrow, tell me the flight they’ll be getting and ill have someone pick them up” Jonathan stated blandly as though he had no real interest.

“Tomorrow?! I’m sorry Jonathan but you know what tomorrow is, as much as I wanted to avoid it if I must send them I will but not tomorrow. Any other day but tomorrow” Robert Pleaded.

He heard a sigh from the man at the other end.

“Sorry Robert I know that you take them to Louise’s grave but you know how the boss is, I don’t make the rules around here and just make sure they’re followed.” The man’s voice seemed to soften at the subject but still held its seriousness.

“Fine, don’t expect them to be happy when they arrive though”

“Why would I?” With that said Jonathan put the phone down and Robert was left in silence once again.

The clock behind him ticked, but that wasn’t the only sound he could hear. His thoughts were racing with how’s? and what if’s? He didn’t know how he could tell them what was going on, everything he had kept hidden from them about his life, about their mother’s life, about their fate. The past 16 years of their lives he had kept so many secrets about who he really was and what he really did before they moved. The past 6 years he had been even more secretive, He had begged and prayed that this day wouldn’t come even if he knew it was inevitable, he didn’t have long to figure out where to start with the explanation there were only 2 more hours until they finished school…

It was 5pm and he still hadn’t said anything, he had a hard time finding the courage to tell them everything. He had no idea how they would react, would they hate him?

Robert creeped his was upstairs to ask the twins to come downstairs so he could tell them everything when he found them standing outside the bathroom, more than likely arguing over something stupid. He stopped at the top of the stairs for a moment and listened to the teens who seemed oblivious to his presence.

“Last time I did you a favour it got me into trouble so no” Daniel had an irritated tone to his voice.

“You won’t get into trouble this time though! I only want you to keep watch while I sneak out, please!” Charlie pleaded her brother.

“That will get me into trouble!”

“You can have my lunch money every day for like a month”

“Fine” Daniel rolled his eyes as Charlie had a pleased look on her face.

Robert wished he could stay in this moment forever, even if his children were bickering and up to no good as usual. Everything was about to change and he hated it, hated the thought of them not being around, hated the thought of them getting mad at him for keeping everything a secret but he had to do it. He didn’t have a choice.

“No one is going anywhere” Robert walked over to them. “I need to tell you something, downstairs.”

They nodded at him and trailed behind him as he led them into the dining room. They all sat down at the wooden table and Robert prepared himself. He took in a deep breath before releasing it and lifting his head to talk to his children.

“I don’t want any interruptions now, this is extremely important okay?” He made sure that his children understood the importance of the situation and how serious he was before continuing.

“I can’t explain everything right now but I’ll explain as much as I can. We can’t go to your mother’s grave tomorrow and it’s because I’m sending you somewhere, I don’t want you to get upset or angry with me although you have every right to…”

Robert sighed as he struggled to say what he needed to, his heart was pounding in his chest and his palm were sweating as he conjured up the courage to tell them what had been keeping from them for so long.

“I’ve been keeping some things from you but you need to understand that it was all for your safety. I used to work for an organisation, the founders of this organisation made it because there are bad people in the world, people that the police can’t control. I worked there from a young age but I didn’t choose to, I was forced there because my mother and father worked for them. I don’t have amazing memories from that place but I have no choice than to send you too. Never did I actually think this day would come but I got a phone call earlier today, they’re asking for you and they want you by tomorrow.”

The two teens in front of him had shock across their faces, they didn’t speak though they waited for their father to finish his explanation.

“It’s for your own good, I’m afraid that if… if I don’t send you what happened to your mother will happen to you. I’m so sorry I have to tell you this but she didn’t die in a car accident, she died because they wanted her and she refused because she refused the people the organisation is against killed her. I don’t want to send you there, trust me but it’s all to keep you safe”

“What….”

[pedroscurls]

Title: Fatal Attraction (Part 13.)

Character(s): Ike Evans, Ben Diamond, and Diana (original female character) Summary: Ben finally catches on. Word Count: 1,097 Warning: None. Author’s Note: Enjoy! 

Ike acted like he was thoroughly concerned when Diana was suddenly “missing.” Ben, however, was infuriated. He kept cursing under his breath, threatening that “she was going to get it when they find her.” Ike wanted no more than to grab Ben by the scruff of his neck and give him a beating like he had done with Diana, but he had to be patient.

What Ike failed to provide to his two sons was that he was going to set Ben up. Ike had visited Jack Klein throughout the week. The man wanted Ben Diamond, and he was going to get him. Ike had no choice but to trust Klein for his word. There was no way he was going to keep Diana safe if Ben was a free man.

In turn, he promised Klein that he would cease illegal activity in his hotel. Ike assured it was no problem. All his troubles led back to Ben, anyway. Both men who started off on the wrong foot finally came together in hopes to bring down “The Butcher.”

Vincent and Victor were aware of Ike’s plan. Ike assumed that Ben had his suspicions, and he was going to play into that. It was better that he was getting hurt rather than Diana and his baby. Ike was going to be a father again, and he wasn’t going to let some man like Ben Diamond get in the way of it.

“Where the hell could she be, Isaac?!” Ben yelled, slamming his hand on the counter as they reviewed the security tapes. “One minute she’s in the lobby and the next she’s gone?! What is this?!”

Ike kept calm. “Ben, we will—”

“No, Isaac. I think you and I need to have a little chat. What do you think?”

“About what, Ben? Your wife is missing and you want to talk to me? What could possibly be more important?” Ike glared.

Ben smiled, resting his hand on Ike’s shoulder tightly as he narrowed his eyes. “Maybe because I know that my wife is carrying your baby.”

“I suggest you take your hands off me, Ben,” Ike tightened his jaw. “Do you think I’m that stupid to sleep with your wife, no less, impregnate her? Are you kidding me?”

“I really do not like liars, Isaac. Al, take this piece of shit into the car. We’re going to go for a ride.”

Before Ike could protest, he felt Al and another pair of hands bring him out to the lobby where Ray-Ray tried to step in, but was met with a strong punch to the face.

“It’s okay, Ray-Ray…” Ike sighed. He was thrown in the backseat of Ben’s car and before he could try and escape, Al slid in next to him and held a gun to his side.

“You make one move and you’re going to bleed all over this leather seat, Ike. Please, stop moving. If you didn’t do anything, why are you trying to run away?” Al asked.

“Maybe because Ben is a fucking lunatic who won’t hesitate to kill,” Ike glared.

Al laughed. “He kills you and he’s shit out of money. You run the Miramar Playa. I think you’ll be okay. Besides, you fucking Diana? She’s way out of your league.”

“And she’s way out of Ben’s, but look what happened,” Ike spat.

Ben casually slid into the car, patting the driver on his shoulder. “Take us to my mansion. Isaac and I are going to have a bit of a talk.”

At the Miramar Playa, Diana was pacing in the living room of Ike’s room. Danny and Stevie were sitting on the couch and the older of the two had a drink in his hand as if to calm the nerves. Diana looked at the both of them before staring out the window that led to the balcony. She couldn’t believe that Ike had planned this entire thing. She just hoped that she could tell him herself that she was grateful for what he was doing.

He didn’t have to rescue her from her relationship with Ben, yet, Ike did so anyway.

A younger girl left her room and tilted her head at the sight of the stranger. Stevie glanced over at Lauren and sighed, standing from the couch.

“Lauren, go back to bed,” he said.

“Who is this?” she asked, ignoring him completely.

“Now is the not the time, okay?” Stevie walked over to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Go back to bed and then tomorrow, we’ll do whatever you want.”

“But you’re working and Danny is busy with school,” she pouted.

“We’ll plan something together,” Danny smiled. “Now, go to bed.”

Lauren sighed, giving Diana a quick glance before walking back into her bedroom. Stevie made sure the door was shut before walking back to where Diana was standing and Danny was sitting. The younger girl looked so much like Ike with the brown hair and brown eyes; she wondered how their child would look more like.

“You’re pregnant…” Danny muttered, interrupting the silence. “Is it my dad’s?”

Diana finally sat down, biting her lower lip. She nodded slowly and rested a hand on her flattened abdomen. “Yeah… It’s Ike’s. I didn’t plan for this, either of this. Once everything is settled, I’ll leave. I’ll go back home.”

Stevie shook his head. “You’re not going to leave now that you’re carrying our sibling. My dad’s in love with you. Do you really think he’ll let you leave?”

“It’s not Ike’s decision whether or not I stay,” Diana sighed. She was tired of men telling her what she could do and what she couldn’t.

“And neither is it yours to leave without allowing us, and our dad, a chance to be with your baby. You’re family now, Diana, whether you like it or not,” Danny added. “My dad hasn’t been with a woman since our mother passed away, and now, he’s in love and we can’t do anything but support him.”

“I didn’t know that I’d fall in love with him either,” Diana admitted. “I love him and I’m so sorry to have gotten him into this mess.”

“Things happen for a reason, Diana,” Stevie reassured, resting a gentle hand on her hand once he reached over.

“Ben will hurt him,” Diana mumbled, tears stinging her eyes. “He will hurt Ike and there’s no way of stopping him…”

“No, he won’t,” Danny replied. “Ben won’t hurt my dad, Diana.”

She wiped her eyes, removing her hand from beneath Stevie’s. “Yes, he will… He knows… Ben knows.”

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[once-upon-a-spemily]

How Much More Can I Take?

Roommates AU Part 2/2: Spencer and Emily live together and have a very agreeable arrangement between the two of them.

Part Two Summary: Things change after Winter Break. Spencer can’t put her finger on why, but one thing’s for sure - when it comes to their feelings, both Spencer and Emily are in deep, deep denial.

Author’s Note: The rating on this one is a littler higher than most of my fics. There’s no graphic sex scenes, as I basically do a literary fade-to-black, but there is some pretty explicit references to sex, and some heated scenes between Spencer and Emily. Just warning in case that’s not your thing.

They didn’t talk about Winter Break once they were back at school. They didn’t talk about why it had felt different, or what happened, they just fell back into their normal pattern of behavior. They fell back in line silently and with grace. Spencer was almost impressed, once she shook off the uncomfortable feeling that sat under her skin.

Spencer and Katie were reviewing Euro History notes when Emily emerged from her bedroom in a cute, deep purple dress, makeup all done, and her nicer winter coat on.

“Got a date?” Katie asked.

Emily smiled brightly. “I do. I haven’t had first date jitters in months.”

“You’re gonna be fine,” Spencer said. “Knock ‘em dead.”

“Thanks, Spence.”

She disappeared quickly after that and Spencer turned back to her notes. This was a common phenomenon. Both Spencer and Emily had gone on at least a handful of first dates since they started their little deal. Spencer never even had to think twice about it.

More often than not the dates didn’t pan out, leaving them with only their own arrangement. Not that Spencer was complaining about that.

She pointedly ignored the fact that Katie kept looking at her, as if seeing if she were okay, and directed their attention back to studying.

“Can I talk to you for a second?”

Spencer pulled her earbuds out, stretching out her hamstring. She just got back from a run and while she really wanted to stretch and shower, Emily looked eager to talk.

“Shoot.”

“Remember my date the last week?”

Spencer nodded. “The one with Poli-Sci girl.”

“Yeah, Jackie,” Emily said.

It had gone well, according to Emily. Jackie was nice and witty and she seemed more emotionally mature than half the people on their campus. She was a tall, pretty redhead with a smattering of freckles across her nose that Spencer knew Emily thought were very cute. Spencer had only been half-listening to Emily when she had filled her in about the date.

“We’ve got a second date tomorrow night.”

Spencer’s heart rate was still hammering from running, so she chalked up the speed to that.

“Sounds fun. Play nice.”

“Right. Well, um. Obviously we’re not serious or anything, but I just…” Emily paused, fiddling with her hands a little. “I…don’t think I can do that, and do this.”

“Do what?”

Emily gestured between the two of them. “This. It’s a great arrangement, but I just can’t balance trying to date someone and also do…you, even if the relationship isn’t serious yet.”

If Spencer’s heart slowed, it was because her body was decompressing from running. That’s all.

“Oh.”

“Is that okay?” Emily asked, looking more timid than Spencer had seen her in ages.

“Yeah, sure, whatever,” Spencer shrugged. “Whatever you need so you can get this thing off the ground. We always knew this wasn’t permanent, right?”

How like a Hastings. Tackle everything with precise, cold, logic, even when your insides were screaming and railing against it.

Spencer blamed it on endorphins and pushed it all away. She focused on stretching her quads.

“Right,” Emily said, her expression unreadable. “So. Yeah. Thank you. I just wanted to talk it out.”

Spencer shrugged, “Any time.”

Emily hovered for another moment, and then eventually went back to her own room. Spencer finished stretching and finally got the shower she was so desperate for.

She tried to think about other things in the shower. Like the upcoming weather. It was supposed to be cold this week. Spencer hated February. She had a Latin test in two weeks. She could start organizing her notes for that she supposed. Or she could try and organize a debate team event.

In between every thought, Emily kept popping back into her head.

This is totally normal, Spencer thought, she’s my roommate. I see her all the time. Of course she’s in my head.

When the water went from hot to lukewarm, she knew it was time to get out. She wrapped a towel around her body and padded into her own bedroom, closing the door behind her.

When she pulled out a pair of jeans to put on, a piece of paper came flittering out of the pocket. It was the waiter’s number that Hanna had obtained for her, despite Spencer’s protests, on Emily’s birthday in November.

Spencer picked it up off the floor and dropped it in her side table drawer.

She wasn’t really interested, but if Emily was not available, she figured she’d have to find someone else eventually.

The next week, Spencer drove up to New York to visit Hanna. She thought maybe a weekend away would be good. Hanna had her own loft, which was decorated exactly the way Spencer expected Hanna to decorate a house, but it was comfortable.

“Alright,” Hanna said, sinking down onto her couch with two glasses of wine, and the bottle. “You wanna tell me how long you and Emily have been sleeping together?”

Spencer nearly choked. “What?”

Hanna rolled her eyes and leaned over to pull at Spencer’s sweater, revealing a hickey on the left side of Spencer’s collarbone, left from the last, and apparently final, time she and Emily slept together.

“She leaves her mark,” Hanna said, “I totally should’ve pieced it together at her birthday, and Christmas. But somehow I didn’t piece it together till I saw that.”

Spencer chewed on the inside of her cheek for a moment, watching Hanna sip her wine patiently.

“Since last June.”

“Jesus fucking Christ, Spence.”

Spencer rolled her eyes, pushing at Hanna. “Oh come on, it’s not a big deal.” Hanna fixed her with a disbelieving look. “Seriously. It was just a no-strings-attached, mutual benefit arrangement.”

Hanna scoffed. “You mean semiotic.”

“Symbiotic?”

“Yeah, that one,” Hanna nodded.

“Okay, well, it’s really not a big deal,” Spencer repeated, “we nixed the deal. Emily’s trying out a relationship, so we’re not doing it anymore.”

Hanna eyed her warily. “Look, what you two do is your business. I get it. But like, don’t keep it a secret from your friends.”

Spencer sighed, dropping her head back against the couch. Hanna did the same so they could keep eye contact. “We didn’t keep it secret, we just didn’t think it was worth sharing. It was just sex.”

Hanna narrowed her eyes as if she didn’t believe it, but instead of pushing she decided that they should order nachos because she was too lazy to cook. Sometimes, Spencer really loved Hanna.

Spencer lasted a month. She was very self-sufficient, but after a while she got tired of helping herself along. There was a knot of tension in the small of her back that was not at all muscular, and she was no way of getting rid of on her own. Besides, she kind of missed dating.

“Em?” she called.

“Yeah – oh. Wow,” Emily’s head had poked in the door to Spencer’s room.

“What?” Spencer asked, turning to face her. “Too dressy?”

She didn’t think she was that overdressed. She had a nice little blue dress on, and she’d taken the time to do her hair and brush on a little make up. But she wasn’t even wearing heels, just boots and leggings. It was only early March, after all.

“No, you look great. What’s the occasion?” Emily asked.

“Got a first date,” Spencer said absently as she packed a handbag, “You remember that waiter? Danny?”

Emily looked surprised. “You decided to call him?”

“Yeah, why not? It can’t hurt, right?” Spencer asked, trying and failing to read Emily’s expressions. “Besides, with you about to have, what, your fourth date? With, um-”

“Jackie.”

“Right. Well, I need to sort out my own…stuff.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

They both looked at each other for a moment. Spencer wasn’t sure why the room felt so chilly all of a sudden. She found her car keys and then stood there for another minute.

“Well have fun,” Emily said, sounding surprisingly cheery.

Spencer made her way out of the apartment, and made it to the restaurant she was meeting Danny at. It was a nice place. Cozy Italian, not too fancy. Danny was already there.

He was cute enough. Taller than her by a few inches, broad shoulders from his football days, a few beauty marks dotting his skin. He had a kind of uneven haircut but it worked on him. Aesthetically, he was nice. Spencer just wasn’t really attracted to him yet.

“Hey, thanks for coming,” he said.

“Thanks for waiting a few months,” Spencer replied. “Didn’t mean to leave you hanging there.”

Danny shrugged. “I get it. I don’t think people our age are really into dating. You look amazing, by the way.”’

“Oh, thanks,” Spencer said, trying to think of something else to say.

Luckily, Danny saved her from that. “Wine?”

“Please.”

So, he continued to be nice. More boring than her Tolstoy readings, but nice. After regaling Spencer with stories about his high school football days, his two sisters, his experience as a lawn mower and the absolutely riveting story of how he got his job as a waiter at a diner, Spencer quietly decided that this would be a one time thing.

No more Danny for her.

She finished out the evening, though, sharing a tiramisu for dessert, and then walking with him to her car. When they were there, he leaned in to try and kiss her, chapped lips sticking to her own.

Spencer pressed a hand to his chest, shaking her head. “Danny, I can’t do this.”

“Yeah,” he said, scratching the back of his head. “I guess I didn’t earn it. Kind of an average date, right?”

Spencer cringed, but nodded. She wasn’t going to spare him the truth. “Just don’t think we click. I’m sorry, but I would eat you alive. And that’s not even to mention my family.”

He laughed at that, which was good. It was true. Spencer would bulldoze him before she even knew what she was doing. And he would bore her to death. A truly terribly combination.

Danny was surprisingly good natured, opening her door for her and waiting until she drove off to get in his own car.

Spencer couldn’t be more relieved for the date to be over. She supposed, realistically speaking, that it wasn’t the worst date in the world. It just felt like her soul had slowly been dying the whole time.

In April, Emily and Jackie went their separate ways. Emily said they both realized they were walking down a dead end road. They split amicably.

Within four days, Spencer and Emily’s arrangement was back on, drawn back into the magnetic field of attraction between the two of them. 

Well, first, Spencer spent about an hour with her head between Emily’s legs, and then they had a quick conversation confirming a return to the status quo.

But they didn’t really return to the status quo. Part of Spencer quickly realized that. They were compartmentalizing, now. The boundaries were firmer. Their attempts to pull away were more and more frequent. They had to separate their friendship and their sex.

It felt weird. But it felt good. Spencer honestly, for once in her life, didn’t want to think too much about it because she had the gnawing feeling that if she looked too closely, it would all fall apart.

“Hey, let’s go out for dinner tonight,” Emily suggested from the other end of the couch. They were in their normal studying spot. “I don’t want to cook tonight.”

Spencer could be agreeable to that. They got ready to go to dinner, Spencer feeling the ache in her muscles from their time together the previous night. For what it was worth, Spencer could see Emily eyeing the bruise she’d left on Spencer’s thigh with something akin to pride. Spencer caught Emily’s gaze and a slow, lazy smile crossed her face.

“Admiring your work?”

Emily’s eyes darkened, just as Spencer expected.

After a little interruption, they were at their favorite sushi restaurant.

“I’ll have the Sweetheart roll,” Emily said, handing the waitress her menu.

The waitress smiled, turning to Spencer, “and for you girlfriend?”

“Oh, she’s not my girlfriend,” Emily all but blurted, even though they could’ve just let the gaff slide and it would be much less awkward.

Spencer felt the sheer embarrassment for the three seconds the waitress took to apologize before turning back to Spencer.

“Yaki Udon, for me, please,” Spencer said, feeling that her mood had soured significantly.

When the waitress left, they sat in silence for a few more moments, Emily fiddling with her chopsticks.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be. You’re right” Spencer forced herself to shrug casually. “I’m not your girlfriend.”

Just the person that she had sex with nearly every week, sometimes less sometimes more, but whatever.

Spencer quickly let the moment go, because she did not need that hanging over her. Finals were quickly approaching and she did not need to be focused elsewhere. Which was also why she put the kibosh on dating for a little while. She was fine with hookups with other people, but she went with Emily more often than not (for efficiency, she told herself), but dating was on a strict embargo.

After the first day of Reading Days, Spencer went out. She knew she shouldn’t, but she’d been holed up studying all day, so she figured one night of partying, the first night at that, wasn’t going to kill her.

She had everything in order.

Still, the mixer she ended up at was horrifically lame, with watery beer and bad music, bad lighting, sticky floors, too many freshman and stupid glowsticks everywhere.

She was about to bail when the cute guy from her Latin class came over, and Spencer started talking to him. His name was Emmett, he was on the soccer team, and he kind of looked like Apollo incarnate.

Somehow, their talking got closer and closer, and then talking turned to kissing, and kissing turned to them stumbling to Spencer’s apartment together. Spencer was teetering in her heels as she led Emmett back to her bedroom, rapidly peeling off her own clothing, and then Emmett’s as well.

“You’re tightly wound, aren’t you?” Emmett asked, biting down on Spencer’s shoulder.

Spencer wriggled her hips, squeezing her eyes shut, trying to pull him closer. “Less talking, more doing,” she said.

Emmett seemed happy to oblige…for a few moments. “You’re fucking amazing, Spencer.”

“Emily, honestly.”

“Emmett.”

“What?” Spencer’s eyes snapped open, her body running cold.

Emmett looked unfazed. “Emmett. Don’t worry, they’re close enough, I’m not offended. That’s your roommate’s name, right?”

He moved down to kiss Spencer again, but Spencer pulled back, pressing a hand to his arm to keep him at bay.

“You should go.”

“What?”

Spencer felt a little like the room was spinning and hoped to god it was the rum. “I’m sorry,”

“No, it’s fine,” Emmett said. Okay, so he definitely wasn’t Apollo. “You’re sure, though?”

Spencer looked at him, and then at her door, chewing on her lip. “Yeah, I’m sorry, I just…I can’t do this.”

“It’s cool. Call me if you ever wanna continue,” he said, grabbing his shirt.

Honestly, another time, another world maybe, Spencer would be more than happy to sleep with him, and considering his attitude, maybe even date him. But that was not this time, and it was not this world.

He let her kick him out in the middle of the night, not complaining once, and Spencer closed the door behind him, head reeling. She went back to her room, pulling on the first shirt she could find, which was, incidentally, one of Emily’s swim team sweatshirts.

It smelled like her.

Spencer wondered if Emily heard her and Emmett.

Then she wondered why she cared so much.

She felt guilty, which just made her feel foolish because why should she? Emily made it very clear they weren’t dating. Emily had no qualms calling the thing off when she was dating Jackie, and didn’t seem to feel awkward about that.

Thinking about Jackie was a bad idea. It just made Spencer feel even more nauseous. No, that had to be the rum. She couldn’t be…this couldn’t be…it was no strings attached, that was all.

She needed to move on. She needed to pull herself together.

The next morning, Emily was waiting for her with strong coffee, advil, and eggs. Spencer thanked her, slid into one of the counter stools and ate silently. She could feel Emily’s eyes on her the whole time.

“What?” Spencer asked, finally setting down her fork and looking up.

“Nothing.”

“Okay.”

Another minute passed, and Emily poked at her own eggs. “You know if you needed to scratch an itch, you could’ve just told me.”

“I didn’t exactly plan to bring someone home. I was out and we started talking and it just happened. Isn’t our deal supposed to be a last resort?” Spencer asked.

In theory, yes it was. But that still felt low, and she still felt bad at the look on Emily’s face when she said it.

“I guess,” she agreed. “I don’t know, I guess I was just surprised.”

“Why?”

Emily frowned to herself. “I…don’t know.”

“Well, if you ever figure it out, let me know.”

They didn’t talk about it through finals. They studied, they got each other study snacks, left the other encouraging sticky notes, had sex, ate meals together, and all of their other normal stuff.

They didn’t talk about it after finals. They both were staying in the apartment over the summer. They took a quick trip home. Didn’t talk about it.

And then, June came. And in June, the fight.

They were at the bar together, celebrating summer, when a guy hit on Emily. Fine. Whatever. And then a guy started flirting with Spencer, and she flirted back, and Emily looked disgusted by the whole thing. So that threw a wrench in Spencer’s mood. And then Emily started hitting on a girl.

Mood worsening.

And then Emmett walked in, waving at Spencer, and sliding her his number.

And somewhere after that, sharp remarks were traded, Emily teared up, stormed out, and Spencer was left feeling angry and confused and sad and frustrated.

When she closed the door behind her upon arriving home, she saw Emily sitting on the couch, no longer crying, but with glistening eyes, looking angry and hurt all at once.

“What’s the deal?” Spencer asked. “Is this not what we do? We try and find people we want to date, or hook up with, and when we can’t, we turn to each other?”

“It is,” Emily said quietly.

“Then why, why, is this so hard? Why don’t I feel the same way with any guy or girl I pick up then when we’re together? Emily, I’m tired,” Spencer said, shaking her head. She sat down on the couch next to her. “I don’t know what you want from me. And I can’t stand it.”

“Things have been different. Since Christmas,” Emily let out a shaky breath. “What do you want?”

“I don’t know,” Spencer said. “Emily, we started doing this a year ago. A year. Not counting the month we took off, that’s twelve months of this dance. This is the closest I’ve got to being in a relationship with someone in a long, long time, but it’s only halfway there, and it’s killing me.”

Emily looked at her, a million different emotions in her eyes. Sadness. Regret. Surprise. Spencer thought, hoped, she detected longing.

“Spencer–”

“I have been pretending and pretending for months. Pretending that my heart doesn’t jump when I see you, or that I don’t want to go Full Hastings on whoever hits on you, but the truth is that this perfectly logical, rational arrangement of ours is utterly useless because I’m falling in love with you and I can’t compartmentalize it. I need all of you, or none of you,” she said, trying to stay firm.

She had the hardest time saying no to Emily, but this was eating her up from the inside, in ways she’d never admitted to herself until this very moment, but she couldn’t do it any longer. It was too much.

“I hate seeing you with other people,” Emily said. Spencer looked over at her, but Emily’s eyes were squeezed shut as she talked. “I don’t mean like friends or anything. But that Emmett guy? When I heard you, when I heard the sounds he was getting from you, when I heard you giggling, it felt like the world spun out from under me. I don’t want this halfway, either, Spence.”

Spencer felt a little dizzy. “You…what?”

Spencer hadn’t thought that Emily would ever feel the same way about her. She thought Emily was fine with the status quo. This? This was too good to be true.

Emily’s eyes fluttered open, the familiar, lovely, pools of brown peering into Spencer’s own. “I didn’t mean to make you feel like I didn’t want you. But you were so cavalier when I stopped it, and you were always talking about how ‘purely logical’ this was. I told myself you could never feel the same way.”

“Oh.”

“I don’t want to be your last resort.”

Spencer smiled at Emily, reaching over to grab her hand. “Honestly? I don’t think you ever were.”

Emily laughed, wiping away her tears. “We’re idiots, aren’t we? We totally just over complicated the hell out of all of this.”

Spencer’s smile grew, sliding closer to Emily. “Well, it is me we’re talking about here. I can overcomplicate just about anything.”

Emily pushed Spencer’s hair out of her face, and then trailed her finger down to Spencer’s neck, where Emily had left a nice hickey the last time they slept together. Spencer shivered under her touch. The whole time, Emily had been marking her as her own and she didn’t even know it.

“Let’s simplify it. Together.”

Spencer nodded, noticing the way Emily’s eyes darted down to her lips. Spencer felt herself yearn in anticipation as Emily dragged Spencer forward, capturing her lips between her own.

This time, they both moved to deepen it of their own accord, and the kiss was slow, and sensual. This time it promised not just a few hours of fun, but so much more.

After a few minutes, they pulled away, both breathing hard.

“We’re gonna have to tell Hanna,” Spencer said, voice still hushed, as she settled her hands on Emily’s hips and pulled her over so she straddling Spencer.

“What?”

“She’ll kill us if we keep it a secret too long,” Spencer explained.

Emily smiled, shaking her head. “Fine with me. I don’t want to keep this a secret.”

“Our moms are going to be so happy, it’s going to be really obnoxious.”

The laugh that Emily let out was punctuated by a small moan as Spencer slid her hands up Emily’s legs and trailed kisses down her chest.

They’d been doing this for a year. By now, Spencer was fluent in Emily, and now, they weren’t halfway anything.

They were solid, they were real, and they were promising.

[spaz8550]

Stay 

Ch 15

In London Sinead walked through the door and glanced at her bewitched clock that showed the time in Boston. She noticed Bill was out and grabbed the phone calling Maggie.

"Hello?"

"I had a date."

"With that guy? The one you kept day dreaming about?"

"Yes."

"Good, now spill. You deserve it." Sinead told Maggie all about her night and then Maggie filled her in on Caleb's day and his adjustment after Disney World. Sinead ended the call with her friend who was planning a trip to London at the end of June. Sinead was beginning to feel tired because if the time difference and decided that getting some sleep would be the best choice.

The rest of that week past quickly and soon enough it was Friday. Sinead went to the grocery store to pick up some food and two bottles of wine then went back to the flat. She used several cleaning spells and finished up putting her clothes away from her trip. Sinead was satisfied that the house was clean and she had everything she needed. Sinead was laying on the couch watching tv when Bill came through the door with a smile.

"I found a place. It's a street away from Diagon Alley so I'll be close to my job at Flourish and Blotts. It's nice it has two bedrooms. I think Jim will like it. I made an offer and they should be getting back to me soon."

That night Bill picked up Chinese food to celebrate his new apartment. Since the owners of the building were wizards he would be able to move in to the apartment in two weeks. Sinead was excited at the prospect if spending the day with Severus. Bill was working most of the day then was going to start picking out furniture and then meeting a co worker for drinks at the Leaky Cauldron so Sinead wasn't concerned about him sulking around. Unlike most weekend mornings Sinead woke up early and then went to the gym for a run. She spent an hour on the treadmill before coming back to the apartment and starting on cooking. While things were baking she showered and then moved her various boxes to the living room and enlarged them to their normal size. At 9:30 there was a knock on the door and Sinead walked over to see Severus.

"Good morning, I know I'm early but I finished up brewing early."

"Good morning, come on in." She opened the door wider and he walked into the apartment. Instead of his usual black outfit he was wearing dark grey pants and a black tee shirt. Sinead and Severus made small talk as the muffins cooled. "Bill found his own place. He'll be moving out in 2 weeks."

"I'm sure that'll be a welcome change."

"Yes, now I can brew here. He was always complaining so I had to go into St. Mungos to brew. It'll be much easier on my own schedule."

"How is your potion line doing?"

"Amazingly well. One shop in Salem carries them and another in Boston. Right now I'm keeping up with both places but I'm thinking of looking for a shop in Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade to carry my items."

"Why not try Hogsmeade first? That way it won't be too over whelming."

"Good idea. I have a friend who is coming over with his wife and he's interested in helping me with the business. Trent started apprenticing at the same time I did, he eventually backed out before becoming a master. Since then he became a charms apprentice and finished his mastery in that. Now I think he's beginning to realize that he should have finished with potions. He got married while I was in Boston and his wife is a healer. I'm going to try and get her into St. Mungos."

"That will be helpful." Severus and Sinead ate breakfast in silence and then started looking through boxes.

Sinead wanted to go through the journals on her own so they were placed in a pile and all spell books were placed in another. The journal pile wasn't as large as Sinead hoped, her great-grandmother had written 3 journals two of which were about her life in America, one was filled with mostly information she found out about the curse. Around 1 they took a break to have some soup that Sinead had made the day before.

"Your great-grandmother had quite a collection. Some of these books are very rare. They must have been in the family for some time."

"That's what Frank said, he said most of the books had been around for generations.”

After lunch the pair finished sorting the books into piles. Sinead put all the journals back in a crate to look at later. While looking through the old texts the phone rang, Sinead walked over and glanced at the caller id. First she wasn't going to answer because it was Danny but she picked it up.

"Hello Daniel." She said.

"Is it a bad time? I need some advice."

"Of course you do. Quickly." She said walking into the kitchen with the phone.

"I have a date-"

"Oh come on. Just wear a blue shirt and black pants. You'll be fine."

"No, she's a witch."

"Hmm... someone I know?"

"Maybe."

"It's Maggie isn't it. I could kill the two of you."

"I don't know how I even got myself into this. We have nothing in common besides being friends with you."

"Then cancel."

"I-"

"You like her then?"

"I don't know."

"Then go out and see how it goes. No messing around though because she'll get attached and then Caleb will and I'll have to kill you."

"Right to the point then. Who are you with? That Potions guy?"

"Yes, I was serious about the messing around part. I'll call you 

tomorrow and I'll call her-"

"I'll behave myself. You behave yourself." Before Sinead could reply she heard a dial tone. "Jerk." She mumbled walking back in the room. 

"Sorry about that. Danny and his need for advice."

"Not a problem."

"I can tell I'll spend tomorrow going back and forth because of this date. He's going out with my other best friend Maggie. Bad idea if you ask me."

"He's a grown man, let him sort out his own issues." Severus said feeling a bit jealous. Sinead sat on the couch next to Severus, it was the closest they had been all day. She could tell he was nervous.

"I-I've missed you." Sinead said taking Severus's hand. A small smile crossed his lips. "I wish I didn't have to be away as long as I did but I'm glad to be back."

"I'm glad you’re back." He said softly. Sinead turned a bit so she was facing him.

"Severus, I want to know more about you but I know it's going to take some time so why don't I tell you more about me. You know a bit of my family history, the witches in my family were from Ireland and there was a cursed but you don't know much about me personally. I'm an only child, my dad is a lawyer he runs the family's law firm. My mother met him when she was his secretary, she's 8 years younger than him and his complete opposite. I may look like my mother's side of the family but I have my father's disposition with a little spunk from my mother's father. My dad is a lawyer focusing on human rights. When I was born my mom stayed at home with me but we spent a lot of time with her parents who lived on the first floor of our two family row-house. They were my only grandparents growing up since my dad's parents died before I was born." Sinead stood up and went to get a picture from the mantel and handed it to Severus.

"This is me with Joe, my pa when I graduated high school. He passed away a little over a year later. Nancy, my mom's sister, was the witch of her generation but she never used her powers. She was an amazing woman, very religious and very kind. Her three sons are like my big brothers." Sinead picked up another picture of Sinead with a couple and then another of her with three men, one of them had red hair and could have been her brother.

"This is Gerald, Michael, and Joseph. Joseph has a four year old little boy named Nicky. All three of them are married, they all got married the year that Nancy was sick. She knew she was dying but Nancy stayed strong through the 3 weddings. She died a month after my grandfather. My cousin Gerald and his wife are actually going to be in Scotland next fall, he's a college professor and he's teaching a semester at a college in Scotland." Sinead was about to continue when the door opened and Bill walked in.

"Sorry, just need to pick up something and I'm leaving." He said walking towards his room as Sinead replaced the pictures.

[spaz8550]

Stay

Ch 9

In October Sinead returned from St. Mungos to find Albus sitting on the couch with Severus.

"Sinead, sorry to appear here so suddenly. Bill was here when we arrived but he had to return to work. Since Dolores Umbridge is in the school monitoring who comes and goes I can not have you enter Hogwarts without her knowing. I am planning on getting her out of the school for several hours tomorrow. When she is gone I want you two to continue to work together. I will send an owl when she is gone. I should be going I need to make another stop before returning to Hogwarts." Albus walked out the door Sinead looked to the man sitting next to her.

"Albus spoke to me in private before coming to see you. He thought it time you hear my story." Severus raised his sleeve to reveal the Dark Mark. Sinead gasped, she had never seen it in person. "I was a Death Eater during the first war. I assume you know the story of the Potters?" Sinead nodded taking a seat knowing this would be a detailed story. "I grew up with Lily Evans, Harry's mother. We met before coming to Hogwarts and we were friends. I loved her but I was foolish and was drawn into the dark arts. She married James Potter after graduating and I joined Voldemort. There was a prophecy that I overheard and I begged the Dark Lord not to kill her and then I went to Albus. He said they would be protected but the Dark Lord found them anyway." Severus was pacing and took a few moments before he continued. 

Sinead felt for the man standing before her explaining a part of him that most people wouldn't understand. 

"Albus asked me to become a spy and he would keep Lily and her family safe. I passed information to him about the Dark Lord. Now that he is back I am doing the same. I have convinced the Dark Lord that I am a humble servant and thought him dead like all of the other Death Eaters." 

Sinead gave a half smile.

"I will do everything I can to help." Severus and Sinead's conversation became quiet shortly after. After spending a few moments in uncomfortable silence Severus finally spoke.

"I should be getting back to the castle." Sinead nodded.

"I will see you tomorrow then."

"Good night." Severus left the flat and Sinead sat staring at the spot he stood. He was hardly her type but something was drawing her to him, she felt his heartbreak at the mention of Lily's name and she felt the pain in his voice. The fact that he was risking his life everyday for the cause was heroic but she knew that was not something he would say about himself.

Severus apparated to Hogsmeade and walked back towards Hogwarts after his conversation with Sinead. He could see why Bill was so taken with her. He was ashamed to admit it but he was as impressed with her as Albus was. Since the encounter over the summer Severus had learned to shield himself when Sinead was around. He was curious to know if she felt the bond the same way he did but the only person he could ask would be Albus and he didn't want another lecture from the Headmaster. Books had aided him in some knowledge but the subject was not often written about and the topic of bonding was only briefly mentioned. Severus was going to mention the topic when Sinead arrived the next day and see how she reacted.

The next day as planned Dumbledore found a way to have Umbridge return to London but the woman returned before an owl was even sent to London. Albus walked to the dungeons to see Severus setting up ingredients to potions he needed to brew and was hoping Sinead would be there to assist him.

"Severus, it seems that things did not work out as planned with Dolores. Would you like me to let Ms. O'Neil or would you like to see her yourself?" Severus frowned. "I take that as I will inform her. I know things-"

"Albus, I have a list of potions to make for the hospital wing." The older wizard frowned.

"I'll speak to Sinead then."

Sinead was in her bedroom looking at two outfits that she had laid out on the bed. Neither of them she would wear when she normally brewed but she wanted to impress Severus. She settled on the black top and skirt then dressed quickly. Sinead was just finishing packing her books when she heard someone floo into the flat. She walked into the living room to see Albus dusting himself off.

"Sinead, I'm sorry. Things did not work out as planned. Dolores went to the Ministry but unfortunately nothing kept her there longer than a few moments." Sinead's face fell. "You will see him at the next Order meeting."

"Albus, Thanksgiving is coming up and I know it's an American holiday but I'm thinking of inviting everyone in the Order over for dinner." Albus smiled.

"That is a nice idea. From what I know Thanksgiving is on a Thursday."

"Yes, my friend Danny is coming in from Boston. He's arriving on Wednesday so I'm thinking of dinner on Friday. It's not on the exact holiday but it's close enough."

"The next meeting will be held on Wednesday night so you can let everyone know then." Albus returned to the fireplace and flooed back to Hogwarts. Sinead wandered back to her room and pulled off the clothes she had dressed in.

On Wednesday Sinead walked to Grimmauld Place with a large tote bag. She had made cookies and wrote out invitations to the Thanksgiving dinner. Bill had helped her practice using spells to enlarge the flat and make the table longer. Sinead was one of the first to arrive and handed Sirius his invitation.

"I know you can't leave the house as yourself but maybe you can come over as Snuffles and change back into yourself at my flat." Sirius pulled her into a hug and kissed her cheek.

"This is something to be happy about. I haven't left this place since bringing Harry to Kings Cross."

Molly arrived next with Tonks not long after. Molly was thrilled with the invitation and listed off items she would bring. Tonks also accepted the invitation. Sinead put everything down on the list as Molly looked over the food Sinead was going to make.

"Dear, I can come over early to help. That is if you need me too."

"Molly, thanks for the offer but I think I have everything planned out really well. I'm used to cooking for my extended family so I'll bake the desserts the day before and do some prepping on Thursday."

"Ok, if you need any more help just send me an owl."

Kingsley and Hestia both turned down the invite saying they had plans. Remus accepted when he heard Sinead's friend who was as a werewolf would be there. Alastor declined because of Order business. Emmeline declined due to her job as watching the muggle Prime Minister. Elphias and Dedalus also declined but Sinead was happy with the group that would be going. Everyone was asking about the holiday when Severus and Albus arrived. Sinead handed both men their invitations.

"I think the holiday is about a muggle named Pilgrim." Elphias said as Sinead shook her head.

"Ok, this is a really brief explanation of Thanksgiving. A group of people called Pilgrims landed in Plymouth and eventually the Native Americans came to help them and they shared a big meal. Plymouth is in Massachusetts not far from where I grew up so it's a big deal back home. It's mainly a holiday to celebrate being thankful for what you have with your family."

"Oh it sounds like such a nice time. We're so thrilled to be invited." Molly said with a grin.

"Plus Sinead is a great cook." Sirius added.

"Sinead, I won't be able to make it there for dinner but I should be around sometime around dessert." Albus said as Sinead wrote him down on the list. "Severus?" Albus asked with a small smile.

"I-umm... sure." He said quickly as a few people at the table tried to hide their surprise.

"Great." Sinead gave him a smile as she placed her note in her bag.

The meeting was brief since not much was going on. Sirius of course began to argue with Albus that the Order should be doing more but Kingsley pointed out that Fudge was being unreasonable and nothing could be done until the Ministry accepted that Voldemort was indeed back. The meeting ended and Sinead stood up stretching.

"See you next week! I'll bring some desert." Tonks said hurrying out the door.

"See you next Friday, dear. Do let me know if I can do anything else!" Molly said as Arthur gave her a wave. Several of the members wandered out and Sinead started towards the door

"Sinead, I'll see you later. I need to go in and finish up some book keeping." Bill said as Sinead nodded.

"Walking home?" Sinead almost jumped she thought she was alone but Severus stood next to her.

"I think so. It's a nice night for a walk."

"Mind if I join you? I could use some fresh air before going back to Hogwarts." Sinead nodded. They didn't talk on the short walk to the flat and when they reached her building Severus turned to her. "See you next Friday."

"Yes, see you then. Goodnight." Sinead managed before Severus turned the corner. She walked up the stairs and unlocked the door. Right away she went to work on the list. Molly was bringing several desserts and Tonks was going to bring something so Sinead just needed to focus on the meal itself. Within minutes she came up with a good enough list and went to look at how many place settings she had. Luckily she had brought her grandparents china which had a setting for twelve.

The days ticked by and Danny arrived from Boston. Sinead had planned to brew from home that week so she could spend all of her time with her friend. She had brewed all the needed potions over the weekend and just had to drop them by on Tuesday. Danny helped pick out various types of alcohol and declared that he would be the "bartender" for the night. Bill and Danny didn't get along so the older man spent most of his free time in his room since Danny was sleeping on an inflatable bed in the enlarged closet. Sinead had packed up all the jackets and boxes and shrunk them and hid them in her own oversized closet.

"So is there a man I should be getting ready to question?" Danny asked on Thursday as Sinead began to prep for the meal the next day. Bill who was sitting on the couch reading the Daily Prophet spoke up.

"I know at least two men like her. One of them is wanted for murders that he didn't commit and the other is a Potions specialist like Sinead." Sinead glared at Bill.

"You don't know what you’re talking about. Bill is just being jealous as usual."

"So you don't like anyone?" Danny asked knowing that she most likely did like someone.

"No, anyway there is someone who would like to talk to you. He's a werewolf as well, his name is Remus Lupin."

"Oh good someone to talk to."

"He can't take the potion now because of work but he wants to someday."

"Interesting, does everyone know I'm going to be here?" Sinead had mentioned it to Remus.

"Remus knows, I was so busy I didn't get to mention it to everyone else but it'll be fine."